Understanding of the times…
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. ~ Isaiah 58:12
This week I found myself between Isaiah and Jeremiah on ground they knew very well. Its also ground that the German Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943 for daring to stand on. This week almost every Christian eye is on the Asbury “Revival” in Kentucky for good reason. Something is definitely going on there that is worth paying attention to. That’s where your work, my work, and our work comes in…with a heaping dose of the Intuition of Issachar.
Thus says the Lord, “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears; For your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord, “And they will return from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future,” declares the Lord, “And your children will return to their own territory.” ~ Jeremiah 31:16,17
Because my dear brothers and sisters, as I said to my pastor this week, “Who can tell rainbows from hell, or Angels from Devils anyway?” John Leake has both an interesting and alarming take on what has blinded us. Raise your hand if you recognize the stupor around you. Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than wickedness. Evil can be protested against, exposed, and, if necessary, it can be prevented by force. Evil always harbors the germ of self-destruction by inducing at least some uneasiness in people. We are defenseless against stupidity. Nothing can be done to oppose it, neither with protests nor with violence. Reasons cannot prevail. Facts that contradict one’s prejudice simply don’t need to be believed, and when they are inescapable, they can simply be brushed aside as meaningless, isolated cases. ~ John Leake, “On Stupidity”
The other factor worth noting, besides the 1 Chronicles 12 Sons of Issachar read in this morning’s devotional, is the view from the 1st Century Disciples’ eyes our Orange Strong Bible Study is appreciating up through chapter 19 of Acts this week. The Acts church was “of one accord.” We, my brothers and sisters, as the German church before us, are not. VERY far from it. So while I pray the Asbury Revival is of God, through God, and for the glory of His kingdom, I caution us all to view it through a discerning lens. Remember: Fifth generation warfare has been described by Daniel Abbot as a war of “information and perception”
So, its healthy and wise to ask ourselves, “Was the Asbury event spontaneous or planned?” I was sent this very credible report that suggests the latter. “Fake Asbury Revival” which I forwarded to CLOTH brothers and sisters with my opinion that we are witnessing a Social Justice inspired event. I did have a couple of folks respond asking how I could be so sure. One friend sent this report from her “Facebook friends”. I changed the names: Chip, I was little confused about one of the posts about the Asbury revival. Maybe I misunderstood. Everything I’ve read has been positive about it. This is from a post on Facebook of a friend.
Tom and I went to the Asbury Revival in Wilmore, Kentucky last weekend. Over 20,000 people descended upon the university while we were there. They had to open up satellite locations around the campus and an area church because of the amount of people. Video screens were placed outside on the university lawn where we worshiped, prayed and entered into what God was doing inside Hughes. I even took my coat, socks and shoes off and worshiped danced on the lawn in the 40 degree weather. I didn’t care how cold it was or about getting my feet dirty. During times of repentance, people were on their knees in the muddy ground. No one seemed to care. We just wanted more of JESUS. The interaction with fellow believers was just incredible! There was such peace, honor and respect for one another. People were loving and patient with one another. We were so blessed to meet Chris and Anna Beach and Erica Cook and share our stories and pray together. The Salvation Army handed out free food, water and hot coffee. What a blessing!
Someone captured this picture of us in Hughes Memorial Auditorium. The presence of God was thick, weighty, and tangible. We waited in line to get into Hughes for about 6 1/2 hours. Some waited in line for 8, 9, 10 hours to get into Hughes. When we finally got inside, it was as if time stood still. Tom and I were so caught up in His presence. People came in from all over the world. As a matter of fact, most people who came there were from outside of the area. It was SO amazing, incredible and powerful to experience the corporate tangible presence of God! A pastor and his wife from Chile’ sold their car so they could come to the revival. After giving their testimony, the entire place broke out in corporate prayer for Latin America to receive revival fire. We heard many testimonies from young people. There was such vulnerability of public confessions, especially of porn addiction and sexual sin. Souls were flooding the altar in repentance and receiving salvation, healing and deliverance. People reported of physical healings in their bodies. I had been in the Toronto Blessing as well as the Lakeland Revival. Experiencing the purity, simplicity, holiness, reverential fear of the Lord and power of the Holy Spirit in the Asbury outpouring was reminiscent of the Catholic charismatic renewal in which I got saved in. The hunger for God was evident. People would line up and share a single verse from the Bible. After reading the verse, the facilitator on the microphone would say, “This the Word of God” and everyone would respond back, “We Believe It”. Simple yet profound messages were preached by the faculty. There was a commissioning to all of us to go out from Asbury, take this revival fire and spread to all the world. It is hard to describe seeing and experiencing the Holy Spirit being poured out! Tom and I were completely wreaked by God and in tears so much of the weekend! God is pouring out His Spirit in these last days for sure!! Our deep cry and prayer before the Lord is “Pour out Your Spirit upon the whole earth Lord Jesus! Come Lord Jesus Come!! We cry, “MORE LORD..MORE!!”😭🔥😭🔥😭🔥😭
#asburyrevival2023 #revival #outpouring #HolySpirit #Jesus
Now, to be clear, I hope and pray we are witnessing a true manifestation of the Holy Spirit in Kentucky. But, interestingly, in this same week another production that has captured the hearts and minds of Christians across the globe, including mine, the VERY popular series The Chosen came up. This was sent to me from a pastor, “This is DEEPER Than We Thought.” Which prompted this from another pastor whom I regard as a mentor in the Faith: “Whenever there is a move of God there is inevitably much carnal and demonic activity as well. We must never “throw out the baby with the bathwater.” Let the wheat and the tares grow together. God will sort it out. Don’t miss the move of the Holy Spirit by being distracted by other spirits.”
And still another pastor I spoke with this week, led me back to your work, my work, our work. He said, “I don’t know about down there. I know about here.” Which I have to say goes to the heart of understanding 5th Generation Warfare, and sage advice from “Doc” Chambers, “You have to control the controllables.” What do Asbury or The Chosen have to do with our work, and/or what we can control? Are Asbury and The Chosen a distraction (intended or otherwise) from our work?
Do you know where the term “dog king” originated? You may want to tune in since you, me, and our families are all being ruled by one in the present moment. “On the Front Line in Ohio”
Standupnsing 
It’s so important for those of us who sincerely want to see a move of God to understand that revivals are typically messy, and we must not discount the works of the Holy Spirit because there are other spirits at work. Paul reminds us that regardless of impure motives, the important thing is that the Gospel advances, (Philippians 1:18) Jesus admonished his disciples to allow others to continue to advance the Gospel. If they’re not against us, they are with us. (Mark 9:39) And we know that God works all things–even demonic things– together for the good to them who love Him and are called to His purpose. Simple theology: If its good, it’s God. (James 1:17). I don’t know if you can call it a revival yet, but it’s certainly an outpouring, and if people are repenting and coming to Jesus, it’s good; it’s God!
Great points Pastor…truth on every point. As Yogi once said, or could have said, “We’ll know when we know.” I think, more importantly, its time for the church to come out of it’s reactionary rut, and go on the offensive. “The degree to which this rule and authority of Christ operates is determined by how well the Ecclesia (church) understands and exercises it. He’s waiting for us to represent Him.” ~ Dutch Sheets….Too many of us are waiting for Him who is waiting on us! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5E46jKI684&t=5s
If The Chosen does not present The Biblical Jesus, then what Jesus are they presenting?
Many Christians think they can do “My will for God” rather than do exactly what the Bible says is God’s will. They think they can throw the name of “Jesus” over every violation of Scripture and claim “It’s covered by the blood.” But God does not cover what violates His Word. He wants us to repent of it. In the Old Testament he says, destroy it. He thus told Gideon to tear down his father’s/family’s traditions, represented as the alter to Baal. If Gideon did not do that and honor Ten Commandments 1&2, neither he nor Israel would have gone anywhere with God!
The history of the world from Genesis to Revelation is God overthrows the nations because of demonic influences that promote idol worship, including unBiblical ideas about Jesus!
Most Christians don’t recognize what the Bible calls idol worship. There’s a reason organizations have “secret” ceremonies. Because if they were public, many Bible-believing Christians would be able to alert people to stay away from them. Not knowing what goes on behind closed doors, we are left with Christ’s admonition, “By their fruits you shall know them.” Fruits are outcomes, not feelings. People tell me they pray to Catholic and Mormon idols “because they make them feel religious.” I advise, The Bible says we are to live by faith, which Romans 10:17 tells us only can come by responding to what’s in God’s Word, The Bible.
We understate the relevancy of The Old Testament when we realize it provides the processes of the principles that are in the New Testament. The entire Old Testament shows the results of the many processes that infiltrate God’s people to encourage them to participate in the rituals that God calls idol worship. God undermines nations that idol worship — whether we recognize it as such or not!
America, which started as a Christian nation, now suffers from all the curses in Deuteronomy28 and Leviticus 26, because the people called by God’s name, per 2Chron 7:14, fail to honor Ten Commandments 1&2, and shun everything that scribes the characteristics of the Biblical Trinity of 1) God-The-Father, 2) Jesus-God-The-Son, and 3) God-The-Holy Spirit to anything that is not a member of those Three-In-One!
Why does God say we perish because of a lack of His specific Biblical knowledge, if anything that says, “Lord, Lord,” truly is of Him, and honored, rather than cursed by Him?
There’s a big difference between “My will in the name of God,” and God’s Will as spelled out in the knowledge of His Scripture! May God give us the anointing He gave the Sons of Issachar, so we know the difference, because our nation’s future truly depends upon us living in the proverbial “straight and narrow” that God blesses, as opposed to meandering around in deception which God curses!
Pastor Earl, Hello. Cradle Catholic and I have no idea what a “catholic idol” is and certainly no knowledge of a Mormon idol. There is no tolerance in the Catholic Christian faith for idol worship. We have crosses and crucifixes as stark reminders that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, took on the sins of the world, including your sins and mine, to redeem us.
We also have statutes of saints. These statutes are “reminders” that we have great intercessors to go before the throne on our behalf. When we pray to Jesus for each other we, too, are intercessors. If a miniscule number of Catholic people are idolizing statues I assure you they are quite misguided.
“Feeling religious” is a subjective phrase that I couldn’t nor wouldn’t comment on unless I spoke to those people.
I hope I have presented a more clear picture for you on the mindset of the larger number of Catholic Christians around the world. No idol worshipping…..period.
Hi Peggy. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to dialogue with you. The Bible often says, “in God’s sight.” Go to Bible Hub.com and search for that phrase, or use this link: https://biblescan.com/search.php?q=in+God%27s+sight
It is not what you think is an idol that matters, nor what a particular church teaches that matters. It is what God calls an idol that matters. God has given us the Bible as the inerrant, immutable content of what He wants us to know about Himself and everything pertaining to life on earth and in eternity. The Bible stands immutably in contrast to what Catholic councils teach.
Read Exodus 20: 1- 17 & Deuteronomy 5: 1-21, which details God’s Ten Commandments. I’ve pasted them in below for you, should you take my word for what they say. You can’t read just ten verses for the Ten Commandments, because sometimes God gives some background info before He gives the commandment, and other times He gives the commandment, and then provides some additional info.
Take special notice of Commandment #2, which is in Exodus 20:4 4“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Deuteronomy 5:8 says, 8“‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
Violations of Ten Commandments 1&2 is ascribing the characteristics of the Biblical Trinity of 1) God-The-Father, 2) Jesus-God-The-Son, and 3) God-The-Holy Spirit to anything that is not a member of those Three-In-One! This includes Mary, Peter, any and all saints, Michael the arch angel, etc…. When we set them up, acknowledge them and pray to them, we are ascribing the characteristics of deity to them, such as them being omniscient to be able to hear multiple prayers from myriads of people at the same time.
1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus.” So when one looks to or relies upon a statuesque “icon” as a mediator to God, The God of The Bible considers that an insult to His character — an abomination.
God sent Christ to 1) be born of a virgin; 2) live a miraculous, sinless life, 3) die a substitutionary death; 4) be bodily resurrected, and 5) be seated at the right hand of God — from where He receives our prayers! No one, nor nothing else carries this designation — not Mary, Peter, St. Christopher, Michael — no one.
When we pray for others, we appeal to The God of The Bible’s one designated Mediator, Christ Jesus, to work on behalf of the person we are praying for. That is only designated way the Bible teaches as proper prayer.
If you read the verses in Exodus and Deuteronomy, after Ten Commandment 2, and notice that by violating it, we jeopardize the next generation of children. God curses what we do, and it spills over into the next generation, which suffers for our sin!
I appeal to you, Peggy and all who want to be right with God in a way that is patriotically American — in our nation founded in 1776 as a Christian nation, meaning one that is based on apply the Bible to every aspect of life, including civics — let’s do what the Bible says, for it is the only hope for our beloved USA.
Exodus 20
The Ten Commandments
1And God spoke all these words, saying,
2“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3“You shall have no other gods beforea me.
4“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing steadfast love to thousandsb of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
8“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
13“You shall not murder.c
14“You shall not commit adultery.
15“You shall not steal.
16“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Deuteronomy 5
The Ten Commandments
1And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. 2The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3Not with our fathers did the LORD make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. 4The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, 5while I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said:
6“‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
7“‘You shall have no other gods beforea me.
8“‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10but showing steadfast love to thousandsb of those who love me and keep my commandments.
11“‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
12“‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15You shall remember that you were a slavec in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
16“‘Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
17“‘You shall not murder.d
18“‘And you shall not commit adultery.
19“‘And you shall not steal.
20“‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
21“‘And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’
Pastor Earl, I forgot to agree with you on your statement “Fruits are outcomes, not feelings” There is no room in the Word of God for feelings. The outcomes are the results of the Fruits of a Holy Spirit filled soul. God bless
Hi Peggy. I should add to my previous reply that Hosea 4:6 says,
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
Note the reference to priests and children. Things are very desperate in our beloved USA. We started as a Christian nation by the founding generations of Americans, who from 1620 through 1776 and later, fled the government enforcement of Catholicism to come to America and live out what the Bible says. America was not founded upon the concept of “separation of church and state,” but on the application of the Bible to every aspect of life, including civics. Peggy my phone number is 528-396-9457. Feel free to call and discuss these issues.
I am preparing for our LCF Saturday and Sunday services, and it takes me about 24 hours to digest Scripture; allow the Holy Spirit to guide me to studying to get an understanding of it, and then to format a 3-4 point sermon. So I may not be able to respond to you until Monday. But this conversation is important, and I’d like to dialogue about it.
So well said Pastor Earl! Our CLOTH qualifier is “Unity in the essential, liberty in the unessential.” I believe the enemy’s fingerprints are all over the Antioch/Alexandria split that divides us to this day. That said, in August Pastor Banuchi and I attended a 4 day “Reclaim our Republic” conference under the banner, “Serve God, Defend Liberty”. There were 50 clergy and faith leaders from 17 states…close to 50% were Catholic (Coalition of Canceled Priests…including Fr. James Altman https://rumble.com/v2akpaw-february-22-2023-pastors-huddle-father-james-altman.html?mref=6zof&mc=dgip3&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=America%27s+Black+Robe+Regiment&ep=2
I asked everyone on our John 17:21 revival committee to read and meditate on Jude’s epistle as a way to sharpen our sense of discernment around any spirit that seeks to contravene, undermine, or otherwise threaten the Spirit of John 17:21 …as our forefathers told themselves, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
Fr. Altman is 100% right on the atrocity of closing down all the churches. The manufactured virus created unnecessary fear which sadly trickled into the hearts of the leaders of probably 99% of religious faiths all around the world. The work of Satan was alive and well…and still is. Hatred of other people who believe differently because of political, social, religious or any other difference is biblically wrong. Hate and disagree with ideas and practices but not the people. Fight for what is right but never give up on the commandment to love one another. Hatred in this country is at an all time high. People are running on a full tank of emotion. (With a dash of crazy) As Pastor Earl pointed out….feelings are not Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Kindness, gentleness etc are the characteristics of a Spirit-filled soul.
God bless
Since I did not see a place on today’s comments for me to reply to you I will do so here.
1) Your content, to me, is a bit of rambling that seems to imply that I do not know Our Bible. I am VERY aware of:
A…the 6 days of creation and the 7th day, the Sabbath
B…The Ten Commandments and all the implications that go beyond the explicit words
C…The TRINITY God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the 3rd person of the TRINITY being the Holy Spirit
2) You “seem” to have knowledge on what Catholic councils explicitly teach but I question your interpretation. I doubt that EVERYTHING taught by Catholic councils goes against the Bible 100%. In fact since I, in many forms, am a recipient of Catholic teaching I can emphatically state that you are wrong.
3) Catholics do NOT treat statues as our God or any other deity. They are reminders just like the cross albeit for different reasons; the Cross and Crucifix being the most important reminders by far.
4) We are all expected to pray together and for each other
5) “Many” people of many different denominations of Christianity ask their fellow Christians to pray for their particular concern. That makes us all intercessors.
6) Personally, I have seen prayers answered by God my Father, through Jesus my Savior by the power of the Holy Spirit (Trinity). Whether I had fellow Christians be intercessors in my quest or the saints in heaven be my intercessors or both seems unimportant.
7) Yes, I acknowledge that there are differences in “some” doctrines among the different branches of Christianity. The MOST IMPORTANT is that all Christians believe in the Trinity and that our redeemer is Jesus Christ who took on our sins, suffered, died and rose again.
8) Yes, the most important book on earth is the Bible which is Holy Spirit inspired. I am drawn to the Bible more and more with each passing year.
9) Last I checked, Christians make up the largest percent of world religions. Of those Christians Catholicism is the largest branch. Are you suggesting that the largest group of Christians in the world are ALL wrong in EVERTHING? (One can’t help but wonder if Catholicism is attacked to knock the top religion off the top. I get that as human nature but it reduces those who may think that way to politicians in an election)
10) I also acknowledge that every branch of Christians, including Catholics and not excluding others, have their issues. We were all born with free will and inherited original sin.
11) You and I both believe in the bible and the core beliefs of the Trinity and the part of each Person in our creation and redemption.
12) We Christians, whether we believe in every nugget of each branch, should NOT be looking to knock down or out a part of the Body of Christ…His Church. My issue with you is that you knock Catholic Christians as all wrong no matter what. If you think that then I urge you to consider that Catholics make up the larger percent of the top religion in the world.
13) 1st of the two Greatest Commandments: Love the Lord your God above all else. 2nd of the two greatest Commandments: Love your neighbor as YOURSELF. That word “yourself” carries a heavy heavy burden which most of us struggle with. That’s why we sin.
14) As long as We try to walk the path of holiness as laid out in Our Bible and allow God to be the Judge all that’s left to say is Praise God in everything.
I’m sure you have many people who would pray for a concern of yours but if you ever want to reach out to me as an extra intercessor before Jesus, feel free.
God bless you
Thank you for the dialogue, Peggy.
I commend you for your patriotism. I hope that your desire to achieve that motivates you to tolerate me, and answer the 2 questions below.
In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus said the way is narrow, so we should beware of claiming that the numbers of people doing something equates to right-standing with God.
Because the stakes are so high — in that if we do what the Bible says, our nation will get God’s blessings, and if we don’t do what the Bible says, our nation receives God’s curses explained in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26, from which we currently are suffering (as well as those listed in other Scriptures) please answer two questions.
What do you say about Ten Commandment #2 in the Bible verses I showed you?
Did the founding generations of Americans from 1620 – 1776, and beyond, come to our beloved USA for religious freedom?
BTW — I apologize for making a mistake in my phone number I gave you. It is 518-396-9457.
Pastor Earl, I seem to have been a little harsh in my wording to you in my previous comment. Please accept my apology.
Pastor Earl,
I can tolerate you but not necessarily what you are trying to do right now which I believe is to trap me and you won’t. I also believe you want to be right.
1) Not sure how you know I’m a patriot but thank you….I am
2) The Narrow gate is like the road less traveled versus the way of the world. Not knowing the statistics I would say the majority of the world’s total population (religious and non religious) is going through the wide gate aka the easy gate; the gate that feels good and soothes both their egos and the bodies. Yesterday we were talking statues and now you have switched gears. I believe I have sufficiently answered your question on the narrow gate.
2) I do not believe every single person who calls themselves a Christisn (in ALL Christian faiths) is walking the path to holiness via the narrow gate. Many do not know or have long forgotten how. They have lost their way and need prayer. Each of us can believe in the bible and certain doctrines that we were taught but we still sin. It our nature and the result of original sin. God knows that. God also “does not care about doctrine” which was my point yesterday. We can disagree about doctrine till pigs fly but doctrines are guidelines like gates around the danger zone based on scholarly interpretation. Not all are agreeable to everyone and that’s ok with me. You are the one seeming to be all stressed about this. We agree about the most important facts of Christianity.
3) I have not gone back to look at the passages you referenced yesterday but I believe in the 10Commandments of the OT AND The 2 Greatest Commandments of the NT. (#2 being “Love your neighbor as yourself” That word “yourself” is difficult for all of us. I’m not afraid to go back and look but rather choose not to because I’ll put money on the fact that our interpretations will be different and we are back to square one.
4) Is it at all possible for you to accept that I call myself a Christian who also sins, repents and is forgiven. Regardless of what branch of Christianity I belong to I believe in the Word of God and am trying daily to walk the path of holiness through the narrow gate regardless of your opinion.
5) I’m done with this thread. We have respectfully heard each other’s viewpoints, and can still agree on the CORE/FOUNDATION of Christianity.
6) I suspect you are judging me as not saved or all wrong etc. That’s fine. God’s opinion of me counts more and He’s the one who knows each person’s character, circumstances etc.
7) If you have studied theology please understand I have not so the playing field is not equal. Respect that. If you feel you need to pray for such a person/sinner as myself please do and I thank you in advance. I’m really a simple traditional woman who enjoys prayer, peace and harmony. I generally live an uncomplicated life although I have been known to complicate it.
8) If you want to love me, your neighbor, as yourself then stop harassing yourself. Lol lol
God Bless