O-God

'O' God, a New Book by Best-selling Author Josh McDowell, Reveals Truth about Oprah's 'Salad Bar' Spirituality

Contact Gregg Wooding, President, I AM PR Services, 972-567-7660, gregg@iampronline.com
DANA POINT, Calif., Sept. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- Best-selling author and apologist Josh McDowell ("More Than a Carpenter") and fellow apologist Dave Sterrett of Probe Ministries believe that as many people leave churches and give up on organized religion, they're turning to Oprah as their spiritual leader. Their new novel "O" God: A Dialogue on Truth and Oprah's Spirituality" www.midpointtrade.com/detail.aspx?isbn=978-1-935071-17-4 (Worldnet Daily Books) will release nationally on Oct. 6, 2009. Whether voiced aloud, only thought about, or hidden down deep as a nagging suspicion, the truth about Oprah's splintered belief and the advice of the colorful teachers she promotes is among today's most relevant issues. "The danger is that while appearing to use Christian and inclusive language that at first seems similar to that of Christianity, Oprah teaches a message that is radically different and absolutely contrary to the true teaching of Scripture and historic Christianity," McDowell and Sterrett warn. They cite examples of the media's portrayal of Oprah as a modern-day Billy Graham and her selection as master of ceremonies during the national memorial service held at Yankee Stadium in the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks to demonstrate her powerful influence.The Bible foretells of such a time as this "when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3, NIV).

USA Today reporter Cathy Lynn Grossman noted this theological shift in a recent article, "Religion today in the USA is a salad bar where people heap on upbeat beliefs they like and often leave the veggies--like strict doctrine--behind."McDowell and Sterrett share in the book's introduction why they teamed to author "O" God. "As Christian apologists who believe that salvation is by God's grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone, we wanted to create a fictional, almost Socratic dialogue that would cover many of the themes of Oprah Winfrey's spiritual teaching in recent years." "O" God follows conversations of two girl friends representing the multitudes of Oprah fans, who unwittingly place their faith in the hodgepodge of spirituality embedded in her popular TV talk show, magazine and webinars. In the end, a life-altering crisis helps crystallize the truth from counterfeit teachings. Like classic Christian author C.S. Lewis, McDowell and Sterrett decided to employ fictional narrative to disarm and entertain readers, while refusing to shy away from biblical truths and expose Oprah's errant teachings. Josh McDowell has spoken to more than ten million young people in 84 countries and on more than 700 university and college campuses. He has authored or co-authored 118 books and workbooks with more than thirty-five million in print worldwide. Josh's most popular books are The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, Why True Love Waits, and Right From Wrong. Dave Sterrett is an educator, speaker and writer for Probe Ministries International in Plano, TX. Dave teaches on Christ-centered living, Christian apologetics and true spirituality at conferences, schools and churches. He contributed to the Apologetics Study Bible for Students, and will release the book Why Trust Jesus? with Moody Publishers in March 2010.By mid September, WND Books will launch a special website at http://www.ogodbook.com/, where the public can receive updated information about "O" God: A Dialogue on Truth of Oprah's Spirituality, can view author interviews, and can download free curriculum for personal and group study.

Media interested in interviews with "O God's" co-authors Josh McDowell and Dave Sterrett and in receiving review copies and press materials should contact Gregg Wooding, President of I AM PR Services http://www.iampronline.com/ at 972-567-7660 or via email at gregg@iampronline.com.

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From Me: I can remember one night as I was in a deep spiritual struggle wrestling through a dark night of the soul, sitting in Sweetbay Coffee shop waiting for my friend and pastor Scott Ward to arrive. There were several copies of Oprah's magazines on the table... The topics on the covers were eerily relevant to the situation I was currently in. When Scott sat down I told him very jokingly, "Hey man, I don't need to sweat this anymore, I got Oprah! DUDE, all this time I've been struggling, and look, Oprah's got the answers right here on the cover of her magazine!"

Very Creative

CHICAGO (AFP) – Greenpeace activists were arrested Wednesday for scaling Mount Rushmore and hanging a banner next to the carved face of Abraham Lincoln urging President Barack Obama to get tough on climate change.

A video posted on the environmental group's website showed the massive banner hanging on the South Dakota mountain face.

Its message -- "America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming" and an unfinished portrait of Obama -- was barely visible as it was whipped by wind.

"Doing what it takes to solve global warming demands real political courage," Greenpeace USA deputy campaigns director Carroll Muffett said in a statement.

"If President Obama intends to earn a place among this country's true leaders, he needs to show that courage, and base his actions on the scientific reality rather than political convenience."
The protest comes as Obama meets with other G8 leaders in Italy.

G8 leaders agreed to bear the brunt of steep global cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, saying developed countries should reduce their pollution by 80 percent by 2050, a summit declaration said.

Greenpeace said the 11 climbers "took special care not to damage the monument, using existing anchors placed by the National Park Service for periodic cleaning."

Park officials said they were still investigating whether the iconic monument -- a restricted area which is closely monitored -- suffered damage.

"Early this morning visitors saw these individuals on the mountain," said Amy Bracewell, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service.

"They got up next to Abraham Lincoln and unfurled the large banner," she told AFP.
"As soon as our people were mobilized we took down the banner and apprehended them and got them safely down the mountain."

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From Me: I'm not a big huge fan of Greenpeace. I am not really even sure global warming exists. While I respect the office, I don't care much about President Obama and his policies. However this got my attention. I am not into desecrating America's monuments but this I thought showed creativity, got their point across and did no lasting harm. Sorry they had to be arrested.

As always I welcome your comments.

In Christ

Andrew

The Fine Art of Blowing It

The Fine Art of Blowing It
by Charles R. Swindoll

2 Corinthians 12:8-10
It happens to every one of us. Teachers as well as students. Cops as well as criminals. Bosses as well as secretaries. Parents as well as kids. The diligent as well as the lazy. Not even presidents are immune. Or corporation heads who earn six-figure salaries. The same is true of well-meaning architects and hard-working builders and clear-thinking engineers . . . not to mention pro ball players, politicians, and preachers.

What? Making mistakes, that's what. Doing the wrong thing, usually with the best of motives. And it happens with remarkable regularity.

Let's face it, success is overrated. All of us crave it despite daily proof that man's real genius lies in quite the opposite direction. It's really incompetence that we're all pros at. Which brings me to a basic question that has been burning inside me for months: How come we're so surprised when we see it in others and so devastated when it has occurred in ourselves?
Show me the guy who wrote the rules for perfectionism and I'll guarantee he's a nailbiter with a face full of tics . . . whose wife dreads to see him come home. Furthermore, he forfeits the right to be respected because he's either guilty of not admitting he blew it or he has become an expert at cover-up.

You can do that, you know. Stop and think of ways certain people can keep from coming out and confessing they blew it. Doctors can bury their mistakes. Lawyers' mistakes get shut up in prison---literally. Dentists' mistakes are pulled. Plumbers' mistakes are stopped. Carpenters turn theirs into sawdust. I like what I read in a magazine recently.

Just in case you find any mistakes in this magazine, please remember they were put there for a purpose. We try to offer something for everyone. Some people are always looking for mistakes and we didn't want to disappoint you!

Hey, there have been some real winners! Back in 1957, Ford bragged about "the car of the decade." The Edsel. Unless you lucked out, the Edsel you bought had a door that wouldn't close, a hood that wouldn't open, a horn that kept getting stuck, paint that peeled, and a transmission that wouldn't fulfill its mission. One business writer likened the Edsel's sales graph to an extremely dangerous ski slope. He added that so far as he knew, there was only one case on record of an Edsel ever being stolen.

And how about that famous tower in Italy? The "leaning tower," almost twenty feet out of perpendicular. The guy that planned that foundation to be only ten feet deep (for a building 179 feet tall) didn't possess the world's largest brain. How would you like to have listed in your resumé, "Designed the Leaning Tower of Pisa"?

A friend of mine, realizing how adept I am in this business of blowing it, passed on to me an amazing book (accurate, but funny) entitled The Incomplete Book of Failures, by Stephen Pile. Appropriately, the book itself had two missing pages when it was printed, so the first thing you read is an apology for the omission---and an erratum slip that provides the two pages.
Among the many wild and crazy reports are such things as the least successful weather report, the worst computer, the most boring lecture, the worst aircraft, the slowest selling book, the smallest ever audience, the ugliest building ever constructed, the most chaotic wedding ceremony, and some of the worst statements . . . proven wrong by posterity. Some of those statements, for example, were:

"Far too noisy, my dear Mozart. Far too many notes." ---The Emperor Ferdinand after the first performance of The Marriage of Figaro

"If Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is not by some means abridged, it will soon fall into disuse." ---Philip Hale, Boston music critic, 1837

"Rembrandt is not to be compared in the painting of character with our extraordinarily gifted English artist Mr. Rippingille." ---John Hunt (1775-1848)

"Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant . . . utterly impossible." ---Simon Newcomb (1835-1909)

"We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on their way out." ---Decca Recording Company when turning down the Beatles in 1962

"You will never amount to very much." ---A Munich schoolmaster to Albert Einstein, aged ten

And on and on it goes. The only thing we can be thankful for when it comes to blowing it is that nobody keeps a record of ours. Or do they? Or do you with others?

Come on, ease off. If our perfect Lord is gracious enough to take our worst, our ugliest, our most boring, our least successful, our leaning-tower failures, our Edsel flops, and forgive them, burying them in the depths of the sea, then it's high time we give each other a break.

In fact, He promises full acceptance along with full forgiveness in print for all to read . . . without an erratum sheet attached. Isn't that encouraging? Can't we be that type of encourager to one another? After all, imperfection is one of the few things we still have in common. It links us close together in the same family!

So then, whenever one of us blows it and we can't hide it, how about a little support from those who haven't been caught yet?

Oops, correction. How about a lot of support?

Evangelical Divorce

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/keepthefaith/story/5BB1245EEE3DEE1C862575D40008AD3E?OpenDocument

http://www.joycemeyer.org/default.htm

Coleman case brings up question of evangelical divorce
Religion writer Tim Townsend

06/13/2009
Police involved in the Coleman triple-murder case hit on a thorny theological question this week that goes back to the time of Jesus: Under what circumstances can Christians divorce? It's an important question in the case because divorce, or more specifically, an evangelical organization's prohibition of divorce among its employees may be one reason behind the murders. That question, of course, leads to others: When, and why, do religious organizations forbid their employees to divorce?Police have charged Christopher Coleman, a former employee of Joyce Meyer Ministries, with killing his wife and two children last month in their Columbia, Ill., home. A week after the murders, the Post-Dispatch disclosed that Coleman was having an affair. Soon after that, he resigned from his position working security with Joyce Meyer Ministries, a nonprofit evangelical organization based in Jefferson County. Coleman, 32, has pleaded not guilty.

Police disclosed Wednesday that on the day of the murders, Coleman told his girlfriend that his wife, Sheri Coleman, would be served with divorce papers. In sworn testimony Wednesday, Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards said: "Joyce Meyer Ministry does not employ people who get divorced." He said if the Colemans had divorced, Christopher Coleman "would end up losing his job." Calls to the ministry's headquarters were not returned, and an attorney for the ministry refused to speak on the record about the ministry's policy about divorce. Last month, however, a ministry spokesman said "a violation of moral conduct" led to Coleman's resignation. Three former employees of the ministry described the no-divorce policy for the Post-Dispatch, though they couldn't say whether it was a written rule, or just an ingrained part of the Joyce Meyer Ministries culture. They said that people who have already gone through a divorce can be hired to work at the ministry, but that anyone divorced while working at the ministry is let go.The ministry "hires people who have broken lives, who are divorced, who've been drug addicts," said George Wise, who said he worked for Joyce Meyer Ministries from 2001 to 2003 as a video specialist. The ministry uses testimonials from believers to attract others to the organization, including one from a woman whose relationship "ended in a painful divorce." "I started to watch Joyce Meyer every chance I got," she writes. "God started to transform me and heal my broken heart."Wise said he'd been divorced twice by the time he was hired by Meyer and then married a colleague at the ministry. When that marriage didn't work out, he said, he was fired three days after his divorce was finalized."Everyone I ever knew that worked there and got divorced ... was fired," Wise said.

Professor Bradford Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia who has written about religion and marriage, said a no-divorce policy is not unusual in Christian organizations whose employment guidelines are structured according to their faith."Some more traditional, typically evangelical Protestant or fundamentalist Protestant institutions ... have a policy relating to an employee's personal conduct," Wilcox said. "For some of those institutions that conduct can encompass marital infidelity or divorce, and you could be sanctioned as a consequence."All of which is completely legal. "There is no law in Missouri that forbids discrimination on the basis of marital status," said Mary Anne Sedey, an employment attorney at Sedey Harper.

Eric Sowers, an employment attorney at Sowers & Wolf, said he'd never heard of anyone at a secular organization fired over marital status. He said religious organizations are exempt from the Missouri Human Rights Act. Wilcox said the First Amendment gives religious institutions wide latitude "to shape their employment policies so they're consistent with their religious teachings."Church leaders use a handful of passages from the Old and New Testaments as the Scriptural basis for such policies, including verses from the Gospels in which Jesus, referencing Genesis, said married people "are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."Most Christian scholars believe that after taking into account all the relevant biblical passages, Jesus said divorce was acceptable only in cases of adultery. Christian leaders have struggled ever since with putting that message into practice, especially in clear cases of marital abuse."The big issues are the permitted grounds for divorce and whether or not one can remarry while the former spouse is alive," David Instone-Brewer, author of "Divorce And Remarriage in the Church," said in an e-mail message. "There are a few Christian teachers who would say that no believer may ever divorce, even if their spouse was committing constant adultery."Edwards, the Columbia police chief, testified Wednesday that Christopher Coleman has told authorities he had a good marriage, with a difficult period a year ago that was resolved with marriage counseling.

Despite the concentrated effort to keep Christian marriages together, a 2008 study from the Barna Research Group shows evangelical, or "born again" Christians divorce at the same rate as the rest of the American population — about 33 percent of all marriages. Joyce Meyer said in her book she divorced her first husband, a part-time car salesman who cheated on her, in 1966 when she was 23. She calls it an "emotionally abusive first marriage" on her website. In an article on her ministry's website, Meyer wonders, "How many marriages could have been saved from divorce if husbands and wives had been willing to show love by serving one another."

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From Me

A staff member going through a divorce… I am not certain it is the biblical thing to fire this person. If you ran off all the sinners, you would have no church at all.. When you corner anyone into a bad situation with no hope of escape, how would you expect a fallen sinful person to behave?

Yes I believe the bible teaches that divorce is sin. We hear much about how in Malachi 2:16 God hates divorce, but we rarely hear the rest of the verse….

For the LORD God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one’s garment with violence,”Says the LORD of hosts. “ Therefore take heed to your spirit,That you do not deal treacherously.”

Jesus calls us to peace. Peace is the highest of higher calling. We are all sinners. We need to again, leave our stones in the dirt. We further should acknowledge that people, sin. Even Christians sin. We are fallen creatures and that is precisely why we so desperately need a savior. Also people in damaged marriages are wounded already. With the added religious pressure…we do no service to encourage them to fight to hold onto marriages, especially when the other person wants to leave. The apostle Paul wrote that a brother or a sister is not under bondage. Hyper religious people occasionally stay in marriages where they are abused and wrongly suffer not entirely because they love, but because they fear God and view themselves as "sufferring for Jesus" in a martyr complex. In our pharisaical efforts to push legalism onto individuals, we often forbid people who have truly messed up and irreconcilable differences to divorce. This does not acknowledge the frailty of men or that all have sinned. Divorce is a reality that is DEALT with in the bible. Those trapped like a caged animal, will sometimes act violently.

Jesus calls us to peace. Sometimes the only peace that can come is found by saying, “This is not what I would choose, but it is your choice, so ok. Go in peace.” Then we follow what is written in 1 Corinthians 7.

You could rightfully say, 'this man’s situation was a little different than irreconcilable differences. He was cheating on his wife with one of her friends. He deserved to get canned.' I would of agreed several years ago.

Today I believe differently. I could not say he deserved to get canned for what he was doing on his own time away from the workplace. No other employer in America, can get away with that type of intimate personal intrusion. You should not be able to pry into the private life of someone so far down into the organizational structure. To terminate a rent-a cop from his job for infidelity is absurd.. I do not think it’s a stretch to say that Joyce Meyer’s policies had no role to play.

From someone who loves Jesus and had to go through a divorce personally, conservative Christians put a lot of garbage on people that really, is not in the bible and simply should not be.. No…. murder certainly is not justifiable. However I will tell you, there are a lot of messed up ideas out there in the church that help to enslave and entrap peoples minds in the “name of Jesus.” We enslave instead of setting men free. We stress people out! If people of God were not made to feel quite so cornered… there might be fewer behaving so desperately..You simply don’t know what was going on between the husband and wife or what the circumstances were that led up to the affair and the tragedy..In some of my most desperate moments going through my divorce I know I could of snapped. Perhaps that is why God told me that night to get up and leave, because I was no longer safe. Was I in more danger from her, or from myself? Years later I still really don’t know..

I am not disagreeing with facts. Infidelity is wrong. Divorce is wrong and murder is wrong. To point to his sin and say ‘there is no excuse for it, and therefore he deserved __________’ is forgetting we are forgiven much. My POV comes from a different perspective. Based on what I have been through in ministry, it is not an unreasonable question to ask, ‘Did Joyce Meyer’s Ministry policy regarding divorce have a role in this tragedy.’ I believe it is VERY plausible.

Because of that our response should be different. If we are absolutely matter of fact condemning, we have not helped. We are no better than the Pharisees who brought the woman caught in adultery before Jesus to ask, “What say Ye?”

There should be grace, mercy and compassion for everyone…including the perpetrator. Every individual case needs to be taken into account. If you have a different POV that’s fine and alright. While I pray for a more understading compassionate church, I do pray and hope no one reading will ever see it from my perspective.

In Christ

Andrew

Athiest believes Africa needs God

I like this article from an athiest who is convinced North Africa needs God. I think the whole world needs to know God, but this is awesome... Yahooo!!!!.

"Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs (non governmental organizations) government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good..

http://debbiekaufman.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/an-atheist-who-believes-that-africa-needs-god/

HUG A MISSIONARY… WE ARE CONVINCINGLY AND DECIDEDLY WINNING THE WORLD FOR JESUS!
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;

Revelation 12:11

Gold or Bronze?

Gold or Bronze?

Refuse to be casual in Worship... Sometimes in some places worship becomes casual. I want to make it clear that I am NOT being critical of casual come as you are dress, or laid back contemporary worship music. I am talking about the condition of one's heart. Flippant, Casual worship is always off track.

I'll give you a kind of a picture of this from the Old Testament. The writer of 2nd Chronicles says that Solomon built the temple, filled it with things of great beauty and great value, great gold, including gold shields that were awesome to people that looked at them, a reminder of the greatness and splendor and goodness of God, very costly as Solomon intended them to be, an expression of the value that people placed on God.

Then Solomon died, and his son Rehoboam took over, and the Bible tells us that Rehoboam abandoned the law, abandoned his devotion to God, and at one point the king of Egypt came up and plundered the temple, took away the shields of gold.

Here's the statement, 2 Chronicles 12:10, "But King Rehoboam replaced the shields of gold with shields of bronze." He replaced the shields of gold, what had been costly and sacrificial, with shields of bronze, that which was cheaper. He didn't omit them, he didn't forget about the temple altogether -- he just downgraded them, just replaced them with less costly things. He had a kind of casual approach to worship. When he was in trouble before his enemies, he went to the temple and humbled himself before God. When trouble went away, so did his urgency about worship. He did not set his heart to seek the Lord. He replaced the shields of gold with shields of bronze.

Ask yourself…

• Am I casual about my time investment with God?
  
  
• If I show up to church that is fine, if I don’t that is fine?



• Do I perpetually arrive late so the preliminaries are over?



• Do I serve with a casual heart?



• Can I be counted on by those I am in community with…or my leaders?



• Am I perpetually late to areas I am assigned to?



• Do I give financially with a casual heart?



• Have I seriously committed to move toward tithing (10%) or am I satisfied with a lackadaisical, ‘I should do a little gift?’



• When I sing do I really give heart-felt worship to God for the wonder and beauty of who He is?



• Do I selflessly release myself, get caught up into God’s presence as I sing, lift my heart and sometimes even my hands in selfless consciousness and adoration to God?
  

This is a great place to begin assessing whether we give God our “gold.” If we haven’t, it is a great place to begin the change!

In the dirt

CBS 4]
A teacher at a South Florida Catholic School is accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy. Police say she admitted to the relationship, saying she and the student had been sexually active since March 2009.

Maria Guzman Hernandez, 32, is a sixth-grade teacher at Our Lady of Charity in Hialeah. She was charged with sexual battery on a teenager just hours after she and the boy returned from a trip to Disney World over the weekend.

The boy’s mother reportedly told police investigators and the Department of Children and Families that she knew about the relationship and approved of it. The mother said she thought Hernandez was a ‘nice person’ and was a good influence on her son. Police say the teen’s mother is also now under investigation and could face charges.

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[From Me]

I borrowed this story from a friend's blog (Kevin Bussey - Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee) and I agree with Kevin that this clearly illustrates what a twisted world we live in.

IS SEX WITH A MINOR DEPLORABLE BEHAVIOR? : DEFINITELY.

IS THIS CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR? : WARRANTS A THOROUGH INVESTIGATION..

I AM NOT SAYING THIS IS RIGHT. : IT CLEARLY ISN'T.

Once, there was a time when in fundementalist christian fervor and dogmatic zeal I would of said, "Put them under the jail," Today....there is a difference.

In John 8 we read...."Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

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9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
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11"No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

I believe the cause of Christ would be better served if simply Christians were to BACK OFF! Before making a blanket statement that these people should be put under the jail, pray for them. Better yet, make no statement at all. There is a young man, a woman and a mother who’s lives have been torn up. These are PEOPLE. People Jesus loves. People who for all we know are otherwise significatly contributing members of society.

One revolutionary idea changes things. Jesus took this sinful world as it is, not as He would have it. He loved us while we were yet sinners. Christians should do justly, no doubt. We should also love mercy as we walk humbly with our God.

Yes sin is sin. I am sure by now the mother, the son and the teacher are all sorry. Sorry for their sin, or sorry for getting caught, matters little to me at this point. They are hurt. IF the only Christians they meet, are accusing and judging, how will the cause of Christ be served.

If you disagree, ok be my guest.

My stone is staying in the dirt.

In Christ

Andrew