The Overflow
He's against sin
We heard a brother the other day get so excited and violent in his preaching that we feared he might have a stroke. He was denouncing "sin"—that's right, just sin in general. He didn't say which sin; but he certainly went on record as being opposed to the idea in general terms. It all reminded us of Sam Kiser's politician who practiced his speech before a mirror. Shaking his fist and jumping up and down he would shout:
"... that white was white
And black was black.
And swore that even torture would
Not make him take it back!"
We Predict
We are not related to Drew Pearson, but we predict: that the Catholic Church will find some subterfuge by which the divorced Catholic, Rossellini, and the divorced Protestant, Bergman, can be married to each other with the blessings of the Catholic Church, and so legitimize their bastard son. All Catholicism's boastful ranting about her insistence on the "sanctity of marriage" is pure eye-wash; anybody with the money and the influence can get the church's "blessings."
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She Ought To "Send In A Report"
A certain Russian woman in charge of a potato farm declared that under the blessings of communism she had increased the yield of her field to "sixty-seven tons to an acre!" Wow! that's some potatoes. We wonder if that lady hadn't been reading some of the reports the brethren send in to the gospel papers describing their successes in the Lord's work?
Add Another One
One by one the schools and colleges over the land are coming around to the idea that the schools should be supported by individual contributions and not out of the treasuries of the Lord's churches. Latest to come to our notice is the new school for Negroes at Terrell, Texas. It is Southern Bible Institute, in which E. W. McMillan will serve as president. Brother Foy Kirkpatrick of Fort Worth, Texas, is seeking to raise support for the school, making his appeal "exclusively to individual Christians, rather than to congregations."
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"The Old Paths"
Many "missionary" papers are published by our brethren. But the one that takes your eye above nearly all the others is "The Old Paths" published by Charles Tinius, 381 Pitt Street, Sydney, Australia. He is doing a magnificent job "down under," battling the forces of digression with a hearty give and take that is reminiscent of the battles of the pioneers in this country a century ago. To read this paper seems like lifting a page out of the old "Millennial Harbinger" or the "Gospel Advocate" and "Firm Foundation" before the turn of the century. Such work is certain to bear fruit.
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It sounds incredible, but. .
We've come to believe nearly anything can split a church. The Fifth and McKinley church in Phoenix, Arizona, had a split some twenty years ago over the question of (hold your breath) "whether an Indian has a soul or not!" We don't know whether this "de-souling" was limited only to the Pimas and Navajos and Maricopas, or whether they held that all Indians were without souls; but whatever it was, the church split. We wonder how long it will be before some of our African and Japanese congregations will split over the question "whether a white man has a soul or not."
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Fast Work
Did you ever send in a news report or an article to the Firm Foundation and have it appear in print approximately two years later? Such is the experience of nearly every preacher in the brotherhood who has submitted reports and articles to that journal. Well, we want you to know that the brethren in Austin can move with alacrity when a "worthy" article comes along. Brother Glenn Wallace mailed them an article criticizing in rather strong terms his "beloved kinsman" Cled Wallace. The article was written hastily and under the provocation of an article Brother Cled had sent to the Gospel Guardian. Glenn's article was mailed on Wednesday; six days later it appeared in the Firm Foundation. Ordinarily for most religious journals the time lapse between reception and publication of an article is three to six weeks; with the Firm Foundation the ordinary time lapse seems to be three months to three years. But when they get a "worthy" article, b-r-o-t-h-e-r-, can they hit the ball!!
P. S. On The Above
Brother Glenn says he regretted the article almost as quickly as it was in the mail, but knowing the usual F. F. delays felt he would have ample time to recall it. He was away from home when the article was mailed, and by the time he got home there the article was, staring him in the face!
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Lecture Week
If material on this page this week sounds slightly awry, credit it to the fact that the editor is writing it in a hotel room in Abilene between sessions of the Abilene Christian College lectures. What with so many preachers in our hair out here, we are liable to print almost anything. We've noticed one thing though: the preachers Brother Cled and the editor are meeting out on the campus this week aren't nearly so hot and bothered as some of the brethren (and sistern) who have been burning up the mail pouches with letters to us lately. And, believe it or not, some of the "missionaries" themselves commended Brother Cled for his jarring the brethren into taking a "breather" in their wild dash toward denominationalism. Maybe the situation isn't so bad, after all.
We Like The Looks Of This
Remember a few weeks ago we said something about Central Church in Jackson, Mississippi, undertaking the full time support of another gospel preacher here in the States? Now comes word they have also decided to support (not "sponsor") a gospel preacher in Italy. Here is what they say, "Brother Puliga will work under the direction of the Central Congregation, will be entirely supported by it, and will report regularly to it." We like the looks of that; we believe nearly all our foreign work could do with more support and a trifle less "sponsorship."
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Frank L. Smith, 645 North Union, Shawnee, Okla., February 10: "Since the first of the year, the work at Central Church in Shawnee has shown fruit by the following responses: Nine have been baptized, two restored from unfaithfulness, and one placed membership. All except one of the baptisms were adults, most of whom came out of denominational error. At least four of these baptisms were indirect results of our Sunday morning radio program, from 9:00 to 9:30, over station KGFF.
Our work in general is showing progress and we are encouraged to expect an outstanding year.
Forrest Waldrop begins a meeting with us, March 12."