By Allie Martin July 7, 2004

A Texas-based evangelist says Christians must be educated and equipped to stand against the prevailing philosophical language of the secular world. To do that, he says, believers in America need to have the same attitude as first-century Christians.

Voddie Baucham was a featured speaker during the Pastor's Conference at the recent annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis , Indiana . The young evangelist, who, since founding Voddie Baucham Ministries in 1993, has become one of the most sought-after Bible teachers in America , told his listeners that Christians must realize that contemporary philosophies such as religious relativism are not compatible with genuine Christianity.

"When you look at religious relativism", Baucham said, "you realize that it can't work. Why? Because there are religions out there that make mutually exclusive truth claims". The speaker noted that he did not grow up going to church; rather, he was raised by a mother who was a practicing Buddhist but who later became a Christian. "What I know is this", he said: "My mother as a Zen Buddhist did not worship the same god that she worships now that she's been born again. She realized that, which is why she came to faith in Christ."

The Texas-based Bible teacher insists that religions that make mutually exclusive truth claims and the religious relativism that is increasingly common in contemporary culture cannot be logically reconciled. And Baucham says the climate in today's culture is much like the climate described in the Bible's fourth chapter of Acts, when Peter and John were put into custody because they preached the exclusivity of Jesus. Christians today, he asserts, need to stand for that exclusivity -- regardless of the cost.

The apostles stance was, "Do whatever you must to us, but we cannot stop speaking about what we've seen and about what we've heard. We will not shut up; you cannot stop us", the evangelist says. But he questions whether Christians today have that kind of commitment to the gospel of Christ. "I wonder, is that our attitude?" he asks, "or does our attitude say, 'Let's do whatever we have to in order to survive and make it just a little bit longer'?"

Baucham warned the Southern Baptist messengers that, unless a true spiritual awakening takes place soon, believers in America need to be prepared to face real persecution for their faith.