23
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
. TALBOT'S
QUESTION BOX
The beloved President o Los Angeles answe r s
F the Bible Institute of your Bible Questions.
faith in the Lamb of God, and faith in Him alone, saves the soul. The thief on the cross had no time to be baptized; yet the Lord Jesus promised he would go with Him to paradise. Of course, we should obey the Lord’s command by being baptized. But this ordinance is a testimony be fore men, angels, and demons, that we are trusting the blood of Christ; it is not essential to salvation. It follows salvation. Therefore, to claim that it is essential to salvation, is to limit the efficacy of Calvary’s Cross. ^ QUE.: Is it right for Chris tians to send their boys to a mili tary academy? And should Chris tians maintain such a school? Military academies for boys do not specialize in the science of war, in spite of the association connected with the name. They offer the regular curriculum found in any school, to gether with rigid training in dis cipline. Whether such a school has an ad vantage over others depends largely upon the directors of its policies. QUE.: Was there a race of be ings upon the earth before the Garden o f Eden and the creation o f Adam and Eve? There are a few passages in the Scriptures that would lead us to be lieve that there was a race of beings on the earth before Adam was created. For example, in Genesis 1:28, follow ing the record of the creation of man, we read the words of God to Adam and Eve: “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. . . ” The word “replenish” here is the same that was given to Noah after the flood, and the inference is that the earth had b e e n inhabited before Adam’s day. We must bear in mind, however, that the pre-Adamic race—if there was one—was not a race of human beings. In all probability they were an angelic host led by Satan before his fall, while he was called Lucifer. There are indications in Scripture that Satan once had the same domin ion over this earth as was given to
Adam, which dominion Adam lost through his fall. This would account for Satan’s interference w i t h the world and with the human race. The description of the Eden in which Lucifer was placed, as recorded in Ezekiel 28:13, may refer to the earth before the chaotic period of Genesis 1:2. But we do not know that it was entirely separate and different from the Eden into which Adam was placed. The many fossils that are discovered today, which would indicate life upon this earth millions of years ago, may be the relics of the pre^Adamic days, to which the Scriptures here and there allude. Jeremiah 4:23-26, for example, says in part: "I beheld the earth, and la, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. . . and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.” (Cf. Isa. 24:1; 45-18.) The words “no man upon the earth” would in dicate that this may be a description of a condition before the advent of man. QUE.: Why is it so hard for us to understand the love of Christ? We shall never fully understand or fathom that love. There are statements in the Word of God concerning the love of God that stagger us, such as: “I have loved thee with an everlast ing love” (Jer. 31:3). And again in Ephesians 2:1 we read that even when we were “dead in trespasses and sins,” He loved us and died to redeem us. All through the eternal ages there will be an unfolding of the marvels of His Person, and of-His love and grace. ^ QUE .: Since all secular his tory centers about the birth of Christ— B. C. and A. D ., why do men not realize that He is God and the only Saviour? We wonder, “Why?” And yet Satan has blinded their eyes to this silent testimony to the deity of our Lord. Every unsaved man, even the infidel, must unconsciously bear witness to the recognition given to Christ every time he dates a letter, or a check, or a legal document. The poet was taught from above when he wrote: “ In the cross of Christ I glory, Tow’ring o’er the wrecks o f time!”
^ QUE .: Although I was saved while still in my teens, I married an unbeliever, in spite of the fact that my p a s t o r and Christian friends told me that 2 Cor. 6 :1 4 - 18 and other passages of Scrip ture taught that we should not be “ unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” Since my marriage, I have consecrated my all to Christ. What would He have me do— leave my husband, or try to lead him to the Lord by keeping our home un broken and seeking to witness be fore him to the power o f Christ in the life? The very definite answer to your question is found in 1 Cor. 7:13-16, which says, in part, “And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave h im . . . For what knowest thou, 0 wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?” To be sure, it would have been far better had you prayed for your hus band before your marriage, asking God to save his s o u l before you married him. Then you would have been obeying His will fully; and surely He answers prayer. But having gone contrary to His will in the first place, you can only ask forgiveness, and continue to pray for your husband’s salvation. And our God is the God of forgiving love, as well as the God who hears and a n s w e r s prayer. Doubtless you have made your own path harder by not obeying fully in the first place; but “His grace is sufficient” for every need! ^ QUE .: How would you show one who believes in baptismal re generation the error of this teach ing? By pointing out the dozens of ref erences in the Bible that tell us plain ly how to be saved—by faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of these are: John 1:29; 3:16,36; 5:24; Acts 16:31. There are hundreds of passages which definitely state that
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs