Born2BFree

Ah! I forgot to include gentleness. Yes. THAT is a very important gift too, isn't it? I am so glad to have made the acquaintance of such fine examples of spiritual gifts, not the least of which is gentleness. God Bless you gentlemen in your search for the abundant life beyond the words.

I think you will find they 'can' and 'do'. That is true.. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. ...but in the context of this discussion it is not a gift of the Holy Spirit...the Holy Spirit does not distribute 'salvation'...we are talking about the gifts to empower and help the 'Church' in her mission...and about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. OH! YOU mean MONEY! Yes! MONEY IS A REAL EMPOWERING GIFT... Otherwise... one might consider the following... Peace Love Joy Temperance Meekness (now THAT's a REAL tough gift to hold) Patience Brotherly Love Long Suffering Or...and... Prophesy Healing Miracles Wisdom Knowledge Judgement (discernment) I wouldn't include scholarship, or IQ scores or possession of college degrees in the spiritual gifts, though these may be considered 'gifts' and/or convenient acquisitions. It is my belief that The Gift of the Holy Spirit is the driving base for all expressions of gifts labled 'spiritual'... Of course, without the gift of Love, everything else is nothing but vain posturing. God Bless y'all.

Huh? All sin is a repeat of the first error. Each sin poses as something 'new' when its not. Its a tired old record that is stuck in a groove and relentlessly, persistently ... repeats the same sad refrain... You are free to do it. You are free to do it. You are free to do it. The Christian has given up the 'freedom' to choose his way. His choice is God's choice. God... In Himself, He fixed my choice. Bless His name forever!

No one can dispute the presence of spiritual Gifts in the church today. Salvation is a Gift I most certainly hope has not disappeared. As for 'miracles'... Disciples of Christ say miracles ceased with the death of the last disciple/apostle in the New Testament. If this were so... one should wonder about the role of God in their performance. Also, no one should think Christian re-birth in Christ is anything but a MIRACLE. If its not a miracle in your life, its a miracle you can sustain a straight face when telling the lie that you have been born again. Philosophy isn't reality. Some merely live a standard of conduct without having ever contacted the LIFE of Christ and the POWER He gives to enable His children to live an Abundant Life. Rebirth means: Old things have passed away and ALL things are become NEW. New. New Creatures in Christ. Old nature NO MORE. NEW NATURE evermore. New creatures. New people. New LIFE. New desires, hopes, dreams, motives, responses, appetites and interests. New. god bless you!

Both.

BLESSED ARE THEY WHO LOVE THE LAW........................ AND nothing SHALL OFFEND THEM." Hold your confidence (in the love of God) and walk like you always do. Jesus will deal with the problem using you as His instrument of Grace. Have FAITH in God. It is true the Bible tells us: "There is safety in the multitude of counselors..." However, Wisdom is known of her children. Look to God for direction. HE wants her deliverance far MORE than you ever could. Remember that.

Mandatory Mental Health Screening Mandatory State Enforced Remedies: brain function 'stabilizer' drugs Mandatory Political Correctness: Avoid Hate Crimes Law Violation...via 'sanitized' political thoughts Manditory Euthenasia...?

Excuse me... cows 'bleat' and sheep 'moo'...? Or is it the other way around?

OH! I really LIKE what you said! God BLESS you!

One should ask the question first: What exactly IS knowledge and how do we KNOW when we have it? Knowledge is MORE than sticking another fact in your pocket. Its more than applying a rule and getting an anticipated result again and again. What IS knowledge when it applies to KNOWING God? What is REVELATION and what is its connection with KNOWLEDGE about God? Before one may productively examine a topic, one must first identify a beginning that will yeild productive results. Otherwise, its all just vain pretense and this forum is little more than ego on display on the bullitin board at the local laundry mat. Comments?:

The Strength of God is made 'perfect' in our weakness (inability). The purpose of the Christian is to proclaim the Glory of God...to express His reality. When my inability is most apparant, then God's ability is given its correct expression. I cannot presume to claim anything but receipt of His Grace. It is HIS work: His Gift of Grace to me. The strength of God toward the Christian is the certainty of His Promise that He will do what He said He would do. It is impossible to God to LIE. Saten is identified as the source of all LIES. Many Christians are fearful of asking God for something because they are afraid He will NOT give them what they ask for... however, nothing from God is granted due to a person's worthiness. We are not without 'worth' because the blood of Jesus bought our freedom in Christ. However we are without 'merit', or 'righteousness' of our own. We cannot 'earn' merit before God. What we recieve of God is a Gift, because He LOVES us. If we ask according to what He has promised, we can be certain that it is OURS to claim... providing that we have obliged the simple, few, necessary steps to repentence for sin. God tells us in scripture that if we acknowledge our sins (admit they are present), THEN... God is FAITHFUL (to His Promise toward us...) to FORGIVE us and to CLEANSE us from ALL unrighteousness. Unrighteousness is always the barrior between the Christian and receipt of God's Promise. Get the unrighteousness (sin) out of the way and God's ever-present blessings can touch us in all the right places to accomplish just what God intended. Healing is one of these Promises. Tess, YOU will never be able to attain perfection... unless its the goal of becoming a 'perfect' failure... of a 'perfect' mess. Anything that does not correspond with the description in God's Word...about what we ARE in Christ Jesus is not 'real'. We are to refuse to acknowledge anything but the TRUTH that God has already spoken about our condition before God according to His plan of redemption and His purpose of restoration of all our Adamic rights and privileges. Perfect health is one of these described conditions. The Christian Science people are not in error of what they say is promised in the Bible. Their approach to God is in error... their expectation is false... However, their teaching about health is not inaccurate when they quote God's Word. When I am ill (not often) I seek someone who is most skeptical about God and I inform them that I have been healed of my illness. They usually scoff at the idea drawing immediate attention to my visible symptoms. I listen and smile and tell them what they see is a lie. Usually a skeptic claims acute sensitivity to the presence of a lie... especially in someone who asserts the reality of God and who expresses faith claims. So, I admit I bait them a little. I testify to them about my healing and if they will listen I describe in minute detail what this healing looks like. Usually, it is the direct opposite of all my symptoms. The skeptic has a field day as they try to deal with someone hey believe is unhinged from reality. This action on my part ... places God in a position to defend His Word. The Spirit of Truth always responds to error in a corrective manner. God commands my flesh to obey His Word. I do not command my flesh ... as I cannot. I yeild to the purpose of God according to His Word. Sometimes I have seen immediate results ... diminishment of symptoms and quick cessation and recovery. Other times, the results of faith are slow to arrive. The rate of change does not affect the frequency of my faith claim in my testimony to others. Christians are fully pursuaded about faith-claims (if they are REAL Christians)... the skeptics are resistent, even scornful of such claims. God reacts to their mockery .... "God is not mocked." I believe God has healed you of your illness, because this is what His Word says about YOUR health. I will pray for your awareness of this Great Grace that IS present in your circumstance RIGHT NOW. God bless you as you verbalize your gratitude to God for His blessings in the life He has given to YOU for His purpose.

Job was PERFECT in his SUBMISSION to the will of God in his life. He never challenged God about the correctness of his treatment. He looked for the presence of God in his circumstances and ALWAYS spoke the TRUTH.

Does God expect us to be sinless? When He says, "Be holy as I am holy"..what does that mean? When Jesus told the sinful woman "Go and sin no more" ...did He really expect her to never sin again? ____________________________________________________________________ Only God is sinless. He prepared a position/place in himself where the Christian may stand under His blood and receive the benifit of His righteousness. The remark by God: "Be holy as I am holy..." is not a petition made of man. If it were it would appear pointless for man cannot make himself 'holy' as God. Man cannot even 'know' himself so as to produce of himself a righteous standard of judgement. This statement is of the kind that was spoken in the beginning when God spoke....and the world came into existence. God "pronounced" a creative command upon those He foreknew when he looked at them and said: "Be holy as I am holy..." God produced a special exigency appropriate for the need of mankind. The woman was compelled by Jesus to consider the 'proof' provided by her faith...which was well received by God... and to cease from her doubts, but continue to believe. The comment about 'sin' he was encouraging her not to be 'faithless' after than, but to continue in the confidence she had just received. Please glance at the post above "Thoughts on Repentance"... God Bless you, Tess.

Text: John3:16,4:24,6:44... 1. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. 2. No man can come unto Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him: and I will raise him up a the last day. 3. God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. __________________________________________________________________ Thoughts on Repentance: by: Born2BFree (AKA: GWA) It is the Spirit of God that draws a man to repent. "No man cometh to God but first the spirit of God draws (entreats) him." The will to repent is a precious gift from God and evidence of the influence of His Holy Spirit in a life. Blessed is the man whose Will is to repent (turn away from) of sin. God has provided a way into His presence and a way to be sustained (to walk and live) in His Presence. All forms of sin are variations of denial of the promise of God that God makes it possible for a man/woman to become more than just an animal. Saten told Eve she was other than what God had made her. God had made Eve a living soul in the image (pure) image of God. Saten beguiled her by drawing her attention to the shape of the image (her body) of God... at variance to the Spirit of God that lived in it. Because she turned away from the Spirit to view the flesh, her understanding of the purpose of the flesh was corrupted. Saten distorted her Vision of the Truth. This denied her the entrance to the perfection of Eden which was her original condition as ordained by God. Saten uses influences to distort our vision of Jesus. The blessing of God is then blocked by our unbelief... in all of its variations (specific sins). Worship is what its all about: Proper Worship...that is, worship that is acceptable to God. Forms alone are inadequate. Without the right Spirit in the form, it becomes an idol. Pure worship acceptable to God is attitude/conduct that is OBEDIENT to the Word of God. God wants our entire attention. He is disinterested in our actions alone...He wants our heart as well. However, this is not an easy proposition to fill. Humans are frail in every way...particulary in the scope of their committments. God knows that we are dust. He understands. He also took a form like unto our form and was tempted in every way such as is COMMON to man... I love God for this splendid and wonderful gesture of LOVE for us. He does Love YOU, you know? Really, He does. In spite of all the sin, God still loves us... This is a marvelous and wonderful mystery: God's Love. Only God knows the heart of a person to understand its sincerity. Saten will point you to the long list of your past failed attempts to overcome a habit. God only knows of the one you present to Him NOW. He does not recall what was placed under His blood yesterday. All He acknowledges is our most recent error. He does not audit our entire life... because everything else is under His shed blood. It cannot be recalled by God because it is cast into the sea of forgetfulness. The Bible doesn't tell us that we must be 'sincere' on a scale of zero to whatever in order to qualify for forgiveness. Jesus is already WILLING to forgive us. The conditions presented in scripture are clear: "If you will acknowledge your sins, God is faithful to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from ALL unrighteousness." We confess with our mouth and we believe with our HEART. God forgives and then forgets. We accept forgiveness, but it is our memory that draws us again to the tree where our old nature hangs. We are cozened by Saten into identifying with that DEAD thing in our OLD nature... and we fall into a repeat practice. Jesus understands the proclivity to fail... having been a man himself, he must have experienced 'failure' of some kind. As a carpenter, he learned from error and trial. He progressed in knowledge and skill. The Bible tells us he also learned obedience through the things he SUFFERED (endured). Self discipline is a learned response: it

A mormon man presented an exquisite argument in support of the mormon mythology... He said, "I won't comment on all the criticism about mormonism. I will say that people who care will either believe it, or they won't. If they believe it, then all the criticism means nothing at all." I thought this was really a worthy argument that was perhaps lost on a bad cause. However, I have known some first rate human beings who held the confusion of mormonism quite close to their soul. Its a dreadful bondage, but no more deathly than any other. The Mormon Church is the chief investor in Space Industries. This should suprise no one. They want to go colonize other worlds. Perhaps they would be the best fit for such a task.

Spiritual gifts exist in the body as maintenance functions of the Holy Spirit. Without them the church is like a ship without a rudder. One shouldn't seek gifts like they would seek to be 'fashionable'... but should seek The Gift: Jesus Christ. It is the spirit of God that is manifest as Grace at work: Spiritual Gifts. If a person tries to work his gift, he is being carnal. Yeild to God and let Jesus work HIS gift that He has placed in you. The Bible tells us that the "Gifts and callings of God are without repentance..." That is... we are borned with them. We cannot "receive" a gift we were not borned with... Paul lay hands on Timothy to stir up the gift that he was borned with.

Why do you assume people are so credulous as to believe your little joke? You obviously have much time to waste by such cheap amusements.

Your request is in my daily prayers... God bless you and your sister..

Very good question "Are you Navaho?" Never underestimate cultural influences and among this particular tribe there are some very virulent customs. Yahaldlooshi... for instance. (my speliing might be off there...)

Thoughts on Repentance: by:Born2BFree (AKA: GWA) If you read this with your Heart, it might make a difference for you. I pray it does. It is the Spirit of God that draws a man to repent. "No man cometh to God but first the spirit of God draws (entreats) him." The will to repent is a precious gift from God and evidence of the influence of His Holy Spirit in a life. Blessed is the man whose Will is to repent (turn away from) of sin. God has provided a way into His presence and a way to be sustained (to walk and live) in His Presence. All forms of sin are variations of denial of the promise of God that God makes it possible for a man/woman to become more than just an animal. Saten told Eve she was other than what God had made her. God had made Eve a living soul in the image (pure) image of God. Saten beguiled her by drawing her attention to the shape of the image (her body) of God... at variance to the Spirit of God that lived in it. Because she turned away from the Spirit to view the flesh, her understanding of the purpose of the flesh was corrupted. Saten distorted her Vision of the Truth. This denied her the entrance to the perfection of Eden which was her original condition as ordained by God. Saten uses influences to distort our vision of Jesus. The blessing of God is then blocked by our unbelief... in all of its variations (specific sins). Worship is what its all about: Proper Worship...that is, worship that is acceptable to God. Forms alone are inadequate. Without the right Spirit in the form, it becomes an idol. Pure worship acceptable to God is attitude/conduct that is OBEDIENT to the Word of God. God wants our entire attention. He is disinterested in our actions alone...He wants our heart as well. However, this is not an easy proposition to fill. Humans are frail in every way...particulary in the scope of their committments. God knows that we are dust. He understands. He also took a form like unto our form and was tempted in every way such as is COMMON to man... I love God for this splendid and wonderful gesture of LOVE for us. He does Love YOU, you know? Really, He does. In spite of all the sin, God still loves us... This is a marvelous and wonderful mystery: God's Love. Only God knows the heart of a person to understand its sincerity. Saten will point your to all the long list of past failed attempts to overcome a habit. God only knows of the one you present to Him NOW. He does not recall what ws placed under His blood yesterday. All He acknowledges is our most recent error. He does not audit our entire life... because everything else is under His shed blood. It cannot be recalled by God because it is cast into the sea of forgetfulness. The Bible doesn't tell us that we must be 'sincere' on a scale of zero to whatever in order to qualify for forgiveness. Jesus is already WILLING to forgive us. The conditions presented in scripture are clear: "If you will acknowledge your sins, God is faithful to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from ALL unrighteousness." We confess with our mouth and we believe with our HEART. God forgives and then forgets. We accept forgiveness, but it is our memory that draws us again to the tree where our old nature hangs. We are cozened by saten into identifying with that DEAD thing in our OLD nature... and we fall into a repeat practise. Jesus understands the proclivity to fail... having been a man himself, he must have experienced 'failure' of some kind. The Bible tells us he learned obedience through the things he SUFFERED (endured). Self discipline is a learned response: its not a gift anymore than character is a gift. Both are victories we are compelled to participate in... Through suffering we grow into the character of Christ and we learn self discipline... As disciples we daily renew our committment to the walk of faith... by renewal in righteousness (not renewal in salvation...which is once for all) under the shed blood of Jesus. The focus of Heaven is not on where we've been, but on where we're GOING. THAT is where we belong. We are to recall only the Truth when we are tempted to revive an offense that has been 'forgiven'... To recall it otherwise, is to give ourself to delusional thinking. In such instances, it is not my BROTHER that inhabits the memory, but an EVIL SPIRIT that would deny the effect of the blood of Jesus. The TRUTH is that my Brother/Sister looks just like JESUS... and nothing else enters the picture at all. Anything else would be a distortion of the Truth. It is the task of Saten to 'distort' the Truth into something that resembles himself. The element of regret is important to the act of repentence. This regret is more than a sentimental feeling... it is demonstrated by our act of turning yet again to the cross where our token is displayed. The regret and the sorrow...the anguish of soul... is often distant (but not absent). Again, God understands. He accepts our desire to change and our act of faith demonstrated in repentence... and HE works the miracle of the resurrection in our flesh. Job sat on ashes and daily met the everpresent evidence of his rotten flesh. It stank...and stank...and stank... The same was true for Lazarus. Both men understood who Jesus IS. Both men had a vision that compelled their faith to reach beyond what was possible for their hands...to touch, the untouchable. This miracle is only possible because an omnipotent God reaches toward the heart that repents. GOD is the equalizing factor. He makes all the difference. I believe God wants repentence to work for us because he said He would accept it as often as we offered it. "If my brother commit an offense against me, how often must I forgive him? Seven times?" Jesus said, "I say to you forgive seventy times seven." This was an arbitrary number, rather than a discrete quantity and a rule. Jesus offers forgiveness as much as is necessary to the individual... for however long as it takes... for them to begin walking according to His purpose. Thank you, Jesus ... for having a stronger hold on my heart than is humanly possible for me. I hope this helps and is an encouragement to you. God Bless you!

If you read this with your Heart, it might make a difference for you. I pray it does. It is the Spirit of God that draws a man to repent. "No man cometh to God but first the spirit of God draws (entreats) him." The will to repent is a precious gift from God and evidence of the influence of His Holy Spirit in a life. Blessed is the man whose Will is to repent (turn away from) of sin. God has provided a way into His presence and a way to be sustained (to walk and live) in His Presence. All forms of sin are variations of denial of the promise of God that God makes it possible for a man/woman to become more than just an animal. Saten told Eve she was other than what God had made her. God had made Eve a living soul in the image (pure) image of God. Saten beguiled her by drawing her attention to the shape of the image (her body) of God... at variance to the Spirit of God that lived in it. Because she turned away from the Spirit to view the flesh, her understanding of the purpose of the flesh was corrupted. Saten distorted her Vision of the Truth. This denied her the entrance to the perfection of Eden which was her original condition as ordained by God. Saten uses influences to distort our vision of Jesus. The blessing of God is then blocked by our unbelief... in all of its variations (specific sins). Worship is what its all about: Proper Worship...that is, worship that is acceptable to God. Forms alone are inadequate. Without the right Spirit in the form, it becomes an idol. Pure worship acceptable to God is attitude/conduct that is OBEDIENT to the Word of God. God wants our entire attention. He is disinterested in our actions alone...He wants our heart as well. However, this is not an easy proposition to fill. Humans are frail in every way...particulary in the scope of their committments. God knows that we are dust. He understands. He also took a form like unto our form and was tempted in every way such as is COMMON to man... I love God for this splendid and wonderful gesture of LOVE for us. He does Love YOU, you know? Really, He does. In spite of all the sin, God still loves us... This is a marvelous and wonderful mystery: God's Love. Only God knows the heart of a person to understand its sincerity. Saten will point your to all the long list of past failed attempts to overcome a habit. God only knows of the one you present to Him NOW. He does not recall what ws placed under His blood yesterday. All He acknowledges is our most recent error. He does not audit our entire life... because everything else is under His shed blood. It cannot be recalled by God because it is cast into the sea of forgetfulness. The Bible doesn't tell us that we must be 'sincere' on a scale of zero to whatever in order to qualify for forgiveness. Jesus is already WILLING to forgive us. The conditions presented in scripture are clear: "If you will acknowledge your sins, God is faithful to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from ALL unrighteousness." Weconfess with our mouth and we believe with our HEART. God forgives and then forgets. We accept forgiveness, but it is our memory that draws us again to the tree where our old nature hangs. We are cozened by saten into identifying with that DEAD thing in our OLD nature... and we fall into a repeat practise. Jesus understands the proclivity to fail... having been a man himself, he must have experienced 'failure' of some kind. The Bible tells us he learned obedience through the things he SUFFERED (endured). Self discipline is a learned response: its not a gift anymore than character is a gift. Both are victories we are compelled to participate in... Through suffering we grow into the character of Christ and we learn self discipline... As disciples we daily renew our committment to the walk of faith... by renewal in righteousness (not renewal in salvation...which is once for all) under the shed blood of Jesus. The focus of Heaven is not on where we've been, but on where we're GOING. THAT is where we belong. We are to recall only the Truth when we are tempted to revive an offense that has been 'forgiven'... To recall it otherwise, is to give ourself to delusional thinking. In such instances, it is not my BROTHER that inhabits the memory, but an EVIL SPIRIT that would deny the effect of the blood of Jesus. The TRUTH is that my Brother/Sister looks just like JESUS... and nothing else enters the picture at all. Anything else would be a distortion of the Truth. It is the task of Saten to 'distort' the Truth into something that resembles himself. The element of regret is important to the act of repentence. This regret is more than a sentimental feeling... it is demonstrated by our act of turning yet again to the cross where our token is displayed. The regret and the sorrow...the anguish of soul... is often distant (but not absent). Again, God understands. He accepts our desire to change and our act of faith demonstrated in repentence... and HE works the miracle of the resurrection in our flesh. Job sat on ashes and daily met the everpresent evidence of his rotten flesh. It stank...and stank...and stank... The same was true for Lazarus. Both men understood who Jesus IS. Both men had a vision that compelled their faith to reach beyond what was possible for their hands...to touch, the untouchable. This miracle is only possible because an omnipotent God reaches toward the heart that repents. GOD is the equalizing factor. He makes all the difference. I believe God wants repentence to work for us because he said He would accept it as often as we offered it. "If my brother commit an offense against me, how often must I forgive him? Seven times?" Jesus said, "I say to you forgive seventy times seven." This was an arbitrary number, rather than a discrete quantity and a rule. Jesus offers forgiveness as much as is necessary to the individual... for however long as it takes... for them to begin walking according to His purpose. Thank you, Jesus ... for having a stronger hold on my heart than is humanly possible for me. I hope this helps and is an encouragement to you. God Bless you!

Before you interact with her... each time... pray for her and yourself. Plead the Blood of Jesus over the situation and then commit it to God. TRUST the Presence of God in your life to speak to your friend's spirit in ways YOU cannot. God can use your words to reach your friend... inasmuch as you care for her, this involves the heart of God. I would have a candid talk with her to let her know what you will not be a party to... in order to conserve mutual respect. However, if it were me, I would beware of subtle influences that would try to suborn my convictions by way of my affections. Saten is very sneaky and an old hat at using a Christian's 'virtue' against him. I have confidence that God will guide you in your caution and your altruism. I wouldn't try to disuade her, or challenge the legitimacy of her committments to this mind-set. I would simply present myself as available...in case she requests prayer...and as the purest example of Christ lived in a life as I could manage. Be absolutely, totally honest... and mention the name of Jesus as often as you can when speaking with her. Watch for reactions to the Holy Name of Jesus. You're in my prayers... Blessings!

I agree. Alot of times it boils down to a matter of perspective. Sometimes our problems (trials, stress, etc) seem so huge, but if we compare them to how big God is...they seem to shrink in His shadow. If you stand next to a skyscraper and look up, it makes you feel so small and overwhelmed. But if you get in an airplane and fly over it, that same building looks like a tiny toy. The closer we draw to God, the better perspective we have on things that trouble us. When we seek Him and cling to Him, He shows us things from His viewpoint and we realize how small they are compared to who He is. Amen!

One should not underestimate the POWER of a loving God to forbid an evil spirit to touch one of our loved ones.... All the devils in Hell tremble when the weakest Christian goes down on knee in prayer. My testimony follows and I am sure there are others who can share similar experiences. Christians NEED to know what God does for those who Trust Him for safety... God gives POWER to the Christian so they can prevail in battle with the enemy of God. A REAL man/woman who loves Jesus will know where his strength and fullest effect is found: Christ Jesus. ___________________________________________________________________ I was seventeen and walking one night with a young relative through the dark streets of our southern town. I told the young man about how much Jesus is in evidence in the lives of those who love Him. I gave testimony after testimony about the Grace of God. Suddenly, as we turned a corner and walked under a street light we were surrounded by four young men who demanded to know why we dared to trespass their gangland. The largest one of the men was drunk and held a barber's razer in his hand as he advanced on me. My friend was quite alarmed. I told him to remain quiet and watch what God would do. I had decided to test the truth of what I had just been telling my friend. The large man moved closely to me and began to curse at me loudly and thump his razor on my chest. I felt sure he could see my heart pounding through my thin tee shirt, but I looked him in the eye and loudly proclaimed God's Love for him. I repeated several times that God loved him. I then looked at him and felt compelled to say this: "I do not speak to the man who is standing in front of me, but I speak to the spirit of violence that is within the man. I SEE YOU! I command you to leave this man, in Jesus' name!" I said this three times and the man suddenly took two steps back from me with a shocked look on his face. "What are YOU?" he asked. "I am a Christian and the Holy Spirit is present here right now. He is speaking to you." He then said he was willing to forget about doing us violence if we would simply walk away and not come back to that street again. He turned to walk away. His friends watched from a few feet away. I strod toward him and took his arm. "No! Jesus isn't finished with you yet..." I began telling him about the love of God. He then objected quite loudly that if I did not stop telling him about love he would surely cut my throat. I contined. He then informed me of how his grandmother was a christian and had sat on her front porch in her rocking chair telling him Bible stories when he was a little boy. He said if God loved her then why did he not take away her poverty. I asked him if his grandmother was unhappy with her life. He acknowledged she never compained. He said she never went hungry that he could recall. Then he told me of how he had been beaten by twelve young men after a high school football game. He said they each took turns beating him until he was left unconscious in the middle of the road. He was out to get revenge. His friends told me he had cut a man at a bus stop the night before so badly he almost bled to death before he could get medical help. The man then gave me his razor to confirm his good will. I threw it into the nearby woods. A car drove up with his friends in it and he asked them to give my companion and I a ride to my house. As we rode in the car his friends looked at me with the widest eyes and said, "You have no idea how close you came to death tonight. We went with him because we knew he intended to kill a white man tonight." I told them God had plans for their friend. Within two short years the man had become a Christian and is now a respected Pastor in the town where this event happened. God is so merciful and loving. His ways are beyond our understanding....and His Grace endures forever. Brother George A.

___________________________________________________________________ I was seventeen and walking one night with a young relative through the dark streets of our southern town. I told the young man about how much Jesus is in evidence in the lives of those who love Him. I gave testimony after testimony about the Grace of God. Suddenly, as we turned a corner and walked under a street light we were surrounded by four young men who demanded to know why we dared to trespass their gangland. The largest one of the men was drunk and held a barber's razer in his hand as he advanced on me. My friend was quite alarmed. I told him to remain quiet and watch what God would do. I had decided to test the truth of what I had just been telling my friend. The large man moved closely to me and began to curse at me loudly and thump his razor on my chest. I felt sure he could see my heart pounding through my thin tee shirt, but I looked him in the eye and loudly proclaimed God's Love for him. I repeated several times that God loved him. I then looked at him and felt compelled to say this: "I do not speak to the man who is standing in front of me, but I speak to the spirit of violence that is within the man. I SEE YOU! I command you to leave this man, in Jesus' name!" I said this three times and the man suddenly took two steps back from me with a shocked look on his face. "What are YOU?" he asked. "I am a Christian and the Holy Spirit is present here right now. He is speaking to you." He then said he was willing to forget about doing us violence if we would simply walk away and not come back to that street again. He turned to walk away. His friends watched from a few feet away. I strod toward him and took his arm. "No! Jesus isn't finished with you yet..." I began telling him about the love of God. He then objected quite loudly that if I did not stop telling him about love he would surely cut my throat. I contined. He then informed me of how his grandmother was a christian and had sat on her front porch in her rocking chair telling him Bible stories when he was a little boy. He said if God loved her then why did he not take away her poverty. I asked him if his grandmother was unhappy with her life. He acknowledged she never compained. He said she never went hungry that he could recall. Then he told me of how he had been beaten by twelve young men after a high school football game. He said they each took turns beating him until he was left unconscious in the middle of the road. He was out to get revenge. His friends told me he had cut a man at a bus stop the night before so badly he almost bled to death before he could get medical help. The man then gave me his razor to confirm his good will. I threw it into the nearby woods. A car drove up with his friends in it and he asked them to give my companion and I a ride to my house. As we rode in the car his friends looked at me with the widest eyes and said, "You have no idea how close you came to death tonight. We went with him because we knew he intended to kill a white man tonight." I told them God had plans for their friend. Within two short years the man had become a Christian and is now a respected Pastor in the town where this event happened. God is so merciful and loving. His ways are beyond our understanding....and His Grace endures forever.