EYES TO SEE AND EARS TO HEARBUT NOT UNDERSTAND!

"I cannot understand why people do not accept bap-tism as a condition for the remission of sins; it is soplainly taught in the scriptures."

This statement has been made many times in refer-ence to those who have heard the gospel, but do notunderstand that they must be buried in water for theremission of their sins before they can claim salvation.They say they do not "see" it that way and it seems toprove that whatever one honestly "sees" is all right inthe religious and moral realms. Friend, it is simply amatter of not seeing and hearing even though we haveeyes with which to see and ears with which to hear. Thetruth is there whether we see it or not, it does notchange because of our attitude toward it.

The mind is a great mystery. It is far too complicatedfor man to unravel all its mysteries and to try to explainall its complex operations. Two aspects of the mind areimportant at this point: the nature and need for CON-VICTION, and the reason for and importance of ATTI-TUDE. Conviction and attitude go together and theyare both dependent upon SEEING and HEARING forunderstanding and changes, good or bad.

Jesus spoke of the heart and its function in Matthew13:13-15: "... because they seeing see not; and hearingthey hear not, neither do they understand. And in themis fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hear-ing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeingye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time theyshould see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, andshould understand with their heart, and should be con-verted, and I should heal them."

Isaiah spoke of the people of Israel and said, "Makethe heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy,and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, andhear with their ears, and understand with their heart,and convert, and be healed" (Isaiah 6:10). Even thoughJesus did many miracles, yet the Jews did not believeon him, and John referred to this passage in Isaiah andapplied it to them (John 12:39,40). They had the revela-tion but did not accept it. Paul also referred to thisprophecy in Isaiah when he spoke by the Spirit to thechief Jews in Rome, of whom some believed and somebelieved not (Acts 28:24-27).

The eyes can only see what is there to see, and the earscan only hear what is spoken. Some see not and hear notbecause no revelation was given to them. Jesus said,"many prophets and righteous men have desired to seethose things which ye see, and have not seen them; andto hear those things which ye hear, and have not heardthem" (Matthew 13:17). These prophets and righteousmen did not see because God had not given it to them.But the Jews had been given testimony and proof of thedivine nature of Christ and they would not see it.

Notice that the Lord said he would heal those who

would be CONVERTED. In order for one to be con

verted, he must UNDERSTAND with the heart. No

man can be healed (saved from his sins) unless he is

converted (changed), and no man can be converted un

less he understands with his heart (believes). But the

passage also teaches that in order for one to understand

with the heart, he must HEAR with the ears and SEE

with the eyes. This is his way of perceiving truth which

enables him to believe and repent. One closes his eyes

and stops his ears when he refuses to receive the testi

mony of truth into his heart.

Why Some Do Not See Truth

Some cannot see the truth because they cannot seethe "self-problem" that blinds them to the truth. Jesustaught a lesson about various kinds of people who are lost. He said a son obtained his portion of the inheri-tance from his father and went into a far country. Therehe wasted his substance in riotous living until he found himself in dire want and none would give to him. "And when he came to himself . . ." Not until he "came to himself" did he "see" his real condition in life, the factand nature of his sin, his real need, and what he shoulddo about it. No doubt others could have seen this in him,but he could not "see" it! That is the sad predicament of those so enmeshed in their corrupt manner of life thatthey cannot and will not SEE their "self-problem" andtherefore they will listen to nothing that relates to it.

But some never see their own need because of their hate for another. Hate is a condition of the heart which blinds the individual. Hate is a self-imposedimprison-ment of the person because he cannot controlthe mind and life of the one whom he hates, of whom heis envious and jealous. The word of God plainly teachesthe sinful-ness of hating, and tells us to even love ourenemies and not hate them (Matthew 6:43, 44). 1 John

3:15 says, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternallife abiding in him." "If a man say, I love God, andhateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not hisbrother whom he hath seen, how can he love Godwhom he hath not seen?" (4:20).

Hate is one of the greatest curses to the human spirit,a scourge to the mental and emotional man. It is theabsence of love; the very opposite of God. Attached to itare feelings of guilt and shame. It impairs reason andjudgment and brings words and deeds of iniquity. Hateenslaves the person who possesses it. It robs one of acontented and peaceful life here and eternal life afterdeath.

The Jews hated Jesus with such a passion that theydid not realize how much of their own laws they trans-gressed in trying to eliminate him from the earth. Theelder son in the lesson of Luke 15:25-32 so hated his brother and his father that he would not hear what the servants said about his brother coming home, nor hisfather's appeal to him. He never even looked at his own life and the blessings he had. He only saw the object ofhis hate and what he saw he perverted to feed his hate toa greater intensity. How sad and miserable are the livesof those who cannot see the truth of any propositionbecause of their hate.

The riches and the cares of this world have so occupied the lives and hearts of millions that they will never "see" the truth about their own weakness and their own needs in this life. Many cannot see becauseof the narrow channel they have given for free investigation.Jesus taught that some will hear the word of God, but"the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful" (Matthew13:22). Their present problems with this world blind them to the true riches and blessings in the Lord. Lovefor money is the cause of many evils. Those who "will berich" fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruc-tion and perdition (1 Timothy 6:9, 19). (Continued on Page 4)

"AND SET THE TABLE WITH LOVE"

I used to sing an old country song called "Po' Folks"in which there was a line about what we did when times were hard and we would "pull up our chairs and set thetable with love." As I write this I am on the back porchat the old home place in Chesterfield County, Virginiawhere I grew up. I was four years old when we movedhere forty-nine years ago. The woods between the houseand the Appomattox River have been stripped by a tim-ber company but the memories of a boy who rambledand played there are forever vivid.

The house started out as a small four room structure built of rough lumber by my father and his brother.Near the beginning of World War II it was widened anda second floor added making it a good-sized farm house.My earliest recollections here were during hard timesfor our country. My father lost his job and by sheerdetermination and back-breaking toil, coupled with aneconomy in management which defies understanding,kept us warmed and fed.

A grand American institution was celebrated hereevery day. It was called "supper time." We all sat downtogether, thanked God for our blessings, ate whateverwe had without complaining, and then the best time ofall came. We sat there and talked as a family. Well, thechildren mostly listened to accounts of events at workthat day, or something related to the church and itswork, or some humorous incident from my father, ormother, or grandmother. It was around the supper ta-ble that the reasons were explained as to why we neededto leave the Christian Church and take our stand with a small band of others who had agonized over the creep-ing liberalism of that denomination. Those family talkswere serious and made deep impressions upon myeleven year old mind. I think it was there that I learnedwhat I have preached many times about the importanceof walking in the old paths and speaking as the oraclesof God. It was at the supper table that I was impressedwith the simple truth that it is better to be right withGod than popular with others.

It is a mistake to live in the past. But in our quest forprogress there are some things we have sacrificed at aheavy price. Working mothers, houses with a televisionset in every bedroom and the living room or den, theseparate pursuits of each family member—these andmore, have destroyed the family "supper time." We didnot have the finest china, crystal or silverware. The food would not have made the menu in some fashionable dinner house, but at this house in what was then thebackwoods of southeastern Virginia, we "set the tablewith love."

The love which radiated in this place touched not onlymy life and that of my brother Wiley, sister Glenda,grandmother, and aunt Beulah, but expanded after thechildren all left to include a long succession of troubledchildren and young people who came here as fosterchildren. The first two were sisters, the younger 6 andthe older 9. They came with all their earthly possessionsin a paper sack. The older one remained here until shewas 15. The younger one lived here until she finishedhigh school, worked for awhile in Hopewell and thenmarried at the age of 23. Others stayed for shortertimes, but they all want to come back to see "Grandmaand Grandpa" as they call my parents. Two days ago, one of them came and brought a friend. She wanted togo upstairs where her room had been. She recounted toher friend things she remembered about this place.

Yesterday a car pulled in the yard and a young womancame bounding to the back porch. Her name is Lisa andshe came here when she was four and stayed three yearsuntil her parents got back together. She has stayed intouch through the years. She also wanted to go allthrough the house and stir up memories. She broughtwith her, her own child to introduce to "Grandma andGrandpa." It was a touching sight to see her sit down onthe floor, Indian style, in front of my mother, hold herhand, stare deeply into her face and tell her about herlife in California. She recalled things she remembered,asked about pets long since dead, fretted because thewoods were gone behind the house, reminisced aboutplaying around the well covering and in the garage.Before she left she said "Grandma, I still remember a lot of the things you taught me."

Yesterday I read a thank you letter from another oneof those who came here when there was nowhere else to go and found the same love. He comes often to check on"Grandma and Grandpa" and see if he can do some-thing for them. His letter was touching. It made me cry.

I do not even know how many have lived in this houseat one time or another and who have shared that table with love. But they came here sad, confused, lonely, frightened and some angry. Here they learned disci-pline, responsibility, trust and love. They learned aboutthe Lord and his love. They were treated as a part of afamily. And they all want to come back to see and touchthings which helped them make some sense out of shat-tered hopes and dreams.

In contrast, please read the interview which KenGreen had on his television program in Huntsville, Ala-bama recently with Jack Holt, who was reared atChildhaven in Cullman, Alabama. The issue of churchsupport for private institutions ought to be settled onscriptural grounds. More often than not, the argumenthas been slanted more to the emotion than to reason. But I have never thought we should allow erring breth-ren the luxury of assuming that the emotional argu-ment is all theirs. It is not. I believe I can touch the hearts of people more deeply about the plight of the homeless than any advocate of institutional care everthought of doing. Indeed, "God setteth the solitary infamilies" (Psa. 68:6). All who have passed through thesedoors at 2501 Bermuda Ave, Chester, Virginia have onething in common. We all sat at the same table at suppertime. And it was always "set with love." Whateverhappens to us, nothing can change that.

• *********

• EVELYN PUCKETT AT REST

We have just received word that Evelyn Puckett,beloved widow of the late and lamented Franklin T. Puckett, has changed worlds after a long and painfulstruggle with cancer. Funeral services were conducted July 30 in Florence, Alabama. She was a model of allthat a wife, mother and godly woman should be. ThePucketts touched many lives for good over their life-time, including this editor and wife. She was lovinglycared for by her daughter, Editha, and her husband,Olin Kern, faithful gospel preacher of Sheffield, Ala-bama. She will be greatly missed, though we all rejoicethat she is now at rest. Our loving sympathy to all thefamily.

(Continued from Page 2)

Jesus spoke a parable about a certain rich man whoprospered greatly. He took great care to provide for hiswealth, and then said to himself: "Soul, thou hast muchgoods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink,and be merry." (Luke 12:19). This is precisely whatmillions are now doing. They are blinded to the realvalues of life. They do not see the problems that reallycount. They ignore the opportunities that come once ina lifetime. All this because they are blinded by theirriches or the desire to be rich in this world.

But God said to this rich man: "Thou fool, this nightthy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall thosethings be, which thou hast provided?" (Luke 12:20).Nothing will blind one so quickly and so completely asthe wealth that one must consider dividing or giving up to be right with God and man. No blindfold is so blackas that moral restraint and scriptural restriction to anaction or word that would bring wealth to the covetousperson. Prostitution, gambling, robbery, and sale of dope and alcohol all continue on the increase by thosewho are absolutely blinded to the physical, moral andspiritual destruction done to the human race. How dowe account for it? The explanation is the love of moneyblinds men to the truth. They can see but they will not see.

Many get so involved in the affairs of others and develop such an unnatural concern for their businessthat they become blind to the consequences of their owncourse. The process becomes worse by the fact thatsuch involvement is almost always uninvited and un-wanted, and when time comes to try to back out of it orbecome divorced from the situation, they can never see their own mistakes and will not see and hear the facts of the situation. Whatever is said is always applied in the wrong way.

Christ appeared to Peter and John, with some otherapostles, the third time after his resurrection, and atewith them. He asked Peter three times if he loved him,and then as he told Peter by what manner of death hewould glorify God, Peter was so concerned with thematter of what would happen to John that he seemed tobe little impressed by what would happen to him. Peterasked, "And what shall this man do?"

The Lord told him it was none of his business: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Followthou me" (John 21:18:22).

Hardness and Prejudice Make One Blind

Hardness of heart is a condition that blinds the mind because it will not allow information, true or false, tocome into the heart. A hard heart may be produced by anumber of things, but usually it is the result of continu-ing in sin even though the sin is known. "Harden notyour hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of tempta-tion in the wilderness" (Hebrews 3:8). "But exhort oneanother daily, While it is called To day; lest any of yoube hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews3:13).

Prejudice is a sickness of the heart that causes blind-ness, and is very difficult to overcome. Prejudice is thatcondition that determines a conclusion before and with-out all the evidence. It is a belief or disbelief based upon bias and opinion and not supported by all the facts,sometimes none of the facts. It closes the eyes thatcould see, but will not, and closes the ears that can hear,but will not. One will never be fair judge of his owncourse in life. He can never render justice, mercy andlove to another, and he will never be able to work the righteousness of God because he will be ignorant of it.He will be blinded by his prejudice.

It is important to each of us to use our eyes and earsto see and hear what the Lord has made known to us if we expect to be blessed by Him. We must be informedwith regard to the facts in the lives of others if we are todeal with them as the Lord teaches us to do. We must be willing to see ourselves as we really are if we are to beable to correct our lives so that we can go to heavenwhen time is no more for us. May God help us to do so.

THE CHILDHAVEN AFFAIR

The Huntsville Times, Friday, April 20, 1984 re-ported: "A Cullman County (Alabama) grand juryindicted three people after an investigation intocomplaints of child abuse at the Childhaven Child Home, a Church of Christ facility.

"Two Cullman men were arrested Thursday onthe indictments, 55-year-old J. D. Alexander on charges of second-degree sodomy, and 27-year-oldJohn Symonds on charges of child abuse." (The third person was not identified in this release.)

"The grand jury acted after the Department ofPen-sions and Security investigated complaints ofharsh and humiliating punishment by staff members of the home.

"Seven employees were fired after the department probe. Its child home licensing supervisor, Virginia Gorman, said then that the agency was satisfied with the home's corrective action."

Apparently the grand jury was not satisfied,how-ever, for the article goes on to report:

"But in its report the grand jury recommended that all cottage parents, social workers and topadministra-tive people be replaced within 90 days.

"The report also recommended that children inthe home have access to social workers; be allowedto at-tend outside activities, school activities and thechurch of their choice, and that siblings of the samesex be housed together.

"Harris said the grand jury recommended that ifthe changes aren't made within 90 days, the homeshould lose its license.

"Director Marlin Howard of the home could not be reached for comment."

News releases within the past few days (6-11-84) haverevealed that Alexander pleaded guilty to the charge ofsecond-degree sodomy and was sentenced to seven years in prison. The other indictments were dismissed by the judge because "s" was left off the end of the names of the defendants. Those cases have been re-turned to the grand jury. The indictments involvedchild abuse and torture.

When I read this report, I recalled an article that hadbeen written by Jack Holt, Jr. (no relation to anothergospel preacher by the same name) which appeared inThe Gospel Anchor, October, 1983. Brother Holt haddescribed under the title, "Victims of Institutionalism",

some of the experiences he had gone through in the ten

years he spent at Childhaven. I called Brother Holt at

his home in Corpus Christi, Texas where he now lives

and preaches and asked him if he would consent to an

interview via long distance on our call-in telecast in

Huntsville. He graciously consented.With his permission I have transcribed the interviewand Brother Adams has kindly agreed to publish it. 1 believe the readers will be shocked, yet benefited bythis material: Ken: Jack, can you hear me okay? Jack: Yes, I can.

Ken: Tell, us something about yourself andyour association with the Childhaven Orphan's Home.

Jack: I spent ten years at Childhaven between 1963and 1972. I think the very first thing that Iwould say in relationship to the charges that arebeing brought up is that the problems atChildhaven are nothing new. They have beengoing on since the time that I was there. Solittle children have been facing this kind of abuse, both mental and physical abuse, for all ofthese years at Childhaven. So I think this isimportant to point out and to remember. Inrelationship to my personal experiences atChildhaven, I can testify to personal cases ofphysical abuse and what I would now term men-tal abuse as well. I think the physical and men-tal abuse, not only of myself but of my brothersand sisters and others that I have kept track ofsince I left Childhaven, has continued to bearmany bad fruits in our lives after we leftChildhaven. I have suffered severe bouts of de-pression which I believe are related to my yearsat Childhaven. Beyond that, because of the situ-ation of group living or group, institutionalcare, it's very hard to teach children how tohave a proper perspective of what family life is.Therefore, in forming my own family, this haspresented a great deal of problems to me in thatarea. I think basically what I would say is thatabuse of this kind is certainly a very real possi-bility in these types of homes and more and more we're seeing the civil government as theymove away from this type of care to what theyconsider to be better types of care, such as thefoster home. While, of course, there's still the danger of this kind of abuse happening, it hap-pens much less frequently in those kinds of ar-rangements for caring for children.

Ken: Okay, an argument is often made that the or- phan home is simply the home restored. Here isa child who has lost his home and this institu-tion is the home restored and that the church has as great an obligation of supporting thatinstitution, the home restored, as it has to sup-port a destitute family who are members of the church. I infer, from what you said, that you wouldn't quite go along with this concept of theinstitution being the home restored.

Jack: No sir. It restores, perhaps we might say, the physical aspects of life. It can adequately pro-vide food and clothing, but in no way can itsubstitute for the personal attention that amother and father or a family situation can pro-vide. When you're caring for a mass amount ofchildren, you have a situation that is tanta-mount, perhaps comparable rather to the mili-tary situation, where a great deal of regimenta-tion, a great deal of that sort of an attitude hasto prevail just for order to be maintained, andtherefore, there's a lack of emotional supportthat young children need; the personal atten-tion that they need; the family closeness thatthey need; all of these things are missing fromthe institutional scene.

Ken:Now, you say you spent ten years at ChildhavenOrphan's Home. Were you in any other institutional homes or foster homes?

Jack: No, I was not.Ken: You had brothers and sisters who were also there. How many brothers and sisters did you have?

Jack: I had one sister and two brothers who were at the home at the same time I was. I left a yearearlier than they did. They were there duringthe time that I was there and, of course, I cansee just from what they have told me that theyhad experienced many of the same things I did. I think one of the sad things about institutionalcare is that even when they take a family group,such as my own (they took all of us together intothe institution) it has been thought wise by theinstitutions to separate family units like thisand put the children in these family units intodifferent cottages. And therefore, one findshimself in the predicament of growing up withbrothers and sisters, being able to see themfrom afar, but having no personal relationshipwith them. And I think that this is a tragicfailing of the orphan home system for caring.Ken: How did you wind up there at Childhaven? What was the family situation?Perhaps the tragedy that caused you and yourbrothers and sisters to be placed into the home? Jack: This is something interesting.It's really a mis-term to call these homes orphan homes in the first place. From my ownpersonal experience, I only knew one, what Iwould call a true orphan. That is a person whose parents had died or that type of situation. In my case, my father was an alcoholic and he beat my mother and they ended up having a divorce and our grandparents gained custody of the children.The divorce process and the beatings mymother took from my father caused her tohave a mental break-down. And while in the care of my grandparents, my grandfather diedand my grandmother was left unable to support us on her own. She was a member of a large liberal group there in the Muscle Shoals area. Apparently their think-ing wasthat in order to care for orphans they should be placed into the institutional type set-ting and that is where we ended up.

Ken: Ok. You mentioned a moment ago having ob- served abuse and I think you experiencedabuse, could you be a bit more specific as far asthe kind of abuse you observed and experi-enced?

Jack: Well, the major abuse that I experienced myselfwas simply beatings. Now of course, we believestrongly in discipline. But I'm talking about, for example, a razor strap being applied to one's back and buttocks approximately 130 times onoccasions. I can remember mornings, for exam-ple, when I woke up in the morning, and theoozing from my wounds from the strap on myback and buttocks stuck to the sheet. It's kind of equal to pulling a band-aid off of a freshwound, getting out of bed in the morning afterbeing beaten like that. The beatings generallywere held in the cottage public area. And onmany occasions we were assembled to witnessthem. I suppose there is a warning mechanismto keep us in line so to speak. And so this wasthe most common type of abuse. Children beingforced to do things which were against theirwill, beyond the normal things that parentsneed to have their children do: Standing inplaces and spots for hours at a time and punish-ment that involved physical labor for 14 to 16hours a day and these types of things also wereinvolved.

Ken: Was this type of abuse something that all ofthose connected with the Homes were know-ledgeable of, or was it only a few of those inauthority administering this extreme punish-ment to the children?

Jack: No. In my case I can just simply say that ourhouse-parents would usually, in a case that they felt like merited severe discipline, contact the superintendent who would then administerthe discipline himself, or would oversee thecase and have the house-parents administer thedisci-pline, depending on what he thought waswise. No, it was like I said. They gathered usmany times in common areas so that this discipline could be witnessed, and many timesthere was 4 or 5 members of the staff present. Ithink it was a well-known thing among allmembers of the staff.

Ken: We often hear these institutions referred to as non-profit, which they are from a legal stand-point. And yet all of them that I have knownanything about own vast quantities of land andfarms. They receive contributions, not onlyfrom churches, but also from state and federalgovernment. They receive annuities and contri-butions from individuals as well as largeamounts of inheritance from people. How non-profit are they in your view?

Jack: Well, of course I was rather young while I wasat the home and not as aware of the dealings of the world financially. We were not trained verywell as far as financial aspects. Looking back, Ido remember Childhaven had vast holdings of land in Cullman County. We had a tremendousamount of forest area and pasture land and thissort of thing. Of course, all I can say otherwiseis that I have heard rumors that their holdingsexceed the 5 million dollar level in just real es-tate alone. I don't know how to substantiate that. That is just what was told to me when Iinquired one time about it. But, I think that for the level of care that we received in the home there would be a question in my mind as towhere some of those funds went. As for our care, we were provided with food and clothingand the necessities, but there certainly werenever the frills that seemed to justify theamount of money, or to balance with theamount of money coming in. But as I say, I wasyoung at that time and as far as being able todiscern where money went at specific times Icouldn't say.

Ken: Yes, we understand that. This article that wejust read pointed out that not only was therephysical abuse in the most recent charges, butalso one man was indicted on second degreecharges of sodomy. So this would indicate thatsexual abuse was taking place. This kind ofthing has been in the news quite often herelately, in regard to some of the preschool nurser-ies in California and Minneapolis. Did you alsoobserve this kind of abuse taking place whenyou were in Childhaven?

Jack: Well, as far as on myself, I was never sexuallyabused by a member of the administration. Mysister was, and that was substantiated beforeshe left. And several of the individuals at the home while I was there talked among each otherand there were always the persistent rumorsthat the administration was involved. Homo-sexuality at the home, I can verify, was a veryserious problem. The moral atmosphere amongthe children was not very good and I would justhasten to say that I think that is a result of thefact that when children were not given theproper kind of love they should receive from thefamily, in their own immature way they turnedto each other seeking something they had neverknown. It is unfortunate that in some cases, that this turned into an immoral type of activ-ity. One thing that I might point out to youraudience, perhaps they don't know the differ-ence between first and second degree sodomy.First degree sodomy would involve sodomy be-tween an individual 16 years or older with anindividual 12 years and under. While seconddegree sodomy involves relations between anindividual 16 years or older with someone be-tween the ages 12 and 16.Ken: I didn't know that either, so that is some inter-esting information. Jack, did you have no re-

course whatsoever as a young boy there atChildhaven. Was there no one you could go toand talk to about your situation? How did youcope with this problem?

Jack: Well, the sad thing about this was that we werejust simply not believed. It was not that thechildren did not speak out, even though we werecertainly fearful of punishment that wouldcome as a result of speaking out. I myself, uponoccasion, spoke to visiting relatives about itand just simply was not believed. They had noidea that "Christians" would do such a thing.Another interesting event that occurred to meon one occasion: I was dressing out for gym atschool and it was not too long after I had re-ceived a very severe beating. The gym coachnoticed the bruises and welts on my body andcalled me in and asked me about them, and gotangry about them. And then just a few dayslater he came to me and apologized and saidthat he had tried to do something and that hehad just simply been blocked. He could do noth-ing, and he wished that he could. And so I wouldurge people to listen to their young people. Cer-tainly some young people may fabricate stories.But at least investigate them. Look into them,because sometimes young people do tell thetruth.

Ken: When you left the institution did the institutionleave you? Were you able to cope after you leftthe institution?

Jack: Well, it was a long and hard trail to cope with.For about five years after I left the institution,my life was in a turmoil, trying to deal with theemotional and mental scars that were left from the institution. As I mentioned earlier in the program I had severe problems in the past deal-ing with depression. I think in the past threeyears I have overcome that problem in my life.But there were also problems when I began myown family unit, just simply knowing how togive affection, appreciation, love to my wifeand, in turn, to my children. Having no trainingin a real family situation, it has been an eye-opener to learn that children can be happy intheir youth, and can grow up without abuse,and still be disciplined properly.

Ken: What about others who have left the Home? Have you kept up with any of them and how dothey generally fare? Do they turn out to be goodcitizens on a higher average or a lower averagethan the general population?

Jack: Of course, I don't know them all but of the onesthat I have kept up with, the general rule is,almost without exception, that they turn outnot to be very good additions to society. I knowof several, but I've kept up with one who hasseveral illegitimate children, another thathave kept up with is in prison, another that Ihave kept up with is just simply so emotionallydistraught that he has attempted suicide and is dealing with many mental problems. There aremany others that I could relate, but generallyspeaking, the rule is, that it is very difficult ifnot almost impossible in some cases to over-come the terrible emotional trauma that this institutional care can put one through.

Ken: You are now preaching the gospel in CorpusChristi, Texas. You have a wife and two chil-dren, and seem to be, with my limited associa-tion with you over the telephone, well-adjusted.To what or to whom do you give credit for this?

Jack: Well, ultimately, to the Lord, but I think Hedid it through my wife.

Ken: Through your wife? OK.

Jack: She taught me how to love properly, to giveaffection, to have a proper attitude in the fam-ily. After spending some time with her I beganalso to seek the Lord, and then through reading and studying my Bible, I came to understandthat you have to separate sometimes the indi-viduals from what they claim to be. I for a long time held a grudge against the church. Ofcourse, the Home never told us about the issuesinvolved in this, but I held the church responsi-ble because of its support of the Home. Butthrough time I came to accept the fact thatpeople can do the opposite of what they professin their religion. Therefore I came to the Lord.But it was much later after coming to the Lordthat I learned there was even an issue over these sorts of things.

Ken: You stand opposed in principle to the churchsupport of such institutions and I would inferthat you have a scriptural basis for that as wellas your own emotional experiences. Would you care to just briefly share some of that with us?

Jack: Yes, of course, scripturally speaking, I think theproblem of institutional care, the church sup-porting and maintaining institutions, is veryclear-cut. It just simply comes down to where isyour "Thus saith the Lord" for the church tobuild and maintain these institutions. The Bible has a clear pattern outlined for the care of theneedy. The family is the first recourse. Then thechurch may help the needy saints. There is justa very clear pattern in the scriptures on thismatter. I have dealt with this issue primarilyfrom the scriptural point of view. But I havealso found a great deal of effectiveness in deal-ing with those who would like to justify theHomes of the basis of expediency. I have for agood many years argued very vigorouslyagainst the idea that these homes are even expe-dient. For example, here in Texas, the state hasclosed down all of its state supported institu-tional homes, because it believes that this issimply not the best way to care for children. Ithas gone entirely to other systems of care. AndI have argued very vigorously therefore, notonly from the scriptural basis, but also trying toget brethren to see that in no way should they accept the tact without some more investiga-tion, that these homes are even expedient or agood way to take care of the needy. And I would that brethren who support these homes on thatbasis would spend some time investigatingthat. How do you know it is expedient? Whattells you that? What method of reasoning didyou use to arrive at that conclusion? Investi-gate, question it. See whether or not it really isas expedient as you have been lead to believe itis.

Ken: One other question. What other alternativeswould you suggest? You have children of yourown now. If tragedy should strike, and you and your wife should be taken and your children beleft behind, what desire would you have so faras the care they would receive?

Jack: Well, the Bible says a man ought to provide forhis own household. I happen to believe that thatinvolves as much as possible making provisionsfor them after he does leave this earth, perhapsunexpectedly. One step that my wife and I havetaken is to draw up a will and to designate a family within the church who is willing to ac-cept that responsibility, to designate them asthe legal guardians of our children in the event that my wife and I should die at the same mo-ment. I think that the family or the foster oradoptive process is always a better answer thaninstitutional care. And I would urge Christianswho do not have family members who are alsoChristians, to look within the church for worthyindividuals who have proven themselves able toraise children, to discuss it with them, to see ifthey are willing to take that responsibility inthe event of your death, and then through thelegal means of a will, to appoint them as guard-ians of your children and trustees over whatfunds or properties you may leave behind, thatthey may use them to care for your children. Ithink that these are good alternatives. I thinkthey are part of the commandment that Paulgives us that a man ought to provide for his ownhousehold. I just think that includes providingin the event he should die, as much as it ispossible to provide for that event.

Ken: OK Jack. We certainly appreciate your beingwilling to be on the telecast this evening and Ihave enjoyed the interview with you. We'll send you a copy of the audio tape of this program.Would you have anything else you would like tosay before we hang up?

Jack: The only other thing that I would say, I would like to just simply urge individuals not to blamethe church for this matter. The church could take a terrible beating, just by association here.We need to understand that the individual and the church are separate in some cases. When anindividual acts, that does not mean the churchapproves of it. I heard in the article that thiswas a Church of Christ Orphan's Home. Well,

"it ain't no such thing." Separate the churchfrom the home. There is a big segment of breth-ren who believe as I do, who have believed since the 1950's that these things are unscriptural.They do not support them. And I would justsimply urge people, don't blame the church forthis. The blame for this problem needs to be laidat the feet of some individuals who perhaps,well-intentioned, and perhaps over-zealous intheir desire to do a good deed, have gone beyondthe scriptural limit to do that. Just lay theblame at the proper place. The church is not toblame for this.

Ken: We certainly thank you Jack. And we'll lookforward to meeting you sometime in the future.Good night.

Jack: Thank you a lot Ken.

FRUITBEARING CHRISTIANS

Christians are, metaphorically speaking, branches— branches in Christ. Jesus said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches" (John 15:5). A branch is tobear fruit. "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit hetaketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, hepurgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:2). Hence, Chris-tians, like branches, are to bear fruit.

Jesus said the kingdom of God would be taken fromthe Jews and "given to a nation bringing forth fruit thereof" (Matt. 21:43). This nation is the New Testa-ment church, composed of Christians. Paul said we aremarried to Christ "that we should bring forth fruit untoGod" (Rom. 7:4).

The fruit that God wants us to bear is the following:

(1) Winning others to Christ. Paul wrote to the breth-ren at Rome, "that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you.... that I might have some fruit, among you also,even as other Gentiles" (Rom. 1:13). A branch bearsfruit after its own kind. For example, a branch on a grapevine bears grapes. In like manner, a Christian bears fruit after its kind, that is, other Christians.

Christians are to be soul-winners. Solomon said, "he that winneth souls is wise;; (Prov. 11:30). "Winneth" means "to take," as a hunter who tracks down his prey.Christians must pursue the lost and win them to Christ.Jesus compared soul-winning to fishing. "Come ye afterme, and I will make you to become fishers of men"(Mark 1:17). He also said the soul-winner is a harvester."Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they arewhite already to harvest" (John 4:35).

May we all go forth bearing precious seed, coming again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us (Psa.126:6).

(2) Holiness of life. "But now being made free fromsin, and become servants of God, ye have your fruitunto holiness, and the end everlasting life" (Rom. 6:22).Holiness is the fruit of a victory over sin, a life trans-formed by the power of the gospel. It is a life that isbeautiful in character, molded after the image of Christ.

Holiness is to the inner man what health is to the outer man. The person who eats properly, exercisesregularly and gets the right amount of rest will gener-ally be healthy. The Christian who abides in Christ, transforming himself from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18)will increase the fruit of holiness in his life.

Let us, therefore, "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in thefear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1). We must make a completebreak with the world, drawing the line of demarcationdeep and wide (2 Cor. 6:14-8), yielding the members of our bodies servants to righteousness unto holiness (Rom. 6:18).

(3) Fruit of the Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit islove, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is nolaw" (Gal. 5:22-23). "Fruit" here is singular, showingthe unity and harmony of these traits.

The fruit of the Spirit is not something that springsout of our old nature, amended, educated and refined, but fruit that is produced by the Holy Spirit in our livesthrough faith.

We can divide the fruit of the Spirit into three triads:

(a) relationship to God (love, joy and peace), (b) relation-ship to our fellowman (longsuffering, gentleness and goodness), and (c) relationship to ourselves (faith, meek-ness and temperance).

Christians must walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), live inthe Spirit (Gal. 5:25) and be filled with the Spirit (Eph.5:18). How the church needs Christians who are underthe influence and control of the Holy Spirit.

(4) Good works. Paul wrote, "That ye might walkworthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful inevery good work" (Col. 1:10). Good works have beenappointed by God in which we are to walk. Paul wrote,"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesusunto good works, which God hath before ordained thatwe should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10).

Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men, thatthey may see your good works, and glorify your Fatherwhich is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). A Christian should beoverflowing in the good works of soul-winning, helping the widows and orphans, the sick, the hungry, the poor,and encouraging the weak and timid, etc. (James 1:27;Matt. 25:34-40; I John 3:17-18; I Thess. 5:14).

We need to look for opportunities to do good works inour homes, jobs, schools, communities or wherever wemay find ourselves in the activities of life.

(5) Sharing our possessions. The contribution for the poor saints in Jerusalem from Macedonia and Achaia iscalled a "fruit." Paul said, "When therefore I have per-formed this, and I have sealed to them this fruit, I willcome by you into Spain" (Rom. 15:28).

One of the characteristics of the early Christians wastheir sharing with other Christians who were destituteand in need. The brethren at Jerusalem "sold their pos-sessions and goods, and parted them to all men, asevery man had need" (Acts 2:45). Not a single personamong them lacked for the necessities and sustenanceof life (Acts 4:34-37).

The great care that the early Christians showed to-ward each other prompted the unbelievers to say, "Howthey loved one another." No child of God should ever bein want when there are fellow-Christians to supply hisneeds. May we be fruit-bearers in sharing.

(6) Fruit of our lips. "By him therefore let us offer thesacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit ofour lips giving thanks to his name" (Heb. 13:15).

God accepts praise from our lips by way of songs,prayers and confession that reflect love, devotion andsincerity. As God's children we should offer to Him glory and honor and power for God created all things forHis pleasure (Rev. 4:11).

In conclusion, let us realize that God did not create us, nor did Jesus die for us, that we might go through life just getting. God created us and Jesus redeemed us that we might invest our lives giving. Let us live and enjoy an abundant life of fruit-bearing!

"THE OBJECT CONTEMPLATED"

When Barton W. Stone began publishing the Chris-tian Messenger in the fall of 1826, he wrote an untitlededitorial to introduce "the object contemplated in thiswork." In it he summarized the state of "the religion ofHeaven," which he believed "for centuries past, hasfallen far below the excellency and glory of primitiveChristianity." He then said: "The man, who honestlyinvestigates the cause of this declension, and points theproper way of reformation, must certainly be engaged in a work, pleasing to God, and profitable to man. Thisis our design; and to accomplish this desirable end, shallour best exertions be enlisted and engaged." (Christian Messenger, Vol. 1, p. 1.)

Stone did not attempt this work alone, but sought thehelp of faithful brethren. "That these exertions may bebetter calculated to effect the object contemplated," hesaid, "we invite and solicit the aid of qualified brethren,who feel as we do, an ardent desire for the restoration and glory of the ancient religion of Christ—the religion of love, peace, and union on earth." (Ibid.)

Further commenting on his objective, in view of theprevailing conditions, he wrote: "That there are errorsin the doctrines, as well as in the lives and practices ofthe various religious denominations now living, I pre-sume, no Protestant will deny. Their various, jarring creeds—their bitter strife and uncharitable oppositionto one another—their multiplied divisions and disunionamong themselves—their pride and worldly spirit—their death and cold formality—these are undeniableevidences of the melancholy fact. To have these errorscorrected and removed from the church; and to havetruth restored in her heavenly, captivating robes, un-adorned with the tinsel of human wisdom, are certainly the pious wishes of every honest Christian. Therefore,

unappalled at the dangerous attempt, not discouraged

at the attendant difficulties, we will boldly, though

humbly, advance to the work." (Ibid.)

From these plain words, some things are quite clear.

1. Stone believed that the various sects of the religiousworld had departed from the standard established by Christ. 2. He wanted to correct and remove the errors that existed in contemporary religion. 3. He looked to-ward "the restoration and glory of the ancient religion of Christ." 4. While unity was stressed, he desired unitybased on the removal of error and the return to apostolictruth.

Stone proposed that the Bible alone, "the only infal-lible rule," be the standard by which all things in reli-gion are measured. He promised his readers that "bythis rule we will honestly try the various, jarring doc-trines and spirits, which have done so much mischief inthe world, for so many centuries back." He further promised that when error is found, "we shall be compel-led by our benevolence for man, and love of truth, toexpose it to view." While at the same time, he would"endeavor to exhibit the doctrine of the Bible, unsulliedby the unhallowed touch of man's wisdom." (Ibid. p. 2)

In carrying out "the object contemplated" for the Messenger during the relatively short time of its exist-ence, Stone made some mistakes; but he never lostsight of his twofold objective: to expose error and toadvance truth. He strove with difficulty and persecution until the end of his life to achieve thispurpose. As a result, the Messenger struck a happybalance between the might be called the negative andpositive aspects of Christianity.

One of the last articles Stone wrote for publication,written when he believed that his death might precedeits appearance, warned his brethren to watch and pray"that the fate of Israel of old may not be ours." He feared, not without reason, that his brethren mightbecome "so captivated by the doctrines, forms, popular-ity, and respectability of the sects around us, that wemay try to accommodate the truth of God to theirprejudices in order to gain their favor, and eventually toenlist them on our side, and join in our mighty union."He reminded the brethren that, "We had to combat forevery inch of ground we possessed, and for every for-tress we gained." "our first union," he continued, "wason (Bible) ground; and sectarianism first received itsdeadly wound from this weapon, and by no other will itdie the death, if its death is to be effected by moralmeans." (Ibid, 1844, p. 116-117.)

What all papers that claim to be anchored in "theBible alone" need is neither a positive nor a negativepolicy per se. But what is needed, most of all, is editorial resolution to judge all things by the divine standard and to let it settle the matter of positive and negativeemphasis. If "the whole counsel of God" is proclaimed, the negative cannot be suppressed or minimized for thesake of accentuating the positive. "Reprove, rebuke,and exhort" are heaven's order. If we ignore it for thesake of expediency, it will be to our eternal peril; but ifwe heed it for the sake of truth, it will be our eternal joy.

"Whoever will gratify himself by too much preaching against evil, or too much preaching in favor of good without mentioning the evil side, makes a mistakewhich will work ruin here and hereafter." (Daniel Sommer, Biography, p. 188).

THE POPE HEALS A DOCTOR WHO

WAS NOT SICK!

As I write this, Pope John Paul II has just completed

another of his famous world tours, this time to Asia and

the South Pacific. As usual, the microphones, cameras

and typewriters of the news media were in hot pursuit.

Some interesting things happened on this recent trip,

and we wish to mention some of them in this article,

along with an interesting incident that happened in

Rome.

I imagine the headline caught your attention, didn't

it? Well, an article by AP, published May 3, 1984, was

headed, "Not a miracle, simply a case of etiquette." It

said:

A Roman Catholic doctor on a visit to the Vatican

astonished nuns and other pilgrims when he climbed

out of a wheelchair after being blessed by Pope John II,

he said yesterday.

" 'I heard someone say, 'It must be a miracle,' but it wasn't—only an embarrassment,' said Dr. Jan Lavric,an able-bodied general practitioner from Yorkshire innorthern England.

"Lavric said he went to Rome with a group of disabledpeople last month. After he sat down in the wheelchair,the only seat in the Vatican's audience chamber, a Swissguard unexpectedly began wheeling him forward.

" 'I tried to stop him, but he told me, 'Don't exertyourself.' What would you do? I couldn't jump up andrun away, that would have made things worse,' he said.

"After he kissed the Pope's hand and was wheeled away by the guard, he stood up and folded the chair andcarried it off. Lavric said, 'I must say they were all very surprised."

May we suggest, kindly but frankly, that the doctor's "miraculous" healing was as genuine as any of the"healings" among Catholics and Pentecostals. Can you imagine what Oral Roberts would have claimed fromsuch an instant "healing"? The pope, like all fake heal-ers, did not know whether the man was really lame, nor whether or not he was healed. And why were they "allvery surprised" to see a lame man walk after being blessed by the pope? The answer must be that theydon't ever see that.

The Pope Was "Shot"

In Seoul, South Korea, on the same trip, there wasmuch anxiety and excitement among the police when aman fired a toy pistol at the pope. The report in thepapers was headed, "Unstable man fires toy pistol atpope." The first thought that came to mind was to writean article and head it "A Fake Shot With a Fake." Now wait a minute before you react in anger. The word"fake" is defined by Webster: "To work upon in somespecial way, especially so as to impart a false characteror appearance to." If that doesn't fit both the pope andpistol we don't know what would. The pistol was animitation of a real gun and in the same sense that thepope is the vicar of Christ!

But we didn't write the article under that headingbecause we feared that someone would misunderstand and accuse us of sarcasm.

More Evidence of Idolatry

A report of the pope's stop in New Guinea said:

"Mount Hagen reverberated with drumbeats and tra-ditional tribal chants from nearly 200,000 natives. Hun-dreds of painted warriors and bare-breasted dancerscheered John Paul along the 4 1/2 mile motorcaderoute and at the Mass site, a golf course.

"Several groups of tribesmen from remote villagesdragged 30-foot crosses through the rugged country-side for papal blessings. They will drag the crosses backhome and erect them in their villages."

Imagine those poor ignorant people dragging 30-footcrosses for the pope to bless! Then they took them backto the village to worship. Catholics have made the crossthe most common manifestation of idolatry on earth!The Israelites with the golden calf were no worse. Infact, the principle is the same whether it be a cross, signof the cross, crucifix, or statue of some "saint." It is allidolatry!

The Tour Ends

An article published May 13 tells of the pope's return to Rome, completing his 21st foreign tour in about fiveyears. When asked about his worldwide pilgrimages, hesaid, "The pope should be a pastor. He should travel. Heshould visit. He should be with the people."

He doesn't know what a scriptural pastor is. He could not meet the scriptural qualifications! Read them inFirst Timothy 3:2-7 and Titus 1:5-9. (The terms, bishop, pastor, elder, overseer, etc. are used interchangeably inthe New Testament.) In the early church, and with theLord's approval, there was a plurality of bishops orpastors in each congregation (Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5).That was before the beginning of the great apostasywhich led to the office of the pope—a universal bishop.

(Note: We hope to turn our attention to some studiesof Catholic doctrines and the teaching of the Bible, butsince Catholicism is so much in the news these days wefeel that it is profitable to cover their activities and the travels of the pope. And with one article each month, we can't begin to keep up with that. In our next article, weplan to discuss the "crying statue" of Chicago.)

PARENTAL BLINDNESS

One of the truly great obstacles to parental nurturingof children "in the chastening and admonition of theLord" is parental blindness—blindness to their ownshortcomings as parents—such as inconsistencies be-tween their own precepts and practices, disagreementsbetween themselves, injustices to the child, indulgencesof the child's whims, indifferences to the child's real needs and, too often, just plain stupidity wherein rea-son is displaced by parental emotionalism or by igno-rance of one child's peculiar differences from another child.

When a child says, "My greatest problem is my par-ents," it is probably too late to re-bridge the chasm ofseparation. Three basic causes for such an observation are (1) over-attentiveness or "hovering" which Webster defines as "figuratively to be in a state of irresolution" or "wavering, vacillating"; (2) "indifference which im-plies lack of interest/or feeling;" and (3) domineering which means "to rule with insolence or arbitrary sway; to be overbearing."

Here we call more detailed attention to some parental"blind spots."

1. Parental Inconsistencies. This area of the parent-child relationship may be viewed from two different stances—(a) Inconsistencies between what parents say and do in their own lives which involvesright and wrong and which the child comes to identifyproperly as sheer parental hypocrisy and (b)inconsistencies between their own practices as parents and intolerance of the same practices by theirchildren. To illustrate the former, when a parent insists that the child "provide things honest in the sight of all men" (Rom. 12:17) yet talks of how heshort-changed the government in tax payments, it isreasonable for the child to conclude that the parent isbasically dishonest. In another instance, the child might feel comfortable in stealing from its mother's purse or cheating on a school examination. In eitherevent the child is influenced to evil by observable parental inconsistency. A parent cannot point out evilby word, violate that teaching in practice, and thenexcept his child to be honest.

Another inconsistency in parenthood is that of oneparent showing partiality toward one child and theother parent being partial to another. Such causes each child to gravitate toward the parent who shows him or her the more favorable attention designed to bring each child closer to the parent favoring him or her. The storyof Jacob's partiality to Joseph (Gen. 37:3-36) and Isaac's and Rebekah's favoritism toward Esau and Ja-cob respectively (Gen. 25:28; 27:1-45) illustrate this point. Wise indeed are the parents who see the naturaldifferences among their children yet never allow thisdetection to make distinctions which provoke resent-ment by their children toward either or both of theirparents.

1. Parental Disagreement over Child Treatment. Children are individualists as any thoughtful observer knows. This is the basis for all parents to have specific rules regarding "right and wrong" involving moral and spiritual matters (characterbehavior) but flexibility to-ward each child's peculiar personality qualities of sensitivity, stubbornness, pliability, etc. When parents dis- agree over disciplinary procedure their judgmental differences should be settled apart from the presence of all the children as well as the child involved. Day-to-daypermissions, prohibitions and punishments should bethoughtfully and prayerfully handled. Noticeable dis-cord between parents may create uncertainty, confu-sion and even distrust in the child regarding its ownfavor or security with one or both parents. It is herethat disloyalty and favoritism toward one parent overthe other is generated in a child's mind. Resulting re- marks from a child to a parent may loosen an alreadyshaky marriage, particularly if the child favors the par-ent whose words and deeds tend to encourage thechild's desires. Parents should recognize that "in union there is strength" for both them as husband and wife aswell as in the eyes and hearts of their children.
2. Parental injustice. This may occur when a parentpunishes a child in anger. The child may well concludethat the parent is its enemy rather than its friend.Wrath begets wrath and this may be the very point inthe admonition of Ephesians 6:4 ("Fathers, provoke notyour children to wrath") and Colossians 3:21 ("Fathers,provoke not your children, that they be not discour-aged").
3. Parental indulgences. A false concept of what trueBible love (Greek agape) is and does often leads a parent toallow a child to run rampant in its personal likes anddislikes. When parents disregard restrictions of a child's whims which become character traits, the child ison the road to rebellion and contempt for parental, civiland spiritual authority. The Old Testament case of Eli's sons who "made themselves vile and he restrained them not" (I Sam. 3:13) vividly illustrates the result of parental indulgence. The parents who wink at the "cuteways" of a developing child when those ways are tingedwith rebellious and evil overtones will one day reap thebitter harvest of their own stupidity. Punishment of achild should never be an end within itself but a means of nurturing the child into a balanced moral and spirituallife-style. Enforced love, expressed in penalties for mis-conduct when begun early, develops respect for parentsand for God's will. See Hebrews 12:5-11.
4. Parental indifference. This may occur in variousfacets of the developing child's life. Besides concern for misbehavior, observant parents will recognize a need

for understanding and responding to the child's needs. A truly concerned parent will seek to determine whatcauses a child to respond both positively and negativelyto various stimuli. Some parents seem to be completelyoblivious to what "turns on" and "turns off" their chil-dren mentally, emotionally and physically. Moral andspiritual values should be impressed as soon as a child's sense of right and wrong manifests itself. Alert parentswill be aware of their responses to good and evil situa-tions and will seize every opportunity to encourage the right while discouraging the wrong. Indifference to-ward or deliberate ignoring of a child's tendencies to respond sympathetically to moral and immoral situa-tions is to allow weeds to grow where flowers should bebudding and blooming in young lives.

No two children are exactly alike in every detail, not even "identical twins"! Indifference to the fact that each child differs from another can bring heartbreak tothe parents who seek to stuff all of their children intothe same mold. An elderly woman once said to me: "Iraised my two boys exactly alike. One turned out to beas fine a son as any mother could want. The other wasjust as sorry as the other was good. How do you explainthat, preacher? I responded: " You answered your own question, sister, when you said that you "raised themexactly alike." You simply can't make a square peg fit around hole and boys are often dissimilar pegs." To beignorant of or indifferent to this fact of life in the soberrole of parenthood can be chaotic to the parents' emo-tions and disastrous to a child's life. Concerned parentswill never be indifferent toward tendencies of good andevil in a child's words and deeds.

A brother, who serves as a superintendent of schoolsin a community near Eugene, Oregon, recently showedme a booklet published by the National Academy ofSciences entitled "SCIENCE AND CREATIONISM,A View from the National Academy of Sciences." It isbeing sent to public school officials throughout thecountry in an effort to have consideration of creation asa plausible explanation for the origin of life totally ex-cluded from the science classroom, and to persuadethese officials to allow study of evolution only. Follow-ing are a few points quoted from this publication, and some observations by this writer for your consider-ation. It is left to you to decide just how "scientific" theNAS is in its view and propagandizing of evolution.

Before proceeding to the content of this booklet, let itbe noted that even its title is prejudicial. "SCIENCEAND CREATION . . ." implies that the conflict is be-tween these two schools of thought. From what followsin the content of the booklet, this title also assumes thatevolution is a scientific fact in opposition to the Bible's account of divine creation. Neither of these implicationsis true.

The conflict is not between science and the Bible's account of the origin of life by an eternal, living God.Science has proved, and the Bible has always stated thefact of biogenesis, that life arises only from life, and thatlife invariably reproduces after its own kind.

As for the assumption that evolution is a scientificfact, let it be noted that the evolutionist's house rests upon two pillars. First, evolution assumes biogenesis,life originating from non-living matter (spontaneousgeneration). Second, it assumes that all of the variousforms of life which now exist evolved from a common ancestor. Both of these assumptions are contradictionsof scientific facts. They are pillars of sand.

Quotes From the NAS

1. To establish the basis of scientific consideration the NAS states, "Science encompasses a large body ofevidence collected by repeated observations and experi-ments" (p. 8). This is true. So we ask the NAS to offerjust one observation of, or an experiment demonstrat-ing, the origin of life from nonliving matter (spontane-ous generation) or of the development of all the variousforms of life from a common ancestor.

2, Without bothering to offer even one valid observa-tion or experimental demonstration of the transition ofone form of life into another, the NAS says, "... therehave been so many discoveries of intermediate formsbetween fish and amphibians, between amphibians andreptiles, between reptiles and mammals, and even along the primate line of descent that it is often difficult toidentify categorically the line to which a particular ge-nus or species belongs" (p. 16). Again, "The 'missing links' that troubled Darwin and his followers are no longer missing. Today, not one but many such connect-ing links, intermediate between various branches of theprimate family tree, have been found as fossils" (p. 23).These statements are more than unproved assertions,they are just plain false. Notice the following quotefrom Dr. G. Ledyard Stebbins, himself an evolutionistand professor of genetics at the University of Californiaat Davis. "... No transitional forms are known between any of the major phyla of animals or plants" (PRO-CESSES OF EVOLUTION, 1966 ed., p. 144).

3. "Similarly, human and other mammalian embryospass through a stage during which they have unmistak-able but useless grooves similar to gill slits found infishes—evidence that they and the other vertebratesshared remote ancestors that respired with the air ofgills" (p. 20).

This is a statement based on false argument thatmammal embryos begin life in the womb as protozoansand pass through all the stages of its assumed evolu-tionary history, including that of a fish with gill slits.The fact is these grooves in the embryo are not gill slits,and never have anything to do with respiration at all.What is more, they are not "useless." They have to do with the formation of the alimentary canal which isessential to nutrition. Harry Rimmer wrote, "I am scarcely able to conclude which is the graver charge tomake against the teacher who clings to this outrageousfalsehood, ignorance or lack of integrity!" (THE THE-ORY OF EVOLUTION AND THE FACTS OF SCI-ENCE, p. 60).

Incidentally, while the NAS is still trying to "snow"people with the argument in 1984. Rimmer's book was written in 1954, and was based on information availableto the scientific community long before that. As Rim-mer said, "outrageous"!

4. Finally, "For those who are studying aspects ofthe origin of life, the question no longer seems to bewhether life could have originated by chemical pro-cesses involving non-biological components but, rather, what pathway might have followed" (p. 25).

This simply says that the evolutionist believes lifearose by spontaneous generation from nonliving ("non-biological") matter. But anyone with even the mostsuperficial knowledge of biology knows that spontane-ous generation is a now exploded medieval fantasy, andthat the science of biology has demonstrated that lifecomes only from life. This is also to say that for all of hisarrogant claim to being a scientist, the evolutionist is infact only a philosopher working from the preconceivedsupposition that there is no God so that life must haveoriginated by itself, the fact of biogenesis notwith-standing.

Sauce For the Goose ...

The NAS states, "No body of beliefs that has itsorigin in doctrinal material rather than scientific obser-vation should be admissible as science in any science classroom" (p. 26). If this is applied to creationism, thenlet it be applied equally to the unobserved, undemon-strated doctrine of spontaneous generation. But thiswould remove from the classroom evolution's most ba-sic assumption without which it cannot even get off theground, much less fly. For this reason you are not likelyto see this rule applied to spontaneous generation bysuch people as those who wrote and published this NASbooklet. It seems to me this hardly measures up to allthat we have been hearing about the cool, unbiasedobjectivity which should characterize the truth-seekingscientist of the Twentieth Century.

(Those who may wish to read this NAS booklet for themselves can order if from: National Academy Press,2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.20418. Price, $4.00. J.F.B.)

A little girl at school was called upon to give a defini-tion of FAITH. She wrestled with the idea for awhile and then wrote: "Faith is trying to believe somethingyou know isn't so." I sometimes think that is exactlythe kind of faith possessed by many of our liberal breth-ren. We have been telling them all along that they weresupporting the idea that the church could support hu-man institutions. They have denied it saying that noother institution was involved in the matter of church support of orphan homes.

1. Charter—Schults-Lewis Children's Home and School says:"The name of this corporation shall be Schults-LewisChildren's Home and School.

"The purpose for which it is formed is as follows: Tobuild, operate and maintain an orphan home or homes inPorter County, Indiana or elsewhere wherever theBoard of Directors so desire."

(Note: Something (and it isn't the church) builds, op-erates and maintains an orphan home or homes.) Is this"something" a human or a divine organization?

2. Charter—Mt. Dora Home and School says:

"The principal office and place of business shall be atMt. Dora, Lake County, Florida. And in other suchplace, or places within the state as may be provided bythe Corporation or its trustees."

Note: What is the Corporation that will operate out ofMt. Dora and at other places within the state? Is it adivine institution or is the church supporting a HU-MAN organization.

3. Charter: Potter Orphan Home and School says:"The nature of the business proposed to be trans-

acted, promoted and carried on by said corporation

shall be the operation and maintenance of a charitable

institution to be used as a home and school for orphan

white children of both sexes."

Note: I am not sure just how many institutions we

have here. There is the corporation AND the charitable

institution AND the home. I don't believe ALL

THREE of them are divine! There must be something

about this set-up that is HUMAN!

Ben F. Taylor wrote a tract called "Potter Orphan

Home, What Is IT?" He said,

"It (that's one thing) allows the home (that's another

thing) it provides to make the appeal to the hearts of

Christians. (Page 3)

"It is an institution having for its only purpose to

furnish a home and the care of destitute orphans. (Page

7).

"The Potter Orphan Home and School is an institu

tion, or call it an organization if you wish, to furnish a

home and care for destitute orphans." (Page 12).

Our liberal brethren got into church support of thesethings without a thought of what they were gettinginto. When called upon for a scripture to support theiractions that "went everywhere" except to the Bible fortheir defense. Some said there was no organization in-volved. This was silly as the foregoing points out. Oth-ers said these institutions were human and that, sincethe church could support them it could support theschools—also human institutions. Then along cameWoods and others saying the orphan homes are DI-VINE organizations. This was the silliest of all of the arguments and it was short lived. But the fact remainsthat the church is limited to supporting SAINTS andshould not consider a contribution to an orphan homewhether or not it is human or divine, or whether or not itis a corporation (which it is) or an institution (which it is)or an organization (which it is).

Send all News Items to: Connie W. Adams, P.O. Box 69, Brooks, KY 40109

IN NEW BUILDING LAWRENCE F. Smith, 1231 Mulberry St., Ennis, Texas 75119— The church in Ennis, Texas moved into its new building in December, 1983. The address is 1231 Mulberry St. (corner of Mulberry and Rumbo) off I-45 South. Our phone is 214-875-6670.We are a small group. Our preacher is Gary Box. If you know of Christians or have other friends who live the area (includingCorsicana, Waxahachie, Ferris) you would like for us to contact,please let us know. When traveling this way, please stop and worshipwith us.

NEW CONGREGATION WILLARD P. ALLEN, Box 166, RFD 2, Taberg, NY 13471—A new congregation began meeting in my home near Taberg, NewYork on January 29,1984. We have been residents of this area since 1970 when we moved here from Gulfport, MS. For several yearsattempts were made to start a work in this area during which time wedrove 72 miles (one way) to worship with brethren in South New Berlin,NY. Plans are being finalized now to secure a rented building as ameeting place. During the summer we have planned extensive effortsto reach honest hearts in Rome, Utica and surrounding areas. A fallmeeting is also being planned. We welcome all to worship with uswho might have opportunity to relocate to or visit in this area. We arealso looking for a stable, faithful preacher to come over and help us. Ifyou are coming to Griffiss AFB or central upstate New York and wecan assist you, please call upon me at 315-336-5569 or Capt. JimmyGlover at 315-339-4958. Our mailing address is: Oneida CountyChurch of Christ, P.O. Box 200, Lee Center, NY 13363.

PEWS FOR SALE 23 solid oak pews, 14 feet long, 1 solid oak pulpit, 1 solid oak commu-nion table. $2,500. Contact Denny Diehl at 918-314-4793.

NEW BUILDING, NAME AND ADDRESS

HAROLD T. BLAIN, 2405 Oakview Circle, Tupelo, MS 38801—We are happy to announce that after many long hours of diligent effortby many of the brethren here, we finally have a lovely and spaciousnew meeting place. We were formerly known as the Elvis PresleyDr. church of Christ, but now as the Northeast church of Christ. Our address is 1118 Hamm St., Tupelo, MS 38801. We are one block westof our old location. Worship with us when you can.

NEW WORK BEGINS

JAMES H. BAKER, JR., P.O. Box 44012, Philadelphia, PA 19144— On July 1, 1984 a new congregation began meeting at theYMCA in downtown Philadelphia. I came to Philadelphia fromMiami, Florida where I spent 6 years. It has not been easy making thisstart and it is a long, hard road ahead of us. Anyone who might want tomove to Philly and help with this work is welcome. Also, if any readers know of people

in the area we should contact, please let us know. We ask for yourprayers that the work will grow.

TO GERMANY TO PREACH DAVID L. DRENNEN, Rt. 4, Box 658, Somerville, AL 35670—I planto depart for Europe to preach the gospel August 17, 1984. I workedwith the church in Bremen, Germany for 2 1/2 years while in theservice. I saw the desperate need for truth, not only there but on theother side of the Iron Curtain. I have been in the states since Januaryand have kept in touch with several contacts with whom I workedbefore return-ing to the states. In the Germanic speaking countries there are 75 million souls. In the Soviet and East Block countries there are 400 million people. In many parts of the East Block people have no Bibles and believers are harassed and persecuted by thegovernment, some being imprisoned in labor camps. At this writing Ihave only a small portion of the needed support raised. I intend to goregardless for the need is great. I need a minimum of $1200 a month.I speak German and am learning Russia. I am willing to goanywhere for the Lord to preach the truth, am willing to risk my lifefor the Lord's service and believe that "Go Ye" means "Go Me"! References: Guy McDaniels (205-83-6753); Jerry Henderson (205-875-493); Horace Huggins (601-482-7020); Steve Calvert (205-53-5946) and Hearls Calvert (205-269-4128).

NEW CONGREGATION BEGINS

J. T. SMITH, P.O. Box 698, Lake Jackson, TX 77566—A faithful church began meeting on June 17 in Mayo, Florida. There had been problems there over the institutional question for some time. Otis Jordan preached there for about 6 years, but was finally forced out by the liberal element.

Some time after he left, the institutional brethren got all the malemembers, children included, they could round up and brought theminto a business meeting in order to employ John Arnold, a liberal preacher, on a part-time basis with the understanding that if a"sound" preacher could be found that he would be employed on a full-time basis. Shortly after this happened, I was asked to come there lastFebruary to speak in a gospel meeting. I preached a number of lessonson institutionalism, but to no avail. In fact, not only would they notlisten, many of them would not even speak to me as they left thebuilding each night.

Finally, the first of May, the institutional brethren decided they had enough "votes" in a business meeting, after brother Arnold's son was identified with them, to hire Arnold on a full-time basis, which theydid. And, since those staying were in majority, they kept the buildingand about $17,000 which was in the treasury. Faithful brethren havegone out from them and are now meeting in Mayo with C.K. Prentice preaching for them. If you have plans to be in that area and wish toencourage these brethren, call Harlie Lynch, Hal Lynch or Pete

Page 17

Sullivan for any information you need.

CHARLES BOSH ART, 7350 Mcardle Rd. No. 12, Corpus, Christi,TX 78412—After six years of pleasant association with the fine 84thStreet congregation in Oklahoma City, I have moved to work with theParkway church in Corpus Christi, Texas. While we have looked for-ward to our move, we have left behind one of the finest congregationsanywhere. Bob Craig and Torn Holland serve this church as elders and dotheir work with conscientiousness, standing for truth in teaching and righteousness in life. 84th Street has an energetic group of dea-cons anda strong atmosphere of membership development. Phil Arnold of Tulare,California is moving to work with them. When in Corpus Christi, worship with us at 3737 Brawner Parkway.

STEVE GOFF, P.O. Box 1622, Sandy, Utah 84091—Since last reportwe have had one baptism, five restorations and people from four families have placed membership with us in Salt Lake City. We now have members from 15 families: 25 Christians with 31 children and non-Christian spouses. Attendance now runs over 50 and was 58 recently.During our meeting in March, with brethren from Kaysville and otherplaces attending, we had a high of 73. Al Payne, of Richard-son, Texas held our meeting. His wife, Genevieve, taught a class for women eachmorning of the week. We have much to do to edify and strengthen newmembers.

The work in Kaysville continues to go well with Joe Price preaching there. They have grown and are having attendance in the mid 40's.Mason French is leaving the work in Ogden to move to Arkansas and willbe followed by Homer Walker who comes to Utah from Wisconsin. RalphWilliams of Albany, Oregon will preach in our October meeting in SaltLake City.

DEBATE IN INDIANAPOLIS WAYNE GREESON, Indianapolis, Indiana has signed propositions for a debate with Ted Clarke of the Green Valley church of Christ in Noblesville, Indiana to be conducted October 11-13. There will be one session Thursday and Friday nights each, with one session Saturdayafternoon and another in the evening. Each evening session will begin at

7:30 with the Saturday afternoon session beginning at 1:30. The firsttwo evenings will be conducted at the building of the Eastside congregation, 10055 East 25th Street, Indianapolis. The Saturdaysessions will be conducted at the building of the Green Valley congre-gation, 19005 Cumberland Road, Noblesville, Indiana. Propositions concern congregational benevolent responsibilities. For further infor-mation you may contact Wayne Greeson (317-773-8097).

FROM FOREIGN FIELDS CARLOS CAPELLI, Buenos Aires, Argentina reports one baptism and two restoration in Jose C. Paz congregation and four baptisms inBoulogne. In January, 1985, along with Fernando Venegas from Mendoza, I will visit and preach in Bogota, Columbia and the Dominican Republic.

ANTONIA JUMAS-AS, Metro Manila, Philippines—As a result ofbeing given a gospel tract and comparing it with the scriptures and further studies, I obeyed the gospel in November, 1983. Later my wife andsome neighbors were baptized and we meet as a congregation in myhome in front of Kapitbahayan water tank in Metro Manila. We have beenassisted in our work by brethren Nartiso Romio, Rene Andaca and Greg Valerio. We are planning a house to house preaching together in thisneighborhood and are in need of tracts to hand out.

PREACHERS NEEDED JONESBORO, TENNESSEE—We are in need of a preacher for fulltime work. Our attendance runs 70-80. This city of about 10,000 is theoldest city in Tennessee. We are self-supporting and have a home for apreacher if needed. Call Dallas Hensley (615-257-6502).

AKRON, OHIO—The Southeast church in Akron, Ohio needs a fulltime preacher. We are able to provide full support with a house andutilities. We need a man with some experience. Those interested should contact Robert L. Bills, 798 E. Archwood Ave., Akron, OH 44306, or call 216-724-8041, or 216-724-4681.

LAKE BUTLER, FLORIDA—The Danville church located 25 miles

N.E. of Gainesville, Florida is looking for a full time man to work with us.We have our own building with attendance of about 30. We can supplypartial support of $1,000 a month. If interested, contact Dan-ville Churchof Christ, Rt. 2, Box 796, Lake Butler, FL 32054. Or you may call CharlesBlackwelder (904-496-3859); Leonard Bivins (904-496-2198); or JimHaltam (904-496-2589).

EDITORIAL LEFT-OVERS

A LITTLE BOY AT THE JEFFERSON MEMORIAL

Recently, our older son took some relatives to visit the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. While they were wandering around,Wilson sat down on a step with his little boy, Dale (our grandson, not quite3 years of age). Dale decided to break out in song. Clearly it rang and bounced off the walls of the national monument "Oh the B-I-B-L-E, Yes,that's the book for me, I'll stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E." People started to gather around and listen. One woman said, "Why, I usedto sing that when I was a child." Personally, I think that little blond-headedboy gave visitors something even more pro-found to think about than theutterances of Jefferson.

It reminds me of what Paul Tillich, theologian, said when asked"What is the most profound thought you ever had?" His response was: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

IN THE NEWS THIS MONTH

BAPTISMS 315 RESTORATIONS 104 (Taken from bulletins and papers received by the editor)