08-08-08

Down South there is an old saying, “When in trouble, remember your 8’s.” The reference is to Romans 8 and the verses containing 8—verses 18, 28, 38. It’s good advice!

The first twelve years of a century contain a day like today, at least as far as the calendar is concerned. But today will be a special one to remember. No, not because the Olympics began today in China. The Olympics long ago ceased to be about simply athletics and became a political party for the use of propaganda. No, something far more memorable happened on 08-08-08.

This afternoon our dear friend and fellow soldier, Keith Spoelstra, graduated into the presence of the Savior he loved and served for seven decades. In the Scripture, the number 8 is the number of a new beginning. So it is for Brother Keith—and triply so!

I saw Keith in the hospital last Monday and reminded him that soon he would be with the Lord Jesus and once again see his beloved Lilly. His eyes sparkled with joy, even as they moisten with emotion. John Verstegen saw him yesterday and related to me how Keith, though almost too weakened to speak, would finish the verses John was reading to him. Such are the last days/thoughts of a veteran soldier.

Keith and Lilly were in our home often in years gone by. Their wit was irrepressible; sort of an on-going stand-up comedy team. Our boys loved them!

My favorite memory of Keith has always been of him debating II Thessalonians 2:13 at the Cedar Lake Conference in the late 1970’s. It was my first trip to the Berean Bible Fellowship’s summer conference. I arrived only to discover that there was a controversy raging over Calvinism. No one seemed willing to engage the debate too fiercely, perhaps because most of the BBF leaders were themselves Calvinistic, really rejecting only the one point of Limited Atonement.

But Keith (along with Harland Shriver, Floyd Baker and a few others) were standing against the tide. Actually, Keith was doing so more openly than anyone I could locate that week. One afternoon Q&A session was given to a “debate” over II Thessalonians 2:13. On the Calvinist side was a brother who was touted as the smartest of the smart, an unbeatable debater. Then there was Keith. From Win Johnson on down, Keith was considered, jokingly, at best to have “no chance.”

Since I didn’t really know any of these brethren, I watched and listened with keen interest. The Calvinist did his usual song and dance through II Thess. 2:13—all the while making it clear that his use of the Nestle-Aland Greek text was to be unchallenged. Then it was Keith’s turn. Everyone seemed to wonder at his foolishness to expose himself to such an opponent; what would/could he possible say to this presentation.

Well, it was amazing. Keith simply read the verse, going through it phrase by phrase from a purely dispensational point of view (what an idea at a mid-Acts conference!!). The verse came alive in front of my eyes: The “salvation” in the verse was salvation from the danger in the contest—verses 1-12’s exposition of the Anti-Christ and the 70^th week of Daniel. The “beginning” was located by the fact the Thessalonians were called to this salvation by “our gospel” (v. 14)—I can still remember Keith stretching his neck, cocking his head and asking, “And when did Paul’s gospel begin to be preached?” The only answer that crowd could give was obvious: the beginning of the Dispensation of Grace. His conclusion: From the very beginning of the dispensation of grace God had chosen the Body of Christ to be saved from the culmination of the Lie Program destined to culminate in the 70^th week of Daniel by it being delivered into the “eternal glory” of our Lord Jesus Christ at the rapture. In other words, the verse is talking about the "pre-trib" rapture!

Having thus completely rid the verse of the Calvinist’s assumptions, he sat down. The Calvinist brother quickly dismissed as foolish all Keith had said and gave another Greek lesson. For Keith’s rejoinder he simply said, “Well, in my Bible the verse still says the same thing it did a moment ago,” then reviewed what he previously said and went on to point out the weaknesses in the Calvinist’s assumptions and assertions.

It was that clear appreciation for the rightly divided Word of God and his simply grasp of great truths that won my heart and endeared this Brother to so many of us. That week I was privileged to become a friend to Keith and “Doctor Lilly” (as Mel Dary always called her). They quietly gave me a copy of Keith’s book on Calvinsim that had been banned by the BBF Board from distribution at their conference—they took me to lunch to give it to me (they gave me several more copies to take home out of the trunk of their car after the conference had ended!).

When we exited the BBF in the late 80’s due our unwillingness to adopt their view that the KJB is filled with mistakes and errors, Keith joined our fellowship of rejects. He was already highly regarded by our brethren and continues to be so even now. He didn’t have to stand with all those “young men” but he did so because his heart was with us. Frankly, I believe he saw the life, the conviction, the future (if you will) in those rejected brethren and I think he recognized that we were indeed his crowd. I, for one, have never regretted going outside the “camp” of the establishment of the so-called grace movement. Neither did Keith.

At any rate, a soldier has moved to heaven and we shall miss him. By the way, Keith was awarded the Purple Heart twice as a soldier during WWII, but his real soldiering came his service for his Savior. Even in his last few years when preaching has not been possible he was a constant testimony for the gospel of grace to those about him and a heartening encouragement to the saints in Southern California and across the country. As Paul said of David, “after he had served his own generation by the will of God, he fell on sleep” (Acts 13:36). Now the baton is in our hands. May we follow his example!

Maranatha!