Dr. James Willingham

Strange is it not that most Baptists are not acquainted with the history of their own churches. In the 70s I wrote an article for the LINK, the Associational newsletter of the Sandy Creek Assn. In that survey of the association's past in conjunction with other Separate and Regular Baptists of North Carolina and Virginia, I pointed out that our predecessors (and in some cases, no doubt, ancestors) enjoyed the blessings of the First and Second Great Awakenings andhow these events and the theology of that day transformed Protestantism from being a Gospel Recovery effort filled with cntention and conflict into a positive, outgoing and creative movement bent on winning the world to Christ. In fact, the Baptists along with other denominations of the period experienced, in my opinion, two of the greatest events in world history, events which helped them to achieve religious liberty, launch the great Century of Missions, utilize both educated and uneducated ministers, begin a movement against slavery, united Separate and Regular Baptists (a precursor to the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention), persuaded General Baptists who believed Christ died for all but who were not very evangelistic or missionary into Regular Baptists who were evangelistic and missionary and bent on winning every one to Christ with the doctrine of particular redemption, but who were willing in the case of the Separates to unite with those who preached that Christ tasted death for every man (a limited perspective on the text and context and one that fails to comprehend the value and usefulness of paradoxical interventions).
The doctrinal formulations of Sovereign Grace enabled the Baptists of that day to be balanced, flexible, creative, and magnetic. Gano, Stearns, Marshall, Leland, and a host of others were calvinistic liberals, a strange bird today, but one that makes sense in the light of the thought that, if God is in control as that theology postulates, then believers do not have to force anyone to follow it. They win them with facts and evidence, with proof, with a demonstration of that spirit of winsomeness which is irresistibly attractive. Maturity and balance or charming ideas, biblical theology is so constructed to enable and empower Christians to live out its precepts in a compelling manner. Consider such people as R.G. Lee, Basil Manly, Luther Rice. Jesus plus nothing and minus nothing is a wonderful teacher and practitioner of His own principles and views, and what He said and did must become our motivating power. His doctrine in addition to being clearly paradoxical is in its two-sidedness designed to produce a tension in the human mind, a desirable tension, which enables one to be objective or subjective as the occasion demands without feeling like he or she has compomised or become too rigid.
There are built in correctives in our Lord's teachings, feed back mechanisms which enable the believer to make corrections and avoid the sterile and destructive world of polarization. Our time of decline might be compared to a time when the fields are lying fallow, a practice followed by farmers to give the soil time for rest and restoration. That will be followed by even greater fruitfulness, if handled properly. One of the things we need during this time are theological mediations designed to achieve a higher and better position, a greater growth and accomplishment. Who knows but that we are come to the kingdom for such a time as this, and we might be the very ones who experience the Third Great Awakening, the one that wins the whole earth in one generation and then for a 1000 more generations after that.
It is perhaps seemingly facile to suggest that our best approach might well be the belief that unconditional election and particular redemption, irresistible grace and, yes, even reprobation, might be incredibly more magnetic and awe inducing than what we would normally expect from our own ideas that Jesus just thought every body was just a little damaged and that He died for all but they have to add their bit to help his effort out. We do have our Lord saying so the woman of Canaan heard, that he was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (and she was not a Jew). Her response was worship. Then he raised the awful specter of reprobation, saying, it is not right to take te children's bread and cast it to dogs. Her response, again, is remarkable. She actually agrees with Him. Truth, Lord. She agrees to the characterization of an unclean creature, an image of reprobation and uncleanness (seeing how they return to their own vomit), and she turns His very words into means and leverage with Christ. The dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.(cf.Mt.15:21-28) The result is astounding. Jesus said to that woman what He never said to His Apostles, "Great is your Faith. Be it unto you as you will."
We need more confidence in biblial theology and how it works. Even the conservatives seem to be wanting in this area. Their preaching often has more of the quality of head banging than of penetrating thoughts that lay bare the heart to the word of God...in a manner that evokes the desire for change as our Lord did with his use of paradoxical interventions concerning the atonement, election, depravity, and, yes, even reprobation. Our problem is we have forgotten how our predecessors and, yes, even ancestors in some cases, actually thought about these mysteries and how they applied. The result of real investigations and thoughtful, reflective examinations might - in conjunction with prayer to that end -lead to this marvelous blessing of another Great Awakening...which I take it has been promised and the promises of it were what were pleaded in prayer by those who have gone before us. One of those promises is Ps.22:27: "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord." Let us like them began to plead such promises in prayer for such a visitation. Willaim Carey, following JOnathan Edwards presentation of such promises in his Humble Attempt began to pray for the spread of the Gospel among the heathen. He also wrote his Thoughts on Missions involving the same promises, and then he along with others launched the Great Century of Missions. The world has never been the same. Neither will we nor ou world be the same, once we begin to truly plead these promises and seek to implement them in winning the world to the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, He has promised to be with us in the effort, and His seed, His followers, are even more like the dust of the earth for numbers as the promise was to Abraham (Gen.13:16).


posted Tuesday, February 16, 2010 11:04 PM | Report Abuse

Cast Iron Hibachi

Zahvaljujemo se vam za dobro delovno mesto najlep?a hvala

posted Tuesday, March 02, 2010 2:52 PM | Report Abuse

Counter Height Tables

Diolch i chi am swydd dda ddiolch 'ch iawn lawer

posted Friday, March 05, 2010 6:40 PM | Report Abuse