By Walter Pigg
Rubel Shelly once stood boldly for the truth. But when the floodgates of error were opened in his mind, his falling away picked up speed. We shall give a few examples of the progression of his departure, which happens in a like manner with others. This should serve as a warning that once error has been accepted there is hardly an end.
March 1983. Rubel drops his bombshell, that there are sincere, knowledgeable, devout Christians scattered among all the various denominations. (Rubel has now denied the essentiality of the distinctive blood-bought church of our Lord).
October 1983. A man with whom Rubel was talking said of his mother: “I don’t know whether she was immersed or not. Are you saying my mother will go to hell if she wasn’t baptized?” Rubel’s response: “God forbid that any human being presume to sit in judgment of another!… My response to the man’s question was to the effect that I had no judgment to make about his mother, him, or any other person” (essentiality of baptism denied).
August 1984. At the “Restoration Summit” [Ozark Bible College, Joplin, Mo], Rubel said: “Yet the instrument question is not fundamental. The basic issue at stake is how to interpret Scripture…. It is simply incorrect to say (as I have) that the use of instrumental music among them [Independent Christian Church] stems from a lack of respect for the authority of Scripture” (Rubel has now placed instrumental music in area of opinion).
February 1988. In the Sermon On The Mount #1, Rubel says the following: “…The kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven is neither the church nor the future state of the saved….The sermon that he [Christ] must have preached many, many times. The sermon that Matthew from memory, maybe from some notes he jotted down, hearing Jesus preach at various times, maybe written forms of this same sermon that others had pieced together and were circulating in written form…”…. “I’m not sure there is any sense in which the law of Moses is abrogated…only certain ceremonial aspects relevant to his worship under the old and new covenant have been changed…” (Rubel doubts the source from which Christ preached and is not convinced the law of Moses has been set aside, as per Col. 2:14).
April 1990. During a meeting at the Missouri Street congregation in West Memphis, Arkansas, Rubel ridiculed the idea of “the old paths” and that we have a pattern to follow in the New Testament. It was in that meeting that Rubel said: “My children will not stay with the church I grew up in. They will not be a part of an irrelevance” (Rubel exudes lack of love and respect for the Lord’s church and boldly shows his disrespect for the authority of His Word).
October 1990. In the Oct. 31, 1990, issue of Love Lines, Rubel writes: “It is a scandalous and outrageous lie to teach that salvation arises from human activity. We do not contribute one whit to our salvation” (Rubel has now accepted the false doctrine of “salvation by grace alone”).
July 1991. In Rubel’s Jubilee speech he continues his opposition to Christ’s church and the Word by which it is to function. Note the following:
“People, the reason I feel good is not because I figured out the essentials and the non-essentials, and I’m sure I’ve got the essentials and all this, and I understood enough when I was baptized, I go to church enough, and I give enough, and I do evangelism – the reason I’m saved is, I understand grace!…My salvation is on grace alone, not by anything I’ve added to that. He didn’t do 98% of it and I have added my 2%. I’m not saved because I believed, or because I repented, or because I was baptized, or because I go to church, or because I eat the Lord’s supper, or because I give money, or because I go to Jubilee” (Rubel is being consistent in his error. If people are saved by “grace alone” as he claims, and “the grace of God… hath appeared to all men” (Tit. 2:11), then there is no need to do anything which God says we must do).
April 1994. The Woodmont Hills church, where Rubel Shelly preaches, had a joint worship service with six denominational groups (Rubel is now in full fellowship with those whom God does not fellowship, and never will in their error).
November 1998. “The family of God at Woodmont Hills” where Rubel preaches hosted a Community Thanksgiving Service, in which at least four denominational churches participated (Rubel’s full fellowship with denominations grows).
February 1999. In a letter by Eddie Plemons, “Children’s Minister” invites “you and everyone in your church” to attend “the 1999 Children’s Ministry Workshop,” hosted by “Woodmont Hills Church of Christ.” The workshop was scheduled for March 20th. An interesting note about this workshop is the religious affiliation of those in charge. Keith Johnson is “Director of International Children’s Ministries” for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Craig Jutlia, Dave Thornton, Susan Grover and Deneise Muir Kjesbo are all denominational people (Rubel now shows a preference for those of denominations, man-made churches. Such an affront to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!).
February 2000. The following, from Rubel Shelly’s weekly newsletter, Love Lines, Feb. 23, 2000, shows clearly that from the early 1980s until the year 2000 Rubel Shelly has “fallen away” (apostatized) from the faith and traveled the road to complete apostasy.
Attribution: Banner of Truth, April 2000
