“Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left” (II Kings 19:4). Perhaps this now must be our prayer in the Postmortem era of Historic Fundamentalism. We have longed and prayed for revival that would call Fundamentalism back to its legacy, its purpose of existence, and to its God. Nevertheless, recent years have proved there is no desire for such a revival from its leaders and the new breed of young men coming from the seminaries and schools of Fundamentalism. Most Fundamentalists have acclimated their Christianity toward contemporary music, non-offensive preaching, and withdrawal from the battlefield. Thus, we must now begin praying only for the remnant within Fundamentalism.
What Is Apostasy?
One of the growing problems within Fundamentalism is the inability to discern between present day Fundamentalism and Neo-Evangel-icalism. Years ago Fundamentalist seminaries clearly warned about Neo-Evangelicalism, its men, its methods, and its philosophy, but not now. In my travels around the world, I have observed another growing problem—Fundamentalists do not know what apostasy is any more. Although there are those that use the term, they typically refer only to Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or various cults. They are not conscious of this destructive power lurking at the door of their church. It is true, that every local church is potentially one pastor away from apostasy. All it will take is one man with enough power of the flesh to manipulate people sentimentally, emotionally, intelligently, and rationally to leave the landmarks of our forefathers.
What is apostasy? It is a most powerful principle in the Bible that describes the defection of a person from God and the truth. It is part of the “mystery of iniquity.” A number of theological systems believe such a principle can only happen among the professing. Nonetheless, it is clear in all types and shadows within the Bible that apostasy is not that which rises in paganism or heathenism; it is that which rises among God’s people. It is the final frontier of all sin. There is only one thing more powerful than sin on this planet—the grace of God. It is greater than all our sin. Sin in its fleshliness and worldliness is ultimately pressing toward a final frontier where it fully perverts and distorts the truth. In order to fulfill this destruction, it uses a false light to ultimately quench the true light.
Apostasy, the oldest sin in the universe, began at the very throne of God. It commenced with Lucifer, the anointed cherub of the throne, whose sin was so deep that his fall was irrecoverable. No redemption was ever provided for the Devil.
There has always been some form of apostasy on the planet; the Bible unveils it very clearly through the Old and New Testaments. There is apostasy in areas such as government, the arts, sciences, and education. Every compartment of humanity can have an apostasy when a generation departs from the principles that made that compartment honorable. For example, apostasy found its way into visual arts through Impressionism, Synthetic Cubism, and Abstract Expressionism. When man begins to leave a realist view of truth, he departs from what God in natural revelation appointed in design.
Although various kinds of bad music existed for centuries, we are in a society now where apostasy in music is universal. For the first time since the Tower of Babel, we have come to one universal language through music. No matter what the language of the words, people throughout the world know the language of contemporary music.
Amidst these various cultural compartments of apostasy, the Devil has been pressing for an ultimate apostasy in the precincts of the church—the true church identified with Christ. In order for the atomic bomb to successfully destroy Hiroshima, it had to be fitted with its final part, the atomic core. This core of Uranium 235 was transported by the USS Indianapolis to Tinian Island to culminate its construction. Likewise, the Devil has been working toward a final core of apostasy—the corruption and the perversion of the Gospel universally.
There can be no spiritual apostasy without the Gospel. There can be no false christs without the true Christ. There can be no perverted Gospel before the proclamation of the Gospel. There can be no universal Christian apostasy before the Gospel is taken to the ends of the earth. This spiritual apostasy is what Paul alludes to in II Thessalonians chapter 2, “Except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” The apostasy is the prelude; it is the forerunner; it is the pavement before the inauguration or the universal announcement of that son of perdition.
In the Greek, “falling away” is with the definite article the. An apostasy has existed since the fall of Lucifer; but there comes a time in history of the apostasy. My burden as a preacher is not so much the coming of the Antichrist. Nevertheless, I am looking for two comings: (1) the coming of Christ and (2) the coming of Antichrist. I must preach in the light of both of those comings to prepare God’s people for Christ while warning of the powers of the coming of Antichrist. It is the generation before the Antichrist comes that is our greater burden; it is this generation that will prepare the world to bow down to this final world ruler. Apostasy in education, the sciences, the arts, and politics will all be already set in order, awaiting the personification of the man of sin.
When Christianity first came in the Gospels and the Book of Acts, it was pure, undefiled, given for the first time. We cannot say, “Lord, I want you to do what you did in the Book of Acts,” because there is a clear distinction between my day and those days. In those earlier days there was no false Christianity; there was no false Christ; there was no false concept of God; it was pure Christianity and a pure Gospel that was preached. In the early days of the church, God’s men did not have to plow through the deception of a false Christianity. The purest day the church ever knew on earth was the Day of Pentecost.
Everyone saved that day was genuinely saved. It was only in the aftermath of that day that the problems arose: for example, the deception of Ananias and Sapphira and the murmurings of the Grecian widows concerning the administration. By the time of the Epistles, there was another gospel arising not present on the first, second or third day.
The first false gospel was Judaism which believed you had to become a Christian by way of proselytization from the Jewish belief. They tried to take the new wine of the Gospel and pour it into the old wine skin of the Jew—it could not work. Gnosticism soon entered followed by other deceptions. Finally, at the end of the century, there was a visible church filled with many spiritual problems because of the emergence of a corrupt gospel in the church. By a.d. 96 with the writing of the Book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church, is now warning and calling within the church, “He that hath an ear let him hear,” and “he that overcometh.” Knowing the institutional Church would not make it through, He knew there would be individuals, remnants within the church, that would “overcome.” May we not be so naïve to believe that in Matthew 16 the gates of hell, Hades, or death shall never prevail against the institutional Church. Christ’s declaration here concerns the invisible church; He is announcing the security of the true, invisible, militant, and triumphant Church! The gates of death will never prevail against it.
The gates of death and hell have prevailed against Romanism; they have prevailed against the United Methodist Church; they have prevailed against the Anglican Church; they have prevailed against denominations of the past. Yes, they have prevailed in the visible contemporary church. Being a member of a Fundamental, Evangelical church does not automatically save you. No matter the preaching, the preciousness of the music, and attendance to a church, this does not save an individual. There is no power in the church; power is only found in the Head of the Church, and every one of us must know Him intimately as our personal Saviour.
In the institutional Church we are witnessing the explosive growth of tares (Mt. 13:25). These tares, along with the woman (Mt. 13:33) hiding leaven in the measures of meal until the whole is leavened, have brought destruction to the institutional Church. Although the visible church has seen both its bad years and (at times) its revival years, the visible church is moving toward a final state of apostasy. She will end as a Christless church. Christ declared in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock”—He knocks at the door of the church. If any man within the church will hear His voice, He promised He would come unto him, and sup with him and He with that individual. Although we need to do all we can as a member of the visible church, we are not here to build this church. God, His Son, must build the true church. We are not the soul winner; the Holy Spirit is the soul winner, for we have no power to save anyone. Most of the people within the institutional Churches today are part of the debris of the world; they are not truly saved. They are merely the product of ministers providing a fifteen-second prayer, believing there is magic in the mechanics of sentence confession.
Why has Christianity come to believe in a Christless Christianity? It is because this universal theme has been promulgated by the End-time apostasy. We are not living in a day like the Book of Acts. We are living in a day where almost everyone has heard the word Jesus, although often presented in a non-biblical context. This Christless age demands that we first plow through this heresy to come to the biblical Christ. As we speak of Jesus, they, through their presuppositional ear, are hearing another Jesus. Even the name God was understood in years gone by; now one must take time to define who God is. Because we are in a pagan hour with a distorted view of the Gospel in America, Evangelism will be more difficult now. Our hearers have a contemporary-music Jesus; they have the Jack Hyles’ hyper-evangelism of Jesus; they have all kinds of Jesuses. There is no longer a reference point.
Exodus from Apostasy
There are two kinds of exoduses in the Bible: (1) there is an exodus from Egypt—the exodus from sin; (2) there is also the exodus from Babylon—the exodus from religious apostasy. Practically everyone that has come to Foundations Bible Collegiate Church has come out of a system, a ministry, a church, or a denomination that had defected from the truth. As a refugee, they were seeking refuge and sanctuary. Sad to say, even remnants can go bad; they too have the potential of falling away. Historic Fundamentalism was a remnant; but now as a public movement it is defecting from its place in the Truth.
Some twenty years ago, the Board of Trustees of Foundations sent me alone on a twenty-three-day trip to the oldest Bible colleges on the East Coast. Their purpose was for me to search their archives learning how each college was birthed, what standards and principles were embraced at its beginning, and what was the original vision given to its founder. I was also instructed to research any decline from their beginning and the belief and practices that prompted its change. The study resulted in 40 hours of interviews with administrators and 500 pages of typed research from their archives. What prompted this request from the Board of Trustees? They truly desired that when I became the next president of the Foundations ministries, I would not bring forth the same failures. Yes, we must even learn from the Remnants and their failures before God.
Why does a remnant go bad? It must be acknowledged that the descendants of the remnant that returned to Jerusalem from Babylon were the ones who crucified the Lord. We have observed earlier that the second generation of any godly movement tends to neutrality. Sometimes there are needs that the first-generation remnant may have not addressed; some knowledgeable leaders choose to remain neutral and silent in the matters. However, when the second generation observes this neutrality, it commences greater problems that lead to full compromise in the third generation. Under years of neutrality and compromise, the fourth generation rises to lead eventually into apostasy.
Apostasy has no antidote. The only thing you can do with apostasy is to judge it. Why? Because for one to arrive at apostasy, there must be a certain mindset, an implacableness of the will: “I will not change.” Once that implacability takes hold and God sees the heart, He gives them over to their desires. He gives them over to a delusion.
We must not blame the Devil for what is happening in Fundamentalism today. Has Fundamentalism reached a point where God is beginning to give us over to a delusion? Remember, a delusion is not the absence of truth but the addition of error. Now and then we will hear our leaders give us a great Bible sermon. We may wonder, “Lord, how can they preach that sermon with what they are doing and the way they are living?” They are like Samson: they have preached truth so long that the memory of truth is still there. They know how to shake that body and form that sermon so that it is like the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, the truth they preach is not in the power of the Spirit; it is in the power of the flesh. One of the things about the holy anointing oil being poured over Aaron, it was never to touch his face, never to touch his skin. The anointing is never to be in the flesh; it is to be in the Spirit.
There comes a point when there is no hope for a sinking ship. The only thing you can do is abandon it. Some people tell me, “Well, I know my church is bad, but I believe God has me there to help it out because I am the only one that seems to have any discernment. So I am trying to talk to the pastor and to others.” Although this may sound good on the surface and the parents may be able to live with it, it is sending a message to their children that the church is still tolerable. The catastrophe of this decision to stay will become apparent in the children. Similarly, it is dangerous to be concerned with compromise in Fundamental schools and still elect to send our children there for education. After a while we will be the ones in neutrality, blind to all but the really terrible things.
The Movement of Fundamentalism
When the Fundamentalist movement was born, that is what it was. It was a movement begun when Liberalism and Modernism had come into existence and were wreaking havoc in the Protestant and Baptist denominations. There were puritan men within the movement who tried to purge their denomination that had been started on the Bible. Although they preached, taught, and took their stand, there came a day when they realized the boat was sinking; there was no way they could keep the waters of apostasy out. They saw the new leaders obsessed with compromises; they saw the seminaries taking hold of these compromises. They knew there was no remedy, that they must leave.
These Fundamentalists who were trying to get back to the fundamentals of the Christian faith that the liberals were attacking, now had to separate from this falling away. They became known as Fundamentalists Separatists. This separation strengthened the militancy of Fundamentalism.
Then there arose a movement within Fundamentalism in the second quarter of the twentieth century led by men who did not like taking strong stands. They believed it was too hard, too critical of the enemy. They believed there could be another way to handle the enemies—dialoguing for friendly common ground. These Neo-Evangelicals and their sympathizers pulled out of the Fundamentalist movement because of their hatred for biblical separation.
As we have stated before, we respect them for leaving the movement of Fundamentalism. If one does not believe in it, then he should leave rather than try to change it. Sadly, since their leaving, Fundamentalism has slowly and gradually softened so that today there is no distinction between public Fundamentalism and Neo-Evangelicalism. Fundamentalism has allowed so many things to “slip in.” These dangers slipped in through soft, generic preaching, that was merely expository teaching without true Bible preaching. Similarly, subtle contemporary music trends have appeared under the guise of Fundamentalism. I asked someone two years ago, “Why aren’t you saying something against this music coming forth from the Fundamentalist schools and churches? You are the man in the forefront.” His response was, “Well, I don’t want to offend anyone.” I said, “You’re a teacher. A teacher is supposed to teach not only the right but also the wrong of a thing.” So we are just standing by and allowing the enemy to come in like a flood, and no one is in touch with God to lift up a standard any more.
A movement does not fall away overnight from the light they have received. It is like the Shekinah glory in the Book of Ezekiel. This Shekinah light first left the Holy of Holies and went to the threshold of the temple to linger a time. Then it crossed the Kidron Valley and went up to the Mount of Olives lingering for about three years before finally departing. This same departure of God’s glory is happening in Fundamentalism. Perhaps God has not fully left some of our leaders, but who knows how long He will linger? The Fundamentalist movement was the last movement on the planet taking a stand against the apostasy and against Rome. It has been the last movement in history, but it is leaving its stand; it is leaving its militancy.
After leaving the Pentecostal denomination back in 1974, we entered our identification with the Fundamentalist movement. I was in my early 20s. The first books I read were George Dollar’s books, but I found them to be cold, sterile, and static. Though I read a multitude of facts and knowledge of the movement, I saw no heart and no Spirit. A few years later I read David Beale’s book In Pursuit of Purity. The title and first chapter began to unfold the heart of the Fundamentalist.
In the 1980s I saw God move upon the Fundamentalist movement calling for revival of spirituality and holiness. I believe, in my very humble opinion, God raised up my dear earthly father, as a close friend to its leaders then, to call them to a spiritual walk with God. In one of the regional Congresses, I preached a message on the need of a hunger for and a walk with God. The next appointed speaker publically ridiculed the thought stating, “You’re getting too serious about these things.” That afternoon all of the speakers went back to the hotel. My father said, “Son, I want you to come with me.” We went to this preacher’s room, where my father addressed this speaker: “I just wanted to come and ask what did you mean that we are not to get too serious about life and God?” His response was, “Well . . . well, Dr. Spence, I didn’t mean we’re not to get too serious.” My father then responded, “Well, that’s what you said, my brother.” He hung his head and said, “Well, I didn’t mean it.” My father then gave a final word, “Well, I just wanted my son to hear this today.”
At that same congress during its panel discussion time, a question came from the audience asking, “What is the greatest need in Fundamentalism at this hour?” One of the five leading men said that our greatest need of the hour was a sense of humor. He then turned the microphone over to my father. My father responded that the greatest need was a walk with God in communion with Christ. I believe Fundamentalism missed this truth. In missing this truth, have they missed the visitation of God?
Four Epochs of Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism’s death seems to have been preceded in recent years by four events that were followed by distinct and rapid declension. (1) The first event was the death of Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. He was one of the last voices of the former era of Fundamentalism. Whatever weaknesses some may think he had, there were drastic changes that took place in the aftermath of his home-going. (2) The death of my own father, I believe, was another crucial time. It appears that the hopeful door of spiritual awakening in Fundamentalism was closed that day. (3) Perhaps the third crucial event was Dr. Bob Jones III’s appearance on Larry King Live. Many declared this event a great moment for Fundamentalism. However, the following years witnessed greater compassion toward the cult of Mormonism, paving the way for supporting Mitt Romney’s presidential run and for arranging choral music for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Dan Forrest of BJU). (4) The fourth epoch was the change in our beloved and esteemed Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley. He taught us how to wield the sword against the mother harlot Romanism. Although he was the singular Protestant to stand before the pope, calling him Antichrist, we have sadly witnessed his compromise with Rome in the formation of joint-rule in the government of Northern Ireland. It is a sobering sign when God allows these things to happen; perhaps these are signs that now God is beginning to close the door on Fundamentalism. We are probably entering a fifth generation in Fundamentalism. I don’t believe it is an infallible, sovereign decree that there be only four generations. Nonetheless, it seems history has testified to such a pattern.
When the leaders of a movement or a denomination no longer love the truth and no longer love the legacy of truth, God sends them a delusion. I have heard of founders praying that God would destroy the buildings of their school if later administrations ever strayed from the Truth. Although it is an admirable prayer, God may not answer that prayer. Instead, amidst warning after warning, He may allow the school and ministry to continue on into the apostasy. Men who seemed to have been leaders are now in blindness by God. When the leaders of a movement or organization throw away the purpose and power of God in that movement, they start redirecting the movement. At the same time, when the power of God leaves these men, the power of the world must take over.
The Remnant with Gideon
Amidst the sadness of this decline, God is still bringing revival and awakening—not to Fundamentalism—but to a remnant only. God’s Word speaks of a “latter rain” coming to prepare the harvest for Christ (James 5). Matthew 25 speaks of ten virgins who awoke, trimmed their lamps, and prepared with oil. A vain imitation of true revival is the delusion of an awakening in contemporary Christianity. Only “he that hath an ear” will truly respond to the biblical call of revival and awakening.
The days of Gideon and his remnant of men remind us of four crucial aspects. (1) First, the three hundred believed that Gideon had received the Word of God. God had not spoken to them, but they believed God had spoken to Gideon. God’s people are looking for the Word of God:
Behold the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it (Amos 8:11, 12).
The remnant of God is starving to hear the genuine preached Word of God, not some homiletic sermon of little or no substance. We need men in touch with God, who have the Word of God for our generation.
(2) Secondly, these three hundred men separated themselves unto Gideon. More and more these days, God is drawing people to places where the Word is. They are willing to separate themselves unto His Word. This in no way exalts the man preaching the Word, because the men have to know what the truth is in order to judge the preaching. They have to know God; in that knowing, they must discern whether they are willing to separate their lives to him. Some may argue, “Well, you’re just following a man.” Yes, but these only follow a man that through their private readings of the Word of God they believe is following God. They are willing to make themselves an armor bearer for a Gideon who before God knows how weak he truly is.
(3) Thirdly, Gideon’s men discerned the times. Although you may be called to be a layman, you also must discern the times in which you live.
(4) Finally, they were willing to involve themselves in the fight. Are you willing to lay everything you have on the line for Christ? Do you even have a church you are able to attend? If so, do you constantly have to defend yourself from a pulpit mixed with shades of error? We don’t have many years; we must find a biblical pulpit for our homes. If we look intensely for a job with a high salary, let us also seek for a church where the Word is being preached unadulterated by this age. We must find our appointed Gideon.
To the remnant of God, labels and tags mean nothing. Rising above the weak names is the name of Christ. We look for remnant saints who are living godly, discerning, preaching, and standing against the apostasy.
Contrary to Rick Warren, the church was not established by Christ for unbelievers. The Church is for those who have been converted, called out, kurios, belonging to the Lord. It is the individual believer in the church whom God appoints to lead sinners to Christ. Nevertheless, I believe we are in the End Time of the Last Days. Perhaps the greater burden at this hour in history is the call to feed the remnant, readying them for the imminent coming of Christ.
Conclusion
Historic Fundamentalism was born in a crucible, in the fires of adversity with Liberalism and Modernism. It stood in the heat of the battle defending God’s Word and with devoted love protecting His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Birthed by the Lord of Heaven this precious movement arose in the earth with strength and tenacity of heart and voice for the End Time crucial hour within the precincts of the institutional Church. When the enemy came in like a flood, God lifted up His standard through this movement, a movement of glory, honor, and integrity. As its enemies blew like a mighty wind against it, as the rains descended with hateful force, beating upon this house of Historic Fundamentalism, it stood the test, being built upon God’s Word.
More recent years have seen this movement shift its foundation from the Rock of Christ and His Word to the sands of Neo-Evangelicalism. It has drifted away from its love for Truth, Biblical Separation, and for the principles and standards of God’s Word. It is now a house in the process of falling.
The Fundamentalist movement’s love for the Lord and the standards and principles of His Word has dramatically waned. It now has become overtly flirtatious with its newfound paramours of Neo-Evangelicalism. These paramours have opened their ministries to this once-virgin movement enticing it to enter into its broad arena of the pleasures of carnality and worldliness.
Like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton of old, many Fundamentalist schools commenced with the burden of training and preparing young men and women for the ministry. Now their vision has shifted to the world’s agenda of social and liberal arts. Other movements crept into the Fundamentalist movement, enticing it away from its purpose and heart before God. Bill Gothard came with his Basic Youth Conflicts and satellite ministries with the belief that through the power of the flesh one can subdue the flesh. Due to the conspicuous absence of biblical separation, Gothard was drawn into the vortex of the Charismatic movement, including its music of “worship and praise.”
Another Neo-Evangelical movement Vision Forum also was received with open arms by Fundamentalists. It called for hope by returning to the emphasis upon family as well as changing government through conservative politics. At the same time, its Neo associations and strong contemporary “Christian” music proved it was a movement empowered by the flesh trying to overcome the flesh. These and other movements came into Fundamentalism strongly weakening it spiritually, making it more permissible to enter the Neo-Evangelical camp.
Another vital sign of Fundamentalism’s crossover is found in the sounds coming from Fundamentalist radio stations across America. The mixing of both conservative and contemporary music throughout their broadcasting day has infiltrated stations such as WMUU, WOEL, the Fundamental Broadcasting Network, and a number of others. Southern Gospel music and other styles of contemporary music are being sprinkled among conservative music. There is also great concern about the neutral path of CCM that SoundForth recordings and Northland and other Fundamental schools have taken. Each year the music is sliding into more of the mainstream of the contemporary.
While this crossover is being made, contemporary Fundamentalism will increase its hatred for the remnant and its voice against change. They will now try through a variety of means to nullify the remnant voice.
Nevertheless, the remnant needs the full message of God; it needs preaching that will challenge the heart for deeper living with God, for the call to be militant against the apostasy, yet magnificent for the Lord. If they do not receive such preaching and exhortation, they will be rendered ineffective like the rest of the church. God’s remnant today cannot afford to stay in such compromising churches; it will destroy them. The mixing of that which is cold with that which is hot will neutralize the heart in lukewarmness.
Some may reason that luke-warmness is better than coldness, but Christ stated to the contrary in Revelation 3:15, 16; it is worst than coldness. A lukewarm church is worse than having no church at all! Present day Fundamentalism is out to destroy the remnant within its churches, believing such individuals are enemies to the growth of the church. In this generation, Fundamentalism’s compromisers will not leave; they are determined to drive out the antagonizing voice of the remnant longing to preserve the legacy of God’s Word to Fundamentalism. The remnant must prepare itself for this backlash from present Fundamentalist leaders. Once driven out, Fundamentalism will fade away leaving in its place a new generation of Neo-Evangelicalism.
The Postmortem of Fundamentalism! How did this movement die? Only the remnant within now remains. As the Falling Away, the Defection, the Apostasy has now entered the sanctuary of Fundamentalism, perhaps it is a sign that we are nearer the coming of Christ than we once thought. May God ever keep His remnant as the cry comes from her heart, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”