NOT EVERYONE WHO SAYS, "LORD, LORD"

"The ministers of the old days were not learned in a book sense, but many were men of great earnestness and high purpose. These men in general had an idea that something notable should take place at the moment of dissolution and seemed to think I should provide pabulum for their discourses. I had to tell them that saints and sinners died alike and that at the time of death, whatever might have been the antecedents, there was no pain. I have seen only one man who looked on death with terror and he was a sanctimonious old sinner, the pillar of his church, at the sight of whom one just instinctively grasped one's pocketbook" (Arthur E. Hertzler, M.D.).

Forgive me for bringing up the death topic so frequently, but it is an appointment we are all going to keep unless Jesus returns in our generation. Also, it is the time of year when we traditionally think about resurrection. We have a great hope! Nevertheless, we need to be reminded that we are not saved by faith only, but by a faith in Jesus that gives evidence that it is real. Repentance and baptism are the essential first manifestations of this, but it is also a life where the call of the flesh and the world does not get the first answer, but rather the call of the Spirit.

"On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many might works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me you evildoers'" (Matthew 7:22-23).

Grace and Peace;
Tom