Feeling Empowered

delightful wrote:

Is the 1st momma crystal a former member of spirit of faith in temple hills, md? She is so sweet and i knew she had a child named topaz (and diamond too), but I didn't know abbout JHB.
ANyway, how is it that Topaz is in pictures and at the temple without crystal being around and her and giselle getting in to it? That I don't get.

Skeptical wrote:

Was anyone at the service this year when a 6 month pregnant women(late 30's) with her son (about 6 years old) had been driving all night, and found herself in ET. She was in dispair because her father who was a preacher that had just passed the night before and she started driving with no destination. He prayed for this lady and then told us that ET would be flying her and her son home, and they would get 2 of the elders to drive the car back to Miami, and then fly them back!!! his first question to the lady was Do you know me? then, Do I know you? So you've never been here before?? etc...
I question this, it seemed like a direct attempt for self promoting. Whether she knew who he was or not shouldn't have been his first ? Do you know Jesus Christ?, was a more important question.
I felt he want to give the effect that she was lead in spirit to him, some great force led her to him the man Jamal, that is...Was anyonr there????? Don't get me wrong I know miracles happen but telling everyone in the sanctuary that has a stuttering problem to cover their mouths and when i point to you come up and read this scripture in front of the entire congregation????

John wrote:

Hey, I heard about a seminar coming up Aug 11, 2007 called "Who Do You Love, God or You Pastor?", that touches on this same thing. For more information, here is the link that was sent to me....www.icgjcmd.org/seminar. htm.

SWM wrote:

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Say Amen, I hope you can hear my heart in my response. If you say you aren't judging, then don't judge, especially from the outside looking in. God does not have to let you "bleed" publicly for him to deal with you. Has he ever dealt with you publicly? God is a loving God and a just God. He will deal with his children. Again, why does it matter to you? If you are one of his members and you don't like what he said, then leave, but staying and complaining and gossiping isn't going to help or change anything.
Why are you so concerned? What do you have to gain from receiving more details, from people being embarassed, hurt, or waisting their time trying to defend themselves to people who don't care about them? If your intent is to help all parties involved, then PRAY! It is the ONLY thing that you can do to help. IF helping is your motive... if it's not then I guess carry on the way you've been. Writing your opinion here will not help or change anything.
Please spend your time spreading the good news of Jesus Christ (not gossip or rumors)... He is the truth and you can quote his word as fact. Anything else you write is heresay and gossip and certainly brings no glory to God.
PLEASE pray for this situation and let your concern be of your affairs, your family, and your relationship with God.
God Bless!

Brent wrote:

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I don't believe that this particular person is gossiping (even though I know some people are), but the matter does have to be dealt with. And because he is a Pastor, those that serve under him have a right to know whats going on. People are devastated and hurt because of this (not just his wife). The whole Christian community is hurting by this. We often want to talk about God's grace, but never want to talk about how his wrath is just as great as his mercy. Yes God is a loving God, but he hates sin. As long as we continue to make excuses for others and blaming things on the devil, then we will never return back to Holiness and the church will continue to be in the mess that it's in.

tiger80 wrote:

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Thanks Jason, never heard that about Morton. I would just like to know, why the church has been silent over this illegal invasion of Iraq. Has the church sold its moral conscience in exchange for faith based monies & tax excemptions? one has to wonder! I can recall what I consider, sealed Dr. Kings death. As long as he pushed forward the fictitious, Civil Rights Act, when there was already one in place, I believe it was called the US Constitiution. He was fine but when he spoke out, his message titled;(Time to break Silence), against the military industrial complex operating in the Vietnam war, he had to be killed. This Bill gave Black America permenant second class citizenship (can we not see that).The effects of the Civil Rights Bill or lack thereof can been found on Capital Hill. The Congressional Black Caucus, made up former civil rights era corporate sell-outs or their offspring, accomplishing, nothing that's just me.The only creditable person from that era is Harry Belafonte, I wonder why he's never invited to speak at the "Caucus" dinners.Is the church in America connected to the Jesus or his followers in the biblical text? If so, why is it silent in the face of injustices?

Brent wrote:

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I don't believe that this particular person is gossiping (even though I know some people are), but the matter does have to be dealt with. And because he is a Pastor, those that serve under him have a right to know whats going on. People are devastated and hurt because of this (not just his wife). The whole Christian community is hurting by this. We often want to talk about God's grace, but never want to talk about how his wrath is just as great as his mercy. Yes God is a loving God, but he hates sin. As long as we continue to make excuses for others and blaming things on the devil, then we will never return back to Holiness and the church will continue to be in the mess that it's in.

Brent wrote:

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You make excellent points. I do believe (just as Esau sold his birthright to Jacob just for pottage) that the church has sold its morals to do whatever it takes to get faith-based monies and other fundings it needs to do whatever they need to do. In an article my pastor read two months ago in our Bible study, senate is trying to pass a bill which makes non-profit organizations (including churches) to accept homosexuality, making it against the law for churches to preach against it. They call this a "HATE CRIME". If I'm not mistaken, they already passed the law in Pennsylvania, where a minister got arrested for preaching against homosexuality and also in California. I do know for a fact this law was passed in Canada some years ago, and I know that they are trying to pass it hear in America. This is something that the church should not be silent with. I'm not saying put them out the church, but they should not have the right to serve in any capacity because this is truly an abomination unto God. Since the separation of Church and State, I believe that government need to let the church do its thing and preach according to God's word and not just certain parts of the Bible.

SWM wrote:

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Please let me stress that I am NOT defending sin, in any form... Holiness needs to come back to the church, you are right. God does hate sin, no matter who it is. Sin is sin, no matter who it is. We all sin, and should be striving to live hoy, yet holiness is an ongoing process. It is my understanding that his leadership and those who serve under his ministry have been addressed beyond the statement that he made at church on a couple of occassions. How much more do you want? God is the one who we all must answer to, not people writing their opinion from the outside looking in. Talking about it and not praying about it will not help the people involved nor will it help the church or the body of Christ as a whole get back to holiness.
Again, I say if your motive is to help, PLEASE pray for all. That is all that I am saying. You can't possibly believe that writing your opinions about people and situations that you don't know all the details about will help. It accomplishes nothing short of giving people some where to go and vent, gossip, or whatever you want to call it. Those of us here who are children of God and truly have pure intentions towards God and his people, should pray and not put our mouths on things and people we don't know. Regardless what you think should be done or how you think the situtaion should be handled, no one involved has asked you... therefore, I say that you should pray... because prayer does change things. Pray for the all parties involved, the church, etc. that God may be glorified even in the mist of it all.
The issue has been and is being dealt with. I don't know how it is you want it to be dealt with. It seems that you want a public inquisition, but that won't happen. All involved deserve to handle their own affairs, as you should handle and be concerned with your own. If the leadership and servants of his church are satisified with what and how its been handled, then who are you to say it is not enough. Again, I ask what is the true agenda here?
If you are concerned about the people or the body of Christ, it's not your situation to do anything about it. So the only helpful or productive thing to do is to pray!
I hope you can hear my heart in this.

SAY AMEN wrote:

No I did not see that service but I have seen him make that reference before. He slapps the oil on there hands and ask them questions and they go "under" in the "spirit".
I'm notsaying God wont or can't use him. But JHB has to be careful. Remove self out of the way and move THE CHRIST in.
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SWM wrote:

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Please let me stress that I am NOT defending sin, in any form... Holiness needs to come back to the church, you are right. God does hate sin, no matter who it is. Sin is sin, no matter who it is. We all sin, and should be striving to live hoy, yet holiness is an ongoing process. It is my understanding that his leadership and those who serve under his ministry have been addressed beyond the statement that he made at church on a couple of occassions. How much more do you want? God is the one who we all must answer to, not people writing their opinion from the outside looking in. Talking about it and not praying about it will not help the people involved nor will it help the church or the body of Christ as a whole get back to holiness.
Again, I say if your motive is to help, PLEASE pray for all. That is all that I am saying. You can't possibly believe that writing your opinions about people and situations that you don't know all the details about will help. It accomplishes nothing short of giving people some where to go and vent, gossip, or whatever you want to call it. Those of us here who are children of God and truly have pure intentions towards God and his people, should pray and not put our mouths on things and people we don't know. Regardless what you think should be done or how you think the situtaion should be handled, no one involved has asked you... therefore, I say that you should pray... because prayer does change things. Pray for the all parties involved, the church, etc. that God may be glorified even in the mist of it all.
The issue has been and is being dealt with. I don't know how it is you want it to be dealt with. It seems that you want a public inquisition, but that won't happen. All involved deserve to handle their own affairs, as you should handle and be concerned with your own. If the leadership and servants of his church are satisified with what and how its been handled, then who are you to say it is not enough. Again, I ask what is the true agenda here?
If you are concerned about the people or the body of Christ, it's not your situation to do anything about it. So the only helpful or productive thing to do is to pray!
I hope you can hear my heart in this.

Brent wrote:

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Believe me, I do hear your heart. I grew up in a time where my church believe in disciplining a person according to the word of God. The bible did say that "Open Rebuke is Better than Secret Love" I did not say it, the Bible says it. Back then if you committed a sin such as Fornication, adultery, etc..., my pastor then made you get up in front of the whole church and confess - and on top of that, you could not do anything in the church for a period of time (several months). Believe me when I tell you, when the person was able to get back into ministry, they thought twice not to commit that sin again. Where is that type of reverence? What happened to the fear of God? We want prophets to come to our church and preach "In 2 days, you're going to be out of debt - you're going to get a Lexus - you're going to wake up and there's going to be ten thousand dollars in your bank account" but where are the real prophets? I'll never forget in December, 1999 a prophet came to our church and said, "When 2000 comes in, because of the Y2K, extra money was going to be in your accounts" I check my account right after I went home from watch-night service and had the same balance I had 12/31/99. We often want things that make us feel good, but never want to get to the root of the problem. I'm sick of us just wanting to treat the symtom (sin), but it's time to attack the root of the sin.

Askia wrote:

<quoted text> The truth is holiness never left the church, people left the church because it demanded holiness. People even had the audacity to cretae churches where holines wasn't that important. Music became more important than holiness, and as music became more important homosexuals were given a free reign to come in and turn little boys into homosexuals (everybody turned a blind eye), and many of them (the young boys) have died of AIDS, but the church fell deeper and deeper into denial for the sake of the show (it must go on you know). Listen there are still churches out here that preach and teach the Word of God as it ios revealed through the Holy Spirit including holy living (THEY ARE NOT PACKED ON SUNDAYS BECAUSE MAN LOVES DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT). People don't want to support that type of ministry, where money isn't being worshipped and they aren't being told that their offering is an investment. People don't want to hear a preacher call homosexual behavior a sin (they call that intolerant), last time I checked the church was suppose to be intolerant of sin. God loves the sinner and He died for us all, but He hates sin and will not allow it in His presence or kingdom, that doesn't only go for homosexuals, but adulters and child molestors too, and deadbeat fathers (you know God considers them worst than infidels). I could go on and on but the point is the church is still holy, and there are a few mega churches where holiness and right teachings go forth but they didn't happen overnight because it takes time to educate the people most churches where holiness it preached and taught are small because people want to do what they want to do, they want salvation on their own terms, and it doesn't work like that.

Brent wrote:

Yes, prayer does change things, but it takes more than fasting and praying to change things. It takes a determined mind as well. God gives us the ability to "Make Choice". And we must remember that there's always consequences following whatever our choices are. Also, unless a person is totally delivered from that sin, no they don't need to minister right away. They need time to heal and not just no 30 day sabbatical. Healing is a process and if you are a leader and in sin, that spirit will permeate into the entire church body. Yes, God is a forgiving God and we must also forgive. But be sure that you're totally healed from adultery and whatever else sin before you minister before God's people. I'm not saying you have to be perfect. Just live Holy.

SWM wrote:

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I wasn't saying that holiness left the church. I was responding to someone who said something about God bringing holiness back to the church.

Askia wrote:

<quoted text>Excuse ma