Gospel Guardian--"Special Issue"
We are happy to announce that a Special Issue of this journal is now being prepared, dealing with the widely publicized "Campaigns for Christ" which are taking place in so many cities. Scheduled for publication the third week in June, the Special Issue will feature articles by the following: Roy E. Cogdill, Cecil Willis, Eugene Britnell , Wm. E. Wallace, Wm. H. Lewis, Paul K. Williams, plus an editorial by this writer. An unusual item of this issue will be a sermon by Brother Earl Irvin West, preached by him in Cuyhoga Falls, Ohio, in 1953, and which was taken down stenographically and put in tract form. What makes this of extraordinary interest at this time is the fact that Brother West, having "switched" (there are those who had rather switch than fight!) is now the chief promoter of an Indianapolis "campaign for Christ", which will take place in July in that city --- just two or three weeks after some five or six thousand copies of the Gospel Guardian "Special Issue" will have been mailed to various Christians in Indianapolis and vicinity. His Cuyhoga Falls sermon is a powerful refutation of the very kind of "cooperative endeavor" he now is spear-heading.
The "Special Issue" will be 32 pages (twice our usual size) and will be in slick cover. We hope to make it such an item as brethren will want to distribute in every city where a "Campaign" has been, or is planned. It will be a document that can be preserved for many years as a handy and effective reference work on all such "Campaigns."
We need to know NOW how many to print; so would appreciate an immediate response if you as an individual or the church where you worship can undertake the distribution of some hundreds (or thousands) of this issue. You can order in any quantity, and can send in names (on gummed address labels) for us to mail out for you, or can have them sent to you in bundles. Price schedule is as follows:
1,000 copies $100.00 500 copies 60.00
250 copies 32.50 100 copies 14. 00
Less than 100 copies fifteen cents each.
-F. Y. T.
The The Answer Is "No" - We Goofed!
Excerpt from a letter: "Do you consider Bobby Richardson, a man who has never been baptized into Christ, as a Christian? If your answer is 'Yes', you can cancel my subscription. If your answer is 'No', then what explanation do you have for your advertisement of a book about him describing him as a "Christian athlete"?
The answer is "No"; the explanation is simple and inexcusable: we goofed. We offer no defense; there really is none. The advertisement (like many others) was sent us by the publisher already made up, and trying to cut a corner on expenses we sent it on to our printer without the careful reading and editing and re-writing that it should have received. We do not think Bobby Richardson is a "Christian athlete"; nor do we think America is a "Christian nation"; nor do we think the college out at Abilene is a "Christian College". In fact, if this editor is to believe some of the things his correspondents write him, there is at least some question as to whether he himself should be called a "Christian"!
While we are on the subject we might as well say a word about advertising in general
and the "pictures of Jesus" in particular. The Gospel Guardian Company, like any private enterprise dealing in religious literature and church supplies, tries to stock the merchandise our customers want. When we repeatedly get orders and enquiries for some particular book, or literature, or other goods, we try to stock that item, and then put an advertisement in the Guardian to let all our customers know we can supply it. That certainly does NOT mean that we endorse everything in every book we sell!! In fact we sell a number of books that are as filled with error and false teaching as can be imagined
the Book of Mormon, for example, or Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
We do not like to distribute literature with "pictures of Jesus" in it. But practically ALL the helps and literature for pre-school and elementary school children have pictures of Biblical characters --- and sooner or later they will have a "picture of Jesus". Does any reader have a suggestion as to how to handle this problem? Does anybody know of any series of literature for these early ages which does NOT have a "picture of Jesus" somewhere in it? Let us hear from you if so. We are open for suggestions.
Meanwhile, thanks for your letters. We feel all warm inside and glow with appreciation when they brag on us (we got one like that in 1951 -- or was it 1953?), but the ones that do us good are the ones that point out our failings and short-comings. And we DO get some like that. They are read, studied, and weighed. If the criticism seems valid, we try to do something about it, no matter how sharp and abrasive the words of the critic. Sometimes we can correct a weakness; sometimes we can't. And sometimes we just have to own up to a bit of carelessness and admit that we goofed on something
like calling Bobby Richardson a Christian, for example.