December, 1997

Dear Sanctified Saint,

God bless you richly in the mighty and powerful Name that is above all names, Jesus Christ our Lord.

As we write our last letter of 1997 to you, our hearts are filled to overflowing with thanksgiving to God for His goodness, His grace and His abundant mercy that He has poured out upon us. The privilege we have to be part of the lives of Christians like you is one that we hold dear, and one that daily inspires us to do our utmost for His highest in service to you. As you read on in this newsletter, you will see that it is loaded with information we think will bless you in regard to the coming year. We hope that you will read with pen and paper and your 1998 calendar in hand. As usual, any feedback you have is most welcome.

1997 has been a momentous year for us, and in this letter we thought we would review our newsletters, since they pretty much tell the story. By the way, with all the work that we put into them, we are considering putting some of the highlights of the newsletters together, possibly in the form of a devotional book á là My Utmost For His Highest . Want to help?

After a review of the Philippines trip in the January letter, the February letter was about the accurate usage of words and the many fine distinctions that need to be made as a means to avoid bondage and confusion. This is a continuing work as we see the need to keep educating people in the relationship between precise word usage and clear thinking. In fact, much of what we have written and taught this year has revolved around this theme, and this will probably continue.

In March we shared the insight we gained from Hans Walter Wolff's work Anthropology of the Old Testament  concerning the nature of man. We are continuing to work this field to expand our book Is There Death After Life?  We see more urgently than ever the need for sound teaching in this area. Many are teaching that there is a "spirit of man" that is the real part

of man housed in a fleshly body. The more we learn about Neo-platonic and Gnostic thinking, the more we see that a separate "spirit" is not biblical. This teaching results in skewed understanding of a number of vital subjects. We see more clearly than ever that the biblical view is the complete integration of the whole man. In the process of researching this topic, we have found more and more scholarly support for our position, which will be included in the update of our "Dead book."

The April letter was a description of our 10-year journey from The Way  to today. We took the opportunity in that letter to articulate our differences with some of the other ministries with whom the Lord has networked us, not to be critical of them as much as to define for our supporters who and where we are after all these associations. Although it was not our purpose to do so, we offended some of our readers with that letter, especially those who have maintained growing relationships with some of the ministries we named, and who heard our comments as arrogant and divisive.

The May letter included a statement of beliefs and an invitation to be a part of a network of independent churches that we continue to envision more clearly. We received a lot of mail in response to the April and May letters, so in our June letter we printed some of the representative ones along with our response. We have been blessed with the feedback we've received from many about our willingness to engage in dialogue those who disagree with us. Some people are still concerned about our intentions with this network concept, but we are pressing on with it, believing that we are in obedience to the will of God for our ministry.

If you believe that our intentions are less than honorable, and that we are going to set up a controlling and tyrannical organization reminiscent of The Way , we can only respectfully respond by saying "Poppycock." We also say, "Please take a closer look at us." We are motivated by compassion for the many floundering fellowships, the spiritual orphans and the lost souls throughout the world who have never heard Christian teaching as logical, compelling and liberating as what, by God's grace, we have to offer.

The July letter continued dealing with the subject of the accurate usage of words, and undertook to explain the difference between true biblical love and sentimentality. We see the need for more teaching in this area, helping people see that God uses an action/obedience model of love rather than a feeling model. This truth has profound ramifications for the true practice of Christianity and how we are to relate to others. Our first responsibility is to love God, which is evidenced by our obedience to His Word. Then we are to love our neighbor, which the Bible defines as acting in a way that encourages him to be reconciled to God.

The August letter was a recap of John and Christine Lynn's trip to Argentina. At our October weekend in Charlotte we heard the whole account of how Hector and Laura Teme found out about us, and their three-month ordeal of combing the Internet to contact us. We are humbled by their love for the Lord and for us, and by their thankfulness for our teachings. Hector and Laura have a vision for God's Word permeating South America, and have made many good suggestions to help us in our International ministry. This has been a year of dramatic doors opening in many places in the world, as we have begun to correspond with people from Haiti, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Germany. In each case we have been amazed at how God has worked to bring these people into our lives.

In September we addressed the issue of the Gospel of Christ, and the good news of our deliverance from the penalty of sin (justification). We have been teaching for some time that the issue of sin is crucial for an accurate understanding of a number of important New Testament concepts. For instance, righteousness is not our ability to stand before God without any consciousness of sin, guilt or shortcoming, because that shifts one's focus from sin  to sin consciousness.  What we have in our God-given righteousness is the right standing with God despite  our sin. Furthermore, we are saved not by confessing our sin, but by confessing the Savior from sin, Jesus Christ. We have been asked by some people if we are not regressing spiritually by looking at the sin in our lives, but what we see more and more is that whether we dwell  on the sin in our life or not, it still dwells  in us and tyrannizes us until we recognize it and specifically repent of it. This subject has been one of the main themes of the 1997 Bi-monthly tapes, especially the last two: Good News: Read All About It  and Defeating the Enemy Within .

In October we dealt with the issue of the fruit of the spirit, and in November with faith. The issue with "the fruit of the spirit" boils down to an accurate understanding of the usage of "spirit" meaning the "new nature" as it is opposed to "the flesh," that is, the "old nature." Again we see that most of the confusion and spiritualization of both "fruit" and "faith" results from sloppy semantics. Words are the building blocks of thought, and they are the tool of choice that God employed to communicate His will. We are to be diligent craftsmen when it comes to handling the words of the Word, and when we don't, we fall into error and spiritual bondage.

As the year ends, we see the absolute urgency of the times in which we live and the great need for God's people to be discerning and circumspect. There are many spiritual counterfeits wooing the saints and luring them into spiritualism, emotionalism, Gnosticism and a host of other distracting and debilitating "isms." It is imperative that we obey the command of God in Ephesians 6:10 and 11: "Finally, my brethren, BE STRONG in the Lord, and in the power of his might. PUT ON the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."

This exhortation hearkens back to the call to maturity mixed with a sobering warning in Chapter 4, verse 14: "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ." On the next page you will find an article by Marvin Olasky that we think is a fabulous articulation of the fight we are in. We published it in the November/December Dialogue , but we thought it deserved a wider audience.

In closing, we say Thank You!  if you prayed for us, purchased any of our materials or financially contributed to our work in this past year. We stand in awe of the quality of people God has put in our lives, and we pledge to continue to give our all to speaking the truth in love. We rejoice in anticipation of the doors that our Lord Jesus will open for us in the year to come.

If you believe that our efforts have benefited you, we ask you to support us by giving as much as you can in response to a blessing , which is the biblical pattern for financial giving. If you are not already a regular contributor to CES , would you consider becoming one for 1998? Praise God for His promise that the more abundantly you sow, the more you will reap. Amen. Please know that we love you  and that we are here for you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

John, John & Jenivee, Mark & Karen Anne

I don't remember his name, but I do remember what a Kentucky Baptist preacher/weekly newspaper editor told me a dozen years ago. He had a police band radio and liked to go out with his camera when he heard that a drunk was being arrested. Unlike Paris paparazzi, he never chased anyone, but he did take photos of staggering citizens stopped by police, and he put those pictures on his front page.

The preacher/editor told of how a man came to his office one day, pleading with him not to publish embarrassing photos of his brother, and giving an emotion-grabbing reason for his request: "If you run those shots of Bubba, it'll just kill Momma." The editor replied, "Tell Bubba he better not drive drunk."

Did the preacher/editor lack love? Some-especially those who put bullet holes through his office window-said so. But the editor believed that if embarrassment could force a life-saving change in behavior, it would not be loving to look the other way. The same principle applies with other sins that we perceive, both in ourselves and others. We are not being kind to ourselves when we fool ourselves into thinking that wrong is right, nor are we loving others when we are not truthful. As Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 13:6, "Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth."

The first question for journalists, for ministers and for all of us is, do we love the people of God enough to bring the truth to them? A secondary question is, how  do we bring the truth to people? In a kind way, yes, but Paul's phrase about "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15) is often taken out of context.

After all, just one verse before his famous phrase, Paul criticizes "the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming" Those words do not appear particularly loving to some ears today. And in case we still have any tendency to think that sugarcoating is next to godliness, Paul provides a summing up in Ephesians 4:25: "Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body."

Christ above all certainly spoke the truth in love, but many of His statements were not sweet. From the gospel of Matthew alone it is easy to compile what some would call the "unChristlike" sayings of Christ. Jesus called his opponents "ferocious wolves," "vipers," "hypocrites," "blind fools," and so on. When Peter acted wrongly, Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan." Nor were Christ's actions weak: He loved the moneychangers when he used a whip to drive them out of the Temple. [Ed. note: He used the whip on the animals; he spoke  to the people, no doubt loudly ]. He cared enough to tell them the truth about their actions and their need to repent.

There is of course a big difference between God's inspired words and ours, which may convey unrighteous anger. Insisting that love and truth go together does not give us a license to speak the truth spitefully. But the tendency among many Christians today is to lean in the opposite direction: Love rules, truth loiters behind. We forget that love and truth can be like sodium and chloride. Love without truth is mush, and truth without love can also be poisonous. Sodium and chloride together make salt.

All Christians are called to be salty. Some are called to be watchmen. God tells us in Ezekiel 33 that when the watchman "sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head...But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood."

Speaking the truth in love means blowing the trumpet in a way that will wake up the sleeping. Few people enjoy being rudely awakened. I doubt if any drunks enjoy public embarrassment. But the Kentucky preacher/ editor/watchman was speaking the truth in love as he plastered across his front page pictures of the plastered.

His readers, after all, learned a valuable lesson: If you don't want to be embarrassed publicly, don't do embarrassing things. The Latin expression cotare Deo,  signifying "everything to be done in the sight of God," should be enough to keep us flying straight. When that does not happen, we need to show Christlike love and

speak Christ's truth.

Here is our CES  Calendar of Events for 1998, as best we know it now. We encourage you to make note of these things, and as the year unfolds to pray and ask the Lord which of them are for you. Maybe you could start now to save money for what you want to attend by putting your loose change each day in a jar or an old argyle sock.

We are willing to go anywhere the Lord wants us to go, so if you feel He would have you bring one or more of us to your area, just let us know as soon as you can. Please pray that we will lock into God's timetable and be in the right places at the right times to say the right things to the right people in 1998. Thank you.

"Hold it!" you say, "I forgot to subscribe to the 1997  tapes!" No problem, you can still get all six of them for $25. At the same time, you can subscribe to the 1998 tapes, the first one of which will be called Take My Word For It . The subject of this tape is "faith," and we believe it will be a very inspirational teaching to begin the new year. In every moment of every day of every year, the bottom-line question for each of us is, "Do I trust God's Word?" Understanding the biblical perspective of "faith" is critical for walking with the Lord.

Yes, it's going to happen. From June 27-July 10, John and Jenivee Schoenheit will host this unique, educational and spiritually invigorating trip to "the Land of the Book." While enjoying sweet fellowship with like-minded brethren in the Lord, you can walk where Jesus and other heroes of the faith walked. As John teaches you many biblical accounts "on location," the Word will come alive for you in a new way. At many places, we'll be the only tour group there, because the others go to the "traditional" sites rather than to where the events actually occurred, as John will show you from Scripture.

If you are interested, a tentative itinerary is now available. The total cost for the trip is $2498, and a $350 deposit by February 1, 1998 reserves a place for you. If you believe the Lord is stirring your heart to go, act now!

May 28-31 will be the third annual CES  Singles Weekend, and those who have attended the first two have been exceedingly blessed. The weekend will focus on your relationship with the Lord Jesus as the key to all your other relationships. If you are single, please consider joining us.

We finally have a website up on the Internet! This site currently contains basic information about who we are and what we do as well as information on how to order. At least by January, we also expect to have our materials and monthly newsletter up for your viewing pleasure. We want to acknowledge Tom Buchanan of Bartlesville, Oklahoma for his immense help in creating the initial pages that we have to offer.

We will be upgrading the site to be more and more user-friendly and dynamic for demonstrating and proclaiming what goes on here at CES , and we appreciate any input or advice anyone has to offer. We would also appreciate any help in advertising our site by placing "links" (Internet links to our web address) on your own pages, or on those of people or businesses that you know who also have websites.

Finally, another goal concerning our website is to eventually send our printed materials and letters out through a "mass e-mailing" process. So, if we do not already have your e-mail address, or if you're not sure we do, please send it in to us requesting to be on the e-mail database. Thank your for praying that those who will benefit from what we have to offer find us out there in cyberspace. The address is: http://members.aol.com/jesusces/home/cesindex.htm

Last month we told you about the 30-minute television show produced by Advocate Media Group, with whom we are in contract to promote our material. This 30-minute interview of "I John and II John" about the Don't Blame God!  book can now be seen on the Internet at www.advocate-media.com. If you are surfing the Net, why not head over there and check it out. Remember that you can order this video for only $10 by calling Advocate Media Group at 1-888-863-2988. If you have access to any television

station, we would appreciate you doing your best to get it on the air.

In the past couple months, many people have told us that they have either re-listened to this dynamic series, first produced in 1990, or heard it for the first time. Their comments about it were glowing .

This teaching will help you understand the most

important subject in the entire Bible: Jesus Christ. It deals with His relationship with God, the Church and Israel. The series shows how Jesus recognized in the

Old Testament the prophecies of His birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, exaltation and His future kingdom. Thus He was obedient to the

written Word, all the way unto His death on the cross. It shows what Jesus is now doing as Lord and Christ, and some things He will do when He returns to the earth to rule His kingdom. The teachings proclaim scriptural truths vital to one's knowing Jesus Christ as Lord on a daily basis, and thereby knowing God our Father. COST: $25.

We are in the process of putting together a series of "position papers" about relevant biblical issues. You may want to collect these for your own library and have some on hand to give to people with whom you speak about these issues. Here are the papers now available:

Each paper is available from CES  for $3 (includes postage).

If you have a fellowship that would like to promote our CES  books and tapes, we want to

 support you in doing so. We have found that displaying the materials for sale encourages people to take advantage of them, both for their own benefit and to share with other. To date, we have very limited marketing outlets, and we basically depend upon those who believe that we are setting forth the truth of God's Word and who have a like commitment to getting it out to people to disseminate our materials. We believe Scripture is clear that common belief of the truth is the foundation for both individual liberty and true Christian community.

We are willing to send you a fellowship "starter kit" of some of the CES  books and tapes on consignment. If you are interested, please have one person who is willing to be responsible for these materials contact us for more information.

That is the new title (and sub-title) of the forthcoming CES  book that was going to be called Who Do You Say That I Am?  We had hoped to have

it for you by Christmas, but, in answer to our prayers,

the Lord helped us find some very pertinent additional information that, among other things, documents textual corruption in regard to this critical subject. Thank you for continuing to pray fervently for us as we now hope to have the book available by about March 1. We believe you will think it was worth the wait, and we solicit your prayers also for the dissemination of this landmark work on the Bible's most important subject, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here are the e-mail addresses for John (jalces@aol.com), Mark (graesermrk@aol.com) and John (jschoen777@aol.com) that you can use for personal correspondence to them. Please continue to use the CES address (jesusces@aol.com) for orders and general correspondence.