EVANGELICALS

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.

—II Timothy 4:3

1413 Phenomenon Of 1970s

For the first time in United States history, most major church denominations stopped growing and began to shrink—except the conservative denominations! Census of churches reveal that conservative bodies invariably move to the top of any growth listings, while National Council (liberal) churches occupy lower positions. The RULE: the more ecumenical and liberal the denomination, the more membership losses it suffers. Examples of exceptional growths are the Southern Baptists (which saw a Baptist to the White House in 1977), the Assemblies of God, the Church of the Nazarene, and others.

Five theological schools now rank ahead of the liberal Union Theological Seminary, which had held the no. 1 spot for most of its 140 years—Dallas Theological, Fuller Theological, Gordon Conwell Theological, Asbury Theological, and Trinity Divinity Seminary. All these growing schools uphold the historical accuracy and inspiration of Scripture. The more rigidly conservative, the larger its growth!

1414 One In Three “Born Again”

One in three adult Americans say they’ve been “born again,” according to recent Gallup Poll. Half all Protestants polled, and 18% Roman Catholics, claimed conversion experience for close to 50 million total. Gallup listed literal interpretation to Scripture, belief that one must witness as marks of evangelical: four in ten nationwide (38%), 46% Protestants, 31% Catholics hold that view of Scripture, 47% nationally said they had asked others to believe in Christ.

1415 Fastest Growing U. S. Churches

The ten churches that Elmer L. Towns says are the fastest growing in America not only claim to be evangelical but rather boldly assert they are fundamentalist. To them the label is not an ecclesiastical smear-word but rather a badge of unswerving fidelity to a rigid, authoritarian, Bible-centered fellowship that emphasizes evangelism—the recruitment of new members by almost any workable promotional technique.

Christian Life magazine annually lists the 100 largest Sunday Schools in America. Their characteristics:

(1) STRONG DOCTRINAL COMMITMENT—the Bible is central in both preaching and church life.

(2) MASS MEDIA—radio and TV outreach, newspaper, printing presses, etc.

(3) SUNDAY SCHOOL BUSES—the largest bus ministry uses over 100 SS buses.

(4) PASTORAL LEADERSHIP—the Pastor is the shepherd and should lead the flock, not vice versa.

(5) PREACHING AUDITORIUM—massive auditoriums, rather than sanctuaries, for old-fashioned preaching.

(6) SUNDAY SCHOOL PROMOTION—contests and advertising “gimmicks.”

(7) THE BIG DAY—a special homecoming to create enthusiasm through a big crowd.

(8) CHURCH LOYALTY—emphasis on the local church and its commitment: tithing, attendance in meetings, baptism, and volunteer work in the church.

NOTE: Most of the large churches are Baptists and places emphasis on baptism.

1416 Combating Baptist Liberals

Georgia Baptist leaders in Atlanta have launched a new monthly magazine to combat the inroads of liberalism within the Southern Baptist Convention. According to the editor, William A. Powell, the main goal of the periodical will be to expose the liberal and non-Biblical teachings that are being taught in Baptist Sunday schools, colleges, and seminaries.

—Pastor’s Manual

1417 Criswell’s Appeal

Dr. W. A. Criswell, pastor of the 15,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, when he was President of the Southern Baptist Convention issued an appeal to the liberals in the denomination to leave the ranks of the Southern Baptists and to start their own denomination.

Although the conservatives are by far the more numerous and vocal camp in the SBC, they can invoke no doctrinal discipline to block the liberals’ inroad.

—Prairie Overcomer

1418 Social Implications Of Gospel

When the International Congress on World Evangelization met at Lausanne in 1974, it stressed the social implications of the gospel as well as man’s personal need to trust Christ.

In one of the major conference addresses, Sr. Michael Creen said, “Evangelism is the church’s first priority. But you cannot isolate the preaching of good news without destroying the good news itself. … The end of Acts 5 brings us almost to revival situation in Jerusalem … and then comes Acts 6 with a little matter of social justice and fellowship.

“They could have so easily brushed it aside and said, ’Don’t fuss about the widows. Let’s get on with the preaching. That is what matters. ’ If they had done that, God’s Spirit would have been grieved, the fellowship would have been ruined.”

—Bible Expositor

1419 Inspiration Is Reaffirmed

In the Urbana ’76 convention’s first major address, John W. Alexander, IVCF’s U. S. president, laid the foundations for the program which followed. He emphasized his belief that the Bible “is the infallible revelation of the infallible God—which means that it is entirely trustworthy and reliable.” He told the students, “Our attitude toward the Scripture is desperately important.” Alexander declared in his address that he believed in biblical inerrancy while admitting its problems, “but I refuse to set myself up as judge of Scripture and commence deciding which problems are biblical error.”

The convention’s most prominent speaker, evangelist Billy Graham, faced the issue of Scripture on the second full day of the week. He made himself available to answer questions for an hour in the 17,000-seat Assembly Hall, and nearly half of the delegates showed up there despite dozens of competing meetings. Graham said he fully backed the Alexander statement. He was applauded when he held a Bible aloft and said, “This is the infallible Word of the Living God.”

—Christianity Today

1420 Evangelical Theological Society

Since its founding in 1948, the ETS has made belief in inerrancy a basis of membership. Members are required annually to sign a statement confessing belief in the Bible “as the Word of God written, and therefore inerrant in the original manuscripts.” Some members, though, apparently differ on how inerrancy is to be understood.

Lay theologian Richard Bube, a science-department chairman at Stanford University, returned his latest renewal applications unsigned. He accompanied it with request that the ETS reword the inerrancy statement. He suggested that it be made similar to Fuller Seminary’s revised statement, in which scriptural infallibility is limited to matters of faith and practice and not applied, for example, to facts of science.

After a two-hour closed meeting, the ETS officers decided against recommending any change. Therefore Bube is no longer a member. (He told Religious News Service later that he believes the Bible “is inerrant when properly interpreted according to biblical criteria.”

—Christianity Today

1421 Moody Bible Institute Dedicated

When Dwight L. Moody was dedicating the first building of what later became the Moody Bible Institute, he gave the cornerstone a whack with the trowel, then made an invocation to this effect: “Lord, you know that what this old world needs more than anything else is thy Word. We pray that if the day ever comes when anything contrary to the Bible is taught here, you will wipe this school from the face of the earth.”

—Sunday School Times

See also: Liberal Theology ; II Tim. 1:13.