IBN

IBN EXPOSED AS NEW-EVANGELICAL SBC SUBSTITUTE FOR BWA
THE FIRST MISLEADING IMPRESSIONS OF THE IBN

In Apr. 2003, representatives of several Baptist groups met together in Atlanta, GA and formed the International Baptist Network [IBN]. The first publicity releases implied that the IBN was simply a combination of three independent Baptist Fellowships [Baptist Bible Fellowship Int., Southwide Baptist Fellowship and World Baptist Fellowship] that desired closer ties with each other for mutually beneficial purposes such as fellowship and missions causes. The Evangelist, the official publication of the Highland Park Baptist Church, Chattanooga, TN and Tennessee Temple University, clearly gave this impression in an initial article about the IBN's formation in its Mar.-Apr. 2004 issue, p. 7.

THE HIDDEN PLOT BEGINS TO UNFOLD

          For nearly two years, publicity releases from the IBN and by these three groups conned the religious public into thinking that the IBN only involved these three independent Baptist groups and individuals with ties to other independent Baptist organizations such as AWBE and the GARBC. At the IBN's first meeting, however, conducted Sept. 26-29, 2004 at the Highland Park Baptist Church and Tennessee Temple University campus, the real facts behind the IBN's existence began to quietly unfold.
          The IBN meeting not only included the 2004 national meetings of the BBFI, SBF and WBF, it revealed the strong ties of the IBN with Southern Baptist Convention [SBC] sources. In the 2004 IBN meeting promotional brochure, Dr. Jerry Vines, a former SBC president, was listed as one of the featured speakers, while two musical groups associated with the SBC, The Mike Speck Trio and Greater Vision, were included on the musical agenda. Mike Speck also served as the IBN meeting's songleader.
          Another IBN publicity brochure released at the IBN meeting entitled "The Face of 21st Century Baptists" divulged the fact that Paul Pressler, a prominent SBC figure for over two decades, was one of the four members of the IBN's executive committee.

THE IBN'S OPEN EXPOSURE BY A COURAGEOUS EDITOR

          The depth of the SBC's involvement in the IBN, however, was exposed in the June 2005 Plains Baptist Challenger [PBC] by editor E. L. Bynum. In that issue Bynum printed in full-without deletions-along with his own report, an article by Dr. Elmer Towns dealing with the founding of the IBN entitled "The Founding of the International Baptist Network." In that article Dr. Towns utilized several paragraphs to reveal that the IBN was actually launched as a vehicle to "counter the 'leftward drift' of [the] Baptist World Alliance."
          Dr. Towns stated, "The SBC's high-profile departure from the Baptist World Alliance last summer set the stage for a new alliance. On Feb. 9 [2005], at the Dolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas, the first public meeting of the International Baptist Network (IBN) drew representatives from more than three-dozen denominations, theological seminaries, colleges and mission boards, and individual churches. Many came to find out what God was doing and to determine if they wanted to be a part of this fledging new movement."
          Embedded in Dr. Town's article is the previously unknown factor that the SBC and noted SBC figures have been deeply involved both in the IBN's formation and in its subsequent developments. The Baptist Fire specifically noted that Paige Patterson, former SBC president and now president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary [SWBTS] was a speaker at this initial IBN public gathering.
          Dr. Towns then alleged that at the same time that Southern Baptists were struggling with their left wing advocates, independent Baptists were struggling with their right wing adherents. Towns stated: "at the same time many independent Baptists have struggled with uncompromising members of the right over issues of second-degree separation, hyper-legalism, and a King James-only Bible."
          He then quoted Dr. Randy Ray, pastor of the North Florida Baptist Church in Tallahassee [also elected as a Southwide Baptist Fellowship vice-moderator in 2004] as saying that "The IBN is possible because the SBC has dealt with its liberal left and Independent Baptists have dealt with its radical right."
          Dr. Towns happy analysis is that "The Fundamentalist Southern Baptists and Independent Baptists discovered each other and determined that they have vastly more things in common than they have differences. Even though they had systematically avoided each other over the years because of their negligible differences, they had not ignored their common beliefs."

THE SERIOUS FLAWS IN DR. TOWNS' ANALYSIS

          1. A fact that Dr. Towns completely overlooked and omitted is that the SBC is thoroughly New-Evangelical in its convention structure and associations. The SBC is literally saturated with New-Evangelicalism, being dominated in its totality by this compromising movement. All phases of the SBC's massive bureaucratic structure are New-Evangelical based and oriented.
           New-Evangelicalism is a movement based on compromise that seeks to bridge the gap between apostates and professing Bible-believers; that seeks to link evangelicalism and ecumenism in a common bond. The F.D. editor has a massive collection of documented evidence that validates, beyond question, the compromising New-Evangelical nomenclature of the SBC. Nearly every issue of The Fundamentalist Digest contains factual accounts of compromises by prominent SBC figures and SBC owned entities with Charismatic and pro-ecumenical sources.
          2. Dr. Towns gives false names to three important Biblical issues and dismisses them as relatively unimportant themes
                    a. Biblical ecclesiastical separation from disobedient brethren-a Biblical mandate- (II Thess. 3:6-14) is virtually eliminated from Dr. Town's vocabulary under the guide of "secondary separation." "Secondary separation" is a term coined by accommodating New-Evangelicals to cover up their compromising affirmations, actions and associations.
                    The Scripture nowhere divides ecclesiastical separation into categories of primary and secondary, major and minor, or first degree and second degree. There is only Biblical separation and that separation is an imperative action both when it involves devilish seducers-II Tim. 3:14 and disobedient saints-II Thess. 3:6-14.
                     b. Spiritual standards for Christian service are dismissed as "hyper-legalism" in Dr. Town's vocabulary, making allowance for all kinds of accommodations to worldly trends in dress, music and carnal lifestyles. When Christ came to earth the first time, he did not lower the moral and spiritual standards to accommodate to the ungodly world of his day, He raised them-Matt. 5:27-48!
                     The apostle Paul urged strongly exhorted believers not to conform to an ungodly society-Rom. 12;2, but rather to distinguish themselves as separatist soldiers of the cross-II Tim. 2:2
                     c. The vital doctrinal truth of Verbal Biblical Preservation is derided as a "King James Only" unimportant issue. Dr. Towns ignores the fact that the reason Bible defenders in the English speaking world use only the KJV is because it is the only English version that is both reliable and trustworthy. The KJV is a translation that is based on the text received by the true churches down through the centuries, in contrast to the apostate critical text that was rejected by all orthodox Christians until about 125 years ago.
          3. Dr. Towns incorrectly stated that differences between historic Biblical Fundamentalists and conservative Southern Baptists are "negligible." Ecclesiastical Biblical separation is not a "negligible" minor variation that obedient saints can conveniently ignore-Eph. 5:7 & 11. When professing believers/churches violate Scriptural commands concerning separation, they walk in darkness-I John 1:6 and temporarily forfeit blessed fellowship with obedient saints who refuse to walk in spiritual darkness with them-I John 1:7.
          The multi-million member National Council of Churches roster contains multitudes of professing Christians who would give lip service to the Bible doctrines that Dr. Towns deems the "essential" truths, but who contribute regularly to apostate financial causes within their apostate denominational frameworks.

A SLIP-UP BY DR. TOWNS WHERE HE GETS IT CORRECT

          Without recognizing its implications Dr. Towns was surely correct when he called militant Fundamentalists the "uncompromising members of the right." Praise God, historic Biblical Fundamentalists are uncompromising! They stand with Christ-John 15:14-20 and alongside of the apostle Paul who never lowered his flag-II Tim. 4:8.
          Furthermore, genuine Fundamentalists are "members of the "'right'"; that is they accept the (a) right Christ-John 1:1; they advocate (b) right cause-the defense of the faith-Jude 3, and they adhere to (c) right commission-Matt. 28:18-20! They are (1) right in their Scripture-the KJV! They are (2) right in their stand-separation and they are (3 right in their slant-a sanctified life combined with fervent soul-winning zeal.
          PLC editor, E. L. Bynum, was never more perceptive than when he wrote concerning the IBN that "at long last Dr. Towns has let the cat out of the bag, and has revealed what the International Baptist Alliance is all about!" The cat is out of the bag. The IBN has been exposed as a vehicle to bridge the gap between the New-Evangelical SBC and professing-Fundamentalist groups such as the BBFI, the SBF and the WBF. Unfortunately, this is a gap is tragically closing fast.

A CONCLUDING OBSERVATION AND PLEA BY THE F. D. EDITOR

          In aligning with the New-Evangelical SBC via the IBN, the professing Fundamentalist fellowships cited above are writing their own epitaph and unwittingly penning their own spiritual obituary. The former distinctive Fundamentalist-separatist stance of these groups will eventually become strictly a matter of human remembrance. In linking up with the New-Evangelical SBC, they have signed their own death warrant and apparently don't know it! It is only a matter of time!
          Readers who do not personally know the F.D. editor may not realize the heavy burdened heart with which he has penned the above lines as he views this impending wreckage. His heart grieves over his brethren in the Lord who have chosen this fatal course, but this is only church history repeating itself. As he writes, he has determined anew, to stand unflinchingly true to the faith once delivered to the saints, regardless of the spiritual cost involved.
          He trusts the lines written above will cause others to firm up their foundation and stand with other loyal soldiers of the Cross who are unwaveringly defending the truth in the battle for the faith once delivered to the saints-Jude 3.

October-November 2005. The Fundamentalist Digest; Permission granted for reprint, so long as proper credit is given. The above item is a sample of the numerous timely articles that are contained in the bi-monthly issues of The Fundamentalist Digest.

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