Truth Magazine

By Leslie Diestelkamp

Many years ago while visiting in a public library in London, England, I read Sir Winston Churchill’s account of the American Revolution. He declared that he believed the colonies deserved to win the war – that it was good that they gained their freedom. However, he also believed that those struggling colonies only won because of a lack of sustained action by the British Generals. In other words, he referred to the well-known fact that the British had w,~n significant victories, but that they then failed to press oh to utilize their advantage. He insisted that if the British generals would have pressed on after victory to further victories, they could have overcome the American revolutionaries.

Perhaps God’s faithful people everywhere need to learn a lesson from Mr. Churchill’s words. All over the World, when scriptural battles are fought, some significant victories are won in spiritual warfare. But perhaps we often fail to press forward with a sufficiently sustained drive. Consequently, we may win a battle and lose a war in efforts in behalf of a pure church.

Change of Tactics

In the last two decades the more liberal brethren have learned that it does not pay for them to engage in a fair and open confrontation with the opponents of their promotions. So they have usually changed their tactics. This has recently become evident in some of the very fruitful fields of the world, especially those outside the United States. The new tactics include emphasis upon love, peace, unity, and if none of those, then at least toleration.

Some faithful brethren who formerly fought hard for truth and righteousness may have been lulled to sleep. At least they may have failed to press forward “from victory unto victory,” as the familiar song suggests. But, if today false doctrine and/or unscriptural activity are hidden beneath the umbrella of pious appeals for love, peace, unity and toleration, then tomorrow we may awaken to find that victories that were won have been wasted and other greater victories that were available to God’s faithful people have vanished.

When defeat seems imminent in this spiritual warfare, we must say, “The battle is the Lord’s” and go forward into the fray with vigor. And when victory seems to have come in such spiritual conflicts, we must not relax in past’ accomplishments, but we must keep “the sword of the Spirit” constantly in hand and in use to bring about the greatest possible victory for the cause of Christ.

Truth Magazine XXIII: 14, p. 230
April 5, 1979

By Robert Wayne LaCoste

Our God in Heaven hasn’t given laws that are complicated. To complicate is to “make or become intricate; difficult” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, p. 154). This is not to say that all things in the scriptures are easily understood, for Peter said that some of Paul’s writings were “hard to be understood” (2 Pet. 3:16) but at the same time, God has not given a Testament void of simplicity, but just to the contrary! Paul also wrote, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). Paul also made mention of the fact that “. . . when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:4). So in reading, we can understand the simplicity that is in Christ.

Often, preachers will be guilty of taking simple New Testament truths and making them complicated. So complicated are they, that about the only thing the listener learns when his speech is over is how impressed the speaker is with himself. Many brethren feel you ought to use “big words” to impress your audience, to show them how educated you are. I ask, why? The Apostle Paul was highly educated, yet of his preaching he said, “And, I brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God . . . . my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom . . . . that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:1, 4-5). Big words have their place, but not when God’s word is being preached! If men want to impress other men with how educated they are, let them find another time and another place! We would do well to strive to impress those who hear us with the simple, pure New Testament truth. Only the truth will make a man free from sin (John 8:32). Only the truth will make one a servant of righteousness (Rom. 6:17). It is this same truth which shall judge us in the last day (John 12:48). With all of this evident, pray tell, how will souls be saved if they cannot even understand what the preacher is preaching?

I will always remember what the old farmer said, who also preached the gospel: “Son, keep it down, plain and simple to where the calves can understand it, and the cows will take care of themselves.” Amen! No one profits from a meal that is not digestible! Let us keep it as simple as possible and in so doing we shall see souls ” . . . not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17).

Truth Magazine XXIII: 14, p. 229
April 5, 1979

By Mike Willis

During recent years, a large number of local congregations have accepted a part of the social gospel. At first, this acceptance of the social gospel manifested itself in church support of orphan’s homes. Then, as the acceptance of the social gospel became more widespread, the local congregations started sending contributions to colleges. Now, the social gospel is in full control of the pulpits of a large number of churches. There are seminars being conducted for “Medical Missions Work,” the direct forerunner of “Church of Christ Hospitals.”

Another manifestation of the social gospel on the local level is church sponsored recreation. In years past, the Lord’s church was distinguishable from denominations in the area of the work in which each were involved. Brethren were taught in the past that the Lord’s church had no right to be involved in such activities as baseball (basketball, football, soccer, etc.) teams, parties (for whatever event), suppers, and other such works. Times have indeed changed when churches are no longer condemning denominations for being involved in these activities but are participating in them and defending their involvement in them. Despite the changes which have been made, these brethren claim that they are preaching the same gospel which they have always preached.

Examples of Church Sponsored Recreation

An old bulletin which I have on file quotes the monthly activities planned for the Eastside Church in Columbia, Tennessee. I do not cite this quotation as a means of embarrassing the Eastside Church above others; similar statements could be produced from the bulletins of a large segment of churches. Read it for yourself:

Monthly activities for the young people at Eastside Church of Christ have been planned according to Arnold Sexton, evangelist.

They are as follows:

A bowling party will be sponsored during the month of February, a skating party in March and a hay ride and wiener roast in April.

A young people’s sports day will be held May 24th with all local churches participating. Bible lessons will be held in the morning and the evening will be devoted to competition between the congregations.

A short trip has been planned for June 29th, a putt-putt golf party for the last of July or first of August and a recreation evening at the church between Sept. 2 and 7.

Another hay ride will be held in October, activities at the youth center are being planned for November, and December has been reserved to help others. The young people will gather toys for the poor, fix baskets and sing for the shut-in.

All young people are invited to take part in all these activities as well as the young people’s Bible Class each Sunday at 6:10 p.m.

A more recent happening which manifests this same acceptance of the social gospel and attendant church involvement in recreation is seen in the opening of the facility built by the Madison, Tennessee church. The facility is called a “Family Life and Education Center.” The rules laid down for the use of the rooms included the following:

1. Reservations for areas of the Family Life Center such as gymnasium, exercise room, classrooms, or sunset room, must be made through the office of the Youth Minister . . .

9. The gymnasium will be used for eating only by very large groups that have approval from the Elders. The fellowship room of the Family Life Center has been designed for class or organization suppers and banquets.

10. Team practice for approved church athletic teams will be scheduled with the Youth Minister (quoted by Connie W. Adams in Searching the Scriptures, February, 1979).

Ira North, editor of Gospel Advocate, is the preacher for the Madison church. I guess that this tells us in which direction the Gospel Advocate will be leaning toward further involvement of churches in the social gospel.

Book, Chapter and Verse Please

Throughout the years, brethren have been telling the world that the Lord’s church can give book, chapter and verse for everything which it is doing or else it will quit doing it. It occurs to me that some of the brethren need to give us book, chapter, and verse to authorize church support of recreation or get out of it. Where is the scripture which constitutes authority for the. church to build a gymnasium, a fellowship hall,, an exercise room, and other recreational facilities? Where is the scripture which authorizes a church to sponsor a baseball team?

My understanding of the work of the church is rather simple. I can give Bible authority for the church to be involved in the preaching of the gospel. It is commanded to support gospel preachers who work to convert the lost and edify the saints. Hence, there is Bible authority for the church to be involved in the works of evangelism and edification. There is also Bible authority fox the church to relieve the physical needs of its own members. The book of Acts contains several examples of the church working in these areas. Hence, the work of the church, so far as 1 know anything about, is limited to evangelism, edification, and benevolence.

If anyone knows of a passage which gives the church Bible. authority to be involved in church sponsored recreation, I would like to know about it. If there is such a passage, the church of which I am a member must be busy obeying the passage; if there is not a passage, those churches involved in these practices must be exposed as having departed from the revealed word of God.

The providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in Holy Scripture as one of the functions of the church. It is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and His apostles. The early evangelists had boundless confidence in the power of the gospel to draw people to Christ and, therefore, employed no carnal enducements to draw men to Christ. The congregations in the first century did not expect anything but the word of the Lord to be presented at the worship services.

Those who promote recreational activities sponsored by the church as the best means of drawing people to Christ insult the very people whom they intend to draw. The implication is that a purely spiritual appeal will not win people to salvation. The story of a loving Savior who laid down His life on the cross of Calvary to save mankind from sin is not a powerful enough message to reach them. Consequently, we will appeal to them with something more powerful, something which appeals to their carnal desires. With these presuppositions, the recreational activities are presented to win people to Christ. When people are drawn to recreational activities, let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that they have been converted to Christ!

Conclusion

I can think of no better way to conclude this article than to close it with the words of the B.C. Goodpasture. What he said was true when he wrote it and is still true today, in spite of the fact that in his latter years he departed from teaching the things which he wrote in the 1951 Gospel Advocate Annual Lesson Commentary. At that time, he wrote,

It is not the mission of the church to furnish amusement for the world or even for its own members. Innocent amusement in proper proportion has its place in the life of all normal persons but it is not the business of the church to furnish it. The church would come off a poor second if it undertook to compete with intitutions established for the express purpose of enterataining people. It would make itself ridiculous if it entered into such competition. Again, it is not the responsibility of the church as such to furnish recreation for its members. A certain amount of recreation is necessary to the health and happiness of the individual. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, it is said; and rightly said; but it is not the function of the church to furnish the play. The church was not established to feature athletics. Rather it emphasizes the principle that “bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things; having promise of the life which now is and of that which is to come.” (1 Tim. 4:8) Sometimes one would conclude, from the emphasis given to recreation, that godliness is profitable for a little, and that bodily exercise is profitable for all things.

For the church to turn aside from its divine work to furnish amusement and recreation is to pervert its mission. It is to degrade its mission. Amusement and recreation should stem from the home rather than the church. The church, like Nehemiah, has a great work to do; and it should not come down on the plains of Ono to amuse and entertain. As the church turns its attention to amusement and recreation, it will be shorn of its power as Samson was when his hair was cut. Only as the church becomes worldly, as it pillows its head on the lap of Delilah, will it want to turn from its wonted course to relatively unimportant matters.

What was true of the Lord’s church in years gone by is still true of it. The Lord’s church still gives book, chapter, and verse for everything that it does. What has happened is simply this: some of those who claim to be the Lord’s church (i.e., Churches of Christ) have ceased to be the Lord’s church. Their departure from Christ is marked by such things as involvement in the social gospel. Like the socalled Churches of God, these Churches of Christ have simply become another of the numberless Protestant denominations. I think that there are a host of Christians among these groups who are fed-up with these apostasies. It is our prayer that they will manifest the moral conviction to pull out of these denominations and return to simple, New Testament Christianity.

Truth Magazine XXIII: 14, pp. 227-229
April 5, 1979

By Arthur W. Adams

A. few evenings ago I witnessed one of the most cunningly devised distortions of facts that I have ever seen. I saw “Beyond and Back,” a documentary movie which claimed to tell the stories of those who died and were restored to life. No doubt the gullible public will accept those flings’ presented as truth, further distorting their concepts of Bible truth. Lest any Christian be deceived by this farce, I would like to make a few observations about it.

The greatest fallacy of this production was the persistent redefining of “death.” It was difficult to determine whether clinical death or true death was being discussed at various points in the movie. Clinical death is the point at which man’s machines fail to register vital life signs. True death, as the Bible depicts it, is the separation of body and spirit (James 2:26). This event happens once, not twice. Hear the Hebrew writer, “It is appointed unto man once to die . . .” (Heb. 9:27). The only exception would be if a miracle was performed to raise the dead, but no miracle was claimed in this movie. Even if it had been, the claims would have been false, because the age of miracles has ended (consider 1 Cor. 13). I conclude, then, that these people were not truly dead.

The stories (presented as truth) told of those who were clinically dead seeing bright psychedelic lights and feeling they had left their bodies. Without exception these people were either in a state of shock or heavily drugged. Any person who has been high on drugs is able to tell the same story. Have we not all experienced similar feelings of seeing light flashes when we get up too fast or just before we faint? Lack of oxygen has a lot to do with this. When one is in a state of shock, either mild or severe, does he not experience a feeling like he is not sure he is himself? I have heard people in this condition say, “I don’t feel like this is me . . . I feel like someone else,” or “This isn’t happening to me.” These people were not anywhere near death, though. So, is it not reasonable to say that people who claim these “death” experiences were having their normal reflexes modified by drugs, shock, or even fear of death?

The really interesting thing about the movie was that people of all religions (Protestant, Catholic, Mohammedan, Buddhist and even Atheists) claimed to have had an experience with Deity. They were either sent back or allowed to come back to try again. Perhaps someone should tell the rich man of Luke 16:19-31 that God has now become a “respecter of persons” (see Rom. 2:11) and is giving some “dead” people a second chance. All of these in the movie claimed or implied approval by this Divine Presence. That denies everything God said about who is saved; baptism, the one true church, and even about having to believe on Jesus in order to have God’s approval (see in. 1:lfr; Matt, :16:18; Acts 2:38; Eph. 4:1-16, etc.). The people who claimed this have let their, imaginations and fantasies run away with them. God is no respecter of persons (Rom. 2:11) and He gives a second chance. Further, He gives no hope or comfort to those who pervert His teachings or follow false teachers (Matt. 15:13,14; Gal.1:6-10).

The movie further indicated, that disembodied spirits may go into a time warp or another dimension here on ‘earth with no reward or punishment except in cases of suicide. It would do anyone good to read Luke 16:19-31 if he really would like to know what happens to the dead. God says some are comforted, in Paradise (Abraham’s Epsom) and others are tormented in Hades. Every dead person is in one state or another and no one is in-between in a “time-warp.” Such ideas as a time warp or another dimension are as opposed to God’s word as darkness is to light.

The closest account of “Beyond and Back” which we have recorded in the Bible is found in 2 Cor. 12:1-5 where Paul seems to be speaking of himself. This is in connection with a special revelation to an inspired man in the days of special Divine intervention. (Those days are now past according to 1 Cor. 13:9-13.) The one told of in this passage did not know whether he was “in the body or out,” but he did know he was caught up into the third heaven. However, this man was forbidden to repeat his experience. The point is this: even if one does go beyond and back (which those in the movie did not) he cannot tell it, according to the Bible.

Shouldn’t the viewer, also, find it strange that those who claimed these experiences waited from a month to as late as 20 years to reveal them? How accurately can one relate an experience that occurred during sedation or shock? Is it not increasingly more difficult as months and years pass? Prejudices and superstitions are bound to color one’s thinking as he meditates on those things about which he is puzzled.

The producers left the impression that their evidence was absolutely irrefutable. As a Christian, I have no problem refuting such evidence. I am sure that many doctors, scientists arid psychologists will have no problem either. This movie was a thinly disguised attempt to approve any religion and any lifestyle. The message came across clearly. It was this: You will have nothing to fear about death and afterlife unless you commit suicide.

The Bible teaches no such thing as going beyond life and coming back. These producers have gone beyond the Bible and they had better get back to it before they face the Lord in judgment. We, as Christians, must remember this and not be taken in by cunningly devised fables which are designed to destroy our faith in the Bible!

Truth Magazine XXIII: 14, p. 226
April 5, 1979