Truth Magazine

By Wayne Goforth

Recently, a paper was sent out by Southern Christian University (News and Notes, 1:2) to advise the brotherhood of their name change from Alabama Christian School of Religion. They had desired to put the word “Seminary” in their title, but feared they might lose some financial support if they did so (p. 4).

In an obvious attempt to justify the church support of the school, Rex Turner Sr., had a chart on page 22 attempting to contrast the school with a missionary society. Webster defines contrast as, “Unlikeness as shown when things are compared.” However, may I suggest that he would have spent his time better by writing a parallel between the school and the society. Webster defines parallel as, “Things moving in the same direction . . . something essentially similar to another.” Brother Turner could also have correctly written a contrast between church supported schools and the New Testament plan for preacher training and edification. Like most institutional brethren, brother Turner used for his contrasts the abuses of these societies which were never the aims or desires of the founders. This is plain dishonesty for all students of church history. We would like to hear brother Turner explain what was wrong with the American Christian Missionary Society of 1849.

Many through the years have attempted to show the parallel between church supported schools and the societies.

Many of these would be heralded as great champions of faith by both the faculty and administration of Southern Christian University:

Alexander Campbell said, “They dare not transfer to a missionary society, or Bible society, or education society, a cent or a prayer, lest in so doing they rob the church of its glory” (The Christian Baptist, 1823, pp. 11-18).

Foy Wallace, Jr. argued, “If it were permissible to have a Bible College as an adjunct to the church in the work of education . . . we quite agree that it would also be permissible to have a missionary society in the work of evangelism” (Gospel Advocate, July 2, 1931).

Guy N. Woods stated, “This writer has been unable to appreciate the logic of those who affect to see grave danger in the missionary society but scruple not to form organizations for the purpose of caring for orphans, and teaching young men to be gospel preachers” (Abilene Christian College Lectures, 1939 54).

J.D. Tant offered, “The church of Christ has its Bible College society with its president, secretary, treasurer, board of directors, etc. to collect money from churches to teach the gospel and do other good works. Then I asked by what process of reasoning could the digressive missionary society be unscriptural and our college society be scriptural” (J.D. Tant Texas Preacher 359).

If one wanted to start an edification society, what would be necessary that Southern Christian University is not doing? When truthfully examined, the only differences between the college and the society exist in the minds of these liberal brethren.

Since brethren now have the benevolence societies through which to do benevolence (orphan homes, unwed mothers home, retirement home, ad nauseum), and evangelistic societies thorugh which to do evangelism (Herald of Truth, World Bible School, etc.), as well as edification societies (Southern Christian University, Memphis School of Preaching, et al), one wonders what is left for the church to do but to be a fund raiser for the societies! Truly the “tail is wagging the dog.”

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 21, pp. 648-649
November 5, 1992

By Dennis Tucker

In Luke 15 we read of a young man who wanted to live life his way. He asked for his part of the family inheritance and left for greener pastures. Perhaps he felt too confined by his father’s standards. The lifestyle he chose is described in Luke 15:13. The New King James uses the term “prodigal living,” King James and American Standard says “riotous living,” the New American Standard prefers “loose living. ” In today’s language people might say, “having a good time, or “going for the gusto,” or “being wild and sowing some wild oats. As people get ready to go out and live life their way there are some lessons that can be learned from this passage.

First, he learned that riotous living is a waste. “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living” (Lk. 15:13). The cost of being the life of the party is high. Materially speaking a lot of people throw away a whole week’s salary on Friday and Saturday nights. Money needed to buy food, clothing, medicine, and housing is simply wasted. I have seen people put back the milk and baby food so they can buy the six pack of beer. The use of illegal drugs is linked to robberies and burglaries in our county. The habit is so costly that people revert to illegal means to pay for their practice.

I recall the story of a player for the Washington Redskins. He was on a team that won the Super Bowl in the early 70s. A few years after his retirement he was broke and even had to sell his championship ring. Why? He lost everything by having a “good time.” “For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty” (Prov. 23:21).

Second, it separates us from those who really care about us. This young man left his family to go to a distant country. Away from family he probably had some buddies also living the loose life. But once his money ran out so did his friends. “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want” (Lk. 15:14). Here is a description of a man lonely and broke.

The same is true today. The party animal will only have companions as long as he can afford to party. His buddies are not true friends; they are users. Their attraction is to loose living and not real friendship.

Drinking alcohol, using drugs and doing your own thing causes you to be separated from your family and friends. I have seen cases where the husband/wife starts going to the local bar. The kids start parking at the local hang outs and get involved with the drugs and partying. What happens next? Among husbands and wives divorces occur due to infidelity. Children become unruly or discontent with the rules at home and leave. Folks, prodigal living will separate you from those who love you.

Let us not forget that sin separates us from God. “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:2).

Third, it makes people do things they would not normally do. Most likely this young man was a Jew. As a Jew, swine were unclean. Not only would they not eat pork they would not be seen around it. Now he was willing to eat the very slop the hogs were eating. That is what I call being hungry. If this young man was told before he left his father’s house what he would do, he would probably have said, “never.”

Sin causes people to do more than they ever thought possible. People will steal, lie and commit adultery in order to get some more drugs or have a good time. One of sin’s dangers is that we get used to it and no longer become offended. We must step up to the next level to get that special feeling. If you start on the path do not be surprised at how far you will go.

Fourth, ritous living has a hidden cost. This young man was lost. “For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Lk. 15:24). Spiritually speaking a person living in sin is dead even though he is physically alive. “But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives” (1 Tim. 5:6). Physically, the consequences of sin can cost a person his life. Recently Magic Johnson found out that fornication has a high cost. Having contacted HIV he will most likely die of AIDS in the future. That simply illustrates a part of the cost of sin. The number of people who die because of drunk driving, anger out of control, murder, etc., are all examples of the cost of sin.

Finally, the only way to make things right is to say “I was wrong” and change your life. “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son'” (Lk. 15:21). He did not make an “if” confession. “If” I have done something wrong, or “if” I have offended you please forgive me. He did not have to be prodded. Because he realized what he had done and was willing to admit it.

Today, people try to pass the buck. I sinned because they made me. Even worse is the fact that a lot of people consider the word sin to be outdated. No one should have to confess a sin, it is too negative, is the modern philosophy.

The Bible defines sin as a transgression of God’s law. The fact that man sins cannot be denied. “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10). The only question is what are we going to do. God has made a way possible for our forgiveness of sin. “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23b). As we are baptized into the body of Christ we are cleansed of our sins. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7a). The child of God can go to his Father and confess his sins. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). The result will be a life with God. “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry'” (Lk. 15:22-23).

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 21, pp. 643-644
November 5, 1992

By Don R. Hastings

I am a preacher who does not get his feelings hurt easily. It is advantageous for preachers to be “thick skinned.” It is good to let cutting remarks go in one ear and immediately out the other. Don’t let the insult lodge in your mind and you will find it easier for you to obey God’s precepts found in Ephesians 4:31,32.

However, the persistent little jobs about preaching too long are making a sore spot on my “thick skin.” I know exactly how long I preach! I can read a clock. The watch on my wrist is not there just for decoration. I can see the clock in the back of the auditorium. I strongly detest clocks in the front of the auditorium or on the side wall near the front of the auditorium.

Am I preaching too long? What is too long? Will someone give us a short, but clear definitive answer? The apostle, Paul, a preacher whom all preachers should strive to imitate, “prolonged his speech until midnight” (Acts 20:7). Did he preach too long? Remember, Eutychus went to sleep during his sermon, “fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead” (Acts 20:9). I know: I am not the apostle Paul; he left the next day; and I couldn’t bring one back to life.

Paul was not a dynamic orator. He didn’t use “persuasive words of wisdom” (1 Cor. 2:4). His enemies said that “his speech of no account” (2 Cor. 10:10). If anyone complained that Paul, or any other preacher of the gospel, preached too long, it is not recorded in the Bible. It was a blessing that they didn’t have clocks or watches in their worship services. Do you think someone took a sun dial to the worship services and held it up for the preacher to see?

God is observing our worship of him and he hears the numerous complaints about the worship service lasting too long. He knows the anger in the hearts of his children because the worship service lasted longer than one hour. With whom will, he find fault in the judgment day? This should be of great concern to all of us.

Will God find fault with the preacher who is: faithfully preaching the soul-saving gospel; speaking the truth in love; fervent and zealous in proclaiming his love for mankind; boldly defining what is sin and calling on sinners to repent; preaching his whole counsel; a diligent student of his word who delivers lessons that have been carefully thought out so the message is clear and true to the Book; preaching 40 to 45 minutes; etc.? The answer is an emphatic “No!” God will condemn the evangelist who is not doing “the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5).

Will God find fault with the worshiper who is: worried about how many verses of a song are sung, how long the prayer lasts, how long it takes to partake of the Lord’s Supper, and how long the preacher preaches; fretting about eating lunch at one o’clock instead of twelve o’clock; anxious for services to be over so he, or she, can go visiting, watch ball games, go to work, take a nap, etc.; not hungering and thirsting after righteousness because of little spiritual appetite; not worshiping him with the whole heart for the body is present, but the mind is absent; etc.? The answer is an emphatic, “Yes!” (Amos 8:4-10) How can we think, that our worship of our Creator and Redeemer, is acceptable to him when we resent assembling with the saints to praise him and study his word for more than the maximum 4 hours a week?

Our eyes should be filled with tears when we realize that our standard for determining the worth of a worship service is how long did it last! How sad that a gospel sermon is criticised if it lasts 40 minutes, or longer, but praised if the sermon is 30 minutes or shorter. Preachers are often held in contempt for being long-winded if they preach longer than 30 minutes and praised if they will “boil” the sermon down to 30 minutes or less.

God wants preachers to: “suffer hardships”; preach his word exactly like it is written; seek the lost; try to restore the erring; and practice what they preach. God wants his worshipers to worship him “in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:23,24). He wants them to be caught up in the acts of worship for they glorify and exalt him and build up the faith of the worshipers. Heaven is a place where true worshipers will worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit forever. Will you be there? Do you want to be there? There will be no clocks in heaven!

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 21, p. 651
November 5, 1992

By Brooks Cochran

Once back in the 1950s I was in a drug store looking over the selection of paperback books that were for sale. One certain book caught my attention, or at least its title. It was George Orwell’s 1984. At the time I thought to myself: “1984 is a long way into the future.”

Well, that “long way into the future” has come and gone! In a few short years we will be living in the 21st century. It only seems like yesterday that we were living in the 50s (at least to those of us who grew up during that time). But the same could be said of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. My grandmother Cochran’s father stayed up the night of December 31, 1899 thinking over the 19th century and wondering what the 20th century held in store for man. I suppose that others in similar fashion will do the same on December 31, 1999.

The Bible admonishes us concerning the swiftness of time. Job compared his days to the swiftness of a “weaver’s shuttle. ” Jesus told his disciples that “we must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (Jn. 9:4). Paul tells us to redeem “the time (buy up the opportunities), because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16; cf. Col. 4:5; Gal. 6:10). We are being warned by God that our lives come and go so fast that we had best make the most of what time we do have.

We are all stewards of the time God has given us in which to live our lives on earth. At the judgment we will give an account to him as to how we have used this time (cf. 1 Cor. 4:2; Matt. 25:37-40, 44-46). We must, therefore, evaluate our lives insofar as our service to God is concerned. There is much that needs to be done in this great service. Life is too short for us to waste time! Resolve now to do all that you are able for God in whatever time he may allow you to enjoy.

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 21, p. 649
November 5, 1992