Roby Ellis

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:20) 

Shortly before Judah’s captivity began, we read of an instance when King Zedekiah went secretly to visit Jeremiah the prophet in prison to ask him an important question: “Is there any word from the LORD” (Jer. 37:17). This is a crucial question that millions of people around the world are still asking today, and we as Christians want to let them know––as Jeremiah did––that indeed there is word from the LORD! It is for this reason that our elders have budgeted nearly $150,000 to be used for evangelism in the year 2007.

A great part of our evangelistic effort is in the Biblical Viewpoints television program, which can be viewed on WKPT at 8:00 every Sunday morning. Clayton Winters and Eddy Craft have been the regular speakers on this program nearly since its inception around 1980, and the extent of their labors in this work are known only to a few and cannot be overstated. Over the past 27 years, some 1,400 lessons have been presented from God’s Word. In every one of these lessons, viewers are encouraged to open their Bibles in order to find the Truth that can set them free (John 8:32). The name of the program itself was carefully selected to emphasize the fact that the only viewpoint that matters is not the viewpoint of any religious authority other than the Bible itself. It has always been the intent of this program to turn people “to the law and to the testimony!”

Since its beginning, Biblical Viewpoints has featured a number of area preachers and has addressed many crucial issues like divorce and abortion. In the year 2005, the program was being aired from Kingsport, TN; Hazard, KY; and Jackson, MS. In 2006, the program also began airing in Oneida, TN, as well as on the Gospel Broadcasting Network (GBN), a 24-hour network which can be viewed worldwide via satellite and on the web at www.gbntv.org. The program can be seen on GBN at five different times during the week. Also, two Biblical Viewpoints lectureships are now held annually––one here in Elizabethton (since 1981) and the other at the Hurts Creek congregation in Hyden, KY (since 1989). There is no way of ascertaining––at least in this life––how much good has been done and how many lives have been touched by this great evangelistic effort. 

One of the many things that sets this program apart from most religious broadcasts that people are seeing today is that money is never solicited from the viewing audience. Since the inception of this program, all of the funding has been provided exclusively by free-will offerings of members of the Lord’s church. With each half-hour time slot costing more than $600, it would never be possible to put this program on the air without the generosity of God’s people to support it. Thanks to all who have supported this program so faithfully for so many years. To God be the glory! 

See you at 8:00 on Sunday morning! (And don’t forget TV Sunday School at 8:30!)