Could He? Would He? Did He?

May 2nd will mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible. It seemed appropriate to me to post this article as my thoughts concerning the King James Bible. It was originally written as a tract for discipleship in our church.
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Bible Baptist Church believes that the Word of God is preserved without error in the King James Version of the Bible. With new versions of the Bible being printed seemingly every year, each claiming to be more accurate and easier to read than the ones before, is this position tenable?

Consider these thoughts:
Could God?
Could God preserve the Bible word for word accurate and without error today?

If you were to read the positions of the prominent Bible publishers you would think not.  Each new version of the Bible claims to be an improvement upon the version previous to it and since you can't improve on perfection the obvious conclusion is they do not believe the Bible versions before theirs were perfect. (Nor do they claim perfection for their own.)

Yet we still are faced with the question, “Could God preserve His Bible perfect and without mistakes today?” If God is God at all He can!
• If He can call into existence the heavens and the earth, He can preserve His word without mistakes
• If He can part the Red Sea, He can preserve His Word
• If He can dwell among us as Jesus did, He can preserve His Word.

Could God preserve His Word without mistakes? The answer is a resounding, of course He could!

Would God?

Would it be the will of God to preserve His Bible perfect and without mistakes today?

Psalms 12:6-7 says He would.
Jesus said heaven and earth shall pass away but not “one jot or one tittle” of God's Word will pass. (Matthew 5:18)

The Bible makes it very clear that God had no intention to allow man to mess up His Bible. He gave it to us as His communication to man how to be forgiven of our sin and given a home in heaven. The message is just too important to let it be corrupted by the errors of man!

Would God preserve His Word without mistakes? The answer again is a resounding, of course He would!

Did God?

Since God can and God would preserve His Bible perfect and without mistakes, it is only right to ask the question, "Did he do it?"

Again you would think not, seeing all of the versions of the Bible on the shelves today. One would have to admit that with so many versions, and with each one being different than the other, all of them cannot be perfect and without mistakes. Then, of course there is the problem of the ancient languages. None of the original copies of the Bible still exist today. And, even if they did, we could not read them.

But there is light in this tunnel. One version of the Bible bears the marks of infallibility. The King James Version has

• The backing of the majority of ancient manuscripts of the Bible
• The witness of several earlier translation efforts
• The cooperation of some of the world's finest minds serving together to complete its translation, and
• The heritage of millions upon millions of lives being saved and changed because of its impact

• God could preserve His Word without mistakes
• God would want to preserve His Word without mistakes and
• God did preserve His Word without mistakes in the King James Version of the Bible

  

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

What Is An Independent Baptist Church?

I thought I would submit today an article I wrote originally to be used as an informational tract for those visiting our church.

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Are you confused about all of the different churches in your community? Do you wonder what the difference is between each of the denominations?

You are not alone! Jesus warned that there would come a time when there would be so many different religions claiming to be the true faith of Jesus Christ that, if it were possible they would deceive even the very elect of God. (Mattew 24:24)

Many today feel that the church should be a place where no real distinction is made, only that we all love Jesus. But is this really of God?

The position of independent Baptist Churches like this one is simple and three-fold.
Independent Baptist Churches believe in the preservation of the soul.
Our contention is that the Bible teaches very clearly that when a person is genuinely saved, they cannot lose that salvation. Our conviction is based upon the person of Jesus Christ. If He is all that the Bible claims Him to be, then how could He possibly preside over a salvation that is as fickle as is mankind? The Bible says we are saved, not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy. (Titus 3:5) His mercy brought Jesus to the cross for us while we were yet sinners. (Romans 5:8) That same mercy will not fail to keep us saved after we have trusted Christ.

Independent Baptist Churches believe in the preservation of the Bible.
How could Almighty God have gone through the effort to give us a perfect Bible, only to allow sinful men to pervert it and twist it? It is not consistent with the power of God that He would allow the Bible to be so corrupted by men as to necessitate the work of scholars to improve upon its accuracy. God has promised repeatedly in the Bible to preserve His word without error. (Ps 12:7) Baptist Churches like this one believe that God has kept His promise and that He has done it through the King James Version of the Bible.

Independent Baptist Churches believe in the preservation of the church.
Jesus said He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18) That church, as far as the Bible declares, is always a local congregation of believers.

Historically, there are those churches that strayed from the faith once delivered unto the saints. (Jude 1:3) Those churches had to be protested against and reformed. Today they take the form of the Catholic Church and all of her children, the Protestant denominations.

Independent Baptist Churches follow a different line than those. We follow a line of churches that refused to unite with the catholic system from its very beginning and that have tenaciously striven to keep the faith committed by Jesus to His apostles.

When you attend an independent Baptist Church, you are participating in a form of worship

• That leans only on the Word of God for its authority,
• That believes strictly that we are saved and by the grace of God and not of our good works, and
• That claims a heritage of unwavering allegiance to the doctrines once committed to the saints.

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

Another Pastor Scandal

The news is out that another pastor is down. This one took his own life, in the church building, with police there, and all of this just prior to Resurrection Sunday.

A few thoughts this morning:
Although he was a Fundamental Baptist, this didn't happen specifically because he was a Fundamental Baptist.
The sin nature exists in us all and snatches people in all groups of people, evangelicals, fundamentalists, Catholics, police departments, fire departments, school officials you name it, sin is in it.

This happens frequently enough among Fundamental Baptists that we should take note and concern.
I am not suggesting we can completely free ourselves from the problem, but we should address the problem. In that light here are a few things to consider:
A. We focus too much on success and not enough on Christ.
Preachers meetings have become all about how to reach numbers and not nearly enough on what is our relationship with Christ
B. We idolize men too easily
Sometimes we idolize self. If we have become successful we view ourselves as above sin
C. We justify lack of spirituality too often
There is no excuse for missing communion with God. Ever.
D. We accept confrontation and correction too seldom
I am reading Ben Franklin's biography right now. In his early years Franklin founded two groups whose sole purpose was to improve each others skills through practice, examination and constructive criticism. One of those groups remained active through his entire life. Preachers ought to form such groups.
E. We fail to take seriously the spiritual battle we have become engaged in.
And we do not pray enough or enlist the prayers of others nearly enough.

May God protect us.

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

Perceptions Concerning the Power of God

Brother Greg Perkins is the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Republic, WA. We are privileged to host him in our church this week for what we are calling revival meetings. This pastor is as genuine as any one I have known. I asked him for revival type preaching and he came prepared to bring just that.

Last night was the first service. The preacher's theme was the potential power of God in us - especially through the church. Basing his message from Matthew 28:19, "All power" Bro. Perkins asked repeatedly whether we think we are experiencing the full potential of God's power. We of course answered, "No."

Here is the potential trouble I see: while each of us in the service last night wants to see God's power in our church and in our lives, each of us, including the preacher and including this preacher, has a different opinion of what that power would look like. Each of us perceives God's blessing and fullness of His power in different ways.
• Some of us have been in churches where a thousand or more assembled together weekly.
• We see that as the power of God
• Some of us see God's power as baptisms every Sunday, or professions of faith.
• Some of us would view the power of God as some perhaps intangible dynamic happening in church

Or getting a raise at work
Or getting our way in our marriage
Or having an enemy vanquished in some way

What if God's power displayed didn't mean any of that?
• What if it meant the power to die without denying Christ?
• What if it meant the power to stay in a situation that hurt every moment?
• What if the power of God meant something spiritual, internal and completely invisible to the fleshly eye?

Perhaps the greatest battle we fight with the flesh is the battle to let God speak through His Word without inserting in it the meaning we choose for it.


Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For more than 3800 Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

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Independence

Americans love independence.
• Our forefathers paid an awful price for us to have it
• As young people we revel in it
• As we age we look forward to the day when we can retire and rest in it

We struggle with the fact that other do not have it, sometimes concerned for them, but mostly miffed that we can't go to their countries and enjoy our same independence.

And I pastor an Independent Baptist Church.

Truth be told I have yet to meet a Baptist of any sort who would not defend the independence of their church.
• An American Baptist pastor defended his independence to me
• A General Association of Regular Baptists pastor preached it publically
• The Southern Baptist pastors adamantly proclaim the independence of their churches
• Missionary Baptists will fight for their right to be called independent
• Conservative Baptists believe their churches are independent congregations
As I presume the other what, twenty seven or so Baptist denominations do as well.

And of course among those who are independent Baptist churches, there is all sorts of rankling over which are the most independent of the independents.

I would hate to be anything less than independent; free to worship the Lord according to the dictates of conscience and not the whims of men.

But I see a whole lot of problems with being independent.
In many cases we are so independent we have no accountability. We do and say as we please and the only thing there is to stop us is; whether anyone will come to hear us preach and give their tithes and offerings when they do.

And we call them backslidden, rebellious or worse when they do not.

• Because we are independent we cannot be held accountable for our actions
• Because we are independent we often become self serving, do what is best for our own church (lest I say what is best for our own selves) at the expense of what is best for the cause of Christ or even what is best for the people we claim to be ministers to.

Because we are independent, we are completely unethical. Even when we are men of integrity we cannot be men of ethics because there is no one who is allowed to call us into account.

We are independent, but we are not loners. So we assemble together with other independents who appear to be compatible with us. But our union is more like a pack of stray dogs than a heard of the Lord's sheep. We submit to the most alpha among us, believing that he can make us as alpha as he is.

And when he falls:
And he does fall - those alphas are falling like flies. Believing the claims of everyone around them that they are incapable of failing, they fail.

And when he falls; we destroy him, hoping to be the next one to take his place as the leader of the pack, or at least be best friends with the guy who does get to be the leader of the pack.

I am all for independence.
But there is something to be said for organized unity. There is merit for purposeful, genuine concord with the strings to call one into question and bring one into accountability.

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For more than 3800 Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

(photo from pixabay.com)

The Best Path for my Family?

Among several other reads going on in my life right now, I am in the middle of Thom and Sam Rainer's book, The Essential Church. At about 71% of the way through they cite an interview they have with a man named Kenneth who grew up in church, dropped out, and is now considering returning for the sake of his family. Kenneth is quoted as saying, however, "I want to be a good example [to his soon to be born child] but I am still not sure church is the best path for our family."
Wow!

How could a person growing up in church ever think that church is not the best path for his family?

I could understand if he offered his dozen excuses for not coming.
But he contemplates it and concludes, it might not be the best thing for his family.

Ouch!

I do note that he said church, not God or Christ. He said he did not know if church was the best path for his family. It is possible that Kenneth does not know the Lord and relates church as a religious practice rather than the worship of the Lord. In that case, he is absolutely correct. Church would not be the best path for his family.

But it could be that he saw hurting people being hurt in church.

Yesterday I officiated at the funeral service of a dear man I was privileged to pastor only six months. I saw him in the hospital about a month ago and I suppose it was that visit that brought me to the minds of his family for the funeral.

At the service were many families I had pastored when I pastored him, most of them now scattered into several other churches, few of them still belonging to the church we all belonged to when I pastored there. At the service also, was this man's pastor, who was completely left out of the service - I presume by the adult children and not by the wish of my friend who is now gone.

I did not want to get into conversations with any of these very nice people, why they no longer attend the church we all once attended or why the pastor there had not been asked to conduct this service. I did hear that one family said "We will never go to a Baptist Church again."

And then today I spoke with that pastor. I wanted to at least attempt to make things right with him. I hadn't any idea that there were reasons I was asked and he was not, other than my friendship to this man.

He expressed hurt; not toward me, but at not being asked to officiate, at seeing so many there who had quit his church, and not even being informed he was in the hospital just before he died.

There was a lot of hurting represented in that service yesterday. People who had been hurt; some by my leaving so soon after becoming the pastor there. Same at changes that had taken place in the church, some just by personalities.

And I am reminded that we are such broken creatures.
• Even we who are Christians
• Even we who are pastors

We are such broken creatures and we are so capable of inflicting great harm and pain on others.

James 3:1-2 KJV advises us
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

There is such huge pain involved in the ministry. My oldest son, who has pastored now for three years, described his experience in the pastorate as "hard, highlighted by days that are harder still."

But the reason James counsels us to be slow to take on the work of the ministry is because it is so easy in that position to hurt others.

I then enter this day of ministry in fear and trembling.

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For more than 3800 Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

(photo from pexels.com)

There Are A Lot To My Left

I just ran across an old blog from John Piper entitled, 20 Reasons I Don't Take Potshots at Fundamentalists. I was, of course, interested to see his perspective on Fundamentalism. I was also interested to read anything that would give Fundamentalism a positive spin especially in light of the negative spin of the recent 20/20 program and especially because I an aware that many of the IFBxers are avid followers of Piper.
The twenty reasons given range from the benign
"19. My dad was one." to the relatively sophisticated
"7. They put obedience to Jesus above the approval of man (even though they fall short, like others)."

But here is the one that struck my attention;
"20. Everybody to my left thinks I am one. And there are a lot of people to my left."

I am pretty sure Piper would consider me to be to his right, but I have felt that same sensation of having men on either side of me. Over the years I have had one or two who have left our services because they did not see us as:
• Separated enough
• Conservative enough or
• Politically right enough

But by far what I have witnessed most is that I am too fundamental for a whole lot of people, even Fundamentalists. There are a whole lot of people to my left.

This is not meant to be an excuse to yolk up with people further left of me just because there are people further left of them. But I do think that the point ought to be made that there are a whole lot of people who are so far left of us that we would be just as well off if we stopped worrying about where we are on that line and just went after (attempting to reach and win) the unconverted.

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For more than 3800 Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

(photo from pixabay.com)

Is Science God?

A blog published by Nathan Heflick for Psychology Today[1] speculates that perhaps science is not an enemy of religious belief but that God is science and people have it all "crazy backwards." Heflick goes on to suggest that perhaps science, in pursuit of truth, would be finding God.

Duh!

Early scientists such as Michael Farady, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton all saw science in that light. They believed the Bible when it said,

Proverbs 25:2 KJV

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

Not that science is God, but science may be the pursuit of the glory of God.

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For more than 3800 Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

(photo from pixabay.com)

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[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201104/could-god-be-science

What if There Is No Hell?

So asks the cover of a recent issue of TIME Magazine. Rod Bell's book, Love Wins has really caused the stir these days. Rod Bell, pastors a mega-church and so gets a hearing in the world, whether Christian or not. Bell's book questions the existence of hell, at least in the same sense that Christians have taken it for centuries. And questioning the existence of hell has gotten all sorts of people questioning a lot of things.

(Of course a hearing is not necessarily a following.)

• What does it mean to be a Christian?
• What does it mean to be an Evangelical?
• What part of the Bible ought to be taken literally?

And, as with TIME Magazine, What If There Is No Hell?

The consequences would be dramatic. If hell does not exist then Jesus Christ is at best deceived Himself and therefore no god and if God and knows there is no hell, a liar. If hell does not exist we may as well do as the men and women of Noah's day and eat and drink and be merry. For when we die, we die. If hell does not exist there is no true consequence of immorality and therefore no real morality. If hell does not exist, if, as Bell suggests, all men will make it to God's heaven somehow anyway, then the best a man can do is get the best out of life he possibly may. There is no reason to submit to government, certainly no reason to die for it. No cause worth fighting for except the cause of one's own enrichment.

But I have what I think is a much more important question; What if Hell Does Exist?

• What if what Jesus said is true?
• What if the Bible record is right?
• What if the testimony and preaching of Christians for 2000 years is accurate?

What if Hell does exist and someone ends up going there because some so-called Christian questioned it and some magazine promoted it and some hopeful multitudes believed it?

After all no one knows for sure.

No one has ever gone there and come back to give us a report.

No one except Jesus. 

Marvin McKenzie

In the field

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For more than 3800 Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

(photo from pixabay.com)

What Is Truth?

It is interesting how many things may pass as Christian today. Not that it has ever been much different. Even the Apostle Paul dealt with "another gospel: which is not another." Mankind has an uncanny way of following after that which is not of God.

And so times are changing and with it who preaches what gospel truth. At one time it would have been strictly the Catholic Church and those smaller churches who would not unite with it. Then came the Reformation and with it all of those little baby denominations that splintered out of her; Lutheranism, Presbyterianism and the Church of England. Of course, through the Reformation there still existed those churches, though severely persecuted, had never united with Catholicism so never needed to protest away from it. They, by the way, didn’t need to be reformed either. They insisted it was true and so were persecuted; not only by the Catholic Church, but now by her Protestant and Reformation children as well. The distinctions were fairly clear between them.

But then a shift happened in Christianity. Issues of denominational and particular doctrine began to give way to more general distinctions

• Modernism VS Fundamentalism - this battle gave way (as we set aside Liberalism and Modernism) to
• Evangelicalism VS Fundamentalism - which appears to be giving way (at least to a larger number of professing Christians) to
• Emerging VS Reformed

It appears that both Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism, which both still exist, are beginning to disintegrate, giving place to these two newer terms for a newer type of Christian interpretation.

The question comes to mind, "How can the truth be in all of this?"

And the answer rings back, at least in my mind, "It can't."

Now here is the issue; we humans tend to think of truth as a relative and even evolving thing. So far as human logic is concerned, truth is based upon man's own understanding of good and evil, and that is based upon his experience. Even within the larger Christian world, the truth that is God's Word is interpreted under the magnifying glass of this principle. What was true 1000 years ago, 100 years ago or even 25 years ago in not necessarily true, according to the logic of the human mind, because our experience  and with it our knowledge of good and evil, has changed in that time.

This is where Baptists differ. Our position has always been that truth is a standard given to us from God. Truth is a cornerstone planted by the Lord. Truth is God's Word. We are not to interpret the Bible according to our experiences but we are to interpret our experiences according to the Bible.

And this difference in thinking, in viewing the Bible - 

is fundamental.

Marvin McKenzie

In the field

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For more than 3800 Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

(photo from pixabay.com)

Less Important Doctrines

In Justin Taylor's blog entitled True Boldness For Christ he uses the term, "less important doctrines."

Honestly, I find this blog good reading. There are some sentiments that ought to be expressed and are helpful. Addressing Edwards warning of the desire to "seek distinction and singularity"is particularly helpful. The power of pride can be so blinding that we may move from the desire to be used of God to the desire to be known among men in a heartbeat, often not recognizing that it has happened and growing defensive when it is pointed out.

But I take exception to the concept that there is such a thing as "less important doctrines." H. Boyce Taylor, in his book, Why Be A Baptist, says, "The doctrines and teachings of the church were given by the Master. They are included in then"all things He commanded." I have no problem claiming that those doctrines that are not in the Bible are lesser doctrines.

• They are the doctrines of men and not of God.
• They then are not merely lesser doctrines but no doctrines at all do far as God's church is concerned.

And here is the gist of the real trouble; Protestants, Reformers, and Catholics compartmentalize doctrine. Some are considered important and cardinal. Some are considered of less importance, allowing for the opinion and doctrine of man to enter in to the church. The Baptist claim is that all things commanded in the Bible are of supreme importance and not one of them is to be set in a lesser position nor should any teaching that is beyond the Bible be viewed as church doctrine.

One could argue that every doctrine than those doctrines concerning our salvation are lesser doctrines." but the argument would be based purely on human reasoning and logic. It makes sense to a man that the most important thing is that a man is saved. But no where does the Word of God give us this leave. Doctrine in the Bible, all doctrine in the Bible, is placed on equal ground. When a man is saved, he is to be baptized, that makes the doctrine of that ordinance vital. After baptism he is to be instructed to observe all things Christ commanded. That makes those all things as important to the work of the church as the message of salvation.

H. Boyce Taylor said, "if you find it in the Bible, it is Baptist doctrine. If you can't find it in the Bible it isn't Baptist doctrine." Perhaps the strongest case in favor of that assertion is that we Baptists don't consider any doctrine of lesser importance.



Marvin McKenzie
In the field

A Stomach For Christ

Just finished reading a blog from Justin Taylor. He speaks of those both inside and outside of the church that, "can't stomach traditional Christianity."

I have to wonder what ever happened that gave people inside the church the right to stomach or not to stomach the faith?

From the very first century - before Paul was off the scene, there were already those who had turned the faith of Christ into something other than conversion to Christ.

Attacks upon the Apostle and perversions of the Gospel make it apparent that human sin nature had infiltrated the churches early on, if not from the beginning. Jude wrote to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered, declaring that certain had crept in unawares to destroy and deny that very faith. Paul warned that wolves would come up from among those in the ministry. Much of his writing was an apology not only for the faith but for his own ministry within the faith. Obviously there were some who could not stomach the ministry of the very Apostle Paul.

What grieves me is that we don't seem to grieve over it today. Rather, we almost relish in the religious banter of those who claim to be of us but who can't stomach us. Traditional Christianity is the only truly sound Christianity. All other types of Christianity are not Christianity at all. Fundamental doctrines (rather than reformed by the way) are those only doctrines that the Apostle Paul or Jude would have stomached. That there are those today who cant stomach them should lead us to pray for them, but not to cater to them.

Marvin McKenzie
In the field

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For more than 3700 Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

(photo from pixabay.com)

The Surprising Subculture

The Christian (and otherwise) internet is all abuzz ollowing the expose' on 20/20 of the dangerous subculture of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches in America. The expose' was to say the least, biased and sensationalized. This sort of one sided reporting is typical of a media system whose purpose is as much about preaching their own irreligious religion as it is about making money. Little in the system could be considered journalism. They do not mean to tell a story, they mean to interpret it.

Still, that there was a story, speaks volumes that ought to be heard, especially among those who consider themselves to be Independent Fundamental Baptists. Some observations of my own:

As with any honest people, Independent Fundamental Baptists ought to police themselves.
The Scripture gives us instruction to do so. Fundamental Baptists are, like any other human being, human beings. We sin. We have some who do so to extremes. We should not shy away from discipline. The fact is, we are sorely lacking in accountability.

However, discipline was the very thing the expose' "exposed" and denounced.
The whole point was that it is abusive of a Baptist church to expect accountability among its membership. The fact is we could never put into place a system of accountability that is true to the Scripture and pleasing to the world.

As to the denigrating title of "subculture" so what?
Baptist people have always been the smallest number of those professing faith, while at the same time being among the most influential people in the planet. The Ana Baptists' writings and indeed very lives were all but wiped out during the dark ages. Still they kept reaching souls. Luther and Calvin were both influenced to some degree by the Baptists of their day. The bedrock of the faith rests not on the large denominational systems of Catholicism or Protestantism, but upon that almost unknown group of believers whose faith was so despised by the world in their day that they were forced to meet in secret places and were often hunted down in the effort to eradicate them.

I am not a fan of much that is found in Fundamentalism. I do not believe much of it is even Baptist (though it might wear the label). Still I am a believer in fundamental doctrines of the faith and I am convicted as a Baptist. This is the sort of thing that makes the faithful, well, faithful.

Marvin McKenzie
In the field

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For more than 3700 Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

(photo from pixabay.com)

Classical Baptist

I friend of mine recently announced that he would self identify as a Classical Baptist rather than an Independent Fundamental Baptist.

Citing a number of reasons; from the excesses of some of the larger and more "excessive" IFB churches, to the effeminate nature of many of today's more common IFB churches.

He claimed for himself the term Classical Baptist in the likes of Benjamin Keach, Adoniram Judson, William Carey and  Charles Spurgeon whose doctrine and practice could hardly be compared to anything Baptists are doing today.

He claimed Classical Baptist in contrast to Reformed Baptist (for reasons I have not yet discovered).
Whose current trend concerns me first because the term reformed links them to Protestantism, which I do not believe true Baptists were ever a part of and secondly because Baptist Churches need no real reformation. Each church does correct its error or divert to the place it is no longer a biblically Baptist church. But those principles, practices and doctrines that make one Baptist need never, yea must never be reformed.

I have long ago determined I did not fit in the Independent Fundamental Baptist mold, though I am all of the above. 

• I am independent in church polity.
• I am fundamental in basic doctrine.
• I am Baptist in conviction

But I am wary of the movements that are identified with the title

Perhaps I too am a Classical Baptist.

The Extreme Between the Extremes

I suppose it is of man to swing on the pendulum of extreme.
Christianity is not without our own.
There is on one side the extreme of Calvinism and on the other the extreme of Arminianism.
There is the extreme of an election that says only those special chosen go to heaven and everyone else goes to hell on one hand and there is the extreme that says God must be too loving to allow anyone to go to hell.

Mega church pastor Rod Bell has caused quite the stir with his new book that addresses his extreme view that God has means of "saving" even those who don't get saved so that hell is not a reality. People have been writing in favor of his teaching with such sentiments as "this is what I always thought but was to afraid to say out loud."
Of course it is what people have thought. Adam and Eve insured we would think differently than God when they obeyed the serpent in the garden. What we think is dangerous. That is why God gave us His Word. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

And then there is the extreme of the doctrinal conservatives with cultural liberty.
The Mark Driscoll and Perry Noble's may be the most dangerous of the apostates because they fain to know a God who is true and awesome and (in the Biblical sense) terrible. They preach him thus. But then they betray their true heart convictions of a man centered religion with their abandonment of separation from worldliness. They profess to know God but their deeds prove otherwise. Their application if Scripture demonstrates the old Garden problem; we believe we can decide what is good and what is evil. God's ways are also higher than ours.

I propose another kind of extreme. I propose we practice the extreme of good old fashioned obedience to the Word of God. I propose we practice the extreme of not attempting to attract the world with our extremes instead, but extremely obey God as He has revealed himself in the Word of God.

Let Him build His church as we seek its purity, not its popularity in this world.

Now that is extreme.

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

The Fishing Is Still Fine

At the moment of this writing it is my pleasure to host Evangelist Larry Clayton. This is perhaps the fifth or sixth year we have had he and Lois here and it is always such a pleasure.
This year Brother Clayton recounted the story of leading Jack and his wife to the Lord. Jack was a successful businessman and a recipient of the Korean Medal of Honor. But when Brother Clayton instructed he and his wife to kneel there at their couch and trust the Lord, their lives were forever changed.

Brother Clayton said he explained to Jack that he was not going to be in town much longer so he had to dump the whole load on him right then. Jack told him to go ahead and pile it on. Brother Clayton told him about

• baptism
• church membership
• faithfulness and
• service

He told him about

• prayer and
• Bible study and
• tithing

He gave him a whole discipleship program in one night.

Months later Brother Clayton spoke to Jack who said, "I've been doing just what you told me to do preacher."
A few years later he quit his successful career and went to Bible College. He and his son were students at the same time.
Jack served on Brother Clayton's revival teams for two years and went on to pastor a church on the East Coast until Alzheimer's took his mind. (Jack's wife one time confided to Brother Clayton that she was just about to divorce Jack that day the preacher came and led them to know Christ.)

And then Brother Clayton looked me in the eyes and said, "It doesn't seem like we catch that big of fish much any more."

Times have changed even in the world of fishing. Fishermen just don't catch as big of fish as they once did. In some cases the big fish they once caught no longer exist. A friend who has worked for the fish hatchery service in Oregon once told me that the species of Salmon from the Columbia River that could weigh 100-150 pounds no longer exists. It is not merely that salmon are being caught before they can reach that size but that the species of salmon that grew to such great sizes has been eliminated; fished into extinction. Tales of catching those fish are left to fewer and fewer people who are still alive to tell the stories. Mind you, it is not that there are no fish to catch today. They are just not those fish.

I went out to eat with Brother Clayton and Pastor Benjamin Park, from Korea tonight. Brother Clayton told us stories of preaching in Korea in the 60's and 70's when nine thousand factory workers would come stand in the fields and listen  to him preach. Scores of professions of faith in Christ were made and churches were planted almost daily in those days. Pastor Park mused almost under his breath, "I wish we could see those days again, but I am afraid they are over." To which Brother Clayton replied, "It is a different kind of work now, but no less important."

In other words, the fishing is still fine, even though it is a different sort of fish we catch.

Marvin McKenzie
From the field

To my readers:

I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For more than 3700 Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

(photo from pixabay.com)