Dear Klaus,

I agree, you've asked some good questions here, Klaus.  I am praying
earnestly with you, Klaus, that God will show us and make us aware of the
things that hinder our prayer for unity.  It will take some prayerful
consideration, I think, to work out what an answer might be.  For one thing,
Klaus, I have had many fruitful discussions here with you on this list in
the past, and I very much respect both what you say, and from what I know of
your life in the Bruderhof, the way you and your family live your Christian
lives.

I think much discussion could be done on each of the seven points you refer
to.  But before we start into each one, individually, let me understand what
you mean by mentioning these seven points, if I may.  You seem to be saying
that these seven points would either hinder you and I, or others on the
list, from praying together for Christian unity, unless we first agree
together in some way on these seven points, is that right?

Please correct me if I have misunderstood this, Klaus, I'm just trying to
get a clear understanding of your meaning, because if that is what you mean,
then I would like to discuss that general approach, before we get too
involved in each point.  Why do you mention these seven points in
particular?  How many more points like this are there, before we could begin
to pray together for unity?  And if by some gift of God, you and I could
work together to come to complete agreement on these seven points, would
everyone on the list be likely to agree with us?

Forgive me for being so direct to the point in my questions here, Klaus, but
I'm counting on the Holy Spirit to let you know that I would never intend
any offense to you, and that I do dearly love, and depend on you as a
brother in Christ.  But help me understand how could it possibly work?

If we tackle your seven points, and then the seven points of each Christian
soul on this list, and then the seven points of each Christian not on the
list, how far will we get toward praying together for Christian unity?  How
does that approach differ in principle, from the way every denomination that
was ever named got started?  Which seven points of which denomination should
we use to get started drawing ourselves together in Christ, so the world
will know that it was God who sent him?

Love in Jesus,
Tim

----- Original Message -----
From: Klaus Meier <klausm@...>
To: <christianunity@...>
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 2:29 AM
Subject: RE: [CU] true unity


> Dear Thomas,
> many thanks for your post. I am mooved by the searching that is going on
> regarding true UNITY.IN CHRIST  and nowhere else. After reading the
question
> commes to me if one of the big hindrences to finding unity in Christ, if
we
> dont DO things we know Christ asks of us. Would it be good if each one of
us
> askes God earnestly to show us and make us aware of the things that hinder
> our prayer for unity? Christianity in general is so unchristian, that the
> testomony to Christ given by our very lives is a mockery of His death and
> resurrection.
> A few questions , and hopefully they do not apply to any of us:
> 1. Divorce
> 2. re-marriage
> 3. abortion
> 4 a good life while others hunger
> 5 serving in the army or earning our living by making things to kill
others
> 6watching TV and moovies where jesus could not be present.
> 7Have we truly forgiven everybody everything so that God may also forgive
us
> ?
> Please have a look at theese two websites  and please read this article.
Am
> I , are we ready to die for our faith in Jesus and God?
> From: Klaus Meier
> Sent: 18 September 1999 08:10
> To: Klaus Meier
> www.WARisHELL.com   www.CassieBernall.org <
> > -----Original Message-----
> Check out the Mirror feature on Cassie at
> http://www.ic24.net/mgn/THE_MIRROR/NEWS/P22S4.html
>
>
> Warm greetings to you . I hope this article will entice you to get the
book
> and get all the help and challenge needed for life.
> Warm greetings
> Klaus Meier
> Theese two website will help you see what it is:  www.WARisHELL.com
> www.CassieBernall.org
>
> Date:    Thu, 16 Sep 1999 22:22:23 EDT
> From:    David Virtue <DVirtue236@...>
> Subject: Mysterious Echoes of Gunshots - Terry Mattingly
>
> Mysterious echoes of gunshots
>
> By Terry Mattingly
>
> It's hard to read any of the sermons that the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr.=20
> preached about death and heaven without hearing echoes of gunshots.
>
> "The minute you conquer the fear of death, at that moment you are free,"
> he=20
> said, in 1963. "I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered
something=20
> that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."
>
> Decades later, these words still inspire faith and courage, said social=20
> activist Johann Christoph Arnold, who marched with King in the Civil
> Rights=20
> Movement. That's why the patriarch of the nine Bruderhof communes in
the=20
> U.S., England and Australia included this quotation in his most recent
> book,=20
> "Seeking Peace."
>
> This was the book that Cassie Bernall and other teen-agers at West
Bowles=20
> Community Church were supposed to have discussed on the evening of
April=20
> 20th. After that tragic day at Columbine High School, Bernall's parents=20
> showed Arnold her copy of "Seeking Peace," with its handwritten notes for
> th=
> e=20
> study session that was never held.
>
> Cassie had boldly underlined King's thoughts on death. Did she hear echoes
> o=
> f=20
> gunshots?
>
> "Why did those words speak to her at such a young age? It is such a
great=20
> mystery," said Arnold. "But I do know this. She had found something she
> was=20
> willing to live for, and even to die for, and that made all the difference
> i=
> n=20
> her life."
>
> Here is what Cassie wrote, in a 1998 note her parents discovered after
> her=20
> death: "I try to stand up for my faith at school. =85 I will die for my
God.
> =
> I=20
> will die for my faith. It's the least I can do for Christ dying for me."
>
> Cassie Bernall was one of the Columbine students who was asked, at
> gunpoint,=20
> "Do you believe in God?" Her story has been spread by news reports and
> chain=
> s=20
> of Internet sites hailing her as a martyr, in the true sense of that
> ancient=20
> title in Christendom.
>
> Now, her mother has written her own tribute, entitled "She Said Yes."
> Becaus=
> e=20
> of the ties between Cassie, her church and Arnold's writings, Misty
> Bernall'=
> s=20
> 140-page memoir has been published by the Plough Publishing House, which
> is=20
> linked to the tiny Bruderhof movement, with its commitment to pacifism,=20
> simple living and the sanctity of life.
>
> In the wake of Littleton, many Americans - politicians, preachers and
> pundit=
> s=20
> - keep arguing about the "larger issues" that supposedly led to the=20
> bloodshed, notes Misty Bernall. She is convinced parents must focus on
> more=20
> personal issues closer to home.
>
> "Why, when parents and lawmakers are calling for gun control and an end to
> T=
> V=20
> violence, are our young crying out for relationships?", she asks. "Why,
> when=20
> we offer them psychologists and counselors and experts on conflict=20
> resolution, are they going to youth groups and looking for friends? Why,
> whe=
> n=20
> everyone else is apportioning blame and constructing new defenses, are
> they=20
> talking about a change of the heart?"
>
> Nevertheless, "She Said Yes" makes it clear that Cassie's parents
> repeatedly=20
> had to say "no," as they pulled her away from peers involved in the
> occult.=20
> Her mother reprints passages from letters in which Cassie and a friend=20
> pondered suicide and murder. The Bernalls taped telephone calls,
searched=20
> their daughter's room, took evidence to the police and, finally, moved
to=20
> another neighborhood. Cassie raged against it all, until her life was
> change=
> d=20
> during a church youth retreat.
>
> Brad and Misty Bernall refused to give up, noted Arnold, and made
radical=20
> changes in their own lives, as well as in the life of their daughter. All
> of=20
> this took time, energy and sacrifice. Cassie's new life was rooted in
> weekly=20
> patterns of fellowship, prayer, reading and service projects with her
> family=20
> and new friends. They ate pizza and went skiing, but also helped
leukemia=20
> patients and built homes for the poor. Cassie traded vampires and
"death=20
> rock" for poetry and photography.
>
> "Cassie would never have said 'yes' in that final moment, unless she had
> sai=
> d=20
> 'yes' so many other times before that," said Arnold. "She had to say 'yes'
> t=
> o=20
> many wonderful experiences in her new life, before she had the strength
> to=20
> say the ultimate 'yes' when that moment came. We must not forget that."
>
> Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) teaches at the Alexandria, Va., campus
of=20
> Regent University. He writes this weekly column for the Scripps Howard
> News=20
> Service.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
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