Disciple.Luke

46 minutes ago, Kienyui said:

@BrotherTony  and @Disciple.Luke, when you rebuke someone, it is not hatred but love. I you didn't care about me, you will not waste you precious time and energy advising, rebuking and encouraging me.

I am not proud of any wrong doing, i am not in any way defending a wrong doing but i believe he will have mercy on me and help me overcome whatever situation i found myself. 

The Bible tells us that the earth is God's (Exodus 19:5. I(Plavious), all animals and every other thing on earth belong to God(Psalm 24:1).  Everything on earth and in heaven is his(1 chronicles 29:11).

Here at the native doctor's shrine, I have taken all form of concoctions including fresh heart of a cat. He has buried many other in my body through incisions. Special egg broken on my head.  I have drank blood of different animals. 

All those things were created by God. Each time it is being done, I pray in my heart and cancel all evil in God's creation given to me. I rather stay here than go around begging. If those things can treat me, there is no need leaving. 

If I keep insisting you help me, everyone will keep criticizing and yet no one will be willing to help. The native doctor was created by God, all he owns is God's. I give glory to God in all. The only different is that I cannot pray openly here. I pray in my heart.

Since I came here, I feel better.  You will notice for two weeks or more, I don't complain again. 

Instead focus not on my wrong. Kindly pray for me please 

Kienyui 

 

Typically I would've have sent you a private message to try to better understand your situation but I seen you post that you refuse to communicate that way believing it is somehow an attack. So I was left to sort of "think out loud" on your thread.

I haven't attacked you and was simply attempting to understand your posts with another forum member as opposed to talking behind your back in PMs. Again since you are suspicious of any type of private communication I assumed you preferred public discussion.

We can't PM you and you don't want us to discuss your situation publicly...what exactly would you expect us to do? Simply read your posts and tickle your ears with praise and thunderous applause? 

If you had taken time to read through some of my previous posts on this forum I would assume you could tell that I have a sincere interest in other religions... specifically monotheistic ones like Islam and Judaism. My questions for you were out of pure interest. I wasn't attacking you by asking if your mom and father's religion was Muslim at one time...I was attempting to have a discussion with you.

Unfortunately I know very little about Cameroon compared to some other African countries so I looked up the statistics that Toney and I were discussing to better understand the demographics you are coming from. I had no idea if Christians faced persecution or if possibly even sharia law may have been imposed there. 

Again I didn't mean anything as an attack and I don't believe anyone else here is trying to. By accusing people of an attack for PMing you you have made so we all have to dialogue with you publicly so you don't feel threatened and even when you do that we are still attacking you? I don't understand brother.

2 hours ago, BrotherTony said:

This is the information I have received from several sources concerning prominent religions. 

"Religion: Christianity is the predominant religion in Cameroon, divided among roughly 38% Catholics, 26% Protestants and 4% other Christian denominations. 21% of the population practice Islam and 6% some aspects of animist beliefs. Christians are mainly found in the southern and western parts of the country."

https://www.alberta.ca/iqas-education-guide-cameroon#:~:text=Religion%3A Christianity is the predominant,western parts of the country

 

I've heard of very few incidents like Kienyui has described. I'm not saying that he's being untruthful, but I am saying what he is saying is suspicious. 

Yeah those statistics are very close to what was on Wikipedia. 

Just from what I read on the GoFundMe I had the impression that was majority Islamic country where Christians were severely persecuted and I thought maybe he was living in New Zealand with the women who adopted him.

I'm not sure what to think. The whole witch doctor stuff is throwing me off for sure. It seems like he would be able to find some support there considering the large Christian population.

On 3/20/2024 at 3:53 AM, Kienyui said:

In my life, everything is a battle.  Every breath is a battle, food is a battle, accommodation is a battle, health is a battle.  either to win or die. We have gotten to a point where we no longer care who us right. What matters is the person that is left. We who have seen war, never stop seeing it. It wake us in the morning and help us to sleep. We see human but no humanity.  Classified under world most neglected crisis. All we can remember now, all we can talk about now is war abd death. Will this ever end?

 

So your parents were both Muslims and your father later converted to Christianity who was then threatened by your moms brothers? 

I've read some of your posts on others sites and the GoFundMe that Brother Tony mentioned. I'm just trying to understand what your situation is since you won't reply to private messages.

You are living in Cameroon? I had to look on Wikipedia to see which religions are dominant there and it says that the majority are Catholic and Cameroon has a high tolerance towards Christians in general?

4 minutes ago, BrotherTony said:

Most of the people I know who have purchased Bibles through them have had nothing but positive things to say about them. They're reasonably priced and are good at offering a smaller sized KJV study Bible with fewer to no references in the text/side notes. 

Thanks Tony. I will probably order one then. 

Does anyone know of or have an opinion about Barbour Publishers? I know they are one of the three that make a King James Study Bible like Thomas Nelson and Holman.

9 minutes ago, BrotherTony said:

The Houthis seem to have the Qud 4 and  Qud ZO missiles that they could fire at such a range. In the past they have threatened to fire missiles into Tel Aviv and Eilat. 

Thank you Tony.

I guess I need to look more into that. Maybe I've somewhat assumed because of it's proximity from Israel they hadn't been as aggressive towards them.

It seems like the Yemen war keeps them so busy that they don't have time for much else.

I do know that the Houthis have fired missiles into Saudi Arabia several times and it felt like to me that at the very least the Saudi military would knock out any missiles heading towards Israel assuming it was for them.

On a side note...I heard Trump say something I didn't expect the other night. He was talking about how much Benjamin Netanyahu let him/us down during the Qasem Soleimani assassination. He was saying we along with Israeli intelligence were tracking him and the plane he was on but apparently Natanyahu got cold feet or backed out of his role in the actual killing somehow. I assume this because Trump was talking about how despite the let down we carried out the assassination flawlessly. It hard to imagine Bibi backing out of wanting to kill the head of the Quds force so I wonder what happened that made Trump repeat that in public?

On 10/17/2023 at 11:24 PM, SureWord said:

So a Baptist hospital has been blown up in Gaza supposedly killing 500 many being children. Gaza is 40% population under age 18 so that could be possible. No doubt many were killed but who launched the missle? It not uncommon for terrorist organizations or dictators to attack their own to send out a false flag but I've seen two videos comparing the missle that hit the hospital and one being used by American troops during training. The missle appears to be a American made "JDAM" which is actually a retro fitted "dumb bomb" that essentially turns it into a missle.  The Palestinians have no such weaponry nor the ability to use it even if they did. So I'm leaning towards Israel leveling that hospital with an American made bomb or perhaps another country like Iran or some other ME country but this does not look good for Israel.

In my opinion if cooler heads don't prevail we are entering WW3.

I seen something the news was reporting the day before yesterday that seemed off to me. They were claiming claiming that the US Navy shot down missiles and drones supposedly fired from the Houthis in Yemen 

It just seemed hard to believe the Houthis would try to fire missiles from Yemen all the way to Israel. I mean just looking at a map it's ridiculous to think they have precision missiles that could travel the entire length of Saudi Arabia with any kind of precision or stealth to Israel. Unless Iran has the large reaper drones like our military and they tried to fly them the distance. 

I haven't seen any footage or heard specific details about the incident so I dont know. It just seems like they would've launched one of those kinds of attacks from Lebanon or Syria.

The Houthis in general might get support from Iran but they are very different from groups like Hezbollah. As far as I know they have never attacked or threatened Israel in the past...they are far too busy fighting the Saudi backed Sunnis in a never ending homeland war to be thinking about attempting to have a long distance war with Israel too.

The Houthis are also a completely different sect of Shia Muslims than the Twelvers in Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran. It seems like Iran supports them mainly to have a proxy war with Salafis and Wahhabi Saudis.

3 hours ago, TheGloryLand said:

How can a christian be pro-Israel, and say that he or she supports them, but at the same time say they are not the chosen ones anymore? That those who are living over there are not pure or worthy of defending. For they are sinners and don't have the true gospel. Is Jesus coming back to save them or not? Are they still the chosen ones? I believe that they are still lost, but are still the chosen people picked by God, to the end of time. those that repent for salvation, with us gentile who are now saved. 

I can't answer for Sureword, but I agree with the point he is making. 

I believe that he making a distinction between ethnic Jews and their right to live safe in the land of Israel and the nationalist political movement of Zionism.

There are Ultra Orthodox Hasidic Jews living in Israel currently who oppose the present day Zionist "state" of Israel. Basically while they would say the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people but it is the Messiahs role alone to return them to that land NOT Great Britain or the League of Nations. 

Sureword touched on this and I understand it's easy to overlook but many of those Palestinians are saved believers in Christ and many American Christians sympathize more with the Jewish government than fellow believers. 

The vast majority of Palestinians are not terrorists and are stuck in poor conditions in the middle of a warzone. Unfortunately there is almost no way of improving life in Gaza because almost every organization that attempts to raise money to relieve the poor living conditions end up getting labeled as funding "terrorism" because Hamas and Fatah control the non Israeli areas. It is a sad situation with almost no way to peacefully resolve it.

Its troubling to me how it is a fact that the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was a known associate of and stayed at the home of Jeffrey Epstein at least 36 times while visiting the US...yet it's completely overlooked because it could be viewed as antisemitic to anti Zionist to point it out.

If the Israeli government and it's politics are even half as corrupt as ours it's hard for me to support them "unequivocally" because their common ancestor to Abraham was Isaac instead Ishmael.

I absolutely agree that they are most likely blood ancestors of the Chosen people. I also agree that potentially many of them could come to faith in Christ but I can't just ignore the fact Palestinian Christians are in the crossfire of those Israeli bombs they just go unoticed because it's easy to associate Arab decent as exclusively Muslim. 

I know SureWords views (and where I agree as well) might come off anti Israeli or Jewish but I believe it's more about opposing the Idea we should stand approve of every decision the current leaders make simply because they are of Jewish descent.

I seen a perfect example of this on a YouTube video earlier. It was a CNN reporter who had Chris Christie as a guest and he wanted him to weigh in on a video of Trump because when he was asked about what's happening in Israel he made a remark that he believed that the leaders of Hezbollah are smart or believed they are intelligent. They took one sentence of Trump's answer and attempted to make the case that he was anit Israeli or insensitive somehow. Trump? The President who acknowledged Jerusalem as the Israeli capital? Being observant isn't synonymous with being anti anyone. Hes called he's called the North Korean leader "smart" in several interviews but that doesn't make him anti South Korean.

2 hours ago, TheGloryLand said:

I believe that pastors should also tithe, why not? They are not higher than the angles, that don't tithe. Christians must understand that they are men, sinners, repented, saved and serving God, just like you and me. Pastors, have a little bit more of responsibility. Christians that are treating their pastors as a higher superior, are sinners. Ask Moses'

Sure. I agree that church leaders should give back financially to the church like everyone else...but I believe what he gives is between him and God alone. Unlike the scribes and Pharisees Pastors give in more ways than just materially -

"23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment*, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.". - Mathew 23:23

There are a lot of different things that could cause financial hardship on a Pastor and his family. If he is a young Pastor he could still have some debt from the University he attended. If he has children - then there are doctor, dentist, or hospital bills that the congregation may not be able to provide full insurance for. There could be elderly parents that he and his wife have some financial obligation they need to help. 

I can't imagine any sincere Pastor deciding that he is somehow beyond giving to the church. I would think that most do what is right and donate whatever amount they have decided to give back to the Lord.

If the church voted him in as it's leader then surely he can be trusted to be a good steward of his finances.

I understand that there may be a tendency for some to believe that a Pastor should find part time work outside of the.church so he can match the financial support of the members but I don't believe he shoukd carry that burden.

I think it's important for people in the church to keep in mind that the Pastor isn't just some employee hired for one morning and two evenings of teachings each week  When your children or yourself become ill it will be your him coming to sit and pray with you in the hospital. When you're ready to get married you don't have to go hire anyone to officiate or rent a "Sanctuary". When you pass from this life into eternity it will be your Pastor officiating the funeral and comforting your loved ones.

He should probably aim to give at least 10% back to the ministry...whatever that amount is for him...but he gives a far greater spiritual "tithe" or sacrifice by giving his time and attention to the flock the Lord entrusted him with 

31 minutes ago, TheGloryLand said:

Yes sir, I understand the monthly tithe. Some pastor don't put anything at all into the plate, not sure what going on there. It is nice to hear from the pastor you mentioned who gave and did not get paid to preach, he will be blessed here for it. in a different post regarding Pastor getting paid. This is also a problem. They get these crazy packages that includes cars houses to live and more. I don’t agree with all this, but I do agree that they get paid well and that they cover their own needs.

I'm not sure how paid Pastors typically pay tithing. In the case of the lead Pastor especially....I'm not even sure it would be necessary for him to tithe in the way we think of it for the people in the pews 

In many ways the Pastor and his family sacrifice a far greater price when serving a local church. A Pastor is many things...like having the role as a "counselor" to listen to members personal problems and give them guidance. In ordinary circumstances someone could charge nearly a 100$ a session for the same kind of guidance.

Not only the Pastor but his entire family are generally expected to live and act in ways that members wouldn't because of the scrutiny that comes with it. Many Pastors or their children have been unable to live up to those expectations causing them to fall away from their faith altogether.

I personally would believe that when it comes to financial giving of a Pastor it would be up to the Pastors own discretion and whether he does or doesn't shouldn't be the concern of others. If it were mandatory then the church itself would be doing the very thing you mentioned by taking his "tithe" directly out of his income without his permission.

I wouldn't hold a position either way 

10 minutes ago, TheGloryLand said:

But he asked the members, if they can leave the closer parking for visitor…

Yes visitor parking is far more common from my experience than a designated spot for the Pastor. In most cases I don't even understand the designated visitor parking since most church parking lots are so small that the difference in distance is only about two car lengths at most.

On 10/11/2023 at 2:24 PM, TheGloryLand said:

Don't forget what Trump, did on January 6th he was behind everything going on. We can't be blind to this. I voted for Trump, but no more. We gave him a chance, and he blew it away, serving in his last year he was terrible.

I think the last year of Trumps presidency would have been terrible no matter who was in office in light of the COVID epidemic. It's hard to know what he could've accomplished without that.

I agree he probably could've handled things better on the 6th of January. At the time I personally wasn't buying his claims of a "stolen" election and was very frustrated with what he was pressuring Pence to do.

While the stolen election seemed far fetched to me then it certainly seems more plausible to me now after seeing the desperate and deplorable tactics the left is using to keep him out of the next election. They are far more afraid of him than I realized initially.

On 8/25/2023 at 9:00 AM, TheGloryLand said:

I have never agreed with the Baptist church that removes 10 percent from their employee's salary. I do support the local church and their employees should tithe, if they want to do so. This is just my opinion, you can tell this is being done, for they (employees) never put anything in the offering plate, when it passed by.

I've never heard of a church taking tithing out of staffs salary...but I'm sure it does happen in churches like Seventh Day Adventists where Old Testament tithing is still emphasized.

I know I've noticed over the years exactly what you are talking about. I would notice how a deacon or other member would not put anything in the offering plate weekly. I realized later that instead of paying weekly they would often just write one check that included the entire months tithes. 

There is a non baptist church I used to attend occasionally and in that church they didn't believe in Pastors being a paid position. When I did visit I almost always sat in the same row as the Pastor and several times when I would get the offering plate the Pastors check would be laying in it opened and I couldn't help but noticed that he always gave 80$ a week despite not being paid for his role. I was impressed by his generosity.

I've never been to an IFB that practiced tithing. I remember one of the deacons talking to me about it one time and in his view it was a free will offering of each member and in many cases they would give even more than if they followed a ten percent tithe.

As for the staff...other than the Pastor, Associate Pastor, and the Secretary all the other positions were just part time roles each week while they held employment elsewhere...but in most cases the church staff would also work at the K-12 school in some capacity so they could make a living with in the "ministry" of the church.

46 minutes ago, TheGloryLand said:

Just checking, it is not a sin to have a parking that is closer, than the handicapped parking. If he, the pastor is fat like me, further might be better.

Yes the IFB church here has a designated parking spot. I don't think designating that spot is really necessary as most people would know that's where the pastor regularly parks Visitors may be the exception. Of course he's going to be at the church before anyone else so it's really not an issue. Plus the parking lot isn't really large enough for any parking spot to be ridiculously far from the building.

6 hours ago, BrotherTony said:

So, are you advocating for children who aren't qualified to treat or attend to many physical ailments, ie, dementia, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrigs, etc, to do it anyway? It's not a smart thing to do. I helped take care of my grandmother who had Alzheimer's, but, only until it became apparent that neither my grandfather nor I could properly care for her. We did it for the same with a family member that had been burned in a fire back in the mid 80s. In her case there were certain medications and treatments that had to be administered by a professional. The Lord will indeed say well done to those who can take care of them, but those who have done their best will receive the same acknowledgement.

That's true, Tony. I seen how my mother and her siblings were unable to handle taking care of their Aunt with dementia. It got a point where she believed that money was missing from her account or out of her purse, forgot things like to debone chicken before cooking it and there were potential violent situations because she forget that other people were in the house with her.

Even her Pastor tried to help her by picking her up for church and helping her with finances until she began to make the same accusations of money missing towards him and at that point he knew he couldn't continue to help in that capacity.

1 minute ago, TheGloryLand said:

Pence can work, but Christians don't support him, for some reason. Maybe it's because he is not liberal enough. 

I support Mike. I understand some people feel like he betrayed Trump or that he was favoring a Joe Biden win.

I personally don't see him that way at all. Being from Indiana I've always known him to stand for what he believes is right no matter what others think. I respect that.

I would pick him over all the other Republicans running but I just don't see anyway for him or anyone else to win as long as Trump is in the race...but I'm ok with that too.

This country just cannot endure four more years of Grandpa Joe and Kamala Harris speeches about school buses or the internet. Those two have made me more embarrassed to be an American than any other time in my life 

1 hour ago, SureWord said:

So they say but we see with the lockdowns this wasn't true.

If you are looking for a Baptist pastor to be President you'll have a long wait. 

Im pretty sure the last "baptist" President we had was too busy cheating on the first lady than reading the Bible. And thankfully we didn't get a second Arkansas "baptist" with his wife 

In this scenario I'd pick the Mormon (Romney), the Seventh day Adventist (Carson), or the Presbyterian (Trump) over those two baptist in any election.

3 hours ago, TheGloryLand said:

I watch and listen to the news and shake my head, listening to these conservatives and watching what they’re doing to each other. I know the independent Baptist Church support Republican and those that are conservative, which were very good at one time, but now it's a different story. I don’t believe that Christians should vote for the lesser of two evils. Is this a Christian thing to do? many of these politicians are lying just to get our votes, so why vote? I know that many of you will say, this is the right thing to do and it's our duty. Is it really our duty to vote for false leaders.

I understand the dilemma you are raising..and I used to have the same conflicting thoughts. 

For me the issue is simple. When I vote for government leaders I am NOT looking for someone to be my spiritual or even moral leader in a President. Jesus and my local Pastor are who I turn to for that. 

We just have to vote for the person we believe agrees with us most on what governments should focus on and how they oversee the daily affairs of the country. Those who gain power will have to answer to the Lord one day about their spiritual beliefs and practices.

On 9/8/2023 at 7:29 PM, BrotherTony said:

In the church we're members of security was beefed up for a year or so. Now it's back down to pre-Covid levels. But, that could be because we have several men and a couple of women who carry firearms. 

I know of one congregation locally where it's normal to see several men in the pews with personal weapons on them. The church as whole even went through a firearm training course. Their former Pastor was telling me that the reason he carried a concealed weapon on Sundays was because from the pulpit he would be the first person to see someone walk into the sanctuary.

It's also fairly common for a congregation to have someone who is current or former law enforcement who carries their weapon during service just in case someone slipped past the greeters who remain out in the foyer during services.

As far as cleaning the sanctuaries I assume most have gone back to cleaning once a week either by someone hired to do so or in some cases the congregation members take turns cleaning in groups.

Probably the one thing that seems to be still continuing from the "COVID outbreak' is the use of individual prepackaged communion cups with bread and juice. I've seen some people who just started being their own communion stuff 

2 hours ago, BrotherTony said:

Yes, it IS right to vote for the lesser of two evils if that is your only option. The right to vote has been given to us by the Lord, and we should use that vote to keep as much evil out of our government. Of course, this is my personal belief and opinion, just as what TGL expressed, as strange as it may seem to most patriotic Americans, is his.

I agree. We can't just be passive and allow people to vote in the larger evil with little resistance. I remember voting during the Trump/Clinton election...it was the first time I ever felt like I needed to repent after voting.. thankfully Trump ended up being the better decision.

There are just some issues that absolutely can't be just overlooked and wish for the best. For instance if one is against the murder of unborn babies and the other isn't...there just isn't much of a question who I want to vote for.

I have several Bibles that are either falling apart or are a waste of space because I never use them because I have newer copies or editions. I've never thrown any away though and that probably attributed to my conscious believing God's word shouldn't be in the trash 

I agree that in reality it's just paper and ink and has no real value without a human reading it's pages. I wouldn't take position either way of how one should or shouldn't dispose of old bibles. I mean I've thrown away MANY books or tracts with Bible verses on it and thats really not any different.

I think it's important to NOT believe printed copies of the Bible are the fourth part of the Trinity or something. You run risk of borderline worshiping the pages instead of the words like Muslims. If a Muslim even drops a copy of the Quran on the floor ...it has to be buried in the ground..and we have all seen their reactions to people buring Quran.

On 9/17/2023 at 3:08 PM, TheGloryLand said:

When you speak to a Christian that knows the Word of God, he or she will tell you, that the Bible and verses have many applications. Not just one, that the Bible has one interpretation, there's only?  Beware  

That's what I was taught - One interpretation of the text but many applications.

Certain Study Bibles, Charlatan Televangelists, and people too lazy to read the Bible instead "end times" fiction books and movies.

1 hour ago, BrotherTony said:

There are some good Country songs. Secular music isn't automatically dismissed because of a genre. 

I definitely understand and agree with how you feel about modern country music. It's very different than the stuff I grew up hearing as young child.

Even the country music in the late 80s into the 90s had some morally questionable lyrics but for me many of the songs gave me sort of a foundation when it came to God's presence in the world since my parents didn't speak of anything religious.

Probably the best example would be the George Strait song "A Love Without End, Amen"...where I was able to see God's goodness by thinking of how much my earthly father loved and provided for me.

Even songs like Lee Greenwood's - God Bless The USA made me feel proud to be in a country that worshipped HIM.

It's very different now. The music and lyrics are so generic and don't have any real meaning to them. There seems to be a tendency for country singers to transition to Christian music later in life like Randy Travis and Alan Jackson.

On 7/5/2023 at 4:58 PM, TheGloryLand said:

Your daughter, being raised up in a Christian Christ centered home, meets a Jehovah witness gentleman, and they get married. What is the chance of your daughter changing denominations?  We know that each case can be different. What is the percentage that he can become a Christian. Lastly, how would you feel? Would you feel that God let you down in someway?

A JW man marrying a bible believing women is rare. Usually it's the opposite. JW women seem to be far more likely to marry outside the faith but the majority of the time they marry inactive JW men. It's very common to see a Wife every Sunday with several children while the husband is rarely seen except for maybe the Memorial once a year.

I haven't ever seen any actual statistics but it's widely claimed that there are far more women JWs compared to men. I can only assume that if that's the case then it probably had a lot to do with women being around the house more making them more likely to encounter a witness at the door and agreeing to a Bible study as something different to do during the day.

It's almost unfathomable for me to think of any reason a born again female would agree to bind herself to the control of the Watchtower through her husband. It isn't likely a JW man would marry a women who wasn't submissive to his mental and religious control. A true believing JW man wouldn't risk his own reputation being looked down on because he wasn't able to "control" his wife. Most JW men aspire to be ministerial servants and eventually elders within their congregations. Not being able to control his wifes entire life and thoughts would be seen as a sign of "spiritual"weakness and as someone who would be overlooked for leadership roles since he can't keep his own household in order.