issues and opinions

Total Hereditary Depravity

A Doctrine from the Dark Ages

By Carl O. Cooper

Allow your mind to drift back 400 years. Long before you were born or even before America was populated by Europeans looking for a new land and a new freedom to practice their religious beliefs as they wanted without persecution.

It was during these times in 1594 that modern science was a mixture of alchemists, sorcery, and superstition. Witches were considered to be alive and many were burned at the stake. Houses were considered to be haunted by ghosts, and spirits were said to walk the corridors at night. People were afraid of those who were thought to be possessed with devils and evil spirits and religious leaders preformed exorcisms to rid people of demonic possessions. And the Bible talked about a Holy Ghost.

It was common knowledge in 1594 that ghosts and spirits haunted, inhabited, and indwelled people and things. And what’s more, they caused things to move, shake and tremble. Would the Holy Ghost do any less? It was easy to believe that the Holy Ghost would cause great miraculous events to happen in the lives of those it indwelled.

It was in this environment that John Calvin produced the doctrine of “Total Depravity”. This doctrine by Calvin, along with others, is still widely accepted by many religious people today. Many churches of many different denominations teach this doctrine of John Calvin as part of their religion’s creed.

“Total Depravity” or “Total Hereditary Depravity” as some would teach it, would say that all mankind inherits the sin of Adam and becomes guilty of Adam’s sin and are Spiritually lost even before they are born. Such a one is totally deprived of salvation and is Spiritually dead. He is so dead and so depraved that he cannot even have faith nor can he understand the Scriptures or even obey God’s will. In fact, he cannot even come close to God until the Holy Ghost indwells him and allows him to have an understanding of Spiritual things and to come to salvation.

It is easy to see how this teaching could have been perpetuated 400 years ago, considering the environment when Calvin lived. But today, it’s very hard to see how so many people can be led astray in their thinking with the amount of resources and knowledge that is available for everyone to study.

Just a quick look at Matt. 18: 3 shows us that God does not consider children to be depraved and lost and guilty of sin. “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” In fact, this passage says just the opposite. Children are pure and without sin and we need to be like them in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

I think everyone has read the passage in Ezekiel 18: 20, ^“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Is this passage not crystal clear proof that we do not inherit the sins of Adam?

And what about the teaching that we cannot understand or obey the Scriptures until we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit? Many people teach and hold this view. But another check of the Scriptures shows this, also, to be wrong.

There are many doctrines taught concerning the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. There are many good books on this subject for more information. I would recommend the books by Howard Winters, Rod Rutherford, and Robert Taylor. These are very good sources for more study. But no matter what you believe about the Holy Spirit, whether you believe in a literal personal indwelling or whether you hold that the Holy Spirit indwells you indirectly through the word, or if you believe that the “gift of the Holy Spirit” is all the blessings given to those who are “in Christ”; almost all would agree that the Bible teaches in Acts 2: 38 that the “Gift of the Holy Spirit” was given after salvation. “³⁸ Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

It is true, however, that the only way to salvation is through the Gospel. And the Gospel has been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, the Inspired Word. And in this sense we have been guided into salvation by the Holy Spirit and taught what we must do to be saved. In fact, anything that man knows about God or God’s will comes to us by a revelation of the Holy Spirit. ¹¹ For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 1 Cor. 2: 11. The Holy Spirit reveals God’s will to us through the inspired word.

It would be unfortunate for any person to feel that he was so “depraved and Spiritually dead” that he had no hope of understanding God’s simple plan of salvation and therefore made no effort to try to understand. That person would be forever Spiritually dead waiting for God to reveal what the Holy Spirit revealed long ago.

Carl O. Cooper

The criticism of other religions

By Carl O. Cooper

 Some say we should not criticize other religions from our pulpits

My first impression when I hear this is that it sounds like it would be the right thing to do. It is only after I think about it for a while that I begin to question what it means. In fact, what does it mean? Does it mean that we cannot discuss and expose error from the pulpit? Surely we don’t intend to take it that far. Would we be free to talk about “salvation by the sinner’s prayer”? How about “infant baptism”? What about all of the doctrines of  Calvinism, would we be free to expose these as false? Now it might be possible to discuss these things and never mention the name of a religion, but are we going to mention Martin Luther? How about Luther’s disagreement with the Catholic church and the beginning of the “reformation” movement? Would we still be free to discuss the reasons and the beginnings of the “restoration movement”? How about John Calvin’s attachment to the Presbyterian Church and Alexander Campbell’s attachment to the Baptist church. Would we be free, in fact, to even be able to teach the basic foundation doctrines of the restoration movement at all? Can we define ourselves as the one and only restored and approved church of the Bible? In other words, how far do we take this? And what about our Bible classes, can we teach about the doctrines of other religions there and refer to them as false doctrines? Or must we be silent about this for fear of perhaps offending a visitor? When I look back on my 45 years in the church and all the sermons I have listened to, for the life of me, I cannot remember any single incident where the name of some religion was presented in any way that I felt like was in any way degrading to any person because they were associated with some other religion. Now I’ve heard about it and people have told me about it. But I have never actually been in a service where I felt people were being harmfully insulted.

It seems to me, as I think about this situation, that we already do a good job of protecting people’s feelings as we discuss the doctrines and issues of religion. But there does come a time in the life of a visitor, if they come enough, when they suddenly “get it”. A sermon, a Bible class, a statement, and suddenly they realize, these people are different. They are claiming to be the only church. They are saying that denominational churches are not approved by God. In fact, they are saying all other religions are wrong. Now this day will come, it has to. This is what we are all about. We are different and we hold these doctrines up to be the basics and keys as to why we are. They are so much a part of us that we can’t exist without them. And the question is…what will this person do and how will they react to this revelation that they have suddenly received? The answer to this depends totally on the “soil”. In other words, the mind and the heart of the hearer. A great majority will reject it. This is absolutely predictable. Some will get angry and accuse the teacher. Many will not come back. Not because they have been personally insulted or offended, but they suddenly see us as restrictive and intolerant of many things that they have already accepted.

In thinking about this concern for the feelings of visitors, I think it makes perfectly good sense to be respectful of the dignity and feelings of others. Personally, I really think we do this already, but it won’t hurt anything to remind ourselves to continually be this way. On the other hand, we don’t want to make up rules and restrictions that place a “gag” order on our teachers that prevent us from being ourselves. We are who we are. And we are designed and approved by God, Himself, how can we even hint at being ashamed of our doctrines and our roots? Personally, when I bring visitors to our assembly, I talk to them in advance. I explain who we are and what we stand for and what they will see in our services. Some people are offended because we do not include them in the Lord’s Supper. Why not tell them in advance that we see ourselves as the restored church of the Bible and we consider ourselves unique and different? Why not say to them that we are not a denomination and we will not be like any other church where they have ever been? Of course you don’t always get that chance. Sometimes you just invite people to come, in passing, and you really don’t get a chance for much of a conversation. This would be a good time for a tract explaining who we are if they should happen to come.

I think we should also remember that our worship services are not for the visitors. It is OK for them to come but the services are not for them. Our worship service is our attempt to worship God as he has instructed Christians to do. If it were to be our only form of evangelizing the world, it would be a poor effort indeed. There has to be more teaching involved than they can get at a Sunday morning service. In reality, they might attend for months and never “get it”. This should be an opportunity for some kind of follow up teaching for visitors who come to the services. Personal instruction would tell them who we are and what we are all about. And it is absolutely important that they find out and know. It could never, never, never be in their best interest for us to with hold this information from them in fear of embarrassing them or us.

Carl O. Cooper

Should a Christian Be a Mason?
By Carl O. Cooper
So what is a Mason and what do they stand for?
Unless you really dig for the answer to that question you will not find it.
All Masons are sworn to secrecy about the organization and they are not likely to divulge any information that tells you what the Masons are really all about. In fact, they probably don’t really know, themselves, what the Masons really believe and do. What they will likely tell you and what they most likely think is true, is that the Masons are a brotherhood of men who swear to be upright citizens and live a clean moral life. They understand that Masons are sworn to help one another in any way that becomes necessary.
The reason the average Mason does not know any information about the Mason organization is because they seldom rise to the rank (They call rank by the term “degree”) where any of the meaningful secret information is known. There are 33 degrees of rank in the Mason society and most of the masons you know will be within the very first of these degrees. At this level of rank only the very basic explanations are given to the members. This is the information that they can quote you and everything sounds very above board and proper to you as well as to the members. If this is all you try to know then you will ignorantly support a “pagan organization”. I would dare say that most of the general membership falls in this category.
There is tremendous pressure placed on a new member to honor a binding oath which is required on entering the organization not to speak about or reveal any of the information the Masons consider secret. This oath is entered into with considerable pressure placed on the new member. I am told that all “Masonic Groups” do not always follow exactly the same entrance initiation ritual, but the one they do follow is sobering and shocking and not likely to be ignored by the applicant for the rest of his life. In many cases the applicant is blindfolded and all his own clothes are removed and a special robe is placed on him for the initiation. In many cases a rope is placed around his neck and he is paraded within the group with chants and he is asked to repeat special words and phrases. At some point he can be placed down on his back and a sword or knife is placed at his chest or at his throat and he is asked to swear never to reveal any Masonic secrets under the penalty of death. The penalty can be said to be cutting out the tongue or having one’s throat cut with a knife. He is then asked to kneel at the feet of a high degree Mason and place both hands on a Bible and swear that he will never reveal any Masonic secrets as long as he lives.
Now tell me. If someone goes through this, is he likely to tell you anything about the Mason organization?
Now most Masons are likely to tell you that this initiation ritual is only symbolic and figurative and is not realistic and no one expects this to really be true; that is, not in America today. But in other times and other places these threats were carried out and these were not just idle threats. But even so, the oaths taken in this environment are taken very serious and are considered binding on anyone who takes them.
But there is a dark side to the Masonic organization and it surrounds religion.
Now the Masons intentionally give out propaganda about their religious beliefs
that sounds to the person who does not think it through that they are “non-religious” and accept all religions into their organization. They make a strong statement that they believe in and respect the separation of church and state and carry that mindset into the Masonic organization.

They allow public statements to be made that they require all their members to believe in one God and they call themselves “Monotheists”. What they do not tell you is the darker side of this belief and that is that they accept those people whose god can be the god of “Buddha”, Mohammed”, “The King of Ethiopia”, “Satan”, Demonic”, or any other god devised by the mind of man. Any claim of allegiance to a higher being is acceptable with the Masons.
At this stage of this discussion I would like to remind all Christians of This Biblical
command found in 2 Corinthians 2: 14.
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has
righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?
There is more to the religious part of the Masons than just calling all gods equal. That
alone is a serious problem for Christian people but the Masons of a “high degree” have a plan of salvation that not only is “non-Biblical”, it flies in the face of the Bible’s teaching of a true plan of salvation that saves your soul. The Masons teach that if any Mason is a faithful Mason and properly honors and accepts the Mason doctrine and keeps the information secret; he can die with full assurance that he will be accepted into the afterlife with full salvation for his soul. They do not regard a difference in a higher being but consider all gods equal and capable of giving you salvation when you die. This is a serious hurdle for all Christian people. I do not have to tell any Christian that this false teaching will not save someone’s soul and will have a serious impact on many people actually losing their salvation because of it.
There is a lot more to be known about the Masonic organization but few people,
including Masons will go to the trouble of trying to find out any more about them. There is the impact they have on governments and political machines because of the vow they have taken to support another Mason in any need they might have for help. With the support of all other Masons a person can have a tremendous advantage over any opposition.
There is historical information available about the conflict the Masons have had with the
Catholic Church throughout many generations. This conflict started with a struggle for
government power which both organizations wanted to be in control of. The Catholic Church had a control of government that was being undermined by the Masons who had tremendous support for one another. This secret support was causing the Catholic Church to begin to lose influence in controlling government and this led to complete criticism of the Masonic organization. This criticism still continues to this day but the reasons are more religious than political with today’s churches.
There is much more to know and I suggest you dig hard and you will find things you did
not know and did not suspect.
Carl O. Cooper

How Should The Church Treat Homosexuals?

The first question I think we should ask ourselves is this;

Does the Holy Bible support homosexuality as honorable or does the Word of God call homosexuality a grievous sin? As a Christian, you know without any doubt, homosexuality is sinful and everything about it is condemned in God’s Word.

Now that brings us to the next question;

When Homosexuals infiltrated the Boy Scouts of America; was that a good thing or was it a bad thing? I feel confident that almost all Christians would agree; that was a bad thing.

And when homosexuals infiltrated the public school system; was that a good thing or a bad thing? And once again I think almost all Christians would agree; that too was a bad thing.

I really don’t think I have to tell you why. We know why. And many Christians have pulled their children out of public schools, choosing instead to home school their children.

Now I ask you to think on this question. What will we do with our children when the homosexuals infiltrate the church of Christ? Will we “home church” them?

Homosexuals are coming. The church of Christ is one of the “last mountains to climb” for the HGLBT organization. They will not come looking for salvation and rescue from their condemnation of living a homosexual lifestyle. They will come looking for acceptance of their sinful form of existence. Make no mistake, the homosexual community knows full well how to perpetuate acceptance of their lifestyle. They seem to thrive in environments of government controlled organizations and especially in places where there are children. They know that children are very susceptible to the indoctrination and propaganda they constantly teach. No wonder Christians have elected to remove their children from the public schools.

Homosexuals will target the Churches. Christians everywhere are unsure how they should respond when homosexuals come into their midst. On the one hand we understand the serious danger to our families and our loved ones and yet we are teaching a confusing doctrine of love and acceptance and we are unsure just what that means. On the one hand we are taught that we must love our enemies and we read in Corinthians where Paul said that homosexuality is a sin that will prevent you from being saved and he followed up by saying “such were some of you”. But then we read in 1 Corinthians where Paul criticized the church for allowing a sexual offender to remain in their midst and demanded that they “deliver him to Satan” for his sexual misconduct.

The answer to all this is really very clear. But understand this, all sin is not equal. The Bible is clear on that point but it is another study which I have written about already in the past. Sinners of this type are not to be part of our church community. We should cast them out from among us to protect our children and our families and loved ones from the deadly influence of their venom which is highly contagious.

But wait a minute you might ask. What about love for all men? Aren’t we supposed to have that love? And the answer is, “of course we are”. God is love and so are we. And we know this, obedience is love. The love for God is obedience. When homosexuals show a genuine desire to repent and to change from their sinful behavior then we need to help them to obey the Gospel.  I don’t think I know any Christian who would not want all men to be saved and that includes homosexuals, pedophiles, and even serial killers. But let’s not deceive ourselves and our children in the process, unless homosexuals have a desire to hear and be obedient to the Gospel and renounce their attachment to any form whatsoever of the homosexual lifestyle, they need to stay away from our families and our children.

Doesn’t common sense tell us this is true? Of course it does. Even non-Christians know and accept this concept to a degree. Even the laws of our land forbid a pedophile or a sexual offender from being found around schools or Bible camps where children will be found. Why would this be so? It’s because they will very likely do harm to our children, that’s why. And it used to be that way for homosexuals as well. But the culture and the laws of our land have changed and homosexuals are no longer looked at as perverts by most of the population. But Christians know better. They most certainly pose a threat to our children. The Apostle Paul knew that and that is why he gave us this command,

1 Corinthians 5:9-13

             I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner–not even to eat with such a person. ¹² For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? ¹³ But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”^[

Paul knew the danger of associations with sin. Judge for yourself. What happens when a person watches movies or TV filled with bad language? We all know they become acclimated to it and it ceases to shock them when they hear it.

We will not neglect to teach Homosexuals and sexual perverts and we will go anywhere they ask to do so, but bringing them into our families and our assemblies will cause weak and unsure Christians to acclimate and to accept their behavior as normal.

Furthermore, when a homosexual is converted to Christ they should drop the reference to themselves as homosexuals. They should be totally repentant and ashamed of their old sinful lifestyle to the point that no further reference connects them to the old life that has died to sin. They should not refer to themselves as “recovering homosexuals”, or “non-practicing homosexuals” or any other term or title that makes it seem like there is an approval of a homosexual mindset when it might be in some stage of recovering mode. To do so will give insecure and immature Christians the thoughts that in some way homosexuality is accepted as long as the person abstains from practicing it. Everything about an HGLBT lifestyle is a grievous sin and so shameful that it should not be named among Christian people.

Remember this; Christian love is obedience to God’s commands. It is not, and never has been “tolerance and fellowship”. We do not tolerate and fellowship false religious organizations, but that in no way judges us as people who do not have Christian love for all men.

We are not neglecting to teach homosexuals and sexual perverts the Gospel. We have circulated numerous books and magazine publications and written articles by many men. There are also videos produced by the thousands as well as several TV shows designed to teach the lost. Don’t let anyone tell you that a great effort is not being done already to try to save those guilty of sexual sin. But the homosexual community themselves are doing all they can to override and overpower any amount of teaching the Christian community can produce.

May God help us to keep our congregations free from sexual perverts. Every congregation should be an oasis of safety for our children and our loved ones where we can bring our families without fear of contamination from individuals with a sinful lifestyle.

Carl O. Cooper

THE DEMON’S PLAN
By Carl O. Cooper

Scratch raised up from his crouch on the boulder where he was setting and his fiery red eyes glared over the cavern which he overlooked. Demons perched on the rocks around the cavern walls, cringed at his face and folded their leathery wings close in to their ugly bodies and tried to be as inconspicuous as they could make themselves be. For Scratch’s power was well understood by them all. One look from those evil red eyes could send a demon into oblivion, never to exist again. There was nothing they could do against such power. They submit, they cringe, they agree.
Scratch surveyed the cavern walls. “Maggots”, he thought to himself. “Imbeciles”, he said out loud. “I want a plan. I demand a plan!!” Fire shot from his knuckles to the rock as he pounded his fist on the boulder where he set. Smoke came up from the intense heat and molten sulfur poured from the cavern walls beside the rock. Demons fluttered from one rock to another and trembled at Scratch’s rage and then cringed quietly in their fear. “Speak up!!”, he said. “Give me the plan!!” “You there, demon…speak for the others, what is the plan??”
“Plan, sir??…well, I……..”
“ I’ll destroy you all”, Scratch raged. “Unless you give me the plan”.
“Well, well, …well, it’s like this”, he stuttered. “I,….we thought about it…..for a long time.”
“Yes…”, Scratch said menacingly.
“Well, sir….what you want is…I mean, well…you want these Christians in the Church of Christ….that is…I mean, the Kingdom of Christ…to…to…fall away from their religion, and to disobey God.” But, Mr. Scratch…they won’t do it!!! We can’t think of a way!!”
BOOM!!!! CRASH!!!! Lightning poured down from the cavern walls. The demon was caught in mid-sentence and flashed to oblivion. And particles exploded and smoke belched and filled the air. Demons flashed from one side to the other and thunder and lightning and smoke and fire filled the entire room.
“Wait!!! Wait!!!, Mr. Scratch wait, I have a plan!!!”, a demon shouted from the rocks. “I have a plan.”
Like red lasers, Scratch’s eyes penetrated the sulfur and smoke and two red dots fell on the demon that spoke. There was silence for a moment as the smoke cleared and Scratch’s eyes moved up and down the demon’s chest.
“I have a plan”, he said. Softer now, with the noise gone and a deathly silence filling the cavern room. “I have a plan. But it will take some time for it to work.”
Scratch’s eyes were hot on the demon’s chest and whips of smoke were trailing up from the two red dots. He could feel the pain of the burns and Scratch’s power was beginning to surge through his body. It was now or never. A plan. A plan or oblivion.
“Listen to my plan, Scratch. Let me tell you about my plan.”
“We know we can’t tempt these Christians to turn against God very easy. But I know a way!!! We will go to the babies!!!!!”
“The babies..???……” Suddenly Scratch changed his expression. The eyes changed from red laser dots to a yellow, orange color and the demon felt the power begin to subside.
“The babies…?.” Scratch said… Slowly, suspiciously….”What about the babies?”
“The babies”, the demon exclaimed, growing bolder by the second. “We will contaminate the babies. We will contaminate the music by contaminating the babies.”
“And how will we do that?”, Scratch said cautiously.

“Remember what we did with Nadab and Abihu?”, the demon exclaimed, “how we contaminated them with their fire? We convinced them to disobey God’s commands about the fire by changing the way they did it to suit themselves. Well…..we do the same thing with the ones who teach the babies. We just get them to alter the music they use to teach the babies. Let them introduce all these hand motions and foot stomping and clapping of these little hands…and before we know it, new generations will raise up that have no trouble altering the music to suit themselves…..Just like it was with Nadab and Abihu. Don’t you see, before long we will have entire generations of adults and teenagers and babies …all…who have no problem changing God’s commands telling them how to sing.”
At this point Scratch managed a half hearted, wicked smile to cross his lips. Sort of a smile and a smirk mixed together. And at this the demon gained courage to continue.
“So you see, by starting with the babies and teaching them to add hand motions and clapping sounds to God’s commands to sing, we desensitize them to their fear of disobeying God. Oh sure, it will take a couple of generations, but in the end the whole Church of Christ will accept this additional stuff.”
The demon chuckled, “They’ll fight each other over this. Some of the older ones will warn them at first and resist. And for a time their generation will win. Ha, but eventually, Scratch….you win. We all win!!!! We will feast on their miserable souls for all eternity!!!!”
“Not bad, demon,” said Scratch, “Not bad at all.”
“It’s like building a school house on the edge of a cliff. Not much happens unless someone falls off the cliff…but ….sooner or later..they will fall off the cliff. …I like it.”
“In fact, I like it a lot.This music thing is the very foundation of the basic doctrine the Church of Christ sets on. To destroy that, will be to finally…at last…defeat the whole stupid lot of them!!! This plan has good merit. In fact, this is a really good plan. Put it in place. Get some additional demons out of our denominational churches to help get it working. Get them to infiltrate the Church of Christ and teach them these children’s songs. The ones with all the clapping and motions in them. This will work.”
“And by the way, while you are at it, get some of the members of the Church of Christ who love music to help. Pick the ones who seem to have a great fixation on music and who are so moved emotionally with music that reason and logic are not important with them. Some of these people want this so bad that they will be the first ones to follow our demon’s suggestions. I don’t think you’ll have any problem finding some like that.”
At this point demons began to gain confidence with Scratch and to gather around. One by one they volunteered their ideas to the plan.
Scratch was well pleased.
Note: This story is not meant to accuse our children of being guilty of sin because of these children’s songs, but a serious caution about the mindset directing this practice. There is a liberal mindset that always says, “no big deal”, when the integrity of the music of the church is questioned. Mechanical instruments of music, clapping, dramatic gestures, praise teams, women song leaders, and all such like are to the liberal mindset, “no big deal”.

Carl O. Cooper

Have All Miracles Ceased?

By Carl O. Cooper

There are respected scholars within the Church of Christ that for years have been able to recognize doctrinal errors taught by the denominational world and they have been able to give good explanations as to how these doctrines are wrong. There has been good and simple teaching to expose many of these doctrinal errors. One such error taught by many protestant religious groups is their incorrect understanding of miracles in the early days of the church when inspired men were alive on this earth; and the so called miracles of today. Many denominations including Pentecostals and Holiness groups as well as the Catholic Church have declared to the world that they have documented cases of confirmed miracles that have occurred and are occurring today. We know this teaching to be false. Many respected men within the church of Christ have written and taught about these errors for years and this teaching has been proven without doubt to be false. However, like we do so many times in our zeal to combat false teaching, men almost always carry the explanations to a point beyond where they need to stop.

We all know that in the first century during the beginning of the church the apostles and men to whom they gave specials powers had the ability to perform miracles and heal the sick and even raise the dead. The Bible tells us that these signs and miracles were for the purpose of confirming that the teaching of these men was indeed coming from and endorsed by God Himself. And we also know by the inspired words of the Holy Spirit that these special powers would cease when the Bible was written and completed. There are many, many books and articles explaining this information and the purpose of this article is not to re-teach this information which has been settled long ago. The purpose of this article is to clarify what God is doing in our lives today. Is He still active in our world in a Divine way, and does He still change events and make things happen that only happen because He causes them to happen? I contend that, indeed, He does.

In our zeal to combat the claims of Pentecostals groups who claim miraculous ability to heal the sick and speak in tongues and do many miraculous things we have, unfortunately, left the impression that God does not have any active part in any Devine intervention in our world today. But don’t be too quick to discount God’s part in the world we live in and in our personal lives today. God is still sovereign in today’s world and He is the ruler of this universe and he places governments and kingdoms in power. He rules times, places, and events according to His own good pleasure. He answers prayer as He sees fit, He causes things to happen in ways that He decides is right, He knows the names of children many years before they are born, He plans the future according to His sovereign will, and in General He plans and intervenes in our world in Divine ways that the feeble mind of man could never comprehend or understand. God has an active part in our lives today.

Now we know full well that none of us have miraculous powers today. We can’t heal the sick or speak in tongues or have special visions and knowledge and revelations from the Holy Spirit. But just because we cannot do those things, don’t make the mistake to think that we have no help from God to modify and influence our lives and our world in a divine way today. God answers prayer. What powerful influence a Christian has with God today to think that an all powerful God would allow us to ask Him for help and God would actually do it. How great is that? Is that Divine intervention? You bet it is. God is sovereign and His will is always done as He sees fit, but He allows us to come to Him in prayer and ask Him for things we want to happen. Sometimes He alters the natural order of events and gives us what we ask. That’s divine intervention but it does not mean that we have miraculous power. It means, instead, that God is all powerful and works in the lives of men today. We thank God for the love He has to involve Himself in the lives of His creation to the point that He takes care of us in many ways.

God does things that are beyond our understanding. He still does things today that are beyond our understanding. How do you define these things today when God manipulates times, events, and interventions? What definition do you use and what terminology is appropriate to describe these indescribable works of an almighty God? We really haven’t invented an appropriate word to describe this as of yet. Does this fall under the accepted definition of a miraculous event? Perhaps not, but don’t be too hasty there. You certainly can’t describe how God does these things and you might be grasping at straws to try to make the case that all of the events that God causes to happen are merely accomplished through natural means. Even if God used natural means to accomplish His purpose, it would take the great and mighty power of God to make everything come together to allow natural means to happen. Many prayers can go up for God to cure someone’s cancer and when the cancer is cured we might be able to describe the cure using natural means but how many indescribable things did God have to make happen that are too mighty and too complex for us to understand in order for the natural means to come to pass? And suppose a forest fire was almost ready to engulf your house and suddenly, by the power of God, a strong wing blew the fire in another direction. Natural means, right? No doubt, the wind is part of the natural laws of this universe. But tell me, can you explain the way God caused the wind to change direction? Would this intervention be natural or supernatural? The truth is, you can’t describe it and neither can I. And for that matter, neither can any man explain how God caused this to happen. Frankly, our explanations and terminology for these events where God uses His divine power to cause and manipulate circumstances on this earth are far too complex for us to understand and I doubt that we ever will in this life.

So the conclusion is this. We do not have the power to work miracles on this earth today. No man has this power today. In times past, men had special gifts of the Holy Spirit and could speak in tongues and cause miraculous things to happen but those days came to a close when the Bible was completed and the need to confirm God’s message was accomplished through the inspired words of the Holy Spirit through the Bible. But don’t limit the power and Sovereignty of God by limiting God’s divine intervention in our own world today. God still works in our lives today in ways that are too mighty and too complex for us to even begin to understand. And whether we call this intervention miraculous or providence it is still done by a supernatural power that far exceeds our human minds to comprehend.

Carl O. Cooper

The Greek Word Psallo

For many years now, the denominational religions of the world have mounted a continuous assault against the teaching of the church of Christ against the use of instrumental music in our worship to God. They scoff at us for telling them that the Bible only authorizes singing and acapella music by the whole congregation in our worship and does not authorize the use of instruments nor does it authorize the use of choirs. They would like nothing better than to prove us wrong in our exegesis of the Scriptures, but wouldn’t you know it, they have been unable to do that in almost 2000 years of the existence of the church. But just like all religions with a rebellious cause, they never give up.

For many years the best they could do was to try to find authorization for the use of instruments by pointing out that the Bible authorized their use in worship in the Old Testament. Of course, that’s never been disputed. It has always been commonly known that musical instruments were used in Old Testament worship and they were authorized by God. But it has also been commonly known that the worship designed by God for New Testament worship is nothing at all like the worship presented to God in the Old Testament. We also know that old contract with God called, “The Law of Moses”, or the Old Testament was nailed to the cross with the death of Jesus and a brand new contract was started between God and the New Testament human race.

Of course everyone knew that Old Testament argument was not really very persuasive and so it was not given very much credibility as proof for the use of instruments in our worship today.

But now a new argument has been invented. Scholars everywhere are jumping on board for this “new Proof” that instruments are authorized by the Bible for use in our worship today. But just like all the others, this new argument is also “fake news”.       The new argument is really not new at all. It is a tactic that has been used for centuries to make the Bible appear to say something that it really does not say at all. That tactic is to take the original Greek words in which the Bible was written (which very few people really understand) and search for definitions of that word that allows the English translation to say something which changes the meaning of what the Bible really says.

This has been done with words such as the Greek word “eis” used in Acts 2:38. This verse tells us to be Baptized for the remission of our sin. The Greek word eis has been translated “for” and that is a proper rendering of eis. The proper meaning of the word eis is “for” or “unto”. That is very clear and there are many proofs that this is a proper translation of eis. This tells us that Baptism is required for the remission of our sins. But if you don’t want to teach that Baptism is for the remission of our sins and you want to trick someone and teach just the opposite about Baptism,

you can search for another meaning of the word “for” and say that another meaning is “because of” and you can seem to make the Bible say that Baptism is “because” your sins are forgiven. If you define the words according to this new definition you can have the Bible say,” I was Baptized because of the remission of my sins”.

We know that this type of “sleight of hand” Bible trickery is not proper Bible exegesis at all but is just a subtle way of twisting the Scriptures to make them say what you want them to say.

This has been done for years with the Greek word “oinos” which has been translated “wine”. There are multiple definitions of the Greek word oinos and it can mean grape juice, alcoholic wine, or anything associated with the grape vine products. But the definitions are confused in many people’s minds and they ignore the context where this word is found and just accept that the Bible authorizes social drinking based on the way “oinos” has been translated “wine”.

The same thing is being done once again by redefining the Greek word “psallo”. For many years the proper definition of this word has been understood to mean “sing”, “sing psalms”, and “making melody”. The word psallo is used in the New Testament 5 times and the Greek scholars who translated the text used the word “Sing” 3 times, “Sing psalms” 1 time, “make melody” 1 time. (—Strong’s Greek & Hebrew Dictionary)

However, it has also been known by everyone who studies Greek that through the years, like all words; (and that includes Greek and English words alike) this word has had multiple meanings depending on the time period in which it was used and also on the context in which it is used. How many definitions can you think of for the English word “scratch”? When you encounter the word, how do you know which definition to use? You know by the context, right? The same is true with psallo. We know which definition to use by the context of the Scriptures where the word is used.

Notice the context where the word psallo is used in;

Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

The word “psallo” has been translated into “Make melody” in this verse. And that is significant. This is not just making melody in any way we please. This specifically says to make melody in your heart. Perhaps if it did just say make melody, someone might make a case that it might mean for us to make melody on musical instruments. But it says specifically, “make melody in your heart”. How do you do that? Please don’t let someone tell you that this means “twang the strings of the heart”. The heart has no strings to twang. To try to interpret that meaning of psallo into this verse by using a figurative example is just to admit to the pro-instrumental group that we concede

that the proper meaning of psallo always means to twang on an instrument.  And it is clearly documented that it does not mean that every time you see it.

How do you make melody in your heart? Well, it’s done with your emotions. There is no “twanging” or “plucking” of strings, it is the emotional feeling you generate with your praises to God in song.

But what about the context here? Does the context reference musical instruments here at all? Let’s review it again.

            Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

This verse starts out with the word “speak”. In other words, whatever we are told to do here uses the voice to carry it out. And it tells us who we are to speak to, it is to ourselves. It tells us what our words are to consist of; they are to be “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs”. It also tells us that the method we are to speak these songs is by singing. This singing is to be carried out in a way that involves our emotions to the point that we are making melody in our hearts to the Lord.

The word “singing” here is not the word psallo.  This is another word used from the Greek and there has never been any question as to the direct meaning of “ado”. It means sing with the voice.

So what’s the context where the word psallo is used here? Is there any doubt? The context here is clearly, singing with the voice. But do you think that will in any way satisfy the people who want our worship to include instruments? I think not. The desire to use the instrument is so very strong that even if it was proved to them that this is what the Bible tells them to do; they would not obey the Scriptures. They would just reason to themselves that if they like it and want it that way then God will accept what they offer in worship no matter what the Bible says. Most denominational religions have no interest in trying to follow the exact commands in the Bible. Many even go so far as to call those who want to properly obey Scripture, legalists. The reason I mentioned this is because even if we try to compromise on meanings of words and try to find ways to incorporate their meanings into our definitions, (Such as a compromise that the word psallo always means twang or pluck) then we still will not persuade anyone to give up the instrument. In fact, to compromise in this way will only lead to a lack of credibility on our part.

The fact is, most genuine scholars of New Testament Greek do not disagree about the proper definition of the word psallo at all. Most all include an explanation and meaning that psallo had ancient meanings of twang or plunk but in “New Testament times” most always meant “sing with the voice”. But it really doesn’t matter anyway, because all words have multiple meanings and we always have to decide the proper meaning by the context of the information recorded.

Do We Sin Daily?

By Carl O. Cooper

No where in the Bible will you find sinful behavior excused or winked at as though it was “not really so bad”. And nowhere in the Bible will you find that God expects people to live a life of “part religious obedience” and “part sin”. In fact, it is really just the opposite. God hates sin!

Today we are beginning to find a cultural acceptance of sin. Our fathers and forefathers told us it would happen. The 1960’s brought a cultural revolution against authority of all kinds. There was a flaunting of immoral things that was intentionally making a statement against submitting to any authority higher than one’s own self. This has led our people into a culture that has little respect for the authority of God. The movies and the TV shows, and even the music have reflected this lack of respect for God. The immoral scenes and words have gotten worse and worse over the years until today hardly anything is off limits. And what is even worse is the fact that over the years the constant association with the sinful culture of our society has caused the average citizen to become desensitized to the shock and alarm of being drawn away from living a good moral life in subjection to the authority of God. And what is even worse is that a very great number of religious people have been led astray as well.

A disturbing trend that bothers me is what appears to be a lessening of the distasteful nature of sin even within some members of the church of Christ itself. I’m hearing a softening of sin by a claim that we all sin every day and perhaps even every few hours. This has the effect of making sin appear to be “not so bad” if Christians are constantly involved in sin all the time. After all, we are approved by God and we are saved. If we are free to be involved in sin constantly and God still approves of us and saves us any way in spite of this constant sinning, then sin must not really be so bad. This mindset is taken, partly, from;

Romans 3:23 (NKJV)

            23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

Notice that this verse says, “All have sinned”, and it does not say that “all are sinning constantly” after they are saved. The context of this verse is about the comparison between the Jew under the law, and the Gentiles who were not under the law and the equality they have because of the blood of Christ. This is not justifying sin and it is not talking about the condition of the Christian who has been saved.

God does not approve of sin and those who are sinning constantly are in danger of not being saved at all. The Bible does not describe Christians as sinners. Christians have been cleansed and made free of sin by the blood of Christ. When we are properly baptized into Christ’s blood we are sanctified and cleansed and we become Holy people of God. We are forgiven of all past sins and the blood of Christ keeps on keeping us clean and forgiven as long as we continually walk in the light, trying to live a proper Christian life. Look at these Scriptures;

Romans 6:1-7 (KJV)

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from           the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Sin is not to be a part of a Christian’s life.

Is it impossible for a Christian to sin? No, not at all.

Verse 6 tells us that we should no longer serve sin but it does not say that we cannot sin. It is still possible for any Christian to become unfaithful and to fall away from salvation because sin becomes out of control in his life.

But for the Christian who continues to be faithful and who walks in the light with a pure heart and does all he can to be faithful to God, if he sins unexpected or ignorantly, the blood of Christ continually cleanses him from all sin. This man is not to be called a sinner, he is Holy and Sanctified by God. I feel confident that most of us are in this category.

And in addition, read this;

1 John 1:6-7 (NKJV)

6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice    the truth.

7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the    blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

We should not be calling our fellow Christians “sinners”. This is not how the Bible tells us to address Holy and Sanctified things.

Acts 10:15 (NKJV)

15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call             common.”

            But accusing members of the church of Christ of being sinners has not been instigated by accident. It may not seem like it on the surface but there is misguided reasoning behind this. While visiting in a Bible class at a church of Christ, I heard a comment made by one of the young men of the congregation about members of the church and members of the denominational religions of the world.

His comment was, “How can we act so arrogant toward the religious people in other churches? What makes us think that our sin is any better than theirs? We are all filled with sin because we sin constantly so what makes us think we are better than them?” 

This is where this mindset is leading us. If it is true that we are sinning constantly and we are sinners like everyone else, then this young man was right. We are no better than them.

But our people are not like that. If there are those in the church who are still serving sin, then I would question their commitment to Christ. There may be some like that, but not most of us. A great majority of the members of the church of Christ are faithful Christians and are trying to walk in the light. They deserve to be called Holy.

Carl O. Cooper

Women’s Role in Teaching Men

By Carl O. Cooper

1 Timothy 2:8-10 (KJV)

8 I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and    sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.

Now you really wouldn’t think that there would be any reason to try to make these verses say anything more than what you can easily see that they are telling us. Look at what they say, and try your best not to put any personal predetermined bias on what they mean.

Verse 8 is telling us that anywhere and everywhere you find men and women gathered together and a prayer is offered to God, the men should do the praying. They should offer the prayer without anger in their hearts and with “Holy Hands”. In other words, they should be faithful Christian men whose hands are not covered with sin and anger and they should be men of faith. In reality, this should cover all faithful Christian men of the church.

Where is everywhere? If you look up the Greek, you could substitute the words “all”, “in every place”, “on every coast”, and other words that mean “all inclusive”. Of course, common sense and logic would tell us it is only where men and women are gathered together, otherwise there might not be any men there to lead the prayer. This could be a worship assembly, or a PTA meeting, a sports event, a picnic and many other places where a prayer might be given where men and women are gathered together.

Now that’s pretty simple, you say. So why would anyone want to change that.

Here is what is at stake in the explanation of these verses. It’s all about verse 12. In order to soften the restrictions placed on women in verse 12, about women teaching men, and allow women to teach and evangelize men in every place but the public worship service, the context of 1 Timothy 2 must be fixed to only the public worship service of the church. Do you get that explanation when you read verse 8? Is the context of these verses only about prayer at a public worship service? I dare say that you would never read that explanation into these verses by yourself.

But the dilemma is this, to some. There are women out there who are perfectly capable of leading prayers and teaching men better that most men. But the Bible restricts the role of women in these areas. There are many people who would like to see this prohibition on women lifted or at the least softened in order to broaden the role of women and allow them more freedom to participate in teaching and evangelizing men. So how can we “explain” these verses to set the context to the worship service only?

Some would say that “Because a public prayer is mentioned then the context of the verses has to be a public worship service”. They reason that the only place where public prayers are given would be a public worship service of the church. But you and I know this is not the case. The worship service of the church is by no means the only place a Christian might lead a public prayer. There are many places and we have already mentioned several of them. And let us not forget the words used “Every Place”. I think we have to admit that this covers much more that a “worship service” only.

You would think that the words in verse 8 would be enough to settle the question of the context of the place where the Apostle Paul is telling the women that their role does not include teaching men and leading prayers. But verse 9 needs to be considered in our study as well. For you see, verse 9 also addresses the context of this chapter as to the place where this restriction on women would be expected to be followed. Look again at verse 9.

1 Timothy 2:9

9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and    sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

The dilemma is this, to some. If the context of verse 8 is “everywhere”, then women should adorn themselves “in modest apparel, with shamefacedness”, everywhere. But if you want the context of chapter 2 to be a “worship service only”, you would have to make verse 9 agree with your explanation and so you will need to restrict “modest apparel” and “shamefacedness” to a worship service only. It’s not so easy to do, is it? If you allow “modest apparel” to be needed “everywhere” then your argument for setting the context to a “worship service only” is compromised and is not credible.

If you look up the Greek words that have been translated “modest” and “shamefacedness” you will find that, just like many English words, they can have more than one meaning depending on the context where they are used. The word translated modest could mean, “Modest by the standards of what is morally pure and decent”, and it could also mean “modest by the standards of what is socially acceptable”. If we only had the word “modest” I think we would still know without doubt that the context of these verses is placed “anywhere, everywhere, and all places”. But we also have the word “shamefacedness”. Do I really need to give an explanation for this word? The Greek word translated shamefacedness is referring to the standards of “what is morally pure and decent”. The meanings have to do with a woman who would dress in such a way that her eyes would have to be cast toward the ground in the presence of men. She would be ashamed to show her face in the presence of men because of improper dress. Somehow, I think this would be much harder today for women to do as compared to the women of the Apostle Paul’s day.

But the part about modesty by the standards of what is pure and decent is not the only thing about women’s dress that Paul references in this verse 9. Paul also gives instruction to a woman who would dress in such a way as to try to be on a much higher social plane than the other Christian women around them. This has always been the case with Christians and it applies to Christian men as well as to Christian women. Look at Matt. 23:5

Matthew 23:5 

5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and   enlarge the borders of their garments,

6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

We might also want to point out here that this dress and this image are not acceptable with God, anywhere. Nothing about this dress can be said to “set this context” at a worship service of the church.

Carl O. Cooper

DISORDERS WITH-IN THE CHURCH

By Carl O. Cooper

People are attracted to the church for many reasons. Some come seeking God out of pure and honest hearts with a sincere desire to please Him and to worship Him and to do what God has asked them to do. These people come to services with the intent to worship God in spirit and in truth and are there with humble hearts and a Godly fear that produces reverence and respect for the environment and religious things. They are not there to design a worship service that pleases them but are there to give worship to God in a way that pleases Him.

There are other reasons why people attend church. Some are there out of superstitious fear, and some are there seeking relief. Those who are there because of a superstitious fear tend to be carried about by any and every kind of tangent you can imagine. Whatever new thing that comes along can capture them and lead them astray. Superstition tends to invent doctrine at will. Imagination produces thoughts and revelations that are credited to a direct revelation from God and as such become infallible. How can you argue with a direct revelation from God? This overrides Bible and doctrine and commands revealed long ago through scripture. How could you go wrong if you followed God’s personal instructions revealed to you through the imaginations of your mind? This person is almost impossible to teach because they are already convinced that God is sending a special message personally to them.

And then there is the person seeking relief. The person who seeks out religion, with an emotional or mental disorder, looking for relief can sometimes be dangerous to the church. And I say dangerous because they are responsible for dangerous doctrines and church splits and problems all over the brotherhood. Have you ever considered how many people are in the church with disorders of some nature that influence the decisions and actions they take? I doubt that you have, most people would never consider it, but we should. The number will stager you when it comes to light. And many are in leadership positions.

Disorders come in many forms. Some visible and obvious and others subtle and unrecognizable. There are disorders that are so debilitating that a person cannot function and there are disorders that go unnoticed. And there are disorders that are everywhere in between. There are disorders of anxiety that are mild and not so severe and anxiety that is so severe as to create panic attacks and great fear in the mind of the person affected. Some are so severe that people can hardly function because of them. There are behavioral disorders that create all manor of behavior in individuals. From sexual disorders like addiction to pornography and sexual misbehavior, to marriage break ups. There is lying, cheating, stealing, lack of conscience and every imagination of misbehavior you can conceive caused by disorders of people among those you know. All disorders do not produce behavioral problems that are noticed. Some are under the surface and are only known by the person who is affected and perhaps those who are close, and some are only known by the person affected alone. Others, perhaps, are not known at all.

People with disorders have great needs and they are looking for relief. In a search for relief, a great number of these people gravitate to religion hoping to find something, anything, that will help them in their struggle in life. Some religious groups cater to these needs and use this as an evangelizing tool to draw these people into the church in large groups. There they grope and struggle for the relief they seek. And as time goes on they soon realize that what they seek is not there, at least in many cases it is not there. There are legitimate cases where service to God is the very therapy these people need and gives them a redirected purpose in life. The alcoholic, for example, can hardly escape the clutches of his addiction without a faith in God to help him overcome. This happens in lots of cases and is not to be minimized as very worthwhile and good.

The problem for the church comes into focus when the relief does not come as anticipated and expected and hoped for, to the person with the troubled emotions. After a time with no relief, it is common for these people to blame the church, it’s programs, and it’s leaders for what they see as a  failure to work in their lives. This usually becomes noticed first in common words and phrases that is somewhat of a code that is substituted for the true meanings and feelings of what is going on. Phrases like, “my spiritual needs are not being met”, and “I am not getting enough out of the worship service”, and “the worship service is dead and not lifting me up”, and many others are commonly used. What they are really saying is, “My emotional problems are still there, and I have found no relief”. At this point, many seek to change the church. If what we have is not working for me, then let’s change something, becomes the cry. Change the worship service, or the programs, or the preacher, or something, is the desperate cry. The people are definitely sincere and highly motivated to change. Desperation causes sincere motivation.

I have checked statistics of the average population with mental and emotional disorders that cause behavior modification, and the population within the church is high. According to one source who is considered an expert in the field of physiological and behavior disorders and has many years in the field, the numbers found in the church are higher than in the normal population. This personality is drawn to religion seeking comfort and relief. An accepted statistic is 30%. To the average person who has not given this much thought, this is high. However, if you have had any experience with someone you know, such as a child or a relative who has a problem, you quickly learn to recognize the symptoms. This figure was recently qualified and reestablished by a medical doctor who is respected and recognized as a credible expert in his profession. These numbers include but are not limited to, those with bi-polar and chemical imbalance disorders, and those with anxiety and panic disorders, as well as many other problems. If you add to this number those who are troubled with minor and non debilitating compulsive behavior disorders, and such things as minor anxiety and emotional disorders, then the number may be higher. Of course, there are also temporary emotional problems that influence behavior, such as grief and fear. The end result of this is, the problems people face in their personal lives influence their behavior and as such can cause problems within the church. Very few people in the church who are being led into church disputes and changes would ever guess that they are being led and directed by someone who has a mental or emotional disorder that is fueling their dissatisfaction with the status quo.

What do we do about this….??? Good question. In the first place, not many people who have this problem will  admit it. In fact, they will hide it from you and themselves as well. And the desire to cover it up will override many other things in their life. They will likely not take advise or instruction and will most likely view this effort on anyone’s part as criticizing them rather than advising or instructing or teaching. If you attempted to intervene, you would be challenged and disrespected for your efforts. An example of this type behavior is found among people with reading disorders. In many cases, people who cannot read go to great lengths to cover up this disorder and prevent others from being aware that they cannot read. This type person can set with others in a crowded restaurant and order without ever reading the menu and exposing the fact that he cannot read it. To be exposed and discovered is to be avoided at all costs.

I have exposed this problem and brought it out into the light to be examined and considered. Now, who among us is wise enough to propose a solution..?

Carl O. Cooper