GENE EDWARDSThe Inward Journey & The Highest LifeMiles J. Stanford
Dear brother Gene Thank you, thank you, for your delightful and informative letter--and that written upon a bed of chronic illness. Admirable! I happen to be in the non-curable category also--subject to congestive heart failure. Not being bed-ridden, I am (happily) pretty much desk-bound. (I was that out of pure choice, before I became ill!) There are great benefits in this for a writer, as you well know. I had to laugh: last month I was invited to be on a panel with three speakers at an east coast IFCA conference. These gentlemen were to be John Whitcomb, Robert Lightner, and Renald Showers. Being desk-bound came in handy, since I had critiqued the writings of all three! Dr. Whitcomb had asked me to critique some of his material. I complied, but he never replied to that which I know he received. Conversely, in critiquing Dr. Lightner's latest book without requested, I received a gracious letter from him--although he did not comment upon my comments. I have just written a letter to Dr. Showers regarding some very erroneous things he wrote about the Christian life in the latest issue of Israel My Glory (Oct./Nov., p. 29). It is interesting about "Southern Baptism," of which you are a product... more or less. As you say, "they will evangelize." But Gene, someone has to win the lost! Their problem, common enough elsewhere, is that they do not know what to do with the converts, once they have them. Their forlorn hope and effort is to "revive" the carnality of the Convention. Some of them are open to the so-called "deeper life" of the Fulness group--Peter Lord, Ras Robinson, Jim Hylton, Jack Taylor, and others. Most of these are simply charismatics, short of tongues--busy "healing," lengthening legs, etc. , etc. Even the Convention doesn't deserve that blessing! I am somewhat encouraged about you, brother. It may well be that the Father is bringing you, or has brought you, to the place you speak of in your literature. As [T. Austin-] Sparks put it, "He would deprive us of all, that He might give us Himself." At present at least (the end is not yet) it is as you say, your books constitute the only impact of your ministry. While I am sure they are selling well, they are limited to the non- and anti-doctrinal faction. They are certainly not speaking to, nor are they accepted by, the doctrinal realm of the Church. Evidently, as you muse upon your bed of illness, you have come to the conclusion that your remaining option is literature--both your own and that of others of like persuasion. If that is so, I would like to kindly and concernedly talk to you a bit about your direction. Obviously you know much doctrine, although your ministry is not doctrinally based. You have been taken in by [Watchman] Nee and his "intuition," "revelation," and "inner light," which you maintain is beyond the mind, and even biblical doctrine. That path takes you, and those under your influence, away from objective scriptural truth, causing you to turn inward--laying hands on the Spirit's ministry, by attempting to deal with soul and spirit, while centering upon Christ's life within. From my observation this reversal of scriptural direction inevitably results in the wreckage of both life and ministry--all the way from [Jessie] Penn-Lewis and [Evans] Roberts, Nee and [Witness] Lee, on down to the present. It may be that the Father intends to speak to you concerning your direction. I don't know what His timing might be, but if and when He does confront you in love, it will be by means of, and on the doctrinal basis of His Word--not by any subjective intuition or inner light. Surely you have noticed how totally and indomitably doctrinal is the Scripture written by Paul--he who wrote primarily to the members of the Body of Christ. And every word of doctrinal truth that he wrote for you and for me, came directly to him from the mind of the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. His doctrinal truth, exclusively for His Beloved Bride and Body, His Church. And He does it personally and individually--those identically (on essentials) indoctrinated individuals make up the assembly, the corporate ecclesia. He saves and sanctifies us one by one, on an intimate basis, thereby finally making up His perfect Body. Israel He deals with as a nation. I, and my bride, have been involved in doctrinally-based Bible churches ever since you were in eighth grade. Ultimately I was "ordained" as an elder. We have learned much from the Church, which we appreciate and for which we are very thankful. But if our approach to the Word, and to the Church, had been strictly on a group basis and not individually, as you insist--the Church being what it is, and has been ever since Paul departed for Home--I shudder to think what the results would have been for us. Paul says to me, "That I may know Him"; "this one thing I do"; "I press toward the mark." This is for each member of the Body, which is made up of individuals--stones in the Temple. He will present me perfect in His time--an integral part of His ultimately perfect Church. Now, if you were to consider and heed scriptural doctrine which pertains to you, personally, Gene, you would be turned completely around. It is true that, by His Spirit, you are indwelt by the Lord, in your spirit. But Scripture does not tell you to center upon Him there. The glorified Lord Jesus Christ tells you, via Paul, to abide in Him where He, and you, are. He is the heavenly source of His life in you here. He took you to glory in Himself, that He might indwell you and manifest Himself through your mortal body. His doctrinal instructions are for you to abide in, that you may fellowship with and worship Him, There. Paul makes that crystal-clear in Colossians 1:1-3, as well as 2 Corinthians 3:18, to say nothing of Hebrews 10: 19-22; that is the trend and direction of all Scripture written by Paul. You batter yourself and your readers, when you denigrate John Darby. I reject his focus on body truth, his assemblyism; but I thank God for his spirit, soul, and body doctrine, his dispensational right-dividing of the Word of truth, and his centering in Christ as our Life at the right hand of the Father in glory. Ex-lawyer Darby was doctrinal, brother! And personally influenced by his writings were doctrinal, dispensational leaders such as Dr. Scofield and Dr. Chafer. Each of these three men taught, and realized to the extent of their measure of grace, the ascended Christ as their Life. "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (Eph. 4:7). They were extremely careful to live and minister strictly within the unlimited confines of the doctrine of the Pauline Church Epistles, as clearly testified by Darby's voluminous works, Scofield's Reference Bible notes, and Chafer's unabridged Systematic Theology. Sparks received what "deeper life" teaching he had from Darby, but then he added the "split Rapture." Nee received both from Sparks, and then he added Penn-Lewis' errors of "manipulating" soul and spirit, along with demonism. Mary McDonough received her "deeper life" and split Rapture teaching from Sparks, to which she added one-naturism, and an all-inclusive Body of Christ: "A human being, sharing His life, must be a member of His Body, no matter in which dispensation he may have chosen to receive life. It will take all the saints of every age and dispensation to embody His Life" (Divine Life, pp. 112,113). As for non-doctrinal, inner light mystics such as Guyon and Fenelon, whose books you so strongly advocate and widely disseminate, Saphir and Darby make the following evaluations:
Leave Paul's exacting doctrine and you lose the Ecclesia. As the doctrinal Dr. Newell said:
None of these basic factors of the individual Christian life are revealed and comprehended by intuition, or inner light revelation, but rather exclusively by means of the light of the objective, doctrinal, written Word of God through Paul. It must be admitted, Gene, that your writings for and about the Christian life are not doctrinally oriented. You are urging and advocating something that is supposed to be beyond the doctrine of Scripture. And by this means you are attempting to change the Christian's inner life. We'll take a look at some of the things you say along these lines, first in your The Inward Journey. The title indicates the erroneous direction set forth.
You are talking here about destroying sinful things within that cannot be distinguished by Bible knowledge. For one thing, how about getting at the source of those things? That is what Paul advocates, and that by means of scriptural knowledge of doctrine. "Knowing this, that our old [Adamic] man was crucified with Him, that the body [core, entirety] of sin might be [positionally] destroyed [rendered inoperative, by faith, and by the Spirit], that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6:6). On the basis of that doctrinal knowledge, we are to reckon upon the completed work of the Cross, counting ourselves to have died positionally (Gal. 2:20) to that indwelling body of sin, and counting ourselves to be new creations (2 Cor. 5:17), alive unto God in Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:11). Explicit doctrine every step of the way. If Paul didn't know that doctrinal truth makes one free, he would not have presented it as such.
I realize that you are writing hypothetically in your book, but it is still you who are speaking to the Christian reader, by this means. Those you wrote of resorted to every means except the one you tell them not to--the Church doctrine of Paul:
You, Gene, have written these two books to believers (including new converts) about their Christian life, totaling some 317 pages, yet you haven't actually quoted more than 25 verses of Scripture throughout. As to expecting inner change in the Christian's life, you are neglecting the all-important doctrine of the two Adams. The first Adam never changes any more than does the Last Adam. Scripture teaches the doctrine of exchange: crucified to the old, re-created in the New. We are to count, by faith in the doctrinal facts, that we have died to the old Adam, and are now alive unto God in the New Man, Christ Jesus. It is to Him, above, that His Spirit would center our love and attention--where we have been positioned in Him, "hidden with Christ in God." On that foundation the Spirit will manifest Christ's life through our mortal body. "For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor. 4: 11). Now for a look at your latest book for Christians, titled The Highest Life. I think these books contain much truth; however, they present much error.
The doctrine of the two Adams would tell you clearly that the fallen life and nature in your body is that of Adam, not Satan.
I must say, brother, that irresponsible statement really tore at my heart. He is not "therefore" the Son of God. He is Son of God from all eternity--He is God the Son, an equal member of the Godhead, the Trinity. He always was, and always will be, Son, whether the Son of His love in past eternity, here on earth as Son of Man, or in eternity future as the God-man.
There was no such thing as a Christian, a member of the Body of the glorified One, until Pentecost, Gene. At the end of His forty days of post-resurrection ministry our Lord commanded Peter and the rest "that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard from Me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:4,5). It was at Pentecost that they were baptized into Him and His Body, and He indwelt them as members of that Body, the Church. One baptism. "For by one Spirit [that heavenly wind] were ye all baptized into one Body" (1 Cor. 12:13). "The Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning [Pentecost]. Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life" (Acts 11: 15,18).
This compounds the aberration. Peter, as you and I, was born into Christ, Head and Source of the post-Cross new creation Life. One might heed Dr. Scofield:
Peter didn't get it all, experientially, brother, nor do we. Here we are but in the preliminaries. "Ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves [don't you know!] waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body." "Who shall change our lowly body [at the Rapture], that it may be fashioned like His glorious body" (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21). Peter will come into the full privileges and responsibilities of his adult sonship when he is received into Glory with his new glorious body. There have to be the proper accouterments and environment for full-blown Christian life and sonship--something that you have been expecting from, and exhorting Christians to, now. "Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). A few days ago, as you may have noticed, "Dennis the Menace" asked, "Mom, was I adopted or was I born?" Now if Dennis realized there is a difference....
Even if one has to get someone to read the Word to him, or teach him to read it for himself, the Scriptures say that He is known at the Father's right hand, where He and we are; not within our body, where He and we are. "If [since] ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection [heart] on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:1-3).
It may have been so in the beginning, but not for long after that, even with the nation of Israel. Moses with sorrow said:
Paul expressed the same sorrow, not to Israel, but to the Church in its beginnings:
Scofield's note on this verse, p. 1196, states: "Two sources of apostasy here: (1) false teachers from outside the Church (2 Cor. 11:13-15; 2 Pet. 2:1-3); and (2) ambitious leaders within the Church (1 John 2:18,19; 3 John 9,10). Israel has never recovered since Moses; but she will when her Messiah/ King returns to earth--with His Beloved Bride to co-reign with Him. The Church has never recovered since Paul, but she will at the Rapture, "that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27). It doesn't help to deprecate the Church, Gene. She needs your help--your doctrinal help, via Paul. I love the Church because she is His Bride--He is her Bridegroom, Head and Life. I have given nearly a half-century of fulltime doctrinal ministry for what I trust is her benefit. "Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word" (Eph. 5:25,26). "Preach the Word [Gene]; be diligent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but, after their own lusts, shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions [herein is one], do the work of an evangelist [and shepherd], make full proof of thy ministry" (2 Tim. 4: 2-5). Love to brother Gene! Resting in Him, Miles |
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