How Are Your Eyes?
Among the men in Dothan who possessed good eyesight, I think Elisha's servant might have been reckoned. And yet, when he came to Elisha and cried, "Alas, my master, how shall we do?" Elisha fell on his knees and prayed, "Lord, open his eyes, that he may see." (II Kings 6:17). He had been blind to his unseen environment; he had seen everything but the brightest and the best. His attention was so fixed upon the powerful and evil forces of the opposition that he failed to see the greater and more formidable forces on the side of right. Such an experience is not uncommon with most of us, even today.
In recent years some great and powerful forces have set themselves in array against the truth. Seemingly, they are bent on destroying the Lord's church, or at least reducing it to a denominational or sectarian body. Whether this be the end in view, intentionally or unintentionally, it is the end toward which these forces are rapidly moving. Like the forces of the Syrian king, they have crept in "by night", as it were, and have "compassed" a considerable segment of the Lord's church. Various ingenious means and questionable methods have been employed, through and by which many good brethren have been taken unawares "by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive."
It would be sheer folly to close our eyes to the progress these institutional forces have made in the past two decades or to deny or even ignore the apparent success of this recent movement away from the "old paths" — a movement away from God and His word. Many congregations, large and small, have been swept away with the tide while still others are teetering on the fence undecided, yet unwilling to hear the truth on these controversial issues. Thus we hear from the institutional or digressive element fabulous claims of complete and total success of their movement.
These claims have been made so often and so loud that some good and faithful brethren, like Elisha's servant, are asking, "How shall we do?" Like him, they see only the evil forces opposing the truth and fail to see that "they that be with us are more than they that be with them." It is true that there are in the world about us, even in the church, many enemies of truth but there is also with us the power and presence of a living God; and until we see and recognize that presence and that power we are blind. In every effort for the right, in every struggle to be true, in every sore endeavor to be free, the armies of Syria may seek to block our way but "horses and chariots of fire" are at our bidding.
Furthermore, the degree of success claimed by the institutional brethren has been and is being grossly exaggerated. Not all of the faithful and influential men of the church have "bowed the knee to Baal" or subscribed their name to the GA "confessional". There are still hundreds of congregations standing firmly for the truth, opposing all innovations, all institutional and sectarian tendencies. The church was built by Christ; it is His, and all the powers of earth can never destroy it. The kingdom of God will "stand forever". (Dan. 2:44). For all those who think otherwise, we should pray, "Lord open their eyes, that they may see."