The name Bethel means “House of God”. It was an important religious center to both Abraham and his grandson Jacob in the Patriarchal age and a place of worship where the Ark of the Covenant was kept in the Mosaical age. It was the home of Samuel, priest and prophet. But, a change came – a tragic change.

When the kingdom divided upon the death of Solomon, the ten northern tribes broke away under the leadership of Jereboam. Not wanting his people to go to Jerusalem to worship, he introduced idolatry and set up two centers of worship: Dan and, of all places, Bethel! Thus Bethel, “the house of God”, became a house of gods!

What a tragedy! How could this happen? How could a place with such a glorious past in the worship of God become such an infamous center of idolatry? How far Bethel had fallen! What is the explanation?

It is indeed tragic – a tragedy we have seen often for there has always been a tendency on the part of man to drift away from God.

The “house of God” in the New Testament is the church (I Pet. 4:17). It has been much like Bethel. It had its beginning on the first Pentecost following the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2), but there was a falling away that was prophesied by Paul (2 Thess. 2:3). The “mystery of iniquity” was already at work and the final result was the evolvement of Roman Catholicism.

Again it happened during the nineteenth century A.D. during the Restoration Movement. Multitudes had rejected denominationalism and returned to New Testament Christianity. But tragedy struck again. Many were not satisfied with God’s way, resulting in a split.

Now, in the beginning of the 21st century we are once more seeing it happen throughout our brotherhood. This time it has to do with what we call liberalism. It simply boils down to this: Many are not satisfied with God’s law. They are attempting to wrest the scriptures, as Peter describes it, or twist them around to suit their own purposes. Thus division has been the result. Many congregations have fallen into this trap. Some have stood for the truth for many years, but have finally succumbed. They have drifted away. They have become like Bethel!

Why has this happened? It is because of a lack of proper leadership and the right kind of teaching.

As it has often been said: “It takes but one untaught generation to lead to digression”. We have now brought up at least one untaught generation, and now we are seeing the results. There was a time when the first principles such as worship, baptism, and church organization were emphasized. But, after a while, elders, preachers, and other church leaders felt that we had enough of that. No wonder we are having questions arising today concerning such matters and even questioning the authority of God’s word! We need to get back to the basics, or else become like Bethel.