Paranoid Christianity

[Triumph1300]

I had a bad experience once at Walmart.

Walmart is part of the Beast system.
Walmart was originally designed to be FEMA camps equipped with guillotines.
RFID chips will be used to track everything from Peanut Butter to all the prisoners being held at Walmart detention centers.
Barack Obama...I mean Donald Trump will be initiating the mandatory RFID chip implants to be used on people all over the world.
They will all be kept at Walmarts all over the country and in China.

Does this make sense??

 

[amadeus]

I think you and I on the same page as far as this goes. I've just heard Christians on here who really seem to have it out for all ministers, and I don't think that's fair. Sure, there are bad ministers. But just because people have had bad experiences with ministers doesn't mean they're all bad.

I believe that God gave us ministers to accomplish His purposes:

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:" Eph 4:11-15

But at least two problems exist. One is some men who are not even called by God take on the role of a minister. The other is that some who are called for God don't follow God as they work in their called ministry. Which is the worst? Let each of them ask God!

Of course then there is the side which you mention. Some who are called and are striving to always do God's work are pressured by other powers to change their ways or even to quit their ministry. That is the situation with my pastor. Pray for him and his small congregation who suffer in this.

 

[forrestcupp]

I had a bad experience once at Walmart.

Walmart is part of the Beast system.
Walmart was originally designed to be FEMA camps equipped with guillotines.
RFID chips will be used to track everything from Peanut Butter to all the prisoners being held at Walmart detention centers.
Barack Obama...I mean Donald Trump will be initiating the mandatory RFID chip implants to be used on people all over the world.
They will all be kept at Walmarts all over the country and in China.

Does this make sense??

Haha. I hope you're joking. I actually know someone who really believes this. The Walmart in my small city just shut down, and this person said it's going to be used for a FEMA camp with guillotines.

 

[forrestcupp]

I believe that God gave us ministers to accomplish His purposes:

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:" Eph 4:11-15

But at least two problems exist. One is some men who are not even called by God take on the role of a minister. The other is that some who are called for God don't follow God as they work in their called ministry. Which is the worst? Let each of them ask God!

Of course then there is the side which you mention. Some who are called and are striving to always do God's work are pressured by other powers to change their ways or even to quit their ministry. That is the situation with my pastor. Pray for him and his small congregation who suffer in this.

It's tough when a pastor gets old. There is a church down the road from mine who had a pastor that was getting old. His associate pastor was a younger guy, who is a great man who loves Jesus and has an evangelistic heart. People wanted the lead pastor to step down because he was old, and they wanted the associate to take over. But he never did. Finally, he passed away, and now the younger guy is pastoring the church. It's just a tough situation because when you invest so much into something, it's hard to pass it on to someone else.

 

[amadeus]

It's tough when a pastor gets old. There is a church down the road from mine who had a pastor that was getting old. His associate pastor was a younger guy, who is a great man who loves Jesus and has an evangelistic heart. People wanted the lead pastor to step down because he was old, and they wanted the associate to take over. But he never did. Finally, he passed away, and now the younger guy is pastoring the church. It's just a tough situation because when you invest so much into something, it's hard to pass it on to someone else.

It is good that someone who has the right heart for God is there to fill a good man's shoe. I wish I could say that this was the case for us. There is a good man who will oversee the assemble when our pastor is taken, but he has his own assembly about 150 miles away and cannot come as often as is needed. There is another minister locally who wants the job and will probably get it but his purposes seem to me to be wrong. I really wish that I were wrong on this.

 

[Triumph1300]

Haha. I hope you're joking.

Lol, yes, I was.

 

[Helen]

I had a bad experience once at Walmart.

Walmart is part of the Beast system.
Walmart was originally designed to be FEMA camps equipped with guillotines.
RFID chips will be used to track everything from Peanut Butter to all the prisoners being held at Walmart detention centers.
Barack Obama...I mean Donald Trump will be initiating the mandatory RFID chip implants to be used on people all over the world.
They will all be kept at Walmarts all over the country and in China.

Does this make sense??

Clever.
. . . . . . . .

 

[bbyrd009]

Nothing is hard for Him?

leaving them all in the desert didn't seem to be a problem, i guess

 

[bbyrd009]

It does help us understand how great and complicated God really has to be.

i don't see how their motives mattered; that they manifested snakes is explanation enough for me. i personally don't understand how a contemporary believer could not relate their present circumstances to the Wanderers, and i'm pretty sure it's bc the example is so relevant that the passage is just ignored tbh, just like the ppl here who cannot face so many certain verses

 

[bbyrd009]

I was under the impression that bbyrd was just straight up saying that it's wrong to worship Jesus, and I can't go along with that at all.

define worship.
That religious ritual thing ppl do in mortgaged buildings, on Sundays?
Jesus is a million miles away from that, imo

 

[bbyrd009]

Why do some of you guys judge all pastors as being money-hungry men who tickle people's ears with false gospel.

Know any "ordained" pastors who have not signed 501(6)c3(6)'s? Now, would i describe them all as "money hungry? certainly not. Imo many, many well intentioned pastors are led astray by this model, and many, many of them seek to escape it once they are entrapped.

gee, i wonder why we're $20 Trillion in debt

 

[bbyrd009]

Some are pure-hearted people who seek the Lord and faithfully study the Word because they want God to move in people's lives.

those do not fall for the obvious trap of ordination by men however.
And if they did, they would be changing the system, not propagating it to this point, right?

and to be fair i understand that the rules have changed on everyone so to speak,
they always do, right--to reflect the membership more accurately-
-but imo that will be a poor excuse at best
the system reflects the evil inherent in it, just like the RCC

when Christ says "leave the world" and you go join the world,
to the extent that you literally sign Contracts for Jesus, what else is there to say?
Say whatever you like, it is the works that are judged

plenty of Spirit led pastors out there who scoff at ordination of men, and refuse to become arms of the government.
But trust me no one would much like what they are preaching, there is no Party in the Sky with Jesus with these guys
no "pillows," no "soft landings."

the Emergent Church (as @aspen describes it) is an example of the genre, although gone too far into counterfeit in his description, imo

 

[bbyrd009]

no "pillows," no "soft landings."

these guys preach Sedition, just like Christ did. For a small--tiny actually--glimpse of what John the Baptist did, just imagine a Muslim going into a small town in Arkansas or somewhere, all by himself, and telling people in the middle of town to repent from Christianity, because the kingdom of God was coming; and of course getting the attention of the youngsters, gathering some acolytes from them.

Now that is a poor reflection, because most ppl in Arkansas could take or leave Christianity anyway, nothing like back then when the whole nation was a Theocracy and you could get stoned for saying "curse the priest" or whatever, "curse the Temple," but it provides a weak glimpse; just imagine that happening someplace with a strong Islamophobic base iow, lots of Pentecostals, etc. For a diluted pov of what John B went through

 

[bbyrd009]

It's not fair to judge them all because some are bad.

Scripture says differently, wadr; you are known by your company, and it is fair to judge them for their actions and associations, the same way you might judge me or anyone. Lie with dogs, get up with fleas

He that walks with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

 

[bbyrd009]

what i mean is, if you want to ally yourself with ppl who lay hands on ppl who openly defy God,
and pray for protection for them from "concentrated evil," then bam do so, i have nothing to say about that

 

[forrestcupp]

Know any "ordained" pastors who have not signed 501(6)c3(6)'s? Now, would i describe them all as "money hungry? certainly not. Imo many, many well intentioned pastors are led astray by this model, and many, many of them seek to escape it once they are entrapped.

gee, i wonder why we're $20 Trillion in debt

Well, you have no idea what you're talking about here. I know you don't place any value on traditional church, at least it seems that way. But a lot of people do. And I can tell you that if my small church wasn't exempt from taxes, it would be tough for us to survive. We minister mostly to people of low income, and the only income we get as a church is what people give. It's tough enough to survive financially like it is, and if we had to pay property taxes, etc. on top of that, it would be hard to make it.

You can argue if you want that the world would be better off if we just shut our doors, but I know a good group of people who would disagree. Churches do more to help out in their communities than what a lot of people realize. And the 501(c)(3) thing has a purpose that is a lot more than to make ministers wealthy. If you add up all the churches in the US, I'd say there are a lot more ministers who make a low income than the ones who make a lot of money.

 

[Triumph1300]

define worship.
That religious ritual thing ppl do in mortgaged buildings, on Sundays?
Jesus is a million miles away from that, imo

Well, I do admit there are a few haywire churches out there, but I also do believe there are lots of great churches out there. So I think you might give that a bit of thought before cracking down on all of them.

Are you born again bbyrd?

 

[bbyrd009]

Well, you have no idea what you're talking about here. I know you don't place any value on traditional church, at least it seems that way. But a lot of people do. And I can tell you that if my small church wasn't exempt from taxes, it would be tough for us to survive. We minister mostly to people of low income, and the only income we get as a church is what people give. It's tough enough to survive financially like it is, and if we had to pay property taxes, etc. on top of that, it would be hard to make it.

i'm sure you are a conscientious and seeking person who is doing your best, the same as your pastor, ok. And what i am talking about is so far removed from what you are talking about that yes, i am going to sound crazy; i was coming back to erase this tbh.

You have accepted that dollars are money, and real estate is property, and that you can buy food in a grocery store...all those are "truth" to you, right? So don't even pay any attention to me, ok, i was cold and it was early, and i will learn the lesson, ok.

my sincere apologies

 

[bbyrd009]

You can argue if you want that the world would be better off if we just shut our doors, but I know a good group of people who would disagree. Churches do more to help out in their communities than what a lot of people realize. And the 501(c)(3) thing has a purpose that is a lot more than to make ministers wealthy. If you add up all the churches in the US, I'd say there are a lot more ministers who make a low income than the ones who make a lot of money.

yes, this is also truth, and i would not have counselled you to shut your doors anyway; i would recommend not having them in the first place. And changing your mind about the definition of "Church" too. And ministers. And oracles and -mancers, anyone given money to predict the future for you.

if i add up all of the Churches in the US i count 1, see, and all of the ministers i know don't have a dime, and aren't looking for one. Matter of fact i met one last night after dinner tried to give me ten bucks. I'm pretty skinny, lol

anyway, nevermind about this post too, just wait a few years, that is all melting away as we speak anyway. huh
and your minister is just on the wonderful and painful journey of discovering all this himself, i don't mean to judge him

 

[bbyrd009]

But a lot of people do.

lol, listen to yourself here


...and few there are who find it.

"but a lot of people do"
("lots of great churches out there!")

(one of these things
is not like the other...)