• Translation Into Three Languages!
• My Conversion Experience
• Hook's Points
• The Coming of the Lord #1
• What I Hear From You
• What Do You Mean "Faith Only?"

This edition of FR is delayed. I have had some distractions and impediments, one of them being a computer crash which has brought my work to a halt for a matter of weeks. But I have no regular schedule for publication. Email subscriptions have reached almost 1000! It is free for the asking, delivered either by email or in print.

The ninth printing of Free in Christ arrived last week. I pay for its printings and recover $1.00 per book given free. That by no means covers its cost. Prices have doubled and tripled since I began publishing the books, but I have stayed with my nominal original prices.

During May and June I sent out 504 free copies of FIC for you who support this ministry. Our working fund stands at $2,516.94.

Lately there has been more interest in our roots as indicated by orders for Our Heritage of Unity and Fellowship, selected writings of Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett ($10) and The Stone-Campbell Movement, by Leroy Garrett ($22). Many of our people are truly surprised and pleased to learn of our heritage.

Mission Messenger, the publication of Carl Ketcherside for 1957 through 1975 is now accessible online in its completeness. Natalie Murrie with Bob Lewis have labored long to put every edition of that cutting-edge publication online for the whole world to read. May God bless them for their persistent work and may he bless thousands who will read Carl’s writings. Go to http://www.unity-in-diversity.org or http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/people/wcketcherside.html

Also, you may now read eight of Carl’s books at our web site. The only books of his that are in print are the two that I reprint, The Twisted Scriptures ($6.00) and The Death of the Custodian ($5.00). (Add $1.50 for orders under $25.00).

Literally? "..that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.." (Phil. 2:10) Where is that place under the earth where humans exist in fleshly bodies? Or in heaven either?

Your gracious response pushes me to continue. It is so rewarding to reach out to you through Freedom’s Ring with my groping for truth. Knowing that you are eager also to have your concepts challenged and confirmed emboldens me. I, like so many others, once had the mindset that made me look for all the flaws in the teachings of others. That is proper to an extent. I have tried to change that approach, now looking more for the good and truth being taught, knowing that no one is without flaw.

John York, our pulpit minister for just over a year is leaving this month to teach Bible at David Lipscomb University. A gifted man! Their gain; our loss.

Zealous evangelism. Who are most zealous in evangelistic work? It is those who are most convinced that every person is lost without Christ. Further, sad to state, those who think they are the only ones who are preaching the truth and are on the right course are the more zealous. Without realizing it, they divert from preaching salvation in Christ to include salvation in their segment of the church. Their limiting judgments are made a part of the gospel they preach. So all the narrowed, exclusive, and legalistic divisions are exported zealously to unsuspecting people of other nations. When a group becomes more accepting, however, it tends to become less evangelistic and expansive.

Weather: My native state of Texas has been having a bad summer. Yesterday it reached 111 degrees in Dallas while it got up to 73 here in Portland. Texans are happy to pay some price for the privilege of living there, and it is only right that there be some compensation for living in Oregon! :)

SPRINGFIELD, OR is just down the interstate. Close to home. Everybody has put his/her own spin to the tragic school shooting. Suggested simple solutions come from simple minds. But one factor that I do not hear as a cause/solution is compulsory education. We force misfits who can be detected by teachers and counselors at an early age into the mainstream where their frustrations are fed. Their rights become a menace to normal children. Their right is to be trained and disciplined in a separate, more rigid system.

Keiko, the whale continues to make the news stories as time is nearing for taking him to Iceland for eventual release. But how long has it been since you have seen news stories of the starving children in third world countries? Millions of dollars and much hype for one whale, but don’t mention starving children!

I have to pay for Ted Kaczynski’s crimes as the infamous Unabomber. In mailing out books, I have stamped hundreds of packages of books weighing up to five pounds and dropped them in the drop boxes. Because of his abuse of the mails, we are no longer allowed to mail packages over one pound in those drop boxes. The nearest post office is seven miles per round trip in Aloha. At 31 cents per mile, that costs me $2.17 for each trip with two to five trips weekly. Of course, he costs you also as your taxes pay for his expensive upkeep in maximum security. But his crime pays him. He lived an austere life without conveniences, health insurance, etc. Now he has three meals per day provided with health care and all bills paid for the rest of his life.

In 1927, the 680 acres of land on which the new ACU campus was to be built cost less than an older 3-bedroom frame house in Portland costs now!

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