Mark,
Not only has the Roman Catholic prevertion of this passage caused baptist to vere away from it. But the lack of study upon the word church (ekklesia) has brought much confusssion upon what Christ said....."I will build MY Church (assembly)"
One only has to look in the New Testament, and the way this word is used. It is basically used to relay the thought of a ...local visible assembly of believers in Christ...not perfect as even His first assembly of men were not perfect... but men who accepted him for who He said He was, and was willing to follow Him.
For one to say that Christ was not able to sustain a succession of His people...in my oppinion is calling Him a liar when He stated "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Although I have to agree that in my study of church history, they were not always called Baptist.....Christ has always had a assembly of His people who stood up for the doctrines which were given to the Saints.
I do not claim to be a Baptist for denomational ......for it is sad to say that many who claim the name of Baptist i find has vered drastically from the scriptures.
But am proud to call myself a Baptist because in my study of history I find that my forefathers who truly contended for the faith and came the closest to adhering to scriptures, were affiliated with the Baptist sect.