The Key Wrong Stand at the Key Wrong Time

As independent Baptists grew rapidly under the blessing of God, they formed careful alliances with Godly fundamentalist soul-winners from other groups that were not quite as conservative as they were.

At the same time, Bob Jones University was a large, successful, strongly fundamentalist institution with high academic standards. They taught and demanded strict loyalty and obedience from their students, and helped churches and evangelists with recommendations. Their graduates pastored a large number of fundamental churches, many of them independent Baptist. And the obedience of those graduates to BJU was fading.

BJU watched as their independent Baptist graduates fellowshipped with individual preachers from groups that BJU did not approve of. Already weak in doctrine, BJU couldn't compete with the powerful preaching and teaching of the independent Baptists, who were now starting to form their own colleges.

The fragile bonds that held fundamentalists together were growing stronger, while the powerful bonds that held BJU and its graduates together were growing weaker. And BJU decided to take its stand.

To be continued...