In searching the history of various Baptist churches in north Georgia, I ran across Union Baptist Church in Hull, Ga. The Union Primitive Baptist Church sits directly across the street. The churches split over missions and evangelism in the 1800's. Union PB Church closed its doors years ago. Union Baptist is still going strong. The sign on Union Baptist advertises those "unauthorized" activities that the Primitives object to. The Union PB Church is dead, not even having a sign left. The Primitives stress that it is God who "adds to the church". And which church would that be? The Primitives "left things in God's hands", while the Missionary church chose to BE God's hands as the Body of Christ. The pictures speak for themselves. In the first pic we see death, In the second pic we see life and activity. See how desolate the PB church appears when looking at it from the Missionary Baptist church. Let this be a warning to the Missionary Baptists as well. This will be YOUR fate if you take your light and put in under a bushel. Not much else to say.
"Remember therefore from where you have FALLEN, and repent and do the WORKS you did at first. But if you do not, I am coming to you, and I will remove your lampstand from among the churches, unless you repent." (Rev 2:5)
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Says it all, does it not? A picture paints a thousand words. I used to drive by old large church buildings like this when I was a young Hardshell preacher and they were abandoned and yet the size of the buildings showed that they were large and thriving at one time? What happened? The Hardshell cult leaders will give you their explanations of this sad phenomenon of death and will try to blame it on something else and refuse to take responsibility for the death. I am so glad that the Lord showed me what the problem was! Spurgeon and his church are my example. The Hardshells lost their focus and they accepted awful heresies, such as Hyper Calvinism, no meanism, Antinomianism, Landmarkism, and let us not forget "Two Seedism" which was a large part of their 19th century churches belief, and involved "eternal vital unionism." They also did not handle the doctrine of predestination properly, but made it into a hobby horse. They made themselves the determiners of orthodoxy saying to all who disagreed with them "come not near to me for I holier (and more orthodox and Baptistic) than thou."
And yet we try to "save" our dear Hardshell brothers per James 5: 9-20.
Yes I totally agree. When you don't even pray for the salvation of your own children the end is near. I have a friend who enjoys riding with me to some of these old churches. Whenever we see an abandoned church, I always stop and am usually able to get inside. I know it seems crazy, but I often get a sense of what type of church it was, even whether it was Methodist, Presbyterian, etc. When we found this church, at first we thought it was the original building of the Missionary church across the street. After we got inside I found the pews and pulpit etc were all still there. I told my friend "This was a PB church, I can feel it". He thought I was nuts. After contacting the Missionary church, we found I was correct. His jaw dropped and he said "How did you know that? I perceive that thou art a prophet!" lol. I said "Well I don't know if I am a prophet, but I know when I am in a vacuum that the Spirit has withdrawn from." The hardshells retreated from truth, so truth retreated from them. Must they all die without waking up? I suppose I can praise God that many of their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren are members of the Missionary church across the street. Though I am not a Calvinist, I still believe God has kept for Himself a remnant who has not bowed down to Baal! When the hardshell cries "Where is the remnant Lord?" Perhaps He says "Across the street."
Who owns the Hardshell building/property? Are any members still not living? Seems like the missionary Baptist church could acquire it in one of several ways and use it. It does need some repairs but still looks sound.
Blessings,
Stephen
Telling comparisons, which are probably sadly repeated across the southeast. I often wonder how the churches I used to affiliate with are faring, but am scared to ask.
The secretary of the Missionary church had an uncle who was the last member of the PB church. He left the deed to the county historical society, and to my understanding they now own it, but dont have the funds to totally fix it up, so they have done the minimum maintenance possible. I am sure there are some members of the Missionary church who have relatives in the cemetery. The Missionary church did express interest, but since theres no restrooms, plumbing, etc etc, it would take quite a bit of money to bring it up to code. Once the grandfather clause on old buildings are made null and void because the original organization no longer exists, whoever acquires it is required by law to bring it up to code before they can use it. Because the state highway divides the 2 churches, I suppose the Missionary church doesnt want the liablilty, as any activities would require people to walk across the highway. The PB church I believe was a member of the Oconee PB Association, who at least as late as 1888, affirmed " all the elect will be converted and that it is the duty of every "heaven born" child of God to make a public profession of faith". I have talked with a young PB elder in that area, and he was the one who actually sent me those articles of faith. He got them from a member, and had no idea their articles used to state such. His eyes were somewhat opened, and I pray it leads to further examination on his part.
Fantastic info! Yes indeed, I hope many more learn the truth about their history and throw away their wish histories and false histories and embrace the truth. The first PBs did not, with few exceptions, deny that the gospel was the means of bringing sinners to faith and that faith is the way they became children of God. Elder John Clark, editor of Zion's Advocate, often quoted Galatians 3: 26 - "we are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." I have tried to get them to see how error filled is their handed down version of their history with the hopes that it would shake them up enough to see who they are also wrong on their interpretation of scripture as well as of their history. Thank God for those we have helped so far, from all over the world.
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