Truth Magazine

By Irven Lee

In speaking of the people of Crete Paul quoted one of their own poets as he said, “One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil . beasts, slow bellies” (Titus 1:12). Goodspeed’s translation says, “savage brutes, lazy gluttons.” The American Standard Version has, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons.” The Amplified Bible, which can be used more as a brief commentary than as a translation, has “Cretans are always liars, hurtful beasts, idle and lazy gluttons.” The New Testament in Basic English has “evil beasts, lovers of food, hating work.” Knox has “venomous creatures, all hungry bellies and nothing besides.” Vine, in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, lets us know that in Titus two words were used which, when used together, signify a glutton, or an idle glutton. Webster’s Student Dictionary defines a glutton as one who eats greedily or to excess.

Excess in eating was one general characteristic of the people of Crete. Lying and idleness were traits also found among them. We know that these two last things are wrong. Our study is of gluttony. Is it a sin to be gluttonous? If it is a sin we need to know it and to avoid doing that which the Lord does not approve. The word keeps bad company in the passages where it is used. The enemies of Christ thought they were making a charge of sinfulness when they falsely accused Christ of being a wine bibber and a gluttonous man (Matt. 11:19).

Let us now read from the old law. “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shall thou put evil away from among you, and all Israel shall hear, and fear” (Deut. 21:18-21). The gluttony was only par( of the story in this case, but it could hardly be included in this if it were not evil. We do not live under the same law, but we do live under the same God who gave this law. Would you suppose that He now approves excessive eating?

Let us again read from the counsel given to Israel. “Be not among wine bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: -and drowsiness shall clothe a man in rags” (Prov. 23:20, 1). The glutton is here mentioned with the drunkard. Poverty, drowsiness, and rags art mentioned as his part in this life. What if a glutton began drinking alcohol? Would he almost certainly drink to excess? The lack of self-control in eating would be evident in his drinking. The one habit may be a cousin to the other. I am not saying that one habit is as bad as the other. The drunkard would be more harmful to others. The gluttonous person may harm himself to the extent that his life expectancy may be no more than that of the alcoholic.

Is excessive weight harmful to the body which is fearfully and wonderfully made? Is there any doubt? “Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:20). “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). We can, at least, say that the Lord is interested in the proper care of our bodies. If we all stop to consider, we may decide that almost every one of us have been guilty of over indulgence through some period of life, if not always.

The active young person may have a big appetite, but his great amount of activity uses the excess amount of food. The period when he settles into office work or quiet years in college may not see a corresponding cutting back on food consumption, so weight may rapidly increase, and there will likely be high blood pressure and other dangers to the body. I am no doctor, but we all need to inform ourselves of dangers and then buffet our bodies and bring them into subjection. We have much food, and many kinds of food are available in our country. Are we able to eat sensibly? There are evidently many that think it is great fun to eat ridiculous amounts where a restaurant offers “all you can eat” for a set price.

The Libscomb-Shepherd Commentary comments on Titus 1:12 and on the words “idle gluttons” from the American Standard Version, which it uses, as follows: “Their gluttony made them dull, heavy, and indolent. These sins were true of the Cretans generally in their unregenerate state; but sins prevalent among a people before they become Christians will possibly be their besetting sins after they become such. The sins of lying and gluttony seem to indicate a ferocious and vindictive spirit, and that they were lazy and given to gluttony.” These sins are not all usually listed together.

Gluttony and sensuality are examples of using animal appetites as means of gratification rather than relief. Evidently we should not glory in the things of which we should be ashamed. Self-control, dignity, refinement, and courtesy do not fit into the same picture as “lazy gluttons” or “idle gluttons.” Is there no regard for etiquette and good manners? One who consumes a ridiculous amount of food at an extraordinary speed may be repulsive to many who observe his behavior. Is this the proper behavior for a Christian? A great teacher in the days of my youth had a definition of temperance, which he stressed very often. He defined the word as meaning “the total abstinence from things harmful and the right use of things helpful.” Do not cut the length of your life in half by excessive use of good food.

The proper eating habits may be more easily formed by young people. It is very hard for the glutton of many years to come back to wise eating habits. It is not so difficult for the thoughtful and careful young man to develop good manners and avoid the loss of self-control in eating. It is so much easier to learn self-control early than to overcome the weight problem and the evil effects that come with obesity.

Truth Magazine XXIV: 42, pp. 682-683
October 23, 1980

By Daniel H. King

We note with some small amount of interest that Don S. Browning, Professor in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, has been named the first “Alexander Campbell Professor” in the school. The August/September, 1980 (Vol. 8, No. 2) issue of the Bulletin remarked that Browning is “an ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ),” and “was minister of the Kearney Christian Church, Kearney, MO (1952-1956), and minister of students at the University Church of the Disciples of Christ in Hyde Park (1957-60).”

The Bulletin goes on to explain, “The chair commemorates a founder of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) . . . .” Being familiar with the writings and teachings of Alexander Campbell, at least to a degree sufficient to register surprise here, we cannot help but have somewhat to say about this point. If there is any one thing Campbell stood against in both his preaching and his writing, it was the concept of the church of God as being an institution of human origin or design. The starting place for him in understanding the nature of God’s “grandest of all schemes” was the Bible and the Christ who is its center. It was Jesus who was to build the church: “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Mt. 16:18). Those words roared from the pulpits of churches where Campbell preached. They also found their place on the pages of the Christian Baptist and the Millennial Harbinger, papers edited by the indomitable scholar of Bethany. Campbell condemned the churches started by Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and others, and decried the papacy and its strangle-hold on religious folk. It too was of human origin.

Imagine now, if you will, a man being placed in the “Alexander Campbell Chair” of the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, a member of the Christian Church of which Campbell is considered “a founder”! To say that Browning and other members of that church had left the old paths, removed the ancient landmarks, and shifted from original ground is so obvious as to waste’s one’s breath in saying it. Nevertheless, this position is said to “commemorate” that great restoration leader. If Campbell could hear all these goings-on, and were it possible for him so to do, his thunder would be heard once more – as he rolled over in his grave!

This-firings-anew-a thought to my mind which I have often entertained as I have studied the words of Paul directed to Timothy in the second letter (4:3): “For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine . . . .” In very short order the Spirit of Truth had made known to Paul that a son of perdition would take his seat in the very temple of God (the church, 1 Cor. 3:16-17, etc.), setting himself forth as God (2 Thess. 2:1-12). It surely gave the apostle Paul no pleasure to realize that the future held such awful events for the body and bride of Christi The Almighty was unquestionably merciful and kind to Paul to remove him from the scene before the very churches with which he had labored with such resolve had fallen into the hands of men who cared more for their own popularity than for truth or right (2 Tim. 4:3-4). The lesson here is a plain one: Paul and his own generation could only work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, it would be left to the next generation to stand on its own two feet or fall on its own bottom. And it must be forever so. In fact, were we to concentrate upon this point with too great intensity doubtless it would discourage us from doing much of anything for fear the people we convert, the institutions we begin, the churches we start, the buildings we build, in fact all the good that we do, will fall into undeserving hands in a future over which we have no control whatever. The time would come for Paul when he could not even preach in the churches he, with the help of God, had started. The same would be true of Alexander Campbell today in relation to the Christian Church denomination. Campbell fought denominationalism in all its forms in his day and would fight it with equal vigor today – even if it appeared in the form of genuine “Campbellism,” i.e., the reverencing of the person or ideology of the man Alexander Campbell in the stead of Holy Scripture and its central figure, Jesus. The great pity is that the wealth and influence of yesteryear, contained in the treasuries and assemblies of those churches at the present, are not in any real sense supportive of what Campbell stood for. They go their own independent way, to the degree that they stand opposed to what he stood for and stand for what he opposed.

But there is another oddity about which I would have something to say before I quit just now. That is the Gospel Advocate. Recently I had the pleasure of reading The Life and Times of David Lipscomb by Earl Irvin West and was once more struck, with greater realization than ever before, by the fact that the very man who had given birth to that journal, nursed it through the stormy years of the instrumental music and society crisis, could not even get his views on church cooperation aired in the pages of that same paper! In fact, we dare say that the present editorship of that journal would not have the courage to reprint those careful studies of church cooperation that came from the pen of Lipscomb in the years immediately following the Civil War, and again in the years 1884-1886! Wrote West on Lipscomb’s views:

The practice in Texas was for the churches holding annual or state meetings, giving reports of the past year’s work of the various congregations, and then, putting the work under one local church for the coming year. The plan was that all of the churches in the state would work under the eldership of one church to preach the gospel. Lipscomb frankly rejected this. The church universal, he argued, had no organic existence whatsoever, and could never work save through the local churches. The matter of the many churches working through the eldership of one church was wrong in Lipscomb’s conception because it made out of the elders of a local church a missionary society in embryo. They were being granted a responsibility and work larger than that of one local congregation. When, therefore, Azariah Paul was sent to Turkey, Lipscomb presented the matter to three of the larger congregations in Nashville. Each congregation sent directly to the man in the field. The work was done, but not by one congregation assuming more than its scriptural amount of power (p. 271)

In January of 1910 a group of the “conservative” brethren sent out a request for a meeting of brethren at Henderson, Tenn., with the desire that West Tennessee was to call an evangelist and contributing churches throughout that area were to send their contributions to the elders of the Henderson church to send to the preacher. So, the Henderson church was to “take the direction of the work.” Wrote Lipscomb in the “Old Reliable” (March 24, 1910, p. 364):

Now what was that but the organization of a society in the elders of this church? The church elders of Henderson constitute a board to collect and pay out the money and control the evangelist for the brethren of West Tennessee . . . . All meetings of churches or officers of churches to combine more power than a single church possesses is wrong . . . . For one or more to direct what and how all the churches shall work, or to take charge of their men and money and use it, is to assume the authority God has given to each church. Each one needs the work of distributing and using its funds as well as in giving them (Quoted in West, Life and Times of David Lipscomb, p. 274).

Now, as a matter of fact, that is exactly what I, the editor, and other writers of this paper believe churches ought to do in order to have scriptural church cooperation. Not because that was what Lipscomb said or believed, but because that is what the Bible teaches. Lipscomb believed it and we believe it. But isn’t it strange that the Gospel Advocate today would not even allow those views to be expressed on its pages? Many of us learned what we now know to be the truth about Bible church cooperation, either directly or indirectly, from the writings of Lipscomb on the pages of the Advocate. But what the Advocate. advocated in the days of Lipscomb it no longer advocates, and what it condemned in the time of that grand “sage of Nashville” it no longer calls sin. The practice has been given the title, “the sponsoring church”, but it is still precisely what Lipscomb labelled it in the last century, “a missionary society in embryo.”

I would imagine that the Jews who arose to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah knew that it is the way of the things of this earth to fall victim to decay and destruction. Still they rose and built. We, too, know that this journal, the churches we establish, the buildings we build in which to worship God, the schools started by loyal brethren, etc., will possibly at some future time fall into unworthy hands. Still we must arise and build. It is but ours to concern ourselves with the salvation of our own souls and the souls of those whose lives we touch. God planted us upon this earth to labor in his service now. The future is ever in his hands. There is no need for us to feel desperation at what might have been. Better for us to make what can be happen. Perhaps the virtue is, after all, in the striving rather than the accomplishing. Those staunch and rocky fortifications raised by loving Jewish hands fell to earth once more after a few short years had come and gone. The only thing that gives us courage to press on now is the knowledge that what really matters will stand forever; and that. the Jerusalem we build up is a higher and better one than theirs (Gal. 4:26)!

Truth Magazine XXIV: 42, pp. 681-682
October 23, 1980

By Mackey W. Harden

“Coaches Beware” was the caption of a recent article in the Family Weekly section of a local newspaper. An accompanying photograph displayed a basketball coach with both fists tightly clenched, and his mouth wide open in the middle of a yell. The essence of the article was to reveal the danger of stress placed on football and basketball coaches during a game. Dr. Phillip Allsen, a professor of physical education at Brigham Young University, said that “the heart rate of head coaches during the games averages almost 100 percent above the average resting heart rate.” Dr. Allsen was issuing a warning for head coaches to beware of stress during a game. He goes on to warn, “If the stress on the heart is not dealt with, it could easily lead to a serious heart attack.”

If you and I were to walk through our neighborhood, chances are very good that we would encounter at least one fenced yard with a sign that says, “Beware, Bad Dog!” This would inform us that we need to be very cautious because of a bad dog that could be dangerous. Those who read our electric meters, and those who deliver our mail have dealt with this problem for years. When they see a sign that says to beware of a bad dog, they know it means to be very careful.

The word beware is also one that is used extensively in the Bible. From the Greek language there are three words that are translated beware in the New Testament. We again appeal to W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. “1. Blepo, to see, is applied to mental vision and is sometimes used by way of warning to take heed against an object. 2. Prosecho, to turn one’s mind or attention to a thing by being on one’s guard against it. 3. Phulasso, to guard, watch, keep, is used in the Middle Voice, of being on one’s guard against” (all emphasis mine, mwh).

From this information we see that when the Bible tells us to beware, we need to be warned of ensuing danger so that we might be on guard against it. Let’s turn our attention now to the Scriptures, and notice some specific warnings of things (and people) we need to beware of.

(1) Lest We Forget God. In Deut. 6:10-25, the children of Israel are warned against disobedience to God. As they are encamped on the Plains of Moab ready to enter the Land of Promise, God, through Moses, renewed His covenant with them. The primary reason for the forty years of wilderness wandering, was because they had forgotten God and His commandments. Moses warns this new generation by saying, “Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Dent. 6:12; also cf. 8:11-20). Even though this warning is thousands of years old, we in the twentieth century should beware lest we forget God.

(2) False Prophets. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Mt. 7:15f). This stern warning comes from our Savior in the Sermon on the Mount. He tells us that we should be on our guard and take heed of the false prophets, or teachers. The reason for this is because they will come in “sheep’s clothing,” which means they will conceal their true nature, and act as though they were truly inspired prophets. The Lord goes on to say that we can know them by the things which they teach. We need to beware of anyone who proclaims the word of God, and do as the Bereans did in Acts 17:11. The Bible says of these people, “. . . they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

(3) Men. When Jesus sent forth the apostles “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” he told them certain things to beware of. “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues . . .” (Mt. 10:16-17ff). The apostles were instructed to be on guard because of certain men they would come in contact with. These men would bring them before the rulers of the land, and would do detrimental things to them. Those of us today who preach and, teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, must likewise heed the warning to beware of men. As we venture forth in this world to preach Christ, we need to be on our guard against those who stand vehemently opposed to the Lord Jesus.

(4) Hypocrisy. Jesus said in Lk. 12:1, “. . . Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” The Pharisees were a sect of the Jews; and were very hypocritical and pretentious. They pretended to be religious, but in actuality they were fakes. They said one thing, and did another. In Matthew six, Jesus scolds them concerning their self-righteous deeds which they did “to be seen of men” (vv. 1-5). Again in Matthew twenty-three, Jesus directs His attention to the hypocritical Pharisees. The phrase, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,” is used at least seven times. ‘The Lord reveals His disdain for their hypocrisy, when he says in verse 28, “Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” Christians should be cautious against hypocrisy that may creep into our lives. We need to “practice what we preach.”

(5) Dogs, Evil Workers. The apostle Paul told the brethren at Philippi, “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision” (Phil. 3:2). Paul is not telling them to be on guard against a literal dog. The word dogs is from the Greek word kuon, and Thayer defines it as, “a man of impure mind, an inpudent man.” Robinson says it is used figuratively in this passage, “where it is spoken of as Judaizing teachers.” These Judaizers were teaching that Christians must keep the Jewish ordinance of circumcision. These men possibly gave Paul more heartaches and anguish than any other one thing he had to deal with. Paul calls them evil workers, and warns the Philippians to be cautious because of their evil teachings.

(6) Lest Any Man Spoil You. To the church at Colossae Paul said, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Col. 2:8). He instructs Christians to be on guard and to be cautious, lest these false teachers spoil (pervert) them from the simplicity of the gospel. These men were seeking to do this by means of philosophy and vain deceit. Philosophy comes from philosophia, which “denotes the love and pursuit of wisdom” (Vine). Thus, these men were seeking to overthrow the gospel by their love for worldly wisdom. This is a problem that Christians of all time periods have had to deal with (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18-2:16). Men who are advanced in worldly wisdom will deceive us, unless we are on our guard and very cautious of their subtle tactics (Cf. 2 Cor. 11:1-15). They will also appeal to the traditions of men. Beware brethren!

Truth Magazine XXIV: 42, pp. 679-680
October 23, 1980

By Keith Sharp

Professor Neal Buffaloe argued in public discussion that, if the Lord created the universe with “apparent age,” he deceived mankind into thinking the world is older than it actually is. This is an oft-repeated contention of evolutionists, such as Dr. Buffaloe. Is the assertion correct?

Suppose a highly trained engineer from the United States were to travel to a distant Pacific isle, peopled only by simple folk ignorant of modern technology. Imagine that he took with him highly sophisticated construction machinery and built a fine, enormous building of native material in a very brief time. Suppose that he then summoned the amazed inhabitants to view his handiwork, described to them in simple terms they could comprehend what he had done and even demonstrated the use of his machinery for them. Envision that these men to whom the engineer had spoken then wrote down for posterity what they had been told concerning the origin of this marvelous edifice. Suppose some of those of later generations, reading this report, reacted by claiming that, since by observed engineering processes with which they were familiar, the construction of such an edifice would take years, that the report of its erection was either erroneous or figurative. After all, they might argue, if the engineer built a building with “apparent age,” he would be attempting to deceive them.

The basic fallacy of these doubters would be that they judged the actions of one far more knowledgeable than they in terms of processes they had observed. The “apparent age” was only in terms of building techniques they knew, rather than in terms of those actually employed. How could the engineer be accused of deceiving them when he had revealed to them, so far as they were able to comprehend, how and how quickly he had completed the edifice? Besides, with their primitive construction methods, no amount of time would be sufficient to finish such a building.

The God of the universe, the great Engineer of the worlds, created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1), using means unfathomable by man (cf. Job 38-41). He revealed to Moses and others that this remarkable edifice was completed in six days (Genesis 1:1 – 2:3). He demonstrated to Moses and other inspired writers the supernatural power He possesses by means of miracles and explained as much about His divine power as ignorant men are capable of understanding. The inspired writers to whom God spoke penned for all subsequent generations the record of this creation. But many of our generation, in reading this inspired record, contend that, since by observed natural phenomena with which they are familiar the development of such a universe would take billions of years, that the Bible account of creation is either erroneous or figurative. After all, they assert, if God created a universe with “apparent age,” He would be attempting to deceive them.

The primary error of these infidels is that they judge an infinitely powerful and wise God in terms of naturally discoverable human knowledge. The “apparent age” is only in terms of observed natural processes, rather than in terms of the supernatural power really used. How could the Creator be accused of deceiving us when he made known, as well as we can comprehend, how and how quickly He created the worlds? And no amount of time is sufficient for the universe to come into being by natural processes.

Did God deceive man by creating a universe with “apparent age”? Hardly! There are simply some who are self-deceived (Rom. 1:18-25).

Truth Magazine XXIV: 42, pp. 678-679
October 23, 1980