Truth Magazine

By Irven Lee

There have been periods in the history of man when the church after the New Testament order had to meet in secret if it met at all. There are places like this in our own generation in certain areas that are under the strong control of certain Catholic and Communistic governments. It is hard for Americans to know what it is like to be unable to advertise the place of worship or to hand out written sermons. Buildings may be built for the special purpose of worship in this country, and their locations may be freely advertised. The doors may be opened wide to any who desire to come, and we are free to seek to persuade any we meet to worship with us. They will not lose their jobs if they come, nor will they suffer any physical hardships. Some neighbor might scold them for attending, others might ridicule a bit, but they are protected by law against physical harm for choosing to worship with us. This is a liberty for which we should be thankful.

Paul said, “I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor. 16:8, 9). In that age of persecution, he mentioned adversaries and an open door in the same sentence. The church has grown in the face of bitter opposition many times. The gospel is God’s power unto salvation, and truth is a powerful force. Lives effectively touched by the teaching of the Bible will cause men to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and the faith of such people will cause them to endanger their lives, if necessary, to spread the faith that is so precious to them. We owe a great debt to the great heroes of faith who paid such a price to put the Bible in the hands of the people in the language they could understand and to those who also sacrificed much to proclaim its truths where there were many adversaries. Let us use our liberty with much more zeal to spread the knowledge of the truth.

The apostle to the Gentiles found an open door at Troas, but he rushed on into Macedonia because of his special concern for the sick church at Corinth. He had written to them and encouraged other preachers to go to their rescue. He was also making his journey in that direction. He was writing a second letter when he mentioned the opportunity at Troas which he had passed for the time (2 Cor. 2:12, 13). He was eager to meet Titus and get some report from Corinth. No one man can be every where to enter every open door or to teach every honest heart. Many have been the times when good men have wondered where they should go and what they should do to accomplish most. The white fields call for more laborers (Matt. 9:36-38; John 4:34-38). This is a situation about which we should work and pray.

A worthy appeal is found in Col. 4:2-4, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.” The apostle even preached gospel sermons when they were brought before kings, governors, and courts in their own self defense. They preached in season and out of season and asked others to do the same. Some of us might have seen the adversaries and supposed that there was no open door. There is need for the strength of conviction that drives men to declare all the counsel of God daily regardless of cost.

In this day, the speed of travel is a great advantage. It does not take so much of one’s life to go on the important errands. What portion of Paul’s life was spent in travel, in the task of getting from one place to another? One today has more time to preach because the time for going and coming is not so much. When you think of the slow rate of travel, do you stand amazed as you think of the generation that carried the gospel to the world in that one period of time (Col. 1:23)? We ought to be ashamed that we have done no more in this generation.

Consider this glimpse of how the gospel was carried so rapidly in the day of slow travel. “I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation: but as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand. For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you; whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you; for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints” (Rom. 15:18-25). Paul himself is speaking of the whole eastern and northern sides of the Mediterranean Sea. He worked with fellow laborers, and they set us an example of preaching beyond the four walls of our meeting houses.

The message of truth has often been carried to individuals, to congregations, or to great numbers by written messages. This is a door through which truth may pass. Luke begins his account of the gospel story by these significant words: “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eye witnesses, and ministers of the work; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou has been instructed” (Luke 1:1-4). In fact, our whole Bible was given as holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit'(2 Pet. 1:21). There are certain advantages in teaching through written lessons. The reader can stop and consider a remark without being left behind while a speaker moves along. He can also turn back and read portions again. The document can be kept for future study. Let us not overlook this open door to teaching and learning. It is sad that many who could do not read. They miss a lot.

Radio and television stations have in the past offered wonderful opportunities in teaching the word of God. They are not as effective now as when they were first coming into use since there are now so many stations on the air. Listeners may turn to anyone of many and hear various types of programs, according to their own fancy. Times are changing, and I supose the generation is passing that has been able to broadcast the gospel by radio. There is a national trend for radio stations to refuse to sell time at any price for religious programs. Too few of the young preachers who are beginning their work now will have a chance to preach through this medium. Most of the radio time is now given over to cheap, ungodly music because the directors of the stations are convinced that the public desires such. Whatever the desires may be to the contrary, every person should have an opportunity to hear the gospel. It is sad to me to see this great door being closed. By radio many people have been reached who were not attending religious services anywhere and had not before shown any interest in spiritual things. Being able to listen in the privacy of their own homes often led to their interest being aroused which caused them to become Christians.

The challenge before all teachers of truth is to find other doors through which they may enter. As one door closes, perhaps others can be found which are open. Let us all look for them.

Truth Magazine XXIV: 26, pp. 427-428
June 26, 1980

By Daniel H. King

Surely the most harrowing experiences which life sends our way are our failures. No matter what the particular failure, or the area of life wherein it protrudes itself, still the feeling of inadequacy, of impotency, of inability, seems to make-the whole world come crashing in around us. All of our successes of the past and even potential success for the future plans into insignificance in the face of that one failure. We are like the man who got sick on a bologna sandwich, just one mind you, and spent the rest of his life despising bologna, judging all bologna sandwiches in light of that one. We tend also to do that with our failures.

There are cases where churches think this way when it comes to preachers. One time they had one who would not work, or would not pay his bills, or chased women, or in some other way disgraced the noble work of preaching and shamed the name of Christ, so they are forever left with a bad taste in their mouth about men who preach. The baby is cast out with the bath water. Every preacher is a scoundrel.

Then there is the church that appoints elders and one turns out to be a tyrant. The eldership is dissolved and the brethren from then on take the position that a congregation is better off without elders. All elders are judged in the light of one elder who failed. Little thought is given to the clear teaching of the New Testament that it is God’s intention for the church to be shepherded by such pastors (Acts 14:23; 20:28). No church is organized in’ complete harmony with the word of God when it has men who are qualified to be bishops but has none who serve in that capacity. That congregation will never function smoothly nor will it be administrated properly until men of wisdom, experience, and proven efficiency are given the work that God intended for them to do.

Too, those of us who preach taste the bitter pill of defeat. Perhaps it is our fault, the burden of failure being our own and not some other’s. In that event it would not hurt for us to develop broader shoulders and carry the weight without trying to throw it off on others. Though blaming someone else is easy, it is also cowardly and we can be assured that before too long the chickens will come home to roost. You can only move away from a bad reputation a few times before people begin to see the pattern and know that it will perennially be your lot.

But there are going to be times when we fail, our preaching is rejected, and we are fired or simply asked to leave under stormy conditions – yet it is not our doing. They have rejected the word of God. It is always hard and never easy, but it is as certain an event as the rising of the son wherever and whenever God’s word makes contact with hardened and impenitent hearts. We may take heart at knowing Pharaoh rejected the word of God at Moses’ mouth, Ahab at Elijah’s, Israel at Jeremiah’s and all the prophets, the Pharisees at Jesus’, most of the Athenians at Paul’s, etc. In spite of this, however, there is always the tendency to take it as personal slight, a personal affront to me. We commit the error of Samuel whom God had to correct with the words, “They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me . . .” (1 Sam. 8:7).

What follows such rejection can be even worse for us than the failure itself. In my brief experience, I have known men who grew bitter, hostile and caustic because of one brief encounter with such ego-assaulting defeat. They turn inward and selfish, judging all congregations of Christians by one little band of malicious men, likely only a small minority of one congregation.

Learning to handle defeat is no simple affair. But it can be turned into a learning experience, instead of a rotten apple that ruins the whole barrel. When we were little we fell many times before we learned to walk. But we never gave up. Our upright posture and proud gait is today a testimony to our having overcome the bruises and the bumps that we all received along the way. Likewise, success as a Christian, a church of Christ, an elder or deacon, a preacher, a husband or wife, depends upon an individual and cooperative effort at overcoming the failures that we meet along life’s way. Seeing each one as another learning experience (after the first shock is over) will help us all immensely.

Truth Magazine XXIV: 26, p. 426
June 26, 1980

By Ron Halbrook

Since the Bible claims to be the Word of God, the Bible lays claim to the miraculous. The first verse records the miracle of creation and the last chapter forbids any change of Divine testimony. In addition to particular miracles recorded in the Old Testament, predictive prophecy foretold the coming of the Savior. Matthew 1 shows how that Savior came, entering the world through a miraculous conception. Jesus performed many miracles in His own ministry and also performed them through the ministry of his Apostles. Faith in God is faith in a supernatural Being, in the Bible sense; that faith includes confidence in God when He speaks of things beyond the realm of nature. All spiritual blessings are in Jesus Christ, the Son of God; remission of sins; the gathering of a people unto God and the establishment of his church; the hope of resurrection and of eternal life with God; Judgment Day and the threat of hell fire – all of these things and many others taught in the Bible speak of a reality beyond the realm of nature.

A mighty movement of doubt and disbelief under the name of Christianity began about 100 years ago. The movement has been called Liberalism, Higher Criticism, and Modernism. The latter term was popularized partly by the encyclical Pascendi Gregis issued by Roman Catholic Pope Pius X in 1907, condemning the new tendencies. Modernism is “a method and a spirit, having many common presuppositions, to be sure, but differing widely in specific doctrinal positions” (Smith, Handy, and Loetscher, American Christianity, II, P. 341). Though quite diverse in doctrinal affirmations, Modernism held common premises which helped to define common enemies and which resulted in a rather unified, negative program. The authority of custom and tradition, of ecclesiastical hierarchy, and of Scripture itself were the common enemies. The negative thrust of Modernism brought the verbal inspiration of Scripture, the miracles recorded, and even the Deity of Jesus Christ into question. The concept that the Bible settled religious issues, or any appeal to an authority . outside of man himself, fell under scathing criticism. Well before 1950, Modernism had gone to such radical limits that many religious leaders who embraced its premises pulled back to a middle-of-the-road position, a relatively conservative reaction called Neo-Orthodoxy.

Underlying premises which initiated Modernism 100 years ago and which are widely accepted to this day are: (1) each man’s religious experience is his own authority, excluding external authority whether tradition, ecclesiastical organization, or Scripture; (2) rather than revealing His will once-for-all in the Bible, God is always expanding the revelation of His will in nature, society, and civil government. The Bible reveals God’s will in much the same sense that all of nature and history do, though perhaps to a higher degree. It is evident that in the on-going course, of nature and history God reveals Himself without going beyond that course, i.e. without daily miracles. Therefore, it is safe to say that the miracles recorded in the Bible are not true, at least not literally true. In the Modernist’s reconstruction of Christianity, the miracles of the Bible must be denied as untrue or else reinterpreted as theological, parabolic, mythological, figurative, literary or some other kind of “truth.”

Obviously, two systems are at war, both claiming to be Christianity. One appeals to the miraculous as literal truth, while other rejects the miracles of Scripture as literal truth. What is not so evident is that Modernism, while rejecting the miracles of the Bible, has its own miracles to offer. If we claim to be Christians, we must choose between the two systems, the two messages, the two sets of miracles. These opposite claims cannot both be true any more than “Christian Science and Roman Catholicism” can both “be true at the same time unless the universe is a madhouse” (Brightman, An Introduction to Philosophy, p. 56.).

Miracles of the Bible

Miracles recording in the Bible are not recorded as parables but as historical events. In first-century Samaria, Simon by sorcery snared the populace into regarding him as “the great power of God.” When Phillip came “and preached Christ unto them,” they recognized Divine authority in that message because he performed actual miracles. The sick were truly healed, a thing which Simon’s sorcery had not accomplished. The difference was so great that even Simon himself believed and was baptized. While beholding the signs and great powerful deeds which were done, he could not deny the Divine authority of the gospel. Simon tire sorcerer was converted by a gospel which could be authenticated by truly supernatural acts (see Acts 8:6-13).

John 2:1-11 records the presence of Jesus at a marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. When the guests had enjoyed the supply of wine, consuming it all, Jesus ordered six containers holding a total of about 125-150 gallons to be filled with water. Subsequently, when the liquid was drawn out, the people found themselves drinking juice which was far better than the original supply. This was only the beginning of the miraculous deeds or signs by which Jesus “manifested forth His glory,” proving Himself to be Divine. By such acts, He demonstrated an unqualified power over nature and time.

Once Peter healed a man who had been “lame from his mother’s womb.” When enemies of the gospel examined Peter, rather than denying the miracle they asked, “By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?” Peter answered that it was the name of Jesus Christ, in whose name alone “we must be saved.” Refusing to accept the authority which had been demonstrated and determined to stop the preaching, these enemies of Christ threatened Peter to shut him up. They had counseled among themselves saying, “What shall we do . . . for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. ” The pretensions to authority made by these men was blunted in the eyes of the public by the obvious presence of Divine power and authority with the Apostles (see Acts 3-4).

The Bible certainly claims that literal miracles have occurred and that they authenticate the gospel message. Not only are these miracles treated as historical events, they are inseparably interwoven with the record of other historical acts. If the miracles are not true, what assurance do we have that any of the other accounts are accurate? Was there a wedding feast? Did Jesus attend? Why did people believe on him at all, if the miracle is discounted? Did Phillip go to Samaria? Did he preach there? What did he preach? Why did the populace displace Simon’s claims by accepting the gospel, if Phillip performed no true miracles? Why did the authorities find it necessary to examine Peter? Why did the people accept Peter’s preaching? If the miracles of the Bible are not true events of history, why should the Bible’s message be counted as the will of God?

Truth Magazine XXIV: 26, pp. 423-424
June 26, 1980

By Earl Robertson

Our world knows little of what God says to man and much less what He teaches concerning the responsibilities of the husband to the wife. The failure to know this teaching and have respect for it has, no doubt, contributed much to the many problems we have of asocial and moral nature. We have no earthly relationships so close as the one in marriage. Nothing in all the word of God degrades marriage, but, to the contrary, exalts and honors the bond (Heb. 13:4).

The love which the husband gives to his wife is self giving. It is inconceivable that a human being could do more than this. But this is exactly what the Bible teaches the husband to do. Ephesians 5:25, 28, 33 gives most plainly this responsibility. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it”; “so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.” “Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” These verses declare the love which comprehends what the Almighty intends marriage to be. Verse 25 is a parallelism: it is emphatic in placing the husband (with love toward his wife) with Christ and his love for the church. The church is the body of Christ and, in this sense, the wife is the body of the husband. They are joined and are one flesh (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5, 6; Eph. 5:31). So, as Christ loved His own body, the husband is to love his wife as being his own body. The word love in these three verses is the greatest and most comprehensive of all the words our English word love renders. The word is agapao and is used in the singular case in all three verses. Verse 25 is marking the husband as the one who must love. This love never works ill for its object: it is the love God has for man.

Marriage creates moral duties. “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies” is a moral duty. This is one of the very basic truths of good living. Loving his wife as being his own flesh; they are joined, they are not two, but one flesh, and in this union he “nourisheth and cherisheth it” (5:29), that is, he cares for his own flesh and fosters with tenderness his very own. This is a different love than that of the wife to her husband (Titus 2:4). The husband’s love is shown in his headship and provisions for her, and she, in turn, has warm subjective feelings for him being his wife. Her love is earned, not demanded.

Truth Magazine XXIV: 26, p. 423
June 26, 1980