Truth Magazine

By Julia Eckhardt

This story is written in memory of Terry Eckhardt to encourage Christians to persevere in teaching alien sinners and praying for their repentance. Sometimes, teaching alien sinners can seem hopeless, and their repentance and conversion an impossibility. However, Jesus said, “… with God all things are possible” Matt. 19:26).

In the early 1980s, Todd Eckhardt of Thermopolis, Wyoming was dating someone who told him he had to be baptized for forgiveness of sins. Having never heard of the Lord’s church, he began searching for answers to prove her wrong. He asked his mother what she thought; she said that she did not believe baptism was necessary. He called Billy Graham’s toll free number and was given the same answer.

Todd bought a Bible at the college where he attended and began reading. Not knowing anything about the Scriptures, he began to read in Genesis. He met with an elder in Cheyenne who studied with him for one and one-half days and answered all of his questions. Todd obeyed the gospel at this time as he realized there was no reason to wait. He began attending every service and absorbing as much knowledge of the Bible as he could. His repentance took some self discipline because Todd grew up, as many young American boys, sowing “wild oats.” He had participated in many sinful social activities, and now he was ridiculed for not doing so. He had attended a Methodist church with his family while very young, but they stopped going on a regular basis when he was nine. At-tending every service of the Lord’s church took some effort at first for a babe in Christ.

Nine months after Todd obeyed Christ, he moved to Austin, Texas to find work. After locating a job and an apartment, he moved his few things into his new place and went for a walk. On his walk, he found the Wonsley church building only 100 yards from his apartment complex. Since he had not learned the issues of the social gospel, he only knew he was looking for a “church of Christ” to attend. It was the providence of God that Todd found a sound work with which to place his membership.

Todd was joyous that he had found the truth; his life now made sense to him and he no longer felt empty. He had his goal in life now: “Fear God and keep his commandments.” But now, he wanted his biological family to join in his happiness by coming to the Lord. In the beginning, they were in-different to the Scriptures; they would politely decline attending services with Todd when he visited them in Wyoming. However, his mother would talk with him about the Bible and was open to discussion. Todd’s teaching seemed harsh to her because her own parents had been devout Methodists. He asked her, “Did your mother want you to follow God? If you learned God’s precepts differed from Methodist creed, would she not want you to still follow God?” This made sense to his mother and helped her change her thinking.

Todd continued to be an example to his family for several years. He tried to make his light always shine just as Paul told Timothy to do (1 Tim. 4:12). After seven years of prayer and Bible discussions with his mother, she obeyed the gospel. She began attending services regularly and continued Bible discussions with Todd whenever possible. Also, previous to her baptism, she had subscribed to the Guardian of Truth magazine. Through her own reading, she had already learned and accepted many Bible precepts.

Todd now yearned for his father to become a Christian. He always made it possible for Todd’s mother to attend services but would not go with her. Six months after Marial, Todd’s mother, obeyed Christ, Todd’s father was diagnosed with renal cancer. It had progressed to such an extent that the doctors did not think he would live longer than six months. While Terry, Todd’s father, was recovering from surgery in a Denver hospital, he had some hallucinating effects from his medications. He became very depressed, so Marial asked Jim Reingrover, preacher for the Westside congregation in Golden, to come to the hospital. Jim visited with Terry for two hours discussing the Scriptures and answering all of Terry’s questions. Jim baptized Terry the following day after Terry received a pass from the hospital. Although Terry’s body was quite weak from surgery, his heart was now rejuvenated and felt no fear for his soul. The Lord would now be with him through this cancer illness.

Although the outlook for Terry’s physical life looked grim, he now had the hope of eternal salvation. The Denver doctors sent him home to Thermopolis. Terry started interferon treatments with little hope of getting better. However, his mind was positive because he was focused on learning as much as he could about the Scriptures. Eight months after Terry’s diagnosis, he had another medical evaluation; these tests revealed no cancer in Terry’s body  none at all! The Lord’s providence was again at work! Terry was in remission for a year, but he continued to learn and read the Lord’s precepts. He once said that he was sorry that it took cancer to alert him to his soul’s condition. He wished he had obeyed the Lord without having the illness. His example shined as his worldly friends watched him change. He dropped out of his golf club meetings so he could attend Wednesday night Bible studies, and he stopped socializing at the Elks hall. He told his old friends that they needed to come to the Lord.

In the fall of 1994 Terry began having severe pain again which required more surgery. After many medications and hospital stays, Terry never went back into remission. He spent his last six months at home in a hospital bed. Marial took care of him with the help of home health care nurses until December 4, 1995. He passed over the river in his sleep during the early morning hours.

Terry told one friend during his illness that he had no regrets of getting sick. He knew he had the hope of being with Jesus at the end of his earthly life. He told his physical therapist that he had a special son who had helped him find that truth.

Funeral services for Terry were December 8, 1995 in Thermopolis, Wyoming. Jim Everett and Jim Reingrover officiated using the opportunity to teach the gospel. These were Terry’s wishes.

Terry had one young man that he had been talking to about the Lord before he died. This man would not really listen to what Terry had to say. After he attended the funeral, the man’s wife told Marial, “Terry made him listen today.” Through Terry’s death, many seeds of life were planted.

Guardian of Truth XL: 5 p. 6-7
March 7, 1996

By Steve Wallace, Kevin Campbell

In late August of this year, Doug Hill, of Pasadena, Texas, arrived in Kaunas the third week of August to start another effort to spread the gospel in Kaunas. Steve Wallace worked with him for a good portion of September; then Kevin Campbell arrived in mid-October to stay until they both left the first week of November. Ivan Valdes followed them in the work and Derek Chambers, who is still there as this report is written, followed Ivan.

Street Work

Almost everyday for three months a table full of literature in the Lithuanian language was set up on the busy Laisves Aleja. It is one of the main streets in town and limited to pedestrian traffic. Things were busy at the table and we had several days that were unlike anything I have seen since our early efforts in Lithuania with people crowded around the table asking questions and taking literature. On at least one day we ran out of some of the tracts. We had gotten three new tracts printed since our efforts there this spring, one of which is the first lesson of a Bible correspondence course by brother Campbell. Al-ways, we handed out invitations to our Sunday lectures to everyone who passed.

Lectures

The attendance at the Sunday lectures varied, which has been our general experience in working there. Ads were run in the paper advertising lecture topics, sometimes large ones with a paragraph telling of the need for learning about a given topic. We made overhead charts of our lessons which were handed out to all who came. Our high attendance was 11 visitors at one lecture. After Kevin arrived, an effort to spread the gospel in the city of Siauliai was started. Siauliai is a city about one and a half hours north of Kaunas. Jay Horsley, Doug Hill, and Kevin Campbell made several trips to Siauliai to hold Bible lectures. A school room was rented and several days were spent each week distributing literature and invitations to the lectures on the streets of Siauliai. Fourteen were in attendance at the first lecture and twenty-eight at the second a week later.

One precious soul has been baptized there and brethren hope that this is the beginning of a new congregation in Siauliai. Also, Doug and Steve held a lecture in the little town of Smalininkai on Wednesday evening, 27 September. Ten people were in attendance and interest was good.

The Church in Kaunas

Things are going well with church there. As the group is made up completely of women a lesson dealing with the role of women, making special application to the work there, was preached. It was well received. We are encouraged by the progress of the Christians there. Also, there are visitors at every service who have shown interest in the gospel.

Translation

We are moving into another stage in our translation of material into Lithuanian. Up to this point we have been translating and printing tracts. However, we now plan to start translating books of 50-100 pages in length. There is a complete dearth of reading material and Bible study books for these brethren, and books published by those in human denominations are starting to appear on the market there. Also, we believe that publishing religious debates will help truth seekers among the population to better study the Bible in an environment that offers increasingly more diversity in religious teaching. Beyond all this, Lithuania was previously a Russian republic, unlike most Eastern European nations which were merely satellites. Hence, many people know Russian. Once we are able to offer translators copies of a book in both English and Lithuanian it will not be difficult to produce a copy of the book in Russian. This will help the work of spreading the gospel in Russian speaking lands. We have come up with an economical way to print such books in limited quantities.

Can You Come to Kaunas in 1996?

Beginning in March 1996, a further effort to spread the gospel is being planned for Kaunas. It is planned to continue into December. Workers are needed. Can you come for a few weeks? Everyone who has worked in Kaunas believes in the need for further work to be done there and has found the work something they were able to do. Please contact one of us for information about working there.

(Note: After this report arrived, brother Wallace sent me a note on Compuserve indicating that two had recently been baptized in Kaunas as a result of their efforts this fall.)

Guardian of Truth XL: 5 p. 12-13
March 7, 1996

By Donnie V. Rader

In the first article of this series we saw that God demands self-denial. Jesus said that one must deny himself to be his follower (Mark 8:34). Part of the principle of self-denial is learning to put God’s will first.

In preaching to Felix, Paul taught about “righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come” (Acts 24:25). What does self-control have to do with becoming a Christian? The answer is everything. One will not and cannot be-come a child of God until he suppresses his own will and gives preference to the will of God.

Man Has His Own Way

Man has his own idea of how he ought to live and con-duct his life. What he thinks seems right to him (Prov. 14:12; 16:25). However, it differs greatly from the thinking of God. His ways are higher and greater than man’s (Isa. 55:9-10). Following his own plans, man is led to destruction (Prov. 16:25).

Examples can be found throughout the Bible of those who had their own ideas. When Naaman heard the instructions from the man of God to dip seven times in Jordan, he revealed his disappointment saying, “Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper” (2 Kings 5:11). In the days of the judges “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25). Paul lived in good conscience while he was persecuting the church (Acts 23:1). The Jews were rejected by God because they ignored God’s will and went about to establish their own scheme for being righteous (Rom. 10:1-3).

God’s Will Is Revealed In His Word

The mind of God has been revealed by the Spirit to the apostles and prophets (1 Cor. 2:9-13; Eph. 3:3-5). We can now read and understand what God’s will is (Eph. 3:3-5; 5:17; John 8:32). The righteousness of God (God’s plan for righteousness) is revealed in the gospel (Rom. 1:16-17).

We Must Accept God’s Will And Put It First

If we are going to serve God, we must suppress our own will and submit to his. It is only those who do the will of the Father who enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 7:21). Those in the church are those who are subject unto Christ in everything (Eph. 5:24).

The repentance that God demands of us in becoming his children (Acts 2:38; 17:30-31), involves a change of mind (cf. Matt. 21:28-29). This is a change from following our own will to submitting to the will of God. Then, it is no longer us, but Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20).

If we are truly converted to the Lord, we will put the Lord first (cf. “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts”  1 Pet. 3:15) in all things. Thus, it is not just a matter of submitting to the will of the Lord in becoming a Christian, but accepting it in “everything” (Eph. 5:24).

Reasons For Putting God’s Will First

 God is smarter than we are. God’s ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and thoughts (Isa. 55:9-10). Who among men is wise enough or smart enough to give God counsel, telling him that we have a better way (Rom. 11:34)?

 Our way leads to death. Though what we think seems right and feels good, it leads to separation from God and eternal damnation (Prov. 14:12; 16:25).

 God’s will is for our good. We do not always see how some command or restriction that God has laid upon us can be for our good. However, his commands are for our good always (Deut. 6:24).

 If we do not submit to God’s will, we are against God. Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matt. 12:30).

 Man is not qualified to be his own guide. “It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jer. 10:23).

Examples

Let’s consider some examples of those who put God’s will first in their lives.

 Abraham was so dedicated to doing God’s will that he was willing to sacrifice his own son because that’s what God told him to do (Gen. 22). Talk about someone who would have to really suppress his own will, Abraham surely had to do that. It wouldn’t be easy for anyone to kill a child they loved.

 Post-exile Israel had married the strangers from that Land in violation of God’s law. Ezra preached the will of God to them which said that they must separate from their wives (Ezra 10:9-10). Obviously, that wouldn’t be easy. Surely, they loved these women. After all, they had married them. Many of them had children by these wives (v. 44). And yet, as hard and a painful as it would be, they said to Ezra, “As you have said, so we must do” (v. 12).

 Jesus himself faced the pain and agony of the cross saying, “0 My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39, 42).

 The Corinthians had lived ungodly and immoral lives. Many of them had been fornicators, adulterers and homosexuals (1 Cor. 6:9-11). Yet, they had given all that up (no matter what pleasure was involved) to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hopefully these few points help us to see that if we are going to master self (deny self), we must give preference to God’s will and develop a desire for it.

Guardian of Truth XL: 5 p. 22-23
March 7, 1996

By Ferrell Jenkins

For many years I had wanted to visit Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey. When I planned the Steps of Paul and John tour of Greece and Turkey for 1995 I determined that this would be the year to see my dream fulfilled. Prior to this tour, on four previous tours, I had visited all of the places mentioned in the book of Acts. But certain Old Testament sites had eluded me because they were far away in eastern Turkey near the borders of Syria, Iraq, Iran, and the Soviet Union (now Armenia). I asked Curtis Pope and his brother Kyle if they would like to join me for this adventure.

Our tour of Greece and Turkey, with forty tour members, ended in Athens and all of the people returned to the United States with the exception of the three of us. We took a flight from Athens to Samos and then a ferry to Kusadasi, Turkey, and from there by car to Izmir for the night. The next morning we took a flight of about an hour and a half on the Turkish Airline to Adana. It was a beautiful flight and we could see the Taurus Mountains and the Cilician Gates as we approached Adana. Our Avis rental car, a Fiat with air conditioning (a rarity in Turkey), was ready upon arrival.

The Cilician Gates: Corridor of History

Twice previously I had been to Tarsus and the Cilician Gates but I wanted Curtis and Kyle to see them. Leaving Adana we headed west through the plains of Cilicia and took the old road (instead of the new toll road) northwesterly through the Cilician Gates, one of the three passes through the Taurus Mountains which connect the Anatolian plateau, with an elevation of about 3000 feet above sea level, with the Mediterranean coast. We admired the beauty of the snow-covered Taurus mountains, some peaks more than 11,000 feet above sea level, and talked a lot about the importance of this pass. We knew that the Hittites, Alexander the Great, the Romans, and the Crusaders had gone this way before us. Most likely Paul and Silas went this way as they went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches, at the beginning of the second preaching journey (Acts 15:40-41).

The distance from the Anatolian plateau to the Cilician plain is about 70 miles. In ancient times this was a journey of nearly five days. As we drove through the most narrow part of the pass on the modern widened highway we saw the natural pass an area about wide enough for a four-lane highway  and the river flowing through it. We remembered Paul’s statements about being in “dangers from rivers” and “dangers from robbers” (2 Cor. 11:26). We knew that places like this could be what he was describing.

Throughout eastern Turkey one sees men (and sometimes women) wearing baggy pants and both men and women riding donkeys. Turkey grows a tremendous amount of grain and much of the agricultural work is done with tractors today. When we turned around to go back to Tarsus we were not far from the Galatian cities of Derbe, Lystra and Iconium  cities visited by Paul on his first journey (Acts 14; Gal. 1:2).

Tarsus: City of Paul

Tarsus was an important city on our list because it was the native home of Paul. In the city we saw the stone arch which was probably the Sea Gate to the old walled city. It is popularly known as Cleopatra’s Gate; some call it St. Paul’s Gate. The modern city, which now boasts a population of more than 100,000 inhabitants, covers the city of Paul. Also in Tarsus one may see a well which is called Saint Paul’s well. The city of Tarsus put up a plaque by the well in 1980 commemorating the work of Paul. The keeper says the well is 30 meters deep. Selcuk University has been conducting some excavations in the city. We saw a mosaic floor, a basalt street and columns along one side of the street, apparently from the Roman period.

East of the city we came to the River Cydnus which had once brought Cleopatra to Tarsus to meet Mark Antony. We saw the stone-arched bridge built during the time of the Emperor Justinian (6th century), and the beautiful water-falls. We imagined that all of the great armies must have stopped here for rest and refreshment before or after traversing the Cilician Gates; we imagined the young Saul must have played here as a boy just as many young people do today.

Tarsus had been important historically. Because of its position on the River Cydnus near the Mediterranean about 30 miles below the Cilician Gates, Tarsus in Cilicia served as one of the great crossroads of history. Paul described his hometown as “no insignificant city” (Acts 21:39; 9:11; 22:3). It was a fortified city and trade center as early as 2000 B.C. It was captured by the Assyrian kings Shalmaneser III (833 B.C.) and Sennacherib (698 B.C.), and had seen the likes of Alexander the Great and Cleopatra.

Tarsus was commercially important. Ancient writers mention the linen woven here from flax which grew in the fertile plain. A material called cilicium was woven from goat’s hair and used to make coverings which would protect against cold and wet. The city was culturally important. Strabo describes the people as being avid in the pursuit of culture. Tarsus was a university town, and was noted as the home of several well-known philosophers, especially of the Stoic school. Barclay says: “If a man was destined to be a missionary to the world at large, there was no better place in all the east for him to grow to manhood than in Tarsus” (The Mind of St. Paul, 25-26). Barnabas came to Tarsus to find Saul to help in the new work at Antioch (Acts 11:25-26). The letter from the apostles and elders in Jerusalem was sent to the brethren “in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia” (Acts 15:23).

One more thing. Solomon is said to have imported horses from Kue (qweh, l Kings 10:28). The KJV translated the Hebrew word qweh as “linen yam.” Scholars now believe, based on inscriptions from the eighth and ninth centuries B.C., that the word is used of Cilicia (so the Jerusalem Bible).

Heading East to Karatepe: Stronghold of the Hittites

On the third day of our excursion we drove east on the E-90, an excellent new road. Most of the east-west roads in Turkey are in valleys between mountain ranges. Had we turned south we could have gone past the plain of Issus, where the armies of Alexander and Darius fought in 333 B.C., and on to the city of Antakya (Biblical Antioch of Syria, Acts 11:19-30). We continued east to Osmaniye and turned north to Karatepe. We saw a lot of farm life and some bad gravel roads before reaching Karatepe and a beautiful artificial lake. Some ladies were gathering sheaves just as Ruth and Naomi did in the fields of Boaz (Ruth 2). Karatepe is noted for its neo-Hittite ruins. The Hittites are mentioned more than 40 times in the Old Testament. Their main area of activity was centered in Hattusas, modern Bogazkale, about 100 miles east of Ankara. The ruins at Karatepe have been displayed in an open air museum where they were uncovered by the archaeologists. The reliefs show scenes of war, daily life and feasting, along with Hittite and Phoenician script.

We were impressed with the power of the Hittites during the period of the United and Divided Kingdoms of ancient Israel. Reliefs showing horses reminded us that Solomon bought horses and chariots from the Egyptians and sold them to the Hittites (2 Chron. 1:17).

A few miles south of Karatepe is the site of Hierapolis Kastabala. Only a few Roman and Byzantine ruins may be seen at the foot of the acropolis. Here, or on the southern boundary of this territory, Alexander joined forces with Parmenion in 333 B.C. From here they marched south to the Plain of Issus followed by Darius and the Persian army.

More to Come: In future parts we plan to tell about Mount Nemrud, the Euphrates River, Sanliurfa, Haran, Padan Aram, Mesopotamia, the Tigris River, Urartu (Ararat), and Mount Ararat. My thanks to Curtis Pope for suggesting the title, “From Tarsus to Mount Ararat.”

Guardian of Truth XL: 5 p. 10-11
March 7, 1996