The Mercy Papers - 5

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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Reclaim the Bow

Discovering Original Mercy

COPYRIGHT RESERVED, 2017

The Mercy Papers (5)

            Love is expressed through grace and mercy.

            The perfect model is divine: God in Jesus as explained in Holy Scripture and enlightened by the Holy Spirit.

            1 John 4:8: “Because God is love, anyone who does not love does not know God.”

            Loving each other and all others prove knowledge of and kinship to God.

            While God proved love for the world – you, me, them, and everyone – in Jesus’ passion, He hates pride.

            Pride signals a self-sufficiency-satisfaction-superiority that says, in effect, “I am better than anybody else and entitled to more than anybody else by being better than anybody else.”

            Pride is egocentrism on steroids; projecting a self-righteousness for existential and eternal salvation independent of God (cf. Matthew 5:3) and everyone else (cf. Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12).

            Pride is at the root of the only unforgivable sin (cf. Matthew 12:22-37, Mark 3:22-30, and Luke 12:8-10 to John 3:16-21 and Hebrews 10).

            Pride is at the roots of all human discriminations, segregations, and degradations; and because God came in Jesus to overcome the pride-filled idolatries of class, color, gender, religion, politics, and other human inventions – bridging gaps and bonding people in/through/for Him – He hates it as the cause of so many destructive effects (see Proverbs 6:16-19).

            Humility – accepting and applauding personal/corporate dependence upon God’s sovereignty as Source, Starter, Savior, and Sustainer that includes His design of human interdependence dependent upon the charismata entrusted to us for life and community – is the path to personal/corporate peace while pride is deadly/damning (e.g., Psalm 10:4; 73:6; Proverbs 11:2; 13:10; 16:5, 18; 18:12; 29:23; Obadiah 1:3; Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Romans 12:3; Galatians 6:3; Philippians 2:3; James 4:6, 10; 1 Peter 5:5; 1 John 1:5-10).

            Today, pride is especially evidenced in tribalism over globalism and its complementary ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic discriminations, segregations, and degradations.

            Interrogatives betray pride causing so much dysfunction, disaffection, and destruction in our world and nation:

Are you still trying to figure out why there’s so much unrest in America and around the world?

Have you missed the course on original sin?

Are you proud to be an Asian-American, African-American, Euro-American, Native American, or…?

Are you proud to be a Baptist, Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Muslim, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, or…?

Is your ethnic, religious, denominational, national…pride showing?

Do you march in black, brown, red, white, yellow, gay…pride parades?

Stop!

Now ask these questions that are especially betraying for people who claim Jesus as Lord and Savior:

Which denomination did Jesus start?

Which ethnicity did Jesus favor?

Do you really think Jesus is Uncle Sam?

Didn’t He come to help everyone overcome those discriminating, segregating, and degradating prides/idolatries in/through/for Him?

If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we know pride is the continuing killer of Christ along with everyone else.

Augustine: “Pride is the commencement of all sin.”

Sin separates us from God, each other, and others.

It’s so deadly/damning.

When pride is replaced by love expressed through grace and mercy, the bow is reclaimed.

Evolutionary Update

TMP (5) contributors are B&B.

Help!

We have had several requests for T-shirts and intended merchandise to attract inquiry to this movement’s motivation and meaning; however, production cannot commence without significant seed money.

Frankly, we need small and big donors who are catching our vision for discovering original mercy and joining hands to reclaim the bow.

Please pray with us for the release of support.

Checks can be sent to The Grove (4210 Countryside Estates, Poplar Grove, Illinois 61065) or First Presbyterian Church (221 N. Main Street, Belvidere, Illinois 61008) and write “Reclaim the Bow” in the memo. 

We encourage you to forward, duplicate, and disseminate TMPs.

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Blessings and Love!

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Shatter the sound of silence!

Wake up!  Look up!  Stand up!  Speak up!  Act up for Jesus!

Salt!  Shine!  Leavenate!

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