Discovering our Roots: The
Ancestry of the Churches of Christ
We have known that the ACADEMIC
world is devoted to teaching a MYTHICAL HISTORY. I aked a friend who
was entering his doctoral work on English history: "When do they quit
teaching the myths and begin teaching history?" He noted that they
were just now beginning to sort out the "urban legends" of fantasy
land. We believe that "Myths America Lives By" is created by a
scholarly disconnect from the original documents of history and a
reliance on other "scholars" who can advance their "career
path." Richard T. Hughes
is Distinguished Professor, Religion Division, at Pepperdine University. The Stone Campbell Movement
attempts to BOND the churches of Christ to the Stoneites with the
goal of promoting UNITY which always meant capitulation to the mortal
sinfulness of attempting to worship a Holy Spirit God with the works
of human hands: nothing is more works intensive than music.
See the Stone Campbell Movement and the links which deprive people like
Richard T. Hughes and C. Leonard Allen of any claim to RECLAIM
faithful churches of Christ by threatening: "Bow or Burn." There is
absolutely NOTHING promoted by the Campbells and hundreds of others
which did not have its ROOTS in the Bible as well as true scholars
who preached those roots. There is nothing in the Bible or in the
views of historical scholars--before the Christian church in
1878--which does not know that ALL musical terms and names of
instruments are MARKS of Satan, burning types of Lord Jesus Christ,
priests or Sodomites. Hughes and Allen make a great
LEAP backward and land in downtown Babylon whose religion was imposed
on Israel as a curse when they rose up to play in musical idolatry of the TRIAD at Mount Sinai. All
HISTORIANS who
commented in the Bible say it over and over. Those promoting MUSICAL
worship have only Satan for their authority. What is
the universal connection between music AS worship and Serpent
Worship? How does music AS worship connect to the
Devil? Jesus said that
children of the Devil "speak on their own." See Leonard Allen &
Danny Gray Swick In
Participating in God's Life Two Crossroads for Churches of
Christ. If you are a
"scholar" validated by other "scholars" you don't have to worry about
the Bible or historical facts. See how Leonard Allen misses the point
in Restoration History and his reviewer does not know his own Charles
Wesley's views against the trinity and instrumental music.
I would say NO. God is God and
professors are professors and never the twain shall meet. If God
intended that we GET SAVED only to IMPROVISE and INNOVATE then why
did He spend so much time condemning those who refused to follow His
Commands
and Examples? The CORE saving truth according to Rubel
Shelly and others
contains only seven facts ABOUT Jesus. The CORE doesn't even have
SEED left on it. "Are you having
difficulty discerning or receiving this "new revelation"? Then you have been
interpreting your Bible in the "old
way," "If this describes you, then
you belong to the "Old
Generation" "You may even be a
member of a denominational church, with its
dogmatic confession of faith and statement of doctrine. These
legalistic
forms will be
relics of the past in the up and coming "Post-denominational Church." and listen to what
the "spirit"
is saying to the churches through the Latter Rain Prophets and Apostles, who are dispensing many "new, sacred truths." Carroll D. Osburn:
These are the best of
times to be involved in Christian education! If we are to have a truly significant impact upon
the national and international scene, faculties of
religion must play leading prophetic roles in channeling and facilitating whatever changes loom ahead. Or, it is called THE NEW
WINESKIN. Why do we think that the SCHOLAR'S writings are so funny
and clearly ANTI-scholarly? Calvin:
"There is no more marked
manifestation of God's wrath than the fact that he permits the
decline of his spoken and written Word." When God pours out His
wrath, He sends BUFFOONS. We will prove by quoting ORIGINAL SOURCES that
"among the scholars" dwells the same spirit of the early DOCTORS OF
THE LAW condemned by Jesus because they "take away the KEY to knowledge." SCHOLARLY books must quote OTHER SCHOLARS but they
assuredly have never read much Bible or men like Calvin or Martin
Luther who repudiates the ASSAULT rhetoric in the following
quotations. Not ye checked.
C. Leonard Allen and Richard T. Hughes,
Discovering Our Roots: The Ancestry of the Churches of Christ (1988,
ACU Press). Given Luther's critiqued of philosophy
"devil's whore." The entire Bible and secular history PROVES that
musical rituals are the INSTRUMENTS OF THE "SONG OF THE PROSTITUTE"
who was Tyre, ancient Babylon and the end- time BABYLON WHORE. She
will AGAIN return to Sheol with HER musicians and instrument players
(Rev. 18). Richard T. Hughes and C.
Leonard Allen
It is a fact that all religious persuasions
believe that their roots are in the apostolic teachings of the New
Testament. The so-called "high church" view of the Stonites that
faith and practice evolves to fit the culture was NEVER accepted by
any group in the history of the church. And in fact all
denominations claim first century roots. That makes the Restoration
Movement exactly fit common humanity. That being true then to claim
this "maes ourselves into gods" is sophmoric and intended to
predjuice the reader. See the
history of Commands, Examples and Inferences which any Bible student
would know was not invented by non-instrumental churches of
Christ. These anti-church writers clearly focus in
on specific issues: >
Choirs or "teams" > Baptism for or
in order to the remission of sins rather than baptism BECAUSE you
are predestinated and saved by faith only. > Give the false impression that EVERYONE
ELSE freely fellowships everyone else,
impose a burden which deprives free believers the "right of
association" and the "right to practice religion based on their own
views of Scripture." > They use psychological violence by their mantra that to REFUTE any doctrines of
anyone else makes you legalistic, sectarian and
unloving. Of course they make more than a cottage industry out of
judging those who pay their bills. Scripture gives everyone the liberty and
freedom of belief and of association. In fact, John Locke whom they
despise, risked his life and liberty to give us political and
religious freedom to freely JOIN any association, to condemn it and
to WALK AWAY from it if we choose. Those who IMPOSE something not
essential to the function of the church or synagogue not authorized
by Scripture are clearly by all definitions the SECTARIANS.
Sense and
lust blinded their minds in some, and a
careless
inadvertency in others,
and fearful
apprehensions in most
(who either
believed there were, or could not but suspect there might be,
superior unknown
beings) and their worship
with foolish
rites, as they
pleased; It cannot be grasped that
simply singing as teaching is what Paul commanded. At the same time,
musical performance is CRAFTSMANSHIP condemned in Revelation 18. It
is put into the hands of a priest or MUSICAL WORSHIP LEADER like the
Catholic Precentor and fills head with the false notions of the
writer of the silly praise songs. These people actively work to remove this
liberty.
DISCOVERING OUR ROOTS, A Review If you want to find the ROOTS of DISCOVERING
OUR ROOTS you must go to the SOURCE: A. Leonard Allen: all of the
other writers Such as Rubel Shelly and Randy Harris is DITTO
HEAD. Erich Hall excerpts
The Cruciform Church. I have most of these books but much has been covered
by Hall. Leonard Allen
one's own church or
movement stands above mere human history. One's own movement partakes only of the
perfections of the first
age, the sacred time of
pure beginnings... This sense of historylessness works in powerful and subtle
ways. In the process it creates exhilarating (and damaging) illusions. If you need a fiction
writer? "Among Churches of Christ it
often has meant that we simply discounted eighteen centuries of Christianity as, at worst, a
diseased
tumor or, at best, an
instructive
failure. And not surprisingly, the same
attitude has led many people among Churches of Christ to dismiss
their own history as itself irrelevant. For after all, if
our origins come
entirely from the Bible
and our churches are New Testament churches, then we really need not
bother ourselves with the recent past.
With band member Rubel
Shelly that is DELETERIOUS AND DECADENT. Those "not among the
scholars" call that Destructive and rotten. However, restorationism
has always been the cry of REFORMERS: John
Calvin wrote of many things RESTORED I am willing, however, that all
the advantage which the church may have derived from our labors shall
have no effect in alleviating our fault, if in any other respect we
have done
her injury.
Therefore, let there be an examination of our whole doctrine, of our
form of administering the sacraments (MEANS of Grace), and our method
of governing the church; and in none of
these three things will it be found that we have made any
change upon the ancient
form, To return to the
division which we formerly adopted. All our
controversies concerning doctrine relate either to the
legitimate worship of
God, or to the ground
of salvation. Self-Contradictory: Of course,
those "among the scholars" cannot point to tradition or history for
any of the Biblical views they are so bent on destroying. The same
SCHOLARS, with the other side, make the same unlearned accusation
that churches of Christ got ALL of its philosophy from men like John
Locke and David
Hume: neither of whom they have read by going
to the original sources.
(The
other tongue, below) The Wilderness Wandering is
treated by Rubel Shelly as a "pattern for community and worship."
However, Steven proved that ALL faithful preachers will be despised
and rejected of men because they also reject God. The failure of
MUSICAL IDOLATRY at Mount Sinai lost them THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT
and burdened them with THE BOOK OF THE LAW. This did not define a
form of SPIRITUAL WORSHIP but provided animal sacrifices to show the
horrible nature of their sin which centered on MUSICAL IDOLATRY. Most
literate Bible readers know the story. Hear Steven as he was
preparing the way for his own sacrifice: I have seen, I have
seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard
their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I
will send thee into Egypt. Acts 7:34 In Hebrew Afflict
is ANAH which is to afflict
by mocking SINGING. From to sing,
shout, testify. This is RISING UP TO PLAY it
is MUSICAL IDOLATRY: GOD TAKES AWAY HIS COVENANT AND PUTS YOU UNDER
LAW IF YOU DO IT IN CHURCH. Musicologists have always known
that "churchy" songs to replace the commanded inspired text derived
in part from Voodoo, especially the Rock beat. Modern "praise songs"
are also known to be EROTIC where even the male composers preach a
need to KNOW GOD PERSONALLY which was always sexually. The KOMOS or ritual of Dionysus
was attempted over Jesus. They PIPED trying to get him to sing the
LAMENT SONGS and DANCE. That would prove that He was submitting to
the INITIATION. This would prove to the priesthood that Jesus was
their ANTICIPATED Dionysus. This had been the musical and perverted
rituals in the Holy Precincts as the Abomination of Desolation.
However, Jesus would not BOW to Baal. He brought them
out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt,
and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. Acts 7: 36
This is that Moses, which said
unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise
up unto you of your
brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. Acts 7: 37 This is he, that
was in the church in the
wilderness with the
angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who
received the lively
oracles to give unto
us: Acts 7: 38 To whom our fathers
would not
obey, but thrust him
from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, Acts 7:
39 Saying unto Aaron,
Make us gods to go
before us: for as for
this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not
what is become of him. Acts 7: 40 The clergy, Tabernacle and sacrifices caused the Levites to be the BURDEN BEARERS of both
the tabernacle and the priesthood. They were the warrior musicians
who called assembly to begin or end march or sounded instruments and
"made a joyful noise before the Lord" as a way to PANIC the enemy and
"melt their heart" with music. Psalm 41 prophesied this of Judas, and
the Dead Sea Scroll shows that Messiah would be attacked by the
Warrior Levites and Priests. However, CHURCH or people's congregation was quarantined away from
the Tabernacle an any loud sounding or PLEASING THEMSELVES was
outlawed. The CHURCH or synagogue was ONLY for hearing FROM God and
not God hearing from musical worshipers: But when the
congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound
an alarm. Num 10:7 Qahal
(h695) kaw-hawl'; from 6950; assemblage (usually concr.): - assembly,
company, congregation, multitude. This is "synagogue" in the
Greek Translation. The alarm is:
Ruwa
(h7321) roo-ah'; a prim. root; to mar (espec. by breaking); fig. to
split the
ears (with
sound), i. e. shout (for alarm or joy): - blow an alarm, cry (alarm, aloud, out),
destroy, make a joyful
noise, smart, shout (for joy), sound an alarm, triumph.
The church was the EKKLESIA
(h1577) those called out of SIN (Egypt) or a SYNAGOGUE.
John
Calvin "For this office, to which they
were appointed, was no servile one, as that they should
blow the trumpets at the command of others;
but rather did God thus
set them over
public
affairs, that the people
might not tumultuously
call their assemblies
in the blindness and precipitation of passion, but rather that modesty, gravity, and moderation should be observed in them. "We know how often in earthly
affairs God is not
regarded, but
counsels are confidently discussed without reference to His word. He testified, therefore, by this
employment of the priests, This small band of
anti-Biblical and Anti-church BOOK PEDDLERS deny that the
fundamentals of restorationism is Biblical but PROFANE. However,
churches of Christ repudiated ritualistic ceremonies. It was the
Christian churches which SOWED MUSICAL SECTARIANISM and adopted
PROFANE PRACTICES although not from RELIGIOUS history.
swept along by
little
more than
human
willfulness and
ignorance. Rather, it gushed directly out of the
spring, forming only a
crystal clear pool around it... It was an exciting story,
almost the stuff of epics and legends."
Quoted by John
Waddy.
"So called" music was not one
of those issues. The Campbells, for instance, came primarily out of
the Presbyterian group. Some of the
best repudiation of instrumental music came from Presbyterians. Does any one object, that
music is very useful for awakening the minds
of men and moving their hearts? I own it; but we should
always take care that no corruption creep in, which might both
defile the pure worship
of God and involve men
in superstition. Moreover, since the Holy Spirit expressly warns us
of this danger by the mouth of Paul, to proceed
beyond what we are there warranted by him is not only, I must say,
unadvised zeal, but
wicked and perverse obstinacy. "We know that our Lord Jesus
Christ has appeared, and by His advent has abolished these legal shadows. Instrumental music,
we therefore maintain, was only tolerated on account of the times and
the people, because they were as boys,
as the sacred Scripture speaketh, whose condition required these
puerile rudiments. But in gospel times
we must not have recourse to these unless we wish to destroy the
evangelical perfection and to obscure the meridian light which we
enjoy in Christ our Lord." (Calvin's Commentary on the Thirty-third
Psalm, and on 1 Sam. 18:1-9). > Because MUSIC is one of the primary
issues of the new Anti movement, the reader should understand that
the Restoration Movement DID NOT even consider such a radical
institution in the beginning because there was no instruments in
their background. > Therefore, the church took notice of
their so-called PROFANE HISTORY and saw no reason to change.
> It was ONLY when the musical sectarians
introduced instruments to compete for the traffick in music that there was any reason to repudiate the
innovation. It was
willfulness and ignorance which caused one muddied stream to flow into
musical
rituals. The same
presumed profane
history is turned upside down to FALSELY ACCUSE churches of Christ
for NOT rejecting the clear WATER OF THE WORD
of God which prescribed the synagogue and utterly repudiated the
CHURCH as a PROFANE worship institution. Calvin Continues:
"Profane nations also had their ceremonies, such as auguries, supplications, soothsayings, victims, because natural reason dictated that
nothing could be engaged in successfully without Divine assistance; but God would have
His people bound to Him in another way, so that, when called by the
sound of the sacred
trumpets as by a
voice from
heaven, they should
assemble to holy
and pious
deliberations. The
circumstance of the place also has the same object. The door of the Tabernacle was
to them, as
if they placed
themselves in the sight;
of God. We will speak of
the word dewm, mogned
(synagogue) elsewhere. Although it signifies an appointed time, or place, and also an assembly of the people, I prefer translating it convention,
because God there in a
solemn manner,
as if before His
sacred tribunal, called the people to witness, or, according to appointment, proceeded to make a
covenant with them. But when they frequent their
sacred assemblies, musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more
suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting up of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law. The Papists, therefore, have foolishly borrowed this, as well as
many other things, from the Jews. On the contrary, the MUSICAL
agents were and are often associated with homosexual artisans who
believe that sodomy binds the spirit and flesh together. The Daktyls
or Kabiri like Jubal and the rest of the LAMECH (Ea among the
Babylonians): The DAKTYLS, being the Greek word for "fingers," are the humans
depicted as spirits born from Gaia pressing her fingers into the
ground. They are thus thought to be the real people who sprang from
the earth, placing the folkloric memories
of the DAKTYLS, like the KABIRI
representation of Original Man, deep into the evolutionary past. It
is said that the first wise men descended from the DAKTYLS. Were they
the first to introduce language back in 500,000 B.C.? Homo sapien,
recall, does mean "wise or intelligent man." We'll probably
never know, but they did invent the notes of the musical scale
and introduced musical
instruments into the
Pelasgian region. As soothsayers, sorcerers, and conjurers their magical practices and mysteries traveled to Italy and
Greece. Whatever they were
called and wherever they were found, The Children of Gaiety
all shared the same attributes - a connection with the
feminine
power, the mother of
the gods; a working of the magical
arts and warding off of harm, all dancing
down the forces of nature in the midst of a great din. In fact, the
ancient writers often used their names as a synonym for the
"magician." Candidates for initiation into
the KABIRI
were crowned with a garland of olive and wore a purple band round
their loins. The dancing
was then begun. In fact,
homosexuality was part
of the ritual, what the
historians in their scholarly dungeons called their "most immoral
tendencies." The purpose was to evoke a passage beyond earth to a higher
life. That is, "to lead
the worshipers into the presence of the gods." That is, in their
mystical
dances, continued
leaping into the air achieves a shamanic state of trance, a transfer of consciousness
analogous to the transformation of the magician into a
bird whereby the apprentice masters his
powers to join a gay
brotherhood "They also invented the tricks of the magic art, to deceive the eyes. By their aid it comes to pass that that which is
appears not to be and this which is not appears to be. They
themselves invent necromancies, responses, and oracles
to delude the
minds of man with lying
divination by means of ambiguous issues." (Lactanius Ante-Nicene Fathers, VII, p. 232). Fast forward to the same C.
Leonard Allen recycling: C. Leonard Allen and Richard T. Hughes,
Discovering Our Roots: The Ancestry of the Churches of Christ (1988,
ACU Press).
On the obvious contrary,
churches of Christ may be unique in its search for roots in the sense of those who have almost always called
themselves the church of
Christ based on the Bible, those who have remained faithful and reject
instrumental music for worship, those who observed the Lord's Supper
on a weekly basis, those who have rejected FAITH ONLY, those who
believed that baptism was FOR the remission of sins, those who have
been led by elders and those who have been congregational in
organization. II. Later Discussions:
Schaff The Reformers aimed to reform
the old Church by the Bible; the Radicals attempted to build a new Church from the Bible. The former maintained the historic
continuity; the latter went directly to the apostolic age, and
ignored the intervening centuries as an apostasy. The Reformers founded a popular state-church, including all
citizens with their families; the Anabaptists organized on the
voluntary principle select congregations of baptized believers,
separated from the world and from the State. Nothing is more characteristic
of radicalism and sectarianism than an utter want of historical sense and respect for the past. In its extreme form it
rejects even the Bible as an external authority, and relies on
inward
inspiration. This was
the case with the Zwickau Prophets who threatened to break up Luther'
work at Wittenberg. They accepted the
New Testament as their
only rule of faith and practice, and so far agreed with the Reformers, but utterly
broke with the Catholic tradition, and rejected Luther' theory of
forensic, solifidian justification, and the real presence. They
emphasized the necessity of good works, and deemed it possible to
keep the law and to reach perfection. They were orthodox in most
articles of the common Christian faith, except Hutzer and Denck, who
doubted the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of
Christ. The first and chief aim of the
Radicals was not (as is usually stated) the opposition to infant
baptism, still less to
sprinkling or pouring, but the establishment of a pure church of
converts in opposition to the mixed church of the world. The rejection of infant baptism followed as
a necessary consequence. They were not satisfied with separation from
popery; they wanted a separation from all the ungodly. Perhaps it is "among the
scholars" that there has been so little interest in church history to
determine if these doctrines have always been practiced even in the
face of organized hostility much like that the present church is
undergoing. The fact is that it is because
in EVERY
AGE we find the church calling itself "the church of
Christ." We find it
believing that baptism is FOR or in order to the forgiveness of sins.
It clearly comprehends that Zwingli introduced FAITH ONLY in 1525 and the BAPTIST view of baptism by
Zwingli treats the
intervening history becomes irrelevant or even abhorrent" pages 6-7 "In this matter of
baptism -- if I may be pardoned for saying it -- I can only conclude
that all the doctors
have been in error from the time of the apostles. . . . All the doctors have ascribed to
the water a power which it does not have and the holy apostles did
not teach."[iii] Zwingli Baptism So while defending the BAPTIST
view of Baptism and repudiating the church of Christ view, the
"scholars" have TURNED TRUTH ON ITS HEAD. But, unfortunately, the
blind will lead the blind. The church of Christ assuredly did not
absorb anything from the the "Baptist movement" (which "helped provide the
seedbed of our own movement") since the Baptists attempt to excommunicate Thomas
Campbell for his views of Baptism. Rather than the Bible the
church of Christ got its views from profane history and
"a scholarly movement
called Christian Humanism," "A scholarly movement called
Christian Humanism" might include John Locke who fathered our
political and religious freedom so that we did not get sacrificed for
repudiating the Baptists. John Locke
defined HERESY which would make the INSTRUMENTALISTS
heretics.
Here is why the NEW AGE
SCHOLARS HATE JOHN LOCKE: The Papists and Lutherans, though both of them profess faith in Christ and are therefore called Christians,
yet are not
both of the same
religion, because
these
acknowledge nothing but the Holy Scriptures to be the rule and foundation of their religion, these
also take only the Scriptures, and This being settled, it follows,
first,
that heresy is a separation made in ecclesiastical communion between men of the same religion [Those who
cause
division over
untaught questions are, according to Locke,
heretics] secondly, that amongst those who acknowledge
nothing but the Holy
Scriptures to be their
rule of faith, heresy
is a separation made in their Christian communion for opinions not contained in the express words of
Scripture.
Taking the Scriptures as the
basis for faith and practice defines a CHRISTIAN. Refusing to use the
Bible's clear statement on Baptism, The Lord's Supper and
Anti-Instrumental music is defined as Scriptural but this is lumped
with PROFANE HISTORY and having John Locke as our FATHER.
How could restoration ignore
history? Isn't restoration the attempt to look at historical
practices and check them against the Bible. Where the Bible speaks
we speak, where the Bible is silent we are silent is very
ancient. That is, to GO BACK TO THE
BIBLE to Restore the church is somehow evil because it does not let
TRADITION or CULTURE allow it to interpret the Bible. Why is it that WE have not
been able to sort out traditions such as: Evangelists turned into preachers,
premillenialism, secular song books, complex harmony, instruments
among some, the social gospel {programs}, three meetings a week,
laying by in store as a LAW, "christian colleges," Singing as a LAW
instead of teaching the Biblical Text, Baptists teachers as
instructors, Unity Meetings, workshops of evil, stealing prophesies
from other prophets, Jubilees ($1/4 million a year), Books buttering
up Baptists, Dominant preachers demoting elders and deacons, adding
Deaconesses, Sabbath worship, taking the Lord's Supper with swine
flesh in the teeth. Youth Ministers, Campus Ministers, Finance
Ministers, Musical worship teams, choirs, "holy theater," and on and
on. However, betcha that no
professor or self-selected prophet to CHANGE THE CHURCH is going to
"make tents" while he tells falsehoods about it being sectarian
traditionalism which REPUDIATES musical performance Carroll D.
Osburn On pages 14-15 we read: "With so many
questions flying around and so much uncertainty being expressed in
various quarters, what an opportunity
for the various faculties of our Christian colleges and universities to help shape the future! These are the best of times to
be involved in Christian
education! If we are to
have a truly significant impact
upon the national and international scene, faculties of
religion must play leading prophetic roles in channeling and facilitating whatever changes loom ahead. See Carol D. Osburn on channeling probably as a
change agent code word. An outdated curriculum from a sectarian past that placed emphasis upon transmitting doctrinaire
positions will not suffice if we would engage convincingly the larger
arenas of current religious thought... Our graduate
programs must train students how to think, to investigate the biblical text afresh,
to feel the pulse
of the world around them, and provide the kind of
experiences that will enable servants to go out into churches
and communities and provide direction. Hall Isn't it pretty arrogant to ignore 2,000 years
of study about the Bible? We will see that someone isn't able to
DEFINE this new MYSTICAL religion
It is the teaching of liberal
theology by liberal theologians who DIM the view of the Bible.
Zwingli thought that HE AND ONLY HE had grasped FAITH ONLY and became
the father of the Baptist Church. He claimed that ALL of the doctors
had been wrong and the he had RESTORED
faith only and rejecting Baptism. Schaff § 18. The Public Disputations.
1523. A third disputation, of a more
private character, was held Jan. 20, 1524. The advocates of the
mass were
refuted and ordered not
to resist any longer the decisions of the magistracy, though they
might adhere to their faith. During the last disputation,
Zwingli preached a sermon on the corrupt state of the clergy, which he published by request in
March, 1524, under the title "The Shepherd." He represents
Christ as the good Shepherd in contrast with the selfish hirelings, according to the parable in the tenth
chapter of the Gospel of John. Among the false shepherds he counts
the bishops
who do not preach at all; those priests who teach their own dreams instead of the
Word of God; those who
preach the Word but for the glorification of popery; those who deny
their preaching by their conduct; those who preach for filthy lucre;
and, finally, all who mislead men away from the Creator to the
creature. Zwingli treats the papists as refined idolaters, and repeatedly denounces idolatry as the root of
the errors and abuses of the Church. The Swiss Diet, by a
deputation, March 21, 1524, expressed regret that Zurich sympathized
with the new, unchristian Lutheran religion, and prayed the canton to
remain faithful to old treaties and customs, in which case the
confederates would cheerfully aid in rooting out real abuses, such as
the shameful trade in
benefices, the selling
of indulgences, and the scandalous lives of the clergy. § 19. The
Abolition of the Roman Worship. 1524. Bullinger, I. 173 sqq. Egli,
234 sqq. By these preparatory measures,
public opinion was prepared for the practical application of the new
ideas. The old
order of worship had to
be abolished before the new order could be introduced.
The destruction was
radical, but orderly. It was effected by the co-operation of the
preachers and the civil
magistracy, with the
consent of the people. It began at Pentecost, and was completed June
20, 1524. In the presence of a deputation
from the authorities of Church and State, accompanied by architects,
masons and carpenters, the churches of the city were purged of
pictures, relics, crucifixes, altars, candles, and all ornaments, the
frescoes effaced, and the walls whitewashed, so that nothing remained
but the bare building to be filled by a worshiping congregation. The
pictures were broken and burnt, some given to those who had a claim,
a few preserved as antiquities. The bones of the saints were
buried. Even the organs were removed, and the Latin singing of the choir
abolished, but
fortunately afterwards replaced by congregational singing of psalms and hymns
in the vernacular (in Basle as early as 1526, in St. Gall 1527, in
Zurich in 1598). "Within thirteen days," says Bullinger, "all the
churches of the city were cleared; costly works of painting and
sculpture, especially a beautiful table in the Waterchurch, were
destroyed. The superstitious lamented; but the true believers
rejoiced in it as a great and joyous worship of God." Sure, there are some things
HUMAN MADE but the good doctors of the Law are not going to reject
the TRADITIONISM we have partially listed because many see godliness
as a means of financial gain. That means SEEING PREACHING or
PROFESSORING as OCCUPATION rather than a call to a ministry of the
Gospel "as it has been taught." Therefore also said
the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: Luke 11:49 That the blood of
all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world,
may be required of this generation; Luke 11:50 From the blood of
Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar
and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this
generation. Luke 11:51 Woe unto you, lawyers
(Doctors of the
Law) for ye have
taken away the
key of knowledge: ye
entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in
ye
hindered. Luke 11:52
And as he said
these things unto them, the scribes
and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: Luke
11:53 Laying wait for
him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might
accuse him Luke 11:54 Scribes were letter and book
writers. Pharisees took away the Word of God and INNOVATED their own
doctrines specifically so that they would not have to listen to God's
word. They made long performance prayers and stole the "church houses
of widows." Churches of Christ do not do
that. We noted of Believer's
Baptism or Faith Only is ancient Pagan Baptism and that Zwingli
bragged: "In this matter of
baptism -- if I may be pardoned for saying it -- I can only conclude
that all the doctors
have been in error from the time of the apostles. . . . All the doctors have ascribed to
the water a power which it does not have and the holy apostles did
not teach."[iii] I. The light of nature showeth
that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doth good
unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon,
trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul,
and with all the might. But the acceptable
way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, or the
suggestions of
Satan, under any
visible representation, And Zwingli wanted to get rid of: "traditional forms or
ceremonies (added)
simply on the ground that they were not actually forbidden by Scripture Commands Examples Lutheran and Reformed
(churches) had different approaches to the Scripture...
However, both groups repudiated
self-composed songs and instrumental music. That was the PATTERN of
the Bible based on the definition of the church as a School of the
Bible.
The conservatives speal of
PATTERNS but those with degrees speak of PARADIGMS: get the joke.
Scripture DOES supply some patters. If it supplies NO PATTERN then
that is a pattern which no one in history is willing to accept and
was NOT invented by churches of Christ. Some things are ETERNAL and
does not change with time. If things are permitted to change with
circumstances then why all of the babble about being
historyless? "Scholars" gag on "blueprint" because the have
discovered "paradigms." The CORE ISSUE which those who usually bite
the hands of those that feed them is to whittle down EVERYTHING so
that they can ADD instrumental music. However, Neither Allen or
Hughes can find anything about music AS worship which does not point
to perverted religionism. Luther discussing Romans 15 which denounces music or
"that which pleases" or any human innovation. 6. Now, the
circumstance Paul here speaks of has long since passed, and the law
of Moses concerning meats, drinks, apparel, place, and so on, is no
longer pertinent; yet another has
been introduced in its stead, causing even greater trouble, and
Paul's doctrine an this point is more necessary now than then.
There is today established by
the Pope and the clergy
a world-wide system of
human
devices in regard to
meats and drinks, apparel and place, days and seasons, persons
and orders,
customs and performances, so elaborate that
one can scarce eat a morsel, drink a drop, or open his eyes even, but
there is a law concerning the act. Thus is [32] our liberty usurped. Particularly is it true in convents and cloisters,
where it is unanimously contended that we must be clothed and shorn
in a certain way, must conduct ourselves by certain rules, and must
not eat this meat, drink that drink, and so on, lest we sin by
disobedience. There obedience to human
doctrines has been exalted to the point of highest esteem. The monks
and nuns regard it the foundation, the corner-stone, of their
religion, and base upon it their souls' salvation. 7. No one will open his eyes to
the fact that mere human
devices and doctrines
are ensnaring
souls, weakening
consciences, dissipating Christian liberty and faith, and
replenishing
hell. Wolves! wolves!
How abominably, awfully, murderous, how harassing and destructive, are these things the
world over! This matter of obedience to human doctrine has never been agitated sufficiently to discover
weak consciences. No one has opposed in word or
act the teachings harmful to them. Whosoever has deviated from the
doctrines has been condemned, and denounced as an apostate, a roving
monk, an abandoned Christian. Thus forcibly have the sheep
not only been enfeebled, but driven into the jaws of
the wolf. Oh, the wrath, the indignation, the
displeasure, of the Divine Majesty! 8. If now, by the mercy of God,
these papistical
doctrines should be
recognized as merely human, as false and
assumed, and if some were to have
courage enough to depart from custom in the matter of masses,
prayers, garb, meats, and to maintain their Christian liberty
according to the Gospel, the two classes referred to would take
offense. 35. But how shall I express the
situation? The calamity is beyond the power of words, even
inconceivable. The evil spirit has accomplished his
design; he has
suppressed the Book
and introduced in its stead so many books of human doctrine that we may well say we are deluged with them. Yet
these contain only error, falsehood, darkness, venom, death,
destruction, hell and
the devil. This
condition of things our abominable ingratitude has merited.
I am not sure where they got
that evidence (?). However, if true, it would contradict everything
else Luther wrote about the use of the BIBLE ONLY for faith and
practice. There is
no more marked
manifestation of
God's
wrath than the fact
that he permits
the decline of his
spoken and written Word; so not undesignedly the apostle uses the particular
language of this prayer. On the other hand,
God gives no greater blessing than when he exalts his Word among us and permits it
to be read. Truly,
then, we should all repeat this prayer with the apostle. But how shall there be with us
honor and praise of God, true service to him, when we neither love
him nor receive his blessings? And how shall we love him
when we do not know
him and his blessings?
And how shall we know him and
his blessings when no
word is preached
concerning them and when the Gospel is left to lie under the table?
Where the Gospel is not in evidence, knowledge of God is an impossibility. Then to love and praise him is
likewise impossible. As a further consequence it is necessarily
impossible for divine service to exist. Even if all the choristers were one
chorister, all the
priests one priest, all the monks one monk, all
the churches one church, all the bells one bell; in
brief if all the foolish
services offered to God in the institutions,
What Allen and Hughes cannot
grasp is that Paul spoke of SPEAKING or TEACHING with "that which is written" where there is no
concept or rationale for MUSIC in ceremonial legalism. Because the
church is EKKLESIA or synagogue or "school of the Bible" why would
any professor think it strange enough to demean a man who could grasp
that "music" had no role to play in the ASSEMBLY which is defined by
"synagogue" type words and the unique worship word was to "give heed
to the Word." It would logically come as a surprise to a
Doctor of the Law who are Christ- condemned for "taking away the key to knowledge" that the MUSIC word is never used in the Bible to
speak of the worship of a Spirit God. It would also come as a
surprize that the Bible from Genesis to Revelation connects "music"
with Satan and the end-time Babylon whore. From Summa Theologica by
Aquinas Objection 2:
Further, Jerome in his
commentary on Eph. 5:19, "Singing and making melody in your hearts to
the Lord," says: "Listen, young men whose duty it is to
recite the office in church: God is to be
sung not with the voice but with the heart. Nor should you,
like play-actors, ease your throat and jaws with medicaments, and
make the church resound
with theatrical measures and airs." Therefore God should not be praised with
song. Reply to Objection
2: Jerome
does not absolutely
condemn singing, but reproves those who sing theatrically in church not in order to arouse devotion, but in order to show off, or to provoke pleasure. Hence Augustine says (Confess. x, 33): "When it
befalls me to be more moved by the voice than by the words sung, I
confess to have sinned
penally, and then had
rather not hear the singer." Paul commands in Romans 15, Ephesians 5 and
Colossians that the ACT is called speaking which is PREACHING. The
method is one to another and the singing and melody are IN THE HEART.
This was a method of teaching the Biblical text and not a MUSICAL ACT
OF WORSHIP. "One of the
developments in which Beza was of great assistance was in Reformed
psalmody. Zwingli
had opposed music in
public worship and it
was a century or so after his death before the Reformed Churches in
which his influence was strong departed from that precedent.
Calvin
did not go as far as Zwingli, but confined the use of music to congregational singing in unison Calvin vocally condemned instrumental music.
Therefore the false writers today don't speak the truth by claiming
that NOT using instruments divides churches. Calvin RESTORED
congregational singing which had always existed in churches which
called themselves "the church of Christ." Calvin comments on Romans
15 to prove that the church is not a WORSHIP CENTER but a synagogue
or school of the Bible. I. The light of
nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doth good
unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon,
trusted in, and served, with all the heart,
and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable
way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, And Zwingli wanted to get rid of: "traditional forms or
ceremonies (added)
simply on the ground that they were not actually forbidden by Scripture.
Commands and Examples Commanded While condemning churches of Christ for using
the LAW OF SILENCE they intentionally or ignorantly lie. Churches of
Christ do not use instruments because Paul defined a way of making
melody IN THE HEART which is singing WITH GRACE in the heart.
Literate scholars knew that music was instituted by Satan or Lucifer
even in the garden of Eden. They know that MUSIC is implicated in
every failure among the Israelites. It always tells God: "We will not
listen to YOUR words." They know that universal church history
condemns music. Therefore, there is no silence but a LOUD SHOUT which
condemns MAKING MUSIC to a Spirit God. On the other hand, the
instrumentalists say: "God HATH NOT said 'thou shalt not use
instruments' therefore even if it sows discord among the literates,
we gonna do it." Therefore
Zwingli wanted to get rid of FORMS AND CEREMONIES which had been
added based on the LAW OF SILENCE. In this they imply that this is the natural end
of those who insist on restoring the faith and worship of the early
church. It is popular for the
non-literate to claim that the father of the church of Christ and
that his religion infused a purely rationalistic, non-Biblical
approach to faith and practice. Once a lie is told in the scholarly
circuit others must repeat the same lie or they will not get an A on
their report card or issued a wet sheep skin.
When on occasion
they recognized their traditions, The history of religion shows
that most of not all reformers or restorers leaped all of the way
back to when the seed was delivered and planted for authority in
faith and practices. It is very common for the teams of discording
writers to claim that Commands,
Examples and Inferences was invented by subnormal members of the church of
Christ and that God's silence must be respected. "They labor to show
that our movement was really only a product of social and political idealism prevalent in America in the late 18th and early 19th century; a quest for social and
political freedom from the old European tyranny (p. 92) and from the
tyranny of the old state churches." John Waddey The totality of church history
outside of the POPE'S right to make changes proves that EVERYONE
believed that the church's faith and practice was based on the clear
commands or examples of the Bible. So, it is a lie to claim that
churches of Christ just made up the idea. >
We can prove that not
using music or the works of human hands did not come from culture or
tradition but a direct command NOT to use external instruments and a
Bible filled with condemnation of them: they were introduced by Satan
"and there is no other tradition." > We can prove that baptism was ALWAYS for
or in order to the remission of sins prior to ZWINGLI who confessed
that He out of all historical scholars INVENTED faith only in
1525. > Churches have always called themselves "the church of
Christ" in every age. > Churches of Christ are claimed to be
"uniquely wrong" in understanding that the Old Testament is part of
the "school of the Bible" but the rituals "added because of
transgression" (musical idolatry at Mount Sinai) were not to be used
in the church of Christ. This was almost universally held by church
leaders. Only Catholics went back for the priesthood, Levitical
singers and instrumental music. Click
for the evidence and pictures. These are the ESSENTIALS
which the destructors blame on legalistic believers. John Locke: English
philosopher who was an initiator of the Enlightenment in England and
France, an inspirer of the U.S. Constitution Reason is what one uses to make
changes in the church to make it ABLE to work in our century. Faith
is accepting the Word of God for our faith and practice. The changers
use REASON to change or innovate by claiming that the OLD does not
work anymore. A Letter Concerning Toleration. "But since men are
so solicitous about the true church, I would only ask them here, by the way, if it be
not more agreeable to the Church of Christ I ask, I say, whether this be
not more agreeable to the
Church of
Christ than for men to
impose their own
inventions and interpretations upon others as if
they were of Divine authority, such things as the
Holy Scriptures do either not
mention, or at least not expressly command? Whosoever requires those things in order to ecclesiastical communion, but how that can
be called the Church of
Christ which is established upon laws that are
not His, and which excludes such persons from its communion as He will one day
receive into the Kingdom of Heaven, I understand not. Imposed music has always
EXCLUDED the owners of the property because the discorders KNOW that
they will not remain. Furthermore, those who ADD instruments always
outlawed anyone teaching the Truth under the lie that they would be
"sowing discord." And so Restoration preachers were ALWAYS excluded
when the instrumentalists STOLE THE CHURCH HOUSE OF WIDOWS.
The mind of man is
subject to certain unaccountable terrors and apprehensions, proceeding either from the unhappy situation of
private or public affairs, from ill health, from a gloomy and
melancholy disposition, or from the concurrence of all these
circumstances. In such a state of mind,
infinite unknown
evils are dreaded from
unknown agents;
and where real objects of terror are wanting, the soul, active to its
own prejudice, and fostering its predominant inclination,
finds imaginary
ones, to whose power
and malevolence it sets no limits. the methods taken
to appease
them are equally unaccountable, and consist in ceremonies, observances, mortifications, sacrifices, presents, or in any practice, however absurd or frivolous, which either
folly or
knavery
recommends to a blind and terrified credulity. Weakness, fear, melancholy, together
with ignorance, are, therefore, the true sources of
SUPERSTITION. But the mind of man is
also subject to an unaccountable elevation and
presumption, arising
from prosperous success, from luxuriant health,
from strong
spirits, or from a bold
and confident disposition. In such a state of
mind, the imagination swells
with great but confused conceptions, to which no sublunary beauties
or enjoyments can correspond. Every thing mortal and perishable
vanishes as unworthy of attention. And a full range is
given to the fancy
in the invisible regions
or world of spirits,
where the soul is at liberty to indulge itself in every imagination,
which may best suit its present taste and disposition. Hence arise raptures, transports, and surprising flights of fancy; and confidence and presumption still
increasing, these raptures (rapes),
being altogether unaccountable, and seeming quite beyond the reach of
our ordinary faculties, are attributed to the immediate inspiration of that Divine Being, who is the object
of devotion. Human reason was not based on
the understanding of Scripture. Rather, when people come to believe
that they are inspired they use their own feelings induced primarily
today by "music" then they are using human reason. In a little time,
the inspired
person comes to regard
himself as a distinguished favourite of the Divinity; and when this frenzy once takes place, which is the summit of enthusiasm,
every whimsy is consecrated: Human reason,
and even morality are rejected as fallacious guides: And the fanatic madman delivers himself over, blindly, and
without reserve, to the supposed illapses of the spirit, and to
inspiration from above. Hope, pride, presumption, a warm imagination, together with
ignorance, are, therefore, the true sources of enthusiasm. (See
Speaking in Tongues)
"No group uses the language of
'restoration" more consistently and more effectively than did the
Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day
Saints or the Mormons" (p. 94).
A bit of John Calvin literacy 101aaa would
prove that "restorationism" was the actual meaning of "reformation"
to many. The Mormons had little connection with the Bible or ANY
thought of restoring New Testament Christianity. Rather, their
restoration goes deeply into Jewish practices. The CORE GOSPEL
sounds like it arrived from a Mormon.
Joseph Smith had his "peepstones" to translate a NEW SCRIPTURE
because he said with Rubel Shelly and probably postmodern scholars
that the Bible "has been sifted through human philosophy and the
Bible writers own persona agenda" so that only seven facts have
survived with validity for faith and practices. The non-instrumental
churches depend wholly on the Scriptures to repudiate charismatic
practices such as MUSIC in which the professional musician believes
that he is INSPIRED to replace the songs of the Word of God.
More Heglian (Machiavelli, Hitler, etc) SOWING
DISCORD to make the ignorant believe that to Restore the Bible as the
only basis for faith and practice is WHAT MORMONS do even
better. The scholars may or may not be aware that the
Mormons wanted to RESTORE the church to the first century and
RESTORE
spiritual gifts and the ability to write a
NEW SET OF SCRIPTURES. The CHANGE
DISCORDERS follow the Mormon route. The Restoration Movement wanted to
restore the Bible as the unique teachings of Christ. There was NEVER any
goal to restore ANY historical church of the Bible. Modern scholars
and presumed prophets and apostles and chanellers want to restore
exactly what the Mormons tried to restore. When Sidney Rigdon
had no
success
comparing Scripture with
Scripture, studying
diligently to account for every jot and tittle and being careful to
rightly divide the Word of truth.
........... which will not enter
in to "possess the land" in the Latter Rain Revival.
Paul Cain advises that you "dump all that carnal stuff" (doctrine)
Richard T. Hughes and C.
Leonard Allen, in their book, Discovering our Roots: The Ancestry of the Churches of Christ,
made a most significant statement on page 8: "If we assume that our
roots are entirely sacred and not profane, entirely apostolic and not historical, entirely Biblical and not cultural, then we have elevated ourselves
above the level of common humanity, and, in essence, made ourselves into gods."
> Instruments
> Faith Only
> Role of Women
> Premillenialism
gave them
up into the
hands of their priests to fill their heads with false notions of the
deity,
and what dread or craft
once began, devotion
soon made sacred,
and religion immutable. John Locke
Richard T. Hughes and C.
Leonard Allen, Discovering our Roots: From
page 5 "This attitude
toward the past
characterized the early movement... Propelled by such an attitude
toward the past, restoration movements like ours easily develop a
kind of
historylessness. By
this term I refer to the perception that, while other churches or
movements are snared
in the web of
profane history,
without attempting to
restore it to the exact
standard of the word of
God.
that all assemblies, except those in which He should preside, were
accursed.
Richard T. Hughes and C.
Leonard Allen, Discovering our Roots: On page 7, he writes:
"In the process we
sought
not so much to
understand earlier Christian movements in all their complexity. We
sought rather to decry
them or on occasion simply to ridicule them. For they obviously ran in the stream of
profane history,
But our movement was different. It did not run
in any wide and turgid stream.
"who, by nature, are superior to other men." 14
"Smiths and shamans
are from the same
nest," also declares a
Yakut proverb from early North America, cited by the mythologist Mircea
Eliade. 15
Leonard Allen - Richard Hughes:
"For restoration...often begets
a sense of historylessness, an identification with the first century church so
strong that the intervening history becomes irrelevant or even abhorrent" (p. 152). Waddey
those take in also traditions and the decrees
of Popes and of these together make the rule of their religion;
and thus the Christians of St. John (as they are called) and the
Christians of Geneva are of different religions, because
those I know not what traditions, for the
rule of their religion.
........... for some opinions no way
contained in the
rule itself; and,
Leonard Allen - Richard
Hughes: "We (Churches of Christ) have often assumed that our
roots are simply in the
New Testament and that
we really have not been
shaped in any
significant way by the intervening history" (p. 2). lures
us into thinking that we can escape history and tradition entirely..." (p. 3). "We ...have simply failed
to recognize the traditions at work in our midst" (p. 3). "For
restoration...often
begets a sense of historylessness, an identification with the first century church so
strong that the intervening history becomes irrelevant or even
abhorrent" (p. 152).
to sense where things ought to
go,
Leonard Allen - Richard Hughes: of
Huldreich Zwingli, "the clear and pure light, the Word of
God, has been dimmed,
confused and diluted with human principles and teachings so that all
those who call themselves Christians do not know the divine will.
They only have their self-invented worship, holiness and external spiritual knowledge which is
man-made" (p. 21).
and so limited by his own revealed will,
that he may not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men,
or any other way not
prescribed in the Holy Scripture.
Richard T. Hughes and C.
Leonard Allen, Discovering our Roots:
Does the Bible provide
a complete blueprint for all time, laying out the details of church
government, forms of
worship, and rules for
behavior? Or does it rather provide a central core of saving truth, leaving many of the details to
human
discretion and
changing circumstances
of time and
place?"
things God has not commanded;
Leonard Allen - Richard Hughes:
"Luther believed that Zwingli's insistence on making scripture the exclusive norm for the entire life of the
church, including its forms of worship, turned gospel into a
new
legalism (p. 28).
Richard T. Hughes and C.
Leonard Allen, Discovering our Roots: :
"excluded all audible music
from the Christian assembly," as where a strong commitment to
restoration can take a body of people (p. 27).
of metrical
versions of the
Psalms and
Canticles."
(Latourette, p. 760).
and so limited by his own revealed will,
that he may
not be worshiped
according to the imaginations and devices of men,
........... or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation,
........... or any other way not prescribed in the Holy
Scripture.
Leonard Allen -
Richard Hughes: "..the
Common
Sense (school of
philosophy) perspectives rendered their (our restoration forefathers) emerging traditions essentially invisible, at least to themselves.
moreover, they viewed them as an essentially biblical, primitive, and apostolic and not in any sense the traditions of a particular
people..." (p.
109-110).
........... to make the conditions of her communion consist in such things, and such things only,
........... as the Holy Spirit has in the Holy Scriptures declared, in express words, to be necessary to salvation;
and to establish by ecclesiastical laws, as absolutely necessary to
the profession of Christianity,
which Christ does not
require in order to life eternal,
he may, perhaps, indeed constitute a society
accommodated to his own
opinion and his
own
advantage; 
As these enemies are entirely invisible and unknown,
"Baptists, Mormons, Shakers and other RADICAL SECTS intended to
restore primitive Christianity."