A heart that seeks God.

Where Is My Head?

2011-09-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

Have you ever asked and worried yourself over, "Have I lost my salvation?" Or, "Have I sinned so repetitively in one thing that God will not forgive me?" Or, "What if I wasn't one of the ones predestined or chosen by God?" These questions all amount to one thing; Am I accepted by God?

What a great question! What does God accept? Many times we associate God's acceptance as being given when we possess certain behaviors, life styles, attitudes, works, and beliefs. The truth is God does not accept any of those things. A better question is who does God accept?

Throughout the Old Testament we see that God only accepted sacrifices from His children. The Father accepted nothing else from His children but sacrifices and faith. The sacrifices were always a lamb or dove.

Why a lamb? The lamb represented a person. Who is this special lamb God kept accepting? Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ is the lamb of God. By accepting a lamb from the Israelites God was accepting a token, a picture, of Jesus Christ from them.

"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’" John 1:29-30.

"'Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!' Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!'" Rev 5:12-13.

The first picture of the slain lamb was with Cain and Abel. God refused to accept Cain's hard work from the fields, but accepted Abel's slaughtered lamb.

"Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor." Genesis 4:2-5.

Why was God pleased by Abel's gift? Because Abel gave the gift with faith. What is faith? Many times Christians throw this ambiguous, often occurring, scriptural word around without really understanding the meaning of faith. In the Greek faith means belief or conviction of the truth.

God was pleased because Abel gave God the lambs with a strong belief in something. What was this belief? Abel believed that only God's Son pleased God the Father. Abel was convicted of the truth that only Christ in himself would please God. Abel then gave the Lord a few slaughtered lambs to represent his belief, the truth, that only Christ pleased God. God credited it to him as righteousness.

"By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead." Hebrews 11:4.

Cain did not understand this concept. Instead of understanding that only Christ pleased God, Cain thought he could please God by the fruits of his own labors.

" In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD ... but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor."

The fruit of Cain's labor was his works. Why is God not pleased by our works? Even our best works, our most righteous acts are like filthy rags to God. Why? Are they really so filthy? Yes, our works are very filthy. Our righteous acts are not filthy as in sinful. They are filthy as being everything but what God desires to have.

When I was a little girl I wanted to do nothing else but learn how to ski. My mother enrolled me in all the girly activities like ballet, tap dance, cake decorating. She even enrolled me in soccer! Everything but what I longed to learn to try. I found every moment of these seemingly fun events frustrated, bored, agitated, and repulsed. None of it was good enough until I could learn to ski like I wanted to. After my mother finally gave in and allowed me to learn to ski I found all the other events pleasing and fun. But only through the context of getting what I really desired.

Our righteous acts are much like this to God. What God desires is not us trying to be like Christ or doing righteous acts. Until God receives Christ from us, for He is in us, God will find all our attempts to please Him by our actions repulsive. All our attempts to be like Christ or live like Christ will be disgusting to God. God doesn't want us at all. God wants us to die to ourselves and let Christ live through us. Again, all God wants is His Son.

More specifically God wants to magnify (blow up) the image of His Son through us because of The Father's great love for His Son. God desires to glorify (enlarge) His Son. Each one of us, when in Christ, are a piece of Christ blown up. Hence why we who are many are the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-26). We are all a bunch of pieces of Christ blown up and then sown back together to enlarge the image of Christ. All The Father desires is Christ and Christ enlarged (glorified).

"Jesus answered, 'If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’;'" -Jesus, John 8:54.

"He said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,'" John 17:1.

"'Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.'" -Jesus, John 17:5.

"For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." -1 Cor. 6:20.

Only when Christ is in us and living through us, whatever those works might look like, will God be pleased and accept us. Us being Christ and ourselves as one. Christ's works through us then will be an additional pleasure to what The Father desires most. Without Christ in us the works of Christ are a repulsion to God for He desires His Son most, not the works of His Son. With every beating of His heart God desires His Son.

The answer to whether or not "have you lost your salvation," or, "have I sinned so much since becoming a believer God will reject me," or, "was I one of the predestined ones," is not yes or no. The answer is are you in Christ? Is Christ in you? God will only accept His Son. God will reject everything else. If you are in yourself your salvation, who is Jesus Christ, will be lost. If you are in Christ you are saved for HE is salvation.

Paul spoke of this to the churches. Paul warned the churches to be careful to run the good race and not become cut off from Jesus Christ. We have to refuse to be distracted by our own works, our own attempts to be like Christ, and the distractions of the world so that we can be IN Christ and have Christ IN us.

"You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith (belief) the righteousness for which we hope... You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ''” Galatians 5:4-5,7-9.

As Jesus said, you won't be cut off as long as you abide, live, in Him! If you live in Jesus, He will live in you. Everyone who doesn't live in Christ will lose their salvation, be cut off, and thrown into the fire.

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned." -Jesus (John 15:5-6).

Instead of worrying about your actions learn to abide in Christ. Worry about whether or not you are living in Christ. Let the Holy Spirit dwell within you. Stay in Christ! Christ in us the hope of glory!

The Mediator

2011-09-05T09:01:00.001-07:00

Let's face it ... Mankind has always loved to have a mediator between themselves and God. The mediator can be a pastor, a priest, a Bible, anything. But what has God always asked for? God and mankind together as one with no mediator.

One example, God asked all the Israelites to come up on the mountain, for them all to be a royal priesthood and kingdom unto Him. Exodus 19:3-6,

"Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ you^[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”"

Every single last Israelite were to be God's priest and king. What did the Israelites do? Did they go as their magnificent Lord had called them? Did the accept the tremendous gift of this relationship with the Almighty God?

No. They refused sending only Moses to mediate on their behalf. Then God designed the Levitical Priesthood to communicate to the Israelites through a mediator. Exodus 20:18-21:

"When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

²⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

²¹ The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was."

The Levitcal Priesthood was never God's plan or desire. God's plan was to have all the Israelites be a priesthood. Because of their refusal to be a priesthood and insistence on Moses being a mediator between them and God, the Lord picked one family, Levi's, to mediate between Him and mankind until Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again.

Today God is asking of us the same as He was asking of the Israelites. God has asked us to be a royal priesthood before Him. God has asked every single person who abides (lives) in Christ to join together as one and be a royal priesthood before Him. This is made possible by Jesus Christ mediating on our behalf.

What has been our answer historically? Our answer has been the same as the Israelites. A flat out refusal. We have insisted God give us a mediator as He did the Israelites. Our mediators are exactly the same types as the Israelites. Scripture, pastors, priests are our chosen mediators.

You have a choice today. Will you please God? Will you be a royal priesthood without any mediator besides Christ? Or will you follow the path of the Israelites? Demanding a mediator between the Body of Christ and God? Demanding a pastor or priest and scripture to be a barrier, a modes of communication, between you and God?

Or will you let Christ teach you in all things through the Holy Spirit? Will you, with the rest of the Body as one, commune (live) with God? Only one thing will please God, us being royal priesthood together and one with Christ. A mediator, other than Christ, between us and God will never please the Lord. Its like dividing Christ in half.

Seeking the Supernatural.

2009-04-02T10:21:00.001-07:00

Today we have people seeking God for the "supernatural." It is common in Neo-Pentacostal circles to hear the people crying out, "God we want the supernatural! We want to see your miracles! We want to see angels! God give us your angels! Give us your miracles! God give us your supernatural!" Almost seems as though they were begging God for His power to be shown. They are begging God to show Himself in His power.

Jesus had a similar problem with the Pharisees. When Jesus told them that He would do something they asked Jesus for a sign. Not just a sign, but a miraculous sign. Why were they so caught up on miraculous signs when they had Christ in their midst? Was Christ not enough?! If you truly understand that God was standing before you in a man's body that should be enough! Because they did not recognize God in the form of man.

In fact Jesus answered the Pharisees request for a miraculous sign with a rebuke. Matt. 12:38-40,

"Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you." He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

The Pharisees were not just asking anyone for a miraculous sign. The Pharisees were asking Jesus for a miraculous sign. Jesus told them that a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign. Why did Jesus say an adulterous generation? Did that mean the Pharisees were cheating on their wives?

No! The Pharisees were adulterous to Jesus. Instead of remaining pure and living entirely for Christ they commited adultery against Jesus. How did they do so? By puffing themselves up with pride and sinning without repentance. The entire chapter of Matthew 23 records the sins of the Pharisees. They were proud, they took the seats of honor, they caused other believers to sin, they stole from God's people, lied, were hypocritical, the list goes on.

Jesus told the Pharisees something very interesting. The only sign the Pharisees would be given is Himself. The sign of Jonah Jesus related Jonah to Himself dying on the cross, remaining in the belly of the earth for three days, then rising against to defeat Satan and death! Jesus' reply to the Pharisees' request of a miraculous sign was Himself dying on the cross for them.

The meaning of "supernatural" is "above or beyond what is natural." Only God is above the natural. God created all that we know to be natural (Genesis 1-3). Why are we then asking for the outpouring of Christ instead of Christ Himself to dwell in us to a full measure? Jesus Christ only did what He saw His Father doing. John 14:9-14 explains how miracles and healings will happen,

"Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? ¹⁰Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Jesus was able to do the miraculous and "supernatural" because God was IN CHRIST doing the works through Him. God is the supernatural, He is the only thing above the natural. When we see a miracle or sign it is God speaking. It is God Himself made evident in a situation and the natural obeying and changing to a command from the supernatural God.

The supernatural can be described by one person; GOD. God is the supernatural. Angels have no power and authority apart form God. Miracles are not powerful and have no authority. Signs are not powerful and have no authority. Miracles, signs, wonders, etc are only our recognition to the natural obeying the command of a supernatural God. Angels are a created natural spiritual being, just as we are, obeying the command of a supernatural God.

If you want to see signs, miracles, wonders, etc then you need to ask God for more of Christ in you. Jesus Christ promised us that we would do even greater things than He did if only we would seek Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind. If we would love Jesus and obey Him then God will begin to speak through Christ, and consequentially through you, and command the natural to obey. Then we will see the signs, miracles, wonders, etc. But again these workings were done out of obedience to God prompting the disciples' and Christ's heart to allow God to use them for those works. They were not performed by man prompting God's heart.

Seek Christ and the works will follow. Don't seek the miracles, signs, wonders, etc. Seek Jesus Christ because He will then be dwelling in you and able to command the natural through you. They will happen spontaneously and in the way that God wants to work them at that given time. Let go of the control and let God take control of all of you. Then God will be able to work through you in signs, wonders, and miracles.

Hard-Hearted Divorce.

2009-02-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

In mist of a society that deems divorce for any reason acceptable, we must learn to ascertain what Christ claimed was valid reasons for divorce. Today people file for divorce because one person or both in the marriage are unhappy. Is this what Christ said was acceptable for us as His children?

Adultery results in seventeen percent of all divorces in America. A shockingly low percentage! Surprisingly, fifteen percent of all divorces in America are filed due to "incompatible personalitiess." Nearly just as high as the rate of infidelity that causes divorce.

People file for divorce for vast reasons like a lack of commitment to the marriage, lack of communication, abandonment, addictions, physical and emotional addiction, sexual abuse, inadequate conflict resolution, "incompatible personalities," careers, financial difficulties, disagreements over household tasks, conflicts over having or raising children, family interference, immaturity, "sexual incompatibility," feminism, lack of love, religious conversion, mental illnesses, and incarceration or criminal behavior.

The list is exhaustive. Many reasons are heart breaking like abuses and criminal behavior. Many of the other excuses are ridiculous and selfish like "incompatible personalities," immaturity, and "sexual incompatibility." When an unbeliever divorces for these reasons it is permissible. They do not know better.

A Christian does know better. Yet many pastors teach that divorce for reasons like pornography addiction, unhappiness, or sexual abuse is permissible. To divorce for any reason other than infidelity is a sin. Christ instructed us that divorce for any reason other than adultery or death is a sin. Matthew 19:7-12 records the words of Jesus,

"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"

Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."

The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry."

Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."

If you have divorced a spouse for any reason other than adultery, then you have a hard heart. Praise God that He forgives us! Christ died on the cross to wash us clean of that sin as well. We cannot help past mistakes, but continue on in righteousness. If you are looking for a divorce because your spouse doesn't respect your feminist views, a difference in opinions about children, unhappiness, etc do not get a divorce!

Christ encouraged us to instead stay married to our difficult partners. Paul encouraged us that when our spouses are difficult and we stay married to them, that they may become saved! Your spouse could become sanctified, meaning saved by grace, by your commitment to love them as Christ has! If you continue to love your spouse and remain married, God promises to try to change the heart and behavior of your spouse! 1 Corinthians 7:12-14 holds the promise for us,

"If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy."

In fact, God does not even desire for us to divorce because of adultery. Christ taught us that it was not a sin to divorce a spouse for adultery. But Christ did not teach us that divorce in this matter was pleasant to God. Quite the contrary, God is sad to see His people divorced even because of adultery. Divorcing your spouse because of unfaithfulness leads to a hard heart still, unless your repent. Christ taught us in Matthew 19:3-6,

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"

"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

What Christ taught here was that a married couple should never be separated! That death was the only separation that did not result in a hard heart, because death is something we cannot control! Otherwise God desired for us to remain joined together for forever. Whether our spouse has been unfaithful or just plain lousy to us. God can redeem a marriage even after adultery.

I know a couple where the husband cheated on his wife for six months, she loved him through the whole thing. The wife refused to divorce her husband and kept fighting for him, even while he was still having an affair. Her husband quickly left the other woman because he was changed by his wife's unfailing love. If only most believers had that kind of faith! The faith that God can change their spouse's heart and cause them to truly repent of their adultery. Meaning to turn fully away from it forever.

Christ believe marriage was sacred, meaning between one man and one woman. Because God created man and woman to become one. God also uses our earthly marriages as a depiction of the marriage that will occur between Jesus Christ and the Church in the end times. We are Christ's fiance awaiting our wedding day. One day we will be married and never separated.

Thus why marriage was so important to Christ. It is a reflection of the truth. Christ never forsakes His bride, the Church, even when she sins against Him. In fact when the Bride of Christ in scripture sins it is called adultery and she is called a harlot. Yet Christ remains chasing after her hoping she will repent and change. If not then when she dies she goes to hell. The only true divorce of Christ and a believer.

Let us love our spouses through the hard times! Stay committed to your spouse whether or not they are difficult. Stay committed to your spouse whether or not they have committed adultery. Christ has loved you through all of that and more!

We Have All Failed.

2009-01-27T21:32:00.000-08:00

A motto stamped upon our hearts. A caress to our ears that soothes the aching of the ravages of sin. A complete lie. All these are true of the belief, "We have all failed."

What is the truth? Christ told us we have all fallen short of the glory of God. A misshapen belief became of this that we are failures and all have failed. But was this truly what God was trying to say to us in that verse? Romans 3:21-26 teaches us,

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."

When Paul said that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, he did not mean we have all failed. Paul was saying that no matter what sin you have committed it is forgiven by Christ's death on the cross! If you have faith in Jesus Christ and believe, which means to obediently follow God, then you are justified and forgiven! No longer is your sin held against you, no matter what the sin may be! The point here wasn't that we have all failed or fallen short, but that we are all forgiven and justified by Christ no matter our past sins.

What about when we disobey Christ after knowing Him? Does that then make you a failure? Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him three times. Yet Jesus entrusted His children, disciples of Christ, to him! Jesus did not seem to think that Peter's sins when knowing Him as savior was a failure.

Paul was a man who knew what it was to sin. Paul said he was the worst of sinners! That what he wanted to do, he didn't do, and the sin he didn't want to do, he did! But yet Paul was able to teach us that we are not failures but over-comers! In Romans 8:31-39 records Paul's lesson for us,

"31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Paul believed that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus! The truth is we are not failures, nor have we failed. We are conquerors and even better than conquerors, we are the friends of Christ! As so Christ termed us with loving endearment. There is only One who can bring a charge against those who know Christ, that one person is God. People can accuse us, remind us of our sins and mistakes, but they cannot make a final decision on it! God is the only one who can pass judgment on our actions. What is God's judgment? To condemn us? No! God justifies us! God knows that our obedience after the sin or mistake changes our hearts, brings fruit, bring glory to Him, and helps us to overcome temptation! God sees the end prize that He has in store after our mistakes!

A mistake does not equal a failure. Only the giving up of trying to do right in a situation where we have sinned or made a mistake equals a failure. That is because we refuse to hear God's voice and continue to obey. We step out of obedience and relationship with God then. But if we come back and try to do what is right, we have not failed!

When we do right after a sin or mistake we have triumphed over a temptation or stronghold of Satan! This is how we become more than conquerors in Christ Jesus! By obeying Him, doing what is right despite our past mistakes, and never giving up thus overcoming Satan.

Let us do what is right now matter our mistakes! Let us overcome Satan so we will be given the crown of life! Let us run the good run as though we were running for the only prize! Let us Praise God who justifies us despite our mistakes! We have a life to do what is right and overcome our mistakes! Praise God for that!

Forsaking Your First Love.

2009-01-15T11:41:00.000-08:00

A great concern I have heard from many Christians is when to know whether or not you have forsaken your first love. Most of this concern comes from the letter Christ writes to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2::2-7,

"I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

The general fear is that our love for God becomes tainted in some way. At first we have an awed wonder type of love. Just beginning to trust, to understand, and completely full of passion and excitement. As we mature in our relationship with Christ we have more of a trusting, mature, solid love for God. A love that trusts, has faith, hope, perseverance, still has passion, but is more mature and stable. We have been taught that this verse is showing us that the first love, excitement and passion filled love, is much better. That we should never forsake that type of love and if we have we must come back to it.

This is not the truth. The word forsaken in the Greek is "afiemi" which means "to leave." Christ was saying here that the church of Ephesus left her first love. First love did not mean a type of love for Christ. Rather it meant a person you love. The first love of the church of Ephesus was Christ. This verse is literally saying, "Yet I hold this against you: You have left me, your love."

How could the church of Ephesus have left Christ and still be doing good works? Would not they have then turned back to sin? The church of Ephesus in the time of Paul and John, who wrote Revelation, was a healthy and mature church body. Full of the love of Christ, full of the works of love, and was an example to all the other churches of a mature people of God. We see the recording of this in Paul's letter Ephesians which was written to the church of Ephesus. This changed at about 200 AD when the Church of Mary was established.

At some point after John's death, about 70-90 AD, and 200 AD the church os Ephesus left Christ. The church of Ephesus became inflamed with love and passion for Mary, hence the naming of the Church of Mary. They believed that Mary was a great woman, worthy of praise, because she gave birth to Jesus Christ. That she had to have been a most holy and perfect person, to have conceived Christ. Though this may be true, we were never supposed to praise anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father.

The church of Ephesus warped in the Church of Mary who praised Mary instead of Jesus. In fact, the Church of Mary is noted as being a church who performed the "work of the saints." Meaning that they took care of the poor and widows and orphans, tried the false prophets, and preached the truth. But they did it to honor Mary and not Christ. Meaning that they had left their first love, who is Christ.

The Church of Mary (aka church of Ephesus) performed the works out of duty. They came to believe that by their works, including praying to the saints, they would be saved, thus they performed the works out of duty to save themselves from hell. Instead of performing the works out of an overflow of love for Christ and others.

Unfortunately we cannot be saved by works alone. Paul in fact warned the church of Ephesis when it still loved Jesus that they could not be saved by works alone! In Ephesians 2:8-10 Pauls warns the church of Ephesus of tthe danger of this reasoning,

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

God has prepared good works for us to do in advance and we do need to do those good works! But we are not saved by good works! We are saved by grace from God and faith in Christ! Good works mean nothing unless they are done out of obedience and love for Christ. Paul warned us that good works without love mean nothing. Faith, good works, and amazing miracles mean nothing without love for God and others. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 warns us of this,

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."

The only way to ever become like the church of Ephesus is to stop loving Christ and others. As long as you love both Christ and other people with the love mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13, then you will not forsake your first love. But if you become caught up in performing good works, having faith, and other things you will leave Christ. You must keep your heart, mind, and soul focused on loving Christ and others. Christ knew the secret in this and shared it with us when He said,

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." -Matthew 22:37-39.

Assembling the Scattered People of Judah.

2009-01-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

Isaiah prophesied that the Root of Jesse would stand as a banner for the nations. This was to occur after the Anti-Christ was dethroned. Isaiah prophesied what God had to acomplish with His chosen people, the Israelites, before Jesus ruled the earth for a thousand years. This prophecy is found in Isaiah 11:12-14,

12 He will raise a banner for the nations

and gather the exiles of Israel;

he will assemble the scattered people of Judah

from the four quarters of the earth.

Ephraim's jealousy will vanish,

and Judah's enemies will be cut off;

Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,

nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;

together they will plunder the people to the east.

They will lay hands on Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

We see a scattered people of Judah. The Jews became scattered at some point throughout all of Europe. They had no country of their own. The Jews had lost their promised land and been scattered. Then Hitler came through and attempted to kill all the Jews on the earth. This was unsuccessful and in mercy to the Jews the United Nations gave them the land of Israel. The Jews then moved to Israel because it was still their promised land and it contained their temple in Jerusalem.

By receiving the country of Israel we can see how God called the Jews from the four quaters of the earth and assembled them. Ephraim in the time of this prophecy was just north of Jerusalem. Today Ephraim is part of the country of Israel. Thus the prophecy that Ephraim and Judah would no longer be hostile towards one another has occured! They have both become God's chosen people and live at peace!

The next verse has not yet occured, but will before the end times. The land to the east of Philistia is now the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip is where the present day Palestines live. The lands of Edom and Moab are the Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The Ammonites would be present day Iraq.

In other words, before the Antichrist arrives Israel will plunder the Palestines, they will make war against the Jordans and Saudi Arabians, and the Iraqis will be subject to them. Just another forewarnig of the end times.

Before the Eigth King Arrives.

2009-01-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

How many times have we read Revelation and never understood a word of it? There is much ado and speculation about Revelation. Most of which the average person discounts as being far fetched or the ravings of a madman. But as the season of the end approaches we will begin to truly discern the times and prophecies. Then these discernments will finally make logical sense even upon first thought.

In fact God told Daniel that the words of prophecy concerning the end times would be sealed up until the right season. Even Daniel did not understand what he had prophesied! Daniel 12:6-9 records;

"One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?"

The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, "It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed."

I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, "My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?" He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end."

We are just before the end times. Living in a time after the seven kings have fallen and before the eighth king arises. Set upon a precipice of what will usher in the reign of the Lord Gold Almighty! Poised before the great fall of humanity! Praise God that He will come again soon in power and glory and will subdue the earth and everything in it!

Revelation 17 speaks of a harlot riding a beast. First we must truly understand what the terms in prophesy mean in order to understand this passage. A harlot in the Bible means the Bride of Christ who has turned away from Him. The harlot must be a person or organization that was the Bride of Christ and turned away to sin. We see the records of her sins in Revelation 18.

John recorded in Revelation 17:3-16 the following vision;

3Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5This title was written on her forehead:

MYSTERY

BABYLON THE GREAT

THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES

AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. 7Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. 8The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.

9"This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. 11The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

12"The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. 13They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 14They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."

15Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. 16The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled. 18The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth."

God told John that the seven horns are seven hills. The Harlot will sit upon a beast with seven horns. Some believe God was trying to show us that for a time the Harlot and Beast would have the same identity. They would both govern together for a time, would both sit upon seven hills, and for a while would both be His run-away sinful Bride. But this Bride of Christ will not return, instead the Beast will throw her off and completely destroy her with the help of the ten kings. The Beast would then be the Antichrist.

Very interestingly the Roman Catholic Church sits upon seven hills. Not to mention that all the rulers in the world have and still come to the Pope for blessing. Almost every doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church twists the teachings of Christ. The Roman Catholic Church recognizes Christ as Lord and Saviour, but then twist His messages to fit their own purpose and doctrine. This is what the Bible has dictated as being blasphemy.

Even in the description of the appearance of the Harlot the Roman Catholic Church has a striking resemblance to her. She will wear purple and scarlet as the Roman Catholic Church has and still does. The Roman Catholic Church is very wealthy, hence the pearls and things of finery mentioned in Revelation 17. In addition to this, the Pope is constantly depicted in paintings as holding a golden cup just as prophecy foretold of the Harlot! Drinking of the wine of the feast of the Lamb, while yet making a sham of it.

There are also three names for the Pope. Holy Father, Supreme Pontiff, and Vicar of Christ. Each is a blasphemous name! Christ called God the "Holy Father" in John 17:11. No one on earth, besides Christ, was ever supposed to have the name of God. Supreme Pontiff actually means "Great High Priest." Again this is blasphemous because Great High Priest was the name given to Christ! Vicar of Christ means "Representative of Christ." This is the meaning of the Holy Spirit and His identity alone. The three names of the Pope are all blasphemous titles that belong to only God. The names of the Pope blasphemy all three identities of God!

Each of the three names of the Pope each equal 666 respectively in Roman Numerals when you add the letters. The Harlot is depicted in Revelation 17 as being in control over the Beast and having the same identity. For the two are described as being one at this time. Is it mere coincidence then that each of the Pope's names equal 666 in the language and counting system of the time when John saw this vision? I think not.

Remember that the Beast in order to be the Antichrist must claim to be Christ Himself and to be intimate with God. Meaning the Beast will have a Christian identity. Also since the Harlot sits upon the Beast and rules over Him before she is thrown off, the Beast must have a Christian but sinful identity because of that.

The Roman Catholic Church has a Christian identity and has turned away to sin. Christ told us you cannot serve two masters. You will love one and hate the other. Christ specifically said you cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). Yet the Roman Catholic Church and many Christian religions are very wealthy. The Beast in the end times will be in control over a false world religion. What else has institutionalized Christianity become than mostly a false world religion? Though there are a few exceptions to the rule.

Not only that, but all Christian religions have not separated themselves entirely from the Catholic Religion. They changed doctrines, some of the new doctrines are almost as blasphemous as the Roman Catholic Church's, but they have kept almost all the same practices. Things such as pastor preaching, tithes, the laity controlling and ministering, etc. We were all intended to minister to one another after Christ died and rose again. That is why we are called a "royal priesthood" in 1 Peter 2:9. That included all believers, not a select few.

Thus it is possible that Christianity as a whole is the false world religion that the Antichrist will take over. It would make sense since the Antichrist must claim to be Christ and be intimate with God. The people the Antichrist will first try to take dominion over and come out of must be Christian. Some will follow after the Antichrist and others will refuse him and follow Christ. Those who refuse the mark of the Beast will be martyred.

Beyond the identity of the Harlot, we must wonder what the identity of the seven kings are. The identity of the seven kings must be like the Beast. For the Beast is the eighth king and he belongs to the previous seven kings (Revelation 17:11). In other words they must be very alike, but none of the previous seven kings ever went as far as the Antichrist will go.

It is important to note at this time that the previous seven kings were the Beast. For the Beast "once was, now is not, and will once be again (Revelation 17:8)." When certain empires were believed by the people they ruled to be the Antichrist they were close to understanding the truth. Those empires, like Rome, were the Beast but not the Antichrist. The two have separate identities. The Beast committed many atrocities and reared his ugly head many times throughout history but was not the Antichrist. The Antichrist will come only once and be like the Beast only magnified to the tenth power.

The Beast in Revelation is depicted as being a world government. That means that it has control of all commerce, money, food, and religion. Also, the Beast will slaughter many people and enslave the Israelites who are the modern day Jews. After closely examining history we can find exactly seven kings who fit this description up until today.

"Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come," was a prophesy to the current time John lived in (Revelation 17:10). At John's point of history five kings had come and gone, one was ruling at the time, and one had not come yet. The seven kings are the Hittites, Egyptians, Neo-Babylonians, Assyrians, Macedonians, Romans, and Britains. All these world powers have had nearly complete world control over commerce, food, money, religion, people, and the Jews.

The first to rule the world was the Hittites. The Egyptians then conquered the Hittites and rules as a world power. Then the Neo-Babylonians swept through the land, conquered the Egyptians, and ruled the world. The Israelites were then a vassal nation to the Neo-Babylonians and at short times were enslaved as well. After King Hezekiah died the Assyrians conquered the Neo-Babylonian and enslaved the Israelites. Then the Macedonians, under the command of Alexander the Great, conquered the Assyrians and ruled. These are the five kings, empires, who ruled and then fell.

Rome then conquered the Macedonians becoming a great world power. No one in the world, that they knew of, was not under their control the Israelites included. Jesus lived and died and rose again during this rule. John lived during the rule of Rome. This is the king who during the time of John was in power. Interestingly, at the time of John we see the Harlot finally ruling over the Beast. The Harlot did not rule over the first five kings, which some believe is the meaning of the beast once was (Revelation 17:8).

During the time of John the Harlot was, not the best, because she was in control. Shortly after John died, about one hundred years later, the Roman Catholic Church was formed and Roman government was controlled by her. Rome became ruled by the Harlot, who some surmise to be the Roman Catholic Church.

The Britains in glory and courage won the war against Rome. Though Rome's fall was much slower than the previous kings. It was Britain that caused Rome's ultimate defeat. By seceding first, all the other countries seceded as well until Rome was so crippled she fell in upon herself. Britain ruled the world almost entirely, save for France and Portugal, who they ruled to a degree. France and Portugal were always seeking out Britain's good favor so as not to be destroyed by her. The British also ruled over the Jews and actually owned Israel for many years until 1948 (http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/History/HISTORY-+Foreign+Domination.htm).

Eventually Britain fell in a slow but measured pace. First America fought the war for independence and won. Then the rest of the countries ruled by Britain seceded leaving Britain a diminished country. Britain was also noticeably a consistently Christian nation. We see the Harlot in control over Britain by the fact it was a Christian nation and slaughtered many people in its religious wars. Again, the Beast was not supposed to be in control during the reign of the seventh king and surely was not. The Harlot was instead in control.

This leaves us at a time before the eighth king. The Beast, who will become the Antichrist, will be an eighth king. The Beast will be very much like the first seven kings but only much worse in the end. We are in a time of waiting for this eighth king to emerge. This king, the Beast and Antichrist, will be a world ruler and will have a Christian identity. Why do I think this? Because the Beast must claim to be Christ and to know God. Also the Harlot is still sitting upon the Beast until the Beast throws her off with the helps of the ten kings near the end of the Tribulation (Revelation 17:16).

Furthermore I believe God has begun to call His people out of the Harlot. We will see great multitudes of people come out of the Harlot. Even though Christ says that few find the path to salvation (Matthew 7:3-14), even if it isonly 1% of the people on the planet today that is still a great multitude of people. God will call His people out of the Harlot and it will be such a noticeable amount that unbelievers will even preceive it and wonder why. Revelation 18:4-5 shows us God's plans concerning this,

"4Then I heard another voice from heaven say:

"Come out of her, my people,

so that you will not share in her sins,

so that you will not receive any of her plagues;

5for her sins are piled up to heaven,

and God has remembered her crimes."

Be prepared to come out of the Harlot, even if I am mistaken and its not the Roman Catholic Church and institutionalized Christianity. Have your eyes and ears open to come out of the Harlot when the time is right. God said that His people will be in the Harlot's dominion until shortly before she is destroyed. Come out so that you are not deceived or share in her punishment! Keep your eyes and ears open for the eighth king, for the Antichrist will come quickly and the time draws near for him.

Above all that, keep up your relationship with Christ. Obey Him and know Him. Christ warned us not to be like the five virgins that were unpreparted. He told us about the end times in Matthew 24, then in Matthew 25:1-13 gave us this warning;

""At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'

7"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out. 9" 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'

10"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11"Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!'

12"But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' 13"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."

Keep watch and seek the Lord! Keep your oil filled! Be prepared for the eighth king!

Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA)

2009-01-09T17:04:00.000-08:00

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) at first glance appears to be another simple, boring act that is trying to be passed in the U.S. Congress. Do not let politics deceive you, this is not another simple nor boring act to be signed. This is a complicated act trying to be passed that has numerous ramifications.

FOCA, if passed, by the U.S. Congress WILL be signed by President Elect Barak Obama January 21-22 of 2009. Obama is quoted as saying that signing FOCA will be his first act as President. FOCA has been long planned and prepared for in the event that Obama did indeed become President.

The following outcomes are the ramifications of FOCA being passed:

1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals will be required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens Bishops vow to close down all Catholic hospitals, more then 30% of all hospitals in the United States.
2) Partial birth abortions would be legal and have no limitations.
3) All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions.
4) Parental notification will no longer be required.
5) The number of abortions will increase by a minimum of 100,000 annually.

The law specifically states that Partial Birth Abortions will be legal yet again, U.S. tax payers will fund abortions, and that parental notification will no longer be required. The increase of abortions is only an estimation, but very likely since it will pave the way for minors to have abortions performed. Abortion has become a new form of birth control.

Obama has been quoted as stating that he feels it is wrong for religious organizations to receive government money and not abide by the same laws that apply to non-religious organizations. This was in mention to an interview question concerning hiring only religious people for religious organizations and yet receiving government funding. Obama felt that if religious organizations received government funding they should have to hire non-religious people without discrimination.

If Obama is of this opinion on such a little thing, how much more so on a greater issue? There is no doubt that if FOCA is passed given time Christian hospitals will have to perform abortions as well. These hospitals will have two choices; perform abortions or shut down their hospitals since they cannot afford to stay open without government funding.

The most terrible consideration is that if FOCA becomes a U.S. law then abortion is in the control of the government and not the people. Unfortunately the government has a history of choosing what is financially less of a burden than what is right. Our health care is exorbitantly expensive at the moment and many hospitals spend way too much for machinery and medicines. If the government were ever to decide that they should not provide care to people who would cost thousands of dollars to survive 1-40 years otherwise, they could easily pass laws to have babies with chromosome abnormalities aborted.

You do not believe that is possible? Did you know that if you have a baby diagnosed with Tri 13 or Tri 18 (meaning a third chromosome in the thirteenth or eighteenth location) they will NOT provide the baby with life support? They will refuse to take care of your baby or try to save their life. There isn't enough chance of them living long enough to pay back the insurance for what it costs to maintain their lives.

They allow your baby to die. I know this from personal experience. When I had Arrayah I was told, long before I knew what was wrong with her and while I was pregnant, that if she was diagnosed as Tri 13 or Tri 18 before birth she would be allowed to die. Government laws concerning that. If the government can refuse to treat a child, and many have lived to be 20 years old or older, then they can easily demand abortions for other people who cost a great deal of Medicare money to keep alive.

This is very troubling for me having had Arrayah. That there is a possibility they can force women to abort babies who have chromosomal abnormalities, as they force women who give birth to Tri 13 and Tri 18 babies to watch their babies die helplessly, strikes a deep cord with my heart. To me this means the difference of having held my daughter for 20 hours and knowing her and not having met her at all. To have had her ripped from me without a choice in the matter. The outcome of FOCA in this regard could take a very long time to happen, but we should not even take the risk of allowing it to happen.

If you still have doubts that this could happen, Euthanasia has already been legally passed in Switzerland. It will not be many more years or decades before it is passed throughout all of Europe and eventually America. Meaning that if someone can prematurely kill a person they have known for numerous years, they can easily kill an imperfect baby they have never met before.

Still doubt? Statistics show that 80-90% of down syndrome babies are aborted per year. We should allow abortion to be the choice of the people and individual states. Least we give the federal government more power than is safe for it to have in this matter.

If you doubt Obama will sign FOCA, please watch this link:

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION:
http://www.fightfoca.com/

Stop for a minute before replying to this post. Whether you support abortion, you don't support abortion, or are neutral on the issue; please try to speak respectfully with your comments. Realize this is an emotionally loaded subject, especially for women, and try to speak with that in mind. People make mistakes on both sides of these issues, but let us talk about it without making rude or vicious statements.

Now please share your thoughts.

Sources:

Using US Tax Payer Dollars
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/FOCA/FOCA_FactSheet08.pdf

Parental Notification
http://www.christianliferesources.com/?/foca/focaexplanation.php

Increase of Abortions
http://www.christianliferesources.com/?/foca/focareasonstooppose.php

Euthanasia Switzerland
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/326/7383/271

Percentage of Down Syndrome Babies Aborted
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=22533

The Things I Have Missed!

2008-11-13T20:13:00.000-08:00

I have missed the Midwest and home in so many ways! California was an interesting experience and good to the extent that God taught me SO much! But I will never list California as an enjoyable place to live. In fact not enjoyable at all. There are so many things that I have missed about the Midwest, disliked about living in California, and look forward to having again!

My list:

Family! I miss living close enough to seem them super often!
Friends! I miss being close to you too!
Time change; I hate being three hours behind because everyone is napping or going to bed by the time I have a chance to call and talk!
Friendly and open people! Californians are so cold and unfriendly!
Hanging out at peoples' houses; Californians rarely do this! Its like a couple times a year!
Countryside! Living in a city can be super exhausting and clastrophobic!
The stars! A thousand stars twinkling in the night sky! Here all you see is 15-20 airplanes flashing their lights. I miss my host of friends and the tranquilty they brought.
Sincerity and Honesty; they lie so much to your face here about everything.
People skills; I miss people who really were good with other people!
Christian radio station! There is only one Chrsitian radio station out here and its AM, so if you like only talking, then its great! I don't like it!
Super Walmarts close by! Here we have to travel 60 minutes one direction to a Super Walmart!
Healthy churches in my city; there aren't really any healthy ones here in Redwood City. There are in other cities.
People who are willing to drive a half hour! People here think its super far to drive a half hour. So silly!
Real Relationships! That comes down to lots of very superficial relationships here.
Holidays with family! I really miss holidays with family! More than words can express...
Good spiritual mentors and lots of people who at least believe in Jesus Christ. They are in short amounts out here!
Being loved entirely quickly; people are slow to love out here.
Just good ol' long conversations with lots of details in stories! Here its just the cliff note versions!
Cheaper groceries! Its so expensive here!
WEATHER! Its just constantly blue skies, mild temperatures almost all year long. Hardly any rain storms (1-5 a year), hardly any rainy days (30-50 days), and nothing else!
Seasons! I miss Fall and Winter. It seems to be Summer and Spring here all year long.
Space! Its so crammed in here!
22. Big yards! The yards here are tiny compared to the Midwest.
Community; there really isn't any community out here.
Down to earth people! Californians are elitests and its super into owning things.
Conservative people! I'd say 50% of the people here, AT LEAST, are very liberal.
Trees and nature! I miss having old huge trees right where I live and all over the place. Concrete gets old fast!

I think that sums it up.

Lost Your First Love?

2008-10-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

One arrow is pointing left saying, "I no longer love Christ nor do I desire to spend time with Him. Thus I will live life as I believe best, serving my own desires and goals for life." The other arrow is pointing right and says, "I no longer love Christ but I desire to come back to that point where I loved Him, obeyed Him, and lived for Him alone." We all know what our answer should be to this crossroad of love and faith in Christ. But the better question is, "How did we get to this crossroad?"

How does one exactly fall out of love with Christ? The falling out of love is obviously not because Christ left us or was deficient in some manner. The problem has to lie within us. We are the root cause of our own lack of love for Christ. You may say, "But I truly loved Christ in the beginning! I have loved Him until just a few weeks or months ago! I just don't know what happened! I don't know how I fell out of love."

Sometimes we simply do not feel the gushy feeling for Christ any more. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not! We are human! You cannot constantly feel an overwhelming sense of gushy feeling for God all of your life. You will eventually become worn out or will get used to the feelings and they will not be as powerful. The question is, when this happens do you continue to obey God?

You may be thinking, "Obey God?! What does that have to do with love and gushy feelings?" While we are never to base our love for Christ on feelings alone, we can base our love for God on our actions. Do we spend time with God on a daily basis? Do we pray and seek God when our world seems good and bad? Do we seek God's approval and not man's in all we say and do? Do we obey God? Jesus seemed to think that loving Him meant that we obeyed Him in all that we did. That love for Jesus meant to obey Him when He instructed us to love others. John 15:9-13,

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. "

Christ taught the disciples that to remain in love with Him they must obey His commands. The only Christ gave the disciples was to love each other as Christ loved them. Have you really loved those around you as Christ loved you? Have you really laid down your life for your friends? That means laying down your time, desires, preferences, selfish attitudes and behaviors, irritations, schedules, dislikes, etc so that you can love on the other person. Have you really done that? If

not, then that is why you have fallen out of love with Christ.

In fact, I can guarantee you that 99% of the people who fall out of love with Christ refused to obey Christ in loving others. If you are going to fix that problem you first have to understand what real love acts like. 1 Peter 1:22-23 instructs us on what true love looks like,

"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God."

Its a sincere, deep, from the heart love. That means going through the motions is not good enough. That means helping someone when they are in a pinch is not real love. Neither is listening to someone having a hard time on the phone but not really caring. The action and the heart condition both matter. Peter was talking about a love that desired to see that person, that longed to be with that person, that desired to help, that cared, that sacrificed itself to help them. That was a difficult love. A love that took great sacrifices but had a great reward. Luke 17:33 gives us a promise of that reward,

"Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it."

Christ was teaching here about temporal and eternal life. Christ said that if we try to keep our lives the way we want them to be that we will lose eternal life. Our calling is to lay down everything for Christ and others. Our personality, our dislikes, likes, preferences, schedules, family time, emotions, troubles, triumphs, etc were to be laid down for others and God. If we lay those things down then we will have eternal life and love for Christ. But if we refuse to lay down our lives then we will lose not only our eternal life in the future but our love for Christ right now.

Be obedient to Christ and love others! Love them so much that you lay down your life for them! Love Christ so much that you lay down your life for Him! Let Christ make a new life for you. A new life in what you do with your time, you goals, your dreams, your schedules, your family, and your friends.

This is Home by Switchfoot.

2008-10-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

The song 'This is Home' by Switchfoot really describes where I am at in life right now. My home is You, Oh Lord. In You, with You, beside You, living constantly for You. I just pray I can cling to this thought and continue on no matter the lonliness.

This is Home by Switchfoot:

I've got my memories
Always
Inside of me
But I can't go back
Back to how it was
I believe you now
I've come too far
No I can't go back
Back to how it was
Created for a place
I've never known

Chorus:
This is home
Now I'm finally
Where I belong
Where I belong
Yeah, this is home
I've been searching
For a place of my own
Now I've found it
Maybe this is home
Yeah, this is home

Belief over misery
I've seen the enemy
And I won't go back

Back to how it was
And I got my heart
Set on
What happens next
I got my eyes wide
It's not over yet
We are miracles
And we're not alone

(Chorus)

And now after all
My searching
After all my questions
I'm gonna call it home
I got a brand new mindset
I can finally see
The sunset
I'm gonna call it home

(Chorus)

Now I know
Yeah, this is home

I've come too far
Now I won't go back
Yeah, this is home

How Can We Be Sheep Instead of Goats?

2008-10-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

For so long we have heard a great emphasis placed upon preaching the gospel to all the multitudes. Yet so little emphasis is placed upon feeding, clothing, and tending those who are lost. Maybe because it is so much easier to tell someone what they should do, accept Christ as their personal Savior, then it is to show someone who Christ truly is.

Christ's ministry was divided into two areas. One was mentoring the disciples, Christ's friends essentially, to do exactly what He did. The other area was to actually perform the work of ministry. The work of ministry was feeding, clothing, and tending to the poor. Jesus Christ healed the sick, raised the dead, delivered the oppressed, feed the multitudes, taught the multitudes, and much more.

Where are the Christians today doing such things? We have turned Christianity into a thoroughly contemplative religion. Instead of a love acted out to those who are truly in need of help. Christ mentored the disciples to truly help those less fortunate. Then the disciples mentored other to do the same. Unfortunately at one point this became lost to believers. In America we simply allow the government and other organizations to do what we ought to be doing.

Jesus gave a sharp command and warning to us in Matthew 25: 31-46;

"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'

Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me. 'Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'

Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Christ was clear in what we must do. Our love is to feed and cloth and give water to the needy, invite in strangers, tend the sick, and visit prisoners. If we do not do this then Christ will consider us unrighteous. I want to be one of the righteous.

I have no clue how to do all these things as Christ would have us do. But I know that we need to do such things for the less fortunate. We need to do them out of love for Christ and love for those people.

Any ideas on how we can do this?

How Do You Handle a Divise Person In God's Body?

2008-10-02T17:25:00.001-07:00

Every one of us has met a person before who would like nothing more than to pick a fight. They are the type of people who have not forgiven others and seem to find anything to knit-pick with someone else in the group. The word that first comes to mind with such a person is "divisive." They desire to divide the group and to get a party on their side against the person seen as being the offender.

God's word clearly instructs us not to take an offense. To constantly forgive and confront. Our instructions in the Bible are clear in how we should confront a brother who seems to have sinned against us. Jesus instructed us in Matthew 18:15-17,

"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector."

This instruction is clear and simple. Yet so many people choose to ignore it. They choose to instead wage a war whether it be a loud and obvious war or a cold war. They hold a grudge, make a huge issue out of little things, or "gang-up" on others. These are the divisive people. They clearly ignore God's instruction in this verse.

The Bible teaches us also how to deal with divisive people. Paul instructed Titus about the policy towards divisive people in Titus 3:10-11.

"Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned."

The same type of principle is recommended for dealing with a divisive person as for dealing with someone who sins against you. Confront the person about what they have done. Confront them again with someone else. If the divisive person still will not listen, don't associate with him. That means throwing the person out of the church.

Some might say its cruel to throw out an unrepentant or divisive person out of the church. Better to hand them over to Satan as Paul instructs rather than they stay within the church and lead many away from Christ. We have to gauge what is better for the group than the one person. Just as with our own families we have to decide what's better for our children first than what is best for the wounded person.

What Should We Do with Heretics?

2008-09-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

Back in 107 A.D. there was a man, Ignatius, trained by the Apostles to serve as an elder or deacon. Ignatius as he was being sent to his death by Rome for being a Christian became very concerned about the heretics amongst the believers. In order to prevent heresy from diluting and perverting the faith, Ignatius set up a council of elders over all the churches.

This was Ignatius' "brilliant" plan to prevent heresy. The only problem with Igantius' brilliant plan was what if someone heretical weaseled themselves into the favor of the council of elders, was promoted to that position, and then found to be heretical? What if the church did not realize the heresey spread right beneath their noses until decades had passsed?

In fact, that was percisely what happened. The church detiorated into the clergy and laity divide because someone who was heretical came into the church and taught about Apostolic Succession. The council of elders supported and adopted this belief because it put them in charge and in control over everyone else. Some people were questioning whether the council of elders was Biblical and in that moment they were banned heretics, though the idea is anti-biblical, and the idea of Apostolic Succession took root. Apostolic Succession means roughly, "Since we were appointed by the apostles before us we know best."

In fact they believe they know better than the Apostles before them. Which is heretical because the first apostles were disciples of Jesus. That would mean that the Apostles today by conclusion think they know better than Jesus Christ. Anyone who asserts their own opinion, life, or way of doing something above Jesus Christ and the Bible is a heretic at best. Fortunately many "elders" and "apostles," known as bishops, have kept most of the root principles of the Bible.

Was this the only way to avoid heresey in the church? Or could Apostlic Succession and heresey in the church have been avoided another way? It seemed that Paul had no trouble discerning and controlling heretics within the church. Paul had a very simple premise, if a person is found to be heretical throw him out of the church. Paul also believe to test a person for a long time as an apprentice before ever allowing them to have a place of authority. Again the authority was not a position, but rather an association. If the association ended due to heresey that person no longer had a place in the church or a standing.

Paul was teaching Timothy about heretics since Timothy had proven himself worthy to be an apostle. He was proven worthy of good standing and allowed to be one of their association, but again it was not a position. 1 Timothy 1:18-20 explains Paul's guidance on how to handle heretics,

"Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme."

We see in Scripture that Paul handing a person over to Satan was to put them out of the church fellowship. This was in hope and prayer that the person would get sick of their sin and the trouble it brought them and repent. We see in a few cases mentioned in the Bible where this worked.

In 1 Timothy 3 we see mention of the guidelines by which overseers and deacons should live. An overseer also includes an elder, by the way. When reading the passage you may note that most "elders" and "deacons" and "pastors" do not even come close to what Paul would approve as a workman.

How then do you correct a heretic if they be amongst your fellowship? We see heretics today with their own flockings, same as in the time of Paul, or actually a part of church leadership. I believe this greatly disappoints Christ. Paul's advice to heretics in a church was to gently instruct them of the truth and if they still do not listen to cast them out of fellowship. Not bribe them with church leadership or appoint them before their character has been tested throughly.

In fact, one thing Paul advised above all other things when dealing with a heretic was to not lose hope but to trust in God that He will take care of the matter. We see Paul's advice concerning this in 2 Timothy 2:16-19. Notice that he mentions the same man, Hymenaeus. Later in the chapter (v. 24-26) we see the instruction to teach,

"Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."

"And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will."

God knows who are His so what do we have to fear? The council od elders, which gave bith to the institutional church we know today, was born out of fear and lack of trust in God. We need to go back to the way Christ intended the church to be. A church that relied and trusted in God instead of the men who claimed to be appointed by Him. I am not saying that all are not appointed by God. I am saying that some are appointed by God and some are not.

We need to teach heretics the truth and if they will not listen to the truth, then we need to throw them out of our fellowship! It is our duty not to allow someone to act as an elder in our body until they have been tested for a long time and proven worthy. Our duty to never allow someone to act as an elder when they do not have the character instructed for them to have in 1 Timothy 3.

Then My Soul Will Rejoice In the Lord and Delight In His Salvation.

2008-09-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

There are times where we feel exasperated, stressed, and angry at the things that come our way in life. At times we feel bitter, resentful, and wounded by the crass and insensitive or selfish actions of others towards us. In those moments we have the choice to either praise God or to complain about our situation.

I have personally heard many sermons in which the pastor taught us that the Bible says to rejoice in all situations. That the meaning of this passage means to find something about the situation to praise God for. Even if it means we are simply learning something through the lesson or someone is being changed.

Was this really what Paul meant in Philippians 4:6? Or was Paul trying to teach us to change our attitude and to find something or anything to praise God about at that moment? Could Paul have instead of trying to teach us to praise God about every situation that occurs, which frankly is nearly impossible in some circumstances, have rather been trying to teach us how to force our flesh to praise God even in hard circumstances? Could it be that Paul wanted us to refocus our thoughts from the negative circumstances in our lives at the moment and instead focus our thoughts on all the good things that still exist? Maybe Paul meant a change of attitude from complaining and anxiety to rejoicing and thankfulness.

Philippians 4:4-7,

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"

First of all, Paul doesn't say to look for the good in the situation. Paul instructs us to first realize that God is still near and has not forsaken us in the situation. Then he instructs us to let go of our anxiety and to pray to God concerning the matter. Let God know your struggle and what you desire to happen in the situation, which if we are godly people that should match up with what God desires to happen in the situation. Because petition here actually means seeking God in the circumstance since it is the Greek word "peesi."

Then with thanksgiving present your requests to God. The type of thanksgiving mentioned here is "eucaristia" which means the giving of thanks. Did Paul say what we had to thank God about? No! Paul just said basically, "Get out of your down in the dumps mood. Realize God is still near you and hasn't forsaken you! Begin to prayer and tell God how you feel and what you struggling with in the situation. Then seek Him on what is His will. After that thank God for all His goodness and request that His will, not your desire, be done!"

And by that we have true peace! The old testament states to what the giving of thanks was and still is today. The giving of thanks if the old testament was seen as a fellowship offering, meaning a sacrifice to show God how thankful one was (Lev. 7:13-15)! It was seen as chanting and singing (Ezra 3:11 and Nehemiah 12:14).

But of all the memorable people who thanked God in the Bible, King David stands out the most. In the most trying and difficult circumstances, King David commanded his soul to give thanks to God! Psalms 42:5-6 records King David's struggle and triumph over his soul that wanted to be negative,

"Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and 6 my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. "

Instead of complaining and feeling anxiety place your trust and hope in God. Begin to thank God for something and anything that you can think of! Begin to pray and to seek God on what He desires to be the outcome of the situation. I have done this personally and have become such a more peaceful and happy person as of late. Filled with joy and thanksgiving instead of frustration and hurts since God taught me this lesson.

And if the reward of peace and rejoicing is not enough for you, remember what happened to the Israelites when they insisted on complaining about everything. Number 14:26-29 records what happened to the Israelites because of their complaining,

" The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: "How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me."

Start to rejoice and thank God for His many good blessings! Least God gives you exactly what you have complained about and lets destruction come to you. God is quick to forgive us if we repent. Repenting means to turn completely away from our sin and walk in a new way. A way that reflects His son, Jesus Christ, and His goodness to us. So praise God for something and anything that you can think of!

Is Faith A Feeling or A Conviction?

2008-08-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Recently, meaning in the past couple of decades, teachings on the meaning of faith have been twisted from their actual meaning. Many revivalists and traveling evangelists have taught that faith is the belief that Jesus can do something. Whether that be Jesus heals you, performs a miracle for you, washes you clean of sin, etc faith is still the belief that Jesus can and will do something for you.

Jesus has and can heal you, perform miracles, wash you clean of your sins, lead you away from temptation, give you strength, deliver you from demons, etc. But it is not faith that allows Jesus Christ to do that in your life. Jesus Christ can do those things whether or not you have an overwhelming feeling that Christ is capable of such things.

For instance, Moses and the Israelites when they left Egypt and fled across the parted sea where chased by Pharaoh and his army. But God protected the Israelites and defeated Pharaoh's army. Afterward, the Israelites praised God with a song and at the end of that song they prophesied,

Exodus 15:25-26,

"Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.""

If we have to have an overwhelming feeling that Jesus Christ or God can heal us in order to be healed, why then did God said He would heal the Israelites without a condition on them believing to be healed? The only condition was to listen carefully to the voice of God, do right in His eyes, and keep His commands and decrees. Not to have an overwhelming belief that you can be healed. The sermons you listened to and believed that said, "If you don't have faith to be healed then you won't be healed," are false! They are a lie! And you can easily substitute healed with provided for, cured, redeemed, etc and it would still be a lie.

What then do we have to do in order to be healed? There are many cases historically where God healed someone who was not even a believer and then they put faith in God and Jesus Christ. Being a person who lives righteously is not a requirement in order for Jesus Christ to heal you or do other things.

There is no requirement in order to have Christ heal you, provide for you, redeem you, etc. But Jesus Christ did commend certain people for the great faith they had. Again this was not a faith where they had an overwhelming feeling that Christ would heal them. Instead their faith was this, they were convinced that Jesus Christ was the Messiah; the One whom would save them from their sins. For instance the story of the centurion in Matthew 8:5-10,

"When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."

Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."

The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

1When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith."

The centurion knew that Jesus Christ was the Messiah because he recognized Jesus as a man of authority. God has put all of the earth and Satan underneath Jesus Christ's feet as scripture teaches us. This man had great faith because he was convinced that Jesus Christ was the Messiah which meant He had all authority and power.

In fact later in the chapter we see Jesus rebuking His disciples for having little faith. Matthew 8:23-27 tell us the story of the storm,

"Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"

He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!""

The disciples had no understanding of who Jesus Christ was at the time. According to prophecies in the Torah Jesus Christ was supposed to be nailed to the cross, die for all their sins, and raise three days later. The disciples believing that they were going to drove along with Jesus Christ was proof of their lack of faith in who He was. Not only that but even after seeing Jesus Christ calm the storms they still did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah. That is why Jesus told them that they lacked faith.

In fact, faith is the Greek word is pisti which means, "A strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God." In fact this type of faith is what Jesus mentions in each situation.

Believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and our savior from our sins and eternity apart from God and you will have great faith! It is not an overwhelming feeling of believing that Jesus Christ will heal you or do something else. It is simply be convinced that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and has saved you.

Everything Rises and Falls.

2008-08-12T10:41:00.001-07:00

In the end the "seer" prophet Todd Bentley has come to his end. After starting his "great" revival April 2 it is now coming to an end on August 23. Hardly a long revival when compared to that of Brownsville and other well-known revivals. Maybe because those revivals where down with the focus of repentance and salvation. This revival was focused mostly on healing and angels.

Unfortunately all the people who trusted so strongly in Todd Bentley, who placed their trust in someone other than God, have come to see his true colors. What is even more unfortunate is that most will ignore even these warning signs because they want so basly to believe something that is not.

The Bible says not to allow someone to be a deacon or elder, and pastors are elders and deacons (as we have been taught), if their family is not in order. Neither should you entertain one if they are violent. 1 Timothy 3:1-7 teaches us what an overseer, which is the office of elder and deacon, should behave like;

" Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap."

Well, we already know that Todd Bentley used violence to heal people or at least so he claimed. Todd Bentley has claimed numerous times that God told him to hurt people in order to see people healed. Yet this contradicts the word of God because God instructed us that the seven fruits of the spirit include gentleness and that we should not be violent. Not to mention that those leading us are not to be violent but gentle. But people have already looked the other way on this matter and laughed at Todd Bentley talking about his violence towards other and have even been violent on stage. Who else kicks a man with stage IV colon cancer in the gut? Surely Christ did not kick old women in their faces or knock down Chinese men.

Please do not ignore the warnings. Violence is never of God. Neither is a man divorcing his wife. The Bible says to at all costs not separate, but if you must do everything in your power to become reconciled. For God is a God of reconciliation. Instead of heading this advice, Todd Bentley filled for separation yesterday from his wife Shonnah and is taking the first steps towards divorce according to his associate pastors in "Fresh Fire Ministries." If you would like more information on this please go to www.wikipedia.com and search for Todd Bentley.

It is time to see that Todd Bentley is not living for Christ. Or if you were convinced that he was all this time please at least realize he has fallen now. This whole time Todd Bentley's family has been in disrepair. They have been in marriage counseling for months. If Todd Bentley loved his wife and was obeying scripture he would have put off conferences and evangelistic meetings in order to save his marriage.

The Institutional Church Has Caused Dishonorable Lifestyles.

2008-08-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

How could the institutional church create dishonorable lives? They try hard to grow people spiritually by reminding them to read their Bibles, to worship the Lord through song and body motions, and by giving them a sermon to listen to. ICs (institutional churches) provide the bread and the wine even if in meager amounts.

But if we want to speak of meager we need to understand that the amount most Christians give of themselves to Christ is meager at best. The vast majority of Christians either believe that they can live however they want to six days a week and then seek God and obey Him on the last day and still be a "Christian". Or they live in sin six days a week and do not care thinking that since they put in their time once a week they will earn eternal life.

Can we live how we please six days a week and then live according to the Bible one day a week? Or did Christ intend for something greater than that? Did Christ intend for a heart change that transformed the way one believes? Christ did and does intend for just that. We can find Christ's expectations for the way we are to live in these verses,

Luke9:23-25,

"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"

Romans 12:1-2,

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Maybe the ICs have breed this dishonor towards God by the way they have contorted the things of God. Those in authority in the churches have sought out knowledge about the word of God instead of seeking out God. God will reveal things to us in His timing. We cannot force them or logically pull them out of God. It is done in His time and manner.

Maybe because of some poorly conceived theology the ICs have come to believe that lifting your hands up and singing songs to God is worship. To a degree these things are part of the worshipping of God. But they are not the root as we have for so long been taught. Maybe this poorly conceived notion was born out of a desperate pastor to get his congregation truly excited about God. Yet excitement about God is not the root of worship either.

In any other religion, such as Buddhism or ancestral worship, as a believer you can simply go through the motions and never mean it. Other religions allow you to think and feel however you please about others, live however you would like (some do place limitations) and simply do the time to earn eternal life. You can go and bow, say five prayers a day, burn incense, and look honorable to them. Even if your heart is spewing out hateful curses towards that "god" it does not matter. You have done the motions and will inherit eternal life.

Or so they believe. But as Christians we believe that all other gods are inanimate objects. Why then, do we try to continue the same pagan practices. Many people come to ICs thinking how much they dislike or hate God and yet they go through the motions of standing, singing, worshipping, and listening to the sermon. Do you see the similarities? It is because the IC has adopted the practices of pagans. That we can worship God by motions and following the set patterns of behavior expected while our hearts are clouded by sinful lifestyles and thoughts.

Christ had a different opinion. Christ was more concerned by the thoughts of men than by their actions. Jesus said to think to murder that you have done so. That if you look at a woman with lust than you have commited adultery with her. According to Christ you cannot enter heaven by just going through the motions. You have to deny yourself and live for Him daily. That means control over your life and thoughts.

When you take control over your life and thoughts and cause them to be something that pleases Christ you are becoming honorable. Yes, we all fall short and sin but that is much different then a lifestyle of sin. A slip is a mistake. A lifestyle of sin is dishonor towards Christ.

In the new testament we see references where people bowed down an worshipped Christ. This form of worship means, "an expression of profound reverance." Reverance is a feeling of deep respect tinged with awe born out of honor for someone. Our worship towards God is the way we live and think during the day. Because this is what brings Christ honor and shows Him respect. Bowing, raising our hands, singing, and clapping does not bring Christ honor or respect.

This expression should only be an overflow of the way we live and think. Not as the only act of honor. Bowing, raising our hands, singing, and clapping are a form of praise. We see many instances where King David praised the Lord. But this was a form of thanking God for what He had done for King David. Not born out of a lifestyle and thought patterns that honored God. But when King David writes the psalms and lives and thinks in a way that brings God honor, then Kind David considers bowing down true worship.

Let us begin to live honorable lives and think honorable thoughts. That way we can truly worship God instead of calling praise worship. Do not let ICs fool you. They want to believe that everyone can come to Christ easily and praise God in order to have salvation. It makes them feel worthwhile and like they are accomplishing something as you raise your hands. But if you heart and life is far from God it is not worship. Its just an action. But if you raise your hands as an overflow of the honor you have showed God by your life and thoughts and your thankfulness for what Christ has done, then you are worshipping God.

Legislating Morality

2008-08-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

Recently challenged by a brother in Christ about legislating morality I began to question if this was something God desires His people to do. Would God really have us hold unbelievers accountable to the ten commandments and other sins that God hates? Or were the ten commandments and other laws against sin just intended for those who are Jews and Christians?

How do we know what sin is even? If we did not have a law set before us, would we know something to be a sin? Most people would say that we realize what sin is even at an early age. Is it because naturally we know what sin is? I highly doubt that since the Bible says that our nature is sinful. Could it be that the parent of the child teaches them a law against sin? Most parents tell their child, "Do not lie to me! You are getting a punishment now." This is the enforcement and explanation of a law.

If we did not have laws then we would not know what sin is. By this very reason unless we form laws against certain things that our culture believes to be fine, like homosexuality or divorcing someone for any given reason, the people sinning will believe themselves sinless. They will believe themselves innocent and not in need of a Savior.

Law shows us our sin. Sin shows us that we are evil and imperfect in and of ourselves. This realization leads us to desire something to make us righteous and perfect. Eventually we learn that something is a someone named Jesus Christ. By giving our lives over to Christ and daily following after Him we leave behind sin and take on righteousness. Christ makes us good instead of evil.

But we can never find Christ unless we understand that we have sinned. Take the story of the young rich man for example. Matthew 9:16-22,

" Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

"Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"

"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth."

At first this young man is very confused. He has lived his whole life believing he was completely obeying the ten commandments. But when He saw Christ preaching the young man realized he lacked something and that something was eternal life. He then questions Jesus how to find it. Do you notice how the young man says he has kept those commandments Jesus mentions? But then Jesus point out how the rich young man's wealth had become his idol. Because Jesus asked him to sell it all and then come follow after Him. The young man then understand his sin and was very sad.

Without a law to help you to understand what sin is, how can you be repentant? How can Christ transform you or show you His need for you if you believe you are not living in sin? You cannot! Paul was of the same mind when he wrote Romans 7:7-13,

"What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful."

The law was made in order that sin might be recognized as sin. Then it produces death in a person, which then produces life when they accept Christ. Its a process that is beautiful when completed. The path in which leads us to Christ is at first quite ugly and painful. But after dying because we sin we find real life in Christ. Then our lives become beautiful and full of hope.

We need to stand for laws that show homosexuality for what it is; a sin that God hates. We know to pass laws against divorcing for any reason a person prefers. We need to pass laws against every sin in the hopes that people will see that they are sinful and repent. This is a love that protects as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13. Mainly because it protects one from sin and eternal damnation because it opens their eyes to their flesh.

Let us be wise and stand up for what is righteous in our nation! We need to legislate morality.

A dangerous lifestyle the Institutional Church has Created; Apathy.

2008-08-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

The Institutional Church has over the course of two thousand years caused three quite alarming lifestyles to develop amongst Christians. Those three lifestyles are apathy, dishonorable lives, and lackadaisical parenting. There are more negative lifestyles that the institutional church has accidentally caused in its people, but for now we will focus on these three.

It is to be noted that some churches are healthier than most and do not cause these negative lifestyles in its laity. On a larger scale these lifestyles do develop in the laity as a direct result of what the institutional church does on a regular basis. Let us examine how the institutional church has created apathy in its laity.

Having a religious service in a building teaches you one thing, that your religion is experienced in the building. Take the Muslims for example, their mosques are very sacred. Take the Christians in the beginning, they considered their buildings very sacred as well. As well as the Jews still consider their temple sacred.

Is there anything wrong with considering a temple sacred because its where you seek God? Yes. We were never supposed to worship a created thing instead of The Creator. In fact, Jesus wanted us to set aside temples and become living temples. Jesus was trying to teach us that we no longer had to go to a building and have someone else intercede for us in order to get to God. Instead Jesus told us that we are the temple and that anywhere we are Christ is with us because He dwells inside. That meant we no longer had to have a building to seek God!

In fact, in John 2 we see the full picture of what the temple truly is. It was never about the building. Jesus said He is the temple. Which means the Jews built a building to house the Temple; Jesus Christ. But now that He has taken human form Jesus, the Temple, dwells in us. Which is why we are the temple of God, because Christ is in us.

John 2:19-22,

"Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken."

Going to a building does not make you a Christian. In any other religion if you follow a list of practices you are a believer and out of your obedience to the law you are saved eternally. In some religions you sacrifice animals, in other you sacrifice people. In some religions you bow to an idol ten times a day and say a prayer. In others you pray to dead ancestors. In Christianity you go to a building, pay a tithe, sing the songs, listen to the sermon, do some sort of small service for the pastor, occasionally read your Bible and you are saved.

This is a law. And the law brings death not life according to the Apostle Paul. Jesus Christ preached a different way of living. A type of life that was counter-cultural for all times. Jesus taught us that we should deny ourselves and follow after Him. Luke 9:23-26 explains,

Very interestingly Jesus says to deny yourself. For some people this means that instead of running to a different country to preach the gospel because you feel more comfortable doing so that you need to deny that urge. Instead you need to seek Christ and do as He commands. We have been taught in the IC that because you feel its right or of God then it is right before God. This wasn't what Christ believed. Christ said to deny yourself which means to deny your feelings, your comfortable parameters, your life, your hopes, your dreams and to then take up Christ's instead. To start doing as Christ has felt, dreamed, hoped, and desired. We are supposed to live Christ's very life.

But how many Christians have you seen that deny themselves? They go to a building to seek God which cuts God off from having a daily influence in their lives. They take up their cross once a week and go on Sunday, sometimes Saturday, to a "church" to seek the temple, Jesus Christ. Then on the other six days of the week they live estranged lives from Christ. Because they believe that the only place where they seek the temple, Jesus Christ, is at church. They have not been taught to seek the temple, Jesus Christ, in every situation.

If they were taught that, what would be the point of the building or a pastor? If you were seeking God and understanding Him on your own you would have no need to come to a building to be taught by someone else about Christ. You would KNOW Jesus Christ, the temple.

Do you see the apathetic life style this develops? Christ wanted to get people out of buildings so that they could daily live for Him, the true temple. So that they could truly take up their cross and daily follow after Him. That His people would daily deny themselves and lose their lives in order to gain Christ. The temple, Jesus Christ, is within us. Jesus Christ is not in some building any more like He was with the Jews. We can seek Christ daily instead of weekly. We can start denying ourselves daily and taking up our cross daily, instead of weekly in a superficial manner.

The IC teaches dependence on a pastor and staff and building to grow spiritually. Christ taught a dependence on Him, the temple, to cause us to grow spiritually. I am not saying that pastors cannot cause spiritual growth because they can. But it is nothing compared to the growth that Christ causes in us if we allow Him to truly dwell in us and have control daily. Instead of a measured control once a week that brings little fruit.

The control and confines of a building and staff causes an apathy in people. Causing someone to grow spiritually once a week causes a stagnant lifestyle. It is just enough to make a person feel good but causes little depth in the person. Whereas a life of daily scarificing and seeking Christ causes one to grow rapidly and prevents apathy.

Has the Institutional Church Misconstrued the Things of God?

2008-07-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been contemplating the real meaning of certain sayings we hear often in the institutional church. Sayings such as, "God's glory is here now. Can you feel it?" Or, "He is greatly anointed to heal." Or, "They're laughing because its a manifestation of the Holy Spirit." Recently I have targeted eight things misconstrued concepts of the Bible;

Manifestation
Anointing
"Transference" of anointing
Glory "rain," "fall," or "come" down
Worship
First, second, and third heavens
Open the heavens
The institutional church should train your child up in the way that they should go just as they train you

We hardly understand what these things really mean any more. We think of manifestation as something has taken control over you and is causing you to do something. Like a manifestation of a demon. Other times we think its a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, but God never takes over us. He is a gentleman and lets us make our own decisions. The Bible says God gives us free will and never treads upon that.

In fact scripture talks about certain behaviors that are the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. I think a good way to describe manifestation is to say it is an overflow of what the Holy Spirit is working in your heart that you feel you must share with others. Manifestation of the Holy Spirit were synonymous with gifts of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 is the only reference in the Bible that describes what a manifestation of the Holy Spirit is,

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines."

This is not the same manifestation that I have heard mentioned in the institutional churches I have gone to. They listed the manifestation of the Holy Spirit as shaking violently, weeping uncontrollably, laughing hysterically, and falling forward of backward, etc.

So when do we see the manifestation of the Holy Spirit actually happening in the institutional church? When the pastor allows for there to be prophecy, speaking in tongues, the interpretation of the tongues, messages of wisdom or knowledge shared by ushers or deacons, etc. But the institutional church does not call this a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. They call it an "anointing" of the Holy Spirit.

Obviously they are confused because scripture indicates otherwise. What then is the meaning of anointing? There are two words for anointing in the Greek; crio and crisma. Crisma means the inauguration of a priest. Crio means to endue Christians with the gifts of the Holy Spirit; synonymous to manifestation. Scripture mentions the crio from of anointing in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22;

"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."

This makes sense. Paul was saying that God bestowed on us everything we would need. God puts His seal of ownership on us, the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. All that we need in order to do the works of service and to bear good fruit.

We can find "crisma" in 1 John 2:20 and 1 John 2:27,

"But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth."

"As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him."

Crisma is the anointing of one as a priest. Christ told us that we would be a royal priesthood. That means that once we become saved, give our lives over to Christ, and receive the Holy Spirit we are a royal priest. That is because Christ is our intecessor and our priest. The Holy Spirit is also Christ. That means because Christ dwells in us we have become royal priests like Him. John is simply saying here that since we have been anointed as a royal priest when we received the Holy Spirit that Christ in us will be faithful to teach us all things.

Today we only hear of the crio form of anointing which is for us to be endued with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In this the institutional church is not wrong. The institutional church is however wrong in how they believe the transference of anointing occurs. It has lnog been taught by "great" healing evangelists, pastors, and professors that anointing is passed by one person who is already anointed in a certain gifting. For example, pastor Bob is anointed at teaching and administrating. Pastor Bob then anoints Mary Sue in the gift of teaching.

This is completely unbiblical. Remember the quote about manifestation from 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, which means the same thing as the crio from of anointing? Let me remind you, 1 Corinthians 12:11 says this about the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given to us,

"All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines."

It is obvious here that the Holy Spirit is the one to give us the anointing as He determines. Also, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 reiterates the fact that it is the Holy Spirit who establishes us and annoints us,

"Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge."

Do not be deceived! No one can anoint another person. Only the Holy Spirit can anoint because scripture says only the Holy Spirit can give the gifts as He chooses.

We need to seek to walk constantly in the Holy Spirit as Paul advised. Then we will have the anointing of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But we cannot choose what those gifts will be. We can only choose if we walk in the Holy Spirit and whether or not we will obey Christ about using those gifts given to us and how we use them.

Seek God, walk in the Holy Spirit, and use the gifts the Holy Spirit has given you. Do not look to man to appoint or approve you. Do not look to man to give you the gifts of the Spirit or the anointing because they cannot.

Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit

2008-07-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

What are the gifts of the Spirit? What about the ministries of the Holy Spirit? The institutional church has been so vacant of these things that we no longer have a clear picture of what these things mean. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 states,

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. "

We see a distinction here. There are gifts, ministries, and effects. All are lead by the Holy Spirit. Effects are simply the way a gift or ministry is done and its outcome. What then is the purpose of a ministry? The purpose is to serve others.

The Bible defines ministries as being elders, deacons, prophets, teachers, apostles, evangelists, and pastors. Elders would be in charge of making sure that people did not become doctrinally unsound. They also made sure that people were living righteous lives and confronted them if they were not. Elders would also meet together when a hard decision needed to be made. In this case they would gather together and pray until they discerned God's choice in the matter.

Deacons were people who served. In fact deacon means "servant." These people who the ones who were in charge of the gifts of money or food, clothing, etc that the Christians brought in for the poor. They would then deliver it to all those in need in the community. They would also use the money to purchase what was necessary to sustain life for these people. You would see a deacon taking care of the poor, sick, widows, and fatherless in the city. Deacons also served the food and drinks at the meals.

An apostle means, "One set forth with orders." They literally are someone God has charged to do something in the church. God gives them a goal to meet and they have the responsibility to rely on God to guide the church to that goal. At times the apostle takes what the prophet has said concerning the future and guides the group to where it needs to go in order to fulfill that calling.

A prophet is someone who hears from God and speaks what he has heard. Their job is to give a clear picture as to where the body is either at or needs to go. They sometimes also provide this clear picture for individuals. They hear from God a rebuke, encouragement, or guidance for a person or group of people.

Pastors watch for enemies trying to attack the sheep. They also defend the sheep from attackers. Another job of pastors is to heal the wounded and sick sheep. Pastors also find and save lost or trapped sheep. This means they find the Christians who have fallen away and bring them back to Christ and the fellowship of believers. Pastors are not to be confused with evangelists who bring in sheep who have never known God. Pastors also love the sheep so much that they share their lives and earn their trust by doing so.

Evangelist means, "heralds of salvation." Evangelists are most commonly seen as people who went out into all the world and preached the gospel. Their goal is simply to bring people to Christ, then they leave the apostle and pastor to take over the born again sheep and to disciple those sheep.

A teacher has the responsibility to teach things of God. They literally understand the Bible very well and teach it to others. Teachers are the people you can go to when you do not understand something about God or scripture.

Since we now understand what ministries are supposed we also need to understand what they looked like. The Apostle Paul lived his life as an apostle daily through love. 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us all about how love is the most perfect way. Not any of the gifts of the Spirit nor the ministries of the Spirit. But a life of love is the best way to show Christ to others. But out of love and obedience to God we do the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit. Because faith without works is dead.

If God wants us to do the works of the ministry and to use the gifts of the Spirit. We must need those things as a body, right? The world around us must need us to being these things, yes? Scripture indicates that ministry us very important for building up the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:10-16 explains,

"He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love."

Ephesians teaches us that the point of these ministries is to equip the saints to do the works of service which build up the body of Christ. God raises us some in each office to train new believers to serve their churches in the same manner. So a prophet leads up multiple prophets for their church body, etc. This is part of the process of disciplining believers.

What good does this do? It causes the church to become unified in faith, have a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, become more mature in their faith, become like Christ, to not to be deceived by false teachers and prophets, and to bring the whole body together and build it up in love. Ministries basically build the body up into the perfect bride of Christ. Without ministries we will never achieve that nor will we bring in a harvest.

We need gifts, but we also need ministries. In fact we need to be ministering more than using gifts. What do we need in order to minister? We need hearts that are right before God as Acts 8:20-25 instructs. We must also be praying as Acts 6:1-5 instructs. We cannot have a ministry without right hearts, good fruit, and prayer. We also need the gifts of the Spirit.

What then is the purpose of a gift? Gifts denote extraordinary powers. As Paul said gifts are evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit. Gifts enable us to serve the church and to perform ministry. They also show the power of the Holy Spirit to unbelievers or those who lack faith.

What are the different types of gifts?

Word of wisdom; moral wisdom. Think of Proverbs and Pslams. They are practical messages that can tell us what is morally right for our lives and how to build character.
Word of knowledge; general understanding. A practical understanding of how certain things work. Like a practical biblical understanding of how God and Jesus Christ are one. Typically this is done by the Holy Spirit without preconceived thought.
Faith; conviction of the truth. This is helpful when someone is astray is what they believe or think.
Working of miracles.
Prophecy; speaking truths God has told you about people, situations, the Bible, or the future.
Distinguishing of spirits; To discern which spirits are controlling people or situations.
Tongues.
Interpretation of tongues.
Serving; taking care of the poor and sick.
Teaching.
Exhorting; to encourage or rebuke someone about things.
Giving; financial.
Leading or administering; to cause things to run smoothly.
Helps or mercy; to help one someone afflicted or in need of aid.
Healings.

Sources; 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, 1 Corinthians 12:28, Romans 12:6-8.

Please do not misunderstand me! Gifts are important! But we cannot have gifts and no ministry. We need to have a ministry and use the gifts to perform that ministry. What good is a teacher if he does not use the gift of teaching from the Holy Spirit? But what good is it to teach and never raise up other to teach? You simply cannot supply the needs of hundreds or thousands of people in a city all on your own. You need to train up others while still using the gift of teaching. Make sense?

It is very important that our church bodieds not lack any of the gifts of the Spirit. Why? 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 explains why,

"I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. "

How do we begin to use gifts? The Holy Spirit is all we need in order to begin to minister and use the gifts. How do we get the Holy Spirit, hopefully you already know this, Luke 11:9-13 explains,

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!""

Receiving the Holy Spirit is as simple as asking God to give it to us. As believers we should have the Holy Spirit and be using it. If we don’t have the Holy Spirit, meaning we never feel God speaking anything to us ever or using us, then all we need to do is ask for it.

Most born again believers would say that they have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Then why are the ministries and gifts not happening more frequently in the institutional church? Why is that the select few are using the gifts while the rest are not? Some of this is the control of the church where they only to allow certain people to use the gifts of the Spirit publicly. In these cases we should be exceptionally careful to test these people for whether their fruit is good or bad. For Satan works counterfeit miracles, prophecies, signs and wonders, etc.

At other times the absence of the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit are due to a lack of faith. Romans 12:3-8 explains how integral faith is to us using the gifts of the Holy Spirit and performing the ministries,

" For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to hisfaith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."

We use the gifts and our ministries by the measure of faith we have. It is directly proportionate; the amount of faith you have equals how much you use the gifts of the Holy Spirit and perform ministry. If you aren’t using them or barely are, you need to increase your faith. Faith isn't an apologetic or shy thing. Faith is bold and has strength and zeal. By having the faith of a mustard seed we will be able to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit and minister in great power.

It is to be noted that I am unsure whether the gifts of the Spirit are ministries in and of themselves. This could be possible, but scripture does not indicate one way or the other. Paul did say to eagerly desire the greater ministries such as being an apostle, teacher, prophet, miracles, healings, etc. 1 Corinthians 12:27-30 list the greater ministries we are to eagerly desire.

Why We Need to USE Discernment!

2008-06-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

When you rise up and start speaking the truth about false teachers and false prophets people would love to first peg you as an accuser of the brethren. It is the most common attack for anyone who dissents to the opinion of another person. What does scripture say about accusing? I could not find anything about not accusing others. All I could find was where John told the soldiers not to accuse people falsely.

Luke 3:14, "14Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.""

The only person who is the accuser of the brethren is Satan, read Revelation and you will see the direct quote of Satan being the accuser of the brethren. I think its a bit harsh to accuse anyone as Satan possessed unless you have some pretty strong evidence against them. Just because someone believes that what another nationally acknowledged person is doing is wrong, that does not make them possessed by Satan. People need to be a bit more careful about what they say. Yet the very same people who accuse us of being harsh in judgment about Todd Bentley are even harsher by saying we are Satan, the accuser of the brethren. Odd, right?

Unless Satan is behind something and is trying to keep us from having discernment. The Bible talks a great deal about discernment.

Hebrews 5:12-14, "12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

Milk is the elementary truths of God. What are the elementary truths of God? Hewbrews 6 explains what they are,

" 1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,^[a] and of faith in God, 2instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And God permitting, we will do so. "

According to the Bible we needed to move on from these things and start learning the other more mature truths the Bible held. Truths like discernment, how to handle your anger, loving your brothers and sisters in Christ, how to seek God together, etc.

One of these greater truths are what was written in Hebrews 5; distinguishing between good and evil. How do we do this? By constantly using the Bible, solid food, we are able to use it to distinguish between good and evil. The Bible is our source for distinguishing truth from lies, good from evil, a false prophet from a prophet of God. We need to practice using the Holy Spirit adn the word to determine which is which.

Examining what others say is from the Holy Spirit or in the Bible is not wrong. It is not grieving the Holy Spirit or putting out the fire. We have been accused when standing against Todd Bentley that we have a paradigm that does not allow us to receive what the Spirit is doing. We have also been accused that we are trying to use scripture to explain what God does.

1 Thessalonians 5, "19Do not put out the Spirit's fire; 20do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22Avoid every kind of evil."

We were not supposed to just simply believe someone's testimony that what they were doing was of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Instead we were to watch and listen respectfully and then test it against the word of God; the Bible. If it was right according to the Bible we were to hold on to it. If it was not right according to the Bible we were to avoid it all costs.

The only way to distinguish if what Todd Bentley is doing is good or evil is to use the word of God. That is the doctrine of people who oppose Todd Bentley. That was what he says and does is contrary to the word of God. And yet Todd Bentley says the following in his letter concerning the issues, which by the way he skirts all the real issues,

"To apply doctrine to the response of God in our lives is wrong. For someone to assume that something that happens to us isn't of God because it's not in his or her doctrine or knowledge of Jesus is, in my opinion, to grieve the precious Holy Spirit."
http://www.freshfire.ca/?Id=1059&pid=993

Todd Bentley believes that judging what he does against the word of God to be wrong. Yet scripture teaches us that we are to judge the words and actions of EVERYONE against the Bible! Here he is trying to cover his tracks and keep people in the dark about the truth. Do not be mistaken, the only way to grieve the Holy Spirit is to blasphemy the Holy Spirit. You will not grieve the Holy Spirit by checking the words and fruits of those who claim the "Holy Spirit" is doing such things through them against the Bible. You actually please God and grow closer to Him as you do so.

But we are not talking about splitting of hairs as Todd Bentley would have us believe. We are not talking about whether or not we believe in speaking in tongues, that healing still takes place, etc. We are talking about violence commanded by God, preaching and teaching of angels not mentioned in the Bible, and much more. These things are contradictory to the Bible as I will explain in other blogs.

And this is how we know that Todd Bentley is a false prophet, because he does not match with what the Bible says is truth. Todd Bentley adds to the word of God and uses vague terms to say we are not ready for more of God. When in truth he is steering us away from the truth; the Bible. And Paul told us not to receive a gospel different from the one we first received from them. Todd Bentley's teachings of angels are different from the gospel, the Bible, we first received.

2 Corinthians 11, "3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 5But I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." 6I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. "

Do not believe someone without testing what they say, write, and do against the Bible. We need to be constantly using the word in order to distinguish between good and evil.

For more about discernment please read the following link:

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/618-discernment-2

Concerning Todd Bentley

2008-06-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

My heart breaks to know so many people are being deceived by Todd Bentley. I am always reticent to speak negatively about any person. But there are times when the truth must be spoken to protect people. That time is right now.

Todd Bentley is not a man of God. In my previous blog, "When We See Revivals," I talked about testing the fruit of the man to see if he was from God. If not then we should not be anywhere near that man. Because otherwise we are throwing a saint before a man of impure mind, because that is exactly what a false prophet is; a man of impure thought.

How do we know that Todd Bentley is a man of impure thought? He worships angels and speaks extensively about the things he has seen. Colossians 2:18 warns,

"Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence."

Todd Bentley's "visions" are idle notions. Do not forget that miracles were performed by men who did not know God, those men being the seven sons of Sceva. Miracles do not always mean anything and are not considered a fruit of the Spirit. Do not believe Todd Bentley when he tries to claim miracles by his hand as fruits of the Spirit, they are not. Fruits of the spirit whether good or bad are found in Galatians 5.

In fact he's cut off from the Head, Jesus Christ, if he behaves in such a way. Meaning Todd Bentley isn't of God, thus he is what? A false prophet! Relying on what you can see, taste, and touch is principles of this world. The Bible says, "Blessed is he who has faith though he has not seen." People who rely on the principles of this world seem wise but are not. They have false humility and are harsh in their treatment of the body. As you will see below this perfectly describes Todd Bentley. Kicking an old woman in the face is harsh treatment. And Todd Bentley is far from humble. Thus he indulges in what is sensual. And everything Todd Bentley does is sensational.

Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:3-15,

"3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 5But I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." 6I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.

7Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve."

Amazingly if you watch videos of Patricia King, Bob Jones, and other leading church figures they herald Todd Bentley as a super-apostle. Did you note the mention by Paul about those who believe they are super apostles? They should not be boastful, they should not be taking in money, and they should be preaching a message of repentance. Todd Bentley does none of these things. In fact Bentley states, "Last night God told me He was going to build my ministry tonight." That is a boastful statement. Todd Bentley also takes in plenty of money. Never does he preach repentance at least thus far. By that we already know where Todd Bentley's heart is and who he is following.

If you are still doubting start reading the information in these links I have summarized. Watch the videos and see what you think.

Todd Bentley saying God told him to BEAT PEOPLE!!!! What about scripture saying God HATES a violent man?! God supposedly tells Todd Bentley to kick an old woman in the face!!!! And much much more

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

(James 3:17-18)

People being healed by Todd Bentley but they are screaming and trashing. Is this of God? Does God cause people to scream and thrash? Its not in scripture.

If you leave out the alien parts, the visitation is very sketchy. Why would God not have time to develop character in us? God does not do it immediately. Scripture says that he tries us in the refiner's fire like gold. Do not be mistaken! God could have raised up the people He needed now 30-40 years ago if it took that long to develop the Christians He needed for His purposes today! GOD IS NOT DESPERATE!

Part 2 of the video above - Continuing the experience he had.

Part 3 of the videos above - final commentary and part of his experience.

Man talking about how scripture says that in the end times we be given a great delusion BY GOD. Not a great revival as most popular pastor, prophets, evangelists, etc keep claiming will come. This is not the great revival of the end times. This most likely is the great DECEPTION.

http://www.deceptionbytes.com/ToddBentley-SundarSingh

Blog from someone who heard him give this sermon about Sundar Singh annointing and what he has to say concerning it.

http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/todd-bentley-the-vision-and-anointing-of-sadhu-sundar-singh/

Another blog mentioning his prophetic experience involving Sundar Singh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh

Who Sundar Singh was (he has been dead 79 years); a universalist who believes that we cannot be separated from God forever. Completely against the word of God. Yet Todd Bentley said we would get a reformation of the church from Sundar Singh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universalism

What the universalism beliefs are.

http://www.deceptionbytes.com/Todd-Bentleys-Fire-of-Kundalini

Todd Bentley and Kundalini practice and philosophies integrated. NOTE VERY CLOSELY: People who have developed the ability to use the third eye in Kundalini are called SEERS! Todd Bentley talks about himself and Bob Jones as being SEER PROPHETS. Catch that?

http://www.deceptionbytes.com/Todd-Bentley-New-Age-Christ

Video where Todd Bentley says Jesus came back on earth literally and met with him. Remember Jesus isn't coming back until He comes to defeat Satan and bring heaven on earth.

Todd Bentley saying that Jesus is coming on earth to see them at this revival. That He is coming on the clouds! Scripture warns not to go where people are crying out that Christ is there. That when Christ does come man will be unable to not know. In fact Christ instructs us not to go running to where people claim they see Jesus Christ. But this is the least scripture offending thing of all.

Todd Bentley says, "I'm not done yet God!" Is this not supposed to be a work of God? Or is this a work of Todd Bentley? Its either of Satan or God. If its Todd Bentley doing it then its of Satan. Not to mention Bentley screams and commands God to send angels down. Remember what Colossians 2:18 warns concerning worshiping angels.

Trying to force the people to believe in THE ANGEL. That you must believe in THE ANGEL. Isn't the focus supposed to be believing in Jesus Christ and not angels? So what if we do not give attention to angels? They shouldn't mind and God would not want us to put focus on the angels. But fallen angels are prideful and want glory. That was why Satan was cast out of heaven. He wanted the glory of God! Wouldn't the rest of the angels cast out with him for the same sins want the same thing?

GOD IS SUPERNATURAL! Do not be fooled! The Bible says that God is not a man! He is not fo flesh and blood, so thus He is SUPERNATURAL. So is the Holy Spirit. We don't need angels to believe in the supernatural. We already believe in God who is the supernatural. In fact, most Catholic and Luthern dioceses (buildings) have paintings of angels on the ceiling. We easily believe in angels and demons. We don't have issues with this as "God" told Todd Bentley. Unless the point is to believe in a certain angel. Might be why he said we have to believe in "THE ANGEL."

Todd Bentley's testimony of being released from 25 demons AFTER he was a believer. Which is fine, but it proves he has heavily been connected with the occults and demons in the past. Which means we probably is at least somewhat familiar with Kundalini practices. Notice he used to have an abusive past. Maybe one of those 25 demons got left behind and he is healing by demons now? I can see demons kicking people in the face! Not GOD!

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/8.htm

Info on Bob Jones, Mike Bickle (pastor of International House of Prayer [IHOP], etc... Todd Bentley and Bob Jones are closely connect. Todd considers Bob his mentor. Its really long but please read the whole thing! The end is the most key part. At the end the author explains what Joel's Army is. This is quite scary because its about a group of super-apostles (here's that term again that Paul warned about) that would come before Christ came back adn would the the collective Christ and would put the enemy under their feet and usher in the return of Jesus Christ. This is their twisted belief of the manifestation of the sons of God. But scripture says that first Jesus would come, crush Satan under His foot, and then the martyrs of old would be resurrected. KEY: Todd Bentley has Joel's Army in army tags tattooed around his neck. Todd Bentley believes along these same lines of Joel's Army.

http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/health-warning-re-todd-bentley-laying-on-of-hands/

What some people are experiencing from Todd Bentley's "healings."

http://www.etpv.org/2003/angho.html

Wrote by Todd Bentley himself about the angels he has seen and what angels are supposed to do. Scroll down and read the part about his encounter with Emma. Notice the barking like a dog and clucking like a chicken? Both manifestations of Kundalini practice if you recall. Also scroll down to "Prayer for Angelic Visitation." Todd Bentley instructs us to tell God, "We hunger for the spiritual realm." We are only supposed to hunger and thirst after Jesus Christ and God. Not angels and the spiritual realm.

Couldn't say the name JESUS?! Release healing angels?! Red flag about not being able to say the name Jesus! And he's big about seeing white lightning bolts in this meeting.

God takes Todd Bentley into the future. Okay, maybe that can happen. Though it does sound a bit sci-fi.But do you notice what God shows Todd Bentley? How much people want HIM to heal their son, etc. Not how much these people need to see GOD heal their son or do something for them. No, they need Todd Bentley. He's trying to create people who are dependent on him to reach the heavenly, angels, and God. People who come to those conferences do not care who calls them out for healing. They just want to be called out in order that the healing happens. This is Todd Bentley glorifying himself.

FURHTERMORE, I love how he quotes Matthew 6 here, but only the Lord's prayer. Let's read what it says BEFORE that.

Matthew 6:1-15,

" 1Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Prayer

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.^[a]' 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

Todd Bentley does his acts of righteousness before men. He is very sure to trumpet his works before men. There was no need for him to tell people of what had happened with this little boy. It only brings acknowledgment to himself of the works he has done. He has his reward in full on earth; the awe of men. But he has no reward in heaven for it because he is like a Pharisee! I've watched God Tv, most the time he keeps trumpeting how people he called out have been healed.

This is not like Jesus and the Apostles! They would heal people tell them to get up and walk. Jesus never commended Himself or made a big production out of it! In fact Jesus told numerous people not to tell anyone that He had healed them! Jesus did not want the glory of healings even for Himself. He wanted all the glory to go to His Father in heaven. Todd Bentley broad casts it so that he will get the glory, even though he says, "Praise Jesus, Amen!" He never says, "Praise You Lord that You have done this." No, Todd Bentley says, "Wait, I called you out? And you were healed?"

It sounds so good heaven on earth. And Todd Bentley is right in this, it does literally mean heaven on earth. But it means to ESTABLISH heaven on earth. But that has not happened yet. If God's kigndom was truly reigning on earth there would be no need to forgive one another because we would be in heaven already!

Isaiah 11 reads:

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -

3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;

4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling ^[a] together;
and a little child will lead them.

7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.

9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, ^[b] from Cush, ^[c] from Elam, from Babylonia, ^[d] from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.

No where in the Bible does it ever say that we get to have the same powers as Jesus. Jesus was made to be above ever living creature! That includes us! Only Jesus puts Satan under His feet and only Jesus has these seven fruits. If we could have these seven fruits of Isaiah 11 then we would be able to judge the needy, we would be able to strike the earth with a rod from our mouths, and we would be able to slay the wicked with the breath of our mouths. This isn't our place. It is only for Jesus Christ is Lord, forever, AMEN!

We are not to have these powers that Jesus did and the control He had. We are only to follow Him as HE does it for us! The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent us, gives us knowledge but we don't have the Spirit of knowledge resting on us. It is not that we have been given the Spirit of wisdom to rest on us. No! We have the Holy Spirit indwelt in us who teaches us in all things, as Christ said. It is God who gives us the knowledge, but we do not have that Spirit of knowledge resting on us.

Todd Bentley thinks we can just claim the Spirit of wisdom or the Spirit of knowledge unlike the other GIFTS of the Spirit. But we cannot claim them. The Spirit determines whom he shall give what gifts to and for how long and to what measure. It never rests on us because we claim it. It is given to us for a time as God has need of us to use the gifting of the SPIRIT to reach those around us. Its not of us that we should boast. But a gift from God through the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11,

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines."

Where does scripture say you cannot do such things?

2 Timothy 3:1-9,

"1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone."

10You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Kicking an old woman in the face, choking the demons out of people, drop-kicking pastors, etc is BRUTAL There can be no debate of this. And this is what Todd Bentley boasts of in front of everyone at Lakeland! What will he do in private? Remember the video where he had 25 demons cast out of him? He said his mother was beaten every night and the family thought it was him. But he still denies that it ever was. What if it was? Beating people in the "Holy Spirit" is a big warning sign that maybe that demon got left behind?

Simply continue in what you have learned, the word of God. Do not give in to false teachers who are bent on your destruction. Instead continue in Christ, your salvation, the Holy Spirit, and the gospel. We have Jesus Christ, we don't need Todd Bentley.

Be careful! He sounds so good but is a false prophet. Full of lies and deceptions. Hold firm to the faith you once had and do not lose your first love! Follow no one except Jesus Christ who is Lord forever and ever, AMEN!

And just in case you still doubt...

http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/todd-bentleys-and-prophet-bob-jones-angel-emma/

What Bob Jones has done in the past. Todd Bentley SELLING healing handkerchiefs. Emma means to "embrace everything." Satan has been known as Emma in the satanic practices. AND MUCH MUCH MORE.

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/691-todd-bentley-angels

What other ministries have to say about Todd Bentley outside of the Charistmatic church.

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/681-todd-bentley-fresh-fire-ministries

More on their opinion of Todd Bentley concerning other things. Just so you know its not just my opinion. Lots of people are thinking Todd Bentley is a false prophet.

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/j08.html

This covers about Rick Joyner and how he has anti-biblical philsophies.

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/k00.html#kingnow

This is about Kingdom now theology of which Todd Bentley believes in and so does Rick Joyner, Patricia King, and Bob Jones. Who knows who else believes all this. But you can see that Todd Bentley is cut from the same cloth as his mentor Bob Jones who founded these thoughts that are anti-biblical.

When We See Revivals

2008-06-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

As I watched the "revival" videos on Youtube of Lakeland, Florida I began to question if Todd Bentley is a true man of God. I believe the miracles are real and the wonders are truly happening. God does not care so much about who He uses to perform miracles so much as the people He wants to heal and speak to. God does use broken vessels, which is every human being, to perform miracles. The question is are they a broken vessel who knows it and are humble or are they a broken vessel who thinks they do the miracles by their own power and God is their associate in the ministry?

Some people would say its impossible to do miracles without being a person who is humble and intimate with God. This is not true. You do not believe me? Read the story of the seven sons of Sceva.

Acts 19:11-17,

"God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. (One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor."

The seven sons of Sceva did not have honor for the name of the Lord Jesus. Otherwise they would never have used His name when they did not believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins. Note keenly that the introduction to these sons says, "Some Jews." They were not Christians, but Jews. People who did not believe in Jesus Christ and yet where calling on the name of the Jesus Christ to gain their own fame and prestige.

Jesus spoke concerning people who did such things as these Jews had done. In Matthew 7 we find Jesus talking to the disciples about relationships. Jesus was quite focused in the book of Matthew about the relationships believers have with their brothers in faith, fake believers, and the rest of the world. In Matthew 7 Jesus is talking to the disciples about making judgments. Because of a poor translation we have all come to believe that we are not supposed to judge, but as I read the words in the NASB I came to see that we are supposed to judge as long as we do not have the same issues.

Matthew 7:1-6,

"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

Here the word judge in the Greek is Krino which means, "to judge." When reading the rest of the descriptions of the Greek word Krino you can clearly see that it is one man judging another. For so long we have been taught by pastors that if we judge, God will judge us in how we have judged others. This is not the truth. The truth is that if you judge another person they will judge you right back and everything they talk to will as well. This makes perfect sense in real life because that is exactly what happens!

Jesus even goes on to say that by what standard you compare that person to they will compare you to that standard as well. This is the truth for people do this daily. Jesus then instructs that you should be measuring up to your standard before you apply it to anyone else in judgment. If you do not then you are a hypocrite.

But if you have removed the log, the sin in that area, from your own eye what was Christ's advice? "Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." Christ is advising us to take care of our own sin in that area first and then help our brothers do so as well. Jesus was not saying to not judge ever and never to help your brother out of sin. Only to make yourself clean first.

Jesus continues His thought as He begins to speak about dogs, swine, holiness, and pearls. This is a figurative sentence. The Greek word for holy is Agio which means, "Most holy thing, a saint." Dogs is the Greek word is Kuon which means, "A man of impure mind, an impudent man." The Greek word Margarite is the English word pearls and it means, "A proverb, a word of great value." Swine literally means swine, but the Jews saw swines as evil. Consider the word swine here as an evil person. Trample is the Greek word is Katapateo meaning, "To treat with rudeness and insult, to spurn, to treat with insulting neglect." Tear in the Greek is the word Regnumi meaning, "To distort." Shall we plug the words in?

"Do not give a saint to men of impure minds and impudence, and do not throw your words of great value before evil men, or they will teat it with rudeness and insult and spurn and insulting neglect, and turn and distort you."

New meaning to that verse, yes? The people in the time of Jesus knew what He was saying because the metaphors were used in common language. Jesus continues on here speaking as if almost to say, but do not worry about these men who would do such things. Instead seek me and I will give more to you.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

Quite interesting. When Jesus says therefore, He is referring to everything spoken before this point. Jesus is talking about not judging people by your standard unless you measure up to it. You would hate it if someone judged you by a standard they did not meet! Jesus is saying that when people bring a saint to you or a word of great value treat them and it with utmost respect and kindness. This is the way you would want to be treated. This is truly loving other people.

Jesus does not stop with these thoughts. He begins to talk about our relationship with the rest of the world and not just other believers or fake believers. Jesus begins to talk about not doing what most other people do. Just because most people do something does not make it right. In fact it makes it the wrong thing for us to do in most cases! If unbelievers and fake Christians are doing something, then we must be very careful to make sure that it is a righteous act. Because a great deal of the time it is an evil act disguised to seem good. Jesus wanted us to give great thought to which was we went in all things.

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

How can we know if what other people are doing is right? Especially when we have so many fake Christians today? When we have so many people who say what seems to be the right things but do not live a life dedicated to God? We watch the fruits of other people as Jesus instructed as to do.

"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits."

Jesus did not stutter. If they produce bad fruit then they are not from a good tree. Thus they will be sentenced to eternity in hell. There is no other way to slice this verse. Most simply avoid what is being said here. This is a warning call to us. We need to be trees that continue to bear good fruit. If we are producing bad fruit we need to remove the weeds, sinful influences, from our lives and begin to bear good fruit in its place. Bearing fruit is a continuation of process. We should be growing into more righteous people. Not that we are perfect, but our lives are becoming more righteous every day. If we are becoming more sinful every day than we are producing bad fruit. That is simply the truth.

But in order to recognize bad fruit we must know what it is. We must also know what good fruit is as well so that we can live holy lives.

Galantians 5:19-26 explains to us what is good and bad fruit respectively,

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."

If you see someone becoming more sexually immoral, impure, unbridled with lust (debauchery), idolized, hateful, discordant, jealous, full of rage, selfish in their ambition, dividing (dissensions), following of their own opinions (factions), envious, drunkenness, conceited, provoking, or carousing then you know they are producing bad fruit. But if the person is becoming more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful to God and others, gentle, and self-controlled than they are producing good fruit.

There is no way to mistake those who produce bad fruit and those who produce good fruit. But Jesus wanted us to pay special attention to seeing the fruit of those who performed signs, miracles, and wonders. Jesus wanted us to make sure that we did not blindly follow anyone who did these amazing things. He wanted us to know that only HE does the miracles even if Jesus does choose to use us human beings. That only their fruit, not their works, proved their relationship or lack thereof with Him.

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'"

Jesus is very pointed here. There will be people who do such great works who have bad fruit. Be careful not to follow anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus to another crowd instructed us with the following words found in Luke 9:23-26,

You have to give up your life and your sinful behaviors. You have to let go of your bad fruit and hold tightly to Christ. You have deny your lusts and desires and follow after Christ. Then you will produce good fruit. We all know this. But do not miss the key point here! Who must we follow? CHRIST and CHRIST ALONE. We are not to follow any man, thought, denomination, political party, family, group, church, etc. We are to only follow Jesus Christ and accept the truths that are already spoken in the Bible. If something else we hear backs the truths of the Bible then we can believe them. Just like miracles and wonders are from God and we can accept them. But we are not to follow the people who do such things. We only follow Christ.

And this is why Christ instructed us just after speaking about people who did miracles and yet had bad fruit about how we should build our houses. Jesus was telling us that if we build our house on the rock, Him, that we will not be destroyed. But if we build our rock on the sand, on men or the ideas of men or the practices of men, we will be destroyed. We will be considered a foolish people if we succumb to the philsophies of men who do great miracles and yet produce bad fruit. We instead should follow the words of Christ in the Bible and accept our healing and move on.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall."

And so many people begin to follow men who perform miracles instead of following the Lord Jesus Christ. Its okay to accept the words of wisdom, when checked against scripture, and grow from what they speak if it is the truth. It is not okay to follow these men instead of Christ. Build your house on the Rock not on a temporal man who could be producing bad fruit or could eventually fall away.

Especially do not accept the teaching of a man who you have realized has bad fruit. If he does throw out all he teaches as well because he is a false prophet. You cannot preach truth and be in the dark. For Paul said the darkness has nothing to do with the light and cannot understand it. So a person whose heart is dark, because their fruit is bad, cannot speak what is of the light, truth.

Do not be deceived. Satan loves to tempt people by their vanity. Satan knows that our greatest weakness is our pride. Jesus was tempted by Satan to have great power and authority. Jesus rebuked Satan and remained steadfast in His devotion to God.

Matthew 4:8-11,

"Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.' Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him."

But many men nowadays have not done as Jesus did. They have taken Satan's temptation, clothed as working miracles and wonders for "God" without any drawback, for their own ministries to grow large and themselves to be influential. They believe they are doing it for God's sake in order to advance His kingdom. Some are and some are not. You will know by their fruit which one they are and by whether or not they give all the credit to God and not themselves. Remember Jesus taught us that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Pay close attention to the words spoken by those who claim to have miracles and wonders happening.

In ending, be careful not to throw yourself, a saint, before men of impure mind. Those who have bad fruit are of an impure mind. Do not throw your words of great value before evil men, men who have bad fruit. Be careful to only share yourself with God and men who have good fruit. Whether that be the great evangelists on television we hear of so commonly or just the common believer you meet on the street or in a institutional building. Guard your heart as Christ instructed us to!

And no, I am not saying that Todd Bentley is not a man of God. I am not saying Todd Bentley is a man of God either. All I am saying is to watch how he acts and how he speaks and judge his fruit. Then you will know for yourself whether or not he is a false prophet won over by Satan's temptation to build his own kingdom or a true believer who has the faith and compassion on the multitude to see God work miracles for His people.

Renewal and Regeneration of The Holy Spirit

2008-06-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

I have been asking myself what walking in the Holy Spirit really means. God has given me bits and pieces as I've grown as a Christian over the past six years. I have learned so much about what it means to walk in the Holy Spirit and not in the flesh. But I still have so much more to learn.

One thing I learned today was that the Holy Spirit renews and regenerates. Now most of us have heard these terms before in sermons and maybe even from reading the Bible. But most of us do not fully understand what these words mean.

Titus 3:1-8,

"Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men."

Each word in the Hebrew truly means renewal and regeneration. When I looked in the dictionary for the meaning of those words I was shocked. Renewal means to take a wasteful and unusable land and make it usable. God takes what is unusable and wasteful in us and makes it usable. He takes our wasted talents or unusable behavior and makes it productive. Regeneration means to restore what has been lost, removed, or inured. God restores all that Satan or ourselves have lost or removed over time. God also heals our injuries physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

I always knew that when we seek after God that He did these things for us. I never knew this was part of walking in the Holy Spirit. That to walk in the Holy Spirit does not always look perfect and clean. It also means the removal of all the ugly, useless, and injured parts of us. It also means restoring what we have given away or simply missed out on because we were not seeking God.

Part of walking in the Holy Spirit is also being ready for every good deed. We should be in a place with God where we are ready to serve Him in all that we do. Deed in the Greek means any thing accomplished by hand, art, industry, or mind. We should constantly be ready to do good by what we are accomplishing with our hands, industry, minds, or art. We should be careful and purposeful to doing good deeds whatever they may be. And they should always be for profit of others.

That sometimes means making meals, cleaning house, changing diapers, helping someone clean out their garage, babysitting a friend's children, cooking for church, or even just seeking God about something you know someone is struggling with. It means using our time wisely to seek God and do good deeds. Instead of wasting time on fleshly things that have no purpose, or even worse, a bad deed. We all struggle in this, but we need to be renewed from our useless behavior in order that the Holy Spirit can produce useful behaviors in us.

Message of Reconiliation

2008-06-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

As we follow God it is hard at times to know when we are to speak the truth and help a brother grow or when we need to simply forgive and forget. There are times and places where Jesus confronted people of their sins and told them to change after telling them about Himself. There are other times where Christ simply told them about Himself and chose to look the other way.

A famous story of Christ not confronting someone about his sins was the Centurion whose slave was dying. The Centurion came to Christ and asked him to heal his slave. Jesus never mentioned the man's sins. Instead Christ commended him for his faith. But with the woman at the well, Christ mentioned how she had had many husbands. In other words she had slept with many men. Why did Christ choose to confront some and not others?

Christ looked at these people as God looks at them. At times God sees as He did the Israelites. Needing correction and direction because they are were blind to their sin or determined to continue sinning. Just like the woman at the well. It takes a determined sinner to have five husbands. Its not a simple mistake or moment where a person made a poor judgment call. Other times God sees as people who simply make a mistake and are learning through life. Just like God saw the apostles and called them to follow Him. Without needing to convict them of their mistakes or change them at all.

Its a struggle at times for us as Christians to know when to speak the truth in love to someone who is sinning or if we should just forgive and forget. Never should speaking the truth in love be down argumentatively. Instead it should be done calmly and gently. But at times its best not even to say anything and just choose not to hold an offense and just forgive.

The whole struggle comes down to seeing the situation and person in God's eyes. Not in the eyes of the world that judge actions by motives of those people. But through God's eyes who judges situation and people through who they need to become in order to fulfill the purposes He set them on earth to do. This always means us forgiving a person who has sinned against us whether we go to them and confront them in love or just silently forgive and forget.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21,

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

As believers we cannot hold the sins of others against them at all. This is the meaning of forgiveness. We are to forgive immediately and without measure. Unfortunately we all fall short of forgiving other immediately and not holding sins against others. We fall short of the love that keeps no record of wrongs constantly. But its better to forgive eventually than to never forgive at all.

How do we become people who never hold the sins of people against them? We become people who do not regard others in a worldly point of view. We constantly are viewing people as God sees them. God sees us as we are, as we have, and as we are to yet become. This is the view we need to keep in mind of the people we meet and know. Especially who they are yet to become. It means seeking God and staying in His presence to view them as they will be.

Then we can truly understand why people do what they do. We can also live a life of not holding grudges ever and immediately forgiving sins without time lapses. But it takes a determination to constantly have God's eyes and heart about others. It takes a determination to continually walk in the Spirit.

Let us walk in the Spirit, see others as God sees them, and forgive immediately and without measure.

The Church Still Does the Work of the Ministry

2008-05-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

I was talking to a brother in Christ about how the institutional church does at times still do the work of the ministry. How that some people in the institutional church are growing as Christians, and some groups are becoming families in Christ, and learning to love unconditionally amongst other wonderful things. This brother wanted to know how this could be?

In the institutional church you have non-believers who go because they are forced or to make themselves feel better, you have believers who serve God, and you have believers who are not serving God. If you take a knife and just cut out those who are believers and serving God you find out those who do so together look like the body of Christ. The whole institutional church isn't the body of Christ, but those who are working together to serve God through love are!

The body of Christ are the ones who work together to serve God out of love for Him, each other, and those who are lost in the world. The whole difference between an institutional church and a house church is not that one has the body of Christ and the other does not. Both have the body of Christ. The difference lies in that the body of Christ in a house church, as long as it is one according to the gospel, is not laid down with the traditions of man like the body of Christ in an institutional church. They do not waste time fulfilling traditions that actually have no meaning.

Another difference is that each person has to grow because if no one contributes to the time spent with God no one grows and nothing happens. But in the institutional church the "worship," meaning time spent with God, goes on whether or not people are growing or truly seeking God. The sermon is still given and its very likely no one will see long term fruit from it. Whereas in the house church one or more people may give the word of instruction and then at least those people grow if not everyone. Because in order to share that word of instruction they have to have learned from it themselves. Basically the gathering of believers is actually a time of ministry for all who come in a house church. Whereas in an institutional church the ministry usually does not happen.

There are more differences, but these are just two of the largest reasons. Another reason is that we can be more easily intimate as the body of Christ in a house without a service. We can truly fellowship, talk, and share our lives. Whereas in an institutional church if you gather together you must be silent and not share for most of the gathering. People can fall through the cracks that way. They can be there but not be part of the body of Christ. In a house church they are part of the body of Christ because they are always included and heard whenever they speak. Their needs are met whenever they gather.

That is the difference. But the real body of Christ will do all these things whether in an institutional church or a house church. They will either find time before the service, after the service, or during the week to love on one another and to be a family. You just cut off all the unnecessary things, distractions, and hindrances to what God wants to do in and through us in a house church.

The Deception of Modern Day Pastors

2008-05-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

I have been contemplating for months who is deceiving and who has been deceived in this whole matter of the church. God has spoken to my heart about forgiving those in the system and I am beginning to understand. The only one who is deceiving anyone purposefully is Satan and maybe a few others who are "in authority" over the church. The rest are simply well deceived people as well.

My heart breaks for those who are pastors. If God came to them and asked them to be the church instead of do church they would be in such a difficult position. To realize that your life ambition and work was a deception of the enemy must be overwhelming and discouraging. Heart breaking even. In one moment they realize their life work, their perceived purpose for life by God, their income, their education, and even the quite a bit of what they have understood about God and the Bible is completely false and meaningless.

Can you imagine having to learn how to read a Bible all over again? When pastors go to school they are taught to read the Bible a certain way. How to pick out verses and understand the true meaning behind it. These things are fine. But pastors are also taught to use modern day terms for something that was cultural during those times. Like the word "church" for example meaning a building where we gather to worship God and doing so is being the church. When God meant the church was a family who sought Him on a daily basis together and showed those they lived with who He was.

Theology teaches certain ideas to their students and it is different depending on which religion you study under. Can you imagine trying to read the Bible without adding in the thoughts taught to you by your professors? I am starting to believe that the people hurt worst by the system are sometimes the ones keeping the system going.

2 Timothy 3:1-8 reads:

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."

We all know that we are in the last days. These things may have always been present throughout all of time, but they are more common now than in any other point of history. We see all these ungodly things in mass quantities when we go places, watch television, read the news, or have dinner at a restaurant and go to the movies afterwards. You might even see these things while grocery shopping!

But the part that strikes me is, "Holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power." Here godliness is the Greek word eusebeia which means reverence towards God. The Greek work for power is dunami which means strength, power, and ability. If we read this sentence again it says, "Holding to a form of the reverence of God, although they have denied its strength, power, and ability."

Incredible because we have so many people who are reverent of God yet refuse to be used by God. They are so busy building their own kingdoms, doing what they think God wants but never stopping to ask Him and waiting to hear, busy watching television, play video games, watching football or basketball, or even busy reading the news. People who let everything else comes before God.

Unfortunately pastors fall into this trap as well. We think being a pastor is being the ultimate Christian, but this is not the truth. The greatest of Christians are the least as the Jesus taught us. They are the ones that no one notices as being an amazing leader or great orator. They are the ones serving and loving without measure! Pastors are constantly busy trying to be the ones who do all the positions of the body of Christ. Instead they need to sit back and just be a hand or a just a foot and let others take as much part as they do in the body. They need to be a family with their congregation, but that cannot happen because owning something makes you separate from the rest.

See what I mean by how hard it is for them? Pastors would have to learn how to read the Bible at face value and allow God to tell them what it means and not their professors and denominations. They would also have to learn that God owns the church, not themselves. Not only this but they would have to learn how to step back from doing everything for everybody and just love the rest of the body and allow them to take over. Its harder to watch a person do something and fail then just to do it ourselves. But it is so much more worthwhile.

The next time you envy a pastor, you might want to reconsider that wish. God intended us all to be part of the body working towards the ministry of Jesus Christ. That meant we all preached, we all gave a word of instruction, we all served, we all clean, we all cook, we all pray, we all give hymns, etc. Not just a few people because a few cannot be all of the body and fill all the positions. This is why pastors become burnt out so quickly, they do what cannot be done. God intended a whole body to do the work, not just a hand or a foot. And pastors will struggle greatly in learning to let go and to share the work of the ministry.

Though it is to be noted that many pastors have done amazing things for the kingdom of God. And God can still use them even if they have things wrong or do things wrong.

Feeling Like Dying....

2008-05-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

In the institutional church we have been taught that feelings of depression and death are not godly. That having feelings like such are of Satan and thus wrong. There is a degree to which when we feel like we are going to die that it is irrational. Thus it is of Satan. Times when we cannot explain why we feel like we are going to die, which is an anxiety attack.

At others times we feel that this life is too hard to bear and we feel like giving up and dying. Now actually contemplating suicide would warrant need for counseling and help. But I am starting to understand that desiring to die is not something that is sinful or ungodly. Christ, as He was on the cross and suffering so greatly, decided to give up His ghost. Christ chose to die.

You do not believe me? Matthew 27:50, "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost." Yielding up your Spirit is a decision. Taking our own lives is wrong. Christ died not to spare Himself suffering but in order to redeem us from our sins. So please do not misunderstand what I am saying. Suicide is always wrong. Christ had to chose death in order to save us but even if He had chose not to save us, Christ would have died. Christ simply had the choice to die willingly and save us from our sins or try to keep living and hope God would save Him from death and taking on our sins. Praise God that Christ chose the former!

My point is that feeling like you want to die is perfectly normal as a Christian. Christ said that we would suffer what He did and even worse. Paul spoke about desiring to die and about losing hope to live because his circumstances were so difficult. But instead of considering this ungodly, sinful, or a weakness Paul considered this something that brought glory to God.

2 Corinthians 1:8-11, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."

Emotional death is just as dangerous as physical death if not more so. If Satan destroys our body but not our soul he has lost! But if Satan can destroy our soul and then our body he has won! We as Christians should expect to be put under great pressure and to at times feel as though we want to give up on life. Why would we not desire to give up on life at times? Eternity with God is so much better than the years we have to live on earth! Yet we have been made to feel guilty for desiring to die and spend eternity with God.

It is not wrong to despair of life. It is not wrong to feel that you are being asked to endure more than you can bear. But God does give us the hope and the strength to continue on the earth until our appointed time to die. We have a purpose on earth that must be fulfilled. If we do not fulfill it, then who will? We continue on to win the race as Paul wrote. But that doesn't mean at times we don't feel like quitting.

Next time when you feel like giving up on life, do not feel guilty! Instead ask others to pray that you would have strength from God to endure, hope that surpasses all understanding, and joy that is immeasurable. Pray for these things for yourself and keep digging into God and persevering. There are rewards tied into persevering through persecution.

Romans 5:1-5, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

When you feel like dying because your suffering is so great, remember to rejoice in your suffering. Because that suffering will produce perseverance, and that character, and character hope. And the hope we produce through all this helps us to know God's love for us by the evidence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

I have seen this happen in my own life. There have been many times that I have asked God to kill me so that I would not have to suffer any more. But God chose to say no and I asked him for the strength to persevere and to have joy in my suffering. Eventually I began to have joy in my suffering and then I persevered. This has produced much character and hope in my life. I know if God can give me the ability to endure such hardships then I can endure whatever Satan throws at me. I also learned to live in the Spirit instead of the world. Which helped me to realize God does love me even when I think myself unlovable.

Walking in the Spirit

2008-03-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

Is the a mathematical formula to this? I almost feel as though if there were it would be so much easier. I want to live a life that reflects a heart set on God. Completely focused on Him in all things. I was doing really well at focusing on God throughout the day until recently. Being at the end of pregnancy and having a whiny son, definitely makes it difficult. But I want to react to them, continue to live, and continue to speak and think in the Spirit. So how do I do that without spending every moment in the Bible which is impossible right now due to exhaustion?

I am finding out that there is a key to walking in the Spirit. To have our minds SET on walking in the Spirit. Romans 8: 5-10: "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness."

Our minds must be set on walking in the Spirit. But then what does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Romans 8:3-4, "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Here the word for walk is 'peripateo', which means to make one's way, progress; to make due use of opportunities.

The word set in the Greek is 'fronema' which means what one has in the mind, the thoughts and purposes. What are we thinking about? I think it comes back to our thoughts and what consumes them. Are we consumed by our own thoughts? By what we can attain physically, how we can look to other people, frustrations, problems, hardships, sufferings, issues other people have, or something else that isn't of God? Or are our minds set to seeing everything how God sees it? To thinking about things as God thinks about them?

I struggle in this. I am not perfect and then my thoughts produce a walk that doesn't make due use of all opportunities. We have to take captive every thought to the obedience of Christ. This is a real challenge. But if we do so we can constantly walk in the Spirit and have our thoughts set on God. We can do as we see the Father doing.

Let your inward groan constantly for the things of God, even if you are not sure about what or how. The Spirit of God will teach us and intercede on or behalves.

"In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. " - Romans 8:26-28.

The World Has Gone Mad

2008-03-07T07:32:00.001-08:00

Have you ever felt like everyone else was entirely insane and somehow you were the only sane one left? You might just be right. As Christians God has given us a sound mind. God has given us peace and hope both not of this world. He has also given us a wisdom that seems like foolishness in the eyes of the world, but is true wisdom in His eyes.

How do you know that the world truly is going mad? Last night when reading Romans 1:21-23 I started to understand why especially in America it seems that we have strayed so far from God.

"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures."

This passage is very clear about what has happened. "For even though they knew God," don't miss this! They KNEW God personally. These people had at least met God and knew His glory and power. What went wrong then? They became saved, knew God, desired Him obviously. They then did not honor God or give thanks to Him.

The word honor here in the greek is 'doxazo;' to cause the dignity and worth of some person or thing to become manifest and acknowledged. They knew God and yet kept living their lives however they pleased. They did not live a life that caused the worth and dignity of God to become manifest and acknowledged. What are we supposed to be doing as Christians? Make sure that God's awesome power is acknowledged in all we say and do. That way people will see and taste how good God is!

That means we must also thank Him constantly for all He has done, is doing, and will do. That means having an outlook on life that is focused on how God sees it. Not on how man interprets it. Not on my life is so horrible and its never going to get any better. No! Eyes that are fixed on all the great and glorious things God has done for you and how He will continue to give you strength to walk in hard times. I absolutely hate it when people say, "Well you know. If its not one thing its another." Or when people say, "Its always something." That is NOT God's outlook on life nor His opinion. That is NOT thanking God for all He has done. That is admitting that Satan has more power than God and you cannot overcome Satan.

What happens when we do not acknowledge God by the way we live and by thanking Him for all He does? We become futile in our speculations. The word for speculation here in the Greek is 'dialogismo' meaning a thought; inward reasoning. The word for futile in the Greek is 'mataioo' which means to make empty, vain, foolish. Empty meaning there is no inward reasoning. Vain meaning inward reasoning that has no REAL value. Foolish means lacking in judgement with their inward reasoning.

Let's read this again, with the more accurate description plugged in:

"For even though they knew God, they did not acknowledge by action and words that He was God or give thanks, but they became empty and lacking of real value in their inward reasoning, and their hearts that lacked the ability to judge were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures."

We have so many people who have known God and not lived for Him. They never acknowledge God by their words or deeds. Maybe at rare times of struggling they acknowledge God with a few words or by asking God to give them what they want. But they never thank God or live for Him. And God allows their inward reasoning to become useless. Is that not insanity? If you cannot reason, what good is your mind? You are told the truth and somehow you distort it to what you want it to be. Because you are futile in their thinking and your heart lacks judgment. You cannot get yourself out of the rut you are in. You constantly think in vain and you constantly believe that the way your heart feels is right and so thus your actions are right.

But this is not the truth. If a person like this would simply listen to the word of God they would see that their behavior does not acknowledge God. They would turn from their sinful ways and start having inward reasoning that was worth value. They would have hearts that could judge correctly and hold them accountable. Their actions would reflect the glory of God!

What keeps them from doing so when you tell them the truth? I think the key is verse 22 and 23, "Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." They already thought themselves wise and were unteachable. A fool who considers himself wise is the most dangerous kind. Not only that but they traded the God they once knew for the glory of man and things; idols.

Has America not done this? We worship the television with our time. The computer, games, models, actors, actresses, famous singers and musicians, great businessmen, etc. We desire to be like them and to own all the neat new toys and distractions that these people produce. But we never hear the people who didn't acknowledge God ever say, "I want so much to be like Christ." No! We hear them say, "I wish I could sing like Jessica Simpson." Or, "I wish I was as hot as such and such."

Then we see the outcome of their decision. The outcome of them deciding to not live for God, nor thank Him, of their worthless inward reasoning and their hearts that lack judgment, of their worship of idols, and of man's wisdom; God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts.

This is where America is at and it proves what has happened to a people who knew God and did not acknowledge Him. Romans 1:24-32:

"Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error(AIDs?).

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

This all happens to a people who knew God and knew the truth. To people who knew God's commandments. Be careful to acknowledge God in all you do and say and to constantly give thanks to Him. If you feel the world has gone insane around you, it has. God allowed their minds to become futile and their hearts to be foolish. And that is why the world is so mad. Why we have Christians that look just as bad as unbelievers or even worse.

Manifestation of the Holy Spirit

2008-03-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

The Holy Spirit still exists today no matter which religions would have you believe otherwise. I know West Ministers believe that the Holy Spirit was only for the apostles and no longer works today. This is not true. Jesus promised the Spirit of Truth to all of us. And Paul exhorted us to imitate him as he imitated Christ. So if reject the testimony of the Holy Spirit, what does that mean about us?

John 5:31-47: (NASB)

"If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true."There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.

Witness of John

"You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth."But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved."He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

Witness of Works

"But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish--the very works that I do--testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.

Witness of the Father

"And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. "You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.

Witness of the Scripture

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

"I do not receive glory from men;

but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

"How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God. "Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope." For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me."But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

Then in combination with John 15 which talks about in NASB translation to abide in Christ and He will abide in you. Makes a great deal of sense when you plug in these verses from John 15.

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit." You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you."

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me." I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples."

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

"These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Jumping down a ways...

21"But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

"He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well." But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, 'THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.'

"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

In my understanding of this, Jesus accused the Pharisees of only believing part of scripture. Of rejecting the testimony about Christ. If we reject the testimony of the Holy Spirit, who only testifies to all Christ has done, then we have reject Christ and God, the Father, as well. If we reject the Holy Spirit, Christ, or the Father then we are only studying scripture in hopes to posses eternal life without receiving it. We are like that branch that did not abide in the Father, once we reject the Holy Spirit, that is cut off and thrown away. Simply because we refused to believe all Jesus said and promised to us. We have to believe that God is the same today as He was yesterday. For Jesus taught the disciples that the Spirit of truth would proceed from the Father to them. All that Paul did was in the Holy Spirit.

And Paul himself instructed us in 1 Corinthians 4:14-17:

I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.

For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.

Paul imitated Christ through the Holy Spirit. Then exhorted us to do the same and sent Timothy, who already had the Holy Spirit and was imitating Paul, to remind them of the ways of Christ. This is a calling for the entire church, every church, as well. but you might say we are to imitate Paul but that does not mean we have the Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit was given to Paul so that Paul could lay the foundation for what we must imitate. Why then does Paul instruct us in 1 Corinthians 12 about the gifts of the SPIRIT?

1Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

I am certain that you cannot pick and choose the testimony of Christ. The Holy Spirit brings testimony of Christ. Thus you cannot reject the Holy Spirit and accept Christ. Just as the Jews could not accept God the Father and reject Christ.

Tolerance vs. Love

2008-02-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

How long have we been taught that if we silently live the life, then others will come to Christ? But boldly proclaiming the truth is not love? Is this what the Bible teaches? Is love remaining silent when another sins and living the life until they ask what makes you different?

I think not. Esphesians 4:1-15 tells us how we should speak the truth in love, especially within the CHURCH.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it^[a] says:
"When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men." (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

This is not talking about unbelievers. This scripture is talking about the church and those still on the milk. That God will make sure those IN THE CHURCH are no longer infants, tossed back and forth by lies and every kind of teaching. But instead will know the truth, full truth, and grow up in Christ who is the Head of HIS CHURCH. Why do we say head pastor? Who is the "Head" in scripture? Is it not Christ? Have we been infants given to lies and teaching that is deceitful.

I am convinced we have been! That even our pastors are misguidedly following the teaching of others and leading people away from Christ. Not on purpose to harm people, but by ignorance because they have known no better.

But those of us who know the full truth, or at least the more fuller truth, we have a duty to SPEAK it in LOVE. Meaning we respect the person and their decisions, but we still give them a chance by speaking the truth. Silence is not love. Scripture says, " Better is open rebuke than hidden love (Proverbs 27:5). If we truly love our brothers in Christ we will rebuke them to following any teaching instead of the Bible! We will openly rebuke them that the Bible gives all the guidelines on how to BE the church instead of go to it. In fact, we will openly rebuke them for not judging everything a pastor says against the word of God.

Leviticus 19:17, " 'Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt." If our brother is doing wrong we will come to hate him in our heart if we do not rebuke him frankly! The Bible says to rebuke your neighbor frankly so as to not share in his guilt! In other words, if you do not rebuke him, you share in his guilt. What a scary thought considering that 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 specifically tells us that we are all to bring a word, an interpretation, a hymn, or a tongue. That we are all supposed to participate in the worship of God, not just a few people running it all. We all seek God and hear from God, not just the few to witness to the most.

"Silenced by Tolerance" as recently sent out in the mail by Focus on the Family. Written by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler the following points are clarified as the differences between tolerance and love:

Tolerance says, "You must approve of what I do." Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will love you even when your behavior offends me."

Tolerance says, :You must agree with me" Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will tell you the truth, because the truth will set you free."

Tolerance says, "You must allow me to have my way." Love responds, "I will do something harder: I will plead with you to follow the right way, because you are
worth the risk."

Tolerance seeks to be inoffensive, love takes risk. Tolerance costs nothing, love costs everything.

In fact speaking the truth in love is not only timely but also critical. We must recover - without embarrassment or apology- the basic belief in truth. This means embracing all people but not all beliefs. It means listening to and learning from all people but not necessarily agreeing with them. Even if it makes us objects of scorn or hatred, we must courageously speak the truth in a sympathetic, compassionate, and humble spirit
(1 Peter 3:8).

Tolerance is this; there is no absolute truth so we can tolerate all beliefs as being possibly true. All those who believe in absolute truth are intolerant and thus we should be intolerant of them. Christians believe in absolute truth, hence why culture is so intolerant of us if we stand up and speak the absolute truth, Christ. Unfortunately churches have adopted the idea of tolerance as being love in order to keep up with culture. Tolerance is not true love according to the Bible. We must be intolerant, speak the truth, but loving.

Whoever loses his life will gain it and whoever seeks to gain his life shall lose it. Be careful, we are supposed to be seen as intolerant but loving. Do not act hateful in speaking the truth. But do not be hateful by remaining tolerant and refusing to speak the truth.

Avoidance Mentality

2008-02-21T06:16:00.000-08:00

I strongly disagree with avoidance mentality when it comes to any sin. Walk away from the problem and move on in what God has shown you; this is what I have heard repeated so very often. But is this God's heart on the matter? Did Jesus ever just walk the way? Did He not preach, encourage others, call them away from their sin, and constantly rebuke the Pharisees? Should we not be doing as we saw Christ do? Jesus did tell us to do as He did.

In fact Christ also told us, do as the Pharisees say but not as they do because they were hypocrites. Jesus Christ is not most honored in our lives by only doing as He says. We must also speak the truth even if it seems judging or points out the sin of another. Jesus never shied away from talking about sin, He confronted it head on in almost every situation. We bring God the most honor by living the life and speaking the truth. Silence does no good.

You cannot be silent in this and simply move on. It is impossible! Because people will come and ask why you are doing things differently. Whether they want what you have or are strongly opposed to it. At least this has been my experience. I leave the topic alone and people hound me down concerning it months later. For example anonymous books in the mail that support the institutional church's doctrine. When everyone who knows me knows that I desire only the opinion and traditions of God, not man. Because Christ is the only One whom I will follow. As the Bible instructs and I know Christ's way best by the Bible. Not by man's interpretation of the Bible.

But if I were to remain silent on the subject when given these books. To not openly rebuke them these people would never see the truth! How is that love?! That is not true love, but being comfortable and safe in your new environment. Its just as dead as the first situation. We are called to obey Christ at all moments. Including the verse in the Bible where God tells us, "Better an open rebuke than hidden love." Or the verse where God told us, "He who loves his neighbor rebukes him." Just as God who loves us rebukes us. But sometimes that is done directly between God and man, sometimes an angel is sent, and in many other cases between two men.

If you truly love those who are going to church instead of being the church you will tell them the truth. Not avoid the discussion and refuse to speak. You will not avoid the topic, but run to it every time God directs you to do so! It is out of love for people and wanting them to have God in EVERY area of their life, not just some, that I desire to speak the truth.

Is that so wrong? Is that so ungodly? It would seem to me to not speak would be wrong. Like a child about to run across the street and get hit by a car and be injured but not killed. You would scream at the child, mad dash across the street, and drag him into safety. Not just watch as he is run over.

Spiritual Gifts Assessment

2008-02-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

I just took a test in the book "Discover Your Spiritual Gifts the Network Way."

My gifts are as follows:

1.) Shepherding.
2.) Mercy.
3.) Encouragement, discernment, and words of knowledge (they ranked evenly).

No shock there. Used to be Shepherding, words of knowledge, and then teaching. Not surprised it has changed some with all God has been doing in my life. Though I think I've lumped teaching into shepherding, LOL.

How can you do one without the other, right?! By the way I edited this, because I messed up in one of the areas in calculating :)

My husband is so great!

2008-02-16T07:14:00.000-08:00

I just had to announce to everyone that my husband, Stephen, is so great! Right now Stephen is quietly and peacefully sleeping in bed which means I had best not awaken him even to thank him. Men and mornings do not always mix so well, especially the earlier you wake them up!

Yesterday was a horrible day in the morning. He made a mistake that ended up being emotionally tragic for me. Long story short we received a booklet in the mail a couple weeks ago about California State Laws for driving. Stephen forgot to tell me and Jesiah, my two year old son, made off with the book to only who knows where. We went through all the processes at the DMV and then I found out I had to take a written test. I failed the first time only by one point. I failed the second by three points. Two of which the woman marked the wrong answer and I had the right one and one I forgot to answer. Stephen forgot to answer one of his question's but that woman asked him the questions and filled in the answer he gave her.

Mine did not. Instead she berated me loudly in front of EVERYONE in line. I balled my eyes out on the way home to study the book my husband had forgotten to tell me about. The worst part was she was wearing a cross around her neck and was terribly mean to me and probably many other people that day.

Stephen apologized and calmed me down once we got home. Just held me as I balled. It was not his fault about the booklet because we have been so busy lately it just slipped his mind. Stephen has been working 50 hour weeks lately if not 55 hours per week. Needless to say he is exhausted.

But Stephen ever so sweetly every evening listens to every word I have to speak. He listens to my feelings, my arguments, my beliefs, and my desires for the people I know and see not living the way they should. Stephen rarely complains about me venting. He is a great father and constantly helps out with Jesiah when home and not working on side projects and always finds at least one moment in the day to give Enoch a little attention.

Not to mention he's attentive to my needs. Gives me back massages after I have been painting, cleaning, gardening, or doing laundry all day long. He buys me the things I really desire if he can. Stephen spoils me and I love it and try to do the same back. But last night he did the best thing ever. The house was a mess again after cleaning the entire house spotless yesterday (we have had a house guest for a week now who went home yesterday morning) and I was simply too tired and emotionally exhausted from the morning to clean. Not to mention being seven and a half months pregnant!

You know what he did? He cleaned the living room for me. Picked everything up and when I came out this morning the house was completely neat. Well at least that section of it, we won't mention what the kitchen looks like!!!!

Stephen is the best hubby ever!

Generational Curses - Are they still true for us?

2008-02-12T15:57:00.000-08:00

I have heard generational curses preached to congregations. Have also believed that it was the truth and that God still held to these principles today. But then we are also told God still holds to the law, which in truth Jesus fulfilled the law. My question is this, are generational curses still something God does today? Something God judges by? Or is it like tithes and circumcision where God has no need for it any more because of Christ?

In the old testament God did indeed curse the children of wicked men to the third and fourth generation. Its recorded continuously in the Bible! Exodus 34:5-7, Deuteronomy 5:9, and Numbers 14:18 all repeat this, "Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."

We see evidence of the generational curse. But there was a way in which to break that curse. Leviticus 26:39-42 says, "Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers' sins they will waste away. 'But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers—their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land."

If we confess our own sin and that of our fathers we will be forgiven. AFTER we have been humbled and paid for our sins. But have we not been taught that Christ paid for our sins? How does paying for our own sins now relate to Christ having paid for them? Does this make the cross null and void? Does it mean the cross is not enough? We must also confess our sins and our parents sins in order to be saved?

Not at all! This is an old testament covenant because Christ had not yet died for their sins! This was the way by which God choose THEN to redeem them from the curse their fathers had put upon them and for fathers to redeem their children from their own mistakes. But now we have Christ who has redeemed us once and for all! Ezekiel prophesied this after God had stated that He would curse generations for the sins of the fathers,

"Yet you ask, 'Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?' Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him (Ezekiel 18:19-20)."

But how could this be? Christ had not yet come during Ezekiel's time. This is because Ezekiel was prophesying about our times as was the prophet Jeremiah when he said,

In those days people will no longer say,
'The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—his own teeth will be set on edge.

"The time is coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,"
declares the LORD.

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."

Jeremiah 31:29-34.

God has forgiven our sins through Christ and remembered our wickedness no more. We are saved and redeemed! In fact Jesus quotes this verse in Matthew 23 where He tells us that we no longer be taught by our neighbor but that the Holy Spirit will teach us without measure! This promise is for us! We cannot be cursed for the sins of our fathers. We do not need to repent of our parents sin. Though we do need to be careful not to sin as they have. Just as we need to be careful not to sin like our worldly friends are sinning. But it is no longer a curse placed over us for three to four generations. We are free from the curse through the blood of Christ!

Accept your freedom and do not let anyone try to place fear into your heart. Fear the Lord God Almighty and remember His word. His promise that those who are saved are saved indeed!

Godly Wives

2008-02-08T11:08:00.000-08:00

We all struggle in being godly wives to our husbands. None of us desire to be poor wives to our husbands and yet at times we all find ourselves struggling to be godly. Why is this? Sometimes we are hurt, feel ignored, are fearful, are not trusting God, or simply we have become controlling. What does God’s word have to say about the way we should conduct ourselves as wives? We can listen all we want to the rest of the world and their advice, but we all know the divorce rate is over fifty percent. Not to mention this is almost as high in Christian circles because they are not reading the word about being godly wives and practicing the word.

In the first pair of man and woman, Adam and Eve, we see what God intended marriage to be for the wife. “But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” Here we are depicted as a suitable helper, part of man. We are one in flesh, spirit, and mind with our husbands. We were created by a piece of him to be a helper to him.

Yet at times women seem to get ahead of their spouses and expect them to be the helper. “You never help me! You are always busy doing your own things, working all sorts of hours, ignoring me! When are you ever going to give a little back?!” We hear so many women say this or relate that they feel this way. But the man’s job was not to help us, it was our job to help him. We shouldn’t be reaching for our own individual goals but helping our husbands in joint God-given jobs to us as married couples.

Where did it go wrong? Adam and Eve were happy together. Until she decided to make decisions solely on her own. Until Eve decided she wanted to have the knowledge of good and evil. Then Adam was displeased with her for the first time. What did this knowledge lead to? Jesus tells us where it lead to in Matthew 19:4-8,

"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,‘ and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. :”

Maybe the reason you are discontent with your husband is that his heart has become hard towards you. You can blame your husband for this happening or you might be able to recognize that it is your fault as well. As the old saying goes, “It takes two to fight.” What do women do then that causes their husbands hearts to become hard?

Proverbs 12:4 - “A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.” Here the Hebrew word for disgraceful is ‘buwsh’ meaning becoming anxious. The Hebrew word for noble is ‘chayil‘, meaning boldly courageous. What does the Bible say about being anxious? Philippians 4:6; “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Instead of being anxious and bugging our husbands we need to go to the Lord in prayer. Because when women become anxious they start to nag and its disgraceful to men to have a wife who behaves like this.

Is that all we can do to make our husbands’ hearts’ hard? Of course not! Proverbs 21:19, “Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.” We are not supposed to argue with our husbands or have a short temper. We are supposed to be long-suffering and peaceful, which are also fruits of the Spirit. If we are not peaceful and long-suffering then that is the time we need to go seek God and quiet ourselves before Him. Not fight with our husbands for what we believe is right. It should a a discussion, not a screaming and yelling match. It should be a peaceful discussion not one underlined by anger.

Proverbs 19:13-14, “A foolish son is his father's ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping. Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD. “ Here quarrelsome means contentious, meaning tending to argument and strife. What does a man consider as strife? Nagging, arguments, emotionally upset at them, fuming, fighting, refusal to talk out problems, and the list continues.

These are just a few of the many things that can bother our husbands. Now we know how to do things wrong and cause our husbands hearts to be hardened./ By being quarrelsome, ill-tempered, nagging, emotionally upset at them, fuming, refusal to work out problems, etc. But how do we do it wrong?

We need to first be boldly courageous. Even if the circumstances in our lives tell us to be fearful and anxious. If we are not we need to go to God and settle those issues with Him. Not expect our husbands to solve them for us. Also, we need to be helping our husband in the grace, enablement of the gifts, God has given us as a couple. In continuing with this we should be prudent as Proverbs 19 says. What does prudent mean? Prudent means wise in practical affairs. Not emotional, not reacting, not foolish. Wise and practical instead of reacting.

Is this all? Not at all! Proverbs 31 teaches the type of women we should become in the Lord. In addition to all that the rest of Proverbs teaches us to be like, we are also supposed to be hard-working and not given to idleness. We are to bring our husbands good, not harm every day we live. Capable with our hands and godly mothers. Generous and merciful to the poor. Always prepared for a time when there might be nothing or too little. She saves aside food, or money for us, for times of need. She speaks wisdom and faithful instruction to others, meaning advice from the Bible and Lord. She fears only the Lord and is not worried over the future. She has prepared for it as best she can and trusts God with the rest.

Most of us fail the standard with at least one of these points. We need to seek God and ask Him to develop us into perfect wives. Not rely in our own strength to make this happen. God has given us grace as wives and we need to allow Him to do it in us instead. That means also being obedient to His still and quiet voice, meaning conviction. If we ignore the conviction we feel when upset, we will not grow into godly wives.

Is this all scripture has to say about our relationship with our husbands? Not at all! There is still yet more. We are not to refuse our husbands sexually unless by mutual agreement. Strong-arming your husband does not count! The time you would spend sexually active you should be praying instead so that you have self-control (1 Corinthians 7:1-17).

Probably now you are starting to wonder about submission. We know we should not fight now, but discuss. How do we discuss difference of opinions and decisions with our husbands without being quarrelsome, ill-tempered, fearful, or anxious? We submit to our husbands in everything as we do in Christ. That means we trust our husbands to make a righteous decision even if he doesn’t do as we please. We are to share our opinions calmly and lovingly, because husbands are supposed to be considerate of us. But our husbands have the final decision and we should trust them in this and not tell them, “I told you so” if they make a mistake. Instead pray that God would work on their hearts if you know they are making a poor choice (Ephesians 5:22-32).

It is our husbands jobs also to make us pure, spotless, and blameless along with Christ. We need to listen to them in things about our behavior that concern them. Take it to heart and seek God. Change as they ask you to as long as it does not contradict the Bible. BUT it is not our job to change our husbands. We must trust God to do that because it is part of submission. We can express concern and displeasure at some things, but we should never push at them (Ephesians 5:22-32).

Submitting is also being kind, loving, peaceful, compassionate, humble, gentle, forgiving, and patient. Again being rude, disrespectful, angry, merciless, prideful (thinking we know better), crude, unforgiving, and impatient is not submitting to our husbands and causes their hearts to become hard towards us. We need to handle every situation in love and the fruits of the Spirit ( Colossians 3:12-19).

We also need to be worthy of respect in the eyes of everyone around us. We should not look poor in the eyes of others, unless they believe obeying the word is foolishness. We should not accuse falsely or slander. Instead we should wait to see how things turn out and make a right judgment then as Christ said. We should speak kindly and truthfully of others, but never slanderously or falsely. We should be sober (temperate) and faithful in all we say we will do (1 Timothy 3:11).

Finally, we should be pure and reverent. Meaning we should remain pure in God’s sight and revere Him in all we do and say. We should also be quiet and have a gentle spirit. We should not be loud and obnoxious. We should not be harsh in any situation or judgment we make (1 Peter 3:1-6). This is what it means to be a godly wife.

Stain-glassed window

2008-02-06T09:57:00.000-08:00

You spoke truth and light.
Gave me life
A reason to live.
God I need you by my side.

You have called me to
Forsake all.
My truths and my thoughts
My selfish ambitions
The opinions of others
My home where I grew up
My family and friends.

To obey the truth
To remain in you.
Love expressed in obedience
My heart to Your heart.
Love expressed in truth
Your heart to my heart.

All I am is a man
Why would You consider me.
Yet You open Your word to me
And teach me Your thoughts
Teach me Your ways
How to walk in Your truths
And not man's laws.

Will you stay by my side.
God I need you by my side.
Not story book taught to me
But the truth lived out through a life.

Help me Lord!
My strength fails me!
But I will trust in You unfailing love
As you help me forsake all
To live entirely for You
Entirely obeying just You.
A walk in the Spirit.
Instead of the flesh that is comfortable.

My hearts cries out
For the One who created me.
The One who loved me
Just as I am.
The One who teaches me truth
Without measure
Like the grains of sand
Of the beaches
So if the limitless truth
Of Your word.

I rest in You
My Lord, my God.
To love You unconditionally.
As You have first taught me.
You are enough for me.

Pick up the pieces
Of my broken heart.
Make me whole again
As I have forsaken all
And everyone
To seek after You.

Form a new picture
Of who You want me to be.
Like a stain-glassed window
Cracked and shattered to all else
Who chance to see.
Beautiful and whole in your sight.
My Lord, My God
You are enough for me.

More on Jude 1...

2008-02-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

Today God answered my prayer to understand more about Jude 1 that I had written so much about before.

A brother at our meeting explained to us what grace meant in the New Testament. Every time grace is mentioned in the New Testament the meaning in the Greek is, "enablement, aiblity, power." Meaning God has given us the enablement, replaced for grace, to do His will. Like this verse, "So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving." The grace of giving, meaning the enablement to give!

Now when I read Jude 1:4 I understand the verse entirely! When we plug in the real meanings in the Greek the verse says:

"For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the enablement of the gifts of our God into a shamelessness for immorality and deny Jesus Christ as our only Master and One who controls our lives."

They use the ability God gave them to get away shamelessly with their immorality and thus deny Christ as our Master! And who did Peter compare them to? Whose sin did Peter say their sin was like? Like Korah, Balaam, and Cain. Those who used their weakness as an excuse to not master their sin, those who desire to climb the ladder in the church like Korah wanting to be high priest, and those who go beyond what is written. In other words those who do not stand against sin, desire to be exalted instead of being the servant of all, and those who go beyond what the Bible instructs.

We need to repent. We need to make sure that we only desire to be servants and to be humbled. To take the most lowly place at the table. Then we also need to stand against sin and master it. Not excuse our sin by grace. We also need to stick to what the Bible says and NEVER go beyond it. Never devise our own meanings and ways of practicing the verses of the Bible we like. We cannot ignore the things God has said that convict us. We must obey only the Bible, the whole Bible, and not go beyond it.

This means some major change in some of our lives. This means a time of repentance, change, maybe a job change, humbling, and letting go of our own thoughts and ways. Time to embrace the Holy Spirit instead of the flesh.

Rules and Ideologies

2008-02-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

Today I read that with every new denomination comes a new set of rules and ideologies. Amen to that! It makes people sick! All the different rules and ideologies that divide men. Because man sets his kingdom against the kingdom of another man. Believing whole-heartedly that they are doing as God intended.

Since when did God rely on the interpretation of man? The Catholics got screwed up in their thinking when they decided that man could pick and choose which of what God said should be included in the Bible! Does God ramble for now purpose?! No! Every word God spoke to the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles are to be included. Because He spoke those very words to man crystal clear.

Why then do we feel we have the need to explain God? To take His word and decipher what it truly means? When God said Korah was insolent, Korah was insolent! When God said that His sheep will follow no other voice but His, then they won't! When Jesus said He and the Father are One, than they are One. Why do we need to explain it? Why do we have to name it 'The Trinity' and explain it to the last detail.

Why cannot we just rest solely on the word of God? Trust Him instead of the opinion and thoughts of man? Issaiah 55:8-9, ""For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Why do we then trust in the thoughts of man?

God gave us the truth; the Bible. "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-21. Jesus told the Jews that if they held to His teachings, not their interpretation of them, than they were truly His disciples and His truth would set them free!

John 5:36-40, "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."

Wait a minute. The Jews were already studying the scripture yet Jesus said His word does not dwell in them. Because they sought their own intelligence, they sought their own understanding of the scripture instead of God's truth. They ignored parts of the scripture like Jesus coming because it did not suit their purpose. You have to hold to the whole teaching of the Bible, not just the part you want of it. Then the word will dwell in you, you shall know the truth, and be set free and be Christ's disciple.

But if you pick and choose the word, you cannot remain in Christ. Its disobedience to God. The ideologies of man are foolishness in the eyes of God. The law has made us dead as Paul taught! Christ brought the truth, not a long set of rules and ideologies. Though the commandments are part of the truth. Yet the commandments were about the way we live, not the way we have church.

And just to set the record straight, house churches don't believe in a set of rules and ideologies. I don't either for that matter! We believe in obeying the entire Bible which is the truth of God. Without obeying the Bible you cannot obey God. How then can you remain in Christ? John 15 explains all of this. House churches want to be a tree that bears good fruit by obeying the word of God entirely even in the way the believers gather together. And yet this has been lumped into rules and ideologies? No, its the Bible being shared not man's opinion.

Just some clarification on the post below:

2008-01-31T07:25:00.000-08:00

I am not saying that all pastors or priests are ungodly. I firmly believe that some really do desire to obey God by being pastors, even if misguided. Those are not the ones in whom I am talking about that fit Jude 1. The pastors in whom I am speaking about are the ones who never preach about sin in order not to offend their congregation or those who preach some types of sin are okay, namely homosexuality. Those are the teachings you need to get away from! Remove yourself from those teachings!

Whether it be a friend trying to teach you this, a pastor, a parent, etc. Do not listen! It is not the truth! Grace is not an easy way in which we can sin as we please and still go to heaven. It covers us when we allow ourselves to be overcome by accident or on purpose and eventually repent.

Also there are some who are like the Pharisees. They preach about the evil of sin and yet willingly and knowingly pursue their own sin. We have seen this happen with priests, sorry not popes, rapping little boys and pastors who embezzle or have homosexual affairs or are greedy for money. You cannot serve both money and God the Bible says. Their teachings are tainted. I would be careful to discern where your pastor is at spiritually before listening to his teachings. How can we hear correctly from God is we are willingly living in disobedience of Him? You cannot! Hence why you won't be learning what God has on His heart for you to hear.

Continuing on. Can we be perfect? By Christ's blood we can be! Even if we slipped two seconds ago. But we can live forty years without sinning. We can be perfect from this point on. That doesn't change the fact that we need Jesus Christ. We once sinned and fell short of the glory of God. Without the strength God provides to overcome sins we cannot do so! Its not something in which we are so strong that we should boast, but that God granted us so much grace, mercy, and strength that we are able to overcome or be forgiven when we do not.

Think about it. When you really give your life to God you strive against sin, which is aiming for perfection, because of your love for God. The moment you stop loving God you sin. The moment you love something MORE than God you sin. This is an idol or another god in your life that you need to cast out. It might even be worshiping yourself. I say this as one learning to love God more than my sin and as one guilty as you are but saved by grace!

Just be careful. Our goal should be to love God. In Jude 1 we see an ungodly people who slipped in amongst the rest. They loved profit, sin, being promoted or looked upon as mighty by others, to feed themselves instead of others, to shamelessly sin even if they said they weren't like that, etc. They choose these things over God. Confront them and tell them the truth! Save them from the fire as Peter wrote! If they refuse to repent cast them out from among you least you be swayed into their sin as well.

And saying this does not make us like the Pharisees. Again the attitude of the Pharisees were very similar to those shepherds who fed only themselves. They preached against sin all the while willingly and knowingly pursuing their own sin. They wanted to look good in the eyes of men and love their sin as well. The Pharisees could not be rebuked. But they were already dead in their sins, twice dead. But we should strive for perfection not so that we can boast in ourselves, but because we love God MORE than our sin and desire to prove this to Him. Desire to show our love for God through not sinning, through out actions. Because God judges the heart of a man not his outward appearance like mankind does.

Shepherds Who Only Feed Themselves

2008-01-29T17:37:00.000-08:00

Jude 1 reads:

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

The sin and doom of Godless men

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.

These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

A call to persevere

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Doxology

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

You might be asking yourself, "What on earth was Jude talking about?!" That this chapter of the Bible is so confusing because it never comes out pointedly and says this or that is a sin! This is exactly what a godless person does or this is who the shepherds who only feed themselves are.

Jude was warning believers throughout all generations to keep away from those who deny Jesus Christ as Sovereign and Lord. What did Jude mean by Sovereign? The word used in the Greek is despotes which means master. We are a servant to our Master, Jesus Christ. Here Lord in the Greek is the word kurio which means the owner; the one who has control of a person. Now we see that the godless people Jude warned us against denied that Jesus Christ was our master and the One who should control our lives.

But where these people saying this outright? No! License in this chapter is the Greek word aselgeia, which means shamelessness. Let's read this verse again with the true meanings plugged in:

For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly
slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a shamelessness for immorality and deny Jesus Christ as our only Master and One who should control our lives.

This places new meaning to the verse. How many pastors refuse to preach about sin? Well God will convict them of their sin. Yet even the apostle Paul, Peter, and Jesus told people to walk in their sin no more! Even some pastors have slipped in amongst the rest and refuse to shame people for the immorality. In fact some even say that sin is okay! That there is nothing wrong with homosexuality, fortification, and loving money. Most Christians believe that they should not speak out against sin in another believer's life or that sin is okay. We are all sinful, so why even bother trying? Right? WRONG! We are to be ashamed of our sin and turn completely away from it and thank God for His grace when we fall. God's grace is not an excuse to our sin, but a redemption from it once we have completely turned away.

How many Christians live their lives in control of everything they do? But it says here that godless men deny Jesus Christ as the One who should control our lives. Our lives should be controlled by God. If it is not, then we are godless. If we do not preach that sin is wrong, then we have denied Christ as being our Master. We have chosen another Master and we cannot serve two masters. If a pastor preaches that a sin is not a sin, then he is godless and you need to leave that church and find sound teaching in Christ.

Men speak abusively against things they do not understand. Think twice before you open your mouth to speak abusively against something that you do not understand. Maybe you are wrong? Check what you have been taught and believe against the word of God. You might find out that what you have been taught and have believed for so long is wrong and contradictory to the word of God. If God's word rebukes the person then you are right. If it does not then you are in error and do not understand. This just disturbs me after reading Systematic Theology in which the author abusively speaks about churches who believe, "No government but the Holy Spirit." Yet the word of God rebukes governmental church! Yet we do not speak abusively of them, but instead allow God's word to rebuke them. We have also heard many pastors or those studying to become pastors speak abusively about house churches. How can they ignore what scripture says about them?

Who were Cain, Balaam, and Korah? The most important one for us to learn from is Cain. But let us start with the least lesson learned, from Korah. In numbers 16 we read what happened to Korah. In this chapter we find out that Korah was insolent and raised up 250 other Israelites with him to oppose Moses. Korah and the others opposed Moses because they wanted more than what God had given them. They did not want to be just servants to God as Levites. They also desired to the the highest ranking, the priest, as Aaron was. They wanted to climb the ladder and be the most. Instead of being the least as God wants for His people. What happened? Because they attempted to oppose God's prophet Moses the earth opened up and swallowed them and their families.

Most people forget the story of Korah as well as Balaam. In Number 22 we read about what happened to Balaam. Balak son of Zippor and King of Moab sent elders to Balaam who was a prophet. They asked Balaam to come and speak a curse over the Israelites for they were afraid of the the vast amount of God's people. God asked Balaam who had come and when Balaam answered God told him not to go. Balaam refused and the messengers went back to tell Balak his answer. Balak sent the messengers back and this time God allowed Balaam to go because Balaam desired to.

But Balaam had it in his heart to speak curses against the Israelites because he desired the money. God then almost stroke him dead by an angel. Balaam's greed caused him to go beyond what God had commanded. We should NEVER go beyond what the Lord has commanded. Yet we find pastors setting up a church in a manner that is beyond what is instructed in scripture by Jesus and the apostles. In fact they admit that most things that are decided upon in the church have no scriptural basis or leading by the Holy Spirit. Just read it in Systematic Theology. They believe it is okay to go beyond what God has commanded when it is not fine in God's eyes. We are to gather as God has instructed and no other way. We are to conduct ourselves and give words of instruction that are only based in scripture. We are not to go beyond this because that is disobeying God.

In the story of Cain we see that Cain was lazy in his offering to God and jealous of his brother Abel (Genesis 4). God warned Cain to do what was right and not what was wrong. God said that if Cain did what was wrong sin was crouching at his door and desired to have (control in Hebrew) him. God told Cain that he needed to MASTER SIN. We have been taught that we cannot overcome sin. That we will always be sinful, but this is not true! We have a choice, even if the odds are set against us. Because we love sinful things more than God we fall. Not because we cannot overcome Satan who is in the world, but because we choose to love something else more than God. Because Cain could not master his sin he killed his brother Abel and was a wanderer who was starved and no one could kill to put out of his misery.

Anyone who preaches that we cannot overcome sin entirely if we choose to love God more than our sin has denied that Christ is Master and the One who should control our lives. They are godless. We can overcome sin entirely for the rest of our lives if we choose to love God more than our fleshly desires. But because of our free will and our fleshly nature and temptations from Satan the odds of us choosing God first is unlikely. But that does not mean it is impossible as so many pastors preach. Those who preach it is are following their ungodly desires.

Men who desire to become the greatest amongst you, who preach you cannot master your sin, and those who go beyond what is written are men who are blemishes in the body of Christ. They are men who have made the body of Christ ill and feel no remorse over doing so. They are shepherds who feed only themselves. Here shepherd is the Greek word poimaino meaning "to furnish pasture for food." Literally they take the word and form a sermon only to feed themselves. They furnish the pasture in order to financially support for themselves. Their sermons are not to help you grow closer to God, but to bring in a salary for themselves. Even if they have believe they are bringing you food. They are not. They believe a lie just like Balaam believed that by God saying he could go to Balak meant he could speak a curse over the Israelites.

There is no mistake. Men who do such things are eternally dead. They are twice dead in fact! Once living but have died again because they have gone astray and rejected Jesus Christ as master of their lives. We see the evidence of no fruit in the lives of many. There are no fruits of the Spirit in the lives of those who attempt to do as Cain, Balaam, and Korah did and who preach that we cannot overcome sin and should not be ashamed by our sin. They do tend to be grumblers and faultfinders. They do follow their own evil desires! How many popes have raped little boys? How many pastors have become greedy or slept with other men? They do boast about themselves and flatter the congregation for their own advantage. They cannot preach against sin because the people would leave and they would lose their paycheck.

But this is not only for pastors. If you are a Christian but you boast about yourself, flatter people so that they will be your friend, follow your own evil desires, grumble and fault find you are in danger as well! To know something is a sin is not wrong. To go purposefully out to find the sin of others is. Sin is sin and we should preach against it. But we should not live a life looking for the board in our brother's eye to make ourselves feel better about the plank in our own.

Strive to love God more than your sin, to not desire to be exalted before men, and to not go beyond what is written in God's word.

Paying Pastors, Whom Are Over Glorified Elders

2008-01-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

As I have already stated we are not to pay tithes any longer for it makes us dead to the law. We should instead give freely as God directs us to do so that it brings about life more abundantly in us and others. As Paul taught us in Galatians 5.

But are we supposed to give money to a pastor (elder)? 1 Tim. 5:17-18 teach us, "The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18For the Scripture says, 'Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,' and 'The worker deserves his wages.'" When you read this passage it would seem that we are supposed to give them money for their work. But is that what this verse meant? What did Jesus say about wages? This verse written by the apostles was noted as being taken from the time when Jesus sent out the seventy-two. The scriptural cross-reference is Luke 10.

Luke 10:1-12; " After this the Lord appointed seventy-two^[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' 6If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house." When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' 10But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.' 12I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town."

First of all the support of wages was to to first go and reap the harvest. Elders must first being doing so in order to get their wage. Secondly, our wage is to have a roof over our heads and food to eat and drink. By the gift of one family taking them in. And they are not to go from house to house, but to stay in that one home of peace. The Bible teaches us not to give money to an elder, but to support his needs as he does the work! Take him into our home as our family! Not provide a tithe or monetary value.

As Paul taught us, though, if the elders take this wage then they have received their reward in full. For he quoted the same verse about paying a worker his wage. If you are supported by people with shelter, food, and drink then you have received your wage and reward on earth. Paul exhorted us to work a job and do the work of Christ as he did.

Do not pay your "pastors," whom are elders. Instead take them into your homes and support them and their families entirely as God has directed. But then if you are going to do this then the elder must also be preaching the good news to the unbelievers or teaching it to believers constantly. At least forty hours a week of preaching and teaching. Not only this but we must function as the body of Christ is supposed to! All bringing a hymn, word of instruction, tongue, or interpretation (prophesy) when we gather together for "church."

In adding to Systematic Theology Below....

2008-01-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

I have been told numerous times that it is wrong before God to criticize a senior pastor. He is our spiritual authority and we should NEVER question or accuse our spiritual authority. Yet there is no basis in the Bible for the role of a pastor, unless you include a pastor as a type of elder.

What does the Bible say about speaking against an elder, 1 Tim. 5:18-21, "Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning. I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism." Yet we show a pastor, which is an over glorified elder, favoritism. We never publicly rebuke them nor do we hold them accountable to their sins. Even if we have numerous witnesses! Yet those who attempt to do so which is in accordance with scripture are preceived sinful and are cast out instead. For keeping the instructions without partiality.

I do not repent for what I believe a certain "pastor" has done wrong towards us and some other people. I have EIGHT witnesses that will all speak against what he has done. Yet the institutional church has no checks and balances. Its run by one man who has "spiritual authority" and the teaching that you should not question him. Yet house churches are run by everyone, overseen by elders, and the elders as well as people are rebuked when they are out of line with scripture in any thing they say or do!

We are taught that house churches are so dangerous and contrary to the word of God, but the institutional church is accurate according to the word of God because they have a publicly recognized place for elders. Even though publicly recognizing an elder is contradictory to 1 Cor. chapter 12. Also, there is no scriptural backing for a governmental church or that a house church is contrary to the word of God. In fact there is scripture that proves that house churches are in accordance with scripture because they are lead by the Holy Spirit and all participate.

Yet the institutional church who believes itself right because of the publicly recognized position of elder, disregards the standard at which elders are supposed to live up to. Titus 1:6-9, "An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it."

When do we ever make a pastor step down because his children are wild and do not believe? I know many pastors like this! Yet they are allowed to continue to be elders. Allowed to continue when they are not blameless because there is no checks and balances. How many pastors are overbearing?! Many are! How many are pursuing dishonest gain? Many do not love what is good, do not have self-control, are not upright, holy, or disciplined. But if we question their spiritual authority then WE are the sinners. This contradicts the word of God. We should hold them accountable and rebuke them, maybe even remove them, from their position of elder (pastor).

I will rebuke the pastor who is sinning. He is just as accountable to us and we are to him according to scripture. If he will not listen to me I will take another witness. If he still does not listen to me then I will take it before the church as much as I can since they control everything that is said during service. If they still will not listen I will treat them like the heathens and not even speak with them. I have done this and followed scripture yet I have been told I am the one sinning!

No, the ones sinning are the ones refusing to rebuke their "spiritual authority," pastor, that does not exist. Spiritual authority and not questioning them ever is a heretical teaching that contradicts the word. They use the premise of governing authority to support themselves because they see themselves as a government church. But scripture does not support us being a government church at all.

Rebuke your pastors, whom are over glorified elders! Hold them accountable as you would any other person! This is the word of God in which we are to obey. Do not shy away from it in fear of being thrown out of churches or hated by the majority. Do what is right and pleasing in the sight of God.

Systematic Theology... The Thesuarus of Theological Debates:

2008-01-18T23:57:00.001-08:00

At Christmas I was given the book, Systematic Theology, as a Christmas gift. Intrigued by the opinions of the institutional church's beliefs on certain theological debates I decided to read this book. Interestingly enough the topic of governmental church is debated in this book.

Systematic Theology records the religions of our past; Roman Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, etc. But yet has no scriptural backing beyond the context of elders in why the church should be formed as a government. It also insists that a pastor is a form of an elder, because elders were known to preach. Yet beyond this there is no support for priests, popes, church boards, pastors, etc. For any type of authority or government the church might have and even states that this is ambiguous because the Bible does not mention much about it.

In fact the reason for a government setting seems to be to publicly recognize who is doing what works in the body as to remove confusion. As Systematic Theology states on page 903, "Similarly, the pastor who is responsible to do Bible teaching each Sunday morning must be recognized as having the right and responsibility to do that. If this were not the case, then many people might prepare sermons and all claim the right to preach, or on some Sundays no one might prepare." Thus this position needs to be publicly recognized whereas the lesser functions like healing, counseling, speaking in tongues should not be publicly recognized.

Yet in the same chapter of the Bible where they list the lesser gifts from the Bible teaches us, "On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other (1 Cor. 12:22-25)." According to God's word we should treat the seemingly less important gifts with the most honor. Hence the church starts their promotion of the greater parts, like pastors, in contradiction to the word of God. Because the presentable parts should not receive special treatment.

Later on in the chapter Systematic Theology states the following, "No Government but the Holy Spirit. Some churches, particularly very new churches with more mystical or extremely pietistic tendencies, function as a church government that has no government but the Holy Spirit. In this case, the church would deny that any form of government is needed, it would depend on all the members of the congregation being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in their own lives, and decisions would generally be made by consensus. This form of government never lasts very longs. Not only is it unfaithful to the New Testament pattern of designated elders with governing authority in the church, but it is also subject to much abuse, because subjective feelings rather than wisdom and reason prevail in the decision-making process (p. 936, Systematic Theology)."

Here the author dissolves into insults and slanders against a body of Christ attempting to follow the word of God. A body of Christ that I believe are truly following the word of God and are succeeding despite the statements of this author. The opinion and attitude of this page is repeated in many of the studying theologians and pastors I know. Even though the beginning of this chapter suggest we should seek out the form of government we prefer, a lack of one is not acceptable and all who choose it should be condemned to subjective feelings and mysticism according to Systematic Theology.

But does the word of the Lord support the beliefs of no government but the Holy Spirit? 1 Cor. 14:26-33, 36-38 reads:

"What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

36Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored."

God has taught us in His word that we are all to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, despite the scoffing of this author. We were all to participate, not just a few people. We are all to give a word of instruction (a sermon), hymns (worship), a tongue, or interpretation (prophesy). Even though Systematic Theology advises against all people coming to preach the word and this is a basic church government belief, GOD says that we all should come with a word of instruction (sermon). That the Holy Spirit will teach us and guide us. Paul expected this as he wrote in 2 Cor. 13:14, " May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Not just to pastors, elders, deacons, or those publicly recognized by the institutional church.

Why does a pastor's sermon seem so easily forgotten? Why does it not change us? Why do we forget it so quickly? Because a pastor considers himself the only one spiritually gifts. read 1 Cor. 14:26-38 again. God commands that we all be involved in the edification of others. That if we ignore this command and consider ourselves the only spiritually gifted ones, then we will be ignored. Pastors and their words have been ignored as they have ignored God's commands of how HE wants the church to operate.

We can be the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Now by a pastor, building, or church board. In the same chapter where Paul teaches us about the spiritual gifts in 1 Cor. 12, he states in verses 4-6, ""There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men (1 Cor. 12:4-6)." This is just before teaching us that all gifts are equal because what is a hand without an ear? A nose without an eye?

The house church does not disregard the authority of elders in the church. Though they do hold their elders accountable and they let God appoint elders instead of man, unlike the institutional church. As Titus 1:5-9 states; "An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it." The purpose of an elder is to oversee what the believers are doing in their gatherings and each person is speaking in the name of God. Because they have more wisdom and are closer to God. Their main purpose is to keep to sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. To refute those who teach unsound doctrine, not to be the only people teaching them.

A house church based upon the word of God and guided by the Holy Spirit does not govern itself by emotions instead of God. As the author of Systematic Theology states. Instead they allow God to govern them and agree by entire consensus on decisions. If there is a mutual disagreement then the elders agree on a decision together. The elders also keep them accountable to the word of God in their decision making. Just as Paul and Barnabas were at an impasse and the elders sought God and agreed upon what God's will was. Instead of one man or small group of people having all control, the entire body of Christ makes a decision together in accordance with the Bible and Holy Spirit.

As for governing a church by wisdom and reasoning of man. I would hesitate to do so. 1 Cor. 1:19-21, "For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise of the world. Our wisdom is nothing. God's Holy Spirit is all that we need.

Will you choose the wisdom, reasoning, and organization of man? Or will you choose the Holy Spirit, Word of God, God's wisdom, and yourself as a vessel? Shake off the lies that have been taught us by people who believed the lies were truth. Obey the word of God and be the church instead of going to church.

President doesn't make the decison?

2008-01-11T15:04:00.000-08:00

Someone I know and respect somewhat told me that they believe that the President cannot change abortion. That it must happen at a state level, so why care if they will not stand against abortion? Morals! Because morals matter to me and they matter to God! Have we forgotten as Christian the Ten Commandments? "Do not murder." Those children are alive and they ARE being MURDERED whether the women and doctors are ignorant of the matter or not.

As for the President, maybe he cannot make a difference. But at the same time I know the Bible says this, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish (Psalms 1:1-6)."

First psalm that King David ever wrote officially. How intriguing that the first psalm David would write as King was about not walking in the counsel of the wicked! We should not vote for a President who does not delight in the law of the Lord. Otherwise we are curses, not blessed as a nation. King David knew this to be true, why do we doubt God's word?

I want to be blessed by not walking in the counsel of the wicked. By having a RIGHTEOUS President!

To Tithe Is To Obey the Law.

2008-01-11T14:06:00.000-08:00

Now tithing is a part of the fruits of the Spirit?! What are pastors teaching any more?! Manipulation?! THIEFS! They are as bad as the men who sold doves for a sin offering at the temples. It makes me want to march straight into some church and knock over the pews like Jesus did in the temple!

Tithing is NOT one of the fruits of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control (5:22-23)." No where does the Bible state in here that tithing is a part of the fruit of the Spirit. But the Bible does warn against blasphemy. The Bible warns not to blasphemy that word of God or you might grieve the Holy Spirit.

In this same chapter Paul taught us; "Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:2-6).

Love is all that matters. Which hangs upon the Ten Commandments, laying down your life for your brother, being a servant, being generous. Corinthians chapter 13, and the fruits of the Spirit. The law makes us dead! The law makes Christ have NO VALUE TO US AT ALL! By providing tithes to pastors we are not generous and do not serve others. We do not have the love of Corinthians chapter 13 when we pay tithes. Why is this? Because we feel that we have already paid our debt for ourselves! We have no need for Christ and love for the poor if we feel we have already done our job in full.

How stupid Christians how to believe everything taught and not to question it against the word of God. Paul exhorted us to question everything he said and anything someone else said against the word of the living God. Why do we not do this? Because we have accepted a priest, pastor in modern day terms, to go before us to God. We have become dead through the law of priests.

Shake off pastors, tithes, circumcision, etc. Embrace true love which is serving others, supporting widows, supporting orphans, supporting the poor, supporting the fatherless, Corinthians chapter 13, laying your life down for another, the Ten Commandments, and the fruits of the Spirit.

Not Tithing Is an Act of Stealing From God?

2008-01-11T13:56:00.000-08:00

I recently read a posting on a community site where someone stated that not paying tithes was stealing from God. I was infuriated because there is NO Biblical support left for us paying tithes. Also, no where in the Bible does it accuse people of stealing from God when the Israelites did not pay their tithes. How can you steal from God when He owns everything in heaven above and on the earth below?

Many pastors quote Malachi 3 as proof of their statement to not pay tithes is to steal from God. But this is a verse taken and bent out of context. Pastors quote Malachi 3:8-10 as their whole support for how not paying your tithes is stealing from God,

" Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
"But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

But here God was not talking to the Israelites. God was talking to the priests through the whole prophecy He gave to Malachi. That means all of Malachi 1, 2, and 3 are addressing the priests. See how God was speaking to the priests through Malachi in chapter one and notice how God is speaking in the same manner in chapter three. Malachi 1:6-7,

"It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
"But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?' "You place defiled food on my altar.
"But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?'
"By saying that the LORD's table is contemptible."

See how God is speaking to the priests in the same manner that He does in Malachi three? Read the entire book and you will see that God is talking to the priests consistently in the same manner throughout the whole prophecy. You don't believe me that this was to the priests? I will explain further how I know this to be the truth.

Tithing in the times of the Old Testament did not look like it does today. Ask any Bible scholar and they will tell you exactly what I am about to tell you. God established the principle of tithing with the Israelites and instructed them to take a tenth of their crops and eat it. Deutoronomy 14:22-27 instructs us to,

"Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice. 27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own. "

God instructed the Israelites to go and take a tenth of their produce and animals and eat it. Their entire family was supposed to go to Jerusalem, where the temple of God was errected, and eat their tithe as well as sharing it with the Levites. They were not supposed to just give all the money over to the Levites, priests, to use with as they pleased. The families were supposed to enjoy their fruit, eat of it, and be merry. The Levites were to join in that. Today we simply give our entire tithe to the pastors, without enjoying it all, to use with their own discretion. Might I add they we never hold them accountable to what they use those tithes for. Some pastors drive BMW's!

So how did the Levites survive? Numbers 18:8-10 explains,

"8 Then the LORD said to Aaron, "I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion and regular share. 9 You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons. 10 Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy."

They ate part of the love and sin offerings brought in by the people! God shared His offerings with them. The only other time that the Levites received tithes to live off of was every three years. Every third year God commanded His people, the Israelites, to tithe 20% instead of 10% like every other year. The additional tithe was then given to the alien, widowless, fatherless, and Levites. Deutoronmy 26:12-13 provided the instructions concerning this,

"When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. Then say to the LORD your God: "I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded."

The Levites were the ones responsible for taking this additional tithe and placing it into the storehouse. They would then take it out of that storehouse to provide for three years for themselves, the fatherless, the widows, and the alien. It was their responsibility. Proof is found in Nehemiah 10:37-39,

"Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and oil. And we will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work.
A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and oil to the storerooms where the articles for the sanctuary are kept and where the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the singers stay.
"We will not neglect the house of our God."

This proves that it was the Levitical priests who brought the tithes into the storehouse, not the Israelites. Remember Malachi 3? God says for them to, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse." God was speaking to the Levites about robbing from Him because they were not putting the tithe into the storehouses to be saved for future use for the aliens, widows, fatherless, and themselves. The Levites stole from God because they took the money the Israelites provided as their additional tithe every three years and spent it on themselves instead of saving for those in need.

Pastors today do the same thing as the Levites did in Malachi three. They take the tithe, that we no longer need to pay because Jesus Christ paid it in full, and they use it on themselves instead of bringing it into the storehouse. They do not provide with it for the aliens, fatherless, and widows. Pastors only provide for themselves with our tithes. Not only that, but they require us to tithe every year to them. They do not allow us to eat of our tithe per year. We bring all of it to them every year instead of every three years. They waste all of it and never give to those in need. They are worse than the priests of Malachi 3 by doing so.

Furthermore, where are the references for where Jesus said that not paying tithes is to steal from God? And please use the new testament. We are no longer under the law of the old testament for Jesus died to set us free from the law (Galatians 1 & 5). Also, we shall no longer have a priest, for Jesus is our Holy Priest and our only one (Matthew 23). Jesus Christ fulfilled the need for priests when He died on the cross. This means we no longer need priests and thus do not need to support priests with a tithe.

And pastors do not qualify as deserving to receive tithes because they are not anything like a Levitical priest that the Israelites supported. In order to receive tithes you would have to be a priest who is needed to access God. Pastors are not priests and are not needed in order to access God. Jesus Christ is all we need to access God.

Jesus Christ is our priest and we no longer need to support priests or go to any priests in order to reach God. Jesus intercedes for us and we are a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2). We have full access to God now through Jesus Christ without the need to pay an intermediary.

Where in the Bible is a robber mentioned or a thief? There is John chapter 10 which mentions about anyone who tries to enter the sheep pen by any way other than Jesus Christ is a thief. But Jesus meant any one who claimed to be doing something in God's name and wasn't sent by God was a theif. Also anyone who tries to be the shepherd of His people is a thief because He is the Good Shepherd and His people will follow HIS voice and no one else's.

There is Matthew chapter 21 where Jesus accuses those selling doves as being robbers. But why were they robbers? Because they sold God's forgiveness to the people instead of the people coming to God Himself. These people were supposed to bring a sin offering out of their own crop as their repentance and instead the men selling doves gave them an easy way out. Or at least attempted to do so. Jesus called them robbers for doing so. Do we not allow pastors to have our relationship with God for us and then pay them for doing so?

There is a large difference between going out into all the world and preaching the gospel and staying in a comfortable place called home and preaching once a week from a pulpit. The first we are supposed to support, by bringing them into our homes, called a missionary (Luke 10 where Jesus commissions the seventy-two). The second there is no Biblical support. And remember what Paul said, its good to support them but they have their reward in full on earth through their pay. It was not a set 10% but the leading of the Holy Spirit to help those in need among you. Why do pastors make it a law that causes death instead of a move of God upon someone's heart that brings about life? Jesus came to bring life more abundantly, but the law causes death as Jesus told us.

No where else in the new testament is a robber mentioned. There is no biblical basis for tithes to continue today let alone that if you don't pay a set 10% that you are robbing God. No, Jesus instead encouraged us to support missionaries by bringing them into our homes and to seek Him. Jesus Christ encouraged us to be generous even if it meant giving 100% of our income to those in need. For we would be taught by the Holy Spirit without measure. Which makes the traditional pastor non and void in God's word and not deserving of support. Which also makes tithing invalid and not necessary.

Can they do it right?

2007-12-06T08:06:00.000-08:00

I think some pastors honestly are well-intentioned and are pretty much doing it right. They aren't leadership centric and they don't care about it being perfect. I was amazed to watch online a the singers on Mosaic were off key but had beautiful music. Some notes were hit beautifully. Yet he complimented they and commented on how God was in it. "Make a joyful noise." Not a perfect noise.

Might it be that some pastors are truly humble and really sought by God? I cannot doubt that God would get frustrated by us refusing to change and be the church instead of do church. How will He bring people to Himself if he does not infiltrate the churches? God has through many congregational bodies in the churches and by some leadership as long as they do not get distracted.

My opinion based of the scripture is that God really wants us to be the church, not go to a building. But if God cannot get people to change He does attempt other tactics. It all rises and falls depending on what we are willing to do.

That said I was very impressed with what I saw online at Mosaic. They did not attempt to be perfect. Erwin sat as He talked, 90% of his sermon was sharing from the scripture and what it meant with our walk with Christ. Sharing his own personal failures, struggles, and weakness that were simple yet common among most. Sharing how Christ wants to change those things and make us strong in Him.

The whole sermon was about Jesus when he revealed himself to Simon Peter on the road and was talking to the two men. Jesus showed up on the third day after rising again to the people who were talking about God and Christ. God is in our conversations! We need to make a conscious effort to talk about God. In those conversations we need to be listening to God for what He has to say. That was the sermon.

That is a true sermon as the Apostle Paul would have spoken upon. A sermon about your relationship with Christ and making Him the focus of all of your life.

Complaining too Much.

2007-11-26T12:13:00.000-08:00

This post is inspired by Veronica and God speaking to me through her post. I do not want to be like the Israelites who constantly complained and never thanked God for what they had. Not only that, but their complaining lead them to doubt God. Which in turn brought God's wrath upon them numerous time.

I am thankful for my relationship with God. The One who always loves me, teaches me, challenges me, rebukes me, encourages me, etc. Without God I am nothing and I do not want to be anything but what God would have me be.

Even more so, I am thankful for Christ dying on the cross so that I could have that relationship.

I am thankful that I can take up my cross daily and follow after Jesus, or at least try to. That I can hear God's still and quiet voice and have dates with Him. I am thankful for how He healed me and caused me to forgive. I could go on forever with this...

I am thankful for my wonderful husband! He gets me pop from 7 Eleven when I crave it. He helps out with Jesiah, makes half the meals at least. Gives me messes to clean up, hehe. He pampers me and makes sure that everything I really want I have. Stephen listens and has deep conversations with me. Just plain loves me for me. Not to mention I do enjoy being called beautiful and being cuddled :)

I love my son and am SO thankful for him! His sweet, cuddly, playful, even annoying nature. How he needs me and learns from us. I enjoy his company and his silliness.

I am thankful for my friends and family that have been so great to me. That I can get along well with my husband's family, somewhat with my own, and have friends who encourage me and listen as well as share their walks in God.

Also I am thankful for this healthy child, for the moments I had with Arrayah, and for my husband's new job amongst other things. God is great even in bad situations and we definitely see it in the good situations.

I am even thankful for moving out here even if I do not always like it here.