What about the pimps that get on TBN and tell people, “send me $1000 and God is gonna heal your sick child.” They are the worst of the worst, and the sheeple scrape together every penny they have and watch their children/loved ones die.

Rick Godwin leased, or I should say “the church” leased two new Mercedes for the opening of the SUMMIT, but I don’t think he’s going to let any of the congregation drive them…..shucks!!

Anyway, if you go to the SUMMIT website, http://www.encfsa.com you’ll see NOTHING there about God either, just a lot of ways to give your hard earned money. This is a definite pimp in the making and quite a fast up-and-comer!!

I thought someone else would respond to you, but since they haven’t, and I have nothing to do at the moment, I guess the lot falls to me…(sigh…I don’t know why I even bother…)

Anonymous: “I believe if we as Christians spent as much time showing people Christ and edifying others…”

Reply: It amazes me how many define what it means to “show people Christ”. The reality of the situation is that the people who you wish to “show Christ” to are his enemies. That’s right, until we are regenerated and come to repentance, God is mad at us. It’s a little thing called his WRATH. Don’t believe it? Read these:

(OT: Deuteronomy 9:6-8, Deuteronomy 11:16-18, Job 42:6-8, Psalms 2. NT: Matthew 3:6-8, Luke 3:6-8, John 3:35-36, Romans 1:17-19, Romans 2:4-6)

Not exhaustive Anonymous, but sufficient enough to prove the point, don’t you think? Now, do me a favor and tell me how much you hear any pimp featured on this site preach a sound message from any of these texts above? Ok, newsflash. THEY DON’T. So my question to you is, how can we show sinners who Christ is without first showing them who they are—transgressors upon whom God’s wrath abides if they do not repent? Christ understood this concept, and it was the focus of His message (Matthew 4:16-18, Matthew 11:20-22, Matthew 12:40-42, Mark 1:14-16, Mark 2:17).

Repentance was also preached by Christ’s forerunner (Mark 1:3-5) and the apostles after his resurrection and ascension (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19, Acts 17:30).

Anonymous, if this is the message that CHRIST teaches, then how are we not showing people CHRIST if we direct them away from and warn them about people who DO NOT TEACH WHAT CHRIST TAUGHT, PREACHED AND MINISTERED? When you understand how much trouble you’re in with God, then you can appreciate what Christ came to do for us (Romans 16:24-26, 1 Corinthians 1:23-31, 1 Corinthians 15:56-58). One of the reasons most of us have problems enduring suffering and hardship when we’re saved is because we have a wrong view of how God relates to us and what Christ accomplished through His redemptive work. Having a proper understanding of our sinful state before Him, we then can rejoice in our salvation and recieve His chastening with joy (2 Corinthians 6:8-10, Hebrews 12:3-11 Revelation 3:18-20).

Here’s a sermon I’d suggest for you: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (Johnathan Edwards)
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/sermons.sinners.html

Anonymous: “…as we did condemning people with different beliefs…”

Reply: Hmmm….different beliefs? You think that we’re condemning people with different beliefs? You might want to take that up with Jesus Himself…

“Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:14-16)

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:18-19). Here’s a couple of other statements from the Master that you can take issue with (John 3:35-36, John 5:23-25, John 8:23-25). Let me know how that works out for you.

Anonymous: “…the unsaved may actually take time to listen to what we say.”

Reply: Yes, that’s right. How silly of us? Let’s try to earn the respect and credibility of the unsaved so that they can “take time” out of their busy schedules and listen to us. Because after all, we have to give them the gospel on THEIR terms, don’t we? We wouldn’t want to be intrusive or offensive (1 Peter 2:8) would we?

Suggested Reading:

http://www.apprising.org/archives/2005/09/was_jesus_seeke_1.html

http://www.letusreason.org/Current59.htm

Anonymous, I doubt you will even respond. However, if you choose to do so, you may not pass go, you may not collect 200 dollars, you may go straight to the bible bookstore near you, purchase one, and read it. Until then, you lose a turn…

Why would “the unsaved . . . take time to listen to what we say?”

The spiritually dead (i.e., the unsaved) are unable to comprehend divine truth (1 Corinthians 2:14), and to them it is “foolishness.”

Nevertheless, thank you for stopping by with your (I think) encouragement.

The Bible (heard of it??) is replete with condemnations of those who hold beliefs contrary to its revelation. In fact, how are you going to “show people Christ” unless you actually listen to what He said??

Jhn 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
Jhn 10:8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

Jhn 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jhn 8:21 Then said Jesus again unto them (those who had “different” beliefs), I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.
Jhn 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am [he], ye shall die in your sins.

Mat 23:33 [Ye] serpents, [ye] generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

(GV) See, Jesus was a pretty intolerant kinda fella. He didn’t worry as much about edifying those with “different beliefs” as you do. He warned them of their fate.

Also, the unsaved don’t take time to listen because we water down the Truth. You don’t tailor the Gospel to make it palatable to unbelievers. You don’t HAVE to, because only the Elect will ever respond to the Truth.

I’m wondering what Christ you’re planning on showing folks Who allows the promulgation of the doctrines of devils in the church?? Because the One recorded in Scripture commands that they be exposed as liars publicly, and commands us further to mark and avoid them, NOT edify them.

I met the Copelands when I was attending UT in Austin back in the 80’s and 90’s. There was a revival of sorts on campus in the late 80s, and some students started traveling to San Antonio to attend New Creations after the Copelands preached at some of our meetings and gospel concerts. Some students remained at their baptist churches, and some of us started attending Praise Tabernacle in Austin. We were also exposed to Portia Vaughan through Praise. Small world afterall.

I’ve never agreed with women pastors, but I’ve always liked Claudette. She amazingly struggled through cancer years ago and had a great testimony.

Thank you for your prayers. I actually found the current church I am visiting by going to the nine marks website and clicking on the church search tab. The church itself is a new OPC church plant so I would not have found it just last year. Talk about God’s providence…

And no, she is not a lawyer but majored in English which is just about the same thing-it’s all about the language–:-)

If your question is about workmen’s comp, Righter says that you only have the right to sue if you refuse the 66% under that insurance, if this is still the rate. This is because it is an insurance, at least in VA, that prevents an employee from suing an employer for work related injuries. However, if you can afford to forego
the weekly checks that are a small fraction of the original salary, you do have the right to sue. Once you accept 1 penny from wc-they have got you and although you can settle-it is significantly less than if you were to seek recourse outside of that system.

Righter fell 35-40 ft from a cherry picker in 1995 at a QVC warehouse in Suffolk, VA. If she had known then what she knows now–she would have never accepted the percentage or the settlement because she will be a chronic pain sufferer for the rest of her life…Because she could not work in the early years, she lived off the settlement and went to school for 7 years. But, the pain remained after the money was gone…

She will tell you that although it wasn’t sufficient, the Lord brought her through. She walked with a cane and went to therapy for 3 years and today, it is not obvious that an accident occured, except in her right arm, where her elbow was crushed and restructured.
At first, she couldn’t bend it (she’s right handed) and was very proctective of it and kept it close. Now it is barely visible unless someone is staring, real hard but it
will never bend all the way..

At first she was extremely angry and depressed because she broke her hip and couldn’t walk, but Christopher Reeves had an accident a few months after she did and that’s what really kept her afloat. He didn’t fall nowhere near as far as she did, but his injuries were much more severe. Thus, it aint how far you fall, it’s what you hit when you’re going down…

This is not to say that she felt that it was better him them her-she just took this a sign that she still had work to do and to be thankful…

By the way, Righter thinks that it is also important to note that most wc insurances do not pay for injuries to the neck and back because they say they can’t be medically proven–yeah right…

Righter’s back has hurt her every day since February 2, 1995 (worse when it rains) and wc never paid her one, copper cent for that part of the body and that is thing that has caused the most trouble-and this is why they refuse to pay for back injuries-there are usually long term…

Actually, it was this accident that made her want to be a lawyer so she majored in English. However, she discovered that it really wasn’t the “law” part that intrigued her, it was the linguistics that is used in courtrooms so she never made it to law school and continued to study English. Thus, she watches Law and Order every night and is satisfied! lol

Besides, she has always been a litte scared of that LSAT–:-)

In conclusion, Righter says you don’t want her opinion on suing-Christian or non, because insurance companies are out for profit and will deny claims as much as they can…

Seriously, I think Melanie is a bonafide lawyer but if Im wrong sis-please correct me

Hope this helps–:-)

So the red hats you saw are from the Shriners who own the actual building.

Superwoman by Alicia Keys, eh? So I’m guessing that none of the 348,324,823,098,459,085 gospel songs were better suited?

To God be the glory! May His truth continue to guide us and repel us from His imposters!

You said: “Despondent, there are some better biblical scholars on this site than me but I had to respond to the salvation issue…”

Quite frankly, I think you hold your own and did a fine job of responding to Despondent…Having been in a similar situation such as yours, I’d have to agree with the refusal to connect yourself with an assembly that seeks only to make merchandise of the body…I’ll continue to lift you up in prayer as you continue your journey.

Despondent,

Here’s a website to check out until you can get your hands on the book.

http://www.9marks.org/

Soli Deo Gloria,

R4C

(MN: Quite frankly, I think you are dead on right. )

As such, she wonders what Melvin’s liability clause is looking like…
–:-)

(MN: Thanks for speaking up Melanie. )