DR. RAY C. STEDMAN(1917 - 1992) Correspondence 1957-1963 regarding the subject of the "Deeper Life"Miles J. Stanford "Just went through Stedman's BODY LIFE. No Cross, so it won't hold up. Good ol' self is left to permeate." MJS 11/29/72 Raymond Charles Stedman was born on the wind-swept plains of North Dakota and came to know the Lord at a Methodist revival meeting at age of ten. After naval service and marriage to wife Elaine, he attended Dallas Theological Seminary, graduating in l950. Ray and Elaine spent two summers during seminary doing youth ministry under Dr. J. Vernon McGee at Lincoln Avenue Presbyterian Church in Pasadena, California. In the fall of 1950, after having served three months as secretary-chauffeur-assistant to Dr. H.A. Ironside, Pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, Ray accepted the call to serve as pastor of Peninsula Bible Fellowship [Church] in Palo Alto, California. After 40 years of ministry, Ray and Elaine retired and moved to Grants Pass, Oregon in 1990. After a battle with cancer, Ray C. Stedman went to be with the Lord, October 7, 1992. While having authored 28 books, Ray Stedman is probably best know for Body Life and Authentic Christianity. The following is a compilation of letters which were exchanged between Miles Stanford and Ray Stedman in the late '50s and early '60s. DanS We cannot do without either the Cross or the resurrection, for resurrection life keeps pace with the death process in heart and character. Let us forget the necessity for the ongoing application of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit to the evil Adamic life within us, and we deprive ourselves of liberation from the power of sin. Let us forget the message of the resurrection and ascension, and that Christ is living in us to live through us, and we lose the joy as well as the manifestation of His life in our walk. The more we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit, the more He will lead us to know the meaning of the Cross, making us sharers with Christ in His death unto sin; and the more we enter into death union with Him, the more shall we know resurrection and ascension life. --Gordon Watt
Dear brother Stedman Have been reading your fine article, "Christ According to You," in the July issue of The King's Business*. We thank the Lord for the insight He has given you into the true need in the Christian's witness. We heartily agree with you on the necessity of the Lord Jesus Christ being manifested in the life of the believer. It would be good to hear from you concerning the following matter: Can results be expected in calling believers to be Christ-like, apart from clearly delineating the scriptural answer to unchristlikeness, i.e., death to self? "For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor. 4:11). The Lord bless you and yours,
Miles J. Stanford Enclosed: But How?, by David Tryon.
* -- The King's Business was the monthly magazine of Biola Bible College.
August 7, 1957
Dear Brother in Christ: Thank you for your letter of July 1 which was forwarded to me by THE KING'S BUSINESS magazine in Los Angles. Also thank you for the enclosed booklet entitled, "But How?" which I am enjoying reading very much. I note your request for my comments on your question, "Can results be expected in calling believers to be Christ-like, apart from mentioning the answer to our unchristlikeness - death to self?" May I say to begin with that I am in full agreement with the quotation from G. Watt with which you began your letter. It is true of course that I don not mention "death to self" by name in this article. Bit I believe that is certainly very much of that truth set forth there. I have attempted to define certain areas of the life which are unChrist-like and these of course can be nothing more nor less than the manifestations of the flesh, or self. Further I tried to emphasize strongly the fact that "you cannot be changed into the image of Christ apart from reading and understanding the Word of God and adjusting you life to it. But as you take the Bible and read it consistently, day after day, and not only read it but begin to let it speak to your own life about these various areas and you adjust your life to its control, the apostle says, 'we all with open face, beholding in this mirror the glory of the Lord...are changed into the same image'." Surely the adjusting of life to the Word of God is nothing else that "death to self". In all frankness, I must say that though I am in real sympathy with the aims and desires of the "deeper life" movement, I find its terminology somewhat confusing. I think there is a vast difference between trying to crucify the flesh and recognizing that it WAS crucified when our Lord Jesus hung on the cross. I found the "But How?" booklet very enlightening and agreed with it thoroughly except on page fourteen in the author's definition of faith. He says, "Faith is getting out of the way and letting Him work." For years that kind of a definition kept me from realizing the values of Christ's work for me because it implies that the will is somehow to be disconnected and God is going to come in and work apart from the believer's own desire or will. However, when I learned that faith is not getting out of the way but getting right into the very purpose of God and willing to do the thing He says to do because He says it, then I achieved the victory I long sought. Christ did not say to the impotent man at the well of Bethesda, "Now just relax and keep out of the way and let Me do this." He addressed the man's will directly and said, "Arise, take up thy bed and walk." Prompt obedience to the word of Christ's command is faith. Thank you once again for your letter. I should like to hear further from you on this, if you care to write. Cordially in Christ,
RCS:cw
Dear brother Stedman Many thanks for your good letter of the 7th; I appreciate very much the time and thought involved. Thank you, too, for kindly suggesting further correspondence. I do not wish to be in any way critical in these matters, and I am trusting the Lord to give us real fellowship in the One who is our mutual Life. Allow me to, if I may, share with you a few reasons for my writing to you on July lst. It is heartening to see more and more of the born-again leaders being burdened for Christ-likeness among believers. It is quite evident from your article that you are one of these. A primary need of the day is for more leaders who are able to bring believers into spiritual maturity. Another basic need, which goes hand in hand with the above, is for more believers to become hungry for reality in the Christian life and service, and for them to be able to see the facts in the Word of God upon which they can rest their faith. It is no simple matter to maintain the true perspective regarding the appalling spiritual lack in the lives of the vast majority of Christians. Seeking to take one of them on from Substitution to Identification soon reveals this lack. Substitution is no substitute for Identification. For a number of years my bride and I have been holding deeper life meetings in homes. Time and again believers, often in tears, have spoken up and said:
Then too, consider the leaders of the past who knew and taught identification. The following did not enter into these truths, on an average, until they had been in the Lord's service for fifteen years: Hudson Taylor, Murray, Havergal, Simpson, Goforth, Nee, Penn-Lewis, Trumbull, Chapman, Pierson, Mabie, Muller, and many others; to say nothing of those active today, such as Tozer, Huegel, Maxwell, et al. And their biographies reveal that these folk were led into the deeper truths step by step by someone who already knew, either personally, or by their writings. I do not say that it is not possible, but none of these entered into identification simply through reading the Word. And these are the cream, those who really meant business for the Lord. What I am seeking to emphasize is the fact that one simply cannot take anything for granted with believers when it comes to the deeper truths. Each must be practically led in by the hand, so to speak, and that can be accomplished only when the individual is prepared of the Spirit--usually when one has been taken all the way to the bottom of the Romans Seven experience. Forgive this added mention of our outreach, but we do not hold deeper life week-end retreats, or one- or two-week conferences in churches, etc., but rather it is a matter of settling down with small groups of believers who are keenly aware of their need, meeting with them every other week (time for truths to soak in) for about three years. We have found this means by far the most effective in producing lasting results. Now a few words on this matter of faith and will, as set forth in the booklet, "But How?" I think that in the rest of the pages Tryon expressed himself a little better on the subject. I would like to say this: It is unlikely for the believer to be able to carry out the will of God--"willing to do the thing He says to do because He says it," as long as the Adamic self-life is in the ascendancy. Self has to be kept in the place of death, inactive, daily; and the Lord Jesus Christ yielded to as one's very Christian Life, if there is going to be any consistent obeying and carrying out the will of God from the heart. Before he was centered in Christ as his Life, Paul, as a Christian, tried with all his considerable might--and his struggle brought him to the inevitable conclusion: "for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not" (Rom. 7:18). It is all a matter of source: "Not I, but Christ." Just who is producing--the first, or the Last, Adam? It is the same instrument, the same identity and personality, but the crucial question is, Who is the source of the life and service? We are not to step aside and do nothing, and I do not think that Tryon meant that. We enter into full cooperation, and all of our faculties--spirit, soul, and body--are to be motivated and activated through our yielding to His indwelling Life. Many dear souls see the need for this, and want it in this way, but what they fail to see is that the Adamic life will not capitulate on any other basis than that produced in our identification with Christ in His death unto sin--our Adamic sin. Well, enough for now. Do write again, dear brother. I would like to know what deeper life terms you find somewhat confusing. Maybe there is yet room on this page to share a thought or two from Andrew Murray. My bride's mother, incidentally, attended Murray's Ladies School in South Africa.
The Christian life and service are to be carried on by the Life motive, rather than the love motive. Looking forward to hearing from brother Ray. Yours for His best,
Miles J. Stanford Enclosed: The Normal Christian Life tract, by Watchman Nee.
September 12, 1957
Dear Brother in Christ: Thank you for your gracious letter of August 16. I am sorry to be so long in answering it but the pressures of a busy pastorate sometimes slow me up. Also I have wanted to take time to thoroughly digest the letter and the booklet, "The Normal Christian Life" which you enclosed. I do appreciate very much this opportunity to discuss with you via letter these important and too-little-heralded truths. Certainly I can share with you fully your desire to see believers become hungry for reality in their Christian life and service. I am delighted to learn more of your work and to have some direct contact with men of like faith in "the deeper life" movement. I must confess I have regarded this movement with some suspicion for a long time. I am speaking in perfect frankness to you for I gather from your letters that you are gracious enough to understand that this is not said in any spirit of criticism. I have never liked the term, "deeper life" for one thing for it seems to imply a superior sort of sanctity. I know that in I Corinthians 2:10 the Word speaks of the "deep things of God" but it seems to me to be clear here that this refers to all truth revealed by God which could not be known by man with his natural gifts for knowledge. From that standpoint all the things concerning salvation, including justification, sanctification and glorification would be known as the deep things and none would be any deeper than any other. I much prefer the title of the last booklet you sent, "The Normal Christian Life". I am also surprised to see that you seem to feel that these truths which you call deeper truths cannot be known apart from a personal teaching (by writings or otherwise) by someone who has already learned these. You say, "Each must be practically led in by the hand." I have had the real joy this summer of having close fellowship with several splendid young Christian men of college age, none of whom is more than two years old in the Lord. They have had no formal training in the Bible, nor has anyone ever sat down with them and instructed them in any particular phase of Christian truth, but from the beginning they genuinely made the Lord Jesus to be Lord of their lives and they set about with whole-hearted concern to study their Bibles and learn all they could of what their Lord wanted them to do and be. The result is that though they know little of the terminology of "deeper life" they know a great deal indeed of the reality of it. Their lives are fresh and vital and keen for Christ and I do not mean this in any outward superficial sense but in the very highest meaning of those terms. My own experience has been that after years of nominal Christianity it was when I first began to honestly face the Word of God and walk in its light that I began to experience victory in the things of the flesh. When you quote believers as asking "Why have I had to struggle and fail against sin and self all these years?" I would say the simple answer is because they have not read nor heeded their Bibles. I do not mean to deprecate the need for teachers by any means. I am a Bible teacher myself and know the value of this ministry in the lives of believers but surely the blame for failure along this line must lie in the lack of an open heart to the Word of God on the part of an individual believer and not to the inability to come in contact with some specially gifted teacher. Did not Paul say to the Ephesians, "And now brethren I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them which are sanctified." Surely this is far better authority than our own varying experience. My feeling is that instead of emphasizing any segment of the Word of God as being the particular need in any life it is necessary rather that we emphasize the need of the Word itself. I am confident that an honest hunger for the Word of God will result in giving the Holy Spirit all He needs to be able to lead that person into a full and complete experience of a life of victory. "He that hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled." I am interested in your statement, "It is not possible for the believer to carry out the will of God 'willing to do the thing He says to do because He says it' as long as self is on the throne of the life." May I simply ask, can self be said to be on the throne if the heart is willing to do the thing He says to do because He says it? I really feel that much of what we are discussing here is a quibble over terms. Of one thing I am very sure and that is that you and I both see eye to eye on the matter of the need of a turning to God from idols of any and every sort and a yielding of the life to Him for His purposes. You ask if I have the booklet, "Come Hither" by De Verne Fromke. No I do not. I should be glad to read it if you care to send it along and I assure you again that I genuinely appreciate this opportunity to discuss these matters with you. Most cordially in Christ,
RCS:cw "It cannot be over-emphasized that all resurrection life is imparted to us (experientially) only as we reckon upon our death-union with Christ on the Cross (Gal. 2:20). It comes to us from the risen Lord every moment, via His death, and directly we are out of focus with His death, that experiential impartation of resurrection life is hindered.
Dear brother Ray I appreciate very much your good long letter of fellowship on the 12th. Please do not feel concerned about time lapse between letters--the only reason this is being written so promptly is that I happen to have the time just now. Under separate cover I am sending along a gift book, title Come Hither, in appreciation of your fellowship in the Lord. It was written by my holiness friend, DeVerne Fromke, who did good work in this particular volume. Do not allow the first few chapters to discourage you, as the content soon levels off. As for the terms "deeper life," "victorious life," etc., I believe that for the most part they are used in the good sense, and not to imply any spiritual superiority. When thinking of them from the standpoint of the NT, "Normal Christian Life" is certainly fitting. When thinking of them from the standpoint of the average Christian today, these terms are sometimes quite necessary to help one see that what he has is not the biblical norm. Just to keep the record straight concerning your statement: "I am also surprised to see that you seem to feel that these truths which you term deeper truths cannot be known apart from a personal teaching...", you will note on page two, paragraph four of my last letter, that I said re this matter: "I do not say that it is not possible, but none of these came to understand the identification truths simply through reading of the Word." Certainly it is possible, but it is surely not the rule today. "Feed My sheep...." It was good to hear of the fellows with whom you enjoyed fellowship this summer, and how well they had taken hold early in their Christian life. Praise the Lord for healthy converts! But this is not the normal Christian life that you and I are discussing. Exemplary converts should and usually do begin the way these fellows have, and it would be wonderful if they were to keep right on going upward until they enter Glory. But the fact that we have to face is that it is very, very rare that one does so. Paul didn't, for one. The necessity of the old man having to be discovered, faced, and dealt with, causes things to work out differently in the vast majority of cases--you and I included. Ruth Paxson said:
Consider Hudson Taylor, for example. Who would want more in a young convert, plus the many years following? But he still had to come to the place of "exchange": Hudson Taylor the wonderful Christian, exchanged for the life that is "Not I, but Christ." The Word is full of the principle of "exchange." In practical experience, it was a long way for Paul between the time he called the Lord Jesus "LORD," and the time he came to know Romans Eight in reality. Your question is well put: "Can self be said to be on the throne if the heart is willing to do the thing He says to do because He said it?" Brother Ray, many believers are willing to obey the Lord, but they are under the dominion of the old Adamic man to the extent that they are unable to carry out that will. For them it is the "Oh, wretched man" life. And of course being willing to carry out God's will does not cause Adam to step aside by any means. The crucial problem among believers who are hungry for God's best is how to get rid of the hindrance to the Christ-life, i.e., good ol' self himself! It is essential for one to get squared away on the principle of the Christ-life. It is a matter of exchange, and not of change, rectification, or control of the indwelling old man. No Wesleyan amelioration of "converted" Adam! The Christian life is Christ. Experiencing the Christ-life is not a matter of adjusting the life to the Word of God--the life of the Lord Jesus requires no adjusting of life to the Word of God--His life requires no adjusting, nor development of new habits, à la Adams, MacArthur et al; it is just naturally Christ-life--a matter of nature, the Divine nature. This life is not brought about by having our wild imaginations, our evil tempers and thoughts, harsh dispositions, etc., dealt with. The Lord does not deal with these symptoms of the Adamic life. The majority of struggling believers spend all their time and effort endeavoring to deal with these manifestations, and as they succeed in trimming off some of the branches (twigs), they only succeed in strengthening the root. God laid the ax to the root of the tree, via crucifixion death. Yours in Christ ascended,
Miles J. Stanford
September 26, 1957
My dear brother, Thank you so very much for the book, "Come Hither". It arrived in the same mail as your letter. I am sure I would not have been so bold as to ask you to send it had I realized at the time I wrote that this was not just another booklet. It was most gracious of you to send it and I will surely read it through. I have skimmed through it somewhat already, but will give it more thorough treatment later. May I assure you I have no sense of you "being hard on me," and surely there is no strain to our fellowship in discussing these important matters freely and frankly. I cannot always promise to agree with you, but that has no bearing on our fellowship as brethren in Christ. Actually, I find it somewhat difficult to answer your letters simply because there is so much of what you say that I thoroughly and wholeheartedly agree with. When it comes to dealing with the root of self, and not merely the symptoms; when you speak of the need for appropriating Christ as life; when you point out the inability of the human will to obey the Word of God by itself: to all this I can say a hearty Amen! I learned the truth of these realities years ago and have lived in the light and blessing of them for a long time. I do not say I have yet attained, but I press on to the mark. However., the more we write the more strongly I feel that there is something of a wrong emphasis in the "Deeper Life" movement. I find it unconvincing, for instance, to read the many quotations from others you include in your letters. Long ago I learned to distrust the experience of even the best of men. The only safe guide is not my experience, or yours, or Hudson Taylor's, or Andrew Murray's: it is the Word of God! Here is where the difference comes. Experience tells me I must somehow get rid of self before the life of Christ can flow through me, that I must crucify self before I can walk in the Spirit. The Word of God tells me, it is the other way around: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.'' Certainly it does not say, "Do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh and you will walk in the Spirit." It tells me that the self-life, the flesh, the old man "has been crucified with Him". I do not have to crucify it. I do not have to die to self. It all happened when Christ was crucified. To experience its reality I merely have to reckon it true--count it a fact, as it certainly is and then forget the flesh & move on with the Lord. True, I will have to repeat that reckoning at every testing along the way. I may (and do) struggle with it at times, and hold back somewhat in being willing to so reckon the flesh as useless & crucified, but the moment I do, the battle is won. Now it is very important that I realize that I do not have to nor can I crucify the flesh--He did it for me! The instant I believe that, I am rendered free to obey the Spirit. I can do what He wills. I can will to do what He says because He says it. It requires no anguish, no sweat , not sweat, no struggling. I may experience one or all of these, depending on how hard it is for me to believe God, but I don't need to experience any of them. I don't know whether I understand you properly or not, but I gather from what you write that you see this dealing with self as a once-for-all proposition. When it is once done from then on the Christ life flows freely and there is no longer any tendency to anger, pettiness, impatience, envy etc., etc. I do not so read my Bible. When it tells me that "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh;" I believe that is a process that will go on as long as I am in this body of flesh. The conflict will not cease, but there need never be defeat. I shall feel the temptations of the flesh all my life, but if I walk in the Spirit I need never let them rise to the level of action, or even of deliberate thought. The question then comes, "What does it mean to 'walk in the Spirit'?" The answer is simple, it is to obey the Word of God because of love for Christ. "The love of Christ constrains me," Paul says. When you say, therefore, "Experiencing the Christ-life is not a matter of adjusting the life to the Word of God," I must take strong issue. What else can Paul mean when he says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another; in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." In this very connection, let me quote a paragraph from "Come Hither" which I ran across in browsing through:
This brings us back to the two young men whom I mentioned before. I fear I failed to make clear to you what I meant in reference to them. These are more than merely two healthy converts starting out well, but not having yet faced the ogre of Self. Though less than two years old in the Lord, they both know that the flesh is the source of their tempers, their impatience, their selfishness, their anger, etc. They know well that in that natural, human life there dwells no good thing. They know, too, that in Christ's crucifixion that self within them was rendered impotent if they choose to claim that victory. They have learned well that their only real concern now is to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." They also know that when, in weakness or folly, they fail, that the means to restoration of fellowship with the Spirit is to confess their failure and rebound. Now, where did they learn all this? From no other source than the Word of God, interpreted to them by the Spirit of God, as they honestly set about to learn His will for them. They have had fellowship with older Christians, true, but it was more to discuss what they had learned from the Word than to learn themselves. So, dear brother, perhaps you can see why I feel "Deeper Life" has a partial and therefore a wrong emphasis. It focuses upon one section of the Word, one aspect of the spiritual life. It approaches the Word from the standpoint of experience, rather than the other way around. It does not rely sufficiently upon the power of that living Word to cleanse the life, though the Lord Jesus could say, "Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you." May God grant us further fellowship in His own time. Faithfully in Christ,
Ray C. Stedman
August 25, 1961
Dear Brother Stanford: I wonder if you will recall the correspondence you and I carried on a number of years ago. For some reason (of the Lord, I am sure) I have retained the letter which you wrote me on September 17, 1957 which I think is the last correspondence that passed between us. Reading through this letter again and noting its emphasis upon the joy of discovering the "exchanged" life and thinking through the intervening years, I could not help but rejoice at the way God has taught me the very truths which you so graciously attempted to set before me in that letter. I do know what you mean now. I knew it by occasional experience even before and during the time that we were corresponding, but I did not know how to analyze it or to teach it to someone else; but shortly after our last exchange of letters, I began a series of studies on the Corinthian Letters and by the time I had reached the second Letter I had begun to see in the life of the Apostle Paul, the very truths which you labored to acquaint me with. When I had finished the Letter, I saw clearly how God moves to break every vessel which He intends to use and how this acceptance of the crucified worthlessness of all that we are in Adam is an essential to the fullness of the Spirit and all that we are in Christ. These truths have been a rich and abiding blessing in my own ministry, I thank God with all my heart for having entered into them. I still do not like the term, "deeper life", for these emphases, but I am exceedingly grateful for the reality it represents. I felt sure you would rejoice with me in knowing something of the fruit which God has produced through these years. Most cordially in Christ,
Ray C. Stedman RCS:fp
Dear brother Ray My bride and I rejoiced to read your gracious letter--which was at the bottom of the mound of vacation-accumulated mail. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! I do trust that He will give us further fellowship via correspondence. Possibly we can meet in person, as we hope to spend our vacation on the west coast next August, DV. We are thankful to the Lord for His enabling us to continue on here in the Wheaton area with this outreach for believers. As you remember, the different branches of this work includes small home meetings, exclusively for believers who are hungry to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). Individual counseling is carried on here in the study, as well as by 'phone and by letter'. (I once had a "'Phone For Fellowship" outreach, when we lived in Brooklyn). Then there is the literature arm of writing articles, etc., for growth; as well as handling a specific list of growth books and literature for sale. The Lord continues to show us important factors re identification. There is evidently quite a gap between seeing and entering into the identification truths, and being able to correctly and effectively share them with others. From my observation, I note that most leaders (America's Keswick, etc.) who have come to know the positional truths, do not know how to minister them. Nearly all make the same mistake, that of applying exhortation and pressure. Whereas when the hungry heart is clearly taught and given the opportunity of clearly seeing his identification with Christ in his death, resurrection, and ascension, as set forth by Paul (in his own Bible), no pressure is necessary--as a matter of fact there is often need for some restraint! I might share with you, patient brother, several examples that have recently come in the mail. For a time I ministered in a Baptist church in Clinton, Iowa, some 100 miles from here, while they were waiting for their new pastor. One of the leaders in the church wrote:
We are putting out a series of "Green Letters," every other month, for growth; and they give us contacts with hungry hearts in many lands. The wife of a missionary in South America--they have been there for 12 years, and are going through deep waters--wrote not long ago:
These folks have recently resigned from the Southern Presbyterian Mission Board, and are staying on the field independently. It is so interesting and edifying to watch the Lord open truth requisite to realized need. We need our needs! Some of the early Plymouth Brethren leaders knew this secret--that truth can only be ministered effectively to those hearts which are ready for it. None but the hungry heart. J.B. Stoney said, "The soul does not imbibe the truth in living power but as it requires it." His mentor, John Darby wrote:
Another English deeper life leader, J. C. Metcalfe, knew:
Another missionary brings out the importance of being sure of one's facts before receiving their benefits:
This mother was a leader in Nurses Christian Fellowship in Canada for many years, and has just completed a first missionary term in West Pakistan--a niece of my old friend, Norman Grubb. As long as I have purloined this much of your time, I might as well share one more thought, from a veteran Presbyterian missionary in West Africa:
Thank you for your patience, dear brother. Resting in Him,
Miles J. Stanford Enclosed:
Response from Stedman missing
Dear brother Ray I appreciate your lead concerning Jim Wilson*, at the Navs. Dropped him a note suggesting that he 'phone at his convenience, and possibly come over some evening for a bit of fellowship. Your concern for the Navs is well founded--being non-dispensational, they are vulnerable to either the Charismatic, or Covenantism. I am waiting upon the Lord concerning direct contact with some of the Nav leaders. Since moving here [Colorado Springs], six or eight of the staff have written, requesting inclusion on the mailing list for The Green Letters series. I hope to be able to attend some of their open-to-the-public conferences this summer, and possibly the Lord will give some personal contacts in that manner. In the meantime, I will continue to trust Him, along with you, concerning acquaintance with Jim Wilson. We have been looking into Bill Leonard's Evangelical Presbyterian Church here; I knew him as a star fullback, at Wheaton College--which I did not attend. But because of the Covenantism, and seemingly lack of hungry hearts, we do not intend to linger. We have been enjoying fellowship with Paul and Jane (Sugar Creek) Hutchens. They are about a half-hour from here, up Ute pass, in Cascade--at the foot of Pikes Peak. They are both hungry to go deeper with the Lord. For some time they have been burdened to get a work established in their area. A couple of months ago they asked us if we would help them get a work started, and we felt free to comply. They rented the local fire hall, and announced Sunday morning meetings. There were 22 out for the first meeting, and this last Sunday there were 40--mostly adults. Evening services begin this coming week. My bride and I have two adult SS classes, and Paul does the preaching. A month ago we began a deeper life gathering in the Hutchens' home, every other Thursday evening. Six or eight couples are attending, all in the Lord's work, all hungry. Prior to the study we have a time of prayer for the new church work, which now has the official name of The Ute Pass Bible Church, no less. We hope to minister as a church to many vacationers this summer. I would be interested in knowing, brother, whether or not tongues are breaking out (like small pox) in your area. The scourge is definitely getting out of hand, and many, many are going to be badly harmed by it. So many leaders, I find, who should know better, are failing to take a firm stand against this malignant flood. The softening process has been in action for a long time, and now, literally. there will be the devil to pay. Wheaton College here has a tongues problem, and I note that the outbreak at Yale had its inception in the IVF group. Not being dispensational, IVF will go down as a movement. Do you know anything about what has been going on at Westmont? I asked Voskuyl for explicit information, and received just the opposite--which tells me what I want to know. Also, has Faith at Work gained any ground in your area? I see that Wally Howard has just been appointed Editor of their mag. This is a very subtle movement that has sprung, via Sam Shoemaker, out of Buchmanism. It is a hybrid cross between Buchmanism, Pealeism, and Shoemakerism, which adds up to nothing healthy. Do not feel obliged to answer. I just felt constrained to have a little talk with you, as you are close to my heart. Resting in Him,
Miles J. Stanford Enclosed: Delivered Unto Death. (* It turned out that Jim Wilson was into demonism.)
March 16, 1963
Dear Brother: Thank you for your letter of February 27. I am grateful for your contact with Jim Wilson by letter and trust that this will materialize in a personal meeting soon. This is a time of real crisis, I feel, in the whole Navigators' organization, and I hope the Lord will open a door for you to have access to some of these fine people there in the very near future. You asked about the matter of tongues in our area. Yes, we are having meetings from time to time to propagandize along this line. I have only been able to attend one or two, but find it pretty much the old Pentecostal party-line. I do think, however, we need to be careful in our treatment of this matter. It cannot be handled as though it were a heresy or a cult, but a failure on the part of earnest and sincere believers to understand the process of appropriating all that they already have in Christ. I feel somewhat the the same about "Faith At Work". I have had no particular contact with this group itself, though I have had considerable contact with the work of International Christian Leadership and these two are somewhat related. I believe the Holy Spirit is definitely at work through these movements and that there is a real need and opportunity for teachers to guide these matters into right channels. I think it is a great mistake to oppose this type of thing from the outside but much wiser to move right in and be use of the Lord in guiding it into proper emphases. I have found it quite possible to do this in the contacts which I have had. If you are ever up in the Denver area, you might look up my brother, Alan Stedman, who lives at 202 Cook Street. He and his wife are earnest Christians but still untaught in many areas. Cordially in Christ,
Ray C. Stedman RCS:fp CONCLUSION 1 April 1997 The primary reason for resurrecting this bit of correspondence from the files after 40 years is that a number have requested (via e-mail) information concerning Dr. Stedman's ministry. It is hoped that there will be some insight provided as to brother Ray's development in the realm of the deeper truths. We were not in touch again after his letter of March 16, 1963. There are one or two points that we would call attention to that might be somewhat indicative of Dr. Stedman's progress in the growth realm of identification and position. In his letter of September 12, 1957, he expressed his enthusiasm over the extensive spiritual progress of several young men:
One can only trust that someone did finally sit down with them and instruct them in the Word of truth so that they would progress beyond Lordship, and on to Christ as their Life--a vast difference (Col. 3:1-3). Some 17 years later, Dr. Stedman wrote in his book, Birth of the Body (Santa Ana, Vision House Publishers, 1974, 200 pages--Foreword by Hal Lindsey):
I have had this book in my library for 25 years. In his letter of March 16, 1963, Dr. Stedman's evaluation of the burgeoning tongues movement was:
In his reference to the Faith at Work movement, and the related International Christian Leadership, his evaluation was:
These movements advocate nothing but "human potential." Names involved in Faith at Work and International Christian Leadership have been such avant-garde personalities as: E. Stanley Jones, Abraham Vereide, Catherine Marshall, Eugenia Price, Rosalind Rinker, Norman Vincent Peale, Gert Behanna, Eleanor Searle Whitney, Corrie ten Boom, Louis Evans Jr., Karl Olssen, Frank Laubach, Agnes Sanford, Ralph and Cecil Osborn, Bob Walker, Norman Grubb, Keith Miller, Lloyd Ogilvie, Elton Trueblood, Lyman Coleman, Martin Marty, and Bruce Larson. Move into that crowd and you take your Christian life in your hands! Incidentally, Bruce Larson, long-time president of Faith at Work, is now co-pastor with Robert Schuller, at the Crystal Palace. Dear friends, those who are established in Christ on the basis of their identification with, and position in, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, are able to see such movements as Covenant Lordship Salvation, Charismatic tongues, and Humanism for what they are. Therefore they are able to stand firmly against them, and warn believers accordingly. Yours for His best, as it is in Christ Jesus. Resting in Him, Miles |
|
MJStanford
Home | MJS | Hungry Heart Devotional | Testimony | Memorial | Order Books | Email Best viewed in Explorer 6+ or Netscape 6+, 1024x768 screen display, 16 bit color or higher, and JavaScript on 900MB (2,000+ pages of text) Copyright © 1996-2010 withChrist.org Last updated: December 17, 2009 (Materials by Miles J. Stanford are republished here under exclusive permission from the author.)
|