RADICALISM

Radicalism has plagued to the Lord’s church, in both ancient and modern times. Radical Jewish brethren sought to impose their traditional Jewish customs on Gentile converts (Acts. 15:1). They hated and persecuted Paul as though he were the number one enemy of Christ (Phil. 1:17). The twentieth century church has yet to be free of such radical elements.

Radicalism is a disease of the attitude and heart that results in destructive action and conduct.  It is not unique to Christianity, but is seen in every dimension of life; politics, governments, social matters, education, institutions and religions of all sorts. So great is their zeal and so narrow their view that radicals will often destroy the cause they profess to love and even themselves in so doing.  While the word radical is not found in our English Bible, the concept is soundly denounced and condemned.

	Solomon exhorts, “Make level the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.  Turn not to the right hand nor to the left” (Prov. 4:26-27). This verse warns us to avoid extremes on either side of the middle road of truth.
	“He loveth transgression that loveth strife” (Prov. 17:19).  Radical brethren are constantly enmeshed in strife. Strife is a work of the flesh that will keep one from heaven (Gal. 5:20-21).
	“He that harpeth on a matter separateth chief friends” (Prov. 17:9). Harping on their chosen point of controversy is a hallmark of  radicals. Division always follows in their wake. Those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine of Jesus are to be marked and avoided (Rom. 16:17). “He that separateth himself seeketh his own desire, and rageth against all sound wisdom” (Prov. 18:1).   Any radical will eventually separate himself from those he despises and constantly condemns.
	“A man of great wrath shall bear the penalty” (Prov. 19:19). Radicals are always fill with heated indignation towards those they view as enemies.  They cannot contain their displeasure, it has to spew out in vitriolic attacks. Calm and reasoned discussion is generally viewed as a waste of time by such men.
	“It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; but every fool will be quarreling” (Prov. 20:3).  To radicals, quarreling with brethren is an honorable pursuit and avoiding strife is cowardly weakness.

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF RADICALS

A radical attitude springs from the root of self-righteousness. Radicals believe their view to be totally right and beyond question.  Those who disagree must surely  be wrong. They often proceed to judge the motives of those who refuse their demands  as less than honorable as well. Most radicals develop a suspicious attitude toward all others. Many of them reason, even if a brother is not yet “liberal,” he probably soon will be.  Thus they feel compelled to keep a watchful eye on him. The self-righteousness of the Pharisees brought scathing condemnation from the Master (Matt. 23:1-36).

Radicals always view themselves as the only “sound brethren” left and all who do not buy their views as “liberals.”  So did  every group that separated from the main body of the church in the past and so do their modern day relatives.

Radicals like to identify with the great brotherhood heroes of the past. This, they feel, gives them respectability and standing. One familiar with those great men, now deceased, know that they would have had no sympathy at all with radicals. Radicals seldom become “great preachers in the brotherhood.”  They end up at war with the brotherhood, thus looking any respect they might have earned. Furthermore, if today’s radicals knew those past heroes well, they would soon fall out with them for some faulty view they held. If you doubt this, cite me a past champion whose views you accept on every issue.

Radical brethren are always inconsistent.  They will separate from the main stream of the brotherhood over their favorite issue, but tolerate serious disagreements and shortcomings in their fellow radicals, as long as they share their zeal against the target issue, institution or brother.

Those who are radical are constantly narrowing their circle of fellowship. New issues are raised and new extremes are reached. Each demands total agreement or another break in fellowship. Biting and devouring takes its toll (Gal. 5:15). Eventually one is reduced to a handful of brethren that he can recognize.  That will commonly be the leaders one blindly follows or the disciples that heel to the radical leaders. The author use to hear from an old radical in Tennessee who thought he was the only faithful preacher left in the church.  Of course he had no church to preach for. He issued his “bulletins” now and again with twenty-five challenges to an apostate brotherhood.  His was the destiny of many ‘younger” radicals of our days. It is especially painful when radicals learns that their own loved ones refuse to travel with them further into oblivion. All have known parents, wives and children who repudiate the extremes of their loved ones.

Radicalism always results in division. Although Jesus and the apostles condemned division as a great sin, radicals see division as honorable and desirable (Rom. 16:17).  Not content to disagree, they insist that their views be accepted.  Not satisfied to impose their practice on their own congregations they would coerce the whole brotherhood as well. Unity on their terms is the only situation they can live at peace with..

SOME CONSEQUENCES OF RADICALISM

A radical approach to a problem sometimes provokes a radical response from those not inclined to accept the radical’s demands. Being disgusted with the extremity of the radical brother’s attack, the man who is being attacked will ignore all his criticisms, even the valid ones, and may move further away from the carping critic.  Just the opposite of what the radical hoped to accomplish. Like a father who provoked his child to wrath, the radical himself will bear some of the blame for the departure (Eph. 6:4).

It should be remembered that radicalism is not reserved to either the left or the right of any issue.  Either or both can be extremists.  Even truth and right can be dealt with in a radical way.  That is why Paul cautioned us to speak the truth n love (Eph. 4:15). Thus a radical brother may be basically correct in his convictions yet wrong in the way he deals with brethren.  Paul exhorts us “Rebuke not an elder, but exhort him as a father; the young men as brethren” (I Tim. 5:1).

Brethren who are radical rend and divide the church in the name of saving the church.  They seem unable to see the contradictions in their conduct. Radicals hurl their missiles at brethren and then blame them for causing the problem that they themselves have stirred.

Where radicalism prevails, it hamstrings and cripples the church and often destroys. It.   If we surrendered every point criticized by such brethren, the church could not function in the modern world; it could not grow; it could not lay aside faulty or mistaken views of methods of the past for new, better, or even more scriptural ones.

Those who are radical are greatly offened if you call them that. You are depicted as persecuting them if you fight back against their attacks. While playing the role of nit-pickers and attack dogs, they want to be honored as noble pleaders for truth and defenders of the Lord’s cause. Every radical will one day learn that there is always a brother more radical then he.  To such a super-radical he is a liberal and will be attacked and labeled as such.

Radicalism breeds bitterness, sourness of spirit and often results in complete apostasy from the church. Man a radical, after burning all of his bridges and finding himself totally isolated, abandons his faith and turns back to the world. These doleful results are terrible for them. Sad to say, the church is blest when they finally depart into the world.

Paul’s enemies preached Christ of envy and strife (Phil. 1:15).  Today radical preachers seek to regulate the lives of fellow-Christians, gospel preachers and the brotherhood. The concepts of Christian liberty and congregational autonomy are not dear to such men. They stand condemned with idolaters and sorcerers because their strife and divisions are works of the flesh (Gal. 5:21).

From decade to decade the issues change, but the problem of radicalism is perennial. May God save us from falling into this snare and  deliver us from such unreasonable men!