The Devil And The Baptists
E.
G. Cook
Former
Pastor -
(Now
In Glory)
For nigh
onto two thousand years now the old devil has been on the trail of the
Baptists. For some fifteen centuries he tried to wipe them off the face of the
earth. But after untold thousands of them had been fed to hungry lions, burned
at the stake, beheaded, or buried alive he woke up to the fact that all this
just made the Baptists shine all the more brightly. He saw that he was defeating
his own purpose. So, in the sixteenth century he opened up his bag of tricks
and started the process of weakening the Baptists by means of imitating. He
soon
learned
that his new churches were working wonders on this thing of Baptist separation
from the world. As a result of this, many Baptists were feeling over-confident
by the middle of the nineteenth century. They no longer put on all the armour
of God as they were commanded in Eph. 6:10-17. As a result of their
over-confidence and lack of proper armour, old Satan was able to get a foothold
in Baptist Churches. Very soon he made them feel that he was doing them a great
favor by his taking over some of the duties that no one but the Lord of glory,
who is head over all things to His church, had a right to perform. So long as
Baptists looked to the Lord to guide them, He led each church into the study of
that part of His Scriptures that the individual church needed most. But, when
they turned that part of their church activity over to old Satan he did a wonderful
job of selling them on the idea of everybody in his new churches, and in the
Baptist Churches studying the same Scriptures at the same time. On the surface
this seemed a wonderful thing. No matter where you might attend church you
could know before you arrived just what Scriptures would be in the lesson for
that day. As we said, that seemed to be a wonderful thing, and Baptists really
fell for it. But, let us scrape the thin surface shell off this thing and give
it a thorough examination. Would you dare say that all these Baptist Churches
were in the same spiritual condition, and that they all needed the same
teaching? In II Tim.
Now that
the old devil had his filthy feet firmly set in the Baptist churches and was
making them like it, he was ready to go to work on them. As soon as he got this
firm foothold he began to gradually crowd our precious Lord out of His own
churches. This is not to say that the devil overpowered our Lord and forced Him
out. Not at all. It does mean, however, that when our Lord quickens His saints
and furnishes them with all the armour, instructions, and strength they need to
withstand the wiles of the devil He places the responsibility of doing that upon
them.
That is
why we (the Saints) must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. II Cor.
5:10. After a century of this privilege of telling our Lord's people what to
study, and when, let us take a close look and see how well he has succeeded in
doing what he wanted to do. Let us, for the sake of your time, skip his trail
through the years and pick it up in the year 1964. This trail is so open and so
brazen you do not need a trained Indian scout to locate it for you. In John.
3:7 our Lord said to Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again." In Heb.
buried,
and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Now let
us pick up old Satan's trail in 1964 and see if that is the way he points out.
In the Southern Baptist Sunday School Adult quarterly dealing with the lesson
for
Franklin
M. Segler, a professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary. Many
unsuspecting
Baptists feel that their lessons are written by "screened" Baptists.
If that
be true, it seems to me that the old devil did the screening in this case. Just
one short month later the old devil put his other foot down. And this time it
seems that he slipped in his own filth and really left undeniable proof that he
had been there. This time his track is seen in the Southern Baptist Young
People's Training Union quarterly for
Let us
just take one of these books, ANOTHER COUNTRY by James Baldwin and examine it
closely to see if you would like to have a daughter sit in a union and hear a
detailed report given on it. On page 23 and 24 of this book the author
describes in detail every step by which a young Negro man enticed a young white
woman to commit fornication with him. The author describes in very plain
language the act itself, and the results of it. This author, the brazen
instrument of hell that he is, has this young white woman saying, "It was
so wonderful" and kissing him.
We are
told that some of the devil's heathen temples of the long ago had as many as a
thousand prostitutes connected with the temple worship. Could it be that he has
in mind converting Baptist churches into that kind of worship? If that is his
goal, can you think of a better way for him to start his program than that
which he did
Someone
may be thinking that I am trying to tear up the convention, but I
assure
you I have no desire to tear up the convention. I am persuaded that it
will
continue to grow and grow and grow. In fact, I am really glad that those who
love all
the things that are flourishing in the convention have it to enjoy. It is the
few
scattered here and there in the convention whose souls are vexed from day
to day by
what they see and hear that I am concerned about along with the
unsuspecting
youth who stand to suffer so much.
did he
gain by it other than a couple of illegitimate sons by his own daughters
and a
couple of heathen nations for his offspring? He enjoyed the popularity
and honor
first, then suffered the shame and disgrace. My dear God-fearing
Baptist parents
how will it be with you? Will you continue to enjoy the fun and
the fried
chicken while your children and grandchildren slip into the filth and
slime
that you have ignored? It's up to you. I cannot conceive of a greater insult
that
could be thrust in your face than that which the old devil through his very
efficient
co-workers in
heard
about all that getting in the quarterly by mistake, but I have not found
anyone
gullible enough to believe it. Why should we believe it to be an honest
mistake
when the "FACTS" show that the Baptist young people were being
prepared
to accept this horrible thing during the preceding months? In their
Sunday
School quarterly for April May-June 1964 the writer justifies civil strife
on page
34, endorses the Peace Corps, World Health Organization, and
UNICEF on
page 40, recommends student exchanges and wheat deals with
communist
countries on page 43, supports the UN and urges destruction of
national
sovereignty on page 44, and praises the ecumenical movement on
page 50.
Then in their training union quarterly for January-February-March
1964 our
precious people were told twice on page 50 that the sex act itself is
not
wrong. If you want to know where this hellish teaching came from read
pages 9
and 10 of the booklet CALLED TO RESPONSIBLE FREEDOM
published
by the communistic, Christ hating, and Bible denying National
Council
of Churches. When the Baptist leaders are confronted with this
damnable
stuff in the quarterly they tell us that they had the married couples in
mind.
That too is so thin God-fearing Baptist parents cannot eat it with a spoon.
Since
when did married couples have to be told that the sex act itself is not
wrong?
God commanded it in the Old Testament when he told Adam and Eve,
and later
Noah and his family to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth. He
sanctioned
it in the New Testament when He said the marriage bed is
undefiled.
Now these Baptist leaders with courage and conviction tell us, in
effect,
"the bed is undefiled" and try to make us think they did not have the
single
young people in mind. Baptist parents who are dupes enough to believe
all these
horrible things are honest mistakes may very well deserve to have
prostitutes
for daughters and granddaughters and whoremongers for sons and
grandsons.
Our Baptist young people deserve the best, so for the sake of
these
young people who think there can be nothing wrong with all this because
"YOU"
are giving it your support, why don't you do something about it while you
still
have your influence? As you recall,
in his
face when he was finally forced to warn them.
It will
do very little good for you to just warn these young people. It has been
well said
that what you do sounds so loud I cannot hear what you say. Writing a
letter to
headquarters may soothe your conscience, but it won't deliver our
precious
youth from the devil's clutches. There is a way, however, and only one
way that
you can remove the responsibility of all this from off your shoulders.
Don't let
me, or any other man tell you what to do about it. Study your
Scriptures
on the subject and then do what you KNOW the Lord wants you to
do. Jer.
the
land." Jer. 51:51 says, "We are confounded, because we have heard
reproach,
shame hath covered our faces for strangers are come into the
sanctuaries
of the Lord's house." Verse 45 of this same chapter says, "My
people,
go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the
fierce
anger of the Lord." II Cor. says, "Wherefore come out from among
them,
and be ye
separate, saith the Lord." Rev. 18:4 makes it very plain, "And I
heard
another
voice from Heaven, saying, come out of her my people that ye be not
par-takers
of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
It won't
be easy, but you will be awfully glad you did it when you come to II
Cor.
5:10. "Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their
revilings,"
Isa. 51 :7b. May the God of all grace see fit to arouse us to our great
danger before the devil and his leaders succeed in their nefarious undertaking.