Ernest Dinwoodie Pickering (December 14, 1928 – October 16, 2000) was an Independent Baptist fundamentalist Christian pastor, author, college administrator, and mission board representative.
Ernest was converted to fundamentalist Christianity as a teenager in Dallas and immediately began to participate in street meetings, including some at which he dodged rocks and tomatoes.
After completing his doctorate, Pickering served for two years as the National Executive Secretary for the Independent Fundamental Churches of America (IFCA) and edited its publication, The Voice.
Pickering asserted that theological ignorance among Evangelicals often leads to erroneous beliefs, such as the denial of the eternal Sonship of Christ, salvation by faith alone, or the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture.
He interpreted the Greek term metanoia (repentance) not as a call to a life of commitment but as a simple change of mind—specifically, a shift from unbelief to belief in Christ.
Pickering maintained that while true Christians might fail to live in consistent obedience, such failures would result in the loss of eternal rewards rather than salvation.
[9] Pickering criticized the ecumenical neo-evangelism of Billy Graham in print from 1957,[10] and his chief contribution to twentieth-century evangelical Christianity was as a Baptist theoretician of separatist fundamentalism.
He believed that proper worship music should be intellectually engaging and instructional, pointing Christians toward doctrinal truth rather than personal feelings.