Posted on 01/10/2008 8:24:22 AM PST by Manfred the Wonder Dawg
January 10, 2008
ESV Acts 8:26 ¶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place.
I had a divine appointment to start off the day today. I got up early and went down to drink coffee and this lady walks through the lobby. I have seen her the past few days but had not spoke to her. I said hello to her and we begin to talk. She asked me what I was doing in Lima and I told her I was a pastor and I was teaching pastors. I told her I was Baptist. She then asked me what the difference between Catholic and Baptist was. I told her to get a cup of coffee and we would sit down and talk about it. Get this, she is from Chili. God has taken a man from Texas to Lima, Peru to run across a lady from Chili. She tells me that in her country they do not care about God. Her mother was Catholic and her daddy was a Theist. I took her straight to the law and showed her that she was a liar, thief, and she had committed idolatry. I took her before the judge of heaven and she was found guilty and deserved to go to hell. I then told her of Jesus for I could tell she was humble. She began to weep and said, “I am sorry that I am weeping.” I said, “You need to weep and cry out to God to save you.” I told her about the cross. I told her that not everyone goes to heaven. I told her of hell. I told her of heaven. I told her she could only go to heaven if she repented and believed in Christ. I then gave her this illustration. I told her if you take a fish out of the water and put him on a slab of gold, surround him with pretty flowers, and sing beautiful music to him that he would hate it. I asked her why the fish would hate it. She said because the fish only wants to be back in the water. I told her that if she could go to heaven with the heart that she has and walk on streets of gold, see beauty beyond description, and hear the music of angels that she would hate it and she would hate God. I then told her she needed a new heart and a new spirit. She then said, “I have never heard this before in my life (she is crying at this point).” She had to leave for work, but begged (genuinely) that I would meet with her tomorrow because she wanted to hear more on this matter. Her name is Claudia Venuzela. By the way, the conversation was so intense with the presence of God that neither one of us ever drank our coffee. She just left her cold coffee there on the table and said please come back and talk to me tomorrow. I went to my room and talked to God about her and I believe I will share John 3 tomorrow. I have her email address and if I do not see her I will be able to write her.
I have written extremely fast so I may have missed some things, but I am out of time.
Because of the truth: Pastor: J. Randall Easter II Timothy 2:19 "Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases."(Ps. 115:3) "He predestined us according to the good pleasure of His will."(Eph. 1:5) Those who have been saved have been saved for His glory and they are being made holy for this is the will of God. Are you being made holy? Spurgeon says, "If your religion does not make you holy it will damn you to hell."
Who is Randall Easter?
Admin Moderator, this is a posting from the same source that caused a thread to be deleted yesterday.
Randall Easter is a friend who is a preacher of the Word of God, on a short mission trip to other pastors in Lima, Peru.
Such edifying feedback. Please examine your motives and your language.
The truth is always edifying. Even the sad truth about Easter, which is that he is a lying dirtbag.
Please examine your motives and your language.
Easter needs to examine his motives for telling lies and slandering other Christians.
My language is direct and accurate, whereas Easter's is false and dissimulating.
Either you cannot detect sarcasm or you are consumed with only making your point.
Name calling does not persuade people.
Is it a tenant of your world view that everyone must esteem your religion, and those who do not are dirtbags or worse?
Well you do know that anyone who tells unwelcome truth about Roman Catholicism or Mormonism is a lying, bashing hater, right?
Individuals of Easter's low caliber do not put me in a laughing mood.
Name calling does not persuade people.
My goal is not to persuade people, but to alert them.
Is it a tenant of your world view that everyone must esteem your religion, and those who do not are dirtbags or worse?
No, it is a tenet of mine that people who tell scurrilous lies about other people out of sheer malice are dirtbags. And Easter is just such a dirtbag.
There are plenty of people who don't agree with me in religious matters, but not all of them choose to make up lies the way Easter does.
I see - now you can assess the motives of people that you’ve never met, allowing you to judge them. How quaint.
If a person's job is nominally that of a pastor, yet they demonstrably tell lies and slander other people, then it is clear that they have low motives.
Who slanders people with a good motive?
Why would a professed Christian tell lies about the history of other Christians? What possible good motive could explain such vile behavior?
Con carne or con queso?
You perceive and allege slander without showing that it was, then go a tear and pose as a victim, seeking protection of the moderator. A man of God will tell Truth from Scripture without regard to the offense taken by man. Many religions and religious practices - protestant included - need to repent.
Somebody need to share John 6 with Mr. Easter.
LOL! I’ll ask him next time I think of it. :-)
>>A man of God will tell Truth from Scripture without regard to the offense taken by man<<
Likewise, one who objects to the comment should be able to make a case for their faith, as Scripture commands us.
Many can’t. They just argue what they feel, or what they’ve been taught by RCC tradition. However, scripture alone is the basis for all debate, and the foundation of all truth.
Not much of a man to cause a woman to weep. There are better ways. In John 8:3-10, did Jesus cause the woman who was about to be stoned to death to weep? No.
I agree with you. Sometimes get weary with the programmed responses from some who apparently have been well prepared and inoculated from the Truth by their religion.
The man did not cause the lady to weep - her conviction over her sin did that. As Peter was broken over his sin (Matt 26:69 - 75) and wept, so did this woman. All who love the Lord should be willing to pray for her to be saved.
Bill Clinton is a man who makes women weep, and he’s not much of a man :-)
You know as well as I do that that slander was demonstrated by me at great length, point by point, on yesterday's thread.
That thread is now gone and deleted by the moderator.
On the yesterday's thread, posted by you, Randall Easter made all kinds of slanderous allegations: that Catholics murdered hundreds of thousands of indigenous Peruvians in cold blood, that Catholic priests in Peru tortured and murdered men women and children, that Catholic churches and friaries in Peru conceal mass graves of murdered victims, along with other lies.
A man of God will tell Truth from Scripture without regard to the offense taken by man.
None of these lies about the history of Peru are found in Scripture - they are lies invented by Randall Easter.
Using the Scriptures as a shield for Easter's scurrilous lies is a new low - the Word of God is not a plaything.Many religions and religious practices - protestant included - need to repent.
Randall Easter needs to repent of being a liar and a slanderer.
Actually, Scripture teaches that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth (1Tim 3:15).
And it makes no sense to argue that the lies Randall Easter told about the history of Peru can only be debated from Scripture. Scripture is not a sourcebook for the history of colonial Peru.
It’s not mentioned that she wept, it’s also not mentioned that she didn’t. Whether or not she cried was irrelevant to the context of the account.
Puritan preacher Johnathan Edwards saw first-hand revival after preaching his “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” sermon. People were wailing uncontrolably, having been convicted by the Holy Spirit that they were sinners destined for hell.
The reality of one’s destity can be quite overwhelming. Conviction is a VERY powerful thing. Peter went out and “wept bitterly” when he denied the Lord. David wept and fasted for days when under the conviction of his adultery. All of Israel mourned and lamented when they were brought back from exile.
He didn’t make her cry, the holy spirit - convicting her of her sin - did.
Whether one is Catholic or Baptist or Episcopal or Hindu or Buddhist, the truth of the history of colonial Peru remains the same.
We are not arguing doctrinal matters: we are arguing whether or not it is right for Randall Easter to commit the sin of slander.
If you want to argue that slander is morally acceptable, then I am perfectly prepared to argue from Scripture than slander is immoral.
It is great that we live in a country that allows you and I (and Randall) to have opinions and speak them.
Neither Randall or I maintained his report was in the Bible - it is what he saw and reported.
Scripture tells us:
Luke 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
John 15:18 - 19 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
1 John 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
Oh, one other thing that I meant to mention earlier - please quit hijacking this thread with comments about another thread. Please stay focused on this one or take your comments to the other one.
Oh wait - you had that one dropped down the memory hole.
Focus, please.
Meaning that it’s the church’s responsibility to uphold the truth and defend it against heresies (like praying to dead people, transubstantiation, maryolatry, popery, etc).
God’s word is the authority. Not men. This is why we’re exhorted to test everything against the truth of scripture to see if it’s valid.
>>And it makes no sense to argue that the lies Randall Easter told about the history of Peru can only be debated from Scripture. Scripture is not a sourcebook for the history of colonial Peru.<<
What does being prepared with Scripture to give a defense of your faith have to do with Peru? I’m not following you here?
And the necessary downside of that freedom is that Randall Easter is free to tell lies and you are free to repeat those lies.
Neither Randall or I maintained his report was in the Bible - it is what he saw and reported.
Randall Easter did not see these things, since they do not exist except as figments of his fevered imagination.
For example, he "reported" that the Inquisition was present in Peru in the 15th century when it is a matter of historical fact that no Westerner had yet set foot in Peru until decades after the end of the 15th century.
And the video link you posted to support the lies he told in his tale completely refute the lies he told in his tale in every detail.
It is obvious that Easter basically just made a bunch of stuff up.
Having gone up against Romanists on FR many a time, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I can’t count how many times I’d get quotes from the Catechism or by dead popes as a response, as opposed to quotes directly from God’s word.
We can still see the repurcussions from when the RCC removed scripture from the cathedrals. Keeping people ignorant to scripture is key to maintaining power over them and keeping the coffers full.
But, it’s not just the RCC, lest they think I’m picking on them. Many contemporary evangelical churches have abandoned the authority of scripture, as well as Methodists, Episcopals, Lutherans, Baptists, etc...it’s across the board. “Itching ears” are everywhere, seeking a glorified motivational speaker to tickle them.
Hardly. I spent time and effort refuting your lies on that thread.
The Admin Moderator can confirm that I sent no abuse reports on that thread.
Focus, please.
The question at hand is whether Randall Easter is a good pastor and a reliable narrator or whether he is aslanderer and a liar.
And the answer, as proven yesterday, is that he is a slanderer and a liar.
By ambushing women in hotel lobbies and making them cry, Randall Easter is attempting to convince whoever paid for his trip that they are getting their money’s worth
WFH?
I thought you cut this loon off yesterday???
Lurking’
Again - he did not ambush her nor make her cry. You are making assumptions not supported by the message.
Since this is a direct repetition of the slander of the Catholic Church he posted yesterday shoud it not be in the Religion Forum??
Lurking’
I agree - far too many churches of all stripes have departed from the narrow way. Hence my reminder to myself via my tag line.
The Church's responsibility is to uphold the reality of the Eucharist as opposed to succumbing to the heresy of those who say that the Lord was lying when He said of the Eucharist: "This is my body." (Mt 26:26)and "My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." (Jn 6:55)
The Church's responsibility is to uphold the truth of the communion of the saints as opposed to succumbing to the heresy of those who say that the Lord was lying when He said of the saints that: "Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." (Jn 11:26)
The Church's responsibility is to uphold the truth of the Petrine office as opposed to succumbing to the heresy of those who say that the Lord was lying when He said: "You are rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church." (Mt 16:18).
The Church's responsibility is to uphold the truth of Mary's dignity as mother of the Lord as opposed to succumbing to the heresy of those who say that the Lord was lying when He said through His angel: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" and "You have found favor with God." (Lk 1:28, 30).
God’s word is the authority. Not men. This is why we’re exhorted to test everything against the truth of scripture to see if it’s valid.
Then why did God tell us that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth if He meant that our own personal idiosyncratic opinions about Scripture are really the pillar and ground of truth?
More likely He tells us that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth because he gave the Church the authority to interpret the Scriptures (Mt. 18:18).
What does being prepared with Scripture to give a defense of your faith have to do with Peru? I’m not following you here?
I was pointing out that Randall Easter is a manifest liar as evidenced by yesterday's thread in which an article of his containing various fabricated claims about the history of colonial Peru was posted by the same poster who posted this thread.
Yes he did; a man does not cause a woman to weep. Period. And yes, BJ Clinton isn't much of a man.
I guess we conclude differently, having read the same message. Thanks for stopping in and posting.
He did not know her. She was being pleasant and polite, and he ambushed her. He made her cry. He is just trying to justify himself to whoever bankrolled this trip to harass and annoy defenseless Peruvians. With little stories like this, I am sure they feel they are getting their money’s worth.
“I guess we conclude differently...”
You conclude whatever is expedient to your point to conclude.
Lurking’
The idol of “self” is the root for such falling away. Seeking a god that suits ones own feelings or tradition, and one that will fit nicely in a box.
The Galatian and Corinthian churches were exhorted by Paul for straying from the truth. I wonder how they responded to the conviction?
That's an ironic comment.
I quoted you Scripture, and your silence so far is deafening.
We can still see the repurcussions from when the RCC removed scripture from the cathedrals.
I see that Randall Easter is not alone in manufacturing slander and pretending it is historical fact.
1) Not in a physical, but in a spiritual sense. They are the “real” food and drink as opposed to the manna and water from the rock, or flesh and blood of Passover, or meat offerings under OT law (in making a comparison that the Pharisees would understand). The old rituals were fulfilled in Christ. He is the “real” flesh and blood - the real reason FOR the flesh and blood sacrifice.
2) a) Shall never die, in that we have eternal life through faith in Christ. We have one intercessor, to God the father, one great High Priest and that is God the son - Christ Jesus.
b) Communion of the saints - living saints here on earth - meaning every Christian who is saved by grace through faith and not by works - is a saint (Romans 15, I Cor 1, etc) - not a man canonized by other men. We pray for one another, we fellowship with one another. The dead in Christ are in heaven praising God and giving him glory, not interceeding for us - they don’t have the power to, nor is it the focus of heaven (as shown over again in Revelation)
3) Christ is the rock upon which the church is built, not Peter who had no preeminence over the other apostles. “The Rock” meaning the firmament of his confession of belief, which is immovable. Christ is the rock of ages, he is the rock “that is higher than I”, and upon his rock is the truth - not the popes.
4) Mary was mother of the Lord in a physical sense, and no other. She was a vessel, just as we are vessels of the Holy Spirit. She was no more favored than any other Christian who is filled with the grace of God. Mary needed a savior just as much as anyone else does (Luke 1:47 - by her own confession). If she didn’t, then that means she was sinless. If she was sinless, then we don’t need Christ. She had favor with God that was no different than David’s, Moses’, Esther’s or any other person from Scripture who was chosen to carry out a specific task. God chooses people at his own pleasure to conduct his will. It means no inherent value in the person, and they should not be venerated as such.
To put Mary any higher than that is to make an idol of her.
>>Then why did God tell us that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth if He meant that our own personal idiosyncratic opinions about Scripture are really the pillar and ground of truth?<<
The truth is more important than the physical building, or the physical person preaching it. Our own personal opinions are meaningless unless they correlate with what God’s word says.
Mt 18:18 in context refers to church discipline, not interpretation, so I don’t understand what your reference to it means.
That isn't the sense of the passage. The sense of the passage is that eating His flesh is a physical act with spiritual consequences.
Many of His followers left him at that moment because He would not revise His teaching and say that he meant it solely in a spiritual sense, as Scripture attests.
Shall never die, in that we have eternal life through faith in Christ.
Correct. The saints are not dead. they are alive forever, as Jesus promised.
Communion of the saints - living saints here on earth
No, the communion of saints means the saints living here on earth and elsewhere. The saints cannot be in communion if they are divided from one another and unable to communicate with one another.
not a man canonized by other men
Canonization does not "make" saints. God makes saints. Canonization is merely the Church's recognition of that fact.
The dead in Christ are in heaven praising God and giving him glory, not interceeding for us - they don’t have the power to, nor is it the focus of heaven (as shown over again in Revelation)
As Revelation actually states (Rev 5:8, 8:3) the elders and the angels in heaven present God with the prayers of the saints. According to Revelation, they personally deliver the prayers of the saints to the Lamb.
This is not described as interfering with their praise of the Lamb.
Christ is the rock upon which the church is built, not Peter who had no preeminence over the other apostles.
Except that in Scripture he is listed first when the Apostles are mentioned by name, he addresses Jesus on their behalf, Jesus singles him out for specific undertakings, Jesus personally charges him with feeding his flock, Jesus tells him that the Father has directly revealed the central truth of the Christian faith to him, and that he was personally vouchsafed the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.
That's rather preeminent.
And Christ clearly describes Peter as a rock and "upon this rock I will build my Church."
There is no reference is Scripture to a confession of belief being a "firmament" or "rock." The confessor of that belief is specifically renamed by Jesus from Simon Bar Jonah to Peter (Kephas in Aramaic) or Simon Peter as he is thereafter known -i.e. "The Rock" or "Simon The Rock."
Mary was mother of the Lord in a physical sense, and no other.
Would you speak that disrespectfully of your own mother? "My mother is my mother in a physical sense and no other." No, she was Jesus' mother not merely biologically - she loved Him dearly, no matter how coldly you describe their relationship. Jesus' last mortal act was to see to it that His mother was well cared for before He commended his spirit.
She was no more favored than any other Christian who is filled with the grace of God.
Every Christian was given the honor of giving birth to the Savior of the whole universe? Every Christian was given the honor of Almighty God Himself being their little son?
Mary needed a savior just as much as anyone else does
Of course she did. Who has ever said that Mary did not need a Savior?
If she was sinless, then we don’t need Christ.
Hardly - her sinlessness was the direct work of Christ and could not have happened without his grace.
Without the same grace that preserved her sinless, we would all die in our sins without hope.
She had favor with God that was no different than David’s, Moses’, Esther’s or any other person from Scripture who was chosen to carry out a specific task.
Bringing the Savior of the universe into the world is just a "task"? It's the most important thing any mere human being has ever done.
It means no inherent value in the person, and they should not be venerated as such.
A person's value derives from the value God places upon them. And God placed great value upon Mary.
To put Mary any higher than that is to make an idol of her.
By this logic, one should treat one's own mother exactly the same as one treats the lady who sells one coffee in the morning or who sits in next the cubicle. Anything else would amount to idolatry of one's own mother by placing her on a higher level than other people.
The truth is more important than the physical building, or the physical person preaching it.
We are not discussing the Church's physical plant or its current personnel. We are discussing the Church as Christ's Body, His bride founded on Peter and suffused with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our own personal opinions are meaningless unless they correlate with what God’s word says.
Our own personal opinions will always correlate with what God's Word says if we interpret God's Word idiosyncratically enough to make it fit our opinion. I.e., private judgment.
Thus Christ left us a Church as a pillar and ground of truth to authoritatively teach us from the Scriptures through the grace of Holy Spirit given on Pentecost.
The same Church whose members God used to author the New Testament in the first place.
Mt 18:18 in context refers to church discipline, not interpretation, so I don’t understand what your reference to it means.
"Binding" and "loosing" are generic terms used by Jews in the first century to describe interpretation of the Torah. In historical context it means authentic doctrine as well as authoritative discipline.
You are entitled to your conclusions, but not your condenscension, especially from one only hear a couple of years. I don't just "stop in."
Point out condescending comments on this post by me - perhaps there are some, but accusations without substance are suspect.
Again - please keep comments in this thread focused on the subject. Doctrinal disputes are valuable (and I agree with ItsOurTimeNow’s perspective), but this is not the place.
Perhaps we should start a Reformed v RCC discussion of doctrine in the Religion forum?
>>Perhaps we should start a Reformed v RCC discussion of doctrine in the Religion forum?<<
lol...yeah, cuz THAT’S never been done before! :-)
wideawake - I don’t doubt your passion for the Lord, it’s the Catholic traditions that I can’t abide. From where I sit, it seeks to add something to Christ. Christ plus prayers to saints, Christ plus protection by Mary, Christ plus a priest, etc.
To me, Christ is sufficient for all things, and we need nothing else.
And that’s the last I’ll say on this thread.
lol...yeah, cuz THAT’S never been done before! :-)
LOL! A long time ago, in a thread far, far away ... The Neverending Story. Originally started in March of 2001 on the topic of Baptists and Catholics breaking off talks, it evolved into the discussion at the link above. You may still find some nuggets of good debate at the link, but I could not find a link back to the original discussion.
Here’s an update from the “weeping lady”:
I wrote about a lady named Claudia from Chile that I got to share with here at the motel and I just received a response from her. The first part is her letter in Spanish and the second part is the translation of the letter. God is a great God.
Estimado Randall,
Te escribo en español pero trata de conseguir un traductor ok?
No te he podido responder querido Pastor por falta de tiempo como te lo comente cuando nos conocimos pero poco a poco he conversado con Dios y voy con mi biblia para todos lados siempre leo tus palabras la verdad es que tienes el don innato y Dios te lo regalo.
Espero que tu familia este muy muy bien y te vuenlvo a decir gracias mil veces le digo a Dios por haberlos conocido no dejes de mandarme tus correos.
AMEN .
Esteemed Randall
I am writing in Spanish but I will try to find a translator, OK.
I have not been able to reply dear pastor because of the lack of time; like I said when we got acquainted, but little by little I have conversed with God. I am going with my bible everywhere reading all the time. Your words are true because you have this gift that God has given you.
I hope that your family is very very well and I want to say again a thousand times the thanks I give to God for having known all of you. Please do not neglect to send me your emails.
Claudia Valenzuela
Because of the truth:
Pastor: J. Randall Easter
II Timothy 2:19
“Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases.”(Ps. 115:3) “He predestined us according to the good pleasure of His will.”(Eph. 1:5) Those who have been saved have been saved for His glory and they are being made holy for this is the will of God. Are you being made holy? Spurgeon says, “If your religion does not make you holy it will damn you to hell.”
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