Watchman Magazine

“He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:15-19 ).

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus promised to build His church. In Mark 16:15-16 he instructed his disciples to teach all nations his word baptizing those that believe. On Pentecost following the ascension of Jesus those saved by obedient baptism were added by the Lord to the church Acts 2:37-47. To what church were they added by the Lord? Acts 2:47 simply states “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” What is meant by “the church” in this verse? We understand there was a group of God’s children working together in the area of Jerusalem to teach the Gospel. Was this the church to which the Lord added the saved? Is this the church that Jesus promised to build? If this is the church Jesus built then I must be a part of that assembly. To better understand the phrase “the church” we must understand what church means.

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This subject is perhaps the most argued, the most denied, and the most misunderstood among people who say they believe in God, in Christ, and say they are saved. I myself have debated this subject twice between November of 1998 and March of 1999. I affirmed that baptism was necessary for the remission of sins and my opponent denied this. Why is this such a controversial topic? Why such division on this subject when the New Testament is filled with references concerning the necessity of baptism?

Defining “Baptism”Baptism, as the word is used in the Bible, is “consisting of the processes of immersion, submersion and emergence …. to dip” (Vine’s Amplified Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, p. 62). Mr. Thayer defines baptism as, “to immerge, submerge …. to overwhelm, to be overwhelmed with calamities, of those who must bear them” (Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, p. 94). Therefore, baptism itself is an immersion in something. The context tells us the element. This will be made clear in our next point.

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The apostle John wrote, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15). A genuine profession of faith, upon which a faithful life is then predicated, creates a special covenant relationship between man and God, in which the two dwell together and in one another.

The New Testament goes so far as to make oral confession of faith a condition of salvation. Paul wrote, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10). One needs an obedient mouth as much as a believing heart in order to accept the offer of grace from the father of lights.

There will be those who see the word “condition” in paragraph two and immediately object, stating that confession is not a condition of salvation, but merely a component of faith, which alone does save. Such a Calvinistic suggestion is easily refuted by proving that it is possible to believe without making confession.

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“… but unless you repent you will all like-wise perish.” (Luke 13:3) The same requirement here stated regarding certain ones is elsewhere applied to all people, for “God commands all men everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:30) Because it requires a change of mind and subsequent life, repentance probably is the most difficult command of the Lord to obey. Involved in such obedience is a change from whatever cherished beliefs, practices, and attitudes conflict with God’s will to a life of service to God. Necessary to this change is one’s admission of his own wrongdoing, as well as the producing of fruit befitting repentance. (Acts 26:20) From such a course there is no recourse for one desirous of pleasing God. The coming judgment is used by the Lord’s apostle in Acts 17:30 to promote repentance.

In this study notice the emphasis placed upon repentance throughout the New Testament.

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IntroductionGod made man upright (Genesis 1:26,27; Ecclesiastes 7:29). Adam and Eve lived in perfect communion with God until sin separated them from Him (Genesis 3; Isaiah 59:1,2). When sin entered the picture, something else entered: A plan to save man. To the serpent, God said, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Sin made salvation necessary.

God purposed man’s salvation: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6).

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IntroductionNo subject is more important than that of religious authority. This is made clear by Jesus’ presentation of the judgment scene when some will say, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23). Iniquity is working without law, or violating existing law. These persons had done “many wonderful works,” but by the wrong authority. They claimed to have done them in the name of Christ, that is, by His authority, but Jesus denied it. Jesus did not question their sincerity, or their morals, but their authority. Sincerity, good morals, nor anything else can substitute for the proper authority in religion.All people understand the necessity of having a singular standard of authority in every realm but religion. We all are happy that we have a singular standard of authority in money, weights, measures, time, etc. What if you went to the bank to cash a check and the teller said, “Come on back and help yourself, we have no standard here.” You might think that would be great, but it wouldn’t be if your creditor used the standard of 500 or a thousand cents to the dollar. What if everyone could set his own standard in weights and measures? One merchant uses 16 ounces to the pound and another 26? What if you go to the airport to catch a plane to Chicago scheduled to leave at 12 noon, and the clerk tells you that plane left early this morning. You say, “but my ticket says it was to leave at noon.” The clerk says, “Oh, well, we don’t use those standards here, we just fly whenever we decide to.” Without standards of authority the world would be in hopeless chaos. That is precisely what we have in religion. Every man is a law unto himself, as in ancient Israel, “…every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). Sincerity, good morals, majority view, good feelings, emotion, etc. are all substitutes men use for the authority of Christ.

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“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).

So opens the most popular book in the world. The first verse also opens the book of Genesis, the record of man’s beginnings. One might think that such a book would open with a reasoned defense of why man should believe in God. It does not. Rather, it assumes the existence of God and begins with an account of creation.

The creation narrative cannot be separated from the Bible without undermining its foundation. Rejecting the creation narrative would undermine the following doctrines:

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This issue of Watchman Magazine marks a renewal of publishing the magazine after a two month lapse. Faithful visitors to the Watchman site are aware of the fact that the last issue of the magazine was posted at the beginning of November, 1999. I want to spend a moment giving a short explanation of what was “going on” behind the scenes, and to let you know what to expect in the future from Watchman.

First, let me thank you for your expressions of concern and support. Many emails were sent, and several phone calls were made. Some were curious as to my personal health, and others expressed concern that the voice of Watchman might cease. I feel I need to apologize for giving rise to such concern. In reality, the cause for the momentary cessation of publishing the magazine was much less serious.

Basically, the reason is I got very busy, and also that I got a small case of “Internet burnout”! Additionally, my fellow editors, Larry Fain and Tom Roberts have recently relocated. Larry to Lafayette, LA, and Tom to Longview, TX. This has precluded them taking as active a part in the magazine for the past several months. In fact, Tom is at present just now getting “settled in” at Longview, and most probably will not be actively involved in the magazine for the next 2 or 3 issues. I want to express my sincere appreciation to Larry for the editing of the theme this month, Rudiments of the Gospel. His help has allowed me to get a semblance of a schedule back for the magazine, and will help to ensure that future issues of the magazine are posted expeditiously.

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The question about abortion is certainly an emotional one. It has legal ramifications as well as moral. It has impact on a woman, her family, and her doctor. Ultimately, however, the question about abortion is a deeply rooted faith issue.

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled, in a Texas case entitled Roe, et al. v. Wade, “The Court’s opinion decides that a State may impose virtually no restriction on the performance of abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy.” (Justice William Rehnquist, dissenting). This case set the nation on a course of legalized abortion in unimaginable numbers. Over the first fifteen years after the Court’s decision, an average of 1,500,000 babies annually were aborted under the protection of Roe v. Wade. Doctors, hospitals and clinics all were faced with the ethical and moral question of whether or not to allow the legal procedure to be done or not.

The decision to abort reached into families, of the mother carrying the baby, of the man who fathered the child, and of the couple themselves. Emotional scars and division were the result of many decisions to simply remove the child from the consideration of a future life of parenting.

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