Truth Magazine

By Andy Alexander

Our Lord in Luke 16:19-31 related a story about the rich man and Lazarus concerning the present state of their souls and the future state of our souls. The facts contained in this story will be faced by all, sooner or later. We may choose to ignore these facts and live as if they will go away, but ignoring or running from them will not alter our position to them. They are part of the truth of God’s word and they shall remain for everyone to deal with one way or another. How we choose to deal with these facts while on this earth will determine where we will spend eternity. Let us consider these facts as they come from God’s word and determine whether or not we are prepared to face them.

All Must Die

One apparent fact happened to both of these men, they died. Very few people like to think abut death, but it is a fact that all who have ever lived, have died (excepting Enoch and Elijah). Strange thing about this fact, as universal as it is, most people feel it is something in the distant future. Rarely do we think about death as coming in the near future. However, this is an appointment of God that we will keep (Heb. 9:27). One thing all need to prepare for is this sure event of death. We may not get all our earthly plans finished or get to see everyone or visit every place we would like to, but one sure fact remains, we will die and face God in the judgment (Heb. 9:27).

All Have A Soul

After both the rich man and Lazarus died, they were aware of who they were and where they were. Thus we learn, death is not the end of man, but merely the separating of the body and the soul (Jas. 2:26). The soul is the part of us that lives on while the body returns to dust.

Hades Has Two Compartments

There are two places in Hades separated by a great gulf. The rich man was in the place of suffering and torment while Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom or the place of comfort (Lk. 16:22-23). The place of comfort was for those who were righteous and who had repented of their sins and obeyed the gospel of Christ. Torment is reserved for the unrepentant, unrighteous, those that have rejected God’s way of life (2 Thess. 1:6-9).

The goal of reaching the place of comfort and avoiding the place of torments is not had by finding a church that suits us or a doctrine that we are comfortable with, but it’s a matter of learning what God says and of our submitting to his will. We must become a member the body of Christ the spiritual body that God established. It is that body that he will save in the last day (Eph. 5:23). That’s the body we need to be members of, if we are going to go to heaven.

Going to a church that pleases or satisfies our desires does not necessarily please God. The apostle Paul was satisfied with his false religion until the Lord appeared to him and said.”Paul, you’re wrong” (Acts 9:4-5). Paul then changed from his error to the truth of God’s word. We need to recognize this fact: Paul was happy and satisfied with what he was doing. In his speech to King Agrippa, Paul said, “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 26:9). He earlier said, “I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day” (Acts 23: 1). So with everything he had done Paul was satisfied and thought he was serving God. That’s not the way to obey God. We must learn what God says, what God demands of us, and do what God tells us to do (1 Jn. 5:3; Matt. 7:21). For those who follow the voice of the Lord, there is a place of comfort in the other world. For those who choose to follow their own opinions or the doctrines of men, the place of torment has been prepared (2 Thess. 1:6-9).

Some Are Lost And Some Are Saved

The rich man was in torment. This is an undeniable fact. Some people are going to be lost. Another fact our Lord, stated in Matthew 7:13-14 is that the majority of people will be lost and only a few will walk that narrow path that leads to heaven. Many people, preachers include ‘ d, discuss the after life as if there is no hell or place of everlasting punishment. But, erasing it from our minds does not change the fact that hell exists and that most people are now preparing for their retirement there.

There is only one way to go to heaven and that is for man to be obedient to God. We must learn his will, give our heart and life to him, and submit to his commands while on this earth (Matt. 13:15; Rom. 6:17). It takes more than just living a good life or having a preacher say some kind words over our earthly body after we die to reach heaven. The only place to find out what pleases God and can make us righteous before him is the Bible, which is God’s revealed will to man (Rom. 1:16-17).

No Opportunity After Death

Also gleaned from this passage is the fact that, after death, there is no changing from one side of Hades to the other. There is a great gulf fixed and no one can cross over (Lk. 16:26). There is no such thing as parole from hell. Our chance to serve God is in this life and that is the end of the matter (Matt. 7:22-23). Let’s use our opportunity while we are here and able.

No Help From The Dead

The rich man asked if Lazarus might return from the dead to warn his brothers who were alive on the earth (Lk. 16:2728). That request was denied and it was pointed out to the rich man that, if they would not hear Moses and the prophets, they would not hear one from the dead (16:31). The rich man’s brothers could do nothing to change the fate of their dead brother. They could take all his money he had left behind and give it to the poor, but the rich man would still be in torment. Our talents and money that the Lord has blessed us with need to be used while we are on this earth.

Must Bear The Word Of God

We must hear it, that means receive it, get busy and obey it. “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them” (16:31). They did not have Moses and the prophets in the flesh. Moses had been dead over 1500 years, but they had the writings of Moses and the writings of the prophets. We have the word of God and we can hear the word of God, believe it, and obey it. If we are not impressed by what the word of God says, we would not believe it if a person came back from the dead. We have got to hear the word of God.

The choice is yours! Obey the commands of God or follow our own wisdom or some other man’s wisdom. What shall it be? God has done everything for you, except force you to obey. The decision is yours. Surrender to God’s will – give him your heart – obey his commands.

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 12, pp. 373-374
June 21, 1990

By Cecil Willis

After several years of virtual brain-washing on “there is no pattern,” brethren in several areas have now taken upon the cliche, and are making use of it to the fullest. Brother A.C. Pullias, President of David Lipscomb College, published a booklet several years ago entitled, “Where There Is No Pattern.” It is hoped that those who have sown the seed of this “No Patternism” are now ready to gather in their harvest.

We have brethren that are fairly conservative on some things that are advocating that there is no pattern as to how churches may work together, that there is no pattern as to how to do benevolent work, and that there is no pattern as to how preachers are to be supported. They have just gone the first few yards down the long, tortuous, and devastating road of “No Patternism.” They have some rather difficult crooks and turns yet to negotiate. But unfortunately, once you have started down the road of “No Patternism,” it is difficult to right your course.

Brother Mack Langford, “new minister at the Collingwood, New Jersey congregation of saints in the Church of Christ,” has proceeded further down the road of “No Patternism” than some of his cohorts and contemporaries. But where he is now enables him to show where you have yet to go, if you are one of the “No Pattern Advocates,” or to enable you to see where your preacher is headed if he is one of the now popular “No Pattern” preachers. Brother Langford says:

Recent scholarship, German and American, has stated over and over that we know little about the first century Church, and there is no such thing as a final pattern for worship, polity and missions, yet we in the Church of Christ continue to insist that the New Testament is a blueprint which must be exactly reproduced. We think, or so it seems, that to recapture the way the early church did something is to recover the true faith. But this breeds a new legalism which would confine God’s grace and stifle freedom and openness.

How in the world can a man unburden his heart to the Lord and become open to love if he forever must be looking about, checking his posture and his words lest he step out of range of the hearing or favor of his deity, because he has deviated from the formula? It is time we have done with such neurotic compulsiveness (quoted from Riverside Church of Christ Weekly Bulletin, Wichita, Kansas, April 3, 1966).

You see, Brother Langford thinks there not only is no pattern for “missions” (which is the position of all our church supported orphan home, and sponsoring church defenders), but that there also is no pattern for worship or polity. According to him, we can worship any way we please, and organize the church in any fashion that pleases us. This is the logical path of “No Patternism,” brethren. The only difference between brother Langford and our institutional defenders is that Langford is more consistent. He is ready to junk not only the pattern for “missions,” but the pattern for church organization and worship as well.

Brother Langford has committed himself to a premise that is identical to that commitment of the Christian Church nearly one hundred years ago. There is no logical reason he now can give to stay in the church of Christ, rather than to join the Christian Church. And if he does like about a score of earlier, “No Pattern Advocates,” he will end up in the most liberal wing Christian Church.

But those mumbly and lack-courage brethren that want to travel along in the trails of bolder “No Pattern Advocates,” like the Christian Church and now brother Mack Langford, had better begin to stir up their courage. For they must also advocate his “No Pattern” doctrine in church organization and worship, as well as in “missions” or the work of the church, if they are going to be consistent. They have but two alternatives; to maintain their consistency and go the full route with Langford, Meyers, and others like them, or to maintain their inconsistency by maintaining there is no pattern as to how the work of the church is to be done, but remaining dogmatic that the pattern of worship or congregational polity must be maintained. It will be interesting to see which alternative they will choose.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Josh. 24:15), and continue to “build all things according to the pattern” (Heb. 8:5). (Excerpt from “Modernism of All Sorts,” Truth Magazine, Sept. 1966, p. 272.)

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 13, p. 389
July 5, 1990

By Lester A. Doyle, Jr.

Jesus’ Prayer for Unity

In John 17, Jesus prayed for the unity of all his people in order that the whole world might come to believe in him and

obey him. In verses 20 through 23 Jesus said, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that you sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

The unity is best seen here this morning in this communion. The one thing we have in common that gives us unity is our Savior Jesus Christ, and his death on the cross that all our sins might be forgiven.

Undeserving as we are, Christ’s death has made us all one people, God’s family, his children.

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 12, p. 374
June 21, 1990

By Donald P. Ames

Recently I sat down in the study to spend an afternoon getting out our weekly bulletin. I selected the material I thought would be effective to put therein, typed the stencils, justified the margins, proof-read them, made any necessary corrections, and then finished them to be ready to run off. I proceeded downstairs to the mimeograph room and ran off pages I and 4. 1 then flipped the pages over, changed the stencil, and proceeded with pages 2 and 3. About half way through, I glanced down and was shocked to see only white, blank pages coming out! (It seems I must have been about half asleep and had put the cover on the machine rather than the stencil, so naturally nothing was coming out. Sheepishly, I changed back to the stencil, and did the job correctly.)

As I rebuked myself for my stupidity, it also got me to thinking about this very article, and how much of our time and effort is for naught because we don’t really put forth the full effort necessary. For instance, how many congregations will decide to have a gospel meeting, select a “good preacher,” print up announcements to be passed out, run an ad in the local paper, etc. Then when the meeting gets here, members fail to mention it to their friends, fail to even bother to support it themselves, and maybe even complain about how “tired” they are? All that good effort, study, preaching, and expense for naught because we really weren’t that interested in a good meeting in the first place!

Some congregations mail out their bulletin (sorry, we at Emerson Ave. do not). The permit, mailing costs, work and effort amount to quite a bit. Still, some of the bulletins that cross my desk are so sloppy, crowded and poorly laid out that they simply slide into the trash, hardly even being looked at. Some are completely full of nothing but local assignments for the day’s activities (i.e., who’s to wait on the Lord’s table, who is the usher, etc.). Really now, why spend all that time and money to mail all that out to people who aren’t even going to be there, or maybe don’t even live anywhere around there? It takes up a lot of space, fills the pages; but is of no benefit to any but those in attendance. Why not fix an insert instead, then mail out a bulletin that can teach. Don’t make a lot of effort for naught. (And some bulletins are excellent – I can’t hardly wait to get them!)

Sadly, I still see many churches selecting good tracts and then not bothering to stamp the church’s address on them before putting them in the tract rack. So, after they have been removed, taken to work (school or some other location), read and set down, it is “anybody’s guess” where they came from. Someone picking one up and getting interested, could speculate for days as to where it came from and who is teaching such great truths, and never even come close to finding out. A lot of good teaching, expense, and opportunities gone for naught, because we fail to look beyond our tract rack or building.

But there are other things “for naught” to be considered also. Many times a class teacher will be busy planning the lesson all week for Sunday morning. Class begins, and some can’t “remember” where in the Bible the lesson was. Class books haven’t even been read, much less been filled out or being prepared to carry on an intelligent discussion about the class lesson. And then the late-comers trickle in and “don’t know where we are” or “what you are talking about.” And so we again review for their benefit. Yes, it is sad that all the work done to prepare a good lesson was for naught. So much more could be accomplished if we all tried to plan and cooperate better.

The preacher studies and plans his lessons to try to teach God’s word. He selects what he feels is needed and will help them in their studies and growth. And some will listen thank God for such. Some sleep or nod throughout the lesson. Some will whisper, visit, draw, or play with the kids (distracting often the very ones the preacher is trying to reach). The lesson is finished, and few may even remember the major points – a lot of work for naught.

I’m sure you also get the idea, can can make a lot of other applications of your own (and by the way this is not true of Emerson Ave., but I am speaking in generalities). If we are going to put forth the effort, let’s all join in and do our best to do it right so the intended goal may be achieved (Rom. 12:7-8). Let’s not let all the effort be “much ado for naught”!

Then again, as I think about it, another good lesson to come out of this incident might be one of inattention, or one on over-confidence. Now let me see. Hmm.

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 12, p. 372
June 21, 1990