Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 10
May 29, 1958
NUMBER 5, PAGE 10-11a

The Overflow

F. Y. T.

That Pot of Gold

Remember that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow which we all used to look for as children? Well by the time we are forty or fifty quite a few of us have collected the pot all right. Only trouble is, the gold in it has all turned to blubber.

Warren's Report

Did you see Brother Tom Warren's "report" of the Cogdill-Woods debate? Those who heard the debate, and then read the "report" quickly realized that Brother Warren was (1) reporting his inferences from Cogdill's statements, and (2) giving his (Warren's) answers to those inferences! He neither reported Cogdill's arguments nor Woods' arguments. Shades of logic! And this from the man who prides himself on being the master logician of the church today.

"Right Hand of Fellowship"

"Gary Swaim and I were talking the other day about the terrible abuse of the word 'fellowship' — buildings with 'fellowship' facilities, 'fellowship' halls, 'fellowship' meetings, etc. I remarked that some of our brethren (the ones who smell coffee and doughnuts when the word 'fellowship' is mentioned) probably think that when James and Cephas and John extended to Barnabas and Paul the right hand of fellowship (Gal. 2:9), what really happened was that they passed the doughnuts with their right hands .. . Gene Frost wants to warn you lest Brother Guy N. Woods get hold of this idea and declare it to be 'the best argument in 25 years' in favor of church kitchens! So publish at your own risk." — Jerry C. Ray, Bellville, Texas.

Church "Care"

Not long ago a church in Birmingham endorsed and supported a man in a debate who argued vehemently that it was IMPOSSIBLE for the church to "care" for orphan children, but she could only furnish the funds for some outside organization to do the "caring" — i.e. warming the baby's bottle, spanking him, changing his diapers, etc. And now that same Birmingham church advertises that the elders have employed a "full time maid" to care for babies during the worship hour! This maid (who can warm the baby's bottle if necessary, change his clothes, and rock him to sleep) is paid out of the church treasury. We would guess that this advertisement is more than a little humiliating to the debater of last fall. Seems like the very congregation that then endorsed him was converted, at least partially; and now has even employed a maid to do that which he argued could NOT be done — that is "care" for babies.

"Where There is No Pattern"

The galloping modernism of the institutional brethren proceeds at an ever increasing pace. We are now beginning to hear of quite a few preachers who are openly arguing that "there is no pattern" for a weekly observance of the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week, and that we can take it daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly — as we may prefer. One is arguing "the oftener, the better," and sees nothing at all wrong in a daily observance. It is later than many think! We first heard the doctrine that "there can be no binding example" advanced by Brother Gayle Oler at Mt. Pleasant, Texas, in 1955. He argued that Acts 20:7 can NOT restrict the Lord's Supper to the first day of the week. Since then we have encountered a constantly growing number of preachers who have been infected with the same evil disease — MODERNISM! This is the growing threat. Institutionalism, the social gospel, and the worldly promotions are simply symptoms of the underlying malady.

Getting Their Attention

By far the hardest thing about showing a brother the error of institutionalism is getting his attention. Most devotees of the modernism of which institutionalism is a part are so thoroughly wedded to their idol, and have been so "brain-washed" in their fanatical dislike of those who question their projects that they simply close their eyes and ears to any and all criticism. It reminds us of the city fellow who bought a mule, and realizing his inability to handle the critter, hired him a professional mule trainer. That gentleman approached the mule with a murderous gleam in his eye and a heavy two-by-four in his hand. He took a roundhouse swing at the mule, knocking the four-legged animal to his knees. "Hold on there," protested the owner, "are you trying to murder my mule?" "It's easy to see you know nothing at all about mules,' said the trainer grimly. "First thing you got to do is win their attention!"

The Seven Ages of Man

The Wall Street Journal not long ago declared that a man's age can be roughly determined by his attitude toward girls, and is divided into seven stages:

(1) "Whaaa! I want my mama!"

(2) "G'wan, beat it! We don't want any old girls playing with us."

(3) "Oh, Myrtle, you're beautiful." (4) "If you don't marry me, I'll shoot myself."

(5) "Well, go on home to your mother, and see if I care!"

(6) "She is considerably younger than I am, Alice, I'll admit, but she understands me."

(7) "Kitchy-kitchy-koo! Did you hear that, Alice? She said, 'Grandpa!"

Billy And The Sack

"I think the sack dress is healthy for the moral tone of the country. It takes the sex emphasis out of dress. I'm going to get my wife one."

— Billy Graham at San Francisco. Birmingham, Alabama

These lines are being written in the church building of the Huffman congregation, Birmingham, Alabama. We are closing a fine meeting here, and have been wonderfully impressed with the spirit of cooperation, the peace and unity that generally characterize the churches in this area. We had a great number of visitors from all over the city, and found the brotherly spirit a truly refreshing contrast to the tension and bitterness now prevailing in so many other cities over the nation. We know of no city in the nation whose churches are doing more to spread the gospel of Christ at home and abroad, to care for the needy, and to build up and edify the members than are the Birmingham churches.

Tobacco

The other day we ran across an excerpt from Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms, a book published in the 1870's, giving the correct social and business forms for letters and other correspondence. The quotation we found was an example of the proper letter for a young lady to write in case she had been so unfortunate as to lose her heart to a man whom she discovered to be addicted to the use of the vile weed, tobacco. Here was the socially acceptable way to brush him off:

"Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your courteous letter containing a declaration of love and, to make a candid confession, I reciprocate your affectionate regard. But you have one habit which makes it imperative that our further correspondence should cease.

"I have reference to the use of tobacco. 1. This addiction would impoverish our home. Only ten cents a day expended for a cigar, in a lifetime of forty years, with its accumulation of interest, amounts to over four thousand dollars! 2. It might wreck my happiness. The use of tobacco deadens the sense of taste, so that the user involuntarily craves strong drink in order to taste it. 3. It would surround me with filth. I am immediately faint at the thought of dragging my skirts through the spittle of a smoker; I turn with disgust at atmosphere tainted with the stench of tobacco smoke. In any room in which vulgarity and obscenity prevail, there is always tobacco smoke in the air.

"Nevertheless, I remain, your true friend and well-wisher."