Welcome to the Ordained Chaplains podcast. My name is Daniel Whyte III. I am the president of Gospel Light Society University. We are going through the book “Out of the Depths: An Autobiographical Study Of Mental Disorder And Religious Experience” by one of the pioneers of chaplaincy, Dr. Anton T. Boisen. This is episode #60.
Our Scripture Verse for today is Isaiah 41:10 which reads, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Our Ordained Chaplains quote for today is from David A. Powlison. He said, “You are sanctified by remembering and believing afresh that you are justified by what Jesus did on the cross for you.”
In this podcast, we will continue discussing the book “Out of the Depths” by Anton T. Boisen. We continue today with “Chapter 4: A Little-Known Country” (Part 9):
The following night I seemed to be in some labyrinthine tunnels deep down in the recesses of the earth. Part of the time I was drugged with what I was told was “bismuth.” This, it seemed, was the drug they used to preserve the old Egyptian mummies. It was a very peculiar drug, and the amount of it one had in his system determined to what level he belonged. There were thirty-two such levels. At the thirty-second level a man would be utterly prostrate and unable to rise except as some one should come and give him pure water to drink. At one time I was thus prostrate.
A little later I found myself wandering through these subterranean tunnels until at last way down deep I came upon a horse-blanket within which was wrapped up some peculiar white linen fabric. These it seemed were some most sacred relics. They were connected with the search for the Holy Grail and represented the profoundest spiritual struggle of the centuries. Then I found that by lying fiat on the floor near the ventilator shaft, I could hear the most beautiful voice I had ever heard. It was the celebration of the Last Supper. Towards morning it came to me that I must begin with the single cell and that I must make friends with a certain attendant for whom I felt a particular dislike. I tried to do this and I thought he seemed very well pleased with himself. A little later he brought me my food, an unusually generous portion, but I refused to eat it, because I thought it was drugged. I remember also some voices going through a ritualistic service in a singsong fashion which was distasteful to me and sounded insincere. They kept repeating over and over again the phrase, “Little lamb, little lamb/’ I thought I recognized in the priest the attendant with whom I had tried to make the alliance.
I had now come to the place where I no longer distinguished day from night. I had become an old stallion who had remained behind at the time of the flood in order to help his friends escape and had been forgotten by them. He was now imprisoned and exploited by a lot of unprincipled medical men and nurses. The only way of escaping was by having my head cut off. I was locked in my room now and I kept getting wilder and wilder, singing and shouting and pounding the glass on the door with fists and elbows. I was ordered to be quiet but this only made me pound the more violently, until I was placed in a coldpack once more.
In our next podcast, we will continue with Part 8 of Chapter 4, “A Little Known Country”.
—PRAYER—
Now, if you have come across this podcast, and do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, allow me to show you how.
First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”
Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.
Romans 10:9-13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Until next time, my friend, God bless!
BCNN1 WP 