Happy Easter

1 Corinthians 15:1-4
⁽¹⁾ Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. ⁽²⁾ It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. ⁽³⁾ I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. (⁴⁾ He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

Leaders

Anyone that has a ministry, a ministry gift and all those that are in leadership positions should be serving the body and not demanding that the body serve them.

Or maybe Jesus was simply unclear on the subject. Luke 22:25-26, Mark 10:42-45

All Things

It is so very easy to become focused on all that is wrong in life, when we should be experts in all that is right ~ All things that pertain to life and Godliness have already been given to us through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Wow.

Trust in Jesus as The Christ and avoid all things that do not give your inner spirit peace.

Seek and you will find... It's true.

Yesterday I happened upon a program of Joyce Meyers. Although I no longer believe as they (Word of Faith) do and I now know it's all twisted, I still stopped and listened for about 10 minutes. Why? I have no clue, except that she said something to the effect of... stop trying to be perfect on the outside while your miserable on the inside. That's my loose translation of what I heard her say.

I guess it just goes to show that God really can use anyone because He used her to help me to understand more of what I've been struggling with (explained in the last post).

As I listened to her explain how ugly she was on the inside while trying to be "spiritual" on the outside, I began to understand just how really ugly that was.

When Jesus talked to the religious people, He told them they were like pretty painted tombs on the outside but they were literally dead and rotting on the inside. Again ~ my loose translation of Matthew 23:27.

But I began to see that even though I wasn't trying to be "religious" or "spiritual" anymore, I was still dead and rotting on the inside and that was my constant pain. Something that I couldn't outrun or hide from, even though I was trying hard to do so.

And then, as if that wasn't enough of a revelation for one day. I went to the site of Dave Burchett and read this post.

Intrigued, I went to the free download and listened to this man describe my life. I laughed and cried and felt in awe of a God that could put up with the likes of me.

I can't say it better than he did so please go get the free download.

I immediately ordered his book from his website and am very excited to read it.

~~Jesus Wants the Rose~~

Jesus Wants the Rose is the title to this video but I thought a more appropriate name could be something like... The Missing Point of the Gospel.

Somehow the sum of the Gospel message is getting lost. The beautiful essence of His Truth is being contaminated with the need for more, bigger, better, etc. I could use more adjectives but I hope you get my point.




We might view this broken useless rose as garbage but God does not...

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. Romans 5:6-11 (NLT)

He's right. We are the Rose and God wants us ~ even when no one else does.

Church or Club

Will the REAL churches please rise?




Because honestly... Many of us have had enough already,
myself included.

Light at the end

Sometimes we wonder why things happen to us.

I've wondered just that for years now. The events that took place against our will and behind our backs at our old church have been a constant nagging in the back of my mind. But sometimes things just happen for our own good ~ even when it is devastating.

When I left that church I was empty and broken ~ mentally, physically, spiritually. I cried for God to fill the void in my soul almost everyday. I begged God to help me to find a new church family ~ one that would accept me and love me. The church has yet to come ~ and maybe never will. But the void, the hurt, the shame and the pain seems a distant memory.

Maybe I've finally found a way to forgive. I can't say that I've really forgiven any of them but it's all just easier now. Maybe the old saying that "it all gets better in time" is true. Or maybe, after all these years, I finally found a way to let go of the past and find my sense of self again.

No one has a right to tell you who you are. Never give another person/pastor/church that kind of power. You can think for yourself and make your own decisions in life. It's very hard after it's been stripped away but I'm living proof that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Being Free

Yesterday was Sunday. Most "good church folk" were in their pews, probably the same one that they've had their backside on for years, which is okay with me. It's just not okay for me anymore.

I certainly can relate though. I planted myself in the pew every Sunday for years. And for most of those years it was in the same spot. Heaven forbid if someone stole my spot! Yep. That was me. Same church, same pew, same spot, same, same, same. (If that kind of thing works for you ~ good! I've been there - done that, so I'm not pointing my finger or being judgmental and I would ask for the same respect.)

Here are just a few issues that lead me out of institutionalized church.

The pastor and his wife spent more time preaching the fundamentals of their authority and the congregations obedience to their authority ~ which they claimed to be submission ~ rather than on preaching the authority of Christ and our submission to Him.

Which in turn lead to our absolute obedience to him and his wife.

We were never to question them ~ Never. That would be rebellious. We were to fully comply with whatever they said. I remember one person bragging that he had to cut the grass to the precise height of the pastors wife's wishes, going as far as measuring with a ruler, "just to make sure".

There was another person there that bragged about how the pastor corrected him when he apparently tied a trash bag wrong. I know it sounds trivial. It is trivial. Is it really that important how we tie trash bags as long as the trash doesn't fall out? Does our spirituality depend on how high the grass is? And why were these grown men bragging about being corrected by them like they (the pastor and his wife) were Jesus Himself.

The whole thing was about control. Many, many time they referred to themselves as "mommy and daddy" of the church. They had to keep a firm hand on all of their "kids" because, well, you know how rebellious kids are.

We were told and told, as leadership in the church, that they understood and acknowledged that we all had the Holy Spirit and could easily hear from God for ourselves BUT when we did hear from God it had to be approved by them and through them first. No joke. They were the last word. Period.

We lost our freedom to pray. Not allowed.

We lost our freedom to hear from God. Not allowed.

We lost our freedom to minister. Not allowed. (Unless you were on a certain "team". Then you were told what to say and when to say it and if you stepped over your boundaries then you were removed from that ministry team.)

We were not even allowed to hug. This unnecessary hugging, of course, might have the appearance of evil.

Men and women were not allowed to be alone in the same room together ~ no matter how harmless. I actually witnessed a staff member literally run out of the room that I was in, doing some administrative work, when he realized that I was the only one in there and that would mean a man and a woman alone in the same room.

I'm sure that you can tell that the only interest they had was control. All power is centered on them without any concern for the spiritual wellness of the congregation.

More to come... Be Well.

Forwarded Email Truth ~ Probably NOT

A huge pet-peeve of mine is people automatically forwarding emails without a second thought. I appreciate their intentions. Really. I do. But please. It only takes a few minutes to check something out to see if it's true or not. Why don't we just give that a try before we hit the Forward button? Huh?? Please???

I can't tell you how many times that I have had to send emails to friends to inform them that what they've been forwarding is indeed a hoax. Some of them appreciate it ~ many of them don't. Doesn't matter to me, really, if they appreciate it or not. They need to be aware that they are helping to spread lies, gossip, half truths, hoaxes.

And with November getting closer and closer, I'm getting more and more emails about politics and religion. Seriously. Most of these are coming to me from Christians. It's shameful.

From all the emails, one would think that Barak Obama was the anti-christ and John McCain was Michael the arc-angel. The jest? Don't vote for Obama ~ he'll drag us straight into hell but if you vote for McCain ~ he'll take us directly into righteousness. Neither are true.

We are to have a personal relationship with God. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you are not going to hell. NO matter what Barak Obama does if he were to lead this country.

And if you believe in Jesus Christ then He has made you righteous Through HIM. Doesn't matter what John McCain does if he were to lead this country.

I understand both sides of the issue. I'm not really even talking politics here. So, please, no emails about politics! I'm talking about a relationship with Christ that is a personal one.

Vote the way that seems best to you and to your faith.

And think next time before you forward something derogatory about Barak Obama. Every email I've received from well meaning Christians that has anything to do with Obama has been false. This falseness is being spread by hands that are supposed to represent Truth. These things should not be so.

Cheifest of Sinners

Paul said that he was the chiefest of sinners:

12. How thankful I am to Christ Jesus our Lord for considering me trustworthy and appointing me to serve him,13. even though I used to scoff at the name of Christ. I hunted down his people, harming them in every way I could. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. 14. Oh, how kind and gracious the Lord was! He filled me completely with faith and the love of Christ Jesus. 15. This is a true saying, and everyone should believe it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners ? and I was the worst of them all. 16. But that is God had mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners.Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.

Sometimes I feel like the worst sinner, while trying to please God, and I wonder how I can be a sinner and saved at the same time. But that's the brilliance of God ~ with Him all things are possible.

He doesn't ask us to straighten ourselves out and then come to Him to be saved. We come to Him first, with all our sin, our mistakes, our blunders. All of it ~ no matter how grimy and mixed up we really are. He knows already. There is nothing you've done that He doesn't know about. Nothing so horrible that He can't fix. It is only through Him that we can be saved and then He'll clean us up all in due time. It's a process.

I think the message is a simple one, that we often compound, God does not give up on us. He loves us and desires us to be set free from the bondages of sin. That is why Jesus took our punishment on the cross. But we are not perfect yet. We are a work in progress.

We should never be surprised when sinners sin and those of us who are Christians ~ we are still sinners ~ Saved ~ but ONLY by His grace. We should thank God for His Mercy and always remember where we came from.

Be Well.

Exposing Error

There can be little doubt that we are living in the "perilous times" that Paul talked about in 2 Timothy 3. Men and women are lovers of their own selves. And many deceptive preachers are helping them become more and more selfish, covetous, proud, etc. by making it seem like God merely exists to fulfill their every desire.

I became one of them, to which, I am not proud, but God has since delivered me out of the hands of darkness and I am ever so thankful to Him for it. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't nice but it was necessary.

Before becoming totally indoctrinated by Word of Faith, God sent people into my path to warn me. He sent very nice people that tried to direct me a different way. He also sent very stern but passionate people that hated the deception that had blinded me.

I listen to none of them but instead went my own way - I can't even begin to explain how this hurts my heart now. Looking back and knowing that God loved me enough to send these people to me and I was so full of myself that I couldn't see the truth while it stared me right in the face. It honestly makes me want to throw up.

I accepted the false teaching with open arms. I'd never heard such teaching before and was so excited about it. I remember even being angry that it had been kept from me all this time. At first I felt like I really was getting to know God better, then, after a while, I began to eagerly seek the gifts instead of the Giver, the blessings instead of the Blesser. What a sad thing that was and is.

God was still faithful to me, I mean after all, I was saved before I gave into the enemies web of deceit. And through His faithfulness to me, he continued to send people along my path that were courageous enough to stand up to me and the "other" gospel that I had adhered myself to.

I found myself using the same language that is still used today in those circles: "The bible says not to judge, judge not less you be judged, Don't touch God's anointed, Do His prophets no harm, Don't judge this move of God or it's leaders because if it's God, it will prosper - if it's not, it will come to nothing, those who question their authority end of cursed or dead."

I actually believed that these preachers were teaching me right and proper ways of respecting and honoring them while all along they were teaching me to be afraid of them and not to discern or test the spirits for myself - which is clearly something I should have been doing according to the bible.

My failure to know the bible and to test what was being taught from the pulpit, like a good Berean, led me astray into what was the worst experience of my life.

Nobody's teachings are above biblical judgment ~ NOBODY'S. I don't care what they say, what threats they make, or how much they scare you. Read your bible for yourself and discern, test and try the spirits.

We are to be aware of false teachers. The scriptures warn us over and over again to be on our guard against them. Jesus warned us. Paul warned us. Peter warned us. John warned us. The church at Ephesus was commended because they tried them and found them liars. The church at Pergamos was rebuked because they tolerated them.

My hope is that I can be as bold at exposing error as the people that God sent into my life when I needed it. I didn't accept them then. No, I did exactly what my preacher did, the things that he subtly taught me from his pulpit - I laughed at them, mocked them, made fun of them, saw myself as "over" them because of my special "revelation knowledge", I even pitied them. None of this to their face though, we were to be kind to the ignorant ones since they might be converted.

Honestly - I was the one to be pitied. I was being destroyed by deception and didn't even know it.

I thank God for those that expose these wolves in sheep's clothing. It was their work that finally began to shed some light on my darkened eyes. Without God's work through them I would still be in utter darkness.

Satisfaction

"The church has failed to follow her appointed pathway of separation, holiness, heavenliness and testimony to an absent but coming Christ; she has turned aside from that purpose to the work of civilizing the world, building magnificent temples, and acquiring earthly power and wealth, and, in this way, has ceased to follow in the footsteps of Him who had not where to lay His head."

~ C.I. Scofield


"Christianity began as a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
When it went to Athens, it became a philosophy.
When it went to Rome, it became an organization.
When it went to Europe, it became a culture.
When it came to America, it became a business."

~author unknown


"God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him"

~John Piper


When Jesus Christ is your satisfaction; When He is your rest, your delight, your strong tower, your everything, your all in all, that is what brings Him glory and honor. When Jesus is the ultimate treasure, not money or houses or cars, that is what brings real riches, peace and joy.

What is being preached from some major pulpits is idolatry. The truth of the gospel is being perverted. The gospel is that God sent His son, Jesus, born of a virgin, Mary, who walked on this earth as a man that lived a sinless life and gave Himself as The sacrifice for the sins of the world when He was crucified on a cross, bled and died and rose again the third day and is now seated at the right hand of the Father God. Blessed be God forever.

To say that God sent us His son who paid the ultimate sacrifice for sins (His life) so that I can have a bunch of money in the bank, drive the best cars and live in the biggest house is sickening. And you can't deny that that is what they say. I know from personal experience. I was one of them. Just as thick into it as you could possibly get. They are preaching lies and deceit that will turn you away from the one and only REAL AND TRUE GOD.

You may not think so now but neither did I. I thought that it was real too. It's not. Read your bibles without any influence from them. I began by reading Romans over and over and over. I must have read it 50 times in a row. I would read it out of the King James and out of the New Living. It took a while but I finally began to see the light of the scriptures and when I did it was like a whole new world with God emerged.

God loves me for who I am and not for what I can do for Him. (What could I possibly do to impress Him anyway? He's God.) He wants to bless me and I don't have to "sow a seed" to buy His blessings or favor or mercy or grace. (What monetary gift "seed" could I give that would impress the God of the universe anyway? That's really ridiculous indeed. And it does turn into "give to get" no matter how much you deny it.) God wants me to be the person that He created me to be and not the person that someone else demands that I be. It's so easy to be deceived by all them. So easy.

My biggest mistake... Not reading the bible for myself without their influences. But I was young in my Christian walk, even though that is no excuse ~ we are called to discern and test. I didn't do that. I just believed what they said and ran deep into the lions den. It was only by the endless grace of God that I (we) got out. It hurt for a long time but today I'm so thankful and grateful.

I can only pray that if you are reading this that you will run fast the other way ~ it just might save your life, your marriage, your family, and your relationship with God.

Have a great day.