L.R. Shelton, Jr.

"Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." 1 Peter 4:19

"For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." 1 Peter 2:20, 21

"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." Philippians 1:29

"I sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith: That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know." 1 Thessalonians 3:2-4

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." John 15:18-20

"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." Matthew 5:10-12

"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." Heb 12: 5-8; 10-11

You might ask the question why preface this article.. The Road to True Helath, Wealth, and Prosperity with all these scriptures and the order they are in? Well, it is to give you proof that the scripture teaches that God's children will in this life suffer, be afflicted, be persecuted, suffer reproach, be misunderstood "and through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" Acts 14:22.

Yes, the road to heaven..the road toward true health, wealth and prosperity for the children of God, those saved by His grace, justified by the imputed righteousness of Christ, washed from all their sins in the blood of Christ by faith is through suffering, affliction, persecution, reproach, tribulation, misunderstanding and chastening. Dear friend, God had only one Son without sin, but He has no sons without suffering as described by the above scriptures. Listen to Hebrews 5:8: "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." He was tempted, tested, in all points as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" Heb 2:17-18.

You see, dear friend, this false gospel of health, wealth, and prosperity which says that it is not God's will that we should suffer, that we should be healed of all sickness and disease is quite the opposite of what the scriptures teach (1Pet. 4:9). The scriptures teach that all of God's children come under His chastening rod and it is by these things noted above that He trains us to be like Christ in holiness (Heb. 12:10).

I would like to ask you a few questions: How does the Holy Spirit work patience in us? By tribulation! "...we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience" (Rom. 5:3). How does He teach us that His grace is sufficient for our every need? By bringing into our lives infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses! (2 Cor. 12:9-10). How does He show us our faith is genuine? Listen to 1 Peter 1:6, 7: "...though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Also 1 Peter 4:12, 13, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."

Let us continue. How does He break our pride? Listen! "...the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me" Luke 22:31-34. "Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly" Matt. 26:74, 75. Seemingly God has no better way to break the pride of our hearts, than to withdraw His constraining grace in a trial and let us fall flat on our face to let us know and acknowledge that all our grace, wisdom, and strength to hold out and have the ability to do anything comes from Him.

Then the question is asked what should my attitude be in all of this? James 1:2-4 gives me the answer. "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations [trials and testings]; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

Now let me go further..the battle in our mind and spirit against the devil and indwelling sin is no small thing; then what do we do? Brethren and sisters in the Lord, this battle ground is the worst, for we "...wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand... that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" Eph. 6:12-13, 11a.

When indwelling sin is stirred up in the mind by the fiery darts of the wicked one in temptations the Lord allows us to be tested in these fiery trials (1 Pet. 4:12), and we cry "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24). What do we do? I know what I do. I begin to call upon the blessed Name of my Redeemer and plead His precious blood for cleansing and cry, "Lord your promise is that sin shall not have dominion over me (Rom. 6:14) for I am no longer under its reign, dominion or power, but under your grace." Brethren I do not want sin or the world but holiness and the presence of God.

Brethren, this does not sound like a health, wealth, and prosperity gospel does it? No! This false gospel won't hold in a time like this as you wrestle with sin, Satan and the world. Only the blessed Holy Spirit can undertake for you and show you the blood of Christ has overcome sin, Satan and the world (Rev. 12:11). How sweet are the words of Hebrews 12:3, 4 in a time like this. "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin"; or the promise of Romans 8:18, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us"; or 1 Corinthians 4:17, 18, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen [are] eternal."

Now I know someone is waiting to ask the question: Is this all there is to the Christian life? No! No! A thousand times no! The believing child of God has the whole Bible and the witness of the Holy Spirit that God has done great things for him in Christ and has in store in Christ at the end, true health, wealth, and prosperity in heaven on the new earth in eternity. The Holy Spirit reveals to the heart of the poor sinner whom He has regenerated by His power that He has worked in Him true faith and repentance, made him a new creature in Christ, adopted him into the family of God, given him a new heart, a new spirit and has given him the very moral nature of God.

The saved sinner in Christ by faith, believes and knows that the precious blood of Christ has cleansed him from all sin. He knows that he has been justified before God by the imputed righteousness of Christ. He is assured that God loved him in Christ before the foundation of the world and chose him in Christ and wrote his name in the Lamb's book of life. He lives on the promises of God, delights in the law of God after the inward man and holds fellowship and communion with his risen Lord day by day. He prays, he sings, he makes melody in his heart to the Lord and by the grace of God counts it all joy to suffer for Christ and desires to say like the apostle Paul, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor. 12:10).To him this is all the health, wealth, and prosperity he desires for he knows that in this way he is being made in the image and likeness of Christ, for he is a "stranger and pilgrim on the earth" (Heb. 11:13); a citizen of heaven, a little colony of heaven on earth and is looking and waiting for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change his vile body and fashion it like unto the glorious body of Christ, the body of His glory, and he shall forever be with the Lord (Php. 3:20, 21).

Let me go further and look at another phase of our subject and that is bodily suffering: No one is immune from it, neither the wicked nor the righteous (Eccl. 9:2). In the sufferings of the righteous, the mysterious purposes of God are worked out perfectly. Just study the life of Job and see this in operation. One suffers in the body more than another but in the case of the righteous children of God it is used to our sanctification to make us more into the image and likeness of Christ.

The health, wealth, and prosperity people would tell us that if we had enough faith we would not have all this bodily suffering for there is healing in the atonement. Well I would like to ask them a question..why did the great apostle Paul suffer as he did if it was just a matter of faith in the atonement. He had this faith in the atonement for his never dying soul but not to keep him from suffering for it was God's will that he suffer to the glory of God and to fill up that which was behinnd of the suffering of Christ (Acts :16). "Whereof I Paul am made a minister; Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church" (Col. 1:23b, 24).

I ask the same question about the greatest preacher between the apostle Paul and our time..C.H. Spurgeon. Did God spare him bodily suffering? No, because out of it God got great glory and because of it brother Spurgeon was kept low at the feet of Christ.

Brethren I speak from experience for my life has been lived with much suffering and I would not ask my heavenly Father to take back one day or one drop of suffering that He has in His providence allowed into my life because it has all been used to keep me humble and broken at His feet. The Psalmist puts into words my feelings.. "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes" (Psa. 119:67, 71).

I want to close this article by giving you my most quoted promise to my Lord, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13). My Lord's faithfulness to me stands out in all His dealings with my soul. To meditate upon Christ and His sufferings for me in bearing my sins in His own body upon the tree is my stay in all he allows by His providence into my life and He is faithful in all his dealings with me, for "in all my afflictions He is afflicted" (Isa. 63:9) and will be true to His word when He says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all" (Psa 34:19).

I would like to close with a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 10:13..I pray you will meditate upon it and let it sink down deep into your understanding and affections and cause you to praise Him who loved you and gave Himself for you.

"For no temptation no trial regarded as enticing to sin no matter how it comes or where it leads has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistence and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear. But God is faithful to His word and to His compassionate nature, and He can be trusted not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistence and power to endure, but with the temptation He will always also provide the way out..the means of escape to a landing place..that you may be capable and strong and powerful patiently to bear up under it." Amen.

With this introduction to the theme of this Quarterly Broadcaster.. "Suffering and Affliction," my prayer is that you will read the following articles with much profit praying the Holy Spirit will use them to bring comfort to those of you who are at this time in the fire of affliction, under the rod of chastening, passing through the hour of suffering or under the attack of sin, Satan, and the world. Remember those whom God loves He chastens.