No. 1 Mar. 29, 1999 Absolutely Free

Public School. Once upon a time, there was a rich little boy, living in a big castle, high on a hill. His parents taught him all the good manners that rich little boys know. But every day, he would look out his window, on the village far below, and see the public school, where all the other little kids would be running and playing.

All he wanted was to play with the other kids. So when his parents tired of seeing him be forlorn, they finally told him that if it would make him happy, he could go to school. They enrolled him with kids his age.

But his learning was already far past theirs, because he had had a private tutor before. So always raised his hand when the teacher asked a question, and he always got straight A+'s on his quizzes. So many of the kids became jealous of him.

And because he had better manners than the rest, and acted differently than them, they called him "Prissy-Boy" and beat him up. The only other kids who would play with him were the few other outcasts, nerds, geeks, and wierdos.

Every year at the school, some kid would come to school with chicken pox, or the measles, and all the other kids would catch it too. That's something the rich kid never had to put up with. This year, it was Bubonic Plague, and everybody got sick.

The rich kid said, "Come on everybody, let's go to my house and see if my parents can help!" But only the rejects went with him, and a few others who were so sick, they didn't care if the other kids made fun of them, if it meant getting better.

Dad's private physician gave the plague-antidote to all the rich kid's new friends, and gave them some to take home to their families. All the other kids died horrible, grisly, agonizing deaths. And the rejects all lived happily ever after. The End.

They were called Christians (Ac 11:26). The rich kid's name was Jesus (Jn 20:31), His dad's name was God (Jn 8:54), and the castle on the mountain was called Heaven (Jl 3:17, Re 21:10), the school was called the world (Jn 3:16), the plague was called sin (Ro 5:12), and the story hasn't ended yet.

If you live in the world, and realize you've been infected with sin, Jesus still wants you to come play with Him (Re 22:17). If you're willing, He'll heal you, Absolutely Free.

No. 2 Apr. 5, 1999 Absolutely Free

Changes in attitudes. Suppose you watch the news: the US has declared war on a small country. We bomb their cities, killing thousands of innocent civilians. Now your mood changes. Also, the president sends in troops, who are all killed. You know people in the military. Maybe some of them are gone now. That affects your mood too.

Or, suppose on the news, the winning lottery numbers matched the ticket you hold in your hand. Do you see how the news has the capacity to change your attitude, without changing your environment? You still sit in the same chair, in the same house.

Suppose every time you go to the mall, you pass a booth run by a poor crippled guy, with malformed legs, selling pencils. Every time you see him, you think, "That poor guy. It's too bad medical science can't come up with anything that could help him."

The next time you go to the mall, there he is. He offers to sell a pencil to a passerby, and you hear the passerby say, "I won't buy a pencil, but I will do this..." then he pulls up the cripple by the hand, and says, "In the name of Jesus Christ, arise and walk!"

Suddenly, the cripple looks down and sees that he's standing on his own two healthy legs and feet. He walks around in a circle stunned. Then tears start to flow from his eyes, and he starts jumping and leaping and running around, crying and thinking God.

That wouldn't affect your circumstance at all. But wouldn't it affect your attitude? This story actually happened in the Bible (Ac 3:1-10). All the witnesses knew that it was real, and they were amazed (Ac 4:16). And they spread the story. The news.

And the news changed attitudes, and changed attitudes change lives. The word "Gospel" translated means, "Good News". The Gospel, the story of Jesus Christ in the Bible, is the good news that we don't have to bear the reproach for our sins (Ro 15:3).

And when that news becomes changes your attitude, it changes your life. That's called repentance (Mk 2:17). Others witness that change, which confirms to them that it is real (1Co 1:6, Re 12:11), and they change, and affect others as well (Mk 16:20, He 2:3).

The change: crippled to healthy. If your soul is crippled under the weight of a heavy burden of sin, Jesus will release you from that burden (Mt 11:28-30). And in His name, you can arise, and walk upright, and leap, and be Absolutely Free.

No. 3 Apr. 12, 1999 Absolutely Free

Civic responsibility. On an average day, you can see over 85 brutal killings on TV, merely channel surfing. It happens so often, that it doesn't even stir emotions. You watch 4 people get gunned down in cold blood, and you get up to fetch a cold beverage.

But if you were walking down the street one day, and witnessed an armed robbery, it would affect you differently. In fact, your adrenaline might surge, and you might think, "I've got to do something!" Suppose you have a cell-phone, and decide to call 911.

Now as you're standing there, phone to your ear, the attackers see you. Their attention turns from their getaway, to stopping you from reporting their crime. As the 911 operator answers your call, you're looking at armed men charging at you, guns drawn.

OK, do you throw the phone down and run? Do you take the phone with you and try to talk on the run? Wouldn't it be difficult to communicate coherently? You know, you wouldn't be in this mess if you didn't get involved by whipping out your cell-phone.

Do you find it difficult to pray? Have you ever tried praying, and thought, "This is silly, my words are just hitting the ceiling, and bouncing back down"? If you're praying in private, who are you looking silly in front of? Does your mind ramble when you pray?

God doesn't think it's silly when you pray (2 Ch 7:14). Neither does the devil (Lu 10:19). That's why there's so much confusion when you try to. Prayer moves the hand of God (Ja 5:16), against the devil, like calling the cops moves them against robbers.

It's exactly like the story above: the reason it seems like your thought patterns go to hell when you try to pray, is because residents of hell are trying to interfere with your call, and stop you from reporting them. That's OK. Don't throw the phone down.

God knows what you're praying about, even if you get scatter-brained (Mt 6:8, 32). Even if you don't speak coherently, the Spirit will do it's work (Ro 8:26).

You wouldn't be in this mess if you didn't get involved. But take comfort in the knowledge that, if you encounter trials and tribulations when you pray, it's because your prayers are so effective. Otherwise, the devil would leave you alone.

That's why Christians suffer (2 Ti 3:12). Someone's trying to stop them. God hears your call (Isa 65:24, 66:2, Zec 13:9). And unlike a cell-phone, it's Absolutely Free.

No. 4 Apr. 19, 1999 Absolutely Free

Tax time. It's time to pay your taxes, but there's no 1040 forms, no postal service, and no IRS. It's the dark ages. Tax collectors are thugs who work for the guys in the castle, who tell them to go get some money, and don't come back until they've met the goal.

Which means if they get more than the goal, the leftover belongs to them. So these brutes go about shaking down the peasants, taking their money. And you're a lowly peon, barely making a living. So they come to ransack your house. You resist them.

About the time you do, a member of the royal guard rides up, and sees you resisting the authorities. He scowls, leaps off his horse, draws his sword, and runs it through the tax collector in anger; killing him because he was mistreating you. Is that what you expected?

As he stands over the body of the dead bully, his anger subsides, and he realizes that he's just murdered a government official. Oops. Now he's vulnerable. They'll kill him for this. So he flees. But he saved you, and that's what he wanted to do.

But Moses is supposed to be a big hero in the Bible. Yet he was a murderer. How can that be? God didn't have to overlook this little episode in order to appoint Moses as a hero. It wasn't murder in God's eyes. It was part of God's master plan.

You see, though Moses didn't know it, he'd been selected by God, to portray the role of the Messiah, the savior of Israel. God had chosen him, hundreds of years before Christ was born, to teach people what Christ would be like. He would be like Moses (De 18:15).

Jesus, like Moses who was born in Pharaoh's house, was second in authority in the universe, to His Father only, God (He 1:3, 8:1). Yet in order to save us from being mistreated by bullies (satan and the fallen angels), He made Himself vulnerable (Ro 8:3).

He fled glory (Jn 17:5), and put on frail, vulnerable humanity (2Co 8:9), and when He did, they killed Him. But in the process, He saved you, and that's what He wanted to do. All you have to do, is accept that salvation, by believing in Him, and be Absolutely Free.

No. 5 Apr. 26, 1999 Absolutely Free

A cup of sugar. Back in the good old days (before convenience stores), if a mother was baking a cake, and realized she had no sugar, she would visit her neighbor to borrow a cupful. In fact, sometimes, that was just a ploy to visit across the fence, and gossip.

Now people don't even know their neighbors' names. But suppose you do. And your neighbor, Bob, can't get his lawn mower to start, so he asks if he might borrow yours. You say, "Sure thing. Help yourself. There's gas in the can if you need it."

So a few days later, you look out your window, and there's Bob, with your gas can, pouring the gas into his car. Well, you said he could use it. As you go out to talk to him, you notice something else. "Hey, Bob, isn't that my shirt your wearing?"

"Why, yes. Yes it is. The other day, I ran out of clean clothes, and saw this hanging out on the line. You've got good taste in clothes! Anyway, I figured you wouldn't mind, seeing as how I was in a jam and all." His nerve leaves you speechless, and he drives off.

The following week, you get ready to leave for work, and your car has been stolen. As you call the police, here comes Bob, pulling up in your car. He just needed it for a few minutes. You don't mind do you? How long will you put up with this?

How many times should you put up with this? Well, according to Jesus, 70 x 7 times (Mt 18:22). But that's absurd, you might say. Yes it is. So why would He say that? Because Jesus, God, demonstrates an absurd level of tolerance toward us (Ps 103:8, 145:8, Jl 2:13).

In every sin we commit, we are doing things we do not have permission to do. Yet He would be happy to grant permission (unless it's for something destructive) if we would simply ask (Ja 4:2+3). You'd probably let Bob borrow your car if he'd ask.

Either way, you can get what you want; one way, you make God happy. The other, mad. Which do you prefer? He is willing to forgive us outright, if we'll simply approach Him, and submit to His lordship (Ja 4:7, 1Jn 1:9). But if we refuse to submit to Him, then He will hold us accountable for our actions (Mt 16:27, Jn 3:18). That's fair.

God is happy to give us stuff when we ask (Mt 7:11, Ja 1:17). In fact, even if you don't need anything; when you decide to pray to Him, just because you want to visit over the fence, God likes to bless you with good things Absolutely Free.

No. 6 May 3, 1999 Absolutely Free

The hand that feeds you. The word "science" comes from the Latin word "scientia" which means, "to know." Here's how scientific method works: you start with an idea: a theory. Then you conduct an experiment, that you can repeat with regularity, to test the theory. If the same cause always produces the same effect, you have scientific proof.

During the Middle Ages, there was no public school system. Most commoners worked for the big-shots up in the castle. Only royalty, and those who worked for them were educated. But they were also Christians (supposedly).

And during the Council of Florence, in 1439, the emphasis was on all men being created in the image of God (Ge 1:26+27), and that, "to whom much is given, much is required" (Lu 12:48). Being born into wealth, some noblemen realized that they were given much, so they must be required to share with the common man: the image of God.

So they built learning institutions, later called colleges, and universities, to share with the commoners, the power of knowledge. This is known as the Renaissance (rebirth), a period of immense achievement in science, art, literature, and culture. It was great.

Then Copernicus, said that the universe didn't revolve around the earth (geocentric astronomy), but that the earth rotated on an axis, and orbited the sun (heliocentric astronomy). But church officials decided that this idea contradicted what the Bible teaches (though the Bible doesn't teach geocentric astronomy), and so they punished anyone who taught this stuff - even Galileo. This began the rift between science, and religion.

Today, people think that science is stuff you can know; religion is stuff you can only wonder about. But that's untrue: science as we know it, was produced by our religion.

The same scientific method used to test earthly theories, can be used to test spiritual theories, and the truth about God can be known (Ro 1:19+20, 16:26). Formulas for experiments are in the Bible (Ju 6:37-40, Mal 3:10-12, Mt 14:28-30, Ac 2:38, Ro 10:9).

There are good scientists, and poor scientists. If someone says, "I tried religion, it didn't work," that usually translates to, "I conducted a sloppy, slip-shod experiment, that produced unreliable results (Ja 2:17, 20, 26, 4:2+3)." A shoddy workman blames his tools.

God is willing to share His power of knowledge (Pr 1:7, 2:5, 9:10), Absolutely Free.

No. 7 May 10, 1999 Absolutely Free

The Gold Standard. If you want to visit a foreign country, you'll need to exchange some of your money, for whatever type of money they use. How much foreign money you get for your money depends on the exchange rate.

For decades, the value of any foreign currency was determined by it's worth in American dollars. That's because the dollar was based on the "Gold Standard." In other words, we didn't print more money than gold that was in Fort Knox. And because $1 was backed-up by $1's worth of gold, it was as good as gold.

That's not the case anymore. If the American economy were to collapse, American money would be worth no more than the paper it's printed on. That has happened in other countries, where it would take a wheel barrow of money to buy a loaf of bread.

So if your life savings are invested in terms of cash, your financial security is only as stable as the economy. Or, suppose you've got $5,000,000.00 in paper money stuffed under your mattress, and your house burns down. How much money do you have?

But if you had 300 lb.'s of gold, buried in your basement, and your house burned down, you still have 300 lb.'s of gold. Gold is purified by fire, rather than destroyed by it.

When precious metal is melted-down in a crucible, the impurities float to the top as dross, and the smelter removes it. Then the gold that remains is more pure than when it was before. The Bible compares wickedness to dross (Ps 119:119).

Our faith, what we put our confidence in, is the metal, or substance (He 11:1). If we have faith in ourselves, our own righteousness, it is dross (Is 1:22, Eze 22:18+19). But if our confidence is in Jesus Christ, it's precious metal, tried by fire (1Pe 1:7).

The Lord is the smelter and he refines us (Is 1:25, Mal 3:2+3). Being refined doesn't feel good (He 12:11). A parent refines the behavior of a child with a spanking (Pr 13:24, 22:15, He 12:5-10). The Lord baptizes with fire (Mt 3:11+12).

When you cross the border from this life into the next, you're going to need to do a currency exchange. Your faith in Christ, and His cross, converts to treasure in Heaven (1Co 3:11-15). That's the Gold standard. It doesn't tarnish or decay (Mt 6:19+20). And you don't have to work for it: it's Absolutely Free.

No. 8 May 17, 1999 Absolutely Free

Do as I say, not as I do. One day in a restaurant, a customer falls over onto the floor unconscious. The waitress looks around and says, "Help! Is there a doctor in the house?" A man steps up and says, "Yes, I'm a doctor. How can I help?"

Upon seeing the patient, the doctor says, "Quick, boil some water! You men over there, tear that tablecloth into strips! Give me some room!"

Another bystander with a puzzled look on their face, says, "What the heck are you doing? Look out!" Then, positioning themselves behind the patient, they administer the Heimlich Maneuver. Out comes the piece of lodged food, and the patient comes to.

"Boil some water - tear some rags - what was all that about?" the angry bystander asks the doctor. The doctor responds, "Well I'm not really a doctor. I saw a doctor on TV say those things one time." How would you feel toward the faker?

He's a fraud. The legal definition of fraud, is: "An intentional perversion of truth, for the purpose of obtaining some valuable thing or promise from another." Jesus called people like that hypocrites (Mt 6:2,5). The word "hypocrite" actually means "actor" in Greek.

There are four historical accounts of Jesus' life in the Bible: the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Everywhere Jesus went, He encountered sinners: thieves, cowards, perverts, liars, and fools. As He walked through the earth, He was aware of everyones' past, their sins and their thoughts (Mt 9:4, Jn 4:18).

Yet He didn't go around saying, "Shame on you! Get your eyes off that woman! You stink to God!" The only ones he scolded were the hypocrites (Mt 7:5, 23:13-29, Lu 11:44).

He went around healing people, and telling them God loves them (Lu 12:6+7, Jn 3:16), performing miracles to boot (Jn 6:2). That's what they needed. They didn't need pretend doctors, or play-time lawyers, or fake priests. They needed reality: God. Jesus.

Before, whenever someone wanted a blessing from God, they saw the priests: God's employees. But they were just going through the motions. Acting. Faking it (Mt 23:14).

Would your boss be satisfied if you were only pretending to do your job? Would you be if your employer only acted like they were going to pay you? What if they wrote you a fake check? You can't use phony religion either. You need Jesus. He's Absolutely Free.

No. 9 May 24, 1999 Absolutely Free

Flawed System. When a caller calls the radio talk show psychologist, and asks, "My 12 year old refuses to obey me, and throws temper tantrums: what should I do?" the doctor often asks, "What would your father have done if you acted this way?"

"He'd have beat me bloody," they always respond. So then the doctor asks, "So why are you confused about what you should do?" On the surface, that's the right answer. But if this is an average parent with an average child, there's an underlying problem.

The average child, attends the average public school, where teachers tell them that their parents have no right to spank them. They even tell children to dial 911 if the parents threaten to spank. And if a teacher suspects physical abuse, they call "Child Protective Services", and have the child taken away from the parents without conviction.

So basically, schools teach children that they can get away with anything. Parents who obey the system, can't discipline their children. That's why the confusion.

But when spoiled children commit ghastly crimes that command national attention and fanfare {which inspires other attention-starved children to imitate them (1Co 15:33)}, the teachers say, "Discipline begins in the home. It's not the school's job to raise the children. If the parents refuse to discipline their children, there's nothing we can do."

Once again, it's those awful parents. Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. Is that what the Bible says? Does it hold the parents responsible for rotten children? No. Neither does it hold children accountable for the sins of the parents (Je 31:29+30, Eze 18:20). It instructs parents to raise their children properly (PR 22:6), but some kids who have the best parents, still turn out rotten, despite the best efforts of their parents (1Sa 8:3, 2Sa 15:6).

And what instructions does it give? Proverbs says: Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying (19:18). Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell (23:13+14). Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him (22:15).

Buck the system. Sometimes, you have to risk going to prison in order to do the right thing (Ac 5:18, 16:20-23). That's a chance you take when you're Absolutely Free.

No. 10 June 1, 1999 Absolutely Free

...with 7 stranded castaways, here on Gilligan's Isle. Robinson Caruso. Swiss Family Robinson. These are fictitious stories about starting over again after a disaster, on a dessert island. Also they have all been very popular throughout the ages.

Why? Because many people are caught in a rut. The monotonous routine of their mundane lives no longer holds any appeal to them. And there's no end in sight. So the idea of bailing on this world, and starting from scratch in a tropical paradise sounds pretty good.

Of course, you would have an entirely new set of problems to worry about, like where will you get food, and drinkable water? What to do with the sewage you produce? How will you build a residence? Cannibals. Malaria. Mosquitoes. Yet, to many people, these new challenges sound appealing, just to be able to abandon their present problems.

Where did the authors get the ideas for these stories? Well, there are similar stories in the Bible. Most notably the story of Noah's Ark (Ge 6-9). Also Moses parting the Red Sea. After passing through it, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years (Nu 14:33).

When Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, there were 3 survivors: a guy named Lot, and his 2 daughters. They had to rough-it in the mountains (Ge 19:30). A guy named Job found that all of his stuff had been destroyed, and his cattle and children killed (Jb 1).

Starting over. It's a recurring theme in the Bible. Why? Because it's one of the central themes. The idea of having all your sins forgiven, means starting with a clean slate. New rules. Your old life stops, your new life starts (Ro 6:4, 2Co 5:17).

When Jesus traveled, teaching repentance (change), and forgiving sins (Mt 9:2), He told people, "Follow Me" (Mt 4:19, 8:22, 9:9, Jn 1:43, 10:27). He didn't say, "Give your boss 2 weeks notice," or "Stop by my office when it's convenient." Just, "Follow Me."

Some of the elements of the Old Testament, serve as allegories which confirm the spiritual truths revealed in the new testament (Ga 4:24). Like for the survivors to pass through the flood following God, is a figure of us passing through water in baptism to follow Jesus (1Pe 3:21). Because a disaster is coming (2Pe 3:12). But you can survive in paradise by starting over again (Jn 3:3), whether you're a professor, a millionaire, movie star, a skipper or first mate. Because starting over is Absolutely Free.

No. 11 June 7, 1999 Absolutely Free

A place for everything, and everything in it's place. What do you do when you get hungry? Do you cry, and kick your feet? Do you scream, and throw a tantrum? If you can read this, then that would be inappropriate behavior for you. But not for a baby.

What's appropriate for one person, may not be appropriate for another. What's OK in one place, may not be OK in another. For example, where you live, you probably have a place to go potty. But if you do so on the couch, that wouldn't be Appropriate.

Unless you're a baby. Then hopefully, your parents would have put you in a diaper, for just such an occasion. That's only proper. As you grow older, you develop a sense of propriety: knowing what's appropriate, and what's not (Pr 11:22, 17:7).

Being able to distinguish what is a good time, or a bad time for certain behavior, shows maturity. Not age. In a bar, some young folks know when to say when, and some aged folks don't. And visa-versa. It's not automatic. Some people never learn (2Pe 2:22).

But there comes a time in everyone's life (whether or not they figure it out), that it's no longer proper to conduct themselves as they did before.

For example, when a person decides they believe the Gospel. If they have a sense of propriety, they're faced with a choice of how their going to conduct themselves: to carry on as they did before, or to commit themselves to seeking to obey God.

It's not proper for a Christian to act like a heathen (Ro 6:10). If you slip as you climb, that's OK; keep climbing (1Jn 2:1+2). Heathens shouldn't act like heathens, but God doesn't hold people accountable for obeying the Gospel who've never heard it (Jn 9:41, Ro 10:17).

So then, it's be better to never know the gospel, right? If the knowledge is available to you, and you purposely avoid it, that's "willing ignorance" (2Pe 3:3-5). You will be held accountable for that choice. You choose to reject knowledge and remain ignorant.

Is it better to remain a baby, never learning or growing? Never taste food, only drink milk? Some people die from having sex. Is it better to never know sex? If you learn to drive, you stand the chance of getting a ticket. Is it better to never learn to drive?

The Gospel tells how to become a member of God's household, a citizen of Heaven (Jn 14:2+3). Isn't that better than where you are? You choose, Absolutely Free.

No. 12 June 14, 1999 Absolutely Free

"Down in the Boondocks" - Billy Joe Royal, 1965. This song is the lamentation of a young man, who must see the girl he loves in secret, because he lives "Down in the Boondocks," but she is wealthy. Moreover, her father is the young man's "boss-man."

The implication is that if her father ever found out about them, there'd be hell to pay. Life is so unfair. So the singer resolves: "One fine day I'll find a way, to move from this old shack; I'll hold my head up like a king, and never ever will look back."

Apparently, he doesn't hold his head up now. So he's ashamed of what he is. Shame is a good thing, if it makes you regret something you've done wrong, and prevents you from repeating it. But it's no sin to be born poor (Ja 2:5). So his humility is misguided.

But in saying that he will never look back, means that he intends to become just like the father of the girl he loves: intolerant of human weakness. Having worked his way out of poverty, is he likely to let a daughter of his date a loser like he used to be?

Or will he think, "Oh no, I had to work so hard to get away from that life, and now she's falling right back into it"? That would undo so much of what he'd struggled for.

Almost always, in order to get ahead, someone else has to give you a chance: your big break. Whether it's a teacher, employer, loan officer, judge, or whomever.

It's an honorable thing to rise above your circumstance, and make something of yourself. But it's a dishonorable thing to forget where you came from. Or worse, to pretend that you didn't come from there. Pretending is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is sin (Mt 24:51).

"Original Sin" says that everyone is born into sin (Ro 3:23, 5:12). Sinners. Some people don't believe that, but neither can they name someone they know who hasn't sinned. Jesus came to save sinners (1Ti 1:15). He gives us a chance. That's our big break.

Though churches have a reputation for being intolerant of human weakness, Jesus tells us to give others a break like we got from Him (Mt 18:33-35). Forgiveness. Even to sinners. Then we will be like our Father (Mt 5:45). "To err is human; to forgive divine."

We are to struggle to separate ourselves from a life of sin (Ro 6:13). There is a Father who wants to protect us from it. Should we choose to reject His grace, and continue as sinners, there will be hell to pay. So be forgiven, and forgive others, Absolutely Free.

No. 13 June 21, 1999 Absolutely Free

Might makes right. Wolves live in communities called packs. Amongst them, one male wolf will assert his dominance over the others. If anyone challenges his authority, he'll tear them up in a fight. Then others will not challenge him afterward.

He's called the "Alpha Male." That's how nature works; survival of the fittest. It's how male lions assert dominance over a pride of lions. Rams will butt heads. Elk clash their antlers against one another in the struggle for power. It's how men work too.

Oh men like to think they're civilized. But try to pick a moment in history where one group of men wasn't killing another group of men in war. Just one moment. You'd be hard pressed to find one moment in time, where one man wasn't killing another man.

Whoever wins the wars, writes the history books. So history records that they were virtuous statesmen, defending noble causes. Though the men who founded the Soviet Union were blood-thirsty criminals, their history books portrayed them as valiant heroes.

No matter who is smarter, richer, prettier, or worthier, the party who imposes their will over the others by sheer force, simply because they can, rules.

So from a practical standpoint, as a matter of survival, If you knew ahead of time who was going to win a war, and you also knew that you couldn't avoid involvement; regardless of who is right or wrong, which side would you pick?

Well that's the case. In the struggle between good and evil, we're not merely bystanders. We're participants, willing or not (Ro 6:16). So we're faced with an unavoidable choice of whom to side with (Josh 24:15). Might makes right in the spirit realm too.

The devil can dominate people (1Jn 5:19), because he is mightier than mere mortals (). But God is mightier than he is (Isa 14:12-15, Re 12:9). Those with God prevail, not because they are mightier than the devil, but because God is (1Jn 4:4).

The battle doesn't always go to the strong (Ec 9:11). But in this particular case, it will. How do we know? Because God has told us so. He wrote the history book: the Bible (2Pe 2:20+21). And the end of the book tells us flat out that God wins (Re 20:7-10).

But even if you decide to pick your side on a matter of principle, and go with who's right, win or lose; it's still Jesus. Now the choice is yours to make, Absolutely Free.

No. 14 June 28, 1999 Absolutely Free

Convincing evidence. The Witness Protection Program. Some mobsters perform a hit, some people see them do it, so the mobsters plan to hit the witnesses before they testify to what they saw. It's nothing personal. It's just to suppress the truth.

If the witnesses didn't possess the truth, they wouldn't be the Mob's enemies. But the truth is the enemy of law breakers. In a court of law, the primary method of establishing truth, is by the testimony of witnesses. That hasn't changed for thousands of years.

The mobsters know the truth. And the witnesses know the truth. And the mobsters really don't mind that the witnesses know the truth. But they don't want others to know the truth. So, they victimize the witnesses, to prevent others from knowing the truth.

It's a pretty simple formula: crude but effective.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the Truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (Jn 14:6). Those who knew Jesus when He walked the earth, traveled about telling others about Him, convincing them that Jesus is Who He said He is.

That was their testimony. Other, evil men, took it upon themselves to kill Christians. They used to beat them, imprison them, and feed them to lions (Ac 26:10). Those who died for their testimony of Christ were called "martyrs" (Ac 22:20, Re 6:9, 17:6).

The second half of the Bible, the New Testament, was written in the Greek language. A testament, is a testimony. That word "martyr" is nothing more than the Greek word for "witness." So those Christians were killed for giving their testimony of the Truth.

Just as Christians are inspired by the Spirit of God (Mt 10:20), those evil men are inspired by evil spirits (Jn 8:44). The demons know the Truth (Ac 19:15, Ja 2:19). And the Christians know the Truth (1Jn 3:24, 4:13). And the demons don't mind that the Christians know. But they don't want others to know the Truth. So they kill the Christians. Martyrs.

Evil men kill witnesses. Nothing has changed. It's crude but effective.

In communist China, in the former Soviet Union, in many middle eastern nations, you can be killed, legally, for practicing Christianity. If Christianity were nothing more than a myth, or superstition, evil men wouldn't feel threatened by it. But they do. It is their worst enemy: the Truth. They want to control you, but the truth makes you Absolutely Free.