Editor’s Note
by Zerubbabel Press

In this issue of The Intercessor, we continue our investigation into the Biblical foundations of our union reality. We have looked into the nature of God and the nature of evil; now we examine the nature of man. The title of Norman Grubb’s article asserts his point: “Humans have no nature of their own.” This fact has been largely missed by most Christians, Norman contends, leading to much misunderstanding and confusion. Norman uses Biblical illustrations to prove that man is a vessel, and that his nature is actually the nature of the deity he contains. The idea of “human nature” is the great satanic deception, the lie of human independence. Norman maintains that we cannot appreciate who we are until we grasp the fact of who we were.

Breda Sunderland contributes a fine review of Norman’s classic Who Am I?, in which he presents a complete definition of our identity in Christ and offers “a foolproof workable key to daily living.” A dramatic change occurs in those who have found this key, as evidenced by a short letter written to Ginny Mansoor from Joanna Langley —a young woman grateful to be out from under the bondage of sin and living from the truth of who she is. And in “Another Moment with Meryl,” Joanna’s mother recounts the process of coming to full repentance for her “respectable” sin—“good Satan,” as it were. Both mother and daughter express the wonder of living clean, and knowing true acceptance in God’s family.

Such repentance has never been a light matter, but the events of September 11 may have jolted believers and unbelievers alike into an awareness of end times and the necessity to be ready. In keeping with this topic, Elliot Coatney reviews the novel Left Behind, a fictional account of the Rapture by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. The mission of the authors is “that everyone who reads this will be prepared for His coming.”

Acceptance is the subject of Brett Burrowes Bible Study, in which he asks, “Unconditional love—should Christians just accept each other the way they are?” Brett makes the excellent point that God accepts us in spite of who we are and then solely on the basis of His Son’s sacrifice. Likewise, we should not be accepting and tolerant (a popular concept) of sin in our fellow believers, but rather committed to their ultimate good—freedom from the bondage of sin and walking in the truth.

But past the acceptance a believer finds for himself is a laid down life for others. In his tape on 2 Corinthians, reviewed by Irene Gilsenan, Norman makes the point that Paul’s life as an intercessor parallels our own. “To the Soldiers of God Going or Gone to the Heart of Africa” was origianlly a pamphlet written by C. T. Studd in 1915 to galvanize those on the mission field in Africa as well as those back home in England. It is as solid and timely a piece of Christian exhortation as one could hope to find today. The short pieces, “Rees Howells” and “A Letter to My Wife” illustrate such a sacrificial life and give a snapshot of the cost of intercession from two men of faith, Rees Howells and C.T. Studd, both mentors to Norman. In “Verily Thou Shalt Be Fed,” Norman presents a fascinating glimpse into the early days of the fledgling faith mission the WEC, begun by C.T. Studd and carried on after his death by Norman himself and his wife, Pauline, C.T.’s daughter. Here the lessons Norman had been learning were put into practice.

Even in his younger years Norman was not a stranger to stands of faith. Many may not be aware of Norman’s part in the founding of Intervarsity Fellowship, a movement which has now swept universities worldwide and which was born out of his desire to see Christ-centered fellowships on every campus. It was his obedience to God’s call to go immediately to the mission field in Africa, thereby forfeiting his degree, that produced the abundant fruit at Cambridge, as well as hundreds of universities in years to come.

Finally, Page Prewitt’s marvelous booklet, “One Woman’s Answer— What to do when Your Life Resembles Alphabet Soup,” is a perfect example of such faith. Norman, Page’s father in the truth, writes a splendid foreword in which he highly recommends Page’s presentation of her own personal search and the answers she discovered as she discerned the often misunderstood differences between body, soul and spirit: “We have really come to where Page Prewitt probably is the leader over all of us in a thoroughgoing explanation of what is meant by these three terms— what each is and how they properly mingle—so that I can boldly say I am Christ in my form… If you really want to know the true meaning of who you are as a self—and that’s the only final meaning to our life’s search—this booklet can bring great light to you.”