The Journey

Learning what the Apostle Paul meant by Ephesians 6:10-18 will make the Word of God effective and powerful in your life. Reciting those verses as some sort of chant everyday will have absolutely no effect. - Steve

I laughed until I cried. CS Lewis had very little to say about the ying yang. Might try an anatomy book. Steve

Ray, I too have found the same thing. Sometimes is comes from shallow life experiences in those teaching the message. A lot of time in school...and in books...not a lot of living going on. Theology is practical but only for those who have lived. Other times I have found ministers who simply want to "preach". Often they have a very shallow understanding of theology and very shallow life experiences. Thus they "preach" canned little sermons that don't apply very well anywhere. I have found very few pastor teachers that have a broad understanding of God's Word coupled with deep life experiences. But when you do they are a treasure. Just my thoughts. Steve

faithless is a sensitive person and these are often the most tortured. Artists, poets, philosophers are morbid and depressed because they live in a world without love, beauty or truth. They are sensitive and realize that they feel those things..yet they must ultimately conclude they are all an illusion. it is a room without doors or windows. faithless doesn't want to be a "slave" for God yet he has created his own prison. some will come to a knowledge of the Truth and escape into the freedom of the Light. many will not. Steve

I'm still not sure what kind of answer you are looking for, but since I don't believe in any sort of spiritual force, the only sort of injustice I know is legal injustice. Injustice, to me, is when the law of the land has not been carried out on a certain individual. faithless, You are having a hard time with this question of justice because ultimately in your world there can be no injustice. In your world there is only ego-centrism. You can only define justice or injustice based on how it benefits or harms you. This is why you keep referring to legal justice and the "law" of the land. It gives you an absolute higher than yourself. But laws can be unjust. The legal system is not an absolute. It is just as Sartre taught...since there is no absolutes then to validate yourself you must act. ANY action to have an experience that gives your life meaning. Whether you walk a little old lady across the road or bash in her head...they have the same meaning. Ego-centrism always gets you a very ugly world. You are trapped within a room with no windows or doors. There is no love and no beauty. I weep for you my friend. Steve

Ahhh shadow you are right. My brain was not working. Please Please Please I wish to amend the post with resist and the devil will flee. Resisting is still a far cry from being a "demon buster".... Thank you for looking out for me when my heart gets ahead of my brain. Steve

Neb, You assume I do not believe in demons. I have been at several exorcisms. I have the gift of discerning spirits. My warning was for seeking out experiences. We are not to "stand in the gap" for unbelievers against demons. We are not to call out to the air in endless rants against satan. happygirl, "Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand." 2 Peter 2:11,12 According to Jude not even Michael the Archangel would call satan "stupid". "But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand..." Jude 1:9,10 Steve

Well Neb, respectfully, that has got to be the most irrelevant follow-up post I have read. What Meliott expressed is not a gift of the Spirit as recorded in the NT. There is not Scriptural support for seeking out encounters with demons. If you had read my post from the Apostle Peter and Jude it is pretty clear we are not to blaspheme them or attack them. We are to flee the devil. Again, we are admonished to flee!!!! Deception is all you will reap if you seek encounters with angels and demons. This does not mean that believers will not encounter them. We have weapons when we do. But we must carefully judge what we see and encounter by the light of Scripture. Not by our experiences. God chose not to tell us much about demons and angels because of the obvious facination we have with them. Our focus is to verical to God and horizontal towards our fellow human beings. Meliott may grow up to be a great warrior. But he will find that power and greatness on his knees with a towel and wash basin. - Steve

mcm42, I think you are exactly correct!! Steve

Fruit. Its all about fruit brother. Maybe try an approach where you listen and learn from those ahead of you in the faith. You have much zeal. Learn from your brothers and sisters. Go get the book I recommended. Test everything!! My original warning was to not seek demonic encounters. If you look for them you will find them. Not in glorious battle where you triumph...but in the agony of deceit as you move farther and farther down the road of experiential theology. Eventually they will have you beieving you don't need the Bible because you have had all these visions and spiritual experiences. You will think you are wise and powerful. In reality you will be the blind leading the blind. Many have gone before you down that road. Steve

AMEN!!! SBG... Melioth....the "I AM" is an english translation of a very difficult hebrew phrase. I AM is just as correct as God. The NT writers referred to God as Theos because that was the word used by the Greeks for God. All are correct if you theology lines up with the Scripture. Did you read those verses I posted? What do you think they mean? Steve

I think Melioth is a much darker presence than we usually meet on these Boards. I would be very wary of him and the subtle lies he posts. Steve in hiding

"Bold and willful..." That is exactly why the Apostle Paul counseled to not put those immature in postions of leadership. Sadly, Melioth has not learned the lessons of servanthood. Such spiritual pride is a cancer that has eaten up many segments of the Church. Steve

Melioth, I would strongly warn you to admonish the warnings of Scripture regarding demons. "Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord." 2 Peter 10-11 "Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand..." Jude 1:8-10 We are warned in Scripture from a facination with demons. There is no office of "demon buster" in the Church. Christ calls us the live in the present as servants of each other. So take all that youthful energy and go feed the poor. Go take care of widows and orphans in their distress. True spiritual power is not found in magical exorcisms and demonic shadows but in the towel and wash basin. I would go tomorrow and get a book by Hank Hanegraaff entitled The Covering God's Plan to Protect You from Evil. - Steve

Miss Pryzma, This issue is confusing because the Scripture paradoxically states that both positions are true. True, we are sealed to the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit. True, my salvation is based only on the righteousness of Christ and never how good or bad I am. True, we must persevere to the end. Paradox. My own experience is that salvation is real therefore I cannot walk away from the Master. I may lose my way. I may lapse into sin. I may curse Him. But He remains faithful and calls me back as the Shepherd. The change that ocurred in me when I passed from death into life was so pervasive that there is no way back. Does that mean those who truly walk away were never saved? I consider this debate and doctrine to be one of those not worth arguing over. We should live and walk the Truth. There can be nothing productive come from trying to figure out if another "believer" has lost their salvation. Steve

I would open the 1999 Penfold's Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon I have been saving and would make him one of my famous broccolli cheese quiches. Then, like I do with all my closest friends, we would talk the night away. Steve

Could it be that yet again we have a paradox? Both divine election and free will are true. How can this be? I don't know. But then where we find paradox we find truth. Spiritual pride says that we have God all figured out. He cannot do this or that. He always does this or that. We should repent of our pride and grow beyond our small little god. - Steve

That is blasphemy. God is not a divine rapist. Its a sorry thing that anyone on a Christian Board feels so compelled to throw around that kind of junk. If you have issues with Calvanism then argue your points. But blaspehmy adds nothing to your arguments or your spiritual maturity. Steve

Neb is a Church of Christ member who comes to the Boards to fight and work up as much strife as possible. Then, as other trolls before, he will disappear. I think the issue of baptism has received enough treatment. It will never satisfy Neb because he needs baptismal regeneration as proof that he is a true Christian and everyone else is false. That is the premise of many Churches of Christ. They are the true Church. The Church of Christ. In my mind such "denominationalism" borders on cultism. Steve

Please Jake exegete that passage for us. Steve

Its not that God sent Paul to preach. God sent Paul to preach the gospel. That gospel did not include baptism. There are many Scriptures that you ahve to overcome to accept baptismal regeneration. But this one is pretty hard to just ignore and move on. Katy, I cringe to see someone post that salvation is a list that one must do in order to receive a free gift. - Steve PS Baptism is important for the same reason marriage is important. It is an outward, visible statement that you are a new person. "The answer of a good conscience" or any other words I am publicly baptized as statement that the old me is dead and now I am new. Everyone now knows that I am a Christian. The other Christians now know that I am on their side. This is the analogy of deliverance that the Apostle Peter draws from Noah and the ark. Noah was physically delivered from the old world through the ark and the flood. Baptism is a physical deliverance from my old life into my new life. But that new life doesn't happen because of water. It happens because I have been united with Christ in crucifixion, died, and am now raised with him in resurrection to new life.

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel." - The Apostle Paul (I Cor 1:17) Hmmm, I guess there were a lot of people never saved after receiving the gospel the Apostle was preaching. Steve

Partly true. In classical Greek literature Baptizo refers to identification. "Immersion" is a picture of this identification. Thus, every time Baptizo appears in the Greek text the proper translation could also be identification just as it is should be in 1 Cor 10:2. "They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Clearly immersion in water is not involved here. The reason that the NT writers chose Baptizo is to show our complete union with Christ in the crucifixion of the sinful nature, burial and resurrection to new life. What a more beautiful way to show that reality by an external act of immersion in water. But that external water did not bring out that spiritual internal reality. This KJV translators are to be faulted for the present confusion in the English text regarding the word Baptism. They created the English word by transliterating the Greek instead of translating it. This was to avoid the wrath of King James who would have put them to death for even suggesting that baptism should be any form other than sprinking. - Steve

Weird man weird. Sometimes I think I should not read or be a part of any Christian chat boards. - Steve