Robertson L. Whiteside

“ Much is said these days about modernism and fundamentalism. I hope to be allowed to live in a modern world without being called a “modernist” and to hold to fundamental truths without being dubbed a “fundamentalist.” These “fundamentalists” have formed a program for the Lord, mixed in a few truths, and named the mixture “fundamentalism,” and its advocates “fundamentalists.” If their theory is as old as the Bible, why the new names for it and its advocates? Old ideas and doctrines do not require new names: anything new requires a new name. ”

“ Some of the foremost scientists recognize the limitations of science and are firm believers in the Bible. PREACH THE WORD. No known truth contradicts the Bible.
But why preach the word? Why did the early Christians preach the word in the face of such fiery persecution? Why did Paul, then about to be put to death for preaching the word, urge upon his beloved Timothy a course of action that was bound to bring suffering? Why do we now sacrifice that the word may be preached? We notice some reasons why the word should be preached.
The word of God is the seed of the kingdom. ”

“ When a man seeks to prove by the prophets that the Jews are yet to be restored to Palestine, that Christ is yet to be placed on David’s throne, that the new covenant is yet to be established, that Christ is to be a world ruler with the Jews as 185 citizens of his kingdom and all others as serfs, that the Gentiles were to be blessed only through restored Israel and in subservience to Israel, that Christ is now seeking to convert and train only enough people to supply the needed number of rulers for a future kingdom, is he speculating about unfulfilled prophecy? ”

“ God, Christ, truth, sin, salvation, duty, destiny—these never grow old. There is something wrong with one who thinks any Bible theme is old or out of date. If there were a cure for all fleshly ailments, would it ever be “out of date”? Would any sufferer say of it, “O, that is too old for this progressive age”? But there is no such cure known to man.
But man has a nature more important and enduring than his flesh, and ailments more far reaching in their results than any fleshly ills. And the gospel of Christ is a sure cure for all spiritual and moral ills. ”

“ Christianity is the end of the ages—it is the last. Yet the future-kingdom advocates would have us believe that Paul was mistaken; that Christianity is not the end of the ages, but there will be at least two more ages. But Paul, being inspired, was right, and Christianity is the end of the ages. ”

“ As long as there are moral evils to be corrected, sins to be forgiven, sinners to be saved, and downtrodden and discouraged to be inspirited, sorrowing hearts to be comforted, just that long will the gospel be fresh and “up to date.” And what else is up to date?
We have made great advancement in material things, but these do not meet the needs of the soul. Science has made great strides in material things, but it has no remedy for sin and crime. In fact, it has put forces into the hands of the world that the world does not know what to do with. ”

“ We gave reasons why Christianity, or the kingdom of Christ, could not be developed till he received all authority in heaven and earth—till he received the kingdom and government of the universe.” “The kingdom has come, and the king has been on the throne of David now more than eighteen hundred years: still, myriads are yet praying, ‘Thy kingdom come’!” ”

“ No one thinks of Christ as a Jew with a Jew’s narrow nationalistic traits, but as a world savior. That he so often referred to himself as the Son of man, and not as a Jew, is more significant than many think. It sets him before us as equally related to all men and as equally interested in all men. Jehovah is not a tribal God and Jesus is not a tribal king, as most of the future-kingdom folks seem to believe. ”

“ Those who contend for a direct operation of the Spirit in regeneration base their contention on the fact that the sinner is dead. It is claimed that dead sinners must be made alive by this direct work of the Spirit before they can obey the Lord. This is the heart of their contention. Grant their premise, does their conclusion follow? Is the sinner’s heart any deader than the soil into which the farmer sows his seed? The farmer knows that the life inherent in the seed is able to transform dead soil into a living, growing plant. ”

“ If a theory contradicts itself, we should be excused if we contradict the theory. Both angles of this theory cannot be true, and no man can put these angles together in such a way as to make the theory look good to one who knows that God’s truth is in perfect harmony with itself. ”

“ To say that a certain thing is both a privilege and a duty is about as sensible as to say that a certain thing is both black and white. To be baptized, to attend the Lord’s-day worship, to give, to study God’s word, and to obey all other commands are duties, and are not privileges in any proper sense of the word. ”

“ The service of God in this life is the school in which we learn obedience; we must learn to serve here, or we will not have the joy of service over there. “He that sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them.” ”

“ So long as they cannot afford to affirm that they have arrived at ultimate truth, how can they with honor say that science disproves the Bible? Besides, if the Bible fully agreed with the scientific theories of one age, it would not agree with the theories of the next age. The Bible is unchangeable and cannot keep up agreement with that which constantly changes. ”

“ Grubbing up false doctrines and unscriptural practices is as essential as grubbing up noxious growths in the field, but a farmer can impoverish himself by putting in all his time grubbing. And the man who puts in all his time in opposing false doctrine and exposing wrong practices will impoverish his character. The fundamental doctrine, or teaching, is the framework around which the Christian character is built. ”

“ In its broadest sense the church is that body of people who have been called out of sin into the service of Christ. As Jesus rules over this body of people, it is his kingdom.
“Now when John heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent his disciples, and said unto him, art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?” In similar fashion let us ask, Is Christianity the scheme of redemption that was to come, or look we for another? The future-kingdom advocates have answered, No, we must look for another. ”

“ The word produces plants in the spiritual kingdom just as seed produces plants in the vegetable kingdom. If this be not so, then no one can tell what the Savior meant to teach by this parable.
Life is in the word just as life is in any other seed. If the seed be not planted, life will not spring up. No matter how well the soil may be prepared, there will be no life there till the seed be planted. No matter how much the heart may be prepared by education, culture, sorrow, or whatever may come, there will be no spiritual life in the heart till the seed—the word of God—is planted there. ”

“ Paul’s language shows clearly that the promised seed of Abraham was none other than Christ Jesus. It is a perversion of the promise to make it refer to all fleshly children of Abraham or to those who are children by faith. Christians are blessings to others only as they allow Christ to use them as his instruments.
Universalists use the promise to Abraham in an effort to prove that all people will be saved, but they ignore the conditionality of promises. ”

“ Instead of recognizing that God was working out through them his plan for the redemption of the world, the Jews concluded God cared for no other people. The promise to Abraham and their own prophets should have taught them the truth, but they were too much wrapped up in themselves to see the truth.
From the things we learn from God’s dealings with nations, it can be safely said that no nation falls so long as it serves a purpose in God’s plans. ”

“ How could that be, unless he disregards baptism entirely? Just so in regard to the return of our Lord; it is either before the millennium, that is, premillennial, or it is after it, that is, postmillennial. Whoever disavows the event of his coming until the close of the millennium, whoever puts the millennium anywhere preceding the coming, is a postmillennialist, whatever he disavows or denies.
Just because the Lord Jesus may come at any time, and because it is an event he has commanded us to watch for and to pray about, I dare not put a thousand years between me and the fulfillment. ”

“ Hence when a man considers facts and trends and draws a conclusion as to what will be the outcome, that is prediction. Did Bible prophecies originate that way? No; “... knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet 1:19-21) .
Verse 21 really explains verse 20. Prophecy was never a forecast of events based on conditions and trends of the times; it was not a private interpretation of the culmination of trends. ”

“ We would expect infidels to argue that inspired men taught things that turned out not to be true. But the idea is so abhorrent to any one who believes in the infallibility of the Holy Spirit and the absolute truthfulness of everything he taught that it seems that no one could for a moment regard it as a harmless guess or as a matter about which we need not be concerned. However, if the apostles did teach such doctrine, we will have to acknowledge that they did, even though it leads us to discredit the certainty of their teaching. ”

“ For as much as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. ”

“ People raise questions that, in various ways, reflect on God. Being the all-wise God, he knew that the Jews would not all accept Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus himself said that only a few would find the narrow way. Paul showed that the prophets taught that only a remnant of Israel would be saved. (See Rom. 10:16-21; 11:1-10.) But what gives rise to such questions? It grows out of the new speculation that Jesus came to establish an earthly kingdom, or rather to restore the kingdom of Israel, but failed in his purpose because the Jews rejected him. ”

“ To say that his plans did not work out as he intended is equal to saying that the things he foretold through the prophets turned out to be false. If it be replied that the prophets said nothing about what some call “the church age,” it only shows that some people have read the Scriptures with little profit. The evidence is abundant that the apostles and other inspired preachers and writers taught that Christianity, or the gospel plan of salvation, is exactly what the prophets foretold. On Pentecost, Peter referred to certain prophecies as fulfilled on that day. ”

“ When God called Israel out of Egypt, he said to them: “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be mine own possession from among all peoples: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” (Ex. 19:5, 6.) For a long period of time after they settled in Canaan they had no king but Jehovah; they were, therefore, Jehovah’s kingdom. But there came a time when they wanted a change; they wanted a centralized government, with a man as their king. At that time they had an excuse for demanding a king. ”

“ In Isaiah’s day the people of Judah had become very corrupt, and were growing worse. To these people Jehovah said: “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward.” ”

“ It is astonishing that commentators have overlooked this plain fact. The disciples referred to his coming in judgment on Jerusalem. The tribulation was the suffering of the Jews when the Romans destroyed their nation and Jerusalem. The temple was utterly destroyed. The Jewish nation ended; darkness and gloom settled down over the people. The fulfillment of what Jesus had said was a sign that he was what he claimed to be—that the Son of man was also the Christ, the Son of God. ”

“ A word may have several meanings, but it cannot have two meanings at one and the same time. As some of the disciples then living were to see Jesus coming in his kingdom and the Sanhedrin were to see him sitting on the right hand of power, the Lord came in his kingdom during the lifetime of these people. ”