Results From "Tract-Of-The-Month"
We are always pleased to know of good being done through the services that we try to render. The following letter was received early this month from Brother Lloyd Moyer, preacher for the church in Newark, California:
Brother Tant:
I think you would be pleased to know that through the contacts made by the use of "The Tract-Of-The-Month," and subsequent home Bible study, we have recently baptized three fine people into Christ.
The church in Newark is distributing two hundred of these tracts each month. We expect even more response as time goes on.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Moyer
This is the sort of response we hoped for when we inaugurated the plan. We believe brother Moyer's expectations for continued results in souls won to Christ will be realized. And we would be happy to hear from others, from time to time, as you begin to see tangible fruits from the faithful distribution of these fine tracts.
A Letter From David Bobo
Elsewhere in this issue we carry a well written letter from brother David Bobo, which was called forth by our publication of a sermon brother Bobo had preached over an Indianapolis radio station in 1951. This editor was given a copy of the sermon some ten or twelve years ago (either by brother Bobo or by brother Earl West), and had set it aside for publication at the time. But the copy was mislaid (lost among a mountain of other manuscripts and papers) and chanced to come to light again only a few months ago when we were sorting out some old papers for filing and destruction. We read the article, thought it worthy of publication, and set it up for inclusion in the issue of June 6. We had a lead-line to the article informing our readers that it was "From a sermon preached in 1951." Unfortunately our make-up man dropped this line, and the impression was left that the article represented brother Bobo's current thinking on the benevolent work of the church. This, of course, might put him in a light not truly representative of his present convictions; and for that reason we are happy to carry his own personal statement as to his belief and judgment now on this controversial matter.
Brother Bobo explains that his attitude toward the benevolent cooperative enterprises among us is, and has always been, one of caution rather than one of outright opposition or condemnation. We appreciate his attitude of "caution," but to our way of thinking urging "caution" at a time like this is almost like suggesting that a man be "cautious" of fire at a time when all four walls of his house are ablaze and the roof is about to cave in! In other words, if our brethren promoting the benevolent organizations and cooperative evangelistic combines have not already violated New Testament principles as to congregational relationships, and already carried a large segment of the church into grievous apostasy, we simply do not know what they could do, or how they could act, to accomplish such!
But we are glad to publish brother Bobo's letter. It reveals an attitude all too rare in these days of heated controversy. And while we are convinced he is in error in his understanding and application of New Testament teaching, we are also confident that the attitude he manifests would have prevented many a tragic congregational rupture had it been exercised by parties on both sides, or all sides, of the controversy.
Meditation
The art of meditation has just about disappeared from our generation. The ever increasing pressures of modern society, the rush of contemporary living, the tension of world conflicts have all but smothered modern man in a veritable maelstrom of mental and emotional storms and tempests. He does not have the time to meditate, even if he had the disposition to do so.
Yet the ability to "meditate" on God's word is the only way to savor of its richness and to be blessed by its mighty power. David wrote, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." (Psalm 1:1,2) No amount of casual reading of the Bible can take the place of careful, extended meditation as to the meaning, significance, and application of Bible truths. And this meditation can not come in hurried, harried, tension-filled moments of time; it must be experienced in hours of relaxed exclusion from the noisy, excited world about us. Somehow, and in some way, every person must make provision in his own life for the sort of isolation Jesus talked about when he said, "enter into thy closet, and when thou hath shut thy door...."
Spiritual maturity cannot come by forced feeding. No amount of Bible classes, personal work, church projects or promotions can take the place of meditation. It is as true today as it was when Jesus first uttered the words that "The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation....for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20,21)
— F. Y. T.