[Biblestudent]

Originally Posted by Bro. Parrish

George,
Rest assured my brother, anytime we get any slimy Bible correctors on this forum I will always put the gloves on and join you in the ring (we will tag team them together)... Brother Chette can be the referee...

I'll be scorekeeper!

[Winman]

Psalms 133:1... "A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"

Amen brother!

When I was a young man just out of High School I worked in a lumber yard, with 4 or 5 fellows the same age. Didn't pay much, but man we loved the hard physical work and being outdoors most of the day. It was a great job.

We had a new guy start and he couldn't get along with anybody. All he did was moan and groan and complain about everything all the time.

One day this fellow was complaining and I told him to shut-up. I know that's not very Christian, but this fellow could really get to you. Well.... this fellow came right at me and took a swing grazing my cheek, to which I reactively gave him a nice open hand slap in the face. But he came right back at me, swinging over and over again. He would telegraph his punches, so I easily bobbed each punch, and each time I gave him another slap in the face. The other guys were all there and were laughing loudly at this fellow who really didn't have much fighting skill. I bet he swung at me at least 10 times, missing, and receiving a slap from me each time.

But I tell ya, I was really impressed with this guy. He was losing badly, but there was no quit in him whatsoever. He just kept coming at me.

Finally, I put my hands up and said I didn't want to fight anymore. The other guys were still laughing at this fellow, but I told them to stop, cause this guy did not give up. He couldn't fight well, but he was tough and had lots of heart.

Anyway, that's an old geezer tale, I'm old enough I get to tell them. But from that moment on, this fellow and I became the best of friends. I would go over to his house, and got to know his whole family. And he stopped complaining after that.

Sometimes you have to fight with someone first to be friends.

[Renee]

Mind and Body,

I praise the Lord that "fued" (for lack of a better word) is over between you and George. Believe me his bark is worse then his bite. I have learned at his feet for 48 years, and he has been a blessing to me.

His purpose is to edify and bring people to the truth in/of God's Word. He may sound hard at times but it is only because we know that "all His works are done in truth".

We believe much in the doctrine of reconcilation and I am glad to see it practiced here.
Stephanos has been a blessing to me in much of his post now. I got hard on him a couple of times before. I pray the Lord will give us wisdom as we continue to post and that we post all truth in wisdom, giving honor to God our Father.

In Christ Love,
Renee

[Brother Tim]

Of George's "bark", from someone who knows him well :

Believe me his bark is worse then his bite.

Considered how loudly he can bark, that is still really not very comforting.

[Forrest]

Originally Posted by Winman

Amen brother!

When I was a young man just out of High School I worked in a lumber yard, with 4 or 5 fellows the same age. Didn't pay much, but man we loved the hard physical work and being outdoors most of the day. It was a great job.

We had a new guy start and he couldn't get along with anybody. All he did was moan and groan and complain about everything all the time.

One day this fellow was complaining and I told him to shut-up. I know that's not very Christian, but this fellow could really get to you. Well.... this fellow came right at me and took a swing grazing my cheek, to which I reactively gave him a nice open hand slap in the face. But he came right back at me, swinging over and over again. He would telegraph his punches, so I easily bobbed each punch, and each time I gave him another slap in the face. The other guys were all there and were laughing loudly at this fellow who really didn't have much fighting skill. I bet he swung at me at least 10 times, missing, and receiving a slap from me each time.

But I tell ya, I was really impressed with this guy. He was losing badly, but there was no quit in him whatsoever. He just kept coming at me.

Finally, I put my hands up and said I didn't want to fight anymore. The other guys were still laughing at this fellow, but I told them to stop, cause this guy did not give up. He couldn't fight well, but he was tough and had lots of heart.

Anyway, that's an old geezer tale, I'm old enough I get to tell them. But from that moment on, this fellow and I became the best of friends. I would go over to his house, and got to know his whole family. And he stopped complaining after that.

Sometimes you have to fight with someone first to be friends.

Great story, brother. And so true. I must confess though, I too laughed. It must have been a sight!

Originally Posted by Winman

Anyway, that's an old geezer tale, I'm old enough I get to tell them. But from that moment on, this fellow and I became the best of friends. I would go over to his house, and got to know his whole family. And he stopped complaining after that.

Sometimes you have to fight with someone first to be friends.

Hahaaaa,
You know that's a great truth, I can think of at least two of my best friends to this day and we started out in fights way back in grade school...

What does that say about human nature...

[chette777]

M&B,

did you get some good info from the verses we gave concerning who may or may not go to hell?

[Mind and Body]

Yo Brother Chette,

I sure did. The thing is, there certainly are Catholics whose hearts are truly with the Lord. But Christ calls them (His people) out of the Catholic Church. But, even if a person believes in their heart, if they deny Jesus before men, how can they be saved? Christ said that whoever would be ashamed of Him before men would He be ashamed of before His Father.

[tonybones2112]

Originally Posted by Mind and Body

Yo Brother Chette,

I sure did. The thing is, there certainly are Catholics whose hearts are truly with the Lord. But Christ calls them (His people) out of the Catholic Church. But, even if a person believes in their heart, if they deny Jesus before men, how can they be saved? Christ said that whoever would be ashamed of Him before men would He be ashamed of before His Father.

M, if their hearts are truly with the Lord, they won't deny him. But Peter did. The rest did. Do you know what saved Peter and the rest of the terrified apostles as they fled, their leader arrested and condemned in their own hearts?

1John 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

Grace and peace

Tony

[greenbear]

Some people are brought up in church and have preconceived notions of who Jesus is, what the Bible teaches, what it takes to be saved, etc. Throughout my life as an agnostic, honestly not even knowing or caring what an agnostic was, whenever my mind started to ponder "the origins and purpose and meaning of life" other mundane, worldly thoughts would immediately take center-stage.

When I was in my late twenties a Seventh-Day Adventist co-worker said something to me, I don't even remember the conversation, but it made my mind snap. It was the first time that I was consciously and acutely confronted with the possibility that Jesus was a real historical figure, not some fictitious character. That was just the beginning.

I read the Bible a bit but it was goobly-gook. Couldn't make hide nor hair of it. I joined the SDA church and read plenty of Ellen White. The problem was that I couldn't stop eating meat and working and spending money on Saturday (The "Sabbath"). I think it was when I read that EW wrote that even tea drinking could be allowing the flesh to control you that I finally gave up. I was still drinking a beer or two every night. What hope could there be for someone like me? After about a year of this I realized that I was not good enough or strong enough to be saved so I just gave up and embraced the philosophy of eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. At least I realized what a hypocrite was!

I don't want to bore you for too long so the rest of my story is the short version. I had managed to read a good portion of the Bible including Revelation after my SDA experience and vaguely understood that Israel was key to end-time events. Bush I's Iraq war and the images of the burning oil fields somehow struck a chord with me and for some reason that drove me to Christian bookstores and to church.

I ended up at a pentecostal church and was baptized in a lake at the foot of a nuclear power plant!!! Once I came back ashore all these men were trying to get me to speak in tongues as evidence that I was saved. I wasn't able to conjure up any strange, unintelligible words so they actually suggested that I just try saying any sentence that came to mind over and over again. I felt bad that I wasn't able to produce anything that they wanted to hear. Oh, well.

Since I came up short in that arena, I contacted a woman from the SDA church that I truly loved, because I knew that she loved me, and found that she was attending the Vineyard church. I attended that church for a while but I was perplexed and dismayed because they would sing verses about the Father and the Holy Spirit but they would ALWAYS skip the verses about Jesus. My spirit wanted to praise Jesus, I didn't understand why. Their pastor would pray for the mantle of the spirit to cover the congregation. I could feel the mantle descending but it was not something I liked.

I wanted to understand prophesy but no one whom I asked, and I asked plenty, had any answers for me. They all said just pray to the Lord for understanding. So I did. Within a month or so I met my husband. He was a kindred spirit who had a hunger for understanding the scriptures. His teachers were Hal Lindsay, Dave Hunt and many others. This intelligent and truth-seeking man had the answers I was looking for. The lies that I had grown up with, evolution, feminism, my whole world view, everything, was replaced by the truth.

My journey was easy compared to those who were raised in satanic/illuminist families who suffered ritual abuse beyond our ability to comprehend. Or those who delved into occultism of their own accord ( I skipped that part of my story).

Jesus can bring anyone out of anything if the person has even a centimeter of good ground. The way he deals with every single person on earth is truly astounding. Praise His Name.

That said, no salvation can be found in Babylon. And God doesn't have any grandchildren.