LTRP Note: The Southern Baptist Convention is changing. Recently, Rick Warren spoke at their annual convention and encouraged pastors to climb on board his global P.E.A.C.E. Plan. In view of the move we have seen in the Southern Baptist Convention over the last several years (like most other evangelical denominations and movements) toward the contemplative/progressive/emerging spirituality, this article by David Cloud of Way of Life is insightful.
“The Path From Independent Baptist to the Shack, Rome and Beyond”
by David Cloud
The path from Independent Baptist to the broader evangelical church is clearly marked, and it typically leads through the Southern Baptist Convention. There we encounter treacherous waters where ancient heresies and end-times fables abound.
I don’t know of any Independent Baptist preachers (yet) who believe in the non-judgmental Shack god/goddess or salvation apart from faith in Christ or Christian homosexuality or the downgrade of hell or the partial inspiration of Scripture or Robert Schuller’s self-esteemism or who love the Roman Catholic mass or promote contemplative mysticism or deny the substitutionary atonement of Christ or promote New Age practitioners.
But many evangelicals and Southern Baptists are guilty of these things.
When the walls of separation are torn down or become “soft,” Independent Baptists can drift into these treacherous waters and become shipwrecked. In fact, they don’t even have to drift out of the Independent Baptist movement today, because the treacherous waters are back flowing into the IB movement through the gaps in separation and bringing the spiritual dangers with them.
Some claim that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is “conservative” and theologically safe today and that the battle against liberalism has been won. There is a move by some fundamentalists to join hands with “conservative evangelicals.” Click here to continue reading.
