Brighten the Corner Where You Are

Oscar Pimentel, General Overseer The Church of God

“Every member a worker, and a work for every member” —A. J. Tomlinson

A. J. Tomlinson’s challenging words (above) remind everyone that all can do something for God no matter what. It is certain that no matter where we are in the world and who or where we are in the Church, we can, by God’s grace, brighten the corner where we are. There is an old hymn we used to sing, perhaps some of the youth may never have sung it before, it is entitled “Brighten the Corner Where You Are.” Some of the lyrics of the song are:

Do not wait until some deed
of greatness you may do
Do not wait to shed your light afar
To the many duties ever near you now be true
Brighten the corner where you are.

Here for all your talent you may
surely find a need
Here reflect the bright and Morning Star
Even from your humble hand
the Bread of Life may feed
Brighten the corner where you are.

The hymn encourages us to gleam for Christ right where we find ourselves now and not wait for some sort of platform that may be able to catapult us into the so-called “limelight” of public or Church attention. Neither should one wait for some special occasion, event or opportunity, but one should identify and understand that especially in our normal, even mundane, everyday lives we can do some good deed, share some encouraging words or simply testify of what the Lord has been doing in our own lives. You can be a worker!

One does not need special acknowledgment or recognition to shine for Christ wherever he or she finds him or herself, after all, Christ’s notice of us is a recognition far greater than any other; rather, we should acknowledge and recognize the great necessity that strangers, coworkers, neighbors and families have of the Saviour. Let’s not leave all the work to the pastors or the evangelists, although they have a special calling on their lives into the ministry for which they will report to the Lord, but you and I someway, somehow, to some person or persons, can be the difference makers if we simply brighten our important corner of the world.

You may judge that your corner of the world is not important, but if there is a soul near you it is, in fact, an important corner of the world! Take a look around, without respect to persons, do you see the poor, rich, sick, healthy, happy, sad, friendly, unfriendly, small and great? Most importantly, do you see the soul? Allow me to remind you of some of the words of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, “Ye are the light of the world...Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:14-16).

Christ is the True Light, and He has lit a flame in every child of God with full intent that we should be used of Him where He has placed us for His Father’s glory unto the saving of souls. Do we believe that we are where we are today by accident? Dear loved one, you are exactly where the Lord needs you to be, and you are an important part of God’s great program. The splendor of the glorious light of the gospel of Jesus Christ which now shines in you is not to be hindered by past or present life conditions. We may, at times, ask ourselves, “What difference can I, one person, really make?”, but we underestimate the power of ONE. Read the following tidbit of information I found during some personal time of reading:

ONE mischievous boy can break up a school. One false alarm can cause a panic. One match can start a conflagration. One false step can cost a life or ruin a character. One broken wheel can ditch a train. One quarrelsome worker can create a strike of ten thousand men. One undiplomatic word can provoke a war involving thousands of lives and destruction of millions of dollars in property. One hasty act of legislation can entail untold hardships. One wayward daughter can break a mother’s heart. One lie can destroy a person’s character. One false witness can send an innocent man to jail. One vote can decide an election. One kind word at the right time may save a person from suicide. One sermon may fire a man’s soul and set the course for his future life. One drink may start a person on the road to alcoholism. One wrong example may lead dozens down the wrong path. One decision for Christ will determine future destiny.

And the Bible says: “one sinner destroyeth much good” (Eccl. 9:18). Yes, just as one broken link can make a chain useless, just as one leak can sink a ship, or just as one worm can spoil an apple. But we are glad to note that ONE can do good, as when one good word makes a heavy heart glad: “Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad” (Prov. 12:25). One faithful ambassador is health: “A wicked messengerfalleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health” (Prov. 13:17). Just one word spoken in due season—how good it is: “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!” (Prov. 15:23). Just one word:

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Prov. 25:11). Noah found grace in the eyes of God, one man upon the whole earth, and because of his obedience the human race was spared. Esther put her life in jeopardy and risked death by daring to enter in to the king’s hall, she saved her nation from extinction. Jonah, after his escapade, went to Nineveh in obedience to God and preached, and a great revival of repentance broke out in the city.”

Oh, the power of ONE! There are two great personages whom we often speak of from the Old Testament passage of 2 Kings 5; and rightly so, because by Elisha the prophet of God and Naaman the captain of the host of the king of Syria, God was glorified. Yet there is one person often overlooked in this whole account who, as a matter of fact, is far more important than either of these two men of renown, for without her neither of these two men would have had this encounter.

She has no name; at least her name, unlike Elisha’s and Naaman’s, is not shared with us—she is only known as “a little maid” (v. 2). Perhaps her name is not given on purpose since it affords us the chance, if we will take it, to add our name in its place, therein granting us the opportunity—better yet, the privilege to place ourselves in her spot and to do as she did—brighten the corner where she was.

We know by Scripture that her country had been attacked by the enemy, Syria, and she had been brought to Naaman’s house a captive, no doubt a slave and a servant void of any rights or voice. Let us continue to consider her possible life’s conditions. Her parents may have been slaughtered during Syria’s invasion of Israel.

She must have seen her city destroyed and burned to the ground; if not, she may have at least had the unfortunate occasion to witness her childhood community destroyed. Who knows if she may have had siblings whose whereabouts were unknown to her when she was removed from her homeland. She was torn away from friends and loved ones and the comforts of her home, to be dragged away to an uncertain future.

How would you and I fare under such sorrows of life? What would be our spirit under similar experiences? Have tough and unexpected experiences of life caused us to feel like the prophet Jeremiah who said, “I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name” (Jer. 20:9) in his time of temptation? Perhaps it would be all the reason to abandon the faith and wallow in self-pity. We have all, somewhere along the way, had our fill of sorrow and heartbreak and, unfortunately, others may come, but what we do amid those moments is what ultimately matters.

Take courage dear saint, have another look at this one little maid’s testimony in Naaman’s house. She is reminiscent of that great man Job who, having lost everything, declared, “...Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). Furthermore, it was said of him, “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” (Job 1:22), and this same spirit seems to have taken hold of this little maid, and can take hold of you and me as well. She was not there by accident, nor were her circumstances merely unfortunate. No! Someone has said, “Unless affliction is seen to be God’s work, it does little good to the soul.” They were God ordained! God knows how to put us where He needs us, and He knows what to allow into our lives for His divine purposes.

Unto the man who was responsible for the army of Syria—the same army which was dispatched by his orders to ravage her homeland and strip her and her countrymen of all they had and ever hoped to be—she, seeing his infirmity unto death, would in effect say to him, “I know a Man whom you can go to and be healed!” It is apparent that she had no anger or resentment or hatred in her heart toward this man, or any man, nor was she entertaining a pessimistic spirit of “Woe is me, how can I help, if I need the help?” The little maid was not looking for a blessing but desired to be a blessing! She wasn’t talking about “I’m just barely holding on,” but she had, as it were, laid hold of eternal life!

She, looking beyond herself and beyond this man’s own faults, observed his need. She goes on to share the news of help, health, and hope that can be found in God; not from the vantage point of having achieved her life goals, ambitions and dreams, or from the comforts of a life where all things had turned out the way she planned them, but amid her life’s condition as a captive and servant in Naaman’s house and the experience of all that led to this point in her life.

What an inspiring example of one person who brightened the corner where she was, regardless of her circumstances! Calling or no calling! She was not some great preacher, like the prophet or a person in great authority like Naaman, but she was one person who obeyed God.

What is our excuse to not shine for God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ? Has our love for souls waxed cold due to our past or present experiences or actual circumstances? Paul asked, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. 8:35). What is it, dear saint? What could cause the love of God, love for our neighbor, to exit our lives? “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37-39). Don’t let life take it away, but be determined to brighten the corner where you are! Be determined! Be determined!

Do not wait until some deed
of greatness you may do
Do not wait to shed your light afar
To the many duties ever near you now be true
Brighten the corner where you are.

Somewhere she had learned, somewhere she had seen, somewhere she had experienced the love and power of God and did not forget about it when it mattered the most—when she was alone and even afraid. I wonder how many times Naaman and his wife walked past her while in his house and paid little to no attention to her, yet there in that place of little importance and little recognition that one little maid was the difference maker because she dared to tell them of her great big God upon recognizing his great big need. Oh, isn’t it true, we have a mighty God who is a match for mighty needs?!

Now imagine Naaman’s arrival at home to his wife and family after dipping seven times in the River Jordan according to the words of the prophet Elisha. His leprosy was gone; his flesh was left like unto that of a little child and was no more plagued by that horrible and dreaded flesh-eating disease. Imagine the joy of that man and his family and an untold number of others who knew what he was like before. Imagine the little maid’s delight. He wouldn’t have to keep people at a distance anymore, he wouldn’t have to hide any more, he had no need to feel ashamed anymore because his leprosy was gone!

Now imagine when you see that unkind and cruel man or woman come through the doors of your local church with a kind and gentle new behavior because you dared to “brighten the corner where you are” and made mention of a Man, Jesus Christ, whom they could go to for healing. Imagine the drunkard or drug addict whom everyone has lost hope for, even their very family, coming to a time of fellowship clean and in their right mind because you worked for God and brightened the corner by telling them “Come to God.” These are not things to be merely imagined, they have happened and will happen if we will only work for God where we are.

Work for God, dear saint, let your light so shine, brighten the corner where you are no matter the circumstances—pleasurable or disagreeable—which you are presently in; without respect to persons, whether you are under special appointment in your local church or not, whether you feel as if you are a God called minister or not, whether you hold an evangelist’s license or not, do as this little maid who right smack dab in the middle of her day-to-day living saw a need nearby and took the opportunity to tell someone about her God and His goodness toward us.

WHICH IS THE CHURCH?

By: Robert J. Pruitt

WHICH IS THE CHURCH?

Nothing has done more to confuse and frustrate the plan of God in the world than denominationalism.

One can understand the frustration of a new convert to Christ when he begins to look for a church home. Each one either claims to be the true church or a denominate part of it, yet there are others who claim the same thing and neither will have anything whatsoever to do with the other-no fellowship, no unity, no brotherhood, no agreement, no love for one another.

Can denominationalism, then, be the Church? Absolutely not. There is no similarity to it and the scriptural image of the Church. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Ephesians 4:4-6).

Where, then, is the Church? is it to be found in the world? Is it functioning now? These questions must be answered by the support of Scripture; otherwise we would remain as confused as when we started.

Briefly, we can use the same test to identify the Church, the Body of Christ, as was used to identify Jesus Christ as the Messiah. That test was that He fit and fulfilled the prophetic image of that One. There were, no doubt, many little boys the age of Jesus who had the same name as He. But there was only one who was the true Messiah. The same test may be applied to identify the Church.

When John the Baptist was in prison and had some misgivings and apprehensions about Jesus being the true Messiah, he sent some of his own disciples to Jesus to ask Him personally if He was the one or should they begin looking for another. How did Jesus answer their question? At first He told them nothing; He simply asked that they accompany Him. "And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he. whosoever shall not be offended in me" (Luke 7:21-23). That was Jesus' answer as to whether He was truly the Messiah. He did what the Messiah was supposed to do. He fulfilled that place in prophecy.

The same test of identity must be applied to the true Church. The one which fulfills exactly the image projected in prophecy is the true Church. Now, the only problem is to find it.

Let us return to the prophets and trace the conception, development, and continuity of the Church right to this moment.

The Church's appearance on the earth was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah and others: Isaiah 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house (the theocracy, the Church) shall be established in the top of the mountains (literally mountains), and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. Read also almost the same words by the prophet Micah (Micah 4:1, 2). Then the Psalmist David, filling the role of prophet wrote, "There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth" (Psalm 72:16). The initial phase of these three prophecies was fulfilled when Jesus took the twelve up into a mountain (Mt. Hattin, about A.D. 28) and established the Church: "And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils" (Mark 3:13-15). Thus, the Church was organized, the names of the twelve were listed Judas was appointed treasurer (John 12:6; 13:9), and the twelve were ordained.

The newly established Church worked with Christ and grew in its early stages. There were problems and persecutions but it was learning at the feet of Jesus.

After the crucifixion, at which time the Church was scattered and many turned away, it again was given a new impetus at Pentecost when one hundred and twenty of the saints experienced the infilling of the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom Jesus had promised to send after His ascension (Acts 2).

This new power caused the Church to grow and consequently to incur the wrath and persecution of those Jews who disagreed with its doctrine and the acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. The Church survived the persecution and began to grow in numbers and influence. External threats were no longer their greatest problem. There was trouble brewing from within. The apostle Paul described it in Acts 20:29-31: "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." Read als 2 Peter 2:1, 2 and the book of Jude. All these warn the internal problems which threatened the Church.

This threat was not unknown to prophecy however, because both Isaiah and Micah again were inspired to warn of the events to come.

"For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth (the early Church), when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have l sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee (Isaiah 54:6-10).

On the same incident, Micah had this to say, "Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies" (Micah 4:10). (Although it is generally considered that the universal religious confusion constitutes the "Babylon" referred to in the Scriptures, there is a more specific application inferred here. In view of the fact that there is unlimited religious freedom in the United States of America, and as a result there are more than three thousand different religious organizations of all persuasions, both Christians and non-Christians this country above all other nations of the world is a seething bed of religious confusion. Within this context it seems plausible that it fits the description of the prophet Micah when he said of the Church ".. thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered . .." And since the Church arose this side of the Dark Ages in this land, the application seems to have some validity.)

These prophecies of the downfall of the early Church were officially fulfilled in A.D. 325 when the Church, weak in power and doctrine as a result of the evil leaders who had crept in, accepted an ecclesiastical, or council, form of government to replace theocracy at the Council of Nicaea. At that point it no longer existed as the Church, or the theocracy of God. This was the beginning of what is known in religious history as the Dark Age period.

In speaking of the eventual restoration of the Church, Isaiah gives a strong hint as to the geographical location of where it would be restored. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed" thee up shall be far away" (lsaiah 49:19).

Then God speaks to the Church through the prophet Isaiah to awake from her sleep and begin to shine: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isaiah 60:1-3).

After centuries of obscurity, glimmerings and rays of light began to appear, but the Church, theocracy, was still in the distance. God began to deal with devout men to take a stand on what they found to be true in the Word of God. Martin Luther discovered the doctrine of justification by faith, the regeneration of the new birth, which resulted in the formation of the Lutheran Church, but it stopped short of embracing all that God had provided in His word for the theocracy. John Wesley discovered the doctrine of personal sanctification and established the Methodist Church, but it, too, stopped short of embracing all that God had provided and required of the theocracy. Neither of the above officially recognized nor embraced the mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost in the holiness and pentecostal movements which emerged during the latter part of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries.

But that was to be a part of doing all things and obeying "All that the Lord hath spoken." The theocracy had not yet been restored. Even the holiness and pentecostal movements did not embrace New Testament government and discipline. All of this is a matter of religious history and may be substantiated by further research.

At the turn of the twentieth century there was a flurry of religious activity, but the prophecy of Isaiah and David was yet unfulfilled. Through Isaiah God was speaking to no one else but the Church when He said "Arise and shine."

David was speaking in a dual prophetic role when he wrote Psalm 132:6. He was speaking of the immediate restoration of the Ark of the Covenant and prophetically of the arise of the Church, the theocracy, with the words, "Lo. we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the Wood" (Psalm 132:6).

The prophecy of David's was fulfilled on June 13, 1903, when A. J. Tomlinson met with a group of devout men and women who were seeking the true Church. They could not find it in the main line denominations. They were willing to make any sacrifice to find the Church which would obey God in everything.

After praying on the mountain near the cabin where the devout group had met, A. J. Tomlinson went down the mountain and joined the group in worship. Later he gave this testimony: "I came with the understanding that we were going to search the Bible to see if we could find the Church of God just like David said we would find it." And of the meeting after he came down from the mountain, he said, "I came back down the mountain and entered the meeting. Questions were asked; Bible answers were given. They said they took the whole Bible rightly divided as their only rule of faith and practice. I said, Well, if you take the whole Bible rightly divided, that makes it the Church of God. Why do you want to call it the Holiness Church at Camp Creek? They agreed with me but couldn't answer my question. Then I said, You have agreed that this I have said (taking the whole Bible rightly divided) makes it the Church of God, and will you be willing to take it and keep it the Church of God? They said they were willing.I then asked if they were willing to take me in with the understanding that it is the Church of God-not going to be, but is the Church of God? They were willing. So I stood right there in front of the fire place and Brother Spurling, who has gone to heaven, took the Bible and gave it to me. He handed it to me and said, Will you take this as the Word of God, believe it and practice it, obey its precepts and walk in the light as God is in the light?' I thought deeply. I remembered what a time I had on the mountain. I meant business. God meant business. Right there l gave my hand to Brother Spurling. I took the obligation (covenant) with deep sincerity and extreme sacredness never to be forgotten." At that moment the Church, the theocracy, began to function again after the centuries of sleep. It arose and will shine brighter and brighter until the day when Christ raptures it away to be with Him forever!