From: allan-sv@algonet.se   
      
                                  Christian unity   
      
   "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,   
   that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among   
   you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in   
   the same judgment." 1 Cor. 1:10. Jesus wants to have no division   
   among his disciples, and in the Bible are many warnings against   
   disunion. Please also read 1 Cor. 1:11-13, 3:1-9.   
   If sins destroy the unity, then we may confess and leave our sins.   
      
   "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,   
   and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. Jesus says   
   in Matt. 18:15, "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee,   
   go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear   
   thee, thou hast gained thy brother." Nevertheless, before you talk   
   to him, forgive him! Else you cannot win him. Perhaps you think,   
   well, if he himself comes and asks for forgiveness. But what does   
   Jesus say? If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will   
   not forgive your sins.   
      
   Please, read Matt. 6:12-15. This is a prayer that Jesus taught his   
   disciples. But if we do not forgive, then this prayer is highly   
   dangerous. You can pray yourself to hell with this prayer. If we   
   don't forgive, and we pray God to forgive in the same way as   
   we forgive, that would be no forgiveness. Matt. 18:21-35. We   
   can also turn the prayer of the Lord and pray, "Help us Father to   
   forgive as you forgive."   
      
   Consider. Suspicions about sins also can destroy the unity and   
   fellowship. The devil tries to entice Christians to suspect one   
   another. He wants to exaggerate oppositions and induce us   
   Christians to see oppositions that in the reality do not exist.   
   Many suspicions about sins can be groundless.   
      
   Within the ecumenicalism they mean it is better we tell about   
   such things that we have jointly than such things that separate   
   us from one another. Nevertheless, such thinking does not   
   solve any problem. We cannot remove oppositions only through   
   to pretend that they do not exist. It is not only different   
   apprehension and opinions that disturb our fellowship. The   
   Christian fellowship is in the first hand a spiritual fellowship,   
   and the worst threat against this fellowship come from the   
   spiritual world of evil. Our struggle is not against flesh and   
   blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against   
   the spiritual forces of evil. Eph. 6:10-18.   
      
   These spiritual forces of evil are more insidious and impudent   
   than many Christians think. They try to use people's weakness and   
   lack of knowledge and induce them to act against God's word.   
   They can darken the people's spiritual view and capacity for   
   thinking and induce them to use incorrect names for things.   
   It is usually that people are "totally blind" in certain references   
   so that they do not see what that is written in the Bible. Many   
   are entangled in church traditions and ideas which they think   
   are better than God's word.   
      
   To find a true Christian unity, we have only one way to go and   
   that way is Jesus. John 14:6. If we love Jesus then we love also   
   God's word because Jesus is the Word. John 1:1-14. Only the   
   love to God's word can break down party walls and overcome   
   a conflict of opinion between us as Christians. If on some point   
   you think differently, that also God will make clear to you,   
   Phil. 3:15, so that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all   
   reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God,   
   and become mature, attaining the full measure of perfection   
   found in Christ, Eph. 4:13, in whom are hidden all the treasures   
   of wisdom and knowledge. Col. 2:2-3.   
      
   "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels   
   of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;   
   Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have   
   a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgive you, so also do ye.   
   And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of   
   perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the   
   which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."   
   Col. 3:12-15.   
      
   Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully   
   to his neighbour, for we are all members of the body. In your anger   
   do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and   
   do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must   
   steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his   
   own hands that he may have something to share with those in need.   
      
   Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only   
   what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it   
   may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of   
   God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid   
   of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with   
   every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another,   
   forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.   
   Eph. 4:25-32.   
      
   Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know   
   that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers.   
   Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his   
   brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal   
   life in him. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother   
   in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?   
   Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions   
   and in truth. 1 John 3:13-18.   
      
   We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God,"   
   yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his   
   brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.   
   And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also   
   love his brother. 1 John 4:19-21.   
      
   Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in   
   the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there   
   is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his   
   brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does   
   not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded him.   
   1 John 2:9-11.   
      
      
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   (Article 28)   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)