Profiles in Apostasy #1 is one of best reference works of this century, and within two weeks it has already generated quite a response. For years various name brand liberals have been writing books to influence brethren away from the Scriptures, and occasionally a lectureship book has reviewed a few of their materials, but this volume of 608 pages is the most thorough one available; it contains reviews of 24 books—from those of K. C. Moser (1932) to Todd Deaver in 2008. The 25th review is not of a book but rather a sermon delivered in 1990.
One of the charges already made is that those reviewing the books had not read them, which is absurd. A few of the speakers mentioned publicly that they had read the assigned material not once but two or three times. One lengthy tome was read so thoroughly that quotes from the author’s footnotes are cited. In at least two instances, speakers had to borrow the books from others. Some of the reviews are 25 to 40 pages long, and that amount of material cannot be presented at a lecture. Perhaps someone watching the review on-line might think that, since certain aspects were not covered, the critic had not read the information, but no one could come to that conclusion from reading the book itself. Numerous references are cited in each chapter.
A second criticism is that the writers/speakers had never met or talked with the actual authors of heresy. So? Each one published a book for others to read, and they all employed the English language to do so; words have meaning. This charge would have weight if a reviewer took something out of context or misrepresented the author, but great care was taken to avoid such mistakes. If someone’s work was not handled carefully, the simplest response would be to furnish the evidence of such. Otherwise, it does no good to mouth vague charges while providing no proof. The problem for liberals is that the light was shined upon what they truly believe. Embellishment is not needed; the truth will do.
The first book reviewed is Todd Deaver’s Facing Our Failure: The Fellowship Dilemma in Conservative Churches of Christ. Many do have concerns about fellowship (or should have), but Todd does not supply workable solutions. Relying on typical scholarly language (what George Orwell might have called Ed-Speak), Deaver advocates that churches of Christ “acknowledge the failure of the traditional paradigm” (3). Apparently, he would disagree with his grandfather, Roy C. Deaver, who wrote an excellent booklet, Ascertaining Bible Authority. Of course, Todd has developed nothing with which to replace those Biblical principles.
Terry Hightower penned this review (he actually has known Todd for years), and it is thorough. As he has been known to do in other situations, he composed four true – false questions that are easily answered, which get at the heart of the matter. Who knows if Todd will make any better reply than others who have been asked even fewer questions by Terry? They may seem simple, but they make obvious what some are trying to hide: Are the following statements true or false?
1. NO matters of Bible teaching are heaven/hell issues.
2. ALL matters of Bible teaching are heaven/hell issues.
3. SOME matters of Bible teaching are heaven/hell issues.
4. SOME matters of Bible teaching are NOT heaven/hell issues (21).
The first two are false, and the second two are true. Any reasonable person must give these answers, although liberals gravitate toward #1. When stated as it is above, however, it shows that the only disagreement that can logically exist is what each of us might include in the “SOME” that are fellowship issues. Hightower offers excellent analysis of a serious subject, making humorous comments along the way. Todd’s thesis, if believed, would lead people astray and cause their souls to be lost, which is the reason for the review.
Edward Fudge first published The Fire That Consumes in 1982. While the book is scholarly, it is not without bias, but the reader should know that those outside the churches of Christ consider that Fudge has “become well-known as a leading advocate of the view that when the wicked die, their punishment is ‘eternal’ in the sense that the consequences last forever, not in the sense that the wicked experience unending torment” (86).
Fudge’s arguments, spread out over 500 pages, are examined carefully. Much of what he writes is irrelevant, but he also considers most New Testament passages. It is pointed out that, as with most false teachers, he redefines key words and phrases in order to establish his case. Thus, everlasting destruction (torment that continues forever) becomes annihilation that cannot be reversed (in other words, one’s extinction is irreversible). Since Fudge has had an impact both in and out of the church, it is important to consider this review carefully.
At the root of much of today’s heresy are the teachings of K.C. Moser (no relation to Keith Mosher of the Memphis School of Preaching, as the different spelling indicates). The two books he is known for (and they are quite similar) are The Way of Salvation and The Gist of Romans. The headings in this chapter provide an indication of what his false doctrines were: Under “Calvinist Inclinations” are “Antinomianism” (referring to the maximization of grace and the minimization of obedience), “Imputed Righteousness,” and (surprisingly) “Direct Operation of the Holy Spirit.” Also from Moser’s teachings came “The Man or The Plan” discussion in the early 1960s. Much historical data is included that provides a context for this discussion.
One might wonder, “Why are all of these books by apostates under review? Who cares? None of these things affects me or where I worship.” People who make such comments are undoubtedly sincere but, regrettably, shortsighted. In the first place, while a Christian may be confident that he and the church he attends is unaffected by various false doctrines, he will at some time be caught off guard by a fellow member asking him if he has read one of those books. Second, what happened with Moser’s writings could happen with anyone else’s:
Seeds can lie dormant for years or even centuries, awaiting the right conditions to germinate and spring to life. The power is in the Gospel seed (Luke 8:11), and, unfortunately, in the seed of error as well (106).
Third, all Christians have the responsibility to contend for the faith (Jude 3). How can we do so if we do not know what the enemy is doing or the ways in which he is attacking? Not only have Christians received this charge, but elders are especially commissioned to protect the flock from the wolves (Acts 20: 28). How can they be effective if they have no idea what some of the leading wolves have written?
Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage
In the past 35 years, books promoting loopholes so that unscripturally divorced people could remarry have proliferated. Daniel Denham’s 64 pages on several authors are enormously helpful. The amount of research he has done (not only in the Greek, but in several other languages) is impressive (the “Works Cited” contains 59 entries). The material he presents is not too technical for most people, and the evidence is so compelling that the liberals who disagree will not be writing a refutation any time soon.
At the forefront is Olan Hicks (What the Bible Teaches about Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage), who has, perhaps, written and debated more than anyone else on this topic. Brother Denham analyzes several of the passages that Hicks abuses: 1 Corinthians 7:2, 27-28 and Matthew 19:6, 9 (152-80). Also reviewed are the works of James Woodroof (The Divorce Dilemma), James D. Bales (Not Under Bondage), Lewis Hale (Except for Fornication), Rubel Shelly (Divorce and Remarriage: A Redemptive Theology), and Al Maxey (Down, But Not Out). Although Denham devoted 6 pages to Maxey, another entire chapter also analyzes this material. In fact, Olan Hicks gave high praise to Maxey’s book, saying that it was written with “an objectivity that is refreshing” (455). Hicks would likely call anyone’s views that echoed his refreshing.
Two adjacent chapters deal once more with fellowship. The first of these was also penned by Olan Hicks and is titled In Search of Peace, Unity, and Truth. The reader should remember that Hicks has no problem fellowshipping those who use musical instruments in worship, which accounts for his vain efforts to negate the value of lessons we all use from Noah and the ark, Nadab and Abihu, and Uzzah (216). Like Todd Deaver, F. LaGard Smith (Who Is My Brother?) likewise has difficulty determining which doctrines and practices fall into the SOME that are heaven/hell issues and which may be listed in the SOME that are not. Smith proposes five levels of fellowship, but his thinking is both flawed and contradictory. Although he affirms that calling someone a brother does not make him one (244), he clearly wants those who are not baptized for the remission of sins to be saved anyway (255, 263).
Along these same lines is the book by Jimmy Allen, Rebaptism? What One Must Know To Be Born Again. The reviewer of this work pinpointed the essence of the book precisely when he wrote: “Allen’s book is his way of convincing the brotherhood that the church needs to be more accepting to the person who defends his sectarian baptism” 281). Allen thinks that, despite what the New Testament teaches, a sufficient reason to be baptized is to obey Christ, thus ignoring Acts 2:38. Carroll Osburn also questions the purpose for baptism, whether it is “for” or “because of” the remission of sins in his The Peaceable Kingdom (241). He also urges fellowship even if there is disagreement on instrumental music or premillennialism (558). Osburn was a “distinguished” professor at Abilene Christian University.
A Summary
Another of Osburn’s books, Women In The Church, was reviewed for the ladies; this 40-page chapter contains 24 sources in the “Works Cited.” Other professors from Abilene have also written books, although some of them have now departed the school. Among them are Ian Fair’s Leadership in the Church; its author thinks that leaders ought to be “agents of change” (498). Others include C. Leonard Allen’s The Cruciform Church: Becoming a Cross-Shaped People in a Secular World and his The Worldly Church, which he co-wrote with Richard Hughes and Michael Weed. This latter book contains the denominational error that the “indwelling Spirit…enlightens our minds to the things of God” (338).
The ACU Press published Bill Love’s The Core Gospel: On Restoring the Crux of the Matter, which is yet another attempt to loosen the boundaries of fellowship for some short list of unspecified, essential doctrines. Lynn “Big, Sick Denomination” (which he spoke in Abilene in 1973) Anderson’s book, They Smell Like Sheep, also receives attention; one of the book’s errors is approval of re-evaluating elders or just rotating them in and out “by democratic process” (356). Another Abilene apostate is Mike Cope, and his book sounds like it might be Biblical: Righteousness Inside Out: The Sermon on the Mount and the Radical Way of Jesus. Despite the inclusion of some good material, Cope misinterprets Matthew 23:23 (as most liberals do) (273) and thoroughly perverts Matthew 7:13-14 (277).
Teaming up with Rubel Shelly, Cope also co-wrote What Would Jesus Do Today? At the risk of sounding unscholarly, a “Valley Girl” response from the early 80s comes to mind: “Barf me out!” The authors simply try to make Jesus be “a proponent of their errors” (523). Instead of fantasizing about what Jesus might do today, brethren would profit more from a study what Jesus actually did do! Equally silly is Marvin Phillips’ Don’t Shoot, We May Be On the Same Side. Most of us know where we stand, and it is nowhere near the vicinity of Marvin Phillips. He frequently makes the statement that the instrumental music question will never be settled on earth. That issue “was settled by inspiration in the first century” (360). Somehow, Mar-vin missed it.
No list of heretics would be complete without a mention of the modern founders of waywardness: W. Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett, who co-wrote Our Heritage of Unity and Fellowship, which rests upon their erroneous dichotomy between gospel and doctrine. Garrett’s book on The Stone-Campbell Movement is a separate chapter. Cecil Hook published the Ketcherside-Garrett collaboration, and his own work, Free in Christ, is examined; Hook was another one of several who believes that, if “one is to be saved, it must be totally by grace” (441). Many of these men are walking contradictions; Hook, for example, wrote that a “man need not have New Testament writings to know the will of God for holy living” (450) but then took issue with the proponents of homosexuality because it contradicts the New Testament (451-52).
One of Todd Deaver’s mentors, John Mark Hicks, wrote Come to the Table: Revisioning the Lord’s Supper. Yes, he revisions it, all right, advocating that the reader can use whatever he likes (whatever he finds meaningful) in place of the unleavened bread and fruit of the vine. The reviewer concludes of Hicks: “Logic escapes him, and sincerity is beyond his reach” (314). Another book relating to fellowship is James D. Bales’ Shall We Splinter? which contains some misinformation and is a defense of his own actions.
The last book (mentioned in this review) is endorsed by Rick Warren, Max Lucado, and F. LaGard Smith; what could possibly be wrong with it? Daring to Dance with God was penned by Jeff Walling. No, he is not still promoting the Macarena; as Max Lucado put it: “…dancing with God is learning to let go” (533). He advocates that worship be spontaneous, unpredictable, and full of surprises. Right! Sounds just like what Jesus told the woman at the well, doesn’t it?
The Tape
All of these reviews have centered on the books that apostates have written, but one chapter is written about a sermon that was given at Brown Trail on April 8, 1990 on the subject of the re-evaluation and reaffirmation of elders. The sermon that Dave Miller preached that day is included in the chapter (127-39). The one crucial piece of information that the reader must remember when reading this sermon is that the sermon must be viewed in the context of what Brown Trail practiced! It cannot be divorced from that situation in order to try to give Dave Miller an alleged benefit of the doubt. There is no doubt! While considering this chapter, the reader must remind himself that Dave Miller has told brethren repeatedly, “I have never done anything wrong (in connection with this practice) that I need to repent of.”
Following Miller’s Brown Trail sermon is the statement released by Dave Miller, which many of his defenders have erroneously called his statement of repentance. It is no such thing; remember, he has nothing of which to repent. Dub McClish’s careful and thorough analysis of that statement follows. The reader would see many problems with the statement for himself, but McClish’s keen scrutiny brings to light a number of important points worthy of consideration.
All of those who have been assured by Dave that he never did anything wrong (one preacher recently lost his job because the congregation he was working with, in their naivete, believed what Dave told them) should think about his guarantees while reading this chapter. Why would anyone accept a personal assurance in lieu of facts? The situation could not be any clearer, and Dave (by his own admission) has never repented of it (since he never did anything wrong). Why, then are brethren so eager to fellowship a brother that is clearly in error? Does genuine brotherly love overlook someone’s sins?
The value of this book is several times the meager price of $20 plus shipping. The hours of research that went into its production will only be worthwhile if brethren buy it and read it. Elders especially need to know the teachings of these false teachers—before they surface in their own congregations—and how to deal with the various doctrines highlighted in this volume. It may be ordered from David Brown at (281) 350-5516; e-mail dpbcftf@gmail.com.