"For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. . ." Numbers 23:9

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THE MOUNTAIN MESSENGER

August 2004
Volume 1..........................Number 7
Crum, West Virginia

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"AMAZING AND CONFUSING"

By James E. Farley

This paper is published from Crum, West Virginia. Crum is located in Wayne County, on the Tug River which serves as the border between West Virginia and Kentucky. It is not a big place. In fact, the Crum Post Office services 585 homes; 435 with P.O. boxes at the office, and 150 on RR 1, which services the surrounding area around Crum. The actual little town of Crum has about 50 buildings in it. It is a good place to live, but it is like many little towns on a major U.S. Highway (Crum is located on U.S. Rt. 52") if you blink your eyes as you are driving, you’ll miss Crum.

What is my point? Well, I find it amazingly confusing that in this little berg there are currently four church buildings! We have the "United Baptist Church" and within a rock’s throw and just across the creek we have "The Separatist Baptist Church In Christ" which, of course, split from the latter. Then across the tracks we have the "Missionary Baptist Church". The other church house currently in Crum is the one that belongs to the Crum church of Christ. Think of that, a little town like Crum with four church buildings and three of them are "Baptist Church" buildings. Oh, that’s not all, my friends. There’s something else that adds to the confusion. Just below the middle school there is a new church building being built, and it is a "Freewill Baptist". Four Baptist Church buildings in one little tiny town!!!

For my own information I opened a book in my library called, Handbook Of Denominations In The U.S., by Frank S. Mead. In this little book, I counted twenty-eight (28) different kinds of Baptist Churches in the U.S. But, my friends, this is certainly not unique among the Baptists. Mead lists four kinds of "Adventists," nine different sects of "Brethren," eight kinds of "Quakers," ten "Lutheran" sects, thirteen groups of "Mennonites," nineteen who are called "Methodists," ten who call themselves "Presbyterian," etc., etc., etc.

Now, I do not call these names to anger anyone. It is certainly not my purpose to embarrass those who are members of these various and differing denominations. IT IS MY PURPOSE TO CAUSE YOU TO THINK! I want you to think about the mess of sectarianism, and to resolve to shake off the shackles of manmade creeds, catechisms, confessions of faith, disciplines, etc. These are what cause the divisions, but men and women can truly be FREE from this kind of error in Christ Jesus. (READ John 8:31-32).

Do you realize there are over 450 differing religious denominations in the U.S. alone, and all of these make some claim to be following Jesus? All of these teach and practice differently. This is not right! It is contrary to our Lord’s prayer as He was about to go to the cross at Calvary. (John 17:20-21). This division is contrary to clear teaching from the inspired apostle Paul. (I Corinthians 1:10-13). It is therefore contrary to the doctrine of Christ, and anyone who espouses and teaches a doctrine that is contrary to the doctrine of Christ does not have God. (2 John 9-11).

Read John 17:20-21 again right now. It is obvious from this passage that our Lord wants all who profess faith in Christ to be ONE, just as He and the Father are ONE. That is what it says, right? THINK, my friends. Can you imagine for one minute Jesus and the Father "agreeing to disagree"? Can you conceive of Jesus saying to the Father, "Father, let us have unity in diversity."? NO, a thousand times NO!!! You certainly will not say you can imagine such foolishness! If we are to be truly unified, as the Father and the Son are unified, we cannot have such foolishness in our minds and hearts either!

Furthermore, as you read John 17:20-21 you surely noticed the reason Jesus gives for all believers being ONE. He said that we should be ONE so that the world would believe that God has sent the Messiah. Now, the "flip-side" of this is also true. If professed believers are not really ONE as Jesus and the Father are ONE, the world will not believe. A non-believer is an atheist. Therefore, according to the very logic that our Lord puts forth here in John 17:20-21, denominationalism (division) contributes to unbelief. It is the seed-bed of atheism! Do you really want to be a part of something, and do you really want to support something that contributes to atheism? When you support denominational division you are indeed saying to the world, "Jesus is not really who He claims to be," and John 17:20-21 says so!!!

It is not enough to say, "OK we will all agree to be ONE!" but then continue on with your various creeds, names, titles, etc. that cause the division in the first place. It is not enough to redefine division and to redefine unity so that you may continue in the sin of denominationalism. One can stress the "ecumenical movement" all day long, but it still does not change the fact that all that is accomplished in the "unity in diversity" movement is UNION and not UNITY. There is a difference. Tie two tomcats’ tails together and fling them over a clothes line. You certainly have UNION, but who would affirm that you have UNITY???

Real Bible UNITY comes only when we "speak the same thing" (I Corinthians 1:10-13). That which we are to speak the same in order to attain to, and in order to maintain real UNITY is "the oracles of God" (I Peter 4:11). THE BIBLE IS RIGHT!!!

Luke 8:11 says "the seed is the Word of God." The Bible compares itself with seed. This is interesting to all who like to garden. Do you know why a squash seed will never produce a watermelon? Well, Genesis 1:11-12 says that every seed will produce after its kind. But how does this work? Scientists have discovered DNA and RNA. Every physical seed is full of information that "tells" that seed what it is. An apple seed "knows" it is an apple seed, and that it will not produce a tomato. A seed will produce ONLY what the information in that seed says. This is why when you plant Silver Queen corn, you will never get Iowa Chief corn. Why? There is simply no information in the Silver Queen corn seed about Iowa Chief.

The very same thing is true in the spiritual realm. God’s Word is the "seed" (Luke 8:11). When ONLY the Bible is planted in an honest and good heart, it will produce ONLY what the information within the "seed" (God’s Word) says. Nothing more, and nothing less. You will get a Christian ONLY, for the Bible ONLY makes Christians ONLY. In order to get a Methodist, a Presbyterian, a Lutheran, a Baptist, etc., you must plant different kinds of seed. You see, if you want to be a Methodist you must adhere to the Methodist Discipline (that’s one kind of "seed", and in order to be a Presbyterian you must adhere to the Westminster Confession of Faith (an entirely different kind of "seed". You cannot submit to the Westminster Confession of Faith and become a Methodist, for there is nothing in that "seed" about being a Methodist; it teaches how to become and remain a Presbyterian. You cannot adhere to the Augsburg Confession of Faith and be a Baptist, for that document will make you a Lutheran, etc., etc., etc.

Our plea among the churches of Christ is NOT for you to leave your church and to join ours. We are not interested in you leaving one denominational body, and joining yourself to another. Our plea is for all to leave denominationalism altogether, to drop all manmade names, creeds, titles, etc., and to simply adhere to the Word of God to and become a Christian ONLY. We call upon all to be members of the church of Christ "His church" the one you can read about in your Bible (the "seed").

Let me be clear here - If anyone reading this article can give me book, chapter and verse for something called "The Baptist Church" - either "United," "Separatist," "Missionary," or "Freewill" - I’ll become one. I’ll become a Baptist and encourage all, with every fiber of my being, to follow my example. All I need is some information from the "seed" for the "plant" called "Baptist". And friends, be sure of this one thing - THERE’S COMING A ROOTING UP DAY! Please read Matthew 15:7-13 carefully, and contact me if you have questions or comments concerning what I have written here.

James E. Farley -To Contact Jim by email, click here