Noteworthy News

(From news of the day)

No Clemency For Woman: Execution Set

BY MICHAEL HOLMES - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN, Texas -- A state board unanimously rejected Karla Faye Tucker's bid for clemency Monday, leaving only the Supreme Court and the governor with the power to halt the pickax killer's scheduled execution today.
Despite pleas of mercy, including from Pope John Paul II, the gruesome nature of her crime left the Board of Pardons and Paroles with no qualms, the chairman said. They turned down Tucker 16-0, with two members abstaining.
``There is no question as to their vote. There is no question as to how they feel,'' said Chairman Victor Rodriguez. ``I, myself, have absolutely no quarrel with the decision to deny Tucker's request on all fronts.''
Tucker, 38, a former teen-age prostitute who found religion in prison, would be the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War. Her execution is scheduled for today at 5 p.m. MST.
Tucker has admitted accompanying a partner, Daniel Garrett, in 1983 to the Houston apartment of Jerry Lynn Dean, 27, to steal Dean's motorcycle.
After Garrett, then 37, started beating Dean with a hammer, Tucker, then 23, grabbed a 3-foot-long pickax and plunged it into him.
Tucker then turned the ax on Deborah Thornton, 32, who was cowering under sheets in a corner, to eliminate the witness. In a tape recording played in court, she bragged to friends that she got a sexual thrill out of the attack.
In her appeal before the Supreme Court, Tucker's attorneys contend the commutation process is flawed and unconstitutional in part because of the consistent lack of favorable rulings.
All 76 requests since 1993 have been rejected, including 16 last year when the state executed a record 37 convicted killers.
``Texas has no mercy,'' said David Botsford, Tucker's lawyer. ``The clemency process in this state is a farce.''

Karla Faye Tucker was executed on February 3, 1998. Her guilt was never in doubt. Her sentence was just. The apostle Paul once said, “For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die” (Acts 25:11). Tucker surely fits that description, and the state of Texas executed justice in her case. Capital punishment is a God-endorsed practice (Gen. 9:5-6; Acts 25:11; Rom. 13:4).

Whatever religious conversion she experienced (she was not a N. T. Christian) and the fruits it bore did not undo the crimes she committed. We should respect the life of others and the laws which protect that life. Murder brings a criminal penalty and a spiritual one. The death of the body for crimes committed within the body should warn us to not violate God’s will, lest we experience an eternal punishment (2 Thess. 1:8-9). -Joe Price

Assignments: Sunday - February 15, 1998

Announcements: Ed DeWispelaere

Opening Prayer: Ed DeWispelaere / Jason Holt

Closing Prayer: Charles Fair / Willie Golightly

Song Leader: Dan Head / Gary Bass

Scripture: Ray Hollister / Clarence Gardner

Lord’s Supper: Rick Holt/Wesley Holt/Jeremy Price

Bldg. Cleanup (Feb. 21): Terry & Tina Haith

T HE SPIRIT’S SWORD

“And take...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17)

The Northside church of Christ

Meeting at the North Bellingham Grange Hall · 5201 Northwest Road · Bellingham, WA

Visit our Web Site on the Internet: http://www.angelfire.com/wa/northsidecofc

Volume II, No. 1 February 15, 1998

Biblical Principles of Unity (Part 5):

Doctrine Affects Salvation

by: Joe R. Price

Some brethren disagree over whether doctrine affects salvation and whether we should warn others of false doctrine.

Galatians 1:6-9 affirms that we are removed from the grace of Christ when we accept teaching which is different from what the apostles of Christ preached and what was received from them in the first century. This being the case, how much of the apostolic doctrine can one differ with and remain in the grace of Christ: 1%? 5%? 30%? 50%? 80%? 90%? Must a person be in error on every point of doctrine before God’s grace is forfeited in his life? The Holy Spirit revealed that doctrinal error causes one to fall from grace (Gal. 5:4). Therefore, doctrinal error is sin against God. The hypothesizing, speculating, conjecturing and rationalizing of men will not alter this God-given truth (1 Tim. 6:20-21; 2 Tim. 1:13-14).

How much of God’s will did Nadab and Abihu have to violate before they died before God? (Lev. 10:1-2) How much error did Uzzah have to commit before it cost him his life? (1 Chron. 13:9-10) Was straying from one point of truth enough to jeopardize the salvation of Hymenaeus and Philetus? (2 Tim. 2:17-18; cf. 1 Tim. 1:18-20) How much did the rich young ruler lack before he could inherit eternal life? (“....one thing you lack....” - Mk. 10:21)

Grace does not save us from unrepented sin. A view of grace which allows man to rest comfortably in error while rebuking those who “contend earnestly for the faith” does not please God (Jude 3). Such an approach turns the grace of God into lasciviousness (Jude 4).

In Galatians 3:10, the apostle wrote, “For as many as are under the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” This is not an indictment against exhorting Christians to obey all the commands and truth of God. It is an explanation of what it means to be saved by the works of (the) law, namely, sinless perfection. That is what it takes for a person to be just under a system of law. This fact is not at all at odds with the Christian keeping the commandments of Christ as a dutiful servant, loving his Master Jesus Christ (Lk. 17:10; Jno. 15:14; 2 Jno. 6; Eph. 2:8-10). The grace of God instructs us how to live (Titus 2:11-12). Unless our lives and teachings are in harmony with the “word of His grace,” we will not stand in God’s grace (Acts 20:24, 32; Rom. 5:1-2).

Saved “By Grace, Through Faith”

We are most certainly “saved by grace, through faith” (Eph. 2:8). The Law of Moses produced a knowledge of sin, but did not possess a mechanism for the absolute removal of sin (Rom. 3:20; Heb. 10:1-4). Law condemns -- unless one perfectly keeps (never violates) law (Gal. 3:10; Rom. 4:1-2, 4). It would be a mistake, however, for us to conclude that when Jesus brought grace into the world it eliminated man’s responsibility to obey God’s law (Matt. 7:21-23; Heb. 5:8-9). It did not.

Truth is a companion of grace in John 1:17. Both came through Jesus Christ. We do not seek to elevate truth over grace. The Scriptures teach us that grace and truth are companions. To stand in God’s grace we must abide in God’s truth (Jno. 8:31-32). When we forfeit truth we fall from grace (Gal. 1:6-9; 5:4; Titus 2:11-12; 1 Pet. 5:12; Jude 3-4).

Galatians 5:4 affirms that seeking justification by law causes the Christian to be severed from Christ -- to fall from grace. Now, please note in Galatians 5:6 that “faith working through love” is what gives us strength in Christ. Is there any room for grace within the boundaries of a faith that works? Absolutely, for verse 7 says “You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” When the Galatians were obeying the truth they were strong in Christ and in His grace. When they turned to the Law of Moses for justification, they became impotent in Christ, severed from Him, fallen from grace. Likewise, when we obey the truth of the gospel in faith, we abide in the grace of God. When we do not obey that truth, we fall from His grace (Acts 20:32; Titus 2:11-12).

Can one live in disobedience and remain in God’s grace? Can a Christian engage in the works of the flesh and remain in the grace of God (cf. Gal. 5:19-21; Rom. 6:1-2)? By no means! If understanding and obeying divine law is not essential to remaining in the grace of God, then what prevents one from walking in the works of the flesh and still entering heaven (Gal. 5:19-21)? But, since we know one cannot commit sin and inherit the kingdom of God without forgiveness, we also conclude that we cannot disobey the word of Christ and remain in the grace of God (Gal. 5:6-7).

Could the Galatians have committed adultery - a work of the flesh - and remained in the grace of God? (Gal. 5:19-21) No, they could not. The point of disagreement among some brethren on this matter is over whether the word of God’s grace has adequately defined adultery. Has truth been revealed to us in such a way that we can understand it? For instance, can we know from Scripture what constitutes the sin of adultery so that we can avoid it and stand in the grace of God? The answer to both questions is “yes.” Some, by their views on grace and the nature of revealed truth, deny it. This is one of the issues currently facing brethren who disagree on marriage, divorce and remarriage. The disagreement is not about demanding “salvation by perfection.” Although some try to make that the issue, it is not the issue! Nobody among us demands salvation upon that basis (Eph. 2:8-9).

(to be continued.....)

JESUS DID IT FIRST! Notes

{Scripture Reading: John 13:12-17}

I. OBEDIENCE - Jno. 15:10; 6:38; 8:29, 55; 14:31.

A. He Yielded To Authority - Jno. 14:28; 12:49; Col. 3:17; Matt. 21:25.

B. He Served The Will Of God - Heb. 10:7-9; Jno. 4:34; Heb. 5:8-9.

II. SACRIFICE - Jno. 10:17-18; Matt. 20:28.

A. The Value Of The Kingdom - Matt. 13:44-45.

B. Self-Denial - Matt. 16:24; Tit. 2:11-12.

C. Carrying Our Cross - Matt. 16:24.

III. LOVE - Jno. 13:34-35 (2 Cor. 5:14); 1 Jno. 4:7-12; 19-21.

A. It Shows That We Belong To Him - 13:34-35. (Jno. 14:15)

B. Loving Others Is A Deliberate Choice - 1 Jno. 4:21; 3:18.

IV. FORGIVE - Lk. 23:34; Col. 3:12-13.

A. Immediately & Totally-1 Jno. 1:9; 2 Cor. 2:5-10

B. Always - Lk. 17:1-4.

C. From The Heart - Matt. 18:32-35.

V. RESIST TEMPTATION - Heb. 4:15; Lk. 4:13.

A. Temptation Will Always Be With Us - 1 Pet. 5:8.

B. Yield Not To Temptation - Jas. 4:7; 1:14-15.

C. Put Your Faith In The Faithfulness Of God -1 Cor. 10:13.

Concl. - Jesus calls us to do as He has done - cf. Jno. 13:12-17.

A PREACHER WHO LOST HIS HEAD

{Scripture Reading: Mark 6:21-29}

I. BECAUSE HE DARED TO CONDEMN ADULTERY - 6:17-18.

A. Adultery Must Continue To Be Condemned, Not Comforted - Heb. 13:4;

1 Cor. 5:3, 13; 2 Sam. 12:7, 9; Rom. 7:2-3; Matt. 19:6, 9.

II. BECAUSE OF A RASH VOW - Mk. 6:21-26 (Eccl. 5:2-7).

A. Promises Before God Are Serious Business!

B. Tongue Control May Mean Retraction Rather Than Proceeding Further

Into Sin - 6:26; Jgs. 11:30-31, 34-40.

C. Rash Speech Damages Others - (Mk. 6:27); Jas. 3:7-10; Col. 4:6.

III. BECAUSE OF A DANCING DAUGHTER - Mk. 6:22 .

A. Dancing Continues To Excite Unlawful Lust - Gal. 5:19.

B. What Are Parents To Do? - Mk. 6:22-24; 1 Pet. 2:11-12; 2 Cor. 6:17.