Mutebeti Wa Chiuta
Mutebeti Wa Chiuta Ministries is to proclaim and demonstrate the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ, meeting the spiritual, physical and emotional needs of men, women and children who are homeless or in need of hope.
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Understanding the 3 States of Consciousness: 3D, 4D, and 5D.
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
AGE DIFFERENCE IN MARRIAGE - AGE GAP ISN'T AN ISSUE FOR SUCCESSFUL RELATIONSHIPS BUT THEN IT CAN BE
Marriage age difference is a common issue, so don't miss out on anything I've said on the topic. Don't worry, as you click away this page will remain open so you can come back to it.
So assuming you've read part 1 of age gap relationships, part 2 starts below.
Should Age Difference in Relationships even be an Issue?
We hear people say all the time that "age is just a number" that what matters the most in a relationship/marriage is love. However in reality age is not only a number. Many have chosen to walk away from a very promising relationship because they couldn't take the age gap between them and their love prospect.
Personally I think people give too much relevance to age differences. And some of their reasoning doesn't even make sense.
For example sometime ago my elder sister and I were on the topic of age difference in marriage and she said she couldn't marry a man she was one day older than but she could marry a man that was one day older than her. Is there any justification to that? I wonder. Is it that knowing that she is older than the man at all will prevent her from being submissive to him?
But that's not all. She went further to add that the maximum marriage age difference she could take was 3 years. That is she couldn't marry a man more than 3 years older than her! Again what justifies that?
But how do I feel about age gap relationships, marrying someone younger than me or someone much older than me?
While I'd prefer it that a man I'd marry be older than me because that's what's expected and it's the tradition, I personally don't mind if I'm older than a man with reasonable number of years. I emphasize reasonable because a woman being older than a man with 10, 20 years is just not reasonable to me. That almost feels to me like dating a son.
However of course I can marry a man 10 to even 15 years older than me. But there are clauses attached to these two scenarios for me.
If I am older than the man, I will only be comfortable in the relationship if the age difference is only known to us. That is the man shouldn't look younger than me. It shouldn't be obvious to people when they see us that I'm older.
And if a man is much much older than me, he must not look his age. For example, I will say yes to a 50 years old man even though I'm in my very early thirties but that looks 35 or even looks 40. But a 50 years old man that looks 50 or 55 is a No for me.
Yes, appearance doesn't affect the success of a relationship directly however it does indirectly; at least for me anyway. For me it's important that I be proud of the appearance/presentation of the person I'm romantically involved with to fall in love or remain in love. If I'm not proud of his appearance then I can become easily irritated by him, become arrogant unnecessarily and that will lead to regular arguments which wouldn't help the relationship.
So age difference matters in relationships when it matters to one of the parties to be involved in the relationship because it may not seem like that, but as long as it bothers one of them, then it's likely to gradually lead to serious problems in the relationship. So it's right what one of the fans of Nigerian Weddings Guide said about the matter on our Facebook page:
I think it's a personal thing. Sometimes, people find love and happiness in the strangest of places.
Age difference in marriage is a personal matter. But it's more than that. I mean aside that even though it doesn't seem there's any justification for it everyone has a right to what they can take and can't take about a potential marriage mate, age gap can be a very good reason to turn down a relationship.
When Age Difference Matters in Marriage Relationships
If the man isn't comfortable and always raises the issue.
If the man is younger and acts his age. Meaning he lacks the necessary maturity the relationship requires to be successful. After all it takes a man to build a home not a boy.
If the woman just can't submit to a man she's older than. I've had a few girls tell me they just can't respect a man they're older than. While I think that's crazy, if you're the woman and that's how you really feel then it's better not to even go into such relationship at all.
If the man is younger and also does far less financially than the woman. It can still work as you've seen from some successful stories featured in part 1 of the topic of age difference in marriage. But be rest assured you, if you're the woman, will have to be willing to be very humble. Even at that I'm sure there will still be problems resulting from a combination of the age difference and being richer than the man.
When the man is just too many years older than you especially when you're barely an adult. Like a 17 year old girl in serious relationship with a 32 years old man. They are in different levels of their lives therefore what appeals to the 17 year old will almost irritate the 32 year old. For a relationship of that kind to work, the man must be willing to let go a bit of the girl. Give her the room to be free to do some of the things are age mates are doing without feeling like she now has another father breathing down her throat all the time. And while at it try not to call her a child or treat her like one please, they never want to hear that!
Younger Women Marrying Much Much Older Men
Yes it's normal that the man be older than the woman. That's the tradition. But some age difference almost sound like abomination. Imagine a 30 year old lady marrying a 70 year old man; sometimes even far younger women have married much older men. What's the reason behind these women's decision to marry men old enough to be their father and sometimes grandfather?
Often these women do this for the emotional and/or financial security. The common believe is that older men treats women better and you're more secured with them emotionally because they've been there done that. When they settle especially with a much younger lady they're ready to give them everything.
But that's just the theory. While that may be true for some of these women, I'm sure there are women who although married much older men are still dealing with insecurities emotionally and financially.
For some it may be the fatherly figure these men kind of represent. A father will protect you from everything right?
If you'll like to understand the reasons women marry much older men and the eventual realities they face, read the true stories submitted by some women who married much older men.
The Most Important Factor for a Successful Relationship
Age is actually just a number. It becomes a big deal when you or your potential other makes it one. I keep saying it that the most matured relationship I've ever had was with a guy I was over 3 years older than. And funny enough he was against the relationship at first because of our age difference. So we remained friendships and he started dating someone else. But he decided to give us a shot when it seemed to him that though I was older than him I seemed to be more respectful towards him than his girlfriend he was older than.
I think it's all about your mindset. If you're a woman and associate respect with age then you likely can never make it work with a man you're older than even though you love him. I believe the reason age gap doesn't often bother me is because personally I don't agree that respecting people should have anything to do with their age. Everyone deserves respect even a day old baby. If you can accept that then you'll know that a man you're in a relationship with is suddenly head over you. And when God instituted marriage and made the man the head over the woman he didn't conditioned it to age, like the man can only be the head over his wife if he's older than her. Once a man is your husband even if 20 years younger he's your head and you should submit yourself to him.
Be in subjection to one another in fear of Christ. Let wives be in subjection to their husbands as to the Lord. Because a husband is head of his wife as the Christ also is head of the congregation, he being a saviour of this body.
Ephesians 5:21-23 New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
But marriage doesn't just happen out of the blue, it starts with a relationship, then courtship and these levels of relationships are practice for you, to prepare yourself for when you get married.
So your man is your head whether or not you're yet to be married to him. If you can't see him as that now, you can't see him as that even after being married.
And if you're like my sister and have decided that you could only marry a man older than you with a few years, keep in mind that women usually age faster than men. I remember what my mother said to my sister when she said that then, my mother told her to shut up that doesn't she know that women often age faster. That marrying a man only a few years older than you will make you look older than him in only a few years after marriage.
For a successful relationship and eventual marriage when picking a love mate what is important is whether or not you honestly love the person and then whether or not the person has the necessary maturity for your relationship. You would think that every 35 year olds will be more mature than every 25 year olds. But unfortunately that isn't the case. There are a lot of mature people age wise that aren't mature in character. And such maturity is important for the person to be able to show understanding, consideration, tolerance and know how to deal with issues when they arise in other to continue to maintain love and trust that exists between you.
Aside love and good character everything else will eventually fade. No matter how young you are now, your beauty will fade someday and so is that of the other person. And if it's for money, when you eventually have it you'll start to seek for what's really important, friendship and love between couples.
So except you're overly traditional about age difference in marriage and therefore just can't stand age gaps or you can't just be submissive to a man you're older than then there's no reason age difference should affect the success of a relationship and eventual marriage.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Everything I learned to Reverse my cancer is well-documented in the medical literature, but I had to learn it on my own when I was diagnosed with cancer, because doctors are never taught this information during our medical training. In fact, we are vigorously taught that these natural methods do not work – a total fabrication that virtually all doctors embrace. But I, and thousands of others, are living proof that you CAN get well – from ALL diseases – without drugs, including without chemotherapy drugs, without radiation, and without mutilating surgery
Doctors develop cancer at the same rate as the general population. And doctors DIE of cancer at the same rate as the general population.
Obviously that means that doctors don’t know how to prevent or cure cancer because if they did, they would certainly prevent cancer from developing in themselves. And if they did develop cancer – they would know how to cure it.
But they don’t!
So why would you go to a doctor for the treatment of your cancer when your doctor doesn’t even know how to prevent or cure cancer in himself (or herself)?
Surveys show that 75% of doctors would NOT have chemotherapy if they developed cancer, yet they invariably prescribe it for their patients.
Why do 75% of doctors in surveys respond that they would NOT have chemotherapy?
The answer includes the following:
Doctors see the horrible suffering their patients, relatives, and friends go through while on chemotherapy.
Doctors ALL know that chemotherapy causes cancer, so it makes no sense to “treat” a cancer patient with a supposed “therapy” that causes cancer - a disease the patient already has!
Doctors watch their patients who are taking chemotherapy grow weaker and weaker, becoming thinner, more fragile, and sicker, losing the majority of their muscle mass while at the same time, suffering from severe nausea, vomiting, hair loss and numerous other life-threatening side effects of the poisonous drugs they are being given by their physician, the one who is supposed to help them. Yet, the physician’s “treatment” results in an abominable “quality of life” and actually encourages the spread of the patient’s cancer because the “treatment” suppresses the patient’s immune system, the one system that the patient needs in order to get well.
Doctors watch their patients, relatives, and friends, DIE as a result of the poisonous chemotherapy. Some cancer patients actually die from the poisonous chemotherapy drugs and not from their cancer!
Doctors also know that radiation causes cancer. That’s why doctors tell patients, “Don’t get too many x-rays. X-rays cause cancer because they are radiation.” How can a cancer patient be cured of cancer by being “treated” with a “therapy” that causes cancer?
Doctors know that both chemotherapy and radiation destroy the patient’s immune system, the one system in our body we need to get us well and keep us well. In fact, when these same chemotherapy drugs are given to patients who don’t have cancer but have just received an organ transplant, these drugs are referred to, by physicians, as “immunosuppressive drugs” because they “suppress” the “immune system” – the system in our body that is critical for recovery from disease.
Doctors apparently don’t want cancer patients to know they are taking “immunosuppressive drugs” - drugs that suppress their immune system and encourage the cancer to grow and spread, nor do doctors want organ transplant patients to know that they are taking chemotherapy drugs – for the rest of their life (so their body won’t reject the organ), drugs that cause cancer.
In fact, when a patient has an organ transplant, his risk of developing cancer doubles. Furthermore, his risk of developing a specific type of cancer – non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – increases by seven times, according to the November 2, 2011, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
That’s why doctors tell cancer patients they are taking chemotherapy drugs – but they tell transplant patients they are taking immuno-suppressive drugs – even though the drugs given to both cancer patients and organ transplant patients are essentially the SAME drugs.
These drugs suppress the patient’s immune system so the transplant patient won’t reject his transplanted organ, but that same immune suppression markedly decreases the body’s ability to fight disease, and therefore, the transplant patient may develop cancer specifically as a result of taking the medication. And the cancer patient finds that his cancer will eventually grow and spread because of the suppression of his immune system caused by the chemotherapy!
So why, if chemotherapy is so harmful, do doctors prescribe it for their patients – even when 75% of the doctors state they would not take chemotherapy themselves if they developed cancer?
In some states in the U.S., thanks to the Drug Companies and the “lock” on doctors by their doctors’ “union” – the American Medical Association - it is illegal for a doctor to treat any cancer patient with any method other than poisonous chemotherapy, burning radiation, or mutilating surgery. If they do, they will lose their license to practice medicine.
Doctors don’t know what else to do, because we physicians are never taught in our medical training how to get a patient truly well from cancer – or any other disease for that matter. All we are taught to do is, 1) give harmful, poisonous drugs to cover up the symptoms of the disease and make the patient “feel” better – drugs that have numerous side effects that cause additional diseases, but never address the underlying cause of the initial disease which also continues to progress, or 2) cut out the patient’s organs or cut off their body parts. But no disease has ever been caused by a person having “too many” organs or “too many” body parts. That’s why cutting them off – or out – never cures the patient’s problem. The cancer will just come back in the same place, or a different place in the body, or the person will develop a different life-threatening disease.
All diseases – including ALL cancers – do NOT “fall from the sky” nor do they “just happen.” We give them to ourselves slowly, one day at a time, over a long period of time, by the way we live, think, act, eat, and handle stress. We give ourselves cancer – and every other disease that we develop. None of us do it on purpose. We do it ignorantly, but we do it just the same.
The Good News is that if we have done it to ourselves by the way we have been living, thinking, acting, eating, and handling stress – then we can REVERSE the disease by CHANGING the way we live, think, act, eat, and handle stress.
But we physicians are taught that cancer – and all other diseases – “just happen.” And that’s what we are taught to tell patients. But if that is true, then you are totally helpless! You are at the mercy of the doctor – who has been taught to prescribe harmful Drugs or mutilating surgery – neither of which will make you well, and both of which are terribly painful The doctor will tell you there is no other option – and he or she actually believes that, because that is what we all have been taught in our medical training.
Why are doctors not taught how to get people well from their diseases?
Because the Drug companies have enormous control over medical schools and the training doctors receive because drug companies provide a significant amount of the research funding for medical school research – in large part to develop more drugs! It’s the old “golden rule” - “He who has the gold – rules!
Also, drug companies have enormous control over the medical journals and the articles they publish (which establish standards of medical practice) because the medical journals contain more pages of high-priced four-color advertising by the drug companies than actual pages that contain the medical articles. If a medical journal starts publishing articles that contain information on how to get a patient well without prescribing drugs to the patient, the drug companies will “pull” their expensive advertisements, and that particular medical journal will go bankrupt and cease to exist. So, it’s not hard to figure out why medical journals refuse to publish articles on natural healing.
But why do doctors who develop cancer themselves almost always agree to have chemotherapy, even though they say beforehand that they won’t?
Doctors don’t know what else to do, because they have never been taught in their training how to get anyone truly well from any disease, including cancer. As stated above, all we physicians are taught in our medical training is, 1) to give the patient harmful drugs – drugs that cover up the symptoms but never cure the disease, and all these drugs have harmful side effects that often cause additional diseases. or, 2) cut out the patients organs or cut off his body parts, neither of which cures any disease because no disease has ever been caused by having “too many” body parts or “too many” organs.
Getting your car repaired
Suppose you took your car to a mechanic, telling him that your transmission’s first gear was slipping, there was a knocking sound in the engine, and the “check engine” warning light was “on.” You left your car at the repair shop expecting the mechanic to call you to give you an update on what he found and an estimate on the cost of the repair.
But two hours later he called to tell you that your car was ready to be picked up. When you arrived at the shop, you asked the mechanic, ”What did you do with the first gear that was slipping?”
He responded, “I took it out.”
Aghast, you said, “But I need first gear.”
But he nonchalantly responds, “It will work for awhile.”
“What about my ‘check engine’ warning light?”
The mechanic answers, “I cut the wires to the dashboard light. It won’t bother you anymore.”
Shocked at his answer, you continue, “And what about the knock in my engine?
The mechanic hands you a pair of ear plugs and says, “Wear these. You won’t hear it anymore.”
“You’re not a mechanic - - - - you’re a Doctor!”
Because that is how we physicians are taught to treat patients. We are never taught how to fix what is wrong – to cure the disease. We are only taught either to cover up the symptoms of the disease by giving harmful drugs, or we are taught to cut out the patient’s organs or cut off his or her body parts.
You would never tolerate that “standard of care” from an auto mechanic, even though you can buy another car. But you tolerate that “standard of care” from a physician, even though you have only ONE body to last the rest of your life – and you can’t “buy” another one.
Your life and health are at stake! Yet you trust your doctor who knows less about repairing your body than your auto mechanic knows about repairing your car.
Cancer and ALL Other Diseases
And all this information on cancer applies to all other diseases as well. Doctors develop all the other diseases, including Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases, Heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, etc., at the same rate as the general population.
If any physician would be privy to the most advanced techniques for curing cancer or other diseases, it would be the Director of the NIH, this mega-complex of extremely well-funded supposed research excellence, including the most “cutting-edge” cancer research!
Why have they failed so miserably? Because decade after decade they have continued to look in all the wrong places. They continue to develop more drugs, all of which are harmful and none of which cure disease. They continue doing genetic research as though cancer and other diseases can be cured by manipulating one’s DNA.
But they refuse to study lifestyle factors. They refuse to accept the fact that we give life-threatening diseases to ourselves by the way we live, think, act, eat, and handle stress. Of course, one main reason they refuse to look at lifestyle factors is that would make all their high-rise glass and metal buildings, their thousands of medical researchers, their Billions of dollars of research funding, and their false erudition, completely irrelevant.
They would have to admit that diseases are caused by one’s lifestyle – and therefore can be reversed by changes in one’s lifestyle.
And they would be out of a job!
Someone has wisely said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result. That’s precisely what Organized Medicine, including the NIH, has been doing for the last hundred years. Going down the same research “road” that has failed for decades, yet expecting to have success.
Could it become any clearer that doctors do not know how to cure cancer?
So again, if doctors knew how to prevent or cure those diseases, they would not develop them – and die from them – themselves, which they do!
So what should you do instead of trusting your doctor – who does not know how to cure your disease (or his or her own disease) – because he or she has never been taught?
As mentioned above, we give ourselves disease slowly, one day at a time, over a long period of time, by the way we live, think, act, eat, and handle stress. It took you years to give yourself this disease, just as it took years for me to give myself breast cancer.
It doesn’t matter if the disease is rare or common, whether it is early or advanced, or whether it is in a child or an adult, ALL diseases are caused by the same factors and ALL diseases can be Reversed by Changing those factors.
All a person has to do to Reverse his disease is to Change the way he (or she) is living, thinking, acting, eating, and handling stress. One must learn how to Stop doing the things that have caused his disease, and Start doing the things that will Rebuild his immune system, so his immune system can get him well and keep him well as God designed it to do.
But in order to get well, one must be willing to obtain the proper materials, study them diligently and repeatedly, and one must have the determination, commitment, tenacity, and self control to change his habits – the very habits that have made him sick in the first place.
And just for the record, your doctor knows nothing about this information even though it is all found in the medical literature.
But trauma is very different from “disease.” Indeed, trauma – accidents, DO “just happen.” But diseases don’t. Diseases are the result of many years of abusing our body by the way we live, think, act, eat, and handle stress.
But again, I, like ALL other physicians, did NOT know how to prevent or cure cancer or any other disease because all we are taught is to give drugs to cover up the symptoms, or to take out a patient’s organs or cut off his body parts, neither of which cure cancer or any other disease.
Sunday, November 5, 2017
RELIGION VS SPIRITUALITY
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENT
It has become quite popular in recent years to distinguish between spirituality and religion.
It’s true that there are valid distinctions between the two, but there are also a number of problematic distinctions which often and unnecessarily divide the two fields of thought.
One principal problem with attempts to separate religion from spirituality is that the former is saddled with everything negative while the latter is exalted with everything positive.
It is important to note the fact that many of the negative things which people attribute to religions are features of some forms of some religions (usually Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), but not of other religions (like Taoism or Buddhism).
Religion is spiritual and spirituality can also be considered religious. One tends to be more personal and private while the other tends to incorporate public rituals and organized doctrines.
The lines between one and the other may often not be clear or distinct depending on the interpretation.
Consider these definitions:
Religion is an institution established by man for various reasons. Exert control, instill morality, stroke egos, or whatever it does. Organized, structured religions all but remove god from the equation. You confess your sins to a clergy member, go to elaborate churches to worship, told what to pray and when to pray it. All those factors remove you from god.
Spirituality is born in a person and develops in the person. It may be kick started by a religion, or it may be kick started by a revelation. Spirituality extends to all facets of a person’s life. Spirituality is chosen while religion is often times forced. Being spiritual to me is more important and better than being religious.
True spirituality is something that is found deepwithin oneself. It is your way of loving, accepting and relating to the world and people around you. It cannot be found in a church or by believing in a certain way.
Consider the following in favor of the spiritual path:
• There is not one religion, but hundreds
There is only one type of spirituality
• Religion is for those who want to continue rituals and the formality
Spirituality is for those who want to reach the Spiritual Ascent without dogmas
• Religion is for those who are asleep
Spirituality is for those who are awake
• Religion is for those that require guidance from others
Spirituality is for those that lend ears to their inner voice
• Religion has a dogmatic and unquestionable assembly of rules that need to be followed without question
Spirituality invites you to reason it all, to question it all and to decide your actions and assume the consequences
• Religion threatens and terrifies
Spirituality gives you inner peace
• Religion speaks of sin and of fault
Spirituality encourages "living in the present" and not to feel remorse for which has already passed - Lift your spirit and learn from errors
• Religion represses humanity, and returns us to a false paradigm
Spirituality transcends it all and makes you true to yourself
• Religion is instilled from childhood, like the soup you do not you want to take
Spirituality is the food that you you seek, that satisfies you and is pleasant to the senses
• Religion is not God
Spirituality is infinite consciousness and all that is - It is God
• Religion invents
Spirituality discovers
• Religion does not investigate and does not question
Spirituality questions everything
• Religion is based on humanity, an organization with rules
Spirituality is DIVINE, WITHOUT rules
• Religion is cause for division
Spirituality is cause for union
• Religion seeks you so that you create
Spirituality causes you to seek
• Religion continues the teachings of a sacred book
Spirituality seeks the sacredness in all the books
• Religion is fed fear
Spirituality is fed confidence
• Religion lives you in your thoughts
Spirituality lives in your conscience
• Religion is in charge of the "to do"
Spirituality is in charge of the "to BE"
• Religion is a dialectic
Spirituality is logic
• Religion feeds the ego
Spirituality makes you transcend
• Religion makes you renounce yourself to the world
Spirituality makes you live with God, not to renounce him
• Religion is adoration
Spirituality is meditation
• Religion is to continue adapting to the psychology of a template
Spirituality is individuality.
• Religion dreams of glory and paradise.
Spirituality makes you live it here and now
• Religion lives in the past and in the future.
Spirituality lives in the present, in the here and now
• Religion lives in the confinement of your memory.
Spirituality is LIBERTY in AWARENESS.
• Religion believes in the eternal life.
Spirituality makes you conscious of all that is
• Religion gives you promises for the after-life.
Spirituality gives you the light to find God in your inner self, in this life, in the present, in the here and the now…
May peace, happiness and universal love continue growing in your heart.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
MINISTRY OF HEALING
Varied were the circumstances and needs of those who besought His aid, and none who came to Him went away unhelped. From Him flowed a stream of healing power, and in body and mind and soul men were made whole.
https://www.facebook.com/hopehealingofthenations
Email: healingofthenations@Outlook.com
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT HEALTH?"
Good health is something we take for granted—until we start to lose it. When our health takes a downturn, we quickly begin to question our habits and diet. God has designed the human body so that it is a finely tuned instrument that is the most resilient on earth. It can endure fractures and adhesions, constant pain and great stretches of tedium.
However, it is a fragile instrument because it is not built to handle excess, whether in the form of nourishment, fuel or additives. Unlike machines, it chokes on poisons when ingested in unending doses and mistaken for fuel. Though it has moving, feeling and thinking parts, they can be misused. God has provided us with an “owner’s manual” that tells us how to operate the human body. That manual is the Bible, a book that contains instructions for proper maintenance. Although it isn’t a medical text, it is God’s Word, and in its pages He reveals many basic principles for good physical, mental, and spiritual health.
A major part of the Bible’s health instruction dates back to the time of Moses. Yet in our day, many researchers and medical doctors are stunned at the accuracy and effectiveness of its many provisions. The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia tells us that the laws given by God to Moses contain remarkable rules pertaining to public health which concerns us even today: water and food contamination, sewage disposal, infectious diseases and health education. These issues were all dealt with in the Mosaic health laws.
The Bible gives us the foundational key to physical and mental health. That key is simply this: “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity . . . This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones” (Proverbs 3:1-2, 8). It should not surprise us that obedience to God’s commandments and other laws would promote health. When we obey them, we operate in accordance with His instructions. As our Creator, He knows what’s best for us: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
Some biblical statements about health are specific, such as: “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). The ancient Egyptians suffered from the kinds of diseases that have ravaged mankind throughout history. Autopsies on Egyptian mummies have revealed evidence of cancer, arteriosclerosis, arthritis, tuberculosis, gallstones, bladder stones, parasitic diseases and smallpox. They suffered many diseases because they did not understand the health principles God gave to Moses.
The biblical instructions regarding health, maintenance, and recovery from illness involve application of cause-and-effect principles—based on true science—that were given thousands of years before scientists developed the technology that enabled them to discover germs, bacteria, viruses, genes and the like. Modern medical science has discovered many principles of good health, but they originated with God who designed and created the miracle that is the human body.
What the Bible says about health is that those who follow God will generally be healthy. That does not necessarily mean that those who don’t follow God will always be sick. Nor does it mean that God’s people will be absolutely free of disease. The Bible says, “I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well” (3 John 1:2). Obviously, God is more interested in our spiritual health than our physical well-being, but He does want us to be physically healthy as well. On the other hand, disease is a result of Adam’s sin, and even the most righteous may suffer. After all, Job was righteous, but God allowed him to suffer disease and hardship.
It was not until the modern era that men obtained detailed knowledge of human physiology and medicine. Yet the Creator God, who is sometimes called the Great Physician, knows everything about us, and He’s provided the necessary keys to good health. The choice to obey the Lord and reap the resulting benefits is ours to make.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
DANGER IN SPIRITUAL PRIDE
PRIDE in any form and in anybody is a dangerous thing. In a worldly way the proverb is well attested, "Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall"; and surely very, very few people have anything of which they might justly be proud! Some who hold their heads high with the pride of a haughty spirit, as though they were especially created out of some preferable "dust of the earth," have really nothing to boast of as to ancestry. A very few generations back are generally sufficient for any boaster.
The world is learning that it is not wise to boast of riches, lest thereby some one ask how were the riches accumulated and by whom, and whether they were honestly obtained. Pride of education is not appropriate, either; for education in general signifies the learning of what other people have found out or have written as history. And in our day those who would boast of great education have need of humility lest it be found that the very thing that they are boasting about has been disproven by later researches. Scientific books of the year 1900 will not pass muster today, nor their theories stand in the light of present knowledge. So if it were right to boast of knowledge, the boaster would need to be very careful to keep up to date.
Pride of one's beauty or physical perfection is scarcely to be excused; for the beauty of form and feature came by heredity, and the parent rather than the child might have some reason for pride. Pride as respects clothing, adornments is also foolish. The maker of the fabrics or the ornaments might have some reason for pride in the handiwork, but surely the wearer has not! He is merely appropriating to himself the skill and labor of others.
SPIRITUAL PRIDE WORST OF ALL
But our theme is spiritual pride! We would divide it into two classes: first, the spiritual pride of the merely nominal or professing Christian; and second, the spiritual pride affecting true Christians.
The spiritual pride of the nominal church-goer is not all hypocrisy. He sees spiritual forms and ceremonies, hears spiritual songs and sermons, and in many instances is not aware but that he himself is a true Christian, as much so as any. Does he not go regularly to meeting? Is he not a regular contributor, not only to the expenses of the house of worship, but in general to the forwarding of the Lord's cause—charities, etc., as these are presented to him from time to time?
However they have lived during the week, however they have dealt with the butcher and the baker, most church-goers take a pleasurable pride in joining some of the showy groups moving toward church buildings. The spiritually proud usually prefer the showiest and most aristocratic and high-toned temples of worship. At the conclusion of the services they feel a self-satisfaction. Have they not worshiped God? Ought not all people to worship Him? How many others have not done so! They feel a spiritual pride or superiority when comparing themselves with non-attendants.
They went not for spiritual instruction; or even if any were given in the places visited, they were not themselves in condition to receive such—not being spirit-begotten. They had no real hunger for righteousness, for truth. They had merely satisfied a feeling of duty. They had in a sense done penance, and hoped that somehow, sometime it would inure to their advantage—perhaps saving them from some of the worst degrees of purgatorial sufferings—perhaps even making them acceptable for Heaven. Why should not God feel grateful to them for having denied themselves and wasted a few of their precious hours to go worship Him?
Although they would not put it so, they feel in a measure that God would be very unjust if He would pass by such a matter and not reward it handsomely. They feel spiritually proud and self-satisfied, and so long as in that condition are not in a particle of danger of getting hold of the Truth. Nor need we suppose that the Great Adversary would especially give his attention to them, for they are very safely under his influence. Was he not the first to manifest pride and to say in his heart, "I will ascend above the sons of God [I will take a higher position than others]; I will be as the Most High"? Spiritual pride was evidently Satan's great mistake, which led to his complete downfall.
Some who make no pretense of belief in God or in the Lord Jesus Christ or in the Bible have what might be termed a sort of spiritual pride. They pride themselves on living a moral life, on being able to conduct themselves honorably and decently in life—never getting drunk, never doing some of the seriously immoral and perverse things that many others do. In pride and boastfulness they will say: "I feel myself just as good as any church member, and I never go to church." And by this they mean, "I feel myself to be better than any church member." They are merely mixing modesty of statement with pride of thought in the proportion which they think will best influence the hearer.
Press the inquiry a little further—as to what good works they especially rejoice in—and they will tell how as "Odd Fellows," "Masons," etc., they sat up one night with a brother of the Order who was not very sick, who did not need very much attention and who had a trained nurse anyway to take care of him; but they felt as though they had been doing a noble work of charity. In general, their pride is that they have not violated the laws; that they have lived decent, respectable lives. Is there really anything in this that is an occasion for pride, for special self-congratulation? What man or woman should not keep the laws and should not be ashamed if he failed to keep the laws—especially when we would remember that those laws were made—not for good people, but for evil-doers?
SPIRITUAL PRIDE IN THE TRUE CHURCH
Now we come down to the most serious thing of all! The pride which is merely foolish or semi-hypocritical in the world and in the nominal Christians becomes a very serious matter indeed if it invades the heart and the life of the child of God. But why do we make such a difference? Why say that spiritual pride would be so very dangerous in one of the Lord's saints, whereas it would be little more than foolishness in the world? Ah! the difference is that these are God's special representatives in the world, who must become copies of God's dear Son if they would ever attain to the glory, honor and immortality to which they have been invited by the Lord.
When they gave themselves entirely to the Lord and were justified from sin through the imputation of the Redeemer's sacrifice, and were thus introduced into the family of God and begotten of the Holy Spirit, it meant a great change for these. Old things passed away; all things became new. These, and these alone, are on trial during this Gospel Age for eternal life or eternal death. And of all their temptations and beguilements, the sin of spiritual pride is probably one of the most dangerous of all. In proportion as it comes in, the Spirit of the Lord departs, and the spirituality of the individual ceases. This spiritual sickness, unless curbed, would surely lead on to the Second Death, for "the Lord resisteth the proud and showeth His favor to the humble."—James 4:6.
The Apostle Peter evidently had this besetting danger of spiritual pride in mind when he wrote to the Church: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time." (1 Peter 5:6.) "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted," said the Master.
ONE SYMPTOM OF THIS SOUL-SICKNESS
How may we know spiritual pride? some one may inquire. One of the most serious things in this connection is that those who have spiritual pride very rarely are aware of it. They sometimes have forms of godliness which not only deceive others, but deceive themselves and hinder them from seeing the spiritual pride which is working and which others may more readily see.
When you feel that your attendance at meetings, your reading of so many pages of SCRIPTURE STUDIES per day, your distribution of so many tracts, or your circulation or loaning of so many books, are matters to be boasted of—then take care! That disposition to boast is an indication that you would be in danger of catching spiritual pride if circumstances were favorable. These are all good and laudable things, all proper things; and you should feel a proper degree of self-congratulation that you find yourself able and willing to turn from the daily newspaper or novel, the reading of chitchat, or the writing of chitchat, to do things so reasonable, so proper, so much in harmony with the Divine will. But any disposition to boast of the matter should lead you to a careful scrutiny of thought—of the motives lying behind these activities in the Lord's service.
We are not meaning to say that it would be improper to give a testimony in which all of these things might be brought forward as an encouragement to others or as a proof that we love the Lord and are anxious to serve Him. What we are cautioning against is a spirit, or disposition, to boast of anything that we might be or do as the Lord's children. We have nothing whereof to boast. If we gave all of our goods to feed the spiritually poor, all our time to circulating the Truth, and all of our energy to the honoring of the Lord's name, we should feel that, having done all, we had not really profited our Lord, but merely found an opportunity of showing Him a little of the devotion of our hearts in acknowledgment of the numberless blessings already received at His hand, and the still more wonderful favors which He has promised shall be ours, if faithful. Well did the poet write:
"I want the first approach to feel
Of pride or fond desire!"
STILL FURTHER SYMPTOMS
Another form of this disease of spiritual pride manifests itself in a hypercritical attitude of mind. When one attends a testimony meeting, or a Berean class, and hears no real good testimony but his own, hears no proper answer except his own to any of the questions, never sees an Elder in the chair who knows how to lead a meeting anyway—these should be considered dangerous symptoms of spiritual pride.
Not that all these things might not possibly occur, but they are surely not likely to occur continually. It would be perfectly proper for us to give such attention, and to be so well informed, that we would be able to see quickly any unscriptural proceeding or any instance of very poor judgment that would be a hindrance to the effectiveness of the services. It would be proper, too, if ever we saw that the best interests of the class were not being served—and if, after waiting patiently for a while, we found that they were not likely to be corrected—it would be entirely proper for us, in a meek and quiet spirit, to call attention to the fault, either in the Class or to an elder, or whatever would be the most effective and least demonstrative way. "Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory," but everything for the glory of God.
And right there we need to be careful, too, lest we get into the way of thinking that everything that harmonizes with our ideas is to the glory of God, and that whatever would not harmonize with our ideas could not be pleasing to Him. Well did the Apostle write: "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools." (Ephesians 5:15.) Well do we see the meaning of this word "circumspectly"—that it signifies with close scrutiny on every hand, especially as respects thoughts, motives, intentions.
"BE NOT MANY OF YOU TEACHERS"
Well did St. James write, "Be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that a man shall receive the severer trial." (James 3:1.) While, as we have pointed out, all of the Lord's people are specially susceptible along the line of spiritual pride, there seems to be a special danger surrounding all who become in any manner identified with the promulgation of His Truth.
It is a special privilege, indeed, to tell out the Message of God's grace to all who have a hearing ear. How thankful we are that it is not—as it was once supposed—the exclusive privilege of the clergy, but that the Lord declares that all who are His consecrated people and who receive the begetting of the holy Spirit have, through it, the anointing to preach the Good Tidings to the meek and to bind up the broken-hearted! (Isaiah 61:1.) We are glad of this privilege, which includes our private conversations with neighbors and friends. But what a privilege to be God's ambassadors, and in His name to tell of the coming Kingdom, of the great provision God has already made through the death of Jesus, of the grand outcome, and of how the kings and priests of that Kingdom are now being called out of the world, experiencing a change of nature in preparation for their future work!
Old as the Message is, it is so new and wonderful, if rightly presented, as to awaken astonishment in the honest-hearted who hear. They wonder, how did this ordinary man (or woman) ever come to understand and be able so beautifully to portray these wonderful things? Perhaps they give a hint of their surprise. Then comes a danger-moment for taking the disease of spiritual pride. Just a little swing of the mind; and you think that it is wonderful that even you should know about such things when the great mass of mankind have not the remotest conception of them, and that even some of the ablest and most talented ministers of the Word of God are ignorant respecting these things in the Bible.
If you are taking the disease of spiritual pride you will doubtless feel a straightening of your back. You are beginning to feel more important, and to look more dignified and to feel that, after all, you are somebody great. Your voice indicates this, too; and your hearer notices it. Then he begins to feel that it is not the Word of the Lord, but that, as you seem to admit, it is something that you made up—something that you are responsible for, and he thinks less of it on that account.
The proper attitude, as all will agree, is that the Lord's people should feel greatly humbled instead of greatly exalted and heady in respect to these opportunities for telling the Truth to others. We should feel our unworthiness. We should realize that the Plan is not ours; that we have merely heard of it ourselves; that it is really God's Plan; that we are honored as His servants to tell it out. But if we allow any impression to go out that it is by any wisdom on our part, or any skill, that the beauty is seen in the Message, then to that extent we are taking glory to ourselves which belongs to the Lord, and doing injury to ourselves proportionately by failing to demonstrate our worthiness to be used by the Lord in the present and in the future. The wonderful privilege of speaking as ambassadors for the Lord, to tell of His greatness and Plan should humble us with the thought that He has privileged us, whereas He has angels, who excel in strength and whom He might have used in communicating this most wonderful Message.
SPECIAL TEST UPON ELDERS AND DEACONS
But the dear brethren chosen by the Classes to be their Elders and Deacons have a still further test to their humility. Apparently no one could occupy such a position without great danger of infection from the disease called spiritual pride. Sometimes the Lord's people seem entirely to forget the caution which St. Paul gave, saying that a novice, a beginner, one young in the Truth, no matter how bright, no matter how educated, should not be chosen to the service of Elder or Deacon because, as the Apostle remarked, he would be especially susceptible to this foe of the children of God—spiritual pride.—1 Timothy 3:6.
But not merely are the novices in danger. Everyone appointed to serve the Lord's people is thereby put into the place of great temptation, which might mean a spiritual fall and ruin in the Second Death. Perhaps the Lord's people have not been sufficiently considerate of these things as respects those whom they elect to be their servants. Perhaps those accepting these positions of service under the votes of the brethren scarcely realize what danger they do run in accepting. If they realized, doubtless that realization would make them hesitate about accepting at all; and humility would certainly lead them not to attempt to serve unless they were most explicitly appointed to the service.
But what do we find? Alas! in some a tendency to seek the eldership or deaconship. In some, even a tendency to "wire-pull" and bargain that they might be elected; in some a tendency to feel offended if they were not chosen; in some a tendency to feel angry with anybody who would vote against them in such an election. Alas! alas! if the dear brethren realized what was gnawing in their minds and urging them on to these things—oh, what a different course they would take! In all meekness and humility they should feel a timidity even about taking a position where there would be such a responsibility. The admonition on this is that although all of the Church should, according to their knowledge of the Truth, be qualified to be teachers, nevertheless the safer place is not to be a teacher, knowing that such shall have the severer trial. Only a sense of responsibility to the Lord and to the brethren should make one willing to serve in such capacity, much as all ought to love to be the Lord's representatives in the Church.
Everything in the nature of pride, fond desire to be Elders or to be great, is not only dangerous to the person himself, but dangerous to the entire Class with which he is associated. The spirit is catching, just as is every disease. Strife, vain-glory, ambition, all contrary to the spirit of the Lord, soon appear. Next come anger, malice, envy, hatred, evil-speaking, evil-surmising. These, St. Paul tells us, are "works of the flesh and of the Devil." All this harm, all this spirit of the Adversary, is apt to be introduced into the class either by one or more of its Elders or Leaders, or by one or more who desire to be Elders or Leaders.
We are sorry that this is true, yet we know of a number of Classes containing many dear children of God, many of whom are otherwise exemplary, but who have gotten into this condition. Instead of the spirit of the Lord being fully in control, the evil spirit, or disposition, is frequently manifest in various ways in the meetings. The class fails to make progress, either numerically or spiritually. These are the bitter fruits of this noxious thing known as spiritual pride.
If we had but the power of language to hold it up before leaders that they might see it in its true shape and terrible color, the effect would surely be to cause an alarm in Zion! Fain would we ring the alarm bell from the "Watch Tower," for be it noted that these dear ones who are becoming thus involved are often grand characters, truly spirit-begotten children of God. Of some of them we know that in the past they ran the race splendidly. How sorry we feel to see signs that their characters are being transformed in a wrong direction! Let us heed Him who said, "By their fruits ye shall know them."—Matthew 7:16.
GUARDING AGAINST SPIRITUAL PRIDE
As already indicated, one of the serious things connected with this malady of spiritual pride is that those who have it are rarely aware of it. Another difficulty is that it is almost impossible to correct them and to cause them to know that they have the disease. If spoken to on the subject they seem to think at once that their benefactor is their enemy; that he is jealous of them; that he would like to get their position, etc. Hence the disease is nearly incurable, except as either the Class may assist or the Lord's providence may interpose.
If the Class notices the growth of such a disposition, it should quickly, and with love and good intention, merely fail to elect for any service to the Class the individual who seems to be getting top-heavy—spiritually proud. If this were resented, it should be considered all the more a necessity to leave the self-conscious one to cool off quietly and get his bearing—for his own good and that of the Class. Where the Class fails to help in this matter, apparently nothing remains except for the Lord to chasten the individual for his good, either with business reverses or losses or with physical disease, or in whatever way may seem best to Him. And we have confidence that the Lord will do this for everyone who is truly His child and who gets into such a condition as to need such correction in righteousness. Is it not written, "The Lord will judge [punish] His people"?—Deuteronomy 32:36.
A BIBLE ILLUSTRATION OF THIS SIN
The Bible gives many illustrations of this sin, but we choose the most conspicuous one. There was a holy man of old, beloved of the Lord, noble, self-sacrificing, a Prophet of the Lord. He served the Lord and His people faithfully—wonderfully—for forty years; but finally he was guilty of this sin of self-assurance—spiritual pride. And, strangest of all, this man is noted to us in the Bible as having been at the beginning of his career the "meekest man in all the earth."—Numbers 12:3.
Yes; it was the glorious Moses, who at the beginning of his experience as a servant of the Lord was so very meek, so very humble, but who, at the conclusion of his career, was hindered from entering the promised land as a punishment for spiritual pride or self-assurance, where he should have given the Lord the glory. We recall the circumstances: Moses, as the Lord's special servant, had led Israel out of Egypt across the Red Sea into the wilderness, en route for Canaan. He performed, by the Lord's direction, several miracles on the journey. One of them was the smiting of the rock when the people were famished for water. God directed him to smite the rock; and from that rock flowed an abundant stream of water for the refreshment of the people.
According to the Bible, that rock was a picture of Christ—the "Rock of Ages." (1 Corinthians 10:4.) It was by the Lord's arrangement that this "Rock of Ages" was smitten, that the water of life might flow from Jesus for all of Adam's race who would become Israelites indeed and come out of Egypt—out of the world—out of sin—out of the kingdom of the Adversary into obedience and fellowship with the Lord.
Forty years after this time of the smiting of the rock, when Israel had been journeying to and fro, waiting for the time to come that they might be permitted to enter Canaan, their wandering led again into this district, so barren and devoid of water. The people cried to Moses and Moses cried to the Lord on their behalf as to what should be done. The Lord's answer was that Moses should speak to the rock which previously he had smitten, and that water would come forth. But during these forty years in which Moses had dealt with the Israelites as a father with his children, he had naturally gained a great deal of self-assurance. He could hardly pass through such experiences and still be the meekest man in all the earth.
So now, neglecting the command of the Lord, Moses went to the rock and smote it a second time with his rod, shouting to the people: "Ye rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" (Numbers 20:1-12.) Alas, poor Moses! He was taking the glory to himself instead of ascribing it all to the Lord. Soon Moses realized the great mistake he had made. It might be said to have been his only mistake, and yet the Lord on this account denied him the privilege of going into the land of Canaan, granting him instead merely the opportunity of seeing it from across the River Jordan, and burying him there.
Shall we not from this illustration esteem that spiritual pride and self-assurance are very displeasing in the sight of the Lord? Could we draw any other conclusion from this great lesson written for our admonition?
A WORD OF CONSOLATION
For the comfort of those who may feel that they have done much worse than Moses, or been much more self-assertive, been much less careful to honor the Lord, have manifested much more spiritual pride—for their comfort let us notice that the punishment here was severe because it was part of a type. As the first smiting of the rock typified the crucifixion of our Lord, so the second smiting of the rock typified the crucifying of the Son of God afresh and putting Him to an open shame; as described by St. Paul in Hebrews 6:6. As the smiting of the rock represented this public, open repudiation of Jesus and His teaching and His cause, so the preventing of Moses from crossing Jordan into Canaan typified the Second Death. We are not to think that Moses will never come into Canaan; nor that he has died the Second Death, but merely that this type was shown in his experiences.
Neither are we to think that brethren who have manifested spiritual pride and done things in their own name, rather than in the name of the Lord and the name of the Class, have thereby committed the sin unto death. We are, however, to realize that a terrible danger goes with spiritual pride, and that, persisted in, it would surely result in Second Death. Realizing this, how anxious, how zealous we should be, not only in the eradication of every symptom of it we might find in ourselves, but also in being careful lest we should take the contagion or in any manner come under its influence or have any of its symptoms!
SPIRITUAL PRIDE—PREVENTION AND CURE
We have already intimated the difficulty in connection with the treatment of this disease when once it gets hold. The chief feature of the difficulty seems to be that the disease has a destroying effect upon the conscience. The mind becomes more or less obtuse to the simple principles of the Golden Rule—not to mention the still higher law of our Lord's New Commandment to the brethren. The ignoring of the Golden Rule is manifested every time an attempt is made to coerce the Class, either in the election of its servants or in the ordering of its meetings.
The regulations of the Lord's Word are known; the residing of the authority in the Class is recognized, and when an Elder attempts to twist or turn or alter this he is not doing to the others as he would be done by. He has a right, as one of the Class, to his own opinion of the Lord's will on any matter. He has the right to express his judgment. But he has no right to hinder others from the expression of their judgment; and every such interference is a violation of the Golden Rule as well as a violation of the Law of Love and a violation of the First Commandment—to honor God; for it is setting aside the Divine arrangement provided for such matters.
But where the Elder progresses along such lines, in defiance of the Golden Rule principle, to the ruling of the Class, the coercing or cajoling of them to the doing his way, his will, the effect is the perversion of his own mind. His conscience becomes obtuse. Whoever violates his conscience repeatedly, by ignoring the principles of righting a wrong which he clearly sees, that person is undermining his conscience.
Conscience is the scale by which we weigh the various things presented to our judgment to ascertain the right or the wrong, the justice or the injustice, the truth or the falsity of a thing. This scale may be a very coarse one or a very fine one. It may be capable of very fine discriminations; or it may see things only in a rude, crude way. The Christian, especially if he has been long in the School of Christ, should have a very sensitive conscience; and from the Word of God he should be able to draw the weights by which he would balance all the questions of the affairs of life, and determine with almost absolute accuracy their right or their wrong—to what extent they would be pleasing or displeasing to the Lord. The impairment of that scale is the great danger in every sin, and it seems to us especially so in respect to the sin of spiritual pride. Nothing much can be done until the scale be rectified.
How important all of the Lord's people should feel it to be to keep their consciences thoroughly just; to be unwilling to take advantage of a brother, or of anybody, either in business or in an argument or in a Church election! The thought of the slightest infraction of justice on his own part should ring the loudest bells of alarm in the heart and the head of every true child of God: "Could it be that I who have enlisted in this cause of justice should be found sympathetic with injustice? Could it be that I could close my eyes to anything in my own conduct in the nature of injustice? Can it be that I am vitiating my own conscience and shall be liable to all the terrible results?"
To rectify a wrong course would therefore mean the reestablishment of the principles of justice in the hearts and the minds with a carefulness proportionate to the results involved—life or death everlasting. As justice shall begin to be reestablished in our minds, it will begin to regulate our words and acts. Gradually, then, the wrong-doer would begin to see how grossly he had violated the principle, how spiritual pride had almost destroyed his future prospects in the Kingdom. To such an one would surely come hearty repentance and thorough resolutions for the future.
THE GREAT NECESSITY FOR SELF-EXAMINATION
But how shall we safeguard ourselves against this spiritual pride, knowing as we do its insidious character and evil influence? How may we know that we are keeping ourselves in the love of God and not straying away toward spiritual pride?
that the Lord's people not only go to Him at the opening of each day and ask for Divine wisdom and supervision, and then through the day seek to live in accordance with that prayer, but additionally at the close of the day we have recommended a special self-inspection as respects the things done, the things neglected that should have been done, and the things done that should not have been done, in accordance with our vows of consecration to the Lord. If these reckonings and balancings every night with the Lord continue, and if they are done honestly, by a conscience that is not perverted, but that balances truly, we may surely expect that such, in harmony with the Lord's Word, will be keeping themselves in the love of God. They will be growing in grace, growing in knowledge, growing in love; and "the Wicked One will not touch them."
But let us not forget that while we are to exercise great leniency in viewing the words and deeds of others, ascribing only good intentions where they are professed, we are to scrutinize with all of our might our own hearts, our own intentions. We are to inquire why we did this thing or left undone the other thing; why we did this thing this way; why we spoke in such a tone, etc. Such a careful examination, weighing of thoughts, words and deeds, would be very unsatisfactory to a person who was not wishing to be in accord with the Lord. But those who have made a covenant with the Lord and are faithful to that covenant will find such a course to be a great blessing, comforting their hearts at the time, strengthening them for the future, and in connection with the Lord's providences it will be fitting and preparing them for places in the Heavenly Kingdom.
====================