Coliseum

Hi C (that's too long to type). I gradumacated in typing. i am up to 18 words per minute. I am so proud. Remain friends. Once, someone lied to me. I confronted him. He admitted it and apologized. He could tell I was upset. Then he shared something remarkable: "If you expect to see Christ walk into every relationship you have, perhaps your expectations are too high." I am not saying that about you, but it does lend credence to the idea that I should simply accept people for who they are---no more, and no less. Simply enjoy being around him and being his friend even if his boundaries do not match yours. If they change for the better, praise God. If they change for the better, praise God! It is always a win/win with God.

Hi Caitlin. Your almost last words were, "I LOVE God with all my heart.." God does not command His Holy Spirit to leave someone who loves Him with all his heart, but the old Devil may try to insist you believe it. We can sometimes get triggered by our incessant worrying that what we can think is automatically true. Instead of thinking about those things, purposely and deliberately think about Jesus and what he has prepared for those who love him. God knows our thoughts, and He knows what is in our hearts. He is your Daddy. Go to Him and pour out these fears you are having. Like Deb shared, read His Word, and believe Him. Recall when a father brought his son to Jesus for healing. Mark 9:22-24 (NIV) "But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" We all struggle with unbelief, but we go to Jesus in the midst of it. We do not run from him; we run to him. God bless you.

I recall having a Mathematics Professor, a brilliant Set Theorist, who denied being awarded a PhD on any thesis. It had to be the best. In discussing IQ's, he wrote an impressive paper showing the IQ of himself based upon how much shorter one leg was to the other. His IQ revealed he had a 67. He comically publicized that in order to illustrate that IQ's are worthless in describing who someone is. He saw himself as nothing even those his Mathematical originality would contradict that. I do not believe in IQ's. Men's lives are stricken from them based upon someone else's view. Yet men will throw away God's view and find their own more worthy based upon the numbers some arbiters invented. This stuff makes a person undignified by his own peers. We wonder why there is bias and prejudice and labels against each other. IQ's could not describe the stigma with any more clarity.

Pastor Dana Coverstone Speaks of Dreams He's Had: "Brace Yourselves!" Those he had in December have all come true. Now he has had another! https://youtu.be/_Gy6LrFLNn8

A man imprisoned for his faith was brought before the Commandant because of his incessant talking about Christ to the other Communist prisoners. He asked the man in rags, thin as a rail, with broken teeth and a muddy face to stop. But the prisoner said that if the Commandant knew Jesus, he would not be able to keep from having joy. The Commandant questioned him: "You do not know this man Christ. If he lived at all, it has been 2000 years ago; he is nothing but bones. You have never seen his eyes or seen his face. Show me what his smile looked like." And through his thin, mud-caked face with his broken teeth came the most beautiful, glowing smile of Christ. The Commandant said to him: "Now, I have seen Christ." It made such an impression on him, the old Christian was freed.

As long as I realize that it is not my flesh that is overcoming itself. To walk in the Spirit requires me to first have the Spirit---for it is He that crucifies my flesh. When I read such verses, it is easy for me to say, "Coliseum, you must do these things." But it is not me doing them, but Christ in me doing them."

"In one of my pastorates a young fellow, gifted and brilliant, was accused of embezzling from the bank. He was a smart boy, and he thought that by juggling those books he could take money out of the bank undiscovered. He took thousands of dollars. But, of course, one is never that smart. The bank officials discovered his dishonesty and accused him. When he was tried before the federal judge, the mother and the father of the boy asked me to stand by him. So we went to the big city, and that boy stood before the bar. The judge seated behind the bar looked at him and asked a simple question, “Guilty or not guilty?” And the boy replied humbly and simply, “Guilty.” I was standing there by his side and I had the feeling, as I stood by that lad, that he represented all humanity. If you are not guilty and can save yourself, then the grace and mercy of God is superfluous. There is no need of the Savior. But if you are a sinner and if you are dying, all of us are like that lad. The young man looked back into the face of the judge and said, “Sir, your honor, I cast myself upon the mercy of the court.” In that instance, the judge was so merciful to the young bank employee that he gave him a sentence, and then probated it. I helped him live out that probation through the years that followed. It is thus with us. As sinners, we cast ourselves upon the grace and mercy of God." ...Pastor Criswell "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." Luke 18:13

When we focus on our sin, it is pretty hard to keep from thinking about it. Instead, focus on Christ. If you have a lust problem, go to Jesus. Have a anger issue? Go to Jesus. Talk about others behind their backs? Go to Jesus. He already knew you before the foundations of the world---that you would sin. We can't remove our own sins. If it were true, we would not need Jesus. We could do it all by ourselves! When we realize how much God loves us, we desire to do what He does. The irony is that the more we brag on Him, the more we sing his praises, the more we tell others about Him, the more we realize just how much He loves us.

"So you claim President Trump is lying about being a Christian? So you are doing the very exact thing you are denouncing"? No. That is not what I claimed, said, or implied. Perhaps, in the future, you may want to consider asking first what someone means before you accuse him of something he didn't. Astonishing! Not here to argue so please find someone else to vent with.

The Christian is called out of the world. He is merely a man who lives in the world, but he not of the world. Trump could do no more for the world than Christ did before he was crucified. "No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." As a Christian forcing Christian values on a nation whose God-given values is to have the right to choose, he wouldn't stand a chance. Jesus didn't do it; altering things on the outside is doing no more than obeying a law, but it cannot change the heart. The law does not change a man on the inside; it kills him because it heightens the desire to sin, not diminishes it. "For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death." (Romans 7:5) Describing whether Trump is a Christian is like a Psychiatrist determining the mental status of a man at a distance. Imagine you getting a phone call from the office of a shrink telling you that the doctor, who has never spoken with you or met you, thinks you are unfit to live with your family and whose authority is coming to put you in an institution? Let me know whether that man comes out a loving and kind person.

No. Not at this time. Would you rather I create a new subject, or address the real topic beneath this one? People want more than logical words; they are more than the sum of their parts; they want a relationship not only with their Lord and Savior, but with their brothers and sisters in Christ. The heart is deeper than believing every answer must comply with what "I'm supposed to do." God is not interested in our outward compliance, but our heart. Your interest is in sticking to a topic instead of with a person. Everyone else here desires to learn, but you are not their only teacher. Let your first sentence above apply to you as well. This is all i will say in order that we not go down the "he said, she said" rabbit hole. We do whatever it takes to be exactly like we are. In that sense i respect your individuality, but i am not obligated to imitate it. I plainly admit I have more than I can handle imitating my Savior, and I can certainly say I have a long way to go. I hope one day we develop a rapport instead of checking boxes. God bless.

This very thing happened to me. I knew this was not a good situation, but I felt there was only one choice: confront him. Sometimes being very direct and very honest after a lot of prayer to the Lord is all one can be. There literally is no one left to go to but God. I made an appointment to see him. When we were alone, I laid out what i felt was happening with any evidence to corroborate my story. I told him I very much enjoyed doing my job there but could not work under false pretenses. But beneath all of what I said, I knew i could not bluff, and I had to be willing to accept the consequences of being let go. That will be a major stumbling block if you have not counted the cost. He knew I was dead serious. Later that afternoon, he took me aside to apologize if I felt that way and would work at restoring the good I felt toward the company. I accepted his round about way of apologizing since he was not a Christian and we worked together productively afterward. Regardless of how it turns out, God delights in us doing the righteous thing, and it may be God's decision to remove you for something He has greater in mind. Best to you in this struggle.

The difference is that the Christian attributes his actions to right motives. Killing for the sake of righteousness may not be to him murder for the sake of pleasure. They did a unique study about German soldiers who killed Jews. Many that were rounded up were asked after the war was over how they felt about what they did. The answer is not too astonishing, but to paraphrase: "We were rewarded with money. We were rewarded with badges of honor. We were paraded down the streets as heroes. We had the backs of the Secret Police and Hitler himself. But deep inside, we were tormented because our consciences knew better. We knew that what we did was wrong." Ask the same of those Americans who saved many lives by defeating the enemy---thousands, Christians even---and they will tell you they knew what they were doing had right motives. They protected the innocent, those who could not defend themselves. People know when they do what is right, and they know when they do what is wrong. Who will judge them save for God alone. He, not men, is our Judge, and He alone will save those He has chosen. Yet even in the midst of all of that, Christians have done wrong endlessly, day and night, and God still makes provisions for you and for me who all have fallen short of the glory of God. No Christian is devoid of sin, whether a rusty bolt stolen from a pail of meaningless metal parts, to a man killed because he was beating a Hebrew. God knew what was in a man's heart in the Throne Room long before he was created.

John, as an Air force VET myself, I hear you. It is easier to slink in the background and not make too much noise. Jesus made huge waves, pulling that large tablecloth of sin out from under the whole world in only three short years. Yet Jesus did it in a way that was perfect and I fall short of the best way. Many are sitting on the fence, afraid. They have a right to be afraid because standing up for the truth means being "crucified." Balancing the truth with humility is not easy. As you say..."Carry on..."

Some CAP. Some give booringly long comments. Some say things in the private corner about others. Some repeat themselves over and over again as if the number of repetitions will more loudly be heard. We all have different ways of bringing attention to ourselves instead of to the Savior.

I think that the judgement you have already made of the thousands of Christian WW1, WW2, Korean, and Vietnam Vets is pretty telling, and you would have a very deep rebuttal on your hands from all of them! "Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?" (Lk. 14:31). Jesus also said, "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe" (Lk. 11:21). There were seven Centurions recorded in the Bible. Of every single one of them, Jesus spoke favorably---knowing they were men of war, and one given the most honorable title of having "more faith than anyone else in all Israel." Even Jacob physically wrestled with the Angel of the Lord himself for the insistence to be blessed---and won the battle! Are you really suggesting that a trained man with a gun in a church should stand idly by while a mass murderer is wiping out the members of his congregation? Will you be the one to replace God as Judge who sees motives, and intentions of the heart? Sorry, but we must agree to disagree.

Everywhere is a field ripe with a harvest to bring the message of Christ---whether it be on a beautiful, green golf course, in a prison in Communist Russia, or on a battlefield in Kuwait. Many times God enjoined nations to fight for their land and many who fought bravely died. It is our motive---what is the heart of a man why he does what he does. We go where God sends us, though being human is not always easy.

"One time I was preaching in the North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago. The superintendent of the Sunday school and a deacon in the church was James L. Kraft, founder of the great Kraft Food Corporation. After the service I was a guest in the Kraft home. Mr. Kraft related that as a young man he had a desire to be the most famous manufacturer and salesman of cheese in the world. As a young fellow, he had a pony named Paddy and a little buggy. He would make his cheese, put it in the buggy, and drive Paddy down the streets of Chicago selling his cheese. The days and months passed, and the young man began to despair. He was working hard and long with no success. One day he pulled the pony to a stop and began to talk to him, “Paddy, something is wrong. Our priorities are not where they ought to be. Maybe we ought to serve God, give ourselves to Him, and work as hard as we can; then God will help us. So Paddy, let us give ourselves to God and place Him first in our lives.” Mr. Kraft said that he drove the buggy home and there made a covenant that the rest of his life he would serve God first and then work as God would direct. Many years later I was in a vast convocation in Washington, D.C., in which the speaker, James L. Kraft, said, “I had rather be a layman in the North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago than to head the greatest corporation in America. My first job is serving Jesus.” If people would live like that, I believe they could change the whole course of civilization." ....Pastor Criswell "But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you." Luke12:31

Whenever a person says, " I am saved," it is truly a miracle that can only come from God. We see ourselves totally apart from this world, and our hope is that others see us likewise. So believing you is not difficult. I came from a Mathematics and Physics background, and no one found anything unimaginable, though in the physical world---probable or improbable. I had once an episode that was so bizarre and other-worldly, I did not know how to receive it. So I tried covering it up, putting it away, "forgetting" about it. After sharing it with my genius friend, he told me something very useful: "Why Coliseum are you trying to resist it by distancing yourself from it? Why are you fighting it? The more you do that, the longer it lingers. Instead, immerse yourself into it until it reaches its conclusion so that you know what you are dealing with." He did not tell me to avoid it, stop it, resist it, slow it down, etc. No. He said to quicken the pace, and pursue it to its end. There are many ways to solve problems that God gives us. What do we do if we cannot solve it all at once? Do we put our lives on hold until the problem is solved? We could, but we would miss out on everything life has to offer until we found a solution. What if we came back to the problem after we let some time lapse? The reason we may want to do that is to learn other things during our separation from the problem so that we have more knowledge at our disposal in how to handle it. A pastor I deeply respected told me that some know the answer before the question is given, and some know the answer after it is given. But ultimately both know the answer. Some go through their entire lives without even understanding the question much less having an answer. You have identified yourself as someone who has information before the pieces of the puzzle come together. What a gift. There was once a Mathematician who knew he had a severe problem of seeing more people than were actually present. At first, he could not deal with it, but eventually he came to terms. The day came when he was being offered the Nobel Prize for his work. "May I ask," he inquired, "are there three people in front of me, or only one offering me the Prize"? When he was told only one, he laughed to say that he appreciated that it did not require three, after all, because the Prize did not need to be given in thirds, but all at once. So he had a very peculiar problem, but he solved it. He learned to adopt a sense of humor so that it did not overwhelm him. In a much less dramatic way, we too have strange pieces of the puzzle to solve in our lives, and we must choose the best way forward to handle it. As a matter of observation, isn't it interesting that as many here provided thoughts and gave advice, they were as different as the people who gave them. So there may not be a solution that fits all---even if the circumstances were identical. We must wrestle in our lives, just as Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord until daybreak---never giving up until he received a blessing! God bless you sister.

Thx Erica for your observations. I was an atheist for 20 years. A radical one. I hated all forms of even the concept of a god. But a very gracious Mathematician---a Christian---introduced me to the Dean of the Mathematics Department who invited me to his home. I was stunned to learn that men of logic could know the Lord. Yet, during dinner, he kindly allowed me to ramble on for a full 45 minutes. Then he said the following: "Coliseum, it is okay to search. But don't take too long. You'd better start finding." Although that was not the time God used to save me, it was a seed that never left. I would be taken to the point of death before I was able to utter these words: "If there really is a god, you must save me in the next second because in the one after, I will not be here." As certain were those words, that mustard seed of faith was enough, and God did not let that fraction of a second pass before He intervened. To the atheist, I can experientially say that i have been on both sides of the street and have every right to choose for myself which is the better side. The atheist has no argument and simply demands that he does not believe. He has no anchor and nothing from which to draw any real argument. When you cross over a bridge, you must test its strength. You do not send a cat over it, but a train. The bridge of his argument is too weak to sustain him and it collapses. At best, he repeats himself with the same disguised words---"I do not believe." It is his right not too, and that is where I leave it.

The very first person I led to Christ was a friend trying to read the KJV. He just could not understand it and put the Book down. I gave him my 8th grade reading comprehension NIV and asked if he would keep it and take it home. The next day he was very excited to say he was understanding the message God had revealed to him, and he received Christ. God will always preserve the integrity of His word, be in the KJV or the "Fireman's Handbook bible." God meets us where we are at because if He didn't, we would not know where to find Him. It is not a Book that saves a man, but the Object of that Book, Jesus Christ. It is Christ, not the KJV or the NIV, but Christ alone.

"The Holy Spirit has given us two phrases to describe the same experience: “I am crucified with Christ” and “Take up your cross and follow Me.” But to what do cross-bearing and crucifixion with Christ refer? Some people identify these with a personal sorrow, saying, “I have a burden, a broken heart, a great frustration and disappointment, an agony, a great trial. This is my cross to bear.” Undeniably Christians, as everyone else, have trials. We have heartaches, frustrations, and despairs. But the meaning of cross-bearing in the Bible does not even approach this matter of personal affliction. When the Lord says, “Take up thy cross,” and when Paul uses the expression, “I am crucified with Christ,” they are both talking about dying. Crucifixion means death. A cross is an instrument of death. When the Lord speaks of taking up your cross, He is talking about dying. When the Lord bore His cross and made His way to a hill called Golgotha, or Calvary, He came to that place to die. The cross was an instrument of execution. From the agony on the hill the sun hid its face. The Son of God cried in desolation and loneliness, “My God, why?” It was death. Following Christ is to die to self, to vanity, to egotism, to all of the blandishments of the world. To become a Christian is essentially to die to oneself. In salvation, however, that is only the beginning, because death itself becomes the prelude for life in Christ. And I summon the temerity to speak to myself. How I need this word said to me: "Dead." To be dead is to have no feelings. And the Christian going around with feelings on his sleeves, so easily insulted, or so easily hurt, or so easily made to feel unwanted or uncared-for; they don’t appreciate me, or they don’t recognize me, or they’re not cognizant of my gifts and I’m hurt; full of feeling. And if I’m filled with ambition and vanity and blasphemy, then I lay myself open to all of the hurts of this world. The dead don’t have feelings. And if I’m dead to the world, I can’t be hurt. Oh, how I need the sermon preached to me! It doesn’t matter; it doesn’t matter. "I am crucified with Christ" [Galatians 2:20]. I have no personal ambitions at all, just doing it for the love of Jesus. I have no ambitious aspirations at all, just loving God. You don’t need to cajole me, pat me on the back, feed me all kinds of compliments and sweetness. I’m not doing it for that. I’m doing it for God, because that life died and what is left is just, "Not I, but Christ" [Galatians 2:20]. ...Pastor Criswell "And He said to them all, if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." Luke 9.23

Romans 14:17-18 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. Kind of amazing when we consider that Moses, who gave the Law to the Jews---Elijah, the greatest Prophet---and Christ, who gave the whole New Testament---fasted each for 40 days and 40 nights. Why? So that they were in communion with God---focusing not on what was earthly, but what was heavenly.

"An unbeliever could come to me and say, “Sir, if an unwed mother were to avow to you that her child was born of the Spirit without earthly father, would you believe it?” My reply would be, “Yes—if the birth of that child was foretold thousands of years before. Yes—if, when the child was born, the angels sang and the star of promise stood over the place where the infant lay. Yes—if, when the child was grown, He had power over the wind and the waves, over disease and death. Yes—if when He was slain, the third day He was raised from the dead. Yes—if, after He ascended to heaven, His disciples through the centuries were numbered by the millions and the increasing millions. Yes, a child like that could surely, truly be virgin-born according to the Word of God.” One of the greatest testimonies to our faith is found in the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The virgin birth is prerequisite to our Lord’s atonement." ...Pastor Criswell "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Luke 1:35

I was just reading 2 Peter 2:3 (KJV) 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. While you are speaking about an unveiling, I was reading about a 'hiding'---what is being unveiled in some. A new word comes to mind: the Greek word for "feigned" is plastos. Yep. The word then was not what we renamed it today. But "plastic" is exactly what Peter had in mind. We have plastic preachers and people who either deliberately or unwittingly follow them.