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Let us suppose that an evangelist comes to our community
to conduct a religious meeting and proceeds as follows: At the first
service he declares that salvation is by faith only, but at the next
one he contends that it is by faith exercised in obedience to the
Gospel rather than by faith alone.
At the third service, he declares that either
sprinkling, pouring, or immersion is baptism. At the fourth service, he
plainly shows that immersion only is scriptural baptism. At the fifth
service, he tells the people that they ought to baptize their babies,
but at the sixth, he says that penitent believers are the only
scriptural subjects for baptism.
At the seventh service, he preaches "Once in grace,
always in grace" but at the eighth, he tells the people that they can
be lost through unbelief after they have been saved. At the ninth, he
says that it is all right to have a human creed, but at the tenth, he
affirms that we should take the Bible as our only guide in
religion. (This was back when it was not uncommon to preach ten
lessons in a meeting).
NOW, No thoughtful person would continue to listen to
ONE preacher like that, but the majority of people are perfectly
willing for TEN preachers to preach these conflicting ideas.
They agree that if ONE man should preach that way he
would contradict himself and be inconsistent; but what kind of a God do
they suppose we have, IF HE ENDORSES ALL THESE CONFLICTING DOCTRINES
AND HAS SENT OUT PREACHERS TO PREACH THEM? HE HASN'T. It does make a
DIFFERENCE to us what ONE man preaches. But seemingly, it doesn't make
a DIFFERENCE what TEN men preach in ten different places. It does make
a DIFFERENCE what we believe and teach in religion!!!
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