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Year 2001 Bible Conference Cassette Tapes
News & Views, February 2002 - Edited By E. L. Bynum
Ross Fite Completes 40 Years of Missionary Service - By E. L. Bynum
"Staying by The Stuff" in 2002 - By E. L. Bynum
Gay Catholic Priest 1st to `Come Out' in Spain
I was called as pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in June of 1961. In my first year as Pastor, God laid it upon my heart to begin conducting an Annual Mission Conference in March of 1962. The Church had always been missionary in doctrine, but I felt that we needed a strong emphasis on the practice of missions. When we approached that first conference, I must confess that for me, it was with fear and trembling. The Church was deeply in debt, and it did not seem to be practical to be urging people to promise to give regularly to missions.
That first Mission Conference was a success beyond our wildest dreams. It was the beginning of a new era at Tabernacle Baptist Church. The people began to give to missions, and the regular offerings began to grow, and soon our financial problems were being solved, and we paid off all our debts way ahead of time.
We invited many other preachers to attend that first Conference in March of 1962, and quite a good number did attend. One of those was Pastor Ross D. Fite of Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was during that meeting that Bro. Fite and his wife Ila Mae surrendered their lives to go to Latin America as missionaries. They have faithfully continued in successful mission work ever since. They moved with their four precious daughters to Latin America, and they have never looked back.
Bro. Ross Fite will be speaking in our 41st Annual Missions Bible Conference, March 18-20. The theme this year will be "Staying by the Stuff," and this is something that he has done.
Printed below are portions of two articles from 1962 in which the missionary, in his own words, shares his testimony of salvation and the call of God to full time service. The first article was taken from The Orthodox Baptist.
I was first born on January 7, 1926, in Dallas
County, Arkansas, and moved to South Texas as a baby where I played with
Mexican children until I was eleven years old. We later moved to West Texas,
where I lived the rest of my boyhood in farm and ranch life. In early 1944,
I left for the Navy from Childress, Texas, and spent the duration of World
War II in the Western Pacific.
I was born again sixteen years ago when I gave my heart to the Lord Jesus
Christ in the Maddox Avenue Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas. In 1949 I
married Ila Mae Bivens, surrendered to preach one month later, and started
to the Bible Baptist Seminary in September of that year. I was graduated
from the Seminary with a Master of Theology degree in May 1952, and worked
on as Assistant pastor of the Maddox Avenue Baptist church until the fall
of 1954, when I moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, and organized the Fayetteville
Baptist Church.
Many experiences in the Western Pacific not only brought me to the realization of my own need for redemption from Hell, but watching a screaming, lost and dying shipmate drifting to sea in a storm, gave me a passionate desire to help others prepare to meet their God. These experiences were largely responsible for my own surrender to Christ, to the ministry, and to the "regions beyond."
The perishing millions of Latin America haunted my soul from the time of my trip to those fields with Missionary Ralph G. McCoy in September 1961, until March 16, 1962, when my darling wife and I walked down the aisles of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, Lubbock, Texas, at the close of a message. We surrendered our lives and those of our four precious little daughters, to plunge into the stormy seas of heathenism, Communism and Catholicism to rescue as many as we can before the billows of Hell close in on their never-dying souls. End of article from The Orthodox Baptist.
The following is reprinted from the Plains Baptist Challenger, April 1962.
It was one of the greatest privileges of our
lives to be in the Mission Conference at the Tabernacle Baptist Church of
Lubbock, Texas where Bro. E. L. Bynum is the noble pastor.
I can truly say this was one of the greatest Mission Conferences I have
ever attended and the greatest as far as I personally am concerned. Because
it was at this Mission Conference that my dear wife and I surrendered our
lives to the will of God for us to be Missionaries to Latin America.
I preached the last message of the morning on Friday, March 16th. When I came to the invitation, it seemed that it was for me and it would be a mockery for me to give an invitation for others. I turned the services to Bro. Bynum, found a vacant place at the front, and my wife and I poured out our hearts to God. We asked Him for our long-waited-for answer to be given us if it would please Him.
At the close of preaching that night, and when the invitation was given, the Lord led the preacher to say some things that brought "the history of the last few months" fresh to my heart. I looked at my wife and with broken hearts we walked down the aisle together and knelt at the altar to weep. It seemed the whole Church was travailing in prayer in those crucial moments when we said yes to our Lord and His will for us. We arose to sing the song we had been attempting to learn, "Lord Send Me There," from our hearts that were willing to GO.
"The history of the last few months" is this in brief. At the New Year's Fellowship in Ft. Worth, we had spent the most of one night in prayer with Missionary to Latin America, Ralph G. McCoy, (with whom I had the privilege of visiting the Mission Work in Latin America on his trip last September). I begged my dear Saviour to show me His will and promised Him that I was willing to die to self as the preacher had preached. That was the night of January 1. On the afternoon of January 3, I came face to face with a twofold lesson. One, that it was dangerous for me, even in America, out of God's will and, two, that God can protect His own physically. Because I had wrecked my car at high speed, turning it completely over at least once. My wife and I and our four children were all preserved without one bone broken. Then after being out of my pulpit for a few weeks I saw the great work of the Holy Spirit preserve us and the Church from the hands of vicious ecclesiastical powers, and I said, "Thank God He is able." If I did not recognize the hand of my God or recognize His Object Lessons to me in the midst of my inner struggles, I would be spiritually blind. I say, "Thank you Lord that You have counted me worthy to be called to this Great Ministry." My heart is literally broken, beloved, for those who have never heard of Salvation through my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. End of reprint from the Plains Baptist Challenger.
Unfortunately, many begin the race well, but many fade out or fall by the wayside after a few years. Some enter mission work and for good reasons and for bad reasons fail to finish the course. Some missionaries come back to the States to pastor, which is fine if the Lord calls them to do so. Some become discouraged and quit. Others become experts and spend the rest of their ministry telling others how to do the work, and seem to do little of it themselves.
We are thankful for the perseverance and stability of Bro. Fite and his dear wife Ila Mae. They are still on the field in Latin America. At age 76, Bro. Fite is still faithful to God and the ministry in Mexico and in El Salvador. It has been a privilege for our church to be a part of this man's time-honored ministry and to share his burden for lost souls.
In the remaining part of this article, I will quote some recent reports from Bro. Fite concerning his labor for the Lord.
"Please know that I still work in El Salvador, on the Caribbean Coast of Mexico, and in the Chiapas mountains of Mexico near the Guatemala border. We are on the radio with two six- day broadcasts in El Salvador, one in the Chiapas mountains of Mexico, and we are trying to get on a station on the Caribbean. These broadcasts are very helpful to the several churches in each area where we have a broadcast. The five-day preaching is primarily done by Bro. Cayetano F. who is very good in evangelism as well as Bible doctrine. On Saturdays we announce the services at all the churches and missions in hearing distance of that broadcast.
"We also have one Preachers' School in El Salvador, and one on the Caribbean Coast of Mexico. Each one has three teachers who are also pastors. I only have special classes.
"I have only visited a few churches in the last 15 or more years. I know this is wrong, but just as I was planning to visit all the supporting churches something would happen like the war that broke out in El Salvador. In fact, I have never taken the 1 year in 5 as is a missionary's habit, to visit supporting churches. Neither have I had the heartbreak of many of my fellow missionaries, who have had to start over again when they returned. We have had a constant growth in the works which has grown to three fields 12 hours apart by vehicles and has no direct connection by airplane. I am not a hard shell, but I do believe in our sovereign God, not Allah, but Jehovah God, and, though I am very thankful, I do not get nervous when someone threatens to cut off the support of this work. It is God's work and without the support of any man-made organization, only through His churches, this work has continued these 40 years."
"I give thanks to God for being gay," said Father Jose Mantero, a parish priest in Southern Spain, whose picture on the front cover of the gay magazine, Zero, showed him "wearing his dog collar, an earring in his left ear and a studded leather bracelet." The 39-year-old priest admitted he risked punishment from his superiors, but said that "it was time the Roman Catholic church came to terms with the fact that many of its members were gay," according to Guardian Unlimited (UK).
He explained that he discovered that he was gay about eight years ago when he fell in love with a man, but did remain celibate until two years ago. He said that the "normal thing to do is deny your own personality"and not speak of it. "Now I feel happy in the church and love it. I want to fight for change from within." So far he has changed the words of the wedding service to refer to "a couple" rather than "man and wife." Monsignor Asenio has said it's up the diocesan bishop to decide the fate of the gay priest. Baptist Press (ELB: It is unfortunate that immorality is prevalent among Catholic priests, and among too many other ministers. Immoral perverts have no place in any ministry. There is nothing gay about homosexuals).
"Staying by The Stuff" in 2002 and beyond, will be the theme of our 41st Annual Mission Bible Conference. Pastors from a number of States will be preaching, and missionaries representing a number of different fields will preach and present their work. We are praying that this will be a great conference and we fully expect our prayers to be answered.
Let me explain what we mean by "Staying by The Stuff." In I Samuel 30, while David and his soldiers were away, the Amalekites came and smote the city of Ziglag, and carried away their wives, children and possessions. When David and his armed warriors hotly pursued after them, some of the men became so weary that they could go no farther. David left them behind to guard the stuff, which included the baggage, and other possessions. This enabled the four hundred to hotly pursue and overtake the Amalekites in a surprise attack. In doing this they recovered all. When the time came to divide the spoils from the great victory, many were unwilling to divide with the two hundred left behind to guard the stuff.
This led to David's wonderful ruling: "For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike" (1 Samuel 30:24). From that day forward it was made a statute and an ordinance in Israel.
Missionaries go forth into the world to battle for the souls of men. They win great victories, but in the day of reward, those that stayed by the stuff, in prayer and financial support will share alike in the rewards. This cannot be emphasized too much.
Pastors go forth in preaching and teaching the word in the pulpit and at every opportunity. Those church members that stand behind them in prayer, financial support, and encouragement will share alike when the rewards are handed out.
What was the "stuff" that the two hundred men were left behind to guard and keep? It was the valuable vessels, instruments, weapons, wealth, armour, and equipment to repair weapons. It was invaluable supplies and equipment that an army must have to sustain them. This was fundamental to their existence.
We are also at war, and we need those who will fight the battle for the faith, and we also need those who will stay by the stuff. Paul said, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) (II Corinthians 10:3-4). The warfare that Paul is speaking about is a spiritual military expedition. The weapons are the "arms used in warfare."
We are living in perilous times and there are many battles to be fought on almost every spiritual front. The forces of the devil are assailing the precious doctrines of truth. We must fight the good fight of faith, and we must stay by the stuff in this hour.
We must put on the whole armour of God and stand against the spiritual wickedness in high places. (See Eph. 6:11-18).
The theme of the Conference will be "Staying by the Stuff," but as you can see this covers a lot of Biblical territory. Feel free to develop any sound Biblical message that the Lord leads you to preach. Come prepared to preach, as I will be calling upon those who are present to speak. I will try to do this with the leadership of the Lord.