Torch, Spring/Summer 2009

Spring–Summer 2009 | TORCH 31 show love that can break through negative stereotypes — like offering financial help both inside and outside the fellowship. It was God who gradually diminished Gideon’s army to make the coming deliverance of Israel that much more glorious, and it may well be God’s removal of financial resources from His people that makes them look more directly to Him for daily bread and future provision. Adverse circumstances can create opportunities for great spiritual harvest. In the fall of 1857, Jeremiah Lanphier had tried a number of ministries — Sunday school teacher, youth worker, preacher — all without success. He was then given the task of starting a prayer meeting among Wall Street businessmen during the lunch hour. On the day the meetings were to begin, he spent 30 minutes waiting and praying … alone. Finally, one man came, then another and another until, by the end of the hour, six had joined the group. The next week 12 came. Before the third meeting took place, a major bank failed, others closed, and stocks tumbled. The Panic of 1857 was underway. Such an upheaval added urgency to the prayer times. Numbers grew, and the meetings became a daily occurrence. Within three months, every public building in New York City was filled for prayer at noon every weekday. In one year, these gatherings had spread to every major city in the United States, with estimates of nearly 3 million conversions in a population of less than 60 million. Both McGready and Lanphier followed God’s leading and influenced their world. If we will let Him, God can use us as instruments to accomplish His purposes “for such a time as this.” Dr. Craig Miller is the senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cedarville, Ohio, and serves as an adjunct instructor of Bible at Cedarville University. He received his B.A. (1979) from Cedarville College, an M.Div. (1983) and Th.M. (1987) from Talbot School of Theology, and a D.Min. (2008) from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has served as a pastor for 29 years. T Forever in Peril? by Pastor Bob Rohm, Vice President for Christian Ministries at Cedarville University Recently, in a series titled Planet in Peril: Battle Lines , CNN investigated worldwide economic phenomena that suggest we are nearing a crisis. Right now, the U.S. government is taking emergency measures to right the ship. They’re bailing out banks, businesses, and battered budgets. What is a thinking person to do? Are we truly in peril? To put it bluntly, yes: there are major challenges internationally and right here in the United States. But though we have reason for concern, the ultimate answers go much deeper than budgets and bailouts. In light of these perilous days, it would behoove us to do some soul searching. We would also do well to remember that the genuine believer’s true riches are not temporal and certainly not in peril. Colossians 2:3 reminds us that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are found in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is incomparable, incorruptible wealth that never needs a bailout! Ephesians 2:4–7 lays out the dependable answer to our real peril: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved … so that in ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Now that’s living! WORDS OF TRUTH