The Ohio Independent Baptist, December 1955

age T\ o THE OHi INDEPENDENT BAPTIST D c mb r 1955 Editorial Comment !•'.\ l 'L' l L ~\ :,; ~i111011 Petr r wa~ wa lkin µ: 011 thr watr r to– \\·m·d ,J es u:;. sm1d en ly he bega n to sink. l 11 .:\ latt hew H :30 wr rr ad , · · , Yh l' II ht' sa \\· th e ,r ind boister– ou:,;. \Yh t'll he lwga11 to co11 l·r11- t ral t' 011 his problr rn , i11 stead of his lll'\\·l.'· aequin'd powrr, h e no longer t·o ulcl do thr impo · ·ible. It i:,; writt C' n in liebn' \\" 11 :G, " 'IVit lt out fai th it i ' impm, ·ibl e to p lea ·e ! Lim . .. We r rcc nt ly aw a li ttle paper \H' ight. \Yhit h ,r a a gla ball moun tecl on a black base. I11side ,ra a little man tandin g by t he ·ide of a little ca t ie. Th er e wa a ·uhstance in id e a nd ,rhen sh aken it lookrc1 like a t erri ble sto rm, wi th '\rirl ing 110 \\.. '\Ve ,rnnt ed to ay to the little man, ' ' {\ OW, li ttle man , don't be afraid: to you it look like eYer .\'thing i again t you a nd you <.:an ·t urvive. But, little man , my hand is big enough to hold you a nd fr om , rh er e L sta1rd your sto rm look like a little on e. I '11 bold .'·on and the ·torm too, i n the hol– l O\\' of my hand.'' The yea r through we have p a8- sed has been a tempestuou one, with the word of every nation sharpened fo r hi: n eighbor . Th e old \\·odd i:,; the •enter of a g reat internationa l storm, with swi rlin g hate 0 11 eYery hand . H oweve r, in the midst of the . torm a nd u nder the low-hanging· clouds, C:od 's peo– ple may co ncentr ate on His power , and kn ow that '' The Fat her love t h the Sou, and hath given all t hings into his hand. " (J ohn 3:35 ) COXF l ' SIO~ Hi gh speed is not lim ited to t he lli!rhway and the productio n lin r. It has invacl cl the vocab ular y of people in all wa lks of li fe , n ot excepting th e preac her. 'l'h r pastor and p rin t r efers to CJ.ARB - ACCC - l CCC - C llA - -wee - i\EA - ABC - FHlDJ - ABWE - BBS - BBI - O.\ RBC, and uncounted ot her abbreYiations, all of which a re mea 11i111 ..dess to mo:,;t of t he p eopl e. Th e ne,r<.:orne rs among the ·hur<.:he:,;, and nHln~· of th e ot her fo lk, ar e un– able to determin e whet her t h e an– noun<.:ement or e:omment r efe r to a ft 0 llowship, a school, or a mi ·ion board. This editorial office r ece ive <·hurch bullet in . , print matter, and pnsonal lette rs in quantity, and \H' are astounded to note the wide rnriety of ,nw deYise cl to con– fuse the people~ '\Ve r ecently mad e ,1 li:,;t or t he t itl es used wh e11 re– fr rrin g to Ohi o .AS80l' iatio11 Of Reg– ul ar Ba ptist ' hur<.: hes. li er th y ore: Ohi o I;' uuclamenta l Bapt ists, Ohio l{egula r Bap t ists, Ohi o J ncl e– pe ncl en t 13a pt ist Confe rence, 0 hio l 11 clr1w11d en t Bap t ist Uo n ve ntion, Ohio 13a pt i t I; ellowship, tate As– sociatio n of Regula r Bap t ist , Reg– ular .A ssociat ion of Ohio Ba ptist Churches, a nd Regular Ohio Bap– t ist Church e . 'l.' h e name of t he a soc iation is, Ohio Assoc iation Of Regular Bap– ti:,;t hurches and if one imp ly does n ot have t ime to say it, or ·pace to print it, on e may pr op– erly ay: Oh io 1ssociation. It is small \\·ond er t hat t he n ewcomer s tell us, '' we don 't know wh at t he preacher i tal king about; t her e ar e so ma ny of t hese or ganization · a nd so many d iffere n t n ames fo r each one. '' '\Ve r rcen t ly r eceived a letter fr om a pastor a kin g why t he association is kn own by so 1ua ny n ames, ' 'or,'' said he, '' is i t because yo ur p r each– ers do n ' t kn ow what th e correct Harne is ! '' '\Ve might offe r a r ea– so nable explan ation fo r t his, but t he fact r ema ins t hat t he people are in con f u ·ion and ma ny worthy a n– n oun ceme nts go unheeded simpl y beca use t he people do Hot know what meets wh er e. 'l' h e mission age ncies a re ha ndi– capped by a bbr eviat ion . 'l'o illus– trate: Some may be in te re:ted i n t he work of The J?ellow: hip of Baptists :B'or H orne Missions, of which Rev. J . Jrving Ree. e is Gen– e ral Director . H oweve r , when the pastor in his a nn ouncemen ts r ef er s to t he FB lL ~I, t he a n11 ou11ceme11 t r eaches less t han on e-half of t he a udien ·e. On the ot her hand, we do not be– Iirvr t hat the dignity of t he pul pit woul d suffe r if t he pasto r would r et urn to t he old -fashioned prac– tice of ca lling any organ izat ion by it · a u t horized title. If t he pastor fe els that too much t ime is co n– sumed by u siu g t he fu ll ti tles, he mig ht make up some of t he loss by neglect i11 g to r ead to th e p eopl e ever y Ji ne of t he church bullet i11 , as though t hry were un ab le. to r ead English fo r t hemselves. ~IE 'l' II OD a II cl PRO( 'El)l 1 R l;~ (kl'as io11 a lly WC:' l'<'CC' ive a lette r tr llin g us t hat t he foC'ctl church is in IH'<'cl of a cha nge a nd imgg-estin g th at WC' hrlp along by a rra ngin g fo r t hr pastor to can ]idate at some chur h wi t h a vacant pul pi t. 'l'hc Rev. L. P . Buroker , ed itor of The Ji' nnclarnental Ji' llowship, hands over . ome timely suggestions which might be u eel by t hose who wish to dis pose of t he p astor, as fo ll ows: 1) l .iook him str aigh t in t he eye while he i · p r eac hino· a nd shout " Amen ." lie would preach himself to death within a ver y fe" · \reeks. 2 ) Pat him on t he back and brag a bou t hi good poin ts, and he will wor k him elf to death. 3 ) S tart paying him a big- her sa lar y. l\ra ny p r eachers have gone on a sta r vat ion d iet so long that h e a nd his fam ily migh t kill t hemselves eating. 4 ) Rededicate yo u L' own lif e to t he Lor d J esus Christ, t hen as k the pa tor to assign yo u to the job of in terview– ing t he unsaved per ons on hi · praye r list. Ile will pr obably die of hear t failure. If none of these proced ures bring results, or ga nize t he ch urch in to a p raye r ba nd a nd start to hold :,;pecia l prayer . e sions fo r t he pas– to r . llis preachin g will oon be– come so effective t hat some la rge e:hurch will call hi m and you can bid him fa r ewell. i\lr. Bur oker fee ls that the per – ·on wh o worked out these pr oce– d u res had something closely akin to mnrcle r in h is hea r t, a fo ur of t he five sugge.t ions wou ld lea ve t he ·hurch a p r ea ·her to bury. A t a ny rate t he suggestions pr ov ide orn e– t hing to think abo ut. i\ LI.XED Now and t hen we COl 1 ;-,.: (.; IL hear of Reo· ular B a p- ti st Chur ches calling fo r a n or d in ation council an d in– clu d in g on the i nvitation list a f ew non-Bap ti t ' hurche in t he vi <.: in ity. Just wh y a Reg ula r Baptist Chur<.: h should in v ite a non-Bap– tist Church to ·end it · pastor a nd messe nge rs to assist t he Regular Bapti ·t Church in determining· t he ex ped ien cy of etting apa r t a ~Reg– ular Baptist br other to t he Go pel ;i[inistr y is veiled in dee p my te ry. Co uld it be that t he Regul ar Bap– tist Church feels that th e m e ·sen – ge r · from Reg ula r Baptist hurch– e would n eed the a i tance of t he non-13a pt i t mes enger , or that