Exloring Life Eternal

A simple supra-rational summary of who I serve with:
International "Fools" for Christ.
We are one organism, but cannot organize ourselves.
Instead, the head directs our steps.

International: 2 Chronicles 16:9
Fools: Proverbs 17:24
for Christ: 2 Corinthians 4:12-13

Those who seek the face of God like David. (Psalm 27, 34)

Those who expect life from the barren & resurrection from death like Abraham. (Hebrews 11:11-12, 19)

Those who, like Paul, find a peace beyond psychology. (Philippians 4:5-8)

Those who persevere for the blessing like Jacob (Genesis 32:26).

Those who, like Moses, would see the unseen by faithfully looking to Jesus. (Hebrews 11:27)

Those who find a joy which cannot be adequately expressed in human language & is full of glory. (1 Peter 1:8-9)

Those who daily long to know the the unknowable love which is in Christ Jesus alone. (Ephesians 3:14-21)

We are those who have found the city of God, not geographically bound.
We are those who have found redemption, not with gold or silver.
We are those who have been saved, though not by ourselves.
We are those who have hope, against any human hope.

We have lost our own minds in order to gain the mind of Christ.
We have lost our own strength in order to know the power of God.
We have become as nothing that we might know the supply of the Holy Spirit.
We have become as rubbish in order to find rubies for the King's crown.

Below you will read a story that may sound bizzarre to some & offend others, but to be honest, one must face the reality that in the West people are treated as mentally deficient if they practice their faith in the Lord Jesus as outlined in the New Testament.

Even today, the cross of Christ is an offense. Suffering is unwanted, but those who are faithful to Jesus will suffer because sin is so rampant in the world. If you are reading this, you have not yet resisted sin to the point of losing your life (i.e. the shedding of blood). => Do not lose heart. Press on & look to Jesus who suffered. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

If you do suffer, it is okay. Better to suffer for what is right from the world today, than to suffer for what is wrong on the last day.

In Christ,
Mert Hershberger


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VIETNAM: PASTOR FREED FROM MENTAL HOSPITAL
from: Compass Direct (http://www.compassdirect.org)
September 19, 2005

Committed to a Vietnamese mental hospital for nearly a year after being diagnosed as “delusional” for believing in God, the Rev. Than Van Truong was released to his family on Saturday, September 17.

Regular updates about his situation, including details about his treatment, made it possible to launch a wide advocacy campaign by Western governments and human rights advocacy groups. This campaign frustrated and angered Vietnamese authorities. The Dong Nai Province prosecuting authorities and Bien Hoa hospital officials began to blame each other, and neither would take responsibility. For months Rev. Truong was stuck in the middle - prosecutors could find no criminal charges to lay against him, and a doctor at the hospital told his wife that he showed no signs of any mental disorder.

Rev. Truong wrote exceptionally lucid reports about his own mistreatment and deplorable conditions in the mental hospital.

In recent weeks no drugs had been administered to him, and his health improved. He resumed his evangelistic activity and even baptized some fellow patients. Some of them also were mentally sound but had committed violent crimes. They used personal connections to get placed into the mental hospital rather than be executed or imprisoned.

Full story with picture here (http://www.compassdirect.org/en/newslongen.php?idelement=3984).

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an update on our July 6 News Brief: VIETNAM
- Sane Pastor Held Captive in Mental Hospital (http://www.calebproject.org/main.php/world
news briefs).

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Missions Catalyst Newsbriefs: WORLD NEWS BRIEFS -- Wed Oct 5, 2005 -- Edited by Pat Noble <newsbriefs@missionscatalyst.org>

Published by Caleb Project -- Equipping the Church to Reach the Nations -- http://www.calebproject.org