Brother Otey's Birthday
On March 14, Brother W. W. Otey will be ninety-three years of age. His has been a long and useful life in the service of Christ, and he approaches the end of it with faith unfaltering and hope undimmed. For many months now Brother Otey has been confined to his bed in the Newton Memorial Hospital at Winfield, Kansas. He is mentally alert and keen, but his bodily strength grows weaker day by day.
We thought some of our readers might like to be reminded of this milestone in our brother's long pilgrimage and remember him with a card or letter. He has been in the same room for many, many months now. Your letters will bring him cheer and happiness as the shades of night gather closer. We also suggest that those of you who can and are willing, enclose a check along with your greeting. Some time ago we let it be known that Brother Otey needed help, and the response was so swift and so generous that he soon felt he had all he would need to last him till the final call should come; he requested that no more aid be sent. But the anticipated messenger of death has delayed his coming, and it now appears likely that some additional help may be in order. We believe this brief notice will be all that will be required to bring that help. Write him in care of the hospital. — F. Y. T.
New Congregations
Some weeks ago we commented on the fact that faithful and self-sacrificing brethren all over the nation are starting new congregations; we rejoiced in such and pledged that we would encourage and strengthen such efforts wherever we could. This statement brought forth the following comment from one of our exchanges:
"We deeply regret to see the editor of the Gospel Guardian place emphasis upon a sect-producing trend in these words: 'Another development of the year, the importance of which can scarcely be over-emphasized, is the number of new congregations being started by the conservatives. All over the nation we have found them — in Tennessee, Alabama, California, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas — wherever we have traveled. Let no one overlook the significance of this! . . . In 1960 this journal will be interested in fostering and encouraging such new congregations.' The tone of the entire editorial is that there is no longer any use to maintain fellowship with churches he has known and with which he has spent his lifetime, but rather it is time to 'accentuate the positive' and to 'give ourselves to building up these new and sacrificing little churches . We wish to entreat Brother Yater Tant not to use his influence and his paper to produce another sect among us. We already have too many. We must repeat that there is no honor in fathering a sect.
"In all kindness we plead with him to look back over these number of new congregations that have sprung up and tell us how many of them sprang up in places where the church of Christ did not exist before they sprang up there. How many of these new congregations are the result of bitter feelings and church splits 'all over the nation — in Tennessee, Alabama, California, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas -- wherever we have traveled'."
We appreciate our brother editor's concern for the unity of the church. We share that concern. There is one thing, however, we value more — the purity of the church, its fidelity to New Testament teaching. Far from "fathering a sect" among the Lord's people, it is our most earnest and heart-felt desire to save every Christian we possibly can from becoming enmeshed in a sect!
To put the problem in concrete terms, may we ask our brother editor what he would do if he were a member of a congregation in which the elders announced: (1) that they were buying a $60,000.00 pipe organ for the church (to be used only for weddings and 'fellowship occasions'), (2) were going to purchase an $18,000.00 set of chimes to be used in broadcasting religious music to the community (instrumental music obviously), (3) were going to contribute $1,000.00 per year to the Herald of Truth, (4) planned to contribute $1,000.00 to Abilene Christian College, (5) were pledging $1,000 00 each to Christian Youth Center, Boles Home, and Childhaven. Furthermore, let this announcement be accompanied by the firm declaration that ALL of these matters are merely items of expediency, that the elders have made their decision on them — and that anybody who "stirs up trouble by objecting" to them will be withdrawn from! And, to make it more in line with what is happening in many places, let the elders announce that they have "studied the questions", and are not interested in listening to any objection that any "anti" may want to make!
We are profoundly grateful to God that there have been faithful and sincere brethren who, being confronted with such an ultimatum as this, have had the courage, the love for Christ, and the complete dedication of soul necessary to go out from these congregations (in which in many instances they had invested their very lives, and hundreds of thousands of dollars) to start new congregations faithful to God and his word.
Does our brother think we have overdrawn the picture? Then let him challenge us, and we will produce the name and address of churches where these things have happened — not all of them in any congregation, but all of them in congregations among those his article describes as "a mighty brotherhood." 'What are those who love the Lord to do in such instances? They cannot "protest" to the eldership, for they will be withdrawn from if such protest be lodged; they cannot in good conscience continue to worship God in violation of their convictions of right and wrong. It appears to us they have no alternative except to start a new congregation — which, thank God, they are doing in ever-increasing number! We joy and rejoice in their faith and courage.
Is there a solution to this problem? Of course there is! We have urged it repeatedly through these pages — that no "expediency" be pushed to the dividing of the congregation! Yet all over the nation — in Tennessee, Alabama, California, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas --- wherever we have traveled, we have found churches DIVIDED because some brethren INSISTED on supporting orphan homes, Herald of Truth, Christian Colleges, and Youth Camps, out of the church treasury! They forced their opinions, their "expediencies", upon brethren who could not conscientiously support them, and gave these good brethren the choice of either keeping their mouths shut, or getting out and starting a new congregation. Can our brother editor point to a single church that has "divided over the issues" where such division was not brought about by the adamant insistence that the congregation support some of these human organizations? We can point him to some healthy, growing, and wonderfully united congregations in which the entire eldership believe Herald of Truth and the orphan homes to be scriptural arrangements, but in which they refuse to put these items in the church budget. These congregations are active, preaching the gospel both at home and abroad, fully providing for their needy and dependent ones, AND ARE UNITED.
Our brother editor hit the nail exactly on the head when he spoke of those who "would insist that any method of doing things is a matter of expediency but unless you endorse ours, fellowship it, and contribute to it, you cannot have our endorsement and support." That is exactly what is happening! Only the most completely partisan and prejudiced can fail to recognize it.
— F. Y. T.