Calvin George family

August 2024

Hope for those with cancer

Earnestly contend for the faith

Three hours of darkness at midday

He is worthy!

The grace of God manifested in the life of Mephibosheth

The Word of the Lord endureth forever

For the Christian every day is memorial day

A few years ago I came across a gospel tract by an anonymous author by the title “What cancer cannot do.” I thought it was touching, and that it might be useful someday, so I took a picture of it with my phone. On the day I was diagnosed with cancer I remembered it and sat down to translate it. The Spanish version is here.

Cancer is so limited…

• Cancer cannot cripple love.

Imagine you had a friend who loved you enough to take the cancer out of your body and put it into his own body. He did this knowing that he would die, but you would get to live your life as a healthy person. Wouldn’t that be wonderful for you but a great sacrifice for him? Likewise, Jesus Christ loved you so much that He died in your place so you could be forgiven of all your sins and live forever in Heaven. Three days after Jesus died on the cross, He came back to life! Now He, as a living and risen Savior, offers you eternal life in Heaven as a FREE GIFT (paid in full by Jesus Christ).

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

Adam and Eve, the first people, sinned. Because of their sin, a curse was placed upon mankind. Now we are all born sinners, and suffer sickness and death. (Romans 5:12). Physical disease in itself is not sin; it is merely the result of Adam’s sin. But the presence of cancer in your body in no way diminishes God’s great love for you as demonstrated at Calvary’s cross.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

God understands the needs of your body and soul, and He genuinely loves you. Although God can heal the body, He doesn’t always do so. Everyone eventually dies, and God is far more concerned about our soul, the inner part of each individual that lives on through all eternity.

• Cancer cannot shatter hope.

The Bible states that since we all have sinned, we can’t earn God’s favor or stand on our own merits before a Holy God.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

This verse indicates that we all clearly cannot have any hope regarding our future destiny apart from God’s grace. If God were to judge everyone for their sins, He would have to condemn every person to an eternal Hell, because this is what we all deserve. But in the face of this bad news, the Bible declares the good news to us! God the Father gave a perfect solution: His only Son who became a man, Jesus Christ. Jesus, being God in the flesh, had no sins of His own. He was uniquely qualified to die on our behalf and take the punishment for all of us who have sinned against a Holy God. Upon the cross, Jesus Christ cried out, “IT IS FINISHED” (John 19:30), as He paid for our sins — past, present, and future. God now insists we take His offer of Heaven as a FREE GIFT. God gives it freely to undeserving sinners because Christ paid for it completely through His death on the cross. Many today are offering to pay for Heaven by doing good works or religious activities. Instead of paying for Heaven by what you have done for God, He wants you to come to Him trusting in what He has done for you. The Bible states in no uncertain terms that there will be no boasting in Heaven:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

Cancer can’t shatter your real hope if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior to save you from sin’s penalty.

• Cancer cannot corrode faith

If you believe the Bible, then you can have faith in the Lord Jesus in the darkest moments and valleys of life. Faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior allows you to KNOW with absolute assurance that you have eternal life now and in Heaven later:

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:11-13

While it is my hope that you will survive your cancer, we know that the reality is, one day you still are going to die. So God wants you to KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life now (through faith alone in Christ alone) and that Heaven will be your future home forever. Then you can say with confidence like the psalmist of old:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want…. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Psalm 23:1, 4

• Cancer cannot eat away peace or destroy confidence

Your peace and confidence can be based on the fact that Jesus Christ is the only true way to God and that He wants to guide you through life to eternity:

Jesus said, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross to save you, I invite you to do so right now and possess lasting peace with God.

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1

If you already know Jesus Christ as your Savior, why not cast upon the Lord in prayer the trial of your cancer and trust Him with the results while you enjoy the peace of God?

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Your cancer will never destroy your peace with God through Jesus Christ, nor does it need to rob you of the peace of God as a believer in Jesus Christ as you learn to faith-rest each day in His care and precious promises to you from His Word – the Bible.

• Cancer cannot kill friendships or shut out memories.

Once you have trusted in Jesus Christ to save you, even when you fail or sin in the future, He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). God never takes away the gift of eternal life that He freely gave you, nor does He ever go back on His promises. God can never lie (Titus 1:2). You can trust in Jesus Christ to remain your true friend during your entire trial with cancer:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:27-28

• Cancer cannot silence courage.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12

You will not have proper courage to face the future if you continue to trust in the wrong objects to get you to Heaven: yourself, your religion, baptism, good deeds, sacraments, or false cover-ups. I appeal to you to trust in the grace of God. Cast all your faith on the only reliable object of salvation: the Lord Jesus Christ. Then each day, as you deal with your cancer, you can draw on God’s amazing grace resources in the very same way that you were saved by faith in Jesus Christ.

• Cancer cannot reduce Eternal life.

The way to Eternal Life is a very simple solution provided totally by God. You do not have to promise to be good, for God accepts you just as you are, with a repentant heart. You simply have to trust that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again to save you, and the gift of Heaven is yours! While your prognosis about your cancer may not be good, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed “good news.”

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3.16

• Cancer cannot unseal the Spirit; and it cannot lessen the power of the Resurrection.

Salvation is provided totally by God, and offered freely to you by God’s grace. Grace refers to God’s undeserved kindness and favor. The very moment you trust in Jesus Christ alone as your Savior, you receive the Holy Spirit who seals you forever as God’s child. Once sealed, the Bible guarantees you can’t lose the gift of eternal life and that one day you will receive a new glorified body at the resurrection. This new body will be a body that will not be subject to death or disease; it will be cancer free forever! If you are in Christ, your soul will go to Heaven upon death to await the fulfillment of God’s promise of a future bodily resurrection:

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14

THE GIFT OF SALVATION can only be received by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. WILL YOU AGREE WITH GOD, AND TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD, THAT THIS GIFT OF SALVATION IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED RIGHT NOW?

By E.Y. Mullins – Seminary chapel address of December 21, 1906

I am to give, as far as the time admits, an answer to the question, “How may a man know that he is called to the mission field?” Many men are considering the foreign mission work, and what I say will particularly apply to that work, though the principles are the same in every department of the work of the ministry.

Things taken for granted

First of all, we must lay down certain assumptions or things taken for granted as the basis of all that is said. There are four of these assumptions.

1. We assume that the field is the world. This is Christ’s own word regarding the matter. We cannot limit the preaching of the Gospel to any one spot in the inhabited part of the world. The whole world is the field.

2. The second assumption is that God loves all parts of the world equally. I do not, of course, mean that the Christianized portion of it does not please Him more than the unchristian part. But it is unquestionably true that the whole earth is dear to the heart of Christ. If we may so put it, the world rotates on its axis inside the heart of Jesus. There is no foreign field to Him.

3. The third assumption is that God wants the world evangelized as quickly as possible. He does not want the work done in a slighted manner, nor does He want us to enter upon the work prematurely from the point of view of our own preparation for it. He wants well-trained men to do this work. But making allowance for all this, certainly we may assume that He wants the world evangelized fully at the earliest possible moment.

4. The fourth assumption is that the preacher is under orders. He does not decide on his field of labor for himself. He holds himself in readiness to obey the mandate of Christ. It is vain to attempt to instruct a man on how to find a field of activity in the ministry unless his will is submissive to Christ’s will. We must, therefore, assume at the outset that the preacher’s mind is obedient to Christ.

God’s will implies three things

We have, then, on one side God seeking to dispose the forces. He is the great strategist who looks abroad over the field. He appoints the workers to the various parts of the field. On the other side we have the preacher seeking to know God’s will. Now this latter fact that the preacher is seeking to know God’s will implies three things regarding the preacher.

1. First, it implies that the preacher faces the whole question. He does not exclude any part of the field from his view as a possible field for him. He does not exclude from his thought China, or Japan, or Africa, or Brazil, or India, or any other part of the mission field. His mind is open to those regions as wide as it is to the regions at home.

2. The second thing that is implied is that he is actively concerned to know God’s will. He is not merely waiting to be shoved into the work. Conscripts are not wanted. He seeks to find out God’s will for him. His mind is in a state of activity. He is not waiting for some extraordinary manifestation, but he appreciates the importance of the question, and is earnestly seeking to ascertain the mind of the Spirit.

3. It is also implied that he is genuinely willing and ready to obey orders to go anywhere. Sometimes the struggle is over this point, rather than the question of actually going to a foreign field. Some men are disobedient in spirit, and when they face the world, shrink from a complete surrender to go anywhere. When they make the complete surrender they often find that God’s will for them is to remain at home. It is of supreme importance that there be in the preacher’s heart and life no unwillingness, but that he be entirely ready at any time to do all of God’s will.

How God’s will is made known

We come, then, to the question, “How is God’s will made known?” and the answer is as follows:

1. Through the man’s faith, plus his fitness, plus his common sense. Fitness for the work, of course, enters into the question of a man’s duty—physical fitness, mental fitness, and spiritual fitness. Many men imagine that they are unfit, however, when they are not. Reasonably good health, good common sense, tact in dealing with other people, perseverance and patience—these are qualities which enter into fitness for the work. Spiritual fitness, of course, we must take for granted—that a man loves the Master and loves souls for whom He died. In short, the every-day qualities which make a man successful at home are the qualities which enable him to do successful missionary work. The mission field needs the best men, just as the home field needs the best men, and the qualifications for one are, in most respects, the same as for the other.

2. God’s will is also made known, in the second place, through the relative needs of the various parts of the field and the distribution of forces. It is natural to suppose that God wants men where men are scarce. He wants workers where the harvest is white and the laborers are few. He wants the rescuing party to give attention to the point where the wreck is taking place. There are other things to be taken into account, of course, besides the distribution of forces, but surely this is one of the important factors in a man’s consideration of this subject.

3. God shows us also through the Providential guidance of outward events and the opinions of the brethren. Sometimes events occur in our lives which hinder our going to the foreign field, which practically make it imperative that we stay at home. In other instances God opens the door to us and shows us clearly by events that this is His will. The wise man will usually consult wise brethren on this subject of duty as to mission work. Frequently the opinion of others about us is better than our own opinion of ourselves. He is a wise man who knows how to consult wise men and who is wise enough to learn from the opinions of the wise.

4. In the early stages of inquiry upon this matter frequently all the preacher can do is to maintain an attitude of alert readiness to go wherever God calls. Many a student in the Seminary or young preacher elsewhere begins to struggle with this question at an early period in his life as a minister and does not reach a decision until his seminary course is finished. Where the way is not perfectly clear it is better for him to bide his time patiently, but he should maintain an attitude of prayer, inquiry, of active desire to know God’s will. Along with this he should maintain an alert and ready attitude, ready to follow where God leads, quick to respond. Frequently this is as far as one can go at first. You may be compelled to defer your final decision for a year or two, or even longer. This, however, is not necessary in all cases. Sometimes God makes the way perfectly clear at once, a man settles down into a fixed conviction, and has peace and joy in the Lord.

5. If the above attitude is maintained, in due time a conviction becomes fixed and definite, and duty becomes clear. A man may depend upon that if he is sincerely desirous of knowing the will of Christ and holds himself open to conviction, faces the whole question, the whole field, has no mental reservation, desires above all things to do that which will be for the glory of Christ and the salvation of the world. In due time the pathway will become perfectly clear. The chief points in one’s attitude are sincerity of motive, the obedient spirit, and the desire to know God’s will.

Our translation in Spanish is available here: El llamado a la obra misionera

In recent years persecution of Christians in Cuba has not been as explicit and open as in the past, but rather implicit and subtle. The ratio of house churches to those with dedicated buildings are a reflection of this. There are reportedly nearly 5,000 house churches among the different Baptist groups on the island, which is also an indication of a revival taking place among believers who have been actively sharing their faith in spite of the government’s repressive attitude towards churches. These churches are not so much “underground” any more, as in meeting in secret, but rather unmarked, in order to avoid extra scrutiny by the government.

The churches in Cuba have many needs. There is a lack of Christian literature and Bibles because there are no Christian bookstores in Cuba. Several printing projects are underway including one of our own through sources that are somewhat “underground.” There is a lack of training for many pastors of house churches. Several missionaries including myself have been involved in helping train national pastors during our trips to Cuba. There is also a need for various items that we take for granted. As an example, a common request I receive from Cuban pastors when preparing for a trip is for disposable communion cups, which they reuse.

Two things happened in 2016 that are promising to have an impact on the evangelization of Cuba: (1) Inexpensive regularly scheduled airline flights from the United States to Cuba have resumed after many decades, and (2) Dictator Fidel Castro has died. Castro’s death was so recent and with power remaining in his family it remains to be seen exactly how it will affect mission work, but there is hope that with time missionaries may be allowed to remain on a more permanent basis.

The mission field of Cuba has also come to America. With their population nearing 1.5 million, there are now more people of Cuban origin in Florida than in any given province in Cuba outside of Havana province. Many amusingly refer to Florida as “Cuba #2.”

After serving the Lord in Puerto Rico for eleven years while patiently waiting for doors to open wider in Cuba, we are planning to relocate to Florida at the end of this year after raising more support. We will be involving in assisting in church planting efforts among the Cubans in Florida while making more frequent ministry trips to Cuba. Please pray as we prepare our hearts to go be a blessing to fellow Cuban believers and for the Cubans among whom we will serve both in Cuba and in Florida, that the Lord might prepare their hearts to hear and receive the Gospel with understanding.

To schedule Brother George to speak in your church, he can be reached at 787-505-3062.