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Casting Crowns #3 Always Enough

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Casting Crowns new album “Until The Whole World Hears” Song #3 Always Enough I own no part of Casting Crowns, I am just a (huge) fan. All credit goes to the producers of Casting Crowns.

How can a Christian gain Spirituality – is blind faith enough?

admin — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:05:01 +0000

How can a Christian gain Spirituality – is blind faith enough?

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Home Page > Spirituality > Christianity > How can a Christian gain Spirituality – is blind faith enough?

How can a Christian gain Spirituality – is blind faith enough?

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Posted: Jul 31, 2009 |Comments: 0
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How can Christians gain Spirituality, is blind faith sufficient?

Written by Joseph Ho, 24th July 2009

Many Christians presumed that having faith is enough for one to become a true Christian. Does faith comes by hearing only? No it does not. It comes by hearing and acting on what you hear. If you don’t check out what you hear is truly from God; how can you act without testing the spirit? Faith comes by hearing is only half truth. Faith without deeds or action is dead as you can find this in the book of James. Read James 2:26.

James 2:26
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Many Christians think they have faith, but when any serious crisis arrives they are lost for protection. They become sitting ducks left in the open and very soon they found that they don’t have the true protection from God. How can this be possible, they say? Well, why is this not possible; since they have not tested or even confirmed that God is truly protecting them at all. They have no prior trials and no victory to rely on, and they presume that God is always there to take care of them. Most Christians live in the world of fantasy and presumption. I saw a lot of this kind of Christians who think that scriptures apply to them when they quote it. They forgot that those who are not considered sons and daughters of God have no claim to the spiritual power of God’s Kingdom. The sons of Sheba tried to cast demons out of a man and were beaten because they were not true Apostles of Jesus Christ, they tried to use Jesus’ name in vain.

If they ever bother to read the bible carefully, they will discover that God never once said as long as you have faith in me I will save you. No, God did not say anything like that, but God said many times, if you listen to me and obey my commandments, I will save you and protect you. Yes, this God did said many times. But the sad thing is he said this in the Old Testament, and many now claim that the Old Testament is no longer valid. With this believe they nullify half the truth found in the bible.

The Old Testament shows the character of God and how men and God communicates, so if you shut this book out you are as good as being deaf in the ways of the Lord our God. God speaks to his chosen ones many times and in many ways in the Old Testaments and he showed us a way to connect with him. The Old Testament is our master in Godly ways it trains us for maturity and brings us into God’s grace in the New Testament so we have to learn from God starting with the Old Testament.

It was from this Old Testament that I began to learn how to communicate with the Lord our God. When I was in deep crisis, I searched and read scriptures for hours hoping that God would speak to me. One day by the grace and mercy of the Lord God, the scripture from Jeremiah 6:16 spoke to me like a quicken word and I took the meaning and meditate it day and night and then I discover that God was actually telling me to read the ancient books in the Old Testament.

Jeremiah 6:16 (New International Version)

16 This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

The Lord did direct me to look at the ancient way which I took to mean the Old Testaments, and to seek the good way and then to walk in it, not to just hear it but to walk in it. So I decided to find out how the ancient people communicate with God and then I decide to do what it says which means walk in it. Once I decided to do this God began to speak to me in those ways. And I began to get reply and response to my question from God in ways no intelligent people could ever discover without God’s revelation. Jesus said:

John 6:63
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

Jesus said, “If you love me do what I say, if you love me practice what I teach.” The word of God is life and it can speak to us because it is a spiritual life force that can read our minds and intention. The bible says the word of God is like a double-edged sword and it cuts into the dividing marrow and even the deep thoughts of men.

How can a Christian gain Spirituality?

You need to soak in the spiritual things in order to gain spirituality. You need to drink the spiritual water and eat the flesh of Jesus himself who is the Word of God. Eat means to chew and to swallow and to absorb into your body mind and soul; to read and to do. This is what I did consistently for 3 years:

I read the bible for at least 2 hours per day. I did this for 3 years none stop until I began to have dreams about future events. I began to be thirsty for the ways of God and bought many books on topics about God and how he speaks to people. I soak in the word of God like Esther soak in perfume or the fragrance of the Holy Spirit. I also bought books on how the Holy Spirit baptized a person, and found out how to invite the Spirit into my body. I went to different churches to learn the different things like, prophecy, healing, faith word, Charismatic, Anglicans, Baptist, Independent, Catholics, Assembly of Gods, Presbyterians, Mennonites, Apostolic, Evangelical, Grace Teachings….. even the fanatics for God and others. I learnt that all of them have only certain truth not full truth. My mind began to understand things which I could never understand in the natural realm of the human mind and logic. I began to listen to Godly music for hours and sing with the lyrics. Then I got delivered from much spiritual bondages and demonic possession. Later, I got baptized by the Holy Spirit. It was like something in the air came into my body and I knew I was wearing an invisible coat of righteousness, God given righteousness. Unless you wear the white robe you can never get to heaven, and the Holy Spirit is the white robe, the white dove-like being, the guarantee of our salvation. Those approved by God will wear this Robe spiritually, like Joseph in Genesis did. I prayed constantly consistently and fervently for answers and God send me wisdom and guided me to different places at different time to hear things which no one would desire to hear. I listened to the Spirit and not men. I was afraid that the voice may not be from God, but I overcame this fear and decided to follow and check out the leading by my actions and thank God it was very good indeed. I began to move by the Spirit’s leading and grew in understanding very quickly. Spirit-led learning is always the best, but God will also use men to teach us as well. However, we are not to follow them forever, we are to follow God. They are but servants sent by God to lead and feed us when we need God’s counsel.

Here are some other pointers for your understanding:

A. What your teachers are, you will become like them, so be careful who you listen to.

Everyone has some bias and not fully delivered soul and they all will do things to preserve themselves and gain in popularity and human approval not God’s approval though. The pressures of this world is real and not something we can easily ignore, like the monthly bills and overheads are debts we need to pay so it’s a real source and burden. If you put your trust in men, they will always disappoint you, for God said “Cursed is the man who trusts in men, but blessed is the man who trusts in God”. Find a good vine, a good source of spiritual teachings and stay there until you gain the impartation of whatever that source of vine may give. Then move to another vine for other areas of impartation. Yes, you have to move and it’s not a sin to want to learn more about God from different sources. You have to go where the truths are and so you have to move, and its not church hopping and neither are you betraying your church because God is everywhere in all the churches. In my father’s house there are many mansions, so God has many anointed churches and you have to go there to get the spiritual food. So staying in one place will only bring a delay in entering the promise land. When Moses left Egypt, he took the people and moved from places to places, each place has a name and a secret meaning and we are to follow this model before we can enter the promise land. God gave us a way to follow yet many did not know this and not many preachers teach this as well; because it’s not good for church growth and the financial seeding of tithes. No man is an island and no one man has all the wisdom except Jesus who is the Messiah and has access to the Spirit without limits. Be absolutely shameless when you pursue the truth and God’s presence like the ones who lap like a dog during the time of Gideon when God chose those 300 people. Lapping like a dog symbolizes thirst for water and yet they did not bother about their dignity but were truly thirsty so they focused on drinking and not on their own person behavior in the eyes of others.

So if you do those things which I mention, you will be able to gain spirituality in due time. Spiritual discernment and anointing is given by the Lord Jesus himself and no man can give that to you unless they are called to give the gifts. Solomon was approached by God and its God who gave him wisdom not man.

True spiritual men are few, so don’t be fooled, as many are imposters. Only the remnants are the chosen ones and they don’t advertise themselves, only God promotes them. Some pastors or preachers cannot even hear from God and they teach what they have learnt themselves from the letter without the Spirit. These are theologians expounding the word of God for salary, they don’t serve the truth; they do the work as a professional. And if your teachers can not hear from God, what kind of person do you think they are? They are men of the letter without the Spirit and so they are deaf and blind guides who have no light and cannot bring the Manna to feed you. They feed you yesterday’s bread not fresh but old stale bread without the life giving power to bring salvation and victory into your life. Sometimes they will explain away the scriptures from the imagination of their mind, reading meanings into the words without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, thereby preaching heresy and demonic doctrines of Balaam.

Now, true spirituality is being able to hear from God, talk to God directly and move according to what God commands. I sincerely prayed that all of you who happens to read this article be shaken and awaken to the fullness and power of a living God who speaks and guides his people like a true shepherd of his flocks. May you all experience what I have experienced and if you should want to know more about the deep things of God; come check out my website at www.kingscepter.com or send me an email at prophet3333@yahoo.com. The time is short and the best godly vision is to be able to hear from the one true God, so be imbued with the zeal and the thirst for the real thing. And the real thing is being able to hear from God.

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About the Author:

Joseph Ho is an engineer by training, he is also a former member of FGBMI and CBMC. Presently, he is the President of Thy Scepter, a spirit led Christian Business owner Society. He has also authored 2 books, one of which is “My Sheep Hear My Voice” and is available at www.kingscepter.com.

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The Good Enough Family For You

admin — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 15:16:04 +0000

The families of the not too distant past were orientated along four axes. These axes were not mutually exclusive. Some overlapped, all of them enhanced each other.

People got married for various reasons:

1. Because of social pressure and social norms (the Social Dyad)

2. To form a more efficient or synergetic economic unit (the Economic Dyad)

3. In pursuit of psychosexual fulfillment (the Psychosexual Dyad)

4. To secure long term companionship (the Companionship Dyad).

Thus, we can talk about the following four axes: Social-Economic, Emotional, Utilitarian (Rational), Private-Familial.

To illustrate how these axes were intertwined, let us consider the Emotional one.

Until very recently, people used to get married because they felt very strongly about living alone, partly due to social condemnation of reculsiveness.

In some countries, people still subscribe to ideologies which promote the family as a pillar of society, the basic cell of the national organism, a hothouse in which to breed children for the army, and so on. These collective ideologies call for personal contributions and sacrifices. They have a strong emotional dimension and provide impetus to a host of behavior patterns.

But the emotional investment in today’s individualistic-capitalist ideologies is no smaller than it was in yesterday’s nationalistic ones. True, technological developments rendered past thinking obsolete and dysfunctional but did not quench Man’s thirst for guidance and a worldview.

Still, as technology evolved, it became more and more disruptive to the family. Increased mobility, a decentralization of information sources, the transfers of the traditional functions of the family to societal and private sector establishments, the increased incidence of interpersonal interactions, safer sex with lesser or no consequences – all fostered the disintegration of the traditional, extended and nuclear family.

Consider the trends that directly affected women, for instance:

1. The emergence of common marital property and of laws for its equal distribution in case of divorce constituted a shift in legal philosophy in most societies. The result was a major (and on going) re-distribution of wealth from men to women. Add to this the disparities in life expectancy between the two genders and the magnitude of the transfer of economic resources becomes evident.

Women are becoming richer because they live longer than men and thus inherit them and because they get a share of the marital property when they divorce them. These “endowments” are usually more than they had contributed to the couple in money terms. Women still earn less than men, for instance.

2. An increase in economic opportunities. Social and ethical codes changed, technology allows for increased mobility, wars and economic upheavals led to the forced introduction of women into the labour markets.

3. The result of women’s enhanced economic clout is a more egalitarian social and legal system. Women’s rights are being legally as well as informally secured in an evolutionary process, punctuated by minor legal revolutions.

4. Women had largely achieved equality in educational and economic opportunities and are fighting a winning battle in other domains of life (the military, political representation). Actually, in some legal respects, the bias is against men. It is rare for a man to complain of sexual harassment or to receive alimony or custody of his children or, in many countries, to be the beneficiary of social welfare payments.

5. The emergence of socially-accepted (normative) single parent and non-nuclear families helped women to shape their lives as they see fit. Most single parent families are headed by women. Women single parents are disadvantaged economically (their median income is very low even when adjusted to reflect transfer payments) – but many are taking the plunge.

6. Thus, gradually, the shaping of future generations becomes the exclusive domain of women. Even today, one third of all children in developed countries grow in single parent families with no male figure around to serve as a role model. This exclusivity has tremendous social and economic implications. Gradually and subtly the balance of power will shift as society becomes matriarchal.

7. The invention of the pill and other contraceptives liberated women sexually. The resulting sexual revolution affected both sexes but the main beneficiaries were women whose sexuality was suddenly legitimized. No longer under the cloud of unwanted pregnancy, women felt free to engage in sex with multiple partners.

8. In the face of this newfound freedom and the realities of changing sexual conduct, the double moral standard crumbled. The existence of a legitimately expressed feminine sexual drive is widely accepted. The family, therefore, becomes also a sexual joint venture.

9. Urbanization, communication, and transportation multiplied the number of encounters between men and women and the opportunities for economic, sexual, and emotional interactions. For the first time in centuries, women were able to judge and compare their male partners to others in every conceivable way. Increasingly, women choose to opt out of relationships which they deem to be dysfunctional or inadequate. More than three quarters of all divorces in the West are initiated by women.

10. Women became aware of their needs, priorities, preferences, wishes and, in general, of their proper emotions. They cast off emotions and thought patterns inculcated in them by patriarchal societies and cultures and sustained through peer pressure.

11. The roles and traditional functions of the family were gradually eroded and transferred to other social agents. Even functions such as emotional support, psychosexual interactions, and child rearing are often relegated to outside “subcontractors”.

Emptied of these functions and of inter-generational interactions, the nuclear family was reduced to a dysfunctional shell, a hub of rudimentary communication between its remaining members, a dilapidated version of its former self.

The traditional roles of women and their alleged character, propensities, and inclinations were no longer useful in this new environment. This led women to search for a new definition, to find a new niche. They were literally driven out of their homes by its functional disappearance.

12. In parallel, modern medicine increased women’s life expectancy, prolonged their child bearing years, improved their health dramatically, and preserved their beauty through a myriad newfangled techniques. This gave women a new lease on life.

In this new world, women are far less likely to die at childbirth or to look decrepit at 30 years of age. They are able to time their decision to bring a child to the world, or to refrain from doing so passively or actively (by having an abortion).

Women’s growing control over their body – which has been objectified, reviled and admired for millennia by men – is arguably one of the most striking features of the feminine revolution. It allows women to rid themselves of deeply embedded masculine values, views and prejudices concerning their physique and their sexuality.

13. Finally, the legal system and other social and economic structures adapted themselves to reflect many of the abovementioned sea changes. Being inertial and cumbersome, they reacted slowly, partially and gradually. Still, they did react. Any comparison between the situation just twenty years ago and today is likely to reveal substantial differences.

But this revolution is only a segment of a much larger one.

In the past, the axes with which we opened our discussion were closely and seemingly inextricably intertwined. The Economic, the Social and the Emotional (the axis invested in the preservation of societal mores and ideologies) formed one amalgam – and the Private, the Familial and the Utilitarian-Rational constituted another.

Thus, society encouraged people to get married because it was emotionally committed to a societal-economic ideology which infused the family with sanctity, an historical mission and grandeur.

Notwithstanding social views of the family, the majority of men and women got married out of a cold pecuniary calculation that regarded the family as a functioning economic unit, within which the individual effectively transacts. Forming families was the most efficient way known to generate wealth, accumulate it and transfer it across time and space to future generations.

These traditional confluences of axes were diametrically reversed in the last few decades. The Social and Economic axes together with the Utilitarian (Rational) axis and the Emotional axis are now aligned with the Private and Familial axes.

Put simply, nowadays society encourages people to get married because it wishes to maximize their economic output. But most people do not see it this way. They regard the family as a safe emotional haven.

The distinction between past and present may be subtle but it is by no means trivial. In the past, people used to express emotions in formulaic, socially dictated ways, wearing their beliefs and ideologies on their sleeves as it were. The family was one of these modes of expression. But really, it served as a mere economic unit, devoid of any emotional involvement and content.

Today, people are looking to the family for emotional sustenance (romantic love, companionship) and not as an instrument to enhance their social and economic standing. Creating a family is no longer the way to maximize utility.

But these new expectations have destabilized the family. Both men and women seek emotional comfort and true companionships within it and when they fail to find it, use their newfound self-sufficiency and freedoms and divorce.

To summarize:

Men and women used to look to the family for economic and social support. Whenever the family failed as an economic and social launching pad – they lost interest in it and began looking for extramarital alternatives. This trend of disintegration was further enhanced by technological innovation which encouraged self-sufficiency and unprecedented social segmentation. It was society at large which regarded families emotionally, as part of the prevailing ideology.

The roles have reversed. Society now tends to view the family in a utilitarian-rational light, as an efficient mode of organization of economic and social activity. And while in the past, its members regarded the family mainly in a utilitarian-rational manner (as a wealth producing unit) – now they want more: emotional support and companionship.

In the eyes of the individual, families were transformed from economic production units to emotional powerhouses. In the eyes of society, families were transformed from elements of emotional and spiritual ideology to utilitarian-rational production units.

This shift of axes and emphases is bridging the traditional gap between men and women. Women had always accentuated the emotional side of being in a couple and of the family. Men always emphasized the convenience and the utility of the family. This gap used to be unbridgeable. Men acted as conservative social agents, women as revolutionaries. What is happening to the institution of the family today is that the revolution is becoming mainstream.

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Enough is Enough!

admin — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 16:36:27 +0000

Grace and Peace be with you, in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Jesus turned around and looked at Peter. Get behind me Satan! I can hear it now. Christ is coming to terms with what his mission on earth truly is, knowing that every step he takes brings him closer to the cross. He had things on his mind, and his heart was growing heavier by the second. It had to be. The last thing he needed was someone telling him no, it cant be this way. Enough was enough.

First I need to lift up my brother Greg and sister Kate. Over the past 10 days, they have put themselves between me and an unsettled body of Christ. In offering me this blanket of protection they have endured physical, emotional and spiritual pain. What models of Christs love! John 15:13 tells us there is no greater love than to lay down ones life for ones friends. Not only as their pastor, but more so as my friend, they have sacrificed much of who they are, and have asked for nothing in return. I ask you now, brothers and sisters in Christ, lift them up in prayer, that they would be restored, and brought back to that place of not wanting.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 1 Corinthians 13:11

As for me, I must step forward and say enough is enough. Your quarrel is not with Kate or Greg, it is with me. It is because of my indiscretions that Greg has abruptly cut off communication with the women he was ministering to. I know this has shocked, hurt and offended some women that were in communication with him. I beg of you, point your anger at me, not at him. Greg has invested much of himself over the past six months, working in ministry, and communicating with people, regardless of gender and only with a Godly heart. As a team, we feel that it is wise for women to speak to other women about personal and spiritual conflicts or concerns, as it is for men to speak to other men, but I cannot ask Greg or Kate, regardless of their positions in leadership, to continue down this road with me of not speaking to members of the opposite sex in private messages, skype, or by other means. Through Godly wisdom we came to the conclusion that the leadership team should not privately communicate with members of the opposite sex, however, it is not in my heart to cause Gods people to have pain. This is my cross to bear, and for the appointed season, I will carry it. Neither of them have done any wrong and they have loved you as Christ would. Again, I plead with you to direct your anger and hurt over this issue towards me, it is my fault alone, and nobody elses.

It is true, that God has brought into our bible study / worship team a wonderful woman in Kate to offer a gentle word and compassionate ear. In her efforts to defend and protect me, there have been accusations made that our womens ministry leader has verbally attacked other believers. With Christ as my witness, this is not in her heart to do. I am one of the most difficult people to get along with at times, yet she manages to find only words of compassion and kindness. Kate has an impressive resume when working with people, from being a case manager in social work to having attended bible college and soon beginning work on her masters, God willing. I encourage you to get to know her. Whatever you may have heard were words meant to attack, hurt and pull me down. This goes for things said about either Kate or Greg.

Brothers and Sisters, I do not feel the need to confess and repent before you again, as you have heard once already, as has God, and knowing that he is faithful and just in his promises to us, all thing have been forgiven. To clarify and questions, a copy of my confession and apology has been posted on For Him Above Ministries – Apology The majority of the responses since that point in time has revealed the heart of God in his people, full of love, mercy, patience, understanding and kindness. I cannot thank you enough. Still there are some that would sow seeds of dissention among you. Again, enough is enough. Only one thing will satisfy your pain. Many of us are familiar with the phrase take it to the cross or give it to Jesus. When we do this, then his work may be completed as it was on Calvary when he uttered the words it is finished. When a work is finished, we move on, and start new works. In your grace, I ask the body of Christ to put aside rumors, for these things are finished and it is time to move on. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Jesus Christ is calling us.

Exciting things are happening. We are moving forward to a study on spiritual gifting, so that you can better understand yourself and your relation to the body. Friday nights now feature separate mens and womens support groups. Attendance is growing. God is moving. I invite you to continue to attend, and to bring your friends. Come! See what God is doing!

Finally, all glory, thanks and praise be to him!!!

In His Love,

Pastor Matt

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Do I know enough? Revisited

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:33:41 +0000

There are many in evangelical circles,particularly the Reform/Calvinists,that rely very heavily on intellect in there approach to belief,& as I stated about Barth,He loved God with all the intellect that he had.That is kind of a loaves & fish statement.God gives to all a measure of gifts & talents.To those who are without God,the gifts are only natural gifts.To those who are,as Jesus speaks of in John chapter 3 "born again" the gifts are both natural & spiritual.It is so amazing how often the intellect can seem to get in the way.In 1st Corinthians 27 it states this:
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

It is brought home when Jesus said to Nicodemus in Chapter 3 of John:

10You are Israels teacher, said Jesus, and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaventhe Son of Man.d 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Notice what Jesus said to Nicodemus.
10You are Israels teacher, said Jesus, and do you not understand these things?

Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin,which was the Jewish ruling council,& as such had to be at the top of his game theologically,at least as far as men were concerned.Jesus in effect said "You call yourself a teacher & you do not even know the 1st step?" There is a terrific word study here that goes deeply into the Old Testament scriptures,but suffice it to say that Nicodemus should have known exactly what Jesus was speaking of.Jesus would not have held him accountable for it otherwise.
A 2nd case study is found in the next chapter of John’s gospel,About the Samaritan woman at the well.Look at what Jesus says to her.

21Jesus declared, Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

Notice what Jesus said to her? About the Samaritans worshipping what they did not know?That actually speaks volumes,but we will stay with a ground level point.Jesus said to her that Her theology was all messed up,& contrasted to Nicodemus,she actually knew very little about the depth of God’s word.But let’s look at what happened with her.She actually knew all that she needed to know as a starting point.read what she says next.

25The woman said, I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.

26Then Jesus declared, I who speak to you am he.

She knew that Messiah was coming.That was the only truly valid thing she knew.Then Jesus did something that He rarely if ever did before this time or after this…going all the way to the cross…He actually told her that He is the Messiah.Jesus did not say that He is God or that He is Messiah because we are to arrive at that conclusion by faith.Jesus knew that this woman would believe,so He just came out & said it.Look at her response.

28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ? 30They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

You see what she did?She left her water jar.The most important thing in her life at that moment had been drawing water.Water vessels were not cheap to the average person in that day.But she left it.It was of secondary importance.That translation "Could this be the Christ?" does not speak doubt.She was a woman,& a woman rejected by that community based on the time of day she was drawing water.She had to go tell about Jesus.She could not contain this living water that had just come into her soul.
Sadly,unlike Barth,intellect gets in the way with most people.Most people want to figure out God.Most people want God in a convenient box.Sadly,but truly,most people want a God they build with their own intellect,if not actually building an image of wood or clay or gold or steel.
There is evidence that Nicodemus finally got it,based on his actions in John chapter 19 verse 39.Isn’t it sad that it took 16 chapters to penetrate the wall of knowledge built up in the heart & mind of Nicodemus,when the woman who knew nothing more than "Messiah is coming" got it in a matter of verses.You may laugh at this analogy,& that is okay.But while laughing,think about it.It says in Romans 10:17 that "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ"
What I can tell you personally is that God found me when I was far from Him.I knew just enough of His word for Him to say to my heart
I who speak to you am he.
You may ask "Did you actually hear Jesus speak audibly?".It was not audibly.It was much louder than that.It was the presence of God Himself in my inmost being.
I am not waging war on intellect.I am only saying that it is the nature of man to use intellect to quantify God,&God is beyond our quantification.Look at what God said through Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 55:

8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
declares the LORD.
9As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I will leave you with the story of the personal testimony of CS Lewis.
In 1929 C.S. Lewis found himself challenged with Gods existence. This important milestone in his conversion journey was reached rather suddenly. As he tells the story, on one occasion during this time he happened to take a bus ride. When he got on the bus he was an atheist. When he came to his stop, he got off the bus believing in Gods existence. Not that Lewis was seeking God. He said he didnt really want to find him. The revelation about Gods existence was something of a fright to him. He wrote in Surprised by Joy: "Amiable agnostics will talk cheerfully about mans search for God. To me, as I then was, they might as well have talked about the mouses search for the cat."

But God was seeking C.S. Lewis and he found him. His call was coming and Lewis could find no place to hide. As Jonah running from the Lord, Lewis had been confronted with his own great "whale," so to speak. It was God beckoning to him. The reluctant prodigal finally knew it was time to come home. In Surprised by Joy, Lewis tells us about his feelings when he could no longer deny Gods existence to himself:

"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England…. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape."

When God drew Lewis heart to himself, he became conscious of the presence of his own sinfulness. "For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose," wrote Lewis. "And there I found what appalled me: a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds. My name is legion."

When Christ comes calling

Though Lewis was frightened by what he saw in himself, the Holy Spirit would open Lewis heart and mind to Christs forgiveness and love. It happened in September 1931 when Lewis was converted to the faith. He had engaged in a lengthy conversation about Christianity with J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson that started with dinner on the 19th and continued into the early morning hours of the 20th. The discussion challenged Lewis thinking and set the stage for what happened two days later.

It was on Sept. 22, 1931 that Lewis said yes to the Lords offer of himselfyes, according to his testimony, this was the exact day he became a Christian. It happened on a ride to the Whipsnade Zoo with his brother, Warren. Lewis tells about it in his book, Surprised by Joy: "I know very well when, but hardly how, the final step was taken. I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did. Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought. Nor in great emotion…. It was more like when a man, after long sleep, still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake."

One recalls the experience of the apostle Paul, who was also on a road trip, in his case from Jerusalem to Damascus. When Paul started out for Damascus, he did not know the Lord. He, no doubt, as a rabbi, had an ardent belief in the God of Israel. But he had not yet been encountered by the living Christ. So when he started his journey he did not know Christ, when he arrived at his destination at Damascus, he was a converted disciple of the Lord (Acts 9:1-20).

Lewis, of course, was not struck down with blindness on the road to the zoo and didnt hear the risen Christ audibly speaking to him. Nevertheless, the still quiet voice of Jesus had been dramatically impacting his mind and heart for some time, bringing him to the opportunity to utter the final yes.

In Surprised by Joy, Lewis described that final time before he put his faith in Christ as a period of free and enlightened choice: "The odd thing was that before God closed in on me, I was in fact offered what now appears a moment of wholly free choice…. I became aware that I was holding something at bay, or shutting something out…. I felt myself being, there and then, given a free choice. I could open the door or keep it shut; I could unbuckle the armor or keep it on. Neither choice was presented as a duty; no threat or promise was attached to either, though I knew that to open the door or to take off the corslet meant the incalculable."

On Christmas Day 1931, C.S. Lewis joined the Anglican Church and took communion. For the next three decades he devoted much of his time to writing and speaking about Christ and the Christian faith. He had truly become a disciple of Christ who makes disciples. After several months of ill health and intermittent recovery, Lewis died peacefully on Nov. 22, 1963on the very day that U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

God bless you.It is my sincere hope that if this has not occurred in your life,that you will just ask God to find you.He found me,& if He would stoop to me,He can bring that which is dead to life in anybody.Thank you for your time & your patience.I hope it helps you on the road you are on.:)

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Do I know enough?

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:31:34 +0000

How deep an intellect does it take to know Jesus? Jesus said this to His followers when they were trying to prevent little children from coming to Him in Matthew 19:

13Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

14Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. 15When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

I remembered this from a few years back & found it again.It was from a man who loved God with all the intellect that God had given him.Probably the most profound thing he ever said is found in this story:
Karl Barth, a world-famous Swiss theologian, gave a last lecture across the United
States shortly before his death. A student in one of his seminars could not fully
understand Barths complex ideas and theology. So he asked him, I know you have
written volumes and volumes of theology, but can you sum up your theology in a single
sentence? Then the famous theologian answered, Yes. Jesus loves me, this I know,
for the Bible tells me so!

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I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:01:05 +0000

ISBN13: 9781581345612
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
All worldviews, including atheism, require faith. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist argues that Christianity requires the least faith of all because it is the most reasonable. The authors lay out the evidence for truth, God, and the Bible in logical order and in a readable, non-technical, engaging style. A valuable aid to those interested in examining the reasonableness of the Christian faith, Geisler and Turek provide a firm challenge to the previous … More >>

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist