“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy 4:1-3). The latter times are the gospel dispensation that began over 2000 years ago and continues today. This warning was relevant then and now.
In the 1840’s, the American Christian Missionary Society (ACMS) caused a division among brethren. It was a church-supported institution designed to accept funds from congregations and then send out preachers. There is no Scriptural authority for such an institution; its concept is foreign to the New Testament. The church built by Christ is to be the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15), and the local church, having been designed by God, is sufficient to carry out its collective work of preaching the gospel without turning its work over to an institution. The Disciples of Christ and Christian Church denominations were born out of this heresy.
In the 1930’s, congregations in different parts of the country were assaulted with premillennial doctrines from among their own. Courageous men of the day fought for the truth. Some fell away from the truth because of that error.
In the late 1930’s, some brethren were promoting the sending of money from churches to support colleges. This resulted in apostasy of some.
In the 1940’s, the concept of a sponsoring church gained popularity when churches like the Broadway church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas became a sponsor for preaching the gospel by accepting funds from other churches to do an evangelistic work. And in the late 1940’s, the Highland church of Christ in Abilene, Texas became a sponsoring church for a preaching program called the Herald of Truth. The sponsoring church arrangement – churches sending to another church to carry out a work of evangelism – is without authority in Scripture.
Many of these same churches that left the authority of Christ in their sponsoring church arrangements have continued with other departures from the faith. Now many have “fellowship halls” for a myriad of social activities, while some have family life centers and gymnasiums. Instrumental music has been added for those who want “contemporary” worship. Some churches have women leading in the worship while others question whether baptism saves. They left the authority of Christ a long time ago, and they have continued to drift further with no anchor. Of course they do not think so. But Bible teaching on the authority of direct statements and commands, approved apostolic examples, and necessary inferences is noticeably absent.
This is where liberalism has gone.
What is the answer? Go back to the old paths, the original gospel. “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17). To go beyond what Jesus and His apostles authorized – and those are the things that can be done in the name of the Lord Jesus – is to dishonor, disrespect, and disobey the Head, Jesus Christ. The evidence of continued departures from the faith coupled with the warnings of the New Testament should move us to have the utmost concern for being in subjection to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ in all things both individually and as the church in a locality.
-Larry Jones