A Serious Charge

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     A brother in the southland has become seriously upset by my reference to "The Church of Christ" of which he is a "Minister" as a sect. He bitterly reproaches me for branding the New Testament church for which Jesus died, as a sect. Of course, I did not do that. I am fully aware that the church of God is not, and cannot be a sect. The trouble with my brother is, that like the Roman Catholic priest, he confuses his sect with the church of God mentioned in the Word.

     I unhesitatingly charge that the church with which my brother is affiliated, is no different in practice, than the other modern sects about us. I can demonstrate the following and present the proof when it is demanded.

1. "The Church of Christ" has a specially trained clergy and that clergy constitutes the policy making body in every major center of the nation.
2. "The Church of Christ" has its theological seminaries.

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3. "The Church of Christ" has its boards for property control, and these hold titles and deeds to property used by congregation even in foreign countries.
4. "The Church of Christ" has annual conventions under guise of lectureships, and at these conventions foreign and domestic missionaries make their reports, dinners are given in honor of the clergymen, band and orchestra concerts are provided, special choirs are featured, churches present exhibits of their handiwork, and pressure groups operate to control matters of faith and doctrine.
5. "The Church of Christ" has its missionary societies functioning regularly with funds pooled from numerous congregations which have mailed them to the headquarters.
6. "The Church of Christ" has its central bureau for national and international propaganda by radio and television.
7. "The Church of Christ" has its centralized charitable and eleemosynary boards for administration of its funds to the needy and destitute.
8. "The Church of Christ" has its parochial school system patterned in principle after those of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran bodies.
9. "The Church of Christ" has its district headquarters, with the editors of its journals in those headquarters serving as an ex officio board of censorship in matters of faith and doctrine.
10. "The Church of Christ" employs the boycott and various subversive means to keep its sectarian position from being exposed to its shame and disgrace.

     These are but a few things which come to mind at once, which demonstrate that "The Church of Christ" is not a restoration of the primitive congregation of saints, but has degenerated into a twentieth century sect, employing all the means and methods of any other sect. We sympathize with the thousands of our humble brethren who are exploited for gain in this great institution, and we recognize that there are many congregations of saints who designate themselves as "Churches of Christ" and are not sectarian in concept or practice.

     It takes more than a belief in water baptism and opposition to instrumental music in worship to constitute a church of God of the new covenant pattern. We ask you to remember the things listed above when you hear a clergyman of "The Church of Christ" (generally presented as a "local preacher" or "located evangelist") assault the members of the religious community in a radio speech, and abuse them because they do not subscribe to "Church of Christism." It brings our hearts no joy to report the state of this body of "New Digressives." But truth is truth, and we can prove what we have here written. It should never be forgotten that Rome exists today as proof of what happens to a church of Christ when it starts to apostatize.

     What will be the result? Will "The Church of Christ" repent and return to the original pattern? All history testifies to the contrary! She is now in the grasp of big business men, great promoters, and mercenaries. She will continue to digress farther and farther from the pattern, growing ever more sectarian in concept, developing an attitude of exclusiveness and bigotry, until God's people will have to come out of her that they be not partaker of her sins. We are sorry our brother is offended at us for telling the truth about his position, but we love the church of Christ too much to allow a substitute to go unchallenged!