“Ten Affirmations Concerning Our Baptist Heritage” by James R. Beller
Appendix B Ten Affirmations Concerning Our Baptist Heritage
Published Aug 30, 2019 7:04 pm Updated 4/8/24 by Roger Fulk
Page 262, “The Collegiate Baptist History Workbook”, by James R. Beller. Prairie Fire Press, Copyright 2002, Second Edition Copyright 2005, Third Printing 2006
- Baptists are ancient, and our ancestry can be traced through the vital principles established and set forth by our Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples in New Testament churches.
- Baptists are not “Protestants,” as our testimony extends much further in history than that of Martin Luther or John Calvin.
- Baptists are not “Reformed” in theology or practice, for our view of the church could never allow the marriage of church and state.
- Baptists are not “Calvinists,” for the doctrines of grace were believed and preached long before John Calvin preached in Geneva.
- Baptists are not “Arminian” in theology, for our forefathers preached the Gospel with fervor long before the time of Jacob Arminius, and believed they were enabled by God to persevere.
- Immersion was in common use among Baptists before 1641. We reject the 1641 theory of William Whitsitt and oppose the conclusions of Henry Veddar about baptism. We view as suspect the modern histories of Robert Baker, Leon McBeth, Walter Shurden, Robert G. Torbet, and James Edward McGoldrick as they submit to the thoroughly disproved theory of William Whitsitt.
- Baptist heritage is far older than Fundamentalism*, (*Interdenominational Fundamentalism of the turn of the twentieth century) or the era of the city-wide revival campaigns, or the old Evangelical Alliance.
- Because Baptists have suffered at the hands of Papists and Pedobaptistic Protestants alike, we ought to venerate and remember our historic testimony far above the testimony of persecuting enemies. That is, we ought to revere the testimony of the Paulicians, Peter de Bruys, Henry of Clugny, Balthasar Hubmaier, Henry D’anvers, John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes, Valentine Wightman, Isaac Backus, Shubal Stearns, Samuel Harris, John Leland, John Taylor, Isaac McCoy, et. al. These names should be more commonly known among Baptist than those of D.L Moody, Ira Sankey, R.A. Torey, Sam Jones, Gipsy Smith, John Wilbur Chapman or Billy Sunday.
- Infant baptism is the badge of antichrist, and flirtation with the badge is akin to treason against God’s word.
- Ignorance of Baptist heritage, which is so infectious in our pulpits and pews today, is dangerous and must be over come with a renewed teaching of our Baptist heritage and heroes of past generations.
Brother Beller was the most prolific Baptist historian of our generation. I highly recommend his many books on Baptist history such as America in Crimson Red, Sacred Betrayal, The Collegiate Baptist History Workbook, Soul of St. Louis, etc. Please visit his book store at: click below …
Collegiate Baptist History Workbook – Prairie Fire Press
Jon Kammeraad – Facebook
The Catholic who became The Baptist who became The Historian. – March 27, 2022
James Beller is the author of the book, America in Crimson Red, which takes a look at some of the lesser-known figures in American history and the Christians who, many of them, sacrificed their lives to ensure that we would have the religious freedom that we take for granted today.
Beller was born into a Catholic family and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri.
One day, when he was seventeen and living with his family in Arnold, Missouri, he went out to the car to help his mom carry in their weekly groceries.
He opened the door and saw a little pamphlet laying on the seat. It was called This Was Your Life.
After he brought in the groceries, he went up to his room and intently read through it.
He really took it all in until he got to the end and it showed an angel throwing the man into hell because he hadn’t trusted Christ.
He didn’t think God would do that and thought the tract must not be true so he ripped it up and threw it in the trash.
The following week, when he went out to help carry in the groceries again, he opened the door and there was another This Was Your Life track.
Again, he went up to his room and read it. He kept rereading it and rereading it for days until he finally decided to trust Christ as his Savior.
Right away, he realized that the Catholic church hadn’t taught him this and that he needed to find a different church.
He was on a quest and tried many, many different places, but it wasn’t until his friend invited him to a tent revival that he was able to find a place that taught the truth.
He went on to attend a Baptist college, which is where he met his wife, Vickie, and started pastoring in Arnold, Missouri.
After going on a Baptist history tour and learning about some of the Baptist forefathers, it touched his heart and, even though he never started out to be an author, the Lord really put it on his heart to write a book on the subject.
He began to do a lot of in-depth research and even traveled to Europe a couple of times in order to understand it better.
He wanted to make sure he got original sources and that everything was documented extremely well.
On July 31, 2004, all 607 pages of the book, America in Crimson Red: The Baptist History of America, were published.
8 years ago today, Beller went home to Heaven, but his book continues to be an incredible resource and continues to have an impact on those who read it. VCYAmerica See less
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