Truth Magazine

By Norman E. Fultz

He was a middle-aged fellow. Accompanied by his teenaged son, he had come across a couple of states from his home to the big city where he hoped to find work to support his family. Being a Christian, he sought out the saints on Lord’s day that he and his son might worship God after the New Testament order. After services they did not hurry away but lingered to meet fellow Christians in this strange metropolis. My wife and I asked them home for lunch and, when they faltered because they would not have much time, we assured them they need not feel obligated to stay longer than they felt they should. The couple of hours proved to be enjoyable.

A few days passed and a letter came from the brother who had settled on the opposite end of the city. The letter expressed gratitude for the hospitality, and on the back of it he had scrawled a poem which appears at the end of this article. Whether he was the original author, I do not know for it was unsigned. Being untitled, after reading and pondering upon the poem, I gave it the title “Mutual Aid.” That was quite a few years ago and I have neither seen nor heard from the brother again, but I have read his poem many times. The point I see in the poem is the point I seek to make in this article.

No man is an island. One man is not a nation any more than one clod is a continent. None lives nor dies to himself. He affects and is affected by others. What he is, he is because of his contact with others, at least in part. And all who have come into contact with him are changed because of that contact. Where is the fully self-sufficient person? Maybe the wild “mountain man” or the hermit is self-sufficient! But God never so intended man’s life to be this way. By nature, he is a social creature depending upon others and being depended upon by others.

Even so it is in the church, a community of believers. It is God’s intention that we aid, comfort, edify and encourage one another; this can best be done by knowing, understanding and communicating with one another. But am I alone in the feeling that with the passing of years, brethren are growing more cold and indifferent toward one another, toward the stranger who comes among us as a visitor or newcomer, or even toward the regular members of the local churches? In a number of places where my work has taken me, I have detected on the part of many what seemed to be a tendency to keep, one another at arm’s length. “Closeness” seems to be feared. At the same time, there are others who seem to yearn for a closeness with kindred spirits from whom strength and encouragement in the Christian life can be drawn. They need help to keep from getting “Sodom-cankered,” and they see that possible help in those whose “spirit . . . soareth tall.”

The Lord’s church is essential. That essentiality is seen in its mission. It is to save souls (1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Thess. 1:8-9; Matt. 28:18-20). Salvation is in the body, the church (Acts 2:47; Eph. 5:23). Both its purchase price, the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28), and the fact that it was in God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 3:10-11) underscore the importance of the church. All that being true, how important then becomes the relationship of those who compose it!

There is a need for “mutual aid” in the local church. When I speak of aid, I do not mean turning the church into a glorified “Red Cross” or social club, though each must stand ready to help a needy brother (1 John 3:17). I refer to a dependence each has on the other. The church is a body composed of many members. Paul uses that figure twice. In Romans 12:4-5 he says, “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” We are members one of another. Please note that expression and turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12:20-27 and read it. There Paul further develops the analogy; he said, “God hath tempered the body together . . . that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.” Look at it. We are members one of another and should have the same care for one another.

In other passages, we are taught that the “strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Rom. 15:1), that we should “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2), “consider one another to provoke unto love and good works” (Heb. 10:24), and to “comfort one another” (1 Thess. 4:18). We are to “by love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13). In a context speaking of brotherly love, John wrote that “we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). The first Christians were happy in their association together. Of them it is said they were “breaking bread from house to house, (and) did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart” (Acts 2:46). Are we, because of the hurried pace of our own life, afraid to “open up” and “reach out” in genuine friendship and brotherly love? Are we wary lest we do find someone who needs some help with a burden and lest we be called upon to serve another?

Those who are stronger often fail to realize the needs of the weaker, the need for someone “to rub on” the “balm for aching hearts,” to be near “while God and Christ seem far away.” Even those who are newborn in Christ are often set adrift on their own, and many of them falter and fall whereas they may have been strengthened and saved if some had been “given to hospitality” (Rom. 12:13) and had used it (1 Pet. 4:9). There may be some who “yearn and often cry” for the company of one of like precious faith for his small spirit needs a tall spirit to aid and strengthen him. Ponder the poem and see what I mean.

Mutual Aid

I’ve blundered o’er the paths of life

And had my share of joy and strife.

Some good I’ve done along the way,

But much more bad, I’m bound to say.

The evil thoughts and deeds are mine

To blame another, I decline;

For God, the Father, and His Son,

Are with me always, three in one-

That is, if I myself would take

And purge my spirit for His sake.

So why on earth should you or I

Be aught but good if we should try?

For you, I hope, the task is small;

Your spirit, maybe, soareth tall.

But mine, alas, I blush to say

Gets Sodom-cankered o’er the way,

And for the cure which God supplies

It sorely yearns and often cries,

Not being willing quite, I find

To look ahead and not behind.

In Christ, the balm for aching hearts,

Through His Spirit, God imparts.

But who’s to rub it on each day

While God and Christ seem far away?

You, my brother, sister, friend,

By loving, helping, to the end.

And, oh, the joy and peace untold

That comes to any wandering soul,

When Christians, all, not asking why

God’s balm of love and truth apply!

Yes, brother and sister in Christ, your company with a weaker Christian may be the deterrent to his falling away, and by helping him, you will yourself be strengthened.

Truth Magazine XXII: 12, pp. 204-205
March 23, 1978

By Daniel H. King

M. P. Horban once told the story of a retired businessman who took great pride in his yard. But he had a problem. Try as he would, he could not get rid of the pesky crop of dandelions that ruined his otherwise perfect turf. He used the finest grass seed and the newest weed killers. But the dandelions still appeared, bright yellow over his beautiful lawn. Finally he wrote to a gardening expert. The reply included several suggestions and closed with this advice: “If none of these work, I suggest you learn to love dandelions.”

You know, that simple observation is filled with insight and instruction that we would all do well to comprehend. There are few Christians that I have ever known for any length of time and with any depth of relationship that have not, after a time at least, vouchsafed their gripes and complaints to me. Now, I am not looking down my nose at them in saying this, because I usually took the gracious opportunity which this situation afforded and unloaded a few of my own on them. You see, I am a complainer too. Most of us are. That does not justify me-or you, but it does make us come to grips with the reality of it in our lives. I do not like to look at myself in terms of the Israelites who “murmured, and perished by the destroyer” (1 Cor. 10:10). I had rather turn away from the spiritual mirror with a different perception of myself from what I actually am (Jas. 1:23). But, alas, I go to the mirror often enough that I cannot help but see the real me. It is a harsh reality. For I know that there are many things that are far different from the way that I would like them to be. Sometimes I meet real hardships, problems seem unsolvable, obstacles unmoveable, rifts unbridgeable, and the terror that arises from the simple realization that I cannot do a single solitary thing to change them makes me feel like a cornered animal, crippled and helpless, at the mercy of the Hunter. And the Hunter is God! Or, so I come to think in my moment of depression and desperation. For though I do not point my finger in his majestic face and question His existence or blaspheme His name or make some horrendous charge against His justice-yet I do something very akin to that. I complain.

When I come to my senses and get my feet back on the ground, my eyes focused and my bearings straight, then I realize what an incredibly foolish thing I have done. I am always sorry and repent and determine not to do it again. After a while I push the whole affair to the back of my mind and forget about it. (It is easier to do that when it is my sin than it is when it is someone else’s.) Then when I am sitting alone in my study, turning the pages of the Old Testament, probing its truths and pondering its mysteries, I wonder at the unbelievable stupidity of Israel and her hardness of heart as she wandered through the wilderness, saved from bondage by God’s matchless love and manifest power, and sustained by his benevolent bounty. How could her people have been so incomparably ungrateful as to complain and grumble and murmur as they did? And then I look at myself and I know. I am no better than they. God has bestowed upon me a plenitude of good things, good friends, loved ones, material and spiritual blessings. My way is generally pleasant. Yet when I am faced with one silly road-block that I can not get around, what do I do? I complain.

And so it is with most of us. And so it was with Paul, for a time anyway. Commentators have long puzzled over the exact nature of the “thorn in the flesh” which troubled the apostle because the Bible does not reveal the details. However, Scripture makes several features of the problem crystal clear (2 Cor. 12:7.10):(1) Paul had a problem, a painful and persistent one; (2) The Devil was the perpetrator of this molestation; (3) God, though he certainly had the ability to make this aggravating circumstance disappear, was not disposed to do so and thus took no steps to intervene; (4) Paul complained about the matter to God-not once but three times; (5) For his importunity (Lk. 11:5-8) he received only the mild rebuke. “My grace is sufficient for thee; for my power is made perfect in weakness.” But the simple statement was enough for Paul. As Horban said, “If we can’t change our circumstances, we can change our attitudes toward them.” The profound insight of this reflection is revealed in Paul’s faithful resignation to the will of God which attended it. Assuredly it should make us all ashamed when we complain: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” Paul had learned to love dandelions!

How immeasurably hard it is for us to “count it all joy” (Jas. 1:2). Yet in the example of Paul we can derive consolation from knowing that it can be done, and as well, how to do it. It. It does not have to do with our circumstances. Rather, it has to do with our attitudes. If we can fix our attitudes, then our circumstances will not matter as much. Of course, it sounds easier on paper and in theory than it really is, but that should not send us “back to the drawing board.” Instead, it keeps us right where we belong-in the work shop, trying with all of our being to trust those words: “My grace is sufficient for thee . . . .” How can such irksome and unpleasant things as sickness, death, failure, etc., be described as “grace,” a “gift” from God of which we are not worthy? Only when we see them from the perspective that Paul did will we able to call them that and endure their vexations without our usual gripes and complaints. As an unknown poet once wrote:

Strange gift indeed-a thorn to prick,

‘To pierce into the very quick,

To cause perpetual sense of pain.

Strange gift! But it was given for gain.

Unwelcome, but it came to stay;

Nor could that thorn be prayed away!

It came to fill its God-planned place

A life-enriching means of grace.

O much-tried saint, with fainting heart,

The thorn with its abiding smart,

With all its wearing, ceaseless pain

Can be your means of priceless gain.

And so whatever yours may be,

From God accept it willingly.

But reckon Christ-His life, His power

To keep you in the trying hour.

And then your life will richer grow

His grace sufficient He’ll bestow.

In heaven’s glad day your praise will be,

“I’m glad for thorns; they strengthened me.”

Learning to love the dandelions that grow in our own yard is no easy job. But it is a chore that must be done. It will save us from bitterness and resentment and a host of other destructive emotions. Life will be more pleasant for us and those around us. And the service of God even under the most trying of circumstances will take on some semblance of design and purpose, and there is no question but that we will be better people and more profitable servants because of it.

Truth Magazine XXII: 12, pp. 202-203
March 23, 1978

By Stephen P. Willis

You have seen them: Rex Humbard, Jimmy Swaggart, Ernest Angley, Oral Roberts, Jerry Falwell and others. But, probably the two programs with the biggest influence presently are the 700 Club and the P.T.L. Club. These shows are styled after Johnny Carson or Merv Griffen in that they invite the celebrities of the “Christian community” to come on the shows and give their “testimonies.” During the show, hearers are invited to accept Jesus as their personal savior, and then to call the show and let that “conversion” be made known. Many aids are on hand to take these calls around the clock. Since the programs are syndicated, they may be seen at almost any and all- times. With TV cable systems, one show may be viewed several times a day depending on the programming. With requests for prayer and the sending of the Holy Spirit, such phrases as “when two agree as touching anything . . .” (emphasis theirs) and a final “Amen . . . and Amen” are bywords.

The 700 Club is hosted by Pat Robertson. The name of the program is derived from the way that the Christian Broadcasting Network (C.B.N.) started: “In 1963, when the Christian Broadcasting Network was barely reaching around the block in Portsmouth, Va., Pat, after much prayer, felt led to ask for faith partners who would pledge $10 a month toward the X7,000-a-month budget” (quote taken from The Flame, January, 1977, a C.B.N. publication). They asked 700 people to pledge that amount, hence, the 700 Club.

The letters P.T.L. in the P.T.L. Club stand for Praise the Lord. That phrase is used over and over in the show for anything from somebody’s ear starting on time to a person’s being “saved.” After a humorous story, someone starts up the “Praise the Lord” or “Hallelujah” chorus. This show is hosted by Jim Bakker. In a recent program Mr. Bakker boasted that this program is currently the number one television program in parts of South America–even over commercial programs. This is evidence of the wide acceptance of such programs.

Both programs boast of world-wide acceptance. Some dub the sound in foreign languages. Some produce shows in the foreign languages. One has launched its own satellite to send programs world-wide. These shows are financed by non-profit organizations-non-profit to the fullest extent of the words. Non-profit usually means that an organization either uses all of its funds for operation, or that the surplus is donated to another non-profit organization. To this extent, the local church is a nonprofit organization. But, the 700 Club and the P.T.L. Club are of no profit spiritually. Here are a few reasons why:

1. They teach one to pray in order to be saved. Sometime during each program, Robertson and Bakker (or a guest host) will ask all non-believers to pray with them. Then they lead a prayer called the “sinner’s prayer,” where one admits that he is a sinner and asks Jesus to come into his heart. There is no New Testament example of persons praying to be born again. New Testament Christians were believing, penitent, confessors, and were baptized before being pronounced new creatures, or alive to God (Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38; Rom. 1:16; 10:10).

2. They teach join the church of your choice. Of course by this they mean that Christ is divided (cf. 1 Cor. 1:13, 10), and that it makes no difference to which of those divisions one should join himself. The New Testament teaches that there is but one body (Eph. 4:4) and that we are baptized into that body (1 Cor. 12:13). That is to say, when we are obedient to the word, God adds us to the body (Acts 2:47).

3. They confuse the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation. The scriptures teach that faith is from hearing the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). These TV ministers teach that the Holy Spirit acts miraculously on the heart of the individual and that in many of these cases miracles will occur. In the New Testament the Spirit’s work was in giving the word that saves. In a few cases, the Spirit guided a man to find a preacher (or the preacher to find the man) but, it was the word that caused belief. The gospel is God’s power for salvation (Rom. 1:16).

4. They teach miracles are happening today. In connection with their premillennial concepts (see below) that these are the beginning of the last days in which the Spirit was to be poured out, there are miracles reported by these TV ministers. Notice that the New Testament teaches that the Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, beginning the last days (cf. Heb. 1:1-3). Strangely enough, these same preachers would not have accepted these “miracles” as anything but frauds forty years ago. Now, the in-thing is to be Pentecostal, whether in the Assembly of God or the Church of England. The New Testament church understood that miracles were merely to confirm the word preached (Heb. 2:3, 4) and were to pass away (1 Cor. 13:8-10). Besides, where are the apostles who passed on these gifts (Acts 8:14-18)?

5. They are premillennial. Following the excitement of Hal Lindsay’s The Late Great Planet Earth, these men are awaiting the establishment of the kingdom of Jesus in Israel. What they do not realize is that Christ’s kingdom is established in the hearts of men (cf. Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13) and that when Jesus does come, it will be to gather His kingdom to God (1 Cor. 15:24) not to establish it.

6. They use instruments of music to worship God. The use of the instrument has no authority (which is the meaning of the word translated “iniquity” in Mt. 7:23; lit. no law). This lack of authority is typical of these whole programs and their teachings. The New Testament only tells us to sing (Col. 3:16, 17). (Can you imagine Noah in building his ark of the gopher wood which God specified saying, “But, Lord, a little pine embellishment would really look great!”?)

With such widespread acceptance of these programs, saints everywhere are going to have to fight harder to combat religious error. I have even known of saints who thought they were doing good by sending money to such ministries. Those television ministries are another work of Satan. Do not be caught up by the very convincing job these agents of Satan are doing; defeat them with the truth.

Truth Magazine XXII: 12, pp. 201-202
March 23, 1978

By Wallace H. Little

Phil. 2:25 reads, “Yet I suppose it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and he that ministered to my wants.” 2 Cor. 8:23 states, “Whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow helper concerning you: or our brethren be inquired of, they are the messenger of the churches and the glory of Christ.” 1 Cor. 16:3, 4 records, “And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.” Phil. 4:14-18 tells the same story; in part, it reads: “. . . But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you . . . . ” Acts 24:17 reads, “Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings.” Acts 11:29, 30 says, “The disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea; which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.” Acts 6:1-6 records, “. . .look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business . . . .”

From these Scriptures, we conclude that the messengers for distribution of help were approved men, known or known of by the assisting saints, and personally familiar with the need. Further, since there were adequate grounds for approval, trust in their integrity and fairness was well founded; they were “honest men” as required. They were personally accountable and acceptable both to the ones sending the aid and those receiving it.

In the Philippines, in August of 1976, tidal waves smashed into the coast of Mindanao. When the news reached the United States, several of us raised what help we could. Nearly 9630,000.00 of this was sent to one man I recommended. A large portion of it was properly used. Yet accounting left little doubt some could have been misappropriated. Since I was one of those recommending him, I bear a major share of the responsibility. I ask the forgiveness of all for my carelessness in not insuring that the requirements of a messenger were met.

At the end of the civil strife in Nigeria, nearly $100,000.00 was sent for relief of needy brethren there. One American preacher acted as messenger. He was known of the contributing United States churches and individual saints. He insured that the benevolence was distributed as it was needed, personally verifying the need. Virtually all the money was used for benevolence, its intended purpose. The difference between Nigeria and the 1976 Philippine situation was in the messengers. The result in the Philippines: questionable handling of part of the fund, and consequent distrust among United States brethren concerning the integrity of saints there. And more, the jeopardy of the soul of the man who did the distribution.

Greater wisdom on my part in applying scriptural principles could have resulted in the selection as a messenger an American preacher familiar with the work and the need there, one known or known of and approved by brethren here in the United States. Then he personally could have overseen the distribution of the benevolence, as happened in Nigeria. A proper messenger would have insured that all went to meet the need, and that the distribution was fair and equitable.

There would, of course, have been his expenses. But these would have been far less than the improperly accounted-for funds. And the brother who actually handled the distribution would not have been in danger of falling before the temptation of such a large sum of money. I am not the only one having second thoughts on this. Both Jim Needham in Torch and Connie W. Adams in Searching the Scriptures have written on it. Their comments stimulated my thinking.

Truth Magazine XXII: 12, pp. 200-201
March 23, 1978