82 Responses to Home

1. Viane says:

   April 28, 2012 at 8:21 am

   When I was just entering my teagene years my church’s youth group used a very similar (yet more sexist) analogy to introduce us to the concept of sex. It’s too long for me to repeat unless someone desperately wants to hear it but the gist of it was: women need to learn to keep their legs closed lest they become used and battered loose women (only in less nice terms than that) who don’t look very presentable to their perfect virgin husbands. You know, if more christians were like this guy I’d prolly consider attending church on occasion hahah. but it’s interesting to me that the most offensive and horrific sin in the days of the jews on through Jesus to the early church and its apostles was idolatry. Now the church’s main obsession is sex. I kinda liked studying the jesus who cared about the poor and the sick and stood up to the super wealthy and super powerful. I think the shift in thought underlies a significant shift in values within the church. I don’t see nearly as many homeless or sick people in modern churches as I see in the new testament stories. just a thought.

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   • preach@luke24vs47.com says:

     May 1, 2012 at 8:04 am

     Thank you for an honest and a candid response. No doubt there are many who profess to be Christians yet because of their behaviour the name of Christ is slandered. This is what the Bible calls hypocrisy, and such was I for. 50 years. But 8 years ago GOD changed me which brought about a thorough change in my thoughts and behaviour. Titus 1.15 states: to the pure everything is pure but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. Those who taught you in your past were attempting to change your behaviour without a change of heart ( nature ), so that without a saving faith they instead teach moral self reformation. There are many today who have no idea of the transforming power of GOD in Christ, because they have never yet been converted and their faith is based upon their works and their righteousness. Their morality and standard of goodness stems from their self, a form of godliness but denying it all, a pharisee or rich young ruler boasting in their self righteousness. A Christian who has been born again or has been transformed in his heart and his thoughts and his desires is given a desire to be as Christ- not perfect yet, but desiring to be no longer like the world but to be like Him. GOD has revealed He is (One). And a man and woman in marriage become (one). Two become (one) as a reflection of GODs holiness. So a man or woman who would wait on the husband or wife GOD provides or for a husband/ wife to be faithful would glorify Him. To wait in purity and to keep yourself unblemished is for Him. But for the natural man or woman this seems impossible or miserable. To teach moral perfection s to deny the very nature we are born with. To the those converted by the power of GOD in Christ, they become new (creatures) with new desires. Old things pass away all things become new. In Christ a woman or man may not only want to wait but become a servant or a handmaiden of Christ. Why – because He gave Himself for us. Jesus Christ came to save sinners from sin not to leave us in sin. A true Christian comes to know that though forgiveness of their sins could not be bought with money or merit, but was offerred freely by GOD, this forgiveness is purchased by Jesus Christ through His shed blood. So then why would a girl wait – only if and when this blood of Christ becomes more precious to her than her natural desires as a female. Those that receive Him by the will of GOD become children of GOD and He gives His Holy Spirit as a help to overcome. In Christ we are reconciled to GOD, receive pardon for sin, are delivered from shame and guilt of sin and are offered life eternal. Nothing in us could commend us to GOD but whoever calls upon Him shall be saved. Those that seek Him with all their heart and soul will find Him. Hear of a woman who washed Hus feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Tears for her sin and guilt and shame. Only one thing was needful and that was Him. He that has the Son has life. Have you yet come to that time and place where you would bow to Him from whom salvation is given. Have you wept for your sin and brought your shame and guilt to Him? Now, today, while it is today seek Him. Love him that you may not see but you know He loved enough to die for the ungodly. His love transcends death. His love is all that remains when all else passes away. Seek Him He is worthy, a pearl of great price, altogether lovely, chiefest among ten thousands. By His grace He offers faith to believe and He offers repentance from sin, and He offers help for those who seek Him. Ask Him for His help. You can not give yourself the faith to believe, the love of Christ, or the hatred of sin. Come as you are we can only be saved by His grace by His washing of regeneration by His spirit.

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     • Taradidi says:

       June 15, 2012 at 10:42 am

       , “Examine yourselves, wheethr ye be in the faith; prove your own selves”? (). Have your ever stopped to ask yourself why you are a member of certain group? Can you give a biblical reason for the faith you hold? If not, are you sure you have proved all things and holding fast which is good? Didn’t the Lord say, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits wheethr they are of God ; because many false prophets are gone out into the world?” (). Unless we constantly examine ourselves to see wheethr or not we be in the faith, isn’t it possible that in the final day we might be surprised to learn that we were following false teaching? The Scripture says, “Many false prophets are gone out into the world”. The word to give a defense comes from the word “Apologia” That is a Classical Greek term appears in the Koine (i.e. common) Greek of the New Testament. The Apostle Paul employs the term apologia in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians as he is defending the gospel ( ), and in believers must be ready to give an answer for their faith. The word also appears in the negative in : unbelievers are ???????????? (anapolog?toi) (without excuse, defense, or apology) for rejecting the revelation of God in creation. Our restorers pioneers Alexander Campbell et al. were apologetics debaters always the debates is between “ the truth and the lie” (Opposite views). We see the example “14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” (). Other example are the demons of the adversary of God in “19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” but they don’t live the word of God. We believe that the truth of God prevail talking the truth in Love (, ). There are sincere believer in the denominations as the example of Apollos before become a Christian the Scripture says “26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” (). For sure we are concerned for those those who have not heard the Gospel in his purity. Those new souls has been added to the book of life and are new babe in Christ. () now they are sure about their salvation.

2. Zootiagli says:

   April 27, 2012 at 11:42 pm

   Craig asked What does it look like to invite pploee to follow Christ in your church? Multi-faceted question with a simple answer for me A gospel presentation, and a clear and simple invitation to get alone with God and obey his gospel though it may cost you even your life Hand raising, and altar calls are good for us (the church, or pastors and evangelists) to see what impact the Spirit is making in other pploee’s lives, but to me the formula can become the goal or focus of the message rather than the real focus, which is faith in Christ, and the filling of the fruit bearing Spirit of Christ My church is on the streets, and wherever I may be led in life, and the pploee I invite to follow Christ I ask them to first count the cost, understand the decision, and then yield in obedience to complete trust in their lives for the direction and leadership to Christ I believe that some pploee raise hands to please pastors or church members, (though some sincerely repent and trust and follow Christ to please God) but for me, I don’t lead in a salvation prayer, or an altar call but rather invite those who I believe have responded to the gospel to begin to trust Christ in obedience from this day forward (not for salvation but as a result and fruit of their faith in His Gospel) When I see someone respond immediately in obedience, I can be sure that it is faith and not just a routine hand raising to please a pastor, or respond to pressure, or to get attention, or any other false motive, etc .(just being real here) I believe if the Spirit is working, the heart will follow, and the mouth will testify of what God is doing in the heart be it through prayer, testimony,tears or jubilation .My hope is not to put any stumbling block before a person, and that their sole goal in obeying the gospel is from a heart of faith, yielding to Christ We have this saying in modern church accept Christ into your heart and I think its weird personally to me that gives way too much power to the person, and too little to God, even though it is just verbal preference I like to say Christ accepts you because of your faith and trust in Him , That kind of makes clearer the point that Jesus is the leader, and we are the followers Jesus invites and we likewise respond in faith I know, I am weird and radical but I almost try to talk a person out of just saying a prayer because I don’t want them to be deceived by a legalistic or religious landmark but rather by the gift of the Holy Spirit coming to give them peace between them and God through their faith in Christ I know too many pploee who struggle with assurance because they prayed the prayer , or stepped forward , but do not have the Spirit’s assurance, and worry that they might have become religious rather than in faith trusted in Christ for salvation thus receiving the assurance, and seal of the Holy Spirit To me, it is God’s job to give assurance, not mine and I agree, I don’t see a sinner’s prayer , or an altar call in the scriptures I am not saying those things aren’t important, or genuine, but just that I have come to the a place of faith where I trust that God will give them assurance of salvation and the hope and peace that comes with the indwelling Holy Spirit, and don’t see any need for those, or the possibility that those thing might provide false assurance Sorry so long, but this question hit my evangelist button .Christ’s blessings

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3. James Marion says:

   March 22, 2012 at 9:40 pm

   I do not believe in the concept of sin. Sin is a tool devised to control our thoughts and actions. Life can be broken down into two paths. The path of material gain and the path of inward discovery. Sin is a method for those at the head of the religion to increase their material wealth. It is highly effective considering you dedicated an entire website to it. One can make the comparison between hell and prison. If you brake the law you will go to prison and since we all live in the physical plan where time is considered we cannot serve an eternity, but we can serve life. Prison is the worst place in society to end up. A governing body, who controls the criminal justice systems, profits from the people they incarcerate.The more people incarcerated the bigger the profits. Committing a sin is breaking the law of a religious dogma, thus your soul is sent to religious prison i.e hell. No one wants to go to hell, but you cannot prove without a shadow of a doubt the actual, physical existence of hell so you take it on faith. In the eyes of the faithful they have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of the lord. No crime had to be committed, the simple denial that such a law code exists is enough to get you into trouble. Sin is simply using fear to get the desired results. That is the definition of Terrorism.

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   • Diego says:

     April 28, 2012 at 11:07 am

     , We have this saying in moedrn church “accept Christ into your heart”… and I think its weird personally … to me that gives way too much power to the person, and too little to God, even though it is just verbal preference…I like to say “Christ accepts you because of your faith and trust in Him…”,That kind of makes clearer the point that Jesus is the leader, and we are the followers…Jesus invites and we likewise respond in faith… I like that. It has always seemed too weird to accept Jesus into our heart. Maybe the place to accept Him into should be our wallet. LOLReally though, it seems to diminish the place of grace and mercy if it is all up to us. By us accepting Christ our salvation is then because we did something. By Christ accepting us because of our faith in Him (also given to us) it is all from God.What an amazing gift.

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     • preach@luke24vs47.com says:

       May 2, 2012 at 7:56 am

       The gospel of John states that “to all who did receive Him He gave them the right to be children of GOD, to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of GOD.” John 1.12. Born of GOD by the will of GOD. Saving faith in Christ is a believing unto righteousness which comes about when the power of GOD transforms- from death to life, from darkness to light, from spiritual death to a newness of life in Christ, from a carnal mind to a spiritual mind. Whe Moses encountered GOD his face was transformed but this then faded. To be born again is to enter into a eternal life in relationship with GOD. Accept what you will But GOD is GOD over all blessed forever. Even to those who will not accept but deny the truth, He is GOD. This GOD has revealed to man what He desires to be known about Himself. As a holy Sovereign He has provided a way that a fallen man can be reconciled unto Himself. He has provided a means of imputing righteousness unto the unrighteousness. He has provided atonement for the sins of thiose who believe . For GOD was pleased to have all His fullness in Christ and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross whether things on earth or things in heaven. It is not acceptance all men need but atonement by His blood by His grace by His mercy. To be in Christ is to be clothed in His garment of righteousness trusting in nothing within us but clinging to Him. He is my refuge, my strength, my mercy seat, my city of refuge. It is all of Him, by Him, and through Him. He demands us to deny self and self righteousness and be unoted with Him, Come then and bow to this King who offers salvation as unmerited favor. Seek Him while He is near. He grants the faith to believe He replaces love of the world with the love of GOD, delivering from bondage to sin to a freedom in Christ. Repentance is not only from darkness of sin to light but to acknowledge we are without hope in self and all our hope Is in Christ.

     • Sabri says:

       June 15, 2012 at 8:00 pm

       I think some of you missed my ptnois completely. Come under MY roof whose church are we talking about? What was spiritually wrong with saying Lord, I am not worthy to receive You ? That was right to the point. We are sinners and thus we are not worthy of any of the love and blessings our Lord grants us. It is through His Son Jesus Christ that we stand before our Father forgiven of our sins. This is basic Christianity 101. We are not in any way worthy of God’s love. Saying instead that we are not worthy that God should come under our roof while we are in church is not only weird, but also sounds like we are elevating ourselves to a status equal to or just under God. As a child, I was always taught and rightly so, that the church is God’s house. By saying under my roof or anything like that, it sounds as if we are stealing away God’s presence in our church building. It also neglects to remind us that we are sinners. We are going from saying I am not worthy to receive You (due to sin and impurity) to a level of talking about a building. As for the Creed in first-person if I am sitting in my room quietly in prayer and want to focus on MY personal faith or am sharing that faith with another person, I can easily say I believe. If we are gathered as a COMMUNITY of believers, then it sounds like my brothers and sisters in Christ are being ignored I believe OR we [all] believe ? I cannot make this argument easier than this.

     • Clarence says:

       August 24, 2012 at 4:30 pm

       Kelly, I have been enjoying your words of eacruongement. Each post has been a timely reminder to remain in Him and be faithful. Thank you for taking me on this journey with you. The Lord has been tugging at my heart as I read and assuring me again that He is with me and that apart from Him my attempts at Love, (that is: ‘to Love’ -the verb, and the TRUE LOVE that is pure and an overflowing of Christ’s love for us) fail. So thank you for writing. I enjoy hearing your heart through the words. I love you sister and I MISS you!

   • preach@luke24vs47.com says:

     September 25, 2012 at 12:51 pm

     Dear James, thank you for boldly expressing your beliefs. i would ask you by what standard of truth are you making these claims (asserting they are truth) By using the Word of GOD as a standard for truth, i can state ” sin is transgression of the law, to miss the mark, or to be opposed to the will of GOD.
     And you do believe in sin as evidenced in you locking uo your valuables, fearing violence, anger when you hear of the innocent mistreated. The law of GOD is written upon your heart, so that even if you have no thoughts of GOD or religion, a knowledge of right and wrong is demonstrated by your excusing yourself and when you accuse others. If sin is whatever each person determines it to be; then the criminal will believe he is right to take advantage of the weak. If society determines what sin is then we can not denounce the holocaust or slavery in America or destroying life in the wombis wrong or imoral. But the wrath of GOD is revealed against all unrighteousness and we are created with GOD’s law written on our heart. That is why you make excuses or justify yourself or judge others. That is why you might try to do a good deed or admnire someone you thought was commendable. The fact is when you sin it is in light of the knowledge of sin (given by GOD) and therefore in GOD’s view you are guilty without excuse. i would be quick to forgive you for i am nothing but a redeemed sinner and i have used all your excuses myself, but GOD demands payment for sin and without the shedding of blood their is no atonement for sin. This website is not devoted to sin but is to declare repentance and remission of sin granted by GOD so that he demonstrates His justice while justifying the unjust and this by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. His righteousness is clothed in His mercy and this He offers as a gift that cant be earned but but can be received by GOD’s will through repentance toward GOD and faith in Christ.

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