The Coming Year
[Page 186] |
It will be a beautiful library edition, bound in cloth, with a lovely silver jacket. And if ordered before March 1 it can be obtained at the special prepublication price of only $2.67, which includes postage. The book will contain the articles entitled, Internal Power, A Pattern for Freedom, The Pattern of Fear, Our Personal Pattern, The Supper Pattern, The Money Pattern, The Name Pattern, and many others. There will also be the one called "Facing the Issues." in which I deal with "the authority of silence" in reply to Brother Reuel Lemmons.
I have long since turned my attention to the material for next year. The 1971 volume will bear the title "One Great Chapter." Throughout the entire year, God willing, I will be writing about the implications of Roman 8. The lessons will be primarily expository. I have chosen this chapter because it breathes the air of victory for the children of God. It is vibrant with hope. It identifies the secret of strength as the indwelling Spirit. It provides power to perform, energy to endure, and the will to wait.
It is evident that none of us will make it on our own work or wisdom. We will become frustrated failures if we seek to be justified by legal rectitude. I hope not only to encourage our readers to endure as seeing the promises, but also to provide incentive for brethren to share the divine optimism in the pulpit. We an-
[Page 187] |
I must, however, take time now to thank all of you who have generously shared with us in the tremendous financial burden of our work. I shall mention no name for you would not like that. The Father knows who you are and we know. The subscription price does not nearly pay for the cost of printing and mailing the paper, but we are once again closing the year owing no one. All of our debts have been paid, all of the bills cleared from the record. We could not have done this by ourselves. We were without means to do it. But in thirty-two years of publication we have never ended a year in debt.
Some of you have sent regularly and have held up our hands each month, preferring to further the cause in this fashion rather than contribute to the furtherance of an institutional partisan image. We have considered your contributions as a sacred trust and have sought to use them for His glory. Praise His name! When we can no longer finance this journalistic effort, we will take it as an indication that God does not want us to pursue it further and we will quit. In the meantime we trust that our brethren who include us in their personal budget consider they are advancing the cause of "peace on earth to men of goodwill."
If it does not seem too presumptuous I should like to mention two ways in which some of you may be disposed to help. One of our worst faults is that we tend to read what we enjoy, and sometimes a little selfishly perhaps, without feeling a personal responsibility to share it. The messages of the coming year need to be circulated each month. We have a special rate for those who are willing to receive and pass out 25 copies to friends and acquaintances each month. Perhaps you are teaching a class, or conducting a small group prayer session, and would like to have them see what is being written. If so, please write and ask us for the bundle rate and help scatter the seed over the wide fields.
One of the finest ways in the world to help in concrete fashion is to provide free books to young men and women in college upon their personal request. We must help young people and not "ride" them all of the time. They are anxious to read and discuss but many do not have the money to purchase books. Nell and I have given away hundreds of books to young people in school. We have lived to see the fruits of such sharing in the faith of men and women.
During 1971 we want to make available to those actually enrolled in college and university a copy of my book Simple Trusting Faith. It was written with them in mind. If you are willing to join hands with us in this venture all you need to do is to send a check with the notation "College Book Fund." If you send ten dollars we will send books to four people. If you send a hundred dollars we will send to forty people; if you send a thousand we will send to four hundred students.
You'll note that this represents a discount from the retail price, but we want to share in the work also. We will wrap and mail the books with no charge to the students. Unless we help our young people to find a meaningful faith about everything else we do will be a loss. This is one of the best ways I know to help. Last year we sent out about 200 books on request.
Of course you already know how much it helps us if you renew in advance of expiration. The subscription remains at $1.00 per year. If you can spare $3.00 for three years it will eliminate book work and Nell will appreciate that. We hope that God will bless you through the coming year and we want you to know that you mean a lot to us -- all of you! You need not agree with what I write for me to love you. If you are in Christ we are with you!
We have made a reprint of the article "Facing the Issues"' which appeared in the January issue. In it we answer the arguments of Bro. Reuel Lemmons on the silence of the scriptures as related to instrumental music. These are free to you upon request.