Truth Magazine

By Dennis C. Abernathy

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve, through, his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted front the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). The New American Standard Version has “the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” The apostle Paul’s fear here was that as the serpent led Eve into sin by his crafty wickedness, so these false teachers were corrupting the, church at Corinth from that simplicity of doctrine and purity of life which they owed to the Christ, who was their espoused husband. In this article we want to focus our attention to the simplicity of the teachings of Christ or on the Gospel.

Now the idea that many of the world have is that we simply cannot understand the Bible. We know this not to be so because Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, says that we can. “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit” (Eph. 3:2-5). Paul said the mystery was made known unto him and he wrote it down and we can read it, and when we read it we can understand it. We can know just what Paul knew. Isn’t that simple. The problem with most is that they do not take the time to read what Paul wrote, therefore they do not (not cannot) understand the Bible. I further know that the Bible is understandable because Psalms 119:130 says, “The entrance of the words giveth light: it giveth understanding unto the simple.”

Reasons Why the Gospel Must Be Simple

The Gospel must be simple because it is to be preached to every creature. “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16:15). “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations . . .” (Matt. 2&:19). Certainly if the gospel is to be preached to every creature it must be simple. If the gospel is not simple, and cannot be understood, then it would do no good to preach it.

Another reason why the gospel must be simple is to believe it. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mk. 16:16). It plainly says those that “believe not” shall be damned. Would it be right and fair to damn a man for what he cannot understand? Dear reader, the Lord has given us His Word, we are instructed to believe it, and if we do not we will be damned. You may be confident that you can believe (that is, if you want to, and will).

Evidence that Shows the Gospel to be Simple

The evidence we have chosen to use concerns itself with the church and baptism. What is said about the church is simple. The lord himself said…… That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). Christ said, “I will build my church.” I ask, whose church is this? Is it Luther’s, Wesley’s, John’s, or any other man’s? You say, “No!” You are absolutely correct. Why do you say “No”? Because Christ said “I will build my church.” It is His! He purchased it with His own blood (Acts 211:28), and it wears His name (Rom. 16:16).

We learn further that there is only one church –which is His body. “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body,- the fullness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). “And he is the head of the body, the church. . . “(Col 1:18).”There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling” (Eph. 4:4). 1 ask you, can you possibly get many out of one? The body is the church and there is one body, therefore, there must of necessity be just one church. That does away with the idea of “the church of your choice” and settles once and for all that it is the church of Christ’s choice.

Next we learn that we are baptized into that one body. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. . . ” (1 Cor. 12:13). How do we get into the one body? We are baptized into it. Isn’t that simple? The body is the church and we are baptized into the body, therefore, we enter into the church through baptism. Dear reader do you know of another passage in all of God’s Book that tells you another way to enter into the one body? I know of none, but if you do please tell me.

What is said about baptism is simple. We find that it is a burial in water. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4). “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Col. 2:12-13). Isn’t that simple? If it is a burial it cannot be a sprinkling or pouring. What do you do when you bury some one in the ground? What do you do when you bury someone in the watery grave of baptism?

Further we learn that baptism is for believing penitents, not babies. Infant baptism is without scriptural authority. The subject for baptism is to believe. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved . . . ” (Mk. 16:16). The subject for baptism is to repent of his sins. “Then Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. . . ” (Acts 2:38). I ask you, can an infant believe? Is he capable of doing that? Can an infant repent of his sins? Does he have any sins to repent off? The answers are very simple and when you answer these questions you will find the proper subjects for baptism and they will not be infants.

Last of all, baptism is to save. “He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved'(Mk. 16:16). “And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptised, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us. . . ” (1 Pet. 3:21).

The gospel of Christ is simple. One does not have to be a college graduate to understand how to go to heaven. In our preaching of the gospel, let us always remember to keep it simple, and easy to be understood. If we fail in this we have failed altogether because if people cannot understand they cannot obey and if they do not obey they are lost (2 Thess. 1:7-9).

Truth Magazine, XX:24, p. 10-11
June 10, 1976

By Roy E. Cogdill

We have sought to separate unity from the “Ecumenical Movement” which some have confused as a “movement” in the direction of unity and God. Of course, Christianity is not connected with any “movement” of any kind. A “movement” toward union without unity-compromise without conviction-policy without principle-is subversive to truth, contrary to the will of Christ and displeasing to God. The “unity of the Spirit” is essential to truth and righteousness and is the only unity that pleases God and is worth the time and effort that it requires to talk and write about it.

Unity among the people of God upon the basis of divine truth is primarily a congregational matter and not a universal problem. When a local church is a “church of Christ” it measures up to the divine standard closely enough to enjoy that identity and is therefore built by the same pattern as every other such local church on earth.

There is, however, no connecting tie of federation between these churches of Christ (Rom. 16:16) as they exist in their various localities. They are rather completely independent bodies subject to the same authority, with the same faith and message engaging in the same pattern of worship and identical in organization and mission. They each have their own members, elders or bishops and deacons, place of assembly, program of work, resources or treasury, and exercise their own discipline and control their own fellowship. They are subject only to the authority of Christ.

In the New Testament there is nothing that teaches that these “churches of Christ” should or did pool their resources into a combined or “brotherhood treasury.” They did not jointly undertake any work. They concurrently labored independently of one another to preach the gospel in the same place and even support the same preacher. (2 Cor. 11:7-9), but they did not combine their work under a single eldership or some humanly devised organization nor did they combine their resources. You can search the scriptures in vain for such combinations as are common today among professed churches of Christ, viz., Herald of Truth, sponsored church co-operation, etc. We have seen and heard brethren try to establish the scripturalness of such joint enterprises in vain but we have never heard any scripture produced teaching it either in precept, example, or by necessary inference. They have no scripture for such combinations. They can only appeal to “the liberty to act in God’s silence” and plain sophistry. There is no divine authority for any organization in the work of the church but the local church (Phil. 1:1). Neither is there any divine authority for a local church functioning as a brotherhood agency. This is a perversion of the function of God’s organization.

History teaches that when these independent congregations of God’s people began to merge, federate, form inter-congregational ties apostasy was already under way. This led to the crowning of a universal bishop over all the churches and that is Roman Catholicism. Inter-congregational federation either in organization, function, or of resources will lead in, the same direction again. The flagrant violations of this fundamental principle of truth and church identity today among the churches has lead and is leading to the disruption of the peace of many congregations and the creation of dissension and strife. Not only have the people of God been divided but families have been separated and bitterness has been created and all because the false assumption that “we do not have to have divine authority” for all we do in the church of the Lord. The New Testament teaches that when anyone brings into any church of Christ anything as a matter of expediency or personal liberty that causes others in that congregation to offend their consciences or separate themselves therefrom, they have condemned themselves by “destroying the temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16-17). Such an attitude is plain carnality (1 Cor. 3:1-3).

Unity is enjoined upon the congregation by Paul and he invoked the authority of Christ to impress the obligation it carries. “Now I beseech you, brethren, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (I Cor. 1:10).

More than a. hundred years ago when brethren introduced the missionary society organization into evangelism of the church and instrumental music into the worship, they did not plead scriptural authority for these innovations at the beginning. They brought them in as matters of expedience and human judgment and preference. They took the attitude that those who could not conscientiously worship and work with them in use of these “expediencies” were “anti,” narrow minded, non-progressive, making laws where God had riot rude them, etc. Today liberal brethren who are bringing into the congregations their human expediencies and disrupting the peace and harmony of God’s people are once again taking the same attitude and hurling the same epithets against those of their brethren who oppose theist. They are saying now even as they did then, “We have the liberty of practicing such things and you do not have the right to oppose them, therefore, you can either go along in violation of your conscience or get out.” This is the reason many brethren are leaving the place of worship where they have been for years, helped to pay for the property and facilities for carrying on their work, and seeking some other place of worship where they will not have to sacrifice their convictions for the sake of peace. Even though they do it with a grieved heart, this is all that they can do and still please God. Those who force them to do it, however, are marching toward complete apostasy and eternal condemnation as sure as the Bible is the Word of God.

Truth Magazine, XX:24, p. 9-10
June 10, 1976

By Loren N. Raines

There was no man that David loved more than he loved Jonathan. Perhaps no greater friendship ever existed than that between these two good men. Of Jonathan David said, “Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” In lamenting the death of Jonathan, David said, “How are the mighty fallen.”

On April the 8th death claimed a mighty man, in spiritual Israel. On that date Brother J. C. Roady passed from time into eternity. I was called to speak at his funeral which was held at the building of the Church of Christ at Sullivan, Indiana where Brother Roady had lived for over fifty years. Brother Ermil Poer assisted in the service.

Perhaps Brother Roady is not too well known by the present generation. He was born in Illinois September 4, 1887. He began preaching when quite young and had preached the gospel for 70 years. He gave his entire life to the church, and spent all his life in the evangelistic field. He preached in most every state in the Union, and no man was more in demand as an evangelist. His meetings were scheduled years in advance, and he never turned down a congregation because of its size. He preached every day in the year unless he was traveling. He spent but very few days in his home. Only those who have done this type of work know the sacrifice that he made. He sometimes preached as many as four sermons in one day. He kept accurate records of all his baptisms, funerals and weddings. He baptized a total of 15,039 people, besides restoring thousands to the church. Few, if any preachers of the Lord’s church have spoken to more people. In most of his meetings the houses were packed, many times overflowing, and sometimes people had to be turned away.

Brother Roady was a self-made man. He lacked the educational advantages of most preachers of this generation. Few people knew the Bible better, and none could defend the faith more effectively. He was blessed with a strong body, a keen mind, a good memory, and a forceful delivery. He was blessed with good health, and until the last few months of his life he said he never knew what it was like to be tired. He was an impressive speaker, but seldom spoke more than thirty minutes. He said he preferred that people go away hungry, rather than foundered. They always wanted to come back for more. His sermons were simple, well organized, understandable, and Bible from beginning to end. He knew how to inform the mind, touch the heart, and move the will.

During the last several years of his life he and two other brethren pooled what funds they had, and thus created a circulating fund from which they loaned money at a low rate of interest to needy congregations to build meeting houses to meet their needs. All they requested was that the congregations pay the interest the first of each month on the unpaid balance, then make whatever payment they were able to make on the principal. As a result many loyal congregations now have adequate, comfortable places to meet, and go carry on the Lord’s work more effectively.

During the last year Brother Roady gave up preaching due to failing health. He recently had a cancerous kidney removed. The doctors said he would have recovered had it not been for complications which caused his death. He was in the hospital at Terre Haute when he passed away. He spent most of seven weeks in intensive care. He is survived by his faithful companion and a few distant relatives. The church building was packed at his funeral service. He was laid to rest in Indian Creek Cemetery in Hamburg, Illinois, near where he was born. Truly, a mighty man has fallen. As the end drew near, if suffering permitted, surely it was a comfort to him to think of those more than fifteen thousand souls he had led to Christ, and could say, as Paul said to the brethren at Thessalonica, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?”

Truth Magazine, XX:24, p. 7
June 10, 1976

By Raymond E. Harris

During the past couple years we have heard a great out pouring of pros and cons concerning the “Bus Ministries.” It seems to be a subject most church members feel rather strongly about. They are either strongly in favour or utterly against the church bussing programs. ‘This has caused no little stir within churches all across the country.

However, until now we were uncertain as to public reaction. Now we are beginning to learn that the general public is not nearly as excited about church bussing programs as the bus promoters would have us believe.

Recently negative reaction caught on in Bloomington, Indiana, where a number of letters came in to the newspaper editor. That was followed by newspaper articles revealing various problems with “candy giving bus drivers.” In an article entitled “Evangelists Sour Tulip Tree Parents on Sweet Religion,” Alan Kinney of the Bloomington Herald Telephone, reports the following:

Parents for years have instructed their children never to accept a ride or candy from strangers. But some parents at the Tulip Tree Apartments (I.U. married housing) complain they have a harder job because of the methods some area churches employ to get children to ride their buses on Sunday mornings.

“Just last Saturday morning I heard a man tell one of the kids to he sure to come to church tomorrow and check out an the free gum and candy. I’m trying to teach my daughter not to take anything from strangers, but they’re not malting my job easier,” said a mother at Tulip Tree.

Another mother said that she had seen a bus parked in the circle drive at Tulip Tree every Saturday morning all summer.

“They waited for children to walk past the bus, and then one of the men jumped out of the bus, shook hands with all of the kids, and gave them candy and gum. My kids are cavity prone, and this man isn’t helping my husband or myself with the dentist bills. Why should he be allowed to give my children candy in the first place?”

The Reverend Oliver Rogers, minister of the North Central Church of Christ, 2121 N. Dunn, said his church has an active bus program at the Tulip Tree Apartments. He said he saw nothing wrong with giving the children “little gifts as a reward for coming to church.” This practice was never meant to entice the children to ride the bus, he said.

“We place brochures under the doors at the Tulip Tree Apartments inviting children to come to the free puppet show in our bus,” Rogers said, “When the show is over, we always try to have a little gift for the children.”

“We are having a contest on our buses where the bus director, Joe Bernhardt, is offering the child that brings the most visitors a small radio. This is merely for incentive purposes, the same incentive a business man would receive to do a better job,” Rogers said.

“I took my children to the puppet show that had Bruce and the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. We were notified of this by a note under the door and the note said nothing to the effect that this was church-oriented. I think it is deceitful to use something a child loves to push religion down their throats,” another mother said.

The Reverend Herbert Buff, minister of the First Assembly of God, 801 Mattock Road, said area churches compete for children, but the children also compete to ride on certain buses.

“We have what we call a McDonalds Sunday, where we take the children to McDonalds for a treat after church. Many times we’ve heard of children riding our bus rather than a different bus because we were going to McDonalds, and the other churches were only giving out bubble gum,” he said.

From the foregoing interviews it is obvious that many of the parents up and down church bus routes resent the bus ministries intrusion into their family affairs. Little children are gullible enough to want to accept candy and gum anywhere they can get it. However, older children and adults are perceptive enough to spot the religious con of reward motivation. It would be interesting to know the average age of the bus riders, how many are baptized and what percentage stick. If all those facts could be viewed 10 years from now in the light of bussing costs for 10 years, it would be interesting to know how many will still call bussing an “Expedient.”

Truth Magazine, XX:24, p. 6
June 10, 1976