(~) A Letter to the Christians in Atlanta


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Topic: Religions > Bible
User: "Ninure Saunders"
Date: 07 May 2005 08:36:35 AM
Object: (~) A Letter to the Christians in Atlanta
(~) A Letter to the Christians in Atlanta (as in Atlanta Georgia, USA)
Note from Ninure in Chicago: I am not aboilutely sure of the source of
this letter. I think iy vomes from a "translation: of the letters of
Bro. Paul known as ~Cottonpatch~.
==================
Paul, summoned into the ministry of Jesus Christ by God's will, and
Brother Sam, to God's people in Atlanta; those whom Jesus Christ has set
apart by calling them together; who under all circumstances identify
themselves with Jesus Christ as their Lord; yes,
theirs and ours too; grace and peace to you from our Father-God and from
the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am continually thanking God for the wonderful thing he did for you in
giving you Christ Jesus, who has enriched you in so many ways. This is
evident in both your conversation and your understanding. As a matter of
fact, the Christian testimony has been thoroughly implanted
in you so that you might not lack any spiritual gift and may be really
eager for a clearer view of our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, he will stand
by you, come what may. Furthermore, you won't have a guilty feeling in
the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can truly rely upon God, who
has called you together into the community (koinonia) of his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Now brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I call upon every one
of you to be in unity with the rest of your brothers. Let there be no
splits in your ranks, but rather be knit together in singleness of mind
and purpose. I'm saying this, my brothers, because some
friends of Clara's reported to me that there were factions springing up
among you. To be specific, various ones of you are saying,
"I'm on Paul's side," "I'm on Oliver's side,"
"I'm on Rock's side,"
"I'm on Jesus'; side."
Tell me this, since when did Christ get so split up? And was Paul lynched
for you? Or were you given Paul's name when you were initiated? I'm really
thankful that I didn't initiate
a single one of you; except Cris and Garry; so no one has a right to claim
that he was given my name at his initiation. (Oh, yes, I forgot, I did
initiate Stephen's family, but other than
that I don't recall initiating anyone else.) The fact is, Christ didn't
appoint me merely to initiate converts, but to tell the great story,
simply and without display of learning, lest the noose of
Christ become something to be toyed with.
To the so-called "practical" people, the idea of the noose is a lot of
silly talk, but to those of us who have been let in on its meaning, it is
the source of divine power. It's just like the Scripture says:
I will tear to bits the dissertations of the Ph.D's;
I will pull the rug from under those who have all the
answers.
Then what becomes of the "bright" boy? What does this do to the "egghead"?
Where does the worldly-wise professor wind up? Hasn't God made human
reasoning appear utterly ridiculous? Therefore, since the world with all
of its learning was unable to understand God, God in his own wisdom
decided to save, through the "folly" of the Christian message, all those
who put their trust in it. So, while the church people are always
demanding some miraculous display and the scientists are looking for
intellectual answers, we go right on
proclaiming a lynched Christ. 1 To be sure, this is an insult to some
churchmen, and so much bunk to the non-Christians, but to those in the
fellowship, whether they are churchmen or scientists, white or black,
Christ is God's power and God's wisdom. And bear in mind that God's
"foolishness" is far superior to human wisdom, and that God's "weakness"
is stronger than man's might.
Now take a look at your fellowship, brothers. Very few of your members are
highly educated, not many are influential or from the upper crust. It
appears as though God deliberately selected the world's "morons" to show
up the wise guys, and the world's weaklings to show up the high and
mighty, and the world's lowly and rejected - the nobodies - to put the
heat on the somebodies.
So then no human being should puff himself up in the presence of God.
Actually, it is for him that you yourselves are in Christ Jesus, who for
us is wisdom and righteousness and dedication and redemption; all of it
straight from God. That's why the Scripture says, "If you simply must
brag, give the credit to the Lord."
==============
Peace,
• Ninure Saunders aka Rainbow Christian
The Lord is my Shepherd and He knows I'm Gay
http://Ninure-Saunders.tk
My Yahoo Group
http://Ninure.tk
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches
http://www.MCCchurch.org
The Bible Site - help provide free scripture
http://www.thebiblesite.org
To send e-mail, remove nohate from address
.


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