The New Testament Ministry According to Workers

Religion which is begun in hypocrisy, will certainly end in apostasy.
~ ~William Spurstowe

There are basically only two kinds of religion in the world: those based on human achievement and those based on divine accomplishment.  One says you can earn your way to heaven; the other says you must trust in Jesus Christ alone.

~ ~John MacArthur

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NOTE:

Questionnaire re: "The New Testament Ministry"

 

Bakersfield Convention - October 20, 1934
Jack Carroll's Sermon:
 
[Jack Carroll became the overseer of the western part of the United States and Canada early in the 1900's. Jack had arrived from Ireland in 1904 along with his sister, Mae, and a few of the other early workers. They were met in New York by William Irvine their founder and leader. George Walker, who became head over eastern USA and Canada, was there with William Irvine to meet Jack and the others. Jack Carroll was one of the workers to oust William Irvine in 1914. The big history cover-up began soon after.]

This sermon showcases an unparalleled devotion and adoration of the self-appointed “workers.” This speaker is twisting and turning the scriptures upside down while trying to appear orthodox. It drips with elitism and exclusivity........and it is very sad that people choose to believe this heresy of another Jesus and a very different gospel. Eternity is extremely serious and God taught us that we must study and educate ourselves with knowledge of “HIS WORD ONLY," so we can discern when false prophets are feeding us deception and not be lulled into false security. Because the “workers” have been backed into a corner, it took this speaker 10 pages to spin his web of deceit, pretending they are frank and open, while glorifying, as well as, deifying the workers.You have to go to great lengths to make a counterfeit look credible!

Deuteronomy 13:4 makes it clear......”It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.”

1 Thessalonians 5:21 "Test everything. Hold on to the good."

1 John 4:1"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

1 Corinthians 14:29"Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said."

(See copy of original in Gallery)

Jack Carroll, Hayden Lake, ID 1950 "We are neither Catholic or Protestant. The Catholics broke away from the Truth when men were lifted up against the simplicity of Christ's example ministry. Then the Protestants broke away from the Catholics. We are the original New Testament church."

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Many of you have asked some questions during the past year about your preachers. A number have found it hard to give satisfactory answers to these questions. Some have conveyed the impression that there are things about the ministry that they are not prepared to tell others, and they have possibly left the strong impression in the minds of their friends that this is some kind of a secret or semi-secret fellowship that they have been brought into.

I would like to once and for all dispel any such impressions,so that you will feel absolutely free to answer any questions your friends may ask about God's people or about His servants. We hold nothing in secret that we are not prepared to teach from the platform, and are quite indifferent as to whether or not what we say is intended for those who are not yet numbered amongst us, for everything that we hold and everything that we teach is to be found within the pages of God's own word, which are open to all men.

I want to talk to you frankly and freely. I want to make you feel we are anxious to take you into our fullest confidence and tell you all that is in our hearts, for as I grow older, I recognize more clearly and fully that our fellowship with and confidence in each other depends to a large extent upon us being absolutely frank and open, so there is no room for misunderstanding.

I purpose to answer four questions that have been asked at different times during the past year. They may not have occurred to you, and they may have. I am anticipating to this possibility and will endeavor to answer these four questions this afternoon. They are, perhaps, more practical than spiritual, but it is important that we become clear in minds with regard to each.

• (1.)   What is the fundamental difference between the New Testament ministry and all kinds of other ministry?

• (2.)   Why do New Testament ministers travel so much?

• (3.)   Why is it necessary for these New Testament ministers who have gone to foreign countries to return again on furloughs to their home and country?

• (4.)   Where does the money come from that enables the workers to live, to travel to foreign countries and to return on furloughs?

You can see that all these questions are practical, but I will try to answer them all just as simply and clearly as I can.

First – What is the fundamental difference between the New Testament ministry and all other kinds of ministry that we are familiar with?

During the past year, some have received questionnaires dealing with the New Testament ministry; a number sent in answers. Many of these answers indicated that there were a good many things in connection with the ministry that they were not exactly clear about. When you are questioned by your friends, you are embarrassed, and instead of clearing their minds and satisfying them, your answers tend rather toward irritating them and causing them to feel as if they don't want anything to do with your ministers or with the fellowship into which you have been brought. The impression given to a very large extent was, that there are certain things that we do not want to tell people; that there are certain little secrets connected with the ministry that we wanted to keep to ourselves. There is nothing so irritating to the average man or woman as to feel that they are deliberately left out of a matter, and if they feel that there is something connected with your religion that you are afraid to talk about, they don't want to have anything to do with it at all. What I wish to say is intended to encourage you to be absolutely open and frank in speaking to your friends, and answer their question in the very same way. I want to encourage you to be more helpful and scriptural than in the past.

The physical needs of the true ministry and the false are the same. True ministers need food, clothing, shelter, and money. When the question is asked, “What is the difference between your preachers and ours?” The reply usually is, “Well, the needs are the same, we admit, but the difference lies in the way those needs are met. Your preachers take collections, ours don't.” While these differences are true and help to distinguish between the false and the true ministry, yet none of them nor all of them together give us the actual fundamental difference between the false and the true ministry.

When some of you are asked the question by your friends, “How do your preachers live; the answer is, “our preachers live by faith.” While this answer is true, it needs a lot of explaining for some people. Or some of you say, “The Lord takes care of our preachers.” Both answers are correct in one sense, but they do not give any light to those who question you. You leave them just as much in the dark as they were before. Some have answered this question, “I don't know.” I heard one of our brothers having a discussion with the preacher with whom he had previously been in fellowship with.

He was telling him the wrongness of taking up collections and having a salary and a home of his own.

The preacher then turned to this brother and said, “How do your preachers live?'

The brother answers, "I really don't know.” this wasn't exactly true; he did know but he didn't exactly know how to answer this question.

I was discussing this subject last year with quite a number of people and asking some questions dealing with the New Testament Ministry, such as How do the N.T. Preachers live? A brother sitting in the front row said, “I have been in the way seven years and haven't found out yet.”

I was back East a few weeks ago, and was told there of a man who apprehended one of the Workers and asked him the question, “How do the Workers get their clothes and money to travel with?” That man had been professing 15 years.

I have been glad to hear of people asking these questions because it proves that the Workers everywhere are very slow to discuss this subject. They would rather leave people in the dark than to convey the impression that they are selfish in their motives or in their ministry, or that by discussing these things, they wanted anything for themselves.

The Old Testament is very clear with regard to how the O.T. Priests and Levites were cared for, and the N. T. is equally clear with how God's servants are taken care of today. I want to emphasize in answering this question, that to me it is the actual and fundamental difference between the N.T. Ministry and every other ministry. Jesus taught, “The Labourer is worthy of his hire.” That is often quoted to us. Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:14 said, “The Lord has ordained that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel.” And the reason we live by the gospel and are justified in doing so, is because we have fulfilled the conditions that Jesus laid down in the gospel.

No man is justified in “living by the gospel” apart from fulfilling these conditions.

When your friends ask you the question, “How do your preachers live?” the proper reply is, “Our preachers live by the gospel.”

But they will say, “Our preachers do too.” And then, very gently and with grace you should go to explain to them the reason why our preachers live by the gospel. “And we live to make it possible for them to do so, because they have fulfilled the conditions that Jesus laid down in the gospel for the N.T. Ministry and it is a pleasure to minister to them food, clothing, shelter, and as a means of exchange, money, in His name.”

When you answer questions with regard to the N.T. Ministry, do it simply, frankly and without unnecessarily reflecting upon those whom your friends support. In nine cases out of ten, instead of irritating them, you have enlightened them and awakened in them a desire to hear a little of this for themselves. Jesus labored as a carpenter and lived by the work of His hands for 12 years, but for three and a half years, He lived by the Gospel, and got His bread as a preacher of the gospel just as honorably as He did when He was a carpenter. Jesus did not live on charity. Those who live on charity give nothing in return. Jesus always gave more than He received, and in this, He left an example that we should follow in His steps.

We do not live on charity. If any of God's professing people came to us and offered us food and clothing, or shelter as an act of charity, we would refuse it for we are not living on charity. But if they came to us in His name, and as an expression of their love and interest in the furtherance of the gospel, recognizing we have fulfilled the conditions that justify us in living by the gospel, it is our duty to accept knowing that as a cup of cold water given to one of the least of God's servants, will in no wise lose its reward, in that day. Only those who have fulfilled the conditions laid down by Jesus for the N.T. Ministry are justified in living by the gospel. This is the fundamental difference between the ministers that God sent to bring you into the family and Kingdom of God, and all other kinds of minister that we know in the world.

What then are the conditions laid down by Jesus in the N.T. Which He expects those to fulfill who want a part in this N.T. Ministry? I would like to think that we are very clear on what it cost our brethren to go forth into God's great harvest field. There are no people on the earth who demand more sacrifice from those who minister to them than the people of God, and this is spiritual, and in line with God's plan.

An article appeared in an issue of the Good Housekeeping last year, written by a professor at Harvard University, entitled, “The Cruel Promise of Jesus.” It rather surprised me to find this man of the world recognized that a large portion of the teaching of Jesus was applicable only to the ministry. It is very difficult to face; because of this difficulty, it has been more or less explained away or watered down until it becomes absolutely meaningless.

We do not wish to hide to anyone what Jesus taught with regard to the initial step into the ministry. Not all are called to enter the ministry. Not all are called to become bond servants and handmaidens of the Lord, but none can have a part in the ministry without fulfilling the conditions that would justify them afterwards, and which alone could justify them in living by the gospel. Any man who claims to be “living by the gospel” without fulfilling the conditions laid down by Jesus in the gospel, is receiving money by false pretenses, and will one day come under the just condemnation of God.

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What are the conditions? I will present them in the form of a question.

• The first is: Are you prepared to sell all? Are you prepared to make yourself poor? Are you willing as the very first condition, to have fellowship with Jesus in His poverty? In his ministry?

In connection with the N.T. Ministry, there is a very real quality. No one of us makes a greater sacrifice than the other. We each make equally the same sacrifice. We each sacrifice all, and it would be a very dishonorable thing for any of us in after years to suggest that our sacrifice was greater than the sacrifice of the brother or sister laboring by our side: in this matter of fulfilling this very condition.

There is an absolute equality amongst us, so that we are placed on the same level. In order to illustrate this fact: A few years ago, there were three young men who had volunteered for the Work, who came to see us. All three of them were young, and I well remember the scene: The three boys sitting in a row and we questioning them in regard to their purpose. We asked them if they were willing to fulfill the conditions, to sell everything, making themselves poor, and to have fellowship with Jesus in His poverty.

Of course, the answer was, “Yes.”

The first boy said he didn't have much to sell. We asked what it was and he said, “An old model T. Ford: which was worth about $35.00. The next boy said he had about $150.00 in the bank. We told him it would have to be scattered and that it never could be gathered up again. The third boy said, “All I have is a hog.” He was the youngest of the three, and had put everything he earned into helping his mother at home.

Now, she felt she was able to get along without him, and she was delighted that her boy was going forth to preach the gospel. We told him to give the hog to his mother and go forth to preach the gospel. It didn't matter whether the first boy had a Pierce Arrow or a model T. Ford – whether the second boy had $150.000. or $150.00 in the bank, it all had to be scattered so that they would have nothing to go back to. The first condition laid down by Jesus had to be faced and fulfilled by all.

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• The second condition had to do with being homeless. Are you willing to be homeless for life?

That is a very serious proposition. Some of us have been preaching for a good many years and we still are homeless. On one occasion, a man came to Jesus and said, “I will follow Thee” He volunteered for the Work, and Jesus, looking at him said, “The foxes have their holes and the birds have their nests, but the Son of Man hath no where to lay His head,” - which was the second condition. We never read of that young man going out in the Work. To be homeless for Jesus sake is a very real thing. It is just as well for those who are thinking of filling a place in the ministry, to remember this. For six months after leaving home, you may suffer from a very common disease – homesickness. There are those who have been homesick during the past year. But Jesus insisted that those who were to have a part in the ministry must be prepared to be homeless, as He was, and to be able to say as a minister of the gospel, “The foxes have their holes and the birds of the air their nests, but I have no where to lay my head.”

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• The third condition is: Are you willing to put the preaching of the gospel before the claims of your own flesh and blood, living or dead?

Sometimes, when I think of this, it seems to me to be the most stern of all the conditions put before the candidates for the ministry. When one man said to Jesus, “Suffer me first to go and bury my father,” Jesus said, “let the dead bury their dead.” What he meant to say is that no man is fit to preach the gospel if the claims of his own flesh and blood, living or dead, were more important to him than bringing the message of Christ to those who are dead in trespasses and sins. Another man said, “Lord, I'll go, but first let me go and say goodbye to my friends.” Jesus turned to him and said, “No man having put his hand to the plow, and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Instead of Jesus bribing him to enter the ministry, it would almost seem that He were trying to prevent him. Instead of promising them a nice living and good prospects, lots of time for reading and social fellowship with others, or encouraging them to believe that in the ministry, they would climb up in the social scale, He made it hard. Instead of making it a pleasant thing, He made it just the opposite, for He wanted to test the depth and sincerity of the purpose of those who expressed a wish to have a part in the ministry.

Do you appreciate that?

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• The fourth question is: Are you willing to go forth without having any individual or group of individuals pledged to take care of you? And preach the gospel without money and without price? Wherever you have the opportunity?

If we know of any of us ever lifting a collection or asking money, we would immediately see to it that that one would be excluded from our fellowship as a preacher of the gospel. We are glad to know that throughout the whole world, God's servants have been able to go forth in His name and are preaching the gospel in many different lands, making the gospel as it was in the N.T. Days - without money and without price. The men and women who are preaching the gospel would scorn the very thought, would rather die in their tracks than to leave it open for anyone to suggest that they were selfish, or mercenary in their motives in the ministry.

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• The fifth question we will ask in connection with that verse dealing with the corn of wheat.

Are you willing to be as the corn of wheat which falls into the ground and dies?

Are you willing to let death work so that life may be wrought in others?

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• The sixth question is: How far are you willing to go in the preaching of the gospel?

It would be nice if we could remain in our home state forever, where the sun is always shining. But when Jesus called men to the harvest field, He would not accept any who would set a limit on their ministry. Whenever we become rooted or settled in a field, sooner or later, death begins to work. There was no such thing as a settled or fixed ministry in the N.T. Days. None of us are ever in one state for life. There must be a willingness to obey the commission Jesus gave to His disciples, “Go ye into all the world, teaching all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”

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There is another question we sometimes ask those who are desirous of going forth: Are you willing to go with any of your brethren?”

Those who have the responsibility of arranging this matter, look upon it very seriously and do not lightly undertake the arranging year after year of those who are to labor together. When the Lord sent out the first twelve, He did not do it lightly, and when He sent out the seventy, He did not do it lightly. When others went out in His name, this was not looked upon as a light matter. And we would like to say that it is with caution of those who have the responsibility to seek for the wisdom of God and His guidance so that during the year, the labours of God's servants may turn out into the furtherance of the gospel.

Only those who have fulfilled the conditions which I have enumerated, are justified in living by the gospel. But those who fulfilled these conditions and are preaching the gospel earn their bread just as honorably as when they worked with their hands at their different trades, for no servant lives on charity. They are worthy of their hire, and it comes to them in God's appointed way. We are not ashamed of the fact that Jesus lived by the gospel. We are not ashamed to teach others to live by the gospel, and we are not ashamed to proclaim to the whole world that we live by the gospel, and the reason we are justified in living by the gospel is that we have fulfilled the conditions laid down in the gospel.

Some of us were having a little discussion some time ago and the question was raised by one of the Workers, “How much should we tell in gospel meetings about how we live as ministers of the gospel?” Someone answered, “We should not tell anything.” I took the opposite stand and said, “We should tell everything.” If any man asks me any question in regard to the ministry, and desires an answer, I am prepared to give him that answer, and prove from the scriptures that my answer is according to the teaching and example of Jesus.

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• The second question I would like to answer is this: Why do N.T. ministers travel so much?

They seem to always be going somewhere. When Jesus was preaching in a certain city in Galilee, the people of that city wanted Him to settle down and remain in their midst, but He said, “I must preach the Kingdom of God in other cities also, for therefore am I sent.” The reason the Workers travel so much is that they would not be N.T. Ministers if they did not, for Jesus did not say, “Stay and preach” but “go and preach.” His commission was, “Go ye into all the world and teach all nations.” The N.T. Ministry is essentially a traveling ministry. There are those of the church who assume a little responsibility, whom we speak of as elders - men who live in their homes are settled there. But the ministry I am speaking of is a moving ministry, and it could not be the N.T. Ministry apart from this.

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• The third question I would like to answer is this: “Why is it necessary for Workers who have gone abroad to foreign fields to return home again after a period of years?”

I heard of a man some time ago who, after a meeting, went to a friend and said, “I am very glad that you explained that to us this afternoon for I used to look upon it as an unnecessary expense for Workers to go abroad and spend several years there and then return home again. He was looking at it purely from the standpoint of dollars and cents. It is just as necessary for Workers to return to us as to go forth from us. No Worker now in the regions abroad were sent there by any Worker or group of Workers. There is no group of Workers that I know of that would assume that responsibility. Those who are in different fields, in China, Japan, all over India, are there because God moved upon their hearts and caused them to lift up their eyes to behold the fields white unto harvest. He awakened an interest in their hearts in people of other lands, and moved them that they express their desire to launch out a little farther into the deep. If we had any part in their going, it was in dealing with their qualifications.

Many have volunteered to go whose health would not justify them in going. Many have expressed a wish to go, whom we would never think of encouraging to go, and those who have gone, are there by their own choice. They have the glad assurance in their hearts that God sent them, and when the devil discourages them, they can fall back on this thought. “I am not here because any individual sent me, but because God moved upon my heart, and by my own choice, I am seeking to carry out His work in this land.” We would not like any servant of God to lay his hands upon any brother and presume to say, “You go here or you go there.” It would indicate we were out of God's plan if we presume to do so.

Why is it as necessary for Workers to come back to us as it was for them to go from us?

• First, for the sake of their health. That in itself ought to be sufficient. Some live under conditions that are not conductive to health and longevity and it would be cruel thing if they were willing to leave and we were satisfied to leave them there to live or die. So for the sake of their health, it is necessary for them to come back for a change.

• The second reason is that all of them were tried and tested before they left. They have friends in the gospel for whom they feel responsible; whom they would like to see and who would like to see them.

• The third reason and most important of all is, that it is necessary for the unity of God's people. This fellowship that is ours is more wonderful to me the older I get. We are a body of people absolutely unorganized and a puzzle and a mystery to the world. They are prepared to leave us alone and we are prepared to be left alone.

We are satisfied to be as the mustard seed or tree, or shrub in a man's back yard to which no one would give much attention. God's method of uniting and holding His people together in one, is by the coming and going; their travel from one state to another, from country to country; from continent to continent; contributes to the fulfillment of the purpose of God in uniting His people into one family, one fold, one fellowship, one Kingdom, so we can say we are truly, “one in Christ.” Our brethren in South America have asked me to go down and visit them. I don't think it is going to be a pleasure trip by any means, and I don't intend to make it a pleasure trip. My purpose in going is to try to link our brethren in South America to our brethren in North America; to endeavor to add a little to the foundation that has been laid by others, and to build upon that foundation, not wood, hay and stubble; but gold, silver and precious stones.

Those who have read the book of the Acts will have noticed how little groups of God's servants were continually on the move, going from one country to another, from Europe to Asia; it seems to me that this was God's simple and wonderful way of uniting His people so regardless of their race, nationality, color or language, they would be one people and that in a measure at least, there would be answered the prayer of Jesus on that last night of His life, “That they might all be one in Him.”

When we welcome our brethren from Europe, Japan and other countries, their coming awakens in us a new interest in those countries. Those who have gone to other countries and return home to us, will bring Sweden, Norway, Denmark and other countries a little closer to us and make us feel that we are indeed one family, one fellowship, striving together for the extension of the same kingdom.

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• The fourth question I would like to answer is: Where does the money come from that enables the Workers to live, to travel to foreign countries and to return?

When you talk about Workers coming and going, your friends tell you that this all takes money and it does.

When they ask you where the money comes from? It just comes from you!

Money as the means of exchange is used to enable the Workers to live, to travel, to go to foreign countries and it comes from spontaneous, unsolicited, free-will offerings of God's children.

You don't minister in this way because you have to or are solicited to. If you don't love to do it, the Lord doesn't accept it, and we wouldn't if we know. When Workers go forth, they get rid of everything they possess. Money thus surrendered is scattered so that it can never be theirs again. It is gone for good and used to minister to our brethren abroad or to bring them back from the foreign field, to send others there. Occasionally, God's children who set their affairs in order and who the Lord takes home, leave to them a piece of property, or remember individual Workers with gifts of money, but the money is scattered in the furtherance of the gospel and that property is sold and the money it brings is scattered in the same way, so that no gift can ever enrich any individual Worker. When you are asked then, by your friends what is fundamental difference between our ministry and every other ministry; why do the Workers travel so much, where does the money come from, I hope you will feel free to be frank with them, so that you won't convey the impression that it is some kind of a secret society you are in.

We, as God's true ministers, have three things that come to us because we live by faith, that no paid preacher in the world can claim, who has a signed contract, or a fixed salary, or who asks for money, or takes a collection. First – because we live by faith, we have confidence in those that we have fellowship with. No matter what our needs may be, God can and does move someone, or someone's, at the right time to meet that need. This gives us confidence that you are in touch with God and that you are living by faith as you are moved by God.

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Second – because we live by faith, we have confidence in God; who has said that if we seek first the kingdom of God, and His Righteousness, that all things would be added unto us, and God is always true to His Word. Hence, we have confidence in God.

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Third – we have confidence in ourselves, because He meets our needs as we live by faith. We have been called, we had faith to go, God has set His seal to our labours, and blessed ministry, and our needs have been fully met. We have proved, we have confidence that we are His.

John Cook: Isaiah 41:14; “Fear not, thou worm Jacob.” How would you feel if someone called you a worm? In one sense, you could accept that as a compliment. A worm is one of the most insignificant things in the earth, but also one of the most useful. It lives in the earth, yet there is no earth clinging to it. We also live and work in the earth, whatever our occupation.

Are we like the worm?

Is there no earth clinging to us?

This is what God meant and intended for God's people to be.

Abraham walked through the land but he did not take any of the land with him. He was just as clean when he got through the land as when he entered it. That is a kind of a testimony the Lord desires of His people. If we have it, He is satisfied. If not, He is disappointed. There are other good things about the worm. It keeps itself out of sight. It goes into sour land and makes it sweet; it works until it has sweetened it. The sour land does not make the worm sour. We are constantly in contact with sour people, does our contact make us sour?

During my first year in the Work, in the North of England, a young couple came to our meetings. The young man professed, but his wife did not. She made it very hard for him. She would hide his clothes, and do any and everything she could to hinder him from getting to the meetings. He never got aggravated. He kept up the sweetness while she kept up the bitterness. Finally, she broke down and said; “I can't hold out any longer.” He had sweetened the sour land. We may say that some people are cranky and we cannot do a thing with them. The worm isn't like that. The worm gets into the land that is very poor, and he keeps working until he has enriched that land. It is our responsibility and privilege to sweeten the sour land around us.

You may contact some people and say that they are poor material. How do you know? Maybe all they need is for someone to be doing for them what the worm does. Someone to put into them, something that will enrich them. What is it that makes it possible for the worm to live in the earth, without th earth clinging t it? The worm has something in it that rejects the earth. It is what we have in us, also, that counts. If we have that something in us, we will be able to do something with the world that is around us, without that world effecting us. Sometimes, we look on people and we see the earth sticking to them. It worries us, because we know that there is something lacking within them.

Supposing you step on a worm by accident. Would it bite, or sting you? No, it would try to get out of your way as fast as possible. There are times when people might step on you. What effect does this have on you? Do you give them a stinging reply? If you do, you are not qualified to be a worm. If we aren't qualified, in this sense of the word, we are failing in the purpose God has intended for us. We are failing to fulfill the mission as planned for us.

Our Master, when He was reviled, reviled not again. To revile, is to speak in a cutting way to a person. He did not give a cutting reply. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, but He opened not His mouth.

Jacob did not always have the testimony of being a worm. His name suggests that he was a supplanter. He wanted to get the best of everything, and of everyone. There was a time when a definite change came into his life. Genesis 32:24-32 tells us of the time when Jacob wrestled this thing out, you may think that you have a hard nature. Perhaps so. If you had no other battle to fight, only with that which is withing you, you have enough.

Wherever we go, we have to battle against our own nature. Jacob gained a real victory here. “My soul cleaveth unto the dust.” Psalms 119:23. The word CLEAVE means to cling. To stick like glue. “Ye that did cleave unto the Lord are alive every one of you this day.” Deuteronomy 4:4 By nature, we all have a tendency to cleave unto the dust, and there is a tendency for the dust to stick to us. How nice when God can change this, as He did in Jacob's case, and that a person can from then on, cleave unto the Lord. Jacob's name was also changed at this time, to Israel, which means a prince of God. A person who belongs to a ruling class. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit is greater than that. This one thing necessary if we are to be counted in with the ruling class. You read of the time when Abraham returned from the slaughter of the kings. He ruled over the things that, otherwise, would have destroyed him.

If we don't face some things up, those things will face us up.

It is always nice to look on those who have returned from the “slaughter of the kings.” They faced the issue and gained the victory. Jacob's name was changed, but you read of something else being changed also.

His walk.

The angel touched the hollow of his thigh, and it was out of joint. The Children of Israel were not to eat of the sinew that shrank. Three is a tendency to feed on the things that would causer us to shrink from the touch of God upon our lives. We look back upon some times when we almost failed.

What were they? The times that we had foil on the things that caused us to shrink.

After Jacob's walk was changed, the world became a better place because of him being in it. He was then like the worm.

Perhaps it would be wise to ask ourselves the question, “Is the world a better place because we are in it?”

Is our little fellowship meeting better because we are in it?

This is what God is anxious to see. He wants us to enrich the world around us, instead of the world influencing us.

Young people have to watch the world. It is a constant enemy. It could easily influence a young life into doing something that would spoil their entire future. Old people have to watch the world also, It could easily influence them into doing something that would wreck their past.

That said, “I am an old man, but not so old that I could sill do something that would wreck my testimony.”

We all want to leave a good testimony. We would not want to be found hating ourselves at the setting of life's sun. We want to leave behind, a testimony that would be a good influence after we are gone.

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 - - -COMMENTS- - -

I had mixed reactions reading Jack's Sermon:

I had the opportunity of meeting Jack Carroll as a small child.  He was quite old by then, and I was very young, but I remember him at convention.

He was quite austere, dressed in severe three piece suits.  He wasn't a character that would be attractive to a child.  I remember his funeral very well.  I had never seen so many people in one place at a time!  There was lots of beautiful singing and music, and we all walked to the cemetery together.  I remember being shocked that they brought an electric organ
into the convention tent.  I was just a small child, but I assumed that organs were only found in "worldly" churches--I couldn't understand how it was allowed at a funeral but not at convention.  Even then, their "rules" didn't make sense to me.

As the years went on, we went on a "pilgrimage" every year from the convention grounds down to the graveyard--to honor a man we considered to be most influential in the beginnings of the "truth" in Washington state. (My friend just recently took me there again, hoping to stir up some old nostalgia or "something"--but it didn't work--all I could think of was all the history that was buried with these old individuals and how warped my thinking and opinion of them had been as a child.)

I had mixed reactions reading Jack Carroll's sermon.  The first entire page seemed nothing but just empty words--that man could go on and on without saying anything.  Then I noticed that he was throwing in verses here and there that had no relevance to the topic he was discussing.  I don't know how "foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests" has anything to do with a homeless ministry (nor Jesus' having "no place to lay his head"--or Jesus' suffering in general.)  I got a kick out of Jack saying that the rich man came to Jesus in this passage to "offer for the work"!  (Talk about twisting scripture to make it say what you want it to mean.)

Then he begins talking out of both sides of his mouth.  Regarding workers going to foreign countries he said, "Those who have gone to foreign lands have gone by their own choice"--but he contradicted this in the sentence just before this by declaring that those who go to foreign countries have to "meet the qualifications" (as judged by some unnamed senior workers), and that if these unnamed judges felt the candidate was weak for any reason (health was mentioned), then the person wasn't allowed to go.   So, obviously, they aren't there by their own choice or wishes, but only because they have been *allowed* to go by their "higher powers".

Finally, it breaks into down right lies.  Jack states that the workers have no money and nothing of their own (his own life contradicts this).  He boldly states they are "absolutely unorganized" which is a HUGE lie. They have a solid hierarchy, and are rigidly organized--even down to telling each individual which meeting to attend.  If you've ever been to a convention (and ours are large, often running nearly 1,000 people)--you know that they are highly organized.  Everyone is fed, everything runs
right on time like clockwork--and is highly organized and well scheduled.

(Outsiders have commented on this to me.)
4 Feb 00   Rosalie Armstrong

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He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:2-3)

Reading "Isaiah 53: 2-3" shows us that Jesus wasn't proud, glamorous or all about "HIMSELF".........not at all......"HE" was "servant minded".................Jesus is our "Good Samaritan".......Just as the Good Samaritan had compassion for the beaten and mutilated man lying by the road, we too were beaten and mutilated before we accepted Jesus Christ...........compassionately and lovingly, "He" bandaged our wounds, "HE" took pity on our broken and battered hearts, "HE" picked us up and carried us into "HIS" loving promise of eternal life........."HE" loved us, pitied our broken state, nurtured us into an indescribable peace........."HE" taught us to love, have compassion, generosity, kindness and mercy for the sick, the wounded, the lowly. Jesus taught us to roll up our sleeves and get to work helping others. The Good Samaritan did not look the other way, he didn't pretend that he did not see the beaten man off of the side of the road and he wasn't greedy with his time or money,..........he was "servant minded!"

The true, nitty-gritty, get down and dirty aspect of the "TRUE" Gospel of Jesus Christ isn't glamorous and it isn't easy. It's hard! We are commanded to love our neighbor, even "IF" he/she is unlovable. We are commanded to be "otherly" thinkers..........."NOT" prideful and boastful about ourselves! We are to put others before ourselves.

Please read Jack Carroll's "commands" carefully and compare them to the teachings of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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From Jack Carroll's Instructional Sheet of "Notes for Workers":

• "It is a dangerous thing to commit yourself too far to anybody. Safer to keep them a little in the dark, and tell them it little by little, line upon line and precept upon precept." His 'notes' don't seem to agree with what he said in his sermon at Bakersfield: "be absolutely frank and open in speaking to your friends and answering their questions." Read for yourself:

• "Don't preach too long. It is a dangerous thing to tell them it all the first time. Keep a little for the next night.

• Give them the impression you have a little more to say. The will is the target we aim at. Don't get to your point too soon.

• Keep your point if you have one until the last. I believe the real essence of preaching is to get people interested; get them to reason, get their confidence, then take a shot at the will.

• Don't argue with the people unnecessarily. You are safer to let them have their point. We can afford to wait.It is a mistake to argue with people needlessly. It only advertises what you don't want advertised.

• It is a dangerous thing to commit yourself too far to anybody. Safer to keep them a little in the dark, and tell them it little by little, line upon line and precept upon precept.

• Don't jest too much. We should always keep the serious side of our life to strangers. Don't let them know too much about your past life. Don't let the people become too familiar with you. Keep people at arms length.

• I believe a lot can be done through faithful visiting. You can talk stronger in the home than in a public meeting. To talk too freely to people before you start your meeting is a weakness.

• The best subjects to start with. I tell them what kind of men were in the Bible; what saints are; tell them about Jesus as a child, saint and servant. Tell them Jesus was a saint before He was a servant. Ask them who was the pattern for preachers, and they say Jesus. I sometimes talk to the children when I mean it for the older people. I believe you can give people an awful lot of truth without giving the enemy any occasion to talk. When we are anxious to get people to profess; I don’t think it very bad to hammer along the same line for several nights. There is a lot of power in reiteration. When people are ready to make the choice keep after them. People I want to deliver from their old professions I leave to the last. I preach one night on the Ethiopian Eunuch, and ask them why Philip did not speak to him on his way up to Jerusalem. He was going up there for more light. He would not have listened to Philip if he had not been purely disgusted with the [sic]

• Is it wise to help in the home where you are stopping? Good to keep on the right side of the Lady of the house. It is alright to help some but don't become a slave. I don't think it is wise for brothers to help inside too much. When the people see your life is engaged, they don't expect it. We can fill in every hour of the day. No worker need give the impression that they are idlers or loafers. We earn our living just as honestly as any farmer. Make them feel that you have something to live for, and that you are determined to use your time to the very best advantage, and you won't be very much bothered about their chores."

• The saints are largely what you make them.

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