Bob Jones III visits local church

Bob Jones III — minister and chancellor of Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. — visited Porterville Wednesday to deliver a 30-minute sermon on “unleashing the power of God’s word.”

The 73-year-old Christian fundamentalist known for publicly questioning President Barack Obama’s Christianity in 2011, came to town at the request of Dale Seaman, pastor at Porterville Calvary Baptist Church and a graduate of BJU.

Seaman, whose parents also attended the Christian liberal arts university, said he is a member of the board for Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International alongside Jones.

“We got together at the board meeting and talked about coming. He’s willing to come to churches of all sizes and he was willing to come here,” Seaman said.

Jones, whose grandfather founded BJU in 1927 and was described as “the hellfire-and-brimstone evangelist” in a 2005 Washington Post article, spoke about “being doers of the word and not merely hearers of the word” Wednesday night.

“I’m afraid too many who are going to Bible studies today have no intention of taking it into their life for the purpose of obeying it or letting it become the authority or the guide to life’s decisions,” Jones said. “By the way, if you know this book, there’s a whole lot that is resolved before you go into the voting booth before you cast your vote for somebody, for some office national or local.”

Jones said that any candidate who takes a stance contrary to what the Bible teaches cannot and must not receive the vote of somebody who is under its authority.

“When a man says that homosexual marriage is a good thing he’s just shaking his fist in the face of God Almighty. How can anybody who loves God and loves the word of God cast a vote for somebody who’s all in favor of killing babies and calling something marriage that the bible says is not marriage? So who’s authority is going to determine the decisions you make, whether it’s in the voting booth, whether it’s in your choices of entertainment or whatever, the Bible is the authority.”

Jones concluded his half-hour teaching by exhorting the small crowd.

“It’s the Christlike character that this book is able to produce that you and I need to want more than anything in this world. I pray God will give every believer here not only the understanding of that ... but a deep conviction that they must do something for God.”

Jones, who retired as the university’s president in 2005 and remains chairman of the school’s board of trustees, will make a stop Sunday at Lighthouse Bible Church in Simi Valley and at Bangalore, India in March, according to his online itinerary on the BJU website.

Contact Denise Madrid at 784-5000, Ext. 1047. Follow her on Twitter @DeniseMadrid_.