Doing Nothing
Recently I received the January, 1958, issue of Nation's Agriculture in the mail. When I looked at it, the first thing I saw was the caption over a picture on the front cover which read: "ALL THAT IS NEEDED FOR EVIL TO PREVAIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING." Of course, the statement had to do with our Nation's affairs. But I immediately thought: "How true that is in religion."
Was not this exactly what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Corinthians about the incestuous man in their midst; about whom they had done nothing? Is not this what he meant when he said, "know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" Is not this what the Lord had in mind when he directed John to write to one of the seven churches in Asia condemning it for allowing the false teacher and fornicator — Jezebel — to continue with them; unhindered in her evil work?
That is exactly what will happen today when a congregation permits evil of any sort; whether it be drunkenness, fornication, taking God's name in vain, false teaching, liberalism, modernism, or just plain laxity on the }part of some, to exist in its midst, as some are seemingly doing today. Unless good men and women rise in protest to such, it will go from one to the other, until the whole body is affected. Yes, "ALL THAT IS NEEDED FOR EVIL TO PREVAIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING."