Basic HTML Version
-====--====-====~=============================~in~
I
HY DO sorne religious people
feel that their religious life
must be one of giving up all
the fun and enjoyment of liv–
ing - that in order 10 please God. lhey
must endure alife of morbid gloom?
F.o.r thal matter why do sorne NON–
religious people feel 1hat to become a
Christian would mean a life of Living
painful penance?
As
a boy
f
was brought up in a re–
spectable
Prolest~nl
church .of tradi–
' tional Christianity.
1
never did know
very much, as a boy. about what the
church b_elieved - .!>ut
1
did know thal it
regarded
sin
as violaling.
their
many
DON'Ts: - don't smoke. don't dance,
don't play cards, don't go to the thealer,
don't
drin~
a drop ofwine, don't do this,
don't do tbat!
A world-famous phitosopher, editor,
and lecturer whom
1
knew said he had
no desire to live a life of 'Cbristian re–
pression. "1 desire," he said, "to be radi–
an!, cheerful, fricndly - to meet peoplc
with a w¡ile."
He
was
a
hig'hly educated
man - but he was
a
biblical illiterate!
Where do people get
all
these dis–
torted ideas about the religion of Jesus
Christ? Certainly NOT out of the Bible.
They know nothing of the Jesus of the
Bible, who said,
"1
am come that they
might have LtFB, and thal they migh1
have il more abundantly."
S~mehow
a lot of people have re–
ceived a
lot
of weird and fal.se ideas
about Jésus Christ -
1
mean the Jesus of
YOUR BtBLE. Aclually,
1
think almost NO
ONE knows what the Bible says abou1
Him.
lt
seems most people thinlc STN is the
thing that is BEST for us, but which a
stern, wrathful God deoies
os.
Sorne
years ago a little
~k
was selling big on
Hollywood newsstands.
1t
was titled
How to Sin in Hollywood.
Why don't people ki10w that God ·our
Creator has never forbidden us a single
thing that is oooo for us - never said
"DON'T" ·about a single thing except lhat
whicb
is
going
10
HARid
os
to our own
hun. What God does commaod us NOT .
• to do are the very things that bring on
unhappiness, frustralion, pain, suffering, '
and a life ofmorbid gloom.
Let's get this matter' straight. The
REAL Jesus Christ said He carne
10
bring
us HAPPINESS and JOY! Jesus said,
"1
am
come that they might have
lije,
and that
, lhey might have it more
"abundantlyl"
~
HER8EIITW. ARMSTRONO
Ut-.OAilNER TtDARMSTRONO
M....P.r
Uiuw:
Anhar A. Fud1&
Amn..t,.,.,
U..: litobcr1
L Kuh.a
Nrws E4ir•n
Gene H Hocbtr&
Fnahun
&#t(;f:
Oary Alcxaodn
A
rt'Oir"ror.
Allcn MertJer
PWIIúlelttg
<Aor~:
Roscor O.
Uppross
~A
..ÚtillfWIIIM.•
Ocxttr
H.
Faultoct
C-nUttw:
l1m E.
La
--C.
Wl'f"<
Cok.
Oa'lCI
loo HdL Ha·
aaa
L
Hoch.
Cha,.._
F.
HvatU.¡.
Ray..-4
F.
Mc::Nait. kockridt C Mc:rcdilh
a.-.a.:
Br'\~Pdi:
fh)'
KOA11ie: JCRtsalem.
Mark
Aml$uong.. Chnt PtUOft!
Londoa:
iJekr
8ullu.
WEEK ENDINO OECEMBER 6, 197S
And He carne lhat we might enjoy fuU.
ABUNDANT life ETERNALLY. God
AJ–
mighty intended the
real
Christian life
to be HAPPY. Jesus said, "My
jo
y
l leave
withyou!"
There is a wAY of tife tha t
causes
peace, happiness. and joy. God the great
Creator set THAT WAY as ao inexorable
LAW - an invisible spiritual law - to
PRODUCE peace, happiness, joy, abun–
dance! There is
a
cause
for every effect.
In this unhappy confused world we have
discontentment, unhappiness, wretched-·
hess, suffering. The world is full of that.
lt
SHOULD be full of peace, happiness.
and joy. There's a CAUSE. People don't
like God's law. That taw is the CAUSE of
peace and . everythin,g desirable and
good. People
wanc
everything that is
good and desirable. They just don't
want to 08EY that which would cause it!
They want to BE right. but they don't
waot to DO right.
Cbrist carne
lO
cal! people lO REPENT.
Repent of WHAT? Repent of causing un–
happiness, strife, war.
;~nd
pain - and
then to receive the
gift
of the holy spirit.
And what kind of results will the spirit
of God
p~oduce
in you?
l'U
tell you, first.· what it WON'T pro–
duce.
lt
won't produce !he morbid, un–
happy, painful, -gloomy life that many
think is the Christian life. Let the Bible
tell you what "fruit" it will produce in
you. "But the fruit of the Spirit
is
!ove,
joy, pe'ace, longsuffering,
g~nlleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: .
against .such there is no law" (Galatians
5:22-23).
Look at tha t more closely: "the fruit
of the spirit" - this is the spirit of Goo.
This is the boly spirit that God imparts
only
10
those who have
repenUd -
that
is, tumed FROid that which has
caused
unhappiness. morbid gloom, discour–
agement, frustration , emptiness. On the
contrary, that fruit of the spirit is first of
alllove.
And the second fruit is
joy!
Joy
is happiness brimful and running over.
That doesn't sound like an unhappy,
empty,. gloomy life, does it? And
God's
spirit is not static.
11
FLOWS.
1t
flows,
spontaneously from God into and .
through YOU, and out from you making
still OTHERS happy and joyfut.
The very tirst resulr produced in yolir
life by God's spirit
is
/ove.
Love is a
righteous !ove of and for OTHERS.
1t
will
mean your face
is
beaming. lt's an
out–
going concern for the good and welfare
.;
Da>id
Pncc.
S,.S•cr 0.. AbnlwD:
wa~~,..,_
D.C:.: Hcary Suatcb
~Mtl: A~klud:
Oraemmc Manbll,
~=~ ~:ra~~~~~ ~-=~:.'&.:0~~
$00
f:'':::':!dt':ri':~ ~:ow~~~::::t~2t~lii
Muht.adi. Oavid Ord. Catol( Ríntr. Otc>r&t Rlucr.
Don
Sduoedcr.
J~a
R.
Sch.totdu.
K~1h
Scump
Gnp/J~:
Att ;
Joha Ouaa. Monu
W~
Ot"Y
~f.'~C'oo':.";:~o~::;;;~~:
tal
Wauoe.
Pboto
Fik:a:AJ l..c:1lct
6-.iamM..,w:
frant
8rowo
g=~~-;',n'i:~~~~ E~~t~c!; ~~s~~~:';
Personal from.. .
ABUNDANT liVING
of OTHERS.
lt
will mean that you are
really OJVING OUT - that you are radi–
ant and HAPPY. And love
results injoy –
that's the second of -tbese fruits. The
third
is
peace.
lnstead of an attitude of
hostility, instead of going around quar–
reling, being resentful and bitter, angry,
and arguing, you' Ll be in an attitude of
PEACE - peace .in your minil and witb
your neighbor and witb your Goo. ·
Next comes
"longsuffering."
That
means
patience.
How much has impa–
tience made you unhappy? Probably im–
patience makes more people unhappy
than almost anything else! Tf you can
really come to have patience. you'Ll be
acquiring one of the things t\lat will
allow you to be happy and make life
wortb Living.
Theh next is
gentleness.
That makes
otbers happy and automa\ically adds to
_your happiness. And then'
goodness
and
faith/
Faith is
confidence
-
not SELF–
confidence, but RELIANCE on the su–
PREME POWER.
lt
means that the SU–
PREidE power of God is working for vou.
Tt means reassuraoce.
Ji
means assured
HOPE instead of doubt. fear, discour–
agement.
1
f you could eva,luate in dollars what
all these tremendous benetits mean in
your tife, you'd bave to put on them a
value of millioos aod· millions of doltars.
But these are
b~nefits
you CAN'T BUY.
God simply wants to o rve them to you .
What they COST you is RBPI!NTINC of
that which has been producing unhappi–
ness, pain and suffering, discouragement
and frustration. Tt's a tremendous BAR–
GAtN! That is the fruit of God's spirit
that will spon.taneously spri ng forth
from you, RADtATE from you and cause
Vo lume
XL No. 20
you 10
b~
a JOY to others, as well as
10
yourself.
Now this
is
not to say that there are
never tróubles in the Christian life. Far
from it. There will be PERSECUTIONS.
Jesus Christ was persecuted. He said, "lf
they have persecúted me, they will per–
secute you." That comes from wriHour.
'But UNHAPPINESS is sometbing tbal
springs from WrTHJN. Happiness is a
STATE Of
ldiND;
happiness is _WITHJN.
And the person who does have this in–
ward peace - this joy, this patience and
!ove, and absence of resentment and bit–
temess - isn't· going to be anywhere.
near as disturbed and unhappy as when
be didn't have them. You'll always face
problcms - but you'll have FArTH and
God's help in solving them. But prob–
lems and tests of faitb are good for us –
the very building btocks of perfect spiri–
tual character.
1
know tbat the Bible says:
"Many
are the affiictioos of the righteous," but
the same scripture adds, "but the Eter–
na! delivereth him out of them all"
(Psalm
34: 19).
lt's true Jesus was
"a
man of sorrows,
and acquainted with gricf." lt's true He
SUFFERED - He knew what suffering i$.
But H is suffering and grief was not
caused by pain others inflicted on Him
- not from resentment. or being hurt by
others - but by His
/ove
for others. He
sull'ered because they were bringing so
much suffering on themselves. But He
also was a man of boundless JOY, and
He said,
·~M
y JOY !leave with you."
Y
es, He said,
"1
a m come that they
might have
l.II'E.
and that they migbt
have it more ABUNOANTLY'! (John
10: 10).
o
Circu lation:
3,677,323
WITHOUT SUBSCRIPTION PRICE:
Plaln
Truth
has no subscription or newsstan<l
price. h is supported chrough concribucions from our readers and chose who have chosen.
voluntarily.
lO
bec:ome co..workers with us' ln this worldwide work.
Plaln Truth
is non..
proflt. accepcs no c:ommer<:iul advertising. and
has
nolhing
10
sell. Concribucions are grace–
runy
welcomcd and are IU-deductible in
lhe
u.s.
Those who can • .., enéouragcd
lO
add
theor financia! supporl
in
che spiril of helping
10
make
Plain
Trwlh
available. wilbout
pri«.
10
ochers. Contribucioru should
be
scnt
10
PIDín TnJth.
Pasadena,
Ca..
91123.
or
10
one ofour officcs
narese
you (addresSe. listcd on back
cover).
Plofn
Tn111t
is pubJished
t~·.c~
monthty (except monthly in July and
Octobcr)
by Amba.$$4dor
Coll<&<. Pasadena. Califomoo, 91 12).
~
1975 ;1.mbassadoc Coll<ge. All rights r<S<""'d· Se<ond
Classl'omgepaid
at
Pasadena, Ca.. and aladdilional mailing offices.
PRINTED IN U.S.A.