• Did Peter Deserve Paul's Rebuke?
• Earthly Expectations
• Hook's Points
• A "Hands On" Creator
• Religion in Our Schools
• What I Hear From You
• "In Other Words"

Most of you I have never seen, but I feel a special kindred with you as these papers are sent out. All are welcome. Send subs for the printed copy to me. To receive it by e-mail, do not contact me or Vic. Use a new, automatic method: just send an e-mail to freedomsring-subscribe@egroups.com. You will receive a confirmation. To be removed, send an e-mail to freedomsring-unsubscribe@egroups.com.

Spanish project revived: Due to some unexpected hindrances, the translation project has been stalled. But now there is a renewed determination to expedite it. If you are capable and willing to help put Free In Christ into Spanish, or help put the manuscript into camera-ready copy, please contact Robert Acosta at Robert-Acosta@EdisonMission.Com, Ph.: 949-798-7401, or 22322 Kirkwood, Lake Forest, CA 92630.

Church growth in India: "The number of members of the church in India is at the point of passing U.S. membership totals. At a recent annual India conference it was estimated that there are 25,000-plus preachers in that country." (Christian Chronicle, August 1999.) That amazing news emphasizes the opportunity for sending books there. The preachers are eager for books. The 1000 copies of the Telugu version of Free In Christ is hardly a drop in the bucket of need, especially noting that India now has reached one billion in population. We should supply them an unlimited source of grace-oriented materials. I am confident you will continue to work with me to help supply a bit of it.

Books are powerful tools. Your testimonials confirm that truth emphatically. Books are one of the least expensive and most practical methods of teaching. Recently, a brother ordered a set of my five books, plus The Death of the Custodian and The Twisted Scriptures for each of ten members of his family! At $42.00 per set, he considered it a profitable investment in the spiritual life of his family.

Has Free In Christ helped you? If so, why not give copies to others who are willing to read it? If you wish to pass along more of the books than you can afford to pay for, just ask for them, and we will send them free for distribution. All you need is the concern. You are our advertisers!

Several years ago I reprinted Carl Ketcherside’s The Death of the Custodian, and just now I have re-read it. What a powerful little book! For a person with our traditional view of law, this book can be life-changing. Many have testified to that. The $5.00 (plus postage) cost of this study of the covenants can be multiplied a thousand fold in value. If you wish to read it and cannot afford the cost, I will send you a free copy. I plead with elders and teachers to study this twelve-lesson material with your congregation. It can change the way the congregation views the new covenant Scriptures.

Our "congregation" has grown beyond estimation since leaving the pulpit and starting this ministry. Too many of my listeners, I fear, were a sort of captive audience attending to fulfill a duty. You who read my stuff do it by choice. You who donate to pay for this work are full partners in it. $4,596.83 is in the work fund now which should care for the Spanish printing. This enterprise costs less than a fourth of the salary of a con-gregational minister! I receive no salary from your donations.

It is puzzling to me that some who profess greatest spirituality with the Holy Spirit in the "inner man" (Eph. 3:16) rely so heavily on physical feelings for confirmation.

I was wrong on two counts! First, for many years I thought that women were inherently ashamed to display their unclothed or scantily-clad bodies. I have been proven wrong! Well, not all women are brazen, but it seems that most all who think their bodies are beautiful are willing to expose them to the gaze of the public. Second, for some years I have been predicting that by the end of the century frontal nudity on TV would be common. But I missed it by about a square foot of fabric! Mark Twain quipped that man is the only animal that can blush – or needs to. Do we need to, or are we just animals?

There is no record in the Scriptures of one believer calling another disciple a Christian.

Somebody evidently decided that our songs should all be praise to God, and that seems to be the trend now. I have always been in favor of praising God but not at the exclusion of other purposes of singing. Now, I would ask, just when are we to be "addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Eph. 5:19) if it is not done in the assemblies? Or has the Delete key been hit on that exhortation through modern translations?

With delight some anticipate a supposed "rapture" when they will be caught up from those about them who are unsaved. Would I not be a bit selfish to find glee in such an expectation if the ones being left behind are my loved ones? Or any doomed person?

The word Christian is not used in the Scriptures as an adjective, such as Christian people, a Christian school, or Christian literature.

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