Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 21
October 2, 1969
NUMBER 22, PAGE 10-13

Gospel Guardian Tell-Al- Gram,

William E. Wallace — News Editor

News on This Page Left Over from Last Week HERBERT THORNTON: "August the 17th I gave my resignation, to the Humble church of Christ, and accepted the invitation of the elders of the Spring Branch congregation in Houston to work with them. I have had an enjoyable association and work with the brethren at Humble for over five years. During this time there have been 42 baptisms, 73 restorations and 40 to place membership. The brethren have not selected anyone to work with them when I leave. Preachers interested in making a move should contact Fred Bogs, P.O. Box 456, Humble, Texas 77338, or call person-to-person 446-2520. I have a very deep affection for the brethren who meet at Humble and do recommend them as a faithful congregation. In leaving Humble I leave behind a congregation and community of friends but I am eager to move to Spring Branch that I may work in a new field helping to win friends for the Lord there as I have here. May God bless both congregations as they serve Him."

WAYNE COBIA: August marked the completion of my first year in preaching the gospel of Christ. During the year there were seven baptisms, two restorations, and seven to identify with the work here. Travelers between Little Rock and Memphis take note that there is a sound congregation meeting at 403 Russell St." 106 North Forrest, Forrest City, Arkansas 72335.

ILLINOIS- INDIANA- OHIO AND KENTUCKY NEWS — GEORGE ELDRIDGE, REPORTER RESPONSES:

David W. Claypool's meeting in Bismarck resulted in one baptism. INDIANA: Ellettsville. One was restored and four identified at 303 Temperance. Hobart: Rita Agee was baptized at 200 N. Liberty St. OHIO: Dayton. Deloras Green and Jimmy Smith were baptized and Richard Conner was restored at 300 Haynes St. Mason. Dennis Mullins was restored on Aug. 10 and Alice Cupp was restored on Aug. 17 at 110 W. Main. During ?illy, the West Main church averaged 39 for Sunday morning preaching, 31 for Sunday evening, 37 for midweek service, and $176.15 for contribution. James Cooper is working with the West Main Church. KENTUCKY: Louisville. The Expressway church (4437 S. 6th St.) has two new members. Three were restored and two were identified-restored at 1320 Gardiner Lane. Mrs. Robbie Miller was baptized at 1916 Rockford Lane (Shively).

A NOTE ABOUT JIM SASSER: Brother Sasser worked with the church at 344 N. Griffith Blvd. in Griffit h, Indiana for three years. His new address is P.O. Box 4064 U.C.I., Ibadan, Nigeria West Africa. May God bless the Sasser family as brother Sasser returns to the Lord's work in Nigeria. Remember them in your prayers. Let us encourage them by writing to them.

I want to use this medium to thank all of you for sending me your news items. Please continue to do this faithfully. Likewise, encourage the brethren who are not sending me news to start doing it. I know that in every state (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky) that I am not receiving all of the news. This column belongs to you! It will be as interesting and up-to-date as you want it. Therefore, continue to mail me your news and interesting incidents as you work in the Lord's vineyard.

News From Way Out West

Robt. A. Bolton REPORTER'S NOTE: To insure publication of your announcements concerning gospel meetings, etc. in advance, thus giving you some free advertising in this media, I need to have the information in my possession at least 39 days beforehand. Let me hear from you preachers and churches in the far western states. My address is 126 West "E" Street, Ontario, California 91726.

Preaching The Word:

California: W. L. Wharton, Jr. at 50th & University in San Diego, Sept. 12-21; BRENT LEWIS at Canoga Park, Sept 15-21 and at West Anaheim, Sept. 22-28; FLOYD THOMPSON at Northside in Oxnard, Sept. 28-Oct. 3; ELVIS BOZARTH at Fontana, Sept. 28-Oct. 3; KEN STERLING at Pioneer Drive in Bakersfield, Oct. 13-19; TONY BLAND at Salinas, Oct. 19-24; ROBERT F. TURNER at East Belmont in Fresno, Oct. 20-26. W. L. WHARTON, JR. at Sparks, Nevada, Sept. 22-28 and Prescott, Arizona, Sept. 29-Oct. 5.

Sifting The Mail:

Dateline - Salinas, California: "The church at Salinas is in its eleventh year of service to our Lord, after the split with liberal brethren and a hard struggle to overcome false propaganda spread by about six congregations that surround us. There are about 50 members and the majority are sound and faithful and well grounded in the truth. They have purchased their own meeting house, which was originally an old store, made many improvements, and are now in the process of building an extra room at the rear of the building. For eight years I labored in secular work to build a sound congregation in Salinas and now they are fully self-supporting. This, as any gospel preacher knows, is a 'joy to me old heart." — D. M. McQUIDDY, church of Christ, 26 West Curtis St., Salinas, California.

Dateline - Bakersfield, California: "I am completing my 4th year with the Pioneer Drive church in Bakersfield. I preached for them 3 years, beginning in 1960, and then started back with them in 1965 and have continued since. I work in Tulare County in Children's Protective Service and drive to Bakersfield on Sundays. The congregation is at peace and growing slowly. I had hoped that we could get a full time man to move here this year, but this has not materialized yet. We use the Guardian church notice page and find that it is a help in letting brethren know our location, etc. I have fooled around and let my subscription to the GG run out. I am enclosing a check for it. This may not be a part of your responsibility, but some of us will impose on you to save a stamp." (Note: I am willing for such imposition, so have at it brethren - R. A. B.) — ROY E. GULLEY, 1340 East Ash st. , Tulare, California 93274.

New Congregation:

A new congregation is meeting in the Masonic Lodge Building, 5918 Cloverly, in Temple City, California. It is known as the San Gabriel Valley church of Christ. MILTON COPELAND, LARRY HOUCHEN, LOWELL BOAZ and others have been doing the preaching. Meeting times are: SUNDAY, Bible Classes, 10:00 a. m. Worship, 10:50 a. m. & 6:00 p. m. THURSDAY, Bible Study, 7:30 p. m. All in the San Gabriel Valley area are invited to worship with them. Their mailing address is P.O. Box 443, Temple City, California 91780.

BY THE WAY: "Many women are smart enough to ask a man for advice. . . but few are dumb enough to take it!"

Preacher Available:

BILL DODD: "After having been away from full-time preaching for about 18 months, I am now ready to assume full-time responsibilities once again. I am in my late thirties and have been preaching about eight years. Currently, I am enrolled in a correspondence Law School. Therefore I will need about 10-15 hours per week over a two-year period to obtain my degree. Address all inquiry to: 520 Shady Lane, Marion, N. C. 28752.

GOSPEL MEETING, FORREST CITY, ARK. "Bro. MASON HARRIS, of Dyersburg, Tennessee will conduct a gospel meeting in Forrest City, Arkansas September 29-October 5. — Wayne Cobia.

— Bulletin Article Of The Month — An Apostate Brother And Brotherhood. Paul Earnhart, St. Paul, Minnesota

A few weeks ago while preaching in eastern Kentucky, I accompanied brother Henry Ficklin of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky to Lexington. Brother Ficklin is no stranger to this historic city. He studied in the old College of the Bible under the tutelage of J. W. McGarvey and was graduated from Transylvania College in 1908. In those days when he was a young student in Lexington, brother McGarvey, though in his declining years and quite deaf, was still teaching in the College which for several years he had headed. He had recently left the Broadway church which in earlier years had grown to considerable size through his preaching, and had gone to worship with the Chestnut Street church. This move was largely due to McGarvey's unyielding conviction against worshipping with musical instruments. The majority of the Broadway church, now under the influence of more "progressive" spirits, were determined to have an organ. Brother Ficklin was present on the Sunday the organ was "voted in." He recalls that even very young boys and girls were allowed to influence the outcome of the issue, and remembers observing then that had McGarvey been present all his influence would have been nullified by the young girl who sat in front of him that morning.

At any rate, on the visit to Lexington in question, while brother Ficklin was attending to some personal business in the city, I waited in the library of Lexington Theological Seminary - all that is left of the old College of the Bible. It is ironic that one of the two portraits that hang in the alcoves of the library is that of John W. McGarvey. Ironic, because any man presenting McGarvey's views of God and His word within those precincts today would be treated about as seriously as a court jester. Soon after brother McGarvey's death, radical critics of the Scripture began to gain a growing influence in the college which today, on its new campus and with its new high-sounding name, is the seat of the rankest infidelity.

While I sat musing on just such matters, I was startled by the appearance in the library of a brother who finished his degree at Abilene Christian College the year following my own graduation. He had been an earnest young man and a good friend. The last time we had seen each other, in 1958, he was preaching the gospel. That was on the campus of the college in Abilene during the annual lectureship. Convinced that I was not mistaken, I rose and took his arm. He was as startled to see me as I was to see him. I learned that he was now living in Kentucky and was just completing a Master of Divinity degree at the seminary. This led me to inquire just where he now was spiritually. He indicated that he had changed his thinking a great deal since we had last seen each other. "In what fundamental way," I asked, and got myself ready for a possible discussion of instrumental music in worship and biblical authority. "In my thinking about God," he replied. "I now believe that God is a process rather than a person."

Frankly, I was completely taken aback. The last thing I had expected was for him to begin to spout Whiteheadian philosophy. He went on to explain that he thought that Jesus was a man as we two were men, born as we were born; — that God has somehow revealed Himself through the man Jesus, but that there might be even greater revelations than that which has come through him. I asked him what then he had to offer sinful, dying men. He said that he would give them himself. And what good will it do for one guilty man to give himself to another guilty man; how will that ease the weight of his guilt. Because I accept him, my old friend continued, he will learn to accept and forgive himself. It is a complete man indeed who can sin against God and man, and then forgive his own iniquities. I am only sorry that I did not have wits enough about me through all this to ask him what it was like to pray to a "process." It was more like watching a man die than holding a conversation. And he is not nearly the first of my old classmates at Abilene to renounce all confidence in the Scriptures, and turn to the rankest form of humanistic denominationalism. The line of these once earnest and idealistic young men continues to lengthen, and those who have not left all association with New Testament Christians are posing an ominous threat to the churches by their hue and cry for "relevance" and complete indifference to biblical authority. These are the young men who along with myself were urged by teachers in the graduate school to seek further training at Harvard divinity School and schools of a similar ilk. The emphasis was on the power of academic training rather than the strength of a pure gospel. It evidently came across.

I am not disposed to lay all the blame for such tragedies at the feet of the college in Abilene, for men have their own weaknesses and perversities, but the spirit that has increasingly pervaded my old alma mater, must bear a heavy weight of responsibility, and the chickens are now coming home to roost. It will surprise me a great deal if in the next 20 years a belief in the inerrant inspiration of Scripture has not already begun to collapse within the faculty of the school. The college is too far along the road of watery compromises to be saved from the radical wing of theological liberals which is rapidly forming within the churches. If it be objected that a belief in the inspiration of the Scriptures is carved in stone on the steps of the administration building, it should be remembered that J. W. McGarvey's portrait hangs in the library of Lexington Theological Seminary. Brother Ficklin, in reminiscing about his student days in Lexington, recalls that he was urged by some of his teachers to go on to Harvard or Yale and return to teach in the college. Upon which, he observed, "I had rather preach Christ to five people, than be a professor in an institution like this." How profoundly I agree with him!

— Summit Avenue Sower St. Paul, Minn.

Preacher Available:

We have been asked by a friend of the Guardian and a faithful gospel preacher to say that he is available for appointment preaching within 125 miles of LaPorte, Texas. This is near Houston. He is sound in the faith and a good preacher who will do any church good. It is possible that he would be interested in taking up full-time local work again. Contact us here at the Guardian and we will put you in touch. (J. M. K.)

Preacher Wanted:

ELDEN GIVENS, 4230 Sherwood Dr. , Corpus Christi, Texas. "The last week of August, I moved from Utica, Ohio, where I worked with the church for three years. I am now working with the Parkway church in Corpus Christi, This where Pat Farish formerly labored.

"Here at Parkway, we are presently engaged in a gospel meeting with R. J. Stevens, of San Bernadino, California.

"The church in Utica is looking for a sound gospel preacher to work with them. If anyone would be interested in the work there, they may contact the elders: Otis Kenny, Rt. 2, Utica, Ohio 43080, Ph. 892-2667, or Charles Comstock, Rt. 4, Mount Vernon, Ohio 43050, 892-2605."

JIMMY TUTEN, JR.: "My sincere thanks goes to the Gospel Guardian for its help in publishing my pleas for back issues of the Guardian. I have been successful in obtaining a full set. , . from vol. 1 to the present.

"I am to be with the church that meets at 5324 York Road, Charlotte, N. C. in a meeting, Sept. 2228, and at Benton, Ill. , October 26-November 1.

"Our meeting at Spring & Blaine takes place Oct. 12-17 with Ronald Mosby preaching.

"I have received a copy of L. Diestelkamp's review of my article on Acts 15. I appreciate his remarks and the open page policy of the Guardian in publishing both sides of various issues. Keep up the good work."

KEITH BURNETT, Robison, Ill. "I held a meeting with the West York church fifteen miles out from Robinson. One was baptized and one restored. A "teenager" class was conducted each evening before the service with good interest."

GOSPEL MEETING AT ALTO, TEXAS, September 25-27 with Bruce James doing the preaching. Services begin each evening at 7:30.

CECIL B. DOUTHITT, 2203 North "E" Street, Fort Smith, Arkansas 72901: "I wish all the brethren would send me their bulletins to this, instead of the old address. I am still preaching full-time for the Southside church here in Fort Smith."