Truth Magazine

By Marc Smith

Urged by brother Ron Halbrook and my father, Truman Smith, to write about our good news, I hope to share with the readers of this journal the events we have enjoyed over the past eight months in the Estates church of Christ in Hewitt, Texas (a suburb of Waco). We have had almost unprecedented success here among the liberal brethren in taking an active stand for the truth and truly letting the community know where we stand. Perhaps others can take suggestions from what worked here to apply to the works they are involved with in other places.

The Beginnings of Success

I began my work here at the end of June 1991. The membership only numbered about 25 at the time but it was evident to me that there were talented people here and possibilities in this small number. The first year or so we had six baptisms and the second year four. Our member-ship increased to about 40. The 25th Street congregation merged with us adding about six more at the beginning of 1993. This merger realistically represented that the two groups could get along and this was perhaps the most positive thing that had occurred in many years to promote a sound unified work in the Waco area. We did not know at the time that we were making a deep impression upon the liberal churches of Waco.

Not long after we moved here I made contact with an elder in an ultra-liberal church close by. We conversed many times, at first only on the phone because he could not afford to be seen with me, an “old Anti.” He was extremely disturbed at the level of digression in his congregation and was actively fighting it. He began giving me printed material of liberal teachers and preachers that taught modernistic heresy, namely the so-called “new hermeneutics” line of thought. Some of this stuff had been taught where this brother worshipped and many there were upset about its blatant error. I studied this material and in the mean time arranged to have a gospel meeting this past April featuring Ardie Brown as the speaker, to whom I had forwarded all the printed material. In preparation for the meeting I sent out a letter to 700 homes of Christians in the Waco area, after obtaining their church directories from helpful members. The level of concern among the moderate liberal element of Waco was at an all time high and my letter got to them at a critical time. We got an immediate response to the letter mailout, in that two elders with their wives immediately left the group they had been working with and began attending with us, not knowing of our existence previously. We began the meeting the following Sunday after this and we never dreamed, though we had prayed for it, that people would respond the way they did.

Elders Leave Liberal Churches for the Truth

Folks came from all over Waco. Our comfortable little building can seat only about 70 or so in the pews. Every night of the meeting we had in the high 90’s and many had to sit in rows of folding chairs. On the last night of the meeting we had 119 in attendance with people standing in the foyer! The two ex-elders and their wives placed membership that night. Brother Brown did an outstanding job and we thank him for his fine efforts. The meeting left us with great expectations for the work, not to be unrealized.

Since that meeting we have continued to increase in number and are 76 in number at present. We have a permanent row of folding chairs along the back wall in constant use. People must park up and down the street and walk in the mud to get to the building, but they are willing to do so to be a part of this work. Among those who are now members with us are five former elders and their families including the elder I first made contact with in the “ultra-liberal” congregation. We are told by all these good people, who have fled the fruits of liberalism, that all eyes in Waco are on us to see what we are going to do. These folks assure us, and I am completely convinced, that there are dozens if not hundreds of people hoping we will get into a larger building so they can conveniently worship with us. It really is a terrible situation to be in to actually not be able to get these spiritually weak folks to come and work with us when they know they are in fellowship with error, simply because we cannot fit them into the seating in the auditorium!

Planning to Build New Building

To Hold Burgeoning Numbers

With this in mind we have purchased 2.55 acres on Interstate 35 south of Waco, only about 2 miles from our present place of worship, to build a new building on. We applied to the Akin Foundation for their support in this, and were sent $10,000.00 to go toward the $30,000.00 price. We were able, by donations made by the members, to raise another $5,000.00 and make a total down payment of $15,000.00. We hope to pay this off very soon and get started on a new building that will be adequate to hold the growth we expect to follow. Brother Harold Fite has assured me that the Akin Foundation will stay with us and help the congregation “for a long haul.” Brother Fite has also agreed to come on a Sunday soon to visit with us. I have already shown him the new location and he is satisfied that it is prime, where thousands of cars pass daily traveling between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin/San Antonio. The new location is no longer in Hewitt but is in Waco itself, which is another advantage.

The whole idea is that there are so many people in the dozen liberal churches of Christ in Waco who are dissatisfied with the drift toward apostasy that we will benefit by standing by to receive and teach these under-spiritually nourished souls who yearn for the truth. These good people, many of whom I have already met, will join with us and increase our numbers, it is thought, to make a combined group of 200 or even more in the Estates church of Christ. We have already received a good many like this and these all assure us there are many more. We have had more baptisms in recent months with several restorations.

It would warm your hearts to hear the resolve in the voices of these good people who have come out of these liberal churches and are now active workers for the truth. These folks are already conservative minded in ways even when compared to some we have heard of in what we have always considered the conservative ranks. They are straight on marriage, divorce, and re-marriage; autonomy of the church; the need for church discipline; etc. They have readily studied in detail our major previous differences: eating in the building and support of human institutions, the sponsoring church arrangement, etc. They unanimously agree that these things caused the drift to the “new apostasy” and want no further part in them.

Setting Up Vigorous Sound Meeting Schedule

To Keep the Momentum Going

The brethren here have entrusted me to set up a vigorous meeting schedule to feature some of the most capable gospel preachers in the sound brotherhood for five to seven years in advance, three or four per year.

Brother Ron Halbrook just completed a five night series with us recently in a successful gospel meeting. He taught in a very effective manner on the theme of “Authority.” Hislessons went into detail about how apostasy developed historically with the Missionary Society heresy of the last century, and how it is that Christians who leave New Testament authority continue this same digression today in different ways and drift into apostasy. Attendance during this meeting was not as heavy as the last meeting, but our membership needed to study these things in a concentrated manner like this and it has done us lasting good. We also had a good many visitors from area liberal churches who are still curious and some want to talk with me about working with us.

Opposition to Our Efforts Begins and Turmoil In the Ranks Arises Among Area Liberal Churches We learned after the meeting with Ron Halbrook was over that once our mailout letters were received (960 were mailed out this time to the homes of Christians in Waco) there was strong opposition to the meeting by preachers from their pulpits and in bulletins. One preacher, who supposedly preaches for the most “conservative” of the (liberal) churches in town, told the assembly to throw the invitations in the trash like he had done! The elders of an “ultra-liberal” church published a warning in their bulletin for members to come to them for “counseling” if troubled by our letters or phone calls! An-other church recently met to discuss whether they should give up support of orphan homes and whether or not they should sell their fellowship hall. We expect to have to work a little harder now than before, but we have definitely shaken up the status quo of these weak liberal brethren who could not defend their beliefs if their lives depended upon it, even if their souls do!

We will show in the passing of time that we are not going anywhere, so laying low will not help. They are going to have to face the reality of the fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ will be taught in this town and can be found with the Estates church of Christ! Their liberal and ecumenical drift will continue but we are going to teach as many out of error as we can and it is going to upset the applecart. Waco has gone for too many years without a strong sound church proclaiming the purity of the Word and that time of inactivity has ceased. I am reminded of Acts 17:6 where it was charged against Paul and the faithful brethren by the Jews of Thessalonica, “They that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” The gospel of Christ is still a potent force after nearly 2,000 years and we can see its power and the fear it instills in those who jealously guard their apostasy.

“… there are so many people in the dozen liberal churches of Christ in Waco who are dissatisfied with the drift toward apostasy that we will benefit by standing by to receive and teach these under spiritually nourished souls who yearn for the truth.”

This situation requires an extra effort to be made in order that the gains and successes of the past continue. I have really worried that the momentum achieved in our past work and the events that followed will be lost if we do not act quickly. Having measured the situation here against all I have ever heard of, I am convinced that what we are dealing with here is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Waco has never had a sizeable sound congregation, self-supporting and without some problems and peculiarities, since the brotherhood split here in 1962. We are faced with having prayed for an opportunity to be afforded us and the Lord having definitely provided it. I truly believe we can build a strong and effective local congregation. With God’s help there is nothing that will prevent it!

Elders Selected to Serve

On top of all these developments, we have just selected six men to serve as elders. These brethren just began this work at the beginning of November, 1993. You may know one of them. He is Jim Wellman who served as an elder with the South Houston church of Christ for about 10 years. He is the only one of the six who is not from Waco and is from a long-time sound background. All six men however are good men in whose capable hands the work will be well served. In fact, recently they contacted members of a small liberal church of 45, and talked to them about our differences and were warmly received. While we want to proceed with caution in this situation, not ever compromising the Truth, it seems like a situation loaded with promise!

Perhaps a Second Preacher is Needed Here

There is so much going on here that the elders are now considering asking for another preacher, perhaps a more senior man, to come and work with me because so many of those coming out of the liberal churches are folks in their 60s and over. Such a man would need to provide one hundred percent of his support because we are unable at this time to provide anything toward his living expenses.

But again, this is a highly unusual situation that needs desperately to be capitalized upon.

Come Move to Waco and Work With Us!

We are also calling upon sound brethren to think of Waco as an excellent place to move to seek employment or to retire. The climate is moderately dry and warm, with brief, rather mild winters. Waco is located 90 miles north of Austin and about 90 miles south of Dallas/Fort Worth. Two scenic rivers, the Bosque and Brazos meet at Waco and the city sports a large man-made lake within the city limits that is surrounded by beautiful cliffs with homes overlooking the water. The countryside is mostly open, low rolling hills with wooded areas along rivers. Waco is a college town with Baylor University, McClennan Junior College, and Texas State Technical College providing lots of young people and cultural advantages to the whole area. Waco and suburbs have a combined population of about 150,000 with a V.A. hospital and two large public hospitals. The city is located about 30 miles north of the Temple, Belton, Kileen and Ft. Hood Army Post combined area. There are two shopping malls in Waco and an inordinately large number of good restaurants.

I say all of this about this area because we have come to love not only the church here but also this portion of Texas is really to be highly recommended simply as a good place to call home. If you are interested in making a change, consider Waco as a prime place to live and because there is a church that meets in this town that would appreciate your help and talent. Feel free to contact me for any information you may require. You will be greeted warmly and be highly appreciated but we will put you to work!

We ask for the prayers of all the brotherhood that we may remain strong and determined to do the work at hand. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13).

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 9, p. 13-15
May 5, 1994

By Connie W. Adams

In Grecian mythology Pandora was a woman given a box by Zeus from which all manner of human ills escaped when she opened it. The view taken by some well-known brethren in recent times concerning Romans 14 has become a modern-day Pandora’s box.

A vital passage designed to help strong and weak Christians get along until the weak can be taught better and thus become strong has been pressed into service to justify far too much. Carl Ketcherside, Edward Fudge and fellow travelers found it elastic enough to include instrumental music, sponsoring churches, premillennialism and a host of other false doctrines. Of more recent vintage, our brother Ed Harrell has found in it grounds for fellowship on marriage, divorce and remarriage (for causes other than fornication). Other highly respected brethren have joined in.

Now comes a sermon preached by a brother in Texas in which he listed 100 issues and practices which he claims would be resolved by a proper understanding and application of Romans 14. With much of his list I have no problem. But here are some of the things he listed which are a problem to me:

Abortion  Dancing  Girly Magazines  Evolution

Brewery Work  Horse Racing  Dance Bands

Square Dancing  Bartending  Social Drinking

“Low” neckline  Proms

Let’s see now, Paul said, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” (Rom. 14:5). If I understand this brother correctly, then if one thinks it is all right to have an abortion, then she is at liberty before God to do so. Or if he wants to play in a dance band, work as a bartender, dance, promote evolution, or practice social drinking, then “let him be fully persuaded in his own mind.” It is interesting that this same brother who puts evolution in his list of 100 things which are regulated by Romans 14, has been well known for his special series on evolution. Will he now conclude such speeches by saying that God will be pleased with you whether you believe this or not and “let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind”?

When I read the 17 article series on “fellowship” and the use made of Romans 14 in that series, I warned then that there would be no stopping place short of the “unity in diversity” movement of Ketcherside and Fudge infamy.

Have you noticed that things which gospel preachers used to be able to clearly condemn have suddenly become “gray”? Those who still draw sharp and clear lines on these matters are disparagingly referred to as “those black and white guys.” This undermines the authority of the Scriptures. God revealed his mind in intelligible propositions which can be understood and acted upon by those fashioned in the image of God.

Of course, there is a realm in which private conscience must decide a host of things based on understanding of truth. There is room for growth. All have not grown to the same degree and there must be patience with each other. But will any of us grow to the point that God approves abortion on demand, or serving liquor, or wearing indecent apparel, or the God-dishonoring general theory of evolution? Are “girly magazines” in the realm of private scruple to which God is indifferent?

I do not believe that many of the brethren who have espoused this loose construction of Romans 14 would accept everything on this brother’s list. In fact, I am confident most of them would oppose this careless lumping together of things indifferent and those which have grave consequences. But I keep thinking about that box of Pandora. The lid is off. Brethren took it off to justify fellowship with those who teach that the alien sinner is not subject to the law of Christ and may therefore continue to live with a marriage companion in violation of Matthew 19:9. Or those who teach that the put-away adulterer is free to marry may be retained in fellowship. My brethren, Romans 14 was never intended as an excuse for every form of doctrinal and practical error.

Our situation is rapidly becoming analagous to those men in the institutional movement who opened the gate just enough to let church support of schools and benevolent institutions into the church budget and argued that we did not need Bible authority for all we do, or else misappropriated Scripture in a vain attempt to defend their cause. But now they have a rampaging stampede which they are powerless to stop. From the social gospel (in full bloom) to the new hermeneutic, they are dismayed at what came in through that gate. Now the hinges are off and the fence is down.

Brethren, will we ever learn? Older men may open the gate just a little out of personal friendship for esteemed brethren, cite Romans 14 as precedent and mean to stop there. But a younger generation will not stop there. They will pick up the erroneous conclusion and take it to the limit of false teaching and practice. When they are done with it, you will not recognize what is left. Already there is a noticeable aversion to controversial preaching, to debating teachers of error. Will Romans 14 become the dividing line? Will we polarize according to what we want to include in that noble chapter? At our house, we have a room in the basement which we call affectionately “the goat’s belly.” There we throw things we don’t know what else to do with until it gets too full and we have to make some disposition of them. These are the things of which yard sales are made. Now brethren, is that what we will do with Romans 14? Don’t know what to do about abortion? Just toss it in Romans 14. What about social drinking? Romans 14! Can’t decide about girly magazines or the theory of evolution? Romans 14! Come on folks, we can do better than that. And for the future welfare of the cause for which our Lord died, we had better do better than that.

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 24, p. 3-4
December 15, 1994

By Randy Blackaby

Real men are becoming a lost commodity. Men who know their role in the family, in society and the world are harder and harder to find.

The feminist movement, which has entered its second generation, has failed utterly in its mission to liberate women but has caused many men to lose their sense of masculinity and purpose in marriage and the home. Most men, it would appear, have abdicated their role as family leaders under societal pressures initiated by the feminist movement.

Today’s talk shows, classrooms and workplaces repeatedly are heard to advocate the creation of unisex or androgynous human beings with no difference in functions, despite the never-greater volumes of data about the physical and emotional differences between the sexes.

The feminist goals include complete mutual decision-making and shared authority in the home, equal sharing of the role of supporting the family financially, and full sharing of home-making and child-care functions. This has been sold as a “fair” system and compared negatively with “traditional” arrangements where separate roles were identified for husbands and wives.

While these “goals” have been identified and approved by society in general, the “results” have been catastrophic.

Shared leadership concepts have resulted in no leadership because equality of authority is antithetical to the very concept of leadership.

With the majority of women insisting on sharing in the income production role that once was the male domain, larger and larger numbers of children are being surrendered to the care of modem day “orphans’ homes” the day care center and the public school system.

As biblical patterns for marriage roles and family life are abandoned there is emerging a rapid increase in sexual dysfunction in marriage and, sometimes, abandonment of natural sexual roles for homosexual perversions. Divorce and the broken home are now more normal in many communities than the intact family.

And, without functioning families, children are left without the environment necessary to teach love, morality and personal responsibility. Our overburdened judicial and prison systems are but another manifestation of the end results.

What is needed critically today are men who understand their purpose and roles as leaders of their families. Needed are men who carry out their God-ordained duties to wives and children.

The Bible teaches, in passages like 1 Corinthians 11:3 and Ephesians 5:23, that husbands are to be the “heads” of their wives and families. To people who reject the Bible outright this means nothing but to those who respect God’s word it clearly asserts a husband’s leadership, authority to direct and rule in the home.

By understanding the concept of “headship” one can see God’s wisdom. Just as a human body with two heads would be a paralyzed monstrosity so is the home with two heads.

Men today need to re-learn what home leadership is all about. Issuing orders, receiving deference and respect may be a part of it but much, much more is involved.

God tells the man to be the “provider” for his family in 1 Timothy 5:8. The authority given a man also calls for him to be a primary teacher and guide to the family, both in word and example.

Unlike most typical homes today, God’s ideal home has the husband and father being the principal disciplinarian responsible for training, development, and correction of his children. Passages in the Bible like Ephesians 6:4 show a man he has this responsibility. When he abdicates this job or delegates it completely to his wife, he has failed.

The real model for husband-like leadership is found in the example of Jesus himself, not in the macho-ism of the contemporary scene. Jesus led by love, sacrifice and submission of personal well-being and desires to the well-being of others.

The feminist movement is not totally responsible for the negative attitudes toward male leadership in the home today. Men who have abused or abdicated their responsibilities in the past are partially the cause.

But whatever the past failures and their causes, the crying need today is for men to re-assume their responsibilities and to lead, guide and love their wives and families through the morass of evils that today threaten our homes, nation and world.

Leadership will not be easy in our unisex society. But, then, leadership never has been easy. Real men are needed for the task.

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 10, p. 1
May 19, 1994

By Edward O. Bragwell

“Behold, the Lamb of God!” (Jn. 1:36)

“Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah . . .” (Rev. 5:5).

Preachers and other teachers constantly urge us to be more Christ-like. “The spirit of Christ,” “the mind of Christ,” “Christ-like,” and “Christ-like spirit” are terms used to express the same idea.

We can find no fault with these expressions, but rather applaud them, when taken at face value. A Christian should be able to sing “more like Jesus would I be” and mean it.

However, when one hears these terms, he would do well to stay turned for the details. The speaker’s Jesus may not be the biblical Jesus. His Jesus may be of the modern imagination  a passive, ever-smiling, back-patting, soft-spoken, all-embracing Jesus who would never be critical of people much less become upset enough with them to raise his voice to them.

This is the Jesus that we are urged to become like by a few brethren who are specializing in freeing the church of the pharisaic spirit and restoring “the spirit of Christ.” This is a noble work, if this is what they are really doing. Again, one needs to stay turned for the details. If one listens carefully he may sense that these students of the pharisaic spirit have caught the disease through the back door. They thank God that they are not as other brethren are: proud, boastful, negative and condemning but are humble, sweet, positive and up-lifting as they represent their brand of the “spirit of Christ” in the world.

Their distorted portrayal of Jesus, not only weakens the gospel and the church, it undermines the efforts and undercuts the moral support of good brethren who are trying their best to obey the divine charge to “preach the word! … convince (reprove KJV), rebuke and exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). They despise those who “rebuke with all authority” (Tit. 2:15), especially those who “rebuke them sharply” (Tit. 1:13). They often suggest to audiences that such preaching may well be the main obstacle hindering our taking the world for Christ. Oh, yes, they can occasionally be stirred to break out of their version of the spirit of Jesus long enough to rebuke sharply those who rebuke sharply.

Jesus was both “the Lamb of God” and “the Lion . . . of Judah.” One can hardly reflect the spirit of the real Jesus without beholding him in both capacities. Emphasizing either at the expense of the other gives one a warped picture of the real image of Jesus.

Jesus could look at some people and be moved with compassion (Mk. 6:34) and look upon others with anger (Mk. 3:5).

He would weep at the prospects of the destruction of his beloved Jerusalem (Lk. 19:41; cf. Matt. 23:37) after calling its religious leaders “Serpents, brood of vipers!” and rhetorically asking them, “How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”

He could be both tender and tough. He could lay his hands on little children and pray for them and then, just two chapters later, use the same hands to overturn the tables of the moneychangers and drive them from the temple (Matt. 21:12-13; cf. Jn. 2:15).

He could answer the cries of the blind men for mercy by compassionately touching their eyes (Matt. 20:29-34) and a little later, say to the Pharisees “Woe to you, blind guides, … Fools and blind” (Matt. 23:16,17).

He could even sometimes cry out as he taught some who opposed him (Jn. 7:28). Now, such crying out is a definite “no, no” to many who have restructured the “Christ-like spirit” for us.

Stephen is correctly held up as one who possessed the “spirit of Christ” as his dying words were, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60) just as Jesus’ had been, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34). Such a forgiving spirit is indeed indicative of the true spirit of Jesus and is direly needed in the church today. What spirit was Stephen imitating when he, just moments before, concluded his speech to the Jews with, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it” (Acts 7:51-55)? Did not these words also reflect Stephen’s Christ-likeness? All of this was uttered by one “full of the Holy Spirit” (v. 55).

What a pity it would be if we could only see the toughness of Jesus without his tenderness, his boldness without his benevolence, or his strictness without his sensitivity. We would have a warped picture of what we ought to be like. Conversely, it would be tragic to see only his tenderness without his toughness, his benevolence without his boldness, or his sensitivity without his strictness.

Let us both behold the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah as we sing “more like Jesus would I be.”

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 9, p. 8
May 5, 1994