[7th file of 7] AFTERWORD These first 36 articles are based on the references in the original Navigator's 108 reference Topical Memory System. This first volume of articles reflects on and hopefully applies all three "packs" of the Wheel and the Gospel. I added three and left out one. A military veteran Navigator friend whom I met at Georgia State University had started on the Old TMS before it was discontinued, and shared the outline of references with me, probably in 1971. (Thanks, Joey!) I've been thinking over these references, more or less in this order, rather frequently since then, along with the rest of my studies in the Word. I have never been formally associated with the Navigators, nor been to any meeting of Navs, but I gratefully acknowledge the impact that they have had on my life and ministry, especially Dawson Trotman's address "The Need of the Hour". Father, I ask You to convey my grateful thanks to my brother "Daws" awaiting the day when I can meet him and thank him for myself. I'm planning on two more similar volumes dealing with "Promised Blessings" & "Challenge", and then "Resources" & "Expected Fruit". My concept behind sharing in mass media the promises and commands (and rebukes) addressed to Christians is "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord!" Evangelism is the preaching of Good News. Certainly we must rebuke sin and show the need of a Savior. We also need to brag about how wonderful our Savior is, how exciting and fulfilling the Christian life is, and how satisfying it is to serve our King. "O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together!" [Here's some "Baker's Dozen"-type stuff from the notebook. I hope that you enjoy it, and pray that you may find it edifying and useful.] GIDEON I saw on a news broadcast that the Anti-Defamation League objected to the New Testaments being distributed by the Gideons, an interdenominational businessmen's organization, to students near a Gwinett County [GA] elementary school. I'd like to point out, first, that the Gideons were not in the school, but nearby on the sidewalk, passing out the little Testaments only to the children who came up to take them voluntarily. Second, there was no denominational or sectarian comment in the little books, only the text of the King James (Authorized) Version of the New Testament. Third, the presence of the Gideons outside the school and away from school property does not imply any support or approval by the school board. Fourth, while some would consider the school had some responsibility to protect children from drug-dealers and kidnappers on or near campus, I ask, is it necessary to protect children from businessmen who used to be welcomed into schools with presentation assemblies? Fifth, the English Bible, especially in the King James Version, is recognized as a literary masterpiece that has shaped our language and our allusions since its first publication to the present. Isn't it historically and literarily significant to know the source of so much of our linguistic heritage? Sixth, although the Supreme Court may have overlooked this, the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the FREEDOM of religion, and that the federal government is prohibited from interfering with its free exercise. The Federal Government, but not the states, was prohibited from establishing any religion or denomination as the official one for the country. The states were free to have established churches and to require membership in good standing in order to be an elected official. "Separation between Church and State" is a provision of the Soviet constitution, but that phrase does not occur in the constitution of the United States of America. Whose constitution are we going by, anyway? Seventh, why is the Anti-Defamation League upset? If Doctor Luke was a Hellenistic Jew, the entire New Testament was written by Jews who had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel. Certainly the ADL disagrees with this, but there is NOTHING in the text of the New Testament that defames or denigrates or dishonors Jews or in any way suggests or justifies anti-Semitism. I freely confess that I am a believer in Jesus as Messiah and King, and I accept the entire Bible, a thoroughly Jewish book, as God's inspired message to mankind. I am VERY proud of the fact that my father, C.Cotton Price, is an active Gideon. In an age when sexual perverts are coming out of the closet and clamoring for preferential treatment under affirmative action laws, I refuse to go into the closet because I am a Bible-lover. The Bible is at least a very important part of our culture, and should be read by every person who claims to be educated. I don't think that responsible and upstanding Christian businessmen should be treated like neighborhood drug pushers. Clyde C. Price, Jr. Red Oak, Georgia "STAMP IT" I. Thunk-thud, Thunk-thud, Thunk-thud. I spend a lot of time stamping things. I stamp product information and reprinted health articles for handouts and bag stuffers so my customers will know where to come back and buy more good stuff. I put my personal stamp, or my signature and phone number or both, on over a thousand tracts, booklets and Scripture portions a year so that there will be a channel from the people who receive them back to a living, listening human being, if they want it. In fifteen years, I have only had two people ever call me back from literature I had given out. An old praying mother needed someone to pick up her middle aged son from jail, and wanted somebody who had spoken with him about the Lord. I did it. Another time, a woman wanted to talk to somebody at 3 am one night. I listened to her, and told her that God had a way out for her. For all the thousands of other people who have received those gospel leaflets and booklets, they have not simply taken an anonymous fingerprint-free piece of Madison Avenue propaganda. CLYDE PRICE PERSONALLY ENDORSES THIS MESSAGE. I hope that's worth something. II. God can use His Word in printed form, or broadcast, or recorded, or any other less personal method. Those other media are NOT bad, and NOT inferior, and should not be abandoned or avoided; but the most God-honored medium in history is tell-a-person. When I use tracts, I try to give the printed message along with a spoken "plug": "This little booklet is an outline presentation about how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" or "...about how to receive the gift of eternal life." Or, "This is the Gospel of John from the New Testament in plain English, and [pointing to my stamp] that's me." I have spent many hours copying out sections of Scripture by hand onto bookmarks for love-gifts to people going on certain kinds of spiritual retreats. I feel that when I HAND-COPY Scripture FOR another person, that I am personally endorsing and adopting God's Word as MY MESSAGE TOO to the other person. The apostle Paul spoke of "MY gospel". Well, it's MINE too. I HEARD the invitations to "TASTE and see that the Lord is good" and to DRINK of the living water that really SATISFIES. And even though I'm not a celebrity, I'm a "satisfied customer" and I am eager to give my personal "testimonial." The Gospel is GOOD NEWS. Jesus is GOOD. Clyde Price says so, too. [I wrote this when I was working in a health food store. --cp] "DILUTED" An introduction to homeopathic remedies said that the father of modern homeopathy treated an illness by taking certain herbs or minerals and DILUTING them. He concluded that the more DILUTED they were, the more effective they were. I strongly suspect that there are limits to this kind of reasoning, but I started thinking about treating people with the Word. Sometimes a hunk of straight, undiluted Scripture is hard for an individual to digest, especially if he lacks the required adult enzymes necessary for strong meat. Maybe "preaching" the Word involves rephrasing, illustrating, explaining Truth --"watering down" without changing content-- into a medicinal solution or "milk" that the patient can digest. It feels funny to compare a preacher to a homeopathic doctor or a nursing momma. Clyde Price BANKRUPTCY Bankruptcy entails a release of all or certain debts without the necessary consent of the creditor. In one sense, it violates the principle of paying back debts when a person is able to pay (Proverbs 3:28). On the other hand, the nation of Israel had a limitation on debts such that every seven years all Israelite debts were cancelled. No term of payment exceeded seven years, and debts incurred late in the cycle were still released at the end of the seven year cycle. This enabled an Israelite of limited means and perhaps difficult circumstances to make a fresh start after a maximum of seven years of debt or of indentured servitude (Deuteronomy 15:1ff.). This was one of God's gracious provisions for His people under the covenant of grace. It did not extend generally to foreigners. For a society which does not have such a provision, it is not my opinion that Christians should legislate one. The Lord Jesus Christ teaches that Christians should lend freely without expecting to receive anything back in return; this presupposes a readiness to forgive the debt before the debt is incurred. (Matthew 5:42; Luke 6:34-36) In recent times, bankruptcy has become much more easily obtained and much more respectable, to the extent that many people who actually could pay back all or most of their debts are filing bankruptcy under the liberalized loopholes which allow the filing party to keep most of his or her personal property and pay back little or nothing to the creditors. This amounts to stealing. The assumption of debt directly incurs commitment to pay it. For a Christian, this involves fulfilling his word, a very important aspect of maintaining the credibility of the gospel before the world. (cf. Psalms 15:4-5, the man who swears to his own hurt and does not change.) It is my opinion and contention that no Christian should seek bankruptcy at any time, and especially never personal bankruptcy. All other possible means of settlement should be exhausted, and "all things are possible with God." (Matthew 19:26) Clyde C. Price, Jr. [This brief paper was written as an assignment for Christian Principles of Finance, a course at the Atlanta School of Biblical Studies, an evangelical and Reformed seminary and Bible college in Atlanta which emphasizes the practical training of Christian workers in an urban setting. Write for a free catalog and schedule to: ASBS, P.O.Box 150, Avondale Estates, GA 30002 USA.] WELFARE The nation of Israel was instructed by God to provide for the needy of the land by the practice of leaving "gleanings" in the fields for the poor and the needy. The fields were not reaped to the very corners, nor meticulously picked up, and neglected sheaves were deliberately to be left behind. This system had several advantages. It required no government bureaucracy to maintain or administrate it. It effectively scattered the needy throughout the land instead of concentrating them in the cities. It put the able-bodied needy into contact with landowners who could use agricultural manual labor. God gave special commands to care for the orphans and the widows, not to mistreat them and to provide for their needs. (Exodus 22:22, Deuteronomy 14:28-29) These concerns are reiterated in the New Covenant as obligations of charitable action by believers (James 1:27, I_Timothy 5:3-16), and limited to those who are unable to work productively (II Thessalonians 3:10). The welfare system in the United States of America encourages unemployment of able-bodied people who otherwise would have to seek gainful employment. It positively discourages marriage and encourages illegitimate births; and it encourages concentration of welfare recipients in urban areas. If the Biblical concept of poverty is the lack of sufficient food, clothing and shelter, then only a very small number of people in this country are in poverty. The responsibilities which God gave to human government do not include support of an indigent class of people who find the dole easier than gainful employment. Welfare in this country is an unnecessary and unfair burden on the middle- class tax-paying worker who directly or indirectly pays almost all the taxes in this country. Clyde C. Price, Jr. [This brief paper was written some time ago, before the explosive growth of the problem of homelessness, which is an issue different from the one addressed here. It was an assignment for Christian Principles of Finance, a course at the Atlanta School of Biblical Studies.] "HEALTH FOOD NUT" I'm not a "health-food nut", really. I had problems, and looked around for things that would help. I found some. I've cut out and cut down on some things and added in a lot of others. With every meal I take a handful of pills and capsules and tablets and none of them "drugs", and all of them either food or food-stuff. I've recently found out about a whole area of foods that I had been eating that had been clouding my mind and sapping my energy. If I cut them out completely, it will be VERY hard to eat out or have dinner with friends, and I'm sure some people will call me a "health food fanatic." Am I a fanatic because I want a clear mind and energy to do my work? Am I a "nut" because I want to be healthy? Clyde Price TAG Please share this collection widely, and share printouts or separate ASCII files of either the whole thing or articles that you particularly like with other people who produce newsletters, advertisements and tracts. (The program LIST for IBM-compatible machines makes printing out portions very easy.) I shared several of these articles into the message bases of BBSs before issuing the collection. If my name and address show up too often, please consider that, especially in the "extra" material beyond the 36 articles in the main collection, this is a collage of small pieces I wrote for separate release. Although I realize that the compiled and compressed form will be easier for use by MS-DOS users, I hope that provisions will be made for "little guys" with smaller-RAM machines, like the ones I used initially to create these files. Other collections include ARROWS and SCRAPS, with SONRISE, a 31-day devotional "on the way", other collections of my stuff in the works, and ASCII editions of uncopyrighted Christian classics being shared primarily through BBSs. I'm a writer and speaker, a (so-far) unordained Bible teacher, presently a member of a Bible-believing Presbyterian church, and graduate of Georgia State University (BA, Journalism, BA Classics) and of the Atlanta School of Biblical Studies (M.Div.). I'm engaging in "tentmaking" business enterprises based in the Atlanta area related to nutrition and energy conservation, and I'm available by schedule to come and preach/teach/sing/visit, etc. I'm presently (1990) raising support for a part-time support-staff position with Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship as a staff writer helping our workers communicate with each other and their "Adoptive Families", helping our workers to document their own ministries and to develop new evangelistic and ministry-training materials. I would welcome your participation in my praying and giving "Adoptive Family" in this editorial-documentary-&-"public relations" work of serving other servants of the Lord. Please write to me directly concerning my writing ministry with PEF and news about what's happening in that exciting fellowship of ministries. I invite you to call or write to find out about other Christian material available on electronic media, and other news of interest to Christians who use computers. The Atlanta Christian Technology Society would like to send you a free newsletter. Just write: ACTS, P.O.Box 922023, Norcross, GA 30092. Our "home" bulletin board system is the Christian Broadcasting Network BBS (404) 636-9869. I ask you to PRAY for the continuing anointing of God on my ministry, the fire my personal walk with Him, and my physical health. This is not just pious closing talk: I want and need your prayers. May God bless you richly as you seek to know Him deeply and make Him known widely. May our Triune God make you abundantly fruitful in the Gospel! His, Clyde. [end of 7th file of 7]