Freedom from Sinful Thoughts

This revised edition of a book originally published in 1973 is a concise, straightforward work written from a pastor's heart about the sinful thoughts--sexual, blasphemous or otherwise--that plague the heart. Arnold (1913-1982), an elder in the Bruderhof community for some 40 years, offers spiritual steps to turn away from these recurring, destructive thoughts and ""to win this fight [which] demands faith in Jesus, who promises us victory."" Arnold contends that a rigorous program of confession of sins, repentance of sins and turning toward the Cross of Jesus leads away from these hidden sins of the heart. A discussion of Arnold's Bruderhof tradition, a Christian communal-lifestyle movement founded in 1920 in Germany by Arnold's parents, is reserved for an 11-page addendum. Finally, Arnold sounds a warning to the self-oriented, therapeutic tendencies of our day: ""The goal of confession should always be liberation.... We want to find Jesus, not ourselves."" (Jan.)