The Slippery Slope to Baptist Briderism - Part 1

A couple weeks ago, I found a website that explains the doctrine that Baptist Briders teach in their churches. (this may not be 100% accurate for all briders, but I guess you could say a "Fundamentalist" Baptist Brider would believe what is on this website) First, I'll give you the link: Baptist Brider Statement of Faith

Over the past few years, I've noticed a trend in some Independent Fundamental Baptist churches. They get all focused on the history of the Baptist church. It's been named Landmarkism, but in reality, it's just a few baby steps away from being Briderism. Don't believe me? Maybe you don't know Brider doctrine.

Here's a quote from the website:

We believe that Christ organized the first church during His earthly ministry and promised perpetuity to the kind of churches He founded upon Himself. Such churches have never appeared spontaneously or evolved out of apostasy, but have always sprung up from an existing church, tracing their authority back to the first church Jerusalem. Just as promised, Christ's churches have continued to exist througout the ages. They are neither Catholic nor Protestant, having Christ as their only head and remaining faithful to His Word. They have been called many names (Anabaptists, Novatians, Cathari, Waldenses, Albigenses, Donatists, etc.) but have always shared the same foundation and doctrine. We do not believe that all "Baptist" churches are true churches. Even churches that were properly organized and once held to the true faith can and often do lose their authority by forsaking the truth.

Sound familiar? It does if you've ever been in a Baptist church that places too much emphasis on Baptist history. This isn't from your local Baptist church though, this is Baptist Brider doctrine.

This is what it continues to say.

The Lord's churches are local, visible bodies of baptized believers that have received authority from another true church and hold fast to the faith once delivered to the saints. Humanly speaking, they are independent and democratic, yet they are to depend on and submit to Christ their head. All things are to be done decently and in order. The commission given to the Lord's churches is to baptize and teach the whole counsel of God. Churches are to assemble regularly for worship and edification. They are to be missionary, spreading the gospel far and wide as they are made able.

There are two church ordinances: baptism and the Lord's supper. Only those who have made a profession of faith and show fruits of repentance are proper candidates for baptism. Only the Lord's churches have the authority to administer baptism. Candidates are to be fully immersed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not to obtain salvation but to make a typological picture of their dying to sin and rising to walk in newness of life. Baptism places believers in a particular church. All believers are in the family of God, but a "universal" or "invisible" church does not exist.

Churches are commanded to observe the Lord's Supper in remembrance of Christ's death. The unleavened bread and wine symbolize the sacrifice of His body and blood. Members individually and churches collectively are to examine themselves before observing the ordinance, for those who do so unworthily bring judgment upon themselves. The ordinance should be administered only to members of each particular church.

Still sounds very familiar. If your church teaches this, it probably looks very normal to you. There's a lot of things wrong in there, but I'm not going to deal with that just yet. Look at the next paragraph.

Churches are to be continually sanctified by the Word and should strive to keep themselves pure in doctrine and discipline. The Lord's churches are to be separate from the world and its false churches. Churches recognize the authority of other churches when they share pulpits, exchange members, attend union meetings, or join associations. Great caution should be used with regard to fellowship, even among so-called Baptists. Instead of the popular practice of exchanging letters with other Baptist churches as standard procedure, we consider it more cautious and consistent to examine each case individually to determine whether a candidate for membership has received scriptural baptism. We are not obligated to exchange letters with any church that we consider irregular. Churches that preach another gospel, tolerate wickedness, practice open communion, or receive alien immersion either directly or indirectly should not be recognized as regular. Although we do not claim to know at what point God removes the candlestick from a church, we are to draw clear lines between truth and error in all we preach and practice. When a church countenances false religion, it commits spiritual fornication and is in grave danger of forfeiting its own authority as a true church. The Bible promises perpetuity to the Lord's churches, but the perpetuity of each individual congregation is conditional on its faithfulness.

Read through that, and look at all the unBiblical doctrine that Baptist Briders have made up so that they can call themselves the only "true" churches. This is just the first post of a series of posts I'm going to do on this subject. There will be more to come later.