Difficulty in finding a church I can truly belong to.

[twin1954]

No, they are not Oneness. They are One God to the Bone! JESUS who is The Father of Glory manifest in the flesh, called the Son of God. The Son of God office never existed until 2000 years ago When God decided to dwell in a body of flesh and blood, a kinsmen redeemer. He had to take off His glory and become like one of us to redeem all mankind back to Himself. He had to be an Adam after the fall. Under the Law.

Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

He could not work any miracles until He was 30 years of age. Why? He could only be a high priest at age 30 because of the Laws restrictions. John the baptist transferred his priesthood to JESUS.

Luk_1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

JESUS was under the Law. He had to pray to the Father. There was a middle wall of partition separating us from the Father that He had to destroy in order for us to have a relationship with God again because a man lost it which was Adam and only a man can get it back, which is JESUS the second Adam.

Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Why did JESUS have to pray to the Father if He is the Father? Because He is UNDER the LAW.
He made Himself of NO REPUTATION. He took off ALL His Glory to work as a man.

Yes that is Oneness. You are ignoring the fact that Jesus appeared to Adam in the Garden, who else was it that walked with him in the cool of the day? Also He appeared several times as the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, to Abraham, to Joshua, to Manoah and his wife and at other times. He is the Eternal Son of God.

 

[chevyontheriver]

OR, find a Bible-based church with sound doctrine and learn to accept the non-essential incidentals. (Coming from a Baptist background myself.)

The essential is to be led by God in this process. One follows God's lead and ends up where God has in mind. Some discomfort is OK. Some surprise is OK

 

[mikedsjr]

I also found this @ http://www.dennisbeard.org/welcome.html:

We believe salvation to be repentance and baptism in the name of JESUS Christ for the remission of sins and one must be filled with the Holy Ghost with the outward evidence of speaking in tongues. Acts 2:38, Acts 4:12, Acts 8:16, Acts 10, and Acts 19. One must walk in the light as He is in the light until we come unto the measure of the fullness of the stature of JESUS Christ unto a perfect man. The three seasons of the Lord have seven feasts which depict the seven steps of salvation as follows ...​

Beard appears to be director at Jesus Christ International Church in Longview, TX.

-- Not that I want to encourage marching down this path too far on this thread. Sufficient grounds for MechPebbles not attending are sufficient.

You mean the name "Jesus Christ International Church" wasn't enough?

 

[mikedsjr]

The essential is to be led by God in this process. One follows God's lead and ends up where God has in mind. Some discomfort is OK. Some surprise is OK

Sounds like a charismatic in the making. Doctrine doesn't matter. Just a mystical experience.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Sounds like a charismatic in the making. Doctrine doesn't matter. Just a mystical experience.

Untrue. Doctrine matters. It is a 'sine qua non'. But if one is really listening to God and not just pretending to listen to God while actually listening to oneself, God will draw you to a place with proper/adequate doctrine. The problem is so many people have identified themselves by this or that false doctrine and shut the door to God's leading in the process. That's why there are so many mutually exclusive denominations.

 

[mikedsjr]

Untrue. Doctrine matters. It is a 'sine qua non'. But if one is really listening to God and not just pretending to listen to God while actually listening to oneself, God will draw you to a place with proper/adequate doctrine. The problem is so many people have identified themselves by this or that false doctrine and shut the door to God's leading in the process. That's why there are so many mutually exclusive denominations.

While I agree to an extent and will acknowledge my uber sensitivity to language of Christians using the phrases like "listening to God/Spirit, there are different interpretation methods going on. That's why there are different denoms. It's easier to have groups united, than bickering. Baptist just like bickering. That's why we get along. [emoji23]

 

[twin1954]

Baptist just like bickering. That's why we get along.

Man you hit the nail on the head!

 

[chevyontheriver]

While I agree to an extent and will acknowledge my uber sensitivity to language of Christians using the phrases like "listening to God/Spirit, there are different interpretation methods going on. That's why there are different denoms. It's easier to have groups united, than bickering. Baptist just like bickering. That's why we get along. [emoji23]

So many times people let you know that God told them to do something - something totally wrong. God tells them to marry some loser, then God tells them to divorce the same person, God tells them to quit their job, or pick certain numbers in the lottery. They aren't listening to God, but either themselves or maybe some 'other' spirit. In that I can share your uber-sensitivity. On the other hand, God IS trying to lead us. From His point of view it has to be worse than leading a herd of cats.

From my perspective it looks like there are a lot of lone ranger Christians who figure it out for themselves and only then start looking for a church pure enough for them. That's not discipleship. How can one be discipled if they only consent to discipleship while the discipler agrees with them? But then what does discipleship mean when so many disciplers teach things contrary to each other. Something is broken. I am confident that God is trying to herd us cats, but we aren't making it easy.

 

[twin1954]

So many times people let you know that God told them to do something - something totally wrong. God tells them to marry some loser, then God tells them to divorce the same person, God tells them to quit their job, or pick certain numbers in the lottery. They aren't listening to God, but either themselves or maybe some 'other' spirit. In that I can share your uber-sensitivity. On the other hand, God IS trying to lead us. From His point of view it has to be worse than leading a herd of cats.

From my perspective it looks like there are a lot of lone ranger Christians who figure it out for themselves and only then start looking for a church pure enough for them. That's not discipleship. How can one be discipled if they only consent to discipleship while the discipler agrees with them? But then what does discipleship mean when so many disciplers teach things contrary to each other. Something is broken. I am confident that God is trying to herd us cats, but we aren't making it easy.

You have a very human and poor view of God. The god you describe makes me want to pity him not worship him. God never tries to do anything why would He need to? His people are called sheep for a reason. Sheep follow their Shepherd. John 10:27 Goats must be driven but if you try to drive sheep you only scatter them. Most so-called "churches" are full of goats and they will go their own way every time.

Not trying to incite an argument or debate but just pointing out something for you to think about. I will not respond to any who want to argue with me in this thread concerning this post. It isn't the topic of the thread.

 

[chevyontheriver]

You have a very human and poor view of God. The god you describe makes me want to pity him not worship him. God never tries to do anything why would He need to? His people are called sheep for a reason. Sheep follow their Shepherd. John 10:27 Goats must be driven but if you try to drive sheep you only scatter them. Most so-called "churches" are full of goats and they will go their own way every time.

Not trying to incite an argument or debate but just pointing out something for you to think about. I will not respond to any who want to argue with me in this thread concerning this post. It isn't the topic of the thread.

I didn't think I was arguing. This is the first I knew I was in an argument.

You can think anything you want about my view of God. As if somehow you really knew.

 

[twin1954]

I didn't think I was arguing. This is the first I knew I was in an argument.

You can think anything you want about my view of God. As if somehow you really knew.

I wasn't accusing you of arguing I was just letting you know that I wouldn't argue what I said or with anyone else who wants to argue what I said.

It has nothing to do with what I think but what is reality. If you actually gave it some thought you would have come to the same conclusion. I would only advise you to actually find out what the Scriptures say about God not what you think they say.

BTW, you gave your view away by how you spoke of God. If you want to know what people think of God all you need do is listen to them when they speak of Him.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I wasn't accusing you of arguing I was just letting you know that I wouldn't argue what I said or with anyone else who wants to argue what I said.

It has nothing to do with what I think but what is reality. If you actually gave it some thought you would have come to the same conclusion. I would only advise you to actually find out what the Scriptures say about God not what you think they say.

BTW, you gave your view away by how you spoke of God. If you want to know what people think of God all you need do is listen to them when they speak of Him.

You obviously want to argue. Find someone else. I'm done.

 

[mikedsjr]

From my perspective it looks like there are a lot of lone ranger Christians who figure it out for themselves and only then start looking for a church pure enough for them. That's not discipleship. How can one be discipled if they only consent to discipleship while the discipler agrees with them? But then what does discipleship mean when so many disciplers teach things contrary to each other. Something is broken. I am confident that God is trying to herd us cats, but we aren't making it easy.

We can agree to this. There is something broken here. I won't argue that. I personally point the finger at autonomous church structure first. Then to Pentecostalism second. Or maybe the other way around.

I digress.

 

[Job8]

Group A Churches:

Need re-classification. Demote them to Group C. Then find a proper group A.

 

[MechPebbles]

So as not to waste the time of our Roman Catholic friends who come here hoping to entice me to join the Roman Catholic Church, I should categorically state that, along with most of my conservative Calvinistic brethren, I hold an extremely strong pro-Reformation stand. In fact, I should go on to say that apart from the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles, I believe the Reformation is the greatest and most glorious work of God in delivering His people from eternal damnation in church history.

One of the things that grieves me about Group A churches is how they are so disconnected from church history that they don't even mention Reformation Day. What a shame!