NOT EITHER OR, BUT BOTH

Dear ladies, Can you bear with me a little longer? There is another issue I would like to address from the “Dynasty” post.

A subject some ladies brought up was that the Old Testament tells us to “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.” However, as one mother states: “In the new testament we are given commands to go forth into all nations & spread His Word. . . . What the world needs now is strong Christians, living Christ, taking Christ to all nations & being His light in the last days. I see a New Testament full of this & I see our Christ & apostles live & preach this.” I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. But it’s not either or, but both. Some think that we are only to be fruitful now by winning souls.

Yes, we should have a passion to win souls. And yes, we are commanded to go into all the world and preach the gospel, starting right where we are (Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8). However, being a mother and having children doesn’t inhibit you from winning souls. Every Christian, no matter what they do in life, should always be ready to win souls. I cannot see how this takes away from being fruitful in having children.

In fact, the Bible says: “First the natural, and then the spiritual.” We are to be fruitful in every area of our lives. I have found just as much opportunity to win souls as a mother as when I was single. As a mother you meet with other mothers in different organizations, out and about getting groceries, people come to your door, and God arranges all manner of situations for you to witness if you will see them and take them.

The wonderful thing is that when you embrace children, you not only can be a witness yourself, but you raise MORE WITNESSES for the kingdom of God. If we take the attitude that we are only going to win souls and therefore can’t have physical children, soon there’ll be no one to witness too.

The other weekend Colin and I stayed at the home of a family of twelve children. Both parents have a passion for lost souls and for missions. They are passing this on to their children and their older children are already involved in missions with a heart for souls.

I think of our daughter, Evangeline, a mother of ten children. She grew up understanding the meaning of her name--Evangel, the bearer of the good tidings of the gospel. From the time she could talk, and up until this day at 50 years of age, she takes every opportunity to talk about Jesus. Wherever she goes and to everyone she meets she testifies about Christ. And her children are growing up doing the same.

In fact, the more children we have, the more impact we have for spreading the gospel. I love what Finis Jennings Dake says of Psalm 127:3-5: “Each child will in the process of time be a defense, support and propagation of the eternal preproduction of man and fulfillment of the plan of God for man. The more arrows one has, the more enemies he will slay, the more powerful will he be in the earth. The more children born and saved to help God administer the affairs of the eternal plan for man, the more reward God will have.”

My husband comes from a family of nine children. Each one of them are either full-time pastors or evangelists and all are soul-winners. All have raised their children to be soul-winners, and now the grandchildren to be soul-winners. Our children have taken the gospel to many countries of the world, even such countries as China and Morocco, and countries I have never been to. If I had more children, I would have more influence for God in this world.

My eldest son, manager of the Newsboys, got the vision for the movie, “God’s Not Dead.” How many millions have heard the gospel through this movie? When my husband and I were ministering in Europe this Spring, we went to a little Hungarian village in Ukraine. Even in this remote place, the young people had seen “God’s Not Dead.”

Do you remember Catherine Booth, wife of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army? Catherine had eight children but that didn’t stop her soul-winning. She, along with her husband, brought thousands into the kingdom of God. And they raised their children to be soul-winners too. They had 45 grandchildren and every one of them also served God with all their hearts, many on the mission field. Their great-grandchildren and onwards continued as missionaries.

So let’s embrace fruitfulness with all our hearts and in all areas. Let’s seek to be fruitful in winning souls, and of course, to disciple our children to be soul-winners too. Let’s seek to be fruitful in the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit, revealing Christ to our husband and children and a hurting world. And let’s be fruitful from our wombs as God intends.

Love from Nancy Campbell

EVANGELINE, THE EVANGELIST

Here’s a couple of pictures of our daughter, Evangeline, whom I mentioned in the post above, NOT EITHER OR, BUT BOTH.
L. Evangeline after giving birth to Tiveria Life who was a miracle baby. During her pregnancy her uterus was hanging on by a thread. Evangeline drank bottles and bottles of chlorophyll and hung onto God in faith and prayer. Toward the end of her pregnancy God came into her room and miraculously healed her. At the time of birth, Tiveria she was footling breech, but turned to Frank breech at the last. It was a miraculous birth and here is Evangeline exclaiming: “I’ve climbed Mt. Everest and put my flag at the top!”