Author: Hafley, Larry Ray

As noted, we both cannot be right before God. One of us is wrong, eternally wrong. We will be judged by the word of God. Accordingly, I am willing for that word to be the standard, the pattern, by which we are to live (2 Thess. 2:15; 2 Tim. 1:13; Heb. 8:5). If you have the truth, you should have no trouble showing us the error of our ways. You are obligated to do so (Ezek. 3:17-21; Acts 20:26, 27).

As noted earlier, Mr. Cryer said, “Some are telling folks that if they get baptized they are saved. The ‘water baptism path’ is a lie straight from the pits of Hell.” Mr. Cryer, if a Baptist preacher were to preach the very words of Jesus, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” would it be “a lie straight from the pits of Hell”? If not, what would it be? If a Baptist preacher told sinners to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,” would that be “a lie straight from the pits of Hell”? If not, what would it be?

Jesus knew and recognized the difference between His Father and the Holy Spirit. “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my (Jesus’) name, he (the Comforter, the Holy Spirit) shall bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I (Jesus) have said unto you” (Jn. 14:26). “The Comforter,” the “Holy Spirit” was sent “from the Father” (Jn.15:26). Thus, Jesus (if language means anything at all) made a distinction between the Father and the Holy Spirit.

This article deals with the question as to persons in the godhead. Brother Hafley affirms in the face of Oneness Pentecostal opposition that: The Scriptures teach that there are three separate and distinct persons in the Godhead; namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Someone must convince me that natural revelation is a revelation of God’s “will.” That it manifests his glory, greatness, grandeur, and Godhood, I doubt not, but does it make known his will? “I trow not.”

Let none think that because we declare what the Lord said–“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved”–that we are denying that salvation is by grace through faith [Ephesians 2:8, 9]. We are not.

Frankly, the non-controversial, non-combative, non-confrontational approach to preaching is cause for alarm. Often, though certainly not always, such a spirit resides within those who are liberal minded and who have no respect for “the good fight of faith” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; 1 Timothy 6:12; Jude 3). Not being sure that error condemns, and not being convinced that denominationalism is not of God, some have begun to sympathize with false teachers and apologize for those who oppose and expose them.

A brother recently sent me an article, titled Starr’s Church of Christ, penned by H. John Rogers, a liberal lawyer who evidently moonlights as a Methodist minister. This brother requested that we offer a response to Mr. Rogers’ rampaging ridicule, and we are happy to oblige. We shall seek to counsel Counsellor Rogers while defending heaven’s wonderful “Counsellor,” whom Mr. Rogers has so egregiously and grievously offended (Isaiah 9:6; 1 Corinthians 8:12).

We will not, therefore, be judged by our Adventist friends. They, however, are condemned by the text of Colossians 2:14-16. This is especially true in view of Galatians 5:1-6. From that text, if one in Christ seeks to be justified by the law: (1) He is entangled in a yoke of bondage; (2) Christ profits him nothing; (3) He is debtor to do the whole law, obligated to keep it all; (4) Christ becomes of no effect unto him; (5) He is “fallen from grace.”

A public confession before the church may not always be the wise, prudent, or scriptural thing to do (Matt. 18:15). Each case must be individually determined. However, one may, at times, confess his sins before the church.

In this increasingly materialistic society, the danger of the home being distorted and moved away from its God designed order is ever apparent. Modern cultural and societal trends are effeminizing men and masculizing women. It is a perversion. Twisted children, whose souls are torn and bent out of their natural state, are what we have to show for a generation which has grown up without a mother in the home to nurture and to nourish, to guide and to govern, and to love and to labor. Indeed, for some there will be hell to pay for their neglect and abandonment of God’s pattern for the home and family relationship.

Those who cringe and apologize for the truth when it is preached and who disclaim and despise those who teach the doctrine of the Lord are not friends of Christ (2 Tim. 1:15; 4:14-16). They who defend the integrity of those who teach error while they use every veiled and hidden slur against those who oppose error are not loyal to the Lord. “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:8).

In other words, if saying that salvation is by the grace of God does not eliminate the love of God and the blood of Jesus, why must faith eliminate repentance, confession, and baptism (Matt. 28:19; Mk. 16:16; Lk. 24:47; Acts 2:38)?

This is the lesson of ancient Israel. Immoral lives of sexual debauchery and riotous drinking parties with music and dancing were a part of the lives of those who had “no knowledge,” and who were not instructed in “doctrinal” truth regarding the word of the Lord (Isa. 5:11-13; Hos. 4:6-11). Will we never learn?

At the baptism of Jesus, we are not confronted with a person and with two manifestations which are not persons. Rather, we have Jesus, one person, being spoken to and addressed as the “beloved Son” of another (second) person (“the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of the Father”– 2 Jn. 3). Then, the Holy Spirit (a third person), in “bodily shape like a dove,” was seen “lighting upon him” (Jesus).

God spoke of those who “will not hear the law of the Lord” (Isa. 30:9-11). He did not say they “could” not; he said they “will not.” Jesus said, “Ye will not come to me that ye might have life” (Jn. 5:40). To those who willed not to come to him, Jesus said, “These things I say, that ye might be saved” (Jn. 5:34). The problem was their “will,” but how could Jesus appeal to them with words “that (they) might be saved,” if he knew their will was impervious to his word?

What we have in this article is the response by Larry Ray Hafley to a Mr. Charles Ellis of the Baptist Church. If this were a formal debate, we would publish both sides of the discussion. However, this is not intended to be in such a format, even though Mr. Ellis is directed and quoted in the article. Our purpose in publishing this is to show the inadequacy of Baptist Doctrine in light of the Word of God. If there is a need for any of this article to be challenged, then we will deal with that as it occurs.

The “rest” of Hebrews 4:1-11 is a promise to be enjoyed, not a command to be kept, or observed. In this, it is parallel to Holy Spirit baptism. The baptism of the Spirit was never a command to be obeyed. Rather, it was a promise which certain ones were to receive (Acts 1:4-8). So, likewise, Hebrews 4:1-11 deals with a promise to be received by certain ones.

Does man have a free will to choose to come to Christ, or must God perform a direct operation of the Spirit on the heart of the sinner to enable him to receive and believe on Christ?

We are sanctified by the blood of Jesus, His blood dedicated the new covenant, the new covenant is based on the heart, on the mind of man. In the new covenant God remembers our sins against us no more. In the new covenant we are not to exhort one another saying, “Know the Lord,” for all of God’s children are to know Him from the least unto the greatest. And while we are not under the law of Moses we are under the law of liberty, under the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. What does this mean? Hear me! Under the law of Moses a man was kept from sin by statute if kept from it at all; such a thing as liberty was not known, not recognized, not dreamed of. Under the Gospel, under Christ with His law written in the heart, and in the conscience-we have liberty!