We have just celebrated our 85 anniversary, as a church family.  That milestone was cause for some reflection, and perusal of our own church records.  Many, who read this article are part of a church that has been in existence for several decades.  The review of the history of your church can be very encouraging.  We all have some things we would like to
erase from our church records, but even these have value, if viewed from Gods point of view.

        Perhaps nothing in the organizational history of a church is so outstanding, as a time when the congregation stood firm on the Word of God, and found it necessary to part company with some group of churches.  On a Wednesday evening, February 13th , 1935 Central Baptist Church of Gary, Indiana, did just that.  The infiltration of liberal doctrine in the Northern Baptist Convention had become intolerable.  That night our pastor, Dr. Robert Ketcham, read a resolution documenting the slight of hand and doctrinal defection of the convention.  There were some who were so tied to the denomination, that it was not possible for them to see or admit that it was beyond repair.  The majority of the people, however, had heard, understood and agreed to let the denomination go its way.

        It was not as if no effort had been extended in trying to correct the  problems, it was just to late.  The leadership, in the main, were men committed to the left and they controlled the moderates  involved, as well as the dwindling number of conservatives still remaining. They protested that they "stood where they had always stood", and had not changed their "statement of faith".  In fact, they had changed their doctrine but not their statement.  This was best demonstrated in the
compromise of the colleges.  Dr. Ketcham identified liberal doctrine that had invaded the schools, such as a denial of the hell and heaven as literal places.  Many of the professors had ceased to believe in the Baptist distinctives, and were turning from the eternal sonship of Christ, as well as salvation by the blood.

        The educators confessed that the more they studied the Bible, the less they knew and believed about it.  They attempted to limit the authority and sufficiency of the Bible by saying that the Bible didn't speak to most of the issues being debated.  Their defense was, that anything that was not spoken to by some major creed was unnecessary.

        The agencies were no better.  Their involvement with compromise included many who did not hold Biblical Baptist doctrine.  The breaking point came over a matter of separation, when they allowed the communist party use of their facilities.  When challenged, they argued that the belief of those people was not their own, and that rather than criticizing, pastors ought to get busy with the positive ministry of reaching people.  Their view was, that the church was not to be known by its orthodoxy but by "love".  To them, all of the doctrine being debated was "peripheral" or "secondary" and not central to the Christian faith.
 

        Educational institutions, state and local conventions, had identified with those who no longer believed in baptism by single immersion for the believer, those who had taken "holy" out of the doctrine of holiness, rejected the any moment return of Christ, and from much of what was viewed as "Regular Baptist Doctrine".

        Contrary to common conception, the real heartache in that great "downgrade" debate, was not the conflict between liberals and fundamentalists.   In fact even though the liberals had gotten control of the organization, they were small in number.  The real pain came between brothers in Christ, those who demanded that everyone ought to stay in the denomination despite the denial of Biblical doctrine, and those who had "given up hope", and knew it was time to leave.
 
        The die had been cast and most of the conservatives left.  In due time, some of the moderates decided to leave by a questionable route.  This left those on the left in charge of a dwindling convention.  So that today, there is not one "Biblical Separatist" left in that once thriving organization.

        Sixty years have passed and a careful reflection on that decision, is a comfort to this church, that they did indeed do the will of God, that night back in 1935, when they followed the informed direction of their shepherd.

        On November 20, 1994, this congregation found it necessary to make that decision once again.  Using almost the same resolution from 1935, we agreed that God and His Word is higher than denominational loyalty.  One more time, Bible truth overruled fellowship.  The downgrade of "Biblical, Historical, Separatist, Baptist Doctrine", using the arguments of the
NBC, and the denominational approval of some of the same liberal doctrines of  the convention, left no choice in the matter.

        If the Lord tarries, and another half century passes, we are convinced that our grandchildren will read the record with the same assurance that we have.

Post Script

    The previous article was written some years ago.  The sad part is that this very church has now chosen to flirt again with the apostacy that on two occasions it bravely rejected.  This stands as a warning to every church that compromise is but a heartbeat away.
 

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