Greetings to all you saints in Christ Jesus—and anyone else who happens to be looking on. 

 

Here is a classic ZWTF newsletter that I wrote in August of last year, explaining the much-misunderstood (and chiefly unknown) figure of speech known as "Condescension." Condescension is when God acts like a human being in order to help us through life. (The key word here is "acts.")

 

I have found over the years that the single educational lack leading to the most erroneous (and egregious) conclusions concerning Scripture is a misunderstanding of—or a disregard for or just plain ignorance concerning—figures of speech. How many figures of speech are there? Lots. But in this edition of the ZWTF, I concern myself with the figure known as "Condescension," which is sometimes referred to as "Anthropomorphism."

 

In this issue, you will find out—especially—why God blames people whom He, Himself, hardens. The classic example of this is Pharaoh. I believe that Pharaoh would have been happy to have read this edition of the ZWTF. It would have helped him in his understanding of God's operations. But of course, God didn't want Pharaoh understanding His operations at that time, so He never put it in the king's heart to become a subscriber.

 

CONFERENCE IN MISSOURI

 

I have been talking about this in my MZTV broadcasts, but in case you have not heard, there is a meeting in Mansfield, Missouri, from Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25. The host is Michael Knotts. I will be there to share some teaching with you, and according to Michael, 46 people are already planning to attend. I hope you are one of them! Here is the relevant information:

 

Host: Michael Knotts

Date: Friday evening, October 23 thru Sunday, October 25

email: mknotts510@gmail.com  

phone:(417) 849-7566

address: 2797 Smith Rd. Mansfield, MO 65704

 

Contact Michael, and he will fill you in as to lodging opportunities. 

 

Hope to see you there!

 

In the meantime, thanks to all of you who email me with encouraging words and good questions. I am not as good at responding as I used to be (my emotions can be fragile these days; 27 continuous years of communicating with hundreds of the saints has put me here), but I read everything and I would die of discouragement without your emails, so please keep them coming. I answer all the questions that I can. Receiving these wonderful missives from you is not the problem; me having the emotional wherewithal to respond to everything has become the problem. But please know that I appreciate each and every one of you and I would not be able to continue this work (that I love) without you. 

 

To those who have sent and continue to send financial sustenance to keep this work and its worker going—thank you all from the bottom of my heart. You know who you are. I know who you are. God knows who you are. I see all of you. I know what you have done for me and this work. God has put it on your heart, because I do not require contributions—as you well know. I exist in this capacity as a teacher of the gospel of the grace of God because of grace—because of your generosity, specifically. I will never take any of you for granted. Please forgive me if I sometimes do not get personal thank-yous out as I should. These days, I must thank most of your corporately, as I am doing here. As I have already said, but repeat here: You know who you are. I know who you are. God knows who you are. And so this paragraph is a big THANK YOU, from me to you. What goes around comes around, and you will see much fruit at the dais of Christ. There, we will all be receiving our applause from God. 

 

I look forward to speaking with you tomorrow in another edition of MZTV on YouTube. Until then, I am remaining your brother in Christ and your servant in the Lord, from the edge of the bottom of the Floridan peninsula, 

 

Martin