Truth Magazine

By Fanning Yater Tant

Hundreds of grieving friends were there, including more than forty faithful preachers of the gospel, as Granville Tyler, A. C. Moore and James Shear sought to bring words of hope and reassurance. It was Monday, September 2. The scene was Elmwood Chapel in Birmingham, Alabama, and the still and silent form which had for sixty-one years housed the spirit of Farris J. Smith lay in quiet repose. For nearly half of those years (twenty-seven) Brother Smith had preached for the Berney Points and Cahaba Heights congregations in this city. Many, many times he had stood in this very chapel to bring these same words of comfort to others who were bereaved. But this time his lips were silent.

Born in Lawrence County, Alabama, Farris J. Smith had spent all of his preaching years in this state. His term of service in Birmingham had spanned more years than any gospel preacher who has ever labored here, second only to the late and beloved John T. Lewis. Coming to the Berney Points congregation in 1947, he remained there for fourteen years in his first period of work. When this congregation sent members and financial help to start a new congregation in Cahaba Heights, Brother Smith moved to the new congregation, and remained with them for some five or six years. He returned to Berney Points in August, 1966, and remained there until his death.

Survived by his wife, Edith, and by three sons, Gene, Charles, and Gerald, he has truly joined that select company of saints who “being dead, yet speak.” Firm and unshaken in his stand for the truth, yet reasonable and considerate in his treatment of those who differed from him, his influence will be felt in this city for many years to come. Knowing for some six months that death (from throat cancer) was only a matter of a brief time, his calm acceptance of this fact and his strong faith in a loving Father not only sustained him, but was a source of inspiration to all who had contact with him during these weeks. By the grace of God he was able to preach his final sermon only two weeks before the final hour. His topic: “If I had Only One Sermon To Preach.” It was a lesson that will never be forgotten by those who heard it, for all who were present seemed to sense that this was his valedictory. It was a fitting climax to a life that had been lived by the truths and principles set forth in that brief discourse.

Truth Magazine, XVIII:48, p. 2
October 10, 1974

By Mike Willis

Evolution Vs. Science and the Bible

by Bob West

This new series of studies on evolution is designed to be used in a 13-week course. It includes lesson sheets and homework sheets for each lesson. The creator of the Theophilus cartoon strip has leaned heavily on his previous works in that cartoon series in producing this new material. The lessons are designed to be used by students in the fifth grade through adult; of course, the material must be. adapted by the teacher to fit his audience.

The material is attractively printed; the argumentation is clear, concise, and suitable for usage with teenagers. I know of no other material which could be used as easily in the teaching programs of local congregations as this which Brother West has prepared. I can recommend it to you without reservation. The material is priced as follows: student material, $ .75 per set; homework, $ .50 per set; Teacher Guide, $1.25 each. You can obtain a sample packet of these materials for $2.50 from Truth Magazine Book Store.

For some years now, we have noticed the tendency toward specialization among preachers. If a local congregation wants something said about evolution, they call in the nearest or best evolution specialist. Although we depend upon specialists to teach against evolution, practically every teacher in the public schools feels competent to teach evolution sometime during the course of the year. The result has been that the evolutionary theory has spread rapidly, making noticeable inroads among former believers, simply because we teach little about the subject except through special series. Nearly every field of study has been affected by the evolutionary theory; not only has it affected the study of biology, it has affected geology, religion (e.g. the evolutionary theory of the development of religion), politics (Hitler’s belief in the superiority of the German race), etc. It is past time for every congregation to expose evolution for what it is-a false philosophy. I believe that virtually every congregation has at least one teacher in it who knows as much about science and the Bible as the average grade school teacher knows about philosophy. Let us unabashedly propagate creation with the same fervor that evolutionists are propagating Darwin’s brainchild. Brother West’s material makes available ample material to be used by any average teacher; let us thank him for his labour by using his product.

Truth Magazine, XVIII:48, p. 2
October 10, 1974

By Bruce Edwards, Jr.

To what, can we attribute the tremendous growth of the church in the first century? If what so-called scholars and liberal theologians have said be true, then the uncanny growth can only be explained in terms of a widely-held delusion or deviously conceived lie. The center of the gospel was, is, and always will be the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The resurrection is either a fact or it is not. Upon this question rests the veritable meaning of life and death. If that tomb was empty that glorious morn, then indeed life is significant! But… if He was there… in that tomb, dead C then as Paul said, “We are of all men most miserable.”

The consensus of modern liberal “scholarship” notwithstanding; what is the most sensible explanation for the rapid spread of Christianity in the first century? Mere delusion must be ruled out from the outset. Not even the most well-planned ruse could enlist as many followers with as much dedication and loyalty as these early Christians possessed. No trick could have motivated the likes of the disciples-men who deserted Christ at His arrest-to begin the preaching of the Resurrection message. Those three thousand who submitted to baptism on the Day of Pentecost were some of the same group which had crucified Him only fifty days earlier; they were in a position to evaluate the evidence. They overwhelmingly decided that indeed the Master had been raised from the dead!

The only sensible, reasonable explanation for the faith of men and women who would lay down their lives for Jesus is that He really did rise from that grave. No other rationale can explain the sudden character change of the weak and cowardly men who became vocal, outspoken proclaimers of the gospel. No other rationale can account for the behaviour of Paul and others like him who suddenly “left all and followed Him.” When one considers all the evidence, noting its effect in the lives of New Testament Christians, we must, even as the formerly skeptical Thomas, cry out, “My Lord and my God!”

Truth Magazine, XVIII:47, p. 14
October 3, 1974

By Robert Wayne LaCoste

Not long ago I decided to visit a neighboring community where East Texas State University is located, and to investigate a building which wears the name “Church of Christ Bible Chair.” As I entered the front of the building, my eyes immediately bugged out in bewilderment. In the entrance there appeared a hippy like cross, which I suppose was to remind people of the cross of Christ. As I turned to enter the side portion of the establishment, I saw another of these crosses on the wall, except it was done even more in a “psychodelic” style. Turning aside from these things I strolled across the room and began to take a look at their bulletin board. Located on it were some jokes, hippy-like symbols and other things which made me wonder all the time I was here, “What would the Lord think or say to all of this.”

Within the confines of the building, located in various areas, were cokes, candy and other food machines. And of course, as I expected, there was a ping-pong table to be used while anyone was inside. A television and stereo system with records blanketed the North wall. Now surely there is nothing wrong with ping-pong, records and such like. No evil is present with cokes, candy, etc. but whenever these things are a calling card to get people interested in the church, what you have is a “social gospel”-a gospel which will not save! What is worse, all of these “goodie-goodies” are furnished in many of these “Bible Chairs” at the Lord’s expense, with money taken from the treasury of the church. The church of Our Lord and every member of it is’ surely to teach the lost at every opportunity, but let us make sure we win them through the Word. Those won by socialism will not stay converted for long. As soon as the goodies are gone, many of them are gone as well. And where have they gone? Some of them go next door to the Methodist or Baptist Center where the supply of “goodies” never runs low.

Churches can scripturally teach the word on any college campus or anywhere else for that matter, as long as they follow the simple New Testament pattern. Now what was that pattern? It surely was not the enticement of men’s souls through their bellies. Nowhere will any of our erring and liberal brethren find where the church taught the truth using recreation or social practices as a drawing card. They used the Word, and went everywhere, yes even into the Jewish temples to win the lost. (Acts 14:1; 17:1) So the pattern called for each congregation not only to do it’s own work, but to do it through the Word, creating a spiritual appetite in people, not a physical one!

As I turned to leave the building, a tear formed in my eye. Surely these are our brethren, but they are as physical Israel so long ago, “They have sown the wind, and now they must reap the whirlwind.” I sadly shuffled outside, refusing to look back at the building which wore the name of Christ on the outside. As I drove away I thought of the words of Jesus, ..Woe unto you. . .for ye are like unto whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).

Truth Magazine, XVIII:47, p. 11
October 3, 1974