The articles included here have been submitted to the Banner of Love but due to space available have not been printed to date. The Banner feels that these articles are worthy of being available for all to read. To that end we have decided to put them up on the web at this location until they are able to be used in the paper. At that time they will be moved to the appropriate issue.
Updated 06/22/03
By Elder Mark Green
"Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word
of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation" (Heb.
13.7). God's ministers are to be an ensample or pattern for God's people. They
are to be men of faith, or they never should have been ordained. As they follow
God faithfully, God's people should follow them. "Be ye followers of me, even as
I also am of Christ" (1 Cor. 11.1), Paul charged the Corinthians.
Notice carefully, however, that
Paul charges the Hebrews to follow the faith of their bishops or elders, but not
their errors. Ministers do make errors, and they regret it when they do, and
their daily prayer is that
their mistakes would not harm the flock, for they are aware of the dire charge
against those who would cause one of God's little ones to stumble. No true
minister of the gospel would ever want God's people to follow him into error or
sin. God forbid!
Church members must be
discriminating and watchful. Even the best of men make mistakes. When they do,
we need to pray for them and perhaps admonish them, but we should not imitate
them. Follow their faith, but not their errors.
“As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” (Romans 9:13-14) I suppose that this question has been asked time and time again down through the years and it is still being asked today. When we advocate that God loves some and hates others it seems to bring out the worst in some and there was a time in my life that there was a big question mark in my mind of what is this scripture teaching? It is hard sometimes for us to conceive in our minds, that not only is God a God of love but also a God of hate. I feel that the reason we feel this way sometimes is that we do not understand that God is a sovereign God. We fail to understand that God is the creator of all things and that he has the right to do what he pleases with what he hath made.
In verse 21 Paul says, “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonor?” You see, what Paul is teaching is that God is the potter and we are the clay and the clay does and cannot question why the potter hath formed us this way. He formed us this way because it pleased him, but nevertheless we hear that if God does that, then God is unfair. I want to say that God does not have to seem fair in our own eyes. What God says is right is not always what man says is right. At this point I want to go back to verse 11, For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.
The purpose of election is that salvation would not be of works, if it were of works then no one would be saved because in Romans chapter 3 Paul says, “There is none righteous, no not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They have all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” You see this even leaves out belief because there is none that seeketh after God. The word (election) carries this thought (to choose out, to make a choice) and what the scripture is saying is that God made choice before the world began and chose us in his Son. We might think that God looked down through time and saw what man was going to do and then elected them based upon their action, but not so. “For the children not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stands, not of works, but of him that calleth.” We can see with this verse of scripture that God did not look to see who did good or evil, because if he had, then it would not be election outside of works, it would be election based on your works.
Election came forth out of the love of God. You were elected because God loved you and due to his love for you, he elected and placed you in his Son, Jesus Christ. We read in Romans chapter 6, verse 23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We all deserved death, an eternal death that separated us from God, a death to forever be cast into the lake of fire forever and forever. This is something we have worked for, that we have labored for, and this eternal death is something that we earned, but thanks are to God that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is a free gift, a gift that we did not work for, did not earn but came freely by the grace of God that elected us in his Son because of his great love for us. “Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Election is an act of mercy and grace. God is righteous in all of his ways and God forbid that we ever question him? AMEN:
By Elder Mike Montgomery
Job once wondered aloud, "If a man die, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14)
Interestingly enough, some Sadducees asked the Lord a similar question but with
different motives (Mt 22:24). Everyone is curious about what happens after
death. You may be a sincere seeker of truth like Job or a rationalist who won't
believe anything that the natural senses cannot perceive, but in every case
(even the rationalists), there is a great curiosity.
The sincere seeker of truth will find the answer in the Bible. Granted, there is never enough evidence for the rationalist, but for the one who by faith humbles himself and inquires humbly of God, there is enough information to be gleaned therein to satisfy his hungry soul.
More seems to be said in scripture about the body's resurrection than about the state of the disembodied soul and spirit, but enough can be found to comfort the child of God that the disembodied soul and spirit of the child of God is in an alive, awake, and aware condition. Moreover, it is in a blissful and joyous state. Here are seven proofs gleaned from scripture to assure the sincere seeker of truth that such is the case.
First, the scriptures teach that in the death of the body that the soul and spirit of the Elect goes immediately to God. Further, it is provable in scripture that the soul and spirit of the Elect goes to Heaven and stays there awaiting the resurrection of its body. See Eccl 3:21; 12:7; 2 Cor 5:8; Php 1:23. Notice especially 2 Cor 5:8, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."
Second, the scriptures teach that God is not the God of the dead but the God of the living (Mt 22:32). He is still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and this means that they are alive. Of course, we know their bodies are dead, so we know their souls and spirits are still alive and that their souls and spirits are now in Heaven. The scriptures state, "For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him." (Lu 20:38) Notice, this verse says all live meaning they never die but stay alive even at the death of the body. Rachel's soul did not die when her body died as a result of giving birth to Benjamin. It says (Ge 35:18) that "as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin."
Third, the scriptures do not teach that the soul and spirit of the Elect sleeps when the body dies, so it is not only alive but also awake while it is in Heaven, even prior to the time of the body's resurrection. The only thing of the Elect that "sleeps" is the body. When the body dies, it is said to be asleep, but nowhere do the scriptures teach that the soul and spirit sleeps. (See Lu 8:52; John 11:11-13; Acts 13:36; 1 Cor 11:30; 1 Cor 15:51; 1 Thes 4:14; 1 Thes 5:10) It must then be awake, even after the death of the body. The only thing of the Elect that will be awakened is the body. David said (Ps 17:5) that he would be satisfied when he awakened in the Lord's likeness. Surely he is not speaking of his soul and spirit but only of his body's resurrection.
Fourth, the Apostle Paul spoke of an experience (2 Cor 12:2-4) of someone (which I believe was in fact himself) that was caught up into the third heaven, which he further identified as paradise. Of course, he said he didn't know whether this was what we would call today an "out of body experience" but it could have been. Regardless, it was an experience in which he was very much aware of what was happening when it happened and certainly was able to remember it long after it happened. I think that this proves that the spirit and soul of man is not only alive and awake but also aware when it is separated from its body. How much more so the soul and spirit of the Elect when it is separated from the body at the point of the body's death and makes its flight to God in heaven?
Fifth, the regenerated soul and
spirit of the Elect longs for one thing and for one thing only and that is to be
set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God. (Rom 8:21) The Apostle Paul told the Philippians, "For to me
to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the
fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait
betwixt two, having a desire to
depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better." (Php 1:21-23) It's not
better just because we are no longer in a sin-cursed body on a sin-cursed earth
but what really makes it better is that when your body dies, your soul and
spirit goes to Jesus and this must mean that the soul and spirit has communion
and fellowship with Him in a way that is just not possible while in its body.
And this communion and fellowship obviously happens before the resurrection of
the body. Why else would your inner man long for it?
Sixth, Heaven is paradise (Lu 23:43; 2 Cor 12:4). God's throne is there (Ps 11:4; Isa 66:1). Christ reigns there (Ps 110:1; Isa 9:7; Mark 16:19; Heb 1:3,8). Angels minister there (Mt 18:10, Mt 22:30; Mt 24:36; Lu 22:43; Heb 1:5; 1 Pe 3:22). Where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty (2 Cor 3:17). In a place of indescribable joy and liberty, does it make sense that the soul and spirit of the Elect will not be alive, awake, and aware and in a joyous condition? When John (while on the Isle of Patmos) was in the spirit on the Lord's day (Rev 1:10), he heard, saw and learned great and amazing things. I don't think that this was an out of body experience, like maybe the Apostle Paul's was (see my fourth point above), but it surely proves that when one is "in the spirit" that there is a heightened sense of awareness unlike what one experiences when not in the spirit. How much more so in Heaven for the disembodied soul and spirit of the Elect saint where he will truly be "in the spirit" unlike anytime while his body was alive?
Seventh, even if you do not believe that the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Lu 16:19-31) is speaking of an actual occurrence, you have to admit that the Lord uses it in such a way as to indicate plainly that He believed that the soul and spirit of the Elect is alive, awake, and aware in Heaven and the soul and spirit of the wicked is alive, awake, and aware in Hell. Abraham's Bosom was (at that time) a well-known Jewish metaphor for Heaven. Obviously, more is being taught than the condition of one Elect saint and one Wicked reprobate after the deaths of their bodies, but at the very least, it is teaching that there is a place of bliss and joy that the soul and spirit of the Elect goes to and there is a place of misery and woe that the soul and spirit of the Non-elect goes to.
More proofs could be given and the ones I have given could be better explained, yet herein is enough for one to see and to understand that this state in which we will exist between the death and resurrection of our body is both blissful and joyous; one in which our soul and spirit is alive, awake, and aware. Is it any wonder then why the Apostle Paul would write that his desire was "to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better" than to stay here on this sin-cursed earth?