Jerry Moffitt has put together an invaluable reference book entitled Denominational Doctrines. Its 653 pages are full of useful information for one’s own study or to draw upon in discussions with others. But this review will begin in an unlikely place–the back cover, which contains “An Open Letter To My Children.”
I sincerely do not believe that I must labor with difficulty to create in you an independent mind with a greater love for truth than for your mother and dad. Yet, I believe your task is harder than mine was.
So to speak, “Raised in the church,” you must ask yourself, “Do I know this doctrine to be true or do I accept it because it was taught by dad and mom? Am I in the church to please them?” Yet, it is precisely what I want you to ask day by day and year by year, as you learn and grow in the knowledge of God’s word. In fact, I so trust each of you, knowing your independent set of mind, that I can say, “Believe nothing because of mother and dad, but only because God said it.
There is more, but this sampling shows the sincerity and the proper attitude that ALL people ought to have regarding the word of God. How many times have we studied with people, and even though they have read and studied the Bible for themselves, they refuse to break away from what mother and father believed or years of family tradition. If the greatest persecutor the church has ever known can repent and conform his mind to the teachings of Jesus (thus breaking with family, friends, and centuries of Jewish tradition) out of respect for the Truth, the rest of us should summon up an equal amount of courage to do likewise.
The entire book is written with this view in mind–that we believe what we believe and practice what we practice because the Bible teaches it. We have no man-made doctrine to uphold; we have no creed (written or unwritten) to propagate. Our goal is nothing more than to please God in all things. The common belief that binds us all together is that, instead of taking a mystical approach to unity, or pretending that doctrine doesn’t matter, we affirm that Truth has been revealed, that it is knowable, and that it is crucial to our salvation.
Part I of the book, “Mainline False Doctrine,” comprises the bulk of the material. Brother Moffitt begins with some preliminaries, such as: “Why Study Doctrine,” “Purity of Doctrine,” “Truth,” “Inspiration,” “Inerrancy,” and “Authority of the Bible.” These chapters provide a good foundation for the subjects that follow. Each chapter averages five pages, but there may be several units (as many as 14) that pertain to one subject.
Various tenets of Calvinism receive special treatment, such as “Faith Only” (73-82), “Eternal Security” (83-107), “Election” (233-256), “Depravity and Original Sin” (223-32, 264-69). Brother Moffitt provides excellent Biblical refutation of these false doctrines.
Several chapters are devoted to setting forth the truth of Biblical doctrines on such subjects as “Baptism” (108-150), “Grace and Law” (151-171), and “The Church” (178-219). Not only do these sections deal with the establishment of the church and its identifying marks, they examine the error of denominationalism.
A great deal of attention is given to “The Influence of the Spirit” (276-302). Some of the topics included in this series are “personal illumination” (276-80) and the agency of the word (281-95). A later series of articles deals with “The Work of the Holy Spirit” (345-406). Some of the topics covered are “Measures of the Spirit” (351-56), the meaning of “that which is perfect” (362-66), “The Purpose of Miracles” (367-71), and the passing away of the use of miracles and spiritual gifts (372-406). This group of articles is followed by “What’s Behind Tongue Speaking”(407-409), “False Euphoria” (410-412), and “A Book Review” of John P. Kildahl’s The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues (413-17).
Other subjects examined in Part I are Roman Catholicism (323-44), Premillennialism (303-322), Instrumental Music (421-32), and Liberalism (438-449). Closing out this section are two important articles entitled (“Why I Don’t Have Christian Fellowship With Denominational ‘pastors’ and Catholic Priests” (455-64) and “‘Is Unity in Diversity Possible?’ – A Response” (465-68). The former is much needed by preachers and elders who have begun disregarding the Bible doctrine of fellowship and replaced it with emotional “feel-good-ism.” The latter seems to require a periodic refutation.
Part II of this book deals with cults. It contains eleven articles about Jehovah’s Witnesses (469-520) and covers such topics as the trinity, the deity of Jesus, the personage of the Holy Spirit, man’s immortal soul, hell and eternal torment, the return of Jesus, the “new earth,” the soul, and a few other concerns. Six articles follow about the Mormons (521-53) with special emphasis upon the priesthood, “baptism for the dead,” the nature of God (Did Adam become God? Can we all become gods?), and latter-day revelation. This section concludes with one chapter on the doing away with the Sabbath day (554-59).
Part III begins with Christian Research Institute Report DC-600. The remainder of the book contains chapters that respond to the criticisms of the churches of Christ contained in the report. This “institute” sends out this report to anyone who requests it, and so it deserves an answer.
The Christian Research Institute is based in California; they usually deal with cults or various controversial “Christian” movements. As of 1993 its president was Hank Hanegraaff, who also serves as the host of the “Bible Answer Man,” which is broadcast daily throughout the United States and Canada. I have recommended the book that he wrote in 1993 called Christianity in Crisis, which is excellent. None of us would have expected to become the target of this group (since we are guilty of such abuses as are recorded in the aforementioned book). Yet they say that, due to a number of inquiries about us, they have felt compelled to put together a “statement” regarding us.
They have done some historical research about us, and for the most part do not represent our views. What don’t they like about us? They don’t like the implications of the things we believe (that the Bible teaches).
This teaching [about baptism for the remission of sins, Acts 2:38, gws], if consistently held, means that all Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and the majority of Protestants, even evangelicals, are not saved. . . . . . .go even further and teach that those who have been immersed as believers but do not regard baptism as essential for salvation are also not truly Christians (563).
Absent from these complaints, however, is any Scripture which would teach otherwise or expose our supposed erroneous conclusions. It is easy to imagine how shocked the Catholic Church was by statements Martin Luther made, but he was not voicing mere opinions, but ideas that came out of his study of the Scriptures. So it is with us. When we set forth a Biblical teaching, we do not say, “Oh, people will have a hard time accepting that; we’d better change it some.” Our approach is rather, “If the Bible teaches it, then that’s what we believe.”
To drive this point home, brother Moffitt wrote Hanegraaff a letter in which he asked the president of CRI or anyone affiliated with it to debate any of our beliefs criticized in their publication. Some of these involved the essentiality of water baptism to salvation, that premillennialism is false, that Calvinism is false, that pouring and sprinkling do not constitute baptism, that our worship must be authorized by Scripture, and that each local congregation is to be self-governed.
Despite the fact that it has been a year since these debate challenges have been issued, there has been no response from CRI. They have neither withdrawn their publication nor been willing to defend the charges they make against us. Of course, this silence looks bad for them since they initiated matters.
If it were simply the case that brother Moffitt were writing to everyone he could think of trying to find someone to debate him (like Farrell Till), that would be one thing; people would be well within their rights to ignore someone who is just argumentative.
But such is hardly the case here. Apparently CRI thinks that the Lord’s church is being effective enough in our outreach programs that people are being converted. Apparently, the fact that people are forsaking the denominational errors that they uphold is disturbing to them. So they have issued a publication condemning us (but not on the basis of Scripture). Then, when one brother writes to them, answering their attack and challenging them to debate the doctrines at issue, they suddenly become silent (which might be construed as cowardice). Brother Moffitt answers their objections. This book is a bargain at $16.