April-May, 1933
128
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
“If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here ts Christ, or there; be lieve it not. For there s h a l l a r i s e false Christs, and f a l s e prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were pos sible, they shall de ceive the very elect ” —Matt. 24:23,24.
o t F O R o & # o u p . { n w e m c t o T
IS IT OF GOD OR IS IT AN ANGLO-CATHOLIC MOVEMENT? B y LOUIS T. TALBOT* Los Angeles, Calif.
1. The Eternal Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1-3; Micah 5 :2). 2. The Atoning Nature of the Death of Jesus Christ (Col. 1 :20; Heb. 10:19; Rev. 7 :14, 15). 3. Regeneration by the Holy Spirit (John 3:7). 4. The Resurrection of the Body of Christ (John 14: 19; 1 Cor. 15). These are the standards by which to measure the scrip tural position of those who present themselves as teachers and leaders of the church of Jesus Christ. We realize that immature Christians may not know very much about these things, but no man is qualified to be a teacher and guide un less he is well grounded in these fundamental principles of saving faith. During the visit of the Group to the city, I not only attended a number of their meetings, but also met with some of their leaders in a private conference in order to ascertain their attitude toward these fundamental princi ples and to obtain other information that would enable one to judge fairly the merits of this Movement. I went with an unbiased mind; I came away more convinced than ever that the criticisms of the Movement that have come from all parts of the world are just and merited. C ommendable F eatures A s in all movements of this kind, there are, of course, some things to be said in favor of the Oxford Movement. Its members emphasize some vital things that the modern church fails to stress and which not a few churches deny. No fossilized preacher or dead church should criticize the Oxford or any other group. They might well profit from them. In the first place, the members, of the Oxford Group believe that God can do something for a man, which fact is sadly denied today in many circles. They believe also in the supernatural in the human life. Of course, all real evan gelicals have believed all this and have proclaimed itthrough the ages. We believe and proclaim it in the Church of the Open Door. If there is a man or woman who is in bondage to any kind of sin, I want you to know that there is a great ■God who loves you and who is able to deliver you from that bondage, no matter what it may be. In this congrega tion, there and many men who at one time were drunkards, thieves, morphine addicts; but God has marvelously deliv ered them. Talk about lives transformed! Come any Wed nesday night and hear their testimonies. There are also men and women who have never committed the particular sins mentioned, but they have come to realize that they, too, need to be born again, and have been delivered from their self-righteousness through faith in Christ as Re deemer, Lord, and Coming King. The Oxford Group also believes that the most important thing in a man’s life is his responsibility to Almighty God.
^ i P h e great prophecies contained in the Olivet Discourse were uttered by our Lord just prior to His crucifixion on Calvary. As He sat on the Mount of Olives, where in the future His feet shall stand in the day of His manifestation, He prophesied the destruction of the magnificent temple building, and His disciples questioned Him, saying, “Tell us when shall these things be ? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age?” In answer to that question, our Lord cast His all-seeing eye down the age toward its close and pointed out to His people certain unmistakable signs by which they might know when the age was drawing to a close. Among other things, the Lord warned His disciples of the religious condition that would prevail in the end time. “False Christs, and false prophets, shall arise,” He de clared. So great will be the delusions at that time that “if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” The inspired writers of the Epistles, Paul, Peter, and James, echo the same note of warning. To Timothy was written, “In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giv ing heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1). Peter warns against false prophets who shall “deny the Lord that bought them” (2 Pet. 2:1). Jude urges that we “contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” John adds a word of ex hortation, as well as of warning, that we “try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4 :1). In view of these and other scriptures, no pastor should be charged with uncharity who examines the theological position of those who come to be the teachers and the guides of the church of Jesus Christ. There was never a day when it was so important to require leaders to furnish their credentials as it is today. A pplying the T est of the W ord God has given us a standard by which we may measure the scriptural position of movements and men. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8 :20). The way to put any movement to the test and dis cover its worth or worthlessness is to bring it under the lens of Holy Writ. In the Church of the Open Door, we believe that the Bible is the Word of God; that it is the supreme authority, and the only court of appeal. We shall not ex amine the Oxford Movement or any other movement in the light of our interpretations of* the Bible, but rather in the light of those principles that all evangelical Christians throughout the ages have recognized as fundamental to saving faith. These principles are four in number: * Pastor, Church of the Open Door.
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