Reason for The Crusades explained

[Matthias]

I can do ya one better than that!
(true story folks)
Some 40+ years ago, after what I can only describe as "a very Transformative Event, a Visitation(?)", but t'was more than that even. God's "presence" filled my whole being with Himself, with SUCH strength, and LOVE that it quite LITERALLY "MELTED ME!" To such a degree that a "part" of me, although unsure of "which part" was WITH HIM. I could "see" AND speak however. And another part of me, was my beating heart as He was holding it in His hand. While another part of me, looked just like some very thick melting quivering wax lying on the floor.
And this was a bit after I told Him to STOP! As I couldn't handle the "level of LOVE" He was filling me with!
to which He smiled and kind of laughed exclaiming that: "THIS was ONLY a small sliver, like the very tip of My "pinky nail." (verbatim wording too! That's what He ACTUALLY SAID!)
He said: "I just came by to see how you were doing!"
The whole thing lasted around ohhh? 'bout 20 minutes er so, yet seemed/felt like much longer than that!
Afterwards, when I was back into my "normal scheduled programming ?"
OH!!...Before I forget? Another thing He told me was: "You WERE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE YANNO?" "Your "LIFE" is NOT YOUR OWN!"
Well?......To make a long story shorter, and to answer the query concerning D.L. Moody?
I enrolled in "at home mail in college Bible courses FROM M.B.I. (Moody Bible Institute...for your readers that don't know) in Chicago to which I spent around $500.00 for several courses. Can't remember what all courses they were. The first and only lesson I did was like "diagramming" a book of the Bible. Which was Jonah! Finished it, mailed it in, and got a B+ er A- for. (been 40 + years....I forget things....LOL)
ANYWAYS? I dove into the next chapter of the course, and started doing that one? When this all to familiar voice spoke into my ear asking:
"You want THEM to TEACH YOU?" "Or ME?"
Well?...........Without TOO MUCH hesitation ATALL? I said: "Why YOU, of course!"
Which brings to mind an "addage" oft times given to Believers coveting earnestly "higher" Spiritual gifts!:
"Better be CAREFUL when asking God for something!"
Cuz? "What a Long STRANGE TRIP IT'S BEEN!"
And?.........STILL IS!!
In conclusion? That $500.00 dollars was the BEST money I've ever "blown" on something I thought was the "way" to go. But wasn't HIS Way" NOR the way NOR direction HE wanted me to go!
And THAT was my "First and ONLY experience" with D.L. Moody or ANY "Schools of higher "traditional" spiritual indoctrination!"
Oh! Another thing He told me before I closed the books from M.B.I.?:
"EVERYTHING you learned?"
"IS WRONG!"
(disclaimer)
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS WILL VARY!
Cuz? We all AIN'T the SAME!
BUT?
We ALL are part of the "MANY MEMBERED BODY OF CHRIST!"
In SPITE of the fact that "some members" don't see nor feel the NEED for us!
View attachment 84728

Not all who say they are, are.

 

[Matthias]

“There has never been a time in my life when I felt that I could take a gun and shoot-down a fellow-being. In this respect I am a Quaker.” - D.L. Moody

@Wrangler @Armour of God @NayborBear

A “disgusting” evangelist? A “man in form but not substance”?

So says the concealed identity church. My plea: Come out of her.

 

[NayborBear]

Not all who say they are, are.

In your "world?" Everyone that "preserves, defends, or contends" FOR the faith with knife, gun, or sword is EVIL!
RIGHT?
And I bet you're wondering why the world is becoming EVER SO DARKER? Or? Why do BAD things happen to GOOD people!
All it takes for evil to triumph?
Is for GOOD men?..........To:
DO????...........NOTHING!!!!!!

 

[Matthias]

In your "world?" Everyone that "preserves, defends, or contends" FOR the faith with knife, gun, or sword is EVIL!
RIGHT?

My world is the Messiah and the apostles‘ world. -> “We do not use the weapons of the world.”

To disobey their teaching and to not follow the example they set is to follow the evil way of the world.

And I bet you're wondering why the world is becoming EVER SO DARKER? Or? Why do BAD things happen to GOOD people!
All it takes for evil to triumph?
Is for GOOD men?..........To:
DO????...........NOTHING!!!!!!

The Messiah and the apostles didn’t do “nothing”. Neither do I do nothing. I do what they did, and I teach and preach others to do the same.

 

[Matthias]

“Meanwhile I just screw around with Matthias now Lol. I don’t respond to his nonsense I just post pictures to trigger him. Hahaha. He deserves it.”

@NayborBear do you recognize it? Do you know who wrote it?

@Wrangler and @Armour of God and I do -

Post in thread 'Bill Warner, PhD: Jihad vs Crusades'
Bill Warner, PhD: Jihad vs Crusades

Though not intended as such, it has been a blessing to me.

Follow their conversation to the end of that thread. Their thinking is obviously not the thinking of Jesus and the apostles.

***

I used the following quote from Moody this morning:

“The best way to show that a stick is crooked is not to argue about it or to spend time denouncing it, but to lay a straight stick alongside it.”

By all means, show us your stick. Let’s lay the straight stick of Messiah and the apostles alongside it.

 

[NayborBear]

By all means, show us your stick. Let’s lay the straight stick of Messiah and the apostles alongside it.

Ok?.............OK! I've posted this several times before? And? CAN again!
What I CAN'T and WON'T do is make you accept it as being TRUTH!
Psalms 110:1
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, UNTIL I MAKE THINE ENEMIES THY FOOTSTOOL.

Now? THAT being said? It would be IMPOSSIBLE to make a footstool for Christ's ENEMIES should said FOOTSTOOL OVERCOME THE LORD!
Now wouldn't it?

And the Father and GOD of Jesus Christ of Nazareth?
AIN'T GONNA LET THAT HAPPEN!

So? What happens? Is that HE gets people of (how can I say) "baser morales and ethics" (meaning NOT AFRAID IN GETTING THEIR HANDS DIRTY) to FIGHT the battles and WARS to "PRESERVE the Way", FOR HIS SON Because? His Son's followers? Turn up their collective noses at such "base" behaviors!
Citing?:
"OH!"..........."THAT'S SO GROSS AND SO FAR BENEATH US!"

Y'all think YOUR THROWING ROCKS AT THE DEVIL!
WHEN? You are throwing ROCKS at He who SITS on HIS throne!
And? Where's Jesus? OH! He's at the right hand SIDE of HE who sits on HIS Throne!
Something to keep in mind Come the LORD'S Day!
Do you actually THINK this verse here was only "focused" on those days of yore?:
Ezekiel 13:
10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, PEACE; and THERE WAS NO PEACE; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
So? Go on and KEEP treating God the Father like "Chopped Liver!"
Ain't no skin off MY nose!

 

[Matthias]

Ok?.............OK! I've posted this several times before? And? CAN again!
What I CAN'T and WON'T do is make you accept it as being TRUTH!
Psalms 110:1
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, UNTIL I MAKE THINE ENEMIES THY FOOTSTOOL.

As I’ve said multiple times already, I say again now: It is the truth. Check and see for yourself how many times the NT writers quote or allude to it.

Jesus, the apostles, and the followers of Jesus for centuries didn’t use the sword; and Christianity was preserved. That’s basic and fundamental Christian history.

Who did? Those who didn’t follow the teaching and example set by Jesus, the apostles, and the earliest followers of Jesus.

Now? THAT being said? It would be IMPOSSIBLE to make a footstool for Christ's ENEMIES should said FOOTSTOOL OVERCOME THE LORD!
Now wouldn't it?

And the Father and GOD of Jesus Christ of Nazareth?
AIN'T GONNA LET THAT HAPPEN!

So? What happens? Is that HE gets people of (how can I say) "baser morales and ethics" (meaning NOT AFRAID IN GETTING THEIR HANDS DIRTY) to FIGHT the battles and WARS to "PRESERVE the Way", FOR HIS SON Because? His Son's followers? Turn up their collective noses at such "base" behaviors!
Citing?:
"OH!"..........."THAT'S SO GROSS AND SO FAR BENEATH US!"

Y'all think YOUR THROWING ROCKS AT THE DEVIL!
WHEN? You are throwing ROCKS at He who SITS on HIS throne!
And? Where's Jesus? OH! He's at the right hand SIDE of HE who sits on HIS Throne!
Something to keep in mind Come the LORD'S Day!
Do you actually THINK this verse here was only "focused" on those days of yore?:
Ezekiel 13:
10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, PEACE; and THERE WAS NO PEACE; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
So? Go on and KEEP treating God the Father like "Chopped Liver!"
Ain't no skin off MY nose!
View attachment 84733

The way of the Messiah has been attacked for 2,000 years. It doesn’t take disobeying the teaching of Jesus and the apostles to preserve it. (In fact, that’s another way of attacking it.)





You can and should read the history.

The Messiah’s way cannot be overcome, no matter how much violence is inflicted on it.

 

[Wrangler]

Now? THAT being said? It would be IMPOSSIBLE to make a footstool for Christ's ENEMIES should said FOOTSTOOL OVERCOME THE LORD!
Now wouldn't it?

And the Father and GOD of Jesus Christ of Nazareth?
AIN'T GONNA LET THAT HAPPEN!

Funny! Be like Jesus. No, not that Jesus.

 

[Matthias]

Funny! Be like Jesus. No, not that Jesus.

The apostles were like Jesus.

 

[Anchorite]

Don't think I've been mislead. Also think the chances of success in evangelizing muslims in general are slim to none!

Brother, this is a pessimistic attitude that Christians should not have. It is cynical, and wrong.

Jews in Jesus’ day were hostile to the cult of Samaritans, and thought they were entirely vile and hopeless dogs. But when Jesus wanted to teach about loving your neighbor, He exalted a Good Samaritan as an example of love in action.

Extraordinary stories about massive numbers of Muslims converting to Christ are appearing worldwide.

Recently in World Magazine, writer Warren Cole Smith interviewed 25-year missionary David Garrison who has documented his findings about the Muslim phenomenon.

“There is a revival in the Muslim world,” Garrison says. He believes between 2 and 7 million former Muslims have converted to Christianity in the past two decades. His book, A Wind in the House of Islam, contains impressive research to back up his claim.

Why is this happening? Nabeel Qureshi, a popular speaker and author, explains in his book and online testimony that the gospel is being proclaimed with greater effectiveness. Qureshi affirms that the Holy Spirit works primarily by and through Scripture. And in his own experience, he says that subjective visions about Christ were also steps in his conversion from Islam to faith in Christ.

Open Doors USA recently reported a remarkable conversion story of a former Muslim man in Iran named Taher. He would beat his family and even threaten to kill them because of their faith in Jesus.

After Taher's family fled abroad, time passed and in his growing despair he cried out: "I will believe in the God who reveals Himself to me."

According to his story (here), the living God answered his prayers through a dream. It isn’t clear how much of the Bible Taher was exposed to, but he heard the gospel through the witness of his family and saw the reality of their faith in the face of persecution.

 

[Wrangler]

Brother, this is a pessimistic attitude that Christians should not have. It is cynical, and wrong.

Let’s look at some facts?

1. What % of Mecca is Christian?
2. What is the proper response in the Koran to Muslims who become apostate?
3. In 1400 years how many Muslim countries became Christian majority?

Now, I can understand if you want to ground an attitude on things other than these relevant facts as that mirrors this whole thread as far as your involvement; out of touch with soulful facts relevant to whatever is under discussion.

 

[Matthias]

When did Jesus or His apostles ever advocate driving on the right hand side of the road?

But Jesus did say, “Put away your sword,” and the apostles and other followers of Jesus put away the sword.

How do we know they didn’t use the sword to kill their enemies? The New Testament and Ante Nicene Church history.

”We do not use the weapons of the world.” - Pope Urban II? Don’t we all know better than that? Any identified church? No. A secretive fringe group? Yes.

@Armour of God @NayborBear

If we don’t teach like the apostles, we aren’t following Jesus.

If we don’t act like the apostles, we aren’t following Jesus.

”Follow Jesus. Not that Jesus.” - Wrangler

That’s one of the best comments I’ve ever heard you make.

The concealed identity church - “You are not following Jesus if you aren't armed, ready to kill” - has you following “another Jesus“ and teaching others to do the same; something which the apostles - “We do not use the weapons of the world” - did not do.

P.S.

You say those who don’t use the sword to kill their enemies don’t do justice. Justin Martyr said:

 

[NayborBear]

The Messiah’s way cannot be overcome, no matter how much violence is inflicted on it.

This is SO true Matthias!..........SO TRUE!!!

And HE who sits on HIS OWN Throne?.........Had NOTHING to in the Preservation of "The Way" now DID HE?
Kinda sounds like to me, and perhaps other readers?
You're CALLING "HE who sits on HIS OWN Throne?".....
Well?......Yanno?
Kinda makes someone calling Jesus?.....Well?........Yanno?
Look R-A-T-H-E-R "pale" in comparison!
Doncha THINK?

 

[Matthias]

This is SO true Matthias!..........SO TRUE!!!

Thank you for acknowledging it.

And HE who sits on HIS OWN Throne?.........Had NOTHING to in the Preservation of "The Way" now DID HE?

He who sits on his own throne has everything to do with the preservation of the Messiah’s way.

Kinda sounds like to me, and perhaps other readers?
You're CALLING "HE who sits on HIS OWN Throne?".....
Well?......Yanno?
Kinda makes someone calling Jesus?.....Well?........Yanno?
Look R-A-T-H-E-R "pale" in comparison!
Doncha THINK?

What I know is that you aren’t a very good student of early church history.

You know that Jesus and the apostles didn’t use the weapons of the world. (Good.) You know the New Testament documents that the followers of Jesus were persecuted and did not use the weapons of the world to kill their enemies. (Good.) If you had read the Ante Nicene writings you would know that for the first three centuries of the Christian experience they were heavily persecuted and did not use the sword to kill their enemies. You can read it but you’ve chosen not to. (Bad.)

Christianity was preserved through those early centuries without the followers of Jesus killing their enemies.

 

[Matthias]

“You are not following Jesus if you aren’t armed, ready to kill.“ - Concealed identity church

”There’s a basic question here: is it our vocation as Christians to be prepared to kill other human beings in the name of clinging to this world?”

(Mark Arey, “The Two Swords: Christians and Their Weapons”)

The Two Swords: Christians and Their Weapons

And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords!” Jesus said to them, “It is enough.” – Luke 22:38 Americans, especially American Christians, have a fixation on their so-called “God-given Second Amendment Right” to arm themselves to the hilt. I know many Orthodox, even some clergy, who own and...

publicorthodoxy.org

@Wrangler @Armour of God @NayborBear

I invite you - and all of my readers - to read what this former priest of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has to say about it. Reading time: 4 minutes.

 

[Matthias]

I don’t question it but condemn it as the ultimate act of cowardice. I’m too morally superior to do the dirty work required for survival - literal and cultural. What a sorry excuse for a human being!

“Nonviolence can only overcome evil if it is the act of God’s power on earth, working through human beings. If living nonviolently amounts to passivity, it may even encourage evil. But the majority is wrong if it accuses pacifists of wanting to keep their hands clean. Nonviolence engages evil, it does not withdraw from it.”

(Andre Trocme, Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution, p. 153)

@Armour of God @NayborBear

This is something you’ve not understood. And it has led you to falsely accuse and dismiss extraordinarily brave men - including the apostles - as cowards.

 

[Matthias]

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

Concealed identity church -> “You are not following Jesus if you aren’t armed, ready to kill.”

Paul -> “We do not use the weapons of the world.”

Concealed identity church -> ”A man in form but not substance. Cowardly.”

@Wrangler @Armour of God @NayborBear

The spirit of the concealed identity church.

“So the reason for testing the spirits, for testing all religious teaching, is to see if it is truly from God or if it is a lie from Satan and his servants. … The test is to compare what is being taught with the clear teaching of the Bible.”

What does it mean to test the spirits? | GotQuestions.org

What does it mean to test the spirits? In what context are we to test the spirits, and what is the basis on which to test?

www.gotquestions.org

 

[Matthias]

Pacifism isn’t passive.

What does AI think about that statement?

“You are spot on. True pacifism is a highly active and courageous stance. It is not rolling over or doing nothing; it requires intense discipline, moral strength, and a deliberate refusal to engage in the cycle of violence.

The philosophy breaks down into a few core, active principles:

• Active Resistance: Pacifism doesn’t mean staying out of the fight.,It means fighting back using non-violent resistance, civil disobedience, and diplomacy. It demands stepping directly into danger without resorting to aggression.

• Building Peace: Peace is an ongoing process. It means doing the hard, daily work of addressing systemic injustice, fostering dialogue, and building equitable systems so that the conditions for violence don’t arise in the first place.

• Disrupting the Cycle: It actively rejects the notion that violence solves violence, seeking transformation and reconciliation over retribution and destruction.”

That is the spirit of AI. Just as I recommended testing the spirit of the concealed identity church (in post #2457 ), I recommend testing the spirit of AI.

 

[Matthias]

“War is actually much worse than hell. In the Christian definition of hell, there are no innocents in hell. Most all of the casualties in modern warfare are innocent noncombatants. The most emotionally difficult experience for me in Vietnam was witnessing the suffering inflicted upon little kids. No one will ever convince me that the knee-high kids in pain that I witnessed were ever guilty of anything.”

(Paul Appell)

https://www.galesburg.com/story/opinion/letters/2022/03/15/letter-war-worse-than-hell-stop-invasion-ukraine/7047867001/

Phan Thi Kim Phuc “Napalm Girl”

 

[Matthias]

“No normal man who has smelled and associated with death ever wants to see more of it. …” - Bill Mauldin

@Wrangler @Armour of God @NayborBear