Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 8
January 3, 1957
NUMBER 34, PAGE 10a

They Will Be Fellowshipped

J. W. Brookshire, Ontario, California

For many months the lines of fellowship have been drawn closer by our institutional brethren against those who dare raise an objection to any of their human arrangements. They have canceled meetings on preachers and in general have ostracized any who offered an objection. Our institutional minded brethren have meddled in the affairs of other congregations, forced their ideas on everyone possible and run rough-shod over the conscience of many brethren who object to their man made arrangements.

During the process of time and the afore mentioned things, many congregations of the Lord's church have divided and in most instances those who believed in the all-sufficiency of the church, have been forced to leave the building, give up all claims to the property and start anew or else give up their convictions. So far as I know, each time this happened, all the institutional brethren in the area would join hands in branding them as a "faction" and refuse to have anything to do with them. To my own knowledge this has happened at least three times on the Plains of Texas and in Eastern New Mexico. The charge has been in every instance, "they divided the body of Christ," therefore, a "faction" to be marked and avoided.

When the shoe happens to be on the other foot, I ask; "Do those same brethren contend that by their leaving without the consent and good will of the elders, they are a faction' to be marked and avoided?" The facts in a case at point show that the question with them is not the "dividing of the body of Christ" or "loyalty to an eldership," but rather; Are you in favor of our institutions? as the following will show to any honest individual.

In July of this year (1956) the church in Morton, Texas, forced one of her elders to resign because of a long record of lying, being two-faced and of a contentious disposition. Then on July 29th the congregation acting through its elders withdrew fellowship from two men, for making trouble in the congregation by working against the preacher and the policies of the elders. One of them having a record of more than ten years of trouble making in the congregation. These two men along with the one who had been forced to resign as an elder, gathered all the followers they could and started attending services at Whiteface, Texas; one of those withdrawn from filling the pulpit at that time. They were aided, advised and encouraged by the institutional brethren in Lubbock, Texas, and by Brother Grover Ross, who preaches for the Fourth Street congregation in Portales, New Mexico.

On November 11th, this same group started having services in the county court house in Morton, Texas, and are doing everything possible to lead all the members of the congregation away from the church in Morton. Are they being fellowshipped by the institutional brethren? Definitely, YES! After his having been withdrawn from by the congregation in Morton, one of the men was appointed to the advisory board of the Lubbock Christian College. Brother Grover Ross has been caught in the area more than once, working with them. The Bible Chair at Eastern New Mexico University, which is under the direction of the elders where Brother Ross preaches, has been sending them a preacher.

Yes, they will be fellowshipped by all the institutional brethren, regardless of their actions. Someone has truly said, "The legs of the lame are unequal."