Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/biblefre/topics06/t08950

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08950
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08951
 REPLY BY DR. C.D. COLE
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                                746 West Noel
                                                Madisonville, Kentucky
                                                October 20, 1959

 Mrs. Marjorie Bond
 1505 Scotland Street
 Calgary, Alberta
 Canada

 My Dear Mrs. Bond:

    Greetings in the Name of His whose Name is above every name!

    Your good letter under date of the 5th, was duly received.
 And it could not have reached me at a busier time, which
 accounts for my delay in making reply.  I am a clerk of Little
 Bethel Association, and your letter came the first day of our
 annual meeting.  There was a lot of work in preparing for the
 meeting, and much more work in getting the material in the
 hands of the printer.  At first, I thought I would write
 briefly, stating my situation, and promising to get to it as
 soon as possible.  And then it occurred to me that I might save
 this time in the hope of getting to the matter before the time
 you mentioned ran out.  I trust you will not take my delay as
 evidence of indifference on my part.  Moreover, due to
 infirmities of age, I do not have the capacity for work I once
 enjoyed.

    First of all, let me commend you for your honest attitude
 towards the doctrine of ELECTION and related subjects; and may
 I also congratulate you on your grasp of these doctrines.  I
 rarely receive such a well-written letter on any subject.  You
 put your problems in a clear perspective, which makes it easier
 to deal with them.  And I can answer sympathetically because
 your problems are also my own problems.  Much as I would like
 to solve them for you, I fear my efforts will be disappointing.

    I believe you are unduly disturbed over your inability to
 harmonize all that is in the Bible.  This Book is the
 revelation of the Infinite and the finite mind cannot
 understand to perfection all that God has revealed.  To be able
 to do so would be an argument against the Bible as
 God-breathed, and reduce it to a mere human production.
 Moreover, the \\determination\\ to harmonize apparent
 contradictions is sure to result in one of three things, found
 in actual life.  One will either ignore Sovereignty on the one
 hand, or human responsibility on the other hand, or else be
 plagued with a disturbed mind as you confess to having.  On the
 one side are the so-called Primitive Baptist (Hardshells), who
 cannot reconcile human inability with responsibility in the
 matter of repentance and faith.  And so they emphasize the
 doctrines of sovereignty, the Divine decrees, and human
 inability, and ignore the Scriptures which command sinners to
 repent and believe the gospel, hence they have no gospel for
 the lost.  On the other hand there are those who preach the
 doctrines of human responsibility and the command to repent and
 believe, and have nothing to say about human inability, the
 Divine decrees, and sovereignty.  Here in my own church and
 association, as well as throughout the South generally, there
 is little heard of Election, Depravity, and Sovereignty in
 salvation.  It is because the brethren feel they cannot preach
 both; that the two are beyond reconciliation -- the one being
 true, the other must be false.  Now, in your case there is both
 the determination to accept all Scripture and to harmonize
 them, resulting in a confused and disturbed mind.  Let us, at
 the risk of being called inconsistent, take all the Scriptures
 whether we can harmonize them or not.  Dr. J.B. Moody ( one of
 my fathers in the faith) used to say, that if one waited to
 accept the doctrines until he could harmonize them, he would
 never accept them; the way to harmonize them is to receive them
 without question, and they will harmonize on the inside of the
 soul.  This may not be exactly true, but it will be of help.  I
 am not saying that we should make no effort to harmonize
 seeming contradictory doctrines, but I do warn against a
 persistent determination to do so.  With this introduction, I
 will now take up your questions in their order.

   1. It is true that most (I would say all) people feel that
 election is unjust.  This is not strange since the carnal mind
 is enmity against God.  People may love a god of their own
 invention, but only born-again believers can love a Sovereign
 God who does what He will with His own (1 John 4:7). God's
 rights with the sinful human race are the rights of a potter
 over the clay.  We can readily see that the criminal has no
 claims upon the human court, and it is just as true that the
 sinner has no claims upon an offended God.  Moreover, to say
 that election is unjust is to put salvation on the basis of
 justice, thus robbing every sinner of any hope.

    When we find people who seem to be interested in salvation,
 we are encouraged to think they are of the elect, for the elect
 are not saved without becoming interested in salvation.  When
 we pray for their salvation, we are not asking the Holy Spirit
 to put them on the fence where they may fall off on either
 side.  They are already on the wrong side -- the attitude of
 ignorant rejection of Christ -- and we pray that He may
 translate them from the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of
 His dear Son (Col. 1:13).  We pray for their conversion to
 faith in Christ, that they may not be left to the choice of a
 depraved nature.  Why He does not convict and convert everybody
 we preach to and pray for is due to His sovereignty and not to
 His weakness.  We do not pray to a weak God.  However, we must
 distinguish between the desire to be saved from sin and the
 desire to be saved from Hell.  Nobody wants to burn, but the
 desire to be saved from sin is a holy desire created by the
 Holy Spirit.  When He creates such a desire His further work of
 conversion will follow, but we cannot assuredly determine the
 motive of the desire.

    You ask to what extent are they (the non-elect) responsible
 for being lost? They are responsible for all the sins they
 commit and for their sinful nature also.  What one does is a
 revelation of what he is.  This is not apparent to our sense
 of justice.  I cannot see how God can justly hold me
 responsible for the exercise of a sinful nature inherited --
 for a nature I had nothing to do with acquiring -- for a
 nature I was born with.  If I were to sit in judgment on God
 (perish the thought) I would say that it is not right to
 punish me for an inherited sinful nature.  I accept my
 responsibility for sin even though I cannot understand the
 justice of it.  Those who have not been "ear-marked" for
 salvation fall into two groups -- those who have the gospel
 preached to them, and those who never hear of Christ as
 Saviour.  Those who have the gospel preached to them are
 responsible for all their sins, including the sin of rejecting
 Christ, while those who never hear of Him are free from the
 sin of rejecting Him, although they are guilty of other sins
 for which they are held responsible.  The heathen who have
 never heard the gospel will not have to answer for the sin of
 unbelief.  Whether we can understand it or not, the sinner in
 all his depravity and helplessness is accountable to God.

    The woman in your class who remarked that the doctrine of
 election makes everything so hopeless, adding that she thought
 anyone could be saved; that the decision was "theirs", might be
 answered this way.  Anyone can be saved who is willing to be
 saved God's way through faith in Christ, but nobody, left to
 himself, wants to be saved this way.  God's way is foolishness
 to him

    # 1Co 2:14 2Co 4:3-6 Ro 10:1-3

 The decision is "theirs" but the decision to trust Christ is
 the result of a renewed mind -- the result of grace in the
 soul.  Paul speaks of the time when he thought he ought to do
 many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth (Acts
 26:9).  In the telling of his conversion he ascribes it to the
 grace of God

    # 1Co 15:10 Gal 1:14-16

 There is no self-salvation, either in providing it or applying
 it.  The work of the Spirit in us is as essential as the work
 of Christ for us.  Paul says that the Jews were asking for a
 sign (they wanted him to perform a miracle) and that the
 Greeks were clamouring for wisdom (they wanted him to
 philosophize), but without catering to the wishes of either,
 he preached Christ crucified.  Salvation through faith in a
 crucified Christ was to the natural Jew a scandal, and to the
 Greek it was foolishness.  Those effectually called by the
 Holy Spirit were able to see the power and wisdom of God in
 such a plan of salvation

    # 1Co 1:22-31

 Why god does not effectually call more than He does is not due
 to inability but to sovereignty.  As I say in my article on
 election, we must either limit God's power or His mercy, or go
 over boots and baggage to universalism.  If God is trying to
 save everybody and does not succeed, He is not almighty; if He
 is not trying to save everybody His mercy is not universal.
 Romans 9:18 makes it clear that His mercy is limited and is
 sovereignly bestowed.  Deserving mercy is a contradiction of
 terms.  The flesh in us -- remnants of depravity -- rebels at
 this aspect of Divine sovereignty.  The writer is aware of
 this, just as you seem to be.

   2. There are passages like John 3:16 and 1 John 2:2 which
 seem to teach that Christ died for every individual.  However,
 the word "world" rarely ever means every individual of the
 human race.  The word "world" is sometimes used to distinguish
 between the saved and the lost (1 John 5:19); between the Jew
 and the Gentile (Ro 11:11-15) and between the few and the many
 (Jo 12:19).  I believe John 3:16 and 1 John 2:2 teach that
 Christ died for Gentiles as well as Jews.  He died for men as
 sinners and not as any class or kind of sinners.  The Jews
 thought their Messiah, when He came, would deliver them and
 destroy the Gentiles.  John says that He is the propitiation
 or Mercy-seat for all believers regardless of class or colour.
 In other words, Christ is no tribal Saviour.  If we think of
 Christ's death as substitutionary, then I agree with Spurgeon,
 that He died for the elect only.  If he died as the substitute
 for every individual, then every individual would be saved,
 else His death was in vain.  Now I believe there is a sense in
 which Christ's death affects every person.  By His death He
 bought the human race, not to save every individual, but in
 order to dispose of every individual.  The right to judge this
 world is Christ's reward for His suffering.  All judgment has
 been committed unto the Son (John 5:22).  In the parable of
 the hid treasure, Christ is the man who bought the field
 (world) for the sake of the treasure (the elect) for the sake
 of those given Him by the Father (Mt 13:44). See also John 17
 and 2 Peter 2:1.  Incidentally, the word for Lord in 2 Peter
 2:1 is Despot (Gk. despotes), and indicates more authority
 than Kurios (Lord).

    In 2 Peter 3:9, the apostle is explaining why the Lord has
 not returned to this earth, the reason being, that He is not
 willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
 repentance.  This refers to His will of purpose.  It is God's
 purpose that all should come to repentance and be saved.  In
 longsuffering He waits until all the "us-ward" have been
 brought to repentance.  The "us-ward" are described as those
 who had obtained the like precious faith (1:2); who had ben
 given all things that pertain to life and godliness (1:3); and
 who had escaped the corruption that is in the world (1:4).  In
 2 Peter 3:15, the apostle tells the same "us-ward", that they
 are to account the longsuffering of the Lord as salvation.
 Christ's longsuffering towards the elect keeps Him on His
 mediatorial throne until all have been saved.  Had He come
 sooner than planned, many of the elect would not have been
 saved.  I have been a Christian for 51 years, and if He had
 come before my conversion, I would have perished in my sins.
 It is not His will of purpose that any of those given to Him by
 the Father shall perish.  The words "all" and "every" are
 hardly ever used in the absolute sense

    # Mt 3:5-7  1Co 4:5

 The "all" of 2 Peter 3:9 are all of the "us-ward" who shall be
 brought to repentance.  This is not good grammar, but it is
 good theology and necessary to plainness.  Christ will not come
 in judgment until all those given Him by the Father have come
 to repentance.  When He comes He will usher in the new era of
 the "New heavens and a new earth", wherein dwelleth
 righteousness.

   3. The story told you by your dear father has been
 duplicated in many cases of people who seem to be under deep
 conviction, and yet oppose those who try to lead them to
 Christ.  Such conviction is not of the Holy Spirit, who
 convicts of the sin of unbelief and leads to faith in Christ.
 Such cases do reveal the fact of the enmity of the carnal mind
 towards God, and not a mind wrought upon by the Holy Spirit.
 A case in point is that of Felix who trembled at the preaching
 of Paul and then dismissed him until a more convenient season
 (Acts 24:25).

    There is a natural conviction of sin which may be felt by
 everybody when confronted by his sin (John 8:9), and there is
 evangelical conviction by the Holy Spirit, and leading to
 repentance and faith.  God never abandons the good work He
 begins in the soul (Phil 1:6).  The Holy Spirit, in my
 judgment, never tries to regenerate one of the non-elect.
 There is much Scripture for this.  The New Testament speaks
 often of those given to the Son by the Father and their
 salvation is assured.  These are called "sheep" and "elect"
 before they come to Christ.

   # Jo 6:37-44 10:14-16,25-28 2Ti 2:10

    You ask whether or not the woman referred to was an "elect"?
 I do not know.  I can only say that at the time she gave no
 evidence of being an elect.  However, later she may have been
 convicted by the Holy Spirit of the sin of unbelief and brought
 to repentance.  We can only judge whether a person is an elect
 or not by his attitude toward the gospel of Christ.  If she
 were a sheep of Christ, she did come to His at some later date,
 for Christ says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
 they follow me".

   4. "Many are called, but few are chosen" (Mt 20:16, 22:14).
 Calling in the New Testament usually means the effectual call
 to salvation -- saints are made by a Divine call, but it cannot
 mean that many hear the invitation to accept Christ who have
 not been chosen by God to salvation (1Th 1:4-7 2Th 2:13).
 Calling and choosing are not the same.  The choosing or
 electing took place in eternity past; calling takes place in
 time and brings about conversion to faith in Christ.  There is
 a general call given to every sinner in gospel preaching, and
 there is the special call of the Holy Spirit, inducing
 acceptance of the general call.  The general call in gospel
 preaching is to men as sinners; the special call by the Holy
 Spirit is to the elect and results in salvation.  Romans 8:28
 refers to this effectual call.

   # 1Co 1:26  Gal 1:15,16

   5. You complain of being "caught up in a sort of fatalistic
 attitude -- that what is to be will be".  There is a vast
 difference between cold, impersonal something called "fate",
 and the providential workings of a great and wise God.  Things
 do not come to pass by cold fate, but by God, "Who worketh all
 things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11).
 Dr. Charles Hodge was once asked if he believed what is to be
 will be.  He replies, "Why yes I do; would you have me believe
 that what is to be won't be?"  Prophecy is the Divine
 prediction of many things which are to be, and these
 predictions have been or will yet come to pass.

    The second paragraph of your letter on this subject
 expresses a glorious truth.  God is ruling this world, making
 even the wrath of man to praise Him; the remainder of wrath men
 might do, He restrains.

   # Ps 76:10  Pro 21:1

    Referring to the 1st paragraph of your letter on page 27 it
 is true that the elect will be saved, and that my failure to
 witness will not thwart God's purpose to save them.  God uses
 me, but He is not dependent upon me.  I dare not think that God
 is helpless without me; if I fail He can use someone else. I am
 not to witness because of any assured results, but in obedience
 to His will of command.  I cannot know His will of purpose
 concerning those to whom I bear testimony,  We are to witness
 to people as sinners and not as elect sinners.  Election has
 nothing to do with our obligation to witness.  Isaiah preached
 when he was told there would be no good results in the way of
 response from the people.

   # Isa 6:8-13

     Your letter closes with questions concerning prayer.  I
 have no hope of giving much help here, but will make some
 observations.  Prayer is one of the means by which God brings to
 pass what He has decreed.  Answered prayer is indited by the
 Holy Spirit.  He knows the mind and will (purpose of God) and
 makes intercession for us according to the will of God
 (Romans 8:26,27).  How one may know that his prayer is indited
 by the Holy Spirit, I cannot tell.  But the Holy Spirit leads us
 to pray for that which is within the circle of the Divine will,
 and if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us
 (1 John 5:14).  We are taught to pray for His will to be done.
 This shows we are not to try to change His will by our praying.
 This would take control out of His hands and put us in charge.

     Whether we can harmonize our praying with His decrees or
 not; It is our duty to pray because He commands it (Lu 18:1).
 Prayer implies two things: our inability and His ability.
 Prayer is an act of dependence upon God who is "able to do
 exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" Eph 3:20.

     I do not presume to be able to reconcile the doctrine of
 Divine decrees with such passages as James 4:2,3 and 5:16.  But
 I can see how prayer can prevail without changing God, when I
 think of it as one of the means by which His will of purpose is
 effected.  In Mueller's case, I can think that he was led by the
 Holy Spirit to spend the night on his knees as the means of
 getting milk for the children.  We have the same difficulty in
 the case of Paul's ship-wreck as recorded in Acts 27.  When all
 hope of being saved was gone (27:20), the angel of God told Paul
 there would be no loss of life.  He then comforts the despairing
 sailors, soldiers, and prisoners, saying, Be of good cheer; for I
 believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me (27:25).
 Then later when the sailors were about to abandon the ship, Paul
 said to the centurion and soldiers "Except these abide in the
 ship, ye cannot be saved" (27:31).  God had declared there would
 be no loss of life, and Paul believed Him, and yet he believed
 their safety depended upon the sailors staying with the ship.
 We might charge Paul with inconsistency but there it is.

     As to praying for the sick, we must always pray without
 knowing what the Divine will is in every particular case.  It is
 appointed unto men once to die, and when the appointed time
 comes our praying will not cancel the Divine will.  David
 recognized this in praying for his sick child.  He fasted and
 prayed while the child was alive, but when the child died, he
 bowed to the manifest will of God and said, "While the child was
 yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who can tell whether
 God will be gracious to me that the child may live?"
 2 Sam 12:22.  Paul's prayer for the thorn to be removed is
 another case of asking for something outside the circle of
 God's will of purpose.  Paul prayed without knowing the will of
 God, and when it was made known to him, that sustaining grace
 would be given rather than the removal of the thorn, he bowed
 in sweet submission and said, "Most gladly therefore will I
 rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
 rest upon me" (2 Cor 12:9).

    My mind often reverts to the terrible war between our North
 and our South -- the so-called "Civil War".  There were men of
 God on both sides -- men of piety and prayer -- who pleaded
 with God for victory.  I believe it is conceded that the most
 outstanding men of God belonged to the Southern Army -- such
 men as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and
 Robert E. Johnston.  And now all of us rejoice that it was
 God's will for the Union to be saved.

    It is becoming in all of us to seek our Father's face and
 pray for His blessings, and then bow in reconciliation to His
 mysterious providence in our lives.

              "God holds the key of all unknown,
                    and I am Glad;
              If other hands should hold the key,
              Or if He trusted it to me,
                    I might be sad

              "What if tomorrow's cares were here
                    Without its rest!
              I'd rather He unlocked the day;
              And as the hours swing open, say,
                    'My will is best.'

              "The very dimness of my sight
                    Makes me secure;
              For groping in my misty way,
              I feel His hand; I hear Him say
                    'My help is sure.'

              I cannot read his future plans;
                    But this I know;
              I have the smiling of His face,
              And all the refuge of His grace,
                    While here below.

              "Enough! this covers all my wants,
                    And so I rest!
              For where I cannot He can see,
              And in His care I safe shall be,
                    Forever blest."

    We are all poor sinners in the need of an adequate Saviour.
 This Saviour is the Lord Jesus Christ Who says, "Him that
 cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out".  If Christ is the
 Saviour of sinners, this poor sinner can qualify for
 salvation.  I praise Him for dying for me, and I praise the
 Holy Spirit for making me to realize my helplessness and for
 taking the things of Christ and showing them to me (John
 16:14,15).

    May the Lord bless you in the coming discussion on Nov. 5th,
 and make you a blessing to others!  I wish I might have been of
 more help in this reply to your questions.  Let me exhort you
 not to worry over failure to be able to reconcile doctrines
 which seem to our finite minds to be contradictory.

    With heartfelt thanks for this opportunity to discuss with
 you some of the deep things of God, I am

                                  Yours in gospel bonds,


                                  C.D. Cole
08952
 LETTER TWO BY MRS. MARJORIE BOND
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                            1505 Scotland Street
                                            Calgary, Alberta
                                            November 6, 1959

 Dear Dr. Cole:

    Do you think you can stand another letter from me?  I shall
 try not to be so verbose this time!

    Your wonderful and most helpful letter came two weeks ago
 tomorrow, so you can see it was in plenty of time for our
 meeting last night.  I was going to acknowledge it immediately;
 then it occurred to me that if I waited till after the meeting,
 I could "kill two birds with one stone", so to speak -- thank
 you for the letter and report on the meeting as well.

    I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate the time
 and trouble you have taken to help a complete stranger -- and
 yet, perhaps, we are not such strangers after all, as we are
 related through the bonds of the gospel.  But you went to a
 great deal of work, I am afraid, to answer my letter at such
 length and in such detail and I appreciate it more than I can
 say.  But above all, I feel I owe you a debt of boundless
 gratitude for your article on Election which sparked off my
 interest in it and subsequent study of it.  I feel as if a
 completely new world has opened up to me; I get almost excited
 over it all, Dr. Cole.  I do hope it is not wrong to attach so
 much importance to it, but somehow, I feel as if it is the most
 significant and \\personal\\ doctrine in the whole Bible.
 Nothing should eclipse the Atonement I know; but I feel that
 even my conversion, somehow, never made the impression on me
 that Election has.  When you have been brought up in a
 Christian family, heard the Scriptures from childhood and been
 active in the Church, there isn't the marked cleavage, somehow,
 when one becomes a Christian that there is if you have been
 turned from a life of vice.  Is it because we don't feel, in
 the innermost recesses of our being, that we need Christ as
 badly as the other type does?

    I don't know; but I have often felt that I didn't have the
 \\joy\\ in my Christian life that I should.  It seemed stale
 and flat, so often; one did things for the Lord from a sense of
 duty.  Sometimes I have even wondered if I were saved at all.
 Now all that is changed.  The very fact that my salvation is
 all of grace -- in the application of it as well as the
 provision of it -- has transformed everything for me.  And I
 have you to thank for it.  Oh, how wonderful it must be to a
 minister to be so used of God.

    When I first read your pamphlet, in addition to all my other
 objections to Election, I didn't like the idea that (in a
 sense) I had nothing to do with becoming a Christian.  I had
 always supposed that, with the Spirit's help, I had had sense
 enough and intelligence enough to recognize something
 worthwhile and take it!  It didn't appeal to me \\at all\\ to
 think that if I had been elected, I really had nothing to do
 with my salvation at all -- even in the accepting of it.  But
 \\now\\ that is almost the best part of it!  It is humbling and
 breath-taking and frightening and thrilling all at once.  I
 just can't get over it, Dr. Cole.  To think that all these
 years (I am 41), I have missed this tremendous teaching and the
 thrill and joy of it.

    It has made my salvation and conversion much more real and
 personal.  I have always envied people who spoke with such joy
 of their conversion and felt that something had happened, I
 never could.  I couldn't remember a time when I didn't believe,
 if you know what I mean.  And it has worried me; I've had a
 sneaking fear that maybe all I had was a head or credal belief
 because I was brought up in a Christian home and accepted that
 as I did other patterns of behaviour and thought.  I have
 prayed off and on for months that if I were saved the Lord
 would make me realize it beyond all shadow of doubt and give me
 "the joy of His salvation".  Not just a barren orthodoxy.

    Never did I dream of getting the "witness of the spirit"
 through the doctrine of Election.  I wouldn't want the Lord to
 think I'm not grateful for salvation.  I am; but right now, I
 feel as if I'm more grateful for Election.  Is that wrong?

    Over and over I keep saying to myself, like someone rescued
 from a sinking vessel, when others are lost, "Why me? Why me?".
 When I wake up in the morning, I used to feel tired and
 exhausted and wish I didn't have to go to work (I am a war
 widow); now, almost as soon as I am conscious, I have the
 feeling that something new and exciting has happened -- and
 then it flashes across my mind in a wave of remembrance -- "you
 are elected" and I get so excited I am wide awake instantly and
 ready to be up and doing.

    I cannot explain it -- but somehow as long as you feel that
 you had the least little bit to do with your own conversion, it
 takes away some of the thrill and bloom of it.  But when the
 full impact of the thought and realization hits you -- that not
 only the \\provision\\ of salvation is due to God's grace but
 also His choice of \\you\\ as recipient, one can only stand
 back and marvel -- lost in wonder, love and praise.

    Now, I must tell you about last night.  There were nearly 30
 women out.  \\Nothing\\ that we have studied in the 7 or 8
 years that I have taught that class has so stirred them as this
 Doctrine!  They came with Bibles and pens...and objections!  I
 went all over it again very carefully, reminding them first
 that:

    (a) The depravity of man \\required\\ it (election)
 elaborating on your point that we are just deceiving ourselves
 if we think \\any\\ of us would ever want or seek God in our
 unregenerate state apart from the Holy Spirit and election.
 (Gen 6:5; Ps 14:3; Isa 64:3; Rom 3:10 and Eph 2:1 -- I had them
 look up and read aloud these references).

    (b) The sovereignty of God justifies it -- He has the same
 rights over us as the potter with the clay, etc., emphasising
 such qualities of God as His absolute Righteousness, Holiness,
 Omniscience, Self-Existence, etc.  which entitles Him to act in
 a sovereign way.

    (c) The righteousness and Holiness of God safe-guards it; it
 cannot be unjust for it is absolutely impossible for God to do
 anything wrong, be unfair, unjust, unfaithful..."He cannot deny
 Himself".  Regardless of how it may appear to us we have this
 knowledge and comfort that the Judge of all the earth will do
 righteously.

    Well, after I had made my points, the members asked
 questions.  I felt really sorry for one woman in my class.  She
 has come to our church from the United Church.  I \\think\\ she
 is saved -- but periodically one detects in her thinking and
 from her remarks, a throwback to the United Church doctrine of
 salvation through works!  Evidently she has been really wrought
 up over this subject -- which I consider a good sign.  I told
 her she couldn't have been any more disturbed than I was at
 first.  She cannot see that it is not unjust of God.  I thought
 your illustration of being on the fence and God pushing them to
 one side or the other excellent, so I elaborated on that.  I
 think, with most of them, they finally began to see a glimmer
 of light that if God hadn't elected some, none would be saved.

    We all seem to have the same reaction -- that if the
 decision had been left to us, we had a better chance of getting
 saved than by having God settle it all in Eternity; because we
 don't or won't accept that teaching that of ourselves we are
 incapable of reaching out for God.  I told them that in our
 natural state, we are dead in trespasses and sins and a corpse
 just cannot flicker even an eyelash!  So they were just
 deceiving themselves if they thought for one minute that they
 would \\ever\\ accept Christ, apart from God taking certain
 measures to make them.

    Well, our discussion went on for about 1 1/2 hours!  This
 woman also thought as did others that Scriptures elsewhere we
 contradicted by Election -- such as John 3:16 and 1 John 2:2.
 I was glad to have your explanation of "all" and "world" rarely
 being used in the absolute sense.

    Also, John 6:37..."Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise
 cast out"...I told them to look up the first part of that verse
 and they would get a shock!  I had!  "All that the \\Father\\
 \\hath given unto me\\ shall come unto me...etc."  Of course
 Christ wouldn't cast out any who came because any who came
 would be those whom the Father had given!  They were simply
 stunned!  But seemed to react more as if it made sense and were
 opening up new worlds of thought.

    Afterwards, while we were waiting for tea, this one
 particular woman came to me.  I did feel so sorry for her; she
 was flushed and almost tearful and I said, "Edythe, is it any
 clearer?"  She hesitated and said, "Yes, in some respects.  But
 there are other things that I just feel I can't reconcile with
 my ideas of God and the Bible".  I said, "Don't try, Edythe,
 Dr. Cole told me not to attempt to reconcile all points of this
 teaching with other passages of Scripture because I would only
 confuse myself, and I believe he is right".  By the way, that
 was a wonderful help to me, personally, what you told me about
 just getting a confused mind.  I just let go all the arguments,
 after reading your letter, and told the Lord that I guessed I
 had struggled long enough trying to crowd the ocean of His
 theology into the teacup of my mind and I wasn't going to fuss
 anymore about the points I didn't understand.  He understood
 them and that was good enough for me.  And it is since then
 that I have had such peace.

    I tried to tell something of this to Edythe; she said,
 "Marjorie, I have nearly gone out of my mind this week".  And
 her voice broke.  She said, "I can't think of anything else and
 I go over and over it until I am nearly crazy".  I just ached
 with pity for her because I had been through the same thing
 until I got your letter back.

    It flashed across my mind that perhaps your letter would
 help her too.  So I asked her if she would like a copy of my
 questions to you and your reply.  She was terribly grateful.  I
 had them with me so was able to let her have them right away.
 Would you pray with me that she will get peace and learn, by
 the help of the Holy Spirit to love this doctrine as we do?

    One other member, a new-comer to my class although she has
 been in our church several years, said to me with the sweetest
 smile afterwards, "I am like you; I know now I have been elected
 and it is simply thrilling.  I wish you could have seen my
 husband, though.  He wanted to come so badly tonight -- he
 asked me if I thought you would mind if he slipped into a back
 seat"!  It seems her husband took her pamphlet and read it; was
 so thrilled and worked up over it, he read it again and said
 that never in all his life had he heard anything like it -- why
 don't we hear about it?  And do you know, Dr. Cole, person
 after person has said that to me; "Why don't our ministers
 preach it??"

    One girl, also from the southern states (Texas -- but not
 the one I mentioned in my first letter; \\she\\ wasn't out last
 night) has been very keen on this, but admitted to me on
 different occasions that it simply upset a lot of her ideas and
 understandings!  However, last night, as I closed she said, in
 front of all the others, almost with a blissful sigh, "Well, it
 certainly takes the fear out of dying, doesn't it"?  And you
 know, that is what I have felt so \\strongly\\.  I just stared
 at her for a minute when she said it -- it was the echo of my
 own heart.  Sometimes I feel I can't wait to get to heaven and
 learn more about Election and all the rest of the Bible.

    A third woman, mother of a 6 year old boy, said to me,
 "Marjorie, I don't know.  It is wonderful.  I feel that since
 this study and the thought I have given to Election that
 everything has cleared up in my mind.  And so many passages of
 Scripture fit in and make sense now when they didn't before".

    Yet another girl has talked to me different times and said
 that at first she felt (when I taught my first lesson in Sept.)
 that she was opposed to it.  But the more she read your
 pamphlet and thought about it, the more she thought the
 doctrine really was taught in the Bible and therefore she
 should be willing to believe it and leave the parts she didn't
 understand until she got to heaven!  Last night, after we were
 finished, she whispered to me across the table, "Well, I'm
 happy too, tonight Marjorie.  But I'm afraid some aren't.  But
 it's more a case of \\won't\\ with them.

    However, I am praying that the Holy Spirit will do His work
 in the hearts of those that are confused or resisting.  I feel
 their very interest is encouraging and, as you so truly put it,
 none of us likes this doctrine; it takes the Holy Spirit to
 teach a person to love it.

    Now, I promised you I wouldn't write such a long letter and
 I have.  I do hope you aren't bored.  But I am so full of it
 all and so indebted to you that I felt I had to overflow to
 you.  Have you, by any chance, had any of your other teachings
 put up in pamphlet form?  I was looking over some old Witnesses
 the other day and saw several of yours in serial form, on Sin,
 Salvation, etc.  I should love to have them complete.  I sent
 away for 40 copies of your ELECTION pamphlet and distributed
 them to my class in Sept., so they have had them to study and
 mull over ever since!  I can never thank you enough for your
 article.  Certainly God must have led you to have it printed.

    It would be so wonderful to sit under that kind of
 preaching today.  Why don't ministers preach doctrinal sermons
 anymore -- instead of this milky, predigested, topical
 preaching that so many give?  No wonder Christians today
 aren't strong and virile and know what they stand for -- they
 have never got off the milk of the Word onto the strong meat.
 I heard one Baptist minister say that we are "snackbar"
 Christians today when we should be dining-room Christians.
 And I think he had something.

    Now, I must go.  Again, my heartfelt thanks for all you have
 done for me.  I pray God's richest blessings upon you and yours
 and your ministry for Him which will be fruitful, I am sure,
 beyond your deepest imaginings and hopes.

                                 Yours in Him,


                                 (Mrs.) Marjorie Bond
08953
 LETTER THREE BY MRS. MARJORIE BOND
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                            1505 Scotland Street
                                            Calgary, Alberta
                                            December 7, 1959

 Dear Dr. Cole:

    Since writing my Christmas card to you, I have received your
 books, "The Heavenly Hope" and "Divine Doctrines".  Thank you
 very much indeed.  I am thoroughly enjoying the magnificent
 study on the doctrine of God.  How it magnifies and exalts Him
 and restores Him to His rightful position of King of kings and
 Lord of lords.  I have felt for a long time that the Christian
 church needs a fresh vision of the holiness and majesty of God,
 and to realize that He is "the high and lofty one that
 inhabiteth eternity".  There is entirely too much spirit of
 camaraderie in our attitude toward God today.

    I wish more of our present-day ministers preached doctrine.
 It seems to me that church members would be more firmly rooted
 and grounded in their faith if we had more doctrinal teaching
 and less "snackbar" preaching!

    Apropos of our study on Election, I am still getting
 repercussions from it from some of my class members.
 \\Nothing\\ that I have ever taught has stirred up such
 interest.  I also gave a copy of your pamphlet to our
 minister; am awaiting his reaction!

    We were visiting with some friends from another Baptist
 church a few weeks ago and something came up about my Bible
 Class and this teaching on election.  Would you believe it --
 not one person in that room, apart from the members of my own
 immediate family who were present, had even \\heard\\ about
 Election, let alone understood it?  And yet they are all good
 Christian people -- not just nominal church members.

    We only got into a preliminary discussion of it when we were
 interrupted.  But I could see that it was not at all favourably
 received!  (As you say, we are all Arminians by nature!)  One
 woman and her aged father who had moved away to Arizona about
 two years ago, are back in Calgary and were present that night.
 About a week ago, I ran into this woman at the post office in
 one of our local department stores.  She is working there
 temporarily and as there were people waiting to be served she
 didn't have too much time to talk to me.  But as I was leaving
 the wicket, she said, "Oh, Marjorie; I want to have a talk with
 you some time on that matter that we were discussing at
 Thelma's the other night."  For a minute or two, my mind was a
 complete blank -- I couldn't remember what she was referring
 to.  She smiled and said, "You know, we started a discussion
 about it".  Suddenly light dawned and I said, eagerly, (this
 is my favourite subject now)  "Oh yes, of course.  I'll be glad
 to any time you are free."  She nodded and said, "Well, it has
 set me thinking.  I don't understand it and don't say that I
 agree but I want to learn more about it".  So there is another
 ripple from the stone you cast into the pool!

    Dr. Cole, when you are so busy, I do hate to bother you with
 my questions but I feel that you are so learned in this subject
 that you are in a better position to help me than anyone else.
 May I trouble you with one or two further questions:

    (a) What is meant by making "your calling and election
 sure"?  At first when I was reading 2 Peter 1:5-10, in the
 light of my new knowledge on Election, it seemed to me that
 Peter spoke as if it were possible to lose one's salvation.
 And yet, because I believe in the eternal security of the
 believer (even more so since I understood Election) I didn't
 see how this could be.  As I prayed about it, it seemed to me
 that perhaps what is meant is rather that a person who does
 what Peter admonishes is less likely to \\backslide\\ rather
 than be lost?  Do you think that is the meaning of it?

    (b) Is the "all" of Romans 11:32 another example of "all"
 not being used in the absolute?  I mean the part where it says
 "that He might have mercy upon \\all\\".  Some people argue
 that verse as being opposed to Election, saying that if God
 wanted to have mercy on all, He would not pick and choose
 people for salvation as the doctrine of election teaches.

    (c) Also, while we are still in Romans, is it true that even
 Christians will be judged for everything they have done since
 they were saved?  Not in the sense of punishment for their
 sins, because Judgment on sin was passed at Calvary.  But when
 the Bible says, "So then we must every one give an account of
 ourselves to God;"  and again, Romans 2:6..."who will render to
 every man according to his deeds"; and 1 Corinthians 4:5.

    I don't know why it is, but the thought of having all my
 sins exposed to view, even though I am not going to be
 punished for them, robs heaven of considerable joy.  I
 backslid very badly some years ago and although the Lord is
 dearer to me now than He ever was before, I sometimes feel
 that \\nothing\\ can undo the sins of those years.  God knows
 all about them and has forgiven me; why must they be published
 for all the world to see when I get to heaven?

    I thought the passages in Psalms that "as far as the east is
 from the west so far have I removed thy transgression from
 thee", meant that once we were saved God really blotted out our
 sins and we never had to hear about them again.  But there
 seems to be several passages in the epistles which would lead
 one to think that, although we will not be punished for our
 sins in the sense of going to hell, we shall certainly have to
 account for them.  If this is so, it seems to me that no
 Christian could die really at peace, knowing you had that ahead
 of you.  (Why are we more afraid of man's opinion than God's?)

    (d) My last question has to do with pages 7-9 of your
 pamphlet "The Heavenly Hope".  I had always understood (prior
 to my study of Election), both from Scripture and various hymns
 and sermons that I had heard, that there is danger in delaying
 salvation; that a person could be cut off from this life before
 they had accepted Christ and be hurled into a Christless
 eternity.

    But according to the doctrine of Election, \\no one\\ who is
 elected for salvation can possibly die without being saved?
 Isn't that true?  ("All that the Father hath given to me, will
 come unto me...")  Therefore, anyone whom God has intended to
 save will be saved and cannot possibly be lost so there is no
 danger in delaying for them; and the non-elect will not be
 saved anyway.  Isn't that so?

    It seems to me I just get things sorted out in my mind to
 where I understand them, when I read something that puts me off
 again!

    As I say, I used to believe too that there was danger in
 delay.  All the hymn-writers speak of it etc.  But since
 studying Election, I concluded that I must have been wrong.
 There is no real urgency, in the sense of it being a life and
 death matter, because no one can die before he is saved, if God
 intends him to be saved.  Therefore, why do ministers (even
 those like yourself who believe in Election) urge people to
 make haste and accept Christ before it is too late?  It can
 \\never\\ be too late for an elected person, can it?  I should
 appreciate being straightened out on this point.

    You will get so you dread to see a letter from me if I
 always write at such length.  But there is so much I need to
 ask you about and modern ministers, like doctors, are so busy
 they haven't time for people any more.

    Thank you again for all your help and may God richly bless
 you in the year ahead.

                                Sincerely,


                                Marjorie Bond
08954
 REPLY BY  DR. C.D. COLE
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                          746 West Noel
                                          Madisonville, Kentucky
                                          December 17th, 1959

 My Dear Marjorie:

    Greetings and best wishes for a happy holiday season!  When
 I mailed you the books, I intended to follow at once with a
 letter explaining that you would be under no obligation to pay
 for them, since you had not ordered them.  But other things
 took precedence, and I was still planning to write when your
 letter arrived with enclosure.  Perhaps I should return part of
 the money as it was more than enough to pay for what I sent.
 The supply of books and tracts I have written is almost
 exhausted, and this is one reason why I sent you what I did.
 The series of SIN and SALVATION have not been put in book form.
 I have two or three large scrap books containing articles
 published in various magazines.  At my age (now in my 75th
 year), I do not expect to publish any more books.  However, I
 have many dear friends among young ministers and some of them
 may want to publish some of my writings after I am gone.

    With this brief introduction, I will now attend to your
 questions in the hope I may be of some help.

    (a) Peter's exhortation to "make your calling and election
 sure", is a warning against presumption.  One must not take his
 salvation for granted without proper evidence of it.  Of course
 he means to make it sure to ourselves, for we can make nothing
 sure to God.  His words have to do with assurance and not to
 the fact of salvation.  He starts with the grace of faith as
 God's gift, and urges us to build upon that faith so that our
 lives may not be barren and unfruitful.  No unfruitful believer
 can have assurance of salvation as a subjective experience.
 Apropos of your own experience while a backslider.

    (b) I believe "all" in Romans 11:32 is used only in a
 relative and not absolute sense, else we have universal
 salvation.  Moreover, Romans 9:18 teaches that God is sovereign
 in bestowal of mercy.  This does not mean that He refuses mercy
 to any who trust Christ for it, but that He does not cause all
 to look to Him for mercy -- some are left to their own carnal
 will.

    (c) The Christian will be judged for his works and not for
 his sins.  His sins have been judged in Christ and will not
 appear against him in the day of Judgment.  Salvation is of
 grace; reward is for work.  There will be degrees both in
 heaven and in hell, for both the saved and lost will be judged
 for their deeds -- the lost will receive the degree of
 punishment commensurated with their evil deeds, and the saved
 will receive glory according to their works.  I do not expect
 the reward of Paul, for my works have not equalled his.

    Romans 2 is dealing with principles of judgment under law:
 (1) It is to be according to truth (vs.2), that is according to
 facts; (2) It is to be according to deeds (vs.6); (3) It is to
 be without respect of persons (vs.11 and 12).  The chapter is
 not showing how to be saved, but what one may expect from the
 law, whether he be Jew or Gentile.

    Romans 14 warns believers against judging one another for
 various scruples in regard to eating and observing days on the
 ground that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of
 Christ (vs.10).  We shall give account of ourselves to God and
 not to one another.

    1 Corinthians 4 deals with the judgment of the Christian as
 a steward of God.  We cannot judge or appraise the works of one
 another here and now, for there is much we cannot know, such as
 motives and hidden things, but when Christ comes He will know
 everything about us, and "then shall every man have praise of
 God" (1 Corinthians 4:5).  We are not qualified to judge so as
 to determine the place one shall have in glory -- God will look
 after that.

    (d) We are to address the lost as sinners, and not as elect
 sinners.  We do not know who the elect are until they manifest
 it in faith and good works.  And we are to address them as in
 need of salvation, and urge them to trust the one and only
 Saviour - and to trust Him now.  Shall we tell them to trust
 Him at once or wait until some other time?

    It is true that "no one who is elected for salvation can
 possibly die without being saved".  But this does not mean
 that they will be saved apart from faith in the Lord Jesus
 Christ.  And the means of salvation are as truly elected as
 are the persons.

   # 2Th 2:13,14

    Paul knew more about the doctrine of election than any other
 man, and yet he persuaded people concerning Jesus (Acts 28:23).
 He knew the elect would be saved, and yet he prayed and worked
 for the salvation of Israel

   # Ro 9:1-3 10:1-4 11:14 1Co 9:19-22

 We must not allow the doctrine of election to rob us of
 compassion for the lost, nor close our eyes to the urgency of
 salvation.

   # He 2:3 2Co 6:2

    There will be things we cannot understand and doctrines we
 shall not be able to harmonize, but it is plainly His
 commanding will for us to witness to all people concerning
 Christ Jesus.  Secret things belong to God, but the revealed
 things fix our duty

   # De 29:29


                             With Christian love,


                             C.D. Cole
08955
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