Let me tell you a story of an incident that happened when I was still a young Christian; we had a close knit group in the church I attended. The people in this story are dead and gone so it cannot reflect back on them.
Let me preface by saying that when you are born again it is a rebirth of the spirit, the body is the same unless a healing or a miracle also takes place. The soul is in the same condition as before except for the impact of the knowledge of the new birth makes on it. James calls it saving your soul; your mind, will, and emotions. Most everyone who has been saved for awhile has seen many evidences of a soul that needs saving. This is acted out in human experience and can cause great damage to the cause of Christ.
I had been elected to the deacon board even though I really wasn’t qualified, but because there were just a few men available, and some refused to serve again; so now I was a deacon!
There were many of us who were close, going out to dinner, evenings spent together and the like. There was one couple; Perry and Mabel McDaniel that were good friends to us. Mabel was several years older than Perry and they were not always kind to each other, saying little digs in front of other people. In spite of that they were part of our social group.
There was a single lady, Lorene page who was about age thirty, and who had been our church secretary for several years. She became friendlier with Perry and he would confide in her, his home problems. And again no one paid any attention to this because we were a close knit church group.
Perry drove a delivery truck around town for a living, until one day he announced he was going to take a line job driving from Portland Oregon, to Oakland. About this time Lorene announced she could no longer keep the church books for she was moving. If anyone hasn’t figured out where she was moving then I will tell you, “Portland, Oregon”.
Then one day Perry wanted to meet with the church board and a time was set. I and the othere really weren’t prepared for what happened next. Perry confessed that he and Mabel were not married, and they had only “lived together” for over twenty years.
This was a shock back in the fifties. I and others thought well, we need to straighten this out, we could have a wedding ceremony, and that would fix everything. Whereupon Perry announced that he and Mabel were separating, but he would still support her.
Perry and Lorene had planned this all out, and played it out accordingly. Lorene would become indignant and defended their actions by saying Perry had every right to leave Mabel and marry her, because he and Mabel had never married.
Time passed and we heard that he and Lorene had gotten married and they now were the parents of a child. Mabel continued to attend our church but she died a few years later.
Every day a similar situation occurs in the Christian church somewhere, doing despite to the cause of Christ. The people involved move on and leave the local body to bear the brunt of their despicable deed.
James 1:21:
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
http://www.miraclepower.org/Evangelistbrevet/Articles%20English/the_word_of_God.htm
The above hyperlink to a good article I ran across.
Let me preface by saying that when you are born again it is a rebirth of the spirit, the body is the same unless a healing or a miracle also takes place. The soul is in the same condition as before except for the impact of the knowledge of the new birth makes on it. James calls it saving your soul; your mind, will, and emotions. Most everyone who has been saved for awhile has seen many evidences of a soul that needs saving. This is acted out in human experience and can cause great damage to the cause of Christ.
I had been elected to the deacon board even though I really wasn’t qualified, but because there were just a few men available, and some refused to serve again; so now I was a deacon!
There were many of us who were close, going out to dinner, evenings spent together and the like. There was one couple; Perry and Mabel McDaniel that were good friends to us. Mabel was several years older than Perry and they were not always kind to each other, saying little digs in front of other people. In spite of that they were part of our social group.
There was a single lady, Lorene page who was about age thirty, and who had been our church secretary for several years. She became friendlier with Perry and he would confide in her, his home problems. And again no one paid any attention to this because we were a close knit church group.
Perry drove a delivery truck around town for a living, until one day he announced he was going to take a line job driving from Portland Oregon, to Oakland. About this time Lorene announced she could no longer keep the church books for she was moving. If anyone hasn’t figured out where she was moving then I will tell you, “Portland, Oregon”.
Then one day Perry wanted to meet with the church board and a time was set. I and the othere really weren’t prepared for what happened next. Perry confessed that he and Mabel were not married, and they had only “lived together” for over twenty years.
This was a shock back in the fifties. I and others thought well, we need to straighten this out, we could have a wedding ceremony, and that would fix everything. Whereupon Perry announced that he and Mabel were separating, but he would still support her.
Perry and Lorene had planned this all out, and played it out accordingly. Lorene would become indignant and defended their actions by saying Perry had every right to leave Mabel and marry her, because he and Mabel had never married.
Time passed and we heard that he and Lorene had gotten married and they now were the parents of a child. Mabel continued to attend our church but she died a few years later.
Every day a similar situation occurs in the Christian church somewhere, doing despite to the cause of Christ. The people involved move on and leave the local body to bear the brunt of their despicable deed.
James 1:21:
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
http://www.miraclepower.org/Evangelistbrevet/Articles%20English/the_word_of_God.htm
The above hyperlink to a good article I ran across.
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you are having trouble making a comment - select anonymous but please add your first name to the comment.