Watchman Magazine

Addicts are sometimes put on programs of rehabilitation involving “steps” to recovery. You may have seen advertised recently a three step program to cure tobacco addiction. There are also nine and twelve step plans for alcohol, drug and gambling addictions. In these programs, each step involves a specific action or behavior which typically is to be done before one advances to the next step. Step plans serve not only to help a person reach a desired goal, they are also an effective means of measuring progress towards that goal. Modern counselors and self-help specialists have discovered that step plans are very effective tools because they clarify for us what must be done to reach a goal and they help keep us focused on achieving it.

It has been said that pioneer preachers, in an effort to simplify the plan of salvation, condensed it down to a five step plan. Common people, addicted to sin, who heard restoration preaching could remember the five step plan simply by associating each step with a digit on one of their hands. They were told that they needed to Hear-Believe-Repent-Confess-and be Baptized (H-B-R-C-B) in order to be saved.

Some have suggested that the Bible does not actually contain these steps, and that insistence on following five steps amounts to binding where God has not bound and/or an oversimplification which leaves off other truths of equal or greater importance. Others think that if these are truly the steps one must take to be saved, surely God would have specifically stated this in a single passage of scripture; since no single Bible passage appears to contain all five steps, they conclude that God has no five step plan.

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Tabernacle Sermons, Volume 3, ca. 1928

In looking over this great audience assembled, I am reminded of days gone by. There is genuine appreciation in the heart of every one who loves the truth, because of the wonderful opportunities that are to us granted. I want to join Bro. Cullom in expressing appreciation of the presence of so many delegations from the various parts of our land. I want to thank, especially, our colored brethren for coming in a body this afternoon. To all of these services, you are most cordially invited. Unto God be all the praise and to us the encouragement. I think you ought to know that any man, appearing before an audience of this kind, is deeply impressed with the great responsibility resting upon him. I know that impressions are going to be made. God forbid that anything shall be said or done other than that which is in harmony with His will. I beg of you to study carefully and to consider thoughtfully all that may be said at this service.

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It was a little over 8 years ago that the world was shocked to see people sitting on top of the Berlin wall and even walking through openings in it. No event in my generation has so stirred the minds of Christians to think about foreign evangelism as this one has. Reports of possibilities and early efforts to take the Gospel into the affected countries appeared in almost every paper published among brethren. Some papers sprang up that were dedicated to reporting such matters. The result was the most comprehensive effort at taking the Gospel to the lost in other countries seen among conservative brethren in this age. Church cooperation in evangelism, in the scriptural sense, was demonstrated for all to see (cp. Phil. 4:15-16; 2 Cor. 11:8-9; 1 Thes. 1:8). But this is old news to most of us. What is our reason for bringing it up here?

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Aunque no nos demos cuenta, nuestra vida es una serie de búsquedas. En diferentes etapas de la vida, son diferentes las metas que procuramos. Pueden ser la educación, la seguridad financiera, la pareja, el poder, la realización de algún sueño, etc. Pero la búsqueda que sobrepasa fácilmente todas las demás es la búsqueda para la Verdad. Al fin de cuentas, las otras cosas jamás satisfacen aunque se realicen. Siempre habrá un poco más para lograr que queda fuera de nuestra alcance.

La naturaleza misma revela que existe un Creador supremo que lo diseñó todo. Al ver una casa se sabe que alguien la edificó. Al ver un reloj, ¡nadie diría que solamente apareció algún día al azar! Precisamente así, al ver las estrellas, las montañas, las flores–todo–sabemos por su belleza y función que la naturaleza es un diseño sin igual. Pero la parte más fascinante e inescudriñable es la vida. Nadie ha podido crear la vida de la inexistencia–ni flor, ni animal, ni mucho menos un ser humano con su razón y alma (¡una obra maestra!). Escribió hace mucho el famoso rey David: “Los cielos cuentan la gloria de Dios, Y el firmamento anuncia la obra de sus manos.” (Sal 19:1) Además, el apóstol Pablo escribió que por eso no debe haber ningún agnóstico: “Porque las cosas invisibles de él, su eterno poder y deidad, se hacen claramente visibles desde la creación del mundo, siendo entendidas por medio de las cosas hechas, de modo que no tienen excusa.” (Rom 1:20) ¡En el día final, nadie podrá decir que Dios nunca se reveló!

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There was much celebration that day in Jerusalem.

The Ark of the Covenant had been in the house of Obed-Edom for three months after a disastrous and unlawful transport that led to the death of Uzzah. The Lord had blessed the household of Obed-Edom and David had decided to bring the Ark up to the City. David and all the house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord with joy. As God helped the Levites who bore the Ark, they stopped to make generous animal sacrifices. David was clothed in special linens and he danced before the Lord with all his might to shouting, music and trumpets.

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Why do you read the Bible?

Some actually read the Bible looking for problems with God. For example, atheists and some religious persons read the Bible looking for what they conceive to be contradictory actions of God or contradictory scriptures. They hope to prove that the Bible is not the inspired word of God because it contains contradictions. We should not read the Bible to find problems with God or contradictory scriptures. The problem is not with God, but with mankind. It is mankind that has sinned. It is mankind that has acted contradictory. It is mankind that has made mistakes. The Bible is the perfect story of how mankind, with his problems, can be saved from sin through obedience to Jesus Christ. The Bible contains no contradictions!

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QUESTION: (1) “I believe the church of Christ was founded in Jerusalem in Acts 2, but I have a problem with this, because in Acts 7:38, the Lord’s church was already built in the wilderness during Moses’ time. What is your biblical answer about this, sir?

(2) “According to the Seventh Day Adventists, the church began in the garden of Eden, because the church consists of those who obey the commandments of God. Is this true also, sir?”

REPLY:

There are many theories about when the church, the kingdom of God, was established. It has been said: That the church was established before the foundation of the world; That it began in the garden of Eden; That it had its beginning in the days of Abraham; That it began during the mission of John the Baptist, and/or during the personal ministry of Jesus; That it began on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2; That it has not yet been established. How shall we respond to these varying views?

First, according to Daniel 2:44, the kingdom of God was not “set up” at that time; hence, it did not begin before the foundation of the world, in the garden, nor in the days of Abraham.

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Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

A simple verse with a very simple meaning. The first verse of the Bible, the word of God. In the beginning, the first day, at the start of time, at the initiation of the universe, God, the Almighty, the Supreme God, created, made from nothing, all that is. Do you believe this first verse of the Bible? It is amazing to me just how many people do not believe this verse, and especially how many professing Christians do not believe this very elementary passage of scripture. When I say that many professing Christians do not believe the verse, I mean that they do not accept it for just what it says. Somehow or another, they insist we must get the Bible to conform to “science,” whatever that is. After all, we have been taught all of this evolution stuff for so long, can they all really be wrong and we few Christians be right? Surely there must be some harmony between “science” and the Bible.

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A great deal of the preaching of pioneer America is preserved in books and periodicals brought down to us in printed form. In the Voices From the Past section of Watchman Magazine, we are blessed to have access to portions of books, articles, sermons and debates. Among churches of Christ, the names of those preachers who lived a generation or more ago have become household names due to their extant works. Thomas and Alexander Campbell, Barton W. Stone, Moses Lard, T. B. Larimore, Walter Scott and Benjamin Franklin, to name but a few, are still with us. Enormous benefit is received by those taking the time to locate, access and read the material from men of a past generation who gave themselves to a study and delivery of God’s word. Indeed, some of the best writing, most deliberate thinking, and clearest exposition of the gospel outside of inspired literature has been preserved in this fashion. At the same time, much of that literature has become our primer as we seek to avoid the mistakes of those among them who became dissatisfied with the appeal to the “old paths,” the “ancient order” (Jer. 6:16; 18:15; Prov. 22:28) and turned into denominationalism. For good or ill, they, being dead, yet speak (Heb. 11:4). It is a distinct blessing to have access to the wisdom from past generations. It is our desire that by bringing you Voices From the Past you will have wider access to the recorded history of gospel preaching and profit thereby. However, if some brethren have their way, there will be less recorded literature, not more. Objections are being raised to gospel oriented magazines and electronic recordings as though they are responsible for presumed bad attitudes among brethren.

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