THE STORY OF A SERMON By DR. BEN M. BOGARD and DR. DAN GILBERT

Second Edition 1950; Printed by Seminary Press Little Rock, Arkansas

PREFACE

This story of a sermon is concerning a sermon preached by *Ben M. Bogard,

while he was pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Little Rock,

Arkansas. Dan Gilbert relates in his own words what came to him when he

heard it. But there is a record back of the event related by Dr. Gilbert that is

very interesting which I am now relating. Ben M. Bogard, Pastor Emeritus,

Antioch Missionary Baptist Church

and President Emeritus of the

Missionary Baptist Seminary, of Little Rock, Arkansas

INTRODUCTION: ORIGIN OF THE SERMON

When I was a young preacher and pastor of the Baptist Church in Searcy,

Arkansas, a good deacon, J. J. Crow, came to me one day and said:

“I am an old man and you are a young preacher. If you will not be offended,

I would like to offer a suggestion about your preaching.”

I assured him that I would be glad to hear his suggestion and then he said:

“You preach too much doctrine. Every time you preach you pour in the

doctrine. I like it and many of the older brethren like it, but it offends some who

hear it. I hesitate to bring anyone to hear you preach, if he is not of our

denomination. I brought Judge Cypert to hear you a few Sundays ago and you

poured it in on him until I feel sure he will never come to hear you again. Why

don't you stop that sort of preaching and preach something else?”

I said, “Brother Crow, there are two reasons why I preach so much

doctrine. One is we cannot expect people to accept our doctrine unless it is

preached. If we do not preach what we believe, how can we expect those who do

not believe what we do to accept our teaching? Again, my habit is to select a

passage of Scripture as my text and carefully study that passage to find what it

means. All the passages I have selected have doctrine in them.”

“That is exactly what is the trouble,” he said. “Why do you not select some

of the passages that have no doctrine in them and preach from them? The Bible

is full of other things and why use the doctrinal passages all the time?”

I said, “Please tell me a passage, I could use as you say.”

He said: “That is dead easy, try John 3:16, which tells of God's love.”

That was a fine suggestion. I had never preached from John 3:16 and

strange to say, I had never heard a sermon from that text. I had heard preachers

quote it, but I had never heard a sermon from it, never using it as a text myself.

I went to my room and gave John 3:16 a careful study to learn just what was in

the passage. My findings were original so far as I was concerned for I had no

help from any source, and I have never used commentaries in preparing my

sermons, for I think commentaries have made many a Dr. Dry-as-dust preacher

but never a live wire one. In much prayer and diligent study, I made my sermon

and preached it on the next Sunday. Instead of there being no doctrine in that

great text, I found all the doctrines there, either expressly stated or implied.

When Brother Crow heard the sermon (bless his memory--he has long gone to be

with the Lord) he was astonished beyond bounds and came hastily to the pulpit

as soon as I had finished preaching and said, “Young man, preach what you

please from this time on out, for I think you must be right about all the passages

in the Bible being full of doctrine.” I thanked him heartily for his suggestion and

I have been preaching from John 3:16 ever since.

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

This wonderful text and the sermon I preached from it were the turning point in

my ministerial life. I have been a different preacher since then and the Lord has

blessed that sermon more than any other, as much as all the other sermons put

together, since I began to preach it.

VISIBLE RESULTS FROM PREACHING JOHN 3:16

I have preached this sermon all over the United States and I have seen

results that were astonishing; only a few times have I used it when nobody made

a public profession of faith, and no telling what the results were even when no

one made public their acceptance of Christ at the time the sermon was preached,

for at the time I preached it in Little Rock with the Atheist, Dan Gilbert,

present, nobody publicly accepted my invitation that night, but it caught Dan

Gilbert and haunted him night and day until he fully surrendered to the Lord, as

he tells you in his own words which you will read following this introduction. I

preached it in Cloverdale, Oregon, while attending the meeting of the Middle

Oregon Association and a young man, named John Blalock, was gloriously saved.

He is a successful preacher and has been, for years, missionary in China. Over

and over again men and women have come to me and said: “I was saved under

your preaching of John 3:16,” as they named the place where they heard the

sermon. This has been a joy to me.

John 3:16 for Ten Days at a Time

I have held several protracted meetings in which I used no other text. All of

these meetings have been successful. In all of them souls were saved and we had

what is commonly called a good revival. I shall mention two of these times in

particular. One was at Prattsville, Ark, where the windows of heaven were

opened and God poured out His blessings, thirty-five souls being saved, and

Pastor J.W. Kelly baptized them in Saline River. The other was at Hodges,

Alabama, where such a revival as they had never seen before was enjoyed and

forty-three souls were saved. I baptized them with my own hands in the

beautiful lake nearby. In at least four other places I used John 3:16 for the entire

protracted meetings and in each one precious souls were saved.

The Most Outstanding Conversion But the most outstanding conversion, under the preaching of John 3:16,

was the wonderful conversion of Dan Gilbert as related by him in this book. The

story as told by him follows, and following his account, is the sermon itself as

preached that memorable night he heard it, only slightly enlarged so as to get in

all the arguments I ever use to refute the doctrines of infidels and atheists. The

arguments that convinced Dan Gilbert are all in the printed sermon and a few

more thrown in for the benefit of the reader.

Put this Book into the Hands of Sinners

This book should be widely scattered over the world, If you have a skeptical

friend, if you know of a young man or woman who has been to some school where

the teachers misled the students, and his mind is poisoned with modernism,

evolutionism, or any form of unbelief, you should not fail to put this book into his

hands. Dr. Gilbert says that the arguments which convinced him should

convince other young people who are like he was when he heard the sermon.

With a prayer that many may be saved from the modernistic skepticism

caused by false teachers, this book is sent forth. May the reading of the sermon,

and the story of Dan Gilbert, be as effective as the preaching of it has been.

Yours, UNDER THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, and with praise to God; “Who

so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth

in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” and I am Very Sincerely,

Ben M. Bogard

Dan Gilbert’s Own Story Concerning His Wonderful

Conversion from Atheism to Christ

This is really not the “story of Dan Gilbert.” It is, rather, the story of a

sermon--and what it did to Dan Gilbert. For, if Dan Gilbert had not heard that

sermon, and if the Lord had not used it to do what He did to Dan Gilbert, there

would be nothing about his life that any Christian reader would care to know

about.

Strangely, we tend to think of sermons as quite ordinary things. Often as

not, church congregations will enjoy the music, but expect to be bored when the

preaching begins; and, often as not, they go home with the dull consciousness

that all their expectations were abundantly realized! Preachers know this; and

that is why they frequently try to “spice” up their sermons with jokes about their

dryness, dullness, and long windedness. A recent survey of “pulpit humor” (so-

called) revealed that preachers jokes about their own dryness had surpassed

even the stale old variety about “the trials of married life” as the type of alleged

“funniness” most frequently inflicted by the pulpit upon the pew.

By sad experience, many preachers have learned to regard their sermons

as just about the most trivial things that enter into the busy lives of the laity.

Woe unto the preacher who dares to assume that what he has to declare is to be

compared with importance to the noon-day Sunday meal! There is no fury known

to Christian womanhood like that instantly aroused by the unthinking pastor

who doesn't act upon the knowledge that the unpardonable sin is to make his

people “late” in getting out of church on the Lord's Day morning.

Twentieth century man and woman regard sermons as trivial, tiresome

and commonplace. Yet, the fact can be demonstrated that they are the most

mysterious, wonder-working and potent things that can touch the heart and life

of humanity. God has implanted strange and wonderful power in the tiny atom;

when the atom is “cracked” and the latent energy is released, a whole city may

be blown up. But God has implanted infinitely greater power in these simple

things known as sermons. Empires have risen and fallen, as sermons have been

preached, releasing Divine power a billion times greater than atomic energy.

“Make these Christians stop their preaching or they will wreck my empire,”

cried Diocletian, the most blood-thirsty of all the Roman persecutors of the early

church. Diocletian's “gestapo” murdered the Christians by the millions; but they

went on telling the story of Jesus and His love, and all the “iron legions” of the

Roman system could not keep the Empire from toppling into dust.

Twentieth century man “marvels” at the “wonder-working” sulpha drugs. A

doctor pumps some of this mysterious substance into a person's veins and germs

are quickly killed. What is so remarkable about that: that one substance in the

blood stream should overcome another substance in the blood stream?

But doctors know nothing about the most poisonous of all diseases in the

life of man: hatred, greed, malice. There is no drug that can “get at” sin hidden in

the heart of man. Only a sermon can do that! God uses sermons to drive

hatred and greed out of the hearts of men and bring them to Christ. How

incomparably marvelous and wonderful! A sermon is just words. Yet a

combination of words, spoken by a human tongue, is so freighted with

wonder-working power by the Holy Spirit, that a man hears those words and

becomes a changed, new creature. The drunkard becomes sober. The murderer

becomes kind. The liar becomes truthful. The sinner becomes a saint!

Faith comes by hearing. God uses little things, simple things--like sermons-

-to accomplish those life-transformations which are beyond the comprehension or understanding of the greatest scientists who ever lived.

This is the story of a sermon: the greatest sermon I ever heard; the sermon

that God used to do for me what nothing else on earth could do for this lost

sinner.

I was born in California. In my junior year in high school, I was led into

atheism by an infidel-evolutionary instructor. This man taught atheism in the

name of science. Evolution was true; the Bible was false. There was no creation

and is no Creator.

I was fourteen years of age at the time. Cunningly, he led me--and many

other students--to turn our backs upon the Bible. At fourteen, I had never had an

experience of salvation. But I had grown up in Sunday school. Like many

churches, ours did not “stress” the New Birth. The preacher “believed” in it, he

said, but felt it came about “gradually”. We were taught to read the Bible, pray,

do good, and “gradually” we would be “regenerated.” So long as we read the Bible

and lived right, God would take care of us and get us all to heaven.

Slowly, this teacher broke down my boyhood belief in God. Finally, he had

me convinced--that evolution is true, the Bible is false; there is no Creator and

there was no creation. The darkest hour in my young life was the night that I

decided to go to sleep without saying my prayers--taught to me in the cradle.

I really didn't want to give up praying, but I felt I must. I must be “honest”

as the teacher said, if science proved there was no God, one would be a hypocrite

or a fool to keep on praying to Him who did not exist. The only honest thing, the

only “manly” thing, the only “scientific” thing was to stop praying.

Many times I had gone to bed feeling so sleepy, that I couldn't stay awake

long enough to say my prayers. But somehow I had always managed it--although

sometimes it had been hard. Now, I no longer felt obligated to stay awake and

pray. But strangely, I couldn't go to sleep. I got up and looked out the window.

The stars seemed to frown upon me. The sky was blue, but it looked black. There

was a blackness in my soul. Like the man with a jaundiced liver who sees

everything in yellow tones, the outside world was black--black as my heart and

soul within.

Once committed to godlessness, I threw--or the devil threw--my whole

being into the “crusade against God.” A group of us, converted to godless

evolution, by the teacher, formed a high school Atheist society.

I wrote to Charles Smith, president of the[This link is to a Must Read article “Human-

Ape Hybridization: A Failed Attempt to Prove Darwinism” by Jerry Bergman, Ph.D. -ESN] American

Association for the Advancement of Atheism, Incorporated, in New York City.

Moscow, Russia, is the world headquarters of the anti-God combine. The No. 1

infidel of the English speaking world was Charles Smith, scholarly, brilliant,

vigorous, born in the United States, but committed to Moscow in the bold

program to destroy the church of the living God on a world-wide scale.

I told Mr. Smith that we wished to affiliate with the 4-A as the American

Association for the Advancement of Atheism was called. Mr. Smith wrote back

that his organization had thousands of school teachers engaged in bringing

students into infidelity; that they had many student branch organizations over

the nation, and that we “would be welcome to join the ranks of the militant

godless.”

He added, however, that we would have to adopt an official name; then the

4-A in New York City would issue us a charter with our name upon it.

What should we call our high school atheist group? We had to have a name.

Finally, we hit upon one. We would call ourselves the 4-H--after the parent body,

known as the 4-A.

When we wrote him, giving the name we had chosen, he commented, “That

is the finest name of any young people's group in our whole organization. You

are to be congratulated as a genius: that name makes your group the roughest,

toughest, most militant, most aggressively radical godless youth club in the

entire nation.”

The 4-H stood for: THE HEDONIC HOST OF HELL-BENT HEATHENS.

(The word “hedonic” simply means “pagan.” Hedonism was the

Greek equivalent of paganism.)

Mr. Smith quickly promoted our group to “top-billing” in the atheist

publications. Within six months, the Hedonic Host of Hell-Bent Heathens was

the most widely publicized and highly-touted of all youth branches of the

American Association for the Advancement of Atheism.

As president of the 4-H, I was instrumental in forming high school atheist

clubs in more than a dozen California cities. I wrote articles which Mr. Smith

had published in the New York atheist-Communist press.

I graduated from high school at the age of 15. Mr. Smith advised me that

their Executive Secretary was going to South America to live, and a vacancy.

Had been created. The position of Executive Secretary was No. 2 in the

organization. If I took this position, I would be next to him. I would be his “junior

associate.”

He realized I was very young, he said, but he thought I could handle the

job. I had proved my ability: as a writer of articles published in the New York

radical press, and as an organizer of the California high school branches of the

anti-God combine.

There is a modern tendency to sissify and babify young people in their

teens. Yet, it should not be forgotten that some of the greatest soldiers during

the war were teen agers. Some of the greatest poems in the English language

were written by teen-agers, such as Keats. Some of the greatest sermons ever

preached, and some of the greatest songs ever sung, were by teen agers.

We should not underestimate what a teen-ager can do for God, or for the devil.

After all, it had been a teen-ager who had thought up that prize-winning

name for the atheist club, Hedonic Host of Hell-Bent Heathens.

And it was a teen-ager by the name of Dan Gilbert who was chosen by the

English--speaking world's most notorious infidel, Charles Smith, to be his “junior

associate” in directing the anti-God combine in America.

I accepted the assignment with great enthusiasm. Mr. Smith told me to

come to New York City. But, at the last minute, he changed his instructions. He

wired, “meet me in Little Rock, Arkansas.”

I did as I was instructed. Mr. Smith explained that he had come down to

Arkansas to “rescue the state from the anti-evolutionary fanatics.” At that time,

the people were getting ready to vote on a proposed law to ban the teaching of

evolution in tax-supported schools and colleges. Mr. Smith regarded himself as a

greater infidel than Clarence Darrow.

Darrow had engaged William Jennings Bryan in battle at the Scopes trial

in Tennessee some years before. Now, Mr. Smith felt it was his duty to combat

Christianity in Arkansas.

I arrived in Little Rock two days before Atheist Smith arrived. (He

delighted in being known as Atheist Smith. An agnostic is one who doubts God;

an Atheist is one who denies Him. Mr. Smith prided himself on being an Atheist.

“Agnostics are cowards and fools,” he argued. “When a child finds out there is no

Santa Claus, he does not say he doubts Santa's existence. He says, I know there

is no Santa Claus. Well, I know there is no God--for the same reason that even

the dumbest Christian knows that there is no Santa Claus, no spooks, no ghosts,

no fairies, and no goblins. “There is,” said Mr. Smith, “as much evidence for the

existence of God as there is for the existence of ghosts--no more and no less.”)

Mr. Smith had directed me to go to the Lafayette Hotel. But it was

overcrowded. I then went to the Marion. When Mr. Smith arrived, we sent out

invitations and had an “all-Arkansas convention of atheists.”

He then said we needed a downtown headquarters. Walking around the

business section we found a vacant store building on one of the main streets. It

had what Mr. Smith wanted: an eye-catching plate glass display window. Mr.

Smith rented the store room, and placed his anti-God tracts and leaflets in the

display window. Few customers for the free literature came in. Probably not

many people noticed the literature in the window as they went by.

Mr. Smith said, “We must do something to drum up trade, to stir up the

fanatics. We want to put tons of this literature into distribution. Let's see if we

can get the people to come after it.”

A twinkle shown in Mr. Smith's clear blue eyes. He was a strange

character, with fine, corn-silk hair, he looked like he might be a prosperous

business man or lawyer, especially when he put on his glasses: the kind that

perch high up on the nose with no “visible means of support.” Charles Smith was

the very opposite of the “unwashed,” alien type of soap box agitator. Born in

Oklahoma, Mr. Smith was brought up by a godly mother who sent him to

seminary to train for the ministry. An earnest, conscientious lad, Charles Smith

was “shocked” when professors in the seminary told him the Bible was not to be

believed. These professors were “modernists.” They laughed at the story of Jonah

and the whale.

Outraged, Charles Smith stormed out of the seminary, never to return,

saying, “Religion is a fraud. If one cannot believe the Bible, then he cannot

believe anything. I will be an honest infidel, rather than a religious hypocrite.”

Instead of studying religion, Mr. Smith went to studying colleges and

universities.

Instead of becoming a preacher of the Gospel, Mr. Smith became “the

greatest infidel since Bob Ingersoll.”

The Scripture declares that there are degrees of punishment in hell. Christ

warned that it would go easier with Sodom and Gomorrah than with some of the

godless to whom He spoke. What shall we say of the modernistic professor,

entrusted with making a preacher of Mother Smith's boy-- who made, instead,

an atheist of him? What shall we say of these “liberals” who broke down his

boyhood faith in the Bible as the Word of God? Could any “honest infidel” be as

responsible as those dishonest theologians who, in the name of religion, break

down faith in the Bible!

But to return to our story. To stir the people of Little Rock up, to get them

to come in and take free literature, Mr. Smith purchased some paint. I held the

box upon which he stood, while he painted on the plate glass window this sign:

EVOLUTION IS TRUE

THE BIBLE IS FALSE

GOD'S A GHOST

Blazoned in large letters, such a sign could not go unnoticed. Mild

commotion was caused on the sidewalk in front of “atheist headquarters” on the

Saturday afternoon that the sign was painted on the plate glass.

Sunday we remained closed.

Sunday night, Mr. Smith said, “Let's go see how the fanatics behave as

they worship their non-existent ghost of a God.”

I said, “You mean, we are going to see these holy rollers in action?”

“No,” said Mr. Smith. “They just put on a show that appeals to the

ignorant. The intellectual leader of the fundamental forces in Arkansas is Ben

M. Bogard. Bogard has brains--something you don't find in the average

Christian. Bogard will carry this state for the anti-evolutionists. He may sweep

the South and whole nation for fundamentalism, if the rest of the bigots will get

behind him. Bogard is smarter than Jennings Bryan ever was, and he's almost

as good a talker.” The twinkle came back in Smith's eyes.” You know, Danny,

there is keen competition among the fundamentalists as to who is to wear W. J.

Bryan's mantle. If the fundamentalists ever get united behind Bogard, they will

control the country. Our hope is that they will divide and feud among

themselves. They have a lot of leaders, but none who are willing to play second-

fiddle.”

“If this Bogard is the best man they have, why don't they get behind him?”

I asked, knowing little of the behind-the-scenes rivalries, that Smith seemed to

be so familiar with.

“Well,” he chuckled, “Christians are not very smart--or they wouldn't be

Christians. You see, there are quite a number of them that have some ability.

But Bogard is the only one with all of what it takes for effective leadership. He

has as good an intellect as Mark Mathews, as much eloquence as J. Frank

Norris, as much scholarship as W. B. Riley. These others are strong in some

lines, but not well-rounded.”

Mr. Smith said we would go to the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and

hear Dr. Ben M. Bogard, just for the fun of it. “Bogard has a pretty good head,

but he only uses part of it. Any Christian is a half-wit--or at most a three-quarter

wit.”

“In other words,” I said, “if a man's a fundamentalist, he's still a fool--no

matter how smart he is.”

Charley Smith roared, “Yeah, Danny, you have it figured out about right.”

When we arrived at the Antioch Baptist Church, every seat was taken.

Some were already standing. Mr. Smith, always polite and soft--spoken when he

wasn't blaspheming, spoke to the head usher, “Tell Dr. Bogard that Charles

Smith is here. Ask him if he objects to our coming in.”

The usher took the message up to Dr. Bogard who came back and

personally escorted us up front. He whispered to two people sitting on the front

row. They got up and started to leave.

Mr. Smith remonstrated, “O don't make them leave just to make room for

us. We're enemies--they're friends.”

Dr. Bogard simply said, “You are our guests. I am glad you have come.”

He motioned for us to sit down in the two front seats that had been

vacated.

During prayer, Mr. Smith held his head high and whispered to me,

“Talking to God is sillier than talking to yourself. All these people belong in an

institute for the feebleminded.”

When Dr. Bogard began to preach, I forgot that Atheist Smith was beside

me. I lost consciousness of the crowd in the auditorium. Dr. Bogard was

preaching on John 3:16. “For God so loved the world--”

But I lost consciousness that there even was a world.

GOD LOVED ME.

Christ died for me.

Dr. Bogard, whom I had never seen before, was preaching to ME. His

words struck like fiery darts into my mind, and heart, and soul.

It was as though I were all alone--in the middle of eternity. Christ died for

me. Dr. Bogard was giving this “good news”--this GOSPEL--to me.

What was happening to my philosophical framework of “militant atheism ;”

all the “scientific” arguments against the existence of God?

Dr. Bogard was dealing with them, one by one. He was smashing them. He

was battering them down with merciless logic.

This sermon he was preaching was not just a call to repentance. It was a

scholarly presentation of the Truth of God.

Once in the middle of it--only once--I remembered my “boss” beside me. I

glanced at Atheist Smith. His eyes were not twinkling; they were aflame with

rage. His lip was curled in a sneer. He was trying not to be mad, but he was

mad. I knew what he would say when we left; he would wisecrack and laugh, in

a forced sort of way. But he wasn't laughing now. Deep down in his heart, the

truth was striking home--and it hurt.

When the sermon was over, Mr. Smith turned to me and barked, “Let's

get out of here--fast.”

Outside, I said, “What's the matter--why the rush?”

“Oh, I can only stand so much of this fanaticism,” grumbled Atheist Smith.

Back in the hotel, Smith had regained his composure. The twinkle was

back in his eyes, “See what I told you, Danny? Bogard knows how to dish it out.

He is an artist. He makes religion intoxicating, seductive. If he gets you under

his spell, you might even join him.”

“But he didn't whoop and holler,” I commented. “He didn't rant and storm,

He didn't weep and moan. He just presented his message the way you would

expect the Truth to be presented.”

“That's because he's smart,” Smith explained. “Didn't I tell you so?”

“Sure you did,” I replied. “But you also said he was a fool.”

“Of course he is,” snapped Smith. “He's a fundamentalist, isn't he? Only a

fool can believe the Bible from cover to cover.” A little later, Smith said, “I don't

think we will go to any more church services.”

“Are you afraid something might happen?” I asked.

Smith started to say something, then apparently changed his mind. He bit

his lip and said quietly, “No, it's just a waste of time.”

Late Sunday night, Atheist Smith got a wire from New York. He did not

tell me its contents. After reading it, he asked if I would go immediately to New

York. I agreed.

He gave me instructions as to personal and confidential work I was to do

for him there.

The next morning at 8, I left for New York City.

Mr. Smith opened up the Atheist headquarters in downtown Little Rock.

At 10, a mob formed in front of the atheist display room. The plate-glass

window with the blasphemous sign was smashed. Mr. Smith's “tons” of free

literature were torn up. Twenty minutes later, Mr. Smith was being led down

the street with a rope around his neck.

Reinforcements from the police station rescued Atheist Smith from the mob

and put him in jail for safe keeping, under an anti-blasphemy statute.

I arrived in New York City and was ushered into the heart of the atheist

combine. I was deeply involved in more than one way. I was pushed, cajoled,

lured and maneuvered by Satan and all his minions: deeper and deeper into

godless radicalism.

The radicals boast that no one ever leaves their ranks-- except feet first in

a casket.

But wherever I went and whatever I was obliged to do--the sermon

delivered by Ben M. Bogard was with me in my heart. It seemed to echo and re-

echo there. It would not be silent. I could not forget it. It seemed to be growing

there--like a flower or a tree. As time went on, it seemed to be blossoming.

I am not telling the rest of the steps involved in my conversion.

Later, God intervened decisively in my life. Christ drew me unto Himself.

I gave my heart to Christ in Tucson, Arizona, while on my knees in the

home of the leader of the Bible Club at the University.

But it all began that night that I heard the greatest sermon ever preached--

to me. That sermon was the first pull of Heaven to draw me out of the atheist

camp. That sermon planted seeds of Scriptural truth in my heart that never

died--but that finally brought me to Christ.

If the sermon could do that for the founder and president of the Hedonic

Host of Hell-Bent Heathens, why cannot it be the means of leading multitudes of

unbelieving students out of evolutionary darkness into the light of Christ?

I hope and pray that you, Christian reader, will circulate the printed copy

of this sermon by the tens of thousands.

A copy should be put into the hands of everyone of our 9,000,000 high

school and 2,000,000 college students. ---Dan Gilbert

THAT THERE IS A GOD

My text is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only

begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have

everlasting life.”

This is the most comprehensive passage in the Bible. It contains all of the

great doctrines of the Bible. To fully discuss what is taught in the text would

require writing a large book. It is my purpose to bring out some of the great

doctrines that stand out on the face of the passage.

That THERE IS A GOD is clearly seen. The text says: “God so loved the

world that he gave his only begotten Son” to die for the world. We do not need

the Bible to prove that God exists. All nature proclaims it. The Psalmist said:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his

handywork.” It is amazing how an intelligent man can study the stars and not

see proof of the Creator of the stars. If you had never seen a watch and were

shown one of these little time keepers, and saw how the watch measures time,

would you get the idea that the watch came into existence by chance? You would,

as an intelligent man, decide that some one designed it. You might as well think

a watch came by chance as to think that the heavenly bodies came into being by

chance; that they move with certainty and perfect accuracy through space by

chance. Did you know that our clocks and watches are set every day by the

movement of the stars? Observations are taken every day and the EXACT TIME

is found by the position of the stars, then the correct time is wired to all parts of

the world every day. This correct time is taken from God's clock which never

varies a second in a thousand years. The movement of the heavenly bodies is so

accurate that the exact time for an eclipse of the Sun or Moon can be told a

thousand years in advance.

There is a marvelous thing concerning the movement of the heavenly

bodies. EVERYTHING MOVES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT. The earth turns on its

axis from left to right, causing our day and night. The earth whirls around the

Sun, every three hundred and sixty-five days from left to right, and astronomers

have discovered that the TIME used in this journey of the earth around the Sun

is exactly three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours, forty-eight minutes and

forty-eight and SEVEN-TENTHS SECONDS--it makes the journey from left to

right to a SPLIT SECOND, and NEVER MISSES even so much as a split second.

But we do not need to study the stars. Just go into your garden and see the

bean vines that twine around the pole, from LEFT TO RIGHT, every one without

exception. That holds true with every twining thing; all of them twine around

the trees from LEFT TO RIGHT. The whirlwind that goes across your field,

moves from left to right. The terrible cyclone that destroys lives and property

whirls from LEFT TO RIGHT without an exception. If the universe came into

existence BY CHANCE why has not something been found that went the other

way? This universal REGULARITY and this EXACT movement, even to a split

second, shows that it is absurd to think of all this coming by chance. There must

be a Great Designer, a CREATOR with INTELLIGENCE to bring it all into

being.

Fulfilled Prophecy Fulfilled Prophecy Proves there is a God. That the Bible is God's Word is

proved by the fact that it is filled with predictions that have been literally

fulfilled. We may guess concerning the future but our guesses will more than

likely fail to come to pass. If you were to predict what would come to pass next

year, you would be almost certain to miss it. But the Bible has foretold the entire

future of the world and we see these predictions coming to pass before our eyes.

The downfall of Babylon was foretold in Isaiah 13:17-22. It was a most

unlikely prediction because Babylon was the greatest kingdom on earth and

it was least likely to fall. But the prophet of God boldly foretold its downfall.

This prophecy was written B. C. 712 and about two hundred years later the

terrible fall came.

The scattering of the Jewish nation was foretold in Duet. 28:64. That was a

most unlikely prediction. But the- Jews are scattered all over the earth right

before our eyes. Nobody will dispute this.

The rise and fall of the Roman empire was foretold in Dan. 2:27-44, and the

historian Gibbon, who was a skeptic and bated Christianity, wrote the history of

the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. In that way, he unwittingly proved the

fulfilling of this prophecy.

Although scattered all over the earth, the PRESERVATION of the Jewish

Race was predicted in Luke 21:22, where Jesus said, “This generation shall not

pass away until all these things be fulfilled.” The word “generation” is from a

Greek word that means RACE. In other words, Jesus foretold what we all know

to be true--that the· Jewish Race would be preserved. The Jews have not

amalgamated with other races and they are a pure blood people to this day.

Are all these predictions just guesses? if so the prophets were wonderful

guessers. Suppose you try your hand at guessing at the future and you will be

convinced that you can't successfully be a prophet.

Details of the Destruction of Babylon

Some things are impossible to guess. One might guess a major matter even

such as the destruction of a city or country, but to give the details thousands

of years in advance is impossible. If such details are given, it proves that

a SUPERNATURAL MIND foretold the details. In Isaiah 13, we are told of

a detail in the destruction of Babylon which is nothing short of marvelous.

The language of the prophet (Isaiah 13:20-22) is: “It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation;

neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold

there. But the wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful

creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And wild beasts of the

islands shall cry in their desolate houses and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her

time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.”

Imagine, if you please, some man talking like that concerning New York or

Chicago. Imagine the man saying that the houses shall be inhabited by the wild

beasts and dragons occupy their palaces. Remember Babylon was a city

about the size of New York. Several millions of people lived there and Babylon

was a RULER OF THE WORLD at that time. Isaiah, the prophet, certainly

was not believed by the people he spoke to. There was no earthly benefit he

could receive for talking like that, yet he spoke boldly, confidently, and we

have lived to see his prophecy fulfilled to the letter, down to the smallest

details. Babylon was destroyed and is a barren waste to this day,

thousands of years after its destruction. Wild beasts do inhabit the

houses once occupied by the proud Babylonians--not a human being lives

there to this day. Tourists visit the place where the city once stood to see its

waste and ruin, for that is all they see. The blast of God's wrath and the blight

of God's curse rests upon the place. There can be no answer the skeptic can

make, for it could not have been a mere happen so. Such details were impossible

to guess.

“The Arabian shall not pitch his tent there.”

I reserve this detail for a special discussion and to emphasize the

wonderful prophecy. The prophet said: “The Arabian shall not pitch his tent

there.” How could the prophet have known such a detail as that? Is it true that

the Arabian will not pitch his tent there? It is true to this day.

Dr. W. A. Whittle, a world traveler whose body lies buried in a Little Rock

cemetery, wrote a book giving his experience as he traveled in Bible lands. The

book is entitled, “A Baptist Abroad,” and he relates that he had an Arab guide

who knew the language of the country and was familiar with the English

language, a very efficient guide to whom he paid good wages. When they came to

Babylon's waste, Dr. Whittle wanted to spend more time there than he usually

used at a place and he deliberately decided to remain there over night so he

would have plenty of time to make observations. He told his Arab guide to settle

for the night, pitch the tent and have the evening meal, then go to their cots to

sleep until morning when he would complete his observations of the ancient city

of Babylon. The guide refused to pitch his tent there. Dr. Whittle relates that he

told the guide he was PAYING HIM FOR HIS SERVICE and demanded that he

settle for the night. The Arab refused. He then offered him more money, to settle

for the night and still the Arab refused. If Dr. Whittle stayed there for the night,

he would have to stay by himself for the Arab refused positively to stay. Then Dr.

Whittle remembered Isa. 13th chapter where the prophet had for told that “the

Arabian shall not pitch his tent there.”

All the skeptics in the world cannot give a reasonable answer why the

Prophet Isaiah knew several thousand years in advance this marvelous detail.

The Arabs know nothing about the prophecy for they are neither Christian nor

Jew, neither would they care if they did know about it, but they WILL NOT

PITCH THEIR TENT THERE. This one fulfilled prophecy is enough to convince

the worst Atheist that the Bible is an inspired book and written under the

superintendence of a SUPERNATURAL MIND, and if so, what the Bible says is

true, and, if true, then woe be unto the skeptic who rejects it.

The Bible And Science Nowhere does the Bible contradict any known fact of Science. I have

challenged the world to find just one supposed contradiction that I cannot

successfully answer. By this is not meant the guesses of half-baked scientists. By

this is not meant the so-called hypothetical theories of half-baked scientists, but

I mean any known fact of science. This is why the greatest scientists who have

ever lived accepted the Bible as being true, and why many great scientists

accepted Jesus as their Savior.

Scientific Inventions Foretold In The Bible

Remember the Bible was written hundreds of years before any books of

science were, yet there is in the Bible every basic fact of science.

Radio and Telephone Foretold

Within the memory of many old people the telephone was invented.

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor, died a short time ago, and some very

young people can remember when the first radio was used. But the telephone

and radio were foretold in the Bible THOUSANDS OF YEARS before they came

into being Job 38:35, says: “Canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say

Unto thee, here we are?” It is harnessed lightning that gives us the telephone

and the radio--lightning made to talk! It is now so common that we think

nothing of it. The first message that was sent over the Atlantic Cable was:

“WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT!” Is such a prophecy in the Bible? Most

certainly.

TNT And The Bible

The first TNT successfully made in America was at Heidelberg,

Pennsylvania. Eight thousand pounds were manufactured, only one pound of

impurity was being found in it. That was transported by rail, “right past your

doors,” and was finally landed on Black Tom's Island, Hoboken, awaiting

transportation by ship. There its instability caused by that one-eight thousandth

part of impurity set it off, and the cost of the damage in insured window glass

alone, in New York and Brooklyn was one million dollars. The second lot, with

but one pound of impurity to sixteen thousand pounds of TNT was safely started

from Boston on its way to France. In Halifax harbor, that one-sixteenth

thousandth exploded and destroyed half the city. Then the chemist knew not

where to turn. They had heard that the German chemist had gone to the Swiss

Alps to get snow for his laboratory. Immediately experimentation began,

resulting in the discovery that at four degrees above zero, Centigrade water is

ready to turn to snow, and this “snow” is absolutely pure. It was the one

necessary ingredient for a fully stable product and the problem was solved. Then

questions of transportation were decided by their work with freezing water.

So the terrible explosive, sublimed to the highest degree, was transported to

Europe. First it went to Italy, and immediately, as far as the Austrian line

was concerned, the war was over. Its effect on the German front was equally

marked. Job 38:22-23:

“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen

the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble,

against the day of battle and war?

Thirty-eight centuries ago, the Lord uttered t h e s e words, yet it remained

for the present-day chemists to make their scientific application. And it is a

full application, for TNT is of no use for peaceful purposes. Farmers cannot

dynamite with it. It destroys the qualities of the soil. It is useful alone in the

“day of battle and war” as Job said.

The BIBLE FORETOLD THE MOST WONDERFUL INVENTIONS

PRODUCED BY SCIENCE. Not only is the Bible true to the established facts of

science, but the inspired writers foretold the working of science

accurately hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of years, before their

accomplishment. This could not have been if the Bible were the product of

human wisdom. God, who knew all about science, knew all about what

science would invent and discover; hence, the men who wrote the Bible,

being inspired of God, wrote accurately of the wonders of what science would

produce.

(1) The Electric Light Foretold

Psalm 77:18 “The lightning lightened the world.”

Again in Job 37:21 we read: “And men see not the bright light which is in

the clouds.” It won't do to say that men did not see lightning. But there was a

light in the clouds that men had not seen at the time the writer mentioned it.

WE SEE IT NOW and enjoy our electric lights thus foretold.

(2) Airships Were Foretold

Isaiah 60:8, “Who are these that come flying as the clouds and as doves to

their windows?” Thus we see that the prophet saw in prophetic vision the

wonderful air ships. He saw people flying.

(3) The Automobile Was Foretold

Nahum 2:1-2 “The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of

preparation--the chariots shall rage in the street, they shall jostle each other in

the broadways; they seem like torches, they shall run like lightning.” Such a

thing was never dreamed of in human wisdom at the time the Bible was written

and therefore it follows that they wrote not from their own knowledge but from

knowledge given them by a SUPERNATURAL MIND which we call God.

(4) The Army Tank Was Foretold

Nahum 3:1-3 “The noise of the whip, the rattling of the wheels, and the

prancing of horses, and of the jumping chariots.” Those who have seen the army

tank in operation will note how they jump; apparently over ditches and logs: “jumping chariots.”

(5) The Submarine Was Foretold

Psalm 107:23-30 “They go down to the sea in ships, they do business in

great waters; these see the works of the Lord in the deep--they mount up to

heaven, they go down into the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.

They reel to and fro like a drunken man, and are at their wits end.” Just

remember they had no ships at that time that would first be on the surface and

then go down to the depths. Such foresight was supernatural and therefore the

Bible is a supernatural book. It can't be the production of men.

Our Witness Is Evidently Trustworthy The facts related show the Bible to be of Divine origin and that it could not

have been written by man's wisdom for the very reason the scientific facts

revealed in the Bible were unknown at the time they were written. The fore-

knowledge shown in the prophecies concerning the wonderful inventions of

science was entirely beyond human understanding. These prophetic statements

could be multiplied. When we introduce the Bible as a witness in the case

against evolution we are taking the testimony from a witness fully qualified to

speak. The Bible says: “IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS

AND THE EARTH.” Gen. 1:1.

The statement is either true or false. If true, evolution is false. In that

same chapter we are told that God created man in his OWN IMAGE and that is

either true or false. If true then man was not brought into existence by any

process of evolution. It does not say that God created protoplasm and from

protoplasm evolved all things, coming on up to where an anthropoid ape evolved

man. If the Bible had said such as that it would have been true because we have

found the Bible to be a truthful witness. But it does not say that and hence the

guesses of infidels are at best only guesses that contradict the word of God.

SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES

Scientists Have Discovered That All Life Reproduce After Its

Kind

We do not sow turnips and reap cabbage. We do not plant corn and reap

watermelons. We do not breed sheep and produce cows. We do not mate monkeys

and produce men. Farmers all understand this and act accordingly. By careful

selection of seed he can improve his corn and cotton but by no method of

selection can he plant cotton and get barley. Farmers also know that seed “runs

out” as they call it. Unless there is careful and continued selection of the best

seed the quality will run down. By grafting and selection and cultivation

the scrub peach can be developed into the fine Elberta. But by no manner of

selection and grafting can a different sort of fruit be produced. Mr. Burbanks,

with all his skill was never able to develop a NEW SPECIES--he only succeeded

in getting a great variety of the same species. When he produced the

PLUMCOT it was flaunted by evolutionists that he had produced a new

species, but nobody knew better than Mr. Burbank that the plum and the

apricot are only different varieties of the VERY SAME SPECIES and he

only succeeded in combining these two varieties of the PLUM, but they were

PLUMS to begin with. He has cultivated the thorns off the cactus but it

remains cactus still. Plant the seed from any of these cultivated fruits and it

will revert back to the original stock. The SEED produces AFTER ITS KIND.

So long as this FACT stands, evolution is impossible. The

TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES has never been

accomplished, not even in one single instance, and hence there is NO FACT OF

SCIENCE to base the theory of evolution on. We can challenge the world safely

on this point, but there MUST BE AT LEAST ONE CASE of that sort of thing

before the theory of evolution can find the slightest foundation on which to rest.

Doctors Tell Us That the Blood is the Life

There was a time when doctors bled their patients until they would become

so weak they could not turn over in bed. They did it on the theory that the

bad blood should be taken out of them. But doctors, by scientific training,

have learned that the blood is the life and now they seek to keep all the blood

in the body they can. They even practice blood transfusion and pump into the

patient the blood of another in order to give him more blood, because the blood is

the life. It took the doctors hundreds of years to find that out. But the Bible

had that very thing in it fifteen hundred years before the doctors learned it. Lev.

17:11-14 forbids the eating of blood by the Jews because “the blood thereof

is the life thereof.” It took the doctors nearly two thousand years to catch

up with the Bible. The God who made man and animals knew this FACT,

hence he inspired men to write it.

Science Teaches That the Universe was at one Time a Chaotic

Mass of Matter

All existing matter was floating in space and was without form. Strange to

relate, the Bible says “the earth was without form and void.” Hebrew scholars

tell us that this passage literally translated is “the earth became an empty

waste.” Science has found this true. To be “without form” is to be chaotic, just as

science teaches. But the marvelous thing is that the Bible gave this information

thousands of years before science discovered it. If the writer had been guessing

at it, he would never have supposed anything of the kind. But the God who

created the universe knew HOW it was and inspired the writer of Genesis to

write it as he did.

Science Teaches That Matter is Composed of Atoms and These

Atoms are Composed of Electrons and so on to Infinity

No man ever saw an atom, not even with the most powerful microscope.

Atoms are invisible. Thus matter is composed of invisible particles strangely

joined together by an invisible force.

But the Bible declared that very thing at least fifteen hundred years before

science discovered it. Heb. 11:3, “By faith we understand the worlds were framed

by the word of God, and things that are seen were not made of things that DO

APPEAR.”

Matter is composed of atoms. Such a thing could not have been guessed at,

for the very good reason that such an idea is impossible until after it was worked

out by the investigations of science.

Science Teaches That the Earth is Like a Ball Floating Out in

Space and Rests on Nothing

Every school child is taught this simple fact, but it has not always been

known. The fact was unknown to the ancients. They thought the earth was flat

and was resting on a solid foundation. They did not stop to ask what the

FOUNDATION ITSELF rested on. Correct thinking forced the conclusion that

the earth floated in space. Nobody with any intelligence will deny this fact. But

the Bible recorded it before it was discovered by scientists. Job 26:7, “He

stretcheth the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth on nothing.”

How came this correct scientific fact in the Bible before science discovered it? It

was evidently because the writers were guided by a supernatural MIND that we

call God.

Science Teaches That the Earth is Round And not Flat or

Square

The egotistic and insulting newspaper reporter who asked W. J. Bryan if he

believed the earth was flat is a sample of the ignorance of otherwise intelligent

men concerning the Bible. That silly reporter thought that to believe the Bible to

be literally true, would necessitate the belief that the earth is flat, He had no

doubt heard, possibly never read for himself, about the Bible speaking of the

“four corners of the earth” and he drew the conclusion that the Bible teaches that

the earth is flat. He seemed unable to comprehend a figure of speech. A college

professor uses the same sort of language also, and means by it the four quarters

or sections of the earth, which literally exist. But to the scriptures:

Isa. 40:22, “He sitteth upon the circle of the earth.” A circle is necessarily

round. The Bible says the earth is a circle. How came this conception in the Bible

so long before science discovered it? Anything short of DIVINE INSPIRATION

can not account for it.

Science Teaches That the Earth Turns on its Axis Once Every

Twenty-four Hours

So does the Bible, only the Bible taught it first. Job 38:12-14: “Hast thou

commanded the morning since thy days, and caused the DAY-SPRING to

know his place; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth. ... It is turned

as clay to the seal.”

The “DAY-SPRING” is the sun and he knows HIS PLACE and he taketh

hold of the ENDS OF THE EARTH” the north and south poles, and the earth is

“turned as the clay to the seal.” There is no way to account for this correct

scientific fact being in the Bible except on the ground that the Bible is inspired of

God.

Science Teaches That There are Numerous Planets Similar to

the Earth

There is even talk of possibly being able sometime to communicate with

these other planets by means of the radio. Every educated man understands

this.

In 2 Kings 23:5 we read of people who burned incense to the “planets.” How

did the writer know about “planets” before science discovered them?

This wonderful astronomical fact was certainly unknown at the time the

Bible was written and yet, here it is in the Bible In the absence of a

SUPERNATURAL MIND to guide the writer, he could not have written with

such scientific accuracy.

Physical Geography Teaches that Moisture is Caught up by

The Sun and is Formed into Clouds Which Float Back to the

Mountains and Come Down in Rain Again

This accounts for the oceans not running over with all the rivers pouring

into them all the time. The oceans give out in evaporation as much as the rivers

pour in and thus it goes on forever. This remarkable fact, well known to

scientists was in the Bible from the very beginning and we read in Eccl. 1:7 “All

the rivers run into the sea yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence the

rivers came thither they return again.”

Day and Night End at the North and South Poles

It is a well known fact that day and night are produced by the earth

revolving on its axis ball, at the North and South Poles, it is daylight all the

time necessarily so. Scientific discovery has made this fact known. But the Bible

had this wonderful fact revealed hundreds of years before anybody knew

there were such things as the North and South Poles. Job 26:10: “He hath

compassed the waters with bounds until day and night come to an end.” The

so-called six months night is not dark but twilight. Something like it is between

sundown and dark. There is no way to account for such knowledge except on

the ground that the writer was inspired by the Spirit of God.

Scientists Condemn Evolution

Dr. Etheridge, famous fossilologist of the British museum, one of

the highest authorities in the world, said: “Nine-tenths of the talk of

evolutionists is sheer nonsense, not founded on observation and wholly

unsupported by facts. This museum is full of proofs of the utter falsity of their

views. In all this great

museum, there is not a particle of evidence of the transmutation of species.” Is a

man in that position not a creditable witness?

Prof. Beale, of King's College, London, a distinguished physiologist,

said: “There is no evidence that man has descended from, or is, or was, in

any way specially related to, any other organism in nature, through evolution,

or by any other process. In support of all naturalistic conjectures concerning

man's origin, there is not, at this time, a shadow of scientific evidence.”

Prof. Virchow, of Berlin, a naturalist of world-wide fame, said:

“The attempt to find the transition from the animal to man has ended in total

failure. The middle link has not been found and never will be. Evolution is all

nonsense. It can not be proved by science that man descended from the ape

or from any other animal.”

Prof. Agassiz, one of the greatest scientists of any age, said: “The theory (of

the transmutation of species) is a scientific mistake, untrue in its

facts, unscientific in its methods, and mischievous in its tendency. There is not

a fact known to science, tending to show that a single kind has ever been

transmuted into any other.”

Sir William Dawson, an eminent geologist, of Canada, said: “The record of the

rocks is decidedly against evolutionists, especially in the abrupt appearance of

new forms under specific types, and without apparent

predecessors. Paleontology furnishes no evidence as to the actual

transformation of one species into another. Certainly no such case is

known. Nothing is known about the origin of man except what is told in

Scripture.”

Greatest Minds in the World Believe Bible

The greatest minds in the world have believed in the existence of God.

Gladstone, the greatest English Statesman who has lived in the past two

hundred years believed in God. He wrote a great book entitled: “The

Impregnable Rock Of Holy Scripture.” Blackstone, the greatest legal authority

on what evidence is, said: “The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a case made out.”

George Washington, the father of his country, was a Christian, and at first a

member of the Episcopalian Church, then later became a Baptist, being baptized

in the Potomac River by John Gano, a Baptist preacher. Washington died a

member of the First Baptist Church, New York City. Abraham Lincoln was a

Christian and called his cabinet to prayer during the great struggle between the

states. There has not been an Atheist or Infidel who has been elevated to the

Presidency of the United States. I do not offer this as proof that there is a God,

but I introduce it to show that the men with the greatest intelligence have

believed in the existence of God and they worshipped Him as their Creator and

Savior.

It is very disgusting to hear a young lawyer declare his skepticism, when

we remember that the greatest authority on EVIDENCE, Blackstone, said the

evidence was sufficient to prove the resurrection of Christ. It is equally

disgusting to hear a young doctor declare he does not believe in God when the

greatest doctor and scientist in recent years, Howard Kelly, of Johns Hopkins

University, was a devout follower of Jesus Christ. Patrick Henry said of the

Bible, that it “is a book worth all the other books ever printed.” It is contemptible

to hear a freshman in literature argue for skepticism when we recall that

Benjamin Franklin said: “Young man, my advice to you is that you cultivate an

acquaintance with, and a firm belief in the Holy Scriptures.”

As a practical man you should ask yourself what you hope to get out of

Atheism, or any sort of infidelity. Leaving out the Bible, we all know by

observation that it is true, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” What has

skepticism ever accomplished that has benefited mankind? It has produced

criminals, blighted hopes and ruined homes, but never saved a drunkard from

his plight, never made a bad man good and never made anybody happy. What do

you get out of it?

A Christian Has Two Chances To One

A Christian has two chances to your one. If the Atheist is right, what has

he gained by it? He being judge, he will finally die like a beast and go to dust. He

being judge, the Christian will do just that. The Christian and the Atheist will

land in the same graveyard--both will come to the same hopeless grave, but if the

Christian is right, then it follows that the Atheist will land in hell and the

Christian will go to heaven to be in rapturous glory forever. A man is a fool who

refuses to take two chances to one when he can get it. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool

has said in his heart, there is no God.” But we do not need a Bible to tell us that,

for anybody knows that no one but a fool will refuse to take two chances to one

when he can get it. That is just exactly what the Atheist, Skeptic, Agnostic and

any other sort of infidel is doing--refusing to take two chances to one.

We must all stand before God some day and the most important thing in

the world is to be prepared to meet Him in peace. There is no way to God except

through Jesus Christ. Submit yourself to Jesus Christ and he will save you

forever. Jesus told Nicodemus that God so loved all of us that he gave his Son

that “whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” To

live forever with God is the highest ambition we can possibly have. I am begging

you to accept Jesus as your Savior right now.

The Only Begotten Son Some profess to be unable to believe that God has a Son. They say they

can't see how God and the Son are ONE. Jesus is eternal, existing before the

world began and it was by him that all things were made. God is a trinity, God

the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost or Spirit--Ghost and

Spirit mean the same thing, with this shade of difference, The word “gheist” is

an old Anglo Saxon word that means guest and when the Holy Spirit is our

GUEST it is correct to call Him Ghost. He is the Holy Guest of all saved

people. It is good to have a distinguished guest in your life and what a

wonderful thing it is to have the Holy Spirit as our Guest.

As the Creator, God is the Father; as the sustainer of all things, God is

the Spirit; as manifest in human form, God is the Son. These three are one.

Skeptics declare they can't see how God can be THREE and yet only ONE.

I think I can even make a skeptic see that this is not so difficult. Go out on a cold

morning and take your ten year old little brother with you. You can show

him, frost, snow, and ice. Ask your little brother what that white substance is

that he sees on the fence, and he will say it is frost, then ask him what is that

hard clear cake that lies before him and he will tell you ice; ask him to tell you

what that white soft substance is lying all over the ground and he will tell you

snow. There are THREE and any child can see the three very distinct

substances. Then get a bucket and put a handful of the frost into the bucket, and

another handful of the snow into the bucket, then take a piece of ice and put

it into the bucket also. Take the bucket into the house where it is warm and in a

few minutes there will he only ONE SUBSTANCE in the bucket, JUST

WATER. Frost, Snow, and ice are separate, distinct, different, so much so

that even a child can see the three, and yet these three are one. Frost,

snow and ice are three different manifestations of water. Why then should it

be difficult to believe God--the ONE GOD--manifests Himself in three ways, one

as the Father, One as the Son, and still in another way as the Spirit? He is the

glorious Trinity.

The only way we can know God is through Jesus, “God manifest in

the flesh.” In Jesus we can see the power of God, we can see the Love of God

as he goes about doing good. In Jesus we can see the mercy of God as He

forgives sin. From Jesus we can learn the will of God as we read the

instructions he gave us in the Bible. As we observe the character of Jesus, we

can learn the perfection of God, because he lived without sin. As Savior, we

can see Him die on the cross, suffering in our stead, for “ON HIM WAS LAID

THE INIQUITY OF US ALL” Isa. 53rd chapter. Trust him and he will save you

from sin and hell.

Some half-baked educated people say they cannot believe the Bible because

they have studied Science and they think they know better than to believe some

things the Bible says. They have studied geography and have learned the

earth is round like a ball and they declare the Bible says the earth is FLAT and

square because it says that the earth has “four corners.” These skeptics have

heard this objection to the Bible but have never troubled themselves to find

the answer. Before giving the answer, let me say that College professors

and University Presidents also speak of the “four corners” of the earth. When

President Wilson

appointed Herbert Hoover Food Administrator during the first World War, the

newspapers reported that Mr. Hoover brought food from the “four corners of the

earth.” Did any of the skeptics tell these learned reporters that they were

ignorant and that they believed the earth is FLAT WITH FOUR CORNERS?

They did not. All intelligent people understand this figurative language to mean

that food was brought from the FOUR QUARTERS of the earth, from Europe,

one quarter, from Asia, another quarter, from Africa, another quarter and from

America, another quarter--food from the four quarters of the earth, figuratively

called “four corners” of the earth. Instead of criticizing the learned reporters for

saying “four corners” of the earth, they saved their criticism, for the Bible which

uses the same figurative language, but did you know that the Bible spoke of the

four corners (quarters) of the earth BEFORE AMERICA WAS DiSCOVERED?

At the time the Bible was written, only THREE QUARTERS (“corners”) were

known to man. But GOD KNEW OF AMERICA and when he inspired the Bible

writer, he had him say FOUR instead of THREE which is only another evidence

that the Bible is inspired, being scientifically correct in everything it says.

But I can relieve my skeptical friend by telling him that instead of the

Bible saying the earth is FLAT, it distinctly says the earth is ROUND. In Isaiah

40:22, we read: “He sitteth on the CIRCLE of the earth.” Thus, we see that the

Bible says the earth is a CIRCLE (ROUND) instead of saying it is flat.

Skeptics tell us that the Bible says the sun rises and sets and they have

studied science and know better for they know the earth turns on its axis and

makes the sun seem to rise and set. Therefore the Bible is wrong, they jubilantly

declare. But do not they know that ALL SCIENCE, ALL COLLEGE

PROFESSORS use exactly the same sort of language? The newspapers report

the time of sunrise and sunset. Do these skeptics criticize the college teachers

and the newspapers for saying the sun rises and sets. They understand the

learned teachers and editors use the language of accommodation, the

language of appearance, and it is understood. Even so with the Bible. They do

not criticize the writers of books and newspapers and charge them with

ignorance, but they save their criticisms for the Bible. This only shows the

natural enmity they have against God from which they need to be converted.

But to satisfy my skeptical friends, let me tell you that the Bible teaches

that the EARTH TURNS ON ITS AXIS instead of being stationery and that the

SUN ACTUALLY CAUSES THE EARTH TO TURN ON ITS AXIS. You will find

this in Job 38:12-14 where it says:

“Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days, and caused the

DAYSPRING (Sun) to know his place, that it might take hold of the ends of the

earth (north and south poles). It is turned as the clay to the seal.”

What a wonderful scientific statement is this idea. Long before any man

knew anything about the earth turning on its axis and long before anybody knew

anything about the SUN CAUSING THE EARTH TO TURN, here it was in the

Bible.

So it is with every criticism of the Bible. All of the objections have been

answered over and over again but the trouble is that these skeptics read the

objections to the Bible and ignorantly decide that there can be no answers and

settle down without ever knowing that, all their objections have been answered.

The Bible is not a book of science but it is a scientific book. It does not

teach science but since science is CLASSIFIED and SYSTEMATIZED, God, who

knows ALL THINGS never contradicts any fact. God knows all the facts and in

the revelation of His will to men found in the Bible, He inspired men to write in

PERFECT HARMONY WITH ALL THE FACTS, and the result is that not a fact

of science is contradicted by the statement found in the Bible. I challenge the

world to name one supposed scientific objection to the Bible that I can not

answer successfully. Some guesses of scientists do not agree with the Bible, but I

am talking about established facts.

Why should people adopt the guesses of half-baked scientists and believe

the easily answered objections to the Bible, thus imperiling their souls and

taking chances on going to hell? Atheism, nor any other form of skepticism, has

never made a man happy in the hour of death. Millions have found peace and

victory by trusting in Jesus. If you are honest, you will really seek God.

The Bible says: “If any man wills to do His will he shall know of the

doctrine.” (John 7:17). Put God to the test and find for yourselves. The Atheist

Nelson, a lawyer, went to his office and decided he would be fair to himself and

put God to the test. He closed the door so as not to be disturbed and prayed an

infidel prayer. He said: “God, if you really exist, I want to know it. If the Bible is

thy book, I want to know it. Have mercy on my soul, if I have a soul. I shall read

the Bible honestly and if it is from God I want to know it.” He proceeded to read

the Bible with this honest heart, and he contacted God and wrote a book giving

his experience. You can meet God if you are honest.

Inspiration of the Bible Abundantly Proved That there is a God is proved by reason, confirmed by science, and

proclaimed by the Bible. Atheism does not offer any hope beyond this life. All

forms of skepticism leave us in doubt about the future. The fact of God's

existence and the Bible being a revelation from God is our only sure hope. The

way to God is through our Lord Jesus Christ-----whosoever believeth in

him should not perish but have everlasting life. The frightened jailer in Acts

16th chapter cried out, “What must I do to be saved?” and the answer came

back promptly from the Apostle: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou

shalt be saved.”

What do we mean when we say “believe” on Jesus Christ? It does not mean

to believe ABOUT Christ. It means to, TRUST JESUS CHRIST. Depend on

Jesus Christ. In discussion with a friend on this subject, he said that if all one needed to do to be saved is to believe in Christ, then he had been saved all his life

because he had always believed. I told him he did not believe now, that he had

never believed on Jesus Christ in the sense the word “BELIEVE” is used in the

New Testament. He declared he BELIEVED All THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT

JESUS CHRIST and what more could he believe? I told him there was nothing

more he could believe ABOUT Christ and still he did not BELIEVE ON

CHRIST--he had not trusted Christ to save him. I asked him if he did not believe

all the Bible says about the devil and he said he did. Then I said: “You have just

as much faith in the devil as you have in Christ.” I believe all the Bible says

about the devil but I do not have faith, believe in, the devil. I believe in the

existence of an undependable man, but I do not have faith in him, I do not

believe in him. I would not trust him for anything. I believe in the existence of a

certain wicked woman, but I do not have faith in her. I do not believe in the

existence of my wife any more than I believe in the existence of that wicked

woman, But I have NO FAITH in that wicked woman and do have faith in my

wife--I am not afraid to risk my life in her hands. Until you get to the point you

are DEPENDING ON CHRIST FOR SALVATION, you do not really believe in

him. So long as you depend on what you do for salvation, that long you are

failing to depend on, BELIEVE IN Christ; If you think your living right, your

good behavior, your obedience to the commandments, your being baptized, is

necessary to salvation, just that long you are failing to BELIEVE ON JESUS

CHRIST. When you get to the end of your strength, get to the point that you

despair of ever doing anything to obtain salvation, then you can TRUST THE

LORD to do for you what you cannot do for yourself and he will save you. The

text says: Whosoever believeth on him should not perish. Faith is trusting a

PERSON and that person is Christ who is able to save to the uttermost all who

come unto him.

Salvation Is Free Salvation is free, for WHOSOEVER believeth on him shall not perish.

Whatever we may believe about predestination, foreknowledge, and eternal

decrees, the fact remains that men are FREE to accept salvation or to reject it.

The last chapter in the Bible says: “Whosoever will may come and take of the

water of life freely” If you are finally lost in he'll, you will have no one to blame

but yourself. Salvation is as free as the water you drink but you must accept it

from the bountiful GIVER. God loves you and offers salvation to you.

When you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you will be perfectly SAFE.

Being saved does not leave you in DANGER. You will not be made perfect in

this life but you will be perfectly safe. When you accept Jesus Christ as your

Saviour, he takes all your sins on himself. He is your substitute. He pays the sin

debt for the entire lifetime. In Rom. 4:7-8, we read that our sins are covered,

covered by the blood of Christ. The Lord imputes his righteousness to us and we

do not stand in our own righteousness--we stand in the righteousness of Jesus

Christ. The blood that covers us never takes a vacation; it is over us all the time,

day and night. When we do wrong, as we all do, we are not destroyed by our

wrong doing, because we have Jesus as our ADVOCATE who ever lives to make

intercession for us. (1 John 2:1; Hebrews 7:25).

Are You Afraid? Some say they would like to be a Christian but are afraid they cannot

HOLD OUT. You do not have to hold out, for Jesus holds you. You do not have

faith in Christ unless you trust him, to begin the work and carry it on to the end.

What if you sin and fall? The Psalmist answers: “The steps of a good man are

ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way and though he fall, he shall

not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholds him with his hand,” Psa. 37:23-24).

We have everlasting life. How long is everlasting? Your dictionary will tell

you it means WITHOUT END. If everlasting life comes to an end, it was not

everlasting to begin with. It is absurd to talk about EVERLASTING coming to

an end. The very fact that we have everlasting life shows it will not be possible to

fall from grace and finally go to hell. We are not saved today and lost tomorrow.

When the Lord saves us, he takes us entirely out of danger. When you accept

Christ as Saviour, you are not taking hold of uncertainty; instead, we have a

hope that is “both sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:18-19). A thing that is sure

has no uncertainty about it. If there is only one chance in a million for you to fall

from grace and be finally lost, then your hope is NOT SURE. It does not take a

scholar to see this. Then why not commit yourself to Him right now? If you

accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour, heaven will be your eternal home, eternal

bliss your portion.

When Saved, We Love God

If God so loved us, we should return His love. We love Him, because he first

loved us. If we accept him, we will do our best to please him, for “this is the love

of God that we keep his commandments” (I John 5:3). When we love God, we

seek to live a correct life, for “every man that hath this hope in him purifieth

himself even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). If some one says that if he thought

Jesus would save him and make him perfectly safe, so that he could not be lost,

he would take his fill of sin--the one who says a thing like that shows he loves sin

and has never been saved. A saved person, one who is made perfectly safe,

LOVES GOD and wants to serve God--not to keep from going to hell, but because

he wants to please God, for the “love of God has been shed abroad in his heart

by the Holy Ghost.” (Rom. 5:5). You do not have to threaten a man with hell to

get him to do what he really wants to do. “Ye must he born again, said Jesus,

and this NEW BIRTH, makes us want to serve the Lord. After accepting

Jesus as your Savior, you will not be trying to keep a set of rules to avoid going to hell, but you will be living by love and love for God makes us want to live right. Do not allow another hour to pass without BELIEVING, trusting Jesus

Christ. Now is the time, today if ye hear his voice, harden not your heart.

Evolution Unscientific and Unreasonable The theory of evolution denies the existence of God. It denies the Bible

account of creation. It denies that man fell from perfection into depravity. If the

theory of evolution be true, the Bible is a tissue of falsehood and is unworthy of

our confidence. If the theory of evolution be true, Jesus Christ was only a man

and in no sense our Saviour. This great text says that God gave His Son through

whom we may be saved and millions have accepted Christ and have been saved,

but all this is denied by the theory of evolution.

Evolutionists declare that all scholars believe in evolution and that all

scientists teach evolution. When they make such claims they are telling a

falsehood. The best scholars and the true scientists do not believe the theory of

evolution and they do not teach it. The bold claim causes some to think favorably

of the false theory. I deny the claim and call for the proof and I can prove that

not only the claim is false but the theory of evolution is false and thoroughly

unscientific.

Science means knowledge. We are glibly told that science teaches the

evolution of man when it teaches nothing of the kind. A mere theory is not true

science until proved. A man does not become a scientist by advocating an

unproved theory, but by making some notable contribution to knowledge. These

self-appointed scientists recklessly declare that the “consensus” of science favors

evolution. We oppose evolution, not because it is science, but because it is not

science. There is no conflict between Christianity and real science, but a fight to

the death with science falsely so-called.

So-Called Scientists Have Nearly Always Been Wrong And the

Bible Has Always Been Right Whenever a difference has appeared between so-called science and the

Bible, time has shown that the Bible has always been right and science, so-

called, has always been wrong. Just because some ignorant religionists

misunderstood the Bible and THOUGHT it taught this and that, did not change

what the Bible really taught. When ALL THE SO-CALLED SCIENTISTS WERE

TEACHING THAT THE EARTH WAS FLAT, many religionists tried to be

scientific, as they thought, and fell into the error of the so-called scientists. Since

the so-called Scientists were teaching that it was the sun that moved and the

earth stood still, and more like that, there were many religionists, ignorant

priests, who fell in with the so-called scientists and actually put to death those

who agreed with the Bible that the earth was round like a ball and that it turned

on its axis, and flew around the sun once a year and other FACTS which we now

know. But it was the false so-called science of the times and not the Bible that

caused the trouble. The Bible kept right on being right no matter who

misunderstood it and no matter how much the so-called scientists differed from

its teachings.

Vast Number of Stars

Hipparchus, 150 B. C., gave the number of stars as 1,022. Ptolemy 125 A.

D. found 1,026 stars. On a clear night, the unaided eye can see 1,160 stars. If we

could survey tile whole sphere, we could see about 3,000 stars. Galileo's telescope

a few centuries ago, startled the world with its revelation of countless hosts of

stars. Lord Rosse's instrument revealed 456,000,000 stars. Herschel compared

the number of stars to the dust. Now, astronomers call the milky way “star

dust.” Over 600 B. C. and 2,200 years before Galileo, Jeremiah said, “The host of

heaven cannot be numbered.” Who taught the prophet astronomy? (1) The host

of heaven cannot be numbered. Jer. 32:22. (2) Man cannot number the stars.

Genesis 15:5.

Lowell's Challenge To Infidelity

Blatant and broadspread as are the preachers of rationalism and infidelity

today, not one of the champions of unbelief has been indiscreet enough to accept

the challenge of James Russell Lowell, which was voiced in the following words.

Lowell's challenge is unsurpassed as a brief defense of Christianity: “When the

microscopic search of skepticism, which has hunted the heavens and sounded the

seas to disprove the existence of a Creator, has turned its attention to human

society and has found a place on this planet ten miles square, where a decent

man can live in decency, comfort and security supporting and educating his

children unspoiled and unpolluted; a place where age is reverenced, womanhood

defended, and human life held in due regard; when skepticism can find such a

place ten miles square on the globe where the gospel of Christ has not gone and

cleared the way and laid the foundations and made decency and security

possible, it will then be in order for the skeptical literati to move thither and

ventilate their views. But so long as these very men are dependent upon the

religion they discard for every privilege they enjoy, they may as well hesitate a

little before they seek to rob the Christian of his hope and humanity of its

Savior.” --Ex.

Do You Want To Live Forever

The desire to live forever is in every normal man. There is no hope of living

on beyond what we call death except in the words of Jesus in John 3:16, which

promises everlasting life to all who will accept Jesus as Savior. John 5:24 says:

“He that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting

life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.”

Everlasting life is a PRESENT POSSESSION for all those who accept

Christ and since that is the only hope, it is foolish to reject it. Atheism holds out

no hope beyond the grave. Evolution has nothing for us beyond this world. The

happiest people on earth are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Life is too short

to fritter it away on the uncertainties of any form of skepticism. Do you not think

it wiser to rest your hope on the Rock of Ages? You may do that very thing right

where you are.

God So Loved the World

The word SO shows the intensity of God's love. How much does God LOVE

ME? That love is so intense that he spared nothing that was possible for even

God to do to save us while leaving us FREE to accept or reject. He did not make

man a machine, without will power. The freedom of man's will is necessary, else

he is not responsible for his actions. Man was created in the image of God which

makes him God-like and that includes the freedom of the will. God does not

FORCE men to be saved, but he does everything possible, consistent with man's

free will, to save him.

How wonderfully important must man be that God is mindful of him! He

could have rejoiced in the rest of his creation--the sun and stars and other

planets. The fact that God loves mankind and sought to save him from ruin, and,

yet, leave him FREEDOM OF CHOICE shows man's importance. What a pity

when he throws away this offer of mercy, spurns God's love and chooses the

association of the devil.

Some may say that if God really loves us he surely will not permit men to

make their beds in hell. The unsaved should remember that outraged love is the

most terrible thing in the world. “Mercy knows its appointed bounds and yields

to justice there.” Nobody goes to hell except those who CHOOSE TO GO THERE-

-who trample God's love under their feet. If you make your bed in hell, you will have no one to blame but yourself.

A few years ago in St. Louis, a lady was sitting near the window. Looking

out, she saw her husband boldly pass the window, arm in arm with a street

woman. She loved her husband and her love was so great that she could not bear

to see it spurned. She reached upon the mantle piece, secured a pistol and

walked out and shot her husband. He fell dead at her feet BECAUSE SHE

LOVED HIM. If she had seen me walking with that street woman she would

have said she did not like to see me do a thing like that, and she would have

rebuked me for it, but she did not love me well enough to kill me. Her love was

outraged by her profligate husband and her fury knew no bounds. If you

1. The union of the Separate and Regular Baptists to become United or Missionary Baptists.

2. The leadership of Elders Matthew Floyd and Reuben Ross in advocating the position that Christ died for all

men, thus avoiding the extremes of those who became hardshell or primitive Baptists, and:

3. The leadership of Eld. James M. Pendleton, followed by men such as J. N. Hall, who was followed by Ben M. Bogard in developing church truths and scriptural plans of associational and mission work.

Taken from: Contending for the Faith An Updated History of the Baptists by Robert Ashcraft ©

Baptist Sunday School Committee, 2006

continue to trample God's love under your feet, His love will turn to fury. God

says “Because I have called and ye have refused--and have set at naught my

counsel--I will laugh at your calamity.” (Proverbs 1:24-25.)

Just One Reasonable Thing To Do If you realize that you are lost, there is just one sensible thing to do.

Surrender your life to God, ask for mercy and he will have mercy and will

abundantly pardon, for Jesus suffered for you and is willing to be your

substitute. What He has suffered is perfectly satisfactory to God. Nothing you

may do will be satisfactory to Him, for there is no other way to God except

through Jesus, who bore our sins on the cross, and suffered the equivalent of

hell-fire for you. If you are lost forever, it will be because you have not believed

(TRUSTED) in Jesus as your substitute.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have

everlasting life.”

BOOKS BY BEN M. BOGARD

The Golden Key — The Baptist Way Book

The Bible Proved by Science — Christian Stewardship

Total Hereditary Depravity — Bogard-McPherson Debate

Baptist Churches in all Ages — Fifty-Two Doctrinal Lessons

A Study of the Kingdom Question

The Shayne Moses Project

July 4 , 2 0 1 6

Got ISSUU?

* Ben M. Bogard received his theological education at Bethel College, Russellville, KY which retained the influenceof James M. Pendleton and Reuben Ross, who were Missionary Baptists in belief and practice. Dr. Bogard was very

influential in Missionary Baptist associations and publications during the period of the 1901-1920 division, and the

organization of the Arkansas State Association and the General Association, which in 1924 became the American

Baptist Association. In the Baptist Way-Book, published about 1908, he carefully delineated the “Evils of

Hardshellism” and the “Evils of Conventionism.” This publication was important in clearly establishing the

doctrines and practices of Missionary Baptists, as distinguished from the Southern Baptists and the Primitive

Baptists. Thus, it should be obvious that Missionary Baptist doctrine and practices grew out of three significant

developments within the State of Kentucky: