Truth Magazine

By Robert E Turner

Following a sermon in a small mid-western community, a man wished to be baptized. The candidate, preacher, and a few others drove through the night to a small park that bordered a river where they hoped to assist the man in his obedience. But the park and the entrance to the water were cluttered with young people with radios blaring  a party in full progress.

After some hesitancy, the preacher approached the revelers and pled his case. He told them that he had taught a man to love the Lord and to want to change his life and give himself to the service of the Lord. The man had repented of his past and now wanted to obey the Lord in baptism “for the remission of sins.” He said that he knew they had the prior right to the public park, but that there was no other access to the water immediately available. He asked if they would consent to a brief quiet recess in their party and allow him to baptize the man into Christ?

Something about the earnest plea, the man, or the message  or what is more likely, the scriptural combination of the three  got through to the young people. They quickly stopped the party and asked if they might be witnesses of what to them was a most unusual event.

Several cars turned so that their lights were upon the water. All were quiet and respectful as the preacher and the believing penitent “went down both in the water . . . and he baptized him” (Acts 8:30-39). When they came up out of the water, the young people crowded about, wanting to know more about this “death, burial, and resurrection to a new life.” Did the Bible really teach it like that? Why did not the traditional churches of which they knew  and had rejected  teach such things? How could they learn these matters? Some gave their names and addresses and said they would welcome a visit from the preacher, and further teaching.

This generation is wholly sensual and uninterested in spiritual things? Impossible to reach a bunch of “neckers”? Only politics and the social gospel are relevant? Hmmm!! Has it ever occurred to you that you and I may be the material ones who lack the faith and courage necessary to “tell it like it is” today?? (Reprint from Robert f. Turner, Stuff About Things, p. 74, by permission)

Guardian of Truth XL: No. 22, p. 15
November 21, 1996

By Dick Blackford

Are you tired of country clubs that masquerade as churches? Do you wish churches today were more spiritually minded and would get back to being what they are supposed to be?

We at the church of Christ try to specialize in being just a church, not a sports plex. The Bible is our only creed and is the source book for all our classes and sermons. We believe it to be the final answer to all matters of a religious and moral nature. The reasons? We are committed to its author. We believe truth is absolute since it is the only thing that can make us free (John 8:32). The Bible says those who have no love for truth will be damned (2 Thess. 2:10-12).

Many churches have merged the sacred and secular to the point that one can no longer distinguish the two. In such a time as this, we are trying to call men back to the Scriptures. The “social gospel” is another gospel from that taught by Christ and his apostles (Gal.1:6-9). Jesus made a distinction between earthly things and heavenly things  things which originated in the mind of God versus those which originated in the minds of mere men (John 3:12; Mark 11:30). So must we. That’s why we are trying to be just a church, after the New Testament pattern.

We welcome investigation and have nothing to hide. We may not be the church you’re looking for  but we hope we are!

Guardian of Truth XL: No. 22, p. 4
November 21, 1996

By Connie W. Adams

Disney and Homosexuality

Disney has come under fire recently over the issue of homosexuality. They have provided insurance coverage for homosexual domestic partners, have had homosexual celebrations at theme parks, and have a large number of known “gays” on the payroll. But that is not the end of it. The following is quoted from American Family Association Journal, September 1996:

Hollywood Supports is a pro-homosexual group whose focus is to promote the homosexual agenda in the workplace. Michael Eisner, Chairman of the Walt Disney Company; Michael Ovitz, President of the Walt Disney Company; and Joe Roth, Chairman of Walt Disney Motion Pictures, all serve as members of the Hollywood Supports Board of Trustees. The Disney-endorsed group aims to tell companies how to form homosexual employee groups and implement insurance plans to pay for live-in homosexual partners. It also provides seminars such as “Sexual Orientation in the Workplace.” The 90-minute seminars cover a variety of topics all sympathetic to the homosexual agenda. Among the information provided are statements claiming homosexuality is a genetic behavior, not a matter of choice.

The Southern Baptist Convention asked their members to boycott Disney because of this. The Texas Catholic newspaper which serves 46,000 homes in the Catholic Diocese of Dallas has also called for a boycott of Disney. So far, Disney has been contemptuous of criticism of their stance.

“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet” (Rom. 1:26-27). If this problem is genetic, then why does the Lord call it “vile affection,” say it is “against nature” and refer to the practice as “error”?

Much Work  Too Few Workers

A recent trip to Utah, Idaho, and Montana reminded us once again of how scarce faithful churches are in those states and adjoining states as well. The church at Kaysville, Utah is growing. They now have 75-80 on Sundays and their building is crowded. Thought is being given to expanding. After twelve years there Joe Price has moved to Washington state. Lonnie Garrison has just moved to Kaysville to preach. The only other sound work in the state is at Ogden and they are few. We spent a Sunday with the church at Blackfoot, Idaho. They number about 35 but are in the process of appointing elders. Dan Thompson preaches there. There are only a few churches scattered over this whole state, none of them large. The situation in Montana is discouraging. There are only a few churches and only one with any size or strength. The once active up for sale. We could not find anyone in Helena, though a congregation is listed in the Guardian of Truth directory. We found the address but nobody there. We met on a Lord’s day with a small group meeting in a home at Belgrade, Montana, about ten miles west of Bozeman. There are six adults and two children. If any reader has contacts in that area of Montana, please get in touch with: Jay and Rachel Pierson, 917B Colorado St., Belgrade, MT 59714. Phone (406) 388-0740.

Brethren are also scarce in North and South Dakota. It would help if a couple of good, dedicated families whose work could be done there as well as where they now live, could move to one of these places and help build the work. Churches would do well to send preachers for short or long term work. Time’s ‘a wasting.

Faith and the Faith

During a meeting a few months ago, I read again the book of sermons which Roy E. Cogdill delivered in San Antonio, Texas years ago. It is entitled Faith and the Faith. What a thrill it was to read these simple, yet profound sermons as they were actually delivered. The material was practical, instructive, put together in an interesting way, challenging and faith building. They were rich in scriptural content. Passages came alive as they were capably ex-pounded. Much of today’s preaching is pretty anemic in comparison. Brother Cogdill was a master at taking a pas-sage, putting it in context and then coming straight at the audience with application. If you have not read Faith and the Faith why not call 1-800-428-0121 and order it. Why not order a copy for a young preacher you want to encourage. It will embolden him to “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Where Could I Go but to the Lord?

In a time when many are growing weary in well doing and some are falling by the wayside it is in order to consider the admonition of Barnabas when he came to Antioch. “When he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord” (Acts 11:23). The word “cleave” here means to abide with and is translated “continue with” in some translations. I have seen people in the greatest crises of life abandon the Lord. When a family is falling apart, or serious illness overtakes some, or death invades the family circle, or when emergencies exhaust resources, that is no time to turn away from the only source of true help. Why would one want to wander in the barren desert of despair and hopelessness bereft of the calm assurance “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” and the hopeful promise “the eyes of the Lord are over the righteousness and his ears are open to their prayers.” Money, fame, overly inflated self-esteem can never substitute for cleaving to the Lord. Indeed, where could I go but to the Lord?

Who is in Charge?

In the year of presidential and congressional elections it might help us all to remember what the Psalmist said. “For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations” (Ps. 22:28). It might also help to remember that the One who rules in the kingdoms of men looks for preserving salt in nations. Jesus called for his people to be “the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13). When there is not enough salt left to preserve a nation it will rot and the “Governor among the nations” will visit it with certain justice.

Guardian of Truth XL: No. 22, p. 3-4
November 21, 1996

By Mike Willis

The Lord Jesus foretold that his disciples would suffer persecution at the hands of civil government. Here are some of those predictions:

But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles (Matt. 10:17-18).

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake (Matt. 24:9).

But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought be-fore kings and rulers for my name’s sake (Luke 21:12)

They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service (John 16:2).

The New Testament records the beginning of this suffering for the children of God. Stephen was the first Christian to be slain for his faith in Christ (Acts 7:54-8:1). The Scriptures relate his death as follows:

When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

The next Christian recorded to have been put to death was the Apostle James. Luke records that Herod Agrippa I put him to death saying, “Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword” (Acts 12:1-2). Herod intended to put Peter to death as well, but the Lord delivered him.

Later persecutions broke out in a number of places. One of the first organized persecutions was conducted by Nero (54-68). He was the ruler responsible for the execution of the Apostle Paul. In The Annals of Imperial Rome, the Latin historian Tacitus explains that Nero blamed the burning of Rome on the Christians and persecuted them to draw attention away from himself.

Tacitus seems to attribute the fire in Rome to Nero’s immorality. Nero conducted an extravagant banquet on Marcus Agrippa’s lake. Tacitus described the debauchery that attended it:

… On the quays were brothels stocked with high-ranking ladies. Opposite them could be seen naked prostitutes, in-decently posturing and gesturing.

At nightfall the woods and houses nearby echoed with singing and blazed with lights. Nero was already corrupted by every lust, natural and unnatural. But he now refuted any surmises that no further degradation was possible for him. For a few days later he went through a formal wed-ding ceremony with one of the perverted gang called Pythagoras. The emperor, in the presence of witnesses, put on the bridal veil. Dowry, marriage bed, wedding torches, all were there. Indeed everything was public which even in a natural union is veiled by night.

Disaster followed. Whether it was accidental or caused by a criminal act on the part of the emperor is uncertain  both versions have supporters (362).

A disastrous fire broke out in Rome. It was the most destructive fire ever to occur in Rome. Of Rome’s 14 districts, only four remained intact after the fire. Many lost everything they owned and chose to die in the flames rather than escape. Tacitus adds, that “nobody dared fight the flames. Attempts to do so were prevented by menacing gangs. Torches, too, were openly thrown in, by men crying that they acted under orders” (363).

The rumor spread through Rome that, while the fire was raging, “Nero had gone on his private stage and, comparing modern calamities with ancient, had sung of the destruction of Troy” (hence, the saying, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned”). The people believed that Nero was anxious to build a new city to be named after him and, therefore, ordered the burning of Rome. The political pressure became so great that Nero resorted to desperate measures to place the blame on others. The Christians were his scapegoats. Tacitus relates how our brethren suffered:

But neither human resources, nor imperial munificence, nor appeasement of the gods, eliminated sinister suspicions that the fire had been instigated. To suppress this rumour, Nero fabricated scapegoats  and punished with every refinement the notoriously depraved Christians (as they were popularly called). Their originator, Christ, had been executed in Tiberius’ reign by the governor of Judaea, Pontius Pilatus. But in spite of this temporary setback the deadly superstition had broken out afresh, not only in Judaea (where the mischief had started) but even in Rome. All degraded and shameful practices collect and flourish in the capital.

First, Nero had self-acknowledged Christians arrested. Then, on their information, large number of others were condemned  not so much for incendiarism as for their anti-social tendencies. Their deaths were made farcical. Dressed in wild animals’ skins, they were torn to pieces by dogs, or crucified, or made into torches to be ignited after dark as substitutes for daylight. Nero provided his Gardens for the spectacle, and exhibited displays in the Circus, at which he mingled with the crowd  or stood in a chariot, dressed as a charioteer. Despite their guilt as Christians, and the ruthless punishment it deserved, the victims were pitied. For it was felt that they were being sacrificed to one man’s brutality rather than to the national interest (365).

We Suffer So Little

In comparison to what these saints endured, we Christians suffer so little. I have never been removed from a job because I was a Christian, never beaten or stoned. None of my loved ones has been put to death. I have never suffered nakedness or hunger because of my faith in Christ, although I must confess that I have learned the meaning of Paul’s statement that he had been “in perils among false brethren” on more than one occasion.

The Lord who foretold such persecutions exhorted his saints to persevere saying, “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). He promised that he would never leave or forsake his saints (Heb. 13:5-6) and would give them the strength of faith to win the victory over death and hades (1 John 4:4; 5:4).

We thank God for those saints who have suffered so many things at the hands of bloody Nero. They are men of whom the world was not worthy (cf. Heb. 11:38). How dare we who have not resisted unto blood in our striving against sin complain about our small tribulations (Heb. 12:4)?

Guardian of Truth XL: No. 22, p. 2
November 21, 1996