Clubs Unwittingly Loosed
Now and then a man writes or says something that unwittingly puts him in the wrong group, or which unwittingly puts into the hands of enemies of the truth a club with which to brow-beat those who are standing for the truth. Such seems to have been the unfortunate consequence of an article entitled "Keepers of Orthodoxy," written by me some few years ago.
In no way was it my intention to intimidate or belittle those men with whom I have stood through the years, men who have contended for principles of truth and who have stood against errors and innovations of any and every kind.
In no way did I seek to give comfort or encouragement to a rising element of digression within our ranks, an element either now within or slipping into the camp of modern liberalism. I stand squarely opposed to any position which would weaken a firm and unwavering stand for the supreme authority of Jesus Christ and His word; or that would in any way substitute human philosophy and human institutionalism or denominationalism for the simple teaching of scripture and the all-sufficiency of the church of the Lord.
I have not now, nor had I at the time of the article, any sympathy with premillennialism or its sympathizers; nor had I then or now any sympathy with the soft, philosophizing, compromising spirit found among so many members of the body, especially on the west coast, and more especially among some of the faculty and products of George Pepperdine College.
If any statement in the above mentioned article has given comfort to our present digressive element, or a club with which to intimidate faithful preachers and weaken the cause of Christ, I am sorry. The very blow dealt these would rebound upon my own head, for through the years I have sustained, and continue to hold, the identical position of men loyal to the truth and the Lord's way.
While I continue my aggressive opposition to compromise and liberalism, and have neither fellowship with nor sympathy for the digressive element among us, I continue as equally opposed to the pharisaical spirit that says and does not. (Matt. 28:3) It was against such a spirit that I was writing when the article, "Keepers of Orthodoxy" was written. I continue to believe the spirit to be wrong and as worthy of opposition as it was when Jesus opposed it. Both, the spirit of digression and liberalism on the one hand, and the spirit that "says and does not" on the other, are condemned and opposed in scripture. I opposed them, and continue to oppose both today.
Editor's Comment:
The original article "Keepers of Orthodoxy," written nearly five years ago was ill-conceived, ill-timed, and ill-natured. It represented brother Halley at his worst, not at his best. It was an unworthy and unwarranted criticism of scores of noble gospel preachers with whom Homer Hailey had stood shoulder to shoulder in the thickest and hottest battle the church has had in our generation. His article was immediately seized upon by the softies, the compromisers, the premillennialists, and the modernists in the church, and has been used by them relentlessly ever since in an effort to discredit and weaken the influence of those who plead for "orthodoxy" in the church.
Only this summer the old article once again was dug up and paraded before the readers of West Coast Christian, Firm Foundation, Gospel Advocate, and some of the orphan home journals, with never a hint from these papers that the article was of ancient vintage (and rather sour vintage at that), and did not represent the true feelings and beliefs of Homer Hailey — at least not in the use being made of it.
We think brother Halley owes it to himself to write further in refutation of the false implications his article carries — some of which are pointed out by brother Douthitt in this issue. We hope he will do so.
— F. Y. T.