Facing the New Year

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     Another milestone in the march of the ages has been passed. A new calendar hangs on the wall. We have survived another twelve months. The past year has been one of ardent study, deep meditation, and personal soul-searching. Our writings have jolted and jarred many from their complacency. Those who congratulated themselves that they had all of the answers have suddenly found life re-complexified. Some have deeply resented it, and while there have been many readers added, a few who read the paper from its inception have ordered us to stop sending it. They regard us as betrayers of God's Son, because we are humbly striving to answer his prayer for the unity of all believers!

     It is a great surprise to some that we are still here! One good Kansas brother sent in his dollar last year, saying he merely wanted to see how far we would go, and predicting the paper would die before the year was up. From many sources we have received word of attempts by brethren to thwart our efforts and to kill our influence. "Out of all these the Lord has delivered us, and will deliver."

     Our task has not been easy. We have had to hang on precariously from month to month. Nell and I must now raise $250.00 or more each month to put out this little journal. The subscriptions do not pay for its publication. Any journal like this one has to depend upon the heartfelt concern of those who believe in its mission. And there have been a few who sent each month to help. Without them we could not have carried on. They have held up our hands. May our God reward them richly according to His grace!

     Our paper is not a factional mouthpiece! No party promotes it, or backs it as an official organ. Many who concur with us dare not mention it lest they be put out of the synagogue. The preaching brethren who secretly pray for us, cannot openly solicit readers for fear of reprisal. We must depend upon those in every faction who love truth more than the party. Thus far there has been just enough of them, with none to spare. We have always had just about enough to keep going for two months, but always, somehow, someone helped us through!

     In our March issue we begin a new series of articles. These will represent our deepest thinking to be committed to print. We shall try to plumb the depths of the scriptures, exploring God's purpose for those of us who live in this day. Free from partisan bias, and liberated at last from any obligation to defend factional decrees, we can "with unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord." We will acknowledge truth wherever we find it, not as a party possession, but as a divine gift to all men. It is our hope that we may be able to produce a paper which you can commend to the sincere and concerned ones in all segments of the Christian realm.

     We will be searching for the divine basis of unity. This will require diligent examination of our past views and interpretations. The Christian world is divided! Why? Have our ideas of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, been correct? If so, why have they not worked through us more effectively to achieve the divine purpose in our generation? Have we understood fully our relationship with the Deity, and if so, why are not all of God's children walking together in love? All we ask of you is a careful, prayerful reading of what we write. If it commends itself to your heart as being correct, and you can in good conscience accept it, do so; but, if after weighing it sincerely, you cannot agree, we will still love you, respect and cherish you. "Let those of us who are mature be thus minded; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained."

     We need your help and assistance, but we would not want you to violate conscience. If you cannot share our writings with others, but feel safe in reading them

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yourself, do that; if you do not care or dare to read them, then pray for us as we shall for you. For whatever degree of interest you manifest we shall be grateful to Him "whom having not seen we love." It is in that attitude we enter the portals of a new year, and our twenty-second year of publication!