____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ November 16, 1997 ____________________________________________________ Denominationalizing the Church (Part Nine) by Roy E. Cogdill In our study of this theme we have seen some pertinent facts concerning the church revealed in the New Testament pattern of things: (1) there are elders in every church; (2) elders are given the obligation to oversee the affairs of only one church; (3) elders are to oversee all of the work of the one church over which they are elders; (4) elders are to oversee only the work of the one church where they are elders. They are not universal or brotherhood elders, but elders in the local church. Any assumption of the oversight of any of the resources, work, or affairs of another church is a violation of the authority of Christ. When any part is transferred, the whole does not remain. Hence the sponsoring church plan of co-operation fostered and thrust upon the churches by liberal and unstable men destroys the independence, autonomy, equality and sufficiency of the local church. We are interested in this article in a fifth and just as important principle of divine wisdom revealed in this Gospel of Christ, viz., elders by divine authority cannot oversee, in their capacity as elders, anything but the local church and its work. There exists the wild idea among brethren that anything becomes scriptural, if it is placed under a local eldership. Reuel Lemmons, in his sober moments, when he is not engaged in his spiritual gymnastics, condemns the idea of a separate organization from the church to do its benevolent work. In this contention he stands identified with some of the rest of us and squarely against the position occupied by the Gospel Advocate and others. He has been plain and pointed in some of his articles condemning the churches of Christ supporting such institutions as schools and ``orphan homes'' under a board of directors. Of course, he is very guarded in this opposition because those forces controlling him and his editorial pen, as well as his voice, will not allow him to engage in a real scrap with the Nashville crowd. They have declared a moratorium on their differences, not in order to resolve them, but to keep any advantage from falling into the hands of those of us who have opposed all of their combinations and machinations. They will fellowship one another in spite of their differences and continue to play together like good children keeping down their quarrel and clapping their hands to their mouths when it breaks out again, but neither of them will fellowship us when we oppose and differ with the promotions of both of them. Lemmons, if he is sincere and honest in his convictions, has as much in common with those of us who oppose both separate organizations doing the work of the church supported out of church treasuries and the federation of churches into societies by the sponsoring church method of carrying on the work of the church as he has with those in favor of both. But he cannot extend any fellowship to us or give us any encouragement because he will bring down on himself the wrath of Goodpasture and his cohorts. So he, like Peter at Antioch, is guilty of dissimulation. Out of one side of his mouth he agrees with us that churches of Christ do not have the right to build human organizations to carry on their work and out of the other side he hurls at us his ugly invectives and nicknames. This is what he means by the ``middle of the road'' policy -- that is, he tries to be strong on both sides. But do not allow this group traveling in the middle of the road to deceive you. They are altogether opposed to the simple truth of the Lord that each congregation should do its own work under the supervision of its own elders without any federation or human organization or plan to expedite, if indeed they do. They have the ``voice of Jacob but the hands of Esau'' and are deceiving themselves most of all and the Lord not at all. The ``middle of the roaders,'' while claiming that they do not believe in forming human societies to do the benevolent work of the church and insisting that it should be put under the eldership of a local church, will approve the elders of a local church making out of themselves a brotherhood agency to do the work of many churches. Furthermore, they will endorse the practice of these elders incorporating themselves into a society in which they are empowered to act as a board of directors in doing a brotherhood work in benevolence. This, of course, they will not allow in the field of evangelism because they think to form a corporate body to oversee the work of evangelism would be a missionary society and they are not ready yet to admit that this is scriptural. Moreover, they will endorse a local eldership, when it becomes a brotherhood agency and incorporates into another form of organization, actually overseeing many things that are in no sense a part of the work of the church. To illustrate, Brother Lemmons and those who stand identified with his position, (that is, his technical position) believe that such an organization as Boles Home, Inc., with a general board of men from many congregations is not in harmony with what the scriptures teach, but they endorse Tipton Home, Inc., for this board is composed of the local elders of the Tipton Church. The charter of Tipton Home empowers these men to direct the affairs of that home, not as elders, but as trustees of the corporate body, formed under the laws of the state. They claim, however, to be acting solely as elders of the church at Tipton in their oversight of the ``Home.'' This writer has a letter from them stating that the work of the ``Home'' is under their oversight in exactly the same way as the Bible classes of that local church are on Sunday morning. We would simply ask, ``Can they then scripturally incorporate themselves into a state organized board of directors to oversee the Bible school work?'' If not, why not? Furthermore, could they organize and conduct a publishing house or book store or some other kind of business in order to help finance the Bible school work? Could they oversee the Bible class work of many churches? If what they are doing is right, why would this be wrong? Then, another interesting angle is that in their oversight of the home and its affairs, they have the superintendence of a gigantic farming program, livestock and dairy program, and a lot of other things that are in no sense related to the work of the Lord's Church. If these elders can oversee an economic enterprise in the field of farming and livestock raising in order to do the benevolent work of the church, why could they not oversee any other kind of a business, real estate, insurance, oil, hardware, restaurants or anything else? And if they can engage themselves as elders, and the congregation where they are elders in an economic enterprise to do benevolent work, what is to preclude them from engaging in economic enterprises to do the evangelistic work of the churches? If churches can contribute to the Tipton elders to carry on a farming program -- buying tractors, feeding hogs, etc. -- in order to do benevolence, why cannot they contribute to some church to buy some airplanes to run an airline in order to make enough money to preach the Gospel or do any other work of the church? We would like for some of the ``middle of the roaders'' to try to explain this tangled conglomeration characteristic of their thinking. We have no expectation that they can or will even undertake doing so, but it would be interesting. They will denominationalize the church and lead it into apostasy rather than give up their idols. -- February 17, 1966 ___________________________________________ 1888 in England, America in the Early 1930s by Jere E. Frost Why mention the year 1888 and England? Because an English writer in that year joyfully wrote: ``Already juvenile crime has been reduced by one-half -- this is one of the most cheering signs of the times'' (Pulpit Commentary, vol. 9, p. 375). He explained that millions of children had been under Bible instruction. ``You reap what you sow'' has to do with good seed as well as with wild oats. The Great Depression brought on by the stock market crash in October of 1929 threatened havoc. Surely people will steal, rob and plunder in the frustration and desperation! -- but no! They did not. The crime rate went down! There is no secret as to why. Children are not made by ``the times'' as though some mystical power dictates the moral bearing of a generation. They can be strikingly different from their times if they have a mother like Moses' or Timothy's -- Moses and Timothy were not like everybody else in their generation. When you have enough mothers and fathers in a generation teaching their children as Deuteronomy 6 tells them to teach them, it is a God fearing generation. Parents can instill a fear (awesome respect) for God by (1) teaching and (2) example. They must cite and recite Biblical passages and tell of the great deeds and wonderful victories wrought by faith. A knowledge of history and God's blessings on men of faith is a wonderful teacher. They must demonstrate a personal conviction, commitment and enthusiasm about that which they are advocating, or else the lessons become hollow and empty. Do we teach them (1) God is as real today as he was then, (2) is to be first, and (3) everything else is therefore of lesser importance? Do we project spiritual and moral convictions and conduct? If not, we have betrayed our children. After all, the child associates the teller of the stories, be it a parent, class teacher or preacher, whoever it is that is advocating the need of faith and faithfulness, as being one who also has faith. What is the effect if parents say, ``God is first, but we'll not go to the gospel meeting tonight because you have school tomorrow''? What if the parents insist on school homework being done, and good grades being earned, but say little or nothing about preparing Bible class lessons? What if the child attends night services on a Sunday, Wednesday, or during a meeting, and the class teacher, who said we should put God and the spiritual first, is not there? It may not always be convenient or easy to take the high road, but it is always right, it is always wise, and it is always best. -- Via The Bulletin of the North Courtenay Church of Christ, 8/24/97 ___________________________________________ NEWS & NOTES Ernest Hamm, the father of Carol Music, passed away last Wednesday morning -- probably while in his sleep. He would have turned 83 in January. Though born and raised in Fleming County, Ernest, after marrying, moved to Greenup County, where he had lived for about 50 years. The doctors have marveled that he lived so long in view of his health being as it was -- especially with the enlarged aneurysm. Let us be praying for all the family and friends of Ernest Hamm. ___________________________________________ ``Just Try, You Can Do It....'' And the continual response is ``I CAN'T'' -- and so no effort is made. My little three-year old has gotten into the habit of saying this every time she is asked to do something that she doesn't really want to do. I know very good and well that she ``COULD DO IT'' if she would only try. ``I can't'' never did anything. How often we hear ``I CAN'T....'' when a member of the church is asked to call on someone sick or aid in leading a lost soul to Christ, etc. There may at times be some things that my little girl just ``CAN'T DO''; that I'm sure, but I do expect her to try. Should the Lord expect any less out of His child? -- John Berlin ___________________________________________ We have free Bible correspondence courses available to you upon request. ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 713 13th Street, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________