ROGUE (?)

ROGUE (?)
George Will recently wrote a fine piece on the "Rogue President" and in it he described the current President of the United States as "rogue". Rogue means out of control and operating outside the norm or outside the law. Many agree with George Will on this subject.
However, I was thinking that it is possible to have a rogue preacher, rogue elders, and rogue members of the church. By such I mean that a preacher can begin to assert things and do things that are simply outside the sphere of the law of God. Especially I have notice this in the realm of legalism. I define legalism as making laws God never made and binding those on people. Churches of Christ have always had a great problem with legalism. There seems to be a great tolerance of legalism in the body as it become acceptable and the tradition of the church. It is accepted as being no harm even though it is contrary to the Word and wrong in that it binds opinion as law. Churches of Christ seem often very alarmed about what is called "liberalism" and it is defined by those that use the term as ignoring the authority of the law of God. However, it can be observed that many times all that has happened is that a church has rejected the traditions-man made laws found in the churches of Christ. The same happened to Jesus. Jesus kept perfectly the law of Moses. But, in doing so He often walked over the silly traditions of men. Thus, the Pharisees accused our Lord of violating the law when such was not the case. When a preacher or eldership starts down the path of making lows God did not make and bind those on the church then they become rogue. Faithful members of the church should exhort such preachers and elders to repent and if they will not repent they should flee such churches. Such Pharisee churches will in time die and fade from history and before their death they become absolutely irrelevant.

Elders and preachers do not own their members. Christians are owned by the Lord (I Cor. 6:19,20). No Christian has to bow to any preacher or eldership. We bow only to God. Christians are free to go to any congregation they wish and they do not need the permission of any preacher or eldership. Preachers and elders that do not agree with this are in my view ROGUE.

I appeal to all preachers of the gospel and all elders to understand your limitations. You are charged by God to be faithful. That means true to God, loving, sincere, kind, and showing Christ in all you do. You have no right to use your position as an authoritarian ruler and seek control of the members. By so doing you are ROGUE. Some might say you have become cultic in your practices. You are stepping outside the authority that God has given you. Abusing verses of the Bible and taking such out of context to justify your ungodly actions will be of no avail. God sees all.

Preachers and elders are to strive in all things to be kind. "Be kind and compassionate  to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Eph. 4:32). If a preacher or elder cannot honor this then they need to step away from the work they are doing. If not then the congregation must demand they stand down.

The Reformation movement of the 16th and 17th Centuries sought to reform the Roman Church but the end result was the multiplying of denominational churches. Each new church kept many of the Roman Church's false systems. Even the churches of Christ may be carrying some of that old system over when it adopts an authoritarian hierarchy in its preachers and elders. We have no Pope or Pope's" in the church of Christ and not even in the work of preachers or elders. At least the church of Christ I read of in the New Testament.

The great Restoration Movement was a desire on the part of men and women to go back to the Bible in its truest form and follow Christ. In many churches of Christ of today there seems to be more restoration work that needs to be done..
God be with all!

*Allen Ashlock, 2014