Like many of the remnant church, our family have experienced the nomadic lifestyle here in these waning days, searching for a church that truly preaches the Word, hasn’t been converted by and yoked up with the world, or that hasn’t become so committed to their self-approved “brand”, (doctrinally speaking) as to have become ingrown or even “ichabod”. We were never expecting perfection. We came with hope and we plugged in to the work wherever we went. We didn’t just give up without giving it a fair chance. Our time at each was measured in years, and even after we discovered cracks in the foundation, we didn’t just bail out. We always eventually ran up against deal-breakers; from outright apostasy to factioned power struggles amongst leadership rooted in opinions and preferences, having no basis in scripture. When the kids were still small, we couldn’t risk remaining there in dogged determination to counter or combat the unholy spirits that were taking over and allow the boys to be exposed to things they shouldn’t be taught or shouldn’t witness.
We have now gone outside our immediate vicinity in search, and have come upon a fellowship that seems worthwhile to return to and check out, but so far in their statement of faith, and in preaching, I haven’t detected a component of prophecy in their focus, or, even in the margin. I am plugged in to a lot of other ministries online, and my own research so I have that piece of it, but from where I sit, it seems spiritually negligent at the very least for any local body not to address, and possibly not be aware of the lateness of the hour and that we are hurtling headlong toward the worst things this world has ever known. It is about a 300-member size, and a commendable seemingly well balaced mixture of ages. The praise team consists of real honest to goodness full grown adults! They do about half hymns, and half early/older scripture-based praise songs, but none of that repetition of two lines ten times, not 45 minutes of singing followed by a sermonette, and no prima donnas warbling, trilling and riffing to showcase their vocal prowess while simultaneously making it impossible to “come on, everybody, sing along”. Plenty of young families, teens, singles, and several racial backgrounds.
They are non-denom and seem to adhere to mostly expository preaching (gold star there!!), their statement of faith says they are pre-trib, pre-millennial, believe in the inerrency of scripture, (no caveats like “in the original documents”) uphold the biblical definition of marriage and sexuality. There is no one head pastor or assistant pastor. There are teaching elders who fill that role on a rotation week to week instead, more like the original “early church” model. I would wager the teaching elders are unpaid, but don’t know for a fact. They do not take up an offering, they have a drop box in the vestibule and leave provision up to God.
A lot of people would call us church-hoppers. That’s ok. Staying at a church just because you grew up in it, or one that has admitted leaven, or possibly even most dangerous, believing no other tradition / denomination is truly saved but their own, (which utterly sets members up as a target of deception because they tell you what you are to believe, rather than teach you how to study your Bible) is foolish and dangerous.
We didn’t leave those other bodies, they left the straight and narrow and we just refused to do it along with them.
It is a little bit funny because with each departure I put less and less stock in preachers, and even became an uncomfortable challenge to some. You can learn a lot about the leadership by disagreeing based on scripture, out loud. Try it sometime. (Not in the middle of service, no need to embarass someone). Sometimes when I asked questions, a preacher would proceed to provide an answer tha didn’t line up with other scripture on the same subject. If I pointed out a scripture that challenged his assertion, a humble pastor usually would say something like, “hmm, food for thought, I may need to revisit that”. I had a pastor tell me that “to receive the gift of speaking in tongues, you have to relinquish control and let the Holy Spirit take over” My responsewas “but isn’t self-control the fruit of the spirit?” His neck and ears got flushed and he, shrugged and turned away toward a clump of other folks discussing other things.
Students of anything, ought rightly to be inquisative! I don’t ask out of a desire to fluster or embarass them, but if my asking questions bothers them or offends them, something is wrong.
Once a pastor stated that the gift of healing ended when the Canon of scripture was complete. I asked him after church to elaborate, and he pointed out how Paul didn’t heal Stephen. I asked him for at least one other passage ( the “2 or 3 witnesses” principle) and he said there weren’t any. Hmmmm.
I’m not being nit-picky, I just lament the rarity of Spirit-taught preachers and teachers; true spiritual elders to go to. But that is why I grab J. Vernon McGee books and other works and sermons from pastors who have long since left this world. I encountered enough of the “new revelation/God is doing a new thing” mentality to realize the older the safer! But you have to know enough Bible to know which of the old men are solid too.
I am not sure what got me onto this subject, maybe it was the fact that the slide into communism is so obvious and yet so many professing Christians actually think this is all a blip and not a communist revolution!
Major Escalation – Biden Allies and DNC Instructing Cell Phone Carriers to Filter and Censor Text Message Content
Texas Democrats flee the state to avoid voting
Capital PoliceTo Use Army Surveillance Gear to Monitor Americans and identify-emerging-threats
IS THE US POSTAL SERVICE TRACKING AMERICANS’ SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS? JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR INFO?
‘Ignore no soliciting signs. Use your script’: COVID door-knockers get marching orders
On the vaccine front, By some ” unknown error”students in Australia were “accidently given the Covid vax”
It’s not old white Republicans who make up the majority of vax hold-outs:
Vaccination coverage and intent among adults are lowest among those aged 18–39 years.
The official data shows that, from March to May, one quarter of these young adults said they were unsure about getting vaccinated and another quarter said they will not get it
Among the 18 to 39-year-olds, the rates were lowest for those who were younger, black, poorer, less educated, uninsured and living outside metropolitan areas.
John Haller said something last week and it’s true, he pointed out that conservatives and Christians absolutely must create alternatives for things like medical care ( Frontline Doctors) and basic retail needs (Mike Lindell is on it! Check out his “My Store” alternative to making Bezos richer via Amazon!
We need our own supply chains, grocery stores, etc for as long as we remain here, and like the prepping many may leave behind at the rapture, these alternative resources may serve to be one means by which some sirvive the tribulation and go on to repopulate the world afterwards.
People are pushing back in myriad ways. Parents against schools, even students are taking stands against the CRT, masks, school closings. People are running for offices from city council to school board to state legislatures, sheriff’s, and congress, who would not have even considered it 18 months ago. That is gratifying, however, the globalists have made it very clear that no Constitution, law, or statute will curb or deter them. Their side do wrong and judges, police, medical boards, you name it, they all stand down. Our side does anything one of them doesn’t like, and are locked up with zero due process.
It is NOT going to stop. I know most readers here know that, but in case anyone is still holding out hope of America still being the land of the free, and overcoming this as if it were a minor glitch, it is not remotely possible.
Speaking to Christians, if you have never been through any gut-wrenching trials and what I just said scares you, I can personally attest to the fact that when all your power and options are gone, that’s when it gets good!!! Don’t dread it. Don’t fear it, because it is not until we cannot do anything about any of it, that we become eligable to witness God being the supplier of all our needs. It is an absolutely amazing thing to experience!
I confess there have been times just these past couple of weeks when I have felt anxiety suddenly come crawling over me, and it is disconcerting. There was a period in my life that I suffered panic attacks. That saying about “nothing to fear but fear itself” applies several ways. Anxiety attacks are strange and baffling in that they can ambush you when you are feeling the happiest, most optimistc and relaxed. Until you learn what these episodes are and why they happen, one second you’re mellow, then anxiety overtakes, seemingly with absolutely no trigger out of the clear blue, the overwhelming sense of danger and imminent doom can feel terrifying. You will indeed start to fear the pouncing fear of a panic attack.
Anyway, I have learned that when the anxiety sweeps over, you have to act. Right away. Remind yourself (and any spiritual adversary that may be likely lurking about) that you belong to Jesus. If your “fear attack” causes a physical effect, shallow breathing, galloping heart beat, shoulders scrunching up around your ears, you need motion! Get up and move, stretch, etc, and call to mind some verses or just examples in scripture where God delivered a victory. If you are one of thise blessed people who can escape into a brief nap, that’s a great reset button! If you’re not, deep controlled breathing really does work! All those things are acts of resisting the fiery devil-dart of anxiety. It takes practice, but you can endure more than you realize and every time you do, your faith gets refined a little more.
Most of the time I am peaceful and more and more often, I am downright excited. I think that might be at least part of the reward that God promised to anyone who would study the Revelation.
Most importantly, resist the urge to project ahead. Keep your head in the present day. You’d be surprised how well you can keep anxiety in check by doing that.
In fiery furnace scenarios, our flesh cries out “please, no” but when God deems it best to allow them, you end up being glad that He did.
It’s good to get “ok” with things being out of my hands/not up to me”.
Serve Him in the Waiting 
Amen and Amen.
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I don’t understand what that one pastor you referred to was saying about Paul not healing Stephen. If he was talking about the first martyr Stephen, then Paul was Saul at that time. Furthermore, Paul wrote a great deal of the New Testament and so the written Word was not yet complete so healings should have still been going on, if in fact they ended upon the completion of the Scriptures. I do not believe that they ended, but still.
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We need to remember they can’t teach what they don’t know. The evil one has been at work for a long time and we may all be in for a “relearning” when truth finely comes out.
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