Fear God, and give glory to Him

Greetings!

Dear friends,                                                           (Nov. 7, 2008)

 Greetings from chilly southern Missouri!  We’re taking a little recess right now, and the children are out getting some fresh air and exercise.  Marcus is out in the cold fixing some vehicles at Bro. Chris’ place, in spite of the sore throat and cold that he has.

 Yesterday Marcus went with two other brothers to preach at the University of Arkansas.  They went the last two weeks also.  There are quite a few students who stop with questions, seeming to really want to know.  They go in the morning and spend all day there.  Yesterday a young Muslim woman wondered about the headcovering (one of the signs they said “Christian women cover their heads).  She covers her head because the Koran says to do so, and she had no idea that it’s a Christian teaching.
 
Last evening we were at Chris Hammens for supper, along with a number of other church families.  They served us venison steaks from the deer two of their boys (11 and 12 yrs. old) shot last weekend.  Brian Minter and Marcus had butchered the deer for them, so we got the heart, liver, and ribs. :)
 
 By the way, we’ve moved back to the meetinghouse now.  Wednesday night was rather eventful here.  Sirens woke some of us up around midnight – a tornado had been sighted and was moving toward Monett.  Since we’re right in town, the sirens at two schools nearby were very loud, but the children didn’t wake up at all.  Several neighbors joined us in the basement, with their dog, and the storm raged outside (hail, pouring rain, and strong winds).  But it didn’t last long, and soon after 1:00 the sirens stopped and everyone went back to bed. 
 
(Sunday)  High time to get this finished now… Bro. David preached this morning about Redemption – Ransomed from Whom?  Satan has men bound in sin – servants to sin, but Jesus has paid the ransom and unlocked the prison doors for us all to get up and follow Him.  We were taken captives by Satan at his will.  We didn’t realize we would become his slaves when we chose our own way over God’s way.  Jesus didn’t owe anything to the devil, but we did, and we were needing ransoming from our kidnapper.  He says, “If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed.  And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
 
One of the main tenets of the modern gospel, that many of us have been taught, says something like this: Our sin has offended an almighty God, and He must punish this sin.  And He can’t even forgive unless someone steps in and takes the punishment.  And so Jesus died, shedding His blood, and as God saw His dreadful suffering and sacrifice, His wrath was appeased or “satisfied”.  This in some way changed His mind about our sin, and He can forgive it, if we just “accept” Jesus’ sacrifice personally, by a “conversion experience”.  In other words, we can get forgiven without ever even changing our lives, without ever making Him our Lord.  “I’m under the blood.  When God sees me, He doesn’t see my sin anymore, He sees the blood.”  This doctrine removes personal responsibility to conform our lives to Jesus’ teachings.  The early Christians never believed anything like this.  This doctrine only came to be widely believed about 900 years ago.  The Reformers embraced it.  Look at the results today!  

 Wilbur and Joanna were here for lunch with us.  The Guatemalan family who had planned to come to the service with them didn’t, since their daughter had a cough.  They said they want to come Wednesday.
 
God bless you!                   

           --Monica