that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (Malachi 3:16-18).  Christians in the New Testament are commanded to separate even from those claiming to be brethren: “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner…” (1 Cor. 5:11).  Furthermore, we are told as Christians within the body of Christ to exhort and reprove one another, and sometimes we must make the difficult judgment that one who companies with us as a brother may not be so in truth:  “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today,' lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:12-13).  We do not claim to know with certainty the spiritual condition of another; but we certainly should not be judged as self-righteous when we occasionally need to ask a professing Christian to examine himself, for the Scripture says to all of us, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged” (1 Cor. 11:31). 

 

Q: I didn’t know most of these truths about God’s sovereignty, election, effectual calling, perseverance of the saints, or even much about repentance, when I was supposedly saved.  Does this mean I am not truly saved?

A:  No, it does not mean that. Many of us, myself included, had little knowledge when we received the gospel, beyond the fact that we knew we were a sinner, that Jesus died for the ungodly, and that we were asking Him to save us.  While salvation requires repenting and believing the gospel (Mk. 1:15), God is completely “the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). He is sovereign, and can provide salvation regardless of the failings of the one presenting the gospel as well as those of the one receiving it.  As the Confession says regarding God’s providence, “God, in His ordinary providence maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against them at His pleasure.”  What we are saying is that no professing Christian, especially in an age of shallow claims, should ever rest on the memory of a profession, whether it was praying a prayer, walking an aisle, or whatever the circumstances of their supposed “conversion.” In our day, when so much is made of those external circumstances and so little is made of the internal evidences of true faith, it behooves all of us to stop and consider whether our salvation testimony measures up to the Scriptural standard. 

 

Q: What is your view of the end times?

A:  As stated above, we hold to a generally futuristic view of the end times, meaning we consider most of the book of Revelation still to be unfulfilled prophecy.  As to the almost reckless certainty that characterizes modern dispensational views of prophecy (such as that found in the Left Behind series), we defer to a comment made by A.W. Pink in his Studies in the Scriptures magazine later in his life, after having accepted and preached the entire dispensational position in his early years: “We are now satisfied that there has been a great deal of carnal speculation upon future events.  Pride, curiosity, love of the sensational, and fondness of the limelight are native products of the flesh; but it requires Divine grace to make us sober, humble, and frank to say, ‘I don't know.’  The very fact that there was so