BrotherTony

Yeppers... many of us have noticed how over the past 50+ years Tom Turkey has been pushed off the road by the fat man in the bright red suit, flying around with his eight tiny reindeer! LOL The over commercialization of Christmas has gotten way out of hand! My parents Western Wear Store would NEVER allow Thanksgiving to be bypassed. None of the decorations for Christmas at their store came out until BLACK FRIDAY. I'm thankful for that.

Have we fallen short in baptisms? And why are baptisms being used as a measure for how strong churches are? Many pastors have seen the futility and falseness of dunking people just for the numbers? They've come to the realization that people need to understand what baptism is, and in the true discipling of people first. In the days of Christ people understood the implications of being baptized into this new religion called Christianity. They could be kicked out of the synagogues, lose their livelihoods, and even their lives. That's exactly what Saul of Tarsus was doing before he had his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus.

Who has stated that he can?

Unless you have ever been in an abusive IFB church or churches you will NEVER understand why someone would leave. I grew up in an abusive IFB church. I loved my pastor and his son, who was my youth pastor for a time. The Gospel was preached, and people were saved on a regular basis, but many things were covered up, especially if it was of a sexual nature. When offences were brought to the pastors attention they were dismissed or passed on to some other church. That was until several people, myself included, told the pastor that we were going to make public the dangers in the church. It was brought to a head when a youth worker and a school teacher were grooming girls, and boys, for sexual liaisons. One of those involved was my high school sweetheart. She finally confided in me. I also had been physically punched by my youth pastor. He grabbed me with one hand around my throat and moved me up the wall and punched me. He told my parents that I deserved it. The reason he did it? I had questioned some of the things going on in the youth group. I wasn't the only one who suffered such things. The school teacher was fired, but the incident was NEVER brought before the church. Neither was the youth worker. Thank the Heavenly Father that you've NEVER experienced unchecked pastoral power and abuse.

I know my wife and I were members of a church full of nepotism, hirelings, and people from off the street. These are some things that are very common in churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It's not uncommon for them to have a secretary from outside of their own churches membership. It's also a common practice in many of their churches to hire people from the secular sector to play in their worship band, and to work in other areas of their ministry. It's hard to find faithful members if they're not allowed to function in the churches programs. There were also issues with the pastor only visiting people who were in his own age group. I know that many of us who are in their senior years were being overlooked and basically shut out. And the nepotism in the church was a real problem with an assistant pastor who was the brother to the worship leader, and whose father in law was the head Deacon for the church. After the worship leader left during the heighth of the pandemic because the pastor wouldn't require everyone to be vaccinated and wear masks, the assistant pastor, who was also the youth pastor, went and became pastor of another larger church in the area. His father in law left a few weeks afterwards. Then, instead of hiring another person to lead the worship portion of the service, the pastor installed his wife. Several months later one of the pastors buddies in the church became the assistant pastor. It wasn't good, and we and several other older families we basically frozen out. We've been looking ever since. People will only be faithful if they have a right heart and are truly seeking to please the Lord. They're the ones who should be working in the churches. The pastor should be looking for and working towards helping his congregation to find their spiritual gifts and helping them to utilize them.

His wife passed away.

Thankfully the pastors I know NEVER STOPPED preaching the gospel. Remember, TGL, they're to preach the whole counsel of God, not just salvation messages. And just to be clear, preaching messages that promote conservative, Biblical values is imperative. Maybe one should let the Holy Spirit guide in what these pastors preach, eh?

Keep it up, Eddie, and I'm not joking.

I'm not sure that I agree with that statement. This sounds like the gobbly gook I hear from Calvinists. There are many who have gone from extremely immoral to being very moral without salvation. There are many who were involved in various sins that turned away from these things and many years later were saved.

I fully believed after all these years of him being attacked that many who would NEVER have voted for him before would do so. People finally started catching on to the drive by the Left to destroy him, and it all backfired on them!

Most everyone that I know has been in fervent prayer fo former president Donald J Trump to win the 2024 Presidential race. The AP called the race for Trump a little over an hour ago. The Lord is showing the United States the mercy it doesn't really deserve. But He has heard our prayers and will help us to move back towards some common sense positions. Thanks be to God.

Thank you for the clarification. That's always one of the difficulties in communicating with keyboard and screen. No offense taken here.

And nobody has denied this.

Romans 10:9-13.... Repentance often comes after belief, at least in the greater degree. Some may teach 100 percent repentance before, but that seems to follow under the Lordship salvation teachings some put forth.

I'm so sorry for your loss. You're in our thoughts and prayers.

Abraham's Bosom is where he would have been. This place was brought up in the story that Christ told about the rich man and Lazarus.

Pastor Greg Locke and the Global Vision Bible Church's purchase of a church campus in Lebanon, Tennessee has fallen through. The church apparently was not able to raise the capital to secure the purchase of the property. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/wilson/2024/10/31/global-vision-greg-locke-new-tennessee-church-purchase-falls-through/75949308007/

I'm so sorry for your loss, Brother. She's now in a healed body and with the Lord. May the Lord give you the comfort only He can give. You're in our thoughts and prayers.

A theory that has been floating around here in Middle Tennessee is that Mr. Locke set this up to garner sympathy and to keep his name in the forefront. I would hope and pray that this wasn't the case. Still, I have heard several pastors in our area mentioning this thought.

Please grow up.

Yet, the HOLY SPIRIT knowing all things chose to use these words. Either you believe the Word of God to be pure or you don't Eddie. I'm not concerned with what connotation the world puts on the words, I am more concerned with what God thinks. You seem to be happy being a contrarian.

The Bible tells us if any of us are short of wisdom to ask God who gives it to all men LIBERALLY and upbraideth not. Guess the Holy Spirit didn't seem to find anything wrong with the word. It's really not up to us to like or dislike what the Bible says.

Say what????

I was raised in a church that was sort of different. Our pastor was a meek, mild type of man. One would NEVER have thought of him as being a dictator. And he wasn't. But, he was a "behind the scenes" manipulator. When any kind of sexual perversion was brought to the attention of the pastor or deacons it was swiftly swept under the rugs. When we first started attending the church one of the deacons was having an affair with another deacons wife When one of the members who worked at a local news outlet threatened to go public with everything these deacons and the one deacons wife were given the choice of resigning from all positions held within the church and repenting or being quietly handed by the other deacons, the one couple (deacon and wife) filed for divorce and left the church. The other deacon resigned and told his wife about the affair. They stayed together, but he left the church for many years. He later became involved again behind the scenes and made sure his kids didn't make his same mistakes. But through ALL of this my pastor denied and did damage control. When sexual sin among the youth workers were taken to the pastor by me he basically told me to mind my own business. The problem was that it was my business as my high school sweetheart had been groomed by the science teacher at our churches Christian school. And one of the youth workers knew what was going on and helped groom her by having her babysit for his child. Since she was a family friend of this worker it was easy for him to convince her to have an affair. That ended when I found out conclusively what was going on with him and told him that he had until the evening service to tell his wife what was going on or I would tell her. He told her and they entered counseling in another churches program. But I told the pastor again and he told me that I didn't know what was going on. I was 17 years old. Believe me, I knew and understood.. My own dad was having an affair and I caught him. I moved out of the house just a few months after turning 18 and lived with another student at the Bible college I was attending. My dad moved out of the house and in with his 18 year old girlfriend two days after Thanksgiving. The pastor told me that I didn't know or understand what was going on. I left that church. My parents reunited but with NO THANKS to this pastor. If I mentioned his name some would know him and his IFB author and padtor son. Nobody will ever understand the anger and frustration that I have with these kinds of churches and pastors.

It's very disconcerting when pastors, alleged men of God, sexually assault anyone, but, to assault ones own flesh and blood makes them a wholly despicable kind of pervert. It boils my blood just thinking about it.