Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 3
February 21, 1952
NUMBER 41, PAGE 14

The Overflow

F.Y.T.

Healer, heal thyself People in the San Francisco Bay area are still chuckling over a little embarrassment that befell a Holiness preacher out there last year. This man, A. G. Canada, was debating W. Curtis Porter on the "miraculous divine healing" question. He claimed the power to cure any kind of illness in the man who had faith—and was so loud and vehement in his assertions that he got hoarse, lost his voice, and despite the frantic and fervent prayers of all his congregation, was unable to preach at all for nearly two weeks!

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All imagination, anyhow The Christian Scientists of California have entered a strong protest against communities putting fluorides in their drinking water to combat tooth decay. The "Scientists" think there is no such thing as tooth decay. It's all in the mind. And obviously one doesn't treat a mere mental concept of error with flourishes. Come to think of it, there aren't any flour-ides either in the Christian Science world—and no teeth. It's all imagination.

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Not endorsed For many months now Ernest Beam has been begging for someone to debate him. Of course he is not representative of the churches of Christ, as he stands scripturally withdrawn from by his home congregation. He has been received with open arms by the conservative Christian Churches of California, and is apparently in fellowship with them. But recently, at Los Gatos, California, W. L. Jessup, president of San Jose Bible College and leader of the group to whom Beam went, made it perfectly clear that he would not endorse Beam for a debate with anybody. Sad is the lot of an apostate! Benedict Arnold was neither the first nor the last to discover that melancholy fact.

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A Dunkard maybe?

A preaching brother in southern California a few months ago reported the same baptism three different times in the Firm Foundation. This led Floyd Thompson of Santa Ana to lift a quizzical eyebrow and wonder if perhaps this preaching brother might be a Dunkard—and had baptized the penitent believer once in the name of the Father (and reported it); once in the name of the Son (and reported it); and once in the name of the Holy Spirit (with a report)!

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Memories that bless and burn No doubt all of us have memories we'd like to forget. We wonder now just how brother Hugh Tiner feels about his emphatic statement of a year or so ago that "when all the shouting and excitement have died down, we will recognize Ralph Wilburn as the Alexander Campbell of our Day."

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Methodists Encyclopedia Britannica carries this derisive little verse with which contemporaries of John Wesley pilloried the accent on "methods" characteristic of the Wesley followers:

By rule they eat, by rule they drink, By rule do everything but think; Method alone must guide them all Whence "Method-ists" themselves they call.

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Campbell on cooperation

"Cooperation and combination of efforts is the great secret of success." (Alexander Campbell, Millennial Harbinger, 1839) Exactly ten years later the American Christian Missionary Society was formed. Campbell condemned and ridiculed "endless arguments over ways and methods." His idea was to get the job done. Well, the job got done all right—and you know the result.

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Wesley's third rule

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."

— John Wesley

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No Catholic blood It was Christmas week. Charles H. Robertson, retired Bible teacher of Abilene Christian College, was buying some groceries. The clerk, sacking up the items, said to brother Robertson, "Merry Christmas!" The venerable professor speared the hapless fellow with an icy stare, and in loud and sibilant tones audible to the whole store full of people replied, "My dear sir, I'll have you to understand that there is not one drop of Catholic blood in my veins! Good day, sir."

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Wrestling match We see where the Quinlan (Texas) Baptist Church recently put on a little money raising campaign for their building fund. Among other attractions was a "Womanless Wedding" and a "Wrestling Match." May we offer a helpful suggestion? While the men put on the "womanless wedding" let the women put on the wrestling match. Extra dollars can probably be garnered by selling beer and pretzels to the spectators and hawking some "French post cards." And have these pious people considered the possibilities in arranging for the church to get a percentage of all the bets placed on the wrestlers? There are great opportunities.


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Court decision The Ernest Beam faction just last week lost their court suit against the Central Church of Christ here in Long Beach (where this page is being written). The judge gave his verdict that they were no part of the Central congregation, that they had no legal equity in the property, and that the case was to be decided in favor of the defendants (the church).

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Schedule Here is the editor's schedule of gospel meetings for the next few weeks: Del Rio, Texas, (February 22-March 2); Steele, Missouri, (March 9-19); Sinton, Texas, (March 23-30); Amarillo, Texas, (April 6-18); Bonham, Texas, (April 14-23); Durant, Oklahoma, (April 27-May 4); Tarrant City, Alabama, (May 11-18); Lebanon, Indiana, (May 19-80).

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Hats, or hair Brother Bryan Vinson, a faithful gospel preacher of Dallas, Texas, has accepted our invitation to write an article, or articles, in review of the articles by brother W. S. Thompson on 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. While we believe brother Thompson has given the true teaching of the passage, we recognize that able and scholarly brethren hold a different position. In keeping with our policy of fairness to all, and to encourage a close and careful study of the teaching of God's word, we are happy to be able to publish brother Vinson's review. Look for it in an early issue.