Greatest Fundamental Preacher

Great fundamentalist preachers??? Hmmmmm.

 

This century is so young I would have to say the last. I don't see any J. Vernon McGee, John R. Rice, D.L. Moody, R.G. Lee today but time will tell.
Preachers like ball players get better the longer they have been gone. I was a real good football player but now I think that I was great. Mother was a great cook, now I hear my children telling their children how great their mother can cook and all I can say is she has come along ways baby, but oh, mother's cookings was something else.

 

Some of this depends on how you measure greatness. I would define a man as great in human terms if he builds a great work on biblical principles, does not destroy that same work through poor judgement in his later years, and trains leaders who carry it on successfully after he is gone. Two fundamental baptists of the 20th century fit this description in my view. They are W.B. Riley and G. Beauchamp Vick. Of course there are others who have succeeded in these areas who are not as well known. but in God's eyes are as successful. Thankfully God is the judge in these areas. God's requirement for his stewards is that a man be found faithful.

 

It depends on how you define fundamentalist.

If fundamentalist means adhering to the pefection and authority of Scripture, I would immediately say Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

MLJ Recording Trust

 

I would say John MacArthur.

 

My vote goes to John MacArthur,too. His whole ministry is soley based on God's Word-he has a large church,but he also knows that God grows a church,not man's method's. I respect and love his teachings,they are challenging,confrontaive and encouraging. Very balanced and accurate.

 

swaimj,
yes, what a great man G.B. Vick was! The BBC as well as many others owe him greatly. He was a living blessing!!!

 

WHAT! You mean you didn't have a place to vote for Alexander Campbell?

 

He is exactly one who I thought of as well. I bet he doesn't qualify to many as a fundamentalist.

 

Rev Dr Ian Paisley has devoted his life to the defence of the fundamentalist Protestant torture in Ulster, through these alst 30 years when we have been under siege from Romanism.

 

Wow, I wish Mr. Paisley were a choice in the poll (nothing against those who are listed, even if they are electric). I was priveleged to attend a meeting with him recently right here in Pennsylvania. I was both blessed and impressed.

 

So "None of the above" is the majority choice. Didn't he pastor First Baptist Church of "Parts Unknown"??? Had a chariman of deacons named "All of the Above?"

[ April 25, 2002, 09:14 AM: Message edited by: TomVols ]

 

Pa Jim,

I agree. Dr Paisley is one of my favorites too. But my all time favorite is the one who led my father to the Lord and "got the ball rolling" in my family. Dr. Carl MacIntyre.

 

Yes, yes!! What a great guy Carl McIntire was. A real "salty" guy. Interestingly he did some work in conjunction with Ian Paisley, I'm not sure to what extent.

 

Dr. Bob, Rice, Hyles, Roloff are basically synomous to the term Fundamentalist in most Fundamentalist camps. Some of those I do not know, but I am not sure that I would call the top three eclectic. I did not always agree with them in every detail, but their foundational or fundamental premises were correct.

Adrian Rogers and Charles Stanley would be fundamentalists among today's SBC, but R. G. Lee would be the greatest. Rogers and Stanley would be considered Conservative by some Fundamentalists and I suspect downright Liberal to some. In fact, the Conservative resurgence within the SBC would be still be considered Liberal to Fundamentalists, but at least leaning if not heading in the right direction.

MacArthur has a strange view on the blood so I do not know if I would count him as a Fundamentalist. I did appreciate his stand when he was interviewed on TV with the Islamic and Jewish lads.

Fundamentalism has taken on some new meanings since the "The Fundamentals" were written since some who would use the term have gone off in many other areas thus the list of fundamental or basic truths have enlarged. I suspect that as the world and Baptists become more and more Liberal it will continue to grow.

Of course, its media and Liberal theologian opponents love to use the term when referring to Islamic terrorists or any other wacko group and even Bob Jones U, which was once the capital of Fundamentalism has decided to look for a different term, but then they have taken a turn to the Left so that is reasonable.

Reading is fundamental. We learn the fundamentals of math at an early age. Webster says primarily a fundamental is pertaining or constituting a foundation or basic. Anything that serves as a basis of a system as a truth, law, etc.

Hence the belief that the Word is to be historically and grammatically interpreted and that it is the basis of our faith and belief and that it is verbal plenary inspired and is not to be changed by culture or some second guessing theologian that want's to be God's political analyst and tells us what He really meant to say when He said what He really meant. Such truth is eternal and not subject to the whims and moods of man and his debauched, defiled culture. A departure from the basic or fundamental truth is error and inherently divisive and thus heresy.
A heretic after the first or second admonition is to be ignored and thus a Fundamentalist's position on separation.

Fundamentalism is defined by Webster as the belief that all statements in the Bible should be taken literally.

That is partially correct except that we do recognize parables, similes and metaphors hence Christ is not a literal door that swings on hinges or a literal hole in a wall entering a sheepfold.

Now, have some taken the concept too far? Yes, I believe so. A right wing nut case is just as bad as a left wing nut case. Have some in fear of being labeled a right wing nut case turned into a compromising twit? Yes, most certainly. Have the Left and Right nut cases and the compromising twits made life hard on folks that try and practice a balanced Fundamentalism? Without a doubt. Does that mean Fundamentalism is bad and I should not be a Fundamentalist? No, just avoid the nuts and twits and do God's will.

Accept God at His Word when you like what He says and when you don't. If you and He disagree, just admit you are wrong and He is right and ask for wisdom. If your culture does not like the Word, remind them that God does not like their culture and it will one day be turned into Hell and then do what the Bible says. Become dependent upon His will and not yours. Ask yourself these questions, if the Church as a whole is so smart then why is the world in worse shape than ever and Christians as a whole as shallow and willful without the power their forefathers had? Why did the Church once change the world and now the world is changing the Church? Could our opinions be wrong? If the fruit is the result of the root where are we truly rooted? If it was in the vine we would see more fruit and far healthier fruit. Instead, we are Laodiceans thinking we are wonderful and free when we are wretched and in chains. We need repentance and a return to the fundamentals since when we should be teachers we need to back to them and learn and then go on to perfection. (Heb 5:12, 6:1)

 

That is a tough choice... having read, heard or met that list. I would not hesitate to rub shoulders with any of them and hold them all in the highest regard... along with a long list of others... Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. Jr. III, Dr. Paisley,
Dr. Raymond Barber, Dr. Hal Webb, Dr. Tom Malone, Lee Roberson, Dr. Curtis Hutson, Dr. Oliver B. Greene, Tim Lee, Dr. Shelton Smith and on and on.
All great men that have affected my life in some way or another.

 

The one I am going to vote for is someone many have never heard of and the ones that have probably do not like him. That is Roger Voegtlin of Fairhaven Baptist Church and College. I like his style. He always speaks to my heart. What a great man of God!