NotAllThere

Our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which some things are hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the rest of the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:15,16). QED. Paul's writings are scripture. Funnily enough, Muslims are among those who reject Paul as an apostle, claiming he perverted Christ's message. It seems likely that their view is built upon certain Jewish perspectives. Some Jews consider Paul's writings to be anti-Semitic.

My family are currently reading Amy Carmichael's "Mimosa". There's a youtube animated film of Carmichael's life, but it has problems with sound, so I did a bit of searching and found redeemtv.com Some content is free, some you pay a one off of $25. We watched the one about Amy Carmichael, and yes, a bit dated (1990s judging by the computers), but it was lovely.

Starts in Europe next year, I think.

Indeed. Though back then of course it was all steam powered computers. And we didn't have the luxury of zeros and ones. We had to hammer the zeros flat to make our ones. But you tell the youth of today, and they don't believe you.

Sure. possibly. Whatever. But since it is freely available, "other one"'s contention that it as been suppressed is manifest nonsense. As are most thing espoused by the conspiracy theorists. So far from the Truth that it Jesus. The 1980's just rang. They would like their conspiracy theory back, but please replace AI with "computer" as in the original. Merry Christmas.

What they also don't know is that may be being manipulated by the enemy - the source of all conspiracy on earth. I recommend Understanding the New Age: Preparations for Antichrist's One World Government by Roy Livesey. It's a sober, sensible analysis. So... it's not been suppressed by the powers that be? That's good. hmm. You can get it for the Kindle - $10.42 Don't know if it's abridge or censored. I'm looking at converting the PDF (which seems to be an embedded word document) in an E-book format.

More ZOG nonsense. Best avoided. A distraction at best. Fundamentally Satanic at worst.

Just another conspiracy theory concerning One World Government, with the usual anti-Semitic overtones. Nothing to see, nothing to be concerned about.

Thank you. It is. But I've already listed him as an author I've read. I do recommend Light Force, concerning his adventures with Islam. Which according to him should mean to the Christian "I Sincerely Love All Muslims". Currently reading the Livingstone book. I'm fascinated, in the light of recent events, that he was clearly and vehemently opposed to slavery. And helping that to end was one of his goals. I'm going to download his books from gotenburg.org. I'm fascinated to read his own words.

Gladys Aylward I've read. David Livingstoone and Bilques Sheikh dulying downloaded to my kindle. I've heard of them both. :-D Oh, the Bilques Sheikh is available in German. I might get it for my wife... she's really getting very good with German. I'm too lazy to put effort in to learn - but then, I pick it up by osmosis it seems.

I decided God didn't exist. But like you, I didn't grow up in a believing family and never went to church. Certainly knew nothing about Christianity except what popular culture said. (Back in the 70s early 80s). Ah yes. That's me. But thankfully, aged 15. I wouldn't have known a scripture if it had hit me between the eyes. All I knew was that there was God and Jesus, and I wanted to follow Jesus. Sometime later, about a year, I think, I was at a church service and suddenly filled with this inexpressible joy, peace etc, and I started speaking in this weird language when I prayed. A year later, a preacher was listing a bunch of sins that people might have committed that would cause them to be separated from God. I could tick all the boxes and was utterly broken. I repented. Another year - baptised in water. I have been filled/baptised in the Holy Spirit, I am saved, I have repented, I have been baptised in water, and I have an ongoing relationship with the Lord. In the past 36 years since being saved, I've read the Bible several times and absolutely love it. I've three believing offspring + 1 believing daughter-in-law - all with ongoing relationships with the Lord. I do not believe that my experience is contrary to scripture. However, it is quite clear it is contrary to some people's interpretation of scripture. And I find some people's interpretation of scripture is contrary to my experience. Sorry about that, but I just cannot get dogmatic about interpretation.

That's one way of reading it. But there are others. From my reading of scripture as a whole, I see the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as distinct from salvation. it is also in accordance with my experience.

No. The difference is that the gambling industry relies on people to bet. They take money off people for profit. That's it. Their sole function. They provide nothing back, except possibly entertainment (but the only entertainment you pay for is the excitement of whether you win or lose), and, crucially, it can become highly addictive and end up with people spending far more than they can afford. Banks aren't allowed to do that (quite so much!). Netflix also makes money out of entertainment -but nobody lost their house due to Netflix. It's the industry I'm against supporting. Buying a lottery ticket in the church bazaar is a way of donating, and perhaps winning something. The same with some lotteries. Day trading on the stock market is a zero sum game - if you win, someone else loses. Unless you're highly skilled or are using complicated quant analysis programs, it's just straightforward luck. However, if you buy a bunch of shares or bonds, you're investing in a company, a government or some such like. The idea is, you want to help them develop what they do. If they do well, you get to profit from that. Now, the wealth of the world as a whole is year on year increasing. It's as simple as "more minerals dug out of the ground", but also includes inventions, technology and ideas. It is this growth that you participate in. It isn't gambling, although there are no guarantees. The fact is, if you buy a bunch of shares across different sectors and hold on to them all for twenty years, the chances of losing money are low. Raffle I've covered. Games of skill, which would include poker, are rewards for your excellence. Again, mainly what they provide is entertainment for others. Of course it's not all wrong. And I wasn't aware that rapping was essentially evil... ;-) But really, this is just my thoughts. and my convictions You have to read your Bible, listen to the Holy Spirit and act accordinging. David Pawson (British Bible teacher) told the story once of a woman who got saved who worked in a betting office. She didn't know whether she should continue. He told her: go to work Monday. With every task, talk to the Lord about it. See what you find Him saying. You have to be convinced yourself. Mature Christians can point you in the right direction, but ultimately, you have to choose. We all work out our salvation in fear and trembling as Paul wrote somewhere, I think.

I love reading autobiographies and biographies of people who've experienced God in their lives. By they Hudson Tailor, or the recent "Same Kind of Different As Me". I've read: Jackie Pullinger Corrie ten Boom Brother Andrew Brother David Nicky Cruz David Wilkerson Richard Wurmbrand The Cross and the Swastika ... and many others over the years. However, in these days there are so many books, so many self-published, it's hard to find good recommendations. So - can anyone recommend any good Christian autobiographies or biographies?

That's one way of reading it. But there are others. From my reading of scripture as a whole, I see the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as distinct from salvation. it is also in accordance with my experience.