[The following is from the Digging in the Walls section of O Timothy magazine, edited by David W. Cloud, Volume 12, Issue 2, 1995. This material cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites without permission from the author. Any articles which are redistributed by e-mail or print must be left intact and nothing must be removed or changed, including these informational headers. All rights are reserved. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org. FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian. The Way of Life web site is located at http://www.wayoflife.org/]

DON'T GIVE UP MILITANCY BECAUSE OF IMPERFECTIONS OF SEPARATISTS

"A dangerous tendency on the part of younger separatists today is to look at the weaknesses of the older generation and abandon or moderate the position they took because of these weaknesses. The present generation of preachers needs to realize that it too will leave a record of imperfection in its service for Christ. The shortcomings of former leaders do not justify forsaking or weakening the biblical position for which they fought. Men must be as militant as Jude, Paul, Peter, and John in the ministry of the Word. The Bible teaches militancy. Indeed the younger man today will not want to emulate whatever flaws are apparent in a leader. He should adopt the attitude which Paul asked his followers to adopt when he said, `Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.' The current generation should imitate the godliness of the past generation while not forsaking separation because of the human weaknesses of those leaders" (Fred Moritz, Be Ye Holy: The Call to Christian Separation, Bob Jones University Press, 1994).