Evangelist Gives Up Effort To

Bring Mother Back To Life

United Press International

HARRISON, Ark. - Daniel Aaron Rogers, the evangelist who tried unsuccessfully to resurrect the frozen body of his mother, abandoned his effort Thursday. Rogers' wife Elizabeth said that the body of Gladys Rogers, 80, was buried in Missouri.

The evangelist had kept the body in a freezer at a funeral home in Reeds Spring, Mo., where he had conducted three prayer sessions in hopes of bringing his mother back to life. The first attempt was March 12, the second on Easter Sunday, and the final one on Tuesday night.

Gladys Rogers died Feb. 2 of the flu. Rogers and his wife had kept the body in dry ice at their home for a week before taking it to the funeral home. Rogers repeatedly said that only his lack of faith would prevent the resurrection.

And blessed is He who keeps from stumbling over me. Matthew 11:6

Author's Paraphrase:

And happy is the one who does not trip over his limited, preconceived notions of how God works.

What was your personal reaction when you read the above recent newspaper account of an evangelist's attempt and failure to resurrect his mother from the dead? Was your reaction:

"Oh, if only he had had more faith!", or

"Those dumb healers will never learn!", or

"Wouldn't God have been glorified if the attempted resurrection had been successful!", or "That's what happens when you tempt the Almighty!", or "Death is only an illusion; God answered his prayer by giving her an eternal resurrection!"?

What would your reaction have been if the newspaper account had had a totally different ending? What if the evangelist and his family and friends had announced that the eighty year old woman had been resurrected? Then would you have responded:

"Praise God!", or

"I'd want the AMA to authenticate

something like that before I'd believe it!", or

"That proves that signs and wonders do follow them that believe!", or

"They might have lucked out this time, but it's an adulterous generation that seeks after signs!"?

The area of miracles is a source of confusion and frustration for most people. Our theology, which includes our personal concept of God's involvement in the affairs of men, is clearly reflected in our response and analysis of "successful" and "unsuccessful" miracles. Perhaps we should all look again at our perspective on miracles.

G od's ways are not our ways. In the area of miracles, particularly healings, this is uniquely apparent. Who can fathom why a miraculous, instantaneous healing comes in one instance; a miraculous, progressive healing in another; a miraculous remission of disease in another; but devastating deterioration and/or death in a fourth

case? Could it be that the latter intervention (or apparent lack of positive intervention) is also a miracle-in disguise?

If you understand Jesus' message to the imprisoned John the Baptist, just before he was beheaded, you will be among the few who know that miracles are not sporadic, but unlimited. When John sent some of his disciples to Jesus to confirm if He was the Christ, Jesus sent back the following strange report:

"The blind receive sight and the
lame walk, the lepers are clean
sed and the deaf hear, and the
dead are raised up, and the
poor have the gospel preached
to them. And blessed is he who
keeps from stumbling over Me."
-Matthew 11:5,6

In other words, Jesus answered John's questions about the validity of His Messiahship by saying, "The visible miracles confirm who I am, and the poor in heart see God in these demonstrations. But happy and content is the one who does not trip over his

UNION LIFE Page 3

There is a miracle that is far greater than any outward miracle of the body or circumstance. It is the miracle of faith-a willingness to believe that God is all and in all. »

limited, preconceived notions of how God works."

What would your reaction be to the foregoing message if you were in John's place? Remember, as the one who announced the coming of the Messiah and then baptized the only begotten Son of God, John had the inside track with Jesus if anyone did. Jesus acknowledged John's high standing when He said, "Among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist." Shouldn't this qualify John for at least one major miracle-deliverance from the prison of cruel King Herod?

Yet Jesus' personal message to John was to remind him that though Jesus sometimes performed demonstrations to enlighten men, John should not misinterpret apparent nonintervention as actual nonintervention. Prayer is always answered. A "No" in a specific situation is as much an answer as a "Yes"

Though there was no miracle by the standards of many, John saw a miracle. There is a miracle that is far greater than any outward miracle of the body or circumstance. It is the miracle of faith-a willingness to believe that God is all and in all, even in what we label as evil. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." The fact is that God's glory (and ours) is sometimes better served by an inner change, or inner strength in the midst of an outward problem, than by some preconceived outer positive manifestation of healing or change in circumstance.

Perhaps John clung to Job's statement of faith, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job 13:15). Or perhaps John clung to the classic statement by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when Nebuchadnezzar told the three young men to worship the golden image, "or else".

In any event, my guess is that John knew exactly what Jesus meant when He said, "And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me." He knew it meant, "I could miraculously deliver you from your jail and impending death circumstances; but I have other mir

aculous plans for you. Don't let my apparent inaction on your behalf cause you to misunderstand My love for you."

True spiritual maturity does not demand specific demonstrations or visible miracles from God. Awareness of the Indwelling Christ, recognition of Omnipresence, is enough. Inner illumination, revelation, enlightenment, and ecstasy is its own reward. Inner awareness negates the necessity of changes in outer appearances. Though manifestations inevitably follow illumination, we do not concern ourselves with the mode of manifestation.

0ne of the national personalities on Christian television is known for his constant use of the expression, "Expect a miracle." Though I appreciate his emphasis of expecting great things of God, we must learn to recognize a God who frequently comes in disguise. Our focus must not be on preconceived manifestations, signs and miracles. Though supernatural events frequently follow belief, our single-eye focus must be on inner One-power Union life, not on outer appearances.

What we generally call miracles are visible supernatural events which are meant to bear witness to man of God's omnipresence and omnipotence. They have as their purpose to enlighten men, to move them from doubt and unbelief to inner faith. Therefore, the ultimate miracle is the miracle of faith-that inner awareness of union, irrespective of outer circumstances. Once you experience this miracle you never demand an outer miracle again. The inner miracle swallows up the need for any future outer manifestation or signs. Those events which most people label as miracles are then seen by you as God's every-day intervention in the affairs of men; and the events that appear to be evil, adverse and disastrous are seen as being equally wonderful.

When by faith Jesus called into being the loaves and fishes to feed the five thousand, He did it so that the onlookers might never hunger again. His primary purpose was to give them permanent spiritual understanding, not just to temporarily feed their bodies.

That they had not been adequately enlightened was amply evidenced by the fact that they returned the next day wanting another miracle. Only the unenlightened and the immature demand more miracles after their exposure to a specific miraculous demonstration.

In many "healing" circles the participants never experience the ultimate miracle of faith. Therefore they constantly hanker after another miracle, supposedly "that God might be glorified." In many cases God gives them their request, but sends leanness into their souls (Ps. 106:15 marg). In other cases, He can do no miracles because of their unbelief. (Obviously there is no physical limitation on Omnipotence; it is merely a refusal to give an outer demonstration because of the unbelief.) At that point the individuals involved would not believe though someone rose from the dead.

W e will leave to another article the question of the inevitable manifestation that results from the spoken word of faith. When Jesus spoke the word of faith, substantive "miracles" always resulted. When we speak words of faith, as distinguished from surface hopes, desires, and wishes, there will always be an embodiment of our Spirit. Whatever we bind or loose on earth will always be bound or loosed in heaven. But we are not ready for this truth until we first experience the miracle of faith-until we are prepared to believe that God is actively involved in every situation irrespective of the temporal outcome.

Though John the Baptist did not fully understand the "mystery" of inner-life, because he preceded Pentecost, he nevertheless experienced the miracle of faith. John died happy because he did not stumble over the appearances of evil, knowing that they too were demonstrations of God-in-action.

When we finally begin to see with the single eye of faith we will see God in all things, and miracles will be the rule rather than the exception. Living by the miracle of faith we will see miracles unlimited.

Page 4 UNION LIFE

The local morning newspaper, which I habitually digest along with my breakfast, is owned, so they tell me, by a "P.K.," a preacher's kid. One finds little gestures in the direction of piety here and there, among them a two-sentence prayer that appears regularly near the bottom of the front page. Who composes the prayers I have no idea; local clergymen probably take turns. Here is a sampling from the past week or so.

"Father, lead me to seek Thy will for my life. Help me to accept Thy answer to prayer and to trust that Thy will for my life is better than anything I can ask or even think. In Jesus' name. Amen."

• " O Lord, help us to take each day as it comes and do, the best we can to live a life patterned after Your teachings. Amen."

" O God, help me to do well in the little things of life. For if I do well in the little things, then I shall do my part in helping to shape the big things. Amen."

"There are times when many of us are too critical of others. Please help us, dear Lord, to be more tolerant of the things other people do and say. Amen."

A person does not need theological training to observe the rather wide dif

ferences in basic doctrine that these prayers reflect. The tone of several of them is pretty "liberal." At least one of them, on the other hand, could make it in most of our traditional churches.

These four prayers have two important features in common. One is the word "Amen," which we realize immediately has a good deal of backing in both the Old Testament and New Testament. The other is the word "help," which by contrast has only qualified support in the Old Testament and little if any in the New.

It has probably never occurred to many of us that there could be anything out of the way with a harmless little word like "help." For instance, "For I shall again praise him, my help and my God" (Ps. 42:11), or "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1), or "For thou hast been my help" (Ps. 63:7), or "My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth" (Ps. 121:2), to mention some of the better-known passages from the Psalms. And what about " O God, our help in ages past"? Well, that was Dr. Isaac Watts' version of Psalm 90; like many of our bestknown hymns it has some doctrinal

shortcomings.

Some years ago I was conducting a course in writing and one of the students turned in a paper that began something like this: "As we are told in the Bible, 'God helps those who help themselves.' " Naturally, here was far too tempting an opportunity to let slip, so I made a notation to inform the writer that this quotation was not from the Bible but from Poor Richard's Almanac, and that while Ben Franklin may at times have seemed inspired, his inspiration was of neither the kind nor degree to suggest admission to Sacred Scripture. I am sure my quip went a mile over the lad's head. But he is far from alone; I am convinced that millions of Americans consider the idea a vital element in the national religious thinking.

The notion that God stands ready to lend a hand when we call on Him simply does not appear in the New Testament. In fact, even the word "help" is surprisingly rare. The man from Macedonia appealed to Paul, "Come over to Macedonia and help us," and the father of the demon-possessed boy asked Jesus, "Help my unbelief." There is no evidence that Jesus answered that

UNION LIFE Page 5

request at all.

What we have here is a principle familiar to psychologists and sociologists and other students of human behavior, although I do not remember encountering a specific name for it. I suppose you could call it "suppression of the negative," another way of saying that we ignore things that aren't there, not because they aren't, but because we have taken it for granted that they are.

Let me give you a few examples: Why do elementary school pupils take up smoking cigarettes? They just think it shows that they are grown up. They see adults smoking. What they don't observe is a far greater number who not only don't smoke but regard smoking as a mark of immaturity. Or another example. How often does the word "Hallelujah" appear in the Bible? I asked that of one of the women in my Sunday school class and she started trying to count. Actually, it doesn't appear at all, at least not in the King James Bible, which she regards as the only translation. But for that matter, there are a number of familiar words that aren't there: educate, history, chorus, loyalty, trinity, bridge, harbor, ocean and, oddly enough, the pronoun its.

Having taken it for granted that God helps those who help themselves, we assume that the next step is to remind God of this arrangement, in other words to pray for whatever help we need. We are of course the ones who will do the job at hand, but since we are finite creatures we do have limitations. At this point we invite God to

help.

The thought that we cannot achieve obedience to the will of God-or to use the Bible word, "righteousness"-is not at all flattering. It makes me think of two magazines that I encounter from time to time: The New Yorker and Reader's Digest. The first probably strikes the general reader as a rather worldly publication. Certainly the Digest is commonly regarded as far more moral and much more suitable for family reading. Its articles have leavened countless sermons and inspirational addresses. Among its contributors are such luminaries as Billy Graham and Norman Vincent Peale. Yet I find the philosophy of The New Yorker far closer to the biblical message than that of Reader's Digest. For The New Yorker has a profound sense of right and wrong, of indignation about injustice in high places, even though it does not name a remedy. Reader's Digest, on the other hand, qualifies matters with an assumed "if only." Heaven on earth is just a short reach away "if only" we balance the national budget, do something about Castro, clear the relief rolls of chiselers, control the drug traffic, find a cure for cancer, and so on. Such a philosophy is a pleasant one. We do like to imagine-all of-that man is perfectible, and that with a little outside help-not so much that we get overwhelmed-we can make it. The appeal of such thinking is reflected in Reader's Digest's circulation figures.

When it was that I became aware of these "if only" prayers I am not altogether sure, but it gradually dawned on

me that they involved a contradiction of what the New Testament writers are trying to say. The idea is in plain sight in John 15:4, "Abide in me, and I in you"-especially the second part of that command. We commonly stop with the first. Then in verse 5 Jesus says, "Apart from me you can do nothing." He meant that very literally, otherwise He would never have bothered to make the comparison of the vine and the branches.

In Paul's writings it comes out again and again: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God" (Gal. 2:20), or much the same thing: "For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). This is a strong statement. The believer has left the choice to God, and as a result God takes charge of both the intention and the execution. The believer is simply the instrument through whom God works, not someone who does all the planning (after checking the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount) and most of the work, but with a helpful boost from the Almighty. "I worked harder than any of them," Paul declares (I Cor. 15:10), "though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me." Or (Col. 1:27 [Phillips] ): "And the secret is simply this: Christ in you!'

"Lord, make me an instrument..." cried St. Francis of Assisi. He was a strange one. But he understood.

We are grateful to THE BANNER, the official publication of the Christian Reformed Church, for giving us permission to reprint the foregoing article.

Page 6 UNION LIFE

My dearest friends, we come here today to celebrate Christ's eternal life as it has touched us in Benji's resurrection. The Christ that was Benji has slipped the bonds of flesh and soars with the winds of endless peace. It is in the knowledge of the oneness of Christ and His children that we rejoice in Benji's freedom.

In the world he had tribulation and trials and distress, but he was of good cheer, for the Christ in him overcame the world and smiled that his suffering could bring hope to his many brothers and sisters. Christ through Benji taught us that we are His hands, His breast, His tender word, His love in this world. Benji never walked or spoke, but his bright eyes and incomparable smile laughed at what the world sees as hell, thus affirming the divine yes. Benji, as Jesus always does, layed down his life gladly for his friends. For it was not Benji who died, but Christ again giving Himself for us.

We, Benji's friends, are persuaded beyond doubt that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

Benji knew: it was a good day to die.

UNION LIFE Page 7

"How do you handle temptation and failure?" I was recently asked this question by a pastor anxious to have the right answer for himself and for his people, and I myself found it both profitable and confirming to discuss it with him.

Obviously it is the big question of the vast majority of born-again Christians. We want to be Christlike, but we are caught in the same syndrome of which Paul wrote in Romans 7: "I delight in the law of God after the inward man ... to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not."

What is the answer? First and essentially, I must know who I am in Christ, and be consciously, freely, and happily that person. And who I am is most perfectly expressed and defined in Paul's great Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

First Paul says, and I must say with him, "I am crucified with Christ." That means in actual fact-not just doctrinally and positionally. My previous fallen I, independent of Christ and in the dominion of Satan and sin, is now cut off from sin as the reigning principle of my life. I am in fact dead to sin and to the indwelling satanic spirit of error.

Regardless of how I feel, I have to say it and confess it with my mouth: "I am crucified with Christ." I must say, "I am dead to sin" as boldly as when I got

saved. Then I said I was no longer a lost sinner, but was now justified in Christ as though I had never sinned. All we born-again people have said just that in our own terms, haven't we? And we had to say it by looking away from our lost sin condition and the bondages of which we had become so vividly conscious, and transferring our believing and inner seeing to God's written word, which tells us God sees us as though we had never sinned. We have been justified by faith and so have peace with God. God sees us in Christ as perfect and sinless as Christ Himself.

So now we have to go a step further. In the face of our flesh weaknesses, our temptations, and our lapses into sins, we now boldly say: "I am dead to sin in Christ. I am crucified with Christ." And then further still. Just as I once said, "not only am I no longer a lost sinner, but now righteous in Christ as He is righteous," so now I say, "not only am I no longer a separated self in an old marriage under sin control, but I am now a newly married self (Rom.7:4) joined to Christ." I carry Paul's Galatians statement through to its completion-that now I live, yet it is not I living, but Christ living in me.

Christ is the Real Person expressed through my human I, totally replacing the spirit of error who previously expressed his sin-self through me. I am not saying Christ lives in me as though side by side with me; rather, He replaces me as my real inner self. I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. That is

replacement, and not just a partnership or relationship between two. It is two having become one, for "he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." It is He and I as Vine and branch. We operate together as one vine. The vine expresses and reproduces itself in its branch forms, the sap always flowing through the branch and producing the fruit. So now I am Christ being Himself through my human self. I am not just I, Norman Grubb, but Christ expressed in His Norman Grubb form.

In the same way, a body is the head expressing itself in its body form. A body is a head in outer action. When we enter a dark room, we should say, "Turn on the lamp," not "Turn on the light," for it is a light manifested through its lamp form. But we don't even remember that it's a lamp; we just call it a light! So are we in our redeemed form, being called by Jesus the light of the world. For He is not only the One who died for me and is now my Savior; He is also my Indweller-not as a separate one in me, but as my replacement. "I live, yet not I, but He." Christ is my Permanent Identity, and I am His means of manifesting Himself.

Now these are two radical statements: 1) that I am crucified with Christ and thus actually dead to sin and the spirit of error, and 2) that I am no longer just my Norman Grubb I, but Christ is in such an eternal inner union with me that it is He expressed in my human form. It is difficult to make that confessed word of faith which says straight out, "I am not I, but Christ in

Page 8 UNION LIFE

me," because for so many years as a born-again Christian I have been such a flesh-conscious, oppressed, failing, guilty, and self-condemning I. How then can I honestly say that this I-so tempted, so often stressed and strained, hurt and angry, resentful and lustful-is not only dead to sin, but is Christ Himself?

First let's get it clear: the human self is always a tempted self, and temptation is not sin. We know that because Adam & Eve were tempted before they sinned, and Jesus, the one sinless man, was tempted so totally that He is the only one ever named in the Bible as tempted in every way in which we are tempted, and that is saying a big thing. So I can be as perfect as Christ is perfect, yet constantly tempted in every channel of temptation through my bodily desires or soul emotions or feelings or reactions, or through mental doubts or questionings.

What then is temptation? It is the drawing and pulling of a world which in its fallen condition is totally geared to self-interest and self-gratification (John's "lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life"), continually pulling at me to respond to some independent self-reaction or self-desire. James describes it as being "drawn away by our own lusts and enticed" (James 1:18).

T emptation is a subtle attempt to make my human me forget who I really am (Christ in my human form), and act as if I am back off the cross as an independent human being responding to some drawing of my human desires or appetites. In other words, it is the presence of sin (selfloving desires) enticing me back to the illusion of, being my old independent self (not joined to Christ), enticing me to commit spiritual adultery (James 4:4). It is the pull back to that illusory, independent, struggling self that Paul so completely describes in Romans 7:14-24, and from which he says in verses 1-4 we have been delivered by Christ's death cutting us off from the old control of the law. For the law held

us in its tight grip while we were independent of God, presented us with impossible demands, and thus exposed us to the realization of our captivity to sin. But now we have died in Christ to being those independent selves in the power of sin, and instead have become united selves to Christ, so that there remains no independent self. "Dead to the law" must mean that there is no separate self on which law can make its demands.

66

The human

self is always

a tempted self,

and temptation

is not sin. !9

To put it another way, my old marriage to sin and the law of "ought to", which gave sin its control over my independent self, is dissolved eternally in Christ's death, and is replaced in His resurrection by the new marriage in which my Husband has taken over my redeemed human self. This human self is God's beautiful creation in His own likeness, which for a time had been stolen and made captive in a false independence by sin and Satan. But God graciously gave the law to expose our blinded selves to the fact that we were captives in our false independence, so that now we are released to be our true selves.

Therefore, temptation is the agency by which sin would deceive me (Romans 7:11) and pull me back to the illusion of responding as my old independent self, which was subject to the laws of "you ought" and "you ought not". Then sin, "taking occasion by the commandment," makes me react as an independent self. I temporarily forget that I am Christ in my human self, and thus in my illusory independence once again I become a slave to sin, doing what I ought not, for the independent I can never fulfill the law.

So there lies the snare. If by temptation I can be tricked and deceived into responding as if separate from who I truly am, I am caught, enslaved, and defeated, and guilt and condemnation then follow. The full implication of Paul's insistence that I am dead to the law is that this apparently independent I is an illusion, because that "I" comes under the law. Being dead to the law means there remains no independent I for the law to give commands to! The new I-Christ in me and as me-is the law; and thus in my union relationship "the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in me."

So what do I do when temptation pulls at me as though I am an independent self? I act as quickly as I can. I can always be who I am. To be competent in a profession means that I have a settled know-how in the use of my tools. It is perfectly easy and spontaneous for a carpenter to use his tools and make his measurements, because he operates by his inner know-how of how to do his job, and not by the outer tools. His years of apprenticeship and training transferred his outer learning into inner know-how. He now enjoys practicing his profession. Recently when I was admiring the panelling of a friend's new house, he happened to say, "Yes, I have a good carpenter. But he would be insulted if you were to tell him how to do his job. You only tell him what to do, not how to do it."

We operate happily, freely, and spontaneously when we know our profession by an inner know-how. That knowing is being (just as the Bible word for knowing always means being mixed with a thing or person), and so we are the carpenter, cook, or doctor.

And that is precisely how I know I am

not I, but Christ, the real me in my human form. The faith that changed the apprentice with his outer learning into the professional with his inner knowhow is the same faith by which I possess my possessions (as crucified with Christ, and now Christ replacing me in my resurrected I). Faith, being substance (Heb.1 1:1), has become my fixed inner consciousness that this

UNION LIFE Page 9

union and replacement is the eternal fact, so that I now live freely, spontaneously, and happily by my permanent know-how.

S o when temptation draws me and would grab me, it is now easy for me to transfer my initial tendency to respond as if I'm an independent self back to who I really am. I don't have to seek and pray and try to find a Christ who will deliver me. I simply recognize myself as crucified with Him. Now He is the real me, and I recognize Him as me. He, the love or purity or power or peace or whatever virtue, swallows up the pull of the attraction. We can't see two ways at once. When I am drawn to see and respond to some negative temptation, I take the place of faith by denying the existence of this false self with its negative seeing and affirm it as now crucified with Christ. I replace it by the positive seeing of Him as my

true self. Then where is the temptation or pull? The positive swallows the negative!

In other words, I don't fight against darkness in a room, or stop to condemn it, or struggle against it. I just turn on the light, and where is the darkness? And when we inwardly know we are that light (He in us), it is quite easy to recognize Him in us, and that is how we inwardly turn on the light. Life swallows up death, Paul says, and likewise light swallows up darkness.

Temptation is really a means of temporarily diverting my believing into some flesh attraction, for what the Bible calls unbelief is really negative believing. I am temporarily grabbed by that thing-some fear, depression, tension, lust, resentment, sense of inability, or weakness-and sometimes the hold may last for a long time. As soon as I awake to the hold that a thing has on me through my negative

believing in it, then I can always exercise my freedom of will (which is not soul-emotion but spirit-action) and affirm who I am, Christ in me. I do this by the word of faith, quite apart from feeling or reasoning, and I am restored and free.

Above all else, I must rely on Romans 8:1 -no condemnation! James says we are to count temptations all joy (count in spirit, not feel in soul!), because they provide practice in becoming established in faith-in the faith of Christ as the real me. So when I am tempted and snap back from illusory self to Him, my true self, then 1 give thanks and enjoy that little bit of good practice, but I never take condemnation. When His own disciples remained in negative believingfearing a storm, not having food for the multitude, or no fish, or not believing the resurrection-Christ did not condemn them as sinners, but He did call them "fools and slow of heart to believe," and He did chide them for their lack of faith. So I don't mind being often a fool and a slow believer, but I don't mistake foolishness for sinning. No condemnation!

And if I go beyond temptation and indulge in the thing tempting me, then I have sinned and will undoubtedly feel guilty. But I must not remain in that guilt, for God does not see the sin, but only the blood which cleanses from all sin. So I see the same. I confess (a word in 1 John 1:9 which means "say with", so I am inwardly saying with God, "Yes, I did sin"), then` immediately the sin is no longer there. Since He remembers it no more, neither do I. 1 immediately change from guilt to praise. That is why it says in Hebrews 9:14 that the blood cleanses the conscience from the dead works. It is adding sin to sin, if I choose to remain guilty instead of replacing it by the positive believing that I am righteous

Page 10 UNION LIFE

"I no longer regard my human self as a wretched liability, always bugging and tormenting me. I now see and accept myself as Christ's