RdJ Posted April 6 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 67 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,148 Content Per Day: 0.37 Reputation: 649 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/11/2015 Status: Offline Birthday: 05/25/1970 Share Posted April 6 8 minutes ago, Neighbor said: Lucky? Led for sure, but not lucky. There are oh so many individuals that are led into participating at local bodies of Christ Jesus that form groups to help each other within the body, doing so in a Biblical manner. As the somewhat goofy expression of today states, you need only "lean into it", and it is there to be found. What is there? Safe homes for the abused, Instructive plus financial aid for adoptions, multiple home school groups, Parents Night Out monthly child care (Baby sitting), pregnancy clinics and housing, continuing child support with diapers, formulas, cribs, youth beds, etc. , even benevolent financial support including medical care is all there. Plus widow's work days and ongoing cleaning help for the disabled, even pick up services for those that are physically and or mentally disabled and cannot drive or care totally for themselves. Food distribution. It is all there. Might take a little serious peeking to find and be part of it, for it is done in a manner that meets the needs of the local body of Christ quietly, without fanfare, often for obvious reasons, but also because it is that the helpers/givers do not want any personal attention, they merely are called to be of help. Salvation Army is a quasi government institution that does some very nice work; but it does so under the auspices of big government, and therefore it follows big government rules in order to continue to exist. Sounds great. I don't know if we have this in the Netherlands. It's true that the Salvation army works for the government. We have whole scandals here of the government stealing kids and throwing teens in jail because there are not enough people who want to take them in. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neighbor Posted April 6 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 18 Topic Count: 958 Topics Per Day: 0.35 Content Count: 13,659 Content Per Day: 5.04 Reputation: 9,086 Days Won: 6 Joined: 12/04/2016 Status: Offline Birthday: 03/03/1885 Share Posted April 6 10 minutes ago, RdJ said: Sounds great. I don't know if we have this in the Netherlands. It's true that the Salvation army works for the government. We have whole scandals here of the government stealing kids and throwing teens in jail because there are not enough people who want to take them in. How very interesting and dreadful too. There are similar problems in the States of the USA that I am familiar with, and in some cases that I have had to deal with over the many years. The need is great and yes the workers are perhaps few in this area of life's concerns too. BUT, my point is that there are individuals within local bodies of Christ Jesus that work together, giving sacrificially of time and financial resources, as well as giving agape love of one another and God. It is often done under the radar so to speak. The left hand not knowing of what the right hand is doing for it often has no formal announcement- it just gets done as the need is made known by the Holy Spirit. It does not seek praise it just gets done; through prayer, reading of the Bible, thinking, and hearing the call to do what needs be done within the local congregation. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Marathoner Posted April 6 Group: Royal Member Followers: 16 Topic Count: 72 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 10,238 Content Per Day: 7.09 Reputation: 13,244 Days Won: 99 Joined: 05/24/2020 Status: Offline Popular Post Share Posted April 6 (edited) 9 hours ago, RdJ said: Sounds great. I don't know if we have this in the Netherlands. It's true that the Salvation army works for the government. We have whole scandals here of the government stealing kids and throwing teens in jail because there are not enough people who want to take them in. As @Neighbor wrote, we have our share of such things here in the U.S.; Canada has as well. I have had two instances of institutional evil affect relatives and my adopted mother. I have written elsewhere how my father was kidnapped from his mother's house when he was three months old. My grandmother was colored (dark skin) according to the definition of Jim Crow laws and because of this, she wasn't treated like an American citizen in the southern state where she lived. She was much less than that, having effectively no rights under the law. The police didn't care and neither did the courts. My adopted mother was impregnated against her will (rape) when she was 16 and because of two factors --- a Christian family who blamed her for the pregnancy (it was her fault in their view) and her being turned over to the custody of the state due to "delinquency" on her part --- she was incarcerated in a Christian school for delinquent girls. It was funded by the state and operated by an evangelical (Baptist) mission organization. It was a house of horrors. Girls were beaten by staff, subjected to psychological torture, and some took their own lives. As for my adopted mother, she said that after a few months of humiliation and facing a tribunal of staff once per week, she decided to play along so she could eventually escape that place with her life. She said everything they wanted to hear and in return, the mission promised they would help raise her child and find a good Christian husband for her. When it came time to deliver her baby --- her first child and her only son --- she was brought to a local hospital under police supervision. Labor was traumatic and she started bleeding during delivery; she lost so much blood that her heart stopped beating and she was prounced dead. She said that she heard the doctor announce the time of her death in the delivery room. But then her heart started beating again, so staff started blood transfusions to aid her recovery. She was fully conscious when her newborn son was placed in her arms; one of the mission staff took him away. He would be adopted to a proper Christian family, she was told. First, the blood that was given to her in the delivery room was infected with Hepatitis C, something that wouldn't be discovered until her early 50's. Second, this was when my adopted mother started hating Christians and renounced her own faith. The Lord healed her of those terrible wounds, but it wasn't until I came to her that this happened. Edited April 6 by Marathoner 1 2 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Know Jah Posted April 7 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 5 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 290 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 127 Days Won: 0 Joined: 09/28/2019 Status: Offline Share Posted April 7 Love is the identifying mark for true Christians John 13:35 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logostician Posted April 7 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 32 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 360 Content Per Day: 0.24 Reputation: 431 Days Won: 0 Joined: 03/03/2020 Status: Offline Share Posted April 7 John 6:66-69 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus is the way. There is no other way. Jesus is the strait gate. He is the narrow way. And he is the Good Shepherd that leads through both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hare Posted April 9 Group: Members Followers: 0 Topic Count: 5 Topics Per Day: 0.06 Content Count: 21 Content Per Day: 0.24 Reputation: 16 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/12/2024 Status: Offline Share Posted April 9 On 3/31/2024 at 11:07 PM, Figure of eighty said: Aside from losing my job, losing daycare,being robbed,mental health health failing, behind on bills, tax refund delayed, there was a fire situation at my apt. I wanted to go to church today but couldnt.. I need so much help and I feel God is not doing anything. I'm losing faith in him and am ready to just turn away and live my own life if I don't get help soon. Im not asking for riches qnd fortune I just need help. I need to pose this brief question: Do you feel like giving up on God or giving up on organized Churchianity? Some churches or pastors pour hot coals on struggling Christians by condemning them for their lack of faith. Even certain verses are cherry-picked towards this end. Unemployed Christians do not generate tithes. I have seen pastors getting mean at congregants who had suffered fates similar to those of yours. Thankfully, the ones who still retained some fortitude left their churches. But they didn't leave Christ. During the so-called pandemic, I know of people who had contemplated suicide for two years until they found Christ. And they still refuse to step into the organized church thereafter. Again, during the so-called pandemic, many churches outside the US did not allow the unvaccinated to attend service -- just when personal desperations peaked. There are people who find themselves in situations where they cannot afford to attend church (e.g. no money for petrol; no money for tithes and offerings etc). Furthermore, the first church had appointed seven deacons (Stephen was one of them) to help out those struggling with the means of sustenance (esp widows). Maybe, God is signalling that He wants you take another path. Maybe, it has to do with leaving the church. Maybe, it is something else. You will have to approach God alone and seek his will. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:6) This is when the Divine lifeline is thrown. He will surely answer you and eventually help you realize why you were facing this set of crises. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willa Posted April 9 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 68 Topic Count: 186 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 14,247 Content Per Day: 3.32 Reputation: 16,659 Days Won: 30 Joined: 08/14/2012 Status: Offline Share Posted April 9 On 3/31/2024 at 8:07 AM, Figure of eighty said: Aside from losing my job, losing daycare,being robbed,mental health health failing, behind on bills, tax refund delayed, there was a fire situation at my apt. I wanted to go to church today but couldnt.. I need so much help and I feel God is not doing anything. I'm losing faith in him and am ready to just turn away and live my own life if I don't get help soon. Im not asking for riches qnd fortune I just need help. Have you read the book of Job lately?? I have lived in his shoes and in the book. Perhaps it was pure stubbornness coupled with God's grace that enabled me to hang tough. It is really hard when we feel like God doesn't hear us or isn't there. Remember that feelings are unreliable and that satan fills our minds with lies to discourage us. You don't have to listen to his lies! Our God is faithful! Worship God for Who He is and for sending His Son to die for us. God does love you. He didn't promise that the Christian life would be easy or free of hardship. 1Pe 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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