aline1984 schreef:@zeeuw: maybe. on the other side there's much precious and much to be proud on in our tradition. apart from this: Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

aline1984 schreef:@zeeuw: maybe. on the other side there's much precious and much to be proud on in our tradition. apart from this: Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

Zeeuw schreef:

J.C. Philpot schreef:In the past we had more people from abroad on this forum. A baptist lady from the UK, a Lutheran lady from the US. Bert Mulder from Canada seems to have returned, but he is not very active yet.

I always enjoy the presence of foreigners on this forum. They can offer a perspective on things that we overlook, because of the limited view on the World Church from our subculture.

Sure. We are doing a lot of bellybutton staring in Holland

gallio schreef:

Zeeuw schreef:

J.C. Philpot schreef:In the past we had more people from abroad on this forum. A baptist lady from the UK, a Lutheran lady from the US. Bert Mulder from Canada seems to have returned, but he is not very active yet.

I always enjoy the presence of foreigners on this forum. They can offer a perspective on things that we overlook, because of the limited view on the World Church from our subculture.

Sure. We are doing a lot of bellybutton staring in Holland

Navel gazing ?????

Zeeuw schreef:

gallio schreef:

Zeeuw schreef:

J.C. Philpot schreef:In the past we had more people from abroad on this forum. A baptist lady from the UK, a Lutheran lady from the US. Bert Mulder from Canada seems to have returned, but he is not very active yet.

I always enjoy the presence of foreigners on this forum. They can offer a perspective on things that we overlook, because of the limited view on the World Church from our subculture.

Sure. We are doing a lot of bellybutton staring in Holland

Navel gazing ?????

Thats a lot of ?. I mostly dont understand people doing that.

gallio schreef:Sorry Zeeuw. I will try to control myself.

J.C. Philpot schreef:

gallio schreef:Sorry Zeeuw. I will try to control myself.

One who controls himself is stronger than one who captures a city

Os Hillman schreef:"The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them." - Acts 15:12

"I was a pastor for 19 years before I went into business," said the man sitting across the table from me as we were sharing lunch together. What led him from being a pastor to a businessman was both a move of God and an attack from the enemy.

"I was a pastor of a particular denomination that did not embrace all of God's Word. It was a time in my life when I was experiencing many physical problems. I was on the verge of being admitted to the hospital. I had been seeking God about whether He was truly a God of healing and whether His Word was applicable in all areas of life as it was in the early Church. I was to go into the hospital the next day. That night I cried out to the Lord. I confronted God about His Word. I asked Him if He still did miracles today. Just then, I turned on my TV and saw an evangelist preaching. At that very moment, he stopped preaching, looked into the TV camera, and said these words: 'There is a man in the viewing audience who has been a pastor for many years and is struggling to know whether God heals today. His own denomination does not believe He does. [He even named his denomination.] God is healing you right now to demonstrate to you that His healing is for today, and you are to know that His Word is true for today just like it was for the early Church.' "

My friend was shocked. The TV evangelist could not have described him more accurately if he had been sitting in the same living room with him. God healed him that very night. He was not admitted to the hospital. He was forced to go before his church and witness to God's power in his life. He was soon fired as pastor of this church, and this is what led him into business.

So often when we experience God in greater and deeper ways, the persecution comes not from the world, but from those who are closest to us. The religious community persecuted Jesus. He was betrayed by one of His own disciples. However, we must realize this betrayal was necessary for God to accomplish His work through Jesus.

God will bring each of us to a crisis of faith to test what we really believe. For my friend, he had to experience God in a new way. Then he had to be tested in that belief to the point of losing his job.

Have you experienced God in all of your life? Are there areas in which you believe God does not operate today? Before you discount God, seek Him with a whole heart. You might be surprised at what you will find.

John Henry Newman schreef: To holy people the very name of Jesus is a name to feed upon, a name to transport. His name can raise the dead and transfigure and beautify the living.

John Henry Newman schreef:“Without self-knowledge you have no root in yourselves personally; you may endure for a time, but under affliction or persecution your faith will not last. This is why many in this age (and in every age) become infidels, heretics, schismatics, disloyal despisers of the Church. They cast off the form of truth, because it never has been to them more than a form. They endure not, because they never have tasted that the Lord is gracious; and they never have had experience of His power and love, because they have never known their own weakness and need.”

J.C. Philpot schreef:

John Henry Newman schreef:“Without self-knowledge you have no root in yourselves personally; you may endure for a time, but under affliction or persecution your faith will not last. This is why many in this age (and in every age) become infidels, heretics, schismatics, disloyal despisers of the Church. They cast off the form of truth, because it never has been to them more than a form. They endure not, because they never have tasted that the Lord is gracious; and they never have had experience of His power and love, because they have never known their own weakness and need.”