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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 7, NUMBER 20, MAY 20, 2007 THE ANSWER OF A FALSE TEACHER Regular readers of The Northern Kentucky Searcher know that I have spent a considerable amount of time over the past few months answering certain questions that were posted on the internet by David Martin. This man has presented himself as the “pastor” of the Solid Rock Baptist Church located in Bartlett (Memphis), Tennessee. The name of his tract was “Common Sense Questions a ‘Church of Christ’ Preacher Cannot Clearly Answer.” I tried to contact Mr. Martin via telephone, leaving messages on his answering machine and even offering to pay if he would simply call collect. No response was forthcoming. I really didn’t expect one, and now my suspicions have been confirmed. While I was answering his questions, my son Adam was doing the same thing in the bulletin he prepares at Evendale. Adam chose to email Mr. Martin his answers. Every single one of Mr. Martin’s questions was answered clearly and completely in the document Adam sent to this man. Here is Mr. Martin’s response. “Adam, You are an impatient rascal, aren’t you? Since you are so ‘anxious’ for a response I will ‘hurry up’ and send you this one. You spoke plainly, so I will too. You are a confirmed heretic who preaches a false doctrine. You are a minister of Satan, a false apostle, and a deceitful worker (2 Cor. 11:13-15). According to the apostle Paul you are ‘accursed’ for preaching a perverted Gospel of works, not the gospel of the grace of God (Gal. 1:6-9). I guess that makes you a ‘damned’ heretic. You apparently have more time on your hands than I do. All you are trying to do is waste my time, and you know it, and so do I. So, no, I am not interested in debating you here or there. I told you that I would be glad to correspond with you, but apparently that is not good enough because you are too anxious to make a name for yourself among your brethren.” That was it. It has been my experience over the years that people who have the truth do not resort to name calling and running. Mr. Martin did not respond to a single one of Adam’s answers to his “Common Sense Questions a ‘Church of Christ’ Preacher Cannot Clearly Answer.” That is a shame and the reason why is apparent. Since this man is clearly not serious in his effort to teach the truth, I will not respond to the last three questions in his tract. They are simply more of the same. I am truly sorry that so early in his life as a preacher, Adam had to receive this kind of a response, but it happens. I only pray that the time does not come when he receives that kind of a response from a brother or sister in Christ. Those are the ones that really hurt. By the way, if you would like to contact Mr. David Martin, the phone number is 901-634-1622, and the website is www.solidrockbaptist.net. Don’t expect him to return your calls and make sure your skin is tough if you send him an email. Greg Litmer APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY TO A GOSPEL MEETING Just a little over a week ago our Spring Gospel Meeting came to an end. I thought that David did a fine job in the presentation of the sermons that the elders had requested from a list of possibilities that he sent us. Frankly, the attendance was not very good and the smallest crowd that was present was on Wednesday night – when almost all of the people who generally would have been there are members of the Northern Kentucky Church of Christ. As the meeting progressed I found myself becoming more and more discouraged because, while we had a large number of visitors every night but Wednesday, the members here did not support the meeting very well. Then I thought that the best thing I could do was to apply some principles I have learned over the years. I am not very good at applying these principles, but I know what they are and I know how they work. There is in the realm of psychology something known as “cognitive therapy.” Some doctors place a lot of stock in it, others do not. What it is meant to do is to relieve symptoms of depression by changing the way a person thinks. It is generally an attempt to changing thinking that is based upon negative self-perceptions and expectations. I like to think of it as looking at things through decidedly dark-colored glasses. I think that is what I was doing with the meeting. There were two surgeries concerning members that took place that week and they and their families were here as much as possible. That is an encouraging thing. There was another family who had a terrible circumstance arise within their extended family – and they were here as much as possible, and some each night, as they sought to make sense of what had happened and to help each other. I was so proud of them. Even a broken hip could not keep one of our members away from the meeting. He was here as much as he possibly could be. There were parents with young children who were here every night, even though I know that some of them were thinking, “What in the world am I getting out of this?” as they struggled with the kids. So, whether it was a success or not depends upon how you look at it, and I choose to look at the meeting just completed through brightly colored glasses. Greg Litmer
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