Truth Magazine

By William V. Beasley

Four heros of faith (Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob) were in the mind of the Hebrew writer when he wrote: “And if indeed they had been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return” (Heb. 11:15). Since Abraham was the first to receive the promises (Gen. 12: 1ff) and since we know more about his life, we will write far more of him than of the others. Much that we write would also apply, in principle, to the others. We will attempt to make some spiritual applications of Hebrews 11:15 to ones living today.

Abraham was first called when he was in Mesopotamia (Acts 7:2-5), and the call and promises were repeated in Haran (Gen. 12:15). Why did Abraham in his distress (and there were distressful situations, as we shall see) not become discouraged, throw up his hands it! despair and say, “I’m going home”? He was not “mindful” (he did not let his mind be full of the remembrances) of Mesopotamia and/or Haran. Fullness of mind controls one’s actions (Prov. 23:7; Matt. 12:34b). If Abraham had been mindful he would have had opportunity to return when: (1) God refused to accept Ishmael (Gen. 17:15-18); (2) He thought it necessary to lie to King Abimelech (Gen. 20:1-3,11-13); (3) He had to send Hagar and Ishmael away (Gen. 21:8-11); (4) He was commanded to offer Isaac as a burnt offering (Gen. 22:1ff); (5) He felt, although the land was to be his descendants, he must purchase land to bury Sarah (Gen. 23). Any or all of these, would have given the opportunity to return if. . . Why wasn’t Abraham mindful the land from whence he had come? Abraham understood that he was a stranger and a pilgrim (Heb. 11:13; Gen. 23:4; 47:9) in search of a better country (Heb. 11:14,16). He also understood his relationship with God (Heb. 11:16; Exod. 3:6,15-16; Matt. 22:32).

There are many areas of life where not being mindful of the place from whence one has come goes a long way toward being successful:

Marriage: The young husband who is mindful of all the things he used to do with his money is likely to resent present responsibilities . . . and to have opportunity to return. A young bride who calls too often to remembrance how easy it seemed to be for Mom and Dad to buy that new dress, shoes, etc. is opening the door of opportunity to return.

College: Students who are mindful of their free-time, dating, TV, etc. before college may be on their way out of college and back to home. Of course, they will learn that working for a living also interferes with one’s free-time.

Conversion to Christ: When one obeys the gospel of Christ, he will be mindful of whence he has come, have: (1) Opportunity to return to the world. “Oh, just to sleep till noon again on Sunday.” Basic human desires do not change when one is born anew. The sex appeal in commercials (toothpaste, tobacco, tanning lotion, etc.) will still be appealing. In fact, the Devil may work even harder now . . . working to get that one back. (2) Opportunity to return to denominationalism. Most of the people who are converted from denominationalism have fond, pleasant memories of their association with the _______________________ church. They need to take their mind’s eye off their former association and look to Christ. If mindful, there will be opportunity to return. Back in the early ’60s a young man, a Methodist ministerial student, learned the truth of the gospel, and after weeks of Bible study (looking for a loophole) and soul-searching obeyed the gospel. One week to the day after his burial in water (Rom. 6:3-4) his lifeless body was. buried in the sandy soil of south Florida. Some weeks later his father and step-mother were immersed by C.L. Overturn (I believe) and, for some time, they attended services at the Nebraska Avenue church of Christ (Tampa, Florida). They were mindful. . . They resented Bible doctrine (no authority for instrumental music [Eph. 5:19], “one body” [Eph. 4:4; 1:22-231, etc.), the lower social class (“Sister _______ chews gum during services”), and it irritated them when others asked about their absences. They drifted to the Christian Church for a short time and then back to the Methodist Church; they were mindful. (3) Opportunities to return to the social gospel. It is all to common in large cities to receive calls at the meeting house from members of the Lord’s church asking about special programs for young people, teens, elderly, etc. If they were ever truly converted to Christ, it is now evident that they have returned to placing the social above the spiritual (see Jn. 6:1-14, 26f).

How can we keep from being mindful of the country (world, denominationalism, social gospel, etc.) from whence we have come? We need to learn, as did Abraham, that we are pilgrims and strangers (1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11) and accept this concept emotionally as well as intellectually. One lady had the right idea (from a misunderstanding of the Scriptures). The expression, “it came to pass” is found over 300 times in the Bible, and simply means, “It happened” or “It occurred.” She understood (actually, misunderstood) it to mean, “It came that it might one day pass.” We, too, need to seeking for a better country/city (Phil. 3:13-14; 1 Pet. 1:4). We also need to understand and appreciate fully our relationship with the Heavenly Father and Jesus, the Savior (Heb. 8:8-12; Jer. 31:31f).

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 14, p. 430
July 16, 1992

By P.J. Casebolt

What the Hebrew writer says makes no sense whatever, if we are afraid of death, have no certain knowledge of death and what lies beyond, and fear the unknown.

Yet, there are those among us who not only claim that men are afraid of dying and fear the unknown because of their uncertain knowledge, but that since Jesus was human he must also have embraced these qualities.

In the first place, I emphatically deny that all men are afraid of dying, or that they fear the unknown because they lack certain knowledge. Some may, but some don’t.

And I even more emphatically deny that the life of Jesus was characterized by doubt, uncertainty, lack of certain knowledge, or fear of dying. Jesus “feared” in the same sense that we should “serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28). It is this kind of fear that caused Jesus to be heard in his hour of trial (Heb. 5:7).

A time or two in my life, I have faced not only the possibility of death, but accepted the fact that such a possibility could turn into a certainty, but I did not face those hours with any uncertainty or doubt as to what lay beyond. We may not prefer to die, may not enjoy the prospect of it, and a certain amount of emotion may accompany that prospect, but that has nothing whatever to do with the other things mentioned.

I have stood beside others who faced the certainty of death, but there was no fear of dying in their hearts, or uncertainty because of the unknown. On the contrary, the fact that the scriptures are clear and complete in the knowledge of death and what lies beyond, gives us the faith and hope that is necessary to face death unafraid. And a part of that knowledge is the example that Jesus left for us to follow.

Jesus had certain knowledge of who he was, from whence he came, and where he was going (Jn. 16:28). This did not keep Jesus from subjecting himself to those temptations, pain, and sorrow which accompany a fleshly form.

But some seem to have a problem with understanding how Jesus could be divine and human at the same time. With men, human wisdom and reasoning, and a lack of faith this would be impossible to understand. But walking by faith, and “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:13), we have no problem whatever with either the divine or human characteristics of Christ.

We may not understand just how one is “born of water and of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:5), but we accept it. We may not understand just how the “operation of God” (Col. 2:12) raised Jesus or how it raises us from baptism into a new life, but we believe it. We may not understand how Christ could still be the Son of God even while he was “manifest in the flesh,” or how he could say “the Son of man which is in heaven” (Jn. 3:13) even while he was in the flesh, but if he said it, we believe it. It’s that simple.

But if we insist on comparing spiritual things with carnal, using human standards of measurement or percentages to limit the power and nature of God, we may have trouble accepting some of these truths which others hold to be self-evident.

David said, “I will fear no evil: for thou art with me” (Psa. 23:4). Paul was not afraid of dying, expressed confidence in the thought of such (2 Tim. 4:6-8), and even preferred that option over the prospect of abiding in the flesh (Phil. 2:23,24). And it is this confidence instilled in us by our knowledge of God and our relationship to him that causes us not only to say, but to boldly say, “The Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb. 13:5,6). And the fear of what man shall do includes the fear of death (Matt. 10:28).

“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 Jn. 4:17,18).

To those who are tormented by the fear of death, uncertainty, and the unknown, I say: learn of God’s love manifested through the gift of his Son in the flesh, and claim the boldness which lies in a faith in God and a hope which lies in the resurrection.

Only then can we give confidence to the dying, and say to the living concerning the dead, “. . . that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13).

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 15, pp. 451-452
August 6, 1992

By Brooks Cochran

The above is the title of a booklet I found in the waiting room of a local hospital. It had been placed there by a member of the Baptist Church. The author of the booklet gives what he considers to be seven lies which the Devil tells people as to what they must do to be saved. After each listing of the lies, the author gives Scriptures from the Bible which, he feels, answer the lie. Of the seven there were two which caught my attention. For it seemed to me that in his mishandling of the Scriptures, rather than exposing, he helped the Devil to continue deception.

Consider, for example, lie number two: “Your good works and self-righteous life will save you.” I agree with him on this point. It is with his answer or lack of answer that I disagree. The writer quotes part of Titus 3:5 and omits the important part of the verse. Namely, how God saves an individual. “Not be works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. ” (The underlined text was omitted by the Baptist preacher.) He is, by such action, doing what the Devil wants done, i.e. keeping the truth from a person so he will remain in a lost state. The author, no doubt, feels that baptism is non-essential to salvation and thus feels no need to discuss the subject. However, such a position is another of the Devil’s lies. The Devil, through this Baptist preacher, would have a person believe that baptism is non-essential; but the Word of God states the truth. Baptism is essential to one’s being saved (Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16 1 Pet. 3:21).

Another of the Devil’s lies discussed is that “your church membership will save you.” I agree that just having your name on the church roll does not automatically mean that the individual is right with God. The author, like most Baptists, denies the importance of the church. However, one cannot separate the saved from the church. The moment one is saved he is added, by the Lord, to the church. The church is the saved (Acts 2:41,47; Eph. 5:23; 1:22,23; 4:4)! Only those in the church will be saved. Those outside will be lost. Too, in speaking of the “church” we are referring to the church that belongs to Christ and not some denominational church such as the Baptist church.

It is sad that such men write lies and falsehoods. But we shouldn’t be surprised for the Devil has ministers that “fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Cor. 11:15).

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 15, p. 452
August 6, 1992

By Steve Wolfgang

Footnote: Richard John Neuhaus, ed. Theological Education and Moral Formation (Grand Rapids, ME William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992), pp. 226-227.

Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the conservative journal First Things, also edits the Encounter Series of volumes published by Eerdmans, of which this is volume 15. Readers of this journal might also be interested in other volumes in the series, particularly volume 2 (Unsecular America) and volume 5 (The Bible, Politics, and Democracy).

Typically, each volume reports a conference in which four to six featured speakers delivered prepared addresses, following which those speakers and perhaps a dozen others join in a panel discussion of the issues raised in the prepared speeches.

This particular volume reports a conference at Duke University and offers some rare insight into the state of the denominational mentality in America, and I offer excerpts from three different sections of the round-table discussion for your amazement.

Professor William Willimon, speaking of the crisis of authority in the United Methodist church today:

“Right now the clergy suffer from a crippling inability to discipline one another, even in some of the grossest breaches of moral conduct. I’m thinking particularly of the United Methodist examples, but I could think of others. In my own annual conference there are cases of wife abuse, income tax evasion, and worse. This happens yearly. The United Methodist system is predicated on the assumption that clergy will discipline their own, and the laity wait for us to do that. For example, there was a district superintendent, a Duke graduate, who didn’t pay income tax for twelve years. He was indicted and convicted. When this came before the annual conference, people took the floor and talked about the one who was without sin throwing the first stone. I asked, ‘Does anybody have a rock?’ When I left the meeting, my dominant impression was this: Here’s your typical United Methodist ethical mush at work. Later I came to a much more devastating conclusion: We don’t even respect ourselves enough to say to this guy, ‘We don’t want you to be a part of us.’ We United Methodist ministers should think so much of our God-given vocation that there will be some colleagues to whom we must say, ‘You can be a wonderful Christian. But you can’t be a United Methodist pastor anymore. You forfeited that possibility. We can’t use you.’ It’s sad that six hundred people sat in that room at the annual conference and none of us said, ‘We treasure so much the yoke under which we serve that we cannot use you.

Willimon continued his point by noting that demoralized clergy lead to paralyzed churches: “As a United Methodist, I’m part of a denomination that over the last decade has lost six hundred members a week. All of the main-liners, or old-liners, are in the same situation. How much more dissatisfaction do we need? This summer I went to the jurisdictional conference. A bishop got up and said, ‘The good news is that our rate of decline is one of the lowest in the United Methodist Church today. The good news is that we have lost only 120 members a week since we last met.’ Despite this ‘good news,’ he expressed regret and said we needed to work on evangelism. Then, when we had finished with that, we proceeded to elect a group of people as bishops, not one of whom, in my humble estimation, knows what to do about the losses.”

Guardian of Truth XXXVI: 14, p. 427
July 16, 1992