Statements for Scriptural Separation

by
Dr. O. Talmadge Spence, Founder
Dr. H. T. Spence, President

Biblical separation is one of the biblical distinctives of our Christian faith, and in the midst of our present distress of a twenty-first century apostasy, it is a necessary one. However, we should be very careful in this acknowledgment to lay stress upon the biblical fundamental that salvation is by grace alone and nothing else. Yet since the Christian life is rooted in biblical obedience, Christian doctrine and godly character are inseparable. Seeing that Christian character is a consequence of the New Birth, and not its cause, we therefore place it as an important part of the Christian witness. We do not believe that we are infallible, but we believe that every Christian must surrender his life to the inerrant and infallible Word of God. The transformed Christian life earnestly desires to walk in the daily path which will exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. Biblical absolutes encourage us to stay away from things questionable which are related to the twenty-first century age.

Let not then your good be evil spoken of [Romans 14:16].

Abstain from all appearance of evil [I Thessalonians 5:22].

 

The Testimony

With this clarion preface, we believe it is necessary to set forth several pointed guidelines that mark the separated boundary in which our testimony lies. We do not believe that God would have us cooperate in the public worship of the endorsed proclamation of Neo-Orthodoxy, Neo-Evangelicalism, and Neo-Pentecostalism. Neither do we believe that the Gospel will give a clear call if we are identified with any part of Neo-Christianity, Roman Catholicism, and the Charismatism of the time.

When carnal, sensual, worldly methods are used, we believe they will cultivate carnal, sensual, worldly Christians. More and more, we see that there are certain areas of central weakness in the public gatherings of the Neo-Christian world. Among them are the immodest apparel and contemporary music which so greatly affect the appearance of the Christian witness. Isaiah said: "The shew of their countenance doth witness against them" (3:9); and Peter presents both the "outward adorning" and "the hidden man of the heart" as valuable in our witness for Christ (I Peter 3:1-4). We do not always know where to draw the line in every particular, but we do share a strong conviction against "over the line" and the "borderline." It is therefore our humble request, prior to our acceptance of an invitation to preach and minister, that the services be planned to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. Amplified base guitars, drums, immodesty, "hippyism," and contemporary music are rejected as typical evils of the day. The wearing of jeans and pantsuits by the ladies is becoming more and more acute in the worship services, we believe, and detrimental to worship services. Therefore, with a loving heart, both for God's Word and man's plight, we would appreciate a respect for this tender request. Our main objective is to touch the leadership who guide the hearts of the people in the preliminary period through worship and song, as they pave the way for the preaching of the Word of God in the public worship services.

The biblical testimony of Foundations Bible College is generally known, and we desire greatly to enter every open door into which the Holy Spirit may lead. We consider it our greatest honor of life to have been called into the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we desire to set forth both the importance of these biblical fundamentals and the preciousness of these biblical distinctives. We do not want anyone who invites us to feel in bondage about our coming. At the same time, we do not want to mislead anyone in our position.

May the Holy Spirit impart, at least to some degree, the spirit behind these words as well as the words themselves. We await your response with a ministry that desires to reach the sinner and to edify the saint.

Concerning Fundamentalism

Although the definition of Fundamentalism is radically changing in our time through a multiplicity of fractures, splinters, and sects, yet we do share sympathetic affinity with the resolutions of the World Congress of Fundamentalists as espoused in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1976; Manila and Singapore, 1980; Greenville, South Carolina, 1983, 1986; London, England, 1990; and again in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1999. These Congresses have been honorable occasions of fellowship with those who are endeavoring to raise a banner for the Truth of the Gospel in our time.

Concerning A Definition Of Fundamentalism, Separation, And The Apostasy

The following definitions are given with the hope that a distinctive identity of integrity will be exemplified through the Foundations Ministries. The founder and first president of Foundations Bible College and Ministries, Dr. O. Talmadge Spence, has given an amplified presentation in his modest booklet entitled Scriptural Separation.

Historic Fundamentalism is the literal exposition of all the affirmations and attitudes of the Bible and the militant exposure of all non-biblical affirmations and attitudes, as well as the magnificent exaltation of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ through a scriptural separation from sin and error unto the glory of Christ in purity and truth.

A Biblical separatist is a born-again, Bible-believing pilgrim in the earth seeking scriptural harmony in his daily life between truth and practice and orthodoxy and orthopraxy, while in his public and private testimony, through personal separation, he is choosing to be not only militant against the growing apostasy but also magnificent for the Lord Jesus Christ. Personal separation unto God is of prior importance before any ecclesiastical separation can be made.

Apostasy is the very highest form of counterfeit. All other forms, including backsliding, worldliness, carnality, and sin, are indeed lacking in the degree of hypocrisy and deception in the human heart. Apostasy is not the absence of truth, but the subtle addition of error so mixed in the mind and heart that the apostate is comforted by the truth he holds and yet is deluded by the error he has allowed. Therefore, we should expect, without surprise, that the apostasy will appear more often where the highest sainthood has been entrenched. Apostasy is a spiritual harlot in a life usually acquainted with a Virgin Birth Savior and a holy, chaste bride of Christ. It should be remembered that, in the final analysis, a sovereign God makes an apostate through the delusion He sends.

 

Concerning Fellowship

The Foundations Ministries declare our basis of fellowship with other Christians to be comprised of two parts: (1) If the Christian believes in the fundamentals of the New Testament and (2) sets forth a consistent and practical fruitfulness as revealed in the New Testament on the basis of scriptural separation.

We Believe

A Fundamentalist Is A Born-Again Believer In the Lord Jesus Christ Who:

1.  Maintains an immovable allegiance to the inerrant, infallible, and verbally inspired Bible;
2.  Believes that whatever the Bible says, is so;
3.  Judges all things by the Bible and is judged only by the Bible;
4.  Affirms the foundational truths of the historic Christian Faith:

• The doctrine of the Trinity

• The Incarnation, Virgin Birth, Substitutionary Atonement, the Bodily Resurrection and glorious Ascension, and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ

• The New Birth through regeneration of the Holy Spirit

• The resurrection of the saints to eternal life

• The resurrection of the ungodly to final judgment and eternal death

• The fellowship of the saints, who are the body of Christ;

5.  Practices fidelity to that Faith and endeavors to preach it to every creature;
6.  Exposes and separates from all ecclesiastical denial of that Faith, compromise with error, and apostasy from the Truth; and
7.  Earnestly contends for the Faith once delivered.

Foundations Creed

In the Foundations pulpit and classrooms, there will be an open pronouncement of the various truths announced in the Foundations Creed as follows:

I BELIEVE in the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments; the creation of man by God; the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; His redemption for the sins of mankind through His blood on the Cross of Calvary; the resurrection of his body from the tomb; His ability to save men from personal sins, to sanctify men from the power of sin, to separate men from the reputation of sin, to announce the distinction between being born of the Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit; the hope of the premillennial coming of Christ back to the earth; and, the gift of eternal life by the free grace of God.

Although this shall be the basis of the preaching and teaching of the Foundations Ministries, we want it to be clearly understood that it is not necessary for a Christian with whom we fellowship to feel obligated to accept our distinctive ordo salutus (order of sovereignty and human responsibility in the matter of personal salvation), ordo sanctus (order and terminology in the doctrine of sanctification), and ordo apocalupsis (order of events in the doctrine of the Second Coming of Jesus). We honestly believe that a Christian could view these three orders in a little different perspective without denying or destroying the belief in these biblical truths. On our part, we would never deny a student or brother or sister to our fellowship should he or she, through the Holy Scriptures, take a different position in the order of these precious truths. It is necessary, we believe, according to the Bible, to accept these truths (salvation, sanctification, and the second advent of Christ) as being essential to the Christian, but we do not demand in our fellowship of saints a particular theological system as the basis of that Christian fellowship. All theological systems came into existence after the completion of the New Testament, and Hyper-Calvinism and Hyper-Arminianism are theological systems which have gone to the extreme away from the biblical balance of the biblical paradoxes. We cannot see a basis of fellowship in either of these extremes.

The Foundations Ministries use only the King James Version in our public preaching and personal witness.

The Historic Bible College

Contemporary Christian thought has become almost an ecumenical melting pot in which the infallibility of biblical authority is no longer felt essential to Christian faith in many quarters of the land. Semantics and existentialism are quite often replacing former biblical affinities.

Words such as “love,” “unity,” “fellowship,” “togetherness,” and “broadmindedness” are gaining the ascendancy over the words of “truth,” “conscience,” “character,” “righteousness,” and “holiness.” We also are hearing emphatic demands for the “glossolalia” and “miracles” to an unbalanced neglect of practical holiness and faith in the simple and more ordinary providences of God.

The history of the Bible Colleges of America dealt with that rugged, adventuresome spirit that pioneered the truth in all kinds of environments and circumstances. Many of the schools of the prophets which sprang up about a century ago across our land were born out of great sacrifice and devotion. The Bible was the main Text, and prayer was the normal attitude of the students. Missionary societies were born, and great and good goals were reached through the doctrinal and practical ministries of the Word of God. The legacy of the Bible College is rich and weighty. We could not possess a greater heritage.

Now, we must forward the great teachings of the Word in our own time, giving ourselves to much prayer and study in and around the great principles of truth. When we teach and preach the principles of the Bible, we must likewise demand of ourselves that we practice and live these principles. We must keep faith with the past and despise the hypocrisy of the present. There is no substitute for consistency of character. The man, the message, the mission, the means, and the methods must all be sanctified; there is no room for a double standard. To the Bible believer, separation and consecration are still the motives for evangelism, for without spirituality there is no true witness in soul-winning.

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