“Recovering”: The Endless Cycle from KJV Churches
Man, Movement, Machine, Monument, Mess
Since the rise of modern Independent Baptist Fundamentalism (the “IFB” movement) starting arguably with J. Frank Norris, which incorporated the emotionalism and manipulative revivalist tactics of Charles Finney with the pragmatism of the modern American mentality, the body of Christ at large and the independent Baptist movement specifically has experienced a decline in spiritual power. This is evidenced by the increasing need to resort to the sales tactics of used car salesmen and high-pressure recruitment methods of multi-level marketing schemes in order to keep the pews occupied, the bank accounts flush, and the preachers’ schedules full of meetings around the country. These are the professional pulpiteers who deliver emotional speeches clad in religious-sounding mantras like “Fresh oil” or “The Holy Ghost blew through here,” or irreverent epithets like “Let the ponies run!” and “Amiright, bless God!” among other blasphemous one-liners and insults against the holiness of God, all while living off of the hard-earned income of the hapless members of their target churches.
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The Creator of the Universe has been, in many circles, reduced to some sort of emotional experience that you can have if you read the right Bible, shout the right words, sing the right hymns, and invite the correct preachers to speak (who apparently carry around “Revival” in their back pocket and can schedule an appearance at will, as long as it is accompanied by a decent “love offering” or enough Starbucks gift cards). Far from the dread of the holiness of God as expressed by all those that faced Him, the flippant and irreverent approach taken by modern “Fundamentalism” is the antithesis of what a Bible believing Christian is supposed to exhibit.
The inevitable “cycle” of history has been described in various ways by various men, most commonly written by Vance Havner as something similar to the heading of this section. A relevant article that deals with the cycle’s effect on another church movement can be read here, and while I would not agree with many of the doctrinal positions held by the brother (yes, I believe him to be a born-again child of God, my brother and fellow heir with Christ) who penned it, it is without a doubt a real problem whose rotten, putrid fruit is coming to light in “fundamental” churches. This truth is described in detail by Dr. Peter S. Ruckman in The History of the New Testament Church, Vol. I (Pensacola, Bible Believers Bookstore, 1982):
In this history we will see a cycle unraveling before our eyes that will repeat itself several times; at least enough times so that we can identify it as a law of history that operates independently of anyone’s analysis of it or their feelings about it. The cycle goes like this:
