"Whatsoever Things Are True... Think..."
Mrs. Luther G. Roberts
Numerous are the questions asked in the word of God. Some of them are asked by man of man, some by man of God, some by God of man, and some by the Son of God. Many of them are provocative and all provide material for study. Once when God gave audience to Satan, He asked that roving archenemy, "Hast thou considered?"
Hast thou considered the fact that there is a commandment in God's word to think? As Christians we are to be intelligent beings who exercise our mental powers. We all know and love the beauty and depth of Paul's immortal words to the Philippians in which he enumerates those eternal verities with which the mind of the Christian should be filled. But have you considered the closing words of that verse (Phil. 4:8), "Think on these things"? It is a specific command.
It is not sufficient then just to "warm a pew" in a Bible class or worship hour. The Christian is to think.
—O—
Learn By Listening
R. L. Whiteside
Yes, I have learned many things by listening—often by listening to men who are not regarded as scholars, or as preachers; yet they were thoughtful men from various walks of life. Once I heard J. A. Harding say that any thoughtful person, though not a scholar, could by prayer and study develop some fine ideas.
While I lived at Abilene I became well acquainted with Brother G. W. Harvey. He was, I think, the wisest uneducated man I ever knew. He was uneducated according to world standards, yet one day he said to me, "Ain't it hard to get people to be as gentle, and considerate, and forbearing as they ought to be without their becoming so soft they ain't no account." Think on that. Can you be gentle without being tame, considerate without being soft, forbearing without being tolerant of wrong? And someone remarked that it is hard to get people to be firm and steadfast in their attitude toward the truth without their becoming so dogmatic they are nuisances.
And that word "nuisance"—I pronounced that word incorrectly many years after I began to preach, till a farmer corrected me. And a good woman corrected me on my pronunciation of "often". Yes, I learn by listening.
I was well acquainted with Brother R. A. McCurry who lived here in Denton, and passed away some time ago. He went to school very little, and had to work for a living all his long life. He did not call himself a preacher, though he preached some. He read much, and was a good thinker. In combating the idea that a sinner can do nothing to be saved, he quoted Luke 13:24, "Strive to enter in by the narrow door." He then asked, "Does not striving require an effort? Can a person strive without doing something?" The question that gave rise to the command to strive to enter in by the narrow door shows that Jesus was talking about entering by the narrow door into salvation. Think about it.
In a conversation with a Baptist preacher, this passage was quoted as it is in the King James version, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Said Brother McCurry, "A man—what man? Not the unregenerate man, for he is lost whether he gains the world or gains nothing. And not the regenerate man, for you say he can do no thing to cause his soul to be lost. Now, what man?' That question has not been answered.
Yes, I learn by listening.
—O—
The Principle Of Peculiarity
Foy E. Wallace, Jr.
Israel was a peculiar people—a separate people They had a separate origin. God called Abraham out of the Chaldees that he might raise up a separate family, Get thee out, God said. Later when the posterity of Abraham settled in the land of Egypt God demanded that Pharaoh should let the people go "that they may worship me". He required of Israel a separate nation. Today Go; demands a separate church—"be ye separate, saith the Lord." A separate family in Abraham; a separate nation: in Israel; a separate church in Christ.
1. The church must be kept separate in speech. The nomenclature of the denominations can have no place among Christians—such as, "our church," "our pastor, "Doctor Blank, LL.D.," "our institutions," and other such sectarian Ashdodic expressions which is fast becoming the common vernacular of professed Christians.
2. We must keep the church separate in doctrine, not a matter of what "the church believes and teaches —it is wholly and solely a question of what the Bible teaches, the all and only divine creed. There is a crying need for Bible preaching today, instead of "canned sermons" filched from sectarian sources.
3. We must keep the church separate in worship. Unscriptural innovations are sinful and invalidate the worship. If it is wrong to use instrumental music in worship it is wrong to worship where it is used. In fact, in so doing the effect would be in vain—"in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrine the commandment of men."
Between Christians and innovators there is no has of fellowship, nor even negotiation. Nehemiah refusal Sanballat's unity-meeting proposal which he wanted hold on the plains of Ono. He wanted to stop Nehemiah's work. Digressives today are modern Sanballats—that is all. Nehemiah knew exactly what to do with Sanballat and his wily proposition, but a few brethren in the past have let digressive modern Samaritans get them into conference.
No matter if a few strong speeches have been made—Nehemiah could have made a strong speech. The affiliation itself is wrong, the negotiations are wrong; can only weaken the church and dim the lines which should be the tauter drawn. We have neither time nor place for pseudo-unity conferences.
—O—
Martin Luther said, "Pray you leave my name alone and not call yourselves Lutherans, but Christians. Who is Luther? My doctrine is not mine. I have not be crucified for anyone... How does it then befit a miserable bag of dust and ashes, to give my name to the children of Christ. Cease, my dear friends, to cling to these party names and distinctions; away with all of them; and let us call ourselves only Christians, after him from whom our doctrine comes."