Note: Descriptions include star ratings for the more popular articles. If you would like copies of articles posted to you, send fifty cents for each article requested (to help cover printing and postage), to Jesus Christians, Box A678, Sydney South 1235 Australia.)
1. Just Say It
This comparison between the Lord's Prayer and the Sinner's Prayer emphasises the need to voice them continually, in order to stay in God's will and protection.
(See also Thy Kingdom Come, and Thoughts on Prayer[R].)
2. Constant Prayer Available on request
Praying without ceasing is much the same as following your conscience. When we become aware of problems in our spirit, then we can correct them. Forget about arriving and work on constant improvement.
(See also The True Conscience, and Fasting Without Ceasing.)
3. Thy Will Be Done Available on request
A brief experiment with a form of conversational prayer led us to discover the ultimate prayer request.
(See also Constant Prayer[R], Prayer Meetings[R].)
4. The True Conscience
The true conscience is contrasted with the social conscience in this article. The true conscience is the voice of God telling us where we need to improve. Ignore it, and you become gradually insane.
(See also Plain Speech[R], Conviction vs Condemnation, Character, Reprobate Minds[R], and Laziness.)
5. Fasting without Ceasing
A radical approach to fasting which just happens to be a radically Christian approach to dieting as well. It could result in bigger miracles than just a change in your weight.
(See also No Fatties in Heaven?[R])
6. No Fatties in Heaven
Available on request
A Christian look at the subject of gluttony and being overweight. It considers a range of different approaches to obesity, and then settles on one that worked for this writer in a way that the others had not. Strangely, it stemmed from thoughts about Bible prophecy!
(See also Fasting Without Ceasing.)
7. No Neutrals
Available on request
Are there various levels of commitment to Christ? Are we each free to follow some of his commands while putting others on hold? What about people who sincerely love God, but who belong to other groups? Find the answers in this challenging article.
(See also Reject Us, Reject God[R], and Divine Authority[R].)
8. Peace That Disturbs
Available on request
Anger can make others mad; but genuine love can be far more convicting, and could lead to fiercer persecution.
(See also Friend or Foe? and Why Did They Kill Jesus?)
9. Relating vs Compromising
Available on request
A caution against over-relating, and in particular, using "relating" as an excuse for accepting the false values of the world. (See also Keep on Planting, and Media Interviews[R].)
10. The Law is for the Lawless
Available on request
Cherry sounds a warning to community members who think that maturity means doing their own thing, and not heeding advice. The longer we ignore advice, the more we prove our immaturity, and the more likely that we will be dealt with harshly next time.
(See also Moral Adults[R] and Laziness.)
11. Deception
Dave looks at how easy it is to be deceived, and also at how easy it is to not be deceived. The choice is yours.
(See also Backsliding[R], No Neutrals[R], and Honesty.)
12. The Fall Available on request
A vivid and frightening dream which illustrates the awful finality of backsliding. Whether it is gradual or sudden, the consequences are tragic.
(See also Benefits of Not Backsliding[R], Backsliding[R], and Reject Us, Reject God[R].)
13. The Knowledge of Good and Evil Available on request
There are times when knowing the answers can be a curse. The right application of this knowledge in our own lives, on the other hand, is the source of redemption.
(See also Malcontents.)
14. Malcontents
Do you spend too much time talking about what you don't like, and reacting to pet peeves in various people and groups? A true revolutionary has a strong vision of a better world to replace the old ways. Accentuate the positive, and beat the malcontent blues.
(See also Liking and Loving[R], Mark Those Who Cause Divisions, and Backsliding[R].)
15. Ananiases Available on request
This is not a holiday camp. Potential members need to realise that they are on trial as much as if not more than we are on trial during the "trial week".
(See also Pawning Your Inheritance.)
16. A Letter to Jon Ronson
We attempted to outline to a Jewish film producer the problems he would encounter if he tried to get church leaders to comment on why they oppose us. The producer was not personally interested in thinking through the issues we have raised here, but the letter has been preserved in order to help others to think about the issues.
(See also Why Did They Kill Jesus.)
17. We're Right and They're Wrong
We've learned a lot from sociology; but the problem with all science is that, by its own definition, it never has the right to pass moral judgments. Nothing is seen as being evil except passing judgment itself. But for those of us who have the responsibility to make moral decisions, it is spiritual suicide to turn loose of our right and responsibility to recognise the difference between right and wrong.
(See Thou Shalt Judge, How We Differ from Systemites[R], and Reject Us, Reject God[R].)
18. Reprobate Minds
Available on request
God can forgive anything except an unwillingness to face up to your own sinfulness. Refuse to acknowledge sin for long enough, and you will become reprobate, or spiritually insane... if not psychotic.
(See As the World Turns[R], Insanity, and Fingers in Their Ears[R].)
19. The Judgment
Available on request
This one is from People of the Living God, Tennessee, USA. It deals with our need to have obeyed Jesus when we stand before God at the end of the world.
(See also God's No Fool, WWFJD?, Eternal Salvation, and So, Who ARE They Following?)
20. Fire and Brimstone
The world is afraid to think about death; and religion has become just one more way to avoid the subject. But real living starts with facing the reality of death.
(See also Don't Pack Your Bag[R], The Judgement[R], Thy Kingdom Come, and Judgment Day[R].)
21. Deathbed Conversions Available on request
Surprisingly, Dave supports the idea of deathbed conversions, and even suggests that they are the only genuine conversions. This article was triggered by the death of his father shortly before it was written.
(See also The Cross[R], and Eternity.)
22. Haggling with God Available on request
With eternity hanging in the balance, it is surprising how many people will still shop for discounts on the terms that God has given to us through Jesus. How foolish!
(See also Pawning Your Inheritance, and God's Best[R].)
23. As the World Turns
Available on request
While we "walk in the light" we fellowship with others who are doing the same. But when one of us turns away from the light, the fellowship grinds to a halt.
(See also The Split[R], and Many Paths up the Mountain.)
24. Breaking the Spell Available on request
Is there a conspiracy against us, that we have never developed into a big organisation? Or could it be a conspiracy against God?
(See also As the World Turns[R], and Reject Us, Reject God[R].)
25. Fingers in Their Ears
Available on request
People everywhere are running away from the truth. But what they are running from is not the horror that they imagine. All that Jesus taught is aimed at making our lives meaningful, happy, exciting and worthwhile.
(See also Smile, God Loves You!)
26. Cognitive Dissonance
Available on request
This study shows how the mind seeks to make sense out of contradictions, and it relates this principle to the mental problem people face when they claim to accept Jesus while, at the same time, reject his teachings.
(See also Insanity, WWFJD? and So Who ARE They Following?)
27. Change
Fundamentalists are the blindest of all sinners, because they fear change. Have you put God in a box, that does not allow him to change you?
(See also Dogmas[R], and Fear Not.)
27. Dogmas Available on request
Dogmas are beliefs which people accept blindly. We must learn to communicate truth in ways that circumvent dogmas. No easy answers in this one.
(See also The Role of Experience in the Quest for Truth[R], Christians and the Law[R], Change, and Honest Doubt[R].)
29. Old Bottles
Available on request
Such concepts as "first love", "born again", "faith of a child", "the last shall be first", "new bottles", and "God has chosen the foolish things" are woven together to show the New Testament emphasises on being flexible, and the need to stay hungry for more and more truth rather than becoming hard and self-righteous about what we already have.
(See also Know-it-Alls[R], Lest You Fall[R], and Self-Righteousness[R].)
30. Pride Available on request
The best way to learn humility is to learn to live with other people. Pride is what makes it so hard for most people to even contemplate living in a Christian community.
(See also Why Communes Fail, Living in Community, and Pride-Smashing[R].)
31. Academic Towers of Babel
Available on request
There is a tendency for highly educated people to start thinking that they are too smart to be bothered with faith in a real God. This article focuses on how that has happened in the field of medicine in particular.
(See also Heal the Sick.)
32. The Politics of Suicide Available on request
Writing from the Refugee Embassy in Woomera, Dave sees in suicide bombers, fasts to the death, Jonestown, and kamikaze pilots a willingness to die for what one believes in, which intimidates the rest of society, and causes us to react irrationally.
(See also The American Dream[R].)
33. The Answer to Intellectual Atheism Available on request
The teachings of Jesus take up where science leaves off, answering questions that science can never answer about the meaning of life. The teachings of Jesus give a "window into the mysteries of the universe."
(See also Christian Science.)
34. Christian Science
Loving and Learning are two sides of the same coin. True scientific method is consistent with a Christian desire for truth. This short defence for science gives the other side of what we have said in Academic Towers of Babel.
(See also The Role of Experience in the Quest for Truth[R].)
35. Blessed are the Merciful Available on request
This article deals with understanding people who are sick. Teachings that sickness comes from the devil can lead to self-righteousness on the part of those who are healthy. In reality, suffering and apparent failure may be God's path to spiritual victory.
(See also Heal the Sick, and No Fatties in Heaven[R].)
36. Insanity
We believe that people who experience mental breakdowns have experienced a genuine spiritual reality that is unknown to the bulk of "normal" society. But being genuine and being "good" are not necessarily the same. The path from hell to heaven may require people to return to the material world and its seemingly shallow existence.
(See also Faithfulness: Some Thoughts[R].)
37. Suicide Available on request
Ross has suffered from depression for many years, but shares here how faith in God has always pulled him through. He asks why people in Western society commit suicide, and stresses the need for faith in God to pull you through.
38. Shallow Relationships Available on request
The way to a deeper relationship may be to discard the one you have.
(See also The Xmas Spirit, and The Cuddlies.)
39. Fear of Public Opinion
All that is evil in what we call "the system" is encapsulated in the spirit of fear and dishonesty that Hans Christian Andersen exposed so well in his story about The Emperor's New Clothes.
(See also The Social Conscience, parts 1 and 2[R], Take up the Press and Follow Me, and Character.)
40. Character
If you don't have anything worth dying for, then it is questionable whether you have anything worth living for. Character has gone out of fashion, but it is still what makes life (and death) meaningful.
(See also The True Conscience, and Wisdom.)