Any thoughts on this?

[Vine Abider]

1 minute ago, Stan Murff said:

But, based on OSAS teachings... if you continued to smoke the weed you'd still be saved, right?

There are more and more people who otherwise seem to be and sound sincere in their faith that smoke the weed.

Would you tell them they can go to Heaven if they never quit... or do you tell them they will not go to Heaven if they don't quit?

Being high is as drunkenness and the Lord says in His Word that intoxication is one of the things that people do that will cause them to not inherit God's Kingdom.

Do we tell people this scripture is true, or false???

Galatians 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

 

Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

 

Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

 

Yes, still a child of God.  Why?  His life is in me.  (and if I continued to smoke pot, the growth of His life in me would most likely be stunted; the works I would do would be improper/inadequate; and then the judgement at the Bema would be pretty severe)

In my view, two key things happened as a result of Christ's work on the cross:

1. Death of old Adam and full payment for sin

2. His resurrection life made available to live in believers

Therefore, the old vessel was done away with, including all it's corruption.  The new vessel was ready for the life of God to be poured into it, making us living children of our loving Father.

The believer's spirit is reborn ("That which is born of Spirit is spirit"), however there's lots of sanctification and transformation left for the Anointing to do in this life.  Therefore Christians are saints . . . who sometimes still sin. (but Hallelujah! the life of God is growing in us, and will produce what it intends)

[Vine Abider]

12 minutes ago, Stan Murff said:

In other words.... if one lives in sin, they will go to hell if they don't repent from their sin and confess it before the Lord.

They will lose THE reward which is spending eternity with the Lord.

1 Cor 3:10-15 does not excuse one's sin and they get to go to Heaven anyway if they live in sin... which is how the OSAS camp uses this scripture.


 

The reward is not about eternal salvation.

And do you think you will spend all eternity up in heaven?

[DeighAnn]

26 minutes ago, Stan Murff said:

And yet more and more people are doing just this

a falling away....

Are you forgetting prophecy? 

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:" Amos 8:11 KJV

Mens personal religions will be put forth in place of the words of God while anyone who dares to stick to what is written believing in them as they are written,  putting them forth to point to errors

will be called confused, without understanding, not called of God...among many other things

antichrists, false doctrines, false religions nothing but a sign of the times




 

[Starise]

1 hour ago, Vine Abider said:

And this goes toward what someone reminded me of lately - sin is no longer pleasurable for a believer because of His life in us!  I know this to be true in my experience.  Why?  Because Christ lives in me and His life is against anything that is damaging.  Plus I (old man) am dead in Him, and my new life is hidden with Christ in God.  Hidden means it's not always so obvious and I need to seek Him for His will in it, yet other times it is quite obvious. 

For instance, when I turned to Him when I was 18, He immediately took the pleasure of pot smoking from me.  This had been a key part of my life, as I loved to get with others and pass the dubie around, party, etc.  (and of course, this was also a gateway drug, which lead to many other things . . .) But the pleasure I felt from pot and doing all that, He took away in an instant.  However, I still occasionally tried to smoke pot and get that feeling back, but I found little happiness in it - it actually made me quite unsettled and paranoid.  Again, this was His life in me causing this reaction.

So I was inclined to give that up for two main reasons - it wasn't pleasurable and I knew He wasn't pleased with it (and thirdly I knew it was damaging on various levels).

Other things He has taken a longer approach with, but it's His inner anointing that speaks to me and inclines me not to do certain things.*  Sometimes the speaking is pretty clear about something and I respond more quickly; with other things it's more that His life sort of drains away (life & peace leaves) and I (too) slowly realize this is another thing damaging to me and my relationship with Him/others.

* of course there are things that are clearly stated in His word to avoid and that I know are wrong, so these are pretty much a no-brainer to not do . . .

Well I am hesitant to admit what I was into, so I seldom talk about it here. I lived close to a wooded area when I was younger and the older boys left certain materials there in the woods which I found. That stuff isn't as prevalent in print any more. It's actually easier to get online for free, and over the years the modern versions of it have gotten more and more disguisting. More degenerate if that was even possible. Maybe similar to a person who says " I'm only smoking a doobie". A lot of men tell themselves thier drive is natural and there's nothing wrong with looking at women our age because that's how we are wired. I tried to tell myself that lie and it never worked. Especially the settings these women were in.

 I would confess and feel I wasn't a true believer because every time I did it again Satan would spread his lies...this is why I said in another thread, we can sin,be far from God, even feel unsaved but still saved.

I never wanted to do any of it, but the flesh side of me loved the way it made me feel , then I was miserable as a human being. A lot of men carry this around. It has this effect of internally eroding a person. Other lies would pop into my mind, like " It's only a picture. You aren't actually doing anything wrong by looking at pictures."

I finally just got sick of everything. I hated mysef. I hated my desire to want to go back to it, so I asked God to do whatever He needed to do to rid me of it. It felt terrible walking around living with this shame and a secret you keep from everyone.

I must have confessed my sins 10,000 times. Never did I feel unsaved. Not once. I knew the Father was very unhappy with me, because I KNEW I was a believer. Jesus was VERY patient with me. I didn't walk away from it right away as it had become a routine of mine over time and an engrained part of me, probably a lot like drugs addiction. In fact the two are closely related so far as dopamine to the brain for pleasure. The dangerous thing about this vice is, it seems like an innocent sin in that I am not picking up prostitues or buying drugs on the street. It's just videos right? WRONG! 

God answered my prayer to do whatever He needed to do to save me from it. Before that I would sometimes go 6 months and think I was home free. I've done it! I quit! Then I would see something on TV or elsewhere that brought it all back again. Like an alcoholic, one drink leads to another drink. I would tell myself I'll just take a quick peep at one suggestive picture. An hour later I was a shell of a man having failed yet again. I knew I couldn't stop it on my own and needed help.  I kept reaching out to the Lord in sincerety. FINALLY the Lord brought me around. I am surprised the Lord didn't just kill me on the spot. There were times I wanted to die, but the Lord was faithful, and the Lord will be faithful to anyone in any sort of a vice whether it be drink or drugs or porn WHATEVER it is. Our salvation is a work the Lord does in each of us. I never ever felt I wasn't a child of God. I was just a wayward, backslidden, worldly, compromising believer. I seen the sin in me and I HATED it. I still cringe when thinking about where I was in relation to where I am now.

That was my big one, but God is still working on me for those other sins, and when I find them I confess them. Our God is a merciful God and He works with His own.

Any true believer should NEVER think they are lost if they slip up in sin. Sure you will not feel that close relationship with the Lord any longer, you will desire to restore that relationship. If you fall down NEVER stop getting up, confessing the sin and trusting God to complete the work He began in you.

I don't like telling my story. It's shameful, but maybe someone else out there is in the same place right now. You still have HOPE in the Lord! That drink in front of you, that drug stash, whatever it is, give it to the Lord and trust Him to change you.

[Vine Abider]

4 minutes ago, Starise said:

Well I am hesitant to admit what I was into, so I seldom talk about it here. I lived close to a wooded area when I was younger and the older boys left certain materials there in the woods which I found. That stuff isn't as prevalent in print any more. It's actually easier to get online for free, and over the years the modern versions of it have gotten more and more disguisting. More degenerate if that was even possible. Maybe similar to a person who says " I'm only smoking a doobie". A lot of men tell themselves thier drive is natural and there's nothing wrong with looking at women our age because that's how we are wired. I tried to tell myself that lie and it never worked. Especially the settings these women were in.

 I would confess and feel I wasn't a true believer because every time I did it again was proof of that...this is why I said in another thread, we can sin but be far from God. I never wanted to do any of it, but the flesh side of me loved the way it made me feel for about 10 seconds, then I was miserable as a human being. A lot of men carry this around. It has this effect of internally eroding a person. Other lies would pop into my mind, like " It's only a picture. You aren't actually doing anything wroong by looking at pictures."

I finally just got sick of everything. I hated mysef. I hated my desire to want to go back to it, so I asked God to do whatever He needed to do to rid me of it. It felt terrible walking around living with this shame and a secret you keep from everyone.

I must have confessed my sins 10,000 times. Never did I feel unsaved. Not once. I knew the Father was very unhappy with me, because I KNEW I was a believer. Jesus was VERY patient with me. I didn't walk away from it right away as it had become a routine of mine over time and an engrained part of me, probably a lot like drugs addiction. In fact the two are closely related so far as dopamine to the brain for pleasure. The dangerous thing about this vice is, it seems like an innocent sin in that I am not picking up prostitues or buying drugs on the street. It's just videos right? WRONG! 

God answered my prayer to do whatever He needed to do to save me from it. Before that I would sometimes go 6 months and think I was home free. I've done it! I quit! Then I would see something on TV or elsewhere that brought it all back again. Like an alcoholic, one drink leads to another drink. I would tell myself I'll just take a quick peep at one suggestive picture. An hour later I was a shell of a man having failed yet again. I knew I couldn't stop it on my own and needed help. I kept  I kept reaching out to the Lord in sincerety. FINALLY I came around. I am surprised the Lord didn't just kill me on the spot. There were times I wanted to die, but the Lord was faithful, and the Lord will be faithful to anyone in any sort of a vice whether it be drink or drugs or porn WHATEVER is. Our salvation is a work the Lord does in each of us. I never ever felt I wasn't a child of God. I was just a wayward, backslidden, worldly, compromising believer. I seen the sin in me and I HATED it. I still cringe when thinking about where I was in relation to where I am now.

That was my big one, but God is still working on me for those other sins, and when I find them I confess them. Our God is a merciful God and He works with His own.

Any true believer should NEVER think they are lost if they slip up in sin. Sure you will not feel that close relationship with the Lord any longer, you will desire to restore that relationship. If you fall down NEVER stop getting up, confessing the sin and trusting God to complete the work He began in you.

I don't like telling my story. It's shameful, but maybe someone else out there is in the same place right now. You still have HOPE in the Lord! That drink in front of you, that drug stash, whatever it is, give it to the Lord and trust Him to change you.

He gets all the glory, brother and thanks for sharing!  His love, mercy and grace are so surpassing to our meager minds!

"When I see the blood I will pass over you!"   Exodus 12:13

[Marathoner]

22 minutes ago, Starise said:

Well I am hesitant to admit what I was into, so I seldom talk about it here. I lived close to a wooded area when I was younger and the older boys left certain materials there in the woods which I found. That stuff isn't as prevalent in print any more. It's actually easier to get online for free, and over the years the modern versions of it have gotten more and more disguisting. More degenerate if that was even possible. Maybe similar to a person who says " I'm only smoking a doobie". A lot of men tell themselves thier drive is natural and there's nothing wrong with looking at women our age because that's how we are wired. I tried to tell myself that lie and it never worked. Especially the settings these women were in.

 I would confess and feel I wasn't a true believer because every time I did it again was proof of that...this is why I said in another thread, we can sin but be far from God. I never wanted to do any of it, but the flesh side of me loved the way it made me feel for about 10 seconds, then I was miserable as a human being. A lot of men carry this around. It has this effect of internally eroding a person. Other lies would pop into my mind, like " It's only a picture. You aren't actually doing anything wrong by looking at pictures."

I finally just got sick of everything. I hated mysef. I hated my desire to want to go back to it, so I asked God to do whatever He needed to do to rid me of it. It felt terrible walking around living with this shame and a secret you keep from everyone.

I must have confessed my sins 10,000 times. Never did I feel unsaved. Not once. I knew the Father was very unhappy with me, because I KNEW I was a believer. Jesus was VERY patient with me. I didn't walk away from it right away as it had become a routine of mine over time and an engrained part of me, probably a lot like drugs addiction. In fact the two are closely related so far as dopamine to the brain for pleasure. The dangerous thing about this vice is, it seems like an innocent sin in that I am not picking up prostitues or buying drugs on the street. It's just videos right? WRONG! 

God answered my prayer to do whatever He needed to do to save me from it. Before that I would sometimes go 6 months and think I was home free. I've done it! I quit! Then I would see something on TV or elsewhere that brought it all back again. Like an alcoholic, one drink leads to another drink. I would tell myself I'll just take a quick peep at one suggestive picture. An hour later I was a shell of a man having failed yet again. I knew I couldn't stop it on my own and needed help. I kept  I kept reaching out to the Lord in sincerety. FINALLY I came around. I am surprised the Lord didn't just kill me on the spot. There were times I wanted to die, but the Lord was faithful, and the Lord will be faithful to anyone in any sort of a vice whether it be drink or drugs or porn WHATEVER is. Our salvation is a work the Lord does in each of us. I never ever felt I wasn't a child of God. I was just a wayward, backslidden, worldly, compromising believer. I seen the sin in me and I HATED it. I still cringe when thinking about where I was in relation to where I am now.

That was my big one, but God is still working on me for those other sins, and when I find them I confess them. Our God is a merciful God and He works with His own.

Any true believer should NEVER think they are lost if they slip up in sin. Sure you will not feel that close relationship with the Lord any longer, you will desire to restore that relationship. If you fall down NEVER stop getting up, confessing the sin and trusting God to complete the work He began in you.

I don't like telling my story. It's shameful, but maybe someone else out there is in the same place right now. You still have HOPE in the Lord! That drink in front of you, that drug stash, whatever it is, give it to the Lord and trust Him to change you.

It's your testimony, brother. It requires courage in the face of shame to share, honesty to come forward, and faith in Christ to overcome. We can see that your ordeal has made you better acquainted with grief, sorrow, and suffering. It's edifying and encouraging to read.

The Lord bless you for sharing with us. 

[DeighAnn]

17 minutes ago, Vine Abider said:

Yes, still a child of God.  Why?  His life is in me.  (and if I continued to smoke pot, the growth of His life in me would most likely be stunted; the works I would do would be improper/inadequate; and then the judgement at the Bema would be pretty severe)

In my view, two key things happened as a result of Christ's work on the cross:

1. Death of old Adam and full payment for sin

2. His resurrection life made available to live in believers

Therefore, the old vessel was done away with, including all it's corruption.  The new vessel was ready for the life of God to be poured into it, making us living children of our loving Father.

The believer's spirit is reborn ("That which is born of Spirit is spirit"), however there's lots of sanctification and transformation left for the Anointing to do in this life.  Therefore Christians are saints . . . who sometimes still sin. (but Hallelujah! the life of God is growing in us, and will produce what it intends)

THE PROBLEM isn't BEING SAVED and REMAINING SAVED for those who have GONE UNDER the schoolmaster and have COME TO FAITH by HEARING THE WORDS OF GOD,

because at that point, THEY understand all the IFS OF SALVATION


the REAL PROBLEM IS 

THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP GIVING the doctrine CREDENCE.  Supporting THE DOCRTRINE being taught as a doctrine is where the problem is found.


IF it isn't TAUGHT as a doctrine in the words of GOD 


THEN it most definitely should NOT be taught as one BY MEN, CORRECT????


So, the RIGHT THING is and/or should be

when ANY CHRISTIAN finds out

it is being used by FALSE TEACHERS everywhere to seduce and DECEIVE those who would OTHERWISE not be deceived, aka the EWEs,

they should recognize IT FOR WHAT IT IS and QUIT DEFENDING IT,

and maybe even start fighting against

but
AT THE VERY LEAST QUIT DEFENDING IT


THE DOCTRINE is the problem, not the TRUTH found in the words of God



 

[Starise]

16 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

It's your testimony, brother. It requires courage in the face of shame to share, honesty to come forward, and faith in Christ to overcome. We can see that your ordeal has made you better acquainted with grief, sorrow, and suffering. It's edifying and encouraging to read.

The Lord bless you for sharing with us. 

 I guess most of us didn't have that ideallic Christian experience where we never did anything majorly wrong and then came to Jesus and have been squeaky clean ever since.

Sure I've heard stories of bible college couples who clicked in college and life has been wonderful working for the Lord. I probably wasn't bible college material when I was younger.

I still like women, but my lense has been cleaned and I am now more able to see them for who they are.

My "ordeal" I don't generally discuss publicly on the boards, except to say it's been a tough ride but worth every bit, and I can't thank God enough for all of it.Yes, this one needed a proper 'whoopin' and got it, at least I hope it's over now.

Noone wants to see Jesus coming with a belt.

[Marathoner]

We all have our struggles. I have shared how I stumbled and fell for many years, and I'll relate one way in which I did just that.

Some of you will know that I'm not married and I've never fathered children. The latter is by the grace of God, but this doesn't mean that I didn't try through several relationships with women during those years. 

It wasn't possible to have children because each woman I became entangled with in my idiocy couldn't for one reason or another. More than one had a hysterectomy before we met. It simply wasn't meant to be... but I yearned for I couldn't have, and sought to acquire those things anyway. Yes, it was shameful. 

I was vain and prideful regarding my looks back then and wherever I went, it wasn't long before lust mastered me. I would "shack up" with a woman and after lust ran its course, the relationship ended. We had nothing between us beyond that sin. 

The Lord was silent. I would speak to Him, pleading that the latest relationship would be the final one, a woman whom I could marry and have what had been denied to me for so long: a home. A life to build. Purpose. An end to my suffering and wandering. 

But the Lord never answered me. 

In our folly which the Lord permits us to pursue, blind and serving this flesh, He teaches us even through His silence. The fact that He never answered me and I didn't hear His voice at any time, was indeed the judgment of God regarding my folly:

That was not the way I should go. I will never father children. I do not belong to a wife. My home is not temporal, built from things that crumble. But I was too ignorant to understand His judgment and I had fallen so far for too long. I had made the beds I slept in. 

Not long before I came to this state where I live now, the last of my sinful relationships came to an end. The truth dawned upon me: no more. I couldn't do that to another woman ever again. 

I didn't know what awaited me here...

The end of those long years of trial and misery. I gave my life to an elderly stranger who had been abandoned by her family, becoming a son to her. In turn, she became the mother I never had. Then, I became sick and started to die...

And I lost everything except for this life. You may have read where I praise the Lord for stripping me of everything, for this was needful. It necessary to lose everything to comprehend that which Christ had given to me, grasping the depth of my sin and folly. I finally understood what He required of me.

When the Lord came when I thought I would breathe my last, I heard His voice for the first time in 20 years. My life is not my own, and I belong to no one apart from Him. I cried out to Him, and He heard my voice. The Lord restored me, returning what I had lost. 

God is merciful and swift to forgive. 

[Michael37]

1 hour ago, believeinHim said:

crikey

 

interjection

1. Used as an exclamation of astonishment, or as an emphasis of fact at the conclusion of a statement. 

Crikey is a slang word that is commonly used in both English and Australian English¹²³. It is an expression of surprise, similar to the way the word ‘Christ!’ is used¹². According to Urban Dictionary, Crikey is not a swear word but a slang¹. It is believed to have originated in England as a minced oath, an expression used to avoid using a swear word³.

Best to avoid using substitutes for swearing and blasphemy.