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Fundamental
Evangelistic Association
selected
articles from:
©FOUNDATION
A MAGAZINE OF BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALISM
Dennis W. Costella, Editor; Karel Beyer, Production Manager; Matt
Costella,
Copy Editor
M.H. Reynolds, Jr. (1919-1997), Founding Editor
A Watchdog Group?
©FOUNDATION Magazine Editorial,
Nov-Dec 2000
I was
recently asked by a believer who had come across some of our
literature if the FEA was a "watchdog group." This term is commonly
applied today to those who monitor the actions of various organizations, whether
political, economic, educational or religious, in order to discover and expose
improprieties. This person had found our articles to be helpful in speaking to
the issues that she was facing in her own church but was curious as to why we
took the time and went to the trouble to produce such material.
The point is that this person had
difficulty equating this ministry with the contemporary, typical church ministry
to which she was accustomed. Decades ago, Bible-believing churches were expected
to stand against the inroads of liberalism and compromise of any form, and
categorically this was assumed to be so for any professed Fundamentalist church.
But that has sadly changed. Militant opposition to error is seldom practiced in
today's churches, even among testimonies that still call themselves
"Fundamental."
But what does the Bible say? Is it
not the God-given duty for every true church to be a "pillar and ground of
the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15) and, therefore, to also "earnestly contend
for the Faith" Jude 3)? Or, can the leadership follow the common wisdom,
the pragmatic approach to ministry, that has most recently been popularized by
the "church growth" experts—an approach in which both the message
and method accentuate only the positive aspects of Scripture, lest the
"Sunday seeker" become turned off and consequently stay away?
First, the Bible commands the
faithful undershepherd, and every believer for that matter, to "watch thou
in all things." Why? Because believers tend to turn away their ears from
hearing and heeding sound doctrine. To what do they turn? They turn to false
teachers who mix some truth with novel but erroneous concepts and thus come up
with fables and empty half-truths that result in the saint's spiritual ruin (2
Tim. 4:1-5). Again, God's Word exhorts the servants of Christ to be watchful
due to the satanic deception on every hand: "Watch ye, stand fast in the
faith, quit you like men, be strong" (1 Cor. 16:13). Does this sound like a
blasé, non-judgmental mindset with respect to dealing with the incursion of
variant teachings and beliefs within the church? Absolutely not! The faithful
undershepherd must give careful heed to the impact that wolves in sheep's
clothing are having upon the sheep, including himself (1 Tim. 4:16). He will one
day give an account for how well he watched out for the spiritual welfare of the
sheep (Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 5:2-4).
Second, the logical, and Biblical,
result of watching and thereby discerning the error and compromise that is
flooding the Christian's world today is to warn the unsuspecting believer. One
of the saddest comments we hear is, "Well, our pastor is not personally in
favor of Promise Keepers [or whatever the unbiblical movement or issue might
be], but he doesn't deal with it because that would cause a hurtful division in
the church." But no matter how influential or dynamic the leaders who
espouse Christian psychology, ecumenical evangelism or compromising church
growth programs may be, the godly pastor must give a clear and faithful warning
against error! What was the apostolic instruction to the elders of Ephesus?
"After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to
draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space
of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears"
(Acts 20:29-31). A watchful, discerning servant of Christ will also be one who
warns—always!
Finally, a faithful testimony will
not only be marked by watchfulness and subsequent warnings given to the sheep,
but it will also be a ministry that practices Biblical separation from error and
from those who embrace it. One cannot hope to escape the dangers associated with
false teaching unless he recognizes the error and then does what the Word
commands-to separate from it! "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity" (2 Tim. 2:19). Notice also the unavoidable
implications of the following command given to the church: "Now I beseech
you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the
doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Rom. 16: 17). The
incredibly vital, yet equally neglected, doctrine of separation that was the
hallmark of early Fundamentalists is a strange concept to most today. How
terribly sad, yet true! It is no wonder that New Evangelicalism is taking over
"Fundamental" testimonies in recent years just as certainly as it
devoured evangelical ministries decades ago.
Are we a watchdog group" after
all? Well, perhaps so, at least in the Biblical sense. Isaiah said of God's
supposed spokesmen of his day who were tragically silent and disinterested
regarding the apostasy that was seizing the land: "His watchmen are blind:
they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying
down, loving to slumber" (Isa. 56:10). We at the Fundamental Evangelistic
Association would rather be identified with those watch dogs that are on the
job, sniffing out the enemy and then raising a ruckus than with those who are
sleeping on the job and allowing the unsuspecting sheep to be devoured by the
deceptively cunning wolves.
Yes, we believe that it is, in fact,
the obligation of every faithful, Bible-believing and Bible obeying testimony to
be diligent in the matter of discerning Satan's devices to draw believers away
from the Truth, and then to do what the Bible has commanded regarding the same.
A well balanced ministry will be one that preaches the negative as well as the
positive, rebukes as well as encourages and warns as well as comforts. For over
72 years this ministry has been dedicated to "Preaching the Gospel,
Teaching the Word and Contending for the Faith." A lack in any one of these
three areas will result in the weakening of each of the remaining. "So
stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved" (Phil. 4:1).
D.W.
Costella
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