The number of baptisms in Southern Baptist Churches has declined for many years, from 419,300 in 1999 to 310,300 in 2013 (the fewest since 1948). The number of baptisms actually peaked in 1972 at 445,725. In 2013, 60 percent of the churches reported no youth baptisms (ages 12 to 17); 80 percent had one or zero baptisms among young adults (ages 18-29); and 25 percent had no baptisms of any age. I grew up in Southern Baptist churches and saw little power of God even in the 1950s and 1960s. It was common for kids to go through the motion of making a profession of faith and being put on the church membership roles, but all too often it was an empty religious ritual with no life-changing power. I don’t recall one young person that had a dynamic testimony of salvation, that was separated from the world, and that was seeking God’s perfect will. Even the preachers’ kids and the deacons’ kids were worldly reprobates. The membership roles of Southern Baptist churches are filled with the names of people who give evidence that they are unregenerate. And Independent Baptist churches as a whole aren't much better, particularly when so many of them claim large numbers of empty professions of faith as salvations. The compromise and apostasy in the churches is the root of America’s ills. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest non-Catholic “denomination” in America. There is an SBC congregation on “every corner” in “the South,” yet “the South” is as wicked morally as any other part of the country. The salt has lost its savor. “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” (Matthew 5:13). (Friday Church News Notes, June 6, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) Comments are closed.
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