Thanks for Tidings
Many subscribers send extra with their annual payments permitting us to add people to our distribution for a free, one-year-trial-subscription. Sometimes, due to pressure of time, we simply add the name of someone not getting the magazine without sending him an explanatory letter. Such was the case with Kim Carona of Olympia, Washington. In response, she sent the following poem:
A Special Blessing
Who do I thank for the gift that came my way?
lam overwhelmed; I don’t know what to say.
The Tidings came to my door as a gift, no signature to see,
to give comfort and to uplift me.
A brother or sister saw my need;
they decided to share the seed. A strength in our beliefs to share,
it’s a blessing to know you are there.
An exhortation by a brother to read to fill our hearts and to believe.
An editorial to keep in mind, we also read the signs of the times.
A minute meditation to inspire us once again, to look at the Lord and not to men.
Coming events the Lord willing to be, so we may meet as His family.
The Bible study reminds us where to look at the only true, important holy book.
A comment or reflection teaches us to be giving, kind and sharing in our love for Thee.
Those in the Bible mission field succeed where other men fail who don’t believe.
News and notices keep us close in faith while our lamps are burning and we await.
For our dear Lord is close at hand ready to call us to His promised land.
Readers are encouraged to send to us the name and address of any who might enjoy receiving the Tidings. We’ll be pleased to send the magazine free for a year.
This same fluid permits us to send the magazine gratis to anyone who has trouble paying for it. Just let us know and we’ll mark our records accordingly.
An Uplifting Recital
At the annual Toronto Fraternal Gathering over the Easter weekend attended by over 1,200, a musical recital was presented by a group of young people from the Great Lakes area. Following is a note of appreciation.
To the Young People’s Choir,
We thoroughly enjoyed and were uplifted by the musical recital given by the young people of various ecclesias in Ontario and Michigan on Friday, April 10, at the Toronto Easter Gathering. It certainly rounded off the day’s activities.
After attending the first full performance of the choir last December 6, which was introduced by an appropriate and thought-provoking talk by Bro. Ken Curry from the Cosburn Ecclesia in Toronto, I really looked forward to this second one and was not disappointed.
A lot of time and effort are undoubtedly involved in activities of this nature, as it necessitates getting the participants together from distances apart for the practice sessions essential to this high standard of performance. The organizers are certainly to be commended and the brotherhood should encourage and fully support these and other activities in every way possible. As a youth circle leader myself years ago in Guyana, I found the support of the meetings very encouraging and helpful in coping with the problems that attend these functions.
The youths are certainly on to a good thing as such activities bring us all closer together in the spiritually healthy atmosphere created when, together, we can all enter into the enjoyment of songs of praise and worship to our Heavenly Father. These are the wholesome moments which direct attention to our Father’s glory as we focus on this instead of matters which do not stimulate us spiritually.
I would like to encourage the members of the choir to stick with it. I know that with the demands thrust on you these days, finding time to get together for practice could be very difficult, but please bear in mind that the effort you put forward and the sacrifice you make in persevering with this will be well pleasing to our Heavenly Father. It will not be in vain.
Esther Worrell, Hamilton, ON
Early Baptisms
Dear Bro. Don,
In view of the long letter (2/98, p. 59-60) in the Tidings, it will interest readers to learn that the 14 year-old youth (now 15) gave one of the most thoughtful and moving confessions of faith it has ever been our privilege to hear. We are convinced that he will soon become a splendid asset to the brotherhood; and, as elders of his ecclesia, we are determined that he will have every opportunity to do so. One point is significant. Throughout his responses, this young man constantly showed an extraordinary appreciation of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ on his behalf, surely rare in a teenager. Now his decision to be “covered” with the water of regeneration has inspired another 15-year-old youth to follow his example.
In our opinion, telling young people to wait until the are “old enough” to avoid temptation successfully before baptism is verging on salvation by works and by knowledge not by repentance and belief of the Gospel.
The Arranging Brethren of the ecclesia as we share the joy of the angels of heaven.
Dear Bro. Don,
Thank you very much for printing my letter, and I appreciate your comments regarding “Vow making not part of the gospel.” With respect to your comment of oath-making being forbidden, there is an interesting note in my Ungers Bible Dictionary, “God should always be so vividly present that, to him and others in the Christian community, his yea and nay are, in point of reliability, equivalent to an oath. His yea and nay are oath enough.”
There is an interesting marginal reference in Romans 13:5: “Therefore you must be subject not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake.” The margin of our Bibles has a reference to Ecclesiastes 8:2: “I say, Keep the king’s commandment for the sake of your oath to God.”
I feel when we take the step of baptism, it involves an understanding that we must know what we are doing and what will be required of us which is best described in Luke 14:25-33. In order to be a disciple, there are requirements. One must count the cost and be sure he is willing to bear his cross and be prepared to finish what he has set out to do. It also involves cognizance that one realizes it is a lifetime obligation which requires one to be responsible to judgment if one changes his mind Baptism is saying “Yes I thoroughly understand what I am doing, why I am doing this and the consequences if I decide to back out and leave.” I agree with you that we cannot do this on our own and require God’s mercy and help to accomplish our goal. There were many vows made in the Old Testament without the awareness of the ability to fulfill the terms. For instance, Jephthah’s daughter in Judges 11 and 12. There were instances of vows made by wives which could be made void by the husbands if they heard it and disagreed (Num. 30:3-16).
When we marry, we are asked, “Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband in sickness and health for better or worse till death do you part?” Our reply is, “Yes.” At a marriage, we never use the term “vow” yet it is always referred to as our marriage vows. I feel the same way about our “yes” at our baptism; we say in our interview to our brethren and in our conscience as we walk into the waters: “Yes, I understand my obligations to this relationship for the rest of my life, and I realize that if! do not uphold this obligation I will be held responsible to God at judgment.” To my thinking, and! may be wrong, this is no different from a marriage vow even though it is not referred to in the terms of vow or oath in the New Testament.
The Concerned Sister
A further point of elaboration may be useful.
When Israel entered into covenant relationship with God, they said: “All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient” (Ex 24:7). When we are baptized, we don’t repeat anything like these words, for a very good reason. Israel “continued I not in my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord” (Heb. 8:9). Israel did not keep their commitment so the covenant at Sinai did not benefit them.
By contrast, the covenant we have entered puts all the emphasis on God’s action and His grace: “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will Ire-member no more…Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus…Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering…” (Heb. 10:16-23).
In another place we are told that by God’s grace through Christ, we “have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of our sins” (Eph. 1:7). The covenant entered through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is one of awesome blessedness. It is a condition of forgiveness, of heir-ship to the promises, of reconciliation with God and fellowship with His family, if (and here is the “requirement’) “ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:23). The requirement is that we must not be one of those who has “trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace” (Heb. 10:29).
We are inclined to say we “must finish the work of discipleship, we must crucify the flesh.” Christ did that, but none of us fully do it. We may a most of the time (if we are honest, we will admit that sometimes we don’t even try), but the only constant “requirement” is faith in God. Thus all the glory in this covenant is to the Father and the Son, not to ourselves.
With this being the case, we must be exceedingly careful about discouraging someone from being baptized because he is not “ready to accept the requirements.” What he “must” do is believe the gospel of salvation, repent of his sins and put his faith and hope in God.
Strong’s Concordance