Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The themes on Wednesday for the preachers training classes were “How to Establish Bible Authority” and “The Mission and Work of the Church.”  I taught how to establish and apply Bible authority for what we must preach and practice.  Next, I dealt with the difference between individual responsibility and local church action so that church will be distinctive as the church, not a social agency.  Meanwhile, Harry discussed handling the word rightly, the importance of context, and applying Bible examples.  His last study focused on the spiritual nature of the church.  Jack Jaco studied fulfilling the church’s mission without maintaining human organizations to do the work of local churches.

The open forum had a good mix of questions including how can we be sure Galatians 6:10 (“do good unto all men”) discusses individual duty and not local church action.  The context makes this absolutely certain because verses 1-9 repeatedly use nouns (“a man”) and pronouns (“he,” “himself”) referring to individual action rather than church function. 

Someone asked how can we resist the corruption and other abuses common to civil government – will we join protest movements and refuse to pay taxes?  Romans 13:1-7 teaches us to respect and obey our government including the payment of taxes.  The primary function of government is to protect the innocent and punish criminals who endanger and harm other people.  Yes, corruption and abuses are common to government, but without government it would not be safe to step out of our houses or to travel and preach the gospel.  God rules the nations and their governments.  He alone has the knowledge and judgment necessary to know when to destroy nations and governments for their wickedness.  We should pray for our leaders and use our influence to encourage honesty and integrity on the part of all people (1 Tim. 2:1-5). 

In the Philippines, often brethren will meet to sing, study, and pray when a person has a birthday or when the church wants to remember its beginning and survival with thanksgiving.  Someone asked if this is scriptural.  The church building is authorized as an aid to facilitate the church fulfilling its mission: evangelism, worship, and benevolence to needy saints.  Gathering for a service of thanksgiving at any time is appropriate to that mission, but such activities as singing birthday songs, providing refreshments, playing games, and other celebratory activities should not be done in the church building.  Those activities are not evangelism, worship, or benevolence.  Let the church be the church.

One of the denominational preachers decided to repent, confess Christ, and submit to him in water baptism for the remission of his sins.  We rejoice with the angels of heaven!

Thursday Harry finished the theme on “The Mission and Work of the Church” by showing the errors of centralization and then we started the theme of “The Holy Spirit.”  He taught on the identity of the Spirit and speaking in tongues while I covered the Spirit’s work of revealing all truth, Holy Spirit baptism, and the indwelling of the Spirit through his word.  Jack began the theme of “The One Baptism” by refuting infant baptism and sprinkling.  

The open forum began with a question about how to answer false teachers who claim we are idolaters because we have three gods in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The Bible teaches there are three persons in the Godhead but not three gods.  The different gods of idolatry are limited in their knowledge and power, but the one true God including the Father, the Son, and the Spirit share one divine nature with infinite knowledge and power.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses charge us with having multiple gods when in reality their doctrine creates multiple gods.  They claim the Father is the only eternal and omnipotent God and the Son is a created “god” with limited knowledge and power (“The Word was a god,” New World Translation by Jehovah’s Witnesses).

Someone asked about how to apply 1 Corinthians 7:5 in the Philippines where it is common that a husband or wife will work for months or years in a foreign nation.  The passage teaches husbands and wives should not be separated for long periods because of the danger of being tempted to commit fornication when they cannot meet each other’s sexual needs.  Separation should be only for a limited time and only by consent.  

Another question was about 1 Timothy 5:8 as to whether it is right for a wife to have a job to help the family make a living.  The man is the primary breadwinner, but Proverbs 31 shows that a godly woman can use her talents to generate income supplementing the husband’s income.  If a husband puts all of this responsibility on the wife because of laziness and neglect, he is worse than an infidel in God’s sight.

If a person obeys the gospel and receives forgiveness of sins, can he continue in his denomination and be saved in the end?  Anyone who understands God’s plan for forgiving our sins and obeys it will receive forgiveness of his past sins.  But, if the person returns to his denomination, he will be involved in many sins again such as worshiping with instrumental music, not sharing in the Lord’s Supper every Sunday, and supporting an organization which Christ did not build and does not own.  2 Corinthians 6:17-18 says, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 

Students and teachers alike must “endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3) in order to carry on these classes starting at 9:00 AM and ending about 6:00 PM.  It is all made possible by God’s loving providence working through His saints who donate funds, send up prayers, help in many ways behind the scenes, and participate in the teaching and learning process. 

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook