I say Amen, lets continue to pray for Oprah's salvation as she is a woman with such a high standing and someone whos opinion the world values.
My husband Arnesto and I actually met Oprah in New York and witnessed to her.She is a wonderful lady with a heart of gold but as soon as we spoke about spiritual things she went as stiff as a brick wall.As far as I can tell there wasn't 1 point in my post where I criticised Oprah.Why I posted this link here though is to illustrate that she is still going to hell because she has not owned Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour of her life.We are not condemning her at all,infact she is condemning herself and its our duty as Christians to open our mouth and speak the truth to her in love.
2Timothy 1 v8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began
Oprahs works will mean nothing for her on the day of judgement,the same way it will not for many at Hillsong church,something I say not to condemn anyone but just to face the facts and be honest.I understand you encountered some really offputting ministry with this Nigerian couple Monica but I want to encourage you as a sister in Christ not to put every Christian who hungers and thirsts after righteousness and sound doctrine in the same boat.Remember that at the end of the day we are all still human and that we all could stumble and even so with this Nigerian couple and just because you had 1 bad experience doesn't mean its the same for everyone.This is generalising.Remember that if you choose to up your tempo and follow the Lord with all you are,the devil will up his tempo too and use even the scenario with the Nigerian couple to put you off.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Ask yourself,are the vast majority of those at Hillsong hungering and thirsting after righteousness?or are they hungering and thirsting after thrills,ecstacy,rock and roll music,fun?
And why are those that are thirsting after righteousness leaving for Kensington temple,Calvary Chapel,etc.etc.... You don't have to answer to me,answer this for yourself and answer to God.
God bless you Love Nieves Guavara xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Your preocupation with hillsong is somewhat worrying and completely distorted, as are your continuous assumptions about my life and what happened with sade and tennyson (their names are not tension and shady, i find that disrespectful towards them si). Neither you or Craig are in a position to make such assumptions. I know where I stand with my Lord.
I ask you firmly now to let me run my race with the Lord and you do the same.
I can see from your response that you did not read any of my posts at all because my pre-occupation is not with Hillsong at all but with the people that attend Hillsong, the thousands of souls that are perishing and my preoccupation is especially with the church,those who are sincere to see them go forward in their walk with God.I say again that my concept of Hillsong is not based on one Saturday evening,neither is it from things I have heard, but on concrete facts that have been carefully considered and personally witnessed.
I am reliably informed that you are a passionate person with a real heart for Jesus and that you are an intelligent person.Having said this you left Hillsong!!!! Fact or assumption? Now regardless of what Tennyson and Sade(PS I never meant Tension and Shady in a bad way at all and infact I was referring to two characters from the Hebrew and Greek text in the bible which is the context I said that in) said, there must have been something wrong that made you see that you needed to leave.You obviously weighed up all the facts before you left and it was a HUGE decision to leave.I fail to believe that you just took every word that was spoken to you without carefully considering the facts and then making up your own mind.
Here is my goal:
2Tim"2 5": In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves
You are opposing yourself,your own intelligence and heart and conscience which you are soothing with the words of men.I know, I've done this myself
2Timv4 "3": For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
This is what is happening with you as well and my wife and I love you and the others that are choosing this path too much to keep quiet and say nothing Monica and Veronique and READERS.
Now I will respect your wishes and not keep persisting but I assure you that we will not stop praying for you all Veronique and Monica and others who are being swept by this new age evangelical wave that is hitting the world like a tsunami and which is the reason Jesus spoke those words in Matthew 7: 14: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 21: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23: And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Just stop for a moment,reflect and think.What reason do my wife and I who dont know any of you from a bar of soap have to come on here and suck things out of our thumbs, we don't we love you all with the love of the Lord and we just want the best for all of you.
Lots of love Arnesto Guavara Grace be upon you and we will never stop praying for you day and night with tears, as the apostle Paul never did for the believers at Corinth,Thessalonica,Ephesus etc...
We have been on this whole Hillsong journey from the beginning(Mermaid days).I love you two like sisters and infact you are my sisters.I deeply love you guys and I want the best for you both.
Two gay guys come to Hillsong and we were told to be very patient with them and not to scare them off with talk of hell and the likes.These 2 came to the services faithfully for 2 years and not once did they feel uncomfortable in the services, infact they felt right at home.I went to the connect group with them and I saw the absence of 2 things.1 Nobody knew how to approach these 2 guys with the bible to show them that what they were practicing was wrong and two I was prohibited from confronting them myself as and I quote ‘we have to be careful not to hurt their feelings’.Are you seeing the problem with this picture here? How could they come to the services for 2 years and feel comfortable? What kind of love is not speaking the truth to them?It is very superficial. You know I am so glad that there are real men of God that have stood up for the truth and not allowed ‘wolves in sheeps clothing’ to creep into the house of God and polute it entirely.If they had where would Christianity be now?
Then there was the new Christians team and the phone team who did followup calls to people who made decisions.Occasionally I did followup calls for my friend and called this one girl, the girl told her not to call back again as the decision she made on the Sunday was a mistake and that she was just having an emotional time and she wasn’t thinking straight when she raised her hand.This just shows, can we guarantee that these ‘decisions’ that are made leads to true repentance and salvation? Every Sunday when Gary read out ‘And last week we saw 100 decisions made’ Towards the end,the last days I was at Hillsong I could not bring myself to clap and to celebrate and infact I got a chill up my spine when ever that announcement was made. If you’re honest, no it does not.You don’t even have to go that far, just listen to the altar call, Jesus, come into my heart, be my Lord, Be my God.There is no repentance for sin, there is no mention of the hardships that will happen when becoming a Christian.It is definitely not the same gospel that Jesus preached that is being preached here. Mar 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Luk 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. We all fulfill the whosever shall be ashamed of me part but then the ‘AND OF MY WORDS’ is what gets us all.
Then there is the issue of strong, sound bible teaching that enables us as Christians to contend earnestly for our faith.Just pick up your latest newspaper or watch documentaries on Tv.The Islamic faith is ruthless and they don’t compromise with their faith.Its an all or nothing attitude.They are spreading by the thousand daily and even willing to blow themselves up for their religion.The rest if the world sits in terror and is too scared to counter it, in fear of being blown up on an underground train of aeroplane.All the answers to life are in the bible, answers to questions of marriage,money,the law, love.Yet what I was getting from the platform from the pastor was jokes and also seeing the side effects of it which was present for all to see with fornication, bad relationships, people getting drunk in the pubs after a Sunday night service.The pastor is using examples of Bono, you know I went out and cried after one Sunday and thought wow my pastor is quoting Bono, and not the apostle Paul or Peter or John the Baptist or the real men of God.This is extremely scary and I had to get out.Also when he said ‘we don’t want to be too spiritual.The bible tells us to strive to be Christlike,set apart, 1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. Look at the harsh harsh words of the bible: Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
You know Veronique and Monica I can forward you an email you sent me on the beginning of our Hillsong journey where you said the same thing as in this post ‘We need to pull up our socks’ and I also have 1 where you said exactly the same as in these posts Vero, you said ‘I am praying for more boldness’.Its two years down the line and you are still praying for boldness and still pulling up your socks.I say this because I really love you both and because I realized myself that I was caught in an endless psychle, ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.I mean Gary has now set up a ministry training series that costs a couple of hundred pounds.Why could that not be done at discovery.The bible says as new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word.You don’t even need a fancy venue, all you need is the bible and the Holy Spirit and there you go.
Look Monica and Vero I really love you 2 my sisters and so do may others.They are relying on you and counting on you both.God has placed a very high calling on both your lives and if you continue to conform to what Hillsong has to offer you are seriously selling yourselves short of the potential God has placed on both of your lives.Also the answers to all those hard hard questions about spiritual things your families and friends have for you, can you answer those?
PS Carlene sends her love too:) We will email you sometime
I love you guys bro/sis but if you want to speak to Monica or Vero and the guys, please leave my name out of it.If I have something to say to them I will do so with my own mouth :)
Thanks for your phone call.No problem, we won't keep referencing you in our posts but I want to encourage you to not fear or fret as the devil is a lion and won't let go his staunch grip without a good old scrap but with the power of prayer and the Holy Spirit,peoples eyes can be opened up.
Hello Anonymous, pleased to meet you.My wife Nieves and I want to touch base with you and find our where you are now, having left Hillsong and send you some literature via email and post,things we've come across in on the missionfields and in service of our Lord.Our address is isurrenderall@inbox.com so please feel free to contact us.This world is in diar straights and needs men and woman of God to stand up.
Monica I have never met anonymous before in my life but its extremely ironic that what she/he has seen at Hillsong in London and my wife and I when we were in Sydney for a month during the olympics are very similar and considering that we're probably on opposite ends of the word.I'll just say this in response to your comment about daily humbling ourselves before God, AMEN!!!!!!!! You'd do good to re-read the first 5 books of the bible for yourself and then you'll get a fresh vision of who God is and the danger your friends are in if they fall into the hands of the living God unsaved.He is a God to be feared and revered and respected and worshipped with all our hearts,minds and souls to the extent that our love for Him is like hate when compared to the love we have for our families.
You may not believe me but I post this comment with a spirit of peace and love, very prayerfully and wishing you all the best in your journey with the Lord.
I'll also say this though, make sure it is 'THE LORD' and not your Lord you have created for yourself.
I was browsing around and came across your blog which I have to compliment you on Veronique.The topic of Oprah especially caught my attention but then I read the actual comments on the thread and it was even more interesting especially since we are currently doing a study on the churches mentioned in the bible.When you read up on it you read about the church at Corinth,We started with a very solemn verse which was 1Co 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: So right from the off the idea was drilled into our heads that it is the church of God and its not ‘our’ church and that every true believer is a ‘Saint’, what a challenge (not a big fat baby with wings ha-ha) but someone who strives to be perfect according to the will of God which was made clear by Jesus who was ‘THE WORD’. Then you read about the church at Philippi,Ephesus, Cenchrea,the churches of Asia,Laodicea,Thessalonica,Babylon and we can read on.Now in our studies we saw that the churches were different in location only and not in methods.You don’t read about the Pentecostal church,the old apostolic church,the new apostolic church,the Anglican church,the catholic church,the church of England and I can go on as im sure you can too.This is clearly a work of the devil that has created all this variety that has confused most unbelievers.They will say things like, oh but there are so many different religions, how do you know yours is right, how do you know your bible is right? If you read how many of these churches started then you will see a certain man,woman,person was pivotal in the process, for example Calvin in Calvanism.Many men have had bad experiences and then started churches based around what they agree/disagree with.This is truly the work of the devil to sew discord among the church of God and also confuse those outside of Christ.
If you read the bible you will see that the principals were the same for all the churches of God.The only differences that can be spotted are the way believers acquitted themselves in application of the foundation laid by the apostles,inspired by God Himself.The Corinthians were the worst and as a result there was all sorts of discord, then the church at Philadelphia was probably the best .The best at what? Applying the principles of the word of God that certain men of God laid down to be followed from generation to generation.
A few verses from our studies that really challenged me that I want to share with you.
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Phi 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 1Ti 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Then lastly we did a health check on our own church and we did this by reading Revelation 2 and 3 to see how we were measuring up against God’s high standard.Its been really challenging and eye opening and I thought I’d share some of the thoughts with you.
9 Comments:
siiii.let's pray for Oprah that she will meet Christians who will love her and show her the way....
Criticising her does nothing but condemn- that's not what we should be doing, she needs to be shown the way siii.................
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Mon Oct 09, 05:21:00 AM
Hello Monica and Veronique,
I say Amen, lets continue to pray for Oprah's salvation as she is a woman with such a high standing and someone whos opinion the world values.
My husband Arnesto and I actually met Oprah in New York and witnessed to her.She is a wonderful lady with a heart of gold but as soon as we spoke about spiritual things she went as stiff as a brick wall.As far as I can tell there wasn't 1 point in my post where I criticised Oprah.Why I posted this link here though is to illustrate that she is still going to hell because she has not owned Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour of her life.We are not condemning her at all,infact she is condemning herself and its our duty as Christians to open our mouth and speak the truth to her in love.
2Timothy 1
v8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began
Oprahs works will mean nothing for her on the day of judgement,the same way it will not for many at Hillsong church,something I say not to condemn anyone but just to face the facts and be honest.I understand you encountered some really offputting ministry with this Nigerian couple Monica but I want to encourage you as a sister in Christ not to put every Christian who hungers and thirsts after righteousness and sound doctrine in the same boat.Remember that at the end of the day we are all still human and that we all could stumble and even so with this Nigerian couple and just because you had 1 bad experience doesn't mean its the same for everyone.This is generalising.Remember that if you choose to up your tempo and follow the Lord with all you are,the devil will up his tempo too and use even the scenario with the Nigerian couple to put you off.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Ask yourself,are the vast majority of those at Hillsong hungering and thirsting after righteousness?or are they hungering and thirsting after thrills,ecstacy,rock and roll music,fun?
And why are those that are thirsting after righteousness leaving for Kensington temple,Calvary Chapel,etc.etc....
You don't have to answer to me,answer this for yourself and answer to God.
God bless you
Love Nieves Guavara
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tue Oct 10, 05:08:00 AM
Your preocupation with hillsong is somewhat worrying and completely distorted, as are your continuous assumptions about my life and what happened with sade and tennyson (their names are not tension and shady, i find that disrespectful towards them si). Neither you or Craig are in a position to make such assumptions. I know where I stand with my Lord.
I ask you firmly now to let me run my race with the Lord and you do the same.
Best wishes,
moni
Tue Oct 10, 08:10:00 AM
Hello Monica,
I can see from your response that you did not read any of my posts at all because my pre-occupation is not with Hillsong at all but with the people that attend Hillsong, the thousands of souls that are perishing and my preoccupation is especially with the church,those who are sincere to see them go forward in their walk with God.I say again that my concept of Hillsong is not based on one Saturday evening,neither is it from things I have heard,
but on concrete facts that have been carefully considered and personally witnessed.
I am reliably informed that you are a passionate person with a real heart for Jesus and that you are an intelligent person.Having said this you left Hillsong!!!!
Fact or assumption?
Now regardless of what Tennyson and Sade(PS I never meant Tension and Shady in a bad way at all and infact I was referring to two characters from the Hebrew and Greek text in the bible which is the context I said that in) said, there must have been something wrong that made you see that you needed to leave.You obviously weighed up all the facts before you left and it was a HUGE decision to leave.I fail to believe that you just took every word that was spoken to you without carefully considering the facts and then making up your own mind.
Here is my goal:
2Tim"2
5": In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves
You are opposing yourself,your own intelligence and heart and conscience which you are soothing with the words of men.I know, I've done this myself
2Timv4
"3": For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
This is what is happening with you as well and my wife and I love you and the others that are choosing this path too much to keep quiet and say nothing Monica and Veronique and READERS.
Now I will respect your wishes and not keep persisting but I assure you that we will not stop praying for you all Veronique and Monica and others who are being swept by this new age evangelical wave that is hitting the world like a tsunami and which is the reason Jesus spoke those words in Matthew 7:
14: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
21: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23: And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Just stop for a moment,reflect and think.What reason do my wife and I who dont know any of you from a bar of soap have to come on here and suck things out of our thumbs, we don't we love you all with the love of the Lord and we just want the best for all of you.
Lots of love
Arnesto Guavara
Grace be upon you and we will never stop praying for you day and night with tears, as the apostle Paul never did for the believers at Corinth,Thessalonica,Ephesus etc...
Fri Oct 13, 05:27:00 AM
Hey Veronique and Monica,
We have been on this whole Hillsong journey from the beginning(Mermaid days).I love you two like sisters and infact you are my sisters.I deeply love you guys and I want the best for you both.
Two gay guys come to Hillsong and we were told to be very patient with them and not to scare them off with talk of hell and the likes.These 2 came to the services faithfully for 2 years and not once did they feel uncomfortable in the services, infact they felt right at home.I went to the connect group with them and I saw the absence of 2 things.1 Nobody knew how to approach these 2 guys with the bible to show them that what they were practicing was wrong and two I was prohibited from confronting them myself as and I quote ‘we have to be careful not to hurt their feelings’.Are you seeing the problem with this picture here?
How could they come to the services for 2 years and feel comfortable? What kind of love is not speaking the truth to them?It is very superficial.
You know I am so glad that there are real men of God that have stood up for the truth and not allowed ‘wolves in sheeps clothing’ to creep into the house of God and polute it entirely.If they had where would Christianity be now?
Then there was the new Christians team and the phone team who did followup calls to people who made decisions.Occasionally I did followup calls for my friend and called this one girl, the girl told her not to call back again as the decision she made on the Sunday was a mistake and that she was just having an emotional time and she wasn’t thinking straight when she raised her hand.This just shows, can we guarantee that these ‘decisions’ that are made leads to true repentance and salvation? Every Sunday when Gary read out ‘And last week we saw 100 decisions made’ Towards the end,the last days I was at Hillsong I could not bring myself to clap and to celebrate and infact I got a chill up my spine when ever that announcement was made.
If you’re honest, no it does not.You don’t even have to go that far, just listen to the altar call, Jesus, come into my heart, be my Lord, Be my God.There is no repentance for sin, there is no mention of the hardships that will happen when becoming a Christian.It is definitely not the same gospel that Jesus preached that is being preached here. Mar 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Luk 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.
We all fulfill the whosever shall be ashamed of me part but then the ‘AND OF MY WORDS’ is what gets us all.
Then there is the issue of strong, sound bible teaching that enables us as Christians to contend earnestly for our faith.Just pick up your latest newspaper or watch documentaries on Tv.The Islamic faith is ruthless and they don’t compromise with their faith.Its an all or nothing attitude.They are spreading by the thousand daily and even willing to blow themselves up for their religion.The rest if the world sits in terror and is too scared to counter it, in fear of being blown up on an underground train of aeroplane.All the answers to life are in the bible, answers to questions of marriage,money,the law, love.Yet what I was getting from the platform from the pastor was jokes and also seeing the side effects of it which was present for all to see with fornication, bad relationships, people getting drunk in the pubs after a Sunday night service.The pastor is using examples of Bono, you know I went out and cried after one Sunday and thought wow my pastor is quoting Bono, and not the apostle Paul or Peter or John the Baptist or the real men of God.This is extremely scary and I had to get out.Also when he said ‘we don’t want to be too spiritual.The bible tells us to strive to be Christlike,set apart, 1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Look at the harsh harsh words of the bible:
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
You know Veronique and Monica I can forward you an email you sent me on the beginning of our Hillsong journey where you said the same thing as in this post ‘We need to pull up our socks’ and I also have 1 where you said exactly the same as in these posts Vero, you said ‘I am praying for more boldness’.Its two years down the line and you are still praying for boldness and still pulling up your socks.I say this because I really love you both and because I realized myself that I was caught in an endless psychle, ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.I mean Gary has now set up a ministry training series that costs a couple of hundred pounds.Why could that not be done at discovery.The bible says as new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word.You don’t even need a fancy venue, all you need is the bible and the Holy Spirit and there you go.
Look Monica and Vero I really love you 2 my sisters and so do may others.They are relying on you and counting on you both.God has placed a very high calling on both your lives and if you continue to conform to what Hillsong has to offer you are seriously selling yourselves short of the potential God has placed on both of your lives.Also the answers to all those hard hard questions about spiritual things your families and friends have for you, can you answer those?
PS Carlene sends her love too:)
We will email you sometime
Fri Oct 13, 05:30:00 AM
I completely reject and do not take on your board your sweeping judgements of me selling myself short or assumptions on compromising on my Lord.
I again ask you to humble yourself before God as we all have to do daily.
I will run my race, you do the same.
moni x
Fri Oct 13, 06:53:00 AM
Hello Arnesto and Nieves,
I love you guys bro/sis but if you want to speak to Monica or Vero and the guys, please leave my name out of it.If I have something to say to them I will do so with my own mouth :)
Thanks
Love u <
C
Mon Oct 16, 04:07:00 PM
Hello brother Craig,
Thanks for your phone call.No problem, we won't keep referencing you in our posts but I want to encourage you to not fear or fret as the devil is a lion and won't let go his staunch grip without a good old scrap but with the power of prayer and the Holy Spirit,peoples eyes can be opened up.
Hello Anonymous, pleased to meet you.My wife Nieves and I want to touch base with you and find our where you are now, having left Hillsong and send you some literature via email and post,things we've come across in on the missionfields and in service of our Lord.Our address is isurrenderall@inbox.com so please feel free to contact us.This world is in diar straights and needs men and woman of God to stand up.
Monica I have never met anonymous before in my life but its extremely ironic that what she/he has seen at Hillsong in London and my wife and I when we were in Sydney for a month during the olympics are very similar and considering that we're probably on opposite ends of the word.I'll just say this in response to your comment about daily humbling ourselves before God, AMEN!!!!!!!!
You'd do good to re-read the first 5 books of the bible for yourself and then you'll get a fresh vision of who God is and the danger your friends are in if they fall into the hands of the living God unsaved.He is a God to be feared and revered and respected and worshipped with all our hearts,minds and souls to the extent that our love for Him is like hate when compared to the love we have for our families.
You may not believe me but I post this comment with a spirit of peace and love, very prayerfully and wishing you all the best in your journey with the Lord.
I'll also say this though, make sure it is 'THE LORD' and not your Lord you have created for yourself.
Arnesto G
Mon Oct 16, 06:23:00 PM
Hello everyone from Sarah McCleland (In Israel)
I was browsing around and came across your blog which I have to compliment you on Veronique.The topic of Oprah especially caught my attention but then I read the actual comments on the thread and it was even more interesting especially since we are currently doing a study on the churches mentioned in the bible.When you read up on it you read about the church at Corinth,We started with a very solemn verse which was 1Co 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: So right from the off the idea was drilled into our heads that it is the church of God and its not ‘our’ church and that every true believer is a ‘Saint’, what a challenge (not a big fat baby with wings ha-ha) but someone who strives to be perfect according to the will of God which was made clear by Jesus who was ‘THE WORD’.
Then you read about the church at Philippi,Ephesus, Cenchrea,the churches of Asia,Laodicea,Thessalonica,Babylon and we can read on.Now in our studies we saw that the churches were different in location only and not in methods.You don’t read about the Pentecostal church,the old apostolic church,the new apostolic church,the Anglican church,the catholic church,the church of England and I can go on as im sure you can too.This is clearly a work of the devil that has created all this variety that has confused most unbelievers.They will say things like, oh but there are so many different religions, how do you know yours is right, how do you know your bible is right?
If you read how many of these churches started then you will see a certain man,woman,person was pivotal in the process, for example Calvin in Calvanism.Many men have had bad experiences and then started churches based around what they agree/disagree with.This is truly the work of the devil to sew discord among the church of God and also confuse those outside of Christ.
If you read the bible you will see that the principals were the same for all the churches of God.The only differences that can be spotted are the way believers acquitted themselves in application of the foundation laid by the apostles,inspired by God Himself.The Corinthians were the worst and as a result there was all sorts of discord, then the church at Philadelphia was probably the best .The best at what? Applying the principles of the word of God that certain men of God laid down to be followed from generation to generation.
A few verses from our studies that really challenged me that I want to share with you.
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Phi 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
1Ti 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Then lastly we did a health check on our own church and we did this by reading Revelation 2 and 3 to see how we were measuring up against God’s high standard.Its been really challenging and eye opening and I thought I’d share some of the thoughts with you.
Sarah xxxxxxx
Tue Oct 17, 01:06:00 AM
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