Truth Magazine

By Johnny Stringer

“I find in him no fault at all” (John 18:38). So said Pilate, before whose judgment seat Jesus stood. Pilate had found Jesus not guilty; but according to the premillennial theory now most popular, Pilate was wrong in his judgment, and Jesus was guilty as charged.

The crime Jesus had been charged with was sedition. He had been accused of seeking to be a king in competition against Caesar (Lk. 23:1-3). If that had been His intention, Jesus would have been guilty of a grave violation of Roman law. But according to today’s most prevalent brand of premillennialism, that is exactly what Jesus had intended to do.

This theory says that Jesus came to establish an earthly, political kingdom – a Jewish kingdom that would overthrow Rome and rule the world – but that He failed because of the Jews’ rejection of Him. According to this theory, therefore, Jesus was guilty of sedition against Rome.

Pilate, however, did not judge Him to be guilty. Why not? Simply because Jesus explained to him the nature of His kingdom. He told Pilate that His kingdom is not of the world. If it were, His servants would have fought to establish it, for carnal righting is required to set up earthly kingdoms. Jesus proceeded to explain that His kingdom is based on truth. All who submit to His truth are citizens of His kingdom, as He rules in their hearts (John 18:36-38).

On an earlier occasion Jesus had explained the nature of His kingdom to some Jews who had asked about the coming of God’s kingdom. He had told them, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Lk. 17:21). The kingdom of Christ is a spiritual kingdom which exists as He rules in the hearts of men by His truth.

Pilate understood from Jesus’ explanation that Jesus’ aim was not to set up an earthly, political kingdom. His verdict: “I rind in him no fault.” If Pilate had determined that Jesus was seeking to establish a political kingdom, he would have declared Jesus to be guilty of sedition.

The point is clear: Jesus was charged with attempting to establish an earthly, political kingdom, and Pilate found Him not guilty. What a shame that an ungodly Roman governor was able to see what multitudes of premillennialists fail to see!

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 4, p. 117
February 19, 1987

By Lewis Willis

The mind is a marvelous and mysterious thing. Often we can account for the thoughts that race through our minds because of what we are saying or doing. At other times, things come to our minds and we have to wonder why we had that thought. The other morning I woke up and the very first thought I had was about a song I heard years ago with the above title. I couldn’t remember, and I cannot now, all the words of any single verse of the song, but the following words are vivid in my mind:

Because He lives. . .

I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives. . .

All fear is gone.

Because I know. . .

He holds the future,

My life is worth the living

Just because He lives.

I do not know who the author of the song was, but I like the message it contains. When I thought of the song, I immediately thought about 1 Corinthians 15. In this chapter the Apostle Paul reminded the brethren that he had preached the gospel to them. They had received it and were standing before God on the terms of that gospel. Paul said that they would be saved if they would “keep in memory what I preached unto you.” He then said he had declared to them the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There was not anything terribly unusual about the death and burial of a man. However, the resurrection from the dead of that man was noteworthy. It was this significant factor that Paul stressed in his argument in Chapter 15. He cited the evidence associated with the resurrection of Christ. After He was raised He was seen by Peter, then by the twelve, after that, by above 500 brethren at once, then He was seen by James, and again by all the Apostles, and finally He was seen by Paul, “. . as of one born out of due time” (1 Cor. 15:5-8). These witnesses could attest to the fact that the Son of God came forth from the tomb, triumphing over death and the grave. He lives!

It should not surprise us that many people of that day would deny the Lord’s resurrection. There were some who denied that it occurred and that not only was Christ not raised, no one else would be either. Paul addressed the results if Christ had not been raised. He affirmed the following if there is no resurrection: (1) Christ is not risen; (2) the preaching of the Apostles was vain; (3) their faith was vain; (4) the Apostles were false witnesses; (5) they were still in their sins; and (6) those who had died in the Lord were perished (1 Cor. 15: 13-18).

All of these things would, indeed, be true if Christ had not been raised from the dead. However, the evidence and testimony of the witnesses to the fact of the resurrection was overwhelming. It could not be denied. All who refused to accept it were dealing with the facts dishonestly. The only conclusion was, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20). The hope of the Christian supersedes all of his problems. Nothing that the world can throw at the Christian will steal this hope from him.

Thus, Christ lives! And the author of the song states the secret to a faithful Christian life. Because Christ lives, I can face tomorrow. I do not know what tomorrow may hold – I do not know its problems or its successes – but I can face them whatever they are. This next statement in the song, many of us have difficulty comprehending – because He lives, all fear is gone. The mysteries of tomorrow can bring fear. But most of those fears are of “the unknown.” Once we know that which is unknown, we can adapt ourselves to the ever changing scene. We can do this because we know He holds the future. He may not hold it like I think He should, or as I might like Him to hold it, but the future is in His hands. The grand blessings that He shall bestow upon us will more than overcome the horrors that Satan may thrust at us.

Therefore, life is worth living just because He lives! Another day! Another opportunity! Another blessing! Another challenge! I do not know how much “life” I have left to live. But one thing I know – it will be worth every minute of it that God in His patience with me permits me to live. And I intend to make the most I can out of it for the glory of God, for the well-being of my family, for the salvation of the lost and for my personal happiness. How about joining me for the rest of our lives?

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 5, p. 134
March 5, 1987

By Mike Willis

(On 20 May 1985, Attorney General Edwin Meese III announced the formation of a Commission on Pornography to “determine the nature, extent, and impact on society of pornography in the United States, and to make specific recommendations to the Attorney General concerning more effective ways in which the spread of pornography could be contained, consistent with constitutional guarantees.” The Commission finished its work in the latter part of July. The report is now readily available in a 571-page paperback book entitled Final Report of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography which is available through our bookstore at $9.95 (plus postage and handling).

The book is not pleasant reading or recommended for everyone. Indeed its cover contains a warning stating, “Contains extremely explicit content. While the Final Report of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography must be made available, the report does describe and quote from material sold in adult book stores which will be offensive to most individuals. This book should not be purchased or read by minors.” With that warning, I am in agreement. I examined the book and want to call attention to several pertinent points from its contents.

How Extensive Is The Problem?

The Commission surveyed six major cities (Washington, D.C., Baltimore, MD; Miami, FL; Philadelphia, PA; New York, NY; and Boston, MA). They randomly selected sixteen “adults only” outlets and found 2,325 separate magazine titles, 725 books titles, 2,370 film titles. Needless to say, pornography is big business, bringing in millions, if not billions, every year. Monthly sales of the ten top selling sexually explicit magazines range from a high of 4,209,825 copies for Playboy to a low of 185,532 copies for Club International (figures given for 1984).’ The top ten magazines average selling 10,617,482 copies per month. These figures not only demonstrate the fact that pornography is big business, they also mirror the moral deterioration in our society.

The Commission Concluded That Pornography Is Harmful

A 1970 Commission on Pornography has frequently been quoted which denied that pornography was harmful; needless to say it has been used by pornographers in defense of their right to sell pornography. Yet this Commission voted unanimously to state: “We believe that an increase in aggressive behavior toward women will in a population increase the incidence of sexual violence in that population, we have reached the conclusion unanimously and confidently, that the available evidence strongly supports the hypothesis that substantial exposure to sexually violent materials as described here bears a causal relationship to antisocial acts of sexual violence, and for some subgroups, possibly unlawful acts of sexual violence” (cf. P. xiv).

In addition to this summary statement, the Commission found that “a disproportionate number of sex offenders were found to have large quantities of pornographic material in their residences. . . . There is a correlation between pornographic material and sex offenders” (p. xv). A former prostitute said, “We were all introduced to prostitution through pornography. There were no exceptions in our group, and we were all under eighteen. Pornography was our textbook. We learned the tricks of the trade by men exposing us to pornography and us trying to mimic what we saw” (p.xv).

The Report also adds, “It is far from implausible to hypothesize that materials depicting sexual activity without marriage, love, commitment or affection bear some causal relationship to sexual activity without marriage, love, commitment or affection. There are undoubtedly many causes for what used to be called the ‘sexual revolution,’ but it is absurd to suppose that depictions or descriptions of uncommitted sexuality were not among these” (p. xx).

Lack of Law Enforcement

Repeatedly the Supreme Court has affirmed that “obscene material is unprotected by the First Amendment” (p. xii). The Commission wrote,

If the laws on the books are sufficient, then what explains the lack of effective enforcement of obscenity laws throughout most parts of the country? The evidence is unquestionable that with few exceptions the obscenity laws that are on the books go unenforced. . . . From January 1, 1978, to February 27, 1986, a total of only one hundred individuals were indicted for violation of the federal obscenity laws, and of the one hundred indicted seventy-one were convicted (p. 53).

There was not one single federal indictment against adult pornographers in all of 1983! There were only six in 1982, but four of them were brought by a single prosecutor in Kentucky.

The Commission says it is “dismayed at the unwillingness of the states to assume the bulk of the responsibility for enforcement of the criminal law” (p. xxi).

Pornography and Organized Crime

“The Commission frankly states, ‘Organized crime families from Chicago, New York, New Jersey, and Florida are openly controlling and directing the major pornography operations in Los Angeles,’ where most films and videos are made. Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates told the Commission, ‘organized crime infiltrated the pornography industry in Los Angeles in 1969 due to the lucrative financial benefits. By 1975, organized crime controlled 80 percent of the industry and it is estimated that this figure is between 85-90 percent today'” (p. xxii).

Reaction To The Report

Because of the findings of these reports, negative reactions from pornographers and liberal political organizations were expected. The American Civil Liberties Union called it “censorship . . . a national crusade against dirty pictures. “

Surprising to some was the way in which the Commission and Report were treated by the established news media. Michael J. McManus, a syndicated columnist, wrote the “Introduction” for the report. He covered the Commission’s meetings in New York, NY, Scottsdale, AZ, and Washington, D.C. He was one of the few journalists who followed the proceedings in depth. He wrote,

Frankly, I was shocked to discover that almost the only people I saw at all three sessions were writers for Playboy, Penthouse, and Forum magazines and representatives of the ACLU. The TV networks only showed up to hear a few victims’ lurid testimony. Where were the newsmagazines, the Associated Press, or The New York Times? They were all absent, except for token appearances. . . . On the day the Report was released, NBC-TV had only three sentences on the conclusions of the 1960-page Report, plus one sentence each from Mee and the Commission’s directors. Compared to those rive sentences, three critics, including Christie Hefner of Playboy, each had 4-5 sentences of dissent. . . . It saddens me, as a former Time magazine correspondent, to say it was clear to me that Time’s July 21, 1986 cover story “Sex Busters,” was written by someone who had not read more than excerpts of the Report (p. x).

Later McManus reported that $900,000 was paid to a public relations firm in Washington to undermine the report. He said, “What is frightening to me as a journalist is that the public relations campaign. . . is working (p. xlvi). As evidence of that he wrote,

And when the leaders of denominations representing 150 million Americans stood on the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on July 25, 1986 and endorsed the Commission’s top priorities to focus on hard core, sexually violent and degrading pornography and child pornography, they did not get thirty seconds on the evening news of ABC-TV, NBC-TV, or CBS-TV, nor one paragraph in the three newsmagazines (p. xlvi).

Difficulty was even had in getting the Report published. Those book publishers who generally are interested in such reports, shied away from publishing this report, even when one publisher was guaranteed 100,000 copies in advance sales. As a result, the relatively small Rutledge Hill Press in Nashville, TN is the publisher of the Report.

Conclusion

We who are Christians find pornography not only to be a blight on our society but a sin before God. Although this study does not examine biblical teachings which condemn the use of pornography, it does contain many relevant statistics and other pieces of information to help in one’s preaching on this subject. Consequently, I wanted to acquaint our readers with this report and advise them of its availability.

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 5, pp. 130, 138
March 5, 1987

By Bruce James

On Sunday morning, December 28, 1986, at age 55, Billy J. James slipped peacefully into that rest remaining for God’s people (Heb. 4:9). He had been seriously ill for several days and had fought a hard battle with cancer until finally being overcome. He had fought another battle with cancer fifteen years before, and, with God’s help won. Many times I think of how God answered good king Hezekiah’s prayer and how He answered prayer for Bill. Each time I face the grim fact of death, I realize more than ever that “this world is not my home, I’m just passing through.” But I want to do more than think of death at this time. I want to pay tribute to my uncle, brother and true friend, Billy J. James, with the hope that his example will help us all to see more clearly the true meaning of life.

Bill was a good husband and father. He loved and cared about his family deeply. He gave them everything he knew to give, especially the knowledge and example to do what’s right. Many homes lack that kind of consideration today. Bill saw the need and he filled it. Bill taught me how to love the truth – by standing up for it. He began preaching in 1955 on the south side of Chicago where a handful of courageous people of God began the task of establishing a faithful church in that area in an old store front. It wasn’t anything for our worship to be disrupted by hollering in the doors, banging on the windows, and even rotten tomatoes or eggs thrown in the windows. This did not stop the church from growing. In fact, it helped all of us in our stand. It wasn’t too long after that, that Bill got the opportunity to preach at 410 S. Michigan in Chicago. As he continued to study he was given the opportunity to move to Burbank, Illinois where he labored from 1960 to 1963. From there he and Flossie, his first wife moved to Beaver Dam, Kentucky. In 1966, they moved to, Louisville, where he worked with the West End and Eastside churches. While at Eastside, he was asked to work with the good church in Paragould, Arkansas at 2nd and Walnut. He worked with the church there for eight years at which time (1976) he was given the opportunity to move to Grenada, Mississippi. In 1980, he was asked to serve as one of the elders of that local church, an evidence of the high esteem the brethren had for him there. There he stayed until his death. For 31 years Bill preached the gospel, fought error, stood for and with Jesus Christ. You would never find Bill on the sidelines. He was always. studying, asking questions, discussing the truth with “whosoever will.” He had a keen mind and used it properly. He had no use for fence-straddlers because they have never helped the cause of Christ. While in’the hospital at Memphis, he told me of is love for my dad and mom and that he didn’t ever want to quit preaching the word. He had set the example on being one that “finished the course.”

Bill taught me how to face hardships without becoming bitter or soured on the world. His first bout with cancer was while in Paragould, Arkansas. The doctors didn’t give him much hope to live but he faced the odds and, with the help of God and family, he overcame them. During this time, his first wife, Flossie (who was the reason he became a Christian) developed complications with her heart from an early childhood disease, and after a series of strokes over a period of 18 months, passed from this life at the age of 40. On that Wednesday evening, after making preparations for her funeral, he left for the church building to teach the Wednesday Bible class. Bill, with the help of his daughters, Sharon and Denise, and his son, Billy, continued on. While in a gospel meeting in Illinois, he met Kathy Boyle, the daughter of Carmel and Marcine, one of the elders of the church. Kathy and Bill married in 1975 and had two children: Stacy (10) and Adam (6). They loved one another deeply and their goals were the same. In the summer of 1986, tumors on the brain and lung were discovered. While going through the difficult treatments of chemotherapy he received a letter from his insurance company cancelling his policy. Being one who was more than concerned with paying his debts, this seemed to have a devastating effect on his ever recovering, and finally he passed away. But even in death there were no ugly scars on his soul. He knew how to take the bitter with the sweet, how to adjust in difficult circumstances. He was a man of character. In fact, the greatest tribute that I could ever pay to Bill and men like him, is in simply saying he was a good man at home, in the church and in the community. He was a leader, not a follower, except of Jesus Christ.

Funeral services were held in Paragould, Arkansas and his body was laid to rest in Kennett, Missouri. A memorial service was also held in Grenada, Mississippi.

(Note: Bill’s wife, Kathy, is le t with a $12, 000 medical bill, not to speak of the needs of the family for the future. The church in Grenada has shown a supreme example of love and benevolence to them by continuing their support. Other brethren have sent help in their relief. If you can help in,any way, she can be contacted thru the elders at the following address. Church of Christ, 175 Van Dorn St., Grenada, MS 38901.)

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 4, p. 115
February 19, 1987