True Believers Must Flee Denominations that Embrace Heresy
Dr. Tony Beam
Pastor, Conference speaker, Professor, Talk Show Host, and Columnist

As one who has experienced it first hand, I have seen the devastation that can come when whole denominations begin to give in to what I call "denominational drift." Denominational drift occurs when the leadership of a denomination, usually unnoticed at first by the rank and file laity in the pew, begins to adapt their understanding of God's Word to accommodate the current trends of the culture. For Southern Baptists (my denomination) this process was first noticed in the early 1970's. Words which traditionally were used to describe the authority of God's Word (such as inerrant and infallible) began to be replaced by phrases such as the "understood authority" of God's Word. Eventually, the Bible became not much more than collection of man-made stories which communicated some very nice ideas about how to live. Absolute truth was quickly abandoned in favor of a more inclusive orthodoxy based on emotion rather than fixed standards.

The battle for the heart and soul of the Southern Baptist Convention was not pretty. It hurt our witness as people outside the denomination could not understand why suddenly we had become the "battling Baptists." But the battle had to be fought and it had to be won because only when a denomination embraces truth can it be rightly related to by those who live under it's doctrinal umbrella. Because of the democratic structure of the Convention, concerned conservative leaders were able to bravely step up to the theological plate and gradually gain the high ground with the end result being a rescue of the Convention from eventual heresy.

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