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Original Message
  • HOW AN AGENT OF CHANGE VIEWS CHURCHES OF CHRIST
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      Posted Nov 25, 2003 2:40 AM

      Dr. Richard Hughes of Pepperdine and formerly of Abilene Christian University has recently given us his interpretation of our history in a volume entitled “The Churches of Christ.” In this book one gets a clear picture of how an intellectual of the change movement views us. Although Bro. Hughes is a life-long member of the Church of Christ, that in no way engenders any sympathy or respect for those of that church. The following observations are gleaned from his book.

      • Churches of Christ are a denomination that originated with Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell. We must look to them to know what we believe and how we arrived at our faith (pp. 5-8). He is comfortable identifying us as “Stoneites” (p. 76) and Campbellites (p. 82) although he knows that both Campbell and Stone and all of his brethren, prior to the current change movement, repudiated such misnomers.

      • Our fathers misunderstood and perverted their movement, turning it into a narrow, hollow sect that has grown progressively away from the noble ideals of the founders. “...among Churches of Christ, the restoration vision shriveled into a hard and legal shell, a parody of its former self” (p. 7). To him our fathers suffered from an “all pervading naivete regarding the power of history and culture; and a radically sectarian perspective by virtue of which they commonly claimed hat the church of Christ to which they belonged was the one true church apart from which there could be no salvation” (p. 57).

      • We were wrong in objecting to the introduction of Missionary Societies and instrumental music in the worship of the church. “(T)he origins of the instrumental music debate appear to lie in a struggle over social class...” (P. 57).

      • We splintered away from the real Camp-Stone Restoration Movement. “The authentic followers of Campbell (i.e. Disciples of Christ/Christian Churches, jhw), therefore eventually shifted their commitments from the restoration of the ancient church to the unity of all Christians, separate and apart from any concern with primitive Christianity” (p. 7).

      • We emerged as a separate denominational body in 1906. “In 1906 the first federal religious census lists ‘Churches of Christ’ as a new denomination whose most visible characteristic was their adamant refusal to use instrumental music in their worship” (p. 57). According to Hughes ours was “a radically sectarian perspective” (Ibid.). “By the middle of the nineteenth century, Churches of Christ were emerging as a sect in their own right” (Ibid.).

      • We mistreated Robert Boll the true heir of Barton Stone’s view of Christianity (p. 10). He and his premillennial followers who were the last vestige of Stone’s influence. They were persecuted and unfairly treated by us. To Hughes, “The real issue, of course, was not premillennialism but rather, the apocalyptic world view and the counter cultural ethic it sustained...” (p. 10).

      • We also mistreated those who sought to forbid the support of Benevolent Homes and Church Cooperation in Evangelism and Missions. He sees them as the true heirs of the fathers of the movement. They “remained loyal to the nineteenth century agenda of Church of Christ” (p. 12).

      • W. Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garret were true apostles of the faith that saved us from self-destruction by sowing the seeds of the modern change movement. “(I)t is difficult to overestimate the influence that these two men exerted among Churches of Christ...At the very least they helped create a theological climate that would prove favorable to the progressive tradition that emerged among Churches of Christ in the 1960s” (p. 139).

      • We have been and continue to be hopelessly racist since we did not actively support Martin Luther King’s “Freedom Movement” (p. 127-130), and only a few giants such as Royce Money have had the courage to go to a Black School and confess his sins and ask forgiveness (p. 138).

      • To change agents, the most radical and legalistic conservative best represents the traditional Churches of Christ. While the most intelligent, benevolent and moderate liberals best represent the progressives (p. 153).

      • He conveniently overlooks the scores of conservative men holding earned doctor’s degrees who have and are serving the “traditional” churches, while enumerating the heroes of the change movement who hold the terminal degree (pp.140-141).

      • We are not equipped to survive in the post modern age. “The pressing question for Churches of Christ, therefore, was this: how could a modern (i.e., Enlightenment -based religious tradition like Churches of Christ survive in a postmodern world?) (p. 152).

      • We don’t know how to interpret the Bible. “Indeed it is fair to ask how such a rigorously scientific approach to the biblical text (such as all brethren used prior to the 1980s jhw) could survive in the post-modern world” (p. 154). According to him we have been trying to figure out, “What kind of book (is) the Bible...? Was it a constitution? A pattern? A blueprint? Or (is) it a theological treatise, describing the relationship God seeks with human kind and the kind of relationships humans should therefore sustain with one another? Increasingly, leaders in mainstream Churches of Christ (i.e. change leaders jhw) defined the Bible in these later terms” (p. 154).

      • We have been wrong in denying women a leadership role in the public leadership of the church (p. 157). “The classic position of Churches of Christ on the role of women in church affairs surely reflected the values of a patriarchal American South” It was a mistaken hermeneutic that made us misapply Paul’s prohibitions against women in leadership positions. “If the Bible was a theological document, not a legal document then there were passages that seemed to reflect the core of the biblical message and for that reason, some felt, might well take precedence over texts like I Cor. 14 and I Tim. 2” (p. 157).

      • To Dr. Hughes, the liberals who espouse postmodern philosophy are right (p. 153). We are narrow reactionaries to resist them. “Churches of Christ, by the late twentieth century, were in the process of rethinking their other major theological support—the restoration vision. Indeed, many congregations had embraced the process of renewal and even redefinition of their tradition” (p. 158).

      If the learned doctor is a friend of Churches of Christ, I pray that he will never become our enemy.

      John Waddey
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    ...........................THE BOOK

    What Happened at the Madison Church of Christ?


    There are thousands of churches being taken over across America.

    This book is only about one of those churches. It's about the Madison Church Of Christ. By studying the methods used here along with the resource references you might be able to inoculate your church. At the very least you will recognize the signs early on.

    Many of the current members of the Madison Church of Christ still don't know what happened.
    Some never will know! This book is for them as well.

    Madison Church of Christ was a 60 year old church. At one time it was one of the largest churches in the US, and the largest Church of Christ.

    It thrived for many years on the vision of it's elders and those of it's ministers. Those visions undoubtably came from the the inspired word of Jesus Christ.

    At sometime in the last 10 years there was a deliberate plan by a majority of the elders to take the Madison Church of Christ into a more worldly realm.

    They used secrecy, covert planning, and outside sources to scheme and to change the format and direction of the Madison Church of Christ.

    The Elders knew that the membership would never approve such a plan. Using the tools of the "Community Church Movement"(consultants, books, seminars, meetings,planters,seeders) they slowly started initiating change so it was never noticed by the members until it was too late.....

    At the heart of the plan was the fact that old members were going to be driven off so new techniques could be used to go out and reach the unchurched through new "Contemporary Holy Entertainment" methods developed by the "Community Church Movement"

    Old members had to be kept on board long enough to get their plans ready, or the funds would not be there to pay for the new building. So by the plans very nature, it had to be secret.

    The church had no plan in effect to renew or approve elders. There was never any need. The elders had always been "as approved by God". 10 of the last 15 elders would begin to shed some doubt on that.

    The Elders did not even need a majority at first, because some of the elders went along unwittingly.

    This edition starts shortly after some of the members begin to smell something strange in January 2001. Later editions may go back and fill in some of the timeline.

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    This is only the first edition, and not the end. New editions will be printed as needed. To keep abreast of current changes, please visit our web site; http://www.concernedmembers.com/madison

    Here is the list of players;

    5 Godly Elders
    10 Not so Godly Elders
    120 "Deacons" (allegiance unknown)
    2,800 - 4,000 church "members"
    2 "teners" (people who have publicly confessed to have broken all ten commandments)
    Unknown number of "sinners" (This is what the 10 elders call us.)
    Unknown number of "demons" (Flying everywhere, to many to count)
     

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