NEVER BEEN TO SPAIN- CHARLES WOODRUFF

There was a popular song back in the 1970’s with that title. It was written in 1970 by Hoyt Axton, and originally sung by Three Dog Night, the Australian group. Elvis Presley had a version of it that I remember. He sang it in live concerts. The lyrics indicated a fascination with the beauty, and intrigue of the Spanish nation, and its women, and a curiosity to go there on the part of the singer; yet, in the song, he never got there. I always thought I would like to go there, and although I have been in England and France, that is as close as I have come so far in my life of 67 years.

Paul the apostle planned to go to Spain. “Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come unto you” (Romans 15:24). This was his human plan, but in God’s purpose he met a detour. The ultimate detour was to Rome where Paul was executed. We may think an apostle would know whether his ambition would come true or not, but Paul did not. Was God’s purpose thwarted? Was Paul’s life cut short (other than in a human sense)? No! Emphatically no! Remember “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27), and “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way” (Psalm 37:23). God had a purpose in Paul dying in Rome, and not on the isle of Melita when the viper bit him (Acts 28:1-6), or in Jerusalem (Acts 23:27), or Lystra when he was stoned (Acts 14:19). We can see some of His purpose in the thriving early church there in Rome. There were in subsequent years, many others executed there for Christ’s sake. There were many Christians in that empire then, and many more martyrs after the Roman church became the heretical Roman Catholic church with all its corruption.

Yet in the early days the gospel spread from there, as it had from Jerusalem earlier. God had a purpose in Paul not getting to Spain, but Rome instead. Paul had wanted to see Rome also, but I see nothing to indicate he expected to die there; at least not at first. Later, as he was under imprisonment, he knew he would not get to Spain, for he told Timothy “For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:6-7). Some scholars speculate that Paul did get to Spain between his two Roman imprisonments, but there is no mention of that in scripture. I believe if he had, we would have been told about his work there as we were regarding Philippi, Corinth, and even Rome. He likely never made it to Spain. I may never get to Spain either, but if I can have a testimony similar to Paul at the end, I won’t care. Follow Paul as he followed Christ. (I Corinthians 11:1).

SINS OF THE LAND--MARK WOODRUFF

This article is by my son, Mark. He is one of the preachers at our church here in Georgia. I published it a couple of years ago, but I thought it so relevant for where our nation is at this very moment. We are in deep trouble as a nation. Perhaps America is on the way down. At least it is likely to never be again the America we once knew. What is the reason? It is SIN as Mark details in this article. A nation that has consented to abortion for over 30 years, and many other sins deserves nothing else except judgment. Each of us as individuals have to account to Almighty God. May Hehelp us!

My thoughts have turned this week to Isaiah 59:1-4 "Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity."

God was telling Israel through Isaiah that it was not the fault of God that their prayers were not being answered; it was because of their unconfessed sins. God had hidden His face from them to cause them to feel the shame of their sins. This is certainly in agreement with David's words in Psalms 66:18 "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: "

It is apparent that the sins that God referred to in the life of Israel were sins that they had given a place of honor, reverence, or respect. These were their "pet" sins. They were the ones that they did not care for God to touch, or rebuke them for, yet the Lord told them that as long as they kept these sins He would not be their help. They must turn and repent of these sins before they could expect God's blessings.

I want to encourage each of you to read the context of Isaiah 59 to get a feel for the sins that God was talking to them about. The truth of these words is certainly applicable to us today. As the people of God, we have the responsibility to make sure that there is nothing between us and Him, nothing to bar our hearts from communing with His heart, and certainly nothing that will keep Him from hearing our prayers.

It is time to be honest with ourselves and with God and not trust in the vanity of our own ways.

In the words of the well-known hymn:

Nothing between my soul and the Saviour,

naught of this world's delusive dream:

I have renounced all sinful pleasure,

Jesus is mine, there's nothing between.

Nothing between like worldly pleasure;

habits of life, though harmless they seem,

must not my heart from Him ever sever,

He is my all, there's nothing between.

Nothing between, like pride or station;

self or friends shall not intervene;

Though it may cost me much tribulation,

I am resolved, there's nothing between.

Nothing between, even many hard trials,

though the whole world against me convene;

watching with prayer and much self-denial,

I'll triumph at last, with nothing between.

Nothing between my soul and the Saviour,

So that His blessed face may be seen;

Nothing preventing the least of His favor,

Keep the way clear! Let nothing between.

Words & Music: Charles A. Tindley, 1905 Link: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/n/b/nbetween.htm

CHRIST ALONE, GRACE ALONE--W.F. BELL

Here is another good meditation by my friend William F. Bell. I hope it speaks to you. cw

How deceived the religious world is, which thinks "the gospel" is something we are to DO! But the Bible declares that "the gospel" is what Christ has already DONE! "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (satisfaction) through faith in His blood" (Romans 3:25). We are not told to "make" propitiation ourselves to God, but the gospel "sets forth" Christ alone as having done this "for us."

The way to heaven is not our works or obedience, our prayers or Bible reading, our giving or self-sacrifices, but the only way is through the "propitiation" of Christ on Calvary's cross. He Himself is our "mercy seat," and His "sacrifice" alone has appeased God's wrath and justice -- and not anything we do or sacrifice or give.

And the only way we can know for sure that we are among the "justified" and the "redeemed" is by being "created in Christ Jesus" by the "workmanship" of God Himself in His grace and mercy (Ephesians 2:10). It is never by our obedient works or actions (including our repentance or faith), though this "creation" in Christ is "unto good works." Not "by" but "unto." Grace alone puts us in Christ, therefore all the boastings of men in their works are "excluded" (Romans 3:27). Grace crowns all the work of God, so God alone gets all the glory in declaring "His righteousness" through the blood of our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE SAINT'S JOY--W.F. BELL

Delight yourself also in the LORD" (Psalm 37:4). "And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness" (Psalm 105:43).

We live in a world of awful sin and bad news. We are inundated today with news of illegal aliens, war with terrorism, senseless murders, high gasoline prices, political knavery, and religious hypocrisy. Why do we even listen to all of this horrible news? Only because depraved minds crave depraved man's latest bad happenings. But not so the joyful Christian. Those who are "delighting" themselves in the Lord Jesus Christ truly feed on better things than the vomit and stench of this world. God-fearing people don't find cause for joy in the cesspools of sin.

We rarely ever meet a truly joyful person. The ills of society have rubbed us all the wrong way. It is easy to complain and be bitter about things. But, let us "look again" at the wonderful Word of God, meditating therein for just a moment. Listen to the Psalmist: "I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD" (Psalm 104:33-34). How's that for true, holy, positive thinking? "I will sing." "Unto the LORD." "My meditation of Him." "Shall be sweet." "I will be glad." "In the LORD."

Charles Spurgeon comments on the above verses: "We never sing so well as when we know that we have an interest in the good things of which we sing, and a relationship to the God whom we praise....Meditation is the soul of religion. It is the tree of life in the midst of the garden of piety, and very refreshing is its fruit to the soul which feeds thereon." Beloved, have we lost our song? Even in our night of sin, God will give us "songs in the night" (Job 35:10; Psalm 42:8). Christ Jesus Himself, even though "a Man of Sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3), once "rejoiced in spirit" (Luke 10:21), praising His Father's sovereign good pleasure, stating "All things are delivered to me of my Father" (Luke 10:22). We too rejoice in the sovereignty of God, even when we do not understand God's mysterious providences.

Let us return to singing! Let us return to holy meditation! Let us return to rejoicing in this great truth: "The glory of the LORD shall endure forever: the LORD shall rejoice in His works" (Psalm 104:31). Let us return to clapping and shouting: "O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph" (Psalm 47:1). Why? Simply because we know who our God is -- we know Him as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the Blesser and Provider of His people, the Redeemer and Savior of His elect. "For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding" (Psalm 47:7).

Our God is the Most High! Our God rules and reigns! "He is a great King over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet" (Psalm 47:2-3). Does this not bring us true joy? Can we forbear to sing His praises? Does this not loosen our tongues to praise our great King? No wonder the Psalms are filled with praises to our Sovereign Lord: "Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name" (Psalm 103:1), and "Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them REJOICE that seek the LORD" (Psalm 105:3). As true Christians, let us ever remember this admonition: "REJOICE EVERMORE" (I Thessalonians 5:16). Yes, despite a world of sin and "the world of spin," let us not become bitter, but better -- better at praising our Lord Jesus Christ, and better at remembering that a day is coming when "sinners shall be consumed out of the earth" (Psalm 104:35), "and the trail of the serpent is cleansed from the globe" (Spurgeon). Truly, LET US REJOICE! HALLELUJAH!

POTPOURRI EVANGELISM-JAMES A.STEWART

Dr. James A. Stewart and his wife, Ruth were greatly used of the Lord to spread the word of God in Europe around the World War Two era (both before and after the war). There were many reported conversions. Many testimonies have been given that this was a genuine revival. Brother Stewart was a Scotsman, and of the old evangelical school. He opposed neo-evangelical, and ecumenical evangelism, which he saw rapidly developing in his lifetime. He wrote against it and preached against it. He fought it every way he could. Today he would be regarding as "against everything" because he would not compromise. He warned about what became "Post-modernism" and "Emergent Church" (the two most deviant and unscriptural movements in our day). He called what was happening "Potpourri evangelism". A potpourri is like a "smorgasbord". One definition I found is a "collection containing a variety of sorts of things." Certainly it does; the good and the bad and the ugly. Here are some things Brother Stewart had to say regarding this ecumenical evangelism.

We must be more afraid of flattery from the camp of the enemy than persecution. Read the pages of Church history. Persecution never did the Church of God any harm, but compromise with the world has always robbed it of the power of its purity. ... Potpourri Evangelism consists of two features: mixed evangelistic campaigns and mixed Christianity. By mixed evangelistic campaigns I mean the alliance of Modernistic and Evangelical churches together in an evangelistic effort.

When religion gets up a revival, it must have from five to twenty churches of heterogeneous creeds and sectarian bodies to go into a great union effort; it must have a mammoth choir with great musical instruments, and many preachers and multiplied committees, and each committee headed by some banker, judge, mayor, or millionaire’s wife. It signs cards as a substitute for the broken-hearted cry of scriptural repentance. It must count its converts by the hundreds in a few days’ meeting. It must apologize for natural depravity.

Human religion’s enterprises have an atmosphere of earthiness about them. It despises the day of small things and scorns little humble people and lonely ways. It is eager to jump to the height of prosperity. Its music has no pathos in it, its laughter lacks divine cheerfulness, its worship lacks supernatural love, its prayers bring down no huge answers, it works no miracles, calls forth no criticism from the world, and has no light of eternity in its eyes. It is a poor, sickly thing, born of the union of the heart of the world with the head of Christian theology--a mongrel, bastard thing with a backslidden church for its mother and the world for its father. Oh, my dear brother and sister, never forget that this unnatural monster will be destroyed at the coming-again of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ.

(From Evangelism, James A. Stewart, Asheville, NC: Revival Literature, pp. 25-28).

WORLDLY EVANGELISM--A.T. PIERSON

Dr. Arthur T. Pierson was a renowned Presbyterian preacher of the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is said in his world travels that he preached over 13,000 sermons. He was author of over 50 books. He succeeded Charles Spurgeon at Metropolitan Tabernacle, London for the two years of 1891-92. He was a consulting editor of the Scofield Reference Bible. He was an organizer of missions, and is credited with spurring missionary work to a greater level in the early 1900s. He is called by some "the father of fundamentalism", having worked with R. A. Torrey, B.B. Warfield, and others on the five volume answer to liberalism titled The Fundamentals, originally published in 1910, and still in print 100 years later in 2010. One of the greatest short pieces I have read by Pierson is this one, which is so relevant, I believe, to today's post-modernism.

“Adopting worldly maxims, catering to worldly tastes, corrupted by worldly leaven, there has been a gradual letting down of the severe standard of New Testament piety, and a constant effort to robe the gospel in worldly charms, in order to attract worldly men to the church.”

“These worldly expedients have proved very successful in secularizing the Church, but have sadly failed in evangelizing the world. They do not even draw the people except so far and so long as their novelty attracts curiosity seekers, or feeds the morbid appetite for excitement. It is time all such measures were abandoned as helps to the work of evangelization. They are rather hindrances; for they destroy the peculiar character of God's people as a separate people, they divert attention from eternal things, and they grieve the Spirit of God, on whose presence all power depends.”

“The fact is, Zion's attractions are unique ; like her Lord, they are not of the world; they belong to another order of beauty, "the beauty of holiness." When the Church robes herself in the charms of worldly attire and adornment, she not only fails to draw the world to herself and to Christ, but she actually takes the infection of the " Spirit of the Age," which, however disguised, is hostile to God.”

From Evangelistic Work, A.T Pierson, p 92, 94, New York; Baker and Taylor, 1887

THINK--IS THIS 1984?

BY CHARLES WOODRUFF

1984! Such a ring to the very words! Orwell's famous novel of futuristic totalitarianism, written in 1948, set forth some frightening predictions. Some of them, at least, have come true. All of them will never come true. George Orwell was not a prophet of God, but a British Socialist, howbeit somewhat moderate when measured against today's average socialist. Orwell hated Communism, yet saw its program as the future 36 years ahead. He chose 1984 by simply turning around the year 1948 in which he was writing.

Many of us wondered what would happen in 1984. Maybe we were a little nervous. We asked “Will it be nuclear war in '84?” “Will our government take over everything in our lives?” “Will the Lord Jesus return this year?” He didn’t return then, and I do not know, nor do you, just when He will return, but we know He will, but we must be careful regarding predictions, for "no man knows the day and hour" (Matt. 24:36). 1984 came and went; at least the real time 1984 came and went.

But, whatever your eschatology, you have to be blind not to see that right now in 2010 our world is a powder keg ready to explode in many sore spots. We might say there are many fuses. Iran, North Korea, Central America, the Philippines, etc…any one, or all, at any moment ready to ignite world war and chaos.

In our own land, literally thousands of churches and pastors are experiencing unprecedented government encroachment.

In China, a country reported to have over 60 million Christians, persecution is being stepped up at the present time, as it once was in the former Soviet Union, and its satellites. So, 1984ish things are happening. How far have we come toward Orwell's 1984? Do we Christians really care? Are we hiding our heads in the sand hoping the issues of our day will go away? Are we claiming to be too super-spiritual to be interested in things happening in this life? Do we even speak against government encroachments on our freedoms? A warped conception of “health care”, hurting more than can ever be helped, was attempted to be slammed through the liberal congress. For now maybe that has failed, since Republican Scott Brown won the U.S. senate seat formerly held by the late Senator Ted Kennedy. The government also attempted to take over the auto makers. For now, that too has failed. We get a lot of “double speak” from our liberal politicians. The plan Barack Obama has now is to get the banks and financial institutions under control. All of this is what has happened in the socialist countries of the world, and is very 1984ish.

My friends, Christ must have preeminence in all we do. I do not advocate any other solution! There must be a spiritual revival for our nation's survival — even for world survival. Our heritage is the Word of God and includes religious liberty. It is worth preserving. God must help us to preserve it. Can we not, at least, "Cry aloud and spare not"? If we remain silent while our world is overrun by evil forces, what will we tell our children and grandchildren about why we did not stand?

These are vital questions that cannot be answered with a simplistic "The Lord will rapture us away before things get too bad"! Things are already bad! Sodomy is being financed by American taxpayers! Gay “marriage” has been legalized in some states. The families of the nation are under attack! Divorce and living in fornication are out of control, and almost totally accepted. Over 50 million babies have been destroyed! The anniversary of the infamous Roe v.Wade decision was just last week.

We cannot hide behind God's Sovereignty either! He is absolutely sovereign, but He uses human instrumentality to accomplish many of His purposes. He used John Knox in Scotland, the Wesleys and Whitefield in England, Martin Luther in Germany, etc. Can He use you? Are you willing to be used of God no matter what He wants to do with you?

Join hands with us to turn the tide — by prayer! By evangelism! By speaking out on the issues! By publishing! We will be accountable for not doing good. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).