FEBRUARY EDITION (2018) .... by Dr. Keith J. Wise

INTRODUCTION: February is typically in the grips of winter as we write this edition.  In fact, the winter of 2018 in the midwest has been quit below normal.  However, at this writing we are in a bit of a thaw but this will change in usual fashion. On the contrary, winter still has a way to go before the early crocuses bloom. This is the month of presidents and I would like to consider some interesting aspects of Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address.  Lincoln was known to have written, with his own hand, five copies of the address and they are still in existence today.  The two drafts which he wrote before delivering the speech are enshrined in the Library of Congress.  At the request of Edward Everett, the accomplished orator who preceded Lincoln with a two-hour oration at Gettysburg, Lincoln wrote a third copy, to be sold at auction for the benefit of wounded soldiers.  Many years later it brought the highest price ever obtained for an autographed Lincoln manuscript- $150,000.  In 1944 it was sold again, the schoolchildren of Illinois raised $50,000 to procure it for the Illinois State Historical Library.  Lincoln wrote the fourth and fifth copies at the request of George Bancroft, the historian, again to be sold for the benefit of war veterans.  On of these copies is now at Cornell University, the other belongs to Oscar B. Cintas, former Cuban ambassador to the United States. (note: This information is up to date as of 1961, and before the Castro Regime.  Some of these copies may now lay in other hands and libraries).

DIGGING DEEPER... A Look at the Restoration Movement in America

As we have looked at a number of major denominations over the year of 2017, it is now time to talk about movements, especially in America that were unique in their own experience to this phenomena.  In reality, most of the Churches that came to America were in a metamorphosis of and from the Protestant Reformation.  One singular attribute of the Reformation was the centerpiece of the Bible and its truths.  Myriads of groups in Europe had emerged with similar but different views of scripture and its emphasis.  As noted before, the American Revolution set a new reality of a new country, in a new hemisphere changing power perspectives over the next century.  Everything was questioned, especially religious interpretations and understandings.  But to this questioning it was the broad understanding that logical, meaningful and faith based answer could be given and understood. As Dr. Jack Cottrell noted scholar and writer at the recent Florida Bible Conference remarked in part, "...The Bible is God's personal communication to his human creatures. (I Cor. 10:11; 2 Tim.3:16-17)  Second, when God communicates with us in the Bible in human language, he intends for everything he says to have one specific true and right meaning." (Ish.55:11; I Cor.14:9-10)  The Restoration fathers saw the Bible as a clean spring to speak to the human heart from the heart of God.  In fact, they often knew from their pioneer experience that the newest the purest water came from the head of the fresh spring. What did the spring of scripture by itself say in its bedrock meaning?

From the British Isles, the tradition of congregational autonomy, as exampled in scripture, emerged from Scotland under such figures as the Haldane Brothers. This principle spread conceptually to the American frontier. The infused concept of independence that permeated America after the American Revolution, likewise sparked the passion for the Church.  But what would the Church in America look like?  It would be based on the scripture, especially the new covenant of the New Testament. Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterians would be reflective and rewarded for a fresh look at every doctrine, concept and reevaluation of  historic Christianity.  What did the Church look like in the first century?  What was its emphasis and its doctrinal complexion?

Leading pioneer figures were such men as Elias Smith and Abner Jones in New England, James O'Kelley in North Carolina and Virginia, Barton W. Stone in Kentucky, Thomas and Alexander Campbell in Western Virginia(now West Virginia) and Pennsylvania, and Walter Scott in Northeastern Ohio came to similar conclusions concerning faith and practice.  What is remarkable is that there is little or no contact among most of these individuals, but they all reached a near similar consummation to such vital areas as salvation, the church, church leadership, missions and the primary emphasis of Apostolic preaching.  With a frontier hungry for information and transformation, a mildly literate or preliterate pioneer population saw a repeat of conversion scenarios similar to  pagan Europe being converted to Christian Europe; a renaissance if you will.

To communicate a salient message in the culture of the day, slogans became very important in all areas of frontier American in the first half of the 19th century.  Religiously speaking, this movement made dramatic strides with a number of these slogans that struck a chord on the frontier and in the country across denominational lines.   These slogans took many forms: "We speak where the Scriptures speak, and are silent where the Scriptures are silent; "In essentials unity, and non-essentials liberty, but in all things love;" "Call Bible things by Bible names;"  "No book but the Bible, no creed but Christ;" "The New Testament is our only rule of faith and practice;" "We are Christians only, but we are not the only Christians."  A powerful dual dynamic emerged in which a desire to follow sincerely the Bible and to call all Christian communities to unity were broadcast.  Many of the later state universities and colleges found their roots in the education of whole populations to Christian ideals.  Thomas and Alexander Campbell gave a model to this growing scholasticism in birthing Bethany College in Bethany, Virginia(now West Virginia).  

Another avenue of information and communication of the day were debates.  Alexander Campbell debated any number of denominational representatives on the sanctity of scripture and knowing what the scripture exclusively proclaimed about itself without the filters of denominationalism.  One of his most celebrated debates was against the atheist Robert Owen who confronted Alexander Campbell.  It was published and circulated and when read and considered gave Campbell the noted title of "defender of the faith."  To over summarize, the movement of this type has been distilled in many ways, but here are a few still relevant positions that are held today within the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.

• Recognition of Christ as supreme authority in all aspects of faith, and the New Testament as the only rule of faith and practice.  This would automatically do away with creeds and human authority.
• A proper distinction between the Old and New Testaments.  An often quoted truism was "...the old is the new concealed and the new is the old revealed." 
• The recognition of the New Testament as the ideal pattern of the Church. The book of Ephesians penned by the Apostle Paul gives this perspective.
• The autonomy of the local church.
• The unity of all Christians under Christ as the ultimate authority of submission.

DID YOU KNOW?   A Continued Look at the Reliability of the Bible...

In the course of the monthly editions of my blog over the 2017-18 I felt compelled to write about interesting aspects of scripture and how they are reliable for faith, truth and hope. Consider Psalm 119:5 "...Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  As our culture has become more secular the voices of critics have become louder and have intimidated the faithful in the church at large.  However, this is not the first or the last time the banging bells of unbelief will be sounded, but we must peal the enlightened word of truth even louder.

When we consider the Bible's authenticity we might pause and consider the following:

I. Its Resistance: As far back as the 4th century A.D. the emperor Diocletian with the power of Rome behind him attempted to eradicate and eliminate the Bible and the Church. Archaeologist have found in several parts of the old empire a public monument which read, "The name of the Christians has been extinguished."  But within twenty years of this attempted confident proclamation, Constantine the next emperor with adopt the Christian faith as the faith of the Empire.

In the eighteenth century, Voltaire (1694-1778) declared that the Age of Reason would soon eclipse the age of revelation and the Bible. He often noted that the Bible would soon be discarded.  However, the Bible today is still the best seller and is in demand worldwide.  In Colonial America Thomas Paine (1737-1809) made discouraging prophecies concerning the Bible.  He declared presumptuously that he had cut down the myths of the Bible.  Yet, two hundred years after Paine died the Bible lives on.  Every instrument of potential destruction that human wisdom, human destruction and wickedness could devise has failed.  Its precious promises and declarations that have been damned by atheists, exaggerated by fanatics, misconstrued by preachers, ignored by carnal christians, discounted by scientist have and will come to naught.  By the way, the Louvre in Paris has a wing of old science textbooks that are full of declarations of so called "science" that are no longer considered "scientific."  

II. Its Reliability: Because Christianity is rooted in historic Judaism and reliable records of history, commentaries concerning old kingdoms and individuals once thought mythological, have been found to be true.  In the book of Genesis Abraham (Abram) was called out of the land of Chaldees.  The city noted was Ur of the Chaldees.  Sceptics derided this information for decades saying these were fictitious places.  However, C. Leonard Woolley in the 1930 excavated Ur that was even older than the time of Abraham.  You see, "dead men do tell tales..."  We could go on and talk about the veracity of the Hittites in modern day Turkey or the comments of John 5 of the pool of Bethesda with its five porticoes that have been verified by excavations in Jerusalem.  God has sought to preserve this divinely authored tome with exceptional precision.  

III. Its Relevance: It is a light as our scripture text does indicate in all the dimensions of life.  To those in grief, the Bible gives comfort.  As a retired minister in the local church, I have had as many as five funerals in a week.  I have seen the devastation of loss from drugs, suicide, terminal illness and age.  But I have seen the remarkable hope offered in passages of scripture for families when a loved one is tragically gone.  God's Word the Bible can permeate the sorrowful heart with comfort.  To those who are lonely, the Bible gives the promise of God's presence.  One of the greatest verses in the Bible is Matthew 28:20 where Jesus promises to His disciples of every generation, "...I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  This book of antiquity, even in our modern world, speaks a word of relevance to our every need.  When I see how it reclaims and reforms lives it is no ordinary book of "religion" but a profound book of "Relationship."

Conclusion: There is sufficient evidence to convince anyone that the Bible is no ordinary book.  No explanation is sufficient except the clear "proclamation" of the truth to the human heart. Faith comes by hearing... and as we hear we believe and continue to believe His transforming power through His Word transcends our circumstances.

IV. Quotes by Topic to Remember:

A. Prayer: "Men are looking for better methods, God is looking for better men." (E.M Bounds)

B. America: "One of the problems we have in this country is that too many adults believe in Santa Clause, and too many children don't." (Lee Lauer)

C. Influence: "Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means." As quoted by Albert Einstein.