This Issue...

• Restoration Preaching — James Boyd p.81
• The Church of Christ Is Not... #3 — Garland Robinson p.1
• Why Do We Not Have Genuine Miracles Today? — Roger Campbell p.85
• Is It Always Wrongs To Judge? — Jason Hilbrun p.86
• Questions To Ask Ourselves — Jerry Joseph p.88

The church faces, with increasingly heavy efforts, the tide of liberalism and permissiveness, the desire to turn the church into a denomination like others; compromise of the basic and fundamental truths in order to “go along to get along.”

        The church began on the first Pentecost after the ascension of Christ (Acts 2). It was prophesied there would be a falling away (1 Tim. 4:1-3). History reveals that such actually occurred. The church became so changed that it was unrecognizable by New Testament standards. There were changes in government, doctrine, worship, terms of entrance, nearly all of the identifying characteristics of the church. It evolved eventually to the time of the first pope (606 A.D.), and the period of Romanist domination of the Western world.
        During what Rome calls the “Golden Age of the Church,” the period when the papacy had such power, dissent toward Rome would arise from time to time, but would be persecuted out of existence. In the late 1400s and early 1500s, came what is called the “Reformation Movement.” It was led by such men as John Wycliffe, Tyndall, Luther, Knox, Calvin, and others. They were not the first to attempt to break the Roman yoke, but they were more successful because there was also economic, political, and military rebellions against Rome operating at this time in history.
        The attempts of the Reformation Movement only splintered people religiously. There was not a return to the Biblical concept and pattern of the church. What was produced is what we now identify as “Protestantism” —all the multitudes of denominations. Instead of an allegiance to the pope, people began following other men and human doctrines.

        In the later 1700s and early 1800s, there were serious efforts made, not to start something new or reform what existed, but to restore the church as revealed in the New Testament. Men named Stone, Campbell, Smith, Scott, and scores of others were leading figures in this effort. They chose to “speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent.” This is a reasonable paraphrase of the apostolic admonition to “speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11).
        The result was that the Gospel preached by the apostles was heard again. The seed of the kingdom was sown. It produced the only thing the Gospel will produce, namely, Christians who make up the church of which Christ is founder, Savior, and head. These efforts prospered, but not without many hardships and problems. Problems may well have been expected since this concept of returning to the Bible as a standard ran against the creeds that otherwise dominated religion.
        Even within the movement to restore the church, there came problems. Division took a deadly toll with the introduction of human innovations for which there is no divine authority, such as the missionary society, the use or mechanical instruments of music in worship, and other imitations of denominationalism. The work has been hindered, but not stifled.
        In our time, the church still faces, with increasingly heavy efforts, the tide of liberalism and permissiveness, the desire to turn the church into a denomination like others; compromise of the basic and fundamental truths in order to “go along to get along.” As with Israel, the desire to be like the nations around us has caused many who once were stedfast in the faith to turn and digress into liberalistic apostasy.

        We wish to concern ourselves with the attitude we should have toward the past, the early restorers, their work, and their message. Today, according to the loving liberals, they are called old-fashioned, out-of-date, old fogy, irrelevant. Those who still respect them are “knuckleheads.” It is said these ancient men of the past restored form and doctrine (which is even now being denied in many quarters, claiming the New Testament is not even our pattern), and we must restore the proper spirit. One seldom witnesses such judgmental snobbery! Those who talk in such fashion are often heard to mouth “love, love, love.” If ever there existed an element of people who seemingly know little to nothing about genuine love and what to love, and who practice love less than anybody, it is that element of people who talk it incessantly and viciously attack anybody who does not adopt their liberalism. To them, love is but an emotion, a sentiment, that will permit and tolerate everybody to “do their own thing,” God’s will notwithstanding. These rank liberals have been bitter in their attitude of the great students of the Bible who led the early efforts of restoration. They hold anybody in contempt who does respect them. They clamor for a new message for our new age. To restore the faith of the first century is to them an absurdity. The faith God revealed must be updated, we are told, and revised, and reinterpreted to fit our times, according to these wiser-than-God “scholars.”
        We often hear them call for a “restudy” of positions taken by the early restorers. This is always a timely call lest we become followers of men rather than God. A restudy of the Scriptures is obviously overdue among them, however. Truth has nothing to fear in investigation. The problem created by those who say we must restudy is that they change for change’s sake. If we do not change our views from the views of those who came before us, we must necessarily be in error. But the thinking person will know that if they believed truth and we believe truth we will believe alike. If the early restorers were right in some matter and we are right in the same matter, there will be no difference. The idea that there must be a difference or we have not sincerely restudied is ridiculous and intellectually absurd on its very perverted face.

        There are benefits involved in restudying everything. Every generation must be taught everything. We must make the faith our own rather than simply have a borrowed faith from others. But does this demand that there be variance between our convictions and those of the past? Certainly not, if we both follow the Scriptures!
        By restudying, we see the timelessness of their message and the Scriptural basis of their plea. We can learn from their learning without making them our authority. Contrary to the “wise men” of academic training from the theological schools, they were truly scholarly, although few, if any, now in the “Christian schools” really consider those righteous men of the past to have been “scholars.” Only these “wise men of today” are to be considered “scholars,” even if they do not believe a thing the Bible teaches.
        From the study of their work we can detect trends, drifts, as well as the honorable goals they had in mind. We can partake and learn from their courage, integrity (an ingredient too often lacking in the liberal mind), their spirit of dedication and sacrifice. We see how they met the attacks of those who opposed Biblical preaching. We see how they encountered the denominational world. Instead if ridiculing their spirit, if more today had the same spirit the church would be far stronger and better informed doctrinally and more consistent in practice. With the spirit many have today who seek to uproot and change just to have something new, nobody would have been able to bring the church and the truth of the Gospel to their generation. The pygmies are barking at the giants.
        There is always a danger of letting men of the past become the authority. There are some who have evidently done this. When trying to prove some point, they cite some man rather than Scripture. But never have I heard a faithful brother use these men other than to cite their view with respect to their learning, never as the final word or authority. Faithful brethren do not do that. Christ is the authority (Matt. 28:18-20). We have preached that consistently. There is nothing that faithful brethren believe or do simply because some giant of the past contended for it. We recognize the necessity of divine authority for all that is said and done. We would that all who profess to be restorers would ever have this same attitude toward authority.

        While liberals denounce the restorers of yesteryear, others who have appreciation for their work of the past are misusing them to further their own ends. The goal of some of their “restudiers” is to find endorsement from the past for some new innovation they wish to foist upon the church today. They wish to secure the dignity and stature of respectable men to their digression and apostasy. It is a strange approach to Scripture that says we must find and do something new and different, or we have not really studied. We must be aware of the mania that possesses some for change, regardless of which way and toward what. Some cull words and works of restorers dealing with other issues in an effort to make it appear they would have “gone along” with the new wave of digression they persistently propagate. This is basically dishonest, but this is no problem to a liberal, and is about what you can expect from people who have denied the New Testament is a pattern and are determined to “do their own thing.” They lie when they claim they stand where restorers stood. They abuse and misuse what those men of the past said and did.
        Finding it impossible to crush the influence of sound doctrine and sound thinking of the past, some seek to make the restorers their partners in their unauthorized ways. I predict that in coming years one will hear more and more appeals being made to adopt some new twist on the grounds that some prominent men of the past so thought. I would only respond, “So what!” What if somebody did think some faulty way? Probably their words are being misrepresented anyway. But even then, that would not prove anything except this is what somebody thought. Scripture is still the basis for the standard and this is that for which they contended as well. Is it not strange that once having denounced the early restorers as lacking scholarship and lacking the “broad view” that some wish to cite the same men they denounce to further their own inventions of heresy?

        The positions taken by early restorers are being misused to try to make it appear they held unbiblical views regarding inspiration, the acts of worship, the oneness of the church, the plan of salvation, the purpose of baptism, the work of the church, etc. They have forsaken the need for Biblical authority and follow the majority thought —what some “modern scholar” has decreed, some unity push contends. (These present-day unity efforts are not efforts to produce unity. Unity is founded on acceptance of truth. These efforts are for the purpose of creating fellowship in spite of division). Some already have the church involved in secular education, recreation, entertainment, sports, becoming not much more than another religious clan with social aims and community acceptance. They seek salvation from depression, boredom, secular ignorance, physical disease, material poverty, rather than salvation from sin that Christ brought (1 Tim. 3:15; John 17:17; Rom. 1:16; James 1:21).
        In Jesus’ day there were those who attempted to equate human opinions and tradition on a par with “thus saith the Lord” (Matt. 15:1-3, 9). There be those today who attempt similar things by equating whatever view some restorer had with divine authority. Restoration preaching is not the proclamation of human opinions or what somebody thinks, whether current or in the past. It is the proclamation of the Gospel as revealed in Scripture. New Testament preaching produced the church. Our preaching is restoration preaching in that it is to put back in its original order the church that New Testament preaching produced. We might, for classification sake, say New Testament preaching was originating preaching and our preaching is restorative preaching, but it is the same message. Only the difference in time allows for the difference in classification.

        In the early days of what is called the Restoration Movement, there was no appeal to what men thought, what men wanted to do, nor what pleased men. Their thought in searching the Word of God was to learn what God had to say. Can we be honest and do less? Any preacher today who does not make his appeal to the Word of God has no business in the pulpit. But does this mean there will be absolutely and necessarily a dramatic difference between what those of the past preached and what we preach? As the early restorers preached the apostolic Gospel, and we preach the apostolic Gospel, we will be preaching the same as did the apostles. This is what we are supposed to do.
        We respect the early restorers and are leery and weary of those who search their works hoping to find support for their digressive innovations and hobbies. We respect the noble men of the past, but never cite them as authority. Nor shall we flippantly cast aside their learning in favor of the foolish, liberal, trite, shallow, inconsistent emptiness being heard among those who are more clergymen than preachers, more school puppets than true teachers of truth.
        Restoration preaching is book, chapter, verse, “thus saith the Lord,” divine authority undergirding it all, the “old paths” plotted by the ancient landmarks of inspired truth. Let us beware of the sly, subtle, charismatic servants of the devil who would abandon Scripture, misuse the restorers, and lead the church further into apostasy.
                2720 S Chancery St.
                McMinnville, TN 37110
                A Burning Fire, Vol. XII, No.4


Table of Contents

        In the New Testament, a “miracle” refers to a supernatural act of power that had observable and immediate results/effects. We should not expect God Himself to perform miracles or supply humans with miraculous powers today. Why not?

        1) It is not God’s will that there be miracles today. In God’s plan, signs, including all spiritual-miraculous gifts, were temporary. “...Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away” (1 Cor. 13:8). Notice again three declarations about those signs: “...they will fail ... they will cease ... vanish away.” It is clear: the Lord never intended for spiritual gifts to last indefinitely.
        Prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are the three spiritual gifts which the apostle Paul mentions both when he enumerates the miraculous gifts (1 Cor. 12:8-10) and when he declares the temporary status of those gifts (1 Cor. 13:8). Rather than think of the three gifts which are repeated in chapter thirteen (prophecies, tongues, knowledge) as being more important or somehow superior to other gifts, we should look at them as representing (standing for) all nine of the gifts that are listed in 12:8-10. That is, what is true about these three (prophecies, tongues, knowledge) is true about all nine of the gifts.
        Specifically, what Paul says about the duration of prophecies, tongues, and knowledge is true about the duration of all of the spiritual gifts which were supplied by the Holy Spirit in the first century. Here is the conclusion: just as those three gifts were a temporary aspect of God’s plan, so each of the other spiritual gifts was temporary, too.
        Looking further in 1 Corinthians 13:9-10 we see a contrast — a contrast between the partial/incomplete and the perfect/complete. “For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away” (13:9-10). Taking into account the context, Paul is speaking about temporary and permanent revelation from God. Note that the three gifts which Paul mentions in 13:8 (prophecies, tongues, miraculous knowledge) all are related to receiving revelation from God — revelation that was for the benefit of both the church and those who were still lost outside of the Christ. Those three spiritual gifts (prophecies, tongues, miraculous knowledge) represented a temporary aspect of God’s revealing His will to mankind. In contrast to the “in part” (partial revelation of God, 13:9), the expression “that which is perfect” (13:10) has reference to the perfect/complete revelation of God.

        2) We do not need miracles today. Why? Because we have “that which is perfect” — the completed word of God, the New Testament. The role of miraculous activity has been fulfilled. Tongues were for a “sign” (1 Cor. 14:22). Signs were used to confirm the word of God that Jesus’ disciples preached, as it is written, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs” (Mark 16:20). Once that word was confirmed in the first century, there was (and is) no need to confirm it again.
        Jesus’ promise to His apostles was, “...when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth...” (John 16:13). That promise was fulfilled — “all truth” came from the Holy Spirit in the lifetime of the apostles. Since the Spirit revealed all truth in the first century during the days of the apostles, there is no new revelation from God being given today. Because there are no new revelations from the Lord that need to be confirmed, there are no new signs/miracles.
        Spiritual gifts were for the edification of the church (1 Cor. 14:12,26,31). But, today the word of God is sufficient for the edification of the church, as it can build us up and give us an inheritance among the saved (Acts 20:32). Thus, the spiritual gifts/miracles are not needed today.

        3) God no longer is making available the power to do miracles. Holy Spirit baptism was a first-century-only phenomenon, so it is not taking place today. In addition, there are no true apostles alive who can lay hands on other Christians to pass on miraculous powers to them (Acts 8:14-20).
        No genuine miracles are taking place today. God is still all-powerful, but the age of miracles has passed.
                120 Fawn Dr.
                Cleveland, TN 37412
               


Table of Contents

        Today there is a widespread belief that no person is allowed to question or “condemn” the actions or teachings of anyone else. Perhaps you have heard someone say, “Who are you to judge?,” or “Only Christ can judge.” Does the Bible teach that it is always wrong to judge, or has the Bible been mishandled to lead people to the wrong conclusion on this subject?
        First of all, what exactly does it mean to “judge?” Some assume that to judge always means to condemn, but to judge simply means “to discern; to distinguish; to consider accurately for the purpose of forming an opinion or conclusion” (Webster). To condemn is “to determine or judge to be wrong, or guilty; to disallow; to disapprove” (Webster). As will be shown, the Bible teaches in many passages that we must discern whether the actions and teachings of both ourselves and others are right or wrong. The purpose of this “discernment” is to save ourselves and others. It is absolutely necessary and commanded. The reader is encouraged to take a Bible and read the passages referenced in this article to gain a better understanding of God’s will on this subject.
        Someone may ask, “Didn’t Jesus say, ‘Judge not’ in Matthew 7:1?” Yes, He did, but Jesus was giving a warning to hypocrites (“Thou hypocrite...” Matt. 7:5; cf. Rom. 2:21-23). The context of Matthew 6 and 7 reveals that Jesus was simply teaching us to “judge not” in a hypocritical way. Remember that Matthew 7 is a continuation of what Jesus had been discussing in chapter 6 in his Sermon on the Mount. Please notice what Jesus taught:

• Do not give alms (as the hypocrites do, Matt. 6:2).
• Do not pray (as the hypocrites do, Matt. 6:5).
• Do not fast (as the hypocrites do, Matt. 6:16).
• Do not judge (as the hypocrites do, Matt. 7:1-5).

        The truth is that Jesus did not forbid us to “judge” any more than He forbids us to “pray!” In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus was speaking as if He were directly addressing a hypocrite. He warns the hypocrite to get his life right and then help others get their lives right (7:5; cf. Gal. 6:1).
        Jesus actually commands us to judge! In Matthew 7, Jesus went on to say that after you get your life right, you then can help your brother get his life right: “...first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matt. 7:5; cf. Gal. 6:1; James 5:19-20). Jesus also teaches in the very next verse that we must determine who are “dogs” and “swine” (7:6). In the same sermon and chapter, Jesus said we will be able to judge (know, discern) false prophets “by their fruits” (7:15-20; cf. 12:33; Luke 6:43-45; 1 John 4:1; Rev. 2:2). The phrase “judge not” is also found in John 7:24: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Judging righteous judgment means:

• “Judge not” hypocritically (Matt. 7:1-5).
• “Judge not” with prejudice or without knowing the facts (1 Sam. 1:13-16; John 7:24).
• “Judge not” in matters of opinion or scruples (Rom. 14).
• Judge according to the Truth of God’s Word (Isa. 8:20; Acts 17:11; 1 Thess. 5:21; Heb. 5:12-14).

If it is always sinful to judge, there are some questions to consider:

1. Did Jesus teach us to sin? “judge righteous judgment?” (John 7:24)
2. Why did Jesus commend the church at Ephesus for determining that some religious people claiming to be Christians were “liars?” (Rev. 2:2)
3. How can we determine who the “dogs” and “swine” are (as Jesus commanded), if we are not allowed to judge people by their fruits? (Matt. 7:6, 15-20; Luke 6:43-45)
4. Should we be concerned about a brother who has “ought against” us, if nobody has a right to judge us? Jesus said, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift” (Matt. 5:23-24). Surely many today would go on and worship God without being reconciled to their brothers —stubbornly claiming that nobody has a right to judge them!
5. Did the apostle John teach us to sin? “try the spirits whether they are of God?” (1 John 4:1)
6. Was it wrong for John to say to Herod, “It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife” (Mark 6:18)? Should John have “minded his own business?” (cf. Matt. 11:11)
7. Were the Bereans in sin for judging Paul’s teachings by the Scriptures? (Acts 17:11)
8. Some say we cannot judge others regarding doctrinal matters, so were Aquila and Priscilla wrong to judge Apollos regarding baptism? (Acts 18:24ff)
9. Why is it acceptable among many “Bible believers” to speak out against immoral sins, but “taboo” to speak out against many blatant doctrinal errors, which are just as sinful? (cf. 2 Tim. 2:17-18; Rom. 16:17; Gal. 1:6-9; 5:4)
10. Was Paul wrong to judge Hymenaeus and Philetus regarding a doctrinal matter? (2 Tim. 2:17-18)
11. Was Paul in sin for confronting Peter and judging that he was “to be blamed?” (Gal. 2:11ff)
12. Was Paul wrong to “judge” that the fornicating brother at Corinth should have had fellowship withdrawn from him by the church? (1 Cor. 5:3)
13. Why did Paul rebuke the Corinthians for not judging church members? (1 Cor. 5:2, 6, 12; 6:1-5)
14. Why did Paul say that Christians should all be of the same mind and judgment? (1 Cor. 1:10)
15. If Lydia was “judged...to be faithful” by Paul, did Paul sin in so doing? (Acts 16:15)
16. Why is it that people who condemn judging do not mind when others judge them to be right? Why do they only have a problem when someone judges them to be wrong?
17. How can we determine who is teaching Truth and who is teaching error? (Isa. 8:20; Matt. 7:15-16, 19-20; 12:33; Heb. 5:14; 1 Thess. 5:21; Titus 1:9-11; 2:1; 1 John 4:1; Rev. 2:2)
18. Why are there commands in the Bible to “reprove” and “rebuke” others? (Luke 17:3; 1 Tim. 5:20; 2 Tim. 4:2; Titus 1:9-11,13; 2:15; Eph. 5:11)
19. How can we ever “mark” and “avoid” false teachers as we have been commanded? (Rom. 16:17; cf. Eph. 5:11; 2 Cor. 6:14-17; Rev. 2:2; 2:6; 2:15; 2:20)
20. How can we ever obey the command to “restore” an erring brother without fear of “judging” him? (Gal. 6:1; James 5:19-20)
21. How can the process of church discipline that the Lord commanded even begin to be carried out? (Matt. 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5; 2 Thess. 3:6,14-15)
22. How can we seek and save the lost if we cannot determine who is lost?
23. Would a person be guilty of “sinfully judging” if he said that only people who are “in Christ” will be going to Heaven? (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Mark 8:38). After all, such a statement would “condemn” everyone outside of Christ, and we are not allowed to do that if we are not allowed to judge others. Has it come to the point in our “politically correct” culture that proclaimed “Bible believers” will not even say that people who reject Christ will go to hell (Mark 8:38)? Let us speak as the Bible speaks, “warning every man” (1 Peter 4:11; Col. 1:28).
24. If a person says we are wrong to judge others, is he not being hypocritical? Has he not just committed the same “sin” he is condemning?

        Although Christ will be our Final Judge, He has commanded us to make judgments (discerning right or wrong) in this life based on the authority of His Word. This is for the purpose of saving ourselves and others.
        This entire false idea that one person cannot judge another cripples and paralyzes efforts commanded by God to help others get to Heaven. For example, if those in the Lord’s church believe they cannot judge others, it is highly unlikely that they will go to those in error to help them obey the Truth and get to Heaven (John 8:31-32; Matt. 28:18-20). If those outside of the church believe nobody is allowed to judge, they will not allow those who know the Truth to teach them the Truth in a loving way. They will immediately play the “no judging” card and refuse to listen. Understanding all of this, and realizing how widespread the doctrine of “no judging” is, it is surely one of Satan’s most powerful devices! Paul wrote, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11).
        Do not fall for this lie of Satan —the truth is that we must make judgments to save others and ourselves!
                PO Box 759
                Baker, FL 32531
               


Table of Contents

• Are we “finding” the time to search the Web but not the Word of God?

        “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Tim. 4:13). “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:1 2).



• Are we “faithfully” attending Club meetings & Ball games, but are not faithful in attending Church services & Bible classes?

        “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another ... For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins” (Heb. 10:24-26). “...They continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42).



• Are we willing to “fight” for our political party but will not “fight” for the precepts of God?

        “...It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27)



• Are we “feeding” our minds upon the “stuff” of this world, and not “spiritual” things?

        “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17). “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2). “...Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness...” (Matt. 6:33). “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:1-3).



• Are we “following” after Satan and his ways that lead to destruction or the Son of God that leads to life eternal?

        “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11). “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:13-14). “...Hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matt. 25:46). “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:1-6).
                Jerry Joseph
                PO Box 1385
                St. Peters, MO 63376