Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For More Than Fifty-Three Years” 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 May 23, 2015 Newsletter Number 517 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor Brother Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: pastor@sgmbaptist.com Web Site: www.sgmbaptist.com

Our Prayer Request: All of Our Military, Their Family’s & All the Civilian Workers in The Middle East, Zee Mink Fuller and Family, Her son’s Bryan Armstrong and Hunter Hackie, Daughter Shannon, and Brother Philip & Sondra Thornsberry, Johnnie Stephens, Alecia Stephens, and children, Frankie Baldridge and daughter, Buckie Thompson, Frank & Sonya Trusty, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Larry & Martha Mollette and Her Family, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Pennington, Kim Poole, Doris Hammock, Danny & Nita Mollette, The Muncy Family, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Martha Gray, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd, Ronnie and Sarah Henderson, Ronnie Henderson Jr. & Children, Ricky Henderson and Family, Jacie Henderson, Velma Hammond, Charles, Don Hammond and Families, Archie & Barbara Griffin, Bro. & Sister Bob Keller, Donna Johnson, James and Luann Reynolds, Timothy Fails, Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jerry Hughes, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Imajo Tracy, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Rosie Tomlin, James and Lynn Tomlin, Pat Abercrombie, Donna Jones, James, Diane & Brooke Thomas, Gina Peel, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Megan Whitaker, Tammy Hairston and family, Manual Seymour, Sr., Brother Jerry and Sister Jean Dodson, Mr. Hedges, Brother Curtis Pugh, Brother Dan Sullivan and the work in Thailand, Brother Raul and the work in Romania, and Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia.

A Thought From Our Pastor:: God Said There Is None Righteous! "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one...There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God...They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Romans 3:10 – 12 This scripture was not written about a certain remnant of people, it was written about all of mankind with the exception of Jesus the Christ, the Son of man. We as people look at people as good, we believe there are morally good people and morally bad people and this is what separates us from good and bad. People often see God talking about the wicked and most people thinks God is not speaking about them because they are good. The bottom line is that here God is speaking about all mankind. Outside of Christ there is none righteous, none that understands God and His ways, and there is none that seek the Lord God. God also said that altogether we are unprofitable and no one ever does anything good. I understand that some may read this and wonder how this is possible when the world is full of good hearted and good natured people. However, God is not looking at our good moral ways but at our heart, and what God sees is total wickedness. God said we are all “… shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psalms 51:5 What this means is that we are all born in total depravity which means there is no good in us which is what Paul just said in Romans 3. The Preacher went on to write in Ecclesiastes 7:20“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." Not one single person including the one who pinned this book. We as sinners look at people as good but God is not a man and looks at the depraved heart and sees everyone different than we do. All mankind have evil hearts by birth and that is something we can’t see in those we think are morally good people. You can take the most moral good person you know and if you look deep enough even you can find evil of some sort. This is why there are none righteous on the earth, because all are evil even though we may not see it. However, there are some good souls and they are those who have believed in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who believe that the blood of Jesus cleanses all their sins away. This is the only way to ever please God, the only way to ever be good. The good in us (as Christians) is Christ, and none else. If Christ was not there we would also be evil at heart. But He is and brought to us a new heart. How is your heart, is it in Christ, or are you evil and never pleasing God. Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

A Though For Your Bible Study: HOW FAR, AMERICA? (Part Three) At the time of this writing, the United Methodist Church is wrangling over whether or not to uphold the defrocking of one of their clergy: a man who performed the “marriage” of his son to another man. The Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has by vote of her governing body voted to divest herself of financial investments that benefit Israel. And a new poll of the people living in these United States indicates that some fifty-two-percent of us now favor same-sex “marriages.” (This writer insists on putting the word “marriage” and “marriages” in quotes when used of religious or civil ceremonies which supposedly join two persons of the same sex in some kind of ungodly perverted “union.”) And the Baptists? Where are they? Probably about five years behind the rest of the world. Already some Southern Baptist Convention Churches have women “ministers” and the popular jargon is for preachers among them (and their wives) to say, “we pastored in such-and-such a place for x number of years, etc.” The Bible has news: God does not call women to preach or to pastor! Neither does He call men and women to somehow “pastor” together. While we are on the subject of God's calling, the Bible never indicates that God ever called any man (or woman) to a “music ministry,” or as a “worship leader,” or any number of modern Baptist innovations! Strange, is it not, that the truths in your Bible are always throwing monkey wrenches in the best laid schemes of the religious crowd! It is now the popular thing for “churches” to be “welcoming congregations” - i.e., welcoming sodomites! Is there a connection between what the “same-sex-marriage” advocates are saying and doing and what the religious crowd in America is saying and doing? We think both are instances of just what the Bible said would come to pass. We are not so much concerned with recent Protestant escapades. The Methodists and the Presbyterians are among the daughters of the Harlot and are only behaving like what they are. The Protestants may have cried “sola Scriptura,” but they never meant it and do not follow only the Bible now. While there doubtless exist some congregations within the Southern Baptist Convention who reject the claim, the SBC continues to boast that they are the “largest Protestant denomination.” Let them be Protestants if they wish. It is nothing of which to boast! But their untaught or falsely-taught unregenerate membership has their flesh tickled: if they are big they must be right! Hear this! Absolutely nothing good, came out of the Protestant Reformation! The filthy Roman Harlot gave birth to her little-less-filthy and slightly more attractive daughters who teach the same damnable doctrines of baptismal regeneration and works for salvation. And most “Baptists” are running a parallel course with their equally damnable doctrine of decisional regeneration which is just another form of works for salvation. We think this departure from the truth by the majority of Baptists cannot be anything other than the prophesied apostasy of 2 Timothy 2:1-4: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” Notice these things: (1) this prophecy speaks of the return of Christ to the earth, not the rapture of His saints and her bridesmaids: (2) the Greek for “falling away” is “apostasia” from whence our word apostasy: a willful departure from the truth: (3) Paul clearly states that “the day of Christ” is not “at hand,” i.e., there is a significant intervening time before Christ will return to establish His earthly kingdom. If we understand the Scriptures aright, we are in this time of apostasy even now. Later in this same epistle Paul states, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived,” (2 Timothy 3:13). This present apostasy is not being successfully opposed! It is thriving and growing and shall continue to do so. And the pressure is constantly applied to remain in fellowship with deviants from the faith. To Be Continued…. You can view the full article online at: http://gracebbc.dyndns.org:81/HowFarAmerica-Pugh.html By Curtis Pugh Missionary to Poteau, Oklahoma