Truth Magazine

By Keith Sharp

What is truth? This soul-searching question, posed by Pontius Pilate over 1900 years ago (John 18:38), still haunts a spiritually floundering human race. Truth is the most precious commodity in the world. It alone can free you from the guilt of sin (John 8:31-32). Where can truth be found? Jesus is the truth (John 14:6). He is the only way to God. He makes known the truth concerning Himself and the way to God in His Word, the New Testament (Galatians 1:11-12; Ephesians 3: 1-7), which is also called truth (John 17:17). If you believe and obey the truth you will be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:22). But, if you do not love truth you will receive eternal damnation (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12).

TRUTH MAGAZINE XVII: 44, pp. 2-3
September 13, 1973

By Irvin Himmel

That is what Jesus told the apostles. Jesus does not lie. Two preachers drank deadly poison in Tennessee and became fatalities. They misapplied the words of Jesus and went to their graves. Moral of the story: It is serious business to tamper with the word of the Lord!

Background

In the interval between the resurrection and the ascension, Jesus appeared to the eleven (Judas had committed suicide and Matthias was yet to be chosen), upbraiding them for their unbelief and hardness of heart. They had discredited Mary Magdalene’s report that she had seen the Lord alive (Mk. 16:9-11). They viewed the earlier report of certain women who saw and heard an angel at the empty tomb as if their words were idle tales (Lk. 24: 1-11). They believed not the report of the two disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Mk. 10: 12-13). The apostles did not expect Jesus to arise, their doubts reflected their disappointment resulting from his death, and he strongly rebuked them for failing to accept the reports of reliable witnesses.

Jesus told the apostles to go and preach the gospel to every creature, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” This is what we popularly call the Great Commission.

Signs

“And these signs shall follow them that believe,” said Jesus. Please observe the following: (1) Jesus did not say that each believer would be able to perform these signs. (2) He (lid not say that these signs would be to test the faith of believers. (3) He did not promise that signs would be performed as long as people believed and being baptized. He merely announced that these signs would accompany the believers.

1. “In my name shall they cast out devils.” The devil was allowed the power to put demons into the bodies of people in the apostolic age. Just as Jesus had cast out demons (Mk. 15: 120; Matt. 12:20-30), Paul expelled evil spirits at Ephesus (Acts 19: 12) and a spirit of divination at Philippi (Acts 16:16-18).

2. “They shall speak with new tongues.” A tongue is a language (Dan. 1: 4; Acts 21: 40). Any language which one has not been taught is to him a new tongue. On Pentecost the apostles spoke with “other tongues” (languages to which they were unaccustomed) “as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Their speaking was intelligible to the multitudes from various nations (Acts 2:4-6).

3. “They shall take up serpents.” Paul was accidentally bitten by a viper while picking tip sticks on the island of Melita (Acts 28:1-6). He shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm.

4. “And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” The New Testament gives no example of this particular sign.

5. “They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” The apostles healed sick people in Jerusalem (Acts 5:12-16). Peter even raised Dorcas to life after she was sick and had died (Acts 9:36-42). Paul worked similar miracles of healing (Acts 19:11-12).

The last verse of Mark 16 says, “And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” Clearly, the signs which followed the believers were for the confirmation of the word. Once the word was duty confirmed and that verification recorded, such signs would (-ease to be needed. Paul taught in 1 Cor. 13:8-10 that miraculous endowments would be done away when “that which is perfect” came. Today, we have the perfect (complete) revelation of God’s will in the New Testament writings, including the documented signs that confirm the gospel. It is foolish to demand a miracle to confirm what was verified by signs and wonders in the apostolic age.

A Recent Incident

The Tampa Tribune of April 10, 1973 carried a news story about two preachers of a “Holiness” sect in Newport, Tenn., who drank strychnine at a religious service “to test their faith.” They died.

Jesus did not tell the apostles to deliberately handle serpents and drink poison. When a viper fastened itself on Paul’s hand, he shook it off into the fire. He did not carry it around with him to handle it in church services. The New Testament says absolutely nothing about the apostles bringing rattlesnakes or copperheads or vipers into church meetings, or willfully drinking poison to test their faith. Signs were to produce faith in unbelievers, not to test the faith of the Christians.

The Lord Jesus had unlimited miracle working power, but when Satan tried to persuade him to deliberately expose himself to danger by jumping from a pinnacle of the temple, Jesus refused. Such action would have been tempting God, or putting him on trial (Matt. 4:5-7; Deut. 6:16). Many of the Israelites tempted the Lord (1 Cor. 10:9) by exploiting his goodness, and were destroyed of serpents. The two preachers at Newport put the Lord on trial by misapplying Mark 16:18 and by exposing themselves to deliberate danger, and were destroyed of strychnine.

It is to be regretted that some men know so little about the Bible, or else have such little regard for God’s will, that they endanger themselves and sometimes others who are perfectly innocent. Their fanaticism is reported far and wide, and some people will incline themselves toward judging all religion on the basis of such senselessness. True Christianity, however, cannot be judged by the ridiculous acts of enthusiasts who misapply the Bible. We resent attempts to judge America on the basis of the lawless element running loose in our country, and in like manner true Christians do not wish to be judged by the irresponsible, reckless, absurd doctrines and practices of many religious zealots.

The two preachers who took their own lives while professing to honor God-the parents who refuse medical attention for their children while claiming faith in God-the leaders who teach their people that a blood transfusion is wrong the fake healers that extract large sums of money from poor, ignorant people-the deceivers who promise eternal security without obedience to the gospel-the pious pretenders who endorse immorality-the devotees who say it is a sin to salute the flag: God forbid that such as these be confused with faithful disciples of Christ!

TRUTH MAGAZINE XVII: 44, pp. 2-3
September 13, 1973

By Larry Ray Hafley

In The Sword of the Lord, of April 13, 1973, Baptist editor, Dr. John R. Rite, writes a lengthy “Answer To A Preacher Of the Church Of Christ.” Mr. Rice seeks to prove: (1) that “the Church of Christ is a false cult;” (2) that Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38 do not teach baptism as essential to salvation; (3) that salvation by faith excludes baptism; (4) that if one believes baptism is necessary to save, he makes “salvation by works and so men get the credit instead of God.”

A False Cult

“I think the Church of Christ is a false cult in that . . . it is wrong on the essential plan of salvation.” A church that is “wrong on the essential plan of salvation” is, according to Baptist Rice, “a false cult.” Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mk. 10: 16 1. An apostle of Christ said, “Repent, and be baptized … for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). He also wrote, “baptism doth also now save us” (1 Pet. 3:21). But Baptist Rice says he who thinks “that God will not save him until he gets baptized” is thinking “foolishly and unscripturally. If it is foolish and unscriptural to think and believe what the sword of the Lord, the word of God, truly says, then let me be an unscriptural fool and a member of a false cult! Note, though, who is “wrong on the essential plan of salvation.” Dr. Rice says believe, be saved, get baptized, and you are still saved. In this lie contradicts Jesus and convicts the Baptist Church as being “a false cult,” for it is “wrong on the essential plan of salvation.”

(1) Mark 16:16: Dr. Rice says of Mark 16:16, “1 have never questioned ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved . . .’So all orthodox Christians believe . . . One who trusts Christ is saved. When he gets baptized lie is still saved … that same Scripture continues, . . . he that believeth not is condemned. The saving or damning factor is whether or not one trusts in Christ . . .”

All “orthodox Christians” believe Mk. 16:16. We wish Baptists, orthodox or otherwise, believed it. Baptist Rice promises salvation before Jesus did. Who shall be saved? “He that believeth and is baptized,” answers Jesus. Those who merely mentally assent or believe are not saved (Cf. Jn. 8:30-32; 12:42, 43; Jas. 2:19). The “damning factor is whether or not one trusts in Christ.” One who will not believe is automatically and immediately condemned (Cf. Jn. 3:18; 8:24). The “saving factors” in Mk. 16:16 are faith and baptism.

(2) Acts 2:38: Dr. Rice doctors Acts 2:38 but gets carried away by his Baptist anesthetic when he says “no Greek teacher in the world thinks that “for” in Acts 2:38 means “in order to” or “that one is baptized in order to be saved.” Mr. Rice wrests Greek scholarship as he does the word of God. The following are translations of Acts 2:38 done by Mr. Rice’s own Baptist brethren.

Goodspeed: “You must repent, and every one of you be baptized … in order to have your sins forgiven.”

Williams: “Let every one of you be baptized … that you may have your sins forgiven.”

Short Baptist College (1921): “Repent and be baptized every one of you for (in order that you may receive) the forgiveness of your sins.”

Further, would Mr. Rice concede that “for” in Matthew 26:28 means “in order to?” Jesus’ blood was shed “for the remission of sins.” Was the blood of Christ shed because sins were forgiven or was it shed in order to remit sins (Cf. Matt. 20:28; Acts 2:38)?

“By Faith” Excludes Baptism

Our Baptist Rice labors to show that salvation by faith “takes the emphasis off baptism.” Conversely, I wonder, “Does salvation by baptism (1Pet. 3: 21), take the emphasis off faith!” Peter says baptism saves. Does this de-emphasize faith? Paul says the gospel saves (1 Cor. 15: 1, 2). Wonder what Dr. Rice would think if I said this “takes the emphasis off the grace of God?” Or does the essentiality of repentance take the emphasis off faith? Why not?

Then there is this. It takes baptism to make a Baptist. Baptism is one of the essentials “in order to” be a Baptist. Does this requirement take the emphasis off” faith in becoming a Baptist? If it does so with respect to becoming a Christian, it would do so when becoming a Baptist. It is a poor rule that will not work both ways.

Baptism Gives Credit To Men

Dr. Rice states that if baptism is essential, this makes “salvation by works and so men get

the credit instead of God.” Faith is a work, a work of God, as Baptist Rice allows Un. 6:28, 29). Still, it is man who must believe Un. 8: 24). So, if faith is essential this makes “salvation by works and so men get the credit instead of God.” Mr. Rice needs to consider this question. Is baptism a work of men, or is it a work of God? One is passive when he is baptized; he is active when he believes and when he repents. One believes. One repents. But he is baptized; he submits to baptism. If baptism is a work of God, then it ceases to give men credit. If baptism is a work of men, it is human and not divine, and this has serious consequences and eternal ramifications for Dr. Rice and his Baptist brethren. It takes baptism to constitute one a Baptist. Does one become a Baptist by works or by grace? Does becoming a Baptist by baptism give men the credit instead of God?

Editor Rice affirms that trusting in Christ “is incompatible with relying partly on baptism.” He thinks that men get the credit “instead of God” if one relies “partly on baptism.” Well, do men get credit; is it incompatible with trusting in Christ, to make baptism essential to becoming a member of a Baptist Church? Is trusting in Christ “incompatible with relying partly on repentance?”

The answers to these questions should provide some insight to the same things with respect to becoming a Christian, a child of God. We hope these few remarks will serve to transform Baptist Rice into converted Rice.

TRUTH MAGAZINE XVII: 43, pp.12-13
September 6, 1973

By O. C. Birdwell

Apparently the widely read and generally accepted book, The Mission and Medium of the Holy Spirit, by Foy E. Wallace, Jr., has caused the acceptance on the part of many of the idea that Cornelius was not baptized with the Holy Spirit. While it is true that what happened at the house of Cornelius is not called a baptism of the Holy Spirit, Peter’s statements classify it with the happenings of Pentecost. To this writer, there seems to be no good reason to deny the baptism of the Holy Spirit of Cornelius.

There are two instances recorded where the Holy Spirit came as a direct outpouring from the Father apart from the intervention of man in any way. They are on Pentecost and at the house of Cornelius. At Pentecost it is said, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). God had said through Joel, “I will pour forth of my Spirit ” (2:17), and Peter goes on to affirm that Jesus, at the right hand of God, “hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear” (2:3.3). This was the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, “Ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). The word “baptize,” according to W. E. Vine, is used here metaphorically for what happened in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

It is interesting to note the similarity of the statements about what happened at Pentecost and at the house of Cornelius. God said through flesh” (2:17). Peter said, “Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear” (2:33). Compare this language to that of Luke and Peter as they describe what happened at the conversion of Cornelius. “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all of them that heard the word. And they of the circumcision that believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 10:44,45). Peter says of the event, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit. If then God gave unto them the like gift as he did also unto us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus, who was 1, that I could withstand God?” (11:15-17). Peter, further describing the conversion of the Gentiles, said, “And God, who knoweth the heart, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us; . . .” (Acts 15:8).

If language means anything, Peter understood that the coming of the Spirit on Cornelius was like the outpouring on Pentecost. He said on them also was the gift poured out; that the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us; and God gave them the Holy Spirit as he did unto us. It would take quite a bit of human reasoning to cause one to misunderstand these statements.

It may be that confusing the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the power manifested by those receiving such baptism has caused many to deny the baptism of Cornelius. It is apparently assumed that if Cornelius received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as did the apostles, he would have had the same power, as did they. This is merely an assumption. The only power, however, that we can determine the apostles had those others did not have been the ability to impart, by the laying on of hands, spiritual gifts to others. The apostles were Christ’s ambassadors and seemingly had this power for that reason, and not necessarily because they had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Much of this confusion may have come from the practice of preaching on “Measures of the Spirit.” According to this sermon, there is the Spirit without measure, the baptismal measure, the measure by the laying on of the apostles hands, and the ordinary measure. just where in this scheme does the “measure” received by Cornelius fit in? The truth seems to be that the apostles and Cornelius (both Jew and Gentile) received the Holy Spirit by a direct our pouring or baptism from God apart from any act or involvement of man. It came on Pentecost with sound and sight. People were thus gathered together and heard the apostles speak in tongues. It came on the house of Cornelius as a demonstration to the Jews of the acceptability of the Gentiles. They also were heard speaking in tongues. This outpouring was not to save anyone.

The Spirit also was given to disciples by the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8: 14-17). Through this the recipients had the same power to heal, reveal the truth, and speak in other languages, as did the apostles. However, they were not apostles and did not have the power to impart the gift to others. Apart from this there was the “gift of the Holy Spirit” which was promised to all those who repent and are baptized (Acts 2:38). This gift is the same as the “seasons of refreshing” spoken of in Acts 3:19.

What Cornelius received was not the gift promised to those who repent and are baptized. He had not been baptized. Neither did he receive the Holy Spirit by the laying of the apostles’ hands. The Spirit was “poured out” directly from the Father. This is what happened on Pentecost and is described, according to Vine, metaphorically, by the word “baptize.”

In conclusion, please give consideration to the following comment by the noted gospel preacher and scholar, J. W. McGarvey, as lie wrote about the coming of the Holy Spirit on Cornelius.

“The considerations which caused the amazement were, first, that the Holy Spirit was I poured out’ upon them directly from God, as it had never been before on any but the apostles; and second, that this unusual gift was bestowed on Gentiles. . . . The fact that this gift of the Spirit was manifested by the miracle of speaking in tongues distinguishes it from that gift of the Spirit promised to all who repent and are baptized (2:38); and the fact that it came directly from heaven, without the imposition of apostolic hands, distinguishes it from such gifts as that bestowed on the Samaritans, and that afterward bestowed on prominent members of many churches. We have no event with which to classify it except the gift bestowed on the apostles on Pentecost; and thus it is actually classified by Peter farther on (11:15,16). He says: ‘As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell Mi them even as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized in water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.’ In these words he identifies it as a baptism in the Holy Spirit; and these two are the only events that are thus designated in the New Testament. The one was the divine expression of the admission of the first Jews into the new Messianic kingdom, and the other, that of the first Gentiles.” (Commentary on Acts. p. 213, 214). This should be enough on the subject.

TRUTH MAGAZINE XVII: 43, pp.10-12
September 6, 1973