Tears of Gratitude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4sPh65k0No


I burst into tears of gratitude after watching this.

Not because I learned anything, because I did not.

But because there was ONE other person out there who learned this same lesson it took me years of agony to learn and this from the direct one on one counsel of the Holy Spirit for there was no Christian anywhere in my orbit who would even consider the notion of being honest to God and pouring out one's complaint to Him.

And even now I get cries of "Self Pity!!" when I advocate the honesty they have totally forgotten about it

This video was confirmation from a very unexpected source, for the title of the thing almost had me think that Zacharias would take the opposite view, the standard one

Moreover video reduces just about every other sermon and video  I have seen about Christian living to heretical trash.

The trouble is the Pharisees  who live like Puritans did, believing in the primacy of the intellect, will ignore this.

And I submit,  they ignore this to their own peril  for to harden one's heart to one's own heart will also harden the heart to the Holy Spirit, and damnation can and will result eventually

That is how important this issue is

 

The Most Offensive Verse in Scripture

I found an old facebook post of mine  on the most offensive verse in scripture. It was put out by a creationist web site and says that the verse with this honour is Genesis 1:1 and everything it entails.

I beg to differ.

I know of many creationists, including myself.

But if belief  in a passage equals obedience to it then clearly the verse that so sickens men that I have never seen it obeyed is this:

God is love.

We will believe creationism passionately, to the extent of vicious name calling, and I have seen creationists do this. Indeed such arrogance is why I do not support creationist ministries

But the very moment they/we do this we show how disgusted we are by the fact God is love for we ignore it and certainly do not believe this

The rot in the church

To their credit the charismatics [charismatic  Christians, that is] hunger for the reality they know is not provided for in mere intellectual study of doctrine. But, alas, in seeking the things of the Spirit they ignore sound doctrine and go chasing after experiences which are usually explainable as psychological reaction. But I have sat in on this quarrel from another perspective recently: that of the anti charismatic brigade. They think that their intellectualism is not barren, well, they have to as it is all they have, that and just plain bullying, as they honour preachers who are bullies, who rant and scream, and woe betide any, like me, who point this out.

So what do we have? Heretical pagans like Bill Johnson and Todd Bentley, religious crazy, on one side and orthodox pharisees on the other, the John MacArthurs and Dave Wilkersons of the church those who can move to Hitlerian ranting in a matter of seconds and who think that such fanaticism is godly zeal and know not, nor care, whom it destroys; the rot in the church is not confined to one side (the other side, it always is, of any debate, as each side smugly supposes.

How can I blame any atheist who looks at us and says we are pathetic? Because we are. We don't believe our own Book and will not admit it. We water down the love of Christ and the life he offers us into the cheap bonhomie of a country club, and think this is as good as it gets. Thus we claim an abundant life that is obvious to any honest person we simply so not have

So we burble irrelevantly in a corner unless some of us think it right to go out and insult and bully unbelievers. Not all preachers are such villains,. mark you, but it is the villains who are honoured for in their ranting fury they have made a name for themselves

So the millenia old game continues; and the Name of God is despised all the more for we really are hypocrites and will not acknowledge it, so there is no solution to it

And for those poor fools like me who desperately have real need, there is nowhere to go but this Christ that they talk about but to not believe in

Yet those of us who do will be despised by the rest.

Especially for daring to suggest that the church is as foul as atheists say it is

 

Comments.

I have not rejected any comments sent to me.

In fact I have only received one comment which I duly posted, and I suspect I received it as the sender was registered, I think, with google plus

Another friend told me his comment was not approved.

And my point is this.

I received no such comment.

Has this happened to any other?

I do not know if there is a serious malfunction on this website  or not.

I know that my audience is tiny. and as such no one other than the two I know about  may have deemed it worth commenting on my blog posts.

This may be an old man's vanity, but if any have made a  comment and it has not appeared please message me at


strefanash@clear.net.nz


I doubt I know enough to fix such a problem but at least I will know for sure that  there is one

A promotional video

This morning I looked in the youtube message inbox, which I only infrequently do. I found a link to a video, so duly followed it.

It was a thirty second promotional video for the sender's channel. It was of course a Christian's channel, hence my interest in following the link.

I was not pleased.

It effectively dared me to subscribe and asked me "where else will you find information on . .? "  and then listed certain sins, some of which I myself am utterly defeated by and have been all the nearly thirty seven years of my Christian life.

It was clear to me that this man's question had a simple answer that exposed him as arrogant and presumptuous.

Where else?

The scriptures. The Holy Spirit.

And clearly not some man made ministry, self proclaimed preacher, teacher, or internet video channel

So I messaged the man and answered his presumably rhetorical question with the above  few words and said that such was why I would not be subscribing.

I then looked around his channel to see if my instinct has further confirmation. I believe I found it. The channel also that we had to FIGHT (capitalized) against our own natures and that there was no hope for us if we did not. The brashness of his manner in the promo vid indicates to me that the capitalization of FIGHT showed me all I needed to know. This was will of the flesh legalism, not resting in the real, as opposed to falsely invoked, grace of God to be led to repentance by the Holy Spirit in quietness and gentleness. And I knew, and I invoke decades of hard experience on this,  that the reason this person was not in total despair at his self imposed regime was because of his lack of sensitivity to the inward nature of sin.

The purpose of a teacher or "ministry"  is not to say "come to us"  but to encourage people the seek the Lord the Spirit  as described adequately in the scriptures.

Anything else is the lineaments of a cult

For seeking men will only have them lay Law on you, which is the royal road to death given that the carnal mind can neither preach Law nor use it correctly.

I don't know if this person will reply to my message. I am not even sure he got it  for the computer paused for a long time while sending it and it may have failed to be delivered.

No matter.

I did learn something