Newsletter Vol.2, #2—January 8, 2006

Matthew 7 ¹⁷Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

¹⁸A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

“Divine Fellowship”

J.D. Tant, 1933

“I am called upon to be a fellow soldier, and the very word soldier carries with it the idea of fighting. Remember, I am not only to put on the whole armor of God for self protection, but I am to carry the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God to enable me to fight the enemy. That soldier who goes on the battle field with an unloaded gun, or one who never shoots his gun, or one who is begging all not to shoot as to hit the enemy is a disgrace to the army. Yet I go to many places where many of my brethren claim to be soldiers, but they have not shot a gun at the enemy in ten years, and begin to plead with me as soon as I get there, and beg me to be careful not to shoot any gospel gun toward Baptist or Methodist, or “outsiders,” for if I do and a gospel shot hits one, they claim it will hurt his feelings and make him mad and he won’t come to church again. Many church members are more fearful of hurting the feelings of their sectarian neighbors and regard their friendship and love far above that of God in whose army they claim to be fighting. Brother, do you belong to this class? Then can you claim you are in fellowship with God, when you refuse to teach the Lord’s enemies, who are not only building on the sand, but are spending their time and talent in cultivating the human plants, or human churches that Christ says shall be rooted up?”

I copied the above from a bulletin printed by the Southside church of Christ in Owensboro, Kentucky edited by Jacob Jarrod, an outstanding young gospel preacher. He lifted it from “The Gospel Exray,” a book of sermons by J.D. Tant page 33. The year was 1933. J.D. Tant was an outstanding gospel preacher from Texas. After his death his widow and their son, Fanning Yater Tant wrote a book about his life and work titled, “J. D. Tant, Texas Preacher.” I own a copy of this great book. It will bring tears to one’s eyes as well as laughter to one’s heart when read by the discerning Christian.

It would be good for every Christian to read this book for several reasons, the main one being the kind of preaching which caused such great numerical growth and strength in our great brotherhood back in those days as compared to the watered down messages we are hearing and reading from many who claim to be gospel preachers today. J.D. Tant may find it difficult to find a congregation of the Lord’s people to support him as an evangelist if he were alive today and should preach as he once did in his heyday (2 Timothy 4:1-8; Jude 3; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; Philippians 1:17).

Some Illustrations...

I am writing from memory some illustrations from the book mentioned above. Once J.D. Tant was asked to preach in a gospel meeting and after the meeting closed the brethren were so impressed with his abilities that they called him aside and said, “brother Tant, we liked your preaching and we would like to invite you back for a meeting next year, but we just don’t have the money.” It is reported that old brother Tant said the following: “Brethren, I have noticed that several of you smoke cigarettes and pipes and some of you chew tobacco and some of you dip snuff: I will make a deal with you. Each week each of you who use tobacco in any form just set aside the same amount you spend for tobacco and when I come back next year I will take whatever amount that comes to for my support for the week’s work.” Well, time passed and I reckon they began the process of laying aside that money. The trouble was, as they began to calculate the amount this would come to in a year’s time, they got cold feet and were not willing to keep their end of the commitment! One of them contacted J.D. Tant by letter and wrote the following: “Brother Tant, we calculated the amount of money it would cost us to have you back on the basis we agreed too next year, and we just want you to know that no preacher is worth that amount of money!” They cancelled his meeting.

J. D. Tant’s Debate With Mr. Pigue

“The Tant-Pigue debate was held at the Oldfield Methodist church in Crockett County, Tennessee, in 1910. It was the first discussion between these two men (they were to have two more in the following years), and was notable for many reasons. A huge throng of people had gathered for the opening session, Pigue was there, dressed to perfection, in elegance and style. As the time drew near for the discussion to open, Tant was nowhere in evidence. After a delay of some little time, waiting for Tant to make his appearance, Pigue got in the pulpit and made a short speech about the “Campbellites.” He said that they were long on boasting, but short on everything else; and that since Tant was obviously too scared to make his appearance, the debate would have to be called off.

Just at that moment a figure arose from the back seat of the assembly, a lanky, dirty, unshaven farmer, dressed in the ragged overalls and dirty sweat-stained shirt of a field hand. All eyes began to turn toward the farmer, and when Pigue saw that he had not the attention of his audience he stopped speaking. The farmer then spoke up: “My name is J. D. Tant, and I am ready for the debate to start.” Pigue commented with some disgust on the “uncouth and sloven” appearance of his opponent, and opined that the dignity and importance of the occasion demanded a more respectful presence than Tant offered.

“I grew up on a farm,” Tant responded with his nasal twang even more pronounced than usual, “and my old pappy always told us boys to dress for the kind of work we had to do. I come down here to do a hog-killin’ job on a fat, over-grown, over-stuffed ‘pigue,’ and I dressed for the occasion. Let’s get on with the job!”

That set the tone for the discussion. It was sharp and bitter from the opening session. Pigue was a master at sarcasm and ridicule, and began to punctuate his arguments with a sing-song ejaculation: “Tant just can’t cut the mustard; he can’t cut the mustard.” After this sort of refrain had extended over two days, Tant put a rather sudden end to it by saying, “Elder Pigue keeps shouting that Tant can’t cut the mustard’. Well, I don’t know so much about cutting the mustard – but I’ve had plenty of experience in the hog-lot, and before God, (one of Tant’s usual expressions ket) brethren, I claim to be an A Number One champion when it comes to cutting hogs!” (J. D. Tant Texas Preacher, pages 313-314).

Back in those days at the conclusion of many such debates with denominational preachers, the brethren would frequently baptize ten to twenty people who were formerly Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterians, etc., into Christ. And while I would hardly recommend the above language on either of the above named men’s part, still the truth must be preached and error opposed in no uncertain language so the clear distinction can be seen between the two. When Christians get “better manners” than our Lord had as He exposed error or than His inspired apostles demonstrated likewise, we have become just too sophisticated (see John 8:35-59; Acts 13:6-11).

Men like J. D. Tant, W. Curtis Porter, A. C. Grider, and many other able preachers and debaters probably were responsible for more converts to Christ in their lifetimes than most of us will ever have even contacted. None of these great men pulled any punches when it came to the defense of the truth of Christ. Each was “set for the defense of the gospel” (Philippians 1:17b). How well are we doing by comparison I wonder?

Kenneth E. Thomas -- kthomas@ntslink.net

26 Beautiful One-liners

(CONCLUSION)

18. Never give the devil a ride -- he will always want to drive.

19. Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it.

20. Compassion is difficult to give away because it keeps coming back.

21. He who angers you controls you.

22. Worry is the darkroom in which negatives can develop.

23. Give Satan an inch and he'll be a ruler.

24. Be ye fishers of men -- you catch them and He'll clean them.

25. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

26. Read the Bible -- It will scare the #@%* out of you.

I just could not bring myself to keep that word in although it is entirely appropriate!