James Arendt
REMEMBER, LOVE NEVER FAILS. All the confession sessions in the world are not going to do it! All the introspection, analysing, and agonising, are merely works of the flesh, which will have to be repeated next week: "Battles Never Cease! "And we'll try to expound more fully on this subject at a later date, but let it suffice for the moment to say that, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all".
ONLY GOD CAN DO IT! OUR SALVATION IS ONLY BY GRACE, NEVER BY WORKS, OR CONFESSION SESSIONS, OR BATTLING IN THE FLESH WITH OUR SINS. IF GOD CAN'T DO IT, NOBODY CAN. And if you're trying to attain some state of sinless perfection through some false doctrine of eradication, such as the "holiness" people pretend to have, you're doomed to disappointment!--You'll never make it! Not even Paul counted himself to have attained. He kept making mistakes for the rest of his life, and pulled the classic boner of all time, by trying to please the system church, which permanently cost him his freedom--and his head. Nevertheless he was a good apostle, a faithful evangelist, and did a tremendous job, in spite of all of his shortcomings, failures, sins, mistakes, and blunders.
IF YOU THINK THE TIME'S COMING WHEN YOU'LL NO LONGER HAVE TO FIGHT SELF, AND SIN, AND THE "OLD MAN", YOU'RE MISTAKEN! I'm still at it! How about you? That's why we have so many victories: we have so many battles, and so much to fight against--mostly our own stinking selves!
GOD KNOWS, WE SHOULD BE GROWING, AND MAKING SOME PROGRESS, AND PASSING A FEW TESTS, and surviving a few trials and having a few triumphs and testimonies, but if you think you're going to make sinless saints, overnight wonders, out of these poor bungling babes, I'm afraid you have another thing coming!
I HAVE A HARD TIME BAWLING OTHER PEOPLE PUT FOR THE SAME THINGS I'M GUILTY OF myself, and of which most of us are guilty, even worse, so about all I can do is give'em hell for it momentarily, confess what a helluva mess I made along the same line, weep a little, cry a little, sympathise a little, and take each other in each other's arms, forgive each other, and try again.
FOR IF YE FORGIVE NOT MEN THEIR TRESPASSES, NEITHER WILL YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN FORGIVE YOU YOUR TRESPASSES"--And you've got plenty of them! Let's face it--only bigger and even worse, because of your importance and the size of your job. "Seek not therefore to be teachers, for unto you is the greater condemnation." I think all of you are going to find out sooner or later, that the "thorn in the flesh" God is going to use to keep you humble, even as He did with the great Apostle Paul, is probably going to be some besetting sin, which you'll have to fight for the rest of your life, which will take a lot of the Grace of God to keep overcoming, and keep battling, for the rest of your days. This is what helps keep us in shape, as I've often said, "No triumph without a trial; no testimony without a test; no victory without a battle; so keep fighting!"
YOU'RE BOUND TO WIN SOMETIMES, AND WHEN YOU LOSE, IT'LL HELP KEEP YOU HUMBLE, AND HELP OTHERS TO KNOW YOU'RE ONLY HUMAN, AND GIVE GOD ALL THE GLORY! I do not believe in the "Holiness" doctrine of Eradication--neither in the Baptist doctrine of mere Suppression, but rather in the good old Bible Doctrine of Habitation, "Christ in you, the Hope of Glory". "Without Me ye can do nothing. "Even Jesus said of Himself, "I can do nothing, but what the Father showeth Me". And it was later said of Him, "Even the Son learned obedience through the things which He suffered. "So-called "Holiness" is usually a pride trip of self-righteous, sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, hypocrisy! You might as well face it:
YOU CAN'T GET THE VICTORY! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO GET THE VICTORY ONLY CHRIST CAN! "LET GO AND LET GOD! " YOU CAN'T DO IT YOURSELF. "Not of works, lest any man should boast!" "For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God."--Only God can give it! You can't earn it, work for it, work it up, pray it down, pray it through, and become so wholly sanctified, that you're some kind of a sinless saint!
YOU HAVEN'T GOT ANYBODY'S RIGHTEOUSNESS EXCEPT CHRIST'S, AND HE'S THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN GIVE IT TO YOU! Your own righteousness stinks! It's "filthy, menstruous rags! "So quit trying! Let God do it! Let the Light in!--And the darkness will flee of itself!
GET SO FULL OF THE SPIRIT AND THE WORD, YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO WORRY ABOUT YOURSELF!--Or how bad you are! Of course, you're bad! So are all the rest of us! Only Jesus is good! So "Let's Talk about Jesus", huh? I gave up on myself a long time ago--like Paul did in Romans 7:17-25 , "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. "Hallelujah! He's the only One who can do it! All the filthy confession sessions in the world aren't going to do it! I don't believe in advertising the Devil's goods; I don't like to hear about his dirty work.
YOU'RE GLORIFYING SATAN WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR SINS. YOU'RE GLORIFYING SELF WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR FAULTS!--BECAUSE YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF, INSTEAD OF JESUS.--And some people enjoy it! I hope somebody with guts will read you what God gave me on "Let's talk about Jesus!" Those confession sessions made me and God so angry, we both exploded! I don't want to hear anymore about it! I just can't do the subject justice! As the man who was noted for his cursing said when they found him sitting silently looking at his overturned load of apples, "I just can't do the subject justice!"
YOU JUST CAN'T POSSIBLY TELL PEOPLE HOW BAD YOU ARE: SO QUIT TRYING! LET'S TALK ABOUT JESUS! And let's quit disciplining people so severely and so harshly for poor little blunders of the mind, rather than the heart, when you're such a tyrant yourself, merciless and unforgiving!--Let's forgive one another, as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us!
YOU NEED TO APPLY TO YOURSELF WHAT JESUS SAID TO THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS HYPOCRITES, "YOU NEED TO LEARN WHAT IT MEANETH: 'I WILL HAVE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE'!" You need to learn what that meaneth. We've forgiven some of you leaders for a whole lot more than what you've condemned some of these babes for, and some of the people I was ready to throw out, you in mercy loved back in, so, for God's sake, let's remember that only Jesus can do it, and quit trying to legislate righteousness. It's a gift of God! Let God do it!--Love never fails! Jesus never fails!
WHAT EVERYBODY NEEDS IS LOVE!
My name is James Arendt. I was raised in the Hegewisch neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, served in the USAF from 1970 to 1974, and became a full-time missionary for Christ living 40 years in Japan, 3.5 years in Russia, and a few months in other countries such as Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China where I also served the King of Kings, Jesus, as an Ambassador for His Kingdom. My full bio.
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On July 31, our pastor drove us 70 kilometers south from our home in the city of Allen to Caybayog City (Samar, Philippines) where there's an immigration office. There I successfully applied for and received a 6-month visa extension! But the cost was higher than expected, 12,450 Philippine pesos, roughly $235 USD. Thankfully, I received one gift so far that covered half of that. If any of the visitors to this website who are not regular contributors to my work would like to help us cover the other half, it would be greatly appreciated. I will immediately send you an email to thank you.
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• Recognize you have violated in some way the laws of God. Violation of legal law is called a crime. Violation of God’s moral law is called a sin. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; - Romans 3:23
As it is written (in the Bible), There is none righteous, no, not one: - Romans 3:10
• Recognize the penalty of sin: Death! For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 6:23
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: - Romans 5:12
• Recognize Jesus is the Saviour! Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. - John 14:6
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. - Acts 4:12
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. - Acts 16:31
• Recognize our lives our sinful by nature. We can do nothing of our own to merit eternal life. Salvation is completely by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ! For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: - Ephesians 2:8
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. - Isaiah 64:6
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; - Titus 3:5
• Recognize Christ paid the sin debt we owe! But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. - Romans 5:8-9
• Recognize you must receive Christ as your personal Saviour! For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. - Romans 10:13
• Ask Jesus to be your Saviour!
Dear Jesus:I know I am a sinner. I know if I were to die right now, I could not go to Heaven. I ask you, right now, to come into my heart, forgive me of my sin, and be my Saviour. Thank you for saving me and giving me eternal life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer with all sincerity, you have passed from death to life and have been born again into the family of God!
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