charles m wrote:
thx candleit never had matzo ball soup but it sounds very nutritious - not much made from scratch in our house im afraid although i shoot the odd rabbit and catch fish in the summer otherwise i leave it to the profesionals !

You sound like a real Jeremiah Johnson - a character who was a rugged individualist on an American t.v. show.

Yes, matzo ball soup is delicious and nutritious. A Jewish friend's mother made it for me when I was in college.

And, I agree with you on JM's expositions. You'll grow by leaps and bounds listening to his teaching as you work. I use to do the same while travelling from town to town calling on doctors. I was rep for a pharmaceutical co.

Well, as you know, by now, I am female. Actually, I'm glad that you know because you have made reference on occasion to only knowing one woman on the board, and I felt a pang of guilt at not revealing my gender.

John UK wrote:
Good afternoon sister

Oh, well, now that you know, you are still asking me questions, so that's a good thing. This is the ONLY place that I can engage in conversation that relates to the spiritual. Business and politics, fashion, and food can be discussed anywhere, anytime, because these are things that occupy most peoples thinking.

I'll get back to you later regarding your question.

charles m wrote:
ha ha ! yes tho i spend a lot of it listening to SA dunno wether it does me any good - the thinking i mean - its hard work being me always has been !
im in bed wth a chest infection at the moment listening to john macarthur and doing this and snoozing

itsaboutheremnant wrote:
personally i dont believe that talking to people does any good (outside the brethren) if i can i shoot first ask questions later but im an individual not a nation

John UK wrote:
Ah yes, it can bring tears can it not? Or a sitting in silence. There was a silence in heaven once for half an hour. And the Lord keeps tears in a bottle, not one is wasted.
I called it a bewitching because I meet so few who will actually take the time and trouble to look into the issues; it's as if they've been programmed and become like robots. And if you raise an issue, out of genuine concern for the church's welfare, does anyone listen? No, they just laugh at you and turn it around so that you are the one who is wrong.
But what to do I am unsure. Hold fast, yes, always hope for a turnaround, yes, maintain position, yes, speak up, yes, ask the Lord Jesus for grace to help in this time of intense need, absolutely! He is not unaware of the devil's schemes, even though many churches are.
The Lord is with thee, Candle Lit.

It sounds like we have had similar experiences. Are we refined, YET????

John UK wrote:
This is what bewitches so many churches today, and there is little discernment.

Mike wrote:
a)Yes, I can. I will not get clinical depression, nor would it make me want to kill anyone. Believe me, I have been tested severely.
There is nothing in depression that includes hostility toward others. Further, if one planned and plotted to hurt another, do you think the lack of a gun would stop him? "Oh, I don't have a gun. I guess I won't hurt another after all." Is a criminal defined by the weapon he uses or the crime he commits?
b) Out of perceived necessity, perhaps. However, in the States where guns are less restricted, crime rates are lower. Therefore "potential" danger due to the existence of guns must be understood in light of what actually happens. More guns do not "make" less crime, but less guns among non criminals do encourage more crime. It's so much easier to break into a home where it is known there are no weapons. Anti-gun folk just don't get it. They lack understanding of the fallen nature of man.

itsaboutheremnant wrote:
hello candleit!
im begining to suspect that my new moniker is not the success i had hoped it would be ! i may have to go back to charles m i feel on the forum there is a certain customer resistance to it !
Im not a young man im afraid although not old at 46, i was with my wife for 23 yrs before we got married naturally i gave the whole issue a lot of thought
here is the audio link to the wedding which was a wonderful event - enjoy !
http://www.ebenezerbangor.org.uk/news.html

I think *Charles m* is good for your moniker- *itsaboutheremnant* is a bit long.

Hmmmm. . .23 yrs... You don't make quick decisions, do you?

What's important is that both you and your wife are now walking with the Lord.

itsaboutheremnant wrote:
that is the only provision for divorce, fornication only not adultery or any other thing

Sorry, but you introduced yourself as Charles first, and first impressions stick, so please do not dislike that I call you by your name of introduction.

Now, Charles, you are newly married. I assume that you are a young man. Young men are idealistic. That is both endearing and amusing when seen from a perspective that time, life, and experience gives one.

Dogmatically stating that there is only one provision for divorce is simple - easy - satisfying to one not weighing the real happenings of life. Life is just more complicated than "simple declaratives."

Now, for you, I would wish that all your days of marriage be filled with bliss - that, together, you and your bride of one, now, two months, if I count correctly, sail through the ups and downs of life, and never have to deal with the weighty issue of a divorce.

The fact is, many, if not most, deal with this issue, that you would simply brush away with a no-nonsense declarative.

John UK wrote:
look at Deuteronomy 22:13-21. This ties in with Matthew 19:9, which gives the only just cause for divorce; that is, a discovered fornication before the marriage was finalised. The Jews bethrothal was as binding as marriage itself, which is why a man could divorce before he got 'married'.

So, I think that Jesus was elevating the status of marriage, and giving to the woman a security that she did not enjoy under the prevailing Jewish law.

Jesus said, "Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so." Matt. 19:8

DJC49 wrote:
That "book" that *John UK* mentioned: ["[URL=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/scougal/life.toc.html]]]The Life of God in the Soul of Man[/URL]"] by Henry Scougal (1650-1678) is really a booklet which was instrumental in the religious conversion of George Whitefield!
(I gave the hyperlink above.) You can read it online in its entirety ... about 75 pages of very good stuff.
I gave it a read about a month ago and it was well worth the time. It's something to read slowly. Bookmark it.

I'm reading, on line, that booklet that you provided the hyperlink for, but I wanted to stop and make a comment.

Isn't it interesting how Christian writers of old, wrote from a perspective of really "knowing God?" Out of that knowledge, flowed wisdom and understanding, the foundation of which came from Scripture. And, so, many wrote with an eloquence and graciousness that is rarely seen today.

This particular writing, written in the 1600's, shows a relationship of the writer with God that is very intimate, and, out of that, flows good Theology. It is excellent!

Thank you, for providing the hyperlink.

Robert wrote:
As to the social justice argument, the main thing standing out in front of an abortion clinic accomplishes is the feeding of the protester's sense of self-righteousness. It's like Pharisees engaging in long public prayers in the market or at the temple. I don't recall any political movements founded by the apostles. Wasn't that why the Jews had a hard time believing Jesus was the Christ?

DJC49 wrote:
*Candle Lit* --
Because you made it abundantly clear that you were referring to the LOCAL church, you were quite correct in your initial assertion that one couldn't even PRAY IN CHURCH if the criterion for communal prayer was that ALL had to be of the Redeemed! For even our local churches have a mixture of saved and unsaved. So I don't know why you backed off your position. Michael (as he often does) scrambled the issue.
Michael made a foolish statement when he said:
"I don't believe we can expect God to honor our praying if we are disobedient to Him and joined with unbelievers."
As if Evangelicals joining in with Catholics, Mainline Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox to protest abortion is somehow being "yoked together" with them ... doctrinally. If Michael were correct, Evangelicals could NEVER unite with any others for ANY ethical cause or issue for fear of being "joined together with 'unbelievers.' " This is silliness.
Hranek has an EXTREMELY difficult time of keeping his categories rightly separated. He gets confused ... and confuses others.

Michael Hranek wrote:
a) Oh Really? Just were do you find that THE CHURCH is a mixture of "tares and wheat"? Isn't that a Roman Catholic invention that some Calvinists have continued in?

b)You do know the church is the redeemed born again people of the LORD and NOT a building.

c)Perhaps you don't really understand what real praying is about or maybe you don't want to?

d)Now as to a meeting where unbelievers are present I won't ask them to lead in pray to the Queen of Heaven or whatever imagined deity they are devouted to. Now do you have an objection to that too?

b) I DO understand. I wish everyone else did.

c) I do, and I do.

Michael Hranek wrote:
The real battle is one of prayer and I don't believe we can expect God to honor our praying if we are disobedient to Him and joined with unbelievers.

itsaboutheremnant wrote:
I fear God - not as much as i should but i have in the past prayed that he not kill me as i deserve. when my works are passed through the fire what will remain ? What will be gold, very little i fear.
... daily study and prayer to seek to set ones house in order and from there all things may flow and to be attentive and thoughtful and to meditate on the law. God has many suprises but only because my careless soul is obtuse and carnal - its always obvious after the lesson.

KK wrote:
2 Timothy 3
2) For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.
3) [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.
4) [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.
5) For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

Apercu wrote:
Life is animation of mortals by the providence of God.
Life is eternal.
Spiritual life is animation of the spirit of man, by the Lord, of those whom God has chosen.
The unsaved are spiritually dead.
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

I would say it a little differently: "Life is communion with God." Of course, that is only possible when one has been born again, spiritually.

Animated life of a physical being is only experienced on a level not much different from the animal kingdom except in the area of reason. It is lived only for what one sees, feels, tastes, or takes pleasure in.

But, the one born of the spirit experiences life on a transcendent level, and because of that everything that is earthly is experienced differently.

I.e., a helicopter ride over an area of natural beauty produces in the heart of one who knows the Creator, a song of praise and thanksgiving; whereas, it will just be sense of beauty to the one who does not know the Creator.

KK wrote:
My heart is BROKEN over all that's going on -- it's all so far beyond belief -- it's just hard to wrap my thought around it all !!!
2 Timothy 3
1) ... in the last days perilous times shall come.

I feel like Noah - calling people's attention to what Scripture says, and what is currently happening on a worldwide scale - and, they just seem numb to everything. They continue doing what they have always done - seeking the things of the world - that's what saddens me most.

Tonight, North Korea, is launching a missile, and who knows where a confrontation may lead. Those in the know are on the alert, and, yet, those people surrounding me are oblivious to the potential repercussions.

And, then, there's this solar activity, or lack of it, and the potential hazards, and, no one seems to care.

It's like the days before the flood, and people are just going along, doing their own thing without regard to their spiritual condition.

DJC49 wrote:
That "book" that *John UK* mentioned: [[URL=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/scougal/life.toc.html]]]"The Life of God in the Soul of Man"[/URL]] by Henry Scougal (1650-1678) is a booklet which was instrumental in the religious conversion of George Whitefield.
I gave the hyperlink above. You can read it online in its entirety ... about 75 pages of good stuff.