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HOW TO BUILD CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES

 

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(Click the pic!) Last week I wrote a short article about Saint Benedict of Nursia and his rule for Christian communities, The Rule of St. Benedict. Click on the photo, and you'll see a whole list of literature – mostly free e-books and booklets – on this topic of how to build Christian communities. In addition to St. Benedict's Rule, you'll see Rod Dreher's book, The Benedict Option. Then in the section about Leah Libresco's book Building the Benedict Option it states: "This practical resource for finding peace, meaning and God, from the pen of St. Benedict, a sixth-century monk, can help guide your own spiritual journey. Many people today are realizing that the cultural focus on competition, success, acquisition and constant busyness is ultimately not satisfying. They hunger for a way of life that has more lasting value and deeper meaning."

See the article "Building the New City – St. Basil's Social Vision", my booklet "Seek the Welfare of the City" and my article "Building the ARC", as well as several other books from my personal library. The article "Seek the Welfare of the City" cites instances of various Saints warning about not giving money, goods, or services unless you are able to ascertain that your donations are actually being used as you were told they would be. We are challenged by 1 John 3:17 – "But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart of compassion against him, how does the love of God remain in him?" to be generous to those in need. But look carefully at the phrase "sees his brother in need" – if you can't actually see what the need is and how it will be met, then beware! It is likely that it would be misused.

Also, 2 Thes. 3:10 – "If anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat." If those who appear to be needy refuse to work when they are able to, they should not depend on Christians or the state to feed and house them. The goal should be restoration to full physical, vocational, and spiritual health. "Community" is key: a community is a group of people who share the same value system, a group that is not so large that it's impossible to know all the members personally. Otherwise, on a city- or state- or nation-wide level it's too easy for people to "work the system."

Please read "Learning From Minnesota’s Somali Fraud Scandal." Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman stated that unlimited immigration is incompatible with a welfare state. Plato wrote – "Democracy can only survive until the people find their way to the public purse." I've worked as a job counselor in both secular and religious social service sectors: several times I've been told by people wanting help to write resumes that they just need to fill out and submit two job applications to show that "they're looking for work" so they can continue getting welfare checks. And I learned of at least two cases where jobless people were receiving unemployment benefits from two states: they would travel to a friend's place in a nearby state at whose address they'd register for benefits – "double dipping." Welfare fraud is rampant!

The Greek word for "community" is "koinonia" – it's also translated as "communion" as in the Eucharist, and as "fellowship" as in "church." So a group of like-minded genuine, honest Christians who are fully committed to serving Christ, can also build a place where they can live, worship, and serve in a community: "Commitment to Communion in a Community." That is what our Agape Restoration Communities are all about. so please take a few minutes to read my "Building the ARC" article... and share it!

 

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OUR VERY OWN DR. MENGELE, RIGHT HERE

 

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In a recent Substack article, "The Most Evil Man in Evangelicalism And Those Who Platformed Him," we read about (if you can stomach ingesting and digesting the whole thing) a gristly series of medical experiments conducted right here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And Evangelical leaders all over the U.S. applauded our very own "Dr. Mengele."

The article begins with a quote from C.S. Lewis: "Of all the passions, the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things." When we think of Nazi Germany's Dr. Mengele, who conducted "medical experiments" on living human subjects, we want to think "Oh, that could never happen here!" But it did. And such experiments continue to happen here, in the U.S. Unborn babies – some of them full-term and even during birth – are killed in Planned Barrenhood abortuaries, their warm organs being sold for medical experiments to the University of Pittsburgh, right here, encouraged by an Evangelical medical doctor heading the National Institute of Health. And Christian leaders praised him as "a brother in Christ."

In the early 2020s, I reported on these atrocities in our newletter, but heard not a peep from our subscribers, no comments. How many who call themselves Christians either didn't believe it – "it couldn't happen here" – or they they are complicit, ignoring or even justifying these mass murders of the unborn because of thier own fornication or adultery or even abortions? I don't know, I can only wonder why. More on this investigation here: "Judicial Watch Sues HHS for Records of Taxpayer Funding of Human Fetal Tissue Research at Univ. of Pittsburgh."

Ever since the introduction of "The Pill" in the 1960s, the Sexual Revolution really took off, disconnecting sexual relations from having children and raising healthy, stable families: there would be no consequences, nobody would ever know. But then people began to "slip up" – they forgot to take the pill, or it didn't work. They may call it a "mistake," but in reality it's the intended purpose of sex, to create a new life, a baby, a real human being, it's not "just a lump of tissue." Then the "Great Society" welfare system encouraged single motherhood by subsidizing it, thus encouraging premarital and extramarital sex, and resulting in fatherless boys roaming the streets, shooting up drugs... and other people. The dehumanization had begun.

So, what has ensued? First, a carefree attitude about "casual sex." Then a convenient solution to the "mistakes" – abortion solves that problem. (Actually, one action of birth control pills is to prevent implantation of the fertilized egg, a new human baby, so that is also a form of abortion.) Secondly, women began having fewer babies. In order to maintain our population, we need a fertility rate of 2.1 babies per woman, So thirdly, we've had to open up the borders for mass, uncontrolled immigration. Both "conservative" factory owners because they need more workers, and "liberal" politicians because they need more voters, joined forces to quietly allow it. Why is all this happening?

In the 50+ years since the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade case, we as a nation have allowed over sixty million abortions. And now that our consciences are so numbed by this inconceivable number, it became easy to begin selling these babies' organs for medical experimentation. We must not project our guilt on the Nazi's extermination of six million Jews, or Stalin's execution of sixty million Russians and Ukrainians and minority nationalities. During our 17 years living in Russia, I came across documentation of 50,000 Udmurts buiried in mass graves behind an Orthodox church building in the Udmurt Soviet Republic, and 200,000 Maris buried in mass graves all around the Mari Soviet Republic. But that's just comparable to the mass killing of sixty million U.S. unborn babies. Let that sink in!

The U.S. Supreme Court has also ruled that if women are to have equal rights the same as men because the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote and own property, then in 2025 the Court's Obergefell case created out of thin air the right of a man to "marry" another man, and a woman to "marry" another woman. This unleashed a landslide: DEI, promoting "gender identity" and transgenderism, and anyone can use any bathrooms and locker rooms: see "Gay Marriage Didn’t Just Redefine Marriage – It Redefined Humanity." By disconnecting sexuality from biological reality, we've created a dystopia.

America needs to repent in sackcloth and ashes! The founding principle, the ideal of freedom of religion has degenerated into freedom (or license) to believe anything and behave any way you choose. We must return to the true, original Christian faith before it is too late!

Pray for Americans to repent, both individually and as a society, if we are to avoid socio-economic chaos and disaster.

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You can read the rest of our newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2026-01-17.htm, and share it!

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THE MEDIUM IS NOT THE MESSAGE

 

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The Canadian philosopher, scholar, literary critic, and communications theorist Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase "The Medium is the Message." This phrase means that the medium through which a message is conveyed tends to dominate the content of the message itself. That is, the medium has a greater impact on our perception and behavior than the ideas and information it carries. People immediately see an image but must think for a while to understand the message that the image conveys. Jesus often spoke in parables: "A sower went out to sow the seed, and some fell on a footpath, shallow ground, among weeds, or on good soil" (Mark 3:1-13). But most often the crowds and even His disciples didn't get the point, so He would have to explain it. The word-pictures immediately resonated with them, but what did they mean?

In a recent First Things article, I read that in American conservatism – "a fissure that has been widening for years: a clash between two visions of the right, one grounded in universal moral principle, the other in cultural and civilizational loyalty." The latter phrase – "cultural and civilizational loyalty" – refers to the linguistic and ethnic traditions of our society. But there needn't be a "fissure," a contradiction, between these and "universal moral principle." The problem is that they're confusing the medium with the message. Our idioms of speech, food, clothing, even our facial features and skin color, convey the message of what is near and dear to us, but are not the same as faith, freedom, and truth. We tend to prefer people "like us" and dislike those who are "different." A weakness of human reasoning is that we tend to think in terms of either-or logic. It's harder to think in both-and, "synthesis" logic. Faithfulness between my wife and me is not the same thing as liking her face, voice, rosy cheeks and the food she prepares for me, but they belong together.

In our churches, we become familiar with and fond of the style of music, the (usually somewhat lofty and archaic) language, the phrases, the clergy's special robes, the incense, stained glass, and the architecture. These things are intended to help convey the message but are not identical with the message, the doctrinal truths about God, the Incarnation of Christ, forgiveness, salvation, and the pursuit of holiness. The melodies and instruments (or none), whether the language is of an old "mother country" or Latin, Greek, or the local dialect – these all are parts of the medium, the vessels that carry the content, the message. Orthodox churches in Africa use drums and dance to convey the message, but in the U.S. we usually sing a capella.

German Cardinal Gerhard Müller recently said that “in twenty to thirty years, Islam could become the dominant religion” in Germany. How could this happen, that by 2050 Germany will become Germistan, France will become Frankistan, and Britain will become Britistan? It is already happening: London itself is already "Londistan" – more than 50% are not native English. The majority of young schoolchildren in many major European cities are Muslim kids. It is because the elite leadership of most European countries have completely bought into the worldview of vague generalities: democracy, liberty, equality, brotherhood of all nations, and multi-culturalism. But this ignores one essential thing: what is the foundation?

The foundation of European (and all Western) civilization is Christianity. But in the last century or so, this foundation has been undermined and eroded, especially in Europe, so that the generalities of democracy, liberty, equality, and brotherhood cannot withstand the vast flood of Muslim migration and the violent, exclusive doctrines of Islam. Similar to original Christianity, Islam is an exclusive religion. But when Islam becomes the majority, it does not does not treat other religions equally. Original Christianity's exclusivity, however, generally tolerated the presence of other religions. But beginning with the French Revolution, secularism began to spread throughout the West, undermining the moral and spiritual foundations.

What must be done? "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3). David, who wrote this Psalm, wasn't a weak-kneed hand-wringer, he was king and military leader. To him, the answer was obvious: we must rebuild the foundations! We need to re-establish genuine Christian communities where people believe in and live by a shared creed. The only creed in common between Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. Various churches may have other creeds or statements of faith that are more or less similar to this one, but the Nicene Creed is the only creed that Orthodox, Catholics, and most Protestants can jointly agree on.

People sometimes hold onto the outward language, symbols and rituals of religion long after they cease to truly believe in and live by the doctrines their religion teaches: the medium has dominated and overwhelmed the message. Often in the Old Testament the people of Israel fell into idolatry, while maintaining their Temple ceremony, holy days, and sacrifices. We need to re-establish Christian communities in which we live in close proximity and encourage one another to really live in agape-love, according to what we say we believe, and to reach out to "the poor, maimed, blind, and lame." And we must teach and raise up our children to understand and believe in our shared faith.

We have developed a plan and design for such accessible and inclusive "Agape Restoration Communities." Please read "Building the ARC" and download the PDF file! This will take alot of self-discipline, commitment, sacrifice, and just plain hard work to rebuild the foundations, just like it took much effort and withstanding ridicule for Noah to build the Ark. But it must be done, because the alternative of letting our society crumble around us while we hang onto the status-quo is unthinkable.

Pray for a spiritual awakening, for Christians to return to the principle doctrines and practices of our faith, to live out what we believe.

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You can read the rest of our newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2026-01-03.htm, and share it! Also, create your own website for less than $4 per month!

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THE MESSIAH IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!

 

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“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” – Isaiah 9:6. This prophecy was given to Isaiah about 800 years before the Messiah was born! "Messiah" translated into Greek became "Khristos" – both mean "the Annointed One." So the Messiah or Khristos (Christ) is the fulfillment of ancient Jewish prophecies.

What we today call "Christianity" doesn't go back into the first century A.D. That's an "anachronism" – projecting today's ideas back into the past. Well into the second century, what was called "the followers of the Way" was just another sect of the Jewish religion, like the Pharisees, the Saduccees, the Scribes, the Zealots, and the Essenes.

In the Dispersion were also groups of Jews who would "prosyletize" among the Gentiles, which led them to confront the followers of the Way, insisting that Gentiles must be circumcised and follow the Mosaic Law if these converts wanted to believe in the Messiah. After the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 A.D., the Jews denounced followers of the the Way for fleeing the city, leaving the other Jews to be slain by the Romans. When the Messianic Jews and Gentiles later came to power in the Byzantine Empire, they sadly "returned the favor," denouncing the Jews. Thus began anti-Semitism.

We read in Acts 11:26 that the disciples of Yeshua, the followers of the Way, were first called "Christians" in Antioch, so we might assume that the term "Christians" was coined when shortly after Pentecost in 33 A.D, Barnabas and Saul established the first mixed community of Gentiles and Jews in Antioch. But according to early Church history, it was Euodius, the second Bishop of Antioch, who coined the term "Christians" – sometime after Peter, the first Bishop in Antioch, had been arrested and sent to Rome for his trial and crucifixion, around 64 A.D.

So the term "Christianity" itself only began to be widely used in the second century (the 100s A.D.) as the followers of the Way grew and began to develop distinct doctrines and practices separate from Judaism. Up through this time, they often met in synagogues and adapted forms and symbols of worship such as the Torah scrolls (their only "Bible" until 397 A.D.) set on a holy table, the menorah, incense, and bells. By this time, the followers of Jesus had formed organized communities under intense persecution.

Only by the third century (the 200s A.D.), after the Apostolic Fathers of the first and second centuries, the Ante-Nicene Fathers were the ones whose writings before the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 (ante-nicene meaning before Nicaea) began to define what we call "Christianity" today. The Nicene Creed of 325 A.D. codified it as a fixed set of doctrines. Only at the Council of Carthage in 397 A.D. was the New Testament canon recognized. The Holy Writings were mostly still on scrolls (bound books were very rare), and the menorah, incense, and bells continue to be used up to today in liturgical churches.

This liturgical form of worship was what defined "Christianity" up to Gutenberg's invention of the printing press and moveable type around 1440, which allowed for the mass production of books and significantly increased the availability of printed materials. This invention played a crucial role in the Enlightenment and the Protestant Reformation in 1517. In fact, Protestantism would have been impossible without the printing press because it was based on the idea of "Sola Scriptura" – "only the Scriptures" – which only became widely available after 1440. Up until then, only monks in monasteries and a few churches had hand-copied copies of the Scriptures.

Rod Dreher in a recent article brought up a significant concept: "This idea of [elite] Europe is shared by the pan-European ruling class, both in government and in private institutions. It is a secular form of clericalism. Clericalism is the idea that the Church is the clergy [and monls in monasteries], and the people in the pews are just hangers-on." Secular clericalism is what has resulted from universities in the Middle Ages developing out of monasteries which were the elite storehouse of learning and have gradually turned into today's secularized elite, educated class that dominates mainstream media, potificating on what we must think.

The article "Ten years of reporting on a fault line" by religion reporter Terry Mattingly states: "America now contains two basic world views, which he called 'orthodox' and 'progressive.' The orthodox believe it's possible to follow transcendent, revealed truths. The progressives disagree and put their trust in personal experience, even if that requires them to 'resymbolize historic faiths according to the prevailing assumptions of contemporary life'." The term "progressive" should rather be called "relativist" because "progressive" implies making progress toward a goal, but "relativist" implies that there are no fixed goals or absolutely. eternally true truths at all. Modernity is fluid, not fixed.

The result is that the secular-clericalist elite 'progressives' control the levels of power in society: in the mass media, the educational institutions, much of the leadership in politics. in business, and is even seeping into some churches. The old clericalism of the Church has been relegated to "the dustbin of history" according to the new secular-clericalist elite. But the menorah, incense, and bells haven't disappeared: they're still to be found in the Eastern Orthodox Church, along with the fixed and unchanging Nicene Creed.

Pray for people to return to the form and substance of the Early Church: the menorah, incense, and bells – the form; and the fixed and unchanging Nicene Creed – the substance. Let us remember that the Messiah born 2,000 years ago is the fulfillment of the Jewish faith!

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You can read the rest of our newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2025-12-20.htm, and share it! Also, create your own website for less than $4 per month!

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COMMUNITY, NOT CONFRONTATION

 

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What we need today is community and cooperation, not confrontation! These days, it is increasingly obvious in social and political discourse that the mood has shifted to confrontation rather than cooperation. Not only demonstrators and rioters, but also even politicians are using coarse, inflammatory, profane and abusive language. It is no longer "civil discourse," but quite uncivil.

When you do a simple Internet search on the phrase "wars, conflicts and disputes" you'll find page upon page of articles that describe the ways people don't get along with each other, but instead turn to harsh rhetoric, lawsuits, and even violence in their effort to win an argument. Social media programmming algorhythms are designed to amplify and reinforce negative emotions, making people react and be drawn into a cycle of anger, profanity, and hate. This is what the Evil One has designed.

How can we break free from this cycle of anger, profanity, and hate? Just as there is a real Evil One, Satan, there is an even greater Good One, Jesus Christ, Who can set us free from this bondage to anger, profanity, and hate. By His death, He conquered death and evil. Christ, the only begotten Son of God, liberates us and makes us adopted sons and daughters in God's family, the Bride of Christ, the Church. Scripture often uses the word "reconcile" which means to make peace, to resolve conflict. In Christ we are enabled to be peacemakers, not troublemakers. We are brought into real, heartfelt community with God and neighbor.

"Love your neighbor as yourself" is more than a warm-fuzzy secular slogan. In the Bible, it's preceded by "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength." That's the only way we can really love our neighbor from a pure heart, when we love God as our Lord with the totality of our being. This is what gives us the ability to genuinely love our neighbor as ourselves.

Being God's adopted children by becoming the Bride of Christ, we are part of God's "extended family" – the community of faith – the Church. Christ is the Rock, the Cornerstone, the foundation of our faith. Then the Church is built up on the Apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20-22) – "One holy, catholic (universal) and Apostolic Church." So there's a definite structure that is described in the New Testament, and in fact was already in place long before the NT canon was officially approved. Thus, we must recognize the Apostolic nature of the Church. This is how Christ's headship and authority is to flow down, This is the foundation for genuine community.

The word "community" in the Greek NT is "koinonia." It's also often translated as "communion" and "fellowship." This is why "community," "communion," and "fellowship" are sometimes used in place of "Church." So "ABC Community Church" and having "fellowship hour after church" are really redundant, if you stop to think about it! If the Church is something different than community and fellowship, it ceases being the Church.

So genuine Christian community can only take place when we recognize Apostolic authority in the Church and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in communion, thus becoming partakers of the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). From the early Church times, holy communion was part of a fellowhip meal, just like the Last Supper. What started my thinking about this was the article "Orthodoxy Without Community? That Isn’t Orthodoxy." The subtitle was "If We Don’t Eat Together, Are We Even the Church?" Let that sink in for a minute!

Community also means sharing each other's burdens, thus fulfilling the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). This includes praying for each other's spiritual and material needs, but must not be limited to just praying: do what you can about it! The early Church shared their possessions ("but not their wives" as one early saint wrote). This must not be under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7)... quite different than the forced collectivization under modern communism! It also must not be done for show, pretending to be generous but in reality holding back, as Ananias and Saphhira did (Acts 5:1-11).

Living in community was often expressed by Christians living close to each other: this is what "parish" means. In fact, in some southern states of the U.S. the smaller sections of land are called "parishes." At times, Christians built cooperative housing for several families, singles, elderly, and people with disabilities. They join together in a covenant or pledge to live in harmony, purity, and simplicity, having a "community room/chapel" where they can gather for worship / fellowship / community. It's all one!

This is what we have in mind with our ARC ("Agape Restoration Community") concept. Please take a look at our PDF "Building the ARC" – thanks!

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You can read the rest of our newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2025-12-06.htm, and share it! Also, create your own website for less than $4 per month!

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MINISTRY BUILDS UP THE BODY OF CHRIST

 

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The idea of "ministry" is woven throughout the Bible, especially the New Testamant. It is the "secret ingredient" that builds up the Body of Christ, His Bride – the Church. If we wonder why churches aren't flourishing but instead are languishing and shrinking, the answer is found in a lack of training people to do ministry. Ministry is what drives the Church, making it grow!

All too often, pastors and staff are focused on securing the external, visible structure of their churches: budgets, buildings, and bills to pay. Church council meetings are mostly about whether the offerings are matching the budgeted income, whether the building and grounds are being adequately maintained, and salaries for the pastor and staff are being paid on time. But what's happening with ministry and outreach? Visiting the sick and disabled, providing support for orphans and widow(er)s, reaching out to the community are given short shrift – perhaps a collection of canned foods once or twice a year. Those churches aren't growing, they're just "marching in place" going nowhere.

From the foreword of my book: "What is the purpose of the Church? This book, The Ministry Driven Church, [will] forcefully demonstrate that ministry is the purpose, the missing key in the formula for rapid multiplication of churches. Ministry in all its diverse meanings ties together the manifold aspects of a living, healthy and growing church. Many modern books on small groups, evangelism, missions, discipleship and church growth rely upon new methods, techniques and technology.

"This is not entirely mistaken, but they run the risk of ignoring the foundational truths of the New Testament for the sake of novelty. This work tries to adhere very closely to the New Testament teachings on 'ministering to the building up of the Body of Christ.' It utilizes the inspired Word of God as the primary bibliographical source, and taps into other sources, old and new, only as secondary witnesses to God’s unchanging truth in Scripture."

The key phrase "ministering to the building up of the Body of Christ" is found in Ephesians 4:11-13 – "He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers to equip the saints to do the work of ministering to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature, perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

Note carefully the context of this phrase: Christ provides apostolic leadership: pastors, preachers, and evangelists to equip the saints to do the work. Christ didn't give us the pastors, preachers, and evangelists to do all the work themselves! Their job is to equip and train "the saints" – that's every Christian, laypeople and ordained alike – to do the work of ministry! We are all "called to be saints" as St. Paul wrote in several of his letters in the New Testament.

When Barnabas and Saul – the future Apostle Paul – went to Antioch (see Acts 11: 20-26), they found a bunch of Gentile disciples, folllowers of Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah – they translated that as "Yesous, the Khristos" and from them we get the term "Khristianin" in Greek, or "Christian." But read verse 26 carefully: "the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch." What were they called at first, before they were called "Christians"? They were disciples! So a disciple is a Christian, and a Christian is a disciple. Period.

You don't first become a Christian, and then later decide if you want to "get really religious" and become a disciple. No! If you are a Christian, you must be a disciple, a follower of what Christ did and taught His disciples to do. Christ didn't just tell them parable-stories and say, "Now, you memorize these stories so you can tell them to kids in Sunday School." What did Jesus do? He didn't just preach the Gospel, the Good News, He also fed the hungry multitudes He healed the sick, the blind, and the lame, He even raised the dead. Then he told His disciples – "Now it's your turn, you go out and do the same!" (Matthew 10 and Luke 10). This is what a disciple, a real Christian follower of the Khristos – the Christ, really is, or ought to become.

Pray that God will awaken the apostolic church leadership: to train and equip the saints-in-progress, the disciples (real Christians), to do the ministry of building up the Body of Christ, the Church. It's an unfinished task, so lets get to work!

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You can read the rest of our newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2025-11-22.htm, and share it! Also, create your own website for less than $4 per month!

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LIVING FAITH THAT WORKS

 

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(click the pic!) Mainstream news and social media today make the most money from whatever generates the most clicks, and what drives the most clicks are our negative emotions – mainly anger and lust, which in turn stir up social unrest and disharmony. To counter this and to achieve a peaceful and harmonious society, we need to heed the foundational truths of our Christian faith that have successfully held society together for 2,000 years. We must return to a (click→) Living Faith That Works!

Now, scroll up a bit in the top frame of the above linked web page, to verses 19-20: "So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God." The mainstream news and social media thrive on anger. What's the antidote to this social poison? Get rid of "filthiness" as well as angry, divisive rhetoric in our social interactions, especially on social media. Then, get involved in positive actions as well as words. See verse 22: "But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves." Hearing nice sermons, nodding "yes" and shaking the preacher's hand afterwards is self-delusion if we don't act on what we hear and speak. Our walk must match our talk! What we really and truly believe will show up in how we behave!

Click the links after verse 27 to read each cross-reference Scripture in the bottom frame: they're all about putting into action what we hear and say. "Do not wrong a foreigner or oppress him. Care for the widows and fatherless." "Rescue those being led away to death!" (unborn babies?) "Put away your evil doings, seek justice, relieve the oppressed." "Loose the bonds of wickedness, undo the bands of the yoke, and let the oppressed go free." "Execute justice between yourself and your neighbor; do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood." The foundation for a living Christian faith is laid out in the Old Testament.

But telling only a partial truth while deliberately hiding the whole truth is telling an untruth. The foreigner was also required to observe the faith and moral laws of Israel: “If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you" (Ex. 12:48-49). We also must not forget the story of Ruth: “For where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people are my people, and your God is my God; where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and so may He do more, if anything but death separates me from you” (Ruth 1:16-17).

This shows that the well-intended (or soft-headed) notions of "inclusive" acceptance, peace and love can often be taken to such extremes that they produce ever-increasing negative results such as open borders, arrested criminals set free without posting bail, rampan t homelessness, compulsive-obsessive gluttony and greed, transgenderism, and hundreds of millions of murdered unborn babies.

Then we get into the New Testament: "Blessed are the peacemakers" – that's a sticky wicket! It can get rather risky to stick your nose into a conflict and try to make peace. Let's move on a bit: "If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men" (Romans 12:18). This gets a little more nuanced: sometimes it's not up to us to be at peace – the other party has a vote in the matter. If an armed burglar or terrorist breaks into your home, your asking him nicely to put down his gun and please go away just won't cut it. Men: be ready to defend and protect your wife and family!

Look at Ephesians 5:25-26 – "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it." A Christian real man must be ready to give his life for his wife and family, to preserve their sanctity and purity just like Christ did for His Bride, the Church. There are crazed rapists, thieves, and terrorists out there who just won't listen to reason. The mistaken notion of absolute pacifism is not taught in Scripture: the Lord Jesus said – "let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one" (Luke 22:36). And "But if anyone doesn't take care of his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Timothy 5:8).

Let's look deeper into that 1 Timothy 5 passage: it also gives some qualifications and limitations on what Christians should do for the widow: she should be at least 60 years old and unable to take care of herself, not just panhandling and begging the Church for free food and shelter; the wife of one man – not immoral or a mutiple-married woman; not an idle gossiper or busybody. Then we read that the primary responsibility belongs to the widow's relatives, and not burden the church. This same idea pops up in 2 Thessalonians 3:10-13 – "If anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat" and people should "work with quietly and earn their own living" as much as they are able.

Remember the stories of Barnabas at the end of Acts 4 who sold his land and donated the proceeds to the church. Good guy! But then comes the tale of "Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, [who] sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?'" (Acts 5:1-3). Bad folks. From the very beginning of the early Church, some folks try to "work the system" or figure out how to deceive for unworthy personal gain.

So in conclusion, we as Christians have a hierarchy of social obligations to care for others: first of all for our own spouse and family. Only after that, we should care for those in our local church – the elderly, widows, orphans, sick, disabled, and poor who are unable to care for themselves. And lastly, for society at large. It's impossible, impractical, and downright risky to feel obligated to provide for all who ask for support, especially if we're unable to verify that they're really in need and not just grifters.

Finally, click on the "Also, pray with us!" link at the top of the "Living Faith That Works" page: you can join us "live" every morning in our online "Morning Prayers and Readings" and chat with us *anytime* online, or use our "Daily Prayers" for your private prayers, either online, as an Android app, or print your own 28-page prayer booklet.

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