Separation

^{Note: This article is reprinted from The Faith Pulpit (June/August 1987), a publication of Faith Baptist Theological Seminary (Ankeny, IA).}
Nearly four centuries ago the Puritan William Perkins drew a useful distinction. He suggested that there is a working difference between error and heresy. He wrote that error of itself is no ground for breaking fellowship, that any doctrinal discrepancy between two Christians means that one or both are in error. The Bible does not on that account command them to separate from each other. Heresy is another matter; heresy is error, but error that strikes at the very roots of the faith, and heresy is always grounds for breaking fellowship.

Scripture bears out this latter observation. Paul in 2 Cor. 6:14 commands us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, and he follows the command with five unthinkables. John in his second epistle wrote, “For many deceivers are entered into this world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come (or ‘coming’) in the flesh” (2 John 7). Then in verses 10 and 11 he adds,

If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

The American Council of Christian Churches (ACCC) describes itself as “a Fundamentalist multi-denominational organization whose purposes are to provide information, encouragement, and assistance to Bible-believing churches, fellowships and individuals; to preserve our Christian heritage through exposure of, opposition to, and separation from doctrinal impurity and compromise in current religious trends and movements; to protect churches from religious and political restrictions, subtle or obvious, that would hinder their ministries for God; to promote obedience to the inerrant Word of God.”

The ACCC held its 67th Annual Convention October 21-23 in Darlington, Maryland. Speakers included Dr. Richard Stratton, president Clearwater Christian College (Clearwater FL); and Dr. John Vaughn, president of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International (Taylors, SC). The following resolutions were passed:

by Dr. Steve Davis and Dr. John Davis
The “N” Train runs from Coney Island in Brooklyn to Astoria in Queens, taking the long route as an express train through Manhattan. Half the time it runs above ground and includes views of Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan as it travels across the Manhattan Bridge and views of Astoria and Long Island City as it runs through Queens. The route of the “N” Train captures the ethnic diversity of the city as the train winds through Russian, Hasidic, Chinese, Italian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and other ethnic neighborhoods. The economic diversity of the city is also reflected in its path as it stops in a lower-income area like Sunset Park, which is situated among a flurry of small businesses in Chinatown, or at the upscale stores of both Fifth Avenue and Lexington Avenue. If you love to eat, then you can enjoy the cuisines of the world starting with borsch in Coney Island, ending with fried kefalotiri cheese in Astoria, and enjoying the rest of the world in between.

Pickering, Ernest D. Biblical Separation: The Struggle for a Pure Church. 2nd edition. Schaumburg, Ill: Regular Baptist Press, 2008. Paperback, 264 pp. $14.99.

(Review copies courtesy of Regular Baptist Press.)

Purchase: RBP | CBD

ISBNs: 9780872278035

Excerpts: TOC & Introduction (13 pages); Chapter One (16 pages)

Subjects: Ecclesiology, Fundamentalism, Separation

^{Note: This article was originally published at SI on June 20, 2006.}
Concerns over our immodest culture are not swirling in the religious sector alone. Scrambling to bring a semblance of decency to the educational process, the Florida public schools in my own beloved Pinellas County declared a “classroom cover-up” war this past year, initiating a strict dress code that even prohibits sleeveless garments. One thing is certain: As the extreme indecent fashions of our day prompt the resurrection, enforcement, and establishment of dress codes in institutions across our country, the discovery will be made that rules carry little power to legislate modesty.

The Story behind Ernest Pickering’s Classic Book

^{Note: This article is the new foreword to Biblical Separation: The Struggle for a Pure Church, available from Regular Baptist Press.}

When Ernest Pickering wrote Biblical Separation in 1979, fundamentalism had not yet benefited from the dozens of academic studies that would be produced in the 1980s and ’90s. Most fundamentalist leaders were at least mildly peeved about the public perception of the movement, believing that media attention was often dismissive and inaccurate. And despite their historic suspicion of scholarly research, fundamentalists were oddly hurt when academic studies seemed to ignore their core theological values. For fundamentalists, the 1970s was a period of resurgence in the popular conscience, but not a period of enhanced understanding.

Genuine Appreciation

Do you remember when I wrote this SI article a year and a half ago? Today I appreciate the ministry of Grace Community Church (GCC) even more, having attended my first Shepherds’ Conference and a full Sunday morning and afternoon vespers worship with the church family in Sun Valley. If you want a thorough digest of the Shepherds’ Conference, hit the GCC Internet network. For some good, detailed reporting of the 2008 conference, link up with Evers Ding. I applaud this blogger’s efforts.

Publicly, let me express my appreciation to the Grace church family. First, all the superb servants at Grace pampered me (computer access, shoeshine stand, scholar’s desk, daily newspapers, and refreshments, etc.).

Scholarship and Separatism

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, and Part 9.