Truth Magazine

By Jim McDonald

Many appeal letters have come from almost all quarters of the Philippines with pleas for help to buy rice. From November 1994 – April 1995 there was virtually no rain and this drought has made the rice harvest a disaster. Since rice is the major food for Filipinos, a great crisis has arisen. The Philippine government has imported rice from other Asian nations but this has not fully resolved the problem. Citizens must stand in line for 3-4 hours to buy a small supply of rice and the scarcity of the commodity has driven the price to more than double the price it was six months ago. This condition exists on Luzon, Palawan, Oriental Negos and many other islands as well.

Very likely, to congregations and/or brethren who sup-port or already have contact with Filipino brethren the above information is not new. We simply say, the crisis is real, the need is genuine, and if it is at all possible that you can do so, double up with your help one month to him/whom you support. And, provide extra for those in the congregation (or congregations) he works with. They are affected just as adversely as is he.

There are however, many areas in which preachers receive no help from brethren in the States and which will receive no help from the above suggestion. They also are bitterly affected by this disaster and need help ever bit as much as others. We do not propose to be a “collection agency for Philippine Food Distribution” but since we are in con-tact with a dozen or so general areas in which there are pockets of churches from 10-12 and from 45-50, we are familiar with faithful men in all these areas who would faith-fully distribute benevolence to needy brethren and would provide signed sheets showing such distribution was made. There are likely 200 or more congregations affected by this, containing thousands of Christians, some being affected more severely than others, of course.

If you desire to help, names and addressees to whom help can be sent can be supplied to you. I can be reached by telephone Sunday nights (after 9 PM)  Thursday noon at (409) 63270229 and from Thursday nights 9 PM Sun-day 4 PM at (903) 935-5597. You may also write: P.O. Box 155032, Lufkin, Texas 75915-5032.

Guardian of Truth XXXIX: No. 23, p. 7
December 7, 1995

By Edward O. Bragwell

“Fellowship” and “friendship” are not synonyms. We have a hard time understanding this. We find it hard to deny the “right hand of fellowship” to friends, regardless of the their spiritual condition. A few find it hard to work in true partnership (fellowship) with any other than close friends. When a brother says he cannot fellowship a brother, then too many of us automatically assume that he is no longer friendly toward that brother. Such need not be so.

Vine makes an interesting observation on the difference between a fellow (Gk: hetairos) and a friend (Gk:: philos). He says, “This (hetairos), as expressing comradeship, is to be distinguished from No. 1 (philos), which is a term of endearment.” Thus, one can maintain friendship (endearment) with one with whom he cannot maintain fellowship (comradeship or partnership); or else a Christian could have no friends outside of Christ. Even one’s joining with the local church in withdrawing fellowship from a brother does not mean that he is withdrawing his friendship (2 Thess. 3:15); though the circumstances calls for not keeping company with him. (1 Cor. 5:9-13; 2 Thess. 3:14). Neither friendship or fellowship need be the basis for the other.

There are people with whom I maintain a relationship of endearment (by friendship, kinship, etc.) to whom I cannot extend fellowship  either in the sense of congregational fellowship, or becoming partners with them in moral and spiritual efforts (such as ministerial alliances), or extending “the right hand of fellowship,” or any other gesture that would signal a general endorsement of them in their work.

I have close friends and dear relatives who are not Christians after the New Testament order. I love them dearly and they me. Either would quickly come to the other’s aid in time of need. Yet, we are not fellows in the Lord’s work. I cannot partake of their sins or encourage them in their spiritual work. I cannot afford to make any gesture that could be taken by them, or others, that there are no vital differences between us in spiritual matters. Even if one of these close friends or relatives, even a parent, brother or sister in the flesh, comes into this community to spread his doctrine then I must neither receive him into my house nor bid him godspeed, to avoid being a partaker of his evil (2 John 9-11). I could not announce his spiritual activities. If he cameto the services I would not call on him for prayer. Would that mean that I no longer felt close to him as a friend or relative? Of course not!

Sometimes those who, because of various relationships and associations with us, have greatly endeared themselves to us. Its awfully easy to gear our degree of fellowship with them to our degree of friendship with them. They can virtu-ally “get away with murder” in matters vital to the kingdom of God and the salvation of souls and we still treat them as pillars in the church. Their actions not only causes their faithfulness to the Lord to be suspect, but the openness of their actions places the Lord’s cause in a bad light before all. If the same positions and/or practices were embraced by those not so friendly with us, we would have long ago quit bidding them godspeed.

If a good friend gets into a situation that we cannot in good conscience endorse or encourage, it need not destroy our feeling of friendship toward him because we cannot conscientiously do anything we feel would encourage him in his situation. In fact, good friends do not want the other’s endorsement or encouragement against the conscience. Nor should scriptural disciplinary action be taken as an act of animosity.

No, friendship and fellowship are not parallel lines.

Guardian of Truth XXXIX: No. 23, p. 5
December 7, 1995

By Greg Litmer

On Tuesday night, Halloween, I saw something that I can’t get out of my mind. I guess you could say that I saw something that really is “haunting” me. A group of youngsters came to our door to “trick or treat” and included in their number was a young girl who looked to be about 13 or 14 years of age. She was dressed up in a costume, painted on freckles all over her face, giggling and laughing with what appeared to be her sisters, a big bag of candy in her hands, and she was pregnant. The pregnancy was not part of her costume  all too tragically, it was real.

What do you say about some-thing like that? Young enough to be “trick or treating,” old enough to be pregnant?

We all know “how” something like this happens, but what about the “why”? That little baby is the result of sin. Hebrews 13:4 clearly states, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7: 2, “Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.” That child on my porch was not married, that was apparent.

Who’s to blame here? The girl’s mother was standing out on the side-walk while her children went from house to house. Does the blame reside on the parents’ shoulders? Paul told us in Ephesians 6:4, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and ad-monition of the Lord.” Did they do their job in this case? I am not the judge and I don’t know. I must confess, I have real difficulty with that girl being out there “trick or treating” as if nothing was wrong. “Trick of treating” is some-thing for children to engage in and like it or not, that young girl has left her childhood behind.

Is society to blame? That young girl is bombarded continually by sexual messages. The songs that she listens to (country or rock), the television shows, movies, magazines, even commercials, all use sex to sell. It is as Paul wrote in Romans 1:32, “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” If she attends public school she is being taught to be tolerant of just about every sinful, perverse lifestyle that can be dreamed up by people. So many of her peers are pregnant that high schools now offer daycare centers for the students.

Pregnancy out of wedlock use to be something to be ashamed of, now we bend over backwards to make those who put themselves in that position feel as if they have done nothing wrong. Help them, yes, but don’t make them think that they haven’t done anything wrong!

Is the girl to blame? Of course she is! I realize that the sex drive is a difficult thing to harness once it is allowed to get out of control, but I also realize that responsibility to control oneself resides with each of us. Ezekiel wrote, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” She was old enough to get pregnant, she is old enough to know right from wrong.

Unless there is a general return to the standard of God’s Word, a standard that used to characterize this country’s morals, there will just be more pregnant “trick or treaters” in the future. Society is to blame to a certain extent. The ridiculous doctrine of humanism that now characterizes the curriculum of the schools is a classic example of “changing the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man.” What we are seeing now in America is the same thing Paul wrote of in Romans 1:28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient….”

My heart goes out to the girl. I look at her and see the young girls of our congregation. I look at her and see my daughter. We have got to teach them right from wrong! They may ultimately make the choice to commit this sin anyhow, but I pray to God that they won’t.

My heart goes out to that baby. It’s tough enough in this world, without being forced to enter it on public assistance and to face a life of poverty. In truth, my heart just breaks.

Guardian of Truth XXXIX: No. 23, p. 1
December 7, 1995

By Jim McDonald

There are some areas in the Philippines in which a large concentration of congregations already exists. These congregations have no P.O. Box or street address with a neat little building and nicely painted sign giving times of worship, and the name of the preacher with telephone numbers to call for further information. Their building (if they have one at all) will likely be a “nipa hut,” perhaps a “shed” (large corner posts and an iron roof) or in a rarer instance, a crude, hollow block building. Still such are just as much Christ’s congregations as are their American counterparts with all our finery and “trappings.”

Central and northern Luzon have several such areas. There are pockets of congregations in varying numbers and sizes to be found in Manila, Angeles City, Baguio City, Laoag City and Tuguegarao. The llocos region (north-west Luzon: Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur), the Cagayhan valley region and the Isabela province are blessed with many groups and disciples. In Mindanao there are also several areas with large concentration of churches.

On the other hand, there are some areas in which there is a dearth of churches. We traveled from Cagayan de Oro City to Iligan City (Northern Mindanao), a distance of 65 kilometers and passed through ten municipalities without a single congregation. To be registered as a municipality an area must have at least 50,000 population, thus the region through which we passed had a minimum of 500,000 folk untouched by the gospel. We traveled in southern Luzon from Manila to Matnog by bus to catch a ferry to Samar, a trip of 18-20 hours. We found very few congregations yet this is a vast area with some very large cities. As we ferried from South Luzon to northern Samar (a voyage of 3-4 hours) we passed several “islets” which no doubt are thickly populated but on which there were no congregations, at least to the knowledge of our Filipino companions. Such areas are “virgin fields.” We landed at Allen in northern Samar, an-other region almost totally devoid of disciples for only one congregation is known in this whole region, a small congregation at Tinabacan. Some months ago Ben Cruz, veteran preacher from Manila came in contact with a Seventh Day Adventist preacher from this place and in the process of time both preacher and almost the whole congregation were converted to Christ. Obviously, in a just a few months, their knowledge of the gospel is stilt very elementary.

Having learned of this work and manifesting to Ben an interest in seeing it first hand, he, four other Filipino brethren (Fred and Romeo Aguelto, Rey Tacbad and Cecilio Galusmo), and I made a tedious journey to Tinabacan. I preached here one night and baptized three or four by lantern light. Then we doubled back to Palanit, a sea-coast village on the west side of the island. There was no congregation in Palanit, either although we found 3 or 4 disciples, converts from Ben’s efforts at Tinabacan.

Patanit is the hometown of Cecilio, a young Samarian of about 30 years of age. We met Cecilio in February 1993 on our first trip to the Philippines. Cecilio left Samar when he graduated from high school and came to Manila to attend college. There he met and married the young woman who is his wife and who also is a Christian. Through her influence (along with the help of others) Cecilio obeyed the gospel. Although Cecilio is college trained he could find no way to support himself other than by peddle-cycle; he was a sort of “taxi driver” save that in this instance his “taxi” was a bicycle with a side car added to convey passengers. Such is hard, physical labor producing a bare minimum in pesos but from this meager income Cecilio’s family lives. He had preached in several Manila congregations and had come in contact with a group of deaf Christians who had received a correspondence course sent out by institutional brethren called the “World Bible.” They identified themselves as the “World Bible Church.” Cecilio “instructed them in the way of the Lord more perfectly” supplying teaching that brought them to fuller knowledge of truth. In the fall or early winter of 1994 the Southside church in Mt. Pleasant, Texas began having fellowship with Cecilio, allowing him to give up his “pedo-cycle” job to give full time to preaching.

We preached one night in the street of Patanit. About 40 adults gathered together to hear us patiently, then to ask questions of our Filipino brethren about “our beliefs.” They were especially surprised (and impressed) to see in our company one of their own who had been a devout Catholic when he left their midst some years before. None was baptized that night but subsequent trips that Cecilio has made there has produced several baptisms. Denominations are just be-ginning to be introduced into the region; we saw a group of Seventh Day Adventists, but no others. Still, the people will listen and obey if they are given exposure to the Word.

Cecilio is willing and desirous to return home with the gospel to his people. He has support, although he needs more and such an one as Cecilio is needed in this island. He is young, and while has some growing in knowledge to do, he is energetic and, so far as I can ascertain, well grounded in the faith. Funds have been provided for him to buy a lot to build a dual purpose nipa hut on: a house for him to house his family and a place which will also serve as a place for brethren to worship in. Funds for this latter are still needed and $600 – $700 will take care of this need. Cecilio also needs transportation. A good second-hand motorcycle can be bought for $1,500. To move about as he will need to move about, he needs his own transportation. And, to aid the work in the entire region, he needs funds to air a radio program, about $100 a month.

I have seen the patience of the people of this area to listen. I have witnessed their interest and perception in the questions they asked. That many souls can be taught and saved in not only this village but in the many other villages of this northern part of Samar I have no doubt  but they cannot believe if they do not hear. In Samar the “fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are few. Pray ye the Lord of harvest to send forth reapers into his vineyard.”

Guardian of Truth XXXIX: No. 23, p. 6-7
December 7, 1995