The Choir has Arrived!!
George T. Eldridge
Hilliard, Ohio
"ACADEMY CHORUS: The Harding Academy chorus sang at our evening services last night. This is always a moving experience for us all and we thank God for the good work they do." 1
"Congratulations to Sherry Graves and Jim Davidson who exchanged marriage vows November 14th at Parkway Drive Church of Christ with O. H. Tabor officiating. Our wedding chorus provided traditional wedding selections under the direction of Bruce Coffman. Steve Davis and Otis Pitts were soloists." 2
There it is brethren. Read it loud and clear! Doesn't it disturb honest and sincere Christians that God's people are doing works which do not have Bible authorization? The Downtown Church meeting at 900 North Main St. in Searcy, Arkansas admitting the Harding Academy chorus sang at their Wednesday service of November 19 is only more fruit seen in churches that have embraced human organizations in the church treasury, sponsoring type of church cooperation, and the social gospel. Human organizations are colleges, old-folks-homes, and orphanages. It is even more disturbing when one realizes that the Downtown Church implies that this is not the first time that the Harding Academy chorus has performed at their services! Arent there any Christians in the Downtown Church that recognize they are making the Lord's Church just like all the man made-denominations? Surely, the Downtown Church elders and preacher, who is Glen Pace, know that such is not Bible. If they believe that such is Bible, produce the passage as well as sign a proposition for debate! There is not any difference in principle between playing the instrument at Wednesday service and having Harding Academy chorus perform!!
The admission by the Broadway Church, 1924 Broadway in Lubbock, Texas, as to "our wedding chorus provided" is not startling! She has been in the vanguard in leading congregations out of the "old paths" into Sodom and Gomorrah. But, the question must be asked of the Broadway Church: By what authority do you have a chorus?
For the brethren who might say that neither of those quotes mentioned a choir, please read these definitions. Choir "fr. ML (Medieval Latin, GTE) chorus, fr. L (Latin, GTE) chorus. 1: an organized company of singers esp. in church services." 3 Chorus "1 c: an organized company of singers who sing in concert: CHOIR.''4 Those definitions prove there is not any difference between a chorus, which our brethren call their unscriptural singing, and a choir, as our friends in the denominations call their singing. The reason brethren refuse to call their chorus' a Choir lies in the fact that there might be some Bible still left in the members that would cause them to revolt at this error!
Brethren: THE CHOIR HAS ARRIVED!!
TRUTH MAGAZINE XIV: 16, pp. 9-10
February 26, 1970
