Truth Magazine

By Mike Willis

Since Truth Magazine began in 1956, its owners, editors and staff have changed more than once. The paper merged in March 1970 with the Cogdill Foundation, a corporation which had previously been known as the Gospel Guardian Foundation which had published Gospel Guardian and other gospel literature for years. Every effort or movement must in ,time die or be passed to people of like mind. This is true of New Testament Christianity, local churches and businesses. It is as true for spiritual endeavors as for financial institutions. As the change of hands occurs, each new generation must ask again, “Who are we?” “What are we doing?” For the good both of ourselves and of all honest inquirers, we shall reaffirm the nature of Truth Magazine and the Cogdill Foundation.

The Cogdill Foundation: A Business Enterprise

The Cogdill Foundation is a private business enterprise which is operated in compliance with the Federal Government’s requirements regarding non-profit organizations. This simply means that none of the acquired profits from the sale of our goods can ever inure to the benefit of any private person. Its funds must be used for religious, charitable, educational and eleemosynary purposes.

As a business enterprise, Cogdill Foundation is authorized in exactly the same way as any other business endeavor is authorized. I can find positive divine authority but cannot find specific authority for Cogdill Foundation, any more than I can find specific authority for General Motors, Inc. Yet, both businesses are authorized under the general authority for a man to earn a living for his family and to work good for mankind. Here are some passages which authorize business involvements: Luke 5:10 authorizes a collectivity for business purposes inasmuch as James, John and Simon Peter were in a business partnership. Ephesians 4:28, 1 Timothy 5:8, and 2 Thessalonians 3:10 give responsibility to man to work in a business which can be described as “that which is good” for the purpose of providing his living. Cogdill Foundation is a business enterprise. It is one of many possible means for individual Christians to engage in jobs which are in keeping with Scriptural mandates and principles. (Publishing religious literature can certainly be described as “that which is good” toward both brethren and all mankind [Eph. 4:28].) Hence, the positive divine authority which I give for Cogdill Foundation’s existence is that which is given for any other legitimate business enterprise.

The fact that the profits from our business cannot inure to the benefit of our board members does not alter the fact that this is a business. This special status is granted to businesses of this nature by the Federal Government to give them special tax privileges. We have compiled and are complying with these regulations and, therefore, enjoy these special tax privileges.

What Is Our Work?

Our articles of incorporation specifically detail that our work as a non-profit corporation shall be to publish literature designed to disseminate the teachings of the New Testament. In keeping with this, Cogdill Foundation is involved in publishing the subscription journal Truth Magazine, two series of class literature (Walking With God and Truth In Life), many books, numerous tracts, and a Bible correspondence course. All of these items are marketed and available through our bookstore, Truth Magazine Bookstore (Box 88, Fairmount, IN 46928).

The only persons receiving funds from Cogdill Foundation are those who are working for Cogdill Foundation in regard to operating its bookstore, editing the subscription journal Truth Magazine, and overseeing the publication of other products. Many churches through the years have published teaching bulletins which are free to local members, prospects, and other interested people. Occasionally some brother has published a periodical which is free for the asking. This arrangement generally becomes a joint effort or collective work as he solicits help from other brethren in writing articles, donating equipment, giving low or no-interest loans, doing secretarial work, submitting names to receive the paper, and helping to get it in the mail. Cogdill Foundation with Truth Magazine represents the publishing work of individuals rather than churches, but falls into another category. We are a business arrangement which gives away nothing free (except for advertizing, promotion, or some other exceptional reason, as other businesses do at times). We publish and sell books, publish and sell tracts, publish and sell workbooks, publish and sell a teaching journal.

Cogdill Foundation is not giving away money to gospel preachers or anyone else, though we purchase goods and services for our business so that we can continue publishing and selling. There are no men supported from the funds of Cogdill Foundation as gospel preachers providing free classes with free workbooks, free sermons, free radio programs, free tracts, free books, free outlines, and the like, any reports to the contrary notwithstanding. Our work is not now and never has been that of an individually supported missionary fund, arrangement, or society.

Individuals purchase our goods, sometimes for resale, sometimes for their own use to give away. Churches purchase our goods for their own uses in free distribution. We are glad to provide the service of publishing and selling to any who wish to purchase, but Cogdill Foundation is not in business as a receiving agency to disperse free religious literature throughout the world. To my knowledge, we have never sought to be a general receiving agency for the purpose of distributing religious literature to the general public or Christians in particular. Hence, any reports regarding Cogdill Foundation being an individually supported missionary society are the figment of someone’s overheated imagination! When people send in their orders for our products, they may be assured that a bill will accompany the goods to be sent. In fact, like any other business which depends largely on cash flow from customers, we would be happy to receive the payment with the order! We are trying to provide our goods at the lowest possible prices so that we may render our customers a genuine service while keeping the Cogdill Foundation financially sound.

Cogdill Foundation Does Receive Contributions

Throughout its history, Cogdill Foundation has received contributions from those who have been generous enough to cooperate with us in our work. The contributions for various purposes and projects have come in many forms (outright donations, low-interest loans, equipment, labor, promotional help, and the like). Truth Magazine has never produced enough income to cover its expenses of publishing and marketing; consequently, some brethren have made contributions to cover our losses. To give our readers an example of the kind of contributions which have been made to Cogdill Foundation, the following information is cited: when Cogdill Foundation undertook the work of publishing Truth In Life and purchased the copyright to Walking With God (formerly known as Journeys Through The Bible), funds were solicited to enable us to publish these two genres of literature. Tax deductible contributions were made to Cogdill Foundation to enable us to publish this material for market among the brethren.

We have other publishing projects in mind at the present which can only be accomplished through charitable brethren who believe in what we are trying to do, helping us to make them available for market to the reading public. Hence, we have no plans of changing our method of operation because of the objections of one or two in perennially critical circles.

Some are of the opinion that brethren cannot make donations to Cogdill Foundation. That is fine with me; I have no objection to them holding this opinion. I shall continue to consider them as faithful brethren. Certainly I do not teach now and have never taught in the past that a Christian must make a contribution to Cogdill Foundation to have fellowship with God or with me as one of his children. If someone’s conscience forbids him to make a contribution to an organization such as Cogdill Foundation, I have no problem in fellowshipping him.

I do have problems, however, with the man who teaches that anyone who makes a donation to Cogdill Foundation is separated from God and from all of God’s children because he has committed a sin. When and if brethren start teaching such a doctrine, I shall be compelled to raise my voice in protest because such would constitute an addition to the conditions of salvation in exactly the same manner as early Jews tried to teach circumcision as a condition for salvation (Acts 15: 1-2; cf. 1 Tim. 4: 1-3).

Cogdill Foundation Has Given Away Some Of Its Products

Cogdill Foundation has, on occasion, given away some of its products. With every issue of Truth Magazine which is mailed out, several sample copies of the paper are given away for promotion. There have been times when we have given away copies of tracts to indigent or poor brethren in the Philippines. I also have given away subscriptions to Truth Magazine to several brethren who had no ability to pay for their subscription. What other business of any kind operated by saint or sinner has not done the same thing on an occasional basis? This is called by brethren “the milk of human kindness” when done by other businesses, but is called a sin when done by a religious publishing business!

Have we sinned in doing this? Some would answer in the affirmative. If this is the case, then no business can ever give away anything or else it would be guilty of the same sin which some would charge Cogdill Foundation with committing. The truth of the matter is that Cogdill Foundation, as a legitimate business enterprise, has exactly the same rights as any other legitimate business enterprise. If brethren can see that a grocery business has the right to give away a basket of groceries, they can surely see that Cogdill Foundation has the same right, if it so desires to do so, to give away some of its products. We even have the same right as other businesses to give away to anyone merchandise which is old, soiled, or for some other reason unmarketable, rather than to burn it, if such an occasion arises.

Whatever rules are laid upon Cogdill Foundation must be rules which are applicable to any other business enterprise. If some brethren are going to take the position that Cogdill Foundation cannot receive donations and cannot give away any of its products, then they are going to be compelled to apply the same rules to every other legitimate business enterprise in the world. The local hardware store can never receive a dime contribution from anyone and can never give away any of its products, if this is the case. Florida College can never receive a dime from anyone and can never give any scholarships, if this is the case. Certainly, Cogdill Foundation’s business organization is not unique! Whatever rules are imposed on it must be the same rules which are imposed on any other legitimate business enterprise.

Conclusion

If this article does not answer whatever questions which you might have regarding Cogdill Foundation, write to me personally and I shall attempt to answer your questions. Be patient with me in replying; it might take some time to get my correspondence answered. However, I think that this article should forever lay to rest the idea that Cogdill Foundation is an individually-supported missionary society. But in recent years, a concerted effort has been made to create suspicion in the minds of brethren regarding Truth Magazine and the Cogdill Foundation. Several years ago, brother William Wallace repeatedly made the charge through the pages of Gospel Guardian` that Truth Magazine and Cogdill Foundation were seeking to gain exclusive control of the brotherhood. More recently, brother Gene Frost has generated doubt toward Cogdill Foundation by charging that it is a privately supported missionary society. A few other critics have referred to Truth Magazine as the Gospel Advocate of conservative brethren or otherwise have implied that we are seeking “political” power and partisan influence among the churches. We can never please everyone and brethren may disagree with our judgment at times, but the affirmative discussion provided in this article shows how utterly unfounded are the wild accusations sometimes shouted at us in shrill voices, sometimes whispered in the hushed tones of juicy gossip.

We will never stop the manufacture of suspicion in some circles, but it will be well for us to periodically clarify who we are and what we are doing, both for our own good and the sake of brethren who have honest questions. Though suspicion-peddling from some quarters may not stop, we are only too happy to answer sincere questions and to receive the suggestions of brethren who speak out of a genuine desire to help us improve our work.

Furthermore, when there are objections to what we teach as to doctrinal soundness, Truth Magazine has been unwavering from its beginning in the provision for open debate. Cogdill Foundation with Truth Magazine is just one of many possible arrangements for individual Christians – not churches – to be “ready unto every good work” (Tit. 3:1). While we are glad to clarify what and who we are, we are also happy to wish well and bid God speed to all faithful brethren doing similar work in their own way, so long as it too complies with the Scriptures!

Truth Magazine XXIV: 6, pp. 99-101
February 7, 1980

By Leonard S. Tyler

Prayer is much neglected, I believe, because it is much misunderstood. There are many aspects of prayer one cannot understand just as in all of God’s dealing with man. Notwithstanding, prayer is a part of the life of a Christian.

There are many false concepts of prayer. Some feel that since miracles have ceased no good can come from prayer. They forget that God operates through natural laws both spiritual and physical. This is God’s way of performing His own will as He designed it. Who can deny it? Prayer must be in accord with the will of God and faith is essential for effective prayer (Jas. 1:6; Matt. 21:22).

An expression from Brother E.A. Elam is as fresh and timely now as when it was first read in 1928:

The men and women named in the Old Testament as the most reverential, having the profoundest respect for the word of God, having made the greatest advancement in spirituality and the knowledge of the truth, and the most suited to serve God’s purpose in advancing his cause were the most prayerful – Moses and Samuel, for instance (Jer. 15:1); also Noah, Job, and Daniel (Ezek. 14:14).

So it is in the New Testament, and so it is now. The ones most advanced in real piety, in grace and godliness, and in the knowledge of the truth, are the most sincerely prayerful.

Paul, the most self-sacrificing and heroic and the one who accomplished the most in planting and building up churches, was also the most diligent in following his own inspired admonition: “Pray without ceasing.” Without incessant prayer he could not have exercised so great self-control, have so advanced as he did in personal holiness, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5), and could not have reached the grand consummation described in II Timothy 4:6-8 . . . .

One of the first things said of Paul after he ceased to persecute Jesus was, “For, behold, he prayeth;” and his last recorded utterance is a prayer for Timothy: “The Lord be with thy spirit. Grace be with you.”

It is most instructive, and therefore helpful, to study all the recorded prayers, not only of Paul, but of all godly men and women of the Bible.

Not one of these many prayers, offered under different circumstances and at different times, was a collection of set phases and formal words, but an expression of the full desire of the soul and directly to the point.

Prayers addressed to God are not filled with empty, useless words, but are pointed and usually short.

Every one who prays would like to think the prayers will be answered; hence, one wants to know how to offer prayers acceptable to God. So there can be nothing so instructive as to study the prayers which have pleased God and have been answered (Elam’s Notes on Bible School Lessons 1928, pp. 316-17).

Some hold that any request which was made in the first century was for.. a miraculous manifestation of God in its fulfilment. this is not the way it was. When Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24)3 He was not asking that without faith and obedience these would be saved. It must have been then, that He prayed -that they might come to believe, obey and be saved. When Paul prayed for Israel that they might be saved, he surely did not pray that God would save them contrary to His will nor miraculously. He, it seems to me, was praying that Israel might come to understand, believe, obey and be saved. Yet both the Lord and Paul prayed for sinners. So all prayers were not for miraculous fulfilment.

Christians are taught to pray. Paul wrote, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Jesus taught men always to pray, and not to faint (Luke 18:1). Some will counter, “If these texts are for us, how are we going to pray without ceasing or always?” The answer is clear -just as the first century Christian did. We should thank God for the privilege of prayer and pray.

Truth Magazine XXIV: 6, pp. 98
February 7, 1980

By Earl Robertson

The human family has ever been ill-content with the arrangements of the Lord. We seek change and innovation. Change and innovation involving only the things of man is all right, but for man to change the things of the Lord is another matter. If any change must be made with the divine arrangements, let the Lord do it! For man to change the Lord’s things is nothing short of perversion and it is an abomination in the Lord’s sight. Perverters have tried to change God’s marriage arrangement. But when they have attempted such they only perverted the right order; His law still obtains. Marriage and the home offer man all he needs biologically and sociologically. The home is God’s arrangement for man and it is all-sufficient to meet his needs.

The church of Christ likewise is all-sufficient for man’s spiritual needs. We have no need of building different churches and certainly no business trying to change the Lord’s church. Yet, such men are constantly engaged in doing that. The Lord gave His church three works to perform: (1) evangelism, (2) edification, (3) benevolence. We maintain churches can do this work; we believe Ephesians 4:11-16 both authorizes and obligates each congregation to stay busy in these efforts. Many congregations contend the church is all-sufficient to do its evangelistic work but not its benevolent work. As a result of this concept, they do their own preaching but subsidize a human board somewhere to do their benevolent work. We ask: If the church can do its benevolent work through the board of directors, why not do its evangelistic work through a board of directors? If it is scriptural for a church of Christ to send so much money each month to a board, such as Potter Orphan Home and School so that board can do the benevolent work of the church, why is it not scriptural for that same church to send so much money each month to the United Christian Missionary Society so that society can do the evangelistic work of that church? When the liberals show what is wrong with the church subsidizing the Missionary Society, they will have also shown what is wrong with the church doing its benevolent work through a board. Frankly, they will have shown that both have no scriptural authorization. Yet, these same ones speak of doing Bible things in Bible ways. Their efforts have destroyed churches and caused heartache that time cannot change. Let us be consistent: let the church do its work and keep it free from the human boards.

Truth Magazine XXIV: 5, p. 93
January 31, 1980

By John M. Trokey

On the evening of December 21, the gentle spirit of the amiable Luther G. Roberts took its flight to the better world.

During the last two years, brother Roberts’ health rapidly declined (mainly because of Parkinson’s disease). He became conscience of his failing health in 1977 and saw it was -best to “retire” from full-time work with the North Freeport church, Freeport, Texas, which he did in September of 1977. From that time until his death, he lived with his beloved and devoted wife Christine in Refugio, Texas.

The last nine months or so were especially hard for him. It is difficult to describe the anguish and heartache he felt in not being able to communicate with those he loved. But, he faced the inevitable with great courage and confidence. And, oh how he loved and appreciated his beloved Christine. She was an ever-present help and joy at his side. No one has ever been blessed with a more loving and sacrificing wife.

Dean Bullock, long-time friend and co-worker, conducted the funeral December 24, 1979 in Refugio, Texas. He spoke of the life-long service brother Roberts rendered to the Lord and His church. Brother Bullock’s main topic was 2 Timothy 4:6-8, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” He related how well this correlated with the life and service of Luther G. Roberts.

Born near Wildersville, Henderson County, Tennessee, February 28, 1903, he was raised by godly parents, whose primary concern for their children was their education. Luther grew up on farms in Henderson County and attended such “country” schools as Cross Roads, Sandy, Long Sought, and Wildersville. In the fall of 1918, his family moved to Henderson, Chester County, Tennessee. Here he attended Freed-Hardeman College grade school part of 1918-19; and then from 1919 to 1923, he attended Freed-Hardeman College High School. In the fall of 1923, at the invitation of A.G. Freed, he entered David Lipscomb High School and graduated in the spring of 1924. After being out of school for some two years, he again entered Freed-Hardeman College in January of 1927 and finished Junior College work in the spring of 1928. Some of his teachers during this period were A.G. Freed, N.B. Hardeman, L.L. Brigance, W.H. Owen, E.H. Ijams, W.E. Morgan and M.S. Mason. He completed his work for his B.S. degree at West Texas State College, Canyon, Texas in 1930.

Luther did his first “local work” with the church in Canyon, Texas. From there he moved to Post, Stephenville, San Angelo and Amarillo, Texas. In the fall of 1943, he moved to Abilene where his first wife Anna served as Dean of Women, while he devoted his time wholly to meeting work. From Abilene he moved to Dallas then to Pampa, Texas. In February of 1948 he accepted the invitation to work with the church in Clovis, New Mexico, where he stayed four years, then, he moved to Corsicana, Borger, and again to Amarillo, Texas. From Amarillo he moved to Salem, Oregon where he preached for ten years and did some of his most satisfying and profitable work. Anna died at Salem in December of 1965. He married Christine Evans in 1967 and, in 1968, they moved to Tucumcari, New Mexico. From Tucumcari he moved to Freeport, Texas, where where he preached until he retired to live in Refugio, Texas, in September of 1977.

Ira A. Douthitt, under whose preaching Luther was persuaded to obey the gospel and by whose hands he was baptized, used to tell of Luther’s conversion and subsequent life as a gospel preacher to his audiences to emphasize what the value of one life can be for the cause of Christ. It would be impossible to conceive of the many people brother Roberts’ life has influenced for good. His direct preaching and his association with people have led thousands to know Christ and what it means to be a Christian and to reverence and obey Christ. This good influence is yet with us and will continue on and on.

Luther preached in half the states and Canada. He engaged in debates to uphold the banner of truth. He was editor of The Preceptor magazine from May 1955 through April 1956. He edited The Oracles from January 1961 through January 1963. The Oracles was dedicated to fight against institutionalism and liberalism, especially in the Northwestern states.

His preaching was characterized by clearness, forcefulness, and was always marked with emphasis on the scriptures. He spoke in a most pleasing manner with precise diction, good grammar and complete sentences. The greatest aspect of his preaching was his love for the truth and an uncompromising spirit.

Luther worked tirelessly in an effort to serve Christ in the things that would promote the kingdom of God upon the earth. His devotion to the cause of truth had been unquestioned. He stood with the truth when it was not popular to do so, especially at the time institutionalism became an issue.

We extend our sympathy to sister Roberts and his son John T. Roberts of Salem, Oregon. The exceeding great and precious promises of God are theirs; their husband and father rests from his labors and his works will follow after him.

Truly the life of Luther G. Roberts is a song to be remembered. The song is ended but the melody lingers on.

Truth Magazine XXIV: 5, p. 92
January 31, 1980