Baptist
Secessionism:
It is the claim of some Baptist groups that
their church is the 'true' church founded by Jesus Christ. They attempt
to trace their heritage all the way back to John the Baptist. Their
primary 'proof' is a 56 page booklet titled, "The Trail of Blood,"
written by J.M. Carroll in 1931. In the book, the author attempts to
show that historical heretical groups, Montanists, Novatianists,
Donatists, Paulicians, Albigensians, Catharists, Waldenses, and
Anabaptists were really early Baptists, and they were pursued by
Catholics and wiped out. Since there is no evidence of this to show,
they claim the 'evidence' was destroyed by the Catholic Church.
Interestingly, Baptist theologians reject this story as unfounded and
not credible. Nevertheless, some Baptist splinters called "Landmark
Baptists", continue to teach it, to the embarrassment of the great
majority of Baptists.
Let us examine each of these
groups...
1. Montanists, denied all second
marriages, even after the death of the spouse. They required all
virgins wear veils in Church. They denied the forgiveness of sins, thus
making a movement without hope.
2. Novatianists,
taught that no sin was to be forgiven after Baptism. They too denied
second marriages under any circumstances. Novatian covertly had himself
declared a Bishop and was subsequently ex-communicated.
3.
Donatists, taught that the true Church consisted only of the elect and
that Baptisms were only valid when performed by a Donatist.
4.
Paulicians, believed in the plurality of gods, held that all matter was
bad, rejected the Old Testament, denied the incarnation, said Christ
was an angel. They refused to honor the cross, by saying Christ had not
been crucified.
5. Albigensians, believed in two
gods, one good and the other evil. They rejected all sacraments,
declared it was sinful to marry. This promoted sexual permissiveness.
Pregnancy was to be avoided and abortion was promoted.
6.
Catharists, followers of all the heresies of the Albigensians.
7. Waldenses,
taught that the Church should have no property and condemned tithing.
Interestingly, they accepted the Holy Eucharist as the Body of Christ.
8.
Anabaptists, practiced polygamy and communism. They condemned oaths as
unlawful. Anabaptists were founded by Thomas Munser in 1521. This fact
alone refutes the Baptist claim to antiquity.
In recounting the 'deeds' of these
heretical groups, why would anyone want to claim any of them as
ancestral 'proof' of their origin?
Now since Jesus Christ promised His
Church would last forever, "The gates of Hell will not prevail against
it," Matt 16:18, what do you suppose He was doing with His Church
during all of these centuries? Was He switching His Church to these
heretical groups as they came along, 'zigging' to Montanists, and
'zagging' to Novatianists and so on? That notion is ridiculous. No, He
did exactly what He said He would do. He was preserving and protecting
His One Holy Catholic Church.
Now in dealing with Sola
Scriptura believers as Baptists are, I will
insist on playing the Sola Scriptura game
also in situations such as this one. The very meaning of the words Sola
Scriptura is that everything believable must be
found in the Bible, and if something is not in the Bible, then it
simply does not exist or it never happened. At least that is what they
tell Catholics. However, that same concept can be used by Catholics
also for their beliefs of Baptist secessionism. I simply cannot find
any verse which even hints that John the Baptist founded a church. Why
can't I find it in the Bible? Is there a double standard here for SS
believers, one for themselves and another one for Catholics?
Where
is the evidence? If Evangelical Baptists existed since the time of John
the Baptist, then the history books should have many references to
them. The writings of the Early Church Fathers, the historians of their
day, do not mention Evangelicals or Baptists at all. But what is very
interesting is that the writings of scores of them mention the Catholic
Church by name, hundreds of times. In the writings of Saint Augustine
(354-430) alone, he mentions the Catholic Church, by name, over 300
times.
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