Baptist Are Not Protestant?
By BOBBY MITCHELL, Pastor
MID-COAST BAPTIST CHURCH
119 BATH ROAD BRUNSWICK, MAINE 04011
In recent years it seems that the terms "Baptist" and "Protestant" have become closely related by many that consider themselves Fundamental Baptists. Some have gone so far as to make them almost interchangeable. Recently a noted Fundamentalist leader intermingled the two terms by referring to himself and others that believe like him as "Baptist Protestant people." Compare the title of "Baptist Protestant people" with the following quote:
"By the time Luther and Zwingli began to organize the Protestant churches, the Anabaptists were already many in number. Yet, for many reasons, Luther and Zwingli did not find in them friends, particularly because the Anabaptists did not believe in Infant Baptism and Luther and Zwingli did. It is interesting to us today to read what treatment these Anabaptists received from the hands of the reformers. Between 1517, when Luther first posted his defiance against Indulgences, and 1530, when the teachings of Luther and Zwingli had won over a large following, over 2000 Anabaptists were executed. And the cruelty with which the reformers killed the Anabaptists reminds one of the methods of the Inquisition. Hounded both by Catholics and Protestants, driven from place to place, killed and imprisoned wherever found, yet their numbers swelled and their teachings spread in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Holland."
The above reference quote is one of many that could be produced on the subject of the relationship of Baptists to Protestants. It is of particular interest to this preacher because it is not from a Baptist historian, it is not from a Baptist preacher, nor is it even from a friend of Baptists.
The aforementioned quote is from Joseph Gaer, and judging by his own writing, he was obviously not even a born-again Christian. The quote is from page 407 of his book, "How The Great Religions Began", copyright 1929, published by Mead, and Company of New York.
Who would argue that the Anabaptists of the 16th century were not part of our Baptist heritage? Yet, there are those that insist that modern New Testament Baptists came from the Reformers. How can this be when the Baptist forefathers were "executed", "killed", "hounded", and "imprisoned" by such men as Luther and Zwingli?
The Reformers found their very identity and definition in the whorish church of Rome. They sought to reform an unholy institution of ungodly origin. They were identified and defined by their opposition and protestation of her.
New Testament Baptists are not identified or defined by the "mother of harlots." (Revelation 17) New Testament Baptists find their identity in the New Testament. It is sad to hear Baptist people extol the likes of Luther and Zwingli.
They are not the heroes of this Baptist preacher. The heroes of Baptist history are the men and women that were true to the Bible in spite of the persecution of the Papists and the Protestants.
They truly "fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas." May Baptists never disgrace their memory or sacrifice by accepting the title of "Protestant."
Click
Why Baptists are not Protestants
Or
The Origin and the Doctrines of the Anabaptists of the Reformation
Click... Why Baptist Are Not Protestant
Click to Email Us
