I willprobably catch heat for this but O well!!!

[Rev. Eric Culberson Jr.]

Look I understand you have been hurt, felt used, wanted to almost give up, and now you think your doing the honorable thing but lets be real your not. Men and Women of God learn to forgive and move on. Lately, I have been reading post after post about how all pastors are pimps, treat men like women, arent educated, only think about themselves, steal the money, sleep with women besides there wives. Okay I am the first to admitt the church has taken a few blows because of scandals but the church is built to last, and the order by which God has set it up wont fail. You NEED spiritual leadership, that is the reason why God gave to the church pastors. Now I believe that God in his infinite wisdom has called a pastor into a leadership role some where in this great world that leads the way that will be most effective for your spiritual growth. I pray you find them, but you need to be careful because a lot of ya'll are beginning to sound so bitter that its tough for me to see you effectivness in leading the lost to Christ. Because if approached it appears that the first thing out of your mouth would be how pastors are corrupt and to stay away from the church, it is my prayer that forgiveness will flow from your hearts and that whoever it was that did it you would forgive them and move on because the Word wont change leadership will be in place until His return. Dont be a goat, learn to be a sheep!

May the Lord richly bless you!

P.S.- if you are offended before you place one finger on that keyboard to give me a piece of your mind, check your motives because I did before I began to type.

[HOPE - Psalm 43:5]

Evg Fugett,

Try not to cut off any ears LOL

[HOPE - Psalm 43:5]

LOL.. folk can get so mad at each other here that they will start calling each other names.

I remember this stuff back in high school. I could have sworn there were grown folk up in here LOL

When your anger gets to the point where you step away from the discussion topic and get personal... then it's time to step away from the computer and take a prayer walk.

I'm waiting for someone to say that there is going to be a fight in the playground at recess because of the arguing LOL. Remember those days when kids would "schedule" a fight over nuthin'

"I'm right and you're wrong!!!"

"No, you're a heretic and I'm on assignment to set you straight"

"No, You're not even saved because you believe....."

"I'm not saved, look at you, you act like a ...."





LOL

[Evangelist Altha Fugett]

"a prayer walk"? hmmmm, might have to use that one at mission meeting or business mtng at church, LOL, "yall getting on my nerves, got to take a "prayer walk" lol

[HOPE - Psalm 43:5]

LOL... tell 'em you have to take a prayer walk or somebody's gonna get cut LOL

Actually I take prayer walks all the time. Not just because I'm angry or sad or highly emotional about anything. Just take a stroll and converse with my Father! Not to mention its good exercise (smile)

[Child of the Kingdom]

Tracy,
I haven't taken a prayer walk in a while. Recently, I have been taking prayer Wobbles.... LOL Thanks, that is good advice.

[Scott R. Newman]

On the subject of bible prophecy there is one part that is often ignored. The sad thing is that often times it leads so many down the wrong paths. The Devils deception is great. And we the body of Christ are many times left unprepared by modern teachers, preachers and churches.;
The bible says this about the 'End'.

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;" 1Ti 4:1

"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many" -- Matthew 24:11 I

In fact the deception will be so great, that many that either think they are Christians, or those that are Christians will be fooled by this deception.

"For false Christ''s and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect." -- Mark 13:22


You see the devil is very sly. There are many warnings about our adversary that we would all be wise to remember.
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Eph 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

One of Satan's most powerful deceptions is to make a mock copy of all that is good.

2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. .....
2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

There is another gospel... another Christ.... another spirit. In the study of things to come, we see that the one called Antichrist will wield power so convincing the Saints might fall for it. And we know from 1 John 4:3 that the spirit of the Antichrist is already at work.
So what should those of us who are ministers of the Lord's work do about it? What are we the 'body of Christ' supposed to do in the wake of this promised apostasy? Are we supposed to ignore it, and preach truth along side of error and hope our voice is LOUDER than the voice of the adversary?
Contrary to what many modern Christians believe the answer to this question is a resounding; NO!
This Post Modern era that we live in would have us believe that truth is only but a social convention. That the truth of is merely what we ourselves, or a group of us believe to be true. We live in a time of conformity. We believe that extremism of any form is an absolute sin to society, even if it an extreme belief in things that are actually true. As truth is defined as whatever our social constructs deem it to be at the time, we are left in a soup of muddied waters with no hope of clarity. We believe in live and let live, and that by merely suggesting our beliefs to another we have violated that person's right to their own version of truth. There are no absolutes. Truth, I mean good, honest and God Given absolute truth is dead in the minds of the philosophers. This same mindset is just as prevalent in the churches today as it is in the rest of society.
There are many individuals and Ministries out there that believe that we are not to address what we feel to be false doctrine and unsound biblical teachings. They cry out that we are not judge others - That we are not to name names - That we are to simply pray for them and leave them be. They claim that if we do speak out we are tearing down the body of Christ. They vehemently are against those that would expose false doctrine. In a "Why can''t we all get along?" mentality they forsake the safeguarding of the truth.

I am here today telling you that this is not one of those individuals, nor is this one that will have fellowship with those who misuse and pervert the Gospel of Christ, unlike so many believers who chose to look the other way while these snakes continue to rob and steal and destroy the very widows and fatherless we are commanded to protect and to DEFEND!

Again, as I've said and stated many times on this forum that we as Christians are slipping and sliding and being fed on a steady diet of lukewarmness. This is not the Gospel of Christ, but looking more like the Gospel of Oprah. Christianity as it has fastly becoming more of a religion of inclusivity where anything goes, instead of what it was intended to do which is a faith of exclusivity, in which the only way to gain entrance to the Kingdom of God I thought was to believe in Him crucified, death and His resurrection by repenting and being forgiven through the remission of our sins. And if any preacher man preaches another Gospel in order to feed only his belly and his agenda will be called out on it. Trust, I've counted the cost and will die for my faith if need be....I look forward to the persecution. I don't run from it, but run to it. What about you? Who do you say He is? Is the slave greater than the Master? What you think the Pharisees seeked to kill Him for, for making and turning water into wine? LOL

[HOPE - Psalm 43:5]

Well said Scott and I agree with you. But that is not what I meant. I mean when you get to the point where you are no longer defending the gospel or your doctrinal beliefs and you are now defending yourself but NOT for the sake of the gospel but for pride sake. Not even a pride of being a Believer but a pride that says, "HEY you are not going to talk to me like that andg get away with it". A pride where you subtly depart from the truth in an attempt to NOT die for the sake of not looking defeated before people who are watching.

But I guess if even Jesus called the religious knuckleheads of his day vipers and white washed tombs... LOL

go for it!!!!

[Scott R. Newman]

Min. Busby check this conversation out in 1 Samuel and see if you see or notice any similarities with this topic and others on BPN when those (Giants) who come against the people of God to really make merchandise and slaves of them. Seems like we need more David's more than ever today than the obvious Saul's we have standing behind pulpits.

1Sa 17:23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. 1Sa 17:24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. 1Sa 17:25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.
1Sa 17:26 And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
1Sa 17:27 And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.
1Sa 17:28 And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. 1Sa 17:29 And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? 1Sa 17:30 And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.
1Sa 17:31 And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.
1Sa 17:32 And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 1Sa 17:33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
1Sa 17:34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
1Sa 17:35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
1Sa 17:36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
1Sa 17:37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.
1Sa 17:38 And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.
1Sa 17:39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.


Busby, notice the "brothers" anger of David who was burdened by the things God was burdened by those who are making mockery of God and His Word, Rather than being angry of the uncircumsized Phillistine who desired to make slaves of God's people to be dependant, not on God but dependent on them, but they are angry over those who are called to defend the faith and to defend those who are being deceived by the deceiver.. Notice any similarities yet? Trust, let anyone be angry for the things of God and do what David did and believe that these same "brothers" and "sisters" will question your salvation. Its a nice trick for those who don't know better. But since I have God's Word in my language and can read and study to show myself approved, I can differentiate between the sheep and the goats by testing and trying the spirits to see who else is angry over the wickedness of those "Sauls" who are scared to death to even warn their sheep of the same false "prophets" that we are commanded to expose and to rebuke. They are trying to de-spine men and women alike who have taken an oath and a vow to stand on the Rock and be unmovable and unshakable and fear only God.

Weakness always attracts weakness. But it is Iron that alwsays sharpens Iron!

Rom 8:19 "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God."

[HOPE - Psalm 43:5]

LOL.. amen Scott.

And like David, we shouldn't use the weapons of war that others use. Keep that in mind.

When people stop using scripture to prove doctrine and result to a war of words for a different reason... well now that's not weakness... that is immaturity.

David remembered the simplicity of a battle with God on your side. He remembered the simple strategy that won the battle with the bear and lion. Why change what works right?

2 Corinthians 10:1-11 (NIV)

1 By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away!
2 I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world.
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7 You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he.
8 For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it.
9 I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters.
10 For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing."
11 Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.


Paul was skillful in his apologetics. On Mars hill he was very direct in how he debated.

All I'm saying is people should control their emotions, not let their emotions control them and most definitely not allow someone else to destract you with anger and get you off focus of the discussion at hand. When that happens, you have just become a puppet in the other person's hands. This includes fear that paralyzes you as in the case with the soldiers and Goliath. David did not allow Goliath to intimidate him and he USED his anger appropriately.

Arguing for the sake of arguing is childish. Get the right weapon for the right battle and then you will have victory. Sometimes we are so ready to cut of the ear of a heretic or false teacher or false prophet that we may not even hear the Holy Spirit telling us to shut up because there is another purpose for the situation other than a tete a tete. (smile)

Have you ever thought if the prophecy doesn't come true then THAT proves the person a false prophet more than any arguing you could ever do with them?

Have you ever thought that a false teacher's lies will NEVER outlast the God's truth?

Yes, fight the good fight of faith but don't lose your peace in the process. Fight wisely, fight hard, use the right weapons and each and every time be led by the Holy Spirit and not just your feelings. If God says wipe them out... then wipe them out. If He says zip your lip... then get a serious case of hush mouth LOL

If He says nothing.. then do nothing.

[Evangelist Altha Fugett]

And always know that the gates of hell will not prevail

[Rev. Eric Culberson Jr.]

Wow my email was not following this discussion and I was missing out on a lot, this has devloped into a really interesting discussion. But one thing I want to point out is that this was never meant to be a topic about church buildings vs. home churches, street ministries etc. the simple point of this was to encourage people on BPN to "Let it go!". I learned a new phrase the other day "Dont throw the baby out with the path water!", and I understood that to mean in this conversation dont make generalizations about pastors of "buildings" when you speak of the "pimps, adulters, wolves" as I have noticed happening on here latley. It's really EASY to say those things, but is what your saying really true. Here is what I realized in the early church Jerusalem was home base all instruction came from there, now we may not be absolutley sure where and how they met in the early church, yeah they met in the temple, they also met in homes "breaking bread from house to house", they met in various places, so that's not really the point. But what is the point is that within the church there was always leadership the people came to the apostoles, and the elders to discuss the things of God, the direction God was leading the people, and the sort. I imagine one of the reasons God allowed the church at Jerusalem to be persacuted was because maybe the people got to comfortable at the home base and wanted them to go on the run so that the word can get spread. So in that sense many of you are correct there are many within the local church bulidings that are lazy and stagnent and need a little kick in the butt to get the Word out, but it does not negate the fact that the body of Christ still requires leadership. If you run a church out of your home like I see you do Rest of God and EW that simply means that God has placed you in a leadership position within the Body and you will guard the people who fellowship with you and not just let anybody up in your house saying anything, and you will not just teach anything. So it is and should be within the buildings. There is no such thing seen with in scripture where God allowed his people to say things like "I dont need a pastor, I just follow Jesus" it aint in there, it just aint. And it appears to me that many of those who make these statements are hurting because of things in the past and they need to forgive so that they might truly be effective for the body. Heck what do you say after witnessing to someone and it was effective and they ask "What church do you go to?" please dont tell me you say "I dont go to nobodies church I follow God for myself, pastors are corrupt all they want is yo money!" Now that aint right! Neither is it biblical. So it really dont matter where you hold it the point is God's people need it and you know if His is pleased with it, and it is in His will because He will place a PREACHER with in its midst that will teach His Word.

Scott, that is one of my favorite passages within the entire bible that is why I stated in another post that I would choose David to pastor my church (another blog). David did not see Goliath as the others did, they saw the giant. David just heard "this uncircumcised Phillistine" disrespecting His God and knew something had to be done. In this case I think sometimes we may get caught up with what we see on t.v. and directly around us and begin to disrespect God and His word when we short change the way he established the way for things to be ran.

[Evangelist Altha Fugett]

The early church did start in homes. Many churches are going back this concept. The new fancy name is "cell groups"

Rev. Luckett/Culbertson do you think this is correct? I appreciate both your posts, but my heart aches, for these "cell groups" I mean the key word in that sentence is "start" I don' have a problem understanding a starting point but aren't we to be seeing growth too big for a "cell" or "personal home" when the gospel is preached.

Again, I know that God is bigger than four walls, but Jesus preached at twelve in a synagogue, threw sellers and buyers out of his Father's HOUSE, and told us to forsake not the assembly. he was not against assembly of the people no matter what the Sadduces or the Pharisees was saying or doing.


I feel Culbertson has it right "let it go" "don't throw the baby out with the wash" you know how that saying originated, in the old days without running water, and ones bathe in the the old tin tubs, the Father bathe first and the baby(youngest) last, sometime the water got so dirty, ones joked don't throw the baby out, Yes wolves have sneaked in, and the water appears so dirty at times, but there are babes still coming in being baptized in the water, and Spirit, ditching the church, you ditch these infant souls as well.