Foolishness of Preaching
I. Cor. 1:21
Luther Blackmon
Noblesville, Indiana
The real meaning of "foolishness of the thing preached."
Religious leaders have rarely been willing to trust the success of their movement to simply teaching their doctrine.
Mohammed, in three years, had converted fourteen people with his doctrine, and most of them were his wife's relatives. Then he came into a position of military power and started "converting" people at the point of the sword. After that his followers grew in number quite rapidly.
The Church of England is a state church. It is hardly necessary to point out the advantage this gives.
For all practical purposes the Catholic Church is a state church in many countries. In 1962 Billy Graham was granted Permission to speak in the baseball stadium in Barranquilla, Colombia. The Mayor later cancelled the Permission, because under Colombian law only the Catholic Church is allowed to propagandize.
Some of the Protestant churches would be just as intolerant if they had the power. I was writing a weekly article in a Houston paper and the Ministerial Alliance threatened to boycott all advertisers if I was not kicked out. The paper offered to let them answer me. They said, "We don't want to answer him. We want him out." They won the argument.
Now our brethren have decided that they can no longer depend on the gospel to accomplish its God given mission unless it is innoculated with large doses of the "social gospel." So we have "Church of Christ" ball clubs, gymnasiums, "Fellowship Halls," recreation centers, church kitchens, greased pig chases, you name it, we do it. And woe be unto the poor "squares" who oppose it.
But some of us still think that if it takes something besides the "foolishness of preaching'' to "convert" a fellow.., he will be something besides a Christian when you get him "converted."
TRUTH MAGAZINE XIV: 10, p. 8
January 15, 1970
