The IFB To-Do List Here are a few things to consider about the Independent Baptist Church – Why, because we keep making the same mistakes over and over! By the way, the list below is a cry, not a laugh!

I am not going to expound on the list because you will recognize the problems in the IFB. It seems, instead of growing the church, we want to kill the church. We lack brotherly love, fellowship, Pastors who see themselves as one of the Sheep, and the desire to implement Galatians 6:1.

2 Timothy 2:15 – Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

1. If you look down on people who are divorced, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
2. If you believe that God can’t use a divorced man and pull out your Scofield Bible to show why – you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
3. Thought: God is a divorcee in Jeremiah – According to the rules of the IFB, God Himself couldn’t Pastor a church. The IFB is notorious for picking and choosing which of the “OT laws” they will connect with a scripture from the NT to create an unknown doctrine. Many may have taken hermeneutics in college, but they only walked out with a feather in their caps from the indoctrination of the college, and not that of God’s Word.
4. COPIED: “God Hates Divorce!” the pastor screams from the pulpit. Instantaneously, anyone who’s ever been divorced, knows someone who’s been divorced, has been contemplating divorce or has ever wanted to get a divorce (most couples) instantly feel a huge wave of guilt and shame. That, of course, is the MO of the IFB pastor and staff – to subjugate their congregation with guilt and shaming tactics so as to control and manipulate. This issue is no different. If you’ve been divorced and you hear the pastor say this, at that moment you’ve somehow become a little lower than an adulterer on the IFB’s sin hierarchy. Those who haven’t been divorced, instantly feel a swell of pride and superiority and begin to look down on the divorced as tainted and sinful. The pity then begins as those who have been divorced are made to feel inferior and unworthy. (This 100% true – In my past, I was one of the prideful that looked down on the divorced person. Frankly, the IFB will give themselves free passes on ALL sin except for sexual sin and divorce – Is divorce even a sin?
5. If you believe going to the movies is a sin but not renting movies or watching them on TV, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
6. If you think anything other than a suit and tie for men is too “casual” for Sundays, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
7. If you believe women shouldn’t wear pants, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
8. If you think that more than one earring per ear for women is “worldly”, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
9. If you believe that using guitars in the church is too liberal, yet you listen to patch the pirate who uses guitars, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
10. If you think that singing anything other than hymns in church is too liberal, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
11. If you believe that clapping after special music is wrong because it gives praise to the performer rather than to God, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
12. If you think that “contemorary music, k-love” (i.e., anything other than old-time gospel hymns) is sinful, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
13. If you think that tattoos are marks of the Devil, without considering the dear Saint’s past,  you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
14. If your pastor preaches against smoking because it is “bad for the body” but is himself an obese glutton, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
15. If you refuse to eat at a restaurant because they serve alcoholic beverages, but will buy your groceries at the nearest Walmart, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
16. If you believe that going to (or sending your child to) a college that’s not approved by the IFB will cause you (or your child) to become “worldly” or will provide an undue “worldly” influence on you (or your child), you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
17. If you believe that women are inferior to men and are to be submissive to their husbands, unconditionally and without limits, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
18. If you laugh (snicker, sneer, roll your eyes, etc.) at people who raise their hands during worship music you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
19. If you believe that attending an IFB church is the only way to hear the true gospel and get saved, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
20. If you believe that the IFB isn’t a denomination because they are “Independent”, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist. (Unfortunately, the IFB has forgotten what Independent is and now uses the word “movement.)
21. If you think that you should cut your vacation short so that you can make it back in time for Sunday morning Sunday School, but think it’s OK that your pastor misses a Sunday or two because he’s preaching in other churches (more than he should be), you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
22. If you think that the title “Pastor” is a synonym for “the Man of God” or “the voice of God”, and equals unlimited submission and followership, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
23. I will add that many Pastors lead using these flaws: intimidation, the buck stops at the pulpit, mental abuse, they are the only one right, don’t question them, many are unapproachable, their ideas for the church are the only ideas endowed with “holiness,” some run the church like they do their home, do so because I said so approach, and the Pastor is the Head of the local assembly.
24. If you believe that doing, saying, thinking, etc. anything that even remotely appears to be “worldly” means that you aren’t being “separate”, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist. (the definition of worldly in the church is a dime a dozen)
25.  If you think that mental health issues (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc.) are the result of sin and poor choices, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
26. If you believe that everyone who opposes IFB doctrine is just bitter, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
27. If you believe that your health issue is the result of sin in your life, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
28. If you think that any rational/spiritual thought, other than what the Pastor teaches, is dangerous because it may lead you to believe something different than what the IFB believes, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
29. If you believe that you can judge who the “good” Christians are and who the “bad” Christians are by looking at the “fruit” in their lives, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
30. If you think that having a disagreement with a fellow Christian means that you are “sowing discord with the brethren”, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
31. If you think that homosexuality is an unforgivable sin, you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
32. If your Pastor plays cards and preaches against movies, music, and pants you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
33. If your Pastor goes to movies and preaches against cards, music, and pants you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
34. If your Pastor listens to music other than the “old hymns” and preaches against cards, pants, and movies you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.
35. If your Pastor’s wife wears pants but preaches against cards, movies, and music you might be an Independent Fundamental Baptist.

1 John 4:1 – Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Hebrews 13:9 – Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

Ephesians 4:14 – That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

2 Timothy 3:16 – All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (This verse is not for the Pastor only)