“The SBC with its institutions and agencies has been pirated from the people and churches of the Southern Baptist Convention. The cooperation which once characterized the SBC is dead.”

The above statement is a reality hard to face. A concerned layman recently said, “Do you really mean that?” I said yes. He does not like fundamentalism. He just is finding all of this hard to believe. And he finds it very sad, which it is.

But it is also the truth. I know many are struggling with this truth, so I want to write a brief history of the last 30 years. My desire is to write something that can be distributed in churches and help lay people deal with the new reality.

I will use the term “radical fundamentalist” to describe those that now control the SBC. Why? Because that is who they are and what they believe and practice. Fundamentalism has never been mainstream Baptist theology or practice. There has been no “conservative resurgence” because fundamentalism never “surged” before. Baptists always rejected it until 1979.

In the beginning (1964) a man in Houston named Paul Pressler began a “search for liberals” among Southern Baptists. He printed a pamphlet and reviewed writing and speeches made by Southern Baptist leaders. When the Peace Committee was formed, Pressler had “concerns” about approximately 11,000 persons who worked for some SBC church or institution. Members of the Peace Committee have told me personally that of these 11,000 “concerns,” the committee only found 14 whose statements would be considered questionable in the matter of “liberalism.” No charges were ever filed. The average age of the quotes that were a “concern” to Radical Fundamentalist was 14 years old.

In reality, Pressler knew there was no “slide into liberalism.” He made that statement on a taped interview in 1985. I have a copy of that tape. In that interview he does relate how he and Paige Patterson plotted and executed the takeover of the SBC.

In “D” Magazine, January 1991, Patterson is quoted by the writer of an article as knowing there was no sliding into liberalism among the churches. It was a good “red flag” issue and they used it for their own political gain.

W.A. Criswell stated in 1972 that there never was and did not then exist a “liberal drift” in the SBC.

From the beginning this whole movement had the takeover of the SBC and its institutions as its goal. It was a political power grab. This is only the latest incident in a movement that started back in Acts 15. There have always been groups who wanted to control the churches and what they taught. You can easily identify them by their effort to impose their own creedalism upon everyone else.

According to Pressler (Firestorm Chat tape), after the Radical Fundamentalist achieved control over the SBC, they would do the same thing in each state convention. The focus is now on taking control of the various state conventions. The SBC is gone. It is fairly in the hands of Radical Fundamentalists. They are an updated mutation of the Frank Norris fundamentalism of the 1930s. They have won the war.

Please allow me to share a brief chronology of events as they unfolded from 1964 to the present. These materials have been gathered from many documents and tapes. They can all be authenticated if anyone wants to check for themselves. I am indebted to many people for the documentation and the personal statements. This is a very short compilation of major actions taken and victories won by the Radical Fundamentalist.

In 1968 Luther Rice Seminary was formed. Then Criswell College was founded in 1970. Mid America Seminary was started in 1971.

In 1972, the Fundamentalist mounted a systematic slander and deception by perception movement against the most visible SBC leaders and institutions. They are masters of the art of deception by perception.

In 1977, Patterson and Pressler met at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans to plan strategy for the takeover of the SBC. (I was in New Orleans in 1990 when they met at the same place to celebrate the anniversary of the event and to celebrate their complete victory.)

In 1978-1979 there were hundreds of “liberal hunts” across the SBC.

In 1979 by using the Pastor’s Conference as a spring board and by using wide spread voting irregularities, the first president for the SBC was elected by the Radical Fundamentalist. Using the same methods of innuendo and deception by perception, they have controlled each convention since.

In 1980 the Southern Baptist Advocate was established. In that same year Pressler pressed his liberal hunting and described his campaign as “going for the jugular.”

In 1984 W.A. Criswell said, “Separation of church and state is the figment of an infidel’s imagination.”

In 1985 Paige Patterson demanded the SBC exercise control over the WMU. (This is a direct violation of the constitution of the SBC. That is no problem with Fundamentalist. With them all that counts is winning.) In 1985 the widely quoted “heresy file” kept by Patterson proved to be fictitious. No problem to them. It was just standard deception by perception.

In 1985 the taped interview of Pressler by a leader of the Reconstructionism movement was made. In this interview Pressler explained in detail how the takeover was achieved and stated their plans to now take over the various state conventions.

In 1986 W.A. Criswell proclaimed the new Baptist Doctrine that “THE PASTOR IS THE RULER OF THE LOCAL CHURCH.”

In 1987 Criswell labeled any who opposed the Radical Fundamentalist as “infidels and half infidels.”

In 1988 the Peace Committee was formed. It was largely dominated by Fundamentalist. When its report was brought to the convention it was adopted but hard line Fundamentalist harshly repudiated it.

In 1988 Criswell classed all those who opposed him and the Fundamentalist as “skunks.” (Behold how they love one another.)

At the Convention in New Orleans in 1990, the lack of democracy and the illegal control of the convention caused many of us in Texas to realize that we were excluded and SBC was DEAD. No one with points of order or differing views were even accorded a hearing. I went to Mic 12 to raise a point of order about microphone placement. A graduate of Criswell College was standing there in plain sight of the podium. As long as he stood there, Mic 12 was not activated. The poor monitor at Mic 12 agreed that my point of order was a valid one and even sent a page to the stand requesting that I be recognized but to no avail. Many other pastors from Texas were witnesses to this action and indeed were victims of the same tactics. After the election of officers was completed, microphones were fairly distributed throughout the crowd.

In 1992 Adrian Rogers hosted a meeting of Fundamentalist at which plans were made to seize control of the State Baptist Conventions.

In 1993 Paul Pressler demanded and received election to the Foreign Missions Board. That same year the SBC Public Relations Office was established.

In 1993 the WMU was accused of being “adulteresses” because they made decisions of their own. That year three identical “control or else” WMU resolutions were adopted by the Executive Committee of the SBC, by the Home Missions Board and the Foreign Missions Board.

In 1993 the big push was started to prohibit any Cooperative Baptist Fellowship participant from serving in any SBC capacity.

THE END CAME IN MARCH 1994. The Radical Fundamentalist dominated Board of Trustees at Southwestern Baptist Seminary fired the long time President, Dr. Russell Dilday. Their actions and the “reasons” given have been repudiated by Dr. Dilday, by the Seminary faculty, by the students and by the published works of Dr. Dilday.

It is time for those of us in Texas Baptist life who really know to take action. Everyone interested in truth should realize by now that the Radical Fundamentalist cannot stand to let freedom live. Like Radical Fundamentalist in every age, FUNDAMENTALIST MUST CONTROL OR THEY WILL SEEK TO DESTROY WHAT THEY CANNOT CONTROL.

This group has violated those doctrines of distinction that define us as Baptists in all ages. They have redefined the Bible. They have repudiated the doctrine of the separation of church and state. They have redefined the Priesthood of Believers and the autonomy of the local church.

I urge real Baptists to stand up and be counted everywhere. There are some issues so important to God’s plan for Mission and Evangelism that we cannot just bow our heads and hope things will get better. THINGS WILL NOT CHANGE. The SBC as we have known it is GONE. It is now time for Bible believing Baptist to be Baptist. Let each church decide how they will invest their WORLDWIDE CAUSES gifts.

THE SBC HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY THOSE WHO ARE NOT BIBLICAL BAPTIST. It is far past time for pastors and local church leaders to be BAPTISTIC and chose other missions delivery systems and other literature. We must start or increase support for other seminaries or we will end up with Fundamentalist trained church members and pastors. STAND UP AND LEAD!

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