Two Minutes With The Bible

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True Thanksgiving
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Many people entertain only vague notions about thanksgiving, just as they do about faith.

They confuse faith with optimism, will power, presumption, imagination, and all sorts of other things. A doctor tells his patient that but for his faith, he never would have come through his illness. Somehow the patient was “just sure” he would recover. A smiling mother encourages her married daughter to “have faith, that everything will turn out all right.” But faith in God is believing God; believing what He has said. True faith is based on the written Word of God (See Rom. 10:17).

But unregenerate men have vague ideas about thanksgiving. A man escapes some great harm and thanks his “lucky stars.” Another says: “I’m grateful for a healthy body,” but to whom is he grateful? He doesn’t say. In many cases it doesn’t even occur to him to ask. He’s “just thankful”!

How refreshing, then, it is to open our Bibles, especially to the Epistles of Paul, the chief of sinners, saved by grace, and to see him giving thanks for specific blessings, and to a specific Person — God!

    “Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet [fit] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:12,13).

    “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!” (II Cor. 9:15).

    “Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory!” (I Cor. 15:57).

    “Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph!” (II Cor. 2:14).

It is our prayer for all our readers that you may be especially thankful for “the gift of God [which] is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

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Can The Law Save?
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


This writer does not wear clerical garb, but somehow when he visits a church away from home, someone is apt to step up to him and ask: “Are you by any chance a minister?”

Acts 13 tells how this once happened to Paul and Barnabas. They had entered a synagogue as strangers and simply sat down to listen. After “the reading of the law and the prophets,” however, the leaders of the service sent someone to ask them: “Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on” (Verses 14 and 15). Somehow Paul and Barnabas had been recognized as men of God.

The custom at that time was to read a passage from the Law and then some passages in which the prophets urged the people to observe the Law. This was followed by an exhortation by one or more of the religious leaders present.

Well, Paul did have a word of exhortation for the people, but it would be somewhat of a surprise. Getting to the point of his message, he preached to them Christ and the resurrection, and closed his talk with the words: “Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses”(Verses 38 and 39).

This was the gist of his “exhortation”: Don’t trust in the Law for salvation — trust in Christ, who fulfilled the Law and died for your sins. This makes sense, and it agrees with the Bible as a whole. “By the Law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20): “it was added because of transgressions” (Gal.3:19): “for as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse” (Gal. 3:10); but “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law” (Rom. 3:28 ).

It should be obvious that the Law can only condemn sinners, but it is also a fact that Christ died for sinners, to save them from the condemnation of the Law. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

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Grace Abounding
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


In a letter to his spiritual son, Timothy, Paul wrote, some 1900 years ago, about his conversion:

    “I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. AND THE GRACE OF OUR LORD WAS EXCEEDING ABUNDANT…” (I Tim. 1:13,14).

And he follows this with the now-famous declaration:

    “THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING, AND WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION, THAT CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS, OF WHOM I AM CHIEF” (Ver 15).

Upon reading this statement by Paul, those who know their Bibles will immediately recall the words of Rom. 5:20,21:

    “…the law entered, that the offence might abound, BUT WHERE SIN ABOUNDED, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND; THAT AS SIN HATH REIGNED… SO MIGHT GRACE REIGN…”

These two passages from the pen of Paul have a closer connection than may appear on the surface. The Apostle Paul, once Saul of Tarsus, had led his nation and the world in rebellion against Christ. “As for Saul,” we read in Acts 8:3, “he made havoc of the church,” and he himself testified to the Galatians: “Ye have heard… how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and laid it waste” (Gal. 1:13).

Yet God, in infinite mercy, had saved Saul, not only for Saul’s own sake, but to make him the living demonstration of His grace. Thus in writing to Timothy, the Apostle goes on to explain:

    “Howbeit, FOR THIS CAUSE I OBTAINED MERCY, THAT IN ME FIRST JESUS CHRIST MIGHT SHOW FORTH ALL LONGSUFFER1NG, FOR A PATTERN TO THEM WHICH SHOULD HEREAFTER BELIEVE ON HIM TO LIFE EVERLASTING” (I Tim. 1:16).

Let us, then, take our places with Saul, the sinner, and find salvation by grace through Christ, the Savior. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

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Why God Waits
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


St. Peter was not wrong when he declared at Pentecost that the last days had begun (Acts 2:16,17). They had indeed begun, but God had a secret plan to give the world a period of grace before putting down its rebellion and sending Christ to reign.

This secret purpose concerning “the dispensation of the grace of God” is the subject of Paul’s epistles. However, it is interesting to see how Peter’s last message explains the reason for this interruption in God’s prophesied program and the delay in Christ’s return to reign. First, he says in II Peter 3:8:

    “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years years as one day.”

Mark well, this is not our feeble explanation now as to the delay in Christ’s return. This statement was made at the beginning of this time of waiting, at the dawn of the age of grace. But let us go on with Peter’s declaration:

    “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise… but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (Ver. 9).

So the delay in Christ’s return to judge and reign should not be counted “slackness” or laxness, but longsuffering. Thus the Apostle goes on to say:

    “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation…”

Where did Peter get this information? How did he know about “the dispensation of the grace of God”? Verse 15 explains:

    “Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you.”

To Paul particularly was committed “the gospel of the grace of God” which we proclaim today (Acts 20:24). Peter recognized this (Gal. 2:2,7,9), and closed his second epistle with the exhortation:

    “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Pet. 3:18 ).

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Have You Heard?
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward” (Eph. 3:2).

Could it be that those to whom Paul addressed his Ephesian letter had not yet heard that God had committed to him “the dispensation of grace”?

Next to the death and resurrection of Christ, the conversion of Paul and his commission to proclaim “the gospel of the grace of God” was the greatest event in history . The apostles at Jerusalem had recognized the importance of Paul’s part in the divine program. They themselves had at first been sent by Christ into “all the world,” yet in Gal. 2:9 we find James, Peter and John publicly shaking hands with Paul in a solemn agreement that he should henceforth be the apostle to the nations.

Could it be that some twelve years later, when he wrote the Ephesian letter, there were any who professed the name of Christ who had not heard of Paul’s special place in the program of God as the apostle of grace? Little wonder his words “if ye have heard” carry with them a touch of reproach.

It is possible, of course, that there were some among them, but recently brought into the Church, who had not heard, but what seems utterly incredible is that there should be even one believer at this late date who has not heard that after Christ and His kingdom had been rejected and the world was ripe for prophesied judgment to fall, God intervened, saving Saul, His chief enemy on earth, and sending him forth with “the good news of the grace of God.”

This good news is based, of course, upon the fact that since Christ was the spotless Lamb of God, His death is accepted by God as full satisfaction for the sinner. Thus Paul, by divine inspiration, declares that believers are “justified freely by His [God's] grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

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Forgiveness That Cannot Be Revoked
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Centuries before Christ, the Psalmist said:

    “If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities… who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee…” (Psa. 130:3,4).

It is doubtful whether the Psalmist understood the basis upon which a just God, through the ages, has so graciously forgiven sins, but this has since been revealed in the Epistles of Paul.

There we read: “God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32). But this is only part of the truth, for God forgives sinners, not merely because Christ desires this, but because Christ paid for their sins and purchased their redemption. Thus Eph. 1:7 declares: “In [Christ] we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

And thus Paul could proclaim to his hearers in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch:

    “Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

    “And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38,39).

Obviously such forgiveness can never be rescinded or revoked, for it is based upon the full and complete payment of our whole debt of sin by “the precious blood of Christ.”

Sad to say, many people do not feel they need forgiveness, for they have not seen themselves as they truly are in the sight of a holy God, but those who are conscious of their sins and are willing to say with the prodigal son: “I have sinned,” may experience the peace and joy of sins forgiven by faith in Christ who paid sin’s penalty for us.

Here is forgiveness that can never be revoked because it is based on the “one offering [of Christ at Calvary]” by which our Lord “hath perfected forever them that are sanctified [i.e., set apart as His own]” (Heb. 10:14).

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Children And Grown-ups
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The Lord Jesus said to a religious leader of His day: “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). All true Christians have been born again by the Spirit of God (Titus 3:5). They are therefore the children of God (Rom. 8:16).

Children are a joy in any normal household, but it is a tragedy when a child remains a child, physically, mentally or both. It is a tragedy too, that so many Christians, truly born again, remain spiritual babes — they do not grow. They know that Christ died for their sins but have made no progress in grace or in the knowledge of the Word. To such Paul wrote:

    “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual [men], but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear [digest] it, neither yet now are ye able” (I Cor. 3:1,2).

Thus those who, spiritually undeveloped, were able to digest only the milk, or the simple things, of the Scriptures, were called “carnal” and “babes,” in contrast to those “spiritual” believers who had grown in grace and were able to assimilate the deeper, richer truths of the Word of God.

This is not a compliment to those who constantly boast that they are satisfied with “the simple things,” and fail to study God’s Word, as II Tim. 2:15 commands. To such Paul writes, by divine inspiration:

    “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again… and are become such as have need of milk… For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the Word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat [solid food] belongeth to them that are of full age…” (Heb. 5:12-14).

A new-born babe in Christ is a joy to behold, but every born-again Christian should grow through the study of the Word. I Pet. 2:2 says:

    “As newborn babes desire the sincere [pure] milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.”

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Reward Or Loss
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Fortunately, salvation is by grace, through faith, and we do not doubt that even in the dark ages many were saved in spite of their blind leaders and their limited knowledge.

However, we fear that the spiritual leaders of our day will fare little better than the leaders of their day when they appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ, for they have certainly not taken heed to build according to the plans and specifications committed to Paul as God’s appointed “masterbuilder” of the Church (I Cor. 3:10).

Just think a moment. Is the Church today mostly composed of “gold, silver and precious stones” (morally and spiritually), or of “wood, hay and stubble” (I Cor. 3:12)? Surely many a man who enjoys prominence and popularity today will weep in that day to see his works go up in flames, as it were (I Cor. 3:13). It will be a dreadful thing to “suffer loss” when the rewards for Christian service are given out (Ver. 15).

Christian ministers, missionaries, evangelists, Bible teachers, we appeal to you in behalf of a stricken Church. They are God’s building — we are the builders (Vers. 9,10). “We are laborers together with God.” What a calling! Paul, as an instructed “masterbuilder,” has given us the plans and specifications in his epistles. We should be intelligent workmen; workmen whom God can approve, who will not need to be ashamed when the divine Building Inspector examines our workmanship.

There is only one way. Take your hand off the public pulse (Gal. 1:10), cease giving so much attention to organizing and advertising — and compromising — and begin to diligently, prayerfully obey II Tim. 2:15:

    “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.”

We will not always be praised for teaching the Word of God, rightly divided, but God’s blessing is worth far more than human acclaim.

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The Grace Of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


In the Bible, the grace of God is His loving favor toward fallen man. St. Paul has more to say about grace than any other Bible writer, opening every one of his epistles with the declaration: “Grace be unto you and peace.”

Little wonder, for he himself was God’s greatest demonstration of salvation by grace. In I Tim. 1:13,14, he says:

    “I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy… and THE GRACE OF OUR LORD WAS EXCEEDING ABUNDANT….”

After years of service and suffering for Christ, he declared:

    “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify THE GOSPEL [GOOD NEWS] OF THE GRACE OF GOD”(Acts 20:24).

Salvation is wholly by God’s grace, not partly by man’s works, for in Rom. 11:6 we read: “…if [it be] by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.”

And in Rom. 4:4,5: “…to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Thus salvation is “not of works” but “unto good works” (Eph. 2:8-10). Good works is the fruit, not the root.

“All have sinned,” says Rom. 3:23 but, thank God, all may be “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

Thus it is God’s purpose “that in the ages to come He might show THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).

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What The World Needs
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Strange, is it not, that when men are successful, they generally credit themselves liberally for their success but when things go wrong they begin to blame others — even God.

The writer does not have up-to-date information about two particular plots of ground in Moscow, but some years ago one of these was a beautiful garden, the other a patch of weeds. Above each there was a sign. Over the one: “This plot is cared for by the United Soviet Socialist Republic,” over the other: “This plot is cared for by God”!

Evidently the atheistic Soviets who hatched this “bright idea” did not stop to think that only God could produce the beautiful flowers in the USSR plot. All their watering and cultivating would have been in vain except for the God they deny.

As to the other plot, they probably did not even know that even in Eden God put the garden in man’s charge “to dress it and to keep it” (Gen. 2:15), and later, when man sinned, God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake” (Gen. 3:17). This is why the Soviets must employ a gardener to control the weeds in even their garden! How wrong and foolish, then, for man ever to blame God for anything that goes wrong for him or causes him trouble!

Actually, when I have been asked: “If God is a God of love, why does He allow all this trouble and misery, and all this wickedness?” I have replied: “That’s easy. When God sent His Son into this world offering peace and righteousness and prosperity they cried: ‘Away with Him’ and nailed Him to a cross. If the Bible is true, and in this case it has surely proved to be true, how can this world expect peace while they still reject the Prince of Peace?”

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The Folly Of Worldly Wisdom
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Has not the world made great progress, intellectually, since Paul’s day? Is this not evident on every hand? Of course! For one thing, our physicists have taught us how to kill each other much faster now. Moscow, London or Washington could be wiped out in a few minutes, and this is a considerable saving in time!

And think what has been accomplished in the field of electronics! We can now keep intelligent people glued to their TV sets for hours on end, their eyes riveted to shows which are often unwholesome, but sometimes at least entertaining and occasionally even informative. And think of the many time-saving devices in our homes! We are all saving so much time that we cannot even be hospitable to each other and our mental institutions are over-crowded with patients who have collapsed from enjoying all this leisure time.

Then consider our achievements in transportation! Our thoroughfares are crowded with automobiles whose drivers are getting jangled nerves in traffic jams and choking in the deadly carbon monoxide fumes, or else racing at high speeds, which is great fun until suddenly some object looms up ahead as if from nowhere. And the airplane! This is really something! We can now fly through the air with so much noise and commotion that innocent people for miles around our larger airports are kept awake nights. Of course, the minority should be willing to suffer cheerfully for the majority and it is important that great numbers of people get places fast, fast, fast.

But all this is nothing compared with what is going on in outer space. We now have all sorts of things orbiting around out there — and it’s not all debris. It includes some very sensitive instruments, serving us faithfully from day to day. Indeed, men from our earth have actually landed on the moon and have brought some of its rocks and dust back with them. Soon, maybe, we will have people from beautiful New England, or the breath-taking Rockies, or the lovely shores of Oregon, living on its barren wastes. Wonderful prospect! And we can always get the necessary billions from the taxpayers.

But the best of it is that while we have aspired to reach the moon, and even Mars, we’ve got a Great Society going on earth; a Society whose wild pagan music has all but replaced the beautiful melodies and harmonies of the classics, and whose twisted “art” reflects the bewildered confusion of our times; a Society in which children and young people are corrupted, women are robbed and raped, and men, women and children are murdered in the streets. Oh, it’s wonderful! The young people demonstrating at our universities for the right to use filthy language if they want to, and demanding a greater voice in running our institutions of learning; the minority groups marching to protest their various grievances, the rioting and bloodshed, the burning and looting! And meantime, ever so quietly, our most sophisticated mob syndicates are running fine motels and other business organizations — and pouring an ever-increasing flow of narcotics, pornographic literature, etc., into our enlightened community, judges and juries doing what they can to favor the criminals and, should any of them land behind prison bars, the parole boards are there to help get them released as soon as possible, so that our happy society may benefit from their experience and our mental and penal institutions may be further enlarged. Surely we’ve never had it so good.

Thanks be to God for the truth of Gal. 1:4:

    “[Christ] gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world [or, "age"] according to the will of God and our Father.”

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Spiritual Understanding
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Honest, prayerful study of the Word brings us to spiritual maturity and understanding. But does it not require superior intellectual powers to understand these “deep things of God”? No indeed. Superior intellects among unsaved men are unable to appreciate even the “simple” truths of the Word, for “they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14). And as to the “mystery” made known to Paul by the glorified Lord, the Apostle declares that it is now “revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:5).

The mystery is not merely something more difficult to grasp intellectually, for the Apostle specifically states that it is “not the wisdom of this world” but “the wisdom of God” (I Cor. 2:6,7), and that only by the Spirit of God can it be understood and appreciated. This explains why many of the humblest believers rejoice in the mystery and understand it so clearly, while so many great theologians and religious leaders fail to grasp it and keep confusing it with God’s prophesied program regarding the kingdom of Christ.

The mystery is not “hard to be understood” because men are slow of mind to understand, but because they are “slow of heart to believe,” because the devil, who “hath blinded the minds of them that believe not” also seeks to keep God’s people from seeing and rejoicing in the truth of the mystery with its riches of grace, its “one body” and its “one baptism.” This is why the Apostle prayed so fervently that the believers to whom he ministered might be given “spiritual understanding” to take in the glorious message he was commissioned to proclaim (See Eph. 1:16-19; Col. 1:9,10).

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What Was Accomplished At Calvary?
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


If the Bible makes anything clear, it is the fact that the secret of all God’s good news to men is centered in Calvary. It was because Christ was to die for sin that God could proclaim good news to sinners down through the ages.

It was not until some time after the crucifixion, however, that “the preaching of the cross” was widely proclaimed as a message by Paul in “the gospel [good news] of the grace of God” (I Cor. 1:18; Acts 20:24).

The proclamation of “the gospel of the grace of God” was the natural accompaniment to the revelation of the cross as the secret of God’s good news to man. In this proclamation of His over-abounding grace to sinners, everything centers in the cross.

According to Paul’s epistles “we have redemption through His [Christ's] blood” (Eph.1:7), we are “justified by His blood” (Rom. 5:9), “reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Rom.5:10), “made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13), and “made the righteousness of God in Him” because “God hath made Him to be sin for us” (II Cor. 5:21).

The “covenant” of the Law was abolished by the cross (Col.2:14), the curse of the Law was removed by the cross (Gal. 3:13), the “middle wall of partition” was broken down by the cross (Eph. 2:14,15), and believers in Christ are “reconciled to God in one body by the cross” (Eph. 2:16). Little wonder Paul calls this message “the preaching of the cross”!

To the believers it is thrilling indeed, and how thankful we should be, to see the cross as God’s reply to Satan when, at first glance, it had appeared that the cross was Satan’s greatest triumph.

[nChrist]

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Don't Pay Attention To Stories
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “Neither give heed to fables…” (1 Tim. 1:4)

As the present-day English reader comes upon the word “fables” in the Authorized Version, he is apt to think of Aesop’s Fables, but these were illustrations, while the original word muthois means simply stories, including stories of imagined incidents or events.

There are two types of stories that have exerted an amazing influence upon twentieth century Christendom. One is the novel, the other the promotional story. In considering the above passage, this writer examined the contents of the popular Christian periodicals coming to his desk and was astonished to find how many of them were largely filled with fiction and with stories written to promote projects or viewpoints. The Apostle says about such stories that they raise questions but do not answer them, for stories really prove nothing. This is also true of many Christian films.

Many Christian novels have indeed exerted a savory influence upon their readers — when they have been founded upon Scriptural truths and principles. Obviously, however, an author can make his novel “prove” exactly what he wishes to prove, for the novel involves us in a world of make-believe. Thus a novel can be dangerous to Christian faith and practice.

The promotional story holds, perhaps, an even more prominent place in our popular Christian magazines. No one can object to factual reports of what God has wrought, but too many of these stories are nothing more than promotional efforts. Many of these “success stories” are so successful that thoughtful readers question their validity and are apt to lay them aside without even finishing them. Less discerning readers, however, are often deeply moved by them.

We are well aware that our objections are not popular, but we are not trying to be popular; we are trying to help sincere Christians find their way back, step by step, to renewed spiritual power. This power has been too long frittered away by substituting the will of man for the Word of God.

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What About Me, And The Future?
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Is it not amazing that men who can produce intricate electronic mechanisms, build giant sky-scrapers, fly men to the moon and back — is it not amazing that such men often do not even know what will finally become of themselves! And what is more amazing still is that most of them do not even try seriously to find out.

They are intelligent enough to plan carefully for the future where temporal affairs are concerned, but foolish enough to neglect their eternal welfare. They make plans for themselves in case they become ill and need additional funds for surgery, medicine and hospital care. They even make plans for their loved ones in case of death and bereavement, but fail to ask themselves: “What will become of meafter death?”

Daily “the wise of this world” witness the truth of Hebrews 9:27, that “it is appointed unto men once to die”, and most of them know that the Bible adds: “after this the judgment”. They may hope that this is but a false alarm, but they do not know. They can only wonder and worry. Hebrews 2:15 declares that “through fear of death” they are “all their lifetime subject to bondage”. Like Adam, they run and hide from God instead of running to Him and asking: “What must I do to be saved?”Too cowardly to face up to their own grave, no hope beyond the tomb — too afraid, generally, to even discuss death.

The believer in the Word of God is not left thus in the dark. He glories in the truth of the passages from which we have quoted in part above. We quote them now in full:

    Hebrews 2:14,15:  ”Forasmuch then as the children [of Adam] are partakers of flesh and blood, He [Christ] also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

    “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

    Hebrews 9:27,28:  “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

    “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without [lit., "apart from"] sin unto salvation.”