Truth Magazine

By L.A. Stauffer

Adversity destroys. Adversity builds up. One man when affliction strikes turns to the bottlle, self-pity, self-indulgence – to elements that devastate his self-respect and subverts his worth to himself, society, and God. Another person under similar circumstances looks to God, the power of his word, and sustaining faith – to principles that strengthen the inner man and supply eternal values that reach beyond the groanings of the flesh. The difference between the two is love for the Lord. “And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28).

Adversity in this respect is much like marriage. A recent survey revealed that couples in successful marriages and unsuccessful marriages fight over the same things. The difference in the two is the way they handle these problems. So it is with trials. Suffering and affliction are no respecters of persons. They come to the righteous and unrighteous, rich and poor, black and white, male and female, old and young. When God cursed the earth because of sin, the effects were universal. Every man must begin by accepting that fact. This reality, though, is more palatable to the man of faith.

Adversity itself is not good. It, at the outset, was the win of the devil – not God. Satan is the one who lied to Adam and Eve, knowing that death would result. God willed that they live forever. Death came, however, from a righteous and just God who cursed sinful man and the earth where he dwelt. This condemnation left in its wake a sordid mass of suffering and affliction.

Adversity, though, can produce good in the lives of those who face it by faith in God. James tells brethren that temptations or trials prove Christians – show their genuiness. Faith under fire works steadfastness and moves disciples to perfection and maturity and wholeness in the Lord (Jas. 1:2-4). The strength amidst the weakness of affliction that the apostle Paul found to overcome pride is available to Christians today by the sufficiency of grace (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

My fife, contrary to many others, has been plagued with very little adversity. I was reared by godly parents, my needs were adequately supplied, and our family has enjoyed reasonably good health to this day. I married a dedicated Christian and by God’s grace and her help trained four children who are all faithful members of the church. We likewise were a healthy bunch until the spring of 1978. The day was April 5, my mother’s birthday. Shirley, my wife, had just returned from the doctor and came to the living room, where tears streamed down her face and she uttered that terrifying word – CANCER. She had a lump in her breast. Tremors raced as shock waves up and down every nerve fiber in my being. In stunned silence I held her in my arms.

Prayer was an immediate response to this news. Shirley’s next and ongoing reaction was reading the epistle of Philippians. Many mornings I found the Bible open to this letter of “joy in affliction,” where she had left it sometime in the middle of a sleepless night. I myself began reading the epistle quite often. That and prayer. I remember so well the day of her mastectomy – her birthday, April 8. There we sat together in the hospital parking lot hand-in-hand praying and bracing our hearts and souls for what lay ahead. Call it “denial,” “naivete,” “misinformation,” or “faith,” but after the surgery I dismissed completely the idea of death. Neither doctor nor friend gave me any reason to think otherwise. To me it was a lump in the breast that had been removed. Later, when other lumps appeared I believed chemotherapy would destroy them and any remnants elsewhere.

“Disbelief” and “panic” are the two words that come to mind when I remember the doctor’s call to me July 8, 1981. Two days before, Shirley had changed doctors, disillusioned by the way she felt and the lack of information she was receiving. For the first time I was told her real condition -and it was shattering. The doctor informed me that the cancer had spread throughout her body, that she would be rational for only an hour or two, and that she could live, maybe, another three days. Early on the fourth day at 6:00 o’clock, July 12, she passed through the dark corridor of death.

During those three days and the months that followed, my feelings scaled the full gamut of emotions – compassion, grief, fear, anger, guilt, loneliness, relief, and, of course, why. Not once did I doubt that these feelings must be met with faith, prayer, Bible study, meditation, and friends. These avenues provide answers, comfort, power, strength, hope, fulfillment, character, even the joy that James wrote about. Yes, out of trials good can come. The lessons learned are not necessarily new, but they come with an intensity the conscience can never quite escape.

Death is Real. One answer that came so vividly is the reality of death. How many times I had parroted Hebrews 9:27 at funerals – “it is appointed unto man once to die. ” But not once until 1981 do I remember taking that thought to heart. It never seriously occurred to me – “today I might die.” That has all changed. A day seldom passes and hardly a prayer is uttered without thanksgiving for the day and for life itself. I find no relief, even to this moment, from the constant reminder that my earthly journey could end immediately. And how unimportant this is to being ready when the Lord comes: to the reordering of priorities, the setting of proper goals, the stirring of passion for the Lord. Shirley had to die. I have to die. It is reality. By faith in God I accept it and understand why.

Death is Gain. It was comforting to stand by the bedside of a Christian. After watching her body writhe and twist in its fight against the relentless torture of a disease that ate away at every nerve, I kept remembering Philippians “to die is gain” (1:21). 1 have since regaled myself many times with escape from this world of suffering, the beauties of heaven, the thrill of seeing God and the Lord who died for me, the excitement of knowing intimately heroes of faith. After wrestling one you love for three days to keep from strapping her in bed, it is a relief, indeed, to give them over to the Lord and rejoice that death’s agonizing grip has been pried loose.

Anger toward Satan. Death may be gain, but it is still torment to watch a once vibrant, witty, fun-loving person slowly and painfully reduced to a cold, lifeless mass of flesh. It can turn a calm and peaceable man into an angry, hateful specimen who hardly recognizes himself. I am not by nature vindictive. The feelings I experienced were abnormal and scary. It was unlike me to clench my fist, glare at a hospital wall, and mentally drive my knuckles time after time into its surface. And it was not, I hasten to say, any bitterness toward God. I never once felt that. It was an intense hatred for Satan, the old devil and adversary himself – the one behind all this misery. I despised him with a passion. And I felt a depth of malice toward sin that I had not known: an angry rage that to this day I often try to recapture. I need this each day and often pray for it.

Compassion for Sufferers. Another feeling I seek to duplicate is the compassion I felt for Shirley. When you have suffered little in life, it’s difficult to “feel with” others who hurt. Jesus came in the flesh and endured what man experiences to become a “merciful” high priest who can be “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (see Heb. 2:17,18; 4:14-16). Mercy, as in the example of our Lord, is the ability to remember those who are in bonds as bound with them and those who are ill-treated as being in their body (Heb. 13:2).

Compassion arises naturally when it’s one’s wife, or husband, or parents, or children who suffer. Having been joined in spirit and so intimately attached to Shirley for nearly 25 years, I found myself emotionally coming unglued: literally aching and helplessly crying for her. I have tried since to hurt like this for others who suffer. Although that is not possible, the experience has enhanced my feelings and enriched my prayers on their behalf.

Drawing near to God. Nothing is quite as devastating in the death of a mate as loneliness. Ask any widow or widower what the greatest loss is and to a person they will likely say – companionship. Absence of cooking, cleaning, washing, even sex pale in comparison to an empty chair across the room that cannot respond to heartaches, joys, jokes, need for advice or a visit. An aching emptiness and void prevail where a part of the oneness the two shared has been torn away. Times comes when one has to get out of the house, take a long walk, visit friends, go get an ice cream cone – anything to flee from the “presence of absence.” The one thing, however, that must stay day after day is companionship with God. Meditation and prayer, for me, arose spontaneously, emerged more frequently, lasted longer, were more intense, and became more personal – an ever present help for a desolate spirit that yearned for a life that could not be recalled. And, more importantly, they entered the permanent life of this brother – who marvels that he survived spiritually when they were but distant friends. May God forgive me!

Draw near to Brethren. Two significant occasions are to this day etched in my memory. The first came two weeks after Shirley died. I was scheduled for a Gospel Meeting in Kentucky and was given an opportunity to cancel. I decided to go. I spent that week in the home of dear friends with whom I talked and talked and talked. We reminisced and shared stories the entire week about Shirley. The memories were sweet, entertaining, amusing, uplifting, fulfilling – companions to a lonely soul. A few months later this was repeated over dinner with a couple who had faced the death of their companions. Again, memories flooded my mind. The two listened and counseled. Others were patient to lend an ear when I needed to talk, recount the past, and resurrect in my spirit one who could no longer stand by my side. There were priceless experiences: times that win never let me forget the spiritual family into which I have been born a family that gave me help when I suffered and may, as did I, need help when they hurt.

Forget the Past. I have since Shirley’s death often counsel led those who have lost mates not to be too quick to forget. Memory is a wonderful quality, a remarkable healing balm that must be permitted to do its work on spirits wounded by the death of a mate. But life must go one (see Phil. 3:13). The time comes when one must forget the “memory of life” and face the “reality of life.” A man’s loneliness, his loss must be only temporary. Life can shine again with the brightness it once radiated.

Time is an excellent physician and gradually applies its healing skills to the injuries of the inward man. Even before remarriage was considered I began renewing old goals, making new plans, and concentrating again on how I might be useful in the Lord’s work. I finished a college degree, dabbled in cooking, traveled, spent more time with my kids, visited friends I hadn’t seen for years – much of which were fillers until I could fully concentrate again on serious Bible study, home studies, sermon preparation, reading, and writing. I slowly left the past and its pain behind.

More than a year had past before remarriage had become a serious option. Then suddenly it happened. Charlotte Leaver, a faithful Christian at Kirkwood, where I preach, had lost her husband shortly after Shirley died. Almost immediately when we began to date I was as infatuated as a teenager. Love blossomed, we committed ourselves to one another, and were married August 20, 1983. The following note I wrote her a little more than a year ago summarizes what my life has been since we two became one flesh. The note says something every widower learns vividly and every husband should tell his wife often – a worthy woman is a gift of God, a crown to her husband, and her price is far above rubies (Prov. 12:4; 19:14; 31:10,28,29).

“I am always a little concerned that I don’t tell you often enough what you mean to me and how much I need you in my life. I do, with few exceptions, remember to thank God daily for you.

“As I grow older, life becomes much more serious to me. I feel a greater need than I ever have to preach the gospel, to preach it plainly, to preach it fervently, and especially to try harder to reach the lost. And what is really exciting about it is that you share these interests. This is an encouragement I need.

“I sometimes find it beyond belief how much you meet every need I have. You are so patient when I’m moody, so encouraging when I’m struggling, so satisfying when I have physical needs – so perfect for me in every way. I prayed when I was single that God would help me not to do anything foolish. I am so glad I prayed that prayer – because as an answer he gave me you, and that, other than deciding to obey the gospel and to preach, is the wisest decision I ever made. I love you so much, and I hope I never give you reason to doubt that.

“Thanks for being you and being everything I need as a wife, a companion, a helper, and a lover.”

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 17, pp. 517-519
September 1, 1988

By Cecil Willis

First, let me state that I did not volunteer to write this article. It was assigned to me. Furthermore, I would feel much more comfortable if it were to be an article detailing the blessings from God which I could enumerate nearly endlessly. Indeed, there have been “showers of blessings” (Ezek. 34:26) in my life. I could rehearse, with joy, how God blessed me throughout my college years, almost directly supplying my needs. He then blessed me abundantly as a young preacher, and is yet doing so. And then there were the times, here and there, when he snatched me from the fire. Indeed, he often saved me from myself! But this is not what I was asked to write.

When I opened the letter asking me to write on this subject, I was at first a little shocked to learn that I had an incurable disease, and then I was a little amused. I remember chuckling to myself, and saying, “Don’t we all have an Incurable Disease . . . Its called our Mortality.” An old preacher once wrote another old preacher and commented: “I am glad to hear that you are still in the Land of the Living. ” The second replied: “I am not in the Land of the Living; I am in the Land of the Dying. ” And so are we all. Ever since God announced, “Thou shalt surely die,” all mankind has lived in the Land of the Dying. About forty years ago I memorized a little poem that went something like this:

“Death comes with a crawl, or he comes with a pounce,

Or whether he is slow or spry;

It’s not the fact that you are dead that counts;

But only how did you die.”

The Universality Of Death

Death is the creature that stalks us all. Job expressed the universality of death in these words:

“Why died I not from the womb?

Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?

Why did the knees receive me?

Or why the breasts, that I should suck?

For now should I have lain down and been quiet;

I should have slept; then had I been at rest,

With kings and counselors of the earth,

Who built up waste places for themselves;

Or with princes that had gold,

Who filled their houses with silver

Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,

As infants that never saw fight.

There the wicked cease from troubling;

And there the weary are at rest.

There the prisoners are at ease together;

They hear not the voice of the task-master.

The small and the great are there:

And the servant is free from his master” (Job 3:11-19).

Or as Solomon expressed it: “the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). It matters not what your affliction may be; we all have one! It is called our Mortality. “For the living know that they shall die” (Eccl. 9:5). So it should be no surprise to you to hear that “I Have An Incurable Disease. ” We all are afflicted by one! The only difference is that some of us already know the name of ours.

My Incurable Disease

Mine is called “End-stage Renal Disease,” or ‘Chronic Renal Failure. ” In my case, one of my kidneys has atrophied until it now is totally non-functioning, and the other is now working at only 20 percent of normal. The kidney problem is complicated by several attacks of Acute Pancreatitis. When one has kidney failure, he cannot assimilate calcium properly, so the body begins drawing calcium from the main calcium body storages: the bones. So I have considerable pain in my bones.

However, I do not want to leave the impression that my doctors have told me that I am going to die right away from this disease, for that is not the case. My blood pollution levels (Blood Urea Nitrogen, and Creatinine) do indicate that I am very close to having to begin the use of a kidney machine to clean up my blood. That process is called “Hemodialysis.” It is a tedious process. It takes about six hours each time one dialyzes, and it usually has to be done three times a week. And in most cases, one has to go to a “Dialysis Center,” which usually is in a hospital, for his treatment. Because of complications connected with the Pancreatitis, I am not considered a candidate for a Kidney Transplant, nor do the Nephrologists I have consulted recommend to me the Peritoneal dialysis (the kind you wear while it works). So hemodialysis is the only alternative I have been given. Different individuals can tolerate different levels of blood pollution. Dialysis sometimes begins as early as 6.0 on the Creatinine Test. My level is now 5.5; normal is .7-1.5. Loss of kidney function is irreversible. Hence the disease is incurable.

So you know what my health problem is. It is not as bad as those problems very many of you brothers and sisters out there have to bear. I would be- embarrassed to bring up my little problems (which are little in comparison to many others), but I was asked to write a few words about what Christians think who have an incurable disease, or what Christians should think about an incurable disease. I am not presumptuous to think that every Christian should think about such matters as do I. I am quite sure my thinking needs further refinement. 1, therefore, can only tell you how one Christian tries to deal with his circumstances.

Dealing With Fear

Admittedly, there are some diseases that are very frightful. But I do not look upon mine in that way. In 1956, my Grandfather Willis died with cancer of the liver. He suspected he had cancer for some time before it was so diagnosed. My Grandmother asked him what he was going to do if the doctor verified his cancer scare. His reply: “I am going to come right back home, and go about my business. Cancer cannot do but one thing: kill you! And if it doesn’t, something else will.” About a month later he was dead. Some cynic has said: “You’ll never get out of this world alive.” And that is true, unless the Lord comes during your lifetime.

You know what frightens me most about my “incurable disease”? It is how much it can cost. Dialysis costs from $30,000 to $50,000 a year! Most insurance companies do their best to squirm out of their responsibilities, and mine is already squirming. Fortunately, our government has some financial help programs that will assist in some cases, but the amount varies from state to state. My Texas doctor tells me that Texas pays about 40 percent of the cost involved. Nearly any kind of chronic disease today involves cataclysmic expense. A lady here in Fairbanks fell recently, in her yard, and broke her leg. The initial hospitalization expense was $16,000. Now that is frightening to me.

When you get too zeroed in on your own pains, stop to it think about how many other things are happening to other folks about you. There are tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, pestilence, nakedness, perils, sword, death (read Rom. 8:31-39), sorrow, pain, fears, testings, problems, criticisms, disappointments, vexation, aggravation, anguish, anxiety, difficulties, trials, reversals, hardships, etc. But remember, Paul said none of these can “separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39). Listen further: “thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57). Whatever you face, remember that John said: “perfect love casteth our fear” (1 Jn. 4:18), and “this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith” (1 Jn. 5:4).

Reverence God

Fellow-suffer, whatever you do, do not raise up your face to rail at God! It was through sin that death entered the world (Gen. 3:3; Rom. 5:12). The Devil is the Father of sin and suffering (Jn. 8:44; 1 Jn. 3:8). Do not fall into the old “Why Me?” syndrome, the old “Curse-God-and-die” mold. Remember, it is not what happens to you that counts, but how you react to what happens to you. And the Christian should react differently than those outside the Christ.

I remember, years ago, standing shoulder to shoulder with a young preacher whose wife had just died suddenly with a brain hemorrhage. He was repeatedly crying out bitterly, “God killed my wife! ” He had accepted an unhealthy view of providence in which God was responsible for everything that happened to him. His logic now drove him to the above words of despair. Last night I read a little one-finer from the April, 1988, Reader’s Digest. It offered some pertinent advice: “Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian.” There is evil in the world, and some of it is going to happen to you. Do not fall into the old “God-is-punishing-me” trap either. Do you really believe that illness, accidents, and suffering always happen because it is God’s punitive will for you? Think that question over. If you answer yes, then it would be a sin to take an aspirin for a headache, or to have a tooth filled to stop its ache. It would be to act contrary to God’s will.

Suffering Tests Us

Certainly, we often enter the valley of sorrow, the waters of trouble, the furnance of affliction; perhaps even the baptism of blood. Instead of railing at God, give thanks that you have the privilege to be tested and refined by fire. “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Mal. 3:3). Peter said that “manifold trials” come upon us now “for a little while” to purify “your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire” (I Pet. 1:6,7). And James added: “Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations (trials); knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience (stedfastness). And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be made perfect and entire, lacking nothing” (Jas. 1:24). Very near the close of I Peter, the author tells us that we must “withstand stedfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world. And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen you” (1 Pet. 5:9, 10). Edwin Hubble Chapin expressed it this way:

The brightest crowns that are worn in heaven

Have been tried, and smelted, and polished, and glorified through the furnaces of tribulation.

Let me put this a little bluntly: You are not the first Christian to suffer a headache, or a debilitating, life-threatening disease, All are either now facing one, or soon will be doing so. While in a Dentist’s office last week, I picked up a little tract that contained these helpful words:

The fact that we are called upon to endure trial shows that the Lord Jesus sees in us something precious which He desires to develop. If He saw in us nothing whereby He might glorify Hisname, He would not spend time in refining us. He does not cast worthless stones into His furnace. It is valuable ore that He refines. The blacksmith puts the iron and steel into the fire that he may know what manner of metal they are. The Lord allows His chosen ones to be placed in the furnace of affliction to prove what temper they are of and whether they can be fashioned for His work.

Expressed in another way:

God desires us to see fight in all the baffling, heart-rending experiences that come to us. He wants us to learn once and for all times that there is healing in the bitter cup of suffering, cleansing in the waters of sorrow, refining in the fiery furnace of affliction. He desires us to see the necessity of a broken self-strength to find the strength of God; of a lost fortune, to find the riches of heaven; of a crumbled earthly pleasure quest, to find the joys of the Lord.

Our Strength-Source

What passages console me most when I suffer? One of the first that comes to mind is the one that calls the sufferings of this life (Paul’s included) a “light affliction ” (2 Cor. 4:17). Let me advise you: Read a little of the sufferings of our ancestors (ancestors – both in the flesh and in the spirit). Untold millions bore child-birth, sickness, pain, and horrible deaths without any of the modem medical facilities, and pain-killing drugs available today. Those folks knew what real suffering was!

Recently I finished re-reading Eusebius’ Church History (written in 324 A.D.), and am now reading Josephus’Jewish History. Try those books if you want to know what real suffering was. Read about those tender little teenage girls who endured the cruelest torture for days, rather than recant their faith, and then tell me about your “suffering.” Yes, it is true. There is pain, and there is suffering, and there is real grief. There is “the bread of adversity” (Isa. 30:20); there is “the water of affliction” (Deut. 16:3). But Paul says all these can be called “our light qffliction, ” and he tells us that these work for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of gloiy” (2 Cor. 4:17).

And as we bear such “afflictions,” let us be careful not overly to complain. One writer gave this bit of instruction that is timely: “We are heavenbound, and should show the attractive part of our faith. We should not go as a crippled band of mourners, groaning and complaining, all along the journey to our Father’s house.”

But my very favorite passage on suffering: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to usward”(Rom. 8:18). And that lovely Shepherd Psalm expressed it in these words: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I willfear no evil;for thou art with me, Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. . . . And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psa. 23:4,6).

There is an old song that expresses my feelings very well. It said:

Every cloud has a silver lining,

Though veiled by shadows gray;

There the sun will again be shining;

And clouds will roll away . . . soon roll away.

Conclusion

Maybe you are asking: How is it going to be with you when that hour comes? I am not so bold as to try to predict how I will do in that hour. But I can tell you what comes to mind now, as I contemplate that Final Hour. The Song, “When I Cross the Bar” comes to mind just now:

Sunset and Evening Star.

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the Bar

When I put out to Sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home, turns home.

Twilight and evening be

And after that the dark

And may there be no sadness of farewell

When I embark.

For though from out our borne of Time and Place,

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Father face to face

When I have crossed the Bar.

(Alfred Tennyson)

Just one closing thought:

“The mountains may depart

And the hills be removed;

But my loving-kindness shall not depart from thee

Neither shall My covenant of peace be removed,

Saith Jehovah that hath mercy on thee” (Isa. 54:10).

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 17, pp. 522-524
September 1, 1988

By A Sad Parent

(Editor’s Note: This article is written anonymously because of the author’s abiding hope that he can win back his child and the fear that public reference might create unnecessary alienation.)

All losses cause sadness. The greater the value is of that which is lost, the greater is the grief that is felt.

This series of articles is primarily dealing with losses that are irretrievable. Grief is felt over the loss, and the sense of loss continues indefinitely, although there is, of course, consolation. But I write concerning a child presently lost in false doctrine, but whom I hope to see retrieved from error. (It is for this reason that I write anonymously; the reader can appreciate this judgment.)

Anyone lost in false doctrine is an object of my concern, my love, my efforts. My children are not of more worth than those of anyone else. I am trying in my days to preach and teach the gospel and set an example worthy of imitation, in order that many souls may by such instrumentality be rescued from error.

However, the keenness of loss is felt more sharply when one’s own child is the object of Satan’s deception. (I repeat, my child is no more important than anyone else’s.) What have my wife and I done about it all? How have we felt? What changes have been wrought in our lives. To whom and to what have we turned for help? What hope do we entertain?

In my particular case, many hours have been spent studying in person with the child. No opportunity to study with the person has been slighted. More opportunities are being sought. Articles judged to be helpful are mailed to the child. The sowing of the seed of Truth will hopefully germinate and bring the desired fruit. As parents we pray that God will give the child life and time to reconsider the matter, and return to the Truth.

We have felt great sadness, because a loved one has been enamored of human wisdom, being deceived by the wiles of the devil. Doubtlessly the person is sincere in the belief which is being embraced, but nevertheless has been deceived. It is not embarrassment that we feel; it is pure sadness over loss. It is the feeling that t9at father of Luke 15 felt when he lost a son (15:24). Heaven also feels the loss.

There has been much more prayer in our home since the loss of our child to false doctrine! Nothing causes us to pray more to our heavenly Father than the loss of something dear. It is a “time of need,” and we need “grace to help us” (Heb. 4:16). And we will continue to implore our Father to help us retrieve our child from false doctrine.

We have asked others to help us. At times parents are like prophets in their own country, in reference to their children. There are children who will listen more readily to others than to their parents. Don’t ever hesitate to enlist the help of your brothers in Christ in the matter of saving children from error.

We must never give up. A key word in the parable of Jesus (Lk. 15:3-10) is “until.” The shepherd searched until he found his lost sheep. The woman swept the house until she found her lost coin. Don’t give up; persevere in seeking the rescue of the lost.

Love for the lost causes us to be greatly concerned for them. This is the point made by Jesus in Luke 15, when he was criticized for working among the lost. Lost sinners are lost creatures of God, made in his image, and precious to him. What is more natural, then, than to be concerned for, and actively engaged in rescuing, the lost? Divine concern for lost man! As sons of God, we too must ever be concerned for the lost and without ceasing make every effort to see them rescued. He that winneth souls is wise (Prov. 11:30).

Ali losses cause sadness, but not all losses are terminal. A child lost to “worldliness” (drugs, alcohol, illicit marriage, indifference, etc.), or to “false doctrine” represents a sad case, but not necessarily a hopeless one. The sadness changes to joy when that which was lost is found (Luke 15:7,10,32)1 In our sadness let us pray much and work hard, if perchance God will grant life to the one lost, so that upon his return great joy can displace the sadness, joy upon earth and in heaven! We work and wait; God’s Word gives us hope.

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 17, p. 536
September 1, 1988

By Aude McKee

I. Last week we gave attention to the factors and people who were responsible (at least in part) for the reformation:

A. Corruption within the Roman Catholic Church.

1. Wicked popes.

2. Internal strife.

3. The Inquisition Courts.

B. External factors.

1. The Renaissance.

2. Bible translations.

3. Invention of the printing press.

C. People.

1. Albigenses.

2. Waldenses.

3. John Wycliff – “Morning Star of the Reformation.”

4. John Huss.

II. In this lesson, we notice the formation of the first Protestant denomination and some general things about the reformation.

A. It needs to be pointed out that the men involved in the Reformation did not intend to begin new churches.

B. The aim of these men was to reform the Roman Catholic Church.

1. Heb. 6:1-6 is speaking of individual apostasy; however, the principle might be applied to the situation under discussion. The writer said, “It is impossible to renew them again to repentance.”

2. The Roman Catholic Church had gone too far to be reformed.

3. Viewed from this standpoint, the reformation was a failure. But good, as well as evil and error, came out of it as we shall see.

Discussion:

I. Luther’s Experiences (1483-1546).

A. Son of a poor miner but was given a good education.

1. In higher education began a study of law.

2. In 1505 the death of a close friend caused Luther to enter the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt.

3. In 1507 he was ordained a priest and assigned to Whittenburg, Germany.

B. Luther then began a serious investigation of the Bible – his troubles began.

1. In 1512 he was awarded a Doctor of Theology degree and began lecturing at the University.

2. About this time he was sent to Rome on a special mission and the corruption he saw helped crystalize his convictions.

II. Luther’s Break With The Roman Catholic Church.

A. John Tetzel came into Germany selling indulgences.

1. Luther preached against such and on October 31, 1517, nailed his 95 thesis to the church door of the All-Saints church in Whittenburg.

2. Luther did this, not to fight against the Catholic Church, but to preserve the honor of the Church.

3. Copies of the propositions spread all over Germany and Luther’s name became a household word.

B. Out of this, John Eck branded Luther as a heretic.

1. This led to a 23 day debate between Luther and Eck. Eck’s purpose was to draw out Luther enough on his doctrines so that the Pope could be persuaded to excommunicate him. Eck was successful.

2. The Papal bull of condemnation was then issued against Luther. When it was delivered to Luther, he made a public display of burning it on the streets of Whittenburg. He was then excommunicated.

C. In April 1521, Luther was summoned to appear before the Diet of Worms.

1. Before this tribunal he was offered the opportunity to recant. His reply was: “Unless I shall be convinced by the testimonies of the Scriptures or by clear reason, . . . I neither can nor will make any retraction, since it is neither safe nor honorable to act against conscience; I can naught else! Here I stand! God help me!”

2. On May 25, he was declared an outlaw.

3. As he returned to Whittenburg, his friends “kidnaped” him and for about a year he remained in Wartburg Castle.

4. During this time he translated the New Testament into the German language.

III. Formation of the Lutheran Church.

A. As an outgrowth of all these events, groups of people began to meet together who were in sympathy with Luther’s teaching.

1. The movement was given added direction by Luther with his publication of two catechisms in 1529.

2. In 1530 Philip Melanchthon published the Augsburg Confession which helped form the doctrinal foundation of the Lutheran Church.

3. Lutherans hold to the so-called Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds.

B. Interesting facts about the Lutheran Church.

1. Doctrines.

a. Two Sacraments – baptism and the Lord’s Supper (“sacrament” unscriptural).

b. Baptism is “by washing, pouring, immersion and sprinkling” (Col. 2:12; Rom. 6:4).

c. Infants born totally depraved; therefore must be “baptized” (Ezek. 18:20; Matt. 18:3; 19:14).

d. The body and blood of Christ are “in, with and under the bread and wine of the Supper” (this is close to the transubstantiation doctrine of the Catholic Church).

e. Direct operation of the Holy Spirit on the heart of the sinner; faith is “wholly and solely the gift and work of God”; salvation is by faith alone (Mk. 16:15-16; Rom. 1:16; 10:17; Jas. 2:24).

2. Organization.

a. Locally – congregationally governed by a “church council” consisting of the “pastor” and elected “lay officers.”

b. Synod is the next higher body, composed of “Pastors” and “lay representatives” elected by the congregations.

c. Highest level of Lutheran government is the general body. It may be national or even international and meets annually, biennially, or triennially.

d. See Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:1-3; Heb. 13:17; Eph. 4:11; Phil. 1:1.

3. Division.

a. At one time there were no fewer than 150 different Lutheran bodies in this country.

b. Today that number has been reduced to less than 20.

IV. Fundamental Principles On Which The Reformation Movement Was Based.

A. The Bible was accepted as the only rule of faith and practice.

1. This was in opposition to the Catholic position that tradition is equal in authority with the written Word.

2. This position, if it had been completely believed and respected, would have resulted in the restoration of the Lord’s church instead of the establishment of Protestant denominations.

3. But this truth was modified (its power destroyed) by the following:

B. “What is not contrary to Scripture is for Scripture and Scripture for it.”

1. These are Luther’s words and the idea remains an important one in all Protestant denominations.

2. Simply stated, it says that anything may be accepted in religion which does not expressly contradict the Scriptures!

3. When Luther left the Catholic Church, he carried many false teachings with him such as instrumental music and sprinkling.

4. He, and other reformers, justified their unscriptural practices by this appeal to the silence of the Scriptures.

5. How many volumes would it have taken for the Lord to have included every specific prohibition? How many catalogues would Sears have to publish to list all the prices they are not asking for the items they sell’? How many woods did God tell Noah not to use? Can we put steak and coke on the Lord’s table? When you send your child to the grocery, do you put on your list all the things he is not to purchase or the items you want?

C. The doctrine of justification by faith only.

1. This extreme was produced by the Catholic doctrine of salvation by faith and works of human merit.

2. God’s order, from Adam down to the close of the last New Testament book, is this: Man believes (through the evidence God provides); God commands; Man obeys; God blesses.

D. The principle of the priesthood of all believers.

1. This was in contrast to the special priesthood of the Roman Catholic system.

2. When carried to its logical end, this would destroy:

a. Infallibility of the Pope.

b. The special powers of the Cardinals and all other Catholic officials.

c. Auricular Confession.

d. “Ordained officials” baptizing, serving the Lord’s Supper, etc.

3. See Peter 2:5,9.

E. The removal of obstructions placed between the believer and Christ.

1. This does away with intercession of saints, praying to Mary, veneration of relics and images, etc.

2. 1 Timothy 2:5; John 14:6.

Conclusion:

1 . People reared in the 20th century have problems just as those people did who lived back in the 16th century.

2. With all the religious confusion about me, what should I believe? Whose doctrine should I follow? What church should I join?

3. The answer is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

a. Believe nothing but God’s word – it alone is inspired!

b. Follow no teaching but Christ’s – he has all authority (Matt. 28:18)!

c. Join no church! The church is God’s house or God’s family (1 Tim. 3:15).

d. Obey the gospel of Christ – the Lord will save and add to his church (Rom. 6:17-18; Acts 2:36-47; Heb. 5:8-9; 1 Pet. 4:17).

4. Remember that the decision you make will face your at the judgment!

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 16, pp. 488-489
August 18, 1988