A Heavenly Pilgrim's Sanctification: June 2023

I am Confessional Reformed and 110 Grade Calvinist. I am so because Calvinism/Reformed Theology is The Gospel as presented in The Bible. The Canons of Dordrecht and its proceeding articles on Unconditional Election, Total Depravity, Limited or Definite Atonement, Irresistible Grace or Effectual Calling and Preservation of the Saints are all taught straight from the Bible.

This does not mean one is not Saved if they are not Reformed as we do not get saved by being Reformed we get saved as Reformed Theology teaches through God's unconditional election to salvation. However, Confessional Reformed Theology is the correct one 110%.

I am also a Christian Fundamentalist as I am totally opposed to Modernism and False Gospels of liberal theology. I refuse to compromise on the fundamentals of true Christianity. Fundamentalism as I am using the term is a 20th-century anti-modern/liberal orthodox Christian movement. This definition is drawn from the history of the movement, from its inception in the early part of the 20th-century until the present. Though many fundamentalists also hold other beliefs such as King James Only or believer’s baptism, I do not include those beliefs here, for that would exclude men such as John R. Rice (not KJV Only) and J. Gresham Machen (Presbyterian), both recognized leaders of fundamentalism.

To understand fundamentalism one must first understand its opponent: theological liberalism or modernism. The core of liberalism is its reliance on experience over doctrine. Thus the liberal will maintain that the Bible is not necessarily true doctrine but merely information about people’s experience with God. A liberal will appeal to the individual experience of a Christian as the basis of authority. The power of liberalism comes from its use of Christian language with a new definition. Since they reject the objective truth and rely on experience, then words such as ‘salvation,’ ‘Christ,’ and ‘resurrection’ are not taken from the Bible but redefined in a subjective or modern sense. This new definition is formed using modern principles of criticism, science, and philosophy. Thus liberalism is an experience-based theology, that rejects the inerrancy of Scripture in favor of subject personal relationships and modern scientific methods. Though some would define it differently, to do so would reject the writings and arguments of the vast majority of fundamentalists over the past century.

To understand fundamentalism is to place it in its proper context, namely 20th-century America. Fundamentalism’s anti-modernist nature necessitates that there exist modernism for it to oppose. Thus before the late 1800s and early 1900s fundamentalism could not exist because liberalism did not exist, at least not as a movement or theology. To attempt to find fundamentalism in the centuries prior is impossible, though you may find individual aspects of it, such as doctrinal purity or separatism. Only when Christianity was mixed with modern methods of science, history, and theology would there be a need for a group to oppose it. This is the movement we call fundamentalism.

The most basic aspect of fundamentalism is its adherence to the inerrancy of Scripture. This can be defined as a belief in the inspiration of the Scriptures by God that completely rules out any possible error in the transmission, so that what the writers penned on paper was completely true: doctrinally, historically, and scientifically. This view is not a strictly fundamentalist view, as other conservative denomination and groups have also ascribed to it, but it is an essential part of its doctrine. Along with the inspiration of Scripture, fundamentalist hold to four other doctrines, collectively entitled “The Five Fundamentals of the Faith:”

1) Inerrancy of Scriptures

2) Virgin Birth

3) Christ’s Substitutionary Atonement

4) Christ’s Bodily Resurrection

5) The Second Coming of Christ

While many individual would hold more than these, no fundamentalist could hold less. For instance, dispensationalism would later become a hallmark of fundamentalism, but was rejected by J. Gresham Machen, leader of Presbyterian Fundamentalism, and Williams Jennings Bryan, who fought evolution in the Scopes Monkey Trial.

The guiding principle in fundamentalist thought is that the inerrant Bible is foundational to knowledge, and that modernism, with its accompanying ideas of subjectivism, Darwinism and higher criticism, is to be rejected.

The final mark of fundamentalism is its willingness to separate from liberalism. This was evidenced in various leaders of the movement: Machen left Princeton and founded Westminster Theological Seminary, J. Frank Norris left (or was kicked out) of the Southern Baptist Convention, John R. Rice separated from the Southern Baptist Convention and then later from Billy Graham when he associated with liberals. While these men did not categorize these groups as liberal, they believed that they were tolerant of such, and thus separated to defend doctrinal purity.

As J. Gresham Machen put it so well, "if the disjunction is between "Fundamentalism" and "Modernism," then I am willing to call myself a Christian Fundamentalist of the most pronounced type."

Today after our Church Service I sent out a tweet about the need for Christian Men to gird our loins. In this Unholy Culture that is so profoundly pushed in our face every second of everyday we cannot afford to be afraid to be Courageously Reformed. We cannot afford to be fearful and be cowards. Weak kneed effeminacy is what the culture wants. They want men that will not be like Luther, "here I stand I can do no other." They want us to be afraid to be openly and courageously Biblically Christian. They want us in the corner crying about how much of a victim we are and unwilling to stand on God's Word because the culture around us is so Anti-God.

We also need to be Courageously Reformed and Confessional. We should not be ashamed of our Confessions and Creeds we stand on as Biblical Christians. The Reformed Faith is the only truly consistently Biblical Christianity. Arminianism is a heresy if taken consistently and we need not be afraid of presenting the Truth about God's Absolute Sovereignty and Predestination of all things. This does not mean you are not saved if you are an Arminian, but, it does mean that Arminians that are saved do not understand the logical conclusion of holding Arminian ideas. Actually saved Arminians are in Biblical Error; serious Error that can lead to being outright heretical and outside the Kingdom if taken consistently.

However, within the Reformed Faith; the truly consistently Biblical Christianity there are many different groups that are all completely Orthodox. We should be bridging the gaps between the different groups within True Christendom. Standing together courageously as Brothers in Arms as Reformed Brethren against the Wolves. There is also a Mere Fundamentalism that all fundamentalists have in common where Brothers can agree on and defend. This does not mean all people that embrace the fundamentalist label are truly Sheep and to be trusted, but, the point is Brotherhood in Christ. We need men to embrace their role as protector for the Church. As well as protectors of The Reformed Faith against the onslaught of false teachings from all corners of culture.