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Transcript of Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 04) Jul
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8/10/2019 Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 04) Jul
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i
I
Often described as the most beautiful 17th-century
building in the world, the Ta j Mah al is a mauso-
leum of white marble and alabaster at Agra, India. It was
built by the Mogul emperor of Hindustan, Shah Jahan, be-
tween
1632
and
1650, as
a burial plac e for his favorite wife,
Mumtaz Mahall. Read about the experiences of our represen-
tatives as they visited interested PLAIN TRUTH readers in
lndi n n nd CQylon, hpginning on
pnge
5
McNair mbassador College
What our READERS
SAY.
1 hm.e rx-rrjxexl.
m y 6 ~ v
ww-
d hp-
GOOD NEWSmagazine which I found very
inspirational. I read the comments people
wrnte ahout
T h e
Goon NFWS nd would
like to have the November-December issue
sent
to
me if it is possible. There are some
articles in the magazine I would like to
read. In the March-April issue I enjoyed
reading about the African baptizing t our by
Harold L. Jackson.
J. C., Huntington Park,
California
When
The
Go on NEW S rrives I like to
read What Ou r Readers Say .. . first. Af-
ter
reading the
comments in
the March-
April- ssue, 1-realized tha t 1-had never wri t-
ten to say what
a
great issue the November-
December Goon NEWSwas. Being in a
country [Thailand] where there are many
illiterate, I see the need for more of Gods
truth. Just the other day my maid asked m e
where the rain came from and why when
it rained there were those colored strips in
the sky.
I
told her the story of the flood.
She said she had asked many Americans she
.hu
xnrkd h
An
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8/10/2019 Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 04) Jul
3/20
How
you can
RIGHTEOUS
CHARACTER
we 1 m d P . r s a d
d
kWe
cad
p qps
is * r i w Mfi
righteous character in human beings. But just what i s
character? Why
i s
i t such a p rimar y objective in our Chris-
tian lives?
Do
H A R A C T E R could be s imply de-
fined like this: Character is that
moral
or
spiritual force within us
which impels one
to unyiekding integ-
rity.
W e c o nc e de t h at a person has char-
acter when in the absence
of
external
constraint or coercion, he
or
she inher-
ently chooses the path of r ighc, hon-
esty, fairness, goodness and equity.
Character is not expressed by
forced
conformi ty to a prescribed standard
of
condu ct . B ut character
is
expressed and
s t r e n g t h e n e d w h e n t h a t c o n d u c t
spr ings f rom free
choice
of the individ-
ual.
C
Not Born With Character
W e are no t born wi th tha t k ind o f
c11aiactrI. W r
d u i i ~
rilicrir characrrr as
we migh t inher i t a s t rong body,
or
black hair,
or
blue eyes, or the he igh t
o f our f ramc. Wc cant be givven charac-
ter. Character is a spir i tual and moral
force that
I ~ ~ E L O P S
i thin a person.
But character is difficult
to
measure.
Tw o people may have character , bu t
they will probably differ in the strength
of that character the s trength of
which can only be expressed by the de-
gree
or
a m o u n t
of
temp tat ion, pressure
or
t r ia l necessary
to
ozjeqozoey that level
of
inner moral or spiritual force.
A
has character.
B
has character.
Subject the two of them to the rdme
tests, tr ials, pressures and temptations.
you
really know
HOW
to produce
GODLY
character?
by Alber t
J.
Portune
O n e may y ie ld , the o ther may no t . Th e
on e wh o doesn t yield has D E E P E R char-
acter than the one who does.
When we are under extreme pres-
sure, temp tat ion and stress nd st i ll
choose
the RIGHT course of act ion
then our character is deep. But when
we compromise under modera te cond i -
t ions
of
stress and pressure, then our
character is shallow.
Peters Example
Just before H is crucifixion, Jesus
said to His disciples, All
ye
shall be
offended because of
me
this night: for
i t is wri t ten,
I
will smite the shepherd,
and the sheep
of
th e flock shall
be
scat-
tered abroad (Matt . 2 6 : 3 1 ) .
Bu t Peter mpe tuous as he was
felr
rhat he had the moral force within
h i m
to
stay steadfast no matter what
would occur . Though al l men shall be
offciided bccause
uf
L ~ C C , i i h w c i c d
Fc-
ter, yet will
I
never be offended
(verse
3 3 ) .
How ever, Jesus well knew Pctcrs
weakness and replied, Verily
I
say
un to thee , That th i s n igh t , before the
cock crow, thou shalt deny me thr ice
(verse
3 4 ) .
But again Peter responded:
T h o u g h
I
should
D I E
with thee, yet
will
I not deny
t hee (verse
3 5 ) .
Later on, Peter did deny Christ . The
moral, spiritual force within Peter was
n o t m-ong rnnugh rn
C P I I S C
him to
s tay
steadfast and loval to Christ.
Th at same evening. another of the
maids saw Peter and said, This fellow
was also with Jesus of N azareth. And
he den ied Him again H e l ied He
broke several of the very command-
men ts of Go d that Jesus Chr ist had
taugh t .
After awhile still others came
to
him
and said, Surely you also are one of
them; for your speech betrays
y o u .
Then Peter began to curse and swear,
saying,
I DONT
KNOW THI: M A N
(verses
71-75. )
Again, Peters character
faded the
test.
Th en the cock crowed Peter re-
mem bered Jesus had told him
he
would do this very thing, and he wept
bitterly. This trauma in Peters life
so
moved him that he repented deeply,
and the remembrance of the exper ience
helped him
to
become a powerful
Iradcr in
Gods
Church
Daniels Three Friends
Lcts revicw anothei
rxainplc.
this
t ime in the third chapter of Daniel .
Nebuchadnezzar made a huge image
of gold and com manded cvcryonc
to
fal l down and worship i t when the or-
chestra played. B ut Sh adrach, Meshach
and Abednego refused. They knew
Gods command said
NOT to
b o w
down and worsh ip ido ls . And
so
they
were
facing
a test of
their character
Notice verse 14: Nebuchadnezzar
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2 The G O O D NEWS July 1972
spake and said unro rhem,
Is i r
rrue, 0
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, do
not ye serve my gods, nor worship the
goldcn
irnagc
which
I
havc sct u p ?
Now listen, Ill be fair with YOU,
Nebuchadnezzar may have whispered.
Forget the past
~
what
you
have said.
You just be ready at the time you hear
the sound of the m usic. If you will fall
down
next time,
and henceforth, and
worship the image
I
have made, O.K.
But if ye worship not, ye shall be
cast the same hour [before an hour is
gone) into the midst of
a
bu rnin g f iery
furnace; and who is that G od that shall
deliver you out
of
my hands? (Verse
1 5 . )
It was
a
very clear-cut choice. There
could be no compromise, no way out.
Either you
WI I . I .
bow down r you
1 l li
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
answered and said to the king, 0
Nebuchadneizar, we are not careful
to
answer thee i n this matter. If it be so,
our God whom we serve is able to de-
liver us from the burning fiery furnace,
and he will deliver us out of thine
hand,
0
king. But
i f
not
[if
He doesnt
choo se to spare our lives), be it known
un to the e , 0 king, that we will NOT
serve rhy
gods,
nor worship rhe golden
image which thou hast set up (verses
16-18) .
T h e y wrote their own death war-
rant
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full
of
fury.
You can well imagine hc
great king had dignified the episode
by
calling a special meeting, bringing
these
men
personally before him and
saying, I am going to play the music
again, and this t ime YOU
A R E
GOING
TO HOW DOWN, or you are
going
to
D IE And these three men of G od
stood r ight up
to
him and said they
would
NI:VI:R
worship the golden irn-
age
and the form of his visage was
c h a n g e d . .
.
(verse 19). You know the
rest of the story. But what is the les-
s o n ?
A choice had to be made. And that
spir i tual and moral force that was
within Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-
nego impe l led and empowered them to
choose the r ight , no mat te r wha t the
cost
W h a r abour your
U W N
characrer?
How much charac te r
do
you really
have? And most impo rtant of a ll s
i t gruwing
or i s
i t declining? Arc you
consistently making the r ight choices
and fo l lowing through?
Each of us in
Gods
Church has
our
ow n level of character . No ne of us has
been tested in the way Shadrach, Mesh-
ach and Abednego
were
bu t our
character is being tested For there has
never been
a
time in all the history of
this era of Gods Church since I have
been in it that the tests and trials have
been as deep and as profound and poi-
gnant and real as they are this year
The Character
of
God
Character is that one element in
Gods P lan and in Gods Kingdom
which even God cannot create at
W I L L
by div ine fiat.
God cant just say, Let there be
character, and suddenly there is char-
acter
I t just doesnt come into being
that way. Character cannot be made in-
stantaneously because it is a quality of
choice ometh ing that we have to
develop gradua l ly out of chooszng the
right and then
~ I N GT.
If God had created us
so
tha t we
would A L WA Y S do r ight, under every
circumstance, automatically because
there was n o oth er possibil i ty for us
be programmed individuals ike me-
chanical robots.
God
could create that
kind of bcing by thc mill ions, but wc
would never be sons of Go d For un-
less there is a choice
to go
one way or
the other there
is no
character in-
volved.
If the Father , or the Son, had no
choice, they would have no character
either. But G od is
a
G o d o f
choice
And
G o d h a s c h a r a c t e r
so
d e e p ,
so
profound,
so
ppyfprt,
t h a t
His
eternal
performance is absolute Th e backup of
all His laws is not automatic in the
sense that H e cannot under any circum-
stances cause things
to
happen other-
wise. If that were true, Go d wo uld no t
be God. But God, through His r igh-
teous character, will always do right be-
cause He does have
peYfect
character.
God has such righteous character
that th e choice is never a proble m.
God
CHOOSES
that He will never lie, for ex-
WC
could
1 laVC I 1 0
LhardLtCr.
We
would
m i p k har
is
why
God will never lie.
Gods Law will
A L W A Y S
go straight
down the l ine, and you can depend on
it ecause of Gods churucter
I t is important
to
realize t hat, b reth-
ren.
Th at kind of character
is
what
we
are
to
be developing
as
the begotten sons
o f God he k ind o f ABSOLUTE r ight
p e r f o r m a n c e t h a t
comes
f r o m t h e
strong, spir i tual and moral force from
within, which will a lways produce
right, good, holy, proper conduct.
Such conduct is not automatic But i t
can be developed t h r ough c on t inue d
making of RIG HT CHOICES, even under
duress or stress of temptation.
Result of Wrong Choice
But le ts notice an outstanding ex-
ample of a
wrong
choice. Commencing
in Ezekiel 28:12. we read: Son of
man, take up
a
lamentation upon the
king of Tyrus , and say unto h im, Th us
saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up
the su m, full of w isdom , and perfect in
beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the
garden of God; every precious stone
was thy cover ing.
.
the w orkmanship
of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was pre-
pared in thee in the day that tho u wast
C R E A T E D .
T h o u a r t t h e a n o i n t e d
cherub that covereth; and I have set
thee
so:
thou wast upon the holy
mounta in o f G od ; thou hast wa lked up
and down in the midst of the s tones of
fire. Thou wast
P ER F EC T
in thy ways
from the day that thou wast created,
till iniquity was
found
in thee.
This anointed cherub was Lucifer,
an angelic being o f th e very highest or-
der who had the ability of choice.
Now not ice I sa iah 14:12-15: How
a r t t hou c u t down
to
t he g r ound ,
which didst weaken th e nations For
thou hast said in thine heart [because
you had the ability
to
th ink , the abi li ty
to weigh, th e ability to rationalize and
to
compare and
to
CHOOSE], will [I
CHOOSE
TO] ascend into heaven, I will
exalt my throne
ABOVE
the stars of
God [all the other angels of God]:
I
will
s i t a lso upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north
[thats where Gods throne is]:
I
will
ascend above the heights of th e clouds;
I will be like THE MOST HIGH. Ye t thou
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8/10/2019 Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 04) Jul
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July 1972 The
GOOD NEWS
3
sha l t be brought down to hell, to t he
siacs
of t r i e p ir .
Under the stress of temptation and
lust, Lucifer
CHOSE to
do evi l . A high
wKLic
li mg
m l x k
WMYIVC TKYKX
e chose
to
rebel. Thats how he be-
came the devil
Why Character
Is
So Important
Satan
is g o i n g to
waridrr in the
blackness of darkness forever, foaming
out h is own shame
(see
Jude 13) be-
cause
he compromised
his
character.
H e disqualified himself fro m his posi-
t ion as one of the covering cherubim
over the very throne of the Creator of
the universe H e was thrown out of
heaven and soon will be driven out of
his office on earth because he did not
CHOOSE to exercise self-restraint, to uti-
lize
character
to
obey Gods Law al-
.Pr;5rLC.
Is character im por tant ? I t was in
Satans case An d wh at about yours?
Do
you think i t is important
to
be in
t h e K i n g d o m o f G o d ?
G od is reproduc ing Himse lf. But H e
cant m ake Sons of G od without charac-
ter.
To
become Sons of Go d , we m us t
develop character that is like Gods.
Character l ike His Sons who now sits
a t His r ight hand. Without charac te r
be expanded.
Every single
one of
us
has
been
called to be a king., a p i e s t and a ruler
in the Wor ld Tomorrow. Each of us
makes choices in
our
homes,
in our
cars, on our jobs, or wherever we are
every day. I f we comprom ise wi th w hat
we
know is r ight , do
you
th ink
i t is
impor tant
to
t he C r e ato r God ?
Every person who becomes a born
Son in Gods Family is
going t
hr
given t remendous POWER And tha t
power must be backed up by the r ight
kind of
C H A R A C T E R
he k ind of
deep
moral and spiritual
force
within that will
impel those persons
to
chose and do
the r ight, honest and pure thing al-
ways W e must begin deve loping tha t
kind
of
character
now,
or we will sim-
ply
NOT BE
G I V E N eternal life. Thats
why character is so important
.Ilk.
t b ; J3.L~
rZ;irg-&rr
.siqny ,r,?nwAr
Christ Has Led the
W a y
In Hebrews, the second chapter,
G od gives us a very clear look at where
we a re going and how we are
to
g e t
there. Norice, beginning in verse 0:
But one in a certain place testified,
saying,
What i s m m ,
that thou ar t
mim JL
-f, lim,?vL
h ~
m -fi mrfi,,
that tho u visitest him ? Th ou madest
him a l i tt le lower than the angels; thou
crownedst
him wi th g lory and honor ,
and didst set him [man) over the works
of
thy
harids
[and whar works
they
are
The dominion of the heavens and the
earth endless in scope and size,
beauty and majesty ):
Thou
hast put
all things in subjection under his feet.
For in that h e put a ll in subjection un -
der him, he left
nothing
that is
not (to
be] put under h im.
B u t now we
see
not yet all things
put under h im. But we see Jesus, who
was made a l i t t le lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, crowned
grace of God should taste death for
every man. For it became him, for
whom are all things, and by whom are
all
things,
in bringing many sons unto
[that same kind ofj glory, to
make the
C A P T A I N
[pion eer s Moffatt ren-
ders i t he one wh o showed the
way) of their salvation perfect through
sufferings (Heb.
2:6-10).
And in Hebrews
4:14-15,
we read:
priest, that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus the Son
of
Go d, let us hold fast
ou r profession. For w e have
nnt. an.
high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of
our
inf irmities, but
was in all points tempted like as we are,
Y E T WITHOUT
SIN.
Jesus
Christ led the
way. He is the
f irst one
to
qualify
to
be a Son of
God.
He is th e first to reproduce Godly char-
actrr l
How
A i r \
He do
i t? By m aking
right choices ontinually BY
N E V E R
COMPROMISING WI T H
S I N I N
THE
SLIGHTEST
In H ebrews
: 7 , we
find this remark-
able sta tement about Jesus: W h o in
the days of his flesh, when he had of-
fered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto him that
was able
to
save him from death, and
was heard in that he feared; thoug h he
were
a
Son, yet
learned
he
obedience
[What is obedience? Obedience is
choosing the r ight path, choosing the
goo d, the correct pa th in o ther
xrirl.
g h y
ad .hm;.
f,l.A*
Jy
,tkP
Lk%kg 5kw ;bac+ JJC
, b m r 2
gwL hgk
words, to paraphrase it He learned
characterf, by the things which he sutc
fered. And being made
perject
[by al-
ways choosing and d oin g r ight) , he be-
c-me
?re
h-o~wix& arnd
drv~iu-r i
[of the expansion of the Family of
Go d] u nto a ll them tha t obey him
who develop character l ike He did.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth had
to
exer-
cise character throughout His mortal
life. He didnt automatically become a
born-aga in Son of God. He didn t
automatically choosc and do light. He
could have sinned. He could have
failed and H e knew it But H e stayed
steadfast, and
He
learned character and
obedience because He was put to the
test
Tempted Severely
Jesus was tempted and tried in the
more
so.
In Mat thew
4 ,
we read how
the devi l tempted Him in one par -
ticular instance (out of many through-
out His human life) . Satan told Jesus
to turn stones into bread, appealing to
His hunger . He may have said word s
to
the effect, You are HUNGRY, youve
got
rhe power, you are the great Son of
man,
so
make yourself some loaves o ut
of these stones here. But hungry,
fully replied, Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by
every WORD
that
yncppnPrh.
QIU.d he- mmuh nf.
GYP
(verse
4 ) .
That is the kind of faithful
charactei
y o u and I
rired
iri r v r r y
trial
and vicissitude of our lives
Th en the devil too k Jesus u p on a
hig h place
of
the
Temp le, and said,
I F
thou be the Son of God, cast thyself
down: for i t is writ ten, He shall give
his angels charge
concerning
thee:
and
in their hands they shall bear thee up,
lest at any time thou dash thy foot
against a stone (Matt .
4 6 ) .
Now
h r
tried
to
appeal
to
vanity
IF
t hou
b e . . . And
Jesus
said to him, I t is
wr i t ten aga in , Thou sha l t not tempt
the Lord thy God (verse
7 ) . To
be
sure, Jesus
was
tempted to shut that
sassy mouth, and to throw Himself off
andprove that H e was the Son of G o d ,
bu t H e didnt hat would have been
sin
Finally the devil took H im to
a
high
S I T X ifTrflilWl* JJL- r ?lib 1TTszcIk
~rd;h K ~ td ~ ?
wfi;
jh i~
i i k -
(Continued
012
Page
1 6 )
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8/10/2019 Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 04) Jul
7/20
E a r l y this year, t w o repre-
sentatives of Ambassador
College had the opportun-
ity to visit interested
PLAIN
TRUTH
subscribers in India
and Ceylon. Aft er touring
several thousand miles,
they filed this report.
by Richard Frankel
and Chris Carpenter
around
to
a
five
and one-half day work
week, and this includes working Satur-
day mornings. In India there is a six
day work w eek, and mo st peop le are re-
quired
rn
work crN dcrli
on
Saturday.
Bosses are usually unsympathetic
to
any request for leave of absence on Sat-
urday. They fear it will
set
a n
un-
wanted precedent for others.
With Gods he lp , however , some
individuals have been able
to
overcome
this difficulty. The
two
young men we
baptized in Ceylon were obeying God,
including the keeping of His Sabbath.
O n e was the younger brother of a
young man baptized in
1969.
He is a t-
tend ing teachers training college and is
supposed to have classes on the Sab-
bath. However,
all
these Saturday
classes are fairly unimportant, and he
does not show up for them
So
far his
NDIA is
a land of str iking
contrasts
T he visi tor to the sub-continent is
repeatedly confronted by fabulous
wealth and terrible poverty,
awmome
beauty and awful squalor , tremendous
education and vast ignorance, powerful
potential and a s t a g n a n t economy
Not
the least str iking is the grip of a
very powerful religion
-
Hinduism.
And
yet ,
despite all the difficulties,
God is beginning to work in the l ives
of many individuals in India and
nearby Ceylon.
This
we found o u t
on
our recent seven-week tour.
I
The
I s l a nd
Nation
of Ceylon
W e began ou r t ou r o f S ou th Asia in
C e ylon . Wi th
a
popula t ion of
over 1 2
million people, Ceylon is an island
nation just east of the southern t ip of
India.
Here we foun d that G od was calling
many to the knowledge of the t ru th . In
Colombo, the capital ,
we met
2 1
inter-
ested subscribers in
less
than a week.
Two of these were baptized. Several
others will probably bc baptizcd
o n
thc
next tour , which
we
hope w i i i
be
in
the fall of this year or in the early part
o f
1973.
I n b o t h I n d i a a n d C e y l o n t h e
biggest init ia l stumblingblock to inter-
cstcd
people is
the keeping of
the
Sab-
ba th . C e y lon i s g r a dua l ly c om ing
absence has
not
been noticed because
classes
are
large.
The o ther young man bapt ized on
this trip has been tried severely on the
Sabbath issue. He asked for Saturdays
off,
but his boss refused. Realizing that
he would have to give up his job or
disobey God, hc wcnt and asked
God
in prayer to change his employers
mind. H e knew that if he lost his job
he would not be able
to
support his
family and they would
all
encounter
great hardship. But obedience to God
came first in his life.
Later that day, he went to see his
boss again. There had been a complete
change o f heart, and he was allowed to
have Saturdays off? God does work
things out for those who t rus t Him.
W e m e t
a
young lady in Colombo
who had also put God first in her life.
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INDIA- land
of contrasts
P l o i n T r u t h P h o t o
Sunrise on the Ganges.
She might have been baptized had cir-
cumstances not prevented
a
counseling
session.
God se e m s to be c a l l i ng m or e
people in Ceylon than in the rest of
South Asia . T he situation in Colom bo,
Ceylon, seems to be much the same
as
God told the Apostle Paul regarding
much people [who are to be con-
vert ezj in
tnis
city, (Acts
1 8 : l O ) .
L c k
G C Y ~+
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King Leopold Photo
Landscape in the Punjab.
about the exaltation of Mary and the
miracles at Lourdes and o ther Catholic
shrines. Many were wrapped up in su-
perstition concerned ab ou t spells,
black magic and other demonic in-
fluenres W e expla ined f rom th e Bible
that miracles were not the proof of
Gods true servants.
Several of the people we met were
unaware of the church aspect of our
Work. Their questions centered mainly
around news events and social trends.
W e found the handl ing of these v isi ts
both interesting and challenging. I t is
no t always easy
to
discuss these subjects
without direct reference to the Bible.
A
T r a g i c C as e
One Hindu we met to ld us a ra the r
tragic story which will help
to
illus-
trate some of the typical problems
faced by peo ple in In dia a nd o the r areas
of the East.
He
was a young man o f 23, tra ining
to
be a medical doctor . His personal
ambition had been
to
pursue an engi-
neering degree, but he had been forced
into medicine by family pressure. Fam-
ily ties and parental control are very
much stronger in the East than in the
W est. Parents discourage their children
from breaking from age-old traditions,
particularly cherished religious tenets.
A short t ime af ter , he had been
forced i nt o marriage because his father,
a teacher, was in financial difficulties
and wanted the dowry
w h i c h h i s
son
would get f rom the gir ls parents. The
marriage did not work. They spent
only
24
hours together and have since
been separated.
Shortly af ter, another gir l became in-
terested in the young man. However,
his parents would not agree to a mar-
r iage. In desperation the gir l commit-
ted suicide. The n his aun t died, leaving
him, a young bache lor wi thout in-
come, the care of two teen-agers.
Th e young man was a t the end of
his rope. H e felt his life had b een a f2il-
ure , no longer wor th l iv ing. Though
we tr ied
to
encourage him, even this
was very difficult because he was also
confused about Go d and re l ig ion, and
knew li t t le or nothin g abou t the Bible .
Stories like this really m ade us appre-
McNair
mbassador olleg
Primitive and modern transport i
Hyderabad.
ciate freedoms we in the Western
world have today.
E n c o u r a g i n g E x a m p l e s
A
much more encouraging example
was that of two brothers and a sister,
all three striving
to
obey God despite
the opposition of their fa ther . The sis-
te r , who
is
the eldest, is a young lady
doctor. She encounters many diffi-
culties in trying
to
follow
a
Christian
way of life, not the least
of
which ar2
the pressures of her profession. W e
pray God will give her the help to re-
solve hrr problems.
Her brothers, both also very inter-
ested, are
14
and
21.
The eldest is
studying for an engineering degree, but
is faced with the severe problem of im-
porta nt classes o n Saturday.
A
seemingly
insoluble Sabbath problem
is,
we re-
peat, the problem of almost everyone
we spoke
to.
W e can a ll pray tha t Go d
will help r l iuse pcuplr He is calling in
India and Ceylon to be able to obey
Him on th is point .
(Continued
on page 1 G
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W N
todays world fewer and fewer
1 eople
can really
be
trusted. It
seems that mankind in general is
-
becoming more disloyal and unfaithful
every day.
Politicians are known for preelection
promises which somehow never seem
to
be honored once they are in office.
Rare is the officeholder who is
loyal
to
the voters who elected him. I t seems
they always forget, or deliberately ig-
nore, the issues on which they were
elected.
National governments are no better
than the pol i t ic ians who compose
them. Peace treaties, even mutually fa-
vorable pacts, are only made
to
be
bro-
ken.
Because of selfish interests, nations
reserve the right
to
break a treaty when
i t
suits them.
T h e book of Proverbs sums it
up
well in chapter
20:6,
Many a person is
called kind, but a trustworthy [loyal]
man is a rare find
Moffatt).
Our
God Is
Loyal
But contrasted to m a n , o u r G o d can
be trusted.
We
can rely on His many
promises. Noti ce Deutero nom y 7
:9:
Know therefore that the Lord thy
God , he i s God , t he
fai thful
God,
which KEEPETH covenant and mercy
with them tha t love h im and
keep
his
commandments to
a
thousand gener-
ations.
Y o u can be
sure
t ha t Go d wil l no t
break His word
to
give us . . , eternal
life, which God that cannot lie, prom-
ised before the world began (Titus
1 : 2 ) ,
But wha t about us?
Are We
Still Loyal
to
God?
When we were baptized, we also
made
a
promise to God. Not ice Ro-
i s Loyalty.
Wh y i s loyalty such
a
vital
characteristic we, as Chris-
tians, must be developing?
by Colin
Adair
mans
6 : 3 - 4 :
Know ye not , tha t
so
many o f us as were baptized i nt o Jesus
Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore we are buried with him by
baptism into death: that l ike as Christ
was raised up from the dead
by
the
glory of the Father , even
so
we also
should walk
in
newnesj
o f
life.
This was what we
A G R E E D
to do.
To
forsake our own ways and lead a new
life
in obedience to all Gods com-
mand men ts.
Have we forgotten to
be
loyal
to
that agreement as t ime has gone by?
Have we let sins overtake us again so
that the conditions
of
the contrac t we
made have become blurred? Has Satan,
broadcasting to all people as he does,
persuaded you
to
be
disloyal to God
and His laws just a little bit, convinc-
ing you
i t
isnt all that important if
you dont keep every principle
of
Gods
law? If so, can you really expect God
to
feel bound
to
keep His part of the
agreement, seeing you have
broken
yours?
No, brethren, God expects you
to
be
LOYAL
to Hi m in everyth ing
Be
Loyal to
Gods
Work
Loyalty
goes
far beyond simple hon-
esty. Loyalty is required even in cases
when no specif ic promise or com ma nd-
ment is involved. G o d has called us
to
do a
job.
Loyalty on our part means
putting our hearts and efforts into that
job.
The church today is l ike a modern-
day Ezekiel, commanded
to
take
a
mes-
sage
to
the people and show them the
way
out of the i r mise ry and on in to the
Wor ld Tomorrow. God to ld Ezekie l :
Son of man,
I
have made thee
a
watchman unto the house of Israel:
therefore hear the word at my mouth,
and give them warning from me.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou
shalt surely die; and th ou givest him
not warning, nor speakest to warn the
wicked from his wicked way, to save
his life; the same wicked man shall die
in his iniquity; but his blood will I re-
quire
at
thine hand.
Yet
if thou
warn
the wicked, and he turn not from his
wickedness, nor from his wicked way,
he shall die in his iniquity; but thou
hast delivered thy
soul
(Ezek. 3:17-
19) .
This stern warning applies
to
Gods
Church. If any
of
us are disloyal in the
responsibility God has given us, be i t
in the paying of Gods tithes and giv ing
of oferings o r o u r Pra,yers as an ordi-
nary layman, He says we are preventing
His warning message from reaching
more
people
and are thus being DIS-
LOYAL TO
H I S
WORK
erhaps you
never thought of this as being disloy-
a l ty , but i t i s
Look at i t this way. Suppose
you
are
a member
of
a basketball team and
your captain institutes practices three
days a week, stressing that the success
of the team depends on
every man
showing up faithfully
for
practice and
giving of himself wholeheartedly. But
you contin ually m iss practices and treat
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July 1972 The
G O O D NEWS
9
the affair lightly. Eventually, the cap-
tain would replace you with someone
else
who would be loyal
to
the team.
You1 clisloyaliy wuulcl rvciitually re-
move you f rom your posi t ion.
So
brethren,
i t
is imperat ive that we
R E M A I N
LOYAL
to G o d s W o r k
to
re-
main on His team, les t God gran t
s o m eo n e
else o u r
places.
We are all in this great W o r k to-
gether. W e m u s t a ll work together as a
team. I f any one of
us
l et s d o w n , w e
hold
hack
and affect
the
whole team
Loyalty
to
Gods Work means d i l i -
gence as well . God counts half -hear t-
edness as disloyalty. Cursed be he that
doeth the work of the Lord negligently
[ m a r g i n ) . (Jer. 48:lO).
So
if you
miss out on praying daily , s tudying the
Bible di l igently , looking for ways to
serve , keep ing the W o rk uppermos t in
your mind, then i t is the same as being
disloyal
to
t h e Wo r k o f G o d . Pe r h ap s
we haven t thought abou t i t th i s way ,
but its true nevertheless.
Learn
to
be 100 percent loyal
t o
the
part God has given you in
His Work
Bc Loya l
to
Those
God
Sets Over You
G o d u s e s h u m an i n s t r u m en t s t o d o
H i s
Work
and
to
oversee the Church.
W e a re c o m m a n d e d
to
O b ey t h em
that have the ru le over you , and submi t
yourselves: for they watch for your
souls , as they that m ust give acc ount,
that they may
do it
w i t h joy, an d n o t
with gr ir f : for
r h a r
is unprof i table for
you (Heb . 13 :17) .
But where should you stand in the
cvcnt
onc
God has set i n an office u v r i
you is not d o i n g all that he should do?
Y o u should st il l be loyal . Th e l i fe of
David provides an outs tand ing cx-
ample in this respect.
David was loyal
to
King Sau l , even
when Saul was out
to
kill him. Even
though Saul had been rejected by God,
David did not feel it was his preroga-
tive to usurp Sauls author i ty . Da vid re-
alized he had no right to treat with
contempt the off ice Saul s t i l l held.
N o t i ce I Sam u el 2 4 : l - 6 : A n d i r
came to pass, when Saul was returned
from following the Phil is t ines, that i t
was told him. saying. Behold, David is
in the wilderness of Engedi . Then Saul
took th ree thousand chosen men o u t o f
all Israel, and went
to
seek David and
h is men upon the rocks
of
the wild
goats . And he came
to
the sheepcotes
by
tlir way,
w h r r r was
a cave; and Saul
went in to cover his feet : and David
and his men remained in the s ides of
t h e cav e . .
Then David arose , and cu t
off
the
skirt of Sauls robe privily. A nd it came
to pass afterward, that Davids heart
smote him, because he had cut off
Sauls
skir t . And he said unto his men,
T h e Lord forbid that I should do this
th ing un to my mas ter , the LORDS
anointed, to s t r e tch fo r th mine hand
against him , seeing he is the anointed of
the
LORD.
In another incident , David again
had the oppor tunity to ki l l Saul .
H u m a n l y s p e a k i n g
i t
w o u l d h a v e
seemed the r ight thing
to
d o , k n o w i n g
that he would immediately become
kin g himself in Sauls place. But David
again restrained himself from such ac-
t ion ou t of loyalty t o Sauls ofice.
And David said
to
Abishai , Destroy
him not: for who can stretch for th his
hand against the LORDSanointed, and
be guiltless? (I Sam. 26:9.)
From t ime
to
t ime the ministers of
Gods Church are transferred
to
new
areas.
Y o u
need
to be
as loyal
to
the
new minister as you were
to
t h e o n e
who lef t for another assignment. Re-
member, it is GOD who places each
man in his respective office. W e can see
the principle clearly by observing the
succession of Joshua
to
the office
Moses
held.
An d the Lord said un to
Moses,
T a k e
tlirr J u h u a
rlic
son of
N u n , a
man i n w ho m is the spir i t , and lay
th ine hand upon h im; and se t h im be-
fore Elcazar thc pricst, and beforc all
the congregation : and g ive h im a
charge in their s ight . And thou shalt
p u t s o m e o f t h i n e h o n o u r u p o n h i m ,
that al l the congregation of the chil-
d ren o f Is rael may be obed ien t (N u m .
2 7 :18-20).
Disloyalty to those over
u s
is abhor-
rent to
God. He
cannot use anyone
who
h a ? t h i s t r a i t . Do
you
r emember
what happened to Korah and his asso-
ciates who despised the office Moses
h el d ( N u m . 1 6 ) ? G o d u p h o l d s t h e n f-
fice of those over us and expects us to
do the same.
Be Loya l
to
Your
Employer
I .ah n r / ma
nagem en
t
relat ions proh-
lems perpetually plague the world of
commerce and industry. Workers strike
to achieve their ends, justified or unjus-
tified. Many are out
to
make as much
money as they can with as little effort
as possible. They have no loyalty to
company, supervisor , or employer .
But God tel ls Chr ist ian employees
to set an example of fai thfulness and
service, so Gods name wil l
not
be blas-
phemed. Let as many servants {em-
ployees] as are under the yoke count
their own masters [employers] worthy
of all honour, tha t the name of God
and his doctr ine H E NOT H L A S P H E M E I )
( I
T i m . 6 : l ) .
Exhor t servants [employees)
to
be
obedient
unto their own masters [em-
ployers], and
to
please them well in all
things; not answering again; not pur-
lo in ing , bu t
showing all good fidelity;
that they may adorn the doctr ine of
God our Sav iour in all th ings (T i tus
2 :9-10) .
Servants, be obedzent to them that
are your masters according to the flesh,
with fear and trembling,
in
singleness of
yourheart, as un to C hrist ; not with eye-
service, as menpleasers; but as the
ser-
vants
of
Christ , doing the wil l
of
G o d
from ie hear/;
with goodwi l l do ing
ser-
vice, A S
TO
THE LORD, and not
to
men
Paul made i t plain
t l i a t
w c arc lo
consider service
to
o u r h u m an em -
ployer the same as service t o Jesus CbriJt
H i ~ n ~ c v
But what if your company treats its
workers selfishly and dishonestly?
Scrvants, be
s u l j c c i
iu your masters
with al l fear ; not only to the good and
gentle , but also to the froward. For this
is thankwo rthy, i f
a
man for conscicncc
toward God endure gr ief , suffer ing
wrongfully ( I Peter 2:18-19).
I f you
h a v e
a good and thought fu l
employer, especially one who is also a
member o f Gods Church , i t is easy to
forget he
is nl to over
you.
But you
shou ld
respect
him as an employer and
boss, giving him loyalty in man-hours,
hard work and dedicar inn, s P a u l said
in I T i m o t h y 6 : 2 :
And they that have believing mas-
(Eph. 615-7).
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10 The
GOOD NEWS
July 1972
L C I ~
crriploycis], Icr
them nor despise
th cm , because they are brethren ; but
rather do them service, because they are
faithful and beloved, partakers of thc
benefit.
,
Tardiness. absenteeism, and a sloth-
ful approach
to work
can
earn
you dis-
missal from outside companies, but
some
o f
us expect our b rother-employ-
ers to p u t u p with such disloyalty wirh-
out compla in t
O f course the employer wh o is a fel-
low
member
o f
Gods Church
is
more
hesitant to correct
or
fire a worker who
is
also in the faith. But this is all the
more reason for
us to
avoid tardiness,
ahsenteeism and slo th, and to be one
hindred percent a i t h f d dnd loyal
Be Loya l to Those U n d e r You
Loyalty
is
a
two-way street. I t
is
hypocritical being loyal only to those
over you and
n o t
also
to
your subordi-
nates. Even David made this mistake.
H e was disloyal
to
one of his devoted
soldiers who remained absolutely loyal
to
him. and this led to the greatest of
al l the sins David committed.
We
read the account in I1 Samuel
11:6-17. Uriah was one of the to p war-
riors in D avids army I1 Sam.
23:39),
noted foi- his bravery and v a lo r . Uriahs
unfail ing loyalty and devotion con-
trasted greatly with Davids disloyal
and despicable
action
toward him. To
cover up his adultery with Uriahs wife,
D;ivid finally resorted
to
murder .
A n d
i t came t o pass in the morn
ing, tha t
David
wrote
a letter
to
Joab,
and
sent i t
by the hand of Uriah. And
h r wro t r
in
t h e Ictter, saying, Set ye
LJ r i a h in the forefront of the hottest
battle, and retirc ye from him, that he
may be smitten, and
die. And
i t came
to
pass, when Joab observed the city,
t h a t he
assigned Uriah unto a place
where he knew that valiant men were.
And the men
of
the city went
o u t
and
fought with Joab: and there fell some
of the people of the servants of D avid;
and IJr iah the H itt i te died
also
(verses
14-17).
D a v i d
sinned. And for this sin Da-
vid paid dcarly, though he was com-
pletcly forgiven when he repented.
You who arc over others, do you
give them the same loyalty you expect
to
reccive from t he m ? Husb ands, are
y o u
loyal
ro
your wives, your children?
Do
you back
up
your wives when it
comes to the important subject of child
rear ing? O r do
you
fall down in this
respect?
In admon ishing servants
to
be faith-
ful and loyal to
their masters,
G o d
a t
the same time tells the masters
to
b e
loyal
to
their servants. Notice Eph-
es ians 6.9.
And
you
masters, do the
same things unto them, forbearing
threatening: knowing that your Master
also is in heaven; neither is there rc-
spect of persons with him.
And again in Colossians 4 : l : Mas-
ters, give unto y o u r servants that w hich
is just and equal; kno win g that ye also
have a Master in heaven. Those who
are not loyal to those under rhcm, who
dejraud their employees and hold back
their just and equal wages, will have
to
answer to G od (see James 5 : l - 5 ) .
God demands we be loyal to those
under our author i ty , a s H e wh o is
over all s loyal
to us
Be Loyal to Your Word
At the beginning of this ar t ic le we
saw that God is loyal
to
H i s W o r d ,
that we can have faith in what H e said.
He expects us to be the same.
Do you
recall wh at Jesus said ab out
not swearing today? T he account is in
Mat thew
5:33-37:
Again, ye have heard that it hath
been said by them of old t ime, Thou
shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt per-
form unto the Lord thine oaths: but I
say unto you,
Swear
not
at all;
neither
by heaven; for it is Gods throne: nor
by the ea rth; for it is his footstool: nei-
ther by Jerusalem; for it is the city of
the grea t King. Ne i the r sha l t thou
swear by thy head, because thou canst
not make one hair white or black. But
let your communication be, Yea, yea;
Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than
these cometh of evil .
I n O l d T e s t a m e n t t i m e s G o d s
people, like others, often backed up
their promises or sta tements with ar .
oath taken before God,
or
by using
Gods name. They felt this bound them
to te ll the truth, or
to
do as they said.
But Christ tells us that our word as a
New Testament Christian
should be
enough
W e shou ldn t
need to
have any-
th ing
to
suppor t what
we
promise.
When we say we will do something,
everyone should know we mean it
\el
it ib
a
sad
f x r rhar
some of
us
break promises on the slightest excuse.
W e don t see tha t
i t
matters very
much.
By this action
w c
manufacture a
credibility gap for ourselves. And we
break
t h e N i n t h C o m m a n d m e n t w h ic h
tells us
NOT to
bear false witncss
But wh a t sha ll we do w hen w e make
arrangements or promises with every
good
and
right
intention,
and then
la ter something crops up preventing us
from fulf i l l ing our word? In this case
we are
obligated to explain about our
change of plans and apologize for not
being able to carry out what we said.
B u t
some
of us dont even do that
S u c h n e g l i g e n c e m a k e s o n e u n -
trustworthy and disloyal to others.
They will find it difficult to believe
what such a one says in the future.
Notice Proverbs 13:17: A wicked
[untrustworthy, disloyal]
messenger
falls into mischief: but a faithful am-
bassador is health. We, brethren, are
ambassadors for Christ.
We
natlst be
loyal and faithful, establishing a reputa-
tion for be ing men and women of our
word
1
Loyalty
Will Be
Rewarded
Many ages
ago
a
great
archangel be-
came disloyal
to
his Creator and tried
to usurp Gods authority and p osit ion.
As a result, Lucifer was
cas t
d n w n
a n d
soon will be dismissed from his gov-
ernmental office.
Similar ly, no Christian who
is
dis-
loyal or unfaithful may qualify for a
posit ion in Gods future government
on earth. We m us t prove our
loyalty
to
G o d i n
every aspect
o f
ou r
lives
NOW
Go d must know w e wil l
remain loyal
to
H im for e ternity. H e will not have any
potential adversaries in His family, so
we must prove
H E R E
and
NOW
that we
will
never
follow the path Satan took
For only the absolutely L O Y A L will
qualify for rewards in the Kingdom of
God .
Remember, God is loyal to us. He
wont le t
UJ
down . He promises tha t a
faithful {loyal] man shall abound with
blessings (Prov.
28:20) . So
be loyal
and you will inherit those blessings
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Teach
Your
Children
About
God
N e v e r b e f o r e h a s t h e
younger generation been
so ignorant about God and
His
Law. This
article gives
you concrete, usable guide-
l ines for teaching YOUR
small children about God,
about creation, about His
plan, about l i fe.
by Arch Bradley
receive many letters from
perplexed parents who do
not know how to give their
five-year-old children simple, straight-
forward answers to their questions
about God and the Bible. Here is a typ-
ical letter from a member of Gods
Church
:
Please s d ny literature you have
regarding teaching children about
God. Yesterday my five-year-old
son,
Greg,
asked me what God looks like.
Of
course, I
answcrcd him,
but
only
in
general terms. The blank look
on
his
little face told me
I
had not fully
satisfied his curiosity.
I
want
to
teach
him the truth about
God
.but
am
not
sure how to go about
it.
H o w w o u l d YOU have answered
l i t t le Greg? (See Rev.
1:13-17;
G en .
1 : 2 7 ;
Ex.
9 : 3 ;
ob 1:11 for help.) More
impor tan t , how have you answered sim-
ilar questions for your children? Arc
you fulfilling your role as T E A C HE R o f
your children?
A T e s t
Lets find out Give your child
a qu ick qu iz . How many
of
these
questions can your three-year-old an-
swer?
How did the fi rs t man and woman
come to b e?
W h o bu il t an ark , and why?
Who is Gods son
What does God look l ike?
Where does God l ive?
Granted, young children vary a great
deal in their ability
to
learn. But as
soon as they can put words together to
make sentences, they should be able
to
comprehend these things.
Realize, brethren, that God holds
you as parentspersonally responsible for
teaching your children His
way
Hear
Gods charge: And you must think
constantly about these com mandme nts
I am giving you today.
You
must teach
them
to
your children and talk about
them when you are at home or out for
a walk; at bedtime and the first thing
in the morn ing (D eut . 6:6 -7 ,
The
Liv
ing
Bible).
Here are a few basic guidelines to
follow as you teach your children some
of the most precious and vital knowl-
edge they will ever learn
Po r t r ay Gods Word
A ccu ra t e l y
Before you attempt to teach your
boy o r girl a lesson o r relate a particular
incident from the Bible, be sure you
can portray i t as Gods Word
tells
it . In other words Tell it l ike
it is
To do this, Y OU must s tudy Gods
W or d daily yourself now what
is
in the Book. Then you wil l have
ready answers to questions like litt le
Gregs.
Beware of letting subtle errors or
misconceptions creep into your teach-
ing. Dont rely on books A B O U T the
Bible. Many Bible story books for
children are saturated w ith unscriptural
concepts, or vie for their interest with
exciting and violent fiction like cheap
novels or comic books. Biblical inci-
dents are often taken out of context.
Their real connection with the very
purpose
of
life is ignored.
And even pictures are misleading
Biblical characters usually appear in
various supposedly spiritual posi-
tions, generally with arms outstretched
toward
a
rock, tree, or cloud, with far-
off,
contemplative expressions on their
faces. But in reality, Biblical persons
were D Y N A M I C , A C T I V E ,
F OR C E F U L
A n d t h a t is wha t you should convey to
your children.
U s e a n A p p r o a c h A p p r o p r i a t e
for T h e i r A g e s
Your children love to hear stories
from the Bible such as the story of
Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel , Noah,
Abraham,
Moses
and events in the life
of Jesus. F or exa mple , my three-year-
old particularly enjoys hearing about
Jesus chi ldhood how He grew up
in a small mountain town, was able to
enjoy swimming in a nearby lake, and
hiking in the surrounding hills. One
thing for all to beware of, of course, is
excessive fictionalizing. I use this op-
portunity
to
po int ou t Jesus perfect
character ow H e shared His posses-
sions with others, was obedient to His
parents, erc.
As
your child grow s older say
hes eight or ten each him ho w the
Proverbs relatc
to his
cvcryday lifc.
Th is will take considerable foreth ough t
on your part in some cases. But take
just one proverb a t
a
t ime
such
as
Proverbs 15:18 in The Living Bible: A
quick-tempered man starts fights; a
cool-tempered man tries
to
stop them.
Before at tempting to teach your
eight or ten-year-old this lesson, sit
down with pencil and paper and think
of all the various applications this
proverb may have in his relationship
with other children, with his teachers
a t
school, with you n other words,
with any and everyone he normally
comes in contact with.
T h i n k
of
WHY and HOW your child
will benefit by inculcating the principle
of this proverb into his life. Write
these points down as you think of
them and you will have a very effective
Bible study.
Another way
to
teach the Proverbs
is to create hypothetical situations,
then ask your child to explain the cor-
rect course
of
action
based u p o n
one
of
the Proverbs. This method stimzllutes
your child
to
make Gods laws an ac-
tual part of his thinking.
A l w ay s T each Sp i r i t u a l L ess on s
Remember this.
Your
child can
know the various Bible characters and
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NEVER
GIVE
IN
W h e n s e v e r e t r i a l s c o m e i n t o y o u r l i f e ,
d o y o u e as i l y g i v e in ? Or d o yo u g i r d
u p y o u r lo in s a n d ENDURE ADVERSITY
w i t h u n f li n ch i ng f a i t h i n Go d ? Th is i nsp i r -
i n g ar t ic l e s h o w s h o w
Y O U
c an d e v e l o p
t h a t v i t a l i n g r e d i e n t n e c es s ar y f o r t r u e
success
-
ERSEVERANCE
by
John D. Schroeder
N th i s cen tu ry , Wins ton Church i l l was an ep i tome
of
perseverance a colossus of refusal to surrender to
the adversary.
Never give in , he said, never , laez~er, NEVER,
N E V E R ,
in no th ing g rea t o r smal l , la rge o r pe t ty ever
give in except to convict ions
of
honor and good sense .
w h e l m i n g m i g h t o f t h e en em y
That John Bull determination to overcome any
a n d
all
obstacles , coupled with his personal abil i t ies and
will ingness to work, made Churchil ls l i fe an inspirat ion
to mil l ions.
And tha t same quali ty ,
perseverance,
will make the
difference between success and failure in our lives.
I
N F V F R
yield
to
force,
NFVFR
yield
to
t h e
dPPdrPnt4
over-
When Things Go Wrong
Life has i ts bleak mo me nts when everything
seems wr on g when even obedience to Gods laws
Courtesy
Col.
Frank
Reed
BULLDOGGED
TENACI TY
inston Churchill
inspects captured Nazi missi le s i te near
Cherbourg, France, in
1944.
Churchills refusal to
give in to a seemingly insurmountable adversary
inspired a beleaguered people to press on toward
victory
seems, on
the su$acc,
only to br ing
more
dishear tening
results. Sometimes years can
go
by, with no apparent
blessing s w e mortals tend to reckon blessings. But
we need
to
real ize that God does
not
always see things as
we do.
Tak e the exam ple of Joseph, the elder son of Jacob
and Rachel
O n e
can
hardly
say
he deserved his trouhles.
In his case, the envy of others was to blame.
Josephs brothers could hardly tolerate his favored
posit ion in the family hey hated him for the beautiful
coat their father had given him . But when he began to tell
them of his highly implicat ive dreams hat they and
their father would one day bow before him hey were
fit
to be t ied So they g ot r id of him old him as a
slave and convinced their father that he was dead, stealing
and ruining his beautiful coat in the process.
Later, in E gypt, Joseph was sold again his time to
the rulers chief executioner . Hardly a nice or enc ouraging
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14
The GOOD NEWS
July 1972
position to be in. And all
ot
this be-
cause he was one wi th who m Go d was
dealing.
Soon. thiqg s pot worse.
The
exeu l -
tioners wife made
a
play for him, and
he refused her. He wisely obeyed God.
And what d id
lit.
gct f u r h i s m u n c h
m o r a l i t y ? T h e p r o v er b ia l w o m a n
scorned then deceitfully forced her
cr ud rcvcngc by sccing him thrown
in
jail . For obeying Go d he was thrown in
a d a rk d u n g eo n w i t h n o h o p e of escape
or release ~
a
forgotten man.
D a r k e s t J u s t B e f o re t h e D a w n
So there
y o u have
i t . God begins to
dedl with the man . Th ings go wel l fo r
a l i t t le while nd then
liVERYIHING
fallc apart
O r
cn i t appears
Of course, when we read the rest of
the s tory, everything becom es clear. In
just a few more paragraphs, the whole
si tuat ion is changed. All has worked
o ut beautifully. Joseph was finally rec-
ognized, was made K l I l . I i K directly in
association with the chief Pharao h of
Egypt, his entire family was reunited
and b rought to Egypt to be near h im,
and was joint ly given the best of the
nations land. The complete s tory is
touching and beautiful .
B u t
if YOU
h ad b e en J o s e p h . .
Would you have patiently endured al l
the af f liction, pain, discourag ement and
suffer ing, without giving up or los-
ing fai th in God?
Says
the word of Go d, I f you f a in t
i n t h e day of adversity, your strength
is
small
(Prov.
2 4 : 1 0 , Ampliped Bible).
Y O L Iwouldnt have been able to
see
rhe end f rom the beginning any more
perfectly
than
Joseph could. The neat
and encouraging paragraphs wou ld no t
yec llavr bccn
w i i t t c i i . Yuu wvulcl b i r r i -
ply have been robbed of your favorite
clothes a n d
sold as
a
Jduzv
i n t o t h e
worst possible situation.
Y o u
would
not speak or understand the language
of the man you worked for. His wife
would have been making seductive pas
ses a t yw.
And
Y O L ~ f you had
obeyed
God
would have found
yourself
t h r o w n
in j:iil - and forgot-
ten .
You would probably rue the day
you got that beautiful garment frnm
you r father and you might even
wish you had never had those special
dreams. You w ould certainly wish you
had kep t qu ie t abou t them. But there
you would be. In jail. In a foreign
muntp &pu- td fmm exey.tfii~gd
everyone you knew and loved.
A prjs
oner , no t gu i l ty , bu t pun ished .
This kind of biruation
is
far from
being an isolated case. God always
deals with people as
He
knows is best.
In cverything, He wants His peuplr LO
develop faith in the fact that H e
IS
i n
control whether or not things may
look g o o d f o r t h c m o m en t .
The go lden sky comes a t the
end of
the s torm he silver l inings in
clouds
arc
not apparcn t a t
first.
A n d
only th rough our pa t ien t ly e ndur ing
and U S I N G the exper iences that come
o u r way do we dcvelop enduring
fuith
i n G o d .
Tr ia l s mus t come, though in con-
trast
to
Joseph,
we
are often responsible
ourselves for the troubles that come
our way. We create our problems
through our own shor tcomings, o r we
force God to correct us when we dis-
obey His laws or pr inciples , even w hen
we aren t aware of what mistake we
may have been making unti l God
makes it clear to us in His unmistak-
able ways.
But in ei ther case, to let God d o
His
incredible work in ou r lives we have to
EN D U RE chas t i sement , knowing tha t
G od punishes us for our eternal welfare
an d g o o d ,
as
a loving father spanks his
ch i ld ren (Heb .
12 :5 -11) .
T h e T r i al s o f a P r o p h e t
Jeremiah was a prophet o f God -
man used m ighti ly in his t ime. He co n-
stantly warned Gods people of im-
pen ding clisaster hecaucr nf f h ~ i y
sins. And then he l ived through that
same disaster
Jeremiah
had heen thrown
i n to
a
cis-
tern by King Zedekiahs subordinates
(Jer. 38:6; Lam. 3 : 5 2 - 5 7 ) .
He
suffered
terrihly himcelf during the overthrow
of Jerusalem because
they
had re-
fused to change. His personal reaction
to severe trial is among the finest exam-
ples recorded in the history
of
Gods
people.
No tice Jeremiahs reaction his
suffering under the stress of Gods
wrath and his own subsequent change
of attitude and resolve
to
continue to
seek
G o d , to trust i n H i m .
At f irs t, almost to the point of ut ter
, p~a?i:kp x ~ d . iTirtlk IITAT
w h n h a x
wxm thr-
f i k t ~ ~ 7 . s
har,
L L ~
f rom the rod o f Gods wra th . He has
turnrd
against
me.
Day and night his
hand is heavy on me. He has made me
old and has broken my bones . . . He
has wallcd mc in ;
I cunnot escape,
he has
fastened m e with heavy chains. And
t h o u g h I cry and shout,He will not hear
my prayers (Lam . 3:l-8,
The Living
Bible.)
Have
YOU
ever felt so sure things
could never work
out?
Is there some-
thing in this exper ience that perhaps
each o f us migh t use a t some t ime in
o i i r lives) There surely is
Notic e how Jeremiah continued his
personal lament:
He
lurks like a bear,
l ike a l ion, wait ing to a t t ack m e . .
. .
M y o w n p eop l e l au g h a t m e . . H e
has filled m e w ith bitterness. .
He
has
m ad e m e to eat gravel and broken my
teeth; he has rol led me in ashes and
d i r t . . I have forgotten what enjoy-
m e n t is. A L L HOPE IS G O N E ; my
strength has turned to water, for the
Lord has lef t me..
I can N E V E R forget these awful
years;
always
my soul will live in utter
shame (verses
10-20).
A
PROPHET
OF
GOD
uttered those
pathetic words - n personal anguish
nder severe trial. Amazing, isnt it,
that in the l ives of those g ian ts whom
God has used as examples of success
and spir i tual power , there have been
mo men ts of ter r ible depression of
near
loss
of hope.
All hope certainly appeared g o n e .
Th e p rophet a lmos t gave in . Bu t no t
co~iiplcrcly.Hc srarched
his
mind for
what he had learned of God t h r o u g h
years of exper ience. He thought beyond
his immcdiatc trial. And he thereby
en-
dured , w i th the he lp o f God . Not ice :
Yet there is one ray of hope: his
compassion N E V E R ends.
It
is only thc
Lords mercies that have kept us from
complete destruct ion.
Great
is his faith-
fulness; His lovingkindness begins
afresh each day. My soul claims the
Lord as my inheritance; therefore I
will
h o p iv him T h e Lord is
WONDER-
F U L L Y
GOOD to those who wait for
h im, to those who seek for him. I t is
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July 1972 The GOOD NEWS 15
good
b o t h to hope and W AI T QUIETLY
for the sulvution
of
the Lord
It is
good
for a young man [or
W U I I I ~ ] to b c u i i d c r d i s c i p h c ,
for
i t
causes him
to
sit apart in silence be-
neath the Lords demands, to lie face
downward
in
the dus t ; then a t last
there is hope for him [or her).
.
TH E
LORD
W I L L NOT
ABANDON
HI M F OR -
E V E R . A l t h o u g h G o d
gives
him grief,
yet he will show compassion too, ac-
cording to the greatness of his loving-
kindness. For he does
NOT
enjoy afflict-
ing men and causing sorrow (Lam.
3
: 2
1-33) .
T h e n Comes D el i v e ran ce
Jeremiah was removed from the trial
just when he thought he was
ruine d. H e cried desperately to G o d fo r
deliverance, and at t he last possible mo -
me nt , God l i fted him from th e t rial
(Lam.
3:54-57).
Trials don t really end thing s hey
make new and better things possible
whe n stron ger, wiser character has been
formed.
Remember Jobs example? He had
been seriously self-righteous and God
had let him endure severe trial
o
bring him to his senses. But as soon as
the lesson was learned, as soon as Job
recognized Gods unspeakable great-
ness in contrast with his own help-
lessness, God could again begin to
bless him. Then, when Job pruyed for
his friends
[he finally got his mind off
himsur ) , the Lord restored his weal th
and happiness In fact, the Lord gave
him
T W I C E
as much as before (Job
42.10, The Liuing
Di6le).
A f t e r A l l ,
WHO
A R E
WE?
We k n o w God made everything
for
on e central purpose. He wanted a fam-
ily. As human creatures we certainly
understand that desire. God put that
desire in us whe n H e created us, even
emotionally, in His image and likeness
(G en . 1:26-27).
G o d h as not called us to hurt us , or
to
take from us the good things we
really want. He didnt call us to run us
throu gh a gonizing experiences. He cer-
tainly will no t d o us harm or de-
prive us of any go od thing or sub-
vert any goo d cause. He called us
because H e loves us. H e wan ts us, spe-
cifically and individually,
to
be His
chi ldren (Deut . 7:8 ; J o h n 6:44) . He
wants us
to
succeed in every possible
way o cnjoy total fulfillmcnt, the
desire of our (converted) hearts (Ps.
37:4-5). He l ives
to
give us these
things just
as
quickly
as He can
train us
to
use and enjoy them prop-
erly.
If we will live by every word of
God, we wil l be the apples of His eye
H is special treasure His SONS
(Zech. 2:8; I John
3 : l - 3 . )
And as H i s
sons we need to realize that God is so
intensely interested in us o over-
whelmingly fond of us, individually
that He wil l let us go th rough what -
ever is necessary to guarantee our suc-
cess as His eternal sons in Hi s Family
Will E n d u r a n c e E n d u r e
-
by Itself?
End uran ce erseverance, stick-to-
it-iveness s a law of success. It is in-
dispensable. But
putient waiting
d u r i n g
a time of trial usually will not succeed
of itself. Consider the contrast between
David and Saul wo men w ho faced
the same trial simultaneously.
The even t invo lved David , King
Saul, the armies of Israel and the Philis-
tines with their titanic hero, Goliath
al l of w h o m ( e x c e p t D a v i d ) h a d
waited for action for forty nerve-wrack-
ing days
( I
Sam. 17:16). David took
right, swift, aggressive, decisive
ACTION
He lost no t ime, but Goliath lost his
head.
Saul was willing to wait, procrasti-
nate bu t while he waited, he did
littlc, pcrsonally, to changc ci icuni-
stances.
O n the o ther hand , David seized
upon the circumstancc, confidcntly
used Gods support (he had Gods
Spiri t he knew Go d would help)
and employed
every
possible means
a t
his disposal toward
SUCCESS,
while the
king and the nat ion wai ted for some-
one
else to T A K E ACTION Davids
proper action during the trial allowed
G o d t o b r i n g t h e s i t u a t i o n
triumphant ly
to
its solution.
Th us we are introduced
to
the life of
David ne of pat ient endurance un-
der stress. But always David is taking
action,
every poss ib le r igh t ac t ion
within Gods law, to properly resolve
problems as they arise with Gods
help.
David was a man whose very
ap-
proach
to
life itself was
one
of success.
And when he had
to
wait s he did
before God removed Saul from office
he
applied himself diligently to
every task during the interim, keeping
loyal
to
God th roughout the exper i -
ence, and repenting deeply when he
stumbled.
David knew that God keeps His
promiscs that cvcry
good
thing
would come his way in Gods good
time. So he confidently and patiently
worked towards such ends. Any other
approach would have been faithless
an insult to the character of God.
T h e same is just as true of each of us
(Ps.
37:4-11).God has called each of us
to
SUCCEED
in a calling which defies
human imaginat ion (I Cor. 2:9-11).
And he lives
to
help us through every
challenge along the way
F
we will
PERSEVERE,
always exercising all
seven
L A W S of success.
Elbert Hubbard once said, Th e l ine
between failure and success is
so
fine
that we scarcely know whe n w e pass it:
so fine that we are often on the l ine
and do no t kno w i t . How many a man
has thrown up his hands at a time
when a litt le more effort, a lit t le more
patience, would have achieved success.
A s the t ide goes all the way out,
so
it
comes all the way in.
A
l i t t le more per-
sistence, a litt le more effort, and what
seemed hopeless failure may turn to
glorious success.
There
i s
no failure
except
in no longer
trying.
There
i
no defiut
except from
within,
no
real4 unsumountable barrier
save our o w n inherent weakness o f pur-
pose.
Because God is for us (Rom. 8:31 . )
Why
Succeed?
H o w a b o u t i t ? Is an overwhelmingly
SUCCESSFUL
l ife wo rth it ? For you and
me, is i t worth it that we should P E R S E -
V E R E ?
Think seriously for a moment of the
millions
of
under-privileged
people
sick people tarving people war-
torn people alt and maimed people
ignorant, helpless, often innocent
people. Think about
T H E M .
(Continued
on back
cover)
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The GOOD NEWS
July
1972
6
INSIDE INDIA
Bombay -
he Highpoint
l he hree days we spent in Bombay,
the commerc ia l capi t a l of the comt ry ,
were the highl ight of ou r vis i t to India .
So
fix
we h a v c or i ly two
members in
India . Mr. and Mrs . Kulas ingam, in
Bombay. But others, especially in
Bombay where we met a n u m b e r
of
ex-
cel lent prospects , wi l l undoubtedly be
ready for bapt ism on our next t r ip.
O n e
is
a yoiing doc tor
of
H i n d u
background. He had g iven up a job
wi th the Bombay munic ipa l i ty and
go ne in to prac t ice on h i s own in order
to observe the Sabba th . He showed us
his business card whic h had at th e bot-
tom: Closed Friday evenings and Sat-
urdays . Op en Sundays . This was very
encouraging to us, because he was one
of the few we met who were able
to
keep the Sabbath.
H e endeavors also to practice his
profession th e way G od wil l approve
iviiig advice O I I die t , nu t r i t ion and
hygiene as very important factors in
good hea l th . However , people d o n o t
respond well t o this. Many
say ,
We
c a m e t o you for
a
pill. W e d id n o t
c o m e t o
be
told how we should l ive.
I t
ce r t a in ly takes
a g r e a t
deal of
cour-
age to do w ha t th i s young doc tor
is
doin g . W e hop e hc wi ll be ready for
bapt i sm next t ime .
Another young man we saw in
Bombay works as an IBhl technician.
Remarkably enough he does not have
to
w o r k o n S a tu r d ay H e c o m e s f r o m
a
very s t rong Cathol ic family. Had his
parents known of his change of bel iefs ,
their react ion would have been violent ,
b u t
he
has handled his s i tuat ion so
tactful ly that as yet they kn ow n oth ing
of i t . Thi s young man, a l so , we hope ,
wil l be bapt ized next t ime.
Sabbath Keeping Groups
Desire Contact
O n t h e t o u r w e w e r e ab l e
to
learn a
little
more
a b o u t
a
n u m b e r of g r o u p s
in India who have wanted to m a k e
contac t wi th us for some t ime . These
people obse rve the Sabba th . and some
of the Holy Days , being aff i l ia ted with
the Church of G o d 7 t h D a y ( S t a n -
berry, Missouri and Denver, Colorado),
w i t h t h e C h u r ch of G o d ( S al em , W e s t
Virginia)
or
wi th another branch of
the Sardis Chu rch which has head-
quarters in Jerusalem, Israel.
These Indian groups a re now seek-
ing means for all o f t h e m t o w o r k
more closely together. There
are
o t h e r
grou ps in Nor the r n India whose lead-
C I S wc were unable to mee t , due to
travel difficulties and restrictions.
Unfor tuna te ly , i t i s going to be very
difficult for us
to
m a k e a n y real contact
with these people. Most
of
t hem a re
villagers
or
m o u n t a i n p e o p l e w h o
speak only t h c i r own native
Tnrlian
dia-
lect . Even som e of their leaders cann ot
comm unica te wi th us . On e minis t er
we
did mee t in the Sou th spoke Te lugu (a
southe rn dialect) language we did
no t speak bu t no Engl ish .
Only a Bcgiririirig
This tour was real ly only the begin-
n ing of any k ind of work in India and
Ceylon. Its
a
very small s tart , but we
feel very encouraged and hopeful for
the future work in these areas . Since
U U T i-ttuim from rhc ruur in March , we
have already received over 50 new
requests for visits
G o d is calling a n u m b e r
of
very fine
people who wi l l represent Him as
l ight s to rha t pa r t of the wor ld . Many
still have gross problems to solve in or-
der to o b e y H i m . B u t w i t h t h e h e lp of
your prayers , H e wil l certainly give
hem the s t rength they need
F ro n ke l - mbassador Colleoe
One
o f
the many interested
students met in India.
CHARACTER
Continued
Jro7n page 3 )
m o u n t a i n a n d s h o w e d H i m t h e g l o r y
and majes ty of a l l the kingdoms of the
wor ld , and sa id , Al l these things will 1
give thee, i f thou wil t fa l l down and
worship me (verse
9).
He could have
added, Y ou won t have to go through
any crucifixion you won t have
to
g o throu gh any t ri al s you won t
havc to f ight tcmptat ion. You wont
have
to
do al l this preaching and get
yourself kicked in the face for it . All
those t empt ing thou ght s he could have
used
or
conjured up in Chris t s mind.
Bu t Jesus said to him, Get thee hence,
Satan: for i t is wri t ten , T ho u sha l t wor-
ship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve (verse
10).
W ha t beaut ifu l charac te r our Pio-
neer he Au thor of ou r s a lva t ion
expressed
Since God i s going to reproduce
Himse l f , bu i ld His Kingdom and ex-
p a n d His d o m i n i o n t h r o u g h
us,
thats
the k ind of characte r WE RE oing to
have to develop.
Thats the kind of character that
y o u r e g o i n g to have to
WA N T
wi th
all
your being Perhaps in this l ife you
won t be ab le to reach th e same level or
s tandard of inexorable lack
of
compro-
mise wi th
tiods
Law th at Jesus did.
But you must fervent ly, energet ical ly,
do
t he BEST YOU A R E
A B L E ,
and to your
UTTERMOST capabilities and talents
strive t o exercise that kind o f character
I hope we really grasp the lesson of
Jesus experience, brethren. Unless
there are trials, unless there are tests,
unless there are choices, there is no
cl iaiactri
Luilcliiig.
Every test and every trial you run
int o in your l ife i t t le things that
happen be tween you and your wi fe
a t
hom e, be tween you and yo ur ch i ldren ,
between you and your employer
~
l i t t le things
o f
even d a y , e v e n h o u r .
every m om en t are tests to see
whether your character wil l be bui l t
sufficiently for you to be made
a
S o n o f
G o d
How
to Develop Character
B u t exac tly how can we deve lop tha t
kind of character? Lets make i t real ly
-
8/10/2019 Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 04) Jul
19/20
clear and bring it r igh t down to the
grass roots, as far as ou r lives are con
cerned.
First, lets realize that God has given
His Holy Spir i t to us. Gods Spir i t
makes us different