Missy

I love this. It is a very large wakeup call!

While I have never witnessed true healing myself, I have heard of healings from others and I believe they were true healings. I have a hard time believing those televangelists on tv with their yelling be healed and pushing people over and then all of a sudden someone who has supposedly never walked a day in his life get up and walk. Something about that just doesn't fly right with me. I do believe the Lord heals today. And boy would I love to be healed right this minute! To be able to run and take long walks and do all those things I LOVE doing again! What joy! Heaven on earth I tell you! But if it's not His will that I be healed here on earth - I will be healed in the world to come because we are promised not only incorruptible bodies BUT no more pain, sorrow or tears. Praise to you Lord Jesus!

I have two tattoos - one on my left hip of a rose with the stem peircing a heart and the other is a small star on my right wrist. I got them before I became a believer. The star was when I was 16 and quite stoned out of my mind - it was hand-done with a needle and a bottle of india ink by my boyfriend who was equally stoned. Didn't feel a thing and thought it was hilarious. The rose and heart was done summer of 97 - I was 29. It hurt like heck. I don't really regret getting either one. I love the tattoo on my hip - it's beautiful. The only person that sees it is my husband - except for in the summer when I wear my bathing suit. The star tattoo looks like a mole unless you look at it real close. And although I would love to get a cross or a crown of thorns band around my arm, I won't because I believe the Lord would not approve. I have asked for His forgivness for getting them - as I did not know at the time I got them nor was I a believer at the time. If I had known or been a believer I would not have gotten them.

Yes - sharpening one knife with another knife will dull both knives. Best way to sharpen a knife is with a sharpening stone and cooking oil.

We have told this madman to not cross the line drawn in the sand so many times and given him deadline upon deadline with no results. Personally I think that we should have taken care of this situation a long time ago. It's no different when you tell your child don't do this or else and they do it anyway, watching to see if you will do what you said, and then you don't do anything but tell them they better not do it again, they see that they don't have to listen because you have no follow-thru. The US has shown there is no follow-thru in this situation. I say it's too late it should have been done a long time ago.

She needs to find a solid bible-teaching church that is grounded in the Truth. Praise God that He is using you to reach out to her and pray for His wisdom and knowledge to come upon you that His words will flow through you adn that His light will shine so brightly she will not be able to resist Him.

I have read this many times and it always gives me the same feeling every time. God is in full control, whether it seems like it or not. That gives me peace.

We get Reader's Digest every month. We love the stories and the funnies. They are perfect sized articles too. And has lots of uplifting things in there.

If you repent of your sins to the Father (only He can forgive sins) you are forgiven and your sins are washed white as snow. The bible tells us this several times. I don't believe the bible states that you must participate in communion every time you go to worhip services. I have worship services every day in my home - reading and studying His Word and singing and praising Him.

Rick and I went to the same high school - I was a senior - he was a sophomore. We never officially met - we knew who the other was but not names. We had all the same friends, partied at the same places and even sat at the same table at lunch but never met. We had several of the same teachers, and sat in the same desk but at different class periods.

We have several translations in our home. NIV for teens for my daughter, NIV for kids for my 10 yr old, 2 NIV study bibles, 1 NKJV prophecy study bible, 2 KJV and 1 bible that is a children's bible, written KJV but it isn't the whole bible, that I got when I was a little girl. We mostly use our NIV study bibles and the NKJV study bible. The KJVs are the real nice family bibles with the gorgeous paintings inside and stuff so we don't use them.

Wow! What a great topic! I had never thought of this before and I would be very interested in hearing people's thought on this as well!

LOL Wisdom! I am a much better person than I used to be. I also have a ways to go and there are times when the old self tries to creep back but only through my Lord and Savior can I conquer that!

Praise and Glory goes to the Lord. Angel, homeschooling your kids is a wonderful gift from the Lord and your kiddos are and will reap the benefits from that their whole lives! Praise God you are able to do this! I would love to homeschool mine but they are 14, 13 and 10. I would only be able to do subjects like history, geography, anything having to do with reading or writing. I am not that great in the sciences and I am terrible in that horrible four letter word subject: MATH. I can barely help my 10-year old with his math and forget about my 8th grader and 9th grader!

Well ask and you shall receive! Yesterday after I posted about wanting to get The Case for Christ, I was at a local Christian Center and they said that they will give copies to those who are having financial difficulties and would send one to me! So I signed up for one and I should receive it in the next week or so! Thank you Father! I can't wait to read it!

Not only do we ask, we look through their school books at the beginning of each year/semester/quarter to see what things are in the books. We also go over their homework with them every night (even the stuff we don't understand like MATH! ) and we talk about it. We talk about school, work, friends, etc. at the breakfast table on weekdays (they get up MUCH earlier than hubby and I do on the weekends! ) and the dinner table every night, whether we are eating out or at home. We are very involved with our kids' lives.

I have heard nothing but praises about The Case for Christ. I would love to get that book! One book I have and just LOVE is called The Wisdom of Jesus and there are several people who have contributed writings for each one of the topics in the book. The topics are pretty short and have a scripture at the beginning of each topic related to what the topic is about. Then it has mini-topics within the main topic. Then there is a page or 2 about the topic and how it "applies" to us. The mini-topic is closed with a prayer in relation to the mini-topic. The main topics are: When Jesus Asks You to Listen When Jesus Asks You to Wait When Jesus Asks You to Trust .....to Pray .....to Love .....to Not Judge .....to Be Merciful .....to Be Humble .....to Be Wise It's very good, has short little "stories" and easy to see how Jesus wants you to be and react to what He asks you to do. It is published by Publications International, Ltd. and the contributing authors are, A. Boyd Luter, PhD, Anne Broyles, Pamela T. Campbell, Theresa Cotter, and Larry James Peacock, with consultation done by A. Boyd Luter.

Amen Timothy! Amen! Just gonna keep praying that it stays this way! It has been hard on him - he lost all his friends because of his lies and stealing from them. And because it is a very small school - only about 300 kids K-12th grade - EVERYONE in the middle school part and high school part knows and they stay away from him. He has a very long road of "recovery" ahead of him.

Shadow - I had to laugh at your description of the "syndrome"! Too funny! I asked my husband where in MI he had worked and he said he was around the same area as you were! NEAT! Thank you all for your help on this! I have learned SOOO much from all of you! He has turned himself around in the last week. He finally realized that it has been over a year now that all this has been going on and that he wasted over a year of his life in which he could have been doing the things the other kids his age are doing instead of being in constant trouble. I am just praying that this isn't another one of those times he is just pretending - he has done that so many times - and that this time he really means it when he says he is sorry and that he is tired of the way he has been. Your prayers are much appreciated! God bless! YSIC Missy

Shadow - ahhhh yes the "my parents are the dumbest people in the world" syndrome. We have become stupid too - at least in his eyes. Thankfully our other 2 (13 and 10) don't think that YET. lol As an aside, my husband Rick also used to work on the pipeline as a welder's helper about 12 years ago up in MN, MI and that area. He loved it! Praise God that your son has turned back to the Lord! What a wonderful testimony! We are giving our son over to the Lord - only He can do it! We can't, that's for sure! Robert - you and your son are in my prayers! God bless! YSIC Missy

Amen Wisdom! Whenever I read a Christian book, I ALWAYS have my bible - actually 2 of them - by my side, that I can check references, etc. And I always pray that the Lord fill me with discernment as well.

Thanks for the welcome! I wish I had time to read all the books that sound interesting in this thread but I have a bookshelf FULL of Christian books that I haven't gotten to yet! LOL! I don't read any books other than Christian ones anymore. I used to read every true crime book I could find - esp those about serial killers. SO glad the Lord got me out of those and into the books that will make my walk with HIM grow! I have to agree with the poster who said that the BIBLE is the best book! So true! I learn so much from it and it never ceases to amaze me at how glorious our Lord is!

Thank you all. You have certainly given me food for thought. This person means the world to me. He is my 14 year old son. Yes, I was fooled into thinking he had accepted Christ when the rest of the family had in the fall of 1999. I was fooled when we were baptised in April of 2000. Looking back, I know now that I did not see any "fruit" then and do not see it now either. My heart broke when he told us. My husband, Rick, and I have spoken at length with him regarding all of this since we found out it had all been a lie - shown him scripture upon scripture about salvation, damnation,etc. He knows what is required of him in order to have eternal life as well as I do. I honestly don't know his motives. Does he truly feel repentent about saying he was better than God? That others should bow down and worship him? Does he truly want salvation? He brought the evil one into our home when he rejected Christ and was eager to do as the evil one said. He knew exactly what he was doing and he didn't care. I cannot begin to know the heart of God and I know it is between Him and my son and that I have done my part and that all I can do is pray. It doesn't stop the heartache however. I know that only the Lord truly knows my son's heart. Like I said, I know that when I am in heaven, I will not know if my son is not there, it's the thought of him not being there and being in the alternate place - the lake of fire for eternity - that is "killing" me.

Thank you CD for your insight. No one has explained it to me quite like that and I understand better now. Isn't there scripture that says the Lord will harden those hearts which have refused His call? I am proof that God calls and calls and calls - He had done so many times in my life - praise and glory to Him that I heeded His call and answered. Like you said, only the Lord knows for certain. I just pray that it's not too late. Although I will not know any different once I am in heaven, the thought of him not being there breaks my heart.

I have a question that has been on my mind for quite some time and I have asked this question to many people - pastors included - and I get a different answer each time. I am hoping to get the final and TRUE answer so that my mind can be put to rest as well as the person that this truly affects. This person said that they had accepted Christ and was even baptised by immersion going on 3 years ago. For awhile he seemed to be on fire for the Lord and was really working on his walk with Him. A year ago, this person said that they had never really accepted Christ as his Savior, that he had just done it for the attention basically and only got baptised because he wanted to see what it would be like. He rejected Christ, said he understood completely what his choice was, that he knew it would mean spending eternity separated from God. While he didn't actually bow down and worship the evil one (or so he says - it's hard to know if he is truthful because he has done nothing but lie for so long we just can't believe him) - he had chosen to listen to the evil one and do as he said. He knew it was wrong but didn't care and said that it was much easier to listen to the evil one instead of the Lord. He has literally said that people should bow down and worship him since he was better than God anyway. Word for word! He know says that he regrets doing what he did and realizes now that he made a terrible mistake, rejecting Christ fully knowing the consequences of his actions. He now wants to know if it is too late for him to be saved since he believes he committed the unpardonable sin (blasphemy of the Holy Spirit) because of the things he has said and done and because he did reject Christ. Is it too late for him to be saved? Is he doomed? Some people say no it's not too late because he has realized the error of his ways and now wants to accept Christ and that it doesn't matter what one has done or said, if the person is truly repentent (I honestly don't know if he is - his behavior says otherwise - but I don't know his heart), then he will be forgiven and saved by the grace of our Lord. Others say, yes it is too late because he did knowingly reject Christ and His gift of salvation and because he did commit the unpardonable sin. That you can't expect to say you are better than God and then turn around and expect God to save you just because you feel a little guilty. He wants to know if it is too late. And I must admit, this person is very close to me and this situation grieves me greatly. So please, any help or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. YSIC Missy