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 "The
cause of most of our discomfort is three little insects, about
like mites, bedbugs, and cockroaches. Of course our religious
pests have different names. I call them binders, bolters, and
beggars -- these three, and the greatest nuisance of these is
beggars. The binders are the Judaizers who seek to bind where
God has not bound. The bolters are those who are too quick to
divide the local congregation over matters of personal conduct
and difference. The beggars are those professional seekers for
funds for institutional enterprises, violating the autonomy of
the local churches and bringing us into religious slavery …
The
denominations have built so many lean-tos, sleeping porches,
annexes, and servant houses around it that you can scarcely see
the church. We have not done that. You can still see the church
-- yes, but, confidentially, have you noticed the back yard
recently? It is all cluttered up with dog houses, chicken coops,
goods-boxes, and enough second-hand lumber to kindle fires the
rest of our natural lives --, that is, if all that junk in the
back yard is for kindling. Or, did we intend to do some
building ourselves? The premises look suspicious. Whatever the
purpose of all these materials, a little spring cleaning is
needed.
Some
say that all of this does not touch us. We have no organization
except the church. Are we quite sure of that? I know that we
have been preaching about organizations larger than the local
congregation. We have dwelt so much on it that we have almost
run some of these poor insects to death. They have been running
in circles, and this is about the path they have
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followed: First, they have taken refuge under
a chip somewhere and said: "We are a business institution,
a private enterprise. You cannot bother us." But that sort
of plea does not stimulate contributions. People are inclined to
take the attitude that if they are a business institution they
can just go ahead and attend to their business. So when they
have seen the donations falling off, they have come out in the
open and said: "We are a church institution, and the
churches should support us." Then somebody would begin
spraying a little more scriptural shoo-fly about the
organizations larger than the local church, and the dodging
would begin all over. Finally, they find shelter behind the
kitchen sink and say: "We are a religious institution, but
we are under the direction of the elders of a local
congregation; so the churches should support us through the
elders of the church in charge."
There
is scarcely an institution or enterprise that has not at some
time sought the friendly shelter of a local church. We seem to
have gotten the idea that local congregations are cities of
refuge. If we can just get to a local church before somebody
severs an artery with the sword of the Spirit, we will be safe….
We have seemingly overlooked the fact that it is not a
question merely of who is promoting the thing, but is the thing
itself scriptural?" (emph. mine, rft)
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FROM ARTICLE BY W.E. BRIGHTWELL, PUBL. IN
GOSPEL ADVOCATE, 1934. (1-68 TORCH)
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