Truth Magazine

By Johnie Edwards

The shedding of tears, on the part of many, is about a thing of the past! Even crying at funerals is seldom seen anymore as it is suppose to be a sign of stability not to cry. The Psalmist said, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy” (Psa. 126:5). There are different kinds of tears mentioned in the Bible. Let’s take a look at some.

Tears of Warning

Paul shed tears because he knew that brethren would not listen to the truth and would depart from it. He said, “Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears” (Acts 20:31). Even though the Bible is filled with warnings, most do very little heeding. The purpose of a watchman was to “hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me,” (Ezek. 3:17) said God. We would all do well to listen to the warnings of God. One reason Noah was said to have walked with God was that he listened to the warnings of God and “prepared an ark to the saving of his house. . . ” (Heb. 11:7).

Tears of Sadness

The Ephesians wept as Paul bid them goodbye on leaving the work at Ephesus. “And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him” (Acts 20:36-37).

Too many times preachers leave a place of work with malice toward the elders and the elders toward the preacher. My brethren, this ought not to be! A lot of churches have a pre-set time frame in which a preacher is to work and when that time is up, he must go regardless of how good the work is going, and this is sad. Some places just about “eat” the preacher up when he first begins a new work and after he has been there a short while, they wished they had! There just needs to be a better and closer tie between elders and preachers

Tears of Sympathy

“Jesus wept” (Jn. 11:35). Jesus wept because He cared when others were in sorrow. Mary and Martha had just lost their brother to death. Even though Jesus could and did resurrect Lazarus from the dead, He still showed concern. I am afraid that many are too cold and indifferent toward others who sorrow. Someone says, “I thought we ought not sorrow when a Christian dies.” No, you have that wrong! Paul told the Thessalonians “that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). Let’s not get too proud to cry.

Tears Over Sin

Jeremiah of the Old Testament has often been called the “weeping prophet” because he cried over the sinful condition of God’s people. Israel was guilty of backsliding, playing the harlot, and forgetting God; they could not blush and they would not walk in the old paths. Such is enough to make the righteous cry. Jesus wept over the sinful condition of God’s people. “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). Sin in our society is the order of the day and most of us do very little about it. It would do us all good to look at the sinful condition of most people and allow our tears of concern to lead us to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11).

Guardian of Truth XXX: 18, p. 562
September 18, 1986

By Morris Hafley

The title certainly seems a contradiction, doesn’t it? Well, there has been, to my knowledge, only one airconditioned furnace in history.

This came about in Daniel 3, when the three brave friends of Daniel stood for the truth of almighty God. The old recording of Johnny Cash suggests that they would not bow, they would not bend, they would not bum. They would not bow to idols; they would not bend or compromise the laws of God; they would not burn in a furnace made exceedingly hot by the old idolatrous king. God had, as it were, airconditioned that furnace and saved the three Hebrew children from certain death.

You knew all that, so what is my point? Well, there is another very hot place, only this time, God has heated it. It is called hell. It is a place for the unbeliever (John 3:18, 36; Rom. 2:6-16; Matt. 25:41,46). It is a place for those who refuse to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus (2 Thess. 1:8,9). God will not condition the air for those who reject His conditions of salvation. Remember the rich man of Luke 16:24 who said, “I am tormented in this flame”?

Wouldn’t you like to miss hell? Sure you would! Then get your Bible and study it (2 Tim. 2:15). Let it lead you to that beautiful place called heaven where pain and sorrow will never invade. Be among that innumerable host. “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14).

Guardian of Truth XXX: 18, p. 567
September 18, 1986

By Lewis Willis

Someone, apparently in our radio audience, is on Rex Humbard’s mailing list. For some reason they decided to send me a copy of two recent letters they received in an attempt to raise funds for the Humbard Ministry. The person sending me the letters observed that “he comes from all angles” in an attempt to raise money. Candidly, I could not believe people would be gullible enough to fall for these two recent promotions. But, I guess it takes all kinds.

The first letter was from Rex’s daughter, Liz. She told how “an urgent request” had come from the Philippines for Rex to hold a crusade there. She had discussed this with her Dad just the night before she wrote the letter: “Dad said to me last night, ‘I am struggling inside. For I know the unrest in that nation and that God wants me to take His message to those thousands of poor people. But, this crusade will cost several thousands of dollars that we don’t have. God will have to speak to the hearts of His partners to give. ‘ I could see Dad’s heart was torn . . . because the ministry didn’t have the money it took to hold this crusade. It was in that moment that God spoke to my heart to share this news with you and ask you to join me in giving our seed gifts to send Dad . . . to the Philippines.”

Liz then explained that Rex was soon to have his 67th birthday. She even had birthday cards printed up to send to the people on their mailing list. All people needed to do was sign the card, enclosing $20.00, and return it to the Humbards. Liz and Maude Aimee would take all of these birthday cards, wrap them in a special gift package with a blue ribbon on it for Rex to open. “On his birthday morning, he will be able to sit at the table and read your card of encouragement you sent . . then as a reminder that you shared his 67th birthday . . . we will send you back a length of the beautiful ribbon to use as a Bible marker.”

Now, that’s an offer one can scarcely refuse, especially since God has put it on her heart to make it, even promising that the giver could expect God’s “flow of blessings” to replace the $20.00 given. Rex even enclosed a special hand-printed note. Besides his Philippine need, he only has three weeks to raise $73,000 or he “. . . may not ever be able to write you or minister to you again . . . or this ministry will be nothing more than a memory.” Each person was asked to send $50.00. All they needed that week was $70.00 from each person on their mailing list!

The next week, the listener sent me Rex’s next appeal for funds. In this packet, Rex announced, “Jesus can break your chains!” He pointed out that his readers might be in a prison of spiritual, physical, family or financial need. In fact, he said that “I believe at this very moment you may be bound by a need or circumstance that God wants to free you from.” The chains of that bondage could be broken! He said it was just like Paul and Silas were freed from the bondage of their Philippian prison. He then included Acts 16:25-26 to prove this. But notice how “Reverend Rex” changed the Bible text in his fund-raising letter: “At midnight Paul and Silas began to give to God . . . and the chains were loosed.” I checked eleven different translations of the Scriptures and not one of them even mentions “began to give to God” as a part of the Divine text. That is a Rex Humbad alteration of the text in an effort to get into the wallets of the people on his mailing list. This, we are to believe, comes from “a spirit-filled preacher.”

Anyway, “as a point of contact,” Rex sent along, in a cellophane packet, two plastic links of chain. The reader was asked to hold the links of chain in his hand and read a Bible passage. Then, he was asked to break them apart, enclose one link in the reply envelope Rex had sent, along with “your sacrificial offering of $10, $5, $25, $30 or more to give to God and His work.” Rex then added, “the Lord told me you need to do this!” If we are to believe him, God had made a direct revelation to Rex to send these links of plastic chain to his followers to help him raise money. The Bible tells us Divine revelation is finished and completed that’s the meaning of the word “perfect” regarding the law of liberty in James 1:25. The Bible being true, and I say this benevolently, God didn’t say any such thing to Rex Humbard and he misrepresented the truth when he said that He did!

Admittedly, I’m not a plastics expert, so this is only a guess, but, I would guess you could buy approximately 1000 yards of this plastic chain for about $100. So, if Rex can get from $5 to $30 out of each follower, he will have turned a bundle of bucks! Of course, from his point of view, the important thing is that all of those people would have been delivered from the chains that bind them – no matter what the need – even if it is financial. I was just thinkin’ if one of these chain links will release Rex’s followers from their financial woes, why won’t it release Rex from his manifold financial woes! I wonder how responsive he would be if I returned these links to him and told him that God had told me to write and have Rex send me all the money he received from the fund raiser. I wonder how obedient Rex would be. Do you think I should try that?

Guardian of Truth XXX: 18, p. 561
September 18, 1986

By Tom M. Roberts

In debate, atheists are prone to use as an argument against belief in God the fact of suffering. “If God is good and merciful,” they say, “where does all the evil in the world come from and why does man have to suffer?” If atheists could sustain their contention that there is no God, all they would have proved is that pain and suffering is in the world without reason, purpose or solution! Terrible thought – man is alone in this life with nothing better to look forward to but a cessation of suffering in non-existence. If atheists have nothing better to offer me than what I have, they might as well keep quiet. Let me keep my hope (vain as they assert it to be), for it does keep me going. I doubt seriously that I could face life and its troubles without this hope. If one can’t replace hope with something as good, no purpose is served in taking away what I have. Atheism, a bankrupt philosophy, has no hope to offer and its thrust is totally negative: it takes away what you have and offers nothing in return. Belief in atheism is like belief in an empty pocket (with a hole in itl).

However, the fact of suffering does not disprove the existence of God or argue against His benevolent nature. Properly understood, suffering indicts man as a wayward creature and God is seen as using suffering to bring man back to a right relationship with Himself. What man has brought upon himself through poor choice of free will in sin should not cause us to charge God with cruelty. It does not logically in S, follow that we deny the existence of God because we fan to use wisdom in our actions. Technically, such reasoning is a non sequitur. “it does not follow. ” Do we kick the cat because the dog bites us? Do we deny the existence of Jack Nicklaus because we double bogey a hole in golf ?. Do we blame the U.S. Treasury Dept. because we lose a ten-dollar bill? Then why blame God for problems brought on us by our own sins? Man did not suffer in Eden before sin. Man did not die before he sinned. There were no thorns or thistles before the punishment for sin. What does logically follow is that there was no pain or suffering before Adam sinned; there is afterward. Man has polluted his environment, not God. We need to be clear in our facts lest we draw hasty conclusions.

God Is Good

The beauty and goodness of God is seen in many things. The original creation declares “the glory of God” (Psa. 19:1). When Jehovah created, it was said to be “good” (Gen. 1:10); the finished creation was said to be “very good” (1:31). “Good” is known by its fruits ~nd the fruits of creation prepared a home for man that was beneficial in every aspect. The Garden of Eden supplied every need of man (physical and spiritual); there was no ugliness nor illness, a place of pristine purity, peace and tranquility. Yes, man was made a free will creature, knowing right from wrong (moral). In this, man is unique and distinctly different from trees, animals, planets, etc. But note: there is nothing inherently sinful in free will. God could have made man a creature without it, but he would have been indeed only a “naked ape.” By creating man with choice, God established the possibility of sin along with the possibility of doing right. One cannot have free choice without these alternatives. But it nowhere decreed that man must sin. In fact, God provided man with every reason and provision so that he had no need to sin. Whether or not a free-will creature win freely choose to do right, reflecting the image of his Maker, is the theme of Job 1:6-12. Personally, I feel that the test Job experienced, the charge of Satan against Job (Job only serves God because he is “paid” to do so), and the consequent suffering is an embryonic picture of man’s creation and test. Will Job (i.e., man) choose to do right because it is right? Is it possible for man to properly exercise free will? Will man reflect the beauty of God in his actions or will he always choose evil? Job vindicates the beauty and goodness of God in that he loves and practices righteousness. We also vindicate God’s trust in man when we make the same good choice. God is good and His creation reflects it.

The Fact of Suffering

That pain and suffering exist in the world only a fool would deny. This same fool would charge God with creating pain and suffering. Once again, however, let us press the point that if it could be proved that God did not exist, one must face a world of suffering alone, having no help nor hope from the Lord. Denying God does not change the facts of our environment. But is there no reason, purpose or solution to suffering? Are these things that afflict us only the random results of chemical interactions (as the evolutionists claim for all of life)? Why does man suffer?

The Reason For Suffering

The reason for all suffering is sin, originally. Man did not suffer before the fall in the Garden. When Adam introduced sin, he introduced death (Rom. 5:12). Whatever else we might say, this basically says it all. We suffer because of sin. Did you ever pierce your skin with a thorn? There were no thorns before sin. Are there storms, earthquakes and various rampages of nature? These did not exist before Adam and Eve chose the evil instead of the good. Whatever punishment and consequences for sin that have occurred, we have brought on ourselves. The Pandora’s Box of mythology is no exaggeration of the truth. Man lived in a Garden and he turned it into a wilderness; he snatched defeat from the jaws of success. That we are still doing it after all these millennia is a testimony to our arrogant refusal to follow God’s way.

The Purpose of Suffering

Is this really such a mystery? Punishment for sin has never been simply for punishment alone with God. Punishment for sin has always had rehabilitation as its goal. God wants us to be saved (2 Pet. 3:9). To that end, He sent His Son who suffered in our place (Isa. 53). The suffering of Jesus was to pay our price for sin (death) so that we might be redeemed. This is substitutionary suffering. The beauty of God is declared by Jesus on the cross – because I should be there and He took my place. Will a man lay down his life for a friend? Will God give His son for His enemies? “Behold then the goodness and severity of God . . . ” (Rom. 11:22). God will punish the evil-doer but provides a way of escape for those who love Him. Sufferings make us aware of our need for repentance. If man, with all his suffering, is as arrogant as he is, what would he be without sufferings? Has any parent who loves his child failed to punish? And what was the purpose of such punishment? Simply to inflict pain? Or was it to cause correction and improvement? Is our Heavenly Father any less aware of the rehabilitative purpose of punishment than we? Surely, to ask it is to answer it. In this world, we cannot escape physical suffering. But Jesus gave His life as a substitute for mine so that I might escape eternal punishment for sin.

The Solution for Suffering

The solution for suffering is to allow it to achieve its purpose in our lives – bring about penitence and the desire to serve God. “Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations: knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing” (James 1:24). As I become aware of the reason and purpose of suffering, yes, and its cause, I learn to cope with it and use it for a good cause. I learn to endure it with a view to making me humble and penitent. One man suffers and dies cursing God, having learned nothing. Another suffers and dies, committing his life to God’s keeping. Which one has learned from life and its tribulations?

Also, let me point out something significant. The atheist cannot stop us from suffering, nor can he explain it or find a reason for it. He rails at it; he falsely accuses God; he sneers at those of us who suffer along with him, believing in God. But we understand the reason for it; we see its purpose and we turn its anguish into glory. This is only possible through faith in God. Which is the fool: the believer or the unbeliever?

The Beauty of Righteousness

Righteousness is a reflection in us of our righteous God. That righteousness is beautiful may be seen by comparison. Compare the good woman of Proverbs 31 with a drunken whore. Which is beautiful? Compare the godly elder with the “godfather” drug pusher, alcoholic, thief, murderer. Which is beautiful? Compare the teenager who attempts to worship God and live an upright life to the rebellious punk rocker who thumbs his nose at every decent emotion. Which is more beautiful? I tell you that a simple observation of life around us declares the beauty of God even as a view of the heavens declares His glory. Without God, life is horrible beyond description. Would you try to describe life without God? Read Romans 1. These people “gave up the knowledge of God” and God gave them up to a “reprobate mind.” They perverted every emotion and relationship in life into something unholy and dirty. Open your eyes to all that is good and you will see that it has its origin with God. This is true of the home, the church and every right relationship.

Conclusion

Let us never tire of telling people of our great and good God. Let us point disillusioned and disheartened people to God who cares. Tell people who suffer in body and soul that there is a solution. Tell them about Jesus. Tell them the gospel story, for “therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17).

Guardian of Truth XXX: 19, pp. 579-580
October 2, 1986