Trust in a promise

Major Howard Webber begins a series recalling how people of faith have acted in past crises

‘NEITHER shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling’ (Psalm 91:10 King James Version). Charles Spurgeon gave remarkable testimony to a specific fulfilment of this promise in his study of Psalms, The Treasury of David:

‘In the year 1854, when I had scarcely been in London 12 months, the neighbourhood in which I laboured was visited by Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. Family after family summoned me to the bedside of the smitten, and almost every day I was called to visit the grave. I gave myself up with youthful ardour to the visitation of the sick, and was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks and religions. I became weary in body and sick at heart.

‘My friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping would have laid me low among the rest; I felt that my burden was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it.

‘As God would have it, I was returning mournfully home from a funeral, when my curiosity led me to read a paper which was wafered [taped] up in a shoemaker’s window in the Dover Road. It did not look like a trade announcement, nor was it, for it bore in a good bold handwriting these words: “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling” [Psalm 91:9 and 10 KJV].

‘The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith appropriated the passage as her own. I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm.

The providence which moved the tradesman to place those verses in his window I gratefully acknowledge, and in the remembrance of its marvellous power I adore the Lord my God.’

Letters

Misdirected questions

THE ‘10 questions for vegans’ (Salvationist 15 February) were misdirected. What we really should be addressing is the teaching of Jesus: loving our neighbours as ourselves.

Being vegan is all about sharing. We could start with Genesis 1 where the vegan diet is prescribed for us in the Creation story. We could read Daniel, Isaiah and Hosea. It is a moral question, yet Wesley Paxton wanted to know if vets could be vegan.

This is The Salvation Army, so let me start with a personal testimony. I have been vegan for 56 years and on Sundays I often wear a T-shirt bearing the words of Catherine Booth: ‘God disapproves of all cruelty whether to man or beast’. That is on the front, and on the back Paul’s words declare: ‘I will eat no flesh while the world standeth’ (1 Corinthians 8:13 King James Version).

We could also read Leonardo da Vinci: ‘The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.’

We live in a robbed and wounded world that is in need of good Samaritans. One such Samaritan is the racing driver Lewis Hamilton. ‘I am sad right now with the thought of where this world is going… Agriculture farming is the largest pollutant we currently have by over 50 per cent, far more than our travel industry combined.’

Lewis urged his followers to become vegan. Dear Mr Paxton, it is not about us: it is about our children. Please do not pass by on the other side.

Gordon Carr

London

Help us build a loving world

I AM reminded of the first couple of lines in Charles Dickens’ A Tale Of Two Cities: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.’

When humankind is faced with major catastrophes such as we are currently experiencing it can bring out the best or the worst in us. On the one hand we have seen groups of people ignoring the advice to remain at home and the selfish panic buying of shoppers. On the other hand we have seen the outpouring of support for NHS staff, more than half a million people volunteering their services to support the health service and neighbours and communities coming together to support older people.

These coming weeks and months will be a challenge for us all and for many it will be a test of their faith, but I have found strength in a quote I read some time ago from an unknown author: ‘Faith is not about everything turning out OK; faith is about being OK no matter how things turn out.’

My prayer as we journey through these troubled times is that we all, leaders of the world included, realise that we are fragile inhabitants of our planet and that to survive we all need to put our personal ambitions behind us and pray using the words of Commissioner Keith Banks: ‘Help us build a loving world,/ A new and better loving world;/ Lay the foundation on Jesus Christ our Lord,/ And help us build a loving world’ (SASB 1001).

David Newstead

Tamworth