"REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE"

"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." (Heb. 10:38, 39). "Faith, if it have not works, is dead, being alone." (James2:17).

Not long after I had obeyed the Gospel and became a preacher I was amazed at so many baptized believers in Christ turning back to the world. I have known of a few cases of Gospel preachers’ wives and children turning to the popular churches soon after the passing of their husbands and fathers. And I have known of many more cases of wives and children denouncing the Church of Christ soon after their companions’ and fathers’ decease. And today I fear there are many more such cases pending. How sad! Such departures remind me of 2 Peter 2:22: "The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Also I think of I John 2:15: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." And again, "The fashion of this world passeth away. (1 Cor. 7:31).

I know of parents who have turned from Gospel simplicity to catering to the worldly customs themselves, or to upholding their children in ungodly pursuits. Mothers, who used to sanction a Gospel preacher’s opposition to their children following up worldly customs, now sanction those carnal practices as alright.

Mothers; daughters; why did Lot’s wife look back, after being given direct command not to do so, but rather being commanded to flee away from that wicked perishing city? She had daughters in that city, and sons-in-law, and maybe other dear relatives and friends, would you say? Perhaps she was thinking of how much she would give if they were with her. If she was a loving mother, who had tried to bring up her daughters in the right way, surely her heart was pained to think that she may never see them again. If she were a doer of God’s will, mother-like she should desire their safety. But she could not save them. They had had their opportunity to escape from the city, but theirs somehow was to "neglect so great salvation" (Heb. 2:3)—so great that without it they must be destroyed. Whether they thought more of their husbands than of living on in safety, or were persuaded by friends that no such calamity could come because no such destruction had ever before struck the earth, is of no import here. They remained among the wicked inhabitants and perished with them.

Jesus said, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Matt. 10:37). Not only that, but the next verse says, "And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me." Then, "He that findeth his life shall lose it: but he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." And Paul says, "But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away" (1. Cor. 7:29-31)

The apostle plainly condemns women "bobbing" their hair to follow a carnal custom (1 Cor. 11), finally saying that the apostles and "the Churches of God" have no such custom—making it an evil for women to carnalize their "covering"——"long hair"; and 1 Peter 3 :12 plainly says, "the face of the Lord is against them that do evil"; yet how many sisters, many of them grandmothers or mothers, there are who wear carnalized hair and exemplify it to their offspring and their neighbors children!

Sisters, who are guilty, please review the above proof texts, and "REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE !" You are looking back. And you will do well to re-read our first installment under this caption in last month’s Old Paths Advocate. For several years this writer has challenged anybody who dares to deny our argument in public discussion, but have not had a single response. And we look for none, because the language against following worldly customs by Christians is too plain to be mistaken by intelligent students of the Word.

I am grieved at times to return to a place for a meeting and hear of some of the "leading" members of the congregation being worldly. Some are men posing as elders or deacons, or as teachers in the public assembly! What a travesty upon spiritual manners of any man or woman who claims to be Christian! Looking back to the world, or going back to the carnal lost world.

Oh, how much a renovation of the so-called religious world generally is needed today. In this sensational age, when human life is so valueless in the world’s estimation; when church and home are so neglected for carnal customs and amusements; when school life is so corrupt; when human society is in such deplorable condition; when many nations are crumbling to eternal ruins because of libertines, licentiousness, evil lusts and practices; when Christ’s final coming is drawing so near, and at longest, life is so short—how much the world needs bright spiritual lives of professed Christians to dispel the darkness of sin.

"Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:27), and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lust thereof" (Rom. 13:10-14).