Charity

I really like how you spoke about the ocean. Being in or nearby any body of water has been a soothing place for me. Your connecting it to what truth is was notable. And that's why I find it a problem being too focused on just one thing like a Bible class (pfal) or what one person says about the Bible (collaterals) or in looking at scriptures through the lens of what one man taught (vp) - it is so confining when one truly wants to understand how immense God is.

By the words Mike used above, I think he is believing that we have problems with a certain devil spirit. OldSkool mentioned something to this effect in a recent post of his. I once stumbled across an old thread titled Are Grease Spotters "Possessed?" There were some pretty humorous comments I enjoyed reading.

I agree with So_Crates when he said "Here's a wild idea: why don't YOU become meek and I'll tell you about all the fruit in my life since I stopped making PLAF the center of my life." There have been so many testimonies from posters of how their lives have improved spiritually, mentally, financially, etc. after leaving and recovering from twi. Either you are skipping over them because they make you feel too uncomfortable or you can't allow yourself to believe they're true - and maybe there are other unknown reasons for your doing so. The point is that although you may miss the impact of their testimonies, many others like myself, did not.

I have had different mindsets when I've replied to Mike since being on GSC. It's like a pendulum where I swing back and forth between extremes and sometimes I'm more in the middle. At times I know my posts are pure emotional reactions to what he had written and other times, I'm a lot more contemplative in my word choice. There's also the spiritual side where Christ might have been guiding me as to what to say. Because I have these metal balls banging back and forth in my brain and because this is an open forum, I think it's fair to let posters relate to Mike in whatever way they choose, within rules of course . In Mike's case, years of striking at a rock has produced little to nothing, but who knows, maybe one day Christ will cause water to flow out of it (I've been reading Exodus 17 ). I'm not moralizing here, I just like there to be peace and quiet like in "What about Bob?" Dr. Leo Marvin: I want some peace and quiet! Bob Wiley: Well, I'll be quiet. Siggy: I'll be peace! A lot of wisdom in that movie .

Hi Rocky, You recently wrote the following about Mike in your post to T-Bone Then again, perhaps someday YOU will understand there's NFW you're going to get through Mike's impenetrable confirmation bias. IF you want to address the imagined lurkers, you might consider a different strategy than just being tossed about with every wind of Mike's bull shonta You and I once traded some posts about how you claimed OldSkool was putting Mike in a box by saying he "will never get it." You shared with me about Dale Carnegie's teaching that we should give people a reputation to live up to. You also sent me the post where you wrote about not placing stumbling blocks in front of our brothers and sisters. After reading these two suggestions, I later apologized to Mike about once again putting him in a box. Seeing your support of Mike in the quotes above, I'm wondering why you replied to T-Bone's post to Mike as quoted in blue above?

Thanks Chockfull, from the picture in the website OldSkool posted, I can't make out his face very well except that the jerk is smiling. IMO, anyone that holds onto one of these might as well slap vp's victims across the face. It's disgusting.

Thanks OldSkool. What is written on the plaque at the bottom? Is it a verse from Timothy?

Hi Chockfull, Two things: I was pretty sure vp told the snow story in pfal when he talked about taking all his books to the dump but apparently I was wrong. Also, the "Timothy statues." I'm pretty sure you're referring to the statues of vp but why have they been given that name?

Oh, but there's the viewing audience to consider

Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

But you're on a roll - I say carry on !

Thanks - I hadn't noticed this about Mike but I've been learning not to give many of his posts my complete attention.

I'm beginning to picture you holding up a stop sign and blowing a whistle - pretty cool!

Thanks for the big belly laugh you too. Cannabis is legal to buy in Canada - in the province of Ontario where I live, any person 19 and older can buy, use, possess and grow recreational cannabis within the legal limits. Now there are stores on almost every street corner selling the stuff! I haven't taken advantage of this opportunity but I find reading about Kaneh Bosem pretty interesting .

You're right - stirring the waters can go both ways. I was referring to Mike's phrase "finite character" regarding Jesus Chris as his way of instigating a discussion that imho is undeserving of one. Mind you, I've been known to be wrong about things.

Mike, do you just drop these nonsensical ideas out to stir up the waters?

When you think of it, after all God did to inspire people to write His Word so that we could know Him and his Son, it's not possible that He would not have protected them throughout the millenniums and continue to protect them. A good friend sent me some videos about this topic which I'd like to go back and finish watching.

T-Bone, that is a hard act to follow! So while Rocky was looking things up and answering his own question (good job ) and T-Bone was composing his very witty reply to Rocky's question (good job too ), I was busy comparing Gen 2 and Eph 5 (with a little help from John 12) because they each had the same verse which I found very interesting How so, you must be wondering . This is how so . Genesis 2:18,21-24 John 12:24 Ephesians 5:28-31 The first Adam Jesus Christ the second Adam - And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. - John 12:23,24 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified - Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone:… (the corn of wheat = Jesus) - And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: - and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; but if it die,… - And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. (woman + man = fruit/children) - it brings forth much fruit. - And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (Adam calls Eve of his bones and of his flesh) - So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself. - For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, (Men are to love their wives as their own bodies from which Eve/women came) - even as the Lord (nourishes and cherishes) the church: For we are members of his (Jesus Christ's) body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (We, the church, are the firstfruits of Jesus' death mentioned in John 12:24 above. We are also of Jesus' body, flesh and bones as Eve was of Adam's) - therefore shall a man leave his father & his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh - for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife and they two shall be one flesh In case anyone is by the chart, it all boils down to how Genesis and Ephesians are aligned with each other (with John's help of course). The first Adam plus Eve in Genesis are connected not only to the husbands and wives in Ephesians but also to the second Adam and his church. If you already knew all this then I hope you enjoyed how colorful and organized everything was !

I'd have to say yes to that - haven't you?

- you certainly know how to put a spin on things. I am so happy I never had the nerve to ask people to sponsor me so I could go into the Corps (which I wanted to do being as I was a good faithful little follower .

Those are wonderful verses Rocky - thanks for sharing them. I'll reword what I wrote previously to saying that I would like to know if a characteristic of a narcissist is a progression that leads to needing more power, more attention, more fame, etc. I did a google search for myself and the couple I looked at described what is called grandiose narcissism which was listed as a different type, not as a progression from narcissism to greater narcissism.

Someone has recently shared with me that real cult leaders hang on forever to an organization they have founded because they are narcissists. In other words, they don't pass on all leadership roles to others and move away from what they've built to build something that is bigger and better. A few posters have shared information about narcissists. I need a website that confirms that the opposite to this is not only possible but most likely. I know vp never moved on to start a new ministry under a new name with greater claims of what God has called him to do but Bickle has quite a few times.

I'm on my way out the door, but I was exactly in the place you are speaking of now. It all opened up to me when I started reading the Absent Christ thread at the end of November of last year and it was definitely a grieving process that many of the posters helped me get through. Here's the link to where I began on GSC - and another link for the beginning of the thread. You'll find posts begin to stray off topic but keep scrolling through when that happens. This is a very long thread (93 pages). That thread is now closed but if you wanted to start a new one with a slightly different name, you can get a lot of support from others. Please keep in touch. This is where OldSkool began the thread

I see what you are saying. Here's my side of it. 1. GSC is an open forum to discuss ideas. 2. With vp, his "expression of an idea" and the words he used "to describe it" became a doctrine (a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church) which progressed into becoming dogma (a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true). That's how we ended of with "the law of believing," "the great principle" about holy spirit and "The Word takes the place of the absent Christ." The problem is that these terms of his were contrary to what the scriptures actually taught and therefore were extremely detrimental to the believers - they made the word of God in our lives ineffectual. 3. So when I said that the words you used ("virtue drainage, budget on virtue that day and Jesus needed to be sharp about it, finite virtue budget") were not in the scriptures you were referring to, it was in the context of showing that your terms (like vp's) were contrary to what the scriptures actually said and as a result would take the power and life out of the word of God (Heb 4:12).

Too funny - ask Mikey, he knows everything!