Truth Magazine

By Larry Hafley

Supreme Court justices must wince at some of the silly issues they are asked to decide. Fatuous matters, though, sometimes hold serious questions of law.

Thus it is with “evolutionism,” and the attempt by a small number of people to get this set of beliefs included in the curriculum of public schools.

People who prefer to discredit the Bible entirely who insist that the creation story in Genesis is not a word-for-word description of how the world actually began-are discomfited by what has not been learned in the physical sciences since the 1820’s. Knowledge that the universe and the Earth are not billions of years old, and that life on this planet was created in six days, somehow threatens their faith. Rather than adjust their understanding of science to accommodate Genesis, they deny the reality of Genesis.

Most people of evolutionary faith, and certainly the vast majority of atheists, long since have come to accept scientific theories and to incorporate them into their understanding of infidelity. If some people wish not to, that is their right. The trouble comes when they attempt to force their unbeliefs on everyone else.

Evolutionists have tried to get creation stricken from school textbooks. They have even tried to pass laws to that effect. They should be nullified by the Supreme Court.

Unable to get the teaching of creation outlawed, the evolutionists decided to do the next best thing: get their unbeliefs taught alongside creation.

Evolutionary theory has been created (if you’ll pardon the expression) into something called “evolutionary science”–and the claims by illiteralists that evolutionary theory is just as scientific and valid as any other understanding of how the Earth began.

They have pressed this claim upon several state legislatures. A few have given in and passed what is called the “Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act.” It requires that evolutionist beliefs be taught in the state’s public schools whenever creationism is taught.

The law says it’s OK to teach neither, but if schools want to teach creation, they must also teach evolutionism. (Apparently some state lawmakers don’t mind if their students are denied Bible teaching; they simply want to innoculate students against it should they be exposed to it.)

Federal district and appellate courts have ruled that the law violates the establishment clause. The Supreme Court probably will do the same because the law clearly is an attempt to get evolutionary doctrine taught in public schools in the guise of science.

Evolutionists say that “evolution-science” is not based on irreligious unbelief. That claim is false on its face. Evolutionism comes from unbelief and a particular interpretation of unbelief. It attempts to show that the events in Genesis (including Noah’s flood) did not happen exactly as described.

Evolutionists say their ideas are scientific. They are refer to their beliefs as “The Evolutionary Theory.”

A theory does not science make. You can theorize the Earth is flat, but that doesn’t mean the idea is scientific.

If you set out to prove the Earth is flat, you find that all the evidence points to the contrary. The same thing happens when you try to prove the Earth is only 5,000,000,000 years old and that all of its sediments, rocks, fossils, mountain ranges and river valleys have been formed since then.

That’s why evolutionists never present any evidence for evolutionism. They don’t have any, so they spend their time trying to pick holes in creationism. They pore over the research and writings of scientists, and point to the questioning and re-examination that goes on as indication of the supposed intellectual weakness of creation.

Science is not static. Knowledge advances all the time, and as new information comes along it is analyzed, studied and rigorously debated. The fact of creationism, was established long ago, but the processes of creation – how it happened and why – are matters of intense study and debate. Evolutionists seem not to understand this. They seize upon every subsidiary question posed, every dispute among scientists as to the details and pieces of creation, and present it as the Grand Flaw that disproves the entire concept.

It’s odd. Evolutionists accuse creation scientists of being dogmatic, but they use the non-dogmatism of science as evidence that scientific knowledge is false.

Everything we see in nature contradicts evolution. If some people wish to close their eyes to the world for the sake of preserving a particular anti-religious belief, they are free to do so. But they should not insist that the rest of us follow them into the darkness.

Letter To The Asheville Editor

Dear Sir:

Your editorial cited above and my reply to it is being published in Guardian of Truth, an international bi-weekly magazine.

I readily recognize that my response overstates my case ‘ particularly the last four paragraphs. However, I am using your tactics (feeding you out of your own spoon) in order to show the lack of fairness and objectivity displayed in your editorial. For example, you surely know that the statement, “That’s why creationists never present any evidence for creationism,” is false. Have you heard every creationist’s presentation for creationism? If not, the one you have not heard may have presented the evidence which you say they “never present. “

Are you aware that leading evolutionists would object to your statement that, “The fact of evolution was established long ago”? Whether you are or not, some would disclaim your presumption.

Were you “being dogmatic” when you said, “Everything we see in nature contradicts creationism”? Have you seen, or do you know, everything in nature? If not, the things you have not seen, or do not know, may be the things that do not contradict creationism, or, at least, do not substantiate evolution.

Again, I realize that my equally absurd and dogmatic statements do not establish my position. Now, assume, sir, that my “editorial” had appeared first. Would you not have waved it,,away as the prejudiced ranting of an uninformed Bible thumper? Perhaps. Likewise, when you so blatantly overstate your position, is it any wonder that similar sentiments arise from this perspective?

The answer? I am not sure there is a response that will resolve the issues that divide us, but even-handed, objective, fair discussion could not hurt. Is your paper open or closed to such proposal? Believing as firmly as you do, what risk do you run to have the evolution-creation controversy discussed on your pages? Our paper is open to you and to a study of our differences.

Since, according to you, all the facts and knowledge of science are on your side, what have you to fear from those whom you liken to the “Flat Earth” mentality? If your case is as solid as you aver and avow, I shall expect a favorable reply.

Be assured, though, that your assumptions and assertions will not go unchallenged in open discussion. You shall have to document your position. Condescending dogmatism and prejudicial (flat Earth) comparisons will not be allowed to establish your doctrine. Nor, may I add, will you have the Supreme Court justices to rely on. . .

Will you, therefore, work with me to create a discussion, or will you evolve from the bold, combatant editor of May 11, 1986, into a cowardly, passive editor who suddenly becomes afraid to bear arms when one is aimed at him?

Guardian of Truth XXX: 13, pp. 401-402
July 3, 1986

By Wayne Partain

I returned during May to Guatemala. Here is a report of the work accomplished on this trip.

May 9 – arrived about 6:00 p.m., preached that night in Colonia Florida. This church of about 15 members meets in the home of Baltazar Calel, who was our original contact in this country.

May 10, 11 – Calel, Fernando Espinosa and I went to Guatalon, about three and a half hours south by bus for services Saturday evening and Sunday morning. We met in the front yard of Fulgencio lxchop. The three of us preached. Several brethren came from Chicacao, San Basilio and other places, so the attendance was around 100 or over. The ladies cooked tortillas and beans over an open fire; we had black beans on Saturday and white beans on Sunday. Most of the brethren slept on the benches Saturday night (after, not during services), but they spent a big part of the night talking. They gave me a bed in side so I wouldn’t be quite so accessible to the guerrillas.

Jeronimo Cox Ixbalan and Carlos Siguan work with this church of 18 members. Jeronimo also works with brethren in Patulul (10 members) and El Carmen (7). Also he has been invited to help out at Nuevo San Carlos.

May 11, p.m. – Luis Mendez, from Chicacao, was with us Sunday a.m., then took us in his small Chevy pickup (which he drives as if it were a tank) to Chinan for a 3:00 service, and to Chicacao for a 5:00 service (I preached in both places). I hadn’t been to Chinan before; they have about 40 members, and have just built a new meeting place – split bamboo sides with plenty of space between each section for good ventilation, and sheet iron roof.

Chicacao is larger – about 60 members. They meet in the home of Luis Mendez. In January when Valente Rodriguez were there, eight or nine of us bedded down in a room over his bakery. This family is super hospitable – they always have lots of fresh baked bread. (And we also greatly appreciate Luis’ taxi service, regardless of how he drives.) A year ago Luis’ 18 year old son (a soldier) was killed by the guerrillas about six kms. out of town. Luis was remembering this all over again (he had several photos of the funeral), and grieving – most of all because his son had not obeyed the gospel.

Richardo Ventura Lopez works with these brethren, but four or five of the men preach. Ricardo is very studious and talented. Now that the brethren in Chinan have opened their doors to us, hopefully he will be invited to help there.

May 12 – we left Chicacao at 4:30 a.m. to go back to the capital. Services that night were in Colonia La Brigada; they have about 20 members. Fernando works with this group when in town, but he travels a great deal; when I left Guatemala to come home, he left also, to go preach in Honduras.

May 13 – Calel, Espinosa and I took a six hour bus trip toward the west to the “departamento” (state) of San Marcos. Calel knew Alfonso Lopez who lives near San Pablo, out in a coffee and banana grove. We had services that night in his home. Alfonso works with three or four small groups in that area (Malacatan, Sta. Julia, San Rafael, 15 de Enero).

May 14 – service in San Rafael. No church here (only one brother), but they have rented a room in the middle of town to conduct studies. Brethren from Santa Julia (3 families) help. These towns are very near the Mexican border, so Urbano Roblero of Cacahoatan, Chiapas, Mexico, works with Alfonso.

May 15 – we returned by same route, stopping at San Antonio, Suchetepequez, for a service (they have about 15 or 18 members). Jose Maria Cox Ixbalan works with these brethren; also in Las Margaritas. They are about to finish their meeting house in San Antonio.

May 16 – services in La Patria (18 members, new meeting place like the one in Chinan but smaller) and San Basilio (70). Antonio Chuc works with these congregations, and also with La Alexandria (45) and Los Ujustes (8). He has a small Honda to get from place to place. Good man.

May 17, 18 – we returned to the capital for weekend services in La Florida and La Brigada. When I left Guatemala May 19, Fernando also left en route to Honduras to work with the churches in San Pedro Sula, Catacamas, and possibly other places.

Many of the brethren in the towns and villages mentioned in this report speak Indian dialects. Luis Mendez preaches in Cakchiquel. On the Sunday I preached in Chinan the ones in charge spoke this dialect when they served the Lord’s Supper, took up the collection, and made announcements. In San Basilio and surrounding villages they speak Sutujil. Antonio Chuc can preach in this dialect. Brother Cael speaks Quiche, and we hope to be working in the “departamento” of Quiche in the near future (Fernando already has an invitation). After the service in San Basilio, Pablo Angel Coche invited us for supper. Before we left he asked for prayers in Spanish and Sutujil for a lady who had just had a baby; it’s a wonder they didn’t ask me to lead one in English.

In some of these villages there are quite a few who don’t bother with shoes, and I don’t mean just the children. I know some brethren who could save a bundle if they could get their wives to go with them to work in this area. Brother Pablo is a capable preacher – a barefoot preacher (in Oklahoma we said “barefooted”). In fact, he does a lot better preaching without shoes than a lot of us do with shoes.

Jose Maria Cox Ixbalan, of San Antonio, Such., and Francisco Ventura Lopez, of the La Brigada church in the capital, have been preaching this past month in Playa Grande, way toward the north of the country. They traveled two days by bus, and then walked two more days, to get there. A brother from up there had visited in Chicacao and asked for their help. Calel and Ricardo Ventura Lopez were planning to replace Jose and Francisco, spending the month of June up there. I’m sure other contacts will be made in that area.

There brethren we’re working with are doing pretty well so far as declaring their independence from the control of the liberal system. But some of them need teaching, not only on liberalism, but also on faithful attendance, punctuality, orderly worship, Pentecostal tendencies, divorce and remarriage, extremism – and a lot more!

In my judgment one of the most pressing needs in the Spanish work is for more gospel preachers – and especially mature, experienced men – from the United States to get involved in the work in these Latin American countries. There are many open doors, and this means there is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done. We need to share our spiritual riches with these people who for centuries have been denied them.

We are very limited in the amount of gospel literature we can offer these brethren. I don’t mean just tracts and correspondence courses (although these are very important); they need detailed studies on many subjects commentaries, sermon books, debate notes, class books, etc. We are distributing a few works, but it’s only a drop in the bucket compared with what’s needed, and what could be supplied if more brethren would get involved in this work.

Guardian of Truth XXX: 13, pp. 395-396
July 3, 1986

By Lowell Kibler

(Note: Lowell Kibler works with the church of Christ, 873 Oakwood Road, Charleston, WV 25314. He prepared this article in a bulletin format with the services on the back page for use in personal work. We commend this effort and are reproducing it here in hopes of stimulating similar efforts in other areas. Ron Halbrook)

Escape Hell!

Yes neighbor, Hell is real. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psa. 9:17). We are to “fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt. 10:28). The judgment scene is pictured in Matthew 25. The “sheep” are separated from the “goats.” To the goats on the left, Jesus will say, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). Who will go to Hell? “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:13-14). Think of it! The majority are going to be lost! Why? Because in failure to obey the gospel (2 Thess. 1:7-9), they reject a loving appeal from the Heavenly Father to repent and turn from sin.

Gain Heaven!

Heaven is real too; it is the “city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10). You too can be among the righteous few who will go into life eternal (Matt. 25:46). God would “have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Friend, if you miss heaven, you will have missed it all. This life is temporary and uncertain. Death is sure. You have the choice of dying in your sins or in the Lord. The Lord is longsuffering and lovingly desirous of your repentance and obedience (2 Pet. 3:9; Heb. 5:9). His grace and mercy is extended to you through the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation (Rom.1:16).

You must believe, as one cannot please God without faith (Heb. 11:6).

You must repent (change your mind) or perish (Lk. 13:3).

You must confess Christ (Matt. 10:32).

You must be immersed in water for forgiveness of your sins and to be added to the Lord’s church (Acts 2:38,47; 8:36).

You must then walk in newness of life, having been crucified with Christ (dead to sin), to no longer serve sin but to serve the cause of righteousness (Rom. 6:4-5,18).

You must be faithful therein until death (Rev. 2: 10).

Avoid Error!

Sin takes many deceitful forms. Satan appeals to us through the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye and the pride of life (1 Jn. 2:15). We must continue in the apostles’ doctrine (Acts 2:42), which is the doctrine or teaching of Christ. If we do not abide in it, we have not God (2 Jn. 9). Many false teachers are actively serving Satan clothed as ministers of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:13-15).

Their humanly devised doctrines will make you two-fold more the child of Hell (Matt. 23:15), and render your worship vain (Matt. 15:9). Churches which use mechanical music, observe days unknown to the New Testament, and have programs of “good” works unauthorized by King Jesus are leading people to eternal destruction by holding forth a perverted gospel (Gal. 1:6-9).

Who Are We?

We are simply a band of disciples of Jesus Christ who seek to be the kind of church you can read about in your New Testament. In order to be so described, we seek to speak as the oracles of God (1 Pet. 4:11). We seek the old paths (Jer. 6:16), and encourage others to seek the way of salvation with us. Jesus built only one church (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:4; 1:22-23). We must stay within the bounds of those things authorized by the Lord Himself (Col. 3:17), in order to be a church that belongs to the Lord. To depart from His teaching by addition, subtraction, or substitution, is to so sin as to lose one’s soul (2 Jn. 9).

The Lord gave us an example of the church in the book of Acts. When we worship and work as that church did, we are recognized by the Lord as a group of His people. As we study the New Testament, we find that first century Christians worshiped God through five major areas each first day of the week:

Singing (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).

Prayer (Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 2:1-8).

The Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:20-34).

Giving As Prospered (1 Cor. 16:2).

Preaching And Teaching (Acts 20:7; 19:8-9).

The work of the church is simple. Its primary function is to support the truth and to spread the truth, the gospel (1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Thess. 1:8). This work is considered of greater importance than benevolence to the needy saints (Acts 6:14). If a church has greater benevolent needs than it can handle, other churches may send to the elders of the needy church (Acts 11:27-30). The church is also to teach its own members. This work is neatly summed up in Ephesians 4:12, “For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ” (NASV).

Friend, the gospel was preached throughout the whole world in Paul’s day (Col. 1:23). Souls were saved, God was worshiped and served, and needy saints were cared for without sponsoring churches, missionary societies, human headquarters, ball teams, gymnasiums, or any doctrine or practice having its origin in the imagination of man. It was done by following the teaching of Christ. God’s plan will work if we will work God’s plan.

Today we are flooded with schemes, fun, food, and frolic designed to capture and hold attention. We plead for a return to simple New Testament Christianity, a return to the Bible. If the gospel, salvation, and eternal life do not hold attention, then we must recognize that human substitutions cannot be of any spiritual benefit. If you are interested in eternal life rather than the social life, and spiritual food instead of coffee, cake, and chicken, why not come and investigate the truth with us? Someone said of churches which use such appeals that they were spiritually as dead as the chicken and as cold as the ice-cream! The Holy Spirit said through Paul, “What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in?” (1 Cor. 11:22)

We do not exist in this community for selfish purposes or to foster a party of our own. The church is God’s creation, not a product of our minds. We urge you to come out of the lawlessness (iniquity) of this world and false churches. Come to Jesus and find rest unto your soul (Matt. 11:28). On judgment day, Jesus will say to those who practice things for which they have no authority, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23).

Our pulpit is open to any sincere person with an opposing viewpoint at any mutually agreeable time. If we have not the truth, we want it. Truth does not fear investigation, but error will suffer from it. Perhaps that is the reason most denominations have closed their doors to any examination of their teaching.

Guardian of Truth XXX: 14, pp. 417, 440
July 17, 1986

By Weldon E. Warnock

Gambling is parasitic, selfish and greedy. It thrives from the lives of others and is out everything for nothing. Someone said that “gambling chloroforms the soul, freezes the very milk of human kindness, and kills all feeling for the spiritual.” The old French proverb says, “Gambling is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, the father of mischief.”

Webster defines gambling: “To play or game for money or other stakes; to hazard; wager.” Involved in this definition are action and value; rivalry with another person or persons; possibility of loss and uncontrolled event. Paraphrasing, we could say that gambling is “a participation or engagement by two or more persons in a contest or game wherein they risk their money on value.” Thus, it involves one person trying to get what another person possesses by chance.

Condemnation of Gambling (Phil. 4:8).

Though the Bible does not come right out and specify gambling as a work of the flesh, there principles set forth in the Scriptures that gambling violates. Someone who has the gambling fever might say, enough to show anyone “Show me where the Bible condemns gambling! The word is not even in the Bible.” But, does this make gambling right because the word is not mentioned? Certainly not! Suicide, embezzling, bootlegging, racketeering, etc. do not occur in the Bible, but they are wrong and sinful, nevertheless. So, it is also true with gambling. Though the word is not in the Bible, there are Scriptures that condemn it.

Paul wrote, “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth” (Eph. 4:28). God intends for man to make a living by working for it. Those who gamble try to get something for nothing without giving service or exchange for goods. When man fell and was cast out of Eden, God said, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. . . (Gen. 3:19).

Again, we read, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. . . ” (Rom. 13: 10). Could one practice this Scripture and at the same time be making plans to acquire his neighbor’s weekly paycheck? We are to love our neighbor as ourselves and do nothing to him that we would not want done unto ourselves. Taking a man’s money is not a very neighborly act.

“Thou shalt not covet” (Rom. 13:9) is another passage against gambling. Covetousness is eagerness to have more, especially that which belongs to another. Thayer says covetousness (epithumia) means, “desire for what is forbidden” (p. 238). He also sates concerning pleoniexia, translated covetousness, “greedy, desire to have more” (p. 516). Every form of gambling is promoted by greed and lust to get that which belongs to somebody else. Covetousness is the root of it. The end result is that the covetous shall not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10).

Paul wrote to the Philippian brethren, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true . . . honest . . . pure . . . lovely . . . good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:8). Gambling is contrary to each one of these things. Furthermore, a gambler cannot glorify God in such activity. Paul said, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

These preceding Scriptures are more than enough to show anyone who is honest and sincere that gambling is worldly and sinful in nature. It should be abhorred, despised and rejected.

Methods of Gambling

There are scores of ways to gamble. People can gamble on almost anything. One of the biggest gambling rackets is horse racing. People do not go day after day to the races just to see the horses run. They go to gamble. Take away the gambling and horse racing would cease. Billions of dollars are “poured down the drain” annually to play the horses. Think what this money would do in feeding the poor, or helping unemployment. Dog racing has also become quite popular. People are literally going to the dogs.

Card playing is another way by which many gamble. This sort of gambling is running rampant in every town. You can find it in the back of the pool hall, in the privacy of the clubs, the casinos, or in the living room of the home. It may be called “bridge,” or “poker,” and maybe only a vase, ornament or a few dollars are involved, but whether the value is little or big, it is still gambling. Perhaps we would be safe in saying that nine-tenths of gamblers are taught in their homes by their mothers and fathers in a bridge game or poker game, or maybe the lottery that everybody has gone “crazy” over. How could children grow up to have any scruples against wagering when the parents have set such unworthy examples before them.

Other forms of gambling are such things as wagering on dice, bingo (you are starting to meddle right here, preacher), slot machines, punch boards, matching coins, pitching pennies at a line, buying chances on a new car, boat, etc. Christians have no business participating in any of these. They are gambling. “But much of it is such a small amount. How could anything like that be wrong?” somebody says. For the same reason that it is just as wrong to steal a little money as it is to steal a lot. Stealing is stealing regardless of the amount and gambling is gambling regardless of the stakes.

Consequences of Gambling

Along with gambling go, many times, crime, murder, drunkenness, broken homes, stealing, robbery, loss of position and reputation, and other evils.

How many have killed as a result of a card game? How many have stolen in order to pay back their gambling debt? How many broken homes have come about because a father began gambling and could not provide for his own because his week’s pay was wasted in a poker game or on a horse race? How many lives have been ruined because the “gambling fever” was not thwarted?

Gambling is just another deceptive sin that Satan uses to entice the souls of men and women into his own will. There is no good in it. It is filled with disappointment, heartache and sorrow. Its way is down and not up.

In conclusion, I quote the words of Solomon: “Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich. Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father. He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor” (Prov. 28:6-8).

Guardian of Truth XXX: 13, pp. 397-398
July 3, 1986