“Come Forth, My People”—No. 6

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The clear warning of the Lord to His people in figurative “Babylon” of the first century applies to the Lord’s people in any age who are part of corrupt or apostate institutions, including “churches of Christ” that have gone astray: “Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4). Besides the two motivations in the text for coming forth (i.e., to avoid fellowship with sin and to avoid destruction), note three others based upon general Scriptural principles.

1. One who remains in a digressive church robs God and His faithful people of the fellowship, endorsement, and support that could and should be given them. Thus, not only should one flee a corrupt church to avoid supporting error, he should do so in order to support the Truth. Just as long as one remains in a liberal church, he is thereby robbing God of his time, his talents, his money, and every other means of support and endorsement he has. To seriously understate the case, this is dreadfully poor stewardship (1 Cor. 4:2).
2. One should want to be part of a faithful congregation for the sake of his own spiritual growth and health (1 Tim. 4:6, 15–16). Every saint needs to be in a congregation where he will hear the Bible faithfully preached and taught and where high moral standards are upheld. We all need to be part of a congregation in which we will be constantly encouraged to honor the Word of God in all that we do and in which error is exposed and refuted. All of these elements are needful to help us faithfully serve Christ so that we may someday go on to Heaven. Yet, in a church that makes a mockery of Truth, not only are none of these found, but their opposites abound. This should serve as a powerful motivation to those in liberal congregations to immediately depart therefrom.
3. Those who have children still at home with them should think of their weighty parental responsibilities. Parents (especially fathers) have the responsibility to bring up their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). When they stay and keep their children in a liberal congregation, thus subjecting their children to the erroneous influences that pervade it, they are indeed unwise and shortsighted. Even when godly parents teach their children correctly at home (both by word and example), they must constantly fight the contrary influence of liberalism in teacher, preacher, and church friends.           

Parents who want their children to have any semblance of strong convictions in the Truth should waste no time in leaving a liberal church.

[Note: I wrote this article for and it was published in The Edifier, weekly bulletin of Pearl Street Church of Christ, Denton, TX, May 31, 1990, of which I was editor.]

Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.