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A Change in Evangelism Methodology Led to A Change in Doctrine
It is obvious that fundamental Baptists have traditionally defined repentance as a radical change of mind that results in a change of life. They have defined it as turning to God from sin and idolatry.
I believe the change in the definition of repentance among some fundamental Baptists is the product of the change in evangelism methodology that has spread throughout fundamental Baptist circles. It is a justification for an unscriptural, manipulative, salesmanship-like, man-centered, Heaven-centered, pressurized, numbers-oriented methodology of soul winning.
If a man claims that hundreds or thousands are getting saved through his ministry when only a tiny percentage of the “salvations” demonstrate any evidence of regeneration, it is not surprising that he would want to redefine repentance to mean a mere change of mind or a change from unbelief to belief.
The change in the definition of repentance occurred in the 1980s.
In his 1986 booklet Repentance: What Does the Bible Teaching? Curtis Hutson, who assumed the editorship of The Sword of the Lord following the death of its founder John R. Rice, boldly proclaimed that “to say that repentance means to turn from sin, or to say that repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of action, is to give a wrong definition to the word” (Curtis Hutson, Repentance: What Does the Bible Teach? Sword of the Lord, 1986, p. 16).
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