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154 comments:
ME FIRST!!!!!
Glory to God!!!!
and two cannoli's for Mr. Hyde, a kind and generous host.
TWO cannolis? You're going to make Hyde chunky! lol
I'm going to The Rock for my salvation
I'm going to the stone that the builders rejected
I'm running to the mountain and The Mountain stands by me
When the earth all around me is sinking sand
On Christ, the solid rock I stand
When I need a shelter, when I need a friend
I'm going to The Rock
The cannoli's have dark chocolate inside... oooh yeah
BTW Lori, I hope your son is going to be ok. Sounds like the flu, maybe.
My daughter quit her job today. Her Ipod was stolen from her purse yesterday, while at work & her manager ridiculed her when she asked for Easter off. The managers there have made many religious jokes & she has felt persecuted for her beliefs. I'm not sure what to do about it, part of me wants to let it go & part of me wants to write a letter to their corporate office saying the behavior by their MANAGERS is out of line & completely unacceptable.
Any thoughts/opinions?
WOW Nate, you sure are filled & on a God roll!
Thanks for the link to the Christianfilms.com, btw.
Alesia, I would definitely write a letter to their corporate office. They need to hear that type of feed back.
Aleisa, shalom!
How old is your daughter? If she's over 18, you'd best let her write her own letters.
<><
Nice new post...thank you for it and thank you Nate for the inspirational and awesome posts!
I needed to hear that!
Thanks Mac.
Jim, My daughter specifically asked me for my opinion on this & to help her draft a letter. She IS over 18 & ultimately it will be her decision and the letter will come from her.
Alesia
she definitely needs to send a letter and a very strongly worded one as well. make sure she includes as many specifics as she can as well as comments about the pervasive general atmosphere. Somewhere in there she needs to include the words "hostile work environment"
Nate
love the comment about being His Child. just tonight I sat with my little one cuddled on my lap and soothing him
Lori ?
did you post something on annointing your house with oil. nothing in son's room that shouldn't be there in so far as I can tell. I'm pretty picky about toys, books etc. He has very vivid, and at times very scary dreams. I remember being frightened frequently at bedtime because of my over active imagination. I pray with Trevor and talk with him before bed almost every night. I was wondering if annointing his room with oil would be helpful?
btw
Just Me would likely get a kick out of this list-since thursday at 5pm I think about 200 posts have been posted between Joel's and here!
Jib,
Anointing with oil is a symbol of God's miraculous work in healing. It is not the oil, but the Lord who shall raise him up. Christ Himself applied saliva to men at times to symbolize, by physical contact, the healing that God would effect. Mark7-33, 8-23 Also....There is Old Testament support for the idea that the Anointing could signify the setting apart of the man to God for His will and operation.
For anointing the sick, is very scriptural as in James 5:14, "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:"
When anointing someone, anoint them and then pray from the heart.
The oil is not the most important part, it's what it represents. My mom was healed with crisco lard once the day before surgery to remove a tumor the size of a grapefruit. Oil is just much kinder than crisco.
When anointing a house, pray while
using the oil. Rebuke evil spirits in Jesus' name. Anoint every door, window, anything that can be opened.
In the passover, the blood was spread over the door posts to prevent the angel of death from coming in. Certainly we cannot go around killing animals and spreading blood all over the outside of our homes, that would be far too cruel to the animals these days, and can you imagine the reaction from the community?
Most importantly, Jesus became the final passover lamb, so a blood sacrifice was no longer necessary.
We have on more than one occasion, anointed not only people, but homes.
A friend of mine had difficulty with nightmares/terrors after the death of her husband. I went into her room and the hair stood up on my arms and the back of my neck.
With permission, my husband and I got out some oil and began in their bedroom and anointed the doorways and then continued throughout their home.
It took at least an hour, there were areas that we felt needed more prayer.
We did make a suggestion for my friend, and that was to not allow satanic influence to enter her house; thru books, nor movies, no way, no how.
when a home or place is taken back from evil or demons rebuked from there then oil is anointed on the doors,windows,and the location is purified, no longer can evil dwell there, unless it's invited. the home is santified/cleansed for the Lord's people.
I would suggest this practice for anyone moving into a new home.
Don't allow satan to let you live in fear though. You are the righteousness of God in Christ.
Does anyone else have anything else to add?
Nate,
Well I was wondering how you were holding up.
You did mention a few days ago that you felt an attack spiritually? I had been keeping you on my mind and in my prayers about that.
Praise be to God the Father and to his Son!!!
I had a stronger sense than usual yesterday of his presence.
Love what you wrote!
I hope & pray all of you who were having struggles are lifted up.
Lisa
Campsmore,
About witnessing to JW's.
They probably study more and memorize more verses about their particular beliefs in the Bible than any other sect I know of.
I think I kept one of their "Kingdom Translation" Bibles.
It's pretty much the same as a regular Bible-but they claim to have changed some to the wording to the origional "Greek or Hebrew" meanings. This is why they argue that regular worldly "Christians" have it wrong.
I used to look some of it up in Greek to make sure - but I wasn't smart enough at the time to really dig in and question why they were so different from the "worldly" Christians. I was more distracted with the reasons for not celebrating the "worldly" holidays.
There is info on witnessing to JW's available. I think first of all would get an overview of particular points that are contrary. Like the fact Jesus was a created being and not actually God. I would then look up all the passages in the Bible and also check them with the origional Hebrew or Greek translations.
That way your already ahead of the game. Then you could listen to what they had to say and see if they are willing to discuss that one particular point. If they are not-then shame on them. We know we are suppose to always check w/scripture to see if what we are told is valid.
If they ever knew that I was origionally a JW-they would NEVER be able to speak with me.
I'm considered an APOSTATE and can never be saved @ this point. EVER.
I have claimed what they have taught is FALSE - So I am a goner.
That fact in it's self is what had really- pardon my phrase-ROYALLY screwed me up.
It has taken me YEARS- but praise our Lord in Heaven - he didn't give up on me and brought me back home.
See, if they ever renouce their faith and they are not 100% convinced about it- then they are lost forever.
Lisa
Alesia
thanks for the info. I do realize that it isn't the oil that is important per se but what it symbolizes.
I don't know how much is just his very overactive imagination. I was never able to read horror books like Dean Koontz or Steven King (I tried to read Koontz but it got to be too much)or watch scary movies. In 6th grade when we went to the Salem witch museum it felt very oppressive to me. I had one sci fi book that for me was palpablely evil and I threw it out-wouldn't even put it on a yard sale because I didn't want anyone else to buy it. I remember as a kid I would sleep with the covers covering my head except my face because I felt that things were watching me at certain times. Given the vividness of my dreams both as an adult and as a child I can only surmise that my son has inherited the same.
I will have to ponder this.
jib, I, too, am highly sensitive to these things. As a child I couldn't go in the basement alone, or watch anything even a little scary. I still, to this day, have not seen any of the old, old Frankenstein or Dracula movies.
My daughters were this way to some extent, as children, and would sleep with a picture of Jesus!
I have never liked scary anything and when I was in my formative years, especially during World War 2, I just could not look at the war pictures that they would show at the theatre on the "This Week in the News" portion of the show. I would get very sick at the thought of the cruel actions of our war time enemies. We had air raid drills constantly where i lived due to the major factory there being turned into a defense manufacturer of vital defense/offense equipment.
We had to put up black drapes over our windows so the lights would not shine outside in the dark. My grandfather created a special blind that would completely block any light from getting outside and the first thing we did when Japan surrendered was take them down and burn them. I remember the first year we could let our Christmas tree shine outside and it was so pretty. My daughter still has some of those very same decorations that my mother preserved for our family.
Scared? you bet! But I wasn't the only one and that made it livable. So my fear was based on circumstances that were actually going on in the world around me. But, at that time, it was more than enough. Then when all of the movies started being made that would freeze your blood in the veins, I didn't last very long. I remember the first such movie I saw was Vincent Price in a 3D movie about the house of wax. The theater gave us 3D glasses to put on to view the movie with and that made it look like it was happening right there with you. Kinda like the virtual games people play now. I spent most of the time during the movie, under my seat! Hunkered down and terrified. The manager of the theater wouldn't let anyone leave until the intermission and so there I sat, waiting and shaking. When I got up to go out of the building, the owner asked me what was wrong and I don't remember what I said to him but it merited me a 2 week grounding because of my tone and words.
It didn't do any good to tell me it was just a movie. To me it was the evil in a person or persons mind being expressed and it was wrong. I tried to get past all of that as I matured but I never wasted another penny on scary movies or books again.
Life is scary enough without adding anything extra to the pot. Am I weak because of it? I don't think so. I just am not chasing after fearful things to excite me. Sky diving is exciting enough for me.
Grany
OH, I DON'T Sky Dive, I just watch others do it. I was in Siloam Srpings, Arkansas watching on the day that the young lady's chute didn't open properly and she free fell, face first into the ground and lived to tell about it. That was a horrible thing to witness. Hubby and I were on our way home from my daughter's house and stopped to visit with some of the dive team members that hubby flew for.
So, No I am not a sky diver but I like to watch them.
Grany
JIB,
Take authority over the enemy and command him to get out of your house and stay out. Do it with authority, not in a wimpy way - in other words get mad at him, and mean it.
Remember, as it says in the Word
"Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you." [James 4:7, AMP]
The Greek word for "flee" (pheugo) has the meaning "to run away, escape, in terror"!
John
I did it once, Grany. It was a hoot...except I landed on a barb wire fence. Had my feet together, luckily!
Speaking of sky diving,
While we were in New Zealand my husband went bungy jumping...he had to, because our 12 and 14 year old daughters were doing it! (I was happy to just hold the video camera)
Not to be outdone, my 18 year old daughter who was living in the States at the time, went sky diving. Good thing she didn't tell me ahead of time, as I would have had a hard time sleeping!
I receive an email tonight from a family member. It's circulating the net, and probably has been for some time. But the message is good and I was wondering based on the information if we do get Mike to create a praise site, perhaps we can call it, Laus Deo?
***********************
One detail that is never mentioned is that in Washington , D.C. There can never be a building of greater height than the Washington Monument.
With all the uproar about removing the ten commandments, etc., this is worth a moment or two of your time. I was not aware of this amazing historical information.
On the aluminum cap, atop the Washington Monument in Washington , D.C. , are displayed two words: Laus Deo
Once you know Laus Deo's history , you will want to share this with everyone you know. These words have been there for many years; they are 555 feet, 5.125 inches high, perched atop the monument, facing skyward to the Father of our nation, overlooking the 69 square miles which comprise the District of Columbia , capital of the United States of America .
Laus Deo! Two seemingly insignificant, unnoticed words. Out of sight and, one might think, out of mind, but very meaningfully placed at the highest point over what is the most powerful city in the most successful nation in the world.
So, what do those two words, in Latin, composed of just four syllables and only seven letters, possibly mean? Very simply, they say 'Praise be to God!'
Though construction of this giant obelisk began in 1848, when James Polk was President of the United States , it was not until 1888 that the monument was inaugurated and opened to the public. It took twenty-five years to finally cap the memorial with a tribute to the Father of our nation, Laus Deo. 'Praise be to God!'
From atop this magnificent granite and marble structure, visitors may take in the beautiful panoramic view of the city with its division into four major segments. From that vantage point, one can also easily see the original plan of the designer, Pierre Charles l'Enfant ..a perfect cross imposed upon the landscape, with the White House to the north. The Jefferson Memorial is to the south, the Capitol to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the west.
A cross you ask? Why a cross? What about separation of church and state? Yes, a cross; separation of church and state was not, is not, in the Constitution. So, read on. How interesting and, no doubt, intended to carry a profound meaning for those who bother to notice.
Praise be to God! Within the monument itself are 898 steps and 50 landings. As one climbs the steps and pauses at the landings the memorial stones share a message.
On the 12th Landing is a prayer offered by the City of Baltimore;
On the 20th is a memorial presented by some Chinese Christians;
On the 24th a presentation made by Sunday School children from New York and Philadelphia quoting Proverbs 10:7, Luke 18:16 and Proverbs 22:6. Praise be to God!
When the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid on July 4th, 1848 deposited within it were many items including the Holy Bible presented by the Bible Society. Praise be to God! Such was the discipline, the moral direction, and the spiritual mood given by the founder and first President of our unique democracy 'One Nation, Under God.'
I am awed by Washington's prayer for America. Have you ever read it? Well, now is your unique opportunity, so read on!
'Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.'
Laus Deo!
When one stops to observe the inscriptions found in public places all over our nation's capitol, he or she will easily find the signature of God, as it is unmistakably inscribed everywhere you look. You may forget the width and height of 'Laus Deo ', its location, or the architects but no one who reads this will be able to forget its meaning, or these words: 'Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, 'the watchmen stand guard in vain.' (Psalm 127: 1)
mac, i got you beat...I skydove twice, in ohio, several years ago.
It was amazing! I'm glad I did it, but am not planning on doing it again!
Oh, there's already a laus deo. net
I just have to tell you about hubby's one and only attempt at sky diving. A little background first though. Jim is a fantastic pilot and has been flying since he was 16 and got his license when he was 18. That was in 46. He is certified in so many classifications that just to say he is very good should suffice. He has a wonderful safety record and is known to be extremely careful at all times. He was flying the planes for the divers here where we live and it is pretty level ground around this area. There are hills and such but mostly where they fly it is like a big salad bowl.
He had turned 70 and he got the bug to try his hand at diving. So, one of the team pilots took him and the dive captain up for Jim's solo attempt. When a person hasn't done any diving before, around here the dive master/captain will tether the newbie to his harness and they both jump as one. Hooked up together and depending on the main chute to open and carry them to safety. Now every diver is supposed to have an auxiliary chute that will open in an emergency but it isn't very big. Not a smooth operation either.
So Jim and Fred leave the plane, hooked together on one chute and do some free falling. Then the moment comes when Fred pulls the rip cord for the main chute to open and nothing happens. There is a pea pod attachment that jammed and they are free falling together. My Jim is 6 foot 4 1/2 inches tall and Fred is about 6 foot 1 inch. Both are lean but still weigh about 165 to 175 each. Fred tells Jim something but Jim can't hear him so Fred pulls them into a spread eagle or at least tries to. By this time the ground is getting awfully close and that small auxiliary chute just has to open. Finally, at the last possible minute Fred yanks the cord and it sputters open and then it grabs the air and holds. Both men hit the ground hard and roll. I didn't see it but the ones who did told me it was really scary. I didn't find out about it until Jim came home and he was covered with green grass stains. His cheek was scratched and his chin was bloody but he was shaking pretty good by the time the story was told.
Later I found out that during the free fall they were right over the city cemetery and our's has these big tomb stones on most graves. But just before they bounced on the ground, a little wind shoved them to the grass cross winds landing strip at the air field and that is what really saved them. It is kinda soggy there in the spring and it helped in their contact phase of the jump. Jim has never tried to do the diving since then. He is content to fly and do aerobatics instead.
MAC, you could have had a split personality doing that. I have heard of sitting on a fence but that is carrying it a little too far.
We have a real interesting group here, don't you all think so too?
Grany
Lisa, I would love to know more abouthow you moved from JW to Christianity.
(If you posted about ithat already and I missed it, point me to the right direction.)
I can hardly look out a two story window, jump from a plane?
AHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Wow, flying and doing tricks in the plane...Jim sounds really cool!!
Grany, I ended up having a tetanus injection. The instructors drilled us for a whole day to follow plan and all would be fine. We were to climb out of the plane, hang there on a wheel strut till the instructor told us to let go. Then the static line would release and the chute would deploy. We were then to check that all the cells of the chute had successfully inflated. If they didn’t then we had to cut away and deploy the spare. Exciting stuff! The next step was to locate a giant spinning arrow at ground level which another instructor would point the way down with. At a designated level the instructor would take a paddle in each hand to guide us and bring us safely to land…that is, if we obeyed instructions to the letter. I did and he landed me on a fence. He apologised but he was so loud and offensive to some of the other guys during training, the thought did briefly cross my mind to biff him one.
Still, it was worth it
Some months later, at that same club, two instructors in separate incidents lost their lives while jumping. Only an insane person would want to jump out of a perfectly good plane ;-)
Donna,
I've given tib-bits of my experience w/JW's.How I switched back to Christianity in detail I have not mentioned.
It was not really a simple transition. It took me years.
I was not raised in a "Christian" home. They believed in God but that's about it.
For 13 years I lived one street below a Catholic convent.My parents told me they were Protestant so I didn't have an interest in Catholisism. Felt a little outcast since the neighbors and my best friend was Catholic.
One of our live-in housekeepers was a JW. I vividly remember her teaching me some things.
The public schools started "Bussing" in kids so my parents sent me to a "Catholic" school w/that best friend. I hated the strict Nuns so then they sent me to a Lutheran School for 4 years. That is when I really accepted Christ.Of course I was always scared to death that since I was never baptized that if I died I would go to hell.
So after that we moved and back to Public school I went. (Big Mistake)
Anyway, I was always searching-I tried this church and that church along the way. Then in HS I got hooked into the JW's. I knew what I was getting into in HS was bad and was trying to get away from it.
I don't think I was a JW for too long. About 2-3 years max. I dated some JW's and they were great. (Actually the dates were suppose to always be chaperoned.) The guys practiced what was preached and we never "messed around."
It's extremely serious. We really followed things to a T. If you are caught doing something against your beliefs-you will soon be speaking with an elder.Depending what it is-your sitting in the back of the Kingdom Hall and no one can even speak to you for a period of time.(I think the elder decides if your truly repentant and when that is) (I never got in trouble)
But I hate to admit it - although I guess it ended up being a good thing. It was eventually a guy I dated (Who was NOT a JW) who became my boyfriend-who ultimately led me to leave. It was a slow and painful process.
I did not want to be a hypocrite so I just didn't return.
It's kind of funny now, but I really cried my eyes out at the time. There were things about the JW's I never fully could come to grips with but hadn't yet known if what I was feeling was valid or not. I ended up engaged to this guy but when it came down to the wire he was afraid to marry me because he thought I would go back to the JW's. (He was Christian minded but not practicing) I told him I didn't think I would but I was not 100% sure.
If I had gone back to the JW's at this point-I would have been shunned and punished. I could go back but would have to be "reinstated" so they called it.
I was so mad after that fiance experience I flipped out and tried the worldly scene.I always felt out of place and never liked it.(The old fiance still chased me but I had it with him.)
If I renounced my JW faith I would become an apostate. So I did nothing.(Real smart-good going Lisa) I was absolutely petrified that I would be mislead into a false religion.
JW's are big into the "End Times" and the book of "Revelation." I always felt like we were living in the end times anyway-regardless. They think every "Christian" is under false teaching unless they are a JW. But your not considered an "Apostate" unless you knew the so called "Truth" of the JW's-which I did. I was actually baptized as a JW. What I aboulutely did not believe was that they were or could be the "only true Christain" religion.
That was my final reasoning not to return.It also didn't make sense to me since their founder was an off shoot of 7th day Adventists.
So after years of nothing I got married to another "Christian Minded" person.He was also scared that I might go back to JW's but at that point I really didn't think so. It had been years. We agreed that when we had kids they would go to church. (But I was going to be darn sure it was me doing the picking of the church)
So what brought me back to real Christianity? I was sitting next to a very devout Christian and we became friends. I admired her and her strong faith. It was the example she & her family set that stirred me up and I decided it was time not to do "nothing" anymore.
I prayed about it-eventually went to her Church. Soon after they had a week long Prophesy conference (I was in heaven) Was filled once again w/the Holy Spirit and here I am.
Now you could say I'm making up for lost time. My children are being brought up in a Christian home. The hubby has accepted Christ but is a baby believer.He just doesn't have the background that I've experienced nor the "fire in the belly" so to speak. At the rate he's going it may be awhile before he would be considered a "mature" believer.
That old "fiance" actually called me last year. He was curious as to what happened in my life. One of the first things out of his mouth was "Are you a JW?" He was so mad when he found out I became a regular Christian.
I'm just so grateful that the Lord brought me back after such a long frolick and detour.
The whole JW experience had left me so spiritually confused. It is a very hard thing to break away from. Can you imagine if your "raised in a JW" family? The pressure must be enormous. Similar to a Muslim breaking away from their faith but without the violence.
JWs know the beliefs of other "Christian" religions and how to persuade them.
We had studied the origions of Christianity and where the beliefs stem from. (Many pagan of course)
The "average" JW studies their bible and beliefs a minimum of two if not 3 days per week. How many "average" Christians do you know who do that?
It's sad to say but I don't know many who do.
Maybe you can now understand why they are so difficult to witness to.
Please don't give up on them-it just takes a great deal of patience.
Lisa
Wilma,
I'm praying for Marna, Chris, Ginger and the kids. Let them know that they are being bathed in prayer.
lori
John
I don't know whether he is having these problems because of Satan or just because it is an over active imagination (he is a very bright kid and when asked can make up really wild stories, wild in the sense of very imaginative). I have no problem with what you've said to do I guess I suffer more from not knowing if that is the problem.
Lori
I'm with you on the whole skydiving thing. not gonna happen. We live near a world class sky diving school. It tickles me no end to know that people around the world have heard of this place. I mean we live in the middle of no where for all intents and purposes.
Grany
praying for your friend. The land of fruit and nuts has strict narc RX laws? No wonder they allow legal pot! I've seen people on pretty stiff doses of narcotics here in Arizona so find it amazing that they limit in CA. Seems the sky is the limit here.
Joel has a new post-unfortunately Glen and the annoying one have posted mostly diatribes
Nate...great posts...all of 'em!
Grany...one of my friends...a chubby one he was...used to skydive and he told me about the sign at the club that read, "Please replace your divot". I decided it wasn't worth the risk for me.
I've watched many World War 2 documentaries and all I can say is that mankind is evil.
How I long for the Righteousness to come.
Good God's day everyone~ I am running behind schedule this morning and just got finished catching up here with the comments. This reminds me of family get togethers we used to have in the Good Ole Days. That was when the rest of my family was still breathing air here on planet earth and struggling with day to day problems. Our home was always full of love and laughter even during the hard times. It was very difficult to find any negative talking but you could find all kinds of love and support.
I read Mac's narrative on his sky diving experience and I could actually picture the whole process. Around here the training is pretty competitive and Fred is one of the top instructors and took his training in Arizona. I wonder if it was at the same place JIB spoke of. I know he had a real high ranking in and was in the reserves Paratroopers. Fred left here to train a select group for Afghanistan in 2002.
Lisa, I loved your testimony about leaving JW's and I know it had to be difficult in many ways. I used to attend a church that I loved the people so much that I turned off the bad theology and made all kinds of excuses for. Then one day, it seemed that everything came falling down around our ears and it was a real wake up call to truth.
Funny thing though, like you, I knew what they were teaching wasn't right but it made me dig even deeper. Many, many conversations with the pastor and the board didn't produce correction and then the Holy Spirit just wouldn't let it rest. I knew that I knew the truth and what they were presenting as gospel was perverted to fit their life styles.
One day as I was in Sunday School class, I heard the Holy Spirit say "1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was.
10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
At the time I didn't realize this came from 2 Timothy 3 but I knew it was the Holy Spirit directing me to leave this denomination. Within 2 months I was given a perfect opportunity to make the change without making a scene. My husband is still a member there but his relationship is purely cosmetic and when the Holy Spirit moves him I know where it will be to.
So, false teaching, perverted gospel and unbelief are possible in any setting where humans are in control. Glad you made it out and have the great and wonderful life and faith that you now have.
Love you all and keep the word before you at all times and working in your heart and minds.
Grany
Jib, Shalom!
My Dad used to have problems with bureaucrats practicing medicine all the time. What happens is that you have one doctor or a group of doctors who are abusing drugs, and that has some people investigating whether or not other doctors are dealing drugs. The People Who Know Better Than You start telling the doctors that they can't prescribe this or that, and eventually the doctor can't practice medicine the way he or she knows should be done.
<><
Oh, but it's warm and balmy here in south florida.
Come on down and we'll go for a walk on the beach and pray.
Nate,
Just came back from Joel's....My thoughts exactly....I was just about to dig up that verse.
I think we all should seriously consider posting our replies to Glen, anony, etc. only after allowing the emotional element to slough off and remember that we're not responding to people, we're responding to spiritual attackers who are doing their dirty work through them. Like everyone else, I struggle with how to respond...no response? just click them away? We've tried that and can't do it consistently. Take them head on and fight fire with fire? Maybe, but alot of unSpirit inspired emotions always get mixed in and before you know it, the whole blog is "Mom, he touched me!" "Mom, tell him to stop it!"
If it were just us and them, fine, go for it. But I am burdened for the lurkers or those who might drop by now that Joel's new book is out...maybe that's why the uptick in attacks?
I just think that our responses to the contrarians should go through a good Spirit rinse cycle (I'm doing laundry today ;-) so that what we post in response is truly the Lord fighting for us and not us trying to come up with the perfect verse or the perfect example to once and for all win the battle with the glenmice.
Even with this post I feel like maybe I should step away, come back in 1/2 hour and see if this is really what Holy Spirit wants to be said. I don't know. I just feel like things will inevitably get out of control over yonder and there's less and less time to do the harvesting.
When I lived on the farm and it was hay season, we always had to work quickly to get the bales in before rainstorms came. When we saw the clouds forming, there was a temptation to hurry up and get things done fast so we could beat the rain. But my dad would remind us to just keep up a steady pace and remember to be safe...someone hurrying could lead to a machine accident, an injury in the haymow or like Grany's friend's son, the tractor rolling. I get that same instinct....I see the dark posts coming and I want to hurry up with a response that snuffs it out. But I think Father is saying, Steady...do the job safely while Holy Spirit guides you.
Thoughts anyone?
Blessings,
Jen
Jen,
I have a suggestion, how about we all just start posting scripture like I do when I get the chance. Ignore the idiots, and let the Word say what we shouldnt.
God Bless
Stacy, I like that idea of yours. I want to start with David's Psalms where he asks God to destroy his enemies. I am such a kind ole grany and it just did my heart good to read those psalms of David's during a particularly trying and mean time in my life.
Sic the hounds of heaven on them and see how they react to that.
I am just wishful thinking but I wonder how sour of a face Glen has or for that matter what hound dog express the Anonymous wears all of the time.
I miss LW and i know he is working in a commercial way but I really do miss him and his great wisdom. I still pray for his well being and his blessings to keep coming but in a more consistent manner than before.
Good reading all of your wonderful comments.
Grany
Hi Stacy,
Good to hear from you :-) and funny you should respond with that idea.
Just after posting, I flipped open my Bible to read and the story of Solomon asking God for wisdom was the chapter I came to. So I posted it at Joel's.
I personally feel the need more and more these days for wisdom and discernment. Seems like everything is somewhat tainted, even things that were formerly safe. I found out that the young pastor who leads one of our church services (not one we attend) is reading some books by emergent-minded writers. I don't know if he's reading them to critque them or to incorporate them into his sermons, but it was so disheartening. We chose our church because it had such a thriving youth program and a strong Biblically-based pastoral team (this was 5 years ago), but now I'm wondering if things are starting to slip. The senior pastor resigned a few months ago and he hasn't been replaced (it will likely take a year or more). We do have a strong teaching pastor who has taken up the slack, but with so much change it's easy for half-truths to start seeping in.
Just feeling a bit down about the whole thing and then the blog muck was the cherry on top.
Well, off to watch Muppets before bed.
Blessings,
Jen
What a busy day you all had!
Lisa, thank you so much for taking the time out to write all about the JW experience.
I used to get into big discussions and debates with them years ago...but I don't have the patience or oomph for it anymore.
From your description, it sounds like a cult.
All we can do is lift them (and everyone else,including ourselves) up to have Him continually teach and point us all in the right direction.
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Grany, Shalom! You wrote:
I am just wishful thinking but I wonder how sour of a face Glen has or for that matter what hound dog express the Anonymous wears all of the time.
Maybe he looks like THIS!
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This was a particularly good sermon. If you have the chance watch it.(You can forward through the music to the message if you don't care for the music style)
A Sure Word of Prophesy Grace Chapel
Lisa
How is everyone? I am afraid to say that I haven't been reading the blog in awhile. I got sucked into another creation vs. evolution debate with a liberal Christian at work and it took a huge amount of my time. I am totally out of the blog loop.
This person from work talked me into reading a book called "Science, Evolution, and Creationism" put out by the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. They apparently published this book to help argue against the teaching of Creation and Intelligent Design as well as evolution in school. This co-worker thought that I should read about Evolution from a non-biased point of view, since he feels that I have been filling my head with slanted Creationist propaganda.
Well, it was pure torture reading that book! It has been a long time since I have read anything that I so vehemently disagree with. It was pure crap.
I felt like I was being attacked as I read the book and while I was trying to right a rebuttal to it. I became really aggravated while reading the book and I was really cranky with my wife. I later apologized to her and explained to her that I honestly think that Satan was attacking me while I was reading that book and writing comments about it. She understood and agreed with me that that was what was happening.
I remember saying to her at one point this weekend that I really didn't care what people believe anymore and I didn't even feel like witnessing to people anymore as they never listen anyways.
I can't believe that I got that discouraged! It reminded me of what Nate said a few weeks back about being so attacked by Satan sometimes after witnessing that he stops witnessing for a few days because he doesn't want to be attacked like that (or something to that effect). My apologies to Nate if I misquoted him.
I feel exactly the same way when I start witnessing more and when I am reading about stuff I know is not biblical like evolution. Satan really turns up the heat.
Through God's grace and prayer, I finished my 14 page rebuttal to the book and another 7 page rebuttal to another email this evolutionist sent me. I emailed them off to him.
I feel 100% better after being in church yesterday and I am now ready to face the world again! I am really looking forward to Easter this week! I received the Passion of the Christ and The Gospel of John in the mail from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and I intend on watching both of them this weekend. I better stock up on tissues. :-)
Alesia,
I noticed that you posted the following comment:
Nate, Harold, Grumpy, anyone -
Have any of you heard about the 13 crystal skulls? I'm watching the travel channel right now, "Top ten places of mystery" Very bizarre! Allegedly, they have found 5 of the 13, left behind by the Mayans for future people to understand... something. They can not figure out how the skull was made, there are no tool marks or hand tool marks to show how they were created. (looks exactly like a skull) Also, the crystal used to make it is the same as a computer chip, they think they may be filled with an astronomical amount of info. & may be able to figure it all out when all 13 are found.
End Quote
That sounds very interesting, but I know absolutely nothing about it. I will have to do some googling.
You also asked if I lived in Canada. You better believe I do, eh. :-)
I just had a really weird thought! A few weeks ago when Britney Spears was in the news for doing some really stupid things, one of the ladies on this blog, I am sorry but I forget who, said that she felt the need to pray for her. I replied and said I felt the same way. So...I did pray for her as well.
Tonight when I was watching T.V. (something I very rarely do these days) I happen to see something on one of those shows like entertainment tonight (that wasn't it, but it was a show something like it) about Britney Spears meeting Mel Gibson at a restaurant for 2 hours recently. Nobody seemed to have any idea what it was all about.
On Joel's blog a couple of weeks ago, I talked about reading the book "Changed Lives: Miracles of the Passion." This book relates some of the stories of people who have had their lives changed by watching the movie "Passion of the Christ". While reading the book, I got the distinct feeling that Mel Gibson may in fact be a born again Christian. I know that he is a devote Catholic, but he may also have a personal relationship with Christ.
Wouldn't it be something if Britney Spears became a Christian through talking to Mel? Stranger things have happened.
God Bless,
Harold
Harold
that would have been me. Interesting that she is talking to Mel Gibson. Britney was raised in a Southern Baptist church and I do believe claimed at one time to be a Christian-whether actually true or not only God knows. I think her talking to Mel Gibson is a stellar idea-he has been through his share of embarrassment and addiction and appears to have a deep faith so one can pray that it will work to the good for Ms Spears.
Alesia
I do believe one of the links on Dolphin lambarts site to ooparts (the site comes up if you put it in a search engine) had something about the crystal skulls. The general tone of the site is that things like the skulls represent pre flood technology and the arts. I believe the nephillim get thrown in there at one point. there are PAGES of stuff so don't exactly remember where I saw it but don't think I got through more than perhaps the 1st 25 pages.
on a different note-I finally got a dressing to stay on my knee and the fact that it doesn't absolutely kill me to have it on the knee is a bonus!
Grany
to my knowledge there is only one school in AZ with international recognition for sky diving.
nate,
Thank-you for your words of encouragement and sound advice. I am going to take your advice and spend the rest of the week reflecting on Christ's incredible sacrifice for us, and the amazing grace that He shows me personally everyday.
In preparation for Easter, the senior pastor at my church, Norm, has been teaching about the holiness of God, the sacrifices that had to be performed by the priests in the Old Testament to atone for sin, and how Christ at Calvary took all the sin of the world on His shoulders as well as God's wrath against all sinners. It is a message that most of us have heard many times before, but Norm presented it in such an "in your face" and "no punches pulled" way that I am sure the people who prefer the likes of Joel Osteen and his "let's not talk about sin" were squirming in their seats.
The holiness of God is something that the world has absolutely no concept of. It is such an important part of the Christian faith and yet it is something that we frequently as Christians don't think about or talk much about.
There were some great quotes from some great theologians that our pastor used during his holiness sermon. I have pasted them below.
A.W. Tozer said, "Absolutely essential we reaffirm the holiness of God for without it all the rest of our thinking, belief systems and practice begin to slide into a man-centered, ego-driven, powerless waste of time religious system.
Neither the writer nor the reader of these words is qualified to appreciate the holiness of God. Quite literally a new channel must be cut through the desert of our minds to allow the sweet waters of truth that will heal our great sickness to flow in. We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of.
God's holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable…Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard."
John Piper said, "The holiness of God is the most fundamental reality of all. It refers to the reality that God is utterly unique and in a class by himself – that's his set-apartness – none compares with him. There is no other Creator, no other sustainer, no other final measure of good and evil."
R. C. Sproul said, "Only once in sacred Scripture is an attribute of God elevated to the third degree. Only once is a characteristic of God mentioned three times in succession. The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory."
"Holiness in the Biblical sense means to be untouched by the normal, the routine, or the ordinary, which is marred by imperfection, corrosion, and decay. Holiness means to be set aside for God's special purposes. We're to be set apart and different to God, for God, like God and by God!!!!"
God Bless,
Harold
Harold,
that was most excellent and will give me much to ponder today.
the interim pastor at our church has been going through the Lord's prayer now for several weeks. this last sunday he preached on Christ's entry into Jerusalem and discussed the different facets of salvation-the facets of salvation such as sacrifice, propitiation he related to different things. it was quite a blessing but I didn't have the means to write any of it down so I will have to see if they made a tape.
Morning, all,
I wanted to share a Youtube video that hubby found while looking for Jeremy Camp music. Hopefully it's not one that's been shared recently...I don't get a chance to view all the ones that are posted, so I'm crossing my fingers that it will be a new one for the cave to enjoy.
I'm going to post at Joel's, too. Very timely for the coming Easter celebration and goes along really well with what jib just said at Joel's about Christ dying for all men and would we REALLY do the same if asked to.
Blessings,
Jen
PS. Contains clips from The Passion, so have a tissue ready...
This Man
Harold,
I agree this Holy Week is a good time to take a rest from your debate.
But- As I'm right in the middle of studying "Creation Evangelism" I thought pass this onto you.
I just came to the realization today how/why I was lead down this path.
I have a friend who is a Christian but was a scientist who does not believe in the "literal Genesis" account and is into "Evolution." In fact the reason WHY she does not send her children to a Christian school is BECAUSE they teach creation.
I found this disturbing and have prayed for her since. I also at the time was not sure where I stood on the matter. I was taught Evolution athough never believed it, but then I was also taught of other "Possibilites" as 1 year can mean 1000 years to God. I also did not know how to disprove all these attacks on Creation. So what could I say to her? I mentioned that I was now leaning back to the "literal" interpretation of Genesis and she mentioned that she would really love to "debate" this.
So I left it as- Ok- I'll do my research and get back to you.
Meanwhile, someone else I have tried to witness to - is not responsive one iota- because he doesn't believe the Bible as God's word because of "Evolution." Now this particular person made so many nasty comments I just got disgusted and told him I would be willing to provide proof against the "evolution theory" if he had any interest. (We are still friends by the way) I kept praying and wondering if there is any "hope" for him.
So I came up with a plan. Which is after I'm armed and dangerous with the Truth of God's word - I'm going to tell him about my Christian Evolution scientist friend- and see if he will 1st of all stay on topic- and discuss his views of Evolution and consider my proof of Creation as a practice session before I meet with her.
I really think he'll do it. And-if it still does not reach him-at least I'll gain the experience of dealing with the opposition.
This book I'm on right now is extreemly good- "Why Won't they Listen?" by Ken Ham.
He is convinced that the Church has compromised with evolutionary world views and has lessoned(he says "Crippled") the effectiveness of preaching and teaching efforts, especially in Western societies.
And it goes into detail how this has happened and how to overcome it.
I am dealing with this right now with these friends.
I don't know if you are aware of this website but it's a great resource:
Resource for Creation
I'll let you know how it goes w/my Evolution friends but it will be awhile since I have a ton of material to cover 1st. (and I mean a TON- I had bought this "Library Pack" and my eyeballs almost fell out when I saw how many books/dvd's were crammed in this box)
Lisa
jib,
I am fortunate. I am usually the person who runs the Power Point presentation for the pastor during the sermons at my church, so I always have a printed copy of most of his sermon in front of me during the service. I usually take those notes home with me after the service. They are great to have.
I have posted some teaching on tithing and it's role in the Church today on my blog.
It is Jesus we should be paying tithes to (literally "10% of our increase"), NOT the Church or your local pastor (and other full-time ministries in that church), although he/she should benefit from a portion of that.
The pastor, as Jesus' representative with specific oversight (gr. episkopos = overseer, or "official in charge of a church", erroneously translated as "bishop") over a local church - see 1 Timothy 3:1, is the one who receives the tithes and free-will offerings on behalf of Jesus, and is responsible for the proper use of these resources in the care and feeding of the flock, including himself (in terms of wages or a salary).
The article also addresses the roles of the "five-fold" ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher in the local church, which is especially relevant now that people with previously sound reputations such as George Barna, are openly advocating the removal of paid ministers in churches, especially pastors, saying that these roles are not scriptural!!
I hope this will challenge you to possibly reconsider your positions on tithing and giving of offerings. Tithing is the ONLY activity in Scripture that God challenges us to test Him on, and which, if we do so faithfully, He promises to bless us so abundantly that we won't have room enough to receive it [Malachi 3]
John
P.S. there is a relationship between tithing and the effective role of the pastor to be able to minister healing to the local church. I will cover this later.
Someone was kind enough to hand deliver, to my desk, Dead Heat.
I should be really excited, but being my first full day back to work after throwing my back out, all I can think of right now is my pillow & blankey!
Joel's is completely ridiculous today! Good job to all of you who have come back with really great scripture!
Coincidentally, I was reading through Philippians last night...
An elderly couple passed away in their twilight years, and when they got to heaven the husband was simply astonished! He discovered that it was far more magnificent than he could possibly have imagined. It was fantastic! He turned to his wife and observed: "You know, if it hadn't been for your yogurt and bran muffins, we could have been here ten years ago!"
Paul seems to echo a similar sentiment in his letter to the Philippians: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil 1:21)"; and, "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better (Phil 1:23)." Paul knew suffering, and Paul knew true joy. And he knew joy through suffering. And in his darkest hour, he wrote a letter to encourage his most intimate friends. Encouragement in Distress
Lisa,
Thanks for the link to the answers in genesis site. If I have been on that site before, I don't remember it. It looks like it has a lot of great books you can order. Amazon has too much of my money already, so maybe it is time to let another site have a chance. :-)
I thought this statement you posted by Ken Ham was excellent:
"He is convinced that the Church has compromised with evolutionary world views and has lessoned(he says "Crippled") the effectiveness of preaching and teaching efforts, especially in Western societies."
I could not agree more! I get so tired of liberal Christians arguing that the Bible and evolution are compatible! If there are two things on this planet that are more incompatible than the Bible and evolution, I don't know what they are! You have to twist Genesis to such a degree to make it "fit" evolution that it becomes meaningless and casts a shadow on the reliability of the rest of the Bible.
The argument that a thousand years is like a day to God is very tired. If the 6 days in Genesis did not represent 6 literal, 24 hour days, but instead represented 100s of millions or billions of years like many liberal Christians claim, it creates a number of conflicts with the Genesis account.
A few of the incompatibilities are:
According to Genesis 1, God created all the creatures living in the water (fish, whales, etc) and the all the birds on the fifth day of creation. Also according to this account, He did not create the land creatures (everything from insects to reptiles to man) until day six. Most evolutionists believe that birds evolved from reptiles. Reptiles were not created until the sixth day. How could birds have evolved from reptiles when birds were created a day (presumably billions of years if you are an evolutionist) before reptiles and land mammals?
Even if you believe the days talked about in Genesis 1 are representative of billions of years, how do you reconcile this chronological problem? Birds would have had to exist 100s of millions or billions of years before reptiles and other land animals if these days are actually the eons of time required for evolution.
There are other timeline problems as well. Plants were created on the third day, but the Sun was not created, or at least revealed to the earth until the fourth day. How did the plants grow without Sun for billions of years? Insects were not created until the sixth day, so how did the plants survive for billions of years without insects to assist with pollination?
Genesis 1 records that there was evening and morning everyday of creation. I don't know how Moses could have been any more clear that these days represent literal 24 hours days than saying there was evening and morning everyday of the 6 days of creation. How does evening and morning fit into a 1 billion year day? It doesn't. Our current 7 day week is a weekly celebration of God creating the earth in 6 days and resting on the 7th day.
The whole process of evolution (Darwin's survival of the fittest) totally goes against the nature of God. Evolution describes a process of billions of years of trial and error.
God is perfect and what He makes is perfect. Saying that what He made had to evolve until it was acceptable defies the very nature of a perfect God. Trial and error is a human thing, not a God thing.
Genesis indicates that there was no death until Adam and Eve sinned. The world is now fallen and God's perfect creation is now corrupted. A Christian who argues in favor of evolution must also argue that there was death while God was creating life on this planet over "billions of years." If there was no death, there would be a heck of a lot of half-formed "transitionary" species kicking around the planet after 5 billion years. These creature would presumably not start dying until Adam sinned and death entered the world. It doesn't make any sense.
There are all kinds of other tough questions to be answered if God did create the earth by evolution. For example, at what point did God decide to give the ape-like creatures we are supposed to have evolved from a soul? Was there really a man named Adam and a woman named Eve? If Eve was made from Adam's rib, how does that fit with evolution? If we evolved from the same common ancestor as apes, does that not conflict with saying that God made us in his image. It is pretty insulting to God to think of Him evolving us from the same common ancestor as the apes if we are made in his image.
Next to evolution being totally incompatible with scripture, I see the two biggest holes in the theory of evolution as being the complete lack of fossil evidence supporting evolution and the screwed up layers of the rock strata.
There have been 100s of millions of fossils discovered and cataloged in the last 150 years or so. However, there is a complete lack of transitionary forms. There should be millions of fossilized examples of creatures that are partway through the millions of evolutionary steps that would be required to evolve anything. The paleontologists have found almost zero. Anytime they think they have found the "missing link", it becomes big news.
Probably the most famous "hominid" ever discovered is know as Lucy. Lucy is classified as Australopithecus afarensis. That is quite a mouthful. Lucy is probably the most "intact" hominid fossilized skeleton recovered to date. That being said, they still only recovered 40% of the bones in the skeleton. Missing are the skull, all the neck vertebrae, almost all of the collar bone, most of the leg bones and almost all of the foot bones. This is all very convenient.
So...without the skull or the neck vertebrae, paleontologists are free to say the head was attached in any position what so ever. They can also say the feet looked like whatever they want and the legs were whatever length and at whatever angle they choose. Somebody would be pretty hard pressed to convince me that this is anything other than the fossilized skeleton of a chimp or another ape.
This is probably the most complete skeleton of one of man's supposed ancestors that evolutionists can point to. Pathetic! And evolutionists argue that Creationists don't know anything about science.
Occasionally, paleontologists will find a creature that they say is a transitionary fossil. There was one found in Canada in 2004 that made big news. They called it "Tiktaalik" It was the fossil of a fish that apparently had fins that could have be used to walk on land.
The pictures of this fish do make it appear to have unique fins that could allow it to walk a distance on land. However, this proves nothing. This fossil to me appears to be a fossil of a now extinct fish that happened to have unique fins. This is not proof that it was a "transitionary" form like the paleontologists were so quick to claim. If they had found several other fossils in the area of fish that had fins that were in various stages of forming into these unique fins with joints, then maybe we would have something to discuss. Not even a die hard evolutionist would try to argue that if this unique fish evolved, it evolved from a normal fish to the fish they found with unique jointed fins in one step. They would agree that it would have taken probably hundreds of steps to "evolve" into this fish. Where are these fossils?
That fact of the matter is that there is a species of very large catfish that is alive now that walks on land short distances to grab rodents for food. I wonder if it is going to "evolve" into a human eventually as well? :-)
Julian Huxley, the leading evolutionist spokesman in the 50s said that it would take 1 X 10^3000 changes to make even one horse. To put this insanely huge number in perspective, there are only 1 X 10^17 seconds in 5 billion years (the length of time evolutionists think life evolved over) and there are only an estimated 1 X 10^80 atomic particles in the known universe. Saying that it is totally impossible for a horse to evolve is grossly understating the case!
Evolutionists claim that the 13 or so different layers of rock strata (it can be divided even further than 13 layers) that contain fossils were laid down over billions of years. The lowest layer to contain fossils is the Cambrian layer. This layer usually contains fossils of simple creatures like trilobites. Higher up layers like the Jurassic layer contain fossils of dinosaurs and the highest layers of the strata usually contain mammals.
Evolutionists say this demonstrates how creatures evolved from simple creatures into more complex creatures over billions of years. The older, more simple creatures are buried deeper near the bottom. This seems to make good sense.
However, there are several problems with this theory. The first problem is that there are only 2 places on the entire planet that contain all 13 rock strata layers and in the proper order. Even the Grand Canyon, probably the best example of rock strata only contain 7 of 13 layers that are supposed to be there. Where are the other 6 layers?
The second problem is that in thousands of places all over the planet the layers of rock strata are piled in the wrong order according to what evolutionists and most geologists say they should be in. There are many examples of PreCambrian and Cambrian rock layers that are on top of supposedly newer layers of rock. Evolutionists try to argue that these are anomalies, and examples of rare rock formations that have gotten heaved up by movements in the earth. However, there are thousands of these examples, so that explanation does hold water.
The third problem is that there have been many examples of mammals and other creatures that have been found in the lowest levels of the rock strata and there have been trees found standing straight up through several layers of rock strata. I have read about some fossilized sandal prints that were found in Utah in Cambrian layer rock (the oldest layer of rock that can contain fossils). These sandal foot prints had trilobites in the footprints.
So...here we have human footprints in rock that is supposed to be 5 billions years old and there are trilobites (creatures that are supposed to have been extinct for billions of years) fossilized in the same rock in the sandal footprints. This is just one example of many where creatures have been found totally in the wrong rock layer. Evolutionists have no plausible explanation for this.
The only explanation that works is that these rock layers were laid down very quickly by Noah's flood. The simple creatures are usually found at the bottom layers of the rock strata because they are slower. As the water was rising the quicker creatures were running for higher ground to get away from it.
If you think about it, it makes sense that birds and mammals are usually buried in high rock layers than slower creatures like amphibians, reptiles and other slower moving creatures.
I read a book called "Origin by Design" by Harold Coffin. Harold went so far as to float the dead bodies of several types of creatures (I don't know where he got them from) in a swamp to see in what order they would sink in. Some of the creatures like fish, and reptiles sank pretty quickly, but things like mammals and birds floated for several days before they sank. According to Harold, the creatures sank in the order that they are usually found in the rock strata. Hmmmm. That is quite a coincidence. :-)
Anyways, there is so much information that pokes holes in evolution and supports creation that it is hard for me to believe sometimes that people, especially Christians, could believe in evolution. But the fact is that most Christians do believe in evolution because they have been taught for years in school that evolution is a scientific fact and not an unproven theory with huge holes in it. Sadly, most Christians who believe in evolution do not take the time to examine the evidence and realize the truth.
Lisa, if you would like any more information on the creation vs. evolution debate, please let me know. I have tons! :-)
Here is a link to an excellent free 965 page pdf called the "Evolution Cruncher." Whoever wrote it did an excellent job of pulling together a lot of evidence for Creation and against evolution:
Evolution Cruncher
I will leave you with a few quotes by Martin Luther that tell us that we should always use the most literal and obvious interpretation of scripture whether possible. For example, when Genesis says that God created the earth in 6 days, it means 6 literal, 24 hour days.
“Neither a conclusion nor a figure of speech should be admitted in any place of Scripture unless evident contextual circumstances or the absurdity of anything obviously militating against an article of faith require it. On the contrary, we must everywhere adhere to the simple, pure, and natural meaning of the words. This accords with the rules of grammar and the usage of speech (usus loquendi) which God has given to men. For if everyone is allowed to invent conclusions and figures of speech according to his own whim…nothing could to a certainty be determined or proved concerning any one article of faith that men could not find fault with by means of some figure of speech.
Rather we must avoid as the most deadly poison all figurative language which Scripture itself does not force us to find in a passage.
The principle of literal interpretation was intended to put an end to a method that had become popular in the Middle Ages, the quadriga. This was a method of interpretation by which four distinct meanings were sought for each biblical text: the literal, moral, allegorical, and analogical. This led to excessive allegorization and obfuscation of the text. By contrast, sensus literalis was designed to seek the plain sense of Scripture and to focus on one meaning. Though a text may have a multitude of applications, it has only one correct meaning.”
Martin Luther also said:
“The Holy Spirit is the plainest Writer and Speaker in heaven and on earth. Therefore His words can have no more than one, and that the most obvious, sense. This we call the literal or natural sense. But that things meant by the plain sense of His plain Word may also mean something further and different, and thus one thing signifies another, is more than a question of words and languages.
For this is true of all things outside Scripture, since all God’s works and creatures are living signs and words of God, as St. Augustine and all the teachers declare. But we should not on this account say that Scripture of God’s Word has more than one meaning.”
God Bless,
Harold
Harold,
I have also heard the teaching that in Gen 2:7, God breathed His breath into man, giving him life. No other animals (to my knowledge) are recorded as being given breath in this way. I've often wondered if that is connected to the differentiation between us having an eternal soul and other animals not having one.
Thanks for sharing all the info. I'm not currently in need of it, although I do have a cousin-in-law who is a staunch atheist/anthropologist and he has brought my cousin and her mom on board, along with his children who are being reared in a home totally devoid of God. Interestingly, his parents were from different religions...one is Jewish, the other Mormon. I wonder if seeing his own parents be so divided in their beliefs led him to reject the idea of God altogether. He's rather militant about it....has the Darwin fish eating the Jesus fish on his car. Drives my mom nuts! She's looking for the truth fish eating the Darwin fish for her car for this summer's family reunion.
I think I'll print out your info to keep on hand, just in case.
Blessings,
Jen
Harold,
Sorry to get you revved up- you were suppose to be "resting".
I loved your information though!
Really, if you can get that Ken Ham book I think you'll love it.
Does anyone know how to blacken the print on the posts like the "Gun Shooter" PITA on Joel's Blog? PITA=Pain In The ---.
Wow there's some loonies goin on!
There are a few new people posting at Joel's which is refreshing.
What about the "Ark of the Covenant?" post. Wouldn't that be something?
Why do I have a feeling Israel is going to hit Damascus. I know the thought has floated around. We know is predicted to be leveled.
Maybe I'm just getting wierded out by the Iran/Israel info coming about lately. I had not had a "strong" feeling about it before.
Lisa
Regarding evolution, age of the earth and any other related question; here are two links I’ve found extremely helpful – along with AIG.
You can use the CMI search engine and it will take you to hundreds of articles. These people are scientists and some of them have research papers that are peer reviewed. They will even answer questions by e-mail.
Creation Ministries International
Also look at True Orgin Org:
True.Org
Be wary of arguing with evolutionists. Some people will try to break your faith even though they can’t intellectually support their dogmas.
While in Israel, we had to privilege of meeting with Aviel (I don't have a copy before me at the moment), the editor of a great magazine, 'Israel Today.' You can subscribe to their magazine at Israel Today or read many of their articles online.
This is another wonderful way to keep abreast of what is taking place in the Holy Land, the Land of the Jewish People - from a Biblical and political and cultural stance.
Blessings! (Mary)
jen,
My wife's car has a truth fish eating a darwin fish on it. It is hilarious sometimes to look in the rear view mirror when stopped at traffic lights. The reactions of people as they try to figure out what the symbol on the back of the car means is frequently entertaining. Some will roll their eyes, some people will laugh, some are just confused. Whenever I see a darwin fish on a vehicle in the parking lot at the University my wife and I work at, I like to park the car beside it. :-)
mac,
Thanks for the links to the creation sites. They look excellent!
You are right. Arguing with evolutionists can be frustrating and is frequently just a waste of time. I have discovered, as I am sure you have, that there is not a single thing on this planet that can't be argued either way if you are deluded enough.
Harold, thanks for all the info on evolution. Our home school spent an entire year on creation science. It really has stuck with my kids.
We even went so far as to take a canoe trip on the Peace River and dug for fossils all the way.
It was great and we found several good fossils.
I also have a special place in Broome Co. NY, that is completely unknown to the scientific community, that is filled with fossils.
Everytime we go back to NY we visit the isolated location.
My kids are now 16, 19 and 21 and do not tire of the spot.
It's important to get to the kids before the topic comes up. If you have time to study the real beginning with your family early, it will be solid in their hearts.
My 19 year old is saving for college. He is waiting until he has enough to go to Southeastern Bible College. He told me he won't even take classes in the local Jr. College because he said he wouldn't be able to sit in one of their Biology classes with a straight face! He would be laughing too! I can guarantee it.
OH yeah, and for those of you who know me, I posted black anonymous today at 7:56am.
I had something all lined up for another blog name but it wasn't so nice so I deleted it.
Oh, that conscience!
It wasn't the name that was so bad, it was what I was going to say... I guess I should clarify that. But if you ever see bullhocky you'll know who it is.
Morning, Lori,
When I was growing up, I had 3 farms to play on...ours and both grandparents' had one. Interestingly, all 3 were being coal-mined in the early 80s and alot of shale rock was turned up in the process. We used to climb the slag piles and look for fossils, mostly ferns and the occasional tiny bug or shell.
I had forgotten about that til I read your post.
Harold,
My mom does the same thing, except she has the decal that says "forgiven" on her car.
Blessings,
Jen
Coal mined? We're you in Penn.?
I should've asked if you saved any fossils?
I never realized how special they were until we studied creation science that year.
We went to a museum and they showed us fossils and told us how rare they were.
I blurted out, we used to jump on that stuff and smash them into pieces! That it was tucked back away from everyone in my secret place. The professor asked where that was, and of course... I didn't tell him.
he he he
Harold,
I've had discussion with evolutionists in the past and it is very tough. Just being a simple bean counter, I don't have a vast knowledge of the science behind it all, but I just presented it in simple terms.
Just by chance there was a big mass of energy that exploded for some reason millions of years ago.
Just by chance our earth formed out of this explosion.
Just by chance the earth suddenly had water and land and air.
Just by chance a living, one-celled organism appeared.
Just by chance this cell divided.
Just by chance it formed into different types of animals....oh and somehow plants appeared too.
Just by chance these creatures crawled out of the water and developed all sorts of complex biological systems.
Just by chance....down, down, down the line.....man appears!....with eyes, and a heart and a brain so complex and working in perfect harmony it is impossible to fully understand.
Man, that takes a lot of faith to believe all that happened just by chance! Faith in Nothingness.
So strong is the desire of man to eliminate God, that they will bow down to a man spewing a long list of impossibilities.
So, why is it hard to change their minds? It is their religion.
Our faith is what defines us. Their faith is what defines them. Take away our faith in God, we are nothing. Take away their faith in man, the environment, evolution...they are nothing. Therefore, they cannot let go of it or they will forfeit their "soul".
So sad.
Lori,
Yes, central PA is where I grew up (2 farms there) and my grandparents in western PA also had a farm, near the Ohio border.
We used to collect the fossils by the dozens (fern ones). It was almost a given that a big piece would hold at least 1 fossil if you cracked enough layers.
The shale made great skipping stones at the pond, too.
Ah, the good 'ole days!
Blessings,
Jen
PS. New post at Joel's....time to bombard with Scripture again!
Lisa, Shalom! I think things are going to be "frisky" on Joel's blog from now on. Now that he's getting to be known, there are going to be people who will want to shout him down just for the sake of shouting. I thought that Glen guy had potential, but now he's turned into a hate monger. Not an anger monger (which is what most people think of when they think of a hate monger), but as someone who won't believe that there is any good in what Joel does or writes. If it was simply a case of not believing what Joel writes, that would be one thing. Chances are he wouldn't even be posting if that were the case. But as a cynic, Glen can't believe there is any good in anyone (particularly someone who is well-known), and so can't risk having anyone think there is any good in someone else. I think we're going to see more and more of these people show up as time goes on.
(And if Omert DOES show up at the conference, well, that won't mean anything, except that Anonymous is right about Joel being able to get politicians and military people jump to his will.)
As for the "Ark of the Covenant", there was something on that on the History Channel a couple of weeks ago. If it comes up again I'll let you know when it's on. Basically, Prof. Parfitt says there are two different descriptions of the Ark in two books of the Bible. The fancy description with the angels, etc. is the one everyone focuses on, but the other description doesn't have the gold, etc., and in fact is very plain. It's Prof. Parfitt's belief that this simple ark is the original one (since it would have been very easy for a people who were wandering in the desert to create); that the ornate one came later, probably after the first temple was built; and that the original Ark was what we would call a war drum. He spent the first hour of the show going over all the theories about the Ark and its present location. He then spent the second hour tracing the route of the Jewish priests fleeing Jerusalem to Egypt, then to Yemen, then by boat to southern Africa, where they land, set up camp, and become the basis for the African tribe the Lemba. Parfitt was the one who, back in the 80's, started taking the Lemba's claims of being Jewish descendants seriously and began researching their claims. These claims have now been validated by the presence of a "kohen" genetic marker in a majority of the males of that tribe. Parfitt believes that the priests took the original Ark with them when they fled Jerusalem, and it's now locked away in a museum storeroom labeled as a "war drum." He did manage to get a camera team into the storeroom and they now have pictures of it. I'm not sure what to make of his theory, and I think his theory seriously runs into problems of "who influenced whom," but it was a nice historical documentary.
Personally, I'm of the belief that if the Ark is NOT hidden away under the Temple Mount, then it's in Ethiopia; but that's just me.
And, like you, I think this summer will be a very interesting one for the Epicenter...
<><
Shalom! Jib wrote:
PS. New post at Joel's....time to bombard with Scripture again!
Yeah! That and chocolate recipes! You can argue with scripture but it's hard to quibble with a good brownie recipe!
<><
Did anyone look at truth sermon's profile?
Oh, brother!
He must be one of glen's other personalities!
Nate, these attacks are wearing me down, too. I'm all for intelligent discussion of opposing views, but this is ridiculous!
Anyone want to commit to not responding to them? I'm going to try, but it's so hard!
Maybe we should just give our favorite scripture of the moment or our favorite chocolate recipe each time one of those rascals comments.
Anne,
Who is "Truth Sermon"? Where did you see that post, I can't find it?
Welcome back Mary!
I hope you had a marvelous time in Israel.
Harold - I too work at a University. Isn't it really frustrating? There are sooo many liberal minded people involved ie; professors, administration, kids etc.
I have a hard time witnessing all the garbage shoveled into our youths minds, arrgh.
Loved this video...
The Red Wagon
John
Alesia, truth sermon made the last comment (#90) on March 18 post at Joel's.
jen, campsmore,
Great fossil stories! I grew up on a farm which my father is still working full time at age 79. I remember finding lots of fossils there as a kid. Unfortunately, I didn't really appreciate their significance at the time. After hearing your stories, I now have the urge to go looking again as soon as the weather turns nicer.
alesia,
Working with all the liberal-minded people at a University can be pretty frustrating. My wife works in a medical research lab at the University which makes it many times worse. Everybody gives her a really shocked look the first time they find out that she believes in creation. Many of them have to admit that they have never met a Creationist before. Fortunately, my wife has a pretty good sense of humor. She told me that when she first told people in the lab she was a Creationist, she felt like she was "coming out of the closet."
dave,
I love your concise and very accurate description of evolution. :-)
jim,
I guess I have missed out on most of the recent discussion on the Ark of the Covenant. I haven't been on Joel's site in a week or two (I don't have the patience to deal with the liberals anymore) and I have missed many of the recent comments on here.
I posted a bunch of information about the Ark of the Covenant many months ago on Joel's site. Most of what I posted was taken from a couple of books written by Grant Jeffrey. I am not sure how many of the current people who place comments on the blog here were bloggers back then.
I will repost some of the information from Grant Jeffrey below (please excuse the length):
The following paragraphs about the Ark of the Covenant are from Grant’s book, “Unveiling Mysteries of the Bible:
Does Bible prophecy reveal anything about the location and the future of the Ark? In the great prophecy of Ezekiel (38-39) about the coming War of Gog and Magog, he describes the supernatural defeat of the invading armies of the Russian and Arab nations. The prophet then reports that God will set up an object of worship (“my glory”) that both the Gentile nations and Israel will recognize as proof that God has once again intervened in history to save His chosen people.
The prophet Ezekiel declared, “And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward” (Ezekiel 39:21-22).
One final prophecy provides, perhaps, the strongest evidence that the Ark will be recovered and play an important role in our future. The prophet Jeremiah describes a time after the Battle of Armageddon has been won when the Messiah rules and Israel is enjoying its messianic kingdom:
And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 3:16-17)
In other words, Jeremiah prophesied that once the Messiah wins the Battle of Armageddon and sets up His millennial kingdom, the people of Israel will stop talking about the Ark, and they will stop visiting the Ark. The reason the Ark of the Covenant and its Shekinah glory will no longer be the focus of the worship of the people of Israel is that Jesus Christ Himself will be present to be worshiped directly as their Messiah-King and God.
However, consider the fact that Jews have not publicly talked about, thought about, or visited the Ark of the Covenant for almost three thousand years since it disappeared during the days of King Solomon, approximately 980 B.C. This prophecy of Jeremiah 3:16-17 implies that the lost Ark of the Covenant will be rediscovered and will play a pivotal role in the spiritual life of Israel during the prophetic events of the last days.
If the tentative suggestions of this chapter are correct, the recovery of the lost Ark and its subsequent role in Israel’s miraculous victory in the War of Gog and Magog would encourage the Jews to begin the rebuilding of their Temple. The return of the Ark of the Covenant to the Holy of Holies of a rebuilt Temple would signal for Israel the beginning of the long-awaited messianic era.
What happened to the Ark of the Covenant?
The Ark remained in the Temple until the final years of King Solomon’s reign when, according to many sources, it was taken to Ethiopia. From the time of Solomon onward, the Bible is strangely silent about the location of the Ark. We know it was not present in the Second Temple when the Jewish captives returned from the Babylonian captivity in 536 B.C. Yet, according to the prophet Jeremiah, the Ark of the Covenant will still play a pivotal role in our future.
In his detailed prophecy describing the coming Russian-Arab invasion of Israel (the War of Gog and Magog), the prophet Ezekiel recorded God’s declaration: “And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward” (Ezekiel 39:21-22). The words “my glory” may refer to the Shekinah glory of God dwelling above the mercy seat of the Ark. Throughout the Scriptures the phrase “my glory” is used exclusively in reference to either the Shekinah glory surrounding the Ark of the Covenant or to Jesus Christ, Israel’s Messiah.
The context of Ezekiel 39:21 strongly suggests that the Ark is in view in Ezekiel’s prophesy because there is no mention in this particular prophecy of the return of the Messiah to set up His Kingdom.
To discover the truth about the Ark of the Covenant, we will need to examine evidence from two different sources: (1) the secular history of ancient Ethiopia and (2) the prophecies and historical records of the Bible. These records will enable us to determine the probable location of the Ark and its possible prophetic role in the future.
The last time the Ark of the Covenant was unquestionably in the hands of Israel is reported in 2 Chronicles 8:11, in which Solomon asked his wife, the pagan daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh, to leave the area where the sacred Ark of the Covenant was stored because she was not a true believer in Jehovah. Shortly after this event, the Ark of the Covenant, the most important and powerful spiritual object in Israel’s history, disappeared from the national life of the Jewish state.
In all of the Bible’s subsequent accounts of battles, rebellions, invasions, and the looting of the Temple by various pagan empires, the Scriptures are strangely silent about the location of this most sacred and powerful Ark of the Covenant.
There is one brief mention of an “ark” in 2 Chronicles 35:3, where King Josiah orders the priests to return to the ark to the Temple. It had been removed earlier by a wicked king to make room for his pagan idols. However, it is unlikely that this “ark” object referred to in 2 Chronicles 35:3 is the true Ark of the Covenant because the biblical writer does not use its proper name, “the Ark of the Covenant.” Also, in light of the terrible divine punishment given to past defilers of the true Ark, such as Uzzah and those fifty thousand struck with plague from Bethshemesh, it is difficult to believe that an evil king could have simply removed the true Ark of the Covenant and substituted false idols in the Temple without suffering divine retribution. However, if the Ethiopian historical records are correct, then the “ark” object referred to in 2 Chronicles 35:3 was only a replica of the true Ark of the Covenant. This would explain how they could have removed this “ark” with impunity.
The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles
During the reign of King Solomon, the famous Queen of Sheba visited Solomon in Jerusalem several years after he placed the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies of his newly built Temple. Second Chronicles 9:12 hints at the king providing the Queen of Sheba with a son when it tells us, “And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants.”
We know from the Bible that Solomon was not opposed to marrying foreign women and siring children. According to the Ethiopian history, the Queen of Sheba married King Solomon and they had a son to continue the royal line. The Ethiopian royal chronicles record that Prince Menelik I of Ethiopia was the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. He lived in the palace in Jerusalem with his father, King Solomon, until his maturity. While being educated by the priests of the Temple, he became a strong believer in Jehovah.
In a September 1935 article in National Geographic, Leo Roberts recorded his interviews with various priests in different parts of Ethiopia, all of whom consistently told the following story:
The Queen of Sheba had visited King Solomon and had a child, Menelik I. Solomon educated the lad in Jerusalem until he was nineteen years old. The boy then returned to Ethiopia with a large group of Jews, taking with him the true Ark of the Covenant. Many people believe that this Ark is now in some church along the northern boundary of present-day Ethiopia, near Aduwa, (Adua) or Aksum. But if it is here, it is so well guarded by the priests that no student from the Western world has been able to confirm or deny the legend.
A 1970 Encyclopedia Britannica article on Ethiopia also confirms this tradition. “It [Aksum-Aduwa] contains the ancient church where according to tradition, the Tabot, or Ark of the Covenant, brought from Jerusalem by the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, was deposited and is still supposed to rest.”
Menelik I, as a royal son of Solomon, was the founder of the longest-lived monarchy in history. His royal dynasty extended from King Solomon to the late Emperor Haile Selassie (he called himself the “Lion of Judah”) to the present emperor, all of whom claim direct descent from King Solomon. During the 1974 communist military coup in Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie was imprisoned and then assassinated in jail the following year under mysterious circumstances. The Marxist Ethiopian government secretly buried him in an unmarked grave. However, a number of Haile Selassie’s royal descendants escaped and are now living in the West. The current emperor is living in England.
Prince Stephen Mengesha, the great-grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie, who lives in Canada, was kind enough to be interviewed. He confirmed my research about the importance of the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopian history. Prince Mengesha’s father, Prince Mengesha Sevoum, was governor-general of Ethiopia, overseeing the northern province of Tigre and the ancient city of Aksum, where the Ark was secretly hidden in a subterranean repository and was guarded by the custodians of the religious relics thousands of years ago. Prince Mengesha Sevoum was the director of an Ethiopian relief operation in the Sudan. He appeared in an interview on Praise the Lord, a national television program in the United States in the fall of 1988 and verified that the Ark of the Covenant was still being protected in Ethiopia at that time. He showed official government photos of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, and Emperor Haile Selassie during their royal visit to Aksum, when the Queen and Prince privately visited the repository of the ancient Ark of the Covenant.
Prince Stephen Mengesha spent several summers as a teenager exploring the region of Aksum (located in northern Ethiopia) and visited many of the ancient and almost inaccessible stone churches where early Ethiopian Jewish Christians held their services. He confirmed that the subterranean chambers of the historic Church of Zion of Mary in Aksum held the ancient repository of the Ark of the Covenant.
The Ethiopian official royal historical records, known as the Glory of the Kings (Kebra-Nagast), report on what happened to the Ark of the Covenant. There are several detailed Ethiopian murals that depict how Prince Menelik I took the Ark to Ethiopia for safekeeping three thousand years ago. When the Queen of Sheba died, nineteen-year-old Prince Menelik I prepared to leave Jerusalem to return twenty-five hundred miles to his native country to become king.
Canada’s largest newspaper, the Toronto Star, dated July 19, 1981, included the following information:
In July 1936, a news service reported from Paris that a Semitic syndicate had approached French underwriters about insuring the Ark – said by the dispatch to be in Ethiopia – against war damage. The report explained that “the oblong, coffin-like chest of acacia wood, overlaid with gold within and without, was carried in ancient times as a protection against the enemy. It was believed that the Ethiopians, with their Semitic tradition and ancestry, might again bring it forth. This time it would be in the midst of tanks, airplanes, and machine guns instead of spear-bearing bowman as recorded in the Old Testament.
In May 1948, word spread among the Jews of Ethiopia that Israel had declared itself an independent nation. Many of the “Falashas” began converging to the capital to discuss plans to return to Israel and help with the prophesied rebuilding of the Temple. Over the last fifty years, thousands of Ethiopian Jews have trickled back to Israel. However, Israel only officially admitted the “Falashas” into Israel as legitimate Jews under their “Law of Return” beginning in 1989.
From the rebirth of Israel in 1948, the Jewish government enjoyed very close relations with Emperor Haile Selassie and supplied considerable technical support and financial aid to Ethiopia. Members of the royal family have told me that Israeli government representatives helped Ethiopia on many occasions and that Israeli agents repeatedly asked the emperor about the Ark of the Covenant in Aksum. These Jewish diplomatic agents suggested that, since Israel had returned from captivity to become a strong nation and had recaptured the Temple Mount in 1967, the time had come for the Ethiopians to return the Ark to its ancient resting place in a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem.
The emperor is reported to have replied, “In principle, I agree that the Ark should be returned to the Temple, but the correct time has not yet come” (personal conversation with Prince Stephen Mengesha). He felt that God would reveal the right time to return the Ark to Jerusalem. Tragically, the Marxist army coup killed the emperor in 1975, devastated the nation economically, and led Ethiopia into a brutal civil war that finally ended in 1991.
End Quote
This was the year when Grant says the Ark was returned to Israel (please refer to my last post for more details). Grant lists the following as his sources for information about the return of the Ark from Ethiopia to Israel in 1991:
Two people in the military, one an Ethiopian and one an Israeli, who personally knew participants in the rescue mission to bring the Ark home to Jerusalem. The third source was a personal friend of Grant’s since he was a child, Robert H. Thompson. Robert was a Canadian military officer in Ethiopia in World War II, a missionary, a member of Parliament, a leader of a conservative political party in Canada, and a diplomat serving as Canada’s ambassador to NATO. He is also the godfather of Prince Mengesha. In the years following World War II, Thompson served as a senior advisor and friend to Emperor Haile Selassie, assisting in the creation of Ethiopia’s education and health care systems. Robert traveled to Ethiopia during the final days of the Ethiopian civil war in a successful attempt to rescue the surviving princes and princesses of the Ethiopian royal family, who had endured brutal imprisonment for fourteen years under the Communist dictator.
God Bless,
Harold
Guys, please totally ignore the nuisances at Joel's. They are succeeding in baiting you! And that is their true insincere motivation!!!
As George Costanza's father would scream out, "Serenity now!"
I need to calm down now...too much testosterone. Probably need to lay off the peanut butter.
Fiddlesticks!
I meant to post as Hyde and forgot to take my Scrubb hat off!
See what happens when you lead a double life?
...in this case, triple.
Coffee time!!
We may have to put you in a padded cell soon with all those split personalities! ;-O
Jim,
Thanks for the update on the Ark. I had no idea about a plain one and a fancy one.
Harold,
So the book you read thinks that the "fancy" one from Ethiopia was returned to Israel in 1991?
I wonder. Could they really keep quite for that long? It would make some sense why they are making the contents for the temple, buying the linen robes, etc although the actual temple is not built.
Interesting.
Has anyone heard any more about Noah's Ark? I thought our "Global Warming" had melted the ice/snow and more of it was showing now.
Lisa
RE: Joel's Blog.
Have to admit-it's insanity over there. I'ts like gang warfare. I'm sure more people will be looking at his site as "Dead Heat" is released and they have to make sure their anti-war agenda is posted loud and clear.
This has nothing to do with scripture. (As we know their knowledge is lacking in that department-almost laughable)
So what's the best course of action?
Ignore- they can post their agenda.
Debate- or should I say talk to a brick wall. (But at least some rational point may be made-which we know they ignore)
Post Scripture/Ignore them/Post our interesting finds.
I think #3- or any other ideas?
When they post scriptural untruths it's really hard for me to keep quiet.
I'm afraid someone may read them and unknowingly be drawn into their deceitfulness.
Hard call.
Lisa
Jim
wasn't me. haven't had a chance to get near a computer although I completely agree with the sentiment of both your and Lori/Alesia-don't remember who said it and too tired to go back and look
My burn must be getting better because it is getting more annoying. since it is on a joint surface every time I bend my knee it stretches-burnt skin does not like to be stretched.
Hi Harold and thanks for the great info....it will be amazing if the Ark is brought to light for the whole world to see!
Just recently, I started praying that archeological evidence would increasingly be brought out to validate the Temple Mount as the site of the Jewish temple. It just irks me that such lies are spread about it and how it didn't exist, or at best, was in a different location. So each time a coin or potshard is uncovered, I feel like it's an answered prayer. (Grany linked the most recent find...a silver coin used to pay the temple tax.)
But the jackpot, of course, would be the Ark! I hadn't considered that it might already be found and just waiting for the go-ahead from the Lord to be brought out.
Someone mentioned it before, but other than living during Christ's life, this is such an exciting time to be part of :-)
Blessings,
Jen
Just talked with my mom and need to post this to see if anyone else heard it....
My mom said that she watched a CNN interview with a black pastor who was speaking about the Rev. Wright/Obama's speech stuff and he said that Wright's tone/choice of words used in his sermons is actually similar to the style used by OT prophets when warning the people about their sin, etc. It sounded like he was trying to paint Wright as a modern-day prophet. I don't have the name of the pastor to look up the transcript....anyone else know?
Blessings,
Jen
call me simple but since the Israelites did indeed have access to gold while in the wilderness (golden calf anyone) plus the workers to actually build something like the fancy one-I really don't see much use for two.
Further-the Ark was more than just a box with angels and gold-it was the literal symbol and resting place of God's presence on earth both in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. When the Ark was carried to war before the Tribes it was a literal symbol that God was with them. Somehow a war drum just doesn't do it for me. I will admit to not watching the show but when I found out the ending-that the Ark was just a drum I immediately lost interest in the show. too often I find that when people approach the Bible with a secular attitude irrelevant of their religious background these people always come away with ideas that are contrary to what the Bible says/describes. These people can not and do not want to believe what the Bible says on much of anything because if any portion of the Bible that sounds remotely fantastic or supernatural can be proven true-they might have to believe some of the rest of it. I saw one special that said that there is actually evidence of similar structures to the "fancy" ark used in the Egyptian religious practices done to the angelic figures. So of course their conclusion was that Moses "stole" the idea from the Egyptians since he would likely have sen something similar growing up in Pharaoh's household. Apparently the Ark and the religious structures of the Egyptians were constructed in some way that they actually were electrical conduits of some sort and that was why people who touched the Ark died-they were electrocuted.
Harold
there are a great many who would disagree with the ark in Josiah being a copy etc. Also-why would Solomon give Israel's tangible reminder of God to someone not really associated with Israel. The need to keep the Ark safe wouldn't be for sometime since at the time of Solomon judgement had not yet been pronounced on either Israel or Judah. just my take on it.
Regarding fossils and dinos and such-the ooparts site you can link to off of Dolphin Lambert's site (or just google them) has a section on dinos that is quite interesting including a listing of sites where one can see dino prints and people prints side by side in the prehistoric mud :-)
I think after my very long day I'm off to put my feet up and go to bed early
"We may have to put you in a padded cell soon with all those split personalities! ;-O"
That's OK, the three of us would keep ourselves amused.
Ah, Mac/Hyde/Scrubb -- proof positive that you're never alone with a schizophrenic!
<><
Jib, Shalom! That idea of the Ark of the Covenant being a "copy" of arks used in Egypt was one of the ideas presented in that History Channel special. Personally, I don't have a problem with that. If arks of that style were used in Egypt, then it would have been immediately obvious to any of the tribes and peoples that the Israelites encountered what that thing was that they were carrying. Obviously something that's all lookee-no touchee. But I agree -- it's a secularist looking at something from a secular view (obviously Moses stole the idea from the Egyptians) rather than a religious view (G_D using an existing symbol so that EVERYONE knows what it is when they see it.)
Harold, thank you SO much for that article! I was so happy to learn that the Ethiopian royal line didn't die out with the death of Emperor Haile Selassie. In case you didn't know, during WW2 the Emperor set up a government-in-exile in Jerusalem due to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. There was a different History/Discovery Channel program that did go into the Ethiopian chronicles and showed the building where the Ark is supposed to be stored; however the monks allow only one person to view the Ark (not even any photos) and that's the Keeper of the Ark, who is appointed for life.
I did a posting/story a couple of months back that pointed out we don't NEED the Temple to be rebuilt before the Ark is revealed, since the Ark was kept in a tent for how many years before the first Temple was built. I'll have to find a copy of Grant Jeffrey's book (after I'm finished with "Dead Heat", of course.) I can see Solomon letting Menelik take the Ark, if G_D told Solomon to do so and keep quiet about it. Better to hide something before the hordes come to pillage than while the pillaging is taking place. And perhaps it's the ark described in 2 Chronicles that was the one taken by the priests that were the origin of the Lemba tribe in Africa.
Do I understand you correctly that according to Jeffrey, the Ark has been returned to Israel already?
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Hi Guys
With regards to glen, mary and the other ‘annoying mice’. I have made comments to their posts to try to set the record straight to any visitors coming onto Joel’s blog by giving motives for their strange behavior and brief past histories. I think I have had an iota of success because they have ignored my posts and gone after the others who have answered them directly.
Marge – I sometimes can’t control my fingers, sorry.
To all my Brothers and Sisters out there,
Have a Blessed and Christ filled Easter Weekend. This time is one of remembrance, of great thanks giving and also great celebration because Jesus washed us free from our sin with His precious blood nearly 2000 years ago.
Yours in Christ
Jeri.
jim,
There is a lot more to the history of the Ark of the Covenant that Grant Jeffrey records in his books. I just re-read what I posted yesterday on the ark from Grant Jeffrey a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, this is only part of the story. I just cut and pasted that from a Word doc I made many months ago. I can't for the life of me find the other document I wrote that contains other details. Both documents I wrote were copied right out of three of Grant's books.
The three books that talk about the Ark of the Covenant by Grant Jeffrey are "Armageddon:Appointment with Destiny", "Unveiling Mysteries of the Bible", and his latest book, "The New Temple and the Second Coming." I think what I posted yesterday was from "Unveiling Mysteries of the Bible", but I highly recommend all three books.
In answer to your question, yes, Grant does claim that the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Israel in 1991. As discussed in the comment I recently posted, the ark was originally taken from Israel by Prince Menelik I when he was 19.
According to the Ethiopian chronicles related by Grant Jeffrey, Menelik I was trained by the temple priests in Israel when he was a boy. He became a devote follower of Yahweh. As he got older, he became increasingly upset with his father, King Solomon's disrespect for God. Solomon was allowing the idols of his pagan wives to places in the temple.
Menelik I realized that the Ark should not remain with Solomon. Menelik was of the age that he was to return to Ethiopia, the original home of his mother, the Queen of Sheba. As he was a very devote follower of Yahweh, King Solomon had an exact replicate of the Ark of the Covenant built so that Menelik I could take it with him the thousands of miles to his homeland in Ethiopia, as he would not be able to return to Israel to worship at the temple.
Menelik I came up with a plan. Again, he was upset with Solomon's increasing disrespect for God. The night he was scheduled to leave for Ethiopia, Solomon had a big party. When Solomon and his entourage were good and drunk, Menelik I and some of his followers switched the fake ark for the real ark. They then took the real ark with them to Ethiopia where it was kept safe until 1991 when it was returned to Israel.
There is a lot more to the story. Maybe I will post more details later. I wish I could find all the other information I typed out before. I am not sure how far I can go back in the Joel's blog and look for my old posts.
God Bless,
Harold
Morning all,
I haven't seen the NYC story covered here yet, but it's not a good sign!
The blood libel thing is ridiculous as well.
Arabs Attack Jew in NYC, Blood Libel Returns to Russia
Blessings,
Jen
sorry Harold
still don't buy that Solomon sent the Ark to Ethiopia. seriously-surely the nation as a whole would have cried out about it? Furthermore, the only way it could have been transported to Ethiopia is if Levites took it there since no one else could touch it. I don't see it happening. If the Ark still exists I don't think it was ever in Ethiopia
There is a secular/religious history of Israel outside the Bible and Josephus that that an author of a book referred to-don't remember what it is called for the moment, the history not the book. The book supposedly traces history back to Creation. It would be interesting to see if any mention is made of such a thing.
Jim, Thanks for having my back on that last blog you did.
Jim,
should've included..."at Joel's"
What G has said can be considered libel according to all the online definitions I could locate.
I hope he's more careful in his accusations now.
Jim
I'm grateful you did that!
Campsmore, It is my pleasure and an honor to rise to the defense of a lady, especially one of your caliber.
<><
Campsmore, Shalom!
I'm not going to respond to Glen any more on this issue, since I don't like throwing gasoline on a fire -- it scares the pigs. I will say here that G's example of O. J. Simpson is kinda my point when I was talking about corporate lawyers. If I remember correctly, OJ put his assets in his kids' name, to keep from paying the families of his two alleged victims. If it were a corporation which pays its lawyers a salary whether they are in court or back at the office playing Tetris on their computers, then the corporation could keep going after OJ and wear him down. However, right now it's just the victims' parents, who have to pay their attorneys an hourly rate.
Since the court is not going to take a domicile (house, apartment, condo) away from a kid and any money was supposed to be going for the kid's support with OJ as the administrator, that's how he got away with it. However, once those kids turn 18 or 21 (depending on the state), they have no obligation to support him in any way and all bets are off. I don't know how his latest antics are going to hurt him, and I don't know how old his kids are now. If they're still under aged and OJ DOES go to jail for what he did in Las Vegas, the grandparents could ask the court to give them custody of the kids. They could also sue to have his parental rights terminated. If the kids are close to reaching their majority, there could be some legal wrangling that could force OJ to liquidate all of his assets and turn the proceeds over to the kids.
It's a very tricky mess, and of course it's different from the situation with Joel's publisher. I would hope that the grandparents of OJ's kids would be thinking not of the daughter they lost but of the grandkids, and would structure their actions accordingly. As far as G is concerned, none of that applies. The corporate lawyers aren't going to sit around at the office when there are people they could be suing to justify their salaries. If G lives in a communal property state and tries to hide assets by putting them all in his kids' names, then the corporation could include the wife in the lawsuit, and require that half of her earnings and the sale of any of her property go towards the settlement. If they try to protect her by getting a divorce, then it had better be a complete and total divorce. Couples that have tried to do this by getting a divorce but still having the father live with the family "for the sake of the children" have been forced to still have the ex-wife be included, since the ex-wife is providing support for the ex-husband.
Like I say, very tricky and very messy. I hope G isn't seriously thinking that he can get away with anything because he's anonymous and therefore invulnerable, and that it would just cost too much money to prosecute/persecute him. He doesn't understand that there are corporate assets to be protected, and the case is straightforward: he libeled Joel and continued to do so for some time, resulting in the loss or potential loss to the company of X amount, with lawyers fees to be included. Getting a subpoena to force AOL to help the publishers track down G is nothing -- a week at most. Once that process server delivers the lawsuit papers to G, he's going to have to hire a lawyer and start paying for his defense.
Chances are the publishers would just send G a "cease and desist" letter. They'd want to establish to the court they had tried getting G to stop. They'd have someone in the corporate law office monitor the blog for a year or so. If G then stops posting as "glen4jesus" but starts signing in under a new name and starts libeling Joel again, they'll be able to track down G again and this time, it wouldn't be a "C&D" letter, it be a lawsuit.
HA! Maybe I SHOULD post this over at Joel's, just so G can't say that he didn't know what was coming.
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I received this Email today and wanted to share with you.
"One Last, Tough Teaching—John 12:30-33
Jack Klumpenhower
3/15/2008
In the week after Palm Sunday, leading up to his death, Jesus spent his days teaching the crowds at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Bible writers devote much attention to these final teachings. There are two lesser-known incidents from that week, and a related lesson, that I find most interesting.
Incident #1: The Greeks. Some Greek visitors went to see the disciple Philip: “They said, ‘Sir, we want to meet Jesus’ ” (John 12:21). When Jesus heard about this interest from foreigners, he took it as confirmation that the time had come for him to enter his glory, which also meant time to die.
Incident #2: The voice. Thinking about his death made Jesus emotional. He said, “Now my soul is deeply troubled” and “Father, bring glory to your name” (John 12:27-28). A voice replied from heaven: “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again” (John 12:28). Naturally, the voice puzzled the crowd.
The lesson. Jesus responded with a teaching that explained both the Greeks and the voice:
Then Jesus told them, “The voice was for your benefit, not mine. The time for judging the world has come, when Satan, the ruler of the world, will be cast out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this to indicate how he was going to die (John 12:30-33).
This teaching will bother some people because it’s so us-against-them. Jesus sees the world as a battlefield where he and the devil claim souls. There’s judgment and punishment coming. There are loyalties to choose between, and you’d better be quick. Will you heed the voice? People everywhere are joining Jesus’ winning team. Will you?
Yes, his call is both pressing and stark. Jesus says we must die to this world to gain life with him. But before you peg Jesus as a too-pushy evangelist, notice that he too will die. In fact, his message is urgent without being pushy at all. His plan is to draw people to himself, to attract them by the wonder of his cross.
Perhaps you realize that the request of those Greeks, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus,” has become a motto for preachers the world over. Here and there in all sorts of churches you will find those words carved into pulpits or, more likely, scrawled on a scrap of paper and taped to the lectern for the preacher to see.
The phrase is a reminder to those preachers and to anyone who would encourage others from the Bible—this includes me—that no one becomes a better Christian by being pushed. If hearts are to change, we must meet Jesus. We must tell each other, again and again, the matchless story of his compassion, his conquest, and his cross.
This is why I write about Jesus. More than that, I myself have been drawn in. I am drawn to the teacher who exhausted his final days in concern for the souls in the crowd. I am drawn to the troubled heart who knew that his mission meant death but completed it anyway, for me. I am drawn to the Son so loved by his Father that the voice of God thundered applause across the Temple courtyard; the Son who invites me to enter that circle of loving approval. Can there be any doubt that knowing this person will change me?"
Jack Klumpenhower is a writer and communications consultant living in Colorado. He has authored Bible study lessons and a family devotional guide.
Love you all,
Grany
Nate, I'm in! I will not address them until they address the scripture.
I also suggest that no matter what else they post, that you continue to ask the same question, regardless of how many times they post.
I believe that this is some type of mocking spirit.
Thanks for your tenacity.
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
This is the daily Bible verse that just came into my email acct.
Nate - Bull is Lori, I believe.
jib,
Four things:
1. Solomon didn't "send" the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. Solomon thought that Menelik I was taking an exact "replica" of the Ark that Solomon had built for him. As I mentioned in my last post, Solomon and his "people" were drunk and Menelik I used that opportunity to switch the Arks. The people of Israel may not have know the difference for months. When they did discover the missing Ark, what were they going to do? Ethiopia is hundreds of miles away and the Ark was probably hidden at that point.
2. Grant's books mention that a large group of Jews went with Melelik I when he took the real Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. I suspect that at least some of them were Levites. What would be the point of even taking a replica of the Ark with him if some Levites didn't come with him to attend to the Ark? Although Menelik I was Solomon's son, he was trained from a very young age by the priests. He was much more religious and probably more respected by the priests than Solomon was at that point. He apparently had an uncanny resemblance to Solomon. Solomon was too busy living the high life with his 1000 wives and concubines and there pagan idols. I am sure that protecting the Ark was the last thing on Solomon's mind at this point in his life.
3. The place that the real Ark was kept in Aksum in Ethiopia for 3500 years was very special. It was under ground of the Church of St. Mary of Zion. The underground repository for the Ark consisted of 7 rings (layers) of underground walls protecting the Ark. Certain priests were allowed to enter rings 1 to 4. Certain other priests were allowed to enter rings 5 and 6, but only one priest was allowed to enter ring 7 (the inner most ring) where the Ark was kept.
The only person who had access to the 7th ring was chosen at a very young age. Once they were chosen, they lived there entire life in that 7th ring. Their sole purpose was to protect the Ark.
This person spent much of their time fasting (something like 200 days a year). When they did eat, the food was provided by the priest(s) that was allowed to enter the 6th layer.
This was how the Ark was kept for most of 3500 years.
4. When the Ark was returned to Israel in 1991, it was retrieved from Aksum in Ethiopia by an Israeli special forces unit composed entirely of descendants of the tribe of Levi. It was apparently covered in a blue cloth and loaded on a military transport plane back to Israel.
The fact that this is not widely known is not really surprising. As you know, Israel is a very secretive place. They don't even publicly acknowledge they have nuclear weapons, even though everyone knows they must have 300 warheads or so.
I just ran across the following website that talks about Aksum and the Ark. It tells a different version of the story (I would be more likely to believe Grant's story as I doubt there are many people on the planet who have done more research on the subject than him or have better contacts), but it does acknowledge that the Ark was/is in Ethiopia.
Aksum
There are a several more interesting details to the story contained in Grant's books.
God Bless,
Harold
Alesia, Lori as in campsmore?
Yes, Campsmore. Could be wrong though. Lori - Where are you?
For those of us who have blogs & emails on our profiles...
Please be careful of people contacting you for the cave's address.
Since BloodBought (Mary) made mention of the "other location" I have had 3 people email me looking for the address of the cave. Only 1 of them did I give the address to, Iowagal & only after she confirmed on Joel's for me.
I think maybe DibDabDeb tried to contact me too, but I asked her a question & she has not responded back yet.
I think with everything going on at Joel's, we really need to be on guard with securing our safe haven.
It's really sad what is going on.
Any chance aenea, glen and some of the anonys are the same?
AoC's Karen Armstrong's Take on
Christian 'Extremists' Who Believe the End-Times Prophecies
Quote from the video: 'I'm not a fan of the book of Revelation. I think it's a most unfortunate scripture.'
Watch her on YouTube here. (video from 1996)
She has a very influential position in the AoC, being regarded as the one presenting the "Christian" viewpoint in all public debates and discussions.
The thing I find most disturbing about this woman (a former RC nun) is that she makes almost ALL of her statements based on what someone else may have said, twisted to one degree or another by Ms. Armstrong's interpretation of these statements.
Her knowledge and understanding of the Bible is non-existent, and her understanding of what most "born-again" Christians believe is so wide of the mark as to be laughable, it it wasn't so dangerous.
Remember that the AoC (Alliance of Civilizations) is a UN organization whose aim appears to be the demonization of both Islamist terrorists and evangelical Christians as being of the same ilk. The AoC publicly smears both groups with the same brush as having dangerous, violent apocalyptic beliefs, that justify the use of terrorism, killing, etc to push forward their beliefs.
The main thrust of their statements so far, appears to be to make evangelical Christians look as dangerous to world peace and global harmony as are Islamic terrorists, and that both groups should be regarded in the same way.
John
Nate,
I'm in, as far as not addresses the idiots at Joel's.
It has ceased to be fun anyway. :)
addressing
Me too, just scripture please.
I am bullhocky, but funny enough, only the word bull comes up when I post!
I think I'm going to see if I can get rid of it.
Does anyone know how to get rid of a google account?
Boatman, Shalom!
I've run across Karen Armstrong before, and am decidedly unimpressed. A good writer BUT... Many of the nuns and priests who left their religious vocations in the late 60's and early 70's seem to have written books about how their lives in the Catholic Church screwed them up. Armstrong seems to have taken a broader approach in that that it wasn't Catholicism, it was Christianity, and she's spent the rest of her life analyzing Christianity trying to figure out why it screwed her up. In the course of her self-examination, she seems to have developed a view of Christianity not in terms of what Christianity IS, but what it IS NOT. In the end, she's become one of those people who call themselves Christian but "aren't fanatical about it," i.e., they say it's not important whether or not Jesus did those miracles, or it's not important whether or not he actually rose from the dead. Very sad.
<><
Oops...just was going to mention that Lori is 'bullhocky' and saw she posted, so I deleted that.
Also, agree with the testing of spirits....stick with the power of the Word. And we might want to outline out exit plan in case we need to meet elsewhere. I like calling it the "health club" - forget who said that earlier. Make sure you get invited by Nate so your membership is in place. I wouldn't put it past one of the mice at J's to create a profile, post earnestly enough to win our trust, then get invited here.
Blessings,
Jen
To whoever it was that posted as "anonymous" at Joel's at 1:45, that was my last posting to Glen. I wanted to reply to that other anonymous jerk, and I figured I may as well make sure G (and whoever else is reading the blog) knows what thin ice he's skating on. Since we know that Joel does read the blog, I'd be surprised if someone from Tyndale House Publishers doesn't check in once in a while. I think, after the problems the blog went through last January, it's very possible that G WILL get a C&D letter from the publisher, basically telling him to put up or shut up. When that happens, I expect to see all kinds of fireworks from G about censorship and why can't someone honestly question what Joel is doing, etc., before G goes away and comes back under a different alias.
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it weren't me
New news for today....
Obama church published
Hamas terror manifesto
Blessings,
Jen
Campsmore, Shalom! I think Blogger censored the last part of your name because in many parts of America, "male bovine hockey" is also used for "male bovine excrement."
The Google Help screen has some help screens about deleting google accounts -- start there and start clicking around. I ran into that because my original gmail account stopped working for some reason, so I created a second one so I could still post blue. Then, when I lost my job, I had to go in and disable the old account before I could link my personal email to my new gmail account. Or something like that.
<><
Isn't this very similar to the comments made just before Joel's was shut down? It seems there were so many anonymous postings, plus T in all her many personalities.
It seems eerily the same.
Jen, my thoughts exactly, about someone gaining our trust to find the cave.
Guys, I've just checked Joel's out and it looks like a war zone to me. These people are like little vampires sucking the blood out of the place. They smell the blood and are in a feeding frenzy. I have never seen so many negative posts since first visiting that forum. All they are doing is successfully baiting and getting pleasure out of the reaction.
I don’t think scripture quoting is working because we are engaging them personally in debates. Sadly, in my bad younger years, I’ve debated just to cause trouble so I know the drill. The object is to cause strife in any sneaky way you can, and anyone engaging in that activity isn’t interested in logic and reasoning, but only to score points for an ego trip.
I don’t know what the solution is but remember that you cannot reason with these people. Quoting scripture is great but I don’t see consistency here as some are directly engaging Glen and anonymous. You can’t win a debate with them even if you’re right because their true objective is to make trouble.
My advice is to ignore them. If you can’t do that then don’t visit Joel’s for a little while and let them wallow in their own mire. Maybe spend some time in study and prayer? We need to discipline ourselves.
Mac,
I totally agree with.
God Bless
Yep, I agree, too mac.
What a mess.
Looks like T's type of postings to me!
Hi Alesia and all...
RE my comments on Joel's site: I'm about to come to the decision to log into Joel's Blogsite just to read his articles and then escape to "you know where!" to discuss eschatology, Biblical truths, and current events. AND I will also respond to the "regulars" either here on this site or "somewhere else".
I was very careful not to mention any 'place' but I wanted to reiterate that most of us want to discuss eschatology, Biblical truths, and current events relative to prophecy. Please know that I will never disclose this site or any other 'private' site that I've been invited to join. (And, Nate, I do want to be included...just tell me how.)
I'm just so sick of what is taking place on Joel's site and love reading the insight from you all.
Blessings! (Mary)
Completely 100% agree Mac!
Mary - I did not mean that as a reprimand, I'm sorry if you took it that way. But after you made that comment Iowagal commented on it (which is ok, I sent her the address) and then I received another email from, I don't know who, referencing your comment & asking for the location. I didn't give the address to them because I couldn't figure out who they were & they didn't answer my questions.
I hope I just gave Dibdabdeb the address, her computer crashed & she lost the link.
We just need to be really careful, that's all.
Hey Alesia!
It's me! Debbie!!
Thank you sooooo much Girl!
My computer went down and I had to get a new one. I was able to retrieve most of my stuff but forgot to get my favorites!
I have missed reading my blogs and keeping up with everyone! Hugs and love to all!
In His Love!
Debbie
Hi all,
I'm in agreement and think maybe we should stick to reading what Joel posts and do our fellowshipping here. Very good point about disciplining ourselves, Mac.
Just checked the news and Fox has a main article with the title "Dead Heat for White House"...how ironic is that!?
Also a major earthquake in China...7.2, not to mention the weather across Texas, etc. More labor pains.
I'll be leaving for my parents' house tomorrow morning (Please pray for travel mercies and the kids to behave. We'll be in the car 12 hours in 4 days. Also, we're going to visit my ailing grandfather, the agnostic, on Sat. I've been praying that if moved, I'll be ready to share the Good News with him as I may not get to see him again. He's heard it a million times, but I've never personally talked with him about Jesus and I feel that I may be "asked" to do that on this trip.) Not sure how often I'll get to check the web (parents have a molasses web connection and I don't have the patience for it.) If I don't get back to post, have a wonderfully blessed and exciting Easter weekend. I'm so full of joy this year that I really can hardly stand it!
Blessings,
Jen
Debbie - PHEW! Glad to see it IS you.
Nate - I would LOVE to know who really posted that comment, but I don't think it was Joel. Regardless, they did make a very good point that we all should take heed. Nothing is being accomplished at Joel's, I'm embarrased & ashamed of how horrendous it looks over there right now.
I must confess though. I did make 2 anonymous comments today. One was the sound bite of "which way did he go" (But I thought it was obvious it was me). The other was the warning to Mrs. Redinger.
Me sorry :(
Nate,
Let me restate my comment (just deleted)...I was thinking the same thing, or perhaps maybe it's someone in his organization....publicist, etc.?
I also had wondered if the daily new posts from him was an attempt to break the tirade.
Ugh....must be difficult to deal with so much all at once.
Blessings,
Jen
Jen - Am praying for ALL your concerns. I do not envy you with three toddlers in the car for 12 hrs! Oh, you poor thing. :)
Do you really think Joel would reprimand us that severely? I don't think he would. That was pretty harsh (rightfully so)
Hey, no fair! I replied to your comment, then you deleted it. waaah
LOL
BTW Jen, have a great time - enjoy.
Uh oh - Mr. Hyde, we're getting close & I have nothing prepared.
Do you?
Can we find something to do with The Resurrection?
I'm on it now.
Hey Alesia,
Not sure if it was Joel, although that was my first instinct.
Then it thought maybe someone close to him who would be familiar with the blog....I also thought (after I posted) that it might be a pastor who knows him well, esp. with the Bema seat ref.
Dunno, but I take it to heart.
Thanks for the prayers :-) I visited my chiro today, got my muscle relaxer script refilled and am going to have hubby download some good Casting Crowns for the iPod. It will be nice to get "home" after I get home from my old home....figure that out! LOL!
Blessings,
Jen
well this will likely get lost in the change between posts but for what it's worth I don't think the 5:09 poster was Joel. The spelling was atrocious and how would he know that any of you had been posting but not under your blue name?
I for one think we should all take a break from Joel's, let things die down and then re visit the site after Resurrection Day. I just left a post about his interview schedule etc.
I think whomever the 5:09 poster is it is the same one who reminded Jim he wasn't going to answer Glen again. I believe he only said that here and not at Joel's but I did read things rather quickly.
My take is that it was either Grany or Child of the King.
although the spelling was so poor at times that I might have to rethink even those two ladies :-)
Jen
hope all goes well this trip for you.
btw - there's a new post.
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