Posts Tagged ‘apostasy’
Finding an Unbroken Line of Churches
by Doy Moyer We sometimes hear talk about finding the original church. In the search for the original church, we may then make the mistake of thinking that we can find a line of churches that go all the way back to the 1st century to prove which one is the right church. Besides conflating…
Read MoreI Have a Closed Mind
by Fanning Yater Tant, Vanguard Magazine, January 25, 1979 This editorial is being written on my birthday (December 30). I have now attained my three score and ten, and have reached a point in life where I am neither ashamed nor afraid to say some things which would have been ranked heresy at a younger…
Read MoreThe Beginning of Apostasy
by Andy Sochor via Unmasking Sophistry, January-March 2023 As we noticed in “Early Persecution,” the early Christians openly faced severe persecution for the cause of Christ. While many abandoned their faith in order to avoid these persecutions, there were others who remained faithful even to the point of death. Because of this, the enemies of…
Read MoreStages of Decline
by Steve Wolfgang The stages of development often seen in religious fellowships, related here by historian David Edwin Harrell, Jr., are well worth contemplating in these times. From truth-oriented to group-oriented. From open controversy to closed controversy. From self-conscious rejection of society to self-conscious acceptance of society. From builders to preservers. [Ed Harrell, “B.C. Goodpasture:…
Read MoreDrifting Away
by Matthew W. Bassford Hebrews 2:1 contains one of the most sobering warnings in the entire Bible: “For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.” A couple of verses later, the writer uses a rhetorical question to make the point that…
Read MoreWould We Recognize Trends Which Point to an Apostasy?
by Floyd Chappelear Sentry Magazine, March 2001 Salmagundi I have been attending churches of Christ for more than fifty years. I have been preaching the gospel for more than forty of them. I do not think it presumptuous to suggest that I know what I am talking about. The things that point to apostasy are not…
Read MoreThe Chains of the Past
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Chains-of-the-Past.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Colossians 3:1-11 I. In Charles Dickens’ story “A Christmas Story,” Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his partner who is wear chains of cash boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds and heavy purses. When asked what the chains meant, “I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the…
Read MoreSee If You Can Find a Man
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/See-If-You-Can-Find-a-Man.mp3 Text: Jeremiah 5:1-13 I. The last days of the southern kingdom of Judah A. The people had become very corrupt – Jeremiah 5:20-23 B. God purposed to severely punish His people – Jeremiah 5:26-31 II. But there is one hope – Jeremiah 5:1 A. Jeremiah is told to run through Jerusalem and find a man 1. A man who…
Read MoreIs a Christian who teaches error still a brother in Christ?
Question: A big fire started after our morning services this morning! One of our members here adamantly disagreed with me when I mentioned that when a brother sins by teaching doctrinal error, he must repent, and if he refuses to repent he is “a brother in error.” Until he does repent, we are no longer…
Read MoreThe Church in Crisis
by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr. I have a sermon titled “Crises in the Jerusalem Church” that I preach from time to time. It is based on notes that I took on a sermon I heard brother Clinton Hamilton preach many years ago. It points to several crises faced by the first congregation of Christians ever.…
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