Σωσθένης Ὁἀδελφὸς
– Sosthenes the Brother
Email: sosthenes@adoss.co.uk
I’d like to thank everybody for the many prayers about my shoulder operation. It was a major job, performed by one of Britain’s eminent shoulder specialists – but little did he know of the many prayers for the op on 23 November. That included two fellowship meetings! I am now progressing well, and should be back to normal in a few weeks. Meanwhile this gives me more time for ADOSS.
The Church is under Attack!
Satan knows his days are short. Every true Christian company is under attack. We read of our brethren suffering for the Lord’s Name in the Middle East, North Korea and elsewhere. Islam hates true Christianity. It can work with Christendom – and we will see things moving together. Not fully – the Lord will have come first.
But there is a more insidious movement. Paul said “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3) . The enemy gets in through wrong doctrine, through the ambitions of an able leader, human organisation, excitement – all well intentioned but not of God – and not guided by the Holy Spirit. True ministry leads to Christ – that is the test.
The genuinely no-name group of Christians I break bread with (no-name as the PBCC has taken the Plymouth Brethren name – which we should not have accepted anyway) is not immune. A few brethren, concerned about an issue, act independently, separate from their own and there are some siding with one and some with the other. It is sad. We need to pray for one another.
When Paul said “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Ephesians 4:13) – who are the ‘we all’?
The Hope of the Church
5 down, 6 to go in my Darby Simplified series.
I have just completed lecture 5 – The Progress of Evil on the Earth and its Judgment. These are good papers – looking at the Lord’s return, and our outlook in this world racing on to apostasy. I am reminded of Daniel Otsing’s (who ended up I believe in Siberia) delightful hymn.
O Lord, with our Ears and Hearts Open,
Awaiting Thy shout would we be,
The summons that calls us to heaven,
Forever to be, Lord, with Thee
With the Lord’s help I will try to finish them in the next few weeks. Is there any demand for producing them, and the Faith once Delivered series in pamphlet form? I am having interesting correspondence, and there is genuine interest in the truth. I commit the whole exercise to God.
JND’s Advice for when Things get Difficult amongst Brethren
I am grateful to our brother Ben in Bristol for drawing this letter of JN Darby to my attention. It was current in 1881; maybe it is current in 2014!
This might be a shorter newsletter than usual. But it comes with a simple desire that we might be abounding in the work of the Lord.
Your brother
Sosthenes
