paleface Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm sure LW folks read and report to G & M
> if anything offensive comes up about the
> personalities of their inner circle.

On the subject of being offensive, the Pope's 'favorability' has dropped considerably this year, especially among conservatives. This from gallop.com:

"Pope Francis' drop in favorability is even starker among Americans who identify as conservative -- 45% of whom view him favorably, down sharply from 72% last year. This decline may be attributable to the pope's denouncing of "the idolatry of money" and linking climate change partially to human activity, along with his passionate focus on income inequality -- all issues that are at odds with many conservatives' beliefs.

Also, after he was elected the leader of the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church , he attempted to focus the church on a renewed sense of protecting the poor, on interfaith relations and on respecting gay and lesbian members of the church."

There you go...those stances are bound to offend!

Chaangedagain, it's weird that the catholic church has given a pass to some gay priests who molest children and excommunicates those in the congregation who divorce; while, TLWF gives a pass to those who divorce and excommunicates the gays/lesbians. But got to give them props in coming together in interfaith unity on one thing, both the Catholic Church and TLWF don't have a religious spirit when it comes to drinking a lot of liquor.

Good point, Lily. Copious liquor consumption could be the common connection...with (I think) TLWF setting the standard.


lily rose Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Chaangedagain, it's weird that the catholic church
> has given a pass to some gay priests who molest
> children and excommunicates those in the
> congregation who divorce; while, TLWF gives a pass
> to those who divorce and excommunicates the
> gays/lesbians. But got to give them props in
> coming together in interfaith unity on one thing,
> both the Catholic Church and TLWF don't have a
> religious spirit when it comes to drinking a lot
> of liquor.

I only drink a beer or two a day--so consider me a lightweight. Jesus could easily drink me under the table.


changedagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good point, Lily. Copious liquor consumption
> could be the common connection...with (I think)
> TLWF setting the standard.

I stumbled upon this article. Here is the link in case anyone finds
it helpful.

[cicministry.org]

corboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I stumbled upon this article. Here is the link in
> case anyone finds
> it helpful.
>
> [cicministry.org]


------------------------------------------------

Thanks corboy. I found the link helpful in showing how man continually thinks we need to rely on human effort and ability rather than God's grace. I was unfamiliar with the term pietism's characteristics and how it keeps popping up in the history of Christianity, even today. We see it in the LW's interpretation of Romans 8 and the manifested sons of god (demi-gods) elitism. Oh my, there's nothing new under the sun (Eccl 1:9). Yep, what goes around comes around.

From corboy’s [cicministry.org]: The Latter Rain movement has now become the latter day apostles and prophets movement that is also pietistic to the core. They claim special status that ordinary Christians know nothing about.

-------------------

“Special Status” ------ there are 1,636 posts on this forum to date affirming the harm this attitude has caused. I think what Peter said is appropriate: “Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

A joke emailed to me today from a friend:

John 8 -- the Catholic Version:

And the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the midst they said to Him, "Teacher this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.."

Jesus said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

Suddenly a large stone was thrown from the crowd, striking the woman in the head.

Jesus stretched out his arms and sighed, "MOM!"

changedagain,

I once heard a slightly less dark version of your friend's joke:

A woman walked to the front of the crowd and tossed a pebble at the woman caught in adultery and Jesus said, "Mom, I really hate it when you do that."


BTW, I liked your previous post in which you describe drinking beers with Jesus. I suspected you would come around.

Spiritual abuse was occurring at Coniah Chapel in the 70's to many of the little people but nothing was being done about it at the time. The Coniah church leader would boast that many of John's sons came out of Coniah (go figure.)

I read an interview with a published interventionist named Jeff Van Vonderen at www.spiritualabuse.com (it's in the library section) and at first I wasn't sure what qualified Jeff to speak accurately about spiritual abuse and I wasn't sure if I bought into everything he said so I let it marinate. Now I think he is pretty right on about the destruction spiritual abuse causes.

"...recovery from spiritual abuse is in some ways the most difficult of recovery journeys. One reason is that the person who has the greatest potential for helping us recover from spiritual abuse is the person we feel most alienated from....the fear is that if you go to God, you will get hurt even worse than you have already been hurt. Spiritual abuse always does damage to our relationships with God. It's the worst. It's a wound of the spirit. It's a wound right down to the core of who we are."