Bill

There's new hymnals coming out that don't have the songs about the blood and the cross in them. All those old time songs like "Power in the Blood", "Old Rugged Cross", etc. There's churches removing the cross. They think this is something that signifies torture, death, suffering, and it's not "PC" to discuss such matters. Kinda all sounds like something you wouldn't want children to watch... But it's that very same cross, that very same blood, that very same death, torture, and suffering, that has made us free, cleansed us of sin, and set us on a path to be with Him forever in eternity and to have His guidance and His Spirit in us on a daily basis here on earth. You know, you can debate modes of worship, you can debate doctrinal theologies, you can debate whether it's better to baptize forward or backward, but one fact does not change...without His sacrifice on the cross, nothing else matters. To renounce that in the name of "not wanting to offend" is just mind-boggling.

I need a new av someday, but have no time to find one...lol. If someone finds me a cool trumpet image or an old Ford truck, lemme know lol

I can sleep anywhere. In fact, last night I fell asleep on the couch until my cellphone rang (wrong number! ) at 1:30AM then I went into bed. I've slept on the floor, under the Christmas tree once (that was funny actually and NOT on purpose LOL), in my truck on a "yuppie fishing trip", in my recliner chair, etc. Most nights I get about 6-1/2 hours, some more some less.

My journal is just a plain ol' spiral bound notebook. The only formatting I do with it is the date of the record (i.e., if I were to record today it would be 3/21/04) I guess there's as many ways to do it as there are believers...lol

I use Invision's free service for now (my server doesn't do the whole CGI/MySQL thing at the moment) and I am "ok" with the admin interface. I think it could be done better for sure. Whenever I go onto a CGI/MySQL server capacity, I am thinking of switching to phpBB. I like some of the features better than Invision's. But to each their own tastes I s'pose.

It's a good thing to share websites around...there's lots of good content out there on the web from the "layperson" types that seem to get more to the heart of a matter than the "professionals" do. *points at link to website* LOL :oww: :oww: VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

LOL how many details do you want? The trip is on tap for August 13-21, and we will be building an orphanage in Lima. This orphanage is going to be supported financially once in operation by my church and by a local Christian TV broadcaster. I get to start the fundraising process after Saturday, when we have a kick-off meeting for the team. I will be doing a full write-up at NTB with all the details once we have the meeting.

And here I thought you were going on one yourself! LOL! Looks like the missions bug has hit...I see one headed to Africa, I'm headed to Peru, and you've got some folks going too. "Go ye therefore..."

Guess we'd hear lots of this if we let Ronald do the music?

I'll forgive you...this time....cracka... :oww:

I invest much time into my forums and working on getting them started...and I also participate in a Christian Webmaster forum and recently started participating some at Christian-boards also. I only chime in from time to time here anymore. I never realized how heavy-handed some mods can be. Too bad, especially for a Christian board.

Endless is an understatement. How many pages is this thread? Wayne...26 and counting. I'm surprised no one's solved this yet! :oww:

Does anyone else find it odd that this poster has submitted all these questioning threads and ended each of them with this line? I do. That'd be like me saying "Feel free to come discuss this in more detail at NoTurningBack Forums, it'd be easier." Although, that seems like a good line for me to start using...LOL! :pirate: :tongue: (ya'll do know I'm kidding, right? )

Cats/JohnS: This is whassup with Peru... The church is building an orphanage there...it's called "Little Lambs of Lima". We have a "sister" congregation there that we support financially and so forth that is also involved, as well as a Christian TV station here in PA. The plan is to help build this building...a three-story masonry structure, that will house and feed these children, etc. Think about this: The kids go to feeding centers 3 days a week...Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. When there, they take enough food so they have food for the "off-days" (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday). They do not eat one day per week. The kids are selling popcorn to get money for books. I mean, these people have NOTHING! This is a project that my pastor feels God has laid on his heart to go after. And consider this too: 80% of kids raised in Christian orphanages go on to be ministers of the Gospel! Am I doing missions work in Peru? Yeah. I am planning on being on the August team of 15 men to build the building. From the first descriptions of this project, I've felt a pull to get involved, somehow. I relish the opportunity in that I feel God has called me to go, yet raising the money will be a huge obstacle. Even so, I believe if He has called me, that obstacle will go away. I'm certainly excited to do this for sure. JohnS...I pray blessings on your trip to the Dominican in March, brother...I pray God does a mighty work through you and whoever accompanies you there.

I'm still around, Cats LOL been participating in the 3-word sentence game further down mainly. I'm really developing stuff for my site and forums right now, so that's dominating my time in front of the PC. Plus now I'm fund-raising for Peru, plus my job has me busy 9 hrs a day, plus the snow is 2-1/2 feet deep here. Plus, my wife just had foot surgery, so that's keeping me really busy too, caring for her and so forth. It's been a busy time for sure LOL

Our church is very mission oriented in that we both give to the indigeonous groups (those already there and working) financially and that we send teams out from time to time to go help the locals in different areas of need. The church is planning a pair of trips to Peru this summer...June and August...to work with children in Lima and build an orphanage. I am planning of right now to be in the August work team that will build the building...the June trip is for people going to help with food and medicine, etc. In these trips, spreading the Gospel is just as important as the project, if not more so, and time is set aside every day on these trips to do so. I am going to post an article at NTB soon detailing the August trip, and asking folks to pray for me and for my funding of the trip there. But the mission field starts here in the US too. If you're called to go, you should go, but every day you're a witness to someone right here where you live.

Yeah, smasher. I think it's 1500 or 1000 posts makes you "royalty"

Hey Neb: Yeah, it's been a while. Much to do...imagine that LOL! Between my own site, my wife's surgery, our own life issues to work out, and work it's been pretty crazy. Consider this: In Ephesians 4:11, Paul is writing to them about the 5-fold ministry gifts (pastor, teacher, apostle, prophet, and evangelist). These gifts were given for some...so not all would have them. But, read on in chapter 4, and what it says is this: "for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry... I think there's an issue with people that think the work of the ministry is left to the pastor/pastoral staff of a church, rather than looking at the work of the ministry as our own. We don't take possession of the concept of being a minister. We think that to be a minister you have to have a degree from a seminary and stand in front of the church and preach and go to hospitals and do all these other things. Don't get me wrong: you need a pastor in a church! Without one, there's no vision, no focus, everyone does their own thing. But the pastor does not do the work of the ministry alone. He equips you and I to be co-laborers in the work of the ministry. How's this fit, you ask? In Acts 6, there were seven chosen to be servants so that the daily distributions to the widows would not be neglected. People who were full of faith, full of the Spirit and wisdom. Now, in today's day who are those people? That's us! These seven were appointed over the business of distribution to the widows, but today each one of us is appointed by God to something or to someone. I think the problem is, we see that person "full of faith, the Holy Spirit and wisdom" as our pastor, and we don't look in the mirror. Not all are called to be the next great evangelist. Not all are called to pastor a church. Not all are gifted in prophetic. Not all can teach. Not all are able to be administrators and church planters. But we all can love, care, and share our own life experiences and how God has touched us and changed us into the people we are today. I think taking hold of the concept of being a co-laborer, one equipped to do the work of the ministry, helps. Because if you can't understand the idea of being a co-laborer and wait for the pastor to take care of the needy, the sick, the orphans, the widows, and so forth and so on, well...you'll wait a while. Now, I'm up to $0.10. At this rate, it'll be a dollar's worth of opinions soon LOL!

Ya know... The more I watch people here debate doctrine, I get curious...are they defending Churchianity or Christianity? This is why I adjusted my forum topics on my board... But as to the topic at hand? Neb, ministry to others does not take tons of time and tons of cash...trust me. NoTurningBack.net was founded at a "free web host" and then was (and I'm extremely grateful for this) picked up on its own server as a gift from George. NTB has grown from 3-5 hits a day to over 30 and is still growing. My wife is getting involved with it now. We are reaching out to folks through bi-weekly mailings, our own forums, and archived materials. I spend maybe 2-4 hours a week at it presently, and that's not a significant investment of time. And I've paid $0 for it to this point! Point being, God's got a work for YOU to do...just like I believe NTB is His work for me at the moment. And He will never give you something that He doesn't supply the resources to handle it. My personal opinion on what you've posted is simply this: The Holy Spirit is prompting you about a work God has for you to do. Seek His face and find what it is He has for you...and based on my own experiences, I know He will have the way for you to get it done too. Just my $0.02...well, actually more like $0.05. Hopefully it's not too far off of what you were looking for.

If you percieve the statements I've made as anger you've obviously missed the simple truth and the point of them. The point is pretty clear for those who are willing to understand it. Sorry.

I take special exception to what you've said here, as I find it to be untruth. The "one true church" can be more readily defined as the Body of Christ, true born-again believers in Jesus Christ. Anyone can join a church denomination and yet not be born-again and may in fact never see heaven. Joining a church makes you no more a Christian than going to McDonalds makes you a cheeseburger. In terms of catholic = universal, yeah I could say this is true, because it then unites all true believers across all denominations. But catholic = Roman Catholic Church as the only way to salvation.... EERRRR...wrong.

They're all around us. They think that, because they belong to a church and have done certain things or attend church every Sunday, etc., that they have it made. Sadly, they never accepted Him. They think he's contained in a building at the corner of 1st and Main and a man in a suit or a robe gets up and says a few words and that's all there is to faith. Faith in Christ, real saving faith, is more so much more than completing a to-do list like you presented. Because if done in the wrong spirit, or with the wrong motive, it's all empty works that Isaiah calls "filthy rags".

James says that our works are a reflection of our faith. Isaiah says that our attempts at righteousness are like filthy rags. I like your point, artsy, where you say that faith/belief in Christ as Savior and Lord is the dividing line between saved and lost. That is truly the dividing line. There are many out there who seem to think that going to church, participating in ritual service, etc., will save them. But unless you believe that Jesus Christ is your Savior, all those works will do no good. When God looks at our own works of our flesh, He cannot see any good in them. Jesus told Nicodemus: "Unless you be born again..." That's the starting point...are you born again? Or are you trying to work your way to heaven without Him?

This is a good post, Jedi. Repentance is something that many do not want to hear for sure. They want "fast food religion" where they check in, get their fill, and go on their way. We need more on-fire for Godly living people and more truly repentant people, not just filling buildings with people seeking their "fill" or putting in time while living in sin. Even my church, which has been historically very active in missions and in really focusing on discipleship and true repentance, is seeking to go to a new level. The time is short, and the church in America is getting overfed and underexercised.

Gee, I thought this thread died...or at least I hoped it did. Then again, it does take rotten fruit a while to compost. :x: