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What do all these posts have to do with my original post asking you folks what your thorn in the flesh is? Mine is four kinds of physical chronic pain that God has used but didn't cause to keep me humble first as a pastor and now as an author.

I think that spiritual gifts are abilities given to us and guided by the Holy Spirit.

You're very welcome! I'll be praying for your ministry. God has given me three forum ministries, including this one. He has also guided me to write books and has made me a published author in both fiction and nonfiction, which blew my mind! God is great!

I know for a fact that the eleven pastors in our large church and the people in my small group are genuine Christians following Christ. I hope that you can find such a genuine church home too.

Yes, he is always good as our Father! It's really difficult to focus on God when people betray and mistreat us. I know that similar things happened to me in two of my churches. God enabled me to lament persistently those situations, the way David did in almost half of the Psalms, though it's not...

Brother Simonides, I understand your situation completely. I hope that you will eventually find a church home. You're on my daily prayer list. May the Lord bless you.

I am part of the universal church too, and I go to church when I can, given my limitations at 82 years old. So, you don't follow Hebrews 10:25 to gather together with believers in worship? There must be some gathering of believers, part of the body of Christ, in your area, where you can worship...

Thank you, Johann, for your condolences. However, God has given me his peace of Philippians 4:6-7. Her death has been a huge adjustment for me, through which God has guided me. He receives all the praise!

Prove to me that all three were heretics by quoting their own writings in context. If you can't, I'll know that you have retracted your accusations.

I'm an 82-year-old widower. I was an English teacher for 8 years, a sales manager for 3 years, and a pastor for 27 years with master's degrees in English and Theology. Then, God made me a published author in retirement from the ministry. I was christened a Methodist, grew up in and joined a...

Do you think that you have no shortcomings, Dan? See this passage: 1Th 5:16 Rejoice always, 1Th 5:17 pray without ceasing, 1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Paul commands us and also admits that he is imperfect in this passage...

Yes, he doen't change, but people do, because they're fallen, which he also says in his Word.

It's not just in Reformed circles, but it's in all Christians' well-heeled lives in western societies. We have become too complacent and have come almost to the point of thinking that we have arrived spiritually. Half of people in American culture are steady people who don't want to change in...

Our Reformed churches preach the Word but only in a way that "tickles people's ears" without uncomfortable challenges based on the Word.

Among people who have joined this large nondenominational church, it seems to be a hunger for biblical preaching with direct application to our lives with the comfort and challenge of the Word.

The Holy Spirit guided the church closer and closer to the Trinitarianism of the Gospel of John, rightly so, as I have shown you in the above quotes. The Word (the second Person) was with God (the Father) and was God (as the second Person). The quote from Isaiah 55 is there to show you that the...

Why? John's gospel is monotheism, but it reveals more about that one God; he is revealed as three Persons. The Trinity is a mystery showing that he is beyond human thought. Isaiah 55:8 shows that we cannot figure out mysteries about God like the Trinity: Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your...

In rare instances, higher laws than the one against lying take precedence, the laws to love God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. To save lives and to stand up for God, sometimes it's necessary to lie, but again that time is often in war or other times. Rahab's lie would qualify. I'm not...

If you truly believe that the "only God John believes in is the Messiah's God: one person, the Father, how do you interpret the following verses? Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God. Joh 1:3 All...