ones who will only hurt ourselves un less we forgive others. To carry a grudge is only to put ourselves on the other person’s level. Think how many times our Lord Jesus Christ has for given us, even when we did not think to ask forgiveness or to apologize. Q , Providence, R.l. — “I have been told that Satan was the father of Judas and that Judas went to be with him at his death, in the same way Christ did when He went to be with His Fa ther. It is my understanding that just as Christ wiU come again so Judas will return to the earth as the anti christ. Do you believe this?” A. Absolutely not. There is a real dan ger in drawing unwarranted parallels from Scripture. Satan may have been the “spiritual father” of Judas, as he is of all wickedness, but there was no other relationship. Remember, the devil is a fallen angel. Angels neither increase nor decrease; they are nei ther male nor female. When Judas died he went to hades, awaiting the final judgment and ultimate consign ment to hell, where, of course, Satan will be also. While we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Christ is going to come again there is no evi dence in the Bible that tells us Judas will return, or that he will be the antichrist. The entire question is a matter of suppositions. We need to hold to the Word of God just as it is. Q . Tucson, Ariz. -— “Can you tell me what the gopher wood was, out of which Noah built the ark?” A. No one actually knows what this was. It was doubtless one of the woods common and particular to that part of the earth at that time.
saved but were in what we might call a preparatory state. This would not happen today for no one has received the baptism by John the Baptist. Paul saw their need of further instruction. There followed that first century at testation of their faith. This passage is not to be taken as a norm for Christian experience today. There is no one who would find himself in the same condition as those who lived then. Matthew 7 :21 quotes our Lord as declaring, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.” We believe this passage teaches that the Saviour does not just take one’s profession at face value. We have to do more than own Him with mere words. One has to show by a redeemed life that he really be longs to the family of God. There has to be some fruit from the root. Jude is the wonderful threshhold for the book of Revelation. The two verses about which you have written deal with the fact that “mockers” will come denouncing the faith. If ever there was a word to characterize the op ponents of Christianity it is this. They will ridicule and seek to dis credit. When the world says something good about the true Christian faith, we can rightly be concerned. The Church has never had such an effect upon the world as during the days when she would have nothing to do with the world. Here is the all char acterizing phrase, “having not the spirit.” Paul told us, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Christ).” See the terri ble degradation of those who know not the Saviour.
Q . Glendale, Ariz___ “Must a Christian Q . P«adena, Calif. — “How do you in- forgive someone who has hurt him, terpret such Scripture passages as but has never apologized or asked for- ‘But for the elect’s sake those days giveness?” shall be shortened’ (Matt. 21:22)? What is the doctrine that Christ wiU A. The question is not “must” but come for His own before the Great “should,” or “may,” a Christian for- Tribulation?” give another for some wrong. The an swer is an obvious “yes.” We are the A. You are referring to the Rapture 25
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