The Law of Contrarieties
R.D.Ice June 7, 2016
Never were the faithful brethren
in the Seven Churches of Revelation told to draw off to form a “true”
church! Rather, they were to “hold fast
what you have until I come.” “Be watchful,
and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not
found your works perfect before God.”
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and
dine with him, and he with Me.” And the
continual refrain: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches.”
Over some 66 years of working with the
church, this writer has come across many things. The ‘Law of Contrarieties’ means to react to
an idea, to oppose what that person thinks the idea means, sometimes without
thinking through implications and consequences.
Many years ago at a Lectureship a young preacher said some good
things. And older brother got up and
angrily denounced the things that he thought had been said. I went to him afterward and showed him that
they were both saying the very same thing using different words.
“Uncle John” is a composite of people and
places I have known over the years.
These things really happened.
Truth really is stranger than fiction.
Someone said of old Uncle John Rogers
(not his real name), “He is the most spiritual man I know. He is so strict that he is against
everything!” Uncle John would never
allow the church to die. But, neither
would he allow it to grow. If someone
new came in, he would discourage them to move on.
Uncle John said, “I don’t remember who
said it, but if the denominations go in and out the door, why, we will go in
and out the window.” “We’ve got to be different,”
he said, ”or we don’t have anything to preach.”
“What about preaching Christ?” someone
asked.”
“Oh,” John said, “the
denominations do that. We’ve got to tell
people just how different we are, that we are the true church because we are
different and peculiar.”
Paul said: “For I determined not to know
anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 1 Cor. 2:2.
The ancient church spoke of the Fish
<”)))>< - Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior
(ichthus). This was their faith.
A Brother came to hold a Gospel
Meeting. The first night he preached
that no one at all could be saved, except
just maybe a tiny remnant. He quoted
what Jesus said about "entering in at the strait gate." One of the young people asked, "what
about Matt. 8:11 where Jesus said “many will come from the east and the
west and sit down in the kingdom of heaven?
And what about the ‘great number that no man can number’ in Revelation
7?"
The next night the brother preached on
how sinful it was to have a kitchen in the church (building)." Uncle John said, "There has been enough
gospel preached here tonight to save the world!"
Uncle John was against
“premillenialism.” But he didn’t stop at
that. If Christ would really come to
usher in a 1000 year kingdom, Uncle John would have surely given Him a strong
argument against it. “If premillenialism
is true, why, you might as well just throw the Bible out the window!” But of course God doesn’t need our advice on
what He does or does not do.
But Uncle John was so against the idea
of a thousand year reign that he began following the AD 70 argument
(Preterism). He bought a book on
Revelation that taught that everything had been fulfilled when Jerusalem
Anything Uncle John didn’t want to have
done, he would say that it was “just for the first century” and write it
off. But when someone tried to tell him
that “baptism was just for the first century,” he really got angry.
Someone tried to say that the Lord’s
Supper was only for the first century.
They quoted 1 Corinthians 11:20.
“When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the
Lord’s Supper.” “See,” they said, “you
cannot eat the Lord’s Supper today.” But
Uncle John would have none of that.
Someone said that the bread should never
be broken before passing it. “You are
breaking the body of Christ. It is only
right when each person breaks off a piece.”
And for a while Uncle John argued that the bread should not be broken
before it is passed. Then another argued
that since the ‘elements’ had been blessed in the morning worship, they should
not be blessed again when offered at the evening service. And for a time Uncle John offered the Lord’s
Supper at the evening service without ‘blessing’ it. But a visiting brother attacked that, and
Uncle John again “blessed” the Lord’s Supper at the evening service.
Someone argued that only those who are
WORTHY are authorized to take the Communion.
He went on to convince Uncle John that nobody could be worthy. That Sunday the Communion was passed and no
one would take any. They were afraid of
being condemned for claiming to be worthy.
But the Bible says: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat
of the bread and drink of the cup.” 1 Cor 11:28 (NKJV)
One of the young people said: Doesn’t it
say, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.
Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you are
disqualified.” 2 Cor 13:5 (NKJV) If
Jesus Christ is in us, we are worthy because of our faith in Him.
A visiting brother said, “You can buy
all the Holy Spirit that is in the world for 10 cents.” He was speaking of a paperback New
Testament. But Uncle John said, “You’re
wrong. Simon the Sorcerer tried to buy
the power of the Holy Spirit and got into trouble. The Holy Spirit is the Author of the Bible.”
But Uncle John was sure that the Holy
Spirit was just for the first century, and that only the apostles had ever
received the Holy Spirit. For a while he
began teaching that the New Testament did not really begin until Acts 2:22, and
that all Peter quoted from Joel applied only to the Old Testament times. He began teaching that since Jesus lived
under the Law, you should ignore all that Jesus said and taught. But Jesus Himself said His word would judge
us at the last day, John 12:48.
When
some of the young people began singing: “There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit In This
Place,” (page 882 in Praise For The Lord), Uncle John called the elders
together and said those young people should be put out of the church to protect
it. “Why, there never was a Spirit in
this place, sweet or otherwise.” But
Paul said: "Quench not the Spirit."
Uncle John decided that the Holy Spirit
was the Written Word, and that anyone could only have the Spirit as he read the
Bible. But someone asked, “What about
those who cannot read, or who do not have a Bible? Is the Holy Spirit out of reach of such a
person? And if you say we do not have
the Holy Spirit because we now have the Bible, would you also say we no longer
need Christ because we now have the church?”
When he was reminded of Cornelius being
baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:15-17), and that Philip’s four daughters
had prophesied (Acts 21:9), he began teaching like the Jehovah’s
Witnesses. “The holy spirit is just a
power like electricity. ‘It’ is not a
person at all.” One preacher said “It
(the Spirit) is just a messenger like Moses.”
And another preacher wrote a book in which he “proved” that all the
restoration pioneers were Unitarians like the Jehovah Witnesses.
But the JWs have strange ideas about Who
Jesus Is. They teach Jesus was only a
man, or perhaps an angel. He read in the JW Bible Version that John was
preparing the way of Jehovah (Luke 3:4 LORD = Jehovah) and compared this with
Isaiah 42:8 (“I am the LORD, that
is My name; And My glory I will not give to another...”) and he had to change
again. Surely Jesus was Jehovah and the teaching about the
Trinity was true. Father-Son-Holy Spirit
(Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14). [Campbell
Uncle John decided that the Holy Spirit
“is just the Spirit of God.”
Someone said that was like saying “Jesus is only the Son of
God.” Campbell
Uncle John met some Pentecostals who
spoke about the Indwelling Holy Spirit and quoted Bible to prove this. “Impossible!” he said. “Why, the Spirit would just burn them up! The Holy Spirit could never actually indwell anyone. It’s just a figure of speech.”
Then he got to thinking. If the Spirit would just burn them up, how
could Jesus be the Son of God in the flesh?
So for a period of time, he began teaching that Jesus “just wore a
disguise” and was not really God in human form.
But the Bible really does teach Jesus as the Son of God who came in
flesh and blood (2 John 7; 1 John 5:6), and he finally had to give this idea
up. Note 1 John 4:1-4. One who denies that Jesus is the Christ who
came in flesh & blood has committed a serious sin.
Some time later an evangelist from
another State came to hold a Gospel Meeting for the church. He preached on Wednesday night that “The
church must grow from the inside out.” He
said that love was even more important than faith and hope, and he quoted Paul
to prove it (1 Cor. 13:13). That was
just too much for Uncle John. “Why the
church has gone all these years without love.
That’s just these change-agents trying to get their two cents in.” [The church really hadn’t gone without love.]
Someone reminded him of what Jesus said
about the greatest commandment is to love God,
and the second greatest about loving neighbor. “Jesus taught about God’s love for us in the
Parable of the Prodigal Son. He taught
about loving neighbor in the Good Samaritan.
And Jesus taught that love is the identifier of a true disciple
(John 13:34-35).”
But Uncle John remembered a friend who
said everything in the Bible is negative!
This friend could read the divorce issue into every verse of the
Bible. He would ask this friend what to
do about the “love” issue. “Forget this
love thing. They are making it too
easy. Just concentrate on duty. The righteous are scarcely saved.” But of course Jesus Himself said that
Christian love was the identifier by which all would know His disciples
(John 13:34-35). And John spoke of the
eternal hope we have in Jesus (1 John 3:1-3; 4:2-4,13,17-18).
In contrast, Campbell
Let us never forget what Paul wrote in 2
Cor. 5:18-19. “Now all things are of
God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the
ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the
world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to
us the word of reconciliation.” NKJV
F.L.Rowe wrote in his book: “The History
of Reformatory Movements:” “Forgiveness takes place in the mind of God, and not
in the heart of the sinner.” Compare
Hebrews 8:7-13.
Brinsmead wrote: “It makes a lot of
difference whether we think the body is a prison (of the soul) or a temple of
the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. 6:19.”
The New Testament church had every
problem we have today. “The Church (at
Corinth), torn with divisions, plagued by sex scandals, involved with lawsuits,
weakened by corruption of the worship and the neglect of the poor, was one of
Paul’s greatest evangelistic successes.
The corrupt urban society of Corinth
As Paul told Timothy, “Preach the
word.” Jesus said: "Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
in heaven." Matt 5:16
