It has been said by many that history repeats itself. If so, consider this. Many years ago the church experienced a painful, sad division because some began insisting upon individual cups. Undoubtedly the problem was made worse because many had not studied the issue and were taken by surprise. Hasty decisions were made by brethren who wanted only to be right. Unfortunately, many made the wrong decision embracing the innovation. Soon, open division existed. The same can be said with regard to instrumental music, Bible classes or Sunday School, the Missionary Society, etc., etc. Good brethren were willing to be ignorant of Bible principles. Because of this many were ripe to be made pawns by Satan. How sad.

Through the years a number of great preachers came along and helped brethren to see the dangers of innovations of any kind. One can read their powerful arguments warning of the dangers to the church by innovations in early issues of the Old Paths Advocate. Finally, the truth won. The sin of innovations became obvious to any fair minded Christian. Sermons pointing out the error of the individual cups were common even in my younger days. I grew up hearing why instrumental music was wrong in the worship of the church. I can plainly recall hearing my own father, Homer L. King, as he showed why the church needed no unscriptural and separate organization such as the Missionary Society to evangelize the world. The preaching of the gospel to a lost and dying world is, he pointed out, one of the church's primary functions. There was a time when nearly all members of the Church of Christ knew innovations were wrong. More than that, they knew WHY they were wrong.

Today we have moved on to other things. We have concerned ourselves in more recent years with the marriage question, etc. Once again history repeated itself. Hasty decisions made by good brethren again. Today open division exists over this matter.

Heartbreaking as it may be, we must realize that when we allow ourselves the luxury of remaining unaware of plain Bible principles; we are ripe for Satan's picking. We must learn our lesson from gazing at the past.

Let us view ourselves today. The years of fighting the Sunday School are over. That is ancient history we say. The lines are drawn so why preach it anymore? We have concerned ourselves with studying the Holy Spirit and trying to decide just how He accomplishes His work and that is surely a worthy topic. However, in the last several generations so little preaching has been done as to how the church should be taught when it comes together for worship that a sizable number are simply unaware of the Bible principles violated by Sunday School. Good brethren believe, at least in some cases, that a woman may teach anywhere both public and private as long as the church is not gathered together for a public worship service. Are we courting disaster again? In our opinion, yes. The same can be said with regard to the other matters we have mentioned. We dare not be lulled into a false sense of security. God's people can surely face division again over the same innovations as a hundred years ago if we are willing to be unaware, ignorant if you will, of the Bible truths relating to the sin. Why not ask for sermons which deal with the basic and fundamental doctrines of the church? Why not continue to cry out against those old issues lest they, as a two headed serpent, rise up to wound us again?

If you find all of this a bit far fetched, why not ask some of the members where you worship to explain why, biblically, the innovations we have mentioned are wrong? We believe you will feel differently then. In our opinion, it is long past time for all who teach and preach the Word of God to begin dealing with specifics rather than generalities. We cannot afford the luxury of blissfully staying in the biblical darkness of ignorance while the same old tricks of Satan, which once caught us napping, are gathered for a new attack. Preachers, please drag out those old time sermons. It's time to preach them to us again. As Isaiah 58:1 says: "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." Later in verse twelve he added:" And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."-OPA