James said class distinctions were a sin, the Eastern Orthodox churches within the United States are divided into Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Roumanian, Russian, Serbian, Syrian and Ukrainian groups. The Lutherans are divided into Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and other sections. “The churches of America,” says H. Richard Niebuhr, “no less than those of Europe, have often been more subject to the influence of provincial or class environment than to the persuasions of a common gospel.”—1 Cor. 12:13; Jas. 2:1-9.

The fourth and fifth major causes of division were the phenomenal antimission movements that swept the frontier in the early nineteenth century, and the use of instrumental music. Antimissionism developed from the frontier objections to sending money back East to pay for the missionaries, and from the frontier preachers’ jealousy over the eloquent, better-trained new arrivals. The movement swept the whole of the frontier, particularly through Kentucky and Tennessee, and so struck the Baptists that at least three groups of “Hard-Shell” or “Antimission” Baptists still remain.

This, along with debate over that particularly noisy instrument, the organ, disrupted the Disciples of Christ so violently that a fourth of their members split off to form the “Churches of Christ”. The antiorgan argument said: “No element of public worship is legitimate which is not explicitly authorized in the New Testament. Instrumental music is not so authorized. Therefore it is not legitimate.” The extent to which this was carried was shown by Lard’s Quarterly (1864), which said: “Let every preacher resolve never to enter a meetinghouse of our brethren in which an organ stands. Let no one who takes a letter from one church ever unite with another using an organ. Rather let him live out of a church than go into such a den. Let all who oppose the organ withdraw from the church if one is brought in.” (Italics his) Today a million people think God is vitally concerned over whether any musical accompaniment helps the singers stay on key. Of course, they have no objections to other modern innovations not mentioned in the Scriptures: the radio, songbooks, stained-glass windows, etc.; but they justify this by saying these are not elements of worship as they think a sounded note somehow is. However, instrumental music seems approved in the so-called “New Testament”.—Rev. 5:8; 15:2.

The desire of particular men to lead their group was another major cause of religious divisions. Such jurisdictional divisions are well exemplified by the Mormons. When their founder, Joseph Smith, died, the largest group, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, followed Brigham Young to Utah where they built Salt Lake City. A second group, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was led by Joseph Smith’s sons. A third formed the Church of Christ (Temple Lot); a fourth, the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonites), followed Sidney Rigdon; a fifth, the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerites), followed Alpheus Cutler, one of the original seven elders of Mormonism; and the sixth group, the Church of Jesus Christ (Strangites), followed James J. Strang, who claimed he had written credentials from Joseph Smith.

STILL MORE DIVISIONS

Others followed quirks of their own ideas to further confuse the picture. The “two seed” theory of the Two—Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists (one of the antimission groups) is that back in Eden God put a good seed in man; Satan, the evil one. Babies, they think, are born with one seed or the other, so missionary work is useless; a man with the bad seed is helpless and one with the good will come to the church anyway. At last report (eight years ago) their numbers had dropped to a mere 200. Their doctrine is based on a misinterpretation of Genesis 3:15 about the seed of the woman.

Then, as one writer commented: “In any large city unheard-of sects can be located, frequently consisting of only one or two churches. A dissatisfied preacher finds it easy to lead off a group and start a new denomination of his own. . . . Most of the little groups have no history save a church quarrel, and few of them possess any distinctive doctrines or practices.” It has been estimated that there may be as many as 3,000 of these independent groups.

Away back in 1890 a little book, Short History of the Church in the United States, truthfully said: “The multiplication of ecclesiastical organizations has been one of the characteristics of American religious life.” Some like to call them the “many mansions” in the Father’s house, perverting John 14:2, which refers to heavenly blessings. In most minds today a shamefully hazy blending occurs to where divergence of doctrine and difference of belief are passed over, put aside with the view that they are all different roads going to the same place. But they are not. While propounding their own theories they cannot be gathering with Christ. He called the tradition-following religious leaders of his day who did not hold to right doctrine while claiming divine authority for their acts hypocrites, blind guides, fools, serpents, viperous offspring doomed to destruction. (Matt. 12:30; 23:1-39) Those seeking life and truth must get off these broad paths, dust off their Bibles and learn from that thousand pages the difference between all this hodgepodge of self-contradicting doctrines and the true inspired Word given by Jehovah God. But for a discussion of this and of its importance we must refer you to our following article, “The Narrow Way Leads to Life.”

The Narrow Way Leads to Life

Beware of the dead-end streets!

SOME people think religion’s purpose is just to make good men. Their view is: “If one is sincere in his religion, that is all that is expected of him.” Others view religion as a drug for the mentally distressed or a help to those in trouble. They say: “All these religions fit some people’s needs; if they are doing good, that is fine!” Still others who think just having the name “Christian” is sufficient say: “They are just different roads, all going to the same place.” Hence, it is often proposed that these various roads be fused into a broad middle way, a uniting of all religions. The frame of mind behind such a view was shown by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale in the June, 1948, American magazine, where he said doctrinal differences “are of little real significance to the average man today”, and, “Not one modern Protestant out of 50 could tell you in what doctrinal respects