Because of the incredible power, tyranny, and persecution from the Catholic church, the history of genuine Christianity from the time of Jesus Christ has largely been buried under a heap of lies. Many people think that the only options are Catholic or Protestant but that is a false dichotomy.
For starters Catholicism is not even Christianity. It's rebranded paganism (kind of like COVID was just rebranded from the common cold). And secondly, to imply that the only other option is the camp that protested out of the Catholic church is to say that genuine Christianity didn't exist from 313 a.d. until the 1500's when Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 thesis on the door of the church. Utter hogwash.
Just as God has faithfully preserved His word for all generations, sincere Christianity in the church that Jesus built (local assemblies of called-out believers) has existed since the time of Jesus.
"There is no mention anywhere in the Bible of a denomination. Denominations are man-made. Churches are God-made. If a church yields a part of her authority to any external source, she ceases to be a New Testament church. A New Testament church is self-operating or autonomous. Denominations have done more to destroy the work of God than taverns have. In fact, it is tragic how denominations destroy churches. - Jack Hyles
The Baptist church, under various names, has existed since the time of Christ. The core doctrines (such as baptism by immersion after a profession of faith), and adherence to the authority of Scripture has been unchanged in the local autonomous church, for all of Christian history. This is also why Baptist is not a denomination. Rather than rewriting the histories that have already been written about the persecuted church of Jesus Christ, I strongly encourage you to read these books below.
This first book comes at a very strong recommendation for its low price, easy read, and abundance of facts and dates. I just finished reading it and I sincerely hope this can find its way to more bookshelves as this is a must-read.
You can buy this here on Amazon: Baptist Church History
Another excellent (and even shorter) book to read is called The Trail of Blood, by Dr. J. M. Carroll and you can read it free online here: The Trail of Blood.
Here's a great printable chart that goes with that book: Timeline.
Great sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNS5jy88uHQ
Martin Luther did not "rediscover" the gospel. Baptists were preaching the gospel before, during, and after Luther's "protest". The reason you don't know that is because men like Luther persecuted Baptists. - Spencer Smith
