And God HID Himself from the wise or Sophists:
rhetoricians, singers, instrumentalists. And Jesus
does not even pray for the WORLD. The
Stone-Campbell Movement is a human institution
made up of theologians for which there is no reason to
exist. It is fitting that the Stone Campbell
theologians speak and write for the Stone Campbell
theologians.
The founder and disciples of the Stone-Campbell
Movement are decidedly hostile to the ANTI-intrument
churches
of Christ. They deny that the epistles are Scripture
(Garrett). They promote and apparently presume the Direct
Operation of a Holy Spirit person 'who' produces UNITY
without respect to the doctrine of Christ. They
promote the H. Leo Boles version of the "trinity" defining
this godhead as "three centers of consciousness able to hold
communion." John calls this the mark of anti-Christ.
The Purpose Driving this review is to prove that Churches
of Christ were never part of the Stone-Campbell
Movement which probably was hatched in the 1970's.
Only individual congregations were united by Christ and His
command---
Matthew 28:19 Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
---Until men decided that doctrine (that which
Jesus spoke) should never stand in the way of "unity" even
when they intentionally manufacture massive discord.
They introduced anti-Scriptural practices such as trying to
worship a Spirit God in the human spirit by using "machines
for doing hard work." This "unity" never extended
beyond individual congregations fully occupied with their
own work.
Those who agreed with (not necessarily taught by) the
Campbells never believed in the "trinity," their major
thesis was to stop division by teaching what the Bible
taught, never believed in or practiced the use of
"instrumental" worship at any time in history and clearly
agreed with Calvin who called those who heard the Spirit
outside of the Word were fanatics. Worship agreed
with the church in the wilderness onward: the qahal,
synagogue or ekklesia was for reading and understanding the
Word of God. No one in the Bible ever assembled for
congregational "worship" to engage in singing with or
without instruments.
As I have looked at events and dates where division
was intentionally caused, I have added lots of
Scripture revealed in distinct "words" and "thought
patterns" because nothing which occurred in the
Stone-Campbell Movement's claims should ever be allowed to
stand between the individual and Jesus Christ and His Word.
I have devoted decades to researching the literature
which illustrates what a word would mean to the
people of Scripture's first audience. Whatever
the mind-set of individual Bible writers, their allusion to
pagan religions marks any modern revisionist as
intending to trump all known literature and church history.
Peter defined as "building" or "educating" value the
prophets led by the Spirit OF Christ and
these prophecies made more certain by Jesus of Nazareth and
left "for our memory." Thus, a Church of Christ is
built upon the Prophets and Apostles with
Jesus Christ (sent back as The Holy Spirit).
Peter also outlaws private interpretations
or further expounding of these prophecies which
define Messiah's REST both inclusively and exclusively. Paul
outlaws Corrupting the Word or "selling it at retail:
MARK
OF THE WORLD
2 Co.1:12 For our rejoicing is this,
the testimony of our conscience,
that in simplicity
and godly sincerity,
not with fleshly
wisdom, but by the grace of God,
we have had our conversation
in the world, and more abundantly to youward.
Grace, like Word or Logos
(opposite poetry or music) is another title for Jesus of
Nazareth whom God made to be both Lord and Christ.
Titus
2:11 For the [1] grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, |
John 1:14 And the
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and
truth. |
Titus 2:12
[2]
Teaching
us that, |
Acts 2:14 But
Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his
voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all
ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you,
and hearken to my words: |
[3]
denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts,
|
Acts 2:36
Therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom
ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. |
[4]
we
should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
present world; |
Acts 2:37 Now when
they heard this, they were pricked in their heart,
and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles,
Men and brethren, what shall we do? |
Titus 2:14
[5] Who gave
himself for us, |
Acts 2:38 Then
Peter said unto them Repent, |
[6]
that he
might redeem us from
all iniquity, [Lawlesness]
Lutron redeem, Luo lavo , cleanse or wash,
bathe,
lave. louτ, purify,
tina ek tτn hamartiτn
Col. 1:14 In whom we have
redemption through his blood,
|
and
be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ
for the
remission of sins,
Redemption or Remission happens ONLY
after BAPTISM
even the forgiveness of sins: |
[7] and
purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works. |
and ye shall
receive the gift of A holy spirit |
2 Cor 1:12 Hē gar kaukhēsis hēmōn hautē estin, to marturion tēs suneidēseōs hēmōn, hoti en hagiotēti kai eilikrinia tou theou, kai ouk en sophia sarkikē all' en khariti theou, anestraphēmen en tō kosmō, perissoterōs de pros humas:
Sophia , A.cleverness
or skill in handicraft and art, of the Telchines
[Simon father of Judas] , Pi.O.7.53;
hē entekhnos s., of Hephaestus and Athena; in music and
singing, tekhnē kai s. h.Merc.483,
cf. 511; in
poetry, Sol.13.52, Pi.O.1.117,
Ar.Ra.882,
X.An.1.2.8,
in divination, S.OT 502
(lyr.); dusthanatōn hupo sophias eis gēras aphiketo Pl.R.406b;
s. dēmēgorikē, dikanikē, ib.365d; hē peri Homērou s. Id.Ion 542a;
ou sophia alla phusei poiein Id.Ap.22b;
sēmainontes tēn s . . ., hoti aretē tekhnēs estin Arist.EN1141a12:
rare in pl., Pi.O.9.107,
Ar.Ra.676
(IG12.522 (vase, v
B.C.).
MARK OF THE WORLD
2Cor. 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt
the word of God:
but as of sincerity,
but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in
Christ.
17
ou gar esmen hōs hoi polloi kapēleuontes ton logon tou theou, all' hōs ex eilikrinias, all' hōs ek theou katenanti theou en Khristō laloumen.
kapēl-euō ,
A.
to be a retail-dealer, drive a
petty trade, Hdt.1.155, 2.35, Isoc.2.1, Nymphod.21, IG11(2).161 A16 (Delos, iii B. C.),
BGU1024 vii 23 (iv
A. D.); di' apsukhou boras sitois kapēleu' drive a
trade, chaffer with your vegetable food, E.Hipp.953.
II.
c. acc., sell
by retail, ton herpin Hippon.51.
2.
metaph., k. ta prēgmata, of Darius, Hdt.3.89; k. ta mathēmata sell
learning by retail, hawk it about, Pl. Prt.313d;
k. ton logon tou theou 2 Ep.Cor.2.17;
so eoiken ou kapēleusein makhēn will not peddle
in war, i. e. fight half-heartedly, A.Th. 545;
k. tē Khariti tēn amoibēn Epicur.Sent.Vat.39; k. tēn politeian traffic in
grants of citizenship, D.C.60.17;
k. tēs hōras anthos or tēn hōran, of prostitutes,
Ph.2.394,576; eirēnēn pros Rhōmaious Khrusiou k. Hdn.6.7.9;
tukhē kapēleuousa . . ton bion playing tricks
with life, corrupting it, AP9.180
Another
way to CORRUPT the Written Logos of the Living Logos:
"Historians" -- especially clergy -- are infamous for
putting their own dogma into the words of famous
people. In Athenian Law and others it was not lawful
for philosophers, rhetoricians, poets or musicians to write
"true history."
It is pretty easy to get in "goose step"
with anything "scholars" write and fail to return to
teaching "that which has been taught."
Christ
in Jeremiah etal defines the CENI
Jer
23:18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord,
and hath perceived
and heard his word?
who hath marked
his word, and heard it?
Men of the Stone-Campbell Movement,
that's who, since the do not go back to the unpolluted
spring.
Jer 23:19
Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury,
even a grievous
whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head
of the wicked.
Jer 23:20
The anger of the Lord shall not return,
until he have executed,
and till he have
performed the thoughts of his heart:
in the latter
days ye shall consider it perfectly.
Jer 23:21
I have not sent these prophets,
yet they ran:
I have not spoken to
them,
yet they
prophesied.
Jer 23:22
But if they had stood in my counsel,
and had caused my people to hear my words,
then they should have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their doings.
I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy
lies in my name,
saying,
I have dreamed, I have dreamed. Jeremiah
23: 25
How
long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies?
yea, they are prophets of
the deceit of their own heart;
Jeremiah 23: 26
Prŏphēta and prŏphētes, a
foreteller, soothsayer sacerdotes Aegyptiorum, quos prophetas vocant, Macr. S. 7, 13, 9: Aegyptius, propheta primarius, [this soothsaying extended to sorcery]
prīmārĭus I.
one of the first, of the first rank,
chief, principal, excellent, remarkable
(class.): primarius parasitus, the
first speaker, he who has a right to be
heard
Which think to cause my people to
forget my name by their dreams,
which they tell every man to his neighbour,
as their fathers have
forgotten my name for Baal
. Jeremiah 23:
27
OF ALL DIVERSIONARY
MOVEMENTS: The "nut" will never be under EITHER
of the shells.
Here are some
revisionists:
Discovering
Our Roots: Richard T.
Hughes and C. Leonard Allen
See:
John Mark Hicks Our Triune God-The Wonder of the Story
John
Mark Hicks Trinity as "Necessary" Fact in Alexander
Campbell
John
Mark Hicks "recovery" of the gospel from Alexander
Campbell
A Gathered People: Revisioning the
Assembly as Transforming Encounter
John
Mark Hicks Stone Campbell Unity by the Holy Spirit
Hicks
replaces his "Holy Spirit Person" in the roles Jesus Died to
fulfil. In His post-changed form Jesus returned to be the
King of His kingdom, Head of His Church, Master Teacher and
only Mediator between God and man. If you
believe the "three people trinity" of the postmoderns
(smile) delusions, John calls you an ANTI-Christ.
The NACC may not want this form of "movement." There
is no "holy spirit people" in the salutations because Jesus
Christ as Holy Spirit had guided the apostles into all
truth.
Contrary to the claims of "Holy Spirit" guidance,
both Stone and Campbell ridiculed the notion that there is a
"holy spirit" person who guides beyond the sacred
pages. Both agreed with John Calvin and most literate
writers that the Apostolic Church demands that it be built
upon the writings of the Prophets (by Christ) and the
prophecies made more certain by Jesus of Nazareth. All
such claims to supernatural guidance and even having a holy
spirit person, replaces Jesus Christ as the "one mediator
between God and man." Never mind that of the "another"
Comforter, Jesus said "I"
will come to you.
There can be little doubt that theologians have
decided that The Holy Spirit OF (preposition) Christ is a
person or people and that Jesus has been replaced and they
are directed by this spirit person. When people think
that their thoughts are God's thoughts then they have
slipped into the promised Strong Delusions that they
believe their own lie. Lying wonders is defined
in the literature as the vocal and instrumental performance
music which is a primary agenda of inventing the Stone
Campbell Movement. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God
does not come with Observation: that means religious
observations.
UNFOLDING HISTORY
The Organ And Society Sect
No.
V.Order of Worship. But to proceed:
Another society meets for worship, and they sing all day; another
shouts all day; another runs as in a race all day; another
lies prostrate on the ground all day; another reads all day;
another hears one man speak all day; another sits silent all
day; another waves palm
branches all day;
another cries in the
forenoon and listens to
the organ in the afternoon;
and it is all
equally right, lawful, orderly, and acceptable;
for there is no divinely authorized
order of Christian worship.
We are then, on the principles of reason, constrained to abandon this
side of the dilemma, and give up the
hypothesis that there is
no divinely authorized order of Christian worship
2Th. 2:9 Even him,
whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power
and signs and lying wonders,
2Th. 2:10 And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness
in them that perish;
because they received
not the love of the truth,
that they might be
saved.
2Th. 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong
delusion,
that they should
believe a lie:
What is the MARK
of that time?
ŏpĕrātĭo
, ōnis, f. operor,
I. a working, work, labor,
operation (not in Cic. or Cζs.).
I. In gen.: insidiantur aquantibus
(apibus) ranae, quae maxima earum est operatio, cum
sobolem faciunt, Plin. 11, 18, 19, § 61;
11, 24, 28, § 80;
Vitr. 2, 9.
II. In partic.
A.
A religious performance, service,
or solemnity, a bringing of offerings:
operationes denicales,
offerings,
Fest. s. v. privatae feriae,
mendācĭum
a fable, fiction (Opposite. historic
truth): poλtarum,
Curt. 3, 1, 4.
All Poets and
Song writers were known to be liars:
pŏēta , maker,
producer oratores
et
poλtae,
pictoribus
atque
poλtis, minimoque
poλtā, poλtā,
poλtam
in
scenā
scaenĭcus , theatrical
(class.).
I.
[select] Lit.: poλtae,
dramatic poets, Varr. L.
L. 9, § 17 Mόll.: artifices,
players, actors,
fabula,
a drama, Amm. 28, 1, 4:
organa, [musical
instruments] gestus,
modulatio,
Quint. 11, 3, 57:
2Th. 2:12 That they all
might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness.
Lying wonders Teras in colloqual language
Thaumazo
(g2296) thou-mad'-zo; from 2295; to wonder; by
impl. to admire: - admire, have in admiration,
marvel, wonder.
Teratourg-eτ ,
A. WORK wonders, pseudτsti
Sch.Pi.I.7(6).13.
Pindar Isthmian 7 Odes: [1]
In which of the local glories of the past, divinely
blessed Thebe, did you most delight your spirit? Was it
when you raised to eminence the one seated beside
Demeter of the clashing bronze cymbals,
flowing-haired [5] Dionysus? Or when you received, as a
snow-shower of gold in the middle of the night, the
greatest of the gods[20] then begin the victory
[Nike: TRIUMPH OVER] procession with a sweet-singing
hymn for Strepsiades; for he is the victor in the
pancratium at the Isthmus, both awesome in his
strength and handsome to look at; and he treats
excellence as no worse a possession than beauty. [23] He is made radiant by the
violet-haired Muses, and he has given a share in his
flowering garland to his uncle and namesake
The-ama
, Ion. theκma , atos, to, ( [theaomai] )
A. sight, spectacle,
Semon.7.67, A.Pr.306, E.Supp.783, Ar.Av.1716, etc.; ei tis
orchoit' eu, theam' κn Pl.Com.130 ; Opposite mathκma,
Th.2.39; freq. of a sight which gives pleasure,
theamata kai akroamata hκdista parecheis X.Smp.2.2 ,
cf. 7.5; orchκseis kai theamata
Phld.Mus.p.26 K.; emplκsthκte tou kalou th. Pl. R.440a; but
also th. dustheaton A.Pr.69 , cf. S.Aj.992; hepta th. the
seven wonders of the world, Str.14.2.5, Plu.2.983e: sg., of
a marvellously engraved ring, Gal.UP17.1.
ONE OF THE DELUSIONS OF
POST MODERN THEOLOGIANS
John
Calvin on continuing Revelation
1.The
fanatics wrongly appeal to the Holy Spirit Those who,
rejecting Scripture, imagine that they have some peculiar
way of penetrating to God, are to be
deemed not so much under the influence of error as madness. For certain
giddy men have
lately appeared, who, while they make a great display of
the superiority of the Spirit,
reject
all reading of the Scriptures themselves, and deride
the simplicity of those who only delight in what they
call the dead and deadly
letter.
But I
wish they would tell me what spirit it is whose
inspiration raises them to such a sublime height that
they dare despise the
doctrine of Scripture as mean and childish.
The Stone-Campbell movement appeals to Cane Ridge as
America's Pentecost: elsewhere they call it
witchcraft.
Based on reviews of the scholarship of those
presuming to write a "World History" it is clear that the PATTERN
is not based upon the Word of God and "history" counts for
nothing.
1John 2:22 Who is a
liar but he that denieth |
that Jesus
is the Christ?
|
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him,
Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou
not known me, Philip? |
Which is the same as: |
Which is the same as: |
He is ANTICHRIST
Jesus made to be both Lord and Christ and The only
Holy Spirit after His change to pour out what ye
see and hear.
|
that
denieth the
Father [one God]
and
the Son. [one Lord]
|
he thathath seen
me hath seen the Father;
[Christ, who is the image
of God 2 Cor 4:4]
and HOW
sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
|
1 John 2:23 Whosoever denieth the
Son
hethat acknowledgeth
the Son |
the same hath not the Father:
hath the Father
also |
John 14:10 Believest thou not that I
am IN the Father,
and the Father IN
me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not
of myself: but the Father that dwelleth IN me, he doeth
the works. |
Funding for this project has been provided
principally by Disciples of Christ Historical
Society and Chalice Press.
Every so slowly as
we will note up to what you call the "split" none of
the Disciples approved of instruments. That means that
those who added instruments became the INSTRUMENTAL SECT.
HISTORY BEGINS WITH THE PROPHECY OF
CHRIST
After Israel fell from Grace because of
musical idolatry at Mount Sinai, God gave them The Book of The
Law and sentenced them to captivity and death beyond Babylon.
|
Isaiah 57:19 I create the fruit of the lips
Peace, peace
to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith
the LORD;
and I will heal
him.
Isaiah 57:20
But the wicked are like the troubled
sea,
when it cannot
rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
Isaiah
57:20] impii autem quasi mare fervens quod quiescere non potest et redundant fluctus eius in conculcationem et lutum
Quĭesco ,
quiērunt Aequora, the waves
are at rest, do not rise, standing waters,
2. Act., to cause
to cease, render quiet, stop,
etc.: laudes, Sen. Herc. Oet.
1584.Hence, quĭētus , a,
um, P. a., at rest, calm, quiet
4. To make a pause in speaking:
quiescere, id est, hēsukhazein, ludendi est quidem modus
lūdo , B.
To play, sport, frisk, frolic: dum se exornat, nos volo Ludere inter nos, have
some fun, dance,
A. go sport, play with any thing,
to practise as a pastime, amuse one's
self with any thing carmina pastorum,
B. to sport, dally,
wanton (cf. "amorous play," Milton, P. L.
9, 1045): scis solere illam aetatem tali ludo ludere, Plaut. Most.
5,
C. Ludere aliquem or aliquid, to
play, mock, imitate, mimic a person or
thing imitate work, make believe work,
Mŏdus 2.
The measure of tones, measure,
rhythm, melody, harmony, time; in poetry,
measure, metre, mode: vocum, Cic. Div. 2,
3, 9: musici,
Quint. 1, 10,
14: lyrici, Ov. H. 15, 6:
fidibus Latinis Thebanos aptare modos, Hor. Ep. 1, 3, 12:
Bacchico exsultas (i. e. exsultans)
modo, Enn. ap. Charis
[grace]. p. 214 P. (Trag.
v. 152 Vahl.): flebilibus modis concinere, Cic. Tusc. 1,
44, 106: saltare
[dance] ad tibicinis modos, to the music
or sound of the flute, Liv. 7, 2:
nectere canoris Eloquium vocale modis, Juv. 7, 19.Fig.:
verae
Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace,
saith my God, to the wicked.
pax , I.
peace, concluded between parties at
variance, esp. between belligerents; a
treaty of peace; tranquillity, the
absence of war, amity, reconciliation
after a quarrel, public or private
THERE IS NO GRACE: B. Transf. 1.
Grace, favor, pardon,
assistance of the gods: pacem ab Aesculapio petas,
4. Pax, as an interj., peace!
silence! enough! pax,
They DO it
because they ARE impious
impĭus
without reverence or respect
for God, one's parents, or one's country; irreverent,
ungodly, undutiful, unpatriotic;
abandoned, wicked, impious
Sāturnus As the
sun-god of the Phnicians, = Baal,
Curt. 4, 3, 15:
Saturni sacra dies, i. e. Saturday,
Tib. 1, 3, 18: Saturni Stella, the
planet Saturn, Cic. N. D. 2,
20, 52; 2,
46, 119; id. Div. 1, 39,
85.As subst.: Sāturnus
, also pater (sc. Superum), Verg. A. 4, 372;
Ov. M. 1, 163:
versus, the Saturnian verse, the
oldest kind of metre among the Romans, carmen, metrum,
2. Subst.: Sāturnālĭa
also Bacchanalia, Compitalia, Vinalia, and
the like), a general festival in honor of
Saturn, beginning on the 17th of
December and lasting several days; the
Saturnalia, verba, Tib. 1, 3, 52:
tumultus,
Hor. C. 4, 4,
46: clamor,
Isaiah 58:1 Cry
aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice
like a trumpet, and shew my people their
transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
THE
MARK OF THE WICKED
Isaiah 58:2 Yet they seek me daily,
and delight to
know my ways,
as a
nation that did righteousness,
and [AS]
forsook not the ordinance of their God:
They ask of me
the ordinances of justice;
they take
delight in approaching to God.
Isaiah 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and
thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul,
and thou takest no knowledge?
Behold, in the
day of your fast ye find pleasure,
and exact all
your labours.
Isaiah 58:4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and
to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not
fast as ye do this day,
to make your
voice to be heard on high. |
HISTORY: The role of the Qahal, Synagogue or Church
of Christ never changed: the Lord's Supper was to show
forth or preach the Death of Jesus.
I am afraid that your historians quoting historians quoting
historians with a hidden agenda just didn't get the point. For
instance, you don't know a "scholar" or preacher who can tell
you the Purpose of a Christ Driven Church of
Christ. Christ, the Rock, defined the Qahal,
synagogue, ekklesia or Church of Christ in the wilderness both
inclusively and exclusively. Of course, the Church of Christ
has no Roles and no Doles as the Jerusalem Council showed the
past, present and future role of the assembly which Paul calls
"synagogue."
Acts 15:21 For
Moses of old time
hath in every city
them that preach him,
being read in
the synagogues every sabbath day.
2Corinthians 3:13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over
his face, t
hat the children of
Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that
which is abolished:
2Corinthians 3:14 But their minds were blinded:
for until this day
remaineth the same vail untaken away
in the reading
of the old testament;
which vail is done
away in Christ.
2Corinthians 3:15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read,
the vail is upon their heart.
2Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the
Lord,
the vail shall be
taken away.
Jesus used the example of being CONVERTED
and BORN AGAIN like a child
Luke recorded the example of BAPTISM to be SAVED and
CONVERTED meaning the same thing.
Until you are CONVERTED you will not be able to
read WHOLE THOUGHT PATTERNS written in BLACK INK on WHITE
paper.
Epi-strephτ
, pf.
c. Philos., cause to return to the source of Being,
tinas eis ta enantia kai ta prτta
Proteros
and prτtos II. of Time, former, earlier, children
by the first or a former marriage,
Prosthhen
in front, before, formerly, of place and of time;
to gennκthen phusei pros to gennκsan
Genn-aτ
beget, bring forth, engender, call into existence
Phuo
1 Act.:--bring forth, produce, put forth, 2. beget,
engender, get understanding,
Pros
in the direction of
Genn-aτ
beget, bring forth, engender, call into existence
Deut
XXX
WEB. It shall happen, when all these things
are come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have
set before you, and you shall call them to mind among
all the nations, where Yahweh your God has driven you,
[2] and shall RETURN to Yahweh your God, and
shall OBEY his voice according to all that I command
you this day, you and your children, with all your
heart, and with all your soul;
[3] that then Yahweh your God will turn your
captivity, and have compassion on you, and will
return and gather you from all the peoples, where Yahweh
your God has scattered you.
That has the
same meaning as BAPTISM.
HISTORY The Church always rejected the Boles
version of the Trinity
WHAT IS THE
NAME OF THE SPIRIT?
2Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is that Spirit:
and where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is liberty.
2Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding
as in a glass the
glory of the Lord,
are changed into the
same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit
of the Lord.
EXODUS 18
Hearken
now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God
shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward,
that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: Exod
18:19
And
thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt
show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work
that they must do. Exod 18:20
Moreover
thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as
fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place
such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of
hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: Exod
18:21
DEUTERONOMY
10
Specially
the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in
Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people
together, and I will make them hear my words, that they
may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live
upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
Deut 4:10
Qahal (h6950)
kaw-hal'; a prim. root; to convoke: - assemble (selves)
(together), gather (selves) together).
Gather the
people together, men, and women, and children, and thy
stranger that is
within thy gates, that
they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the
Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this
law: De.31:12
This is
he, that was in the church in the
wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the
mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the
lively oracles to give unto us: Ac.7:38
Ekklesia (g1577)
ek-klay-see'-ah; from a comp. of 1537 and a der. of
2564; a calling out, i.e. (concr.) a popular meeting,
espec. a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Chr.
community of members on earth or saints in heaven or
both): - assembly, church.
Thomas
Campbell got His views of assembly:
ekklesia--synagogue from the Spirit of Christ: Stone
contributed nothing.
Of the Yarn Spinners (revisionists) who,
at
the same time are ignorant of, and even averse
to, the religion it inculcates; and whilst others profess to embrace
it as a system of
religion,
without imbibing the spirit, realizing the truth, and experiencing the power of its religious institutions; but
merely superstruct to themselves, rest in, and are
satisfied with, a form (acts) of godliness; and that, very
often, a deficient, imperfect form, or such as their own imagination has devised;
See
Why Thomas Paine was a Deist.
"let us,
with an open bible before us, distinguish and contemplate that
religion which it enjoins and exhibits--I mean the
religion of christianity, for it also exhibits the
religion of Judaism;
...but with this, in the mean time,
...we christians have nothing directly to do--
...we derive our religion immediately
from the New Testament. TC
After Baptism:
"But that
this may be the case, the next immediate
ordinance of the
christian religion, namely,
the reading, I mean the musing upon, or studying the Holy Scriptures;
taking them up in their connexion, and meditating upon the subjects they propose to our
consideration, with a fixed contemplation of the
various and important objects which they present.
This
dutiful and religious use of the bible, (that most precious, sacred record of
the wonderful works of God,
the only
authentic source of
all religious information,) is inseparably connected
with, and indispensably necessary to, the blissful and
all-important exercises of prayer and praise.
"And
again, 'Be you filled with the Spirit; speaking to
yourselves, in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
giving thanks always to God and the Father, in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. v. 18-20.
"Hence it
is evident, that if we would be spiritually minded,
spiritually exercised in this delightful and heavenly
employment,
we
must be filled with the Spirit;
and
if we would be filled with the Spirit,
we must be filled with the word;
the
word of Christ
must dwell in us richly;
- for
we have no access to the Spirit but in and by the word.
http://www.pineycom.com/Cane.Ridge.Shouting.Method.html.html
THE
CHURCH OF CHRIST IN PROPHECY UNDERSTOOD ALL BUT THE
PSEUDO-SCHOLARS
Isaiah
50 has Christ clearly defining the Pluckers and Smiters
restored by the Disciples/Christians.
Isaiah 55 clearly defines both
inclusively and exclusively of His Words
which provide spirit and life. Peter
uses many of the same concepts to dare anyone to teach
beyond the written memory of the Apostles who were
eye and ear witnesses. This is a quick study for today. If
that awas not enough authority He defines the true Rest for
the future church to exclude personal pleasure or even
speaking your own words. "Teach that which has been
taught" should be warning enough.
Isaiah 58 has Christ urging a
restoration and, as in the church in the
wilderness, and Paul for the assembly forbidding seeking our
own pleasure or even speaking our own words.
IF YOU GATHER THE PEOPLE FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE YOU
VIOLATE THE REST JESUS BOUGHT.
Therefore, the ekklesia or
synagogue is the same as Qahal because both relate
to the same event. The Holy Convocation which began each
each First and Seventh day of festivals (for draft age
males) was extended to each Sabbath or REST day. This
quarantined the godly people from the Jacob-Curst tribe of
Levi whom God turned over to worship the starry host.
The Disciples--Christian churches follow the "patternism" of
the not-commanded monarchy and the not commanded sacrificial
system. The Levites were Soothsayers with instrumental noise
to warn any godly person that if they came near they would
execute them as they had at Mount Sinai because of musical
idolatry.
WHAT IS
DIRECTLY EXCLUDED FOR THE CHURCH
God
only
authorized the two silver trumpets: these were
reserved for sending important signals. However,
many people had their own flutes or shofars,
tambourines and sistrums: Miriam had here sistrum as a
priestess or prophetess in Egypt. The women
especially were prone to parade around singing,
clapping, dancing and beating on instruments.
Therefore, the command:
Num. 10:5 When ye blow an
alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts
shall go forward.
Num. 10:6 When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the
camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey:
they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.
Numbers 10:7 But when the congregation is to be gathered
together,
ye shall blow, but
ye shall not sound an alarm.
The "alarm" is reserved in
Psalm 41 to identify the "familiar friend" or Judas whose
Judas Bag was for carrying the mouthpieces of wind
instruments.
Miqra (h4744) mik-raw'; from 7121; something called
out, i. e. a public meeting (the act, the persons,
or the place); also a rehearsal: - assembly, calling, convocation, reading.
So they read in the
book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the
sense, and caused them to understand the reading. Ne.8:8
Isaiah 4: 4
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters
of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from
the midst thereof by the spirit of
judgment, and by the
spirit of burning.
And the
Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion,
and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day,
and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the
glory shall be a defence. Is.4:5
Dwelling:
168. ohel, o΄-hel; from 166; a tent (as clearly
conspicuous from a distance):covering, (dwelling)(place),
home, tabernacle, tent.
Assembly:
4744. miqra, mik-raw΄; from 7121;
something called out, i.e. a public meeting (the
act, the persons, or the place); also a rehearsal:
assembly, calling, convocation, reading.
1823 Preaching
for
pay? "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).
Wonder why the
Stone-Campbell Sectarians never use that?
Paul proved that those who
make a PROFESSION out of the Word of Christ corrupt the Word:
they are, he says, prostitutes.
Later we will note that God HIDES Himself from
the WISE: these are the Sophists who work as
rhetoricians, singers, instrument players or sorcerers.
A godly elders as the Pastor-Teacher or preacher teaches that
which HAS been taught: he gets no personal opinions
nor does he engage in Spiritual Formation (witchcraft)
hallucinating
that what comes out of his mind has any value whatsover.
Paul outlwas such "doubtful disputations" in Romans 14 and
includes everything which does not edify or educate in Romans
15. He defines that as "that which is written" and calls
it "Scripture." You may or may not believe it but Spurgeon
couldn't find a word to define the depravity of one who would
teach in a congregation (college) when he cannot be loyal to
those who feed him.
1825 A
Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things--by
Alexander Campbell
False
Teachings by John Mark Hicks
Subsequent participants in
the Restoration Movement turned the ancient order into
a test of fellowship as the fundamental identity of the
New Testament church, the distinguishing mark between the
true church and apostate churches. That was never
Campbells intention and he would have regarded it as a
subversion of the gospel itselfsubstituting the
ancient order for the confession of Jesus as the
Messiah as the true test of faith.
There is not a remote hint
that Alexander Campbell would "fellowship" the sects in the
pattern of the later day spirit-guided scholars. There
is no hint that Alexander Campbell or most early disciples who
would fellowship in the sense of attending, affirming and
thereby endorsing the sects: especially the instrumental sect.
No. III I have no
idea of seeing, nor one wish to see, the sects unite in one
grand army.
This would be dangerous to our liberties and laws.
For this the Saviour did not pray.
It is only the
disciples of Christ dispersed among them,
that reason and
benevolence would call out of them.
Let them unite who love the Lord, and
then we shall soon see the hireling priesthood
and their worldly establishments prostrate in the dust.
Campbell was discussing
unbelievers to participate in a Church of Christ.
No.
XXI. Besides, where any number attend there
generally are some disciples of Christ not connected
with the church, and who consequently can, and do join
in prayer and praise; and we know no reason why any
man should forbid them. We know it has been said we might
as well admit unbelievers to the Lord's supper as suffer
them to stand up along with the church in prayer or
praise.
But by
receiving them to break bread, we acknowledge them to be
disciples, members of the body of Christ; whereas their
placing themselves in the same posture with the church,
implies no acknowledgment of them, on our part, as
believers.
On the whole, we think
any attempt to prevent the hearers from assuming the same
posture as the church, in any part of their worship, is unscriptural.
It gives a false view of the encouragement given by Jesus to
sinners, and while it has a show of faithfulness, it
is calculated to foster a temper towards those who are
without very different from what Christ has enjoined on his
people. We do not know that your sentiments, beloved, differ
from our own on this subject. If they do, we trust you will
take our observations in good part, as we have known much
evil result from the practice to which we have referred
1826
neither Stone nor Campbell taught the Stone-Campbell Sect's
view of the trinity.
A
Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things--by
Alexander Campbell
But we
shall go on to specify a sample of those Babylonish
terms and phrases which must be purified from the
christian vocabulary, before the saints can understand the
religion they profess, or one another as fellow disciples.
I select these from the approved standards of the most
popular establishments; for from these they have become
current and sacred style. Such are the following:
"Trinity. First, second, and third person in the adorable
Trinity: God the Son; and God the Holy Ghost. Eternal
Son. The Son is eternally begotten by the Father; the
Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the
Son. The divinity of Jesus Christ; the humanity of
Jesus Christ; the incarnation of Jesus Christ. This he
said as man; and that as God. The common operations, and
the special operations of the Spirit of God. Original sin,
and original righteousness. Spiritual death; spiritual
life. Covenant of works, covenant of grace, and covenant
of redemption; a dispensation of the covenant of grace,
and administration of the covenant. Effectual calling.
Free will. Free grace. Total depravity. Eternal
justification. Eternal sleep. Elect world. Elect infants.
Light of nature. Natural religion. General and particular
atonement. Legal and evangelical repentance. Moral,
ceremonial, and judicial law. Under the law as a covenant
of works, and as a rule of life. Christian sabbath. Holy
sacrament. Administration of the sacrament. Different
kinds of faith and grace. Divine service; the public
worship of God," &c. &c.
These are
but a mere sample, and all of one species. It will be said
that men cannot speak of Bible truths without adopting
other terms than those found in the written word. This
will be granted, and yet there will be found no excuse for
the above species of unauthorized and Babylonish
phraseology. It is one thing to speak of divine
truths in our own language, and another to adopt a fixed
style of expressing revealed truths to the exclusion of,
or in preference to, that fixed by the Spirit, and
sometimes, too, at variance with it. For instance, the
terms Trinity, first and second person of--Eternal Son,
and the eternal procession of the Spirit, are now
the fixed style in speaking of God, his Son Jesus Christ,
and of the Spirit, in reference to their "personal
character." Now this is not the style of the
oracles of God. It is all human, and may be as freely
criticised as one of the numbers of the Spectator.
Barton W. Stone Christian Messenger
1826. 1. We shall begin
with the Trinity, and inquire whether this
doctrine is fundamental, or whether the notions formed of
it ought to be terms of communion among Christians. The orthodox
notion of Trinity seems to be this: that there are
three persons in the same one Being, substance, or
nature, which Being is God.
Some,
thinking
it humility to discard reason from religion, content
themselves with believing in three persons in the
one Godhead, without attaching any ideas to the doctrine,
calling it an incomprehensible mystery.
Others
contend
that
there are three intelligent persons, or conscious
agents, in the one divine essence, or Being, God.
Others reject this as tritheism, and contend that these
three, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, are three
distinctions, or three modes, or three
relations, or three perfections, or three
somewhats, existing in the one God;
which distinctions
they do not profess to understand, but which must be so
defined
to exclude the idea of
three distinct Gods,
or three distinct
spirits, or three distinct minds.
However jarring and discordant their notions may be, and
whatever ideas their language may communicate;
Yet it is believed, that none have affirmed or contended,
that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
are three distinct, intelligent Spirits; but all affirm that
God is one intelligent Spirit--
none have
contended that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three
distinct, intelligent minds, [before Hicks]
but all
agree that God is one infinite, intelligent mind.
Why then this endless
controversy about unintelligible language and notions?
Alexander Campbell
Atonement: "A.
C.'s
Reply
to
B.
W. Stone." MH (June 1840): 246-250
In
your kind epistle of November 11th, you asked me for my
definition of a Unitarian, and assured me that you denied
the name, though often applied to yourself, and urged me to
say whether I "designed to co-operate with Trinitarians
against Unitarians," &c. I felt it my duty to make
the proposition alluded to in your letter of March 30th. I
have done so in the full persuasion that the contemplated
discussion is not only expedient, but necessary, and that it
can be so managed as to disabuse the public mind of
injurious prejudices both against you and myself.
You have long disavowed Unitarianism, and I have also
disavowed Trinitarianism and every other sectarianism
in the land; and therefore that morbid state of feeling
elicited by these partizan wars about the polemical
abstrusities of metaphysical abstractions, which, in
its excessive irritability, forbids the scriptural
investigation of the great points which have been so often
distorted and mangled on the racks and wheels of party
discord and proscription, should have no abiding in our
minds, much less prohibit a scriptural examination of the
facts, and precepts, and promises, on which these unhallowed
theories have been reared. and I most sincerely
supplicate the FATHER OF LIGHTS to subdue our spirits and to
imbue them with the holy spirit of the gospel of
[247] Christ
The
Holy Spirit and Unity John Mark Hicks Stone-Campbell
Dialogue November 2011 The Holy Spirit and Unity John
Mark Hicks Stone-Campbell Dialogue November 2011,
Later,
however, the second and third waves of the
Holy Spiritas they are commonly calledrenewed
an ecumenical life within Pentecostalism
as the life of the Spirit reached across
denominational and traditional boundaries. From the Full
Gospel Business Mens Fellowship to the Vineyard
Movement, the experience of the Spirit has united
believers from various traditions in such a way that their
denominational heritages recede
into the background. The Spirit-filled life trumped
those boundaries even though many remained in their
traditions.
I have
been tasked with reflecting on the role the Holy
Spirit in the unity of the church with a particular
focus on what resources exist in our common tradition for
communal reflection on this topic. Is there anything that
might parallel what we find in Pentecostalisms
heritage?
At the
origins of the Stone-Campbell Movement are
at least two themes that resonate for many in the
Stone-Campbell tradition and create an ecumenical
trajectory. One is clearly more associated with Stone
while the other is strongly present in both.
1.
Revivalism. If Cane Ridge is Americas Pentecost,
then the resources
for reflection
may parallel
what happened at the beginning of the twentieth century
in the birth of
Pentecostalism.
* In
Faith and Creed, Augustine notes the passages
which connect the Father to the Son consistent
with the clear teachings of the Bible. The revised Nicene
Creed reads:
1. I Believe in God the Father
Almighty. Chs. 2 and 3.
[Acts 2:36a Therefore let all the house
of Israel know assuredly
that
God]
2. (And) In Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
[Acts 2:36b hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye have crucified,
both Lord
and Christ.]
the Only-Begotten
of the Father,
or, His Only Son, Our Lord. Ch. 3
[Romans 1:4 And declared
to be the Son of God with power,
according to the spirit OF [preposition] holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead]
3. Who Was Born Through the Holy Spirit of the Virgin
Mary. Ch. 4 (§ 8.)
[Romans
1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh;]
4. Who Under
Pontius Pilate Was Crucified and Buried. Ch. 5 (§ 11.)
5. On the Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead.
Ch. 5 (§ 12.)
[Luke 24:39 Behold
my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself: handle me, and
see;
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
]
6. He Ascended
into Heaven. Ch. 6 (§ 13.)
[Acts 2:33
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted,
and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he hath shed forth this, which ye now see
and hear.]
Promise is: epagg-elia proffession
or summons to attend
a dokimasia tōn rhētorōn
doki^m-a^sia right
of a man to speak in the ekklēsia
the rights of manhood, D.44.41, v.
l. in 57.62.
[rights of priesthood]
tōn hiereōn I. filled
with or manifesting divine power, supernatural,
dosis the gift of God,
They saw FIRE
and heard WIND (spirit) but not a personal spirit.
he hath shed forth this, which
ye now see and hear.]
Ekkheō [the only fit]
2. of words, pour forth, utter,
Ar. Th.554;
molpas E.Supp.773;
pollēn glōssan ekkheas matēn S.Fr.929,
cf. A.Ag.1029
(lyr.).
Hebrews 2:11 For
both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified
are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to
call them brethren,
Hebrews 2:12 Saying,
I will
declare thy name unto my brethren,
in the midst of
the church will I sing praise unto thee.
humn-eō 2. descant
upon, in song or speech
Laudo
II. Transf., to adduce, name, quote,
cite a person as any thing
7. He Sitteth
at the Right Hand of the Father. Ch. 7 (§ 14.)
8. From Thence He Will Come and Judge the Living and the
Dead. Ch. 8 (§ 15.)
* 9. (and I Believe)
in the Holy Spirit. Ch. 9 (§ 16-19.)
10. I Believe the Holy Church (Catholic). Ch. 10 (§ 21.)
11. The Forgiveness of Sin. Ch. 10 (§ 23.)
12. The Resurrection of the Body. Ch. 10 (§ 23, 24.)
13. The Life Everlasting. Ch. 10 (§ 24.)]
Hebrews 2:9 But
we see Jesus,
who was made a
little lower than the angels f
or the suffering of
death, crowned with glory and honour;
that he by the grace
of God should taste death for every man.
Hebrews 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all
things,
and by whom
are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Hebrews 2:11 For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are
sanctified are all of one:
for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Neither Campbell nor the
masses of "Christian" church preachers who defected to
Campbell believed that this was anything more than a
deliberately induced mental disturbance.
C.S. Lewis used
the term a great cataract of nonsense to describe
how people use a modern idea to construe Bible theology. Resource
1826
THE
REFORMATION IN TENNESSEE. By Isaac N. Jones.
"In about 1826
my father and uncle William Jones moved to McMinn County and
located a wool-carding machine on Spring Creek. Here they
heard of a man, perhaps from Kentucky, preaching a strange
doctrine in a county or two east of McMinn. My father, being
the principal carder, requested Uncle William to go and
learn what the new doctrine was. On his return he showed how
the man had used Acts 2:38 to prove that baptism is
for the remission of past sins. The reasoning was so
clear, and in such harmony with what they had tried to
teach, viz: "Salvation of some sort is connected in some way
with baptism, or Christ would not have said (Mark 16:16) 'He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,"' that they
at once went to preaching it, strange as it sounded to
others.
Many were the hard-fought battles necessary to get the
brethren to see the simple teachings of God's word, and to
break loose from the doctrine of abstract operations
of the Spirit in converting the sinner; and to see
that shoutings, swoonings, laughing,
barking like dogs, the jerks, etc.,
etc., were not miraculous influences of the Spirit, but the
wonderful magnetic influences of some men, aided by the
surroundings... [These were the Stonites]
And as he had joined "The Reformation" seven to ten
years before he had ever even heard of A.
Campbell, and at least seven years before A. Campbell
himself, in 1827 or 1828, became a reformer
holding the platform heretofore mentioned, it is evident
that neither I nor those described in Middle and East
Tennessee are entitled to the name Campbellite. In fact,
this movement occurred while Bro. Campbell was yet with
the Presbyterians and Baptists.
But it was no holiday job to preach then. Besides going
mainly at his own expense, the preacher suffered losses at
home, persecution both at home and abroad, and was often
traduced personally; besides having to bear the odium
attached to the cause itself. "You are Schismatics";
"You deny the Divinity of Christ"; You deny
the operations of the Holy Ghost";
"You deny heart-felt religion," etc. , etc. , were
some of the charges hurled at them. But in process of time
A. Campbell took the same ground that brethren of Middle
and East Tennessee had held for some years before they
ever heard of him, and now it is Campbellite, Campbellite,
Campbellite! "You are following Campbell," was hurled
at them, although many of them were in the "Reformation"
years before Bro. Campbell joined the movement in 1827 or 8!
This reminds me of a great divine who said of John the
Baptist, "And he was a Christian," as though the fore-runner
could be a follower.
1831
DISCUSSION OF UNITY
http://www.pineycom.com/Barton.W.Stone.Alexander.Campbell.Union.html
This is the "pre fabled union" in 1831: the denial of
any kind of "union" in the Lunenburg quote was in 1837.
Without passing judgment one way or another, the Reformers saw
the Disciples as just another denomination, and saw Barton W.
Stone bent on forming a NEW INCLUSIVE denomination. Garrison
proposed to include ALL OF CHRISTENDOM. That is why the
Disciples have reached a dead end.
Does
he mean a formal confederation of all preachers
and people called "Christians," with all those
whom he calls Reformed Baptists?
(rather reforming, than reformed;) or (as he
represents them as prefering for a sectarianwhat
shall be the articles of confederation, and in what form
shall they be ministered or adopted? Shall it be in one
general convention of messengers from all the societies of
"christians" and "disciples," or one general assembly of the
whole aggregate of both people? Shall the articles of
agreement be drawn up in writing like the articles of the
"General Union" amongst the different sects of Baptists in
Kentucky? purpose the name) disciples. If so,
We
discover, or think we discover, a squinting at some
sort of precedency or priority in the claims of the
writer of the above article, which are perhaps only in
appearance, and not in reality; but if in appearance only,
he will prevent us or any reader from concluding unfavorably
by explaining himself more in detail than he has done.
He says, "The
reformed Baptists have received the doctrine taught by us
many years ago." "For nearly thirty years ago we
taught," &c. &c. From what source or
principle these sayings proceeded, we do not pronounce
sentence; but if they are mere words of course, and he
intended to plead nothing from them, we would suggest the
propriety of qualifying them in such a way as to prevent
mistake.
I am, as
at present advised, far from thinking that the
present advocates of reformation are only pleading, or at
all pleading, for what was plead in Kentucky thirty years
ago, after the dissolution of the Springfield
Presbytery. If such be the conceptions of brother
Stone, I am greatly mistaken. That he, with others, did at
that time oppose authoritative creeds,
and some articles in them as terms of communion,
and some other abuses, we are not uninformed; but so did
some others who set out with him.
Our eagle-eyed
opponents plainly see the difference between the
radical and differential attributes of this reformation,
which they ignorantly call a deformation, and any
other cause, however unpopular, plead in the land.
"The
Christians" in some places, nay, in many places, are
quite respectable in the eyes of those who contemn
"the disciples" as unfit for good society.
And I think the amiable editor of the Christian
Messenger himself told me last winter,
that even he and
some of his brethren were considered by the orthodox as
degrading themselves because they associated
with us most "unworthy disciples?'
Indeed,
it was no mean proof of his christian spirit to
see him so condescending to persons of such low
degree in the estimation of the noble christians
of the land. His willingness to fraternize with
us in despite of the odium theologicum attached
to our ancient gospel, I must ever regard as an
additional proof of his unfeigned regard to the
authority of Jesus as Lord, and his love to all them who
esteem the reproach of the Messiah greater riches than
all the treasures of Egypt.
Historians should understand
the difference between Mythological History
and True History.
Among the Greeks it was widely taught that rhetoricians, poets
and music must not be permitted to write about true history.
It was ok to lie about history when entertaining (only) but
never in the schools or called assemblies (ekklesia).
THE
1832 UNITY MEETING J.F.BURNETT
Stone and the Disciples of Christ (Reformers then)
Morrill,
in "History of the Christian Denomination," says: [6]
"The
'union' itself was consummated on New Year's day, 1832, in Hill
Street Christian Church, at Lexington, Kentucky,
where representatives of both parties pledged themselves
'to one another before God, to abandon all
speculation, especially on the Trinity, and kindred
subjects, and to be content with the plain
declaration of Scripture on those subjects on
which there had been so much worse than useless
controversy.'
The
plain meaning is that they found common ground to
occupy, threw away their divisive teachings and
opinions, and acted as one. The men who at Lexington
pledged themselves there and then gave one another the
hand of fellowship,
speaking
for themselves, and the churches
they came from,
but not for all the churches or the
denominations in Kentucky or the United States.
There
was no voting, and no attempt at formal union, but merely
a 'flowing together' of those like-minded. In token of
that union Elder John Smith, of the Disciples of Christ,
and Elder John Rogers, of the Christians, 'were
appointed evangelists by the churches' to promote that
simple unsectarian Christian work, which was adhered to
by thousands; and Stone took Elder J. T. Johnson, a
Disciple, as co-editor of The Christian Messenger.
"This
'union' did not change the status of any name or church or
minister or piece of property.
At a later time Campbell made some public invidious
remarks about the Christians, and it began to be
claimed that they had joined or united with the Disciples.
John [7] Rogers says on this point:
'No
one ever thought (at the first) that the Reformers,
so-called, had come over to us, or that we
had gone over to them; that they were required to
relinquish their opinions, or we ours.
We
found ourselves contending for the same great
principles, and we resolved to unite our energies
to harmonize the church and save the world.
Such are the simple facts in the case."
The
Christian Messenger
(1832) says:
"It is
common for the Christians to say, the Reformers have
joined us--and no less common is it for the
Reformers to say, the Christians have joined us.
One
will say, the Christians have given up all
their former opinions of many doctrines, and have
received ours; another will say, the Reformers
have relinquished their views on many points, and
embraced ours.
These
things are doing mischief to the
cause of Christian union, and well calculated to excite
jealousy, and to give offense. They can do no good--in
fact they are not true. We have met together on the
Bible, being drawn together there by the cords of
truth--we agreed to walk together according to this
rule, and to be united by the spirit of truth.
Neither
the Christians nor Reformers professed to give up
any sentiments or opinions previous to our union,
nor were any required to be given up in order to effect
it. We all determined to learn of Jesus, and to
speak and do whatsoever He says to us in His Word.
We all profess to be [8] called Christians, being
the followers and disciples of Jesus."
The
Campbells and most people at that time defined church as a
Society for study of the Word:
- Church
as defined by Christ in the wilderness and as Ekklesia
or Synagogue was A School of Christ.
- Worship
was
reading and musing the Word as is clearly defined by
Paul, Peter and the pre-Constantine periood were singing
as an ACT was imposed in c 373 and split the west church
from the east.
Any
additions would, as definitons demand, mark the imposers as
heretics or sectarians.
1837 Jenning, Walter W., Origin and Early History
of the Disciples of Christ, p. 196, Standard
Although
union was not so easily brought about elsewhere as in
Kentucky, thousands of ''Christians" did join the Reformers.
After referring to the union effected by Stone in
Jacksonville, M. T. Morrill, the leading historian of the
Christian Connection, made the following admission:
"Then
followed a wave of ' Campbellism ' that swept the
Christians off their feet, and aggregated about eight
thousand accessions to the Disciples. No Christian
churches long survived in Tennessee, their cause
was ruined in Kentucky and never has regained its former
strength or prestige. Of the Southern Ohio Christians a
majority of the preachers embraced Campbeism prior to
1837, and only about one thousand church members
remained. A man named C. A. Eastman, traveling through
Indiana about 1846, reported that, 'In many places they
[the Christians] have amalgamated with the Disciples, and
are known only as the same people.' Several years later it
was reported that on Stone's account conferences
of the Christians had been dissolved and
churches disbanded, and the people had
become amalgamated with the Disciples."
1833 to
1841 and beyond Stoneites denied the Atonement
Barton W. Stone
dened the Atonement and Campbell debated him from 1833
onward: why would there be UNITY between such important
"fundamentals>? The
Millennial Harbinger 1840-41 the debate still raged.
So be it, say I.
And what have I said, more than this? I have only said, in
the conclusion of my letter, "that, believing as I
do, that it was not possible, that any one of our
race could be saved without the sacrifice of the Lamb of
God, I must hold every attempt to explain it away
into a mere moral example, or display of love without
regard to justice, as tending to subvert the basis of the
divine government, and to rob the gospel of all that
glorifies the wisdom and power, the justice and mercy of God
in putting away sin, and in saving the sinner." It is not,
then, the degree of importance that my opinion attaches to
the death of Christ, either as it respects the glory of God,
or the salvation of man, in which we differ; but about the express
scriptural reasons of its vast importance. And here,
dear brother, permit me to express, in my turn, my sincere
regret, that having lifted up your voice for a pure
scriptural reformation, predicated upon the Bible alone, you
should ever have been led off that divine platform into the
arena of sectarian controversies. MH.NumberVII.VIv.Aug.1833
1837
REPUDIATING THE DISCIPLES / CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
http://www.pineycom.com/AC.Lunenburg.Orig.html
It is reasonable to say that all of the so-called
Stone-Campbell Movement are liars about this issue: especially
about the Lunenburg letters. the lady from Lunenburg to
write the editor of the Harbinger is in an article entitled
"Letters to England-No. 1," which was published in the June,
1837. We use the word liars because people pick what
they want to write their own history and the goal most often
is to driven non-instrumental churches into a guilt complex
for NOT beginning to do what they had NEVER done.
They have never read the Lunenburg correspondence. To Campbell
a "c"hristian was one who lived according to Christian
principles. We speak of a "c"hristian nation. However, a
"C"hristian is ONLY one who has obeyed the gospel.
I. With all despatch, then, I hasten to
show that I have neither conceded nor surrendered
any thing for which I ever contended; but that on
the contrary, the opinion now expressed, whether true or
false, is one that I have always avowed.
(Footnote in original reads: It is with us as old as
baptism for the remission of sins,
and
this is at least as old as the "Christian Baptist." Read the
first two numbers of that work.)
1.
Let me ask, in the first place, what could mean all that we
have written upon the union of Christians on apostolic
grounds,
had we taught that all
Christians in the world
were already united
in our own community?
2.
And in the second place, why should we so often have quoted
and applied to apostate Christendom what the Spirit
saith to saints in
Babylon--"Come
out of her, my people, that you partake not of her sins,
and that you receive
not of her plagues"--
had we imagined that
the Lord had no people beyond the pale of our communion!
3.
But let him that yet doubts, read the following passages
from the Christian Baptist, April, 1825:--
"I
have no idea of seeing, nor wish to see, the sects unite
in one grand army.
This
would be dangerous to our liberties and laws. For
this the Saviour did not pray.
It is only the disciples
dispersed among them
that reason and
benevolence would call out of them,
"&c. &c. This looks very like our present opinion of
Christians
among the sects!!! 2d ed. Bethany, p. 85.
4.
Again, speaking of purity of speech in order to the
union of Christians, we say,
"None
of you [Christians] have ever yet attempted to show
how Christians can be united on your principles.
You
have often showed how they may be divided,
and how each party may hold its own,
but while you pray for
the visible unity of the Disciples,
and advocate their
visible disunity, we cannot understand you." March, 1837,
vol. 4.
1839 IT appears from the "Union Herald"
of the 9th instant, that the Christian Union Convention, out
of the proceedings of which we made large extracts in the two
preceding numbers of the Harbinger, held its second meeting,
according to the appointment of its standing committee, at
Cazenovia, on the 30th of January; at which time and place,
the Business Committee reported the following resolutions:-
MILLENNIAL HARBINGER, VOLUME III.-----NUMBER III. BETHANY, VA.
MARCH, 1839
THE "PATTERN" FOR UNITY AGREED WITH THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
IN THE WILDERNESS AND MANY NETWTESTAMENT EXAMPLES;:
In
1839, from the "old brother, came an article on "The Divine
Order for Evangelizing the World, and for Teaching
the Evangelized How to Conduct Themselves." He
started with the Great Commission in Matthew, and urged the
necessity of teaching and preaching.
"Let the church then take up its Book and read and
study it. The proper character of the church is the
school of [175] Christ, disciples, Christians.
. . .
It must not shame its Master by its stupid,
wilful, shameful ignorance of his Book."
He proposed
for the Lord's Day a meeting of four hours, beginning at ten
o'clock and a half-hour intermission between each two hours.
An order of service is really suggested which provides at
the close for assignments of study for the week and
"a contribution of something to the common stock for
religious purposes, as God has prospered him.
Matthew 28:18 And
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me
in heaven and in earth.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the
name
of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: [Jesus Christ]
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever
I have commanded
you:
and, lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
SO THAT PATTERN WILL NOT CHANGE
Jesus followed
the pattern as our example.
Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth,
where he had been brought up:
and, as his custom
was,
he went into the
synagogue on the sabbath day,
and stood up for
to read.
Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city
them that preach
him,
being read
in the synagogues every sabbath day.
1Timothy 4:11 These things command and teach.
1Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an
example of the believers,
in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
1Timothy 4:13 Till I come, give attendance to reading,
to exhortation, to doctrine.
1Timothy 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee,
which was given thee
by prophecy, [teaching]
with the laying on
of the hands of the presbytery.
1Timothy 4:15 Meditate upon these things;
[speaking and meditating IN THE HEART]
give thyself wholly
to them;
that thy profiting
may appear to all.
1Timothy 4:16 Take heed unto thyself,
and unto the
doctrine; continue in them:
for in doing this
thou shalt both save thyself,
and them that hear
thee
Thomas Campbell:
"Some thirty years ago, when we addressed a portion of our
fellow Christians in western Pennsylvania upon this
all-important subject, we met with universal opposition from
the leaders of the people and were considered as the
disturbers of religious society; but now, blessed be God, it
is not only our privilege to bear of some hundreds of
thousands in the United States and elsewhere that have been
awakened, by means of our humble commencement, to advocate
this blessed cause, upon pure scriptural principles
of primitive, apostolic Christianity; but
that also now, at length, there is a voluntary
movement in different parts of the camp, beyond the bounds
of our co-operative agency in favor of this
blessed cause, the cause of union in truth amongst all
the friends of truth and peace throughout all the
churches, for this was the sacred design and motto
of our commencement."
"Second, as to the
propositions adopted by the convention, they, appear too
indefinite, and, of course, have a tendency to produce
difficulties,
Thomas Campbell defined union
thusly: [The Millennial Harbinger (March 1839): 134-144.]
5.
That with respect to the commands and ordinances of
our Lord Jesus Christ,
where
the scriptures are silent as to the express time or manner
of performance, if any such there be;
no human authority has power to interfere, in
order to supply the supposed
deficiency,
by making laws for the church;
nor can any thing more be required of Christians
in such cases, but only that they so observe these commands
and ordinances, as will evidently answer the
declared and obvious end of their institution.
Much less has any human authority power to impose new commands or
ordinances upon the church,
which our Lord Jesus Christ has not enjoined.
Nothing ought to be received into the faith or worship of
the church, or be made a term of communion amongst
Christians, that is not as old as the New Testament.
"13.
Lastly, that if any circumstantials
indispensably
necessary
to
the observance of divine ordinances
be not found upon
the page of express revelation,
such, and such
only as are absolutely necessary for this purpose,
should be adopted,
under the title of human expedients,
without any pretence
to a more sacred origin--so that any subsequent
alteration or difference
in the observance of
these things might produce no contention nor division in
the church."
That, of course, appears
throughout the Church historians and is common decency since
Restoration meant removing anything not required to be A
School of Christ. Neither Campbell would have "unioned" with
any group which ignored the purpose of the assembly and who IMPOSED
something in order to SUPPLY the supposed deficiency.
That has nothing to do with the "law of silence" or
"traditions" or decisions of church councils which are owned
by what became the Disciples-Christian churches.
THE
MILLERITE CONNECTION: The Society was to make it
POSSIBLE for Jesus to return!
William J. Nottingham Global
Ministries.
"My point here is that the first missionary
society was the product of a long and intense
process which generated considerable soul-searching. There
were shared biblical principles and at the same
time fundamental differences in theological
opinion. Disagreement grew
concerning congregational ecclesiology,
commonality in mission with other
Christians,
and
also perhaps communion of the Holy Spirit.
This tension would eventuate in separate
bodies and institutions of the 20th and 21st
centuries. [Disciples and NACC] A
full appreciation is probably hidden from us in the
distance from ante-bellum times. But the nature of the
Bible's authority,
the
relatively new idea of the autonomy of the local
congregation,
and the
centrality of millennialist eschatology for these
men and women,
with men doing most of the writing which is
left to us, seem to me to be mysteries that can only be
observed from different angles and rarely entered into
existentially by later generations like our own.
This is evidenced in the decisions
concerning missionaries growing out of this fervor
leading up to the Cincinnati convention: Dr. and
Mrs. James T. Barclay were the first. It was in their
parlor in Washington, D.C., 1843, that the
congregation had been organized which became the
Vermont Avenue Church and in 1930 the National City
Christian Church.
They went to Jerusalem, not because of
Acts 1:8 "beginning with Jerusalem" as a popular Disciples
legend has it, but because it
was taken for granted by Alexander Campbell
and his followers that the Jews were to be converted
before the return of Christ.
RICHARD HUGES
MAKES THIS FALSE ASSUMPTION
That was a false
assumption: the Millenial Harbinger's major thrust was not
to SUPPORT Millerism but to defeat it. Campbell
denies that Jesus will return to Canaan. Because the
Church of Christ did not believe in William E. Miller [Ellen
G. White]. You will notice that it was the Disciples
who were tilted by Miller.
The title of Campbell's journal proclaimed
clearly the eschatology of the pre-Civil War spirituality,
so neglected in our denominational memory by scholars and
theologians since then.
Notice that
Campbell spoke of THE PROTESTANT THEORY: not his
because he speaks where the Bible speaks and insists on a
NEW HEAVEN and a NEW EARTH and that you could not convert
people after the literal earth was burned up.
In the Millennial Harbinger of 1841,
we
read in what is called The
Protestant Theory:
"The
Millennium, so far as the triumphs of Christianity is
concerned, will be a state of greatly enlarged and
continuous prosperity, in which the Lord will be exalted
and his divine spirit enjoyed in an unprecedented
measure. All the conditions of society will be vastly
improved; wars shall cease, and peace and good will
among men will generally abound. The Jews will be
converted, and the fullness of the Gentiles will be
brought into the kingdom of the Messiah."
THIS WAS NOT CAMPBELL'S VIEW AND THEREFORE THE
FOSTER VIEWS HAVE NO FOUNDATION.
The founding of the American
Christian Missionary Society cannot be separated from
the millennialist eschatology of the period
See
Alexander Campbell on the Second Coming to prove that
you never believe "the doctors of the Law."
This takes careful reading to grasp that Campbell REPUDIATES
any speculation.
The Disciples
followed the Millerites: not Campbell.
nor from the pragmatism
which required a foreign dimension to keep pace with other
denominations or to outgrow them! D.S.
Burnet's book The Jerusalem Mission and Dr. Barclay's
book The City of the Great King make this clear, along
with speeches and articles by various leaders like Isaac
Errett. Barclay wrote in a journal The Christian Age:
"The ACMS...resolved...
to
make the first offer of salvation to Israel. . .
for
the salvation of the Jews...
for upon
the conversion and resumption of Israel
1845
The Restoration Movement History: John
T. Brown in his history of "Churches of Christ," p.
153, says:
"David
S. Burnet was the father of organized cooperative work
among the disciples of Christ. He crystallized the
sentiment for cooperation. He was the leader of leaders,
who, more than any other man, advocated the adoption of the
plan of cooperation, which has grown to its present power
and usefulness among our people. Afterward, in looking over
his life-work, he said: "I consider the inauguration of the
society system, which I vowed to urge upon the brethren if
God raised me up from my protracted illness of 1845,
was one of the most important acts of my career." He
was indeed the leader of the leaders in the work of
organization and formation of the American Christian
Missionary Society.
So, according to David S. Burnet, "the father
of organized, cooperative work among the disciples of
Christ," the resolution to urge the society on the Brethren
originated in the sickroom in 1845, in the mind of
David S. Burnet, but was not put into execution until four
years later, 1849.
RETROSPECTIVE
ACCOUNTS
While there was never a "union" in 1832 at least
many groups including the Reformed Baptists could have
fraternal relationships because at yet no one had been so
daring as to introduce instruments.
http://www.pineycom.com/Unity.Boles.html
In
1849, the first major departure was made. David S.
Burnet was the father of the Missionary
Society; it was organized in 1849. David S. Burnet
was a convert from the Baptist Church
and he brought the idea of the Missionary Society with him
from the Baptist Church. "He was brought up as a
Presbyterian but at sixteen years of age, after careful
study of the New Testament, was baptized into the Baptist
Church." ("The Story of the Churches." by Errett
Gates, p. 190.) He said, "I was born into the
missionary spirit, and did not relinquish it when I
associated myself with my present brethren." (Christian
Magazine, Vol. 3, p. 173.
Notice
Nottingham's reason why these groups were never
"unioned" because you cannot "union" congregational
churches. This also shows that Foster twisted the "apocylptic"
claim for Alexander Campbell. That is because he did not
care enough to read the original documents. Historians daisy
chain and quoting A BOOK is never scholarship. Of course
they are all defined by John as ANTICHRIST by their
neo-trinity dogma.
Church "scholars" are really a laughing stock and they write
only for other "scholars" totally missing Jesus who said
that "doctors of the law take away the key to knowledge."
I don't write history: I post the actual documents the
RECONSTRUCTIONISTS lie about seing godliness as a means of
financial gain--occupation. Don't be a cultist: never trust
anyone who quotes Mark 1.1 and does not post the text in
context.
ALL
religious
groups rejected musical instruments because of the
persona of musicians and the fact that a disciple fully
understands that instruments always mark those who
refuse to hear the Words of God.
John
Calvin on Instruments clearly understood and observed
by presbyterians.
Does any
one object, that music is very useful for awakening the
minds of men and moving their hearts? I own it;
but we
should always take care that no corruption creep in,
which might both defile the pure worship
of God and involve
men in superstition. Moreover, since the
Holy Spirit expressly warns us of this danger by
the mouth of Paul,
to proceed beyond what we are there warranted by him is not only, I must say, unadvised
zeal, but wicked
and perverse obstinacy.
Again,
Calvin notes that: "We know that our Lord Jesus Christ has
appeared, and by His advent has abolished these legal
shadows.
Instrumental
music,
we therefore maintain, was only tolerated on account
of the times and the people, because they were as boys,
as the sacred Scripture speaketh, whose condition
required these puerile rudiments.
But in
gospel times we must not have recourse to these unless
we wish to destroy the evangelical perfection and to
obscure the meridian light which we enjoy in Christ our
Lord." (Calvin's Commentary on the Thirty-third Psalm,
and on 1 Sam. 18:1-9).
"Unto the pure all things
are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving
is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled"
(Tit. 1: 15.)
For why is a woe
pronounced upon the rich who have received their
consolation? (Luke 6: 24,) who are full, who laugh
now, who "lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves
upon their couches;" "join house to house," and "lay field
to field;" "and the harp and the viol, the
tabret and pipe, and wine, are in
their feasts," (Amos 6: 6; Isa. 5: 8, 10.)
Certainly ivory and gold,
and riches, are the good creatures of God, permitted, nay
destined, by divine providence for the use of man; nor was
it ever forbidden to laugh, or to be full,
or to add new to old and hereditary
possessions, or to be delighted with music, or to
drink wine.
This is true, but when
the means are supplied to roll and wallow
in luxury, to intoxicate the mind and soul with
present and be always hunting after new
pleasures,
The Necessity of Reforming the Church (1543) Calvin wrote
For, if we
would not
throw everything into confusion,
we
must never lose sight of the distinction between the old and the new dispensations, and of the fact that ceremonies, the
observance of which was useful under the law,
are now
not only superfluous, but vicious and absurd.
But in
regard to the former, it is plain that
they
are destitute of authority from the scriptures,
as well as of any approved
example of
such intercession; while, as to the latter,
Paul
declares that none can invoke God, save those who have been taught by his word to pray. On this depends the confidence
with which it becomes pious minds to be actuated and
imbued when they engage in prayer.
The instruments were
tolerated because God had already turned them over to
worship the starry host and sentenced them back to captivity
and death.
WEST: "Apostasy
in music among 19th
century churches that had endeavored to restore
New Testament authority in worship and work
began,
in the main, following the American Civil War'
In 1868, Ben Franklin guessed that there were ten thousand congregations
and not over fifty had used an instrument in
worship." (Earl West, Search for the Ancient Order, Vol.
2, pp. 80, 81)
Following
the
American
Civil War "Staunch supporters of the missionary society and instrumental
music, the new look in styles
of
work and worship,
had been predicting for years the early demise of
the Advocate. It was unthinkable, as these men viewed
the problem,
that
even the people in the South would not want
to keep up with the times.
Lipscomb's simple ways might have been
condoned in the hills of Franklin County before
the war,
but the
times
were passing him by. It was only a question of
time until the Advocate would fold up, and when
it did, as these men gleefully envisioned, it would
be a happy day." (Earl West, Life and Times of David
Lipscomb, p. 166)
At the end
of Alexander Campbell's life the missionary society had
grasped rights to Campbell's song book. Campbell believed
that he was putting the ownership into the hands of a
committee of brethren.
"Isaac
Errett who influenced Campbell to sign over (extorted?) his
copyright, had argued that it
was
absolutely necessary to the unity of
the church to have unity of worship,
and the latter could not be maintained
unless
the brethren all used one hymn
book--Campbell's.
Accordingly,
the
Standard
and the Society opposed vigorously the
publication of any other hymn book. Lipscomb by selling
a hymn book printed in Canada had been visited by some
of the ire of these men." (West, p.
171)
1859 Restoration
Movement Boles:
A second departure was the introduction of instrumental
music in the worship. This began about 1859. It was not
introduced because it was found in the New Testament; neither
were those who introduced it in the worship guided by the New
Testament. But few have been bold enough to attempt to prove
that the New Testament authorizes the use of instrumental
music in worship. Many have claimed on other grounds that they
have a right to use instrumental music in worship, but the
point made here is that no one, guided by the New Testament,
introduced the organ into the worship. Errett Gates, in his
history referred to above, p. 250, says: "The organ
controversy was the missionary controversy in a new form, for
both grew out of the opposition to human innovations in the
work and worship of the church ... The organ party treated it
as a question of expediency on which there should be
forbearance and liberty. The antiparty treated it as a matter
of principle." The arguments now used to justify the use of
instrumental music in worship are "after-thoughts" and were
not used when the instrument or organ was first imposed on the
brotherhood.
1860
The Organ: The
Christian Repository. Hickman Creek
To accuse non-instrumental
churches for being sectarians ignores the recorded history
of contemporaneous battles among ALL religious groups.
They were
men of sincere piety and fervent zeal, but governed in
manners and in preaching by laws of their own. Unlike the
gowned clergy of our day these primitive preachers of the
wilderness were accustomed, on a hot summer's day, to take
off their coats and preach in the shirt sleeves a very
convenient habit for those who toiled coatless all the week.
Unlike the drilled theatrical disclaimers of the modern
pulpit, who read their sermons, these earnest,
unsophisticated heralds of the gospel, with no teacher of
elocution but the promptings of their own pathetic voices, sung
their sermons. Like their illustrious ancestor with the
leathern girdle, their voice was heard "crying in the
wilderness."
Vulgar and
ludicrous as the habit may seem to the eyes of learned
criticism, this sing song preaching had its
attractions. Congregations would set [sic] from three to
five hours, on backless benches, and listen to sermon after
sermon sung off in this way, without complaining. But the
congregation of this refined age, who sit on cushioned
seats, with cushioned backs, and cushioned foot-stools, and
listen to sermons enriched by the best creations of
intellect and genius, set off with all the improved arts of
voice and gesture, and all the witchery of rhetoric,
complain dreadfully if they are kept more than forty-five
minutes. There must be a difference somewhere, either in the
essence and manner of preaching, or in the taste and
instincts of the hearers. After all it is a question whether
singing the gospel is not as apostolic and efficient
as reading it; whether the one did not make as many
converts in that day, as the other makes in this age.
It was at
this meeting-house, and under this preaching, when a small
boy, I got my first ideas of divine worship, and of Jesus
Christ as a Saviour for sinners. And this fact may account
for some notions that cling to me at the present time. The
first pastor I remember to have met and heard at Hickman
Creek was a tall, gray-headed gentleman by the name of
Durham. It was under the ministry of this aged servant of
God I first witnessed the exhibition of instrumental church
music. It was very simple and primitive in its order. The
instrument was not an organ, nor melodeon, nor violin, nor
flute, nor drum, nor horn. It was a cheap and portable
concern, that the pastor carried in his pocket, which at the
proper tune he played himself, thereby saving the expense of
a salaried performer.
When the
hymn was announced Father Durham drew from his pocket a
lady's tucking comb, to one side of which a piece of
brown paper had been adjusted. While the congregation struck
the air of the tune, he sung the same notes through the
comb, which being reflected by the paper, and broken into
diverging and crossing volumes by the intervening teeth,
produced a monstrous jingle of sounds, that supplied the
place of bass, treble, alto, and all the imaginary notes.
Whether scientific or not, the primitive church instrument
sent out a novel clatter of sounds, which to my uneducated
ear seemed wonderfully melodious.
Little did
I dream at that time of living to be a grown-up man; of
being transported from those native hills and dropped down
among cities; to tread the threshold of majestic Gothic
temples, and see the tucking comb transferred from
the preacher's pocket to a spacious room in the gallery, and
expanded into the beauty and grandeur of the church organ,
with its thundering sounds.
I will not
undertake to give an opinion as to the comparative merits of
the various instruments of church music. Let those who believe
in instruments do this, if they choose. After some years of
experience I decidedly prefer congregational singing to all
the instruments in the world. Some might attribute this to
erroneous education, or the lack of education. Be this as it
may, I would rather listen, especially on the Sabbath, to
some forty or fifty clear toned human voices
1866
Moses Lard Lard's Quarterly [Volume III: April,
1866]
Until after the UNcivil war the concensus of all of the people
who flowed into either the Christian Churches or Reformers, no
one believed in nor would tolerate the use of instruments in
what Christ and the Campbells called A School of Christ.
Alexander Campbell was quite happy as a Reformed Baptists
because they did not divide over instruments until around the
turn of the decade. However, it was the Baptists who
proposed to excommunicate Campbell because he taught that
"baptism for the remission of sins" meant "baptism for the
remission of sins..
While there was never any organic "union" it was possible for
people of most groups to join with others in what they called
"worship." Unity of heart and soul was created by Jesus
Christ before a clergy system usurped the role of elders and
deacons as the Pastor-Teachers of the flock pledged to teach
that which had been taught.
But
the Church of Christ in halves, or a divided body of Christ,
is impossible. The moment the church is so divided
the one part becomes an apostasy,
the other remains the church.
Suppose the
division to have its origin in some doctrinal question. In
what light, then, should it be viewed, and how disposed of?
Of course, in that case the first question raised would be:
Is the doctrine clearly taught in the word
of God. If clearly taught in the word of God,
the case admits of a
very simple solution.
The
party rejecting the doctrine would stand, on that
ground, and for that reason alone, condemned;
while the party
accepting, would have to be held as no party, but as
the church.
But suppose
the doctrine not to be clearly taught, or suppose it
to admit of a reasonable doubt whether it is taught
or not, how, then, should we proceed?
In that case the difference should be
regarded as a difference of opinion, and hence
should be made no test of soundness in the faith,
or of fellowship.
Here, if
brethren were possessed of even the most ordinary
share of love, the difference would either permanently rest
or permanently end.
But if one of the differing parties should
persist in an effort to force its opinion on
the other,
or should dogmatically require subscription thereto,
or should make it any such test as has just been named,
then such party would have to be
regarded as having become heretical, and would
have to be repudiated.
The
other party would have to be held as the church.
BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN 1877
7. "Well,
the churches generally are going into it, and it
is 'a foregone conclusion that they will have and use the
organ,' and it is useless to stand against it."
No "the churches generally" are
not gone into it, nor are they going that way.
We do not know the number of churches
in the United States;
but doubt not that six
thousand would be a
low enough estimate.
How
many of them use the organ in worship? We do not
know this with certainty, but probably not more than
from [431] one hundred and fifty to
two hundred, and
certainly not five hundred. [1877]
The
organ party is yet small, and would amount to but
little, had it not found way into a few places of
note
and prominence. There are still whole States that have
not an organ in the Church.
We think
there is not one in use in Canada, not one in Virginia, Tennessee, nor Texas, that we have heard of; scarcely any in
Kentucky, West
Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and many other States. The organ is
still the exception, not the rule; and the party is
small. The main body are true to the great
principles of reformation--to the divine purpose of returning
to and maintaining, the original practice
in all things.
1883
Nashville
Choate/Woodson
note
that like David Lipscomb, E. G. Sewell worked for the Gospel
Advocate to earn a living
and
preached
for the Woodland Street Church in Nashville. He received
little for his preaching. A new building was constructed in
1880 and Sewell was asked to preach there longer and
devote more time.
As well funded
by the Standard
"From the
North,
where the Society system was deeply imbedded in
the churches, people moved into Nashville
and many filled the Woodland Street
church. By the end of 1882, a woman
from Kentucky asked Sewell about forming an auxiliary society to the Christian
Woman's Board of Missions. Sewel objected, and gave his reasons.
But as
always, when a group in a congregation wants
something, and the preacher stands in their way,
there is only one thing to do: dismiss the preacher. Sewell was ousted
and at the beginning of 1883, W. J. Loos, son of
C. L. Loos, president of the Foreign
Society, was hired. In
the fall of that year young Loos attended the annual
convention at Cincinatti, telling them with some embarassment
that he was ashamed to admit he was from Tennessee for the
churches of his state were doing nothing."
When
he returned, Sewell refuted the false charges about
Tennessee churches. Loos was check-mated and was replaced later by R. M.
Giddens who "fanned the
flames of Societyism."
"The women were soon busily at work to form an
auxiliary society. Sewell's pleas to Giddens went
unheeded. During the following summer,
the women
wrote letters to the
churches of the state
asking funds be sent to
them
so they could hire a
State Evangelist. Before long, plans were laid
to secure the services of A. I.
Myhr.
"Lipscomb
had agreed to publish information in the Advocate after being
assured that evangelism was the goal.
However, Giddens failed to get the work under the Woodland
Street elders. J. C. McQuiddy who had helped raise the
money and Sewell who was an elder were not
consulted about Myhr.
Myhr made
his goals clear about promoting the Society and
Instrumental music
even though it would divide the churches. Myhr's goal,
Lipscome believed, was to
"ostracize, boycott, and starve every preacher that does
not APPROVE the society."
1889
TWISTING SAND CREEK
There is nothing about Daniel Sommer's
claimed bad attitude which can divert people from the
facts abot imposing instruments as the "laded burden"
straw which broke the backs of people who had been lulled
into the Cult of Unity. The only lovely and honorable
"evangelist" who understood the CENI of the Great
Commission was labeled a Sommerite. But, then so was Carl
Ketcherside and Leroy Garret in attitude: we might say
that the Stone-Campbell Movement derived from Daniel
Sommer
There was never any organizational union
between the Church of Christ and the Disciples (Christian
Churches). However, at one time there would have
been nothing in the public assembly which would offend the
Bible knowledge and sensibilities of most people. If
and when it is apparent that one group in "fellowship" is
purpose driven to "infiltrate and divert" your
congregation, and when that attacking church is organized
and financed, the honorable thing to do is to try to cut
off contact with that group. Several "unity lovers"
have discovered since the origin of the Stone-Campbell
Movement that they will not, have not hesitated to twist
all recorded history of the "instrument cult" to take you
captive.
Rick
Atchley: The era of
the progressive Church of Christ
is over.
Back in the 80s you could go to any
major city, especially in the South, and you could find a
progressive Church of Christ and if they would
preach grace, and if they would put words on a screen,
and if they would let divorced people place
membership, they would grow.
The generation of Boomers has enough
denominational loyalty that theyre going to find the least
legalistic
Well, we discipled the children
of those progressive churches
for a whole generation to grow past us Boomers.
They never heard the sermons we heard.
They never heard the rationale for a cappella
music.
We sent them to youth
rallies and Church of Christ events
with some of the finest Christian bands in
the world.
We discipled
our children to leave our Movement!
The church at Sand Creek was without any
of the innovations. When a group attempted to impose
instrumental music there was objection. To their
credit they left rather than steal the property. A
Supreme Court decision declared that the property belonged
to the non-instrumental group which had founded the
congregation
People do not let minimal ethics stop them
when they use the law and lying to take over a church as a
defacto Christian Church. People of the
Stone-Campbell Cult love to point to Sand Creek to
denounce them for refusing to be TAKEN CAPTIVE.
People who use virtual violence against Daniel Sommer over
the instrument issue are the same ones who get violent
when Churches of Christ will not submit to what Scripture
and recorded history calls sin: "making the Lamb dumb
before the slaughter."
Whatever the few dupes of the NACC claim
about "everone wants instruments" the lust usually begins
with one misleader. As confessed, they "cut out" a small
herd and instill the idea into their heads. Rick Atckley
took over a decade of being "intentional" as they say
before a spirit told him that it was time to preach that
sermon enforced by David Faust and the NACC.
Dainel Sommer Addresses Sand
Creek. About 20
decided to force instrumental music and 100Christian
Church and filed a lawsuit to take over the new
brick church house. opposed. The 20
discorders took the name The
Illinois Supreme court decided that the group
founded by the principles of Alexander Campbell and
existing since 1834 owned the propert. In his very
godly address Daniel Sommer concludes:
"When
they determined to have their devices if they
had only left the established congregations in peace and had
gone out into new fields and built up churches,
they would have acted with some honor.
But
instead of so doing they have thrust their devices
upon congregations established upon primitive
simplicity, and thus have become usurpers of
other men's labors. We were once a happy
and a peaceful and a prosperous people and for
peace we pled.
We entreated
them for God's sake and for the love of heaven not to
thrust their devices upon us, but they
would not hearken. WHAT THEN MUST BE DONE? In the
language of the Apostle Peter I answer: "THE TIME IS
COME THAT JUDGEMENT MUST BEGIN AT THE HOUSE OF GOD."
It is not an honorable
thing to denounce Churches of Christ as sectarian by
attempting to force them to approve of that which has
divided since singing as an ACT was first introduced in the
year 373.
The Britannica Notes that: Or Click
Here
The introduction of musical
instruments (reed organs) into Christian worship led
to many local disputes. Other innovations added occasion for
controversy--the infringement of the "one-man
pastoral system" on the local ministry of elders, introduction
of selected choirs, use of the
title Reverend, and lesser
issues.
In
1889 several rural churches in Illinois issued the Sand Creek
Declaration, withdrawing fellowship from those
practicing "innovations and corruptions."
Foster etal loves to use the "rural" word
to describe how churches of Christ had such an appeal in
Tenneessee. However, it was the Bible Reading Moms
who forced the Stoneites to preach baptism in North
Alabama where the appeal to raw emotion (called sorcery or
witchcraft) failed to produce the falling down mad
conversions.
R. L.
Dabney Presbyterian
It has always been common among the advocates of this
Popish mode of worship,
- to
meet the objections of simple minded Protestants to the organ,
- with
the retort that their scruples were the relics of
fanatical prejudice,
- and
rustic ignorance.
It is not
strange that men, such as the present advocates of the organ
in Presbyterian churches in America, should bring such a
charge against such men; many of them educated
amidst the richest specimens of the fine arts in the
old world, their youth imbued with the
spirit of a gorgeous and poetic age?
He found it significant that, on the
whole, only women and effeminate men fell into this
folly."
"According
to
Philo, the gods of the pagans exploit this weakness
of men. For the sake of a better effect, and with
the intention of more easily cheating their devotes, that they have set their lies to
melodies, rhythms and meters.." (Father Johannes
Quasten, p. 52)
Contrary to the instrumental group who got
in debt and needed entertainment to dig them out,
Alexander Campbell derived his views of a professional
clergy from John Calvin.
"A
preacher, like any other man who gets in debt and fails to
pay, soon becomes demoralized, and indifferent about
paying--becomes, indeed, dishonest.
"We have
never been willing, when not actively engaged in preaching
to sit around on our professional
dignity, but have labored at whatever
work presented itself to make a
living." (West, p. 167)
THE
RISE OF CORRUPTERS OF THE WORD SELLING LEARNING AT
RETAIL.
Without denying support for Evangelists
Campbell warned about the mercinary clergy, the dominant
pastor was and is divisive and the only way that the NACC
has helped any churches of Christ impose instruments.
"The
pastor is not a necessity. He is a FUNGUS
GROWTH upon the church, the body of Christians, DWARFING
its growth, PREVENTING its development of its
members; and until the church GETS RID of him it will
NEVER prosper as it should. In the Bible we can find all
the necessities.
"I can
testify from my own observation that a good eldership will
lose its efficiency, and its members become both UNABLE
and UNWILLING to do the work of elders, in a very few
years after the employment of a pastor. And if under the
pastor system a good eldership has ever developed, I have
never seen or heard of the case. I don't believe that has
or ever will be done." --James A. Harding, Gospel
Advocate, May 20, 1885
Preaching
for
pay? "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).
Wonder why the
Stone-Campbell Sectarians never use that?
"Those
who lord it over the people will soon begin to destroy
Them. The word Balaam means 'the destroyer of the
people.' If we turn back to the history of this strange
figure as recorded in the book of Numbers we find that
which clarifies three passages in the New Testament
where 'the error of Balaam' (Jude 11), 'the way of
Balaam' (II Pet. 2:15) and 'the doctrine of Balaam' are
discussed." (Barnhouse, D.G., Revelation, Zondervan, p.
54
See
John Calvin on the need for a Restoration Movement
excluding professional preachers.
These
are Paul's words. Let them, then, show us that they are
ministers of the gospel, and I will have no difficulty in
conceding their right to stipend.
The ox must not be muzzled that treadeth out the corn [1 Cor. 9:9]. But is it
not altogether at variance with reason that the ploughing oxen should starve, and the lazy asses be fed?
They
will say, however, that they serve at the altar. I answer, that the priests under
the law deserved
maintenance, by
ministering at an altar;
but
that, as Paul declares, the case under the New
Testament is different. And what are those altar
services, for which they allege that
maintenance is due to them?
Forsooth,
that
they may perform their masses and chant in churches, for example, partly
labor to no purpose, and partly perpetrate sacrilege, thereby provoking the anger of
God. See for what it is that they are alimented
at the public expense!
Aeschines Against Ctesiphon
3.[220] And you
blame me if I come before the people, not constantly, but only
at intervals. And you imagine that your bearers fail
to detect you in thus making a demand which
is no outgrowth of democracy, but borrowed from another
form of government. For in oligarchies it is not he
who wishes, but he who is in authority, that addresses the
people;
whereas in democracies
he speaks who chooses,
and whenever it seems
to him good.
And the fact that a man speaks only at intervals marks him
as a man who takes part in politics because of the call
of the hour, and for the common good;
whereas to leave no
day without its speech,
is the mark of a man
who is making a trade of it, and talking for pay.
2
A quiet citizen, as distinguished from the professional
political blackmailer,su_kophant-ēs
Pl. Cur. 2.3
And then those Grecians with their cloaks, who walk about
with covered heads, who go loaded beneath their cloaks
with books, and with baskets6, they
loiter together, and engage in gossipping among
themselves, the gad-abouts
6 With
baskets: In the "sportule," or "baskets,"
the poor, and the parasitical dependants on
the rich, carried away the scraps that were given to
them after an entertainment was concluded.
Amos 8:1
Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a
basket of summer fruit.
Amos 8:2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I
said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the
LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of
Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
basket
from H3611 keleb keh'-leb From an unused root
meaning to yelp, or else to attack; a dog; hence (by
euphemism) a male prostitute:dog.
Revelation
22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end, the first and the last.
Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his
commandments, that they may have right to the tree
of life, and may enter in through the gates into the
city.
Revelation 22:15 For without are dogs, and
sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Revelation
22.15 exō hoi kunes kai hoi pharmakoi kai hoi pornoi kai hoi phoneis kai hoi eidōlolatrai kai pas philōn kai poiōn pseudos.
Revelation 22:16 I
Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these
things in the churches. I am the root and the
offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Pornos , ho, A. catamite,
Ar.Pl.155,
X.Mem.1.6.13,
D.22.73,
II. Idolater,
Suid.
Xen.
Mem. 1.6.13 So is it with wisdom.
Those who offer it to all comers for money are
known as sophists, prostitutors of
wisdom,
but we think
that he who makes a friend of one whom he knows to
be gifted by nature, and teaches him all the good
he can, fulfils the duty of a citizen and a
gentleman.
Sophis-tēs
, master of one's craft, experts, poets,
musicians, harpists, "making melody in holy
places." a Sophist, i.e. one
who gave lessons in grammar, rhetoric,
politics, mathematics, for money,
3. later of the rhētores, Professors
of Rhetoric, and prose writers Apollōnidē sophistē
2Corinthians 2:17
For we are not as many, which corrupt the
word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God,
in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
G2585 kapēleuō kap-ale-yoo'-o From κάπηλος kapēlos
(a huckster); to retail, that is, (by implication)
to adulterate (figuratively):corrupt.
ka^pēl-euō ,
1)
to be a retailer, to peddle
2)
to make money by selling anything
a)
to get sordid gain by dealing in anything, to do a
thing for base gain
b)
to trade in the word of God
1)
to try to get base gain by teaching divine
truth
c)
to corrupt, to adulterate
1)
peddlers were in the habit of adulterating
their commodities for the sake of gain
k. tēs hōras anthos or tēn hōran, of
prostitutes
Instead of killing all of the people of Lydians,
croesus advised:
Hdt.
1.155 [3]
O King, what you say is reasonable. But do not
ever yield to anger, or destroy an ancient city
that is innocent both of the former and of the
present offense. For the former I am responsible,
and bear the punishment on my head; while Pactyes,
in whose charge you left Sardis,
does this present wrong; let him, then, pay the
penalty.
Grant, then, forgiveness to the
Lydians, and to make sure of their
never rebelling against thee, or alarming thee more,
send and forbid
them to keep any weapons of war, command them to wear tunics under their cloaks, and to put
buskins upon their legs,
..........and make them bring up their sons to cithern-playing (Kitharizein), singing (psallein), and shop-keeping (Hucksterism).
So wilt thou soon see them become women instead of men,
and there will be no more fear of their
revolting from thee."
-[4] Ludoisi de sungnτmκn echτn tade
autoisi epitaxon, hτs mκte aposteτsi mκte
deinoi toi eτsi: apeipe men sphi pempsas
hopla arκia mκ ektκsthai, keleue de spheas
kithτnas -[khiton
David's garment] te hupodunein toisi heimasi
kai kothornous hupodeesthai, proeipe d'
autoisi -kitharizein te kai psallein kai kapκleuein [prostitutes, petty trade,
playing tricks, corrupting] paideuein tous
paidas. kai tacheτs spheas τ basileu
gunaikas ant' andrτn opseai gegonotas, hτste
ouden deinoi toi esontai mκ aposteτsi."
The word kitharizo means to
PLAY THE CITHARA and does not include singing.
- -Kitharizτ 1 [kitharis] to play the
cithara, phormingi [Apollo]
kitharize Il., Hes.; lurκi eraton
kitharizτn Hhymn. (so that there can have
been no great difference between the
kithara, lura, and phorminx ); kitharizein
ouk epistatai, of an uneducated person,
-
-Kithar-isis , eτs, hκ, playing on the
cithara, Pl.Prt.325e; k. psilκ,
i.e. without the voice,
Id.Lg.669e, cf. Pae.Delph.15; aulκsis
kai k. Phld.Mus.p.23 K.
-Arassτ ,of any violent impact, with collat. notion of rattling, clanging, as of horses, hoplais, pound in a mortar, strike with a shower of stones.
a). kitharēn strike
the lyre, Orph.A.382;
humnon, melos, etc., Nonn.D.1.15,440,
etc.
2. c. dat. modi, arassein tina
oneidesi, kakois, assail with reproaches or threats,
II. Pass., to be dashed against, dash one against the other
Pound in a mortar, holmō a. Nic. Th.508
Used by O.E.Payne
to justify PSALLO as a command [p.106
7 The
gad-abouts: Drapetζ. From the Greek dremō, "to run." He probably
alludes to the propensities of the Athenians for gossipping
and running about from place to place.
Probably, at the time of Plautus, they had begun in
considerable numbers to resort to Rome. By his
reference to the books, he is, perhaps, more
particularly alluding to their Philosophers.
The Romans considered it effeminate in civil
life to go with the head covered.
su_kophant-ēs
became notorious as pettifoggers, blackmailers, professional
swindler or confidential agent,
kolax , a^kos, ho,
2. in later Gr., = Att. goēs, Moer. p.113 P.
II. lisping pronunciation of korax, Ar.V.45.
goēs , ētos, ho, A. sorcerer,
wizard, Phoronis g. epōdos Ludias apo khthonos E.Ba.234,
cf. Hipp.1038;
prob. f.l. for boēsi Hdt.7.191.
2.
juggler, cheat, deinos g. kai pharmakeus kai sophistēs Pl.Smp.203d;
deinon kai g. kai sophistēn . . onomazōn D.18.276;
apistos g. ponēros Id.19.109;
magos kai g. Aeschin.3.137:
Comp. goētoteros Ach.Tat.6.7
Sophis-tēs , ou, ho, A. master
of one's craft, adept, expert, of diviners,
of musicians, sophistēs . . parapaiōn khelun [harp]
with modal words added, hoi s. tōn hierōn melōn Ael.NA11.1;
Ael.
NA 11.1
anthrōpōn Hupeboreōn genos kai timas Apollōnos tas ekeithi hadousi men poiētai, humnousi de kai suggrapheis,
en de tois kai Hekataios, oukh ho Milēsios, all' ho Abdēritēs. ha de legei polla te kai semna hetera,
melōdountes, alla hōsper oun ek tou khorolektou to endosimon labontes kai tois sophistais tōn hierōn melōn tois epikhōriois sunasantes. eita tou humnou telesthentos hoi de anakhōrousi tē pros ton daimona
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata I
But he that speaks through books, consecrates himself before God, crying in writing thus:
Not
for gain, not for vainglory, not to be vanquished by
partiality, nor enslaved by fear nor elated by pleasure;
but only to reap
the salvation of
those who read, which he does,
not at present participate in, but awaiting in expectation the
recompense
which will certainly be rendered by Him, who has
promised to bestow on the labourers the reward
that is meet.
But he
who is enrolled in the number of men [Ps. li. 7-12.]
ought not to desire
recompense.
For
he that vaunts his good services, receives glory as his reward.
And he who does any duty for the sake of recompense, is he not held fast in the custom
of the world, either as one who has done well,
hastening to receive a reward, or as an evil-doer
avoiding retribution?
We
must, as far as we can, imitate the Lord. I And he
will do so, who complies with the will of God,
receiving
freely,
giving freely, and receiving as a worthy reward
the citizenship itself.
"The
hire
of an harlot shall not come into the
sanctuary," it is said: accordingly it was
forbidden to bring to the altar the price of a dog. (male prostitute)
And
in whomsoever the eye of the soul has been blinded by
ill-nurture and teaching, let him advance to the true
light, to the truth,
which
shows
by writing the things that are unwritten.
"Ye that thirst, go
to the waters,"
[Isa. lv. 1] says Esaias, And "drink water from
thine own vessels," [Prov. v. 15] Solomon exhorts.
Accordingly in "The Laws," the philosopher who
learned from the Hebrews, Plato, commands
husbandmen
not to irrigate or take water from others, until they have first dug down
in their own ground to what is called the virgin soil, and found it dry.
For it is right to supply
want, but it is not well to support
laziness.
For Pythagoras said that,
"although it be
agreeable to reason to take a share of a burden,
it is not a duty to take it away."
1890
CHRISTIAN STANDARD PROMOTES A NATIONAL CONVENTION IN
TENNESSEE
In
1890 the first convention was called at Chattanooga
to organize the state society. The only
churches in the state of Tennessee were those who had already
adopted the organ in their worship. The Christian
Standard pumped up the news and "it is reported that
the brethren in Nashville, Tennessee are desirous of
entertaining our National Convention
next year."
This of course was just two congregations. A survey
showed that out of 2500 members in Nashville, less
than one hundred wanted the society.
Lipscomb
noted that among the Society people "the Bible is
as popular as last year's almanac."
"The
supporters of the missionary society organized the Tennessee
State Missionary Convention on October 6,
1890, with one purpose in mind, as stated by J. H.
Garrison. He said at that time:
"We will take
Tennessee for organized mission work...within five years."
A. I.
Myhr was dispatched to Tennessee to head the new state
society despite the protestation of David
Lipscomb that Tennessee was not a destitute
mission territory. Myhr and his supporters moved
resolutely ahead to accomplish their mission.
"Their
efforts met with some success and the intent was
clear. Myhr was aggressive and abrasive in his operations. His actions were of
such a nature, in promoting the missionary society, that
he came under the direct attack of E. G. Sewel and David
Lipscomb. And as later event proved, Myhr was no match for
Lipscomb and the Gospel Advocate.
1890
The Plan:
Again "We will take Tennessee for organized mission
work...within five years."
- Why would anyone ENDORSE and
accept pay from those always on a hostile path?
Myhr made his goals clear about promoting
the Society and Instrumental music
even though it would divide the churches. Myhr's goal,
Lipscome believed, was to
"ostracize, boycott, and starve
every preacher that does not APPROVE the society."
- How could any godly person REBUKE
and use all of the RACA words on a people who simply
refused to be TAKEN?
BECAUSE OF
THE RADICAL ATTACK AGAINST THE NON-INSTRUMENTAL CHURCHES..
Notice that
the use of the organ affected only a few Christian
Churches. That did not prevent the Disciples
leadership , prompted by the Standard, to IMPOSE
instruments into the Christian churches. This is proof that
Churches of Christ had no organs.
"As early
as 1882, Sewell and Harding were
urging that a separation be brought about to identify
that part of the Christian Church fellowship which supported
the organ and the society. Lipscomb, at the time, rebuffed his
brethren who called for such division. He sought no
compromise, but hoped that the church would not
suffer division."
That, of Course, proves
that they saw the Christian Church Fellowship as not the
same as The Church of Christ.
Not until
1878 did anyone in history MISuse psallo to justify the
massive discord they had already sown by using the ORGAN
and Life Members of even children of the
Missionary Society. This has a foundation beginning in
heaven where Lucifer began to TRAFFICK in some spiritual
world we do not understand. Being CAST AS PROFANE (a
musical term) out of heaven he or most often showed up
in the garden of Eden as the serpent meaning a MUSICAL
ENCHANTER.
"By 1897,
Lipscomb was reconciled to the fact that division
had already occurred and the supporters of the innovations
would be satisfied with nothing less than a complete take-over of the churches... (Adron Doran, J.E.Choate, The
Christian Scholar, p. 59
1901 Instruments of Music in the Service of God By David Lipscomb
Instruments had been added
into the Disciples of Christ--Chrisitian Churches. In time
the determination was to "take Tenneessee for the organ and
society party within five years." That is proof that
churches of Christ in Tennessee did not belong to the
Stone-Campbell and God wants people to stop lying to "take
Tennessee a hundred years later."
When the church determines to introduce
a service not required by God,
he who believes it wrong
is compelled to refuse in any way
to countenance
or affiliate with the wrong.
Sometimes when a part of a church insists
on and adopts the wrong,
had I not better yield than to create
division in the church?
A church that requires disobedience
to God to maintain peace in it is already an
apostate church; it has rejected God as it only
Ruler.
While forbearance and
love should be exercised in seeking to show them the
right and persuading them to do it, it is sinful to
so affiliate with them as to encourage and build up a
church that is going wrong.
In the case where the Society
and Organ party goes to law to seek control of the property
they have stolen, Lipscomb urged people not to go to law over
property.
1902
THE NEWBERN HOSTILE TAKEOVER
In
1902 the church at Newbern was taken over by society and organ
people. The church, against Lipscomb's advice, sued to retain
the property. Of course the society could muster
a majority and won the lawsuit. The decision was handed
down in 1905 that the trouble did not warrant
the intrusion of the courts:
"The
pro-organ party had said during the trial that
when the organ was used as a part
of the worship, it was sinful;
but they defended it on the ground
that it was an AID
to worship.
Lipscomb,
on
the other hand, had insisted that it was a distinct
service,
and
when persisted in always supersedes and destroys congregational singing.
"The
court, passing on this phase of the question,
said that the claim that the organ
was not
a part of the worship was untenable
and it could not be considered as merely an aid to
worship."
There is no command, example
or remote inference that any of God's people assembled for
congregational singing with instruments. Of course it
comes as no surprise that Doctors of the Law who take away the
key to knowledge do not care enough to grasp that SPEAK
is the direct command for teaching the written LOGOS of the
Living Word. Bringing in an organ as an AID was grasped
by Churches of Christ as a weapon of violent invasion.
The
the Logos.Mythos or Word.Music proof that when
people move away from the Logos.Word of Jesus Christ they have
fallen into an effeminate or perverse trap and will never get
out.
Logos, Opposite.
kata pathos, Arist.EN1169a5
or personal experiences
Logos,
verbal noun of lego
Opposite kata pathos
Opposite music, poetry or rhetoric
Opposite
human reasoning
Opposite
Epagoge bringint in to one's aid, introduction
Alurement,
enticement, incantation, spell
Epagōg-ē , hē, 2. bringing in
to one's aid, introduction, 3. invasion,
attack,
5. process of reasoning, Aristox.Harm.pp.4,53M.
b. esp. in the
Logic of Aristotle, argument by induction (cf. epagō
1903
J.W.McGarvey What Shall we do
with the Organ
Before
this
it had bred similar evils among Methodist
societies and Baptist and Presbyterian churches; for all these
bodies in their early days knowing that the practice
originated in the Roman Catholic Church, regarded it as
a Romish corruption and refused to
tolerate it until it was forced upon them by the
spirit of innovation which
characterized the present century.
Now
it is obvious that these evils, the baleful
effects of which will never be fully revealed until the day
of judgment,
> must be charged either against those
who have introduced the
instrument
>
or against those who have opposed its
introduction.
I begin by
arguing that the practice belongs to a class of things expressly
condemned in the New Testament.
Jesus said in reference to
certain additions which the Pharisees had made to the ritual of the law: "In vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men." In these words he propounds the
doctrine that all worship is vain which
originates in human authority; or, to put it negatively, that no
worship is acceptable to God which he himself has not
authorized.
Paul echoes this teaching
when he condemns as "will worship" the
observance of, ordinances "after the precepts
and doctrines of men." (Col. 2: 20-23, R. V.) The
Greek word here rendered "will worship"
means
worship self-imposed, as
distinguished from worship imposed by God; and the
practices referred to in the context are condemned on
this ground, thus showing that all self-imposed worship
is wrong in the sight of God.
To deny, then, that
the present use of instrumental music in the church is a part
of the worship,
is a subterfuge and an afterthought ingeniously
got up to obscure the fact that it comes under the condemnation
pronounced against vain worship and will worship.
DEAR
BROTHER: Your second question is this: "
>
Should we fail to convince the brethren
that the use of the organ is wrong,
>
what else can we do to keep them
from forcing it upon us?"
Did I not
know that organs have often been forced into churches
by the act of a few individuals without
asking formal consent, and
that majorities
have
often put them in without regard to the protests of
minorities, I would be surprised at the form in
which you put your question;
but I
hope that the brethren to whom you refer are too
conscientious to do such a thing.
If conscience
does not deter them, they ought to be restrained by fear of
bringing
into contempt the practice which they
advocate; for nothing can sooner bring the use of the
organ into contempt
than
to see its advocates force it upon
churches in an unchristian manner.
To act
wickedly in order to worship
God more to your taste is to imitate
Rachel, who stole her father's
gods in the hope that the stolen property
would help her religiously (And give her the deed
to her father's property!)
THE
1906 BIG FAT LIE
Christian Union: Chapter
5 - Period Of Reunion 1906
By J.H.
Garrison
Speaking
of a National Organization by others, he notes:
"These fragmentary movements, while of
value in preparing the way for something better, were not
satisfactory. It was believed that something better was
practicable, and the great Inter-Church Conference in New
York City in November, 1905 was called, in this
conviction. It was believed that the time had come when the
evangelical Protestant bodies of Christendom.
J. H. Garrison defines the instrument as "matters of opinion"
but if you don't share his opinion then you are disloyal to
the "progressive" movement and to Christ. Furthermore, to
allow Paul's instructions about singing in church to govern
one's worship practices is equivalent to falling back under
the Law of Moses. With that in mind it is easy to see how
division was necessary.
"The same erroneous
method of reasoning has been applied to the Sunday-school,
to missionary organizations. "We come now to the
consideration of the very latest of these efforts to give
visible and tangible expression to the growing unity of the
Church, for the double purpose of
utilizing this
unity in the service of our common Master, and of
promoting a still
closer unification of the religious forces
of Christendom.
"We are bound, therefore, by every
consideration of loyalty to Jesus Christ, and by
every regard for our future growth and development, to co-operate
to the fullest extent possible,--which would be in different
degrees, no doubt, in different places--
with all who love and
serve our Lord Jesus Christ for the advancement of his
kingdom among men.
This is what the federation movement means,
and as such, it is the next logical step--the next
inevitable step--toward the complete unity of
Christians.
But there are other ways in
which some have been disloyal to this high ideal. This ideal
implies that Christianity consists, as it does, of faith in
and devotion to Christ, and is pre-eminently a spiritual
religion; that it is a life, rather than a system of
doctrine, although it involves sound doctrine. And yet
it has often happened that in their preaching and teaching
the chief emphasis has been laid by these men on things that
are external, rather than on things which are
internal and vital. Obedience to an externalcommand,
like baptism or the Lord's Supper,
In some instances local churches have
been rent asunder over the organ question, and sister
congregations have been alienated from each other because of
the different ways of doing missionary work. It is easy to
see, of course, how utterly inconsistent with any claim of
catholicity of position or spirit, for the movement,
The fact that they had almost no success in their hostile
takeover of Churches of Christ, the Disciples of
Christ-Christian churches tried to COUNT the Churches
of Christ as their members--all of them.
The Churches of Christ did absolutely nothing sectarian: by
definition the Sectarians or Heretics are those who IMPOSE
something not required over the views held entoto. En
toto included almost 100% of the churches in Tennessee in
1906. Therefore, the Disciples/ Christian churches
financed by their denominatal money extorted from the
congregations were not even COUNTABLE in the state and the
Society could not tolerate such a census.
The 1906 Census which was, I believe, the first, saw the
Disciples / Christian Churches attempting to do a body count
including the Churches of Christ in Nashville. The Census
taker knew this was utterly false and consulted Lipscomb who
just said NO to the body snatchers.
The Disciples-Christian churches already had a Denominational
Movement underway and needed the body count to send them vast
sums of money.
As far as the PRESENT CLAIM by the Christian Churches you have
to grasp that they did not begin to hold separate
denominational meetings until 1927 and were still counted as
Disciples unto THEY were removed from the census as late as
1971. That was the time when Garrett etal began to "cut out"
Churches of Christ where "unity" meant you AFFIRM instruments
or you CONFORM and then we can have unity.
Now why would people fall for the NACC effort at "unity" and
claiming that Churches of Christ were legalistic sectarians
when the Christian Church did not BEGIN to SECT out of the
Disciples until 1927?
When Churches of Christ denied that they had ever been
"joined" even fraternally since the introduction of
instruments among the Disciples which split that group. At
that time the Disciples/Christian Churches issued a Centennial
edition of the Declaration and Address which should prove to
anyone that Churches of Christ could not be counted on.
THIS
IS WHY THE ORGAN AND SOCIETY PARTY HOPED TO "TAKE TENNEESSE
IN 5 YEARS"