Truth Magazine

By George Welsh Tyler

While walking along the beach during a storm, a Coast Guardsman heard above the roar of the waves and the crash of thunder a cry for help. He called the rescue crew and the life boat was launched. Several of the crew felt that this was a case of pure imagination for surely no voice could be hear above the roar of the turbulent onrush and confusion. Fifty minutes later, two boys who had drifted out too far in a fishing boat, lay in the emergency room in the hospital, not too far away, recovering from shock exposure. They would have perished except for the fellow whose trained ears caught this important sound.

Jesus Christ, who was concerned about the “lost sheep” is also concerned that you and I may search for lost men and bring them into the church for which he died. He said, “The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). In the closing book of the Bible we find these words, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come” (Rev. 22:17). The promise of reward is given in these words, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches, To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7). Have your ears been trained to hear the cry of lost souls seeking salvation? What did your congregation do last year? How much seeking in the highways and the by-ways did you as members of it do? The members, individuals, make up the congregation as a total. The work of the church must be done by its members. We are not born. in groups, we do not die in groups and neither are we saved in groups. Each soul stands as an individual before God. Salvation of souls depends on you-the individual. Remember this also, James wrote, “My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (Jas. 5:19, 20). The greatest work you will ever do is to lead lost souls to Christ.

Paul says, “Ye are not your own: for ye were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:19, 20). Peter wrote, “Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with the precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18, 19). These scriptures clearly state that Christians belong to God and are under obligation to serve Him to the best of their ability. They are stewards as the parable of the talents teaches. Many people think of “stewardship” mainly in terms of dollars. In Matt. 25:14-30, Jesus compares the kingdom with the dealings of a lord with his bond servants. They were his possession, hence he had a right to command them and to expect them to use their time for his profit while he was gone to the far country. He gave commitments to each one according to the abilities he possessed. He knew them, and made his assignments according to their capabilities. Our capabilities are known to both Jehovah and His Son, Christ Jesus, and we will not be held responsible for not doing things we are not qualified to do. The point is that we must use the talent or talents we have and not do like the one-talent steward.

The New Testament Christians lost no time in going to work for the Master. Jesus said, “Come unto me” (Matt. 11:28) and in Matt. 28:19, He said, “Go.” We learn in Acts 8:1: “There arose on that day a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” Who went? “They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). The apostles were not among the “scattered abroad.” They that “went preaching the word” were those whom the apostles had converted in and about Jerusalem. “The word of the Lord abideth for ever” (1 Pet. 1:25). God is not willing “that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). Shout it from the rooftops, let it float on the breeze, and sent it into the homes that are without hope-to men who have gone pleasure mad-to souls that have “gone back” and are lost in the confusion of waywardness and neglect. Can you face God, knowing you have not done your part in saving souls for Eternity? This is personal evangelism. Acts 8:1 to 9 is your example. We pray that a mighty ground-swell of zealous enthusiasm of both personal and public evangelism will sweep across our country and around the world.

Truth Magazine, XX:14, p. 4-5
April 1, 1976

By Cecil Willis

As some of you already know, some health problems that I have encountered have made it necessary for me to change the nature of my work for several months. I have cancelled all my meetings since July, 1975 through December, 1976. So … during this time, I am working on a biography of Roy E. Cogdill. Some know of these efforts, but many do not. The purpose of this article is to inform you of these efforts and to ask your assistance.

Brother Cogdill never kept much in the way of records of where he preached and the number of responses, beyond the period that such records might be useful in dealing with “Uncle Sam” on his Internal Revenue Program. I suppose he felt like most of us do: we will leave the record keeping to the Lord, for after all He alone knows who was added and who sincerely repented, etc.

There was another incident that deterred Brother Cogdill from sending many news reports regarding his work to the papers. When he was just a young preacher, he was introduced to some sister who commented, “Oh yes, I have seen your advertisements in the Firm Foundation.” Upon reflection, Brother Cogdill decided that some of those news reports do appear almost to be advertisements, so he very, very seldom sent in one thereafter. This may have made it easier for him to live with his conscience, but it makes it infinitely more difficult to reconstruct a year by year story of his life. This is why I am making this appeal to you, and am asking that you pass along the word and have any who may be of some help to me to write me.

You might possess some photograph that would appear nicely in a book, or you might know of some interesting incident that might enliven a book. Perhaps some humorous incident may have occurred during a gospel meeting or a debate that you may think should be related. Perhaps in travel with Brother Cogdill somewhere, some discussion may have occurred that you deem to be important enough to merit some mention. Surely there must be hundreds of persons who have correspondence files that may contain some information that is germane biographically.

At first, I had thought that I would try to make this book a history of the institutional controversy. Necessarily it must contain considerable material relating to this issue, because Brother Cogdill has been in the very center of the fight since it began. But I have decided that it would make too long a book if I tried to write anything like a complete history of the institutional issue. I will deal only with Brother Cogdill’s part in that controversy.

Along with a biography, I would like to compile a compendium of all he has written, including even bulletin articles. But 1 know that this file cannot be made complete, for even Brother Cogdill did not retain copies of all his bulletins. I have all of the easy-to-get material, such as all the Gospel Guardians, Bible Banners, Gospel Advocates from 1910 to the present, and about the last twenty-five years of the Farm Foundation. But there could be articles in many church bulletins that were never published elsewhere.

If you have any materials that you think would be helpful to me, I would appreciate having you to send me a photocopy of any article, or send any photograph that you may possess. Write your name and address on the back of the picture and the words “Please Return.” All of this material is being kept in a fire-proof filing cabinet, and will be handled as carefully as I know how and some who have sent me manuscripts may not be particularly impressed with my careful handling. However, in my own defense, let me state that I do not think any manuscript has been sent to me that has not been located within three to five years after it was sent. But I promise to handle whatever you send as carefully as possible.

So . . . all of you out there . . . who might be able to lend me some assistance, let me hear from you pronto.

Truth Magazine, XX:14, p. 2
April 1, 1976

By L. Gaussen

Every Christian should be vitally concerned with the verbal or plenary inspiration of the Bible. On this issue the truthfulness of Christianity stands or falls. If the Bible, for example, is not totally inspired, the Christian must elevate himself to the position of a judge to determine which parts are and which parts are not inspired. After he has made that human judgment, he must them humble himself to the status of a believer, thus relegating his trust to his own wisdom. His faith, as a result, rests in himself rather than in God.

So argues L. Gaussen in Divine Inspiration of the Bible, a Kregel Publications reprint of the book originally entitled Theopneustia: The Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. First published in French and later translated into English in 1841, this classic work was written to answer the unbelieving rationalists who sought in the 17th and 18th Centuries to reduce the Bible in the minds of men to a human production. Gaussen’s objective was “to set forth, establish, and defend the Christian doctrine of Divine Inspiration.” That doctrine, to him, is that the Bible is fully inspired. He therefore wrote “to establish by the word of God that the Scripture is from God, that the Scripture is throughout from God, and that the Scripture throughout is entirely from God.”

Gaussen lived in Geneva, Switzerland at the beginning of the 19th Century when the influence of German and French rationalism began to effect the National Church of Switzerland. Along with Robert Haldane, Merle D’Aubigne and others, Gaussen led the opposition to this infidelity. They fought it with such uncompromising conviction that the Evangelical Dissenting Church had to be established to receive all who were dissatisfied with the National Church. They also started a school of theology in which Gaussen served as “Professor of Systematic Theology.” Theopneustia, an outgrowth of his opposition to rationalism and of his work as a professor, became the classic answer to objections to verbal inspiration.

The professor’s approach to the subject is twofold. The first part of the book is positive. He begins with a clear and minute definition of the Bible doctrine of verbal inspiration and then follows with a careful and detailed analysis of scriptures which demonstrate the truth of his definition. The remainder of the work, constituting more than half of the book, is negative and contains a forthright consideration of the objections which rationalists offer.

Gaussen’s book is not an antique, of value only for display in a museum of ancient history. The objections he answers are essentially the same ones still bandied about by today’s rationalistic counterparts, the modernists. Gaussen deals, for example, with the variations in the Gospel accounts, devoting special attention to the reports of the resurrection. He also considers alleged historical and scientific inaccuracies, supposed loss of inspiration through manuscript variations and translations and proposed contradictions. Readers who have been favorably impressed with the incomparable value of Warfield’s The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible and have returned again and again to reread it will be similary affected by Gaussen’s Theopneustia.

Serious Bible students live at an extremely opportune time when so many of the classic works are being republished by Kregel, Zondervan and College Press. Such students will want Gaussen’s work in their library and will likely refer to it often as they face objections to the verbal inspiration of the Bible.

L. A. Stauffer, Route 7, Box 105, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240

Truth Magazine, XX:14, p. 2
April 1, 1976

By L. Bruce Taylor

Two of God’s commandments that surely epitomize the entire scope of the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation are appearing to plague the church universal and the local congregation. It is a tragic scene to see the wisdom of God shunned and cast aside as immaterial by what is undoubtedly human wisdom and self-discernment.

The words of Jesus in Matt. 6:33 ring out loud and clear – “But seek first His (God’s, lbt) kingdom, and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.’.’ Are we not able to understand such plain language? Have we not the capacity to realize that the point being emphasized is that NOTHING can come ahead of our service to God if we would be pleasing to Him? We cannot change God’s priorities by our personal whims and fancies and be justified in His sight.

Consider the teaching set forth in Luke 14:16-24. Jesus relates a story concerning a man who prepared a feast and invited many to attend. Each one invited came up with some trivial excuse. One must look at a piece of land he has already bought-? One must “try out” five yoke of oxen that he has already bought-? And another said, “I’ve just gotten married. . . .” (no explanation necessary, lbt)! The Master answered, “. . . none of these men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.” When we by our actions say, “Lord, I’ll get to you when I feel like it after I do what I want to do …… we deny the wisdom of God, and it matters not what we say with our lips. Jesus recalling the words of Isaiah in Matt. 15:8 called those “hypocrites” who “. . . honor with their lips while their heart is far away from Him.” “Human” reasoning leads us down the path to destruction, dear friend, not up to the gates of glory.

Again the inspired words of the Apostle Paul written to the young Christian Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:15, “Be diligent (KJV-study, lbt) to present yourself approved of God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.” A major point of consideration here is that if you cannot “handle accurately” (use with knowledge and application, lbt) the word of God, you are not to pass it off lightly but rather are to be ashamed! There is only one way to get to heaven and that is to obey the Word of God which by studying, one knows. It is not adequate to simply accept what someone tells you is God’s command but rather you must do a “labor-of-love” and search the scriptures daily. “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night,” (Psalms 1:1-2).

The admonition of Paul in Hebrews10:25 to “. . . forsake not our assembling together” and the example of New Testament Christians in Acts 2:42 of “. . . continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship (v. 46-daily)” seems to fall upon deafened ears. Instead of being interested in how often we can be getting together and studying God’s Word, to be prepared for better service, we are inventing excuses to get out of those efforts already planned both by the congregation and individual members. Brethren this ought not to be! Why is it so? Are our priorities out of harmony with God’s? Do we feel that we know so much there is no need for us to attend such services? God help us all to realize our inadequacies and search His Word for strength and guidance.

The attitudes of “indifference” and “slothfulness” that we put forth shall in the day of judgment condemn us to eternal punishment if we persist therein. God does not want our excuses but rather our complete obedience by . . . presenting our bodies as living sacrifices” (emphasis mine, lbt) (Rom. 12:1). Anything else is not acceptable!

Truth Magazine, XX:13, p. 13
March 25, 1976