Why does the Church of Christ claim to follow only the Bible?
     Because to do otherwise shows a lack of faith in God’s Word.
     The promise God made to Abram (Genesis 12:1-3) is fulfilled by the rest of the Bible! The “great nation” was Israel who was called out of Egypt by God through Moses (Exodus 1-15); the “land” was Canaan/Palestine which they were given (Joshua 21:43-45), removed from but returned to that land seventy years later (Jeremiah 25:1-14; 2 Chronicles 36:15-23; Ezra 1:1-2:1; Nehemiah 7:4-8:18); the “in you” referred only to Jesus Christ who is the blessing to all families (Galatians 3:16). Thus all today who are saved by Christ Jesus become “Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29). If, by Moses’ Law, the Israelites were God’s answer to the promise He made to Abraham, then “the promise is made of no effect” (Romans 4:14). No Israelite (Jew) living today has any promise from God upon which to base his/her occupation of Palestine, and all who claim otherwise cancel out all of Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension. If that is not “antichrist” doctrine (1 John 2:22; 4:1-3), what is? Little wonder, then, that Abraham is called “the friend of God” (James 2:23), “believing Abraham” (Galatians 3:9), and the “father of all those who believe” (Romans 4:11). As Abram and Sarai aged, Sarai’s uncertainty as to how they would have a child of promise grew, so Sarai offered her handmaid, Hagar, as a possibility. That son of Hagar and Abram, Ishmael, was a child of flesh, not promise (Genesis 16:1-16; 17:18-21; 21:9-21; Galatians 4:21-31). After Ishmael was born, God reminded Abraham it would be through Sarah his lineage would continue (Genesis 18:9-11; 21:1-7). The religion of Mohammed (Islam) claims Abraham is its father through Ishmael. Ishmaelite thus becomes a metaphor for all efforts to fulfill God’s will some other way than that revealed by God.
     Seed Or Scheme? Jesus taught and explained in Mark 4:1-20 that His doctrine (“word,” verse 14) has in it all the power necessary to make the ground (“hearts,” verse 15) produce (“bear fruit,” verse 20). He resolutely declared the success of the seed was determined by the condition of the heart at the time it was sown. This means that all other attempts to make the word successful or force conversion are acts of unbelief and distrust in this teaching of our Lord! The past is littered with “build churches fast” gimmicks ranging from buses to “boosters,” from gigantic excitement (falsely attributed to the Holy Spirit) to gargantuan edifices (falsely called “sanctuaries”), from gurus to gymnastics, from hiring new ministers to firing the old ministers, and from sales to subterfuge, but they all went for naught. The “gains” become “losses” with the first “tribulation or persecution” (verse 17), or else when Christians are thrown to the “lions” of the world only to have them “choke” (verse 19). The “quota” is not set by the Lord for Christians to make hearts produce, but we must have faith in His system of sowing the seed everywhere to everyone and trust God for the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). So in 1 Corinthians 1:17) Paul taught that Christ did not send him to baptize (“produce”) but to preach the gospel (“sow the seed”). Be a Christian, not an Ishmaelite.
     Christ Or Corporation? The church of Christ is His body (Colossians 1:18-24; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27), with each local gathering directly under Him as its Head. Paul addressed “the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1 Corinthians 1:2). Plainly in 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, there was not to be any divisions in that local body, whether in doctrine (verse 10), salvation (verse 12), or religious affiliation (verse 13)!  All efforts to “sub-divide” local churches of Chrsit or “unify” them in some corporate structure are acts of unbelief and distrust in the teaching of our Lord! Whether it be forming “sectarian” structures over splinters of local churches, or “Neo-sectarian” structuring of all local churches into a conglomerate, it is Ishmaelite, not Christian. Local churches must not be bound together into a denomination either by hierarchy or by discipline. Every effort to organize sects within a local church or that rejects the organizational structure of local churches is Ishmaelite, not Christian. Some preach salvation without the gospel and then add a denomination within a local church, while others preach salvation by the gospel and then add a denomination by combining the local churches. Some preach all denominations are in Jesus Christ, but others preach Jesus Christ is a denomination, but both are acts of unbelief and distrust in this teaching of our Lord! Those who disrespect Jesus’ order of salvation (Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38) and those who disrespect Jesus’ ordering of the saved (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5) are Ishmaelites and not Christians!
     Brother Or “Big Brother?” As immorality and sin increase, the public clamor is for someone to “save them” or at least make them safe. Confidence in and love of God drives out fear (Mark 5:36; 1 John 4:17-19). Unfortunately this often means they turn to increasingly bigger, more intrusive government which is only too glad to take more money away from them and increase its size and power over their lives.
     True to human behavior, “evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). Indeed, “stressful times” occur when people are “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-5), and the only remedy is “from such people turn away,” that is, be converted to Christ (Acts 2:38-41; 3:19-21). Since the human heart is the source of sin (Matthew 15:15-20), and the Bible is the sharpest instrument for piercing it (Hebrews 4:12), then the more sin increases, the more people should demand that the Bible be taught! Government has no ability or power from God to change people for good, but only to praise good works and punish those who do evil (Romans 13:1-4). When people demand “separation of church and state” they usually mean “let government rule over my life, not God.” Tragically, that is exactly what happens! A public whose lives have become sinful, corrupt, immoral, or indecent votes for politicians who will impose government regulations over their lives, which replace God’s rules. Therefore, the bigger government gets, the less influence God has over those people. All “big governments” throughout history have gone down in flames because increasing governments of men is an act of unbelief and distrust in this teaching of our Lord! The political party of unbelief is Ishmaelite, not Christian.
     No matter how one arrives at it, if the conclusion is to try another way of life than God’s way, it is doomed to failure in this life and in the life to come. Remember Jesus said, “He who does not love Me does not keep My words, and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent Me” (John 14:24). “The disciples were first called Christians (not Ishmaelites, jtpII) in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). All descendants of Ishmael (whether Islamic, Sectarian, or Neo-sectarian) must be saved through Jesus Christ, who is of Abraham (Hebrews 2:14-18; Acts 2:38; 4:12; Matthew 1:1-2). Whom will you follow?—125 The Trace, Dover, TN 37058