1985

The people to whom we have been ministering are for the most part very poor. Our congregation is almost entirely on social security, and disability which although we do not condone, we have been unable to correct.

Sunday morning, July 28th, we had 20 people in attendance, more than half being adults, yet our offering was one dollar! In the evening we again had 20 people, and this time our offering was one dollar and 40 cents.

Someone has to minister to these people and most folks are not interested because it is not financially profitable to do so.

Wednesday evening, August 14th, we had a Family from India in our services. Two months ago they came to Augusta directly from their homeland. When they moved behind our church they were so poor that they placed newspapers on their wooden floors as bedding. While one church gave them Furniture, some "Christians" counseled them to get on welfare (no doubt that they would not be burdened).

THE CHURCH

Three years ago we agreed to purchase the building and property here for $25,000 at 10 percent for 15 years. A down payment of $2200 was to be paid after six months with the rent of $300 each month during that time being applied as part of the down payment. Mr. Bill Brannen was most gracious in helping us.

On April 4th, 1983 the down payment was finalized. So sure were we of the purchase that the Pilgrim’s Bible Church began making the amortized monthly payments by check from the church checking account and labeled each as "payment" for the particular month.

The First Advent Christian Church, however, had a very profane man as their attorney. When we chided them at having such a man represent the Lord’s work, they retained the attorney whom we had asked to represent our interests. He had been recommended to us by a Friend.

THE PITFALL OF INCORPORATION

Perhaps it was the letter we sent encouraging the First Advent Christian Church to drop their attorney, but whatever it was, our/their attorney never represented the interests of the Pilgrim’s Bible Church. In fact, both attorneys, we were told, counseled the First Advent Christian Church not to sell the property to the Pilgrim’s Bible Church unless we incorporated under a charter from the state.

A church is not a business; neither should it be operated as a business. The Bible tells us Jesus Christ is the sole sovereign of the church. For a church to ask the state to create an artificial person (called an incorporation), that church has legally {not lawfully) made the state its sovereign. Such is unscriptural.

The First Advent Christian Church declared they would not sell the property to the Pilgrim’s Bible Church holding me personally liable for the mortgage, but they would sell it to me personally holding me personally liable! If this makes sense to you, you are smarter than I am. The whole issue was over incorporation.

Personal property is taxable property. Since we do not believe it is morally, ethically, or Biblically right to take tithes and offerings given to the Lord Jesus Christ and to give them to city hall, I could not purchase the property in my own name. And since the Adventists’ former attorney is chairman of the Richmond County Board of Commissioners, we saw this as an attempt by the two attorneys to entrap us into incorporating.

MORE MONEY

A certified public accountant and his brother offered to buy the building and to lease it to us for $100 a month for 10 years! He explained the Lord had given him the ability to make money and he wanted to do something for the poor in this community because they are so often taken advantage.

The First Advent Christian Church decided not to sell to them, but rather to place the property on the market. Today, Wednesday, August 21st, a "For Sale" sign was planted in front of the church. Their asking price is now $40,000!

Brethren, pray for us.

A TRIBUTE

On August 3rd, the body of James Murdock was laid to rest in

North Augusta, So. Carolina. In life he was an auto mechanic; in death, business executives and people from every walk of life came as a testimony that this man had a profound affect upon their lives. His funeral revealed he was a chief among the brethren.

His rough exterior led many to believe him to be argumentative and contentious. His iron-cast dispensationalism and his frustrated arguments against the sovereignty of God in salvation were the bases of many "discussions" lasting for hours at a time. Yet, I knew two things about this man: first, I knew Jim Murdock loved his Lord and Saviour; and second, I knew he loved the brethren, for I knew he loved me.

We are left with a noticeable sorrow at his departure for we are left behind to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.

We weep with them that weep, but "Blessed are ye that weep now," Jesus said, "for ye shall laugh." We wait with great anticipation for the great and glorious morning when together we will hear the King say, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

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This is a 20-page booklet that summarizes each chapter of the Bible in 3 or 4 words. It is a reprint of a work that first appeared in 1859.

Write us this month and it will be sent to you at no cost.

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A STUDY IN CHRONOLOGY

"And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord. ---(I Kings 6:1)

1. Solomon reigned --970-930 B.C.

2. Temple began --966 B.C. (4th year in the reign of Solomon, and 480th year of Exodus)

3. Exodus --1446 B.C. "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years. And it came to pass at the end of the 450 years even the selfsame day it came to pass that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:40,41)

4. Jacob to Egypt --1876 B.C. (Exodus 12:40,41)

5. Jacob born --2006 B.C. "And Jacob said unto Pharaoh ‘The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years...’" (Genesis 47:9)

6. Isaac born --2066 B.C. "...and Isaac was 60 years old when she bare them." (Genesis 25:26)

7. Abraham born --2166 B.C. "And Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born unto him." (Genesis 21:5)

8. Terah born --2296 B.C. "And Terah lived 70 years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. - (Genesis 11:26) (See also: Genesis 12:4,5/ 11:32)

9. Nahor born --2325 B.C. "And Nahor lived 29 years and begat Terah." (Genesis 11:24)

10. Serug born --2355 B.C. "And Serug lived 80 years and begat Nahor." (Genesis 11:22)

11. Reu born --2387 B.C. "And Reu lived 32 years and begat Serug." (Genesis 11:20)

12. Peleg born --2417 B.C. "And Peleg lived 50 years and begat Reu." (Genesis 11:18)

13. Eber born --2451 B.C. "And Eber lived 54 years and begat Peleg." (Genesis 11:16)

14. Salah born --2481 B.C. "And Salah lived 50 years and begat Eber. - (Genesis 11:14)

15. Arphaxad born --2516 B.C. "And Arphaxad lived 55 years and begat Salah." (Genesis 11:12)

16. Shem born --2616 B.C. "These are the generations of Shem: Shem was 100 years old and begat Arphaxad 2 years after the flood." (Genesis 11:10)

--The Flood --2518 B.C. ---(Genesis 11:10) (Note: Hebrew chronology places the flood 1656 years after creation)

17. Noah born --3118 B.C. "And Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth." (Genesis 7:6) (See: Genesis 7:11; 5:32)

18. Lamech born --3300 B.C. "And Lamech lived 182 years and begat a son: and he called his name Noah." (Genesis 5:28,29)

19. Methuselah born --3487 B.C. "And Methuselah lived 187 years and begat Lamech." (Genesis 5:25)

22. Mahalaleel born --3779 B.C. "And Mahalaleel lived 65 years and begat Jared" (Genesis 5:15)

23. Cainan born --3849 B.C. "And Cainan lived 70 years and begat Mahalaleel." (Genesis 5:12)

24. Enos born --3939 B.C. "And Enos lived 90 years and begat Cainan." (Genesis 5:9)

25. Seth born--4044 B.C. "And Seth lived 105 years and begat Enos." (Genesis 5:6)

26. Adam created--4174 B.C. "And Adam lived 150 years and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." (Genesis 5:5)

A GIFT FOR THE MAN OF GOD

Text: "Then said Saul to his servant, ‘But, behold, if we go what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?" -(I Samuel 9:7)

Saul, with a servant, was in search for his father’s asses.

They passed through Mount Ephraim, through Shalisha and Salim and the land of the Benjamites and did not find them. They came to the land of Zuph before Saul decided to give up the search and to return home.

Suddenly, the servant recalls that in the city was a man of God --that he was an honorable man who spoke the truth. "All that he saith cometh surely to pass," says the servant to Saul, and persuades his master’s son to visit the prophet and to ask his advice whether they should continue their search for the asses or return home.

INGRATITUDE AND BAD MANNERS

Saul hesitates, "But behold," he says, "if we go, what shall we bring the man?" It would be callous ingratitude to appear empty-handed before the servant of the Lord. How ill mannered it would be to ask the help of the prophet and to leave behind only their remembrance!

THE MATTER OF RESPECT

It is only just that he who sows spiritual things should reap carnal things from them who benefit. Even the wicked king Jeroboam when sending his wife to inquire of the Ahijah recognized his duty and sent her with a present. (II Kings 14:5)

Neither Samuel nor Ahijah would have refused their help if no gift was brought, but it was a matter of respect for the office of prophet held by the man of God. How niggardly would it be to do otherwise!

THE VALUE OF THE OFFICE

Saul and his servant brought a gift as a token of the value they placed upon his office. How things are altered in this day of covetousness, ingratitude, and ill mannerisms! How many servants of God suffer at the hands of the materially minded children of this age! It used to be asked, "What shall I bring as a present for the man of God? The children of this generation consider it no sin to keep from God’s servants all they can. They have no conscience at offering him fried rabbit tracks or leaving him to sleep on a clothesline.

"Money"

Notice what the gift was that Saul and his servant brought: it was "money" --the fourth part of a shekel. Like everyone else, the man of God required "money" to live.

Notice also, who it was that offered the quarter shekel: it was not Saul, the master’s son, but the master’s servant who brought it. Most people are like Saul --they appreciate truth of God so long as someone else supplies the expense of it.

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THOUGHT: "If our heart belongs to the Lord, why do we use it as if it were our own"