This is really the introduction. But the funny thing about introductions is that very few people read them. I know that because I used to not read them, thinking that nothing of value could be found in them. But one day I decided that since I paid for the introduction too when I bought the book that I might as well read it also. To my surprise, it contained some good information. Since then I read all introductions, the forewords, comments, copyright information, and everything else I can find. Now I grant that some introductions are worth nothing. But I still read them and often I find something more valuable than in all the rest of the book. I made my introduction a chapter so that you would read it. It could be the best part of this book. But that is enough about introductions.

There is a purpose in the writing of this book. On my birthday this year I will have lived forty two years. Now that might not seem like such a long time and indeed it is not. But in that forty years I faced lots of problems. Thanks to my parents and other good Christians who helped me to this point in life, so far I have survived. It is my intention to help others make that same trip a little easier by sharing some of the realizations I have had during my years.

I am what would be called a conservative Christian. I do not support the unity movement in its present form, I do not support open fellowship, and I never endorse those who compromise Scripture. In fact, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool, thus-saith-the Lord kind of a fellah. But one of the realizations I recently made with the help of a friend was that I am not really a conservative Christian at all. I had called this particular friend and expressed my concern about the liberal movement in the Lord’s church all over the world and how it was that I hoped I would never be caught up in its backwash. He told me he no longer considered himself a conservative Christian. He scarred me to death! I thought I had lost him to the very plague of which I was speaking.

As we continued to talk, he pointed out to me something that I, and many others, had missed. He told me that the Bible does not allow for conservative and liberal Christians. There is no such division. Either you are a Christian or you are not. The only division found in the Scriptures is between Christians and false teachers. He pointed out that he was just a Christian and that those we call “liberal” are really nothing more than false teachers! He drove home the point that when we call them “liberals” we give them some measure of credence and standing when we should not. We give them esteem, whether or not intentional, and cause them to be listened to and sometimes followed. He further pointed out that we should follow the instructions of Paul in Romans 16:17 and mark these false teachers, exposing them NOT as “liberals” but as the enemies of Christ.

Now it should be said just here that these “liberals” do not consider themselves the enemies of Jesus. They are doing and teaching what they believe God wants. But one’s attitude towards himself has never been the measure of whether he is God’s friend or enemy. The measure is the Bible and the EXPRESSED will of God, not the IMPLIED will that so many of these people feel they know.

You will see my “conservative” nature as it permeates this work. That is where much of the problem I have with some of my brethren comes from and thus we return to the title of this book, How to Lose Friends and Influence Virtually No One. It is not, and never has been, popular to stand for the truth and resist error. This book is not designed to make you popular with the world, those in denominationalism, false teachers in the Church, or complacent, non-involved Christians. It is designed to make you popular with God, to give you a proper respect for God’s authority, and an appreciation of your relationship to that authority.

Finally, I would like to mention just here respect. As you can probably already see, I believe one should respect wholly, completely, and with a finality, the Word of God. Our spiritual guidance must come from that Word and ONLY from that Word. This book is useful only to the extent that it does not deviate from the teachings of the Bible. In a world of darkness and disbelief the Word of God stands as a light and the only absolute truth.

Understanding this, and seeing the need for guidance in this life from One greater than ourselves, we need to turn to the only Source from which such guidance is available. But in the Church I see a great tendency on the part of many to turn to the “doctors of the law” rather than to the law itself. Now I must admit that I hold an earned doctorate degree. My doctorate work consisted of two debates, one on Realized Eschatology and another discussing communion and Bible classes, and a dissertation on the evolution creation controversy. But I obtained this degree as a tool, not as a license to teach just anything I please. But many of my fellow “doctors” seem to believe they are now interpreters of the law of God, not just teachers of that law. The sad thing is that our brotherhood is buying their claims hook, line, and sinker.

Sometimes this volume will attempt to get its point across with humor. At other times it will be deadly serious, but whether humorous or serious, the points being made will be important and the principles expressed crucial since these things deal with our eternal destiny. Study the issues and then make your decisions based on the will of God and on His will only.

You will find also a great deal of repetition and overlapping of issues in this book. I frankly do not know how to do differently. In Christianity everything is so interrelated that when one talks about faith the subjects of grace, obedience, sacrifice, etc., become necessary parts of that discussion. God has so woven His system that it is one subject made up of thousands of inseparable parts. Others could probably do better. But I have done all my small measure of potential will allow.

With this basis laid for our study, I commend unto you this work in the hope that you will gain from my humble efforts some small measure of strength to continue in your walk with God.

Dr. Robert W. White