Also this last week I received an e-mail from a woman who said that something I had written had set her free from the bondage of guilt she had retained for 20 years. You see, this woman had an abortion when she was a young girl. Through the years the guilt of what she had done slowly began to crush her spirit and her emotional stability. She began to drink and became an alcoholic; the guilt was destroying her. Three years ago she became a Christian and even though she had trusted the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of her sins, she still could not find release from the feelings of guilt. She knew that she was keeping the guilt and punishing herself with it and couldn't find a way to let it go. Then, she said she found my paper dealing with abortion and forgiveness. I had written about how we sometimes will punish ourselves by not truly receiving the forgiveness of Jesus and by keeping the guilt of something alive in us in order to make ourselves suffer.  This becomes a kind of penance, a kind of restitution for some wrong in the past. Sometimes we think that if we punish ourselves with guilt long enough, after a while, then it will be okay to face God.  But that is a lie.  Nothing we do can make us worthy to face God.  It must all rest in what Christ has done and in His work alone.  There is absolutely nothing that we can do to be made worthy to be with Jesus and that includes holding on to guilt and beating ourselves up with it for a long time -- or even a short time. We need to come to Christ, confess our sins, and allow the blood of Christ to cleanse us from our sins. What Jesus has removed we cannot retain and we should never guilt-whip ourselves in order to "earn" forgiveness or be found worthy to be with Jesus. How can we punish ourselves for something that He was already been punished for? No. We must receive the forgiveness, let our sin go, and trust the Lord.

This woman said that she wept when she read my paper about forgiveness, about self-inflicted punishment, about retaining guilt, and about how it really is an offense to God to continue to punish herself for something that has been forgiven by God.  She wrote me and told me that she finally realized what she had been doing all those years and gave it all to God.  She said she was finally freed from the guilt and could rest in Christ.

All that we can say, is praise God for His grace.

If you want to read the article that she was reading go to http://www.carm.org/abortion/abortion_christian.htm.

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CARM IS GETTING MORE POPULAR
The past few weeks have been rather surprising.  CARM has repeatedly broken its own records in visits to the CARM Home Page at www.carm.org.  In fact, four weeks ago, the Home Page was accessed just over 16,000 times; two weeks ago it broke 17,000 visits in one week, and last week the CARM home page was accessed more than 19,500 times.  It should level off soon, but it sure is great to see CARM become more popular.  Praise God.

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CARM CONVENTION
Plans are progressing for the CARM convention.  On Monday I have a phone conference with two gentlemen regarding the church and schedule for June.  Again, for information go to http://www.carm.org/more/carmconvention.htm. It has a link to the website of the church where the convention will be held.   More details to come.

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FINANCIAL SUPPORT -- PLEASE HELP.
Thank you to all who supported me for the SLC Olympics mission work.  It was great.  Also, I want to think those of you who have signed up for recurring contributions to support of CARM as a missionary outreach on the Net.  It is very encouraging.

Remember, CARM is a non-profit organization and all contributions are tax deductible. Would you please consider supporting CARM financially? I'm asking for people to donate FIVE dollars a month, just five bucks a month. If enough people did that, I could move into CARM full time and begin to gather a staff (of which I already have a candidate). Can you afford five dollars a month? Is CARM worth it? If you think it is and if you've been blessed by CARM's ministry, please check out http://www.carm.org/goods/donations.htm. Signing up takes only about two minutes. There is a way to contribute there by automatically having five dollars deducted from your credit card monthly. It is easy to set up and you can cancel it anytime should I turn into a flaming heretic.

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GOT A SUGGESTION FOR CARM OR THIS NEWSLETTER?
If you have suggestions for what you would like to see in this newsletter or for CARM, please return e-mail me and let me know.

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PRAYER SUPPORT FOR CARM
If you care to, please remember this ministry in your prayers. May the Lord bless you in your prayers.

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UNSUBSCRIBE
If you wish to be removed from this e-mail list please go to http://www.carm.org/newsletter/newsletter.htm, put in your e-mail address, and UN-subscribe. You will not receive another e-mail newsletter from CARM.

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VERSE OF THE WEEK.
Titus 2:11-13
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus," (NASB).

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Sincerely

Matt Slick, your missionary on the Net.