artsylady

Welcome!

http://www.ldolphin.org/magi.html Here's a pretty good article on the subject.

You're right, there is no mention of three. The 'three' probably came about because of the 3 gifts - gold, francisence and myrh. I believe I heard they came from what is now modern day Iran or Iraq. I think. I'll try to find out more.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/031020/...sc/20exodus.htm Not sure if this was posted yet. Yet another archaeological find supporting the truth of the Bible.

Our Pastor talked on this a couple of weeks ago. I'd like to reiterate what was said above because it is so important. If you have a credit card, and you're in trouble, cut it up. And like our Pastor said, "Don't go out for lunch today on your credit card if you can't pay the FULL balance at the end of the month. Instead, go home and have Kraft Dinner. There's nothing wrong with Kraft Dinner." He also said "Learn to say 'I can't afford it'" there's no shame in that. He even said there's no shame in shopping second hand. He's a minister of a huge congregation whose wife shops at second hand shops - and he brags about the deals he gets. There are so many traps out there. Buy now, make no payments for two years etc. Pure traps. Needs and Wants become confused. We NEED a car, a place to live, food, toiletries and clothes - and that's about it really. The rest are extras. I was a single mother living on 25,000 dollars a year and still managed to buy my own home and car and keep my daughter and I clothed and looking great. We made due with what we had. It can be done. It was amazing how many people would just give me stuff. If you wait, clothes will be given to you, furniture will be given to you. As Traveller said, at one point, I did have a car given to me. I'm remarried now and we recently remortgaged our properties at 4.5 percent for 8 years, as opposed to about 20 more years at 7 point-something percent, which means we'll be stuck paying high payments, forcing us to spend very little on ourselves in the next little while - no money for the extras, but that's okay. We had to pay a penalty for remortgaging early, but it was still well worth it. Our mortgage also has an option that we can revert back to lower payments and a longer pay schedule if something happens - ie -job loss. That was a very attractive feature to us as well. It's something home-owners might want to look into. I've never had any serious debt but I do believe it all begins with cutting up the credit cards. Just do it and feel good about it.

Jettd: I Ask her if her insistance is fear or guilt based. Sounds like it might be. And no offence Homebild, but sometimes, fear and guilt and control are great motivators, but they are wrong. I grew up in a PROTESTANT church that used this for motivation and it was wrong. I turned away from it, but eventually did come back to it, but not because of fear or guilt. Makes sense to me. Sounds that way. I am very good friends with a Catholic and have been for about 10 years. The one time I questioned something about something about her religion, she became very defensive and acted offended, but I really was only asking a question. Since that time, I've learned that I won't ask her any questions about her religion. We're cool now, thank God. But in a marriage, you want to be able to talk about these things and be in agreement on most of them. I understand your dilema. Sounds like she is open then.

Homebild: The reason I asked the question, is because it sounded like this guy's fiance is not really into her religion that much anyway. She doesn't even attend the church. Therefore, what is her motivation for being so insistant?

Why is your fiance so adamant about getting married in the Catholic Church? Does it have anything to do with fear, control or guilt?

The devil would NOT be attacking the boards if God weren't here doing something GREAT!!!! If there were no attacks, we'd have to seriously wonder if we were on the wrong track, but obviously we don't have to! satan has made it plain and clear to us that God's work is being done! Because satan doesn't like it and would like to try to destroy it. Our adversary is here and is trying to defeat us. Not to worry of course "Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world!" Praise God for what He is doing! Only He knows what's happening and how many hearts might be changing.

Teh Wiccan: "One was when I reached nirvana for a plit second... Another was when my friend nearly knocked me off my feet (in a good way, seriously) several times... Several times from when me and her had a different relationship , anotehr from nearly fifty feet away... She is insanely talented with energy." Yes, those are what I'd also call "experiences" and I'm sure they were very real to you. I don't think any one here on these boards would argue that you didn't have these experiences, nor would anyone say that they were not 'real'. But are those 'experiences' really enough to keep you from heading toward truth? They sounded like VERY temporary things - one was a split second and one was just an "almost." We're talking about a choice that will affect you ETERNALLY. Choose wisely my friend. An aside. Did you ever hear someone say that on the brink of death, they saw their life flash before their eyes? I was once talking to a guy who had "died" (temporarily) on an operating table. He used that very phrase and I stopped him and asked "What exactly does that mean?". He said that in a matter of microseconds, images of the main events in his life, from childhood to his 'death' flashed very quickly in his mind, as if before his eyes. I thought about that for a moment and it seemed very fitting. When we're close to death, we are on the very brink of eternity. As we head into this new realm, we are given a time-wise perspective of what our 40 or 80 years on earth is really, in REALITY, actually like. A flash before our eyes, as they say. Spend it well folks. "Issues with the bible... I can't agree with things like genocide" Are you speaking of when Moses led the Israelites to the promised land? Yes, there was killing happening. God needed to get his promised race to their land in order to preserve them and his Holy word. That was all-important, in order for all the many future generations to have any hope at all. The Jews were the ONLY ones who believed in Him during this period in history. Many tribes during the time were complete savages and this is just my opinion, but I believe God knew that when the Jews passed through those particular lands, it was a simple case of "kill before you are killed." And you have to notice as well, that when the Israelites passed through certain other places, God ordered them to be gentle and to pay them in silver for anything they needed along the way. Only God has the real answers. I'm just guessing, but I do have faith that God is not some wanton killer and that through his wisdom, His chosen race and his word WERE in fact preserved. And because of this chain of events, His plan succeeded, allowing us all access to salvation. "Or denying groups of people rights... " What people and what kind of rights do you mean? "Many of the teachings in the bible are good, but some aren't my cup of tea. " I'll be honest. There are a few (VERY few actually) things that I don't understand either, but overwhelmingly, the Bible gives us a clear picture of a loving, caring Father who wants the best for all and offers forgiveness to all. The very few verses that make me wonder - well, that is where faith comes in.

Anti Angel: "Truth is subjective." By your logic.... OJ Simpson DIDN'T kill Nicole Brown Simpson. But at the same time, he DID kill her. And then again, at the same time she was actually killed by DRUG DEALERS. But since some believe OJ hired a HITMAN to kill her, then the truth is that a hitman killed her. And it's also true that she was killed by white supremisists to frame a prominant black man. Yes, indeed truth is relative.???? But did Nicole Brown Simpson even really die? What does die mean? It could mean one thing to you and another to me and another thing to many differnent folks. We could get 200 definitions of death and they're all correct, right? How do you do it??? How do you buy into this? No disrespect, but truth is NOT relative. That's why it's called TRUTH. Truth is the way things REALLY happened and the way they REALLY are, despite what the many theories may be. Confusing the issue may on the surface sound very intellectual and enlightened, but when you get right down to it, it's silly and confusing. I don't mean to offend you, but I'm calling it the way I see it. Nothing against you personally - just the argument you put forth.

Sorry Eric bro! I took it the wrong way somehow too.

I've seen no aliens or ufo's, thank God. Don't want to, and don't expect to and am not fearful of them either. I talked to a guy once who said he'd had a close-encounter with an alien and when I asked him further, he said very firmly and quietly "I don't like to talk about it." He also looked up into the sky with a scared look. I'm pretty much convinced of what they are after doing some more research. It's only fitting that once the rapture happens, the devil will have to have a plan to explain to all of those left behind where all the people have gone. I hope we can convince non-believers before this happens that this will likely be the explanation and that it is the deceit of the devil. I mean, if we're talking about the rapture to them, we may as well throw this bit of information in as well, jmo.

"Keep focused on Jesus my brothers and sisters and He will take care of satan and his demons." I can't speak for you Eric, but I feel that God has got me personally focused on the lost in Christ as well as Jesus and my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I fear mostly for those who are lost, or those who will be lost through deception. I think we should try to make each other AWARE as Christians as to what is or might be going on in the spiritual realm. I was wondering if other Christians believed as I do, what might be happening here and also wondered if we should be warning people about satan's deception about to happen. Eric: I guess your answer is 'no'?

Calamity: Yeah, you're right. If they're crazy enough to bring up the subject, how much crazier will we be to say they're demons. lol. I just found a Christian site, alienresistance.org Looks interesting, but don't have time to research much more now. Maybe tomorrow.

Yes. Clearly these 'aliens' are torturing and tormenting people. I also remember hearing this statistic. After pornography, the most-searched topics typed into search engines had to do with UFOs and aliens, so clearly, there's a lot of belief in this stuff. I also heard these beings were in contact a lot with the influencial - politicians, actors, CEOs etc. Scary stuff for sure. If this is indeed satan's plan, should we be warning the unbelievers, or will this just make them think we're crazy?

I glanced through the prophesy boards but couldn't find anything relating to this subject. Do you guys believe that satan's crew are disguising themselves as aliens now that we are in end times, so that when the rapture happens, there will be another explanation as to what happened? The explanation as to where all the people went will be mass alien abduction rather than rapture of the church. The whole alien phenomen began started with Roswell, just after the Jews took back Israel and the sightings of aliens and ufo's has been ever-increasing since that time. As well, polls taken in the 1950's showed little support for belief in aliens. Today, most North Americans beleive aliens exist. I especially get concerned when there are so many alien worship cults out there I think this alien phenomenon is a mass deception waiting to happen. What do you guys think?

I'd like to hear any thoughts on the top dogs at WOF being these false prophets? Clearly, they are not bringing people to Christ. The world is laughing at people like them. And, many say they are deceiving the believers.-

Green: Great analogy.

Mike: I like you're idea. I've been thinking of an idea along the same lines. A reality show (since they're so hot right now) that is actually glorifying and uplifting. Often people who don't believe in God say things like "Look at all the tradgedy in the world and all the terrible things happening. Why doesn't God intervene?" Clearly He does. Cats: I saw that show too!!! Weren't there images of angels on the walls, somehow after the disaster or was that a different occurance?

Everyone says I'm artsy and creative so i went with that. Island Rose. You live on Grand Cayman Island??? What a life!!! Can I come visit??

For a great perspective on spiritual warfare, books by Frank Peretti might be helpful. Who do you think would be the main players? Christian or non-Christian? It might be good to show your battles using scripture and prayer somehow. Just a thought. You could show heavenly and earthly realms and what it's really like and what's really happening where we can't see. You could have the aliens being bad guys and deceivers. And Christians and angels being the good guys. I have no idea of any of this is workable. Just thought I'd have some fun brainstorming here.

IMO, the whole alien phenomenon is of the devil. I believe he is setting the whole thing up in the last days to make it look like the possibility of aliens are real, so that when the rapture happens, the world will have another explanation as to what happened to all of these people. ie - alien abduction rather than Christ rapturing his followers. Think about it this. The whole alien thing started becoming more and more popular in the late 1940's. AFTER Israel became a nation. Sightings have become more and more commonplace since that important date. Back in the 40's, poll support for belief in aliens was minimal. Today, polls suggest that more than half of Americans beleif that aliens exist. I think aliens are just demons manifesting themselves to humans in a new way. It's a huge con-job with the biggest con waiting to happen. What about a game on spiritual warfare? Good fighting evil through use of scripture etc. I don't know if that is workable.

teh wiccan: "If the experiences I had weren't so incredible," May I ask what they experiences were? " and I didn't have any issues with the bible," Would you mind explaining the issues you have?