Butler

I gotta agree with hambergers there.

I didnt even know that they were calling it ccm until a short while ago. It actually makes me wuite mad because its taking away from good godly music and making it into something suspicious and wrong.

I have rocked out to Christian music and felt the Holy Spirit. The people who moan about the beat are people who prefer hyms. Its understandable that they dont like rock but why not use something like rock and turn it into something holy?

Sean

I heard it said that bands that play "ccm" are doing the devils work. Aparrently the music is "rooted in satanism" because it has an up-beat sound and is rock n' roll. People like Michael W Smith, Hillsongs, Vinyards, Casting Crowns and the like are doing a terrible thing. What do you think about that?

I will respond to your remarks tomorrow. I look forward to hearing what you all have to say about the above.

God bless!

Wow, a praises form!? This board has everything!

God has been so good to me! About 2 years ago I has as low as low can be. I had no direction, no love, no job and a HUGE AIDS scare. I drank to much and was on a SERIOUS downward spiral.

I started serving God and gave my life over to Him. He has blessed me with a bright future, a wonderful fiance' and a job that has provided for both of us. We are planning a wedding and even though I know the storms will come I also knoe the Lord Jesus has my back!

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

oops............sorry

WOW! Thanks for all your imput guys and girls!

While all your posts were helpful I guess I'll have to find an actively homosexual Christain to ask. Ya see, I know its wrong. God has told us so. What I dont understand is how can a Christian live with him/herself while ACTIVELY sinning against God?

Hey, Im certainly not perfect. I have flaws, HUGE flaws, but I get down on my knees and aske God to forgive my sins. If I was stealing (and did so every day) and never asked for forgivness I just dont know how I could face the Father.

God bless all of you for your replies. Just to clarify one other thing, I dont hate hoxosexuals, I hate their behaviour. I have 3 friends that are homosexual, 2 guys and a girl. They know where I stand on the matter and we respect each others views (even if they are apposed). If only they were Christian then I could ask them!

GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU!!!

WOW! Thanks for all your imput guys and girls!

While all your posts were helpful I guess I'll have to find an actively homosexual Christain to ask. Ya see, I know its wrong. God has told us so. What I dont understand is how can a Christian live with him/herself while ACTIVELY sinning against God?

Hey, Im certainly not perfect. I have flaws, HUGE flaws, but I get down on my knees and aske God to forgive my sins. If I was stealing (and did so every day) and never asked for forgivness I just dont know how I could face the Father.

God bless all of you for your replies. Just to clarify one other thing, I dont hate hoxosexuals, I hate their behaviour. I have 3 friends that are homosexual, 2 guys and a girl. They know where I stand on the matter and we respect each others views (even if they are apposed). If only they were Christian then I could ask them!

GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU!!!

WOW! Thanks for all your imput guys and girls!

While all your posts were helpful I guess I'll have to find an actively homosexual Christain to ask. Ya see, I know its wrong. God has told us so. What I dont understand is how can a Christian live with him/herself while ACTIVELY sinning against God?

Hey, Im certainly not perfect. I have flaws, HUGE flaws, but I get down on my knees and aske God to forgive my sins. If I was stealing (and did so every day) and never asked for forgivness I just dont know how I could face the Father.

God bless all of you for your replies. Just to clarify one other thing, I dont hate hoxosexuals, I hate their behaviour. I have 3 friends that are homosexual, 2 guys and a girl. They know where I stand on the matter and we respect each others views (even if they are apposed). If only they were Christian then I could ask them!

GOB BLESS ALL OF YOU!!!

When Anglican priest Jo Mdhlela preached his first sermon espousing equal rights for gays and lesbians, he was met with puzzled frowns by many in his conservative African congregation.

http://www.worthynews.com/news/washingtonp...400540_pf-html/

Hi Everyone!

Im from Cape Town South Africa and this is a HUGE problem down here! Im a member of AOG but my mother is Anglican. She was really rattled by this development. We dont agree with homosexuals leading the church and this caused her to question staying in the church she has been a apart of for 25 years!

Not all churches are pro gay though. Our church has alread been threatened because we refuse to marry homosexual couples. We downright refuse and even if they take away our pastors marrage licenses, we will not budge!

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!

Hello all!

I know I should have posted this in the contravercial form but I wasnt allowed posting there. Im sure the administrators will move this soom

Im certainly not trying to insult anyone here. Please excuse my ignorance in the matter but this has come up in my small group and we didnt have an answer. Ok, here we go......

How can you be a homosexual and a Christian? Do you not see it as a sin? That was a theory that we had. Doesnt being gay contradict your faith in Jesus? I mean actively living in sin without asking forgiveness and worshiping Jesus who told us to repent of uor sins seems a little strange.

If there are anyone out there who can help me here I would certainly appreciate it!

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!

These situations are horrible.Many Christians dont know how to deal with things like this. They get comfortable and slip into a comfortable stance and seem to forget that the spiritual world also has an evil side.

I have also been in some hairy situations and spiritual warefare was something completely foreign to me. Asking your church elders is not such a bad idea. And what does every Christian have to do before going into battle? They have to put on the armour of God!

GOD BLESS ALL!!!

Hi there SpiritedPrem4!

First off i just gotta tell you that God loves you and is certainly upset because of what is happening. Grab onto Him and dont let go!

I have delt with similar things in my life and i came through the other end. It certainly isnt fun and leaves you feeling helpless and scared. Please go find a church. I know its hard to just walk into one and the enemy will tell you that you are not welcome/unworthy or whatever. DONT LISTEN! Gods covenant with His childrent is stronger than ANY covenant you made before. Let Christ wash you clean and redeem you.

Also, getting rid of any occult stuff is a must. Seperate yourself from everything evil and vile and (like i said earlier) hold onto God with all your might!

God bless you and keep you safe! You will be fine, just remember that the journey will not be easy. Considering you have already been through so much though, im confident that you can be strong. Pray, pray and pray some more. Salvation is only a prayer away.

GOD BLESS!!! Let us know!

Well this has been an area that I have struggled long and hard with. As Christians what should we be listening to and what should we stear clear of. Im an absolute music NUT and love pretty much anything (except country music or classic opra).

The bands listed are not that much of an issue and I happen dig a whole lot of them. Im a HUGH rock fan so what do I do about bands like AC/DC and the like? I pay careful attention to the lyrics, always have. Even when I wasnt a Christian I still listened carefully to see if I could get what the writer wsa trying to get across. Some of these songs are pretty nasty and hard to hear.

Listen to the lyrics and see if they are anti Christian. Many bands in the 80's were already singing against Christ and god, it's not just the bands of today.

Mwa hahaha! Definately has to be the Rocky Horror Picture Show!

Sorry guy and gals!

I wasnt aware that there was already a HUGE post that deals with my problem.

Thanks though and God bless!

A friend and myself were talking the other day about salvation and our surity of it. We then started askin geach other questions and one that he asked was "can you loose your salvation?". I have heard this questioon before but it has never been asked directly to me so I had to shrug and say "I dont rightly know".

I have been searching the Word and havent dug up anything solid yet. All I did find is the verse that says that faith without works are dead and works without faith are also dead. If our salvation was assured then we would have no reason for works.

Please help me with this. I know its an old debate but if anyone has a verse that they found that can help me I would much appreciate it.

GOD BLESS!!!

Well I envy you cause I would give one of my legs to be able to write lyrics. I have tried and so far it's not going too well. I am going to write a song to sing om my wedding day but I really am struggling to come up with the right word order. It has to be something from me so I guess I'll just have to suck it up and work harder.

I find it relatively easy to write lyrics. I write a lot.

Wow, what a lovely idea. How long do you have to write it?? Just think how great you'll feel when you've finished!

Fortunately I still have a while but time is just ticking by and Im not making any headway. Im going home soon and Im going to keep trying.

I have a whole band thats going to accompany me. I have a few mates that play the drums, guitar and bass. My singing isnt all that amazing but Im willing to make a bit of a fool of myself for her.

Well I envy you cause I would give one of my legs to be able to write lyrics. I have tried and so far it's not going too well. I am going to write a song to sing om my wedding day but I really am struggling to come up with the right word order. It has to be something from me so I guess I'll just have to suck it up and work harder.

[its a shame you dont grow goor drummers there cause there is a serious shortage here.

I agree that you can change the channel but what if you arent there. The children can watch this stuff and kids will be curious. I guess all we can do is tell them about the danger of watching that kind of stuff. We cant always be there to protect them but we can try or best.

Well I am from South Africa and we get some SERIOUSLY dodgy stuff on TV. I have turned the tv on at about 21:00 on a Friday and seen seriously pornographic stuff. Im mean, what 12 year old kid isnt awake at that time?! And then there is Saturday nights. After 12 there is full blown porn that any child can watch behind their parents backs.

Something needs to be said to the TV station managers!

Hi there!

Im really into my music and playing guitar. I was just wondering if any of you play and if so what music do you like to play?

I play electric guitar and am fond of rock, alternative and gospel music. I have been playing for most of my life and have been in a few bands. I also played the drums and bass guitar.

Id love to see if any of you also share my love of music.

GOD BLESS!!!

I started drinking when I was 12/13 years old. I would lie to my mom and tell her I was sleeping over at a friends but would actually go to a party and get wasted. To imagine that now is hard and if I had to see a child that age drinking I would be seriously angry. As far as drugs went I wasnt too into it. I smoked weed but never tried anything else. I started going to clubs when I was 15 and drinking so much that I couldnt stand of speak.

You probably think that I grew up in a bad home and my parents didnt care about me but it was actually quite the opposite. Both my parents loved (and love) me very very much. They gave me everything they could and genuinly cared for me. They were both God feering people and encouraged regular church attendance.

When I was young they got divorced and my father moved out. This had seemingly little effect on me but in later years I found that I grew increasingly more and more angry. I withdrew from church and while I new God was real, I was so angry with everything I just didnt care. I headed down a slippery slope.

I was always the quiet kid but grew really angry really fast if irritated. In highschool I finally got help and attended anger management which helped me finally put some old demons to rest. I started chilling out but still had no desire to return to church. The idea was now foriegn to me and I was afraid to try. At this time the church had hired a new youth paster to take other that ministery. Quite unexpectingly he called me one day and asked if I could play bass for the youth band (he obviously asked around). I said I would give it a bash and started playing in the church.

A little later I joined the Alpha group and started getting back into Christian life. I gave my life to God on the Alpha weekend and have grown so much since then. God truly is great!

I have made some terrible mistakes in my life (some that arent posted here) but I know that I am washed clean because of Jesus' sacrafice. There is nothing that any of us can do that will keep us from God if we desire to be saved. I now know the love of God and I will NEVER go back.

Gob bless!!!

Thanks Luv2prayzhymn for your response and thanks to everyone else as well!

It funny that you talk about the purpose driven life cause that seems to be the book of the year (or years) at my church. Every little thing we do is inspired by this Rick Warren fellow. I dont even know who he is! By the replies from the posters I take it he isnt very well liked in the states.

Who exactly is Rick Warren and why is he causing such a stir?

Hey there guys and gals!

Heres my problem. Im a member of the Assembly of God and while we are much smaller than the big American churches we are growing fast. We get about about +-1000 people comming to each service.

The church has decided to take on the whole "mega church" persona and Im not exactly thrilled about this. It becomming so impersonal and the pastors are becomming unaproachable.

My beef with all of this is that the church is SO concerned with numbers that they are neglecting to nurture their congregation and Im not the only one who feels like this. We used to be a family and now we are a business. I love my church and am reall concerned. If they want to have more people in church rather build a new church instead of consantly growing a already flourishing one.

For those of you who are in mega church's, please can you give me your imput. This is something that has been weighing heavely on my heart and some guidance would be most welcome.