by Bret Capranica | Jul 31, 2005 | Church History
Little did the ancient Romans know that the Providence of God was directing them to build an old world superhighway for the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. According to the referenced report, the 535 mile Via Egnatia is regaining modern-day...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 30, 2005 | Calvinism, Southern Baptist Issues
Bobby Welch, current President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Pastor of First Baptist Church, Daytona Beach, Florida, is very concerned about baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention. He is also concerned about Calvinists within the Convention and what they are doing to the SBC’s baptism ratio. He posts his concerns on his church’s July 10 Newsletter and makes for an interesting read. Regarding Bro. Bobby’s recent cry for one million baptism’s this year, see my previous comments at FIDE-O. Concerning his Cavinistic concerns and claims, see Rob Wilkerson’s post and a post by Tom Ascol [part 1], [part 2], and [part 3]. I too am concerned about baptisms within the Convention. I am very concerned about my own personal evangelism and that of my congregation. We would no doubt be in Bro. Welch’s crosshairs for our lack of water stirred within the past year. I am grieved when the church is not seeing people openly profess their repentance and conversion through the waters of baptism. But, I’m also concerned about many of the baptisms that ARE taking place. In my experience, many SBC pastors [including myself at one time] are ready and willing to dunk anyone who will repeat a prayer after a minimalist [at best] presentation of the gospel. Perhaps we should also be taking statistics on just how many newly dunked professors of faith are also abandoning their confession and their church. I am not convinced that we are merely ineffective in our follow-up techniques and marketing strategies. Pastor Welch did not discuss anything about the gospel we preach, only the numbers he says we should...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 30, 2005 | General Theology
From Voice of the Martyrs: This week at the Baptist World Centenary Congress Baptist leaders around the globe shared stories of being persecuted for their faith. Some of the reports of persecution included church burnings in South Asia and Christians being deported from Western Europe. However, the good news is that YOU and I can do things to support these persecuted believers. We can pray for them daily. You can let your church know about the persecuted and educate your church. And you can share information that ministries that specialize and focus on the persecuted send out. Check out VOM’s blog. I’ve begun syndicating...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 28, 2005 | Culture
Albert Mohler posts a distrubing note about the abortion industry in Great Britain. Many troubling quotes come from this article, but one struck me this morning. According to a representative of the leading abortion provider in Great Britain, “Motherhood is just one among many options open to women and it is not surprising that younger women want to prioritise other things. We should stop seeing abortion as a problem and start seeing it as a legitimate and sensible solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancy.” This is precisely what the Apostle Paul was referring to in 1 Timothy 2:15 when he says, “but women will be preserved [lit. saved] through the bearing of children, if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.” Paul’s point in the context of the passage is that women, particularly in the church in Ephesus, were abandoning their roles as mothers for other roles, primarily that of public teachers in the church. According to Paul and Moses in Genesis, this isa similar role reversal to that which took place in the garden of Eden. In other words, to reject the role of motherhood for other priorities, is to reject God’s purposes and design. This is tantamount to making oneself God and exchanging His purposes for one’s own. The result: an outright rejection of God Himself. A woman is not saved merely by having a baby. The terminology and context suggest her salvation is connected to her acceptace of God’s design for motherhood. In other words a woman demonstrates her faith by her submission to the purposes of God, continuing in them with...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 27, 2005 | General Theology, Personal
Just for fun, over the next few weeks, I’m going to post a few thoughts regarding why I am a Baptist-flavored Christian. I did not begin as a Baptist baby. I was actually christened into the methodical liberalism of the United Methodist Church; therefore, my initial hatred for Baptists was birthed through weekly attendance in a religious culture antithetical to any Baptist distinctives. Then came conversion. Not mine, but my parents. Yes, my parents came to Christ under the gospel preaching (expository preaching, mind you) of a Baptist pastor and church. I was steeped in self-imposed hatred for the church following fourteen years of watching weekly examples of religious hypocrisy. My hatred for the church was directly confronted by the new joy and zeal I witnessed in my parents. Though I uselessly fought them as they (almost literally) drug me to our new Baptist church (I can’t speak to their ministry now), I was convicted week after week by the preaching of God’s Word and the people converted to Christ. I would watch as people zealously and reverently worshiped Christ in song, prayer and attentive intake of the expository messages. It caused me to secretly study my Bible. I had a Baptist hang-up though. I knew, if I were to give in to the conviction of Christ, I would have to go swimming in their narrow pool, located prominently in the back wall of the sanctuary, high enough so all in the audience could see. I just knew that the only prize these baptistic zealots desired was another notch on the their gospel gun gained through my public soaking....
