Four o’clock Sunday morning, September 15, I was awakened by my dormitory supervisor at Bob Jones University to answer an urgent call by my mother. She carefully explained to me that my father -- the author of this paper -- had just gone into the hospital to undergo emergency heart surgery. He had a fifteen-percent chance of living through the operation.

After about a seven-hour complex operation -- during which the flow of blood was shut off to his brain for forty-five minutes -- the doctors said they were successful; however, they had no way of knowing if during that time he could have had a stroke or permanent brain damage. That whole day we prayed the Lord would give my dad his mind -- for that is his life and ministry. We would rather that he lose just about anything than his mind. Later that day, he awoke early, and I asked him, "Daddy, can you think?" He nodded "Yes." You can imagine how happy we were and grateful to the Lord. From that day to the time of this writing, he has had at least four operations and remains in Surgical Intensive Care.

He has put his heart into this ministry -- literally. If this ministry has been a blessing to you, please pray for him.

It is times like these that try peoples’ faith and reveal them to be what they really are.

DO we really believe what we have professed, or are we so intellectually minded we are no practically good? I thank God we were reared on the doctrines of grace and the sovereignty of God, for free-will Arminianism wouldn’t do my dad any good right now.

We are confident God is doing according to his own precious freewill (Dan. 4:35), and He is good. This is no mistake, calamity, or disaster but is for the purpose and glory of God. Let all the Charismatics stand up and "praise the Lord" now. "We are not as "other which have no hope." (I Thess. 4:13)

Should, the Lord take him home, that is good -- for him and for us (Rom. 8:28). Should the Lord leave him with us, then his work is not yet finished--we naturally hope for the latter. This ministry is not dependent upon Rev. Timothy Fellows for existence. He was smart – he didn’t practice celibacy. Nor did he give us the whole spectrum of beliefs and theories for us to choose what we wanted to accept. He did all he could to persuade us to embrace the gospel of Truth. How can we not go in the way we have been trained? (Prov. 22:6). This ministry will continue by the grace of God.

Many of our readers may remember the Vol. XVIII No. 8 issue of "The Angelus" which re-printed an editorial by the author entitled, "Say ‘No!’ To Socialism—Refuse Government Money." It expounded upon the evils on society produced by socialism:

That "it is inherent evil that is perpetuated by covetousness"; that "it has no wealth of its own...[and is] "therefore self-destructive because it feeds upon itself"; that it "reduces everyone to equality, [so] no one can excel"; that "protection of the medical industry has caused health care costs to rise oppressively’; and that "people who will not assume the responsibility to pay their own way, but who are rather willing government seize it from their neighbors --such people choose the way of oppression and death."

After telling a Christian friend of my father’s condition – four operations and four weeks in Surgical Intensive Care -- he responded, "I hope he has some good insurance!" His immediate response was not a promise from God’s word of His providential care over his people, nor was it a comforting passage of scripture. His appeal was to man. That is one of the main reasons we have stood against the insurance industry, because it is a system of trust based upon man and has constantly proven bankrupt.

My father could never be persuaded he was being a good steward of what God had given to him, by sending so much of it to a system of man to protect him from "acts of God."

Probably one-third of the ministry he has produced would not have been, had he paid his "dues" to the insurance companies. We have driven old cars (insured because of state regulations), worn used clothes, and lived in rental houses our whole lives in order to finance the spread of the Gospel -- and this paper is part of it. We do not want the evils of socialism to rob us of our heavenly rewards. Don’t think for a moment that we are going to drop our convictions for convenience, that we are going to accept government aid at taxpayers’ expense because of our present, God-ordained circumstances.

Are we Fools? The world affirms we are, but believers know differently. Jim Eliot attested, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." God has sustained us through other difficulties, and we can say with David, "[We] have been young, and now [are] old; yet have [we] not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." (Psalm 37:25)

Yes, our faith is being tried, and you are our witnesses. May the Lord find us faithful.

If we have been foolish and disgraced God’s good name, He will make that clear. However, if after the last chapter has been written, we can testify that "[our] God [has supplied] all [our] need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Col. 4:19), don’t call us the fools.

1. God has revealed His wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness; yet, people continue in their ungodly ways (Romans 1:18).

2. People suppress the knowledge of God they already have; neither do they avail themselves of Bible preaching that would reprove them for their evil deeds (18).

3. Since the beginning of Creation, God has clearly revealed His nature to men, so that they understand His eternal power and Godhead. They are thus left without excuse (vs. 19,20).

4. Although people know the nature of God, they do not glorify Him as God; neither are they thankful they have such knowledge (vs. 21).

5. People make out that God is such a one as themselves, and deliberately pervert their knowledge of Him. While they profess themselves to be wise, they have in reality become fools (vs. 22, 23).

6. Men have misrepresented God by depicting Him as a bird, a fish, an animal, and even as an insect. This is the result of a mind that has abandoned understanding, and has become vain (vs. 21, 23).

7. On account of such idolatry, God delivers up people to commit whoredom. All who dishonor their bodies in such ways, God will judge (vs. 24; Heb. 13:4).

8. Instead of worshipping the Creator, people have turned aside to worship the creature, and have become Hedonists addicting themselves to pleasure (vs. 25).

9. When people become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, God gives them up to "vile affections," i.e. homosexuality, or what the Bible calls "sodomy." Women who live under this judgment practice lesbianism, while men "burn in their lust one toward another" (vs. 26, 27).

10. When people do not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gives them over to a "reprobate mind," a mind that cannot understand, and therefore, cannot make proper judgments. They become filled like a cup is filled --- filled with unrighteousness: fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity. They become whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful (vs. 28-31).

11. People know that all who commit such things are worthy to die; yet, they continue to do the same things (vs. 32).

12. Such people are not content to practice wickedness themselves, but they take pleasure in others who practice wickedness (vs. 32).

13. When people judge others who sin as they do, they condemn themselves (Romans 2:1-3).

14. Such people despise the wonderful goodness God has shown them. They despise the mercy God has given them moment by moment. They walk upon His earth; they breathe His air; His gift of life flows through their veins; yet, they curse Him, and take His name in vain (vs. 4).

15. People reveal their hostility toward God, when after He has been good to them, and has suffered long with them, they spitefully shun Him, and want little or nothing to do with Him (vs. 4).

Reader, has God given you a broken and a contrite heart? We are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). A Message in Time

Text: "Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled" (Deut. 22:9).

Since the beginning of his depravity, man has attempted to improve upon the work of God. When he violates the law of God, he sins, and the natural result is death; but, instead of repenting, and obediently returning to the law, man attempts to cure the resulting plague. In this way, he hopes to be able to sin with impunity.

One way depravity manifests itself is by the naughtiness of pride which makes men think they can improve upon God’s created order. For instance, God instructed Israel to allow the land to lie fallow every seventh year, during which time the people were not allowed to harvest even that which came up of itself. But, man has planted year after year, until he has literally worn out the soil. To compensate for his rape of the land, man has substituted chemical imitations of natural fertilization, and has spread these compounds on his land year after year. Add to this, chemical pesticides, chemical fungicides, chemical colorings, chemical flavorings, and chemical preservatives. Might there not be a real connection between cancer and all these inorganic chemicals with which people are being fed?

For many years, man has been experimenting with seeds until today it is difficult to purchase natural, i.e. non-hybrid (reproducing), fruits and vegetables. Is it not a wee bit arrogant for man to presume to improve upon the work of the Creator?

God created the "herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, after his kind, whose seed is in itself" (Genesis 1:11). God, all-wise, saw it was good that plants be able to reproduce. Men by their tampering with God’s handiwork have produced hybrid fish, fruits and vegetables that cannot reproduce. The tragedy is, that while they profess themselves to be wise, they have, in fact, become fools, because they have perverted the excellent order established by God.

The seriousness of manufacturing hybrids is enormous, for it leaves people dependent upon the availability of seeds for each year. The book of Revelation warns of a famine coming that will be international in scope. Because we continue to produce food that is hybrid and not able to reproduce (fish, fruits, and vegetables), it is only logical that hybridization will play a major role in the coming food shortage. God did not give man hybrids to eat.

It is not without reason God commanded, "Thou shalt not sew thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed, which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled." For this reason, we should refuse to plant hybrids. A Warning in Time

The renowned Methodist evangelist, Sam Jones, dies aboard a train bound for Little Rock. He will be buried in Cartersville, Georgia. He has just completed evangelistic meetings in Oklahoma City. He has suffered a stroke. He will be remembered for his homespun philosophy of life and his pugilistic fight against the liquor traffic.

In a series of meetings he conducted in Augusta, Georgia, a devoted Christian wife daily urged her husband to attend the meetings with her. When he repeatedly refused, she dropped the matter. But one night he amazed her when he voluntarily announced his intentions to attend the service that evening. The poor woman looked in vain for any comment from his lips as to his feelings about the sermon.

The next morning, however, he rose as usual and went to his job: he was the owner of a saloon. As he walked west on Broad Street, he stopped to hire some men who were standing idle. The crew entered a hardware store where some axes were purchased before they continued to the site of the tavern.