Good News 1961 (Vol X No 07) Jul

8/10/2019 Good News 1961 (Vol X No 07) Jul

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l n t eT H E

r n a t i o n a l i K a g a z i n e o fC H U R C H O F G O D

VOL. X, NUMBER 7~~

JULY, 1961

w h y Attend Church Services?Some are failing to assemble regularly each sabbath withthe brethren. Kead here the stern warning from Jesus Christ

-the Head of this Churchby Herman L. Hoeh

FEW brethren have fallen into direspiritual negligence. It appears t h g tA hen local congregations are es-

tablished, some brethren think they donot need to attend regularly.

Could this include you?

Th e Sabbath a Commanded

AssemblyThe Sabbath was ordained to be a day

of rest from secular work. But it is morethan a day of rest. It is also a HOLY CON-

The weekly sabbath is so designatedin Leviticus 23:3, Six days shall workbe done: but the seventh day is the sab-bath uf rest, an HOLY CONVOCATION.

Those are the words of the LORD toMoses. The LORD who spoke to Moses isJesus Christ So those are the very wordsof Christ he Head of the Church ofGod today. Are you living by His words?

But what is a holy convocation? It

means a divinely commanded assembly,a summoned assembly where your pres-ence is ordered

That is why Jesus Christ made it hiscustom to assemble on every sabbath. Itwas Pauls custom-long after t he ritualsof Moses passed away-and it is the cus-tom of the Church of Gnd today

God does not leave you free to decidewhether you want to attend local churchservices. If you live within traveling dis-t ance He C O M M A N D S your regularpresence, each sabbath And the same istrue of every annual Holy Day.

VOCATION.

Some brethren, it seems, want to makeexcuses to Christ. They begin to reasonwhy Christ or the local congregationdoesnt need their regular attendance. Butthat is not the question. YOU need thepresence of Christ and the othe r brethren

W h a t W e H a ve FoundWherever new local churchcs have

been established we find this problemarising. People who are not in the habitof meeting in a local congregation -be -cause none had been located there previ-ously ometimes find changing thathabit difficult. W e are creatures of habit.What we must be siire of is that weestablish the right habits, and change ourhabits when God commands.

Certain brethren have been making ex-cuses t u justify their habits. They claimto be too tired to drive to church regu-larly. Or, they are not used to city traffic.Or they just had to visit relatives in an-other state over the weekend. A fewcouldnt find anyone to take care of thedog, or the chickens, etc. Some insist theysimply dont GET anything out of sabbathservices.

These, brethren , are excuses Lets lookat them for a moment. Lets see whatthese excuses indicate about our spiritualcondition.

Wh at These Excuses Mean

Did you know that your spiritual atti-tude is plainly indicated by the excuses

you make for not regularly attendingchurch services?

One most often repeated excuse somemake is that they dont feel at homewith the brethren. Othersdont show melove, is the rebuttal.

Is that the only reason for which yougo to church?-just to absorb others in-terest, personality and love? Wha t aboutshowing others a bit of your love?

We have never failed to notice thatthose who complained of lack of love onthe part of brethren were themselves rhemost lacking in love. These individuals,whether or not they realize it, are self-centered. They are carnal-thinking onlyof what they can get, not of what theycan give to others. Love is not getting, itis giving. When anyone complains of notreceiving enough love that person is onthe getting end. Have you ever thoughtthat a little giving on your part willprompt more love and interest on the

part of others? Dont wait for others toplease you. Learn to help them firstEnrich them by your experiences, yourwarmth of personality

Again, I know of others who becomecareless about sabbath services becausethey think they already know all that issaid from the pulpit. They assume theyhave no more need o f preaching, no moreneed of hearing Gods word expounded.I used to hear Mr. Armstrong preachthat when he was still in Eugene, Ore-gon, is a not uncommon quip. Thetragic spiritual trouble with such an in-


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2 The GOOD NEWS July, 1961

c ividual is that he does not know whatis being said. Not being imbued w ith theSpirit of Go d he just does not grasp whatis being preached. That person needs tobe renewed in the spirit of repentance.Of such Christ thunders: th ou sayest,I am rich, and increased with goods, andhave need of nothing: and knowest notthat thou art wretched, and miserable,and poor, and blind, and naked (Rev.3 : 17 ) This Laodicean attitude needs tobe repented of -lest Christ spuc you out

In rare instances a few brethren havemissed annual Holy Days because theydidn t find anyone t o take care of the irpets. Th is excuse rin gs of idolatry Arethe needs of an animal-a dog-or chick-ens more importa nt than the words ofChrist to you? Are you going to let ananimal decide what you are to do, in-stead of lettin g Christ-your Go d andHig h Priest-lead you? Dont anyof youever let this happen again

Sometimes families think it is more

important to visit relatives in distantplaces than atten d church o n the sabbath.Granted, there may be genuine emergen-cies when you have to be with relativesin case of death. WhatI am referring tois m t a n rmergency, hiit a needless socialoccasion Visit your relatives durin g theweek, or on Sunday. The sabbath is notthe t ime to be visi t ing the unconvertedarid worldly relatives. If your relativescannot be visited duri ng the week, andifthey live too far to be visited on Sundayafter attending sabbath services, thendont go. Instead, call them up by tele-phone on Sunday. It w ill usually be m uch

cheaper than paying fora lengthy tripWh y, bre thren , do a few of you putyour fleshly relatives before your spirit-ual brethre n? Is it because you arelackingthe Spirit of G od an d no longer feel com-fortable wirh [he brethreri? Christfo1-bids you to put family before Him. It isidolatry-serving ano ther master in placeof the true God.

On occasions, elderly people find citytraffic frustrating. But this is no excuseto neglect assembling yourselves. In alllocal areas we try to arrange to haveothers, who can drive safely, pick upthose who should not drive in heavy city

traffic or o n the highways. Yet whentransportation is freely offered,s o m e y e -f u s e it This ought not be Are you soproud and full of vanity that it is be-neath your dignity to accept a generouslyoffered r ide with your brethre n? Shameon you

Too T i r e d to A t t e n d C h u r c h ?Yet another excuse is that some are

to o tired to drive to church. A fter sixhard days work, it is reasoned, it is justtoo much for Christ to expect one to at-tend church regularly.

Christ could have reasoned the same

way at the time of th e Crucifixion-BUTH E DID NOT Notice the exampleof Jesusthat some are overlooking O n the mountof Olives Jesus told the disciples, shortlybefore His capture: Pray that ye enternot into temptation. Then Jesus with-drew from them about a stones cast,and kneeled down, and prayed. .. Andwhen he rose up from prayer, and wascome to his disciples, he found t hemsleeping-they we re tired

But so was JesusThen Jesus aroused them and warned:

W hy sleep ye? rise and pray, lest yeenter into temptation (Luke 2 2 :39-46) .

He re is Christs example-His warn ing-to those making excuses that they aretoo tired.

Of course man needs physical rest eachsabbath to restore physical vigor and de-termination. But m analso needs to havespiritual vigor and zeal restored Th at iswhy church at tendanceis vital It is notenough to rest physically each sabbath.

You need the spiritual stimulation thatcomes with personal contact with otherbrethren. You need the presence of C hristand H is words that come in every sabbathservice. If God thought all you neededwas physical rest H e would not havemade the sabbath any more thana restday. But He did m ake i t more than arest day. He made it a HOLY CONVOCA-TION He commands your presence, whcr-ever a local churc h is available.

Thousands of you scattered brethrenwho have no local church to atten d knowby experience w hat you are missing eachweek. Your lack ought to be sufficient

proof to others of theneed to attend localcongregations regularly, wherever theyare established.

Neglect Not the A s s e m b l i n gof Yourse lves Together

Now we come toa vital chapter of theBible partly devoted t o church attendance.Most of us are familiar with Hebrews10: 25--not forsaking the assemblingofourselves together,as the mann er of someis; but exhort ing one another: and somuch the more, as ye see the day ap-proaching. But how many rememberwha t the other verses of this same chapter

say.Notice the subject is our access to theFather in Heaven. Under the Old Cove-nant, there was only a constant reminderof sin enacted by the priests in thei r dailyri tuals . But under the N ew Covenant, wehave access through C hrist to the Father.W e are to draw near to Him wi thatrue heart in full assurance of fai th(verse 2 2 ) , and to hold fast the pro-fession of our faith without wavering(verse 23) nd to consider one anotheito provoke un to love and to good works(verse 2 4 ) . How are you going to pro-voke others to increased love and good

works if you ncvcr scc thcm in church?Verse 2 5 has the answer W e a r e no t

to neglect assembling ourselves togetheras the custom of some is Th at is howW e simply cannot exhort and encouragothers when we are not in church regularly. And notice that we are to assemblso much the more, as we see the dayapproaching

But this is not all that Paul wroteFor if we sin wilfully, he continuesafter that wc have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth nmore sacrifice for sins, buta certain fear-fu l looking for of judgm ent and fierindignation, which shall devour th e adversaries (Heb.10: 26-27) .

Consider what this meansNeglect of attending church eachsah-

bath-when local churches are available-can and does lead to wi l fu lsin Paul hadjust commanded the brethren in vers2 5 to assemble regularly wherever possble. Then he warns of sinning wilfully

Th e connection is obvious Ne glec t osabSath attendance , carelessness abo ut being regular, separates us f rom God onthe very day He wants us to be in Hipresence the most This is the road to siand eternal death

Now turn in your Bibles to verse29W hat h appens to those who become careless, who fail to observe the Passover witthe brethren when they can do so whodo no t value C hrists blood which openethe way to true spiritual worship eversabbath with brethren?

He re is Pauls answer: Of how mucsorer punishm ent han under Moses

shall he be thought worthy, who hattrodden under foot the Son of God-whodespises Christs express command tMEET IN HIS PRESENCE EACH SABBATH-and hath counte d the blood of thcovenant, wherewith he was sanctifiedan unholy thing-by neglect of assembling for passover services wh en availabl

Paul concludes in verse 31: It is afearful thing to fall into the hands of thliving God

Do nt say it doesnt matter-that yocan worship Gad alone at home Thais the same excuse the world uses fpretending to worship God on Sundainstead of the Sabba th. God no t only telyou wh ich day to devote especially tworship-but H e also orders y o u t o appear before Igim ON THA T DAY wherevea local church exists

Brethre n, what are some of you gointo do now?

It Ta k e s F a i t h a n d P a t i e n c eHeed Pauls words Cast not awa

therefore your c onfidence, which hagreat recompense of reward. For ye haneed of putience, that, after- ye h vz d u nt h e wil l of God, ye might receive th

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NEWS HIGHLIGHTS fromGODS CHURCHES

by Albert J. Portune

REETINGS again, Brethren, from

G Here in Mr. Garner Ted Arm-strongs office exciting news has beencoming in from the chur ch areas-aroundthe world. Once again we would liketoshare with you -w ho areall part of thefamily of God ome of the encoura gingand exciting cvents that are taking placein the Churches of God.

headquar ters

L o ca l C h u r c h N e w s p a p e r sIn some of the church areas, the pub-

lishing of local charch newspaperr hassparked a great deal of keen interest andenthusiasm aiiioiig ilir Lirthrru. Theselocal church newspapers are jam-packedwith articles about church happeningsand activities in the local areas. As wereceive copiesof these church new spapersfrom around the world, and read themany articles aboutGods people and thethings theyre doing,we feel much closerand more a part of the family of God.

Those of you who already have ac h u r c h ne w s p a p e r u n d e r w a y k n o ww h a t a b l e s sing t he s e l oca l pap e r sare. In a few months, most of the localchurches will have theirow newspapers-bring ing joy and fellowship into thehomes of all of G od s people .

However, many of G ods people d o nothave a local church to a tt e nd . W e k nowthat ALL of Gods pcoplc wan t to sharein the fellowship and the things that arehap pen ing in all of the churches. Also,Iknow all of you brethren who have yourozinlocal newspapers would liketo hearof some of the things that are happeningin the othe r churches.

Sn tierr are excerpts fro m some of thechurch papers we have received here atheadquarters.

Lets see whats going on around thenation and around the world

From O r e g o nThe first newspaper on the stack is

enti t led NEWS OF T H E O R E G O NC H U R C H E S . You gues sed i t t spartly illustrated byMr. Basil WolvertonRigh t u nde r t he head l i ne i s a l i t t l ecartoon rawn by Basil W olver tonof a very interested reader with a news-paper in his hand, drawnso close to hisface in profound interest that his nosehas poked a hole through the paper W efind on the editorial staff of this Oregon

Mastheads of several of the local church papers.

paper Mr. Dale Hampton, advisor; Mr.B a s i l Wo l v e r t o n , e d i t o r ; M r. Wa l t e rDickenson, manag ing editor; Leon Shep-pler, associate editor; Gerald Cranford,associait. ediior arid Jim Hanson,asso-ciate editor.

Here a re some of the articles thatappeared in this edit ion of the NEWSOF T H E O R E G O N C H U R C H E S .

Church Growth

Eugene: We have been using therented hall at the Y.M.C.A. B uildingfiQeSabbaths now, and already have nearlyfilledthe room. The June3 attendanceof21 ersons is anotherrecord nd thereare still more to come. Mr. Cole indicatedthat there are 50 more people expectedto attend in the near future.

This writer remembers his first visitto Gods Church in May 1959, with 3 jin regular attendance.

As God abundantly sends rain in thespringtime, He also is abundan tly addingto His Church.

A Responsibilityfor AllPort land: Her e is a let ter from one

lady who wants to express her thanks toall of her brethre n in the Portland churchDea r Brothers an d Sisters in Christ,

I am so thankful for the N E W S OFrH E OR EGON CHURCHES.Th i s g iveme the opportunity to thank all of youfor the many prayers, for the fastingletters, cards, for visiting me and fotaking time, in taking the best of careof me in my great need. I also want tothank the Eugene and Salem churcheand all the other churches for all thprayers and letters. Thank Mr. Antionand his churches who also prayed for meThank all those in the Pasadena churchwho prayed.

I am so grateful for all those lovedeeds and also thankful for God whlistens to our prayers. I could never haveimproved so much if it hadnt been forprayer and faith in God.

In Christ ian love.. .(Please continueon next page)


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4 T h e GOOD NEWS July 1961

International magazine ofTHE CHURCH OF GOD

ministering to its members

scattered abroadVOL. x NO. 7

Herbert W. ArmstrongPublisher and Editor

Garner Ted ArmstrongExecutive EditorHerman L. HoehManaging Editor

Roderick C. MeredithSenior Editor

Albert J. PortuneDavid Jon Hill

Associate Editors

Address communications to the EditorBox 1 11 Pasadena California.

@ 1961 by Radio Church of God

Be sure t o notify us immedia te ly ochange of address

M a n y o t h e r i n t e r e s t i n g a n d h e a r t -warm ing articles appeared in this June17issue of the N EW SOF T H E O R E G O NCHURCHES.

F r o m New YorkNext, from across the nation comes a

copy of th e N E W Y O R K C H U R C H

NEWS.Heading a long list of editorial staff

members are Mr. Carlton Smith, advisorand Mr. Allen C. Dexter, editor. The N E W Y O R K C H U R C H N E W S ispublished every two weeks and sent toevery member of t h e N e w York churcharea.

Here are some of the articles appear-ing in this issue-dated June 2, 1961.

N e w M o d el

Mrs. Dexter and I would like toannounce the arrival of a brand spanking-new baby girl. She arrived at 2:00 a.m.,

May 22 (Pentecost), making that Festi-l a 1 of Firstfruits a very memorable onefor us.

O t h e r v i t a l s t a ti s t i c s : w e i g h t7pounds, length 20 inches, name An nElizabeth.

SpokesmanClub N e w sHELLO AG AIN nce aga in j the

Sunday night Spokesman Club has goneforward

Even though several of our memberswere absent, it didn t dim our enthusiasm.Over-all, there was improvement. How-

ever, we a re all awareof the tremendomrow that still lies ahead.

Again, the centerof the business ses-sion was the ladies night meeting. July15 has bccn set as the date fui h i 5mom e n t ous occa s ion . All of us a r eprimed, readying ourselves to give thebest performanceof our short careers.

M r. Bunnell, topics master, asked theunmarried brethren a real mind agitator.H e wanted to know w hat they were doingto prepare for their forthcomingmar-riages. Th e responses were very interest-ing

T h i s 1 2 t h s e s si o n p r o v i d e d m u c hmore of the training and experience wehave been receiving inall previous meet-ings. With persistent determination andeffort, coupled w ith M r. Sm iths guidance,we will succeed in our purpose - tobecome good speakers

From the laugh column, here area fewN e w Yo r k chuckles. Mod ern manis onewho drivesa mortgaged car over a bond-

financed highway on credit card gas.Heres another, Golf is a lot liketaxesuu drive hard ro make the green and

then wind up in the hole. And another,Ac cord ing to worldly standards, a well-adjusted person is one whose intake ofpep p i l l s overbalances his consumptionof tranquillizersjust eno ugh to leave himsufficient energy for a weekly trip to thep s ychintrist.

In this New York church newspaperis an entire tw o-page section devoted tot h e b o y s a n d g i r l s . T h e r e i s a veryinteresting Bible quiz designed for theyoungsters, a crossword puzzle, riddles,vocabulary word study and other interest-ing columns for the youngsters. This Ne wYork church newspaper is certainly ablessing and a joy for all of the membersof the New York church.

From Gladewa te r-Minden

Next we find a copy of the GLA-MIN. This is the church newspaper forthe churches in Gladewater, Iexa s andMinden, Louisiana. The name being acombination of the two city names. Head -ing the long list of contributors anded i t o r i a l s ta f f i s Mr. Ke n Swi she r,ad v i s o ry -d i r ec to r,Mr. F r a n k Wi l s o n ,editor, and Mr. Kermit Nelson, associate

editor. Here is the lead article fromvolume 1, number 1 of the GLA-MIN.

Gladewater-MindenEagerly Awai t D ebut

At last, after weeks and weeks ofplanning, designing and writing, theGladew ater-Minden newspaper makes itsdebut with this ed i t i on

Scheduled t o com eoff the press everyt w o w e e k s ,this newspaper is designed tohelp keep you brethren better informedconcerning th many activities in the tw ochurches, as well as important steps inG od s work world-wide.

We know in this CHAOTIC-PULSATING PRESENT in which we l ive,it is vital that w e be draw n closer togetherin love and unity. It is hoped with this~ i i a l l rideavor that a major part of thatpurpose will be accomplished.

Those on the staff are thankful tohave their part in contributing theirefforts to produce for you brethren, a

newspaper that w e feel will beexhilarat-in g ynamically al ive,and jam-packedwith news you will enjoy reading.

So welcome it into your home -yourheart nd your life.

Th e GLA -MIN church paper is anexample of a very fine piece of work don eby Gods people in that local area.It isoff-s et printe d and contains severalpic-tures and interesting cartoons.

F r o m S a n DiegoA n o t h e r f i n e , h i g h- q u a li t y c h u r c h

n e w s p a p e r i s t h e S A N D I E G OCH UR CH N EWS. Mr. Don Billingsleyco-pastor of the San Diego church hasteamed up with a very fine staffto pro-duce this fine six page church ncwspaperincluding pictures and special departments. Here are some articles from theJ u n e 9 edition.Mount Palomar Unfolds

Everything was damp except theenthusiasm of sixty m e m b e r s of theFriday night Bibleclass who took ufl likea herd of turtles from the Vasa ClubSunday, May 7, at 9:40 a.m., bound forPalomar Mountain.

When our Friday night Bible clasbegan a study of the Book of Genesis,few realized just how engrossing it woulbecome when we began to delve belowthe surface into the wondersof creation.This trip was planned to magnify thiaspect.

T he day was gray asw e headed northon Highway 395; but as we left Escon-dido the clouds cleared to reveal thpanoram a before usof oran ge groves andsagebrush with Mount Palomar in thbackground. At this time of year thmountains are alive with the first signof spring. There is a profusion of color-ful flowers along the winding roadmhile at each scenic turn we can viewthe gre en valleys spreading out belowus.

In the museum at the observatoryoperated by the California Institute oTechnology, we studied pictures of thegalaxies taken with a powerful camerathrough the lens of the 200-inch Haltelescope. As an example, we saw aphotograph of the great galaxy and thconstellation of Ursa Major, which isabout f o u r m i l l i onlight years from thearth, but still i.n our universe.

After a visit to the silver dome, whichouses the giant telescope, Mr. Carrozzled thirteen cars, filled with desperatel

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5/16

PLAIN TRUTH Reaches Thirdo a M I L L I O NCirculation

T h e month o f Ju ne sent t h e PLAIN T R U T H Sto ta l wor ld -wide c i rcala t ionto u n e w high About 320,000 copies we re

mai led t o th e f ou r corlitersof the ear th , reaching a n es t imatedreadership of wel l o ve rONE M l L L l O N peopleb y Hugh Mauck

OW much do you know about thehistory of The PLAINTRUTHH magazine?

D o you know that unless you livedG ~ Z he Pacific Coas ta quarter of a centuryago, your chancesof reading The PLAINTRU THwere very sl im? Th is publicat ionwas started in a small , drab room indowntown Eugcnc, Oregon, in February1934. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong turning

out a f ew hund red PLAIN T RU T H S inLETTER FORM on a worn-out , bor-rowed, mimeograph machine

The re were no office workers The rewas no printing press And there was noaccumulated postage money The re wereonly a few fa ithful tithe payers, wh o wereable to give but a few dollars a month,and the DETE RM INA TIO N of Mr. andMrs. Armstrong.

God had given them a mission toaccomplish

In spite of overw helmin g odds, trials,and discouragements, the fo undation waslaid for what today, 27 years later, is a

t iw ld -widecirculationA n d Now

Today the PLAIN T R U TH is pub-lished on three different continents

This iuorith, as we mail out the Julyi s s ue , a lmos t 275 , 000 c op i e s o f t hePLA I NTRUTH ere trucked from PacificPress in Los Angeles to our mailingd e p a r t m e n t h e r e i n P a s a d e n a . O v e r25,000 copies were printed in Englandto be mailed from our overseas Londonoffice. Ovrr 20,000 copies were printedfor our office in Australza to be sentthroughout the lands down under And

over 5000 were printed for our office inVancouver, D.C., Canacla.

Christ told His disciples that at th isrerj, end t ime , the Gospel would bePUBLISHED among all nations (Mark13:10).

GO D, through His Church ,is fulfillingthis prophecy DAI LY

C o n t in u e d G r o w t h

June marked another first as our listof regular subscribers in the Unite d Statespassed over the 250,000 mark Ove r250,000 families are now enrolled torece ive the PLA IN T R U TH every month

for the next fullyear From past records,we know that over65 of these familieswil l renew their SUBSCR IPTION at theend of the year and continueto receivethe magazine for years to come

Beside these 250,000, almost 25,000sample copies of this issue will be sentupon special request ton e w readers.

Of tlic PLAIN TRUTH magazinesthat enter a th i rd of a mi l l ion homes

every month, it has been firmly estab-lished, by poll ratings, that atleast anaverage of four people read every issueof every magazine.That means over O NEA N D A QU ART ER MILLION readers .

A s we continue to receive close to70,000 let ters each mon th,literally hun-dreds of them tell us of finding theirfirst issues of t he P L A IN T R U T H out-~ i d ebc honzs on park bcnchcs, in busand train depots, on street cars, in usedbook stores, in waitingrooms, in restau-rants,

Othe rs run across thePLAIN TRUTHin libraries, receive them from fellow

workers, from truck and taxi drivers,magazine co l lec tors , and in doc tors offices. .

Many tell us of finding the ir first copythrough a friend in almost every nationin the world

W e have readers throughout the sixmajor con tinents of the world

Though we are reaching all nations,we are not yet thoroughly covering allnations. Publishing has only begun inthe sixties W e have just completedinstalling, in our Pasadena mailing de-partme nt, new IBM electronic equipmen tthat will ma ke the covering of all nations

possibleChr i s t compared the growth of Hiswork to a grain of mustard seed. It islike a grain of mu stard seed, which, whenit is sown in the earth, is less thanall theseeds that be in the eaith, but when itis sown, it groweth up, and becomethgreater than all herbs, and shooteth outgreat branches; so that the fowls of theair may lodge under the shadowof i t(Ma r k 4 : 3 1 - 3 2 ) .

And it has been just that Gods work~ growing up

A G r a d u a l I n c re a seIn the early 1950s Ambassador College

was still in its infancy. As late as 1947the Gospel was still being publishedinsmall numbers in Eugene, Oregon. Thenin the late fall of the year of 1947, thRadio Church of God swung open thdoors of Ambassador College to receivits first students a nd to welcome the m enand women some of whom wereto laterassist writing, publishing, and mailinou t t he PLAIN TRUTH.

When January 1950 ushered in thet u n of the ha lf century, the PLAINTR U TH was be ing mailed out f rom small 30 x 35 room on th e campus. Ahandfu l of students and a few full-timeemployees worked faithfully day ann igh t t o ma i l t he PLAIN TRUTH-our issues that year ebruary, March

April, and August. Pacific Press printe26,300 copies of that Pebiuary issue,some of w hich were not mailed o ut untimonths later. N o one knows for sureexactly how many subscribers we had oour regular mailing list in early 1950,but it must have been less than6% ofwhat it is today-over a decade laterBut we d o k n o wthe publishing growthhas averaged 30% per year over the lasdx ad e. The growth has had i tsups anddowns, depending on radio coverage-some years it has been less than30%,while other years it has been over30%.Nevertheless, God has given an averageannual growth of 30%. Our subscribemailing list climbed from 20,000 to2 50,000 in eleven sh ort years

The GOOD NEWS ub l i shedWhen Apr i l 1951 rolled around Mr

Armstrong conceived a N E W I D E AThrough Ambassador College studentThe GOOD NEWS was r e -bo rn as acollege magdzine.This became a n e wnctivity in Gods ministry, and, at thsame time, a new college activity. Yet itwas not new -fo r back in the thirtieMr. Arm strong and the Church publisheThe GO OD N EW S for church memberonly. But the war years hampered thesefforts of the Church and the work waleft to Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong and afcw helpers who could not carry the loaa lone . The G OO D N EW S ceased to bpublished for several years. The re-birtof this magazine brought with it thchannel through which the Church now


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G The GOOD NEWS July, 1961

Ambassador College Press Maililzg Department as it was in the years of 1948t h r o u g h 1356.

keeps abreast of Church activity andprogress.

NuLicc. i r i die accompanying picturethe young ladies are mailing out oneofthese w r y first issues of T he G OODNEWS. They are using two Elliott Ad-dressing Machines. The magazines werefed into these machines by hand andnddressed from stencils that had previ-ous ly been made on a typewriter. A footpedal was used for this part of the oper-ation. The equipment was crude, themachines all too few, and the amountof work ever increasing and demandingfaster handling

The machinery shown in this picturewo:ild address the m agazines a t speeds of

t little over 2000 an hour. Later in 1956,these machines were traded infor Ad-dressograph equipment that addressedthe magazines a t spccds of u p t o 8,000per hour.

Through the year of 1960 we realizedthat the 8,000 per hour was still mucht o o slozri. Then in Novembe r we installed(Jur Heavy-Duty Magnacraf t mai l ingmachine as the first piece of the entirelyvcu IBM electronic systrm.

Today we are able to mail out ThePLAINTRUTH t speeds up to 18,000magazines per hour.

Last ycar it tuok us a fztll w e e k ofsteady work to mail out 200,000 maga-zines. Perhaps some of you wondered

Coullrsy AllrbalSddUr College Envoy Sfatf

why it seemed to take so long to receiveyour PLAIN T R U T H .

Today we ma il out 250,000 magazinesin less than th ree days Thi s is over100,000 in an 8 hour day

Electronic Equipment

Did you know that for every magazinewe sent out, we had a small, metaladdressograph plate inour files with eachsubscriber s name and address on i t? Nowthe old Addressograph systrm is com-pletely replaced by the IBM electronicequipment.

Today we use a method that has beenclassified as the most successful mediafor c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h m a c h i n e sknown to man-the IBM Punched Card.

Information is recorded as small rec-tangular holes punched in specific loca-tions in a staiidatd size card. Informationcoded by the presenceor absence of holesin specific locations can be reador sensedas the card is moved through the machine.The IBM card contains the subscribersname and address and his renewal groupcode typed on the face of the card.

The preparation of these cards can beaccomplished at well over 150 per hour.From here they pass through variouspachines.

Th e IBM Sorting machines will placethese cards in perfect numerical order atthe ra te of 1000 cards per m inute for each

column of numbers ( 0 to 9 ) . A secondpass thro;igh th- machine is required fortwo column nimbers 10 to 9 9 ) - bu tthe speed is the same. The time required[herefore to place 20,000 cards contain-ing all 5 states into complete sta te orderis only 45 to 50 minutes. The same taskby hand filing the metal plates took20hours.

Once the cards are sorted they can befiled into the main files by the use of theIBM Collator, which is a machine thatinterfiles che cards in seque nce husmaintaining the mailing file completelyand automatically by machine.

Hand filing becomesa Lost Art The cards are then run through the

Electronic printer and a mailing strip isprepared with every subscriber s name oit. This in turn is fed to the Magnacrafmailing machine which cuts and gluethe individual subscriber s name andaddress onto The PLAINTRUTH aga-zines at 18,000 per hour.

As the cards are run through thElectronic printer and the mailing striis prepared, this machine automaticallyplaces a little red mark on each sectionthat is a different town, or state Groupsare automatically selected by sightinthese red marksas magazines pass by ona conveyor belt. They are then bundledand placed i n the prop er ma il sack, loadeinto a truck and sprtl uvei LU ilie PusrOffice

This is in addition to 300,000 otherpieces of ma il ooklets, bulletins, receipts, special letters, etc. repa red anmailed out every month

PostagePostage and mailing expense has als

expanded at the rate of30% per year forthe past decade.This month brought withit ca postage bill of almost $9,000.00 forthe month. This is well over $100,000per year Should the 30% yearly rate ofincrease continue, it will mean that Jun1966 will bring a m o n t h l y postage billof $37,000. By the end of 1970, it willbe well over $150,000 a month Thatwoiild mean $1,800,000 annual postagebill for the United States alone

Expanding Sixties

All thc world looks foron e lasr decadeof prosperity, growth, and accomplishment, beyond which are ominous predictions of depression, drouth, war, andworld destruct ion.

Most men in the world, who knowworld conditions,unalzimowly ngree thatthings will reach climax in the early70s. As the modern historian, ArnolToynbee, aptly expressed it, W e musall end up in a good cry before thingcan get be tter Th e 1960s may wellbring th e f inal cl imaxof publishing the

(Please cont inu on page 1 2


7/16

7uly, 1961 The GOOD NEWS

Amba ssador Co llege Press Mailing Dep artme nt as i t i s today 961 -showingpar t o f o u r n e w I BM electronic system. Courtesy Ambassador College Envoy Staff


8/16

8 T h e GOOD NEWS July, 1961

LETTERS T O THE EDITORBible Story Book NeededDear Mr. Armstrong:

Thank you very much for the an-nouncement of The Bible Story Book.Send ~ n e ne in the mail. We need it

very much in this house. God bless you,Mr. Basil Wolverton, and all you for thehelp you have given me.

Subscriber from British Columbia,Canada

Thank You, Mr. WolvertonDear Mr. Armstrong:

The day we receive the new BibleStory Book will a happy one. Let thisletter express, as much as words can, mythanks to everyone who has a part in thephysical work of writing, print ing,preaching and mailing the gospel to allof us, month after month. How thankful

we should be for the countless blessingsGod gives W e would like to send specialthanks to Mr. Wolvcrton.

(Editor s Com ment:This is just one ofmany comments of gratitude from ourlisteners to Mr. Wolverton. We also takethis opportunity to express our heart-feltthanks for The Bible Story.)

Delighted Wi t h Bible Story Book

Dear Mr. Armstrong:Today we received our copy of The

Bible Story by Basil Wolverton and aredelighted with it. I found the time to

view all of the illustrations and to readthe descriptive matter of each. They areindeed superb. As an artist, Mr. Wolver-ton really has a style. We consider it botha privilege and an honor to receive sucha fine book of liirrature and art. Wesincerely thank you both.

Faith

Dear Mr. Armstrong:The amazing thing to me is that you

trust God so implicitly. thought I hadfaith, but perhaps I need to know moreabout it because it is exceptional to hearhow you are accomplishing a tremendousamount of good without charging atleast for cost.

Nc w Interest

Dear Mr. Armstrong:I would like to tell you how very

glad 1 am that I made the decision towrite for a copy of The Plain Truthwhen I read about it in The ReadersDigest last autumn. All the literaturearid lessons have given me a new interestand have made me think more than Ihave ever done before. I am now nearing

Woman from Westville, Indiana

Couple, Fallbrook, California

Reader from Utah

60, have always believed firmly thatChrist is the Son of the Living God, butnever realized that the New Testamenthad really any connection with the Old.1 am beginning to see everything afresh.

Man from Bournemouth, Hantshire,England

(Editors Comment:The Readers Digesthas made a tremendous contribution toGods work in England for which we arevery thankful.)

Minister Sees Duty

Dear Mr. Armstrong:It has been only a little while that I

have seen it my duty to keep GodsCommandments. I have been preachingin a small community church a year now.Last Sunday night I announced publiclyto the people of the church that as forme, their pastor, I must obey God andkeep His Sabbath as He has commandedalthough I told them I would hold serv-ices for them as long as they wantedme to. My prayer is that God will leadthem into the Light of His Holy Word.I have been so blind, but I must be atrue example to the church even if theyreject me as their pastor.

(Editors Comment:It is always a heart-ening experience to see someone turnin obedience and unconditional surrenderco Gods way and forsake the way ofman that leads to ultimate death. Godwill help this minister so long as hecontinues to follow the truth. )

God Removes PainDear Mr. Armstrong:

After receiving the anointed clothyou sent me, I put it on my leg andprayed in real earnest. My leg was swollenso that I thought the veins would burst.I couldnt be on my feet, but now I canbe up with no pain at all.

Woman from Huntington, Indiana

Gods Work Grows

Dear Mr. Armstrong:In answer to one of my questions you

sent a February, 1957, issue of ThePLAIN TRUTH. I was amazed to findhow much your broadcasting coveragehas increased from less than one columnto well over one full page.

God Heals BabyDear Mr. Armstrong:

God Almighty has once more healedthe afflictions of one of our loved ones.Our baby, who was unable to walk, runor even stand without falling because ofthe affliction in his right leg which caused

Minister from Ft. Worth, Texas

Connecticut

his foot to turn inward, can now run andplay as he used to. There is no sign what-soever of this abnormality.

Tables Being TurnedDear Mr. Armstrong:

I am enclosing my tithe for thismonth so that the gospel may go into all

the world as a witness. It must be GodsChurch I am interested in, as no otherchurch ever took an interest in me unti lnow, since I have been giving t o t heChwchof God . I have some Seventh-dayAdventists that come every few days andshow mc pictures that tell about theBible. The only thing is, the Bible Corre-spondence Course has taught me so muchabout the Bible that now they are becom-ing interested in the Course. The tablesare being turned. I hope and pray theywill be interested enough to send for it.

Gods Way PaysDear Mr. Armstrong:

It is so very wonderful to be a partof the greatest work on the earth at thistime. I am a baptized member and havejust completed my third-tithe year and Iactually have more money in the bankand fewer bills than at any other time inmy life. I have been greatly blessed bykeeping and doing Gods Laws.

A Beaut iful BookDear Mr. Armstrong:

W e recently received our copy of the1961 ENVOY. It is a beautiful book and

we could hardly tear ourselves away fromit. It has been such a pleasure to see allthe people at the Ambassador Collegesand those responsible for The PLAINTRUTH.

(Editor s C omm ent:All requests for the1961 Envoy have now been filled. EN-VOY subscribcrs who have not receivedtheir copy are requested to contact TheEnvoy Staff immediately. Only an ex-tremely limited supply remains.)

Grateful for ENVOYDear Mr. Armstrong:

We also want to say thanks for thebeautiful 61 ENVOY which we havereceived.

Woman from Sebago Lake, Maine

Thrilled with ENVOYWhat a thrilling week this has been

W e have received our first copy of TheENVOY and havc spcnt many enjoyablehours browsing through it and would liketo express our appreciation to those whohave spent many hours in making thispossible.

Couple from Hawaii

Woman, n u r a n d , Wisconsin

Man from Poway, Calif.

Woman from Barlow, Kentucky

Couple from Lexington, N.C.(Please continue o n page 16)


9/16

IS JUDAISM the Law of Moses?Th e beginning o f the Sanhedrin, the origin of the traditionsof the elders the warpa t ion of authority by Iuymerb-these

are discussed in this imtallment.by Ernest Mart in

N previous installments we followedthe Egyptian rule of Palestine untilI 198 B.C. In that year the Syrian

kingdom on the north invaded and con-quered the territory of Judea. The changein government from Alexandria to Ant i-or11 in Syria-and the resultant establish-ment of the Syrian way of life in Palestine-meant that a readjustment had to bemade in the Jews manner of living in-herited from the Egyptian Hellenists.

The Syrians were Hellenists as muchas the Egyptians were but there was quitea difference in their mode of obscrving it

The Religious Anarchy EndsWhen the Syrians assumed control of

Palestine, the Jews were fully consciousthat something new was taking place. Itwas this contrast between the EgyptianHellenism they had been used to and theSyrian Hellenism which they were nowobliged to follow, that shocked a fewJews into becoming cognizant that an-other way of life was possiblc-their oldway of life-living by the Holy Scrip-tures The Jews knew the Scripturesplainly did not recognize either form ofHellenism. New interest in God and thereligion of Moses began to revive.

Beginning of SanhedrinThis new interest in the religion of

their forefathers caused some of the Jewsto reflect on the past in order to ascertainhow their forefathers had been governedin their religious life. They recognizedthat from the time of Ezra and Nehemiahto Alexander the Great, the Sopherimhad been the religious leaders and teach-ers of the people. The Sopherim, remem-ber, had disappeared from the scene-Simon the Just was the last of them.

Understanding that some organizationlike the Sopherim must exist if there wasto be religious unity and the people prop-

erly taught the Law, the leaders of thisnew revival decided to meet in councilwith one another. Its avowed purposewas to direct those who were desiring tolive according to the Law of their fore-fathers. This council became known bythe Greek name, THE SANHEDRIN.

It is not clear when the Sanhedrin firstbegan meeting. It must have been just ashort time after the Syrians came intoPalestine, perhaps about 196 B.C. or im-mediately thereafter (Lauterbach, Kab-binic E S S ~ S. 207 ) .

The influence of the Sanhedrin was not

A map of Palestine daring the time of Hellenistic influence.Ambassador College Art Department

great at first. Not many of the Jews rec-ognized its authority or adhered to itsinjunctions. Yet, with its establishment,we can say that outright religious anarchycame to an end, even though the majorityof the Jews were still greatly affected byHellenism.

Fanatical Zeal of Syrian HellenistsWhen the Syrians subdued the Egyp-

tians in Palestine in 198 B.C., theybrought to the Jews their own ideas con-cerning Hellenism. T o the Syrians there

must be nothing that rivaled their way ofthinking.Egyptian Hellenists had allowed the

Old Testament to be used. The intetpre-tation of it, however, must be by Greekmethods-it had to be Grecianized. Thus,we have the Septuagint Version. Bat theSyrkair Hellenis ts would not allow / h eOld Testament even to be in existence.Only Greek ways were allowed. No formof individual or nationalistic religion wasallowed to exist that conflicted in anyway with the doctrines of the Syrians.

The outstanding advocate of this phi-

losophy was the Syrian king, AntiochusEpiphanes, who ruled from 175 to 164B.C.

Antiochus Epiphanes was a Hellenistenthusiast, proud of his Athenian citizen-ship and bent on spreading Helleniccivilization throughout his domains. Hebuilt various temples to Apollo and Jupi-ter. He observed, and commanded hissubjects to observe, all the pagan Greekfestivities to the heathen gods. So fanat-ical was he in his zeal to implant hisbeliefs on all others that some of his

contemporaries called him HALF-CRAZED(Margolis, History of the Jewish People,p. 135) . He let nothing hinder him fromrealizing his desires.

A large number of the Jews readilyaccepted the newly established Syriandoctrine of complete surrender to the phi-losophies of Hellenism. Most of the Jewswere thoroughly accustomed to much ofthe Greek culture anyway, and it was nohard thing to transfer allegiance fromthe Egyptians to the Syrians.

Yet, by the time of Antiochus Epiph-anes, other Jews had also begun to take


10/16


a new interest in religion-the religio nof their forefathers. Thi s new con cern forreligion was beginning to spread amongthe Jews of Palestine.

W hen Antiochus Epiphanes hcard thatsome of th e Jews were rejec ting his doc-trines of total adherence to Hellenism,he began to persecute many of them . Th epersecution inevitably caused more Jewsto side with the cause of religion. Thisstubbornness of the Jews infuriated Anti-ochus . H e then bega n- in a fit of de-moniac insanity-widespread persecution,committing heinous indignities againstall those who would not conform to hisways.

N ot all the Jews were in disfavor withAntiochus. Many of the wealthy and in-fluential families, and especially manyof the chief priests, wickedly supportedAntiochus in his wild schemes. As thepersecution grew more intense, a greatmany of th e comm on people went againstAntiochus. Th e result of t his unparalleled

persecution by this madman inevitablybrought a further quickening interest inthe Scriptures. Many began to take uparms against the Syrians. The cry wentthroughout the land that, in reality, thiswas a rel igious war and that the Jewswere fighting for their Law and theirGod. This belief boosted renewed inter-est in fighting against Antiochus. Seepage 5 of t he May issiie for a detaileddescription of the atrocities that madeAntiochusso hated by the Jews.

Judas MaccabeeTh e Jews, in order t o band themselves

together against the Syrians, cameto theside of Judas Maccabee and his fourbrothers. An army was formed for twopurposes: 1) defeating Antiochus Epiph-anes and 2 ) driving out th3 Syriansfrom Palestine. This army was quicklyput into action. After many successfulbattles, in succeeding decades, this Jew-ish army managed to accomplish boththings Antiochus armies were defeatedin 165 B.C. and by 142B.C. the Syrianswere completely driven from the land.Prac t ica l independence for the Jewsresulted.

R e l i g i ous A u tho r i t y R e -e s ta b l is h edA m o n g J e w s

With the defvat of Antiochus Epiph-anes in 165 B.C., the religious historyof the Jews enters a new phase. TheSanhedrin, which had been feebly estab-lished some thirty years before, was nowofficially declared th e religious authorityam on g t he J e u ~ s f Palestine. Being invirtual controlof the land, the Jews werein position to re-establish the religionthat had been in a state of decay for solong.

No w, for th e first time since the periodof the Sopherim , they had independentreligious authority. The Sanhedrin took

the place of the Snpherim in directingthe religious life of the people. But, thisgoverning body of men was to be greatlydifferent from th e priestly Sopherim.

During the peiiucl of religious anarchybefore Antiochus Epiphanes, a funda-mental change took place in the attitudesof the priests. Many of the priests wereoutright Hellenists and steeped in thepagan philosophies of that culture. Notonly that, many of them had sided withAnt inchus Epiphanes against the com-mon people during the Maccabean Re-volt. Such activities caused the commonpeople to be w ary of the priests and the irreachiiig. There was a general distrustfor anything priestly a t this time.

A few priests had not allied them-selves with Hellenism and AntiochusEpiphanes. But the large m ajority, in oneway or another, were not faithful to thereligion of their forefathers.

This ge neral lackof trust for the priestsled most of the common peopleto dis-

approve of their re-assuming their fullfor me r role of b eing religious authorities.Only those priests who had not beenopenly in favor of Hellen ism were soughtand allowed to take their former posi-tions. The common people could notbring themselves to entrust the otherpriests with the right to help regulatethe religious life of the Jews. Only tothese faithful priests were committcdchairs in the new Sanhedrin (Lauterbach,Rabb inic Essays,p. 2 0 9 ) .

Non-Priestly Teachers AssumeAutho r i t a t i ve Pos i t i ons

Under Egyptian control, within theperiod of the religious anarchy, Palestinehzd no official teachers of the Law.Afew individuals here and there endeav-oured to study the Scriptures i n a personalway. Without official teachers, thestudyobviously had to be personal and in pri-vate. The fact that a few independentstudents of the Law existed is proved bythe few learned men who came to thefore with the establishment of a San-hedrin. W e are further assured of thiswhen we realize that this new Sanhedrin,organized abo ut 196 B.C., was composedof LAY TEACHERS as well as some priests.

The study of the Law no w becameamatter of private piety, andas such wasnot l imited t o th e priests (Lauterbach,Rab binic Essays,p. 198).

This private study, without properguidance fro m recognized authority suchas the Sopherim were, brought aboutsome sur prisin g results.

( T h i s is the same condit ion that hap-pened in the Protestant Reformation.Many lay teachers arose, because the B iblewas m ade availableby the prin ting press,and many confusing and contradictorydivisions arose am ongst those w ho werecoming out of the C atholic Church.)

Many of these Jewish teachers, lilte-wise, becauseof their indepe ndent privatestudy in the Scripture, were not in unityon many of their teachings. And, too,many of these teachers were variouslyaffected by Hellenism.

W e shall therefore be not far fromthe truth if we represent the Sanhedrin,in the years from its foundation down tothe outbreak of the Maccabean Revolt,as an Assembly of priests and laymen,some of whom inclined to Hellenismwhile others opposed it out of loyalty tothe Torah Herford, T h e Pharisees,p. 2 7 ) .

The differing degreesof Hellenic ab-sorption among the teachers, mixed withindependent study of the Scriptur:,brought abou t a new varietyof opinions.And, in the discussions that followed todetermine w hich opinion s to use, theLAYTEACHERS claimed as much right to voicetheir views as thc priests. The lay teach-ers were assured of the common people

being behind them.At the beginning of the second cen-tury these non-priestly teachers alreadyexerted a great influence in the commu-nity and began persistently t o claim f o rthemselves, as teachers of t h e TAW thesame aathority which, t i l l then , the priestsexclusively bad enjoyed Lauterbach,Rabb inic Essays,p. 2 8 ) .

Such privileges thar die lay Lexherswere usurping to themselves would neverhave been permitted while the Sopherim,the successors of Ezra and Nehemiah,were in authority. The Law of Moses,which God had directly commanded him,clearly enjoined that the priests, withtheir helpers thel.evites, were to performthe functions of teachers, not just anylayman wh o would presume to doso.

Some of these priests were in the San-hedrin and were willing ro re-establishthe religious life of the people, in accordance with the directions in the Law. Butthe new laymen, who had now also be-come teachers of the Law becauseof theirindependent study, were not willing togive up this new power they had ac-quired. Hum an reason insisted that th-ywere as competen t to teach the peopleasthe priests.

Lay Teache r s Re j ec t So l e Au th o r i t yof Priests to Te a c h

When t he Sanhedr in was r e - o r ga n idafter Antiochus Epiphanes, the lay teachers exhibited more power than eyer be-fore. The priests, who were under a banof discred it befor e th: Macca bean Re -volt, were even morc so afterwards. Thelay teachers repudiated the claim that thepriests had an excllisive right to bz inauthority.

Lauterbach says that thzse lay teachxsrefu sed to recognize th e autho rity of th:priests as a class, and, inasm uchas many


11/16

July 1961

of the priests had proven unfaithfulguardians of the Law, they would not en-trust to them the religious life of thepeople Rabbinic Essays, p. 209).

This privilege, of assumin g thc roleofthe priests, was not a complete usurpa-tion of every prerogative of the priests.They still were th e only ones allowedtopzrform the ritualistic lemple services,etc. No lay teacher ever thought of tak-ing over this exclusive positionof thepriests.

But from the tim e of the re-establish-me nt of the Sanh edrin, after the M acca-b-an Revolt, the lay teachers became theimportant religious leadev-s.

S a n h e d r i n F a ce sManyNew P r o b l e m s

Th e establishment of the Sanhedrinwas recognized as a necessity in orderthat there could bea resumption of someform of the religion o f Moses.

T he members of this Sanhedrin took

LIP he interrupted activity of the formerteachers, the Sopherim, and, like them,sought to teacli aiicl iiirerpret the Lawand to regulate the life of the people inaccordance with the laws and traditionsof the fathers. But in their attempt toharmonize the laws of the fathers withthe life of their o wn times,they encoun-tered s om e great difficulties Lauterbach,Kuhhinic Essays, p. 105 )

The people were keepingso many newcustoms, not observed by their forefa-thers, that the membersof the SanhedrinbecaiIir perplexed over whatto do.

It was not easy to find suppor t from theScriptures which mig ht condone som eofthe practices of the Jews at this time.The m embersof the Sanhedrin began tolook for ways of just ifying the people,rather than fol lowing the Scripture com-mands to correct them (Deut. 32: 1-47) .

Many new customs and practices forwhich there were no precedents in thetraditions of the fathers, and no t theslightest indication zn t h e Bo ok of theLaw, were observed by the people andconsidered by th em as part of their re-ligiou s law s and practices ibid., p. 195 ) .

The majority of the teachers in theSanhedrin came to the conclusion thatthe proper thing to do was to find someway to authoritatively justify these newcustoms. They w ere well aware that theycould not go to the Scripture for theirsupport . This presented a troublesomesituation to the Jewish teachers.

T h e difficultywas to find a sanctionin the Torah for the new customs andpractices which had established them-selves in the community. . (Herford ,Talmud and Apocrypha ,p. 6 6 ) .

Th e only commands the Jews had fromGod in this matter were clearly negative.

Learn not the way of the heathen( Je r. 1 0 : 2 ) .

T h e GOOD NEWS 1 1

Take heed tn rhywlf that thou be notsnared by following them [the heathen)

. and that thou enquire not after theirgods, saying, How did these nations {thehcathen] serve Llieir gvds? men so willI do likewise ( D e u t . 12:30) .

How to avoid these plain Scripturecommands, and get these new customssanctioned as proper religious observ-ances? The teachers thought it wouldhave been misadventurousto tell the peo-ple who wanted to retain these customsthe simple commands of the Scriptures.The people were not about to give upthese new customs. The teachers wereassured of iliis.

What, then, did the teachers do tofinally get these new religious customsand practices authorized and as havingthe sanction of Go d? They came out witha most ingeniou s fiction which showsanamazing and clever display of humanreasoning.

Te a c h e r s P r o n o u n c e H e a t h e nC u s t o m s J e w i s h i n Origin

The conclusion of the Jew ish teachersmay surprise you. They merely taughtthat all the customs and practices whichthe Jews were now observing wereac-tually Jewish in origin

Th ey reasoned th is: It is hardly possi-ble that fore ign custonzsand non-Jewishlaws should hlzve met w i t h such w verJalacceptance. T h e total absence of objec-t ion on the pur t of the people t o suchcustoms vow he d for their Jewish origin,in the opinion of the teachers (Lauter-bach, Rabbin icEssays,p. 2 11 1

Th e Jewish teachers told the peoplethat it was simply not possible for them,being Jews, to have inherited any heathencustom or practice

Since the Jewish teachers acceptedthese customs as actually being Jewish inorigin, it became necessary to carry thetheory just a little further. The theorywent like this: Since the customs weresupposedly Jewish, then they must havebeen taught by the prophets and theteachers of Israel, even by Moses himselfThat is how the customs and practices ofthe Jews, which in reality they had in-heri ted from the heathen within theperiod of religious anarchy, were falselytermed th e traditions of the fathers-handed down from Moses, the prophetsand teachers of old

These traditions Jesus condemned.There was, however, one difficulty for

the Jewish teachers to overcome in thisinterpretation. There were no such cus-toms and practices as these mentioned inall of M oses Law nor in any othe r partof the Scripture.

This did not dampen the spirit of theJzwish teachers T hey also had an an-swer for this. They m aintained that thesecustoms were not put down in wri t ten

form, and because of this, wcrc not foundin the te xt of Scripture. T hese customswere handed down orally from Moses,was their assertion They were passedby word of mouth from Moses throughevery generation.

By assuming that there was an OralLaw, called the traditionsof the fathers,this freed the Jewish teachers from hav-ing to appeal to the Writ ten Scripture forevidence to back up their statements.

Accordingly, thc teachers themselvescumet o believethat such generally recog-nized laws and practices must have beenold traditional laws and practices ac-cepted by the fathers and transmitted tofol lowing g enerat ions in addition to theWrit ten Law. Such a belief would nat-urally free the teachers f rom the neces-sity of findingscriptural proof fo r all theN E W pract icesr(Lauterbach, RabbinicEssays, p. 2 11 )

These tradit iona l laws-the Ora l Laws-were not from Moses nor any of the

prophets. There is nota single referencein the Scripture that Moses gave theIsraelites any Oral or Traditional Lawsthat were to be handed down along withthe Wr it ten W ord . Th e Bible states justthe opposite. It plainly says that Moseswrote the whole Lawin a book. Therewas no such thing as an Oral Law ofMoses.Nuiicr:

And i t came topass, when M oses hadmade an endof writ ing the wordsof thislaw in a b oo k, un ti l T H E Y W E RF I N I S H E D ,that Moses commanded theLevites.. aying, Tak e th is book of t h elaw, and put it in the side of the arkofthe covenant of the Lord your Go d, thatitmay be there f o r a witness aguinst thee(Deut . 31 :24-26) .

Moses wrote the Law in a book. Andir was this wri t ten Word of God thatwas to be a witness against the Israelitesfor future generations, not any so-calleOra l Law.

Notice this confession of Dr. Lauterbach :

These traditional laws naturally hadno indicat ion in the Wr it ten Law and nobasis in the teachings of the Sopherimb ec au se t h e y d e v e lo p e d A F T E R t hperiod of t h e Sopherim (ibid. ,p. 2 0 6 ) .

In other words tradition originatein the period of the religious anarchywhen the Egyptians were in control oPalestine.

The reorganized Sanhedrin had toreckon with thesene w luws and customno w considered as traditionalbecause ob-served and practiced by the people / u r ageneration or more (ibid.,p. 2 0 6 ) .

W e should not suppose that this theorof the origin of the Traditional laws wawholeheartedly accepted by all the teachers and m embersof the Sanhedrin.

(Please continueo n next page)


12/16


z ~ p f i ces in other places throu ghout theworld, each mailing out thousands ofcopies of The PLAINTRUTH. his pro-verbial mustard tree will surely shootfor th GREAT BRANCHES

And all this began in that small, drabback room in Eugene, Oregon only 27years ago

Church Attendance(Cont inued f rom page2 )promise (verses 35-36) .Some are notdoing the will of God Some lack thefaith and patience it takes to be consistent in their regular sabbath attendance

N o w c o n s i d e r t h e i m p o r t a n c e o fregular church attendance.

It is good for you -and good for theother brethren They have as much needof your presence as you have of theirsand you all have need of the presenceofJesus Christ and His messages throughHis ministry Tha t you cannot ever getprivately, at home, while you dwell onyear own problems.You need to ge t yourmind on orher peoples problems, getaway from your personal surroundingeach sabbath to a local church. Ask thebrethren who dont have a church howmuch they miss each week-how muchthey long for fellowship with other brethren of like faith. Go d does not holdt h e mresponsible for what they have not heardin sabbath services. T h e y have none toattend.

But He DOES hold you responsiblewhen you have a service to attend Hewarns you not to withdraw from HISfellowship-not to spiritually shrivel u

in your little world. But if any man d rawback, my soul shall have no pleasure inhim, concluded Paul (verse 38). Aryou drawing back to your old frie nds anacquaintances, to the little world you havbeen living in? Or are you living byfaith-faithfully atten ding each sabbatservice?

W e are not of the m who draw backunto perdition-who begin to neglecthe words of Chr ist, become self-centerepreferring fellowship only with theifamily and acquaintances. We are ofthem that believe to the saving of thsoul (verse 3 9 ) .Do you believeChristswords? Do you ac t on them? He com-mands you to worship in His presencevery sabbath wherever a local congre-gation makes a HOLY CONVOCATIONpossible.

Ne xt sabbath, and each sabbath thereafter, attend church. Be regular. Get acquainted w ith other people. Learn to gerid of your feelings of inferiority by becoming interested in others. Ge tto knowthe i r p rob l ems. H e l p t hem. Seve ramonths from now you will be amazed ah e change that has taken place in youlife. You and others will see what atotally new lifeyou are now leading

Some Teachers Disapproveof New Interpretation

Th e theory of a n authoritative tradi-t i o n a l l a w ( w h i c h m i g h t b e t a u g h ti n d e p e n de n t l y of t h e S c r i p t u r e )w a saltogether too newto be unhesitatinglyaccepted. . he theory was too start l ingand nozvlto be unconditionally accepted(ibid. ,p. 2 11)

The Jewish teachers who were themost prone to accept the new fictionalinterp retati on were th e lay teachers. Someof the priests were not quite sure thiswas the way of handling the situation.They maintained that the Sopherim ofold had always relied upon the S cripture,and that they would never have counte-nanced such interpretations whichcorn-pletely side-tracked the W or dof God.

In their [the priests) opinion, theinain thing was to observe the lawsof thefathers as contained in th e Bookof theLaw, because the people had pledgedthemselves, by oath, in the time ofEzra,to do so. If changed conditions requiredadditional laws and new regulations, th epriests and rulers were competent todecree them according to the authoritygiven to them in Deut. 17:s-13(zbid.,p. 7 0 9 .

The priests, as a whole, declared thatthe Scripture was the only necessary codeof laws to obey.

T h i s a p p a r e n t l y s i m p l e s o l u t i o noffered by the priestly group in theSanhedrin did not find favor with t h elay me m ber sof th at body (ibid.,p. 209).

The lay teachers, who outnumberedthe priestly group, claimed the only way

of reconciling these new customs witht he Scriptiire was to recognize them asOral laws handed d own f rom Moses.

They began to formulate methods ofexplaining how these laws were ordainedby Moses and transmitted to the Jewsthen living. Their explanations were nottrue, but they deliberately taught themanyway.

Lauterbach says that these lay teachersof the Sanhedrin devised the methodsfor connecting with the Law all thosenew decisions a n d customs which werenow universally observed by the people,i h i r making t he m appearas part of thelaws of the father s(ibzd.,p.210). Notice,they made them appear as if they wereactual traditions of Moses

Clever Answers to OpponentsThe lay teachers had an answer for

almost every question that an opponentrnight ask them concerning the validityof these Traditional laws.

If one would mention that Deuter-onomy 4 : 2 forbade the addition to theLaw, the lay teachers would readily ad mi tthat fact but staunchly affirm that therecognition of the Traditional laws wasnot adding to the Law of Moses. They

claimed these laws origina ted with Mosesand represented the complete revelationthat God gave him (ibid. ,p. 4 4 ) .

If som e opp one nt would voice thetruth about the recent origin of theselaws, the lay teachers merely declaredthat the laws were actually Mosaic buthad been long forg otten and had just beenrecalled and reintroduced (ibid., p. 45 ) .

A n d w h e n s o m e o n e w o u l d p r o v ebeyond question that these laws wereno th i ng Ino re t han pagan p r ac t i c e s ,Lieberman points o ut that in such casesthe J e ws C O Z L ~ ~aintain that the heathenw e r e following Jewish practices and no tvice versa (H ell en ismin Jew ish Pales-tine, p. 129).

Such interpretat ions were absurdlyr x t r e m r, c o m p l e te l y u n j u s t i f ie d a n dutterly false H ow they managed to palmoff such fallacious interpretations asactual truth can be understood only ifwe recogniLe Lhat he people wdnted to?receive thi s error. With the people be-

hind them, the lay teachers could teachabout w hat they wished.Ce rtain religious practices, considered

by the later teachersas part of the tradi-tional law, or as handed down by Moses,originated in reality f v o w othev pevhnpsnon- Jew ish sources, and had n o authorityother than the authority of the peoplewh o adopted them (ibid. ,p. 241 )

With the acceptance of thest: newcustoms and practices we can date thetrue beginning of Judaismas a religionThe opportunity of retur ning to the Lawof Moses was rejected. From that timeforward, about 150 years before Christ,we become familiar in history with ther e al J u d a i s m - a r e l i g i o n w h i c h t h eApostle Paul calls the Jews religion.

( T o be continued next issue.)

Plain Truth Circulation(Continued f r om page6 )

Gospel through the pages of The P LA INTRUTH n this age

In the meantime, should the publish-ing of Th e PLAINTRUTH ontinue itsyearly growthof 3 0 9 , our list of suh-scribers in the UNITED STATES by1965 wil l be well over 700,000,with anadditional printing of over60,000 maga-zines to fill rcquests of those wanting asample copy.

As the Expanding Sixties draw to aclose, our Unit ed States mailin g listcouldreach a minimum of 2,500,000 sub-Jcribers. An addit ional 200,000 samplecopies might be sent out e w r y month .Th e London Office could be m ailingoutover 200,000 additional copies eachmon th nd the Canadian and Austra-lian Offices also

Offices may be raised upthis u e r y yearin Africa and N ew Zealand. Long beforethe end of the sixties, Go dma y wel l raise


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What Does I t Mean t oLIVE BY FAITH?

If you are not living by faith you are not u CHRISTIAN

Yet many who call themselves Christian dont even knowwhat it means to live by faith.by Jack R. Elliott

OW the just shall live by faith:but if any man dr aw back, mysoul shall have n o pleasure in

him (Hebrews 10: 38) .But what is fai th?Many people, when they realize they

must live by faith, make the mistakeofconfusing faith withemotion.

Other people th ink they are exercisingfaith by looking for a sign. For example,

some, even when prayingto

God,F E E L

that God hears them and is goingto an-swer that prayer because theyhave someemotional feeling or experience aboutit.They think this is a sign that God willanswer.

Other people try to work up faith,which, to them, means an em otional feel-ing. They become so sentimental about i tthat they are convinced God will answerbecause of their human sanctimoniousinner-conviction.

Sentimentality, feelings and emotionsARE OF THE FLESH-not of the Spiri t ofGod which is fromabove.These feelingsof sentimentality are not evidence onwhich to base your faith. They are in theclass of what can be seen, smelled, tastedor felt.

But FAITH is the confidenceof thingshoped for, the evidence of things NOTS E E N Heb. 11 1

Then, T o LIVE B Y FAITH DOES NOTMEAN that you go around with somesmrirnental feeling, act in a sanctimoni-ous manner which most people callspirit ual, or follow after physical ormental signs.

A c t i n g on W h a t We K n o wLiving by faith does not mean reason-

ing and supposing what God w ould haveus do. I t means we come to k n o w whatGod would have us do. W e come to knowGods will by diligent S E A R C H I N G andSTUDY of His Bible which instructs us inHis WAY. Also through prayer to Godthat H e will reveal to usH I S W I L L .

God has not made every minuteDE-CISION for us. In n l a i i y iiistdrices He hasgiven us only the over-all principle.Through His Holy Spiri t He then givesus the SOUNDNESS of mind by which WEMUST APPLY that principle. After studyand prayer, we step out in faith to m akeour decision, based on Gods instructions

and the understanding H e has given us.W e m u s t TRUST H i m zn faith not tohide, but to reveal the one correct solu-tion to us.

THIS IS ACTING ON FAITH. Faith is notmerely what you need in order to haveGod answer your prayers t is whatyouneed in order to obey God. Faith isa giftof God to enable youto obcy Him.

How Faith WorksTh e Holy S piri t comes into our minds

to clean us up and replaces our human,carnal-mindedness with sound spiritual-mindedness.

Jesus Chris t actually comes into us andbegins to liveHIS LIFE in us (Joh n 14 :23 ;Rom. S:9-11; I Cor. 3 :16). Not only didH e GIVE HIS LIFE in payment for theV I T. E SINS r h a t you and I have committed,thereby reconciling us to God, but Hecomes into these vile, carnal minds andbegins to CLEAN THEM UP of the FILTHthat is there.

Th e extent and mannerof His love for11s is truly WONDERFUL

Our part is to REPENT not just of ourfoul deeds which we have committed inthe past, but actually to repentof beingthe carnal, fleshly, sensual beings th at w eare. W e need to want to be as God i s

W e mus t want to be AS GOD IS andNOT AS MAN IS so badly that we ar e will-ing to give up, to bury this old self, withall of its sensual plcasurc sccking, and tocling and strive to KEEP NEAR TO GODso that H e will CONTINUE to come inand clean us up. H e must renew ourminds daily, that day by day our action,behavior, and thoughts parallel thosethoughts and actions which are in the

mind of Jesus Christ.This is, in fact, a marvelous spiritualCREATION which God IS PERFORMING.By fa i thGOD creates in us a holy, spir-itual character, which shall live for alleternity. By faithW E must independentlymake the decision to let God create HisCharacter in us. Our new mind mustcome to be completelyWITHIN THE LAWand pattern of behavior of the HOLY

The person who fails to step out onfaith DAILY and HOURLY is weak andsenseless. All that he is and all that hecan ever be, isdependent upon God.

GODHEAD.

What Our Job IsTh e Church of G od, whichis the body

of Jesus C hrist, is given aCOMMISSION.This commission is a job or a work to beperformed by the Church as a wholeThat commission is stated clearly in Matthew 28:19-20: to carry this GOSPEL tothe world during this end time before thKingdom of God shall be set up. Andalso, that the Church does feed and nour

ish the individuals within that Churchon the Word of God ( John 2 1 : 1 5 - 1 7 ,Acts 20:28).

W e are in the Church only if God theFather has giuen us of His Holy Spiritand placed us within the body of JesusChrist. N ow this body has many membe ras outl ined in Romans 12 :4 -8 .Not allof us have the same job; not all of us dothe same things. But ALL of those ina h o m the Spiri t of God residesARE APART OF THE BODY and all collectivelywill be work ing toward the over-allCOM-MISSION OF THE CHURCH.

That member of the true Church who

is living by faith will be active in hispart of the over-all work of God. Hewill be praying diligently fo r the w orkasa whole, that the Gospel willgo out inaccordance with Gods will in all thepower an d authority that Go d will allowHe will also be praying for the brethrenovercoming and growing in grace andknowledge. Our prayers should includthe leaders whom God is using, that themigh t be inspired and rightly guided.

Pray for the individuals within theChurch, that they might be performingtheir calling so that the whole Churchis nourished and growing in every way

of God. Christs Message mustgo out tothis DARKENED WORLD before this ageends in cataclysmic horror. The Churcmember who does not feel that callingand who isnot actively doing his part w ilcertainly FAIL in HIS calling. He lackstrue purpose. H e is without a goal.

Those who are Co-Workers in thework of God should not overlook theimportance of their calling which is in-cluded in Romans 12 verse 8. God hasactually called many to contributeof thePOWER of their financial earnings. It takemuch money to purchase radio time anequipment, and to sustain the growin


14/16


enjoyed them selvrs iiiiiiieiixly.It truly isa blessing and a delight to rejoice withGods people and to share this preciousfellowship.

My wife spent a large part of the daypreparing the meal, for tztrkey was on themenu. Everyone brought his appetitetothe table, and the peach pie which wasserved for dessert was received withenthusiasm.

After d inner w e took pictures, playedrecords, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselvesin Christian fellowship.

From Los Angeles-Long B eachFrom rhe Los Angeles-Long Beach

churches comes the first editionof theSPOKESM AN. Mr. L. Leroy Neff a ndMr. James F. Kunz, ministerial advisors,head a long editorial staff in clud ing Mr.James Bald, editor,and M r. Frank Marasa,Mr. Lonnie Tarver and Mr. Rob ert Sm ith,assistant editors. Here are excerpts fromvolume 1, number 1.

Los Angeles News, by Edna OvercashMr. and Mrs. Michael Lomascola

announced the birth of their new babyson, David John, May6, 1961. Their lastchild [before entering the Church) hadbeen b y caesarean section. She had beenwarned by her former doctorto have nomore children. Theirs was perfect faithand the baby was delivered normally.Congratulations

Sabbath, May 27Th e Los Angeles church hada record

attendance of 178. Many visited fromPasadena and Long Beach churches. The

octet from the college favored us withtheir appearance and two fine numbers.Mr. McCrady said a final good-bye as hewas leaving on his b aptizingtour.

Combined Picnic, by Jimmy GibsonA ll work an d no play makes Jacka

dull boy. Members of the Los Angelesand Long Beach Spokesmans Club aredetermined that this shall not happentothe brethren of our churches.

So,on Sunday, the second SpokesmanClub-sponsored picnic was held in thebeautiful South Gate Park, for all members of the Los Angeles and Long Beachchurches. Members brought their owncovered dish arid pie with rhe Spoke smanClub supplying beef wieners, ice creamand various other items.All of this madea very delicious meal and a delightfult ime of rejoicing in fellowship with thebrethren of Gods Church. It wasalso awonderful opportunity for the membersof the Spokesman Club to learn what ablessing it is to serve and help others andto really enjoy themselves in this wond erful t ime of fellowship together.

A plannrd program of games waheld for all participants. A softball gamwas enjoyed by the men, giving them

staff working full time to completeChrists commission W E can ALL takethis admonition to heart andACT on itIN FAITH. W e should all give liberally(se e margin referen ce verse8 ) accordingto our ability. This also includes givingliberally of our time in prayer which ispowerful and effective toward fulfillingour commission (Jas.5: 16).

Stepping OutTo step out o n faith then, you must

become awareof WHO God is. You mustalso be aware that Godhas opened youreyes and set you in the Church, the bodyof Jesus Christ. That God is iv&restedin you personally and individually. Youmust realize that it is Gods will toGIVEyou His H o l y Spirit and to create in youPERFECT CHARACTER. You must also beaware that if you fa d toH E E D and OBEYproperly, that you will have failed thetest of LIFE and shall DIE for all eternity.

Through STUDY we KNOW what toHOPE for because Go dhas revealed with-i n H i s BIBLE what things shall be.FAITHin God will assure us that our hope shallcertainly come to fruition and that thepromises of G od, which are not yet seen,are as sure as if they w ere stan ding beforeus right now. Then we wil l s tep out ,guiding our actions according to theW or d of God.

As Solomon said in Eccles.1 2 : 13, ourduty is to fear God and keep HisCOM-MANDMENTS-by faith.

This is the kind of LIVING FAITH,which Paul wrote of in Hebre ws11, thatis R E Q U l R h U for salvation. It is the faithproved by WORKS. Works which involvestepping out, giving, helping, and other-wise guiding our lives, not by sight, orfeel, or taste, but by the revealed laws ofGod. Gods Word is SURE , ndHE WILLNOT FAIL TO PERFORM IT once we learnto trust God in absolute faith.

Qaestzon BoxYour qaestiorts wrswered .in these colwirum 1 ~ ppvrtunky t o have

discussed those p roblems pertaining directlyt o members of Gods Church.

W h y do some bel ieve that C h r i s twas a n a z a r i t e and w o r e l o n g hair?

Jesus was not a nazarite.Some have been misled by an errone-

ous interpretation of Matthew 2:23,

And he came and dwelt in a city calledNazareth: that i t mightbe fulfilled whichwas spoken by the prophets, H e shall becalled a Nazarene.

Many have concluded that this proph-ecy had to be a writte n prophecy record-ed somewhere in the Old Testam ent. Thisis an unfounded assumption.

Since they could not find anythingin the Old Testament about Nazarenes,they guessed th at some similar word m usthave been intended. Using this erroneousreasoning, they went one step furthcr intheir folly and assumed that this scrip-ture was referring to the laws (NOT

prophecy) about nazarires.Notice that the prophecy said thatChrist would be called a Nazarene, nota nazarite. A Nazarene is one who lives

in Nazareth; and a nazarite is one whohas a nazarite vow, which is described inNumbers 6. Many Bible students havebeen confused by the similarityof thesetwo words, although they are not at allrelated in their meanings. They are justas unrelated in meaningas some of ourEnglish words of today that have similarsounds, such as encum ber and cucum-ber. Christ was a Nazarene, a man f romNazareth. He was not a long-hairednazarite. A nazarite was forbidden todrink wine, but Christ drank wine onnume rous occasions. Either H e was nevera nazarite r H e brokeHis vows

Th e prophecy-that the Saviour wouldbe called a Naza rene was not writtenin thc Scriptures. Matthew says it wasspoken by th e prophets. It wasa uni-versally recognized oral prophecy that

was authoritatively preserved from gen-eration to generation by the priests. Itbecame a written prophecy only in NewTestame nt times.

ing us that the time had come to enda

A t Our Home, by J. L. HooksCHURCH NEWS perfect day.

(Coiztiiaeied f r om pugs 4

hungry people, to the Palomar State Park, W e recently markeda very memo-where everyone enjoyed their lunch rable occasion at our residence whereamong the evergreens and giant oaks. manyof the Ncgro brethren of the Sail

A t 3 : O O p.m. the clouds once mo re Di ego church assembled. All thirty ofbegan to enshroud the mountains, signal- these brethren were invited.All truly


15/16

July, 1961 T h e GOOD NEWS 5

opportunity to seejust how outof shapethey were. But despite all of the soreaching muscles we hada good time.

This time the club made certain thatt he children would d s o have games ustfor them. Mr. Jerry Bagley was a ppointedto direct them in various games, withprizes given to those who put forth thebest effort.

It was indeed a wonderful change toreally get to know one another.Also toenjoy the fellowship and blessing thatcomes from being with Gods ptople andlearning how to have the rightbalanceof work and play.

N e w s from Africa TooI thought you would all like to hear

some news from Northern RhodesiaMr. Mwambula wil l soon be moving

to t h e e a s t e r n d i s t r ic t o f P e t a u k e i nNorthern Rhodesia. This move was ad-vised by Mr. Roderick M eredith and Mr .Raymond M cNair on their recent tr ipto

Africa.Preliminary to his move to this area,Mr. Mwambula has taken a irceiit tripthere. Petauke is the section of Nor ther nRhodesia in which Mr. Mwambula wasborn and raised. Mt. Mwambulas fatherIS a c h e f over an entire village in Pe-tauke. This village is called Mwa mbulasVillage.

Here, there gre many native Africans,with the background and language en-tirely familiar to Mr. Mwambula. Here,he will be able to best be used in bri ngingthe Gospel LO hose God may be call ing inthis area of the world.

O n h i s f i r s t t r i p to P e t a u k e , M r.Mw ambula found the p:ople very rec ep-tive to Gods truth and willing to listenand be corrected. He re are excerpts fromHis recent letter from the area.

My t r ip to Petauke, I left Lusaka onThursday, 27th April 1961, by bus. W eslept on the way at Nyimba bus station.The next morning we arrived Pctaukeround about 9:00 a.m. Many ptople fromhome was at bus station waiting for mp.There I hired a car to take me home atMwambulas Village where I have findmany people was gathered hoze whoheard that I was coming to establishRadio Church of God in Petaukearea.That evening we studied Bible untilmiddle night -peop le wanted to hearmore and more aboutGods words.

The next morning, on Sabbath, wehave good number of people gathered toBible studies which w as held at KasengasV i11ag e nea r e s t M wa in b u la s V i11age .People f tntn two villages, Kasenpas andMwambulas, attended Bible studies on29th April 1961 under big tree.

I have one inan in the meetings -h eis church elder in Ducch Re form C hurch.He stood and tell the people thatI waspreach the false doctrine to you people

First weeks service at Mwambulas V illa ge, Ap ril ?O 1961.

Service conducted at Kasel;tgaJsVillage om May 7.

On May 7 Mr . Mw amb ula preached to these uillagers. Men and w om entraditiomally sit separately in Africa.


16/16


O n e of he teachers houses at Mwam bulas Vi lla ge.

who gathered here, now from today I will

no longer preach that anymore. I amgoing to preach true Christ our Saviourw h o we j u s t hea rd f r om p reacherMwambula. I will not attend any otherchurches from today. I am one of theRadio Church of God. My name is YasoniChikahade.

On May 13 we have Bible study atChikahades Village, we have very goodattendance, there comes to 35.

The African people are slow in start-ing. And yet the Gospel is astounding.They will and can sit for hours and listento one explain the Bible truths. Whenyou feel it is about time to quit, they keepasking and saying, Tell us more aboutthe Bible and Jesus Christ the Son of thetrue God.

Continuing the letter:To make calls and canvass among the

African is quite an experience. After youhave contacted one or two huts, you neednot go further. You will be soon sur-rounded by a couple hundred people. Inmy calls I have distributed bookletswhich I brought with me from Lusaka.1 also distribute Chinyanja dialect book-lets, people was very much pleased withthem. [A number of the booklets havebeen translated into the Chinyanja dialectand more in process at the present time.Editor]

The Gospel that is brought to theAfrican when the booklets are distributedI am sure will soon bring forth fru it. Butalways the Lord has given me strengththrough your letters and help to surmountobstacles, if you could but see the eyes ofmy African fellow as they listen when Ipreach and conduct Bible studies to them.When you speak to them about theirSaviour, their voices never cease thankingthe Almighty God for this blessed privi-lege to lead them to their Lord andSaviour, through your help which you

are always doing to me.

This should certainly make us all re-joice and be thankful to God for the workin Africa. Lets all remember to continueto pray for Mr. Mwambula and the workhe is doing in Northe rn Rhodesia ndfor all the work of God around the world

Brethren, there will not be room forthe many, many other interesting articlesfrom other areas and from other churchpapers. However, wc will bc lookingforward to next month when we canbring you more news of Gods peoplearound the world.

I think you will all be thrilled to learnthat a church newspaper is now beingprinted in the Philippine Islands by Mr.Ortiguero assisted by his two teenagesons. We hope to have excerpts from thispaper for you in the near future. W e hopethat every church area will send to us atheadquarters a copy of your church news-paper as each issue comes off the press.I am sure that everyone will enjoy hear-ing the news from the various areaswhere Gods people are scattered aroundthe world.

Lets all strive together, Brethren, asthe body of Christ in unity and fellow-ship in activities and togetherness thatis well pleasing to our God and Fatherin Heaven.

Letters to the Editor(Contilzuedfrom page 8 )

ENVOY Most WonderfulI received The ENVOY and it is

most wonderful It makes me very proudto realize that God has called and placedme in this -His Work. It makes metremble in knowing my smallness andovcrjoycd in realizing Almighty GodsGreatness

Man from Thomasville, N.C.

ENVOY CI Crcdit to AllThe ENVOY arrived a few days ago

and I am delighted with it. It is a creditto all those who have worked so hard tomake up this splendid book. I was pleasedto see among the students that there aresome from Canada.

Everyone Looks HappyI just cant get over The ENVOYeverything is so wondcrful about it-everyone looks so nice and happy. Mydaughter was looking at your wifes pic-ture. She said, Mother, she is such apleasant and sweet looking person. Shethinks your son resembles you.

Follows Students by T he ENVOYI want to tell you how much I en-

joyed the last ENVOY. I almost feel likeI know some of the graduates and stu-dent s, having followed them throughtheir college years. It is wonderful to beyoung and to

Documents

Good News 1961 (Vol X No 07) Jul