The Ohio Independent Baptist, June 1961

l '' IF I WERE A COMMUNIST'' r J I I\ Ir, 1nc h,11 n1nn, Ji t utivc retar, the ha I . l ta~t l on, t: tio n, ,, rare under 't 1l ve ·'l t l'" in the 1\ "'ril '"ll~ t)I• < l .tl ta~t. \\ 1rl1 cl·c ti rst c.. 1tori. · ''<.:" c..lll .,1.:.r<.t Ile le- Utn , .ng, l )n<. tnn< t l c..· ,\ true .._ 11 ... , ; ,1 .1ni.l • 111 11t 1L ,t · I l e i 1 1 )t't ch.it tl1e I, 1,1\. hl'lit."t, l t1 t 10 .,rc c..)J"l >·ace tn tll e \ I Jllf\\\' fl ,t, rh.t {) l1e i111a~inC" ,vh.lt ht" ,,1)uld c.h if he... ,,·ere , l l,n1n1L 1 ·,t ' ' I t of 1ll. . . I ,v(>ul<.l en· 1c 1, t" t\ uestroy the Pr<>tc c.111t \.h\ '-h ... I ,,l)uld teir tl1e Pr ce,r1nt ... conlCJ)t of rel1g1 1 tr~1on1 . Jnd rigl1t of . l" , .1te ncerprct.1t1on \\ h, ie ,, e n1ust le-ave out 1111.·\h ot ,,l1.1t he sa, a 1nd1- .1ct'J b, cl1e dot . ,, e ha·ve been 1 etl l not to tl1ange h1 me1n- .. in~ \\ e agree that con1munism '- .. een1 tt1 thri, e be c 10 Cathol1( l) r l1e-athen l.1nd . but " ·e marvel • t che "JV he th1nk he could • L,e,t destroy Prote ranc1sm · • Doe lt take ffil'Ch ceducti,re P'O" er co 1mag1ne that the most "! teer. \'e "av to destroy the ene– n1, "ould be to 'd1,. ide and con– q:. er' "' .. \\...,hy hould I enter irito oren "arfare 1 f I coul:l gee Protestant to fight amon 1 chem elves . to destroy one another' . I "·ould carefullv make charges that ~\:ere half– truchs. or truth taken out of con- text. and I "ould develoo a • strategv chat v.:ould make honest concern ..... tor real needs seem co make one a 'fel- lo"·-tra\ eler' . . \X'hen. oh, \\ hen will thinking folk realize chat the apostles of discord, the experts in the 'smear' tac– ti , s, rhe folk "ho use the langu2ge of orthodox Christian faith to dest'"OV the , e11 faith they profess are the hand-maid– en of communism! ... The great 'f r'lud' o: our generation 1s that the ational Council of Churches. and respected de– c om1nations like the American Baotist Ccr.vencion are tied into comme nist1c fron t organ1zarions! ·· WHY I1-1AGI E) Our ans":er 1s chat if Dr. Chapman ,, ere a Communist, he ~vould ace like one. I-le must kno\\· that and know how they l-1a\Te acted, but P.e hopes to prejudice r i, re~ders against any consideration of the facrual char,ges made by Fundamentalists against the Tacional Council of Churclies ~- " •hich his convention belongs. Like all convention defenders, he is very vague. He does not even use the word Cathol ic, though he plainly infers that Catholicism prepares people for discontent and com– mun1sc1c rebellion. He makes ugly charges against 'apostles of discord but does nor name them. The Apostle Paul named the tro·1 ble-makers and heretics of his day, so ,v11y not do 1t today) Why nor name h1s enemies. so they can defend chmeselves? If no true Chr1sc1an can be a Commun– isr. Dr Chapman 1s virtually saying that some of the leaders in the World Coun– ci l of Churches are nor true Christians. for they are pro\·en Communises-some even belonging to the Russian Secret Police. It may be char some o f them are not Parry ..t tcn1bcr . < r even rc,\l c>n1n1unis ts, hut < nl ' n11~r<>n1ising 1 rc,\che1s ,vh<> 001 cr– .1tc ,\'ich their ,g<>vcrnn1cnt to kccJJ their <."hu1che <)ren: \)ut one tl1in1~ is <>n rccl>rcl 1nc.l ch.it ,, ,,•l1cn they l<)n1,· to 1\mcric.1 chc.·, defend their ,go, c. rnnll'nt sysccn1 and c.ondcn1n our,' G<:r1u1nc ( hr1"tians n1ay not i<,in chc t>n1n1un1,t }>arty, bur the ~)arty ,0111c l ') )C.1r .1.go ruled ch,tt cl1ur(h mcm· ordlund \X'hat n1e.,1ns cl11 strange paralysis f hat grips the democratic \"{,'es t , Whde Russia moves w1ch measureJ ~reaJ t3oth ease 1n<l west in worldwide quesc> 1 :onfused in counsel , hesitant. We threaten force, chen cry for fear, While Khrushchev works his mascer-olan And makes his program crystal clea r. H ow can we bolster freedom's caese. And keep our moral sanctions strong, If friends a nd fee surmise that v.-·e Will not stand up to challenge wrong? We give away ou r gold and gu ns To Laos and to ouch Vietnam . When well we know they will not fight When Russia puts the pressure on! In vain we send ambassadors To aigon, Bang kok or Rangoon Unless we bare our mighty sword And f ig hc to win and do it soon! Perhaps our better place is home, Perhaps our lines are stretched too far~ We only want to know the play, And on which side we really are! bers in Hungary and Poland a nd Italy could join the Party. Most of the 3,000,- 000 Comme nists of Italy five years ago '{'I/ere Catholics-so much so that many of t hem have since left the Party in order to keep their membership in the church. The FBI has abundant proof that here in America Communises were told to join prominent liberal chu rches and use them co st ir up opposition co our national de– fense, to the Connally Resol·.1cion and to cu r immig!"ation laws. If we srudy the record from 191 7 until the present, we learn how the Communists acrually oper~te. They al"1ays strike first at the tare Church, which in most Iro n-Cur– tain cov ntries has been Catholic, and break its power. Then when it surrend– ers and begins to coooerace, they tur n and persecute the free churches. They did that in Russia a nd Castro is doing it that way in Cuba now. The Protestant mis– sionaries in Cuba are most of them fool– ish enough to back up Castro in his fight with the Catholic Church, bu t just wait! Communists don' t waste time crying to get Protestants to fighting each ocher, but rather force chem co unite. They forced the Pentecostals and Baptists of Russia to unite, and in China all denominations have had to get inco the "Three-Shett•• move– ment or close up. They seem to feel they ca n manage o ne compromising P rotestant Chur ch better than a dozen or more in– dependent sects. le is chat same compromising spirit in the National and World Council that is responsible for the strife in the various denominations today, and no t ..apostles of discord." The thousands of Episcopalians June, t<. 61 ,vh<> ,ire J rotcsting the shocking unbelief c,f 11 ishc)}> I'ike ,,re not getting their ,un– r11unitic>n fron1 ( .1rl 1clnt irc and the hrisrian T3eacon, llu t he is getting hi from then,! Mo~t of them have never he 1rd <Jf the American ounci l or the ( hristian 13eacon, but they have hcJrd too n1 ·cl1 out of the mouth of their infidel bishoJ). 1 'hc same can l)e said in Korea ' \\ here half a million Presby- terians have pulled Ol'C of the Wc>rld Counci l, and five chc>u– sand Ba1)t1srs have voted out of th e Bapti st W orld Alliance. Thac great defender of the hi storic Christian faith, Dr Mel ncire, has heen blamed for rhe strife in Korea; but it was the continued agitation in the World Council for recognitio n of Red China char started it-that and the softness of che Bapc1st W orld Alliance coward communism. W e would suggest that Dr Chapman name all fundamental leaders that he might find on cr.e list of r he FBI or of the H ouse UnAmerican Commiccee as secret communise conspirators, as he p rarcica lly says they are. We will p· int his l is t in che OIB 1f he will p r int the list we give him of leaders in the National Council who are listed as belonging to five or more communist fronts. We will even spare those who have not joined such a f ronc cr– ganizatio n in the last ten years, si nce some may have seen tr.e e'"– ror of their ways 2nd yet ne t have had the grace of public confessio n. Instead of sme:tring men v:ith innuendoes, why not name t hem a nd cell exactly what they have done? On– ly a facing of the facts will tell che story as to wl1ich group is the most friendly t ::> communism. There is no use imagining what we would do if we were Communists, ~vhen we have a clear record of what they h~ve done. HE REFlJSED TO GLORIFY GOD Alan Shepard disappointed many Chris– tian admirers of his a t hi s news conference May eighth. H ~ was asked whether he could say chat re felt like o ne famous American pilot who said, "God was my co-pilot." H e said that he and each of che otl:er six soace men had his own re– lig ious faith and chat each would express it in his own way. Beyond that he did not want to go. One can only assume that he was not very conscious of the presence of God while sailing in his capsule, or he would have been glad for an opporcunicy to wit– ress for his Lord. It could be that with– out a vital experience of salvation he has the common idea that it is not nice to talk about God except in church ; or, worse, it may be that he hesi tated becavse he had been i nscrucced not to say anything chat coPld cast reflection upon Yuri Gagarin and rhe Russians. H e had already refused to say that he had been anything that conflicred in any important way with what Yuri Gagarin had claimed he could see on his uip. We can understand that it would not be wise for him to challenge che truthfulness of the Russian claims n o-