CALVINISM ON THE MARCH AMONG EVANGELICALS

A 2007 study shows that Calvinism is on the rise in the Southern Baptist Convention and is especially prominent among recent seminary graduates. Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, says that nearly 30% of recent graduates now serving as pastors are Calvinists (“Calvinism on the Rise,” Christian Post, Nov. 29, 2007). Roughly 10% of SBC pastors at large define themselves as Calvinists, but that includes only those who hold to all five points of TULIP theology and not those who hold to sovereign or unconditional election but not necessarily to all other points of Calvinism. LifeWay Research limits their surveys to a very narrow definition of Calvinism, and I suspect it might not want to know the true influence of Calvinism in the convention.

A report in Christianity Today for September 2006 was entitled “Young, Restless, Reformed: Calvinism Is Making a Comeback--And Shaking up the Church.” It documents the rapid spread of Calvinism in Evangelical circles, and I am seeing the same thing among Fundamentalists.

The report cites John Piper, R.C. Sproul, R. Albert Mohler, Louie Giglio, Joshua Harris, J.I. Packer, and the Puritans as among the chief influences responsible for the upsurge in Calvinism. Piper’s book “Desiring God” has sold more than 275,000 copies.

The trend toward the acceptance of Calvinism is evident at leading evangelical seminaries such as Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Under the direction of Al Mohler, Southern Seminary has become “a Reformed hotbed” and is turning out “a steady flow of young Reformed pastors.”

Updated March 26, 2009 (first published October 18, 2006) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org

Baker Preaches on His 100th Birthday

In the year 1908 Theodore Roosevelt was the president of the United States. This was also the last year that the Cubs won the World Series. You could also buy a first-class stamp for a mere two cents. However, something else worthy of notice took place that year as well. That was the year that preacher W.L. Baker was born, and exactly 100 years later on August 3, 2008, Baker stood before a congregation of almost 500 in Mt. Juliet, TN to deliver a sermon as they celebrated his 100th birthday and his almost 80 years in the Gospel ministry.
"I thought I was going to get all of this when I got to heaven," W.L. Baker said on his 100th birthday. He was speaking to the incredible honors that he had been given on this day, some of which included citations from Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and President George W. Bush.
On this morning, Baker stood and preached from Deuteronomy 34. The article in which I found this story, which can be found here , gave us a few quotes from his message:

"Moses linked his whole life to a worthy cause and he spent all of his last day on earth climbing, and I hope to do the same," Baker told the gathering.

"On Moses' last day, when he climbed the mountain, the Lord was waiting for him at the top," Baker said. "I am excited about that time when my last day comes and my Lord greets me in death and smiles. Until then, I want to press on.... God didn't put us in the world to look at small things, but big things."

He challenged the audience: "You are not living for today. This morning you are living for eternity."

Baker took classes at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for one year, but after that he decided to move to Louisville, KY to attend the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he later graduated in 1932 (Haze and Elijah would no doubt agree that this was indeed the correct decision). Baker's time in these wonderful institutions allowed him to have close and personal contact with some theological giants, such as L.R. Scarborough, W.O. Carver, George W. Truett, A.T. Robertson as well as a few others. His age also makes him Southern's oldest living alumnus.

The article continues:

"There's no way to describe how much those two years meant to me," Baker said of his studies at Southern Seminary. "Dr. [E.Y.] Mullins was gone by then, but Dr. [John R.] Sampey was there and Dr. Carver was one of my instructors. Anyone who went in Dr. Carver's class and stayed long and didn't come out with his heart burning for missions, then something was wrong with him."

The most valuable lesson he learned at Southern Seminary? Baker does not hesitate with an answer: "Love for the Bible. They instilled in me a great love for the Lord and the Bible."

One must ask the question, "How does one man stay so long in the ministry?" Baker answers the question simply: "Memorize the Scriptures." Baker is noted for being able to recite the Sermon on the Mount and has presented it from memory in more than 50 churches. He said:

"I would tell young ministers to memorize as much of the Bible as possible while they have the mind to do it." He continued: "The highlight of my life along that line was when I was at my first church and I was wrestling with the problem of what to preach the next Sunday. I wrestled with that quite a while and in three or four weeks was doing it again, and I felt an impression come to me, 'Why don't I preach Jesus' sermon?' So I committed the Sermon on the Mount to memory and it has been the greatest blessing in my ministry."

It's amazing how he very quickly breezes over the fact that he would just memorize the Sermon on the Mount as if it were not big deal. The sermon on the mount is three chapters, or 111 verses long. If you memorized one verse a day it would still take you almost three months to memorize it. 100 years old, and the man still has an unbelievably sharp mind. What a gift from God he has and what a blessing he is to us.

Tearing Pages From Bible

I just came across this and thought you might find it interresting.

A Southern Seminary professor stated in one of his classes that: "when we destroy creation, which is God's revelation, it is no different than tearing a page out of the Bible."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58808

Obviously he is dead wrong. The Bible is God's inspired, inerrant Word and God's creation is sin cursed. We are commanded in Genesis to be good stewards of God's creation but not to worship it.

We know God's creation is a light to mankind. (Rom. 1-20; Ps 19:1-6) But nowhere likens creation to the Bible or alludes to destroying creation would be like ripping pages out of the Bible.

The student that wrote the article would have us buy into this global warming frenzy.

Elijah may know more about this and it may not be as bad as it sounds.

Kent

Southern Seminary-Kurt Wise

For those of you who are already attending Southern Seminary or who are preparing to attend-

If you get a chance to take a class with Dr Kurt Wise, do so. He is a brilliant educator and staunch Creationist.

He is Professor of Science and Theology and Director of Center for Science and Theology.

He used to be at Bryan College where I met him when they were holding the Origins Conferences. He and I spent an entire day together one Saturday, walking thru the woods with him showing me evidence of Noah’s flood in plain sight that I would never have seen otherwise. I now know more of what to look for.

I have wanted to go back to Dayton and see the wood fossils in the rock croppings he showed me again. I was amazed at all the evidence in this small area. I forget the name of the area but it used to be an old railroad bed and coal mine. A small creek runs thru a dump site of coal and you can find fossils in small pieces of coal. You can also find live scorpions.

He also has an interresting testimony of his experience at Harvard and witnessing to Dr. Stephen J. Gould. Who until his death a few years ago was the world's leading evolutionist.

BigDog