Dr. Louis T. Talbot, BIOLA Chancellor, will be happy to answer your question concern ing any portion of the Word of God which may be perplexing you. A free question and answer booklet is available upon request.
DR. TALBOT’ PAST INDISCRET ION Q. A few years ago, before I was saved, 1 had a personal experience with a boy friend — an experience I look back on as being unfortunate. Now that I am living for the Lord and I am dating a fine Christian young man, I am uncertain fust what my attitude should be toward telling him about the past. A. All of us have had unfortunate experiences in the past. They may not have been the same kind of ex perience you had; nevertheless, no one can boast of a sinless history. We learn from the Bible that sin ful experiences are harmful. (See James 1:15.) The young person whose past is marked by many sin ful experiences, begins adulthood at a distinct disadvantage. However, God forgives and He forgets. On the authority of God’s Word, when you were saved, you were forgiven, and God has forgot ten! Isn’t that wonderful? I suggest that you realize God’s forgiveness by reading such passages as Acts 13:38, Ephesians 1:7, and I John 1:9. Public announcement concerning our private lives is usually not the part of wisdom. Such knowledge is usually detrimental. If God forgets, then why don’t you? An additional facet to this prob lem concerns marriage. If you are looking toward marriage soon, you have a sacred obligation of confi dence to the one whom you love. Happy marriages are based upon godliness, truthfulness, considera tion and love. If two consecrated Christians are in love they can overlook unfor tunate experiences of the past, but one might question whether they would be expected to overlook out
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should avoid all contacts with spir itualists, fortune-tellers, and necro mancers, except as he may be used of God to lead such as these out of spiritual darkness into the light of God’s truth. Either they are fakes — and who wants to be the dupe of a deceiver? Or they are demon- possessed — and what child of God would dare play into the hands of Satan, with his eyes open to his deed? BAPTISM Q. Does Matt. 28:19 refer to the baptism with the Holy Spirit, or to water baptism? “ Go y e therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” A. This verse refers to water bap tism. Men do not baptize with the Holy Spirit; only God can do this; and He does it when the sinner is bom again, by faith in the finished work of Christ on Calvary’s Cross. A MURDERER SAVED? Q. Can a murderer be saved? Is there any evidence from the Bible of this? A. Yes, the repentant thief on the cross was a murderer and a robber; and yet Christ said to him, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). David was a mur derer, but he was forgiven. Murder is a terrible sin; but we must be careful not to limit the power and the grace of God. And we must he careful not to put a dif ference between the self-righteous, moral man and the sinner who acknowledges his wrong. Sin is sin before God; and “ all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). All must be bom again.
right intentions to deceive. An ex cellent prepartion for tomorrow is a clean slate today. I know of a young couple who were married several years when the husband learned about the sin ful acts his w ife engaged in before they were married. He was shocked, and for a time he lost confidence in her, not because of her past life (he had been guilty of the same), but because he had taken the marriage vows in honesty, having confided in her, but she had taken her vows in deceit. W ITCHCRAFT Q. What is the explanation of Exo dus 22:18, “ Thou shall not suffer a witch to live” ? Are there witches today which we should watch for? A. We shall have no difficulty in understanding this command, re peated and enlarged upon in Lev. 19:31; 20:6,27; Deut. 18:9-14, if we get clearly in mind the char acter of witches in the days of Moses and Joshua. They were the greatest enemies of God’s truth, even as the witch-doctors of Africa are today. Their hands were steeped in blood; they were the exponents of immorality. Therefore, God com manded that they should be cut off, in the interest of His people. The heathen nations, among whom Israel dwelt, had turned their backs upon God. And sometimes God had to “ cut off” the wicked who refused to obey Him, in order to protect His people. Missionaries today tell us of these Satan-possessed witch-doctors of pagan lands. They are unspeakably cruel, vile, and horrible in their evil practices. Nor do we have to go to heathen lands, so-called, to find demonism or spiritualism in its most subtle form. The Christian
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