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“DAWN of LIBERTY”

-Extracts by Michael Phillips.

Dieder Palacki from behind the Iron Curtain addresses the West…

 

It was several long moments before he at last spoke.  “It has

been a curious past several days,” he began, speaking softly.

“I have been listening with great interest to the many discussions

and exhortations, all with the end in view of promoting the

Christian faith in a region of the world where one might conclude

never before had a single soul heard the name Jesus of Nazareth.”

 

“I must admit that when the invitation came to join you, and even

to address this gathering, I found myself seized with a certain

trepidation.  As you know, large assemblies of Christians such

as this have not been customary where I come from, and thus

most of my work among Christians has been in small groups of

less than one hundred.  Addressing several thousand I found a

very intimidating prospect.”

 

“In the end however, I decided to join you, for we pastors and

Christians from the regions formerly behind the Iron Curtain are

certainly excited about the new possibilities for evangelism in our

nations too.”

 

“But as I listened to more and more talk of money and pamphlets,

of missionaries being sent and books being shipped, of teachers

and pastors coming to help and train us in spreading the gospel,

and of your gospel TV and radio stations and your gospel trains

and gospel trucks full of your Western-style gospel paraphernalia –

your badges and tracts and stickers and music and gaily written

happiness-books with their joy-filled, razzle-dazzle Christianity – a

knot has steadily risen in my stomach.”

 

“Do not forget, I have spent much time in your countries.  I have

been in your churches and bookstores.  I have witnessed with my

own eyes the trappings of your so-called spiritual prosperity,

which is really no prosperity at all, but a hollow empty shell.”

 

“Something within me wants to shout and say to you all, “Go

home to your contented and wealthy homes and communities

and churches.  The Good News of Jesus Christ is alive and

vibrant and is fully capable of carrying itself abroad into the hearts

of hungry men and women without the benefit of your expensive

and lavish commercial efforts on its behalf.”

 

“Why do you think that those of us such as my brothers

Wurmbrand and Duduman and Vins and others have been

risking our lives for all these years?  Each of us has been

imprisoned, beaten, tortured, humiliated because of our preaching

of Christ’s gospel. Thousands upon thousands of our fellow Poles

and Russians and Slavs and East Germans have laid their lives on

the line for the sake of their faith and in order to share that faith with

others.”

 

“I tell you, my friends, God’s church is alive and well in the areas

you represent as lost and in such desperate need.  Small, perhaps,

it may be, but it is alive and thriving because in our corners of the

world there is a price to be paid to call yourself a disciple of the

Lord Jesus Christ.  A price that cannot be measured, as you seem

to measure all things – by money.  No, you who hear my words who

I hope and pray are my brothers and sisters, it costs to believe in

the East.  It costs all you have to be a Christian.  So there are very

few lukewarm, halfhearted souls among us.  To be halfhearted can

cost you your life!”

 

“For years we have tried to alert you Christians of the West to the

true state of affairs behind the Iron Curtain.  We have written, we

have traveled, we have spoken, we have prayed, we have wept.”

 

“How many of you listened to us?”

“My brother and friend Alexandr Solzhenitsyn attempted for a

decade to be heard, as have so many others.  We asked for your

prayers, for Bibles, for help in teaching and training our people.

And some help did come, for which we were grateful.”

 

“But the rest of you continued to feed your own mammoth

religious systems, building yet bigger and bigger transmitting

stations and more television stations and publishing more books –

all in the name of proclaiming the gospel.”

 

“But did you ever give of yourselves?  Did you come help us?  Did

you pray for us?  Did you suffer and die and starve with us?  How

much did you really care about the people you now so pompously

think you will save for the kingdom?”

 

“Where have you been all this time?  We needed your help and

prayers and support and Bibles when times were hard!  We have

been beaten and imprisoned and even killed for the gospel’s sake.

Where were you when it counted?  We lived our faith behind the

Iron Curtain, and now that it is down, who is to say we even want

you coming with your pompous egoism and self-reliance?….  Do

you truly expect us to share your enthusiasm and welcome you

and your wealthy brand of capitalistic Christianity with open arms?”

 

“Think again, my friends, those I would still call my brothers and

sisters in spite of your blindness.  Pause and consider the egotism

of your presumption and the worldliness of your method.”

 

By now the auditorium was filled with the heaviness of shocked

silence.  No one dared move a muscle or so much as shift in his

seat.  But Palacki’s chastening diatribe was not over yet.

 

“How dare you well-fed, contented, prosperous Christians of the

West, come here now and think you can throw your money at us

poor unfortunates and suddenly save the world with all the gadgets

and inventions and high-tech wizardry of electronic spirituality!  You

with your multi-million-dollar architecturally imposing churches, you

with your computer Bibles and preprogrammed Bible Studies, you

with your posh cars and soft, upholstered pews, your grand libraries

of Christian books, your leather-bound reference Bibles, you who have

all the answers to the world’s ills nicely at hand to spout off when

asked.”

 

“Have we Christians of the East been idle all this time?  What

would you have us to do, go off quietly somewhere so you can

come in and pat yourselves on the back before your watching

congregations and claim credit for saving all the souls who would

be lost without you?”

 

“No my shallow brothers and sisters of wealthy, contented

Western evangelicalism!  Build a prayer tower or a glass church

somewhere, but think not that your money can save souls.  Go

back from whence you came, and spend your evangelistic self-

gratifying mammon elsewhere!”

 

Suddenly he stopped, stood another two or three seconds gazing

at his listeners with calm countenance, yet flaming eyes.  Then,

with decisive motion he ripped the check he was still holding into

several pieces and let it drop to the floor.

 

Palacki turned and strode off the platform and out of sight, leaving

his hearers gaping in stunned silence.

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Abiding

Victory Over “Evil Concupiscence” and Every Sexual Sin [podcast]


“Flee fornication”

“Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16  What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17  But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18  Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:15-20

“Concupiscence” appears 3 times in God’s Word and speaking of having a secret desire for that which is forbidden, namely in sexual lust.

“But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.” Romans 7:8

“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:” Colossians 3:5

“Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:” 1 Thessalonians 4:5

Revelation 19:7-9

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.” 

Colossians 3:1-6

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:”  

Memorize Colossians 3:3

“Submerge yourself deeper and deeper into Jesus until you sink out of sight.”!! Unknown

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

“Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. 2  For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. 3  For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; 5  Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: 6  That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 7  For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. 8  He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.” 

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23

Read Psalms 51 and Romans 6 each morning.

PRAYER: Holy Father, please forgive my many sins. Please touch this vessel all the way to the core of who You made me to be. Do Your work in this life You gave. Please unite my heart to fear Thy name and purify this heart O LORD. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Return of Jesus and Being Ready

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Abiding

The Simplicity of Real Fellowship [podcast]


Satan thinks he has Stolen the Fellowship of the Saints

“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Revelation 12:12

Exhorting God’s People “Daily”

“But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:13

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Colossians 3:16

“Feed my sheep”

So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”  John 21:15-17

Simplicity in Fellowship

“And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”  Acts 2:42

They “continued steadfastly in …

  • “the apostles doctrines”
  • “fellowship”
  • “breaking bread”
  • “prayers”

“Great podcast. Thank you. As I was listening I was thinking about all the many churches we have attended through the years. And the one thing missing was love for Jesus. Everything was robotic. Hands raised in singing but no hearts raised. All scripted. You follow the script then go home. No honesty about their lives! All fake. Nothing more than a religious gathering. The disciples of old turned the world upside down because of their love for their Savior! They were willing to die for Him and they did! All these fake Christians do is wear outward religious garb and somehow think Jesus doesn’t know – as in Matthew 23. How refreshing it is to be around people who love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind! (Mat 22:37). Even if it is mostly online and as they live their daily lives. At least it is all about Jesus and not self! And I want to be with people who are Christ-centered not self-centered!” Karen Cochran

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please do Your work in this vessel that is Yours. Help me to love You more and to live to serve others as You did LORD Jesus. Make me holy as You are holy. Let this life be crucified and raised up by You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Support | STORE | Podcasts | Jail/Prison MinistryMexico Mission here | All Ministry Updates | The Return of ChristStewardshipApostate Modern Church Exposed | Beware of the BUZZ WORD Bandits [podcast] | Preach the WordWolves Exposed | Church Membership Exposed | 100’s of Christ-centered, Scripture-rich Podcasts | Knowing God | The Cross Life | Christology = the Study of Christ

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Abiding

Fruitfulness is Found in Abiding in Christ [podcast]


“A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.” Proverbs 28:20

Jesus is the True Vine

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:1-7

“The understanding is, if I am truly abiding in Christ (the Vine, my first love) then the fruit will come from Him, and not from me—of my own making—but through me. Again, it’s relationship with Christ that is the root of the matter, and not just outwardly keeping a list of rules (living under the law).

‘Abiding fruitfulness’—so loaded with meaning!

    1. for your own state of abiding in Christ
    2. for the fruit that is brought forth because you are abiding in Christ (the Vine) Who gives life to and bears the fruit
    3. that the fruit itself (fruit of the Spirit, souls of men and all good works that are born of the Spirit) will abide (remain) and flourish in God’s kingdom on earth and in eternity.” Debbie L.

IF JESUS is purging you, rejoice—because that means He’s born good fruit in your life and wants to bring forth more! Boom.

“Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” John 15:2

*Read that again.

IF you are not a DOER of God’s Word, it proves you are not saved and are a lukewarm hell bound rebel. Repent now and bring forth fruit to prove it (Matthew 3:7-10; 7:21; Titus 1:16; 1 John 2:4; Revelation 2:26, etc.).

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:22

HOW DID JESUS tell us to know/discern ourselves and others?

The FRUIT of our lives (Matthew 7:16,20).

The root determines the fruit.

Are you rooted in Christ?

Our works are the good fruit born out of Christ’s salvation and present work in our lives. Those good works do not save us but are a mere outworking of His great salvation in us.

FRUIT vs GIFTS

There are lots of people bragging about their GIFTS which alone tells you they are not in Christ who taught that the greatest among us will be the SERVANT of all—the FRUIT of God’s love in the true remnant disciple (Matthew 20:24-28; 23:8-12).

Gospel Hint: God is interested in a real relationship with those who choose Him. That relationship will always bear good fruit. FRUIT is the crop of an abiding relationship with Jesus which is the stated reason that God the Father sent His only begotten Son (John 15:1-16; 17:3). Anyone can operate in or even fake gifts. Gifts are glitter. Fruit is foundation! The root determines the fruit. What fruit is being born, produced in your life? Are you asking God to make you one with Him? Read John 17.

In the divine economy, FRUIT is much more important than GIFT because good FRUIT can only come out of relationship.

GOD is interested in FRUIT that only comes from a ROOTED abiding relationship! See Matthew 3:7-10; John 15, etc. Jesus foretold that on Judgment Day “MANY” will call out to Him with “Lord, Lord” as they boast of the GIFTS they operated in. “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:19-23).

Taking up the cross, suffering the death of self, is not earning us salvation… it’s simply rendering worship-filled “obedience to the faith” (Romans 1:5) – faith in the ONE who bled on that cross to earn salvation for us, all by Himself!

Support | STORE | Podcasts | Jail/Prison MinistryMexico Mission here | Prayer | Manhood | The Conquering Cross of Christ [podcast]The Cross VictorySin – Man’s Core Problem

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