Deceptive words was not a phenomena exclusive to the first century Christians. Both the Lord and his apostles warned about this constant danger. For example, Peter wrote concerning false teachers among Christians, saying, “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words…” (2 Peter 2:3). This phenomena is very much alive and prospering in our day, and as Peter warned, “And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed” (2 Peter 2:2). How sad it is to see or hear about pious people being duped by words artfully and skillfully designed to bring them into the persuasion of the speaker. One’s compassion naturally goes out to those (as reported in the Saturday, March 4, 2000 issue of Clarksburg Exponent TELEGRAM) who were victimized by the Y2K scam that played on their religion by the Greater Ministries International, of Tampa, FL. The article reads in part, “They targeted church people…they would come right into the church before the congregation…and use the scriptures to justify themselves. They really worked the churches…Using the motto, ‘Give and it shall be given to you.’” Time and again, not just on this occasion, this motto has been taken out of context (unknowingly to the poor Bible student) and used to persuade pious people to invest their money in a supposedly good cause. It is so sad to see good people taken by the these “slick-tongued,” self-serving “hucksters” and motivated to “liquidate their assets, take out a mortgage on their houses and cash …

Sometimes the complaint is voiced in a question, like this, “How come those of you in the church of Christ teach so much on water baptism?” While a variety of answers could be given, the simplest one is this: because there is so much false teaching on baptism. Unfortunately, for a topic addressed in the New Testament around 100 times, there are probably at least that many notions that concern us today. Let us assert foremost, that the apostle Paul was guided by inspiration to tell us only one baptism was an abiding one (Ephesians 4:5). Therefore, it stands to reason the topic is valid and essential, and deserves our attention. In the form of a return question, we ask this, “What would the Bible have to say for someone to believe water baptism is essential for salvation?” Would it have to say, “Baptism now saves us?” (check 1 Peter 3:21). Would it have to say, “Be baptized for the remission of sins?” (check Acts 2:38). Would it have to say, “Baptism puts you ‘into’ Christ?” (check Galatians 3:26-27). Would Jesus himself have to say it is necessary to be saved? (read Mark 16:16). What if it was the case that every New Testament account of conversion included the act of water baptism? Read these Scriptures in the Book of Acts for yourself: (1) Jews on Day of Pentecost (2:38-41); (2) people of Samaria (8:12-13); (3) eunuch of Ethiopia (Acts 8:35-38); (4) Saul [Paul] of Tarsus (9:17-18); (5) Cornelius (10:34-36; …

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is largely made up of a group of lawyers who have appointed themselves watchdogs over what they call American freedoms. However, every time these so-called watch dogs of freedom enter a court room, you and I end up losing far more freedoms than we have ever lost before. Thanks to the ACLU, we can no longer have replicas of the Ten Commandments on our Courthouse lawns, although those of us who believe in principles of the Decalogue pay more than 99 and 44/100% of the taxes in this nation. One atheist objects to their being where they are and the ACLU is only too happy to sue on his behalf to have them removed. Often jurors who call themselves Christians sit on the juries that take away the freedoms of citizens who wish to see replicas of the Ten Commandments, or some other religious symbol on publicly held property, that is, property which belongs to the people. If a child whose parents are atheists, or Islamic, or of some other faith objects to student-led prayer in the classroom, at a graduation, a sports event or some other school function, some lawyer will enter suit to stop such an activity although the rights of the vast majority of the students are being suppressed for the “comfort” of a few, or sometimes only one. This is all done under the guise of what these people call “the doctrine of the separation of church and state” in …

The quick answer to the question is, “If you have ever been baptized with the baptism authorized by Christ, at which time you were added to the body of saved persons, the answer is in the negative.” Every Gospel preacher who has preached very long has been faced with the problem of how to advise various persons about baptism. There are young children who have been immersed, and when they get older, feel that it was not valid. There are those who were baptized just to please a nagging spouse or parent. There are those who were baptized from peer pressure. I knew a boy who wanted to be first in everything, so he was baptized so he would be the first to be baptized in the new baptistery. There are those who are baptized because their denomination required it for membership. In our judgment, there are, as in most situations, two extremes that are both in error, and some other errors in between the extremes, partly as a result of those. On the one hand there is the error espoused by the Crossroads and Boston heresies. Stated in its simplest, and therefore perhaps not completely accurate form, it is: If you were not baptized with a total commitment to their theory of operation, you must be re-baptized. It has been called “Lordship baptism” and described in various other ways, and probably started, as so many of their ideas did, in a perfectly legitimate way. That is, if your baptism …

A denominational friend of mine recently authored a devotional piece on the action of baptism. In one excerpt he observed: …Immersion is commanded and while it should be a pool of flowing water sometimes it is not possible. If that is not available it can be a still pool, or if not available a small waterfall, or if not available a cup of water, or if not available two people’s sweat or spit, as often (such as in prison) is used in baptism since there is no other source. Full immersion should be done but if it cannot be for a reason, or if it is not available at the time of accepting the Lord, then a sprinkle of water will suffice… At the conclusion of his treatise, he asked me to evaluate his thoughts in light of the Bible (cf. 2 Timothy 3:15-16). In keeping with his sincere request, I offer the following affirmations: 1. Baptism in the first-century was always performed by means of immersion. Consider the testimony of religious scholarship on this subject (cf. Acts 8:38-39; Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10): “Baptism by immersion was undoubtedly the apostolic practice” (Bower–Church of England). “The word ‘baptism’ signifies to immerse. It is certain that immersion was the practice of the primitive church” (Calvin–Presbyterian). “Baptism was…administered by immersion, the convert being plunged beneath the surface of the water to represent his death to the life of sin, and then raised from this momentary burial to represent his resurrection to the life of righteousness” (Conybeare and …

Charles “Chuck” Moore and his wife, Carolyn, are returned missionaries: seventeen years in Rome and Catania in Italy and Sicily. Now they are working night and day with the church in Rockwall, Texas, stirring more interest in Italian mission work, sponsoring the “Italian Literature Program.” In a monthly mail-out (March, 2003) Charles writes: In St. Peters Cathedral in Rome, Italy, they have a large mural showing the baptism of Jesus. It shows Jesus in water about ankle deep and John pouring water on the head of Jesus with a bowl. John baptized people at Aenon near Salim “because there was much water there” (John 3:23). Baptism is a burial (Romans 6:3-4). The traditional baptismal place of Jesus near Jericho is four or five feet deep. The Ethiopian eunuch, in Acts 8:38, went down into the water and Philip baptized him. Then they came up out of the water. That was what Jesus did when John baptized him. Near that mural in Rome the Catholic Church has a baptismal fountain where hundreds of little babies are “sprinkled” and they call this baptism. Babies don’t have any sins. They are pure and innocent. Jesus said, “Unless you become as a little child you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.” One evening in Sicily, at mid-week Bible Study, a young American sailor came into our services. This was unusual. Catania was a city of 450,000 people. We were a small Italian congregation, but he wanted to go to Bible Study …

This is not the usual question one asks relative to such an important matter. Often the question is raised, “Who should be baptized?” However we can, by dealing with the question, “Who should not be baptized?” give answer as to who should be baptized.  First of all, infants should not be baptized. Children, while being born in a world of sin and being subject to sin, are not born sinners. There is a difference. Sin is not something one inherits but rather it is something one does; “For sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). While a child inherits the consequence of Adam’s sin, he is not born totally depraved as per the teaching of John Calvin. The prophet Ezekiel explained it this way: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father” (Ezekiel 18:20). Second, young children who are not mature enough mentally to grasp the teaching relative to Jesus, his coming, his purpose for dying, his sonship and an awareness of right and wrong in their lives should not be baptized. The age of “accountability” varies with individual children. There must be the acceptance of God’s grace in this matter. God does not impute sin to those children who are in the years of innocence. This is the time for parents to teach and train their sons and daughters in the way of the Lord (Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4; 2 Timothy 3:14-15). Brethren should be careful about …

To proselytize means “to recruit someone to join one’s party, institution or cause.” The Pharisees were avid proselytizers. Jesus said, “Ye compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). Some in the church are quite active in proselyting in order to give the congregation of which they are a part the appearance that it is growing. Some local churches are growing but not by conversions. About 75% of those added to local memberships are transfers from other congregations. Some churches are getting smaller (losing members), while others are swelling at their expense. Thus, it might be said that these congregations are not growing by the regeneration of the lost, but by the relocation of the saved. If a brother or sister in Christ is happy in his association with a faithful congregation, we do that church a great disservice if we seek to entice that person to leave that congregation and come over to ours. It is different, however, if one desires for some good reason to relocate, and transfers his membership to another congregation. Then, there is no good reason why some should not seek to encourage that brother or sister to join hands with them in working and serving together in the Lord’s cause.

In 1915, the Turks killed many Armenians. They massacred many, and those that were not killed were driven into the desert to die. Many were tortured before being killed. An 18-year-old girl who escaped into Russia was asked if she was in pain. She said no, but that she had learned the meaning of the cross. She showed the nurse her shoulder where a cross was burned deeply into her flesh. “I was caught with the others in my village. The Turks stood me up and asked, ‘Mohammed or Christ?’ I said ‘Christ, always Christ.’ For seven days they asked me this same question, and each day when I said ‘Christ,’ a part of the cross was burned into my shoulder.” She escaped before they could kill her. (The Voice of the Martyrs, February, 2004, p.10) In Psalm 39, David speaks about his thoughts and actions when under persecution. He decided to not speak to the wicked. In verse two, he says that he held his peace, “even from good.” But his heart burned within him and he finally could not keep from speaking the truth. In verses 9 and 10 he says it was God that gave the burning in his heart. Jeremiah states almost the same thing in Chapter Twenty of the Book of Jeremiah. In verses 7-9, he states that because of persecution he decided to quit speaking the truth. But God’s Word was a burning in his heart and he could not help but speak the …