Posted on 09/18/2023 1:21:26 AM PDT by spirited irish
Well Said. I whole hardy concur.
So we are back to unorganized religion, with everyone doing whatever they think and no structure to discipline and correct. In other words, liberal hell world.
I am not saying you're wrong in your diagnosis of the worldliness and greed of too many Christian ministers and priests. I'm just saying *unorganized* religion, where they all get to do that with no governing body able to put the smack down on them, is even worse.
I think the Quakers are on to something.
And that is exactly what the Christian churches have done. All of them.
They have gone so far as to adopt heretical theologies that are clearly prohibited by Scripture. Some have done so slowly, by the syncretism of features of ancient Baal/Astarte worship, and others are doing so quickly as result of hostile takeovers, as we have seen in the United Methodist Church's takeover by the LGBTQ movement.
Some of course are just lukewarm by nature...more like community service and social clubs generally fashioned after Jesus' easier teachings.
It should not be a sad thread because there have been many signs of encouragement.
My church voted 190 to five to disaffiliate from the Unitied Methodist Church. We are adapting to our new status, still maintaining three Sunday services, a pastor, and a youth pastor. Other UMC churches that did not disaffiliate have made some push back against the worldly ways of the UMC.
At Auburn University this past week, there was an old-fashioned revival meeting held in the basketball arena. The head football coach was there, out starting quarterback was there, and our head basketball coach was there. Bruce Pearl, the basketball coach, is Jewish by heritage but is a follower of Christ. After the service, over 100 students were baptized in the pond adjacent to the “Red Barn” meeting facility.
Where I live, Church attendance is SPECTACULAR.
Praise the Lord, and I am NOT a religious fanatic.
Thank-you. My church is small. At one time it had 400 worshippers, but they are gone and today we have between 40 and 80. Yet our small church preaches the Word and we are grateful.
All true. But thank the Lord that He has preserved some islands of Light in a great sea of darkness.
Thank-you. Throughout our land are great burned-over zones where the faithful must worship as you do.
See tag line please
—> I have witnessed churches prosecute people for “stealing” food from the poor box.I have witnessed ministers doing the most vile things to other human beings, getting wealthy, and living lives full of sin while taking money from those that can ill afford to support the depravity of organized religion.
All wrong.
But…
“You have to be pretty small to hide behind a hypocrite”
The “problem” with the modern Christian church is its tolerance of Gnostic thought and practices.
All because they claim they are Christian “in their heart”.
Taqiyya.
Take note, you have been conversing with SEVERAL Gnostics in this thread.
Congregants didn’t leave the church, the church left them.
Just want to share with you that for more than 22 years I’ve been researching the reappearance of elemental spirits and other evil spirits in the West and America. They first appeared in the heart of Christendom during the Renaissance. They brought with them the ancient evolutionary Mysteries, evolutionary Egyptian Hermeticism, Jewish evolutionary Kabala, Gnosticism (also evolutionary), Buddhism, evolution, reincarnation, and Karma.
All of this appealed greatly to certain powerful, influential Christians at the highest levels of church and society. At least one of them began practicing magic rituals that put him in touch with a spirit of light who transported him, whether in body or out, to another planet. From this man came the myth of extraterrestrials.
From then until today evil spirits have been teaching their doctrines, but disguised in terms of science, evolutionary philosophy, naturalism, materialism, mystical pantheism.
With respect to UFOs, I know from my research that they are elemental spirits. Some of them go by the names Azazel and one whose name I can’t recall right now, but both of them were leaders of the angels who left their first estate and came down into the world of man during the time of Noah.
One of these two spoke through a certain highly placed, globally influential mystic (now deceased) during the 80’s, saying that in time he would be speaking to all people around the world through telephones, TV sets, radio transmitters, and whatever such devices there were then.
He has not done so as yet, but with the advent of global internet, internet of smart devices, Artificial Intelligence, smart TVs, and so on, it might be that in the near future he will speak. Accompanying all of this is the great interest in UFOs.
Dr. Kurt Koch, author of ‘Occult ABCs” and many other such books (I own 6) was never fooled for one minute about UFOs. He was a Lutheran minister (now deceased) whose ministry was deliverance of people from the occult, by which he meant demons. During the long course of his ministry he delivered 10’s of thousands of people all over the world from demons. So he was not a man to be deceived by them. UFOs he said, are satan’s lead attack. They are preparing men for the one to come.
In the early days of the church, there was unity and agreement among apostles and bishops. The gospels testify of:
1- In the beginning there existed only 1 true church in terms of both a body of believers and as an organization.
2- Paul submitting to the authority/leaders/apostles in Jerusalem.
3- Paul rebuked a hypocritical Peter, who the Catholics view as the first Pope.
4- Councils w/in the early one true church addressed issues like 'what's required of the gentile believers?"
5- We see Paul identifying false teachers and preachers, and excommunicated them if you will.
Today, the church as an organization is fractured to high-heaven and believers are not in agreement. We hear how today all true believers are one in the Spirit but I can tell you, speaking to my Catholic, Orthodox, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Fundamentalist ...... friends - this is not true.
Today's body of Christ is fractured, with hundreds if not thousands of varied and opposing churches and doctrines. Division is the #1 problem I see with the church today.
Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church. It will be interesting to see how this promise plays out.
Ya .. that's a shame you have had that experience.
I admit it's hard to find the right place..
the Bible even tells us ... straight is the gate and narrow the way.... and few there be that find it.
All I can say , is keep your eyes open..
The truth is out there OOOWWWOOOEEEE (that's the x-file theme)
There is nothing like having a few friends that share your faith. In a building or not.
Who was that?
As an aside, though I keep an open mind on the issue of UFOs, I would add that everything we know so far lines up with the Biblical narrative (i.e. that so-called aliens are the spiritual beings of which you speak).
I would add that though division may be a big problem, deviation from the original Gospel is the biggest problem.
In many cases, the congregants led the ministers astray by demanding a more lukewarm Gospel be preached.
For example, when Charles Stanley started preaching in First Baptist of Atlanta, he was told by church leaders to soften his message (i.e., stop preaching the unvarnished Gospel) or hit the road. There was a vote which nearly tore the church in half.
Don't give up on Catholicism.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.