2006 Truth Magazine Lectures
Reflections On
the Second Annual
Truth Magazine Lectureship
Russell and Donna,
The lectureship
was wonderful, as soon as it was over Russell asked me
if I was ready for next year. The lectures were great and the singing
was extremely edifying. Ya'll did a
wonderful job.
Reflections On
The First Annual
Truth Magazine Lectureship
Jason Hardin & Daniel Ruegg
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We will be the first to tell you that we didn’t know
what to expect. We talked extensively
during our 8-hour trip from northeast
It’s no secret
that a great many people do not like the Guardian
Of Truth Foundation. It is neither our aim in this article to
recap or rehash anyone’s role in recent controversies, nor to defend the
Foundation. They are perfectly capable
of doing that on their own. Our
intention is simply to make a few observations based on spending the week at
the First Annual Truth Magazine
Lectures in July of 2004. If we know our hearts, these are the
objective opinions of two young men with a great deal to learn. We are not affiliated with the Guardian Of
Truth Foundation in any way. However,
it is our honest opinion that a great many would be surprised with the
contrast of their expectations and the reality of what really transpired in
The theme for this year’s lectureship was The Renewing Of Your Mind, taken from Paul’s exhortation to the Christians in
Paul calls men to make a conscious choice to be guided by divine revelation rather than be molded by the values of contemporary society. This text has been a familiar theme of preachers down through the years, but it has generally been limited in application to contemporary morals. Brethren have warned Christians not to be conformed to the values of this world in its dress, sexual ethics, and such like things. However, the influence of the world is not limited to sexual moral values. The world has a more comprehensive agenda. It wants to shape man’s thoughts about Jesus, the Bible, the church, evangelism, the work of the church—indeed, every aspect of human existence. As Christians, we need to beware lest we allow those values to become our own.
OUR POST-LECTURESHIP THOUGHTS
1. On the attitude of many young people
If we may comment, as
From our vantage point, it appears that many of our peers have a prejudice against anything that is old. For elaboration on this idea, we would point you to an excellent article that appeared in the July 2004 issue of Renewed In Spirit by Brian Sullivan:
Many seem enamored with change simply because it is change. We ask that you reflect, as we also continue to ponder, “is there a reason that so many young people seem so enamored with change and so many older people seem so cautious when it comes to change?” One needs only to open up the chronicles of history to find that this is not a novel 21st century quirk.
We continue to hear discouraging reports from around the country of our peers that have little or no respect for the insight of experienced gospel preachers and elders that are trying to offer advice from years of wisdom accumulated from good and bad times. Are the old always right and the young always wrong? Absolutely not. However, there is a reason that we have the Scriptural admonitions to “honor the aged” that we do. The inspired account of Rehoboam’s reign of folly was preserved for a reason (2 Chronicles 10). But even Rehoboam was willing to do something that many of our peers are not: at least ask the elders, “what counsel do you give me?” Sadly, many young people today will turn only to one of two places: those that are equally young, or the liberal writings of denominationalists.
That is one of our greatest concerns with the “
During our
week in
2. On the attitude of the speakers throughout the week. In light of so many “warnings” about what we could expect in attending this year’s lectureship, we were struck by the attitude of those that spoke throughout the week. It is important for all of us to always remember, “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Only God knows what these men, and any other man has as his motive and aim in his work for the Lord. That being said, let us tell what we saw:
Are these men perfect?
Of course not. But contrary to
popular belief, they will be the first ones to tell you that fact. It is our conviction that they genuinely
want honest, open, and truth-filled dialogue, seeking to “work out their own salvation with fear and trembling,” and encouraging others
to do the same (Philippians
During the lectureship, Ron Halbrook gave one of the best sermons that we have ever heard on Renewing Our Commitment To Balanced Preaching. From his chapter in the lecture book:
“Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand” (Philippians 4:5). Christians need a mature, well-balanced attitude, especially in times of controversy. We need boldness and courage in setting forth the principles of truth, balanced with vigilance and persistence in exposing false doctrine, balanced with patience and forbearance in assessing differences which do not destroy the truth, and balanced with love and wisdom in our efforts to fulfill all of these duties.
Ron encouraged all of us to seek balance in:
That is a message that people all over this country, young and old, need to hear.
3. On the abundance of good, old-fashioned gospel preaching. Although we are relatively young, we have been to a variety of different “lectureships” over the years. We have heard of the days when lectureships were not an exercise in quoting modern-day psychologists, professors, and scholars, but were simply session after session packed with plain and forceful preaching from the inspired Word of God. We have missed that in a great deal of the “lectureships” and even the “gospel meetings” that we have attended in recent years. It was refreshing for a large portion of the sessions throughout this week to be free from the external trappings that impress “enlightened” 21st century listeners and to be full of 1st century gospel preaching.
4. On the importance of always reading and studying for one's self. There appear to be so many around the country that are taking “sides” on one issue or another without even sitting down to honestly and objectively search out the Truth for themselves. Many of our peers absolutely refuse to attend a lectureship offered by, read material written by, or listen to a sermon given by many of the men that we heard preach throughout the week, and will even look down on those that choose to do so. Please do not misunderstand what we are saying!
But please openly and honestly investigate the Truth of
any matter before judging, tuning out, and condemning anyone! There have been, and undoubtedly will
continue to be, those on opposing sides of issues that will assume, slander,
and verbally destroy each other. Rest
assured that such an individual, regardless of what “camp” he may find
himself in, has ignored the instructions of the apostle Paul: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and
slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted,
forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you”(Ephesians
The men that we heard speak in Bowling Green are not perfect, but neither are those that are vilifying them around the world, and neither are we as we try to objectively pass along our own impressions for your thoughtful consideration. But it is our very deep conviction and concern that when the dialogue ceases, when people are tuned out and ridiculed without fair investigation, the cause of righteousness will suffer. May we always remember,
“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love
does not brag and is not arrogant, Reprinted from the August 2004 issue of Renewed In Spirit Magazine Jason Hardin & T. Sean Sullivan,
editors |