beautiful story!

[javajoe]

Hi everybody!

I have been doing some research on the web concerning "those of like mind", and ran across this great story of a wonderful Christian lady who came to realize the fullness of Christ's sacrifice:

The Early Christian View of the Savior
By Gary Amirault

    Research Obstacles

    Few Christians study the early Christian writings. Those who do usually go no further than reading some early church history books, most of which are doctrinally slanted. Many church officials and publishers have had no problem rewriting history and changing the character and doctrines held by earlier believers.

    I am reminded of a book I recently read by one of the greatest women evangelists of all time--Hannah Whitall Smith, author of The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life. Millions of copies of this book have been sold, and many Christians of all denominations have been blessed by her writings. At the end of her life, she wrote a book called The Unselfishness of God and How I Discovered It, a Spiritual Autobiography, in which she wrote a chapter entitled "The Third Epoch of My Religious Life (The Restitution of All Things)." In this chapter she describes how difficult her life became when she saw people, knowing that most of them were going to be eternally tormented by her God.

    She writes,

        "One day I was riding on a tram-car along Market Street, Philadelphia, when I saw two men come in and seat themselves opposite to me. I saw them dimly through my veil, but congratulated myself that it was only dimly, as I was thus spared the wave of anguish that had so often swept over me at the full sight of a strange face. The conductor came for his fare, and I was obliged to raise my veil in order to count it out. As I raised it, I got a sight of the faces of those two men, and with an overwhelming flood of anguish, I seemed to catch- a fresh and clearer revelation of the misery that had been caused to human beings by sin.

        It was more than I could bear. I clenched my hands and cried out in my soul, 'Oh God, how canst Thou bear it? Thou mightest have prevented it, but didst not. Thou mightest even now change it, but Thou dost not. I do not see how Thou canst go on living, and endure it.' I upbraided God. And I felt justified in doing so.

        Then suddenly God seemed to answer me. An inward voice said, in tones of infinite love and tenderness, 'He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.' 'Satisfied!' I cried in my heart, 'Christ is to be satisfied! He will be able to look at the world's misery, and then at the travail through which He has passed because of it, and will be satisfied with the result! If I were Christ, nothing could satisfy me but that every human being should in the end be saved, and therefore I am sure that nothing less will satisfy Him.' And with this a veil seemed to be withdrawn from before the plans of the universe, and I saw that it was true, as the Bible says, that 'as in Adam all die even so in Christ should all be made alive.' As was the first, even so was the second. The 'all' in one case could not in fairness mean less than the 'all' in the other. I saw therefore that the remedy must necessarily be equal to the disease, the salvation must be as universal as the fall.

        I saw all this that day on the tramcar on Market Street, Philadelphia--not only thought it, or hoped it, or even believed it--but knew it. It was a Divine fact. And from that moment I have never had one questioning thought as to the final destiny of the human race. God is the Creator of every human being, therefore He is the Father of each one, and they are all His children; and Christ died for every one, and is declared to be the 'propitiation not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world' (I John 2:2).

        However great the ignorance therefore, or however grievous the sin, the promise of salvation is positive and without limitations. If it is true that 'by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation,' it is equally true that 'by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.' To limit the last 'all men' is also to limit the first. The salvation is absolutely equal to the fall. There is to be a final 'Restitution of all things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.' Every knee, every tongue--words could not be more all embracing. The how and the when I could not see; but the one essential fact was all I needed--somewhere and somehow God was going to make everything right for all the creatures He had created. My heart was at rest about it forever.

        I hurried home to get hold of my Bible to see if the magnificent fact I had discovered could possibly have been all this time in the Bible, and I not have seen it; and the moment I enter the house, I did not wait to take off my bonnet, but rushed at once to the table where I always kept my Bible and Concordance ready for use, and began my search.

        Immediately the whole Book seemed to be illuminated. On every page the truth concerning the 'times of restitution of all things,' of which the Apostle Peter says 'God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began,' shone forth, and no room was left for questioning. I turned greedily from page to page of my Bible, fairly laughing aloud for joy at the blaze of light that illuminated it all. It became a new book. Another skin seemed to have been peeled off every text, and my Bible fairly shone with a new meaning. I do not say with a different meaning, for in no sense did the new meaning contradict the old, but a deeper meaning, the true meaning, hidden behind the outward form of words. The words did not need to be changed, they only needed to be understood; and now at last I began to understand them."

    As one can see, this event dramatically changed her entire view of God and man. She no longer believed in a God of eternal torment.

    It is sad to note, however, that recently, Littlebrook Publishing, Inc. of Princeton, New Jersey republished her book. They purposely eliminated the entire chapter, (partially quoted above), which relates to her dramatic change in doctrine. They do not mention that they tampered with the book, and since Hannah is dead, she cannot very well object. Many times the true and incredible ways God reveals Himself to some believers are changed later by those who rewrite history according to their own doctrines. The mutilation of John Wesley's writings is a classic example, but that is for another article.

For the full story, go to  http://www.tentmaker.org/books/EarlyChristianView.html



Anyway, It is amazing how many Christians are in our camp, even through the ages and still more amazing is how God reveals His truth to those who will but hear!

ciao,

JavaJoe

[gmik]

I had read that book years ago.  Didn't she also write "hinds feet on high places??"  Thanks for the info.

[javajoe]

I had read that book years ago.  Didn't she also write "hinds feet on high places??"  Thanks for the info.

No, that was Hannah Hurnard, and I did read that book.  Hannah Whitall Smith was a 19th century evangelist who died in 1911.

[gmik]

aahhhhh...right!!  Thanks Joe.  I need to dig it out and re read it again...it was years ago but I remember that I liked it (smiths).

[musicman]

That's a great link.  It just goes to show how much people hate the truth.  The fact that they would refuse to publish her new beliefs is a testament to what mankind is.  What they did was equivalent to those early church heretics who burned the truths of God.   

[Sue Creamer]

JavaJoe,

Something came to mind while I was reading your post about Hannah.  God's word is like those 3-D pictures...you know!! your looking right at a picture, might be a picture of a house...then someone comes along and tells you there is something else hidden in the picture, but you have to "refocus" your eyes to see it...you try and try, doesn't happen at first then all of a sudden a new picture emerges right out of nowhere...you didn't see it there before, and unless someone had told you to look for it you would never has seen it, yet it was there all along. 

Seems God has done the same thing with his word, it takes a "refocus" (God's spirit) to see what is revealed beneath the picture that is all most people will see in this lifetime...!!!   It never ceases to inspire and amaze me when I read or hear the ways in which God opens people's mind to his truth by his spirit..whether it is sitting on a bus as Hannah...or just typing a word in a search engine in the computer and finding a jewel (bibletruths.com).  What even amazes me more is that God gives his spirit to the poor, the rich, the sick, the healthy, the educated, the uneducated, the old and the young according to his will and when he wants us to see the "hidden picture" his spirit will reveal it to us in his own special time and way according to his plan and as we are predestined to fit into his body.  Our God is truly awesome.

Thank you for your post..
peace, love
Sue Ann
 

[LittleBear]

Hi Sue Ann,

So true. I just love it when I see something in God's word that I had never seen before. It's like I experience something new and exciting and it makes me want more!

Thanks JavaJoe for posting that.

I read both books by Hannah Whittal Smith years ago. She actually opened my eyes to UR, but then because I didn't know how to look into scripture and the meaning of words at that time, I sadly went back to confusion. But I'll never forget the euphoric joy I experienced as I read her book way back then (and it was the unabridged version).

Ursula

[sonofone]

Thanks Java Joe for this post. In reading it I can understand where she was coming from ,even though I still struggle with this particular teaching.It does however fall on my ear and spirit, and just seems to have that ring of truth to it that I rely on when ever I consider anything that I hear for the first time. Thanks again

[javajoe]

Thanks Java Joe for this post. In reading it I can understand where she was coming from ,even though I still struggle with this particular teaching.It does however fall on my ear and spirit, and just seems to have that ring of truth to it that I rely on when ever I consider anything that I hear for the first time. Thanks again

I feel the same way Sonofone. Something inside me just "clicks", and I get a surge of joy thinking that all my family and friends are being drawn to the Father as well, and I just think about how amazing God truly is! 

ciao

[skydreamers]

Hi Joe, this is one of the first articles I read when I first stumbled upon the concept of "universalism" and researched it on the internet....Tentmaker does have some good resources!  It was great to read it again and be reminded of that "first time" feeling so long ago when I first trembled at the thought that it could be true....God really can save EVERYONE!  Joy and Bliss! 

Peace and love,
Diana