Truth Magazine

By Michael R. Baggett

All You Can Eat

Vegetable Soup

with beef or chicken, cornbread or crackers, dessert and drink

Adults: $3.50 – Children: $2.00

Carry Out:

Pints: $1.50 – Quarts: $3.00 – 2 Quarts: $5.00

Entertainment begins at 6:00 p.m.

The Wilborn Ashby Family

Fellowship Building of Ashland Church of Christ

(intersection of Highways 4 & 5)

All proceeds go to Magnolia Bible College

“All You Can Eat”

The fact that some churches are putting the Lord’s church in the “fast-food business” is clearly seen in advertisements from time to time. (The one above is taken from The South Reporter, published in Holly Springs, Mississippi.) Who would have dreamed forty years ago that a “church of Christ” would sell food to the public to raise money? Today, some seem to think that if it’s a “good cause,” any method of doing good is accepted with God; in other words, the end justifies the means.

It is not true that the end justifies the means. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. ” When Nadab and Abilm thought they could offer a “strange fire” to God, God showed his disapproval of their means when he consumed them with fire! (Lev. 10:1-2). The fire for burning incense was to come from the altar (Num. 16:46; Lev. 6:12-13). When God told Moses to “speak” to the rock to get water, Moses struck the rock with his rod instead! Moses’ method got water out of the rock, but he wasn’t allowed to enter the promised land because of his method! (Num. 20:8-12) Moses was punished because he did things “his way” rather than God’s way. Getting water his way did not justify the way he got it.

Today, Christ is not pleased when men choose to do things their way rather than his way. 2 John 9 says, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. . . ” This means that when churches practice things not found in Christ’s doctrine (the New Testament) they no longer have fellowship with God; instead, they have run off and left him behind! When churches raise money by selling food, having a car wash, or by entertainment, they transgress and abide not in the doctrine of Christ; therefore, they have not God!

Friends, the doctrine of Christ concerning raising money in a local church is a first-day-of-the-week contribution from each of its members (1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 9:6-7). Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay be him in store as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings (collections) when I come. ” This is God’s way for the local church to raise funds. It may not seem like an important point but, in the Judgment Day, someone is going to give an account for adding to God’s way (Rev. 22:18-19).

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 13, p. 405
July 2, 1992

By Randy Harshbarger

Uncle Sam points a finger and says: “I want you.” The Marines are looking for a “few good men.” The Lord is too. The Lord is looking for men and women of faith and righteousness who will stand in the gap, wield the sword of the Spirit effectively against Satan and sin, and contend for the purity and simplicity of the gospel. Consider the cry of David long ago, as he too asked for a few good men.

The twelfth Psalm, one of many by King David, pleads for a return to the Lord, as sin and rebellion were the order of the day. Much of what is spoken of in this chapter could very well fit today’s society. Indeed, the wickedness of our age should make every Christian cry out as David did, for a return to principles of godliness and decency. James 4:4 says: “Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.” Friendship with the world spells disaster for the child of God. Any courting of that which is against God will cause us to be lost.

David said, “Help Lord, for the godly man ceases to be” (v. 1). Yes, the number of godly men and women seems to be diminishing. Too many are running toward destruction in their mad pursuit of life (Matt. 7:13-14; Phil. 3:19). There is a great need for people who will love the Lord and his word and will dedicate themselves to living according to the oracles of truth and honor. The influences of the world are hardly subtle. Without shame, sin is flaunted on television, in the movies, and in advertizing (for almost every product). Christians are constantly bombarded with the message that says, “If you think it is right, then it is right.” Godly men and women must cry out as faithful watchmen (Ezek. 33:1ff). A constant diet of filth will adversely affect anyone who does not take steps to counterbalance such influences (1 Cor. 15:33).

David said concerning the children of men: “They speak falsehood everyone with his neighbor” (v. 2). There is no longer a premium on honesty. Too many people “speak falsehood.” Liars abound in the government, in business, and sometimes even among brethren. If that possibility does not exist, why did Paul warn against it (Eph. 4:25)? Falsehood and dishonesty will bring about the downfall of our nation (Prov. 14:34). Liars should fear the eternal torment awaiting them (Rev. 21:8). Psalm 12:6 says: “The words of the Lord are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.” Precious metals must be refined by fire to rid them of dross. The words of the Lord are always true and pure. “As for God, his way is blameless; The word of the Lord is tested; He is a shield to all who take refuge in him” (2 Sam. 22:31). There is no impurity in what the Lord says. In contrast, consider the filth of the world. Cursing and using God’s name in vain is simply a way of life for many. “Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in him” (Prov. 30:5). The speech of the Christian must edify rather than tear down (Eph. 5:4). We need to be careful what we say and how we say it. This is true in our dealings with people in the world and especially true with our families and brethren.

Psalm 12:8 says: “The wicked strut about on every side, When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.” The wicked seem to delight in their debauchery. Jeremiah (6:15) lived in a world that had forgotten how to blush. Sin has become such a way of life that nothing is thought about it any more. This mind set spills over into the church. The Corinthians (Christians) were blase’ about the sin among them. Paul exhorted them to correct the matter and they eventually did. Refusing to do so weakened them spiritually. The same is true of us today. “Vileness might be exalted” by the world but it must never be condoned by God’s people. Clear teaching needs to be done that extols God’s will concerning the works of the flesh and the works of the Spirit (Gal. 5:19-24). Application to things such as dancing, principles of modesty, and social drinking needs to be made. Let us cry out for truth and righteousness and be sure we live lives of conformity to God’s will rather than the world’s (Rom. 12:1-2).

Yes, the Lord wants men and women who will do his will. Let us purify ourselves by his word and remember that the Lord will preserve those who seek the way of truth.

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 14, p. 426
July 16, 1992

By Lewis Willis

“Study” is such a noble thing (2 Tim. 2:15). One would like to rejoice when learning that a “study” was underway, or has been conducted. However, in our 1991 world, 6 ‘study” has become an unsettling concept. It usually means the students have concluded that the Bible does not mean what it says, and they have come up with some new and better ideas than God set forth in the Scriptures. One such “study” is the subject of this article.

Several major denominations have committees studying the subject of sexual relationships, with a view to issuing new policies that will govern those denominations and their teachings on this subject. Every news publication which I have seen has had something to say about these studies some have written on it repeatedly. The Akron Beacon Journal (4-22, 4-27 and 5-4, 1991) covered the subject extensively. Following are some quotations from these articles.

A national committee of Presbyterians are “recommending the denomination rid itself of sexual taboos and view sexual relations as a God-given gift to be enjoyed by everyone, including single men and women, homosexuals and lesbians and responsible adolescents. . . The majority report attacks the sexual attitudes of the church and this country . . . It questions the importance Americans place on marriage … and says that maturity, not marriage, should determine when teens engage in intercourse. . . The church should endorse new family structures, including same-sex couples. . . Homosexual and lesbian couples should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples. . . The Presbyterian Church has viewed marriage as a prerequisite to sexual intercourse and considered sex outside of marriage a sin. Those beliefs must change, or the church will be seen increasingly as irrelevant to most people’s life styles. . . The United Methodist Church . . . has tentatively decided to recommend dropping its condemnation of homosexual practice. . . The report says it is wrong to condemn non-marital sexual activity as unacceptable simply because it falls outside a particular formal, institutional pattern. . . A reformed Christian ethic of sexuality will not condemn . . . any sexual relationship in which there is genuine equality and mutual respect.” Four local preachers were interviewed, seeking their reaction to the reports. Three out of four – 75 percent – were pleased with the recommendations of the study committees.

Our world is engaged in promiscuous sex on a scale likened unto that of Sodom and Gomorrah and Grecian paganism. Sex outside of marriage is so rampant that the religious world is moving toward sanctioning it and eliminating all condemnation of such godless activity. People, young and old, are being told that they have a “right” to engage in pre-marital and extra-marital sexual relationships, including homosexuality, and no one has a “right” to condemn such. These churches, thinking they have a right to change God’s Law, are passing formal laws and rules so that such activity does not affect their “fellowship” in those churches. If the views of some brethren in the Lord’s church are adopted regarding marriage, divorce and remarriage, it appears that new “rights” will be granted to some in churches of Christ. At least, you will hear less condemnation of those in marriages condemned by the Scriptures. If it is wrong to condemn men such as Homer Hailey, teaching false doctrine on this subject, as Ed Harrell has said, how can we charge those who practice their teaching with sin? What we should do is teach people the truth, and tell them that if they practice error they cannot be in fellowship with God or his people (1 Jn. 1:6-7).

We, in churches of Christ, have no more right to re-write God’s Law respecting sex and marriage than the denominations have. An effort is underway in denominationalism to eliminate the sins of fornication, adultery and homosexuality. If their concepts are adopted, these abominations will become acceptable practice. If the teachings of some brethren are followed, there will be many in the fellowship of the church who have had multiple marriages – with divorces acquired for any cause – and the rules will be rewritten so that they will not be “condemned” for their practices.

Brethren, the Scriptures still teach that marriage is the only honorable place for sex (Heb. 13:4), that fornication and adultery are sins which will prevent entrance into heaven (Gal. 5:19-21), and that homosexual acts are unnatural, lustful and wrong (Rom. 1:2627). No “study” by a church committee can change that truth! The sanction of sin by well-known brethren does not turn it into righteousness! It is time for the religious world to tell its liberal leaders they have gone too far. And, it is time for some brethren to learn that the church will not tolerate their efforts to do the same thing denominations are doing. It will happen only if faithful brethren take a stand!

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 14, p. 421
July 16, 1992

By Dan Huddleston

I have told hundreds from the pulpit in the USA, South Africa, and Zambia why I left the liberal folks. I hope and pray that hundreds more will read this article, not just to know why I left institutionalism, but to know how far the average liberal has gone into apostasy. I do not know many Christian Church preachers and members that I have met over the years, but they have all said the same thing. They say that the only difference between us and them is the instrument. We know that this is not true and that there are many differences. Too many times we have preached against the instrument, which is sinful to use in worship, as if it is the problem when actually it is only a symptom of the problem. The problem is that of authority.

To make a long story shorter, that is what I discovered about the institutional question. All my life I had been taught that the only difference between institutional and non-institutional brethren was the matter of how to use the church treasury, and that this difference was only a matter of opinion. During the years I grew up, did secular work and fill-in preaching, and even during my studies in a preaching school, I was insulated from the truth as the issues were presented in a very one-sided way, if and when they were presented. Great effort was extended by many of the liberals to avoid the issues. Even in preaching school, the issues were not explored. In debate classes, we debated the one cup and no Bible class issues but not the institutional issues. I was asking myself and classmates why there was no real attempt to answer these questions.

After school, my first full-time work was in Colorado. There I met Jim White who again stirred my mind on the issues. He arranged for me to meet the preacher of a faithful congregation in Ft. Collins. Gary and his wife had an adopted child. I had been told that “antis” did not practice what they preached, and that one could not be found who had adopted a child or taken in a foster child. Now I know the truth and I know dozens and dozens of brethren among conservative congregations who have adopted children or taken in foster children. Not a one of them do it for show, and I do not know of an “orphan hater” among any of the hundreds of brethren that I have met.

An opportunity came for me to go to Zambia, Africa. There was an opening at a “Christian” secondary school and Bible college. I could teach during the week and preach on weekends and school holidays. Someone asked if a board or an eldership would have my oversight. I thought it was an eldership but it turned out to be a board. This put more questions in my mind. As I prepared to leave the U.S.A., I attended a series of lectures which also included a debate on the general benevolence questions between Jack Holt and Mac Deaver. Mac was a very dear friend of mine and I wanted to hear his answers. It was clear to everyone present that Mac did not answer Jack’s arguments. This put more questions in my mind, but, alas, I was off to save the lost in darkest Africa and this through a church supported institution!

Our first day witnessed a baptism in the mighty Zambezi River. After I preached the following Sunday, a Zambian preacher approached me with a big smile. He stated that he had not heard preaching from the Bible like that in years. As our conversation went along, he asked me if some of the Americans sent there in recent months were Christians. What a shock! I soon found out what he meant and was told this by several other Zambian preachers. I found so much false doctrine and immorality coming from the liberals there that it would take several articles to discuss it. I do want to write about some of these as they are important for you to know. I documented over two dozen false doctrines coming from them besides those involved in institutionalism. Brethren, it is not just the issue of institutionalism that divides us from the liberals today! Once Bible authority is not needed for one thing, then it opens the door for wholesale apostasy.

In Zambia and the U.S.A. as well, I have found the liberals teaching that instrumental music in worship and choirs in the worship are OK. Many are having fellowship with the Christian Church and many are saying that there are Christians in the various denominations. I know a liberal, American preacher in Zimbabwe who receives funds from the Disciples of Christ, the Christian Church, and from liberal Churches of Christ. I received a letter and cassette tape from Don DeWelt of the Christian Church through a slip up in their mailing department. DeWelt was soliciting funds from Christian Churches to be sent to a big sponsoring church among the liberals. That church was White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ, home also of the White’s Ferry Road School of Preaching in West Monroe, Louisiana. The funds were going to a food project in Ethiopia.

I have also found many of the liberals teaching Calvinistic doctrines, direct operation of the Holy Spirit, demon possession and exorcism, polygamy, and false doctrines on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Premillennialism is showing its ugly head again. Some are “shaking in the denominations. ” One elder and preacher with the liberals in Zambia “shook in” an entire Pilgrim Wesleyan Church. These people baptize three times from a misinterpretation of “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” He laughingly told them that he would accept their first baptism and throw the other two out. Many are teaching theistic evolution, that miraculous spiritual gifts are on going today, that everything a Christian does is worship, that Christians are under grace only and not under any law, witnessing and testifying, anointing and laying on of hands, and a host of other false doctrines. Some of them even teach that Jesus sinned by breaking the Sabbath. How absurd! These things really woke me up and made me begin to think.

How we ended up in Buna, Texas, is beyond me, but here we found someone who had been through these issues and who had fought many battles, someone who could tell us “the rest of the story.” Ray Votaw was in the Buna area due to the illness and death of his youngest daughter. We began a quick and in-depth study of the issues since Ray had to leave soon for South Africa. He told me to apply the principles for establishing biblical authority which I had already been taught, and to study these things to see if there is any authority for them. When Ray called me a liberal, I was shocked. I had always thought I was conservative, and some liberals had called me a “neo-anti.”

The questions that had built up in my mind for the past few years were now answered. We could see that it was not a matter of opinion, but a matter of faith. There is no authority for general benevolence. There is no authority for the church to establish, to fund from the treasury, and to pool funds from several churches to run institutions such as hospitals, orphan homes, old folks’ homes, unwed mother’s homes, etc. There is no authority for the sponsoring church with its pooling of funds from other churches and its centralization of power. There is no authority for one church to make decisions for another church, nor for them to hold the deed to the property of another church. There is no authority for church kitchens, church gymnasiums, church funded camps, church funded ball teams, or for any church sponsored or church funded recreation or entertainment.

As soon as we knew the truth, we knew that we must accept it, repent, teach, and defend the truth even though we would be branded as “antis,” and even though we would lose many or all of our old friends. We have been branded “anti,” and we have lost all our old preacher and elder friends. None of them has even called or written us. Two of the families did leave the liberals where I stood up and preached the truth on the issues. Of course, I was promptly fired and given less than two weeks to get out of the preacher’s house. I was not even given the money that was due me much less any kind of severance, but it was worth it all to have the truth and to have salvation.

This is not the end of the story. It is only the beginning. We never thought that we would make so many new and wonderful friends. We are the happiest we have ever been, and we do not regret for one moment having left the awful clutches of liberaliam. My prayer is that this article will encourage faithful brethren, and that it will stimulate my liberal “friends” to study, learn the truth, and give up their error before it is too late. I am ready and willing to study these issues that divide the church with anyone. I also stand ready to defend the truth in public debate which is more than 99 percent of the liberal folks are willing to do. They have forgotten long ago such verses as 1 Peter 4:11; 3:15; Philippians 1:17; and Jude 3. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:32).

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 14, pp. 422-423
July 16, 1992