“STONE, CAMPBELL MOVEMENT”
The hypocritical liberals today throw around these words as if to suggest how smart they are. It is like they have secret understanding of the events from the early 1800’s up to 1906. Now they step forward to show us all the guilt we should be having for mistreating those in the Christian Church since 1906. They try to change their voices to give an impression of being pious as they speak about the “Stone, Campbell Movement”. Pardon me if I am not taken in by all this faked piousness.
Have these men ever stopped to consider how the “Stone, Campbell Movement” even came about? They are so ignorant about history as to suggest that in this country alone, this movement was born. At the same time here in American there were, likewise, efforts being made in Europe. What were those efforts? Men here and in other countries were perplexed by all the division that they saw round about them. How could the religious world preach that we all be one and yet maintain the doctrines which would prevent us from being one. Here and in other countries men began a slow and difficult task of leaving man made doctrines and headed back to the New Testament.
They would come face to face with things like infant baptism. How would they handle it? If the return is back to the New Testament, then no matter how much pain was involved, if infant baptism was not in the church of the New Testament, it had to go. They searched and they could not find where it was ever practiced in the New Testament. Men then armed with trust in the Lord and courage in their hearts rejected the idea of infant baptism. This was a long and difficult journey that had to be made if they were going to leave the churches and doctrines of men behind.
What about such “holy days” like Christmas and Easter? Once you set a course with the Word of God as the authority it changes how you view the world around you. Did the New Testament church ever engage in honoring a holy day, such as Christmas or Easter? Upon a search of the Scriptures no such honoring of Christmas or Easter could be found. It had then to be rejected because one could not practice it in faith (Romans 14:23). How do you know that God would approve or disapprove? There was only one way to know in order to do it by faith. It had to be in the written Word that God had given (Romans 10:17).
The issue then of instruments of music in public worship became a concern of men here in this country and other places as well. We must hasten to add, mechanical instruments of music. The journey was no less easy here than at other stops along the way. If the church in the New Testament used them, then they could use them. Upon a diligent search the mechanical instrument could not be found. It then had to go because there was no answer from God as to the point that He would be pleased with it. If it could not be found in the Word then one could not do it in faith (Colossians 3:17).
What about the so called, “Stone, Campbell Movement”? Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell were two men among many who saw the only way to operate in faith was to go back to the New Testament. We should respect them for the difficulty of the journey, the direction they were going in and the progress that they made. That is where it stops. If these men were sincere and not hypocrites, then all they wanted in their life time was to be New Testament Christians and serve God with all their heart. If one wishes to pay homage to such efforts then pursue the same goals. Learn what it takes to become a Christian and worship and serve God according to His will.
What then is our heritage? We honor the men of the 1800’s who studied hard and worked diligently to be pleasing to God through His revealed will. Our heritage however is the New Testament. A time when men struggled with the application of the law of Moses and the idolatry of the Gentile world. The wolf and the lamb learned how to lie down together in the kingdom of peace.
Those today who spend so much time trying to blur the lines of distinction between the church of Christ and all other religious bodies need to quit using the hypocritical language of the “Stone, Campbell Movement”. Though they could not be honest because it would reveal them for what they are. They should align themselves with some denominational body and leave the body of Christ alone.