Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 8
March 21, 1957
NUMBER 45, PAGE 7a

Browsing Through Old Papers

Wm. E. Wallace, Owensboro, Kentucky

Responsibility For Division: "Effort to shift responsibility is the invariable rule of innovationists in the church. The innovators themselves never cause the division — it is always the opposition. It is an old story. The introducers of instrumental music never caused the division — it was the opposition to it! Thus also would the sponsors of the speculations now disturbing the peace of the church escape their just condemnation. But they shall not pass! Unopposed, no doctrine or ism, from sprinkling to speculation, would ever cause division. The cause is the teaching; opposition, the effect; division, the result. Acquiescence to error is neither the price nor the basis of Christian unity. The doctrinal purity of the church lies in the defense of the truth. The stock argument of all innovators has always been that their teaching or practice should not be made the ground of disfellowship. Digressives have worn this alibi out trying to justify instrumental music. Too inconsequential to divide over! Yet they hold to the teaching and let the church divide; and, of course, when division occurs, disfellowship is automatic." Editorial, Gospel Advocate, March 29, 1934. (Note: The present editor of the Gospel Advocate was not editor when these words were penned. Obvious?)

Doing Things Because We Always Have: "Shall the churches of Christ of this present time take the Bible for their sole rule of faith and practice, or will they be governed by customs instead — that is, doing things today because we have always done them? The rule of the church is not traditional, it seems to me .. . . In other words, a thing is not right because we have been doing it. In religion it is right because the New Testament teaches it, and not because we have been practicing it. Just as long as the church of Christ practices anything untaught in the New Testament, it is important to oppose the denominations in teaching and practicing the doctrines and commandments of men." C. M. Pullias, Gospel Advocate, August 13, 1936.

Leaders and Leadership: "Instead of talking 'leadership' and 'leaders' so much, as is being done in preacher's meetings and other similar places, let's put the emphasis on 'following' for a while. No truly godly man wants to be 'the leader of the church,' Nor does he want to 'rule' it; he realizes that true greatness according to Christ's standards is to be realized in becoming a 'servant of all.' The truly great and godly is content to follow Christ, and simply insist on others following him. It seems to me that the work of elders and preachers is not so much that of being 'leaders,' but it is that of instructing and guiding others to be followers of the Lord, as they themselves follow him." Homer Hailey, Bible Banner, October, 1941.

Unfairness: "A great deal of unfairness shows itself on the part of our opponents in respect to our sentiments. They impute to us doctrines which we disavow, ascribe to us inferences from our acknowledged tenets which we deny, and every way misrepresent our views. This is a common form of persecution now-a-days in this country. It originates in the same spirit that erected the cross, prepared the rack, and kindled the fires of the Inquisition." Millennial Harbinger, July, 1836.

Entertainment in the Church: "This age seems to me to he an age of entertainment rather than of teaching. The church cannot reach the world by entertainment. The church cannot compete with the world on the question of entertainment, even if it were to try it. That part of the world that is in the business of entertainment can outclass the church in that feature. It can hire first-class entertainers at a cost of several thousand dollars per hour, and these entertainers can go from place to place and really entertain people. How can one ordinary preacher and one ordinary elder compete with such talent. It just cannot be done. If the church gets an audience by entertainment, it cannot hold such an audience without entertainment; and, besides, it must be changed every few services or it will cease to entertain. This effort to entertain will make monkeys out of all the preachers. The same stunt will not work but a time or two until it has to be changed. I still think it is better to allow the church to go into the world for its entertainment than it is to bring the world into the church in order to entertain. There would be some that would remain true to the worship if the others were sent into the world to get their entertainment. One rotten apple in a barrel of apples would finally rot the entire mass." F. B. Srygley, Gospel Advocate, June 25, 1936.

From G. K. Wallace: "All the confusion in the religious world today has been caused by the departures from sound doctrine. The work of Brother Campbell and others was to call people back to the sound doctrine. The Bible should be our only guide. 'When the inner consciousness is made the supreme authority in religion, the result is rationalism; when feelings are made the source of authority, the result is mysticism; when fallible opinions of the church are made authoritative, the result is traditionalism.' We might add: When the Bible is made the supreme authority in religion, the result is Christianity." Gospel Advocate, September 14, 1933. (Note: The recent writings and activity of "second cousin G. K." reveal "inner consciousness" authority on his part. I am not sure whether it is rational or irrational but I do know he is mystifying.