Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
It is with great sadness that we report that Dr. Fred Bischoff passed away yesterday (November 28) surrounded by family and friends. A memorial service will be held December 14 at Light Bearers ministries, Jasper, Oregon.
Please join us in prayer that the Lord will comfort his family during this time of sorrow.
------------------------------------------------------
Throughout the world there are deep stirrings in people's souls about what Paul's term "the truth of the gospel" means (Gal. 2:5, 14). Is it maybe, perhaps good news? Or is it glorious Good News? Does God's real gospel have fine print hidden in it that ultimately means your salvation depends upon your own strength? What has Christ actually accomplished for the human race? Has He made us an offer that if we exert ourselves sufficiently we might make it?
Does He tell us that if we hold on tight to His hand like a child crossing a busy street holding on to Daddy's hand we'll be safe, or does God tell us that He loves us so much that He is holding on tight to our hand? (See Isa. 41:10, 13.) The answers mean that our walk with the Lord will be happy and triumphant, or it will be discouraging and defeatist? Can we make the Good News of the gospel too good? Is salvation really by faith, or by faith plus works?
A friend sent me a precious thought that impresses me as being genuine, solid Good News:
"Through Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection, the [human] race was encircled by God's arm and redeemed. The gulf between God and man was fully bridged, the penalty/consequence of sin was demonstrated and exhausted, humanity was restored to God's image and to His right hand, and sin and death were overcome. God could look at His Son sitting beside Him and say, 'Humanity has been restored to righteousness and life.' This corporate statement is the justification to life [of Rom 5:18]. ... The price to keep an unrepentant sinner alive for this life is identical to the price paid for the repentant sinner to spend eternity with God, the life of God Himself poured out in Jesus Christ. ... Faith is reckoned by God to be righteousness. Because of what Christ has done as the Head of the human race, God can plant the seed of this reality in each heart. ... It is not the end of the process, but it is the beginning. And it is real, not fiction" ("Observations on the Report of the Primacy of the Gospel Committee," Spring 2000).
To my friend Fred Bischoff I say a hearty "Amen!"
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 13, 2000.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread.
