AT THE CROSSROADS WHICH WAY Glenacres Church of …在十字路口——它的方式glenacre教堂….docVIP

AT THE CROSSROADS WHICH WAY? A. Ralph Johnson REVIEW by Jerry Dillion, Prof Emeritus California University, Sacramento, California I highly recommend this study by our brother and prolific scholar Ralph Johnson. It deals primarily with some recent denominational incursions in doctrine and practice among us, notably concerning baptism. Each incursion is compared with scripture, and objections are analyzed. Brother Ralph is doing what elders and evangelists should do, in guarding the flock. Titus 1:9-13; Acts 20:28-31. This study should be must reading, and we ignore its warning at our peril and very survival. HAVE WE LEARNED FROM ISRAEL’S HISTORY? When the children of Israel had almost completed their forty years wandering they left the Wilderness of Sin, after being refused passage through Edom, and traveled South until they reached the shores of the Red Sea on the Gulf of Akaba. At that point the caravan routes from Arabia turned north around Edom to Palestine or East, past Sinai, to Egypt. There they stood at the crossroads, the final point of decision—back to Egypt, or north through Ammon to Jordan. The way had been hard. They were weary of the journey. They had long complained of only having “this manna” to eat day after day. Most of the older generation had died. They had murmured and complained, sometimes demanding return to Egypt, but Moses faithfully followed the leading of God. For them, the lessons of those long years had been learned. They turned their backs on Egypt and followed Moses to the Promised Land. HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OUR RECENT HISTORY? I vividly recall some forty-five years ago, the struggle to free ourselves from the liberal ism of the Disciples Of Christ denomination. The purpose and necessity of baptism was fundamental. Now, I find us heading right back where we came from, increasingly involved in denominational activities and playing down the scriptural purposes, and even the necessity, of baptism. Have we so