Isaiah 6:8

I might add that there are Christians on countries with no acres to a bible at all or anybother form of theological training. That are yet effective witnesses.

I have let this thread go on long enough. The OP is not fact as many have proven. Worthy is not a platform for you to teach your dads theology, corrupt or not it is not the place for it. We are here to dicuss the things of God, and that precludes anyone from simply stating that they are right and the other person is wrong. Thread closed.

Er thread

My very next post will covet this

Okay. While a good thing its not needed to bring someone to a saving grace, again, if you missed it watch this... He was responsible for thousands of people coming to the Lord, but he did not once get into debate with them. Yes I have seen people who were biblical illiterate fail when trying to witness. I have also seen people (Including myself) get so caught up in sidebar theological questions that I miss the message of the Cross and fail to reach the soul. I even saw one young lady who's evangelism technique only "worked" (I used that word loosely) when she witnessed to men, and that due to her low cut top. Yes Zeal with out wisdom is dangerous, and knowledge without zeal is equally so. I think though that you do need a grasps of apologetics if you feel the Lord is calling you to witness as a ministry. I think that is fine and a part of theology, Do you kneed to know the finer points of Calvinism vs Arminism, do you need to know every disputed point? No. Do you need a good base on the word yes. Can God work through you with out that? Yes. But that should be only when you are newly saved and you should not be expected to know things. Yet if you have been a christian for several years, yes, you need to grow and know how to defend. Remember as well, that the most powerful tool in witnessing is our actions, not just our words. Its also how we say our words and how we live our life that is most effective.

I would say that Esau's Heart was revealed when he threw away his birthright for a bowl of beans. Yes he was tricked but he valued so little the eternal things.

I think having a good base on theology is a good thing but not necessary. Again to do the work of evangelist is to simply preach Christ Crucified, and use your testimony. Remember what you need to know depends on your audience. Jesus used theology with theologians, but the average day by day sinners, he usually simply called sinners to repentance. Even in John 3 he did not use typical theology that Nicodemus was used to, he preached belief in Him, and that he came to save. In my personal experience, I have seen theology be a block to the Gospel. I still struggle on when to use theology and when to use the simple message of the Cross. Yes having a knowledge of theology, and techniques on witnessing is a good thing, I am not against having the tools. But it is not needed to reach the lost. Here is a good example. You see if you watch the video, the man only told people "Are you saved, and if you died tonight are going to heaven?" No use of theology. He simply obeyed the Lord and let him do the work. You see what is needed is to be willing to preach. Remember this, nothing we say or do, really brings the harvest. We plant and water, but God brings the increase. Now as you grow in Christ and learn apologetic's, you have to let the Holy spirit guide you. When witnessing to someone that is a Muslim, for instance you need to know how to speak with them. I would say that this falls under the category of apologetic's, not really that of theology. Remember also that prayer is powerful, and I find that praying before you, and as you, are witnessing helps. Never forget your most powerful witnessing tool is your Testimony. I was out with a Youth With A Mission group in Denver. We were doing something we called a Cross walk. A prayer walk with while carrying a cross. We stopped outside of a bar and started praying for all those inside. A man came out saw the cross and came over, and started to discuss Christianity. A few broke off the main group and went to speak with him, while the rest stood around the cross praying for them. While we were praying I felt the Lord tell me to pray about them giving there testimony. So I did, and as I finished praying that very prayer the guy stood up and walked off. I was puzzled. but then the group came back. They told me he sat down and started to debate Christianity. He was ready, he had all the usual things to say against it, rather shaking up a few of the kids and he had them a bit on the ropes as to what to reply. Right about then I started praying about the testimony, one of the youth felt led to share his testimony, and started, with "Well let me tell you what God has done in my life" At that the man stood up, said thanks but he really had to be going and left. You see, he knew he could argue religion, but no one can argue against your personal testimony. Yes at that time he did not come to Christ. How ever seeds were planted, and young people with not as much experience answering the tough theological questions learned that there is power in their testimony. On that note, I think maybe we should start giving our testimony to those in the outer court. Arguing theology is not working.

I think having a Solid Theology is not essential to be an evangelist. Now before others stone me for that, let me explain. By definition an Evangelist is a person that shares the word... Does this mean that a young man comes to the Lord and has a life changing experiences, goes and tells his friends about it and they come to Christ as a result of his testimony in the wrong? No. He is being an Evangelist using the word of his testimony. You see they defeat the beast by the blood of the Lamb and the word of the testimony. So no. in this manner you do not need to know anything but Christ Crucified. Now, if you are a more mature Christian who wants to evangelize you would need to be solid on your basic theology. Like Christ is God. Through him we are saved. etc... but a perfect, Bible College or seminary theology is not needed. What is needed is a passion for the Lord and for lost souls.

Moved not a spiritual warfare issue.

It is never best to use a credit card anywhere. No one should even have a credit card. If you have to use a credit card to buy anything, it means you do not have the money for it and should not be buying it in the first place. This is the one main factor that has caused our country to be in severe economic peril, much more peril than the average American citizen realizes or wishes to acknowledge or think about. A system that is built on the entire countries citizens living within a state of increasing debt, for both themselves and their government has failure built in. The system is unsustainable and will fail. It is not a question of if, it is a question of when, and that failure is now looming on the visible horizon. It is not decades away, it is here now, right around the corner. And a life based on credit is one of the main contributing factors. We have taught an entire nation to live in a constant state of insolvency and we will reap the fruits of that ideology. In some cases I would agree. But all cases are not the same. We use credit cards for vacations. We pay the balance off in full every month we use it. We do not use the cards because we do not have money. We use the cards because carrying large amounts of cash is stupid. We have never had CC debt. We have never paid interest and we earn free points/money. Win...Win...Win Well by definition, the second you use a credit card you have credit card debt. Not until you pay it does it come off. Also, Free points cost you more then you know. On average you will spend around 20-50% more on a credit card then when you use cash or debit. So if you get some points back you are still getting less then you spend. Also, 78% of all credit card holders do not pay off the balance every month. If you do, you are a very rare person indeed, but then again, credit card companies have several built in "Gotcha's" that they will get you with, if you make one mistake. All it takes is one payment to be held up in the mail and your stuck. You see my friend was just like you, he used his credit card on vacation, and paid off the balance when he got home. however he spent a bit more then he realized, and was pushing it close to the max. He had the money to pay but his payment went through one day late. He got a late fee, he lost his promotional rate, which jacked the interest up, and it backdated it to the end of the year, and all those fees were added, he then went over the limit, he had that fee added, He did not have the money to make the payment and that was another fee. In short his spending on vacation cost him over 5000$ he did not have. It took him over two years to pay off the debt, and he wound up being sent to collections and was called several times a day and yelled at. You see, when you take a vacation using credit cards, the vacation has a way of following you home. Also, not one of the people who started with nothing, at college, who became wealthy, said they did it with credit card points. Its not worth the cost. Evidently, we are better at budgeting and self control than your friend. We've never went over budget or paid any kind of late fee. We only use cards that are interest free for one year. When it's year is up, the card is cut up. We also have a bank account just for vacations. If the money isn't already there, we don't use the card. We are financially very sound and started with nothing...because we DO know how to budget. Of course we didn't make our wealth from credit cards, but we haven't lost any wealth because of credit cards either. You are a rare breed!... Also still be careful, one late payment by even five Min can get you in trouble, I had that happen once to me. My grandparents had a payment arrive one day late due to the mail, after 30 years of being with the same company and never once missing a payment and never once paying interest like you did. They got hit with fees and interest and the company would not fix it, as they don't make any money that way.

Very good, I would only point out that one should never invest, if they are in debt! If your are in debt at 30% its no use earning 15% on an investment!

Is he related to wyguy?

It is never best to use a credit card anywhere. No one should even have a credit card. If you have to use a credit card to buy anything, it means you do not have the money for it and should not be buying it in the first place. This is the one main factor that has caused our country to be in severe economic peril, much more peril than the average American citizen realizes or wishes to acknowledge or think about. A system that is built on the entire countries citizens living within a state of increasing debt, for both themselves and their government has failure built in. The system is unsustainable and will fail. It is not a question of if, it is a question of when, and that failure is now looming on the visible horizon. It is not decades away, it is here now, right around the corner. And a life based on credit is one of the main contributing factors. We have taught an entire nation to live in a constant state of insolvency and we will reap the fruits of that ideology. In some cases I would agree. But all cases are not the same. We use credit cards for vacations. We pay the balance off in full every month we use it. We do not use the cards because we do not have money. We use the cards because carrying large amounts of cash is stupid. We have never had CC debt. We have never paid interest and we earn free points/money. Win...Win...Win Well by definition, the second you use a credit card you have credit card debt. Not until you pay it does it come off. Also, Free points cost you more then you know. On average you will spend around 20-50% more on a credit card then when you use cash or debit. So if you get some points back you are still getting less then you spend. Also, 78% of all credit card holders do not pay off the balance every month. If you do, you are a very rare person indeed, but then again, credit card companies have several built in "Gotcha's" that they will get you with, if you make one mistake. All it takes is one payment to be held up in the mail and your stuck. You see my friend was just like you, he used his credit card on vacation, and paid off the balance when he got home. however he spent a bit more then he realized, and was pushing it close to the max. He had the money to pay but his payment went through one day late. He got a late fee, he lost his promotional rate, which jacked the interest up, and it backdated it to the end of the year, and all those fees were added, he then went over the limit, he had that fee added, He did not have the money to make the payment and that was another fee. In short his spending on vacation cost him over 5000$ he did not have. It took him over two years to pay off the debt, and he wound up being sent to collections and was called several times a day and yelled at. You see, when you take a vacation using credit cards, the vacation has a way of following you home. Also, not one of the people who started with nothing, at college, who became wealthy, said they did it with credit card points. Its not worth the cost.

Not a problem, again this is holds true to both debit and credit cards. Both can have restrictions placed on it if use out of the country. So this argument for not using debit cards does not hold water. I have traveled all over the world and never had an issue with this, with my Debit card, as I simply informed the bank before I left and they fixed it so that it was not an issue. It is best not to carry to much cash in these two places. However you do need to carry some as that gives you bartering leverage, you can not debate a price in a foreign market places (Where this is the cultural norm) with credit but you may do so with cash. You will spend to much money on credit every time, and get less deals.

This article seems to be written by a person in the credit indistry Remember per proverbs. So credit cards are a bad Idea at any time. I'll go over and address line bye line. False. Its just as hard to deal with as a credit card, however if a person goes over limit with your credit card your fees increase substantially, and any "Promotional" rate you may have had on your card you may lose and never get back. You may lose a 3% rate to have it replaced with a 30% rate, Not good and most companies are not willing to help you with this. Also per Federal law, you must be reimbersed and you have to have your funds replaced. They are both a hassle and about the same. However you will not be tempted to spend money you don't have with a debit card as much as you are with a credit card, so in the big picture you save so much money its worth any limited extra hassle you may run into. If you are really afraid of that when shopping on line, you can simply buy a pre paid credit card that is not linked to a bank account and has only the money you put in it. This is far safer then either regular credit or debit. True, sometimes. Not all do this and simple research and planning and preparedness will work. Most people do not often need services like this, and when they do its far enough in advance that you can plan ahead and have the additional cash in the bank to cover it. This is what I do, I have not had a credit card in over 3 years, and have never had a problem with this, and I just rented a car two days ago. True, both with credit and debit. are at risk here, why this article singles out debit cards shows a bias towards the credit industry which is very unhappy, with the amount of money they are losing to people learning to manage there money in a more wise way. Again true, but again you do not need a credit card. Most if not all financial institutions have free online bill pay, you can set up automatic bill payments from your bank you control and I would never give that info out to anyone on either card anyway. Again same goes to credit cards and yet they only mention Debit cards. Okay this seems to be promoting debit cards. So here just use your debit card and type your pin in and you save yourself and the institution the hassle of the credit transaction. More proof this is an article who is at the very least a backer of the credit industry. As this makes no sense to state not to use your debit card here. So in a nutshell, anywhere its unwise to use either a credit card or a debit card use cash. Otherwise you do not need to worry, use your debit card and do not get credit cards, those will hurt your finances way more then any inconvenience. By the way, something to think about. on average when you go to McDonald's and you use your credit card, you will spend between 30 -50% more per transaction then you would with cash and on average 20% more at the grocery store. Using Debit or Cash will save you tens of thousands of dollars if not hundred of thousands of dollars over your lifetime. Why do you think the credit card and retail companies want you to not use your debit card?

okay article had a few issues with it. This article seemed to lean towards a 401k more then an IRA, and did not go into much details on the Roth IRA.... Two points of note that this article calmed that were not 100% accurate. One is, the since people don't take care of business a payroll withdrawal for a 401k is better then trying to remember to pay an IRA. Yes, this is true, how ever, most, if not all financial institutions, such as banks and Credit Unions, allow you to set up automatic payment plans that solves this Issue. Two, The stable value fund is a horrible investment. When you look at all your investments you need at least a 6% Return. If you are not getting at least this, you are better off stuffing your money in a cookie jar. You see, inflation runs about 4% and taxes on investments run about 2%. So if you are not making up for this, you are losing money. Not a good reason to stay in a 401k. Also yes you can borrow from your 401k. This is about the worst possible thing you can do. This article fails to mention this. You see if you have borrowed on your 401k, the taxes owed on it, will become due, also, if you fail to pay it off, or you lose your job, the entire loan becomes instantly due and you risk losing your entire retirement as well as much more. Not a good Idea. This is not to say 401K's are bad. They are good, but they as well as a traditional IRA are what are defined as Tax deferred. When you put money in you do not pay taxes on that income. When you withdraw the money, the taxes become due on the amount. Its still a good thing but also something to consider. a Roth IRA is very cool. You pay your taxes on it up front. But then all the money in it, grows, tax free. All the growth is tax free. So when you do take the money out at retirement, you do not pay taxes on it. To put this into real terms. Say you were able to invest for most of your life in an IRA. You were good and with the combination of the money you put in and the growth on your money at retirement you had 4 million dollars. You would be happy to be sure, but at withdrawal time, the government would take about one third. That is to say one Million dollars. Now if you did the same thing, but had a Roth IRA you would have, 4 Million Dollars, no taxes. Roth is a good thing to have. Yes you pay a little bit more up front but you save a lot more in the end. Here is the basic Idea's... If your company has a 401k plan with a match start with that up to the max amount of the match. That match makes it worth while as its good investment. Once you reach the max of the match, then its time to open up a Roth IRA, as long as you make less then 100,000/year. (If you make more then that, you are not allowed a Roth) If you max both out and still have money, then you can go to regular IRA. Yes there are fees as this article points out with investment firms. This is why you need to shop around, A good financial planner will be able to help you make the most of your money at a minimum cost, and its well worth it in the end. Also one more very important note. If you are in debt, you should not be putting money into retirement. First of all if your debt gets worse you will simply withdraw the money from your retirement plan to save yourself and you'll lose it all anyway. The other reason is this, even the best retirement plans you may be lucky to make 12% on your investment or less. Most debt, especially credit debt runs at a much higher interest rate. So if your investing at 12, and you have debt at 30, you are losing more money then you are making by an exponential amount. So investing makes no sense if your up to your eyeballs in debt. How do you get out of debt... well I have a series that I am going to write here on that in short order!....

I am a Californian. Those are the fun size. I miss those.

My prayer as well. From the Artist, why he wrote the song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEHYU1dZ0ZU Its often times how I feel, and a good reminder!

in a phrase,, "You had to have been there"....

Love this song, We did a Drama to it on outreach in YWAM..

I did not know that Jady was a Jedi.....

Love the hat!