Who Brought the “Trojan Horse” into the Church?
by Donald Townsley
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 3, September 1995
In ancient history, the Greeks besieged the city of Troy for 10 years. Unable to take the city by force, they devised a plan to capture it by strategy. They built a large wooden horse, filled it with soldiers, and, under the guise of ending the siege with a gift of friendship, presented it to the people of Troy. When the men of Troy brought the horse into the city, the soldiers came out of it by night and, while the people slept, captured the city. The Trojan horse has since symbolized a warning that we must be careful about what we embrace; it might contain more than we want to receive.
The cry is being made by several "conservative-minded but institution-promoting" preachers that a "Trojan horse" is in the church. These men are now witnessing the howling spirit of apostasy as it is shifting into high gear. They can now see the devastation that man’s innovations can bring to the bride of Christ, the church. The more conservative preachers among them stand almost powerless to stay the course as they see the vicious attack that is coming against the church from men in their own ranks. They can see the "change agents" with their "wrecking crews" busily restructuring the church to fit their denominational concepts.
This new "breed" of preacher is filled with ecumenism, the social-gospel concept, and modernism; he cares nothing for the New Testament pattern. He does not believe in the restoration of the New Testament church; he thinks the church of Christ is a denomination that was started in the restoration movement!
The older, more conservative preachers stand on the sidelines "wringing their hands" and saying, "There is a Trojan horse in the church." Many older elders and members know they are right, but they don’t have enough courage to "shout" at him, let alone "hit" him! They are afraid that if they do attack "him,” all those "members" who have been brought in with indistinctive preaching for the past twenty-five years will get up and go with the Joe Van Dykes, the Sid Fulfords, the Rubel Shelleys, or some other denomination.
Who brought the "Trojan horse" into the church? Many of the same men who are now "wringing their hands" as they witness the howling spirit of apostasy! This spirit is not the "sweet" spirit it was when it came in under the guise of "doing good" (in promoting church support for human benevolent institutions, the sponsoring church, and schools in church budgets)! It makes me sad, and my heart aches as I watch you "wring your hands" (figuratively) and read your cries of "a Trojan horse" in the church. I am old enough to know who opened the "gap," left it down, and enticed "him" in with the "sweetfeed" of "we do many things for which we have no authority." You thought he looked so innocent, and that those who opposed were "old heartless antis."
Brethren, as long as we stood united on the authority of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18; James 4:12), the church was fortified, denominationalism could not enter, and we won the battles against all error. When some brethren decided to use denominational organizations (for which there is no biblical authority) to do the work of the church, the "Trojan horse" entered, and the church was no longer fortified; the authority of Christ had been surrendered! Once you take that first step away from the authority of Christ and allow the "Trojan horse" to come in, the battle is lost until you turn back to the authority of Christ in all things (Matthew 28:18).
How sad to see a large number of God’s people suffer the defeat of the devil as they head toward denominationalism! How sad the cry, "There is a Trojan horse in the church," when it was allowed to come in by men who are not going to close the "gap" completely (it seems) so that he might be kept out. Brethren, this is a day of weeping for God’s people!
