Letters    

ON AGGRAVATED ILLNESS

Dear R. W.                                                                                                  November 2, 1993

       ...There are many reasons why troubles in the form of illnesses come into our lives. The most common reason, and the first that people think of, is for sin; but there are many other reasons.

     Sometimes God sends us troubles and trials in order to remind us that we are dependent upon Him. When we are in health, we have the natural tendency to forget Him. The Psalmist wrote, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy Word" (Psalm 119:67). After confessing, "Thou art good, and doest good" (verse 68), he concludes by saying, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes" (72).

      At other times, God sends affliction in our lives not for ourselves, but for the good of others. It may be sent us that others may see how we as Christians patiently bear with suffering.

     And, again, it is very often for the purpose of bringing others to the Lord Jesus Christ.

     God is good, and we would place ourselves in His care because we know He is a faithful Creator. "May God Smile On You" —Bach.

ON THE TERMINALLY ILL

Dear E. P.                                                                                                     January 21, 1990

       ...People ought to have the right to die; of course, without offering assistance in their death.

     If treatment is most likely to be efficacious, certainly it would be unethical and immoral to refuse treatment, but in a case where in all probability there is but scant hope of any efficacy from treatment, the person should be denied treatment rather than to wait until such time that it becomes a moral dilemma for the family to "pull the plug."

     Certainly, we do not want such cases clouded by the "quality of life" argument. They are not related; and we do not want physicians to decide who should live. But, place should be given for natural processes to take their course.

    Granted these are horrific decisions, and such decisions as I would not want to have to make; nevertheless, from a layman's point of view, it seems that all too often the continued use of non-efficacious treatment is designed simply to enrich unscrupulous men.

    May the Lord give us discernment to make clear judgments as we labor for Him.

TO A RETIREE

Dear E. D.                                                                                                          June 15, 1990

    It has been a great privilege to work with you in the cause of God and truth. You are a gracious man. I could wish no better man to have worked with.

    Now come the days of retirement with continued but different service. You are now more free to pray for the Church of the First Born, and which He has purchased with His own blood.

     Now you are freer than aforetime to further develop the inward man. I have no fear that you will be like Charles Lamb, who, less than a year after his retirement from the Government Accounting Office, wrote in his Diary, "I have been a sanguinary murderer of Time." Now, you are freer to worship unencumbered the Lamb "slain before the foundation of the world." Who can properly extol His virtues who for our sins laid down His life!

    "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing" (Revelation 5:12).

    Our love and prayers are with you. As they used to say in Prussia, "Go with God."

ON ORDINATION

Dear J. A.                                                                                                           April 14, 1994

     ...Last month, one of my students was installed in a Baptist church in a town about 50 miles away. And, last Sunday, I was in Greenville, South Carolina for the ordination and installation of a pastor there.

      During the examination, I asked two questions: first, "Apart from your ability to deliver an intelligent message from the Scriptures, what evidence do you have that you are called to preach?" and second, "Would you allow a person to remain a member of the church who was known to be living in sin?" and, "If you became aware that a church member was living in sin, what course of action would you take?" I was asked to pray the prayer of ordination/installation, so I prayed the Lord would make him a true prophet—not in the Old Testament sense, but a man to stand against the sins of the day. It was a great day. Must go.

OF PASTORS AND THEIR CHILDREN

Dear T. L.                                                                                                  September 25, 1985

      ...A pastor may have unregenerate children. However, they are to be well disciplined, and not unruly. "For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God" (I Timothy 3:4,5)? This same rule is applied in verse 12 to deacons. ...

OF OBEDIENCE AND BOLDNESS

Dear T. L.                                                                                                 September 25, 1985

      ...God does withhold assurance from His people if they are not walking in obedience. While "The righteous are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1), it is possible for the people of God to fear man, and "the fear of man bringeth a snare" (Proverbs 29:25). Therefore, they are admonished to be "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" (Ephesians 6:10), and to "come boldly unto the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16).

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