June 10-12, 1980

REGARDING FUNDAMENTALISM

A fundamentalist is a genuine believer in the Person, Work, and Doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ who:

1. Regards the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, as the verbally inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God;
2. Recognizes the Bible as the authoritative voice of God on all issues pertaining to life&emdash;civil, social, and spiritual;
3. Endeavors to practice Biblical conduct in all areas of his life;
4. Believes in all the foundational truths of historic Christianity, including:

a. The inspiration of the Bible
b. The virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ
c. The Deity of Christ
d. The bodily resurrection, ascension, and literal return of the Lord Jesus Christ
e. Salvation by grace through faith and regeneration by the Holy spirit
f. The eternal destinies of Heaven or Hell
g. Man is a sinner by nature and by choice

5. Earnestly contends for the faith, which includes a militant defense and proclamation of the faith and separation from all forms of heresy, apostasy, unbelief, and inclusivism, direct or indirect.

6. Is compelled by love to expose error, within and without the household of faith.

REGARDING "HISTORIC" FUNDAMENTALISM

We repudiate the position of those who refer to "historic" Fundamentalism and claim identity with it, but who are unwilling to practice a militant exposure of all non-Biblical affirmations and attitudes and cover their "soft" and compromising position with the mantle of "love."

REGARDING THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship believes that all attempts for church union as represented by the National and World Councils of Churches, the Jesus '79 gatherings, the recent Washington for Jesus Rally, the National Convocation for Christian leaders at Stanford University, and accommodations with the Roman Church are Satanic in origin and objectives and calls upon all regenerate believers to separate from this apostasy that is condemned by the Word of God.

REGARDING NEW EVANGELICALISM

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship believes that the religious movement known as New Evangelicalism has encouraged disobedience to the plain teachings of Scripture concerning separation and that it has changed the message, mood, methods, morals, and music of those who formerly were known as Fundamentalists; and that it is to be rejected by true Fundamentalists. This would include, but not be limited to, new evangelicalism in evangelism as practiced by the Billy Graham, James Robison and Luis Palau crusades; new evangelicalism in education as illustrated by Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary, California Graduate School of Theology; new evangelicalism in campus movements such as Campus Crusade, Young Life, Youth for Christ, and Intervarsity Fellowship; now evangelicalism in publications such as Christian Life and Christianity Today; New Evangelicalism in missions such as Wycliffe Translators, and new evangelicalism in the pastorate such as W. A. Criswell. It is questionable whether some of the above, such as Billy Graham and Fuller Seminary can still be considered merely as New Evangelicals since by their continuing compromises they move toward complete apostasy.

REGARDING PSEUDO-FUNDAMENTALISM

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship recognizes the danger of the movement known as pseudo-fundamentalism, sees it as new evangelicalism in embryonic form, views it as rapidly progressing toward new evangelicalism with new evangelical practices already accepted and therefore calls upon all local Bible-believing churches to reject pseudo-fundamentalistic activities such as those of the Jerry Falwell ministries.

REGARDING THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship exposes the modern-day charismatic movement as a counterfeit of true Christianity and as the catalytic agent for a one-world church of antiChrist; condemns it as subjective and experience-oriented rather than objective and Christ-centered; it warns Bible-believers against charismatic ministries such as Pat Robertson and The 700 Club, the PTL Club, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Jimmy Swaggart, LOGOS publishers, Melodyland School of Theology, the Full Gospel Businessmen's Organization, and the Oral Roberts' ministries.

REGARDING OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE POSTURE

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship deplores what appears to be a systematic and diabolical unilateral disarmament of our military establishment while at the same time the Soviet Union continues a massive arms buildup; and since the terms of SALT II provide for further curtailment of our military and the expansion of Soviet power, we go on record as opposing the ratification of the SALT II Disarmament Treaty.

REGARDING THE MORAL MAJORITY

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship believes that government was ordained by God for the purpose of protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty, that good government is the will of God, and that Christians have a responsibility to be active in governmental matters as the salt of the earth, but views with alarm movements such as the Moral Majority which are a subtle ecumenicity in which Catholics, Jews, liberal Protestants, Pseudo-fundamentalists, and Fundamentalists are drawn together in a quasi-political union; we believe that the saving of America's morals is a mere cosmetic treatment of the deeper problem of sin, that correcting the nation's morals gives the false impression that America's ills would be solved if her morality were reformed, that moral reformation is not the mission of the Church but, instead, the preaching of the saving grace of Christ which takes care of man's sin problem whereby man's morals become correct; therefore, we repudiate the false impression and the ecumenical union being promoted by the Moral Majority as unscriptural and therefore unworthy of consideration and cooperation by BibIe-believing people.

REGARDING THE LOCAL CHURCH

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship affirms its belief in the primacy of the local church, declares it to be the only Biblically mandated institution for the propagation of the Gospel and edifying of the saints, commends local church-planting to all fundamental Baptists, declares its belief that the so-called "electric church" as a para-church is a poor substitute for the church that Christ established, and admonishes our people to support their own local church and cease support of vast egocentric radio and television empires.

REGARDING THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF SEPARATION

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship believes that the historical doctrine of Biblical separation is a fundamental doctrine, that true Bible-believers are to be directly and indirectly separate from all types of apostasy, liberalism, new evangelicalism, and pseudo-fundamentalism, and deplores the attempt made by those who call themselves Fundamentalists to hide their "soft" position under the condemnation of secondary separation and continue to operate under the wholly unbiblical course of action of being "tolerant of believers who are tolerant of unbelievers."

REGARDING THE SEPARATION OF THE CHURCH AND STATE

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship abhors the intrusion of the bureaucracy into the affairs of the local church, condemns attempts by the IRS to regulate policies of private schools through the threat of the loss of a tax-exempt status, and believes that attempts to force unemployment compensation and other taxes upon churches and private schools is clearly unconstitutional and gives the federal government a tool to control, regulate, or to destroy Christian institutions.

REGARDING MUSIC

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship rejects the sensual trend of the religious music of today because it contradicts and nullifies the spiritual emphasis of the preaching and teaching ministries of the church. We oppose the superficial and carnal fruit produced by this music in the lives of both those who perform it and those who are exposed to it. We speak specifically of religious music which is overtly rock, country, and "pop" in style. Such music is basically rhythmic, sentimental, and emotional in character and the text generally emanates from a weak or distorted interpretation of the doctrines of Scripture. This above-described music is typified by the publications of Bill and Gloria Gaither, Benson Publishing House, Andrae Crouch, and other ecumenical and charismatic musicians who base fellowship and cooperation upon things other than the truth of God's Word. We oppose this music that incorrectly places the emphasis upon the physical instead of the spiritual and that has roots in the world instead of the Bible.

REGARDING EXCELLENCE IN GOD'S WORK

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship believes that the current climate in America is characterized by and promotive of slovenliness, carelessness, mediocrity, and catering to the slothful, base, and indifferent qualities of man's fallen nature, and therefore goes on record as desiring to encourage those churches and schools that are satisfied with the good at the expense of the best and who scorn spiritual, academic, social, and cultural excellence are depriving their people of practical results of Christianity and are robbing God of the glory due to His Name.

REGARDING THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FUNDAMENTALISTS

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship commends the World Congress of Fundamentalists meeting in Manila, Philippines and Singapore, November 12-13, 1980, as a worthy expression of true Fundamentalism and urges as wide attendance as possible.

REGARDING CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship commends the burgeoning Christian school movements, but recommends caution in uniting with organizations, both local and national, which are new evangelical in sympathy or those who include charismatics. It urges all schools to be discerning and to operate from a philosophy of theism rather than secular humanism. We condemn schools seeking secular, state, regional, or federal accreditation.

REGARDING HYPER-CALVINISM

While recognizing that great pastors, missionaries, evangelists, and revivalists such as Charles Haddon Spurgeon, William Carey, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards have aligned themselves with the theological system known as Calvinism, yet we reject in this day a hyper-Calvinism which negates or eliminates human responsibility in either the proclamation or reception of the gospel message as destructive to a Biblical evangelism which would offer the gospel freely to all men.

REGARDING PROMOTION

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship rejects the trend to gimmickry as a means of promoting the gospel ministry, the desire for "bigness," the justifying of every method so long as souls are saved, and urges a return to seeking God's glory, the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, and genuine repentance and conversion, lest our churches be filled with a "mixed multitude" with carnal appetites rather than a hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

REGARDING HUMANISM

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship believes that humanism as set forth in the Humanist Manifesto of 1933 and 1973 constitutes a new religion in America, that humanism believes that traditional, dogmatic, and authoritarian religions place the revelation of God above human needs and experiences do a disservice to the human species; that humanism begins with humans, not God; nature, not deity, and considers promises of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation both illusionary and harmful; that the Supreme Court has ruled humanism to be a religion, that this religion forms the basis for current social appeal in America which looks favorably upon abortion, divorce, and free sexual expression including the rights of individuals to pursue their sexual proclivities, including homosexuality; that it considers man's commitment to humankind the highest calling of which man is capable, making deity irrelevant and man central and autonomous; and that we therefore pledge ourselves to do everything possible to expose and oppose humanism in whatever form it takes, realizing that humanism is perhaps the greatest affront to Biblical Christianity in our generation because it is a religion deifying man and dethroning God and is essentially atheistic; that we call upon Christians everywhere to be intolerant of the acceptance of the religion of humanism in the public schools while the religion of Christianity is excluded from public schools; that the spread and support of the religion of humanism in the public school system at taxpayers' expense is both intolerable and unconstitutional, and that we lend our moral support to any testing of the issue that might come before the courts.

REGARDING INDEPENDENT BAPTISTS AND SOUTHERN BAPTISTS

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship sees as dangerous the growing rapprochement between fundamental independent Baptists and groups such as the Southern Baptist Convention through pulpit exchanges, speaking together in evangelistic conclaves, and through promotion of Southern Baptist leaders in periodicals; since the Southern Baptist Convention is riddled with and controlled by neo-orthodoxy and liberalism in its theological seminaries, colleges, and seminaries, and since all attempts at reform are simply cosmetic with no leader having the ecclesiastical, intestinal fortitude to strongly contend against these aberrations, we call upon fundamental Baptists to shun association with this group which daily goes deeper into apostasy.

REGARDING THE SCRIPTURES

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship affirms its belief in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments (66 canonical books) as the verbally and plenary inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God in the autographs, rejects as fallacious any theory of double or triple inspiration and rejects the books known as the Apocrypha as the inspired Word of God. We condemn paraphrases such as the Living Bible and Good News for Modern Man and the products of unbelieving and liberal scholarship such as the Revised Standard Version and recognize the unique and special place of the "Authorized" (King James) Version in the English-speaking world.

REGARDING THE BIBLICAL MANUSCRIPTS CONTROVERSY

The Fundamental Baptist fellowship recognizes that discussion and debate concerning the Biblical manuscripts has begun to attract national attention. In the process there has developed considerable confusion and misunderstanding as to the actual issues in the controversy, causing some Fundamentalists on the one hand to take a "don't get me involved in that fanatical sidetrack" approach and some on the other hand to break fellowship with otherwise good men with whom they disagree on the subject.

We recognize that any issue involving the eternal Word of God is of necessity important and should be dealt with carefully, intelligently, and prayerfulIy.

Therefore we resolve that this Fellowship denounce the bitter, divisive tactics on the part of some in this country who resort to violent, unfounded accusations, vicious name-calling, and destructive campaigns in order to propagate their position.

We further resolve that this fellowship take note of the large number of good men&emdash;pastors, educators, evangelists&emdash;on both sides of the debate and that we encourage these men and schools in further scholarly discussion and publication so long as they do so with courtesy and consideration for the godly, fundamental men with whom they disagree.

REGARDING WOMEN IN SCRIPTURE

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship opposes the Equal Rights Amendment and urges our legislators not to capitulate to the attempts made to pass this amendment. Furthermore, we oppose the ordination of women to the gospel ministry as being unscriptural.

REGARDING NUCLEAR POWER

Inasmuch as the liberty we enjoy for the propagation of the gospel both at home and abroad depends to a large extent on the human level on a free and strong America, and in view of the high priority the radical left and the ecumenical movement have assigned in the next few years for the destruction of our nuclear capabilities and generating plants, we call on our legislative and congressional leaders to go "full steam" ahead in the development of nuclear power consistent with strict safety and security regulations as well as of developing alternative sources of energy from the vast stores of coal, shale, solar, and geothermal potential with which God has stocked this good land. We moreover call for the death penalty for anyone found guilty of sabotage of any of our nuclear facilities.

REGARDING MISSIONS

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship believes that world evangelism is divinely mandated and calls upon all Fundamentalists to intensify their efforts to reaching all peoples with the gospel message; realizing that liberalism, New Evangelicalism, and pseudo-fundamentalism are not confined to the United States, we call upon Fundamentalists to carefully investigate even the old-line mission boards for evidences of these theological deviations.

REGARDING SEXUAL DEVIATIONS

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship views homosexuality and lesbianism as sexual perversions rather than as alternative life styles, sins that bring the condemnation and wrath of a Holy God upon a community or nation in which they are tolerated, and calls upon fundamentalists to strongly denounce these evils. We are aware of the rising tide of militancy among the homosexuals in our country and the effect this can have on our churches. On the one hand there will be increasing pressure for non-discrimination in hiring them and accepting them into our schools and, on the other hand, harassment and even violence against churches and leaders who oppose them. We must persistently inform our own people well as public officials as to the Biblical, moral principles against homosexuality, through not only clear writing and teaching, but also fervent preaching.

REGARDING THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON FAMILIES

The White House Conference on Families, purporting to be a grass-roots consensus redefining the family, is both unnecessary and farcical insomuch as the family is clearly defined in the Word of God, and because this is a loaded panel consisting of government employees promoting statist control over families.

REGARDING OUR HOSTS

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship wished to extend its thanks to Pastor Harold Sightler and the people and staff of Tabernacle Baptist Church for their gracious southern hospitality.

Bob Jones III
Homer Massey
Wendell Mullen
Dave Sproul
Archer Weniger
James Singleton, Chairman