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In Judges 2:10-12 we read "..and there
arose a new generation after them who did not know the Lord
or the work which he had done for Israel. And the people
of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and
served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord." A new
generation did not have the same appreciation in faithfully
serving the Lord as did the previous generation.
The rise of a new generation has always
presented numerous problems insofar as keeping alive God's
true religion in the hearts of men. Even the rising of a
new generation of Egyptians caused serious problems to God's
people. They fared well until "there arose up a new
king over Egypt which knew not Joseph" (Ex. 1:8). A
study of the many times the Israelites fell away will reveal
how hard it was for men to be true to God over a long period
of time. We find a period where the Israelites were faithful,
only to be followed by a period where they rebelled against
God. As you read their history you scratch your head and
ask "Why couldn't these people learn from their own
history?"
When we come to the New Testament we find
the faithful church of the Lord of the first century, but
shadows of apostasy were already evident. The study of the
history of the years following the completion of the New
Testament church reveals the apostasy gaining momentum and
finally culminating in a complete departure from the church
we read about in the New Testament.
Then we read of the Reformation and following
that the Restoration Movement. Men such as Barton W. Stone,
Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell, Walter Scott, "Raccoon"
John Smith, and many others called the people back to the
Bible. The results were amazing. By 1860 there were at least
192,323 Christians who were part of the Restoration of the
New Testament church! Kentucky alone had an estimated 45,000
members!
After seeing the tremendous success of those
who called people back to the "ancient order,"
it is heartbreaking to see how a new generation arose who
didn't have the same respect for the authority of the word
of God as the generation before them. The American Missionary
Society arose to evangelize the world. The advocates of
this readily admitted that this was not the New Testament
way of evangelizing, but they argued that the New Testament
method just wasn't working. They introduced instrumental
music in worship. They couldn't justify the use of the instrument
by the authority of the New Testament, so they took the
approach that they could do anything that wasn't forbidden
in the New Testament. This approach allowed them to introduce
just about anything that they wanted to do.
Among the Restorers, the more faithful students
of the Bible maintained, and rightly so, that we must have
authority from the Scriptures for what we teach and practice
in religion. The gulf between those who believed in the
Bible as the only authority in religion and those who believed
they could do anything not specifically condemned became
wider and wider. The U.S. census in 1906 recognized a difference
between the church of Christ and the Christian Church, who
took the liberal view. But the division had actually existed
at least twenty (20) years before that time. At a later
point the Christian Church and the Disciples of Christ split
over the extremely liberal views of the Disciples. About
twenty years ago the Disciples of Christ announced that
they were no longer a part of the Restoration. They did
not believe that the Restoration of the church of Christ
of the New Testament was necessary or even the right thing
to do. This is the ultimate result of the approach that
the Bible is not our authority in religion.
It is heartbreaking to see a new generation
arising today who are advocating some of the same basic
things that split the church in the late 1800's. We hear
of those of the new generation who advocate the "New
Hermeneutics." "Hermeneutic" is the science
of interpreting the Bible. What these men are doing is not
"New" but the same old approach that some of our
brethren took in the 1800's that split the church. Their
position is that the New Testament does not provide us with
a pattern, but we can do anything that isn't condemned.
Doesn't that sound familiar? It should. It is the same philosophy
that split the church of the last century. It is also the
same old approach that has been used by the denominations
for centuries.
Why can't these brethren let the church alone and allow
it to remain faithful to the word and to continue to grow?
What is there about some of God's people that they cannot
stand peace and harmony? What is there about some gospel
preachers who need to be recognized as having discovered
some new truth that nobody else before them has discovered.
God's people can be faithful to him from
generation to generation if they will do as God directs,
but we must be aware of the ever present danger of repeating
history and digressing from the New Testament pattern.
It is God's will today that his word be
proclaimed faithfully by faithful preachers and teachers.
"Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy
Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you" (Matt. 28:18-20). Paul told Timothy
"And what you have heard from me before many witnesses
entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others
also" (2 Tim. 2:2). Preachers and teachers of today
must realize the responsibility that is theirs in faithfully
declaring the Word. Paul warned Timothy "..Some will
depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits
and doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1). We all must
earnestly "contend for the faith which was once for
all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).
by V. Glen McCoy
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