Sullivan church of Christ – Sullivan, MO
Date: January 6, 2008
THE BIBLE AND TV GUIDE
On the table side by side:
The Holy Bible and the TV Guide.
One is well worn, but cherished with pride,
Not the Bible, but the TV Guide.
One is used daily to help folks decide.
No, not the Bible; it’s the TV Guide.
As pages are turned, what shall they see?
Oh, what does it matter, turn on the TV.
Then confusion reigns, they can’t all agree
Oh, what they shall watch on the old TV.
So, they open the book in which they confide
No, not the Bible, it’s the TV Guide.
The Word of God is seldom read,
Maybe a verse e’er they fall into bed
Exhausted and sleepy and tired as can be,
Not from reading the Bible; from watching TV.
So, then back to the table, side by side,
It’s the Holy Bible and TV Guide.
No time for prayer, no time for the Word.
The Plan of Salvation is seldom heard.
Forgiveness of sins so full and free,
It’s found in the Bible . . . not on TV.
— Selected
CHRIST IS “NARROW-MINDED”
Jerry C. Brewer
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is
the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find
it." (Matt. 7:13-14).
The world calls these words of Jesus, "narrow mindedness." That's because the
denominational industry preaches a humanistic religion of comfort which winks at
most sin and attaches no guilt to anything man does. The broad road to hell is
being traveled by multitudes who have been told by denominational hirelings that
there is nothing they must do to be saved and that God will save all
denominations. But that's not what the New Testament teaches.
The church of the New Testament is the only one which Christ will save. (Eph. 5:
23). That may sound "narrow-minded," but that's the plain truth of God's word. The
church of Christ is the greatest institution on earth and encompasses all the saved
of the earth. It was purposed from eternity (Eph. 1:3-12) and the Son of God himself
promised to build it. (Matt. 16:18). Moreover, its value was demonstrated when
Christ gave his life-blood for it. (Acts 20:28).
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things
to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. (Eph. 1:
22-23).
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and
through all, and in you all. (Eph. 4:4-6).
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Col. 1:18).
The New Testament church is the body of Christ and Christ has only one body or
church. Denominations do not constitute his body. They are counterfeits — man-
made institutions devoid of any spiritual or saving benefit — and constitute plants
God never planted. As such, they shall be rooted up and cast into the fire at the
last day. (Matt. 15:13).
The body of Christ — the church — is not a monstrosity of warring members
teaching contradictory doctrines. Ask a Mormon, a Methodist, a Baptist, a
Pentecostal Holiness, a Catholic or a Presbyterian what to do to be saved or how to
worship God and they will give differing answers. Does anyone honestly believe
Christ is the author of such confusion and contradictory teachings?
To believe and/or teach that all denominations comprise the one church of the New
Testament is sophistry gone to seed and defies all logic. Christ has only one body
— the church — and that's the one found within the pages of the New Testament.
It takes Baptist doctrine to make a Baptist, the Methodist Discipline to make a
Methodist, the Catholic's Catechism to make a Catholic and the Presbyterian
Confession of Faith to make a Presbyterian. But it takes the New Testament
without addition or subtraction to make a Christian — a member of the church
Jesus built. Christ has only one body.
The New Testament is also characterized as the "house of God." (1 Tim. 3:14-15).
That means the church is God's family and God has only one family. It's
blasphemous to even intimate that God has children outside his own family — the
New Testament church. All Christians are God's children, but God has no children
outside his family. One who has children outside his own family is an adulterer
and to say that God has children outside the church of Christ is to charge him with
adultery. God has only one family.
The New Testament is also called the "temple of God." (Eph. 2:19-22). God's temple
is his dwelling place and the only place where he will accept man's worship. It is he
who determines the acceptable place and form of worship. That is not the
prerogative of men. That principle is illustrated in the Old Testament tabernacle
and later in the temple Solomon built. It was there where God figuratively dwelt
among his people and it was within the temple where he accepted Israel's worship.
The principle is the same in the New Testament church. As the temple of God, the
church is the place where God dwells among his people and accepts their worship.
Denominations do not constitute the church of Christ. Therefore they do not
constitute God's temple — he has only one. Therefore, their worship is vain
because they teach the doctrines of men. (Matt. 15:8-9).
Denominations are no part of the church for which Jesus died. They are not the
"branches" of which Jesus spoke in John 15:5. When he said, "I am the vine, ye are
the branches," he spoke to his apostles and referred to individuals as branches —
not denominations. His words in John 15:6 make that crystal clear. "If a man (not
"denomination", JCB) abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered..." Christ has only one church and denominations are no part of it.
— via “Gospel Preceptor,” www.gospelpreceptor.com