Not all Baptists are Baptists

 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

The Apostle John warns us not to believe everything we hear. Not even from the pulpit! We know there are different understandings of some of the difficult passages in the Bible. We know there are going to be different understandings as to how exactly the Bible applies to us; Hence the number of different denominations in America. But every true Christian knows that the Bible is our written source of truth. It was divinely inspired by God and was written just as the Spirit led the writers to write it. It contains no errors. The only errors that arise are the result of our flawed understanding of God and His word. The Bible has authority because it is the word of the true and living God, Creator of the Universe. The Apostle Paul also warned us in 2 Timothy 4:3 that there would come preachers and teachers who would ignore sound doctrine and teach lies. That’s why we are told to study the Bible so that we can avoid being led astray by false teachers.

I am writing this because I have just had the experience of running across a whole denomination hiding the reality of who they are. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They call themselves “American Baptists”. But they are not really American Baptists. Now Baptists are traditionally known for taking God at His word. They are generally conservative although sometimes to varying degrees. They hold the Bible to be sacred and of the highest authority. But, as I sadly discovered, not all Baptist churches are true Baptists. The case in this example is a discovery about “American Baptist” Churches. I was doing some research on my Mom’s church because she was alarmed at what the new pastor was teaching. To make a long story short, I found out that her church is not a member of “The American Baptist Association”. As it turns out they belong to the “American Baptists of the USA”(And yes I noticed the redundancy in the name itself). This group is terribly liberal. They ordain women pastors (something real Baptists frown upon). They also believe that the Bible is outdated and is only used as a guideline. Each individual church within the organization can interpret it however they want. That’s a serious danger sign. The problem with all this is if we can’t trust God’s word to be His infallible word then how do we know anything about Him or His Son or what He expects of us? It’s heresy.

I guess my point is two-fold. We have to immerse ourselves in God’s word so we will know the truth. And we need to do our research. Don’t just assume by the sign out front that a church teaches what you believe to be true. There are wolves hiding everywhere.

Be blessed,

Evangelist, W. Shannon Caplinger