by Joseph M. Stowell

President, Moody Bible Institute

Better Than We Deserve,   April '92

GOD's holy word proves this teaching is fallacious; few believers see life, redemption etc., most mere mouth, happy in sin + death.
So MBI is Gal1:8,9 2Pet2:14 1Jn2:18,19.
 

       Testimony meetings can be discouraging events for many of us, who are just common folk, going through good times as well as bad, seldom seeing GOD's hand moving in dramatic ways. Compared to the spectacular accounts of the LORD's intervening power that we sometimes hear or read, our own lives seem rather drab and ordinary.
 
       What makes those testimonies so discouraging is that they raise serious questions in our minds. Does GOD care for us as much as He cares for those who have such stellar stories? Is there something wrong with us, something that disqualifies us as miracle material?
 
       Sometimes our discouragement deepens as we read the stories of great heroes of the faith. We find GOD leading Moses and the children of Israel through the Red Sea, sending them manna, giving them front row seats to watch the collapsing walls of Jericho. We see Him sending a great revival to Nineveh. We hear of the dramatic resurrection of Lazarus and of the other-world experiences of the apostle Paul in the third heaven.
 
       Our experiences seem dull by comparison, and we end up wondering why we don't see similar evidence of GOD's dramatic work in our lives. It's not necessarily that we lack prayer or personal purity or faith. We pray earnestly for GOD to work, we seek to keep our lives pure before Him, and we truly believe He could do in us and through us whatever He desires. Yet we rarely see Him operate in extraordinary ways.
 
       Before the cumulative effect of all this puts our hearts in the ditch, we need to remind ourselves of an important mathematical fact. When we add up GOD's dramatic interventions recorded in the Old Testament and divide them into the number of years in Old Testament history, the net result shows that GOD rarely intervened in dramatic ways. Only in a few, unique moments did His eternal purposes demand a supernatural interruption in the ordinary flow of events.
 
       In addition, we need to remind ourselves of GOD's regular, quiet, yet supernatural, work in our lives. He, without our notice, sovereignly blocks that which would be too heavy to bear (1 Cor. 10: 13). He gives us the grace to endure difficulty, to remain positive in negative times, to show forgiveness and joy instead of bitterness. I think of friends like David Ring, who, despite cerebral palsy, is a dedicated and fruitful evangelist. Or Joni Eareckson Tada, who though paralyzed, radiates the love of Christ.
 
[CCCInc. Note: [see Joni Eareckson Tada: 1] [ 2 ]
 

       Our LORD not only works through relief or release, but sometimes His greater grace is given to make us strong in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9, 10).
 
[CCCInc. Note: GOD says we must qualify, Rom4:12,16 "walk as Abraham" to grow into "this grace" Rom5:2]

       Even if there were nothing else, we must never forget that all of us who know Him are walking displays of the most spectacular, supernatural event in history - the transforming power of the Cross of Christ.
 
[CCCInc. Note: GOD's word says very few truly "know" Him 1Jn2:3; 3:6,24; 5:20]

       It's the touch of redemption on our lives that is the most spectacular miracle of all. Hell's been canceled and heaven guaranteed. Once under the judgment of GOD, now we have His Holy Spirit living in us, guiding, reorienting, and enabling us daily. Old things have passed away, and all things have become new (2 Cor. 5:17).
 
[CCCInc. Note: GOD's word never says hell is canceled, MBI lies. GOD says His Spirit is the guarantee. [see Stowell part 3]. Stowell confirmed in '97 that he has never experienced the Spirit, [see Stowell part 1].

       Every believer, no matter how "ordinary, " carries the dramatic reality of eternal life and all its abundant privileges (John 10: 10).

       If GOD never does anything more than redeem us, He has already done far more than we deserve. That one act gives us enough to be grateful for every day of our lives. We have far more than even the children of Israel, whose Red Sea experience cannot compare to our redemption through Christ's blood.
 
       Recently a friend asked me how I was doing. "Better than I deserve," was my reply. To which he said, "Oh, no. You deserve a lot." But in reality the only thing I deserve is hell. Considering who I am in light of a holy and just GOD, heaven is an absolute impossibility - except for the gracious gift of Christ's redemption. I'm reminded of the old Puritan who had been imprisoned for his faith. When his daily ration of stale bread and water arrived, he gladly exclaimed, "All of this and heaven, too!"
 
       I received a note from a Moody grad who at 83 years of age had obviously learned to recognize the hand of GOD on his life. After cataloging his blessings and burdens since leaving Moody, he concluded, "I'm 83 years old - walk with two canes. Been everywhere but heaven. Ready to go anytime. Have only one eye - see you there!"
 
[CCCInc. Note: Heaven is for GOD's elect living 1Jn2:6; 3:6,9]

       Been everywhere but heaven ... see you there! Who could ask for more?
 
So MBI teaching is 100% contrary to GOD's full word; no sin abides in GOD, or in His kingdom, or in Heaven ever.
 

CLIMBING HIGHER by George Sweeting Chancellor, Moody Bible Institute Betrayal in the Church,   April '92

       The year was 1939 and the Spanish Civil War was almost over. Just outside Madrid, the rebel general Mola was ready to begin his attack. Someone asked which of his four columns of troops would be the first to enter the city. "The fifth," he responded. His answer became world famous. The general's most important column was a band of rebel sympathizers inside the city. They were already behind the Loyalist lines helping him. Since then, the term fifth column has been used worldwide. It describes traitors, those who assist the enemy from within.
 
       Betrayal is an ugly business, and yet it is common throughout history. Down through the centuries even the church has had its traitors. Some professing the Christian faith have attacked Scripture, denied Bible doctrine, and sown division. The Bible uses the word apostasy to talk about opposition from within. Apostasy is opposition to the Christian faith from people who once professed the faith and may still call themselves believers, but who have become its enemies. Apostasy has left its sorry wake in every generation. The Bible tells us that it will run its course and will ultimately disappear forever under GOD's eternal judgment.
 
       The Greek term from which we derive apostasy means "a falling away." In New Testament times, to apostatize meant to desert a station or post. By apostasy, professing Christians say to the church and to the world, "The things the Bible teaches aren't what they seem to be. This truth is not a truth." The attack comes not from enemies outside the faith, but from within, from those who claim to be believers. Apostates are the fifth column inside the church. The New Testament Book of Jude tells us in verse 4 that they have crept into the church by deceit.
 
       We might ask, "Were these really true believers?" John says they were not. We find his answer in I John 2. "They went out from us," he writes in verse 19, "but they did not really belong to us." And then he adds, "If they had belonged to us [if they had been bona fide believers], they would have remained with us."
 
       In the church's early years, apostasy was already rearing its ugly head. In the year A.D. 85, the aged apostle John wrote, "Even now many antichrists have come" (1 John 2:18). The Book of Jude was written because apostasy had already appeared. Other books, such as Colossians, were written because of this same need.

       In more recent years, the church has had to contend with liberalism and neo-orthodoxy. And not too many years ago, apostates even claimed that GOD was dead. In our day, some once-great denominations have been overwhelmed by apostasy. Some Christian colleges and seminaries have been infiltrated by professors who deny or water down the Bible as the Word of GOD. Thousands of well-intentioned people have graduated from these schools and then set out to preach without confidence in the gospel message. As a result, some Christians in the pews have been spiritually starved, misled, and blinded by unbelief. Like a mighty whirlwind, apostasy sweeps on, taking its toll. Yet there are at least four things we can do to combat apostasy.
 
1. Recognize it. Many Christians do not see or hear the signs of apostasy. An alarm should sound in our minds and hearts when we hear or read a message that says the Bible is not the Word of GOD. We should be alert to catch the slightest whisper that suggests there is a way to eternal life other than through Jesus Christ.
 
[CCCInc. Note: MBI does not teach true belief and true obedience according to GOD's holy and inerrant word. GOD's full truth is contradicted by MBI. Mat12:31]
 
2. Resist wrong teaching. If you find an error, do something. Raise a firm, yet gracious question, and warn others if error does exist.
 
[CCCInc. Note: GOD, from '87 till now, had us write countless letters to MBI, but disbelieved, discarded, disregarded.]
 
Jude exhorts us to "contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints" (v. 3.) We have a responsibility to see that the faith given to us is not altered as we pass it to others.
 
3. Refuse to assist apostasy. In his second letter, John proclaims this burning warning: "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work" (vv. 10, 11.)
 
[CCCInc. Note: A self condemning statement due to MBI Betrayal in the Church.]
 
4. Renew your love. The Bible challenges us to renew our love for Jesus Christ. Jude closes his letter on apostasy with a call to "keep yourselves in GOD's love" (v. 21.) Continual renewal in GOD's love is the key to confronting apostasy.
 
[CCCInc. Note: MBI has no concept of loving GOD.]

"If ye love me, keep my commandments." Jn14:15

[see various Moody letters: 1] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]   [see Rev Dudley Foord part 3]