Truth Magazine

By Billy W Moore

Editor’s Note: Funeral services for Brother Ross O. Spears were conducted May 6, 1976 by Brother Billy Moore in the Underwood and Steinback Funeral Home of Butler Missouri. Interment was in the Johnstown cemetery near the birth place of Brother Spears.

Brother Spears had conducted a gospel meeting for the Platt Woods congregation in the Kansas City area the previous week. Before returning to his work with the Christian Chapel church at Kettle, Kentucky, he and Mrs. Spears were spending a few days at the farm near Butler. Early on Tuesday morning, after mowing some in the lawn, he quickly and quietly succumbed a heart attack.

Brother Billy Moore, a long time friend of the Spears family delivered the funeral address, The audience of friends, relatives and brethren (some had traveled great distances to attend) were impressed as Brother Moore unfolded the full life of Brother Spears.

“Footprints in the sand of time . . .” have been left by my dear friend and brother Ross O. Spears. It was more than 78 years ago that Mr. and Mrs. William (Bill) Spears became the happy parents of another son, and named him Ross O. He grew up with his five brothers and two sisters in a little rural community of Bates County, Missouri, called Johnstown. Little did his family realize that this boy would grow up to be a preacher of the gospel of Christ, and one of the greatest song leaders that churches of Christ would produce in the Twentieth Century. Ross was known far and wide among brethren, working together with the very greatest gospel preachers, singing for the biggest churches in the nation, teaching singing classes, and teaching singing in colleges operated by brethren. He was in constant demand.

Early in life his musical talent began to show and develop, As he and his brothers entertained the folks of their community and surrounding areas. He fell in love with a pretty little girl of his community, Flora Dudley, and waited for her to grow up so they could be married. For over fifty years they shared their lives. never losing that first love, but watching it grow and grow. Scarcely will you find a man and wife whose lives are so entwined. Two children were born unto them, a daughter, Ettie, and a son, Dudley Ross; they have six grandchildren, three step grandchildren and eight great grand children. It has always been a close knit family, bound together by the strings of love, and centered to a very great degree around Ross O. Spears.

Today we do not weep and sorrow for our dear friend, Ross, for we know the faith that stood as the foundation of his life, and we know the hope that filled his soul. For sixty years or more he has been preparing for death, the judgment and eternity. He taught his wife, his children and his grandchildren how to go to heaven, and then set an example before them, and all their friends.

Today we weep with them, and we extend our sympathies to them, in their great loss, FOR THEY MUST GO ON LIVING WITHOUT HIM . . . without his firm hand about their shoulder . . . without his warm and friendly smile to welcome them . . . without his loving and gentle counsel to direct them . . . BUT LIVE YOU MUST! He would not want you to retreat in sorrow. Yet, we know that before you lie many days of sorrow, days when there will be much emptiness of heart, such a hollowness within, such a hurting in your soul that you will think you can’t go on. But YOU WILL GO ON! For you have inherited something from him and have gleaned something from his teaching and his life, that will strengthen you in the days when you are heavy laden in heart and in the nights when you awake and can think only about him … and that something is an indomitable faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, and in the divine providence of our Father in Heaven whom we serve . . . believing that He will see you through and that things will work out alright.

So, to all of you in his family I say, Continue to trust in the Lord with all thine heart . . . hold on to the faith that has been planted within your soul, never wavering, never faltering, for nothing else would make brother Spears so pleased with his family. (Prayer)

“KNOW YE NOT THAT THERE IS A PRINCE AND A GREAT MAN FALLEN THIS DAY IN ISRAEL? AND I AM THIS DAY WEAK . . .” (2 Samuel 3:38). These were the words of David as he stood beside the bier of Abner, hundreds of years ago. They are my words today, because I know the man beside whose body I stand, and I believe he was a prince and a great man.

A “prince” is “an outstanding man in any group or class.” Ross 0. Spears was a prince among men. He was truly an outstanding man, in so many ways. He was outstanding AS A PREACHER OF THE WORD, with his rich and mellow voice and in the way of the old school of preachers, he proclaimed, with ease and simplicity, without shame but with great joy, the cross of Christ. He preached Christ and him crucified in many different places.

About ten years ago he was going to retire from full time work as a preacher. (He had had some surgery and felt that he would not be able to do the work again.) He and Flora returned to their home place at Johnstown and began attending services with us in Butler. I visited with them often, and I knew he was not content just to sit out on the farm and preach occasionally when I was away. So, I encouraged him to get back into preaching. Brethren at Mulvane, Kansas called him to come out and preach for them. He told me, “Billy, I think I’ll go. It will just be for four or five months, until they can get someone to move there to work with them.” I said, Brother Spears, I want you to go, but it will be for four or five years. And sure enough, it was! Those brethren fell in love with him, and when he left them they were very sorrowful, But he did not return to the farm, he and Flora went back to Kentucky where he had preached for fifteen years, and began. working with the church at Kettle, Kentucky. The brethren there loved him and his word. Brother Spears told me time and again, “I could not be treated better by any people anywhere than those people treat me. They won’t let me do too much.”

A week ago last Monday my wife and I took Ross and his wife up to Kansas City where he began a series of meetings with the Flatt Wood church. The four of us enjoyed dinner together before going to the meeting. That night I heard him for the last time and his subject was: Christ and Him Crucified. After the service we said good-bye and left him there to preach in what was to be his last gospel meeting. The brethren there had not met him until that night, but at the close of the meeting they praised him for his preaching, for his pleasant ways, for the good job he had done, and for the encouragement he had brought to them. It was the same story that is heard everywhere he has gone: folks quickly learn to love him and to appreciate him. How fitting, as if through providence, that his wife returned to Flatt Wood Sunday afternoon to be with him, to bring him back home after the meeting, and was present to hear his last sermon. Yes, as a preacher of the gospel he was a prince and a great man.

He Was a “Prince” of a Singer. At age 78 he was still among the best, as his melodious voice would ring out in praise unto the Lord. Following the last service he attended in Butler, some of the women who have not known him his many years, told him how much they enjoyed his singing. He loved to sing. His family loved it. He lead singing for the greatest of preachers and biggest of churches of Christ in the land. But with all his popularity, with all his ability, he remained such a humble man; never arrogant, never assuming, never presumptuous, but meek and gentle and pleasant always pleasant. Truly, a prince among men.

He Was a “Prince” in Life. His example was good. His name is respected where ever he has lived, and although surpassing the “three score and ten” it never showed in his disposition. He did not grumble or complain, he never seemed to be old, in fact people frequently remarked about the youthful spirit which he displayed. Even last Sunday night the brethren talked about it, and brother Spears would say, “I can’t get old. My wife won’t let me; my children won’t let me and my grandchildren won’t let me.” The faith that dominated his life, the hope that cheered his heart, the word that lighted his way, the Christ who filled his soul . . . kept him young at heart and ever ready to encourage someone else. Oh, if we could all imitate that youthful disposition.

He Was a Prince at a Get-together. Throughout his life he entertained people. To the end he was outstanding at this. Many times when several were together at our house, I have coaxed him to the piano and for half an hour we were all joyfully entertained by his playing and singing, mostly the grand old songs of yesteryear . . . all played and sung by memory. His fingers were nimble at the keyboard, or with the stringed instruments when it came to entertaining folks. But he never had a lesson, he just learned it in youth. He has told me about the first time he was invited to teach singing in a college. He told his friend, who was the President of the college, “I don’t have a degree in music,” so Ross went back to school; first as a pupil, then as a teacher. Yes, he was an outstanding man.

Like David of old, when he stood beside the bed on which his friend Abner lay, I stand beside the body of niy beloved friend and say, “Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel, and I am this day weak . . .” I have known him only twelve years, he was over 30 years my senior, yet he was a very good friend . . . age doesn’t mean much when we grow up. I would like to have known him longer. But I have listened to many stories from out of the past . . . from him and his brothers Rex and Ronald. I have spent a week in his home on two different occasions, while I preached in meetings for the church where he was preaching. I have spent an afternoon or evening in his home many times when he and Flora were out on the farm. I knew the man . . . not as long as many of you knew him . . . but I knew him and I knew him well. I know what kind of a man he was . . . tender, loving, encouraging.

To me, brother Spears was a great man, because he pointed the souls of men unto Christ, that their faith might stand in the power of God. He was great because he brought the word of life to so many souls . . . helped them learn what one must do to be saved … baptized many into the body of Christ . . . encouraged many more to be faithful, and he was ever set for the defense of the faith. He was great because his faith was great! Ile was great because the Christ whom he preached was and is great! He was great because he possessed a great hope, the hope of eternal life.

I would that those of you who are not Christians would be constrained to follow the example he set of faith and obedience to the Lord.

TODAY Ross O. Spears is “asleep in Jesus”. The end of life in this world came in a way that he would have prescribed: his last week was spent preaching the word, he was at his home place, which he dearly loved, his wife was with him, and he crossed the river of death without pain and without struggle. In the words of a grandson: “The providence of God allowed him to die in dignity.” And I am confident that when he came to “the valley of the shadow of death” he was not alone, for like the Psalmist of old, he could say, “Thou are with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Indeed, Ross Spears “fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith.” Because of this we believe that there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to him at that day.

For on some “tomorrow” Ross O. Spears shall be raised, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

May these words bless and comfort the hearts of Flora, Ettie, Dudley, Caroline, Ted, Tim, Martha Jane, Ronald and the other relatives, brethren and friends of Ross O. Spears: “A prince and a great man.”

Surely a request he would make for his dear wife would be found in the words of an old testament character: “The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.” (Gen. 31:49)

Places he preached were: Freed-Hardeman College singing teacher 1938 (student ’35-’37); Memphis, Tenn. Union Ave. Church – 1938-43; Dyersburg, Tenn. – ’43-’53; Bolivar, Mo. ’53-’55; Tompkinsville, Ky. – ‘55265; Mustang, Okla. ‘65267; Mulvane, Kansas – ’67’72; Kettle, Ky. – ’72 to present, plus many meetings.

Truth Magazine XX: 29, pp. 454-456
July 22, 1976

By Cecil Willis

Last week we sought to answer the exceedingly important question, “What must I do to be saved?” This week we want to continue our thoughts along the line of the same general theme. In our lesson last week, we learned that each time the question “What must I do to be saved?” is asked, the same answer is given. We studied the instance in which the Philippian Jailer asked it, and found that he was told to believe, repent and be baptized. The Jews who had killed Christ were told on the day of Pentecost to repent and be baptized. They had become believers during the course of Peter’s sermon. Paul, previously called Saul, was told by Ananias to “arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). So we see that a person must believe, repent and be baptized in order to be saved.

Paul, believed to be the writer of the book of Hebrews, began the second chapter of the epistle by saying, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest haply we drift away from them” (Heb. 2:1). This is the same thought with which we closed our lesson last week. We learned what one must do in order to have his sins remitted, therefore we ought to give earnest heed to these commands.

The apostle Paul began a logical argument showing why we should render obedience to the gospel of Christ, or at least some of the reasons why one should submit to the laws of Christ. He says, “For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Heb. 2:2, 3). Paul made a reasonable argument to the Hebrews that is equally as applicable to us as it was to them. He pointed to the past and demonstrated to them that when an individual disobeyed God’s law, he was inevitably punished. Under the law spoken by angels, every transgression and every disobedience was punished. When he spoke of the law spoken through angels, certainly Paul was referring to the old Mosaical law. When the evangelist Stephen was preaching to the group of Jews that finally killed him, he said, “Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? and they killed them that showed before of the coming of the Righteous One; of whom ye have now become betrayers and murderers; ye who received the law as it was ordained by angels, and kept it not” (Acts 7:52, 53). You will observe that Stephen spoke of this group of Jews as having received a law that was ordained, or that came through angels, but they did not keep it, and a part of this law was that which was spoken by the prophets. Certainly he referred to the law of Moses.

Likewise, when Paul spoke of the fact that under the law that was spoken by angels every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, he was speaking of the law of Moses, Those under Moses’ law were punished without exception and severely.

Before we continue Paul’s argument, let us stop to think of what the Bible says that establishes this premise in Paul’s argument. What evidence is there that those under this old law were punished? The same writer, in the tenth chapter of the book of Hebrews, said, “A man that hath set at nought Moses’ law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses” (Heb. 10:28). The Jews had crucified Christ because they thought He had violated their law. Their law said that if one claimed to be God, he should die, or at least this was the application that those Jews made of the law when they sought Christ’s death. They thought He was claiming to be God’s Son. They believed He was not. What great crime had He committed? The Jews said, ‘He hath set at nought Moses’ law. Therefore He must be punished, for all sins under Moses’s law are punished. None escape.’

We might look back to Moses’ law and study a plain statement showing that those who violated this law, were punished, without exception. “If there be found in the midst of thee, within any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, man or women, that doeth that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God in transgression his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel, then shalt thou being forth that man or that woman who hath done this evil thing, unto thy gates, even the man or the woman, and thou shalt stone them to death with stones” (Deut. 17:1-6). We read again about a man that was found guilty of taking up sticks on the Sabbath day which was a violation of a plain statement of the law of Moses. This man was to be taken and stoned to death.

In Joshua 7, we read that Achan kept some of the devoted things from the city of Jericho. God had told them to burn many of the things, and that the vessels of gold and brass were to be put into the treasury of the Lord. But Achan saw a goodly Babylonian garment, a wedge of gold, and two hundred shekels of silver that he decided to take for himself. God commanded that Achan be taken, stoned, and burned. This was because he had violated the law of God, or the law of Moses, which had been given through angels. This was the way sins were punished back under this Old Testament Law.

But Paul’s argument ran like this. If people were so certainly and severely punished in the Old Testament, and if we set aside God’s law Today, how shall we escape? If a man that disobeyed God’s law by picking up sticks on the Sabbath day was killed, what shall be the end of those that do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ? Notice Paul’s statement from. Hebrews 2: “For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

This question asked by Paul, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” is called a rhetorical question. It is a question in which the answer is implied. The implication is that if one never escaped punishment under the lesser law, the law of Moses, then those who set aside God’s holy law, called the great salvation, will not escape.

But of what was the writer speaking when he referred to the “great salvation?” It is but a simple matter to determine. In fact, the very context in which we find the statement concerning the “great salvation” described what it is. Paul said, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which having at the first been spoken by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard” (Heb. 2:3). He said the great salvation is that which was first spoken by the Lord, and confirmed unto us by them that heard. Now what was the message of salvation that was spoken by the Lord, and confirmed unto us by them that heard? Specifically, it is what we have come to call “The Great Commission.” Matthew told of this event with these words, “And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:18-20). This is the message that was “first spoken by the Lord” as Paul expressed it in Hebrews 2.

Luke told of the giving of The Great Commission, or of the proclamation of the great salvation by the Lord, in this language: “And he said unto them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, end rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46, 47).

Mark also described the important matters transpiring just prior to our Lord’s ascension back to the Father: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the who1e creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned” (Mk. 16:15, 16). Jesus told them that if men and women are to share in the great salvation, if they are to receive the remission of their sins, they must hear the gospel preached, they must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, they must repent, and then they must be baptized. This is the great salvation that is first spoken by the Lord.

But this “great salvation” is also defined by another statement. Paul says that the salvation was first spoken by the Lord, but was confirmed to us by them that heard, “God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his will” (Heb. 2:4). The great salvation is the message that was confirmed unto us by them that heard Jesus speaking. The confirmation carne by God’s enabling them to work miracles.

If ever there was a clear statement as to who can work miracles, this passage makes it plain as to who these individuals are. God also is bearing witness with them, Who is the “them” spoken of in this passage? It refers to those individuals who heard Jesus first proclaim the great commission. A lot of denominational preachers claim that they can work miracles, but this passage definitely declares that this is not true, for those that Jesus enabled to work miracles were those that heard Jesus proclaim the “great salvation.” Not a single person living today was present at that time. Men today may claim that they have supernatural powers, and can perform miracles, but there are just two alternatives to this claim. Heb. 2:1-4 tells us whom Jesus empowered to work miracles, and it was not any preacher living today. This passage says preachers of today cannot work miracles by the power of Jesus, yet these preachers claim they can. If the passage is right, the preachers are wrong; and if the preachers are right, the Scripture is wrong. I will take God’s word over man’s anytime. Preachers are making a false claim when they think that God is enabling them to work miracles.

Immediately after Mark recorded the statements relating to the Lord’s declaration of the great salvation or the great commission, he said, “And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; !hey shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and, they shall recover. So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto them, was received up into heaven, and sat down on the right hand of God, And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed” (Mk. 16:17-20). Now this is the passage which denominational preachers often cite to prove that God gives them the power to work miracles, but Jesus was not speaking either to or about modern denominational preachers, He was speaking of those to whom lie had first spoken the great salvation, namely, and apostles. The apostles were the ones that Jesus enabled to work powers, wonders, and signs. The apostles were the ones whose words Jesus confirmed by the signs that followed. It is a mistake to think that this passage teaches that men today can work miracles. Yet (his is the strongest proof these pseudo-miracle-workers can produce, and this passage denies that they can perform them. Do not be deceived by these men who are making pretentious claims.

The great salvation is the gospel plan of salvation. It is the message that one must believe, repent, and be baptized in order to be saved. Thousands, yea millions of people have neglected the great salvation. Some are indifferent toward God’s laws, and others have been misled as to what they must do. Read Matt. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15, 16; and Luke 24:46, 47, and do exactly what they say. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? The teaching of the apostle Paul is, we shall not escape! They did not even escape under Moses’s law, and certainly we shall not. To confirm this statement and to conclude our lesson, read a statement from Paul’s pen recorded in Hebrews 10:27-31: “A man that hath set at nought Moses’ law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth to me, I will recompense. And again the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Truth Magazine XX: 29, pp. 451-454
July 22, 1976

By Edward L. Roberts

When a man is hired by a congregation to teach the Word of God, this is what he is to do. He is to “speak the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11). He is not to add his opinion or subtract part of God’s Word, but to speak as God wants him to speak! Paul taught the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). We are charged just as Timothy was in 2 Timothy 4:1-5. Are we teaching as we ought to?

How many sermons have been taught on gambling, drinking, smoking, sponsoring churches, institutionism, and other such topics? There used to be sermons on these topics by all ministers of God’s Word. Why haven’t these topics been taught on lately? Do we not realize that we are weakening the morals of the church? Young men entering the field of preaching never heard much on the sponsoring church, institutionalism, and how can they teach against it if they know nothing of it? I have already run into this problem. I was asked if I supported the masonry. I did not know what they were talking about. I never heard much on this topic.

A few of the gospel preachers are afraid to teach on these topics for some reason. Is it because we are scared of losing our jobs? Or is it because we can not teach on these things for we do it ourselves? Or we do not know how to teach (ignorant on these things) against them? We are to be ready to give an answer (1 Peter 3:15).

We are to study (2 Timothy 2:15), rightly dividing the Word of God, a workman not ashamed. Do we show that we are ashamed of God or can we truthfully say, “I am not ashamed of the gospel” (Romans 1:16). We are not to be told what we are allowed to teach by members or elders but by God. We are to stand for the truth even if it means dying.

Do I teach the whole counsel of God? If not, why not? Isn’t it about time I did?

Truth Magazine XX: 29, p. 450
July 22, 1976

By Larry Ray Hafley

The poignant words that serve as our title were taken from Matthew 26:75. They are found in a passage that will serve to recall the situation to the mind’s eye. “And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.” Doubtless the great fisherman apostle never forgot that moment. Tears and time did not erase the agony and remorse of the regretful event.

Perhaps there is no connection; it may be but a coincidence of Scripture, if there be any such thing, but in the second epistle by the same apostle we find repetition of the word, “remembrance.” “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. . . . Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance” (2 Pet. 1:12,13,15). “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful” (2 Pet. 3:1,2). Peter once forgot the word of Jesus. It came crashing to his remembrance in a painful manner. When the Lord looked at him after that rooster crowed the third time, it pierced his heart, “and he went out, and wept bitterly.”

Could it be that Peter wanted no one to endure the thing that haunted him? He knew what it meant to be reminded of the words of Jesus. He understood the way of sin when the word of Jesus is forgotten, Therefore, he was not negligent to put the brethren always in remembrance of the word of God as delivered by the apostles and prophets. It is an engaging and intriguing thought. But regardless of whether or not that was the compelling idea behind Peter’s words, let us not fail to do as he urged, that is, remember the word of Christ. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psa. 119:11).

Truth Magazine XX: 29, p. 450
July 22, 1976