ERRORS OF LEADERS -- EVANGELISTIC MALPRACTICE

"We must not be afraid to point out the errors in the leaders of the Reformation: we do not pay them honors like those which Rome pays to its saints; we defend neither Calvin nor Luther, but only Christ and His Word, " wrote D'Aubigne.

"Neither pope, nor bishop, nor any man living, says Luther, "has the authority to impose the least thing on a Christian, without his own consent; all that is done without it is an act of tyranny. We are free from all men."

Sentiments like the foregoing we heartily approve when applied to the abuses and usurpations of the Dark Ages! But they also apply to any and all encroachments whatever on the soul's liberty. In every age, all churches and pastors of whatever name or pretensions that fail to give us the Bread of Life are reprehensible in the eyes of God and unworthy the confidence and tribute of the people, unless they repent. The true shepherd of Christ's people is over them in the Lord; appointed to minister to the flock of God; over which the Holy Ghost (not Conferences, Synods or Assemblies) has made him overseer, only as they are led by the Holy Ghost, and his chief reward shall be at Christ's coming when the crown for faithful shepherding shall be awarded him. Let the true shepherd feed the flock willingly, not of constraint or for reward, and he will find that they will cease to roam into other folds.

The Roman Hierarchy permitted the Bible to be preached, but only according to the interpretation of the church. Is not this being repeated in our day? Must not the young preacher fit into the doctrinal moulds of the day although his faith in the Bible is shattered by so doing? And is he not judged by the trueness with which he rings to these shibboleths? Four-fold, threefold, two-fold, one-fold or seven-fold? What is the difference between Rome thinking for us, handing the result to us ready-made, or New York City, or any other church-headquarters, city or school?

"Another phase -- as regards the relation of Christian1 workers one with the other. It is an easier matter for a religious leader to write to an experienced worker and ask him to "come and share with us the faith principle, " than, after his arrival, really share what funds the Lord sends in. It is much easier, for instance, to place him at a separate table, where the food is not so dainty or abundant, and to pass on to him the strenuous labor during the heat of summer, while we repair to the ocean and put up at an expensive hotel where (we make ourselves believe) we are at a distinct advantage in ministering to the needs of the class of people who will add most glory to our cause, if we can but obtain a listening ear. This may be done, theoretically, to keep the worker properly humble, but, as the head of a Bible School in the West said before a large Sunday afternoon audience, "What injustice is done under the guise of training Christian workers, Let us trust God to keep His workers humble, and keep our hands off, except so far as we humble ourselves that we may be exalted."

Zwingle, the Swiss Reformer, is an illustration of that solemn truth that no matter how useful a man may have been to God and His cause, He never hesitates to lay him aside when he fails to serve His purpose. Zwingle was destroyed by the greatness of his strength to lead. By this dangerous power he led the Lord's poor sheep to slaughter in war. But God reigns and He will punish the man who turns aside from His way. Zwingle must suffer for wielding that which God has forbidden His servants to wield -- the sword. The helmet had covered his head and he had grasped the halberd. He was killed on the field of battle, his body was quartered and burned with swine's flesh. Thus ended the inconceivable infatuation with which he had been seized; which led him to forget that our warfare is not carnal. But no man lives to himself and Zwingle influenced many of his fellows, against conscience, to follow him rather than Christ's Word. Thus leadership has its dangers as well as its benefits. God has protected us against this danger by prohibiting us to follow the multitude to our hurt, and the true leader is to be followed only as he himself follows Christ and His Word.

God has sometimes to remove leaders and wither their influence to draw men's attention to Himself the Great Leader of His people. After Zwingle's death, many of Zurich were agitated by conviction from on High for their crime. They came to themselves; recovered from the strange nightmare, broke away from the false infatuation, acknowledged their error and sin in deserting spiritual weapons for carnal; they were now of a contrite heart and humble spirit. They arose, went to their Father, confessed and were forgiven their sin. In those days there was great mourning in Zurich."

Paul once sat at the feet of a prominent religious leader, Gamaliel and was indoctrinated in six hundred and thirteen Pharisaical traditions, but he would never, after his deliverance through the heavenly vision of Christ, trust himself to human leaders. And when he was in Jerusalem, Peter, James and John, who seemed to be pillars, added nothing to Paul. How could they, when he had directly communicated with the Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church!

When David would enumerate the people, contrary to the will of God, Joab remonstrated with the king: "But, my lord, the King, are they not all my lord's servants? Why then doth my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?" For the King's words were abominable to Joab. Twenty thousand fell in Israel for blindly following a mistaken leader! When the effects of mistaken leadership fall on the people, the people should repudiate all the false ambitions of their leaders. The Lord's displeasure was on David and his subjects.

When our church leaders make a jest of our soul's good, mechanically draw their breath and their pay and look only after their own interests and ambitions, it is time for the laymen to have the salvation of men at heart.

"All false opinions, all errors, all disputes, arise solely from not studying the Scriptures with sufficient care. Never consider who the person may be that speaks to you, but examine whether they speak the words of God or their own words; and provided the Scripture and not the authority of man be your rule, you will not fail to discover the path of duty." "These (the Bereans) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so."

Evangelistic Malpractice

A character under our observation we will call old Scrooge, goes to the distant city to attend the great Hippodrome Revival. Everybody is going forward, why not he? It is the proper thing to do, so down the saw-dust trail he trudges and shakes the hand of the great evangelist and returns, perhaps mopping a surface tear, complimenting himself that he has done a noble thing.

Ere long he starts toward home with high resolves to do better. But, alas! The disillusionment! He cannot do better until he is made better by divine power through faith in what Jesus did and not in what he does! The nearer home he gets and the further from the mob psychology spell, the more deeply conscious is he that he did not grasp the hand of God when he shook the hand of the evangelist, and that the saw-dust trail and the glory trail were not the same! He knows that his poor miserly heart is unchanged. His great need is not touched. He is the same old Scrooge! He realizes the sham of the process he had gone through when his poor wife, hopeful that the move had changed him, asks him for needed money. The same old miserly tempest is in his soul! In a fit of selfish passion, he refuses her the necessities of life! And in self-protection she must get an injunction from the court against him, compelling him to give her support, his own wife, under his own roof!

The pastor receives by return mail, the card announcing the glad news that Scrooge has been converted, he hastens to congratulate him and is bold to ask the supposed convert for money for the lagging benevolence of the church, but Scrooge refuses him too.

Oh, why do men prefer religious humbugging, and pay for it too in large figures, to regeneration's transforming power? How much better is no revival than a spurious one, and no converts than perverts! Is not religious mal-practice as criminal as medical mal-practice? Is it not more so in proportion to the duration of the Divine penalty?