Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 21
November 20, 1969
NUMBER 29, PAGE 10-13

Gospel Guardian Tell-Al- Gram,

William E. Wallace. — News Editor

PREACHER NEEDED: "If you know of any preacher that would be interested in work in Wilmington, Ohio, we would appreciate your passing this information along. Anyone could call collect to us." John William Jones 486-5482 Area Code 513. Box 228, Port Williams, Ohio 45164.

PREACHER NEEDED: "The Church of Christ in Blue Ash, Ohio is in need of a Gospel preacher. If interested write to the elders at 4667 Cooper Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242."

A GREAT RADIO WORK — Little Rock, Arkansas — The Arch Street congregation broadcasts the Gospel over radio station KAAY at 8:00 P. M. each Sunday evening, with Eugene Britnell preaching. The program is heard throughout the central United States from Canada to Mexico. The powerful radio station is heard in all of these United States. Thus the Arch Street church is doing its part to beam the Gospel over the country. If a church in the east and one in the west would do the same the country would be covered, without resorting to unscriptural sponsoring church arrangements. You may find radio station KAAY at the 1090 mark on your radio dial. Brother Britnell reports heavy mail response from this work.

THE REFERENCE PASSAGE BIBLE: A very practical and useful book for your Bible study. This is one of the most helpful and practical books to be found for your New Testament study. First, it harmonizes the life of Christ by giving all of the accounts of any story or statement by Jesus at one opening. It prints all of the Bible references, both Old and New Testament references on the page. No need to go look them up, they are all printed in full with Bible chapter and verse given. Some people do not know how to use center column references, most people do not take time to look them up. Cloth bound, 1450 pages, yet compact enough to take with you to Bible class. $8.95. Order from The Gospel Guardian Company.

OVER 200 SUBSCRIPTIONS resulted from our recent mention of Gordon H. Wilson's new paper, FACTS AND FAITH. The paper will deal with evidences and will appear monthly. The first issue will be in the mails in January. Material is prepared for FACTS AND FAITH in advance so the paper can be mailed regularly. I have seen portions of the first issue and I can guarantee that you will be quite well satisfied with this paper which is designed to help prepare Christians against skepticism, modernism, infidelity and faithlessness. $2.00 per year. 3541 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. San Diego, California 92117. — W.E.W. —

E. Warren Needham: "I am moving from Mill Street in Leitchfield, Ky. after 3 years and 9 months to Trazevant Street church, Memphis, Tennessee."

COMMENTS — Tom Bunting: "Wishing you well on your new endeavor, continued success for the Guardian" .. Guthrie D. Deal: "I continue to enjoy the Guardian. I believe you and brother Tent are making a good team." . ..Billy T. Jones: "I appreciate the fine work you and brother Tant are doing. I have been reading the Guardian for years and have always appreciated the fine articles printed in it." . . .Gordon Wilson: "The Guardian gets better and better; and in my case, later and later. I usually get it about two weeks late, and often get a later issue before receiving an earlier one. But it is enjoyable reading." (Note: The United States Post Office seems to get slower and slower in the delivery of mail) . . .Marshall E. Stubblefield: "I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the fine job being done by the Gospel Guardian."

IBADAN, NIGERIA — GEORGE PENNOCK — It is with mingled feelings of relief and satisfaction that I'm able to report that the end is now in sight. More than $40,000 has been sent by brethren in Canada and the U. S. to the needy saints in the war ravaged areas of Nigeria and the bulk of it has now been distributed.

As you can imagine, this has not been a small job. However, I count it an honor to have had a part in this work. If God wills, a full report will be published as soon as possible.

To all who sympathized so deeply and gave so generously, the Nigerian brethren join me in saying, "Thanks." I'm keenly aware that this expression is woefully inadequate, yet since all words are inadequate a simply "Thank you" must serve the purpose.

May God's richest blessings rest upon you all. Pray for us.

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA — Robert H. Farish — "From Oct. 13 through 19th, I was in a meeting with the church in Berney Points in greater Birmingham, Ala. Three other meetings were in progress at the same time at other faithful churches in Birmingham. All the meetings were well attended.

The Berney Points congregation over the years has been known for its 'work of faith, labor of love and patience of hope.' The zeal manifested by the members in the meeting was above average.

Brother Farris J. Smith is the faithful and capable preacher who works with the church. He has been in Birmingham over a score years, most of them with the Berney Points church. The Smith and Farish families have been firm friends for many years, so it was a real pleasure to stay in their home and be associated with Farris and Edith again."

MARIETTA, GEORGIA — After meeting in the old YWCA building for three years, the church in Marietta, Georgia has now moved into its own new meeting house located at 2651 Powers Ferry Road in Southeast Marietta. Those traveling on Interstate 75 should take the Dobbins AFB — Lockheed exit, then go east to Powers Ferry Road. Turn left and look for the church building on right. It is only 11/2 miles from the Interstate exit. Those traveling on 1-285 should exit north on 1-75.

O. Fred Liggin of PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA recently conducted a meeting for the Cape Road church in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. During this series of lessons 21 visitors (most of whom are erring Christians) visited the services. One was baptized into Christ. Brother Basil Cass the local evangelist is doing a fine work and is to be commended for his efforts.

In Pretoria the work among both races continues to show signs of progress. We had one baptism among the black population last month. Presently there are 13 Christians meeting regularly in Valhalla, Pretoria.

Gospel Meetings:

Lenwood Drive Church of Christ, NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS, November 10 — 16. C. W. McRay preaching. JONES, OKLAHOMA, November 17 — 23. Fred Stacy of Huntington, Tennessee preaching.

MADISONVILLE, TEXAS — November 10 — 13. Introducing new preacher in Madisonville. Jim Beech, with chart lessons. Singing at 2:30 Sunday, November 9th.

Loop 287 congregation, LUFKIN, TEXAS — November 16 — 23 with Jim McDonald.

NORWAY — " A MAN IS NEEDED IN NORTH NORWAY " by Tom O. Bunting Last night I returned from a trip far to the north. I traveled beyond the Arctic circle and to a point nearly at the 70th degree north latitude. One would expect it to be terribly cold at this time of year but not so, warmed by the Gulf Stream and westerly winds, the entire coast of Norway is relatively warm. The seaports far above the Arctic circle are open the year around. This is the land of the midnight sun but it was not to be seen at this time of the year. It would have been nice to see but this was not the purpose of the trip.

I wanted to check on possibilities of holding gospel meetings in some of the major cities and see if a meeting place could be located for such efforts. I found meeting places that could be rented for a gospel meeting in two cities. First Bodo, Bodo is located just above the Arctic circle, it is not a large city but one of the larger in the north and seemingly a very friendly people. We have had many taking the correspondence course from this area, so we thought that it would be a good place to try a gospel meeting. The second city Tromso, Tromso is the largest city in north Norway and I believe the largest city in the world so far north, about 70 degrees north latitude. There are about 400,000 people now living in Tromso and it is still growing. A meeting place was, located here also. I hope that these meetings can be arranged for perhaps April 1970. There are at least two other cities where such efforts should be made, Harstad and Narvik. This would cover all the major cities in that section of Norway. However, I was not able to visit these two cities on this trip.

The above was really secondary to the real purpose for this trip. Permit me to tell you of the other purpose. Perhaps many of you are aware of the fact that we here in Norway have been using the newspapers to teach the gospel and advertise our Bible correspondence course. Last spring I advertised in one of the papers in the north. There was one young lady in particular who answered the ad and requested to start taking the Bible course. From the very beginning she seemed to take a greater interest in the Bible study than others had. With every lesson she sent a letter telling of her growth in a knowledge of the scriptures and asking very important questions, questions that were a joy to answer. One could see progress in her studies with each lesson, question, and letter. She completed our first course of eight lessons. I sent her a little diploma we use to complement them on completing the course, also told her of another course we have consisting of 16 lessons. She began the new course immediately and is now on the 9th lesson of this course. She had progressed so well a personal visit was a must! I wrote and asked if she would be interested in a weeks Bible study in her home. I told her that I would be glad to come and study with her and her husband. They informed me that this would be most wonderful and that I could stay with them although they had a very small apartment (3 rooms).

It was a long way, first by jet to Bodo and then 9 hours by ship to Stokmarknes. We arrived in Stokmarknes at 12:30 a.m. not knowing for sure if there would be someone there to meet us or not. I was wondering just how the week would turn out, thinking of staying in a strange home and studying with unknown people in a relatively new language. It was a little difficult for the first five minutes or so, I'm sure that they felt a strangeness as well as we. Yet, there was that feeling of having perhaps met before for certainly we had written often. It wasn't very long before we were feeling much more at ease and so were they. The conversation was more easy and so were they. The conversation was more easy and the air was lighter.

Upon arriving at their house we went into a very cosy little living room and immediately saw in a picture frame hanging on the wall the diploma that I had sent a few months before. She wasn't ashamed for friends or family to see that she was studying the Bible, or to know that she had been corresponding with members of a "strange church."

A discussion of Bible things began that very morning about 2 a.m. but we could not do much studying at that hour and after so long a journey. However, the five days we were there were spent in studying the Bible. We studied two or three times a day and often entered into lighter discussions of the Bible. With just a slight change in surroundings I'm sure that they would have been baptised that very week. I believe they will be christians in the not too distant future.

It is very, very difficult, if not impossible, for us to really understand and appreciate the things that must be upon their mind. I don't know what all they may have to consider but I can imagine a few things. In the winter time so far to the north the only place for baptism is in the school swimming pool. Here in Bergen (a larger city) it is not so difficult, but the use of this facility in a small town means that everyone in town will know of it within a few hours. It means that one will be sort of estracized from the community. It means that she will be the only Christian (as far as she or we know) within a thousand miles. It is a decision that is completely contrary to a thousand years of tradition. It is said to be an unheard of teaching. She must know in her heart that no one will understand (at least at first) why or what she is doing. Her own words not long before we left, "It is very hard when you are completely alone." Completely alone, Oh, how alone she will be when she completes her obedience. Yes, she will have God and His word. But Christians to talk with, christians to encourage one another, these are far far away. She is young (23 yrs.) and a young family. It takes a lot of courage to face these odds for a life time: We can't promise her a multitude of christians, but it would be a great encouragement if there was at least one worker in the north. There are thousands of people there that need teaching. I have always felt that there was a real need for workers in the north, now I see it as positive need! I hope and pray there will be one or two that will go to this part of the world to preach!

Perhaps in desperation and guilt, I said, "I'll see if I can interest someone to move to north Norway." She said, "Oh that would be wonderful!" So here I am trying to find someone that would accept the challenge. Preferrably two families that would move to Tromso or Harstad to begin preaching the pure gospel of Christ. Living in that area you would be near enough that you could continue to study with this one family and perhaps help them in their obedience to the gospel or should they become christians you could encourage them to continue faithful. North Norway needs someone scattering the precious seed, establishing the Lords' church.

Sermon Outline

FLATTERY-By Jim Beech, Madisonville, Texas INTRODUCTION: Proverbs 20:19; Luke 6:26

A. Old French, "flater, to smooth, caress, flatter."

B. "1. To shower praise or attentions upon, to gratify the recipients vanity ..." "3. To beguile; charm." "4. To portray too favorable." "Flattery . . . False, insecure or excessive praise." (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary).

C. Hebrew, "chalag" "To make smooth" (Youngs Concordance).

Kind Of People Who Use Flattery

A. Ones full of wickedness, enemies to God's people, Psalm 5:8, 9.

B. Wells without water, ones consigned to darkness, 2 Peter 2:17, 18.

C. Ones to be marked, Romans 16:17, 18.

D. Examples of flattery:

1. Woman seducing a man, Proverbs, 7:5; 5:3; 7:21. The woman of Tekoah did this to get David to bring his son Absalom, whom he had banished, home, 2 Samuel 14:1-3. She asked him several things before she got to what she wanted. Notice the flattery in verses 9 and 7.

2. To get Micaiah to say what he wanted the king flattered him. Results, I Kings 22:35-38.

3. Ones seeking to trick Jesus, Luke 20:19-23. (21)

Results Of Flattery

A. One of the few things where the consequences will be on the offenders children, Job. 17:5; Exodus 20:5. Often the consequences of lying (flattery) are visited on those around us and close to us.

B. Results in ruin for the offender and the ones he flattered, Proverbs 26:28; 28:10; Galatians 6:3. C, The Flatterer will be cursed and hated, Proverbs 24:24.

D. He will be cut off from the Lord, Psalm 12:1-3 E. Consider Jude 14-19.

Must Tell The Truth Even Though It May Hurt

A. Proverbs 28:23, should read, "he who reproveth a backsliding man" (Pulpit Commentary), i.e. one he sees turning away from God. A man who tells a man his faults and checks him in his downward course will be seen as a true friend. James 5:19. Septuagint says, "He that reproveth a man's ways shall have more thanks than he who flattereth with the tongue."

B. Galatians 1:10, we are not to worry about pleasing men.

C. I Thessalonians 2:1-6, we are not to please men in teaching.

D. Many will not be saved for this reason. John 12:42, 43.

We Should Use Praise But Use It Right

A. Proverbs 27:21, as the processes of metallurgy tests the precious metals, so a man's public reputations shows what he is really worth. Septuagint "so is a man tested by the mouth of them that praise him." No surer test of a man's true character can be found than his behaviour under praise.

B. Job 32:21-22, God would take away the flatterer. People like to give long flattering titles. We must not be this way.

C. We are to give people what is their due, praising honestly (not flattering).

D. The ones who deserve praise are the ones who keep the word, I Corinthians 11:2, not the ones who love the praise (wages) of unrighteousness, I Peter 2:15.

E. The only person we are to seek praise from is God, I Peter 1:7.

Conclusion

A. Here is why we must get rid of the flatterer, Proverbs 26:28; 29:5; Daniel 11:21, 34; Romans 16:17, 18; I Corinthians 5:4, 5.

B. If you are a flatterer you had better repent and pray for forgiveness!

GOSPEL MEETING, Herty church--2906 Atkinson, Lufkin, Texas--Nov. 9-16. Jesse M. Kelley doing the preaching. The Herty church is a good one with three fine men serving as elders, and a group of dedicated people who want to do right. We are enjoying our work with them. They have great potential. — Jesse M. Kelley.