Need to inspire others

These days we could read in the Gospel of Mark how Jesus chose his twelve disciples and gave them a task.

From the gospels, we also can see how Jesus attracted people by his words and acts, like the many mriracles he did. We shall not be able to attract so many people by miracles, because we are not able to do such miracles. Also with our words, we probably shall not be able to attract so many people.

Naturally, it would be lovely if we also could bring such Good News, like our master teacher Jesus Christ brought.

We got inspired by him and we would love to inspire others also.

A person who wants to inspire others to be grateful or wants to convince others of the value and truth of gratitude to God has to be a person who others see as living a life of struggles greater than their own. Otherwise people dismiss the caller unto gratitude as speaking down to them, hypocritically, from a place of privilege and ease. 

We have to have empathy with those we are speaking to. We have to imagine what they are going through and what they are thinking about. In a certain way, we also do have to anticipate their questions or thoughts. A very important factor in our preaching is also the way of our listening. We do have to be all one ear to the ones we want to convince of the reason to follow Christ.

Some may think it is to difficult to go out and to preach to people. Or they think one has to have a special education at the university. But it is not that one has to belong to the clergy. Even when you would want to become part of elders in a church, there is not such a high need of religious education at a higher institute.

You also do not have to think preaching or witnessing would be too difficult for you, or that you would not be able to cope with it because of too many struggles.

Perhaps for this reason and also because one cannot deliberately put oneself in a bigger struggle than what God has ordained for one already,

Not every person is going to be able to inspire every other person towards gratitude and peace of heart. And perhaps this is also why much of mankind gives authority, in matters of spirit and truth, to the ascetic monk-like figure than to a person living in relative comfort and abundance. 

When just an ordinary person, living an ordinary civic life, that person can connect to the life of others, knowing exactly what they too have to undergo. Their experiences will not come across as other-worldly as they might to clergymen who often have no sense of the daily concerns of ordinary citizens.

Whether such an association between struggle and virtue (of piety and authority) is warranted remains open to debate. There is some merit to the idea that a person who is in struggle or strife themselves would be able to relate to and find authentic and convincing, someone else who knows what struggle feels like. But the association of struggle with material deprivation is a bias and judgment of a materialistic mind and hence a problematic judgment.

You do not have to be in possession of special attractive tools or books to reach people and to tell them about the times to come. A simple Bible is all you need so that you can show the Word of God.

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Please find to read:

1. When a day of darkness and of gloominess shall come
2. When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
3. To step up – Presenting fruitful words
4. Matthew 10:24-31 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Do Not Fear – Preach!
5. Today’s thought July 10 Reading 3 – Matthew 11:4-6: Good news preached to the poor
6. Spread the word
7. Repentance for the forgiveness of sins has to be preached to all the non-Jews in Christ his name
8. Christians having the right heart to call others to go to God
9. Reason to preach #5 Trained to do it God’s way
10. How should we worship God? #6 Preachers and Teachers
11. United helping to spread the Good News
12. In all circumstances preaching Christ
13. From house to house #1: Not ceasing to Preach daily in the temple and in every house
14. Making proclamation as a herald
15. Preach
16. Preaching as Public Speaking
17. Memorizing wonderfully 33 Preach the acceptable year of Jehovah God
18. Great need of the church today is to feed the flock and get our people into the word of God
19. Sharing your big scriptures for tough times
20. Taking as many opportunities as possible to proclaim the Good News
21. Evangelizing in the “Time of the End”

Not able to see Jesus working wonders

As with the rulers noted in Matthew 21, we might not be able to see Jesus working wonders if we are consumed with power and control, whereas the blind, lame, and little children can truly see him (Matthew 21:14-15).

A big problem these days is that several Trinitarian Christians want others to believe this coronavirus is a penalty of God. Several of those so-called Christians want to bring fear over mankind, some even going so far that this is the end of the world. Others want people to resist vaccinations and say that it is their governments bringing on the mark of the beast on the forehead. One cannot imagine how crazy it can be.

We can see how it are the vulnerable ones who are targetted. Though they have everything to gain and nothing to lose as a result of Jesus, whereas these preachers and leaders fear to lose their grip on power, which they hold onto tightly with a closed fist. They cannot reach out and touch Jesus, like those longing for him, though they long to seize him and do him in (Matthew 21:45-46). What about us?
Did we journey with Jesus through the season of Lent with his disciples simply to take matters into our own hands, like Judas did in his conspiracy with the establishment?

How many of us believe in the miracles Jesus did? How many are willing to witness for him and his works as well as to witness for that only One True God? How many are not afraid to pronounce the Name of that Only One True God?

In these times of isolation, nobody should stop speaking about Jesus and his God. Also in social media can be spoken of the necessity to trust God and to try to keep to the hygienic regulations as they were written down thousands of years ago, but still should apply for today.

Not daring to show a connection

For several sorts of Christians Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11).

Palm Sunday is the day that they celebrate Jesus in his humble glory riding a donkey into the city of David, as the crowds and children cry out,

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9; ESV).

 At that time lots of people gathered to shout and to welcome Jesus as their special guest. The Vip of his time got the crowds throwing palm branches on the path before him to celebrate him as their approaching King (Matthew 21:8), who came to bring lasting peace and gracious justice.

Peace and justice still did not come to the world. A few days later many of those welcoming that king could have also been in the crowd shouting to kill that Nazarene man. Glory often is just for a short time. Thankfulness is also not for a long time. We can wonder where all those people were at that moment Jesus was presented to the public as a big criminal. Jesus ad helped so many people. Jesus also had inspired so many and had shown to all around him that he was a man of peace and not of war.

Suddenly not many seemed to remember what he had done. Many also out of fear, even a close disciple as Peter did not dare to let others know that he knew Christ or was for that man.

Also today there are lots of people who not dare the outer world to show they have an interest in that Nazarene teacher or that they believe in the same God as that Jewish man worshipped. Jesus did not worship himself (what he would have done when he is God) but worshipped the God of Israel, Who is a Singular eternal all-knowing Spirit Being.

These coming days are again days that God requests to show faithfulness to Him and His commandments. One of those requirements is to come together and to remember the exodus from Egypt and the other is to remember Jesus commemorating that event and installing a new exodus, namely the exit of the curse of death. In the upper room in Jerusalem Jesus came together with his disciples and installed the New Covenant. He asked to remember that night and that is what we should do. It is also a sign of willingness to be under that New Covenant.

Though we may not mix with a lot of people and are requested to stay home, that should not hinder us to feel united even though it is via an internet connection.

I sincerely hope we shall be able to find many brethren and sisters uniting and sharing their Memorial Meeting with others around the world.

In case we have contact by internet, via Face Time or other means, do not hesitate to mention this coming Wednesday as a special day. Keep witnessing along the virtual way, now we can not do it with direct human contact.

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Find also to read:

1. Only once and with consequences
2. When Belonging to the escaped ones gathering in Jesus name
3. Dark times looking like death is around the corner – but Light given to us
5. In a time when we must remain in our place
6. First time since Nazi time no public gathering
7. No idea yet for 14 Nisan or April the 8th in 2020 Corona crisis time
8. Only a few days left before 14 Nisan
9. A meal as a mitzvah so that every generation would remember
10. A Passover for unity in God’s community
11. A virtual Seder this Wednesday, April 8 from 6.30 p.m.
12. To turn the world into a “vessel” receptive of God
13. The Application of the New Covenant 

Church has to grow through witness, not by proselytism

In January pope Francis I spoke about Benedict XVI who said that the Church grows through witness, not by proselytism.

Pope Benedict XVI in Portugal (Photo credit: Catholic Church (England and Wales))

Jesus gave the order to his disciples and to all who wanted to follow him, to go out in the world to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.  Evry person calling himself a Christian, should know that this should mean to be a follower of Christ, should also follow those teachings and orders of that person.

The witness that can really attract is that associated with attitudes which are uncommon:

the pope said and named them:

generosity, detachment, sacrifice, self-forgetfulness in order to care for others. This is the witness, the “martyrdom” of religious life. It “sounds an alarm” for people.

When people are religious those people should make a life for themselves filled with with thinkings which are not always of this world. Looking at this world, we can not escape living in it but should be careful not to become 'of it'.

 “religious life ought to promote growth in the Church by way of attraction."

continued the pope.

“The Church,” therefore, “ must be attractive. Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living! It is possible to live differently in this world. We are speaking of an eschatological outlook, of the values of the Kingdom incarnated here, on this earth. It is a question of leaving everything to follow the Lord. 

The pope did not want to say “radical.”

Evangelical radicalness is not only for religious: it is demanded of all. But religious follow the Lord in a special way, in a prophetic way. It is this witness that I expect of you. Religious should be men and women who are able to wake the world up.”

 Pope Francis has returned in a circular fashion to concepts that he has already touched on, exploring them more deeply. In fact he continued:

“You should be real witnesses of a way of doing and acting differently. But in life it is difficult for everything to be clear, precise, outlined neatly. Life is complicated; it consists of grace and sin. He who does not sin is not human. We all make mistakes and we need to recognize our weakness. A religious who recognizes himself as weak and a sinner does not negate the witness that he is called to give, rather he reinforces it, and this is good for everyone. What I expect of you therefore is to give witness.

The pope wants this special witness from religious people and warns them to look out not to restrict themselves to dogmatic teachings endangering them to go into fundamentalism.

From the "Wake up the world" press conference January 2014

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Related articles

• Pope Francis condemns fundamentalism, urges setting an example over proselytizing (rawstory.com)
  Francis meet with 120 superiors general of men’s religious orders at the Vatican in November. His comments were published Friday by La Civiltà Cattolica, a Rome-based Jesuit weekly.
  “I am convinced of one thing: the great changes in history were realized when reality was seen not from the center but rather from the periphery,” the pope said.
  To look at something from the periphery, the pope explained, meant analyzing reality through a variety of viewpoints, rather than filtering all experience through a centralized ideology.
  
• A Non-Political Pope? (Part 2) (clrforum.org)
  Some things he said in the interview are a frankly a little shocking. He told the interviewer, Eugenio Scalfari, “Proselytism is solemn nonsense.” That’s a rather dismissive way to treat millennia of Christian apologetics. The pope’s views on conscience were also odd, from a Christian perspective. “Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them,” the pope said. “That would be enough to make the world a better place.” With respect, “do what you think is right” is not the Christian view of conscience. That sounds more like Anthony Kennedy than St. Paul. And would the world really be a better place if everyone did what he thought was right? How about jihadis?
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  the Church would “never go beyond its task of expressing and disseminating its values, at least as long as I’m here.” What the Pope seems to mean is that the Church as an institution should avoid getting involved in the workings of government and political parties, but that its prophetic role remains.
• Church division a scandal - Pope (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
  The leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide said a goal of full unity between the two churches "may seem distant" but it remained an aim that should direct "every step".
  He said progress towards full unity would not be the result of human actions alone, but would be a "free gift of God".
  "Beneath his merciful gaze, we cannot claim that our division is anything less than a scandal and an obstacle to our proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to the world," the Pope told Archbishop Justin Welby.
  
• Pope invites Romans, pilgrims, to Eucharistic procession (catholicnewsagency.com)
  “Every Sunday we go to Mass, we celebrate the Eucharist together and the Eucharist is like the ‘burning bush’ in which the Trinity humbly dwells and communicates itself: this is why the Church has placed the feast of the Body of the Lord after that of the Trinity.”
  
  The Holy Father also reflected on the Divine love of the Trinity, “origin and goal of the universe and of every creature.”
  
  He explained that the Trinity acts as a model of the Church where Christians are called to love with the perfect, sacrificial love of Jesus.
• Top Ten Myths About Pope Francis' First Year (dominicanablog.com)
  If Quoheleth had lived during the last year, he might well have said, “Of the making of many myths about Pope Francis there is no end.” As we give thanks to God for the Holy Father on this first anniversary of his papacy, it’s worth taking a moment to look back on some of the myths about Pope Francis that have made the rounds on the Internet this year. While this list could be many more pages long, what follows is my own Top Ten List of Myths about Pope Francis.
• Pope Francis Tells Religious Orders To "Wake Up The World" - 4 January 2014 (lucas2012infos.wordpress.com)
  
  Editor Antonio Spadaro, SJ, has written an article recounting the private meeting last November between Pope Francis and the Union of Superiors General of religious men at the end of their 82nd General Assembly.
  The 15-page article (available in English at the La Civiltà Cattolica website) documents the views of Pope Francis on religious life.
• Moving Through Time: Timeline of Religion (pcr.wpengine.com)
  Since the beginning of time, mankind has formed beliefs of the unexplainable and unknowable. Over thousands of years, these beliefs became traditional, customary, and institutionalized within regional societies. People continue to express an interest in spiritual matters from all corners around the world. Everybody has pondered the meaning of life, what happens after we die, what existed before us, and whether any other life exists in the universe. Mankind may never know concrete answers regarding the spiritual. In fact, humans may destroy the planet before we can discover the remaining life in unexplored regions. Nevertheless, we continue to seek spiritual enlightenment and a connection with our Creator.
• Why Are Christians the World's Most Persecuted Group? (tomohalloran.com)
  Why are Christians, as a new Pew report documents, the most persecuted religious group in the world?  And why is their persecution occurring primarily throughout the Islamic world?  (In the category on “Countries with Very High Government Restrictions on Religion,” Pew lists 24 countries—20 of which are Islamic and precisely where the overwhelming majority of “the world’s” Christians are actually being persecuted.)
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  Christianity is a proselytizing faith that seeks to win over converts.  No other major religion—including Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism—except Islam itself has this missionary aspect (these faiths tend to be coterminous with their respective ethnicities: Buddhists, Asians; Judaism, Jews; Hinduism, Hindus).    Thus because Christianity is the only religion that is actively confronting Muslims with the truths of its own message, not only is it the primary religion to be accused of proselytizing but, by publicly uttering teachings that contradict Muhammad’s, Christians are accused of blaspheming as well.  Similarly, this proselytizing element is behind the fact that most Muslims who apostatize to other religions overwhelmingly convert to Christianity.  Finally, if indigenous Christians are many in the Middle East, because that is the cradle of Christianity, in other regions with large Muslim populations, such as sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia, Christian missionaries have won over millions of converts to the faith—many of whom are now targeted and persecuted according to Islam’s anti-apostasy law, which often calls for the death penalty.
• Pope: Saints are humble sinners, sanctified by Jesus (en.radiovaticana.va)
  “In this holy Church the Lord chooses certain people so that holiness can be better seen, to show that it is He who sanctifies, that no one sanctifies himself, that there’s no course to become a saint, that it’s not being a religious fraud or something of that sort… No! It’s not that! Holiness is a gift of Jesus to His Church and to show this He chooses people in whom His work of sanctifying is clearly seen.”
• Why are Christians the world's most persecuted group? (humanevents.com)
  Christianity is the quintessential religion of martyrdom.  From its inception—beginning with Jesus followed by his disciples and the early Church—many Christians have accepted martyrdom rather than recant their faith, in ancient times at the hands of Romans, in Medieval and modern times at the hands of pious Muslims and others.  Few other religions encourage their adherents to embrace death rather than recant, as captured by Christ’s own words: “But whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father in heaven” (Matt 10:33; see also Luke 14:33).”   Conversely, Islam teaches Muslims to openly renounce their faith (taqiyya)—not just when their lives are threatened, but even as a stratagem of war—as long as they remain Muslim in their hearts.  Other religions and sects also approve of dissimulation to preserve their adherents’ lives.  Back in the 1800s, for instance, Samuel M. Zwemer, a Christian missionary, observed that in Iran “Bahaism enjoys taqiyya (concealment of faith) as a duty, but Christianity demands public profession; and hence in Persia it is far easier to become a Bahai than to become a Christian.”

Which Christians Actually Evangelize

A Christian is one who should follow the teachings of Jeshua, the Nazarene born in the tribe of king David, who is been called the son of God and the Messiah or Christ Jesus. One of those tasks Jesus has given to his followers is to go out into the world and to evangelize or witness.

According to a new survey from Barna Group. "Is Evangelism Going Out of Style?" evangelism is fading fastest among the middle class.

On Stepping toes I talk about my frustration when I look at the current position of people willing to bring the Good News to others.

73% of born again Christians say they have a personal responsibility to share their faith with others, but I can not see that they live or take action according to what they believe. Only half (52%) of born again Christians say they actually did share the Gospel at least once this past year to someone with different beliefs, in the hope that they might accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Evangelicals have the highest rate of failure to follow through (31% did not evangelize in the past year). By contrast, Catholics are the least likely to believe evangelism is their personal responsibility (34%), but in the United States have the highest success rate (33% did evangelize in the past year).

The study brings out that millennials are the one generation of "born-again" Christians where "the practice of evangelism is notably on the rise." But also that I can not really notice when I do look at the 'preaching world". Despite being known as the "social justice" generation — alleged to be trading spiritual causes for physical ones — evangelism among millennials increased nine percent in recent years, according to Barna. Other generations either stayed the same or declined in their evangelism practices.

Middle-class "born-again" Christians have the lowest rate of evangelism among other household income groups. 

Notes Barna:

This is particularly paradoxical since born again, middle-income adults are the most likely out of all income groups to affirm their personal responsibility to evangelize—76% do so. Yet only 37% of those adults have shared their faith this past year. Furthermore, born again, middle-income adults are evangelizing less and less. For example, from 2010 to today alone, their outreach efforts dropped from 51% to 37%.

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Related articles

• Which Christians Actually Evangelize? Study Says Millennials Most, Middle Class Least
• Barna Group Survey: Millennials Are Doing the Most Evangelizing
• Barna: Is Evangelism Going Out of Style?
• Only 34% of Catholics believed that they had personal responsibility to share their faith
• What is Evangelism?
• Divorce Rates Among Christians Not That Different from Non-Christians
• What Happened to the Former Crystal Cathedral Shows Why Evangelical Christianity In America Is Losing Its Power
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Witnessing Glad Tidings

Those aims remain the same in today’s magazine because God’s purpose is unchanging. But over the years there have been many changes of format, style and personnel, as you would expect.

T H Elwick of Lincoln and Percy Horsman of Nottingham, England, joined forces in March 1884 as Editor and Publisher of a new magazine. They were Christadelphians and stated their objectives in that first issue as follows:

• To set forth the truth in its purity;
• To expunge and erase from every Bible doctrine the figments of human tradition, with which they have been darkened;
• To make clear the great scheme of human redemption provided by the Deity;
• To proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God;
• To demonstrate that the time is at hand when this kingdom shall be established.

Although the language and style of the magazine may have altered over the years, the reason for publishing the magazine has not fundamentally changed since its inception.

As the apostle James challenged believers to remain true to their calling and urged them not to be affected by changing fashions and different belief systems, the Christadelphians keep to the Words of the Bible and follow the tradition of the first century Christians.

Every day it is possible to see how people are affected by changing views and opinions.But Christadelphian people try not to fall into the traps of the world. They try to get a crystallised harmonious thinking according to the teachings of Christ Jesus the Messiah.

Newspapers and magazines depend upon something new to write about. Politicians want a new idea to present, so they can be seen to be making progress towards their stated objectives. People want new things all the time and so opinions alter and behaviours change. But the followers ofJesus recognise that fundamental things can never change and they need to be single-minded in their determination to hold fast to the teaching of Jesus about eternal things, regardless of the winds of change that are gusting around them.

We are saved not by anything we do, but by God’s grace made available to us because of Jesus' sacrifice. However we do need to respond to God’s grace by being baptised into Christ by full immersion in water. We also need to follow as far as we are able the example of Jesus in our own lives. How we do have to that, the magazine is willing to show.

The Christadelphian monthly  tries to bring people closer to the One and only God and to show the world how it can have a much better future. The magazine brings some articles on our relationship with God, Jesus and each other. It tries to show how we need to build our character and change our personality. All who follow Jesus have to undergo a process of change until at last they can become fully like him.

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Please do read more about such changes we do have to make: Gone with the wind, or the latest article

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• Handbook to the Christadelphian Statement of Faith
• No new notes any more from Michael Parry
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• United people under Christ
• Help us to get better known
• Jehovah in the BASF
• Suprising figures about Jehovah Witnesses
• Steibis Young People's Study Week May 26th to June 1st

Witnessing at LaGuardia Airport

At LaGuardia Airport people may be surprised to find a display telling about Jehovah God and future happenings.

La Guardia Airport, in the terminal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

The Jehovah Witnesses have placed several pieces of literature in a stand at the airport La Guardia.Overall, the reception was very good and they have already made friends with some of the airport staff.

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• Public Witnessing at LaGuardia Airport
• Why Can't Our Best and Brightest Get to New York's Airports?
• NYC Airport Shuttle Services Reviewed and Compared in New Report by Knoji

Bringing Good News into the world

Flemish or Dutch readers should be able to find the new WordPress site of the Brothers in Christ. the Christadelphian website of the Broeders in Christus shall mostly bring some more into depth articles concerning our faith.

Readers shall be able to find the history of the Brethren and Christian movement and how deviations and wrong ideas came into the Christian faith. In one of the pages we also try to picture why we are so eager to bring the message of the Bible all over the world. We reason why it are not only the Jehovah's Witnesses who witness, but that we also bring witness of the Good News and the Kingdom of God.

In De Bijbel of Heilige Schrift;Het woord van God of het woord van mensen (The Bible or Holy Scipture; word of God or word of people) we show how we do not agree with those people who say that the Bible is written by people talking about God. For us the Bible is the Word of God which is handed over by means of the Power of god and His chosen people like prophets, apostles but also fishermen, herdsmen and kings. All that is in those 66 Books of Books is given to our knowledge and to help us to find the way to the Kingdom of God.

Those who do believe in the Word of God and accept Christ Jesus as their Messiah, should follow their Master-teacher and should do as he told his disciples to do: to go out in the world and spread the Good News. Sometimes when people find us preaching they wonder if we are Jehovah's Witnesses. In the article Getuige of Broeder; Rabbi, Leider, Broeder, Verkondiger of Getuige (Witness or Brother; Rabbi, Leader, Brother, Proclaimer or Preacher, or Witness) we show the difference between the Witnesses and us, plus give the reason why we should not follow just one organisation (like the Watch Tower and Tract Society) or one person (like the Pope) and why we do not have any hierarchy or priests.

In Dutch you can find: / In het Nederlands kan u artikelen vinden over hoe wij moeten omgaan met de Heilige Schrift en anderen het Goede Nieuws moeten brengen:

1. Verkondigen van Evangelie opgetekend in de Bijbel
2. De Bijbel of Heilige Schrift
3. Getuige of Broeder;Rabbi, Leider, Broeder, Verkondiger of Getuige

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2015 august update:

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