"Pure Religion"
In the Gospel Guardian of July 19, 1956 I had an article under the above heading. The article must have struck Pocahontas, Arkansas, like lightning; because Brother E. W. Stovall turned "The Noble Searcher" of July 20th on it. I am sure Brother Tant will be glad for his readers to see Brother Stovall's Solomonic review of my article. The following is Brother Stovall's review under the heading "Among Them":
"Among Them"
"In a recent article by Bro. John T. Lewis of Birmingham, Ala., published in the Guardian, we were treated with a consideration of Jas. 1:27, titled 'Pure Religion.' But it seems to me that Bro. Lewis went into a tangent in his first sentence in which he said: 'Shall the elders of a congregation make this (Jas. 1:27) impossible for the individual members by farming out the needy among them?' In this he implies that the passage restricts itself to the needy 'among them, but this restriction is not in the verse, and Bro. Lewis knows it is not.
"The expression 'among them' is not in the verse, although Bro. Lewis used it four times in his article as though it were a part of the verse. I am sure Bro. Lewis knows that this is not a part of the verse. But his use of the expression restricts our visitation where God does not. Here is our trouble today as it relates to the care of widows and orphans. Men try to confine the responsibility of caring for orphans and widows to those 'among them.' Hence they put restrictions where God does not.
"Of course Bro. Lewis did not resort to the 'Greek' in his article, but rather he resorted to interpolation — inserting what is not there. 'Among them' is not m the text, but rather the universal responsibility is implied. What does it matter whether the orphan or widow is far or near when you have helped to relieve their want — affection? EIs it not visitation in either case? Bro. Lewis agrees to this by saying: 'If the congregation was not able to do that (care for their widows and orphans — E.W.S.), then other congregations and individual Christians should help them.' Hence he agrees to the support of an orphanage that is not 'among them.'
I, for one of the many, would like to see more demonstration of the care of widows and orphans by those who oppose the 'institutions.' As it appears to me, and many others, they have much to say but little to do. A demonstration is a powerful way to teach."
Read it, then read my questions to Brother Stovall. I have been preaching the gospel for fifty-four years, but I hope I will never get too old to learn. I came up under such "old fogies" as Lipscomb, Harding, and Sewell, and did not have the advantage of "The Noble Searcher."
In 1 Peter 5:1-4 we read: "The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples of the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away." This scripture is universal, that is, it applies to the elders the world over, but it does not apply to universal elders. There are no such creatures revealed in the New Testament. Peter uses the term "among you" twice, and "the charge allotted to you" once, which shows that the "oversight" of New Testament elders is restricted to the "flock among them." However, judging from "The Noble Searcher" they may have universal elders down in Pocahontas, Arkansas. We will see.
Brother Stovall, are there any restrictions on the "oversight" of the elders in Pocahontas? If so, what are they? Do they tend any particular "flock"? If so, what "flock" is it? If there are any "fatherless and widows" in the church in Pocahontas, what is the duty of the Pocahontas elders toward them? If they should send them off to "an orphanage," or to an old ladies home, would they be fulfilling James 1:27? I know James 1:27 is not only universal, but it is also individual, that is, it applies to individual Christians the world over, in the same sense that Matthew 25:31-46 is universal and individual. But Jesus Christ pointed out the ones we should serve. In verse 40, he says: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me."
Now, Brother Stovall, since these scriptures are universal and individual is there anything the elders of a congregation could do that would keep the individual Christian from carrying out these scriptural injunctions? Brother Stovall do the elders in the church at Pocahontas sustain the same relationship to the "fatherless and widows" the world over that they would sustain to the "fatherless and widows" in the Pocahontas church? I am not using the term "among them," because "The Noble Searcher" does not know what that statement means. Brother Stovall, are there any restrictions or limitations to the authority of the Pocahontas elders? If so, what are they? I hope "The Noble Searcher" will answer my questions and not tell its readers what "Brother Lewis knows" and what he doesn't know. Let him give the information that I am seeking.
Brother Stovall says: "I, for one of many, would like to see more demonstration of the care of widows and orphans by those who oppose the institutions. As it appears to me, and many others, they have much to say but little to do. A demonstration is a powerful way to teach." That is a withering indictment against the churches that Brother Stovall, "and many others" know. He is saying that they never knew a church to care for its "fatherless and widows," except by sending them off to an orphanage or an old ladies home. I have lived in Birmingham forty-nine years. I have known the congregations in this area from their beginning, and thus far they have cared for their needy without sending them off to human institutions.
However, two or three preachers have come into Birmingham with institutionalitis, and the congregations with which they labor may, in the future, send their needy off to some human institution, instead of caring for them as taught in James 1:27. That would be what Brother E. W. Stovall and his kith and kin call "demonstrations," and it would doubtless put their congregations "on the march."