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How To Butcher Scripture The Baptist Way

1. Last Sunday I went to a local Baptist Church with my wife and family. The preacher decided to make his sermon of Acts 6:1-7:

   [Acts 6:1] Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.
   [Acts 6:2] And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
   [Acts 6:3] Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty.
   [Acts 6:4] But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
   [Acts 6:5] And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.
   [Acts 6:6] These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them.
   [Acts 6:7] And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

2. Now the Baptist preacher is obliged to confuse any scripture that points to Catholic doctrine. If he confirmed a particular passage clearly confirms the truth of Catholic doctrine, it would put into question the validity of any Protestant doctrine that stands at odds against Catholic doctrine.

3. The main issue comes in Acts 6:6 "..and they prayed and laid their hands upon them." Ordination. Now the Baptist preacher immediately went out of his way to say: "this is not ordination". And then a few minutes later said: "this is how a person is ordained into ministry". Then a few minutes more and he said: "we are all ordained." ???

4. Well, let's see. If we are all ordained, then these fellows who were chosen by the Apostles WERE ORDAINED. They either are or are not. Indeed, when people are ordained into ministry, people lay hands on them and pray over them. Such mental gymnastics are truly amazing.

5. Then the preacher said: "this is the start of Deacons". From what I understand, Deacons are usually ordained. Along with this, "Deacon" is simply the same word as "Elder", "Presbyter", and "BISHOP" in a different language. So in Acts 6:5, 6 we see the Apostles ordaining 7 Bishops to minister to the needs of the Church as it was growing beyond the capacity of the Apostles to handle.

6. Then the Baptist preacher went on to explain, if such an argument had occurred today it would have caused a denominational split: the "Hebrew Christian Church" and the "Hellenist Christian Church". Hmmmm.. that means if the churches had a central Church governing authority, it would take care of the problem, and there would be no denominational split.

7. Peter is the central governing authority in the Church. He always has been. This shows, the cause of the fragmentation of Protestant denominations is found in their enmity toward and ignoring the central governing Apostolic authority of the Church in the Pope.

8. And the congregation, like numb brained zombies, nodded and said: "Amen". This is a good example of what I call: "denomiational blindness".

All Glory and Honor are yours Almighty YAH, forever and ever, Amen!