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 The
story is told that NBC, before the advent of television,
received a strange request from an old sheepherder in a remote
part of Idaho, It seems that the old gentleman was a musician of
sorts and his violin, being constantly subjected to the
elements, had lost any semblance of being in tune. Oh, it was in
tune with itself, but the old graybeard was a better musician
than that, so he was not to be satisfied until the instrument
was tuned precisely at A-440 again. "Will you," he
asked NBC "be good enough to sound for me an A-440 so I can
tune my violin'." On the designated day the network honored
his request and the instrument was tuned.
It
is strange that so many people in the religious world today are
"in tune" with themselves and not with the Bible. For
us to be righteous in God's sight, we most tune ourselves to the
proper standard and that standard is the Word of God. A thing
may seem ever so right to us and still be out of tune with the
true standard (Cf. Prov. 12:14).
In
the first place, man is not at all qualified to devise a
standard by which to measure his own conduct. It is axiomatic
that man's concoctions can be no greater than he can envision,
so it is not possible for man to rise above his own mind. Paul,
in 1 Cor. 2:9, says, "Eye hath not seen (that is not by
observation), nor ear heard (that is, not by teaching), neither
have entered into the heart of man (that is, not by his own
inventiveness), the things God path prepared for them that love
him." Man just cannot guide his own way!
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In
the light of such knowledge, it is strange indeed that man
continues to seek to provide his own methods of salvation. Oh,
it is true that no man would dare admit to such a heinous crime,
but time and time again it has happened that some man or group
of men see the need to improvise or change or add or diminish.
Martin Luther, John Calvin, Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, Billy
Graham and such modern day innovationists as Herbert W. and Ted
Armstrong bear testimony to the fact. Man seemingly cannot be
satisfied with the standard provided by God and must invent some
poor substitute. How sad!
It
is high time that men began again to put their confidence in the
infallible Word of God. It is high time that men ceased to
follow blindly some man without examining his teaching. Failure
to do so has caused many to veer from the truth and to devise
methods for worship which are foreign to the Scriptures. Others
have added to the work of the church those things not authorized
in the God-given standard. As a result, we see division in the
ranks of God's people — and bitterness and wrath and rancor
and on and on! And why? Because such people have failed to see
that there is a difference in being in tune with yourself and
being in tune with the divine directive.
We
must get "the proper pitch" and then stay with it.
Only when we have done so can we be sure that we, as instrument
of righteousness, are all sounding like we should. Let us not he
deceived by just any old note we hear sounded, but let us follow
God! —Dee Bowman
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