God Hath Spoken

by Harris J. Dark

He knew that the Roman Catholics were wrong on indulgences, but they were also wrong on a great many other points which he did not discover. If he and his followers had continued to study the Bible and to make reformations as the need for them was discovered, then they would have kept getting back closer and closer to the original plan. This they did not do. Instead they made the tragic error of formulating a creed or confession of faith. This they probably did with good intentions, hoping thereby to protect their followers against the snares of Roman Catholicism and other errors, but they defeated their purpose. It was not long until the creed began to be recognized as authoritative—if not as equal to the Bible at least as a subordinate authority. Naturally the creed was erroneous and ambiguous. It was written by uninspired men and by men blinded and prejudiced by Roman Catholicism. The creed makers were wearing the colored glasses of Roman Catholicism. They who had had Romanism drilled into them from infancy could not instantly and entirely disabuse themselves of it. In some cases they retained Roman error; in other cases they were driven into opposite extremes.

Naturally, after a generation or so, they acquired members who were in the movement not because of conviction, but because of convenience, or because their parents were. This condition, with the deadening effect of a creed—of a human creed—made progress back to the Bible very difficult, if not impossible. Each step of reformation called for a revision of the creed, and creeds are hard to revise. People become attached to them; they come to think more of them than they think of the Bible itself, if they aren’t very careful. They develop a patriotic attitude toward the creed which is very difficult to overcome. Consequently, we have the Lutheran Church with us today.

This appraisal of Luther’s work will fit, in a general way, the work of other reformers. They made similar errors. If they had maintained the scientific attitude—which means to test every point, investigate to see if you are right and change when you’re wrong, prove all things and hold fast to that which is good—then they would have kept getting back closer to God. But when their movements became crystallized, when they became satisfied with their status quo, and had acquired a number of members who were without conviction, then they not only ceased getting back closer to God but they began to drift away from Him. As a consequence, many of the denominations today resemble their mother, the Roman Catholic Church, more than they did in the beginning.

And so, my friends, we have before us a brief outline of how denominations got started. The Roman Catholic Church is the result of centuries of drifting away from the New Testament pattern. Since it reached the zenith of its power, many other denominations have resulted from unsuccessful and incomplete efforts to reform the Catholics or some other existing group. In most cases the movement of the reformers, because of indifference and a lack of conviction in their ranks, eventually lost ground. In every instance, consciously or unconsciously, something besides the Bible has been accepted as authority. Errors, which the Protestant churches, willingly or unwillingly, inherited from the Catholics have been handed down from generation to generation even to the present. Thus, many unscriptural practices and doctrines of the denominations are traceable to the church at Rome with its preposterous claim of infallibility. Many members of denominations do not realize that much of what they get from their parents and preachers and which they fancy to be of Biblical origin, has, in fact, descended from Rome and can claim no higher authority.

VI
The Restoration Movement

But to pursue our historical survey a little further, at the beginning of the nineteenth century with three hundred years of Protestant denominational history before them, various religious leaders were awakened to the evils of creeds, and a “back to the Bible” movement was begun. In America the work of these men became known as the Restoration Movement. It was their purpose to go back to Pentecost, to begin at Jerusalem, as a surveyor begins at the established corner, mark out the lines revealed in the New Testament, and establish congregations just like the pattern that Jesus gave. That was a noble undertaking and it proved to be a very successful one. It was the fastest growing religious movement the world had seen since the days of the apostles.

But remember it is very difficult for reforms to stay reformed. In a generation or so there grew up in this movement also an element who were parties to it because their parents were and not because of personal conviction. Such an element is a liability to any movement. This element has become crystallized in the digressive wing of the movement, who, although some of their followers may not realize it, no longer regard the Bible as complete and final authority. They have no written creed but they have discredited the Bible. Whether they admit it or not, their principle is: “Where the Bible speaks we may be silent; where the Bible is silent we are at liberty to speak.” Without any effort to explain how it is done, they claim that God is still revealing his will to man in some way independent of the Bible. They claim to have advanced beyond the wisdom of the apostles themselves, and regard their own intellectuality as equal to, or superior to, the Bible. Thus, each man becomes a law unto himself, and there is, therefore, no ground for unity.

I am thankful, however, that there were some who refused to assume an indifferent attitude, who are still contending for the faith once delivered to the saints, and who realize that we must be ever striving to get closer to the divine plan revealed in the New Testament. Since reformations will not stay reformed, the only way to keep on the right road is to be forever getting back on the right way. This we cannot do unless we have conviction, and unless we study God’s word. That’s one of our reasons for giving so much emphasis to the importance of your searching the Scriptures daily. It may be that we have some in our very midst who do not know the difference between the true church and a denomination, and who cannot give an intelligent reason for the hope that is within them. Such an element in a congregation is easily deceived by digressive influences and must become strong in the faith for their own sake and for the safety of the church.

VII
The Need of Constant Vigilance

Hence, my brethren, we need to be watching today, lest we become slack and allow error to creep into our midst and become established among us. Remember that human nature is just the same now that it has always been. The same sort of indifferent attitude and drifting which resulted in the Roman Catholic Church and which resulted in the establishment of other denominations in the world, will make a denomination out of us if we are not always on the guard. Eternal vigilance is the price of being right. We have the same human nature that others have. If we aren’t willing to pay the price of being better students of God’s word, then we, too, will drift into another denomination, and not be worth the time and place which we occupy. We don’t need any more denominations! We have enough! If you want to be a member of a denomination you don’t need to start another one. You have more than two hundred to choose from. Some of them are very highly organized and well financed. There is no reason for starting another one; there are many reasons for not doing so! Unless we are going to understand the difference between the true church and denominationalism, unless we are going to contend earnestly for non-denominational Christianity, then we do not deserve to exist and the world would be better off if we did not.