"Reaping The Whirlwind"
Hosea said it so many centuries ago, "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind" (Hosea 8: 7) Israel had gone into idolatry. "They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, but I knew it not; of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off " Israel for many, many years had, indeed, been sowing to the wind. They had forgotten God, and forsaken his ways. They had gone after their own lusts and desires. And because of this, retribution was coming upon them, swift and terrible. There would be no escape from it; there would be no way to avoid it.
This dreadful prophecy of Hosea's was fulfilled to the hilt against Israel. She did truly 'reap the whirlwind,' and in the blood and agony of her slaughtered peoples she paid the awesome price of her apostasy.
Hosea's picturesque phrase, "sowing the wind, reaping the whirlwind," keeps recurring to us over and over as we survey the contemporary scene among the Churches of Christ. For, verily, the last two decades have seen a profligate "sowing of the wind." And now the whirlwind is beginning to send its first frightening gusts through the congregations. Here is a part of Thomas B. Warren's "Introduction" to the 1970 volume of the Freed-Hardeman Lectures:
"During most of the fifties and the early sixties, God's people were involved in controversy: (1) as to whether the Scriptures authorize one church to assist another church in the preaching of the gospel, and (2) as to whether a church has the right to render benevolent assistance to non-Christians. The negative position relative to such issues has been referred to as "anti-ism." Apparently that issue has been discussed thoroughly and is no longer pertinent to more than a handful of people."
Warren then goes on to explain that the "liberalism" now so ominously threatening the churches is a "reaction to anti-ism." Practically the entire volume of the 1970 Lectures deals with the ever-growing dangers of "liberalism" among the Churches of Christ. That a basic denial of Biblical truths is very evident among the congregations where Warren moves is evident to all. But what is obviously NOT so apparent to Brother Warren is that he, himself, and others like him, (and NOT the 'antis' whom he so deliberately and persistently misrepresents) must accept responsibility for the onrushing tide of liberalism. For by their denigrating attitude toward Bible authority they have seriously undermined and compromised the very foundation of all conservative belief. They have effectively disarmed themselves in any meaningful conflict with the liberals.
Someone has truthfully said, "You should never attempt to answer a man's position until you can state that position in terms wholly acceptable to the man advocating the position." Applying that standard to Brother Warren, how many readers of this journal think that the conflict these past twenty years has REALLY been "as to whether the Scriptures authorize one church to assist another church in the preaching of the gospel, and as to whether a church has the right to render benevolent assistance to non-Christians?"
We doubt that a single reader can be found who does not know better than that — including Brother Warren, if he should ever read this journal!
Why did he not say what the REAL issue was: namely, whether thousands of congregations can pool their resources under a single centralized controlling body (be it eldership or Board of Directors) for the accomplishment of a work (be it in the field of evangelism or benevolence) to which all the congregations are equally related? There were and are a rather considerable "handful of people" (to use his own phrase) who took a firm and positive "anti" position on that question. They said "There is no Bible authority" for such an arrangement. And were met with the rejoinder, "We do many things for which we have no specific authority," — like building church buildings, putting in water coolers and toilet facilities, blackboards, air conditioners, etc.
So the only REAL basis for accepting and promoting the things to which the "anti's" were opposed was to tacitly deny the necessity for Bible authority! This is exactly the course that was followed by Brother Warren and those associated with him. By tortured, involved (and at times grotesque) pseudo-logical sophistries they sought to find justification for that which could not be justified by any appeal to plain Bible teaching ....
And now the whirlwind is forming and gathering momentum. That a major split in their ranks is coming is as certain as nearly anything on this earth can be. And this time, unless he "switches" again (as he did before) Brother Warren is most likely to find himself numbered with those whom liberals will describe as "no more than a handful of people."
— F. Y. T.