In our last issue we printed a letter written by a prisoner

In our last issue we printed a
letter written by a prisoner. A reader submitted additional information which
is an encouragement foe believers to carry the gospel inside prison walls.

 

Goshen, N.Y. March 19, 1966.

 

Dear brother in Christ,

 

This is the record of the
salvation of the prisoner, Theodore McNeil. One Saturday evening about five
years ago, as I went to preach in the county jail, I was accosted by Theodore
with a request to speak to me alone at the end of his cell block. These were
his words. "You know, Brother Cole, I am here for murder. When I was first
picked up by the police, I was placed in the Newburgh jail. I was so scared I
didn’t know what to do. I figured I had gone too far, and now death was staring
me in the face. I had heard about God, but I never knew He had a Son. All the
time I was there, I was calling on God, begging Him on my face and knees.
Saturday morning one of the jailors came in and told me to get my things
together as I was being transferred to the County jail in Goshen. Oh! Brother
Cole, this was no accident. It was God answering my pleading, although I didn’t
know it then.

 

"That night you came into
the jail with your Bible, and three or four of the inmates gathered at the end
of the cell block where you were speaking to them. I thought to myself, ‘I wish
he would speak louder so I could hear.’ Then something inside me said, ‘Go down
where you can hear,’ and I proceeded to do so. You were preaching Jesus Christ
the Son of God, being punished for sins and giving up His life for us, so that
any sinner, no matter how great his sin he could be saved. That night was the
happiest night of as I knelt in my cell and received Jesus Christ as my
Saviour.

 

"The next Saturday night
you came in again, and I was in the background of the group that gathered
there, to hear more. One of the men said to you that nobody could quit smoking
in jail because that is about all they have to do. You told him that you never
told him or anyone else to quit smoking—that you were a preacher of Jesus
Christ and not law. Nevertheless if you came to know Christ as your Saviour and
asked Him to take it away from you and meant it when you asked, you could stop
here as well as anywhere else. That was two months ago, and I haven’t smoked
since that day. The Lord made me know my salvation so that now I can tell you
this with assurance:the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is my
Saviour."

 

Theodore was subsequently tried
and sentenced to die in the electric chair. He was placed in the death house in
Sing Sing, and I was committed to be with him when he was to be electrocuted. A
death sentence draws an automatic appeal so in a measure of time Theodore was
returned to the Goshen jail. In the meantime the Lord was bringing to pass
certain things that in retrospect dovetailed so beautifully with one end in
view, the saving of Theodore’s life as well as his soul.

 

First, the local sheriff and a
couple of other men were suffocated in a hunting cabin. His replacement was a
man who hated the Gospel. The Episcopal chaplain suddenly became a power, and I
was refused entrance to the jail. I had had opportunity to preach Christ to
both the chaplain and his wife who both refused Him, declaring it presumptious
to make any claim of the assurance of salvation before reaching eternity.

 

When Theodore got back to Goshen, I had been shut out. He wrote me and asked why I didn’t come to visit him. I
contacted his lawyer and traded information on the case. That helped to save
Theodore’s life and to get me back into the jail to see him. I saw him from
then on every week until he went to Attica to serve his reduced sentence of
thirty-five years. He grew and is growing by leaps and bounds. I also had the
privilege of baptizing him in a bathtub in the jail.

 

I desire the prayers of all the
saints as the Lord has opened quite a gospel field here, and we can fellowship
with one another by prayer.

 

Your brother in the Lord,

 

Emmett Cole

 

I think about the past, and feel

I think about the past, and feel

            My heart sink
hopelessly, and fears

Of judgment seize on me; I kneel

            Before my God, and
own that years

And years of deep, dark, deadly
guilt

            Are dragging down my
soul to hell.

I know the wretched hopes I’ve
built

Of
heaven, if His judgment fell

On me, would vanish as a dream:

            Before the dreadful
judgment throne,

Such hopes, I know, though they
may seem

            All fair and right,
when by our own

Poor godless hearts surveyed,
would all

            But serve to prove
what godless hearts

We had, to cling to them at all.

            O God, my life no
hope imparts,

And yet I scarcely dare to hope

            In Thee. My heart is
like a stone;

My soul is dead; I blindly
grope,

            And long for light.
And yet I own

It is not Thee, but only rest

            And safety for my
soul, I seek,

My guilty soul. O God, at best

            I’m godless, even
while I speak

To Thee! Not love but selfish
fear

            It is that brings me
to Thy feet;

My wretched sins are far more dear

            To me — but then,
Thy judgment-seat!

Ah! yes, I own, were there no
hell,

            I would not seek Thy
heaven, O God;

A Father’s love is not the spell

            That draws me, but
Thy judgment rod.

 

O God, I cannot ask for bread,

            For bread, I know,
is children’s fare,

And I’m a dog; I bow my head,

            And own I’m but a
dog:nor dare

I seek to claim a higher place;

            I have no right to
children’s meat;

I only cast myself on grace,

            I lay me prostrate
at Thy feet

O God, have mercy on my soul:

            Before th’ eternal
night begins,

O save my dark and guilty soul;

            Forgive my sins — O
God, my sins!

Hast Thou not given Thine only
Son

            To bear my sins upon
the tree?

And wilt Thou now, when all is
done,

            Refuse my God, to
pardon me?

And, O my God, hast thou not
said,

            "He that
believeth on the Son

Hath life"? and I believe;
though red

            Like crimson are my
sins, and one

By one they rise before me now,

            Sins long forgotten,
and they fain

Would make me doubt Thy word:I
bow

My
head in shame:yet wilt Thou deign

To look on me? If I am lost,

            I need a Saviour:
’tis for such

He came to die; and what a cost

            To pay! ’tis not for
me to touch

That finished work of His, or
seek

            To add a sigh, or
tear, or groan

Of mine to what He bore, or
speak

            Of aught in me but
sin. Alone,

O Christ, Thou hadst to bear my
doom

            To take my deep dark
curse on Thee,

And bear it all; and now there’s
room

            For grace to pardon
even me.

Then look on me, my Father. Yes,

            I call Thee Father,
for I know

Thy word is sure, and humbly
bless

            The grace that
deigned to stoop so low,

That such as I can come to Thee,

            And as a sinner
reconciled

By His most precious blood, for
me

            Once shed, can know
that I’m Thy child.

 

Tis but a moment since I thought

            There scarce was
hope for one like me;

I heeded not the love that
bought

            Me with the blood of
Calvary.

Yet now I dare to look above

            And call Thee
Father; though my heart’s

Defiled, my lips unclean — Thy
love

            Has conquered fear —
though Satan’s darts

Fall thick around me, and within

            I dare not look —
’tis like a sea

That cannot rest, and full of
sin—

            I now can look away
to Thee,

And find in Thee my peace, nor
fear

            To rest my trembling
sin-stained soul

Upon Thy word, and so draw near.

            My Saviour’s blood
has made me whole.

I’m black and worthless, but I’m
Thine;

            My God, I’m Thine;
to Thee I owe

My life, my life to Thee resign.

            O teach Thy child in
life to show

Thy praises forth. I bless Thy
name;

            I worship, magnify,
adore,

And praise Thy great and
glorious name;

            O fill my soul yet
more and more

With praise to Thee. The
"miry clay"

            Still clings to me,
and yet I raise

My triumph song and bless the
day:

            O
fill my soul yet more with praise!

"Neither is he that planteth anything,

"Neither is he that
planteth anything,

Neither is he that watereth;

But God that giveth the
increase.

Now he that planteth

And he that watereth are
one" (1 Cor. 3:7,8).

 "There is that scattereth,
and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it
tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat:and he that watereth
shall be watered also himself. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse
him:but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it" (Prov.
11:24-26).

 

"If thou forbear to deliver
them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou
sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider
it? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? and shall not He render
to every man according to his works?" (Prov. 24:11,12)

 

These Scriptures in the Proverbs
of King Solomon present a responsibility upon every Christian, old or young,
because all around us are people who are perishing. With the great blessings
that God has bestowed upon us through the Lord Jesus Christ—forgiveness of
sins, eternal life, peace, joy, rest, and hope—how our hearts should be stirred
to make known what Christ has done for us.

 

In Luke’s gospel, Chapter 8, we
read of a man who had been possessed with demons, and the Lord Jesus cast them
out of him. "But the man out of whom the demons had gone besought Him that
he might be with Him. But He sent him away, saying, Return to thine house and
relate how great things God has done for thee. And he went away through the
whole city, publishing how great things Jesus had done for him" (Luke
8:38-39, J.N.D. trans.).

 

We should ask the question which
Saul of Tarsus asked the Lord on that eventful day when the Lord Jesus spoke to
him, "Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6)

 

Dr. Cuyler has written regarding
tract distribution, "It is a blessed and heaven-honored agency for doing
good. Everyone who has some spare time, and a tongue, and a little tact can go
out with a bundle of tracts to the abodes of ignorance and irreligion."

 

A preacher in London some years
ago said that the Open-air Mission was doing a much-needed work among the
masses, one feature being the distribution of tracts, and he stated that he
himself had been converted by a tract given to him when attending some races in
a Midland town.

 

There was a poor boy who came to
a city missionary, and holding out a dirty and well-worn bit of paper, said,
"Please sir, father sent me to get a clean paper like that." Opening
it out, the missionary found that it was a page leaflet, containing that
beautiful hymn, "Just as I am, without one plea." The missionary
asked where he got it and why he wanted a clean one. "We found it, sir, in
sister’s pocket after she died. She was always singing it while she was ill,
and she loved it so much that father wanted to get a clean one and put it in a
frame and hang it up. Won’t you give us a clean one, sir?" That simple hymn
given to a little girl seems to have been, by God’s blessing, the means of
bringing her to Christ.

 

The late J. Denham Smith, with
his wife, was driving along a road. When passing a house, Mrs. Smith noticed an
aged man at the door. She asked her husband to stop and give him a tract. He
replied, "Not now, but when we return." Accordingly, when going back,
they stopped. Mr. Smith, going up to the old man, began to talk and asked if he
knew anything of God’s love to him. "That I do," was the response.
"He does love me, but I have not loved Him long. It is only a short time
ago since a lady came by and left a tract. It told me of the great truths of
the Bible, and led me to see that Christ came to save the lost and, therefore,
to save me." Mr. Smith thought that the writer of the tract would be
thankful to know the result of what he had done, so he asked the old man if he
still had this tract. He went into the house and quickly returned with it.
Great was Mr. Smith’s surprise and joy to recognize it as one written by
himself.

 

Finally, what will be the
results in joy to precious souls, as well as to ourselves? Let King David tell
us by the Holy Spirit:"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that
goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" (Psalm 126:5-6). King Solomon
again speaks by the Holy Spirit:"Cast thy bread upon the waters:for thou
shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for
thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. … In the morning sow thy
seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand:for thou knowest not whether
shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike
good" (Eccl. 11:1, 2, 6).

 

"Behold, NOW is the
accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).

 

One of the most world-lauded events of 1965 was the declaration against
anti-Semitism from the Vatican ecumenical council’s last session

One of the most world-lauded
events of 1965 was the declaration against anti-Semitism from the Vatican ecumenical council’s last session. We sought out the text of this declaration to
see what it really stated and present it for our readers’ interest.

 

"Although
the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death
of Christ (cf. Jn. 19:6), nevertheless what happened to Christ in His passion
cannot be attributed to all Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor to the
Jews of today.Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not
be presented as rejected by God or accursed, as if this follows from the Holy
Scriptures. May all see to it, then, that in catechetical work or in preaching
the word of God they do not teach anything that is inconsistent with the truth
of the Gospel and with the spirit of Christ.

 

Moreover,
the Church, which rejects every persecution against any man, mindful of the
common patrimony with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the
Gospel’s spiritual love, deplores hatred, persecutions, displays of
anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time or by anyone." (Look
magazine, Jan. 25, 1966, p. 23).

 

This declaration might seem
placid enough were it not accompanied by a detailed exposure of all the
political maneuvering that brought it about. A more complicated background of
changes, reversals, and contradictions from otherwise "infallible"
sources, could hardly be described than that which the magazine article
revealed.

 

No matter what this declaration
actually says or what its writers intended, it is being construed far and wide
as the acquittal of the Jews in the death of Christ. Late last December, Jewish
leaders were interviewed regarding their appreciation of the Vatican council’s
statement. One acclaimed it "a modern miracle" that the Pope should
come forth with a statement so long overdue. The rabbi further declared that
present day Jews feel no more guilt in the death of Jesus than do modern Greeks
in the death of Socrates. History records the tragedy of Socrates’ execution as
a distinct miscarriage of justice. But to rank this as comparable to the cross
of Christ is an outrage against Holy Writ. We perceive that beneath all the
clamor of innocence lies an indelible sense of guilt.

 

The Bible records, "When
Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he
took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of
the blood of this just person:see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and
said, His blood be on us, and on our children" (Matt. 27:24,25). Those who
said this and their children have been attempting Pilate-like hand washings ever
since. But the Lord told Pilate, "He that delivered me unto thee hath the
greater sin" (John 19:11).

 

Another has written, "Who
would dare to aver that the atoning efficacy of the death of our divine Lord,
however accomplished, could be less than infinite? But mark the emphasis which
Scripture lays upon the manner of His death. It was ‘the death of the
cross.’ No element of contempt or hate was wanting. Imperial Rome decreed it,
but it was the favored people who demanded it. The ‘wicked hands’ by which they
murdered their Messiah were those of the heathen master, but the responsibility
for the act was all their own. Nor was it the ignoble rabble of Jerusalem that forced the Roman government to set up the cross on Calvary. Behind the mob
was the great council of the nation. Neither was it a sudden burst of passion
that led these men to clamor for His death. Hostile sects forgot their
differences in deep-laid plots to compass His destruction. The time, moreover,
was the paschal feast when the Jews from every land were gathered in Jerusalem. Every interest, every class, every section of that people shared in the great
crime. Never was there a clearer case of national guilt. Never was there
an act for which a nation could more justly be summoned to account.

 

"But infinite mercy could
forgive even that transcendent sin, and in Jerusalem Itself it was that the
great amnesty was first proclaimed. Pardon and peace were preached, by divine
command, to the very men who crucified the Son of God!

 

About this time of year certain
prophets of Christendom are quick to declare that if the Lord Jesus were living
in our day, our laws would more than protect His rights and that a Man
pronounced three times innocent by court of law would not be led to death upon
a cross. What is this but to again alleviate the Gentile guilt and cast the
blame for the untimely appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the very throne
of God. The Scripture says, "In due time Christ died for the
ungodly," and again, "When the fulness of time was come, God sent
forth his Son." Our Lord reproached the Pharisees, hypocrites of old, for
saying, "If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses
unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the
prophets" (Matt. 23:30-31). "Fill ye up then the measure of your
fathers," was the taunt of our Lord, who knew that when they laid hands on
Him to put Him on that cross they would fill up that measure to the brim and
overflowing.

 

We have long been aware that Rome blasphemously claims the authority to forgive the sins of its penitent confessors.
Heretofore we could not imagine that the Papal See would even attempt to
relieve the guilt of the death of Christ from that nation which is still as
impenitent and unbelieving as ever! Israel’s position then was manifestly one
of rejection of Jesus as their Messiah. If present day rabbis represent that
people as a whole, we cannot see that Israel’s position is one whit changed
from the day they clamored for His blood.

 

God’s present sentence of
LO-AMMI (not my people) is not an eternal stigma upon that people. Isaiah
proclaims "comfort" to Israel (Isa. 40:2) but not until she has
received "double for all her sins," and the future "time of
Jacob’s trouble" is past (Jer. 30:7). For any who truly desire to see
Jewish suffering lessened and anti-Semitism diminished, we urge you to proclaim
the gospel of the grace of God to that people. Those Jews who now receive that
message will enlarge the present "remnant according to the election of
grace" (Rom. 11:5) and be raptured to glory in the church. The rest will
go into the "great tribulation" referred to by Daniel the prophet and
our blessed Saviour. That three and one half years of horror will pale all
anti-Semitic persecutions of recorded history. Those days will be so terrible
that unless they are shortened no flesh should be spared alive. Only a part of
the faithful remnant will survive that awful future scourge.

 

We also deplore all anti-Semitic
feeling and persecution. But the only way that judgment and punishment can be
removed from the guilty is for them to confess their guilt and receive
forgiveness through "the precious blood of Christ." Only the gospel
of the grace of God proclaims that "by Him all that believe are justified
from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses"
(Acts 13:39). Thank God for the good news of salvation for the guilty— not the
innocent—"to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

 

We have been encouraged by our readers’ response to the last editorial

We have been encouraged by our
readers’ response to the last editorial. Realizing that a question openly
voiced by one is often in the hearts of many, we undertake to discuss questions
sent in response to the Income Tax article in the March issue.

 

A reader writes, "As to the
matter of a name . . . would you consider it unscriptural to list our
contributions on our tax return as having been given to ‘Christian
Brethren’?" There are many terms used in Scripture to designate believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ which are meant to distinguish them from the world or
unbelievers. Since the early Christian testimony consisted of only Jewish
converts, they were identified as being simply "of the Way" (Acts
9:2; 19:9, 23, F. W. Grant trans.). These were persecuted by Saul of Tarsus.
The name "the Way" seems to be uncomplimentary in its use. It was
later in Gentile Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians (Acts
11:26). Later when King Agrippa used this term, it does not seem that it had a
particularly complimentary character either (Acts 26:28). Other scriptural
terms used to describe believers in general are saints, elect, called ones,
disciples, brethren, friends, etc. The Church is termed variously, the "church of God," the "assembly," the "body" of Christ, etc. We know
of no scriptural objection to applying these terms to Christians today. What
then is the objection to Christian groups assuming such names today?

 

In the days of the apostles when
any of the above terms were applied to believers or to the church, they
included all the Christians, and the term merely identified them in contrast
with the world. But never in Scripture is such a term sanctioned to designate
one company of Christians to the exclusion of other Christians. Some said they
were of Paul, Cephas, Apollos, and Christ and drew forth inspired rebuke (1
Cor. 1:12).

 

Today many of these scriptural
terms are used in a sectarian way:that is, they are rightly applied to
believers but limited in intended scope so as not to include all believers.
Suppose I were to ask you, "Are you one of the friends?" You might
answer, "No," thinking I meant the Quakers. Yet if you knew that by
the term "friends" I meant simply believers, as in 3 John, you would
have answered, "Yes." Or again suppose you are asked if you are one
of the brethren. How do you answer? Every Christian can scripturally answer,
"Yes"!

 

Our inquirer asks about the name
"Christian Brethren." Surely if this is but a general term to
describe the recipients of contributions, there can be no objection. But if it
is a term assumed to designate some company of Christians in distinction from
the rest of the body of Christ, and if this company is registered as a
religious body by that name with the government, then would it not seem but
another instance of an acceptable name applied in a sectarian way? This is the
distinct danger of any particular name being applied restrictively to only a
portion of the body of Christ.

 

If the Lord’s people meet in
public quarters, it is proper that the meeting place or room be named or
identified by any convenient designation. It is important in those instances
that the name pertain to the building (Gospel Hall, Bible Truth Hall, etc.) and
not to the people (Christian Brethren, Friends, etc.).

 

Another sincere question put to
us is, "What Christian testimony could we possibly give to government
employees who audit our income tax returns if we all took no church
contribution deduction or if we all took the standard 10% deduction? Wouldn’t
we be placed in the same category as atheists and infidels?" We impute to
this inquirer none but the best intentions before God and his fellow men. Would
to God that more of the Lord’s people so thought of every aspect of their
lives, even the income tax form, as testimony for Christ. On pondering the
question further, let us consider the testimony rendered to "government
employees who audit our income tax returns." Suppose, being concerned for
the Lord’s glory as we are, one has given not only the 10% commanded by Moses’
Law but also 20% or even the legal maximum allowable as a deduction, 30% of the
adjusted gross income. If the "government employee" in looking over
our tax form is impressed with our generosity, is not this exactly what our
Lord cautioned us against—the praise of men? (See Matt. 6:1-4). We do not
impute such a motive to our inquirer, nor to any for that matter. Yet, we are
to commend "ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God"
"by manifestation of the truth" (2 Cor. 4:2). If it is the truth that
our contributions are to be given in secret, let us manifest it with
contentment knowing that "thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall
reward thee openly."

 

Another question we received is
as follows:"As stewards of the money which the Lord entrusted to us, why
should we pay more to the government than the law requires, when we know that
over 50% of the taxes goes for military purposes?" In answer, we will
divide this question into two parts. First, neither we nor the government feel
we should pay more than the law requires. Our previous editorial discussed the
question of how far the Christian and the local assembly feel free to comply
with Internal Revenue Service regulations in order to be allowed tax deductions
partially compensating our contributions. We do not feel that the Christian is
bound in any way to render any more to Caesar than Caesar’s law claims.

 

The second part of this inquiry
questions our attitude as Christians rendering to the government, "when we
know that over 50% of the taxes goes for military purposes." No doubt many
Christians share a disappointment to find their taxes being spent in these
ways. But, what saith the Scriptures? We are impressed with the appropriateness
of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, wherein he takes up the subject of the
Christian’s relationship with government while world-ruling Caesar was on the
throne. After plainly instructing us to be in subjection to the "higher
powers" or governments, we are told that the rulers are ministers of God
to us for good. Furthermore, it is added, "He (the government) beareth not
the sword in vain:for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil" (Romans 13:4). "For this cause
pay ye tribute also" (Rom. 13:6). What cause? "This cause?’
pertains to Caesar’s efforts to "execute wrath" as he wields
"the sword" in suppressing evil, thus serving God. In plainer
language, we are exhorted by God to pay tribute (or taxes) to support Caesar’s
police or military efforts. Strange words indeed to peace-loving Christians!
But not so strange when we realize that God uses governments to restrain evil,
internal as well as international. Caesar is therefore responsible to God as
His servant. Christians are not responsible for what Caesar does with tax money
but are to pray for him and "all that are in authority; that we may lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty" (1 Tim. 2:2) and to
pay taxes to support his military efforts required to accomplish just that.

 

It is a lively topic of the day
to debate the propriety of this nation’s international involvement, especially
in Viet Nam. We do not profess to have the insight or wisdom to proclaim in
these matters of state. We do see that the Scriptures are plain, however, in
our supporting the government financially and in being subject to its laws.

 

Be it
plain that this position in no way alters the Christian’s personal position of
having no involvement in Caesar’s police efforts or military service. Our
mission is to hold forth the words of life (Phil. 2:16) lifting up holy hands
in prayer (1 Tim. 2:18) and to turn the other cheek to personal aggressors
(Matt. 5:39). Caesar’s position is manifestly the opposite. Thank God for
citizenship in this highly favored land, and above all, for heavenly
citizenship in a sphere beyond this scene (Phil. 3:20, J.N.D. trans.) of the
strivings of the potsherd of the earth.