Truth Magazine

By Larry Ray Hafley

Mother’s Day is a warm and wonderful civil and social day. All who have been blessed by a godly mother are moved by sweet memories and loving feelings on this day. As we should be thankful every day and not just on Thanksgiving Day, so we should honor “father and mother,” not on their day only, but every day (Eph. 6:1-3).

Many churches will celebrate Mother’s Day, giving more attention to it than to “the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10). With carnations and corsages, amid applause, they will recognize “the eldest mother in our congregation,” along with the one who has had “the most children.” These same churches sponsor Halloween parties, conduct Easter egg hunts, and pass out candy canes at Christmas, and interrupt worship services to give gifts to the preacher and/or the elders. Every-one smiles and beams with joy and pride.

But it was not always so. When these things first occurred, they were met with wondering bewilderment by a generation which was unaccustomed to such spectacles. However, their initial doubts and fears were eased when they saw their loving mother’s tears. So, they buried their questions and clapped for those who were being honored. Hesitance and reluctance gave way to acceptance. Yes, they took a pinch of bread and a sip of juice, but it was not the Lord’s day. It was Mother’s Day that they observed. “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:9).

These churches no longer advertise in their bulletins and on their radio program that “we speak where the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible is silent” (1 Pet. 4:11). They no longer say that “we do Bible things in Bible ways, and call Bible things by Bible names” (1 Cor. 4:6; 2 John 9). No, those are the echoes of an age long for-gotten. Instead, they speak of “This special day here in the life of our church family when we pause to honor” our mothers, our fathers, our graduates, or whatever the occasion may be. “Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have be-stowed upon you labor in vain” (Gal. 4:10, 11). “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, ac-cording to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not after Christ” (Col. 2:8).

Also, these churches no longer issue strong, scriptural protests against the human traditions of Easter and Christmas. Oh, they may mildly disclaim them, but their works give credence to these human traditions which make worship void and vain (Matt. 15:8, 9). Soon, churches which now honor human holy days will begin to dispute and question heavenly ones. Their observances of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day will become more and more elaborate. Meanwhile, their “questions” about “some of our Restoration traditions” (weekly Lord’s supper, music in worship, etc.) will be publicly aired. It is the way error works. It is how denominations are born.

So, today, while we individually observe Mother’s Day, let us re-solve to worship our Lord “in spirit and in truth” (John. 4:24). As my own dear mother reminds me, it is his day and not hers.

Guardian of Truth XL: 9 p. 1
May 2, 1996

By Dan King

In our culture we have the habit of saying to people, especially when we are finished visiting with one another: “Have a nice day!” Have you ever thought about what a fine pleasantry that is? Yet I wonder how many of us re-ally have nice days? We tend to groan and grumble and complain until it would seem that things are always terrible. You know, of course, that it has a lot to do with your attitude. If you walk around with your chin scraping the ground and your eyes directed at the floor, then you will, most of the time, find some unhappy thing to gripe about.

The Psalmist wrote: This is the day which the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it (118:24), and again, 0 satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days (90:14). God wants us to have a good day all day, every day. But we tend to be too much like the Israelites, we would prefer to murmur!

Several years ago I read a story, which the author claimed was true, about a brick layer who had really had a bad day. I do not know the author, nor where it originally appeared, but it is worth sharing with you. This statement was turned in to the company he was working for when he was requesting sick leave:

“When I got to the building, I had found that the hurricane had knocked off some bricks around the top. I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted a couple of barrels full of bricks. When I had fixed the dam-aged area there were a lot of bricks left over. I then filled a barrel full with the left-over bricks. I then went to the bottom and began releasing the line. Unfortunately the barrel of bricks was much heavier than I was, and before I knew what was happening, the barrel started coming down, jerking me up. I decided to hang on since I was too far off the ground to jump. Halfway up I met the barrel of bricks coming down – fast.

I received a hard blow on my shoulder. I then continued to the top banging my head against the beam and getting my fingers pinched and jammed in the pulley. When the barrel hit the ground hard, it burst its bottom allowing the bricks to spill out. I was now heavier than the barrel. I started down again at high speed. Halfway down I met the barrel coming up – fast. I received a severe injury to my shins.

When I hit the ground I landed on the pile of spilled bricks getting several painful cuts and bruises. At this point I must have lost my presence of mind, because I let go of my grip on the rope. The barrel came down – fast, giving me another blow on my head and putting me in the hospital. I respectfully request sick leave.”

Now folks, I don’t know what you think, but I think I would call that a bad day! I thought I had experienced some bad days, but this fellow takes the cake!

For most of us it is really a matter of perspective rather than circumstance. We usually have it rather good. What we tend to do, however, is to concentrate on the unpleasant little things and forget all about the wonderful big blessings that God in his mercy has given to us. And, since God has extended such grace our way, we ought to be glad all our days. The question is what we will make of each day, not what comes to us that day. Now, have a nice day! That’s what God intends. If you don’t, then its your intention.

Guardian of Truth XL: 8 p. 25
April 18, 1996

By Larry Ray Hafley

“Easter Sunday” I sought to find;

Through the Bible I searched a lot,

And though I’m not blind,

Try as I did, I could not.

I turned many Bible pages

Hunting for the “Easter Holiday,”

But all I found were sin’s wages

For adding to God’s holy way.

I am not trying to be “cute,”

Nor to be simply funny, But with error to refute,

I may as well’ve looked for the Easter Bunny.

Guardian of Truth XL: 8 p. 
April 18, 1996

By Colly Caldwell

On May 29, 1962, in the beautiful rolling hills of Chattanooga Memorial Park, we laid to rest the mortal body of our grandfather, Charles G. Caldwell, Sr. He was better known to the family as Dad. On that memorable day, our Daddy, Charles G. Caldwell, Jr., told us when it was his time to depart this life, we were to bring his body back to this same place and lay it to rest at his father’s feet. On Tuesday, February 6, 1966, back up in the snow-covered hills of Chattanooga Memorial Park, he was laid to rest, and we fulfilled his wishes of so long ago. He had left us the previous Saturday morning, February 3, in Franklin, Tennessee.

More important in Daddy’s planning for this occasion, however, was his great desire to go to heaven. In 1931, at the age of eleven, Daddy obeyed the gospel of Christ. He sometimes told us how he had planned to be baptized at twelve, the same age his Dad was when he was baptized. He came to the point of conviction, however, at which he could wait no longer. He said that when he came up out of the water, he remembered thinking that if he could only die at that moment, he would surely go to heaven.

The Lord had much more in mind for this man than only being for-given. Others needed the salvation the gospel had offered to him, and he spoke frequently of his own feeling of being “debtor to preach” the word. Through his teen years he made talks and otherwise participated in the worship. At nineteen, he preached the first of thousands of sermons. Daddy loved the Lord, and he spent his life teaching others to love the Lord. He took great joy in being “conservative,” a term which he used to describe the spirit of one who wanted to conserve the word of God and thus God’s will for man in both faith and practice. He stood for the authority of Christ, the completeness of the gospel, and the autonomy of the local church. He spoke up strongly any time he felt brethren were moving away from any biblical truth. Until the end of life, he remained concerned over current issues and expressed himself to us and the local church of which he was a part on subjects ranging from unauthorized “rights” in remarriage to the subject direction of celebration and performance worship. He was opposed to every attempt to preach on any topic without proper biblical support in the sermon. While we were growing up, he would say, “Don’t preach it if you cannot support it from the Scriptures.” He also would say, “Always do what the Lord says whether it is what I say or not. Just do it.”

Daddy never considered himself a brotherhood preacher, though he preached in many gospel meetings throughout the country. He was at home in local work. In forty-five years of preaching, he worked with local churches in Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama, and Kentucky. His work was leading others to Christ and helping Christians “to become and be what the Lord would have you to be.”

Daddy quoted Scripture. The word was written in his heart and his desire was to place it in the hearts of his listeners. He did not need to open the pew Bible he carried while preaching and did so only to be certain his hearers kept their attention focused upon what God was saying. He loved all the Scripture, but he seemed most to enjoy preaching from James and Philippians, two books particularly designed for individual Christians. After his retirement from the pulpit in 1984, he set his mind to write commentaries on those two books. He called that work his “swan song.” We intend to publish his work and make these two commentaries available to his brethren.

Daddy was a truly family man. The romantic love of his life was Fern Aileen Bailey Caldwell. They met at Freed-Hardeman College in 1938 and married in 1941 when he was twenty-one and she twenty. They worked together faithfully in the kingdom of Christ for more than fifty-four years. He was a strong yet loving father. Together, they taught us to love the Lord, the truth, the church, our fellowman, and our families. They helped us to understand that this world does not provide real meaning in life be-cause we are all going to another place. Somehow, they were able to place in us such strong feelings about those things, that one by one, we each made our decision to preach the gospel. Now some of their grandsons are preaching and most of the grandchildren have obeyed the gospel.

While he was Daddy to us and Charles to Mother, he was better known as Daddy Chuck first to his grandchildren and then to family and friends. He claimed he was able to love better than anyone else. Like Abel “He being dead still speaks” (Heb. 11:4). And like all those who have died in the Lord, he will rest from his labors but his works will follow him (Rev. 14:13). He certainly speaks in our voices as we articulate the great truths we learned from him. If the expressions of comfort we have all received from others is any indication, he will also speak in the lives of a vast number which only eternity will count. It is our earnest prayer to God and our labor of faith that “in his time” we will be together again, only this time in heaven.

In loving memory, his sons, Colly, Grant, and Stanley. . . .

Guardian of Truth XL: 8 p. 24-25
April 18, 1996