![no retreats_thumb[2]](https://airocross.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/no-retreats_thumb2.jpg)
In closing his message on 2 Timothy 4:7, Pastor John MacArthur shared the following story about William Borden, heir of the Borden dairy fortune. I had never heard of Borden’s story before, but it greatly blessed me especially during this season of my life:
In 1904 a young man graduated from high school in Chicago, Illinois. He was a member of Moody Church and his pastor was R.A. Torrey. His name was William Borden, and if that sounds like a familiar name, it is because he was the heir to the Borden dairy fortune. He was worth millions even in 1904. For a high school graduation gift, his parents gave him a cruise around the world. He went to Hong Kong, went through all of Asia, even found himself in Egypt, toured through the Middle East, went across Europe visiting the capitals of Europe.
As he wrote home in the process the tone of his letters began to change. He began to accumulate an incredible burden and passion and compassion for lost people. He had seen millions of them without Christ. One letter said, “Mom, I believe God is calling me to be a missionary.” Another letter said, “I’m sure God is calling me, I’m going to give my life and prepare for the mission field.” That was not the family plan. He was the most gifted of all the children. He was the one that they desired to run the family business.
But after the cruise he returned home and he spent four years at Yale University preparing for the mission field. After that he went three years to seminary, further preparing for the mission field, seven years of training. During his time in college and seminary, he gave away his fortune. And as he was preparing to go to the mission field, he took his Bible, opened the back cover and wrote two words, “No reserves.” In other words, I have nothing but trust, I’ve given away all my reserves, I’m going in complete faith that God will supply my needs, no reserves.
He wanted to live by faith. He began to pray about where God would want him to go and his heart was moved toward China. So he decided that God had called him to China and particularly to a group of Muslims that were living in China. He announced to his family that he was going and that he would be leaving very soon.
Just prior to leaving his father became very ill. In fact, his father was near death. The family came to him and said, “You can’t go, we beg you to stay, you have to stay, you’re the only one who can run the family business.” By now, of course, these seven years had passed and he was a mature young man. They said, “We will give you your father’s office, we will give you all the money you want, whatever it takes.” They promised him cars and everything a young man could ever dream of. His brothers and sisters came to him and pleaded because they were all somewhat dependent on the continued success of the business. And in his biography it says that he said, “I can’t do it, my life is committed now.” And again he opened the flack of his Bible and wrote two more words, “No retreat.” No reserves, no retreat.
He said God has called me and I’m going. And he sailed for China. On the way going through the Mediterranean from the east coast to the United States he stopped in Egypt. He had been there before. And while he was in Egypt he contracted Cerebral Meningitis and was dead in one month. Never reached China, never reached a mission field, never became a missionary. All that preparation, all that effort and he died.
When they found his Bible after his death, they opened it again to that back flyleaf and this is what they found. “No reserves, no retreat,” and just before he died he wrote, “no regret…no regret.” He never got there but he lived his life to the maximum of dedication to the Christ he loved. And if that was to be the end, then that was God’s choice, no regrets. That’s the only way you want to end, isn’t it? With no regrets.
I pray it blessed you as well, dear reader, that you will strive to live in complete trust of our Lord Jesus Christ, boldly and faithfully serving Him, and never looking back on all you have forsaken for His Kingdom. May you live with no reserves, no retreats, and no regrets.
airō 
Bro. Nick
September 13, 2014
Providentially I was able to get a copy a few years ago of one of the biographies of William Borden – ‘Borden of Yale ’09’ by Mrs. Howard Taylor. I have underlined and referred to it on several occasions.
The impact of young Borden’s life has been thought of by some of having much greater impact of because of his death at 26 years old when he was well know, and remembered by many people as being such a living example when he was in college and seminary.
How many souls have been led to true belief in “Jesus Christ” because their spirits have been truly touched and moved by “the LORD GOD” by William Borden’s very real living example of a truly ‘GOD centered life’?
Isaiah 55:8-9 and Romans 8:28 ‘in action’!
My personal Biblical understanding is – That we are now in the time of massive ‘spiritual deception’ that is written of and warned about many times by “the Lord Jesus Christ”, all of the authors of the Epistles, and several of the Prophets in the Old Testament in “the truth”, “the word of the LORD” – the Holy Bible.
Paul McGuire wrote – ‘According to the prophetic scriptures, one of the primary characteristics of the last days is spiritual deception, delusion and a falling away from truth.’
YET – How few CHRISTians have ever considered – or even realize – that there is much more warning about ‘spiritual deception’ than there is about the ‘physical manifestations’ – earthquakes, wars, etc… in these ‘end-of-the-end times’ before “that day”, “the day of the Lord”, “the day of the LORD’S wrath”, “the time of Jacob’s trouble”, the “great tribulation”!
A major contributing factor is the ever increasingly rapid number of Apostate and Heretical teachings being led by more and more “hirelings” – men and women that are ‘wolves in sheeps clothing’ – the “false teachers” and the “false prophets” of ‘Ecumenical Christendom’ – which is being led by Roman Catholicism in these ‘end-of-the-end times’ JUST PRIOR to the actual ‘Rapture’ of CHRISTians – followed some time after by “the time of Jacob’s trouble”, “the day of the Lord”, the “great tribulation”:
“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.”
(Luke 17:26-29 | KJV)
Me thinks that the whole world is becoming ever more and more rapidly ‘as it was in the days of Noah and of Lot’
The absolute truth and reality of “the words of the LORD” should be very clear:
“The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.”
(Ps 12:8 | KJV)
– – – – – – – –
– YET there are only a few – a remnant – of real CHRISTians that have “an heart to perceive”, “ears to hear”, and “eyes to see” – that are aware of the incredible danger of ‘spiritual deception’ that we are in – TODAY – RIGHT NOW !!!
How could our lives be used by “the Lord God Almighty” if more of us would actually live our lives with
– ‘NO reserves, NO Retreat, NO Regret’ for our Lord and Saviour “Jesus the Christ”?
CHRISTians – We need to put on – and keep on the “whole armor of God”
(Eph 6:10-20 | 2 Cor 10:3-5 | James 4:6-10 | KJV)
and pray often, with great sincerity, effectually and fervently, and in real humility for the protection, spiritual discernment, wisdom, and guidance of “the Lord God Almighty”
– AND for the few truly ‘God called’ Biblically sound Pastors and Teachers – the ‘true Shepherds’ that “the Lord God Almighty” has left to us – worldwide – in these increasingly perilous end times of greater and greater ‘spiritual deception’:
(Amos 8:11-14 | KJV)
– fo – AND fr all CHRISTians – in the MID-EAST, and wherever else we live
(the ‘Big Satan’ of the Mohammadens)
– AND for all of the JEWISH people and the land of ISRAEL
(the ‘Little Satan’ of the Mohammadens)
– AND for all “kings” – each and every one of the ‘heads of state’ – and for those in authority.
(2 Tim 2:1-6 | KJV)
– AND for MANY-MANY LOST people everywhere to accept the “free gift” of Biblical Salvation by true belief in “Jesus the Christ”!!! – remembering that:
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
(2 Pet 3:9 | also 1 Tim 2:4 (KJV)
stevekerp
September 13, 2014
I’m not particularly impressed. It does not take seven years of “preparation” to go to the mission field, and Mr. Borden’s delay in obedience cost him his ministry and quite possibly his reward. I daresay he may have some regrets after all … that the people God called him to serve languished in spiritual darkness while he delayed seven years.
There is a message to us that’s lost: evangelism is not so complex or difficult that it takes seminary training to do it. I can only wonder how many believers NEVER attempt to share their faith because they think it’s something that only a seminary-trained professional can do.
If you know someone, you can introduce that person to others. Lost people need to know that God’s not mad at them any more; that there is lavish love, complete acceptance and total forgiveness available through Christ. Once somebody knows that, he (or she) is fully equipped to evangelize.
Mr. Borden got snookered.
Justin Edwards
September 13, 2014
It seems you have a very low view of the local church and its role in fulfilling the Great Commission. If you think just anyone can decide to be a missionary or plant a church one day, and pack up and go to a foreign land with no training or being sent out to by a local church to plant one, then I am not surprised of your response. No one needs a seminary degree to share their faith (that’s a straw man), but if one doesn’t have the tools to rightly divide God’s Word with the greatest accuracy, preach God’s Word with the greatest precision, and shepherd God’s people with the greatest discipline, then seminary is a resource to help men receive the training they need. I recommend “The Master’s Plan” by John MacArthur that you might better understand God’s design and purposes of the local church.
As a side note, where do you get your information that God is “not mad at sinners any more”?
Bro. Nick
September 14, 2014
@ stevkerp – Have you read anything about William Borden?
I have read one of the biographies published in the year of his death – 1926. The first paragraph of the introduction reads –
‘When the death of William Whiting Borden was cabled from Egypt, it seemed as though a wave of sorrow went round the world. There was scarcely a newspaper in the United States that did not publish some account of a life which had combined elements so unusual, and letters from many lands attested the influence of its high ideals and unselfish service. It is probably true, as was stated in the Princeton Seminary Bulletin, that no young man of his age had ever given more to the service of God and humanity; for Borden not only gave his wealth, but himself, in a way so joyous and natural that it was manifestly a privilege rather than a sacrifice.’
A quote from the last page of Brother Borden’s biography –
‘Borden’s life counted because it was rooted in Christ,. fed daily upon His word, was subject to His Spirit, breathed the atmosphere of prayer, was poured out for others.
‘Each of us can put a fulness of meaning all our own into his simple act of faith.
‘”Lord Jesus, I take hands off as far as my life is concerned. I put Thee on the throne in my heart. Change, cleanse, use me as Thou shalt choose. I take the full power of Thy Holy Spirit, I than Thee.”‘
My copy of the biography of his life is underlined in many places – for he truly lived his life dedicated to his Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
His one comment on the back flyleaf of his Holy Bible ‘No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets’ has had more impact on true CHRISTians than my nearly 70 years of life.
NO SIR – William Whiting Borden did not get ‘snookered’!
8 ¶ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(Is 55:8-9 | KJV)
V. W.
September 13, 2014
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:25
stevekerp
September 13, 2014
Dear Justin –
First of all, a high school education in 1904 was a thoroughly adequate education. Secondly, Mr. Borden did not, according to the story, “decide to be a missionary” – rather, God called him. His answer was, “Yes, …. but first …” and then he delayed his obedience by seven years. There is nothing there that says God called Borden to Yale or to seminary.
Next, as you know, there were no universities or seminaries in the early church period. As a matter of fact, I have a rather high view of the role of the local church in preparing and sending out missionaries, and sitting under the teaching of R.A. Torrey or growing up in an authentic New Testament model church is designed and intended to be adequate preparation for the work the Lord calls us to do. It appears to me that you have a rather distorted view of the structure and function of the New Testament ecclesia. It is within the church that being equipped to “rightly divide God’s Word with the greatest accuracy, preach God’s Word with the greatest precision, and shepherd God’s people with the greatest discipline” is supposed to take place. If you think otherwise, then it is you, not I, who has a low view of the local church.
I will let your readers decide if my statement that “no one needs a seminary degree to share their faith” is a straw man argument. THIS is the straw man: “If you think just anyone can decide to be a missionary or plant a church one day, and pack up and go to a foreign land with no training or being sent out to by a local church to plant one…” If your “local church” does not equip you to evangelize (Mark 16:15) and build disciples (Matthew 28:19) then what is your local church doing?? There are a few particulars to cross-cultural ministry, but it does not take seven years to prepare an American to live in a Chinese culture.
Finally, let’s not play word games. God’s wrath against sinners was poured out on Christ. The gospel is the vicarious death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Any who repent and trust Christ can expect to be received by God as a father receives a penitent son. If, as you suggest, God is still mad at sinners, then He is still mad at you and me because we still sin … at least I do. He still hates sin and He will punish those who refuse His grace, but this is the day of salvation. Wrath comes later.
Justin Edwards
September 13, 2014
It wasn’t “but first”, Steve, he desired to be prepared or the ministry God had called him to.
Yes, the local church is the training ground and where the saints are built up and equipped for the work of the ministry. But this is not to say there is no value in proper seminary training. Our church culture today is such that most churches are not equipped with the resources to properly train their men. So it is good to have proper seminaries to come alongside these churches to assist in preparing men for ministry. And the best seminaries are those that are rooted in the local church, which provides them opportunities to serve and apply what they are learning in seminary.
No Christian is under the condemnation of God in Christ Jesus, but every lost person is born a child of wrath, and God is angry at the wicked every day.
Anyway, I think you’ve completely missed the point of this post. Grace and peace to you.
George
September 13, 2014
it seems as well that those who have a low view of the local church and those leaders who have invested themselves in discipleship (that is what Mr. Borden was doing) have an aversion to true submission to the Lordship of Jesus. He has called us to relinquishment of self will, to glorifying the Father. The hard working farmer, the athlete and the soldier, don’t become influential as ambassadors in their fields by defaulting to their own human leanings. It is becoming more and more apparent that many ‘christians’ today are the ones being ‘snookered’….
Art Mealer
September 13, 2014
The tragedy is that young Mr. Borden thought he was fulfilling God’s will, “He said God has called me and I’m going.” He believed that in order to go he needed a 7 year formal education, just as many do today. I like to think I care about scripture as much as the next guy. Where in scripture do we find this requirement? Paul “straightway preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God…”
If you look at the timeline in Paul’s church planting ministry and returns to recognize elders who emerged, complete heathens were matured to elder/pastor roles in 6 to 18 months, largely without access to the NT scriptures.
It is amazing that the church has created such extensive educational requirements when scripture gives character qualifications. However do we justify these extra-biblical requirements with a straight face while advocating the scriptures as the sole foundation of faith and practice? Do we not, as the Roman Catholics, set traditions equal with scripture by doing so?
Justin Edwards
September 13, 2014
Art, I think you too missed the point of the post. There is no biblical mandate for seminary, but there is a need to prepare for the ministry. Who are you to judge men who pray, receive counsel, and determine the best way for them to be best prepared is to attend a biblical seminary?
Oftentimes, faithful churches send their men out for such training in order to come back. And faithful seminaries require their students to be recommended for seminary training by their church leadership, so these decisions are neither made in a vacuum or without seeking the best stewardship for their time of learning.
As I haven’t read Borden’s biography, I can’t tell you what all went in to his decision-making. But as one who is planning to enter seminary training next year, it has come with much prayer and seeking the Lord’s will for us, understanding that for me, personally, seminary is the best means to equip me for the work as I continue to serve in the local church. We have also been patient and submitted to the direction He is leading us, wherever that road leads. We are just vessels, and I trust William Borden was a faithful vessel seeking and submitted to the Lord’s will, whatever it would be.
Bro. Nick
September 14, 2014
Justin Edwards, Thank you for your supportive comments about a true CHRISTian gentleman, ‘Bill’ Borden.
I have read one of the biographies about our Brother in Jesus Christ – ‘Borden of Yale ’09’ by Mrs. Howard Taylor – and would most strongly recommend your getting a copy. My copy is from the Eleventh Printing in 1941 by ‘China Inland Mission’.
I am an old man, a layman with only a diploma from high school – but the life life of William Borden has had its strong influence upon me – for his life was CHRISTianity ‘in action’.
It is truly humbling to read of the very real impact that he made upon the faculties, fellow students, and residents of the towns and cities nearby while he attended both Yale University and Princeton Seminary – because of his living his life as a truly dedicated follower of “Christ Jesus” were part of the living legacy he has left behind. What a real and full life he lived as a testimony and example of what a true believer and follower of “Jesus the Christ” should be.
A perfect man – absolutely NO. A very godly man – absolutely YES.
A Biblical point –
How many years was Moses ‘in training’?
What about the Apostle Paul?
And “our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” ‘only served 3 1/2 years as an itinerant preacher.’
ornative43
September 13, 2014
William Borden reminds me of C.T. Studd, another man of God who gave up his wealth and stepped out in faith. I recommend the book “C.T. Studd, Cricketer & Pioneer” by Norman Grubb.