THE POUND
PROCLAIMER
Volume I
December 2005
Number 2
EVIL SURMISINGS
BY:
Glen Young
He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting
about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil
surmisings, (1 Timothy 6:4 —KJV).
A man steps out of the local bar and
stumbles, almost falling. Just as this
happened, an acquaintance of his is passing by and sees the incident. The one who observed the incident hurries
home and begins calling friends. He tells them that he had seen brother Ned Virtuous stumble out of the local bar drunk.
Before we continue, we need to define the phrase Evil Surmising. Evil n. 1. The quality of
being morally bad or wrong; wickedness. 2. That which causes harm,
misfortune, or destruction: (THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY). Surmise n. An
idea or opinion based on insufficiently conclusive evidence; a conjecture.
(IBID)
By taking the dictionary definitions of these
words and by looking at the context of how it is used in Scripture, we come to
the following conclusion. Evil surmising
is the sin of putting the worst possible conclusion upon events that are
observed. Paul warns Timothy about
perverse teachers with corrupt minds who would strive about words and create an
environment where envy, strife, railings, and evil surmising would flourish.
With this in mind, let us investigate the
incident further. Brother Ned Virtuous
is an elder in the local
What do you think? Maybe something similar has happened in your home
congregation. Were you quick to believe
the worst about a brother or sister? Why
is it that we want to believe the worst about others? We see it in all walks of life. Someone at work gossips about a fellow worker
and we wag our heads in agreement. A
political candidate tells some outrageous thing about his opponent for the
purpose of discrediting him, and we
can’t wait to tell others, especially if the opponent is of a party different
than ours. It is sad, but we find Christians doing the same when
they put the worst possible spin on the actions or words of their brethren.
As Paul Harvey would say,
now the rest of the story. Brother Ned Virtuous is a plumber.
The owner of the bar had hired him to do some plumbing work. When brother Virtuous stepped out of the bar onto the sidewalk, he
stumbled because he kicked his toe against a break in the concrete. He was on his way to his truck to get some
tools for the job. He had not gone to
the bar to drink and he was not drunk when brother Inquisitor T. Remnant saw him stumble.
If you are ready to believe the worst about a
Christian whose reputation is above reproach and without knowing all the facts,
then you are guilty of evil surmising.
You need to ask yourself what is my motive for such action. You would do well to remember that tearing
another Christian down does not make you righteous.
— P.
O.
The Editor’s Page
Some among us have theorized that there are other
worlds in our galaxy where intelligent life could exist. They further conjecture that this intelligent
life could be far in advance of our own.
To the point, they say, it has perfected space travel and visits us from
time to time. Before we consign this
theory to the Fox Mulders and keepers of the X files, consider that NASA has,
from the beginning of its deep space probes, sent messages along with those
probes in the hopes of making first contact.
War of The Worlds written by H. G. Wells is based
upon the premise that the planet Mars is populated by an intelligently advanced
race who has been monitoring earth and plotting an invasion. What if this were so? What would another race of beings think about
what they would see and hear? They would
monitor the air waves; watching the TV broadcasts, listen to the radio signals,
and in recent years be able to read e-mail and view web pages. As they watched and listened to political
campaigns, where do you think they would put us on the IQ scale? As they watched the entertainment industry
and viewed pornographic web sites, what would they think about our morals? As they listened to the debate about
homosexuality and gay marriage, how ignorant do you suppose they would think us
knowing that procreation of the human specie only comes through mating of the
opposite sexes? I seriously doubt that
an intelligent life form would want to conquer earth, Martians or otherwise.
However, there is a truth at the core of this
fantasy. There is extraterrestrial life
with an intelligence far beyond anything mere man can imagine. This real life ET has visited earth many
times and keeps diligent watch over the goings on of mankind. His interest is not focused upon earth as a
conqueror but as a savior. The salvation
He offers is to the inhabitants of earth.
To accomplish this great task, He knows that sin must be conquered. It is for this reason that He watches and
meets out judgment upon those who practice wickedness.
We find an example of this in Genesis 18 &
19. Genesis 18:20-21, “Then
the Lord said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and
their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done
altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will
know.’”
After the Lord told Abraham of His mission and
Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorah, two angels proceed to the city of
Sodom. It is here that Lot encourages
them to stay in his home. Once they are
there, the men come to Lot’s home, “Now before they lay down, the men of the
city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter,
surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the
men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them
carnally’” (Genesis 19:4-5).
The angels found first hand that the wickedness of Sodom was the
wickedness of homosexuality (Romans 1:26-27). “Then the Lord rained on Sodom and
Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those
cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew
on the ground” (Genesis 19:24-25).
Although many deny it and many more don’t want to
think about it, someone is watching. At
an unknown time like a thief in the night, the Lord will appear at which time
the elements will melt with fervent heat and the earth will be burned up (2
Peter 3:10).
The Day of the Lord is a day of destruction. It is not going to be a day of invasion. There will be no place to run. There won’t be a reprieve because, the aliens
don’t have an immunity to an earthborn virus.
It will be the end. Will you be
prepared?
A GOOSE STORY
Next fall when you see geese flying in “V”
formation, you might consider what science has discovered about why they fly
this way. Each bird flaps its wings to create an updraft for the bird following.
By flying in “V” formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying
range than each bird flying on it own. People, who share a common
direction and a sense of community can get where they are going more quickly
because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.
When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly
feels the drag and resistances of trying to go at it alone and quickly gets
back into formation and takes advantage of the lifting power from the bird in
front. If we have as much sense as a goose, we would stay in formation
with those who are heading the same direction we are.
When the head goose gets tired, he rotates back
into the wing and another goose takes point. It is sensible to take turns
doing demanding jobs with people or with geese. Geese honk from behind to
encourage those ahead to keep up their speed. What do we say when we HONK?
Finally, this is the most important
point: When one of the geese is wounded or sick and falls from formation,
two other geese will follow the goose down to lend help and
protection. They will stay with the goose until it can fly or until it
dies. Only then will they launch in formation and catch back up with their
group. If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like
that.
Via Faith Lift, Vol. 6, No. 2, April/May/June,
2004.
The Last Word
SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD
A group of students were asked to list what they
thought were the present “Seven Wonders of the World.” Though there were
some disagreements, the following received the most votes: 1. Egypt’s Great
Pyramids 2. Taj Mahal 3. Grand Canyon 4. Panama Canal 5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter’s Basilica 7. China’s Great Wall.
While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that
one student had not finished her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she
was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, “Yes, a little. I
couldn’t quite make up my mind because there were so many.” The teacher
said, “Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help.” The girl hesitated,
then read, “I think the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’ are: 1. To See
2. To Hear 3. To Touch 4. To Taste 5. To Feel
6. To Laugh 7. And to Love.”
The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin
drop. The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for
granted are truly wondrous! A gentle reminder that the most precious
things in life cannot be built by hand or bought by man.
— Selected —
RATIOCINATING:
Jesus turned the water into wine. Was the wine
alcoholic?
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; And
whosoever erreth thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1). A novice Bible student knows that the
consumption of alcoholic drink is condemned in the scripture. However, some argue that only excess is
condemned. They often site Jesus’
turning water into wine as evidence of their claim.
Mary approached Jesus and told Him that the wine
had failed (John 2:3). When the
ruler of the feast drank the water turned to wine, he said, “Every man
setteth on first the good wine; and when (men) have drunk freely, (then) that
which is worse: thou hast kept the good wine until now” (v. 10). Reason would dictate that a large quantity of
wine was consumed before Jesus turned six waterpots full of water into wine.
The guests had drunk freely. Jesus added six waterpots filled to the brim
with wine. If the wine was alcoholic, He
would have invited excess by His action!
Nay, He would have condoned excess!
The only logical explanation is that the water
turned to wine was of a non-alcoholic variety.
It was fresh grape juice. It was
neither Mogen David nor Budweiser! Of
that, I am certain.
— Glen
The Pound Proclaimer is published
monthly by the Pound church of Christ 9517A Orby Cantrell Hwy. Pound, VA
24279
— Editor: Glen
Young
— Phone: 276-796-5767=Office
— 276-796-7401=Home
— Time of Services
— Sunday: Bible
Classes—10 am
— Assembly—11 am
— Assembly—6 pm
— Wednesday: Bible
Classes—7 pm
— e-mail: gyoung47@ntelos.net
— All questions or
comments regarding the content of this bulletin should be directed to the
editor. He may be reached at the e-mail given above or at P. O. Box 802 Pound,
VA 24279-0802.
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