I want to address this issue by asking questions and advancing answers. My answers may not satisfy all of you. I hope to be able to communicate my ideas with a minimum of confusion. It seems the need to clarify never ends. That being the case, I solicit your patience as I try to speak clearly and distinctly during this experience with words. If my approach to these matters makes for greater understanding and brotherhood, my efforts will not have been wasted.
Question
Considering the rampant division within the Christian community, is reformation likely to occur?
Answer
Possibly, but change will not come easily. The “chief priests and teachers of the law,” or most of today’s clergy and religious leaders, will oppose reformational efforts. They will try to persuade the crowd to ask for the status quo and to have reformation put to death. It was the clergy who “persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed” (Matthew 27:20). They refused change and killed the world’s greatest reformer. They executed the Prince of Peace by nailing Him to a Roman tree! They were more willing to “bosom-buddy” a murderer than to see their sects and denominations undergo reform. A repeat today would not alter the scene.
Question
Who can struggle for reform?
Answer
Only the free man. He must be free from anything that enslaves. He is not free if he is a party man. If he has yielded his will to some church or denomination or cult, he is enslaved, for he is bound to uphold his party’s creeds, promote its philosophies, and fight for its growth and survival. Should he waver a little to the right or lean a little to the left, he is soon called upon the partisan carpet and told to shape up or ship out. If he refuses to shape up or line up with the party’s shibboleths, he will soon find himself on the outside looking in. But this is the best thing that could happen to him! He would meet freedom face-to-face for the first time. He could then declare with the apostle Paul, “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a servant to everyone, to win as many as possible” (I Cor. 9:19).
Question
Is it possible to free oneself from all partisan entanglements?
Answer
Of course! We can serve others better when we are free of all partisan fetters, and that is because we don’t have to look over our shoulders to see if our party’s chieftains are looking our way. The free man does not nor cannot represent any church, faction, denomination, or cult upon the face of this earth.
He is God’s representative. He answers only to his Lord, not to the “chief priests and teachers of the law.” He has no lords, popes, or masters to whom he must give account.
Question
Would you describe such a man?
Answer
He is bold but not violent; firm but not rude; outspoken but not mouthy. The free man will be compassionate and loving. He will always remember that a man called Jesus transformed the world without throwing a rock, burning a building, drawing a sword, or brainwashing weak and innocent minds. This man Jesus changed the world by the simple act of persuasive teaching. There will never be another like Him. Praise His Holy Name!
Question
Are you saying that a “free man” should not listen to or take advice from others?
Answer
No, that's not what I’m saying. We are
not free if we refuse to listen to and take counsel from others whose wisdom is on a higher level than ours. Listening to and accepting counsel from others is not the same as being dictated to by the “chief priests and elders.” Submission to the latter will enslave us. Listening to the former will make us wiser.
Question
How can we differentiate between the two?
Answer
Look around you. Observe and evaluate. What do you see? Pewwarmers? Preacher worshippers? Spiritual deadbeats? Lukewarm and uninformed believers? If this is what you see, you’re looking at a system of slavery. Run as fast as you can! No, don't place yourself on the outside by abandoning your efforts to reform. “Run away” or renounce partisan slavery. Only then will you be able to work within the system to reform it.
Question
Are you bitter toward those who do not share your views on reform?
Answer
Goodness, no! I love them. I meet with them. I study with them. They are no less my brothers because they are not as caught up in reformation. My ministry is reformation. This is where the good Lord has planted me. I dare not reject the brother whose ministry is in some other field or area of life, or whose divine assignment differs from mine. I know only that I must work for reform. And I cannot work for reform by rejecting those who do not agree with my efforts.
Question
What aspects of reform do you recommend?
Answer
1) Churches must be willing to surrender all party labels, names, and partisan practices. The denominating of separatist Christian groups must cease. We must recognize that wherever God has a child, we have a brother or a sister. We have no half-brothers or half-sisters in the Lord. We are blood fellows of Jesus the Lamb.
2) Draw no party lines. If Jesus did not erect the barrier that keeps our brothers out, dismantle it. Remove the notion that salvation is found in our association with churches. Patterns and parties (churches) cannot save. Jesus is our Pattern, our Plan, and our Salvation. Churchism is the wrong answer to the world’s problems. If a solution is ever found, the world must look to Jesus—not to churches.
3) Purge all ritualism and formalism from our meetings and get back to the simple, informal, mutual method of sharing with and edifying one another. Our open class meetings resemble the open meetings of the early believers, for everyone is encouraged to participate. Participation makes for spiritual growth. Pewwarming makes for spiritual retreat.
It is utterly ridiculous to speak of leaving our classrooms to go “into the sanctuary to worship.” Worship in the new age is never defined as moving from one location to another. If we are not worshipping in the first room, it is unlikely the situation will improve by moving to the second room. For the committed believer, worship cannot be turned on and off at will. It is his whole life.
4) The “pulpit minister” must go! His position is a cancer in the body of believers, preventing the various parts from functioning as God intended them to function. The divine testimony is silent about our modern-day “pastors” and “pulpit ministers,” except they are referred to as hirelings (John 10:11-13). They need to be dismissed and encouraged to find a job.
5) Evangelical church leaders and Elders should cease accentuating extraneous issues such as The Rapture, The Battle of Armageddon, The Thousand-Year Earthly Reign, Middle East Israel, and other doctrinal “supplements” and start pointing the unsaved to Jesus. The innumerable magazines and books relating to these issues are causing confusion among the uncommitted and frustrating those who are reaching for a higher level of spiritual curriculum. They hunger for meat but are fed bottle milk.
Conclusion
These changes are not likely to come about overnight, for they did not develop overnight. Somewhere along the trail, change will come. The mood and the times are right for it. May God grant us wisdom as we make preparations.
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