Shot Down By A Slogan
Recently in a TV and radio broadcast, President Eisenhower was defending his foreign aid program, and answering his critics who were terming it all a "give away" program. The President stated that he would not allow this good work to be "shot down by a slogan!"
We leave it to our statesmen to decide the worthiness of the program, but we agree that any good work should not be "shot down by a slogan."
It has ever been the recourse of the politicians to phrase mottoes, sling slogans, and arouse people to their "cause". This has long been used in verbal warfare. Many an enemy has been "shot down by a slogan." Slogans have defeated many a candidate for office.
In the church today we find brethren trying to shoot down one another with slogans. This seems easier than to fairly represent the brother's position, and to answer it by the Scripture.
For example, if one believes and teaches direct support of evangelists rather than the sponsoring church arrangement, some try to destroy his influence and to shoot him down with the slogan, "He is opposed to mission work!" Or, perhaps, "He does not believe in cooperation!" This is particularly likely to be the case if one believes that no congregation has the God-given right to deliberately plan a work far beyond its ability and which demands the resources of many other churches to fulfill. It is easier here to shoot the man down with slogans than to take the Bible and show him to be in error. Institutional orphan homes, as far as my brethren are concerned, are but a few decades of age — younger than many who will read this page. The church has always been able through the centuries before they existed to "care for the orphans." Yet, let a preacher state this; let him stress both precept and example from the New Testament as to the care of the needy, and BOOM! the slogan shooters go to work on him. "He does not believe in feeding or clothing poor little orphans!" On hearing such slogans I have seen elderly people actually shed tears, believing that what they heard was true — that there actually lived some person on the face of the earth, claiming to follow Christ, and who yet was opposed to caring for orphan children. It is Satan's lie, of course; and preachers shooting such slogans know they are lying against their brethren. Don't let these slogans and nicknames ("anti", "hobbyist", etc.) fool you.