Thou shalt not kid thyself

"Let no man deceive himself....Let no man glory in men", I Corinthians 3:18, 21. Perhaps two of the most valuable commandments given in the entire book of Corinthians. I have a preacher friend whom I have often heard say that if there were 11 Commandments, the 11th would surely have been "thou shalt not kid thyself". How fitting and forthcoming of a statement for the vanity and carnality that is so common in 'christian' ranks today. Nothing must be more disgusting in the sight of God than to see men parading and promoting themselves as some great one, and using none other than the platform of their 'christianity' to do so. That is exactly what Paul was rebuking here in this very chapter. Of all men who could have 'rightly' paraded and promoted his spirituality, who would dare deny the Apostle Paul that right? Yet, his true spirituality brought forth a stinging rebuke to those who were claiming to be his disciples. In a spirit of humility he declared himself to be nothing more than a servant and a laborer. He assigned to himself the most menial of titles.

We see this same problem in the Lord's churches today, taking on so many various manifestations. If honest, we are all inclined, in our flesh, to brag on our deep spirituality, especially when we are among our peers at church. How very unnecessary are our personal praise reports of how many people we have given tracts to, and how great our sacrifices have been for Jesus, and how deep our humility, and how close our walk with God. Sometimes we are all but saying...."oh, if you could only attain to my level". May we all please give the Lord a great blessing, and do each other a tremendous favor, and stop the parading and promoting of our own great spirituality. It is true that there is no higher calling than serving the Lord.......but servants need not brag!

What do you Want??? Part Three

Mark 10:14, "And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet".

After we have met a certain people that God has prepared, and given them a clear proclamation of the Gospel, we are looking for a complete persuasion on their behalf, to the truth of Jesus Christ. Without a doubt, one of the hardest decisions that a missionary has to face, is determining when it is time to move on and preach to other hearers. We realize that it takes time for a person to hear, understand, and apply their heart to the faith of the Gospel, however, there are so many that are in darkness, that one cannot spend all his time going back to only the same crowd that remains unmoveable and seemingly unshaken by God's Word. The difficult question is, where is the line? When is it time to move on to new ground?

Jesus gives a clear directive to His disciples. They were to look for people that received them and received their words. Obviously a people must be willing to receive us before we can do any work in their lives. It does not much good to preach to someone who would rather that you just drop dead. However, we oftimes find people that are willing to receive us, but fain to receive the message we bring from God's Word. So many are cordial, warm, and kind, until you begin to shine the light of God on the darkness of their heart. How refreshing it is when we find one who not only receives us, but receives the message from our Savior! What a joy when we find those who will choose to agree with the Word of God! There is nothing more exciting than to find a people with a complete persuasion of the truth of the Bible. This persuasion must not stop with being born again. Actually, quite to the contrary, Jesus said that "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed". What a great disservice has been done in so many modern churches where all the emphasis is only put on praying a sinner's prayer and being saved from hell. Only to find that these 'converts' disappear just as quickly as they were found.

Furthermore, many churches are full of 'disciples' who have a corrupted mentality that it is the job of the paid staff to do the work of outreach and ministry, rather than a personal responsibility of every disciple! If one is completely persuaded of the truth of God's Word, it will be impossible for them to turn aside to other endeavours, or merely relegate the work of ministry to the 'hired staff', while they pursue their own causes. If the burden of ministry all rests on the shoulders of the missionary, then the work can only continue as long as the missionary is their to pump everybody up. As we labor on the mission field, we are looking for the same thing that is needed in churches back home. We need and desire a people that are so completely persuaded of the truth of God's Word, that they will stop at nothing until they see the Great Commission completely fulfilled for the glory of Christ!

Are you so completely persuaded about the truth of God's Word that it permeates the thoughts, words, desires, and pursuits of your life? What if YOU were the only one that God was counting on for the growth of His church that you have joined....how well would His church be doing? Fully surrendered and committed disciples. Isn't that what Jesus is looking for?

If ye have love one to another

John 13:35...."By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another". A very simple, yet profound command by our Savior. I am afraid that we often overlook the importance of it and underestimate the power of it. Very few ideals have been distorted as badly as Biblical love has been, in our present day. Biblical love is not for sissy's. Biblical love is not about sensuality. Biblical love is not about spineless acceptance of all things. Biblical love is defined in I Corinthians 13. Biblical love between God's children, is an evidence of salvation to all the world around us. Today I watched a manifest token of such love between 3 brethren, that brought a tear to my eye.

After David and I finished a Bible study with Thomas and Kenyas today, David went to the car and pulled out a bag with 2 of his shirts that he brought to give to these 2 men. Now you have to understand that David is a South African and Thomas and Kenyas are from Zimbabwe. South Africans and Zimbabweans typically despise each other. David probably has less than 10 articles of clothing to his name, yet T. & K. have only one change of clothes. David has no job to buy any replacement clothes, but he saw 2 brethren with a definite need. Though he couldn't do much, he wanted to do what he could. He didn't ask me if I had an extra shirt or extra money to buy them something. He didn't ask what I thought about their need at all....he just took the initiative to give what he could to his new found brethren! It was a humbling experience to witness. Biblical love is truly only wrought in a man's heart by the power of Jesus Christ. May each one of us reassess our commitment to fulfilling God's love through us to those in need around us.

Chocolate Soldier....Part THREE

Sorry this is a bit long, but I wanted to give you the rest of this article today....copied from C.T. Studd, Chocolate Soldiers.

The Chocolate Christians of today can at least boast of having an ancient pedigree.

There are Chocolates à la Reuben, who have great searchings of heart, and make great resolves of heart too. But somehow they still sit among the sheepfolds, listening to the pipings of their much loved organs, or the strumming of their guitars. It is good to have great heart-searching. It is better to make a great heart resolve. But if, instead of obeying, we squat among the sheep, leaving our few hard-pressed brothers to tackle the wolves by themselves, we are only Chocolate Christians. You made a great resolve to go to Africa for Christ a year or two ago. Where are you now? Still in the West? In Britain? Yes! Yes! Lollipop! (Judges 5:16)

Chocolate Demas left fiery, hard-hitting Paul for an easier path. He said he thought Paul should wink at or slobber over sin instead of rebuking it. "He was so very fond of the knife, you know. He never would use sticking plaster, because he said it never healed the sore, but made it burrow underneath and become bigger, worse and dangerous" (2 Timothy 4;10).

Mark joined the Chocolate Brigade once. He left Paul and Barnabas in the lurch, and went back to Jerusalem for a rest cure - a religious retreat. Thank God he got sick of it before long, and re-enlisting in God's army became a useful soldier. (Acts 13;13)


Many fine youngsters are turned into Chocolates by old prophets. Old prophets who have lost their fire, or who fire off words instead of deeds, usually become great Chocolate manufacturers. That poor young prophet! He did so well when he obeyed God only, but it was all over with him when he listened to another voice, even though it was that of an old prophet. Did not the old prophet say he was a prophet? And say that he had got the message straight from God? What a damnable lie! The floor of Christendom and elsewhere is littered with WRECKS made by old prophets. God won't stand nonsense from any man. Every man has to choose between Christ and Barabbas, and every Christian between God and some old prophet. Better be a silly donkey in the estimation of an old prophet than to listen to his soft talk and flattery, and afterwards became a wreck. "This is My beloved Son, hear HIM." "You have an anointing from God, and you do not need anyone to teach you." You say you believe the Bible! Do your deeds give the lie to your words? (1 Kings 13).

THE TEN SPIES WERE CHOCOLATES. They melted and ran over the whole congregation of Israel, turning them into Chocolate Creams - softies, afraid to face the fire and water before them. God put them all into the saucepan again and boiled them for forty years in the desert, and left them there. He has no use for Chocolates. It is not small things that He despises, but 'Chocolates', for He said, "Your little ones shall inherit the promised land which you have forfeited through listening to men and despising Me." (Numbers 13)

JONAH became a Chocolate Soldier once. Told to go to Africa, he went to Liverpool and took ship for America. Luckily he met a storm and a whale which, after three day's instruction, taught him how to pray and obey, and set him once again on the right track. (Jonah 1)
There is nothing that shows up Chocolates so much as a bit of a breeze among God's people. Paul and Barnabas had one once. Judging from experience, I guess there were some Chocolates about then who got into a fog right away! Before that they had vowed they would go to the mission field, but this breeze between P. and B. put them off. If they had not been MADE OF CHOCOLATE they would have said, "This affair between Paul and Barnabas only makes it more necessary for me to keep close to God, and to do what He told me to do more exactly and punctually; so I shall go to Africa a bit sooner, that's all!"
Difficulties, dangers, disease, death or divisions don't deter any but Chocolates from executing God's will. When someone says there is a lion in the way, the real Christian promptly replies, "That's hardly enough inducement for me; I want a bear or two besides to make it worth my while to go."
Chocolates are very fond of talking loud and long against some whom they call fanatics, as though there were any danger of Christians being fanatics nowadays! Why, fanatics among Christians are as rare as the dodo. Now, if they declaimed against tepidity, they would talk sense. God's real people have always been called fanatics. Jesus was called mad, so was Paul; so were Whitefield, Wesley, Moody, Spurgeon. No one has graduated far in God's school who has not been paid the compliment of being called a fanatic. We Christians of today are indeed a tepid crew. Had we but half the fire and enthusiasm of the Suffragettes of the past, we would have the world evangelized and Christ back amongst us in no time. Had we the pluck and heroism of the Battle of Britain pilots, or the men who go on Polar expeditions or climb Everest, or for any ordinary dare-devil enterprise, we could have every soul on earth knowing the name of Jesus Christ in less than ten years.
Alas! What stirs ordinary men's blood and turns them into heroes makes most Christians run like a flock of frightened sheep. Militants daily risk their lives in furtherance of their particular cause, and subscribe with their means in a way that cries "Shame!" on us Christians, who generally brand the braving of risks and fighting against odds as "tempting God".


CHOCOLATE CARAMELS (stick-jaws, boys call them) jawing, "I go, sir," and sticking fast in Christendom! No conquest is made in assured safety, and conquest for Christ certainly cannot be so made.
We Christians too often SUBSTITUTE PRAYER FOR PLAYING THE GAME. Prayer is good; but when used as a substitute for obedience it is nothing but blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism. We need as many meetings for action as for prayer - perhaps more. Every orthodox prayer meeting is opened by God saying to His people, "Go work today; pray that labourers will be sent into My vineyard." It is continued by the Christian's response, "I go, Lord, wherever You send me, that Your Name may be hallowed everywhere as it is in heaven." But if it ends in nobody going anywhere, it had better never have been held at all. Like faith, prayer without works is dead. That is why many Prayer Meetings might well be styled "much bleating, yet little wool". Zerubbabel did not only hold prayer meetings; he went and cut down trees and started to build. Hence God said, "From this day on I will bless you."
A report says that someone has rediscovered the secret of the old masters. Cannot we Christians rediscover, and put into practice, the secret of our Great Master and His former pupils. Heroism? He and they did not save themselves; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death, and so kept on saving them by losing for Christ's sake.
We are frittering away time and money in a multiplicity of conventions, conferences and retreats, when the real need is to go straight and full steam into battle.
The 'vox humana' plays too important a part in our Christian organs and organizations today. The music, whoever plays, is bound to be thin when the stops in 'instant obedience' and 'fiery valour' are missing or unused. Without them, to play the "Lost Chord" of heroism is an impossibility.
"Do whatever He tells you," said the blessed virgin. Do what? Not put treacle and spice into the soft holy vessels inside the house, but pour the water of life into those empty stone ones outside! Cana's marriage feast would have ended in shame had the wine run short. Christ's marriage feast only begins when the wine is sufficient - a blend from every nation, tribe, people and language. The supply is assured as soon as the water is poured out as Christ directed, into "the uttermost parts of the earth". The mischief today is the reluctance of the servants to do the outside work. They all want to serve indoors, wear smart clothes, listen to the conversation, and make a terrible lot of themselves in the butler's pantry.


DO LET US MAKE A REAL START NOW - AT ONCE.
For years, like Mr. Winkle, we've declared we were just about to begin, and then never began at all. We must divorce Chocolate and Disobedience, and marry Faith and Heroism.
"Who shall begin the battle?" asked the king. "You will," replied the prophet. And when the king and the young officers led the way, although the odds against them were terrific, they won with ridiculous ease. (1 Kings 20:14)
So, too, the apostles led in the war of God to the uttermost parts of the earth.
God's summons today is to the young men and women of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, of America and Europe, and of third world countries, who call themselves by the name of Christ.
"New wine," said Christ, "must be poured into new wineskins." Those superfluously labeled and patched-up old-fashioned ones are as hopeless as the "New Theology". They cannot be moved lest they burst with pride and spill the wine in the wrong place.
Listen! "In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions (of faith), your old men will dream dreams (of valorous obedience). Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, and everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved." But how can they call on Him of whom they have not even heard? Must you stay, young man? Can't you go, young woman, and tell them? Truly we are in the last - the Laodicean stage - that of the Lukewarm Church.
Will you be to Christ the partner of His throne or an emetic (Rev. 3:16); a Militant or a Chocolate Christian?
Will you fear or will you fight? Shall your brothers go to war and will you sit here? When He comes, will He find faith on the earth?
A thousand times you have admitted Christ's
"Love so amazing, so divine,Demands your life, your soul, your all."
Will you be a miser and withhold what honour demands of you? Will you give like Ananias and Sapphira who, pretending they gave all, gave only part?
Possessing and enjoying the vineyard, will you, like the tenants, refuse the agreed rent? (Luke 20: 9-11). Will you fear death, or the devil, or men, and will you not fear SHAME? Some shall rise to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Shall we refuse to emulate the heroes of old, or shall we accomplish the double fulfillment of these glorious words:
All these, being men of war, came with a perfect heart to make Jesus King over all the world. They were all mighty men of valour for the war! He that was least was equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand! They were not the faces of lions! They were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains (to do their Lord's commands)!

You sought in time past for Jesus to be king over you. NOW THEN DO IT! (Compare 1 Chronicles 12:8, 33, 38, and 2 Samuel 3:17-18). Shall we not reply, "We are Yours, Jesus, and on Your side. May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I do not do what the Father promised You on oath, and transfer the kingdom from the house of Satan and establish Your throne over all the world." (Compare 1 Chronicles 12:18, and 2 Samuel 3:9-10).
Come then, let us restore the 'lost chord' of Christianity - HEROISM - to the world, and the crown of the world to Christ.

What shall we say after this?

Ezra 9:1-15

A good question indeed! A question that is probably long overdue to be asked by many of us. Ezra had led a remnant of Jews back to Jerusalem, after 70 yrs. of judgment in captivity for their sins. God gave them grace, a nail in his holy place, and a little reviving in their bondage, v.8. They had seen the goodness of God, and experienced mercy that was undeserved. They could have rightfully died in a strange land, but God allowed them to return home and begin to reconstruct the temple of God to worship Him again. Then the very rulers of the land led in the rebellion against the clear commands of God. The people began to join themselves in marriages with the heathen of the land. This was one of the very sins that had sent them into 70 yrs. of bondage! When Ezra uncovered the sin that was on a rampage, he fell on his face, broken and weeping, in confession before God. "What shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments", v.10. Ezra realized that they were living on borrowed time, and existing on undeserved grace, and now they were tempting God by returning to rebellion!

Are they any different than us today? Having been saved by the grace of God from a fully deserved condemnation, how often have we returned to the sin that brought us under condemnation in the first place? Alas, what shall we say after this? We who lived all of our life in bondage to sin, and should have rightfully died in the land of the devil, but God saw fit to give us His grace and a little reviving in our bondage. When we return to the deeds of the old man, we walk all over the undeserved grace of God. What shall we say after we sin? Is sin so small of a thing to simply be brushed away? Is it such a miniscule matter as to be given a seat by well crafted excuses? Is it so harmless a thing that we should coddle it as a pet? What shall we say to the God of grace? I think the only word that can rightly be uttered is the contrite confession of Ezra...."O God thou art righteous....we cannot stand before thee". May we never make a place to harbor sin.

Chocolate Soldier....Part TWO

God never was a chocolate manufacturer and never will be. God's men are always heroes. In Scripture you can trace their giant foot-tracks down the sands of time.


NOAH walked with God: he did not only preach righteousness, he acted it. He went through water and did not melt. He breasted the current of the popular opinion of his day, scorning alike the hatred and ridicule of the scoffers who mocked at the thought of there being but one way of salvation. He warned the unbelieving and, entering the ark himself, did not open the door an inch when once God had shut it. A real hero untainted by the fear of man!
Learn to scorn the praise of men,Learn to lose with God;Jesus won the world through shame!And beckons us His road.


ABRAHAM, a simple farmer, at a word from the invisible God, marched with family and stock through the terrible desert to a distant land to live among a people whose language he could neither speak nor understand! Not bad that! But later he did even better, marching hot foot against the combined armies of five kings, flushed with recent victory, to rescue one man! His army? Just 318 odd fellows, armed like a circus crowd. And he won!
"He always wins who sides with God." What pluck! Only a farmer! No war training! Yet what hero has eclipsed his fear? He was the Friend of God - that was his open secret.


MOSES, the man of God, was a species of human chameleon: scholar, general, law-giver, leader, etc., brought up as the emperor's grandson with more than a good chance of coming to the throne. There was only one thing between him and it - Truth. What a choice! What a temptation! A throne for a lie! Ignominy, truth! He played the man! "Refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin and success for a season, accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt."
Again I see him. Now an old man and alone, marching stolidly back to Egypt after forty years of exile. He goes to beard the lion in his den, to liberate Pharaoh's slaves right under his very nose, and to lead them across that great and terrible wilderness. A wild-cat affair, if ever there was one! When were God's schemes otherwise? Look at Jordan, Jericho, Gideon, Goliath, and scores of others. Tame tabby-cat schemes are stamped with another hallmark - that of the Chocolate Brigade! How dearly they love their tabbies, yet think themselves wise men! Real Christians revel in desperate ventures for Christ, expecting from God great things and attempting the same with exhilaration. History cannot match this feat of Moses. How was it done? He consulted not with flesh and blood; he obeyed not men but God.
Once again I see the old grey-beard, this time descending Mount Sinai with giant strides and rushing into the camp, his eyes blazing like burning coals. One man against two million dancing dervishes drunk with debauchery! Bravo! Well done, old man! First class! His cheek does not pale, but his mouth moves, and I think I catch his words, "If God is for me, who can be against me? I will not be afraid of ten thousand of the people that have set themselves against me. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." And he didn't. He wins again. Whence this desperate courage? Listen! "Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." "The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." "My servant Moses", said his Master, "is faithful in all My house; with him I will speak mouth to mouth." Such is the explanation of Moses, the chameleon, the man, the friend of God, and consequently a first class hero.


DAVID, the man after God's own heart, was a man of war and a mighty man of valour. When all Israel was on the run, David faced Goliath - alone ... with God - and he was only a youngster, and well-scolded, too, by his own brother for having come to see the battle. What a splendid fool brother Eliab must have been! As though David would go to see a battle and not stay to fight. They are chocolate soldiers who merely go to see battles and coolly urge others to fight them. They had better save their journey money and use it to send out real fighters instead. Soldiers don't need dry nurses, and if they did the Holy Spirit is always on the spot and ready to undertake any case on simple application.
No! David went to the battle and stayed to fight, and won! Wise beyond his years, he had no use for Saul's armour. It cramped his freedom of action. He tried it on and took it off quick sharp. And besides, it made such a ghastly rattle, even when he walked, that he could not hear the still small voice of God, and would never have heard Him say afterwards. "This is the way to the brook, David. And there are the five smooth stones! Trust only in Me and them. Your own home-made sling will do first class. And there, that's the shortest cut to Goliath." THE CHOCOLATES had run away (they were all chocolates) but David ran upon Goliath. One smooth stone was enough.
David's secret was that he had but one Director, and He, the Infallible One. He directed the stone as He directed the youth. Too many directors spoil the sport, and two many by just one. Thus Christ said to His soldiers, "HE shall teach you all things. HE shall guide you into all truth."
"This is My Beloved Son; HEAR HIM."
"One mediator only, between God and man, the man Christ Jesus."
One Director of Christian men - God the Holy Spirit, whose directions require indeed instant obedience, but not the endorsement of any man.
The Devil needs red-hot shot, fresh from the foundry of the Holy Spirit. He laughs at cold shot or tepid, and as for that made of half iron and half clay, half divine and half human, why you might just as well pelt him with snow balls.
Whence did this raw youth derive his pluck and skill? Not from military camps, nor theological schools, nor religious retreats. "To know the only True God and Jesus Christ" is enough. Paul determined to know only Jesus Christ and look at the great results! Whilst others were learning pretty theories, David, like John the Baptist, had been alone with God in the wilds, practicing on bears and lions. The result? He knew God and did exploits. He knew God only. He trusted God only. That is the secret. God alone gives strength. God adulterated with men entails the weakness of iron and clay - Chocolate - brittleness!
Yet here as he was, even David (alas!) once stayed and played the role of a Chocolate Soldier. He stayed at home when he should have gone to war. His army, far off, in danger, fighting the enemy, won. David, at home, going there, suffered the one great defeat of his life, entailing such a bitter, life-long reaping as might well deter others from the folly of sowing wild oats. David's sin is a terrific sermon (like Lot's preaching in Sodom must have been). Its theme? Don't be a Chocolate Soldier!
In his simple, quick and full confession, David proved himself to be a man again. It takes a real man to make a true confession - a Chocolate Soldier will excuse or cloak his sin. He tumbles in the mud, flounders on, wipes his mouth to try and get the bad taste of his acted lie out of it, and then goes on his way saying, "I have done no wickedness." A self-murdering fool! Killing his conscience to save his face, like Baalam beating the ass who sought to save his master's life. Being a Chocolate Soldier nearly finished David. Beware!


NATHAN was another real Christian Soldier. He went to his king and rebuked him to his face, like Peter's dealing with Ananias (only David embraced his opportunity and confessed), and unlike the Chocolate Soldiers of today who go whispering about and refusing either to judge, rebuke, or put away evil because of the entailed scandal. Forsooth! Veritable Soapy Sams! They say, "It is nothing, nothing at all! A mere misunderstanding!" As though God's cause would suffer more through a bold declaration and defense of the truth and the use of the knife, than by the hiding up of sin, and the certain development of mortification in the member, involving death to the whole body. "He who does what is right is righteous;" and "he who does what is sinful is of the devil" and ought to be told so. He that is a second time led captive by the devil needs neither plaster nor treacle, but the brave rebuke and summons to repentance of a righteous man to effect his salvation. We are badly in need of 'Nathans' today, who fear God and nothing else, no, not even a scandal.


DANIEL was another hero. Of course he was! Was not the man greatly beloved of God, who sent an angel to tell him so?
I love to watch him as he walks, with firm step and radiant face, to the lions' den, stopping but once - like his Master on route to Calvary - to comfort his weeping and agonized emperor. God shut the mouths of the lions against Daniel, but opened them wide against those who had opened their mouths against His servant. A man is known by his works, and the works of Daniel were his three friends who, rather than bow down to men or gold, braved the fiery furnace.
Again, see him going to the banquet hall, and hear his conductor whisper in his ear, "Draw it mild, Daniel. Be statesmanlike. You'll get position and power again if you are tactful and wise, especially tactful." And Daniel's simple reply, "Get behind me, Satan!" There he stands before the king, braving torture or instant death - but it's the king who quails, not Daniel - who tells him to his face the whole truth of God, diminishing not a jot.


And so the tale goes on. Go where you will through the Scriptures or history, you will find that men who really knew God, and did not merely say they did, were invariably paragons of pluck, dare - devil desperadoes for Jesus, gamblers for God. "Fools and madmen!" shout the world and the Chocolates. "Yes, for Christ's sake," add the angels. Nobly they fought to win the prize:
Climbing the steep ascent of heaven,Through peril, toil and pain,O God, to us let grace be given,To follow in their train.

Chocolate Soldier....Part ONE

OK...I wrote a brief post yesterday about C.T. Studd, and then I read, for the first time, this article that he wrote, and I just had to share it. Problem is that it is quite lengthy, so I will just give you part one for today. This is not just 'preacher talk'....this is from a man who walked in the shoes that he preached about below.....

The Chocolate Soldier
or Heroism - The Lost Chord of Christianity by C.T. Studd (1860-1931)

"Heroism is the lost chord; the missing note of present-day Christianity!"

Every true soldier is a hero! A SOLDIER WITHOUT HEROISM IS A CHOCOLATE SOLDIER! Who has not been stirred to scorn and mirth at the very thought of a Chocolate Soldier? In peace true soldiers are captive lions, fretting in their cages. War gives them their liberty and sends them, like boys bounding out of school, to obtain their heart's desire or perish in the attempt. Battle is the soldier's vital breath! Peace turns him into a stooping asthmatic. War makes him a whole man again, and gives him the heart, strength, and vigour of a hero.

EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN IS A SOLDIER - of Christ - a hero "par excellence"! Braver than the bravest - scorning the soft seductions of peace and her oft repeated warnings against hardship, disease, danger and death, whom he counts among his bosom friends.

THE OTHERWISE CHRISTIAN IS A Chocolate Christian, dissolving in water and melting at the smell of fire. Sweeties they are! Bonbons, lollipops! Living their lives in a glass dish or in a cardboard box, each clad in his soft clothing, a little frilled white paper to preserve his dear little delicate constitution.

Here are some Portraits of Chocolate Soldiers taken by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. "He said, 'I go sir,' and went not." He said he would go to the mission field, but he stuck fast to the Western world instead. "They say and do not" - they tell others to go, and yet do not go themselves. "Never", said General Gordon to a corporal, as he himself jumped upon the parapet of a trench before Sebastopol to fix a gabion which the corporal had ordered a private to fix and would not fix himself, "Never tell another man to do what you are afraid to do yourself."

To the Chocolate Soldier the very thought of war brings a violent attack of ague, while the call to battle always finds him with the palsy. "I really cannot move," he says. "I only wish I could, but I can sing, and here are some of my favorite lines:

"I must be carried to the skies
On a flowery bed of ease,
Let others fight to win the prize,
Or sail through bloody seas.

Mark time, Christian heroes,
Never go to war;
Stop and mind the babies Playing on the floor.
Wash and dress and feed them
Forty times a week,
'Til they're roly poly--Puddings so to speak.

Chorus:Round and round the nursery
Let us ambulate,
Sugar and spice and all that's nice
Must be on our plate."

C.T. Studd

Recently I have been reading the biography of C.T. Studd, by Norman Grubb. Though I had heard about this man before, I had not yet taken the time to read the story of his life. May I encourage you to pick up a copy of his biography today. In the meanwhile, let me give you a few highlights of this man's testimony.



Charles T. Studd was born in England in 1860. His father had made a fortune in India and moved back to England to retire on his wealth. C.T. was given a plush life on a silver platter. He and his brothers excelled in sports and became some of the greatest cricket players that England has ever known. However with his preoccupation with sports and materialism, he had no time for Christ until he turned 18. At the age of 18 he was converted, but continued on the path of popularity and sports for a few more years, until he came across a letter one day.....a letter from an atheist. This letter so impacted his life that he promptly quit his worldly pursuits and sailed for China as a missionary. At the age of 25 upon receiving his inheritance, he donated more than 25,000 pounds to men like D.L. Moody, George Muller, and other Godly men. A sum that would have made him nigh to a millionaire today!



That letter reads as follows: "Did I firmly believe, as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of religion in this life influences destiny in another, religion would mean everything to me. I would cast away earthly enjoyments as dross, earthly cares as follies, and earthly thoughts and feelings as vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought and my last image before sleep sank me into unconsciousness. I should labour in its cause alone. I would take thought for the morrow of Eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gained for heaven worth a life of suffering. Earthly consequences should never stay my hand nor seal my lips. Earth—its joys and its griefs—would occupy no moment of my thoughts. I would strive to look upon Eternity alone and on the immortal souls around me soon to be everlastingly happy or everlastingly miserable. I would go forth to the world and preach to it in season and out of season, and my text would be, ‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?"

A New Man, Renewed

Colossians 3:10 "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:"
What a wonderful thing it would seem, that after Jesus Christ made you a new creature at the moment of salvation, that there should be no more work to the Christian life. Alas, if you are saved, you know that is not the case at all. Far from perfect, we have a life's long work of becoming more and more conformed to the image of our Savior! Even the new man needs to be renewed. A new man needs a new suit of clothes; but it will not do to put on the new clothes only one time forever. How dirty one's clothes become during the course of a day! Most Africans own only a few articles of clothes, and wash only once a week at best. You can imagine how wonderful they smell by the end of the week, wearing clothes for many days straight without washing! If Sunday is the only day of renewing that we have for our mind and conforming to the image of Christ, I wonder how awful we must smell to God between our trips to the altar. How much dirt of the world has clung to you while out and about today, and must it wait until Sunday to be cleaned? No wonder we have so many stains of sin that just don't seem to ever come out. No wonder we struggle so with some habits of sin that we can never seem to be rid of. Have you taken time for the Spirit of God to renew your mind through the Word of God today? May we take heed to Romans 12:2.

Contentment...village style

I wish I had brought my camera to share this picture with you. On Friday, David and I were making some visits in the village of Burgersdorp where we are working on Sunday mornings. As we went house to house giving out Gospel tracts and inviting people to come and study the Word of God, we took in many sights that are certainly the norm for David and becoming commonplace to me. Sights that sometimes grab my attention and remind me how strange of a picture this is compared to how life was for me growing up in the USA. Sights that could revolutionize your life if you would let them. As David was talking with a lady, I noticed her young child, probably 3 yrs old playing in the dirt. Only his toys were not made by Tonka or Playskool. His toy was not a truck or a shovel. His toy was an old underarm deodorant container, that had the guts taken out, to make a nice makeshift 'dumptruck'. I watched as he methodically filled it with dirt, dumped it on a scrap of notebook paper, and then carried it over to a larger pile, and repeated the process again and again. I know your children, like mine, probably oftentimes play with the box more than the toy inside, but this little chap had no other toy. None.

As I returned home and saw the piles of toys that my children are blessed to have, I realized that contentment is not acquired by getting just a few more toys. It is not a result of getting what I want or often even what I think I need. Contentment is being thankful for the things that God has allowed me to have and making wise use of them. You may think your existence is primitive compared to some around you, but you really should look again, and then return to count your blessings. Next time you are tempted to complain about the things in life that you are doing without, I hope that you will remember this little fellow. May we all strive to learn the lesson of Hebrews 13:5.

He IS....are You?

Colossians 1:15-29

He is the Visible God
He is the Firstborn of every creature
He is the Creator
He is before All things
He is the Sustainer of All things
He is the Beginning
He is the Firstborn from the dead
He is the Head of the Church
He is the Fulness of All things
He is your only hope of Reconciliation
He is your only hope of Peace
He is your only hope of Glory

Jesus is HIS Name!

He wants to live in you
He wants to work in you
He wants to work through you

Have you let Him in?
Has He worked in you today?
How will He work through you today?

He cannot work through you unless He is working in you.