The Church Needs More Elders Who Will Oversee The Flock
Glenn B. Ramsey

The mature organization of a local congregation of a church of Christ includes an eldership.  This word means two or more men who meet the qualifications of the Scriptures and who are appointed over the work of elders (See I Timothy 3 and Titus 1).

While the elders occupy an office (I Tim. 3:1), the work of elders is far more than a mere position.  It is a work where the care of the church is of utmost concern (I Tim. 3:5).  The description of elders as "pastors" of the flock implies the work of overseeing.  It should be noted that each elder is over each work of the church all of the time!  A unity in the eldership concerning the overall work of the church is absolutely essential.  This does not mean that each man is equally qualified to do every work, but that each is in accord with all others in the several efforts that will be engaged in at any given time.

Paul's instructions to the elders of the Ephesian congregation set out well the responsibility that such men must meet in pleasing God.

Luke records these directions in Acts 20:28-31, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears."

It is obvious that if elders are to lead the flock they must first take heed to themselves—they must oversee themselves!  When this is done they are properly fit to oversee the flock.

The overseeing of the flock involves properly feeding and protecting it from the wolves (those who would feed it poison food—false teaching).  The food we are talking about is the spiritual diet of proper teaching from the Word of God.  Elders must know what the proper food is and they must be able to detect when any "food" is improper!  They must, themselves, be students of the Bible.

The elders must know the men and women who teach in the various classes of the church—they must know and make sure that these Christians teach the pure and simple truth of the Gospel.

The elders must know the preacher!  They must know what he believes and teaches, whether publicly in the assemblies, or in private meeting with various people.  Any eldership that thinks the church is protected from false teachers without a sure knowledge of the faithfulness of the local preacher is in a very dangerous predicament.  Sometimes elders seem to think that the local preacher has little influence on the congregation—and that his views are not far reaching.  This is far from the truth.  Someone said, "As goes the pulpit, so goes the church!"  There is much truth to this.  When an eldership fails to properly superintend the preacher as he goes about his work they fail ultimately in their mission to feed the flock.  This is true because, as far as teaching is concerned, the preacher and his lessons are always the primary instruction (feeding) mechanism of the church!

Sadly, there are elders who let the preacher do what he wants to do with hardly any concern.  This often continues until it is apparent that the preacher has been feeding "bad" food—the results show this.  Then the elders try to do something about it!  But, too often, many are already so sick because of these "perverse things" they have "eaten" that they cannot be revived.

Elders must: (1) feed themselves properly; (2) see that the "feeders" of the congregation (all teachers and the preachers) know how to feed the flock and that they feed the flock the proper scriptural diet; (3) guard the church against any who would destroy it by improper feeding (false teachers, etc.).

Pray that our elders in the various congregations will be good stewards of their trust.

Editorial
Malcolm L. Hill

The church of Christ needs to be militant.  The church of Christ must be militant if it would please God.  But someone says, “What does the word ‘militant’ mean?”  Webster says it means:  “engaged in warfare or combat:  fighting; aggressively active (as in a cause): combative” (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, p. 753).  The true church of Christ is to put on the whole armor of God and fight the good fight of faith (Eph. 6:10-17; II Tim. 2:4; I Tim. 6:12).  Genuine Christians are not content to peaceably coexist with false teachers and doctrines of demons.  One of the sad things that has taken place over the past 25 or 30 years has been the spiritual weakness that has come over the body of Christ in general.  A great portion of the church does not want to fight the adversaries of Christ anymore.  It seems that the church has developed spiritual leukemia and is so weak relative to the truth of the Bible that she does not have the strength to stand up and fight error and sin.

The people of God have always been on the march against Satan and his forces.  Elijah spent his life fighting for the Lord.  Elisha came along behind Elijah and spent his life fighting for God.  Joshua was so engaged in battle for the Lord that he prayed for the sun not to go down until he was victorious in battle for Jehovah.  Jesus Christ spent His entire ministry fighting for truth and right.  There has never been a person to equal Him in being zealous for the truth.  After Paul was converted, his life was a living sacrifice in battle for Christ and His church.  Paul preached the gospel in synagogues and temples as well as in the streets and in villages.  He preached to kings and queens as well as to peasants and slaves.  He was aggressively active and combative throughout his Christian walk of life.  And what did Paul receive for his spiritual warfare for Christ?  Let him tell us:

Are they Hebrews? so am I.  Are they Israelites? so am I.  Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.  Are the ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool,) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.  Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and, painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness (II Cor. 11:22-27).

“Be careful what you say,”  says one member of the church to a faithful preacher of God.  “Don’t talk about the sinfulness of denominationalism,” says another unconverted church member.  “Let us be careful,” says another member of the church not wanting to offend anyone.  The agnostics in the church tell us we cannot know anything for sure.  They tell us that God just might save some that have not been baptized.  They tell us that hell is not eternal for sure.  These half converted souls tell us that there are saved people in all denominational churches.  We are told to leave others alone and just love them.  Those who speak this way do not know what love really is.

The churches of Christ in general have taken on the attitude of the citizens of the United States.  The going thing in society today is, “Do not tell anyone he is wrong.”  We are told to let the other fellow believe as he wishes and let us do the same thing.  The prevailing attitude is, “You are right, I am right, the other fellow is right.”  This is the very attitude that many church of Christ folks have today.  But this is not anything like the church of the New Testament.  Christians in the New Testament were persecuted all over the world.  They were scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching the Word (Acts 8:1-4).  They were everywhere spoken against (Acts 28:22).  The early Christians were beaten, cast into prison, hated, despised, talked against and about in society and in high places.  Why was this so?  Because they stood for the Lord’s cause and would not compromise their convictions.  The early church did not hesitate to tell others they were wrong.  Were they militant?  Indeed they were.  Were they ready to fight?  There can be no question that they were.

The church today has gone to sleep relative to things she should be doing.  The Pentecostals have passed us up.  Not only have they passed us up but they have claimed many members of the church of Christ.  The Church of God that used to be across the tracks is now in the main street with huge memberships.  Other sects have done the same.  And what has the church of Christ been doing?  Tip-toeing through the tulips.  She has been preaching a watered-down gospel that in far too many cases could be preached in any denomination in the community.  In fact, some of the preachers in the church of Christ are so weak that their sermons would not be strong enough for many of those various denominations.

Faithful preachers of the gospel are treated worse than the Pope of Rome by many who call themselves Christians.  The church of Christ I knew years ago exists only in a few places today.  In those days they believed in fighting for the truth.  They did not hesitate to debate their cause.  In those days they did not hesitate to call names of denominational preachers and denominational churches when such was needed.  There was no peace for those in denominationalism and error.  The brethren got after them plain and simple.  Folks in those days knew where the church of Christ stood and that for which they contended.  Denominational preachers were sometimes driven out of town by the faithful proclamation of God’s Word by dedicated men of God.  And what happened to the church of the New Testament in those years?  It grew and prospered as it never had since the days of the New Testament.  The church of Christ was the fastest growing religious body in those days.

But what has  the watered down, compromising, soft spoken, number-minded, half-converted, indifferent, limber-necked church of this generation accomplished?  She has caused the people of God to sin and go astray.  And what about the growth of the church?  It has dropped until it is around fifteenth in growth in this country.  When we were strong and militant with the gospel we grew and were number one.  Conviction, conversion, and an unwillingness to compromise along with plain teaching will make the church grow again.  Until and unless that time comes, the church of Christ will go down, down, down.

The Church Needs the First Principles Taught and Preached
Ronald D. Gilbert

What do we mean by “first principles”?  “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.  For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those why by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:12-14).  This passage literally says that the first principles are “the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God.”  In any field of study one must begin with the basics.  Do you remember very early in school having to learn your multiplication tables?  Memorizing multiplication tables was the foundation for math.  A child in the 10th grade who did not know his multiplication tables was in big trouble.  Some who entered college unprepared in math were required to go back and take remedial math to learn again the basics or first principles of math.

What are some of the first principles that Christians should learn?  The plan of salvation is a basic truth all Christians should know.  If you are a New Testament Christian you should be able to tell others what to do to be a Christian.  Not only should you be able to tell someone what to do to be a Christian, but you should be able to go to the Bible and read it from God’s Word.  Since so many people don’t understand the Bible teaching on baptism, you should be able to go to the Bible and show someone the teachings of the New Testament on baptism.

One should also understand when he obeys the Gospel of Christ he leaves the kingdom of Satan and enters the kingdom of Christ or the church.  A basic understanding of the New Testament church as contrasted with man-made denominations is very important.  Being able to show from the Bible that Christ promised to build His church (Matt. 16:13-18), He purchased the church with His blood (Acts 20:28), and there is but one church (Eph. 4:4) is part of the basic understanding of New Testament Christianity.

One should have a basic understanding of how the Bible authorizes.  One must have Bible authority for what is taught (Col. 3:17; I Pet. 4:11).  One must also understand the principle of the silence of the Scriptures.  This point is seen clearly in Hebrews 7:14.  Since there was no Bible authority for one of the tribe of Judah to be a priest of the Levitical order, then he could not.  This point is also seen in Leviticus 10:1-2 with Nadab and Abihu who offered “strange fire” before the Lord, which he commanded them not.  In other words they did something in worship for which they had no Bible authority and were killed.

In years gone by the church of Christ were people known as “people of the book.”  What has happened over the past several years?  In many areas the first principles are not taught much before one obeys the Gospel and not at all after obeying the Gospel.  Many of our preachers are preaching the “perceived needs” of the people instead of grounding people in the truth.  This, no doubt, is why we hear of more and more so-called members of the church moving their membership to denominational churches.

In years gone by a great number of New Testament Christians knew why it was wrong to have instrumental music in worship.  They understood why the Lord’s Supper is to be taken on the first day of every week.  They could tell people why women were not to preach and teach over men.  They understood why denominational baptism was invalid and why denominationalism was sinful.  They could explain why New Testament Christians could not fellowship those in denominationalism and false teachers within the Lord’s church.

The Hebrew writer said in Hebrews 5:12-14 that the time had come that these brethren should be teachers, but because they had not learned the first principles of the oracles of God, they were in need of being taught those first principles.  Children must learn their ABC’s before they are ready to read.  Brethren, there is no substitute for the first principles.  If you have not learned them already, go back and learn them and teach them to others.  Preachers and teachers, there are not short-cuts; teach the basics before and after conversion.  The church today is in need of hearing and understanding the first principles of the oracles of God.

The Church Needs To Be Militant
Paul M. Wilmoth

Militant: “1: engaged in warfare; 2: aggressively active esp. in a cause” (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

These are trying times for the Lord’s church.  We are constantly being encouraged and taught that we should love everybody, never offend anyone or be judgmental.  The question we are considering in this article is: should the church be militant?  And, by definition, the question becomes: should the church be “engaged in warfare”?  And should the church be “aggressively active in a cause”?  What does the Bible say?

Paul instructed Timothy, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (II Tim. 2:3).  Timothy was a soldier in the Lord’s army.  He was engaged in warfare against the enemy.  “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (II Tim. 2:4).  A soldier, whether in the literal army of our country or in the Lord’s spiritual army, is made by the path of hardship.  His way is long and weary, but the price of victory is well worth it.  Those in the army of God are there because they have volunteered.  None are drafted against their will (Matt. 11:28; Rev. 22:17).  Each individual must decided for himself whether he wants to be a part of the army of God.  This service is for life (Rev. 2:10).  When one becomes a volunteer, he is expected to remain in service until the war is won and the enemy has been defeated.  There is no way to be “mustered” out of service.  There are no furloughs or leaves of absence.  It is true that some go AWOL.  The punishment for such desertion is death (Matt. 12:30; 25:46; Rev. 3:5; 20:14-15).

That Christians are to be engaged in warfare is clearly taught in the Scriptures.  We are to “war a good warfare” (I Tim. 1:18).  “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor. 10:3-5).  We are to fight!  “Fight the good fight of faith” (I Tim. 6:12).  “. . .ye endured a great fight of afflictions” (Heb. 10:32).  And mentioned in Hebrews 11:34, the faithful are those who have “waxed valiant in fight.”  Paul mentions, “I have fought a good fight” among the reasons he was to receive a crown of righteousness (II Tim. 4:7-8).

We have a reason to fight.  We have an adversary.  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (I Pet. 5:8).  Satan is involved in every effort to get us to sin, in every effort to get us to give up or quit, in every effort to be any less a soldier than God and Christ would have us to be.  Satan never rests; he never lets up; he never ceases to engage the faithful in his warfare.  Those who are enemies of the cross are serving Satan, even though they may appear to be great men and women.  Paul spoke of such in Philippians 3:18 and called them “the enemies of the cross of Christ.”  The Bible speaks of enemies which the Lord is trying to destroy.  Read I Corinthians 15:25 and Hebrews 10:13.

When one becomes a soldier in the Lord’s army, he is fitted with a uniform.  Paul describes this uniform in Ephesians 6:11-17: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation. . .”  Perhaps one of the reasons so many refuse to fight today, to be militant, to engage in warfare, to be active in the cause of Christ, is because they have never put on the armour!  They are not prepared.  They are frightened to death by the enemy. So they argue for spiritual pacifism.

Notice also that the soldier of Christ is to carry a weapon: “. . . and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17b).  This weapon is “quick, and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword” and is to be “piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit . . .and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).  This weapon can be used to “prick” (Acts 2:37) and “cut” (Acts 7:54).  Please take note that our weapon is a sword, which is to be used to engage the enemy in fight.  It can and must be used both as a weapon of defense and a weapon of offense.  IT IS A SWORD TO FIGHT WITH AND NOT A BUTTER KNIFE TO SPREAD BUTTER!

The question is not SHOULD the church be militant.  The church, if she is to fulfill her role as taught in Scripture, MUST be militant.  It is high time that our cowardly preachers unsheath their swords and once more engaged the enemy in battle.  The problem is in far too many cases, the enemy is US!  How about you?  Are you a good soldier of Jesus Christ?

The Church Needs To Wake Up
Kerry Duke

Paul knew that trouble was coming to the church at Ephesus.  He pleaded with them to wake up:

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. (Acts 20:29-31)

Though we have not had prophets like Paul in recent generations, we have had preachers who sounded warnings years ago that apostasy was coming.  Though these men are dead, their cry of warning rings out to a generation that has seen their predictions come true.

In 1971 G.K. Wallace warned that accrediting institutions would help lead Christian colleges into digression.  He noted that these schools were beginning to allow accrediting bodies to set up the qualifications of the teachers in the Bible departments.  These bodies, he observed, knew little about the Bible, and yet they were telling Christian colleges what to do!  He warned, “It does not take a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, nor a dresser of sycamore trees to see where this leads” (Gospel Advocate, May 20, 1971).  He also had the courage to call names!  He lamented the fact the founders of such schools as Freed-Hardeman (where brother Wallace had taught for years), David Lipscomb, and Abilene Christian could not even teach in the schools they had founded if they had been alive in Wallace’s day.  And he said this in 1971!  Brother Wallace warned, “Brethren, we are not only drifting, we have drifted.”  Why didn’t brethren wake up and listen to him?

James D. Bales and Foy E. Wallace, Jr. often sounded the trumpet.  Brother Bales’ book Trojan Horse in the Church is a perennial illustration of the subtle and gradual influence of modernism.  Foy E. Wallace, Jr. said in 1976 that “the churches of Christ are in the midst of the most serious doctrinal crisis in extent since the emergence of the Restoration Movement on this English-American continent” (The Present Truth, p. 1019).  I wonder what he would say if he were alive today?  As he noted a lesson from his past in the following citation, he sounded a warning about his future—our time!

Repeating history sustains the assertion that every major digression and departure culminating in apostasy has originated in the schools.  The colleges mold the churches and control the preachers who seemingly stand in awe of the colleges—and the result is college domination of preachers and churches. (The Present Truth, p. 1019)

It is tragic that both Bales and Wallace compromised the truth on divorce and remarriage.  But their warnings against apostasy as a whole, how it operates, and the sources of digression are striking samples of warnings that went unheeded.

About one hundred years ago J.W. McGarvey said these words to Jesse P. Sewell:

You are on the right road, and whatever you do, don’t let anybody persuade you that you can successfully combat error by fellowshipping it and going along with it.  I’ve never held membership in a congregation that uses instrumental music.  I have, however, accepted invitations to preach without distinction between churches that use it and churches that didn’t.  I’ve gone along with their papers and magazines and things of that sort.  During all these years, I have taught the truth as the New Testament teaches it to every young preacher who has passed through the college of the Bible.  Yet, I do not know of more than six of those men who are preaching the truth today.  It won’t work.

Have brethren learned from brother McGarvey’s mistake?  Have churches heeded his warning?  Liberal churches of Christ today are just as liberal as, and in some cases more liberal than, the Christian church of a century ago.  Yet preaching brethren continue to fellowship and go along with them.  These brethren say they do not agree with them, but they will not tell this clearly to those liberal churches and schools who invite them to speak!  They claim to oppose liberalism and insist they speak at liberal venues to try to change this trend, yet their lessons are so general and pleasing to the ears of liberal brethren that they are congratulated for their lessons and are asked to come back time and time again to deliver their masked reproofs!

Vocal liberal brethren are as a whole denying virtually every fundamental tenet of the New Testament church except, as far as I know, the existence of God, the deity of Christ, the reality of heaven, and of course the person of the Holy Spirit.  Aside from these things, however, they have denied the essentiality of baptism, the necessity of assembling together on the first day of the week, and the authority and qualifications of elders.  They have maintained that drinking is alright and that divorce and remarriage for reasons other than fornication is acceptable to God.  They have denied that hell is eternal and affirmed that we should fellowship all who merely believe in Jesus.

It is time to wake up!  It is past time!  It is time to stand up and speak out, now!