Two Minutes With The Bible

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The Value Of Bible Study
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 3:15).

Timothy was a fortunate young man. His father was not a believer in Christ, but his godly mother made up for this lack as, day after day, from his earliest childhood, she taught him the Word of God. As a result he came to know Christ at an early age and later became St. Paul’s faithful co-worker and close associate in making known the wonderful “good news of the grace of God.”

In his very last letter the great Apostle Paul recalls Timothy’s “unfeigned faith… which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice”(II Tim. 1:5).

If only we had more such mothers and grandmothers today, with husbands to help them! If only our American children were not set adrift on a restless sea of human speculation, but were taught the eternal truths of God’s Word, the Bible!

We all need to “know the Holy Scriptures,” not only because they teach reverence for God and build moral character, but most of all because they “are able to make [us] wise unto salvation through faith… in Christ Jesus.”

The theme of the Bible, the Old Testament as well as New, is the Lord Jesus Christ, the riches of whose saving grace are unfolded to us in the Epistles of Paul, the chief of sinners saved by grace. It was to Paul that God committed the preaching of the cross of Christ. He it is who tells us about the riches that flow from Calvary. He it is who tells us, by divine inspiration that:

    “…WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH [CHRIST'S] BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE” (Eph. 1:7).

    “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).

[nChrist]

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Bethlehem's Babe Exalted
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The Bible accounts of the birth of Christ are touching indeed. The angelic announcements, the virgin with child, deeply embarrassed, yet highly honored; the holy Babe in a stable because there was no room in the inn, wrapped in swaddling bands and laid in a manger; the night suddenly turned to day, the multitude of the heavenly host praising God!

Surely it is fitting that we remember all this and celebrate it, especially since our Lord thus humbled Himself that He might die for our sins. Yet here we must be careful not to be led astray, lest we know Him only as a sweet babe in a manger rather than as the mighty Savior that He is. As Americans we celebrate the birthdays of great men, but we do not emphasize their babyhood! We rather honor them for what they have accomplished, rejoicing that such men were born into the world.

Our Lord is no longer a babe and He does not wish to be thought of as a babe, but rather as the One who, having died for our sins at Calvary, now lives to dispense to a world of lost sinners the riches of His grace.

It was from His glory in heaven that He revealed Himself to St. Paul and instructed him to write: “Henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him [so] no more” (II Cor. 5:16).

And again in Hebrews 2:8,9, the Apostle declares: “Now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus…. crowned with glory and honor” as the One who “tasted death for every man.”

It is wonderful to remember our Lord as the Babe born at Bethlehem, but still more wonderful to know Him now as the One who is “able to save unto the uttermost all them that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make inter- cession for them” (Heb. 7:25).

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God's Just Judgments
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth…”

The first 15 verses of Romans 2 always make me think of our Lord’s dealings with the rich young ruler of Luke 18: 18,19. “Good Master,” the ruler had said, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

The Lord answered in effect: “Why do you call Me good? There is none good but God, so if I am good I must be God. But do you want to know what to do to inherit eternal life? Simply obey the Law, the Ten Commandments.”

Our Lord, of course, was trying to show the young man that it was impossible to earn salvation by doing good. To keep the Law was impossible for any child of fallen Adam, and breaking the Law could only bring condemnation. Now this absolute justice is the basis for the believer’s confidence in God.

It is wonderful to know that God does not merely pity sinners and smuggle them into heaven if they are sorry. If He did, someone in heaven could point an accusing finger at this writer and say: “What, you here!” Thank God, He has rather taken us before the bar of justice, pronouncing us guilty, but has stepped down, as it were, to pay the penalty for our sins Himself, then justly declaring us righteous! This is why salvation, in Scripture, is based upon Christ’s payment of our just debt. This is why Rom. 3:24 declares that believers are “justified freely, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

    “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21).

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That Blessed Hope
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


For believers in Christ it would be the most blessed of all if this year turns out to be the year of our Lord’s coming for His own. How long the present dispensation of grace will be prolonged we do not, and cannot, know. Even St. Paul, who was commissioned to make known the glorious truth of the rapture of the Church, did not know. He never dreamed that God would linger in mercy for more than 1900 years, for in I Thes. 4:16-18 he says:

    “We who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall be caught up…”

Thus instructed Bible-believers in every generation since his day have rightly been on the alert for their Lord to come for them, for they know that “the days are evil” and every hour is an hour of grace.

To the Philippians the Apostle wrote: “We look for the Savior,” to the Thessalonians: “[Ye]… wait for His [God's] Son from heaven,” and to Titus he says that we should be “looking for that blessed hope, and the appearing in glory of …our Savior, Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20; I Thes. 1:9,10; Titus 2:11-13).

With the Lord’s coming and the close of “the dispensation of the grace of God” so much nearer than it was in Paul’s day, we say to the unsaved: “Receive not the grace of God in vain…. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation” (II Cor. 6: 1,2).

And to the saved we say: “Buy up the time,” take advantage of every opportunity to win the lost to Christ, for “the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16) and the day of grace may soon be brought to a close.

[nChrist]

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Help In Time Of Need
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Our Chicago papers, recently, carried two interesting front page items; one about Timothy Nolan, a Chicago policeman who pleaded in vain for help while he battled two toughs. Sixty people stood about, watching him fight for his life, but not one of them helped him or even bothered to call another policeman. They just stood and watched.

The other item was about a twelve-year-old girl, named Susan Benedict, who had come from Clinton, Wisconsin, to visit Chicago. As Susan sat in the Greyhound Bus Station at Clark and Randolph, a thief grabbed her purse and ran. Perhaps it was because she was a sweet, defenseless twelve-year-old, but in any case, about a dozen people who witnessed the incident, followed the thief until one got a policeman, who caught the thief and returned the purse to the little girl.

It is a very frightening thing not to be able to find help when it is desperately needed — and just as wonderful to have help when it is needed.

Thank God, He is always ready to help us in our deepest need — the salvation of our souls. Are you afraid that your many sins have placed you in a position beyond help — that you have sinned too greatly for God to forgive you? Then listen to Eph. 1:7, where the Apostle Paul says, by divine inspiration:

    “We have redemption through [Christ's] blood, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE.”

Rom. 5:20,21 will give further encouragement along this line:

    “…WHERE SIN ABOUNDED, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND, THAT AS SIN HATH REIGNED UNTO DEATH, EVEN SO MIGHT GRACE REIGN, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Paul knew this by experience, for he was the leader of the world’s rebellion against Christ, but he was saved in one moment by the grace of God. This is why he says:

    “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” (1 Tim. 1:15).

If God saved the “chief of sinners,” He is surely willing to save you, “for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13).

[nChrist]

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The Rightness Of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


There are many theological words which most people — even most Christian people — do not under-stand. Among these is the Bible word “righteousness”. Actually, though, this word is very simple and we ought to understand about God’s righteousness even before we learn of His love.

Righteousness is simply an old word for rightness. When we say that God is righteous, we simply mean that what He does is always right; that He will not and cannot do anything that is not right. This is why Paul declares in Romans 1:16, 17:

    “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…FOR THEREIN IS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS [rightness] OF GOD REVEALED…”

We are proud to proclaim the gospel of the grace of God because it emphasizes God’s rightness. The gospel does not tell us that God will overlook our sins or wink at them and smuggle us into heaven. It doesn’t tell us that He will forgive us if we are sorry enough or do enough good deeds to counterbalance our sins. By no means.

The “gospel of the grace of God” is based on His rightness. It is the wonderful message that “Christ died for our sins”, that He paid for them Himself so that He might justly offer us forgiveness and declare us righteous.

Romans 3:26 puts it beautifully. There the apostle declares that since our sins were paid for by Christ at Calvary, God can now “be just — and the Justifier of him who believes in Jesus”.

For centuries religious people have said to each other: “We must be truly sorry for our sins and do all the good we can and surely God will forgive and accept us”. But this is not the gospel. The gospel gives us more solid ground to plant our feet upon. It says to every man, woman and child: “Your sins were PAID FOR by Christ at Calvary. Trust in Him and you will be saved”. This is gospel [good news] indeed, for it is based on the just payment of the penalty for sin.

[nChrist]

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Can The Ten Commandments Save?
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


St. Paul pointed out a basic Scriptural — and logical — fact, when he said:

    “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified” (Rom. 2:13).

Many people suppose that God gave us the Ten Commandments to help us to be good. The fact is, however, that He gave them to show us that we are bad. Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:19 and a hundred other Bible passages teach this clearly.

How can the Law be of any advantage to a law-breaker?

How can it justify us unless we keep it — perfectly?

Do you recall the woman caught in adultery, in John 8? She was a Jewess. She was better off than the Gentiles, for she had the law of Moses to show her right from wrong, but this didn’t justify her; it condemned her. So her “advantage” turned out to be a serious disadvantage, for “not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”

James 1:23,24 says that one who knows the Law but doesn’t obey it, is like a man looking into a mirror, seeing his dirty face, and then walking away without doing anything about it. This is why Rom. 2:14,15 declares that the consciences of the heathen confirm what the Law says, “their thoughts the meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one another.”

Those in heathen lands know that it is wrong to lie and steal and commit adultery, yet they know nothing about the law of God, or the Ten Commandments. How, then, do they know that these things are wrong? God made them with this knowledge; He gave to them, and to us all, conscience, a sense of blameworthiness in doing wrong.

How good to know the One who has paid the penalty for our sins so that our hearts may be cleansed from “an evil conscience” (Heb. 10:22)!

    “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3).

    “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

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Church-Going
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


There is an important passage on church-going in Hebrews 10:23-25:

    “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering…. 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… “

We are often urged, these days: “Go to the church of your choice.” The implication is that one church is as good as another — just so you go to church. But this is not so.

The Scriptures teach that the true Church is composed of those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior who died for their sins. Such are told to “hold fast” the faith which they have professed, without wavering. This must come first, for it is only those who have first exercised such faith who can meet together with unity of mind and purpose to encourage each other “to love and to good works.”

It is a truly blessed experience for those who have been saved by the grace of God, to assemble to express their praise together in song, to lift their hearts together in prayer and to join together in the study of God’s Word so as to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In these days of tension and confusion there is a tendency for even the most sincere Christians to be so occupied with temporal things that they deprive themselves of the encouragement and spiritual uplift that comes from getting together with other Christians. But these are just the times when true believers need the encouragement of each other’s company and should particularly remember the admonition of Scripture not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.”

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Family Survival In A Nuclear Age
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


There has been a great deal of discussion of late as to whether property owners should build fall-out shelters for their own families. Some have advocated building such shelters and providing them with all the necessities for survival, including even weapons to keep others from intruding or overcrowding the quarters! Others object to this, however, as a savage viewpoint, and feel it would hardly be worth survival to have to turn a deaf ear to the cries of neighbors or friends who might need shelter too.

Soviet Russia, however, is not the only threat to family survival. There are other forces at work, just as deadly but generally ignored. When this writer was a boy, dad read the Bible and we prayed and gave thanks to God at every meal. One result of this has been that today not one member of our large family shares the fears of the world as to the atomic bomb.

America as a whole is not so well off. She is departing from God and the Bible. As a result, a constantly increasing number of its families are being broken up through juvenile delinquency, alcoholism, dope, divorce, etc., and with these a chilling fear of the future.

St. Paul said to the Philippian jailor: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31). This, of course, does not mean that if a man trusts Christ as his Savior, the rest of the family will be automatically saved. The sense is rather: “Believe in Christ and you will be saved, and this goes for your household too — if they believe they will be saved” (Acts 16:31). As Rom. 14:12 says: “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God,” but it is a wonderful fact that nothing is so apt to keep a family together as mutual faith in Christ and a mutual love for the Bible. Let’s be more concerned about this type of family survival. Let’s make God our “fall-out shelter.”

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Enemies Of God And Worshippers Of Satan
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “…we were enemies…” (Rom. 5:10).

    “…the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not…” (II Cor. 4:4).

Many religious but unsaved people will not accept the fact that they are enemies of God, and fail to understand why the Bible should insist that they are.But the God who says that they are sinners, worthy of everlasting judgment; that their only hope of salvation lies in the One who poured out His life’s blood to pay the penalty for their sins — this God, the God of the Bible, they cannot abide. Let one of His servants tell them what He says about them and they are insulted. When this God, the true God, refuses to accept their “good” works or their “righteous” conduct they react like Cain, of whom we read: “And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell” (Gen. 4:5). They simply will not bow to this God, and their attitude betrays their enmity against Him.

But why will they not turn away from their self-righteousness and trust in Christ, who died for their sins?

Simply because they worship Satan, “the god of this age,” who “hath blinded the minds of those who believe not.” Worship Satan? This too is hard for the unregenerate man to believe about himself. As he has his own conception of God, he also has his own conception of Satan — a wrong one.

Unbelievers do not know that the real Satan, the Satan of the Bible, has a vast wardrobe and, in this dispensation of grace, doubtless appears most often as “an angel of light” with “ministers of righteousness” (II Cor. 11:14,15). This Satan they do indeed worship. They adore him, and try to live by his precepts, convinced that the way to salvation is to do and be good.

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Deserts vs Grace
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


It is an interesting fact that in this day of godlessness and lawlessness so much is being said about what we all deserve! Ads in the newspapers and commercials on radio and TV ask:

“Don’t you deserve the very finest automobile?”

“Don’t your children deserve the best?”

“Doesn’t your baby deserve Pampers?”

And even, “Doesn’t your dog deserve Alpo?”

Well, do you really deserve the finest car? Please don’t answer that! Do your children deserve the best — always? If so you surely have model children — not at all like their parents! And does your baby deserve Pampers? That’s funny! And does your dog deserve Alpo? That’s ridiculous! Dogs do not “love” or obey you from any moral consideration, nor, for that matter, does your baby, lovable as the darling is. And as to you and your children — including the baby, the Bible has something to say on this subject.

The Bible says that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men for that ALL have sinned [i.e., in Adam]” (Rom. 5:12). You and I were “in Adam” when he sinned. When he sinned, we sinned. Deny this and you might as well agree with the murderer who argued: “My feet and legs didn’t do it; my ears and nose didn’t do it; only my one hand and one or two other parts of my body did it, so the rest should go free.”

We believers in Christ should thank God that our blessed Lord took upon Him our just deserts when He died for our sins at Calvary. This is why God’s Word says:

    “We declare, I say, at this time, His righteousness for the remission of sins… that [God] might be just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.

    “Where is boasting then? It is excluded” (Rom. 3:25-27).

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You Can't Get By With This
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


One of Pastor Stam’s favorite jokes went something like this:

Teacher: “Johnny, what’s the difference between a pronoun and a preposition?”

Johnny: “Yeah, that’s what I say, what’s the difference!”

Despite Johnny’s indifference, we know there is a great deal of difference between pronouns and prepositions! These parts of speech are important, especially when it comes to Bible study. For instance, Pastor Stam once wrote:

    “Not once does Paul in his epistles teach that members of the Body of Christ are baptized with or in the Spirit.”

In response to this, we sometimes get letters asking about this verse:

    “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…” (I Cor. 12:13).

But a close look will reveal an important difference in the preposition used in each case. The Apostle Paul taught that believers today are baptized “by” the Spirit, but Pastor Stam doesn’t say we’re not baptized by the Spirit, he says we are not baptized “with” the Spirit. No contradiction here!

Speaking of Christ, John the Baptist predicted:

    “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 3:11).

This prophecy was fulfilled at Pentecost, where “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues” (Acts 2:4). It is important to notice that Christ is the Baptizer here, and that He baptized people with the Spirit. This is often confused with I Corinthians 12:13, but in this passage the Spirit is the Baptizer, baptizing people into the Body. That’s quite different than what happened at Pentecost, where the Lord was the Baptizer, baptizing people with the Spirit, enabling them to speak in tongues.

This explains why believers today are not able to speak in languages they never studied, as they did at Pentecost, for we do not have their baptism. But if we do not have their baptism, we must also conclude that at Pentecost they did not have our baptism. That is, we are not baptized by Christ with the Spirit, and they were not baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ.

We realize this runs contrary to the common teaching that the Church began at Pentecost, where it is said that believers were first baptized into the Body, but we believe the difference in prepositions used in these passages is just one of many evidences that the Body of Christ began later, with the raising up of Paul.

You just can’t get by with mixing with and by!

[nChrist]

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The Stars Of Messiah's Reign
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Dan. 12:3).

The day is coming when redeemed Israel and all the saints of the Old Testament times will taste the joy of Messiah’s glorious reign. But some — the wise — will be honored more than others and will shine in that day as the stars of the firmament.

Who are these “wise” ones? Our text answers: “They that turn many to righteousness”. Not those who merely knew all the technicalities of the prophetic program, but remained unmoved, but those who, understanding the prophetic plan and recognizing that God must judge sin, did something about it and labored to turn many to righteousness.

These will be the stars of Messiah’s reign.

What a lesson this passage holds for us who have trusted Christ as our Saviour in this present “dispensation of grace”!

When we stand before the Lord, all saved by His abundant grace, not all will be equally honored. Outshining the rest will be “the wise”, who, understanding God’s message and program of grace and, “buying up the time because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16), URGED THE LOST TO ACCEPT “the gift of righteousness”by faith in Christ. Of these we may well say by way of adaption:

    “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”

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Which Works to Walk In
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


Every true believer knows we are saved by grace through faith, apart from good works (Rom. 4:5; Titus 3:5). This does not mean, however, that good works have no place in the dispensation of grace, for right after affirming that we are saved without works (Eph. 2:8,9), Paul quickly asserts that, as new creatures in Christ (II Cor. 5:17), we are created to walk in the good works He has ordained for us (Eph. 2:10). If you have ever wondered what kind of works God expects us to “maintain” (Titus 3:8,14) in our Christian walk, we hope the following brief study of the phrase “good work(s)” in Scripture will help.

For the Ladies

To begin with, in Acts 9 we meet Dorcas, a woman “full of good works” (9:36). She was evidently quite the seamstress, for her good works are later defined by a reference to “the coats and garments which Dorcas made” (v. 39). In those days, it could be said of many a virtuous woman that “she seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands” (Prov. 31:13 cf. vv. 22,24). Thus we know that when a Christian woman performs the many duties of a wife and mother, she is walking in the good works in which she was created to walk.

To this must be added the testimony of the Apostle Paul, who speaks of widows who were “well reported of for good works” (I Tim. 5:10). He then goes on to describe things like bringing up children, hospitality, and caring for the sick as good works with which godly women can adorn themselves (I Tim. 2:9,10).

For the Men

In the natural accompaniment to these instructions to godly women, Paul instructs the man of God to “labour, working with his hands the thing which is good” (Eph. 4:28.). Well, if Christian men are told to work the thing which is good, wouldn’t going to work be a good work? You would think so, especially since God plans to reward men for “whatsoever good thing any man doeth” on the job (Eph. 6:8.).

We doubt that most Christians consider these everyday responsibilities as good works, but God says they are. And if being good husbands and fathers and wives and mothers be viewed as good works, it is not a stretch to suggest that being a good citizen would also be found in that category, especially since we are told “to obey magistrates” and, in so doing, “be ready to every good work” (Titus 3:1).

For the Rich

Next, Paul told Timothy to “charge them that are rich…that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate” (I Tim. 6:17,18.). Obviously the financial support of the Lord’s work and less fortunate brethren also constitute good works in God’s eyes (cf. II Cor. 9:6-8.). While few of us are rich, all of us can participate in good works of this sort in some measure.

This then opens up a wide field in the category of good works, for we can give our time, our talent, and our efforts to the Lord’s work as well as our finances, and there are innumerable ways we can “do good unto all men, especially…the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10).

For Us All

In time past, rebuilding the temple was a “good work” (Neh. 2:18.). Today God’s temple is found in the physical bodies of individual believers (I Cor. 6:19,20), and in the Body of Christ (3:16,17), and so you would think that building up believers and local churches would be good works today. If ministering to the physical body of the Lord was considered a “good work” (Matt. 26:6-10), surely ministering to the Body of Christ would be as well. If the Lord defined “good works” as feeding the multitudes, opening the eyes of the blind, and helping the lame to walk (John 10:32), then surely “to feed the church of God” (Acts 20:28.) by opening the eyes of their understanding (Eph. 1:18.) so they can “walk worthy” of their vocation (Eph. 4:1) would be good works as well.

Since “all Scripture” is given that we might be “throughly furnished unto all good works” (II Tim. 3:16,17), then the reproof, correction and instruction of the saints mentioned here must also be considered “good works.” Of course, it goes without saying that “if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work” (I Tim. 3:1). In this passage, Paul is talking about the qualifications of a spiritual leader. Thus if a man is interested in doing good works, we believe the pastoral ministry tops the list of good works in which he can engage for the Lord.

So how about it, Christian friend? Are you walking in the good works you were created to walk in? It is your only hope of a happy, fulfilling Christian life. No creature of God is happy unless he is doing what he was created to do. Birds were created to fly, horses were created to run, and neither are happy when kept from doing what they were created to do. Your only hope for a truly satisfying Christian life is to be “fruitful in every good work” (Col. 1:10)! What’s more, it is the only way to please the One “who gave Himself for us, that He might…purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14).

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Sharing Right Division
by Pastor John Fredericksen


Do you remember how dispensational truth was first shared with you? This writer cannot think about rightly dividing God’s Word without remembering the wonderfully gracious way these truths were patiently shared with him and his wife. No one acted like they were superior to us, that they were smarter than we, nor did they attempt to attack key doctrines where we might disagree. No one sought to win a scriptural argument. We were not embarrassed by public questioning. There were no threats, implied or otherwise, that fellowship might be withdrawn if our convictions remained unchanged, nor was there any hint of frustration with our understandings.

Those who first shared dispensational truths with us did so as it should be done, in a gracious and godly manner. As the saying goes, “You can attract more bees with honey than vinegar.” So, those who ministered to us did so in an extremely loving manner. They followed the instruction Paul gave to Timothy: “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves” (II Tim. 2:24-25).

Nonetheless, there certainly was opposition on our part when these servants of the Lord began to shed new light on traditionally held doctrines. Yet, with tenderness, they put Colossians 4:6 into practice: “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” These discussions were frequent and sometimes lasted into the wee hours of the morning, but there was diligence on the part of these soldiers of Christ. Their method of ministry made the doctrines they believed in palatable to us. We thank God this was the approach that was taken with us, and it is probably the only one that would have worked. As we read this testimony, may each of us be encouraged to share dispensational truth with others and always be certain to do so in such a tender way that we “adorn the doctrine” we believe.