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Shelbyville, Tennessee ~ Wednesday, December 3, 2008
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Habit or True Desire
Posted Saturday, December 22, 2007, at 11:38 AM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
Christmas will soon be here, and for once in my life ,my was shopping was all done early.
It seem to be habit for true Christian's fake ones and some who aren't to attend church during the holiday season.
They get all dressed up and go and pat baby Jesus on the head and go on their merry way until Easter service then come by and look at the mangled body on the Cross.
That should be the starting point for babes coming to Christ not seasoned people of faith[I used to be one of those twice a year people]
These are the two most famous events in the life of Jesus, but there will be a third and a whole new look, The Second Coming and I can't wait. He won't be a babe in a manger or a mass of blood on a cross , but a victorious King coming to get his bride and rid the world of evil and the Satan himself and finally the song's lyrics will ring true"peace on earth and good will toward men"
During all the hustle and bustle of this Christmas season and the oncoming new year take time to reflect on "The Greatest Gift of All" which is salvation and eternal life with Jesus in Heaven.
2008 will soon be here and according to the bible 2 is the number of witness and 8 the number of new beginnings let your friends and family and Jesus himself witness a new beginning in your life and fill in the gaps between Christmas and Easter and find a bible believing, soul saving church who preaches the word of God and is in the business of saving souls for all of ours needs saving.
Don't let a bad experience keep you out of church for I have had many.
I found Lighthouse and am happy there and will stay till I answer the call to preach on my own and then we will see.
I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope all of you prayers come true and that God bestows his Blessings on you and your family. Comments Showing most recent comments first [Show in chronological order instead] |
Hot topics By the People or By the Judges.(83 ~ 3:04 PM, Dec 3)
I Thought I had Seen It All !
Under the Radar
The Driving Force Behind Me!
Hades, Hell, Sheol, or What?
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I'm not sure.
Our Greek residents would have known.
I *think* maybe some of the Farrars from Flat Creek used to raise lambs but they might have been kept for their wool.
You could check the area stores' web sites and see if they carry or can special order mutton.
Who knows?
Maybe Morningstar Farms,Boca,Gardenburger,etc. make Shamb patties to go with Tofurkey.
Wow that reminds me, since you mentioned the mint jelly, is there any good meat markets that sell ground lamb patties?
Having been cast as both Lamb and Shepherd,He tends to prefer that His flocks frolic rather than accompany mint jelly.
He hasn't ordered anyone to fleece His sheep,either.
slaughter a lamb?
Of course,He answers back.
Unfortunately,He has a tendency to communicate things we might not want to heed.
I'd be a lot more comfortable with a nice,fictional Deity who thought sloth,gluttony and mean-spiritedness were mandatory.
This bit about becoming rational and loving takes work.
We may be saved and kept by God's grace but then He expects us to act as if we had good sense.
Putting a few veggies on an altar would be a lot easier than putting faith into action.
But,when your God wants to be served rather than flattered or placated,what (besides acting on His behalf) are we supposed to do?
Does he answer back? Because if he does, I think your flying carpet needs a tune-up.
Good Grief! What a bunch of Quibble!
Come by my house! I talk with him everyday!
Sorry! it was the passage from Luke that you quoted from, my bad. I been working on my webhosting business so I haven't had alot of time to double check my blog comments. Made a big mistake there:(
I don't see anything that resembles a parable in Matthew 23 nor do I see any reference to winds and clouds. ??
Devan,
The concern I have is that you were getting information from a Blog from a person that was incorrect in his teachings. Matthew 23:23,24 has nothing to do with his post regarding severity of sin. Actually alot of it was purely false and it was leading people the wrong way. When you really read the entire chapter, you will see that some of it was parable form and some of it was being literal, For example, the winds and the clouds, were actually talking about the weather of that particular time. It didn't mean anything different, he was making a distinction that as you see something coming, it means it is actually coming and not to believe in what others are saying as it not always true.
Humbug?
BLAH!!!!!!!
Here is a few questions for the Christians out there :
How would you feel if 50% of the world goes to hell, What would you say go the all-powerful, compassionate God Almighty? Could you honestly just sit there in Paradise and let 50% of the world burn? Why is this question not in the Bible? This is a pretty good question and shouldn't the Word of God have an answer?
-- Posted by Evil Monkey on Mon, Dec 24, 2007, at 2:08 AM
Briefly, we all deserve to "burn" (whatever that means) but by God's grace we are given the means to escape though faith (belief) in Jesus. Once we believe obedience follows from our faith and part of that obedience is to spread the gospel to others who then have the same choices to make that we had. If I do this then my conscience is clear and since I believe that God is a God of love I trust him to make a loving decision about those who make wrong choices or who have never heard the Gospel.
I also read the "other books" of the bible and find them very interesting and think some of them should be in the bible but because most of them are incomplete or were written way after thefact they were not accepted.
OK. Then having read the other 80% that has been removed, how does the Jesus in that part differ from the Jesus described in the Bible we use now? Are there parts in the current Bible that should be left out because they don't agree with the parts left out previously? Are there any core attributes of Jesus that we could all agree upon? You see that so far, neither you nor I have answered many questions we have only raised more. Just to clarify, I am not necessarily supporting Michael when I post on his blogs, but the deeper we dig the closer we get to understanding, and hopefully the truth, and Michael does open up controversial topics that generate a lot of exchange of ideas.
Devan,
I have posted this several times where I got the information, From the exact same source, but you are twisting the meaning into something completely different.
The Entire Bible has alot more information in its pages then the "Bible" you read and have total faith in. As I have repeatedly stated on many occasions, the current bible that you read has had entire sections removed. Most of which happened in 300 AD and some happened during the Dark Ages and the remaining in the 1800s.
Now how many more times am I going to have to repeat this before you are going to understand?
When I made the post you refer to, I put the link where this information came from at the bottom of the post. If that was misleading I apologize, but my intention was not to claim credit for it. If you had followed the link you would have known where I quoted it from.
In your previous post(s) you have done a good job of telling me why the Bible is not a reliable source. I have yet to see where you have said anything about where you do get reliable information about Jesus. Answer my question and I'll answer yours.
devan,
Never once have you answered me in any form. Yet I have done so with you, and I have been forthright. So please do more copy and paste work from the internet so you can state it was your thinking. You are not clever or can you do any thinking on your own.
I answered you in a previous post, no idea why you keep asking the same question as I have answered it already. I guess you want me to answer how you want me to? Is there some kind of twisted trap you are trying to weave? Is that very Christ like? Are you going to find certain words in several different verses and meshed them together into some mystical cryptic force to show me that's how Christ would be?
Unfortunately,the people who don't make it to Heaven wouldn't have wanted it anyway.
They might not like Hell but a place where God and His standards prevail would make them uncomfortable.
Hell's flaws would pretty much stem from it being exactly what its inhabitants made it.
(Think about our world.
We fuss about the slums,the polluted air,the bad water,the crime and wars,etc.
But who created the mess?)
Some people may begin by seeking God to escape the flames and pitchfork but, with any luck,they wind up willing to take on suffering in this life or the next if it means being closer to God and being who and what He wants them to be.
They would find more peace and fulfillment in an eternal death camp with God than in the plushest mansion without Him.
But God gives us the choice.
Maybe He's not the punitive ogre some folk believe Him to be.
For all I know,all the locks in Hell are on the inside.
Do you guys really think God wants his people "arguing" about who goes to hell? God will be the one to determine who has accepted Christ into their life. That's not for us to decide. Instead we should be out there trying to lead more people to Christ.
we would not know about the ones who did not make it
Please answer my question Evil Monkey. Since the bible isn't reliable where do you get your knowledge of Jesus?
devan,
Simply put, the Bible isn't a really good source of information, its only 23.4% complete. Most of it has been removed and the remainder has been added to and/or changed to what people want it to say.
Now you can go on a tangent and state it was "God's will" that wanted it changed. But I am sorry, God said Not to add/remove any of it. Oh wait, did he really say that or did someone just add that so it wouldn't look like it was changed?
Its really hard to believe how you "research" to just to prove a faith, but you don't even research the actually book you are getting your information from. You know there are so much more information?
Here is a few questions for the Christians out there :
How would you feel if 50% of the world goes to hell, What would you say go the all-powerful, compassionate God Almighty? Could you honestly just sit there in Paradise and let 50% of the world burn? Why is this question not in the Bible? This is a pretty good question and shouldn't the Word of God have an answer?
As I understand it,the church building is just a place to meet.
The church groups are just like-minded followers who gather together for guidance,fellowship,celebration and planning their outreach to their community.
The Church is God's family acting on His agenda in His name.
On the local and universal level,God's people are to meet the world's needs-whether that means afflicting the comfortable or comforting the afflicted.
We are to feed,clothe and shelter the body.
We are to educate and invigorate the mind.
We are to heal and free the spirit.
We are supposed to be the stewards of our planet and those who live here.
We are to secure hope,justice and freedom for everyone.
We are to fulfill God's plan for our lives as much as we are able and be a conduit for God's grace to those around us.
Yes,we are to share the Gospel and coax others into bonding with God themselves.
But,our holy books,our tracts,our sermons,our rituals and our hymns won't impress a tenth as much as how we lead our lives.
How effective are we at doing God's work?
How zealous are we at reaching out to the lonely,the frightened,the angry,the hurt and those that seek answers?
The strongest witnessing tool for our faith is seeing that faith in action.
How can we convince people about the hereafter if they can't see evidence in the here and now?
Let the world see our God in us.
Let them hear His voice in our words,feel His touch in our embrace and know Him because they know His people.
Let them come to believe what we say because of the truth in what we do.
They'll want what we preach when they see its validity in practice.
devan, those who don't label themselves Christian usually know much more about the Bible and Jesus than many who say they do...
It's a really sad fact, that most people who are agnostic understand more about the history of the bible, to whom certain passages were for and to whom they were not. They also seem to know the true facts about Jesus and all those surrounding him. I think the biggest confusion is Michael professing his undying love for Jesus, but still acting as an Old Testament scholar. Jesus was sent here to essentially wipe out EVERYTHING the Old Testament mandated, especially the archaic man-made laws... Yet, Michael uses that book as his foundation for beliefs.
And it's true, Jesus never did go to church. So if we are supposed to follow his example then why do we build bigger, more luxurious, and overly priced churches? A christian's life will be measured by the good deeds and kindness outside the church, in other countries where people don't know Jesus. But all these folks who think they know god so well, sit comfortably in their pews while not leading the life Jesus led.
Evil Monkey I just can't seem to get a grip on your understanding of Jesus or the Bible. You seem to know a lot about him but not believe in the Bible as a reliable source of information. Where do you get your revelation about Jesus?
I never said "my church" but a church of your choice , mine was just being offered.
People said "Lord Lord we have done all these things in your name" and Jesus said "depart from me I never knew you"
God won;t send you to hell, you choose that pathway yourself. T hose that turn down his saving grace.
All I am trying to do is not "dumb down" the message like Joel Osteen does which I believe leads people into a false ideal of being good and acting god will get you to heaven
Jesus said that he did not bring peace for he would pit brother against brother and husband against wife and so on.
I don't condemn anybody, but if the bible says that something is sin then I will call it sin and nothing less.
It is not the person , but the demon spirit that cause addictions and sexual deviancy and other evil acts that people do .
The church did not exist till the day of Pentecost , but he attended the temple regularly
Not the Bible I know of! The bible you seem to preach from is all about fear and punishment? Your bible's idealistic crapola has nothing to do with Faith or Belief unless it gets them into your Church.
I really pity you who think they go to Church to feel acceptable by God. It's very sad to know you are that naive. Never once did Christ go to Church, so how can you say what you do is "of God"? Do you understand if there is eternal damnation you are the ones going? How dare you twist what God has said. How dare you say, you are Christ-like when you are the total opposite. Just imagine the punishment waiting for you.
Michael,
You state the Bible says to be more about Jesus, Where does it say, Jesus condemned anyone that didn't believe how he believed to hell? Where did Jesus say, cause you don't go to MY church you are going to hell. Because the Bible never says that. Anywhere.
The Bible
Definition of a Christian is following the teachings or manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus Christ, not idolizing a Book, oh wait, isn't that a sin? If you have so much FAITH, then why do you always need a part of a verse in a partial book to tell you what to do?
-- Posted by Evil Monkey on Sat, Dec 22, 2007, at 7:43 PM
I would like to learn more about this Jesus Christ. Where would I go to find out about him?
I'm not worried a lot about seasoned people.
I'm more concerned about the new-fangled kind with no salt and no preservatives.
Some are so lacking in sweetness that they don't even offer saccharine piety any more!
They contain no stimulants.
No savor,no flavor.
There's a reason spices were a greater treasure than gold.
They kept food fresh,added color and fragrance and made food that was otherwise wholesome but boring so enticing that people fed until they had all the nutrition they needed.
There are people so starved for love that many no longer feel the pain of their emptiness.
They have gone without or made do with junk so long that they wouldn't even recognize true nourishment.
Give them more than a taste of grace and they'd be overwhelmed-even sickened.
Give them a faith experience that's too bland,too cloying,too bitter or too sour and they'll be repelled.
Go heavy on the heat and they'll get indigestion.
Give them just enough of the right seasonings and their appetite will be whetted-not squelched.
Overdo it and the truth is obscured rather than enhanced.
It might even pass for disguised garbage.
The Holy Spirit was given to us to awaken the hunger for wisdom,righteousness and peace.
It was offered that each soul might have what it needs to be healthy and thrive.
We are meant to do more than honor the season.
We are meant to BE the seasoning.
Be the salt and pepper and honey of the earth and watch those we offer samples of God's love follow us to the tables that hold the feast.
Instead of seeking out God for the purpose of complaining about how big my problems are, I solve my problems by showing them how big my God is.
If you are mentally sick, someone might go to Lighthouse. Spiritually sick are already there...
Definition of a Christian is following the teachings or manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus Christ, not idolizing a Book, oh wait, isn't that a sin? If you have so much FAITH, then why do you always need a part of a verse in a partial book to tell you what to do?
if you are mentally sick you go see a shrink
if physically you go see a doctor
where are you supposed to go if you are spiritually sick ?
anybody is welcome at Lighthouse
why don't you give me your definition of a Christian?
God has all the mercey in the New Testament , but there was some wrath and there is still some wrath to come.
Who wants to face it? I don't.
Church has nothing to do with being a good Christian. A good christian understand kindness, compassion, and tenderness towards others. Most of the "seasoned" people you speak of, are clueless evil-hunting hypocrites.
As my own personal Evil Monkey parable, When I see the Lighthouse church, I feel it should be avoided, because I know my ship will get smashed on the rocks of damnation if I get anywhere near it.