Return to Sanity
W. Carl Ketcherside
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There are a lot of things transpiring in these days which are occasions for real joy. God is working in a wondrous manner to bring together brethren who have been separated and isolated and who have sometimes hated each other without cause. I am thrilled at the discovery of brothers and sisters I never knew I had. The number of these is growing all of the time.
Yesterday while I was writing on the manuscript for my next book the doorbell rang and when I opened the door there stood a young man who said he had been praying for an opportunity to meet me. He was driving through Saint Louis and decided to come and see if I was at home. His story was almost identical with scores of others I have heard the last two years. He grew up in a "Church of Christ" family, was baptized when he was eleven years of age, and encouraged from the time he started high school to "study and become a preacher." Since the congregation was one which had split over "the institutional question" it was assumed he would attend the "loyal school" in Florida, which he did. He developed a wholesome respect for the faculty and a close relationship with most of the students. But as he began to cultivate his rational powers, and his thinking processes were awakened, he became vaguely uneasy about the validity of the divisiveness which was condoned and encouraged.
The students privately discussed the glib answers handed down by visiting preachers and debaters who were regarded as celebrities while on campus, and some of the students were smart enough to recognize fallacies and detect weak spots. They never thought of bucking "the system" and expected to continue in the framework of the party when they went forth to preach. But there was some heart-searching and mental unrest.
My name came in for rather frequent mention in classes and in private. I was presented as a heretic who had aban-
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He also told me that I was held up as one of the most dangerous men in the whole theological spectrum. I was a persuasive orator and a genius with both pen and voice so that even strong men who came under my spell were lured into apostasy and spiritual destruction. I was depicted as Satan's most effective agent alive today, a man who could make black look white and vice versa. Some of the students developed a sort of moral and morbid fright of me, although they had never seen me or read a word I had written.
One Sunday this lad was sent to preach at a certain congregation and was invited home by one of the deacons. He wanted to demonstrate to his host that he was both faithful and alert to danger so he began to tell him about me. The man asked him if he knew me or had read anything I had written. When he admitted all he had was hearsay, the deacon told him he had misrepresented me. He gave him one of the bound volumes of my paper and asked him to read it and mark the things which were unscriptural so they might discuss them upon the occasion of his next visit.
The brother told me with what trepidation he took the volume back to the campus and how fearful he was that he might be discovered reading from what one good brother referred to as "the arch-heretic of liberalism." But the more he read the more engrossed he became. He wrote to me and I replied at once. He became a regular reader of MISSION MESSENGER. And now we were sitting together in the same room--a man of sixty-five and another not nearly half as old. And we were brothers! There was no question about that!
He wanted to apologize for the way he had regarded me and the things he had said about me. He was conscience-stricken because he had been brainwashed by hearsay evidence, most of it from preachers who did not know me either. I told him I was long past the place where "preacher gossip," which is always rife in all parties, created any concern. I no longer have to worry about standing in with party "somewhats" and so I am not afraid what men shall do unto me. Peace, it's wonderful!
I told the young brother what had happened years ago when I visited the school and came in for attack from "loyal" brethren like Pat Hardeman, Bill Humble, and G. K. Wallace. All of these have now been turned out as "liberals" and have been marked off the factional roster of the faithful. Others who are there now will suffer the same fate when the political machine grinds them as grist. The defenders of today are the defamed ones tomorrow. It will always be thus when the system is built upon conformity, for it is difficult to freeze ignorance at the current level. It is impossible when men reason and think.
It is good that we are bursting out of our shells and starting to breathe the air of freedom. And it is happening clear across the board. Some of the greatest contributions to liberty in Christ are being made by young brethren who have grown up in the segment which makes a test of fellowship out of the use of individual cups and classes. Most of them still labor with congregations which have one container and an undivided assembly for study and edification, but they are not uptight about it, and would not dream of drawing a line of fellowship against brethren who do not share their position.
Brethren who always used multiple cups but were dubbed the "anti-Sunday School group" are truly taking the lead in promoting unity in many areas. Brilliant, incisive men, some of whom were noted debaters, are rejecting partisan fighting and are choosing the worthier course of becoming peacemakers. The
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I am constantly receiving letters from every state in the nation in which brethren confess they are changing their position. They are coming to realize they have mistaken loyalty to tradition with fidelity to the scriptures. They are trying to undo the effect of their previous bigotry and intolerance. Perhaps never since the inception of this historical movement has it seen such a leavening influence as it is now experiencing. Raucous cries of hatred and hostility, and acrimonious accusations, fall upon ears no longer attuned to them.
Our brethren are marching to the sound of a different trumpet. They are no longer moved by the uncertain sound of the factional horns. We are growing up in Christ. We are maturing in the Spirit. Perhaps God is again preparing us to resume the march toward the goal from which a century and a half of internecine fighting has deflected us. If so, tomorrow will be brighter than today!
One of the best things happening, as I see it, is that men are starting to trust in Jesus as their hope, rather than in the church, which often means the party organization. This frees them to love others realistically as God loves them. It is not necessary to get people into a particular category or pigeon-hole to know how to treat them. One need not ask how they stand on this thing or that before calling upon them to lead prayer or share in praise. Loyalty is not tested by what you are against, but by your being with Jesus. The fundamental question is not, "What do you think of instrumental music?" but "What think ye of Christ? whose Son is he?"
This allows each person to retain his personal conviction as to things without affecting his relationship to others. The faith which should be shared with everyone is not affected by the faith which should be kept to one's self. It is a real sign of spiritual maturity when one can love and receive those who hold divergent views, simply because they follow one Lord and are in one body. It is only shriveled intellects which measure the standing of others, not by the breadth of God's word, but by the narrowness of their human understanding. This is the root of papal authority, the fruit of which is assumption of infallibility.
We will not lead the world to Jesus along the divisive path we have trodden in the past. We will negate our own influence, and lose our own children. We must renounce our past approach. It only leads us deeper into ths swamps of schism. We must pull our feet out of the stinking ooze and plant them on higher ground. We should not strive to salvage any of our sectarian trappings. They will but burden us on the onward march. We must abandon our unsavory attitudes and discard our unwholesome trappings. With crushed spirits because of our past failures, but with unbroken courage for the future we must begin anew the trek toward sanity and renewal.
Everywhere there are signs that this is happening. I rejoice to see it with joy unspeakable. Let fearless men arise to proclaim anew the truth that makes men free! Let the party spirit die, be buried and never resurrected to plague us again. Let the Holy Spirit fill the hearts and animate the lives of all of us. Jesus reigns as sovereign over all the earth. Let no one else lay claim to the throne-room of our hearts. Jesus! Jesus only! Jesus as Lord, now and forever, world without end! This is my story, this is my song! Let us all sing it together and in harmony.