August 14, 2001
AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL BAPTIST BIBLE FELLOWSHIP PASTORS
Dear Preacher:
I have recently written a book, Battle for the Bible in the 21st Century. It shows how all the Southern Baptist colleges and universities are riddled with liberalism. Information is given which has never been printed anywhere else, and I hope you'll get a copy of it. It proves that 90% of all SBC students are still taught by liberals. Yesterday I received even more information concerning the liberalism at one of the Southern Baptist seminaries.
I have been preaching at Hamilton Square Baptist Church in San Francisco the last few days. Yesterday I drove over to Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, the Southern Baptist school that I graduated from in 1973. Here is what I discovered first-hand:
1. I spoke with Dr. Jay Noh, associate professor of New Testament studies at the seminary. He told me that Dr. Clayton Harrop is still teaching full time at the seminary. Dr. Harrop is the head of the Th.M. program and also teaches courses on a regular basis to the Master of Divinity students. Dr. Harrop was one of the professors whom I studied under at the seminary. He is an unbelieving liberal who teaches Redaktiongeschichte (an extreme form of liberal German criticism of the Bible). Dr. Harrop shreds the New Testament on a regular basis. He teaches that II Timothy, II Peter, Jude, and other books of the New Testament are forgeries, not written by the Apostles. He teaches that the Book of Revelation is a tissue of lies. He teaches that Paul was psychologically imbalanced. He teaches that there are uncounted hundreds of errors in the four Gospels. Dr. Harrop does not believe in the Second Coming of Christ. I can footnote and prove it if you are interested in that information. This man is currently teaching every student that goes through Golden Gate Seminary, and is in charge of the Th.M. program as well!
2. I went to the library and discovered that they have literally hundreds of books that no truly conservative school would use. For instance, they have several copies of Systematic Theology by Paul Tillich (Harper & Row). On page 211 of this book Tillich says that God is whatever concerns a man ultimately. He says that this does not mean there is a being called God. The book clearly teaches that there is no real God outside of mans mind. Tillich repeatedly said, There is no God. This book was checked out by Golden Gate students fifteen times in the last few months, according to the check-out card pasted in the front of the book.
3. A book titled I and II Peter, James and Jude by Pheme Perkins (John Knox Press) is also in the library. It is an attack on Peter being the author of I and II Peter. She says, The position taken in this commentary (is) that the evidence for apostolic authorship remains thin for James and JudeI Peter might have been dictated by the apostle but she doubts it, and definitely rejects Peter as the author of II Peter. This book was checked out eight times in the last few months by Golden Gate students.
4. A book titled From Moses to Qumran: Studies in the Old Testament, by H. H. Rowley (Associated Press) is also in the library. This book says, We can only speak of monotheism in the Old Testament before Second Isaiah by using the word in some other sense than the belief that there is only one God. Rowley says that before Elijah the Hebrews did not believe in only one God (page 35). You will also notice that he believed there are two authors of Isaiah. On pages 38 and 39 of that book he says that the entire population of the world was never monotheistic and that primitive man did not believe in one God. He attacks the hypothesis of Andrew Lang that monotheism (belief in one God) goes back to the beginning of the human race, as the Bible teaches. In other words, H. H. Rowley teaches that no one believed in God before the time of Elijah. This means that Moses did not believe in God, as taught in the Bible, according to this liberal scholar. In the last few months four students have checked this book out and many others have used it as a reference in the library itself.
Preacher, would you think Baptist Bible College was saved for conservatism if one of the long-time professors there did not believe in the Second Coming of Christ and taught that there were many errors in the New Testament? Would you think that Baptist Bible College was saved for conservatism if it had books in the library that taught there is no God? Would you think that Baptist Bible College was saved for conservatism if there were books in the library there which taught that I and II Peter and Jude were forgeries?
Jerry Falwell has said that the seminaries are saved and are now conservative. I believe Dr. Falwell is a good man in many ways. But I think that his statements are overly optimistic and actually untrue to the facts. I hope you will keep the information which I have just given you in mind as you read my book, Battle for the Bible in the 21st Century. If there is that much liberalism at the Southern Baptist seminary I visited yesterday afternoon, how much liberalism may there be at the other five seminaries as well? We have been told repeatedly that Golden Gate was now conservative. That statement is wrong, as you can see from the information in this letter. It makes me wonder if what they said about the other five seminaries is true. It makes me wonder if there isnt at least that much liberalism in all six of the Southern Baptist seminaries. As I show in my book, the Southern Baptist colleges and universities are thoroughly liberal, but youll have to get the book yourself for those statistics. Believe me, Battle for the Bible in the 21st Century is a real shocker and eye-opener! This is no time for independent Baptists to have anything to do with the Southern Baptist Convention, in my opinion.
Yours in Jesus,
R. L. Hymers, Jr.
M.Div., D.Min., Th.D.
RLH/cc Philippians 4:13
P.S. YOU CAN ORDER MY BOOK, BATTLE FOR THE BIBLE IN THE 21ST CENTURY, FOR $12.95. PHONE ME AT (818)352-0452 IF YOU WANT TO ORDER IT. IT CONTAINS MUCH MORE EVIDENCE OF LIBERALISM IN THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION SCHOOLS.