Posted on 05/02/2014 10:16:14 AM PDT by OneVike
Whenever I would grab a book to read and sit on the couch, and I could always count on my dog to come over, jump up and settle down next to me. Just about the time I kicked back to relax, she would lay her head on my lap and give me that look. Oh, how good she was at letting me know what she wanted!
Inevitably, this would lull her into a calm, relaxed state of mind until I thought she had fallen asleep. I would stop pampering her, and pick up my book to start reading again. That’s when she began pushing her head towards my hand in an attempt to take my mind off my reading. So, I would indulge her for a bit longer in the hope that she would settle down so I could read my book. Eventually I came to the conclusion that I would either have to give her what she desired, or else she would get down and go find someone else to scratch those itchy ears.
Now, this article is not really about dogs, and it is not about the dermatological problems with their ears. It is about the way humans, like dogs, are always looking for someone to satisfy their needs. The world is replete with motivational speakers, like Tony Robbins, who can convince others to go out and grasp the bull by the horns to accomplish things they themselves do not believe they can
(Excerpt) Read more at therelevantchristianmagazine.com ...
(Excerpt) Read more at therelevantchristianmagazine.com ...
Must be a long article if it doesn’t even scratch the subject matter until the third paragraph...
:-P
I go to a Southern Baptist church here in KY but in Seattle I went to a large non-denomination that, for one of it’s wednesday “small group” outings, went to a bourbon bar.
And the Sunday school lesson last week was that Christians should abstain from all alcohol use. I’ve studied the subject in depth and my wife was afraid I was going to cause a scene. But I didn’t, though I brought out a couple of important points without getting into the weeds.
It’s interesting how you can inject false doctrine on people that really don’t understand scripture and see their pastor as some sort of “super” Christian and therefore believe everything he says without questioning his doctrine.
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These false teachers count on the fact that 80% of Christians never read the Bible. So it’s real easy to lead them to hell.
The guy I bought my house from was a 20-something that became a pastor at a local church. They fired him after a year because he was bringing sound doctrine into it. This church had elderly members that had been faithful attendees their entire life but did not know the difference between the old and new testaments.
I’ve learned, after going to churches in one of the most unchurched parts of the country to then attending in the bible belt that there is a cultural difference I did not expect: People go to church in the bible belt becuase it is culturally what you do. People go to church in Seattle because they are Christians.
Obviously that is a generalization, but you get my drift.
IIRC, drstevej once said "There's a seeker born every minute", and it wasn't meant as a compliment regarding some evangelistic efforts.
I noticed the same thing. I lived in the South (Columbus Ga) for almost 8 years off and on after my military stint, and it seemed like everyone was a self proclaimed Christian.
Years later when I truly gave my life to Christ, I learned that the Bible belt has millions of said Christians who have a lot of false teachers scratching their itchy ears.
So yes, we are of the same mindset.
I would rather attend have a church with twenty parishioners who want to learn, than a mega-church full of people who have no clue which Testament the book Of Galatians is in.
I wrote some articles on the 7 churches of revelations once, and it is often mentioned that the most loyal Churchs were the two smallest.
Smyrna and Philadelphia are the only Churches that still have a remnant of Christians left, most likely due to their faithfulness to the Gospel. And although both churches were poor, weak, and suffering from the Jewish persecution, they were full of life and vigor.
One need look no further than entire denominations that call God a liar and say there’s nothing wrong with abortion or homosexuality, and one sees false teachers and itching ears. In essence, they’re being false prophets, and we know where they’ll be consigned in the hereafter according to Christ (Matthew 7:21-23).
The great apostasy/falling away must and will happen.
(And is happening)
United Methodist church article today, anyone?
Did you have a link?
Not totally unexpected when speaking of the Methodists. They have been sliding down the path of irrelevance in the truth for sometime.
A friend of mine calls them Catholic lite, but Even the Catholic Church has drawn a line in the sand at homosexuality, abortion, birth control, and a few other areas of muck the Methodists have been treading in lately.
OOPS, meant to thank you for the link.
The interesting thing is that when those dogs are having their itchy ears scratched, it lulls them to sleep. They go into a stupor.
And when you stop, they look for more.
The spiritual parallels are so obvious that they can’t be ignored.
Lots of so called Christians are being lulled into a spiritual stupor by having their itching ears scratched at the cost of their souls.
Ultimately we have to reason through everything that we’re told. The bible does make sense, and so does the Holy Spirit. It’s the premises, not the methods of reasoning, that differ between the Spirit and the world. We don’t want to believe that God will love us and will continue to try to infuse us with His spirit, even when we’re so doggone busy bucking Him. Once we’ve thoroughly believed that He will, then everything revolutionizes.
Great point. Thanks.
Yes, it all comes back to having faith in what he tells us through His word.
Do we have much faith, or a little faith.
Our blessings heavily depend upon the amount of faith in Him we have.
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; and of course the obligatory religious critics to set us all straight ...
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