by Garold Andersen
"If you hold to my teaching, you are truly my disciples: then you
will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)
“Arbeit macht frei” was the phrase written over Nazi work camps during the Second World War: Work will make you free. It’s a great slogan for anyone wanting to build a war machine. Today we don’t buy it. In our enlightened, internet-connected world we know that truth, not work, is the key to freedom. So we scour books, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet, searching for those nuggets of truth that will continue our great liberation. The search, however, reveals a snag.
"The truth will set you free." What truth? Which articles should we believe? Which sites are trustworthy? Which sources are reliable? The longer we dig for the truth, the more our new slogan seems no better than "Arbeit macht frei". If anything, we sense a greater burden rather than a deeper freedom. "You will know the truth …" That's the maddening part. How can we know the truth? Some would say you can't: truth is just a fable. Others would say it's relative. Jesus said it's relational.
Of course, when Jesus spoke of truth he wasn't referring to the superficial information one gleans from the Internet. He also wasn't speaking of math, science, or religious knowledge, which comes in varying colors and shades. Jesus was instead speaking of the absolute, unchangeable core of life: truth. Is there a foundational truth that gives meaning to this human existence? Is there a deeper understanding that could give freedom to the mind and soul, even if the body were in chains? Jesus said, "Yes, I am that truth."
This is where many people get into trouble. They see the sign, which reads “this way to truth”, and think it's the camping ground of the kingdom of truth. They take off their shoes and start pitching their tents when the real journey has yet to begin. "Jesus is the answer" may be a nerve-calming mantra, but it will never liberate the soul. The freedom we truly desire is not found in a "fill in the blank" test. Jesus isn't the answer; He is the truth.
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Posted by Walt as Ministries, The Bible at 10:29 PM EDT
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by Thomas E. Brewton
Whence came the deformed conceptions of anti-Constitutional, regulatory government and judicial activism?
American liberal-socialism is the gnostic descendant of the French Revolution and its Reign of Terror. The genealogical connection begins with Henri de Saint-Simon, the French intellectual who codified the doctrine of socialism in the first decades of the 1800s, shortly after the Revolution.
His colleagues and followers, including Auguste Comte, formed a body of disciples known as the Saint-Simonians. They spread the Gnostic gospel to German universities, where it became mixed with the philosophies of Fichte and Hegel.
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Posted by Walt as Apostasy at 12:55 PM EDT
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by Robert E. Meyer
Perhaps you are one of those people who often wonder how come there are so many professing Christians in America, yet the culture is deteriorating like a timber foundation infested with termites and dry rot.
My own recent experience is a nut shell illustration of the principle problem.
Last fall, my state was one of several to offer a binding voter referendum defining the parameters of legal marriage. Our local Unitarian Universalist fellowship placed up a large banner under the sign identifying the location of their organization. The banner encouraged passers-by to vote no on the amendment.
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Posted by Walt as Church, Family Values at 10:35 PM EDT
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by Thomas E. Brewton
We can trust God completely to see us through adversity.
Sunday's sermon at the Long Ridge Congregational Church (non-UCC) in North Stamford, Connecticut, was delivered by Reverend David Newberry. His texts, from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, were examples of humans' weakness and doubt that God would, or could, sustain them in times of peril.
Exodus 3 in the Old Testament is one of the most famous passages in the Bible. A young Moses is shepherding his father-in-law's sheep on the desert edge, when he sees a bush that is burning, but is not consumed by the flames, symbolizing that God is existence itself, the source of all energy and matter, neither becoming nor ending. From the burning bush God tells Moses:
Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. (Exodus 3:16)
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Posted by Walt as The Bible, Witnessing at 12:04 AM EST
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Tampa area missionary faces challenges in Africa
by Jeff Lukens
Most people in America focus on gaining ever more money, power and status. Once in a great while, you come across someone who could have these treasures abundantly, but chooses not to seek them. Instead, he or she strives for a higher purpose in life. This is a story of such a person.
About five years ago, I would journey across Tampa every Monday night to the Seminole Heights area to attend a Bible study with about 100 other men. I had been doing this for a few years, and over time I had become the treasurer of the group.
One night I was in front of the class giving the treasurer's report, and asked for a volunteer to be my assistant treasurer. Out of the crowd, one person came forward. His name was Jim Smith.
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Posted by Walt as Personal Testimonies, Witnessing at 11:31 PM EST
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