Comments for Rejoice Forevermore

Comment on Is Jesus our Covering or our Pastor? by The Redeemed Gardener

The Redeemed Gardener — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:44:33 +0000

sorry, straight through!

Comment on Is Jesus our Covering or our Pastor? by The Redeemed Gardener

The Redeemed Gardener — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:43:39 +0000

hang in there ex-mormon girl, God will see you through it. He did us! Find a church that teaches God’s word from start to finish. Here is the church I attend on line to listen to. Jeff has a lot of series where he teaches start through a book of the Bible. Maybe helpful to you.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=elizabethbaptist

Comment on Is Jesus our Covering or our Pastor? by Ex-mormon Girl

Ex-mormon Girl — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 03:23:57 +0000

Thanks Lunice for your welcoming response! I have continued to research, pray, read, study the Word of God (Not enough, I need to do more!) and I have learned so much more since writing the above statement.

Thank you for having me in your prayers! Please keep my husband in your prayers also! He is a good man and was saved out of “nothingism” shortly after I got saved. I think he has begun to see the things that I am seeing in our current church but he doesn’t seem ready to move on and I can’t pressure him. Please pray that he will have his eyes opened!

I found the article SCURRILOUS SHEPHERDS & THEIR STARVING SHEEP on the apprising website to be eye opening.

No fun, but I’ve been here before and God has seen me through it and He will again!

Comment on Is Jesus our Covering or our Pastor? by D.Baker

D.Baker — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:00:25 +0000

Welcome to my blog Ex-mormon girl!! So thankful that you got out of the Mormon faith but I’m so sorry you are dealing with what you are telling me now. It sounds like you have landed in an abusive type church like I used to be in. Please know you are not alone in this, there are many others who are going through exactly what you are describing. I felt like I was stuck too but the time came that I knew God wanted me to leave my old church. It took a few years for me to go to a new church and I love it there. Stay in God’s word and keep paying attention to those red flags you are getting. There are lots of articles on my blog for you to read and I can recommend many more blogs and links to you if you need more.

I will be praying for you and keep me posted.

Blessings!

D.Baker (Lunice)

Comment on Is Jesus our Covering or our Pastor? by Ex-mormon Girl

Ex-mormon Girl — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:59:05 +0000

Hi Lunice,
I am thankful for what I’ve read here today. I just ran across your blog today. It was the above article that popped-up in my “bing” search and after reading it I spent a great share of today reading through a few more of your blog entries and their following comments.
I came out of 33 years in the Mormon church, I was 9 when my family joined that cult and I am so grateful that God lead me out of that!
I have been saved now for a year and a half. I got saved in a church that is non-denominational and the pastor did not go to a school but is self-taught. I now find myself questioning our pastor! I have heard the saying several times that he is “annointed” and how lucky we are that we have his “covering”. I’ve heard a few of the elders in the church say how they are so grateful to be “sitting unders such an annointed man of God” and how the other pastors in the area should be coming to him and be under him. Also, the people that attend our church won’t go to another church in our area.
When I once did attend another church at a friend’s invitation, a member of our congregation told the pastor on me! He chastised me but it wasn’t too bad, he just told me to be careful of sheep in wolves clothes and that I was too young in the Lord to recognize yet some things…and in this case he was right because where I had gone they were doing some laying on of hands and giving gifts that is not in keeping with the Gospel of Jesus.
I now am questioning this pastor. He sent a group of ladies out to see one of the big “mega-church” conferences, I did not feel like going and since then I’ve learned more about that mega church pastor and his beliefs and I’m so glad that I didn’t go! He is “oneness” in his teachings and he and the pastors he invited I would consider as money grubbers!
I also feel like if I am stuck where I am at!
I would write more but I’m out of time. I will be back to your blog when I have the chance again and read more! Thank you!

Comment on John MacArthur on The Importance of Attending Church by D.Baker

D.Baker — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:50:39 +0000

Honestly I would steer clear of anything that Frank Viola has to say, from what I have been reading he is not so good.

Simon I think you could stand a lesson in church history. Not everyone falls into the category of either protestant or Catholic, I for one am no protestant.

Focusing on how one does and defines church is nothing that anyone should be splitting hairs over as I said in my last comment it’s Christ and him crucified that we should be concerned with, whether the gospel is being preached is what is really important. The where, the how and the day is really not important but the content of the teaching is.

My last church had Holy Spirit led Sunday nights, where they would let the spirit lead so to speak. They were generally a free for all where rarely if ever a sermon or teaching was delivered. There would tend to be a whole lot of hollering, jumping and carrying on out of order.

I find that there are generally 2 groups of people that would rather “church” at home, they have either been burned in an abusive fellowship or they have something in their life they don’t want to give up that their church would not condone, such as living in sin, a drinking problem, pornography, gambling and the list goes on.

Comment on John MacArthur on The Importance of Attending Church by The Redeemed Gardener

The Redeemed Gardener — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 10:37:13 +0000

The word “church” is used one hundred ten times in the New Testament, and it is instructive to note that ninety-three of those are clear references to the local church… We may conclude from this large number of references that the Bible has quite a lot to say about the importance of the local church.

Comment on John MacArthur on The Importance of Attending Church by The Redeemed Gardener

The Redeemed Gardener — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 10:34:54 +0000

Simon,
You must have had a really bad experience in one or more churches that you came from before stepping into the house church (Hebrews 10:25). Most churches I know of started in someones home and as they grew larger buildings were built or purchased to hold the members. And as for the NT churches church government it was established to handle all aspects of business and conflict within the church. You made a comment comparing the IC to the RCC, “from pulpits to order of service, the priest/pastor, lay/clergy relationship”, not a true statement, all of this was also established in Gods Word. It was established in the NT churches Acts 2, if you will read starting in Acts 15, when there was conflict and they had to go to council with the Elders of the church. Paul establishes the need for order and church government many times in the Epistles and in each greeting, Paul address a particular church, not a bunch of little home churches. I don’t know how you can say that the local church takes everything from the Catholics since the Catholic church didn’t even exist until around the third century A.D. and these issues were already in place in Christs Church. Does the local church still matter? It does to God. He created it, and developed it as the gathering of God’s people to honor Him in this life as believers seek to live transformed lives (Romans 12:1-2) and fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The local church is not only a good idea; it is vital for the growth and development of every believer. Here is a link to hear teaching of my Pastor, I have grow leaps and bonds since attending this local church for the first time: http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=elizabethbaptist

Comment on John MacArthur on The Importance of Attending Church by simon shawn andrews

simon shawn andrews — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 05:56:57 +0000

I wasn’t endorsing any particular theology of viola, but thought he explained house church operation pretty good.
As far as the church attendance thing…there was no ” church attendance” in the nt church like institutional churches have today…eg, no command from Christ or the apostles to meet on any particular day or repeated interval. There was no pews or congregation that faced the front.
What the IC does today is what the Roman Catholic Church does, virtually every aspect of the Catholic Church is used by the IC, from pulpits to order of service, the priest/pastor, lay/clergy relationship…. I could go on for pages.
This is why the IC is dead…it doesn’t allow Christians to grow or the Holy Spirit to work when it becomes lead by people.

Comment on John MacArthur on The Importance of Attending Church by D.Baker

D.Baker — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 04:30:08 +0000

Those are some very good and valid questions RG. Those are many of the reasons I had for not wanting to step back into church again, but after much prayer and the Lords help and guidance I was able to get back in.