Christian Chronicle (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 16, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 17, 1952 Page: 2 of 8
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PLANK TWO: FAITH IN GOD, THROUGH
THE WORD OF GOD, BECAUSE
GOD SPEAKS
The emphasized point is, faith in God. It is ’
one thing to believe in God, in a mere passive
acknowledgement of His existence;,it is another
to believe in God, to trust implicitly in Him.
Said one writer of old, “Trust in Jehovah
with all thy heart, and lean not upon thine
own understanding” (Prov. 3:5). And Paul
said, “For 1 know whom I have believed, and
am persuaded that he is able to guard that
winch I have committed unto him against
that day” (2 Tim. 1:12).
Abraham may be thought of as an example
of faith in God. He was used by the wirter of
Hebrews (Heb. 11:8-12), and by Paul (Rom.
4 3), as such an example. He believed God
because God spoke. The apostle says of our
faith, “So faith cometh by hearing, and hear-
ing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17).
The faith about which I speak, is faith in
Him in the face of all skepticism, opposition,
modernism and ridicule. Faith in Him, because
He has condescended to speak to man. Belief
because of what He has revealed, though we
may not see the “why” and "wherefore” in
every instance; for said the apostle, “We walk
by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:17).
PLANK THREE: OBEDIENCE UNTO GOD
BECAUSE GOD COMMANDS
Here it is obedience unto God, the expres-
sion of faith. Again, Abraham may be our
example, for his faith was made perfect when
he obeyed God (James 2:20-24, Gen. 22:12).
The Son of God learned obedience, and bej^
came the Savior of the obedient, as wrote the
Holy Spirit saying, “Who in the days of his
Tosh, having offered up prayers and supplica-
tions with strong crying and tears unto him
that was able to save him from death, and
having been heard for his godly fear, though
lie was a Son, yet learned obedience by the
things which he suffered; and having been
made perfect, he became unto all them that
obey him the author of eternal salvation"
(Heb. 5:7 9). Wherefore of His own disciples
Jesus said, "Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my
Father, who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).
Since the Son is the Savior of the obedient,
the apostle Peter said, “Seeing ye have purified
your souls in your obedience to the''truth unto
unfeigned love of the brethren, love one an-
other from the heart fervently” (1 Peter 1:22).
It is therefore in obedience to the truth that
the soul is purified, and Paul adds, “Know ye
not, that to whom ye present yourselves as
servants unto obedience, his servants ye are
whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or
of righteousness unto righteousness” (Rom.
6:16).
This obedience must be in the matters of
faith, morals, and worship. Doing not only
what God has commanded in matters of worship
and service; but emphasizing all that He has
commanded. This obedience is sought throug^
ar appeal to motives, these motives being thA
goodness of God and the fear of God. To the"
Paul appealed when he said, “And reckonest
thou this, O man, who judgest them that
practice such things, and doest the same, that
thou shalt escape the judgement of God? Or
despisest thou the riches of his goodness and
forbearance and long suffering, not knowing
that the goodness o God leadeth thee to repen-
tance?” (Rom. 2:3,4). Here is an appeal to
judgment and goodness as motives for obedi- *
once. Plank three, then, is obedience unto
God, because God commands. *•
PLANK FOUR: BE WHAT GOD WANTS ONE
TO BE, BECAUSE IT GLORIFIES GOD
That brings up the question, What does God J
want one to be? God wants us to be Christians, 1
God has so called us: “The disciples were call" \|
^Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26)/ j
11 ls Agrippa recognized, for he said to
I aul, ‘3Vith but little persuasion thou wouldest J
fain make me a Christian” (Acts 26:28)./It J|
in the name that the Christian is to glorify _
God as said Peter, “But if a man suffer as •J
Christian, let him not be ashamed; but MJ
him glorify God in this name” . 5.
In this name the individual is to
God, not only by wearing the name,
(Continued on Pigg
In seeking an objective men sometimes
state the platform on which that objective is
sought. Our objective at this time is not a
setting forth of the “creed” of the church,
for the church of Christ has no creed but
Christ, no article of faith except the Christ,
no church manual save the Bible, no confession
of faith but that Jesus is the Christ the Son
of God. Instead, it is a setting forth of the
platform upon which the church stands and
upon which it comes before the world. 1 shall
state briefly this platform as of five planks,
which 1 believe comprehends the platform up
on which the apostles stood in years gone by.
It is:
PLANK ONE: THE BIBLE, THE WORD OF
GOD, IS THE COMPLETE REVELATION
OF GOD
Jesus said, "And this is life eternal, that
they should know thee the only true God, and
him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ'
(John 17:3).
1. All men must know God: hear, learn,
come. 2. But men can know God onl>’ as God
has revealed Himself, made Himself known. 3.
Thefefore, God must have made himselt
known, must have completely revealed Him-
self completely for man to know Him.
Jesus further claimed that God was reveal
ing Himself in the Son. “Have I been so long
time with you, and dost thou not know me,
Phillip?" said Jesus. "He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show
us the Father? Believest thou not that 1 am
in the Father, but the Father abiding in
doeth his works” (John 24:9,10).
This word which the Father spoke through
Him, he committed to the apostles, which they
were to deliver unto the world. He prayed
to the Father: “I glorified thee on the earth,
having accomplished the work which thou hast
given me to do . . . For the words which thou
gavest me 1 have given unto them; and
they received them, and knew of a truth
that I came forth from thee, and they believed
that thou didst send me ... 1 have given
them thy word; and the world hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as 1
am not of this world . . . Neither for these
only do I pray, but for them also that beileve
or. me through their word" (John 17:4,8,14,20).
However, in delivering the word of God to
the world through the apostles, Jesus left them
not without divine guidance. Hear Him once
more as He speaks to the apostles, saying, “But
the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things, and bring to your remembrance
all that I said unto you” (John 14:26). "How-
beit when he, the Spirit of truth, 7s come,
he shall guide you into all the truth: for he
shall not speak from himself; but what things
soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and
he shall declare unto you the things that are to
come” (John 16:13).
FAITH DELIVERED ONCE FOR ALL
The question becomes a simple one: Did
the Holy Spirit guide the apostles into all truth?
If he did, then the revelation is now complete,
and the Bible contains that revelation. Peter
answers the question when he says, “Seeing
that his divine power hath granted unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him that called
us by his own glory and virtue; whereby he
hath granted unto us his precious and exceed-
ing great promises; that through these ye may
become partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped from the corruption that is in the
world by lust” (2 Peter 1:3,4). Wherefore
Jude wrote, exhorting the brethren “to contend
earnestly for the faith which was once for
all delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).
Summarizing these statements, we learn
that man must know God; he must learn
that he may come. In order to learn, l.e., to
know God, God must have revealed Him-
self. Jesus declares that He did this in the
Son. But is this revelation made permanent
for all posterity? Jesus said the Spirit
should guide the apostles into all the
truth; and Peter and Jude declare that
the Spirit did this very thing. Therefore,
revelation Is complete, preserved In the
Bible, the word of God, is the complete
rsvisMiu of God.
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family
congreg
Fayettv
meeting
August.
—Th.
Paris on that date:
or
“Italy shall take all measures
necessary to secure to all per-
sons under Italian jurisdiction.
Without distinction u to race,
sex, language
enjoyment of
that it is in the right and on
Lord's side, it simply is
cation, of religious worship, of
political opinion and of public
meeting.”
Further: Their own new con-
stitution which was to displace
all previous codes, and with
which all previous laws were to
be brought into full conformity
within a year after its ratifica-
tion, make similar guarantees of
religious freedom in language
which is no less explicit than
even the guarantees of our own
constitution: Article 19 of the
new Italian Constitution states:
“Everyone has the right to
make a free profession of his
own religious convictions in
any form whatsoever, person-
ally or as a member of an asso-
ciation; to advocate the doc-
trines thereof and to practice
its worship in private or in
public, provided they are not
rites which offend public kno-
rality
We might add that Article 8 of
constitution provides
the
______.... _ and
of the fundamental freedon af
lajfiin, of preus and paMk
de Sctetot, d
(Continued from page 1)
We are not a people to cry
“wolf.” We are not seeking
headlines, nor asking favors.
Neither are we under some per-
secution complex. And we are
certainly not courting fancies
about martyrdom. On the other
hand, we are not afraid of any
of these. It is my humble
judgment that the Catholic
leaders have run into a new
phenomenon in their experien-
ces. They understand neither us
nor our religion. They have
bluffed and cuffed others, and
frightened them into quies-
cence. They can cuff us, but
they cannot bluff us or fright-
en us.
When the police in Allessan-
dria had delivered his order to
our workers there, he then asked
them if they would go ahead and
try to worship the next day. They
informed him they would. He
shook his head in amazement,
and said, “What kind of people the constitution provides and
are you?” Well, such courage guarantees that all religious con-
wjll be hard for his ilk to fathom fessions are equally free before
But when a group of men knows the law. Article 20 provides that
the the ecclesiastical character and
not religious purpose or the purpose
afraid of anything . . . the devil, of worship of an association or
the pope nor any of their co- institution may not be be cause
horts. of special legislative restrictions
Lest there should be any lin- or special fiscal burdens upon
gering ray of doubt in anyone’s constitution, its legal capacity,
horts.
Lest there should be any lin-
mind as to the highhanded ille or anY i°rm of its activity.
gality of the Italian action, let Other similar points might be
us survey their laws and other cited, but they are not needed,
written covenants on the question
of guarantees of religious free-
dom: Let it be remembered that
Italy was a chief party in the
Fascist-Nazi Axis and was com-
mitted to the defeat and destruc-
tion of the U. S. during the late
World War. Not only so, but that
with the blessings of the Pope.
In addition, it is held by many
upon strong evidence that the
Pope in addition to giving his
blessings upon Mussolini in the
rape of Ethiopia and the struggles
which followed in Europe also
had understandings with Tojo
and the Japanese War Lords
which had all the sanctions of a
concordat, because at the time
he felt that victory lay on the side
of the Axis powers.
After the close of the war a
campaign of whitewashing Italy
was launched as vigorously as
that of our propaganda ma-
chines to whitewash Russia at
the time she joined the Allies
against the Axis. When the
treaty was signed In Italy on
February 10,1947, full and very
explicit guarantees of religious
liberties were incorporated into
the treaty. As a sample, here is
Article 15, Section I, Part H of
the Peace Treaty signed in , ers. At least the Communists
Thus the Italian government,
front for the Catholic Church,
two bodies with but one heart,
has unscrupously disregarded
every law in its books, violated
its sacred treaty with the Allied
nations and has ignored the
whole concensus of world
opinion, (except Catholic) as
expressed the major docu-
ments of all nations of earth,
including the Atlantic Pact
Charter.
It is a fair comment on the in-
tegrity and consistency of the
hierarchy of the Catholic Church
that on the very same day in
which they were issuing edicts
to shutter the doors of all our
churches in Italy, September 14
—on that same day, 70,000 Catho-
lics in a meeting in Vienna “ap-
pealed to the world not to for-
get” the fate of oppressed Ca-
tholics behind the Iron Curtain.
During the session strong con-
demnations were issued against
communist persecution of Catho-
lics as “the greatest crime in the
world since the beginning of
Christianity”. This wire news re-
port was sent across the Atlantic
on the same day as the news of
Italy’s action against our work-
i are
consistent, and it seems to us a
case of the Pot calling the kettle
“Blacky.”
—The Church la Growing!—
To get the latest and most
coverage on the Italian news as
well as all other news of the
church over the world subscribe
to the Christian Ohronielei
The ch
calling f
a suitabl
I little co)
$2,000 is
(that alre
reach th
sary to
Published Wednesday of each week except the last week In Juno
and the last week in December at Abilene, Texas
$2.00 per Annum in Advance $2.50 Outside the United States
Send all communications and articles to Box 1158, Abilene, Texas
OLAN L. HICKS___Editor
Entered as second class matter October 18, 1944, at the Post Office
at Abilene, Texas, under the Act of March 8, 1879
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK ■ ~
BY HOMER HAILEY
1
7
UmyfKSAl
Number 16
September 10, 1952
Volume X
kitte
4
Sefoi
- _ :• -■ .-jai
CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
MMMun
hoi
■■■
.....i.
SEPTEMBER H, fl
J PACE TWO
Price $2.00
Orders should be sent
p—' ■ John G. Reese
Bex 281, Longview, Ti
or D. C. Lawrnnm
Box 717, Lefors, Tea
_______________________. , «
A NEW BOOK
NOW BIADY
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OBTUNEi
Bound in blue cloth
stamping, by John G.
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... ......
SEPTEMBER 17, 19
HELP
■Xrticle
following Christ in
holding to the doct
His apostles. A Chr
the gospel; that is,
the Christ, confess
their remission. Su
church, in which ht
and abstaining fron
Nifc which he lives
his sins, and has be
he preaches. The ap
he said, “Whether
or whatsoever you
God” (1 Cor. 10:31)
PLANK FIVE: EN
GOD, BECAUS
AND WL
God has promi«
and the gift of the I
so “I will be merci
their sins will I r
8:11). The fulfillmei
joyed when one has i
In His invitation t<
unto me, all ye that
and I will give you
Also, God has pro
fail nor forsake His
promised that those
dom of God and
have added unto the
life, such as food anc
has assured His ch
them, and has invitet
burdens upon Him (]
Further, God has
dead unto eternal li
^faithfully in Christ;
VPmeth in which al
Only God Ki
(Continued from pa
us to worship tomorrow
“Fausto and I came th
ing to Alessandria. Lido
ready at the Questura.
and Fausto have been m
in this . . . they are rej
this tribulation. My hear
vy for Lido, because I th
will slap him in prison. ]
n’t care .... Truly, nm
of those times that tr
soul’s. We’re praying for
and will pray and pre;
sing. The Questura said h
send a force to the churc
morning to stop us. I’ll
the street—I’m tired o
shoved around.”
“I don’t know what w
pen tomorrow; only
knows . . . It’s a strang
tag to know that the
will be waiting for us.
*re fears tears, and p
Harold, but we will not
PGflMae onr principles.
^"he Questura asked
If they stopped us in the
log would we be back
afternoon, and he said, rV
Mil
....___' ’ ' ■ piTii
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Hicks, Olan L. Christian Chronicle (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 16, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 17, 1952, newspaper, September 17, 1952; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1306249/m1/2/: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.