Truth Magazine

By Larry Ray Hafley

Between the ages of 19 and 22, Freddie Prinze attained and achieved what most men never realize-fame, money, popularity, success. He had it all. Now he is dead. By his own hand he left the goods, gold and glitter of this world. Freddie found this life’s wealth was ashes in his mouth. So, he determined to put himself out of his misery. But did he?

One may shoot a horse with a broken leg or give an old, sick dog an injection and “put him out of his misery.” However, it does not work that way with man.

The spirit of an animal goes downward to the earth while man’s spirit goes unto God who gave it (Eccl. 3:19-21; 12:7). The ultimate tragedy is not that a sensationally talented comedian has been snuffed. The real disaster is that Prinze left this world for another from which there is no escape. What is more awful is the fact that he was ignorant of the fact. He thought he could terminate his sorrows with a bullet in the brain. He did not.

This world is full of Freddie Prinze stories. You never hear of them because the poor people involved are not as well known as he was. As I write, someone somewhere has done what he did. In so doing he has put himself into real misery rather than taking himself out. The most common age for suicide is 15 to 25. Unbelievable, is it not? That cold, chilling statistic contains a message. Who will hear it?

Poor Freddie Prinze and all his type! Their answers and solutions are located in Ecclesiastes, but must they enter the hadean realm before they find it out?

Truth Magazine XXI: 13, p. 206
March 31, 1977

By Franklin Burns

No subject has greater prominence in the Bible than prayer, and yet many Bible students are growing more indifferent to its blessings and privileges. God speaks to us through the Bible. We speak to Him through the medium of prayer. It is a tragic thing for us to refuse to be on speaking terms with our Creator. Any failure that comes into our lives as Christians is due to our shortcomings and not to God’s neglect. But prayer is the golden link that puts us in communication with God.

Pray for Wisdom

“But if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). God does not promise in this text to give you knowledge. Knowledge is information stored up in the mind, and is acquired by study, experience, and observation. Wisdom is skill, or tactful application, in the use of knowledge. It involves skillful use of any means to accomplish an end. Christians need Bible knowledge, and they need wisdom, or tact, that they may be able to properly use that knowledge. It is our duty as well as privilege to pray for wisdom.

Pray That the Lost be Saved

Paul prayed that his Jewish brethren might be saved (Rom. 10:1-3). Certainly he did not pray for them to be saved in disobedience; and it would not have been unnecessary for him to pray for God to save them when they obeyed God, for God would have done that without Paul’s praying for their salvation. In his great desire that his brethren be saved he prayed that conditions and circumstances might be such as to lead them to accept the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Paul not only prayed for the salvation of others, he worked and prayed. In fact the very things that seem to hinder some today did not seem to enter into the thinking of the early Christians. Their prayers pretty well covered the ground of all Christian activities and material needs. Study closely the things Paul prayed for as indicated in Col. 1:9-12. “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness,. giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints of light”.

Paul went to the ends of the earth under severe persecution, under many trying circumstances, laboring day and night, to try to save the lost. Those of us who live in this day and time with all the comforts, conveniences, and luxuries, cannot find as much as an hour a week to go out and try to teach the lost. Why? There is not the love for them that there ought to be. It is too easy to sit back and ease our consciences by saying, “this is a hard field. They just will not listen”. How do you know? Have you missed a meal or a few hours sleep to try? Friend, develop this love for mankind. Kneel down in prayer to God for your failure to teach the lost. Pray that He will help you to go forth with His saving message.

Pray for Laborers

We should pray that God will send forth laborers and that we may be laborers. Working in the kingdom of Christ is an essential activity of Christians. What is the purpose of our creation in Jesus Christ? It is good works (Eph. -2:10). How is the church built up? It is built up by the working of the members (Eph. 4:16). How did Paul have such success in his life? He had success by hard `labor (Acts 20:18-21, 31). Is it possible that the church has more members than it does workers? Luke 10:2 suggests the possibility. “The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few”. Jesus said, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:38).

We as Christians are “co-laborers with God” (1 Cor. 3:9). The kingdom of God is likened to a vineyard. In that vineyard we are to labor, to work, and further the cause of God. When we engage in saving souls, we engage in the greatest business in the world. The whole world lies in darkness. Its only hope is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unto us has been committed the task of enlightening the world (Rom. 10:13-17).

When Jesus gave the great commission, He gave the marching orders for His army as they march against the hosts of evil and ignorance. Our command is to carry to people in sin the story of salvation provided by God’s grace in Christ Jesus. Paul in writing letters to various churches often expressed his desire for them. To the Colossians he wrote “we do not cease to pray and make request for you” (Col. 1:9-12). Upon the church at Thessalonica he said, “Now may our God and father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even as we also do toward you; to the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (1Thess. 3:11-13). Every gospel preacher should have such feelings concerning those with whom he labors.

Pray for Boldness

We should pray that preachers may speak with boldness. Acts 4 records how the apostles Peter and John were threatened; when they were allowed to go to their own company, they prayed unto God. Their prayer was that God would give them boldness to speak the word of God (v. 29). If these apostles needed to pray for such, then, surely there is a need to pray that preachers have that same boldness today! Paul, in giving the charge to the young preacher Timothy, said, “Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (2 Tim. 4:2-5).

Every gospel preacher worthy of the name should pray that he might always be willing to speak out on any question regarding the teaching of the Bible and the welfare of the church. This does not imply that he should forever be talking about conditions about which he knows little or nothing, but it does mean that he should always be willing for his position on vital questions to be known. And, he should be willing to make use of all opportunities for using his influence for the advancement of the cause of Christ here in this world. Paul told the Ephesian brethren to “pray always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perservence and supplication for all saints, and for me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds; that therein I may speak boldly, As I ought to speak”.

Paul Prayed for the Philippians

When Paul prayed unto God on behalf of the Philippians (Phil. 1:9), there were several elements involved which made it an effectual prayer (James 5:16). There are motives, conditions, and circumstances which should be considered as examples to the child of God today. Many times Christians do not pray because they doubt the effectiveness of prayer. This may have come about because they are expecting something which God has not promised (1 John 4:14), or they are expecting a miracle at a time when God is not causing miracles to be performed (1 Cor. 13:8-10), or they may have lost sight of the proper motive and circumstances of prayer (Phil. 1:3-8; James 4:3).

Many times we become greedy in our prayer to the point that we do not want to include others in our prayers, and do not even include the personal blessings for which we ought to be thankful. Then we want to blame God for not hearing our prayers and accuse Him of not fulfilling His word.

Paul was thankful to God at his every remembrance of the Philippians. This is the place where they had whipped him and bound him and put him in prison. Should he have not remembered that place with vengeance? Could you and I have remembered that place without vengeance in our hearts? This is the difference between thinking according to the natural, fleshly impulse and living by the spirit. Those whom he remembered were children of God, people who had permitted their lives to be molded by the gospel which Paul had preached. Since they were fulfilling the very purpose of his life, he would let these things far outweigh the bitter things which had happened in their city. There should be thanksgiving in our prayers for the blessings which we receive and for God’s faithful children everywhere.

Prayer should not be bound by our personal needs. If one’s prayer is directed to God as worship to him, he should consider God and His will above the will and personal desires of himself. (Matt. 6:10; 26:39). God’s will includes others besides one’s own self. Then we should be concerned with, and pray on behalf of others. Paul made supplication for the Philippians always in his prayers. Take stock of your prayers. Is it overweighed with self? Does it consider the faithful in Christ?

Paul Prayed with Joy

Our prayers for many people would not be expected to be with joy. They might be overtaken in tresspass and sin. They might be burdened with grief and sadness. But when children of God are working, growing, and in happy fellowship with God and one another, it is time for joy. We should pray for them that they may abound in these blessings and duties, but we can and should make such supplications with joy. This is the apostolic example which Paul has given us.

Pray with Confidence

The effectiveness of prayer is destroyed if the person prays with little or no confidence that God will fulfill his petition. James says we are to pray for wisdom and that God will give liberally. He gives a limitation however. We are to pray without doubt. A man who doubts is double-minded and that kind of man is not to think that he will receive anything of the Lord (James 1:5-7). The Lord taught his disciples, “and all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matt. 21:22). We need not to think that this one condition for acceptable effectual prayer will override and exclude all other conditions which the Lord has given; but, this is one that we are to have in our prayers. Paul had confidence that God who had begun a good work in the Philippians would continue to do so, hence, he could pray that they would continue and be edified. The confidence which motivated his prayer for them was in God, who could grant his petition which was according to God’s will.

Let us pray and work, however, for “the man of God” described by Paul in his letters to Timothy and Titus. Let us pray that God will raise up many such men! Pray for laborers who have wisdom and boldness. Pray that saints be strong, like those at Philippi. Pray that “the man of God” will reprove and rebuke, encourage and correct. Pray that God’s purpose for the salvation of the lost be fulfilled. In all of this, let us pray with joy.

Truth Magazine XXI: 13, pp. 204-205
March 31, 1977

By Lewis Willis

Introduction

This is the first of a series of articles which will appear in Truth Magazine under the above heading. My daily newspaper arrives at 5:15 “a.m. and I read or scan it before I begin my day. Items which concern religion or morals are of special interest to me. I edit a local church bulletin for the Olsen Park Church and I have printed many of these brief articles, with my comments, for local distribution. The editor of this paper thought some of these articles might be of interest to his readers and, thus, this column is launched.

No claim is made that every point in one of these newspaper articles is reviewed that deserves attention. Partially this is true because of my purpose to keep these articles brief. Furthermore, some might even consider me “picky” about matters of minor concern. However, I have long’ been impressed with the effectiveness of a point which is illustrated with some of the extreme views and actions prevailing in our world today. If I am so presumptuous as to suppose that preachers who read this material will get any real benefit from it, it is because I think that some might find it useful in illustrating points that they are making in sermons. Those who do not preach might find it worthwhile to trace the steps of moral and spiritual apostasy that permeate our society. It is hoped that these reflections might help to guard ourselves arid our children from these departures from Divine Truth and Wisdom.

A time lapse of weeks, and sometimes months, will appear between the publishing of the newspaper article and its publication in this column. However, much of this information is “timeless” insofar as the principles involved are concerned. I will, therefore, submit them as I review them.

Occasionally I will refer to a news brief in a television newscast. But, as frequently as possible, I plan to print the news release in, its entirety, mistakes included, so that the context of some statement or action can be understood. Regarding lengthy articles, I will give as full a summary as practical. Because our liberal brethren have turned to newspapers and television for publicity, some attention will be given to their pronouncements. I trust you shall find this material worth reading.

Lancaster Denys Belief In God

LONDON (AP) – Burt Lancaster, who plays the title role In the movie “Moses,” says he doesn’t believe In God but thinks the Ten Commandments are all right-for other people.

“I don’t live by them, but I think they are good in that they can give other people something to live by,” the 62-year-old actor told reporters before the Monday night premiere of the film.

“I have certain ethics by which I live,” he said. “I don’t believe in a God or a hereafter.”

This brief article is rather revealing. It appeared in an April, 1976 issue of the Amarillo Daily News. It should serve as a warning to parents and children alike. We have our heads in the sand if we think we can sit at the feet of such godless people for our entertainment and not end up partaking of the moral and spiritual principles they espouse. Or, should I say the immoral and anti-spiritual principles they espouse? We become products of those influences on which we feed and under which we live.

Such pronouncements as this should sound a loud alarm to all God-fearing people, certainly with the Child of the Living God. David wrote, “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God . . .” (Psa. 14:1). One might deny there is a God and an eternity for the soul of man but such does not change the fact. Parents and their children who are Christians had better be alerted! When we pay money that we have worked hard to earn, to constantly expose ourselves to the atheistic nonsense portrayed on the “Silver Screen,” we might just as well expect to one day reap the fruits of such folly. We are playing the part of the fool if we think we can constantly drink at this fountain and not catch the disease that festers there. Brethren, be it at the local theater or our own living rooms, we had better wake up. As an old preacher concluded all his articles years ago, “Brethren, we are drifting.” And, the direction in which we are drifting is the wrong one. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. 6:7-8). A time comes when parents and young Christians have to say, “No, I will not be a part of such wickedness and lose my soul” and mean it!!

With more and more movies being shown on television which require a statement to parents about the subject matter, there is increasing cause for concern. A lot of hours are spent by Christians in their homes watching things on commercial television that would never have been considered acceptable in years past. And, we seem to have developed the ability to sit there like dead fish and carelessly allow our children to drink in this filth like a bunch of guppies. Are we so deceived that we think they are unaffected by such gross degeneracy? No parent should watch many of these things! We are abdicating our roles as parents when we allow our children to be destroyed through unchecked exposure to socially acceptable sin. Furthermore, we will not allow this situation to exist with impunity. We are charged before God to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:1-4). We shall one day give account unto God for allowing our children to be lost through their infatuation with men like Burt Lancaster and women like Liz Taylor. It may seem extreme to suggest it but it is about time for some Christians to get out of the “Lazy Boy,” turn off the TV and firmly announce that “this family will not watch such filth.” We might even find there is a bit more time available to us to spend in studying the Word of God with our families. But that is almost more than our constitutions will stand. One can almost hear some say, “Nobody is going to tell me how to use my time or what I can look at on TV.” No, brethren, you must make those decisions yourselves. But make them with a knowledge that they will be viewed by the Lord one of these days and He will tell us what we should have done about the matter. Only then it will be too late!

Truth Magazine XXI: 13, pp. 203-204
March 31, 1977

By Robert Jackson

(Editor’s Note: The following material was originally presented as a series of radio lessons last year during a meeting at the Twin Oaks Church of Christ in Huntington, Tenn., and copied by the elders. It has been edited and adapted for publication.)

We would like to encourage you to get a Bible so that you might study the Bible with an open mind and free of any prejudice, and examine everything that is said by the revelation of Christ. It is our purpose to speak where the Bible speaks and remain silent where the Bible is silent in order that we might be found acceptable in the eyes of Jehovah. As suggested by the title, we are going to have a series of lessons dealing with the issues that divide us.

First of all, let me say that division is indeed a shame. It never was in the mind of God, and God did not intend for such to be. All you need to do is to read the New Testament and you will find that Jesus Christ, His purpose and His goal was that people might be one. This was the scheme of redemption that was in the mind of God from the very beginning of time. And so then Jesus Christ died upon the cross and purchased His church in order that all men might be one in Christ, whether they be Jew or Gentile, black or white, bond or free, rich or poor.

But yet at the same time, we need to recognize that upon certain occasions that division is right, and that Jesus Christ said that He brought division. This might sound strange to some people because they labor under the impression that the Son of the living God was so meek and so lowly that He did not intend to divide anyone over anything, but this is not true. When you read the revelation of Christ and you read about the life of the Lord Jesus and you listen carefully to His words, you will find that He emphasized that under certain conditions that division must come. If you have your Bible, turn to Matthew 10, beginning in verse 34-“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” In the words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, you can readily see that the Son of God said, “I came not to bring peace upon this earth,” and yet it is also stated in the Bible that He is the “Prince of Peace.” But now what Christ is saying here is that under certain conditions, there will be division-that whenever people go astray, leave that which He has committed unto them, then there will be division.

Whenever there are people who are willing to follow after the doctrines of men rather than following after the teaching of Christ, then Jesus said division will come. And, he said, “Think not that I have come to bring peace.” but “I have brought a sword,” and there will even be division. There will even be division among families. He said that “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Whenever there is a man who loves his mother and father more than he does Christ, then something is wrong. But if a man will love the Lord first, he will obey the gospel; and many times this will bring division even within the family rank.

So, we can see that upon certain occasions that division is wrong and sinful, that God intends for all of us to be o, e, that Christ died upon the cross for unity, that He prayed for unity, and therefore condemned division. Yet at the same time, the Son of God said to remember that “I have brought a sword,” and that under certain conditions there will be division.

Now then, as we think about division and the issues that divide us today in the Churches of Christ, we need to be concerned about authority. I think one of the major principles that we fail to understand is the authority in religion, and as a result of not understanding authority, we find something that divides us today.

When we talk about authority in religion, we need to remember that first of all, Christ has all of the authority. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus said, “All authority has been given unto me, both in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Now, in the verse that we have just quoted, we observed that Christ said, “All authority hath been given unto me.” Now note that He said, “both in Heaven and in earth.”

Sometimes we find people saying that Christ has all of the authority in Heaven, but then someone else has the authority on earth and as a result of that, we have one in the Vatican City who makes the claim that he has the authority to speak for the church upon the earth. Again that is a misunderstanding of authority. Jesus said, “All authority hath been given unto me both in Heaven and in earth,” so we need to recognize in the very beginning of our study that Jesus Christ has all of the authority-not your mother or your father, not your preacher, not your church, not anyone in the Vatican City; but we need to understand and put it down first in our mind that Jesus Christ is the Master, that He is the Son of God, that He is the head of the church, that He is the one that has all of the authority “both in Heaven and in earth;” and in order to carry out the commandments of God we must respect the authority of Jesus Christ.

Well, a lot of people say, “Preacher, I tell you one thing: I believe that Jesus Christ has all of the authority. I believe that He is the Son of the living God.” And then they turn right around and deny the commandments of Jesus. Remember what the Lord said in Luke 6:46, “Why call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I command you to do.” Now, my beloved friend, listen to me. If you call Jesus Lord, that means you respect Him as the Master and the Authority. If you respect Him as the Master and the One with authority, then you would be willing to obey every command. You would not quibble and argue about what the Lord says. Whatever Jesus tells’ you to do, you would be willing to do it. For an example, in Mark 16:15-16, the Lord says, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Now, if you respect Jesus as one with all authority, and as the Lord, then you would be willing to believe and to be baptized. You would not argue about it, you would not quibble about it, you would just simply say, “Lord, you speak and I’ll obey.”

Now one thing that divides us in religion is the fact that people fail to recognize Christ as the One with all authority in religion. But then again, we need to recognize that by Christ having the authority, we must recognize His word as the authority. Christ is now in Heaven, but we have His word upon earth; so then we must abide by the word of Christ. To emphasize this, Jesus said in John 12:48-“Whosoever rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the same which I have spoken shall judge him in that day.” There we can plainly see that the word of God is the authority in religion, that Jesus said that when you reject my word that you reject me. So then, when we talk about authority, we talk about the Bible, we talk about the word of God.

But today people misunderstand the Bible. They misuse the word of God, and as a result of it, there is divisioneven among the ranks of the people of God, and such ought not to be so. First of all, people fail to rightly divide and handle aright the word of God.

Now it is true that the Bible is the authority, but we need to recognize that the Bible is divided into what we call two major divisions: The Old Testament and The New Testament. Sometimes people say, “Oh, you people in the Church of Christ, you do not believe the Old Testament is the word of God.” That, my friend, is not so! We believe that it is the word of God. We believe exactly what the apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 1:21, when he said the men of old were moved by the Holy Spirit of God as they spake. We believe that everything they said is infallibly so-but it is not binding upon us today. In Galatians, chapter 3, Paul said that we lived under the schoolmaster-the schoolmaster being the Old Law-but he said we are no longer under the schoolmaster. We are no longer under that law, as he said in Colossians 2:14 because He nailed it to the cross. So then, there are some people today who go back to the Old Testament for their authority, and as a result of it, there is division among us today, and such ought not to be so.

But today in the Churches of Christ there is division in our number because people fail to understand how to establish divine authority. Now we have the Bible, but how do you establish divine authority? Well, if I understand the teaching of God’s word correctly, we establish divine authority in at least three ways: First of all, by direct command; secondly, by necessary inference; and thirdly, by a divine approved example. Now this can be proven by many places in the word of God, but in simple language, open your Bible to I Corinthians, chapter 11.

In 1 Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul is giving the command of the Lord’s supper. He said, “As I received of the Lord, so do ye.” In verse 24, he said, “Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.” Now if you have your Bible, note that he said, “This do ye.” Now when you have got a “this do ye,” you have a direct command. So when you find in the Bible where the Lord says, “This do ye,” this means you must do it. This is the authority.

But then secondly, we need to observe that there was a divine approved example-that they had the Lord’s supper upon the first day of the week. In Acts 20:7, “the disciples came together upon the first day of the week.” So there we have disciples coming together by apostolic authority upon the first day of the week. Now when someone asks me the question, “Where is your authority for the Lord’s Supper?”, the Lord said, “This do ye.” “Where is your authority for the Lord’s day?” Why we have the authority by divine approved example where they came together upon the first day of the week.

Then we have the necessary inference: upon the first day of every week. But somebody will say, “Preacher, the Bible does not say to eat the Lord’s Supper every first day of every week.” But this, my friend, is where you misunderstand it! It is necessarily inferred that every time there is a first day of the week that the disciples of Christ are to eat the Lord’s Supper. Under the Old Law, when God gave the commandments in the book of Exodus, he said to “Remember the Sabbath Day.” Now, show me where the Lord said to remember every sabbath! But, I tell you one thing, my beloved friends, the Jews understood that every time there was a Sabbath day, that they were to observe the Sabbath. Now then today, we understand that every time there is a first day of the week that God’s people are to observe the Lord’s Supper.

And so then, we have the direct command, a necessary inference and approved example. And this comes under a generic command and also a specific command. This is the way that you establish divine authority, and as a result of people not doing this, there is division among our ranks, and for this we are sorry.

Truth Magazine XXI: 13, pp. 200-201
March 31, 1977