Truth Magazine

By Connie W. Adams

Weldon E. Warnock of Paden City, West Virginia will meet H. C. Vanderpool of Louisville, Kentucky in a debate in Louisville March 13, 14, 16 and 17. The discussion will be held in the Iriquois High School auditorium at 4615 Taylor Blvd. just south of Watterson Expressway.

The first two nights Mr. Vanderpool will affirm salvation through faith before water baptism. The last two nights Brother Warnock will affirm that water baptism is essential to salvation.

These men met in debate in Bowling Green, Kentucky about two years ago, at which time agreement was made for a debate to be held in Louisville. The Manslick Road church in Louisville will endorse and support brother Warnock in the discussion. Mr. Vanderpool preaches for the Lyons Chapel Baptist Church in Louisville and they will support him. Both men are experienced in religious debate. W. T. Russell will moderate for Mr. Vanderpool and the writer will serve as moderator for brother Warnock.

A limited number of places to stay may he provided for out of town visitors. Write me at the above address. The debate will begin at 7:30 each night.

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 19, p. 9
March 16, 1972

By Leslie Diestelkamp

All of us quote the great commission frequently. Perhaps many of us do so without really recognizing the grave responsibility imposed. The apostles were to preach the gospel in all the world and they were to teach the converts to do the same. The obligation to preach Christ is not done “once for all time,” but it is a continuing duty for every generation. The magnitude of this obligation is emphasized by the ceaselessness of the reproductive system and by the endless number of souls that daily become accountable to God for their guilt. Furthermore, the terribleness of sin and the very high evaluation that God puts upon each soul should make us aware of our constant duty to preach the Word.

It is, then, the duty of each child of God to sow the good seed of the kingdom here, there and everywhere. This cannot be done by proxy. God will see no fruit in my life just because I had an uncle who preached the gospel for 33 years, nor because my grandmother may have sent money to a preacher who went to Africa two generations ago. I must participate, personally! And I may do this by teaching the lost myself and/or by helping support those who do go into the faraway fields of the world (Gal. 6: 6; Philemon 13, 14).

Furthermore, the real and singular mission of the whole church is to be “the pillar and support of truth” (I Tim. 3:15). Indeed, the church has other obligations (in benevolence, edification and worship) but its dynamic reason for existence is evangelism. We are not an identifiable entity for the purpose of “keeping house for the Lord” but rather that we may “offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 2:5). We must serve God by serving others, especially the lost of all the earth.

In the last two decades there has been a real awakening to the responsibility for world evangelism. Congregations that had never spent a dollar in a distant place have learned to send thousands of dollars around the world. Consequently, preachers have been able to go into the fields far and near. Twenty years ago, if a preacher determined to go into a foreign field he usually had to spend many months, traveling all over the country to secure money to go. Today most good men can raise such support without making one speech. We thank God that his Word has enlightened the minds, stirred the hearts and loosened the purse strings of Christians who now gladly become partners in evangelism across the oceans and around the world.

Naturally not all of God’s people have yet learned this lesson in sharing. Some churches can still only think of local needs. A few still may say, “One doesn’t have to get sea-sick to be faithful” (to which I reply, “Somebody does”). But happily, most congregations are awakening. The results, though not phenomenal, are rewarding and gratifying. God is glorified among multitudes who had previously never heard. Precious souls are saved everywhere. And, slowly, sometimes without proper zeal and wisdom, we are relentlessly pressing forward toward the ideal of a completely unselfish and altogether generous use of manpower and money in pursuit of the real objectives for which we are created in Christ Jesus.

Watch for another article in some later issue of this paper under the general heading of “World Evangelism” in which I hope to spell out some of the specific challenges that are ours today.

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 19, pp. 8-9
March 16, 1972

By Cecil Willis

For several years the liberal brethren have had a difficult time determining how the human institutions which they have foisted upon the church shall be directed. The Firm Foundation has maintained that these institutions must be under an eldership, while the Gospel Advocate has declared that they must not be under elders, but must be under a Board of Directors.

Some of the institutions have switched from one governing arrangement to another. For instance, the Maude Carpenter Home has been under elders, then under a board, and is now back under elders.

Guy N. Woods used to say, in his early debates, that if one board should attempt to oversee more than one home, it then would be comparable to the Missionary Society. But the Boles Home board has now for several years overseen both Boles Home and the separate Foster Home at Stephenville. But has Woods opposed this arrangement? If he has, his opposition has been overlooked by me.

Boles Home at first was under elders. Then they switched to a board. Then they started a second institution. Now they are separating the Foster Home from Bole8 Home. The Foster Home will now be overseen by a board of directors “approved” by the Graham Street church elders in Stephenville, but these directors live in several different cities.

Indeed, it must be a difficult chore to find a scriptural way to run an unscriptural organization!

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 19, p. 8
March 16, 1972

By Roy E. Cogdill

The New Testament pattern of things evidences that the individual Christian should be a part of a local church of Christ. Paid “assayed to join himself to the disciples” when he came up to Jerusalem from three years of preaching in Arabia. This is essential to fellowship with the saints for fellowship is a congregational matter. When an individual is not a member of a local church, he is not subject, to an eldership (Heb. 13:17); he cannot discharge his duty toward other disciples of the Lord (I Thess. 5:14-15; Gal. 6:1-2; Heb. 10:23-25); he cannot have fellowship in the work of the church for he is not in a position to participate in it and do his part (Titus 3:8-14, 3:1-3, 2 Tim. 2: 21-26; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Eph. 4:14-16). All of this failure means disobedience to the Lord and eventually condemnation in eternity.

There are a good many professed Christians, throughout the country that have no place in the local church. They are members of none. They are not a part of the church where they worship. They are not subject to its discipline and accept no part of its work as an obligation. They have no church home and are a part of no church family. They are religious strays or tramps, responsible for nothing and worth nothing to any congregation of God’s people.

Then there are those ill-humored, selfish, conceited individuals that cannot follow divine instructions to “let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” They get angry at the preacher when they do not agree with him, or at the elders when they do not follow their suggestions, or at other brethren when they are not shown the attention or consideration they think they deserve and are too obstinate to try to adjust such strained relations with others. They swell up and go elsewhere after doing all the harm they can by the nasty, ugly disposition aroused within them and by the ugly things which they say. Then they start visiting around from place to place, if they go to the services at all, and become disgruntled, soured, unhappy and useless in the services of the Lord.

Of course, if all local churches would do their duty and after trying to save such individuals, withdraw fellowship from them, and if all other local churches would respect the will of the Lord and refuse to accept them into their fellowship until they made things right where they came from, not only would such individuals be saved and restored to their usefulness to the Lord, but other churches would be prevented from experiencing the same damage being wrought to them. So many elders are afraid of trouble, if they exercise any discipline, that they allow their fears and their own judgment to overrule the will of the Lord. Then so many others are so anxious to increase their numbers and contributions they will disregard the discipline which has been exercised, when it is, and receive them without any questions asked or demands made. Both evidence a lack of regard for the will of the Lord and confidence in His word.

Of course, again, there are those who remain on the church membership list and count themselves in fellowship with the local body but who are worth nothing to it for they cannot be counted on to do their part. They will not fellowship the local church by regular and devoted attendance to its services. They feel no responsibility toward an effort to preach the gospel in a series of special services even though it is arranged in the interest of saving souls and edifying the saints. They do not furnish their proportionate part of the, resources with which the church can carry on its work. If they come regularly, that is all they do. Such are deceived, if they think Sunday morning attendance will take them to heaven, or if they count, themselves faithful in spite of their indifference to their responsibility to the local church and its program and their lethargy in the service of the Lord.

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 19, pp. 7-8
March 16, 1972