Delivered From the Hardshell Cult

I have received a number of emails over the past several years from people who have been delivered from the "Hardshell Baptist Cult." I want to share the most recent one. I will leave the writer's name anonymous.

Hello Stephen

I too have been rescued by God from my Egypt, the Primitive Baptists. God opened mine and my wife’s eyes to see alarming things within the PB church that were not biblical. When we began to talk to other members of the congregation about those things to see if they saw them too we were treated unfairly. Church members utilized a combination of guilt and harsh treatment to pressure us to be quiet. After several months we finally had to leave while stating our reasons to the Elders for leaving. They have since changed the story on why we left in a sense rewriting history.

Below are listed Four things that I have witnessed that caused me and my wife to discern that the PB church that we were attending had lost its first love; the love for God and replaced it with a love for their doctrine. I have also determined that this is a problem with many PB church’s.

1) The Pastors sermons would often lift up himself and his doctrine while putting others and theirs down (God instructs us to be a light unto the world, leading by obedient example and receiving blessings accordingly, such that non-believers say to themselves “who is their God I want to know more about Him”. Not by insulting others)

2) The Pastor would punish those he was upset with by preaching at (and not to) them from the pulpit. (There is a biblical means for dealing with disagreement and “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still”.)

3) Family’s were shunning their own members, and churches were shunning other churches because they had left the PB church or changed their doctrine slightly. (It is a good thing for those that practice shunning that Gods love is not as conditional as theirs is. Besides it is already challenging enough to be a light unto the world let alone when we are setting the poor example of being asses to former friends and family members because they have left the PB church.)

4) The Pastor would strongly discourage/write articles against bible study’s (In exodus God states his desire to make the Jews a Kingdom of Priests, a Holy Nation, then the new testament states that it is the believers in Yeshua (Christ) who have become the Priests of God the Father. Any pastor who does not prepare his flock of Priests to read and discuss the Bible alone or in groups as they see fit is not doing his job. For a Pastor to deny them the Bible study and then deny the biblical training needed so that they can conduct bible study’s is to lord over his flock (of Priests of God the Father) when in reality he is supposed to be a servant to them.)

I have now discerned a terrible new menace among the PB church. Realizing that they were dying, you showed an article from an Elder on your website stating a loss of membership by as much as 50% since the 1970’s and desperate to build up their numbers they have begun to evangelize in Africa and the Philippines. Spreading their love and faith for their doctrine (NOT love and faith in God) throughout the world.

Thank you for the work that you do