EWS2304@TAMVENUS (01/11/90)
I have been reading some of the prophecies in Charisma magazine for the 1990's. This will be a time when the church will be restored! We will receive more persecution. I feel that is what we need. It is the Baptism with fire that will purify us. Those who really beleive and are ready to serve God will be lfet while those who just claim to the name will be scooped off like dross. Our church is being defiled in america. We have pro-choice churches. Churches which don't beleive in God's word. Just last week my wife saw an article where a mainline denomination ordained a gay pastor! I will not mention the denomination here but I can't beleive that a church which claims to be christian can throw out the bible! It scares me. God has given us His word. Let us pray for faith in it. We need to be strong for the 1990's so that we can overcome what is to come. Christianity is not some nice thing we do on sunday! It is a total conversion of ones life! We serve God and God alone. Our purpose here is to do God's work and that is it. Our lives must revolve around Jesus. The church today is weak but the baptism with fire will come and we will be purified. I want persecution to come. Even to the point of death. I feel so ashamed that we have it so good. I pray that I might be used by God! I don't know what he has in store for me but I go on to serve Him. I see no other purpose in life. Idols that used to be so important to me are of no value. Why am I so angry? Because I see christians walking around who live for the world. Putting the world first, leaving Jesus on the side. Not reading and meditation on His word! I just read that only 12% of those who beleive the bible to be God's word read it daily! I couldn't beleive that. No wonder we are so weak. God has given to us total direction for our lives yet we don't even read it! On top of this many who read it don't beleive it. they say they do but many question everything in it. Many add to it. For instance the bible says we are healed. That when we offer a prayer in faith the sick man will get well. that we have the power to cast out demons and heal the sick. That we can do greater things than Jesus. These are promises! Let's beleive in them. Thank you Lord Jesus for saving me! You are my salvation and in you will I trust. Lord help me in my unbeleif so that I might do your works! For His Glory, Eric.
JIM@AUVM (Jim McIntosh) (01/12/90)
In article <CHRISTIA%90011110434909@FINHUTC>, EWS2304@TAMVENUS says: >I have been reading some of the prophecies in Charisma magazine for the >1990's. This will be a time when the church will be restored! We will >receive more persecution. I feel that is what we need. It is the Baptism >with fire that will purify us. ...(some deleted)... > ... The church today is weak but the baptism with fire >will come and we will be purified. I want persecution to come. Even to >the point of death. I feel so ashamed that we have it so good. >...(rest deleted)... >Eric. Sadly, I have to agree. The events of this fall in El Salvador this fall brought it home to me. The killing of the Jesuit priests and the Salvadoran women, the persecution of the church workers and bishops, and the lack of strong protest made it clear that these will not be good days for the church. A good friend of mine lived for some time in El Salvador. I lived with her for almost a year, and know her to be a good Christian -- a very faith-filled woman. She lived with the people in Salvador in an attempt to share their suffering. The work she did was to give tours to Americans, helping them discover the reality of El Salvador. Possibly because of her connection with a number of church groups (to trash as many of them as possible in one action) and to divert attention from the killing of the Jesuits, she was arrested by the Salvadoran authories and accused of burying weapons in her backyard. She was held for a number of days by the National Police. The first part of that time she was held in the interrogation cells at the National Police headquarters, and the rest of the time she was held at the Woman's Prison in San Salvador. She has since been released, deported and returned to the US. She stopped by the other day to talk about her experience. The most frightening part to me was the time she was held in the interrogation cell. The floor and walls of the cell were covered with carpeting. Although she was never mistreated herself, she saw lines of people with hoods over their heads waiting for their interrogations, she heard their screams from neighboring cells, and heard their bodies hitting the walls and furniture. She said she had always wondered why someone would (or how they could) become a torturer. She found out why the men in the National Police in El Salvador do, and the reason both saddened and frightened me. She said they are fundamentalist Christians, with a very simple theology. In their minds the people they are interrogating are "Communists" considered under the control of Satan. The word "repent" is frequently used during interrogations. The interrogator attempts to get the person to "confess." When they are not attempting to get prisoners to "repent" they are very nice to them. She said they would bring her little cakes and sweets. At first she thought it was just because she was a "gringa", but later found they did it for all the prisoners. At one point during her third interrogation, the screams and thumps from the next cell got too loud for her interrogators to continue. While lieutenant sent one of his men to the next cell to tell them to be quieter, my friend said she began to cry. "What's the matter? Crying for your terrorist friend?" they began to taunt her. She said she looked up at each of them in turn and said "Yes, just as I would for you... or you... or you." I wanted to share a part of her story to show that in some ways Eric is right... the time of suffering for the church is increasing. This decade will see much suffering, I think, as the Cold War drags to a halt, and the cries of the poor of much of the world rise to be deafening. ------- Jim McIntosh (JIM@AUVM) The American University Washington DC 20016 USA
LHARANGO@OWUCOMCN (Lauren Arango) (01/12/90)
Eric also posted his message on the Bible Study list, and I sent the
following message in response. Since he has posted the same message
to CHRISTIA, I'd like to post my same response here as well:
As a member of the denomination that just ordained a gay priest, I feel
as though I'd like to make a few remarks, since Eric brought up the
subject.
First of all, I have no idea whether or not the ordained person in
question is a *practicing* homosexual. I personally see nothing wrong
with a priest being homosexual *if* he/she is celibate. Being homosexual
is not a sin; committing homosexual acts is (in my opinion).
If the priest in question is a practicing homosexual, then I (and I'm
sure *many* other Episcopalians) do not agree with what the Bishop of
New Jersey did (in ordaining this priest). Our own Bishop Black of
the Diocese of Southern Ohio wrote a letter condemning the ordination.
The Episcopal Church isn't perfect. I personally wish it would take a
much stronger stand against abortion. But I feel that I can be much
more effective by staying in the church and working to change it from
within, rather than getting upset and leaving.
I just wanted to let everyone know that just because someone is a member
of a particular denomination doesn't mean that that person agrees with
*all* the decisions made by those within the church hierarchy.
God's peace,
Lauren
P.S. I'd also like to pass on an idea that I sent to Eric privately when
he responded to my message. I think it probably took a lot of courage for
that priest to openly admit his homosexuality, since his ordination would
most certainly be called into question, and he had a very good chance of
*not* being ordained. Now that's not what happened, but he didn't know
how things would turn out....and I have to admire someone who values truth
and honesty over his own personal career/gain. I have no idea how this
man reconciles his homosexuality with the Bible, but I can see he has
integrity. It would have been *so* easy for him to just keep quiet about
his sexual orientation....and yet he chose not to. I just thought I'd
mention that, for everyone to think about....