W. W. Otey Is Dead
It will come as no surprise to our readers to know that the prayers of our beloved brother Otey have been heard, and God has released his noble spirit from this mortal frame. On another page in this issue is an obituary written by brother Judson Woodbridge.
Those of us who were privileged to visit brother Otey during these last two or three years of his life, years he spent as a hopeless (and largely helpless) bed-patient, will remember as long as we live his unfailing cheerfulness, his continuing interest in the faithful congregations of God's children — and the eagerness and longing anticipation in which he talked of his approaching translation. And neither we, nor our children, will ever be able to discharge the debt we all owe him for his magnificent stand for the truth of God through nearly a century of life. Because of him, and a bare handful like him, a "remnant" of faithful ones were saved from the great apostasy of the last century. For those digressive preachers who led God's people into that former apostasy, and for men of our day of like disposition and character, this stalwart soldier had neither time nor patience. He felt them to be traitors to the cause of Christ, and said so, both publicly and privately, both to those of a former generation and to their counterparts of the present. But withal he had a tenderness about him, a depth of humility, and a supreme love for the truth of God which made his life a glorious sort of crusade — and made his death a triumphant hour of rejoicing. We shall miss him; but we rejoice with him in the fulfillment of his heart's desire and prayer to God.
— F. Y. T.
Christmas Gifts
If we may differ with "our boy Pat" without being considered hopelessly square and strictly from Hicksville, we think he is just about one-hundred percent wrong in pleading so exuberantly and with such literary verve and style that we ought all to celebrate Christmas, "the birth of our Savior" with everything from Nativity pageants to solemn church worship programs. Christmas is NOT a church holy-day to the Christian. It has no more religious significance than Labor Day or Fourth of July. It is nothing but Catholic paganism to try to inject religious significance into this old festival.
Christmas can be a most joyous family holiday, however, and, as such, can be enjoyed to the ultimate in every way in which Christians may enjoy any festive occasion. Which brings us to Christmas gifts:
Have you ever considered giving a select number of your friends a lasting, useful, and highly diversified kind of gift — such as a year's subscription to the Gospel Guardian, for example? There are thousands of good people throughout the land who have been on the receiving end of such a generous action in the past few years, and right now there are many hundreds of people who are receiving this journal because some good friend thought enough of them to pay for their subscription.
We want to recommend this to all our subscribers. Make up a list of your friends whom you'd like to show this kindness; you will select those whom you consider to be basically honest, for there is little point in sending the paper to a man who is so blinded by prejudice or hatred that he will neither read the journal, nor listen to it if someone reads it to him. Save your money and our effort by leaving those people off your list. But in the liberal congregations around us there surely must be thousands of sincere brethren who have a deep feeling of uneasiness and inner dissatisfaction as they see the headlong plunge into total disregard for divine authority; whose hearts must quake with fear as they see brethren more and more promoting Church of Christ hospitals, church contributions to the colleges, Church of Christ commercial parking lots, churches serving suppers (and charging for them!), and all the clap-trap of digressiveism which our fathers fought so courageously in the past.
Some of these people can be helped. The Gospel Guardian coming weekly into their homes may be the very thing they need to touch off their latent resentment against these desecrations of Christ's body, and cause them to take a positive stand for the truth! Will you be willing to give such friends this chance, this gentle touch, pointing them away from the flood-tide of error, and back toward the solid ground of truth? Even one person saved will be worth all it could ever cost, no matter, how great might be the time and effort and money expended!
But look at this AMAZING low offer! For only $5.00 per month you may send the Gospel Guardian to THIRTY different families of your choosing. The paper will continue coming for as long as you wish. (We usually recommend one year of such; then suggest that that list be dropped and a new list of thirty be given the paper.) Can you think of a nicer "Christmas Gift" than this — a weekly gift, right through the year, bringing the most precious story of all time right into the heart of the home. Some have been sending the paper to as many as 150 friends on this plan!
Will you try it? Do it for the sake of those you love, and whom you want to help; do it for the sake of that eternal "truth" to which every faithful Christian has dedicated his life. If you desire you may yourself inform your friend you are sending the paper; otherwise a brief note from this office will inform him that the paper is coming to him "as the generous gift of a friend who loves you, who has confidence in your sincerity and honesty." We then urge the person to read the paper carefully and prayerfully, and to study its teachings with an open Bible before him.
To those of you who have now been sending the paper to a list of friends for as long as one year, may we suggest that you drop that list, and make up another list of the same length — or longer! A certain percentage of those to whom you have sent the paper will subscribe for themselves; those who do not after having received it gratis for a year will hardly be benefitted for having it longer. And give a new group of friends the chance to become acquainted with the Guardian!
Yes, we believe in gifts that are useful and helpful. And we express deep thanks and appreciation to all those loyal friends who have so nobly helped the Guardian expand her usefulness and influence in this fashion. May your tribe increase!
— F. Y. T.