My Dear Husband

The Following letter was written by a newly baptized sister to her husband who has not yet obeyed the truth which has now become this sister's whole life. She is truly trying to follow the advice given by Paul who said. "The women which hath an husband that believth not. and if he be pleased to dwell with her. let her ley her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife." She is trying by her reverent and chaste behavior to win her husband to the Lord. Perhaps
her letter may inspire others who have not obeyed ones who have not yet obeyed the call of the Gospel.

My dear husband,

We have just recently witnessed the funeral of your former Fire Captain. His demise was so sudden — a passing away in the night.. It was a death that came completely without warning in the prime years of his early retirement. For him the farewell to all tomorrows came without warning.

For just a moment let its liken the life of man (and that of the departed Van) to that of the web of the lowly’ spider in a continuing whirl of activity. Daily, from dawn to dawn, there is a spinning forth of stress and pleasure in each twenty-four hour cycle. Then this web that so thoroughly’ enmeshes man encloses about him, and suddenly there is no more tomorrow. As was the case of Van. there remaineth only the ‘record of today ‘ for judgment. Can that final record of today (stedfast unto the end, Heb. 3:14) measure a life accountable for God will it measure a worthiness for the immortal reign with Christ?

My darling, in going back to yesterday, that particular funeral saddened me a great deal more than you possibly were aware. I became frightened, too, of the thought that there still is parity between you, sitting beside me, and Van lying there stilled in the coffin. Alas, there is no easy’ way to make this comparison — almost as surely as Van lay there dead to the world, you my dear, not having yet taken ‘the gift of God unto eternal life (the life through Jesus Christ) Rom.7:23, are ‘dead in sins .. walking according to the course of this world’, Eph. 2:1,2. We only have to harken to the warning of Christ’s words in Matthew 12:30, ‘He that is not with me is against me’ to know that time can run out for those out of Christ.

Consider the words of the eulogy’. The ‘vain bablings’ (empty sounds, false teaching) II Tim. 2:16, of the disciple of Christendom as he summed up the life of the departed into words to please the ears of the hearers. From scripture: ‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many room: If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again* and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may. be also’, John 14:1-3.

*This very important part of the scripture is passed over, not understood, for in the speakers acknowledgment that the deceased has emerged into a realm of light, he completely ignores the sleep of death and the warning in Proverbs 21:16 that ‘he that wandereth out of the way of understanding remaineth in the congregation of the dead’. Reading into the fifth chapter of John, verses 28 and 29 brings this explanation: Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.

Very briefly, in memoriam the life of the man was summed thusly: He was a man of many interests, family, work, hobbies, (in that order) who believed in God. He was a hard worker, diligent, and a success in his chosen field. A true family man, he worked hard for his family. . . . For these, and similar reasons, the speaker automatically positioned the departed into the realm of the hereafter (recognized by the apostate teaching as heaven).

Where in life did the speaker affirm that the deceased stood actively out for Christ? Belief in God is not enough for eternal life. My good husband, you must rise above the departure of this moral man who was indeed a credit to his family and community and make a personal commitment for Christ in your life.

All good things have binding requirements, God’s promise of co-heirship with his son emphatically insists on following His commandments. We must crucify our old man (the lusts of the flesh — sinful nature) with Christ in the burial waters of baptism (after true understanding of the scriptures and covenants of God) that in the likeness of His death we shall also rise in likeness of His resurrection (Romans 6:3-8). This yields to a personal life committed to the will of the spiritual, leading ultimately to the very presence of Christ at judgment who shall say to those on his right, “Enter thou, blessed of my Father.”

If this has seemed strongly stated, it is because I love you. The web of life does not need to cut us out prematurely. But time is running out and I despair with the division of our spirit, one carnally minded, the other spiritual. Let us go together today, not tomorrow, towards the ‘prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus’, knowing that ‘through Him (Christ) we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God’ Eph. 2:18,19.