Some Quotes

The Need for Brokenness
by Chip Brogden

"Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (II Corinthians 12:9).

Observe how little attention is paid to the necessity of brokenness among those who so eagerly speak of the power of God. We should be afraid of listening to anyone who teaches us about the power of God but does not teach us about the necessity of brokenness. Invariably the power, once received, will pollute the spirit and pride will set in. Weakness, humility, brokenness, suffering, pouring out our lives, taking up the Cross - this language seems to be lost among the seekers of power. How tragic that is!


"Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ"
Chip Brogden

It is a glorious thing to be the prisoner of the Lord, for in our bonds we find liberty. In our weakness we find strength. In our foolishness we find wisdom. In our poverty we find prosperity. By losing everything we find everything. By giving up all things we inherit all things. By accepting the sentence of death we find the Life of the Lord. Let us stretch forth our hands and allow Him to dress us and lead us where He wishes us to go, in the way we would not choose for ourselves, for that is the Narrow Way, and it is the path of blessing, though it be disguised.


Selection from The Laird's Inheritance
George MacDonald

The Church of All Churches

"Oh, mighty, true church of all churches...church under starry roof...church where not a mark is to be seen of human hand! This was the church of God's building, the only fitting type of a yet greater, a yet holier church, whose stars are the burning eyes of self-forgetting love, whose worship is a ceaseless ministration of self-forgetting deeds--the one real ideal church, the body of the living God, built of the hearts and souls of men and women out of every nation and every creed, through all time and over all the world, redeemed alike from Judaism, paganism, and all the false Christianities that darken and dishonor the true..."

ONE SHIP ONE CAPTAIN

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Then I realized how bitter I had become, how pained I had been by all I had seen. I was so foolish and ignorant. I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. Yet I still belong to you; you are holding my right hand. You will keep on guiding me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do. Psalm 73:21-28
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FREE WILL?
J. A. FREEMAN

BABY MOSES, tucked away in his cradle, floating on the water, {cried}. Was it God's will, or the baby's will?

It was a cry that originated in heaven. The king's daughter was attracted. The child's life was spared. He entered a palace and eventually became the greatest leader of men this world has ever known. He was entrusted with the commandments; he talked with God on the mountain top.

Is any adopted son of God restless or over-anxious? Then let him think of this minute event and its consequences, and let him watch for the Divine Hand in even life's smallest events.

Here lies peace. John the Baptist arrived exactly on time to behold the Lamb of God, and be labeled the greatest of all men born among women. Saul was at the right spot when our Lord Jesus visited him.

All is of God. Life's minutest circumstances are under His control. Therefore, be anxious for nothing. He knows. He loves. He cares. One Captain is competent enough for any ship. We are all only passengers.


Our Lord has an eternally deep rudder and nothing shall deter His purposed path of Love that will gather together all of creation. May we find rest in the wondrous tandem of His Love and His Sovereignty.

One ship, one Captain. And aren't you glad!

Jack




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THIS WORLD IS NOT YOUR HOME ..... an introduction

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"But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." Hebrews 11:16




Oh, what great change comes to our lives when we we realize that this world was not meant to be our home, is not our home nor ever will be our home.

I open with this thought not to paint this world as a place full of emptiness and gloom but to possibly show that when we follow Christ and are led by the Spirit we can experience "heaven on earth." When our perspective is aright and thus born of the heavenlies, I believe we can indeed find great enjoyment, meaning and fulfilment as we experience the things of this life ..... and so much more so than the common Joe, who gropes in the shadows. Truly when we walk in God's Spirit there is always a banquet table set before us that is beautifully filled with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance (Gal.5:22-23)

In the next couple of weeks I hope to share a few message that have been on my heart of late and they deal with finding within ourselves a sojourner's heart. Lord willing, a few of the diverse topics I presently have in mind that I would like to explore with you are:

* Our pre-existence and the Elohim
* Should Believers be involved in politics
* Questioning the methods of the God of the Old Testament
* Entering the Kingdom of Heaven through prayer
* Intellectualism at odds with the spirit

* Our three deaths

I really believe you will enjoy this series and hopefully they will help create in you a greater love for Our Christ and a deepening hunger to see and know Him better. That's what it is all about isn't it. We are only changed as our vision of Jesus is enlarged.

Folks, we are going to see that God's sons are sojourners and Heaven bent. We have not been called to gather and take our inheritance on this side of the river. Didn't Daniel know to refuse the pleasant bread and isn't Christ become the bread worthy of those that follow Him. And Jesus is the pattern son and like Him we must die to our selves that we might follow Him into Resurrection Life.

Yes sir! We are leaving the leeks and garlic of Egypt and are moving to the other side of the river. So pick up thy cross pilgrim and let's follow our Shepherd into a better country and even unto a city He hath prepared for you and me.

Jack

(to be continued)

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THEY CALLED ME "EASY MONEY"

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Back when I was a young heathen hangin with other young heathens we used to sit around the beach between surfing sessions and try to come up with unique and easy ways to make money. I was actually pretty good at dreaming up some ploys that became remotely successful before the cog was discovered and the endeavor unraveled. Anyway my friends were impressed enough with my tenacious creativity to give me a new moniker for awhile. They called me "Easy Money" lol.

Well it seems there are many today under the guise of Christianity that are trying to make some "easy money" and their creativity mixed with a complete lack of moral restraint is astounding. I am going to share an old and often used method that seems to periodically find it's way to my mail box and a new one that I read of this morning.

This is the common one that just kills me. It also makes me know my Sovereign God has a sense of humor because one of these always comes when I am in the midst of the greatest of financial trials. Often after much heart breaking prayer and just about the time I believe God is about to bring some miraculous financial relief, I will find a letter like this in my mail. This one came a couple weeks ago and I forwarded it to Joian with the introduction, "Hooray !!! Happy days are here again. My boat just came in. We are rich ........ we are rich !!!!!" lol


From: Mrs Fatema Al Sabah,

Attn: Dearest in Christ,

I am the above named person from Kuwait. I am married to Dr.Fawzia Al Sabah, who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2001.We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days. Before his death we were both born again Christian. Since his death I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $5.6Million (Five Million six hundred thousand U.S.Dollars) in a Bank in Abidjan.

Presently, this money is still with the Bank. Recently, my Doctor told me that I would not last for the next Eight months due to cancer problem. The one that disturbs me most is my stroke sickness. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a church or individual that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. I want a church or individual that will use this fund for orphanages, widows, propagating the word of God and to endeavour that the house of God is maintained. The Bible made us to understand that” Blessed is the hand that giveth".

I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians and I don't want my husband's efforts to be used by unbelievers. I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly way. This is why I am taking this decision. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going’s know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus 14 VS 14 says that "the lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace". I don't need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health hence the presence of my husband's relatives around me always. I don't want them to know about this development. With God all things are possible.

As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the Bank in Abidjan. I will also issue you an authority letter that will prove you the present beneficiary of this fund. I want you and the church to always pray for me because the lord is my shepherds. My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that wants to serve the Lord must serve him in spirit and Truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life. Contact me any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another church for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated herein. Hoping to receive your reply.

Remain blessed in the Lord.

Yours in Christ,

Sister Fatema Al Sabah


Lest any have been moved by Mrs Fatima's severe health problems please note she mailed me three years ago. Only difference is, today she has a new "stroke sickness" and because she can't find anyone to give this money to, it has garnered interest and risen 1.1 million dollars from the original 4.5 million. Can you say, "son of a motherless goat !!! "

Now, below is the sham I read of this morning. We may have finally figured out how those big time TV Evangelist's do it ;-)

Pastor arrested with 'miracle' machine

It's as strange as it's true. A man of God of Ghanaian extraction was arrested and interrogated at Entebbe Airport after he attempted to clear a machine which, police say, he has been using to deliver electric current on unsuspecting worshippers during church service.

"Pastor' Obiri Konjo Yeboah on July 5 failed to convince Aviation Police officers why he needed this machine to do God's work. He is now facing serious charges including fraud and false pretence," Police Spokesman Asan Kasingye told Sunday Monitor.

Police said the machine could be worn like a corset on the body. It also can generate up to 12 volts.

"When he touches his flock, they fall down thinking he is using super natural powers," Asan Kasingye said. The machine is placed on any part of the body and gives a pleasant electric shock to whoever touches you.

The waterproof electric machine is activated within 10 seconds and can emit sparks of static electricity between the user's fingers while in darkness. The American company manufactures the machine known for freaking people's minds.

Kasingye said the machine using the body as a conductor of electricity, transfers the current to the person in contact but the one using the device remains unaffected. Other "Born Again" pastors including the head of the National Council of Born Again Churches (NCBC), a body that regulate Pentecostal churches, are calling for prosecution of Yeboah.

"Police should interrogate him properly, know where he stays and the people he works with so that we get a clear picture of it all," said Pastor Alex Mitala who heads NCBC. Yeboah is a pastor in We Are One Ministry Church on Sir Apollo Kaggwa Road, Makerere. His father, other pastors say, is Obiri Yeboah, the controversial pioneer of miracle healing in Uganda. His followers include several local pastors who include John Kakande.

Pastor Solomon Male said: "It's a pity they have arrested Yeboah but police should not allow him to use a machine to deceive he has supernatural powers," Male said. "Yeboah's father was a witch, magician and I am not surprised that he was caught with that machine," Male added.

Yeboah has denied charges he tried to import an electric shock machine to make people believe he could pass on the Holy Spirit.

"This is a toy. It was sent for my daughters' birthday," said Yeboah. The pastor told the BBC that during his prayers, members of the congregation "act as the spirit comes in them".

There has been a massive growth in churches set up by charismatic preachers in Africa in recent years, amid fears some could be fraudsters.

The website of the company which makes the "Electric Touch" machine, among other magic tricks, says: "Charge a spoon, keys or coins and watch as it shocks a volunteer! They will believe you have supernatural powers!"

The Uganda Monitor

Laying amusement aside let me say in sincerity that we must beware of the charlatans and merchandisers that prey on the vulnerable.

And lastly on a personal note, I wept and laid prostrate before God for most of three days when I first began to receive some financial support to help me in my mission to share the "Real Good News." So mightily did God reveal to me the pitfalls that can accompany the giving and receiving of gifts that at the end of those three days I was so sickened in my heart that I never wanted to see any financial help ever in my life. It was shortly after this I felt His touch as He told me it would be alright and that He would put in me a breaking humility that would arise whenever a gift ordained by Him came my way. If the feeling of infused humility was not there the gift was not of Him. In the last few years with this measure in place I have actually had to turn away quite a bit of help. When times were as dark as could be and my need was so great I have had to say, "No thank you" only to see provision later come from elsewhere just in a nick of time. He often works like that, doesn't He.
I have found also, my giving brings that same feeling of tenderness and humility when it is of Him.

Speaking of more than just the financial realm, let us always discern the Source behind all our gifts whether they be received or given. Oh, God let our lives be completely surrendered to know that You are sufficient for each day. Make real to us, that our greatest gift is Your Eternal Love through Christ Jesus, and that He makes this world and all it's substance but a temporary vapor in comparison. Finally place deep within our hearts but only one desire and that be to give Thee all for the All.

Jack

The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them.

1 Samuel 2:7-8

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OUR GOD "The Restorer"

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Wow, it seems as the Father has turned His attention to me. My, it has been a long time since I have felt so strongly His love as I do this morning. It is as though my whole being tingles with His touch and then softly melts as I feel His heart.

Joian and I were visiting earlier in the evening and were talking about all things God, as we usually do. We were sharing about how our "revelations" of God and His Kingdom are really but "remembrances" of who we were in Christ before the foundations of the world. This is part of our restoration and it comes precept upon precept until we see God and ourselves as we eternally are.

One of my favorite pictures of God, is as "the Loving Restorer" and in this post I want to share a beautiful account of three parables Christ taught. Please note at the close of this author's message (below), that after the prodigal is ministered to, the father must then turn his attention to the unhappy elder brother. Ever restoring, is our Father and until the last has found his or her place resting peaceably upon His bosom He will not cease. I pray you can see your self, your neighbor and even your enemy as the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal and the elder brother. Who of us at one time or another does not feel slighted like the elder brother. Never fear however. He will eventually turn His attention to you and that is why we love and share Him.

Jack


"The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin"

I'd like you to think about these two parables of Jesus, and the reason why is because most of the time we get the parables of Jesus wrong. We pick them up, and we think that Jesus is telling us what we ought to do. You know, they're sort of lessons in loveliness. If we can master the lesson in the parable, we can turn out to be perfect peaches or something else. But the point is that parables are not first of all about us. The parables of Jesus are first of all about how God works in this world - the mysterious, strange, bizarre, odd way that God deals with us, because the parables are very strange things. Jesus is a genius of story-telling, and what you have to watch most of all with Jesus in his parables are the small twists, the little turns and the details you don't notice. I can have read a parable for twenty-five years, preached on it twenty-five times, and in the twenty-sixth year all of a sudden see something I never saw before; and it has been buried there all along.

So I'm going to start in on the parable of the lost sheep. This is in the 15th chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. And that chapter, incidentally, contains three parables about lostness: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, the great parable of the prodigal son. The first thing that Luke says when this parable begins, is that the tax collectors and the sinners were drawing near to Jesus to hear him. The scribes and the pharisees grumbled about this. They complained about this and they said, "This man welcomes sinners, and he eats with them, and therefore he's a bad person."

Now, obviously Jesus, by many people's minds, was thought to be a perfect candidate to be the promised Messiah who would fulfill God's will for Israel and do all sorts of wonderful things in the world. People like the scribes and the pharisees didn't think that Jesus was much of a Messiah candidate if he could associate with tax collectors and sinners. Tax collectors were mostly crooks in those days, and sinners meant what it means now. Everyone's favorite sin is something sexual, and the sinners most likely were prostitutes. Jesus spent a lot of time welcoming those people, eating with them, talking with them, visiting them, and otherwise consorting with them, so they didn't like this. It's apropos of this remark: "This fellow eats with sinners and welcomes them!", that Jesus tells the parables of lostness.

"I want you to imagine that you have one hundred sheep," he says to the pharisees and the scribes around him. "I want you to imagine that you have one hundred sheep and that you lose one of them. Now, wouldn't you, therefore, go out after the lost one until you find it?" Well, what's the real answer to that question? The real answer to that question is "of course not." Nobody in his right mind who's in the sheep business has one hundred sheep, loses one, leaves the ninety-nine to the wolves and the coyotes, and goes chasing off after one. You cut your losses, forget about the lost sheep, and go on with the ninety-nine. So Jesus' question is perverse. It's odd. It's ironic. Who among you would do this? Who among you wouldn't go out and do this? Everybody wouldn't! They wouldn't go out and do this sort of thing. And, therefore, then he says, "And when you find that, what would you do with the sheep if you'd actually done this?" You would put the sheep on your shoulder, and then notice what Jesus says. He doesn't say, "Then he goes back to the ninety-nine and gives this little sheep back to his mother sheep," or something else. What Jesus says is that he puts the lost sheep on his shoulders and goes to his house. He goes home.

In this parable, Jesus never goes back to the ninety-nine sheep. The ninety-nine sheep are a set-up. Jesus has divided the flock into one sheep and ninety-nine sheep, and he's not trying to make two different groups. You know, ninety-nine who don't get lost, and one who does. I think the real meaning of the one and the ninety-nine is that the one lost sheep is the whole human race as it really is. And the ninety-nine "found" sheep who never get lost are the whole human race as we think we are. And the ninety-nine; therefore, are not a real piece of business in this. The one lost sheep stands for all of us, and this says that the only thing the shepherd—God, the God character—is interested in, is going after the lost, and, if necessary, the shepherd will go out of the sheep ranching business to find the lost, and God, therefore, will go out of the God business, of the business of being the kind of God we turn God into the God who's a bookkeeper, the God who's the divine infinite "watch-bird" who's keeping records on everybody, and if you don't do it right, he's not going to bother with you anymore. That's the business that God goes out of when he goes after the lost because he only wants to come and find sinners. He doesn't want anything else. And then Jesus asks the last question in this one, and he says, "I say to you that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." The proof of this is, of course, did you ever meet any of those ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance? No, you didn't. There isn't one in the whole world. So this proves the set-up that Jesus is only interested in finding the lost; that God, in Christ, is only interested in finding the lost.

Now, he follows this parable up with the parable of the lost coin, and Jesus changes the image. The God character in this parable is not a shepherd. It's a woman. It's a very strange woman. As the shepherd is sort of crazy to go chase one sheep and leave ninety-nine to the wolves, so this woman is even crazier. It says this woman has ten coins, and I like to think, just to bring it up to date, that what this woman has is ten Susan B. Anthony dollars in a nice wooden case with red velvet lining and little recessed partitions for each of the ten Susan B. Anthony dollars. And every morning she gets up, and she looks in there and pats them and polishes them and puts them back down again. She gets up one morning, and one of her precious Susan B. Anthony dollars is missing so what does this woman do? She is as crazy as the shepherd, if not crazier, because she stops her entire life. She stops anything she had to do that day. She stops whatever housework she was going to do, and she lights a light, and goes into all the dark corners. She sweeps, and sweeps, and sweeps, and looks under everything for the whole day until she finds this coin. And what does she do when she finds it? Interestingly enough, like the shepherd Jesus never says she puts it back in the box. It says she gets on the phone to her friends and her neighbors and says, "Come on over, I'm going to have a party. I found my lost coin."

And now I'm sure that these friends and neighbors say, "Gertrude, you found a coin, right? And we're supposed to come?"

She says, "Yes. I have cream soda, and I have ring dings, and you're going to come over, and we're going to celebrate my lost coin."

Certainly they'd say, "Yes, Gertrude, we'll come." But they are not that enthusiastic. But the point is, she is. And this woman proves something. In the lost sheep, you can develop some pity for the poor, little lost sheep. You can feel bad, you know, that it’s injured or hurt or fearful and all that. But you can't work up any pity for a lost coin. A lost coin never knows it's lost. One place is as good as another. The point is that what these two parables put together say is that what governs God's behavior to us is not our sins. It's not our problems. It's his need to find us. These parables go by the need of the finder to find, not about the need of the lost to be found. That's obvious. We always knew that. We could have gone to our graves knowing that. The great thing is that the universe is driven by the need of the finder to find all of us in our lostness. And that, of course, is the beginning.

And the last of the three parables in this chapter is the lost son, which commonly goes by the name of the prodigal son because we misname these parables. Interestingly enough, obviously this parable should be called the parable of the forgiving father. Now, what I want to do is set-up the parable a little bit, and tell it to you quickly. I'm not going to go through the whole thing, just because I hope it's familiar. But a man has two sons, and the youngest son comes to him and says, "Father—Dad—put your will into effect and split up the entire inheritance right now between me and my brother." You know what that is in so many words? That's: "Drop dead, Father." He's suggesting that the father put his will into effect. And the father does it. He gives all the cash that's loose to the younger son. He gives the entire property, like South Fork, in "Dallas,"—some big spread—to the elder brother, and the father sits on the porch for the rest of the parable, at least for a little bit of it, and retires from things.

The younger son takes the money and goes to a far country. He has wine, women, and song; blows all his money, ends up feeding pigs, and sits there and says one day, "Oh, as I think of my father's servants, they eat better than I do. I'm going to go home, and say, 'Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. I'm not worthy to be your son. Make me a hired servant.'" Now, that is not a sinner who was repentant, yet. Because what he's said: "Father, I'm a no-good son," and "Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you," is true. That's fine. That's pretty good for repentance. But "Make me a hired servant" is not a repentance. That's a plan for life. That's a plan to con his father into accepting him back instead of coming back as a no-good son. So he comes home. He comes down the road and when he's a half mile off, his father sees him. He runs down the road, falls on his neck and kisses him, and after the forgiveness and the father's kiss, the son makes his confession. He says, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I'm not worthy to be your son." And he leaves off the hired servant business. The father then goes immediately to the thing that ended the other parables. He goes to the party. He calls for the rings on his fingers, the shoes on his feet, and says: "Kill the fatted calf, and let us eat and be merry. My son was dead, and he's alive, was lost, he's found." And they have a party, and there's music and dancing and everything else. Then Jesus brings in the other lost son. He's the ninety-nine. He's the nine other coins in the box. He thinks he's found. He comes in, and he's whining.

He says, "All these years I have been such a good boy, and done your will and done all these wonderful things, and you never even gave me a goat to have a party with my friends. But when this son of yours who has wasted his substance with whores comes home, then you give him the fatted calf." And he won't go in. What this son has done—though he thinks he's a found character and he's a wonderful bookkeeper and has got everything else right—what he has done, is come into the courtyard of the house, with a party inside, and he has brought hell with him. He is the hell of his own bookkeeping, the hell of his own complaining. He has brought hell with him.

What does the father do? The father's the God character. What does the father do? The father goes out into the courtyard once again, like the shepherd, like the woman, to seek the lost. The need of the finder to find. He goes out there, and he talks to his son, and he says, "Look, son, Arthur, everything I have belongs to you. You could have had fatted calf three nights a week if you wanted. All you had to do was build the stalls. You have the money. You have no imagination, Arthur. You know what I would like you to do, Arthur? I would like you to shut up, go inside, kiss your brother, and have a drink." And the wonderful thing about this parable is that Jesus, genius of a storyteller that he is, has ended it so that it doesn't end.

At the end of the parable—suppose you saw it in a film—you have the music and the sounds of the feasting and the laughter inside the house. You have the father and the elder brother standing in the courtyard, and the way the film ends is, it ends with a freeze frame: father, elder brother, joyful music over in the back. And for two thousand years this has been read in the church, every year people have read it in the Bible endlessly, endlessly. For two thousand years, that's where the story has ended. It has never ended. The father always seeks the lost son, and the lost son is not just the prodigal, it is at the end, the prodigal's already found now, he's home free, but the other one is not, because he won't come into the party. Consequently, the other thing you could say about this, it's not only for two thousand years that that parable has stood with that freeze frame, it will stand there forever because God will forever stand. We say Jesus, between when he died and when he arose, descended into hell. He descended to the lost. This is the last truth of the parable of the prodigal son, that for all eternity God still seeks those in hell. If I go down into hell, Thou art there with me. We cannot get away from the love that will not let us go because God, who in all these parables represented by the shepherd, and the woman, and the father, never ceases to seek and to find the lost.

Thank you, very much,

Robert Farrar Capon

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