1984 September/October issue Part 2

Reprove, Correct, Exhort

A woman in West Virginia writes of a pastor who has decided that it is an infringement of people's "rights" to call things sin. Within the Body of Christ, he says, there must be no judging of one another. Hence he has given the church's approval to a man who deserts his wife and children. The pastor says the man's "gut feelings" may be the voice of God. Who takes responsibility nowadays to reprove, exhort, and correct Christians who are acting irresponsibly? Whose business is it to inquire into private lives when it becomes known that Christians are not "walking worthy of the Lord" and thereby are causing others to stumble? Who will submit to questioning or follow godly counsel? We shudder to think of being"cross-examined," "judged," called to account for what we say is nobody's business but our own. Am I suggesting some sort of police

1984 September/October issue Part 1

The World Must Be Shown

When Jesus was speaking with His disciples before His crucifixion, He gave them His parting gift: peace such as the world can never give. But He went on immediately to say, "Set your troubled hearts at rest and banish your fears.... I shall not talk much longer with you, for the Prince of this world approaches. He has no rights over me, but the world must be shown that I love the Father and do exactly as He commands." (Jn 14:27, 30-31, NEB) A few weeks ago a young mother called to ask for "something that will help me to trust in the Lord." She explained that she has several small children, she herself is thirty years old, and she has cancer.

1984 July/August issue Part 7

Questions and Answers

Can you share some ideas to help us learn how to teach obedience to our children?

Here are some which my parents used on the six of us, and which I found effective in teaching my only child:
1. Establish trust. Never make an empty threat or an empty promise. Carry through. Love is very patient, very kind, and very inexorable.

2. Speak in a normal tone of voice, and speak once. (Be sure you have the child's attention first-look straight at him, let him know he has your attention.) If you repeat every command two or three times, you are teaching him that he needn't listen the first time.

3. Obey the Bible and use ;1 rod for correction (See Prov 13:24;20:30;23:13) If you start this soon enough (a small switch for a small child) you'll not need to use it often.

4. Following punishment, repentance, and the resultant obedience, assure the child of your love. Never argue with him. Explanations should follow, not precede the command when dealing with a small child. Training, as my mother used to say, comes before teaching.

1984 July/August issue Part 6

Recommended Reading

Herbert Schlossberg: Idols for Destruction, Thomas Nelson. A stunning treatment of the ways in which idolatry corrupts the modern Christian's thinking. Secularization connotes a turning away from Christian faith, but Scholoss- berg clearly shows what it is that we turn to as substitutes for God: nature, mankind, power, history, social or political systems. In his chapter, "Idols of Humanity," he writes: "In its refusal to acknowledge will and responsibility in those over whom it establishes its protection, humanitar-

ianism could be speaking of cocker spaniels or Chevrolets rather than people.

"This view of humanity is a twisted and deformed travesty. It is ironic that for human- itarians only poor people, minorities, and those who have run afoul of the law are assumed to be shaped by the iron grip of circumstance. If we look at the villains-the police, politicians, social workers, businessmen-instead of at the victims, we find that the humanitarians have given them free will. They do not speak about the industrial- ist's tyrannical father, the loan shark's miserable childhood in an orphan home, the politician's neurotic mother. Those people are responsible for their acts, and therefore are human. Humanism thus awards its enemies the status of human beings while taking that status from its wards." (p.83)

1984 July/August issue Part 5

A New Grandchild

In the March/April Newsletter I asked for prayer for Valerie, for a safe delivery and a

healthy child. Both requests were granted, as well as another: older brother Walter, who is seven, had been asking the Lord for a brother if that was all right with Him (two sisters were enough for a while. James Elliot Shepard was born on April 18

in Laurel, Mississippi, weighing nine pounds ten,

ounces. Elisabeth, who is nearly five, said "Yip-
pee!" I don't know what Christiana said. She is
two, and has a way of filling in the blanks
between the words she can say with "hm-hm" as
in, "Mama, Lolly hm-hm my teddy-bear." (Lolly

seems to be the best she can do to say Elisabeth. Nobody knows where she got that.)

For little James (I think he'll be Jimmy as was his grandfather until he reached high school) I pray the prayer of Jacob for his son Joseph, "By the power of the Strong One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd of Israel, by the God of your father- so may he help you, by God Almighty-so may he bless you with the blessings of heaven above." (Gn 49:24,25). Letters "The Newsletter has more solid content per word than any other subscription publication we receive. I hope it will not be discontinued." (from a reader in Maryland). The mother of a baby who may have Down's Syndrome writes: "We will receive the results of her chromosome study on Thursday at 10 A.M. Should God bring your minds to our need, please pray for us to respond in faith, not bitterness. Nothing will change that day. God will reveal the reality of His limits, but our destiny will remain the same: to be like Him. ]. Peter 1:23 says,'For we are not just mortals but sons of God; the live, permanent Word of our living God has given us His own indestructible heredity.' We love Him and are committed to receive what He has for us. We have so much to be grateful for to Him!"

1984 July/August issue Part 4

An Unaborted Gift

An African Christian wrote a friend in the 1-1 U.S.: "We have six children. We had agreed to stop having other children. We even started family planning after the last born, but (and a big 'but') we found out that C. was pregnant. I don't know what really happened. My wife and I started crying because we did not know what to do. We have been asking God and telling Him that six children were enough for us. However we were later comforted by God Himself because He said that He will never leave us and will protect us with the young ones. I therefore ask you to pray for us. C. is expecting the child in about three months.

1984 July/August issue Part 3

Lord of All Seasons

Last April I spoke to a group of women in

Florida about Jesus Christ being "Lord of All Seasons." The topic was their choice, and I found  myself, as usual, tested along the very lines on which I was going to speak. During the previous week, Lars and I had learned that all twenty-eight of the nice new (and very expensive) windows we had installed in our new house leaked. I was anxious about many things- my mother's health (she has had more falls lately, forgets things more), my coming grandchild, a new word pro- cessor, which I wasn't sure I was smart enough to learn to use, and (alas!) a tooth which seemed about to fall out. What a list of varied things to worry about. But Jesus died for me! He's risen and coming again! He has given me   an inheritance that nothing can "destroy or spoil or wither" (1 Pt 1:4) and a kingdom which is unshakable (Heb 12:28). That's the gospel. Has it anything to do with leaking windows, computers, grandchildren, teeth? Well, I told myself, if it hasn't, you've got no business getting up in front of those women and opening your mouth at all. If I can't give thanks, trust, and worship the Lord in every "season," in the face of any set of facts which may touch my life, I am not really a believer. It is here, in my corner (or your corner) of God's earth, that I am assigned my lessons in the School of Faith. P.S. Later: They fixed the windows for us, but now we find that all four of the outside doors must be fixed. God isn't finished with us yet.