The fellowship goes back to the word in Aramaic "Chaburah or chaber, a comrade or companion , friend" they formed a small communities and expanded as an ecclesia, and were shot through and through of the Holy Spirit unlike today.

  which got us a lot of what see today, but back to the core. see Woe OesterleyThe jewish back ground of the christian litergy1925 pp 167,172

The word according to the study was changed to church in the latin form from ecclesia would support the pagan sway of the sun god attached with the Circe-term old latin MSS,  term as the word orgins come fromkirk or church was not found in scriptures . Uncetainty as to why that remains  is the question,  Sun god worship was very common  in Rome and under Constantine as it was added in latter on and used by others..

They were based on friendship the Spirit in them increased his  power of love and unity came out of it,Spirit awarenesss there was no ownership or priest created to once again we see  injections  human mediums over them but it was purely Spirit led ihnthe origanal, they met Saturday nights and ate meals together and shared the works of the spirit amoung them.

The fellow ship was intensely christocentric and Christ concious, they were aware of the direct activity of the Holy Spirittowards  each other, unlike the divided condition of today where he has been largely authorized by various filter grids.


The Hopwood story is  specific on the key issues of body, the actual spirituality of the body of those times before sungod worship and the philosphies drafted themselvews in intothe thinking  often stifling I would assume.
 The fellowship was the Koinonia, friends gathered they were conscious of the Spirit in them, their fellowship was aware of their relationship fully. The fellowship is driven of the Spirit in them, they are evidencing the presence of God / Holy Spirit, the third part of the trinity  is active in  his forms of operation, there were philosophers or  mediums to supervise the Holy Sprit ministry  unlike today where we have many forms of media like  controls. God went through common people,  , he spoke for himself. He did not a need a tax break, or compromise "his saving power and miracles" jesus cenrtal all the way.  He referred to them as "My eccleasia".

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They were not or ever in  a formal organizatrion at all quote ;hopwood it is the creative power of jesus Christ biding us together out of experience with a living savior centerd in Jesus Christ spontanously influencing the  emergance of the ecclesia in many places . 



 "Jesus viewed it as My ecclesia" My Isreal

The members of this new community were   "friends" deeply  spiritually  bonded in awareness.

They were ruled by the Spirit, phil 2;1 2 Corth13;14, later he says the fellowship is brought about by the  intercoarse with the Holy Spirit as deep personal relationship with him. Which all christians were expericing  among them . The ecclesia is not the invention of men or Paul it was brought about by the God the Holy Spirit.

fs

We believe following;--- That the justification of God's elect, is only by the righteousness (Rom. 3:28 and 4:6 and 5:16-19) of Christ imputed to them,

 That the justification of God's elect, is only by the righteousness (Rom. 3:28 and 4:6 and 5:16-19) of Christ imputed to them, without the consideration of any works of righteousness done by them; and that the full and free pardon of all their sins and transgressions, past, present, and to come, is only through the blood of Christ, (Rom. 3:25; Eph. 1:7; Col. 2:13; 1 John 1:7, 9) according to the riches of his grace.

 That there is but one (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:6; 1 Tim. 2:5; Jer. 10:10) only living and true God: that there are (1 John 5:7; Matthew 28:19) three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who are equal in nature, power, and glory; and that the Son ((John 10:30; Phil. 2:6; Rom. 9:5; 1 John 5:20) and the Holy Ghost (Acts 5:3, 4; 1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 2 Cor. 3:17, 18) are as truly and properly God as the Father.


 That the Lord Jesus Christ, being set up from (Prov. 8:22, 23; Heb. 12:24) everlasting as the Mediator of the covenant, and he having engaged to be the (Ps. 49:6-8; Heb. 7:22) Surety of his people, did In al. 4:4; Heb. 2:14, 16, 17) human nature, and not before, neither in whole, nor in part; his human soul being a creature, existed not from eternity, but was created and formed in his body by him that forms the spirit of man within him, when that was conceived in the womb of the virgin; and so his human nature consists of a true body and a reasonable soul: both which, together and at once the Son of God assumed into union with his divine person, when made of a woman, and not before; in which nature he really suffered, and died (Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:3; Eph. 5:2; 1 Peter 3:18) as the substitute of his people, in their room and stead; whereby he made all that satisfaction (Rom. 8:3, 4 and 10:4; Isa. 42:21; Rom.

, that all those, who are chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sanctified by the Spirit, shall certainly and finally (Matthew 24:24; John 6:39, 40 and 10:28, 29; Matthew 16:18; Ps. 125:1, 2; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24; Heb. 2:13; Rom. 8:30) persevere; so that not one of them shall ever perish, but shall have everlasting life.


That there will be a resurrection of the dead; (Acts 24:15; John 528, 29; Dan. 12:2) both of the just and unjust; and that Christ will come a second time to judge (Heb. 9:28; Acts 17:31; 2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; 1 Thess. 4:15-17) both quick and dead; when he will take vengeance on the wicked, and introduce his own people into his kingdom and glory, where they shall be for ever with him.

That singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs vocally, (Matthew 26:30; Acts 16:25; 1 Cor. 14:15, 26; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16) is an ordinance of the Gospel, to be performed by believers; but that as to time, place, and manner, every one ought to be left to their (James 5:13) liberty in using it.


Now all and each of these doctrines and ordinances, we look upon ourselves under the greatest obligation to embrace, maintain,, and defend; believing it to be our duty (Phil. 1:27; Jude 3) to stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel.

Gill,


 I enjoyed his works ongrace and so much more. I added this from his book section to give you an idea  of grace and a deeply conencted awareness of the lord in his mind.

 Yes, the questions of systems coems up, if you go way , way back it was largely relaitonal, after all that's what those final grade comes out of , fabricating a philsosphy?  out of the personal indwelling who is trying to get your attention to make real life changes, in the indwelling christ , in man's pride it becomes an end in itself, or a god, to many..The question is are we going to build buildings careers and money piles or are we going to beocme servants and set aside easy colorful faith into a real  faith beyoud your abilities to let God reshape you into his model , so that one day you and I will  not be barren in the last hour.

The whole pupose fo the ekklesia is to get one out of instutionalized thinking into direct connection of discernment, no special place or certain codes but his word, connected actally  knowing the mind of Christ led of the Holy Spirit and knowing how to yield to his lead and manifesting presence in his people who are the temple, so all those external marketing ploys  get dissolved away into real action living for Christ.


In the Christmas season oen has to look at Chirst not just as babe as he came so humble and built only by being in a stable, and lived a life out side the ivory based religions we have today, and those early ones would not know what it is we are doing, scary How we build will one bare great joy for some, humble sharing with wisdom love with knowledge, power from on high is not compromise, or confusion, lack of faith ..  I wonder if we grasp the rela christmas spirit and left allthe junk behind and did something for others without in faith picking people we dispise and do not see as the proper inthe culture of lies we live in, perhaps now is the time to become like  him, stable , going in the night to the lostand pbrotken where ever they are not themcomingto you so we can sake out cold legal fingers at them  but us becoming like them and taking their place to give of your self , than we would know what a merry Chirst mass is ..


 I can say this having lived and goen throughlot of aches pains and that life often is way to shortt o come short inthe last days remember, paul talks of building, how you build, imagien doing allthat finding out he says what were you thinking, that means little to me what baout the people all aroudn you? can't you discern I provided the power to do so but you shunned it for the glory of men, what loss, one day. It happens, I read them nowe and than but remin true to not havingto run to rome or greece to try make it all fit when inthe short years,  he wil be asking about you having doen all you can to stand? that part is largely misisng today, I see it all the time 

THANKS Don

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvdfOcEH1mY YEP,,,,,, SIMPLE PURE

The priesthood of the believer! this is for those asking, by all means we see elders as vital but not as medium betweeen us and Christ, the roles are far different from the actual terms and practices then they are from secular  state controlled or denomaintional run operations who have  other insterests than Christ alone.thanks The best of Christmas, , we;re one with all other true believers.

I lie to thank the Assembly is for letting my presence bare testimoney to the 10 years or more of night street ministry, narrowway  is purly faith driven christocentric undivided and deeply truth seeking, I think what it;s all about,   we worship Christ in Spirit and truth








NW

 

Moving forward

NARROWWAY is not likely to retreat back into SARDIS any time soon.

Merrry Christmas..

Lord have mercy on our nation!

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." John 10:27-28

"... choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15

Internment Camps in "free" America?

"...we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope." Romans 5:3-4

Temple of God!

Christ our High Priest has made one sacrifice for sin for all time (Hebrews 10:12), and there is no more sacrifice for sin that can be made (Hebrews 10:26). But as priests once offered other kinds of sacrifices in the temple, so it is clear from 1 Peter 2:5,9 that God has chosen Christians "to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:5-9 speaks of two aspects of the priesthood of the believer. One ask what does that actually look like in the early body.

The first is  believers are privileged, thus all are able to participate in ministry which is every day all day and  with everyone one not just the few hired people. The idea is always community the gatherings were in a community life style not shop store models. It was totally undivided, quenching the spirit in form was not likely till later as men sought power  exchanged that which is revelatory for the natural wisdom. 
 Christ centeredness was mostly found in the people with little to gain from any corrupt worldly system. All through history to this day nothing has changed, the ratio is always the few, but the few whom  understand the actual sense of the priesthood of the believer in a relationally driven life in christo centric effort abide and endure all the way through..

Fellowship is with Christ first and for most , the question of faith is found out side of a easy life, where taking  steps into world where the spoon is no more, and baby food is  removed, and you have take the steps of life as God led. It breaks the life  long spiritual infancy into direction and understanding
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We feel the body is to follow the original model set forth in actual scriptures the way it was simple, not a career path or a place one can experience the living Christ verses that of a mere historical one 1 Corinth 1,2,3 Kj3, Young's literal.,we're the temple now, where ever we meet and how ever God is not interested in huts or glass, nothing we build  with hay, gold or wood can contain him, we;re temple ever wonder what Jesus was talking about when he said we shall do greater works? something is missing,??,,


 This  relationship not superficial, ever. thanks....... lOVE TO ALL.

You ask, do I follow a system ?

The answer is no, I do not believe  God is ever been a system, he may operate in them, but is not imprisoned to them, but is very personal with his creatian and  more so with us his body. 

 Not to discredit those doing so,,, ,it is man talking one has to seek deep honesty but we can only see dimly in our best specualtion.Very bright people doing it...love them all.

 I think they formed some pretty fair ideas. But again I do not use logic to displace the supernatural function of the Holy Spirit in my life, to guide me,for the most part I enjoy some of them but spend little time in it most of the time. At this point in life it seems pretty much unusable to me in streetministry,  need his power more than my ideas.
 I use the general forms of it to read or learn, to get an idea as a tool to look, but learnt to seperate myself from assumed insight to that  which is directly there. Also important to eb honest many things we will never know.

 It;s far more important to know the making of the mind of Christ and learning how to know the mechanism of living Spirit in way as to know what to do in sec by sec events in life.


 Life is  to short and the vitallity of growing by faith comes from  a relational aspect we're all  longing for, and need in the end. I think the question will be did you do what I ask?there in will the real rewards come.

 It;s where the grades will be answered to,  or lost over. My inward man  tells to be  purly relational not so much as a philosphy per-se but a dynamic knowable relationship.

So time does not let me debate much of it,  but hold to the impressions of the Spirit as much as I can, due to my own inconsistancies, I fumble the ball now and than hahah, just a man bought by his grace-blood, that alone has my mind  bond in thanks.

 Here is what I did, take the time to get to know God, he;s not a book or a formula he;s a person. Spirit alive  what the two testaments are all about, love one another as he has loved us in an ungoing unselfish love, lot of time in systems often  become mere dogma a battle cry to the want-to-bes and brutle engagements take place part of our old nature turf fighting etc, what we been speaking to here in the blog on many issues. Getting back to him.

Our goal is to become more like him, all of us, more love, care, dsicernment, and working out the faith by reaching to the world which is an utter mess at every level, what we need to be doing.

 Think... Lets do it, plenty of opertunity out there. God will one day call  it all in, boy what a day depsite all  arrogance to see what we can do to get away with stuff will not be fun to be unable to whipe it off, when we're all caught in whatever, than have to answer for it. love to you, time to surrender let the lord Jesus take over.READ THE GOOD NEWS


Enjoy,, when walking in faith, no sytem can endure only what his presence in us can do, where ever we are.may that all grow in your account to earn the interest of your lord thus  you may be rich his presence and blessed beyoud measure that day.

NARROWWAY

Christmas madness an alternative to materrialism, time to listen

Alone with God

"Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. It wears us out by multiplying distractions and beats us down by destroying our solitude, where otherwise we might drink and renew our strength before going out to face the world again.
"The thoughtful soul to solitude retires," said the poet of other and quieter times; but where is the solitude to which we can retire today? Science, which has provided men with certain material comforts, has robbed them of their souls by surrounding them with a world hostile to their existence."Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still" is a wise and healing counsel, but how can it be followed in this day of the newspaper, the telephone, the radio and the television? These modern playthings, like pet tiger cubs, have grown so large and dangerous that they threaten to devour us all and undo a sound mind. What was intended to be a blessing has become a positive curse. No spot is now safe from the world's intrusion."

We felt you might like this since many of us cator to it maybe a time for a break.?







Our prayers at narrowway to all those without food, hope, love, and reason to go on, we know what it;s like, over ten years of street ministry, May this season be a new one a new life take the time to read the scriptures, we enjoy the kj3 or the Young's literal, yes, were serious about getting back to truth,is, we decided  we wanted to be rich in his ways.  After all life is to short to be guessing. Love to you in the Christmas season, from narrowway,, always with his hope, joy and love .

"And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there." Matthew 14:23

May truth abound

We agree here as well the situation of truthfulness matters the historical information and the trends set by misinformation have played a role in the fast bond state found  static Christianity today, tradition has replaced spirit led and formalism which avoided the priesthood of the believers, we're seeking to restore  vitality of the whole body not just a few, we feel that the article here speaks to the issues well. A life of Spirit led life operating in faith were soem of thr questions s we were ask by a group of young people. We endorse the Young's literal and Kj3 translations as an improvement over the political vernacular ecclesiastical tranaltions still in use today.

Yes, we performed our own research etc on the life and translational terms activities surround in the King James  issues where words were changed in order to sustain the political structures  and people under the sway of it's control.

 New testament brotherhood was reclassified into non scriptural functions into laity and clergy neither of which mirroed the early ekklesia, we felt our desire is to get back to the truth avoiding pitfalls along the way that generated the peope who were shot rhoughand through of the spirit into a old covanant like preisthood which we feel was done away with in the NT age..

Our personal research was in Constantine, King James and the Tyndale event, the word church,and it;s orgins, forms and the ekklesia which was community function not mere lecture hall forum,  and why it replaced the people as the temple of God making location and wealth  a factor as well as buildings.

 Hopwood Religious experience of the primitive church 1927, Barclay 1 Corinth letter on the body activities Spirit led 1957,, the ekklesia early church history, etc.... Thank those in ekkelesia, seeking to restore the body origanal functions who have desired to learn the differences we thank you for the invite to have shared some of the details with you.

The quote from the author, of this paper.

In spite of the title of this article, you are still probably asking yourself if the English-speaking world really needs another New Testament translation. The answer is a definitive -- YES!
There are many reasons but I will give you the best reason first. The Kings James Version proved to be so popular that other versions that came along afterward were forced into using much of the same vernacular in order to be economically viable.

In other words, if these companies expected to sell their versions, they were forced to keep much of the KJV vernacular and many obvious transliterations.
For an example of transliteration you can examine the Greek word "angelos." Angelos correctly translated would render messenger, every time. However, Instead of translating angelos into the English word messenger the KJV scholars transliterated it angel.
You might ask yourself why would they do such a thing in the first place? Only God knows for sure but one safe bet would be that the term was already in common use when the manuscripts were translated.
Besides, "angel" held a strong connection with the human psyche then and now because of the images it conjures up in the mind. You have a multitude of paintings of angels in many different situations -- the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is just one example. The word messenger simply doesn't stir the same imagination and emotion in the human heart.
An even more telling example of transliteration found in the KJV and those that followed is the Greek word "christos." Instead of translating christos into "anointed" which is the exact rendering and carried a profound meaning to the Jewish culture in which Jesus appeared, the KJV transliterated it and capitalized it Christ.
This error - and make no mistake it was an error even though the scholars knew better - has caused obvious interpretative difficulties to the reader. If fact, it is well known that most actually use the term "Christ" as Jesus' last name, causing them to miss the deeper meaning that is put forth by the correct translation "anointed."

Some of you may be saying to yourself, big deal. However, if you were actually interest in learning while you study, you would have been forced into digging deeper into the biblical significance of the word "anointed."
In reality, the KJV has many more significant biases than those caused by the transliteration of certain words. The Bible student must keep in mind that scholars with a very definite ecclesiastical paradigm translated the KJV. They were members of the Church of England. This denomination had its own sordid history of persecuting and torturing heretics (those who disagreed with the "powers that be"). They were also under certain strictures of the King of England.
As if this wasn't compromising enough, they had no personal experience of any other form than sacerdotal hierarchy. Because of this, they translated scriptures that had to do with leadership and "followship" in the strongest English terms. I will only mention one example here in this article.
In Hebrews 13:17 the verse states.
"Obey them that have the rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch for your souls, as those who must give account, let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable to you."
There are several words in the Greek language for "obey", but the one translated "obey" in Hebrews 13:17, is NOT one of them. For an example, hupakouo, is usually translated obey in Matthew 8:27,..."the winds and the sea obey him."

And yet the word peitho, rendered "obey" by the KJV in the Hebrews text under discussion, NEVER implies unwilling obedience and is never used in regard to obedience to congregational leaders.
Peitho, the word translated "obey" in Hebrews 13:17, is translated 23 times "persuade", 10 times "trust", and one time "agree". It is translated 5 times "obey," but only in Hebrews 13:17, 21, does it refer to obedience to another person (See Acts 5:36,37; Romans 2:8; Galatians 3:1; James 3:3). Don't you think it just a little strange that it is translated "obey" when speaking of "leadership" in this place?
Another scripture that is a blatant example of ecclesiastical bias is found in 1 Timothy 3:1-2. The Kings James Version renders it thus:
"This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the office of a Bishop, he desires a good work. A Bishop then must be blameless..."
The translators, under the king's injunction to keep the main terms of the Church of England's ecclesiastical form, make two main errors. The first is adding a word to the text that doesn't appear in the Greek, i.e. "office". There is neither a word in the text for office NOR the idea of office outside their own paradigm.
The second is an error in translation. The word translated "Bishop" is episkopos. The word means to "oversee", to "tend".
Vine defines it thus: "EPISKOPOS, lit., an overseer (epi, over, skopeo, to look or watch), whence Eng. "bishop"..." The passage in 1st Timothy actually reads, "If a man wants to oversee, he desires a good work."
One reformer wrote,
"I am convinced that the King James Translators, laboring under an 'institutional church' mentality, selected the strongest words possible which conveyed the idea that the people must submit to the authority of the Clergy. In this way King James could control the people through the Church, of which he was Supreme Ruler."
Another prominent bias that was handed down and instilled in the mind of countless churchmen was the unbiblical limiting of women's role in the churches. One example among many should suffice here.
The King James translators, as previously mentioned, were well acquainted with "ministers" within the Church of England hierarchy. They consistently translated the word diakonos "minister" when referring to a worker of the congregation except when it came to Phoebe, and then they translated it "servant" (Romans 16:1-2). Are you surprised? By the way, Phoebe is the only person in the entire New Testament who is referred to as a diakonos of a specific church and yet the KJV translators and most others that have followed suit purposefully dilute her "position".


As we know from experience, "minister" is a word that has become a title. This word is taken from the Latin translation of the Greek word diakonos meaning "servant," or properly "table servant." The word group is translated 38 times "minister" by the KJV. It is translated "ministry" 16 times, "ministering" 3 times, and "ministration" 6 times. It is translated "serve", "servant", and "service" 21 times. It would be correct to translate it "serve" and its derivatives every time.

These examples are just an hint of ecclesiastical biases included in the KJV New Testament that definitely effects the students beliefs and practices. Countless others could have been noted but it was not the purpose in this article to detail all translator biases that have adversely effected generations of Bible students but to point out the reasons why a non-ecclesiastical rendition of the New Testament is due.

If you want to read more on the subject you can view my thesis, "Men Who Would Be Kings" on my site under the article tab. Well praise God; there is such a translation now on the market. In fact, it is called "A Non-Ecclesiastical New Testament." The author is a self-taught Greek scholar with a PhD in math from the University of Florida. He spent more than 10 years researching, compiling and revising his translation and used only the earliest manuscripts. It is available in both PDF and hard copy and a preview is provided before purchase so that you can examine it for yourself. All the information can be found at [http://biblemaverick.com/Frank.html]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2646015

We posted this knowing little of the writer but the facts were matching the historical research performed at narrowway, both in word study and checking the back ground of the historical mechanisms used to making the shift stick over the centuries.Thanks much, for those asking, we're as interested as you are on those truth issues.

Yes we also were able to recover some of the documents  in our work which reveled the intentions in the tyndale case and why the words were not used from the greek but were subject to slanting them into the offices and wealth and power.

The idol called the church where people worship the church rather than Christ is actually rooted in ancient temple worship (this is still practised by most other religions on earth today) we  seek another way which is Christ alone, there are no human mediums required and the those who are elders are their as friends to help  the way in truth not to amass wealth or  empire building but to serve the lord by being servants. Caring for the body but the body to must learn and exercise faith not just get comfortable and lazy.

Temple worship actually goes back to Judaism etc and other religions seek to build places, where that religion was centred on three things – the temple, the priesthood and the sacrifice. When Jesus came He ended all three.
Christianity started off as the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, sacred people and no sacred places – they had no sacred buildings for their worship.
Ekklesia is not a physical place it is an assembly of people.  where ever we go and and hope to see many join into the friendship of faith and the might of God. thanks.

KJ3 ,young;'s  etc got here great read we suggest the  Hopwood on the primitive church  before  , yes we did have  enjoy the copies of the king James events dealing with Tyndale and the edict of the king to keep things blurred is perhaps the word  the ecclesiastical powers in place to be tied tot he government etc etc, wealth and power do funny things to people, we;re  dedicated to building people ...

Thanks Kjos.

Role playing is an excellent tool to highlight the hidden influences... or... the hidden commandments of the family...."  [1]  Robert Hawley, Value Exploration Through Role Playing, 1975.
"...ten years hence it should be more accurate to term [the teacher] a 'learning clinician.' This title is intended to convey the idea that schools are becoming 'clinics' whose purpose is to provide individualized psychosocial 'treatment for the student, thus increasing his values both to himself and to society...."
[2] Today's Education, January 1969.

---

Cynthia, a concerned mother from the Seattle area, doesn't want her local public school to monitor her family’s values. Naturally, this letter from her son’s 4th grade teacher troubled her:

Dear Parent or Guardian: In the next several weeks, your son/daughter will be participating in the 4th grade unit of instruction on:  Personal Safety (child sexual abuse prevention)  Includes T.A.L.K. Theater for 2nd, 4th, and 8th grades. Please refer to the brochure sent to you in the fall for specific information about the various components of our comprehensive health curriculum. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me.    Sincerely,

No brochure had arrived, so Cynthia asked the teacher for a copy. Since it failed to answer her questions, she called the district Curriculum Director. He explained that a group of trained actors would put on a play "with the kids." The presentation would show different ways to deal with adults who might make them feel uncomfortable by their touching or talking.

Cynthia asked if she could watch this illuminating drama with her child. He said no; other children might not disclose abuse if parents were present.

"Are you basically looking for kids that have been abused?" she asked.

Again the answer was no, but he admitted that students sometimes disclose personal secrets to an adult after a performance. The actual purpose of the theater, however, was to provide children with skills on how to handle confusing and uncomfortable situations. The facilitators or actors -- joined by a professional psychologist -- would be trained to look for kids who were "plugging their ears," "covering their face" or showing other signs of discomfort.

Cynthia didn't ask what the school would do with children who plugged their ears or were suspected to be "at risk." Later she wondered. Would the psychologist counsel or cross-examine the child? Would Child Protection Services be called? Could the child be removed from the family?

Psychological profiling and other intrusive tactics are already devastating families across the country -- for many reasons unrelated to sexual abuse. Children have been removed from loving homes because of anonymous calls, subjective speculation, unfounded accusations and irrational hostility against Christian parents whose uncompromising beliefs and values are considered inappropriate preparation for the pluralistic 21st century community.[3]  After all, home-taught values could block willingness to compromise and conform.[4]

During the last century, progressive leaders have been equating hate with faith -- and Christian child raising with emotional abuse. Consider this 1946 statement by Dr. Brock Chisholm, former head of the World Health Organization. :

"We have swallowed all manner of poisonous certainties fed us by our parents.... The results are frustration, inferiority, neurosis and inability to... make the world fit to live in....

"It has long been generally accepted that parents have a perfect right to impose any points of view, any lies or fears, superstitions, prejudices, hates, or faith on their defenseless children.... [People with] guilts, fears, inferiorities, are certain to project their hates on to others.... Such reaction now becomes a dangerous threat to the whole world...."[5] emphasis added

Two years later, the International Congress on Mental Health met in London where it presented a report titled "Mental Health and World Citizenship." It said,

"…hostility or excessive nationalism may become deeply embedded in the developing personality... often at GREAT HUMAN COST...Change will be strongly resisted unless an attitude of acceptance has first been engendered."[6] 

With help from the media, that "attitude of acceptance" has been engendered. Public schools have become therapy centers, immersing children in outrageous sex-education and multicultural experiences, values clarification and other forms of group therapy designed to

• desensitize children to contrary values
• produce moral confusion or cognitive dissonance
• shift loyalty from family to peer group 
• instill beliefs and behavior fit for the global village.[7]

T.A.L.K. Theater fits right in. "It’s psychological examination on the students without parental consent," says Cynthia. "There is no opt-out form and no written permission slip for parents to sign."

That’s because the educational establishment knows that many parents would oppose their inexcusable tactics – if they discovered them. So they hide them from traditional parents while seeking support from more liberal parents, community groups and agencies. 

For example, the Massachusetts Department of Education website tells us that 

“comprehensive school health education is a vital component of state-wide education reform.... Through collaboration with one another, health educators, academic teachers, and support staff can address a panoply of interrelated health topics....”

Those topics include AIDS education, belief and value systems, child abuse and molestation, discrimination, sexual orientation, family lifestyles and relationships, hate speech, violence prevention and other issues critical to social engineering. Each would be discussed through “innovative, student-centered teaching methods that foster critical thinking skills and responsible decision making” such as peer education, question boxes, role playing, improvisational theater.... [8]

Theater and role-playing are powerful tools for social change. The explicit purpose for bringing these processes into schools was exposed by Fannie and George Shaftel in their 1967 manual for change: Role-Playing for Social Values:

"Once values are out in the open, they can be looked at, considered compared with alternative values. Only then can one criticize, evaluate, deny or confirm and reconstruct one's value system. Children can be helped to... develop an explicit set of values. In group discussions, in role-playing enactments... they can explore their values and learn the process of criticizing and reconstructing them... under skilled guidance.

Teen violence, family breakdown, rejection of truth and mockery of parents are just a few of the devastating consequences of today's psycho-social manipulation. To stand against the skilled guides of this global age, we must know God's Word, wear The Armor of God, encourage each other, pray for guidance and look to the only One who can lead us through the battle in triumph. His faithful servant, Jehoshophat, expressed it well:

“We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” 2 Chronicles 20:12

---

1. Robert Hawley, Value Exploration Through Role Playing, 1975. Cited by Dennis Laurence Cuddy, Ph.D., Chronology of Education with Quotable Quotes (Highland City, FL: Pro Family Forum, 1994), page 57.

2. Harold and June Shane, "Forecast for the '70s" Today's Education, January 1969.Seeing parents as an enemy, the Shanes also warned that "Educators will assume a formal responsibility for children when they reach the age of two... [with] mandatory foster homes and 'boarding schools" for children whose home environment was felt to have a malignant influence."  Cited by Dr. Dennis Cuddy, page 43.

        These threats have become a frightening reality.  Those who have followed the "child abuse," know well that subjective and unreasonable accusations from coast to coast have led to horrendous violations of parental rights. With the million dollar rewards offered states with high foster care and adoption statistics, government workers are on constant lookout for "abused" children and uncooperative parents.  

3."The goal of education must be to develop a society in which people can live more comfortably with change than with rigidity. In the coming world, the capacity to face the new appropriately is more important than the ability to know and repeat the old."  Carl Rogers, "A Plan for Self-Directed Change in an Educational System" Education Leadership, May 1967.

The True Conspiracy

"The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 'Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.' He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." Psalm 2:2-4

 

Promise from God.

Temple worship is gone.

Temple worship actually goes back to Judaism where that religion was centred on three things – the temple, the priesthood and the sacrifice. When Jesus came He ended all three.

Christianity started off as the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, sacred people and no sacred places – they had no sacred buildings for their worship. Only Christ

Ekklesia is not a physical place it is an assembly of people.

 1.The assembly of believers is an organism not an organization. A body is not a business. An entity nor an enterprise.
2.  2Corinth 6;16


The glory doesn’t reside anymore in buildings or organization.  It's realtionship simple and pure.
Thanks

The primtive congregation or ecclesia  was a community possesed by the Holy Spirit, and still should be.... has nothing to do with state controlled religion or profiterring ever... As a carreer, sorry, not a profession but way of life.it;s servitude filled/truth/knowledge with love for the lost may that be so with all of us..

Epígnosis refers to exact, complete, thorough, accurate, experiential knowledge, not just abstract, intellectual, head knowledge of God or even facts about Him. Epígnosis always describes moral and religious knowledge in the NT and especially refers to full and comprehensive knowledge of God’s will that rests on the knowledge of God and of Christ found today in His Word.

I would like to add to t  2 Corinth 3 tells us of the Holy Spirit not just a people of print but real life indwelling presence of God in us, long before they had paper and  they had his presence, maybe we have all paper and no presence? just kidding,,, I think man is afraid of t faith because it crosses over the measurable external things we prove by  to see  how we do, is where God loves the impossible for us, and things we not show and see and control, the knowledge here is not gnosis based,  wisdom it;s derived by the wakening power of God . TAKE CARE..

We're an Ekklesia

An ecclesia is about people, the Scriptures says we are the temple now.

Whereas a ‘church’ in many people’s minds is a building, or denomination, there are  no such things in scripture,  an ecclesia is a group of people, “an assembly of the called”, meets anywhere with any of the people in homes or otherwise, meeting house but we desire to avoid the huge expenses of buildings and many of the added traditions, but rather adhere to what God original plane  is...which is the literal meaning of the Greek.

 For those of us in the happy position of being Christadelphians, and who thereby belong to an ecclesia, the term should be a reminder not just of our “calling” by God ( as in Eph. 4:4; Phil. 3:14; Heb. 3:1, John17,), but also of the fact that we have been called, not into a building made up of literal stones, but rather into a spiritual lining temple made up of people who are being fashioned for eternal life swallowed up in life by their Creator.

 Unlike a church, which is built of inanimate materials,wood and titles and stones, an ecclesia consists, by definition, of people, of men and women who are “called to be saints” (1 Cor. 1:2). In responding to the invitation from God through the call of the gospel, therefore, we come, as the writer to the Hebrews puts it, “to the general assembly  or Tyndale would have held to the original   design of God, not man would make the statements such as the  of the firstborn, which are written in heaven” (12:23).

Our desire is to see the body unified and able.We could not find historical justification for what was added latter as having Biblical place, perhaps we can unify and experience the once power the body had inthe begining beofre it decided to follow man for the fear of public opinion and noterity and wealth onto love and care and hope and faith.

We do nto feel money is bad buthe love it often leads to distortion and power, and desire to do wicket things to hold onto control or status.

we added the article taken from the hiscox paper

An interesting observation: (Hiscox Standard Baptist Manual, p. 120). Hiscox believed the New Testament church was completely autonomous (independent), but that man could improve upon God's original design by developing Associations, State Conventions and Conferences. Other groups  or denominations  ignoring the Bible pattern, have developed massive regional and national organizations. But he individualis remainslargely seeking else where to find the answers they need, we hope to provide the historical truths and direction back to faith. Our hope is to see the operation functionin their origanl intent.

It was well said that the scriptures must be understood in the same Spirit they are written in, like wise  it would appear wise to do things the way  God made them available to us without us seeking to place man above his creation Romans one.

We're merely stating to all our family lets get back to God letting him speak for himself ,we're happy to see the body be one . the things we could do if we stuck to the truth.

We associate ourselves, in other words, with those people who, in like manner to ourselves, have called out and changed by the Word of God and have thereby been “begotten . John 16-17,. . again unto a lively a living hope” (1 Pet. 1:3,23-25), John 3-16.

It will become apparent, in our consideration of the role and purpose of the ecclesia, that people, with all their needs, and more so Gifts  can and will  contribute  to by which grwoth will take place.

 

We aid those interested to learn study and move quickly beyond the elementary things, to compare and think and exercise faith , discernment, by stepping out of their comfort zones in a life in which the impossible becomes in time a passion to live by,onto Christ by which to grow onto maturity, not in hundreds of years but in life time.

We're not static or stagnant, and move all the time,and go places as fast as we can, while we pray to have more ways to go by, it;s living body that does more than it says 1 Corinth 4;20, we take  1 Corinth 1,2,3,  a great boost to go by.

We hold fast not to keep the body in ignorance or dependant but raise up those able to think for themselves in the fullness of the truth given us by which to bare testimony and guidance to those coming by faith and to the out reach so we may be effective. 

The ecclesia,  is our spiritual home, it;s all who are his  without the  add ons,our spiritual family, the channel through which we receive the benefits that flow to the children of God from their heavenly Father: Fellowship, spiritual food, forgiveness of sins, personal support, and wise counsel from likeminded brethren and sisters. Truly in the ecclesia, and only there, are the psalmist’s words fulfilled in our own experience: “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage” (Ps. 16:6). Love ye one another. Pslam one, Porverbs one may bare his wisdom to guide us so  we do not have  to approve upon what God has decreed.

 

Thanks.....

A.W. Tozer The emphasis today in Christian circles appears to be on quantity, with a corresponding lack of emphasis on quality. Numbers, size and amount seem to be very nearly all that matters even among evangelicals. The size of the crowd, the number of converts, the size of the budget, the amount of the weekly collections: if these look good the church is prospering and the pastor is thought to be a success. The church that can show an impressive quantitative growth is frankly envied and imitated by other ambitious churches.

This is the age of the Laodiceans. The great goddess Numbers is worshiped with fervent devotion and all things religious are brought before her for examination. Her Old Testament is the financial report and her New Testament is the membership roll. To these she appeals as arbiters of all questions, the test of spiritual growth and the proof of success or failure in every Christian endeavor.

A little acquaintance with the Bible should show this up for the heresy it is. To judge anything spiritual by statistics is to judge by another than scriptural judgment. It is to admit the validity of externalism and to deny the value our Lord places upon the soul as over against the body. It is to mistake the old creation for the new and to confuse things eternal with things temporal. Yet it is being done every day by ministers, church boards and denominational leaders. And hardly anyone notices the deep and dangerous error.” (On Pursuing Quality Tozer)

we agree, FULLY
NW

The danger of non- scriptural NT traditions

An unnecessary interpretation not only introduces a new and potentially dangerous teaching into the world, but it also obscures the true meaning of a given passage, thus "making the word of God of none effect through your tradition" (Mark 7:13).

In recent discussions we dealt with allot of assumed truths as we went along, so we added a point of wisdom from scripture I really enjoyed this,  when things are assumed or read into in order to satisfy often self- centered intentions or assumed knowledge's. I think this helps,  in times like ours and over many centuries things are often done without any real thought but just goes along, amazing isn't it? Yet consequences prevail in both knowledge and ignorance or in intentional subversion as they do in doing what we are ask to do to receive a blessing.

Pray for the nation, as we are for the body more so, rough times are not past, there are consequences in the both  political and personal choices. We may no longer be able to print worthless paper to support, the ideas of utter foolishness.

NW

What followers us

 Rev 14; 13 Moreover I heard a voice from heaven, saying Write this: Happy are the dead who die in the faith of Christ! henceforth" says the Spirit they may rest from their labors; for they take with them the record of their deeds".

What we done  does follower us, and what is done in faith  will matter. Spirit led? All done out side of faith is sin? makes one wonder what real faith is? a quest dear to me is so amazing to  experience  knowing him so personally.


It;s why we speak to it so, could care less about all the formal stuff it means nothing in the end. The travesty of the assemblies in certain cities resulted by compromise and seeking to assimilate to much  into the culture got them destroyed. Rev

 Encouragement here is  to take it serious, boy I fought some real inward battles in the street ministry, the struggles inside and out,there are no how to books and besides it;s something you need to learn by doing it.

I recently found myself thinking of love what it means to me to have had the opportunity to care and for others when it was considered a waste to others,in most minds to do so, yet in wisdom, and also of my family members who have departed, or others, and the people  along the way. Dont waste time guessing go  all the way in faith.  Take care.


 I think of it all the time, a few weeks back I wandered deep into area where trail led to endless depths and  not knowing where I was headed,  realized just how much I desire to go by faith alone no other dependencies but God's very presence in me, so  pure simple and clear like the mtn streams.

No fear  his love casts out fear, hard engagements, praise God, it teaches  to submit and yearn for his presence to show the way, apart my day dreaming, seeing the impressions of the sounds and sights along the way.
Take care....love one another.

Thanks probe,

This article is not an exhaustive list of Christ's claims to be God, but it does cover the major ones. I suggest you read this with a Bible open, as I have not posted all the scriptures listed.

1. Mark 2:1-12--Jesus heals a paralytic. He had authority to forgive sins, which is something only God Himself can do. Then, to authenticate His claim, He demonstrated His power by healing the paralytic.

2. The miracles Jesus performed are a very strong indication of His divinity (because no mere human can work actual miracles by his own power). Jesus referred to the miracles in John 10:24-39 as proof that he was telling the truth. This passage is Christ's own response to the unbelieving Jews' charge of blasphemy (dishonoring God by claiming to be God). Incidentally, this section also includes a beautiful promise that once you are saved/born again/become a Christian, you can never lose your salvation. Verses 28-29 say we will "never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." (Here is another strong statement that He is God.) We can have the assurance of eternal security because we didn't earn salvation in the first place; it is a free gift (Ephesians 2:8,9).

3. During Christ's trial, the chief priests asked Him point blank, "Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." And He said,

• "I am." (Mark 14:60-62)
• "Yes, it is as you say." (Matt. 26: 63-65)
• "You are right in saying I am." (Luke 22:67-70)

These are all ways of saying the same thing, written by different authors.

In John's gospel, he recounts Jesus' interview with Pontius Pilate (John 18:33-37). Pilate wanted to know if He were the King of the Jews. Jesus then talked about how His kingdom was not of this world. Pilate said, "You are a king, then!" Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king..." The truth is, he is King of the whole universe.

4. Jesus says in John 10:11-18 that he is the Good Shepherd. When you read this passage along with Ezekiel 34:1-16, you can see that Jesus was identifying Himself with God, who pronounced Himself Shepherd over Israel. The Jewish people, being an agrarian and shepherding society, knew and dearly loved this section of the Old Testament because God was using a metaphor they lived every day. So when Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd," and that whole John passage so clearly parallels the Ezekiel passage, there was no doubt that He was claiming to be God.

5. John 4:25-26. This is where the Samaritan woman, whom Jesus went to meet at the well, gets into a discussion of "living water" with Jesus. He pinpoints her sinful lifestyle (knowledge He would not have had as a mere human passerby), then He admits that He is the long-awaited Messiah: "I who speak to you am He."

6. John 5:1-18. Jesus heals a lame man on the Sabbath, which the unbelieving Jews gave Him a hard time about. His answer was, "My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working." It was a well-known Jewish line of thought that, although God rested on the seventh day after Creation week, He continued to "work" in being loving, compassionate, and just, as well as keeping the earth producing, keeping the sun moving, etc. In other words, although the creating had stopped, the maintenance went on--even on the Sabbath, and that was the only "work" allowed on that day. So Jesus is putting Himself on the same level as his Father in working on the Sabbath. And by calling God "My Father" (instead of "Our Father"), He was claiming an intimate relationship with God that far exceeded anyone else's. So in these two ways, He was making Himself equal with God.

7. John 16:28. "I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father." What Christ is saying here is that he existed along with the Father before being born. He "entered the world" by wrapping Himself in human flesh and being born as a baby. He grew up, fulfilled His mission/ministry, was crucified and raised from the dead (all part of the "mission") and then left the world to go back to the Father in heaven, where He is now seated at the right hand of God (the place of honor). He is the only person who ever existed before conception. That Christ was in a "pre-incarnate state" means that He is God.

8. (This is many people's favorite argument for the deity of Christ, including the author's.)

First, turn to Exodus 3, where Moses encounters God in the burning bush. God tells Moses that he is the one He has chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses says to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me 'What is His name?' Then what shall I tell them?" God replies to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God has said that His own name, His personal name, is "I AM."

Now...

a) Turn to John 8:56-58. Jesus is talking to the unbelieving Jews. "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet 50 years old," they said to Him, "and you have seen Abraham?" "I tell you the truth," Jesus announced, "before Abraham was, I AM!" Jesus was the great I AM from before the beginning of time; He existed before Abraham ever was. He is claiming here to be the I AM of the Old Testament. Verse 59 says the Jews picked up stones to stone Him, but the Lord Jesus slipped away. The reason they wanted to stone Him was because stoning was the death penalty for blasphemy. He was claiming to be Yahweh--Jehovah--Almighty God--I AM. (Of course, it wasn't blasphemy when Christ claimed to be who He truly was!)
b) John 8:24. "I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I AM, you will indeed die in your sins." In your Bible, it may read "if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be...." The extra words are supplied by the editors; they're not in the original text. If you're familiar with Exodus 3 you don't need the extra words for it to make grammatical sense. The Lord Jesus is again claiming to be God.
c) John 18:4. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas and some priests and soldiers are about to take Jesus prisoner. "Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to Him, went out and asked them, 'Who is it that you want?' 'Jesus of Nazareth,' they replied. 'I AM,' Jesus said. When He said, 'I AM,' they drew back and fell to the ground." (Again, in your Bible the editors may have supplied "I am [he]" to make it grammatically correct. The Greek just says, "I AM.")

The force of Jesus' claim to be Yahweh (I AM) was so powerful that it literally knocked the arresting officers and the Jewish priests off their feet!

---

The above points are by no means exhaustive, and are given to contribute to the reader's understanding that Jesus Christ is Lord because He is God. In this vein, I would like to close with one of the most powerful quotes ever written on the subject, by noted author C.S. Lewis in his classic, Mere Christianity:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come away with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Seeking, and embracing the truth?.

Ephesians; All of this will one day come crashing down at judgment when each of us will stand before Jesus, we all have the same bibles and will answer for why we didn’t search the scriptures to see if these things were true.  1 Corinth 3 How we build!

By Andy , (thanks and hope your fine, our reach is still on the move it;s our 12th year, and what a joy here) the north east is a real challenge and it;s missions ground.The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, there is a place by me…” Ex 33:21, KJV .

Though there is much talk of love, who really knows its depths? There is a place where that Love can be seen and experienced… it is “a place by me.” There is much talk about revelation, restoration and being the ones that will bring change in this world. But what is really lacking in all these human activity?

The things we to often admire today are shallow things: great men, great teachings, great miracles, great movements, great success, great crowds and great wisdom. All of these things we can build a religion around. We can write books about, hold conventions and teach them, but unless they reach to the very height of the presence of God and achieve absolute intimacy with the Lord, they are only still things.

It is true that one can achieve a level of self-control and righteousness, but it is only filthy rags if it is not born out of an eternal love that pre-existed long before God created man and man created religion. We were not given the bible to know the bible, we were given His word that we might love God and one another.
Now abides faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love. Our minds are too quick to adhere to anything that makes us feel we are in the right place, weather a movement or a church, but there remains a place by Jesus in abiding in Him that few have found. We like to think we are spiritual as we compare ourselves to others; that too can be a religion of Cain, a religion where we forget the deposit of Christ in others… have we forgotten that we are our brother’s keeper?

The world is earnestly seeking to see the manifestation of the sons of God. So what is it they all so longing to see? It is the love of God that can fill every empty and broken heart. Love forgives, love is pure, love is humble and love cares. Today we have too much unforgiveness and judging of one another.
Love existed long before men and it was because of the love of God that God wanted to include him in their love for one another. Obedience, unity, fellowship is easily achieved when we touch His love. We too often know these things, but do we really see it and experience it. Do we really know that love is the answer? Do we really come into His presence because of love? Do we really relate to one another under His banner of love? Do we think of His love for us during every trial? Do know how much love He has to offer? Are we growing each day in His love? If not, we will live by a thousand other motivations and emotions.
  
Our Christianity can best be understood and experienced by our place in abiding in Christ rather than what we know in terms of biblical knowledge and doctrine. Nothing is really understood outside of His love. What is true or better what is real only comes as we understand why He created us.
The maturity of our walk is marked by a continual dwelling between the eternal love of the Father and Son. Only the truly spiritual person knows and understands by experience what in means to be seated in heavenly places and to experience the kind of love shared intimately between the Father and the Son.

“…[You Father] have loved them as You have loved Me…that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:23, 26
Love is an environment of heaven in the presence of Jesus and the Father. Abiding in that love will make obedience easy and will give you faith.

“faith working through love” Gal 5:6

“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, [How?] looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” Heb 12:1-2

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.[if His joy is permitted to remain in us, our joy will be full. We are not to seek our joy, but His] This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends [this is a love that puts others first and not based on self]. John 15:9-14, NKJV

Such saints will have learned to dwell in the love of God under the shadow of the almighty. It is there that the total essence of Christianity is found…Love!!!

Such saints have learned to abide in Christ as a dwelling place of intimacy. Not dwelling in our shallow problems, but by faith resting in Him alone. Those who have found His love know that Jesus is their hiding place: there past can’t find then, their problems can’t find them, their sins can’t find them, the world can’t find them, selfishness and pride can’t find them, and the devil can’t find them. “For me to live is Christ.” Jesus said that “Satan has come and finds nothing in me.” Why is that? Because He remained in the Father. Though Jesus was the unique Son of God, was not His life on earth the pattern, the example, the very image that we are to fulfill?  “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,” (Rom 8:29) Does that not have the ring of Geneses to it, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them”

All our problems, trials, religion, will never be understood for what they really are until our place, out seat becomes a living reality while we are here on earth. That is why Paul said, “I don’t care to know anything among you except Christ and Him crucified.” This place seated in heavenly places with Jesus is not a seat that is understood by doctrine, but compassion. If our minds are not set in heavenly places with Jesus, we will be strangers to the resurrected, loving life and presence that Jesus has provided for all those who love Him.

The missing element
Could divine, sacrificial love be the missing element in much of what we do?

As the years go by, I am learning to see more and more through the eyes of Love. Only as we love Him in great humility can we see anything correctly. God loves me, not as a doctrine, but as a reality that must be lived out by faith and not reasoning or emotions. He has created every situation in my life that will lead me closer to knowing Him and His love. I can never have His love as long as I have self-love and self-preservation. I am becoming ever more conscious and ever more aware of one thing: His love comes to me personally out of the cross and my ascending with Him in heavenly places…Yes being heavenly minded is good!

John 14:19-21, "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." NKJV

God is not willing to give us men and revelation to build our religion around, He gives us His Son and the Son gives us the Father and there we find real love followed by real spiritual obedience. God will reveal Himself only if we love Him… do we understand that? It is His love living in us and working through us that causes us to feed the poor, to visit those in prison and heal the sick. It is His love that supernaturally joins us together in a heavenly fellowship mentioned in Eph 4:16, “From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

If we are filled with the eternal love of Jesus, we will have a love for one another that the world has yet to see. It is the love of Jesus that will cause us to love one another and in our love for one another we will know, by experience, the depth of the Love of God. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, [not doctrine or knowledge] may be able to comprehend with all [not just your little cutting-edge group] the saints what is the width and length and depth and height —  to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge [beyond doctrine and the forms of men’s intellect and schemes]; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Eph 3:17-19, NKJV.

In the early assembly they looked for men who were full of the Spirit and wisdom. They didn’t train leaders, they recognized them. This was not a one time filling, but a perpetual filling.

“do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be [continually] filled with the Spirit.” Eph 5:18, NKJV
This is not an experience, but a life laud down and full of Joy and the Kingdom of God. Revelation can only come from a heart dedicated to His love.
What cutting-edge sect has ever walked in the fullness of His love and understood His love for them and others? Our doctrines have limited our ability to love as Jesus loves. We don’t understand His love because we are not really willing to love. We have been too long living out of our limited understanding and humanity and we have been deceived in thinking we have revelation, while all along we have not raised sonship to a level of incorporating all of the saints.

Loving others more than ourselves will keep us from anger, sin, hate and the multitude of inner wars we find today. Only the desire to love and the exercise of faith of Christ in us and us seated in heavenly places will cause us to understand the depths of His love. There are no short cuts or alternative paths. As long as we permit our carnal nature to devour and occupy all of our attention, we will never enter into the reality of truly loving Him.

It is an either or choice, “for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.” Luke 16:13, NKJV

Where are our loyalties? Those who dwell in the secret place of the most high will dwell in love and obedience… that is the true and the only means of salvation given to us by Jesus. Love is overwhelming. But we must let love fill our hearts and direct our thinking if we are going to grow.

 Obedience is the spiritual result of where we live and not how hard we try to obey. Jesus said it this way, “If you love me, you will keep my [not yours or men’s] commandments.”

Yes Jesus has commandments; it is in keeping them that defines His will from salvation to the life of the body. Sad that the majority of Christians don’t know that John 17 is one of His great and major commandments…

I am troubled when I see the commandments of men overshadowing the commandments of Jesus. Love and unity can not be separated, they build the body together in a bond that cannot be broken or separated. Any form of division is the result of a lack of love and understanding what the will of Jesus is. Creation is not waiting for divided, unloving sons.

I have cried for over 44 years over the many walls of division we have built. One day I was driving down the road and I asked Jesus (for the 10,000th time), “When will we see unity?” He said, “When love is restored to my body and men stop following men and start following Me.”

The cross
The provision of the cross has no value to us if we ignore it. The cross is the place where “God so loved the world;” it is there where we learn what love really is.      

It is through the cross we deny our life and find the source of the love of Jesus’ sacrifice for each of us. Through the reality of the cross we see we are seated with Him in heavenly places. The other John 3:16 (1 John 3:16) has this to say about love, “By this we know love, [how?] because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren [all of the brethren].”

Love is defined by His sacrifice; His sacrifice was defined at the cross. The cross is the place where one loses their life in exchanges for His. When Jesus said, “take up your cross and follow me,” He was announcing that the cross meant a total death to self and a full surrender of our lives to the life of Jesus. If we try to hold on to the slightest bit of those precious things that are dear to us, we will find ourselves engaged in a perpetual inner battle between Jesus trying to remove those things and us desperately trying to hold on to them. Salvation came to all men through His cross, and salvation comes to us personally through our taking up our cross and following Him, both in His death and resurrection. Without the cross or death to self in our lives, we cannot be His disciple or be saved.

“And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:27, NKJV

Only when we discover that it is His love that He wants to share with us that obedience becomes easy. Fall in love with Him and focus on Him and all the rest will be easy and make sense. Let His love occupy our every thought and occupy our every decision and we will find the joy of salvation.
We need to run from those problems that dominate our minds and focus. He made us to love Him.

“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You.” Isa 26:3, NKJV

“Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Matt 22:37, NKJV

“Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7,

Jesus is our strength.
Jesus is our hope
Jesus is our joy
Jesus is our life
Jesus is our peace
Jesus is our righteousness
Jesus is our friend

We can only be transformed if we live by Jesus and His love for us. I have a saying I use to those I have helped, “I have never met a depressed person who kept their eyes on Jesus and I never met a person who kept their eyes on Jesus depressed.”

Those who live by His love for them will be filled with love. They well live by His peace and not their depression until His peace conquers their depression. Our emotions have taken to big a role in our lives and we have therefore been ruled by them.  “Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts” out of love. (Col 3:15)

When I was suffering from depression many years ago, I would get up in the morning and say, “Jesus, how do You FEEL, You have peace? Then so do I, I will live by Your peace.”

We must remember we are eternal beings, and this brief moment is only in preparation for what is finally to come. It is better to regret the loss of what we deem important here and now, than to eternally live in regret in the eternal life yet to come.

Without an understanding of the cross and His love for us.

1 John 5:12, “He who has [lives by] the Son has life; [conversely said] he who does not have [live by] the Son of God does not have life.” NKJV

Frustration has a way of making the truth a lie and the lie the truth. Such people live by a “deceived” reality that is wrapped up in a twisted evaluation of their situation and by strong feelings that only support and seal their beliefs. In their reasoning and emotions they find no basis for hope.

In truth, such wondering souls have never fully understood the cross and the resurrected life that comes from dying to self. To them, the cross presents more problems than solutions. They fail to understand that no war can be won without a fight, so they therefore fall into a perpetual passivity and self pity as the flesh slaughters the life out of them. Their understanding and feelings “rule” supreme and in the reality of the attention they give them, they are “their gods”. If the flesh wars against spirit, they fail to see the agenda of destruction through their uncrucified life, and they fail to take their stand in the reality of the cross. The cross is foolishness to them, because for them, the cross lacks an understandable solution and doesn’t seem real to their intellect and emotions. They never understand that it is the solution they serve and not Jesus Himself. All that dominates their life is attached to their goal. So to live by the life of Jesus makes no sense to them while they are hurting. 

Let us remember that Jesus “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Eph 2:6, NKJV
We died when Jesus died and we rose when Jesus rose, it is now time we made that real in our experience.
Jesus Himself is the Way, the Truth and the Life… it is all spelled out in one word…God is love!

Truly Jesus is our life. It is the place by Him we will find the most intimate place.

We too freely talk about one another and fight with one another. We have no concept of the bigger war which we are losing each day. Ephesians,  We think as Christians we are here to name and claim bible verses and to establish our comfy  kingdoms.

The first ingredient of the New Testament church-assembly was a devotion to Christ, the Apostolic teaching and a power and presence of God that caused it to function and to be uniquely united together as an expression of the son of God on this earth. Paul's letter to the Corinthians tells us much about the meetings of the early church. Paul's letters reveal the activities of their meetings and the guidelines of the moving of the Spirit of God. These guidelines where designed to keep the flesh from entering and controlling the meetings. These guidelines serve no place in a meeting void of body function and power. Without the manifestation of the Spirit, there is no power and no supernatural gifts being manifested to encourage and build up the assembly.

If the early disciples would have initiated the "assembly_ church "I do nto do well with the Circe thing," without power, their meetings would have resembled much of what we see today. The lack of power would have forced them to "create" soulish and man centered activities to replace the power. They would have needed song books to sing, worship leaders to motivate them to worship, preachers to make up for the lack of body function, and programs to meet the special needs of the meetings. They would have had to depend on "form" in the absence of power.

The power of God through the working of the Holy Spirit was the essential ingredient of the early church. Even our house church movement is a formula for the new testament church. Though meeting in homes is new testament, meeting in homes without power isn't. The first few expressions we see in the scriptures is the power which the early church enjoyed and something totally foreign to us. A casual reading in the book of Acts demonstrates their power and their unity.

How we struggle today to meet once a week. And then when we get there we are often late. It is only because the things we want take priority over the things of God. We are divided in mind and purpose. Our churches are competitive in nature and we are quick to brag concerning "our" brand of religion. We are absolutely deceived in the manner which we subtly promote our "divisions" of religion. "A house divided cannot stand."

Our meeting are plagued with divided hearts and we are intolerant over the idea of meeting more than twice a week…. The "awe" is gone. If we had the power, the fellowship would follow. Who wouldn't want to meet seven days a week if we had such power. No one would care about the sports events, the news and movies on TV if God was healing and delivering those in bondage. It would be hard to leave the meeting and go to work. We simply do not want to face what it would take to find Him and the reality of His meetings (I purposely leave out the word "church" in referring to God's people meeting together, it is a mistranslation of the Greek word ekklesia)

"our traditions of division have taken on the garments of orthodoxy; they appear biblical, but they are not…. When pure Christianity degenerates into divided camps of ambitious people, it literally destroys the harmony, power and blessing of the 'temple of God.' The individual who brings or supports such carnal divisions in the church has positioned himself in a very dangerous place before God. The temple of God is holy. Our unity together is holy. Our love for one another is holy, for the Father Himself dwells in the resting place of caring attitudes and loving relationships. Collectively, we are the dwelling place of God on earth. The warning is severe: 'If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.'" (THE CREDIBILITY FACTOR, by Francis Frangipane)

Compliancy is the enemy of hunger. In Rev 3:17, the Laodicean church found itself satisfied with the status quo and declared they were "in need of nothing" or lethargic. It must be that we are satisfied with the rituals of our traditions instead of a breaking with those traditions and seeking Him with a hunger to see the establishment of His kingdom. We cannot be driven by a deep hunger for what is real and what gives Him Glory on one hand and be satisfied with what we see today.

They were characterized with having "all things common.." True Christianity cannot exist with self-interest. Every man calling the things he possess as his own leads to selfishness and pride. In fact, our religious belief has lead us to selfishly possess more and calling it God's blessing. The Holy Spirit will only manifest Himself in unity and love. True love operates in the interest of others . The result of a loving body is not more possessions, but "great power," and "great grace."

Our churches in seeking more silver and gold are in poverty of power and grace.  amen thanks, At narrowway we have taken all that as serious as we can, thanks.

If the great power and grace is going to work in our midst, there must be a great working of brokenness and humility to lay the groundwork. It would have to destroy our denominational divisions, our independent arrogance, and we would need a desperate search for the real and to be real.

At narrowway we're doing  it and prusing that truth, we;re not fad driven sir or another program, vanquishing bottle cap answers.

My perosnal quest has led me far  into a life of faith. I could nto agree more, it;s why  it;s go-go here and little time to waste, faith grows when you go,love to those doing so, and to you... and may they see the other doorway,  we speak of..  One can onlu imagine when we mature beyoud the divides

We need people that are man enough and woman enough to show up for the battle. A house divided cannot stand…there is to be one body and one Head and every member functioning under the power of the Holy Spirit, loving one another and being built together as one body... otherwise we are a paraplegic institution showing up for a substitute to pacify our indifference and lethargy.How I weep for His Kingdom to return in power and holiness... I feel the pain!