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AMERICANS OF FAITH SPEAK UP NOW AGAINST THE EVIL OF THIS PRESENT DAY!
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THE REVEREND DIETRICH BONHOEFER, A PROTESTANT MINISTER IMPRISONED AND EVENTUALLY EXECUTED FOR HIS FAITH, WAS MURDERED BY THE GESTAPO JUST BEFORE THE FALL OF HITLER'S GERMANY: "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace." (64)21 October, 1999, A.D.
"It" happened in Germany. "It" happened in Russia. "It" can happen in America.
A. MAJOR 20TH-CENTURY GENOCIDES: THE COST OF "GUN CONTROL," REPORTED BY JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIP, 1994 (18):
Kindly note the following killed were NOT military casualities; they were civilians murdered by genocidal governments after having been disarmed through "gun control" laws:
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For each of the following 20th Century genocides, the following information is given - PERPETRATOR GOVERNMENT; DATES OF GENOCIDE; TARGET POPULATION; NUMBERS MURDERED; DATES OF GUN CONTROL LAWS:
Ottoman Turkey; 1915-1917; Armenians; 1-1.5 million; 1866 & 1911
Soviet Union; 1929-1953; Anti-Communists & Anti-Stalinists; 20 million; 1929
Nazi Germany & Occupied Europe; 1933-1945; Jews, Gypsies & Anti-Nazis ; 13 million; 1928 & 1938
Communist China; 1949-1976; Anti-Communists, Rural Populations & Pro-Reform Groups; 20 million; 1935, 1957
Guatemala; 1960-1981; Maya Indians; 100,000; 1871 & 1964
Uganda; 1971-1979; Christians & Political Rivals; 300,000; 1955 & 1970
Communist Cambodia; 1975-1979; Educated Persons; 1 million; 1956 (18)
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TOTAL VICTIMS: 55.9 million
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PSAMLS 94:1-10:
O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew Thyself.
Lift up Thyself, Thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
How long shall they utter and speak hard things? And all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
They break in pieces Thy people, O LORD, and afflict Thine heritage.
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?
He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not He correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know? (1)
I PETER 5:6-11:
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time:
Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Whom resist stedfast in the Faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
But the God of all grace, Who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (1)
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B. THE REVEREND MARTIN NIEMOLLER, A PROTESTANT PASTOR IMPRISONED FOR HIS FAITH IN HITLER’S GERMANY:
"They came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;They came for the Socialists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Socialist;
They came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
They came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist;
They came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Catholic;
Then they came for me – and by that time no one was left to speak up." (62,63)
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ESTHER 4:13-14:
Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed; and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (1)
MATTHEW 25:31-46:
When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory:
And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave Thee drink?
When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and clothed Thee?
Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto the, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.
Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee?
Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (1)
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C. THE REVEREND HEINRICH RICHARD WURMBRAND, A LUTHERAN MINISTER IMPRISONED FOR HIS FAITH IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA, WARNED AMERICA IN 1967:
"Every freedom-loving man has two fatherlands; his own and America. Today, America is the hope of every enslaved man, because it is the last bastion of freedom in the world. Only America has the power and spiritual resources to stand as a barrier between militant Communism and the people of the world.It is the last "dike" holding back the rampaging floodwaters of militant Communism. If it crumples, there is no other dike, no other dam; no other line of defense to fall back upon.
America is the last hope of millions of enslaved peoples. They look to it as their second fatherland. In it lies their hopes and prayers.
I have seen fellow-prisoners in Communist prisons beaten, tortured, with 50 pounds of chains on their legs – praying for America…that the dike will not crumple; that it will remain free." (3)
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DANIEL 5:1-7,7-28:
Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the Temple of The House of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
The king cried in a loud voice...
Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.
O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:
And for the majesty that He gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: who he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.
But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him;
And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of Heaven; till he knew that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that He appointeth over it whomsoever He will.
And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;
But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of Heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His House before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.
Then was the part of the hand sent from Him; and this writing was written.
And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians (ie, to others). (1)
MATTHEW 12:38-42
Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master (Jesus), we would see a sign from Thee.
But He (Jesus) answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgement with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
The queen of the south (ie, The Queen of Sheeba) shall rise up in the judgement with this generation, and shall condemn it; for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. (1)
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D. THE REVEREND DIETRICH BONHOEFER, A PROTESTANT MINISTER IMPRISONED AND EVENTUALLY EXECUTED FOR HIS FAITH IN HITLER’S GERMANY:
"Costly Grace" versus "Cheap Grace"CHEAP GRACE:
Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.
Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The Sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasure, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?
Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian "conception" of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. The church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto a part in that grace. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. "All for sin could not atone." The world goes on in the same old way, and we are still sinners..."
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
COSTLY GRACE:
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him.
Costly race is the Gospel which must be sought again and again, the fight which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered Him up for us. Costly grace is the incarnation of God.
Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which He speaks as it pleases Him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow Him; it is a grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."..." (64)
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JAMES 4:6-8:
But He giveth more Grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. (1)
I CORINTHIANS 6:19-20:
What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1)
MATTHEW 12:28-30:
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (1)
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E. THE REVEREND JOHN WITHERSPOON, A SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, A PRESIDENT OF PRINCETON COLLEGE, POCLAIMED IN 1776:
It is in the man of piety and inward principle, that we may expect to find the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen, and the invincible soldier - God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable and that the unjust attempts to destroy the one, may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both.While we give praise to God, the Supreme Disposer of all events, for His interposition on our behalf, let us guard against the dangerous error of trusting in, or boasting of, an arm of flesh...
If your cause is just, if your principles are pure, and if your conduct is prudent, you need not fear the multitude of opposing hosts.
What follows from this? That he is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind.
Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not (do not hesitate) to call him an enemy of his country. (3)
THE REVEREND JOHN WITHERSPOON FURTHER PROCLAIMED IN HIS SERMON, "THE DOMINION OF PROVIDENCE OVER THE PASSIONS OF MEN," IN 1776:
PSALM 76:10: "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee; the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain."
There is not a greater evidence either of the reality or the power of religion, than a firm belief of God's universal presence, and a constant attention to the influence and operation of His providence. It is by this means that the Christian may be said, in the emphatical Scripture language, "to walk with God, and to endure as seeing Him who is invisible."
The doctrine of Divine Providence is very full and complete in the Sacred Oracles. It extends not only to things which we may think of great moment, and therefore worthy of notice, but to things the most indifferent and inconsiderable; "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing," says our Lord, "and one of them falleth not to the ground without your Heavenly Father"; nay, "the very hairs of your head are all numbered." It extends not only to things beneficial and salutary, or to the direction and assistance of those who are the servants of the Living God; but to things seemingly most hurtful and destructive, and to persons the most refractory and disobedient. He overrules all His creatures, and all their actions.
Thus we are told, that "fire, hail, snow, vapor, and stormy wind, fulfil His word," in the course of nature; and even to the most impetuous and disorderly passions of men, that are under no restraint from themselves, are yet perfectly subject to the dominion of Jehovah. They carry His commission, they obey His orders, they are limited and restrained by His authority, and they conspire with every thing else in promoting His glory.
There is the greater need to take notice of this, that men are not generally sufficiently aware of the distinction between the law of God and His purpose; they are apt to suppose, that as the temper of the sinner is contrary to the one, so the outrages of the other are able to defeat the other; than which nothing can be more false. The truth is plainly asserted, and nobly expressed by the Psalmist in the text, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain."
..."Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee; the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain": which may be paraphrased thus, The fury and injustice of oppressors shall bring in a tribute of praise to Thee; the influence of Thy righteous providence shall be clearly discerned; the countenance and support Thou wilt give to Thine own people shall be gloriously illustrated; Thou shalt set the bounds which the boldest cannot pass.
...The truth, then, asserted in this text, which I propose to illustrate and improve, is, That all the disorderly passions of men, whether exposing the innocent to private injury, or whether they are the arrows of Divine Judgement in public calamity, shall, in the end, be to the praise of God: Or, to apply it more particularly to the present state of the American colonies, and the plague of war, The ambition of mistaken princes, the cunning and cruelty of oppressive and corrupt ministers, and even the inhumanity of brutal soldiers, however dreadful, shall finally promote the glory of God, and in the mean time, while the storm continues, His mercy and kindness shall appear in prescribing bounds to their rage and fury... (65)
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PSALMS 76:6-10:
At Thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
Thou, even Thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in Thy sight when once Thou art angry?
Thou didst cause judgement to be heard from Heaven; the earth feared, and was still,
When God arose to judgement, to save the meek of the earth.
Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain. (1)
ROMANS 2:5-11:
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the Day of Wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God;
Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
For there is no respect of persons with God. (1)
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F. MAJOR JOHN ANDRE, A BRITISH SPY DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR, WAS CAPTURED. AFTER BEING EXECUTED BY THE AMERICANS, THIS POEM WAS FOUND IN HIS POCKET: "MY HIDING PLACE:"
Hail, sovereign love, which first began
The scheme to rescue fallen man!
Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace,
Which gave my soul a Hiding Place!
Against the God who built the sky
I fought with hands uplifted high -
Despised the mention of His grace.
Too proud to seek a Hiding Place.
Enwrapt in thick Egyptian night.
And fond of darkness more than light,
Madly I ran the sinful race.
Secure - without a Hiding Place!
But thus the eternal counsel ran,
Almighty love, arrest that man!
I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no Hiding Place.
Indignant Justice stood in view;
To Sinai's fiery mount I flew;
But Justice cried with frowning face:
This mountain is no Hiding Place!
Ere long a heavenly voice I heard.
And mercy's angel soon appeared:
He led me, with a beaming face,
To Jesus as a Hiding Place.
On Him almighty vengeance fell.
Which must have sunk a world to hell!
He bore it for a sinful race.
And thus became their Hiding Place.
Should sevenfold storms of thunder roll,
And shake this globe from pole to pole,
No thunderbolt shall daunt my face;
For Jesus is my Hiding Place. (66)
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JOEL 2:28-29:
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:(
And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit. (1)
ACTS 1:8:
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (1)
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G. CONCLUSION:
Recall again the warning of the Reverend Dietrich Bonhoefer, a Protestant Minister imprisoned and eventually executed for his Faith in Hitler's Germany, "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace." (64)
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REVELATIONS 3:14-19:
And unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write: These things saith The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (1)
MATTHEW 3:2-3:
...Repent ye: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
...Prepare ye the way of The LORD, make His paths straight. (1)
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May God Almighty have mercy upon us all for the preserving of our lives and the saving of our eternal souls, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. With All Due Respect,
Robert Baral
©Robert Baral 1997-2007 All Rights Reserved.
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REFERENCES
1. "The Holy Bible-Authorized King James Version-Scofield Study Bible." Oxford University Press, New York. 1945.
3. "America's God And Country Encyclopedia Of Quotations." William J. Federer. Fame Publishing, Inc. 820 South MacArthur Blvd., Coppell, Texas 75019-4214. 1994.
18. "Lethal Laws: Gun Control Is The Key To Genocide." Jay Simkin, Aaron Zelman and Alan M. Rice. Jews For The Preservation Of Firearms Ownership (JPFO). 2872 South Wentworth Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53207. 1994. www.jpfo.org
62. Pastor Martin Niemoller's Warning. http://freedomlaw.com/Germany.htm
63. Pastor Martin Niemoller's Poem. http://remember.org/witness/links.let.niem.html
64. "The Cost Of Discipleship." Reverend Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Touchstone Books. Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of The Americas, New York, New York 10020. 1959 & 1995.
65. "John Witherspoon - An American Leader." Matthew F. Rose. Family Research Council. 801 G. Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001. 1999. www.frc.org
66. "American Prophets And Preachers." Stanley E. Price. South West Radio Church. PO Box 1144, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73101. (800)-652-1144. www.swrc.com
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