The Basics of Our Testimony

Terry H.S. Wallace

The beginning of the Lamb's War occurs when the good news is preached and people are convinced by Christ jesus's presence and begin to meet and worship and live in His power.

  • The Good News (the gospel) is not a set of doctrines or beliefs to be mentally mastered or accepted; the Good News (the gospel) is Christ Jesus's living, powerful presence to save us, to defeat wrong.

There is no such thing as Gospel Order without the Gospel, for Christ Jesus in our midst is our orderer, unifier, and sustainer.

There is no peace testimony without Gospel Order, for we have neither the power nor the love to maintain it without Christ by our words and deeds.

  • We can not stand alone: We are but clay vessels, poor, easily broken, but for the treasurer within us, Christ Jesus our Lord.

  • We need the power and love of Christ Jesus to respond appropriately.

  • We need the gathered people of God, the Body of Christ, for support to face the daunting power of the State and the persecution we might have to suffer.

There is only one testimony: the the living, seamless witness of the presence of Christ Jesus in our lives, who leads us into all righteousness.

  • When we speak of individual testimonies or choose to embrace some testimonies and reject others, we violate the very nature of testimony or witness.

  • The Peace Testimony cannot be separated out as a distinct and individual witness from what we generally call Friends' Testimonies.  Actually, there is no such thing as a list of individual testimonies and to identify them as such encourages us to treat them as a smorgasbord of behaviors from which to select.

  • To separate out the peace testimony from our general testimony to the presence and power of Christ is a gross error: it detaches the peace testimony from other behaviors that undergird our peaceableness and are part of "living in that power that takes away the occasion of wars."

Honesty,

Gentleness,

Joy,

Truthfulness,

Sincerity,

Perseverance and Steadfastness,

Forthrightness,

Compassion

Those who bear witness to the presence and power of Christ Jesus, who fight with spiritual weapons, not carnal, will be suspected, persecuted, even killed for their witness.

  • This is not new news; it is very old news (check the gospels!).

  • This is why we need Christ Jesus's assistance in standing with and for Him.

Terry H.S. Wallace
Presented at Ohio Yearly Meeting, 2006

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