a cross

Oneness in Christ
promoting Christ the Lord, and love, unity, and service together in His name, in His Kingdom

The very latest article on this site, completed 2022-10-30, is here; it's called Our Cross: what is our purpose, and why is life so hard?.
It is a discussion of the crosses we bear, and the cross the Lord bore for us, and reasons for being.

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Our Mission

Introduction

Jesus, Christ, the Lord, asked His Father for a major oneness. He asked that His Father take the eleven faithful disciples, and all others who come to believe in Him through their message, into oneness with Them. We have this in the Gospel of John, chapter 17, verses 20 through 23.

And we have many of the oldest words in this world, of that message, by the delivery of God. It is utterly the most unique message. It is the only message by which, if believed, the Holy Spirit of God enters in and begins to drive the reader. God, in the Person (one cannot say the form!) of the Holy Spirit, enters in and dominates the believer, to her and his great good, and his or her path is changed.

But the change is, visibly, not entire and immediate. Habits and thoughts of the first life are gradually taken, and, gradually, either made dead, or taken captive and converted into myriad love and joy of the Lord. Great troubles do come, when persons being brought to the Lord’s thoughts, and also when wolves among them, paste words and symbols of Christ the Lord, upon that which is not His.

Since that message entered this world, there has been an odd inversion of it, an inversion that appears good to the first life, but is known evil to the new. Its early manifestations were wars upon wars. Today the quasichristian wars are not usually bloody, but they are profound and terrible evil, because those soldiers are giving a profoundly ugly false face, to the name of Christ the Lord.

A simple example, is today’s quasichristian focus on cursing those that often choose not to love children. Millions are being led in this way. The leaders curse everywhere they can, and demand that we all do the same.

Why, we ask, do those leaders waste so much time cursing those who are already cursed?

Why, we ask, don’t those leaders use their time for good, encouraging all to love children?

Why do they insist on cursing, when blessing is that which is the Lord’s command?

There is something akin to an infinity of other examples.

Some waste time cursing those who are sexually accursed...rather than encouraging people, by example and by word, to either the holy but temporary path of Adam and Eve, or that which is forever, the other holy path, of the angels in Heaven.

Some waste time cursing those living under curses of various false prophets. They deliver thousands upon thousands of words of curses...but have almost nothing to say about the goodness and faithfulness that the Lord is and is giving those that ask for His Spirit.

And many have devoted themselves to cursing others for those many temporary cursednesses, which are the causes, of all of that which keeps the Lord’s people from true communion with each other and Himself. They quote historical sinful man after historical sinful man, filling the air with words which are not from God, striving in vain to glorify themselves and others like them.

Quasichristianity curses its neighbors, piling heavy burdens of guilt and obedience upon them, trying in vain to force others to involuntary compliance, building fake righteousnesses doomed to destruction. Always this encourages lies, and foolish resentments, and hypocrisies. It is Christ the Lord who sees that all of these things are vain foolishness, who encourages all to do the right things, the things He desires: love in truth, and kindness, and gentleness, and defense and protection of the innocent, and first and last and most of all, discipling of others in the Word of God towards His Kingdom. It is Christ the Lord who speaks in encouragement to His ways and reminder to repentance of the others, knowing that many will not follow, and shall incur His Father's consequences, consequences which shall not be avoided except by His path.

There are times that we, of Christ, have to cut with our tongue. When the sheep are being openly deceived, when the innocent are accused falsely, the Lord is unhappy if no one speaks up. He has said so, in Isaiah 5:23-25 among other places, and the Son did so speak. But we do not coerce anyone. We desire the true, voluntary, loving, profound oneness that the Lord has asked His Father to produce.

For this we shall live!

Ian Johnson & Jonathan Brickman
Please do email us!

For Ian: ian4christ41@yahoo.com
For Jonathan: jeb@christian-oneness.org

About God

God is.

God is one.

God is love.

God is spirit.

God is light.

God is King.

God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Jesus is.

Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus is the Son of Man.

How to Read the Bible...According to the Bible

The Words of God: How to Choose What to Care About?

The Compassion of the Father

Leviticus Drives: God and Relationships with Men and Women

The Church Today

Christ the Lord is Not Institutional Food
Not entirely metaphoric!

Seek the Kingdom of God
Often missing: the purpose the Lord spoke for Himself and all of us.

The Messy Demise of "Christian" Nationalism
It's a very long time in coming, and it will be painful for many.

The Lamb and the Insurrection
We will serve only one.

God is a Gentleman
Defining some terms ☺

The Nature of the Churches
What are these things? How can we rest, seeing what we see?

The Church and Sin: Split Splat
Exposing the historical and present situation of sin in and near the churches, with discussion of how we might helpfully proceed.

Oneness as the Lord Lives
The Lord is building His Church, Himself, just as He promised. We just need to join in.

Footprints and a Jagged Rut in the Sand
There is something very important missing in the original ☺

Some Crucial Words
One writer's attempt to bring more clarity.

The Joy of the Lord
A bit on how we get it, why we don't have it, and how it's different.

Some Thoughts on God Reaching Out

God Hears All — and He Listens and Responds

The Message from God for This Time

Great Things

Concerning Standard Formats

Becoming Prepared

God Gives Gifts and Mandate to Use Them

Healings and Other Miracles

God and His Delivery of the Bible

Worship

A Call to Worship

Believing What God Says is More Real Than What I See

The Sabbath of the Christ

Worship, Giving and the Tithe

To Remember, When God's Provision Seems Too Slow

Concerning Peoples of This World

School Murders and the Increasing

Prophecies for the United States of America

The Towers of Babel of Today

God Says: Trust Me with the Frightening Future

A Little History and Application

Our Culture

Two Gentle Wreckages

Some Recent Miracles

Confessions of a Lord's Musician

The Last Echod

Politics of the World and God

Concerning Conspiracy
The Lord spoke on this a while ago.

An Open Letter to Good News Magazine of the UMC
Some thoughts.

A Brief Study of the Palestinian, Arab, and Israeli Conflict
Let's study this one in the name of the Lord, and not in any other.

The Ten Commandments
is this the power to maintain civilization?

Biblical Parables and Prophecy about Society, Politics, and Elections
The Lord is consistent.

The Radical Rejection of Politics
as a means of accomplishing God's redemptive work

Saving the United States of America
a writer's view in 2012

God Appoints Individual Rulers
Some relevant info.

God Appoints Rulers For Limited Functions
More.

God says: keep it out of court!

Tongues, Gifts, and Related Issues

A General Rule of Who is of Christ?

What is Baptism in the Holy Spirit?

Baptism With and Being Filled By the Holy Spirit

Indwelling, Sealing, and Baptism of the Holy Spirit

The Promised Gift of the Holy Spirit

To Be Made More Holy
Sanctification, Spirit Baptism, and Many Different Churches

Is tongues present every time someone is baptized in the Spirit in Acts?

Acts 8, about the Samaritans.

Acts 9, about Saul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul).

Has God Caused Some Gifts to Cease?

The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts

The Purpose of the Gift of Unknown Tongues

May Specific Gifts of God be Desired and Requested?

Some Personal Experiences

Conclusion

Miscellaneous

Pursuing Oneness in Christ, by Ian Johnson and Lauston Stephens

Letter to Dr. John MacArthur, Jr., regarding his book Charismatic Chaos

Our Collection of Topical Web Links

Handouts

The Simple Gospel (Good News), a one-page handout.

Friends of God, another handout.

Amigos con Dios, a handout in Spanish.

About Oneness in Christ

Financials

Site copyrights page.

The Spoken Word

Some is best spoken.

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Social

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Relevant Resources

Reasons for Hope* Jesus
a site with some great reading

and also videos
David F. Watson
some excellent writing in Christ
Recent writings from Ian Johnson

America...bless God?
a message in the mission
Expedition Bible logo
Truly excellent Biblical archaeology on YouTube

and an excellent book
Cybermissions
Using Computers and the Internet
to Facilitate the Great Commission