King James Bible Study
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Ten Affirmations Concerning Our Bapitist
Heritage 
by James R. Beller
copied by permission from Pastor James Beller's 21 TNT.ComTEN AFFIRMATIONS CONCERNING OUR BAPTIST HERITAGE
1. Baptists are ancient, and our ancestry can be traced through the
vital principles established and set forth by our Lord Jesus Christ and
His disciples in New Testament churches.
2. Baptists are not "Protestants," as our testimony extends much further
in history than that of Martin Luther or John Calvin.
3. Baptists are not "Reformed" in theology or practice, for our view of
the church could never allow the marriage of church and state.
4. Baptists are not "Calvinists," for the doctrines of grace were
believed and preached long before John Calvin preached in Geneva.
5. Baptists are not "Arminian" in theology, for our forefathers preached
the Gospel with fervor long before the time of Jacob Arminius, and
believed they were enabled by God to persevere.
6. Immersion was in common use among Baptists before 1641. We reject the
1641 theory of William Whitsitt and oppose the conclusions of Henry
Veddar about baptism. We view as suspect the modern histories of Robert
Baker, Leon McBeth, Walter Shurden, Robert G. Torbet, and James Edward
McGoldrick as they submit to the thoroughly disproved theory of William
Whitsitt.
7. Baptist heritage is far older than "Fundamentalism,"* or the era of
the city-wide revival campaigns, or the time of the old Evangelical
Alliance.
8. Because Baptists have suffered at the hands of Papists and
Pedobaptistic Protestants alike, we ought to venerate and remember our
historic testimony far above the testimony of our persecuting enemies.
That is, we ought to revere the testimony of the Paulicians, Peter de
Bruys, Henry of Clugny, Balthasar Hubmaier, Henry D’anvers, John Clarke,
Obadiah Holmes, Valentine Wightman, Isaac Backus, Shubal Stearns, Samuel
Harris, John Leland, John Taylor, Isaac McCoy, et. al. These names
should be more commonly known among Baptists than those of D. L. Moody,
Ira Sankey, R. A. Torrey, Sam Jones, Gipsy Smith, John Wilbur Chapman or
Billy Sunday.
9. Infant baptism is the badge of antichrist, and flirtation with that
badge is akin to treason against God’s Word.
10. Ignorance of Baptist heritage, which is so infectious in our pulpits
and pews today, is dangerous and must be over come with a renewed
teaching of our Baptist heritage and heroes of past generations.
*Interdenominational Fundamentalism of the turn of the 20th century.
September 2004
William Cathcart's Essay
Biographies of the Baptized Believers
Learn More About History