Close doesn't count, except in horseshoes

Lately I have heard several people say that they believe "the Baptists are the closest thing to the truth" or "the Baptists are the closest thing to the New Testament church". Of course, we all know that

"close" doesn't count, except in horseshoes.

You would not enjoy being 
"close" to winning the lottery
"close" to getting a good job
"close" to getting saved
"close" to winning a presidential election
"close" to not having a heart attack
etc.

When you admit that Baptists are "close" to the truth, you are admitting they are WRONG. 

Being "close" to Biblical is still UNBIBLICAL. 

The statement "I believe the Baptists are the closest thing to the New Testament church" is a very vague, unlearned, ignorant, and silly statement. Because anyone with any discernment knows that "Baptist" is not a doctrine, faith, or set of beliefs....it is just a name. A name which has no meaning other than one who baptizes by immersion. That is all that the word means. 

Question to the arrogant Baptist cult: WHICH Baptists are "closest" to the so called original New Testament church? 

In America there are the 

Seventh Day Baptists: began in the 1650's, keep the Jew's Sabbath on Saturday

Freewill Baptists: began in the early 1600's, believe you can lose your salvation

Reformed Baptists: began in the 1630's and hold to the 5 points of TULIP Calvinism with the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith

Primitive Baptists: began in the 1800's, don't support missionaries, 5 point Calvinists

Landmark Baptists: began in the 1800's, does not believe in the universal spiritual church, accepts Landmarkism. 

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship: Denies the inspiration of scripture, allows women to preach, very popular, similar to Southern Baptists. 

Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship: Believes in speaking in tongues, prophesying, raising dead, etc (charismatic)

And there are literally hundreds of other Baptist denominations. 

So to say that the Baptists are "closest" to the original New Testament church is a laugh. Baptist is a NAME not a DOCTRINE. The name means "one who baptizes by immersion", look it up in a dictionary! The title has no doctrinal implications other than water baptism by immersion. 

Most Baptists do not believe in salvation by grace through faith without works, they believe in giving your life to Christ, turning from sin, bowing your head and repeating a sinner's prayer, confessing Christ before men, coming to an altar, "praying through", and other works.

Besides, who in their right mind would want to be anything like the "original New Testament church"? The original New Testament church was "carnal" (1 Cor. 3:3), it had people that did not believe in the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12), they lived in fornication (1 Cor. 5:1-5), they mishandled the Lord's supper (1 Cor. 11:30-31), they were full of division (1 Cor. 1:10, 11:18), they had heresies among them (1 Cor. 11:19), they sued each other (1 Cor. 6:1-2), they lived in the bondage of the Mosaic law (Gal. 3:1-3, 4:9-11), and they had many problems. Yet people think if they could "return to the principles of the early churches founded by the apostles" then everything would be great--but it wouldn't! Churches have always had problems. Christ's following had a devil among them (John 6:70), we should not be surprised to find them in our churches as well. 

Baptists are the ones that think they are right and everyone else is wrong, yet they are not united themselves. (except on water buptism, which is not even part of the dispensation of grace according to 1 Cor. 1:17, 12:12-18, Col. 2:8-23, Eph. 4:5). 

--Eli Caldwell