Ellis Hein's Blog (106)

Marvin Michelo is a young Quaker minister, in the true sense of the word, in Zambia.  You can read a brief description of his need, his call to proclaim the gospel preached by George Fox and early Friends, and make a donation by going to https://gofund.me/d3e6c8df. Thank you for prayerfully considering this opportunity to extend a helping hand to Marvin.

Our new website, https://nffquaker.com/, is now live. Please take a moment to visit. We have a selection of books and an expanding selection of items for download. There is a small charge for each download. There is also a blog page. Feel free to subscribe to our emails by leaving your email address, (see the bottom of the home page). If you subscribe, you will receive periodic updates regarding the site, you will receive notice of new…

The following excerpt from Lewis Benson's Six Disciple Church Lectures details some of the changes that have come about in the concept of salvation. Today we still use words like forgiveness, sanctification, justification, the cross, etc., but our understanding of those words are not the same as when used by the writers of the New Testament or the preachers of the gospel in the days of the early church. The full text of Lewis Benson's Disciple Church Lectures will be available for download…

My apologies to all who have received a comment added to their profile from one A. Maris. Earlier, I admitted into membership someone representing herself as Christina Florand. Immediately, said Christina's profile became A. Maris and people began getting this comment: "How is everything with you, I picked interest on you after going through your short profile and deemed it necessary to write you immediately. I have something very vital to disclose to you, but I found it difficult to express…

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." If you turn that around, we can say, "If you have come to the Father, you have come by the way, you have embraced the truth, you have life within you--you know and are known by Jesus. These three--way, truth, and life--are the most precious assets a human can posses. Allow me to put these three under one umbrella: Truth with a capital T.

In a 1965 paper published by Lewis Benson (Friends and the…

Last night, in my dream, I was in a familiar neighborhood. As I walked, I came upon a house where a crew of people were busily cleaning. This crew was led by Lewis Benson. I readily joined in the effort of cleaning windows, cleaning eve troughs, sweeping the roof, and cleaning the inside. It was as thorough a cleaning job as I have ever witnessed! Nothing was left untouched.

I have had the clear understanding that I must share what I have seen. Even though I can't say precisely what…

On the 15th of November we again considered Fox's Epistle XXXVIII. You can access the recording at 

https://zoom.us/rec/share/dwzNCYm3qF_AKYK7dCes0u6WIuoMdvahWiApeyNSdCPCOWMrbVX8S8Qwp6FphCiN.Ez3nyZ_VA3XrBTzZ

Access Passcode: @*2unN*q

This past Saturday morning was our regular time for reading and discussing Fox's Journal (Volume 1, p. 363 and following from the Works of George Fox). It was a good discussion regarding what Fox said about the seven things people could "sit down in." Today's list might be somewhat different, but the seventh, our sabbath rest, will always be sitting down in Christ Jesus who never fell. What does that mean, to sit down in Christ Jesus? This was part of our discussion which you can see by…

On Sunday, the 18th of October, we read and discussed the first few paragraphs of Fox's Epistle XXXVIII. In this epistle, Fox calls us to abandon the great city of Sodom with its fascination of all things of this world. Even though we are not to reason with flesh, we live by a different reasoning. "Come let us reason together," says the Lord. It is in the council of the Lord that we see the victory of the Lamb against the great beast with 10 horns.

Listen in to our reading and…

This past Saturday was our regular Zoom meeting for reading and discussing the Journal of Fox. Following is a link and the passcode to access the recording. It is one hour and 15 minutes long. The reading is from Vol. 1, page numbers are given at the beginning. This recording will only be available for 1 week when we will need to make space for the next session.

The link is …

Hear the word of the LORD...give ear unto the law of our God...To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?...When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?...Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth...when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment,…

In Part II I looked at Fox's exposition concerning three estates and three teachers wherein he declared that by following the serpent's teaching, mankind entered the fallen estate. By following Jesus Christ's teaching, we are brought up out of the fall into the state of Adam and Eve before the fall and into a higher state in Christ Jesus who never fell.

In Part III I am continuing to explore the answer to the question, "How are we to encounter this divine influence upon the heart that…

In Part I, I looked at some of the writings of Paul and considered what they had to say concerning man's problem and God's solution (salvation) to that problem. I noted Paul's statement that man's problem is death and God's solution is an influence on the heart that brings life. I asked the question, "How are we to encounter this divine influence upon the heart (i.e. God's grace)?

In part II, I want to examine a passage from the Works of Fox, which pertains to the answer to this…

In his recent post, The Felt Need Of Salvation That Drives Many To Seek A Savior, John Jeremiah Edminster opened a subject that is replete with contradiction. If you browse the shelves of bookstores or look on the internet, you will find a widely varying body of theologies purporting to be supported by cited scripture, the texts of which often have little or no…

The following first appeared on Reddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/Quakers/comments/ettifg/the_bush_is_still_burning/. I am slightly revising the original post and incorporating some of the comments. To see the original, follow the link above.

One of the enduring Bible stories of my youth is the story of Moses and the burning bush. That story came to me…

This material first appeared on This Was the True Light.

In Catholic Quakerism, chapter III, The Quaker Conception of Christian Community and Church Order, Lewis Benson stated:

Of the two basic presuppositions in Fox's conception of…

[S]o great a sense came upon me of the veil of darkness that was over the priests and professors of christianity, that I was moved to give forth the following, as an awakening warning to them:

BLINDNESS hath happened to the professed christians of the letter now-a-days, as blindness happened to the Jews; who professed the letter, but owned not the life, which the letter speaks of: as the christians now, to whom this blindness hath happened, who profess the…

I have finished this series of posts looking at the book of John through the ideas surrounding the Jewish Passover. I had thought to publish the final post here, but it is too long. Instead, I am presenting the opening paragraphs and encourage you to read it on my Wordpress blog.

We now reach a dividing line that separates two opposite…

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.  

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.…

This post first appeared on my blog https://thiswasthetruelight.wordpress.com

...for that eye that is turned from the light is the blind, and leads into the ditch. (Works, Vol. IV, p.25)…