COLONIALISM - THE POLICY OF A NATION SEEKING TO EXTEND ITS AUTHORITY OVER OTHER TERRITORIES 

The denominational world works much like this. Colonialism is the only thing many of them even know. It probably started with the Catholic Church as they spread along with the rest of the Holy Roman Empire. Now certainly we should be desiring to spread the gospel to all the world as the great commission commands, and we should seek to extend God’s authority to all by teaching them to submit themselves to his will. There is a difference in spreading the gospel and extending my authority or my churches authority.  Recently some circumstances and certain statements have caused me to wonder if some congregations of the Lord’s church are taking on the denominational structure of a mother church and her baby churches. I must say here that I am thankful that the Florence Blvd. church of Christ, which supported the work here in Butler, was not and is not like some others. What makes an eldership think that since it supports a work financially it can dictate how that work is carried out? The scriptures teach that there should be elders in every church. Sometimes when there are not elders in one congregation, another that has elders thinks and even acts as though it has control of the other. 

In conversation the other day, a man told me that their congregation was supporting a particular work and explained that the newly planted church was “under our elders”. In another situation the elders of the congregation supporting a work hire the preacher rather than allowing the congregation which will have to work with him to choose the man best suited to them. Have we lost touch with the Biblical doctrine of autonomy? There is to be one head, Christ; an eldership over each congregation; and never an eldership over two congregations. There is a way for a congregation to handle a supported work that is not scriptural: stop supporting it.  We have others who are trying through their papers or via other means to control other congregations. One preacher after being written up in a paper had a ready response that should be sufficient to cover the situation. He simply replied that the elders at the congregation where he preached knew what he believed and taught and if any correction needed to be made they would be the ones to make it. Sometimes an eldership doesn’t make the corrections that need to be made, but that doesn’t give another congregation the right to take over. It is sad and painful to see entire congregations go astray, but if others go beyond the limits of their authority to attempt to bring them back then we have two tragedies in place of one.  We need to lovingly exhort one another. We need to truthfully teach one another. We need to never go beyond the authority of the scriptures, even for a good cause. The end does not justify sinful means. Leave colonialism to the politicians, it has no place in New Testament Christianity. 

CLERICALISM - CLERICAL POWER IN THE GOVERNMENT 

Here is one we don’t have to worry about much in America; unless you count humanist and atheistic leaders as clergy of their respective religions. Our government was founded with the idea that one church not have control of the state. The intent by our founding fathers was to limit government's role in religion and to keep one religion from controlling all the others. What has happened instead is that government has so restricted religion that those claiming Christianity in Alabama were lambasted when they joined forces to defeat the lottery. We were accused of violating the separation of church and state. Isn’t that amazing. Individuals are not even allowed to vote their religious beliefs. We aren’t supposed to let our faith interfere with politics. The alternative is to allow politics to interfere with our faith. We find ourselves today right where Peter and John found themselves in Acts 4 and we must decide whether to obey God or man. 

We are all concerned about the lack of morals and mocking of values that goes on in our country and our government, but the opposite extreme wouldn’t really be any better. If our government were to be controlled by a religion, which one would it be? You might say, “Christianity”. Great, now which version of Christianity; Catholic, Baptist, Jehovah’s Witness, etc.? You would obviously want what you believe to be the ruling law. Therein lies the problem. England had a system like that and what the King believed was the law, and you believed what the King believed or else. Just look at the atrocities of the Holy Roman Empire under the rule of a “Pope” who decided what everyone would believe. No, we don’t want the clergy ruling our land. 

Aside from a Theocracy where God plays an active part in governing like he did with the children of Israel there is no better form of government known to man than the one we HAD in this country. A law under which religion is allowed to be religion and government is not supposed to interfere. Oh, if we could only get back to that. 

Let us pray that our nation will halt its destructive way of thinking and return to God. We must reach one person at a time, we can’t vote people into obedience to God, nor should we want to do it by force. (Psa 33:12) “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”   (Isa 1:4-6) “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. {5} Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. {6} From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.”  (Prov 14:34) “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” 

CLASSICISM OR CLASSICALISM  - THE PRINCIPLES OF CLASSIC LITERATURE AND ART.

Many of us enjoy things of a classical nature and there is certainly nothing sinful in that alone. Whether it be music, art, or literature from those classical periods, they can be very beautiful and inspiring. What we must remember, however, is that the philosophy behind those things was not Christian in nature by a long shot, and in many cases didn’t even recognize the true God. The same thing can be said about the arts and literature of today. As Christians we can still enjoy some of those things, but we must be discriminating and never compromise our beliefs and convictions.  Paul was a good example of this. When he found the many gods that the Athenians were worshiping he used their own literature to describe the true and living God to them. He didn’t compromise his principles, but he had obviously read and studied those works in order to know what they had said.  (Acts 17:28) “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” Paul used some of the literature of the people of Crete against them when he wrote to Titus. (Titus 1:12-14)  “One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.  {13} This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; {14} Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.”  When some thing is good and true it can be used by the Christian, but things that don’t fit that description should be avoided. Some of what is commonly referred to as classical art is in actuality nothing more than an ancient form of pornography. A Christian is to have nothing to do with works of darkness. (Rom 13:12-14) “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. {13} Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. {14} But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” We can separate the good from the bad and we need to do so. There are some who say that all of this or that is evil and we should have nothing to do with it. There are few if any things in the world that truly fall into that category, however. Most things in the world today, like the men who make and/or use them, are both good and bad. Classical literature falls into this category. There are great truths presented in some of their works and great lies told in others. The music that was written in what we call the classical style is some of the most beautiful music ever written, in fact, we sing the tunes of some of that music in our worship to God. The men who wrote some of those things that are so useful in praising God lived some of the most morally impure lives that can be imagined. We don’t need to throw them out because of that. Some of the Psalms in our scriptures were penned by a murderer and adulterer, but God used those evil occasions for His glory. 

Whether it is modern, classical, or other let us be discriminating and chose the good and abstain from the bad. 

CINCHONISM - POISONING BY CINCHONA ALKALOIDS, CHARACTERIZED BY HEADACHES, DEAFNESS AND RINGING IN THE EARS. 

I don’t know what it is in the spiritual world that causes these problems, but there is definitely a problem in the church with people having these symptoms. It is amazing to me how many people will stay away from the assemblies because of a little headache that isn’t even bad enough to need to take an aspirin. The deafness of people in the church is another wonder of the spiritual world. There are any number of people who have perfectly good hearing, in fact, excellent hearing when there is the slightest hint of gossip, but who don’t seem to be able to hear a thing when the preacher mentions scripture pertaining to some sin in their life. What about the ringing in the ears? We so many times allow the wrong things to continue ringing in our ears. We can still hear in our mind the dirty joke that we were told a week ago, but we can’t seem to remember a scripture that was read earlier today. Why is it that way? 

Paul warned Timothy that there would be those who just couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to hear the truth. (2 Tim 4:3-4) “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; {4} And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” Notice those itching ears. I wonder if it was a deafness and ringing in the ear that made it itch. A form of spiritual cinchonism. We need to be sure we are opening our ears to God’s word and keeping them closed to all the fables round about us.  (1 Cor 2:13-15) “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. {14} But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. {15} But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” Are we guilty of thinking the teachings of the scriptures are foolishness? No, not all of them only the ones that say things about us that we don’t like. Let us strive to be spiritual and to hear and think on spiritual things. 

CHEMISM - CHEMICAL ACTION
CHEMOTROPISM - MOVEMENT IN RESPONSE TO A CHEMICAL STIMULUS 

In the natural world and in scientific experiments chemicals do all kinds of amazing things. By mixing different chemicals together man has discovered how to make all kinds of things from explosions to vehicles that work as a result of small explosions; from things that can cause illness and death to things that can cure illness and prevent death. It is truly marvelous the way that God created this world and our minds to be capable of all this variety. Every chemical from the single element to the most complex combination has certain qualities that affect what it does when it comes in contact with other chemicals. 

In the church we sometimes need to have something that causes a reaction or an action like chemicals do in the physical world. There are other times when a chemical reaction is the thing that we don’t need. It all depends on the chemical and what it will do. Spiritually there are as many different kinds of ‘chemicals’ as there are in the science lab. There are good ones like love and understanding, and there are dangerous ones like hatred and gossip. There are some that are neither good nor bad in themselves, but dependent on how they are used and what others they are used with. For example: anger used with love and truth can be very effective in correcting a sin problem, but anger used with hatred and lies can destroy all that come in contact with it. 

One thing of which we must beware is the way we allow these things to affect us. Chemism is the chemical action itself, and we need to never use a ‘chemical’ in a way that would cause a problem. Chemotropism is how we or someone else responds to the action of the chemical. We can’t control how another will respond, but we must control how we respond. You see, the spiritual world is not like the physical world. In the physical world if enough of a chemical that is deadly contacts you your body will die, you can’t control it. In the church, however, no matter how much of these deadly chemicals people use against us we still control the response. We can allow someone’s hatred of us to destroy our faith, or we can overcome that evil and continue to do what is right. 

The church must be on the alert so that we do not allow what society or other religions or even other congregations of the Lord’s body to control us or draw us away or push us away from the truth. We need to be a people who act on the Word of God and not a people who react to every trend or false teaching that comes along. Throughout the last 2000 years churches have split and split again because even though the Bible says “B” one group says “A”. Instead of countering the falsehood with the truth, the second group goes to the other extreme and says “C”. Christ’s Deity is a perfect example of that. One group says, ‘He was just a man’ and the other group says, ‘No, He was just God’. Then they begin to design all kinds of elaborate theories to prove their points rather than going to the Bible and seeing that He was both man and God. We need to be firm on teaching the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It is never right to counter one false teaching with another no matter what the intentions are. (Eph 4:13-15) “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: {14} That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; {15} But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:” 

CHAUVINISM - PREJUDICED DEVOTION TO ANY ATTITUDE OR CAUSE. 

There are many attitudes and causes to which we should be devoted. There are also many that we should not be devoted to at all. We can’t properly distinguish the two groups if we are prejudiced for or against something. I imagine that when some of our brethren first began using radio as a way of spreading the gospel message there were some who were prejudiced against it even though there was and is nothing scripturally wrong with it. In fact, anything we can do to spread the gospel farther, faster is something we should consider. We may determine that it isn’t the best way for our congregation to do it and that is fine, but we should consider all alternatives and then chose the best ones. 

But, Chauvinism is not prejudiced against something, rather it is for something. There are those who will be devoted to some cause and not be willing to consider any other even though the cause they are in favor of is no longer effective. Certainly, we must be devoted to the truth regardless of how effective we think it is, but methods and manners of getting the truth out there can change. The Jule Miller Filmstrips are a good example.  The teaching on them is good, and some think they are the best thing since sliced bread. Maybe when they first came out they were, but now with the people in them dressed in clothing that is out of date by 3 or 4 decades people won’t hear the message for laughing at the fashions. One congregation wanted to do a remake video with live sound and moving picture, and they were quickly turned down because someone was chauvinistic.  Sadder still are those who try to use the Bible to support their sinful chauvinism. There are men who want to treat their wives in anything but a Christian way, and then claim they are doing as the Bible teaches. These men will read every verse in the Bible about how wives are to behave and be in subjection to their husbands and so forth, but they never bother to read the verses that tell husbands how they should behave. (1 Cor 7:4) “The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.” If a man thinks he can beat his wife, then he better allow her to do the same to him. (Eph 5:25) “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” Can you imagine Christ running around on the church with other religions, or making cruel jokes about the church, or beating the church. These pictures are incomprehensible, yet the husband is to love his wife like Christ loves the church even to the point of giving himself for her. 

There are many other forms of chauvinism that we could talk about, but suffice it to say we shouldn’t be devoted to any cause before we have examined the evidence. Even our faith in Christ must be based on the evidence, as the Bereans’ faith was. (Acts 17:11) “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Don’t be a chauvinist. 

CHARLATANISM - THE PRACTICE OF PRETENDING TO HAVE KNOWLEDGE OR SKILLS THAT ONE DOES NOT HAVE.
 There are not many things in life that annoy us more than being duped by a charlatan. It happens to people everyday. Someone seems honest and sincere and we trust them and wind up buying something that doesn’t work, something that isn’t what it claims to be, or even get robbed flat out. Scam artists can sell anything to anybody it seems. 

The church is not free from these types of problems. All the way back in the first century there were charlatans who were pretending that they were apostles and slandering the real apostles. Paul warned the Corinthians about them: (2 Cor 11:13) “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.” The Corinthian church and possibly others had taken in these pretenders and had listened to them and had been led astray by them. We might think that since we have the word of God we are not so easily deceived. We need to be careful of arrogance in this area or we will be easy prey for charlatanism. Peter warned us that there are some who twist the scriptures to their own destruction. (2 Pet 3:16) “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” So in regards to our being safe from it today let me just point out: (1 Cor 10:12)  “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 

As for ourselves, let us be sure that we are not putting up false fronts and thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. There have always been charlatans and there will be until Christ returns, but we need to protect ourselves from them through study of the Word, and we need to avoid being with them by looking into the mirror of the perfect law of liberty and making corrections as they become apparent. We must realize that we are imperfect and not look down our noses at others for their imperfections with a ‘holier than thou’ attitude. Remember that it only took one sin in our lives to separate us from God, and whether we only sinned that one or sinned a thousand more before coming to Christ we were no further or closer to him.  The person who told a ‘little white lie’ is just as lost without Christ as the mass murderer. John says being a charlatan is worse than being a sinner.  (1 John 1:8) “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We may deceive ourselves, our friends and neighbors, and even the whole world; but we will never deceive God. If we try we will be found out just like Ananias and Sapphira, so let us be honest with ourselves, others and God by acknowledging our weaknesses and limitations. 

CENTRALISM - A CENTRALIZING SYSTEM
 Businesses cannot survive long if they do not adhere to some centralizing system. The church also is dependent on centralism. There are only two kinds of centralism: the right kind and the wrong kind. Most religious groups have some kind of headquarters on earth. It doesn’t matter if there is one man ruling the church and sending down edicts, or a council of leaders that makes creeds for them to go by, they are still being led by men from an earthly headquarters.

 The Bible makes it clear that there is no authority above the local congregation other than God, Jesus, and Their Word. (Eph 1:22-23) “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, {23} Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Despite the clear Bible teaching that we are to obey God and not men, the church in the early centuries succumbed to this very thing. It didn’t happen overnight. It was a process of years, starting in the second century with the idea that one of the elders in a congregation was “first among equals” as if that were possible. This ‘head’ elder was soon referred to as bishop while the others retained the office of elder. Through this process centralization of and apostasy of the church on earth continued and was completed when around 600 AD Boniface proclaimed himself to be the head of the church. Of course this was no longer Christ’s church, because only Christ is the head of His church.

 We might think that that could never happen again, but we are mistaken. The church is always only one generation (or less) from apostasy. Failure to teach our children properly will result in falsehood in the church. There are as I type men and women in the church that are not satisfied with the autonomy (rule of each congregation through the Word by men from within the congregation) of the church. There are elders who are not happy with being on equal terms with the other elders of that congregation and want to rule everything themselves. There are elderships that are not happy with overseeing the congregation where they are, but desire to spread their rule over other congregations.

 There are those like Diotrephes who want to have preeminence, and worse than him want to throw whole congregations out if there is anything they don’t like about the way the congregation is led. I am not saying that anything is ok, far from it. Those congregations who are not faithful to the word will be spewed out of the Lord’s mouth like Laodicea. However, we need to all be watching our own congregations and helping them to stay on the right path rather than sticking our noses into other congregations of which we are not even part.

 I often express to our congregation the beauty of autonomy like this: Because each congregation is ruled from within and the only outside force is from God through the word, it doesn’t matter if every other congregation in the U.S. or even in the world goes astray, we can still be faithful. It doesn’t work that way with any earthly centralism. Under any central system you believe what the council or the Pope, or the Apostle of that denomination commands (whether you want to or not).  Of course as is obvious from this emailing itself, that doesn’t mean that we are not all part of the same body of Christ because we live in different places. We are all brothers and sisters as many of us as are in Christ. So keep encouraging your brothers and sisters no matter where they may be, and be sure to thank God for his wisdom in providing the only kind of centralism that can work, a system with Him as the Owner/President/CEO at the headquarters in heaven.

CELTICISM - A CELTIC CUSTOM
 Customs as long as they don’t interfere with obedience to the Word of God are not a problem. The danger occurs when we allow customs to be intermixed with or even to replace the doctrines that the apostles gave. I don’t suppose that Celtic customs are any more likely to do that than any other kind.

 The Celtic religion is a pagan religion and thus the customs of that religion like any other non-Christian religion should be shunned. We should never allow the customs or traditions of men to interfere with our obedience to God whether it be a family tradition, a religious doctrine, or a national, ethnic, or cultural custom.

 Some Celticisms that we should watch out for are Easter, Christmas trees, and St. Patrick’s Day. Although all of these things have become associated in one way or another with religious activity, we need to watch out that they don’t get in the way of the truth. I am not saying that we should not have anything to do with these three things or any other custom as long as it does not cause sin. We must, however, remember that these pagan oriented traditions have no more place in our assemblies than do Halloween, Valentine’s Day, or July 4. The time that we are assembled together is a special time set aside for praising God in song, studying His Word, praying, observing the Lord’s Supper, giving of our means, and exhorting and encouraging our fellow Christians.

 We don’t need to celebrate Easter as a religious holiday (holy day), but if we enjoy hunting Easter eggs and giving candy that is all good and fun. We remember Christ’s resurrection each week when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, and that is sufficient. Christmas trees are fun to decorate, pretty to look at, and a good place to store presents, and there is nothing sinful in that. There have been sins associated with trees in times past, and the custom does come from a pagan form of worship, but as long as we recognize God’s creative power and don’t fall to worshiping the created rather than the Creator we are not sinning with them. (Jer 10:3-5) “For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. {4} They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. {5} They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.” Jeremiah points out the sin of worshiping or attributing some special powers to a tree, but not the use of it as decoration.

 (Gal 4:8-11) “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. {9} But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? {10} Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. {11} I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Paul makes it clear to the Galatians that there is only one God and only the commandments that He makes are to be heeded. If we like these Galatians observe all of these “holidays” and think that we are in some way better for it, we are mistaken. They are fun and enjoyable, and we get to be with family, but there is nothing HOLY about our Holidays.

 There are many that use these traditional gatherings as well as others like family reunions as an excuse to miss the assembly of the saints. When we allow that to happen we have sinned. Let us put forth every effort to observe God’s Holy will and not man’s holy days.

CATHOLICISM - FOLLOWING THE TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
 There are enough dangers with Catholicism that I could spend the rest of the year on this subject alone. If you are interested in further study on this topic you might be interested in two books:
1) Traditions of Men Versus the Word of God, by Alvin Jennings, published by Star Bible Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 821220, Fort Worth, Texas 76182, 1-800-433-7507.
2) Catholicism Against Itself, by O. C. Lambert, published by Star Bible Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 821220, Fort Worth, Texas 76182, 1-800-433-7507.  There are probably other good books on the subject as well, and the Bible itself is full of incriminating evidence against the Catholic religion.  Let’s look at just a few of the teachings of Catholicism that contradict God’s Word.

1) They claim to trace the Papacy back to Peter. According to their own regulations, however, Peter could never have been a ‘Pope’ because he was married (Mat 8:14) “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.” Further, according to history the first Pope proclaimed himself such, it was not passed down to him, and that was Boniface in 608 AD. No, the Catholic church is not the same church that Christ established in the first century.

2) Priests are called ‘Father’. (Mat 23:9) “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.”

3) Only a priest can mediate between the congregation and God. The Bible says that only Christ is our mediator and that all Christians are priests. (1 Tim 2:5) “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” and (1 Pet 2:5) “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” and (1 Pet 2:9) “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”

4) Tradition and teaching of ‘Popes’ and councils is held above the Bible and study of the Bible is not encouraged. Jesus condemned tradition that violated God’s law, and Bible teaches that it is all sufficient and should be studied.  (Mat 15:3) “But he answered and said unto them, ‘Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?’” (2 Tim 2:15)  “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim 3:16-17)  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: {17} That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.  There are many more doctrines that are held by the Catholic church in direct opposition to the Bible (idolatry, prayer to those who are not God, infant baptism, confusion over saints, etc.), but I suppose that is what happens when you believe that man’s ideas are better than God’s. Let us always look to God and his revealed will for our authority in religion and in life.