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Why do churches of Christ consider it necessary to publish a statement as to why we will not participate in Billy Graham's Mission Oklahoma City and ecumencial efforts elsewhere? That question deserves an honest, sincere, Biblical answer (1 Pet. 3:15). Please understand that this answer is given with Christian love for all (Eph 4:15), and with malice toward none (Col. 3:8). There are some Churches of Christ in and around Oklahoma City which have departed from their Scriptural and spiritual moorings (Heb. 2:1-3; 1 John 2:19), as evidenced by their having integral parts in local ecumenical endeavors. Likewise, there are Churches of Christ which are participating in Mission Oklahoma City. The involvement of those churches of Christ in those activities has been promulgated far and wide. They seem to be the headline makers. Naturally, this has caused many people in the denominational churches, and even some members in churches of Christ, to mistakenly conclude that all churches of Christ in Oklahoma accept ecumenism and see nothing wrong with participation in such events as Mission Oklahoma City. To the contrary, The churches of Christ listed on this Gospel Preceptor website will fellowship neither ecumenism nor Mission Oklahoma City (Eph. 5:11). Billy Graham is a Baptist. True to his Baptist profession, Graham preaches Baptist doctrine. A couple of those doctrines having to do with sin and salvation are worthy of note. Baptist doctrine insists that all men are born in sin. Holding that doctrine, Graham told his audience in his 1999 Festival in Jamaica, You were born as a sinner! Thankfully, the Bible teaches no such thing. Scripture stresses that children are innocent (Ps. 106:37-38) and do not inherit sin from their fathers (Ezek. 18:19-20). In fact, Jesus taught that one must become as a little child in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:3-4; 19:14). When it comes to salvation from sin, Graham teaches Baptist, not Bible, doctrine. On his website ( www.billygraham.org ) he says the following:
If we believed, preached, and practiced Baptist doctrine, or believed that doctrine did not matter, we would have no qualms about fellowshiping Billy Graham. But true to our profession, we are committed to preaching the word of God (2 Tim. 4:2; 1 Pet. 4:11), the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), only the doctrine of Christ (2 John 9-11), without going beyond that which is written (1 Cor. 4:6). Believing, preaching, and practicing the doctrine of Christ (Bible doctrine) is what makes any congregation a church of Christ. Because Bible doctrine instructs Christians to have no fellowship with men who teach things contrary to the doctrine of Christ (Rom. 16:17; 2 Thess. 3:6; 2 John 9-11), we cannot fellowship Billy Graham. A number of things will be done during Graham's Mission Oklahoma City which violate the Lord's will. Because this is so, we cannot participate in it. Here is but one example of the many that can be provided. Music, performed in the various worship services by a variety of stars and groups, is one of the major drawing cards for Graham's Mission Oklahoma City. Someone noted tongue-in-cheek, 'Every style of music will be featured, from Hard Rock to Honky-tonk, but that's okay if you call it Christian Rock and Christian Honky-tonk.' It must also be noted that instrumental music will be a major factor incorporated into those periods of worship. If for no other reason, we cannot be in fellowship with Graham's Mission Oklahoma City because instrumental music will be used in the worship. Colossians 3:17 commands, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." Thus, in religious matters before a doctrine can be taught or a thing done, there must be explicit or implicit authority from the Lord (which is found only in the Bible, cf. Deut 4:2; Pro. 30:5-6; Rev. 22:18-19). When it comes to the music God wants used in the church's worship, only singing is Scripturally authorized (Matt. 26:30; Mk. 14:26; Acts 16:25; Rom. 15:9; 1 Cor. 14:15; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; Heb. 13:15; Jas. 5:13). Jesus said, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). Worship done using instrumental music cannot be done in spirit and in truth since the Bible does not authorize its use. Jesus established only one church (Matt. 16:18; Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4) [note from these verses that the body and the church are one and the same] and it was (is) not a denomination. Matthew was not a member of one denomination, Luke a member of another denomination, Paul a member of yet another denomination, etc. They were all members of one and the same church — the Lord's church. We are not a denomination, We are — and seek only to be — the Lord's church. This means fellowship with denominations cannot be done with the Lord's approval. God condemns divisions and those who cause divisions among His people (Pro.6:16-19; Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 3:3). Concerning His followers, Jesus prayed "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me" (John 17:20-23). Here, Jesus implied that division is harmful to His Cause because it hinders the world from believing. Knowing this to be the case, and knowing that it is the Lord's will for all His followers to be united — one — each one who professes to be a follower of Jesus should be doing all he can to achieve and maintain genuine unity which is acceptable to Christ. All who profess to be Christians should be: "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3). In Ephesians 4:13, Paul stressed that there is to be unity of the faith. Ecumenism may have a spirit of unity, but it is not the unity of the Spirit. In truth, Ecumenism is not calling for the unity for which Jesus prayed. Instead, ecumenism is advocating union. There is a vast difference between union and unity. That difference is beautifully and emphatically demonstrated in the statement: You can take two cats and tie their tails together and drop them over a clothes line. You will have union, but you won't have unity. But, those with an ecumenical spirit proclaim: 'We denominations are united on all essential matters anyway.' Stating it another way, some assert that all churches (i.e., denominations) share common core values and that their differences are only over unimportant matters. Perhaps, a few naive people might accept such claims. Others may utilize such errant verbiage to salve their consciences in an effort to ease their guilt for compromising and for allowing the divisions to go unhealed. However, no one who analyzes the very reasons why denominations exist can factually say that the differences are unimportant or that they all really believe and are united in the essential matters, the core doctrines. The truth is — Denominations differ on the following: God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, redemption, justification, sanctification, faith, repentance, confession, baptism, the name of the church, identity of the church, origin of the church, importance of the church, polity of the church, terms of membership in the church, worship of the church, work of the church, organization of the church. Folks, are all these nonessenntial? (Ready Answers to Religious Errors, A.C. Williams and J. Harvey Dykes, pp. 72-73). Differences regarding such matters cannot be swept under the rug. Slogans such as 'Let's agree to disagree' are absolutely meaningless, and certainly without Scriptural foundation! The Bible asks, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3. No! Churches of Christ can neither agree-with nor overlook denominational doctrines, neither compromise Bible Truth in order to participate in the ecumenical movement. Churches of Christ advocate the unity of the Spirit — Bible unity not the pseudo-unity of ecumenism. To those who would follow Christ, Paul said "Let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing" (Phil. 3:16). Paul told the Corinthians "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Cor. 1:10). No divisions! All followers of Christ are to speak the same thing! All followers of Christ are to be of the same mind! All followers of Christ are to be of the same judgment! Is that what is seen in denominationalism? Is that what is being advocated by the ecumenical movement? Indeed not! The means for achieving God-approved unity can be found only in the Bible. Paul told the Ephesian elders that the Lord's church was purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28). Further, Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus "Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body" (Eph. 5:23). Remember, the church and the body are one and the same. Ephesians 5:25 declares "Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. And, in Matthew 16:18, Jesus said He would build His church. If Jesus built His church, gave Himself for His church, became the Savior of His church, purchased His church with His own blood, then should not the church bear the name of Christ, rather than the name of some man, regardless of that man's greatness? Should it not bear the name of Christ rather than the name of a faction (i.e., a denomination)? Peter emphatically proclaimed "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). One cannot read in the Bible where Paul, or any other member of the Lord's church, was ever called by a denominational name. As prophesied in Isaiah 62:2, members of the Lord's church were called by a new name. There is one, and only one new name given in the New Testament. Members of Christ's church were called disciples (Acts 6:1), but that was not the new name. God's children in Old Testament times were called disciples (Isa. 8:16). Members of the New Testament church were called saints (Acts 9:3), but people living prior to the church's establishment were also called saints (1 Sam. 2:9); therefore, saints was not the new name. The members of the Lord's church were called brethren (Acts 6:3), but people under the Old Testament were also called brethren (Isa. 66:20). So, brethren was not the new name. The new name was revealed in Acts 11:26, "And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." By what greater term than Christian could any man desire to be called? If denomination's names were never given in the Bible as the terms by which the Lord's people were to be known, and if such terms only serve to delineate and maintain divisions, should those names not be given up? Should not only the terms provided by God in the Bible for those who are members of His church be used? Terms such as disciples, saints, brethren, and Christians are not divisive. They do not foster a party spirit. Certainly, no one should ever continue in anything which only furthers divisions. Because God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints (1 Cor. 14:33), and because it is the Lord's will for all those who would follow Him to be united, even as He and God the Father are united (John 17:20-23), and because internal divisions are strictly forbidden to those who would follow Jesus (1 Cor. 1:10-13), and because those who would follow Jesus are commanded to to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3), and because divisions among the professed followers of Christ bring harm to the Cause for which He bled and died (John 17:21): then every soul who claims to desire unity should do everything that is right, approved by God in His word, to restore the unity set forth in the New Testament. Only two things are necessary to have and to maintain unity of the Spirit as charged in Ephesians 4:3. First, all will give up those things which have caused and perpetuated the divisions in the first place. Second, all will have to return to the simplicity of New Testament Christianity, as set forth in the New Testament. Until these two things are done, there will be no unity of the Spirit — the only unity God will accept. |