The Fundamental Fundamental

Job 19:25-26 KJV

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Psalms 17:15 KJV

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

Romans 8:18 KJV

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

I have been thinking upon these verses and those verses that echo the message they teach.

These are really the fundamental passages of fundamental Christianity.

• Everything rises or falls upon whether these verses are true
• Every Christian stands or falls upon his convictions concerning these verses

• If it is not true that we shall one day awake with His likeness
• If the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us
• If there is no resurrection after which we shall see God

Then truly Christians, as Paul testified, are of all men most miserable.

Modern Christianity has preached a different kind of religion. They have tried to convince their followers that God’s plan is for them to be wealthy and prosperous in this world’s things. They have offered them the kingdoms of this world and people have chased after them by the droves.

Fundamental Christianity, Bible Christianity preaches an entirely different message. We preach that the followers of Christ are not to lay up for themselves treasures on earth but lay up instead treasures in heaven. To have a treasure in heaven must mean that we forfeit one on earth.

• If Paul was wrong
• If the Psalmist was wrong
• If Job was wrong

 Then we have sacrificed for nothing.

This is fundamentally fundamental; it is the basis for all Christian faith and conversation. This one truth, that there is a resurrection from the dead, that eternal heaven awaits the believer and that it is more glorious than this earth can imagine, motivates men and women of faith.

Or else means nothing to those who are false professors.

Marvin McKenzie

In the Field

One Thing Worth More than a Soul

As long as I have been a believer I have heard that the soul of just one man is of inestimable worth. And I believe it. It was for the soul of man (and I am convinced even just one man) that God gave His only begotten Son. It was for the soul of man that Christ gave His own life on Calvary, holding His peace at the mocking and restraining the angels for defending Him at the violence of His death.

It is the value of the soul of man that has led Christians to sacrifice comfort and family to preach the gospel in far off lands. The value of a soul has led millionaires to give away fortunes and the impoverished to sacrifice food on their family's table so a missionary may be sent. Preachers have pled for souls to be saved, knowing the value of that one soul. Some with right intentions have employed phrases such as "The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing" and "Win the Lost at Any Cost" to stir Christians to make the winning of lost souls the main thing in their lives. This perceived value of souls has also (I believe) misled some Christians to employ pragmatic means to "reach" lost souls at the expense of separation, doctrine and Christian methodology. I mean to point out today that there is one thing that is more valuable than even the soul of man; truth.

By the word truth I mean something deeper than simple verifiable facts. I might go so far as to question whether those are real truths at all. Verifiable facts are merely that; fact. Truth carries with it something more substantial, something moral. Truth is and originates with God.

That truth is more valuable than a soul seems apparent to me in that, when Adam and Eve fell, God did not overlook it. God gave Adam and Eve and indeed, the soul of every man the opportunity to choose his own soul or truth. That a soul ever ends in hell is evidence that God places more value in truth that in a soul. If He had chosen, God could have set truth aside and let all souls enter heaven. God chose truth over the soul.

• God chose truth over the souls of the pre-Flood generation committing thousands and possibly millions of souls to perish rather than allow them to continue living in rebellion to his truth
• God chose truth over the souls of those in Sodom and Gomorrah, raining fire and brimstone upon them and dooming them to eternal hell
• God chose truth over the souls of Pharaoh and his armies drowning them in the Red Sea and condemning their souls to eternal torment
• God chose truth over the souls of individuals in Israel, slaying them for their sin with Aaron's golden calf and condemning an entire generation to die in the wilderness.

I do not mean that God did not care. I am convinced that God grieves over the souls over every sinner who chooses his sin over God's truth. However God places such value on truth that, regardless of the cost, He always chooses truth over the soul.

Modern Christianity would do well to take a clue from God. The current pragmatic kind of Christianity that allows practically anything to go so long as we are seeing assemblies gathered together and souls supposedly being converted is contrary to the very nature of God.

The soul of man is of inestimable worth. Truth is of far more value than that.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

A Comfort Gone Bad

John Gill makes a comment on Job 32:1 that's worth consideration. He writes, "His three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, who came to visit and comfort him under his afflictions; but unawares were led into a controversy with him, …."

How often good intentions turn into something very wrong.

• We mean to say something cheerful but we say something hurtful
• We mean to be helpful, but our effort turns out harmful
• We mean to be a blessing, but the blessing turns out bad

Very often the person we hope to comfort is in such pain that they misunderstand our intentions and our comfort goes bad. At other times their pain causes them to misspeak and we take it wrong and react and the comfort goes bad.

Much too often the well intentioned contribute to the pain of a suffering soul when they are led unawares into a controversy with the suffering.

Here's the thing; I can't imagine it should ever be considered the suffering soul's responsibility to set this controversy right. Those who have come to comfort need to be prepared to be misunderstood and misinterpreted and to forgive and let whatever reactions the suffering soul has roll off.

Forgive one another.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

Baptist Heritage May Not Be What You Think

 One of my first experiences in church, once I became an adult was an issue over Baptist heritage. My friend, the man who brought me to a Baptist Church the first time, had loaned me a book by John R. Rice. Rice wasn't a strong Baptist though he was a strong Fundamentalist and thus accepted by the better part of those Fundamental Baptists I was aware of. Rice's book seemed to cast doubt on local church authority which led me to speak to my pastor. After a conversation with him, and reading The Trail of Blood, I became interested in Christian heritage and Baptist heritage in particular.

One of those lessons I learned is that Baptists don't agree on Baptist heritage.

• There are those who believe squarely that Baptists had their beginnings with John Smythe in England in the early 1600's and 
• There are those who believe (as did the author of the trail of Blood) that Baptists trace their roots through Anabaptists to John the Baptist

The two camps tend completely deny the veracity of the other's view. In truth there is some veracity to both schools of thought.

• It is undeniable that some Baptist congregations had their beginning with Smythe but 
• It is equally undeniable that others can trace their roots much further back. It is not an either or situation but a both situation

And herein lies one great rub amongst those who claim the broader title of  Baptists. We keep trying to tie our lineages together when in fact we are two separate systems of spiritual faith as diverse as  Methodists would have been to Presbyterians a century ago. These two schools, even if each claims to be fundamentalist, are unique, diverse, and in very many respects, incompatible.

Notice that I did not say un-christian. I am not advocating that we oppose one another but only that we acknowledge that we are not the same. The distinctives between us are, I believe, important enough to demand that we remain separated lest those distinctives be lost altogether.

• There are distinctives in the ordinances
• There are distinctives in heritage
• There are distinctives in doctrine 
• There are distinctives in emphasis

The melding of our respective camps, whether it be out of a desire to present unity in the world or a misunderstanding of our relationship given we claim the same name, has only served to create

• Confusion among the outside world
• Division within the Baptist community and 
• Compromise of important doctrines

I am thankful for those Baptists who, while being charitable, have begun to call Baptists to separate and identify their family of faith within the broader camp called Baptists.

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields