Be Ye Harmless As Doves!

Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

I have over the last couple of weeks had an email exchange with a person known only as Dsa Dsa. I know nothing about this person, and sadly this person knows nothing about Baptist. Dsa first emailed me to let me know that Baptist do not read their bibles and due to that they know nothing about God and are basically ignorant. I emailed Dsa a reply to attempt to find out why he/she had such a hate for Baptist and witnessed to this person about salvation in Jesus Christ, because I was concerned about them going to hell. Dsa returned an email to me and said they did not believe in hell and if I would read my bible I would know that. I returned an email to Dsa and warned them hell is a real place and if they did not believe in Jesus Christ that would be their eternal home. Dsa returned my email with the following disturbing words, “why would god let people burn and have pain forever and ever when it says in the bible that he is the god of love? I just wonder if you realy understand the bible. becuse i have seen what you do to for example people that died in aids. a group of baptists standing beside their grave and have signs against people that have sex or something. that is just rong. you dont do something like that..” This is Dsa’s exact last email unedited. First this person knows nothing about Baptist, there are many different kinds of religious organizations that call themselves “Baptist” for example you have many different kinds of “Independent Baptist”, the “SBC”, the ABA, the BMA, and etc and none of them believe exactly the same. Baptist are not like most religious organizations i.e. the Catholics where we have one leader and the rest follow him i.e. the Pope. We are Independent Baptist and are not associated with any other church or organization. We make the bible our rule of law and no man on earth has control of the Lord’s church except Him. I have no idea who Dsa is referring to in their email except maybe the notorious radicals themselves the radical Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas whom are NOT Baptist. Just because a religious organization such as Westboro Baptist Church calls themselves Baptist does not make them Baptist. The only way to tell if a Baptist church is truly Baptist is to look at their doctrinal belief and church history because many who call themselves Baptist do not even know what real Baptist believe. It sickens me to drive down the street and see some of the pathetic signs in front of some of these so-called Baptist churches. Let’s get back to Dsa, We as real Baptist do read our bibles and hell does exist and if you would read your bible you would also understand that it is a real place. Next we as Baptist do not protest, we do not wish evil on the persons that are homosexual or anything else. We as Baptist trust the Lord to control all things and if God allows it to happen who are we to attempt to change it? Dsa, you said if God is a God of love then how can He allow someone to go to hell, this is an age old question and mostly asked by lost people. God is a God of love however God hates sin and God also hates the sinner because they rebel against Him and God told Adam if he ate of the forbidden fruit he would surly die. If you would read Revelations you could get a better understanding of God’s wrath on mankind in the future. The love of God is this, God loves those who trust in Jesus Christ as their Saviour, but not everyone who lives on the earth, and if you would read Romans (as well as other places in the bible) you would see sin put man against God and God punishes sin. As far as Aids and other disease we as Baptist do not enjoy a gay person contracting Aids or any other disease and a real Baptist would never go to a grave and carry signs condemning their life’s actions. We as Baptist are a loving people and try to be as “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” We do not judge the actions of the world; we stand up for our own rights and the rights of God but not in judgment of this world. God will judge this world and their sinful actions. However Dsa in closing this article, we as Baptist will pray for you that God will have grace on you to give you a true understanding of his word.