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Growing in Grace website

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Our local news did a piece on him tonight.......I know I posted a thread about this guy awhile back, but here he is, in the news again~

I just sat there in puzzlement watching it, how in the world can he get followers that actually believe the nonsense he's spouting??

I'm disgusted by him but feel bad for the people that are being misled by him.

People like this, (not him so much, but his followers)..........good people basically but non-believers........will they get into Heaven?

As long as the media supports him (and they will everyone except Jesus Christ Himself), he'll keep playing it up. Either he'll fade away or he'll be like Jim Jones or David Koresh.

My guess is no. If you build a relationship with the ONE TRUE GOD and read your Bible and Pray and commune with HIM, you would know that this guy is fake... He goes against the commandments and HE'S FULL OF MONEY. I would think Jesus would help the poor ;)
Anyway, your question made me think of all the other false gods that are out there...

I jes read that whole article... what a crock of crap, an what's worse is how many idiots follow sumthin like that... but that's sumthint that annoys me bout many christians, catholics the most though (I've seen it happen there more then anywhere else) they actually never read thier own bibles, they rely on everone else to tell em this er that instead of goin to the word of God an readin such thins as there will be many false prohpets before Christs return... it's so very sad... an I'm tellin ya folks, we are livin the last days of this earth as we know it. Christ is comin soon. An THIS time, everbody is goin to KNOW it.

Yeah, when the TRUE Jesus comes, we'll know it from the depths of our hearts and get those tingly goosebumps from head to toe and full of joy at the same time. (I think. :P) These false dudes are just that....false. :screwy:

If I didn't know exactly who these quotes were referring to, I'd say ...No, I will say those very same things can be attributed to these guys..... :bolt:

mmmmmm...... and these ones to I spose...........

Have to agree withyou on the pope thing. The infallibility of the Pope is a terrible deviance from the truth that all men are human and thus have the weaknesses that come with the fall...The corruption of Rome is a very bad thing that led to the great fragentation that exists in Christianity today..

I don't recognize the lady on the planet..Who is she and how do the above statements apply to her?

The picture of the apostle Paul?????? How do the statements apply to the writer of many of the Scriptures?? Surely he was a great man who helped to spread the teachings of Christ and given that many of his writings were cannonized as Holy Scripture I can't see how the satements such as the following apply to him:

Please clarify....

Totally off topic but does any one know why the Catholics depict people in their paintings as being so beautiful and perfect??? Not to mention that all the lines are kind of blurry and not sharp..thy have that fadey blended look...That is wierd I think...

String: I guess it's a good thing I don't know who any of those peeps are other than Benny Hinn...oh and Joel.
:rollseyes:

I don't know 'em either...and frankly, I don't care.

They are protestant pastors etc, even the TBN folks there, an the other two pictures is one of Mary (the mother of Jesus) an of Paul.... which if I am not mistaken are elevated to the status of bein prayed to an pretty much worshipped in the catholic an orthodox faiths.....

Well, you are mistaken... In Orthodoxy, we believe that life continues after the physical death and we believe those who have attained salvation and now reside in Heaven still care about the salvation of generations that came after their own earthly lives. They want us to be saved. It is the nature of a Christian to desire the repentance and salvation of all men. Can't rightly think they have attained eternal salvation and Heaven but the love of God for all men no longer lives in them, can you? We do not worship them. (Although the RCs, I believe, do in some way worship Mary) As for "praying" to them, the word "pray" literally means "to ask" We ask those great Christians to pray to God for us because as the scriptures say:

We are commanded to pray for one another and never comanded to stop, even when the physical body stops. Also, as you can see, the scriptures also tell us that the prayers of the righteous availeth much. Those Christians of the past are much more righteous than I and it would be only vanity for me to say that I am just as righteous as they. Therefore we petition them to pray to God for us, just as we ask each other to pray to God for us. There is no worship, only honor and respect for the great things they did for the Faith and the good people that they are...

As for Mary, In Orthodoxy we refer to her as "Theotokos" meaning "Mother of God". She was, in fact, the mother of our Lord. Surely you cannot deny that she bore, nursed, raised our God in His human form..Scriptures themselves attest to the magnificent role God entrusted on her to bear His Son:

Her cousin Elizabeth clearly states that among women, all over the earth and throught time, Mary is blessed above us all because only she was chosen to bear the Son of God. God could easily have chosen one of us in this 21st Century in the middle of Podunk USA, but He didn't. Of all women of all time, He chose Mary.

Also in the book of Luke:

For a more detailed understanding of the Orthodox view listen to these. I learned a lot and so many things were clarified for me. Coming from a protestant background myself, I understand the issues you all have with Mary.. At least listen and get a full understanding before tossing out the window something you don't fully understand. Listen, learn, and gain a full understanding of the issue before you dismiss it. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater...

Podcast-Understanding the Virgin Mary-Part 1

Understanding the Virgin Mary-Part 2

Understanding the Virgin Mary-Part 3

Yah... to much for me to read right now, suffice it to say, I've been down this road before, ended up wit two offical warnins out of it over yonder a few years back, all by catholics no less :screwy:

I believe it is WRONG period for anyone to pray to anyone other then Christ Hissef. To do otherwise says (to me) that they have some power, er some position, an I really dislike the hair splittin folks do. It is not jes a matter of "to ask" it is not a simple thin to git some dead guy to sit there an talk wit the Lord for us... considerin... Christ died an bridged the gap... that is why we do not need high preists, sacrafices etc etc etc, Jesus tore the viel Himsef. I gotta run, I'm way way late, havta git wit this later, but I believe if anyone is prayin to anyone other then God they are placin that person in a higher position then they ought.

So String.....and I'm not attacking, I'm really curious......is your belief that one can't pray directly to God Himself? That it is necessary to go through one of the saints to pray on your behalf? If so, why?

I personally would feel strange asking somebody else who's not living to go to God on my behalf, I feel better cutting out the middle man and going straight to the source.

As for having other people praying for me (like prayer requests here on FHL), I see that differently simply because I'm not praying to YOU guys, I'm just throwing out a prayer request that I'm praying for myself and figure if somebody else wants to join in, the more the merrier!! :P

Then again, I believe in soul sleep and don't think any of my ancestors are in Heaven yet, so they wouldn't be able to talk to God anyhow.....but that's a topic for another thread!! B)

I do not "dis" Mary at all, though, I believe she was the earthly mother of Jesus, not the mother of God. As if our God was born into this universe etc. While she was favored above all women jes as the bible says she was, that does not mean that she to didn't need a savior in Christ. Many people want to stick er on a pedestal, that if it were me an I knew folks were doin that I'd be hidin from the Lord for fear He was goin to destroy me. Our God is a jelous God, says so, an I do not believe He would be, er is happy wit a bunch of folks tryin to use other means to git to Him. The bible clearly says that there is one way an only one way to the father an that is through Jesus, not Mary, not Joe blow er Paul er anyone else who was a mortal doomed sinful person. I highly disagree wit this... oh le'me use the proper word, "veneration of saints" I believe it's called. They were no different then you er I, cept they physically walked wit the Lord, we are to do the exact same thin as they did, should the world last another 1000 years, would you be happy wit people prayin TO you after you've been gone because you did mighty works for the Lord? I'd be horrified.

On a side note, I do not believe in soul sleep for believers, the bible says that to be absent from the body is to be present wit the Lord, that fast. I do however believe those that die witout knowin Christ remain in thier graves, an won't be awake agin until judgement. Like you said though, that's another thread topic.

I very much disagree wit many of the catholic an even orthodox teachins. An can NOT for the life of me understand how someone can take one sentence in the bible an then build an entire... network? of stuff round it an claim that this is the only way. Same goes wit infant baptism... boy that one annoys me, because the bible says "an the entire household" it automatically means you've gotta be baptised.... how in the frickin world everone misses the part jes before that where it says "they BELIEVED an were baptised, they an their entire household" A frickin blob of flesh as an infant can NOT believe because they cain't understand..... my personal thoughts through research.

:agree:

Oh no, no... We pray to God all the time! Literally 95% or more of what you hear at an Orthodox service is prayer to God...The Orthodox are the prayinest people you will ever meet! :thumbsup:

I totally understand...Been there myself and I still feel kinda wierd about the whole ask the saints to pray for us thing... The thing is..they are still living. They are alive in Christ and if anything they are more alive than we are here in this earthly realm...hard concept to comprehend, but something to think about...

"Pray tell, Is andie excited about school yet?"

See, the literal meaning of the word pray is "to ask".. The use of it in our english Bible came about during a time when the common language of the people included that word often. In translation the word was used as it normally would be used in comon speech. Over the years, as our language evolved, the Scriptures did not and the word remained in the Bible. Therefore, the word "pray" has evolved to mean, almost conclusively, "conversation with God" .

There are scriptural evidences against soul sleep. Moses and Elijah on Mt. Tabor, The thief on the cross who was promised to see Jesus this very day, etc...I am sure f I did a little research and asked some more knowledgeable people I could learn about the origins of the theory...Ohhhhh..that could be another thread here in theology! :P

My freakin cat just erased everything I had written!!!!! I gotta go to bed and I'll be back in the morning!

:nono: :ar15 Stupid cat!!

CATS are evil... :blink: :screwy: :boo: :cheeky:

Maybe you should stop petting it? :whistle: :gotcha:

:happy:

Hi, all. I've just got a second on my lunch hour, but I gotta say, Louis, seems like you take one belief we hold and connect a lot of other huey to it and then condemn it. Well, based on how you're defining some of these things, your right to reject 'em, but you're not understanding the true practices we're talking about. Some of your ideas may apply to the Roman Catholic religion, but the proper honor for all of God's people, including special love for those who have exemplified Christ redeemed lives for us, doesn't take one iota from our proper worship, honor, and direct prayer to God. Christ alone is our saviour, although we still pray for one another, thereby showing our love, which we are commanded to have for one another. Loving each other, or those who are with Christ in heaven now, takes nothing from God's glory. He commands us to love one another. He likes it. This is what He desires from us. Honoring the saints is no more than holding a great love for them, as is appropriate considering their incredible lives and examples for us.

Gotta run.

Take care.

Was too busy to come online much at all yesterday...sorry.. I thought about it and rather than try to comment on everything I wanted to here, I am going to start a seperate thread...Sort of my own weak attempt at a question/answer type thing...we'll see where it goes...