II. Orientation of the Churches.

A. The Division of Education (Disciples of Christ) and materials prepared by its curriculum committee - 1945. (Bethany Press and Christian Board of Publication.)

Well they successfully had indoctrinated the leaders, the preachers who'd been taught in the seminary. These educational leaders, these scholars had now adopted officially liberal theology. But the question was how they're going to get the local churches to accept this. So they began a program provided and endeavored to orient the churches to this new learning and knowledge, this liberal theology. It was done through the Division of Education of the Disciples of Christ and the materials would be prepared by its curriculum committee.

B. Prepared for Bible schools, mission groups, young people’s societies, etc.

Note again with me what was stated in this particular regard very very candidly. It was in September of 1945 in the College of the Bible Bulletin under the heading, "the Disciples and Religious Education" that Myron T. Harper, then, professor of religious education of the College of the Bible in Lexington Kentucky wrote this. Listen. Quote:

"The Disciples have been in the forefront in the development of study material in religious education. A curriculum committee was working for providing adequate material. The scope of this committee's work was expanded to include all the materials issued by the brotherhood for church school classes, mission study groups, young people's societies, leadership education and the life. The work of this committee went forward on the basis of the best educational theory. On the surface."

Now listen to this.

"On the surface this might seem surprising in view of the Disciples' traditional being a Bible people. For this theory men made a departure from the older idea of the direct teaching of the Bible contents. The Disciples' educational leaders embraced more adequate educational theory for when research made clear the utility of teaching the content of a book unrelated to experience. The common-sense attitude to the Disciples came to the fore and let to the abandonment of the Bible content theory. Local churches."

Now hear this.

"Local churches had not been as ready as the Disciples' education to accept the best educational theories and procedures. Many of them still insisted on teaching the Bible instead using it to guide and which experienced." End of the quote.

And so now this process began. The Bethany Press and Christian Board of Publication in St. Louis Missouri began to prepare for the Bible schools, for the mission groups, young people's societies and so for. All of these materials were suppose to indoctrinate them in this new learning, this new knowledge, this liberal theology.

Just as the sampling of some of these, for instance, it was in 1939 that Jessie Trout, one of the missionaries in Japan under the United Christian Missionary Society, wrote an article and sent it back to UCMS (United Christian Missionary Society). The Society was so impressed by it that they had it printed and mailed out to all the Women's Missionary Society in this Movement for use in their monthly meeting. Now this is what she had to say. I want to quote some abstract from this article. Quote:

"One of the chief criticisms leveled at foreign mission by scholarly critics is that mission tear down the religions and beliefs of the people whom missionaries come to serve. Fortunately many modern missionaries have learned to recognize the values in the religions of the East. They are no longer approach their problems from the superior than now standpoint but as open minds and hearts. They say, 'Let us work on the good foundation which you have laid and together build a religion that will be perfect and complete.'"

Then she goes on this article to say this about Confucianism and Buddhism. Quote:

"Surely, the findings in these religions have been witnesses of the living God. Christianity today can, just as surely, find common truths and teachings of oriental prophets. I have thought." She said, "that if the transfiguration will take place in the orient, we will find Jesus on the mount in conversation with the Buddha and the Confucius because modern missions believe this: Christianity can and does join hand with non-Christian religions."

So this lady rather having Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration would have Jesus, Buddha, and Confucius. Now you would say, "Certainly this kind of teaching is out of place in such a movement." Was this teaching the exception? Listen. It was October 1949 that in Cincinnati Ohio, the Cincinnati Newspaper said this. And I quote them.

"Miss Jessie M. Trout in Indianapolis was elected vice president of the United Christian Missionary Society yesterday at the assembly of the International Convention of the Disciples of Christ. The post which Miss Trout was elected is one of the highest in the Disciples' brotherhood."

Now let us see how they're going to orient others in our churches. Here is the Women's Missionary Society. And now they focused specially upon adults in other areas. Leslie R. Smith, who was a past president of the International Convention, in the Bethany Graded Quarterly entitled "Understanding Jesus," referred to the Bible school teachers to W. D. Denny's book, The Clear and Significance of Jesus, so they would nail of their bad situation to understand better who Jesus was. Listen what W. D. Denny has to say concerning the New Testament, so called, theories of the divinity of Jesus. Here is what he tells to the Bible school teachers. Quote:

"Some of them, perhaps, all of them, we have clearly outgrown."

Then on the resurrection of Jesus he tells the Bible school teachers this. Quote:

"Many people today feel these stories hard to be taken much as the wonder stories of the breathtaking that the stories grew out of the devout imagination and the desire to make real and vivid truth of Jesus invisible presence among his followers."

These clauses are found on page 335 the first one and the last quote on page 320 and 321 of that particular volume. And he then asks this question concerning Jesus. Quote:

"Can we say reasonably that a man thus limited historically and geographically, physically and mentally can be permanently supreme in his significance for religion?" End of quote. Found on page 447. Then our young people in our churches became primary targets for this new indoctrination. Under the direction of the curriculum committee of the United Society the Christian Board of Publication editors prepared the Christian Youth Fellowship Quarterly and the Second Quarterly early in 1946. Here is what we read concerning the Bible. Quote:

"Truly it is hard to tell when fiction ends and truth begins in many of these stories of the beginning of the world."

That's found on page 66. Then in the Christian Youth Fellowship book, Jesus by Mary Ryman, young people are told of this. Quote:

"We should face at the outset the necessity of knowledging the limitation of Jesus' knowledge. A child today has more information about the physical world which we lived than Jesus could have. The beginner in scientific study today is possessed of the facts about the nature, about the universe, about which Jesus never dreamed."

That quote is found on page 48 of that volume. So here take your choice. John, in the prologue of his Gospel, says this:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not any thing made that hath been made."

Listen to prologue of the Hebrew letter.

"God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in 'his' Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.”

But this woman tells our young people, even a child today, have more knowledge about the nature and about universe than Jesus could have possibly had.

This is the direction that this liberal theology took. So, our churches, as they became aware of this apostasy, of this digression from the historical stance and doctrinal position of the Restoration Movement, began to cut off all their supports of these missionary agencies and these colleges and quit attending these conventions. And so as results, a rash of lawsuits instituted by those adherents to the organizational life endeavored to take away the title of the properties of the local churches that would be no longer supporting them with moneys or their presence. The basis of litigation that instituted in approximately fourteen different states against local churches was the fact that these churches that was the firm have been impressed by their trust to perpetuated doctrines and customs and usages of the Disciples of Christ denomination and, by their failure, discontinued the support of this financially and by presence. They had, in fact it was the firm of these local churches, had gone something different, had changed their position, had become a new denomination, and thus must forfeit the title of properties.

Thanks be to the Lord! Truth and history prevailed. Every appellate court in every state that these cases were tried upheld the position of the local churches. They affirmed that the support or non-support of any agency has nothing to do with the status of a church as a Church of Christ and a Christian Church. They pronounced that historically every local Church of Christ or Christian Church was locally autonomous and could support or not support any agency without affecting its status as a Christian Church or a Church of Christ.

These findings affect. Then in effect pointed out that there were the Disciples who had, in fact, departed from the original doctrines and practices of this Restoration Movement. And so was the failing to indoctrinate the churches. They went to the lawsuits to endeavor to try to legally establish their claim upon each church. And failing in that, they now resulted at last to what they called 'restructure.'

III. Restructure - “The Sixties - A Decade of Decision.”

A. What it is - a plan of church government allowing “freedom with responsibility” - lines of authority.

The sixties were referred to as 'Decade of the Decision.' And what this decade of decision, what this restructure plan was simply this. It was a plan of church government allowing, so called, “freedom with responsibility.” It was coming lines of authority and endeavored every local church to rewrite their constitution and their bylaws in such a way they would tie the local church officially and legally into the organized structure and work of the Disciples of Christ.

B. Its purpose - essential to the acquisition of denominational and ecumenical status as stated by Osborn and others.

Its purpose, of course, as it has already been indicated by Dean Ronald Osborn and others, was essential to the acquisition of denominational and ecumenical status.

C. A new denomination “The Christian Church” (Disciples of Christ) voted into existence in Kansas City, Missouri, September, 1968.

And so a new denomination, called, “The Christian Church” in parenthesis (Disciples of Christ) was voted into existence in Kansas City, Missouri, in September of 1968.

CONCLUSION

These Restructurists now have their constituencies accepting the very human innovations that divided Christendom, and they have them joining the very denominations, the very practices and existence of which had caused the Restoration Movement to come into being in the first place. It was taking Christians back into the very thing out of which they came.

But you see Restructure was not basically the issue confronting the Restoration movement. Restructure was the result, and not the cause. Apostasy or infidelity was the issue or the cause. And it, by the way, is the caused problem in all of the Christendom today. In our almost every mainline denomination it is unbelieved repudiation of the supernatural of God, His Bible as infallible and authoritative, the Deity of Christ, and such like. That is causing the problem.

At each point of original and fundamental faith, and each point of original fundamental doctrines and practices, there was a radical departure by these liberal leaders.

Churches and individuals who make decisions today must base their decisions upon their view of and attitude toward the Bible and Jesus Christ. The issue is settled for all of those who accept the Bible as the authoritative Word of God and who accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God and sole Head of His Church.