Christian Chronicle (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 15, Ed. 1 Monday, July 17, 1972 Page: 3 of 12
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July 17, 1972
CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
Page 3
Portals
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>). Christians
‘Christ-life,
Hans Kung
'istian’s chai
ir life.
Long Beach, Calif.
>r those same
itate him anil
The Life
I Now Live
r *
T. M. Williams
bur things to
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s been called
js in Christ’s
of the vicioii
loving. Mani
God’s love
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spel become;.
nager
i Chalk,
st-life” does
the name
Editor, the Chronicle:
I’m writing to you after a long absence but with
the good news that after much thought and study
of God’s Word that I’m now dedicating my life to
working for God, and even though I’m in prison
'erything “ij afternoon tea, all afraid to be quoted and dodging
'S
cal examples
Ji’
hrist’s deal!
responsibilil
good deeds,
t, but is set
als who ha<
has a missid
faith may I
does not ha'
mans. Buti
re are enou! t -
five verses, organism t0 be
Although Christ died to redeem all humanity,
the Spirit does not use his sacrifice as license to
invade every life. He must be invited to take up
residence. Only those who admit their bankruptcy
and place themselves at his disposal can be re-
inhabited. To have him take control of your life
you must place yourself completely in his hands
and depend on him entirely as the motivation of
all your activity. Your life is not your own, it is
his; purchased by his blood and delivered to him
by your attitude of dependence on him.
This attitude of dependence is the condition
described by the apostle Paul when he says, “The
life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God.”
His faith was not just a concerted mustering-up of
all the belief he could project in the promise of
Christ’s indwelling. He was not saying, “I figure
Christ must live in me because he has promised
to do so.” He was saying (if I may take the liberty
to expand his statement), “lam now depending on
Christ who lives in me to live my life for me. I
have placed myself at his disposal in an attitude
of utter dependence on him as the dynamic of all
my activity. My life is deeded to him and although
it is my body you see walking upon the earth, that
body is inhabited by the very life of Jesus Christ
and is engaged only in activity that he initiates. He
is in the driver’s seat and I am in the back seat.”
In the light of this declaration of the true nature
of faith we must discard any notion we may have
that faith is so insipid as to consist of mere belief.
Faith does not simply believe that God can control
your life, it lets him do so. By faith you do not
designed to put the life of Christ back in him. Christ
did not come to get man out of hell and into heaven,
but rather to get God out of heaven and back into
man.” And when the Spirit returns man is again
a complete human being, living as he was created
to live, ruled by the Holy Spirit of God and reflecting
his glory to all creation.
nany satam
prevents hai
j body, an
Christians an
)f proclaims
ord and dee
a sick parod)
br contagioi
Ml
$ ?
' II
* wi
“our realachievement here at
LAODICEA LAST YEAR WAS
REDECORATING OUR AUDITORIUM.’
I know I can win converts to the church of Christ
with God’s help. It’s partly with your help that I
made this decision as the Christian Chronicle helped
me overcome the obstacles to get baptized here in
prison.
I partake of prayer frequently here to help me
and God certainly hears me as my prayers are being
answered.
I do need some study material and some Bible
correspondence courses for the brethren in here.
Since I am writing, could you tell your readers that
I’d appreciate all their cancelled stamps as I am
also involved in a stamp club here and it is an enjoy-
able hobby.
I speak for all the brethren here and the stamp
club members in saying we will appreciate all you
can do for us. We definitely need study material,
correspondence Bible study courses. I can grade
them and award certificates if I had them, could
also use mint stamps to use on various cor-
respondence to brethren around the country.
In Christian love,
James Carpenter
Box B-28090
Florence, Az. 85232
1 ■
I
frustration Over and over you used generalities and not nam-
es; you wrote of “some” college lectureships, etc.;
“brethren” stand before audiences making charges,
’etc.; ‘‘my brethren”; “those who are so quick to
make damaging charges”; “some” “seem afraid
to ‘lay it on the line,”’; “they, the critics”; “our
papers, pulpits, and lectureships.”
.. It is obvious that you carefully AVOIDED calling
.ompete wit the names of those yOU rebuked for not calling
jng ovinS names. As you say, it takes “intestinal fortitude”
less on a com
by citing th
(Ed. Note: James Carpenter, a prisoner at Arizona
State Prison, was baptized inside the prison on Nov.
2, 1969. His baptism came after a long delay of
petitioning prison officials. The Chronicle reported
the plight of the five-time loser for robbery and car
theft, who had completed the Hearld of Truth Bible
correspondence course, and personal teaching of
minister Tom Hicks. The first Chronicle story
appeared Aug. 18, a second story on Sept. 8 and
finally Nov. 10 told of the baptism. Many Chronicle
readers wrote the prison warden emphasizing the
necessity of baptism.)
to call names. But it is so easy, is it not, to be
INCONSISTENT. Any one of us can be guilty.
Troy Cummings
■ •
"V
“How do we know when the Church
is on the right path? Where is the gol-
den thread?”
The short answer to the question is
that the Church is headed in the right
direction when, whatever the age in
which it lives, the Gospel of Christ
is its criterion . . .
The Church, therefore, is the pilg-
rim community of believers, not of
those who already see and know. The
Church must ever and again wander
through the desert... It must always
be prepared to seek out a new path,
a way that might be just as difficult
to find as a desert track, or a path
through darkness.”
in the con a convicted stand.”
I am so fed up with mushy and weak-kneed writing
arious human in the brotherhood (not to mention the outright false
doctrine) that it is refreshing to read the firm and
pungent language that Bro. Wade used in his article.
. First, let me say firmly that I, too, believe what
the New Testament teaches about naming names
~ JA(- (such as 2 John 9-11; 2 Tim. 3:8; 4:10, 14, 15; etc.);
no doubt this principle has not been practiced in
the church as it should have been.
On the other hand, many times in the New Testa-
ment the writers do not name the person, but do
discuss the spiritual trulh involved that applies to
uque events any and al] (no name mentioned: j cor 5:1; 6:6;
------.------u 2 cor. 11:12-15; etc.).
But not for the main point of this article: Bro.
rtant to poiitWade (I want to call his name, to please him and
i hollow she! to fit into his article), are you not glaringly inconsis-
on the sam tent in your whole article, in that you DID NOT
it the base o: NAME NAMES of those whom you were rebuking
lationship tifor not naming names?!
o
imitate the activity of Christ, you let him act through
you. You do not wonder what course of action to
take, you let him take it. You do not worry about
your problems, you let him solve them. You do
not try to do as Jesus would do” because you
believe him, you let him do what he will through
you because you trust him with yourself. The life
you now live is his life lived through you. This is
life lived by real faith in the Son of God.
But lets not make the mistake of blowing faith
itself out of proportion. When Paul said his life was
lived by faith he was not implying that faith itself
was the motivating force or the source of power
in his life. Faith itself has no power: it merely
invokes the power of a second party. For example,
a few years ago I walked across the suspension
bridge over Royal Gorge in Colorado. By the act
of walking I was exercising faith in the bridge. But
it was not my faith in the bridge that kept me from
plunging 1000 feet into the water below — it was
the bridge itself. Had I ignored the bridge and ven-
tured across that chasm on faith alone I quickly
would have become an oil slick on the Arkansas
River. Faith is not substantial enough to walk on
but a bridge is. My faith in the bridge simply placed
me in an attitude of dependence on the bridge. It
is not my faith in Christ that saves — it is Christ
himself. We do not live by the power of faith but
by the power of Christ. Our faith is the agent that -
lets him get into action. Faith places us in an attitude
of dependence on him, invokes his activity, invites
him to the control panel of our being and lets him
do the tremendous things that only God can do
through a fully human life.
By faith you make a body available for Christ
to live in. Faith gives him your hands to work with,
your feet to walk with, your mind to think with
and your heart to love with. Through the opening
of your faith in him, Christ again comes to earth
incarnate in you.
I.
Man was designed from the beginning as an
, • cnii j ~ ------~ operated by the Holy Spirit of God
er aps in Welling in his being. He was created with a spirit
capable of being inhabited by the Holy Spirit and
c°uld not be complete or fully human as God
__J fended without the presence of the Spirit. So when
ather Monday! 6 ^lrst man c^ose to become his own god and
1 class postageLa? °ut the Holy Spirit, man became a maimed
tion should b« ein8- In capable of ruling himself, he found he was
n 67B°T North e.d *nstead bY a legion of competing lusts, fancies,
. es*res and ambitions disguised as the completeness
e had lost. He found that rejecting the Holy Spirit
Was something like amputating the head and he faced
a ,ea^ future of chicken-like flopping as the remnant
° is mortal life drained away until his empty spirit
as sPewed from his withered body into a wretched
e e.nity of hopeless longing for the God he had lost.
) for 3 years. K
fan rateilisS3oti’P4f ,^an^s to the sacrifice of Christ, man’s loss
change of ad<'^ t e Spirit need not be permanent. He can become
^uutplete again. Maj. W. Ian Thomas stated it well
■---Then he said, “The death of Christ for man was
i
; .........
■T
editor, the Chronicle:
In the May 22nd CHRONICLE Bro. Carl W.
irist’s words, Wade wrote a vigorous article entitled “Enough of
"s who share the Issues, How About the Facts?”, in which he
rebuked “brethren” who do not name names when
they are condemning heresy, apostasy, liberalism,
and such like, who thereby, he says, show lack of
, , 0 “intestinal fortitude” and who “blind us with
by the Ver’ambiguous statements.”
Bro. Wade then concludes with this punch:
ie or wi uEn0Ugh of our paperS5 pulpits, and lectureships
sounding like a flock of gossiping old hens at an
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Chalk, John Allen. Christian Chronicle (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 15, Ed. 1 Monday, July 17, 1972, newspaper, July 17, 1972; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1666411/m1/3/?q=music: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.