From 1933 to 1945 Adolf Hitler engaged in one of the most horrific killing sprees this world has ever known. During that time, he was responsible for the murder of 6 million Jews, 1.5 million of whom were children. He wiped about 2/3 of the Jewish population in Europe and 1/3 of all of the Jews in the world. In addition to the Jews, 5 million non-Jewish victims were also ruthlessly murdered. The deeds of Adolf Hitler represent one of the largest slaughters of human beings ever to occur on this planet (over 11 million people). Very sadly, the works of Hitler do not compare to what has taken place in our own country by the process of abortion. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States legalized abortion, and since that time over 50 million innocent little babies have been killed by this brutal process.1 Clearly, life is under attack in America. Who Is To Blame For This Crisis? First, we blame the Supreme Court who voted to legalize the killing of unborn babies. We blame lawmakers who have made laws to further this atrocity. We blame government social planners and organizations such as Planned Parenthood who promote abortion rather than adoption. We blame doctors and abortion clinic owners who put greed ahead of life. We blame fathers and mothers who choose abortion because they don’t want the stigma or the responsibility of being a parent to their child. AbortionTV.com tells that 95% of abortions are done

“You’ll have a hard time topping him!” This was the comment made by a well-intentioned Christian lady to the next speaker on the lectureship. He responded to this sister, “I don’t want to top him. We’re on the same side.” Though this sweet Christian woman surely meant nothing negative, it does remind one of the old saying, “There is no competition among lighthouses.” We would do well to remind ourselves of that sentiment on a regular basis. There seems to be an infatuation among some members of the church with getting credit for their work. Some preachers have even warned, “If you use my material, be sure to give me credit.” In the secular world, this is surely understandable, but in the Lord’s church, the obsession with getting credit seems a bit out of place. My goal as a Gospel preacher is not about “getting credit.” My “credit” is not on this earth. My goal is to save souls, and if I produce something that will help others more effectively accomplish this goal, then please use it. The Pharisees were very concerned with getting credit and with being seen of men. When they gave alms, they wanted credit among men. When they prayed, they wanted credit among men. However, the Lord said, “Verily I say unto you, They have their reward” (Matthew 5:2). May our righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees! One is also reminded of Herod in Acts 12, who evidently had given a very eloquent verbal presentation. Though

The church is not in the banking business. Or is it? Having spent the last several years in fund raising for evangelistic works, one of the greatest frustrations I have met is congregations who are sitting on tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars that they are not using. Certainly every missionary and/or fundraiser would like to see congregations support “his” work, but it is understood that that’s at the discretion of the local eldership. God’s plan is that each congregation be autonomous, and therefore no eldership is obligated to support any specific work. On the other hand, they are obligated to support some work. One is reminded of the Parable of the Talents. Though this parable is often used to illustrate the need to use our abilities in God’s service, the “talent” in the text is a unit of money. The one talent man in the parable is faulted because he dug a hole and buried the money that he should have been using for his master. The reason he gave for his negligence was fear (Matthew 25:25). His master attributed it to laziness (vs. 26). The master then commanded that he be casted into the outer darkness because he failed to use that which was laid at his charge. Could it be that we have a real parallel in the Lord’s church today? It is certainly understandable that a congregation would want to have a reserve for cases of emergency. However, what could motivate a

The old saying states, “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” In a similar manner, one might say, “One bad preacher reflects on the whole bunch.” Through the years, many jokes have been made about lazy preachers. Perhaps some of the jokes had a basis in reality. Some preachers have mismanaged their money, skipped out on debts and generally behaved themselves in an ungodly manner. Many occupations have a written code of ethics. While it’s true that the Bible is a preacher’s code of ethics, perhaps a concise list would be beneficial. A Gospel preacher should be a hard worker. The amount of time he spends in his work correlates directly with the success of it. A lazy preacher is a sinful one. A Gospel preacher should have the heart of a servant. His goal should never be to exalt self, but Christ. A self-seeking minister is a contradiction of terms. A Gospel preacher should be no respecter of persons. He should treat all people as being of equal value. The wealthy and prominent should never take priority with him because of their status or resources. A Gospel preacher should put his work in relation to the church before any side pursuits such as schooling or secular activities. A Gospel preacher carries a greater burden than others with regard to his example. He should always keep that in mind and conduct himself in a manner that will never reflect poorly on the local congregation or the church as a whole.

Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). The force of this passage in teaching the essentiality of baptism is remarkable, and many souls have been persuaded by its directness. Those, however, who deny the necessity of baptism to salvation have long struggled with this passage. Unable to deal with this verse in light of their beliefs, it is sometimes suggested that perhaps this section of Scripture should not even be in the Bible. Some will point to the fact that two of the oldest manuscripts do not contain Mark 16:9-20. The two manuscripts to which they refer are the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. These two manuscripts also omit John 7:53-8:11 and are missing large portions of other sections of Scripture. Both the Sinaitic and the Vatican manuscripts include the Apocrypha (false scripture). The reason these two particular manuscripts carry so much weight with some people is because they are two of the oldest. It is reasoned by some that if two of the oldest manuscripts do not contain Mark 16:9-20, then it must not belong. When a careful study is made, it is evident that such a conclusion is not warranted. First, it should be pointed out that while it is true that these manuscripts do not include Mark 16:9-20, nearly all other ancient manuscripts do contain this passage, including the Alexandrian, which stands with the Vatican in its accuracy. The number of manuscripts that contain this passage far outweighs those

Certainly, God views young children as pure and innocent in His sight. In Matthew 18, Jesus said, “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). Jesus here depicts the nature of little children as being the same as that of the heirs of His kingdom. Undoubtedly, the reason for this pure and innocent status is because of a child’s level of mental maturity. He has not yet developed the ability to reason about what is right or wrong. He doesn’t yet have the ability to understand concepts such as sin, guilt and accountability. One must also appreciate the fact that a young child’s mind is free from the “evil imaginations” that occur in the mind of an older person. Because a child is not capable of understanding or coherently choosing to do right or wrong, he is not eternally accountable for his actions. One can certainly appreciate the justness of God in this. The Bible, however, does teach that those who have developed adequate mental faculties are accountable in the eyes of God. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). The question that is often times asked is, “When does

The church of Christ must seek and save the lost! I do not know that there is any subject more important for us to discuss than this one. When Jesus was on the earth, He said that His mission was “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). As His body, our mission is the same. It seems, however, that sometimes we get distracted from our mission by the things going on around us. In the meantime, 110 souls die every minute and go into eternity. It is estimated that in 2005, 57.9 million people will depart from this earth. Almost 2 people per second pass into the Hadian realm to await their eternal reward. The percentage of these people who are prepared for eternity is very small. The vast majority of them are destined to eternal torment in Hell. Let us consider some reasons the church of Christ must seek and save the lost. #1 – The church of Christ must seek and save the lost because no one else is qualified to do it! The Apostle Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for IT is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). Anything less than that gospel offers less than salvation. And anything less than salvation is damnation. I recently decided to count the number of “churches” in the Atlanta phone book. When I got to 1000, I gave up. There were still about as many pages left as I had counted. Therefore,