I wonder what they would have done had a faculty member taught that Christ did not die for all people — probably led a march to the campus and physically removed the professor from the classroom and had him or her banned from all Southern Baptist activities.

Yet Southern Seminary’s new Calvinistic president believes and teaches that Christ died only for those whom God elected to be saved. Theologians call it "limited atonement." While it stands in open conflict with the "whosoever will" of John 3:16 and our Lord’s admonition to "make disciples of all nations" in the Great Commission (Matt. 28-18-20), not a single prominent Southern Baptist leader has lifted his voice against this abandoning of a central Southern Baptist belief.

When Paige Patterson, basking in his new role as president of the SBC, spoke in chapel at Southern Seminary last fall, he played down a report that he had been critical of Al Mohler’s theology. Instead, he emphasized the things that conservative Baptists and Calvinists have in common. It was obvious that Patterson was sounding the party line. Al Mohler’s Calvinistic doctrine is not to be criticized, even though it strikes at the heart of Southern Baptist’s historic commitment to world evangelism.

And we haven’t heard a peep from the usually vocal Rogers. Nor have we heard from a single head of a board or agency or past president of the convention. Why are these Southern Baptist leaders so silent?

Some, with tongue in cheek, have suggested that Rogers and Patterson and the others are all "closet Calvinists." If they are, they have certainly done a good job of hiding their true beliefs and are completely out of step with rank and file Southern Baptists.

For 50 years I served Southern Baptists as pastor, professor and director of evangelism. When my staff and I were developing the Home Mission Board’s program to train Baptist laity in personal evangelism, we worked with pastors, professors, evangelism leaders, editors, executive secretaries, board members, lay leaders from the Women’s Missionary Union and Brotherhood Commission, student workers, Sunday School workers and others. Without exception, they believed that Christ died for all and that anyone anywhere in the world can sing, "Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me," and it would be true.

Some suggest that Rogers and Patterson and all the others are silent because they were always more interested in power than the truth, that all the rhetoric about the inerrant Bible was a smoke screen to cover up their desire for control. A casual look at what they have done, now that they have absolute control, lends credence to this accusation.

What they all have in common is the willingness to bow down to the party line on a short list of hot-button issues and to function in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. All six seminaries, which once were places for learning, have been turned into indoctrination camps.

Since the leaders of the SBC seem unwilling even to recognize the problem, much less do anything about it, what are Southern Baptists to do? There is really nothing that an individual or an average congregation can do to be heard in today’s atmosphere of control. A handful of people make all the important decisions for the denomination ahead of time — thus reducing the annual meeting to a religious pep rally in which the messengers are allowed to ratify what the leaders have already decided.

But there is something a congregation can do to be heard and to make a difference. They can quit sending their money. Back in the early 1980’s, before I had been banned, Adrian Rogers and I often shared the platform for state conventions and evangelism conferences. We often discussed our feelings about differing opinions in the Southern Baptist Convention. His stated position to me and others was, "I can’t ask my church to give money to any institution where something is taught that I don’t agree with." Maybe Baptist churches today need to start adopting Adrian Rogers’ philosophy as they prepare next year’s budget.

While there is a concerted effort to clone churches today, congregations can still decide what they want to support with the Lord’s money. Maybe pastors and members should start asking themselves, "Do we want the Lord’s money supporting a seminary that teaches our future pastors that Christ did not die for all? There is evidence that churches in Virginia and Texas and other states are considering this. If enough congregations act on Rogers’ philosophy, then some Southern Baptist leaders might even find their voices and break the silence.