Have a Heart
The administering of discipline is one HEART of the most difficult and distasteful aspects of the ministry. It is a task seldom entered upon with glee. Those who do enjoy this type of thing may be said to have a streak of sadism in their personality. It was with sadness of heart that Jesus said to Judas, "That thou doest, do quickly" (John 13:27). He knew that from that moment there would be no further fellowship between Him and the treasurer of His fledgling organization.
When a minister is brought into question and separated from his credentials, the disciplining committee's atmosphere is that of a funeral. It is what happens to that separated brother that is the burden of this article. In all too many cases, this fellow minister who once fellowshiped at workers' meetings, from the local conference through the General Conference levels is suddenly dropped from the memory of his former colleagues. In some instances these men have never been contacted since by brethren of the fellowship. It is difficult to describe the loneliness that is theirs. One such man said to me on one occasion, "Tell every man who has his ministerial credentials to keep them, for the thing that he will miss most should he lose them is the fellowship with his brethren." But what are we doing to maintain contact with these men? Admittedly, everybody is busy, terribly busy, but so was the Samaritan. However, he turned aside to minister to a wounded soul's needs. Or perhaps there may be some embarrassment at not knowing what to say or how to say it. Of course, there is little reason to fear guilt by association. The simple fact is that when a man has been dealt with, he is in deeper need of fellowship and understanding at that point than at any other point in his life's history, and if ever there was a time when he ought to be visited and prayed with and encouraged, it is then. Remember that psychologically this man has let himself down and has just faced an acknowledgment by the brethren of this fact. He is now very much alone. Plagued by a knowledge of his own transgressions his first question is, "Do I have any friends left?" It is at this point that he needs reassurance that the men who reluctantly had to let him go as a gospel minister will never let him go as a personal friend.
The past is not reassuring in this regard, but the future will be just what we make it. We will turn heaven and earth to teach men who have never had exposure to Adventism the glories of the Christian way, spending thousands of dollars in cash and man-hours of labor, leaving no stone unturned to show them the way to Christ; how, then, can we possibly neglect one who has had orientation and training and was one among us, one on whom we may have spent thousands of dollars as a worker for God? If every union could have a committee charged with the specific responsibility of visiting such brethren, seeking to restore them to the fold, this would be one of the most profitable investments the church could ever make.
E. E. C.
LAW AND ORDER
The need for law and order has become a primary issue in the U.S. Presidential campaign. As Billy Graham has stated it: "The candidate who best convinces the public that he can bring about law and order is going to be elected."
Having come to a period in human history when it seems that hordes of demons and violence have been let loose everywhere, will men finally see the need of obedience to God's great moral law of Ten Commandments?
In this last fleeting convulsive hour we must, as God's watchmen, help to make it so. Many years ago the messenger of the Lord declared: "The world is now realizing the sure results of transgression of the law of God." If this were so when the words were first penned, how much more so today.
In the light of this, let us direct mankind to the importance of obedience. Let us lift up God's wonderful law as the one reliable standard of conduct. And let us make it clear that obedience brings blessing and disobedience a curse.
"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul" (Ps. 19:7). "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (Rom.7:12).
While government agencies are set up to investigate the causes of moral delinquency in the United States, let us proclaim the Word of the Lord. Let us portray the holy law of God as the transcript of the character of Christ. Then let us point out the relationship of the law to the gospel.
This is the one and only solution to the problem on the streets. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they will be to me a people" (Heb. 8:10). "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them" (Eze. 36:26, 27).
Today, this message must be preached with a power and effectiveness never known before.
O. M. B.
