RESULTS OF TAKING THE BIBLE ALONE

Peter said, “If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God.” 
(I Pet. 4:11). This would mean speaking as the Bible speaks. Not only
should we speak as the Bible speaks but we need to do as the Bible
commands. The importance of this can be seen from the following 
Scriptures: 

(A) We are begotten by the Word of God: “Of his own will begat he us
with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his 
creatures.” (James 1:18). 

(B) We are born again by the Word. “Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth 
forever.” (I Pet. 1:23).

(C) We are built up by the Word of God and through this obtain that
blessed inheritance of heaven. “And now, brethren, I commend you to
God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and 
to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.”
(Acts 20:32). Everyone should live and speak as the Oracles of God to
be pleasing to God.

When we take the Bible alone we will be Christians only and members 
of the church of Christ (Acts 11:26; Rom. 16:16). No person who takes
the Bible alone will be a Baptist, a Methodist, a Pentecostal, or a 
Mormon. To be a Baptist one will have to accept their creed - either
Pendleton’s manual or Hiscox’s manual. They will enter into a church
covenant, and be part of an Association which has certain laws. If one 
becomes a Methodist he will have to accept the doctrines of the 
Discipline, and be a part of the conference and its laws. If one
become a Pentecostal he will have to accept the Pentecostal Manual
and he will have to deny the all sufficiency of the Bible saying that
we need the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit as well to guide
us. This is so of each denomination. If one becomes a Mormon he will
have to accept the book of Mormon and other books written by Joseph 
Smith as inspired in addition to the Bible. You see then that by 
taking the Bible alone you would not be made a member of any 
denomination nor would you be accepted into any denomination.

In the 1800’s there was a great movement among many people to go back
to the Bible for it all and to be nothing but just New Testament 
Christians. Jacob Creath, Jr., a Baptist preacher, began to denounce 
human creeds and to teach that the Word of God is the instrumentality
through which conversion takes place and that to be converted a man 
had simply to obey the Word of God. His Association immediately set 
about to have him put out of the Baptist Church. In the August 1829 
meeting of the Elkhorn Association the proposition was made that they
exclude all from the Baptist Church who believed in taking the “Bible
alone”. This resolution did not pass but in 1830 the Franklin 
Association prepared charges against the Elkhorn Association for not
having previously dismissed those in its number who held the 
heretical doctrine of the word of the Holy Spirit through the Word 
in conversion. The Elkhorn Association then dismissed Raccoon John 
Smith, Jacob Creath Sr., and Jacob Creath, Jr. Doesn’t this show you
beyond a shadow of  doubt that you could not be a member of the Baptist
Church and be in good standing if you took the Bible alone as your 
guide. You would be called a “heretic.” 

If you take the Bible alone you will partake of the Lord’s Supper each
Lord’s day and you will sing only in praise to the Lord 
(Acts 20:7; Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19). If you were following the Bible and 
instrumental music was used in worship you would recognize this as 
an innovation without command, example, or inference from the Word of
God. If  you were following the Bible alone and the Lord’s Supper was
observed only once a month, once a quarter, or once a year you would
immediately recognize that the worship had been tampered with and
taken from by men. 

There are many more things that would be true when you take the Bible
alone as your guide. It will not be the popular way but it is the
right way. That is exactly what Century church of Christ is doing. 
Wont you examine what you have accepted in religion and compare it to
the Bible? You could be wrong! Can a man go wrong and follow the Bible 
alone? Is the church of Christ right in demanding a thus saith the
Lord for the plan of salvation, for the worship, and for the 
organization of the church?         

 …Clifford Dixon…

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