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Dr. Robert Sumner passed away in December 2016. The Biblical Evangelist newspaper is no longer being published and the ministry of Biblical Evangelism has ceased operation. The remaining inventory of his books and gospel tracts was transferred to The Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles and may be ordered here. Off the Cuff The Year of our Lord 2005 is in the divine record books. Nothing can be deleted, added or altered. It is as the wise woman of Tekoah said to King David about man’s death, it is “…as water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again…” (II Samuel 14:14). We either served God or we blew it, but the record cannot be changed. The real issue for us today relates to what we will do for Him in 2006. The beloved poetess, Annie Johnson Flint, put the New Year in perspective when she penned, “One day at a time, with its failures and fears, With its hurts and mistakes, with its weakness and tears, With its portion of pain and its burden of care; One day at a time we must meet and must bear. “One day at a time to be patient and strong; To be calm under trial and sweet under wrong; Then its toiling shall pass and its sorrow shall cease; It shall darken and die, and the night shall bring peace. “One day at a time – but the day is so long, And the heart is not brave, and the soul is not strong, O Thou pitiful Christ, be Thou near all the way; Give courage and patience and strength for the day. “Swift cometh His answer, so clear and so sweet; ‘Yea, I will be with thee, thy troubles to meet; I will not forget thee, nor fail thee, nor grieve; I will not forsake thee; I never will leave.’ “Not yesterday’s load we are called on to bear, Nor the morrow’s uncertain and shadowy care; Why should we look forward or back with dismay? Our needs, as our mercies, are but for the day. “One day at a time, and the day is His day; He hath numbered its hours, though they haste or delay. His grace is sufficient; we walk not alone; As the day, so the strength that he giveth His own.” For one thing, let’s read our Bible through this year, from kiver-to-kiver, as the old-timers used to say. It is not hard to do and, if you want help, there are special Bibles (Mrs. Sumner has one) arranging Scripture in a fashion – including passages from both Testaments daily – to enable you to do it. Personally, I have read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation four times a year for decades. Last year I read it through 4 times, plus an additional reading of the Old Testament. Sometimes people say you should just read a small portion and think about it; reading long sections prevents meditation. Perhaps they are right. But I know that one of the greatest men of faith in the last 200 years – if not the greatest – George Mueller, read his Bible completely through 200 times. And the faith in God and His Word such reading cultivated for him resulted in some of the greatest miracles of his day (or any other). I’d like to make 200 before I die, and this month I started my 186th reading. On another reading subject, are you holding in your hands the last issue of The Biblical Evangelist you’ll receive? We have started canceling out those who do not respond to our renewal letter. It is still free to all who want it, but you must say so. Read carefully the good sermons and articles in this issue. One is by the late Baptist leader who just went to be with Christ a few years ago, Ernest Pickering. He has a fine message on love’s obedience. In this sentimentally sickly generation where everyone wants everybody to love everybody, he notes that obedience to God and His Word is more important than anything else – and that is exactly what love does: it obeys Him! If it is not obedience to God, it is not love. As with every New Year, millions will be resolving to diet, lose weight and exercise more – and well most of them should! Because of this we are running a message on the subject by Scott Holm, a layman in What you would call our New Year’s message – or at least the closest to one we are printing – is by the respected, venerable Bible teacher and editor, Cyrus Ingerson Scofield. He, as you probably know, edited the popular and widely useful Scofield Reference Bible. We had things ready to go and discovered a big space shortage, so we deleted the editor’s main sermon for this issue and substituted one about half the size by one of our favorite authors. Then, the day our first proofs were to arrive for this edition, an e-mail came from Broadman & Holman Publishers granting permission to use a sermon by Adrian P. Rogers, and apologizing for my request of November 17 being “inadvertently misplaced.” So we went back to the drawing board and took the other sermon out and inserted his, making a few other adjustments so things would fit. Just so you know being an editor is not all “fun and games!” Neither is it for our faithful pager, Ray Toomey, who always does such a terrific job. As for the editor, he does have the fourth installment in the series dealing with witnessing to the cults. This one relates to Unitarianism and Mormonism, the latter perhaps the fastest growing cult in the world. And he also has an important article I hope you will read concerning our 40th Anniversary Year. INFLUENCE: MAKING THE NEW YEAR COUNT! We have seldom started a new year without thinking of Romans 14:7-9, which assures us: “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.” The message in these verses suggests both a blight and a blessing. The blight lies in a corrupted influence some will have on others in 2006. The blessing comes through a consecrated influence. Which will it be for you? CRYSTAL BALL FOR 2006 This was making the internet rounds a year ago as "Top Ten Predictions" for 2005. It sounds good for 2006 as well: 1. The Bible will still have the answers. 2. Prayer will still work. His people. 5. There will still be God-anointed preaching. His people. “EVEN HIM!” While Nehemiah Solomon was a tremendous man of God, one of Note also, Solomon “was beloved of his God.” This was something special, even better than being a great king. When Moses was about to die and blessed the tribes individually, we are told regarding little Benjamin, “And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders” (Deuteronomy 33:12). And the Apostle Paul used the term for the saints at What an opportunity Solomon had for good and for spiritual success as one of the greatest kings, not just of “Even him!” What a powerful illustration this is of I Corinthians 10:12, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” My dear preacher brother, you are no match for what Paul, in a passage where he was pleading for the saints to put on the whole armor of God, called “the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians Thank God, the next verse goes on to assure us that victory is possible as we yield to Him: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (Vs.13). A PRINCE HAS FALLEN: NOW HE’S ‘KICKING UP GOLD DUST!’ When King David learned that Joab and Abishai had murdered Abner, his close friend and military leader, he cried, "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day...?" (II Samuel 3:38). We felt the same when, on November 15, we learned that Dr. Adrian Rogers, at age 74, had been promoted to Glory. What a wonderful Christian leader he was! His early ministry in While he shouldn’t have known we existed – we didn’t run in the same circles – he read some of my early writings and became a friend and strong supporter of this ministry. He called several times to see how we were doing, offer words of encouragement, tell how he had been blessed by something in The Biblical Evangelist or one of our books, and he sent a number of very generous gifts to our work, usually from $200 to $400. The last time he called was to tell how he had picked up our book, EVANGELISM: The Church on Fire! and read it again, saying what a blessing it was. Shortly afterward, a preacher who attended his special seminar for pastors in Memphis, the “Adrian Rogers Training Institute” – that he televised for greater distribution (PTI) – said he told the men not to ignore old books and related how he had picked up Church on Fire and been challenged anew. He also gave us several written statements ‘puffing’ our books over the years, including HEBREWS – Streams of Living Waters, where part of his testimony is on the back cover. At least one of our booklets is still being handled at the Belleview book room, An Examination of Tulip: The Five Points of Calvinism. In addition to his two early Florida pastorates – at Parkview Baptist in Fort Pierce and Merritt Island Baptist – in 1972 he accepted a call to Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis (where one of our early heroes in the ministry, the silver-tongued Dr. Robert G. Lee, had served) and built it from 9,000 members to over 29,000 – necessitating bigger facilities to handle the crowds – and Bellevue relocated to suburban Cordova. He was Pastor Emeritus at the time of his death and the memorial service was held there on Thursday, the 17th. As a family man, in addition to his wife, Joyce, who stole his heart in grade school and never let go – in fact, neither ever once dated anyone else – and who said he never failed a single day of their marriage to tell her he loved her, he had 4 children, 9 grandchildren, and 1 great-grandchild born the day before he died, Marianne Rose Luce. The latter’s name was included on a note he wrote on his deathbed, containing the names of his children and their spouses, his grandchildren, and this new and only ‘great,’ simply saying “I love you!” However, he will probably be remembered best and longest for his role in what Southern Baptists called the Conservative Resurgence (not a “take over” as Time mistakenly called it when reporting his death), which started with his election to the presidency in 1979 (he was a 3-time SBC president, which The Sacred Desk called “unprecedented in modern times”), bringing the movement back to its orthodox, evangelical roots. During each of his presidencies he promised fellow Southern Baptists he would only nominate people to the boards who “affirmed Scripture's infallibility and inerrancy.” And he kept his word! His final appearance on a national convention platform was in June at the Pastors’ Conference. He preached with all the enthusiasm and passion of old, telling the men and their wives, “I want to tell you, my friend, God is still God. He is not old. He is not sick. And He is not tired. The problem is not with God. ...Don't you insult God by saying that [revival] can't happen.” Southern Baptist greats – and other Christian leaders – were passionate in their praise. If we took time to quote them all, it would take most of an issue, so we offer just a few partial ones here. Dr. L. Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, himself a leader in the resurgence, said: “Whether the discussion is compassion, mental alacrity, sense of humor, prowess in the pulpit, passion for Jesus and for lost sinners, or just faithful encouragement of the brethren, Adrian Rogers brought it all to Southern Baptists.” Judge Paul Pressler called him “one of the greatest preachers of the Gospel who ever lived,” and noted, "We looked to him for leadership and we looked to him for inspiration. The conservative movement would never have succeeded without Adrian Rogers. Southern Baptists owe him a great debt of gratitude." And Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president, of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, summed it up: "He was a modern-day 'Prince of Preachers' whose personal example served to encourage thousands of others to greater faithfulness in preaching the Word of God." The final thing The late John R. Rice, to whom Rogers gave strong credit for his own ministry, always felt a man of God could tell when his departure time was near (as Paul in II Timothy 4:6-8), so perhaps with Dr. Rogers. He certainly set things in order, resigning the church he had pastored for a third of a century, and doing other things. Last year it was discovered that he had cancer and later in the year, from chemotherapy treatments he was taking, he developed a blood clot and then double pneumonia. We are printing one of his sermons, delivered at an annual meeting when he was president of the SBC, as part of our tribute to him. Memorial gifts may be sent to the “Adrian Rogers Pastor Training Institute,” c/o Love Worth Finding, Oh, yes, about the title of this editorial? POLITICS AND LIFE Or should we say, “life and politics”? Anyway, during this anniversary month of Roe v Wade, let’s look at some men who once stood strong for the life of the unborn and then, when bit by the presidential bug, decided babies were only “throw away”s after all. Believe it or not, one was Ted “Chappaquiddick” Kennedy, one of the strongest “pro-death for unborn babies” figures now in the United States Senate. Over a third of a century ago, prior to Roe v Wade, he explained his conviction (?) in a letter “that human life, even at its earliest stages, has a certain right which must be recognized – the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old.” What a hypocrite he became on this issue! Another hypocrite was a Baptist from the Bible Belt area of Another Bible Belt Baptist (to the shame and embarrassment of good Baptists everywhere), was Albert Gore. When he only had to answer to Alas, a couple of years later he entered the race for President and his “deep personal conviction” did a 180° turn. He even lied about his record, denying that he ever held a pro-life position, saying, “I have always been against anything that would take away a woman’s right to have an abortion.” That is hypocrisy with a capital “H” and prevarication with a capital “P.” One who surprised me somewhat was Dick Gephardt, long in Congress and even serving as a leader in the House for his Democrat Party. Half-a-decade after Roe v Wade he wrote: “Life is the division of human cells, a process that begins with conception,” and he went on to call the Supreme Court ruling “unjust” and called on his co-laborers in Congress to “correct the injustice.” And in 1984 he wrote, “I have always been supportive of pro-life legislation,” promising to remain steadfast in its support, and adding, “I believe that the life of the unborn should be protected at all costs.” Then he joined Gore and others in the presidential race of 1988, announcing that he was no longer pro-life, even notifying the National Right to Life Committee, “I do not support any Constitutional Amendment pertaining to the legality of abortion.” Perhaps the worst case of hypocrisy, however, relates to the Reverend (sic) Jesse Jackson, a man The Patriot refers to as Je$$e Jack$on because of the way he pressures big businesses for “donations” (some call it blackmail and they are probably right). In an article in the National Right to Life News, the parson asked several excellent hypothetical questions: “What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of person, and what kind of society will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually?” And he answered his own question by saying, “Failure to answer that question affirmatively may leave us with a hell right here on earth.” Then he got the presidential bite and decided he favored that “hell right here on earth.” Fortunately, while all “changed” when launching presidential bids, only one made it to the White House – and what a tragic eight years of continued lying, immorality and hypocrisy followed! Unfortunately, all of these men are still in positions of great influence and political power. “MISTER AWANA!” At the start of 1960 I returned to my first pastorate at Five years after our meeting he became the first full-time missionary for the fledgling youth ministry, Awana, and his ‘field’ was “everything west of the He faithfully served in that missionary capacity for a quarter of a century. And when I say “faithfully,” I mean faithfully! His first 3 years saw him presenting the program to a different church every Sunday. For example, he went to He originated and conducted the first “Bible Quizzing and Olympic meets in He was on the road constantly in those early years, logging an estimated million miles. To cut down on expenses, he stayed in homes and often slept on couches – once even sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a baby’s room (he was too big for the family’s bunk bed). He was gone from home for up to 6 weeks at a time, swapping personal audio tapes with his wife Mary to keep in touch. When I was with him in “Uncle Don,” as the kids lovingly called him, was not only perhaps Awana’s greatest and most effective spokesman, there is a good chance no one will ever top him. We said all that to say this: Don went to Glory in mid-November at age 81 and we are delighted to pay him and his ministry tribute. While working with kids is not as glamorous or as popular as a ministry to adults in a super church, perhaps, the future of our evangelical churches depend upon it. May God, in His mercy, give us more “Uncle Don”s. This one will be missed. GRADERS!" Pardon the grammar, but they've gone done and did it again! Outraged parents in the Palmdale district of Los Angeles went to court to complain about sex education being crammed down the throats of little kiddies in the first, third and fifth grades and insisting they alone have the right “to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex." It seems the young-uns were given surveys asking such personal questions as whether they had thought about having sex, wanted to touch other people's "private parts," and if they could "stop" thinking about having sex. Last November the Ninth U.S. Circus Court of Appeals (as The Patriot calls it; it is the one handing down all the kooky decisions the Supreme Court has to overturn) said parents do not have any "constitutional right to prevent the public schools from providing information on [the subject of sex] to their students in any forum or manner they select.” This one was written by the same gentleman who ruled “under God” shouldn’t be in the Pledge of Allegiance, Stephen Reinhardt. So, parents, you can bug out; educators will teach your kids what they want to and you have no say in it whatsoever. We can understand why Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, called the decision “one of the most outrageous infringements upon parental rights ever made by an American court.” He added, “After all, how many first graders have any concept of sex? Most parents would see these young children as needing protection from the very knowledge of sex, much less the intrusion of questions related to their own sexual feelings and perceptions.” The "Circus" Court also ruled, “We conclude only that the parents are possessed of no constitutional right to prevent the public schools from providing information on that subject to their students in any forum or manner they select.” It also said that "“once parents make the choice as to which school their children will attend, their fundamental right to control the education of their children is, at the least, substantially diminished.” Jewish columnist Don Feder had a good spin on this travesty of common sense: "Liberals stoutly maintain that a woman has a privacy right to kill her unborn child, that pornographers have a right to broadcast the most nauseating filth, that scummy traitors have a right to spit on the flag, that adults have a right to have sex with adolescents, and that two men or two women have a right to marry – but two individuals who gave a child life, who fed, clothed, sheltered and nurtured that child, have no right (constitutional or historical, explicit or implied) to control when, where and in what way they will be exposed to sex. And they wonder why, for normal people, 'liberalism' has become a dirty word." He also lamented: “The court held that public schools can expose your children to any depravity, can erotically indoctrinate them, can sexualize them when they’re barely out of diapers – and you can’t do [any] thing about it.” In short, if you are concerned about what your child is being taught, you'd better not send him or her to a public school – not in WHO IS A GREAT EVANGELIST? Ask the average Christian about this and almost all will reply without hesitation, “Billy Graham.” They only know about his gigantic crusades and the clear presentation of the gospel therein – emphasizing the sinfulness of man, the love of God, the atoning work of Christ at Calvary, salvation by grace through faith, and the second coming (and that is great!) – and nothing about what he says and does privately or between crusades. There is an enormous difference between the two! The men on the street – or, more particularly, the men and women in our churches – do not know that he has: 1. Endorsed the idea of people from all religions going to Heaven apart from personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. Been the American spokesman for the Communist Party about religious freedom in Communist countries ( 3. Changed his view about Hell, now saying the fire is only figurative. 4. Invited members of the persecuted church – we are thinking now of Richard Wurmbrand, a minister who suffered 14 years in a Communist prison for his faith and bore in his body the scars – to be on his evangelism conference platforms, then informed them they couldn’t say anything detrimental to Communism! Wurmbrand, to his credit, refused to appear under those conditions, and canceled out. 5. Repeatedly praises the pope (calling him “a great evangelist” for Christ and the Gospel), although the Roman Catholic message of salvation is the exact opposite of the Bible’s, featuring liturgy, sacraments, the intercession of Mary in the sinner’s behalf, church membership, good works, purgatory, etc., all as part of its works-oriented way to Heaven. 6. Used “robed” nuns as counselors in his inquiry rooms. 7. Sent “converts” who were already church members or attending a church back to their own dead churches (the very places where they had never heard the gospel or any Bible preaching). One brother, now a preacher, who had already been helped by a Bible-teaching Presbyterian preacher and taken by him to Graham’s 8. He supports and backs the liberal National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches, organizations steeped in liberalism, modernism, neo-orthodoxy and sometimes Communism and blatant unbelief. 9. Has spoken and praised some of the most liberal colleges and seminaries in the world. One example is Union Seminary in 10. Missionary Eddie Karnes worked for Billy Graham in both Like other editors before me, there is no joy on my part in printing this information. Alas, truth is truth, no matter who or whom is affected by it. Some will call this “an attack on Billy Graham.” It is not meant as that. It is intended as a warning about getting involved in what Scripture calls “an unequal yoke.” Graham’s actions are something like those of King Jehoshaphat of Graham, like Jehoshaphat, has yoked up with the ungodly (and there is no nice way to describe those who deny the Virgin Birth, the full Deity of Jesus Christ and His atoning work at Elsewhere in this issue are two items of note: a brief review of Jesus in Beijing and a sermon on John the Baptist by Dr. John S. Ballentine. [This didn’t get in; we will run it in the next issue – Ed.] The latter, who will be 90 years of age on February 20, was a veteran of World War II (a First Sergeant in General Patton’s army; actually, saved in “a foxhole” where an 88 millimeter shell landed at his feet) and long a prominent voice among Minnesota Baptists – in fact, a president of the Minnesota Baptist Association of Churches, as were Doctors Richard V. Clearwaters, Monroe Parker, and Ernest Pickering before him. He has been studying the Graham issue for years (as a young Christian, Billy was his hero) and he has amassed a great amount of material – mostly written by others – that would be helpful to pastors and lay people alike. If you would like a packet of what he has available, send him an offering to help with postage and copying costs. Write him: Dr. John S. Ballentine, The late Dr. Monroe Parker, mentioned in the previous paragraph, when asked if he agreed with Dr. Graham’s program, replied: “It is difficult for me to answer because I love Billy Graham personally. I have known him well since he was 17 years of age and consider him a personal friend. He has been so signally blessed of God and has won so many people to Christ that it is difficult for me to say that I do not agree with the policies he has followed since 1957. However, I have told him personally that he is ‘neutralizing’ his good.” |
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