The Ohio Independent Baptist, January 1961

January, l ' 61 MINI TERING TO NAVY BIRDMEN \t , .. 111t)ll" ti111L' 111 (>ttr 11, s t l1ere "t't. 111 tl) l)l.'' 111ore llct·is1c>11s tl1,111 at tl1t.'r~ 1"111 · St"' 111 , tel l) tl1 a e i11 t 111 • l)~r1od of t1111e f ()r the \ \" ait . 1-lt)\\ ,, 011derft1l it i to jtt t re t i1 a ,, )t1<..1erft1l Lc)rcl a11d 1 a, ·e th ot1t- 111e l)f ,111, deci io11 to H in1. • Dcc'i, 10 11 for Cliri t. Dtu·ing the p .. 1 t f ,, ,,. k ,,·e ha, ·e been e1 - ot1r,1ged b~ tl1e 11t11nber of deci ions for l1ri t 011 tl1e p,1rt of the men in tl1e brig Bible la c1nd i11 the un– da)' 110111i11g brig preaching ervice . 011 011e occ, io11 la t montl1 there ,,·ere fi,·e ,,-110 i11dic,1ted their de ire to b·t1 t h1i t for the fir t time from tl1e bria. On a11otl1er occa ion, iliere \,·ere e,~en more la t 1nonth. Pray ,,·ith 1ne tl1at t11e e men might co1ne to our brig Bible tudies 011 \ Vednesday nights in John' Go pel and really beco111e e tabli hed in ilie faith. W e l1a,·e bee11 l10,,·i11g the Moody In- titute of cience fil1ns evef)' other ,,·eek in the brig al o. Attend ance ha been good a11d interest in these H ermons from cience" has also been high. Decision for Promotion. By the time \ "OU read iliis the deci ion w ill ; ha,·e been already made regarding our promotion to the next rank. The electio11 board met on 29 ovember to decide \\rho they would promote from Lieutenant in the Chaplain Corps.. to Lieutenant Command er . There are 56 to choose from. o one kno,\·s how many of these will be selected for promotion-p ossibly about 36. Of the 56, iliere are 27 Baptists and 29 of other denomina– tions . I \.\·as unexpectedly put in the promotion zone this year inst ead of \\'aiting until one or two years from no\\· due to the ne,v legislation chang– ing all of the LT' s dates of rank. Because of my stand against the Protestant Gnified Curriculum ( CC Sunda)" School materials ) and m y preaching of Christ which ,vas rated by the senior chaplain here as ' 'in– tellectually barren and spiritually sterile," and the consequent lowered o rtJ \lS :111 isti , '1"' > as XXVI 11 . DECI SION TIME f it11 .. .. r port- I c11t rtai11 110 ht11nan a pira.t ic>11 of lJ i11g s lec t d for pro- 111otio1 a t thi ti1n . 1cl y t I know ot1r ocl i abl to work 0 11 tl1e hea1t a1 d 111i11d of m 11 a1cl promote me if H e ee fit . P alm 75 :6-7 ays : "F or PROMOTI01 cometh neither from tl1e a t , nor from the west , nor from the ot1ili. BUT GOD is the judge; H e p utteth d o,vn one, and setteth up h " ano t er . Decision for Faith ful11ess. But be tl1e p romotion decision as it may, I l1ave not altered my decision m ad e \,,hen I was s,vo1n into the aval ch aplaincy in Augt1st of 1954 t o be faithful to God's \ i\Tord , faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ , \ hose I am a1 d \ Vho1n I serve, and f aithful in representing well our independent Baptist faith as your representative. Of cot1rse this is ,vh at w ill h appen as your represen tative. I will b e in– clud ed 01 e more time, next ovem– ber , 1961. If not promoted then , I will b e forced to leave b y 1 July of I 962. But if you h ad to choose on e or the other , you 'd pick faithfulness for a short p eriod of time in ilie ch ap – laincy r ather than compromise and spinelessness ( if it could b e guar– anteed) for 20 years, would you not ? I know the avy p ersonnel to whom we minist er prefer a f aithful ch aplain ; I kno\v the Lord prefers a faithful ch aplain; and so d o I . Decision t o Move On . As the pro– motion picture will b e solved one way or another soon , the d ecision that we h ave felt for the last few years to move on and to become civilians again h as also b een strengthened. One of our ch aplains located on our sta tion h as received his orders to sea duty about three months earlier ilian the normal 24 month shore duty pe– riod. If this is the pattern, instead of getting sea duty 15 September iliis next year , w e would b e getting them effective 15 June 1961. We are looking to the Lord to open up the d oors for civilian ministry, and H e h as en couraged our hearts along this line . Continue to pray with us in this reg,1rcl . I 'll lea \vith yo 1 th verse Brothe r Dick Pat ty, a missionary w ith the Christian Serviceman 's enters in the Philippi11es left ,vith me as I said goodbye in 1958: "Therefore, m y be– loved brethren , b e ye stedfas t , u 11 - moveable, al,vays abounding in the \VOrk of the Lord, f orasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vai11 in the Lord ." ( 1 Corinthians 15:58). (These views ar e p ersonal and do not necessru·ily reflect those of the U.S. avy) . ---------- THE WORD OF GOD ( Continued from page 21 ) on the Lord Jesus Christ , and thou shalt be saved . . ." (Acts 16 :31 ) . \ Vhy are p eople interes ted in the Bible and wh y d o they turn to it when all else fails? Peter gives us the answer in Jol1n 6: 68: "Then Simon Peter ans"vered him, Lord, t o whom shall we go? T1 ou h ast ilie words of ete rnal life." "I am the resurrection , and ilie life: he that b elieve th in me, iliough he wer e d ead , yet shall he live." ( John 11 :25) Ponder that , my friend. Where, but in the word of God , can you find such certam ty? To what else can you link your life with such peace and satisfaction? -Christian E conomics ----- - --- preacher ,vas annoyed by p eo– ple talking dl1ring a ervice. H e pau ed and aid, ' ' I am alway afraid t o expo e tho e who mi - behave, becau e once I adminis– ter ed a ever e r ebuke to a young ma11 who wa laughing and mak– ing f ace . f t er the ervice a woman aid ' ir, you have made me ver y ad. That young man is an idiot.' i11ce then I have f eared I might i-·eprove another idiot. ' r eedles to ay, ther e was no mo1--e whi pering or laughing after that. It i n t hard t o eat your words if you peak only t ender and sweet word .