Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

soul?"works."000 in cash and investments. We try to follow therules I have outlined above. A profit is sought butonly by investments that are in honest and uprightbusinesses. We strive to handle honestly and fairlyall requests made through us.Use God's giftsthe bounty of earth,the talents within us.But above allneglect not His great salvation."For what shall it profit a man if he shall gainthe whole world, and lose his own Mk. 8:36."Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Cor.10:31).Money Will Not Spoil ThemA Special E/P News ReportBy H. Leon Taylor in Boulevard MagazineYou are hereby notified that money will notspoil them. Long before they determined to take upthe holy ministry, there was a full realization thatthe pay would be disgracefully low. It is readilyconceded that most men of the cloth were and aresincere and consider themselves called to do thegreatest possible good for their fellowmen. It is indeed amazing that even though there is a greatshortage so many young men are sufficiently inspired to undertake the call of the ministry.Hardly receiving enough to support themselves,they are expected to have families and to rear andeducate the children in accepted fashion. If theydrive a small second-hand car the very folks who payless than a dollar a year call it disgraceful. They donot receive ten cents a mile to travel among theirparishioners but a deputy sheriff does to serve divorce papers!It seems to be expected of the minister that hebe holy, poor and bluff prosperity. It is his desire togo about doing good and to save men's souls ; it maybe surprising to know that this can be done just aswell when decent salaries are paid. Many people areactually good and can do good work even though theymay be able to pay their bills and buy a few government bonds.It would seem that the poorer the minister, thehappier the congregation. Why this lopsided arrangement? We prefer to pay $25.00 a day to the plumberfor saving our sanitation and $7.50 a day for savingour souls. Perhaps there are those who argue thatthis is the proper system; they probably also advocate paying Jerry Lewis ten times more than President Eisenhower.Lincoln and Franklin did their best work afterthey had overcome poverty. A man kept poor miserably poor must, of necessity, be nice, timid and ayes-man to the controlling inside clique. He too,would love to have the feeling of being appreciatedand to have some hope for security for himself andhis children.A low sweeping bow to the men of the Christianministry ; they battle on in spite of the adversity wecause or permit them to have.We call for the big-city specialist when illnessstrikes and this man of God prays for our recovery344at the very moment when his own child must dependupon the home-town general practitioner.Let's not be afraid that the man in the pulpitwill lessen his affection for the members of his congregation if they pay him a respectable salary. Bywhat callous indifference has the hideous comparisonbeen made possible ; millions for the veneer of Hollywood thousands for the bigexecutive or union bossonly hundreds for the indispensable man ofChrist's ministry! By this comparison we operateandthoroughly enjoy doing so.Even more admiration for them when we knowthat they never ask for increased pay; they wouldprobably be critical of the sentiments herein expressed ; but they do have a definite right to hope forand expect sufficient income to live at least on thelevel with the man who hangs wallpaper. It is not aquestion of how much does he deserve; it is ratherthe question of how much must he have to live inpeace of mind and contentedly.If only one-half of the money spent for cocktailsat the country clubs were added to the pastor's salary, they might be able to live at least on the standard equal to the average mechanic.Let's not be in fear that an honorable pay willproduce inefficiency in these men. Moreover, everyone interested in the work of the Kingdom will rejoice when the leaders will not need to beg or borrow. May we stop acting as though we really believedthat adequate money would spoil them.COUNSEL FOR THE CHURCH .. . frompage 341use moral philosophy as the hope of the world. Thetendency of the extreme fundamentalist is to seeonly the future coming of Christ as the hope ofthe world.As we read God's Word we find the assurancethat we can have not only hope in a Second Comingof Christ, but also a present hope because Christ isliving and reigning today at the right hand of thethrone of God. Christ died not only to save us fromthe penalty of sin, but also to save us from committing sin ; "That he might redeem us from all iniquity,and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous ofgood Christ not only died to assure us ofeternal life, but He is coming again to usher us intoglory. That is our blessed hope !This then is the teaching program that Paulsuggested to the Rev. Mr. Titus for the church atCrete, and it is such that all churches can use it andprofit by it. Let no man despise you if you areteaching the truth!GLIMPSES from page 338Challenges Faith HealerA minister, Dr. V. E. Sears, ran the followingadvertisement in the South Bend Tribune: "Let several peopleproved by a doctor's panel to have incurable diseases,or tobe hopelessly crippled, ortotally and hopelessly blind ordeaf, be instantly and completely cured or healed as inBible times in these healing meetings, and I, Victor Sears,will give them the sum of $1,000, plus appearingat theirmeeting to testify on their behalf, and to publicly renouncemy Baptist pulpit and espouse their cause from thenceforth."No healer, up to the present time, has accepted theoffer.THE COVENANTER WITNESS