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 In
speaking of the rise and fall of nations, Paul S. McElroy once
said, ...the pattern of these civilizations or nations runs
something like this: from bondage to spiritual faith, from faith
to courage, from such courage to liberty, from liberty to
abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to
complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to
dependency and from dependency back again into bondage." It
seems to me that the pattern of apostasy in the Lord's church
follows much the same predictable course. It is at the first
small and poor; its principles become recognized as true and
practical; it grows; it becomes strong, popular and rich; it
becomes complacent, indifferent; it again lapses into apostasy.
Several
of these deviations are so slow and so slight they are not
recognized in their seedling forms. A move toward a thing may
not seem so dangerous at the time, but may be forming a bond
that later will be almost impossible to break. A good example is
the trend among the more liberal churches toward embracing the
charismatic movement. Who would have thought that the emotional
appeal made by institutional brethren in the 1950's would have
resulted in entire congregations being lost to holiness
doctrines? But it is my opinion that the emotionalism used to
promote the orphan homes and other "brotherhood"
projects has lent support to the move toward the emotional
doctrines now such a problem in some churches.
Apostasy
is a peculiar thing. But it is also to same degree predictable.
In Acts 20, we are given a hint of the path followed by
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apostasy. It has always been the case that "from among your own selves shall men
arise, speaking perverse things, seeking to draw disciples away
after them..." Every apostasy follows this same design.
From internal sources the doctrines are sown. From inside the
camp the evil is more easily planted and more difficult to
recognize and deal with, because it is done by men in whom we
have confidence. And such internal work, done subtly and
"in sheep's clothing" is difficult to deal with on
account of the fact that its proponents have usually already
polarized several "cell" groups by the time it is
discovered. This exact procedure is being utilized presently in
some churches.
There
seems to me to be some significance to the fact that there is
almost always an organizational departure before there is a
doctrinal one. I suppose that those who demand a "thus
saith the Lord" first then go about doing the work are just
naturally less likely to become involved in departures. Once an
organizational departure has been made, it is no great
difficulty to find ways to make the Scriptures fit, even if it
becomes necessary to change them somewhat! It is obvious, and
historicity is the best witness to such, that changes in
organizational structure (such as surrender of congregational
autonomy) have always been the springboard to full blown
apostasy. When elderships, who are charged with the feeding of
the flock become derelict, then the spiritual body must suffer
the consequences of such lack of proper feeding and the church
loses its resistance to such unauthorized practices!
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