Anyone know this Preacher or EX Preacher
 

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Interesting.

I wish it would have given his actual previous denomination rather than just "Pentecostal".

I've gone through a similar crisis of faith but Christian apologetics helped keep me grounded. Those same apologetics have also allowed me to questions many things I've been taught and told not to question or "you may as well just throw the whole book out!".

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he is a ex united pentacostal preacher he was a assistant pastor to 2 upci's

poor guy " i feel deeply for this man" after all those years you turn your back on the one who saved you..

any ways you never hear about athiest that become christians on the news... so lopsided

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I agree this is a very sad situation. It blows my mind that someone who ministered for so many years could end up an unbeliever.

Many preachers fail but almost all do not renounce God as they recognize the failure is in themselves. I have a feeling there is a lot of stuff going on in his personal life involved with this seismic shift in belief.

If you ministered for 25 years and enjoyed the presence and blessings of God that much how could you all of a sudden declare there is no God?

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From the article:
“The next big issue was the failure of prayer,” DeWitt said. “People are passing away, whenever we pray for them to live. People aren’t getting jobs, whenever we pray for them to have jobs.
“The harder we tried to alleviate suffering within our church, it seemed like the worse things got,” he said. “It didn’t seem like prayer made any difference. It just continually crushed my heart.”


What was lacking here was not *prayer*...but faith that God would provide.
James 1:6-7

From the article:
Many congregants were less charitable. “Some people where he lives just totally turned their backs on him,” Davis said. “He was ostracized, excommunicated. It is like he has a disease, but he doesn’t.”

I feel for this man. Perhaps maybe a remnant of the people above will show him love, mercy and kindness.

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Maybe he never had a relationship with the Lord? I can't see how someone who was saved genuinely will want to leave the Lord. It don't even make sense to me.
I came to the Lord in my adult years, and I can say with ALL CONFIDENCE, Jesus is the best thing that happend to me.
Brother, when the Holy Ghost came into my life, well, let's just say LIFE began for me...

Very true...:nod

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I wonder if this happened to him:

2 Thessalonians 2
English Standard Version (ESV)

The Man of Lawlessness
2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,[a] 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness[b] is revealed, the son of destruction,[c] 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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Perhaps he was told just one (or ten) too many lies, which once found out, can cause someone to question almost everything else -I know it happened to me.

We have another fascinating thread going on next door about Bin Laden's wives as just one example. I know I know.... It hardly seems worth losing your faith over, but when you start piling manure upon excrement, at some point it can all come crashing down. Combine lies with the "name it and claim" it view on prayer (which caused ME to believe I was praying into a void after a while) and it is actually easy to see how this can happen.

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Very valid point...However, a living relationship with the Lord goes beyond having FAITH in what people have said. It is having faith in the person of Jesus Christ. That's where the difference is in. That saving faith in Jesus Christ will LEAD to a real genuine experience with the RISEN Lord.

Paul even speaks to this effect:
1 Cor 2
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a bunch of made up stories, and preachers should NEVER make up stories (or repeat unverified stories) so as to make people believe as if they can help people believe in God through made up stories.

Jesus even said "No man can COME to me EXCEPT my Father draws him..."

We are to preach the Cross of Christ. The power in the cross to set the sinner free from slavery to sin. The resurrection of Christ that makes a sinner JUSTIFIED in the sight of God.
When we preach that message (which is foolishness to the world), the potential believer is left to judge the message...and see the power of God in action upon belief.

Rom 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ (NOT a bunch of stories and jokes as too many preachers do today on their pulpits): for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

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We have so many pov's concerning scripture interpretation...and the many millions of people who declare their interpretation to be the only true interpretation.

It's easy to become discouraged...especially when believers cast you away like trash when you do not agree with their belief.

Perhaps it is best to just believe in the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ and pray for ourselves about the non issue baggage that comes with the various denominations?

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Faith is never about feeling. It's a choice to believe - God's given us the measure of faith, we have a choice to use it. This guy gave up, maybe even has a grudge against God (it happens). God doesn't answer every prayer, or the way we expect. I'm sure Timothy asked God to to heal his stomach, Paul said take some wine. Paul asked God to take away the thorn, God offered grace.

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This guy is from DeRidder.

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He is formerly associated with the United Pentecostal Church.



http://www.meetup.com/ARfreethinkers/events/47453942/

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My former spouse told our children that he was agnostic now.

He was a licensed minister with UPC.

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Some folks simply struggle to believe, not that they are evil, they truthfully struggle with faith. Faith is the evidence of things unseen, making it hard for some to visualize the reality of God. I highly recommend every book written by Phillip Yancy, for those that struggle in this area.

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We had a pastor who had to be asked to leave our church a little over year ago because of his wife. After they left, she came on Facebook and declared that she has decided that she is an athiest. Alot of people talked with her about it. But one person finally said the thing that rings the most true in her case. She said to her, "You are not REALLY an athiest. You are just declaring that you are because if there is no God for you to be accountable to for your actions, then you are free to do whatever you choose because it won't matter". We are not an Ultra Conservative church. In fact, I wouldn't even say that we are conservative (at least not by Apostolic standards). But this sure bought her freedom to do whatever, whenever, with whomever, and wherever.

Wonder if this kind of thing might figure into this man's declarations as well?

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This doesn't make sense to me. Are you saying she became an atheist because she wanted to be free to do what she wants?

I can tell you from personal experience that losing your faith as the center of your life is terrifying. Everything that you've based your life on...gone. You have to start over from scratch. And I can also tell you it's easier to find something else to fill the hole (i.e., go to another church that's not quite as conservative or join a cult or whatever) than to say, "I'm an atheist/agnostic." Moreover, just because a person is an atheist doesn't mean that he/she is lacking common decency or moral values.

There's a lot more I could say about this but I don't feel comfortable exposing myself.

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I knew him.

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SR, I see what you're saying. I think that you might have to know this girl to understand how FOR HER this could be true. I can't think that it would apply to everyone.
And I think she is trying to fill the hole. I think she's trying very hard to fill it with her atheistic beliefs. She has really gone off the deep-end, I can tell you that. She had a husband who was a pastor. But she moved an 18 year old boy into their home that she had met online and it was pretty clear that this was not on the up-and-up, if you know what I mean. Her husband didn't want to lose his position as pastor and most certainly didn't want to lose his wife. But in the end, he lost both. They have 3 little children, all under the age of 5. He is raising them alone because she has very little to do with them. Her behavior caused him to lose his position as pastor. She's busy with her friends, with her search in atheism and with traveling anywhere she can get away too.
So while I don't think this probably applied to you - it sounds like you had a real relationship with the Lord, which would explain why you would miss Him when you walked away. I don't want to sound judgmental, but I wonder about her.

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“The next big issue was the failure of prayer,” DeWitt said. “People are passing away, whenever we pray for them to live. People aren’t getting jobs, whenever we pray for them to have jobs.

“The harder we tried to alleviate suffering within our church, it seemed like the worse things got,” he said. “It didn’t seem like prayer made any difference. It just continually crushed my heart.”

Several problems here. But chiefly, who said if you pray you won't die, and you will get a job?? Straw-man at best, and false "faith" at worst.

The article did have somethings right...

"I was the one on the right track, and you were the ones that were going to burn in hell," MacBain told the crowd. "And I'm happy to say as I stand before you right now, I'm going to burn with you."

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Prayer is not about primarily about getting stuff we want at all... It's about submission, conforming our minds and hearts and yielding to and discovering the will of God.

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:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup

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From this link...

"Jerry also holds the distinction of being the first graduate of, and a spokesman for The Clergy Project... "

Makes me wonder if Jerry had any formal theological training while he "believed".

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That some succumb to atheism is not a surprise. If one has actually contemplated the hard questions and arguments against God and has not had at least a pause I don't think that person understands the arguments or has analyzed them in any depth. Kant, Hume, Nietzsche, etc- a formidable bunch!

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I am sorry to hear that, RG.

I think most who claim atheism are agnostic.

In my experience, agnosticism is saying, "Who knows if there is a God? It's so complicated that I can't begin to understand "God", much less be held responsible for His moral code."

While they dare not claim there is no God, they recoil at the notion the scriptures may be inerrant and sacred.

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That right there is a big issue. Even for believers. I don't believe there to be any serious, disqualifying errors, but I do see things in our scripture that don't agree at times. And I see people go to incredible legths to either ignore them or explain them away.

Not to mention, I am not sure taht what we call "canon" is truly the only inspired books God intended.

So there is this "space" where all these questions exist, and yet no one seems capable fo giving sure fire solid answers outside of dogma. When dogma and such is no longer enough, the logical next step is to question whether any of it is really true and solid, and then you can take the next step after that in to Agnostiscism.

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I was doing something in the kitchen yesterday and I had two thoughts:

1. Maybe God turned this guy over to a delusion?

2. Why do all the men on that website look like pedophiles?

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The fact that the statement "I'm going to burn with you" was made indicates to me that he is either saying this tic or he really does believe that he will "burn with you". True atheists will not say something like that outside of tic because they do not believe in any supreme being of any sort, or any religion.

But if he was not tic, then what a scary place for him to be... in defiance of his acknowledgment of God in that he knows he will burn in hell.

I feel very badly for this man if he truly disavows Christ and is just not going through emotional discouragement. Some people just do not know how to tell the difference between the two.

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We must remember there are conditions to prayer. From the pen of the Apostle John:

22 And whatsoever we ask , we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 1 John 3:22

When obedience and holiness are constantly attacked as legalism it probably ruins the faith of many.

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"those things that are pleasing in his sight" includes not asking amiss and knowing the will of God... For me that is often the most challenging.

We can rest assured he is faithful, and be confident in His perfection. In this, I find peace.

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Could be way way worse

They could all "look like" district superintendent ***** ******* (or even) "look like" sunday school superintendent **** ******

Which do you think would be worse? To (look like) a pedophile or to actually (be) a pedophile or (even nastier just sayin') be a wrinkled old 60+ - yr-old man sneaking through the shadows of a public park picking up men for money?

Any opinion?

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wow, for a bunch of atheists their arguments sure are emotive and subjective. I wonder if these Dawkenites ever heard of Alister McGrath

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Romans 1:28

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Jerry happens to be a great person actually and to see speculation on whether he actually had anything or the other uninformed comments is quite sad.

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I certainly don't question whether he actually had anything. My particular point was just that - How can a person who has experienced the presence of God, etc deny it later.

However as incredible as that seems to me I think that has gone on since the dawn of time. That is why no amount of signs or wonders will cause people to believe in God and be saved. In the end it comes down to faith, which we are assured every person is given a measure of.

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Actually CC1 it's not that hard when you feel like what you gave so much of your life to isn't there when you needed it to be. Perhaps for some it is but people like Jerry, myself, and others who are members of the Clergy Project it isn't.

I'm not here as a former pentecostal to cause trouble but this thread and it's comments troubled me.

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:welcome

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:friend

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So, his definition of faith is pretending you believe?

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No ma'am I don't think that's it at all. I've spoken with him and I'm connected with him as our stories are similar. He did believe and preached it as I did but there came a time in his life, and mine, where he questioned and there was nothing there besides faith to back it up.