In 20 years of publishing, we have never before pied with -readers to deliberate upon an article.

Text: "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with Idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, ors railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (I Cor. 5:9-13).

On Sunday, October 3rd, we had to do a very grave work: It was necessary for us to excommunicate a 76-year-old woman for fornication, for lying, and for filthy talking. We had worked with her for the past few years in an attempt to help her. I wrote her checks each month, and carried her to the grocery store; but there was nothing else we could do. We are praying that she will repent with godly sorrow to the place that she will forsake her sins, but at present, she is without remorse.

How terrible it would have been for us to turn our heads and to ignore her sins! How dreadful a thing if we had allowed her to die in fellowship with our congregation when she was not in fellowship with God! The Church has lost her sense of purpose and duty.

What is a "church"? The fact that a group of people assembles in a building commonly called "a church" does not necessary constitute a church. The church is comprised of believers, and not bricks and mortar. Throughout history, churches have met in fields, in forests, in "dens and caves of the earth;" and for the first 300 years of church history, churches met in homes. Therefore, a church building is not essential to the definition of a church.

Neither is it necessary that a group of believers has a minister or deacons. If, as Scripture says, Paul and Barnabas "ordained them elders in every church" (Acts 14:23a, see: Tit. 1:5), then the churches were churches before they had elders. It is for this reason that a congregation does not cease to be a church when it loses its pastor.

Neither is a congregation required to number 10 families before it is constituted a church. While this is a requirement to establish a Jewish synagogue, Jesus said, "Where two or thee are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).

What is it, then, that constitutes a local church? Three things: first, the faithful preaching of the Word of God (Jn. 8:31,32; I Jn.

4:1-3; II Jn. 9); second, the administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper with the Word of God; and third, the faithful examples of discipline (text).

When a church departs from the faithful preaching of God’s Word, and proclaims fundamental error as truth, such as that Jesus was the illegitimate son of a German soldier, or that Jonah was taken into a ship named "The Whale," or that Adam and Eve are myths and not historical people, the congregation ceases to be a church by any Scriptural definition.

When a church turns her head, and allows thieves, drunkards, liars and fornicators to remain in fellowship with the church, the congregation ceases to be a church by any Scriptural definition. Yet, how often do such congregations imagine themselves to be not only local churches but spirit-filled churches at that.

Most churches are "ichabod" - "The glory is departed," and all because they will not stand for anything, but will tolerate everything. Reader, if the church where you attend allows unrepenting sinners to hold leadership positions, or even to remain as communicant church members, you ought to leave; for by definition, the church is composed of people who are "called out" of the world, so that the church can be "the pillar and ground of truth."

God has ordained two Institutions: the home and the church. According to the Bible, the church was established 1.) "For the perfecting of the saints;" 2.) "For the work of the ministry;" 3.)"For the edifying of the body of Christ: ...that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive..." (Eph. 4:12,14).

Therefore, the people of God are not to live "as other Gentiles...in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness" (vs. 17-20). This is not what Christ has taught.

The church is made up of people who are called out of this world to be a distinct people: "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people" (I Pet. 2:9). For this reason, the people of God are to "put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of (their) mind."

They are to "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. They are to speak every man truth with his neighbor...." They are to guard their anger lest it become excessive, and lead to grievous sin. Therefore, they are warned against holding grudges, and thereby giving ground in their war against the Devil (Eph. 4:22-27).

God’s people are not to allow unrepenting sinners in their midst, or corrupt communication in their mouths. Bitterness, wrath, evil speaking, and malice are to be banished from their midst. They are rather to be industrious and benevolent, and their speech is to be beneficial. They are to be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven them (28-32).

God has given authority to the church to "bind" erring and unrepenting members of the church (I Cor. 5:1-13; Matt. 18:18-

20). The act of "binding," or "excommunication," is recognized in heaven, and effectually shuts heaven to the prayers of the excommunicated, as it binds them from receiving the blessings of heaven. And, the excommunicated individual will remain bound until the church that has bound him looses him. The excommunicated person may join another congregation, but he cannot be right with God until he gets right with the church that excommunicated him. He is bound until he is loosed.

Christians have the duty in future communications with the excommunicated individual to show by their conduct that they consider him or her to belong not to the church, but to the world. They must not be haughty, lest they fall into similar sin, but they must be careful not to give the excommunicated person the notion that they approve of their actions.

If church members treat the excommunicated person with the same cordiality as before the action by the church, the guilty person will likely continue unashamed in his or her sin, and the action by the church will be rendered useless.

Church members should be warned about listening to the arguments of the excommunicated. "Evil communications corrupt good manner" (I Cor. 15:33). For this reason, the Holy Ghost counsels to "avoid them" (Rom. 16 17). To continue the same outward friendliness is to countenance their sin.

If, and when, the person bound is willing to listen to reproof, he should be encouraged to repent and to forsake his sins. Only then may he or she be made open to the forgiveness of sins by the grace of God. The desire to do good should not be allowed to blind us to the corrupting influences of an unrepenting spirit.

It is the duty of every Christian congregation to exercise Biblical discipline as outlined in Matthew 18:15-17. It does not matter whether the congregation acknowledges itself to be Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, or to belong to another denomination. This is the duty of all the churches of Christ.

The Philadelphia Baptist Catechism rightly declares, "(Churches) are given the power to police their membership by putting out those who do not walk according to the Word of God."

"Christian discipline," says the Heidelberg Catechism, "is the exercise of the authority, and the application of that system of laws which the Lord Jesus Christ has established in his church, with a view of preserving its purity and honor, either through amendment, or exclusion of unworthy members and ministers."

Biblical church discipline calls for the "putting away’ of the wicked from among the church. "Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person," says the Apostle (I Cor. 5:13). Therefore, when a church turns her head, and, otherwise ignores the sinful life of a member, it ceases to be a church by any Scriptural definition.

There are two reasons God has commanded the church to bind, or excommunicate, erring members. The Apostle Paul, writing not by private interpretation (II Pet. 1:20), but as he was "moved by the Holy Ghost" (vs. 21), said, "if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed" (II Thes. 3:14). The excommunication of an erring member is not an end in itself, so that the congregation of the Lord will never again have anything to do with him, but is rather a means to an end: it is designed so that the errant may be ashamed. Second, church discipline is commanded so that others witnessing the binding of an unworthy member may learn to fear.

This brings us to the two greatest faults of which the modern church is guilty.

There is almost no church today that is willing to obey the Lord in the faithful exercise of church discipline. Churches that believe growth is always evidence of God’s blessing, or, that are in love with the status quo will refuse to obey the Lord in the exercise of church discipline. This is a primary reason "the glory is departed" from the churches in our generation.

Churches that allow evildoers to serve in positions of leadership and to remain in good standing WILL GROW without a doubt, but they will not have God’s blessing. And, the glory will not return until the church repents of her sins to the place that she is again willing to be obedient to God.

The second formidable fault of the church is the unwillingness of one congregation to recognize Scriptural discipline exercised by another congregation. Excommunicated church members can easily become members of another church. What abominable filth! How undeniably corrupt! It is little wonder that judgment must begin at the house of God.

In his book, The Church in History, B.K. Kuiper states, "The

father of Abraham Lincoln helped to build such a church in 1819 on Pigeon Creek In Indiana. It was the custom to hold monthly business meetings. These meetings were generally devoted to matters of discipline for drinking, fighting, stealing, immorality, gambling, and even intimate family relations.... It is clear that the Baptist church was a powerful factor in maintaining order and decency in the raw western communities" (pp. 354-355).

What happens to cities and to nations when the church ceases to be "the pillar and ground of truth" (I Tim. 3:15)? Jesus said, "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men" (Matt. 5:13).

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"GOD HATH SPOKEN" -This new edition is revised and enlarged. Send for your free copy.

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On Tuesday, October 12th, as class members left the Tabernacle Baptist Church just after 10:00 at night, a gunshot rang out. Within moments, police cruisers were buzzing the area in search of a man who had shot another just one block away. We paused on the street to pray for the safety of the police officers. The man died.

In May, shots were fired about 50 yards from us when we were in the parking lot preparing to leave. Brethren, pray for us.

by G. Grady Daniel, Jr.

What about updating the language of the AUTHORIZED (KING JAMES) Bible? If the Elizabethan English of the KJV out-of-date we could have a grand old time with Shakespeare. Translators or linguists would run into a great deal of furor should this be attempted. If it is so important to preserve Shakespeare’s great literary works, wouldn’t it be beyond comprehension to alter the language of the AKJ Bible? Surely the AKJ Bible is a greater work than any work of Shakespeare. The literary world wouldn’t allow such tampering with Shakespeare.

Among other things the AKJ translators were competent masters of the English language, not to mention Greek and Hebrew. Their knowledge of words is unsurpassed today. It is well known today that Johnny can’t read well and the average person is not interested in learning unfamiliar words. We should help one to be lazy in studying God’s Word? What better way to increase one’s vocabulary than studying the AKJ version.

Besides if the archaic language of the AKJ was REALLY a problem publishers of the AKJ could do like the THOMPSON CHAIN REFERENCE BIBLE PUBLISHERS. They list a glossary of some 265 "archaic" words with present day meanings at the end of the book. -Next Month: PROBLEM #5. Can God’s Word be legally copyrighted?

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Editor’s Note: The multiplicity of Bible translations has nearly halted the emphasis on Scripture memorization.