2:1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that 
judgest:  for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; 
for thou that judgest doest the same things.
   

   
That isn't aimed at a Christian telling a fellow he's going to hell.  
That's aimed at an unsaved fellow judging the sins of anybody.  That's 
an unsaved man who judges.  Unsaved people are the biggest judges in 
the world.  They're always going around saying, "Judge not, lest ye be 
judged," "Judge not, lest ye be judged," "Judge not, lest ye be 
judged." You know, they resent being told the truth.  You tell a 
fellow he's going to hell, and here's what you get:  "Judge not, lest 
ye be judged." I didn't judge you; you're already judged.
   
He says, "Yeah, but you can't."
   
I said, "I didn't." God already judged you.  He said, "He that 
believeth not is condemned already." You've already had your trial, 
man.  I'm not passing sentence; I'm just reading it off the wall to 
you, man.  Truth is, you're already in the death cell waiting to be 
executed.  Trouble with you fellows is that you think you're waiting 
for the trial.  You're not waiting for trial; you're already 
sentenced!  If a guy is unsaved, he's in the death cell; he's in the 
hot seat.  He's not waiting to find out whether he's good or not.  
That's already been taken care of.
   
"Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that 
judgest." When an unsaved fellow says such-and-such is wrong, then he 
admits he knows right and wrong.  Did you ever stop to think about 
that?  Whenever an unsaved man finds fault with somebody and says, 
"You're wrong," he doubles his damnation?  Because it's right for him 
to receive Christ.  And once that fellow says that thing, then, he 
shows that he knows right and wrong.  Well, if he knows right and 
wrong, he knows that a man should trust Jesus Christ.  And if he 
hasn't done, he's just condemning himself every time he opens his 
mouth.
   
Oh, they're so pious!  "What about the heathen who don't know?" You 
make one mistake, and you watch how quick they find it on you!  You 
take a Christian; watch him make one mistake after witnessing where he 
works.  Watch how quick they pick it up.  Man, you drop two nails--
"Oh, wasting nails, I see!" They're the biggest hypocrites on the face 
of this earth, man.  They'll notice it.
   
There was a fellow who went to our church one time named Brian Ruth.  
He got in the army, and he witnessed all over the barracks, you know.  
He got himself pretty well cut off alone except for one or two 
buddies.  One day somebody's mother sent him a cake, and some guy 
stole it.  They stole the package, broke it open, and ate the cake.  
He came back from the barracks, and everybody had a piece of cake, and 
nobody would tell him who stole it, and nobody would welsh on the guy 
and nobody would tell who it was.  Ruth said, "I'm going to pray that 
God will get the guy who did it!"
   
They all laughed.
   
Brian got down on his knees there right by the bunk and prayed right 
then.  He said, "Lord, I want you to show me who stole that cake."
   
About two days later, the guy who stole it came in there in a hurry to 
do something and tripped on his foot locker, and almost broke his 
shin.  He fell across the foot locker and cracked his head open on the 
floor.  And when he did, some guy at the other end of the bunk said, 
"Aha!  Ruth got ya!"
   
And none of those guys was saved, see?  But they know!  They know!  
You bet your life they know!
   
"For thou that judgest doest the same things." Now this kind of verse 
here is used by people who say, "Well, then, a Christian has no right 
to point out these sins, and talking about these other things." No, 
that isn't right.  It isn't true.  "Whatever doth make manifest is 
light." You're not judging the man; you're not judging another; you're 
judging what he does. We're fruit inspectors.
   
Turn to 1Corinthians.  We inspect the fruit, and some of the fruit is 
pretty rotten these days.  Turn to 1Corinthians chapter 2, and look at 
verse 15:  "He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is 
judged of no man." Your job is to judge things.
   
Now, some folks are so prissy about judging things, that I believe 
that, if a rattlesnake crossed their feet, they'd look at him and say, 
"Well, now, it looks like a rattlesnake, and it's marked like a 
rattlesnake, and it smells like a rattlesnake, and it sounds like a 
rattlesnake--but I just don't want to judge; it might be a goose!" 
Well, it'll hit you and poison you from head to foot!  Now the thing 
about a Christian is this; you're the "salt of the earth." Your job is 
to keep the leaven down, and your job is preservation.  Your job is to 
speak of the oracles, and to take a sword and cut.  If they think it's 
judging, that's up to them.  But you're not judging; you're just 
telling the truth.
   
You can't win; if you live for the Lord, they call you a fanatic; if 
you don't live for the Lord, they call you a hypocrite.  You might 
just as well live for the Lord and let them call you a fanatic.
   
...Wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou 
that judgest doest the same things." That is, the condemnation of the 
Gentiles is complete.  Chapter 1 has been showing that the Gentiles 
are in a mess.  What he's saying here is, that as far you Gentiles are 
concerned, none of you have any alibis.  And it's true; we don't.
   

   
2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth 
against them which commit such things.
   

   
The Lord will take care of that.
   

   
3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such 
things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of 
God?
   

   
See, he's talking about an unsaved fellow--"O man." He's saying, "That 
fellow there, boy, he's going to hell.  Look what he's doing." See?  
And Paul says, "You're doing the same thing; how are you going to get 
out hell?"
   
It isn't the case of a Christian saying, "That fellow's going to hell 
because he rejected Christ." It's a picture of an unsaved man saying, 
"Oh, boy, I wouldn't do that!" Yeah, but you do the same things 
yourself, see?  And besides that, when we say, "That fellow's going to 
hell," we don't mean he's going to hell for doing something we 
wouldn't do.  We mean he's going to hell because he won't trust 
Christ, and we're admitting we're just as guilty as he is.  They never 
can understand it; they have a persecution complex.  Unsaved people 
keep thinking, "Well, you just think you're better than I.  I don't 
think you're so good.  Well, why do you think you're better than the 
rest of us, saying you're going to heaven?" They can't get it through 
their thick, stupid heads.
   
One of the best ways to tell them when you talk to them is to say, 
"No, you've got it wrong, friend.  I'm worse than you are."
   
I've told guys that.  I've said, "No, you've got it all wrong, man.  
I'm so bad I had to have a Jew die in my place and shed blood for me.  
You're a good fellow; you're a fine fellow.  You don't need that." And 
then just leave him with it.  Let him go home and pray about it for 
four or five years.
   

   
4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and 
long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to 
repentance?
   

   
Then the Lord's dealings with an unsaved man is to get him to repent.  
And the goodness of God is "forbearance"--not doing what He could do--
and His "long-suffering"--putting up with a sinner--that's the 
goodness of God trying to get the fellow to repent.  Everything God 
does with an unsaved man has one purpose--and that's to get him to 
repent and get him saved--everything he does.
   
Now, the Lord isn't that way with you.  The Lord will let you suffer, 
like I said, to make you heavenly-minded, to prove His promise is 
sure, to make you sympathetic with other people, to allow you to be in 
a place where you can experience the power of the Holy Spirit, to 
prove His grace is sufficient--the Lord will let a Christian suffer 
for different reasons.  An unsaved man only suffers for one reason.  
There isn't an unsaved man or woman in America who isn't all suffering 
for the same reason.  They're suffering to wake them up and show them 
their need of Jesus Christ--because God doesn't want them in hell!
   
The surest proof there's a hell is what God lets happen to people.  I 
mean, Brother Coleman has gone through a trial here for months with a 
brother in a coma, and a mother and a daddy have a boy in the hospital 
for a year.  Now, can you imagine what that hospital bill is?  There's 
an unsaved mother and father; now why does the Lord let that happen?  
Because, the Lord knows there's something worse than $40,000 in 
hospital bills and a year in the hospital.
   
A guy overseas come back with his legs and arms cut off; he's a basket 
case.  Why does the Lord let it happen?  Because the Lord knows 
there's something worse than a basket case!  See?  The surest proof 
there is a hell is look around you, see?  I mean, how can you explain 
God letting that stuff happen to people if there's not something 
worse?  You can't call God a good God with that kind of stuff going 
on.  You can't see God is love and God is any good, if He lets stuff 
like that happen to people--unless there's a reason for it!  Whoever 
heard of a God with no sense and no rationality and no reason, just on 
caprice and just whim, letting people lose babies and get arms and 
legs cut off--whoever heard of such a thing?  That's what makes an 
atheist out of a fellow.  Lack of sense.  I mean, common sense would 
tell you that what goes on down here is done because there's something 
on ahead.
   
Now, when those things happen to an unsaved man, they're because God 
doesn't want the fellow in the lake of fire.  When those things happen 
to a saved person, the Lord's going to pay you back on the other side.  
You're going to get it back in golden interest.  And the surest proof 
that that's so is the fact that the Lord let it happen to you.
   
I mean, if something happened to you folks reading this, if God really 
loved you, would He let those things happen to you?  Why, of course 
not!  UNLESS...there's something on the other side.  So, there's got 
to be something on the other side!  And there IS!
   
Up in the County Courthouse of Memphis, Tennessee, I saw something one 
time that I wrote down, because it looked like a beautiful sermon 
illustration.  At the Shelby County Courthouse, where that fellow was 
tried for shooting Martin Luther King, they have six statues around 
the outside of that county courthouse building.  They're twelve feet 
high.  One is Wisdom, head bowed, Justice, blind, Authority, big 
muscles, Liberty, saluting peace, handling a harp, Peace had a harp 
there, Prosperity has waters and fruit coming out of her veins.  So 
those six statues are Wisdom, Justice, Authority, Liberty, Peace, and 
Prosperity. There's a statue missing.  What is it?  It's mercy!  There 
is no mercy at the Shelby County Courthouse!
   
See?  That's the thing.  Thank God there's mercy with God!  These ol' 
bums down on Skid Row--they're receiving justice.  Right now what they 
need is mercy.
   

   
5 But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto 
thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous 
judgment of God;
   
6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds;
   
7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and 
honor and immortality, eternal life:
   
8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but 
obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
   
9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil; of 
the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
   
10 But glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good; to the 
Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
   
11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
   

   
"Who will render every man according to his deeds." So it's a work 
situation.  Gentiles are under a works situation.  Those Gentile 
nations, from Noah right up until the time of Christ--the Lord was 
watching them and judging them according to their works.  
   
"To them who by patient continuance in well doing..." It's works!  
"...seek for glory and honor and immortality..." What will He give 
them?  He'll give them "eternal life."
   
A Gentile in the Old Testament, who by "patient continuance in well 
doing," sought for "glory, honor, and immortality," got "eternal 
life."
   
I'll give you the prime example in the New Testament.  Turn to the 
Book of Acts.  This passage is used by the hyper-Calvinists to prove 
pre-destination.  Look at Acts 13:48--it's the furthest thing from 
Calvinistic theology that you can imagine, because the people here who 
are "ordained to eternal life" are ordained to eternal life on the 
basis of works.  Acts 13:48:  "And when the Gentiles..." See there?  
That's all the Gentiles up to the time of Christ.  "And when the 
Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the 
Lord:  and as many were ordained to eternal life believed."
   
And Calvin grabbed ahold of that thing there, and you see there the 
"non-elect," and the "elect" were "ordained to eternal life," so they 
got it when they showed up--when they were born into the world, 
according to the hyper-Calvinists.  But do you know what the basis of 
that ordination was?  It's Romans chapter 2, verse 7--works!  Pure 
works!  2:7:  "Patient continuance in well doing." Verse 6:  "Deeds." 
Verse 9:  "Doeth evil." Deeds!  Verse 13:  "Not the hearers of the law 
are just before God, but the DOERS of the law shall be justified." 
Isn't that something?  Boy, if you want a passage to prove salvation 
by works, there it is!
   
I'll give you another case like it.  Turn to Acts 10.  The Gentile up 
to the time of Christ is under a "works" situation.  He's under a 
situation where, if he follows his conscience by "patient continuance 
in well doing," the Lord promises him eternal life.  And, if he's like 
that in this age, the Lord will get the gospel to him, and he'll get 
eternal life--like He did in Acts 13.
   
Acts 10:1:  "There was a certain man in Caesaria called Cornelius, a 
centurion of the band called the Italian band"--Gentile--"A devout 
man"--he's seeking honor and immortality--"one that feared God with 
all his house"--well doing--"which gave much alms to the people, and 
prayed to God always"--patience continuance in well doing.
   
There's a perfect example--Cornelius.  What happens?  The Lord gets 
the gospel to him through Simon Peter, and he gets eternal life.
   
All right, back to Romans 2.  Then we know what the Gentiles are 
under.  The Gentiles are under conscience.  Where a Gentile follows 
that conscience, it leads him to Jesus Christ.  And where he violates 
that conscience and defiles that conscience and sins against that 
conscience, it leads him to hell.
   
"But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but 
obey unrighteousness"--what do they get?  They get "indignation, and 
wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth 
evil; of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile." The Lord is no 
respecter of persons.
   
Now, in about a minute, in verse 17, as a matter of fact, you're going 
to switch over and land on that Jew.  You're going to tell that Jew, 
"God has had you under the law, and if you follow the law, it will 
lead you to Christ.  And if you reject Christ, you're going to hell." 
He tells that Gentile, "You've got your conscience.  If you follow 
your conscience, it'll lead you to Christ.  If you reject that, it'll 
lead you to hell."
   
The Gentile is under conscience; the Jew is under the law.  Now, this 
answers a lot of questions people ask.  There's hardly a man who was 
ever a 30-year Navy man or an Army man or a Marine who didn't get 
overseas somewhere and run into Buddhists and Taoists and 
Confucianists and Hindus and come back with a funny kind of feeling:  
"Well, we just couldn't have a market on the truth; we just couldn't 
have a corner on the truth.  What about all those people that....blah, 
blah, blah, blah, blab..."
   
That's the old stuff.
   
And it overlooks all kinds of factors, which we'll get into here in a 
minute.  The biggest factor it overlooks is the fact that over there 
in Africa, about one out of every four babies die anyway before 
they're a year old.  Over in India, it's about one out of every eight, 
and in China, about one out of every ten.  Heaven's going to have a 
tremendous "heathen" population--but they'll be babies!
   
The next factor it overlooks is that right in the middle of those 
people who have never heard and never known are some witnesses running 
around with King James Bibles.
   
I told you about the most remarkable thing I ever had happen to me.  I 
had a letter sent to me one time from Chad--on that blue, French, 
"aero par avion" paper.  I opened that thing up, and in letters I 
could hardly read--took me 15 minutes to decipher it--it said, "Dead 
Jesus man,
   
"Me Jesus man too.  Now, me find your paper with pictures in jungle.  
Me get saved.  Me need Bible.  Please send me something.
   
"Signed, Wamma Mumba Gomba," whatever that thing was.
   
That bird found one of my tracts out in the jungle and in the bush, 
and got saved!  You say, "How did that happen?" I don't have any idea 
how it happened!  I never have been over there, and I haven't sent any 
missionaries over there.  I don't know how he got the thing read; he 
must have gone to a post somewhere where somebody read English, and he 
got the thing out.  But, you see, out there in the jungle somewhere 
was some old bird, crying and weeping and trying to get belief and 
peace.  And the Lord said, "You know something?  It's about time I 
give that bird a break!" And down it comes.
   
You see, this old business about "what about the heathen who don't 
know" isn't so!  The Lord knows what goes on upstairs.
   
Now, some of you were Catholics before you were saved.  You don't know 
how close you came to going to hell.  When you were going along there, 
there came a time in your life when God gave you a little bit of 
light--and gave you a little bit more, and gave you a little bit more.  
And then He watched you and saw how you reacted to it.  Every Catholic 
I've ever seen who ever got saved got right up to the place where he 
saw the light real clear, and he knew what it would cost him if he 
accepted it.  And then some of them paid the price; and some of them 
didn't.
   
After that, the Lord is not obligated to show you anything.
   
So, we're talking about a Gentile following his conscience.  Cornelius 
follows his conscience and he gets saved.
   
Now back to Romans 2.  I want to show you this thing here that Brother 
Smith showed me today.  Here is what's left of What Every Young Man 
Should Know.  It's been rained on, and the print has gone off the 
front of it.  It's been stepped on and torn and smeared so that you 
can hardly even read the thing.  And the thing has been taken out of 
the gutters of New Orleans, where somebody gave some bird this thing, 
and he doubled it up and curses, probably, and threw it in the gutter.  
And here it comes in with a note on it:
   
Beloved at P.B.I.,
   
I found this old tract in the surroundings of the French quarter.  
Please send me more of them and other ones if you have any.  I enclose 
a small gift of $5.00.  Do you have any in Spanish?
   
Brother Rosique Luis Angelvo
   
That old boy is writing for those tracts!
   
Now, see, when somebody gave out that thing, and somebody threw it 
down into the gutter, you say, "It didn't do any good." Oh, yes it 
did!
   
You see, you don't know what goes on!  Our job is to take that word 
and put that word out and put that word out and put that word out.  
What the devil wants to do is convince you that it doesn't do any 
good--and that way you'll quit.  But, you see, it's kind of like two 
guys in a fight; one has a razor and the other one doesn't.  And every 
time the guy who doesn't have a razor gets in close enough to punch, 
he gets a razor cut across the knuckles--and then another one across 
the wrist.  And when he kicks, he gets a slash down his pants.  And we 
butts, he gets one in the face.  And after awhile, he's backed off, 
just dripping blood from head to foot--and what he wants you to do is 
put down the razor.  And what the devil wants you to do is sheath that 
sword, you see?  Because it hurts!
   
And the thing for you to do is to keep right on fighting, whether you 
see any results or not.  I mean, you take a slash, and the guy says, 
"That don't hurt me." OK, slash again.  "I don't even feel it." Slash 
again.  "You didn't even touch me." Slash again.  Pretty soon, he'll 
bleed to death!  That's right!  The thing to do is just keep putting 
that word out, and put it out.  You don't know what happens to it.
   
I know of a guy up in Minnesota at the headwaters of the Mississippi 
River, and he puts tracts in bottles and throws them into the 
Mississippi River.  And they float down to New Orleans.  One day, he 
got a letter back from Hawaii.  On the surf in Oahu, Hawaii, came a 
bottle with his tract in it, and the guy who read it got saved and 
sent him back a note to tell him he got saved.  That thing floated 
from up around Duluth, Minnesota, to Oahu, Hawaii!  Now, you tell me 
how that thing got there--whether it went around Cape Horn or went 
through the locks of the Panama Canal or what--I don't know!  That 
cotton-picking bottle floated all the way down the Mississippi, out 
into the Gulf of Mexico, down to the locks, up the other side, clean 
out to Hawaii!
   
"But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh." Worketh!  
See, it's a works thing.  "...good, to the Jew first, and also to the 
Gentile:  For there is no respect of persons with God." Not in regards 
to individual salvation, no.  Every time you find where "there is no 
respect of persons with God," the context is always individual, moral 
conduct in relation to God.
   

   
12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without 
law:  and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the 
law;
   
13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers 
of the law shall be justified.
   
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the 
things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto 
themselves:
   
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their 
conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while 
accusing or else excusing one another;)
   
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ 
according to my gospel.
   

   
"For as many as have sinned without law." There are the Gentiles.  
"...shall perish without law." A Gentile doesn't have to have the 
Mosaic law of the Bible to perish.
   
"And as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law." 
Just because the Jew had the law and the Ten Commandments, that 
doesn't mean he's saved.
   
"For not the hearers of the law are just before God." The Jews heard 
it.  "...but the doers of the law shall be justified."
   
Illustration:  "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law..." No 
Ten Commandments, no Old Testament.  When they "do by nature the 
things contained in the law, these..." the Gentiles, "having not the 
law, are a law unto themselves."
   
For example, when you get up in the middle of Africa, and you get in a 
tribe out there, they have a rule.  And the rule says, "The first time 
we catch you stealing, we cut off your right hand.  And the second 
time we catch you stealing, we cut off your left hand.  And the third 
time we catch you stealing, we cut off your head." Why make that rule?  
A fellow said, "The heathen don't know." They do too know, or they 
wouldn't have made the rule!  Why did the fellow say it was wrong to 
steal?  If the guy steals, why not give him a bouquet, or give him 
something to drink?  Why cut off his hand?
   
There isn't any tribe in the world which doesn't have laws about 
punishment for adultery.  There aren't any.  You know why?  Because 
they know, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," written in their hearts.  
They don't have to have it in a book.
   
I'll show you what I mean.  Go back to Genesis, and pick up Genesis 
chapter 20.  Look at Genesis 20, verse 2.  The heathen are much more 
intelligent than the faculty members at Berkeley.  If anybody doesn't 
know, "Thou shalt not steal," or "Thou shalt commit adultery," it's 
the faculty members at Berkeley, or Cal State.  It wouldn't be the 
heathen; they've got better sense.
   
Genesis 20:2:  "And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister:  
and Abimelech, king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.  But God came to 
Abimelech in a dream by night,..." Now, there's a nasty turn of 
events!  If the Lord doesn't have a Bible, He can get to you some 
other way!  There weren't any scriptures when this thing took place.  
God has a way of revealing Himself when the scriptures aren't around.  
"But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, 
Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; 
for she is a man's wife."
   
God said, "I'm going to kill you."
   
"But Abimelech had not come near her:  and he said, Lord, wilt thou 
slay also a righteous nation?  Said he not unto me, She is my sister?  
and she, even she herself said, He is my brother:  in the INTEGRITY of 
my heart and INNOCENCY of my hands have I done this." Look at all that 
stuff!  Flipping, flopping, alibi around there!  Well, what's that all 
for if he doesn't know it's wrong?
   
Did you ever stop to think how that thing would read, if the heathen 
were like these dumb clucks over here think they are?  If the heathen 
were like these stupid Americans think they are, do you know what you 
would have read?  "God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and 
said, Thou art a dead man, for the woman thou hast taken is another 
man's wife.  Then Abimelech said, What are you talking about?  What's 
wrong with that?  It was mutual consent of two adults.  I figured she 
had to express herself to make her marriage relationship better." Now, 
that's what you get at a university!  Don't kid me, man!  That's what 
goes on in the sociology and humanity classes.
   
Now how do you explain that fellow saying, "Oh, no, no, wait a minute, 
I never came near her, my heart was full of integrity, I was 
innocent," etc., etc.  What is there to sweat about, man, if you don't 
know it's wrong?  He KNOWS it's wrong, see?
   
All right, back to Romans 2.  "Which show the work of the law written 
in their hearts." The Ten Commandments are in a man's heart; they 
don't have to be in a table of stone.  "Their conscience also bearing 
witness." A man's conscience bears witness to the fact that he knows 
the Ten Commandments.  He knows them.
   
"Their conscience also bearing witness." Now, your conscience bore 
witness until you got it seared and defiled.  Paul speaks of a seared 
conscience in 1Timothy 4; he speaks of a defiled conscience in Titus 
chapter 1.  But when your conscience was young and fresh, it warned 
you.
   
I read a story one time in which a guy had a dog that would bark at 
night.  It was barking around 11 o'clock at night, and the man went 
outside and found nothing there, and told it to shut up.  He went to 
back to bed.  About 12 o'clock, the dog got to hollering again.  He 
went out again, this time searching around his property with a gun, 
and couldn't find anything.  He told the dog to shut up again and 
cursed it.  About 2 o'clock in the morning, the dog sounded off again.  
The fellow took the gun and aimed it out the window and shot his dog, 
to get some sleep.  He went to sleep and woke up about 8 o'clock in 
the morning--and found half the stuff in his house gone.
   
Now, that's a picture of conscience.  You see, conscience says, "No, 
no." You say, "Shut up!  I want to enjoy this!" Conscience says, "No, 
no." You say, "Shut up!  I can't enjoy it with you around!" And, you 
try to drown it out.  After awhile, you drown it out and kill it.  The 
next time, conscience doesn't say a thing.
   
Then you say, "Boy, we sure made a lot of progress.  You see how 
broad-minded we're getting?"
   
All that's going on out there in the world, in those newspapers and 
news media, is people bragging about how much better they're getting, 
because they put up with stuff that 20 years ago or 100 years ago they 
wouldn't put up with.  That's all that is.  And all that means is 
they're getting further and further and further from God, and they'll 
tolerate what God has passed judgment upon, and they're getting 
further and further away from the truth.
   
Progress means right down to hell--that's what it means.  Somebody 
said, "You know, you've come a long way, baby." Yeah, you have!  In 
the wrong direction!
   
Let me ask you something.  When you smoked your first cigarette, did 
you smoke at the table in front of your parents?  Why wouldn't you, if 
you had a clear conscience?  How about the first drink of liquor?  Did 
you take it right there, in the midst of the family?  How about Sunday 
school?  That would be a good place to drink, wouldn't it?  Bring your 
bottle with you, and between Sunday school and church, take a shot.
   
I'LL BET YOU DIDN'T!
   
I remember the first cigar I ever smoked out behind the garage.  Got 
sicker than a dog, too!  The first brandy I ever tasted was when I was 
15 years old at a junior high school dance, back in the cloak room--
apricot brandy.  I knew who it was I got it from, and I knew right 
where we drank it; we were back in the cloak room with the doors shut, 
hiding behind the coats, boy!  We weren't out there in the middle of 
the place, drinking that stuff.
   
Somebody said, "Well, now they do it in the open.  Doesn't that show 
you how much better we've gotten?" No, it shows how much deader 
conscience you have, see?  I mean, when a guy's ashamed of doing 
something, and blushes and hides, that shows he still has a 
conscience.  This bunch these days can't even blush; they haven't got 
any conscience.  Their conscience is dead.
   
"Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their 
conscience also bearing witness." Did I ever tell you about a friend 
of mine who taught his little boy how to smoke?  He was a preacher.  
When his boy got to be 15 years old, his boy came to him and said, 
"I'm ready to smoke now."
   
And the old man said, "What?"
   
The boy said, "You told me that when I got ready to smoke to let you 
know, and you'd show me how."
   
The old man said, "Yeah, I did say that, didn't I?"
   
So he went out and bought him a couple of packs of cigarettes and came 
back in and closed all the doors and pulled down the windows, and went 
back to the bedroom.  He lit one up and showed the kid how to inhale 
it, and gave it to him.  He said, "Now, you smoke that, and here's a 
package.  If you like this pack, I'll get you some more." And then he 
went out!
   
You know what happened.  Boy, in ten minutes that kid came to the 
door, just as green as a golf green, boy, and said, "Daddy, I don't 
think I'm going to like this smokin'!"
   
That's a wise way to handle it.
   
Have you ever noticed all the things they try to get you to do?  You 
have to deny your common sense to do them.  Have you ever noticed 
that?  Do you remember what the first taste of whiskey tasted like?  
It would make you puke, man!  There isn't anything good about the 
first taste of whiskey.
   
Somebody says, "Well, I think it's pretty good." Aww, you've had a 
few, boy!  Don't kid me!
   
It's the same way with beer.  Before I got through, I could take a 
case of beer in six hours by myself--twenty-four bottles in six hours.  
That's four bottles an hour.  Then I got to where I liked it.  But the 
first time I tasted it, it was sickening.
   
It's the same way with a cigarette.  Who could enjoy taking smoke in 
your lungs and blowing the smoke out?  Why don't you just build a 
bonfire in the back yard and stick your head down the smoke and inhale 
it?  You'd get just as much out of it!
   
"Their thoughts the mean while accusing..." "He does it!  They do it!" 
"...accusing or else excusing one another." "Everybody else does it!" 
"Always have done it!" "A little bit doesn't hurt!" "Gotta get 
married!" "Gotta make a living!" "Depends how you look at it." "We 
know when to quit."
   
You see that kind of business?
   
"Excusing one another." Did you know there are about seven things the 
devil teaches a man for alibis for sinning, and he never has to adjust 
those seven for man, no matter what the man's station and rank in life 
is?  If I were the devil and wanted to mess up a high school freshman 
and a college graduate and a four-star general and buck private and a 
Ph.D.  in philosophy and junkie--I'd use the same method for all six 
of them. I'd say, "We always have done it." "Everybody else does it." 
"Depends how you look at it." "A little bit doesn't hurt." "We know 
when to stop." "You gotta get married." "You gotta make a living."
   
That's all.  That'll take care of the whole crew.  It doesn't make any 
difference.  That'll take care of both Houses of Congress, the United 
Nations, the Roman Catholic Church, the National Council of Christian 
Churches, and every person in this town.  It's just that simple; just 
like that.  It's either an accusation or it's an excuse.
   
The rules for Christian life, however, are not like that.  I gave you 
the rudiments of the world.  The rudiments of the world are:  
"Everybody else does it." "They always have done it." "A little bit 
doesn't hurt." "We know when to quit." "You gotta get married." "You 
gotta make a living." "It all depends on how you look at it."
   
The rudiments of the new life in Christ are:  "Is it right?" "Will it 
edify?" "Can I ask God to bless it?" "Will it glorify God?" and, 
"Would the Lord like to find me doing it when He comes back?" Now, 
that's a different set.
   
"In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ 
according to my gospel." Now, verses 13 through 15 are enclosed in 
parentheses.  So, verse 16 is actually the finishing of verse 12.  And 
the thing went from 12 to 16.  "For as many as have sinned without law 
shall also perish without law:  and as many as have sinned in the law 
shall be judged by the law;...In the day when God shall judge the 
secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." So it means 
that in the judgment, there are going to be a lot of things come out 
that you never dreamed of coming out.  And in that day, God will 
reveal the secrets that only He and the person knew about--and that 
will be judged properly.  You don't have to worry about a proper 
judgment; there will be a proper judgment.
   
In Romans 2, he has been talking about the heathen.  And the heathen 
are lost because they don't follow their conscience.  Where they 
follow their conscience, they can get the word of God.  God will get 
the word of God to them.  Where they don't follow their conscience, 
they are condemned on the basis of sinning against conscience.
   
Now, having given the Gentile down the country, he starts on the Jew 
in verse 17.
   

   
17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest 
thy boast of God,
   
18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more 
excellent, being instructed out of the law;
   
19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a 
light of them which are in darkness,
   
20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the 
form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
   

   
"And knowest his will.  That is, as it's revealed in the Bible.  "And 
approvest the things that are more excellent." That is, he knows what 
the most excellent thing is, and says, "That's it."
   
"Being instructed out of the law." Now, he gets sarcastic.  "And art 
confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them 
which are in darkness." Now, he's making fun of the Jew, and he's 
saying, "You are undertaking to instruct this Gentile," and then he 
goes on down here and proves, "If you don't follow the law you get, 
you're in the same mess the Gentile is in!" As a matter of fact, 
before he gets through, he comes to a conclusion.  The conclusion he 
comes to is found in chapter 3, verse 9.  That's the conclusion:  
"they are all under sin." They're all included under sin.
   
"An instructor of the foolish." More sarcasm.  "A teacher of babes, 
which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law."
   
Now he puts the Jew on the spot:
   

   
21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?  
thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
   

   
And the idea is, if you have the Ten Commandments, and they say, "Thou 
shalt not steal," just because you have the law, that doesn't absolve 
you.  You're not supposed to steal, whether you have the law, or 
whether you don't.  
   

   
22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit 
adultery?  thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
   

   
Do you cause people to worship idols?
   

   
23 Thou that mekst thy boast of the law, through breaking the law 
dishonourest thou God?
   
24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, 
as it is written.
   

   
"The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you..." 
through the Jew.  "As it is written." Probably, "it is written" in 
Isaiah 52:5.  Now, what he's saying is, when a Jew doesn't keep his 
law, his law is no good.  Just because God gave that law, that doesn't 
mean that's any passport to heaven.  Just because the Jew has the word 
of truth, and has more revelation than a Gentile has, that doesn't 
mean that he's going to be any better than the Gentile.  If a Jew 
doesn't follow the law, he's in the same mess that the Gentile is in 
who doesn't follow his conscience.
   
He says in verses 23 and 24, "When you Jews break the law, then the 
Gentiles look at you and say, `Their religion ain't nothin'.  They 
ain't got no commandments from God.  Look at them!'"
   

   
25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law:  but if 
thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
   

   
"Circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law." That is, if 
you're a circumcised Jew, that's good--if you're keeping the law.  But 
if you're a breaker of the law, "thy circumcision is made 
uncircumcision." Which is telling that Jew, "As far as God is 
concerned, when you live like the devil, I count you just like an 
unsaved Gentile dog.  And my law and my promises have got nothing to 
do with it." The Lord is saying, "The fact that I gave you the 
promises and the oracles and law means nothing, if you're not going to 
keep it.  If you're not going to keep it, you're just like an unsaved 
Gentile."
   
Now, don't you know the Jews who read that got real put out with Paul?
   

   
26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, 
shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
   

   
"Therefore if the uncircumcision"--there's the Gentile--"keep the 
righteousness of the law"--there's a Gentile following his conscience.
   
The Lord is taking an old Gentile, and giving him the blessings He was 
going to give the Jew, if the Gentile does what's right.
   

   
27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the 
law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress 
the law?
   

   
"Uncircumcision which is by nature." No man is born by nature 
circumcised; he's born uncircumcised.  Now, Christ said something like 
this one time.  Christ said some day the uncircumcised Gentiles are 
going to judge Jews.  Matthew chapter 12.  When Christ was on the 
earth He talked like this at times.  Turn to Matthew 12:41.  That Jew 
is so proud of his heritage, and so proud of his promises and 
covenants.  Jesus speaking:  "The men of Nineveh shall rise in 
judgment with this generation." Those are Gentiles.  "...and shall 
condemn it:  because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and 
behold, a greater than Jonas is here." Here in Israel.  "The queen of 
the south"--that's a Gentile--"shall rise up in judgment with this 
generation, and shall condemn it." What generation is that?  Verses 38 
and 39--the Jewish generation that rejected Jesus Christ.
   
Back to Romans 2, verse 28, where we find the definition of a 
spiritual Jew:
   

   
28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that 
circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
   
29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of 
the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not 
of men, but of God.
   

   
"In the heart." Inside.  "In the spirit." Inside.  "Not in the 
letter." Not just in the bare commandment to cut yourself.
   
Now, that verse there (2:29) is used by almost every heretical group 
in the world to prove that all the Old Testament promises given to the 
Jews go to the Christian.  If you ever deal with a Jehovah's Witness, 
or Seventh-day Adventist, or Mormon, or Church of Christ, they'll come 
right down in there on that passage.  And they come down to that 
passage, what you point out to them is what they never read--the next 
verse, 3:1:  "What advantage then hath the Jew?  or what profit is 
there of circumcision?"   
Then there is such a thing as a physical Jew--he's right there in 3:1.  
That isn't any spiritual Jew in 3:2.  The oracles of God weren't given 
to spiritual Jews; they were given to physical Jews.
   
Here's what you've got.  Outside of Christ, you have the Jew, and you 
have the Gentile.  Paul says, "Give none offense; neither to the Jew, 
nor of the church, nor to the Gentile." Everybody in the world is one 
of those three groups.  If you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile.  If 
you're in Christ, you're neither Jew nor Gentile.  But when Paul talks 
about a Jew in this passage in chapter 2, he's talking about a real 
Jew in the physical sense--and a spiritual Jew over here is a man 
who's neither Jew nor Gentile, he's a man who has been circumcised 
inside.
   
Turn to Colossians chapter 2.  You're going to have to distinguish 
between a spiritual Jew and a literal, physical Jew.  This 
circumcision is a spiritual thing, not a physical thing.  Colossians 
2:11:  "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made 
without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the 
circumcision of Christ." All right, Paul is telling this Jew, "You've 
got no business turning up your nose at that Gentile, because if you 
disobey the law, you're just like a Gentile who disobeys his 
conscience.  And if a Gentile over here follows his conscience and 
gets saved, then he becomes what you ought to be.  He becomes a real 
Jew; a spiritual Jew; circumcised inside.  You're just circumcised 
outside.
   
All right, now come back to Romans chapter 2 again.  Verse 28:  "For 
he is not a Jew which is one outwardly." Of course, he's talking about 
the spiritual sense.  "Neither is that circumcision, which is outward 
in the flesh.  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and 
circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the 
letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Now, you know that 
thing can't be physical.  That is, you know that when he says, "He is 
a Jew, which is one inwardly," you know that's not talking about a 
physical Jew.
   
Why?  Turn to the Gospel of John.  Notice that in the Gospel of John, 
the Jews are seeking to kill Jesus Christ.  John chapter 8, verse 48.  
He couldn't possibly be talking about a physical Jew.  He couldn't be 
saying, "He is a Jew, which is one inwardly," and mean a physical Jew.  
John 8:48:  "Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not 
well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" See that thing?  
That's a physical Jew--obviously!  That sure isn't one circumcised 
spiritually.
   
Then, there are two kinds of Jews.
   
We'll continue this in the comments on Romans chapter 3.
   

   
SUPPLEMENTAL
   
This is a letter addressed to Bob Jones III of Bob Jones University:
   

   
Dear Dr.  Bob:
   
The teaching I have received concerning Bible translations since 
beginning my studies at Bob Jones University last September has 
seriously disturbed me.  It astounds me to sit in the classroom at 
this school and here praise given to such men as Westcott and Hort for 
their "outstanding accomplishments" in the field of textual criticism.  
I do not question the right of Bob Jones University to teach what it 
wishes.  But it is unfair and inconsistent to teach a liberal theory 
of textual criticism to students who came for sound training.
   
Perhaps you're not aware of these efforts, intentional or otherwise, 
to undermine the Bible.  The liberal views of Dr.  Custer in this area 
were revealed to me before coming to the University.  But it has 
shocked me to discover that his views represent those held generally 
by the faculty in the School of Religion.  I have grown tired of 
hearing the New A.S.V.  read in my Bible classes.  I thought they were 
going to use only the King James in the Bible classes.
   

   
Lied again, eh, Doc?  Those birds would lie to you just as quickly as 
look at you.  Bob Jones put out all this stuff about "Nothing but the 
King James," "Nothing but the King James"--you dirty liar; they're 
reading right there in the classroom something that isn't the King 
James, it's the New A.S.V.
   
They get up in front of Maslen and say, "Nothing but the King James;" 
they get up in front of Springfield and say, "Nothing but the King 
James;" Tennessee Temple, "Nothing but the King James." You put it 
down; they'll lie to you just as quickly as look at you in the face.  
If you don't believe it, go sit in the classroom.
   

   
The liberal views of Dr.  Custer shocked me.  Perhaps the ASV is an 
accurate translation; but what good is an accurate translation from 
corrupt manuscripts which eliminate such words as "Christ," "Lord," 
and "blood." Dr.  Neal just finished discussing the subject of textual 
criticism in New Testament Introduction, where the King James Version 
of the Bible really took a beating.  I could have read the same 
presentation at many liberal theological schools!  Westcott and Hort 
were described as "very devout men who believed in the fundamental of 
the faith." If such were the case, how could Westcott deny the 
vicarious atonement (Westcott, Life of Westcott, volume 1, page 231), 
and the literal history of Genesis 1-3 (Westcott, Life of Westcott, 
volume 2, page 69)?  How could Hort deny the doctrine of substitution 
(Hort, Life of Hort, volume 1, page 430), and the fall of man (Hort, 
Life of Hort, volume 1, page 78)?  Why are we taught contrary to the 
facts?
   

   
In a minute, you'll hear the answer from the president of the 
University--why we're taught contrary to the facts.  Now, that kid 
presented the facts--and then documented the facts.  Now, wait to you 
see his answer.
   

   
Not only did Dr.  Neal make those who support the theory of Westcott 
and Hort look good, he made many of those who opposed it to look 
silly.  For example, David Otis Fuller was described in the classroom 
as being either dishonest or very ignorant.  The testimony of others 
was discounted on the grounds that they were not scholars.  As a 
student of church history, I am painfully aware of the fact that 
scholarship has led us to the road of liberalism.  I am not against 
learning, but it is extremely important to have common sense along 
with it.
   

   
See how nicely this fellow writes?  He doesn't write like me.  He 
would come to the front door, see, with his spray deodorant and his 
teeth brushed, and his hair parted, and his fingernails clean, and his 
shoes polished, and his cuffs a quarter of an inch out beyond the 
sleeve.  You think they're going to accept it?  They won't accept it.
   
So, I'll come down the chimney!
   

   
During the past two weeks, the students in my class have been taught 
to memorize as fact a great deal of material based upon the unreliable 
and faulty theory of Westcott and Hort.  Such material has little 
value, and it is unfortunate the same is taught as fact to a 
fundamental school like Bob Jones University.
   

   
For an example, he photostated a copy out of a textbook, Methods of 
Textual Criticism, page 69, and mailed it in to show them what was 
being taught in the classroom.
   

   
The laughter of the students, as Dr.  Neal was mocking those who 
support the King James Bible, made it obvious that they have been 
thoroughly indoctrinated with the liberal theory of textual criticism.  
My prayer is you will give this important matter your utmost 
attention.
   

   
Do you support the King James Bible?  Well, I want to have you know 
that at Bob Jones they laugh at you people!  Now, furthermore, it is 
forbidden for you to laugh at them!  That's bad manners; that's rude; 
that's uncouth.  You can't do that.  Now, of course you can ridicule 
the King James up there, see.  That's OK.  You double-standard, two-
faced, lying hypocrite!  Go soak your head in a bucket.
   
This kid is just wasting his time.  I mean, I appreciate him.  "My 
prayer is you will give this important matter your utmost attention." 
Boy, he's sure got a shock coming!
   

   
I realize that you are busy, but this "little leaven" at Bob Jones is 
a dangerous thing.  Until it is purged out, it would be a violation of 
my biblical convictions to recommend this university to any of my 
friends.  I sincerely appreciate the stand the school takes on most 
issues.  But the most dangerous kind of error is that which is mixed 
with a great deal of truth.  In a private conversation with Dr.  Neal 
after class, it quickly became obvious that his opinion is set in 
favor of the liberal theories of textual criticism.  If his opinion 
represents the whole School of Religion as a whole, those who support 
the school should be made aware of it.  It is not honest to allow them 
to support an institution without knowing it is undermining the very 
basis of their Christian conviction, the word of God.  I've enclosed a 
photographic copy of one page of the textbook we're using in New 
Testament Introduction as an example of the fact of the faulty theory 
we've been taught.  The circular reasoning of it will quickly become 
obvious to anyone who has good, common sense.  May God give 
discernment to those innocent students who have been taught this 
theory as fact, and He may have mercy upon those professors who teach 
it.
   
Repectfully yours,
   
Gary
   

   
Answer:
   

   
Dear Gary,
   
Your phone call stating your resignation from school was not 
unexpected, but I am very sorry about your lack of respect for your 
teachings which prompted it.
   

   
See, you don't deal with the fact.  You say, "You should have respect 
for your teachers," whether they're lying or not.
   

   
As we told you yesterday in the office, if you cannot apologize for 
calling your Bible teachers liberal...
   

   
He didn't say that!  He said they were teaching the liberal theories 
of textual criticism. Now, how does a president of a university get by 
lying about one of his young men whom he suckered into coming there to 
learn the word of God?  He didn't say that; I have here what he said; 
it's written right there.
   

   
You would either have to resign, or we would terminate your 
enrollment.  I would invite you to the office to give you a chance to 
prove your charges, or drop them.  If you had proven them, the faculty 
would have been released.  Since you couldn't, and remain adamant, you 
had to leave.  You did not prove anything but your arrogance and 
ignorance.
   
I could hardly believe what I heard you say about these men who have 
been studying the Bible for more years than you have been in the 
world.
   

   
Now, look at this humanistic, liberalistic slop.  "I can hardly 
believe what you said about these men that have been studying...." 
Aww, your father's moustache!  I mean, what about the facts?  What 
about the dirty stuff they're teaching?  Now, do you know what that 
is?  That's the approach of an unsaved liberal, and that's Bob Jones 
III.  "I could hardly believe what you..." What's that got to do with 
anything?  He told him what they said and documented what they said 
and mailed it to him.  What's the big deal?
   

   
I could hardly believe what I heard you say about these men who have 
been studying the Bible for more years than you have been in the 
world.  You condemn them as liberals, because they believe, in 
addition to the manuscripts you like, there are other good 
manuscripts, perhaps better.  You have made up your mind that anyone 
who differs with you over which manuscripts are good is liberal.  Much 
of textual criticism is subjective, and there can be a choice between 
readings, without either of the renderings happening to be liberal.  
For example, in Luke 2:33, you could read "Joseph" or "his father," 
and neither reading is liberal.
   

   
Except that one of them denies the virgin birth.
   

   
Another example, you could take out "through his blood" in Colossians 
1:14 and make it "remission," the same as "redemption."
   

   
Which it's not.
   

   
You have made up your mind.  It is simply inconceivable that you would 
not even be willing to listen to the studied opinions of godly, 
conservative men who have been students of the Bible more than 25 or 
30 years or more.
   

   
Well, I've been a student of the Bible for 25 or 30 years or more.  
Trouble is, I'm not godly!  I think the first qualification to be 
godly is you gotta be an unmitigated liar.  I think that, if you're a 
liar, you're godly--at least the way these fellows look at it.
   

   
You made sweeping charges.
   

   
I don't know what's "sweeping".  He documented three of them and then 
mailed the guy a page.  That isn't too "sweeping."
   

   
You made sweeping charges that there was a strong possibility that Bob 
Jones University would end up liberal and apostate, because some of 
our Bible teachers happen to feel that the older manuscripts are more 
accurate than some of the more recent ones.  Yet, when you were 
reminded that many great fundamental Bible scholars also held this 
position and did not apostasize, you doggedly held to your assertion.
   

   
This is saying that if a man doesn't apostasize, it's all right for 
him to hold the liberal theories.  Well, what about the effect on the 
people who listen to him?  If this fellow doesn't apostasize here, but 
teaches liberal theories, what about the next guy down here?  How does 
apostasy begin?  It begins the way these fellows are beginning.  These 
fellows are always trying to pretend that the apostate is another 
group over here, and it just popped out of thin air.  They're always 
trying to pretend you can't locate where it begins.  The reason they 
do that is because it's beginning with them.
   

   
You reminded me very much of a man whose mind was made up and didn't 
want to be confused by the facts.
   

   
He just mailed him the facts!  There wasn't one answer to Westcott and 
Hort denying the virgin birth and the fall of man and the 
substitutionary atonement--in here that the guy sent!  There wasn't 
any discussion of it.
   

   
In spite of what you believe, Gary, Dr.  Neal and Dr.  Custer are 
sound, reverent biblicists, who are deeply concerned with what the 
original language says.  No one translation necessarily renders every 
passage to absolute perfection.  It is the position of our Bible 
department that our confidence should be in...
   

   
He's going to tell you what the position is.  After all that lying, 
that little note about the King James Bible being thoroughly reliable, 
that little sheet that I read you, here it comes...
   

   
It is the position of our Bible department that our confidence should 
be in the Greek and Hebrew.
   

   
Which Greek?  He didn't say.  Which Hebrew?  He didn't say.
   

   
While there are several good translations, there is no perfect 
translation.  The translations that are thoroughly recommended are 
sound.  It's not a question of truth versus error, but preference 
versus preference.
   

   
The final authority at Bob Jones University is the preference of the 
teacher.  That's what the president of the university says.  He says 
it's not a matter of truth versus error, but preference versus 
preference.
   
Now that school advertises, "Bob Jones University stands without 
apology for the absolute authority of the Bible." And the president 
doesn't believe it for five minutes!  That's a gimmick to get suckers 
to enroll.
   
See the pretty campus?  See the pretty field house?  See the pretty 
girls?  Hear the pretty brass music by the quartet?  Isn't it 
beautiful?  Don't you want to be spiritual, too?  Don't you want to be 
enriched, too?
   

   
I'm afraid, Gary, you're in for great difficulty in life.
   

   
Yes, he is!  He sure is!  If a young man decides to stand for the 
truth, he's in for plenty of trouble!
   

   
You're in for great difficulty in life if you don't develop some 
humility and learn to respect men of the faith who love the Lord and 
truth just as much as you do, but in matters where there is room for 
differing opinion, disagree with you.  Of course, until you are 
willing to apologize, you will not be welcomed back on campus.  Please 
send your I.D.  card to Dr.  Evans right away.
   

   
Did you know the Lord is raising up an army?  These dumb nuts who 
blame everything on Ruckman are going to get into the biggest mess 
that you ever saw!  That's a good example right there.  I'll bet you 
the first time they ever called that kid in, they asked him if he had 
been reading my books--just as sure as you're sitting there.
   
The above correspondence will go into the Bible Believers' Bulletin.  
They don't dare right letters anymore to anybody!  Any letter that 
anybody gets and they mail it to us, it goes right out in public, 
right out to 9,000 readers, brother, just like that.  One day those 
fellows are going to learn to talk the same way in public that they do 
in private.  Until they do, as far as I'm concerned, they're a bunch 
of whitewashed hypocrites.  If you ever get to the place where you 
can't say what you believe publicly, or if my letters ever don't match 
my public preaching, something's wrong with my letters or my 
preaching.  They don't publish my letters.  Why?  They're all over 
this country.  I write out 20 letters a week, going all over the 
place, with all kinds of things in them.  Why don't they publish them?  
That would make good reading.  It's all right with me; I don't care.  
I'll bet you when that thing comes out, it'll be the biggest squawk 
you ever heard in your life.
   

   

   
