A Call to Pure Religion

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="129a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Heart4God Website!"><U><B><IMG SRC="4b55a500.png" border=0 width="90" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin"><U><B>Writings by Date</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin Organized "><U><B>Writings by Topic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm"><U><B>Audio Files</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id690.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Videos"><U><B>Videos</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id323.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings of Others"><U><B>Other Authors</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id339.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions and Answers"><U><B>Q&A</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id328.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart4God Email List"><U><B>Heart4God E-mail List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com"><U><B>Parables Blog</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="File Downloads"><U><B><IMG SRC="2b264140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B>A Call to Pure Religion</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="c2827160.png" border=0 width="807" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> James 1:27<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <div> Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.</div> <bR> <div> Dear Saints,</div> <bR> <div> On this day when the church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Yahshua the Messiah, from the dead, I feel it is appropriate to make an appeal to all who receive these mailings to consider what the Son of God's resurrection means to us in a very practical way. We are told by the apostle Paul that "if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection" (Romans 6:5).</div> <bR> <div> What is the likeness of Christ's resurrection? What is the life of Christ of which we have now become partakers? Again, Paul said "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). The Scriptures reveal much about the life of Christ. His life is a perfect reflection of the Father, and we are told that God is love. Christ manifested this love in the most profound way when He laid down His life for mankind. His life is a life of perfect selflessness.</div> <bR> <div> In his book "The Law of the Offerings", Andrew Jukes reveals how Christ is seen in each of the five tabernacle offerings. One of these offerings is called "the whole burnt offering", and Mr. Jukes offers us the following insights.</div> <bR> <div> <I>I do not know that there is anything more remarkable than this in the perfect offering of our blessed Master. Everything He did or said was for God. From first to last self had no place: His Father's work, His Father's will, were everything. The first words recorded of Him as a child are, "I must be about My Father's business." His last words on the cross, "It is finished," proclaim how that business and that labor were fulfilled and cared for. So entirely was His whole life devoted to spend and be spent for His Father, that in reading the gospels the thought scarce occurs to us that He could have had a will of His own. Yet Jesus was perfect man, and as such had a human will as we have. In one point only did it differ from ours: His will was always subject to His Father. As a man, His thoughts were human thoughts, His affections human affections. But how much of these did He reserve for self, for His own ease, or credit, or pleasure? What one act recorded of Him was for His own advancement? What one word which was not in entire devotedness to His Father?...</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>Such was "</I><I><B>the whole burnt offering</B></I><I>:" the entire surrender of self to God in everything.</I></div> <bR> <div> The call of God to every saint is "Be ye perfect as I am perfect." We are all called to present ourselves as "living sacrifices" upon the altar of God. We too are called to be whole burnt offerings. How distressed I am when I consider my failure to measure up to the standard of Christ. I cannot say that I have not had thoughts or affections that were reserved for self, for my ease, for my credit, or pleasure. I cannot say that I have never acted for my own advancement. Even when I look forward I am daunted at the prospect of living such a life as a whole burnt offering to God.</div> <bR> <div> In truth, none of us can attain to the measure of Christ through our own determined efforts. As Paul proclaimed, we must allow Christ to live in us. We have become partakers of His Spirit, and it is His Spirit that is active within us, both "to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). We must simply surrender to the Spirit within, though this requires that we "crucify our flesh with its affections and desires."</div> <bR> <div> I want to speak to you about one particular way in which you and I can manifest the life of Christ through our members. Christ never lived for His own pleasure, but He lived to do the Father's will, and He was always choosing to esteem the needs of others as more valuable than His own needs. When He was in Samaria and He was hungry, He chose to minister to a woman who came to the well before satisfying His own appetite. He said to His disciples when they returned with food, "I have meat to eat that you know not of," for His meat was to do the will of the Father. As we also manifest the life of Christ we will find ourselves esteeming the needs of others more highly than our own needs.</div> <bR> <div> The religion of Christ was always very practical. He did not simply teach people about love, but He demonstrated love. He healed the sick, He raised the dead, He forgave the sins of mankind, He fed the hungry, and He poured Himself out even unto death. We see the practicality of Christ's religion in one of the last acts He performed. Even when hanging on a Roman cross He was more concerned for others than for His own welfare. As He looked around He saw his mother and the other women there, and He also saw John, His beloved disciple. Yahshua sawHis mother, who was a widow, and He was concerned for her welfare. Of the seven things that Christ uttered from the cross, the second statement concerned the care of His widowed mother.</div> <bR> <div> John 19:26-27 </div> <div> When Yahshua then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.</div> <bR> <div> We see that the love of God is very practical. Yahshua was concerned that His widowed mother should be provided for, as well as comforted. As we read from the words of James at the top of this article, this was an act of pure religion. James goes on to tell us:</div> <bR> <div> James 2:15-16 </div> <div> If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?</div> <bR> <div> It is a selfish church lacking the character of Christ that acts with cold indifference to those in need. In contrast, the character of the early church in Jerusalem was a stellar example for future generations to emulate. We are told of them:</div> <bR> <div> Acts 4:32-35 </div> <div> And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them... For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.</div> <bR> <div> This too was pure religion, and undefiled. The widows and orphans were cared for. The saints were selling their houses and lands as the love of Christ was shed abroad in their hearts. They yearned to lay down their lives for others and to find practical ways to allow the life of Christ to be expressed in and through them. We read later in the book of Acts of an occasion when the church elders in Jerusalem gathered to consider the matter of ministering to the Gentile believers. Paul records the following words of admonition that he received from the leaders of this first church.</div> <bR> <div> Galatians 2:10</div> <div> They only asked us to remember the poor -- the very thing I also was eager to do.</div> <bR> <div> Today, millions of professing believers in Christ will leave their resurrection Sunday services, and many will go out to restaurants to partake of an abundance of food. They will then return to their houses which are filled with all the acquisitions of this world. Many have so many goods that much of what they have is forgotten in attics, in basements and garages, and in rented storage buildings. Millions of these saints have multiple vehicles to drive, and entertainment devices and recreational possessions valued at many thousands of dollars. Some have tens of thousands of dollars worth of pictures and decorations adorning their homes. Many have purchased brand new luxury vehicles to drive that sit idle most of the time in a garage or driveway. And the poor, the widows and the orphans go unloved as they endure poverty, lack and desperate conditions.</div> <bR> <div> Perhaps you are like many who do not personally know any people who live in such need. Perhaps if you saw them daily in the streets near your home you would do something for them. Perhaps if they visited your church you would have some compassion upon them. But would you show them the same love that Christ demonstrated, even a love that esteems the needs of others higher than self? Would you be willing to part with some of the luxuries you own in order to meet the desperate lack in others? Would you even be as the church in Jerusalem who were selling valuable property so that they could have the means to express the unselfish nature of Christ?</div> <bR> <div> I know that many Christians have become skeptical about giving because they have heard of so many accounts of fraud among charitable organizations. We live in an hour of great deception, for many unscrupulous men and women are abroad. But have you, in your own earnest desire to demonstrate a religion that is pure and undefiled, asked God to reveal to you where there are saints in need that you might be a blessing to them? Have you said, "God, I want to give to the needs of Your children. Will You please show me where the need is that I might contribute to the welfare of others?"</div> <bR> <div> I know some are not clear as to whether they should only give to Christians in need, or whether we are to show compassion to all who are in need. The Scriptures give us this insight:</div> <bR> <div> Galatians 6:10 </div> <div> So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.</div> <bR> <div> Paul, who had shared in this same epistle about the elders' admonition to care for the poor, now defines who these poor are. He says, "Let us do good to ALL PEOPLE, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." We should have an especial concern for other Christians in need, yet we are to do good to all people.</div> <bR> <div> I want to share with you about a particular need among the household of faith, and beyond, that I believe is very deserving of the support of the saints. In this way those who desire to manifest a pure and undefiled religion, but who do not know of any specific needs, might be put in contact with some whose need is very desperate.</div> <bR> <div> I am sure that many of you have already heard of Dumitru Duduman, a Romanian minister who came to the U.S. in 1984 and was used of God to proclaim many things of a prophetic nature concerning the future of America. He spoke of dark days and great judgment to come. Brother Duduman returned to Romania after the communist regime fell, and before his death in 1997 he began work on building an orphanage there. Romania is considered the second poorest country in the world, and it has an unemployment rate in many places that is close to ninety percent of the population. This has resulted in large numbers of children being orphaned, and the situation is very desperate for many.</div> <bR> <div> Dumitru's daughter Virginia, and her husband Michael Boldea, have continued the work of her father. They currently have nearly 135 children they are caring for, and they are also actively ministering to many widows and impoverished families. They have a website that I would encourage you to visit. You can find it here: <U>http://www.handofhelp.org</U>. Let me give a quote from this site.</div> <bR> <div> <I>If today there are over one hundred children residing at the Hand of Help orphanage, it is due only to the mercy of God. We are ever thankful for His faithfulness toward this work, and for your continued support of it. We have seen His amazing hand at work, over and over again, intervening at the right time, and bringing about a miracle. It is hard, and we have some debts, but our children have never gone to bed hungry. They are happier than many other children, who due to poverty, are abandoned by their parents. These are parents who love their children, but who can no longer watch them going hungry. In other cases, and tragically more than ever before, parents are taking their own lives because they can no longer bare their desperation.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>In the last few weeks, the Child Protection Agency here in Romania, brought six more children to the Hand of Help Orphanage, asking us to take them in. The parents of one of these children died suddenly, while the other five were abandoned. In both cases the children were found months after their abandonment, so it will take us some time to get them back to health. I watch them with pain in my heart, asking myself if they will ever be able to forget what they have been through. Yet, when you look upon their faces, you see gratitude in their eyes toward God.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>They are safe now, happy and healthy as well. I know I cannot express myself sufficiently, but all I can do is bring praise, honor, glory and thanks to God! Although times are hard, I know that together with you, we will be able to provide for these extra children as well. God has offered these children an opportunity through his work, and my prayer each day is that we will be able to provide safety for even more.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>I thank God for speaking to your hearts, and thank you for your obedience. I thank Him for the victory, and joy He gives daily. We are His children, and we must be thankful.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>Virginia Boldea</I></div> <bR> <div> I would like to invite you to browse this site, and see what it is about. It is not a large site, and this is not a large ministry. You will learn that the ministry has had to sell both of their vehicles in this past year just to be able to continue feeding the orphans and ministering to their needs. How many saints have more than one vehicle in their possession? Could you imagine caring for a family of well over a hundred members and not having a single vehicle?</div> <bR> <div> A few months back I came across a testimony and prophetic word by Michael Boldea Jr., the son of Virginia and Michael Boldea, and the grandson of Dumitru Duduman. He described his frustration at the great hardships and difficulty he had been encountering in seeking to carry on the work God has entrusted to him. I was both challenged, and encouraged by what I read. I will include his testimony here, for I believe it will aid some in coming to an understanding of the heart of those involved in this work.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>A Dream of the Church </B></I></div> <div> <I>Michael Boldea Jr.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>It had been the most trying two weeks of my life. While still in Romania, I woke up one morning to the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. All my joints ached, my feet were swollen, and I could barely move. The weather had changed, and it seems that as my grandfather I am prone to arthritis.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>On my way back to the States, on September 9, while awaiting a connection at London Heathrow airport, my laptop was stolen. [This contained information for sponsors of needy Romanian children -ed.]</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>Finally having arrived in the US, while driving from the airport Geno filled me in on what had been happening in the States. He told me of the openly gay bishop that had been ordained by the Episcopalian church, and then of the battle over the Ten Commandments in Alabama, and by the time we reached Watertown I was disheartened. It had been a long two days, and all I wanted to do was take a shower, and get some sleep. I had been asleep less than half an hour when I had a dream. I was in a hospital room; it was very clean, and freshly painted. In the room there was a bed with a woman in it.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>I approached the bed, and took a closer look at the woman. She was dressed in a gray robe, and she had a ring on every finger of her hand. From time to time, she would raise her hand, look at her fingers, and smile. For some reason, that smile was the saddest thing I've ever seen. It was crooked, and it exhibited no real joy. As I looked at her the sadness in my heart grew to such intensity that it woke me up. Even awake I could still feel the sadness, and as much as I tried I couldn't get back to sleep. For six days in a row I had the same exact dream, I would see the woman lying in bed, I would be overwhelmed by sadness, then I would wake up. I was so frustrated, not knowing what this meant that on the seventh day I decided to fast. That night as I went to sleep the dream started again, the same as before. I looked at the woman, she smiled, the sadness overwhelmed me, but I didn't wake up.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>The door to the room opened and a man dressed in a white smock walked in holding a clipboard. Before he could say anything I began asking a barrage of questions. "Who are you? Why am I here? Who is she? Why have I been dreaming this for almost a week?"</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>"Because you waited almost a week to fast," he said. He must have noticed the stunned expression on my face, because his eyebrows arched upward. "I am a friend," he continued, "I was sent with a message, be at peace servant, all will be revealed in due time."</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>"How do I know you're a friend?" I asked. "Because, Jesus is Lord", he answered. Then he smiled, and I recognized him. I had seen that smile before. Suddenly I was eight years old again, sleeping in the top bunk of the bed I shared with my grandparents, on a cold winter night in Romania. I will remember that night for as long as I live. I had woken up to go to the restroom, but before I could get out of bed I heard talking below me. My grandfather was talking to someone, I went to peer over the edge, to see who it was, and found myself face to face with this same man. He'd smiled at me, and I'd instantly gone back to sleep.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>"I know you don't I?" "Yes we've met once before, but I see you often," he answered. "Why am I here?" I asked. "Because you murmur, because you have said in your heart that you are on a fool's quest, because you think no one hears, that the message is falling on deaf ears. It is not for you to judge the success the message has in the hearts of others, you were called to be a servant, serve. I was sent to rekindle the fire of compassion in your heart. Compassion for the wayward and the lost, compassion for her," he said pointing to the woman in the bed.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>"Who is she?" "She is the church," he answered me. "Content only with the things of this earth, absent of spiritual strength. She is the reason you and others like you were called to forfeit your lives. The sadness you feel when you behold her is nothing compared to the sadness the Father feels for her condition. If she is to stand in the fire, if she is to be victorious she must be strengthened. She has been in this condition of spiritual paralysis for so long, she believes this is her natural state. If only she knew the power she has access to, if only she knew obedience. The wolves have gathered unhindered, and soon they will strike at her with violence. What will she do if she is unable to defend herself? What will become of the house of God?"</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>"Be faithful, for faithfulness is rewarded. Why do you say in your heart, that God should make it easier, that He should ease your trials, would you rather that pride find its way into your heart when the Father endows you with the gift He has promised? Keep humility as your constant companion, for the humble receive an abundance of grace. Remember if just one soul is spared from the eternal flame, if just one soul is reached and brought to salvation, it is worth a lifetime's labor and sacrifice. One day you will know the number, receive your reward, and be astonished. I must leave now, but whether in the waking hours, or in dream, we will meet again."</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>The man walked to the bed, looked down at the woman, smiled a sad smile and walked out. As soon as he walked out of the room, and I was alone with her, the sadness began to invade my heart, and I woke up. The reason I share this with you is to ask for your prayers. It is a difficult thing to go to church after church, night after night, and speak a message of repentance that to the hearts of many has become a foreign concept. The knowledge that if just one heart is reached, if one returns to the narrow path of faith, it was worth it and gives us purpose and new strength. May the light of God shine brightly in your hearts, and may you exhibit Christ wherever you are. Revelation 3:19, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent."</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>With love in Christ, -Michael Boldea Jr.</I></div> <bR> <div> Michael's grandfather spoke much of the great judgment coming to America and to a sleeping church. What is the error of the church in this hour? It is the same as Sodom and Gomorrah.</div> <bR> <div> Ezekiel 16:49 </div> <div> Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.</div> <bR> <div> This is also the guilt of the church today. The saints in Christ have abundant food, careless ease, but they do not help the poor and needy. The hour in which the prophecies of Dumitru Duduman and others will be fulfilled are hastening forward. Many signs of this judgment have been given, yet the church and her ministers have not responded with repentance. The lifestyle of comfort and ease, and a lack of concern for the needs of others, continues on unabated. When Yahweh has given the church great wealth to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the impoverished, she has instead spent it upon self. Soon God will strip the church of her rich garments and paneled houses, of her entertainment and luxuries.</div> <bR> <div> What can the saints do to garner the grace of God that they might be able to stand in coming days of calamity and judgment? They can begin to demonstrate compassion for those in need now while they are still able to do so voluntarily. It would be better to sell all you have and give it to the poor, thus incurring the favor of God, than to stubbornly cling to all your earthly possessions only to have them all stripped away in the coming judgment. Then there will be no reward. Those who will be hidden in the day of calamity are those who are obedient now. It will do no good to hoard what you have, or to stockpile against uncertain days ahead. The only true safety is in casting oneself into the care of God. The only right course is to choose to give sacrificially out of a heart of love and obedience now, before the judgment falls.</div> <bR> <div> When Daniel understood that judgment was prophesied to king Nebuchadnezzar, he urged him with great emotion with the following words.</div> <bR> <div> Daniel 4:27 </div> <div> "Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity."</div> <bR> <div> It is iniquity to fail to show compassion to the poor. Do you desire to manifest the life of Christ? Would you be a whole burnt offering whose smoke arises as a fragrant aroma to the nostrils of God? Would you be willing to deny self to minister to the needs of others? Is it too much trouble for you to clean out your attic, your basement, your garage, your storage shed, and to sell those things that are not necessities of life so that others can have the basic necessities provided for them? Would you give a cup of cold water to an orphan, a widow, or some person in great need, or knowing of their lack would you turn away from them?</div> <bR> <div> I know that some will think I am meddling by trying to be the voice of the Holy Spirit to them, but I see the judgment that is coming upon a people who are at ease. I see the tremendous loss that many will know. There will be no grace available to many in their hour of need for they would not show grace to others. My words may be uncomfortable to some, and troubling to others, but to those who can receive them with an open heart and respond with joy in laying down their lives for others, great gain will be theirs as they live not by the rule of self, but by the life of Christ in them.</div> <bR> <div> I ask you to consider at this time when the resurrection of Christ is on the minds of many if you are truly joined with Him in His resurrection. If so, let love arise in your hearts and be zealous of good works. May it be said of you as it was spoken of the saints in Macedonia.</div> <bR> <div> II Corinthians 8:3-5</div> <div> For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.</div> <bR> <div> May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days,</div> <bR> <div> Joseph Herrin</div> <bR> <div> Hand of Help Ministries Website: <A HREF="http://www.hand-of-help.org/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.hand-of-help.org/"><U><U>http://www.hand-of-help.org</U></U></A> </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>