Q. In Seattle, Washington, there is this concern expressed: “/ have heard ministers say in the Communion Serv ice, We shall now partake of the wine? The dictionary defines wine as fer mented juice of grapes. / think most people would interpret wine as perhaps being alcoholic. Since we do not use fermented wine in our service, do you think the pastor should call it urine?” A. Let us state in reply to this question that there certainly is a difference be tween the dictionary definition of wine and the usage of the word wine in relation to the sacramental juice in the. Communion Service. We believe that it is perfectly satis factory for the pastor to use the word wine. We have to understand what he means by that. As a matter of fact we do not know just exactly what that wine was that our Lord made at the feast of Cana of Galilee — but we do know that our blessed Lord would never, never c r e a t e anything, nor would He recommend the use of any thing that would lead men definitely or directly into sin. The Word of God is very clear in denouncing the use of wine. Again let us state that our Lord would never do anything that would lead an individual to sin. Of that you may be absolutely sure. Q. From Walla Walla, Washington we have this query: “Do you feel that there w ill be worldwide revival before the Lord returns?” A. We do not see that any Scripture definitely points to worldwide revival before the Lord’s return. If there is such a Scripture, certainly we would not be able to look for the immediate or imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the opposite to world wide revival will obtain. When He comes will He find faith on the earth? The implication seems to be that in stead of worldwide revival there will be worldwide apostasy and unbelief. (continued on page 20) 17
lay our loved ones in the grave. The Lord knew we Would have natural sorrow and it is perfectly normal to do so, but thank God, He told us we do not sorrow as others who are not be lievers. We must remember that Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. There are Bible students who believe that Jesus wept because of the unbelief of the loved ones of Lazarus, but it is generally held that Jesus wept because others were weeping and His heart was touched at their sorrow, even though He knew what He was going to do. It is wrong to doubt God’s goodness in our grief, but it is not wrong to grieve. Q. A good question comes from a list ener in Sacramento, California. The question is: “Our church holds a fel lowship supper every week and the attendance is good, the conversation, however, goes upon various things which are not really spiritual . . . what can be done about this . . . why do people come to dinners but will not actually go to church?” A. There are two kinds of church din ners, generally. One is where the saints come together, break bread and talk about the things of the Lord. It is just for church members and a rather close ly knit group. Then there is another type of church dinner designed to attract outsiders in the hope that they will become inter ested to attend services. Both types are very worth while. The second type mentioned is for those who are not Christians. Natural ly, if the time is spent talking only about Christian things, they will not be interested. They will not come back —in large part the conversation must be of a nature to attract them. If your own personality and things about your home are brought into the conversa tion they will naturally get much of the Gospel even though the discussion may not be termed spiritually minded per se.
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