IndyWatchman

IndyWatchman

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14 years ago @ WordPress blog at indy... - Cry Baby Christians · 0 replies · +1 points

Good evening,

Thanks for visiting.

We are all watchmen, and God is the Great Watchman who sees and knows all things. Nothing happens that God is not directly involved in, including American politics. There are many Scriptures that declare God's Sovereign rule over His creation, but the one that I quote most often is Prov 16:7 "When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him." When we look at our nation and see how we are hated in the world and how our enemies no longer fear us, and we compare that with the Old Testament accounts of Israel's failures with God, we see plainly that our ways, like Israel's, do not please the Lord. George Barna's polls inform us that inside the "Church," statistics of abortion, divorce, teen suicide, pornography, deceptive business practices, and a host of other things, mirror the world. What should this tell us? Well, that is easy, the world is running the Church, the organized church. God says it is evil, and I have to agree, and Paul tells the Corinthians that their meeting were doing more harm than good because of worldly influences. We want to be pure and holy for our Lord and we are told how we can do that, and it is by separating ourselves from the world, by removing the leaven, and if the world is inside the church (religious buildings) we attend, then we are told to "come out from amongst them and be ye separate." I know that there are many of God's children sitting in pews, dealing with the same issues we discuss here and other places, who can't seem to sort things out or see clearly the things we see, so we must help. They have wandered off the path into religion and entertainment and are stuck. They may not know they are even stuck, they only sense that something is wrong. They will most likely reject any attempt of rescue and turn away, and possibly break off any friendship that exist, but that is what we are called to do. it will not win us any rewards on earth, but that is our job, to run a rescue mission for the lost and the stuck. All my daughters, I don't have any sons, are homeschooling their children, and we worship together often. We do not attend any religious buildings, although we do visit on occasions to leave tracts and talk with others seeking a true relationship with Jesus. We still have to deal with all the same issues that others face, because we are in the world, but we have found that a real Church body is something that can not meet only once a week and expect to win out over sin and Satan. The Christian life takes real resolve and dedication to bear fruit for God. Television was one of the first things to go, I speak for myself, my daughters and son-in-laws still have TV. TV, I feel it is a terrible evil and has infected the Body of Christ. But, God is calling out his Bride to ready herself and many are responding and hearing His voice. My prayers are with you Sherry, and your husband,

God bless,

Steve

14 years ago @ WordPress blog at indy... - An Open Letter to Eagl... · 0 replies · +1 points

Thank you,

It is refreshing to know that there are others out there who see the light of what is happening in the organized Church. It is not just you. There are many who are beginning to respond to the nagging of their spirits to question why the experience of what they see in their religious organization do not line up with what they actually read in Scriptures.

Thanks again for the visit, I hope my writings have spurred you to be a city on a hill that can not be hid, and that you are not alone.

Blessings,

Steve Blackwell

14 years ago @ WordPress blog at indy... - Cry Baby Christians · 0 replies · +1 points

Good morning,

Thanks for visiting. We are all watchmen, and God is the Great Watchman who sees and knows all things. Nothing happens that God is not directly involved in, including American politics. There are many Scriptures that declare God's Sovereign rule over His creation, but the one that I quote most often is Prov 16:7 "When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him." When we look at our nation and see how we are hated in the world and how our enemies no longer fear us, and we compare that with the Old Testament accounts of Israel's failures with God, we see plainly that our ways, like Israel's, do not please the Lord.

George Barna's polls inform us that inside the "Church," statistics of abortion, divorce, teen suicide, pornography, deceptive business practices, and a host of other things, mirror the world. What should this tell us? Well, that is easy, the world is running the Church, the organized church. God says it is evil, and I have to agree, and Paul tells the Corinthians that their meeting were doing more harm than good. We want to be pure and holy for our Lord and we are told how we can do that, and it is by separating ourselves from the world, by removing the leaven, and if the world is inside the church (religious buildings) we attend, then we are told to "come out from amongst them and be ye separate."

I know that there are many of God's children sitting in pews, dealing with the same issues we discuss here and other places, who can't seem to sort things out or see clearly the things we see, so we must help. They have wandered off the path into religion and entertainment and are stuck. They may not know they are even stuck, they only sense that something is wrong. They will most likely reject any attempt of rescue and turn away, and possibly break off any friendship that exist, but that is what we are called to do. it will not win us any rewards on earth, but that is our job, to run a rescue mission for the lost and the stuck.

All my daughters, I don't have any sons, are homeschooling their children, and we worship together often. We do not attend any religious buildings, although we do visit on occasions to leave tracts and talk with others seeking a true relationship with Jesus. We still have to deal with all the same issues that others face, because we are in the world, but we have found that a real Church body is something that can not meet only once a week and expect to win out over sin and Satan. The Christian life takes real resolve and dedication to bear fruit for God.

Television was one of the first things to go, I speak for myself, my daughters and son-in-laws still have TV. TV, I feel it is a terrible evil and has infected the Body of Christ. But, God is calling out his Bride to ready herself and many are responding and hearing His voice.

My prayers are with you Sherry, and your husband,

God bless,

Steve

14 years ago @ WordPress blog at indy... - Cry Baby Christians · 0 replies · +1 points

Steve,

One of the greatest things Jesus said, if I might state it this way, is when He claimed equality with the Father by saying, "Before Abraham was, I Am." If He merely wanted to establish His pre-existence He could have said "before Abraham was, I was." Jesus is taking great liberty with that statement, and in it we go back to that day when Moses talked with God in the burning bush, and asked what name he should give the God who was sending him to the children of Israel. God told him to tell them that "I Am" has sent you unto them. Without getting into a detailed examination of God's many names it is easy to see that the name "I Am" is an incomplete sentence, it has no subject, why? Jehovah (I Am) purposely left that sentence incomplete so that we could fill it in with what ever need we happen to have at the time. Jesus was reminding these Jews of God's ability to fill every need that could arise, and that He himself is the fulfillment of our deepest desires and needs. Do you need strength, I Am your strength. Do you need healing, I Am your healer. Do you need provisions, I Am your provider. I Am_____________, you fill in the blank. But, the Church today just doesn't get it. Jesus is still everything we need, not tax perks that come only at the expense of disobedience and binding ourselves to the world. The Church operates in the flesh and when it gets everything going its way it gives praise to God, when it wasn't God at all (at least in the faith sense of the appropriation) it was operating on the level of the flesh. I recommend that Christians read about Hudson Taylor (The Spiritual Secrets of Hudson Taylor) and learn what real faith looks like, it is very rare today.

We have much to learn in these last days, but I am afraid that the curve will be too great for most.

Blessings my friend,

Steve Blackwell

14 years ago @ WordPress blog at indy... - The Most Celebrated Pa... · 0 replies · +1 points

JPvB,

I always appreciate any response I get on the articles I post here, so before I start my reply I want to say thanks, even if I disagree with you.

I\'m not sure of the point you are trying to make. The argument stated here stands firm. Your comments do nothing to defeat the author\'s purpose; it remains steadfast.

You say that the author\'s description does not translate to your experience. Your experience is that \"Easter is in Dutch called Pasen, a clear link with Pesach/Pascha.\" Since I don\'t know Dutch it is not a \"clear link.\" I have to only assume, with you, that Pasen is the Dutch word for Easter, and I will also assume that you are making the link that the Dutch Easter is the same as the Passover since Pascha Πάσχα, or Hebrew OT Pecach (peh\'-sakh); from a pretermission, i.e. exemption is used only techically of the Jewish Passover (the festival or the victim). If that is the case then it still makes no difference, unless the Dutch Easter is celebrated on Nisan 14 or 15 (depending on the calendar you use) on the Jewish and Christian Passover. If your \"Pasen\" is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox, in which case it would align perfectly with the pagan ritual in honor of Eastre (or Ostara) the Saxon fertility goddess; this would make the Dutch Pasen a pagan holiday, just like the English Easter.

If the Dutch Pasen is celebrated on the same day as the traditional Easter, then it is the celebration of a pagan holiday. We can give a holy name to a pagan holiday, but it is still pagan. We can call Easter, Passover, or Pasen, and we can call a bull a buffalo, but it is still a bull.

Our re-defining things change nothing regarding truth. Truth remains true, and the re-definition is just a lie, they give us privileges that are nothing but fiction, truth is still truth. Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples then offered Himself as the Passover lamb, and He said to celebrate the Passover in remembrance of Him. Men, to satisfy themselves, have taken liberties with His words that are not justified.

I hope this response helps clear up things for you.

Steve Blackwell

14 years ago @ WordPress blog at indy... - The Old Cross and the New · 0 replies · +1 points

Mike,

Thanks for the feedback.

That was a great article by Tozer. There is no doubt that he spoke much prophetic truth into this time we call the "last days." If I could add anything to what he said it would be in the first sentence where he states,

"All unannounced and mostly undetected there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. "

The announcement came as early as Jesus' preaching to His disciples, and followed-up by those very disciples in their preaching to the new Church. Since the days of Constantine the Church has morphed so many times and deception flourished, that we truly think that what we see on every corner today is the finished product of what God originally intended. If the Church today is what God intended then we can rightly say that God's ways and man's ways are the same, and that when God said that His ways are not man's ways, He was mistaken. This new cross of modern Christendom is the rubber stamp version, a replica, it is a cross by proxy, and has nothing to do with the baptism of death, which Jesus and the Apostles preached.

The old Cross is here, but according to God's ways, not man's, and it looks nothing like the brick and mortar, or the attendance based corporate structures that have flooded our hearts and minds and blocked out the old Cross.

If I had a zipper in my chest I would take out that old stony heart and replace it with a heart of flesh, but only the Spirit can do that by, allowing Light to shine out of darkness; it is a new creation, a miracle, not a MANufactured organization, and only God can give meaning to the Cross, and only God can build a living body called "the Church."

Thanks again,

Steve Blackwell