Awenydd

Last Sunday we had a Rev. Charles Svoboda preach at our church. He was from the IFCA, he was 87 years old, he was dispensational. He made repeated reference to the “blessed hope” and “glorious appearing” of Christ in a way that clearly referred to the Rapture, and he adamantly maintained that the world is getting worse—a sure sign of the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Svoboda came to Christ at Cicero Bible Church in 1941, the same church where my parents’ college pastor Dr. Saxe was converted, and under the ministry of the same man. Providentially, Pastor Saxe’s son Jonathan was visiting us and our church with his family that very Sunday, and were able to meet him. We discovered that not only did Dr. Svoboda know Pastor Saxe, he had spoken to him only a few days before!

Now, I am actually going somewhere with this. Anyone who has read my articles on eschatology knows I don’t agree with the dispensational interpretation of Scripture. But as soon as this man began to speak, it was clear that he was immersed in the Bible. He had memorized these passages of salvation that he was presenting to us, the congregation, and he believed them with all his heart. As soon as he began to speak, even before I knew who he was or where he came from, I was completely at ease with him.

Because even though I may not agree with him or Pastor Saxe or any number of these people in their eschatology, I cannot help but acknowledge and respect whole lives lived for Christ, the love they have for the people of God, and the pure sincerity with which they serve the Lord. Although I continue to examine various passages and attempt to bring deeper and perhaps different meanings to light in the Scripture, I do not despise these people with whom I disagree. How can I? No Christian should despise them for the sake of their theology. They represent collectively many hundreds of years of service to God. We all can learn a lot from that.