Jack Anderson, Jr.
Heritage Ministries
You, Me, and 1923: “The Disruption” and Reconciliation
Ever since Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door, Christian churches have been splitting faster than cells after conception. The outcome of this is a new Christian church being born every little bit. If you listen closely you can probably hear one letting out her first cries of life right now.
The Church of God of Prophecy has had her share of difficulties and trying times. One incident, however, seems to tower above the others: the disruption of 1923. Some who have come into the Church of God of Prophecy in the past few years may not be aware of it. Others may have just filed the incident away. Whatever the case, it is part of our past – our heritage – our history. We cannot (nor should not) ignore it, glamorize it, or forget it.
The small group, that began tucked away in east Tennessee and western North Carolina, experienced phenomenal growth within a few short years.1 Space does not allow me to go into all the details, but I’m sure you know that along with growth comes conflict.
The year between 1922 and 1923 was a turbulent one. It wrought ecclesiastical damage like Katrina did in the Gulf. When it was said and done, two groups emerged, both with scars and wounds that would take years to heal. Like Jacob and Esau, or the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, they would be at odds with one another for years. Those two groups are the Church of God of Prophecy and the Church of God, Cleveland, TN.
In his treatment of this tragic event, Charles Davidson wrote, “Though history often repeats itself, God grant that such an unfortunate occurrence may never again blotch the posture of the Church of God that Jesus purchased with His own blood.”2 Likewise, Church of God historian, Charles Conn, wrote, “There were no winners in what must be regarded as one of Pentecost’s greatest tragedies.” He goes on to say that “it happened to the hurt of all entities concerned, the Church of God, A.J. Tomlinson and his followers, and to the entire Pentecostal world.”3
One wonderful thing about our collective past is that reconciliation occurred in the 1990’s between the two groups. Apologies were made and hurts were healed. We have combined our efforts on evangelism and the works of Tomlinson Center through Lee University. Like Jacob and Esau’s meeting of reconciliation in Genesis 33, the two estranged groups made amends (see 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Our reconciliation and working together of the two groups may be one of our greatest contributions to demonstrate the healing power of the Holy Spirit to the Christian community at large.
1 They had grown from 8 in 1886 to 21,673 in 1922.
2 Charles T. Davidson, Upon This Rock Vol. 2 (Cleveland: White Wing, 1974), 134.
3 CharlesW. Conn, Like A Mighty Army: A History of the Church of God, Definitive ed. (Cleveland: Pathway, 1996), 216, 218.
C.S. LEWIS AND J.F.K. DIE ON SAME DAY
Jack Anderson, Jr.
Heritage Ministries
November 22, 1963
It’s true. John (Jack) F. Kennedy and Clive Staples (Jack) Lewis died on the same day. Christian History magazine listed C. S. Lewis as one of the most influential Christians of the twentieth century.1 One Jack charged us to go to the moon while the other inspired us to engage and utilize our thinking and imagination in our Christian walk.
Prior to his tenth birthday, Lewis’ mother died. He became withdrawn for God didn’t answer prayers like his mother had depicted. Early on, Lewis rejected Christianity and became an atheist. After serving and being wounded in World War I, Lewis continued to read Christian authors who stirred his thoughts such as George MacDonald and G.K. Chesterton. He began the journey to believing that God did exist. Subsequent to joining the faculty at Oxford’s Magdalen College and meeting more Christians, including J.R.R. Tolkien,2 Lewis eventually moved from atheism to Christianity and he would leave an indelible mark on the landscape of Christianity.
Lewis had also been a confirmed bachelor, but in 1956, at the age of 59, he married Joy, a 41 year-old ex-Communist Jew from America. “I never expected to have, in my sixties, the happiness that passed me by in my twenties,” Lewis told a friend.3 Joy was diagnosed with cancer and died in July of 1960. As after the death of his mother, the result of Joy’s death moved Lewis into depression once again with additional questions about God. This time he kept a journal and analyzed this dark night of his soul. The product of which was a very personal work entitled, A Grief Observed.
“Meanwhile, where is God? Go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?”4
Thanksgiving falls on November 22 this year, the day Lewis died. Take a moment and thank God for the works of C.S. Lewis and others who have gone before us. Why? They left us sermons, lessons, writings, ideas, and ways to think about our faith that deepen it, encourage it, and enliven it. So go ahead and step through the wardrobe of thinking and see what you find on the other side. We’ll meet at the lamp post.
A Few Other Works of Lewis:
The Pilgrim’s Regress: An Allegorical Apology for Christianity, Reason and Romanticism.
The Problem of Pain
The Screwtape Letters
The Abolition of Man
Miracles
The Chronicles of Narnia
Mere Christianity
Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
The Last Battle
Reflections on the Psalms
A Grief Observed
1 Ted Olsen, “C.S. Lewis,” Christian History, Issue 65 (vol. XIX, No.1): 26.
2 J.R.R. Tolkien created The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Lewis and Tolkien encouraged each other to write many of their works.
3 Jerry Root and Jennifer Trafton, “The Great Iconoclast,” Christian History, Issue 88 (Fall 2005): 40.
4 C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (New York: Bantam, 1976), 4-5.
What’s In Your Past?
Over Christmas we traveled back home to Northern Indiana to visit our families and celebrate the season with them. While there I made my expected trip to the local Barnes & Noble bookstore. During this particular book seeking excursion I discovered I was driving through memory lane. This was a bit unexpected. I kept passing places where things happened in my past that have had an impact on forming who I am today.
There was the utility pole that replaced the one I drove through. My old high school was still there, only much larger. The St. Joseph River where my dad, brothers and I used to boat and fish continues to flow  in the same direction. I drove by the location where I first dislocated my shoulder playing football. (I now have a screw in that shoulder.) A little farther down the road I was stopped at a red light at the intersection where Dad was struck by a driver while directing traffic as a volunteer fireman. Although the house was gone, I passed the spot where I first kissed the girl who would become my wife. I then sat in the church where we were married over 20 years ago. Those events (pleasant and painful) helped form me into who I am.
The point of this tale of recollection is to share that we are the sum of our past. To be sure we are made “new creatures” in Christ as Paul declares. But Paul himself knew that his new self was made up of his old self. The new Paul was still a Jew. The new Paul was still a Roman citizen. The new Paul still had his memory and his education. Paul’s acceptance of Jesus as his Lord and Savior did not render him as one suffering with memory loss. That is not what Paul meant by being made “new” in Christ. What Paul did understand was that he had a new understanding of himself in Christ.
Paul’s old self had been defined by obedience to the Law. Paul’s new self was redefined by grace. What is to note here is his life and experiences before his acceptance of Christ played a vital role in how he lived out the rest of his life as a follower of Jesus. Successes and failures. Joys and sorrows. Pleasures and pain. Strengths and weaknesses. Everything in our lives, the good, the bad, and the ugly, have played an active part in forming who we are right now. In fact, spiritually, we probably grow more in times of struggle and pain than in times of spiritual excitement.
Taking that trip down memory lane helped me to realize that all of my experiences have formed me into who I am today. What’s in your past? Were you a victim of abuse or neglect? Have you struggled with substance abuse and/or addiction? God does desire to make us new but sharing the pain of our past may be what’s needed to help someone in the present.
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10 NIV). Paul’s past had laid bare his weaknesses before him. But instead of ignoring his weaknesses, he realized how much he needed Christ because of them. Maybe taking more trips down memory lane would keep us humble and help us to have patience with others like us. Have a nice trip! |
