HAS JIMMY CARTER REALLY LEFT
THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION?

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

 

October 24, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277, fbns@wayoflife.org).
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter recently mailed a letter to 75,000 pastors stating, "I can no longer be associated with the Southern Baptist Convention." He said he felt "excluded by the adoption of policies and an increasingly rigid SBC creed."
Carter is a heretic who believes Mormons are Christians and loves modernistic theologians such as Barth and Brunner who deny the infallible inspiration of Holy Scripture and many other cardinal doctrines. After his election to the highest political office in America, Carter appointed a pro-abortion activist, Sarah Weddington, to the position of assistant to the president. Weddington was lead attorney in the 1973 abortion case, Roe v. Wade, which resulted in legalization of abortion in America and the murder of millions of unborn babies. In 1992, Carter agreed to serve as the honorary co-chair of the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual advocacy group.
One wonders how many times Jimmy Carter is going to announce his departure from the Southern Baptist Convention. He made almost exactly the same proclamation back in 1993, saying: "In the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, my wife and I have found a home [and will] cast our lot with this fellowship for the rest of our lives." The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) is a group formed by Southern Baptist liberals who believe Christians are at liberty the deny the Bible's infallible inspiration and to question other key doctrines of the faith. Though the CBF itself is a separate organization from the Southern Baptist Convention, many of the churches that support the CBF also participate with various programs within the Southern Baptist Convention. There are many churches within the various state conventions which are aligned with the SBC that support the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in addition to or instead of supporting the national SBC. In practice, the CBF was created not as an alternative Baptist denomination but as a means whereby liberal Southern Baptist pastors could remain within the SBC (and thus maintain their retirement and other financial benefits) while channeling funds to liberal causes not supported by the current conservative leadership.
In a practical sense, Jimmy Carter has not left the Southern Baptist Convention. He remains a deacon and Sunday School teacher in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains, Georgia, a church aligned with the SBC. His Sunday School class is attended by busloads of visitors, a large percentage of which are Southern Baptists. All of this is mere religious politics on his part in an attempt to sway events within the convention. He doesn't really want to leave the convention; he wants to influence it after his own liberal image. The Dallas Morning News (Oct. 20) reported that a key Texas Baptist leader, David Currie, counseled Carter to send out the letter. Currie told the newspaper that Carter initiated a meeting with him in September. Currie stated that Carter shared his feelings about the conservatives in the Convention and said, "What can I do to help?" Currie replied: "Well, Mr. President, Baptists across the nation need to know how you feel." Carter replied, "I kind of have a letter in my head [that] I'd like to share with Baptists."
Carter is from the state of Georgia, and the Baptist Convention in that state is extremely liberal. R. Kirby Godsey, President of Mercer University (which has received millions of dollars from the Georgia Baptist Convention) published a book entitled When We Talk About God…Let's Be Honest in 1996 that denies, reinterprets, or questions practically every doctrine of the Christian faith. Godsey says that "the notion that God is the all powerful, the high and mighty principal of heaven and earth should be laid aside." That is wicked heresy of the highest degree. For almost two decades, students at Mercer have been influenced by this man and by professors who hold similar views (but who are not as bold as Godsey about putting their doctrine into print); these students have graduated into positions within the SBC and have, in turn, influenced great numbers of church members.
There have been attempts since 1987 to have Godsey step down, but the fact remains that this man has been the head of one of the SBC's influential schools since 1979. This is a testimony to the fact that large numbers of people in the SBC are at least sympathetic with heresy and unbelief. Many others do not like what Godsey is teaching, but they are not willing to make the only statement against heresy which means anything, which is to publicly denounce it in no uncertain terms and to separate from it in the strictest sense.
The problem within the Southern Baptist Convention is its refusal to deal with heresy after a Biblical fashion. Heretics are to be rejected and dismissed from the churches (Titus 3) and separated from (Rom. 16:17, etc.). If the Southern Baptist Convention would obey the Bible in these matters, it would not have to play politics with the Christian faith. The doctrine of Biblical separation is not practiced by Southern Baptist preachers, even the most conservative ones.
See "When Was the Southern Baptist Convention Rescued from Liberalism?" in the Fundamental Baptist CD-ROM Library. Way of Life also publishes a book by that title.
David Cloud                                                    
Director, Way of Life Literature                                              
1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277                           
http://wayoflife.org/~dcloud                                              
360-675-8311 (orders)
Thus, David W. Cloud shows that Jimmy Carter is actually still a Southern Baptist. He remains a deacon and Sunday School teacher in a church that is still "aligned with the SBC."
In 1997 Carter was quoted in the Deseret News, a Mormon newspaper in Salt Lake City. Carter made these statements "during a national teleconference with religious writers." He said:
Too many leaders now, I think, in the Southern Baptist Convention and in other conventions, are trying to act as the Pharisees did when they were condemned by Christ, in trying to define who can and who cannot be considered an acceptable person in the eyes of God. In other words, they're making judgments on behalf of God. I think that's wrong.1

In this Deseret News (Mormon) article, religion editor Carrie A. Moore quoted Carter as saying SBC leaders were "wrong in characterizing Mormons as non-Christians."2 Carter said, "Southern Baptists are off the mark in their belief that Mormon doctrine is essentially non-Christian and Mormons are therefore in need of evangelization."3

Thus, Jimmy Carter thinks Mormons are Christians. Jimmy Carter remains in the Southern Baptist Convention. He is still an outspoken voice for liberalism in the SBC, and there are many remaining in the Convention who agree with his extremely liberal views.
In 1996 Jimmy Carter wrote a book titled, Living Faith (New York: Random House, 1996). In it he outlined the views of thousands of liberals in the SBC. In this book, Carter says the following things:
      1. Carter says that he was not born again when he accepted Christ!
        "I decided to accept Christ during a revival service
        when I was eleven."4
        "Being born again didn't happen to me when I was
        eleven. For me, it was an evolutionary thing."5
        These are extremely confusing statements! He thinks the new birth comes through a process of "evolution." Is he born again now? How many other SBC liberals are as confused as Carter about the new birth?
      2. Carter says that the extreme liberal Paul Tillich answered many of his questions about faith:
        "My own relationship to faith remained an open question. An important part of the answer came to me from the writings of Paul Tillich. One of his themes is that doubt is an acceptable, even necessary aspect of faith - that faith implies a continuing search, not a final answer."6
        "My reading of theology (Karl Barth, Martin Buber, Hans Kung, Reinhold Neibuhr, Paul Tillich, Soren Kirkegaard and other extreme liberals are named by him), which helped to open these new ideas about faith to me, as an illuminating experience in which I began to feel at ease with my religion for the first time since I was a little child."7
        Thus, Carter tells us that Tillich (and these other liberals) made him "feel at ease" with his religion for the first time since childhood.
        Paul Tillich, who answered many questions for Jimmy Carter, was born in 1886 and died in 1965. "For Tillich the traditional concept of God had become invalid."8 He said, "I have long since come to the paradox of faith without God."9 Tillich's wife said, "You know, Paul is an atheist."10 Tillich was "drawn into a multiplicity of erotic adventures with a number of young women."11 Tillich had an affair with a married woman.12 For Tillich, death represented "the absolute unknown," "the darkness in which there is no light at all."13
        This man, Paul Tillich, whose wife said he was an atheist, who had affairs with many women, and who called death "The darkness in which there is no light at all," became a theologian whom Jimmy Carter depended on. Carter "began to feel at ease with (his) religion for the first time since (he was) a little child"14 by reading the writings of this man!
      3. Carter says, "I was against a Constitutional amendment to authorize mandatory prayer in public schools,"15 while he was president. No comment is needed!
      4. Carter rejects the inerrancy of the Bible. He says, "There are 'inerrantists' who think that every word of the Bible...is literally true. To argue about matters of this kind is divisive and counterproductive, but they are still burning issues within the fundamentalist Christian community."16

         

So here is a man, Jimmy Carter, who is currently a Southern Baptist, and a very vocal one at that, stating,

         

      1. He believes that Mormons are Christians.
      2. He believes he was not born again when he "accepted Christ."
      3. He found important answers through reading the writings of the immoral atheist, Paul Tillich.
      4. He was against a Constitutional amendment authorizing prayer in the schools when he was president.
      5. He rejects the inerrancy of the Bible.

         

He is still a Southern Baptist! With men like Carter speaking out in the SBC, has the Convention really been saved?

What is wrong with Jimmy Carter? I say that he

         

      1. Is in total confusion about Biblical conversion.
      2. He is, therefore, against God.
      3. He is, therefore, in agreement with God's enemies.

         

I. Carter is in total confusion about conversion.

 

He says, "I decided to accept Christ during a revival service when I was eleven." But then he says, "Being born again didn't happen to me when I was eleven. For me, it was an evolutionary thing." This shows that he is totally confused about the new birth, and is still lost! No one is saved by a process of "evolution"!
Not one conversion recorded in the Bible happened that way. In fact, every conversion recorded in the Scriptures was sudden. There were things leading up to each conversion, such as having the gospel preached, but each conversion happened suddenly - as with the thief on the cross, Paul, the people at the day of Pentecost, etc.
The Bible says, "He that believeth on him (Christ) is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already" (John 3:18). This verse plainly shows that the moment a sinner believes "on" Jesus he is saved. In I John 5:12 we read, "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." So, you either have Jesus or you don't have Jesus. There is no middle ground, and there is no process of "evolution" involved.
In Matthew 18:3 we read,
"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

So, you are either converted or you are lost. There is no middle ground and no process of "evolution"!

Based on these statements of Scripture, Jimmy Carter is still lost - and so are you if you have never had a moment of conversion. You are lost! You are lost! You are lost! Look at two more Southern Baptists, Bill Clinton and Al Gore. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Clinton is an unconverted whoremonger (Revelation 21:8) and Gore is in favor of infanticide. He can’t possibly be a real Christian (I John 3:15b). Don’t be like any of these three. They are lost Southern Baptists – on their way to Hell! Yes, it is clear that Clinton, Gore and Carter are not born again Christians.

II. Carter is, therefore, against God.

 

Carter stands against the Bible and Bible-believing Christians because he is lost. You see, all lost people are against the God of the Bible. The Bible says:
"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh (i.e. unconverted) cannot please God"
         (Romans 8:7-8).

Furthermore, the Bible teaches that, before conversion, you are "alienated and enemies in your mind" (Colossians 1:21). That's what is wrong with Jimmy Carter, and that's what is wrong with you, my unsaved friend. You are alienated from God - cut off from Him. And you are an enemy of God - "in your mind." Your very mind is set against God. That's why you think the way you do - you're against God. That's why you miss church - you're against God. Your whole heart and mind are against God. You are an enemy of God - just like Jimmy Carter!

Unless you get converted, you will live and die an enemy of God. What a horrible thing! Oh, friend, don't go on and die as an enemy of God! Come to Christ, the Son of God. Be washed clean in His Blood. Let Christ save you from a corrupted life and a sinful mind!

 III. Carter is, therefore, in agreement with God's enemies.


Carter agrees with the atheist Paul Tillich and other enemies of God. You see, all lost people are in agreement with others who are sinners. In James 4:4, we read:
"Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4).

Jesus said:

"If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world…therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19).
You see, when you change sides, the world will come against you and hate you. You have to change sides to get saved.
The old song says, "Who will leave the world's side? Who will face the foe? Who is on the Lord's side? Who for Him will go?" ("Who is on the Lord's Side?" by Frances R. Havergal, 1836-1879).
And that's what I'm asking you to do this morning: leave the side of sin and come over to Jesus Christ! He died in the Cross to pay for your sins. He arose from the dead to give you life. He is at the right hand of God in Heaven. Leave the world's side and come over with us! Come to Jesus Christ, the Son of God!
 

FOOTNOTES

 
1Quoted in an article by James Dotson, The California Southern Baptist, November 27, 1997, p. 16.
2Ibid.
3Ibid.
4Jimmy Carter, Living Faith (New York: Random House, 1996), p. 20.
5Ibid., p. 21.
6Ibid., p. 25.
7Ibid., p. 27.
8Wilhelm and Marion Pauck, Paul Tillich: His Life and Thought, Volume 1 : Life (New York: Harper and Row, 1976), p. 52.
9Ibid., p. 54.
10Quoted in James D. Bales and Herman Otten, Christian News (New Haven, Missouri, 1984), p. 1.
11Wilhelm and Marion Pauck, Paul Tillich: His Life and Thought, Volume 1 : Life, p. 82.
12Ibid., p. 85.
13Ibid., p. 2.
14Carter, Living Faith , p. 25.
15Ibid., p. 35.
16Ibid., p. 197.