Wisdom’s Ways from the writings of Rev. A. Linford

January 29, 2008 at 9:15 am (Wisdom's Ways)

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Rev. A Linford, before his decease, was recognized as a good, great and interesting Bible teacher in the Assemblies of God Fellowship for many years. He was a well-loved Bible College lecturer and writer that bequeathed a tremendous amount of Biblical material in his generation. What a legacy he has left to be researched and brought forth to refresh our day! We shall be using such on this site: His writings from the book of Proverbs and also his Editorials that he wrote for the Redemption Tidings when he was its editor. I trust you will enjoy and appreciate his inspired teaching. 

EVER LEARNING: NEVER WISE

by the late Rev. A. Linford 

When Paul came to Athens he entered the most important university city of the ancient world. It was the seat of Greek art, science and philosophy. One would have thought that an intellectual like Paul would have been happy in this atmosphere of learning, but he wasn’t. He found Athens filled with irrational superstition - evidenced by the multitude of idols; pityfully superficial - instanced by their constant pursuit of novelty; and possessed of deadly disdain for spiritual and moral issues - shown by their scornful rejection of the message of Paul. Mere logic reigned: pitiless, precise, paralytic. 

The Athenians were pseudo-intellectuals; lowest clan of this brainy breed. From a smattering of second-hand philosophy they make bold pronouncements; a little learning veneers their lack of true knowledge. Feverishly avid for literature that will titillate their jaded thought-processes, they despise as “old hat” the things ‘most surely believed among us’. Rather than rejoice in the wholesome doctrines of the Gospel, they spend all their time discussing the latest ideas. Novelty, with them, takes precedence of spiritual nurture, and logic looms larger than life. 

Professing themselves to be open-minded, they prove impervious to the practical and moral truth of the Bible; aspiring to be wise, they succeed only in being foolish. 

They chase bubbles, like children, dabbling in philosophies and doctrines, which, even if they could ‘be established, would only prove ephemeral and empty. Perpetually curious, they exchange one novelty for another. No idea goes deep. Of settled convictions they know little. They are superficial; but beneath their cultured surface lies a hard stratum of disbelief, of dissatisfaction. of disappointment. Their perpetual inquisition masks an underlying moral cowardice, a fear to face the searching questions of life and death. 

This is why Paul’s mention of resurrection and judgment So disturbed their minds. Their slumbering consciences were stirred. They mocked, they put Paul off, they misrepresented him. They did not want anything that challenged them morally: they sought mental dope. But the Gospel is different medicine from that. It may be purgative or paregoric, aseptic or emolument, tonic or sedative, but it is certainly not narcotic. 

Some new thing. Novelty wears off with time; eternal truth persists. ‘Tis old, yet ever new’, we sing of the Gospel story. The changeful philosophies of men last but for a time, the word of the Lord endureth for ever. Follow men and we tread a devious course, ending in darkness and despair: follow God’s word and we go on to eternal light and bliss.  

FEAR THE LORD, MY SON 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”            Proverbs 1:7,8,10,15 

The term “fear” in this context does not imply dread, but reverential awe. It is that respect afforded to a father by his son, and is the offspring of love. The repeated expression, “My Son” - verse 8, 10, 15 etal - shows this “fear” as a response to the solicitude and concern of a caring parent. On the spiritual plane it is reverence of God expressed in submission to His will, not from threat of punishment or from pressure of duty, but out of delight (Ps 40:8). 

Godly fear begins fullness of life.  It adds moral quality to living and gives deeper significance to learning. Knowledge without ethical values may be destructive but the accumulation of facts coupled with the fear of the Lord is constructive. True knowledge, that is, appreciation of the things that matter, begins with an acceptance of the reality and reverence of God. Godly fear banishes folly. Not only is this sacred fear productive, it is also protective from the folly of those who despise the doctrine and discipline of God. Such fools may be intellectually brilliant, but they are moral paupers, defective of true worth. They despise wisdom and thus fail of the very element that gives savour to life. Just as salt brings out the flavour of many comestibles, so wisdom (as exhibited in the fear of God) adds piquancy and true pleasure to existence. Life is enhanced by such wisdom. 

Godly fear begets favour. To pay attention to Godly parents and put into practice their instruction develops beauty in one’s temperament and disposition.  What joy of relationship is expressed in these terms - My Son … father … mother!” A father’s loving discipline and a mother’s exhortation are of priceless worth. The Book of Proverbs has more to say about the love and respect due to the mother than any other book in the Bible – c.f. 6:20, 15:20, 19:26, 20:20, 23:22 ,25, 30:17. “in all these passages the mother’s claim to consideration is equal with the father’s”, - Oesterley. May we not spiritualize this? The “father” is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14) and the “mother” is the church, “Jerusalem which is above … the mother of us all” (Gal 4:26). To accept the authority of God and the admonition of His ministers is to adorn our lives with good doctrine. No more precious and lovely moral character is to be found than in those in whom wisdom presides. Grace and favour, gifts and honour await those who walk in the paths of righteousness. 

PRAYER: My Father, help me today to be a true and faithful son of Thine.

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Meet the Ministers introduced by Rev. E. Andrson

January 29, 2008 at 9:01 am (Meet the Ministers)

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Rev. & Mrs Colin Cooper

I was born into a family where there was little love between my parents and virtually none given to me. My father died when I was 7, my sister disappeared soon after but I was too young to have anything explained to me. My brother who was 11 years old drowned soon after. 

Now my mother was involved in witchcraft and could put real curses on people. Also I remember furniture moving by itself. My mother would talk to dead people who she said were walking in the room. At one point my mother tried to kill me with a carving knife after saying she did not love me or want me. It was whilst she was in a trance (and I remember it was very scary) that she said she had talked to my dead brother and this meant she was going to die; of course Satan has real power over those outside of Christian protection. Within a month she was dead. 

So at the age of 14 years and 10 months I was alone. With no family or father to guide me, I got involved with wrong people and soon ended up in jail for grievous bodily harm. Thinking that this was no life, I decided that when I got out I would change, but of course a leopard cannot change his spots and a human cannot change his programmed nature on his own. So on release I had nowhere to live except a coal storage shed. Although I had never been to church in my life, I called out “If there is a God get me somewhere to live then I will believe in you”.  

The next day I was in an apartment after two years of searching. I had not been able to get a place to live because of my appearance and also the way I dressed frightened the life out of people. The apartment was opposite the biggest church in the city. I shared it with a student who became my friend. There were all kinds of weird people in the same block, pimps, necromancers, druggies – Raymond my friend used to sniff chloroform and get high. One day he asked to talk to me, but I did not have time as I was going to a party. He just said he felt the world was a big rock in a black void and he wanted to get off, so off I went to the party – on returning, police were all over our apartment. It was then that a policeman informed me that my friend Raymond had drunk a bottle of chloroform and committed suicide. 

I went to my room, fell on my knees and wept, I wept because I had not told him about Jesus, but only invited him to church. So I vowed that I would never again miss an opportunity to tell anyone about Jesus. That’s one of the reasons I am in the ministry today: To tell as many as possible the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

About a year later I was invited to a party that the young people of two churches organized. In it I heard glass breaking and saw that a young woman had accidentally broken a glass cabinet by putting the back of the chair into it. As I looked I thought now she is very nice. After leaving the party I thought I would never see her again, but she came into the place where I worked the next day (a department store) asking people if they knew where I was. So like a gentlemen I asked her if she would come to my apartment on Sunday afternoon for tea and then go to church together on the evening. I gave her peaches and condensed milk for tea, neither of which she liked but graciously kept quiet about it. Since then, which was February 1968, we saw each other every day and married in March 1971.Then in 1978 I felt the Lord was calling me into His service.  

Sue was born in Lincoln, England in 1950. I was born in Gateshead, England in 1948. Sue was brought up in a Christian home, her father was a pastor with Assemblies of God, but she saw something different in my life along with the lives of the young people at my church so fully gave her life to Jesus in 1969. 

So I left my job as a Pharmaceutical Representative to pioneer a church after being a youth leader in the city of Derby, England for two years.I started pastoring in the Assemblies of God – pioneering for Home Missions. Our first church plant was started with my wife Sue and our two very small children. We lived in a dirty cellar with excrement from a sewer running down the walls, snails would crawl over our bedclothes at night, mice would nibble our food and we had no money. 

I remember thinking ‘what have I done’? ’Is this ministry’? ‘It must have been a mistake’, but I quickly learned to preach the gospel effectively and soon the church grew with new souls and we were able to move into a brand new home. With many tough times of being alone, we eventually met Bob Isabell who pastors in Washington State and he told us about M.F.I. We stayed in his home for a week and visited the Portland Conference for the first time in 1990. 

As a long time member now of Ministers Fellowship International (which I dearly love) it is one of the best things that has happened to me. Also the family that I never had as a young man, I now have with my wife Sue of 36 years and Paul my son who is 35 with 2 children and my daughter Wendy of 32 with 3 children; so I am a contented grandfather with 5 grandchildren (all girls) and I enjoy my calling like never before; it’s great having fun in the ministry. 

We came to Huddersfield 20 years ago to a group of 15 people. Huddersfield is a North of England town. The church is now 700 plus and has planted people out in churches in Birmingham, Leicester, Doncaster and Holmfirth, England. Sue is involved in the administration of the church along with our secretaries Denise Cox and Sarah-Jane Hoggar. 

I have been chairman of the European expression of M.F.I. – called M.F.E. since 2001. The conferences have grown from a handful of leaders to approx 250, and we have quite a number of pending members, so the countries linking in are increasing. I also travel to many African nations, South America, Canada, the USA and India, Sue goes to most of the places with me, and all because of the cry from a coal storage shed.We are at the moment building a massive new church in Huddersfield which when completed will seat 2600 people. You can watch the progress on our website                          

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Word for the Week presented by Rev. E. Anderson

January 29, 2008 at 8:43 am (Word for the Week)

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Rev. E. Anderson

RECONCILE 

This is a choice word that is found in our dictionary and is one that certainly needs to be seen in action and deed in the context of relationship with God and men. 

One of the deft definitions afforded is ‘to be friendly with someone after estrangement or to re-establish friendly relations between (two or more people)’.  It is always a sad thing to note people who should be friends and enjoying the company of one another in a state of opposition and no longer feeling good to one another. Certainly it is a tragedy when seeming love turns to animosity and there is no longer any good will manifested to each other. The broken accord somehow needs to be repaired so that union and communion is restored. There has to come the reconciling that brings both parties together and to cause a fresh relationship to be birthed and developed that excels what was known previously. 

Reconciliation needed to be brought about between God and men so that there would be a healthy, pleasurable and profitable relationship created and cultivated to eternal advantage. Regrettably there came a breakdown in relationship in the Garden of Eden between God and Man and man was the offending party. How all men have lost out and how the world has become confused and chaotic as a result. The alienation from God has not proved helpful one bit because man has degenerated and become a horrid creature through sin. 

Thankfully God never lost His love for men or interest and sought and worked out the best means by which He could prove His unquenchable love for him and save him from his sinful and wretched, sinful state. The Christian message focuses on the fact that God through His Son became a man in order to pay the penalty due to his sin and to rescue him from his degenerate and doomed situation. The Cross of Christ is where sin was fully atoned for and becomes the place where every sinner can be wholly forgiven and reconciled to God and where a divine friendship and eternal future can be settled. The Bible states that ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world ( that is man) to Himself’ – 2 Corinthians 5: 19. You need no longer be an enemy to God in opposition because He has made it possible for you to be at peace with Him and to know a dynamic fellowship with Him now to your good. 

Christ told the story of a son who had made a mess of his life and needed to go back to his father and be reconciled to him – Luke 15: 11-24. He finally had to good sense and will to return and be at one with his father and enjoy his friendship and a better future. It may be that you ought to make your way to God and get things straightened out so that what remains to you in life I blessed by a vibrant accord with God. 

Reconciliation also must take place between people on earth. It is an issue that must be attended at the human level. For those who profess to be Christians they must make sure that they do not live in hatred and animosity to other people, and certainly so in the Christian community. Christ stated that God would not receive any gift laid on the altar to him if such a spirit and state existed in the giver. He said: ‘If you bring your gift o the altar, and there rememberest that your brother hath ought against you; leave your gift before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift’ – Matthew 5: 23, 24. It is important to have sweet and sound relations in the church, family, society etc. 

‘Every person should have a special cemetery lot in which to bury the faults of friends and loved ones’ – Anonymous

 PRAYER 

May my relationship with you O God be all that it should so that I may know a healthy accord and a blessed life in and through you. Teach me to live in a wholesome harmony with all men.  

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