Fear Rules Christianity - True or False?

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MA2444

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@Aunty Jane has an argument. We have experience. Experience beats an argument every time.

That's the good thing about experience. A person with experience is never at the mercy of someone with doctrine!

We be like, oh yeah? I must have been halluceninating then, lol.
 
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Aunty Jane

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So, if Jesus' Messiah status was qualified by miracles (what he told John the Baptist and others) and Satan himself can do miracles, how are we to discern which is which?
Bingo! if God withdrew the real miracles, then the only ones left, convincing as they might seem…would be the fake ones produced by the devil as a deception. He is the “angel of light” pretending with his “powerful works” to the false Christians that he is the real McCoy. The majority fall for it as they always have…..the devil knows how to manipulate human emotions…..he gives them what they want…..God gives us what we need.

What better way to get people in, than to pretend to be the true God…..get people to worship you for your “powerful works” and then at the end of the day laugh at those who were gullible enough to believe him….those going down into Gehenna with him.
Gehenna is not “hell”….it is “the lake of fire” a figurative place from which no one returns because it is ”the second death”…permanent death.
The Pharisees concluded that Jesus was casting out demons by Beelzebub. Jesus indicated that attributing the work of the Spirit to Satan was the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. (the unforgivable sin)
Indeed…..those Pharisees saw the works that Jesus performed, and and those that his apostles performed in his name, and rejected him as an agent of the devil. That was blasphemous.

But to see the so called “miracles” of today, and compare them with those performed in the first century….we run into trouble. If it is the same holy spirit performing these things, then that spirit has lost most of its power. Cures back in Jesus’s day were 100% successful and instantaneous…..there was no period of recovery and no after effects causing pain in a healing process. Miracles defy the natural and demonstrate the supernatural.

Many of today’s miracles can be explained away by the placebo effect….in many cases they, in effect cure themselves, sometimes completely but often temporarily, only to revert back to their original condition when the effect wore off. Medical science knows about the placebo effect but they cannot explain it. It is the reason for double blind studies in drug trials.
It’s the power of the mind over the body…..seen in unbelievers as well as professed Christians….it is not supernatural but not yet explainable scientifically.
This discussion is in some VERY deep water.
Deep and very muddy at times. Thick rose colored glasses don’t help.
Acts 2:22 NIV
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles,
wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
And no one can argue with that….but the miracles of the first century had a time and a reason that came to an end…….not to be seen again until the coming of God’s Kingdom, when the larger scale miracles will take place as a “healing of the nations”……people of all nationalities who have committed themselves to Christ in “faith, hope and love”…..not depending on miracles (which Paul indicated were the traits of a spiritual baby) will see the fulfillment of Rev 21:2-4…...

“I also saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them. 4 And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”

That is when the real miracles will be seen on a global scale, not just as a local demonstration….
 

Aunty Jane

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@Aunty Jane has an argument. We have experience. Experience beats an argument every time
Does it? What if the “experience” is not from the source you assume it to be? What then?
The devil can do tricks as he has shown down through time. When Moses came before Pharaoh and performed miracles in front of this monarch….his magic practicing priests copied the miracles….

Are you too falling for his ruse?
That's the good thing about experience. A person with experience is never at the mercy of someone with doctrine!

We be like, oh yeah? I must have been halluceninating then, lol.
It’s not an hallucination…it is a deception….a very different thing. Real and experienced but not from God….a clever ruse by the pretender.…and apparently it worked. And you speak to God and he speaks to you?…..if that is audible, then I find that disturbing TBH.
Your story is to me, proof that your “cure” was not from God, otherwise it would have been instantaneous and no pain or recovery period would have been experienced.

I sure am glad that I don’t live in America….our health system would never allow anyone to go home and deal with such a serious injury because of a lack of money. No money for an X-Ray? :nnna
What do your doctors have for hearts over there…wads of cash? That is disgraceful!

Healing testimonies that you see and hear on YouTube are untested and taken on faith…..how do you know that these too are not just dupes for satan’s counterfeit Christianity? Do you not believe that they exist, and have been acting as his agents since the end of the first century? Jesus told us it would happen…..and it’s all right in front of you.…..history is proof.
 
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MA2444

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Does it? What if the “experience” is not from the source you assume it to be? What then?
The devil can do tricks as he has shown down through time. When Moses came before Pharaoh and performed miracles in front of this monarch….his magic practicing priests copied the miracles….

Are you too falling for his ruse?

It’s not an hallucination…it is a deception….a very different thing. Real and experienced but not from God….a clever ruse by the pretender.…and apparently it worked. And you speak to God and he speaks to you?…..if that is audible, then I find that disturbing TBH.
Your story is to me, proof that your “cure” was not from God, otherwise it would have been instantaneous and no pain or recovery period would have been experienced.

I sure am glad that I don’t live in America….our health system would never allow anyone to go home and deal with such a serious injury because of a lack of money. No money for an X-Ray? :nnna
What do your doctors have for hearts over there…wads of cash? That is disgraceful!

Healing testimonies that you see and hear on YouTube are untested and taken on faith…..how do you know that these too are not just dupes for satan’s counterfeit Christianity? Do you not believe that they exist, and have been acting as his agents since the end of the first century? Jesus told us it would happen…..and it’s all right in front of you.…..history is proof.

I only heard His audible voice one time. The day I was Baptised in the Holy Spirit. Most of the time it is His still small voice inside of me.

That was the enemy huh? Nope, not that time Sister. The enemy does not come to Christians and tell them to pray to the Lord for help for a fellow Brother in Christ because he needs help. They just dont do that!

One time I was woke up on a Saturday to my kids fighting. They were tearing up my house with their fighting so I went out and broke it up and my younger son got disrespectful to me and mouthy, so I decked him. He got up and called the police on me. I thought this was funny so just waited and by the time the cops got there my sons had become friends again and teamed up to lie against me so when the cops came and seperated everyone to talk to us it was them two against my word...and they told the cops that I got up mad and began crap with them. So the cops told me, if we have to come out again, you will be arrested...

When the cops left, this empowered my younger so to think they won and so he got very disrespectful with me again and said I cant do nothig or else they will call the police and have me arrested! Now right or wrong, that bothered me not one whit and I dont like being disrespected in my own home from a brat kid, so I decked him again and said oh yeah? and he jumped up and grabbed his phone to call the police again. I didnt know what else to do except to leave. SO I took off walking. I didnt want to be there when the cops got there. And my truck was in need of a new starter so I walked away and began praying to the Lord...Lord dont let me be arrested today! You know I have no money for bail! Please help me!...and a loud voice within me said turn right at the next intersection...so I did I knew it was the Lord! Go left here in the alley. Now make a right turn here..go left, go right, stop here and rest, ok get up and go quickly, go right go right again...and this sort of thing kept up for awhile, maybe 45 minutes or an hour.

I had recently been in an auto accident and was hurt very bad in my back and I had back surgery so I couldnt walk far from the house. I never went outside of an 8 (?) block radius of my house? Something like that. When I would cross intersections I would look up and down the streets and several times I saw cop cars crossing the intersection a couple blocks down. They had 3 teams of cops looking for me and never could see me or find me. After about 45 minutes the voice said, ok it's safe for you to go home now, they've gone. So I began walking home anf thought, what am I walking back into though? And I said, Lord let the spirit of peace come upon my home and my children so it doesnt start all over again when I get home!!!...and when I got home home, I got such a huge surprise. My younger son was so apologetic and apologizing to me and stuff that it was a 180 degree shift in his attitude! Praise the Lord!

Now that voice, it was loud inside of me. I had no problem hearing it, I think the Lord turned up the volume to help me hear because it was exigent circumstances! All the kings horses and all the kings men were searching for me to put shackles on me! The normal still small voice of the Lord isnt near as loud as that voice was!

Maybe you think that I never test these spirits/voices? Did Jesus come in the flrsh and die and was He raised again on the third day...?? And I always get an immediate answer, of course He did!

You can doubt if you want to, that is your choice. But no matter what you think does not change he truth from being truth. I fully realize that this is the age of deception and I am very cautious. I take all those warnings very seriously!

Maybe I should tell you about the night some demons tried to scare me and I laughed at them and ordered them to leave in Jesus name! That was...a minor incident, lol. The name of Jesus is very powerful and they have to obey it.
 

MA2444

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Bingo! if God withdrew the real miracles, then the only ones left, convincing as they might seem…would be the fake ones produced by the devil as a deception. He is the “angel of light” pretending with his “powerful works” to the false Christians that he is the real McCoy. The majority fall for it as they always have…..the devil knows how to manipulate human emotions…..he gives them what they want…..God gives us what we need.

What better way to get people in, than to pretend to be the true God…..get people to worship you for your “powerful works” and then at the end of the day laugh at those who were gullible enough to believe him….those going down into Gehenna with him.
Gehenna is not “hell”….it is “the lake of fire” a figurative place from which no one returns because it is ”the second death”…permanent death.

So, correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds like you are saying that God is sitting this one out and leaving us all to our own devices and is not out there helping people with miracles and signs? Has He abandoned us?

No! Of course not! Havent you noticed the rise in evil all around you? Do you really think that our merciful Lord would leave us in that time? Why wouldnt He up His own game in response to what satan is doing on earth. He is. Praise the lord for His help.

Me and the Lord talked bout this before. I asked why men always demand a sign from God of something supernatural in order to believe? The Lord said, because of their unbelief. They believe what they can see because we are in the material realm so we relate to that, but we should be walking in faith and belief because we know He is there and that should be enough, He can be trusted. My grace is suffivient for you! Nevertheless He does, in His everlasting mercy, go ahead and give us some signs that we may believe.

Pray on these thngs Sister and ask the Lord to teach you the truth about it. The Lord is alive and well in our world and has not abandoned us.
 

St. SteVen

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St. SteVen said:
So, if Jesus' Messiah status was qualified by miracles (what he told John the Baptist and others) and Satan himself can do miracles, how are we to discern which is which?
Bingo! if God withdrew the real miracles, then the only ones left, convincing as they might seem…would be the fake ones produced by the devil as a deception.
Why would God withdraw his miracles?
There were miracles in the OT, there were miracles in the Gospels, there were miracles in Acts, there were miracles, in the Epistles, and miracles continue today.

If the only miracles that happened were as signs in the Apostolic Age, you might have a point.

But to see the so called “miracles” of today, and compare them with those performed in the first century….we run into trouble. If it is the same holy spirit performing these things, then that spirit has lost most of its power. Cures back in Jesus’s day were 100% successful and instantaneous…..there was no period of recovery and no after effects causing pain in a healing process. Miracles defy the natural and demonstrate the supernatural.
That's a good question. Why isn't it like back then. I think we have a problem with unbelief in the west. Missionaries in third world countries report many more miracles. And the results much more like the Apostolic Age.

This happened in Jesus' day as well. Because of the unbelief in his hometown Jesus was limited. So, the environment of unbelief has a HUGE impact.

And no one can argue with that….but the miracles of the first century had a time and a reason that came to an end…….not to be seen again until the coming of God’s Kingdom, when the larger scale miracles will take place as a “healing of the nations”……people of all nationalities who have committed themselves to Christ in “faith, hope and love”…..not depending on miracles (which Paul indicated were the traits of a spiritual baby) will see the fulfillment of Rev 21:2-4…...
There were miracles before Jesus came. The time of miracles was not limited to the Apostolic Age.

Below is a testimony of one of my personal experiences of miracles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have had many opportunities to pray for people in need. I rarely know the outcome.
But there was one instance where it was clear what happened.

An evening healing service at our church drew a number of people to the front of the church. The leader had everyone in line turn to the right and lay hands on the person in front of them.

I was at the end of the line so there was no one to pray for me.
However, the man in front of me had come in using a cane. (unusual for him) He had an injury that he wanted prayer for. He was in a lot of pain.

We were learning an interview style of praying for the sick/injured. So, I asked him questions to get a benchmark to start from.

I prayed for him and then asked him if he felt anything. He said he felt a tremendous heat on his back where I had been laying hands. I felt it too, but didn't tell him about it. I wanted to hear from him.

So, we pressed in again and kept at it. Then he reported that the pain was gone. He left the prayer line and walked around the sanctuary waving the cane in the air.

Reminded me of this. (the Apostle Peter, a mere human) And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. - Acts 3:8 NIV

The next Sunday morning the healed man testified that he had been healed by God, and he pointed to me as the one who had prayed for him.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


[
 

Aunty Jane

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So, correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds like you are saying that God is sitting this one out and leaving us all to our own devices and is not out there helping people with miracles and signs? Has He abandoned us?
Did I say that? Please don’t misunderstand me….I do not for one moment question your experiences…..what I question is the source of them. The deceiver is just that…..clever at his craft because he has had millenniums to perfect it.
We are warned by Jesus himself that ‘satan has demanded to sift his disciples as wheat‘.
We have the unique opportunity to stand our ground against these attacks on our faith that can come in the form of clever deception or outright persecution. God will not prevent his attacks but he will strengthen our faith and resolve to remain faithful to his teachings.

No! Of course not! Havent you noticed the rise in evil all around you? Do you really think that our merciful Lord would leave us in that time? Why wouldnt He up His own game in response to what satan is doing on earth. He is. Praise the lord for His help.
Job’s experience teaches us that sometimes God will not come to our rescue if the devil has made demands or accusations that can only be answered by the strength of our own faith. It’s not that God abandons us, but he allows us to endure the trial so that we can provide an answer to Satan’s taunts. (Prov 27:11)
Me and the Lord talked bout this before. I asked why men always demand a sign from God of something supernatural in order to believe? The Lord said, because of their unbelief. They believe what they can see because we are in the material realm so we relate to that, but we should be walking in faith and belief because we know He is there and that should be enough, He can be trusted. My grace is suffivient for you! Nevertheless He does, in His everlasting mercy, go ahead and give us some signs that we may believe.
Your relationship with God is yours alone. I am not here to judge you, but to merely bring out that, in a world handed over to the devil, (Luke 4:5-7) things are not always what they seem. (1 John 5:19)
Do the deceived know that they are? Usually not until it’s too late.
Pray on these thngs Sister and ask the Lord to teach you the truth about it. The Lord is alive and well in our world and has not abandoned us.
What makes you think I haven’t? My relationship with Jehovah, and my faith in his truth, is something I have developed over many years of prayerful study. My God speaks to me through Scripture…..his word to all mankind…the way he speaks to all his worshippers, and always has.
 
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MA2444

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But to see the so called “miracles” of today, and compare them with those performed in the first century….we run into trouble. If it is the same holy spirit performing these things, then that spirit has lost most of its power. Cures back in Jesus’s day were 100% successful and instantaneous…..there was no period of recovery and no after effects causing pain in a healing process. Miracles defy the natural and demonstrate the supernatural.

Izzat so? Let us talk about the 10 lepers who were healed by Jesus, shall we?

Luke 17:11-17
11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12 As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, 13 crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14 He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”[b] And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” 16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.

17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.[c]”.../NLT

Now according to what you said, this shouldnt have happened? This one man got a 2 part miracle where the 9 others only got a 1 part miracle.

Ten Lepers were cured of leprosy, instantly like you say. But when someone has Leprosy, they get damage to their body, fingers falling off and stuff like that. They didnt have leprosy anymore but they bodies still had missing fingers and stuff! This lone Leper who returned unto Jesus to give God glory was the key that made Jesus heal him completely.
Am I reading that wrong?

So that would seem to show that you are not correct in your judgment of miracles and signs.

Now dont get me wrong, I cant say that the Lord has parted any seas for me! Nothing that big, but maybe you think I wasnt healed by God when He reset my dislocated hip joint because it was sore in my body after the miracle of resetting it? Au Contraire my Sister, Yes I still had the miraculous healing of my hip and in my vody it was still sore for a couple days while I continued to rest and walk around more and more. But! As I already stated, I remember from others testimonies about the sensation of heat during the healing...so I already was already knowing that it was God that healed me, so I was praising Him and giving Him glory for those couple days, and still yet even! Thank You Lord!

So I believe that you have been slightly misguided about signs and miracles Sister.
I should tell you you about the Miracle that the Lord did for me Yesterday!
You wouldnt believe it so I wont go into it, but it was real and Praise God it was real! What a Blessing!

You believe that the Lord hiding me from the police was not a miracle? That I have been deceived? (Chuckle). Oh, my Sister...Consider this. I prayed to the Lord God Jesus s I walked out that door to not be there when the police came, Help me Lord, Please! I dont want to be arrested!

Matthew 7:9-11
9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?
10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not!
11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him..../NLT

I asked my Father for help, please dont let me be arrested! And you would say that He left me hanging and gave me a serpent instead?! I dont think so!

Here's another supporting scripture! Who doesnt like the Psalms?! It's the Book of Promises! Am I right? I know I am, whenever I am feeling down I reach into the Psalms! It never takes long to cheer me up! Anyway,

Psalm 91:14-16
14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation..../KJV

This is the last 3 verses in Psalm 91. It is the Lord talking! Making Promises! I will will answer him in times of trouble? I will deliver him? Aha! So maybe it wasnt deceiving spirits?! Maybe it ws the Lord keeping His Promises! I tell you what, Sister, when I was walking and praying and asking for help, it was one of the most fervant prayers that I have ever prayed before! Please Help me Lord! You bet it was!

I submit to you Sister, that those two scriptures I posted would not be there if there was to be a cessation of miracles for His people. Did God lie? (NO), Did God not keep His word? (NO). Ponder these things Sister and pray about them.

Minor Miracles happen everywhere every day! I suppose they are signs for us, to help us Believe. Lord help our Unbelief!

I have been praying for the Lord to grant me Wisdom and Understnding, and Discernment of truth for so long it is not funny! Whosoever asketh for wisdom will the Lord give into liberally and so forth!

Miracles and signs are very real, even today if you can just believe.
 

Lambano

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What's LSD like?

If you haven't tried it, are you afraid to...or just not so foolish?
One of my college buddies came to Christ after a bad LSD trip. He told me that he went to Hell and met Satan there. The trip just kept going on and on and on. He met the woman who would later become his wife about a week later, and she introduced him to Jesus.

So, God can work even through LSD, though I assume He has other preferred means. Praise God!
 

MA2444

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Did I say that? Please don’t misunderstand me….I do not for one moment question your experiences…..what I question is the source of them. The deceiver is just that…..clever at his craft because he has had millenniums to perfect it.
We are warned by Jesus himself that ‘satan has demanded to sift his disciples as wheat‘.
We have the unique opportunity to stand our ground against these attacks on our faith that can come in the form of clever deception or outright persecution. God will not prevent his attacks but he will strengthen our faith and resolve to remain faithful to his teachings.

I believe you said that when you said there was a cessation of miracles with the Apostles were the last ones? In a roundabout way of course, but isnt that what that would mean?

And another thing, What is the enemy's mission? Oh yes, to Steal, Kill and Destroy, I remember. So why would a decieving spirit come to me and tell me to pray that a Brother in Christ gets help? What part of Steal/Kill/Destroy is that? I walked away fom that encounter in awe of the Lord most high! He didnt need me to pray to help a man? Who am I? I am nobody! I was granted the privlege of participating in the mans miracle help that He did receive. Praise the Lord for that!

The Lord will always give us a confirmation after the fact. At least, He does for me. I got mine later after contacting My friend/Brother in Christ who needed help. It seems that he was enrolled in a small school where everyone knew everyone it was so small. It wwas classes for adults to learn new things, not sure exactly what, bt he is Diabetic(?) and has blood sugar problems. If it gets too low he can collapse and die if he doesnt eat something sweet. Something like that. And he was in class and felt an attack coming on, so he left the classroom and was going to the vending machine for some orange juice, but he didnt make it, he collapsed in the hallway and classes were in session so there was no one in the halls...I think he prayed for help.

Then I was told (audibly!) to pray for this man that he gets help. And (eventually yikes) I did. and he said that a total stranger walked up to him wearing a suit and tie, and said, I'm here to help Brother, what do you need? and he said orange juice. And the man was back in a flash with OJ. Then the stranger disappeared. He asked many people if anyone had seen a man in a suit? No one even saw the man. There was my confirmation! Wow! Praise the Lord!

No deciving spirit did that! It was the Lord. It Was The Lord! IT WAS THE LORD!!!

Glory and honor to God's Name Forever! :woohoo!:
 

Lambano

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I'm'a goin on youtube and finding a Buddahist to Christiantiy conversion Testimony and post it in the thread. There has to be one or two there, lol!
I ran into a guy who came to Christ from a Buddhist background over on the old Key Life Forums. He was definitely one of the most memorable people I've met doing this forum-thingie. He posted a few links to Buddhist sites to explain where he was coming from. I went through the material, though I didn't really study it in depth the way @St. SteVen is saying. And I tried to explain some of the Christian doctrines that struck him as somewhere between primitive to outright bizarre, such as Atonement. (Really, how can killing an innocent man in the place of the guilty one be considered "justice"? Have you ever seen a real animal sacrifice?)

I miss that guy. I hope he's okay.
 
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MA2444

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LOL
Good point. I wouldn't recommend it.
It is mind-expanding though. So it does deliver on its promise.

[

Ahh so you've done it, lol. LSD used to be my drug of choice for a season whe I was a stupid kid. I never did have a bad trip from it and I ate a lot of it in my day. No more though! Geesh. We live and learn. Dont be foolish!
 
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Lambano

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Our ex-Buddhist brother liked to quote this one - but not for the reasons you think:

4689416-L-nj-Y-xu-n-Quote-If-you-meet-the-Buddha-on-the-road-kill-him.jpg

The Buddha is not considered by Buddhists to be a god, and in fact he didn't think much about the gods or God, though he acknowledged that they may exist. His focus was more on right living, the "Eightfold Path":

The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samadhi ('meditative absorption or union'; alternatively, equanimous meditative awareness).
 
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MatthewG

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Fear comes when people say


You can’t cuss
You can’t drink a soda
You can’t get snacks unless your told…


Otherwise God will send you to hell.


Or your dad or mom whoop your face with hits.


Fear; all has to do is with punishment.
 
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MatthewG

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Or your pastor will make sure to call your name out because of your sin…

Now the people who hurt and neglect and shame people are abusers.

They need to be reported! Some even need jail time.
 

Lambano

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Okay, let's have another look at this book. And yes, the came thing happened. (I guess I'm a slow learner) I put the book down and left it alone. No further bad feelings. I was a young Christian, and this was God's way at that time of teaching me... don't touch.
I kinda had a similar experience. I was on a business trip, and the hotel didn't have a Bible (Gideons, you guys have been slacking off lately!), but it did have a Q'ran. I decided to open it and see what it said. And I turned to a verse that said, "Woe that Allah should have a son!" I decided right then and there to put the book down. Sorry; I didn't study it in depth.

(Note: I made fun of "Bible Roulette", but "Q'ran Roulette" may have been effective in this incident. Hey, God works in mysterious ways.)
 
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Lambano

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Jesus Himself did use threats of Gehenna. I don't have to like it, but I can't deny it either.

Well... If "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14), well, fear and self-preservation is something the "natural man" CAN understand. Nothing spiritual about that. 100% pure flesh.
 
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MA2444

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Job’s experience teaches us that sometimes God will not come to our rescue if the devil has made demands or accusations that can only be answered by the strength of our own faith. It’s not that God abandons us, but he allows us to endure the trial so that we can provide an answer to Satan’s taunts. (Prov 27:11)

Oh yes, when God allows those things to happen to us, it is that He is testing our faith for us. Paul talked quite a bit about it. These are the fires of purification that we must go through. Part of the suffering process to tach us and to test us. When Jesus first got Baptised and began His ministry, what is the first thing He did?

After that He was led into the desert to be tempted of the devil. Plus, He fasted for 40 days just to make it harder I think. To plant His feet firmly with the Father in His ordeal and sometimes that is the only way to make it through our own trials and tribulations!

We were never promised a rose garden on earth, it is only through much suffering can we be His Disciples. The world will turn gainst you (Promised). The closer that you try to walk with the Lord, the more you will be spiritually attacked (Promised).

I aske dthe Lord once, why do you permit so much suffering in the world (a juvenile question, lol!) and He said, it is good for a man to suffer because a man will always come through a suffering wiser and encouraged in faith. And also because there are some things that we are unable to learn without suffering. Take that as you will.

Your relationship with God is yours alone. I am not here to judge you, but to merely bring out that, in a world handed over to the devil, (Luke 4:5-7) things are not always what they seem. (1 John 5:19)
Do the deceived know that they are? Usually not until it’s too late.

I know, and thank you for that Sister. I know you have good intentions in your heart about these things. But I feel encouraged to open up some about my experiences with the Lord in the hope that others may see what is possible with the Lord from experience. I dont ask for donations, I pass no plate, I dont write books or sell CD's....and I am Nobody! So I have no reason to lie. This is how it has been for me. Didnt Jesus say, we will be able to do all things that He has done and more? He sure did.

If someone is deceived, guarenteed they dont know it. Only by searching and searching and researching do we find tidbits where someone says something in just the right way that touches our heart and opens our understanding, then the can realize that...I was wrong. I was deceived about this! Wow, but now I know better!

Do you know that my soul (carnal man) has witnessed all of the miracles that the Lord has ever done for me? Andyet, he still argues with me abot them and says that wasnt real, that aint God, its a coincidence....But in my heart and my spirit, I know the truth in this! For I walked in it and witnessed it with my own eyes and ears.

And yes Sister, I have also prayed many many times to not let me deceive myself about anything! For there is the very real danger that you speak ok!

Hey, new idea! Ding! Praise the Lord! What if I bound the spirit of deception here on earth that comes to me if he dares? Is it not written that what we bind on earth is bound in heaven? I may as well approach the spirit of deception and bind him and cast him from me in Jesus name? I think I'm'a do that today!

What makes you think I haven’t? My relationship with Jehovah, and my faith in his truth, is something I have developed over many years of prayerful study. My God speaks to me through Scripture…..his word to all mankind…the way he speaks to all his worshippers, and always has.

Oh, no disrespect Sister. I just know in my heart these things I have spoken about that God has done for me personally so I went ahead and said that. But I wasnt meaning to detract from you in any way. Pray and ask the Lord if Edward is being truthful in his testimonies? I aint lying!
God bless you Sister.
 

Taken

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Recently I challenged a beloved forum member to visit this website.
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St. SteVen said

Buddha's Miracles Manifest - Sravasti Abbey - A Buddhist Monastery

The Day of Miracles commemorates the time Buddha displayed his miraculous powers for 15 days. Many thousands of minds were transformed. Here's the story.

sravastiabbey.org

sravastiabbey.org

Read the brief….of the link you provided….did not indulge in continuing on to the links in the brief itself…(which was intended to give directions on how to celebrate the miracles)…which is of no interest to me.

So now what?