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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

Sin is Rooted in the Hearts of Men [podcast]


“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

Jesus taught us that man’s sin comes out of his “desperately wicked” heart (Jeremiah 17:9).

“And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Mark 7:20-23

Mankind’s core dilemma is sin (Romans 1-3). Jesus Christ came and died to “save his people from their sins,“ to “taketh away the sin of the world,“ and not to merely deal with fallen man on a surface level as on a mental level (Matthew 1:21; John 1:29). God doesn’t band aid broken things, He heals and makes them whole to the root because the root determines the fruit (Matthew 12:33; Luke 4:18, etc.). Christ’s salvation is perfect. Evil is in our hearts and proceeds forth from that wicked heart until Christ regenerates us (Genesis 6:5, 12; Jeremiah 17:9; John 3:3, 7; Titus 3:5-7). This is why the sinner must of divine necessity be born again, must be made completely new “by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5-7). Then and not before then, the born again saint of Christ is made a  “a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).

The Truth about Fallen Mankind – That Includes You!

“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

“And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” Genesis 6:12

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. … O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Romans 7:18, 24

Is Romans 7 Before or After Paul’s Salvation?

Don’t trust yourself, trust God and deny self! “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered” (Proverbs 26:28).

Only Satan and his children live by the diabolical edict of “be true to yourself.” Knowing how wretched they are of themselves, without Christ, those who are known of God live by “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

People don’t have a “mental health” problem, they have a SIN problem and sin is what gives way, gives full access to Satan!

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” Hebrews 12:14

“The state of continual sanctification, that life of purity and detachment from the world and all it’s lusts, without which detachment and sanctity no man shall see the Lord-shall never enjoy His presence in the world of blessedness. To see God, in the Hebrew phrase, is to enjoy Him; and without holiness of heart and life this is impossible. No soul can be fit for heaven that has not suitable dispositions for the place.” Adam Clark’s commentary on Holiness. Hebrews 12:14

YOUR PRAYER FOR A PURE HEART: Holy Father, I come to You in the name of Jesus, desiring to be pure in heart so that I may see, enjoy, and be with You. Help me please dear LORD. Purify my heart and life of all wicked imaginations and iniquity that defile me in Your holy eyes. Please purify and cleanse me LORD and I know You require me to purify myself and to obey You. In Jesus’ name, please forgive all my sins by Thy precious blood dear LORD Jesus. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Abiding

Acquainted and Nourished [podcast]


“Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.” Job 22:21

“nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine”

“If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.” 1 Timothy 4:6

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Abiding

“Be Strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus” – 2 Timothy Chapter 2 [podcast]


A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus

1  Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

5  And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

6  The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

7  Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

8  Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:

9  Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

10  Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

11  It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

A Workman Approved by God

14  Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

20  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

22  Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

23  But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

24  And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

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