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Their
Tactics
The Church of Christ denomination uses four main tactics in debating
their pet doctrines. These tactics are generally used by all cultic groups.
They are:
1. Change the subject I am not changing the subject.
2. Take scripture out of context You take the scripture out of context & pick and choose
which scripture you want to use without bringing in others.
3. Straw man arguments Just
what is a straw man argument? You
are the one that is grabbing at straws trying to disallow baptism and other
things.
4. Ad hominem attacks (attacking you instead of
the issue) I have spoken to
the issues. I have tried hard not attack you personally but have often
implied a lick of maturity and knowledge.
The way to counter these tactics is
very simple: Stay on the subject until you are allowed to make your point!
And remember, your opinion is no better than their opinion. Base all of
your conclusions on the Final Authority… God's Word! Yes, God’s word is what we want and
need! Any two disagree, three things
are possible, one is wrong, one is right, or both are wrong. One thing I know God is right. Rom. 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a
liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be
justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome
when thou art judged.
Rom. 14:5 One man esteemeth
one day above another: another esteemeth every
day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Are They A Cult? No more than you are!
Years ago the Lord gave us an acronym for cults:
C. Claim to be The Only
True Christians
U. Unorthodox Extra-biblical Revelation
L. Lying Leaders (History/Doctrine)
T. THE Way (Salvation is found only in their organization)
S. Salvation By Works (obedience to ordinances such as baptism)
You need to stick to God’s word. He did not give these things as a cult. Did not Christ say “I am the way”. Peter said
there is “no other way”. So what is
the problem here?
As you can see the only area that the Church of Christ denomination doesn't qualify for the title is that
they don't have any unorthodox extra-biblical revelation that they would
put on par with God's Word. But, they do:
1. Claim to be the Only True Christians. We claim we are only Christians. Now you claim to be other than just a
Christian.
2. Lie about their history,
by claiming that they can trace their roots to the day of Pentecost in the
second chapter of Acts. Again
you misrepresent the facts, we claim to go back to the New Testament and
establish our Church upon those teachings and none other. If one established the things that Christ
established, and recognizes the church found in the N.T. as the Church of
Jesus Christ and practices those same thing would that not be the right
thing to do. Would it not be better
to follow Jesus and him alone rather some man and his writings. They also mislead people about some of their doctrines,
by not telling prospective members what they really believe up front (Billy
Graham is not a true Christian?).
3. They are the one and only true "Body of Christ." No one goes
to the Father outside of their denomination! Are you sure of this accusation.
4. Their salvation occurs the moment they "DO" their part and get
baptized. We only claim
what the Bible says. We use all the
scripture in the Bible about baptism which you do not? And you must recognize that it is the baptism that remits your
sins, or it is of no effect! All it takes is one scripture, Acts
2:38.
Closing Comments
So are they a cult? No. Are they as close as you can get to the edge of
that perilous pit without falling in? Based on the Word of God, I would say
an emphatic "YES!" NO! If you are
a member of the Church of Christ denomination, please seek the Lord's help in
attaining true freedom in Christ. You might start by reading the book of
Galatians. The book of Galatians begins by warning
against those who pervert the gospel of Christ. (Gal. 1:6-12) You
perverted the gospel because in your zeal to attack the Church of Christ
you denied the very plain scriptures about baptism. The Bible says that through this process
you are put into Christ (Gal. 3:27, Rom 6:3-5), the body (I Cor. 12:12-13), your sins are remitted (Acts 2:38),
your sins are washed away Acts 22:16), you call on the name of the Lord
(Acts 22:16), you are saved (I Peter 3:21, Mark 16:16).
The book of
Galatians points out that if you keep part of the law (Law of Moses) you
are a debtor to keep it all, and that if you justify your self by the Law
you have fallen from Grace. ( Gal. 5:1-4) You pervert the gospel taught by Paul
because you go to the Old Testament Law of Moses to justify your use of
instrumentals in your worship. You
may have fallen from grace just as the scripture says!
If you have a loved one in the Church of Christ denomination (especially the International CHOC),
please do all that is within your realm of influence to reach them. I do not know anything about the
international CHOC. You need to be careful lest you be found to fight
against God.
My personal relationship with Jesus Christ has been one of great sorrows
but even greater joys. Ironically, when I became a member of the Church of Christ denomination, my father's side of the family
basically disowned me because they were mostly atheists. But then when I
left the Church of Christ
denomination, I became the
"black sheep of the family" on my mother's side, because they
were all from the Church of Christ denomination! None of my family were members of the Church of Christ when I obeyed the
gospel. But I have never regretted the
decision, and I never will. You certainly should not say I never will. Never is a very long time and we do not
know nor understand things well enough to say “I never will” anything. You may regret the decision on judgment
day. The love, joy and
peace that I have found in a personal intimate relationship with Jesus, far
surpasses what any list of "DOs and DON'Ts" could ever offer! ( Luke 6:46; Mat. 7:21; Rom.
12:1-2; 1 John 1:7-9) Having a true intimate relationship with
Jesus Christ evolves do’s and don’t’s. I do not know how you could say that the
love, joy and peace you have in Christ exceeds mine.
Our biggest concern for our
brothers and sisters in the Church of Christ denomination is the snare of legalism. The Church of Christ denomination seems to be more concerned with the
length of your hair than they are the condition of your heart. They tend to
strain gnats and swallow camels. They seem to be more concerned with
peripheral things and miss the weightier matters. I have seen Church of Christ denominations that knew some members were molesting
members of the church and nothing was done about it, (I do not know of any situation such as
this. This certainly would be a good
reason for withdrawal of that person) but GOD FORBID if anyone puts up a Christmas tree! There just
doesn't seem to be any balance. Maybe you think you make everything
balance. But you do not. I put up a Christmas tree this year and
my family has ever since my wife and I married. However, Christmas trees have no
connection to Christ, it is a family tradition.
The Church of Christ denomination claims to be an exact duplicate
of the original New Testament church. When you point out how radically
different they really are from the original NT church, they blow it off and
say, “That was then, this is now.” Well, then don’t
claim to be a duplicate of the early church. Facsimile? Maybe. Duplicate?
No way. A facsimile would be much better than not
having any connection or appearance of the Church that Christ built. Could not one take the Bible and build a
church on the description and precepts found there in that would be
patterned after the first century Church?
Yes, he can! That is what we
do.
If the Church of Christ denomination is a duplicate of the original church
(and they “speak where the Bible speaks, and they are silent where the
Bible is silent") then why don't they:
Greet one another with a
Holy Kiss? Because we follow the spirit of the
teachings. The “Holy Kiss” in the
eastern society is what a handshake of fellowship is to us in the western
society. In Arab countries and in Israel they still practice
this. You do not follow the spirit
of the teaching on baptism and other things.
Romans 16:16 says, “Salute one another with an holy
kiss.”
Why don't they have
signs following them?
Jesus said in Mark 16:17-20, “And these signs shall follow them that
believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with
new tongues; (18) They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they
shall recover.” Those signs did follow the Holy
Apostles. As we have discussed
earlier those things ended with the death of those men. We can only do what God has granted us. We can however do what is in out power to
follow the design of the Church built by Jesus Christ and his Holy
Apostles. Can you do those things in
the manner that they did. Certainly
not!
Why don’t they sell all
of their belongings and share everything with each other?
Like in Acts 2:45, “And sold their possessions and goods, and parted
them to all men, as every man had need.” This was done in
the infant stage of the Church. This
practice ended in Acts. Ac 5:1 ¶ But
a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2 And kept back part of the price, his
wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the
apostles' feet. 3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine
heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the
land? 4 Whiles it remained, was
it not thine own? and
after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?
why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not
lied unto men, but unto God. 5 And Ananias
hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came
on all them that heard these things.
6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and
buried him. 7 And it was about the
space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came
in. 8 And Peter answered unto her,
Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so
much. 9 Then Peter said unto her,
How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband
are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the
ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead,
and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. 11 And great fear came upon all the
church, and upon as many as heard these things. Seeing what Peter told him.
He did not have to give it to the apostles. Not all Christian did this. So Certainly we would not teach that one
had to do this. But if someone
wanted to do so they could. Some men
have left all their estate to the Church at their death. What one decides to give is his own
business.
Why do they forbid to speak in tongues?
I Corinthians 14:39
says, “Brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with
tongues. We do not forbid tongues. We want it done the way that 1 Cor. 14 describes.
When someone is sick in
your congregation, do the Elders come over and anoint the sick with oil and
pray for healing?
James 5:14 asks, “Is
any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let
them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”
I know some elders who practice this. I know others who feel that the oil
anointing, is the same thing as medicine.
Oil was used in those days to treat disease and sickness. Jesus spoke of it in (Luke 10:30-37)
Why don’t you meet
together, everyday like the early church did?
Acts 2:46, “Every
day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.” Every Church did not do this.
The Roman Church did not do this.
However every Church came together on the first day of the
week. By the way, this was to have
the communion (break bread). Ac 20:7 ¶ And upon the first day of
the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached
unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until
midnight. This breaking of break was the
communion. (I Cor
10:16-17) Do you do this every first
day of the week?
The fact is the Church of Christ denomination sometimes speaks where the
Bible speaks and sometimes they are silent when the Bible is silent.
I can honestly say that we
try our best to speak where the Bible speaks and to be silent where it is
silent. If we can be shown from the
scripture that what we are teachings is wrong we will change it or if one
can from the bible without a doubt show that we are not practicing what
Christ said we will change. The problem is that they are
inconsistent. When you ask them if they “Greet one another with a holy
kiss,” they will say, “that was just a mid-eastern custom.” But if you ask
them if “it is a shame for a woman to cut her hair,” then that is a
COMMANDMENT! I do not know why you keep going to the
hair issue. Some congregations have
women with short hair and others long.
We over all understand the principle taught is that of the head
ship. And one of respecting the head
over you.
The bottom line is that we
are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Grace through faith in Christ, is correct. But faith requires obedience or is not
faith at all. Consider the faith of
Noah (Heb. 11:7) and the fact that Noah did everything God said (Gen. 6:22) Consider the
faith of Abel (Heb. 11:4). Able did
what God said. That is how he got
his faith. (Rom.
10:17). Consider the faith of Abraham. Jas 2:20
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified
by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou
how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto
him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is
justified, and not by faith only. 25
Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified
by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out
another way? 26 For as the body
without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Faith without obedience is not faith but
a dead faith. It's all about what JESUS did on the
cross, not what somebody does in some puddle of water. It's the blood that
remits sin, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
Yes, that is right. You see
we come into the the death of Christ in baptism
and come into the blood of Christ. (Rom.
6:3-4) It was in his death that his
blood was shed. Even if baptism was essential, 99% of
the protestant church is baptized, so like Hebrews 6 says,
let's move on! We baptize every single new believer, just like the Lord
told us to. Then why make
such an issue about it. The fact is
the gospel that is preached by passes baptism for salvation and many are
not baptized. I find many people
who believed this type of message and have never been baptized. They were saved in a field, at home over
the radio, one even in a hamburger place, and on
and on it goes. But after the baptism, we teach the new
convert to move on to maturity. We also teach that one moves on to maturity. Notice what Jesus
said, “Mt 28:18 And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
This is exactly what
we strive to do. Why keep looking back at your baptism, when you should be
looking forward to Jesus. How
do you know that people do not move on to maturity and how can you say that
they keep looking back to their baptism?
You cannot see their heart.
Too many churches
concentrate on the Body of Christ (the church) instead of its Head. It's
all about JESUS!
TO
MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH
OF CHRIST:
If you can serve the Lord
with all your heart in the Church of Christ
denomination and stay
strong in Him until the day you die, then stay in the Church of Christ denomination. The web site is not for you, then. It
is for people who are in the Church of Christ denomination that are looking for more of Jesus.
They are tired of a religion, and want a true, deep, sincere relationship
with God. So if you have been wondering, “Is this all there is?” The answer
is, no. Jesus has a lot more for you than just a "religion." He
wants to have a real, vital, genuine relationship with you,
and it is just a prayer away!! As a member of the Church of Christ
I am certain that I have a relationship with Jesus Christ my lord. When one obeys Christ putting his trust
by living as Christ directs, relies on him for his salvation, direction in
live and prays often for his guidance and help, surely he has a personal
walk with him. Although you cannot
find the term “personal relationship” in the scripture. To accept Christ as your personal savior
is not a term that the God inspired, Holy Apostles used. Did you not say stick to the Bible. You need
to heed your own advice. How is that
you can claim that Church
of Christ people do
not have a personal, real, vital, relationship with Christ?
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