Truth Magazine

By Connie W. Adams

Non-Judgmental

In our upside down world one of the greatest compliments is to be described as “non-judgmental.” The “judgmental” person is to be shunned and “judged” (by the “non-judgmental”)as biased, opinionated or worse. While Jesus condemned harsh, unreasoned judgment in the context of Matthew 7:lff, and pointed out that we usually receive the same kind of judgment which we administer, he also taught, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). Paul rebuked brethren at Corinth for going to law before unbelievers to settle their differences instead of before godly brethren “who shall be able to judge between his brethren” (1 Cor. 6:5). Paul himself said concerning the brother who had committed fornication that he “had judged already” concerning this and that such an one should be “delivered to Satan” and that “when ye are gathered together” (1 Cor. 5:3-5).

But in today’s world, we are not supposed to express our disapproval of people living together out of wedlock. That is judgmental. No onus is to be attached to fathering and bearing children outside of marriage. That is judgmental. The homosexual is not to be criticized. That is judgmental. The drunkard must be judged to be simply sick. Any other assessment would be judgmental. Not one word of criticism is to be uttered about a backsliding brother or sister. They are just going through a tough time and we must not be judgmental. In my judgment (there! I have exposed my real nature) this non-judgmental business is calculated to offer praise to those who have no convictions from those who have about the same amount of conviction — none.

Life Without a Telephone — Almost

Before we moved to our new patio home on December 7, 2000 we were assured by Bell South that we would have phone service from that date and were even assigned a new number. Imagine our surprise (shock is nearer to reality) when we were told the next morning (when I called from a pay phone at Kroger’s) that it would be several days before they could send an engineer out to assess the matter and that I would be notified by letter as to when we could expect service. Calling every day to complain and explain the perils of a preacher, not to mention an associate editor trying to function and do his work without a telephone, got me absolutely nowhere. In desperation we did obtain a cell phone, an action which I had long before determined I did not want. But get one we did. It is a poor excuse for a telephone. I have snickered at people who can’t walk through an airport, sit in a restaurant, or drive a car without a cell phone in their ear. Further imagine my chagrin  (I am beyond “shocked” anymore) to receive a letter from such a vast business empire as this phone company that they will be able to install our service by March 1!

All lines were laid underground in advance for gas, electricity, cable television, and telephone. The first three of these were in full use the day we arrived while the last is not yet operational.

Meanwhile, we have a computer without e-mail service and access to the web. It does not help to be told that Paul did not have e-mail. No, and he did not have messages hung up in cyberspace somewhere either. Why, I can’t even keep up with who is angry with me. I am deprived of all the choice articles and jokes forwarded to me by friends who don’t realize that I have already seen them five times!

But then the upside of all this is that there is some tranquility in the fact that the phone does not ring off the wall. I have spent no time before a computer screen since December 6 (the day before we moved). We do have a cell phone for emergencies and if push comes to shove we could send up smoke signals. The mail still runs. My trusty typewriter is working and life goes on. It has made me think of Peter’s ad­monition to “gird up the loins of your mind and be sober” (1 Pet. 1:13). I have also reflected upon Psalms 4:4 — “Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.” Sometimes the inconveniences of life force us to do what we often fail to do — slow down. So, we’ll count our blessings (and they are legion) and be back in touch, brethren, one of these days. But I am still convinced that this is a poor way to operate a telephone company!

“And Weep with Them That Weep” 

While we complain about temporary inconveniences, some of our brethren in other parts of the world face problems some of us could not comprehend. For example, in the Philippines, while the work of the gospel goes on with gratifying results in many cases, life is so hard for some. There is much civil unrest. In the southern islands (especially Mindanao and Palawan) the Muslim rebellion goes on unabated forcing many, including some brethren, to abandon their homes or farms and flee with what is on their backs. They go to cities where they have no means of livelihood and where even friends or relatives are pressed to help care for them. The need for medicine and food and shelter is acute. The government offers some help but not enough. Some live in areas where there is daily bombing by government forces trying to break the back of the resistance. Also, there is the threat to peace from the NPA (New People’s Army), a communist guerilla force. Even on Luzon there has been disturbance in places. At present the nation is undergoing an impeachment trial for their president. Last January the wife of a gospel preacher died in southern Mindanao. Then in November her husband died leaving seven orphan children from age fourteen down to one and a half, six girls and a boy. They are from an area where many have evacuated because of the raging conflicts. Some help has been sent but more will be needed. Julie Notarte, a well-known and respected gospel preacher is helping to administer funds sent to help these children.

If you want to help or inquire about it, write to: Julie D.A. Notarte, P.O. Box 232, 8002 Digos City, Philippines. He has also been besieged by appeals from refugees for food and medicines. “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the Love of God abide in him” (1 John 3:17)?

P.O. Box 91346, Louisville, Kentucky 40291

By Luther Blackmon

This title is a quotation from 2 Corinthians 15:5. The lusts of the flesh and the maneuvering of some false teachers had led the Corinthian Christians into some grievous sins. The first Corinthian letter, it seems, had corrected most of these sins, and the second letter is much less sharp. Not withstanding their improvement, however, the apostle closes this letter with the admonition, “examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.”

It was to this same church Paul had said concerning the Lord’s supper, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.” Again he said to the Ephesian elders, “Take heed unto yourselves” (Acts 20:28). To the evangelist Timothy, “Take heed unto thyself and unto thy doctrine” (1 Tim. 4:16). In Galatians 6:1-2 he commands, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.” The life of the Christian should be one of perpetual self-inventory.

A Difficult Task

I think it likely that few, if any of us, have the ability to examine our own motives and conduct with absolute fairness and honesty. Burns, the Scotch poet, recognized this fact when he expressed the desire that we might have the gift to “see ourselves as others see us.” If this were possible it might not be very flattering, but I dare say it would make most of us more humble. However, the important thing is not so much how others see us, but how God sees us. And be sure that God sees us as we really are. A pious air and outward show may conceal our sins from the multitudes for a time, but they are only a transparent veneer through which God sees a wretched soul.

There are several reasons why it is difficult for us to examine ourselves without partiality. One is our inclination to measure ourselves by others. The man, for example, who lacks the moral courage to turn his back on the world and obey the gospel, can always find a convenient hypocrite in the church with which to compare himself and try to justify his own weakness.

The unfaithful Christian who no longer finds happiness in the fellowship of the saints, and who finds church attendance boresome and tiring, can always find some brother who beats his debts or takes a few drinks or indulges in some other ungodly practice. Then he begins to look at all Christians through this shabby specimen and decides finally that church attendance can add nothing to his righteous life. If we must compare ourselves with others, why not pick the best ones. This is seldom, if ever done for two reasons. (1) It would not serve our purpose. (2) One who is sincere enough to make such a comparison as this is willing to examine himself in the light of divine truth. Let us remember that “they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise” (2 Cor. 10:12).

Again we hesitate to sound the depths of our own souls because we fear the results. In this we are like the man who refuses to submit to physical examination, because he fears the diagnosis — as if refusing to face the truth could cure the disease. I am convinced, from my own past experience, that many members of the church could not live with their consciences if they should, in all honesty and candor, search their own hearts in the light of truth. Man at his best cuts a sorry figure when measured by God’s standard of righteousness. And man is seldom at his best.

Once more, we shrink back from an impartial self-examination, because of our pride in our own strength. Human vanity is a powerful influence. It takes more spiritual and moral courage than some people can ever muster to say, “I was wrong.” However, if we but knew it, man is never really strong until his strength gives way to the strength that comes from above, “. . . for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10).

Departure From Faith Gradual

In the individual Christian as in the church, departure from the faith is gradual. I maintain that it is a psychological impossibility for a faithful Christian to suddenly make up his mind that he will not any longer serve the Lord. I realize that there are many counterfeit Christians who “joined the church” for some selfish reason; these will turn away as soon as the devil raises the bid. Then there are others who are very young in the faith, and who, through some great temptation or passion, are overcome. These are often ashamed to come back and face the humiliation. But people who know the truth and who have tried the Christian life successfully for some time, simply do not fall away suddenly. Their apostasy is always gradual; sometimes so gradual that they themselves are not aware of their change. We have doubtless read of the frog which was boiled in water without feeling the pain, because the heat was increased so gradually that he was not aware of the change in temperature. But he died! There is no doubt that the saints in Laodicea started off in the same manner as did those of Philadelphia and Smyrna, but when the Lord dictated the letter to that church in Revelation 3, these Laodiceans were saying of themselves, “We are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.” But the Lord said they were “wretched and miser- able and poor and blind and naked.” There was quite a contrast.

Signs Along the Way

Many people die every year of diseases which might be cured if discovered in their incipiency. In like manner, there are hundreds of people in the church who are on their way to eternal damnation, who might be saved if they could be made to recognize the danger that threatens them. Apostasy, like disease of the body, casts its ugly shadow, and the discerning eye can see the signs and symptoms.

One symptorn is lack of spiritual appetite. How is your appetite for spiritual things? Peter said, “As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2). Paul said to the Corin-  thians, “I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.” These Corinthians had come out of heathenism but a short time ago, and here the apostle implies that they should be able to eat meat. But they were not. Their spiritual digestive powers still called for milk. Pause here and ask yourself the holiest question: “Has my desire for spiritual food increased since I became a Christian?” If the answer is no, then you have started in the other direction, because there is no such thing as “holding your own” spiritually. The only man mentioned in the Bible as holding his own went to hell for it. This was the one talent man. The Christian life is like a bicycle ride, either you move ahead or you fall over. The Hebrew Christians had been in the church long enough that they should have been teachers, but they needed to be taught again the first principles. They were not as well off as when they first obeyed the gospel. I am told that a wasp is larger when he is hatched than at any other time. As a rule a new born babe in Christ is anxious to learn the Bible. He is an enthusiastic student. But as time goes by and he learns that there is no short cut, or royal road, to real Bible knowledge but that it takes a lot of time, and study, he often loses his enthusiasm. Most churches have classes on the Lord’s day and some through the week. It has been my experience that not more than two-thirds of the  members attend. If admonished to attend, this one who does not attend has an excuse. As a rule these excuses can be exposed as worthless alibis, trumped up after he decides not to attend the classes. He is trying to quiet an uneasy conscience. He cannot let himself be truthful and say, “I simply do not care to attend these classes; I prefer to watch television.” This fellow may not know it, but he is on his way back to the beggarly elements of the world. A person need not tell me, with a straight face, that he loves the Lord and desires to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth,” when he spends more time reading the sports page than he spends reading the Bible.

David said of the man in the first Psalm, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” He does not read the Bible day and night, but he thinks of what he has read frequently. The law of the Lord is uppermost in his mind. I came, one day, upon brother J. Early Arcencaux hoeing in his garden. When we had exchanged greetings, the next thing he said was  “I was just thinking of a new argument on Mark 16:16.” Arceneaux has forgotten more than some ever learn about the Bible, but he still has a voracious appetite for knowledge of the truth. Let us examine ourselves for lack of spiritual appetite. 

Another common and very noticeable symptom of apostasy in the Christian is his aversion to plain gospel preaching. 

In preachers this symptom first shows in an overwhelming sweetness, flavored with a few snide remarks about those who lack the “spirit of Christ.” In the second stage, he starts talking and writing about “negative” preaching, and laments the “sectarian bigotry” among some brethren. Then in the last stage, he has lifted up his eyes to horizons far beyond the wildest imaginations of his less spiritual brethren, and his “love” has outgrown any legalistic interpretation of the Scriptures or concept of the church that would exclude from his fellowship that great host of God-fearing people who cannot trim their faith to “our” view of Christianity. He has now “arrived.” If you know such a preacher, take a good look at him. He will not be around long. He has outgrown the New Testament plea.

In those who do not preach, the pattern is much the same except that they usually do not leave the church altogether and join a denomination. They don’t need to now. They can find a “Church of Christ” where the truth has been sufficiently watered down to suit their wordly and liberal tastes. When a member of the church begins to talk about how sweet and broadminded some preacher is and how the church has just grown in leaps and bounds where he is preaching, I know what is coming next. He is about to begin to give me some advice on how to preach. He thinks the truth ought to be preached by all means. Certainly so, but he thinks there is a right way to preach it. He brought his Methodist friend one night, and I preached on baptism and said that people who had not been immersed had not been baptized. That friend would never come back, he feared. Or perhaps I preached that mixed bathing, wearing shorts, and dancing were wrong because they are productive of laciviousness; that members of the Lord’s church ought not take even a social drink. He thinks these might be wrong; but he knows some people who are doing things worse than these, and I might well spend my time preaching on love and be more of a “positive” preacher — not so much against everything.

Whether I can ever convince him or not, this fellow is in the process of departing from the faith. This is one of the signs. And, whether I convince him or not, I shall continue to preach as I have in the past against that which is wrong. Call it negative if you will. Paul said, “preach the word . . . reprove, rebuke, exhort. . . .” Someone came close to the truth when he said that the work of the gospel preacher is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

A gospel preacher must be always a gentleman. Harshness of speech and boorish manners are inexcusable. But if the plain preahing of Bible truth offends you, then it is you that needs to change, not the preacher. “Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.”

Truth Magazine, September 1958, 12-15

By Paul K. Williams

In modern times the earliest preaching of the gospel in Africa that I know about was when H.F. Short went to southern Africa in 1922. He and his family went to Rhodesia and continued there until his death more than 50 years later. His son, Foy Short, lived and preached there until he went to America about ten years ago. Foy continues to make preaching trips to Zimbabwe, which is the modern name for Rhodesia.

In South Africa preaching began about 1949 with a radio program sponsored by the Central church in Cleburne, Texas. A number of American preachers then came to South Africa and churches were established all over the country. Preaching was done in other southern African countries (Nyasaland [Malawi] and Northern Rhodesia [Zambia]). 

The split over institutionalism occurred in the mid-1960s. Old H.F. (Papa) Short was liberal, his son, Foy, was conservative. So the pattern of the split in the U.S. was followed in southern Africa. 

At present in South Africa there are at least six American gospel preachers and seven white South African preachers, together with about that number of fully-supported black South African preachers. The churches in many places are entering a mature state, though there are no elders in any of the churches.

Some preaching is being done in Namibia, Botswana and Mozam- bique, all of which border on South Africa

Nigeria is the other country in Africa where a great deal of gospel preaching has been done. At one time I heard an estimate of 30,000 Christians in that country. For the last 25 years no American gospel preacher has been located there, though a number of brethren have gone there for preaching trips. 

A few years ago Paul Ayres and Alan Turner went to Kenya. There are a few faithful churches in that country now.

I do not know of preaching in other countries of Africa. North Africa is solidly Muslim and preaching of the gospel is forbidden. I don’t think there are any churches of the Lord in the countries which were formerly French or Belgian colonies. 

African Conditions

Africa is a continent of poor people. It has been evangelized by denominational missionaries so that in most places the Bible is respected and people believe in Jesus. But they usually mix their traditional religions (usually the worship of their ancestors) with the “Christian” message. The missionaries were from the traditional European denominations — Church of England, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Roman Catholic — so they are well-represented in Africa. The Pentecostal denominations appeal greatly with their promise of miracles and spiritual gifts. And Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and even Mormons are actively making converts. Some of the biggest denominations are indigenous mixtures of ancestor worship and the worship of Jesus. 

Ancestor worship governs the lives of most Africans. Young converts almost always have trouble from their families who regard their children as traitors to their culture when they leave ancestor worship. Most denominations tolerate ancestor worship among their members. 

Sexual immorality is the rule rather than the exception. Children are often, perhaps usually, sexually active from the time of puberty. Many more than half of all children are born to unwed teen-age mothers. AIDS is spreading like wildfire as a result. The denominations tolerate their members living in fornication, and when we preach and enforce the message that Christians must not commit fornication, we are standing virtually alone. 

How the Gospel Spreads

Because of their poverty and thirst for knowledge, young people love to write the correspondence Bible course. When we put up tents in rural areas they flock to attend. Most of the ones who respond to the gospel are young people. 

There is a large fall-away percentage. However, there  is a minority who truly give their lives to Christ and are faithful day in and day out. The result is growing churches in most areas. 

Just as the new churches in Bible times needed much teaching and encouragement and admonition, so it is in Africa. It seems there will never be enough teaching. How thankful to God for those who have come from America to preach here, and how thankful to see Africans growing so that they are becoming faithful and effective gospel preachers. But, oh, so much needs to be done. 

Pray for Africa. 

P.O. Box 324, Eshowe, 3815 South Africa paulk@netactive.co.za

By Bill Crews

Its title is My Book of Bible Stories. Its hard cover is gold in color, and the letters of its title are indented. They are shining red letters, giving the appearance of golden red. It is attractive and appealing to the eye. The book was copyrighted in 1978. A notation on the flyleaf says: “This Book Is Published in 93 lan- guages” and “Total  Books Printed of All Editions: 38,300,000 Copies.” The book is divided into eight parts and claims to tell 116 Bible stories for children. The stories are illustrated with colorful pictures, either one or two at nearly every opening.

The copy I am holding was given by a woman, who is obviously sincere and honest, to our daughter as a gift for her little boy. Though beautiful in appearance and represented as a wonderful book to read to little children and to be read by older children, it’s an insidious piece of poison. It was put out by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. The publishers are the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. And you, our readers, should ­know that these are the people who call themselves by the misnomer, “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” a name arbitrarily given them by judge J.F. Rutherford back in 1931. It came from a misapplication of Isaiah 43:10 and 44:8 which were spoken by Isaiah, from God, of ancient Israel (see 43:1, 3 and 44:1; read all of chapters 43, 44, and 45 in which the restoration of God’s people Israel from the Babylonian captivity and under Cyrus, king of Persia, is foretold and depicted). What Rutherford’s disciples go about doing from door to door does not fit the meaning of “witnesses,” and what they teach did not originate with nor honor Jehovah.

The first paragraph of the foreword of the book begins: “This is a book of true stories,” and ends, “They even tell about what God promises to do in the future.” The second paragraph begins: “This book gives you an idea of what the Bible is all about,” and ends, “It also shows the grand hope of everlasting life in a paradise earth that God has given to people.” So, even before the stories begin, some of their false doctrines are introduced. The statement on the flyleaf that “Bible quotations in this book are paraphrased” should be taken more as a warning than as a statement. (They made their own translation to support their doctrines.)

The very first story of the book is titled, “God Begins to Make Things.” After telling the reader that before God made the sun, the moon, the stars, and the earth, he made the angels, the book then says: “The first angel God made  was very special. He was God’s first Son, and he worked with his Father. He helped God to make all other things. He helped God to make the sun, the moon, the stars, and also our earth.” Thus they seek to indoctrinate little children with their God-dishonoring doctrine that denies the eternalness and deity of Jesus Christ. They teach that the eternal Son of God, our Savior, had a beginning, that he was an angel, the first angel that God created, a created divine being, “a God.” Colossians 1:15-17 is listed, along with Jeremiah 10:12 and Genesis 1:1-10, at the end of the story.

Because Colossians 1:15 refers to Jesus as “the firstborn of all creation,” they teach that he was both created and the first thing that God created. The passage rather shows his preeminence in regard to the creation. “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” is followed immediately by: “for (which indicates an explanation of the last statement, bc) in him were all things created (emphasis mine, bc) in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things (all created things, bc) have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things (all created things, bc), and in him all things (all created things, bc) consist.” “The Son of his love” (v. 13) obviously was not a part of the created things. 

They also appeal to Revelation 3:14, which refers to Christ as “the beginning of the creation of God.” They say that this means that Christ was the first thing created; however, Bible-language scholars insist that it means “the beginner or cause of the creation.” This is in harmony with the context of Colossians 1:15-17 and other Bible passages. John 1:1-3 reads: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (this affirms his deity and his equality with the Father. Their New World Translation mistranslates: “and the word was a God,” bc). “The Same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.” Christ was not one of the “made” things; Christ was not one of the “created” things. He was, rather, the One through whom and by whom all things were made or created.

Micah 5:2 (correctly cited by “the chief priests and scribes of the people” to identify for Herod the Great the place where the Christ was to be born, that is, Bethlehem) says of the Christ, “that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings are from of old, from everlasting.” Far, from being created, he had always existed. No wonder he is called “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15) and “the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance” (Heb.1:5). Far from being created, Christ created all things that were created, upholds all things that were created, and is heir of all created things.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, using Revelation, chapters 7 and 14, entirely out of context and in diametrical opposition to many Bible passages, teach that exactly 144,000 people will live forever in heaven with God. All of the rest of the people who meet with his approval, they will live forever upon this physical earth after it has been renewed and made perfect as it was in its original state (remember, they call this “the grand hope”). In the Bible we are told that there is “one hope,” just as there is “one God and Father,” “one Lord” (our Lord Jesus Christ), “one Spirit” (the Holy Spirit),  “one faith” (the faith of the gospel), “one baptism” (baptism in water in obedience to Christ), and “one body” (the spiritual body of Christ, his church). See Ephesians 4:1-6. This one hope is “laid up for you in the heavens” (Col. 1:5; 1 Pet. 1:3-4). They have two hopes: one for the 144,000 and another, which they call “the grand hope,” for the rest of God’s people. What will happen to the physical heavens and earth according to the Scriptures? 2 Peter 3 gives an emphatic answer to that question. Read verses 3 and 10-12. They will be no more; they will cease to exist.

The pretty yellow and red book of Bible stories for children declares this doctrine of their hope of living for ever on this renewed and perfect physical earth again and again in its various stories of the Bible. What a pity that so many have been produced and will have their effect in leading little children astray.

From Park Forest Proclaimer, Baton Rouge, Louisiana