Spiritual responsibility in Christian preaching emphasizes the duty believers have to nurture their souls and live faithfully before God. It contrasts the care given to earthly matters with the neglect of spiritual well-being, urging vigilance and consistency in faithfulness (Hebrews 12:1-2). Illustrations often use the image of stewardship and the consequences of neglecting one's spiritual health.
People care for earthly things but neglect their souls, risking spiritual ruin.
It is a very preposterous course that many men take in this world. Those that have children are very careful and diligent to bring them up under some man's tuition; if they have cattle and sheep, they provide herdsmen and shepherds; but, in the mean time, for the good of their own souls they have no care at all: they may sink or swim, or do what they will. Spencer.
Neglecting to act earnestly for salvation leads to ruin despite outward desire for it.
A prince in Germany being invaded by a more potent prince than himself, yet, from his friends and allies who flocked in to his help, he soon had a goodly army, but had no money, as he said, to pay them: but the truth is, he was loath to part with it; for which cause some went away in discontent, others did not vigorously mind his business, and so he was soon beaten out of his kingdom; and his coffers, when his palace was rifled, were found to be filled with treasure; and thus was he ruined, as some sick men die, because unwilling to be at the cost of paying a physician. Now, so it is that few or none are to be found but would be glad their souls might be saved at last; but where is the man or woman that makes it appear by their vigorous endeavor that they are in earnest?
— Spencer
Simple neglect in spiritual matters inevitably leads to ruin and loss of salvation.
Neglect is enough to ruin a man. A man who is in business need not commit forgery or robbery to ruin himself: he has only to neglect his business, and his ruin is certain. A man who is lying on a bed of sickness need not cut his throat to destroy himself: he has only to neglect the means of restoration, and he will be ruined. A man floating in a skiff above Niagara need not move on oar, or make an effort, to destroy himself: he has only to neglect using the oar at the proper time, and he will certainly be carried over the cataract. Most of the calamities of life are caused by simple neglect. Let no one infer, that, because he is not a drunkard or an adulterer or a murderer, therefore he will be saved. Such an inference would be as irrational as it would be for a man to infer, that, because he is not a murderer, his farm will produce a harvest; or that, because he is not an adulterer, therefore his merchandise will take care of itself. Barnes.
A guardian angel was worn out from fighting for a spirit who gave no assistance.
An old Norse legend tells of a departed spirit meeting his guardian angel in the other world, and commiserating him upon his forlorn and haggard looks, only to receive the reproving reply: “No wonder I am worn out. All your life I have been fighting in your behalf, and I never got a bit of assistance from you.” (Text.)
Like sand resisting waves, believers must stand firm and ready against spiritual attacks.
Sit upon the shore close to the water’s edge, and let the sand teach you how to resist. It runs out underneath the water, and just lies there; and when the wave hurls its tons upon it, the sand gives way, but makes the water move it. When the water rushes furiously landward, the sand goes with it, but not quite so fast; and when the wave retreats, the sand runs back, but not quite so far. It always stands close to its enemy, and a little in front of him, never lets him strike from a distance, and never allows him to make any permanent mark. It never runs away, and never melts, and it always separates itself from its antagonist and lies ready for another attack. Always prepared for a blow, it never gives one.--JAMES M. STIFLER, “The Fighting Saint.”
Spiritual health depends on strengthening the believer to resist moral and spiritual threats.
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The modern treatment of moral germs should be similar to that used in modern surgery:
The new era, which is to succeed the present or “pathologic” era in surgery, is the “physiologic,” and in it we are to take less care about the entrance of possible germs into our surgical wounds and more about keeping the patient in such condition that he can resist them if they do get in.--_Literary Digest._
Spiritual armor must withstand repeated attacks to protect the believer effectively.
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It is said that Napoleon once ordered a coat of mail. When the artizan completed and delivered it, the emperor ordered him to put it on himself. Then Napoleon, taking a pistol, fired shot after shot at the man in armor. It stood this severe test, and was accepted.
He was one of the outstanding place kickers in the National Football League, helping his team win some memorable games with his field goal accuracy. But he had a spiritual hole in his heart. As he tells his story - which he did before tens of thousands of people at a Billy Graham Mission - it was a sudden, debilitating disease that got his attention. He began to be aware how desperately he needed the God who could do what he could never do. He points to the man who was his ball-holder as the one who really showed him Jesus. Of course, when that football is snapped to the holder for the field goal attempt, it is the sure hands of that ball holder that the kicker depends on completely. But this former star, now a highly visible ambassador for Christ in his community, tells insightfully how much his Christian teammate really meant in his life. He explains it this way: “He was holding my eternal future in his hands!”
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Holding Eternity In Your Hands.”
If you're on Jesus' team, that's the position you're playing for people around you whether you realize it or not. You are, in a sense, holding their eternity in your hands. Because you know Jesus and they don't. And if you don't tell them, they probably never will. Which means they have no hope of this life making sense, and no hope of heaven when they die.
Many of us just don't realize the amazing position God has given to us - a position that gives you the possibility of your life mattering forever and ever. That position is spelled out in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, our word for today from the Word of God. “God ... reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (that's bringing together someone Jesus died for with the Man who died for them): that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are, therefore, Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
So that's why you are where you are, doing what you do, knowing who you know - you're there to take those folks in one hand and Jesus in the other hand and bring them together! How are you doing? It's as if we're saying, “Jesus couldn't be here in person, but He put me here to tell you about Him.” Your message isn't about your religion compared to their religion. It's about life's most important relationship! Remember, it's a message of reconciliation! A relationship we were created to have, but a relationship we don't have because we've run our own life. A relationship, though, that we can have because of what Jesus did, and a relationship you must choose. It's that simple, and it's life-or-death information ... eternal life-or-death.
It isn't so much that Jesus is asking you to go out on some witnessing raid of people you don't know. He wants you to do what you already do every day for eternity - by trying to take some of the people you're with all the time to heaven with you.
You may think there's someone more qualified, but you're the one who's there, and you're there by God's divine assignment. Don't miss the mission He put you there for! Jesus has placed you in the middle of some people whose eternity depends on them knowing Him, and you are holding their eternity in your hands!
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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"
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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #3134]
It was just after midnight when Warden Burl Cain of Angola (Louisiana) State Penitentiary found himself alone in the death chamber with Thomas Ward. Without a word, he lifted his hand and gave a "thumbs down" signal to the executioner.
A lethal drug dose was administered and six minutes later Ward was dead. It was Cain's first execution.
Immediately, Cain began to regret the signal he used to initiate the execution. His uneasiness grew much deeper. He felt guilty because he never found out Ward's spiritual condition that night or before.
That was eight years ago, only three months after he became the warden of Louisiana's only maximum-security prison. It started a renewal in the life of Cain, a Southern Baptist layman, and a transformation in one of the nation's toughest prisons.
After Ward's death, the advice Cain's Christian mother had given him 14 years earlier when he first became the warden of another prison echoed in his heart.
"She said, 'God's going to hold you accountable for those people's souls,'" Cain recounted. "She said, 'You're going to be responsible for what they do, how they live, how they are treated, what they eat and what they wear, but don't forget God's going to hold you accountable for their souls.'"
The day after the execution, the troubled Cain visited his pastor. With his pastor's help and God's forgiveness, he was able to move past the guilt of his first execution.
"I prayed and asked God to forgive me," the warden said. "I said it will never be that way again. I will never lead a man in there that I don't try to be sure his soul is saved."
All too soon that opportunity arose. Long before the night of his second execution to oversee, Cain witnessed to Antonio James. To Cain's surprise, James had become a Christian before he committed his crime. The convicted man had strayed away from God and ran with the wrong crowd. Ultimately, he had robbed and killed a tourist in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
During his time in prison, James renewed his relationship with God. Still, he was worried about what would happen the night of his death. How could he know that he would go to heaven? he asked Cain.
The warden took time to share the story of the "thief on the cross" who called out to Jesus. He helped James get a sense of assurance about his salvation and what would happen after he died. Cain agreed to honor the inmate's request to hold his hand while he died.
When execution night rolled around, Cain prayed with the inmate, members of his staff, and the Secretary of the Department of Corrections. They led James into the room, strapped him to the table and began setting up the system.
They ran into a problem and during the 20 minutes it took to get James ready, the inmate willingly helped in the process. James was calm as he faced his punishment.
"I gave the signal with the nod of my head, and I held his hand," Cain recalled. "He looked me in the eyes and said, 'Bless you.' I told him to get ready to see Jesus' face. And he died."
This execution was totally different than the first, Cain recounted. Cain knew James' spiritual condition. He even ministered to him as he died. The two contrasting execution experiences became what Cain calls his "spiritual awakening" at Angola.
Nearly a year after Cain became warden at Angola, education at the prison had become a problem. Angola had lost its government grants, and Cain could not see a solution. A missionary from Louisiana's Judson Baptist Association suggested that he approach New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary about offering training opportunities for the Christian inmates. Though Cain doubted NOBTS would be interested in coming to Angola, he asked anyway. To his surprise, the seminary was eager to get involved. NOBTS began by offering an associate degree in ministry. Now in its seventh year, a bachelor's degree is offered at the Angola extension center. NOBTS conferred 59 degrees at the third Angola graduation ceremony, held in the dining hall at the prison on May 28.
It is an unconventional way to train ministers, because few of these inmates will ever leave the state prison system, said Chuck Kelley, president of NOBTS, explaining how the inmates in this program minister for Christ.
"[Angola] prison is divided into several different camps and as our graduates finish the program they are sent to different camps," he said. "They literally have a 'cell church movement.' They are starting churches at Angola." There are now 44 inmate ministers averaging 18,000-20,000 ministry contacts per month, the Judson Baptist Association reports. "It is the most phenomenal ministry that has ever happened, to my knowledge, in any theological institution," Kelley said. "It all happened because of the courage and compassion of a Baptist layman with a vision."
Cain can hardly believe the change it has made in his prison. Eighty-five men accepted Christ through the work of the NOBTS students during the past year. Currently, he estimates that there are nearly 2,000 Christians in the prison. Without a doubt, Angola has become a different place.
"Angola is more peaceful than New Orleans ... no one can believe that, but it really is true," Cain stated. "God reigns at Angola."
Recently, graduates of the NOBTS Angola extension have been sent to other prisons in Louisiana as missionaries. Christian inmates at Angola work hard to support these missionary inmates as they spread the gospel to other prisons.
Though some might think Cain is soft, that is not the case. Inmates under his care are held responsible for their actions. Eighty-five percent of the men who walk through the gates of Angola will never leave.
Like Jesus who ate with "sinners and tax collectors," Cain said he knows that the inmates are not out of the reach of God's grace, that even the hardest criminal can be saved and changed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
"We can't look at what they did, we have to look at what they are now and what their future is," the warden said.
He also remembers the victims. "The greatest problem the inmates have when they become Christians is how to tell their victims they are sorry. That's our next challenge."
Cain said that in his 22 years as a prison warden, he has seen only one way for rehabilitation -- a change of heart. He regrets the fact that it takes the deaths of so many innocent victims for some to turn to God, but he is happy the men are turning to God.
"I want to express my appreciation to this seminary, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Louisiana Baptist Convention for what you have do to change people's lives," Cain said. "Remember, if we can change one life ... if we save one, it's worth it all."
In a few weeks, the warden will travel to Chicago to meet with religious leaders and corrections officials from other states to tell what has happened at Angola. It is his hope and prayer that this vision will catch on at other prisons and many will be changed by the gospel.
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Another version from Brett Blair:
There are many churches today that are “out to lunch” when it comes to reaching out to change the world. But fortunately, there are many other churches -- and many church members -- who are seeking the best they are able, to make a difference in the world. Let me give you one example of a follower of Christ who gives us a reason to believe in the future.
His name is Burl Cain and he is the warden at The Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola. This institution used to be one of the nation’s bloodiest and most brutal prisons. Then, in the early ‘80s, Burl Cain became the new warden at Angola. Cain is a devout Christian; he put his beliefs into action in reforming the prison. He established literacy classes throughout the prison, even on Death Row. He increased the number of prison chaplains. He also allowed a local seminary to teach Bible studies at Angola. He also insisted that the guards treat inmates with respect. Consequently, incidents of violence have plummeted, and more prisoners are enrolling in education courses.
Warden Cain was particularly instrumental in the life of one inmate, Antonio James. James was a convicted killer who spent about sixteen years on Death Row. The night before his execution, Antonio James asked Cain to eat his last meal with him. Cain had counseled James in the past and introduced him to Christ. Now James wanted to know what it would be like to die. Cain assured him that angels would come to take him to heaven. As Antonio James prepared for his lethal injection, Burl Cain held his hand and spoke to him about God. James’ last words to Cain were, “Bless you.”
As long as there are disciples of Christ like Burl Cain, there is hope for the world. The question you and I need to ask ourselves is, are we doing our part? This is a crazy world, but it is also a God-invaded world. “The Word has become flesh and dwelt among us . . .” Christ has redeemed us that we might work in his behalf to redeem the world.
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Martin Fletcher, ALMOST HEAVEN (London: Little, Brown and Company, 1998), pp. 133-142. Adapted by King Duncan
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