Truth Magazine

By William C. Sexton

Women seem to steal the show most of the time. They are often given the most attention being, no doubt, the most attractive of the two sexes. They are often held up as being the purest of the human creatures in society and, at times, she certainly demonstrates such in her behavior.

Unfortunately, however, evidence surfaces that some women are unproductive, undesirable and miserable persons. It is what they do that determines how “pure” and desirable they are, as with any human being!

Women, as the largest portion of humanity, are contributing, wonderful people, to be respected, loved, and received. My aim is not to degrade anyone but, rather to hold up for recognition any and all deserving persons. Dad, too, is deserving of recognition!

There is a day called Father’s Day to honor him, too! His worthy qualitites need to be recognized, elevated, and reward, too, in the eyes of us all!

Man has a mind and heart, too; he feels the need for love, companionship, and “emotional qualities” if you will, also. A song was recorded in the late forties or early fifties, “Dad, too, is lonely,” by Jimmy Skinner. It stirred my emotional fiber, causing me to ponder on the social and psychological forces contributing to the mind set of our strong men! I wish that the song could be re-recorded and released and all would listen to its message.

In our day when real human character, which is commendable to this very important figure, is played down, we need something to high-light the courageous behavior of a real father! On the evening news, we are fed a daily dose of disaster (infidelity, crime, destruction of persons and property, disrespect for decency). Movies thrive on the destructive behavior of people. I believe that we need and deserve something better. I’m challenging each of us to recognize, evaluate favorably, and reward by commending fatherly behavior.

Potentially, each man is a father. Each has a biological father. Each has to have a father sociologically, psychologically, and economically. Often however, the biological father does not have the courage and character qualitites necessary to function as a father sociologically, psychologically, and economically.

Value systems have developed that feed the ego of some who pride themselves on being biological fathers, but who cast off the value of the qualities necessary to serve in the real fatherly functions. They reject responsibility, wanting the sexual pleasure without the pain of caring.

What are we doing to support fatherly behavior, honorable responsible manhood? Beloved, people who reject the responsibility of serving and providing cultural values, emotional support, sociological elements, and economic support for their offsprings are without redeeming value, to society and to themselves. May we help bring this message home to those involved, by giving our whole-hearted support to commendable behavior of the real fatherly figure!

People who reject the responsibility of serving in a fatherly capacity, I’m convinced, live on a very low plane. They can never experience the real satisfaction of being a real father, sociologically and psychologically, which has much richer rewards than the instant thrill of planting the seed, biologically!

Let men be men, accepting the responsibility of planting the seed, legitimately as God approves in- wedlock! With love and appreciation, anticipate the arrival of that little one; stand by the mother and manifest your concern for that one you helped to bring into this world! Share in the happiness as that offspring grows and live an exemplary life before it. Yes, let men be men, experiencing the rich rewards that come only in this fashion!

Take time to recognize that fathers, too, are people with feelings! They have a large reservoir of affections, commodities of tenderness, companionship, too! Let us recognize, respect, and reward the fatherly characters! Are you honoring your father? “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth” (Eph. 6:1-3).

Guardian of Truth XXVI: 6, pp. 10-11
February 11, 1982

By Fred Holthouser

When a Witness talks to you about “the little flock,” he always has reference to the 144,000 which they call the heavenly class or the anointed. All other Witnesses are what they refer to as “the other sheep” or the earthly class. In John 10:16 Jesus says, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.” They teach that this verse proves their doctrine of the two different hopes for mankind, one in heaven and the other here on this earth. What they don’t teach is that in the same verse Jesus says that there will be one flock and one shepherd. The “other sheep” are brought into the one fold to share the same blessings and to serve the one shepherd. This does away with two groups, two hopes, and the authority of the Watchtower Society. So when they talk to you about the little flock or the two hopes, make them use all of what the scriptures says in John 10:16. Then they cannot prove their doctrine from this Scripture. Later on in this article, I will show you some more points on how to combat this false doctrine of the people in heaven being limited to just 144,000.

As I have said before, it is no sin to change. The sin is that when we find out we are wrong, we do nothing to change in order that we may obey the will of God. I have changed before and am willing to do so again if you can show me from the Bible that I am wrong. But you had better be able to use the Bible, the word of God, and not some man’s book as I will not accept that as binding. I spent too many years following some man’s doctrine to ever fall into that trap again.

Jude 3 tells us to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. “The Faith” was delivered one time for all time without change or addition to it. Peter tells us (1 Pet. 2:21) that Christ left us an example to follow in His footsteps, not that of some manmade organization. In 1 Peter 4:11 Peter tells us to speak as the oracles of God. In other words, if we do not want to teach what the word of God says for us to teach, then we had better keep our mouths shut. In the church of Christ, we have a saying that we speak where the Bible speaks and are silent when the Bible is silent. Let us live up to this motto or else quit saying it.

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that there will be only one hundred and forty-four thousand in heaven along with Jehovah and His Son, Christ. That makes one hundred forty-four thousand and two. Now when you add the Holy Spirit and the host of angels you already have a number greater than that which they teach. As you can already see, the number of those that will be in heaven has become so great that I do not know of any one that can count them.

This doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is copied from the Seventh Day Adventist group. They teach about the same thing on the one hundred forty-four thousand in heaven. There are a number of Witness books that teach that there will be only one hundred forty-four thousand in heaven. Some are Make Sure of All Things, New Heavens and New Earth, Let God Be True, and many others. They cannot deny that this is what they teach as one of the main doctrines of the Witnesses’ religion.

Compare Witness Doctrine to Bible Doctrine

There are only two places in the Bible that speak of the 144,000 and both of these are in the book of Revelation, chapter seven and chapter fourteen. The next thing that we should do is find out what the Witnesses teach about the 144,000 class and what the Bible says about this group of people. First, let us take what the Witnesses teach about this class of people and then I will show you how to refute their doctrine about it. The seventh chapter of Revelation names all the tribes of the old nation of Israel and tells us that twelve thousand were sealed from each tribe. This would make a total of 144,000 of the nation of Israel. Now the Witnesses believe that Jesus talks about the 144,000 as “the little flock” in Luke 12:32. “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Now this Scripture does not teach as the Witnesses do that there is any specific number making up this little flock. The Witnesses lift it out of its context and use it to try to place a number on the little flock. God’s people, as compared to the world, have always been just a little flock and times have not changed. God’s people are still in the minority and I believe that they will always be in the minority this side of the judgment bar of God.

Now let us look at the 144,000 and see just what we come up with, doing as the Witnesses do. Let us follow the context in the light of the Witnesses’ argument on the 144,000. If we are going to take the number as being literal, then we must take all that is said about this number as literal. Revelation 7 states that these ones in heaven are made up of twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. So, they are natural Jews. The passage would exclude women as it says they were men. Now if we take the number as being literal, we must take these facts as being literal also in the same context. No Gentiles or women can be included.

Next, verse nine of the same chapter seven states that along with the 144,000 there was a great multitude in heaven out of all nations that no man was able to number. What about that? Would the Jehovah’s Witnesses care to try and answer that for me? And do not say that these are the ones that get life here on the earth; the Bible says that they are in heaven. By lifting the Scriptures out of their context, the Witnesses make themselves false teachers.

Are They “Witnesses?”

Revelation 20:4 tells us that this group of men (this 144,000 class) was beheaded for the cause or witness of Christ. Notice that it says here that they were witnesses of Jesus the Son, not the Father Jehovah. It is clear that the modern so-called Jehovah’s Witnesses are nowhere to be found in these passages. Those who died in Revelation 20 died to defend the testimony or the witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which had been given by the apostles. The modern so-called Witnesses are not eyewitnesses of either the Father or the Son. The so-called Witnesses are not teaching the testimony, witness, or record of truth left by the apostles. In Acts 1:8, Jesus told His Apostles that they would be witnesses of Him to the uttermost parts of the earth and I do not think that we have any Apostles alive today. So all I do is teach the people what the Apostles that saw Jesus left in the revealed word for me to teach about Jesus, because these men both saw Him and heard Him. That is one qualification of being a witness in the first place. The so-called Witnesses today have neither seen the Lord nor taught the witness of Him left by the apostles. The modern group is not in the 144,000.

Revelation 14:4 tells us that these men had not defiled themselves with women. In other words these were pure men in morals. Also they were first fruits to the Lamb, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also said of these, in chapter 20, that they are of the first resurrection and live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. Just what this thousand years means would take us into the field of speculation and I am not willing to go that far as yet. But remember that to a Jew the number ten had a special meaning and some say it meant completeness. The number one thousand is a high multiple of the number ten. That is just where I am going to leave it at this time. I do know that Revelation 22:5 says that we will live and reign with Christ forever and forever.

Now let us see what you can show the Witnesses who come calling at your door and who talk about there being only 144,000 in heaven. Ask them the following questions and see what their answer will be. If the number is literal, then must all that deals with this group be literal also? Are all that claim to be of the 144,000 class natural born Jews? Are they all virgin men? I know of some women that were in the Witnesses that claimed that they were of the 144,000 class. Are women excluded from this group since it talks of men? Have they been beheaded for the witness of Christ? There is not a so-called Witness alive on the earth today who can meet any of these qualifications to be a member of the 144,000 class as they themselves teach it.

Our Plea: Forsake All False Religions

Revelation 18:4 tells us to come out from among “her my people if you do not want to be partakers of her sins, and that you receive not her plaques.” This means all false religious organizations and their doctrines no matter who practices them. If we cannot give book, chapter, and verse for the things we teach and practice in the worship of God, then we had better not teach or practice them. To do so would be a violation of the word of God and would send our souls to hell for all of eternity; surely we do not want that to happen.

Before I close this article I just want to add one more thing to this about the 144,000. To a Jew, the number 12 is supposed to mean spiritual completeness and as 144,000 is a high multiple of the number 12, then I believe that what John is teaching us in this number is that there is enough room in heaven for all the redeemed ones, the children of God. John 14:1-4 teaches and explains the same point, that in heaven there will be no lack of space for God’s people. I am writing these articles in the hope of keeping someone out of the false witness religion or helping someone to get out.

The next article that I write will be on the Witness organization, which is set up and patterned after the Roman Catholic Church from the top down. None of the offices have any Scriptural basis. Now please do not tell people that Fred Holthouser believes that there will be only 144,000 in heaven as I do not believe any such thing, although I used to believe that as a fact and also taught such when I was a Witness. Acts 17:11 tells us to search the Scriptures. That way we will know that we are keeping the doctrines of Christ. If we are not, then we had better change and do so before it is too late to do any changing since we are not told when we will die. After death there is nothing we can do about changing. As the Hebrew letter tells in 9:27, “And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

It is my sincere desire that this article will help in some way in combatting the false teachings of the Witnesses about there being only 144,000 in heaven. This belief was borrowed from the Seventh Day Adventist group as they have taught the same thing long before the Witnesses did. A lot of other Witness teachings were borrowed from the Adventist group, such as the soulsleeping idea. If you learn how to combat the false teachings of the Witnesses, you also learn how to combat the false teachings of the Seventh Day Adventist group because the differences in the two groups on this doctrine are minor.

Guardian of Truth XXVI: 6, pp. 88-90
February 11, 1982

By Ron Halbrook

Some things ought not change in our world of change. Those who walk in a steady pattern encourage the rest of us by making us realize that we can do the same. Christians who “rejoice evermore” and who “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:16-17) are likely to have children who follow that example. When we see Christians who long for God’s Word like the baby longs for its mother’s milk, when we see that they search “the scriptures daily,” it inspires others among us to form the same healthy habit (1 Pet. 2:2; Acts 17:11). These are patterns that ought not to change with the times and we should thank Christians who help us to learn such lessons.

Forsake Not Assembling

Aged people may think their influence for good passed with the years. Not so! The constant faith and cheerful greetings of bedfast saints are lessons emblazoned in our memory, bearing fruit to this day. We have preached in several places where some aged believer attended every service – in pain, perhaps led by the hand because of fading sight, in a wheelchair, standing through part of the service because of back ailments, or coming and going by a short shuffle of the feet because of waning strength in the legs. One severely afflicted young man we knew attended all of the services – on a stretcher. The example of steadfastness in public worship reflects, first of all, a steadfast faith in the Lord, but it is also a means by which we “consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” (Acts 2:42; Heb. 10:24-25). This unchanging pattern encourages others of us to emulate the example.

Hospitality Shown

Aged widows sometimes apologize that they are unable to do more, but one such lady writes letters to her family and neighbors encouraging them to study the Bible – and includes tracts to stimulate the exercise. Such ladies do more than they know. Widows and other Christians we know have encouraged us to learn 1 Peter 4:9 by their practicing it over and over. It says, “Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” What a bright spot in this dark world we see because Christians express the warmth and love of hospitality. We pause from life’s busy work to say, “Thank you for this encouragement.”

Wedding Anniversaries Encourage

“What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matt. 19:6). The marriage bond ought not to be broken. Every wedding anniversary is a reminder of this great truth – something has been preserved for another year, something that ought to be unchanging. A fiftieth anniversary impresses the lesson in a striking way because the pitfalls and difficulties to be faced during half a century are naturally many and varied. We wish to thank publicly brother and sister Yater Tant for the encouragement they have given to many of us by marking that very post on 17 September 1981:

Warmest congratulations on your fiftieth wedding anniversary!

I just learned about it, so the greeting is belated. But what a wonderful milestone !that’s milestone, not millstone – as some regard longevity in marriage these days!! It is a major achievement in your own life, but it is also an inspiration to the lives of many others.

One of the high spots in my life was my association with Henry S. Ficklin, a gospel preacher who lived to the age of (I believe) 92 years. Just knowing him provided “fuel” to keep me going, to determine to keep on and on and on in the Lord’s service. Knowing aged widows whose lives are limited in many ways is just such an inspiration, too, though they often feel their influence doesn’t count for much anymore. The message that comes through is this: If these aged saints were able to continue in loving and faithful service to the Master decade after decade in the face of life’s trials and tribulations, then so can I.

That is the same message which comes to me from knowing people like yourself who have preserved the marriage bond decade after decade in the face of life’s trials and tribulations.

May God grant that you will have many more years together, so that the message may become indelibly etched on the hearts of preachers and other Christians in my generation – beginning with me.

Having celebrated our fourteenth anniversary with my own wife on 26 December, it might be well to say that her endurance record encourages me, too. If she can “stick it out” – her, the weaker vessel – then surely I can! May God help us both to realize that the marriage bond ought never to be broken no matter how much the world around us changes.

All of us may be discouraged from time to time in the duties and relationships of this life and in our service to the Lord. This fact makes us realize how important are all the consolations and encouragements given by the Lord -including those given to us through our fellow servants. We should enter the closet and thank God in secret prayer. We can thank Him in public prayers. How else can we thank Him? Let us learn to say more often to each one who helps us along the way, “Thank you for the encouragement!” There are many I need to thank. I hope some whom I have forgotten to thank will read these lines: “Thank you for every encouragement.”

Guardian of Truth XXVI: 6, pp. 87-88
February 11, 1982

By O. C. Birdwell, Jr.

In a series of articles we are looking at the seven characteristics, commonly called “graces,” which Peter commands to be added to our faith (2 Pet. 1:5-9). Knowledge is the second one given and the one for this week’s study.

The word “knowledge” is from gnosis which means, “primarily a seeking to know, an enquiry, investigation, denotes, in the N.T. knowledge, especially of spiritual truth . . . ” (W.E. Vine). In this quotation from Vine, let us underline and place a special emphasis on his words, in the New Testament knowledge is especially of spiritual truth. Let us remember that we are not instructed to add just any kind of knowledge to our faith.

One’s initial faith must be predicated upon knowledge.

Paul said, “So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). Hearing the right thing (the word of Christ) brings about the knowledge essential for faith in Jesus as the Son of God. Yet, there is further knowledge which must be added to one’s faith. This knowledge may come after one becomes a child of God and relates to the growth and development of the Christian. It is this further knowledge which Peter enjoins upon us in 2 Peter 1:5 to which we are directing our attention at this time.

Knowledge that is added to our faith also comes from hearing. The Great Commission was, “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: . . . ” (Matt. 28:19, 20). Baptized people are to be taught to observe what Jesus commanded. After about 3,000 were baptized on the day of Pentecost, the account says that they “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching . . .” (Acts 2:41, 42). We, presently, have inspired teaching by the apostles and other New Testament writers. It is contained in the book we call the Bible. This written teaching which instructs us is what the early disciples heard presented orally. We read, hear read, study, and apply the Scriptures. Paul said, “Study to show thyself approved unto God . . .” (2 Tim. 2:15). Knowledge is added to our faith through such study.

Knowledge that is to be added to our faith is knowledge of spiritual truth. The Bible is the only source book. Let commentaries, workbooks, study guides, film strips, etc., serve only as aids. The Bible alone should be the text. It alone is authoritative.

This knowledge is essential in teaching others. Paul wrote, “And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). Here so briefly and simply given, are qualifications for a preacher. One must be faithful, with a knowledge of inspired Scripture, and with the ability to teach. If one is faithful with adequate knowledge, the ability to teach may be much more readily attained. Special “teacher training classes” often overlook the most important element – Bible knowledge. Generally the best teacher training classes are not in the use of aids or in the employment of gimmicks, but in a textual study of books of the Bible, Proper Bible Division, Old Testament Studies, The Life of Christ, The Journeys and Teachings of Paul, The Scheme of Redemption, and other such Biblical themes. Too many want a quick dose of “teach me to teach,” as though such can be given with a hypodermic needle. Knowledge comes by reading, discussion, meditation, and application. Include in this listing fervent prayer, and one might even obtain wisdom along with his knowledge.

Guardian of Truth XXVI: 6, pp. 86-87
February 11, 1982