BAM—A Parachurch Ministry

 

BAM—A Parachurch Ministry 

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, March 18, 2025 (Donate)

Biblical Authority Ministries (BAM) is a unique ministry for this age—a biblical authority ministry. Some see this ministry as a creation vs. evolution ministry diving into scientific aspects of creation.

Others view this ministry as a worldview ministry, while others see us as an evangelical ministry stressing the gospel (which should be the focus of any ministry), and so on. Although these things may seem to make the BAM ministry unusual, it is something else that makes us unique.

BAM is a parachurch ministry. It could also be called a non-denominational ministry. BAM is not a church and does not claim any particular denominational statement of faith; therefore, it is designed to work harmoniously with various denominations (e.g., Baptist, Christian, Lutheran, Reform, Methodist, etc.) to focus on specific issues and challenges of today’s culture.

Biblical Authority

The purpose of BAM is to unite to defend the authority of the Bible in today’s secular culture. The secular world has been teaching that the earth is billions of years old. The Bible, based on genealogies recorded throughout the Scriptures and the context of the Hebrew word yom (day) in Genesis 1, reveal that the earth is thousands of years old.

So, this question becomes a biblical authority issue. Is one going to trust a perfect God who created all things (Genesis 1:1), has always been there (Revelation 22:13), knows all things (Colossians 2:1–3), and cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18), or trust imperfect and fallible humankind who was not there and speculates on the past?

Also, take note that many of these issues ultimately overlap with worldview issues (Biblical Christianity vs. secular humanism in this instance). Of course, this subject also gets into the character of Jesus Christ, his deity, and, hence, the gospel. For a few other examples of biblical authority that BAM defends, see Table 1. 

 

Topic	A biblical authority issue?	Can BAM involve itself?
Millions of years	Yes. The Bible does not teach millions of years; this idea comes from a source outside the Bible.	Yes
Evolution	Yes. The Bible teaches man was specially created from dust, and the woman specially created from the man (Genesis 3), but in an evolutionary worldview, humanity came from an ape-like ancestor.	Yes
A local flood	Yes. Genesis 6–8 makes it clear that the Flood was global with the water over the highest mountain by over 15 cubits (Genesis 7:20). Those appealing to a local Flood trust secular authorities who say that the rock layers are evidence of millions of years instead of mostly Noah’s Flood sediment.	Yes
The Trinity	Yes. The Bible clearly teaches that God is triune. So, sources outside the Bible are going against the Bible (e.g., the Watchtower organization, Koran, etc.)	Yes
Racism	Yes. The Bible teaches there is one race that began with Adam and Eve, whereas the world had been teaching that there are perhaps four races (Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid, and Australoid).	Yes
Table 1: A sampling of biblical authority topics that BAM can actively deal with.

This is, of course, only a small list of topics. BAM is involved in any issue that impacts the authority of Scripture—especially when human claims run counter to what God teaches.

Are Some Controversial Topics Battles over Biblical Authority?

Christians from various denominations can and should be able to come together to defend the authority of the Bible against claims that the Bible—and ultimately God—are wrong. But there are many who do not fully understand (or may have simply missed) what I mean by biblical authority. Some want the ministry to dive into issues that are not biblical authority issues.

And although these issues are important and may be worthy of careful thought and cordial debate, they are not a topic in which BAM will get involved. Both sides of this particular debate see the Bible as the authoritative Word of God and draw from its passages to make cases for their positions.

One of these is Calvinism vs. Arminianism. Although I encourage people to know what they believe and why biblically, this is not a biblical authority debate. I have my leanings of course too which I fully admit (same with other subjects).

Both sides of this particular debate see the Bible as the authoritative Word of God and draw from its passages to make cases for their positions. Neither position is appealing to the Koran, autonomous human reason, or others for interpretation.

A few other examples can be seen in Table 2 below.

Topic	A biblical authority issue?	Does BAM involve itself?
Calvinism vs. Arminianism	No. Both positions view the Bible as the authority.	No
Modes of baptism	No. Each position views the Bible as the authority.	No
Church government	No. Each position views the Bible as the authority.	No
Saturday vs. Sunday worship	No. Both positions view the Bible as the authority.	No
Covenant vs. Dispensational theology	No. Both positions view the Bible as the authority.	No
Table 2: Non-biblical authority topics for which BAM has no formal position

This is a fairly short list, but it should give an idea of what BAM addresses and why. There may be instances when, even with these subjects, some try to insert an authority other than Scripture, so it may become a biblical authority issue. For example, if someone said that “no one ever got baptized,” then the issue becomes a biblical authority topic, and that particular point could be dealt with because Scripture reveals that speaking in baptism has indeed taken place (e.g., Luke 3:3).

A Fine Line

The main reason the ministry avoids some topics is that the focus should remain on biblical authority issues. Everything else would distract the ministry from what it’s been called to do. It can be a difficult task to draw a fine line between the items we address and those we do not because all doctrines of Christianity ultimately interconnect.

There are times when even I tread a fine line. Of course, there are times when I may cross that line for educational purposes particularly regarding questions and answers and historical analysis. This is part of the reason why we have a Statement of Faith that reflects where we stand, and we try to remain within that.

Biblical Authority—How Far Does It Go?

There are other issues that the ministry may take a big picture stance on but not focus on, such as recovery programs, counselling, and so forth.

While we address such issues from the perspective of biblical authority (as an educational ministry), the goal is to refrain from involving the ministry in the details of the process, thus allowing other ministries to take the lead, as they are often more specialized to deal with some of these conditions than BAM. It is not that the topics are unimportant, but we defer to other ministries to tackle them in more detail so that we can stick to our mission.

As an example, let’s say that a Christian woman openly cheated on her husband. Clearly this sinful action goes against what the Bible says about marriage! Is this woman taking ideas from our culture that marriage is not sacred and to be honored and using that to supersede what God says about marriage in his Word? Yes. The ministry of BAM will openly state that marriage should be honored between a husband and wife and the actions of the wife in this case are sinful and undermining the authority of God’s Word. But it is not the place for BAM to offer counseling sessions to help this family.

And consider world religions. All other world religions have followed man’s ideas to reject, add, or remove from the 66 books of God’s Word as the ultimate authority! But does BAM involve itself in counseling a person who left Hinduism as to how to manage the details of a new understanding of reality?

No. We provide books and other resources to delve into world religions from a big-picture, biblical-authority angle. There are other ministries who focus on helping people who came out of other religions.

Our focus is to assist the church in understanding foundational, worldview issues and producing resources to help Christians defend their faith. Consider some of these topics:

Table 3: Biblical authority: Yes; Heavily involved: No.

Topic	Biblical authority issue?	Does BAM consider this ultimately a biblical authority issue?	Does BAM address details and processes? (e.g., counseling, detailed denominational discussion)
Marriage	Yes	Yes	No
Immorality/Criminality	Yes	Yes	No
Abortion	Yes	Yes	No
Euthanasia	Yes	Yes	No
Homosexuality	Yes	Yes	No
Murder	Yes	Yes	No
Counseling methods	Yes	Yes	No
World religions	Yes	Yes	No
Substance abuse	Yes	Yes	No

Conclusion

In reality, all doctrines are interconnected, making it difficult to remain silent in some areas and vocal in others. Some well-meaning Christians wish we would focus on some areas, and others wish that we not be involved in some areas at all. We draw the line on biblical authority—especially concerning origins, which is foundational to competing worldviews in today’s culture. By carefully guarding the areas the ministry chooses to become involved in, most denominations should readily be open to working with and supporting BAM so that we can have a common goal of promoting biblical authority.

We encourage Christians to know what their denomination believes and to respect issues of emphasis and importance for their church or ministries that they’re involved in. Please pray for the ministry to stay focused and to walk this line with kindness and respect.

Adapted and Updated; Used by Permission