HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH EZINE

Our object today is not to determine exact dates, etc. but rather to consider what has happened to the Lord's church from 33 A.D. to now. All Bible students are aware of the explicit warnings of the apostasy that would come.(2 Thessalonians 2: 3-4, 1 Timothy 4: 1-3 and Acts 20: 28-30)

We are witnessing today that which was started during the time immediately after the death of the apostles. Beginning in the eldership, some desired more power and others were (apparently) willing to allow them to have it. So over a period of time, some elders usurped authority over the other elders of a congregation, then they began to usurp authority over other congregations, and on and on until it was determined that one man should be placed over the entire Lord's church. At what precise point of this growing apostasy, it became a totally unacceptable entity for God, we are unable to say for sure, however, at the point that the first pope was appointed as the vicar of Christ, we can be assured that the time had long since arrived.

Also, during this period, the church had degenerated spiritually and morally, but had grown very strong numerically. Although sworn to celibacy, some of the early popes married, others kept women without the pretense of marriage. These are the factors which fueled the apostasy, their numbers caused power hungry and greedy men to seek positions of strength and authority. By the time the first pope was appointed, there was corruption and disunity among the hierachy. And, although often unknown to the public in general, this corruption and evil has existed throughout the ages down to this present point in time. They grew to such numbers that they were able in some cases to be the governing power of certain nations and highly influential in the government of others.

Go to the links below and read as many as you can find time for and also read my "MUSINGS OF JOEL" section.

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After almost 2000 years of greed, immorality and heinous crimes (of all types), the Roman Catholic Church now seems to be coming under public scrutiny. But as the frequently used phrase goes, it is too little, too late.

From the time of the great apostasy, they have had bloody and dirty hands. They persecuted, tortured and killed dissidents (as heretics) from the beginning. Faithful Christians were first treated thusly by the Roman government, but the Catholics took over and continued this treatment toward those who were trying to remain faithful.

Not only did they persecute Christians, their hierarchy has been a cesspool of immorality, criminal sexual activity and almost every other thing imaginable. When I was a child, back in the 1930's, my parents told me of a scandal in the Catholic church, where slain babies were found buried under a Convent (or perhaps a church building), some of the newborns were ripped asunder before burial. These were offspring of illicit sexual activities between the priests and nuns.

During my tour of duty in the army during the Korean conflict, perhaps my best friend, was a Catholic, a graduate of Loyola University in Chicago. (One of the Catholic church's most touted schools.) When I confronted him with the above mentioned incident, he did not attempt to justify the slaughter of the infants, but he did try to show that sex between the priests and nuns was scriptural and right since the priests were representatives of Christ and the nuns were representative of the church, the bride of Christ!

They have been masters of cover-ups although there have been numerous unexplained incidents that have caused many questions. And their enormous political and financial powers have kept them from much trouble and publicity over the centuries. I may be wrong, but I have not known of any culprit among them, having ever been punished by civil law, at least to any extent comensurate with the crimes. And they probably will not this time. Many so called "Lay" Catholics are currently in a state of confusion and uncertainty at this time. I hope the Lord's church will take advantage of this disillusionment.

I try not to be biased, but I had my doubts abouth hiring Stevie.His placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee and wasn't sure I wanted one. I wasn't sure how my Customers would react to Stevie. He was short, a little dumpy with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Down Syndrome. I wasn't worried about most of my trucker customers because truckers don't generally care who buses tables as long as the meatloaf platter is good and the pies are homemade.

The four-wheeler drivers were the ones who concerned me; the mouthy college kids traveling to school; the yuppie snobs who secretly polish their silverware with their napkins for fear of catching some dreaded "truck stop germ"; the pairs of white shirted business men on expense accounts who think every truck stop waitress wants to be flirted with. I knew those people would be uncomfortable around Stevie so I closely watched him for the first few weeks. I shouldn't have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my truck regulars had adopted him as their official truckstop mascot. After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties.

Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished. He would hover in the background, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, scanning the dining room until a table was empty. Then he would scurry to the empty table and carefully bus dishes and glasses onto cart and meticulously wipe the table up with a practiced flourish of his rag. If he thought a customer was watching, his brow would pucker with added concentration. He took pride in doing his job exactly right, and you had to love how hard he tried to please each and every person he met.

Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled after repeated surgeries for cancer. They lived on their Social Security benefits in public housing two miles from the truck stop. Their Social worker, which stopped to check on him every so often, admitted they had fallen between the cracks. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home. That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a new valve or something put in his heart. His social worker said that people with Down syndrome often had heart problems at an early age so this wasn't unexpected, and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.

A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery and doing fine. Frannie, the head waitress, let out a war hoop and did a little dance in the aisle when she heard the good news. Belle Ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at the sight of the 50-year-old grandmother of four doing a victory shimmy beside his table. Frannie blushed, smoothed her apron and shot Belle Ringer a withering look. He grinned. "OK, Frannie, what was that all about?" he asked. "We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay." "I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?"

Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed. "Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK" she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is." Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables.

Since I hadn't had time to round up a busboy to replace Stevie and really didn't want to replace him, the girls were busing their own tables that day until we decided what to do. After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand a funny look on her face. " What's up?" I asked. "I didn't get that table where Belle Ringer and his friends were sitting cleared off after they left, and Pony Pete and Tony Tipper were sitting there when I got back to clean it off" she said. "This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup." She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed "Something For Stevie."

"Pony Pete asked me what that was all about," she said, "so I told about Stevie and his Mom and everything, and Pete looked at Tony and Tony looked at Pete, and they ended up giving me this." She handed me another paper napkin that had "Something For Stevie" scrawled on its outside. Two $50 bills were tucked within its folds. Frannie looked at me with wet, shiny eyes, shook her head and said simply "truckers."

That was three months ago. Today is Thanksgiving, the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placementworker said he's been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, and it didn't matter at all that it was a holiday. He called 10 times in the past week, making sure we knew he was coming, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his job was in jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back. Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn't stop grinning as he pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing cart were waiting.

"Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast," I said. I took him and his mother by their arms. "Work can wait for a minute. To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me." I led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room. I could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw booth after booth of grinning truckers empty and join the procession. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all sitting slightly crooked on dozens of folded paper napkins. "First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said. I tried to sound stern. Stevie looked at me, and then at his mother, then pulled out one of the napkins. It had "Something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed or scrawled on it. I turned to his mother. "There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. Happy Thanksgiving." Well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody hollering and shouting, and there were a few tears, as well. But you know what's funny? While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table. Best worker I ever hired.

For those in the listening area of WDNG (1450) AM in Anniston, Alabama tune in for the Colvin Street church of Christ's radio program on Sunday mornings. The time slot is 9:30 A.M. - 10:00 A.M. CST

Regular speakers will be William B. Kughn and Elbert Lewis.

Also, you are cordially invited to our special services as follows: June 7, 2002, a congregational a cappela singing from 7:00 P. M. to 9:00 P. M., refreshments following.

Then a series of Gospel meetings June 9 through 12 with James Segars speaking. Services Sunday will be 10:00 and 11:00 A. M. and at 1:30 P. M. Week nights will be 7:30 P.M.

MORE TEST ANSWERS FROM GRADE SCHOOL STUDENTS

1. The future of "I give" is "I take."

2. The inhabitants of Moscow are called Mosquitoes.

3. The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 opossums.

4. Syntax is all the money collected at the church from sinners.

The Wolf and the Lamb

Wolf, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He thus addressed him: "Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, "I was not then born." Then said the Wolf, "You feed in my pasture." "No, good sir," replied the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted grass." Again said the Wolf, "You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me." Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, "Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations." The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny. ...Aesop