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You might be living a life which seems ordinary to other people, but to God your life is unique! Our dear friend and prayer partner, June Thompson, aged 87, has recently suffered a broken hip and so must change her place of residence. She has lived for God in her retirement village with honor for the Lord Jesus. This is what the village newsletter presented when June left recently:
Extract:

The Beauty of the Ascended Christ

For THE LOVE OF TRUTH

Our Standing IN Christ and the Mystery of the INDWELLING Christ

This is a salutation to a very much loved lady, Mrs. June Thompson, who has lived in unit 69 for many years, first with her husband and then on her own. she cared for all of us who lived near and for many people in the Hostel section. Her love for the garden, the display of flower and tree arrangements was something to behold. even time was given to care for birds and animals. Now our dear friend needs love, care and attention for herself and we pray that care will keep her with us for a long time. (Catherine Martin.)

Lake Sherrin Newsletter - October, 2010

Keep on witnessing with your life and lips. No matter what age or situation you find yourself in. It is important.

Publication of Endtime Ministries ... Women for Christ

12:24: I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. He then followed with Psalm 126:5: Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

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The roots of what is known as Hospital Lemera may be traceable after the arrival of the Swedish Pentecostal Missionaries in Lemera, even if it took them 24 years to build the first clinic, which gradually grow up to be declared officially Lemera Hospital Lemera by the Rev.. Pastor Ruhigita Ndagora Bugwika in 1971. 1921, Arrival of first Swedish Pentecostal Missionaries of the Swedish Free Mission (MLS) in Kashekebwe (Uvira). Some sources say that the arrival was in 1922, but many sources agree on that first date (1921). These missionaries eleven in number, were called: KARL Lemuel, DAVID and SVEA FLOOD, JULIUS and RUTH ASPENLIND, RUTH Jonasson, BERTA and JOEL ERIKSSON, HARALD HONSSON, RUTH Aronsson, ARTHUR BERG 1923, Suddenly and tragically an unknown disease claims the lives of 4 missionaries whose SVEA Flood the 05/1923; RUTH Jonasson the 9/12/1923; BERT HAS ERIKSSON the 10/12/1923 and, JOEL ERIKSSON the 14/12/1923. There are still theories that these missionaries were poisoned by the natives, described as resistant to their gospel at first, but these theories have never been substantiated. What followed is that the survivors of this affliction seemed to have immediately suspected that the weather of the valley posed a serious threat to their survival. Therefore, the need to find a place that has a weather more conducive to their survival was no longer an option. 1924, The first missionaries (Julius and Ruth ASPENLIND) settled in Lemera. Without doubt, the climate of this place seemed to have been one of the main factors that played hard in his selection. It should be added that the political climate between the administrators in Uvira and the traditional chief of Lemera might have had also something to do with this choice. ... (further info about the foundation of hospital not included here)

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apartment, with liquor bottles everywhere, and approached the seventythree-year-old man lying in a rumpled bed. Papa~ she said tentatively. He turned and began to cry. Aina, he said. I never meant to give you away. Its all right, Papa, she replied, taking him gently in her arms. God took care of me. The man instantly stiffened. The tears stopped. God forgot all of us. Our lives have been like this because of Him. He turned his face back to the wall. Aggie stroked his face and then continued, undaunted. Papa, Ive got a little story to tell you, and its a true one. You didnt go to Africa in vain. Mama didnt die in vain. The little boy you won to the Lord grew up to win that whole village to Jesus Christ. The one seed you planted just kept growing and growing. Today there are six hundred African people serving the Lord because you were faithful to the call of God in your life. Papa, Jesus loves you. He has never hated you. The old man turned back to look into his daughters eyes. His body relaxed. He began to talk. And by the end of the afternoon, he had come back to the God he had resented for so many decades. Over the next few days, father and daughter enjoyed warm moments together. Aggie and her husband soon had to return to America-and within a few weeks, David Flood had gone into eternity. A few years later, the Hursts were attending a high-level evangelism conference in London, England, when a report was given from the nation of Zaire (the former Belgian Congo). The superintendent of the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke eloquently of the gospels spread in his nation. Aggie could not help going to ask him afterward if he had ever heard of David and Svea Flood. Yes, madam, the man replied in French, his words then being translated into English. It was Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. In fact, to this day your mothers grave and her memory are honored by all of us. He embraced her in a long, sobbing hug. Then he continued, You must come to Africa to see, because your mother is the most famous person in our history. In time that is exactly what Aggie Hurst and her husband did. They were welcomed by cheering throngs of villagers. She even met the man who had been hired by her father many years before to carry her back down the mountain in a hammock-cradle. The most dramatic moment, of course, was when the pastor escorted Aggie to see her mothers white cross for herself. She knelt in the soil to pray and give thanks. Later that day, in the church, the pastor read from John

Personal Revival What is Truth? ... I am the TRUTH

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11. Do you love THE TRUTH, reader? Although the above verses are referring to the unsaved who will not receive the truth of God, they can certainly have a secondary application for the saved in these perilous times. Truth is being massively squeezed out of every aspect of our humanist, atheistic societies. Everywhere we look errors, apostasies, blasphemies, dishonesty, double-dealing, black falsehood rule supreme. While Gods truth, purity of dealing, integrity and frankness are OUT! Do you love the truth in your dealing with others, in your handling of all that is Christian thinking, and reasoning, and have you integrity in your heart? Many Christians these days think they love the truth, but they deceive themselves - however, they certainly do not deceive God. Already on earth a fearful, deluding spiritual force is bringing black lies into the compromising hearts of humans. The greatest Lie of all is not upon us yet, that Lie is that Antichrist is the Saviour of the world, a godly Messiah who will rule and deliver. But, even at this stage of proceedings something is obviously occurring that is spiritually deceptive beyond anything I have ever seen in my life, or that I have read about. If any of us compromise with truth we are in danger of sinking into the quick-sand of error and lies that surrounds us. My readers must have encountered these strange things: One can show a church-goer good, sound, solid evidence that the New Age Bible versions they are using are corrupted and evil, but they cannot see this. Their minds seem unable to grasp the simplest truths about the matter. They resist any efforts to deliver them from their trap. They have compromised themselves into believing lies, and loving lies.

THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH.

pastoral ministry. And that is how Aggie grew up in South Dakota. As a young woman, she attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. There she met and married a young man named Dewey Hurst. Years passed. The Hursts enjoyed a fruitful Ministry. Aggie gave birth first to a daughter, then a son. In time her husband became president of a Christian college in the Seattle area, and Aggie was intrigued to find so much Scandinavian heritage there. One day a Swedish religious magazine appeared in her mailbox. She had no idea who had sent it, and of course she couldnt read the words. But as she turned the pages, all of a sudden a photo stopped her cold. There in a primitive setting was a grave with a white cross-and on the cross were the words SVEA FLOOD. Aggie jumped in her car and went straight for a college faculty member who, she knew, could translate the article. What does this say? she demanded. The instructor summarized the story: It was about missionaries who had come to Ndolera long ago the birth of a white baby the death of the young mother the one little African boy who had been led to Christ and how, after the whites had all left, the boy had grown up and finally persuaded the chief to let him build a school in the village. The article said that gradually he won all his students to Christ the children led their parents to Christ even the chief had become a Christian. Today there were six hundred Christian believers in that one village. All because of the sacrifice of David and Svea Flood. For the Hursts twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, the college presented them with the gift of a vacation to Sweden. There Aggie sought to find her real father. An old man now, David Flood had remarried, fathered four more children, and generally dissipated his life with alcohol. He had recently suffered a stroke. Still bitter, he had one rule in his family: Never mention the name of God- because God took everything from me. After an emotional reunion with her half brothers and half sister, Aggie brought up the subject of seeing her father. The others hesitated. You can talk to him, they replied, even though hes very ill now. But you need to know that whenever he hears the name of God, he flies into a rage. Aggie was not to be deterred. She walked into the squalid

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Back in 1921, a missionary couple named David and Svea Flood went with their two-year-old son from Sweden to the heart of Africa-to what was then called the Belgian Congo. They met up with another young Scandinavian couple, the Ericksons, and the four of them sought God for direction. In those days of much tenderness and devotion and sacrifice, they felt led of the Lord to set out from the main mission station and take the gospel to a remote area. This was a huge step of faith. At the village of Ndolera they were rebuffed by the chief, who would not let them enter his town for fear of alienating the local gods. The two couples opted to go half a mile up the slope and build their own mud huts. They prayed for a spiritual breakthrough, but there was none. The only contact with the villagers was a young boy, who was allowed to sell them chickens and eggs twice a week. Svea Flood-a tiny woman only four feet, eight inches tall-decided that if this was the only African she could talk to, she would try to lead the boy to Jesus. And in fact, she succeeded. But there were no other encouragements. Meanwhile, malaria continued to strike one member of the little band after another. In time the Ericksons decided they had had enough suffering and left to return to the central mission station. David and Svea Flood remained near Ndolera to go on alone. Then, of all things, Svea found herself pregnant in the middle of the primitive wilderness. When the time came for her to give birth, the village chief softened enough to allow a midwife to help her. A little girl was born, whom they named Aina. The delivery, however, was exhausting, and Svea Flood was already weak from bouts of malaria. The birth process was a heavy blow to her stamina. She lasted only another seventeen days. Inside David Flood, something snapped in that moment. He dug a crude grave, buried his twenty-seven-year-old wife, and then took his children back down the mountain to the mission station. Giving his newborn daughter to the Ericksons, he snarled, Im going back to Sweden. Ive lost my wife, and I obviously cant take care of this baby. God has ruined my life. With that, he headed for the port, rejecting not only his calling, but God himself. Within eight months both the Ericksons were stricken with a mysterious malady and died within days of each other. The baby was then turned over to some American missionaries, who adjusted her Swedish name to Aggie and eventually brought her back to the United States at age three. This family loved the little girl and were afraid that if they tried to return to Africa, some legal obstacle might separate her from them. So they decided to stay in their home country and switch from missionary work to

David and Svea Flood

One can show a heretical Christian that a doctrine they believe (perhaps because their denomination teaches it) is unbiblical. Yet, even though the truth is there in black and white they cannot understand, they embrace the lies but are totally closed to the truth. Horribly unsavoury, obviously dishonest people can set themselves up as Apostles of the churches, they look to Bible Christians like con-men and criminals, yet compromising and heretical Christians embrace these charlatans with zeal. Try to alert them to the true nature of these men and women and you will find yourself the enemy, not the charlatans. It is all so weird, so strange. There is a deceiving spirit at work which is very powerful indeed. A movement of spiritual pandemonium can sweep churches with lying signs and wonders, sending people into emotional states that are alarming. The people affected do not experience revulsion as Biblebased Christians do; they only yearn for and seek more and more. Open your Bible and try to help them and they are repelled by the words of scripture, they do not want such boring instruction. They want more of the Spirit. There Christians are not in the slightest upset by vast errors delivered by apostate, bible-denying denominations. They will tell you that they can worship with anyone who calls themselves Christian. They love them and are tolerant of all who are sincere, not like yourself - you are unloving and divisive. These Christians seem untouched by the fact that the bible-denying denomination is teaching a false gospel that sends thousands to hell all the time. Your heart is breaking, you cannot bear those denominations filled with darkness but the other Christians just embrace them in tolerance. They have compromised themselves into darkness deep and evil. They have not loved the Truth, and are deeply deceived by the Antichrist spirit that is rising in power as we near the end of the Church Age. Let us not forget here some sound enough Christians who follow bible doctrine. Christians who are staunch believers. Satan does not want any of us to realise that the fullness of the Holy Spirit is the true dynamo of the Remnant Church, the Philadelphia Church (see Revelation 3:7-13). The truth about the need of the filling of the Holy Spirit is not hidden, the Bible reveals this truth openly. The fullness of the Life of Christ through the filling of the Holy Spirit brings all the

righteousness and power that any church, preacher, evangelist or individual in any setting can ever need. It is obvious from scripture that this is so, yet this truth seems to allude many fundamentals these days. Why? It seems that the spirit of deception has brought about a blindness on this vital issue. A fear of falling into the same delusions that others have succumbed to has had a devastating effect. The fundamental Christians are afraid of falling into the counterfeit experiences of the Pentecostal churches. The fake Holy Spirit experiences. It is not considered sound to seek the fullness of the Holy Spirit in these Bible-based churches, who use KJV bibles and know solid doctrine. They have become victims of the Last Days delusions in that they have rejected the Truth as it involves experiential relationship with the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They are actually carnal, in that they are running by their own power not Gods Holy Spirit. Talk to these staunch souls of that rejected word experience and they will brand you as a Charismatic or declare you are just like a Catholic mystic. This too is a strange phenomenon, they have fallen for the lies of Satan as well. They love not the truth in their own way. John 15:5; Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 3:1-5; Ephesians 4:30; Galatians 2:20-21.

HARD TO COMMUNICATE.

Recently I tried to attend a small interdenominational church service in a hall in our village. This was done not to have fellowship per se, but to seek to be of help and to share love and light. I found that the lady who leads a womens study group in the same hall uses and teaches from a New International Version. This version is very bad, it is Luciferian and filled with deliberate removal of Gods holy words, as well as hundreds of satanic changes and additions. Revelation 22:18,19; Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6. I was shocked that the lady and the young preacher who led the service both used the N.I.V. So next service I took a copy of the glorious book Final Authority by Dr William P. Grady to lend to the woman in question. I quietly spoke of this book to her commenting that it showed horrendous facts about the N.I.V. that should help her evaluate the bible she was using, and

to Philadelphia. The Lord has only one request: keep that which you have. You have not done anything wrong, but you must keep on doing what you have already done. You have sensed the blessing of God in what you did. Now you should keep on in the same way. STICK CONSTANTLY TO THE TRUTH IN CHRIST JESUS. The problem with Philadelphia is that if they do not keep what they have, God will raise up other people to take away their crown. Originally the crown was given to them, but if they depart from their position, their crown will be taken by others. What the Philadelphians must overcome is that they must not lose what they already have possessed. This is quite different from the other seven churches. Let us therefore take note of the Lords Word. Only one church, the church in Philadelphia, is after the Lords own heart. Its characteristics are that it keeps the Lords Word and it does not deny His name. May we never be negligent in these matters. The problem now is: if Philadelphia should fail, it will become Laodicea. Do not think Laodicea is the Protestant church, for this is represented by Sardis. The Protestant church today can only be Sardis; it can never be Laodicea. It takes the fall of Philadelphia to become Laodicea. Sardis is an improvement over Thyatira. It comes out of Thyatira and is an advancement. Philadelphia comes out of Sardis and is also an advancement. Laodicea comes out of Philadelphia, but it is a regression. All these four churches continue on until the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Laodicea is a mutilated or distorted Philadelphia. Once brotherly love is lost, then immediately peoples rights and opinions take over. This is the meaning of the word Laodicea. It was the name of a city, named by a Roman prince after his wife whose name was Laodios. The prince changed the name into Laodicea, which in Greek means, the peoples rights or opinions. When Philadelphia falls, the emphasis becomes more on people than on brethren, more on peoples rights than on brotherly love. Love turns to rights or opinions. When brotherly love is a living thing, peoples rights are a dead thing; but whenever brotherly love is waning (and the body relationship with its fellowship in life will be fading too), peoples opinions begin to prevail. The Lords mind is not sought; things are settled by the majority opinion. Philadelphia has fallen into Laodicea.
(Acknowledgement given to various study books, including the Scofield Study Bible, and Love One Another.).

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proudly declare themselves to be Coptic or Anglican - named after a place or a country. These many names completely divide Gods children! It looks as if the one name, the name of the Lord Jesus, is not sufficient to separate us from the world. If anyone should ask you, What religion are you? What faith are you? and you answer, I am a Christian, he will not be satisfied. He will insist upon knowing what kind of a Christian you are. A friend recently said she was a Christian when she was asked her religion as she was admitted to hospital. This is sufficient. We are born-again people who belong to Christ Jesus. The Lord Himself considers His name to be quite sufficient for His children. But only in Philadelphia is His name reckoned as sufficient. There is no need for many names, for names separate. His name is enough! Remember, the Lord is quite concerned about this matter. What do the overcomers in Philadelphia overcome? Do you realize the difficulty here? The overcomers in Ephesus naturally have overcome the tendency to forsake first love; the overcomers in Smyrna have overcome the external threat of death; the overcomers in Pergamum have overcome the bondage and the temptation of the world; the overcomers in Thyatira have overcome the teaching of the woman; the overcomers in Sardis have overcome spiritual death; and the overcomers in Laodicea are to overcome the condition of lukewarmness and the deceit of pride. But what do the overcomers in Philadelphia need to overcome? Since the Lord is pleased with all they have done (of the seven letters, this is the only letter which shows the Lords complete acceptance), what else do they need to overcome? Everything has been accepted, everything is fine. Philadelphia is a church after the Lords own heart. Yet in this church, the Lord still gives promises to the overcomers. What must they overcome? It seems there is nothing that needs especially to be overcome, for there seems to be no problem. However, the Lord does give His warning here. I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown (Rev. 3: 11). This is the only warning in the letter to the Philadelphians. The Philadelphians must be careful to hold fast what they have. In this they must overcome. In other words, they must not lose that which they already have. Do not change it or alter it. Keep what you have and do not drop it. This is the one warning

left the book on the seat next to her to take home. I went to my own seat again. She suddenly burst out very loudly so that all the group could hear, and said, I think it is very divisive of you to bring such a book as that into an interdenominational meeting! Everyone stared accusingly at me, I was must uncomfortable, and after a few minutes of prayer, I decided to leave. The preacher was saying as I left, But I can worship with anyone from any denomination! I love anyone who loves Jesus. Again I had become the bad person, a divisive influence no less. How sad this all is. I had tried to communicate with the study group woman before. She had no concept of how important the Truth of Gods real Word was. She has compromised herself into deception. The preacher at that group also is under the delusions of the Last Days. He cannot see how mixing up groups and ignoring absolute Truth for the sake of relationship is deadly, it is like diluting the Truth until no one knows what is true and what is not. A few days ago I was speaking on Skype to that amazing US author and speaker, Dean Gotcher, and he made the comment that he is not a King James only believer, he is a believer in the Textus Receptus only, and he believes in the resources that Erasmus used. Erasmus was credited with producing the first printed edition of the Greek New Testament, 1517. Gotcher believes in the New Testament of Tyndale, 1525. The new versions we have been lumped with are not of the Textus Recept us b ut are pollutions from those Nicolaitan corrupters, Westcott and Hort. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of t he Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Revelation 2:6.
(For more information get the book... Final Authority Dr William P. Grady.)

It is no good at all to simply reply to that question with a complacent yes of course I love truth. As I love the Lord Jesus. The study group woman I mentioned above also believes she honours God and loves truth. But she said to me, what do want us to do? Not use the modern bibles and go back to the KJV? Come on! Go back to the KJV. Surely not. She would not go back to the KJV is she used it, she would go forward to the KJV truth. Do you use a Bible that is The Truth? If you dont you are showing you have no love of the Truth and are being deceived in these perilous days. Remember that verse, 2 Thessalonians 2:10. No, I do mean that you can lose your salvation, I do mean that we should apply the verse in part to ourselves. If we compromise with the Truth of God it can only lead into lies, errors, apostasy and Gods anger. Remember also the One Who said of Himself: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6. We reject Christ Jesus when we reject Gods Truth, for He is Truth.

DO YOU LOVE THE TRUTH, READER?

MANY ARE OUR TRIBULATIONS.

How we need to love the truth in these Last Days. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. Psalm 34:18,19. If we do NOT study Gods Word diligently for ourselves we will not show we love truth. How will you be able to draw upon Gods Truth if you are depending mainly upon the teaching of some human preacher or author instead of on Gods Word? Do you realise that the Holy Spirit is within you (as a saved person) to bring many blessings to you, including the blessing of His personal teaching and the opening of the spiritual wonders of Gods Word to you?

They are not a denomination, they are a people all over the earth who have separated themselves from compromise and apostasy. To them NO authority other than the Lords, NO teaching, no creed is of any use. They do not adhere to such things as Purpose Driven Church instruction, Psychology manuals or the Alpha Course. It is possible for people to be able to preach and quote Bible verses and yet not really know the Bible? It is possible to learn a creed and accept it without knowing the Word of God. Does this sound somewhat strange? The Bible is infinite in nature, but the creed is definite. The Bible is involved, but the creed is simple. A creed can be understood by the foolish, but the complexities of the Bible are intelligent only to a certain group of people, for it requires a certain condition to understand it. Many people prefer a cult group because they can simply grasp the creed of the group, and do not have to really become spiritual alive or repent. The Word of God is wide open for those with life to enter in; but a creed is something so widely opened that all who desire to may come in. The Bible cannot be understood unless the reader has life and singleness of eye before the Lord, but a creed can be understood by anyone who has a clear mind as soon as it is read. People may think the way is too narrow; so they try to widen it in order to get people in. But the Philadelphians reject all creeds; they simply return to the Word of God. Thou didst keep my word, saith the Lord. In all of church history, only in the era of Philadelphia has the Word of God been so much understood. Do you long for the Word of God to be your daily food? Only in Philadelphia does Gods Word have its rightful place. In other times, people accepted creeds and traditions, but the church in Philadelphia accepts nothing but the Word of God. They walk according to Gods Word. Throughout church history, there have never been so many ministers of Gods Word as in Philadelphia. The simple people of God breathe out the very words of God in their daily lives. Thou didst not deny my name, says the Lord. This, too, is a special feature of Philadelphia. After such a long history of the church, the name of the Lord Jesus has unexpectedly become the very last name. People pay more attention to mens names-perhaps to Peters or the other apostles. Or Christians may choose to follow a leader of renown, such as Brian Houston, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn or someone. Many take pride in saying, I am a Lutheran, or, I am a Wesleyan-the names of men. Many

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REVELATION 3:7-13 The Seven Churches are actual local churches in early Church times, and also symbolically reveal seven phases of the spiritual history of the Christian church, from about AD 96 to the end. Of the seven churches, only two churches escape reproof and of those two, only one, Philadelphia, is wholly approved and praised. For Philadelphia alone, there is praise without reproof. What is the character of Philadelphia? I know thy works (behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut), and thou hast a little power, and didst keep my word, and didst not deny my name (Rev. 3:8). That which Sardis stands for is a striving for life against death. Because the church in Sardis was mingled with the world, it needed to start out anew all the time. But Philadelphia is brotherly love. Here there is a return to the love of the brethren. It has no need to struggle free from death and the things of the world and spiritual death that tend to cling on. Philadelphia is a restoration to the original position of the brethren before God. All is to be about love, not just service and being a big noise in fellowships. As Sardis came out of Thyatira, so Philadelphia comes out of Sardis. The Protestant church comes out of the Roman Catholic Church, Sardis is the Reformation. While Philadelphia comes out of the Protestant church. There is no particular group that is the so-called Philadelphia, it is a new move of the Holy Spirit in love. This new move lifts people out of dead Protestant Sardis, and places them in the position of love of the brethrenin other words, the position of the body where the only recognized fellowship is that of love. This is Philadelphia. Philadelphia excels in two special ways: ONE, they keep the Word of the Lord and, TWO, they do not deny His name. Here is a Church Movement which is led by God to learn how to keep the Lords Word. The Holy Spirit leads them back to the importance of the Scriptures, God opens His Word to them, they have deeper spiritual insight. There is NO creed in their midst, only the Word of God. There is NO doctrine outside the Scriptures, only the Word. There is NO tradition, only the Word. There is NO depending on mans opinion, only the Word of God. After the apostles this is the first church which the Lord praises, for now a group of people has completely returned to the Lords Word.

APPENDIX: I

Loving the truth means that you will want to study the Word of God every day with the Divine Teacher leading you into truth. Jesus said: Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. John 16:13. Do NOT grieve the Holy Spirit by REJECTING His one-to-one teaching.

To do so is liberating, NOT condemning. You may be thinking that repent is a word that is usually spoken to the unsaved. Yes, but there is a deeper repentance needed for the Christians who do not obey God in the depth that they should. They are being called by God to repent. Life is short, Jesus Christ is at the door of your heart. Open the door and He will come in and fill your life. He and the Father will make their abode with you in a special and glorious way. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. John 14:23. In the first chapters of the book of Revelation Christ is shown calling upon the churches of Asia Minor to repent. John the Apostle saw the Son of God in His glorified state and describes Him in chapter one. This is the Almighty One Who is calling upon you and I to come to grips with our lives, to be open to receive all the truth about ourselves from Him - and repent. Many Christians seem to think that if they do not drink at the hotel or play Poker machines, if they do not swear, if they are not living in immorality then they are doing fine. Jesus Christ in Revelation as He is calling to the churches is certainly not just restricting Himself to the grosser sins. He is calling us all to repent

COME TO GOD & REPENT! LOVE THE TRUTH ABOUT YOURSELF.

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of the sins that many believers ignore! Can you face the truth about yourself before Him? Do you love the truth enough to let Him convict you of the respectable sins?

And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. Revelation 1:13-17. What about loving Jesus above everything else and spending time with Him many times a day because you love Him?
Do you and I sin in that we do NOT love Him enough? Have we LEFT our first love? Revelation 2:4. Have you got a form of godliness but deny the power thereof, because you are living the Christian life by your own strength, planning your own life, running the whole show, and doing what is right in your own eyes? Are you a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God? Do you think secretly that you are doing very well as a believer, but are not facing the truth?

To let the Bible be opened by the Holy Spirit, to allow Christ the Truth to fill your being, and to let yourself be set aside for holy purposes only? All that is not a religious exercise that takes you away from the enjoyment of life, dont let Satan deceive you there, to love Truth and holiness like that is to find joy unspeakable and the delights of the fellowship with Jesus Christ you have always longed, perhaps not understanding fully what your longing was really about.

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REALITY IS WHAT BELIEVERS ARE SEEKING IN THEIR HEART OF HEARTS.

These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then

Blessed is the believer who understands that truth in the inward parts is about spiritual reality and wisdom that is not just humanly acquired: Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Psalm 51:6. A dear friend had a hospital stay recently and had to undergo many rather frightening procedures, including an operation. She was lying there at the early stages of all this and prayed fervently: Dear Lord, I know that Your Word says that You will never leave me or forsake me. Please make this a reality for me now. Then it was as though she had been taken up in the arms of God and rocked to and fro. She was moving in a delightful and comforting manner, rather like being rocked as a baby in the arms of God. She was utterly filled with peace and joy. This happened seven times as she went down to be attended to by the doctors. She was very aware of the presence of God and His angels. It is to the child-like believer that God reveals Himself in our need and weakness: And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christs sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9.

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finding the Way to Heaven itself is the very substance of Heavenly things. I know a preacher who said to me, I just read the Bible and study it, not all this stuff about the Holy Spirit opening it to me. That is a lot of super-spiritual nonsense. Of course I can read the words and understand. He might be sincere but he is sincerely wrong in this. The Holy Spirit must guide us into all truth throughout our entire Christian lives. Yield to Him in humility: And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:16,17. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. John 16:13. We must not be content with just thought-truth, understanding theology and doctrines with the mind, grasping the meaning of prophecy with the mind. We must yield to the Spirit of Truth in every way and receive from Him in meekness and need the Life-Truth that is the glorious truth as it is truly found in the Son of God Himself. The Word of God, the book in our hands, is really like an egg sitting under a mother bird. Within it is Life, and when the time is right that shell will be opened to show the real beauty of the life within. Do not be content with the outside shell of the Word, let God bring forth the substance of Divine Life to you which is vastly beyond the written pages. There is a vast difference between the Word as it is written and the eternal truth. God has joined these things together int this amazing world that we live in. We are not yet in Heavenly pastures, but those pastures can be ours through the Living Word, and we can go in and out finding pasture and sustenance of a Heavenly kind: I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:9. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. John 17:17. To sanctify is to make holy, to set aside for holy purposes only. Do you love the Truth enough for that?

because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: Revelation 3: 14-17. A wonderful passage from Andrew Murray can help us here. It is from Secrets of Authority pages 646-651. Let the words speak to your own heart as an individual. One of the central words in these letters is the word repent. There are only two letters, those to Smyrna and Philadelphia, in which the word repent does not appear. Of these two churches the Lord had only good to say. To Smyrna He said, 1 know yo ur t ri b u la t i on a nd y ou r poverty, but you are rich. Fear not! (See Revelation 2:9-10.) To Philadelphia He said, Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name ... .Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, 1 also will keep thee (Rev. 3:8, 10). I praise God that there are churches on earth in which the majority satisfy the heart of the Son of God! Then we have the letter To Thyatira, in which the word repent occurs, although not as an address to the minister of the church. There was much to be praised: I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last [works] to be more than the first (Rev. 2:19). But there was one evil: the woman Jezebel was allowed to spread her evil influence. God had given her time to repent, but she did not repent. And then come four churches in which the word repent is used in the singular; in other words, it is addressed to the minister as

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well as the people. To Ephesus, after mentioning eight things in which they had proved their discipleship, He said, I have [this] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love (Rev. 2:4) . In all the highest relationships of life, love is everything. Between a mother and a child, a husband and a wife, a king and his people, love is the chief thing. And so it is between us and Christ. There may be diligence in His service, there may be zeal for the honor of His name, there may be patient endurance of suffering for Him, and yet Christs heart can be satisfied with nothing less than the first love. This love is the compelling love that delights in His fellowship, yielding itself wholly to His personal influence and giving a living testimony about Him. Amid all the activities of the church at Ephesus, true, tender love for Christ was lacking. It is about this that Christ said, Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works (Rev. 2:5). As we think of the failure of the church of our day in regard to making Christ known and its utter unfitness for taking up the work to which it is now being led, do we not here find the secret cause of it all, the lack of personal love for Christ? And does not the word of the Lord come to us, too: Repent ... or else 1 will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent (v. 5). To Pergamos He said, I have a few things against thee (v. 14). Their sin was that they tolerated false teachers. His word to them was repent (v. 16). It is often said that higher criticism and its advanced teaching has much to do with the loss of power in our preaching and the lack of an earnest Christian life among believers. In chapter four of this book, I quoted a writer who said, In many of our churches the great underlying doctrines and facts of the Gospel are scarcely ever referred to in preaching. He went on to say, A personal appeal to the conscience and a direct effort for conversion are seldom witnessed. I have heard more than one public testimony regarding the lack of the full and fearless preaching of Christ and His cross. Even

They say, What is Truth? It is what you decide yourself, what you create inside yourself, just for you and your satisfaction. Jesus says however, I AM the Truth, no one and nothing else is Truth. When we read and study the Bible in a submission to God that acknowledges our need of spiritual enlightenment and the opening of the Word Jesus cause the scriptures to not only bring our thoughts, intentions and attitudes into line with the Heavenly Father, but He communicates with us and brings eternal life in reality, deeper and deeper. The majority of Christians appear to be satisfied with encountering eternal life as a reality only in its initial stages. They enter in by the Way, the Truth and the Life, but after that just read the Bible with their human understanding alone. They come through the Door but do not want to enter deeply into the eternal Way: I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:9. Are you FINDING spiritual pasture to FEED upon in Christ Himself?

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The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity, He is called the Spirit of Truth. What the Holy Spirit teaches us is reality from another dimension, this is tangible truth, not just some sort of experience that is charismatic. Just as the whole experience of being saved and

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Do you know the REALITY of these words? God knows your heart, how much you are deeply sincere and how important the things of God are to you. Truth can transform your whole existence, dont be afraid of walking in the Truth for in it your joy will be full, you will have fellowship with God, He will have fellowship with you, and the blood of Christ will cleanse you from all sin. What a promise. Jesus said: I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. John 17:17. This wonderful quote from Andrew Murray will help us here: But we must notice very specially how our Saviour says, sanctify them, not in the word but in the truth. Just as in man there is a body, soul, and spirit, so in truth too. There is word-truth: A man may have the correct form of words while he does not really understand the truth they contain. Then there is thought-truth: There may be a clear intellectual understanding of truth without the experience of its power. The Bible speaks of truth as a living reality: this is the life-truth in which the very spirit of the truth we profess has entered and possessed our inner being.
(The Essential Works of Andrew Murray, page 448).

How thrilling it is to enter into a relationship with the Lord God where He maintains an intimate relationship with us and the Word and the Living Truth are known as One, and to actually have Life-Truth in our inner beings. God wants that for you, it is His will for you and in this superb provision Jesus and Truth and yourself are merged together. Jesus calls Himself The Truth, astonishing statement: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6. His Divine Life is the substance of true existence and veracity. Pilate said with scorn, what is Truth? as many confused and deluded people say today.

those who are sound in doctrine themselves are still too silent in regard to exposing preaching that they know cannot satisfy the churchs need or exercise divine power to salvation. Christs command to repent is a call to us to evaluate whether our teaching is truly the proclamation of the message of Gods inspired Word, or whether it seeks to please men by its excellency of speech and persuasive words of human wisdom. To Sardis He said, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead (Rev. 3:1). He then said, in essence, I have found no works of yours completed before My God. Remember how you have received and repent. Dr. Denney, in his address from which I have already quoted, spoke of many people who are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God (2 Tim. 3:4). They refuse to give up anything for Christs sake. I will repeat his words here: I say the world is full of people like that, and what is worse, whoever is to blame for it, the church is full of them, too. As far as these people are concerned, the Christian religion is dead. What an awful description - a church full of such people! And it was of this condition that Christ said, Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead (Rev. 3:1). It is to such a church today that Christs first word is repent (v. 3). To Laodicea He said, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot .... Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. (vv. 15, 17) Do we not have here a true picture of a great many of our churches and our Christians-neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, with a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof (2 Tim. 3:5), seeking and succeeding according to their own minds, uniting the friendship of God with the friendship of the world? As a result, the spirit of self-satisfaction and mutual self-congratulation is heard everywhere, with its deep undertone, [We are] rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. And Christ answers solemnly, [Thou] knowest not that thou art wretched. How does Christ deal with these lukewarm, self-satisfied Christians?

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He has, again, just that same solemn word for them, Repent (Rev. 3:19). Whatever the evil is, there is but one gate out of itthat hard, stern, but blessed word, repent. Just think for a moment of the four churches that have been mentioned: In Ephesus, the problem was a lack of love. Compelling love for Christ was no longer found. In Pergamos, it was a lack of truth. They had forsaken the inspired Word. They tolerated the teaching of error. In Sardis, the problem was a lack of life. They had a reputation that they were alive, but they were actually dead. In Laodicea, it was a lack of fire. The baptism of the Spirit and of fire was no longer known. Whatever the sin of a church may be, however closely the minister and people may be bound together in sin, Christ in heaven has one message, Repent. Think of what that means, coming from Him who gave His life to win our hearts for Himself. He is now seated on the throne in order to give repentance. He pleads with us by His cross and His blood. He seeks to touch the heart and break it with that love of His. With a voice of infinite holiness and tenderest compassion, He pleads with those whom His heart-searching words have warned and rousedjust that one word, repent. This is the word that He commissions the ministers of the churches to sound in the ears of His people, to bring near and to open up to them, to plead with them until they bow before it: repent. He spoke the word, first of all, to the minister of the church himself. Whether he had been found lacking in love for Christ or in the truth of Christ or in the life of Christ or in the fire of Christ, He called him to repentantly come and receive His pardon and the new experience of His blessing and power. He then sent him forth to sound out with his whole heart the note of warning and of welcome: Repent, 0 my people, repent. We are accustomed to using the word repent in our missionary work or in ordinary evangelistic preaching. However, the ministers to whom Christ has committed the oversight of the churches-and the decline of membership proves what a lack of power there has

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Hebrews 1:1,2.
Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?

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Then the only way to truly love Him is to love the Truth as well, for He is the Truth. When your heart is in harmony with Jesus Christ, longing for holiness to fill you, yielding yourself to Gods holiness - then and only then can the Word become alive to make you holy. Every Scripture has its purpose in God to create newness in Christ, if the Truth is revealed to you then you will find it is Christ Jesus Himself you are encountering, not just words for the mind to grow on. What power the Word has to make us holy! Consider the difference between a person who has been bornagain by the Spirit God, their understanding of John 3:16 for an example, and a person who has read the verse in church many times but has not yet been saved. Now - consider the difference between a Christian who reads the following Scriptures enlightened and moving in God with one who merely reads them and tries to understand with the intellect: And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:4-7.

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sustenance to our spirits. The Spirit must deal with our spirits, the Holy Spirit must make us holy. The Scriptures are ALIVE with the Living Word, which is Christ Himself. Jesus said: And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. John 17: 5-9. Why is it so that saved, sound, clever men & women can handle the Word of God, teach its words but be entire strangers to the power of God to transform them and make them holy? I am thinking here of a certain well-known teacher of the Bible and related subjects who is very popular today. He is very intellectual, he fills the mind with such knowledge and interest. But I have often thought one could listen and learn from him for twenty years and still not grow any more holy or Christ-like, or understand sanctification by the Spirit through the Word. Is intellectual growth what we want alone? Surely not. Why is this so, why does this man NOT yield to the spiritual teaching of the Word? Perhaps because he is NOT able to receive the Word that way, he does NOT yield in helplessness to the One Whose holy fire, His burning passion, His love that passeth understanding by the mind dwells in the Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Living Word. Only He can enlighten spiritually and He does this not because we are clever enough to study well, but because we are dead to ourselves and our own cleverness:

been in their preaching and spiritual lives-are called to take up the word repent in its deeper meaning. The church of Christ is on the decline. In the seven churches of Revelation, we have examples of the various stages of spiritual decline in our churches today, and their implications. In the Ephesus stage, the defection begins with the loss of the first love, even amid great zeal for the truth. In the Pergamos stage, we discover a step lower: Gods Holy Word is no longer taken as the only standard of teaching. In the Sardis stage, the evil becomes still more manifest: with a reputation for being alive, the church is dead. In the Laodicea stage, it reaches its full growth: people are so utterly unconscious of anything wrong, so satisfied with themselves and with each other, so blind to what Christ calls their wretchedness and nakedness, that they proudly boast in their meetings and reports: Rich, and increased with goods, and hav[ing] need of nothing (Rev. 3:17). What a work it is for the ministers of the churches to take that word repent from Christs own lips while on their knees, to bow to it with their whole hearts, and then in the power of His Spirit to carry it throughout the church as the one great means of revival and restoration! Let no one think, This message is too hard. Who can bear it? Listen to what Christ says of it: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in (vv. 19-20). Do not be afraid, 0 minister of God, to sound the word repent loudly and clearly. It is Christs infinite love that speaks the word, that will give the blessing with it, that will reveal Himself to His penitent people. Out of the fullness of a living faith in the love of Christ, call believers to repent in the assurance of His welcome and His blessing. Christ closes each of these seven letters with these words: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). Let the minister of Christ take these words into the depth of his heart. Let him pray and believe until he is sure the blessed Spirit is speaking through him.

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Let him tell the church that the power of the Spirit is working to reveal Christ and His love. And let him from this point forward carry on Christs work as never before. Let him be assured that, in answer to much prayer, the mighty power of the Spirit will secretly work and will restore Gods children in the path of repentance to a new and more abundant life. Then, there will no longer be any reason to complain of the decline in membership or of a lack of loyalty to Christ and His service. (End of Quote)

righteous Judge in infinite love and sacrifice, bearing the full penalty that His own holiness required of the sinner.
(Page 64, Major Bible Themes by Lewis Sperry Chafer)

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THE TRUTH IS ALIVE!

LOVING THE TRUTH IN SOCIETY.

It is not easy to love the truth and stick with it in society. Our Australian society has degenerated deeper into atheism, humanism, immorality and godless behaviour in the last few years. This fall of society into disintegration is grievous to any person of God, looking on in revulsion. It is simple enough to see the reasons why! When God is denied mankind is glorified, when there are no absolute standards of right and wrong, then anything is acceptable as man can make up his own mind about what is sinful or not, without God to give light then godlessness grows like a mushroom in the dark. Can it be true that atheists want there to be no God? Yes, and some are even becoming bold enough to declare that they do NOT want God to exist. Here is a quote from the book The Last Word by Thomas Nagel , professor of philosophy and law at New York University. Nagel says: I believe this one manifestation of a fear of religion which has large and often pernicious consequences for modern intellectual life. In speaking of the fear of religion, I dont mean to refer to the entirely reasonable hostility toward certain established religions and religious institutions, in virtue of their objectionable moral doctrines, social policies and political influence. Nor am I referring to the association of many

Many Christians today use the Scriptures as a means to growth in the intellect, but neglect the deeper use of the Scriptures which is to bring real, actual Life from God and sanctification: But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:13,14. The most important way of sanctification that God uses is His wonderful Word. We can see this clearly when we consider initial salvation itself. Before we are sa ved we might gra sp t he Gospel message well enough, we understand that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for the sin of the WHOLE WORLD, we can know that must trust Him and Him alone and so on. But, we are not saved until the whole message becomes Life through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Then and only then do we glory in the fact that Jesus our Saviour has done it all on our behalf, He died to set us free. Everything is different then, the Word becomes spiritual enlightenment and we thrill in its truth about salvation. So it is with all the word of God. It cannot be assimilated by the intellect alone, that is not Life in the Spirit it is merely reading and studying the Bible like any great book of literature. And of course the opening of the Word can only be done by God Himself, we can never cause by self effort the Scriptures to bring deeper and deeper spiritual

Do you love truth enough to put yourself out and work hard to study and learn the Word of God properly? If we want to walk with God we must walk with Truth, for God the Father is Truth, He is True: He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, 20 just and right is he. Deuteronomy 32:4. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3. I was at a multi-cultural religious meeting once, investigating the proceedings. A Muslim leader declared that God would never give His Son as a sacrifice for sin. He said that God has no Son, and it would be immoral on the ground that God could not in righteousness lay the sins of the guilty on an innocent victim. What is the real TRUTH about this, the most important of all doctrines in the Word of God? The Bible itself IS the truth about Christs sacrifice, not what other religions or people think or reason. As we study it we find that Christ was not an unwilling victim, Scripture shows that He was in fullest sympathy with the Fathers will and was moved with compassion by the same wondrous love that the Father had for lost sinners. John 13:1; Hebrews 10:7. Also it is revealed that the Son and the Father are One. It was God in the Son who was offering Himself to die on the Cross and make reconciliation for the world, to bring sinners to Himself. 2 Corinthians 5:19. Here is what Lewis Sperry-Chafer writes about this: Far from the death of Christ being an immoral imposition, it was God Himself, the

religious beliefs with superstition and the acceptance of evident empirical falsehoods. I am talking about something much deeper namely, the fear of religion itself. I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and wellinformed people I know are religious believers. It isnt just that I dont believe in God and, naturally, hope that Im right in my belief. Its that I hope there is no God! I dont want there to be a God; I dont want the universe to be like that.
Why would anyone FEAR the concept of God?

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Well, certainly In Nagels case there would be fear of judgement, awareness that if God exists then his life does not measure up, fear of the supernatural and being comfortable in materialism, fear that mankind is not the big controlling authority that many want mankind to be. Nagel does not explain his fear and need to embrace atheism in any detail. Do you understand fully that our society today is post-Christian? There is enmity against God running riot out there. We Christians must stand with the Truth of Gods Word in every instance, we must not give into the godless on any occasion. This is not easy when it involves education, work-place experiences, health issues, entertainment, getting on with the neighbours, mixing in society in general, watching television and absorbing propaganda, even dealing with worldly churches can be difficult and alarming. I do not mean that we should allow ourselves to become belligerent and picky, always causing scenes. I do mean that we must stand with Truth and love truth, not ever compromising our absolutes for the sake of relationships or because it is expedient for self. This can be a costly stand, we can lose jobs, friends, church fellowships, entertaining experiences, family relationships and so on because we love the truth and will not find the middle ground. Too bad, so be it. It is totally impossible to determine what is right or wrong without the truth of Gods Word. During the Federal election period this year we went to hear the local candidates speak at a Baptist church meeting, called for that purpose. Five candidates were on the stage

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being asked questions by the audience. One man stood up to ask his question, it was the most enlightening of all, he said: I asked my little girl what she would ask the candidates and she said, ask them, Daddy, if they love Jesus and if He is their Saviour. So, I am asking that right now. Two of the candidates answered well, in the affirmative, and were obviously born-again Christians. The other three gave interesting answers because they all ditched the actual question and sought earnestly to prove how honest, moral, kind and well brought up they were, by fine parents. But, when you think about it under the search-light of God, if they were not saved people then they had no idea at all what real honesty, morality, kindness or purity really are. Real goodness can only be derived from where goodness comes from, the source is God Himself. That is why the first and greatest commandment is: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mark 12:30. Do you believe the Truth about this? Do you realise that a godless society with an atheistic Prime Minister can never produce a country that stands for the right and rejects the wrong? The Christian churches should be light beacons in the darkness, but they often are so worldly that their light has gone out and become darkness. It is obvious that saved believers who obey the Lord Jesus Christ are also at enmity with the society we live in as Christ was, our Lord informed us of this. We must live with and suffer this bad feeling, even hatred towards us like brave soldiers, and stand our ground without backing down or accepting the poison of the atheists: If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.: John 15:18,19. Do you love the Truth enough to suffer for it?

NO ABSOLUTE TRUTH?

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The cry today is that truth itself is only subjective. It is not objective and absolute. Have you heard people say, your truth is your truth, my truth is my truth. As though we can create truth that suits ourselves, and that truth varies from person to person because truth can be tailored to fit the preference of each person individually. How foolish this is, for truth is always what it is, truth cannot be changed to fit each person, what a topsy-turvy world it would be if that was so. I say, my truth is that two and two equal five , you say, my truth is two and two equal four. I say, the sun rises in the South and sets in the North. You say , it rises in the East and sets in the West. NO, TRUTH IS ALWAYS THE SAME. Two and two always equal four, the sun always rises in the East and sets in the West. So too Gods Truth can be relied on absolutely, love it and stand for it just as you stand for the Truth incarnate, Jesus Christ. It is NOT intolerant to do so. Do not be intimidated into rejecting truth because someone says, ah, but that is just your opinion. The Bible truths are not just your opinion or your beliefs, they are the Word of the living God. I have been told that I want everyone to agree with my own doctrines. NO, I want us all to read the Bible and study it in a proper Bible not a counterfeit New Age version- and I want us all to agree with its doctrines which are Gods doctrines. Many today do not know what those doctrines are, and have created their own beliefs from messages on greeting cards, the back cover page of some Christian books, and words that preachers on television have spoken. Many people have said to me something like this, but Pastor so-and-so said that we can lose our salvation, what do you believe about this? ( Or it could be about the Rapture being Pre-Trib or Post-Trib etc). I generally say that I dont care what Pastor so-and-so says, and I have NO mere belief about the subject. The Bible says certain things and I trust and adhere to the truth of the Word of God.