Can’t get enough grace

I just wanted to take the time to thank you [Mike Feazell] for all your writings over the last few years.

Every time I read what you’ve written I have to tell my wife: "He did it again. He’s put the thoughts I’ve been having into words."

I can’t get enough on the subject of grace. God has immersed us in his grace. How can people come up with the thought that grace is license to sin. There is no such thing as license to sin. If you understand the depths of God’s grace the thought of license to sin never enters your mind.

"No Other Name" [December and January WN] is the best I’ve read on the subject of salvation and judgment. My wife and I were just discussing that very theme, of all the people who have lived and died. God did not create us only to lose us, and Christ’s sacrifice was not in vain for anyone to be lost. Nothing is impossible for God even after a person dies.

Evans Whyte

Orange Park, Florida

I very much appreciated Mike Feazell’s January article, "No Other Name," part two. I also believe that the Bible leaves open the possibility that some people will be converted in the realm of death.

I believe that people who have never heard the name of Jesus, and people who have heard, but were turned off because of the human frailties so obvious even in Christians, or because of other reasons, could, when they actually stand before the King and Judge, fall down in worship, just as Thomas did in John 20:24-29.

I picture Jesus accepting all of previously unbelieving humanity just as he accepted unbelieving Thomas, possibly with the same gentle rebuke, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Mary Fish

Cerritos, California

Thank you for exposing God’s awesome grace in the way you have. Your article, "No Other Name," will certainly push many people’s envelopes even further—notwithstanding I thank God that he is not limited by our ideas of how he can, cannot, will or will not save his creation by his love.

You express in far greater detail what I have long believed, even before coming into the WCG. A God of love will never condemn one person to hell—whatever one wishes to say it is—simply because that person was never given a chance to hear how to be saved. Billions have never even heard the name Jesus, never had the opportunity to say yes or no to God’s outrageous offer of grace.

Clarence Walker

Jackson, Mississippi

Wonderful part of God’s family

More than a year ago I was invited by a friend of mine to attend a luncheon for people 50 and over called Silver Wings.

This monthly event is conducted at the Family of Jesus Fellowship Church in Ravenna, Ohio. I have continued to attend the monthly gathering of Silver Wings, where I have encountered a wonderful congregation of God’s family.

At one of the gatherings I shared with the pastor the wonderful changes our great God has brought about in the WCG. In turn he shared with me the many prayers over the years that have been brought before God’s throne for the WCG and other denominations that do not know the wonderful grace of God.

Also the women of the Family of Jesus Fellowship invited the women from the WCG Akron-Canton congregation to join them in their women’s fall retreat in October. Thirteen of our women attended and had a wonderful time getting to know our sisters in the Lord.

I asked Pastor Greg Goebel if he would write about this subject for The Worldwide News.

[Pastor Goebel’s letter follows.]

Fran Stevens

Akron, Ohio

Answered prayers for the WCG

Opening the church mailbox one afternoon, I leafed through the mail only to discover nothing but junk mail. Later that day, as I rounded our building headed for my car, I noticed a small card in the mail. It was from the PT. As a child, my father had always discouraged me from picking up a free copy at the grocery store. I understood why later when I studied the doctrines of various churches. Yet this card showed that The PT was now being endorsed by prominent evangelical leaders. It declared that the Worldwide Church of God had completed a turn-about that ended in an affirmation of salvation by grace. I had previously heard rumors, but this was my first confirmation.

As I discussed this with my dad, who is the senior pastor of our church, I reflected that our prayer and desire had been for these sincere people to find their way to the truth of God. We both agreed that this was a cause of celebration. Our prayers had been answered!

There is an awful part of our human flesh that pushes us to demand unending proof of repentance. There is also an inborn cynicism that cannot easily accept God’s miraculous undertakings. However, the Holy Spirit put a joy in my heart at that moment. I confidently believed that our prayers were answered and that God had brought a people out of darkness and into the glorious light of his grace.

Since that day the reports and personal encounters concerning this movement have continued to be encouraging. My friendship with Fran Stevens has only served to confirm that God is truly working.

Our Fellowship has welcomed the new friendship that has emerged.

Through this marvelous happening I perceived that the Worldwide Church of God did not conform to Evangelicalism or mainstream orthodox Christianity. Instead, they aligned themselves with the Word of God.

No one group is perfectly lined up with his Word, yet few have courage enough to stand up for the Scriptures even when it means rejecting past traditions. What faithfulness to God!

I believe the attitude that those of us who are looking in from the outside should not be one of I-told-you-so but a joy of pure relief that those who strayed have come home. It is to the Shepherd that the sheep return, but the whole flock can rejoice together.

Pastor Greg Goebel

Family of Jesus Fellowship Church