God, YES, but church, NO!

[cag7800]

I for one DO watch Jimmy Swaggart and I believe we have ALL fell short of the glory of God.He repented twice,to the public and more times to God.he doesn't hide from what he did,he search for forgiveness and after much prayer he was able to face what he did.He talks about his failures and what lead to them.He has a very powerful message and I will contuine to listen to his teachings. also his son Donnie preaches more than he does now.Jimmy is about 72 now and Donnie is taking over the ministry.

I'm not trying to start a debate..just stating some facts.

[Floatingaxe]

I used to pay attention to Swaggart until his moral failure. He apparently repented, yes, but he refused to abide by the restoration process in place over him and went off on his own. That speaks to me of pride with a capital P! When a leader falls, he needs to be humble and follow the procedure in place over him by his authorities. Since then I just cannot watch him, and I remember once watching his son and I was appalled at his brazenness at casting judgment upon various groups of Christians. I won't watch them ever again. Seems like a club to me.

[Guest man]

They need to find a church to attend. Most people fall away in time without the fellowship and teaching. Sound teaching. Without it they will also fall into false teaching and are wide open for a cult.

With the 20 some thousand denominations out there, which is the correct one? They all speak differently. Yes most preach Christ but they're all different. They all have their own little set of rules. Which is the one true church?

How does one know they are receiving sound teaching? Calling one's self a preacher doesn't make them a true man of God. How do we tell the difference between those who know and those who don't? Like you said, without sound teaching we run the risk of false teaching and becoming a cult.

The bible tells us we are to all speak the same thing, we are all to be of the same mind. Going to church does not accomplish this. If anything it divides us. Need proof...read some of these threads.

[Debbisu]

Hi Debbisu,

Acts Chapter 2 may be a good place of reference for you, particularly the latter part of the chapter - verses 42-47. The chapter takes a look at the early church.

Thanks "Tribulation" for reminding me of my favorite verses (Acts Chapter 2). Everytime when I read these verses I feel sorry I was born too late. I wish I were among them.

[Debbisu]

Hi Deb,

I can only share what I believe ..

"The Church" is the "Body of Christ" no matter what the name of it is or who the members are..

as long and they are indeed His...He knows His sheep....

a church can be one of the most fertile breeding grounds for disillusionment and anger and hate and fear and broken hearts and promises and dreams that is on this planet... in my opinion...

We have our ideas of how a "Christian" is supposed to behave and what they are supposed to do and if they don't do it then we automatically say..

Hummm. are they Christians? (guilty as charged..)

Thank you Tah for the enlightening word and thought. It helps a lot. I

[Debbisu]

[Debbisu]

You could invite them to go to church with you.

[Debbisu]

There are a few things I don't like about my church, including some of the people. I could change churches, but who's to say it will be better anywhere else? I also don't feel comfortable walking into a strange church alone. I've stayed home the last two Sundays and heard better sermons on TV.

So sorry to hear that. A break can do you good. One day someone will surely miss you at church.

[cag7800]

I used to pay attention to Swaggart until his moral failure. He apparently repented, yes, but he refused to abide by the restoration process in place over him and went off on his own. That speaks to me of pride with a capital P! When a leader falls, he needs to be humble and follow the procedure in place over him by his authorities. Since then I just cannot watch him, and I remember once watching his son and I was appalled at his brazenness at casting judgment upon various groups of Christians. I won't watch them ever again. Seems like a club to me.

He refused to abide it who? the AOG? they wanted the ministry he founded,why did they not sserve the same punishement on marvin gorman? because he wasn't bringing in the money that Jimmy Swaggart Mininisrties was bringing in.He repented to the one that mattered and that was God.Also he did humble himself,he went to go to there restoration process and they told him they were taking over.some restoration.AOG has went down it is no longer the largest penecostal movement.

[Floatingaxe]

Pastors need to come under authority as well when they serve a denomination. When they refuse, we are seeing a haughty, prideful spirit. A stiff neck. I would not sit under a pastor like that. He needed to be humble and he wasn't.

I do not believe for one minute it was about money. He committed a terrible sin, and shamed himself and many others. I am glad he repented, but restoration was not done.