Truth Magazine

By Larry Ray Hafley

Filling a pothole does not fix the road. It is merely a temporary “surface cure.” Make-up does not do away with unwanted lines and wrinkles (sorry, ladies!), it simply hides them from view. A hair-piece will hide my bald spot. It will not restore my hair.

As an example of an attempted “surface cure,” note the following: “A conference of police chiefs and black leaders recommended . . . that President Clinton establish a presidential commission to study the uneasy relationship between blacks and police officers in America.” The president of the National Urban Coalition, said many young black men have very hostile attitudes toward authority and police in particular. ‘I work with young people every day. . . . The alienation and the resistance among the young is devastating. It’s dangerous for them and for the police. We would like to help the (police) chiefs get their departments more in tune with what the young people need, while we work to make sure the young people are not so anti-social and so hostile.’”

Conferences are not the cure. Changing the “tune” of police departments is not the solution. Changing the hearts of “hostile” and “anti-social” people is the only cure. This work cannot be done by a conference, a commission, a coalition, or a police panel. Primarily, it is the work of the home and family.

War in the streets has been preceded by a dismantling of the domestic realm. Sexual promiscuity and the celebration of the termination of marriage have produced a generation of “hostile” and “anti-social” young people. The end is not yet. It will become worse. Why? In part, because we are treating the surface. We are filling pot-holes and applying make-up when only a complete overhaul of the heart will do (Prov. 4:23).

As long as society honors “hostile,” “anti-social” misfits (John Lennon, Dennis Rodman, and Curt Cobain come to mind) as heroes while it seeks to destroy virtue as a virtue, there will be conflict, deadly conflict. When condoms can be passed out in schools where it is forbidden to teach morality from the Bible, there will be blood in the hallways and in the streets. Where abortion and homosexuality are extolled with “charitable broadmindedness,” while a list of the ten commandments cannot be posted in classrooms, there will be drive-by shootings and murder “just to see how it feels to blow someone away.” When students may be led in studies of immoral and porno- graphic material, but are denied the opportunity to present a biography of Jesus from the gospels as a book report, you need not be surprised when rapes and homosexual liaisons occur on campus during school hours.

By rejecting the Bible’s moral standards, by making light of the sacred union of marriage, we have produced a crop of “hostile,” “anti-social” people. So, while the police chiefs and community leaders are having their conference, they had better post guards outside. If they do not, they may return to a car that has either been stripped or stolen. And if one is caught burglarizing a police car, let him not be accused or charged. After all, the kid could not help it. A racist society made him what he is. He is not to blame. To incarcerate him would make him a victim and deprive him of justice. So, let him go — and plan another conference!

By Johnie Edwards

The Gospel Advocate, a religious publication out of Nashville, Tennessee at one time taught the truth on “The Mission of the Church.” B.C. Goodpasture, the editor in 1948, said concerning the church providing recreation and entertainment for its members:

1. Not The Mission: “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 moral 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 institutions established for the express purpose of entertaining 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 the 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 for a little and that bodily exercise is profitable for all things.

2. Not To Turn Aside: 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 very 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.”

How Sad

How sad it is to hear some of the men, who planted the seed to put the church into the business of providing amusement for its people, cry and try to reform those who have taken the church into areas none would have ever dreamed. We had better get to teaching that “. . . the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17), and to help folks understand the Lord’s church is not to leave its God-given mission to that of providing fun and frolic. We would ask, “What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in . . . And if any man hunger, let him eat at home” (1 Cor. 11:22, 34).

By Norman E. Fultz

When just three months out of high school, as a student in a college operated by brethren and where probably 98 percent of the students were Christians, and where the atmosphere was, for the most part, a far more spiritual climate than I’d ever seen, I “fell in love with it.” The students’ camaraderie, the devotional periods, the daily chapel services, and a daily “in depth” Bible class, made for a pleasant experience. The singing was more spirited, the prayers heartily offered, and every Bible lesson (be it in sermon or in the classroom) was joyfully received. The spirit soared! And to this day I’ll tell you gladly that I wouldn’t take anything for the two years I spent in such surroundings. It’s all real, but it’s not the real world in which most of us worship and serve regularly.

For years, though not with regularity, I’ve tried to attend, when I felt I could afford it, college Bible lectureships. Many hundreds of brethren from all over the country converge to hear the talented and well prepared speakers both in lectures and in classes dealing with challenging and stimulating subject areas. Several hours a day are devoted to such exercises. Renewing acquaintances, making new ones with those of like precious convictions, blending many hundreds of voices together in gospel songs under the leadership of a most capable song leader, being led in prayers that touch the heart, one’s spirit can soar. It’s all real, but it’s not the real world in which most of us worship and serve regularly.

Having been privileged to tour Bible lands a couple of times has been a dream come true. Day after day visiting sites of real biblical significance can “make the Bible come alive.” One finds himself wishing that every Christian could have the experience. On the first tour, after our Lord’s day worship in which the 150 or so of us had worshiped in the “traditional site of the upper room,” a fellow gospel preacher remarked as we were departing the service, “I wish I could bottle that service and take it back to my home congregation.” The worship period had been somewhat less structured than are our services normally — singing from memory instead of with hymn books (except for the song leader), standing through the entire service in a quaint old building of great historical moment (Even if not really “the upper room,” we knew the events in the real “upper room” and the events which followed) in which the singing under the direction of an able leader seemed to resonate. In the observance of the Lord’s supper, the communion was not passed to the congregation (no trays available). Instead the elements had been prepared and set out on a stage-like area, and in an orderly fashion we went forward and took a piece of the bread and a cup of the fruit of the vine and returned to our place. Then, when someone had offered thanks for the bread, we each partook of it at the same time. Likewise with the partaking of the cup. It was truly a most uplifting occasion sandwiched in between other emotionally exhilarating experiences such as visiting the Garden Tomb or standing on the Mt. of Olives. It was real, but it was not the real world in which most of us worship and serve regularly.

A few years ago while on a little outing at the Lake of the Ozarks, since the Bible camp attended by many young folk from this area was nearby, we paid the camp a visit. The area in which the camp was situated was peaceful, heavily forested, and remote. Excited youth, in spite of the summer heat and humidity, whose parents, many of them sacrificially, had provided the opportunity, enthused counselors, teachers and other helpers were enthusiastically going about their daily structured activities — Bible classes, chaperoned recreational pursuits, group meal times, evening devotional with speakers, singing and prayers conducted in rustic setting. It all lent an air of elation that one could get “caught up in.” Emotions can run high. It’s real, but it’s not the real world in which we worship and serve regularly.

From the college campus, Bible lectureships, tours of the Bible lands, or Bible camp, we must return to the normal world in which we live our lives, worship, and serve in the normal course of things. In our congregational worship, the singing is perhaps not as spirited nor led by as talented a leader, the Bible classes are not two or three times a day under closely regulated conditions where emotion along with knowledge can build, but twice a week, usually dealing with entirely different subject areas and separated by an awful lot of unspiritually oriented activity in the work-a-day world. The “daily grind” may take its toll and the spirit may suffer some bruises in the interim separating worship periods. The emotional highs are not there, and sometimes it appears that everyone is in the “doldrums.” The prayers may sound like so many parroted cliches mouthed with little fervor, albeit pouring forth from a devoted and sincere heart. The sermons may not be as uplifting at times; because they have the overall congregational needs with which to be concerned, not just some challenging topic which has roused our curiosity.

Instead of thinking that our emotions must be stirred to feverish levels, let us rather understand that he is to be praised.

Does all this mean that our regular periods of worship are any less spiritual or pleasing to God? Absolutely not, if we are worshiping in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Does it mean that our regular periods of worship and study must degenerate into a monotonous form? By no means! But if we must “feed on high emotional experiences” to be benefited in our service and worship, then we had best examine our level of spiritual maturity. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul said, “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1). Prophesying might not give as much of an emotional high as some of the other gifts such as speaking in tongues, but prophesying would profit the church (v. 4). Even so, let us desire and delight in those special occasions and let our spirits soar under those circumstances. But realize that they are special times, and we must be prepared to go forward in the normal course of things — persistently worshiping and serving our God. Instead of thinking that our emotions must be stirred to feverish levels, let us rather understand that he is to be praised.

By Ron Halbrook

As we struggle with the challenges of life and death, the most challenging question of all is this: What does God want of us in this life? God answers that question in the Bible. He has made it clear from the beginning until now that he wants our love, trust, and obedience.

Adam and Eve were commanded to care for the Gar- den of Eden, to enjoy its fruit, but not to eat “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” — a tree which drew the boundary between good and evil. When they ate of that tree, they were driven in shame from the Garden and suffered the ravages of death (Gen. 2-3).

Later, God commended Abraham as one who “will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment” (Gen. 18:19). That is what God wants of all men.

The Bible is full of passages summarizing what God wants of us. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13). Our love, trust, and respect for God are shown by obeying his Word. Though God commands formal worship, he also teaches us to translate our worship into daily action.

At all times and in all situations, we are to “hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate. . . . let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5:15, 24).

When God taught the Jews to bring animal sacrifices for sin, he made it clear that “thousands of rams” were no substitute for sincere, daily submission to his will. “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic. 6:6-8). Life is brief and uncertain, filled with “labor and sorrow.” Knowing our time is short, our prayer should be, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Ps. 90:10-12). We find God’s wisdom in God’s Word.

Jesus summed it all up in these words:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37-40).

Knowing we have sinned and yet wanting us to be saved, God desires all men to hear, believe, and obey the gospel of Christ. Christ died as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. On the basis of that faith, we must repent of all sin, confess Christ as God’s Son, and be immersed in water to receive pardon through his atoning blood. Truly, God “is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9; Acts 2:38;

8:37-38).

When we obey these first steps of the gospel, God adds us to the church of Christ and then teaches us how to worship him and how to live for him each day. Thus, he redeems us from the destiny of hell and leads us to an eternal home in heaven. Ultimately, that is what God wants — for us to spend eternity with him in heaven!