Truth Magazine

By Connie W. Adams

Last Sunday morning I caught the last part of a sermon by Charles Stanley on television. He is a well known Baptist preacher from Atlanta, Georgia and is often seen and heard on television and heard widely on radio stations across the nation. He was preaching on the plan of salvation. It was classic Baptist doctrine.

You may wonder why I would think it useful to deal with this matter. The answer is simple. Baptist doctrine has not changed on this subject. Over the years I have met people who have been taught by Baptist preachers and whose baptism followed such teaching. Some of them have argued at length that they had received scriptural baptism. I have always told them, “Not if you acted according to Baptist teaching.”

Mr. Stanley said that there is a defining moment in one’s life when he “accepts Jesus Christ as his personal savior.” At that moment of faith and acceptance one is saved and forgiven by the Lord. He is saved by faith and not by works. That is, no obedience is required for salvation. Somehow it is overlooked that faith is something to be developed in man and expressed by him. “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:29).

It was then pointed out that this person thus saved should be baptized as a public declaration of faith and salvation. There is that “outward sign” of the “inward grace.” He said baptism declares you stand for the Lord before the world. Then he told of a woman who came forward at a service who said she had been saved forty years before but that she had never been baptized. She felt that something was missing and that she ought to publicly declare herself. Now, get the sequence here. She was saved forty years before and now felt compelled to be baptized. Don’t you see, folks, the order of things in the Baptist plan of salvation? It is salvation first, and then baptism. Baptist preachers through the years have contested in public debate with gospel preachers that one is saved at the point of faith, before and without water baptism. That is exactly what Charles Stanley preached last Sunday morning on television. What does the Bible teach about this?

Grace, Faith and Works

Is it true that we are saved by the grace of God? Of course it is. We did not earn or deserve the salvation God offers through Christ. It is by grace (Eph. 2:8-9). Now, are we saved by grace conditionally or unconditionally? If unconditionally, then either all will be saved or else God is to be blamed for those who are lost. Yet Jesus taught that many are in the broad way that leads to destruction (Matt. 7:13, 14). Is grace nullified be-cause there are conditions imposed by God, who offers his favor? Of course not. Grace may be accepted or rejected. Upon no other basis could we account for the free moral agency of the sinner. God is the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him (Heb. 5:8-9).

Are we saved by faith? Absolutely! Numerous pas-sages show that we are saved by faith (John 3:16; Mark 16:16; Rom. 5:1-2). Faith is a conviction resting upon evidence (Heb. 11:6). “These things are written that ye might believe”(John 20:30-31). This grows into confident trust. Now, are we saved by a dead faith or an obedient faith? James said “faith without works is dead also” (Jas. 2:26). Hebrews 11 gives us a list of worthies who were justified by faith, but always when their faith expressed itself in obedience. For example, “By faith, Abel offered unto God” (v. 4); “by faith Noah … pre-pared an ark” (v. 7); “by faith Abraham … obeyed, and he went out” (v.8). The faith that saves is the faith that obeys.

Are we saved by works? What is meant by works? We are not saved by the works of the law of Moses (Rom. 3:28). We are not saved by works of human merit (Eph. 2:9; Tit. 3:5). These are works devised and carried out by man. But there are the works of God to consider. Remember John 6:29? “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” God devised it but the sinner must believe. “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6). Paul lamented that his Jewish brethren went about to “establish their own righteousness” and had not “submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:1-2). Whom did God declare righteous? Those who believe “unto righteousness,” “confess unto salvation,” and “obey the gospel” (Rom. 10:10, 16). God ordained some things for us to do which activate faith. Saul asked, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:6).

If our Baptist friends could realize that grace saves us conditionally, that the faith that saves is the faith that obeys and that when God commands us to act and we, in faith, do what God said, that is a work of God’s righteousness, not our own, then much of the problem would be resolved.

Is Salvation Before or After Baptism?

This is the fundamental difference between the truth and Baptist doctrine on salvation. Consider these passages:

Mark 16:16  “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Now look at it. Where does “saved” appear? Is it before or after baptism?

Acts 2:38  “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.” Now look again. Where does “remission of sins” come in the passage? Before or after baptism?

Acts 22:16  “Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins.” Once more, does “wash away thy sins” come be-fore or after baptism?

It does not take a theological degree to answer these questions.

The Danger of Baptist Doctrine

Did I hear someone say, “Don’t you know it is not nice to criticize another religion?” Well, I know some people feel that way about it, but I want you to consider the seriousness of what is at stake. Baptist doctrine is not only contrary to the Scriptures on this subject, it is downright dangerous because it leads people to believe they are saved when they have not obeyed the will of God. It is not enough to be immersed to get into the Baptist Church, it is important to be immersed for the right reason  to be saved, to gain remission of sins, to wash away sins. One who is baptized with the conviction that he was saved at that critical moment before and without baptism, could not possibly be baptized to be saved, to gain remission of sins or to wash away sins. Any doctrine which clouds and obscures the gospel plan of salvation is dangerous to the soul. Whatever truth may be taught about God, Christ, the Bible, upright moral behavior (and Baptists do teach much truth along these lines), does not mitigate the fact that souls are deceived when they are led to believe that they are saved at a point where the Bible does not promise it. We need to kindly but firmly press this very point. Saved forty years before being baptized? Not according to the Bible.

Guardian of Truth XLI: 14 p. 3-4
July 17, 1997

By Mike Willis

Sometimes someone carelessly breaks something and needs to repair it. Frequently, he tries to enlist the help of any and everyone he can to repair what he broke. In such cases, the response is this: “You broke it, you fix it.” Surely, one does not feel the need to repair or replace those things that others break.

Volunteer Summit

I had a very similar feeling when our President recently called for a volunteer summit to rescue millions of endangered children in America. Back in the 1960s a major social revolution occurred in our country led by the likes of Bill Clinton. These were intellectuals who scorned the values of traditional America  values that were based on Bible principles.

The social revolutionaries removed every reference to God from our public institutions (no Bible reading or prayer in schools, for example). They re-moved discipline from the public schools by insisting that “spankings” are child abuse. They promoted children who had not learned the skills of their grade level, advocating that students needed to be with those who were the same age. This produced graduates who could not read, write, and do math.

The social visionaries flaunted their immoral lifestyle. These people wanted “free love,” which meant openly practicing fornication. Men and women began to live together without marrying. Parents were told to expect that their teenaged children would experiment with sex. As a matter of fact, a parent who became upset when his child committed fornication was the one who had the problem! Some in the sexual liberation movement advocated communal sex. Riding the coattails of their sexual revolution were the homosexuals who decided that they would “come out of the closet.”

Marriage was too constraining for these visionaries. They wanted “no fault” divorce. Soon what they advocated became the lifestyle of many. The divorce rate skyrocketed. After fathers divorced or were divorced, they moved into new relationships that absorbed their time, money, and energy, leaving behind the children of the first marriage to fend for themselves. This created a new class of those living in poverty  divorced women living with under-age children.

“Free love” and “easy divorce” have produced their offspring  father-less homes. The number of children being reared in homes without the presence of their father is soaring. These children are more likely than any others to have problems with crime, social maladjustment, or to fail in school. Furthermore, someone had to feed, clothe, and provide shelter for these fatherless homes. A state welfare structure was erected that is driving the nation toward bankruptcy.

Lovers did not want the responsibility of raising the children conceived in fornication, so in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the abortion of unborn child was a constitutional right of every woman. Under the pretense that this would create less child abuse (as if killing the unborn were not child abuse!), abortion advocates created a society in which 1.5 million unborn babies a year are put to death. No wonder our Social Security system is going bankrupt, since nearly 30,000,000 who would have been paying into the program were destroyed in abortion clinics of our nation.

Now the social problems have gotten so bad, that these visionaries, now more elderly heads of state, are calling for a volunteer summit to save those children at risk. My first reaction is, “You broke it, you fix id”

Let Me Bring My Tools and I’ll Help

I find the call for volunteers to help fix these social ills interesting. They want churches to assume the load that the welfare department cannot bear. Of course, they want the church to keep its moral values to itself, never saying any-thing about such explosive political issues as abortion, gambling, same-sex marriages, euthanasia, etc. Churches may open their doors to political candidates that lean to the left (such as Jesse Jackson’s use of the Black Baptist Churches, Al Gore’s speech before Hindu monks), but politicians that cater to the religious right are suspect (Pat Buchanan, Oliver North, and others). One gets the impression that the call for volunteerism is an appeal for more dollars, but none of our sense.

However, I am willing to lay aside these petty feelings and react by volunteering to help “fix it.” There is one condition for my participating  allow me to use the tools that I believe will work to fix it. To fix the existing problems, we are going to have to find the root cause and repair it. My conviction is that these problems began in the 1960s social revolution that cast aside the “puritanical” morals and values of their fathers. The Apostle Paul explained the moral degeneracy of his age saying, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Be-cause that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:20-22). To fix what is broken, we must begin with its root cause. When our leaders decided to cast aside Bible ethics, in their “superior wisdom,” they foolishly created the moral condition that caused the social problems now facing our country.

Many of us who are older can remember a society in which many of us never locked our doors, we were not afraid to walk the streets of our inner cities, murder was an uncommon occurrence, teenagers grew up with very few children conceived out of wedlock, marriages lasted for a lifetime, and a man’s word was his bond. What held the society together was a faith in God that caused men to de-vote their lives to the obedience of God’s word. That generation believed such plain Bible passages as, “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” “Thou shalt not covet … thy neighbor’s wife,” “Flee fornication.” Divorce was not permitted unless there was “cause,” which usually meant adultery, abusive treatment, neglect, and such like things that had to be proven in court. This was much nearer the Bible standard than what we have today.

One cannot help fix the social problems that rejection of God and his word has created without using the tools of the gospel. If government will give us the freedom to preach the saving message of God’s word, which teaches salvation through a crucified Savior, a call for genuine repentance, human responsibility for one’s transgressions, punishment for the wicked, and such like things, I am convinced that we can fix the social ills of this society.

But, don’t call on me to pay the bills, to bear the financial burden, of a lifestyle that is abhorrent to me. I resent paying higher taxes to pay for the rearing of children conceived by fornication and abandoned by their fathers and to find a cure for AIDS  a disease chiefly spread by two immoral lifestyles (homosexuality and drug use). Let those who led the sexual revolution fix its own problems. But if they will renounce the sexual revolution, I will cheerfully join in solving the problems created by their revolution.

Guardian of Truth XLI: 14 p. 2
July 17, 1997

By Vestal Chaffin

Our Savior said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”(John 8:32). It is our purpose in this tract to set forth the truth; and not to misrepresent any-one in any way. I have no animosity for any person because he (or she) is a member of the Baptist denomination. I know some very fine people who are Baptists. I am intensely interested in their eternal welfare. I believe that many of them are honest in their convictions, but they have been led to believe things that are diametrically opposed to the plain teaching of God’s word. Our purpose in setting forth the things herein is to try to lead souls to the light of God’s eternal word. For in the day of judgment we will not be judged by what we think, or what we feel, or even by that which we have been taught, but by the word of God (Acts 17:31; Rev. 20:12; John 12:48).

In this tract we have set side by side for your consideration, what “The Bible” and the churches of Christ teach, and “What The Baptist Church Teaches.” We beg you dear reader to carefully compare what Baptists teach with that which the New Testament teaches, and you can clearly see that Baptists are out of harmony with the Bible on these twenty-five points. Dear friend, do you think that any religious people can contradict God’s word (the very teaching that guided the church in the apostolic days), and still be pleasing to God? Now, turn to the following page and compare these teachings.

 

The New Testament Church Teaches:	The Baptist Churches Teach:
(Bible Doctrine)	(Baptist Doctrine)
Read these references.	Fill in blanks with sustaining references if you believe the following doctrines.
1. Name of the church, “churches of Christ” (Matt. 16:18, Rom. 16:16)	1. Name of church, “Baptist Churches.” ______________________________________
2. Members called “Christians” (Acts 11:26; I Peter 4:16).	2. Members called “Baptists.” ____________________________________
3. Belief and baptism equals salvation (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:28).	3. Belief only equals salvation, and then baptism. ___________________________
4. Repent and be baptized “for” remission of sins (Acts 2:38).	4. Repent and be baptized “because of” remission of sins ___________________
5. “Baptized into Christ” (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27).	5. Already in Christ, and then be baptized. ___
6. Baptism doth also now save us” (I Pet. 3:21)	6. Baptism does not save us. ______________
7. Baptized to wash away sins (Acts 22:16).	7. Baptized with no sins to wash away. ______
8. Baptized upon confession of faith (Acts 8:37; Rom. 10: 9-10).	8. Baptized upon “experience” of feelings. ___
9. Baptized by the authority of Christ (Matt. 28:18-19; Mark 16:15-16).	9. Baptized by the authority of the Baptist Church after voted on. _________________
10. Not justified by faith only (James 2:17, 20, 24)	10. Justified “solely through faith in Christ” _________________
11. The gospel is Gods power to save (Rom. 1:16; I Cor. 15:1-2)	11. Direct operation of the Holy Spirit, Gods power to save. ______________
12. The new birth is “of water and of the spirit” (John 3:3-5)	12. The new birth is of the spirit, but not of water. ______________
13. We receive the “gift of the Holy Spirit” after we become children of God (Acts 2:38; Gal. 6:4)	13. We receive the “gift of the Holy Spirit” before we come children of God _________________
14. Only in the name of Jesus Christ is there salvation (Acts 4:9-12)	14. There is nothing in a name. One name is as good as another. _________________
15. Gods “Whole family in heaven and in earth is named” after Christ (Eph. 3:14-15)	15. Some members of Gods family are named Baptist, Methodist, etc. _____________
16. Lords Supper to be observed on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7)	16. Lords Supper to be observed one a year, twice a year, or once month. __________
17. Sing, making melody in your hear (Eph 5:19; Col. 3:16.	17. Sing and play, making melody on a mechanical instrument. ______________
18. Only Christians commanded to pray (I Thess. 5:17-18; I Pet. 3:12; John 9:13)	18. Alien sinners should pray for salvation. ___________________
19. The Lord adds the saved to the church (Acts 2:47)	19. The saved should join the church if they can be voted in. _________________
20. Christ is the Savior of the church (Eph. 5:23); Body the Church (Col. 1:18)	20. Christ is the Savior of those outside of the church. _______________________
21. Faith comes by hearing the word of God (John 20:30-31; Rom 10:17)	21. Faith is “wrought in the soul by the regenerating Spirit of God.” __________
22. We must do the will of God to be saved (Matt. 7:21; Heb 5:9)	22. Just trust in the Lord and he will save you. _____________________
23. Saved people can fall from the grace of God (I Cor. 10:8, 12; Gal. 5:4)	23. Saved people cannot fall from grace. __________________
24. Man can make shipwreck of his faith and be lost. (I Timothy 1:19-20)	24. Man cannot make shipwreck of his faith and be lost. _______________
25. Mans salvation is dependent upon his obedience to Gods word (Heb. 5:9; I Pet. 1:22; II Thess. 1:7-9)	25. Mans salvation does not depend upon his obedience to Gods word, it is “wholly of grace.” __________________

Guardian of Truth XLI: 13 p. 8-9
July 3, 1997

By Lewis Willis

The Fourth of July is a special day to patriotic Americans. The day is used to celebrate our independence from the rule and tyranny of the king of England. In a sense, our nation was born on this day in 1776. May we and our children never forget the sacrifices of our forefathers by which we are able to live in this “land of the free and the home of the brave.” If we do, we will surely lose our freedom. Are we moving in that direction already? Americans living today have never known anything but freedom. Have we been free so long that we take freedom for granted? Will we, through carelessness and neglect, let our liberty slip away? As we celebrate our nation’s birth, and our liberty, let us treasure the blessing of Freedom!

Spiritual Freedom

There is another kind of freedom, and it surpasses all others. We enjoy freedom from the bond-age and curse of sin. Sadly, most of the people of the world know nothing of this freedom. Too many who know of it are indifferent toward it. Many who once had this freedom have lost it. Is this not a good time to think about and study the blessing of spiritual freedom?

Freedom Lost

When we were born into this world, we were spiritually free. There was nothing that held us captive. However, as we have grown to maturity, we have all lost our freedom. We became the slaves of Satan, the servants of sin. Jesus said, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). Because “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23), all have enslaved themselves to the devil and sin. The New Testament calls this slavery “bondage.” Peter wrote: “…they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Pet. 2:19). Obviously, those in bondage are not free!

Freedom From Bondage

The mission of Jesus was deliverance of man from the bondage of Satan and sin. John said, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). He came to seek and to save his people from sin (Matt. 1:21; Luke 19:10). At the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus quoted Isaiah saying the prophet’s words were fulfilled that day: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18). Jesus announced to the Jews, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free . . . If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:32, 36). Through the redemptive work of Christ, Paul could tell Roman Christians, “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (Rom. 6:18). All of these passages convey the same message: When Jesus died for our sins, he brought freedom to those in bondage. This freedom is ours if we will only obey “from the heart” the 491 E. Woodsdale, Akron, Ohio 44301 gospel of Christ (Rom. 6:17). The gospel is God’s power to save us (Rom. 1:16). You and I can remain in bondage to Satan and sin, or, we can be free by obeying the gospel.

Liberty By Law

When many people think of liberty, they are convinced that they can do as they please! They apparently believe they have a license to do anything they wish to do. They seem to think that Christ granted them freedom to attend the church of their choice, instead of the church of Christ (Matt. 16:18; Acts 20:28). They obviously think they have the liberty to refuse baptism for the remission of their sins, even though the gospel says otherwise (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38). The supposed liberty of some grants them the right to marry, divorce for any cause and remarry, though Christ said people who do such are guilty of the sin of adultery (Man. 19:9). Others must believe they have the liberty to associate with every form of religious error, even the kind engaged in by liberal brethren, but the word of God says not to have fellowship with darkness (Eph. 5:11).

What is the freedom or liberty we enjoy? Are there any bounds or restrictions that control us? If so, what limits our liberty? Let the Scriptures answer that question: “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (Jas. 1:25). James also wrote, “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (Jas. 2:12). Paul would add, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). The law of Christ makes us free, and our liberty is controlled by that same law. We are free to do what the law of Christ authorizes us to do. And, nothing more! When we do more than the word authorizes, we abandon God and Christ (2 John 9), and plunge ourselves again in bondage to sin (2 Pet. 2:20).

Must Preserve Liberty

As nations must act to defend and preserve liberty, so also must we. Among the churches of Galatia, some were teaching that they should go back and again observe the ordinances of the Mosaic law. Paul told these brethren, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1). The “bondage” referred to is the bond-age of sin which the Old Testament law could not remove. Few Christians today will begin observing the Law of Moses. However, there is always a danger that Christians will return to the practice of sin in which they were formerly in bondage. That is why Paul exhorted that we stand fast in the liberty which Christ has provided. He told Timothy to “take heed unto thyself’ (1 Tim. 4:16). He told the Corinthians to “take heed lest (they) fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). So, as America celebrates its freedom, let’s celebrate ours. And, let’s serve God faithfully, preserving our freedom!

Guardian of Truth XLI: 13 p. 1
July 3, 1997