Is anyone else watching the Strange Fire conference with John MacArthur?

[yeshuasavedme]

..............
I was an atheist 30 yrs ago and an angry one at that... thought all those Christians were just a bunch of hypocrites telling other people how to live. One day, I'm looking at my garden thinking this can't all just be an evolutionary accident.........I told this God 'I didn't believe' in that if He was real I wanted to know Him, but don't send any of those fools to my door or do any miracles (I'll just rationalize them) I said God if You are real Your going to have to do something with me from the inside out, BUT I'D THINK YOU'D WANT MY MOUTH ON YOUR SIDE!!!! So a week or so goes by and i didn't think much about it. I'm turning the channel and keep getting this TV Christian show on.... absolutely hated them (like chalk on a blackboard ugh) but theres like 30 seconds till the next show and this guy says "IF you can't believe in God its OK tell Him, so I had just said the same thing a few days earlier so I said "God I can't believe in You" - the guy (Ben Kinchlow) says now say this prayer and for some strange reason I did.... honestly didn't know what it was but when I said, "amen' it was as if the Lord was leaning on a door and just pushed me over... I was on the floor crying, knowing how many times He'd actually spoke to me and I wasn't ready to listen. I not only knew God was real, but God was Jesus Christ.... it was so powerful. When I got up I'm like "now what do I do" I'm an atheist that believes in God??? My husband still laughs about what a huge change happened that day. I was an atheist one minute and a radical believer the next but I still had to find out why... I went on a long journey to find out about this Jesus that had just come into my heart bc He did. For people to say that prayer doesn't mean anything haven't experienced it the way I did.
So IDK if that is scriptural LOL... I've been told its not but all I know is I love Him more each day and He has changed me in ways I can not express.... 30 years now and I'm still sharing that testimony where ever I go... the supermarket, Home Depot... at work. I love to tell people how radically wrong I was LOL.... I was so convinced and He was so so merciful to me. I am forever in awe of His grace bc I was such an angry atheist.
God bless, andrea

I identify with your testimony in that God brought me to Him by a mighty miracle and I "hit the ground, running" so to speak [after I got off my knees and dried my tears], but I was never an Athiest, just ran from Him, on purpose, knowing that I did.

 

[yeshuasavedme]

And yes, Andrea mothers do want their childrens best

 

[HisSparkPlug]

my year old granddaughter lifts her hands in praise... smiles and says Jesus yea!! claps so adorable. I call her my li'l Pentecostal baby.

My daughter when she was three... I was an atheist. The only way you'd hear Jesus from me was cussin. So one day she is in the kitchen and I heard her say Jesus (softly not as an expletive). I asked her who told her about Jesus. She said "nobody". But I was insistent bc I didn't want anyone telling her about religion.... she looks at me square in the face and says "He talks to me and I talk to Him!!" and walks away from me.... it actually scared me.

At 7 she would beg me to take her to church... I told her maybe someday... she was 8 when I got radically saved, in my living room.... IDK how or why all I know is He was merciful to me in a way I did not deserve and He talks to babies.

Just reading thru some of these posts and girl you have some fab stories to share I love it.

Yes Jesus talks to babies - a friend of mine was in the kitchen when her 4 yr old granddaughter started yelling "Gammy Jesus is talking!!!" so she went to the living room and asked her what He was saying. The 4 yr old says, "He was saying 'I love you' ". Unimpressed my friend started walking away. The 4 yr old stops her by yelling again "Gammy He was talking to YOU - He said to tell you He loves you!" lol... way to get a message to someone.. hehe. I love it, He is amazing.

I find sharing stories like this is faith building

Does your daughter remember Jesus talking to her when she was little?

 

[Andrea411]

Just reading thru some of these posts and girl you have some fab stories to share I love it.

Yes Jesus talks to babies - a friend of mine was in the kitchen when her 4 yr old granddaughter started yelling "Gammy Jesus is talking!!!" so she went to the living room and asked her what He was saying. The 4 yr old says, "He was saying 'I love you' ". Unimpressed my friend started walking away. The 4 yr old stops her by yelling again "Gammy He was talking to YOU - He said to tell you He loves you!" lol... way to get a message to someone.. hehe. I love it, He is amazing.

I find sharing stories like this is faith building

Does your daughter remember Jesus talking to her when she was little?

No she doesn't remember that but she does remember demons running around her bed when she was sick in the hospital.... there is something about seeing demons that draws you closer to the Lord...I think. Haven't seen them myself. She got peritonitis - was diagnosed with a stomach bug and by the time we took her to the hospital - they said, another 12-18 hours and she'd have died. 3 months in the hospital... its a miracle she survived and then another miracle she had that baby girl last year. The doctor said, after she delivered that her uterus and bladder were in the wrong place, bc of the illness when she was 15. She walked in faith believing she'd have her own child. I was just praying they'd adopt. Now I'm waiting for more grandbabies.
God has been so good to us... I was the first one saved in my family except my daughter says she was born saved.... LOL. Just always knew the Lord. She got a little wild in her teens but that illness brought her back. Nothing like facing death to make you see the light. The Lord gave me peace all through her illness.
She walks in discernment and loves the Lord. My greatest joy was to see my family saved and serving Jesus. My husband got saved about 15 years after me... then a few of my sisters.... still working on the rest of them. I've learned its all about Him, I can't do it for them all I can do is share what He has done for me. I'm married almost 40 years... from a family where everyone gets divorced (we're a wee bit dysfunctional). I've learned to put the fun back in dysFUNctional.... and go with it. But around our house we ask for peace, no drunken parties, cussin or fighting. Things have changed slowly but surely since I was young. The alcoholics got sober, the drug addicts free... still working on getting them saved but at least they let me talk about Jesus now. LOL... they used to ask me not to but my life is about Jesus so it flows very naturally. So many of my choices have to do with the Lord and what He wants that they get to hear the gospel when I explain why we do the things or not do the things we do. Plus we're just so so blessed, I think that when you open your eyes to miracles, they happen all the time. I don't believe in coincidences - I believe in the Lord's providence. He makes life exciting everyday... waiting for another opportunity to see Him work His miracles in someone's life. So being charismatic isn't just about speaking in tongues and faith healing, its about knowing Christ is with us all the time. So we have to stay alert, watching bc someone who needs Him might be in the checkout line at the supermarket or at Home Depot.... its such a wonderful way to look at life - I couldn't imagine thinking God was only there when I was on my knees bc in the Spirit I'm always on my knees. Of course sometimes He dragging me but thats a hole other ball of wax....LOL
God bless, time to get some sleep the painter is coming tomorrow and I think he's going to get saved, pray for John... he's been listening and I saw tears in his eyes when I told him all about how Jesus loves us and he said, he doesn't go to church bc he would be a hypocrite. I told him there was a big club of hypocrites there and he'd fit right in.... I'm always in awe of how He loves us where we're at and not in some future upright uptight condition. Good night, andrea

 

[simonthezealot]

More important than abortion...
Wretched: Jesus Culture is more dangerous than bad politics. - YouTube

 

[simonthezealot]

Disturbing...

Wretched: Hey Jesus Culture! Jesus is not a chick. - YouTube

 

[simonthezealot]

2 Timothy 4:3-4


For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

 

[HisSparkPlug]

lol @ SimontheZealot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_2qG22SPwU

 

[simonthezealot]

lol @ SimontheZealot

Jesus Culture- Your Love Never Fails - YouTube

Have you ever aligned their music to the word of God?

 

[simonthezealot]

at 4:02 what a massive distortion of Romans 8:28...
the song sings "You make all things work together for my good.
All things work together for good."
(they teach God works for them...Man centered, man is not the focus of God’s attentions, God should be the focus of man's attentions. God makes all things, all events, all circumstances, work together for His good purposes.)

 

[simonthezealot]

lol @ SimontheZealot

I find no humor when false teachers are making a mockery of the Holy Spirit and the truth of God's word.

 

[simonthezealot]

Exposing the False Teaching of Bill Johnson at Bethel Church in Redding, CA. | Worldview Weekend

 

[Gnarwhal]

Disturbing...

Wretched: Hey Jesus Culture! Jesus is not a chick. - YouTube

I'm about as far from a fan of "Wretched" as I can get, but in this case... he's not wrong. I can't stand Jesus Culture.

For some reason (probably the close proximity to Bethel), the church I grew up in became infatuated with Jesus Culture and Bethel as a whole. It was... creepy.

 

[rockytopva]

I believe the church ages as seven...

1. Ephesus – Apostolic – Leaving the first love… “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me…” – II Timothy 1:15
2. Smyrna – Martyrs – Persecutions ten days… Foxes Book of Martyrs describes ten Roman persecutions.
3. Pergamos – Orthodox – A pyrgos is a fortified structure – Needed for the dark ages.
4. Thyatira – Catholic – The Spirit of Jezebel is to persecute, control, and to dominate. This spirit can invade any church!
5. Sardis – Protestant – A sardius is a gem, elegant yet hard and rigid. Doctrine in the head, little in the heart.
6. Philadelphia – Methodist – To obtain sanctification was to do so with love.
7. Laodicea – Charismatic – Rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing?

In his book "Shouting, Genuine and Spurious," by GW Henry (1801) Shouting; genuine and spurious ... giving a history of the outward demonstrations of the spirit, such as laughing, screaming, shouting ... &c : Henry, George W., b. 1801. [from old catalog] : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive, says on page 28, "And now Satan whispers through the lips of a member of the church at Sardis... This is all wild fire!"

The Sardisean will caution against emotion at every turn! This is because the emotional experience does not work with the doctrine in their head (what they call 'truth'). So they warred against it 200 years ago... And so do they today.

 

[simonthezealot]

I'm about as far from a fan of "Wretched" as I can get, but in this case... he's not wrong. I can't stand Jesus Culture.

For some reason (probably the close proximity to Bethel), the church I grew up in became infatuated with Jesus Culture and Bethel as a whole. It was... creepy.

The droning repetitious lyrics with sexual undertones in their music are just wrong, i'm not saying Kim voice isn't excellent but this stuff without a doubt is a corrupt form of worship.
Glory clouds, gold dust, feathers... Demonic!

 

[simonthezealot]

5. Sardis – Protestant – A sardius is a gem, elegant yet hard and rigid. Doctrine in the head, little in the heart.
---
"And now Satan whispers through the lips of a member of the church at Sardis... This is all wild fire!"

The Sardisean will caution against emotion at every turn! This is because the emotional experience does not work with the doctrine in their head (what they call 'truth'). So they warred against it 200 years ago... And so do they today.

Nice undertones...
Defenders of the true gospel are warned about this type of approach from preachers and promoters of unsound doctrine..
.2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

 

[simonthezealot]

People are not against emotions rocky, but must be sure of their alignment with the word of God...

 

[rockytopva]

Nice undertones...
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Who does the work of the evangelist these days? Who picks up the work real evangelists such as Billy Graham, Billy Sunday, and RW Schambach did in the last century? Where are all the tent revivals?

 

[Gnarwhal]

The droning repetitious lyrics with sexual undertones in their music are just wrong, i'm not saying Kim voice isn't excellent but this stuff without a doubt is a corrupt form of worship.
Glory clouds, gold dust, feathers... Demonic!

I don't think Kim even performs with Jesus Culture anymore, the last I heard (which was a couple years ago) she basically used them as a stepping stone to launch a recording career and she hit the road as soon as she had an offer.

The unfortunate thing is this perception of Christ and Christianity isn't isolated to Bethel and Jesus Culture. In fact, I think it originated more in groups like IHOP, Vineyard and Toronto. I recall a while back having a discussion with some folks who were talking about a massive event that Mike Bickle facilitated in Kansas City where individuals could literally marry Christ. As in, they formed a line, passed under a Chuppah (or similar) and Bickle or one of his cronies actually performed a matrimonial ceremony between the person and Christ. They've taken the "bride of Christ" theology to a whole new level and applied it to the individual person rather than the Church. I've read some excerpts from the literature they endorse at IHOP and it made me a bit queezy - it was actually quasi-erotic and sensuous.

That's just one example.

As far as the gold feathers, gold dust thing... yeah that was ridiculous. I think that may have started in Lakeland and then Bethel picked it up and ran with it right quick. I remember it wasn't long after that my old CMA church started gushing over that stuff, and everyone thought their fillings were turning to gold. Let's just say there weren't enough seconds in the day to facepalm.

I didn't spend long wading into the Charismatic movement. At first it seemed normal, but as soon as they broke out all of that weird stuff I paddled for the shore and made like Michael Johnson in the 200m dash.

Whenever I think of any of that I'm always reminded of what C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity:

"Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed. Consequently, if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones — bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas."

 

[rockytopva]

The Independent Charismatic effort is a global and strong force to be reckoned with. The largest church in the word is not in the United States, it is in Nigeria! Winners Chapel in Lagos, Nigeria, has a seating capacity of over 50,000 and an overflow capacity of over 250,000 people. And has four services each Sunday!