Dr. Ray Dugger 4

 Dr. Ray Dugger 4

One day Pastor Ray Dugger told us of how he himself had gotten started in the ministry. He was scrimping and saving, trying desperately to save enough money for getting into Bible college. But he was short. Not deterred he began to pray earnestly for the Lord to provide.

He just needed a certain amount to add, and he would have enough. Where could he possibly find such money? Reading one day in the newspaper, he found an ad for a contest. The contest was to find a better and lighter cake frosting, and the winner of the contest would take home—you probably have guessed it—exactly the amount that Ray was praying for.

Bowing his head, he prayed, “God, I need this money to get into school. If you want me to get into school, please help me to win.” He worked earnestly, for hours, and the hours turned into days. Somehow, he came up with the idea of using a lighter cream, whipped cream, as part of the formula.

Needless to say, he won the contest, got into school, and became a minister. For me, the most refreshing part of his stories were that God seemed to personally communicate with him. He answered prayer. He directed footsteps. God was alive in his life in sharp contrast to the sleeping God of the Seventies Churches.

I wrote these reflections, remembrances of a man who walked with his God, and invited all those he could to enter into the walk with him. But he also imparted doctrines and lessons from his study of the Scriptures that I carry with me today.

He began in late winter teaching us about the Ten Sabbaths. Point by point, pointing to the Scriptures over and over, he shared the Scriptures which clearly teach the Saturday Sabbath in not the only Sabbath taught in scripture. I remember wondering why this was significant, since much of the teaching had to do with law, and it seemed based in rules and such that we, as Christians, were no longer responsible for. He even taught, correctly, that there was a Sabbath year, and another Sabbath to be held every fifty years. All of it was backed up with Scripture verses, and I remember copiously following his lessons, but I was still confused about the significance of what he was teaching.

It all became clear when just before Easter he began teaching about the crucifixion week. Friday was impossible, he declared. Christ was probably raised early on Wednesday night, and spent three days and three nights dead. This is clearly true based on the Sabbath days he had spent so much time teaching. Christ was killed on the Day of Preparation, the day before Passover which was the day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread. There was not one ordinary Sabbath day. Instead there were two Sabbaths together, and possibly even three.

I remember the young people learning in wonder at the truths he had carefully extracted from the Scripture. Fifty years later I still remember his teaching, rolling around in my head all those years. It finally came out in my latest book, Literally True, in a chapter entitled “Not Friday”.

So you might think that I am incredibly thankful to this man (and you would be right), who taught us to reverence for the Bible, and along with that reverence, a high regard to pay attention to details. I do look forward to seeing a glorified Ray Dugger in heaven. A man who took the time to share his personal walk with a fascinating God. I can hardly wait to see the exalted saint God will turn him into!

Dr. Ray Dugger 3

 Dr. Ray Dugger 3

We all liked the magnificent preaching job done by Reverend Dugger. (Being Baptist, we did not refer to him as reverend. Rather he was “Pastor Dugger”.) He would always make a big deal out of removing his wrist watch, and setting it carefully on the pulpit. His standard joke about women worrying about their roast in the oven became a staple for us. At 12:00 sharp, he would stop and sometimes it seemed almost in the middle of a sentence. I was so hungry for his teaching that I surely wished he would forget about the roast and finish his thoughts.

It was from Dr. Dugger that I learned to reverence the Word. He worked hard to teach us that every verse needed to be understood, not only for what we thought it said, but to go back, studying the context and trying to draw the exact meaning from the text itself. That lesson I have tried to carry out through my life.

Being in his eighties, and having lived a life of walking with God, he seemed to have endless anecdotes to tell us. I remember one anecdote in which he described coming home from church and having to step aside for a team of horses pulling a wagon. The driver cursed the horses, yelling at them, “God damn you horses!”

Pastor Dugger said to the man, “Your prayer is answered.”

“What prayer,” stammered the man?

“You just asked God to damn the horses. He is going to answer your prayer.” With that he turned and continued his walk home.

On the way home the driver of the wagon hit a sudden thunderstorm. Lightening came flashing out of the sky and struck dead the two horses.”

Dr. Dugger paused his story, with a twinkle in his eye, just saying the next Sunday the man was in church, where he remained until the end of his life.

Pastor Dugger was used to a life calling before lots of people, thousands instead of a few score. One Sunday after service, he was talking to one of the other young men, and I overheard him muttering that he did not quite understand why God sent him to such a small church (on Easter Sunday we might have 80 souls). I did not reply, as it was not my conversation, but I remember sharply thinking that I knew exactly why God had sent him. To give me what I needed for my Christian life.

I never got a chance to tell him that. But I look forward to the time when I will be able to thank him for getting this poor farm boy a start in his Christian Walk.

Dr Ray Dugger 2

 

Dr Ray Dugger 2

I did not exaggerate much when I told you of his first appearance in the First Baptist Church of Marysville, California. It was the early 1970s and lots of wild things were going on. The hippies were turning into Jesus freaks at an alarming rate, and soon the whole country was going to notice.

I think Ray Dugger was in his eighties, though he may just have looked like it. He drove down from Sacramento every Sunday and every Wednesday (and needed times between). I think of myself, in my early seventies, trying to negotiate all that traffic and roads, and frankly I am in awe. But the truth is that Rev. Dugger just looked old. It turned out that he was diabetic, and had been diagnosed from his youth. In those days being diabetic was akin to having a death appointment somewhere in the near future. In fact, his own doctor told him that he would suffer an early death.

As a young adult, Ray must have been quite fiery, for he looked the doctor in the eye, and told him in a bold statement, “I am not going to die early. In fact, I am going to preach your funeral.” And indeed, years later he was to officiate at his doctor’s funeral. And that is what we were to find out was only one of the many amazing stories of Ray Dugger.

Fifty odd years ago all of this happened and I still remember those stories, and when I think back on them, I often find myself grinning from ear to ear. Being diabetic, Dr. Dugger had to take provisions. His wife dutifully carried a glass of orange juice into the church and would sit on the front pew. At times of low blood sugar, the Doctor would struggle, and sometimes even collapse to the floor. The deacons would rush to him, his wife would carry up the juice to him, and he would drink. With restored blood sugar, he would grip again the sides of the pulpit and finish his message as if nothing had happened. An amazing man!

Dr. Ray Dugger

 Dr. Ray Dugger

It was May 5^th, 1972, when I got saved. I became a member of the local Baptist church, a congregation of 40 to 50 people. Those people did not quite know what to do with me, a farm boy brought into a new culture of Christianity. Eventually I was to bond tightly with these people and feel an allegiance to these people that was as strong as a family allegiance.

I had not been in the church long when our Pastor accepted a call to a church down in Fresno, and left us bereft of a leader. The denomination (American Baptist) soon helped, and an interim pastor was on his way, all the way from Sacramento, about 50 miles from us.

I remember the first time our pastor came to us; the church still maintained a tradition in those days. The pastor was the last person to enter the church on Sunday morning, and all the church would stand and turn to view his coming in; we do the same with brides today. To my surprise, no one appeared in the aisle. The organist kept playing and we kept waiting. Finally, to our relief, we could see a small figure ever so slowly coming down the aisle, incrementally shuffling his way to the front of the church.

I watched as he finally reached a seemingly impossible hurdle. There were three steps up to the stage. Could this poor figure possibly make those three steps? The whole church watched with bated breath as he ascended one step at a time. At last he made the pulpit, and gripping the sides of the pulpit seemed to fill him with strength. He looked out over the small congregation and let us know right away that he was sent from God.

“One of your deacons got ahold of me this morning and let me know there were two things that I was to stay away from as a preacher. One was the Holy Spirit and the other was that we were not to talk of Satan.” He paused, and then continued, “We will be speaking on two topics the next months, the Holy Spirit and Satan.”

I was looking all about, trying to figure out who he was talking about, but there was not a clue to be had. For the next forty minutes, he spoke thunderously, the word of God pouring forth from his mouth. His watch, taken off his wrist and laid on the pulpit, ticked to the 12:00 position, and he stopped, with what was to become known as his common comment, “I know you ladies have a roast in the oven to get out, so we will stop there.”

Little did I realize how much this man was going to change my life. Over the next few months I was to learn what one man, wholly given to the word of God could teach me. It was to change this poor farm boy’s view of the Word of God forever.

God Be Merciful to Me a Sinner

God Be Merciful to Me a Sinner

Not to bring up unpleasant subjects, but have you looked in a mirror lately? I have, and the 72-year-old man looking back at me is disgusting. Yet it is to the mirror I must go if I am to at all gain a perspective of myself.

I wish I could say I remember a life of doing my duty before God—and to be fair, I had some of those experiences. But I remember a life where I frequently made poor choices and chose the road widely traveled. As I grow older, I do find myself thinking more about the past—both the good times and the bad times.

The problem with my memory, and perhaps yours, is that I remember the bad times as being not quite so bad, and I tend to remember the good times with a bit of editorial embellishment. Until I have a good hard look in that mirror. That is, I look deeper into things of the past and I realize once more, that I really am a sinner in deep need of grace.

But I remind myself, I have all the grace I need, for when I came to the recognition of Christ dying for me, all of my many shortcomings, including the ones I feebly see, are covered in his death on the cross. When he died, he died for all my sins, many of which I had not even yet countenanced.

Look at yourself squarely. Take that mirror and have a good reflection. I am convinced that those of us who look in the mirror are more grateful for the grace of God. Remember the story of Jesus, when he told about the two men. One was nicely clothed and the other was just a poorly dressed man. The rich man prayed before God, “God, I thank you that I am not as the poor man.” The poor man simply prayed, “God, be merciful to me a sinner. The poor man went away, forgiven by God, but the rich man seemed to be irretrievably lost in self-righteousness.

The mirror reflects the truth of my life, and is absolutely discouraging, but for the cross. I know in whom I have believed, and on that day, I shall stand in the righteousness of Christ. How about you? Can you take a courageous look into the mirror? But don’t stop there, look to the Christ who has given us such wonderful grace and forgiveness. God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Overcome evil with good—how does that work out?

 

Overcome evil with good—how does that work out?

 

Romans 12:21 (KJV)
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Paul gives us a command, likely taken from the Sermon on the Mount where our Lord tells us to turn the other cheek. Evil should not overcome us; rather we should consistently work to overcome evil with good.

But is that not what Christ did? Exactly! And how did that work out? It leads directly to the cross—giving a new impetus to the command, “Take up your cross and follow me”.  We are to exactly follow Christ—to become “little” Christs.

Much is made by our Christian leaders in coming up with special formulas to successful evangelism. If you just do this, or you just do that, you will find phenomenal success under "my" plan, proclaims the latest evangelist. (I wrote a column on this, The Magic Evangelical Formula.). It is necessary to add this point. We are called to turn the cheek and to carry the cross.

I am reading a book by Joel Rosenberg titled The Auschwitz Escape, where one of his major subthemes is Christians who are busy carrying the cross—even while taken captive by the Germans. I am a very rapid reader, but find myself slowing down immensely, awed by all the evil gathered and focused against Jews and the Christians who would help them.

But that is exactly the Christian we are called to be. Like Christ, we are to face our problems down, and keep looking up towards him, just as he looked toward the Father when he faced the cross. But we in the United States know almost nothing of direct persecution. Instead our persecution is of a dark sort, gloomy and constant, pulling us subtly away from the closeness we are to have with God. It works best over time, gradually pulling us away from our Redeemer, pulling our eyes ever away from our Savior, putting our focus on anything but our God.

How does that work? Our country is about as far away from Christianity than it ever has been. But what is even more alarming is that we look at Christians and they are so far away from their Christ, they no longer see him. Replacing him with their latest lusts, and remaking him to be more what they desire rather than facing him for who he is. They are becoming deceived and distort and disturb the very Christ that is presented to us in the Scriptures. We are seeing pockets of Christian heresy rapidly grow here and there. Jesus did point to the question in his time: When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on the earth? Apparently, in the US not so much.

Let nothing separate us from our eternal God, who has manifested himself in his Son, giving himself so that we might not only have life but have it abundantly. Have you been walking in the abundant life?  It is like no other life, and nothing we seek anywhere else will fill the empty spot in our souls that only Christ can fill.  Life in Him is life indeed!