THERE ARE NOW TWO KINDS OF EVANGELICAL....
The old is the authentic, biblical position. The new is far off the track, not
in its basic view of salvation, but in its readiness to compromise with doctrinal
error and worldly ways. The new is selling the faith for earthly respect and
recognition... and churches are being ruined.
[Illustrations]
Today, old-style evangelicals are in the
minority.... This booklet attempts to give a clear picture of the present alarming
scene, in order to encourage believers to take a clear stand.
Old-style evangelicals are often called fundamentalists,
particularly in the USA. New-style evangelicals adopted the term, 'new evangelical'
to describe themselves in the 1950s. ... It would be
fairer to say that fundamentalist is someone who cares about the defense and
preservation of the Gospel...
Those of us who are old-style evangelicals are now being
labeled as fundamentalist by our critics, the new-style evangelicals. A repetition is
occurring of what happened at Antioch, where the 'the disciples were called Christians
first' (Acts 11.26). That glorious name was given to them by their critics....
Why are the new-style evangelicals calling us
fundamentalist? They are doing so for reasons of tactical self-advantage. ... Harold
J. Okenga, the distinguished Boston pastor, joined with Carl F. Henry and Billy Graham
to steer American evangelicals into a more liberal position, they were keen to be
known as the new evangelicals. They founded the magazine Christianity Today as the
flagship journal for their new direction. ...
The new evangelicals were inclusivistic rather than
separatistic. They... urged Bible-believers to stay in compromised denominations....
Liberal scholarship was studied and in many respects embraced.... The old, sharp line
between worldly activities and spiritual activities was swept away, and believers were
encouraged to be much more involved in worldly culture, leisure and entertainment. ...
...the new evangelicals began to put less stress upon the
new, and to speak of themselves simply as evangelicals, and the old-style believers as
fundamentalists. This made them sound more orthodox. All that remained was to give the
term fundamentalist an objectionable, negative image, and the new evangelicals would
then appear to be mainstream.
This is precisely what is now happening in Britain.
The new
evangelicals are appropriating to themselves the exclusive use of the term
evangelical, and calling old-style believers fundamentalists. Like their American
mentors they define the latter term in the most objectionable way.[1]
You may want to visit the Biblical old
Metropolitan
Tabernacle
and
order this special 30-page booklet reprinted from a 1995 issue of
The Sword and Trowel.
