New Church Life July/August 2015 | Page 5

In This Issue T he Rev. Willard L. D. Heinrichs writes about “The Pass-Fail Test the Lord Has Presented to Every Church Down Through the Ages” – including the New Church. Throughout history, he says, every church has been destroyed by the same evil: people not believing in the Lord or His Word but in themselves and their own senses. Are we in the General Church sufficiently aware of this challenge – both internal and external? If we resist and then embrace the legacy, he says, the Church will be richly blessed as the means for the Lord to communicate with all who hunger and thirst after heavenly doctrine. (Page 328) Suicide is always tragic, on many levels, and no one is immune – including those in the New Church. The Rev. John L. Odhner offers thoughtful “Reflections on Suicide,” emphasizing the Lord’s mercy and cautioning that we cannot judge those who take their own lives. He offers a wealth of teachings from the Writings that “will not take away all the pain, but may bring a little clarity and comfort to people who have been faced with suicide.” (Page 335) The news is discouraging. Polls suggest that Christianity is in steep decline and that cherished religious principles are under attack in an aggressively secular culture. The Rev. Kenneth J. Alden finds comfort in the Word, particularly in Revelation where the Woman Clothed With the Sun – representing the New Church – is threatened by the dragon and a flood. But “the earth helped the woman,” swallowing up that flood. No matter how helpless, threatened and persecuted we may feel, the Lord is always there with His protection. (Page 345) In a sermon for ANZAC Day in Australia – commemorating the first major military action by Australian and New Zealand forces in World War I – the Rev. Todd. J. Beiswenger, pastor in Hurstville, Australia, talks about the power of “Laying Down Our Lives for Our Friends.” It relates not only to wartime sacrifice but to our own willingness to lay down our old self – our old will – for the sake of a new will and following the Lord. (Page 348) In a sermon about “States Preceding Repentance,” the Rev. Scott I. Frazier uses the biblical story of the “scape goat,