Dr. Robert Sumner passed away in December 2016. The Biblical Evangelist newspaper is no longer being published and the ministry of Biblical Evangelism has ceased operation.

The remaining inventory of his books and gospel tracts was transferred to The Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles and may be ordered here.

Off the Cuff (Part 1 of 4)
Dr. Robert L. Sumner, Editor

The editor’s latest book, Favorite Editorials, is hot off the press. It has 214 editorials and 303 pages. You may have a copy for $12, postage paid, by ordering it from our office: Biblical Evangelism, 5717 Pine Drive, Raleigh, NC 27606.

It just about wiped out our book fund and while I have another book ready, The Honor Was All Mine, which will be the closest thing I ever plan to print like an autobiography, there is no money to do so.

A couple of issues back I made an appeal for some in a position to do so to give some substantial gifts to our book fund. It had been on my heart for some time and I felt God was in it. Either I was mistaken (I have never claimed to be infallible) or God put it on the hearts of some who failed to obey. Was it you?

We would gladly accept gifts in any lesser amount: $50,000, or $40,000, or $20,000, or $10,000 – or even smaller. The editor, in approximately two-thirds of a century that he has been involved in writing, publishing and selling his books, has never accepted one penny in royalties or profits in sales. They, instead, go into the Biblical Evangelism book fund to distribute and produce more. Many around the world have in that manner enjoyed free books to help their ministry that they otherwise could not have afforded.

In short, in this, he is not making a personal appeal, just a spiritual one, something that involves getting out the Gospel. 

Is God speaking to you about helping?

Regarding this issue, we have a dynamic message by my dear friend who went to be with Christ nearly a third of a century ago, Evangelist Fred Barlow. In it he is dealing with one of his favorite themes and it is needed now more than ever, far more than when we first published it in our January 1978 issue. Every Christian, like Christ, should be a good Samaritan.

And speaking of the editor’s friends, we are printing a message by a dear brother who befriended this editor when he was just a young preacher in his mid-twenties. I had recently moved from a pastorate in Long Beach, California, to North Central Texas – a county seat town, Graham – and didn’t know hardly a soul outside of my church in the entire Lone Star State.

Tom Masters, then the pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in Wichita Falls, made a special effort to come by and meet me, show me kindness, and invite me to attend a “fellowship meeting” in another city the following Monday. I went, but had no idea the practice at such shindigs called for the moderator to invite anyone he pleased to be the next preacher. I got called. I arose and started to the pulpit trying to figure on the way what I would say. That was in 1948. I survived, but I think some in the congregation have gone on!

I never forgot that dear brother’s kindness. He loved the Lord (and souls) passionately. I trust it will come across to your heart when you read his message.

Then there is a brief communication from the pen of a Liberty University faculty member, here in Lynchburg, David C. Fanning. It was called to my attention by Randy Miller, a librarian at Liberty and a member of our board. Dr. Fanning deals with the important marriage relationship.

In the Bible Study Corner is another article by the editor’s friend of long ago T. C. “Pete” McGuire. It has to do with a prophetic theme that is just as sensitive in our day as it was in his some 65 years ago.

(It’s beginning to sound like old home week, isn’t it? Thank God for the friends the dear Lord has put in my path over the past 75 years since becoming a Christian on July 9, 1940.

The editor also has a couple of offerings. One is a strong evangelistic message dealing with excuses that was first preached on the radio in Texas and the other is a sad commentary on America and our loss of individual liberties, which means a loss of democracy for the entire nation.

Read and share!

MEMORIALS

In our last issue, in the “Milestones” section, we reported the 101^st birthday on January 17 for Louis Arnold, noting that he celebrated the next day – starting the celebration toward #102 – by preaching the next night at the Clays Mill Road Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky. This issue we are honoring him in the “Memorials” section, noting that he stepped into eternity approximately a little more than a month later with his memorial service being conducted on February 23^th at the Clays Mill Road Baptist Church in Lexington.

Arnold was born in 1914 in the village of Buckeye, Kentucky. His dad, Louis Walker Arnold, was the village blacksmith and his mother a hardworking housewife, Texie Agee Arnold. She had promised the Lord as a young woman that if He would give her a son, she would give him back to Him, Hannah style, to be a preacher.

She bore a son that died at birth and the doctor told her another birth would kill her. About a year later she gave birth to Louis and he lived. So did she! But the very next child, also a boy, died at birth.

Louis, who got saved at 11 and did become a preacher, was the only son that lived. At age 19 he preached his first sermon in a revival meeting at the Mitchellsburg Baptist Church in Mitchellsburg, Kentucky. A woman got saved and he walked out of the church that night, looked heavenward and said, “Lord, I’d rather be a preacher than president of the United States.” He never became president, but he did become a preacher.

He was well-known as a radio preacher having taken over B. R. Lakin’s “The Voice of the Appalachians” broadcast, where he ministered for 21 years, along with his own radio ministry, “Preaching at Your House.”

Arnold wrote a number of books – sermon books, prophecy books, Bible study books – and late in life he began writing Christian novels that proved quite popular. We reviewed a number of his offerings on these pages.

Louis Walker Arnold preached the gospel faithfully for over 80 years. His wife, Jessie Isaacs Arnold, and two daughters, June (Parker) and Sue (True), along with a host of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren survive him. A son, John Arnold, preceded him in death.

* * *

Just as we were getting ready to go to press we received word from Scott Reese that his dad, Ed Reese, had gone to Heaven. He left earth amid all the fireworks of the 4^th of July for that indescribable land where no one wants to leave after once arriving. Since one of Dr. Reese’s last requests was to have his obituary printed in this paper, we will let you read the details of his wonderful and fruitful life for the Master on a separate web page for this issue.

MILESTONES

School tragedies continue to happen in these financially troublesome days. The latest casualty, which perhaps more aptly should be in the “Memorials” section, is the Clearwater Christian College on Tampa Bay in Florida’s St. Petersburg area. It described itself as nondenominational, but most of the faculty and other leaders were Baptists. Officially, CCC held membership in the Independent Fundamental Churches of America (IFCA), a fine evangelical organization.

The college was founded approximately a half-century ago (1966) by Dr. Arthur E. Steele with 15 students, who became its first president. He had been working with Carl McIntire and his school, the National Bible Institute, when he decided he would move out and start his own institution. He ended up at Clearwater, considering it the most desirable spot, and at one time the school was running five or six hundred students.

 Dr. George D. Youstra succeeded Steele in 1986 and enrollment tripled under his leadership, additional acreage was added, new buildings were erected, and the curriculum was expanded. Later presidents were Dr. Richard A. Stratton in 2002 and Dr. John F. Klem in 2012.

The closing happened very suddenly when the trustees met on June 5^th of this year and announced the school would close “immediately.” They blamed "ongoing struggles with maintaining enrollment, rising costs, and challenging development efforts" for their decision. It had an endowment (or did very recently) of $389,000.

Just recently Peabody, Tennessee Temple, and now Clearwater Christian have shuttered their doors and campuses. We find it sad. I had visited CCC years ago, but never spoke in its chapel, which was conducted three days a week, that I recall.

* * *

Cedarville University achieved its 119^th graduation on May 2^nd in the Doden Field House with the president, Dr. Thomas White, bringing the commencement address to the 745 students receiving degrees. He encouraged them to use their education and their God-given gifts as a platform for sharing the Good News of the Gospel.

Among other things he told the graduates: “Today is a bittersweet day for us because we have grown to love you over the past four years and we will always cherish our time together … We pray for your success and encourage you to go wherever God sends you. Whatever God calls you to do, no matter how much it may cost you, never be ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for salvation.”

One new feature in this 119^th commencement – for one of the oldest evangelical, orthodox schools in America, founded in the late 19^th century – related to six students earning degrees in linguistics. This is the first group of graduates in this program. Next year, if the Lord tarries, Cedarville will graduate its first class of pharmacists from its six-year professional pharmaceutical program.

* * *

Bob Jones University’s new president Dr. Steve Pettit completed his first full year at the helm on May 8^th during the school’s 88^th Commencement. The university awarded over 730 degrees – 531 bachelor, 50 associate, and 129 masters. Also, 23 candidates received earned doctorates: one D.Min. and three Ph.D. degrees from the Seminary and Graduate School of Religion, plus 19 Ed.D.s from the School of Education.

Chancellor Dr. Bob Jones III presented three honorary doctorates: Flay Allen for 52 years of missionary service among Spanish-speaking people in Mexico, Chile and Spain, planting three churches and working in Christian education; Elvin (Al) Bonikowsky, ministering 43 years in Spain, founding two churches and a retreat center; and En Khan Kham, who left a 20-year career in the oil industry to help plant a church and Bible College in Yangon, Myanmar’s capital city.

Dr. Sam Horn, the university’s vice president for ministerial advancement, brought the baccalaureate address.

* * *

Our friends at the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches have completed their planned move, selling their old property and purchasing a new one the same day.

The new address is GARBC, 3715 North Ventura Drive, Arlington Heights, IL 60004-7678. There is no change regarding phone numbers, such as Regular Baptist Press; Baptist Bulletin; Baptist Builders Club; Gospel Literature Services, International; Partnership of Fundamental Baptist Ministries; Regular Baptist Chaplaincy; etc.; all of them remain the same. The main phone for the group is 888-588-1600 and the Baptist Press number is 800-727-4440; both, of course, are toll free.

Dr. John Greening is the National Director of this independent Baptist Fellowship.

* * *

There is movement also with our friends at the Baptist Bible Fellowship International in Springfield, Missouri. The editor of the Fellowship paper, The Baptist Bible Tribune, Dr. Keith Bassham, has announced his planned resignation from that post, effective December 31, 2015. Since he took the position of Executive Editor in February of 2002 and has been on the editorial staff for two decades, over the years he has done a magnificent job.

In my judgment, the BBF and the Tribune are losing a very valuable man who has accomplished much during his days at the helm. He will be difficult to replace. Rob Walker is the current Assistant Editor, a position he has held since 2006. Walker is a 1998 graduate of Pensacola Christian College with a degree in communications.

What does Keith – who married his wife, Shari, in 1974 and is the father of three boys with five grandchildren – plan to do after he leaves the editorial labors? He hopes to go back to where I first became acquainted with his writing skills: the pastorate! As I told him on first hearing the news: “Bless your heart. There are scores of churches out there who would be honored to have you as pastor. If you need a recommendation, feel free to use me (although that might do you more harm than good)!”

I assume interested churches may contact him in care of the Tribune: 720 East Kearney, Springfield, MO 65803.

Addendum: at its annual meeting in May, the BBFI expanded the communication role of the office of the Tribune and determined to call the editor “Director of Communications.”

EXCITEMENT IN OUR TOWN!

Here in the beautiful city on seven hills (no, not the Vatican, just little old Lynchburg), Liberty University celebrated its 42^nd commencement with Dr. O. S. Hawkins of GuideStone Financials bringing a terrific Bible message/challenge at the Baccalaureate service (he also spoke briefly the next day at the Commencement festivities, proving multum in parvo (much in little) can be a reality even at this kind of an affair. Since the Baccalaureate was not televised, I only have reports of it; the Commencement was aired and I did hear it.

The main speaker at the latter was Florida’s ex-governor Jeb Bush and while he brought a fine address, he very definitely is not the dynamic speaker some of the others are in the 2016 crop of GOP presidential hopefuls.

Bush, who converted to Roman Catholicism after marrying a Roman Catholic Hispanic young lady, spoke out about the unfair treatment Christians are receiving under the Obama administration and accused the latter of using “coercive federal power” to silence religious freedom, saying it was “demanding obedience in complete disregard of religious conscience,” and adding that someone was “being small-minded and intolerant, and it sure isn’t the nuns, ministers, and laymen and women who ask only to live and practice their faith.” 

Some 34,000 students, parents, friends and faculty were in the audience for the service, held at the university football stadium. Over 17,500 degrees were granted to students who attend what is now the largest Christian university in the world.

SUPREMES SIDE AGAINST

LAW (AGAIN)!

By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that Obama making law (instead of the legislative body) was perfectly okay with them and it ruled that when “ObamaCare” restricted subsidies to those purchasing health insurance on state exchanges, but 34 states refused to play the game – so our emperor-in-chief picked up his pen and decreed otherwise. A total of 27 attorneys general in 27 states challenged the legality of that action.

Six Supremes, obviously feeling they know the law better than the 27 attorneys general, handed down the ruling supporting the change of the law by one stroke of Obama’s pen, ruling in favor of lawlessness.

That noted “conservative,” John Roberts, who started as an associate justice but was elevated to Chief Justice because he was so conservative, wrote the majority opinion for the liberals. He stated, “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them. If at all possible, we must interpret the Act in a way that is consistent with the former, and avoids the latter.” In short, never mind the law, we’ll just do what we think is best for society. They are either mind readers or clairvoyants who know what the lawmakers were thinking when they passed the law.

Apparently our only hope lies in electing a president (and Congress) that is willing to do something about “the mess we is in.” Liberal judges on liberal courts are not going to go by the law; that is obvious.

Don’t forget; Obama (as an Illinois Senator) voted against confirming Roberts when he was nominated by Bush in 2005. It turns out Roberts may be the best friend Obama has on the court – even more so than the girls he put on who rule by “touchy feeling.” In this case, he and his black-robed folk did what he said three years ago was not the Court’s job, namely, “Members of this Court are vested with the authority to interpret the law; we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our Nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”

Yet the majority six did that very thing: made “policy judgments” to “protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”

As National Review’s Quin Hillyer put it: “With today’s Obamacare decision, John Roberts confirms that he has completely jettisoned all pretense of textualism. He is a results-oriented judge, period; ruling on big cases based on what he thinks the policy result should be or what the political stakes are for the court itself. He is a disgrace. That is all.”

On the other hand, “minority” Justice Antonin Scalia panned the decision, noting, “Words no longer have meaning if an Exchange that is not established by a State is ‘established by the State’ … Having transformed two major parts of the law, the Court today has turned its attention to a third. The Act that Congress passed makes tax credits available only on an ‘Exchange established by the State.’ This Court, however, concludes that this limitation would prevent the rest of the Act from working as well as hoped. So it rewrites the law to make tax credits available everywhere. We should start calling this law SCOTUScare.”