Category Archives: Southern Baptist

by Anthony Baker | May 2, 2011 · 7:58 pm

What’s Your Preference?

I’m American

Just sitting here at a ball game, watching my little girl hit a run-scoring double, and thinking, “It’s great to be an American.” Of course, some may disagree, especially those in other countries who don’t let girls play softball, or even show their faces (no offense, Bin Laden…no, wait, you don’t care anymore, do you?). Nevertheless, I feel a great appreciation for the blessing of being born in the United States (I even have a real birth certificate).

I’m Southern

I also have a love for the Old South. And because I am a true Son of the South, I maintain a particular preference for a drink rarely served in other parts of the world…iced sweet tea.

It’s only a preference, mind you. I can enjoy my tea hot. I quite often, if not regularly, enjoy unsweet tea. I can even drink it out of dainty cups or plastic jugs (must be my moonshine heritage). However, two things have to be present in order to make my tea consumption a magical, patriotic, caramel-colored celebration of leaf-juice perfection…

Ice
A Mason jar.

There is no wrong or wronger way to drink tea. The English have their fancy ways, as do the Chinese. But what makes drinking tea right, at least from a Southern perspective, is not just the temperature: it’s the addition of frozen cubes of water walled ’round by a jar meant to preserve food for future generations. That’s pure Southern cuisine.

Preference Identifies

Again, this is all about preference. If I were not a blood relative of someone who died while wearing gray, it would not be strange for me to prefer tea with cream and cookies. On the other hand, my preference identifies me. My preference hints at where I come from. My preference links me with others who love iced tea. My preference helps confirm my birthright.

Should it be any different for a Christian?

How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea sweater than honey to my mouth! – Psalm 119:103

Dear believer, can you be identified by YOUR preferences?

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Filed under America, Christian Living, Food, salvation, Southern Baptist, Uncategorized

Tagged as Beverages, Christian, Cuisine of the Southern United States, Mason jar, Preference, Tea, United States

by Anthony Baker | November 24, 2010 · 5:57 pm

“May They be One, as We are One…”

I want thank all the people in Lookout Valley who attended our annual community-wide Thanksgiving service held at Lookout Valley Baptist Church. At least seven (7) different congregations from 4-5 different denominations were represented. It was a great evening of fellowship and friendship.

Each year our community has a Thanksgiving service in which all the Christian churches are encouraged to attend and participate in some way. I guess, others in the community would be welcome, but the overall emphasis of an evening like this was to give thanks unto God, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, for all of His blessings. As believers in Christ, we have more reasons to be thankful than anyone else. Besides being blessed beyond measure by being allowed to live in a country such as ours, we have been forgiven of our sins, made heirs of the Kingdom, and have become part of a universal family of God. A Thanksgiving service like this is more like a family reunion around the dinner table of the Father.

Pastors Bill Akers and Anthony Baker (United Methodist and Southern Baptist)

This year’s speaker was Pastor Bill Akers, from Wauhatchie United Methodist Church. During his sermon he shared his testimony, gave thanks to God for sparing his life, and even gave out some peanut M&Ms. To be honest, I have never seen a Methodist preacher with so much energy. I don’t even move around as much as he does.

Last week I tried to encourage my congregation to attend the service last night. I wanted them to do the best that they could to show a spirit of familial love, which shouldn’t be too hard, considering we were all part of the same spiritual family. Jesus Christ Himself prayed that we would do no less when He prayed to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane.

John 17:20-23 I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message. May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me. I have given them the glory You have given Me. May they be one as We are one. I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me. – HCSB

In the seventeenth chapter of John, Jesus prays for several things, but one thing that He repeats is the desire that we all be unified in the Father and the Son. Through this unity, as Jesus prayed, the world may see the love of the Father towards Jesus, and believe on Him (vs. 21 & 23). Sadly, it would seem that so many believers in Jesus want to keep this prayer from being answered. How sad is this, and how ludicrous?

It is possible for a prayer of Jesus to be denied?

If Jesus prays, then you know His prayers get answered. As a matter of observation, the only one of the requests made in chapter 17 that has not been fulfilled is the request that we be made one. Does this mean that Jesus’ prayer will never be answered? I don’t think so, but we should really think about this seriously. What is it going to take for this prayer to be answered? Will it happen after we all reach heaven? Then what would be the point of doing it so the unbelieving world could see?

I think that it is a crying shame when certain groups cannot look past minor differences in secondary doctrines, even for just one night. There were at least two other congregations in our community that did not participate in our community service. Both were Baptist. Both were independent. Now I can understand the Church of Christ not coming. Many of them believe that the rest of us are going to hell, anyway, so why meet with us. The same thinking persists with the Adventists, also, because we’re anti-sabbatarians. But for the Baptists, you would think that just because your brother or sister in Christ uses a different Bible translation, or wears pants instead of a dress to church, one night wouldn’t be so hard; but not so. The doctrine of Separation is much, much more important than honoring the prayer of our Savior.

One day, I fear, there may come a day in this country to rival those in other countries around the world. Here, we are so spoiled and pampered that we can afford to be separate. We have the option to spend all of our money on different denominational specifics. We have all the space in the world to plant a new congregation every time we disagree with each other. We have all the freedom of speech and the freedom of time to harp more on our differences than work together to fulfill the Great Commission. If we ever wind up having to worship underground, we won’t have it so easy. Denominational monikers will become a thing of the past.

Are there differences between some of our denominations that are serious? Of course. I am not denying that we have doctrinal issues worth debating with passion. I am fully aware that there are some out there that call themselves believers in Christ, but are actually sheep in wolves’ clothing. However, aside from that, we are still a family that needs to stick together whenever we can. We have the same Father. We were washed in the same blood of the Lamb.

After all, we are going to be spending eternity together.

What is it going to take for us to make an effort to put some of our petty things aside so that a lost and dying world would see Jesus? I am just so glad that there are a few churches in Lookout Valley that love Jesus more than arguing 100% of the time over unknown tongues, eternal security, election, translations, or conventions. We can do that 90% of the time. The least we can do is give God His 10% in a tithe of brotherly love and unity.

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Filed under baptist, Christian Living, Christian Unity, Independent Baptist, legalism, Relationships and Family, Southern Baptist

by Anthony Baker | October 28, 2010 · 11:22 am

When you hear the sound of the trumpet…

Last night I had the honor to participate in an event of community prayer. I was invited to speak by Shelton Brown, a student at Soddy Daisy High School. If you don’t know what happened, a whole bunch of people gathered together in the park to celebrate our right and freedom to pray, even though it was recently mandated that prayer be stopped before football games. This meeting was organized by students who decided enough was enough.

In my closing remarks (I spoke for 7 1/2 minutes) I brought up the story of Nehemiah, specifically a part in chapter 4, verse 20. Nehemiah, in response to threats from enemies intent on stopping them from rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, set people on the wall as lookouts. Being that the wall was big and spread out, and being that there were few people, Nehemiah came up with a plan. He said :

The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

To me, and I am just little ol’ me, there should have been a lot more people present last night. Why? A trumpet was sounded for the body of Christ to come to the aid of not only Soddy Daisy, but for all of Hamilton County. An attack on our freedoms, as both Christians and Americans, has come to our soil. Why is it that our schedules and programs and our own sections of the wall are more important than stopping the enemy somewhere else?

Last night was your typical “Wednesday night prayer meeting” night. Besides the fact that prayer is rarely the object of attention at most of these meetings, what would have been wrong with jumping in the church bus and heading to where the trumpet was sounding? Where there may have been 500+ at this event last night, there should have been 1-2000. Why were they not there? Because it was more important for local congregations to remain safe and snug in their own little sections of “the wall.” Here was a prime example of LEGALISM in action, for many did not want to participate in an event that featured speakers that weren’t of a particular denomination. Here was a prime example of LAZINESS, for it may have been difficult to get people together to go somewhere on a weeknight, especially if it wasn’t to Ryan’s or the bowling alley. Here was a prime example of DENIAL, PRIDE, and APATHY, for there were others that did not attend because they either didn’t think there’s a problem; it wasn’t their idea; or they just really didn’t care. Folks, what has been “typical” needs to be trashed.

This past Sunday I told my congregation that I would be in Soddy Daisy on Wednesday night because a trumpet had been sounded. I went to stand in the gap with my brothers and sisters that cared enough to make a public stand against the tyranny of a few over the wishes of the people. In the future, when other trumpets are sounded, I pray that the churches of our county and our country will rally together in defence of the few walls we have left in this nation that, for now, claims to be “under God.”

May our God truly fight for us, for we don’t seem to want to fight for oursleves.

…Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. – Nehemiah 4:14

The Doctrine of Separation Examined

There are so many destructive teachings that are simply corruptions of actual truth. One of those is the doctrine of separation. Practiced within the more independent and fundamental sects of Christianity, this doctrine is mainly derived from 2 Corinthians 6:17, ” Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you…” The idea is that if one group does not agree with another in all areas, then association is considered sinful, or at least liberal.

I personally believe that this has been taken way too far within the body of Christ.

A few Sundays ago I was at a church where a missionary was speaking. I really enjoyed hearing what he had to say. What disappointed me was what was on his prayer card. Listed on the back, in his statement of beliefs, was the “doctrine of separation.” However, during the message that he preached, he spoke of how it was good to be able to talk to a Charistmatic believer in Mongolia. He spoke of how it was good, in a land that so few missionaries frequented, to find anyone to talk to that was a Christian. But when it came to working together, that was a different story.

Years ago, in 1992, I was given the opportunity to travel to Romania for a month. Long story short, in order to do some first-time evangelical work in a small village, two other young guys and myself were priviledged to hire a young interpreter to help us. Actually, he was helping a Pentecostal church group rebuilding grain silos during the day. Because he was free in the evening, he helped us. He even helped us make friends with the Pentecostal group. We didn’t have services together, but we did get to have friendly contact. Ultimately, because of this unplanned cooperation (the Church of God folk paid the interpreter for us) around 80 souls came to accept Christ as their Saviour in one week.

When I got back to the U.S., thoughts crossed my mind about how Baptist missionaries could develope ways to work together with other Christian missionaries in third-world countries, especially where the work was great. Pooling local resources and manpower for mutual benefit seemed something totally logical to me; but not to BIMI, the mission agency with which I had traveled. Unlike Southern Baptist missionaries, independent Baptist missionaries have to raise their own funds to reach the field and to stay there. To me it seemed that being able to work with other Christians to accomplish like goals was a no-brainer, but not according to the doctrine of separation which BIMI held true to, as do most independent Baptists with which I have been aquainted.

The belief that Christians cannot work together, worship together, or evangelize together to reach a common desired goal is crazy. There are areas that make Baptists (of which I am) different from other denominations, and rightfully so. These differences, however, are more often than not of little eternal significance. Baptists believe in baptism by submersion, for instance, while Presbyterians normally do not. Is that worth saying that when it comes to winning the lost for Christ that we must remain separate in all things? Even if a friend of mine is a five-point Calvinist, does that mean that I can’t walk down a street with him as we both preach salvation through Jesus alone? I like what article XIV of the 2000 edition of theBaptist Faith and Message has to say on the subject:

“Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries for the extention of Christ’s Kingdom. Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation for common ends by various groups of Christ’s people. Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.”

When it comes to the legalists and the Pharisaical crowd that promotes separation to the extent of mutual exclusion, finger pointing and self-glorification (i.e., “I am right with God and you are not, because you don’t believe the same as me.”), maybe isolation isn’t that bad. More people than not, I truly believe, think that working together for the greater good of the Kingdom is biblical. Only a small minority of so-called “fundamentalists” within the Christian faith feel otherwise. However, the problem is not so much that we believe that working together is good as long as there is no compromise, it’s getting us to actually DO it. Let the “separatists” stay separate if they wish, but let the rest of us unite where possible to form a true Nation of Christians, the body of Christ.

Say what you will about the “herd mentality,” but it is the loners that the lions and wolves look for first. There truly is strength in unity.