Truth Magazine

By Steve Wallace

Many of us have probably been to a funeral where an unsaved person was “preached into heaven.” By this we usually mean that, at the service for the deceased, a denominational “Pastor” or “Reverend” spoke of how the person had somehow come into a saved state shortly before death or spoke of them as if they were now in heaven. There are several lessons that the living can learn from such events.

1. One must act one’s own behalf to get to heaven. The preacher or teacher’s work is to exhort others to “save them-selves” or “repent” (Acts 2:40; 8:22). Christians should be good examples and “shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15). However, the lost person also has something to do. If he has never come to Christ, he must hear the gospel, believe it, repent of his sins, confess Christ as the Son of God and be baptized for the remission of sins (Mark 16:15-16; Rom. 10:9-10; Acts 2:38). If an individual has once become a Christian and then later fallen away, such a one must repent and pray to God (Acts 8:22; 2 Cor. 7:10). If such people do not act in obedience to Christ’s word it is meaningless to “preach them into heaven” after they die. (It is equally meaningless to try to “fellowship an erring brother into heaven”!) The lost and erring must come out of their sinful state.

2. “Care giving” at the expense of preaching the gospel. In my opinion, one of the main reasons behind the practice of preaching the unsaved dead into heaven is obvious: It is to comfort the grieving loved ones of the deceased. Such sermons are designed to show sympathy and care to those who remain behind. While God’s people are told to “weep with them that weep” (Rom. 12:15), the practice under discussion is obviously an extreme we must avoid. Many a gospel preacher has used the opportunity of preaching someone’s funeral to teach the truth to those who might otherwise not hear it. While not neglecting the comfort and consolation found in the word of God (2 Cor. 1:3-6), the preacher must balance his preaching to meet the spiritual needs of his listeners (2 Tim. 4:2). The main aim of a sermon should always be to bring people closer to the Lord. If we change the focus of our preaching to that of “care giving” or making people feel good, we will have to come up with another message (Gal. 1:9), just like the denominational preachers do when they “preach the lost into heaven.” It is this writer’s conviction that the current trend of preaching lessons which lean heavily on human psychology or books on counseling for their support is a manifestation of this problem (2 Tim. 4:4).

3. Feigned love. The Christian is to love without dissimulation or falseness (Rom. 12:9; 2 Cor. 6:6). An obvious question arises with regards to the one who would claim to be a Christian and then try to preach a lost person into heaven: Is this really showing love for lost souls? Who benefits from his message? Neither the living or the dead. But he seems so loving as he stands there putting forth his message! Though most such preachers may be unaware of it, they are not showing true love to anyone in “preaching the lost into heaven.” Using opportunities given us for “speaking the truth in love” will help us avoid such false displays of affection (Eph. 4:15).

Conclusion

Helping others get to heaven involves instructing them in the ways of righteousness and encouraging them in that way (e.g., Acts 2:38-40). If we are truly concerned about the needs of our audiences we will base our message to them on what the Bible says about their state and needs, and encourage them to apply God’s word to their lives.

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 19
April 4, 1996

By Nell Kercheville

Have you ever learned a foreign language just for the express purpose of preaching the gospel to those in another country? Have you ever left your home and the surroundings you are so accustomed to and comfortable with to go to another land and preach to a humble and sincere people? Have you ever been blessed to stay in the home of one of these people and sleep on the floor with the rest of the family, all in their one-room house? In the middle of the night you awaken so sick that you have to get up and tread your way through the sleeping bodies to get outside since there is no indoor plumbing.

Have you ever repeatedly chosen without hesitation to travel into a country where you know that at some point you have a good chance of being sick? Have you ever been in a hotel room alone in that country and been so sick you think you might not live until morning? Because of your sickness you purposely do not lock the door for fear some-one will not be able to get to you to help. The next day the local preacher finally becomes worried and comes to see about you. You pray, “0 Lord, thank you for this good man.” He goes home and has his wife make “atole” (a rice drink) for you. How soothing it is! By the time evening services come you are so weak you can’t imagine being able to preach. But you must and you do. Too weak to stand, you have to sit while you preach. The thought occurs time and again in your mind, “Can I make it?” But then you look at all those eager faces. They have come to hear the gospel, but not as an American would hear, they have come to hear that which they have never heard before. As you preach you hear them exclaiming, “Que precioso!” (“How precious!”). Suddenly all your weariness is forgotten and you could preach all night to these who so desire to hear the Good News.

Have you ever traveled to another country to preach and found that the brethren have secured a huge tent for a meeting place? “Wonderful!” you think. But then you find out that the tent has to be moved, not once, but three more times. The tent has to be taken down and moved to another town and put up again, ready just in time for the next services. Your job? You are to crawl under this dusty dirty tent and put the poles in place while the men on the outside have several “business meetings” on how it should be done. (Ever attended a business meeting?) By the end of the day you are tired, dirty, and hungry. You have just enough time to get cleaned up and start preaching. The thought runs through your mind repeatedly, “Is this worth it?” But all those thoughts are soon erased when you see over 500 souls from the community who have gathered hungry to hear the pure gospel of our Lord. “Que precioso!” they say. “Que precioso!”

Have you ever had your ribs broken just before leaving on one of these trips? You travel over rugged bumpy dirt roads to reach a community where you arrive with your ribs in worse condition than when you left. The bed you sleep on is hard and when you roll over on one of those ribs  wow, the pain! But on this trip you have a real treat. They have built a room for the visiting preacher. How nice, but then it strikes again, the “revenge.” This time you don’t have to climb over bodies because the men of the community have built the “little house” on the hill. You think, “What a relief, better than last time when there was nothing and the outhouse was just “out.” But then comes the negative side. Walking up that hill hour after hour in a weakened condition is no picnic. And then there is the little house. The men dug the hole too big for the house. Dig another hole? Naw, throw a couple of logs across the hole and set the little house on the logs. Have you ever tried to sit in a privy with a canvas for a door and the west wind blowing? You have to hold the canvas with one hand and steady yourself with the other so that you do not get thrown over by the rocking of the little house on the logs. But still you must preach as you hear the voices of hungry souls, “Que precioso!”

Have you ever been invited to the humble home of one of these Christians to eat? You tremble as you realize you may be taking food from their children. But you cannot refuse because they would be so hurt. How glad you are that you have come! The graciousness with which they serve you is so heartwarming that it often brings tears to your eyes. No matter what the obstacle, no matter the hardship, they serve you and give to you what they have. These people are so grateful for the precious words of life you have brought them. How precious the word of God! And now it is you who say, “Que precioso!” You go away knowing you have received much more than you have given.

After over fifty years of this work, you come to the evening of your life. Your steps are slower and your health fails. But you press on. The love of Christ constrains you. You work as long as there is breath and one more soul to save. As you reflect on your life you know that materially you have little and the hardships have been many. But oh what riches you do have. Would you change your life if you could do it over? No! “Que precioso!”

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 9
April 4, 1996

By Thomas Bunting

In 1918 the Jehovah Witnesses preached and published a book, “Millions Now Living Will Never Die.” Ever since then they have, on several occasions, predicted the coming of Christ and the establishment of an earthly kingdom. The date from which their calculations were made was 1914.

I remember well that in conversation with Jehovah Witnesses, they told me that something big was to happen in 1967. That would have been fifty-three years since 1914, those millions living then were beginning to get old. If Jesus was to come in their life time, then time was getting short. Nothing happened in 1967!

The next prophecy I recall was 1975. That was sixty-one years after 1914. Infants in 1914 were then more than sixty years old in 1975, not to mention the age of the those who were adults in 1914. If Jesus was to come while those millions lived then it had to be very soon! Nothing happened in 1975 either!

Time was running out on those millions who were alive in 1914. There were fewer and fewer of them as time passed.

But it didn’t seem to discourage the Jehovah Witnesses, they continued to preach their false doctrine.

We have now come to the year 1996, eighty-two years since 1914! Everyone knows, including the Jehovah Witnesses, that there can’t be very many of those millions from 1914 left. Even those born that year are now over eighty if they are still alive. As we approach the year 2000 the millions then living are now dead, and the prophecies for the Jehovah Witnesses is proven false both by the Bible and by history!

Time has necessitated that they change their doctrine. There was an article, “Apocalypse Later,” in Newsweek magazine, December 1995 telling how they have now changed their teaching.

What Bible students knew all along, and Jehovah Witnesses denied, they have now been forced to admit  “no one knows when Christ will come.” They have been forced to abandon their doctrine about the coming of Christ be-cause time simply ran out on them. The millions living then are now dead!

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 23
April 4, 1996

By Tant Williams, Jr.

After forty-one years in the Union (Republic) of South Africa, preacher W. Ray Votaw and his helpmate, Thena, have retired to the Gist community, deep in the heart of East Texas Pines, about thirty miles east of Beaumont. This is his native turf. His health is day-to-day, inasmuch as he has carotid and cardiovascular blockage plus asbestosis of the lungs. Physicians are working with him.

Following a hitch in the Navy during World War II, Ray completed two years of study at Freed Hardeman College. He preached a couple of years and then enrolled at Harding College. After being invited to preach in South Houston, Texas in 1952, he transferred to the University of Houston. In 1954 he made a decision to preach the Gospel in the Union of South Africa. Heartbroken brethren of the South Houston Church agreed to support him in East London, coastal city on the Indian Ocean. Ray and Thena, with two little girls, departed from the Hobby Airport, flew to New York, caught the Queen Mary, arrived in Southampton, caught “The Mail Boat” Pretoria Castle, arriving in Cape town August 2, 1954. (Ray has received wages from the South Houston Church for nearly forty-five years.)

The Votaws succeeded an anxiously departing evangelist. Ray coped with working among English-Indians, Coloreds and the Black Tribal-people. After a few years, the Votaws moved inland a thousand miles to Springs, Transvaal, near Johannesburg, where he would be more centrally located. Here he be-came more and more active among the indigenous blacks. Although Ray had studied both the Afrikaans and Xhosa languages for awhile at the East London Technical College, he had to depend on trusted translators from twelve different tribal language groups as he went far and near to teach them, living with them, learning their habits, likes and dislikes, developing a trust that would endear him in their hearts. He warned them of false teachers; they protected his physical presence from disenchanted tribesmen.

His home in Springs was always open to the blacks (and others) for teaching, exhortation, and fellowship. The months became years, and the years became decades. There were problems, he sought to guide them from the Americanization of the whites. So, “as shades of the African night descended upon their kraals, and the younger ones crowded about the aged as they sat before the campfires, the old ones would say, `He came only with the Bible, nothing else. He taught us from the Word of God, to tell of a Savior who could help us in our sinful condition. We learned to depend upon him for the truth because he spoke only words of truth. Now, the weight of the world has fallen upon him, his hair has whitened with the ages of his service. He must return to his homeland for his remaining years. We will miss him and his family.

As soon as he announced that he would be returning to the states because of ill health, there began a steady stream of visitors to his home to say their tearful goodbyes, and to wish him better health and a long life. It was a moving experience that the Votaws will long remember.

Ray Votaw has no doubts that the blacks will be all right in their various churches. He had taught them to he independent and do their own work, even when he was with them. He never sent “home” glowing reports of numbers, because there were none. They learned not to depend upon him, but conducted their own service. Sometimes these services might last all day into the night. Baptisms could occur without an invitation song; men might take a candidate to the river for immersion, even while Ray was speaking to them. They learned to do by doing in their own surroundings.

Ray and Thena had their sad moments of twisting anguish. Their youngest daughter died of cancer in a Beaumont hospital; two grandchildren were awarded to the divorced South African husband by the courts of that country. In another year Celeste, the oldest daughter died of a heart attack. His mother, one brother, three sisters, Thena’s mother and father died during this period of time. Now 8,000 miles separate them from the middle daughter, Sharon, the wife of preacher, Eric Reed, and mother of three, of Bellville, Cape, RSA.

How was his rapport or relationship with other preachers and teachers? He tangled often with those of the “institutional persuasion,” finally convinced two prominent figures of the errors of their stand, in addition to one state side preacher, who is now in RSA. With those who stood with him on the above question but had peculiar beliefs on indifferent matters, the full use of Romans 14 was needed to maintain good working relationships. He was considered a leader by all parties.

Amongst the blacks some physical problems sometimes developed, but as a usual rule the blacks took care of such to stave off a fighting confrontation. Outside of religious circles, more than once, brother Votaw had to defend himself against criminal elements, receiving a broken jaw and losing several teeth in one encounter. A strange set of circumstances singled him out by an international crime syndicate. Fearful for the lives of his family and having to be constantly on guard against all kinds of “entrapment,” he worked behind the scenes with just a couple of law officials who were themselves frightened for their lives. The suspected “hit man” was imprisoned in another country; this relieved some pressure. He ultimately fortified his domicile, electronically as well as with physical measures, using a faithful black brother as night watchman and at times as bodyguard for Thena.

Such was the experience of Evangelist W. Ray Votaw and his family in preaching and teaching the gospel of the New Testament in the country of South Africa. His plans are to continue to assist the brethren in any way possible to express his love for them. “Night fires are burning, and aged men are relating the history to young ones inside the kraal.”

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 20-21
April 4, 1996