walkworthy.org

Preaching & discipling the whole Gospel and purpse of God worldwide

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Testimonies
  • Archive Listing
  • Video-Audio
  • Resources
  • Donate
  • Contact Us

A DECLARATION OF DE-PENDENCE VS INDEPENDENCE [DEAR BRETHREN 15]

July 4, 2013 by jesusislord 8 Comments

declaration of dependenceDear brother and sister in Christ,

Right below this introduction is a Christian’s governmental manifesto, “A Declaration of De-pendence.”

We certainly love you all with the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Lately, we’re seeing an emphasis on your personal identify with the militant American church that claims Jesus. That causes us great concern for your standing with God.

First off, we hope all those who claim the lordship of Jesus as “little Christs” (Christians) will agree with His Holy Scriptures that we are aliens and strangers here in America (1 Peter 2.11), our true citizenship is in [Read more…]

Filed Under: Best of Walk Worthy - most popular, controversial, & convicting, Body of Christ - the "church", Dear Brethren - advice to and from the saints, Escaping the American Jesus - discovering & following the real God, False Teaching, Prophets, and Leaders - identifying those causing people to stumble, History of America - the occultism and rebellion that spawned the biggest movement of humanism ever, Kingdom of God - the eternal purpose of our Father that He carried out through Jesus Christ, Love Your Enemies - are we a Christian or not?, Poli-tricks and Christians - the bankrupcy & seduction of the political system, The Devil's Schemes - we are not ignorant of them, Walking Worthy - loving God through obedience Tagged With: christian truth, declaration of independence, deny yourself and take up your cross, dependence on God, escaping american christianity, holiness, jesus christ, kingdom of god, love your enemy, mammon, persecution, perseverence, walk worthy, words of jesus

CONNECTED, BUT ALONE? A VIDEO BY SHERRY TURKLE [AT THE BATTLE FRONT 102]

May 19, 2012 by Marc Leave a Comment

Brothers and sisters,

“The feeling that ‘no one is listening to me’ make us want to spend time with machines that seem to care about us… We’re letting (technology) take us places we don’t want to go…”

“..(O)ur fantasies of substitution have cost us…What technology makes easy is not always what nurtures the human spirit.”

The video is right below this short introduction.

And so cultural analyst and professor Sherry Turkle makes the effective case that we’re losing it…what is “it?” The fabric of human connection and the solitude needed to develop this God ordained holy activity that is the way He prescribed the advancement and completion of His Kingdom through His Lord Jesus.

Emails. Texts. Social Media. Avatars. Robot companions. Virtual reality. Customized lives. Rush. Rush. Rush. Hide. Hide. Hide.

This is not what God intended. As I say often, if Jesus Christ needed captured electricity to advance and complete His Kingdom, He would have come now.

There’s no indication Turkle is a Christian from this short 18 minute video presentation. Perhaps she is…but I do not in the least share her optimism at the end that this road has a silver lining. The Pandora’s box is fully open, and there’s no going back to smoke signals and the pony express…or even mitigating the onslaught of the new-newer-newest ways in diverting our attention from more eternal things.

Notice the four young children above in the picture are outside at a campground with God’s inviting and mighty creation surrounding them…it reminds me of the story of the young people in the beautiful mountains of Colorado at a ski resort and watching skiing on the cable TV.

Our arch enemy and nemesis Satan is having a field day. He is, we must remember, and by God’s decree, the prince of the power of the air. He’s a supernatural genius, and knows exactly what he’s doing as he roams the earth seeking whom to devour. Will you, your kids, your family be one of his victims? No? Then what strategies are you employing on a daily basis to both expose and counteract his schemes?

This is a message for all of us in the world of affluence that affords digital connection. We can’t afford to ignore this. There’s way too much at stake.

Some of her quotes from this message follow on this post below the video screen, then her bio, and finally the full transcript.

So, after watching this and reflecting, what will you do to stem this tsunami? Let me know so we can collaborate.

And now, Sherry Turkle’s cryptic and marvelous expose of being “connected, but alone”… [Read more…]

Filed Under: At The Battle Front - becoming victorious overcomers, Best of Walk Worthy - most popular, controversial, & convicting, Communication: biblical & honorable - a key to solving disageements and preserving lasting unity, Escaping the American Jesus - discovering & following the real God, Family - building block for His kingdom, Kingdom of God - the eternal purpose of our Father that He carried out through Jesus Christ, The Devil's Schemes - we are not ignorant of them, Walking Worthy - loving God through obedience Tagged With: christian communication, christian truth, controlling media with children, escaping american christianity, facebook, schemes of the devil, social media, social media dangers, walk worthy

WHY DID DIRK WILLEMS TURN BACK TO SAVE HIS ENEMY? – BY JOSEPH LIECHTY [AT THE BATTLE FRONT 98]

April 3, 2012 by Marc 2 Comments

Brothers and sisters,

It was a time of great spiritual growth as God took me and a few others so inclined through the school of love. How? By learning to love your enemy. Doing good to those who despitefully use you. Turning the cheek. Walking the extra mile. Actually laying your life down.

I discovered them in 1989…the Anabaptists. Those who just wanted to live Matthew 5-7 and be left alone. Of course that infuriated the Pope, as well as Martin Luther the murderer, as their armies chased these precious people all over Europe in the 1560’s and killed them by the thousands.

If you have an interest in their fascinating history, write me and I’ll send the resources of their struggle that radically changed my life by giving me a historical example of how to live like Jesus. They weren’t flawless…but they were and are a great expression of love that King Jesus showed to Pilate and His murderers.

Here’s the story of one of them. I can’t wait to meet him in heaven. When my time comes to be chased and die in The Great Tribulation, I will remember Dirk…and Jesus Christ our Lord as examples.

+++

Why Did Dirk Willems Turn Back?

By Joseph Liechty, Originally Published in Anabaptism Today, Issue 6, June 1994

Late in the winter of 1569, Dirk Willems of Holland was discovered as an Anabaptist, and a thief catcher came to arrest him at the village of Asperen. Running for his life, Dirk came to a body of water still coated with ice. After making his way across in great peril, he realised his pursuer had fallen through into the freezing water.1

Turning back, Dirk ran to the struggling man and dragged him safely to shore. The thief catcher wanted to release Dirk, but a burgomaster – having appeared on the scene – reminded the man he was under oath to deliver criminals to justice. Dirk was bound off to prison, interrogated, and tortured in an unsuccessful effort to make him renounce his faith. He was tried and found guilty of having been rebaptised, of holding secret meetings in his home, and of allowing baptism there – all of which he freely confessed.

“Persisting obstinately in his opinion”, Dirk was sentenced to execution by fire. On the day of execution, a strong east wind blew the flames away from his upper body so that death was long delayed. The same wind carried his voice to the next town, where people heard him cry more than seventy times, “O my Lord; my God”. The judge present was “finally filled with sorrow and regret”. Wheeling his horse around so he saw no more, he ordered the executioner, “Dispatch the man with a quick death.”

A child’s perception of injustice

When I first encountered this story more than thirty years ago as a child, my attention was riveted on what happened to Dirk. For his great goodness he received in return imprisonment, torture, and death. That he should suffer such a fate violated my childish sense of justice and fair play. My notion of how the world worked was undone, and I needed to find a new understanding.

Trying to understand Dirk’s story as an adult, I have come to make some strong claims about its significance. I believe that in the Martyrs’ Mirror, a book filled with heroic examples of Christian obedience to Christ, the story of Dirk’s simple action is the embodiment of some of the great strengths of Anabaptism. I also believe Dirk transcended and healed some great weaknesses of Anabaptism. In this action he obeyed Jesus’ commandment to be perfect as his heavenly father is perfect – that is, to love fully and indiscriminately.

What would I do if … ?

1569 was a bad year to be an Anabaptist. The Martyrs’ Mirror lists a number of martyrs that year, some of whom lived close enough to Dirk’s home that he would surely have known of their deaths. I imagine the prospect of death was constantly with him, a steady part of his inner life. I imagine he frequently asked himself, “What would I do if …?” or, more likely in his circumstances, “What will I do when …?” His ruminations must have been shaped to a great extent by the teaching of the little Anabaptist fellowships, one of which met in his home. With arrest and death ever-present dangers, Anabaptists spent considerable time preparing one another to meet them.

One source of instruction was letters from prison. A young purse-maker and minister of the word named Hendrick Alewijns, after his arrest in 1568, wrote many letters to his wife, three small children, and fellow Anabaptists. “There is no fear in love,” he wrote, but “fearless ones run through patience … not out of, but into the conflict that is set before us, and look not at the dreadful tyranny, but unto Jesus, the Captain, the Author and Finisher of our faith.”

Alewijns and other Anabaptists did not mean they sought persecution, nor did they deny themselves the right to flee from it. But even so, this fearlessness was a difficult expectation. I imagine that when Dirk considered haw he might respond to capture, he conjured up an array of options, ranging from fleeing at one extreme to calm acceptance of arrest at the other.

I try to imagine what thoughts filled Dirk’s mind as he ran, followed closely by the thief catcher. Did fear and danger dull his mind or make it keen? In either case his thoughts must have been dominated by the effort to save his own life. In at least some small corner of his consciousness, he must have been considering what he had done in fleeing and what he might do if caught. Would he be able to brave torture? Would he renounce his faith?

Such tormenting thoughts must have reduced him to so great a fear that, when he came to a body of water, he ran across the thin ice. He risked immediate death by drowning rather than submitting to the prospect of capture, imprisonment, torture, and death. But having saved his own life, Dirk turned back across the ice to save his drowning pursuer.

As a child, my attention seized first on Dirk’s sad reward of death for virtue. But my focus soon turned to an earlier point, less dramatic but more mysterious, when Dirk turned back across the ice. It is this action I can hardly comprehend, that I return to time and again. I am surprised that Dirk even noticed his pursuer had fallen through the ice. I would have expected his desire to live was great enough to drive him forward, ears closed and eyes fixed ahead. Even if he heard cracking ice or a cry for help, I would have expected the desire to live to send him fleeing. Why did he turn back?

Intuitive response to evil

I believe that turning back was not a rational ethical decision, but an intuitive response. The properties of thin ice may almost have dictated intuitive action by leaving him little time to respond. Even if the thief catcher somehow caught hold of a piece of solid ice, and Dirk had a few moments to consider, I still believe his decision was more intuitive than rational. No combination of mental calculations was likely to take him back across the ice.

Perhaps Christianity, with its teaching on loving the enemy, comes closer than any other religious or ethical system to requiring Dirk to do what he did. But where would the command “love your enemies” have led Dirk? He had no reason to believe he could save the thief catcher. The more likely conclusion would have been two deaths, and loving the enemy does not demand futile suicide.

In those places where Jesus discusses loving the enemy, none of his examples comes close to requiring that one die for the enemy. If in fact there were others at the scene, the thief catcher’s compatriots, who could condemn Dirk if he had seen the man in distress as their business?

Perhaps chief among the considerations in Dirk’s mind would have been the doctrine of two kingdoms, a basic Anabaptist motif. “There were from the beginning of the world two classes of people, a people of God and a people of the devil,” wrote one Anabaptist martyr.

The children of God “have always been persecuted and dispersed, so that they have always been in a minority, and sometimes very few in number, so that they had to hide themselves in caves and dens … but the ungodly have always been powerful, and have prevailed.”

When Dirk looked back on the thief catcher in the water, he saw not just a man near death, but a devouring ravening wolf. He saw not just an individual, but a manifestation of the kingdom of darkness, an agent of the devil himself. Anabaptists also frequently took an image from the book of Revelation.

Martyrs, slain for the word of God, wait under the altar in heaven, crying to God, “how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” (Rev. 6:10) When Dirk looked back, he might have seen an answer to the martyrs’ question – God delivering justice here and now. Or, he could have drawn on the image of Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian captivity: his crossing of the ice was the Red Sea parted; the floundering thief catcher was horse and rider thrown into the sea.

Dirk had available to him sound biblical images to justify his running on and leaving the thief catcher to his fate. With the time he had gained, capture was far from inevitable. His crime in the Netherlands was not crime everywhere; he could have fled to other territories and reasonably hoped for a long and peaceful life.

Other examples of sacrificial love

Examining the usual range of sacrificial actions can take us some distance in explaining Dirk’s decision to rescue his pursuer. There are many examples of parents sacrificing for children. I recall the story of an American soldier in Vietnam who threw his body on a grenade, saving the lives of his comrades. Less frequent are accounts of people who gave their lives for someone unknown to them.

One example is Father Maximilian Kolb, who chose to die in place of another innocent man in a Nazi concentration camp. Examples of people risking their lives for enemies are scarce indeed. A few years ago the South African bishop Desmond Tutu risked his life to save a suspected police informer from an angry mob. That is remarkable, but it is still a case of the powerful acting to save the weak, and that is a long way from what Dirk did.

We may understand better how radical was Dirk’s action if we transpose the Tutu and Vietnam stories into parallels of Dirk’s situation. In the Tutu story, we would have to imagine that the informer, having almost reached safety, turned back to save one of his pursuers. We must imagine that the American soldier, fleeing what he expected to be torture in a POW camp, risked his life to save a Viet Cong soldier. These transpositions are difficult to imagine.

I am convinced that the only force strong enough to take Dirk back across the ice was an extraordinary outpouring of love. The only kind of love I know that extends to enemies is the love taught and lived by Jesus. When Jesus’ earliest followers struggled to understand the mystery of his death, they found themselves extending the definition of love: Jesus had died for them “when we were God’s enemies”.

We must allow that precisely this definition of love – a love that reaches so far as to die for enemies – had shaped Dirk’s character to such an extent that in circumstances of gravest personal danger he was able to express his love in an intuitive response.

Did the Anabaptists love their enemies? We may be sure they taught it; they were never ones to shirk Jesus’ hard sayings. They also had the example of Jesus in the way of the cross, which the Anabaptists generally understood as requiring the willing, nonviolent acceptance of suffering.

Their frequently cited experience of having been loved by God before they loved him must have reinforced the teaching and example of Jesus. At very least they had thrown away their swords, so they could not respond to their enemies in the conventional ways.

The enemy as wolf and lost lamb

Like a nation at war, Anabaptists needed to maintain identity and bind themselves together in unity through the stresses of conflict. To this end they had positive means: community, discipleship and pacifism. But the Anabaptists also had negative ways of maintaining group cohesion. Like civilians uniting behind a war effort, Anabaptists were inclined to dehumanise their enemies by identifying them as entirely evil.

They did this with the doctrine of two kingdoms: they were children of light, their enemies children of darkness; they were lambs, their enemies wolves. Today, when dualistic thinking is condemned as the root of many evils, the doctrine of two kingdoms has neglected merits. I would argue that without some form of a two kingdoms doctrine we are unlikely to understand fully Jesus’ teachings or the demands of discipleship.

Yet the two kingdoms doctrine on its own makes a sorely deficient world view. Christians in the Anabaptist’s position are called to do the nearly impossible: to see their persecutors as both wolves and lost lambs, as both servants of evil and confused neighbours. The contempt for enemies inherent in two kingdom thinking, coupled with bitter experience, must have stained the Anabaptists’ souls.

It must have seemed to Anabaptists that terms of life were being dictated to them, and they must simply respond as well and faithfully as they could. The battle could hardly have been less equal as the Anabaptists struggled against the combined forces of Church and State with nothing more than spiritual weapons.

When the weak attempt to love their powerful enemies, the results must be primarily passive and internal. Always hunted and sometimes on the run, they had no leisure to ask themselves, what can we do to express enemy-love in a positive way? If they could simply resist the spirit-deforming influence of hatred, they had accomplished much.

In these circumstances, the moment when Dirk stood poised between running on and turning back held a more than personal significance. The opportunity before him was a rare one, and he was choosing for all the Anabaptists who never had a choice either to run to freedom or to act on love for their enemies. The path Dirk took would be the testimony for a whole community of how deeply they had been penetrated by the love for enemies inherent in the cross they had chosen to bear.

In the next moment, when Dirk chose to turn back, he stood on holy ground, where things we normally hold apart were bound together. Dirk had accomplished the almost impossible: he had seen the thief catcher as both an agent of the devil and a helpless human brother. Only then was he free to fulfil the call to love his enemy – after all, lambs do not save wolves.

He had acted on his own, and yet, perhaps, for his Anabaptist brothers and sisters as well. I expect that if we could ask Dirk why he turned to save the enemy, we would hear “Not I, but Christ in me”. Yet if Dirk was simply obeying what could not be disobeyed, his act has little meaning. In my imagination I can only resolve it thus: as Dirk walked across the ice, he was sustained but not compelled by the hand of God.

When I search the scriptures to help me understand what Dirk did, I go where I have always gone -to the hard sayings of Jesus and to the cross. I search for other passages as well, ones that speak of extravagant praise. The gospel of Mark records the story of a woman who poured a jar of costly ointment over Jesus’ head.

The disciples were indignant at this appalling waste, but Jesus rebuked them, saying, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me … And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Like this woman, Dirk Willerns has done a beautiful thing for Jesus. Wherever the gospel is preached, it is goad that what he has done should be told in memory of him.

+++

Joseph Liechty has worked in Ireland for Mennonite Board of Missions since 1980. When this article was written he was lecturing in the history department of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and at the Irish School of Ecumenics. His teaching and writing centre on issues of sectarianism in Irish history and society.

Notes

1. The story of Dirk Willems is from a 1660 Anabaptist martyrology compiled by Thieleman J. van Bracht, translated as Martyrs Mirror (Scottdale: Herald Press, 1950), 741-42. A longer version of Joseph Liechty’s article on Willems appeared in Mennonite Life 45, no. 3 (1990:18-23).

+++

Saints, we’re one day closer to Home, and Him! Love Him wholeheartedly!

You may view our Archives here: AT THE BATTLE FRONT – ARCHIVES;   Complete Archives; feel free to write and proclaim your leadings in the Spirit in an honorable fashion. May our Father richly bless you with His grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in order to walk worthy of His name.

Please comment on this post right below. Feel free to write and proclaim your leadings in the Spirit in an honorable fashion.

 

Filed Under: At The Battle Front - becoming victorious overcomers, Best of Walk Worthy - most popular, controversial, & convicting, Escaping the American Jesus - discovering & following the real God, Holiness - without living holy no one sees the Lord, Kingdom of God - the eternal purpose of our Father that He carried out through Jesus Christ, Love Your Enemies - are we a Christian or not?, The Devil's Schemes - we are not ignorant of them, Walking Worthy - loving God through obedience, Words of Jesus - the King of kings speaks Tagged With: agape love, christian truth, do good to them who despitefully use you, do not resist evil, escaping american christianity, holiness, jesus actions, love your enemy, separation from the world, turn the other cheek, walk worthy, words of jesus

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 13
  • Next Page »

Registration – by email Get FREE Video series “Helping Jesus Grow His Kingdom!”

We respect your email privacy

 

Share This Content

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Categories

  • At The Battle Front – becoming victorious overcomers
  • Best of Walk Worthy – most popular, controversial, & convicting
  • Bible Stories Today – paraphrase updates for modern times
  • Bible Words – understanding New Testament Greek & Old Testament Hebrew
  • Body of Christ – the "church"
  • Communication: biblical & honorable – a key to solving disageements and preserving lasting unity
  • Cry of Today's Prophets – the ancient Prophets words for our modern times
  • Dear Brethren – advice to and from the saints
  • Dear Friend – the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ
  • Escaping the American Jesus – discovering & following the real God
  • Eternal Rewards & Torment – treasure up God's rewards & flee from eternal hell
  • False Teaching, Prophets, and Leaders – identifying those causing people to stumble
  • Family – building block for His kingdom
  • Featured Videos
  • Friday Fire – kindling the fire at week's end
  • Giving An Account – defending the faith against pagans & believers
  • History of America – the occultism and rebellion that spawned the biggest movement of humanism ever
  • Holiness – without living holy no one sees the Lord
  • Jesus' Ancient Parables for Today – the Master's updated teachings for today
  • Kingdom Bible College: Video Series – the Word of God as the Life of Christ
  • Kingdom of God – the eternal purpose of our Father that He carried out through Jesus Christ
  • Kingdom Quotes – hastening "Your kingdom come"
  • Logic In The Kingdom – avoiding foolishness
  • Love Your Enemies – are we a Christian or not?
  • Marriage – building block for the family
  • Men and Husbands – God's loving warriors
  • Mercy of God – His lovingkindness is upon all those who love and fear Him!
  • Monday Manna – new week equipping for the spiritual war
  • Money – Do Not Store Up Treasures on Earth – what part of "do not" is confusing?
  • Music Videos – songs to "muse" on the Lord God!
  • Names of God – the Creator is identified by 100's of wonderful names
  • Out Of The Depths – crying out to the Lord!
  • Poli-tricks and Christians – the bankrupcy & seduction of the political system
  • Prayer – speaking with God
  • Preparing for Great Tribulation – like no other time in human history
  • Prophets & Prophecy – God's calling to holiness
  • Raising Children – the top prize for God or Satan
  • Resources – key help in loving God & living in His kingdom
  • Respecting Your Husband – the key to a man's heart
  • Rightly Dividing The Word – understanding basic eternal Bible truths
  • The Devil's Schemes – we are not ignorant of them
  • Understanding the Bible – living holy lives to bring Jesus pleasure depends on our understanding of His Word
  • Updates, Alerts, & Prayers – our communication to you, our ministry supporters and partners
  • Video List
  • Walking Worthy – loving God through obedience
  • Walking Worthy of Christ Daily – walking worthy is a requirement to enter the Kingdom
  • Weekend Works – a listing of works for enCOURAGEment
  • Women and Wives – God's respectful helpers
  • Words of Jesus – the King of kings speaks
  • Your Comments to Us – teach, proclaim, exhort, admonish, as iron sharpens iron

Copyright© 2019