Look Toward Nashville
One of the paramount differences between the Lord's church and the denominations of the world is the fact that the Lord's church neither claims nor acknowledges any headquarters except in heaven, or at least, this has been so until recently. But strange things are happening these days; and what has been in the minds of a few weak and untaught brethren as mere thought or opinion (i. e. an earthly headquarters for the church) may be slowly emerging as a reality.
A recent Associated Press article gave national distribution to some enlightening information. The reporter was dealing with "Protestant" reaction to the nomination of Senator John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, for the presidency. He was particularly interested in reaction of the Protestant clergy, and quoted several recognized officials of Protestant organizations. As reported in the Houston Post, and carrying a Nashville dateline, August 15, 1960:
"The editor of the Church of Christ Publication, Gospel Advocate, said ministers of his church not only will use their pulpits, but any other forum they can get in an effort to defeat Kennedy, a Roman Catholic.
"B. C. Goodpasture, an evangelist and editor of The Gospel Advocate, said the Church of Christ is against Kennedy because 'he owes his allegiance to the pope,' and predicted the Protestant protest against the nominee 'is just beginning.'
"He said the church, with headquarters here, has about two million members."
To be fair, we must note that Goodpasture was not directly quoted as speaking of the "Church of Christ headquarters" in Nashville, and that statement must be attributed to the reporter's understanding of the situation rather than to an explicit statement of the fact by anyone. If Goodpasture, or anybody else in Nashville, did anything at all to disabuse his mind of the idea, there is no indication of it, and it was apparently not sufficient.
And many are wondering, "Where is the stopping place? Rome?" It has happened before, and what is to prevent its happening again? Will some "Churches of Christ" soon come openly to look to Nashville as the digressives once looked to Cincinnati, and now look to Indianapolis? The cognizance of Nashville as headquarters is, in a sense, subrosa [sic] now, but how long will it remain so?
And how long will honest, but misguided, brethren fail to see what is taking place among the modern "progressive-minded" men who love the praise of men more than the praise of God? The years of effort put forth in preaching and teaching Christ as the only head of the church (Eph. 1:22, 23), and the only one to whom preeminence is due (Col. 1:18) are countless. Are these efforts now to be largely nullified because of careless handling of God's word, or even because of careless dealings with reporters?
We pray that brethren will awaken in time, and that it will not come to pass.