November 18,1996
Dear Br. Baird:
I am not sure that we have ever met, therefore, I feel strange calling you by your first name, but we have a mutual acquaintance, your wife. Don’t worry, I have known her from the church in Edgeville for over seven years when we were attending there. We have since moved to a small town south of Morristown, where we attend church, when we can find someone who will drive us there. Perhaps Shirley has spoken of Allen and Sevilla Benson. We are the same ones.
In our denomination, we prefer to call each other brother or sister
rather then by first names. So, please allow me to call you Br.
Phillip and your wife is Sr. Shirley. This removes any misunderstanding,
for relationships between brothers and sisters are different then
between friends and strangers.
In a since, we are all members of the same family, for we have
the same Father. Our household is the family of God. Our Father
is God and our older brother is Jesus. It is through our relationship
with Christ and His Father that I may consider you to be my brother
for our Father is God.
The family of God is a large one. It not only includes all who
are alive today but who have ever lived throughout history, as
well as the angels in heaven, and the inhabitants of other worlds.
Many people think that God has only one world and this is it but
a God large and powerful enough to create this world certainly
could create any number of worlds He choose and I believe He did
just that. Of these many other planets, ours is the only one that
rebelled. The others remained loyal to their Father.
Someday, very soon, we shall see Christ as He comes on a rescue
mission to save His faithful children from this world of sin and
take us with Him to heaven. All those who are left behind will
not enjoy another several years of life as many people suppose
but will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming. When Christ
returns and leaves again for heaven, the world will be depopulated.
Jeremiah 4:23-27 describes the condition of the earth after Christ
departs.
It is time for each of us to make our peace with God, which is
not difficult to do, for He has already made peace with us. There
is no antagonism between Christ and us, only as we choose to resist
His unconditional, self-sacrificing love and cling to our sins,
that there remains a warfare between us and Himself. But He has
already bridged that gap, made peace with us and given us the
gift of salvation.
God has a special type of work for you to do, what it is, I don’t
know, but each of us has been given some talents and opportunities
to utilize them on His behalf. The time is short, the end of all
things is rapidly approaching, and Christ is intensely desirous
that we live for Him wherever we are. We must not wait for some
special work, but begin now to tell others of how much Christ
loves us. We can do this through letters, such as this one, or
in numerous other ways. Christ will show you how to work for Him,
if you are willing.
Be of good courage, my brother, someone loves you and even thinks
about you. God says His thoughts, of you are only good continually.
He remembers you every day. He is aware of your comings and goings,
He knows your secret thoughts, your motivations, your desires
and hopes, and He adores you still. He does not cherish us as
we are for His love is based, not on who we are, but who He is.
God is love, John says. God looks at what you and I could become,
not what we are, and acts towards us on that basis.
He longs for us to respond to His compassion and reflect to others
this perfect, self-sacrificing love which the Bible calls agape.
May the Lord richly bless you with his love. Your brother in Christ.
Allen Benson