Half a Millennium of Believers Baptism

Less than two years from today will bring us to an incredible 500-year anniversary that should be remembered by God’s people: January 21, 1525, was the day that saw many brave Anabaptists receive baptism as believers. Among those baptized at that time were Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock. “The newly baptized then pledged…

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Historical Theology for the Church – a review

Duesing, Jason G., and Nathan A. Finn, eds. Historical Theology for the Church. Nashville: B & H Academic, 2021. A review by Don Johnson What is historical theology? “Historical theology is the study of the development of Christian doctrine and tradition from the Bible by the church and for the church.”1 This is the “working…

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Separation Compared: The Ancient and Modern Church

Some years ago, I was asked to consider the separation engaged in by the ancient church in comparison to the modern church. To what extent should a church separate from certain practices? Is there anything in culture a Christian abstain from? Separation Based on Acceptance When Constantine granted freedom to the Christian religion, many people…

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A Voice Long Silent Speaks for Today

Isaac Backus—Baptist Defender of Religious Liberty In recent times the separation of church and state has become an argument for barring the church from any input in the secular state. But the original idea was to bar the state from meddling in the church, not the converse. This critical distinction is evident in the thought…

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The Crisis of Missions

(or, The Way God Can Use One Man) Uncle Tom’s Cabin first appeared in 1852 in serial form and was later published as a book, setting sales records. Its emotional portrayal of the suffering of black slaves in the south captured the attention of the country. A decade later, during the early days of the…

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A Tale of Two Churches

The following article is offered as a prospectus for hopefully more extensive research into the invasion of the two main Baptist conventions in the USA during the 20th Century into local church autonomy. If anything, a Baptist church is to be an autonomous body that is ruled by congregational polity. Both conventions – Northern and…

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Unity and Purity In The Church

A Historical Survey As early as the second century, two contradictory trends had developed that would affect the doctrine of the church until the present time. One trend was toward external unity; the other was toward internal purity. These two directions were present prior to the Reformation, as Catholicism formed around the concept of an…

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Lessons from the Caffyn Controversy

    Can we learn from history? Given the oft-repeated mistakes of men, the adage that answers in the negative seems all too true. In the hope that perhaps we can be an exception, I’d like to draw your attention to Matthew Caffyn and the 17th century. Matthew Caffyn was a General Baptist pastor in…

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Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival

George Stiekes O Lord, revive thy work Habakkuk 3:2 Last week, we noted that real revival is preceded with frequent, serious, often intense prayer. Revival is not normally something the church leadership places on the calendar. However, as God’s people begin to get a burden to see God show Himself strong in our midst, they…

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