Di66eR

DING, DING, DING! God speaks to us in and through His Spirit and His Word so reading and meditating on scripture is a integral part of our relationship with God. In our earthly relationships we are not only spoken to... we speak. Yet with God we often ASSUME that since He is omnipresent and omnipotent there is no need to speak to Him about how we are feeling or the intricate details of what we are struggling with because... well.. He knows, right? Oh we might confess our transgressions and beg forgiveness (wash, rinse, repeat), but true and lasting forgiveness (ours not His) and victory over sin often seems just outside our grasp. Meanwhile Satan, the accuser, like a roaring lion is lying there waiting to pounce on all our doubt and insecurity. (1 Peter 5:8) The missing relational ingredient in this case is not confession of concrete sins, but rather confession of the root cause of our inability... disobedience. In Mark chapter 9 Jesus tells us if our hand or foot offends us... cut it off, if eye offends... pluck it out! We do this not through violence to the members of our body, but through confession and supplication to the Spirit of God. While it may be easy to say "forgive others" or "repent"... performance is another matter entirely. As the apostle Paul observed "In my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members." (Romans 7:22-23). Later Paul answers the question of HOW to perform by saying "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord..." (Romans 7:25a) There it is again... RELATIONSHIP! You feel revived when you have been in the house of the Lord praising His Name because you have opened up a part of your heart and poured out your love and affection in song. Most believers feel free to do so because they see that part as beautiful. The ugliness however we generally try to bury, unwilling or unable to reveal it because of guilt and pride. Consequently we are often overwhelmed and overtaken as we return to a wicked and lawless world. Our "relationship" (and subsequent victory) materializes when we truly open our hearts to God. All our dirty, hostile, violent, malicious, prideful, lustful disobedient thoughts can be openly expressed to God because the veil of access was torn in two by Christ. Are you angry with God? Tell Him! Unwilling to do what he is asking? Confess it! Doubt His promises? Tell Him! Many people recoil from doing so because they are either trying to hide it or because it seems irreverent to them to speak so freely... but God KNOWS our heart so it is foolish for us to try and keep ANY part of it from Him. Relationship not only involves studying God's Word and acknowledging our sin, but also the mechanizations of sin... the thoughts and imaginations that are at the root of it. (2 Corinthians 10:5). As each of these is confessed and confronted, we are corrected, restored and strengthened in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. God Bless & Keep You! Di66eR

I understand the point that was trying to be put across was that Beck's and/or the Mormon's view is that we are our own gods, but it should be pointed out that the Bible teaches that those to whom the Word has been revealed are 'elohiym (el-o-heem') angels, exceeding, God (gods)(-dess, -ly), (very) great, judges, mighty. or "gods". DANGER Will Robinson!! The medium of Television can bring antichrists into our homes just as sure as if we opened our front door and let them in.

j102 I hear you! Such treatment can really wreak havoc with one's faith... but you are throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater if you allow yourself to become disillusioned by your experience like so many others have. In Matthew Chapter 13 starting at verse 24, Jesus told the parable about the wheat and the tares. Tares look just like wheat until they reach maturity and bear their fruit. That is why, in the parable, the householder told his servants to allow the tares to grow alongside the wheat till harvest time. To try and root them out of the field early on was to risk pulling up some of the good wheat along with the tares. This parable teaches us that we really shouldn't be surprised to discover people in our churches behaving unseemly towards us... their outward appearance, popularity or position in the church notwithstanding. In Matthew 10:16 Jesus advised His disciples to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves". The same holds true for believers today. If we do not regularly study God's Holy Word ourselves (see 2 Timothy 2:15) and weigh EVERYTHING we see and hear against the scriptures (see 1 John 4:1) we open ourselves up to deception. More and more we see people looking to teachers and church communities for their instruction and comfort to exclusion of the Word of God. For some this is a matter of avoidance, denial or "itching ears" syndrome (see 2 Timothy 4:3). Not wanting to face the reality of their sinful ways and repent (turn from) them, they look for and to preachers and teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. That way they don't have to deal with their sin. For others, it is a matter of laziness. They want everything spoon-fed to them rather than taking the time to read God's Word, meditate on it and pray for wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit. Consequently they are "tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming" (Ephesians 4:14). I adjure you not to listen to the words of the deceiver. He wants believers to think that Christian fellowship can't be found and that no one in the church can be trusted anymore. Nothing could be further from the truth!. While it is true that the gate is small, the way to life is narrow and few find it (see Matthew 7:14), in 1 John 1:7 we are told; "If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another...". Reading and applying God's Word, prayer and supplication to the Holy Spirit is the way we discover how to walk in the light. In doing so, we learn where to place our trust and experience true Christian fellowship!

Clearly fellowship does find its genesis in our relationship with the triune God. In my opinion the fellowship breakdown on many a "horizontal plane" is due to pride and an almost complete absence of corporate confession. The fact of the matter is one does not cease to sin once one becomes a "Christian". Yet in the vast majority of protestant fellowships, post-conversion sin issues are relegated to the vertical plane. We say; "Confess your sins to God for he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Yet secretly, inside, many of us become disheartened when, despite our repeated, earnest confessions to God and heartfelt pleas for cleansing, we find ourselves falling into many of the same old sins days... or even hours later. Where is the cleansing? Where is the victory? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said:

Awe inspiring indeed! To think that He who inhabits the vastness of this space would not only consider, but also dwell with contrite and humble dust! Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place , with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

This is one of those subjects that I have pondered, reflected, and prayed over for many years. I do believe God has revealed the answer to me so I started a discourse last night to present and back up (with scripture) the tenets of my belief and understanding. This morning I reread and added to the manuscript because I wanted to address all the objections and/or caveats that I thought would surely be thrown out there. After all that time and energy I remembered something. Debating issues that have historically led to great strife and division is an exercise I largely detest because it never seems to build up or edify the body. More often it ends up being the spark that ignites great faction and division among the brethren. Consequently I removed what I had written. To those who may have read it before that time and wanted to discuss and/or challenge my belief and understanding I offer my sincere apologies. God Bless You ALL! Di66eR If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. - James 1:5