“Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke. Yet neither shall you mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down” (Ezekiel 24:16).
We received the following reply to What Happened to Kyle Lake (the Baptist minister who was electrocuted in the baptistery):
From your website:
“The Songs, Poems and topical or doctrinal Writings will serve to encourage spiritual travelers of the Lord in times of doubt, darkness and tribulation. They will know that they are not alone, that they are not the only ones having experienced these things as though there was something peculiarly wrong with them.“
I hardly feel that sending unsolicited e-mails to a group of hurting college students (whom you have never met) accomplishes this task. I would think that heartfelt prayer and interceeding for these grieving young people would be much more effective.
Our reply:
Thank you for your letter, Annie.
We can understand where these young people would be suffering, having lost someone they loved and admired. We have lost our loved ones too, many. However, sympathy was not what helped us, as much as we would have preferred it; hearing the truth about ourselves and the Lord’s will did. In their case, they are still sinning by mourning for someone who was teaching error. (Read of God’s warning to Aaron concerning his dead sons, Nadab and Abihu, Leviticus 10:6.)
You are very unfamiliar with the ways of God, if I am to judge you by your words. Firstly, God sends messengers to speak to people. Secondly, He does not wait for their invitation or solicitation. He comes as a thief. He does not need the permission of sinners to save them from their destructives. The fact that they are destroying themselves tells that they are not looking to Him. Why then would they solicit e-mails to tell them what they need to hear? If He waited for them to ask, it would never happen. Thirdly, where in Scripture do you find that one ought to pray and intercede for those that err, and not preach or speak to them of their errors? While you can show me no example of your notion, the Bible is replete with testimonies of God sending His servants to speak. It is a record of that very thing!
You make the assumption that there has been no prayer or intercession, as though it should be either that, or our preaching and declaring the cause for the great turmoil in which these people find themselves. How do you know it is not both prayer and preaching on our part? Nevertheless, Jonah was sent to Nineveh to preach. Nineveh was on the edge of destruction. He did not pray or intercede; on the contrary, he wanted the Ninevites destroyed. By his preaching of destruction, God saved the entire city.
Of course, you disagree with what the Lake group should be hearing, thinking God does not say such things as we have said. That is because you do not know God, His will, or His ways. It is not a secret that He has, over several millennia, sent out His spokespersons to an unheeding, unwilling people, precisely because they were unheeding and unwilling, thus destroying themselves, even as Kyle was led to destruction by lies through Terry Esau, and was in process of leading others in the same path. God sent His servants of old to tell the people the very things they did not want to hear. Not liking them, they “wrote letters” as you do here, rejecting or resisting the true, yet bitter, medicine, preferring Kyle’s and Esau’s candy with refined sugar, artificial color and flavor.
Believe me when I tell you that an identification of sin accompanied with a call to repentance is very much in order, crucial, in fact. As it says:
“How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without preaching? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?'” (Romans 10:14-16)
And: “Cry aloud, do not spare, lift up your voice like a ram’s horn, and show My people their rebellion, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1).
Speaking the truth for their salvation, and thankful to be able to do so,
Victor
Our reply continues:
Annie, Paul here.
We understand that you do not think or feel that what we have done is the best thing. However, can you say that you know this to be a fact, as in, “thus says the Lord”? Are you telling us what He thinks and feels? Have you considered that your thoughts and feelings are not a reliable indicator of truth?
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says Jehovah” (Isaiah 55:8 Literal Translation of the Holy Bible).
Would you not need to first know whether or not our message is true before telling us what to do, or do you expect us to be guided by your thoughts and feelings? Being guided by men’s thoughts and feelings is what caused Kyle’s death.
What we have said to you people is true, and we know it to be so from God. He sent us to speak to you. It would be a lot more than bad manners on our part, as you suggest, speaking untruths in the Name of the Lord. But if true, then you need to hear it for your good, regardless of how you feel. Where is hiding from the truth going to get you?
Where do you get the idea that Kyle was killed without cause? How do you dismiss the Scriptures we give you? How about this one?
“See now that I, I am He, and there is no other god with Me. I kill, and I keep alive. I wound and I heal, and there is no deliverer from My hand” (Deuteronomy 32:39 LITV).
Let me ask you another question, Annie: Is it not better to know that the One Who laid down His life for us is over all things, and that He is the One doing everything? Who would you prefer to have in charge?
Do you not think that knowing the reason why Kyle died, why the Lord took him prematurely, is important, seeing that this is the man you have been following? The idea of following deadly error should make you uncomfortable, and we hope this discomfort would lead you to repentance, and walking in the Light.
You should read the things you refer to on our web site, seeking to know the truth from God, rather than following in the ways of men and letting your thoughts and feelings determine your path. They are not serving you well. Your concerns are misplaced.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is incurable; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 LITV)