"We're All Preaching The Same Thing!"

    For some time now I have been hearing the foregoing statement. It has come from several sources. Two or three preaching brethren have personally assured me it is so, and I have seen the statement in print. In view of some preaching I am hearing, and some things I read, I am made to question the idea that we're all preaching the same thing.

    I was baptized nearly sixty years ago. I have been trying to preach some fifty-three years. But, not until the last few years have I heard some things I am hearing today. Over the last fifty years most all believed and preached about the same things. However, now I am hearing many new, strange and uncertain sounds coming from our pulpits. Bulletins and papers are now teaching and advocating things that were unheard of among gospel preachers in the past. Men that for decades were respected for their allegiance to truth, are now either teaching or condoning doctrines that are absolutely false! When I compare some things some preachers are preaching and writing today with what I and many many others have believed and taught throughout our preaching lives, I know we are NOT all preaching the same thing!

    Never in my life have I believed or thought that the days of creation were more than six consecutive, twenty-four hour periods. I have never believed there were millions of years between the days! Some today are teaching that the days of creation were millions of years in duration. Others are declaring that it "does not really make any difference if one believes the days were twenty-four hours or millions of years." Brethren, we are NOT all preaching the same thing!

    Recently, I have listened to tapes and read articles wherein it was declared that a preacher who preaches false doctrine is NOT a false teacher unless he is immoral or otherwise a sinful man. They teach that proclaiming a false doctrine alone, does not make one a false teacher, and that we can be in full fellowship with such a one. I do not know how many believe and teach that but I know I have never believed or taught such. Brethren, we are NOT all preaching the same thing!

    Then there are those who tell us that the problems regarding marriage, unscriptural divorce and remarriage, and other doctrinal matters should be dealt with on the basis of the teachings found in Romans 14. Of course Ketcherside and others like him, have trumpeted such foolishness for years in an effort to have fellowship and unity with about everyone. However, it has only been in the last few years that brethren, who were long considered faithful and true, have taken up with this teaching. If unscriptural divorce and remarriage can be viewed in the light of Romans 14, what else can be applied as well? I have long understood that Romans 14 deals with non-sinful practices regarding the eating of meats and the keeping of certain days. Paul is urging Jewish and Gentile Christians to be compassionate and patient with one another in areas where God has not legislated either way. Where God has legislated, there is nothing to discuss and the matter does not belong in Romans 14. What God has legislated are matters of faith and are set in concrete. It is a long way from the unimportant opinions as to whether or not to eat certain meats, to applying the same principles to divorce and remarriage. Opening up Romans 14 to doctrinal matters has no stopping place. Why not add pre-millennialism, instrumental music, and the purpose for baptism? To these could be added the doctrine that Jesus "was and is just a man" and the "A.D. 70 doctrine." Why not add the "cottage church" concept and the taking of the Lord's supper in the midst of a congregational "Love Feast" any day of the week? What are we going to do with the teaching that there is no eternal hell and that the lost will be annihilated in the end? Do all these things go into Romans 14? I feel very confident that I do not stand alone in refusing to put doctrine in Romans 14. We are NOT all preaching the same thing.

    Paul told Timothy in 2 Tim. 4:1-4: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

    Such passages make it clear that false teaching must be exposed, and rebuked, and that there must be a positive setting forth of the truth in all things. As long as I and a thousand more like me, refuse to buy into the foolish teachings that I have just discussed, I'll tell you, we are NOT all preaching the same thing!

    We have those among us today who are crying out, "We must deal with issues and not personalities." Alright, that is exactly what I have done in this article. We need not name anyone. In the main, most all know very well who is disseminating this false teaching! About every one who is not living under a rock knows who the troublers of Israel really are!

    Brethren, it is past time for the true and faithful, everywhere, to wake up, step forward, and take a stand against all ungodliness! We are NOT all preaching the same thing!

Truth Magazine, Vol. 47, No. 24, Dec. 18, 2003