Truth Magazine

By Lewis Willis

CBS MORNING NEWS (4-2-92), conducted an inter-view based on the findings of a new report. The report found that 91% of Americans believe that religion is important. However, 63% reject moral absolutes for their lives. “Moral absolutes” are the statements in the Scriptures which say we must or must not do certain things.

What Americans want to do is make moral decisions about right or wrong, basing that decision on the situation or the circumstance which they encounter. This is what was called “situation ethics” in the 1960s. “Situation ethics” gave America that terrible time when everything seemed to come apart. All moral values were expelled, and people did anything they decided they wanted to do. Rebellion against every form of authority was rampant. Any established norm for human conduct was openly, and sometimes violently, opposed. Sexual freedoms were demanded and the world came to know American hippi-ism. Dirty, long-haired, idle youth roamed the country, making a nuisance of themselves. The drug scene was dumped on America by these rebels, and we still struggle with the burden. Every institution  government, home and family, social, educational, economic  came under the ridicule of people who wanted to do their own thing, without any rules governing or restricting their conduct.

I think it was hoped that, when these people grew up, they would abandon this approach to life. It is safe to say that most of them have cut their hair and started wearing decent clothes. However, the results of this study indicate that most of them held on to their rebellious spirit where moral rules are concerned. They still do not want some-body to tell them that it is wrong to lie, steal, cheat, commit fornication, etc. They refuse any system that tells them they must do certain things that are required of them by the Word of God, such as worshiping, serving, contributing to the betterment of society, etc. Joseph Fletcher, in his 1966 book, Situation Ethics, called these things “iron-clad do’s and don’ts” which people rejected. Anything that pre-vented people from doing whatever they wanted to do was totally unacceptable. It appears that that situation has not changed. Is it any wonder that our nation is in the mess it is in today?

The Bible tells us that there is a way to determine what we should do. It even tells us that there are “rules” by which we must all live. Obviously, the American people do not know this, or they do not accept it. Nonetheless, the Word of God still says, ” let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing” (Phil. 3:16). We will never reach our potential, until we decide to live by the law of God!

Guardian of Truth XXXVII: No 19, p. 21
October 7, 1993

By Tommy Glendol McClure

As the morals of this nation and the world continue to decline, many professed Christians have either completely lost or are on the road to losing their righteous indignation. I recently heard an excellent sermon where the preacher stressed the fact that many are not willing to accept God’s Word and the principles of Truth contained therein are the absolute standard of authority. Therefore, they are not willing to make a logical decision based on Bible principles concerning a practice but resort to situation ethics to make their determination.

Some of our so called “conservative” brethren, who stand opposed to institutional issues are rather liberal in their thinking and practice on moral issues. It has been reported of late that several gospel preachers in California participate in the social consumption of alcoholic beverages publicly and privately, some serving such in their own homes. A man told me that his son was advised by an “elder” of a local congregation that there was nothing wrong with drinking beer socially. Not so surprising is the fact that these brethren are often the proponents of error on marriage, divorce and remarriage.

Some gospel preachers and brethren have resorted to what I call “Loophole Logic” in their justification of immoral practices. A gospel preacher in California was recently asked this question: “At what point does the drinking of alcohol become sinful?” In his answer he cited Rom. 13:13; Eph. 5:18; Gal. 5:21; Deut. 21:18-21; and Prov. 23:20-21, which specifically condemns drunkenness and no one would disagree. However, he also cited Luke 21:34 implying that this is Christ’s final word on the matter stating, “The simple answer to the question, then, is, ‘When the drinking becomes drunkenness, it is a sin(Contender! January/February 1993, p. 5). He also taught that to cast a stumbling block and cause a brother to fall would be sinful. Therefore, the conclusion reached from his answer is, drinking strong drink is sinful only if one becomes drunk or if a brother is offended and caused to stumble?

Nowhere in his answer does he mention the dangers of the brewers art (strong drink), but only seeks to justify its use by implying the Scriptures condemn only drunkenness. The answers given are very dangerous in light of the blight inflicted on society in general, and especially teen-agers, from the consumption of alcohol. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) reported in the 1992 Driver Handbook (p.76), “In 1990, there were 4,600 fatal collisions in California, killing 5,173 persons. Alcohol was found to be the main cause of 46 percent of the accidents.” More importantly, God’s Word warns of the dangers of strong drink (Prov. 20:1; 23:20-34; Isa. 5:11). The gospel demands soberness, holiness, the presentation of our bodies as a living sacrifice, and abstinence from all appearance of evil (1 Tim. 3:2-I1; Titus 1:7-8; 2:11-12; Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 6:20; 1 ‘Mess. 5:22; 1 Pet. 1:13-10, 22; 2:5-10; 4:7; 5:6-8). The warnings in the Scriptures, the debauchery, doom and death caused by the use of alcohol should cause all accountable people of God to realize the dangers of this poison. For Christians and especially gospel preachers, to attempt to justify the social consumption of alcohol using “Loophole Logic” and neglecting to warn of the dangers of its use makes for a shameful disgrace!

This same preacher again used “Loophole Logic” when asked this question: “Does the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:27-32 and 19:3-12 prohibit the one put away for fornication from marrying again?” He answers 

Dear reader and questioner, please turn now in your Bible and read the above cited passages. Does your Bible say such sinners cannot marry again? The “putting away” is the sin, not marrying . . . If these passages prohibit one from marrying, then the Apostle Paul should have said in 1 Corinthians 7:2, “Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man (except those the Catholics have determined cannot many) have his own wife, and let every woman (same exception) have her own husband” (Contender! March/April, 1993, p. 5).

You will notice that his argument is based on what the Bible does not say. The same sort of logic could be used in an attempt to justify instrumental music, social drinking and a host of other practices which are not authorized in the Scriptures. Where is the positive divine authority that allows the one put away for fornication to marry again? When God specifies a thing in a class, is not everything else in that class eliminated? Jesus specified in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9, the one exception for putting away, and further stated that when one marries the guilty one put away for the only lawful exception (for fornication), adultery is committed. Only the innocent party who puts away the guilty party is free to marry again.

Brethren, we need to respect the principles of divine Truth and severe all sinful relationships which place our soul in eternal jeopardy. Let us cease excusing sin, let us rid our minds of “Loophole Logic” and let us strive with all diligence to “come to the knowledge of the Truth” (1 Tim. 2:4)!

Guardian of Truth XXXVII: No 19, p. 23-25
October 7, 1993

By Paul Williams

“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14, NASB) In the margin of the NASB there is a note concerning the words “bound together” which states, “Lit., unequally yoked,” and this is how the phrase is translated in the King James Version.

This verse does not mean that a person married to an unbeliever is sinning by being married to him. This is clear from what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:12-13: “But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, let him not send her away. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, let her not send her husband away.” Paul’s instructions to the one unequally yoked to an unbeliever are: “Therefore, ‘come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord” (2 Cor. 7:17) If one is unequally yoked to an unbeliever, one must come out from that yoke and be separate; however a believer yoked to an unbeliever in marriage is to remain in that marriage if the unbeliever is content to allow the marriage to continue. Therefore, being married to an unbeliever is not, in itself the unequal yoke Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians 7:14.

However, marriage to an unbeliever can become an unequal yoke. This is what Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 7:15: “Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.” Under certain circumstances a Christian married to an unbeliever must choose not to continue in that marriage. This happens when the marriage is an unequal yoke.

I know a young woman who is planning to marry a man who opposes the church of the Lord and has told her that he will not allow her to go to church after they are married. If she marries him she will have entered into a yoke which will require her to do evil in order to stay married. If she marries the man under these circumstances she will be rebelling against God. If after she marries she repents of her sin, and the man will not change his opposition to the Lord, she will have to insist on going to church even if it means he leaves her. Following Christ is more important than keeping a marriage together!

In Columbus, Ohio I called on a member of the church who had not attended services in the years she had lived in that city. She explained that she was married to a Roman Catholic. He insisted that the children be reared as Catholics and did not want her to go to church. She explained to me that since it was important for her to obey her husband she was sending the children to a Catholic school and not going to church herself. That woman was doing evil in order to obey her husband even though the apostles said, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29) What she should have done was to choose to obey God. If her husband would not then allow her to live with him, she should have “let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace” (I Cor. 7:15).

Therefore 2 Corinthians 6:14 applies to marriage just as it does to any other relationship. When a Christian is forced to do evil in order to keep any relationship from breaking up that Christian is unequally yoked, and if a Christian is unequally yoked he or she must come out of that relation-ship. If you have to lie in order to keep your job, you must refuse to lie and must let your boss fire you. If your parents command you to do wrong, you must refuse even if they disown you. If your husband demands that you not follow Christ, you must follow Christ even if he divorces you.

I knew a woman in Columbus, Ohio who was fired when she refused to give to the Community Chest. I know a young man in South Africa who refused to lie for his boss over the telephone and was fired on the spot. I know a number of young people who have had to leave home because their parents will not let them stay at home unless they worship ancestors. A young girl had to leave her mother because her mother insisted that the girl commit fornication with a certain man. These Christians obeyed God rather than man and came out from unequal yokes. Working for a boss is not an unequal yoke unless it causes you to do wrong in order to keep the job. Having parents does not cause an unequal yoke unless the parents insist that the child does evil. Marriage is not an unequal yoke unless one partner insists that the other disobey God. But when any relationship becomes an unequal yoke, the believer must obey God rather than man even if obeying God destroys a precious relationship.

Paul wrote, “the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace” (1 Cor. 7:15) The woman who obeyed her Roman Catholic husband by sending her children to Catholic schools and staying home from church misunderstood the nature of her bondage to her husband. We are not under bondage to anyone that we should sin. We have never been under such bondage. Even in marriage we are not under bondage to keep the marriage together at the price of sinning against God.

But don’t read more into what Paul wrote in I Corinthians 7:15 than what he actually wrote. The verse does not say that the believer is free to remarry if the unbeliever departs. The only thing Paul says is that the believer must not feel guilty if, by following the Lord, he or she causes the unbeliever to leave. Paul already told the Corinthians what the divorced person must do. “But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband (but if she does leave, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not send his wife away” (1 Cor. 7:10-71). The only time a divorced person has the right to remarry is when the person divorces his or her mate for the cause of fornication (Matt. 19:9). All other divorced persons do not have the right to remarry and must “remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband.”

How careful we should be, therefore, when we plan to get married. We must understand thoroughly that no matter what happens we must obey God. If this leads to trouble in the marriage, we have no choice. God must come first. Therefore we should be as careful as we can be to marry one who will assist us in obeying God, not to hinder us. It is sinful foolishness to think that love will overcome all obstacles. If you marry an obstinate unbeliever, you are either going to disobey God or be left by the unbeliever. Be as sure as you can. Don’t enter into the yoke of marriage if there is the likelihood that it will become an unequal yoke.

Guardian of Truth XXXVII: No 19, p. 20-21
October 7, 1993

By Connie W. Adams

Paul preached the same gospel on the resurrection of Christ, and the assurance that gave of a general bodily resurrection when the Lord returns, which the other apostles preached even though he was “born out of due time” (1 Cor. 15:8). That means he was brought into the apostolic work later than the other apostles. Even so, the appearance of the Lord to him on the Damascus Road qualified him as a witness of the resurrection. In verse 11 he said, “Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye have believed.” Paul’s preaching on the resurrection was an valid as that of the other apostles.

Relationship Between Preaching and Faith

There is an inseparable bond between the preaching that is done and the faith it produces in the hearers. “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). The thing preached provokes the faith that saves. “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). In the same context, Paul asked, “How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14) When the Ethiopian treasurer was converted, the Holy Spirit did not address the man, nor did the angel of the Lord. God’s providence brought him in contact with a preacher of the gospel. “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus” (Acts 8:35). It was this message which he believed and obeyed to the saving of his soul.

My brethren, we must never lose faith in the power of the preached word. This is the seed which sprouts and springs to life in the good and honest heart (Lk. 8:11). I fear that many have lost faith in the power of gospel preaching. They want very little of it, seeming unwilling to be inconvenienced to hear even that little bit, and want it short, sweet, all warm and fuzzy so that it makes them cry a little or laugh a lot. When weak brethren recover their conviction that gospel preaching does good, they will want to hear more, not less, of it. They will demand that what is preached is the word of God and not the word of man. They will bring their Bibles and check to see that what is taught is the truth.

Strong preaching produces strong faith. Paul told Titus to present “sound doctrine” to “aged men” so that they would be “sound in faith” (Tit. 2:1). Would it not follow that unsound doctrine would produce unsound faith? Water down the preaching and you water down the faith. Preach the wisdom of men and hearers will place their faith in men and not in God. Fill your preaching with the popular buzz words of the pop religious writers and radio and television evangelists and you will produce audiences of spiritual illiterates and spiritual dwarfs.

Opposing Error

Faith building preaching must emphasize the fundamentals of truth. But it must also oppose error which restricts the flow of truth into the hearts of hearers. Like blocked arteries which restrict the flow of blood, so error in the mind shuts off life giving truth. Many have rejected Bible teaching on baptism for the remission of sins because their spiritual arteries have been blocked with massive chunks of “faith only,” “just pray the sinners’ prayer,” “accept Jesus as your personal Savior” or “I know what I feel in my heart.” In order to implant faith in such hearts, it is necessary to provide some spiritual surgery. Objectors to such surgery are standing in the way of the salvation of the lost. The word of God will clear out the error and help the subject to embrace the truth.

Titus was instructed to teach elders of the church to employ sound doctrine to “exhort and convict the gainsayers” and to stop the mouths of those who subvert whole houses (Tit. 1:9-10). He said this must be done “that they may be sound in the faith” (v. 13). Why does so much error strut unchallenged through the land, destroying one church after another? Why has the tolerance level been raised for weak preaching or for that which generates more doubt than faith? Where are the elders? Whatever became of vigilance? Of watching for souls? What has become of “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:2)? One is not to teach otherwise than “wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according to godliness” (1 Tim. 6:3).

Have weak pulpits contributed to the avalanche of ungodliness which has fallen upon so many congregations to the end that many members have imbibed the spirit of the world about us?

 Make no mistake, my dear brethren, the faith of hearers is linked to the kind of preaching and teaching received. Of course, it is possible to faithfully preach the truth only to be ignored by those who love the world more than the Lord. But let it not be because the whole counsel of God was not preached. “So we preach, and so ye believed.”

 Guardian of Truth XXXVII: 20, p. 3-4
October 21, 1993