by Kevin Rutherford

When Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes he said, "...there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9)." How true this is with regard to the behavior of men. Though time passes and technology advances people are still the same. You still have kind people and nice people, and you will always have mean folks too. You will always have those who will follow God and those who won’t. There is nothing new under the sun.

For that reason it should not surprise us that the Lord’s church is divided today. Error from both extremes has hurt and split the church. The divisive doctrines come from those who bind where God has not ("anti" or "non-institutional") and those who loose where God has not ("liberals" or "change-agents"). To please God we must remain firmly balanced upon His Word (Revelation 22:18, 19).

Those who teach error are to be admonished and, if they refuse to repent, rejected (Titus 3:10). Those who split the church with divisive doctrines are to be marked and avoided (Romans 16:17, 19). Most certainly we must not compromise with them. Paul said he would "...not yield submission even for an hour..." with false teachers (Galatians 2:5). He is also the one who told us we should "...have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them (Ephesians 5:11)."

With these Scriptures in mind, consider the following situation. A man was fired as Chairman of the Bible department at Harding University. This same man became an elder in the Boston/Crossroads movement. In 1986 this man moved back to St. Louis with the recommendation of Kip McKean, the head of the Boston movement. Later this man left the Boston movement and wrote some booklets exposing some of their practices. However, in 1988, after he supposedly left the Boston movement, he conducted a seminar teaching some of the discipleship principles of the Boston movement. Furthermore he taught that seminar at Christian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. The flyer advertising the seminar invited "...many Christian Churches and Non-Instrumental Churches of Christ." In addition this same man has appeared on the Tulsa Soul-Winning Workshop which hosts a "whose-who" of liberal change-agents in the church.

Do you think Paul would fellowship this man? Do you think Paul would encourage this man to come and speak to Christian young people? Would Paul have ever invited this man to speak anywhere?

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8)." He will pounce on you and devour you when you choose to compromise with the kind of men Paul told us to "mark and avoid (Romans 16:17)."