These Things I Remember
“. . . of these things put them in remembrance . . .” (2 Tim. 2:4a).
There is no doubt in my mind that there are some things we need to forget. Such things serve no real worthwhile purpose in the remembering of them. At the same time it is certainly evident from the Scriptures that some things are well worth remembering.
Remembering the past with a view to learning for the future and to pass on lessons learned to the next generation for their benefit is most worthwhile.
Particularly is this true as it relates to the then and now of gospel preaching. I remember a childhood game called tiddledy winks. It was not much of a game, as games go, but it focused our attention for awhile on a cold winter’s night in Virginia. I sometimes get the distinct impression that we have some “tiddledy winks” preachers and preaching among us. This troubles me greatly.
I also remember going to the county fair in Chesterfield County each year. There I was introduced to a rather, strange, fluffy stuff on a stick called cotton candy. Just about the time you think you have it, you don’t. It is all sugary fluff and makes a big mess and leaves one with very sticky fingers.
Some preachers I have known and some I still know now most assuredly are “cotton candy” preachers. They succeed in getting by with their charm and wit. With some audiences today that is all they require anyway. They indulge such preachers in their politically correct attention span of twenty-two minutes duration. They indeed teach more and more about less and less until they have taught us everything about nothing. But no Scriptures, please. How dull!
And the people love to have it so.
I was a great admirer of my late father. He had less than an elementary school education. He was a farmer/carpenter/elder. He was so lean and strong and his accuracy in wielding an axe was remarkable. Oh, how the chips would fly. He never threw a chip at me in his life, but if I got in the way of a chip it would really zap me. In preaching the gospel we should let the chips fly wherever they will. But we should not become chip throwers. However, if a person in error gets in the way of a gospel chip, he will surely get zapped.
We need a return of the stalwart preaching of the past that lets the truth fly wherever it needs to go and correct those in error whatever it may be that is wrong.
In Acts 19:19, 20 we read of some converts to the gospel of Christ who piled up their books of magic and curious arts and burned them. As Christians, they had no further use for such things. Some preachers of our day may well have a section of their bookshelves designated for just such things for “study purposes” as they say. Reminds me of one preacher a few years ago who developed the habit of sitting up most of the night and sleeping most of the day. Do you know what he was doing? He was watching X and R type movies, he said, for the express purpose of “documentation” so he could “warn” the brethren in his teaching and preaching about the evils of such mess. It was good that such a farce of a preacher was fired by some alert elders who learned about the matter. Oh, by the way, he ended up a moral reprobate.
In the mid-forties our family left the errors of the Christian Church. We were introduced to a kind of preaching we did not know existed, namely, book, chapter and verse preaching. We were amazed at the force of the uncontaminated gospel of Christ. These men loved only the Truth. Nothing else would do. They seemed to me to be fearless except for their fear of God. They were so saturated in the Scriptures that when they got up to preach the truth, just plain truth oozed out of them. They spent a lot of time in the study of the Word of God. They imitated the examples of the apostles and early disciples of the Lord. Soul-saving was their goal. It was during a time of two, three, and four week “protracted” meetings. Radio was available but posed little problem to the people when it came to attending and bringing their friends to hear the gospel preached. I remember well the empty feeling at the end of a gospel meeting and how we wished for a continuation of the meeting.
It was time for great conviction in the United States. Strong preaching was indeed a force to be reckoned and Satan lost a lot of ground. There were many godly elders who truly shepherded the flock.
Once when I was teenager, I remember that one day I wanted to surprise and please my father while he was working day shift at the mill. I was going to plow up the garden space. So I hitched up the horse, hooked up the plow, and there I went. Oh, I plowed up the garden space and then my mother came out to inspect my efforts. She stood and looked over the strange piece of work I had accomplished. I was wiping sweat and waiting for a word of praise. You know what she said: Well, I will tell you. She said firmly but kindly, “Son, if you are going to plow you have to plow deep. You have been plowing too shallow. Things will not grow well unless the ground is right.”
Yes, among the things I remember, I remember these things. I have indeed, to my own detriment at times, tried to “plow deep.” I have learned that shallow soil does not produce strong Christians but instead a weak-kneed type of person that will ruin the church. It will die for lack of strength.
“Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance” (2 Pet. 1:13).
110 Greenwood Dr., Warner Robins, Georgia 31093
Truth
Magazine Vol. XLV: 11 p3
June 7,
2001