Truth Magazine

By John Humphries

We have just recently returned from six weeks of gospel work in India. We sincerely appreciate your prayers and support of this effort for the Lord in that part of the world. Several sent funds for Bibles in the Telugu language. This was used to purchase over 800 Bibles for poor Christians. We also wrote, had translated into Telugu, and printed in India some 70,000 tracts for distribution among the people. We can always use help with this! Tracts keeps teaching after we are gone. We can never print too many. Many conversions come from the tract effort.

The trip went very well and we believe that much good was done. In various gospel meeting around the state of Anhra Pradesh in south India, we baptized 72 precious souls into Christ. We conducted several study classes for preachers n various places. William Beasley, Jerry Parks, Ed Brand, and I were in India during the months of September, October and November. We came at different times to the country and overlapped each other for continuity and comparing of notes. We worked in different districts in Andhra Pradesh in order to cover more territory and meet with the various congregations.

We will mention a conversion or two in order to give you idea of the efforts in India. One conversion involved a family of Brahmans which is the highest caste in India. This known as the priestly caste and in fact the husband in this family is a Hindu priest. The wife and two children, one 19 or 20-year-old girl and the other is a 12 or 13-year-old boy, obeyed the gospel at great cost. The woman threw the idols down the well when she turned from the pagan gods and committed herself to the true and living God. After she did this her Hindu priest husband promptly abandoned the family. Now she and the children are having to support themselves as they are able. Her Hindu family has turned their back on her and the children. Her faith and the faith the children are an inspiration to us. They have truly counted the cost!

Another story involved a young man in his early 20s who was also high caste. His family put great pressure on him when they learned that he was investigating the gospel of Christ. They tried to marry him off to a Hindu girl and also pressured him to go to the idol temple for puga (worship). Their threats and pressure did not stop him. After we studied with him, he was baptized into Christ. He will face many difficulties with his family and Hindu friends.

We could give many such stories of faith and dedication to the Lord that we have observed in India. The Christians in that Hindu country face many battles as they attempt to follow the Bible. Some lose their faith but most remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I will mention another situation that develops often in India. A Telugu Baptist preacher wanted to study further with us after hearing us preach the truth in one of our gospel meetings. He told us that we were preaching the truth and that he desires to learn more. As a matter of fact, some of his members have already obeyed the gospel. He did not fight this as he said that we taught the Bible truth on conversion. He even attended their baptism! Some of the Indian preachers are continuing to study with him. I told him that I would be happy to study with him each time I returned to India. Doors like this are open many places in India but for how long, I cannot say.

Please allow me to say for the record and to prevent possible misunderstanding, that not one red cent of support was promised to this Baptist preacher (or anyone else)! To his credit, he never mentioned such to us. He does face severe financial hardship if he obeys the gospel; but we have promised him nothing material. He is struggling mightily at this time. Pray for him and the others mentioned in this report, please.

Thank you again for your help. God willing, I will return next year. Would you please consider helping us again? I will be happy to answer any questions concerning our work in India. Please let me hear from you.

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 24, p. 741
December 17, 1992

By Johnie Edwards

“Church of England to ordain women as priests” was a front page story in the Bloomington, Indiana Herald Times (November 11, 1992)! Some of the people involved thought the action contradicts Scripture and some thought “the ordination of women to the priesthood alters not a word in the creeds, the Scriptures, or the faith of our church.” Let’s see just what the Lord thinks about it as we make our appeal to the Bible.

1. The General Synod. The ordination of women to the priesthood was approved by the majority of the church’s General Synod. The first thing wrong with this whole affair is an unscriptural organization running the church. The Bible I read knows nothing about a “General Synod”! I do read of Paul addressing the church at Philippi, “. . . to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons” (Phil. 1:1). I also read that the elders are to “tend the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight” (1 Pet. 5:2).

2. The Scriptures. The article stated that, “The ordination of women to the priesthood alters not a word in the Scriptures.” In the Old Testament, the priesthood came from men, not women (Heb. 7:8). One Canon said, “but I have yet to be convinced that its not a part of God’s revelation for the salvation of us all.” If the ordination of women is taught in the Bible, looks like there would be some passage where we can read about such. Of all the things said about the subject, the article made no appeal to any Scripture, not one!

3. Subjection of women. Because of the sin of Eve in the garden, and her “being deceived was in the transgression, ” God put women in a place of subjection (1 Tim. 2:14). Paul said, “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” (1 Cor. 11:3). In the marriage relationship, the man is the head of his wife. Hers is a place of subjection. “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing” (Eph. 5:23-24).

4. Usurping of Authority. When women are placed over men, as in the ordaining of women priests, elders, preachers and the like, it is a violation of New Testament teaching. Paul said, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. For I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Tim. 2:11-12).

5. How about us? There are some places where women are being used in leading of prayers among mixed audiences. What will be next? Perhaps the leading of singing, waiting on the Lord’s table, preaching, women elders and deacons! We need to get back to doing some basic preaching and teaching on the role of the women in the Lord’s church.

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 24, p. 737
December 17, 1992

By Tom Roberts

If one could have access to a newspaper published anywhere in the Roman world during the first century, the headlines, daily news, advertising, classified ads, and yes, even the comic section would probably have made us blush with shame. The Roman world was a hedonistic society, a culture that explored the depths of sexual and immoral pleasures. Philosophy, religion, customs and history combined to provide a climate that encouraged wantonness and excess. Philosophies (such as Epicureanism) supported sin with a rationale that man could not help himself: “if it feels good, do it.” Religion (with its pantheon of gods) gave its blessing to sexual impurities by including all kinds of vices within the embrace of heathen temples that were little more than brothels. Customs of the day (fornication, homosexuality, pedophilia, etc.) made immorality such a common practice that chastity and virtue were practically unknown. From the athletic contests (often featuring nudity among the participants) to the wares available on the street markets, sin was a part of the daily lives of those in the ancient world. Historically, the lascivious life was well established by the time the gospel met face to face with one of Satan’s more popular devices, the lust of the flesh. This theme of Acts whereby the gospel reclaims souls from sinfulness is very much needed in our day, a time more and more reminiscent of the darkness of the Greco/Roman world.

Jewish Morality, the Last Outpost

Had it not been for the influence of the Jews who were faithful to the Law of Moses and who were dispersed throughout the Roman world, nothing at all would have been remembered of the early days of the earth when men “knew God” (Rom. 1:21). The Ten Commandments as exemplified by the Jewish minority was the only contact Gentiles had with virtue. At the time the gospel began to be preached, there was a total absence of any moral code extant among Gentiles except some weak, aesthetic philosophies that were based on the faulty premises of man’s sinful nature. It is notable that when the gospel was first addressed to Jews (Acts 2-9), the approach was to verify the events of Jesus’ life and death by the appeal to the Old Testament. These people already had knowledge of morality ingrained into them from their youth up. In fact, the early church was a Jewish church. It was only later, when the gospel was probated to the Gentiles, beginning with Cornelius in Acts 10, that confrontations began with a profligate lifestyle.

Of course, the Jews themselves had not avoided the temptation to abandon morality entirely. The Greek culture (Hellenism) had given Rome its modern ideology. In those cities where Jews had been scattered, the temptation was to imitate their peers, In fact, Jerusalem itself was not immune to an inroad of hellenization through the public baths, the games, education, jobs and religion. Many Jewish families saw their young people act, dress and talk like the Roman overlords. Which parent today does not understand this? Our own people reflect this same struggle in today’s society and not a few have been lost to the siren call of worldliness. We need to see anew the “power of the gospel” (Rom. 1:16) in combating this deadly evil.

The Battle Is Engaged

We must never underestimate the power of the gospel in overcoming worldliness. All is not lost today because all was not lost then. As badly as darkness covered the face of the populated world, a light of truth exposed the lost to a better way of life. Jesus had told the apostles that they would be his witnesses in “Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). As the integration of Jews and Gentiles was completed, instruction began which weaned the Gentiles away from their previous life. As the debate over integration finished in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit instructed the new Gentile converts to “abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality” (Acts 15:20,21,29). As Paul and Silas returned to Asia Minor to continue the work of conversion, they took with them the letter containing these instructions and read them to the churches (16:4). The battle was engaged.

Leaving behind strong churches throughout Palestine and Asia Minor, Paul was directed to Europe by the Macedonian call (Acts 16:9). Through Luke’s account in the book of Acts, Paul’s journeys to the strongholds of sin is recorded. As the Lord told Paul in a vision in Corinth, “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. ” A beachhead was first established in Philippi, then the gospel was preached southward throughout Greece until Corinth was reached. Before his life was finished, Paul also visited Rome itself. In every place, he proclaimed a holy God and a holy way of life. On Mars hill in Athens, he taught the philosophers about God and the futility of idols. At Corinth, he met and baptized those who had been given over to the basest of life styles. He preached plainly: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

This was the same message that he had preached in Asia Minor. To the Colossians, he had taught, “. . . put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry.” “. . . put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Col. 3:1-14). To the Galatians, he had taught, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Following this passage (5:17) is a list of the “works of the flesh” as contrary to the “fruit of the spirit” (5:19-24). Christians were (and are) to “crucify the flesh with its passions and desires.” To the Philippians, he had written that they should be “filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and the praise of God” (1:11). They were taught to have the “mind of Christ” (2:5) by which they would become “blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (2:15).

Not only the book of Acts (that records the evangelism), but also the rest of the New Testament that testifies to the power and success of the gospel message, has become a testimony to our world that we must turn from darkness to light. The evils of the ancient world are now modern. We have inherited not only the lifestyle of the Romans, but the diseases and social disorders as well.

Can We Learn Our Lesson?

We don’t know the numbers of the Christians in the first century. The Bible is strangely silent concerning how many members belonged to the early churches. However, one thing is sure. Everyone who turned to the Lord received forgiveness of sins, was added to the Lord, gained fellowship with God and had the promise of eternal life. To people who are in the darkness of sin and who know firsthand the heavy burden of guilt and worldliness, the gospel is a saving message. It will take the vilest of sinners and turn them into precious children of God. It will destroy the power of Satan in lives that before were hopeless and helpless. There is power in the gospel because there is power in the blood of Christ. Let us continue to preach Jesus to a lost and dying world. There are people all around us who need its gracious news as much as any citizen of ancient Rome.

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 23, pp. 718-719
December 3, 1992

By Vestal Chaffin

According to statistics about one out of every three marriages in this country ends in divorce. If God’s law for the home were observed and respected today, surely it would indeed be a balm for our nation. I am thoroughly convinced that the homes are at the very tap root of many of our problems as a nation. God intended that marriage should be “until death do us part,” Jesus said, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matt. 19:6). When God’s law for this divine relationship is flouted and trampled under foot, we can expect nothing but a harvest corresponding to the seed that we sow. Can our nation and our society long survive under these conditions? When Edward Gibbon the famous historian, wrote about the fall of the great Roman Empire fie attributed five things to the citizens of that empire, that contributed to its down fall. The very first thing he attributed to them was the “Rapid increase of divorce, with the undermining of the sanctity of the home, which is the basis of society.” Wake up America!

In the first few verses of Judges 2, we are left with the impression that Joshua had a tremendous influence for good upon the children of Israel. Verse 7 of that same chapter says, “And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord., that he did for Israel.” The next verse tells about the death of Joshua, and then in verse 10, the record says: “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them which knew no the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” This is the very seat of our problem in America today. Another generation has arisen that does not know the Lord! God has foretold the doom of those who forget him. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psa. 9:17).

Where is there a better place to begin reforming the homes of this nation than with members of the Lord’s church? The home is the place where children receive their earliest and most enduring impressions. For this reason parents need to be so very careful of the kind of early impressions that we leave upon our children. In the home is the place where the character of children is molded and formed. Usually children become in life what parents make of them. Have you considered seriously the kind of impressions that are being made upon your children in the home life? We cannot have children who enjoy attending the services of the church, and living the life of a Christian, unless there are proper home conditions. Let us plead with you brethren and sisters in Christ, give all diligence to make your home what God would have it be. Set an example before the world in making your home a pillar of righteousness in your community.

The responsibilities of parents to their children are many and weighty! Parents should be an example to their children in all things. They should not engage in bad habits before their children, such as smoking cigarettes, chewing tobacco, drinking alcoholic beverages, dancing, wearing scanty clothing, and many other things that are so prevalent in the lives of many so-called Christians today. How can a parent teach his children not to engage in these things if he engages in them? Not only should parents be examples to their children in not doing certain things, but they should set the example before them in doing right! They should set an example before their children in reading and studying the Bible. Every family should have a time set aside each day to read the Bible together, and pray together. Parents should set the example before their children in studying their Bible class lessons, and attending every service of the church.

Parents have the responsibility of teaching their children God’s Word. When God gave Israel the law of Moses, sealed by the blood of animals, he said, “And these words, which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deut. 6:6-7). Notice first, that these words were to be, not simply in a book, but “in thine heart.” God’s word must dwell in the heart of parents for them to be able to teach them effectively to their children! Second, the, were to teach them “diligently unto thy children.” They were not to teach carelessly, indifferently, but they were to teach them with painstaking. If God required such under the law sealed by the blood of animals, how much more does he require us to teach the spiritual and eternal law of God, sealed by the blood of his Son, unto our children? Thus we have the admonition, “And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). When we carry out God’s instructions as parents we will influence our children for good and they will follow God’s way.

To a great degree we are influenced to be what we are in character by the environment in which we are reared. Henry Drummond, once said: “Strength of character may be acquired at work, but beauty of character is learned at home. There the affections are trained. There the gentle life reaches us, the true heaven life. In one word, the family circle is the supreme conductor of Christianity.” Perhaps there is far more truth in these words than many have ever realized.

The Bible demonstrates the fact that as a child is taught at home, so will he be, to a great extent when he becomes a man. For example, we are told that Ahaziah, “Did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin” (1 Kgs. 22:52). Concerning Ahaziah, Matthew Henry says, “He walked n the way of the house of Ahab, that idolatrous bloody house; for his mother was Ahab’s daughter, so that he sucked in wickedness with his milk. The child may be expected to resemble the mother. When men choose wives for themselves they must remember they are choosing mothers for their children, and are concerned to choose accordingly” (Vol. 2, p. 753). In 2 Chronicles 22:3, we have this concerning Ahaziah, “He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly.” Truly, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”

Fathers and mothers should cease to be so permissive in the home; They should stop trusting in pseudo-psychology. Parents should stop seeking after man’s wisdom and “trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Prov. 3:5). Mothers, what are you instilling into your child’s life? Will it cause him/her to honor and reverence God and his word when they reach adulthood? Or are you planting the seed of eternal destruction in your child?

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 23, pp. 710-711
December 3, 1992