Was reading a post by my friend Rod Carroll (http://rodcarroll.wordpress.com) and it triggered memories of some 24 years ago when our little baptist church in south Louisiana underwent enormous changes........really a reformation of sorts.
I was 19 years old and the Lord was really dealing with me when our church called a new pastor. He was a young man in his early to mid 30's with a consuming zeal for the glory of God unlike anything I had experienced in a person up to that point in my life. Our church was a typical southern baptist church at the time in that we had probably 2X the amount of people or more on the rolls compared with those who actually attended on a regular basis.
Pastor Bill Ascol came in and with loving boldness began to proclaim what those of us in reformed baptist circles know as "The Doctrines of Grace".........an outworking of which places a solid biblical emphasis on the Holiness of God and the personal sanctification of the individual believer Justified by faith in Christ...............all of which leads to the biblical doctrine of a Regenerate Church Membership..........something that has fallen on hard times (see Rod's post on his site).
.......well, Bro. Bill sure got himself in hot water (humanly speaking) by simply preaching the bible.........................in fact, more people were probably upset over his seeking to lovingly restore/purge members who were no longer attending (long before he became pastor) and advocating biblical personal holiness than over his preaching of the sovereignty of God.
By the grace of our Lord Jesus, I was born again sometime before or during all of this. Bro. Bill will always hold a very special place in my heart for his willingness to preach Jesus Christ, the whole council of God, no matter the cost. May God Bless him and his younger brother Tom as well as my current pastor Fred Malone in all they do to promote biblical Christianity in our southern baptist churches.
Decisional Regeneration..........i think alot of the blame falls here.
1 comment:
I must admit Adam, that I was freaked out at your church back in the late 80s. I guess that is what happens when your "tradition" is rocked. I am thankful that the Lord has educated me since then. You were a big part of that. So many of our conversations have played over and over in my head through the years
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