The
APOSTASY
atSOUTHERN
BAPTIST
THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARYLouisville, Kentucky The More Education -- The Less They Believe!
I KNOW GOD REALLY EXISTS.
Diploma Student 100% 1st Yr. M.Div. 74%] Final Yr. M.Div. 65%] I BELIEVE JESUS WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN.
Diploma Student 96%] 1st Yr. M.Div. 66%] Final Yr. M.Div. 33%] By E. L. Bynum
Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention
(hereafter SBC) in Los Angeles, Calif., June 1981, were
shocked to learn that Duke McCall, president of Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky had
resigned. McCall had been president of this, the oldest
Seminary of Southern Baptists, for over 25 years. In that
time he had led the Seminary squarely into the camp of
liberalism. According to the Southern Baptist Journal,
April/May 1981, a man who had been a trustee of
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (hereafter SBTS),
said, "I've heard Duke make statements that he has
brought the Seminary into the liberal camp." The trustee
further remarked, "He said he had turned us around-- that
they are very liberal and that we are now in the
mainstream of Christianity, whereas we were not so
before."A Seminary President's Drinking Problem News has now surfaced, according to the Sword of the
Lord, July 10, 1981, that McCall's resignation was brought
about by a drinking problem. This has also been revealed
in a paper circulated by the Southern Baptist Journal.
According to these reports, McCall was observed drinking
on a recent trip to China. One of the trustees of SBTS wrote
a letter to McCall concerning his beer drinking on his trip
to China. The trustee sent copies of his letter to SBC
President, Bailey Smith, and the Trustee Chairman,
Wayne Dehoney. McCall stated that on his recent tour to
China he drank only beer and wine (as if that would make a
difference since it was not 100 proof). Shortly thereafter,
Dr. McCall called a special meeting of the trustees and
resigned.
It is sad and inexcusable for a seminary president to
drink beer and wine. The devil surely laughed with glee
when this happened. However, it is our conviction that
McCall's drinking was a minor sin when compared to his
fostering, aiding, helping, and promoting modernism
during his quarter of a century at SBTS.
SBTS has brought to its platform some of the leading in-
fidel modernists of the world. They have a long history of
hiring professors who deny the fundamental doctrines of
the Word of God. This did not begin during McCall's reign
as President but he has certainly done nothing to stop it,
but to the contrary he has encouraged and aided the
theological termites in their destruction of the foundation
and framework of this once great school. Now his evil
doctrine and evil practice has led to evil living.
In this tract we propose to prove that Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary is (1) turning out graduates who be-
come liberals and Bible deniers while students at SBTS
and (2) they have liberals on the faculty who do not believe
the Bible and who are teaching their students not to
believe God's Word.PROOF THAT SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARY PRODUCES UNBELIEFIn 1976, Noel Wesley Hollyfield, Jr., wrote his thesis for
a Master of Divinity degree from SBTS, Louisville, Ky.
Hollyfield's thesis was titled: "A Sociological Analysis of
the Degrees of 'Christian Orthodoxy' Among Selected
Students in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary."
His thesis was read and approved by the SBTS commit-
tee composed of G. Willis Bennet, chairman, E. Glenn
Hinson, and Henlee Barnette. Their approval indicates
that they believe that the contents were accurate and the
conclusions validated.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Diploma
Students1st Year
M.Div.Final Yr.
M.Div.Grad.
StudentsI know God really exists & I
have no doubt about it.100% 74% 65% 63% Jesus is the Divine Son of God
and I have no doubts
about it.100% 87% 63% 63% I believe the miracles actually
happened just as the
Bible says they did.96% 61% 40% 37%
The Devil Actually Exists: Completely true. 96% 66% 42% 37% Probably true. 4% 18% 26% 15% Probably not true. 0% 12% 23% 32% Definitely not true. 0% 5% 9% 15%
Completely true. 100% 89% 67% 53% Jesus Was Born Of A Virgin:
Completely true. 96% 66% 33% 32% Probably true. 4% 17% 33% 37% Probably not true. 0% 14% 21% 15% Definitely not true. 0% 2% 12% 15% Jesus Walked On Water:
Completely true. 96% 59% 44% 22% Do You Believe Jesus Will
Actually Return To Earth
Some Day?
Definitely 100% 79% 56% 53% HOW NECESSARY FOR SALVATION DO YOU
BELIEVE THE FOLLOWING TO BE?Belief In Jesus As Saviour:
Absolutely necessary. 100% 85% 60% 59% Holding The Bible To Be
God's Truth:
Absolutely necessary. 73% 42% 33% 21% TO WHAT DEGREE DO THE FOLLOWING HINDER SALVATION? Being Completely Ignorant Of
Jesus As Might Be The Case
For People Living In Other
Countries:
Definitely 70% 24% 26% 26% Being Of The Hindu Religion:
Definitely 39% 29% 16% 21% Probably 17% 17% 26% 16% Possibly. 9% 36% 42% 42% Not hinder. 35% 19% 16% 21%
Hollyfield's thesis proves that modernism is being
taught at SBTS, and that it is having a devastating effect
upon the students. The SBJ in a digest of Hollyfield's
thesis correctly said, "The MORE EDUCATION students
get at Southern Seminary the LESS THEY BELIEVE." The
thesis of 159 pages contains numerous charts which show
beyond any doubt that the more education Southern
Baptist students have and the longer they study at SBTS,
the more liberal and modernistic they become in doctrine.
In this tract we intend to reproduce some of the more
relevant information revealed in these charts.
Keep in mind that Hollyfield was a student at SBTS and
that his thesis had to be written and approved before he
could receive his Master of Divinity degree. His statistics
were gained by using a standard 37 question questionnaire
that was answered by the students. If his method had been
unfair and biased, no doubt the three member faculty
committee would have rejected the thesis.
Hollyfield considers the students under 7 different
statistical tabulations. For our purpose we shall consider
only four of his statistical groups, which will give us an
overall picture of the modernism that SBTS is producing.
For the convenience of our readers, we shall number these
four divisions of students and explain what they are.
Diploma students. Most of these would not be college
graduates and therefore ineligible for the seminary degree.
These should tend to be more orthodox and fundamental,
since they have not had part of their faith destroyed in a
Southern Baptist college.
First year M.Div. students. (Master of Divinity). These
would be college graduates with perhaps most of them
being from Southern Baptist colleges.
Final year M.Div. students. These students would have
already spent many hours in the SBTS classrooms, plus
much research work. Their beliefs would tend to show
whether SBTS was building faith, or destroying faith. We
should closely watch the difference in the beliefs of first
year M.Div. students and final year M.Div. students.
Graduate students. (Ph.D., Doctor of Philosophy;
Th.M., Master of Theology). These would be the most
advanced students and the most highly educated of all
students.
The above facts and figures provide irrefutable proof
that Southern Seminary does not produce faith but
destroys it. You would believe that faithful Bible teaching
in a seminary should produce greater faith in the Bible and
the fundamentals of the faith. The student might come to
school with some questions, but as Bible believing
professors taught and influenced the students, unbelief
would be replaced by faith. At Southern Seminary they
come believing the Word of God and leave in unbelief (at
least believing less than when they came).
For instance 100% of the diploma students (the
uneducated) believe in the existence of God. Only 74% of
the 1st year M.Div. and 65% of the final year M.Div.
believe that God really exists. That means that 9% lost
their faith in the existence of God in Seminary. Among
diploma students 100% believed in Jesus as the Divine
Son of God. Only 87% of the 1st year M.Div. students be-
lieved that, and only 63% of the final year M.Div. still
believed it. That means that 24% of the M.Div. students
lost their faith in Jesus being the Divine Son of God during
their time at Southern Seminary. I would say that this is
absolutely appalling to say the least. Also the question
needs to be asked, why does SBTS accept students for a M.
Div. degree who do not believe in the existence of God or
that Jesus is the Divine Son of God?
The above chart shows that 21% of the M.Div. students
lost their belief in miracles while in Southern Seminary. By
that time only 40% of these even believed in miracles.
During their stay at Southern Seminary 24% of the M.Div.
students lost their belief in the existence of the Devil, and
only 42% in their final year even believed in the Devil.
While in Seminary 22% lost their belief in life beyond
death. How sad that 33% of the M.Div. students lost their
belief in the Virgin Birth of Christ while they were in
SBTS. Only 33% were completely sure that they believed
in the Virgin Birth of Christ.
During Seminary 25% of the M.Div. students lost their
belief that it was absolutely necessary to believe in Jesus
Christ to be saved. During the final year only 60% believed
it was necessary. These and many other frightening trends
may be gleaned from the condensation of Hollyfield's
findings.
The question that each of the 35,000 churches of the
SBC must face is: "Shall we continue to send mission
money to help pay the salaries of professors who teach
their students that the Bible is not the infallible Word of
God, thus destroying their faith?" These students who
graduate are going to become pastors, teachers in
seminaries or colleges, and thus destroy the faith of those
who sit under their ministry.WHY SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARY PRODUCES UNBELIEFSBTS employs teachers who do not believe the fundamentals of
the faith. They question the doctrines of the Bible and question the
inspiration of the Bible itself. This we will prove as space permits.
Dr. Duke McCall has led the Seminary down the broad road of
liberalism. The school was founded by solid Bible believing men,
but for many years McCall and his predecessors during the 20th
century have led the Seminary into the heartland of the present
apostasy. This follows the pattern of Christianity. (1) Good men
who believe the Bible establish institutions such as colleges and
seminaries. (2) By deceit and even lying, evil men take over these
institutions and use their influence to redirect the schools and use
them to teach modernistic false doctrine. (3) At the same time
godly churches and individuals continue to be hoodwinked into
supporting the modernists and their schools. The banner of love is
often appealed to by the religious liberals in order to get support
from Bible believers.
The European and African cuckoo birds do not build nests. They
lay their eggs in the nests of other smaller birds. Naturally the
baby cuckoo birds are larger and dominate the nests, many times
evicting the other offspring. The birds of the other species feed the
baby cuckoo birds and raise them. As the baby cuckoo birds grow
up, they go out and repeat the process. Modernistic liberals are
the cuckoo birds of the theological world. They simply lay their evil
eggs in the nests built by Bible believers and eventually just take
over. The liberals do not build, like termites they enter to destroy.The Modernism Of Southern Seminary Teachers In 1947 SBTS invited Dr. Nels S. F. Ferre to deliver the "Gay"
lectures at the Seminary. Ferre was at that time a professor at
Vanderbilt University and had written a number of well-known
books that were filled with blasphemy. Dr. David Otis Fuller wrote
a tract exposing the rank unbelief of Ferre. We shall give a few
quotes from Fuller's tract. Ferre wrote a book titled: "The
Christian Understanding of God." On page 186 he said, "We have
no way of knowing, even, that Jesus was sinless . . . ." On page
191 Ferre said, "Mary, we remember, was found pregnant before
her engagement to mild Joseph. Nazareth was hard by a Roman
garrison where the soldiers were German mercenaries. Jesus is
also reported throughout a continuous part of the history of art, it is
claimed, to have been blond . . . . Hence Jesus must have been the
child of a German soldier!"
In his book, "The Sun and the Umbrella," Ferre said, "Jesus
never was nor became God" (p. 112). "The use of the Bible as the
final authority for Christian truth is idolatry" (p. 39). He also said
there can be "the Hindu branch of the Church of the living God"
(p. 122). "Hinduism is good and wise" (p. 117). "What a spiritual
people this religion has produced!" (p. 119).
In spite of Ferre's infidelity, he lectured at SBTS and other
Southern Baptist schools. Dr. George A. Buttrick, a National
Council of Churches liberal, has also lectured at SBTS and at other
Southern Baptist schools. In his book, "The Christian Fact and
Modern Doubt," Buttrick said on page 162, "Literal infallibility of
Scripture is a fortress impossible to defend . . . ." He said on page
167, "In retrospect it seems incredible that the theory of literal
inspiration could have ever been held." According to Buttrick on
page 170, the inspiration of the books of Obadiah and of Revelation
is not better than that of the uninspired apocryphal books. In
addition, he was the editor-in-chief of the blasphemous
commentaries named, "The Interpreter's Bible."William E. Hull And Other Liberals At SBTS William E. Hull was a teacher for many years at SBTS until he
resigned in 1975 to become pastor of the First Baptist Church,
Shreveport, Louisiana. Many observers feel that he has the inside
track on becoming the next president of SBTS, but a strong move
is being made by conservatives in the SBC to keep that from
happening.
In 1970 Hull was the Dean of the School of Theology at SBTS. He
preached a sermon at the Cresent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville,
where he and many of the faculty and students of SBTS were
members, entitled, "Shall We Call The Bible Infallible?" The
sermon was printed in "The Baptist Program" in Dec. 1970.
We are indebted to William A. Powell for printing that sermon in
his book, "The SBC Issue & Question." Hull's sermon is a bold
attack against the infallibility of God's Word, wherein he lists four
reasons why we should not call the Bible infallible. Although he
tried to shield his attack by using temperate words, nevertheless,
it is a brash effort to convince his listeners that the Bible contains
errors.
He claims that the Bible is not infallible, since the word
"infallible" is not found in the Bible. This is the same tactic
employed by Unitarians to try to deny the Trinity, and is not really
worthy of consideration. He says that the confessions of faith do
not use the word "infallible" with the exception of the Second
London Confession of 1677. Even though "infallible" is not in the
New Hampshire Confession and the SBC Confession of 1925 and
1963, Hull surely knows that the framers believed it and that their
confessions say the same thing in other words, when they said that
the Bible has "truth without any mixture of error, for its matter."
If he was not a blatant liberal he would admit it was so. In fact Dr.
Hershel Hobbs, the chairman of the 1963 SBC committee that
drew up the statement of faith, has said more than once that they
meant by the confession that the Bible was infallible. Every liberal
tries to pit Moses against Jesus and to accuse those who believe in
inerrancy of bibliolatry. Hull said, "Consider for a moment what
would happen if the biblical dialectic between infallible God and
fallible man were dissolved by a one-sided emphasis on scriptural
inerrancy. Religious history is a sad record of how easily this
position is distorted into bibliolatry. Some of the scribes in Jesus'
day held such a high view of Scripture that they put Moses above
the new word that God was trying to speak through His Son."
What a cheap shot Hull has taken by comparing the scribes of
Jesus' day to those who believe in inerrancy today. Jesus never
cast doubt on the inerrancy of any O.T. Scripture and Hull knows
this to be true.
Hull said that infallibility was not practical and then went on to
say, "The cumulative force of the evidence is overwhelming: No it
is not wise to call the Bible 'infallible.'" He also said, "On the
other side are those who have just as clearly seen the human
character of the Bible. They know that its dates do not always
agree, that its doctrines develop, that its grammar is sometimes
confused. They cannot give up this recognition of the humanity of
its writers, for to do so would require them to fly in the face of
established facts and to repudiate the advances of science in recent
centuries." Yet, when Hull resigned in 1975 from the faculty of
SBTS, Duke McCall said that he was not fired and that he did not
leave because of his lack of faith in the Bible.
Is it any wonder that the final year of the M.Div. students,
35% are not sure that God exists, 37% are not sure that Jesus was
the Divine Son of God, 60% do not believe the miracles of the Bible
really happened as the Bible says, 67% do not believe that it is
completely true that Jesus was born of a virgin, and that 56% are
not completely sure that Jesus walked on water. Students cannot
listen to men like William Hull and retain their faith in God's
Word!!
Dale Moody is a long time tenured teacher at SBTS. According
to a Baptist Press news release dated July 25, 1961, the Baptist
Pastor's Conference of Oklahoma County (Oklahoma City is in this
county) passed a resolution aimed at weeding out heresy in
Southern Baptist Seminaries. Dr. Hershel Hobbs, pastor of First
Baptist Church in Oklahoma City and long time speaker on the
Baptist Hour, was present and voted for the resolution. This
resolution singled out Dale Moody as teaching the doctrine of
apostasy, or falling from grace, and also criticized him for
advocating alien immersion and open communion.
The "Review and Expositor" printed an article by Dale Moody
in the summer 1967 issue. Harold Lindsell quotes extensively from
that article in the book, "The Bible In The Balance." Moody said,
" . . . it is possible to interpret Adam and Eve as representative
and symbolic human beings rather than the only human beings."
How can Moody possible explain what Paul wrote in Rom. 5:12,
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world . . . ."?
Lindsell gives page after page in his book describing and quoting
the liberal unbiblical statements of the professors of SBTS. The
evidence is available for those who wish to see, but many would
rather remain blind.
Someone wrote Dr. Duke McCall a letter asking him the
following questions, "(1) Do you believe that God inspired every
Word of the original manuscripts? (2) Do you believe there are any
errors in the original manuscripts? (3) Do you believe that Adam
and Eve were the first two human beings and that they gave birth
to Cain, Abel, Seth, and other sons and daughters?" It would have
been an easy matter for any Bible believer to answer the three
questions, and any Bible believer would be delighted to do so. But
McCall printed the questions in the school paper, "The Tie," and
he did not answer even one of the questions. Instead he asked
three sarcastic questions which did not come close to answering.
We reviewed in our tract #A-336, "Is The Bible A Human
Book?", edited by Wayne E. Ward and Joseph F. Green, and
published by Broadman Press. It was written by 15 Southern
Baptist leaders and a number of them are graduates of SBTS. One
chapter was written by Wayne E. Ward, professor of Christian
theology at SBTS. On page 78 he denies that the Genesis account
of creation is to be taken as literal truth. He denies the literal
serpent in the temptation and he insists that there was no literal
tree whose fruit was to be avoided. The whole book is an open and
avowed attack on the inspiration of the Bible and its inerrancy. It
was published in 1970 and was still available at Baptist Book
Stores the last time we checked.
Dr. Frank Stagg has taught in several Baptist schools and is a
teacher at SBTS. Stagg opposes the substitutionary atonement of
Christ and believes in the moral influence theory of the atonement.
Stagg speaks of sin in this way, "The Father does not need to
punish the Son in order to win the right to forgive . . . . Sin in the
New Testament is not viewed as an entity which can be offset by a
good act; it is a broken relationship which must be restored, a
sickness (emph. ours) which must be cured."Clyde T. Francisco At Southern Seminary Francisco is the author of the "Commentary on Genesis" which
is in Vol. 1 of "The Broadman Bible Commentary." He is also
professor of Old Testament Interpretation, Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky. I would make the whole
commentary on Genesis as "Exhibit A" in an evaluation of
Francisco's belief. It is evident that he does not believe in verbal
inspiration and does not take the early chapters of Genesis
literally. On p. 119 he says, "The materials used by the writer or
writers were largely those received in their traditions, the accounts
of their ancestors handed down among their forefathers. These
sources belong primarily to two basic tradition groups, a priestly
and a popular one." It is evident that he thinks that Genesis is a
collection of stories gathered by different authors and that no
inspiration is involved. On page 120 he says, "Creation is viewed
as having occurred over an indefinite period of time, and having
proceeded from the lower forms to the higher." At best he is a
theistic evolutionist. It is a mystery to me as to why the SBC would
make the Sunday School Board withdraw the original commentary
on Genesis by G. Henton Davies and substitute the one by
Francisco. I have them both, and there is very little difference in
the two. They are both modernistic and to the core they go against
the truth that Moses wrote Genesis and that it is the verbally
inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.
Francisco also wrote a 14 page history of Israel that is included
in Vol. 1 of the Broadman Commentary. It is filled with
modernistic gobblygook. In Francisco's "Introducing the Old
Testament" published by Broadman we find an abundance of
information showing that he is an enemy of Biblical truth. He is
modernistic and takes the liberal side on almost every issue.
After reading the information on SBTS professors like
Francisco, Hull, Moody, Ward, Stagg, and others, we are amazed
that any students come out of SBTS believing in the Virgin Birth,
the existence of God, miracles, and other fundamental doctrines.
The sin of Duke McCall would have been less severe if he had
stayed drunk every night of his ministry, than the sin he has
committed in presiding over this modernistic preacher factory
known as SBTS.Will The Conservatives Save The Southern Baptists? We are glad that William A. Powell, Harold Lindsell, Paige
Patterson, Adrian Rodgers, and Bailey Smith have spoken out
against the liberalism in Southern Baptist Seminaries. We
would like to see them prevail over the modernists, but the facts of
history show that they will not. It is sad to see that some of these
same men give huge amounts of money to the Cooperative
Program which supports SBTS and other liberal schools. Dr. W. A.
Criswell and First Baptist of Dallas continue to pour huge amounts
of money into the Cooperative Program. Bailey Smith has said that
he is leading his church to be the leading supporter in Oklahoma of
the Cooperative Program. SBTS has received millions of dollars
from the Cooperative Program, and they continue to do so.
The only Biblical approach for true believers is to come out of
the Southern Baptist Convention. See our tract # D-508, "The
Bible Believers And Heretics," for Biblical information for dealing
with heretics such as those described above. Also see our tract
# C-330 to see what Spurgeon said that Bible believers should do
about modernism and unbelief.
In another tract which we want to print soon, we intend to show
that this liberalism is not just in Louisville, but that it is in all of
their seminaries and colleges and that it is spreading fast. In
another tract we intend to show the sinful living and worldliness
that prevails at many of the Southern Baptist schools.TRACT # A-338 ORDER FROM: TABERNACLE BAPTIST CHURCH
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