The following article was forwarded by Ron to brother Mike Hughes, who then posted it to Bible Matters (2-28-03). 

Mike, I failed to include this (e-mail format & attachment) when I sent those articles. Use if you see fit.  

Best wishes, Ron

Ron Halbrook, 3505 Horse Run Ct., Shepherdsville KY 40165

[9-30-2001 Statement Regarding “NOTES AND THOUGHTS FOR FURTHER STUDY” (1986)]

 Tactics of Error, Triumph of Truth 

In the battle for truth regarding marriage, Romans 14, fellowship, and related issues, are faithful brethren who have been pleading for the truth now divided among themselves and in disarray?  Are Mike Willis, Tom Roberts, Bill Cavender, Harry Osborne, Donnie Rader, Connie W. Adams, Ron Halbrook, Andy Alexander, Jerry Fite, and other men who have spoken out against error, all at war with each other now? Are they all teaching contradictory doctrines and principles?  For several years, concerted efforts have been made to make it appear the answer is, “Yes.”  Actually, the answer is, “No!”  Recent events illustrate this phase of the ongoing battle between truth and error.

Some personal notes of mine written only for further study in 1986 have been taken out of that context and posted on the internet and circulated in the Louisville area as though the notes represented final conclusions for proclamation and publication.  The notes were not prepared for that purpose at all.  Until recently, they were seen by only a small handful of people during all these years, and then only in a context of thought and study, not in a campaign of proclamation and publication.

These notes reflect on some difficult points regarding marriage and divorce, points which are mostly theoretical in my experience and which, therefore, I did not pursue further in these notes.  Since these notes were never revisited or revised, they contain statements which can be construed to suggest that I believe in “the waiting game” and “mental divorce.” They are being circulated precisely because some folks are determined to assign such views to me against my will.  In this effort, someone has appended to my notes an excerpt from an article by Connie W. Adams in the Feb. 1986 Searching the Scriptures, leaving the impression that Connie and I are at war with each other.

To the contrary, I embrace the principle set forth by Connie in that article in the following words, “It is my conviction that there are only three classes of people who have a right to marry: (1) those who have never been married; (2) those whose companions are dead; and (3) those who have put away a companion for the cause of fornication.”  Like any two brethren, Connie and I occasionally may differ in judgments and opinions on various matters, but there are no vast differences between us and we certainly are not at war.  We are united on the principle “that there are only three classes of people who have a right to marry: (1) those who have never been married; (2) those whose companions are dead; and (3) those who have put away a companion for the cause of fornication.”  That principle is not true because Connie said it, but because the Bible revealed it.

To the best of my ability, I have preached that Bible principle all across the U.S. and have published numerous materials affirming and reaffirming that principle, including an article entitled, “Marriage and Divorce: No Waiting Game” (Guardian of Truth, Mar. 18, 1993, pp. 168-69). Some of the material I have written was published by Connie when he edited Searching the Scriptures, precisely because we both uphold the principle he has stated so well.  I defended that principle in two debates with Jack Freeman (see The Halbrook-Freeman Debate on Marriage, Divorce & Remarriage) and in unpublished debates with other men.  My settled convictions on marriage and divorce are in print in tract form (Marriage Is Honorable) and in two booklets (Trends Pointing Toward a New Apostasy and Understanding the Controversy Over Divorce-Remarriage, Romans 14 and Fellowship).

At a time when the simple Bible principle on marriage is being openly attacked by some brethren and compromised by others on the fellowship issue, I do not intend to be sidetracked from the real battle we face. Faithful brethren who have engaged this battle during the last decade have been subjected to whispering campaigns, attacks on our character, aspersions about our integrity, smirks, slurs, and slander.  Attempts have been made to turn us against each other so that divided we fall, while the enemy accentuates positive gains and eliminates negative critics.  I do not intend to fall victim to these tactics.

All the tactics of error will fail in time.  Truth will finally triumph.  Our duty is clear: “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.  Let all your things be done with charity” (1 Cor. 16:13-14).  With courage and love, let us stand fast in the faith and confident in the victory of truth.  “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).

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