December 16,1996
Dear Br. Connors:
This Sabbath is a very frosty morning in our area of the Appalachian mountains. We live in a narrow valley between two mountains, seventeen miles from the nearest town. In the winter, the sun does not reach our house until almost noon and then disappears behind the Western mountain before 3:00 P.M. A small creek flows beside the one lane dirt road. (We are not so primitive, however, that we don’t have electricity, telephones, and indoor bathing facilities, but our Landlord just exchanged an old fashioned wood burning stove for a kerosene stove, so modern conveniences are coming to our neck of the woods. I say this with tongue in cheek, there are many people in this area who have satellite dishes and all the modern conveniences one could desire.)
I love living in this area. In the winter, when the mornings are
frosty, the sky is pure blue and the bright sun highlights the
summits of the mountains in golden yellow, my thoughts are drawn
to the Creator who has left tangible tokens of His love in the
earth, although they are marred by sin.
Early this morning, ten or fifteen bright orange clad bear hunters
parked their pickup trucks in front of our house and gathered,
amidst the furious barking of many dogs, to pick an appropriate
spot for their daily hunt. I understand that each hunting season,
several bears are killed in the area, although I have never seen
any myself, they do roam these woods, which are a checker board
of privately owned land and national forests.
Later, when they had moved on to another, apparently more favorable
location, I found a large brown, sad-eyed hunting dog sitting
on our front steps. He had been over looked in the rush to find
the game and left behind. He looked so forlorn and sad, I would
have petted him but he was quite smelly, although a beautiful
reddish brown in color. I think this is some type of special hunting
bread that the locals prize although I don’t know what type
it is.
The dog was wearing a bright orange collar and a radio collar
made of heavy leather with a transmitter and areal sticking up
from the collar behind his right ear. These dogs range far and
wide among the hills, looking for their prey and often get lost.
As they are valuable dogs, the hunters equip them with radio collars
so they can be located after the hunt. While they may be lost,
or far away from home, they are never beyond their owners ability
to find them.
The dog was so sad looking, sitting on our cold front steps, obviously
abandoned and knowing it. Yet, unknown to the dog, its owner could
find it in just a few minutes by turning on the radio finder and
receiving the transmitted signal from the dog’s collar. Exactly
how these devices function, I don’t know, but the principal
is obvious. To the dog, he was abandoned, to its owner, he knew
exactly where to find him.
The parallel, between this dog and its owner, and ourselves and
Christ is to obvious to overlook. The dog may have thought himself
abandoned or lost but its owner knew or could ascertain exactly
where it was by the transmitted signal of the collar. Similarly,
we are lost and some of us know it, while others are oblivious
to their true condition. However, we are not abandoned, for God
hears the cry of the soul transmitted to his ears through the
sad, forlorn cry of the sin burdened heart. Our sorrows, at being
lost or abandoned, are transmitted directly to the heart of the
Father who always knows exactly where we are by listening to our
unconscious cries.
How Christ must yearn to save us. How He must agonize over our
lost condition. Our cries of suffering and hopelessness must rend
His heart of compassion, yet He has not yet returned to remove
us from this world of sin and loneliness.
For several years, I have been burdened for Christ’s brothers.
Men, today, are under peculiar assaults by the enemy of our souls
who desires to destroy our manly bearing and influence. When Christ
gave me this computer several months ago, I resolved to write
letters of love disguised as letters of encouragement to as many
men as I knew and some whom I don’t know for the purpose
of encouraging them to be all that they can be for the Lord. When,
in the course of working my way down the list of men, I encountered
your name, I was perplexed to know just how to write to you. How
does a layman encourage a minister? What can a layperson say to
an elder that he doesn’t already know? What spiritual counsel
or advise or guidance can I give you that you are not already
giving others? These were some of the thoughts that went through
my mind as I sat before the monitor and considered what I knew
about you, which is all good, by the way.
There is a rather crude saying among men that all of us put our pants on the same way. In other words, you an I are sinners desperately in need of grace. While you hold a more exalted position then I desire or will ever be called upon to hold (praise the Lord) you and I are both on the same common ground. We both need Christ as our personal Savior and both need to be loved by others and encouraged by them to fight the good fight of faith. Who encourages the encourager? Who encourages the minister who is under even greater assault and in even greater danger then the layman because of his exalted position and greater influence?
As you know, when Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane, He desired,
no, He craved human compassion, understanding, and companionship
and received none. Thus Satan made His struggles even more intense.
If His disciples had understood His mission and entered into His
sufferings, as far as they were able, then He and they would have
been strengthened and His sufferings would have been lessened.
Yet they slept on, while He suffered, alone, for them.
I wonder how often this scene is repeated today between the clergy
and laity? How many sheep seek the shepherd when in trouble but
have little thought for the welfare of the shepherd? Recently,
in a nearby community, a minister was arrested and accused of
trafficking in child pornography. His name was also on my list
and I wrote to him in jail. But what do I say to him? I have never
written to a minister before, nor to one who resides in the county
jail awaiting trial.
If the laity had a greater concern for the Shepherd and for His
under-shepherds, perhaps fewer of our brightest lights would go
out in the final tribulation of the church.
I love you brother, Connors, with a brotherly love and feel concern
for you that you may continue to drink deeply every day at the
fountain of righteousness that Christ has opened for us. Be encouraged,
you are not forgotten, but thought of kindly by me and many others
every day. Continue to hold the torch of truth high and never
let it falter in your hands. Do not be dismayed by circumstances,
be of good courage, things will get worse very quickly. No, this
is not a contradictory statement, as things worsen, we know that
we are even nearer the culmination of all things then we realize
and Christ is about to come and cleanse his church by cleansing
our hearts.
I welcome this cleansing, as I am sure you also welcome it. Therefore,
I say, again, be encouraged, be strong, resolve to lift the banner
high, for Christ is about to triumph most gloriously, and you
and I have the opportunity to stand together, shoulder to shoulder,
in finishing the Lord’s work.
May the Lord richly bless and encourage you. Your brother in Christ.
Allen A. Benson