Sunday, November 30, 2008

November Nostalgia

There have been flashbacks of memory this month, as usual! Our "little sister" Jean Grimes (Larsh) was born on Election Day, Nov. 6, 1932, in our home on Stroup Street in Danville, IL, so...we not only got a precious new family member, but also got a new president - Franklin Delano Roosevelt! This election was disappointing to us, since the "other" candidates represented our Biblical values more clearly. But, like FDR, our incoming president will not be perfect and will surely need every Christian's prayers, according to I Timothy 2:1-6. Then, I remember November 11 as "Armistice Day"when at school we paused to ponder the end of World War I. Now, it's "Veteran's Day" - also a time of remembrance, and I, with a surge of patriotism, wore my "WWII US Navy Armed Guard" cap on a shopping trip to Wal-Mart. It was so "cool" to have at least 2 young ladies walk up and tell me "Thanks for serving!"; and 1 even had her two children with her say "Thanks," too! Yes, I'm glad for the privilege of serving our country in WWII. Well, I recall Thanksgiving Days as a kid when Dad and Mom would take us to enjoy dinner with the Grimes side living in or near Wallace, or to the Pyle family gathering out in the country south of Hillsboro, IN. Dad and the Pyle uncles always made a stab at hunting rabbits out in the surrounding fields, and I don't remember a lot of game resulting, but at least it was a good time of visiting. Everybody except one uncle smoked tobacco, so we younguns suffered through the haze, because Grandma Pyle's dinner table made it all worthwhile! This holiday we were blessed to gather with Uncle Russ and Aunt Joan Gooding at the 'Ol Home Place in Wallace to enjoy the hospitality of Aunt Jean and Uncle Bob Larsh, with Niece Kim Rice and husband Tim and Niece Susan Hesler with husband Sherrill. I was asked to give thanks, and I also shared Psalm 100 from Grandma Grimes's old Bible, noting that she had underlined verse 3 ... something that we all in our nation need to hold onto in our day! Oh, yes, that afternoon, since the sun had warmed things up a little I and Mom (Mamaw-Aunt Katie, etc.) strolled down the hill to the Covered Bridge and back ... whew!...but made sweeter by the kiss I stole inside the bridge (is that why they were covered?)! Anyway, the month is ending on a blessing ... this a.m. I taught Adult Sunday School class at Yeddo Baptist Church on Acts 13, one the great missionary
passages of God's Word...and, Robert and Jody Frye and teen sons, who serve as missionaries to Romania under European Baptist Fellowship brought a stirring report on victories won and plans in motion for even greater things in that needy country, praise the Lord! We enjoyed dinner later at the home of Pastor and Mrs. Jim Rivers, along with the Frye's and Jody's parents - Art and Mary Merrill. We all agreed on the faithfulness of God at home and abroad and the need to press on for Him, while looking UP for His imminent Coming!!!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

All Saints and All Souls

Serving in Germany in the 1950's we witnessed their observance of "All Saints" Day on Nov. 1 or 2 and "All Souls" Day on Nov. 2 or 3 each year. The former honors departed "saints" of the Roman Catholic Church who are prayed TO, while the latter emphasizes the need to pray FOR the souls in torment in "purgatory" or hell. As we write, there is a controversy in and out of the Church regarding the advisability of canonizing Pope Pius XII who signed an agreement with Hitler in 1933 which may explain why he never publicly denounced the Holocaust or made much greater efforts to protect the Jews in Europe. Israel, of course, is strongly opposed to him being declared an official "saint." We are, too, because Scripture makes it clear that it is GOD who is in the saint-making business and not a religious hierarchy (which is why we were preaching the Gospel in Germany anyway)! Biblically, a "saint" is a SINNER SAVED by grace! The New Testament word means "to be set apart FROM sin and set apart UNTO God" and he addressed Christians in Rome as "beloved of God, called to be saints" (Romans 1:7). He saluted believers in Corinth as "them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (I Corinthians 1:2), etc. In our KJV Bible the italicized words indicate they have been added for meaning, and I would paraphrase it "called TO BE saints DOWN HERE and seeking to become SAINTLY DOWN HERE" by obeying God's Word "for the perfecting (spiritual maturation) of the SAINTS" (Ephesians 4:12)! Truly, simple faith in Christ makes all believers "meet to be partakers of the SAINTS in light" NOW and throughout eternity (Colossians 1:12-14). But prayer FOR "all souls" already in eternity is futile. NOW is the time to become a saint and as a saint to be more and more saintly ... set apart for Christ's use and glory!