Truth Magazine

By Ralph Walker

Saturday noon. You’re at the office desk. Hair is disheveled. So is desktop. Books are strewn around the room, open and discarded. Electric typewriter hums over a half-page outline that is forsaken. Forehead is bright red from contact with walls and palms of hands. You’re in trouble, man, real trouble. You only have twenty-two hours of life before you step into that pulpit and deliver. And what have you got? Nothing, zero, nil, a goose egg.

You’ve plumbed your resources and come up empty. The seed sermon file is old stuff you can’t bring to life. You don’t feel good about fishing in the sermon outline books. You’re coming down to the wire without a single good idea.

Welcome to the world of preaching. Hasn’t every pulpiteer gone through this misery at some time? Maybe not to that extreme (but how many wait for Saturday night inspiration?), but all of us reach blind alleys occasionally – weeks when you cannot come up with appropriate bread for the masses.

I don’t know that I eliminated the problem in 1982, but I halved it. And it was only a side benefit of a task I undertook. Read on brother for help is here!

Last December I began preparing the church for a new year with some goal setting. I proposed to have us read through the Bible in 1982. I offered three incentives for doing this. First we purchased and distributed to each member a small daily Bible reading ~ chart. These were distributed at the door the day I preached on the subject. The chart has the passages to read each day and a box to be checked off when it is completed.

Second a large chart was placed in the back of the auditorium and all readers were encouraged to sign their names to it. Each week they did their reading they were to check off on the chart and a red marker would highlight their progress. According to testimonies, this peer pressure works great. Few people care to see long, solid “read” lines for others while their own lines remain short.

Third was a task I took on alone. I determined to preach through the Bible as we read, covering in one sermon each week the material we had read. In doing this I hoped to clear up difficult passages, point out truths we can apply today and reinforce with repetition the Truths of the Word we had privately studied.

I mapped out my course through the Bible to coincide roughly with our reading. I am finished with the Old Testament and we are journeying toward Revelation. How has it been so far? Fantastic! I have pushed myself to limits I’ve never known. It has been a challenge, but I have joyfully grown by it.

Some sermons come easily, like Genesis 1-7. Others only come through much sweat, like Leviticus and Exodus 19-40. But let me share the benefits with you.

1. People will read through the Bible more readily if they know they will get help on Sunday to make smooth the rough way.

2. People love being in the know about the sermon before it is preached.

3. More people read through the Bible with this plan. I had little success in the past,) but at present we have 35 readers up to date or nearly so. This is compared to our usual Wednesday night attendance of 45-50.

4. I can plan ahead for my sermons. I already know on January what each week’s study must be. I can gather materials all year long, work on a lesson in advance (even months ahead of time if I want to), read a book in February and file away the material for a sermon in October. Of course this only applies to one sermon a week. I use the other time slot to deal with special topics, problems, issues, things that arise that need consideration. These I usually prepare week to week.

5. I’m forced to preach from texts I’ve never touched before. I am finding sermons in books that formerly remained closed to me. I am finally feeling the truth of the statement “the whole Bible is good for our learning.” I am not searching frantically for subjects, using sermon books, rehashing old sermons or borrowing from other preachers. I am opening the book, reading, digesting and presenting my study to others. The audience is prepared to receive it, having also read. I know where my sermons are headed and what goals are being achieved.

6. Attendance has been helped some by this program. Some members express regret that they have to be absent when certain books are to be covered. Others have mentioned they attended just to hear a sermon on a particular section (though they ought to be present every time regardless).

Have I sold you yet? I hope so. Let me add a few helps I learned by trial. I didn’t preach on a text taken from somewhere in the weeks reading. Rather I preached on the whole text, summarizing the entire weeks material. This does get difficult due to the time factor but that introduces another good benefit – discipline. Imagine covering the book of Isaiah in one sermon. You cannot linger anywhere very long.

I try to pick out and comment on certain passages that I find speaking to me and share them as we travel through our reading. Sometimes I read sections of Scripture without comment only to note their beauty. I try to find gems of truth we can treasure, that might have been overlooked. This is training for the reader to seek such truths in his private reading. You would be surprised at the places one finds great wisdom of God applicable to us today.

I could not preach on the Psalms and do justice to them. I could do little more than state the purpose of each in one sentence in trying to deal with Psalms 22-67 in one sermon. I also lumped the 6 weeks covering the gospel accounts in to 3 sermons on the life of Christ (using portions of all 4 gospels). I felt the repetition would have been detrimental for that length of time.

Finally, I did not preach the Scripture reading sermons all on Sunday morning or evening, but mixed them up. If you preach all the Bible reading sermons on Sunday night, those who don’t participate in reading daily may choose to absent themselves from those studies. By mixing them up this can’t happen.

I am already planning next year’s agenda of sermons. I won’t be covering the Bible again for a few years, but I am purposing my preaching for 1983.1 am spoiled now on the benefits and can’t see why I would go back to that horrible existence described in paragraph one. Why don’t you take some time now to do the same and save yourself the weekly agony of deciding what to preach on? Why not preach through the Bible in 1983? 1 know God will richly bless you too.

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 10, pp. 301-302
May 19, 1983

By Earl E. Robertson

All one can know about this subject is what the Scriptures say. So, we must turn to them and make an honest investigation that we might make a correct judgment. The Church of Christ is surely identified in the sacred writings. Look at some of the things the Bible says about this church:

1. Christ is the builder. Yes, it was the Lord Himself who said, “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). Jesus’ determination is herein stated! Now, He either kept this promise or He did not. As we further read of its existence, we must conclude that He kept the promise faithfully.

2. Christ is the foundation. Paul wrote the 1 Corinthian letter and informed them of that fact that he had laid the foundation for the church there by preaching the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Then he concludes by saying, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:10,11; 15:1-4). In the same figure of a building, Peter affirms Jesus to be the “head (stone) of the corner” (Acts 4:11, 12).

3. Christ purchased the church. The people who make up the church are blood-bought; this is the price for sin. Paul says that Christ purchased the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28). Peter shows that the blood of Jesus was the price paid for the souls that constitute the church (1 Pet. 1:18, 19).

4. Christ is the head of the church. The church must have a head to function. It is not headless, like a denomination when its human head dies, but Christ is forever the head of it (Eph. 1:21-23; Col. 1:18, 24). The head gives direction, and having Christ as the absolute head, the direction of the church of Christ is divine and always true. This headship allows no rivals in the forms of councils, synods, conclaves, conferences, etc., which gives emphasis to the absoluteness of his headship.

5. Christ is the Savior of the church. Paul says this is true in Ephesians 5:22-32. He will take it to glory! The church is sufficient for your needs. Why not investigate it?

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 10, p. 301
May 19, 1983

By Lewis Willis

On Monday 2/7/83, Jim Bakker told a PTL studio audience at Heritage U.S.A. that he would not respond to reports currently circulating about his ministry. He said, “We can choose to accent the positive or we can choose to live like buzzards on dead flesh.” Jim, what occasions such colorful and dramatic eloquence? The answer is, Jim is in trouble again. In fact, it seems that most of the television evangelists are in trouble. Their absurd fund-raising schemes are getting considerable media coverage. The press is beginning to unmask these religious “Supermen” and folks are really going to be surprised when the real character of these unscrupulous con men is exposed. I seldom agree with the national press corporation but I applaud their efforts in this area and I would like to help them in the accomplishment of their mission as much as I can.

Why does Bakker want to accent the positive instead of living like a buzzard on dead flesh? The Akron Beacon Journal, 2/10/83, reported that the PTL Club has spent more than $440,000 (almost half a million dollars) since last October to gratify the materialistic whims of Bakker and his family. All of these expenditures occurred amid reports of a financial crisis at his ministry. On August 18, 1982, “Bakker took more than 5 minutes of air time to read a list of PTL’s overdue accounts.” With the sympathies of his audience sufficiently aroused, he made another of his daily appeals, begging his audience to send money.

According to the article, only 10 weeks prior to this, a PTL employee purchased a $375,000 oceanfront condominium “primarily for use by PTL president Jim Bakker, his wife, Tammy, and their two children.” The Highland Beach, Florida condo was purchased so the Bakker’s could “have a place in Florida where they could go and rest for a while. They go down there to get away from the hustle and bustle.” Millions of dollars have been spent to create “the hustle and bustle” from which they must now get away. What is another $375,000 of his listeners’ money to him anyway? Of course, I wonder what is wrong with the Holiday Inn? Four people could stay at a motel a bunch of nights for $375,000. Of course, the Holiday Inn won’t have $22,000 worth of floor-to-ceiling mirrors in the living room, dining room, master bedroom and hallways. Nor will the motel have an $8,000 parking place for his use! His new condo has both!

But that is not all! Bakker’s insatiable appetite for worldly things was not yet satisfied. PTL ordered $27,000 worth of equipment for Jim and Tammy to have new dressing rooms at Heritage U.S.A. “The adjoining dressing rooms, are to have 24-karat gold-plated plumbing fixtures . . . . The rooms are to feature an $11,678 sauna.” (Attention Brown Street Elders: Get with the program, fellas, and take care of the local preacher like you ought to be taking care of him.)

Bakker was still not satisfied! He wanted more. So, he and 10 others toured Europe and Israel at PTL expense. They flew from New York to London by Concord jet at a cost of $1,906 per person. He stayed in the presidential suite of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel where Anwar Sadat stayed during his peace mission to Israel. The cost: only $530 a night!

A representative of Mass Glass which installed the mirrors in the condominium, said Bakker’s agent “spent as if money were no object.” Even so, Bakker said, “We intend to be good stewards with God’s money.” Jim, the word is “spenders,” not “stewards.” I understand why he wants to “accent the positive.” Indeed, “live like buzzards on dead flesh”? Yes, sir, someone’s living like a “buzzard,” and he’s on the air in 200 major U.S. markets, plucking his listening audience out of millions of dollars, a good portion of which is being used to enable that “buzzard” to live like a king.

On Another Front

Meanwhile, television fans, did you hear what has happened on the south-40 where Rex Humbard does his number on his audience? This local dignitary continues to have his financial problems and his trouble with the press. On Tuesday, 2/8/83, The Akron Beacon Journal gave a financial update on Rex and his boys. The Humbard ministry “has had on-and-off financial woes for more than 10 years.” In 1972 an Ohio court ruled that his foundation illegally sold $12.5 million in securities. This debt was repaid by donations from his followers, “flowing in at the weekly rate of $160,000.” In 1979 he reported his ministry was $3.2 million in debt. His followers responded with $4 million. In a 1979 sermon, he said, “I’m facing a financial lion – bills that are trying to devour this ministry. Like Daniel, I need a miracle of deliverance. I don’t have the money to pay these bills.” Before concern and depression overcome you, “property records” indicate that “less than a year later” ole Rex bought him a $290,000 house and his son Donald purchased a $190,000 house. Poor guys! The BJ reports that since that time “the Humbard ministry has amassed another $2 million in debts.” However, “in that time, he and Rex Jr. have bought an additional $800,000 in property, county property records show.” Rex’s $290,000 house wasn’t good enough, so he went out and bought him a $450,000 house. He kept Rex Jr. in subjection, allowing him to purchase a new house, but only at a cost of $350,000. Poor kid! The article summarizes these materialistic exploits, saying, “While Humbard’s Worldwide Outreach Ministry has solicited money from the public. to solve financial problems, Humbard and his two sons, Rex Jr., 39, and Donald, 35, have purchased $1.4 million in property in the exclusive Quail Ridge Country Club community, Palm Beach County property records show.”

How do three men accumulate such a fortune? Humbard said he used his salary to purchase real estate from which he drew a profit, “leveraging our investments whenever the market permits.” He said, “If a person is able to go out and use the brains God gave him to make more money from his salary and live in a better place, I say that’s great.” To indicate what a nice guy he is, the salaries of the family “are determined through FPC&C, a Chicago consultant firm.” Apparently, the intent in using a consulting firm to set salaries is to elimination opposition. However, there is one similarity between Humbard’s ministry and the consulting firm – they both are spending somebody else’s money. And, they are g-e-n-e-r-o-u-s! If you don’t believe me, ask the city of Cleveland what they think of the number the consultants did on that city regarding their school system. The only undetermined factor here is just how large a salary do these men draw? “The Humbard’s would not reveal their salaries.” I can understand that. If in 10 years I had drawn enough salary to amass $1.4 million in property, I think I’d try to keep the amount of my salary secret as well. Just accent the positive and refuse “to live like buzzards on dead flesh.” Just keep begging and crying to your listening audience and stick it to `em! The dummies won’t know and Rex ain’t tellin’.

Don’t Forget Oral!

Meanwhile, out West, in the blue Oklahoma television sky, called the City of Faith, Oral Roberts continues to draw his much deserved attention. From all over the country, newspapers continue to report his “conversation” with God. You know the one I mean – the one where God has selected him to find a cure for cancer and told him to collect $240 from every gullible listener who believes his lie. The following cartoon by Bob Taylor of the Dallas Times Herald, appeared in the Dover, Ohio Times, 1/30/83. Obviously, as long as the Lord has friends like Oral Roberts, He doesn’t need any enemies.

I wrote to Oral, 1/25/83, calling his attention to the fact that there was a lot of skepticism about whether he had actually talked with God. I suggested that since he was building 110 floors of technical facilities, that he should submit himself to a technical test – a lie-detector test which would establish, beyond all dispute, that he was telling the truth. He honored me with the following personal letter. Please note his observance of the passover regarding that suggestion.

Dear Brother Willis,

I appreciate your writing and sharing your concerns with me concerning the publicity we have recently received.

Brother Willis, opposition is nothing new to us. We’ve had it throughout our whole ministry. And I have learned long ago God does not want me to strike back. I have always tried to keep my mind totally on the tasks God gives me to do. And I cannot do that if I involve myself in debates and denials about the negative publicity we receive.

I believe the work we do speaks for itself, Brother Willis, and must trust the Holy Spirit to show people what is and is not true. I further believe the work of this ministry will continue beyond my lifetime – and yours. I believe it will stretch into every generation to come. And by that time, any words written or spoken against us today will have no influence. Indeed, they will have no remembrance.

We are what we are in God and no distorted publication or media report can change it. Yes, we are human, but God knows our record and “no weapon formed against us will prosper” (Isaiah 54:17). We have that assurance.

Do keep us in your prayers. Satan is throwing everything against us he can find. And I believe its because he knows that God is getting ready to do something for the healing of mankind through ORU and the City of Faith that he must try anything to stop it. And if it were not for God, he could. But we are doing what God has commanded us to do so we just have to pray, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Thank you again for your concern and for taking the time to write. May God richly bless your life.

Sincerely,

(Signed) Oral Roberts

This wonderful “servant of God” continues to be assaulted by Satan. However, his noble spirit enables him to lovingly respond, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I wonder who he really thinks he’s kidding! In a letter to the editor (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1/24/83), a reader, Jennie Shantery, observed about Roberts’ latest fund-raiser, “be realistic – Roberts is also a businessman.” To which I add, A-M-E-N!

Now Let’s Hear From The Great Jerry Falwell!!

Falwell was interviewed on The Cable News Network program, TAKE TWO, 1/31/83. Remember, he is the fellow who fleeced his listeners out of $19 million recently. Interestingly, he was asked what he thought of the so-called faith healers on T.V. He responded, “Some of them, such as Ernest Angely and others are shysters.” That’s about as close to “the pot calling the kettle black” as I have ever seen. Falwell thinks Angely and the others are shysters. They probably think Falwell is a shyster. In the great “Who Is A Shyster Debate?” I uncharacteristically, agree with both sides.

Conclusion

The unrestrained greed of these men is bad enough. And, when one considers they are all false teachers, it gets even worse. The Name and Cause of the Lord is submitted to great ridicule by these imposters. The harm is immeasurable. Paul said concerning such: “Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake” (Tit. 1:11). I will go to great lengths in speaking in opposition to such men. The world must know that the Brown Street Church finds them as abhorrent as it does.

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 10, pp. 298-300
May 19, 1983

By Dudley Ross Spears

Our millennial and dispensational friends claim to take the Bible literally. They believe that Jesus will come back a second time with the saints from an imaginary “rapture” and will raise the righteous dead. Then Jesus will establish the millennial kingdom and peace and happiness supreme will reign. They imagine lions playing with lambs and children playing with deadly snakes, etc. They also imagine a beautiful body for the saints. Hal Lindsay wrote, “If you’re not too satisfied with the face or body you now have, you will have a glorious new body” (Late Great Planet Earth, p. 130).

A problem arises when one reads the words of Christ and compares them with the above ideas. Jesus said it is better to enter “into life maimed or halt rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire” (Matt. 18:8). He also said, “It is good for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire” (vs. 9). If one takes the Bible literally, one would be forced to actually amputate an offending hand and pluck out an offending eye. But this is done so one can enter into life. The millennialists are forced to equate the “life” here with the “millennial kingdom,” or else give up their order of events in the return of Christ. Do they believe we will have a glorious body, or do they believe that some may be maimed?

The truth is that one cannot take the words of Christ literally here in Matthew 18 any more than he can take the words of Paul literally in Galatians 5:24. Paul said that those who are Christ’s have “crucified the flesh.” Paul also said that our members should be killed (Col. 3:5; Rom. 8:13). Do the millennialists take this literally? I trow not. But they have the puzzle to solve as to how we can have a glorified body that is perfect in every respect and yet some will enter into life maimed because of their dedication to following Christ. How will they solve it? But another thing shows that Jesus did not mean for us to literally pluck out just one eye. John tells us that both eyes are involved in lust (1 John 2:16). How could one literally pluck out one literal eye and remove the problem of lust or offense?

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 10, p. 297
May 19, 1983