The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Psalm 91:14: “I will deliver him; I will set him on high, beause he has known My name.”

Only recently, a friend gave me a book entitled, WHEN FAITH IS FORBIDDEN. It chronicles the ventures of Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs. This short chapter seemed most appropriate to our times and our lives.

“Azerbaijan, 2002

“Before Pasor Yalov bacame a fervent Christian and bold evangelist, he was a passionate Muslim –more fervent in following Muhammed than most men in his nation. He was well-educated and well-off financially, yet never seemed to find true peace.

“Being a devout Muslim, he read the Quran to find answers to the questions his heart kept asking. He also fulfilled one of his Islamic obligations by making the pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj. He was doing everything his religion taught him to do, yet still lacked peace in his heart. Despondent, he began preparing to take his own life.

“’I tried to live my life by the Shariah Law,’ he told me and a coworker during a visit to Azerbaijan’s capital city. ‘I felt something was not enough in my life. In the Quran, I found no answers for my questions. I thought I was stupid, that I didn’t have enough knowledge in my head. So I read more and more. But as I read, I had more questions.’

“A pastor invited Yalov to join in a Christian meeting where there were six Azeri believers. Yalov was the seventh man in the group, the only one already committed to following Christ. For six months, Yalov attended the group’s meetings and read the Bible. The pastor told him about Jesus and the opportunity to know for sure what would happen after he died. Yalov continued to read the Quran also, comparing the words of Muhammed to the words of Jesus.

“One day, as he opened his Bible, his eyes fell onto the words of Psalm 91:14: ‘I will deliver him; I will set him on high, beause he has wknown My name” (NKJV, emphasis added).

“’I need to call out to God,’ Yalov tought in a seeking prayer. ‘But I don’t know what His name is.’ God heard his prayer, and after six months of being the only non-believer in his Bible study group, the Bible verses he’d been reading and the things the pastor had told him finally clicked in his heart and mind. Yalov committed his life to Christ. Now the group was seven Christians reading the Bible together.

“The change in Yalov was immediate and dramatic; seeing the difference Jesus made in the life of her husband, Yalov’s wife soon also followed Jesus. But not everyone in the family was so pleased with Yalov’s choice. His own mother expelled him from the family home, saying that by leaving Islam he’d brought shame on himself and all his relatives.

“For more than two years after that, Yalov slept in his office. He would pull two desks together every night to form a makeshift bed. He sought further training in the gospel and in following Jesus; he wanted to lead not only his own family to Christ but also his countrymen. He was discipled and sent out for ministry.

“Such ministry is costly in a Muslim nation. Soon, Yalov was arrested, along with another believer who had joined him. They were held fifteen days, interrogated, and pressured to return to Islam and stop their evangelism work.

“The following year, he was arrested again, along with another pastor, right in the middle of leading a worship service. They were held eight days in underground solitary confinement cells. The cell was three feet wide and only five feet long; not even enough room to lay straight on the floor.

“There was a small window in the door of the cell for guards to watch the prisoners. Yalov, though, perhaps remembering Paul’s instruction to Timothy to ‘be ready in season and out of season,’ assumed the window had been left there so he and his coworker could preach to the guards. Yalov and the other pastor took turns.

“One of the guards was complaining of severe stomach pain. Yalov, through the small window in the door of his cell, prayed Jesus would heal the man’s stomach. Immediately, the guard began to feel better as Yalov’s prayers were being answered.

“’The guards knew that we were not crminals,’ Yalov told me. He and the other pastor asked the guards to bring them a copy of the JESUS film. The guards agreed not only to bring a copy of the movie, but also to allow the two pastors to show the film to other prisoners!

“’We showed the JESUS film right there in the prison,’ Yalov said. ‘Many of the guards accepted Jesus.’

“Their ‘cell church’ kept growing. Ten inmates chose to follow Christ and accept His offer of forgiveness. When I met Yalov, after his release from prison, three of those former inmates had been released. They were now members of his church.

“As our time together was coming to an end, I asked my new friend if he thought he would be arrested again. It seemed odd to me when he answered the question, smiling broadly.

“’I would be very willing to be arrested again,’ he said. ‘Anyone who arrests me will hear the Word of God. It will be another opportunity to preach the gospel. It is too late to stop it. No one will stop the gospel.’”
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I am simultaneously thrilled and shamed by Yalov’s zeal for Christ Jesus. If we only had his zeal, our nation and the world-at-large would be a safer and more loving atmosphere for living. May God excite and use us all, as He has Yalov!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Ephesians 1:18-23, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

As churches grow in number, they grow financially; and pastors expand their ministries either through radio and television or by writing and publishing books that carry the message of Christ into the homes and hearts of people throughout the world. In many ways, the Apostle Paul and other biblical writers set the example through their own communication of Scriptural truths.

The Christian faith was never intended to be hidden from the world-at-large. The LORD Jesus Christ was the Father’s intended focus when He was sent to earth to be the Savior of the world. Being crucified, buried and resurrected from the dead, He now elevated to the universal Lordship of the Church. When men and women purport to be supreme leaders of the church, they expose themselves as enemies of the LORD Himself and of His Church. It is HIS CHURCH! He alone paid the price through His shed blood; and He alone is the sole Commander.

Historically, the Church of the LORD Jesus Christ has fallen prey to what we know as “denominationalism.” Each group claiming to be exclusively His, and exporting its denomination’s understanding of the truth of His Message. Yet, the truth of His Message remains comfortably contained in the Holy Scriptures. Christ Himself is the Head and He alone is the way of salvation.

After greeting and blessing the Church at Ephesus through his prayers, Paul exalted Christ as the Head of the Church, and the people as the members. He also notes how believers should now walk (4:17ff), how they should conduct themselves in their homes (5:21ff), and how they should conduct “spiritual warfare” (6:10-24).

Paul states clearly that salvation is not gained by following the edicts of any church, but by yielding the heart and soul to Christ by faith. “Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). Have you been saved? If not, believe on Him today. If you are saved, tell someone else about Jesus!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Galatians 3:1-6, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
4 Did you suffer so many things in vain– if indeed it was in vain?
5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
6 Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

You can call me what you like, but there are some people that just cannot stay in their lane of traffic.
The Galatians were just that sort of people. In fact, they were “harum-scarum” in all aspects of life.
An Asiatic people, they accepted and adopted the ideas of every religious system that came their way.

The Apostle Paul became ill during his second missionary journey, and it was then and there that he came into contact with the Galatian people. So it was there that he preached to them Christ. With their character trait of accepting every and all new ideas, they accepted Paul’s Christ. For a while, it appeared that these Galatians were “all in” for Jesus. Then, suddenly, they broke with Paul’s Christ and took on another religion, this one pagan.

If you have ever encountered a person who was “all in” for Jesus and the Christian faith one day, and
all in for some pagan faith the next, you have a good example of the nature of the Galatians. Is it any wonder then why Paul calls them “foolish”? It was undoubtedly due to their indecisive approach to the Gospel. Oh, the Galatians had proffered a belief in Christ, but they didn’t stick with it. Did you ever meet anyone like that? Have you ever been like that yourself? You had best trust Jesus alone.

The Scriptures all soundly contend that man’s justification before God is by faith alone in Jesus Christ! Don’t subscribe to anything or anyone outside of the Christ of the Holy Scriptures! He alone delivers us from sin.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

2 Corinthians 1:1-7, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.”

Did you ever have a sound spanking when you were still quite young? To ask that question is to answer it. We had a “weeping willow” tree in our back yard. And it was years before I knew that name designated the tree. Oh, I knew it was a tree, but I was equally assurred that I was the “weeping” part. Believe me, it was no laughing matter.

In his first letter, the Apostle Paul soundly scolded the Corinthian Church. Here, Paul teft Ephesus awaiting Titus’ appearance at Philippi. Paul’s first letter soundly excoreated the Church for her wrongdoing. Unlike the first, this second letter is tender and loving. Such tenderness, in fact, led the the Corinthian Church not only to reverse her demeanor, but to engage in a contributuib to the needs of Macedonian churches.

Isn’t this the way it ought to be? Should we not learn from those who knew the LORD and had been
appointed by Him to be His disciples? Should we not live to love and cooperate with thos who had come to know Christ Jesus as LORD? Thus, Paul gives an Explanation (1:1-7:16) of why he was so stern in that First Epistle.

Further, Paul now exhorts the newly-recharged congretation to perform some good deeds both in their community and in other regions of the world. They accepted the challenge and that’s why he praised them to the churches in Macedonia (8:1-9:27).

In a strange almost reversal, and a bit of sternness, the apostle vindicated his apostleship and proved his right to their love and respect (10:1-13:14), How is your church doing? Conceivably, she needs a spanking and a dose of what Paul gave the Corinthians. Just remember that even the harshest discipline can result in blessing if it’s administered with a spoonful of love.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

1 Corinthians 4:1-5, “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.
3 But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself.
4 For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.
5 Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”

As sure as air pervades the earth, problems invade the Church. Paul labored many months in structuring this Corinthian Church. Yet, virtually as soon as he left, trouble invaded it. It’s not a lot of difference from what’s occurring in churches today. It’s only that some churches have been established on a business model instead of the spiritual model of the apostle.

It’s highly probable that none of this would have happened had Paul himself been present. That’s true even of well-founded churches today. A good pastor establishes a church “from scratch,” but view’s it crumbling under the leadership of another who is greatly concerned about being recognized as “superior” within the community-at-large. This was Paul’s discovery, and precisely why he wrote this epistle.

Did you notice from this Scripture that there were still some good people in this Corinthian church? It was they who reported the problems to the apostle. The church had fallen into disorder, and desperately needed correction! Immorality, too, had invaded the church –something that Paul resoundingly condemned! Immoralities such as divorces, eating meat offered to pagan idols, and consumption of alochol was evident among them.

Women were dressing immodestly; the LORD’s Supper was disorderly; confusion regarding spiritual gifts abounded –and the list goes on. Sound like some churches today? Is it any wonder why Paul so often cited the Coming of the LORD for His people? “Oh,” but you say, “years have gone by and He still hasn’t come.” That’s all the more reason we should be prepared. Are you prepared to meet Him? Isn’t it better to be prepared than not to be? Trust Him today! Confess your sins and believe Him when He say, “Come unto me…, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom