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Gold Tried in the Fire - Robert J. Wieland

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especially on Christmas and Easter.<br />

You don't stop be<strong>in</strong>g human when you become<br />

a Christian, do you? The girls <strong>in</strong> Niagara's village<br />

have a coy way of ask<strong>in</strong>g him, "OK, you're a<br />

Christian now—but you're still you, aren't you, big<br />

boy?"<br />

The pastor of one of Africa's largest churches<br />

recently lamented <strong>in</strong> public that over 90 percent of<br />

<strong>the</strong> brides who marched down his ca<strong>the</strong>dral aisle<br />

last year were pregnant. And a bishop compla<strong>in</strong>ed<br />

<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> newspaper that most of <strong>the</strong> "big guys"<br />

<strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> massive embezzlement and corruption<br />

are professed Christians. Of course, it is said,<br />

you're not expected to stop s<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g when you<br />

become a Christian! It's impossible to stop. Doesn't<br />

everybody know that?<br />

But Magara has a conscience that bo<strong>the</strong>rs him.<br />

He has discovered a po<strong>in</strong>ted question that <strong>the</strong> Bible<br />

asks: "Should we cont<strong>in</strong>ue to live <strong>in</strong> s<strong>in</strong> so that<br />

God's grace will <strong>in</strong>crease? Certa<strong>in</strong>ly not! We have<br />

died to s<strong>in</strong>—how <strong>the</strong>n can we go on liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> it?<br />

7

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