Article July 25, 2011 Issue

Spiritual safety

James Masson Coleman

“We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. . . . Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isa. 26:1, 3). This was the promise of the prophet and spiritual seer Isaiah, not only to the children of Israel in his day but to all those who love God and seek His blessing in every place and in all times.

Safety and salvation go hand in hand. Until recently—even within the last decade—it was commonly believed that if there were sufficient physical distance separating people, such as a vast expanse of ocean or a towering mountain range, these physical phenomena would provide a measure of protection for groups that might be hostile to each other. But that is no longer seen to be the case. 

With the advent of the cellphone, the Internet, the intercontinental ballistic missile, and travel faster than the speed of sound, those places once seen as “over there” are no longer “over there.” Because of our technological prowess, they are now “over here.” No longer is there any material place to which one can repair to be safe from danger and destruction. The belief of life and substance in matter can afford no protection or salvation from the suffering and sorrow that are a part of that false belief.

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