Truth Magazine

By Irvin Himmel

In the days of the Judges, God allowed the Israelites to be oppressed by the Midianites for seven years. This affliction brought God’s people to their knees in repentance. A deliverer was chosen by the Lord to lead Israel against Midian. The chosen leader was named Gideon.

With 32,000 men, Gideon made preparations to wage war against the Midianites. God told him he had too many men. Large numbers mean nothing as God appraises things. Israel would have been lifted up with pride if the victory had been gained through the use of such a sizeable force. God told Gideon to let all who were fearful and afraid go home. That culled out 22,000!

The remaining force of 10,000 was still too large. God told Gideon to bring his men down to the water and put them to the test. All who bowed down upon their knees to drink were to be sent away. Gideon was told to retain the men who put their hand to the mouth, lapping the water from the hand with the tongue. The water test eliminated all of Gideon’s army except 3000.

Gideon took the 300 men who remained and divided them into three companies. Each man was told to take a trumpet and a pitcher with a torch inside it. In the middle of the night Gideon’s men quietly came close to the Midianite encampment and completely surrounded it. The torches were concealed inside the earthenware pitchers. When Gideon gave the signal, suddenly every man was to blow his trumpet then break his pitcher and hold his torch high, crying out, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.” The unexpected noise and commotion coming from all sides of the Midianite camp awakened the enemy, and in whatever direction he looked, torches were burning and men were shouting. Panic followed! The Midianites began slaying each other. Through this strategy and with God’s help, Israel was delivered from the oppressor.

How important it was that Gideon’s 300 men follow instructions. They had to move quickly and silently for the plan to work. The Bible says, “And they stood every man in his place round about the camp . . .” (Judges 7:21). If one man had dropped his pitcher and broken it before everybody was in position, the scheme would have failed because the enemy would have been alerted. Every man had to know his position, be in his place and ready to act according to the directions previously received, and stay in his place until Gideon was ready for his men to move against the confused Midianites.

This thrilling chapter of Old Testament history offers a timely lesson. Today, we need to find our place and stand in it. There is a work for which all are suited, but not everyone is capable of doing the same job. Sometimes a person is a good worker, honest, conscientious, dependable, and eager to do his best, but he may never be well-suited for the particular task he is undertaking. Problems often arise in business relationships because someone is out of place. Our ambitions sometimes surpass our abilities. Happy is the person who knows both his powers and his limitations, and who wisely finds the kind of work for which he is best equipped.

A good preacher may not do his best work in every field. Some good preachers are misfits in certain localities. It is fortunate when a preacher finds the kind of place for which he is best suited.

In the church of the living God, everyone needs to recognize his proper place and stay in that place.

Elders need to stay in their place. The overseers of a congregation are not dictators. Their place is not to make laws. Jesus Christ is the lawgiver. Elders are shepherds, but they are under Christ who is the Chief Shepherd. The oversight of an eldership is limited to the flock over which they are given the charge. Elders have no place meddling in the private business or personal affairs of the members of the congregation.

Deacons need to stay in their place. Deacons are qualified servants, not overseers of the church. In some congregations there is not a particle of difference between what the elders do and what the deacons do. While elders and deacons should work together closely, the differences in their qualifications and functions should not be ignored.

Preachers need to stay in their place. It is disgusting to me that some preachers seem to feel that they should oversee the flock. Although we cry out against the denominational “pastor system,” it is just possible that some of us accept it in effect. Preachers are to preach and teach, not set themselves over the elders, nor act as if having pontifical authority. This is not to say that a man could not be both a preacher and an elder if qualified and if chosen to be an elder, but I am saying that being a preacher does not entitle a man to usurp the eldership.

Women need. to stay in their place. The Bible puts limitations on women as to their work in the Lord. A woman is not to exercise dominion over the man (1 Tim. 2:12). Women are not authorized to be public proclaimers of the gospel. They cannot be elders in the church. Woman has a noble and glorious work in God’s kingdom, but she must stand in her place.

May we all study to find our place and recognize the importance of staying in our place. We find true happiness ourselves and we contribute to the joy of others by standing in our place.

Truth Magazine XIX: 49, p. 780
October 23, 1975

By Keith Sharp

The July 4, 1973 Houston Post carried the following quotation of Milton G. Henschel, “a top official” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses: “The exact number who will make it to heaven is 144,000 . . . Revelation 14, one in four, gives the exact figure . . . .” Does Revelation 14:1-4 teach that exactly 144,000 people “will make it to heaven?” The Watch Tower Society, the ruling body of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, has a peculiar habit of making figurative and symbolic things literal and literal things figurative in order to pervert a passage to suit their own purposes. For example, in Revelation 7:1-8 the 144,000 are depicted as being chosen from the twelve tribes of Israel-Hebrews to the man. The tribes are even named. “But,” we are told, “this is figurative.” In Revelation 14:4 the 144,000 are described as virgin men. Again we are told this is figurative. The blessed ones of Revelation 20:4, whom our Jehovah’s Witnesses friends claim are the 144,000, are identified as “the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus . . . .” You guessed it-figurative again! If every description of the 144,000-Jewish, virgin men, beheaded for Christ-is figurative, by what rule of scripture, logic or sanity is the 144,000 itself regarded as literal? Indeed, the legs of the lame are unequal! All in Christ have only one hope (Ephesians 4:4), for a home in Heaven (2 Timothv 2:10; 1 Peter 1:3-9; Hebrews 11:16).

Truth Magazine XIX: 49, p. 779
October 23, 1975

By George Welsh Tyler

Along the Nile River the civilization of the Pharaohs flourished many centuries. It was the very heart and center of a remarkably great prosperity. The great historian, Herodotus, described it in these words: “Egypt is the Nile.” The Nile’s course sweeps four thousand miles down to the Mediterranean Sea its floods carrying rich alluvial deposits into the lower valley and the delta. It was into this delta that Jacob and his sons went and that his people remained there four hundred years because food and grain were there.

The Nile floods twice each year. In ancient times it was the custom to sow seed by casting it from boats into the overflowing waters, or in the marshy ground, so that when the flood waters receded, the grain would be planted in the flood deposits of the valley. Isaiah evidently refers to this in Isa. 32:20 when he wrote: “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters.” And the message from Ecclesiastes pertaining to the grain being cast upon the waters brings to our minds several items with reference to the sowing of seed, and the gaining of the harvest.

The Seed Is the Word

The mission of the church is to cast the seed; or the gospel, into the human currents of the world. The divine promise of spiritual returns is not at all empty, but real. In 1 Pet. 1:23 “Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the Word of God, which liveth and abideth.” Here, the Word of God is described as the seed to’ be sown-the seed capable of producing abiding results.

Returning to the figure suggested in Ecclesiastes relative to the casting of the grain upon the waters, let us turn our attention to the eternal values which accrue in sowing the seed which brings forth Christian men and women.

There seems to be two phases to this venture that are worthy of consideration at this time. The first has to do with the seed, the Word of God, which is to be sown broadcast to the whole world. Matthew and Mark both give us versions of the Great Commission given by Christ to His apostles and Luke tells us where and when they were to start. Acts 7:1,4 tell us how the church of the first century put the Savior’s command into practice. This seed is described by the writer of Hebrews as “the word of righteousness” (Heb. 5:13); It is called “seed” (1 Pet. 5:13); “Oracles of God” (Rom. 3:2). It is also described by a number of other different terms.

From Heb. 5:13 and other like-passages of scripture we are impressed with the fact the seed is the Word of God and not something developed by man. It is not something that may seem to be right in human eyes, but, rather, that which God has ordained for us to speak to dying men as the message of salvation. We find a statement back in the Old Testament: “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 17:6) and Judg. 21:25 reads the same way. Too often that same attitude prevails today concerning the Word which is preached to men under the title of the gospel. The seed of righteousness can be only God’s Word.

The Word of God is also described as the “word of reconciliation.” In 2 Cor. 5:19 we read: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” This sentence might be better understood if punctuated as follows: “God was, in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” It was through Christ that God created the world; it was through Him that God was reconciling the world unto Himself. Paul was the ambassador of Christ working together with God. This in no way contradicts the plain teaching of the Scripture as to the deity of Jesus. His mission was to reveal the Father and save the lost. Paul wrote: “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily” (Col. 2:9). See also Phil. 2:5-11. The Gospel of John was written to show how Christ revealed the Father. John 1:18 “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (Jn. 1:18). At the height of his ministry, Philip said to Jesus, “Show us the Father, and it will suffice us.” Jesus said: “Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the father in me; or else believe me for my very works sake” (John 14:10 to 12). Paul wrote: “And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight” (Col. 1:21,22).

Again, the seed, or Word is known as the “word of life.” Speaking of the “word of life,” Paul said, “Holding forth the word of life; that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labored in vain” (Phil. 2:16). Just as physical seed is sown in order to gain the harvest of daily bread, so must also the seed of eternal life be sown abroad so that the divine bread of life may be had by all men.

After the seed has been planted, we shall expect the harvest. Not only is it promised to be a good harvest (in case of the Word of God), the gospel seed, like any other seed, will produce only after its kind. The Gospel only, makes Christians Only. The pure and unadulterated Gospel has never been known to produce a denominational church. Too, the Word of righteousness produces a character of righteousness in those who obey it.

Sowing the Seed

The second phase – the planting of the Word of God – is the actual proclaiming of the gospel, and supporting those who preach it. Paul wrote, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things” (Rom. 10:14,15). A preacher is a Christian who knows something about God’s Word and is able to tell it to others. In order that his efforts may be effective he must “practice what he preaches.” One does not have to be a full-time preacher to do evangelistic work. The Christians of the first century gave us the example. “They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).

The preacher has no “divine call” above any other Christians. He has no special code of morals to live by above that of other Christians. If he has talent for speaking and teaching, the church may ask him to devote all his time to the work. He will work under the elders, and the church will meet his living expenses because “The laborer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10:7). A church in California, with which both this writer and editor of Truth Magazine are both well acquainted, is doing this kind of work and has already sent one young man out into the field and is training another who is now preaching for a small church a few miles away and continuing his training. We pray that more of our churches will follow this example.

We hear much these days about what sort of a world we should have today had the gospel been more completely broadcast to the world two or three hundred years ago. Well, this may be an interesting subject for research, but the thing that ought to concern us right now is the next century or two. What are we doing right now to guarantee the gospel a chance to change the nature of the world’s course or that of our own nation in the next century? Because of the nature of things, we must plan today for the next century. It is high time just now to cast the gospel seed upon the waters so that the tomorrows will be far better than the todays!

Finally, outside, of the need already mentioned, is there any other reason for casting our bread upon the waters? In answer, let us remember that sowing of the seed is a divine command. That ought to be reason enough for any sane man to obey. God not only gave us the command to sow the seed of the kingdom but also gave us His reasons. In His Word we are informed that the gospel is given to build men up. Acts. 20:32 reads: “And now, brethren I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.”

Not only does the Word of God build men up, it sanctifies them as well. John 17:17 reads: “Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth.” The term “sanctify” means “to set apart for a holy use.” Thus one man with the gospel may sow the seed that will be instrumental in setting apart a whole nation for God’s holy purpose! This is the secret of the amazing program of investment to be realized in the proclamation of the gospel. In no other enterprise in the entire world are the potential rewards so great. Paul could not see how effective his preaching would be in the long years to come. His word yet echoes around the globe. He took the gospel from Asia to Europe and from there it reached to America. We are confident that Paul is still reaping the joys of his gospel sowing, even as every real Christian living here now or in the next world is made happy in the knowledge that his influence through the gospel never ceases!

Truth Magazine XIX: 49, pp. 778-779
October 23, 1975

By Roland Worth, Jr.

Even though people will not always practice what they know to be right, most people are intelligent enough to realize that they are doing wrong.

The adulterer may justify his sin by appealing to the “Playboy Philosophy.” The war criminal may claim that he was just “obeying orders.” The assassin may bemoan the evils of society. In spite of such rationalizations, most people, in the depths of their heart, know that such acts are corrupt and evil. However the reason such rationalizations are made is quite simple: In order to soothe their conscience they must find an excuse to engage in these things.

One of the more popular rationalizations (and it is just that-a rationalization rather than a justification) is that, “I’m just as good as other people” or, if they are especially upset, “I’m just as good as you. “

C. S. Lewis wisely points out in an essay of his that such a person is admitting far more about himself than he may ever realize. Lewis has the fictional devil, Screwtape, lecturing the new devils in tactics to use in subverting mankind. Screwtape strongly urges them to cultivate in their potential victims the very attitude that we have just mentioned:

“The first and most obvious advantage is that you thus induce him to enthrone at the centre of his life a good, solid resounding lie. I don’t mean merely that his statement is false in fact, that he is no more equal to everyone he meets in kindness, honesty, and good sense than in height or waist-measurement. I mean that he does not believe it himself. No man who says `I’m as good as you’ believes it. He would not say It if he did. The St. Bernard never says it to the toy dog, nor the scholar to the dunce, nor the employable to the bum, nor the pretty woman to the plain. The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept” (C. S. Lewis, “Screwtape Proposes A Toast,” in The World’s Last Night and Other Essays, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York: 1960, pages 60-61).

Sometimes people say far more than they realize. Especially when they are trying to find excuses for their sin.

Truth Magazine XIX: 49, p. 777
October 23, 1975