TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Press on now
___As we watched the events of Sept. 11 and the following rescue efforts, I was reminded of our wartime experiences as missionaries in Vietnam.
___In 1970-71, during our furlough year, I preached a message titled "Witness in Times of Peril." The message seems timely for today.

E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

___During peril, one's faith becomes tested but not shaken, one's work becomes difficult but not impossible, one's fears become real but insignificant and one's rewards become great, although sometimes unseen, as we witness for God.
___Perilous times are upon us again, perhaps more so than ever before. But from experience, let me say, "Now is the time to press on!"
___Our opportunities for witnessing will be greater than we've ever experienced. Let's take advantage of them.
___Baptists from the Northeast and Northwest as well as Germany, Spain and other countries around the world are begging us to come. We must not let fear keep us from answering their call.
___As we prepared to leave for Vietnam in 1966, Baker James Cauthen, executive director of the Foreign Mission Board, said: "Pack your bags. Go ahead and go, because you will see more of God than you will of peril."
___Now is the time when all of us need to look up from our knees and say: "Here am I, Lord, send me. I want to see and experience more of you."
___ Jim Humphries
___ San Marcos

More laborers
___My wife and I serve in an Asian country where it is illegal for some citizens to follow Christ. Since Sept. 11, many have been concerned for my family and me. Ironically, my family and our local Asian church were most concerned about me Sept. 11.
___I had flown into Dulles Airport to help lead a stateside multi-denominational meeting of churches that had adopted the same unreached people group and wanted to discuss how to work more closely together. The meeting, to be held on the East Coast, had to be canceled.
___My wife, still in Asia, received calls of concern from our pastor and other church friends asking if I were safe. While they live under some restrictions as believers, they were more concerned about us. Three years ago, in a nearby country during another very dangerous time, the local believers, who lived under greater threats than we, made a one-hour trip to pray for protection for our family.
___Since this tragedy, applications to the CIA have tripled. 100,000-plus have applied to be air marshals. Christians using chatrooms and bulletin boards discuss questions of justice or fulfillment of prophecies. Almost nothing is written about sending more workers to these fields.
___And so we ask: Who will pray out a "tripling" of laborers to these hard people groups? Who is willing to be sent for a lifetime to these people when the trends say many people today cannot make long-term commitments? Who will support these laborers?
___ A field worker
___ Unreached People Groups, Asia
___ Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

No 'holy war'
___I received an e-mail written by an Afghani describing the personality, plan and method of Osama bin Laden.
___The author lives in the United States, hates bin Laden, but warns that conquering him will be costly and treacherous, because bin Laden desires to unite the Muslim world in a holy war against the west, perhaps fielding as many as 1 billion soldiers. Does anyone remember how many more lives were lost during World War II than during the attack on Pearl Harbor?
___We must not allow any characterization of military action against bin Laden or any other terrorist groups as a "holy war." What war or war leadership may be considered holy--the Crusades, Napoleon, Hitler, the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan?
___We must pray our hearts out and our knees off, but not declare, "God is on our side." People who commit crimes must be caught and punished; those who commit crimes against humanity must face harsher judgment from a broader representation of people groups.
___Pray that bin Laden's and the Taliban's call for a holy war against the west will fall on deaf ears. Then, pray that those guilty will be brought to justice at the least loss of life. Whether we care to admit it right now, Jesus died for terrorists, too.
___ Jim Ekrut
___ Fort Worth

Real tragedy
___It has been suggested God would not punish a nation with tragic events such as what we have just seen. I believe there is some scriptural basis for at least the possibility that God is trying to get our attention.
___Leviticus 18 is clear about sexual perversions and other deviations from God's desire, and unless one is oblivious to the laws and court rulings over the past 10 years, we have seen a once conservative and somewhat moral nation turn into a modern Sodom and Gomorrah.
___Deuteronomy 7:10 says, "Those who hate him (God) he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay those who hate him."
___The Bible also tells us to hate the sin but love the sinner, so if anyone doesn't follow that guideline, they are just as wrong as the sinner.
___God tells us if we will repent and follow his ways, he will heal our nation. Therefore, the only real tragedy that can come out of our recent awful experience would be to treat moral living and Christ-like character as just a good idea rather than God's desire for a blessed nation.
___ Byron Sanford
___ Sour Lake

God of mercy
___Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and I apparently were baptized in different kinds of water--I in the River Jordan and they in the Dead Sea.
___To believe their illogical and unscriptural theology (Sept. 24), we would have to assume God planned the whole strategy of the disaster Sept. 11. He would have recruited fanatical terrorists (who were his enemies) to hijack four airplanes and directed them to commit the greatest tragedy that has ever affected America. No way!
___God has two wills--permissive and purposeful. We agree nothing can happen without his permissive will, but a lot of evil occurs outside his purposeful will.
___The last time I read my Bible, it said God is a God of love and mercy.
___ E.J. Kearney
___ Texarkana

To God's glory
___The Crossing Baptist Church constituted as an autonomous, cooperating church affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas Sept. 23.
___We exist today because Texas Baptists, united under the Texas 2000 vision, committed to start new churches by the year 2000.
___We want to publicly express our thanks, especially to all churches who support the Dallas Baptist Association and the BGCT, and particularly our sponsoring church, Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church, for your financial resources, wise counsel, words of encouragement and faithful prayer support.
___With your help, we have begun to effectively reach the many unchurched families in the Creek Crossing community of southeast Mesquite. You have blessed and strengthened our young congregation in many significant ways, and we proudly join you now in your vision to reach Texas.
___We covet your continued prayers and fellowship as we strive to be good stewards of the kingdom investment you have made--to the glory of God!
___ The Crossing Baptist Church
___ Charlie Brown, pastor
___ Mesquite

Eye-opening
___The article on the Missouri Baptist Convention (Sept. 24) was eye-opening to me, although I have been following peripherally the conservative-moderate debate over the last 20 years.
___Originally, I was sympathetic with the conservative group, but they have become so intractable in demands for uniqueness and conformity, exalting the Bible instead of Christ and a departure from historic positions of tolerance.
___They are destined to represent not the core, but the fringe elements of Baptist life.
___In my opinion, they have become the Baptist Taliban. I am sure they would disagree. I honor their right to do so.
___ Edgar A. Jeffrey
___ Dallas

God is not a pushover
___Lately, TV pastors and others insist Jerry Falwell was wrong and that God would never punish cities like New York and Washington. Yet Ezekiel 8-9 and other books of the Old Testament tell a different story.
___Perhaps God didn’t personally destroy the people, the planes, the towers and the other buildings, but he allowed it to happen--just as Jerry said.
___God is loving and kind to those who love him and keep his commandments, and he gladly forgives those who truly repent. But he is not a pushover. And he hates sin.
___Jesus was kind and gentle when he came the first time--the Lamb of God--because we were and are under grace. But according to the Revelation, when Jesus comes again, he will come as the Lion of the tribe of Judah and be as he was in Ezekiel 8-9.
___ When people say, "My God would never do this or that," I shudder because it sounds as if they have created a god in their minds that is more to their liking than the God of the Bible.
___Like it or not, Jerry Falwell is a man of God, and the Lord is the God of the Bible. Get used to it.
___Molly Bull
___Uvalde

Seminary presidents should have supported faculty
___ Kenneth Hemphill praises the integrity of the professors who left Southwestern Seminary because of their disagreement with parts of the new Baptist Faith & Message (Sept. 24). He also indicates his support for the accountability of the seminary to the churches that support it.
___He did not point out that the churches, through their messengers and leaders at the Southern Baptist Convention, acted wrongly. We forced professors who had been hired under a previous version of the BF&M to agree to new interpretations of Scripture. The way the interpretations on women pastors and the family are expressed in the BF&M has generated honest disagreement even among persons who accept the Bible as truth without error.
___It distresses me deeply that we Baptists have reneged on our original agreement with these professors for the sake of these statements and that none of our seminary presidents had the fortitude to stand up for them and make their case to the denomination and its leaders.
___The professors are clearly in the right, and we should be ashamed for putting them through this.
___I do not question Hemphill’s assertion that the Southwestern faculty is excellent, but this issue does raise legitimate concerns about the future.
___Would you accept a position at an institution knowing that you might be forced to resign because you could not in good conscience support some new interpretation added to the BF&M in future years?
___Stephen B. Pruett
___Bossier City, La.

Editorial sound and clear
___ It is as though Marv Knox overheard my very own despondent remarks in response to Jerry Falwell’s confounding comments (Sept. 24). The editorial was a sound and clear response to the babblings of a very irresponsible ambassador of the Christian faith.
___Mike Rumsey
___Phoenix, Ariz.





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