J.M. Thompson's Neo Hardshellism

Elder J. M. THOMPSON, Hardshell leader and apologist, said the following in the Thompson Lawson Debate (see here).

"We believe that many who are regenerated are not believers in Christ."

This was said by Thompson in 1899.  How far removed from the truth of Scripture!  How far removed from what our old Baptist forefathers believed!  The view of Thompson was not even the view of the first generation of Hardshell leaders!

A Look Forward and A Look Backward

The past few weeks have brought me to an important time of reflection about my life and service to the Lord Jesus Christ.  I have looked backward and forward.

This month I turned sixty years of age and my wife and I celebrated thirty years of marriage.  God has blessed a few things to happen which have helped me to get my house in order, which is the state I want to be in when God calls me home.  For all this I give thanks to God.

In reflecting on my Christian labors as an apologist (I have had about a dozen public oral debates over the past thirty years), preacher (I have labored as pastor, teacher, in churches and in seminary), author (I have several books on the Internet, some of which are completed and some still in progress), historian (doing intense research into the Hardshell Baptist group), blogger (having several blogs directed towards certain subjects and audiences), and above all, as a Christian (I have been born of the Spirit for over 45 years and baptized into the body of Christ for over 43 years), etc., I have both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. 

I am satisfied with the particular subjects that I have chosen to research and which to make into books and treatises.  I am satisfied with what I have thus far written, though all of these works could be improved.  These subjects are:

1)  The Hardshell Baptist Cult
2)  My Daily Bread
3)  The Post Tribulation Rapture
4)  The Prophet Job
5)  The Canonicity of the Book of Esther
6)  The Weak and the Strong

These are my major works.  I am satisfied with what I have thus far written and they need revision and completion.  All these works involved intense study and research.

Of course I also have many smaller works on various topics.  I also have much information gathered on other topics for possible future use in other works.

I am hopeful that the Lord will allow me the years to complete these works.  If not, I am glad that God has provided brother Fralick to become custodian for all my writings and blogs and perhaps will allow him or some other person to complete and enlarge upon what I have already put forth in print. 

I am now in the process of completing my mammoth work "The Hardshell Baptist Cult." I am also in the process of writing a smaller version of the same.  I am satisfied at where I am in this work and can only hope that the Lord will allow me the time to complete these works.

Not only do I want to complete the afore mentioned major works, but I have other topics that I want to do research on and put into book form for the benefit of others.  These topics include issues in eschatology, coming events in prophecy, the doctrine of election, Two Seedism, eternal security, the ordo salutis debate, etc. 

My dad is now 82 years of age and is still pastor of "Thompson Memorial Primitive Baptist Church" in Franklin, Ohio.  I talk to him a lot about matters I deal with in my book relative to the Hardshells.  A large book about these conversations over the years would make an interesting read in itself.  My nephew, John Davenport, is assistant pastor at this church.  This is the church of my original membership.

Whether I live to the same ripe old age only God knows.  I am not so in love with this world or with my life that I would not exchange it in an instant to be in heaven with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and with the saints of all the ages.  "To depart and be with Christ is far better."  I do hope that I can yet be useful to the Lord and complete these works. 

Further, I must say in closing that I have written against the Hardshells out of love for Christ and out of love for sinners as well as out of love for my "Primitive Baptist" brethren.  It has been my hope to help bring today's Hardshells back to the faith of their forefathers and thus become real "Old Baptists" as brother Fralick and I.  Keep my wife and me in your prayers.  God bless.

For all of you who have visited my blogs and left encouraging comments, I say "thank you."

Unbelieving Heart

"Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen." (Mark 16: 14 KJV)

"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." (Hebrews 3: 12 KJV)

"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God...He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3: 18, 36 KJV)

"And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God." (Mark 11: 22 KJV)

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11: 6 KJV)

Are Christians alone saved? Are all non-Christians doomed?

What do these verses teach us? What does Jesus say? Is he being unjust and unkind to limit salvation to only those who believe in him?

Is the sin of unbelief and rejection of Christ that serious? Is it an "unpardonable sin"?

Are the various religions only different ways of finding salvation?

Can't one believe in "God" without believing in Jesus and the "Son of God"?

The answer to these questions is given by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the one whom Moses foretold would come, "that prophet," who would be also king and priest, the very Son of God, or Lord from Heaven.

Unbelief in Christ is a damning sin. The unbelief that is natural to men is a terrible disease of the soul. It has infected the heart and mind of man. It is natural for him to disbelieve in Christ and the story of his life, passion, and death. Paul said:

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." (I Corinthians 1: 18 KJV)

Unbelief is connected with "hardness" and "impenitence" of "heart," with an "evil heart." An "evil heart" is equated with an "unbelieving heart." A good heart is a heart of faith.

God sent a mighty Savior to rescue men from their sins and their depraved natures and bless them with eternal life and immortality for the body. He has commanded and invited all to come to him for deliverance. It is the greatest insult to his kindness for sinner's to reject his Deliverer, his own Son.

To reject God's Son is to reject him. Jesus said - "he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." (Matthew 10 : 40 KJV)

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Revelation 21: 8 KJV)

"And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. " (Acts 16: 30, 31 KJV)

(From My Daily Bread blog)

Elder Sonny Pyle's Heresy

In my previous posting "Pyles vs. Gold," I referred to Elder Sonny Pyle's sermon on "Regeneration."  In this posting I want to take issue with a couple statements that he made in that sermon.  (listen to his sermon here)

Pyles said:

"It would be just as ridiculous to go down in  Virginia or Kentucky and start yelling at the rock and the mountains as it would be for me to preach the gospel to an alien sinner never born again of the Spirit of God."

"It would be just as foolish to go over to the shopping center, walk up to a brick wall and start saying "by grace are ye saved through faith" - and people would think I was a moron."

In this sermon Sonny declares that the leading view of regeneration by the first Hardshells is "heresy."  I dealt with that point in the previous posting.  But, notice, ironically, that the one who is guilty of "heresy" is Pyles.  Is his heresy not evident from the above statements?

In this sermon Sonny correctly views the heart of the alien sinner as being hard as stone.  But, he wrongly infers from this that it is foolish to preach the Gospel to such hearts.  He relies on his logic rather than upon the clear teaching of Scripture.

Do the Scriptures teach that it is foolish and wrong to preach to stony hearts?

Further, if it can be shown that Jesus, the prophets, and the apostles, preached the Gospel to alien sinners, will this not make them fools and heretics, using Sonny's criterion?  Did they preach to "brick walls" when they appealed to the hearts and minds of lost souls?  Sonny thinks so.  And, if so, then he must acknowledge this, reductio ad absurdum.  One or two things is true.  Either Christ preached to stony hearts (unregenerate) or he did not.  If he did, then Sonny must acknowledge that Christ did wrong, and was a fool, and that Christ was no Hardshell.

Preach To Hard Hearts?

Was Ezekiel a fool for preaching to dead dry bones?  If we use Sonny's logic and affirmation of principles, we must conclude that the prophet erred and was a fool.

For a complete proof that Jesus preached to the hearts of alien sinners, see my posting "Jesus Uproots Hardshellism"

"Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?"  (Jer. 23:29)

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."  (Heb. 4:12)

I think these verses are enough to overthrow Sonny's Hardshell Two Seed heresy.

Sonny Pyles vs. P.D. Gold

Elder P. D. Gold wrote (1887) (emphasis mine):

"...I will try to explain more explicitly in a brief way what I know by experience of the travail from nature to grace."

"Firstly there is a begetting or quickening, then the sinner has a knowledge he is a sinner before God because his blinded eyes have been opened, and his deaf ears are unstopped, and then he is cognizant of his true condition. — Secondly, there is a travail of soul, and as I have said he probably mourns for weeks, months or years. Thirdly, then at an unexpected and appointed time he is delivered of his load of sin and guilt, and is freed from the law of sin and death, "old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." I possibly might say more on these points, but this I consider enough for the present. My dear brethren, If we are worthy to be called christians, Hardshells, Iron Jackets, or anything else for the sake of Jesus let us glory in such stigmas." (pg. 338)  (see here)

Here is a synopsis of what present day Hardshell leader and apologist, Elder Sonny Pyles, said in his sermon on "Regeneration." (see here ) in regard to this three stage model of spiritual birth (which was the leading view of Hardshells in the nineteenth century).

In this sermon Sonny wanted to deal with "three major questions" regarding "regeneration."  First, is this work "direct" or "indirect"?  Second, is it a "process" that is "long drawn out over time" (a "progressive regeneration"), or is it rather "instantaneous"?  Thirdly, is this work of being born again certain for all the elect?

In combating the "progressive regeneration" view Sonny first describes this view by describing just what Elder Gold (and all the first Hardshells)  believed, i.e., that the regeneration or birth process involves three stages, first the conception, then the time of development in the womb, and then the birth. 

Pyles says that this view is "unsound doctrine" and "heresy" and says that "our people have always maintained" their denial of this view and that "our forefathers" did not believe in progressive regeneration but in "instantaneous regeneration."  Sonny defines "our forefathers" and "our people" as being those, like his uncle, who put out the Fulton Confession in 1900, implying that they all rejected the idea that regeneration preceded the new birth.  But, he can find no Hardshell in the 1830-1860 period who objected to this view.  I have already shown in my writings that the view put forth by Elder Gold as late as 1887 was the view of the first Hardshells, such as Gilbert Beebe, Samuel Trott, William Conrad, Wilson Thompson, etc. 

Sonny's "people," it seems, all believed what he calls "heresy" and "unsound doctrine."  Does Sonny not know the influence of Gold?  Gold was a popular preacher and writer and a frequent visitor to the Bear Creek Association, just as is Sonny today.

In this sermon Sonny mentions an event in his early ministerial life (1958) in which he was present when an elder presented Gold's view (the original view) to about 20-21 ministers and was shocked that not one of those ministers objected to the elder's view.  Sonny says that he was youthful enough, "with no courage and no sense," and so began to attack the view of the elder.  He also says that all this was "to my sorrow."  And he is disturbed by the fact that this doctrine is being advocated today by Hardshell preachers "down south" and from "various quarters."  (Is that not interesting?)

You, see, my Hardshell brothers, your "forefathers" did not believe that conversion to Christ was optional but that it was that very new birth that was necessary for entering into eternal life.  This is why many of the oldest Hardshell churches say, in their individual articles of faith, that they believe that all the elect will not only be "regenerated" but also "converted," that is both conceived by the seed and delivered. 

Further, if the view of Gold is the view of the first Hardshells, who were the forefathers of those ministers who assembled in Fulton, then Sonny must admit that his denomination descended from heretics.

Bear Creek Association & Two Seedism

In previous writings I have shown that the "Original Bear Creek Association of Primitive Baptists" (here in North Carolina) was formerly the place of some of my early ministerial labors while a Hardshell preacher (see my chapter "Personal Experiences" - see here) and have shown that their association history shows that they were infected with elements of "two seedism" in the nineteenth century per the witness of Elder Hosea Preslar (see the posting "Elder Preslar on Two Seedism" (see here).  In the former I showed how the Bear Creek Hardshells are possessed of a harsh, popish spirit, an arrogant, proud, and critical spirit.  I have also through the years written of my visits to the Bear Creek Association. 

Here is what Elder Preslar wrote about the Bear Creek Association in the days just preceding the Civil War.

"But in the midst of all this confusion, my desire and prayer to God was that the Bear Creek Association might be saved,--saved from the many errors by which she was surrounded, (her well known enemies) And also from some erroneous things or principles, that are now in her midst, or in her ranks, going under the name of "Old Baptist;" but when named by those who are better acquainted with its signs and marks, is the old Two Seed Parkerite heresy."

Now let us notice the following unique expression in the present articles of faith of this association.

Art. 2. We believe in the man Jesus being the first of all God's creation and the pattern of all Gods perfection in nature, providence, grace and glory, and in relative union with the Divine Word, and thus united with the whole Trinity.

What is this article teaching?  The eternal humanity of Christ?  Can anyone see the "two seedism" in these words?  (I will not enlarge upon this in this posting but will do so, the Lord willing, in the future)

Notice also this article (which wording of it was changed in the late 19th century).

Art. 4. We believe the doctrine of Election, that God chose his church in Christ Jesus before the world began.

Proceedings of the Spring Session, 1892.  (see here)

Can anyone see the two seed understanding of election in these words?  (more on this later also)

Perhaps some leader of the Bear Creek Association can help us out here?

J. C. Philpot

Many Hardshells have historically favored the writings and theology of J. C. Philpot.  The first Hardshell periodicals in the nineteenth century were filled with the writings of Philpot and many Hardshells were friends with Philpot.  Some of the citations in Hardshell periodicals had Philpot arguing for the Gospel means position, which many Hardshells confessed to believe in that century.  I ask today's Hardshells if they can accept what Philpot says in the following?

A Spiritual Death and a Hidden Life
Preached on July 20th, 1856, at Gower Street Chapel, London, by J. C. Philpot (see here)

(emphasis mine)

What a remarkable mercy! What a blessing, as beyond all price, so beyond all conception, and all expression, is it to be a believer in the Son of God! Hundreds, thousands, millions, live and die without any knowledge of Him, any faith in Him, any love towards Him. And what must be their eternal destiny? What but the lake that burns with fire and brimstone? Our reasoning mind, when not subdued by divine teaching, our naturally compassionate feelings, when not softened into acquiescence with the divine will, pause and ponder; and when in imagination we seem to look down into the flames of eternal woe, and think of the thousands and millions that will forever welter there, we instinctively shrink back. If such feelings be indulged, we may soon be drawn aside to pity lost souls; when once we begin to pity lost souls, Satan may draw us on to pity lost devils; and when we begin to pity lost devils we rebel against God, until the mind becomes filled with every base imagination too vile for me even to allude to. We must, therefore, at any cost, hold fast by the Word of God's testimony; for when once we depart from that, we wander into mazes of error and confusion.   Now, if we adhere to God's testimony, we seem, to my mind, to come to these three points—

1. That the soul which lives and dies without knowing the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be a partaker of eternal life; for He Himself says, "This is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent." If, then, eternal life consists in the knowledge of Christ, eternal death must be the consequence of not knowing Him.

2. Again—the Lord says, "If you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins." "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; he who believes not shall be damned." We come, therefore, to this solemn conclusion, that if one lives and dies without a spiritual faith in the Son of God, he is and must be eternally lost.

3. We come to a third conclusion, from the same inspired Word of testimony, that if a man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, and lives and dies without His love being shed abroad in his heart, he falls under the curse of God; for the Apostle Paul, speaking in His name, says, "If any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema," that is, let the solemn curse of God rest upon him.

So that if we adhere to the Word of God's testimony we come to this solemn conclusion, though in coming to it we seem to cut off and indeed do cut off millions, that without a saving knowledge of, without a spiritual faith in, and without a divine love to, the Son of God, there is no salvation; and therefore that those who die without that knowledge, without that faith, and without that love, must perish in their sins.

But the point that concerns you and me is, whether we have this saving knowledge of, this living faith in, and this heavenly love toward the Son of God; for we have to stand before His bar, we have souls to be saved or lost, and the grand question with every one whom God has quickened into spiritual life is, "Lord, is it I? How does my soul stand before God? On what ground does it rest for eternity?"

Philpot expressed what is the historic Baptist faith in these words, and it shows that today's "Primitive Baptists" are not in fact what they claim to be.

Potter on Being an "Old Baptist"

Elder Lemuel Potter, in writing of the English Particular Baptists who wrote the 1689 London Confession, wrote the following:

"In our efforts to identify ourselves with the Old Baptists, against the claims of the missionaries, we claim to be identical with these old English brethren in doctrine. THE ADVOCATE does now stand, and always has stood there, especially on the new birth. We hope that none of our brethren will differ from them, and at the same time claim identity with them." (See my citation in full here)

I agree with Elder Potter that those who call themselves "Old Baptists" and yet disagree with the London Confession, are inconsistent and contradictory.  What say ye, my Hardshell brethren?