Truth Magazine

By R.J. Evans

In this life we have innumerable blessings for which we are to be thankful. And the Bible tells us that these blessings come from the God of heaven. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jas. 1:17). As we look about us, seeing what God has done, surely, we ought to be affected by his magnificent works. We should be overwhelmed with awe and reverence as we contemplate life itself – whether it be a tiny insect, a fragrant flower, or a human being who is so fearfully and wonderfully made.

I wonder, though, are we truly grateful for all that God has done? If we are honest and humble in heart, what changes have been made in our lives because of the goodness of God? It should lead us to repentance. “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4) But the trouble with so many today is that instead of being humbled with repentance, they have become calloused in heart and drunk on materialism. Hence, they fail to “count their blessings.”

The goodness of God should cause us to be generous with our time. But with regard to time and duties, some seem to always be saying, “I don’t have time to study,” “I don’t have time to visit,” “I don’t have time to teach others,” “I don’t have time to attend all the services of the church,” “I don’t have time to encourage weak Christians,” etc. Oh yes, we do have the time! Everyone’s day is made up of twenty-four hours. Our time may be ill-arranged (especially as far as the work of the Lord is concerned), but we all have the same amount of time. The trouble is – we are not grateful enough to give it to Christ. We are being selfish and self-centered when we have time for television, camping, boating, fishing, golf, tennis, secular reading, movies, ball games and a host of other things, and yet, not enough time for the Lord.

Our gratitude should cause us to be generous with our money. However, in the matter of giving, can it be said that we are grateful to the Lord when we have spent so much on our own selfish desires that we are not able to give as we should? The Bible says that “God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). But no man can be a cheerful giver unless he has first acknowledged the great gifts of God to man. The trouble with so many of us is that we never take the time to fully reflect on how much we have received from God. When we take our eyes off ourselves and contemplate the goodness of God, our gratefulness for these blessings will be reflected in our giving.

All too often, when others perform deeds of kindness in our behalf, our attitude is that this is what we expected of them all along. In other words, “You owe this to me, therefore, it’s not necessary for me to be grateful.” Is this your attitude? Obviously, this kind of an attitude is reflected if we fail to express our sincere thanks for the kindness others have shown toward us. If this disposition of heart describes you, this is spoken to your shame.

It seems that the lack of gratitude has always been a problem. When Jesus healed the ten lepers, only one man (a Samaritan) was grateful enough to return and thank Jesus for his cleansing. The record says, “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole” (Lk. 17:15-19). Only ten percent of those who received the blessings here showed gratitude. All ten were ready to receive a blessing; all cried, for mercy; but nine were not concerned about giving praise and thanksgiving. Many today are far too much like these nine lepers.

A failure in thanksgiving for the blessings enjoyed in this life gives evidence of the alienation of man from God. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful” (Rom. 1:21). On the other hand, the Christian, realizing what God has done for him and the world, continually lifts his heart in praise and thanksgiving to God. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18).

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 18, p. 562
September 15, 1988

By James W. Adams

(It was April 1972. We had just emerged from the turbulent sixties and were wallowing in the backwash. The drug culture, sexual liberation of women, acceptance of homosexual relationships as an approved “lifestyle for consenting adults, “fascination with Eastern religions and the occult, and the abandonment of the so-called “organized church ” for newborn cults featuring experiential and emotionally motivated religious philosophies and practices were in their ascendency. I was then preaching for the Pruett and Lobit congregation in Baytown, Texas. The following article was written for and published in the church bulletin. Sixteen years have passed and many of the movements mentioned above have become well entrenched in American thought and life, not only among the young, but also among persons of all ages, classes, and races.

Their poison fruits are everywhere manifest to the point of national and international problems. I am, therefore, submitting this article for publication in the Guardian of Truth believing it to be relevant to the current scene and deserving of wider circulation. It has been necessary for me to do some editing in the reprint.)

The Problem Identified

“It is not new that all young people are searching and seeking for self identity,” Dr. Robert Lifton, Yale University specialist in psycho history, is quoted by the Associated Press as saying before a meeting of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Dr. Lifton is reported to have said this while speaking concerning “problems of Jewish youths who shift rapidly from one religious form to another without permanent commitment to any one pattern” (Baytown Sun, Wednesday, March 29, 1972). The article from which this is quoted dealt with the identification of young people with the “Jesus People” movement. Dr. Lifton further said, “After being immersed in the drug culture, a young person may turn to the Jesus movement, absorbing what he wants, and then move on to Hassidic Judaism or some other religious form. . . . It is the speed of the change that is new.”

Churches of Christ Are Affected

I am not a philosopher, nor am I a specialist in psycho-history, hence special interest also are those young people who have been reared by parents who are Christians, hence I am not interested in imposing some theory to explain the instability, restlessness, mania for change, smoldering anger, rebellious anarchy, and moral permissiveness of multitudes of young people of our time. I am deeply interested in all young people, but more particularly concerned about young Christians. Of special interest also are those young people who have been reared by parents who are Christians, hence who have, throughout their lives, attended the services of New Testament churches.

A person would have to be blind, deaf, and irrational to be unaware of the frightening and saddening fact that many such young people are caught up in the psychological phenomenon popularly known as “The Now Generation.” I am not naive. Neither should other preachers, elders, and parents be naive about the present state of “tour” young people. We do have a problem. It is real and its extent unknown, but it is probably greater than we suppose, hence imminently threatening. Let us particularize. The following questions, however, are objective, not personal; that is, they do not and did not have specific reference to the young people of the church which I served as preacher at the time these things were written.

Do we have young people who are experimenting with drugs? Yes, we do! Do we have young people who are actively engaged in pre-marital sex? Yes, we do! Do we have young people who subject their minds to a steady diet of pornographic literature and films? Yes, we do! Do we have young people who engage in sex-stimulating dancing and heavy petting? Yes, we do! Do we have young people who are addicted to alcoholic beverages? Yes, we do! Do we have young people, who, without intelligent or justified cause, superciliously sneer at “organized religion, Church of Christ doctrine, and traditional practice”? Yes, we do! Do we have young people who are experimenting with the occult, glossalalia, and “sensitivity meetings” as a substitute for structured worship? Yes, we do! Need we say more about the reality of our problem?

Is This Really A Search For Self-Identity?

These things are styled, as does Dr. Lifton, “A search for self-identity.” Is this correct? May we “plain (?) and tacitly excuse this situation on this basis? May the Lord forgive us for such arrant hypocrisy! Young people, you profess to be a generation which approaches the problem of living with absolute and brutal “honesty.” If this is so, face up to all of this for what it is. Using your own terminology, the “search for self-identity” explanation and excuse is at best a miserable, hypocritical, cowardly, “cop-out!”

A person does not institute a search for “self-identity” in the stinking cesspools of fleshly iniquity, in the subjective experiences of humanly conceived and emotionally motivated religious philosophy, or in the ignorant superstitions of the occult. An individual plunges himself into this effluence of moral and spiritual filth for one reason; namely, the gratification and exaltation of self. In its moral aspects, it is to gratify fleshly passions. In its spiritual aspects it is to satisfy the ego. It is a miserable acquiescence to the hedonistic philosophy that man is no more than a glorified beast, howbeit a sort of “King of the Beasts” with the unlimited privilege of self-indulgence and fleshly gratification.

To picture such as a noble quest for “self-identity” (the “Holy Grail” of atheistic existentialism and humanism) is to indulge ourselves with palpable duplicity and selfdeception. Instead of a quest for self-identity, it is a gross repudiation of our essential nature as spiritual beings bearing the image of the Creator, clothed in mortal bodies that are subject to the rulership of the “inner man” (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Therefore, it is animalistic and materialistic to the core and a despicable insult to human dignity.

Furthermore, to resort to the superstitions of the occult and the vagaries of the charismatic sects to verify the existence of God and the reality of his concern for the individual person, by sense perception, in a “search for selfidentity,” is consummate folly. The repudiation of a rational faith on the basis of credible evidence for the illusions and fantasies of highly charged emotional experiences, selfinterpreted by those experiencing them as a penetration of the transcendent realm, is a capitulation to materialism and unbelief. While this approach may not be as morally debasing as the hedonistic or existential approach, it is a repudiation of reality and a discovery of one’s so-called “identity” in the realm of fantasy. Ultimately speaking, one is little better than the other.

We plead with persons young and old who have been exposed to the elevating influence of New Testament Christianity, do not be “taken in ” by this so-called “search for selfidentity. ” The book of Ecclesiastes is the record of the search of a person for the answer to the meaning of life. This might be called “a search for self-identity. ” He found it not in realms material but in the realm of the spiritual. He concluded: “Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole of man” (Eccl. 12:13,14). The Prodigal Son of our Lord’s parable sought “self-identity” in the unrestricted gratification of his fleshly appetites, and “came to himself” in the penury, hunger, and shame of the Gentile’s hogpen. In his depraved extremity, he finally learned by demonstration that true self-identity could be found only in amenability to the benevolent and fulfilling restrictions of his father’s house (Lk. 15:11-24). Infinite wisdom and immeasureable Divine love have provided the perfect realm for the discovery and development of “self.” It is the realm of grace appropriated by an obedient faith based upon and emanating from the revealed will and word of God. Why seek elsewhere?

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 19, pp. 577, 599
October 6, 1988

By Ron Halbrook

The psalmist said, “I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.” God’s Word equipped him to overcome every enemy of truth and righteousness (Psa. 119:98,128). Ever since sin and error entered the world, lovers of God and truth have met the enemy in public debate and controversy. Elijah confronted the priests of Baal and defeated them as each contended for his cause (1 Kgs. 18). Ezekiel was not content to ignore the theory of inherited sin but debated against it and destroyed it (Ezek. 18).

God gave his faithful prophets all the words of truth needed to refute every false way in honorable controversy. “The Lord hath a controversy with the nations.” Therefore, he gave Jeremiah “all these words” to do battle – “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy” (25:30-31; 1:10). Hoses proclaimed the “controversy” of God against those who professed to teach his law but who actually promoted error and participated in sin (4:1-7; 12:1-2). Micah announced “the Lord’s controversy” against his people and challenged them to answer his arguments if they could: “Arise, contend thou before the mountains” (6:1-2). John debated the meaning of his baptism with the leading religious leaders of the day (Matt. 3:1-12; Lk. 7:30).

Jesus Christ debated often on such subjects as:

1. The appearance of God’s kingdom (Matt. 12:22-30).

2. Proper authority in religion (21:23-27).

3. Duties to God and civil rulers (22:15-22).

4. Man’s immortal spirit and bodily resurrection (vv. 23-33).

5. The need to obey all of God’s word (vv. 34-40).

6. The human and divine nature of the Messiah (vv. 35-46).

Peter contended over the meaning of miracles several times (Acts 2:6-14; 11:1-4; 15:7-11). The preaching of Paul involved one debate after another. “Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him” (Acts 17:17). Paul, Barnabas, Peter, James, and other faithful men faced false teachers on the issue of what we must do to be saved. There was “no small dissension and disputation with them” and “much disputing” (Acts 15). All Christians are urged by God to debate and to defend the truth of the gospel, both publicly and privately as we have the opportunity and ability (1 Pet. 3:15; Jude 3).

Should preachers debate? Only those who have the true power of the gospel should! The cause of truth is greatly advanced by it. False teachers should avoid debate as much as possible and make as many excuses as possible for not debating. Their cause has everything to fear from open controversy where people hear both sides of the issue.

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 18, p. 561
September 15, 1988

By David A. Padfield

Who among us has not pondered the great question, “Will I recognize my friends in heaven?” While the Bible does not directly ask this question, the human heart does. In death’s dark hour, can I comfort the relatives of those who “died in the Lord” with the hope of a future reunion in heaven? Or, when the undertaker closes the casket, is this truly the hour of final separation? It appears as though the Scriptures assume we will know and recognize one another in heaven.

The great patriarch Abraham died at the age of 175. Moses records his death with these words: “Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah. . . ” (Gen. 25:8-9a). Notice the sequence: he died, was gathered to his people and then his body was buried in the cave of Machpelah. Though the tomb was new, somehow Abraham was now with his people.

This phrase, “gathered to his people,” is found recorded at the death of many Old Testament worthies, such as:

– Ishmael (Gen. 25:17)

– Isaac (Gen. 35:29)

– Jacob (Gen. 49:33)

– Aaron (Num. 20:24)

– Moses (Deut. 33:50)

– Josiah (2 Kgs. 22:8)

The destiny of Moses is further described in Deuteronomy 31:16 when God says, “Behold, you will rest with your fathers.” This could not possibly refer to his physical body, for it was buried “in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor” (Deut. 34:6).

Not only do we read of individuals being “gathered” to their people, but after the death of Joshua we find an entire “generation had been gathered to their fathers” (Judg. 2:10).

But what does it mean to be gathered to our people? “Gathered” (Hb. acaph) is defined as “to be collected, gathered together . . . used of entering into Hades, where the Hebrews regarded their ancestors as being gathered together. This gathering to one’s fathers, or one’s people is distinguished both from death and burial” (Gesenius’ Hebrew And Chaldee Lexicon, p. 626). William Wilson commented, “To be gathered to his fathers, is a peculiar phrase deserving notice; it is distinguished from death which precedes, and from burial of the body which follows: Gen. xxv. 8; xxxv. 29; 2 Kings xxii. 20. It seems to denote the being received by his own people, or among them. We read in the N.T. of being received into Abraham’s bosom, or of sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, as at a feast; so that to be gathered to his own people, is to be with them in joy or torment in Hades” (Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies, p. 182).

Abraham has been “gathered to his people” until that day when his dust shall live again at the sound of the last trumpet, and all the buried dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Man. When Isaac and Ishmael were “gathered to their people,” did they recognize their own father, Abraham? It would be foolish to deny they did.

It was a source of comfort when the prophetess Huldah told Josiah he would be “gathered to his fathers” (2 Kgs. 22:20). But what comfort would there be if he could not recognize his “fathers”? Was he to dwell in eternity, among his own family, as a total stranger?

When we speak of future recognition, some skeptic will usually ask, “Would you be happy if you were in heaven knowing some of your friends were not there?” Instead of helping our problem, this question increases it. If I can not recognize any of my loved ones in heaven, then I would be forever uncertain if any of them made it there! I would have to worry about all of them. Furthermore, this question assumes that I would want to overlook the manner of life these people led while alive. If they are lost, it will be because they did not desire heaven enough to quit the practice of sin. Yes, we will be saddened by the loss of some, but I always throughout this is why “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

Another objection sometimes raised is found in Matthew 22:30. There, Jesus tells us that in the resurrection we will neither marry, nor be given in marriage, but be like the angels of heaven. But this passage proves our point. The angels of heaven certainly know and recognize each other. We will not have a physical marriage there, for we will be married to the Lamb of God (Rev. 19:7).

The first child from the union of David and Bathsheba died after a week of suffering (2 Sam. 12:15-23). Grief stricken David, with his child yet unburied, said, “Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” What comfort could David have of being with his child again if he could not distinguish his child from mine?

After the final judgment I fully expect to “see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:28). I shall see them in the same way I shall see Jesus (1 John 3:2) and his Father (Rev. 22:4). The same Greek word (optomai) is used in all three verses.

Congregations often sing the beautiful song, “Shall We Gather At The River?” In it, we ask our brothers and sisters in Christ to meet by the river of life (Rev. 22:1) when our journey here is completed.

Knowing we shall recognize one another in heaven, let us labor diligently to increase our acquaintances there. And as another song suggests,

“If we never meet again this side of heaven,

As we struggle through this world and its strife,

There’s another meeting place somewhere in heaven,

By the side of the river of life.”

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 19, pp. 580, 597
October 6, 1988