Baptist Briderism. In light of the Bible. By Perry Demopoulos Th.M., Th.D. (Missionary to Ukraine and Former Soviet Union since 1992)

Transcription

1 Baptist Briderism In light of the Bible By Perry Demopoulos Th.M., Th.D. (Missionary to Ukraine and Former Soviet Union since 1992)

2 Baptist Briderism In light of the Bible Note: All scripture quotations are taken from the Authorized Version of the King James Bible (1611) translated into the Russian language. For further information about the translation contact us at the following address One of the latest doctrines of men that has now taken root in Ukraine is the heresy called Baptist briderism. The word brider is simply a form of the word bride concerning the bride of Christ mentioned in Revelation 21:2, 9 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. A Baptist Brider is an extreme view of a group of Baptists who believe that only The Baptist Church is the Bride of Christ. All other Christians supposedly make up the FAMILY of God, but are not part of THE BRIDE. The details of this heresy differ from one group to the next, but the general teaching is that The Baptist Church has existed since the time of Christ (some say John the Baptist) and that water baptism (that is approved only by other Baptist churches) actually places a believer into the bride of Christ. Water baptisms that are not approved are considered alien baptisms and are not honored by the Baptist Bride churches. If one were to actually believe this type of doctrine that would leave aliens like Martin Luther (Lutheran), John Wesley, Bob Jones Sr., Sam Jones (Methodists), D.L. Moody (Congregationalist) and George Whitfield (Church of England) out of the Bride, while the Bridegroom rides off into the sunset with His proud and conceited Baptist sweetheart. This heresy is being taught in at least two counties of Ukraine as of 2010; Kharkov County, and Zhitomer County by American missionaries and Ukrainians alike. However, 2

3 finding someone who will ADMIT to being a brider is not an easy task. Just like the Campbellites, (Church of Christ) they hate the name, but love the doctrine. There are a number of careless steps that Baptist Briders usually take before promoting this outrageous heresy: 1. They ignore the command to rightly [divide] the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). Because of this ignorance, the Baptist Brider heretic will go anywhere in the New Testament to find proof texts for his heresy. The fact that God dealt differently with the Jews in the Gospels and in the book of Acts (a transition book where God was still dealing with the Jewish nation) than He does with Christians today will mean nothing when one ignores 2 Timothy 2:15. You will notice that any and all heretical groups fail to obey 2 Tim. 2:15 which reads as follows: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The Soviet Baptists (EXB) along with other groups such as Penecostals, Charismatics, etc. teach that you can lose your salvation. They teach that good works are necessary for a man to keep eternal life. Nothing could be further from the truth. And if you teach the eternal security of the believer as Paul did (Rom. 8:38, 39) they think that you are a Calvinist. [See our book on Hyper Calvinism]. On the other hand there are Fundamentalists that would say that Noah was a Christian and every believer from Genesis to Revelation in every dispensation [Ooops! That is a cuss word for Fundamentalists] that was saved had eternal security and was a Christian. So the Baptist Brider neglects rightly dividing the word of truth which causes him to err concerning basic Bible divisions 1.) John the Baptist admitted that he was only the friend of the bridegroom and not part of the bride. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled (John 3:29). There was a called-out assembly in Matthew 10. One of the members was an infidel (Thomas), one cussed and swore before unsaved people (Peter), and the treasurer of the church was a devil (Judas, John 6:70). It is this local church that is the embryo for the body of Christ, which is later formed after Pentecost. It had an unsaved man in it. It was NOT THE BODY OF Christ whose members are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones (Eph. 5:30). The body of Christ has no unsaved people in it, and that body is entered by the spiritual baptism of the Holy Spirit, which causes the new birth (John 3:3, 7), which was NOT even present in Matthew 10 when there was a called out assembly. All the members of this first called-out assembly in the Gospels were circumcised, Sabbath-observing, temple-attending, pork-abstaining Jews. John is NOT in the bride of Christ. John the Baptist said that he was the friend of the bridegroom not the bride, and John says that his baptism is not a figure of the believer s identification with Christ (1 Pet. 3:21) but is only to manifest Jesus Christ to Israel (John 1:31). Is that clear? 3

4 This is where the Baptist Briders fail to interpret the scriptures. They think the Baptist church began with John the Baptist and the Baptist local church is the Bride of Christ. To get this strange Catholic-Campbellite interpretation they converted the Spirit baptism of Ephesians 4 one baptism (Eph. 4:14) to water baptism, just like their Campbellite adversaries do. 2. They ignore Matthew 3:11 where John speaks of Christ's HOLY GHOST baptism in CONTRAST to his (John's) water baptism. This allows the Brider to pretend that water baptism is also the context of 1 Corinthians 12:13, Romans 6:3-4, and Galatians 3:27. This is convenient because this would mean that water baptism puts one INTO the body of Christ, which is does NOT. That is a Campbellite (Church of Christ) heresy. Matthew 3:11 says, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. What was John speaking of when he said he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost...? The answer is 1 Corinthians 12:13: For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. We are not baptized into the body of Christ by water. The Bible never says we are. It is the work of the Holy Spirit Who baptizes us into the body of Christ. Illustration - A Baptist Brider called another preacher about this matter. When the preacher quoted him 1 Corinthians 12:13, the Brider told him that the verse is speaking of water baptism which is spirit led. First of all, the verse is not talking about water baptism. Secondly, the word water is not even located in the entire chapter. Thirdly, and so what if John s baptism was of the Holy Spirit, that still does not mean that his baptism baptized people into the body of Christ. Fourthly, there was no body of Christ at that time. And finally, what he spoke of in Matthew 3:11 he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost speaks of a FUTURE Spirit baptism by Christ - in contrast to his water baptism! 3. Baptist Briders ignore Matthew 20:22-23 where Jesus speaks of a FUTURE baptism for his disciples which is NOT a water baptism: But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. This clearly refers to a future baptism for the disciples, which CANNOT be water baptism. They had already been baptized in water, but they had not been baptized INTO Christ's body by the Holy Ghost. That would take place at Pentecost. 4

5 4. They ignore the fact that John's baptism was a special baptism of repentance which accompanied the preaching of the KINGDOM message to ISRAEL (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Acts 13:24; 19:4; Mat. 3:1-6; John 1:31) and NOT to the body of Christ. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. (John 1:31) John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4). Again, the Baptist Briders have a serious problem when they are not able to rightly [divide] the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). 5. A Brider ignores the fact that Paul said he was NOT even sent to baptize, but to preach the gospel (1 Cor. 1:17). If baptism puts one into the body and bride of Christ, why would Paul make such a statement? We realize that Paul did baptize some, but it wasn't part of his commission. 6. Briders assume that the term church means an organized denomination with a name and a history, as in The Catholic Church, The Episcopal Church, or The Baptist Church. This assumption will allow the Brider to add his own private interpretation (see 2 Pet. 1:20) to passages like Ephesians 5:30-32 and Ephesians 4:4. This type of bungling of the scriptures causes confusion and blurs the difference between local churches and the body of Christ. Here is a list of DIFFERENCES between local churches and the body of Christ according to the Holy Scriptures 1.) The words churches (plural) has to do with many local churches. The word is mentioned throughout the scriptures. The word church (singular) refers to the one and only body of Christ, i.e., everybody and anybody, no matter where they are located, in a church building or out of a church building, baptized or not baptized yet, in the will of God or not in the will of God, if they are saved, born-again believers then they are IN the body of Christ that makes up the bride of Christ. Look at the list below of the differences between churches (plural) and church (singular) - churches (plural) church (singular) the body of Christ Acts 9:31; 15:41; Rom. 16:16; Eph. 1:22, 23; 5:23; Col. 1:18 1 Cor. 7:17; 11:16; Gal. 1:2, etc. There are not many bodies of Christ consisting of many local churches all around the world. That is foolish! The Lord Jesus Christ has only ONE body. There is only one body of Christ consisting of all saved people who have been truly born-again. All those saved people are parts of Christ s body and they all make up the bride of Christ. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another (Romans 12:4) 5

6 For as the body is one, (not the local church) and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, (not the local church) being many, are one body: SO ALSO IS CHRIST. [See that? Christ has one body, not many bodies.] For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, [not the local church] whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12, 13). This has nothing to do with a local Baptist church. It has to do with a Spirit baptism, baptizing a believer into the body of Christ. Notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many. Paul did NOT say, For the body [ the local church according to Briders] is not one member, [not just one local Baptist church according to Briders] but many. [ Many local Baptist churches according to the Briders]. You see what they did; they replaced the living body of Jesus Christ and made it into a local church. They have a very serious problem. Illustration - You have one body. Right? You have many members of your body. Right? Your finger is just part of your body. Nobody has ever called their finger the body. It is just part of the body. You wouldn t be so foolish to call your little toe the body. No it is just part of the whole. You can say that about any other part of your body. You have many members but they are all just different parts of only one body. So likewise there is only one body of Christ, not many bodies. That would be a mutilation of the scriptures. The word church in the New Testament is used as referring to a LOCAL church about 107 times. Ten times it is a reference to the organic, spiritual Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, of which He is the head (Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:27; 1 Tim. 3:15, etc.). In Revelation 1, 2, and 3 the references are to local churches. The great stumbling block for the Briders is the fact that in the early days of the church all of the BODY (all of the saved people) met in the same LOCAL assembly. This makes it look like the local assembly is the Body. Illustration - To show how confusing this is, consider what would happen if the Baptist Church in Kiev got a letter from the apostle Paul saying To the church in Kiev Who would get the letter? In the first place, the Archbishop of Rome would claim the letter because Matthew 16:16-18 was a reference to the Roman Catholic church the one, true, holy, apostolic, etc. You say, Wrong. Okay, the Campbellites (Church of Christ) would get it. They say Matthew 16:16-18 is a reference to their church, and they can prove it by the fact that Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell adopted that title for their churches back in You say, Wrong. Okay, who gets the letter? The Baptist church? WHICH BAPTIST CHURCH? For that matter, which GROUP of Baptist churches? There are probably close to a hundred Baptist churches alone in Kiev. Then who would get the letter, a EXB church that is in the union? Or the church of Fundamentalists? Or those from a Southern Baptist church? No, they have apostatized. Okay, what about the independent (not in the union) Baptist church that is registered but not in the union. No, they teach false doctrine too. All right, how about the separated Baptist church (EXB) that is not registered. No, they teach you can lose your salvation too. Well, com on man, are the independent Bap- 6

7 tists that teach eternal security the only BRIDE the Lord has in Kiev? Yes. Okay, which ones? How about the Baptist churches of Fundamentalists that teach eternal security but don t rightly divide the word of truth? Some are registered and some are not. What about the Bible-believing Baptist churches that believe in eternal security and rightly divide the word of truth. Some are registered and some are not. Both camps believe to be scriptural. What a zoo! THE CHURCH AT KIEV? Well, if THE CHURCH AT CORINTH (1 Cor. 1:2) or THE CHURCH OF THE THESSALONIANS (1 Thess. 1:1) was just ONE local church, you are all fouled up when you find a town that has more than one local church in it, and Kiev has more than at least a couple hundred different local assemblies in it. Zhitomer has more than 50 in it, and Dnipropetrovs k has more than 100 in it. What is "THE CHURCH AT KIEV? Well, bless your soul, it has to be a reference to the Body of Christ every born-again believer in Pensacola in any local church. And THAT is where the Baptist Briders get their Bibles messed up and never get straightened out. They magnify their own denomination to the exclusive status of Christ's Bride (like Eve was to Adam: Eph. 5), and surmise that every saved Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, and Episcopalian in town plus every Baptist they disagree with doctrinally is going to wait on tables at the Marriage of the Lamb and are not the bride of Christ. 2). There is a big difference between organized local assemblies (plural) and a living organism (singular). We have already thoroughly discussed this. 3.) Our third point defines the differences between local churches and the living organism. Local churches can consist of saved and unsaved people, or all unsaved pagans. In the body of Christ EVERYBODY is SAVED and that body is the bride of Christ, For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones (Eph. 5:30). Just as taught in Genesis 2:23 about Adam and Eve, And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 4.) The end of the local churches is apostasy (Rev. 3:14-21). In contrast, the end of the body of Christ, His bride is GLORY (Eph. 5:27; 1 Thess. 4:13-18). 7. Briders pervert Matthew 16:18, just like the Catholics and Campbellites, and pretend that Jesus was speaking about His BAPTIST church. After all, He DID take over after John the BAPTIST, so the Brider can teach that it MUST have been a BAPTIST church. 8. Briders ignore the fact that the kingdom was being offered to Israel all through the Gospels and clear through Acts chapter seven when Israel made her final rejection of the Kingdom by killing Stephen. 7

8 9. They ignore the fact that immediately after Israel rejects the Kingdom God picks Paul and gives him a special commission which does NOT include the water baptism of repentance since his gospel message is not the message of a literal, visible KINGDOM message (Acts 8-9; I Cor. 1:17; 15:1-4; 2 Cor. 5:18-20) but is of a spiritual kingdom (Rom. 14:17). 10. They ignore the logical conclusion that if The Baptist Church started with John (who preached the message of a literal, visible kingdom) or Jesus, (who was sent to the house of Israel and NOT the church) then there wasn't any point in God giving a special commission to Paul (Eph. 3:1-8) since the whole thing was already established and operating anyhow (as the Briders think). Now the Baptist Brider is all set. Now he can teach that his church started with John (although he admitted to the fact that he was just a friend of the bridegroom). Then John gave the bride away to Jesus who promised that the gates of Hell wouldn't prevail against His church (Matt. 16:18). Then Jesus turned his duties over to the twelve and commissioned them to go into all the world teaching and baptizing, which is what The Baptist Church has been doing ever since. This is HERESY, and cannot be supported by the Scriptures. The grossest part of this Campbellite heresy is the fact that the Body of Christ, called the church (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18), HAS TO FILL HEAVEN AS WELL AS EARTH (Eph. 1:23). I wonder who on Mars or Jupiter had a local church large enough to fill all in all. If you gathered all the Jewish synagogues together, they could not even come close to filling all in all. If you gathered all the Islamic mosques together, they could not qualify; if you put every Catholic Church on this globe into one ball it wouldn't begin to fill heaven; and if there were 600,000,000 Baptist churches stuck end on end, they would not even come close to touching the moon. Jesus Christ's Body is a spiritual body, with its head (Col. 1:18) in the third heaven and its members somewhere around 150,000 light years from it down here on earth (see notes on Eph 3:18; John 3:13). Local Baptist churches have lost people in them who certainly are not in the Body of Christ at all. The first local church (Matt. 10:1-4) had a devil (John 6:70-71) for a treasurer (John 12:6). If you left a local church, you would be mutilating the Body of Christ, for it is like a pearl (Matt. 13:46). Is Christ divided? (1 Cor. 1:13) Of course not! Finally, those apostate Baptists have set up a system where only Baptists partake in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. John the Baptist would not be part of the bride of Christ according to his own profession (John 3:29). Imagine Jesse Jackson (Communist Liberal Baptist) Martin Luther King Jr., (Communist, Liberal Baptist) Slick Willy Clinton, Cussin' Harry Truman (both claiming to be Baptists) all sitting down to the marriage feast while Martin Luther (a Lutheran), John Knox and Billy Sunday (Presbyterians); Sam Jones, General William Booth (founder of Salvation Army), and John Wesley (Methodists); Richard Wurmbrand (an Anglican and a Lutheran), and John Huss (a United Brethren) wait on them. Wouldn t that be one of the biggest jokes the Lord would pull on us? 8

9 Questions To Ask Any Pastor before Ever Considering To Join Their Church Now here are some things you want to make sure of before you become a member of a church. You have every right to ask the pastor the following questions 1. Do you believe the Authorized Version of the King James Bible (1611) as the absolute infallible word of God? He if answers No! Then there are two reasons for him answering in that fashion i. He could possibly be ignorant of this all important matter as many brethren of former Soviet Russia are. ii. He may be aware of the issue but has rejected the doctrine of the preservation of God s word in the international language of English and makes all translations subject to his subjective, inductive humanistic attitude thinking that there is no absolute final authority by which to judge all matter of faith and practice. He thinks that God could not preserve his word, word perfect in a book consisting of 66 books of the Holy Bible, in the international language of English. [Cf. Psa. 138:2 (KJV); Psa. 12:6, 7 KJV]. 2. Do you believe there is a difference between a local church and the body of Christ? If he answers, There is no such think as a body of Christ consisting of all born-again believers regardless of their denomination. Then you should mark him as teaching heresy! They tend to teach the doctrine of Pastoral authority which simply means that the pastor of each local Baptist church is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice (no matter what the Book says), so he has the authority to control the thinking and actions of all his members such as, with whom they can have fellowship, where they can spend their money, about what they can or can not talk, where and whom they can or can not marry. Most Briders lean in this direction. They do this in order to force Christians to attend their churches. They make their members face the prospect of just being guest (Matt. 22:10) at the Marriage of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7) instead of being part of His Body (1 Cor. 12:13-20) because as anyone knows, Christ s Bride comes from His body as Adam s did (Eph. 5:25-32). Final lesson Church History and Heresy A final note should be made concerning church history and heresy. What you will not find in church history books with the exception of maybe one or two is all historians will never mention the NEGATIVE aspect of Christians throughout the church age period to pinpoint the departure from the scriptures and spirit of truth. For instance, the Roman Catholic Church, of Revelation 17 did not come into existence with its super structure of heresies instantaneously. It was a matter of years of professing Christians who began teaching heresy and sowed seeds of heresy, even during the apostolic period that laid the foundation of heresies that grew into a monstrous tree of unclean birds and unclean spirits (Matt. 13:4, 19) so that by the 6 th Century the church was in the Dark Ages for about 1000 years. For example Clement of Rome, a professing Christian (30 A.D A.D.) taught that the bishop was to hold an exalted position in the local church in the place of 9

10 authority where the clergy was separated from the laity. Note the warning against this in 3 John 9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Where did the word Catholic start? It started with unsaved, Greek philosophers. Then professing Christians began using that terminology. Ignatius (67 A.D. 110 A.D) (or ?) a church father was the first to use the word catholic (Smyrna 8) from which would start a hierarchy of positions in the local assembly and Catholic churches. (Cairn, p. 74) Wherever the bishop appears, there let the congregation be; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. (THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS, pps. 112, 113). From where and when did apostasy start? It starts when professing Christians begin to use terminology of pagan, unsaved idolaters of universities and colleges and do not base their faith on the Bible. Where did Ignatius get his terminology? From Greek philosophers. Ignatius, although a martyr, uses not the Bible term, but used the word, Catholic, which is a term borrowed from the Greek literary culturists of 300 B.C. i.e. Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates etc. He would say Catholic faith instead of Biblical faith. Let s take another church father Polycarp of Smyrna (69-155?). When asked to deny the Lord Jesus Christ he said, Eighty and six years have I served Him and He has done me no wrong, how can I speak evil of my king who has saved me. A heresy that he taught was that he considered the Church as the mother of us all. That is exactly was a good devout Roman Catholic would say. The Catholic Church will go back to the Church fathers to prove their doctrine. That is their TRADITION. APPLICATION Now we mentioned all of the above concerning church history to say this - No matter how much a man is devoted to Christ even if he died a martyr s death for Him that is no reason to justify him for teaching heresies in the body of Christ. Just because some of these church fathers were martyrs does not justify their sin, so that you have an alibi to do the same. Therefore, just because a man professes to be a Bible-believer, and or is a pastor, missionary, evangelist or teacher, does not automatically exempt him from heresy. There are many Bible believers, that is, they believe the King James Bible as the infallible word of God, but are teaching heresy concerning the bride of Christ. They pervert the scriptures and sound Bible doctrine teaching that only certain Baptists make up the bride of Christ. They are Briders, teaching heresy. A LITTLE LEAVEN LEAVENETH THE WHOLE LUMP (Galatians 5:9). 10

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