Truth Magazine

By Connie W. Adams

It is urgent that congregations develop and maintain a good program for teaching the Bible to all age levels. Some congregations work very hard at this while others drift from quarter to quarter or year to year with no well defined goals and little attention to obtaining those goals. The primary objective in every Bible class should be the instruction of every student in the knowledge of the word of God. Methods are important but whatever they may be, they must all serve that over-riding objective.

We have just completed a three month study for teachers at Manslick Road in Louisville. Phillip Mullins and I worked together in teaching this. We had a very good interest sustained throughout the study. As a study guide we used the booklet Teaching: The Heart of the Matter by John A. Smith. It contains 13 lessons and was written by a faithful gospel preacher who has had several years experience in public school teaching. Brother Smith preaches now in Winchester, Kentucky and also teaches school there. He has also been able to make two trips to Russia where he has been allowed to teach the Bible to high school and university students. Having used this material I am glad to recommend it to any congregation wanting to improve Bible class teaching at all levels.

This booklet is only one of a growing list of useful study booklets for classes published by Guardian of Truth. Here are a few others you might consider:

Revelation: A Message From Patmos by Weldon E. Warnock Show Thyself a Man by Herschel Patton (a study of the role of men in society)

Lilies of the Field by Fay Mobley (a study of the role of women in society)

Church History by Aude McKee

Mike Willis has authored a growing list of study books for high school and adult classes. I have taught his material of Proverbs. It is excellent. He also has one on Genesis, Exodus, Ecclesiastes. We have also recently published an excellent study book: Preparing to Teach Our Neighbors by Max Tice. All of these and more can be ordered from: Edited for out-dated information

Sincere Teachers of Error

I keep hearing brethren refer to 2 Peter 2 in dealing with the question of false teachers. That passage certainly provides much help on the subject. But the impression is being left by some that a brother cannot be a false teacher unless he demonstrates the qualitities of dishonesty, and malicious misleading with which Peter so forcefully dealt. But it is not possible for a brother to use his influence to lead people astray while having pure motives? When Paul reviewed his past, including the time he persecuted Christians, he said, “I have lived in all good conscience until this day” (Acts 23:1). He also said, “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did” (Acts 26:9-11). He was sincerely wrong and the suffering this brought upon the persecuted Christians was just as severe as it would have been had he acted from malicious motives. 2 Peter 2 needs to be studied on this subject, but it is not all the word of God has to say on the subject. Motives aside, where does the teaching lead those influenced by it? What does it prompt them to do? What are the eternal consequences of putting the teaching to practical use?

While We Were Yet Sinners

It is a continuing sauce of amazement that God loved us when we were not lovely or lovable and that Christ died for us when we were yet sinners. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found

Was blind, but now I see.”

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 7, p. 3-4
April 7, 1994

By Norman E. Fultz

It has been said of Abraham that one could trace his paths by the altars he built. And another writer stated, “It is often said of Abraham and the patriarchs that they built altars to the Lord; it is never said they built houses for themselves.”

The altar, from a word meaning “place of slaughter,” in the period of the patriarchy was the center of family worship, being the place of sacrifice and devotion to God. While the altar built by Noah after the flood (Gen. 8:20) is the first recorded reference to an altar, it cannot be doubted that some type of an altar was surely involved in the sacrifices of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:3-4). That the expression “calling on the name of the Lord” has reference to worship at the altar seems apparent from Genesis 13:4 which tells of Abram’s returning from Egypt to Bethel “to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there, Abraham called on the name of the Lord.” This considered, when in the days of Enos it is said, “then began men to call on the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:26), may we not safely infer that reference is made to an altar and its sacrifices, not just to a verbal invocation. Even in the New Testament to “call upon the name of the Lord” signifies complying with his directions as to worship and obedience (Rom. 10:13; Acts 9:4; 22:16). So also, Abraham at Beersheba is said to have “called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God” (Gen. 21:33); and in view of his previous practice of altar building, it is reasonable to assume that it implies that also at Beersheba an altar was built and sacrifice offered.

Let’s look at Abraham’s altars. We are all familiar with the Abraham’s commission from God (Gen. 12:1-3). Stephen recounts it thusly: “Men and brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, `Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell” (Acts 7:2-4). When Abram arrived in Canaan at Sichem, after the Lord again appeared to him saying, “To your descendants I will give this land”; and of Abraham it is related, “And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him” (Gen. 12:7). Then upon moving south to near Bethel he again “built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord” (Gen. 12:8). After his sojourn in Egypt, necessitated by the famine in Canaan, he came back to the altar site near Bethel, “And there Abram called on the name of the Lord” (Gen. 13:4). Further, when he and Lot had separated and Abram moved to the region of Hebron, he “built an altar there to the Lord” (Gen. 13:18). And asnoted above, he apparently later built one near Beersheba. Yet one other time is it recorded that Abraham built an altar. While he was still in the land of the Philistines, God tested him, telling him to go to Moriah and offer Isaac for a burnt offering. Upon their arrival, “Abraham built an altar there” (Gen. 22:9).

That Abraham was a man of great faith there is no doubt. Scripture so attests (Heb. 11:8-10, 17; Rom. 4). But that he made serious mistakes is also shown by Scripture, especially in two incidents involving Sarah. The first incident was with Pharaoh while in Egypt (Gen. 12); and the next, about twenty years later, an identical situation with Abimelech when they were dwelling in Gerar in the region of Kadesh and Shur-Beersheba (Gen. 20).

When we go back and look at Abraham’s journey and his altar building following significant events in his life, we become impressed with two times when no reference is made to his having built an altar after a major change in conditions. When he went to Egypt, nothing is said of his building an altar there; and that is the first time he prevaricated regarding Sarah. When he went to Gerar in the region of Kadesh and Shur, nothing is said of his building an altar. And he again he practiced deception when Abimelech, king of Gerar “sent and took Sarah” (Gen. 20:2). It was only after this incident and one involving a well of water which Abimelech’s servants had taken from Abraham’s herdsmen that the record tells us that “Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God” (Gen. 21:33). After the encounter with Pharaoh, Abraham was expelled from Egypt. They “sent him away, with his wife and all that he had” (Gen. 12:20). He returned to the place of his altar between Bethel and Ai (Gen. 13:3-4). It was after his successfully making a treaty with Abimelech that in Beersheba he “called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God” (21:33).

Is it without significance that the two incidents that besmear the otherwise unblemished character of Abraham occurred in places where he had built no altar? And is there a lesson in this for us?

When are we likely to be the most vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one? When are we most likely to fall before the fiery darts of the wicked? Is it not when we have left or failed to build an altar or to offer upon it? Oh, I don’t mean literally, but figuratively. When we have left the altar of reading the Word. When we have left the altar of prayer. When we have left the altar of consistently assembling with the saints where we can encourage one another and provoke one another unto love and good works? Oh yes, there have been some instances in which some have been found in great sin while never having absented themselves from the assemblies. But what about their private devotions of reading and prayer? Had they left them?

Yes, we can trace Abraham’s steps by the altars he built. And we can also find him in trouble when he was far removed from his altars. Let us take heed.

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 6, p. 14
March 17, 1994

By J. Wiley Adams

We are glad to see this expression coming back into play. It is long overdue. We need once again to “speak as the oracles” and punctuate our teaching with a “thus saith the Lord” (1 Pet. 4:11). We need to revive the scriptural slogan that “we speak where the Bible speaks and we are silent where the Bible is silent.” Let us again decide to “do Bible things in Bible ways and call Bible things by Bible names” (Deut. 29:29).

We need to once again have the spirit of the apostle Paul when he was on the Damascus road. As he was confronted with the living Christ he said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6) It is the Lord’s will that we should seek to carry out and not our own.

Today we fear that many conservative brethren have started to drift with the tide of human tradition and opinion. Jesus declared, “In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrine the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9). The affluency of our times and the intellectualism of our day has made not a few of us proud, arrogant, and much less than humble. Such have entered the highway of digression just as many have traveled it before and are on the road to becoming a denomination without doubt. Indeed, history tends to re-peat itself.

In today’s high tech society we have made the simple gospel of Christ so complex and complicated that it is no wonder we are not converting the lost. We now must stop and try to recover those who were saved but have drifted away.

The course of history (Bible history) will confirm that God’s people have always flourished when his will is done without fear or favor. It seems also to be the case that when we have less of this world’s goods to encumber us that we rise to our greatest heights in God’s service. Maybe we need to pray for God to strip us down to where we can move more freely in his service.

History will also reveal that when brethren become so high and mighty they differ little from the church at Laodicea. Let us not become lukewarm as did they. God was not pleased with them. We need the militant spirit that pervaded the early church as they went everywhere preaching the word (Acts 8:4).

Once again let us hear more and more of the old Jerusalem ring in the sermons of gospel preachers. We need to renew our desire to save souls above all else and be willing to sacrifice to bring it to pass. Back to the Bible, brethren! The gospel of Christ is still God’s power to save.

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 7, p. 1
April 7, 1994

By Mike Willis

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18).

In our last issue, we emphasized that God’s wrath is revealed from heaven. In this issue, we want to proceed to notice that God’s wrath is revealed against ungodliness.

God’s Wrath Is Revealed Against Ungodliness

The word “ungodliness” is translated from asebeia. That word is defined by Thayer as “want of reverence towards God, impiety, ungodliness” (79). The text in Romans shows how this “ungodliness” was displayed in the following verses:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things (Rom. 1:18-23).

The ungodliness of the Gentile world was shown in the following ways:

1. They refused to have God in their knowledge. The Gentile world consciously turned its back on God. They refused to glorify God as God (1:21). They did not develop a spirit of thanksgiving (1:21). Consequently, Paul said that they “refused to have God in their knowledge” (1:28).

2. The things of God were known to them. Ungodliness cannot be attributed to men’s ignorance. There is sufficient evidence available from the things that are made to see the existence, omnipotence, and deity of God. The power and divinity of God have been known from (since the beginning) of creation (1:20). The psalmist declared, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork” (19:1). From “natural theology” one can know that there is an omnipotent God.

The ungodliness of the Gentiles is seen in their absolute refusal to have God in their knowledge. The concept of God is consciously and knowingly rejected because of the moral obligations that logically follow when man admits the existence of a Creator God.

God’s Judgment Against Ungodliness

The text also explains to us God’s judgment against man’s ungodliness: (1) Men become vain in their reasonings (1:21); (2) Men’s senseless hearts are darkened (1:21); and (3) In their self-deceived arrogance, they become fools (1:22). Having rejected the reasonable worship of the one true God, men turn to worship a “lie” (idolatry, 1:22-23,25).

The foolish pagan worship to which man turned as he rejected God was a part of God’s judgment against man’s ungodliness.

The United States As An Example

What is occurring presently in our nation is an example of the Lord’s judgment against ungodliness. The United States has walked in the steps delineated in Romans 1. A conscious decision was made several years ago by the leaders (civil and judicial) of our nation to depart from the standard of righteousness imposed by the Bible. This conscious rejection of God has been manifested in many ways, including the following:

a. Prayer cannot be offered in the public schools.

b. The Ten Commandments cannot be posted in the school’s classrooms.

c. The moral standard of the Scriptures in such matters as divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, gambling, and such like things is rejected.

Our social engineers have worked over our nation to re-construct it according to their superior knowledge. As a result, we have 25% of white children and 65% of black children born out of wedlock every year. The divorce rate in America has reduced to about 20-25% the number of children who are being reared by their natural mother and father. One-parent families are commonplace and the social pathologies that this is producing are scaring even the social engineers. Children are growing up without respect for their parents and some have no moral standard of right and wrong. All of this is made possible by the Federal Government. In a former time, when two people conceived a child out of wedlock they usually married and settled down to the business of being good parents. Now the mother can apply for Aid for Dependent Children and tell the father of her child to leave. She then cohabits with another man, conceives another child, has her Aid for Dependent Children check to increase, and tells this man to go on his way. In this manner our social engineers have provided the means for fatherless homes to become commonplace. We not only pay the price in increased taxes, we also pay the price in the bills for violent crime, drive-by shootings, gang rape and murder, robberies, burglaries, assaults, etc.

Alarmed by the problems, our social engineers are suggesting that we need to spend more money to provide for day care centers for the poor and those who need daycare so they can work. The cry is constantly made for more handouts, spending billions on rehabilitation of hardened criminals, and other such social programs.

Our “wise” social engineers put band aids on this cancer. Every band aid is siphoned out of the pockets of tax payers and costs billions of dollars. Consider some of the wise counseling we have received. Children cannot be taught “just say no” to pre-marital sex; instead, the Planned Parenthood clinics are given easy access to make sure that our children have and know how to use condoms.

Parents are told that “spanking” is a form of child-abuse. Children are brought up with no respect for the authority of parents, teachers, or government.

Conclusion

These painful consequences which are occurring in our society are the results of the conscious choice to reject God and his word as our standard for righteousness. These consequences are one expression of the revelation of the wrath of God against ungodliness.

We do not need another government program to fix things in our country. We need a revival! We need men and women who will enthrone Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives and submit to his divine guidance over them. If enough Americans will do this, many of our national problems would be solved.

Since that is not likely to happen, we can only expect to see God’s judgment against our ungodliness increase. Sad days lie ahead for our country unless we repent of refusing to have God in our knowledge.

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 7, p. 2
April 7, 1994