brideofjc

I can't find the Scripture right now, but either Psalms or Proverbs, "If you seek Him with your whole heart, He will be found" It is the lack of hope that will dry your bones. For in due time, you will look around and wonder why you are still hanging around here. Keep the faith.

Demons of addiction

Sales Clerk: Oh yes! (every time you read a passage from now on, you will hear Doc Vic's voice in your head telling you what to think it means) YUP! It took a long time to get that recording to finally break. "It's the Word and nothing but the Word! When it comes to the Word, I don't have any friends!" If only I would have listened to the Holy Spirit sooner than I did. No time like the present.

I share them in the spirit in which I received them - Pure unfeigned joy and delight. I post not to see how many will agree or not. I am posting because I love the Word. Hope you all enjoy as much as I. And I would like to hear your opinions on these jewels. Thanks for your response, BJC. Rachel I know...I could tell! There's nothing quite like finding those jewels in the Word, is there? My apologies if I sounded too " seminary" it's hard to break away from all that training that my profs gave on how to break down and categorize the scriptures, using all of the right steps.

Scar tissue is not the same as fresh, living tissue. Even as the wounds close up with the scar tissue, the reminders are always there. I stayed until 1987 when upon hearing LCM degrade Jews to such a point that I realized, finally, TWI was anti-semitic... after all....where did they place the Lord Jesus Christ? Wish I hadn't wasted all those years. But here's to ya!

"Behold the power of faith?" The question is not faith, but faith in WHOM?" I wouldn't murder someone because they chose to not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Would my faith understand their rejection that they are choosing hell? Yes. But that would still be their choice. The bit about Universism....No it was really quite relevant IMO, The Lord God said that I John 2:15-9 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abides for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time, They went out from us, but were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Even according to the Muslims....They claim Abraham was their Father as well....and they went out from us...because they were not of us...

Sounds like you could start your own religion, Ron....The Organized Church of Buffalo Hump Chili Eaters, but please don't desecrate our new church with those magic beans. And Ron...??? What are snooty pots? Are those pots with soot on 'em that got uppity?

How could it be? It was already stolen material anyway. Haven't you ever heard of an honest thief? This way, it's only borrowing... they'll put it right back. But don't weep my sheep, if the Fed-?? loses it over some anonymous ocean or other.

Too many similarities! I kept thinking...Where have I seen this before?

Well, first of all, I don't like Tommy boy, even as an actor. On the video, he was all smiles, but if you really listen to what he is saying, he is saying absolutely nothing. "I mean...you have to do something!" " I mean...you have to do something...it's only me....and if I don't do something....no one else will." REALLY???? What clued you in, Tommy???? OMG...even it's just throwing some coins in the red kettle of the Salvation Army...DO SOMETHING! What churches? It was an independent charismatic church. The book is: Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult. Mather, George A., and Larry A. Nichols. Zondervan Publishing House. 1993. There is probably an updated edition by now, so check into that one as well. This book even has TWI in it and I thought that was a hoot.

I don't know when you left TWI, but I left in 1987 and went over to CES and spent another 8 years there. But compared to TWI at the time, CES seemed to have more light. For me...it was when the Graesers came on and one of their newsletters came out, it sounded too much like TWI and red flags began waving. I soon thereafter exited that group. Cuz, I said, never again. The Lord Jesus has had me on a progressively upward move to where HIS True "PLUMB LINE" really is located. As I remember in college, I believe it was in psychology...they use a "Bell curve" to track a variable at its inception, growth model, peak and decline. For those who got sucked into the way, it is more like an inverted Bell curve. So your analogy of plunging into ice cold, frigid waters and being trapped under ice and the subsequent attempts to rise to the surface before it is too late, is astoundingly accurate. Unless someone has experienced something akin to this, the mainstream Christians, if you tell them, just look at you with an expression that seems to render the answer, "Uhhh whatever are you talking about?" This then silences the needed expressions in order to begin the healing process. Even after the Lord led me into some mainstream churches, I refused to ever admit that I had ever had any associations with that group. When I finally did, guess what....it's not just TWI that marks and avoids. This then leaves people like you and me in what seems to be a God-forsaken no-man's land between two factions. There are times, even today when I do not feel like a part of the body of Christ. Just moving on as best as we all can.

I was thinking more like it would a new found friend for my fireplace.

Roy, the fruit of the Spirit is not an "emotion" but it is a well proved way of life that has been buried with the Lord and risen with Him, and is now bearing the fruit. Emotions may come along with some of these, but the Fruit itself is not an emotion. Blessings.

In answering another poster on another thread, I began to quote this verse of Scripture. Is it God or what! Jude 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Talk about using trees for an analogy! Geez Louise!

You're right. There are those like in 2 Peter that says, "They are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever." and Jude 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. But of course, there is the difference with someone has has merely been led astray or temporarily fallen and those whose hearts are so far removed from the Lord God, or that perhaps as you said, they were never Christian to begin with anyway.

Dear Spectrum: Just another timely warning since you use the analogy of a tree and how it is fed. Part of the food that the tree absorbs through nutrients is the DEAD leafs that fall off and lie at the base of the trunk, which decay and thus become food for the tree itself that formed it. I'll fly away oh glory, I'll fly away When I die Hallelujah by and by I'll fly away. As my seminary prof so suitably sized it up in one of his lectures, "When the horse dies, DISMOUNT!

I think that maybe it is because they are dangerous....espeacially so, because they disarm our suspiscions by masquerading as his ministers :( Unfortunately, they just are not limited to TWI, they are in the mainstream churches as well. I've had too many run-ins since leaving TWI and it saddens me that people are so desirous for control. But as the Scriptures do attest, we are all susceptible to falling into this temptation as well.

I just watched that video, or at least 7 minutes of it, couldn't finish it, I was gagging, just today on a blog forum in my area. The truly scary thing is how it is already, at least snatches of it, infiltrating into the Christian churches and being hailed from the pulpit. Oh, not under the name of Scientology, but under the guise of Christianity. A church I had attended began to preach some things that made me uncomfortable, but couldn't put my finger directly on the problem....then one day, after I had already left for other reasons, I opened up my book on "cults" and the page "just happened" (more like HS led) to open up to L. Ron Hubbard and Dianetics. When I began to read about the CSI, all I could exclaim was OMG...that's what ??? was preaching.

The dental floss did me in!

What another individual chose, saw or experienced might just not be the same as your experience, k? So why put someone down because their decision wasn't identical to yours? There are many different experiences here at the cafe. It has nothing at all to do with choosing the same decision that I made...Read the very last words I said, Bramble. Did S/he ask? Don't know and they didn't say. By the way, though I had to re-sign up, I was out at WayDale for years, same moniker as well. BTW, as you are entitled to your opinion so am I...so is everyone else. No offense. I guess it still shocks me that there are still "innies" in something that thousands of people at or about the same time all made the same decision in massive waves of Exodus proportions. Why anyone would stay when all of these horror stories were emerging is personally beyond me and I find it hard to believe that the Lord would "tell" someone to stay, while He was telling everyone else to get out.

[*]Publish your theory and your proof (for example, on the doctrinal board at gsc) for critical review (trust me, if there are holes in your theory, there are multiple folks who will be happy to help you out here. You're far too nice, Mark Omalley

They were at The Mount of Olives, right? As the chapter progresses, Jesus makes the statement about casting this mountain - The Mount of Olives into the sea. He says if you believe you can cast this mountain into the sea...But check THIS out: i]Now, I know I am simple minded, and not everyone, if anybody will agree, but I am sure in my own mind that Jesus when He made the statement in Matthew knew that He was going to fulfill the prophecy in Zechariah. I believe He was talking about Himself. He is the "whosover that shall say to that mountain".[/i] It was another teaching moment that He had with His disciples, even though it was soon to be the last in his physical body. However, don't forget to look at the pronouns, dear Rachel, a very important aspect of any research to be sure. Small as they are, pronouns control the flow of action "by whom, to whom and about whom, etc" The pronoun used here is ὑμῖν (Hoo-meen) which is a Dative plural, so the Lord Jesus is directly speaking TO THEM. I also believe that it has the deeper meaning that HE was referring to the prophetic utterance in Zech, But Zech says that when HIS FEET touch the mountain that it will cleave into two. Remember as well that the Scriptures do say that there is power in the tongue towards life and death. I do not believe in "BLAB IT/GRAB IT" theology, which those that do use this verse to substantiate their theological beliefs. But if we are speaking the words that the Lord Jesus has personally given to us...then as we proclaim them....we will see "the mountain" the one that is standing in our way...to be cast into the sea. Hallelujah! OK. The word for woman in verse 4 is: G1135 γυνή gunē goo-nay' Probably from the base of G1096; a woman; specifically a wife: - wife, woman. SHE BE GREEKIN' He referred to Mary as a wife - but not His. I see 2 things here. His hour was not yet come - He is not The Husband at this point. AND (are you ready?) It seems to me that it was Mary's respnsibilty to supply wine. I think one of His siblings - a sister is the one getting married, and Joseph is not present, so it falls on the oldest son to stand in for Dad. You listed it yourself, the Greek for woman and for wife is γύναι in John 2:4. One thing to remember is that calling a female by either "woman" or "wife" was a common Hebraic address for females. In the context of the Cana wedding, the Lord would not have addressed his own mother as "wife" either to mean "wife of someone else" and certainly not HIS. It is far more likely, he was using the mode of common address and called her, "woman" which the word in Greek it is used in the "VOCATIVE" tense. It would be the same as if I addressed you as "Giiirrrrrlllll!" or " Hey, Mmmaaaammmmaaaa! Are you a girl? yes. Are you a Mama? (don't know, but probably). However, I think it is fabulous that you are studying and attempting the Greek. As far as the wedding party goes...the text does not list that it was Jesus' sister getting married, so to infer it is to read into the account. This is a definite "no-no" in biblical study. But if it was HIS sibling, the Lord would have already seen to it that there was enough wine and food for the guests. The Lord does not do anything part ways. Again, women were thought about in very low terms, therefore, Mary would not have been the hostess of this event in any way, shape or form, but the Lord Jesus would have been the host. But the text clearly states that the Lord and His disciples were "called" to the feast, which meant that they were invited to it and therefore, He could not have been the host. But you are using good reasoning skills, which is what I was taught to do in seminary. 1. read the text (in English). 2. Look at the Greek (if you know how to) 3. posit your initial ideas with the Lord 4. do more research to see if your ideas match other streams of thought. Re-read the text. 5. Ask the Lord again. He really knows His bible! 6. Study the culture in which the text was written. 7. Ask the Lord again 8. Posit final ideas, with the understanding that it may need to be adjusted from time to time as you grow. This is the Pharisees questioning John. And me searching. The Pharisees knew about baptism. They thought John was The Christ or Elijah becase he was baptising. How did they know about the baptism? The word is not used in the Law at all, only the Testimony. There is a reference to being baptized in the cloud and in the sea in Corinthians, but it is not referred to in Exodus as such. This is as far as I can go with this one... The Greek word for baptism is βαπτίζεις which means to "dip, wash or cleanse" The Jews continually did this, so baptism, which is a Greek word, therefore, you won't find it in the Hebrew text, although you should be able to find it in the LXX, which is the Greek OT, was a very commonplace event. The Lord even thumped them on their heads when He reproved them for "making the cup and platter clean on the outside..." because the Pharisees had carried it to the extreme. While we have the physical act of Baptism, which is a public proclamation that you intend to follow the Lord Jesus, the Jews also had it and therefore it was not new. Obviously, baptism represents renewal and Jeremiah 31:31-4 was understood as the prophetic utterance of this renewal, of the new covenant. From these verses in John and I Corinthians, I personally believe that to be "Born Again" is a literal change that happens to our body - when we get a new one. Jesus is referred to as the "FIRSTBORN from the DEAD" What I am seeing here is that I will not be born again until my change comes and this body of the flesh is redeemed and made like his new-born body. That is one way to look at it. After all, Resurrection will be a type of new birth for we will be coming into a new life with a new body even as we came into the world the first time with life and a new body. However, I believe that the "kingdom of God" is right now. We enter into the Kingdom of God when the Holy Spirit renews and makes alive again our spirit. This is what died in the Garden of Eden when Adam rebelled against God. This is what had to be "re-born." Didn't our Lord say that the Kingdom of God was not meat or drink? I do believe it is available now as well. It is also in the future as well, but if it wasn't available now this life would be, IMO, totally hopeless and devoid of any joy. How else does one communicate with the King...if you're not currently in His Kingdom? Just a thought for you to ponder upon, Rachel.

I still have my copy...somewhere...