Why I Became an “Anti”

(Part Two)

By Hubert C. Wilson (Deceased)

In the great Providence of God two men came to my house on Thursday night Janu­ary 5, 1973 to visit. They were Brother B. J. Thomas and Brother Bob Hall of the Boss­ier Church of Christ, Bossier City, LA. Brother Bob Hall just a few months ear­lier had left the "Liberal" Creswell Street Church in Shreveport, LA. That night we talked about some of the differences be­tween the Bossier Church and the Liberal churches. Brother Hall and I had wor­shipped at the same liberal churches in time gone by (even though at different times), and we discussed the things that both of us knew to be scrip­turally wrong in them. That weekend, Janu­ary 7 and 8, we had a severe ice storm and I decided that rather than to cross the river bridges, I would just worship with the “Antis" one time. To my surprise the worship was almost identical to what I was accustomed to. In the next few weeks I would still wor­ship with the “Liberal" church on Sunday morning and with the "Antis" on Sunday night and Wednesday night. I spent many hours studying the issues, never un­der pressure by Brother Thomas. In fact, I stud­ied both sides of the issues for the first time in my life. I devoted over 80 hours of study­ing tracts by Brother V. E. Howard, Guy N. Woods and others, and found to my sur­prise they have twisted and misused pas­sages of scripture to justify their positions. I also read complete books on debates (Woods-Cogdill debate for one) and tried to digest them with an open mind. As a result of my studies and many prayers, my wife and I placed our membership with the Boss­ier Church of Christ on March 18, 1973. To this date* we have yet to have even one mem­ber of the Liberal Churches call or ex­press con­cern that we have left them. I am sure many do not know it yet, but I am also sure many will think "good riddance." Fol­lowing are the Bible areas which caused me to change:

1. The area of Benevolence.

God never intended for the Church to take care of the world. In every case in the Bible when we find benevolent work being done by the church, it was always for the “saints" (Acts 2:44-45; 4:34-35; 6:1-6; 11:27-30; Rom. 15:25-26; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; 2 Cor. 8th & 9th chapters; 1 Tim. 5:16). Yet we are called "Anti" by liberal brethren who have set up human institutions to do gen­eral benevolence, a work on which the very silence of the scriptures should be sufficient to anyone with an honest heart. We do not oppose "orphans" having a home. We do oppose God's church doing anything with­out Bible authority which can come only by di­rect command, approved example or nec­essary inference. None of these exists to authorize the church-supported human in­stitutions the liberal churches advocate and sponsor.

They try to justify their actions by James 1:27, but if we study the passage, we find it is talking about the responsibility of an indi­vidual, not the church. The same "man" that is to visit the fatherless and widows is to (1) be a doer and not a forgetful hearer, in verses 22-25; (2) bridle his tongue and keep his heart undeceived, in verse 26; (3) keep himself unspotted, in verse 27. This is not the obligation of the church but of the individual. The problem with the "liberal" brethren is that most of them do not see any difference between the individual and the church. We are told that the word "visit" means to help financially and so they build their "Homes." Well, the same word "visit" is in Matt. 25:36, so some of them now have "hospitals," and I guess the next step will be "Jails" (Matt. 25:36). How blind can people be?? Some well known preacher says “do,” and people follow men and not God.

2. The area of Cooperation.

Churches cooperated in New Testament times concurrently and not through centrali­zation or the sponsoring church set-up. Here is how they cooperated in Benevo­lence: (1) Antioch (Acts 11:27-30). The church in Antioch sent a contribution to the churches of Judea in time of famine. (2) Ga­latia sent to the poor “saints” in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem was an object of charity and was in distress because of fam­ine (1 Cor. 16:1-2). Several churches sent directly to the place where the need existed. It did not go through a sponsoring church. (3) Macedonia and Achaia (2 Cor. 9:1-2); this shows other churches who sent to Jeru­salem when they were unable to help them­selves. These are the only examples in the New Testament of churches sending funds from their treasuries to other churches. No church ever contributed to another church unless it was the ob­ject of charity.

Churches cooperated in evangelism in the following manner: (1) A plurality of churches sent wages to Paul as he labored in Corinth (2 Cor. 11:8). (2) Philippi sent once and again to Paul in Thessalonica (Phil. 4:15-16), and also to him in Rome (Phil. 4:10-18). (3) The church in Jerusa­lem sent Barnabas to preach and teach the word to the church and others in Antioch (Acts 11:22). (4) The apostles in Jerusalem sent letters to many churches (Acts 15:30; Acts 16:4). (5) The church at Antioch en­dorsed Paul and Barnabas and received a report of their work (Acts 13:1-4; 14:26-28).

In evangelism wages were sent direct to the preacher, not to or through another church. When churches cooperated in the support of the preacher, they sent directly to the preacher. No church in the New Tes­tament made another church its agent in forwarding, delivering, handling or distribut­ing its contribution. No church became a centralized agency through which other churches cooperated in doing any work. There was no pooling of funds by the churches of the New Testament. No elder­ship exercised any control over the mem­bers, discipline, fellowship, resources, or ac­tivity of another congregation.

The greatest fallacy in all of the division is the false teaching (even though sometimes by practice only) concerning elders and their responsibility. Most people think a preacher cannot go preach unless he is un­der elders and if you support him you would be wrong. Anyone has a God-given right to preach the gospel, if he was never under elders. Elders are over the local flock (Acts 20:28; 14:23; 1 Pet. 5:1-4), and when men are qualified each congregation or church should have them (but not unless qualified). They cannot “oversee” a work that is bigger than the local church, such as is done in the Herald of Truth and World Radio. Here we have elders overseeing other churches' work and money, which is foreign to the Bible. Either Herald of Truth is Highland's work only and other churches just think it a part of their work or it is a "brotherhood" work and as such it is unscriptural. Over the years it has been difficult to pin anyone down as to whose work it is. Herald of Truth and World Radio are in a perpetual begging campaign for funds from other churches and all Christians, and God never intended for His Church to be a perpetual beggar.

   *This article originally appeared in the 11/22/73 issue of Truth Magazine.

(To be concluded next week)