Truth Plus No Retreat
During the month of May, it was the good pleasure of the Monterey Street church in this city, to have part in what we believe to be among the outstanding gospel meetings in the history of this congregation, since is beginning a little over two years ago. Although there were no visible results there is good cause to believe that much good was accomplished that will jar the thinking of many in this area. There was an unusually good interest throughout the meeting, not only by members of the church, but by outsiders, as well as a good number represented each night from a few liberal congregations from this immediate area.
The meeting was of the lecture type, engaging the services of a few sound gospel preachers from the Bay Area; who gave freely of their time and efforts to make this meeting possible. We could not have asked to hear any more informative or forceful gospel preaching than was done by those who participated in the speaking program.
In recent months a lot of propaganda has been voiced in this area, plus a good bit of printed material, that the 'anti' congregations (anti institutions, that is) in the Bay Area are a small minority, not regarded as having enough strength to pose much opposition or concern to those who favor the centralized control type of congregational cooperation. But regardless of this assumption, we are more confident than ever that the truth will not suffer in this part of the state. We are also confident that the so-called 'Anti's are not ready to retreat!
This meeting and a number of others like it throughout the state of California is proof enough, if proof is necessary, to show that such quibbling is only a figment of the imagination of a few high-spirited promoters of institutionalism. These men have long since demonstrated their desire to covet the praise of men, more than the praise of God by their exerted efforts to degrade the opposition and make long winded brags of the great numbers they are converting through the mediums of human organizations. But no true follower of Christ is the least bit interested in the large crowds that can be drawn through the influence of so called movie stars, church banquets, recreational programs, etc. This kind of thing has been known to draw multitudes who would never think of crossing the threshold of a church building; but what earthly good are these kinds of people to the church, whose only interest seems to be to satisfy their lustful appetite for food, fun and merry making, in the name of religion? The church is plagued with enough of this kind without making the way easier by encouraging such things. On the other hand, we have cause to rejoice when we see folks assemble night after night for no other purpose but to receive a blessing through an honest investigation of the glorious gospel of Christ. This, we are persuaded was the only purpose of those attending this meeting.
Generally it is customary to write reports, not full length articles on gospel meetings but we feel that there was such genuine interest shown throughout this meeting, especially by a good number of those who have in the past favored the support of human organizations, that brief summary of the sermon of each speaker and some of the results that followed would be of interest to others as well. After each sermon a question period followed.
To begin the meeting, Bro. Bob Lyman of Santa Rosa presented a lesson on "The Power of God's Word," to show that the gospel is God's saving power and that it alone is sufficient to accomplish all that God intended, without the aid of any outside force, or man-made organizations. That not only is it a creative power, but has power to destroy all those who seek to alter its commands. Brother Gordon Wilson from Sacramento followed on Sunday evening, to speak on the subject "Authority in Religion"; pointing out that in all the affairs of life, there must be standards and authority and that in religion, there is no exception. Showing also, that not only in the sectarian world, but often in the church of our Lord, there are those who invent standards and authorities of their own, thus come under the anathema of God. Many other points were brought to focus on the dreadful fate of those who would attempt to substitute the human for the divine. Bro. Wilson is one of our more able younger preachers who, with the Oakmont Street congregation where he preaches, stand almost entirely alone in the fight against institutionalism in that city. But they are showing a good increase in growth and we predict that in the very near future, there will be more sound congregations to fly the banner of truth in the Sacramento area.
Monday evening Brother Lloyd Moyer of El Cerrito came with enough animation to shake the foundation of the Mormon Temple in Utah. Brother Moyer, in his own familiar way, masterfully exposed the Mormon doctrine using their own works, together with the Bible, to show the fallacy of the L.D.S. claim — that Joseph Smith, Jr. was a true prophet of God, or that there is any foundation whatsoever to support Mormon arguments on their right to practice polygamy or to baptize by proxy. Further investigation proved that the various books accepted and approved as authoritative by the L.D.S., such as "The Pearl of Great Price", Doctrines and Covenants and the Book of Mormon, in numerous places contradict each other. Out of almost fifteen hundred members of the Mormon church in this city, only about six attended; but we are persuaded that these six will not soon forget what they heard. One good Mormon lady arose during the question period and asked Bro. Moyer to make sure that he made a clear distinction to all the people present, between the Reorganized Missouri Mormons and the Utah Mormons. After the services, she was quite complimentary to Bro. Moyer because he had hit the Utah Mormons so hard. He explained to her that he had as much on the Missouri Mormons as he had on the Utah bunch if she was willing to listen. No response.
On Tuesday evening Bro. Jack Freeman of San Pablo presented a clear and unquestionable chart sermon on "The Church Jesus Built." Brother Freeman did his usual good job in proving by the scriptures that not only does the Bible teach that Jesus built only one church, but that the Lord's church alone is sufficient to carry out every command of the Lord in making known the manifold wisdom of God.
To further stress the all sufficiency of the church and its mission. Brother Voyd Ballard of Concord preached Wednesday night on "The Mission of the Church." Bro. Ballard outlined clearly and concisely on the blackboard the problems confronting the church, the cause of these problems, and the New Testament pattern of how congregations cooperated in Bible times, in regards to evangelism and benevolence. On this night there were at least thirty present from one liberal congregations in the area to hear Brother. Ballard speak on this subject. These brethren, after hearing the truth on these things, let it be made known before leaving, that they have decided to make an effort to straighten out the congregation where they are now worshipping or if this was impossble, to move to a new location where they will be able to worship as God's Word commands. I suppose, if this happens we will once more be branded as church splitters; but of course this will not be out of the ordinary. Just for the record though, these brethren had not previous prompting from this congregation nor from Brother Ballard. Not that we would have hesitated one minute had we known of their desires along this line. We simply sent them an invitation to attend; they did and the Word of God did the rest. We have good reason to believe in their sincerity, because the next evening, they had persuaded their elders and preachers to attend.
On Thursday evening, all the arguments that have ever been used by the Sabbatarians seemed to be cast out the window, when Brother Randy Dickson came to speak on "The Sabbath or The Lord's Day." Brother Dickson solved very ably one of the old Adventist questions, — how can perpetual Sabbath cease?, by pointing to the prophecy of Amos 8:4,5,9 and showing its fulfillment in Matt. 27:45; Acts 2:16-20, as well as other passages. Other points in the lesson were as equally forceful as Bro Dickson continued to expose the error of this false system.
The insidious works of Satan had little rest on Friday evening when Brother Eddie Brouillette of San Jose spoke on "The Bible vs. Catholicism", Brother Brouillette did not only speak from what he had learned from books about Romanish doctrines and traditions, but also from actual experience, having spent some eighteen years in the Catholic church. As did Brother Moyer in showing that there are contradictions in the Mormon books, Brother Brouillette pointed out that there are contradictions to be found between some Cardinals and Popes of the Catholic Church in their writings. He also warned of the danger in casting our votes for a Roman Catholic such as Senator John Kennedy, to occupy the office of President of the United States. Regardless of how sincere any Catholic nominee may he in seeking a political office, if he is a true Catholic, as Kennedy more than once has proved himself to be, he must first pay allegiance to his church, then to the government of the people. Even if there is a chance that this is not the case with Senator Kennedy, we would still be in danger of jeopardizing our rights to have freedom of worship so long as our Government was under the influence of Rome. Other things, such as the difficulties that arise when a Christian considers the possibility of marrying a Catholic, also were brought to light. At least three Catholics attended and from what we heard later, they thought Brother Brouillette was a heretic speaking against the Catholic church. However it was pointed out in his lesson, that whether they knew it or not, according to Catholic doctrine, they were sinning for even attending a non-Catholic assembly. Senator Kennedy would not! We believe Brother Brouillette to be fully qualified from every standpoint in dealing with this subject.
To close the meeting on Saturday evening with almost as large a crowd as when we began, Brother Ken Sterling from Napa using as a title for his sermon, "Where God Put Salvation." Brother Sterling used a well outlined blackboard chart sermon, showing as salvation in the Old Testament was in the Ark, the Red Sea and behind the sprinkled door post, so in the New Testament, salvation is in Christ, His body, the church. (Isa. 46.13; Heb. 12:22, 23.)
These men were just a few of the gospel preachers in the Bay area. There are many others that are standing just as strongly in defense of the truth. We have no desire to wrangle or fuss with anyone over what we teach, but will invite anyone to select a representative man among the great number of the camp of liberalism, to sign propositions and meet us in public debate, to prove whether or not, once and for all if we are Retreating Anti's.