House Church Talk - zealously affected

[David Anderson]

Dan Beaty, Ohio correspondent and House Church Talk  senior fellow, wrote:

>Amazingly, without previous communication, all three teachings dealt with
>the point that you just made in your post about the zealous socialist. The
>socialist revealed that his entire life was centered around one thing.

I am glad you are meeting some new folks who are open to new ideas, 
brother. Truth is going to eventually dispel error.

We, of course, do not take our cues from power-hungry Socialists, 
nevertheless it is difficult to overlook their energy and sacrifice for 
their cause. Particularly, in our own age where the lost are telling the 
church that they see no difference in us than in any other group of 
persons.

Does our Lord not invite us to lovingly sacrifice as well? "And every one 
that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, 
or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an 
hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." Matt. 19:29. 

Well, allow me to mention just one other quote from Lenin himself in 
which he appealed for those who would "devote more than their spare 
evenings."

WE MUST TRAIN PEOPLE WHO WILL DEVOTE THE WHOLE OF THEIR LIVES, NOT ONLY 
THEIR SPARE EVENINGS, TO THE REVOLUTION; we must build up an organization 
large enough to permit the introduction of a strict division of labour in 
the various forms of our work. Finally, with regard to questions of 
tactics, we shall confine ourselves to the following: Social-Democracy 
does not tie its hands, it does not restrict its activities to some one 
preconceived plan or method of political struggle; it recognises all 
methods of struggle, provided they correspond to the forces at the 
disposal of the Party and facilitate the achievement of the best results 
possible under the given conditions. If we have a strongly organised 
party, a single strike may turn into a political demonstration, into a 
political victory over the government. If we have a strongly organised 
party, a revolt in a single locality may grow into a victorious 
revolution. We must bear in mind that the struggles with the government 
for partial demands and the gain of certain concessions are merely light 
skirmishes with the enemy, en counters between outposts, whereas the 
decisive battle is still to come. Before us, in all its strength, towers 
the enemy fortress which is raining shot and shell upon us, mowing down 
our best fighters. We must capture this fortress, and we will capture it, 
if we unite all the forces of the awakening proletariat with all the 
forces of the Russian revolutionaries into one party which will attract 
all that is vital and' honest in Russia. Only then will the great 
prophecy of the Russian worker-revolutionary, Pyotr Alexeyev, be 
fulfilled: "The muscular arm of the working millions will be lifted, and 
the yoke of despotism, guarded by the soldiers' bayonets, will be smashed 
to atoms!"

from The Urgent Tasks of Our Movement 
Lenin¹s Collected Works, 4th English Edition, Moscow, 1964, Volume 4, 
pages 366-371.

Small groups of persons who changed the world really fascinate me. Did 
you know, for instance, that the gay movement in the USA achieved its 
critical mass shortly after someone had the nerve to post a classified ad 
in a newspaper? Just a few decades later, this zealous band, --- without 
buildings or official leaders ---, is rewriting the laws, school 
curricula, and the scripts for movies and TV. And did I mention that when 
they go to court, they usually win?

It's time to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he will send laborers 
into the fields, white unto harvest. Where sin abounds, grace shall 
super-abound. And let's be faithful where we are - even with little 
things. If God will increase our portion or usefulness that will be his 
prerogative and our joy. 

      David Anderson