The Gospel of Rodney King

Written by

Christopher Mentzer

In doing a web search for the famous line, “Why can’t we all just get along”, I wasn’t the least bit surprised to have some 12 million sites come up with some connection to the phrase. And more and more people are using the phrase in conjunction to religion and the various mainstream churches. I was talking with a co-worker one evening about scriptural authority for choirs and other such things. A woman who overheard our conversation set out to berate me for my attitude. She inquired my congregation and when I mentioned church of Christ, she acted as if she expected my response. She asked if it wasn’t a fact that my kind of teaching was what was causing divisions in the church. At the time I thought she might have been right for my tact was a little on the heavy side. I inquired her congregation and she began to say interdenominational and then quickly changed her answer to undenominational. She went on to say that there were Christians in ALL churches and that we need to get along with one another.

After searching the scriptures I found out she was dead wrong. For Jesus himself taught division, “34. Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law: 36. and a man's foes `shall be' they of his own household. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matt. 10: 34-37) The division he brought is truth from error, the doctrine of God vs. doctrine of Man. “7. Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8. This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me. 9. But in vain do they worship me, Teaching `as their' doctrines the precepts of men.”(Matt.15: 7-9). It’s a matter of dividing the sheep from the goats. “31. But when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: 32. and before him shall be gathered all the nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats; 33. and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25: 31-41).

If Jesus preached division then why can’t I? One of problems with society today is that there is too much political correctness and it has infected the church. The apostle Paul wrote to Titus, “This testimony is true. For which cause reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.” There is no room for getting along when it comes to false doctrine (2 John 9).