Participating in God's Life Participating in God's Life Two Crossroads for Churches of Christ by Leonard Allen & Danny Gray Swick. Reviewed by Barry L. Callen of the church of God in the Zoe Group. See the following links for a few "real" historical document repudiating the neo-trinitariansm which from H. Leo Boles is tritheism. Because thee Bible and all classical trinitarians deny that the "spirit" is a person but is the spirit or Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ or the Mind of Christ: and the name (singular) of Father, Son and Spirit is "Jesus Christ the righteous" those promoting--in Allen's words--an ecstatic or charismatich EXPERIENCE have bought into the Pentecostial urge to seek signs and wonders."
C. Leonard Allen Trinitarian Theology and Spiritual Life C. Leonard Allen is part of the same group promoting a strange form of TRINITY based on God's need for COMMUNITY. This has no basis in any classical trinitarian teaching which agrees with Jesus that Father things, Spirit sends words and the Son articulates words for us. God has His own mind and wisdom within himself: that is why we are not made into a group of three people but one complex body, soul and spirit.
Trinity as “Necessary” Fact in Alexander Campbell’s “Christian System of Facts"
John Mark Hicks at Rochester Accuses Alexander Campbell of defending Trinitarianism as the only option for opposing Barton W. Stone's view of the nature of Jesus of Nazareth. That leap is reinforced by partial quotes to make Campbell a "Trinitarian" if partially in the closet.
Because the word SPIRITUAL means figurative or of the MIND, those seeking truth beyone the sacred page have no Biblical or historical foundation:
Rom. 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.Jesus spoke to the Jewish clergy in parables from the foundation of the world to prevent them from understanding . He defined the Scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites: by pointing to Isaiah and Ezekiel these are slick speakers, singers and instrument players.
Spiritual is the Greek 4151 Pneuma: the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition
1Cor. 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.
4153.pneumatikos, pnyoo-mat-ik-oce´; adverb from 4152; non-physically, i.e. divinely, figuratively: spiritually.
Rev. 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
C. Leonard Allen Trinitarian Theology and Spiritual Life C. Leonard Allen is part of the same group promoting a strange form of TRINITY based on God's need for COMMUNITY. This has no basis in any classical trinitarian teaching which agrees with Jesus that Father things, Spirit sends words and the Son articulates words for us. God has His own mind and wisdom within himself: that is why we are not made into a group of three people but one complex body, soul and spirit.
John Mark Hicks: Trinity as “Necessary” Fact in Alexander Campbell’s “Christian System of Facts"
Jesus fired the doctors of the Law because they take away the key to knowledge. In C. Leonard Allens take of the trinity we quote John Calvin to show that reformation or restoration denounces collections of theologians trying to pass judgment on the Word of God. Using the term "Post Christian" along with "Post Modern" we know that these people have no respect for the Bible or for true scholarshipEven though Joseph Campbell rejects the historical misapplication of Scripture he nevertheless believed that the original images had the power to give meaning to our lives to prevent that nervous feeling; to prevent our "cracking away."
7107. qatsaph, kaw-tsaf´; a primitive root; to crack off, i.e. (figuratively) burst out in rage: (be) anger(-ry), displease, fret self, (provoke to) wrath (come), be wroth.
The American Indians lost the symbols of their ancient religion and didn't want to live in the new stockade. However, they were forced to play the "game." The resulting religion was not Christian but was often imported from the land of the Aztecs--
"Within the span of a decade the religion had become archaic; and it was then that the peyote cult, the mescal cult, came pouring in from Mexico (Aztec land), onto and across the plains, as a psychological rescue... they would gather in special lodges to pray, to chant, and to eat peyote buttons, each then experiencing visions, finding within themselves what had been lost from their society." (Joseph Campbell, p. 89)
People under stress often return to ancient religious forms and beliefs because the "gods don't work any more." The universal belief of these systems was that true religion is best illustrated by drugs (wine or ecstasy as at Cane Ridge) which forces the "worship services" into an exciting period which "meets my needs" and brings me face to face with the "god" who hides except at periodic festivals. The ritual literally forced the gods to do what they didn't want to do. In the symbolism of the gospel of wine, the ritual feeds the exhausted wine with new yeast so that it releases its energies and "turns us on."
Unfortunately, the "turn on" demands a bigger and bigger "fix." Campbell notes the same urge in most native religions. We note again:
"Now the first and most important effect of a living mythological symbol is to waken and give guidance to the energies of life. It is an energy-releasing and directing sign, which not only 'turns you on,' as they say today,
but turns you on in a certain direction,
making you function a certain way--which
will be one conducive to your participation in the life and purposes of a functioning social group." (Campbell, p. 89).That means that they of all men are most legalistic:
"That the spiritualistic and the legalistic are not polar opposites but in fact correlatives has been one of the discoveries of this study... If the Spirit does not come to us freely in Christ then
we must go to him through some kind of spiritual achievement and
this means, ultimately, via law.
"One of the most striking aspects of the Scrolls is the coincidence in them of a 'legalistic' and a 'charismatic' piety." (Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit, p. 229)
- Marinate in the Mysteries!
- There is no greater gift of time
- than to feast your mind
- on God's amazing reality.
- The triune force who created slugs and slime
- dreamed and willed us up into His image
- - into his reality.
- Marinate in the Mysteries
- Rejoice in the glory She brought forth for us.
- Eat up this glorious trinity history design.
- We get the honor of participating in God's phenomenal plan
- where He links up with humans just to take away sin.
- just to take away sin.
- just to take away sin.
The STONEITE movement was birthed at Cane Ridge, Kentucky in a charismatic REVIVAL or AWAKENING which has identical symptoms to Devil worship in ancient and modern Iraq. The "shouting Methodist" spoke louder than Christ the Spirit.
The CAMPBELLS moved the churches of Christ to faith that God has pronounced His will for faith and practice in the Bible. That view has been held by most of church history.
For all of church history groups named "the church of Christ" believed in Biblical authority and rejected MUSIC as worship. At the time of the Cane Ridge arousal only the Catholic and Anglican view defended instruments. This was not based on the Bible.
Some Christian churches and Disciples or churches of Christ met in 'unity' but NEVER formed a UNITY of the two movements because the Christians were still "shouting Methodists" and rejected what Jesus said about Baptism.
As a few sowers of discord brought choirs and instruments into peacable churches, those who knew what the Bible said CROSSED OVER and out of such neo-paganism. No one MISSED the crossroads: it was a Trail Lovingly Taken to retain the church as "a school of Christ and the Bible."
A tiny number of church of Christ preachers have unity meetings driven by the Disciples of Christ and Christian churches. It is clear that there is an active and confessed goal by instrumentalists to INFILTRATE AND DIVERT people into being instrumental or charismatic (or sexual).
Bible-faithful churches of Christ have met the CROSSROADS before and discovered it to be a DOUBLE CROSS into a Shepherding Cult. The MUSICAL ATTACK which in the Bible is a LUCIFER (Zoe) attack will also PASS and history will have a few more Judases to CROSS OUT. The Judas bag was for "carring the mouthpieces of wind instruments." The SOP Jesus fed him to cause Satan to enter Judas has the same base meaning as MELODY.
Literate believers will not go there because of the Bible and because of the creepy-crawly feeling which comes over them when the boys and girls PERFORM as musical mediators. In spite of or BECAUSE of the facts C. Leonard Allen pretends that non-instrumental churches of Christ are victims of living in the MODERN AGE before Scripture got shot away by the beams projecting out of the eyes of dissociated "scholars."
If we could participate with God DIRECTLY then coming as the Living Word to speak the Written Word was a waste of time. The WORDS of Christ are SPIRIT and LIFE and that is the way to participate with God.
SIMON Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: 2 Pet 1:1
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 2 Pet 1:2
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 2 Pet 1:3
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers [participate] of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption [ptheiro from a musical sound] that is in the world through lust. 2 Pet 1:4
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; 2 Pet 1:5
And to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; 2 Pet 1:6
And to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. 2 Pet 1:7For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you
that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Pet 1:8But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 2 Pet 1:9
Sure, the old timers believed that you projected something from your eyeballs which tore away pieces of, say the Bible, and in time there was NOTHING left. Poor members of the Church of Christ have not CAUGHT ON to the notion that while we slept the BIBLE was, as it was explained to me, got SUCKED into a black hole and right now WE don't HAVE any truth. But when it shoots out of a white hole WE will be the creatures to grasp it. A book promo almost threatens non-instrumental churches of Christ
"Today Churches of Christ are a modern church in a world in which modernity is receding.
"Can Churches of Christ break out of modernity's hold and engage the present age with the power of the gospel? Can they respond to the new challenges and opportunities of this "postmodern" era?This reality, probably more than any other factor, accounts for the swift and disorienting changes besetting them at the beginning of the twentieth-first century. Can this anti-tradition tradition come to terms with its own modern tradition?
Some pseudo-psychologist heard about Heisenberg's uncertainty principle that "nothing was certain" so he / they decided that nothing was certain about Biblical Facts. One thing that WAS certain was that Heisenberg and Einstein got a BIG LAUGH out of the silly people. They THINK that our nature EVOLVES so that what was truth for your father is NOT true for you. That if Jesus read a parchment and you could touch the same document, YOU could NOT understand what Jesus understood because YOU have evolved and TRUTH evolves. Well, hee haw, some things are uncertain at the speed of light.
Nothing happened when we snapped from the MODERN age to te POST MODERN AGE except disoriented pseudo-scholars decided that the NEW ETHICS meant that they could infiltrate, disorient and then steal church houses of widows. No one noticed a SINGLE thing about ANY law or principle except a few fuzzy-wuzzy brains decided to play a dirty trick on the church WHICH PAID THEM because they found more PLEASURE in bonding with more musical and charismatic "worship." Not the least of the great SPOOK was that a circle of pseudo-scholars decided that they could SELF-VALIDATE their Phds for which their was no CERTIFICATE OF NEED by writing books. The era has produced a flood of book publishing just at the time where people BUY but do not READ. People don't BUY this pop theology: SOMEONE sells it to them like FREE ENERGY SOURCES.
The SOWERS OF DISCORD in a massive way claims that there is a congenital defect in the theology of people who won't SING WITH INSTRUMENTS. The old GUILT CLAUSE: they shoot you in the heart and then blame YOU for bleeding all over their dancing slippers.
They push people TO THE BRINK and then accuse them of slipping over the edge. There is a NEW WIND blowing in churches of Christ but the BOOK WRITERS are the BLOWERS. The fact is that only a tiny fraction of churches of Christ have BOWED to one of the first DRIVEN PURPOSES: to change to a NEW STYLE of Musical worship where the Musical Worship Leaders can actually LEAD you into the presence of God. They have no hesitancy in claiming to STAND IN THE HOLY PLACE of the churches and claim to be the MEDIATOR or God in Christ! The New Style Worship could have been seen at the Foot of the Old Babylon Tower and any pagan temple where singers were always the harem of the gods.
Here is what is supposed to happen in the end-times when singers and speakers claim to be PARTICIPANTS or God helpers:
To see to all of this the god had priests trained as cooks, bakers, waiters, and bathers, or as encomiasts (singers of praise) and musicians to make the god's meals festive, or as elegists to soothe him in times of stress and grief.
"Diversions from the daily routine were the great monthly festivals and also a number of special occasions.
The coiner of this postmodern view was really making a joke. It is identified in SCHOLAR TALK which is "speaking in tongues" but the other scholars don't dare suggest that THE KINGS HAVE NO CLOTHES. It's as laughable as if they told you that JUMPING OFF TALL BUILDINGS is now the postmodern thing to do. You are supposed to see this a God sending strong delusions: laught and hiss and clap but don't fall into the trap.
The POSTMODERN view is that the new prophets must DISSOCIATE you which means to separate your MIND from reality. They REALLY call this a dose of SCHIZOPHRENIA. Now, while they have PANICKED you with bluffs and MUSIC you are supposed to SHED your old views that GOD IN CHRIST is the Author and Finisher of everything including the SCRIPTURES. That will make you flee the non-musical churches PROBABLY because some elder thwarted their big ego.
Now, the word ODEING or singing has the meaning of exciting you and intends to LIFT YOU UP TO CUT YOUR THROAT. This odeing and lifting up is the CORE meaning of heresy: they intend to carry you away FOR THEIR OWN USE. Click to identify the MASKING HERETICS.
In reviewing The Transforming of a Tradition John Waddey notes that it:
"is the title of a book edited and published last year by Leonard Allen and Lynn Anderson. It purports to examine the "Churches of Christ in the New Millennium,"
identify their myriad problems and offer solutions that will save them from extinction.
The several authors who contributed chapters to this book all share a common belief that the restoration plea is unworkable in our post-Christian age; that we must accept the fact that we are actually a denomination, in the same sense as are the Methodists and Lutherans; that we must cease to be a separate, exclusive body of people and embrace an ecumenical approach to Christianity.
Jeep Mechanic: I broke your heater.
Wife: um?
Jeep Mechanic: but I will fix it for $300.00
Because they never grasped that ekklesia is synagogue is school of the BIBLICAL TEXT then our exclusive views have to be abandoned in favor of the Baptist's exclusive views EVEN if they contradict all known facts about the Bible and church history.
I don't want to be too critical: if I had a book to sell as a Scribe I might go universalists or ecumenical or anywhere book buyers assemble but John Waddey notes:
Of course, since they are liberals you can understand why they grasp for a new PATTERNISM which will work because their old "riding tandem on the backs of widows" has aboout run its eternally-modern course."As I was reading Allen and Anderson's book, the Associated Press carried an article by religious observer, Richard Ostling, that evaluated the situation of contemporary Protestant churches in America. The author points out that evangelical (i.e., conservative) Protestant churches are flourishing while the liberal churches are declining in a serious way. Citing a study by Randall Balmer and Lauren Winner entitled Contemporary American Religion
(Columbia University Press), he notes that "the mainliners (large Protestant denominations) built their strategy around ecumenism," while "the most successful religious movements in American history have been exclusive, not inclusive." While the liberal churches were minimizing differences, "Americans were looking for theological definition." He further observes that "Evangelicals' momentum stems from the centrality of the Bible... In the late 19th century, liberal notions about the Scriptures infiltrated U. S.
I read Mike Cope's BLOG where he said the era of mega churches was over!That is why this reviewer thinks that it has nothing to do with church growth other than to "provide a venue for rock and roll" and CDs and books for sale in the foyer. It also has to do with petty people who have been ruffled up by some elder of the church of Christ. Perhaps an elder didn't want the MUSICAL WORSHIP TEAM doing their sexual music and calling it CHURCH. That could be a fatal affront where Rubel Shelly claims that the MINISTERS are best trained and equipped to be THE LEADERS of the congregation: the shepherds shepherd the MINISTRY STAFF which has the CHIEF minister (slave) firing all of the deacons and hiring male and female TRAINED MINISTERS for the "ministry system plague."
Now, let's review the Zoe Groups Review of the NEW participating in God' life. We should note that Allen's friend, Rubel Shelly, says that we can PARTNER with God in "working out our salvation" or new Scriptures for our culture. We should also note that participating with God is a not-too-clever coded message which means to make our WORSHIP SERVICES more charismatic. Otherwise, C. Leonard Allen does not have a clue about the people's relationship with God for the other 167 hours a week.
In fact, Jesus insisted that worship could NOT be in the old PLACES of temples built with human hands. Rather, He said that God only SEEKS those who can worship in the PLACE of their own spirits as it is devoted to the TRUTH which is ONLY the Words of God.
Paul showed why our WORSHIP should be in the CLOSETS as Jesus absolutely commanded:
For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Phil 3:3
Notice that the contrast is between OUR FLESH and OUR SPIRIT.
Why did Paul make OUR worship in OUR spirit and not in the PLACE of a "plenary session?" It was the age-old Satanic reason whom Jesus defined as a liar because "he speaks on his own."
Furthermore, ceremonial legalism or "threskia" worship was always perverted and perverting:
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. Phil 3:2
"The rectangular central shrine of the temple, known as a 'cella,' had a brick altar or offering table in front of a statue of the temple's deity. The cella was lined on its long ends by many rooms for priests and priestesses. These mud-brick buildings were decorated with cone geometrical mosaics, and the occasional fresco with human and animal figures. These temple complexes eventually evolved into towering ziggurats.
"The temple was staffed by priests, priestesses, musicians, singers, castrates and hierodules (including Temple Prostitutes or ministers). Various public rituals, food sacrifices, and libations took place there on a daily basis. There were monthly feasts and annual, New Year celebrations. During the later, the king would be married to Inanna as the resurrected fertility god Dumuzi..."
Asherah: Queen of Heaven, Ashtoreth, Athirat, Astarte, and Ishtar. Her "male" priestesses were known as kelabim, the faithful "dogs" of the Goddess, who practiced divinatory arts, danced in processions, and served as hierodules, qedeshim, in the company of other priestesses.
Goddess worship were largely erased in a cultural purge c. 630 BCE by King Josiah.
"professional musicians emerged in Israel about the time of David and Solomon. From then on, we have abundant historical evidence of the role which the professional musicians played in the organization of the temple ritual." (International Dictionary of the Bible, p. 461, Abingdon).
"the testimonies of neighboring civilizations are of little value, as they concern chiefly the music of courts or temples, which in Sumer, Babylon, and Canaan was then in the hands of professional priests-musicians. We have only a few remarks of Herodotus about Egyptian practices, which were similar to those of ancient Hebrew popular singing. He refers to the 'lament for Linos,'
also to women's chants in procession of the cult of Osiris and the Diana of Bubastis. "In Phoenicia and Syria almost all popular music reflected the worship of Ishtar, the goddess of fertility.
Thus, popular song was usually a prelude to sexual orgies in honor of the goddess, led and organized by her thousands of hierodules." (Interpreter's Dict of the Bible, Music, p. 461).
"Scholars" think that we are MISSING the documents which define SINGING in the early church of Christ. The TRUE fact is that there was NO PRAISE SERVICE in the Synagogue or the church of Christ which was a synagogue or school of the Bible. The early mention is that of obeying Paul by singing or really READING te Psalms. When you READ a poem or song you were SINGING but not in the odeing form.
Ephraim wrote THE NISIBENE HYMNS 373 A.D. He was born in the ancient and famous city of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, in, or before, the earliest days of the reign (a.d. 306-337) of Constantine the Great.
This section "extends farther to many incidents related in the Life,-such as the attempt of Sapor to take Nisibis by turning the river against its walls,
Ephraim's encounter with the woman who met him as he entered Edessa and her retort to his rebuke,
his borrowing the music of the heretic in order to popularize the orthodox teaching of his own hymns,To Ephraim pertains the high and unique distinction of having originated-or at least given its living impulse to-a new departure in sacred literature; and that, not for his own country merely, but for Christendom.
From him came, if not the first idea, at all events the first successful example,
of making song an essential constituent of public worship,
and an exponent of theological teaching;
and from him it spread and prevailed through the Eastern Churches, and affected even those of the West. To the Hymns, on which chiefly his fame rests, the Syriac ritual in all its forms owes much of its strength and richness;
and to them is largely due the place which Hymnody holds throughout the Church everywhere.You may read his hymns which at least tell the Biblical story.
There is no exception to the total body of evidence that using MUSIC as worship is by the "spirit" of Satan and is NOT a holy spirit. Musical worship which everyone understood was the worship by homosexual priests of homosexual "gods." The priests were emasculated or even had sex change so that they could function in the priesthood: all priesthoods and other hoods have always been effeminate or perverted.
Isn't it amazingly amazing that ACU and the Tulsa Workshop are working with the Boston Church of Christ which is the Old Croseroods movement of SHEPHERDING or DISCIPLING. Max Lucado has a Discipling Minister, Rubel Shelly rejects an individual's right to read, interpret and speak the Word outside of the community (commune) and Lynn Anderson PK-like Discipling Dilema which appeals to the Promise Keepers shepherding groups which have the authority to grill you about any sexual thoughts you might have had. And, in the words of one proponent, beat the hell out of you if you don't confess.
See more Rubel Shelly and the Shepherding concept which includes the same Disciples of Christ method of something like soothsaying to get a new message from God.
From the Zoe Group and the Church of God
Participating in God's Life Two Crossroads for Churches of Christ by C. Leonard Allen & Danny Gray Swick. Reviewed by a "friend in the camp" Barry L. Callen, Anderson University review published in the Zoe Group paper.
The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: This book is a very clear and relevant case study of the shaping impact of "secular" philosophies on Christian theology. With particular reference to the Churches of Christ ("Restoration") tradition,
The primary TRADITIONS which C. Leonard Allen as an "alien in the camp" is the NON use of instrumental music, the nature of baptism and the pagan trinity. "Music" as worship is not only secular, there is no exception to the rule that it was invented by Satan to bleed off worship due only to God. Beyond being "secular" both singing and melody are WARFARE words which intend to LIFT YOU UP to CUT YOUR THROAT through exciting singing. Melody speaks of Abaddon's or Apollyons "bow" and has NO musical meaning other than that you also SHOOT out hymns like twanging a bow string to kill the enemy.
C. Leonard Allen pants the mantra that the church of Christ is built on Lockean rationalism and SECULAR philosophies. That, of course, is a lie discernable to anyone whom God has not BLINDED and made DEAF. Because they have no love for the truth, God sends them strong delusions using strong deluders. Jesus identified them as DOCTORS OF THE LAW who took away the key to knowledge. As a MARK modern theologians have set up a self or peer-validation movement to certify their scholarship.
Then, they declare that the Holy Spirit was not able to speak in "layman language" and was not able to preserve the word from sifting by human philosophy. The last fatal blow to the Spirit's olden power is Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principlewhich has been gulped down 75 years after its pronouncement. Heisenberg said that if you try to SEE and electron with WAVES or PHOTONS which are the same size as the electron you may find out WHERE it is but you CHANGE its nature and direction.
Now, being delusional, they apply this to, say, a parchment version of Isaiah which Jesus held in His hands almost 2,000 years ago. Because we have CHANGED or EVOLVED when we SHOOT our vision at the old text we CANNOT know what it means. Now, that the Eternal God has been disqualified along with all of the non-certifed, they say BUT WE can get you a new SUPPLY of Scripture which works because it fits out CHANGED CULTURE.
If they only knew, the old eye-ball-shot-to-pieces Bible from Genesis to Revelation associates music to SATAN where the serpent was the MUSICAL ENCHANTER who used music and charisma to wholly seduce Eve so that the New Testament could say that "Cain was of that wicked one." See the proof in Devil Worship.
Scholarship until some "Christian church" version universally associated music as COMMON TO ALL PAGAN SECTS. The Catholics confess that and now agree that congregational singing has always been the ideal.
Therefore, to claim that church of Christ members who LEFT rather than fight when "Christian churches" forced musical instruments to deliberately sow discord are SECULAR and SECTARIAN is a symptom of muddled madness.
The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: Leonard Allen and Danny Swick recall a crucial crossroads faced by this movement in the 1850s, a crossroads critical both then and now.
The unfortunate decision then, according to these authors, was to favor a "modernist" philosophy that, while employed to support renewed biblical faithfulness, led to an essentially Spiritless Christianity.
It is an intention to deceive to define the theology of churches of Christ as MODERNIST. It is the HIGH CHURCH of the Christian churches that Scripture is just one of the ALIGNMENT POINTS of authority which stems from German Rationalism.
What C. Leonard Allen actually MEANS is the way people READ and thought that they understood the Bible up to the year 2,000. The Bible claims authority for itself and everyone held it to be normative for faith and practices almost without exception. Then, suddenly, men like C. Leonard Allen was brought forth and the world suddenly went POST MODERN and POST CHRISTENDOM.
It is a form of insanity to believe this garbage and still pretend to be a Christian which has always been built on the FOUNDATION which was laid by the Apostles-Prophets.
The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: In varying degrees, much of establishment evangelicalism in the early twenty-first century suffers from a similar impoverishment, thus the significance of this book for more than the Churches of Christ.
No doubt! Zwingli who invented FAITH ONLY and BELIEVER'S BAPTISM believed that there was not ONE doctor who lived before him who understood the Bible. The almost universal view that Jesus was correct to connect salvation or the remission of sins to baptism. Suddenly, believer's baptism sprung forth on the earth but it was not a new things: it was the same old pagan baptism. This taught that you took a bath to PROVE that you were already clean.
The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: The authors urge the recovery of a biblical spirituality rooted in the triune nature of God.
The Campbells understood Jesus to say that Worship was in the SPIRIT: it was not enspirited or enthus O mania or Paul's word MADNESS when people sang out of their own spirits. Richardson who is FALSELY used to prop up this review wrote:
"Similarly, he loved to see the utmost simplicity in the order and worship of the house of God. He delighted in the public reading of the Scriptures, the plain and earnest exhortations of the brotherhood, and in solemn psalms and hymns of praise.
He had no relish for anything formal or artificial, such as the repetitions in fugue tunes or the establishment of singing choirs.
As to the use of musical instruments in worship, he was utterly opposed to it, and took occasion at a later period to remark in regard to it
that it was well adapted to churches "founded on the Jewish pattern of things" and practicing infant sprinkling.
"That all persons," said he, "who have no spiritual discernment, taste or relish for spiritual meditation, consolations and sympathies of renewed hearts, should call for such aid is but natural.Pure water from the flinty rock has no attractions for the mere toper or wine-bibber. A little alcohol, or genuine Cogniac brandy, or good old Madeira is essential to the beverage to make it truly refreshing.
So to those who have no real devotion or spirituality in them, and whose animal nature flags under the oppression of church service,
I think that instrumental music would be not only a desideratum, but an essential prerequisite to fire up their souls to even animal devotion. But I presume to all spiritually-minded Christians such aids would be as a cow-bell in a concert." M. H., Series iv., vol. i., p. 581.
The trinity of "persons" ranked 1, 2, and 3 as The Family of God or the God Committee was WHOLLY INVENTED by "doctors of the Law" such as H. Leo Boles in the year 1942. A researcher thought that he had an exception but it seems that the writer was just explaining Boles's view which went back to the turn of the century. Click for the view.
John Mark Hicks "credits" Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly with popularizing the view of Tritheism or polytheism in our own time. No one in the history of the universe before Boles and then Lucado and Shelly ever DARED to suggest that God was really a FAMILY consisting of three gods which are not, in their formulation, even EQUAL.
The historical view of the TRINITY is explained by Paul to the Corinthians in chapter 2.
The Spirit of God
.. Is to GodWhat our spirit
But, "we have the MIND of Christ."
Iiis to us
The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: They are looking for the revitalization of their own tradition (Churches of Christ).
It lies in a better balance that recognizes the biblical view of God's relational nature.
With such balance people may be newly encouraged to actually participate in God's life by divine grace.The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: This book builds on Leonard Allen's 1990 The Cruciform Church and is motivated by the observation that the Churches of Christ movement is approaching the two-century mark of its tradition in the midst of a momentous cultural and worldview shift.
The shift is said to be away from antiquated and unbiblical "modernist" commitments. The authors rehearse the road not taken in 1857-60 and suggest that a similar crossroads--and a fresh opportunity--is being faced in 2001.
The cruciform is and has always been a phallic symbol: we are superior to you and we can prove it by sticking you on a pole like a bug on a pin or a young boy in the hands of the WORSHIP LEADERS as victims of charismatic ecstasy.
"AYIOS IOANNIS THEOLOGOS Plaka is A very beautiful church of the 11th-12th century. It is a cruciform church at the crossroads of Erotokritou and Erechtheos Streets, in Plaka.
The CROSS was a phallic symbol originally a POLE and so we are "empaled with Christ."
Most of Christendom have forgot those meanings. Only specialized professional historians are aware of them today. Among those esoteric themes are those associated with the anatomical parts of the human body that involve the use of human sexuality. This was one of the main themes within "Gothic" architecture. The universal adoption of these abtruse meanings developed some 800 years ago has resulted in virtually every Catholic or Protestant church today showing some architectural features (or "church decorations") that are directly derived from those early "Gothic" designs. The central motif that the medieval architects were endeavoring to show in their church buildings rested upon the biblical teaching that the "church" (Greek: ekklesia) was reckoned to be a "woman," especially and specifically the "Wife of Christ" (indeed the apostle Paul showed that the ekklesia was to be understood as a "Wife" in Ephesians 5:25-33).
While it became popular to destroy the outward blatant displays of the Shiela-Na-Gigs on the cathedrals and churches, the esoteric adornments that we now associate with what we call "church architecture" were allowed to continue. Indeed, even when new churches were built, it was common to retain the clandestine symbolic architectural themes because the people had become so used to them as depicting "holy architecture." Though the pointed arches and spires / steeples were esoterically designed female and male genitalia, they were not as barefaced and unabashed in their depictions as were the Shiela-Na-Gigs. Those more modest designs that were not so obviously sexual (that the church authorities decided to retain as representing "church architecture") became patterns and motifs that only the initiated would continue to understand. Today, however, even preachers and priests have forgot what they mean.
So, the "Gothic style" of architecture was to emphasize the church building as being female in its interior (to represent the Woman as "Christ's Wife" and the bearer of His offspring along with those of God the Father). Other women of the Bible such as Eve (Zoe), Sarah, Ruth and Mary the mother of Jesus figured into the architectural design in certain circumstances. The feminine aspect dominated the design, but not everything about the church building was reckoned as female. The exterior part of the "Gothic church," with its spires and steeples and obelisks located in front of the entrance (the female genitalia), symbolically represented the male genitalia in their reproductive stance (this was explained in my former Doctrinal Report). All these symbolic motifs of Gothic architecture were to teach the masses of Christian people (who were often illiterate and uneducated) the "womb to tomb" phases of human life. It also helped to bolster the teaching that the church (its monks and priests) had full power and control over the people.
John Waddey notes what is very obvious in the Restoration Roots book. There is an intention to deceive or infantile "scholarship" based on reading "scholars" who read "scholars"--as the only way to get a Phd stamp--and decidedly distorts and perverts Reformation scholars:
Having read some 15 books by various change agents, I am impressed that all of them must read the same books or listen to the same thought leaders. They use the same examples, make the same criticisms and propose the same changes!
Change agents, like Allen, like to identify with illustrious teachers of the past to validate their specious claims. Allen, claims Bro. G. C. Brewer as the icon whose ideas he is promoting. For the unknowing, the sacred name of Brewer may give them credence, but those familiar with G. C. Brewer's life and work know that he would not have given these false teachers the time of day. Brewer's two books, "As Touching Those Who Were Once Enlightened" and "A Medley on the Music Question" belie their claims. Brewer chastened those who left the church for the charms of denominationalism and those who vainly tried to justify the use of instrumental music in their worship.
He opens by telling us that "we..face a kind of identify crisis" (p 3). But it is not those of the "traditional" churches who are suffering from an identity crisis, it is the change agents and their converts who having abandoned the guiding principles of New Testament Christianity are blindly searching for meaning and direction in the realm of denominationalism and subjectivism.
Rather than faithfully preaching the sacred Word, he tells us, "we must learn to tell stories" (p. 4). Lacking scripture for what they believe, a story promotes their change doctrine well
Allen dismisses the historical studies of other brethren as flawed and self-serving (p. 6). It is necessary for men of his tribe (i.e., change agents) to correctly interpret the past and debunk the things we believe and in which we trusted. He says, the historical approach our brethren have taken "has inhibited and dislocated our theological efforts" (p. 6). He assures us that his criticism of the church and her members past and present is not to be taken as carping, cutting down or fault-finding, but that is exactly how it impress this reader! He acknowledges that we might interpret his criticism as "bashing the pioneers" (p. 10). That is precisely what he is doing! Like all liberals, he seeks to build his case by discrediting great teachers of the past; men whose shoes he is unworthy to tie! Behold how the brass doth shine! What has Allen done to win the lost, plant new congregations and defend the church and the faith of Christ from those who are His mortal enemies?Allen contrasts his highly educated professorial peers with the humble, preachers of the past who were largely self-trained and pronounces his team the winner. But the proof is in the pudding. It was precisely those humble men who went forth with minds filled with the Word hearts aflame and brought multitudes to Christ. They planted the churches and even established the schools the change agents now occupy and use for their new brand of religion. Even today it is not the professors and those with the doctorates that go forth seeking and saving the lost! To Dr. Allen, of all the thousands of preachers and teachers among us for 200 years, only a handful of recent change agents, principally at Abilene Christian U and Pepperdine U have correctly understood the bible and its doctrines.
The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: Back in 1857 Robert Richardson, then associate editor of the Millennial Harbinger, had said wisely: "It is a cardinal feature of this religious reformation [the Stone-Campbell "restoration" movement] to direct the attention of men to words, even to the precious words of Holy Scripture.
What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? John 6:62
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: But it was never intended that these should be made a substitute for the things they reveal, or that mere grammar and logic should replace spiritual discernment and be permitted to establish themselves as a barrier between the soul and spiritual enjoyment."
Charles Wesley on the Trinity and the Word
14. But, secondly, as strange as it may seem. in requiring you to believe, "there are three that bear record in heaven the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: And these three are one;" you are not required to believe any mystery. Nay, that, great and good man, Dr. Peter Browne, sometime Bishop of Cork, has proved at large that the Bible does not require you to believe any mystery at all. Thee Bible barely requires you to believe such facts; not the manner of them. Now the mystery does not lie in the fact, but altogether in the manner.
For instance: God said, let there be light: And there was light." I believe it: I believe the plain fact: There is no mystery at all in this. The mystery lies in the manner of it. But of this I believe nothing at all; nor does God require it of me.
Again: "The Word was made flesh." I Believe this fact also. There is no mystery in it; but as to the manner how he was made flesh, wherein the mystery lies, I know nothing about it; I believe nothing about it: It is no more the object of my faith, than it is of my understanding.
The authors build their story around a brief controversy that erupted in the pages of Alexander Campbell's Millennial Harbinger and the Gospel Advocate between 1857 and 1860. The participants were Dr. Robert Richardson, confidant and coworker of Campbell and Tolbert Fanning, president of Franklin College and editor of the Advocate. Fanning was also a friend and traveling companion of Campbell. They take this exchange of articles between two preachers and declare it to be representative of the entire brotherhood, then and now. Richardson argued that the proper approach to understanding God's will was not by a simple rational reading of it. He insisted the spiritual truths must be understood with the mind and the heart (p. 38). According to him, somewhere in the movement "there remained a 'serious defect which paralyzes the most earnest efforts and renders comparatively fruitless the most successful proselytism'" (p. 41).
"Hence, while his opponents raised a clamor against him as denying "the operations of the Holy Spirit," some of those who were professed advocates of the Reformation were led to construct a word-alone theory which virtually dispensed with the great promise of the gospel--the gift of the Holy Spirit to believers.
"These persons were found chiefly among those who had been previously skeptical, and who were habitually disposed to rely upon reason rather than to walk by faith; and their crude and erroneous doctrines were well calculated to bring a reproach upon the Reformation.
"They were disposed to resolve religion entirely into a system of moral motivity; to disbelieve the actual indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers; to deny special providence and guidings, and, by consequence, the efficacy of prayer.
"Taking Locke's philosophy as the basis of their system, and carrying his "Essay on the Human Understanding" along with the Bible in their saddle-bags, they denied even to its Creator any access to the human soul except by "words and arguments," while they conceded to the Author of evil a direct approach, and had more to say in their discourses about "the laws of human nature" than about the gospel of Christ.
"A fair reading of John Locke will show that he was not a good authority for their system. On the other hand, more liberal scholars use more rationalism than Scripture to validate their beliefs contrary to the bible. Like most, Harrison, may not have understood the views of John Locke. So if you are an anti-Locian you may want to read some of his actual views by Clicking here.
Like, WOW, words don't replace FACTS. That is very profound. However, the problem with discernment is NOT that we need the junior member of The Family of Gods to ENABLE us to read "them thare words." The problem which afflicts all Pharisees (false preachers), Scribes (book writers and sermon sellers) and Hypocrites (a SECT of theatrical preachers, singers and musicians is that when they lost the LOVE of the Word "as it has been taught" Good obliges and sends them strong delusions in the form of strong deluders.
In Romans 15 Paul defines the groups which brought their old religion into what Paul defines as an EKKLESIA or SYNAGOGUE or School of the Bible. This would create DISCORD if the Dionysians brought their wine, meat, music and sexual madness, and the Orphics brought their no-wine, no-meat, music and sexual madness into the church of Christ. Jesus Christ died to build an ekklesia or synagogue or school of the Bible.
In Romans 15 Paul OUTLAWED he role of PLEASURING into the group. This pleasuring was LIFTING UP and creating mental excitement which was "spiritual anxiety" through religious rituals.
Paul commanded that we GLORIFY God with one MIND and one MOUTH by speaking "that which is written." That was by the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1:11).
Now, ANYONE can read DON'T PLEASURE yourselves and see that this points to LIFTING UP or arousing self. The Greek points directly to external ODEING which was a secular or pagan practice.
In Ephesians 5 Paul was consistent by outlawing METHUO which was with wine and was ALWAYS defined as getting PIPED DOWN or fluted down with wine.
Then, rather than defining "that which is written" he commanded psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. These were always inspired text or "that which is written."
Both the ODEING and MELODY were left IN THE HEART because Bible 101aaa knows that PSALLO was never a MUSICAL word; it was a WARFARE word related to twanging the bowstring.
Just what kind of SCHOLARLY DISCERNMENT led "scholars" to--as late as the year 1878--use melody as authority to ADD organs to make HARMONY in the body parts?
If Christ the Spirit had intended to say SING and MAKE MELODY with a piano just how would He have said it so that it could be DISCERNED as directly the opposite.
The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: Nonetheless, a path different from this was chosen by the tradition's mainstream. It was to be a "Lockean heritage" path with its "distorted or neglected or hobbled doctrine of the Trinity" (56). This doctrine, says Allen and Swick, actually intends "not the passionless deity of Aristotle or the remote god of Enlightenment theism, but a God who is dynamic, demanding, personal and present" (56).
I can guarantee you that any "scholar" who--like a mantra--blames John Lock for the American Restoration Movement HAS NEVER READ Locke except in the other books validated by other books validated by other books: all lying through their false teath.
Click to hear Charles Wesley repudiate the enthusiasm which is that part of the STONEITES which claims a connection to the Campbell's restoration of the Word to restore the Church.
John Locke is the "father" of both political and religious freedom. He said that TRUTH comes only in the form READING or WITNESSING something. That is what God thought when He NEVER gave these neo-apostles the power to toss out the OLDEN BIBLE and "work out our salvation" meaning "work out a NEW set of Scriptures whice CEASED being truth at the end of the MODERN period."
C. Leonard Allen uses the MODERNIST word to ridicule truth seekers. However, a MODERNIST is C. Leonard Allen who puts his DISCERNMENT over the words upon which everyone can read and understand unless they have a mercinary motive. The MODERN world is defined by them not as B.C. or A.D. but B. M. That's not Bowel Movement but BEFORE ME.
John Locke also has to be DESTROYED because he told the 13th Apostles and Kansas City Prophets that their problem of being DELUDED probably stems from blaspheming God by defining Him in the uniquely "false church of Christ" and men like H. Leo Boles, the Gospel Advocate and David Lipscomb College. That was, that God is a FAMILY or STANDING COMMITTEE of three separated PERSONS where a person is a "people."
239. In this state of darkness and error, in reference to the "true God" Our Saviour found the world.
But the clear revelation he brought with him, dissipated this darkness;
made the one invisible true God known to the world:
and that with such evidence and energy,
that polytheism and idolatry hath no where been able to withstand it.But wherever the preaching of the truth he delivered, and the light of the gospel hath come, those mists have been dispelled.
And, in effect, we, see that since Our Saviour's time, the belief of one God has prevailed and spread itself over the face of the earth. For even to the light that the Messiah brought into the world with him, we must ascribe the owning, and profession of one God,
ALL truth got sucked into the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle so that NO WORDS have a unique meaning: it might mean this but it might mean that, it might be here but it might be there. Paul's direct command to SPEAK and TEACH and ADMONISH is in the "pestilent 'pistles' and MIGHT better be DISCERNED as PERVERT and TEAR DOWN with drug-inducing music. Well, maybe yes but maybe no.
Heisenberg was the father of Hitler's Atomic Bomb so Heisenberg knew that the UNCERTAINTY meant that you cannot FEEL a bowling ball IF the nerves in your FINGERS are individually as BIG as a BOWLING BALL. Because the nerve endings are very tiny, that means that you can be CERTAIN that an Isaiah scroll says exactly what Jesus might have read as He held the parchment in His hands and as HIS SPIRIT breathed on Isaiah.
Thomas Jefferson was informed by John Locke in giving the preachers freedom to preach big whoppers. Is the Constitution something to be despised because John Locke had the guts to propose even religious FREEDOM to read the Bible when doing so could get you burned at the stake with John Calvin holding your coat.
In His Reasonableness of Christianity, John Locke said MANY THINGS hard to be DISCERNED by C. Leonard Allen who we are certain has never read them:
238. Though the works of nature, in every part of them, sufficiently evidence a Deity; yet the world made so little use of their reason, that they saw him not, where, even by the impressions of himself, he was easy to be found.
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. Romans 1:19
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Romans 1:20
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:21
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, Romans 1:22
God is THOUGHT, WORD and SPIRIT to our dim vision. In another sense He is the First and Last, the Alpha and Omega. He is the Beginning and the Beginner. He was WITH God because He WAS God. Through Him everything was created and it was created for HIM and never THEM.
Sense and lust blinded their minds in some, and a careless inadvertency in others, and fearful apprehensions in most
(who either believed there were, or could not but suspect there might be, superior unknown beings)
gave them up into the hands of their priests to fill their heads with false notions of the deity,
and their worship with foolish rites, as they pleased;
and what dread or craft once began, devotion soon made sacred, and religion immutable.Alexander Campbell grasped that and this is why DOCTORS OF THE LAW repudiated by Jesus Christ are frightened out of their half wits that the LAITY will grasp that they can read THEM WORDS without a phoney degree (about 2110F)
"Give money to make poor pious youths learned clergy, or vain pretenders to erudition; and they pray that they may preach to you; yes, and pay them too. Was there ever such a craft as priestcraft? No, it is the craftiest of all crafts. It is so crafty that it obtains by its craft the means to make craftsmen, and then it makes the deluded support them!" (Campbell, Alexander, Christian Baptist, Dec. 1, 1823, Vol. 1, p. 91).
"Money is of vital consequence in the kingdom of the clergy. Without it a clergyman could not be made, nor a congregation supplied with a 'faithful pastor.' O Mammon, thou wonder-working god!" (Ibid., p. 124).
"'Will you,' said an honest inquirer, 'allow the clergy no salary at all? Will you not allow the poorer class of the clergy a decent little competence?' I replied I have no allowances to make. Let them have what the Lord has allowed them. 'How much is that?' said he, Just nothing at all, said I. A church constituted upon New Testament principles, having its own bishop or bishops, or, as sometimes called, elders, will not, and ought not to suffer them to be in want of any thing necessary, provided they labor in word and doctrine, and provided also, they are ensamples to the flock in industry, disinterestedness, humility, hospitality, and charity to the poor. Such bishops will now be esteemed very highly in love for their words sake; but especially those who, by their own hands, minister not only to their own wants, but also to the wants of their brethren." (Ibid, p. 140).
"That any man is to be paid at all for preaching, i.e. making sermons and pronouncing them; or that any man is to be hired for a stipulated sum to preach and pray, and expound scripture, by the day, month, or year, I believe to be a relic of popery." (Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 185).
"Our Elder labors with his own hands, that he may live honestly..." (Vol. 5, p. 163).
"... our elders labor... for their support, and are not burdensome to the church; but in case of need..." (Vol, 5, p. 95).
This view based on the Jewish practice that priests supported themselves except for food when they were "on duty at the temple", the practices of teachers in the Greek world and Paul's clear teaching this practice continued in the American Restoration Movement for a time.
John Locke continues to frighten the DISCERNMENT out of TRAFFICKERS in religion:
In this state of darkness and ignorance of the true God, vice and superstition held the world;
nor could any help be had or hoped for from reason, which could not be heard, and was judged to have nothing to do in the case (Refutes Calvinism):
- the priests every where,
- to secure their empire,
- having excluded reason
from having anything to do in religion.And in the crowd of wrong notions, and invented rites, the world had almost lost the sight of the one only true God.
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands Mark 7:5
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Mark 7:6
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Mark 7:7
The rational and thinking part of mankind, 'tis true, when they sought after him, found the one, supreme, invisible God: but if they acknowledged and worshipped him, it was only in their own minds.
They kept this truth locked up in their own breasts as a secret, nor ever durst venture it amongst the people, much less the priests,
those wary guardians of their own creeds and profitable inventions.
Hence we see that reason, speaking never so clearly to the wise and virtuous, had ever authority enough to prevail on the multitude, and to persuade the societies of men, that there was but one God, that alone was to be owned and worshipped.
If they cannot discredit John Locke then their DISCERNMENT or "partnering with God to get new Scripture" just proves that they are criminal scam artists and their DOCTORATE of the Law validates the revelation of Jesus that "they TAKE AWAY the key to knowledge."
The belief and worship of one God, was the national religion of the Israelites alone; and, if we will consider it,
it was introduced and supported amongst that people by revelation.
They were in Goshen, and had light, whilst the rest of the world were in almost Egyptian darkness, without God in the world.There was no part of mankind, who had quicker parts, or improved them more; that had a greater light of reason, or followed it farther in all sorts of speculations, than the Athenians,
- and yet we find but one Socrates amongst them,
- that opposed and laughed at their polytheisms,
- and wrong opinions of the deity;
- and we see how they rewarded him for it.
Whatsoever Plato, and the soberest of the philosophers thought of the nature and being of the one God,
they were fain, in their outward worship, to go with the herd,
and keep to the religion established by law;
which what it was, and how it had disposed the mind of these knowing and quicksighted Grecians, St. Paul tells us, Acts xvii. 22-29,The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: Richardson's nineteenth-century fear was that later generations would reap the spiritual leanness of the Lockean vision of Christianity. This present book concludes that his fear has largely come true.
A reverence for Scripture has been burdened by the philosophy of modernity.
If a quest for intimacy is key for the postmodern world, then the pressing question for the Stone-Campbell restorationist tradition is whether it has the resources to create and sustain meaningful intimacy for believers in our time.
Alexander Campbell: A Sacramental Christian by Steve DeFields-Gambrel (An M.Div. Student at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, IN) Presented to Dr. D. Newell Williams. He proves that it is untrue that the leaders of the churches of Christ were harsh literalists. We have posted this article with some observations. Click Here.
Dr. Robert Richardson, who wrote in a letter to Isaac Errett:
"The philosophy of John Lock with which Bro. Campbell's mind was deeply imbued in youth has insidiously mingled itself with almost all great points in the reformation and has been all the whole like an iceberg in the way - chilling the heart and benumbing the hands, and impeding all progress in the right direction."
Indeed, in 1824 Alexander Campbell himself writes, "I reasoned in this way, that if the spirit of a man dwells in his head, then head religion must be better than heart religion..." This spirit, or so-called lack of spirit, has created innumerable problems for the Disciples tradition, although the extent of the Lockian influence is debatable. But Alexander Campbell cannot be reduced to such a heartless image:
"Religion in the heart," he also wrote, "or rooted in the moral nature of man, transfuses itself through the whole frame and identity of its happy and holy subject... It distills the dews of heaven on the heart..."
"Now if the Gospel dwell in a man...like a fruitful vine it yields in his heart, and in his life, the heavenly clustre of love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance...Like precious ointment it diffuses in his heart heavenly odours, and the sweetness of its prefume exhales in his life." And in answer to his critics he adds, "I have never denied it, yea, I have always taught it."
John Waddey continues
He says, we must "face the challenge of rethinking our traditional way of reading the Bible" (p. 19). "Some (namely change agents, jhw) have consciously rejected their (traditional jhw) methodology of interpretation and begun casting about for new ones" (p. 19). He assures us that "the traditional view" (i.e. of biblical interpretation, jhw) is in decline. While this is true of change agents and the schools they control, it is not true of the vast majority of our preachers and teachers. He warns that those who reject the traditional approach are "susceptible to theological fads" (p. 20). "The Bible becomes the self-help manual par excellence, a book containing just the things we like to hear. This current secularizing and psychologizing of Scripture provides another compelling reason we must rethink the role of the Bible in Christian faith" (p. 20). Rather than the way "traditional" churches handle scripture, this is a perfect portrait of how change agents such as Allen use it. He criticizes the way our preachers have studied and interpreted Scripture, yet most of them studied and were trained in schools like Abilene. So his indictment includes his own professional peers in our Christian Universities. It is true that some of our preachers did not have a good working knowledge of hermeneutics and some did not always rightly divide the more difficult parts of the Word, but one need not be a highly trained exegete to understand the basic lessons of salvation, the worship and the church. If such were so, how few would be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: This book answers this pressing question in the affirmative and outlines vital doctrinal features of the alternative way now urgently proposed. The call is for an arid rationality to be replaced by a warm relationality that features the living God who longs for us hungry and hurting humans to participate in the Divine life.
The Trinity doctrine claims both that God forms relationships and is a relationship. We believers should see ourselves "not so much as foot soldiers following Divine orders but as active partakers of the Divine Nature" (166).
Robert Richardson connects C. Richard Allen
Finally, he showed that while the personal mission of Christ to the Jews and that of the apostles to the world were limited in duration, the mission of the Holy Spirit to the Church was permanent in its nature, since the Comforter was to abide with it for ever. "There is no member of the body of Christ," said he, "in whom the Holy Spirit dwelleth not; for it will hold as good at the end of the world and in eternity as it does now, and it holds as good now as it did on the day of Pentecost and afterward--that 'if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.'"
On the other hand, Walter Scott did not see the Holy Spirit as a third person (people) of the Godhead. Click for some comments. Scott spoke of proofs experimentially known as hope, love, and the gift of A holy spirit. In other words, the indwelling of A holy spirit could be made visible because our spirit has been made Holy. And Jesus denied the third head of His own dispensation:
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; John 14:16
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:17
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 14:18
It was because Mr. Campbell opposed the popular notions of special illuminations and mystic influences of the Holy Spirit upon the heart, that he became obnoxious to the charge of undervaluing the exercises of the heart. In a very courteous review, published this year, of the Extra on remission, Andrew Broaddus remarked:
"The great error which lies at the bottom of Mr. Campbell's theory, of the actual forgiveness of sins in baptism,
appears to consist in an undervaluing of the exercises of the heart, and attaching to external conduct or action the importance which really belongs to those exercises."
"I doubt not," said Mr. Campbell, in reply, "that Mr. Broaddus thinks this is all correct,
and yet a more unjust representation of my views was never penned.
The Zoe Group Barry L. Callen: The spiritual life of Christians is said to be a life "indwelt and empowered by the Spirit of God" (174). The bottom line is this: the Churches of Christ-and much of evangelicalism-face the considerable challenge of developing a Trinitarian doctrine of the Holy Spirit,
somewhat in line with that of the Wesleyan/Holiness tradition. At its heart, says Allen and Swick, is the "perfect love" shared by Father, Son, and Spirit (186). Readers of the Wesleyan Theological Journal should applaud this work and pray for the success of its call to reform.
--Barry L. Callen, Anderson University, Anderson, Indiana.
From the Wesleyan Theological Journal, Spring 2002.
Bur Charles Wesley said of instrumental music:
"I have no objection to instruments of music in our worship, provided they are neither seen nor heard." John Wesley, founder of Methodism, quoted in Adam Clarke's Commentary, Vol. 4, p. 685
On NOT believing in the Trinity Charles Wesley wrote:
3. I do not mean that it is of importance to believe this or that explication of these words.
I know not that any well judging man would attempt to explain them at all.
One of the best tracts which that great man, Dean Swift, ever wrote, was his Sermon upon the Trinity. Herein he shows, that all who endeavored to explain it at all, have utterly lost their way; have, above all other persons hurt the cause which they intended to promote; having only, as Job speaks,
"darkened counsel by words without knowledge."
It was in an evil hour that these explainers began their fruitless work I insist upon no explication at all; no, not even on the best I ever saw; I mean, that which is given us in the creed commonly ascribed to Athanasius. I am far from saying, he who does not assent to this shall without doubt perish everlastingly." For the sake of that and another clause, I, for some time, scrupled subscribing to that creed; till I considered (1.) That these sentences only relate to wilful, not involuntary, unbelievers; to those who, having all the means of knowing the truth, nevertheless obstinately reject it: (2.) that they relate only to the substance of the doctrine there delivered; not the philosophical illustrations of it.
4. I dare not insist upon any one's using the word Trinity, or Person. I use them myself without any scruple, because I know of none better: But if any man has any scruple concerning them, who shall constrain him to use them? I cannot:
Much less would I burn a man alive, and that with moist, green wood, for saying,
"Though I believe the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God; yet I scruple using the words Trinity and Persons, because I do not find those terms in the Bible."These are the words which merciful John Calvin cites as wrote by Servitus in a letter to himself. I would insist only on the direct words, unexplained, just as they lie in the text:
"There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: And these three are one."
Reviews:
> One of the ironies of the Stone-Campbell movement is that many of its advocates have recently found themselves serving as the great defenders of certain tenets of modern philosophy. This irony is not lost on Allen and Swick, who suggest that this strange loyalty stems from a fateful decision a century and a half ago when pivotal figures in the movement took the churches down a path so committed to the "dirt philosophy" of Locke and Bacon that it unwittingly eclipsed the movement's commitment to biblical doctrine, especially with regard to the role of the Holy Spirit.
The authors retrace that path, showing that the movement could have taken-and might once again take-a different path, one both more biblical and more open to the work that the Spirit of God desires to do in our lives. A must-read for all those in the Stone-Campbell movement who have long desired to welcome the Spirit back into the churches.
--Dr. Philip Kenneson, Professor of Theology, Milligan College, Johnson City, TN
I think that applies only to a few "scholars" who have decided that without them the world has PLAIN RUN OUT of Scriptures to fit "our culture." Being scholars they know that they have to quote scholars and NEVER do original research. That is why C. Leonard Allen and Richard Hughes in Restoration Roots CANNOT quote scholars faithfully.
> "Postmoderns yearn for genuine spirituality. Are Churches of Christ prepared to respond to this cultural search? Building on Allen's earlier book, The Cruciform Church, this book recalls a missed opportunity in the 1850s, and then calls present-day churches to reconsider that road in the context of postmodern yearnings for authentic relationships. This is the first work to robustly explore the meanings of Trinitarian theology for Spirituality in Churches of Christ."
--John Mark Hicks, Professor of Theology, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN; author of Yet Will I Trust Him: Understanding God in a World of Suffering (1999).
Doesn't your heart just pound with pride in the presence of people who claim to be MORE SPIRITUAL. The human spirit is the human mind. True scholars have always noted that Paul NEVER speaks of the Holy Spirit as a "person" separated from the ONE GOD:
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;In Many places the Word of God is the Spirit or the Mind of Christ.
but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Rom 8:5
For to be carnally minded is death:
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Ro.8:6
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God:
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Rom 8:7
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Rom 8:8
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,
if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Rom 8:9Click to see the identity between MIND and SPIRIT in Romans 6
The opportunity was NOT missed. The northern, carpet bags full of the fruits of warfare decided to attract the "largest miscellaneous audience." They decided that STEALING church houses of widows was more "spiritual" then building their own. So they deliberately sowed discord by adding entertainment when not a single one of them knew of any Biblical authority. In fact the "fathers" who stole the church in Newbern, Tennessee told the Judge that instruments WERE NOT PART of the worship and IF they were it would be sinful. The Judge recognized the big lie but had no authority to protect the minority by the STACKED DECKS of the majority. Click to See more of the foul breath of the WINDS OF CHANGE.
> "The authors, Allen and Swick, address a problem which evangelicals at large face. We have bought into the modern project and lusted after greater rational certainty than we have a right to. As a result, we have also fostered a somewhat Spirit-less kind of religion. This book indicates the way of healing and balance."
--Clark Pinnock, Professor of Theology, Hamilton Divinity College, Ontario, Canada; author of Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit (InterVarsity, 1996)
All of these scholars are insisting on CALLING DOWN THE FLAMES OF FIRE. The women musicians were know in ALL PAGANISM as "the harem of the Gods." Zoe was Lucifer, Eve, Helios or the bringer of life and light and fire. They are calling down the fires as the musical wing of neo paganism.
> "One result of 'modern' thinking, with its emphasis on intellect and human autonomy, was the creation of a 'brass heaven' separating God from his creation. The rise of 'postmodernism' has seen the collapse of the "brass heaven" and a reawakening to Spiritual realities. Churches of Christ stand today at this crossroads-150 years after our forefathers chose the wrong trail. The authors of this book call us to relationship with the Living God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-in place of barrenness, boredom and isolation."
--Edward Fudge, co-author of Two Views of Hell (InterVarsity, 2000) and editor of GracEmail; attorney in Houston, Texas
See how Edward Fudge gets it wrong about A Cappella Music.
Fudge also sees Zoroasterism as a precursor of Christianity.
The real John Locke: People hate Locke because Locke hates those who exist by refusing other people the right to THINK. Indeed, the WORD or CHRIST is Logos meaning a RATIONAL DISCOURSE of God.
For Allen etal who mouth "Locke" to slander the Restoration scholars without having read Locke (as evidenced by the footnote) here is some real John Locke Locke will say that it is the theologians who use their OWN REASON rather than the simplicity of the gospel.
But, it is never scholarly to quote the originals. Locke said:
"238. Though the works of nature, in every part of them, sufficiently evidence a Deity; yet the world made so little use of their reason, that they saw him not, where, even by the impressions of himself, he was easy to be found.
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. Romans 1:19
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Romans 1:20
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:21
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, Romans 1:22
"Sense and lust blinded their minds in some, and a careless inadvertency in others, and fearful apprehensions in most
(who either believed there were, or could not but suspect there might be, superior unknown beings)
gave them up into the hands of their priests to fill their heads with false notions of the deity,
and their worship with foolish rites, as they pleased;
and what dread or craft once began, devotion soon made sacred,
and religion immutable.
Perhaps both Locke and the Thomas and Alexander Campbell are hated with a purple passion and slandered because Alexander Campbell wrote:
"Give money to make poor pious youths learned clergy, or vain pretenders to erudition; and they pray that they may preach to you; yes, and pay them too. Was there ever such a craft as priestcraft? No, it is the craftiest of all crafts. It is so crafty that it obtains by its craft the means to make craftsmen, and then it makes the deluded support them!" (Campbell, Alexander, Christian Baptist, Dec. 1, 1823, Vol. 1, p. 91).
"In this state of darkness and ignorance of the true God, vice and superstition held the world;
nor could any help be had or hoped for from reason, which could not be heard, and was judged to have nothing to do in the case
- the priests every where,
- to secure their empire,
- having excluded reason from having anything to do in religion.
And in the crowd of wrong notions, and invented rites, the world had almost lost the sight of the one only true God.
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands Mark 7:5
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Mark 7:6
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Mark 7:7
The rational and thinking part of mankind, 'tis true, when they sought after him, found the one, supreme, invisible God: but if they acknowledged and worshipped him, it was only in their own minds.
They kept this truth locked up in their own breasts as a secret, nor ever durst venture it amongst the people, much less the priests, those wary guardians of their own creeds and profitable inventions.Hence we see that reason, speaking never so clearly to the wise and virtuous, had ever authority enough to prevail on the multitude, and to persuade the societies of men, that there was but one God, that alone was to be owned and worshipped.
> "In an age marked by loneliness, estrangement and the vacuous "spiritualities" that are increasingly offered to fill that void, Allen and Swick offer us much-needed wisdom as they urge us to recover a biblical Spirituality rooted in the triune nature of God. They offer us not only a fully biblical view of God's relational nature, but also an equally biblical view of humans as relational beings, created in the image of God. These pages will be of enormous benefit to anyone seeking to discern the contours of a contemporary biblical Spirituality."
--Philip Kenneson, Professor of Theology, Milligan College; co-author of Selling Out the Church: The Dangers of Church Marketing (Abingdon, 1997)
About the authors:
C. LEONARD ALLEN is the author of The Cruciform Church: Becoming a Cross-Shaped People in a Secular World,Distant Voices: Discovering a Forgotten Past for a Changing Church, and other books. His book have been translated into Portugese, Korean, and Japanese. He holds a Ph.D. in Christian Thought from the University of Iowa, School of Religion, and presently serves as a professor at Biola University, La Mirada, CA.
DANNY GRAY SWICK is a Ph.D. candidate in Systematic Philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto, Canada. He has served as a Christian educator and presently ministers with the Homewood Church of Christ, Birmingham,
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