Year 2000 Resolutions:

The Defense of the Gospel

Mormonism--A non-prophet religion

Resolution Against 'Identificational Repentance'

Resolution on The Defense of the Gospel

WHEREAS Bible-believers down through the ages have been obedient to the Word of God in earnestly contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Philippians 1:7,17,27; Jude 3), and

WHEREAS separation is a clear principle of Scripture, practiced by all who believe and were obedient to the fundamentals of the Faith, and

WHEREAS fundamental Baptists are known for their separatist positions, whereby they do not fellowship with apostates or those who compromisingly fellowship with them, and

WHEREAS separation may be defined according to the Scriptures as:

1. The Mark of God's Holiness, whereby believers are separated unto the Lord (I Peter 1:16), bearing His name as a redeemed Christian (I Peter 1:18), believing and obeying His Word as a necessity for His service and our blessing (Psalm 1:1-3; John 15:5,7), being fruitful in proclaiming His Gospel, and militantly standing in defense of His Word against all unbelief and compromise (Psalm 97:10; Ephesians 5:11).

2. Personal Separation, whereby a believer is in the world, but not of the world, having no friendship with it (James 4:4), no favor from it (John 15:18-21; I John 3:1,13), no fellowship nor affiliation with it (II Corinthians 6:14-17).

3. Ecclesiastical/Corporate Separation, whereby the Body of Christ, His Church, exercises discernment by identifying apostasy and fellowship with apostasy and unbelief so that it may be reproved (Ephesians 5:11), rebuked (11 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:9-16), and rejected (II John 9-11; (I Corinthians 6:17; Galatians 1:6-9; II Timothy 3:5).

4. Political Separation, whereby the things that belong to Caesar are rendered unto Caesar and those things which are God's are duly rendered unto Him (Luke 20:25; John 18:36; John 17:12-16; Philippians 3:20), which separation has been purchased at great cost to our Baptist forefathers here in America, who won our First Amendment freedoms so that no state church would be established, nor could government interfere with the doctrines and practices of churches. 

WHEREAS separation, as defined above, must be consistently applied and practiced to be effective and has been the distinctive hallmark of this Fellowship over the ten years of its existence.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we, the members of the Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America, meeting in annual session at Bethel Baptist Church, Sellersville, PA, on June 20-22, 2000, do hereby reaffirm our agreement with the historical practice and position held by this Fellowship and with its doctrinal statements regarding separation and resolve to mark, separate from and preach against apostasy, wherever and whenever it may be found and at any cost to ourselves. Furthermore, we resolve to separate from unrepentant, disorderly brethren (II Thessalonians 3:6,14; Romans 16:17,18) who persist in memberships, affiliations and fellowships (including evangelistic crusades, youth movements, missions agencies, etc) where their leaders and peers deny Bible doctrines and do not respect the Baptist distinctives we cherish and hold to be the truth, according to the Word of God. We further resolve to separate from brethren who persist in immorality (I Corinthians 5:10) or cause unnecessary divisions among the brethren (Romans 16:17,18; Titus 3:9-11).

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that we will guard our churches and ministries against the compromise of attempting unscriptural means to achieve God glorifying ends, whereby principle is sacrificed for expediency and pragmatism becomes the governing rule over our ministries. Furthermore, we pledge to strive for a consistent and coherent testimony for our churches and ministries, whereby there is no question to either our brethren or to the unbeliever as to the things we hold to be true from God's Word.

Resolution on Mormonism--A non-prophet religion

WHEREAS God's Word declares, "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son" (2 John: 9), and

WHEREAS the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Gordon B. Hinckley, recently made a statement regarding Jesus Christ in which he said, "The traditional Christ of whom they [professing Christians] speak is not the Christ of whom I speak. For the Christ of whom I speak has been revealed in this the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. He together with his Father, appeared to the boy, Joseph Smith, in the year 1820, and when Joseph left the grove that day, he knew more of the nature of God than all the learned ministers of the gospel of the ages" (Church News, June 20 1998 p7), and

WHEREAS Hinckley has clarified that Bible believers and Mormons believe in two different and distinct Jesus'. Our Jesus is the Eternal God while the Jesus of Mormonism is altogether different. Among Mormonism's peculiar and non-biblical features for Jesus are:

 1. He was sired by the "heavenly Father" as his first-born son in the premortal realm.

2. He is the elder brother of Lucifer and of all human beings.

3 He was married to Mary and Martha, per much traditional Mormonism.

4. He endured "suffering the atonement" principally in the Garden of Gethsemane, to guarantee immortality for everyone.

5. After his resurrection he visited the Western hemisphere and proclaimed his "gospel" there.

WHEREAS when Hinckley was challenged by a Baptist leader about the 'Jesus question; LDS spokesman Mike Otterson said, "We believe that we have more information on the life of Christ than the Christian community already has. That does not mean that we don't embrace the New Testament account." It would appear the Latter-day Saints want to, deceptively, have their cake and eat it too!

WHEREAS the 'Jesus' of Mormonism has declared everything that the Bible teaches, and hence what we believe about Christ, to be an abomination; this 'Jesus' of Mormonism is the enemy of Christianity.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we, the members of the Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America, meeting at Bethel Baptist Church on June 20-22, 2000, do hereby without any mental reservation, declare Jesus Christ to be the Eternal God and our Saviour who paid the price in full for our sin. As the Eternal One crucified and risen, Christ and Christ alone gives us eternal life.

 We also issue a warning to God's people to beware of the attempts of Mormonism to lead millions astray and also to be discerning of Mormonism's insidious advertising via the media even going so far as to offer a free copy of the KJV of the Bible.  MORMONISM, WHICH PREACHES A FALSE CHRIST AND DECEIVES MANY, IS A CULT THAT IS OUTSIDE THE REALM OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE TRUE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST.

 Mormonism is a non-prophet religion that honors Joseph Smith rather than our precious lord Jesus Christ.

Resolution Against 'Identificational Repentance'

WHEREAS in recent years, a practice known as "identificational repentance" has become popular which is the practice of individuals or groups who had no responsibility, authority or adequate knowledge repenting for someone else and asking forgiveness for them, and

WHEREAS this practice has been adopted by the current sitting pope when he 'repented' for the past "excesses of the Inquisition" by Catholicism without even condemning the atrocities of the Inquisition as a whole, and

WHEREAS though it may fit into the theological inconsistencies of the Mormon mindset which allows for the baptism of the living to secure an atonement on behalf of the dead, it has no place in the Biblical theology of the Fundamental Christian, and

WHEREAS no one may efficaciously repent for someone else but we must all stand before the Thrones in either our own sins or in the imputed righteousness of Christ, and

WHEREAS though it may behoove one to repudiate the sins of one's fathers, there is no advantage to repent on their behalf since the original persons, in most cases, are long since dead and "it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment.'

WHEREAS identificational repentance becomes, in effect, a mere smokescreen of false piety and pride and thus nothing more than non-sensical word play designed to placate the conscience.

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Last modified: June 21, 2007