Separation Anxiety

If there was one distinct message, apart from the gospel itself, that was championed from the pulpit of my childhood it was separation. How often our pastors and especially our visiting evangelists would camp on this issue and give us a list of things to avoid. I suppose I grew up learning more about what I shouldn't do than what I should do. Like any good pharisee in training my identity in Christ was more about what I didn't do than how well I knew Him. Unfortunately, I see this phenomena still occurring in many evangelical churches today.

Let me make it clear that I am not a neo-evangelical or an ecumenist. I don't believe in compromising essential doctrine. I will go on record as saying that I am personally disturbed by books like Ecumenical Jihad by Peter Kreeft. In fact, I'm probably one of the few evangelicals who is willing to openly admit aversion to Kreeft's reckless call for ecumenism. That being said, I think evangelicals have practiced separation to the point of religious snobbery.

There are many Bible believing evangelical groups that could and should have fellowship with one another. I don't understand for the life of me why Baptists, Presbyterian PCA churches, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Southern Methodist Church, and other denominations can't have fellowship. Whats even worse, there are still independent Baptists out there who still think that the SBC is going to hell in a handbasket. I have no idea what planet they are on. It's all very silly, and very costly. It's high time that we quit looking for a straw man and begin to work together as the Body of Christ. The venerable C.H. Spurgeon noticed this probelm in his day and had this to say:

"We are not to be always going about the world searching out heresies, like terrier dogs sniffing for rats, and to be always so confident of our own infallibility that we erect ecclesiastical stakes at which to [figuratively] roast all who differ from us."

If we as orthodox evangelicals don't begin to act in unity for the purpose of spreading the gospel we may find ourselves overrun with atheism, secular humanism, and Islam. It's high time that we actually practice, "In Essentials, Unity; in Non-essentials, Liberty; in All Things, Charity." By the way, if you want to see a good example of Biblical cooperation for the sake of the gospel look at the organization for the Harvest Crusade that is planned for June 22nd - 24th in Raleigh, N.C. this year. If you are a Bible believing church in this area, shame on you if you aren't supporting and praying for this event.