SICK:  Mike Hicks, Buck Adams, Luneal Russell, Monie Epperson, Bertha Johnson, Floyd Turk, Clarice Turk, Thelma Greenwood, Neva Johnson, Phil Williams, Herman Cotton, Debbie Hall, Debbie Martin, and others.

SUMMER MEETING:  Our Gospel Meeting is not far off – the second Sunday in July with Charles Box.  Let us remember this and invite our friends etc. to be there.

MONTHLY MEAL:  Keith and Angela Killingsworth announce that the monthly gathering for June will be held the 18th after the morning worship.  Everyone is invited to stay and enjoy the fellowship.

SPEAKING WHERE THE BIBLE SPEAKS:  We are currently studying I and II Peter on our Television program.  The material (with questions) from which we are studying is available on our web page under the Past Articles of the Week and Article of the Week sections.  We encourage you to see the material whether you are able to see the show or not.  You may download it, print it out, and use it as you see fit.  TS

Sunday Morning Adult Bible Class:  I and II Thessalonians
Wednesday Evening Adult Bible Class:  Psalms

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What Must I Do To Be Saved?  Hear the Gospel (Romans 10:17), Believe the Gospel (Hebrews 11:6), Repent of Sins (Acts 2:38), Confess Faith In Christ (Acts 8:37), Be Baptized (Acts 22:16), and remain faithful, even to the point of death (Revelation 2:10).  May we help you?

“Fight – But Be Sweet”
 
Quite often I hear the old bromide slithering off the tongue of some backboneless member of the church, “You need to learn to disagree without being so disagreeable!”  This usually happens after you have locked horns with some of the denominational preachers of the town, or called some brother to tow that has stepped out of line doctrinally.  One would almost wonder if such a statement was from the scriptures and if he should not be ashamed to get right in and dig the devils in any of their false doctrines.  According to some it would be perfectly alright to just smile sweetly and do nothing to stir up his opponent.

 I’ll go along with this attitude if we are disagreeing over which is the best road to take to California; but where it is a matter of doctrine, where it affects the church and the souls of men are jeopardized, and will be misled for possibly centuries to come as a result of it, I can’t understand how any Christian can say, “We can disagree but we don’t have to be disagreeable.”

 Important issues demand HARD HITTING, and hard hitting makes things disagreeable.  Ask Elijah on Mt. Carmel.  The issue was between idolatry and the God of heaven.  It was not something to smile sweetly about and not get ruffled.  Of course old Elijah handled the situation in an uncouth manner when he dealt with those devils in such a way that they knew they had been DIS-agreed with.  In fact, he was getting down right sarcastic when he called out to the poor deluded “fire-worshippers” and said:  “Cry aloud; for he is a god:  either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or peradventure, he sleepeth and must be awakened.”  Surely Elijah knew they were honest and sincere!  They continued their ceremonies, crying, cutting themselves till the blood gushed out.  Brother you can be sure that Elijah’s speech did not make for conciliation.  He wasn’t trying “to get along with” these false teachers.  It was war unto the death as far as Elijah was concerned.  And brethren, you know Elijah must have been doing something right.  God blessed him, when he took the whole bunch down to the brook Kishon and “Slew them there.”  I doubt very much if the prophets of Baal thought Elijah was trying to be agreeable.

 Certainly Elijah was not orthodox according to my “Disagree but don’t be disagreeable” brethren.  Those false prophets didn’t like it to be sure, and neither did old idolatrous, ungodly Jezebel.  It meant war from then on and a threat upon his life; but God was with him.

 Go back and ask another God-blest character, Micaiah, as he is called before Ahab and Jehosophat.  He and Ahab were in disagreement, but Micaiah didn’t try to be agreeable with Ahab.  His message was a disagreeable message.  When Zedekiah smacked him on the cheek, it was disagreeable.  When he called him a liar it was disagreeable, but God blessed Micaiah’s prophecy and it all came true to the letter.

 When the Jews said to Jesus, “Thou bearest false witness of thyself; thy witness is not true,” they were calling him a liar!  This would indicate they were not in agreement.  Jesus in turn called them “Bondservants of sin” and then accused them of trying to murder him because he had told them the truth.  To make the disagreement more disagreeable, he added, “You are of your father the devil…”  Try to figure out from that whether Jesus was trying to be agreeable with those fellows.  They called Jesus a Samaritan, (the dirtiest thing they could think of).  That sounds as though two cannot walk together unless they be agreed, and BE AGREEABLE if each actually believes what he is affirming.  No sir, when Jesus was dealing with misleading men who persisted in doing wrong, their disagreement was not agreeable.

 Stephen, before the High Priest and the Jews gives us another little incident that the Holy Spirit records as being a disagreement that came to be almost DIS-agreeable.  They were in opposition to the cause he represented.  He gave them a summary of the history of Israel…Now read the CONCLUSION of his sermon!  That speech was not intended to be agreeable!

 Brethren, if a man is worth arguing with, then he is worth arguing with, with all your might.  If an issue is worth discussing, it is worth giving it everything you have.  If you do that, you may not be agreeable.  In fact, you may be downright disagreeable, but at least you have tried, and that earnestly, to let the opposition know they are wrong.  They may bite you and stone you like they did Stephen.  They may crucify you like they did Christ, but you’ll be in good company.

 I’ve been preaching the gospel for thirty-eight years and I have never seen so great a tendency on the part of members of the church to compromise the truth.

 “PREACH THE WORD, BROTHER!”

George E. Darling, Sr.

(Brother Darling passed away March 27, 1980.  This article appeared in the April, 1980 DEFENDER, then edited by (the now late) William S. Cline.  Michael Hatcher now edits the DEFENDER, and is doing a tremendous job at it.  I hope you will seriously consider these words, especially if you cringe at the thought of disagreeing with someone over the teachings of the New Testament.  Tim)
 

REMEMBER OUR GOSPEL MEETING JULY 9-14 WITH CHARLES BOX OF GREENVILLE, AL.  Sunday times:  Class – 9:45 A.M.; Worship – 10:45 A.M.; Worship – 6:00 P.M.  Monday through Friday – Worship – 7:00 P.M.  Flyers (etc.) announcing the meeting are being prepared.  Your help is appreciated.  Tim
 
STEPEHN’S DEFENSE
 
 In brother Darling’s article mention was made of the sermon of Stephen, and particular use was made of his conclusion.  Notice what Stephen said:  Acts 7:51-60 “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

 Now, don’t misunderstand, I believe in giving everyone a chance to hear the Truth presented in the kindest possible way, but when someone refuses to submit to the truth, and when they persist in publicly opposing the same, we are not under obligation to treat them as though what they are saying is as beneficial to men as what the Lord says in the Scriptures.

 We are told that it is “wrong” to be “unloving.”  I agree!  We should never be “unloving.”  But, just what does “unloving” mean?  Is it “unloving” to tell someone when they err from the truth?  Is it “unloving” to warn the church about the heresy of a false teacher?  Would it not be “more unloving” to allow men and women to be deluded by the heresy of a false teacher and thus enter judgment unprepared just because we didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings?

 I endeavor to “speak the truth in love” as per the instruction of Paul.  I earnestly desire to be kind in all things.  I seek unity whenever I can.  But, what is to be preached is THE TRUTH.  I pray that all men will accept the truth, but I know that they will not.  I pray that no one will oppose the preaching of the truth and try to undermine it by spreading error, but I know that this prayer will not be realized in this world.  The Bible is full of warnings and rebukes, etc.  We must oppose error – and the proponents of error often will not like having their error opposed.  When this happens, like Stephen (and others favorably mentioned in the New Testament) we must dig in and “…earnestly contend for the faith…” (cf., Jude 3).          Tim Smith