Truth Magazine

By George Welsh Tyler

Of the approximately 175 Scriptural titles applied to Christ, “Counselor” is one that stands out. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” What a remarkable setting for this term “Counselor!” How much easier it is for men and even nations to accept Him as Savior and Redeemer than it is to accept and listen to Him as Counselor! It is that phase of Christ’s manifold character that we wish to present at this time.

Studying the teachings of Christ we find they are packed with counsel for the saved and the unsaved, for young and old, for the rich and the poor, for the learned and the unlearned. I think it would be very interesting to tabulate the total recorded teachings of Christ to find out just how great a proportion is wise, kindly counsel. “Enter ye in at the straight gate.” “Be not wise in your own conceits.” “Be not anxious about the morrow,” “Work while it is day.” “Watch.” “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” “No man can serve two masters.” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” “Judge not that ye be not judged.” “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” We have given a few examples to those who are out of the fold and to those who are within the fold. We might group Christ’s words as follows: (1) statements of facts, such as, “No one cometh unto the Father but by me;” (2) commands, such as, “Go ye into all the world,” etc.; (3) counsel, such as cited above; (4) promises, such as, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;” (5) warnings, such as, “Beware of false prophets.”

We must bear in mind that neither God nor Christ will ever force any man to obey even a positive command, much less follow counsel. Both are given, however, as I understand it, as guideposts, pointing the only way to safety and salvation! As the Son of the living God, Christ’s counsel cannot and dare not be ignored or overlooked. He stated the truth that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one could come to God but by Him. This being true, His counsel cannot be ignored and must be followed by all men who would be saved, because it is the divine and authoritative pointing out of the Way, the Truth and the Life. To a lot of people it seems somewhat easier to recognize the necessity of obeying a positive command than for hearing arid heeding Christ’s counsel, yet both are given for exactly the same purpose; that is, as guides to the way, and only that way alone can lead to forgiveness, eternal life and heaven.

The Christian has two duties relative to the counsel of Christ. One is to lay this counsel before every possible misguided wanderer who is not in Christ. The other duty is to remember that Christ is not only Redeemer, but Counselor for every day and every relation in life. When Christians make use of the Christ as Counselor not only in moral decisions, but in business, in the home, in success and defeat, in marriage and in contemplated marriage, in pleasures and sorrows and even in their efforts to serve in Christian work, the sad errors which have pursued Christian lives and afflicted the church will mostly have been done away. Christ as Counselor in the home means the end of most heartbreaks and wrecks. Christ as Counselor, if permitted, would solve all church problems without heat, enmity and disruption.

We close with a word that needs to be strongly emphasized thousands of times in sermons and editorials. Oh, how the nations need Christ as Counselor when men shall sit down to determine their future and their multiplied millions of inhabitants! How can those who hold the lives of all the living and unborn generations in their hands be prevailed upon to seek the tender but sure-guiding hand of Christ, the Son of the living God? Christians, one and all, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, can pray earnestly every day that the chosen representatives of the nations shall choose to be willing and actually will seek the counsel and guidance of Him whose name is “Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

Truth Magazine XIX: 56, p. 893
December 11, 1975

By Warren E. Berkley

There can be little doubt that a substantial number of religious zealots view Christianity as something mysterious and incomprehensible. Perhaps the most convincing demonstration of this idea is the present “tongue speaking” movement.

Any perspective of this trend ought to begin by establishing the vast difference between the nature of modern day “tongue speaking” and that which was spoken in New Testament days. Tongue speaking in those days when the New Testament was in the process of being written was a gift of God given by the Holy Spirit to enable men to preach the Gospel in a tongue, or: language, which had not been learned by the speaker (see Luke 24:46-49; Acts 2 with special attention to verse 8).

It would be difficult to overestimate this single point! We might formulate our argument in the following logical pattern:

1. New Testament tongue speaking was the intelligent rendition of languages not learned by the speaker, but understood by the hearers (see passages cited above).

2. Modern “tongue speakers” utter some kind of nonsensical mumbo-jumbo (often called “ecstatic utterances”).

3. Conclusion: Modern “tongue speaking” is not the same as New Testament tongue speaking!

In the June 3, 1973 issue of The Pentecostal Evangel (claiming to be “a charismatic magazine,” and the “official organ of the Assemblies of God”), we found a poem revealing what may be the primary motivation behind this modern craze. The poem follows.

PRAYER IN TONGUES

Oh, sweet release which made my tongue

A captive in Thy hand,

And gave to me these words of praise

Which I don’t understand.

I cannot fathom how God works,

But one thing sure I know:

The pent-up pressures of a day

Dissolve within this flow.

Cascading down the valleys of

My hungry, thirsting soul,

While washing me and cleansing me,

The waves of glory roll.

God’s Spirit is a fountainhead

Of love inside of me;

And as I pray in tongues, there wells

A gushing stream, set free.

-MARY MASON

This “tongue speaking” poet admits that she “cannot fathom how God works.” If she is like most pentecostal “tongue speakers” she is no doubt very dogmitic in her claim that her ecstatic utterances are a gift from God. In fact, she asserts within the poem that God gave her “these words of praise.” She cannot fathom how God works (even though God has revealed the truth about tongue speaking in the Bible), yet she is sure that what she has is a gift of the Spirit.

She is also sure that “the pent-up pressures of a day dissolve within this flow.” At this point we are made to wonder if “tongue speaking” is nothing more than an emotional outlet for those who are frustrated by the “daily grind.”

Another young lady (a Catholic pentecostal) . who claims to have uttered a “heavenly language” described her feelings as follows:

“There is a certain elation. Our Protestant brethren talk about `release,’ and I guess that is a pretty good way of saying it . . . Speaking In tongues leaves you physically refreshed. (Quoted from The Religion Reawakening in America, page 53).

Of course, there are any number of ways of releasing emotional tension: crying, laughing, digging in your garden, fishing, bicycling or playing a musical instrument. You may even find the nonsensical, mumbojumbo method to be the answer. But the kind of tongue speaking characteristic of the New Testament era was not just an emotional release! It was designed by God to facilitate the original proclamation of the Gospel; it is not for this age (1 Cor. 13:8-10)!

As Jimmy Jividen observes: “The present phenomenon of so-called `tongue speaking,’ like drugs, hyponosis and shock treatments, perhaps could be used under controlled situations by professionals to release anxiety and overcome inhibitions. It becomes error, however, when it is interpreted as being a special gift from God” (“Speaking in Tongues-From God or Man?” Article in Spiritual Sword, Vol. 4, No. 1, page 23).

There can be little doubt that anxiety and “pent-up pressures” need to be properly released. But let us not be guilty of claiming some gift God never promised to us. Emotional release is not worth the loss of one’s faith in Bible truth!

Truth Magazine XIX: 56, pp. 891-892
December 11, 1975

By John Wallace

In 1 Cor. 9:22, Paul said, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” Paul tried to adapt his speech, mannerisms and way of living to be more acceptable to the different races of people he taught. Any successful gospel preacher must follow Paul’s example. In fact we are admonished by Paul’s own words, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil. 4:9). I am convinced that many gospel preachers are not becoming all things to all men, when they go into other nations to hold gospel meetings and thus are “turning off” souls that could be won for the Master.

How would you feel if an Australian gospel preacher held a meeting for you and during the course of the meeting used only Australian facts and figures in his examples and analogies; if he did not know the name of your president, did not know how many states there are in the union, knew only the name of the one state in which he was presently preaching, made reference to only Australian history and Australian geography and Australian weather conditions and was completely unfamiliar with the United States. How many outsiders would he “turn off” because of his lack of knowledge of your country? How many would be offended by this “foreigner” who did not know or care enough to learn about the United States before he came for the meeting?

Perhaps, now you know how some Canadian outsider feels when an American preacher never uses Canadian facts and figures in his preaching examples. Time after time, meeting after meeting, preacher after preacher, I have heard it said, “I don’t know how it is in Canada, but down in our country it is this way, etc., etc.” American preacher friend, I love you and your great country, but you are not becoming a “Canadian” that you might win Canadians when you do not bone up on the knowledge of Canada before a meeting in our country so you can use appropriate examples and analogies.

To help any American preacher who is coming to Canada to preach in a gospel meeting, I will gladly send them a copy of the book, Quick Canadian Facts, The Canadian Pocket Encyclopedia-price $1.50.

Truth Magazine XIX: 56, p. 891
December 11, 1975

By Roy E. Cogdill

One of the very evident indications of a sectarian attitude and a movement upon the part of liberal churches of Christ today toward denominationalism is a change of message or emphasis in preaching. This is evident as the changes in organization and methods that we have been writing about. All of it is very definite evidence of a difference in attitude toward the Word of God.

The difference in the preaching that is heard now and that of just a few years ago is evident in the fact that there is very little actual preaching of the Bible. Fundamental doctrines have been laid aside. Denominational error is no longer condemned. Religious bodies are rarely ever criticized for what they do or say and even when they are, the name and identity must not be made known. The plain, positive preaching of a distinctive New Testament message is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Unity upon the basis of love, toward fellowship, that will allow anything but opposition to what we want to do is the order of the day. Nice, eloquent speeches full of “sweet little nothings” that will emotionally stir up the people and bring responses to the invitation are the demand. “Hell Fire and Damnation” preaching is out of order, for so many do not believe in it any longer. Just a very few of the “ancient landmarks” are adhered to in the preaching that is being done now. How long has it been, my brother, since you heard the preacher to whom you listen, condemn the popular sins of the day: dancing, drinking, gambling, etc.? How long has it been since you heard your preacher condemn denominational and sectarian organizations? How long since you heard the sectarian methods of money raising condemned by the teaching of the Word of God? Liberal preachers today are giving only lip service, and sometimes not too much of that, to such fundamental themes as “one faith, one baptism, and one body.” Such themes as “Divine Authority” are forgotten. Instead we are being told on every hand that we need no authority! The undenominational character of the church is no longer emphasized and the old slogans, scriptural in principle whether in word or not, are no longer pressed upon the attention and consciences of the people of God: “We speak where the Bible speaks and we are silent where the Bible is silent;” “We call Bible things by Bible names and do Bible things in Bible ways.” Of course, if we are not going to practice them, we should quit preaching them!

In the slackening of opposition to denominational doctrines, organizations, and to the very spirit and core of sectarian religion, there is very strong evidence of our drift toward this same end. Protistan denominationalism is impotent in its opposition to Roman Catholicism today and has been all along because its heritage is largely Catholic in origin. There are too many of the “relics of Rome” in all of the protestant bodies for them to militantly and successfully oppose Catholicism. They are non-protestant. Even so many of the preachers and congregations among the, so-called, “churches of Christ” today are disarmed before they start opposing denominational error, because they have adopted too many of the things that originate therein.

Very few of the denominational bodies around us are giving any more emphasis to “social gospel” preaching and activity than many of the brethren. A few years ago, preachers like Foy E. Wallace, Jr., were crying out from one end of this country tip the other against the demand for a “new and social gospel.” In clear and ringing tones that still resound in the hearts of many of us who were inspired by him and others then, all error in and out of the church was condemned and the “perversion” of the Gospel of Christ into a “Social Gospel” was anathematized with all of the power and eloquence of the prophets of old when they cried out against the departures and unfaithfulness of Israel in the long ago. What a pitiful spectacle he is now, as he becomes the agent and tool of the liberal element among the churches and condones and endorses and seeks to build up that which he once destroyed. A recent paper from a “benevolent society,” called an “Old Folks Home,” stated that he had investigated its organization and its operation and endorsed it in every detail and that they were free to use his name and influence for their promotions in whatever way tyey wished. Now whatever name and influence he may have among brethren today will not mean much to those who remember him in days gone by. A sell-out is too evident! Will he try to defend and justify such a change in attitude by the Word of God? No, he, along with the rest, knows that there is no scriptural justification for such a change in attitude toward God’s Word. With faces set toward Rome, they march on and choose to ignore those along the way who cry out against their unfaithfulness and their unbelief and warn them that “men-pleasers cannot be servants of Christ.” Those who once rose up to defend what they preached and practiced, choose to withdraw from the field of battle and try to make themselves secure in the valley of compromise. They may fatten for awhile but eventually the “anathemas” of the Lord, which once they sounded out, will sweep them out of their “refuge of lies” and leave their pitiful plight exposed to God’s righteous judgment. We find no delight in their condemnation, but grief. We would save them if we could, and we still love them, but when bitter resentment is the only response to every appeal that can be made, there is nought left to do but grieve and pray that they may see the error of their way.

Sometimes we have indications that some of our readers think that we have gone off on some tangent and are beside ourselves when we constantly call the attention of brethren to the “degressive” departures being made by liberal brethren all over the land. Many of the things being done are so far out in “right field” that even liberals themselves cannot believe it. Such projects as “Cows For Korea,” “World-Wide Radio,” “World’s Fair Evangelism,” “Campaigns For Christ,” and many, many more that could be listed are but impressive evidence of what have been writing about: “Denominationalizing The Church.” A dozen different kinds of missionary societies, as well as benevolent and educational societies, some of them under a single eldership-but missionary societies none the less-and some of them even set up as separate organizations, whose very existence is designed to do the work that the Lord committed to His organization, the church, make the departures of so many professed “churches of Christ” very real even though they may to many sound unbelievable. Many of the “middle-of-the-roaders” would be completely astounded by a list of such projects and organizations, but they need to be, so they can see what they have committed themselves to; and committed themselves they have, for there is no “halfway” ground. The attitude of “liberalism” is a package deal-if one is right they are all right. To try to find little things to object to and eliminate about the whole program is to “strain out the gnat and swallow a camel.”

Truth Magazine XIX: 56, pp. 888-889
December 11, 1975