So now you can see what is in the hearts of every single person who has come forward desiring to turn away from sin and begin their relationship with Jesus.
Wow, you're good.
Wow, you're good.
what's the weirdest thing you've had happen or seen happen in church?
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For me it would have happened after the Hell fire and brimstone sermons which were so scary that I can't believe they said TV was bad. Any way even though I was a Christian girl and unaware of any sin, my whole body would shake. I went to the altar to get saved over and again because of this. I now believe I went to the altar to make the devil happy. Oh how confusing that was.
My Father told me it meant I was under conviction. But for What? My only sin I could think of was not working fast enough to satisfy my parents.
After this severe shaking and getting saved again within the week my Mother would inform me that I could not possibly be saved because I could not do the work she required and I would then be shaken severely again at the next altar call. Why did I believe them? Why do I still feel so unloved by God?
Truthfully the shaking at the hell service was not as bad as the beatings by my slave driver!!
My Father told me it meant I was under conviction. But for What? My only sin I could think of was not working fast enough to satisfy my parents.
After this severe shaking and getting saved again within the week my Mother would inform me that I could not possibly be saved because I could not do the work she required and I would then be shaken severely again at the next altar call. Why did I believe them? Why do I still feel so unloved by God?
Truthfully the shaking at the hell service was not as bad as the beatings by my slave driver!!
One time a friend of mine asked me if I would take her husband to an evening service in another town. The Church had an awesome visiting team of Deliverers, Evangelists and Warfarer's coming in to take their service and she felt that he needed to be prayed for or something because he was just so grumpy...
So I reluctantly did. :unsure: I could literally see lightning bolts coming out of the dark cloud that sat above his head as we traveled to that service in total silence.
Oh boy!, I was really hoping that the main speaker would call him up for prayer! The Church was packed out and people were falling under the power of the Holy Spirit. My friends husband and I found a seat at the back and listened to the speaker ministering to various people.
Suddenly he locked eyes on me and I was ready to up and run.... :huh: I had some issues back in those days but the Lord was dealing with them and I thought my friends hubby had bigger issues than I did. Anyway Lol!
He pointed at me and was about to say something, when I prayed and asked the Lord not to allow him to speak my personal issues out loud - he hesitated and then called out from up the front that "I was not going to leave this building until those issues" were dealt with"....Lol! [that just made me more desirous to leave]
What happened next was incredible...I saw a ball of blue lightning rolling down the isle from where this minister was standing and he was following right behind it until it hit me. It felt like a high voltage electrical charge had passed through my body. Anyway, he prayed for me and I felt much relief, praise God!
Unfortunately my friend's hubby did not get ministered to so I took the grumpy thing home in the same condition that he was in, when he first left...
So I reluctantly did. :unsure: I could literally see lightning bolts coming out of the dark cloud that sat above his head as we traveled to that service in total silence.
Oh boy!, I was really hoping that the main speaker would call him up for prayer! The Church was packed out and people were falling under the power of the Holy Spirit. My friends husband and I found a seat at the back and listened to the speaker ministering to various people.
Suddenly he locked eyes on me and I was ready to up and run.... :huh: I had some issues back in those days but the Lord was dealing with them and I thought my friends hubby had bigger issues than I did. Anyway Lol!
He pointed at me and was about to say something, when I prayed and asked the Lord not to allow him to speak my personal issues out loud - he hesitated and then called out from up the front that "I was not going to leave this building until those issues" were dealt with"....Lol! [that just made me more desirous to leave]
What happened next was incredible...I saw a ball of blue lightning rolling down the isle from where this minister was standing and he was following right behind it until it hit me. It felt like a high voltage electrical charge had passed through my body. Anyway, he prayed for me and I felt much relief, praise God!
Unfortunately my friend's hubby did not get ministered to so I took the grumpy thing home in the same condition that he was in, when he first left...
Haha, I was on a mission trip to Nicaragua at the age of 19 (wasn't saved at this time).
The entire group went to the house of a dead presumed prophet in the region and we all prayed and had a couple of men start to speak words of divine insight. About 5 minutes in, I was on the receiving end of a physically manifesting deliverance.
Pretty sure that's the craziest thing I've experienced in a 'church' function.
The entire group went to the house of a dead presumed prophet in the region and we all prayed and had a couple of men start to speak words of divine insight. About 5 minutes in, I was on the receiving end of a physically manifesting deliverance.
Pretty sure that's the craziest thing I've experienced in a 'church' function.
I was in the Navy and my ship pulled into San Diego. My homeport was Alameda, Ca. I went out the night we pulled into San Diego looking for fellowship. I was a 1 year old Christian and I used to go on "field trips". Meaning, I used to go to many different flavors of churches because I was a new Christian and I wanted to see what Christianity was all about. I thought I would visit this Apostolic Holiness Church one night since I had never been to one. I took a young brother (recently born-again) with me. It was interesting to say the least. What was weird was when they took the collection for the offering/tithe. They had everyone exit their seat and parade up to the front of the church and drop their offering into a basket. I refused to do that and the preacher took note as he stared me down and tried to guilt me into coming up. I was sitting right in the middle and the Preacher could see me and did take notice that I did not get up to bring my offering to him. After everyone sat down, he called for them to get up and do it again. Again, I looked at him and he looked at me and I refused to get up. After everyone sat down, he called for a third parade of everyone to come up front and put their offering in the basket. Again, he stared me down and I just sat there. I could see that he was doing this until everyone came up and gave him their offering (money). The more he did it, the more indignant (righteous indignation) I became and I refused to be manipulated by him and the spirit working in him. That was one of my first introductions to American Christianity as I was saved overseas and never heard the Gospel growing up in America. Others don't do that, however they have a bit more subtle ways of manipulating people to give. I posted in some Tithing Thread about "Fear Preaching" and what many say to scare people into giving.
In another church I was a guest of my mother-in-law and we were sitting in the middle about 10 rows back and during worship (he Preacher was kind of leading it), he was telling the people to raise their hands, then clap their hands and he just kept telling the congregation to do different things during worship and I did not do those things. To tell you the truth, I discerned something strange about him and I am not a monkey that just does whatever the Preacher tells me to do. I know how to worship the Lord and if I want to raise my hands or fall on my face, I will. Anyway, right in the middle of worship he stopped everything and basically spoke directly to me about why I was not doing anything and kind of called me out. He was obviously upset that I was not "dancing to his music". I did not say a thing. I just looked at him. It was very weird. I had my wife and 4 kids with me along with my mother and father in law. Later, they all thought that was a weird thing of him to do.
About six months later, my mother and father-in-law left that church and did not tell us. They were embarrassed to, (I later found out). Their preacher had left his wife and was involved in a homosexual relationship.
I had heard that he had a wonderful salvation story, but that boy needed deliverance, too. He obviously had some lingering enemies in the land that he was unwilling to give up.
FEAR PREACHING post #29
Jesus does not like His sheep taken advantage of.
In another church I was a guest of my mother-in-law and we were sitting in the middle about 10 rows back and during worship (he Preacher was kind of leading it), he was telling the people to raise their hands, then clap their hands and he just kept telling the congregation to do different things during worship and I did not do those things. To tell you the truth, I discerned something strange about him and I am not a monkey that just does whatever the Preacher tells me to do. I know how to worship the Lord and if I want to raise my hands or fall on my face, I will. Anyway, right in the middle of worship he stopped everything and basically spoke directly to me about why I was not doing anything and kind of called me out. He was obviously upset that I was not "dancing to his music". I did not say a thing. I just looked at him. It was very weird. I had my wife and 4 kids with me along with my mother and father in law. Later, they all thought that was a weird thing of him to do.
About six months later, my mother and father-in-law left that church and did not tell us. They were embarrassed to, (I later found out). Their preacher had left his wife and was involved in a homosexual relationship.
I had heard that he had a wonderful salvation story, but that boy needed deliverance, too. He obviously had some lingering enemies in the land that he was unwilling to give up.
FEAR PREACHING post #29
Jesus does not like His sheep taken advantage of.
Hello Shirley, It's not my intention to upset you, but I wanted to ask you a question or two. When I was a child, if someone asked me if I were a Christian, I would have said yes, because I was raised believing that I was Christian by virtue of birth to a "Christian" mother, catechism in the articles of faith in the R.C. church, and a genuine belief that Jesus is God, but I can tell you now that I wasn't born again until I was 39 years old, had never actually heard or at least understood the gospel until that age, and therefore couldn't have received Jesus Christ by faith (I didn't even know that such a thing was possible.) Would you tell me why you believed yourself to be Christian as a girl while being unaware of any sin? I would say it's impossible to be a Christian without being aware of your sin, but please indulge me with an explanation of what you believe makes you a "Christian." Perhaps I may be able to help you. When I was a child, I felt the same way with regard to my sin, that is, I wasn't aware of any sin in my life, but in retrospect I'd done things worthy of death under the law of Moses (I was a disobedient and rebellious child even though at the time I believed my behavior was justified by my circumstances.) The scripture tells us that if we say that we have no sin, we are liars. The problem is that we generally aren't very qualified to identify our own sin, unless we know that we've definitely broken one of the 10 commandments, or something of that nature. In God's economy it takes a work of the Holy Spirit to bring us to a conviction of our sin (by nature we tend to imagine that we are faultless, especially when we are engaged in the practice of religion.) As a child, I tried to do things to please God, but often found that evil things happened to me after doing something "good." This lead me to question God's goodness or love for me. After all, my parents rewarded me for doing those things that they told me to do, and I was convinced that at least one of them genuinely loved me, so why wouldn't God reward me for doing "good"? Didn't He love me? Our parents can be a source of confusion without ever meaning to be. I was unable to believe that God loved me until I understood just how much I'd been forgiven and just how much it cost Him.Shirley said:
Thank-you for your response Michael. I was raised in extremely legalistic religion. I was aware of sins and saved or born again at a very young age. I was taught things were sin that were not sins. I suffered daily! I tried with all my heart and soul not to ever sin and yet was constantly accused of it. There is no doubt in my mind that I loved God with all my heart! I was never in trouble at school but at home I was never doing enough to satisfy my parents. I begged God to forgive me for my short comings every night before bed and at every altar call. I just did the best I could and no one from my religion ever helped me with more than a smile or loving word. I should not be telling this but maybe someone out here knows how hard it is. When your parents belong to the crazy religion, or a wrong religion, then your heart tells you it is wrong but your brain tells you they must be right. Confusing beyond belief. I now know that my heart knew it was wrong, but what child does not believe their parents must be right? My sin was not working harder than an adult, or making too much noise. The discernment that I had as a young child was misinterpreted for me by my parents. It was a war between my spirit and my brain. After all what child thinks their parents are wrong? Now I know, but I did not know then. I am still considered to be bad by my parents and just do the best I can to love and respect them even when they are totally wrong. It is hard to do your best to be good while being accused of evil. Just wish that even one person in my crazy home church would have cared enough to reach out to me. They were not all bad, but they would not stick up for the children who were being abused and they still don't! I guess a lot of them were just minding there own business and abuse is still rampant in the religion and I still suffer from lack of love. At this point though I guess it is my own fault that I am still not sure if God loves me.Michael V Pardo said:
Long before I converted to Catholciism, I used to go to this tabernacle church a few miles away from my aunt and uncle. They had a woman go up to the front and start to preach, and when she stomped on the ground in zealousy of the Word, my ear started ringing and my face got red hot. I then got up to go to the restroom, where I later forgot how I had gotten there.
True story. I didn't know what to make of that, because nothing had happened afterward or ever since.
True story. I didn't know what to make of that, because nothing had happened afterward or ever since.
I could fill a book with stories of when I was being raised a Catholic, but they wouldn't have much relevance here.
Hello again, Shirley,Shirley said:
I have a friend at work, the brother who introduced me to the Lord and prayed with me to receive Him by faith. We don't work on the same shift anymore, but I usually have a little time to talk to him on any given day and occasionally take a change of shift to work with him. One day while talking about the Lord, he told me that it was probably the hardest thing for us to receive the love of God or to accept the notion that God loves us, and I would tend to agree with him to some extent. We tend to build our perception of God based upon our experiences in a fallen world. Our view of God as "Father" can be greatly influenced by our experience with our own fathers. Our view of family can color our perception of the church as well, and coming from a legalistic tradition can only make such perceptions worse. Having a distorted view of God or of life isn't our fault, but the weight of believing His word does fall upon us. After the Lord's death and resurrection he met with two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus and they didn't recognize who He was. They recounted to Him all that had happened with regard to His own death and their disappointment at it. Afterwords He rebuked them, not for lack of faith, or for their attitude, but for their slowness to believe all that the scripture says. The book of 1st John has a lot to say about love and specifically in the context of the love of God toward us and the manifestation of His love in our love for one another. One of the more powerful passages says: 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1st John 4:7-11
The Apostle Paul also wrote in the book of Romans: But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
God's love for us is not dependent upon our performance, but upon His eternal character which never changes. One of our problems is that we tend to be somewhat fickle by nature, but its only foolishness to believe that God is like us. His goal is to renew us in His image, or to make us more like Him. In the book of Ephesians we find Paul telling us this: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6 This last passage isn't saying that we must first be holy and without blame in order for Him to love us, but rather that He has made us to be accepted and also makes us to be holy and without blame fefore before Him. This is His work in us through His Spirit and part of what we call sanctification. The Devil may point out our sin to us to condemn us, but the Lord shows us our sin so that we may confess it and know that we are forgiven for it because of His word and the covenent of His blood. God calls us to repentance, but His love has never been conditional upon it. In any case repentance doesn't make us free of sin, but means that we've turned toward God seeking His will rather than seeking our own. We also tend to confuse love with affection. Our parents demonstrate their affection for us when they kiss us or hug us, but their love for us is demonstrated in their feeding and clothing us, providing for our safety and well being, disciplining us when we require discipline, rebuking us when we require rebuke. God's love is also manifested in all these things.
I think that emotionally we require affection as a proof of love, but affection may be completely without love. Now, I have had the experience of "feeling" the love of God in the same way I might feel a warm embrace, but this was always in the context of some grevious trial, an illness or profound hurt inflicted by someone that I cared about, or something of that nature. This is what I perceive of as that "peace of God, which surpasses all understanding," and it comes to us when we forgive others for their transgressions against us, or when we accept our circumstance in the knowledge that the testing of our faith is for the purposes of making us complete in Christ. There are times when we must not act according to our feelings, but rather according to our knowledge of the word of God. In trusting in the faithfulness of His word we may find His peace. I don't know if this will help, but I find that the love of God is most manifested toward me when I'm engaged in demonstrating His love to others. When its difficult to "feel" God's love, its prudent to pray to Him for opportunity to show His love to others. God will provide people who need our love and strangely enough these will often be people who are very difficult to love, sometimes even parents or a church that is undeserving of our love, but we didn't deserve the love of God and He gives it to us freely. There is a river which flows from the heart of God. You can be a channel of that river, or a well from which it's water springs to quench the thirst of those in need. That's love, and when you give God's love you will feel it abundantly. Sometimes we feel that we are unworthy of God's love and so we are unable to accept it, but our worthiness was never a requirement of His love. No one but Jesus could ever really be called worthy of the love of God, because no one but Jesus ever did everything for God's good pleasure, but the good news is that we are accepted in Him by faith and God accounts us as worthy because of His righteousness and not because of our own. I'll pray for you and that God may ease the burdens of your heart, but if you've known Him then you can be sure that you are known by Him and accepted in Him. The feelings will follow as you make them manifest to others. Have to go now for an appointment, but the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you. Amen.
I was part of a counsel and worship team for a traveling crusade that came into our city, where a well known NZ international evangelist and healer came to take the service. This was hosted by the FGBFI and held in a public hall. The place was so packed that folks had to stand in the back or wherever they could find room. During the time that the worship was in full swing, a woman in the front began to manifest. She started to spin violently in one spot, screaming and spinning with incredible speed. The speaker got us to stop the worship and walked over to her. By this time she had collapsed on the ground and he got her friends to pick her up and rebuked the spirit of witchcraft, saying to her "this is what happens when you mess around with witchcraft." There was a large volume of non-believers in that audience. Some came in for a laugh and to challenge the God we serve. Many did not leave in the same condition that they came in though and there was a huge reaping of salvation's that night. ^_^
Shalom!
Shalom!
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