a spirit of Christian love, perhaps this could be attempted. One of your greatest strengths is the vote you have with your funds. Refrain from giving until you can get an under standing. Pray for them, as well as for yourselves, that God will reveal His will to you. At the same time, we can be thankful to the Lord for some people who are willing to “dig in” and run a church. There are far too many “shirkers” today. Q . Valley Forge, Wash. — “Could you please explain Ezekiel Ik'-lU? How could these men deliver their own souls by their righteousness?” A. The prophet Ezekiel had the re sponsibility of telling them that Jerusalem had fallen. He had to de nounce the ungodliness of his peo ple. With a broken heart this is what he does. He told the people that God was going to show them that He would do a thorough work of judg ment. His glory should be upper most. Even personal sorrows will be swallowed up in giving God the glory which His righteousness re quires. The Lord shows how thor ough-going their evil was. The land was permeated with it. Noah, Daniel, and Job would deliver their own souls by their righteousness. There was no one left to intercede for these people, even such men of righteous ness. The prophet says in essence, “These men trusted God, but they don’t have any extra to give to you who are so committed to sin. Even their righteousness won’t be of any avail.” The people were definitely committed to judgment because they had been given over to such sin. Q . Los Angeles, Calif. — “Where is God when little children are abused by adults?” A. This brings up the entire sub ject of human suffering. We still must have this confidence that our
Almighty God is a God of infinite love. He knows what He doing. His ways are best, although they may not always be our ways. Our hearts do cry out in righteous anger when we see these evil creatures mistreating children. We cannot know why God allows these things to happen. It may not be the fault of the child whatsoever. It may be because of the sin and iniquity of the parent. In this dispensation we know the Lord allows the cup of iniquity to run full. Sin most certainly abounds. Satan is doing his best to discredit the Gospel and everything that’s holy. In the day of judgment those who have mistreated little ones will receive their just reward. But keep in mind that God is infinitely good. We must always recognize that His ways are best. Q . Santa Rosa, Calif. — “The Jews were forbidden to eat hog or beef fat, but are there any restrictions given to us in the New Testament?” A. In the commandments we ought to make a distinction. Some things are prohibited because they’re wrong while some things are wrong be cause they’re prohibited. For in stance, murder has always been wrong. You see, God wanted a nation which would be absolutely clean in eating, dress, customs, morals, wor ship, and all other areas. He would use this nation for the coming of the Holiest One who ever walked this earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. The law was given to the:Children of Israel who had come out of the land of Egypt. Some may say, “If it’s good for Israel, then it ought to be best for us.” In Matthew 15:10 the Lord spoke of this very thing. Read that passage carefully. The Saviour puts all food on the same basis. We aren’t under the Levitical administrations which were given for a certain time to a certain peo ple, for a certain purpose.
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