Blog on the Lillypad
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
 | Secret Radio
Secret Radio by Grace Jovian is an account of life at an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist College 20 years ago. If some of the contents of this blog puzzle you, Secret Radio may be your best introduction to the thin strata of Christendom known as Independent Baptist Fundamentalist ("IFB"). Her ongoing story is an entertaining way to learn of this increasingly corrupt, decreasingly biblical religious movement that was once a hallmark of Scriptural knowledge, serious personal study of the Bible, and moral uprightness. |
| When I first responded to the call of Grace and left the Roman Catholic Church (at the ripe old age of 14, declaring I would no longer pray to statues or participate in the Mass), Fundamentalism was not strictly Baptist (though mostly), and it had an emphasis on personal study of the Bible and obedience to it. In spite of a few flaws in outlook, this emphasis on personal study and growing proficiency in knowledge of the Scripture kept Fundamentalism pertinent. My own church had a lot of truck drivers and steel workers in it, and it was not uncommon to see a shelf in the homes of such men adorned with a STRONG'S Concordance and THOMPSON's Chain Reference, as well as a few books by Spurgeon and probably a much-thumbed PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. Our membership was over 80% former Roman Catholic. We had classes on doctrine. In my Christian high school, my sophomore Bible class was Church History, and we used a cut-down version of Wylie's HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. And along with this, there were sermons on modesty, not going to movies, tea-totalism, and---of course---being a witness for Christ to all mankind. |  |
Somewhere in there, Fundamentalism fell into the hands of man. The dress code became even more rigid and obedience to it became a major issue. Personal evangelism took on the name "soul winning," and many preachers dared to claim that soul winning was the only real fruit of the Spirit. The way to get a person saved was to have him or her repeat a sinner's prayer. There was no watching for the work of the Spirit: repetition was enough. Conversion came down to whether or not the person would repeat the prayer, not whether or not the Holy Spirit was at work in the heart.
| And belief and practice were put under the rule of the pastor. No more emphasis on personal study of the Bible and personal responsibility to it. Preachers in Fundamentalism are like mini-popes, demanding complete allegiance and exercising their authority with a blind, heedless self-assurance that they are speaking with authority, no matter how stupid, erroneous, and unbiblical their statements. And the great blight of "KJV-only" (the belief that the King James version of the Bible is an infallible translation) has settled over the movement, though there are still preachers left who understand that a translation can be only a translation, and man cannot produce a perfect, infallible translation in English of a Greek and Hebrew text. But in a movement where ignorance is essential to blind obedience, and blind obedience is a great and holy virtue, ignorance will soon have complete rule. |  |
These days, gross sin and corruption have settled over the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement. Fundamentalism is nearly all Baptist now. The IFB-KJVonly side of it emphasizes a strict dress code, "repeat-after-me" type evangelism called soul winning, belief in (yet a high degree of ignorance of) the King James version of the Bible as an infallible translation; and complete, unswerving loyalty to the pastor of the church. Reading the Bible is still claimed but not done, and serious study of the Bible---since it would debunk the KJVonly myth---is not really encouraged. People are encouraged to believe what the preacher tells them to believe. Into this movement has crept all kinds of corruption and sin: pedophilia, sodomy, child molesting, railing against others, promotion by character assassination, flexible ethics, adultery, and every other sign that the Spirit has fled. Secret Radio is a fictionalized account that will give outsiders an opportunity to see the history of the movement and a "typical" IFB college (any one of a dozen or so lamentable, unaccredited institutions, usually tied to a local church, whose main purpose is to enslave college-aged students to do church work and get them to actually pay for the privilege of doing it, while promising them education and training through the experience).
