Truth Magazine

By Donald Willis

Tuesday, my wife drug me to a Writer’s Seminar on Romance. Most knowledgeable persons understand that romance is not the interest of the pen of a preacher . . . though all people are interested in Romance! God made us that way, and there is nothing wrong with loving and being loved.

A New York City publishing house had sent its representative into the Houston market looking for new Journalists. There were six different categories in which one might write. One of these was Romance with an Inspirational thrust. They were especially desirous of having one write from this viewpoint.

A question was asked from the floor as to how far a writer might take the subject of sex. The company representative said that “. . . no Christian will engage in premarital sex nor after marriage will they talk openly concerning their sexual involvement.” This caused a stir among the audience, and some people got up and left (in their defense, may I add they had been seated for almost two hours).

I thought it interesting that a publishing company representative that is interested in Romantic Novels would conclude, “. . . no Christian will engage in premarital sex”! She must have been reading the same book that I read. What a wonderful testimony for Christ!

If “. . . no Christian would engage in premarital sex,” there would be no borrow of guilt emotion over the violation of the morals of Christ. There would be no teen-age pregnancy, there would be no abortion and the aftermath of inner fear of having murdered the child.

How protective of the emotions of His children God is in establishing the moral standard whereby, “. . . no Christian will engage in premarital sex. Let us all profit by this evaluation.

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 11, p. 330
June 7, 1984

By Edward O. Bragwell. Sr.

“I hear that there are divisions among you and in part I believe it.” – 1 Corinthians 11:18

In our family discussions (your family has arguments, ours has discussions) someone may be heard to say, “Shh! The neighbors might hear us.”

This is a wise admonition, because the issues of our discussions are mostly trivial; in a few years they will not matter. Besides neighbors are so wrapped up in their own problems that they don’t need to be bothered with ours anyway.

I hear brethren express the same sentiment about problems among brethren. They are saying, in effect, “Shh! The neighbors might hear us.” My brother, that is a horse of a different color. First, our neighbors already know a lot more about “our problems” than many brethren do. Secondly, a people primarily interested in truth loses nothing by dealing openly and frankly with its own short-comings. The Kingdom of God is strong enough to survive and thrive without glossing over what every really informed person already knows – Christians sometimes argue, sin, and backslide. Christians suffer all the woes common to humanity and many other things as result of their faith. We have nothing to lose by the negative being right up front with the positive.

“Our neighbors” are sometimes wiser than many of “us” in this respect. In an article, in Pulpit Helps, a writer said it well:

“The positive ‘gospel’ is erroneous in two respects. The first of these is in its origin, or the cause which gave it rise. That origin is nothing less than pure sales psychology. You have a ‘product’ to sell. In order to sell it, you must be at pains to present nothing in your sales ‘pitch’ but what will contribute to the sale. Above all, you must not in any way antagonize the prospect, discourage him, or say anything that would militate against your objective, which is the sale that you seek. That is the fundamental idea and purpose back of “the positive approach.” It is the objective of selling, with its requirement to bend every effort and direct every consideration to that end. It is to be especially noted that the primary interest is not to present truth, but to achieve the pre-determined objective.

“. . . The simple fact of the matter is, in God’s kingdom, we are not in the ‘selling’ business. Oh, how the modern church needs to learn that basic reality! It is not our job to ‘sell’ Christ or the Gospel to this generation; hence, man’s sales psychology is wholly inapplicable to our assignment. The sooner we learn that, the quicker we can begin to-get back to the purity of apostolic religion and tactics. Our mission is to preach the Word of God (2 Tim. 4:2), including all the great mass of ‘negative’ doctrine in it, and earnestly call upon men to heed and obey it while time and opportunity are theirs. The Bible plainly says it is God’s prerogative to give “the increase” (1 Cor. 3:7). Let us not become so engrossed with the divine part of the enterprise – the increase – that we fatally water down or mutilate the message by deleting from it all that men in their self love and ambition, have designated as ‘negative.”‘ (“Are You Selling or Proclaiming the Gospel?” by Fred D. Blakely)

We would do well to give some thought to this bit of wisdom from one not a member of the church of Christ. Concerned, honest, and sincere Christians are heard to say that they are afraid for friends, neighbors or new converts to read many papers published by brethren – not because of any error taught, but because they deal openly with problems among brethren. Or that they are afraid to bring them to some of our classes because they would be exposed to 44our internal problems.” They want them to have only a “positive” image of “us.” It might cause them to not want to become “one of us.” We have been chided for dealing with problems among brethren, in this paper, since it goes to some outsiders. Should we just present “positive Christianity” to the world and keep our problems more behind the scenes. Sounds good! But, is it the approach that the Lord would have us take?

Think brethren! If one wants to keep reading material that tells of and deals with problems among brethren from falling into the “wrong hands,” then let him get the Bibles that he passes out bound up in selected sections – so that he can give only certain sections to strong brethren and withhold from outsiders and weak brethren sections that frankly deal with “brotherhood problems.”

Be careful with 1 Corinthians. It tells of a fornicating brother and the church’s negligence in dealing with him. It openly reveals that there were shameful law-suits against other brethren, jealousy and confusion over spiritual gifts, and revellings connected with the Lord’s Supper. What if a non-Christian or weak brother were to get hold of that would it not so discourage and disgust him that he would quit?

Keep Galatians in your briefcase and give it only to those whom you are sure are seasoned veterans of the cross. It lets the cat out of the bag that there are “false brethren.” It tells about Peter’s (a rather “big name” preacher in the church) playing the hypocrite – all laid out there for anyone to read.

One might consider blacking out certain other portions. Those parts that tell that one of Jesus’ hand-picked apostles betrayed Him, another shamefully denied Him on the night of His betrayal. Maybe the 15th chapter of Acts ought not to fall into the hands of anyone but the strongest of Christians. It tells of a big debate, involving some leading men of the brotherhood, over a doctrinal matter within the church! It also reports that two of our leading brethren got into such a heated exchange that they finally wound up going separate ways into Asia Minor. And, by all means, keep the book of Revelation away from such people. Besides it being so deep and hard to understand, it lays right out for all to see the awful conditions in some churches of Christ in Asia.

Maybe someone will put out a new revised version – kind of like the Reader’s Digest Condensed Bible – that will accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative, so that brethren who are so worried about “our image” will have one to hand out.

Of course, much I have said so far has been tongue-in-cheek, to make us think. We need to think. Are we not in some way professing ourselves too wise becoming fools? Are we professing ourselves to be wiser than the Apostles and the Holy Spirit in our tactics? Do we think they did not know that those writings – even those that put brethren in a bad light – would be for general distribution? I am afraid that we are fast developing and attitude among brethren that is more concerned with “enhancing our image” before the world and creating a more positive approach in order to attract and keep more folks to count as members than we are in really converting people to Christ. Converting people to Christ is more than creating in them a favorable opinion of brethren, it is teaching people the truth and urging them to obey it and stand for it at all cost. It is helping them understand that not all brethren are genuine and that many who profess Christ have human failings and sins, but they can and must be faithful in spite of that. It is helping them understand that their faith must stand in the Christ and not in human beings and their behavior, even if those human beings are brethren. It is helping them understand that, instead of Christianity solving all their problems in this life, that it may create some new ones for them (cf. Luke 9:57-62; 14:25-35). They need to be made aware of all of this, then they will be less likely to be thrown into a tail spin when they encounter such in the real world of being a Christian. Tell them that by obeying the gospel and serving Christ they will be able to cope with these problems and go to heaven when they die.

Christians are primarily interested in truth. They are not afraid of truth, even unpleasant truth. If we get so afraid that our neighbors will hear us that we suppress truth and open efforts to seek and proclaim it, even unpleasant truth about ourselves, then we will become just another sect interested only in putting its best foot forward and protecting its image and recruiting its members by a positive sales psychology, rather than being a people that believe that truth is strong enough to withstand close investigation and that true Christianity can afford to be open and frank before the whole world. With this approach the early church grew stronger in spirit and numbers and purified itself. I believe that truth still has that power if we will quit being so timid and apologetic about it.

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 11, pp. 327-328
June 7, 1984

By Irven Lee

The world by its own wisdom does not find God or the proper level of behavior (Jer. 10:23). Carnality takes over when faith fails. When the gospel message went out in the first century of the church, most of the Jews stumbled at the message of a spiritual kingdom and the Greeks considered the idea of a crucified Savior to be foolishness. The atheists (humanists) who scoff at the Bible today count themselves wise as did the ancient Greeks, but God counts them foolish (1 Cor. 3:19). These who are wise in their own conceits would consider the work of gospel preachers to be worse than useless. They dedicate themselves to the effort to destroy the effectiveness of the work of men of faith.

There is a message that should be carefully delivered to every person in all the world. This enormous task is the work of preachers as God ordained it (Matt. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15,16; Luke 24:47). There is an urgency about getting the message delivered, and the preacher should grasp the seriousness of his business (2 Tim. 4:1-5). Paul used many expressions to remind the Ephesian elders of his attitude toward preaching: “what manner,” “humility of mind,” “many tears,” “temptations,” and of how he “kept back nothing that was profitable.” He could claim that he was pure from the blood of all men because he shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:17-35). He did not preach for the money at Ephesus. In fact, he earned his own money and funds for the care of his helpers while he was there. He knew that his work of preaching was important.

Paul and Silas “suffered” and were “shamefully entreated” at Philippi, but they went right on to Thessalonica and were “bold” to speak the “gospel of God.” It was this bold presentation of the truth in such a way as to be well pleasing to God, rather than flattery and other men pleasing tactics, that they depended on to get the job done. They were allowed by God to be put in trust with the gospel so there was a feeling that they were debtors to others (1 Thess. 2:1-13).

Paul’s feeling of debt toward others included Greeks, Barbarians, the wise, and the unwise (Rom. 1: 14). “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16). The apostles were chosen ambassadors to bind on earth that which is bound in heaven (2 Cor. 5:17-20; Eph. 3:1-12; Rom. 1: 15-18). It was the fact that Paul realized that “the gospel is the power of God unto salvation” that caused him to be “ready to preach.” If a man sees that his neighbor’s house is on fire, it is but natural for him to think of rescuing those people if they are asleep inside.

Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to God, and faith comes by hearing the word of God (Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10: 17; Mark 16:16). It was not just one or two apostles who knew of the importance of this message. The early church must have been impressed by the magnitude of the assignment of the great commission. “Daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:42). Persecution scattered the Jerusalem church with its many members to the four winds, and “they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). The explanation of their zeal lies in the strength of their faith. They took the word in spite of any danger and proclaimed it unashamedly from the housetops. The Christ had taught the twelve to “fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” rather than to fear some one who could destroy only the body (Matt. 10:27,28).

It took amazing zeal to put the foundation under the work of Paul so that he could say “that from Jerusalem”, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (Rom. 15:19). After this Roman letter was written, he did very much more. While he was accomplishing so much, others were also working with zeal and in spite of persecution (Acts 4:3,20; 5:29). Within one generation the gospel “was preached to every creature which is under heaven” (Col. 1:23). That generation did not have modern means of travel, printing presses, radio, or television. Governmental officials among both Jews and Gentiles fought the preachers as did religious zealots among Jews and Gentiles. Let the preacher stand up today if he supposes that he has a faith equal to that of those first gospel preachers.

What is a preacher’s work? How should he conduct himself as he goes about preaching the gospel? How much money must he have in order to stay in the work? What methods seem to be most effective in our modern world? These questions have their place, but the answers have less and less importance if we come to have more and more faith in God and respect for the gospel as God’s power unto salvation.

The lazy, selfish preacher does not have enough faith to preach. The church might hardly miss him if he should quit preaching and “go to work” at some secular job. The men who would make merchandise of the souls of men and speak things which they ought not for filthy lucre’s sake are not God’s servants (Titus 1: 11; 2 Peter 2:3; Eph. 4:14; 2 Tim. 4:3,4). The hobby riding sowers of discord are not assets but liabilities to the work (Acts 20:29-31; Matt. 7:15,16; Gal. 1:6-10; 1 John 2:19). The preachers who become fornicators, drunkards, and who conform to the evil world in other ways cause the world to blaspheme the holy name of God. When faith, hope, and love fill a life they lead one toward the mark for the prize of the high calling. Men with these precious foundation principles add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, and brotherly kindness.

Faith, hope, and love can lead to the gentleness, holiness, self control, soundness of doctrine, zeal, and other traits of the good soldier (See 2 Tim. 2:24,25; 1 Thess. 1:1-13; 2 Tim. 2:14).

Some men on the “mission field” or with well established churches may be more like semi-retired executives than like gospel preachers of the age of the apostles. Knowledge of grammar, skill as a public speaker, psychology and ability to discuss things of common interest may be of some help to the man of God. Reverence, Bible knowledge, great faith, and love for God and man are of much more importance.

Some who are called preachers may be bored because they may not see much to do. If some brethren stop by and find the preacher reading they may think that they have found him not busy. There is a great need for young men and older men who are of very great faith to preach. The time may be fast approaching when opposition to the word increases to the point when only those of the greatest faith will preach. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Organization of Women (NOW) are no more eager for the pure gospel to be preached than the Sadducees were when Peter and John preached in Jerusalem. There is a growing number of able preachers. Let us hope and pray that they may be strong and of good courage.

There is a lot of time that goes into two sermons and two or three classes per week. There is the special preparation for each of these lessons, and there is a lot of general reading and constant efforts to grow in background knowledge. Some who do not know that preachers work might benefit by going with one for a week and observing how many questions are asked on many different subjects. One never knows what subjects will be brought up. We are to be ready always to give answer (1 Peter 3:15).

Being vigilant or watchful is an assigned task (1 Pet. 5:8). We should not be ignorant of Satan’s devices (2 Cor. 2:11). His subtlety is remarkable (2 Cor. 11:3). In our generation we can learn in advance of the wind of doctrine, the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive by reading religious journals among us. Good men deal with these problems in these journals. This reading awakens to coming dangers so there can be advance preparation. This takes time and effort.

The faithful men among early Christians taught publicly and from house to house. This is also true today (Acts 5:42; 20:20, 29-3 1). Some of the greatest accomplishments are in these private efforts. This takes time. Words of exhortation to the tempted and deceived are also needed. Men of great faith, hope, and love see these needs and enter into doors of opportunity. Much of the work of preaching and teaching is done by Christians who are not full-time preachers. Are you doing your part in the effort to scatter the seed?

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 11, pp. 328-329
June 7, 1984

By David McClister

A necessary question to be answered is “what is inspiration? ” To fully appreciate the evidence cited in the last article, the answer to this question must be clear. The topic of inspiration may be spoken of and thought of in two ways: (1) inspiration in the sense of prompting or stimulation. This is the modern secular and colloquial use of the term, and may be commonly used in a sentence such as, “The artist was inspired by the beautiful sunset, so he made a painting of it.” This concept of inspiration is far from the biblical idea of inspiration, which means (2) “God-breathed.” The Scriptures themselves claim that they are the product of the creative breath of God (2 Tim. 3:16).

The conclusion to be drawn from the answer above is that it is possible to be inspired in the modern sense, meaning prompted or stimulated, and yet not be inspired in the biblical sense, by the Holy Spirit. Is there anyone alive today in the flesh on this earth that is a member of the Lord’s church who can truthfully say they are inspired in the biblical sense, by the Holy Spirit, as the apostles and New Testament writers were? Of course not. One may say, “I feel inspired to write a book”, but he certainly does not mean that he is being led directly by the Holy Spirit in the matter.

A good illustration can be seen in the inspiration claimed by the Pentecostal preachers today. We all know that the Pentecostals are living proof that one can lead himself, by his emotions, to believe anything. Pentecostal preachers work themselves into a frenzy so they can “speak in tongues.” Now the gift of speaking in tongues has ceased (I Cor. 13:8), but the Pentecostals believe that they can still exercise it.

In the same sense as the modern Pentecostals, so were the ancient oracle prophets and poets “inspired.” In the article from the TDNT on the word theopneustos (inspiration), the following information is found:

Democr.(itus), 18 maintains that the poet writes with enthusiasm and the holy spirit, and the same applies materially wherever what is uttered by inspired men is written down or the work of the poet is regarded as inspiration.(1)

Notice that the ancient oracle prophets and poets were described as being inspired in the sense of prompted or stimulated (enthused). Even more interesting is their claim to the “holy spirit.” Once again we have an example of one claiming to be divinely inspired, yet in reality was not. The ancient Greeks thought, just like the modern Pentecostals, that they were inspired, yet just because they believed they were divinely inspired does not mean that they were.

Why, then, were the oracle personnel and poets called prophets? Because they were thought to have been divinely inspired. Now, I repeat, they were inspired in the sense of stimulated or enthused, but were never inspired with true inspiration, in the biblical sense, as the prophets of God were.

To do justice to this study, the Old Testament prophets cannot be overlooked. In Numbers 24:2-4 we have an example, and a striking one at that, of just how prophecy was uttered. The text explicitly says, concerning Balaam, ” and the Spirit of God came upon him” and speaks of Balaam “. . . who heareth the words of God.” Why are we able to call Balaam’s utterances on these occasions prophecies? It is because on these occasions he spoke as a mouthpiece for God, under divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That this communication was direct to Balaam is seen in the phrase “who heareth the words of God.” Even though Balaam cannot be called a prophet along with the great prophets such as Isaiah or Jeremiah, there can be no doubt whatsoever that Balaam prophesied, meaning that he spoke as a mouthpiece for God under direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, on this occasion.

Jeremiah 23:16 gives a working definition of the difference between a false prophet and a true prophet. The prophets who spoke “a vision of their own heart,” who spoke as their own human stimulus provided, were not to be heard. The true prophet was not who spoke “out of the mouth of Jehovah.” The false prophets spoke “revelations of their heart, not what God has spoken, revealed to them.”(2) Again, one can plainly see two distinct types of inspiration: that which is of human origin and is seated in the emotions, and that which is of divine origin, seated with God. Further evidence to this end is found in v. 31. The fact is again made clear: claiming inspiration does not prove the divine origin of the message (see also Jer. 14:13f).

The New Testament fully supports the Old Testament concerning the divine inspiration of God’s prophets. Acts 28:25 clearly shows the source of Isaiah’s utterances. Isaiah was inspired in the true sense of the word – “the holy Spirit spake through” him. Isaiah’s words were not his own words, but they were God’s words. Hebrews 1:1 reveals that God spake “unto the fathers in (Greek en) the prophets” (see also 1 Pet. 1:10f). It was God who spoke in His prophets. The prophets did not speak of their own volition. We may even point to the divine inspiration of the prophets of God in a roundabout way, as seen in Stephen’s accusation against the Jews (Acts 7:51). Stephen charged that the Jews were resisting the Holy Spirit just as their fathers had done. How did their fathers reject the Holy Spirit? Verse 52 supplies the answer: by rejecting God’s prophets. When the Jews had rejected (and killed) the prophets, they had also rejected the Holy Spirit that spoke through those prophets. One of the most conclusive statements, however, concerning the divine inspiration of the prophets of God, is found in Acts 3:21. Peter told the people gathered at Solomon’s porch that “God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old. “

This, then, leads to the study of the New Testament prophet. The first mention of prophets in the church is made in Acts 11:27. Not much is said of these prophets, but one can know assuredly that they were at least divinely inspired by God because one of them, Agabus, did something that no false prophet (one inspired by his own emotions) could ever do: he predicted the future, and it came to pass exactly as stated. Further investigation reveals that the prophets in the early church were indeed divinely inspired of God. Ephesians 3:5 states that the mystery of Christ was revealed to God’s apostles and prophets “in the Spirit.” This The Sin Of Substitution revelation could not have been anything but direct divine communication, for anything else would violate the When one is dissatisfied with God’s ways yet seeks to be significance of the word mystery (Greek mysterion), which religious, he will make substitution here and there to properly means,

The secret thoughts, plans, and dispensations of God which are hidden from the human reason, as well as from all other comprehension below the divine level, and hence must be revealed to those for whom they are intended.(3)

Also, 1 Corinthians 12:10 lists prophecy as a gift of the Spirit.

This brings us to a very important point that must be clearly understood. All the evidence cited leads to one conclusion: there is no such thing as prophecy without inspiration. The accompanying chart hopefully clarifies much of what has been presented, and basically explains itself. Basically, there are two kinds of prophets: (1) the true prophets who spoke what God communicated to them by the Spirt, and (2) the false prophets who spoke as a result of their own human stimulation (although they thought otherwise).

With the next and final article of this study we shall use the facts that have been presented to identify the “prophesying” of 1 Corinthians 11:4f.

Prophecy
True Prophet	False Prophet
Inspired of God, speaking that which God communicates directly to him.	Speaks that which his own emotions direct him to speak.
Inspiration: divine in the true sense, speaking the words of God.	Inspiration: from self, seated in the emotions.
The only persons who fit into this category are the true prophets of God in the Old and New Testaments.	Under this category fall the pagan Greek oracle prophets and poets, along with the Bible characters identified as false prophets.

1. Gerhard Kittel, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, trans. G.W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), VI, 454.

2. C.F. Kiel, and F. Delitzch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. VIII, C.F. Keil, Jeremiah and Lamentations, trans D. Patrick, and J. Kennedy (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1980), p. 358.

3. Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, trans. William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, 2nd ed., rev. and aug. by F. William Gingrich, and Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1979), p. 530.

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 11, pp. 337-338
June 7, 1984