FGA Workshop: "How To Answer Objections" | Dr. Charlie Bing

D. L. Moody on Assurance of Salvation

"Jesus says to 'only believe,' not to 'continually shrug our shoulders in doubt.'" —D. L. Moody

D. L. Moody
(1837-1899)

 

One of the best explanations that I have ever read on assurance of salvation is from D. L. Moody, the great evangelist. In his book Anecdotes and Illustrations, there is a section on "Assurance" in which Moody writes the following:

There is no doubt about assurance in the Word of God. A person said to me some time ago: "I think it is a great presumption for a person to say she is saved." I asked her if she was saved. "I belong to a Church," she sobbed. "But are you saved?" "I believe it would be presumption for me to say that I was saved." "Well, I think it is a greater presumption for any one to say: 'I don't know if I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,' because it is written, "He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." [Jn. 6:47.] It is clearly stated that we have assurance. . . . 

How many people in the Tabernacle when I ask them if they are Christians, say: "Well, I hope so," in a sort of hesitating way. Another class say: "I am trying to be." This is a queer kind of testimony, my friends. I notice no man is willing to go into the inquiry room till he has got a step beyond that. That class of Christians don't amount to much. The real Christian puts it: "I believe; I believe that my Redeemer liveth [Job 19:25]; I believe that if this building of flesh were destroyed, I have a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." [2 Cor. 5:1.] No hoping and trusting with them. It is "I know." Hope is assured to the Christian. It is a sure hope [Heb. 6:19]; it isn't a doubting hope. Suppose a man asked me if my name was Moody, and I said: "Well, I hope so," wouldn't it sound rather strange? "I hope it is;" or "I'm trying to be Moody." Now, if a man asks you if you are a Christian, you ought to be able to give a reason. . . . 

—I believe hundreds of Christian people are being deceived by Satan now on this point, that they have not got the assurance of salvation just because they are not willing to take God at His word. [Rom. 10:17.] 

—"But," a man said to me, "no one has come back, and we don't know what is in the future. It is all dark, and how can we be sure?" Thank God! Christ came down from heaven, and I would rather have Him, coming as he does right from the bosom of the Father, than any one else. We can rely on what Christ says, and He says: "He that believeth on Me shall not perish, but have everlasting life." [Jn. 3:16.] Not that we are going to have it when we die, but right here to-day.

—Now, I find a great many people who want some evidence that they have accepted the Son of God. My friends, if you want any evidence, take God's word for it. You can't find better evidence than that. You know that when the angel Gabriel came down and told Zachariah he should have a son he wanted a further token than the angel's word. [See Luke 1:5-22.] He asked Gabriel for it and he answered: "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Lord." He had never been doubted, and he thundered out this to Zachariah. But he wanted a further token, and Gabriel said: "You shall have a token: you shall be dumb [unable to speak] till your son shall be given you."¹

Reference:

¹ D. L. Moody, J. B. McClure, Editor, Anecdotes and Illustrations of D. L. Moody (Chicago: Rhodes and McClure, Publishers, 1886), pp. 20-25. See under the heading: ASSURANCE.

3 Differences Between Martin Luther King and BLM

The HuffPost featured this photoshopped image on
their website, apparently trying to link King to BLM. 

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

* * *

I said to some of my students the other day that Martin Luther King would roll over in his grave if he knew about Black Lives Matter (BLM) and what it's doing today! 

Besides the fact that BLM wasn't even around in the 1950s and 60s (BLM was founded in 2013), here are three differences that I see between Martin Luther King and BLM: 

1.) Martin Luther King believed in non-violent protests (emphasis on non-violent) and “a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love.”[1] Many people may not know this, but Martin Luther King was also a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize! By way of contrast, one BLM leader has said, “If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it.”[2] That sure doesn't sound like nonviolence to me!

2.) Martin Luther King was a Bible-believing Baptist minister, not a Marxist or a Communist.[3] In an article titled “Was Martin Luther King a Marxist?,” Adam Fairclough writes, “Lawrence Reddick, King’s friend and biographer, had anticipated such verdicts years earlier. ‘Neither by experience nor reading is King a political radical’, he wrote in 1959. ‘There is not a Marxist bone in his body.’”[4] By way of contrast, the leaders of BLM said in a 2015 interview, “We are trained Marxists.” It seems to me that BLM has more in common with the Black Panthers and what they believed and taught, than it does with Martin Luther King![5]

3.) Martin Luther King was a Baptist preacher who believed in the importance of the family structure in the home. For example, he said, “The group consisting of mother, father and child is the main educational agency of mankind.”[6] What’s more, in his book Strive Toward Freedom, Martin Luther King called the family “our most fundamental social unit”. Obviously he didn’t believe in the destruction of the family! In contrast to this, on the Black Lives Matter website, one of their demands proclaims: “We disrupt the Western prescribed nuclear-family-structure requirement….”[7] 

Dear reader, on this day when we remember the great Martin Luther King and what he believed and what he stood for, I want to say: Beware of BLM! What BLM stands for is far different than what Martin Luther King believed in and advocated. 

References: 

[1] “Nonviolence”. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Stanford University. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/nonviolence 

[2] “BLM leader: If change doesn’t happen, then ‘we will burn down this system’”. New York Post (June 25, 2020). https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/blm-leader-if-change-doesnt-happen-we-will-burn-down-this-system/

[3] “Communism”. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Stanford University. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/communism 

[4] Adam Fairclough, “Was Martin Luther King a Marxist?” JSTOR, Number 15 (Spring, 1983), pp. 117-125. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4288462?seq=1 

[5] “Black Power”. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Stanford University. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/black-power (accessed Jan. 18, 2021). Also see the Wikipedia article titled "Black Panther Party". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party

[6] “MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. QUOTES ON FAMILY”. The Borgen Project. https://borgenproject.org/martin-luther-king-jr-quotes-on-family/

[7] Mike Gonzoles and Andrew Olivastro, “The Agenda of Black Lives Matter Is Far Different From the Slogan”. The Heritage Foundation. July 3, 2020. 

https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/commentary/the-agenda-black-lives-matter-far-different-the-slogan