The Heresy of the Landmark Baptists
Landmarkism teaches that baptism can only be performed by the pastors of Landmark or sinilar Baptist churches and that by being baptized into one of their churches a person secures for himself a higher rank, position, and reward in heaven.
Landmark baptists believe that only those baptized in a Landmark or Primitive Baptist church are amongst the bride of Christ. Other christians are merely servants in the kingdom and will have a lesser rank among the children of God in eternity.
In other words, they would have us to believe that while Christ is sufficient as our Saviour, we must earn the gifts of eternal glory by what we do.
Though they would deny it, they make baptism a sacrament, “a means of grace”. Such doctrine is fatal.
Christ plus anything equals eternal damnation. Christ alone is our Saviour and our acceptance before God.
I grew up and started in ministry in a Landmark Baptist church. This article is exactly right on. They believe they are the bride of Christ to the exclusion of all other Christians. They also have a false ecclesiology in that they believe the New Testament church is ALWAYS A LOCAL, VISIBLE BODY… a Landmark or American Baptist Association church. This is false doctrine!
I do have one correction for the article, however. Landmark baptists are NOT PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS. That is wrong. They are missionary baptists, with headquarters in Texarkana, AR.
Thank you for your accurate comments Phillip, and you are most correct. The reason that I inserted Primitive Baptist is because I am aware of several preaches who profess to be exclusively Primitive Baptist who also hold to the landmark/baptist bride heresy. But reading it again, I should have made this clearer and so I will edit the article in due course and I thank you once again.