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People of The Living God |
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June 2021
WATCHMEN ON THE WALLS
A REFUGE FROM THE FLOOD
Harold Scullin
“As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man…as it was in the days of Lot…even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke17:26-30). “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Heb.11:7).
“AS IT WAS IN THE DAYS OF NOAH”
Noah was warned of God. Noah feared (reverenced) God to the degree he obeyed Him. Noah delivered God’s message of things unseen. Noah prepared an ark. Noah’s family was delivered from the flood.
“SO SHALL IT BE IN THE DAYS OF THE SON OF MAN”
Just as Noah was warned of God of impending judgment, just so is the Lord in His great mercy endeavoring to warn people in this day. For those who are not aware of the spiritual degradation, the demoralized state, the substandards of decency, the backslidden condition of those who name the name of Christ, the Great Creator God is striving, through the voices of men of this world, to awaken and warn people of ominous days that are just ahead. Famine, pestilence, disease, pollution of the air, water, and soil, the financial instability among the nations of the world, economic conditions, the corruption of governments, all are events facing the inhabitants of the earth, and they are of such colossal proportions that the daily newspapers and periodicals carry them in the headlines and star news items. These conditions portend a period of time that will be greater in scope and magnitude, and more devastating both physically and spiritually, than anything in the history of the earth. But there appears to be no concern regarding these conditions. Evidently the message is not getting through.
People are not only ignoring the warnings of men – they are also turning from the words of Jesus, who spoke with absolute authority: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be” (Matt.24:21). These are somber words and should provoke serious thinking and a seeking of God. The inhabitants of the earth did not heed the warning of Noah in his day. Just so is it in this day – not many heed the teaching of Jesus.
Soon after the Day of Pentecost Peter quoted from the words of Moses, “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me: him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people” (Acts3:22,23). Again, in Hebrews: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son…” (Heb.1:1,2).
Listen to Him as He speaks – “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matt.7:24-27). The foundation of each house was the determining factor as to whether the house stood or fell. Each house rested upon its own foundation – “to hear and do” or “to hear and not do.” The Word of God irrefutably defines the will of God for every individual. There is indisputable justice and equity in every word. Your foundation – the rock, or the sand – is a result of your own choice: this is a matter of your own decision. Every person who passes through this life must make one of two supreme choices – there are no exceptions. The very fact that you are born into this world demands and requires you to make a supreme choice between two incompatible courses:
1. A supreme choice to serve God, to obey His law, to do His will, to love Him with ALL your heart, and ALL your mind, and ALL your strength and ALL your soul. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John3:30). Selflessness is the criteria of this choice.
2. A supreme choice to serve self – that is, you are going to live your own life by your own standards. Selfishness will use whatever means are available to satisfy its appetite: people, respectability, avariciousness, religion, Jesus, and even vileness and corruption. Selfishness is the sum total of sin and is the criteria of this supreme choice.
The daily choices are the means by which the end product – selflessness or selfishness – is achieved.
There is no neutral or in-between ground. The rain, the floods, the wind, will beat (to induce or bring forth an occasion to sin) upon your house.
There is no question about it – we are entering the days – “as it was in the days of Noah.” Just as in Noah’s day – divine protection and deliverance was necessary to escape the flood – so is it in our day: the people of God will need divine counsel, protection and deliverance from the coming storm. Provision has been made for those who will “hear and do” the sayings of Jesus. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke21:36). “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zeph.2:3). To be accounted worthy to escape, and to be hid, means that we have to qualify – meet the demands and requirements as set forth by the Word of God.
It is possible to qualify for this great honor, but it means that as individuals we must not be just “hearers of the word,” but also “doers” (James1:22). To obey, or do, the Word of God means a complete setting aside, a renouncing of our own ways, our own desires, our own thoughts, and our own life. “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me” (Matt.10:37,38). Are you “accounted worthy” by this standard? You think these are demanding words? Read on – “If any man come to me, and hate not (love less) his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple – Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke14:26,27,33).
How many realize that Jesus preached such a message? Consider just what He has said: To be accounted worthy is equated with discipleship which is based upon forsaking all. Costly? Yes! But the end product is more than worth the cost. The rain, the floods, and the wind that beat upon your house will extract from each one – payment in full. Now is the time to prepare, to pay the cost, to be accounted worthy, in order to escape the ravages of the enemy.
The Lord has promised protection and deliverance to a certain class of people. In Luke17:26-37 Jesus spoke to His disciples concerning the days of Noah, and of Lot, and of the Son of man – “There shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, where Lord? And he said unto them, wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together” (Luke17:34-37).
Then, in the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus said to let both grow together until the time of the harvest. The tares are to be burned, but the wheat is to be gathered into “My” barn (Matt.13:30). John the Baptist said concerning Christ, “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matt.3:12).
Could it be that the men and the women were taken to His barn, the garner?
Just as the two men who were in one bed – “one was taken,” so it was with the ten virgins – “they all slumbered and slept.” They were all in the same predicament. However, five responded to the midnight cry – they purchased the necessary oil – they made the required preparation – so they were accounted worthy to enter the marriage feast.
The “two women grinding at the mill” is a picture of the church today. The church is not only in the world, the church has become a part of the cosmos. The religious world has become so enmeshed in the affairs of “this present evil world” by taking thought for tomorrow, that the Kingdom of God has become of secondary value. When there is time, and it is convenient to serve God, is the standard of today. Procrastination has become a way of life for multitudes. Like Samson of old, the church has become blinded to eternal values because of compromise. The people of today have to “grind.” Their standard of living demands that they “grind.” The church today is full of “Marthas” – who are “careful and troubled about many things” (Luke10:41). The Spirit of the Lord is faithful to speak to this type of person, who is so busy about the affairs of this life. Yet, such persons remain troubled because they “hear, and do not.”
There are not many “Marys” in the present-day church. “Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke10:42). Two women – the one who “chose that good part” – the other who was constantly troubled but did nothing about it. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt.6:21). By their own choice the “Marys” will be accounted worthy to escape in that day.
In the parable of the field, Jesus said “the field is the world” (Matt.13:38). In “the field” we find the tares and the wheat, the mustard seed that was sown in the field where the fowls (unclean birds) lodged in it, and even the leaven that was hid in the meal. Apart from the wheat, all of these other products are evil – they were not of God – but they were in the field. However, one man found a treasure that was hidden in the field. To purchase this treasure cost him all that he had (Matt.13:44). This man was accounted worthy to escape. He qualified – he met the demands of the words of Jesus – ALL.
To those servants of God whose desire and purpose of heart is to “love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy mind, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy strength,” rest assured that a flood (not of water) is just ahead – but there is a way of escape. “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child…and the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood” (Rev.12:13,15). This woman, who is the true church of Jesus Christ, who remained a faithful and true witness, is protected and delivered from this flood. “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent” (Rev.12:14).
The promise of a refuge from the storm is not only a New Testament promise – Isaiah also prophesied of this very thing – “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast” (Isa.26:20).
Friends, the privilege to “be accounted worthy to escape” depends entirely upon each individual. The responsibility of making this the supreme choice and goal in your life rests wholly within your will. You, alone, will be held accountable for your choice. May it be the right one.
“WHO SHALL STAND?”
Marjorie Hidley
“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple…but who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And 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. 3:1-3).
“Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired: Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it MAY be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zeph. 2:1-3).
A time of great trouble lies ahead for our nation. In fact, many countries have already tasted the “beginning of sorrows.” Men have gone mad in seeking to fulfil the desires of the flesh, for the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah have inspired their lustful hearts. License, liberty, and lawlessness prevail as man wants freedom to express his own passions. To think that these conditions will change for the better is to close our eyes to truth and reality. The earth has become corrupt, the inhabitants defiled. The prophet Isaiah explains the reasons for such a condition and tells us what God is about to do (Isa. 24:5,6). Men have transgressed God’s laws, have changed God’s ordinance, and have broken the everlasting covenant. The result? God’s curse devours the earth, and few will be the men that are left.
Jesus, also, spoke of these things and promised us that there “shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matt. 24:21,22).
Now the question arises – what can be done? How can we prepare to stand through the great storm which will soon come upon us? Are men prepared to meet the day of terror which is just ahead of us? God’s wrath is about to be poured out. Surely, men everywhere must awaken! Let us turn from our wicked ways, our carelessness, and indifference, and turn to God with all of our hearts.
Jesus tells us, “They that are whole have no need for the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). Surely we are living in a sin-sick world. But there is hope in God. Repent! Turn about! Seek God’s face with all your heart. That is when you will find Him. And when you find Him, FOLLOW Him.
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6).
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18). God has made all this possible.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17). What a glorious transformation! The fetters, binding us to sin and corruption, have been broken by the power of God, and now we are free from bondage. The Spirit of God has filled our beings, and we are now temples of the Holy Ghost. For “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom. 8:9).
This “new creature” has been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son (Col. 1:13). In the courts of heaven he is counted holy, for God’s own righteousness has been imputed to him. This is the beginning of our preparation. Our walk in the kingdom of God has started. The blood of Jesus Christ has atoned for our sins, and we have been saved from the death penalty. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom.6:23).
“He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Cor. 5:21). There is a purpose for our salvation – that we might be made like Him. This unity and oneness with Christ is what Jesus prayed for in John, the 17th chapter. “That they…may be one in us” (verse 21). “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one” (verse 23). Now, this oneness is brought about through a process, as the individual yields his will in obedience to God’s word and the voice of His Spirit. Full and complete surrender is required, for our devotion to God includes body, soul, and spirit. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:30,31).
“If any man serve me, let him follow me” (John 12:26). We shall know “if we follow on to know the Lord” (Hosea6:3). “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light…the blood of Jesus Christ…cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:7).
“Ye are my friends, IF ye DO whatsoever I command you” (John 15:14). “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matt. 24:13).
“Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” (Matt. 7:24,25). This man was prepared for the storm.
Let us examine our foundations. Are we building our lives on self, and the teachings of men, or are we building for the kingdom of God, and living by the words of the Lord Jesus? In this day ahead of us every refuge of lies will be swept away. Are we prepared for the terrors that are coming? Countless millions throughout the earth have been born into God’s kingdom. These are the “many” who are called. Will their preparation be complete if they know only the joy of sins forgiven? Will their salvation be a past experience with God, or will they be among the “few” who are willing to be known as doers of God’s Word? Such a one as the latter would know the joy and strength which comes from a continual present relationship with God.
The apostle Paul has shown us a picture of a heavenly state to which the sons of God are called:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it PROFITETH ME NOTHING” (I Cor. 13:1-3). And then in the rest of the chapter the author of this book continues by telling us the characteristics of this word “charity,” which virtues are a description of the glorious nature of God Almighty.
No man in his natural state could fill the demands laid forth in this chapter. But God has provided a way whereby His Word can be fulfilled in us. Every born-again person has been given the Spirit of Christ. These heavenly attributes, described by the great apostle, belong to the Lord Himself. It is as we obey His words and commands that our own fleshly self dies a little at a time, for His words are designed for that purpose. And to the degree that self is crucified, to that degree the heavenly nature is being formed within us, and we begin to put on the image of God. To such a state God calls His sons.
Now, through the time of great tribulation that is before us, God has a plan for those who have prepared their hearts by hearing His voice and doing His will. God has promised that He would “assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah” (Isa. 11:12). “I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel” (Amos9:14). “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem…I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out…I will bring you again” (Zeph.3:14-20).
There is a place in “the wilderness” (Rev. 12:14) where God calls His sheep, and nourishes them “from the face of the serpent.” The prophet Isaiah calls this place “thy chambers,” where saints are hidden for a short while “until the indignation be overpast” (Isa. 26:20). “There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain” (Isa. 4:6). “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: IT MAY BE ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zeph. 2:3). In Luke 3:16,17, we are told that John the Baptist prophesied of Jesus Christ, “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and he will gather the wheat into his garner.”
Friends, God shall provide a place of safety, a place of refuge where His people will be cared for in these days of terror that are before us. As in Noah’s day when those who feared God and obeyed His word were cared for in the storm, so God at this end time is faithful to spare His sons. Noah knew God’s voice. Noah obeyed God. He acted on what God instructed him to do. In this end time God also will be faithful to call His own before the judgments are brought forth. Are we ready to hear God when He calls? Are we ready to obey His leading? Have we schooled ourselves sufficiently in obedience to His word and obedience to His Spirit that we KNOW when God speaks? Are our spirits in tune with heaven to the degree that we can HEAR when the Spirit of God leads us? It is most vital that we obey God at this crucial hour.
“In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back…whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed: the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left…And they answered and said unto him Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together” (Luke 17:31-37).
A LETTER FROM A MAN SET FREE
Jimmy Windham, Ex-Inmate
Dear Saints of the Most High God,
I greet you all today in our Savior's name, our Lord Jesus. How great is our God! How majestic is His Holy Name. A scripture says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever more. If He healed yesterday as He went about revealing the very nature of God, then He still does today; for it isn't God who's lacking, it's our carnal minds.
Before I say anything else I want to apologize to you all, and most especially to those who, when I was imprisoned in SCDC, prayed for me to make parole, for your hearts felt my brokenness by being in there for nearly 36 years. I owe you an apology. I was supposed to write at least one more article so the readers of the TOT magazine could know that on July 23rd of 2000 I made parole. In prison, a real lady who I call my angel wrote me a letter shortly after the riot at Lee County Prison to let me know that she had read the article I had written and she felt my pain. But she said I touched her heart, for she felt that she was also in a prison. I wrote her again, this time myself personally, and we became friends.
In an article Bro. Al let me put in the TOT I had mentioned that I hoped my book that's on Amazon Kindle, etc., entitled A Prisoner of Jesus Christ, I asked for prayer so in hopes my book would sell enough copies so I could hire a high profile lawyer that has a high success rate of helping lifers to make parole. But it looked hopeless. But after knowing this angel for almost 2 years, I told her I was in love with her and she said the same. Without asking her to, she contacted this lawyer and hired him. Well, he came to interview me about three months before my parole date. He took my case that day and was with me on July 23rd for my parole hearing. Because of the Covid crisis, only he was allowed to come to my hearing. Plus, he couldn't bring his phone in, so once I was interviewed by the parole board I had no way of knowing if I had made parole or not. When he left to go to his car to get his phone so they could call him, I sat there waiting in a class room. Down the hall was the classification office where three ladies work. I knew one, for she was my dorm's classification case worker. So, as I sat there waiting (about thirty minutes), I heard one down the hall yell, “Mr. Windham, come here, please.” I walked there and into their large office area. She said, “Mr. Windham, your lawyer just called to tell us to tell you something, but first I want to tell you something.” She then said, “Mr. Windham, how have you kept your smile and positive mannerisms in prison for over 35 years?” My heart dropped, for I felt she was telling me that it was a no again. Bear in mind I was on an annual parole system and had been turned down for 19 straight years, so I said, “Only by God's loving kindness and tender mercies have I made it this far.” She then said, “Well, Mr. Windham, you go on home now to your family, for they have granted you your parole today.”
Children of God, I fell on my knees and bowed my head to the floor and cried aloud, “Thank you Jesus” over and over. When I stood up still crying my Lord's name, I fell back on a book shelf. One lady said, “Are you okay, Mr. Windham?” And all I could say was, “Please, somebody, please hug me; I need a hug.” (I think to see if it was real or a dream.) Mrs. Black came to me and hugged me as I cried. I was overwhelmed by emotions.
I then took off running outside (I forgot to sign the paperwork). Another dorm was in the yard going to chow, so I yelled, “Can I have your attention?” They all stopped. I yelled, “Thirty-six years ago I came to prison. But today my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ allowed me to make parole; I'm going home!” They all started clapping. I gave my Savior the praise for it all and still do after being free now from prison for ten months. The lady that began writing to me that helped me is now my fiance, and when all her business is finished where she lives, she is coming to marry me. Only my loving Savior has blessed me so. The first few months were extremely hard, for I didn't have a driver's license though I had purchased a used car. But slowly I managed to get my driver's license.
I had told the Lord and others that asked me what would be the first thing I would do once I walked out and free. I said, “I'll find a spot of grass, bow down my face to the ground, kiss it, and thank God for setting me free.” All my children were there with their families to see me walk out. After all the crying and hugs and kisses I excused myself for a moment. I walked over to the curb and bowed down, put my head on the grass and kissed it. Then I raised my hands toward heaven, looked up, and thanked our God, for it was He by His love, His blood and mercy that set me free from my sins in 1984 in that prison cell, and in 2019 it was the same Savior who set me free from my chains of bondage in prison. Now I own a 36 foot long camper I live in that's easy to keep clean. Being single for now, it's all I needed and wanted and spacious after living in a 10' X 12' cell 36 years. I have a car, a truck and a Harley bike I ride that's paid for.
Bro. Al invited me to Tennessee to speak, so my Daughter Shelley and I went. Bro. Al, Sister Colleen, and the people of the church there showed me and Shelley such love and respect for our four days there. I gave my testimony for two nights in their church, then on Sunday morning in a church uptown in McMinnville I was invited to speak. It was so heavenly to be free and free indeed.
After returning home, the Lord kept putting Bro. Haywood Proctor on my heart. He's the preacher who in 1984 came to the jail to pray with me to get saved because the Lord led him. So I drove over to Hamer where I remembered he ministered out of the Church of God there. I went there and one of the office workers gave me his phone number, so I called him and left this message: “Bro. Proctor, 36 years ago you won me to the Lord in the county jail just before I was planning to end my life with a razor blade I had already gotten.” I said, “I won't tell you yet who I am, but if you call me back, I will. I just want you to know that I really gave up to the Lord that day, and I won many men to the Lord, even a serial killer. Call me.” An hour later he called and his first words were, “Is this Jimmy Windham?” He remembered me, for in '88 or '89 I arranged for him and his lovely, godly wife to come to the prison I was in and speak to us. I said, “Yes, it's Jimmy.” Oh, we had a good time, talking.
It was on a Wednesday. Their church night where he pastored the Kemper Baptist church, so he asked me to come speak that night. I became a Baptist that night, though I'm a Pentecostal. :) We all need each other in the Body of Christ. It was truly one of the best nights I've had since getting out of prison, most especially when I saw the altars fill up when Bro. Proctor asked the church forward. Does it sound like I've just had jail house religion? Hardly, for I quote those profound words, “If any man be in Christ Jesus he's a new creation, old things pass away and all things become new.” In 1984, I totally surrendered to Jesus Christ my Savior, and He came into my heart in such a way until I could never deny Him, and I can tell you that the sweet words that said from His dear heart to us, “I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” They ring so true with me, for He's made my days so sweet now until sometimes I won't lay down on the bed He gave me, for I'm absorbing every moment I can take in. It's more than just being alive or life, I'm enjoying life abundant. You and I may not be alive at Christ's return, but if you want to live forever abundantly, then do as I did 36 years ago and find a place to pray on your knees and ask Jesus to forgive your sins and to come into your life. Will he set you free from prison? That I can't promise you. But I can promise you, from experience that He'll turn the prison you live in into freedom, for He said He'd never leave you or forsake you. I can witness to you that His words are true. I told many men who felt sorry for me when I would tell them of the long time I was in prison, I said I wouldn't take a day off of the time I've done, for I was shattered here into pieces. But that's when the light comes in. It's in our brokenness that we're made whole. Prison was my Gethsemane, so how could I want to go back out before God finished molding me in His image? His will be done.
Well, I apologize to all y'all who loved me and prayed for me to be set free from prison that I haven't written sooner. But y'all surely know that starting a new life is time consuming. Thank y'all and I promise to not take so long now to write articles to you all, because Bro. Al has said it's a good idea.
God bless you each and every one.
Bro. Jimmy Windham
A Prisoner of Jesus Christ
“YE HAVE PERVERTED THE WORDS OF THE LIVING GOD”
Harry Miller
Jesus admonished His disciples to “take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees” (Matt. 16:6).
Yet, the Pharisees were the “fundamentalists” of Jesus’ day. This was the sect which comprised what was considered to be the more stable part of the body of “the Church” at that time; for there were extremes on the left hand and on the right in those days, just as there are today. They had their “modernists” in the Sadducees and the Herodians; and they also had their share of fanatics; but the main body of the representative church of Jehovah, the Pharisees, went down the “middle of the road.” They felt that they were the Old Guard: the traditionalists, the conformists.
These, then, were the people who claimed to be “fundamental.” They said that they believed in miracles, and the supernatural power of God; but they had no manifestation of it in their lives. They claimed to be completely devoted to the service of the Most High; but their works denied their testimony. However, before all the world they were THE PEOPLE. They held the “chief seats” in the synagogue: they represented the most substantial part of the one and only church.
It was concerning this most respectable representation of the true church that Jesus found it necessary to warn men: “Beware (not of the leaven of bread – but of the DOCTRINE) of the Pharisees” (verse 12).
In this latter day, neither the doctrine nor the sect of the Pharisees can any more “leaven” our minds. Both the doctrine and the sect passed away centuries ago. BUT THE FUNDAMENTALISTS ARE STILL WITH US.
Modern “fundamentalism” is actually an American Protestant product. There are certain professing Christian people who claim that certain doctrines, which they outline, are of absolute necessity to the Christian faith; and any who do not accept these “fundamental” doctrines are considered to be heretics, with no place in the kingdom of God.
The Pharisees, of course, were not known as “fundamentalists;” but they, too, had established ideas of what was, and what was not, THE FAITH.
The tragedy of the fundamental Pharisees was the fact that they had rejected the Word of God, and had made for themselves new laws which they used to “pervert the words of the Lord,” and to “make void the law of God.” These laws, which were actually accepted as a new Bible, permitted them to enjoy the sensuous thrills of religious pomp and ceremony; but cancelled the demands of heart devotion to God’s moral law. They were free to “get an ox out of the ditch on the Sabbath,” not because of their humanitarian convictions, but because an ox represented their money. They also profaned the temple of God by installing within it a public market. But, they said, it was for the convenience of the people; and, of course, it must have meant something (financially) to the priests as well as to the merchants.
The “leaven of the Pharisees” was, in reality, the substitution of a religion of convenience for the Law of the Lord. The hired priesthood gave the people the desires of their hearts by perverting the words of the Lord; and the writing of men were great instrumentalities in bringing about this perversion.
But the faith and teaching of the Nazarene swept the errors of the Pharisees out of the way of the Elect; and the pure words of God were once more declared. For many centuries, God’s Word has been respected by men; and for the past few hundred years the King James version of both Old and New Testaments has taken its place among the greatest in our heritage.
But, in these last days the serpent has “opened his mouth,” and has tried to sweep God’s people away “like a flood.” Other Bibles, which are not truly Bibles, have again been brought forth, not among a bunch of howling fanatics, but in the very midst of great companies of professing Christians.
The ultimate masterpiece of perversion, however, has been presented to Christendom in this twentieth century by some who are at the very center of the fundamental structure itself. From within this citadel of fundamentalism has emerged a new gospel and a most amazing new Bible, the life achievement of one vainglorious individual who was not averse to incorporating the trivia of his own imaginings into the very Word of God; and furthermore – solely through human effort – purporting to expound all of the mysteries of God for the edification of those Bible readers who are less talented than he in the art of whimsical explication; or are, at least, less enamored of their own intellectual ability. But, even more astounding than such unmitigated presumption as all that is the fact that this man was able to sell the idea of the acceptability – even the plausibility – of his quaint elucidation of and additions to God’s Holy Writ to a panel of professional religious consultants! Furthermore, he was able to persuade them to act for his work in an editorial and advisory capacity which would lend prestige and authority to a startling private interpretation of Scripture which would otherwise have doubtlessly been rejected by the religious world as pure fantasy.
The consulting editors of this momentous work were no less than presidents of front-line Theological Seminaries: deans of such orthodox institutions as Moody Bible Institute, The Philadelphia School of the Bible, and The Toronto Bible Institute. Up until this time no other Bible had been able to lay claim to any such array of impeccable authority.
But, when this revolutionary product of the combined efforts of these learned men was introduced to the laity of the fundamentalist camp, they were struck with bewilderment, amazement, and consternation. “The Word of God, revised and improved by man,” it was called by those who were skeptical.
Yet, no one can deny that it must have been a genuine attempt on the part of these men to make the Word of God so plain that the common people could understand it! Intermingled with the Words of the Lord are copious notes – written by man – which set forth a unique system of Bible exegesis.
Both the laity and the clergy were slow to accept all the claims of this new system at first, but the recognized authorities had put their seal of approval upon the Book, and after several decades it began to gain more and more recognition, until at last it has been acknowledged by the majority as an established part of the huge structure of ecclesiastical authority.
God told Moses (Deut. 4:2), “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it.” And the wise man, Solomon, said, “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” (Prov. 30:6). John the beloved, also, was told: “If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life” (Rev. 22:19). One would think that any Bible scholar who was aware of the gravity of these warnings would most certainly FEAR TO PERVERT THE WORDS OF GOD. But the author of this amazing attack upon the Gospel of Christ actually dared to defy the Creator, and has most successfully unloaded his book upon a sleeping people.
Some years after the first publication of this infamous work, the author of this so-called Bible stated in a paper called “Our Hope”: “The Sermon on the Mount is LAW, and that raised to its highest, most deathful, and destructive potency.”
The Sermon on the Mount was preached by our Lord. It is true that His sermon was law; but the author of this so-called Bible claims that the kingdom which Christ referred to was an earthly affair which was later “postponed.”
Through the notes which he has sown in the midst of God’s Word, he further teaches that the gospel which our Lord declared to be at hand was completely withdrawn, and that A NEW GOSPEL was substituted.
In the introduction of this blasphemous book, note 111 says: “The doctrines of grace are to be sought in the epistles, NOT IN THE GOSPELS.” In notes on Matthew 5, note 2: “In this sense the Sermon on the Mount is pure law.” “The Sermon on the Mount in its primary application gives neither the privilege nor the duty of the church. These are to be found in the epistles.”
Here is a bold statement which declares that the gospel which Jesus preached is of no value, and if we are to have any hope today, it must be in the gospel according to Paul! In very plain language, the author of this self-named Bible says that there were TWO GOSPELS: one of Christ, and one of Paul. He also plainly states that the gospel of Christ was ABOLISHED.
It is a monstrous sin for any man to make void the ministry and words of our Lord. It is also an outrageous accusation to say that the faithful apostle Paul taught a new gospel of grace which has superseded the gospel of Christ.
But the depths of blasphemy are reached in the author’s notes at the top of the page introducing the second epistle to the Corinthians. He says: “It is evident that the really dangerous sect in Corinth was that which said, ‘and I am of Christ’ (I Cor. 1:12). They rejected the revelation through Paul of the doctrines of grace; grounding themselves, probably, on the kingdom teachings of our Lord as a ministry of the circumcision.”
The author has not only made VOID the gospel of Christ, but he says that His gospel was that of the most dangerous sect. If it was wrong to say: “I am of Christ,” in Corinth, then it must be wrong today! If it was wrong, in Corinth, to believe and practice our Lord’s kingdom teachings, then it is wrong today!
Be not deceived, my good friends. There is but ONE GOSPEL, and that gospel is “THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD” (Mark 1:1). And from the beginning Christ taught that His Gospel (good news) was this: that the KINGDOM OF GOD WAS AT HAND (within the reach of men). This Gospel was declared by John the Baptist, by the twelve, by the seventy, by Paul, and by all of the other faithful servants of God. There is no gospel but the KINGDOM GOSPEL. Do away with the idea of the kingdom, and you do away with the gospel.
The blasphemous book from which the above quotations are taken is called the Scofield Reference Bible. This author, and those great scholars who have supported him, have made an attempt to float what is known as the postponement theory: a most devilish device, designed of the wicked one to make VOID the message of our Lord. The tragedy is not that a man would presume to improve upon God’s written revelation to humanity, but rather that the great majority of “fundamentalists” have accepted this abominable work as the Word of God.
“WRITTEN FOR OUR ADMONITION”
Lorraine Scullin
We have arrived at a time of gross misconception and flagrant misrepresentation of Bible truths and teachings. In order that the sheep of the Lord may find help and direction in this day of religious confusion, it is necessary to lift up a standard for God’s people – a standard by which to measure oneself – God’s pattern – and a standard by which to live. For, if one professes to believe some principle of truth and does not demonstrate its action in his life, he is but “sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” according to our Brother Paul (ICor.13:1). This condition characterizes a great segment of present-day Christendom who “profess that they know God; but in works they deny him” (Titus1:16).
This type of religious profession, “faith without works” (James2:20), marked Israel of old. They felt they were the chosen of God because they had heard His voice on Mount Sinai; they had been given the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments written on stone by the finger of God. This was a special revelation of the laws that govern moral being, although these laws had actually been in operation from the beginning of time. Cain knew that he was under divine mandate not to kill. He and his brother both recognized that there was but one Divine Being and only ONE lawful way in which to worship Him. Israel was told to remember the Sabbath day which the Great Creator God had given to man in the Garden of Eden, for HE it was, who made it and sanctified it (Gen.2:1-15; Ex.20:8). Israel was reminded of the Sabbath, even before Mount Sinai, when the manna was first given (Ex.16:23-30). Israel had His words, His laws, His will, but they lost their way with God and bleached their bones in the Wilderness of Kadesh-Barnea. How could this have happened to a people with so much divine revelation?
Furthermore, they had forty years of some of the greatest miracles given to any people – DAILY bread from heaven, water from the rock, clothing and shoes that never wore out and that fitted their children perfectly no matter how fast they grew, the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, not a FEEBLE person among two million people and more, for forty years (Psalm105:37)!
God’s servant led them, the man Moses, with whom God spoke face to face (Num.12:6-8). This meant that they had divine communication with the throne of God and could inquire of the Lord Himself concerning any matter, through the gift of prophecy and divine leadership. How could such a people fail to enter into the glories God set before them?
They took for granted that God’s approval was upon them because of the presence of the miracles, His laws, and His leadership. This is a modern fallacy, likewise, to assume that miracles are a seal of divine approbation of individuals or institutions or that His presence removes all obligation from us of doing what He commands. Instead of the Israelites letting these blessings become a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness to them and, therefore, a cause for great rejoicing, these wonderful providences became a snare to them. They never felt any responsibility to qualify as worthy recipients of these bounties. They did not obligate themselves to obey the oracles of God and, thereby, become a light to others.
Over fifty years ago a version of so-called Christianity appeared, based solely upon the person of Jesus, with no regard for His words. Such emphasis upon the personality of Jesus apart from His message helped to produce one of the current trends found among the drug cultists, where they speak of “getting high on Jesus.” Such a concept is completely dishonoring to our Lord Jesus Christ. There truly is such a thing as knowing the actual presence of our Lord, for “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me…and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John14:21). This presence is of divine origin – marvelous and completely satisfying the hunger in man’s being; furthermore, it ravishes his soul as no earthly experience can ever do. But it has nothing to do with the gutter level of life where the dregs of humanity gather to escape reality through various kinds of opiates.
Another of the great misrepresentations of our day is the manner in which Jesus Christ is presented as a person – in a way that is totally incompatible with the Scriptural record of His life. He is pictured as “an easy touch,” a sentimental person, a “softie” who loves everybody and who accepts anyone into His fold regardless of the conditions in that individual’s life.
NOT SO! A thousand times NOT SO! Such a presentation of our Divine Lord and Master is a phony, a sham, a fraud! He was a meek man, it is true, but He was never a doormat. Wherever His Father’s words or will were questioned by men, He spoke out fearlessly, setting the matter straight by both word and action. He humbled Himself in that He completely subjected His own will to that of the Father. “I came…not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John6:38). To reach such a place of surrender demanded the renunciation of every carnal desire, ambition, and expression. It was recorded of Him that He loved righteousness, but that He hated iniquity (Heb.1:8,9).
Have you not read of the indignation that stirred Him at the outset of His ministry when He beheld the temple in Jerusalem given over to merchandizing and mercenary trafficking in the animals for sacrifice? The temple had become a place of business where oxen, sheep, and doves were sold – at a price – to make gain for their owners. In their effort to make money, the purpose of the sacrificial offering was utterly forgotten. He told them, “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” “and when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables” (John2:13,16).
At the close of His ministry, He dealt with this same issue again, for the temple had become, in three short years, a center of trade as the merchants and moneychangers crept back into the temple area. No more was it a place of worship; it had become the house of mammon. The spirit of Babylon ruled its court. Burning with anger, He “cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers…and said…My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matt. 21:12-15).
Jesus disclaimed all emphasis upon Himself. He declared repeatedly that He was not the author of the words He spoke nor of the works He did. “The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John14:24). “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me” (John7:16). HE DID NOTHING OF HIMSELF (John8:28; 5:19,30). “For the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me” (John5:36). “If any man will do his will, he shall know the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John7:17). “He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory” (John7:18).
Those whom God has sent are not seeking recognition of themselves as messengers. They are giving a message – His Words. When men come in their own name, as many of these big-name operators do today, they are declaring plainly that they have a message and a program of their own, and not one from above. “I am come in my father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive” (John 5:43). God’s message needs no outstanding personality through whom to launch it.
When they came to John the Baptist with this question: “Who art thou?” he had little to say. In fact, after they had asked this same question four times, John then said: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness” (John1:19-27). He never even mentioned his own name. The message he spoke was of supreme importance, but the name of the messenger was of little significance.
Jesus welcomed the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind, but He could not tolerate the impostors, the frauds, and the hypocrites who made a great display of piety among the religionists of His day. No more scathing words of rebuke were ever spoken by anyone than those hurled in denunciation of the sins of the scribes and the Pharisees in their pretense of a godly walk (Matt.23:2-39). “Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones” (verse 27).
“And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are…as this publican. I fast…I give tithes…And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other” (Luke18:9-14).
The words of Jesus produced an absolute line of demarcation between the righteous and the unrighteous, between the true servant of God and the hypocrite. They provided no place for compromise.
“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Heb.2:1-3).
“Now all these things happened unto them (Israel) for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (ICor.10:11).