Posted on 02/10/2013 4:45:41 PM PST by ReformationFan
I was at the grocery store the other day when I was unexpectedly confronted with an adult-oriented magazine located right next to the vitamin section. I immediately had to look away from the front cover, which featured a scantily clad, seductively posed, sex symbol. Yet it was only a few weeks ago that I read an article about how this same sex symbol loves to speak in tongues and has to restrain herself from outbursts in tongues while attending church services. What?
This is actually a perfect illustration of American charismatic Christianity, where you can say you love Jesus (like the rapper The Game claims to do) and still frequent strip clubs (as The Game still does), or where you can flow in the gifts of the Spirit and become a made-for-TV preaching sensation, only to announce that God told you that you married the wrong woman, leading to a quick divorce and remarriage.
Yes, this is the gospel of the 21st century, Spirit-filled church of America, where the cross is bypassed, denial of the flesh is scorned, purity is called legalism, and anything goes if it feels good.
It is the gospel of self, in which Jesus dies to make you into a bigger and better you, a gospel in which God is here to serve you and help you fulfill your dreams, and where the measure of all things is not how God feels about it but how you feel about it (or how it makes you feel).
(Excerpt) Read more at charismanews.com ...
Now I know some of you guys don't do Lent, and even the Lent that we Catholics follow is hardly serious enough compared to what the Ethiopians do
I believe we should (and I'm going to attempt for this Lent) to really step away from the luxuries of the modern world.
Hear me out -- food for us is so easy to get, we don't appreciate it enough and appreciate God's grace in giving it to us. the Ethiopian orthodox fast from dawn to dusk and even when they eat they only eat vegetables and bread, no eggs or fish, forget about meat.
Even if someone does it for a week, outside the Lenten period, i believe it will give us pause for prayer and thought.
who? Dolores Hart? Really? Crazy of her to say that — what were her exact words?
this means a return to orthodoxy. No more leniencies. When we give up something we must sincerely give up.
I don’t have tats, but your statement is too generic to be correct I’m sorry
Actually it looks like you, Theo, were the first to change the topic. Why?
non sequiter
but the same musical beat you sinned to cannot be made Holy
the same musical beat and tone and appearance that you would otherwise make devil horns to is not nor can be Holy
Trying to make something Holy and spiritual that does nothing but appeal to your flesh is not acting in a Biblical manner
and you can take the spiritual pulse of a congregation and predict their personal behaviors just by finding out what music they listen to
And it's not only the religious -- this is shown in careers where kids who can't fathom the concept of "resist for now so that you can get more tomorrow" don't succeed
I have one on each forearm
it isn’t the tattoo that makes a believer a sinner if that believer had it when he converted
but Leviticus forbids tattoos
If someone came to you, as an experienced Christian, and had crosses, Bible verses all over his arms, back, neck, whatever is the fad today, would you honestly think he was following the Bible knowing it is forbidden to do such things?
Our outward appearance should not be offensive or seductive to others, but humble and polite
As a Marine, I also think that a shirt that says I am a travel agent to Allah would be wrong as a Christian...even though I agree with the sentiment
As Calvin said, “The human heart is an idol factory”. Idolotry abounds today. However, we no long worship statues made of metal or wood. Today’s idolators conjure up a God in their imagination that believes and acts just like they do. They then bow down to this God they have created in their own image. Their mind can rationalize anything their flesh desires.
One only needs to observe Benny Hinn to understand the dangers of the charismatic.
It is in reference to the tongue-speaking "Evangelical" in question.
You are insane, if that’s your view of lively music.
You go ahead and sing your funeral march songs and I will continue to praise and worship God Almighty with song that raises the spirit and enriches the soul of the believer
I would rather follow David’s lead than yours
something about it gives her a sexual experience or something, I really didn’t stick around to watch the thing after figuring out what it was
Too many tabs open? There's a tattoo thread going and the comment may have been posted to the wrong thread.
It certainly wouldn't be the first time I've seen it happen.
Or done it myself.....
So, David listened to music that people sinned to??
Wow, what Bible did you read to get that out of?
I am glad you are revealing yourself, now people now what you really believe.
I have one on each forearm
Every one have sinned and came short of the glory of God and we are to keep our selves un spotted from the world, which means to not advertise our sins.
Although i do not like tattoos, i would gladly trade all of my other wrong doings for any little tattoo that i could and would keep covered up.
Music is not of the devil, as you apparently seem to think.
Music does not force people to sin as you apparently think.
David stripped to his loin cloth and danced in the street singing praises to God.
How is that you do not know that.
Praise and worship is not sin.
Alas, the Catholic Church is not the authoritarian body many around here might occasionally wish it were. Pope Paul VI issued “Humane Vitae,” and most North American and European bishops simply ignored him. So, rather than see all of Europe and North America go into formal schism, the Vatican launched a mission of re-evangelization. And, I would argue, it’s been rather successful.
The Pope has singular authority to discern a theological consensus, and thereby declare a doctrine infallible. That’s about it, and that’s a power used very rarely: a couple dozen times when an “ecumenical council” was held, and a handful of times without such a council.
The Pope has does not have disciplinary authority over the entire Catholic Church, merely the Roman Patriarchate, which the vast majority of Americans, Latin Americans and Western Europeans belong to. There are numerous other patriarchs, who have their own disciplinary authority, and who have established other disciplines with regards to fasts, married priests, etc.
The Pope has doctrinal authority over the entire Catholic Church, but each bishop is, himself, endowed with apostolic authority over his own diocese for the implementation of Catholic doctrine. Most dissident bishops are crafty enough to allow heresy to thrive in their diocese without themselves formally proclaiming that heresy. Unless a bishop willingly resigns, it is very difficult to depose him, and will probably retire before the process is finished. A very rare exception was the bishop of Toowomba, Australia, who was finallly deposed after five-year process.
One only needs to observe Benny Hinn to understand the dangers of the charismatic.
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You’re telling me! Once I met a charismatic Christian and her witness to Christ was so hideous that I became a Christian. It was just awful!!!!!!!!!/s...now I’m certain I met many other Christians in my prior 40+ years, but none bothered to evangelize me so God bless my charismatic friend. Some of the strongest talk the talk, walk the walk Christians I know are Charismatic. Is Benny Hinn the only phoney preacher on TV? I’ve seen many, so I’d bet many denominations are represented by them.
I attended the church that Benny Hinn took over after his father in law left (or was forced out due to an affair) for a period and in the beginning he was a great teacher. He had insights into the culture of the Israelites because of his ancestry that was incredible. I learned a lot from him but he soon began to drift into the faith healing and other charismatic evidences that any Spirit filled Christian became very uncomfortable with. I saw what was happening and it was not from the Holy Spirit.
There were many Spirit filled Christians in that church that left as he drifted deeper and deeper into the fakery that he has become. In the early days there were many who were brought to Christ through his ministry.
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