Biblical Separatism and Its Collapse

The book documents the widespread collapse of biblical separatism over the past two decades among fundamental Baptist groups, such as General Association of Regular Baptists (GARBC), Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI), and Southwide Baptist Fellowship. There is a focus on prominent churches such as Highland Park Baptist Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Virginia. The book further documents the explosion of apostasy within the Southern Baptist Convention and evangelicalism in general over the past half century. At the very time when many fundamental Baptist churches are tearing down the walls of separation and entering the broader evangelicalism and adopting a contemporary philosophy, those waters have become exceedingly treacherous. We describe ancient and end-time heresies such as cultural liberalism, the downgrade in biblical inspiration, the downgrade in hell, the redefinition of the atonement, the acceptance of homosexual Christians, self-esteemism, and contemplative mysticism. We document the fact that one of the paths from fundamental Baptist to New Evangelicalism and the contemporary philosophy is a "soft separatism" that is ineffectual to protect the churches. This is followed by a study on biblical separatism and some examples of individuals who have rejected separatism and entered the evangelical waters only to become spiritually shipwreck. The reason that the author is deeply concerned about the collapse of separatism is that he is both a Bible-believing Baptist and a separatist by conviction. He is convinced that the "renunciation of separatism" is the renunciation of biblical Christianity. Separation is biblical. It is an "essential" and a "fundamental" doctrine. Separation is not the gospel, but it is a divinely-ordained wall of spiritual protection against apostasy and the world. To reject "separatism" is to tear down this wall so that God's people are no longer kept from the "good words and fair speeches" whereby heretics deceive the hearts of the simple (Romans 16:17-18) and no longer distanced from the siren call of the world. We are deeply concerned about the next generation, about our kids and grandkids. There are fewer and fewer churches that give more than lip service to separation. There are fewer and fewer churches that we can recommend with a good conscience. Will such churches still exist in 20-30-40 years so that God's people can find the spiritual protection they will need even more urgently then than we do now? The river of apostasy is flowing powerfully, and all a church needs to do to capitulate is to stop paddling upstream. Giving up separation is easy; maintaining it is not. We pray that many preachers will join us in the determination not to allow the collapse of biblical separation on our watches. CONTENTS I Believe in Biblical Separatism (personal testimony) The Collapse of Separatism Evangelical Bridge Builders The Danger of Soft Separatism Heresies and High Places in Evangelicalism The Path of Protection Frightful Examples of Shipwrecks