BTW, I never faked it, although many of my friends did. I just sat on the back pew and watched the preachers on the platform try to "Will" me down to the altar. lol. I knew that many of my friends down at the altar would be doing the same things I did on Saturday night, we just went our own ways on Sunday... but man, they could act! I was the steady DC voltage, while they were AC and their amplitude varied greatly, both above and below my DC line... spirititually speaking.
I needed to step away from the big drama of this thread to think.
Prax and n david, I'm sorry I used the words UPC in this thread. I had to think long and hard and figure out if there was anything I really needed to apologize for because my intent was never the things I have been accused of in this thread. However, I realized that it may be more productive for me to just honor what some people are asking (not naming organizations) and discuss concepts alone. Discussing concepts alone would possibly be more productive (maybe). My concern is that no matter what I do, I will be accused of bashing or hating or blaming or whatever the flavor of the week is so the issues I am trying to discuss can be avoided.
So, Prax and n david, I am going to do my best to refrain from using the name UPC or United Pentecostal Church in my posts out of respect to you and others that have your views. What I will do instead is talk about concepts and ideas that I think are pertinent. These concepts and ideas indeed pertain to more organizations than the UPC.
I would like to ask you to please refrain from making so many accusations about me and against me and others with my views. My intentions are not what you accuse. Nevertheless, the only person I can change is myself and that is the intent of this post.
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Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. ~Chinese Proverb
When I was young and clever, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older and wiser, I strive to change myself. ~
For the record, there are many people who have strong opinions one way or another who have stopped sharing them except privately amongst their friends, and it was a combination of:
1. Moving on
2. Facebook going mainstream to where everyone and their grandma is on it
3. The great Ultra-con Exodus.
I typically align with Timmy, Michlow, ILG and others, but am just tired of fighting so I don't post (Even on Facebook, I try not to post anything beyond the latest home improvement project I am working on, for fear of it turning into some sort of battle). For every person still keeping the fight alive, there are 100 who still feel the same way but gave up fighting... but that doesn't mean that they don't exist.
Hey Brad! Good to see you.
I go by Dichotomy Girl now, as the "low" part of Michlow came from my ex's last name.
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“There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting.”
It is easy to fake "salvation" as the UPC defines it.
Repentance is easy to fake. Just go to the altar and look sorrowful.
Baptism. Just do it.
Tongues? I have heard lots of fake tongues in my life. Just sound like everybody else.
What many consider proof of God in your life, standards, are easy to fake, just follow the list.
Who has motive to fake salvation? All those who are being or have been pressured by wives, mothers, husbands, fathers, kids and friends to "get saved".
In a culture that greatly pressures people to get "saved" or go to hell and constantly measures who is "in" and who is "out", there is great pressure on people to "get saved" to get people off their back. They might not even know they are faking because they don't even know what the real experience is. Since this formula is so traditional and passed down from generation to generation to "be saved" there are likely a great many in the UPC and other apostolic churches that don't have a clue what true salvation is, they are just following the formula. The same thing is true in all churches but many other churches don't constantly measure who is "in" and who is "out".
The UPC taught me they were different. But they are not. Some in the UPC have faith and some do not. There is no formula for salvation to prove to another you are saved, no way to say "You are in and you are out".
Hello,
Getting a manifestation SOLVES it all.
I was pleasantly surprised.
Many errors (heretics) in the main stream, like in Israel.
All are easily corrected if we can take correction.
Well, I believe that a vast majority of the saints that are in the church have received the real genuine salvation experience.
The problem is, after we receive the Spirit, we must "walk in the Spirit". The Spirit is calling us non stop to walk under its influence, but because of distractions, we fail to hear it in our lives.(we have all experienced that)
If there was any subject among us that I feel is most lacking is instruction on HOW to walk in the Spirit. We need constant teaching and reminders on this subject.
That is how beautiful children of God backslide or get lukewarm. They do not understand what it takes to "service" the Holy Ghost that resides within them. Its not just about crucifying our flesh,(thats the donts), but about hearing the Spirit in our thoughts and "reacting" to it. (Thats the dos)
This depends on how technical you are. ALL forums and other CMS systems relying on an underlying SQL DB can have someone login to mysql and export all data on a forum as a clear text file (clear text, but extremely large and hard to read since it would be hundreds or thousands of pages long). This does not mean that most admins are technical enough to know how to do this, or even if they are, it does not mean that they have access to the web server where mysql is hosted. Being an admin on a forum alone, does not give you this ability. It is in combination with other rights above and beyond being admin on the forum.
Just clarifying that "admin" can mean several different things, and just because someone's user ID has been granted admin privileges for the forum does not mean they are an admin of the webserver the forum is hosted on.
Thanks, Brad. This makes sense. Okay, the CMS, SOL, DB, mysql, etc. is Greek to me, but I get what you are saying.
Well, I believe that a vast majority of the saints that are in the church have received the real genuine salvation experience.
The problem is, after we receive the Spirit, we must "walk in the Spirit". The Spirit is calling us non stop to walk under its influence, but because of distractions, we fail to hear it in our lives.(we have all experienced that)
If there was any subject among us that I feel is most lacking is instruction on HOW to walk in the Spirit. We need constant teaching and reminders on this subject.
That is how beautiful children of God backslide or get lukewarm. They do not understand what it takes to "service" the Holy Ghost that resides within them. Its not just about crucifying our flesh,(thats the donts), but about hearing the Spirit in our thoughts and "reacting" to it. (Thats the dos)
Hello brother,
I think that you described that GOD failed.
If the word in you, is not the Word of GOD,
then you cannot grow,
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