The New Corporation

By Henry Miranda

A corporation was started and personnel were sought out from every corner of the world. The corporation was to be for the benefit of all. Everything needed including all benefits needed for abundant living was provided. The benefit that the CEO/Pres. would get would be Fellowship with his people in this corporation. (more…)

Lingering Fear

By Erin Dijkema

As a child, I had a very limited view of the concept of fear. I was afraid of the dark, old haggish witches and particularly of being kidnapped. I felt they were pretty legitimate things to be scared of back then. These fears were of things that were tangible, things that I could always easily be able to separate myself from. However, as I grew, my range of possible fears grew and matured. They were no longer just tangible fears, but intangible fears that would affect my life eventually despite my efforts to avoid them. One could also say, if analyzed enough, two distinct categories of fears were formed; those healthy fears that saves those who listen from destructive danger, and those fears that seem to overwhelm us despite their irrationality and/or ignorance of significance of the thing we fear, such as fear of commitment or fear of change; we forget that some of these things are actually beneficial. These two types of fears can be further explained by comparing between those given by God and those formed, manipulated, and churned over and over by Satan (sometimes those given by God have also been distorted by Satan). (more…)

Discerning Spots and Blemishes

By Kevin Swartzendruber

In my last blog, “Does God Still Give Gifts?” I firmly established that spiritual gifts did not disappear with the passing of the apostles in the first century. In 1 Corinthians 12 the Apostle Paul lists the nine gifts of the Spirit as words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, spiritual discernment, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. Each of these gifts was given to the church as tools to bring the body of Christ into perfect unity in the image of the head, Jesus Christ. Without these gifts, it is impossible for the body of Christ to ever fulfill that purpose. Over the last one hundred years, a special grace was poured out on the church bringing her into this truth and causing her to embrace the gifts as a present reality. What was lost through ignorant traditions was restored. (more…)

Ye have copied the world

By jacqui julyan aka shofargirl a servant unto Jesus Christ

Ye have copied the world!

I felt compelled very strongly later yesterday evening by the Holy Spirit to read 1 Corinthians. There were many things that the Holy Spirit drew my attention to but one in particular hit me so hard I knew it was the LORD. Again this morning I felt led again by the Holy Spirit to 1 Corinithians and actually opened up exactly at the same page I had read the evening before and exactly the same place I had read before I retired. I felt very strongly to post this scripture and write just as the LORD leads. (more…)

When Martin Luther Recanted

By Kathryn Frazier

October 31, All Hallow’s Eve, 1517, Martin Luther, theology professor and Roman Catholic priest, nailed ninety-five theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. The Protestant Reformation had begun. And the seeds for the Holocaust were planted.

When pushed to recant his teachings before the council at Worms, Luther proclaimed with famous defiance, “I can not recant!” This is the stuff of legend. One man standing with God alone against a corrupt religious government. A youth pastor of my acquaintance actually had T-shirts printed in the man’s honor. He speaks highly and often of Luther to the teens he shepherds, but like many Protestant leaders, he chooses not to teach the whole story. (more…)

Fragmented Footing

By William Wright

Growing up in a household that never went to church, never believed in God, and constantly used Christ’s name in vain, I can honestly say that I had no conception of what church should be or what it really looked like outside of what I saw on TV or in the movies (“Footloose”). After accepting Christ into my life and learning to understand what the Church should be, my fresh perspective can almost be considered a hindrance…well, at least inconvenient. (more…)

Can Christian Meditation Transform the Church?

By Rhonda Jones

As I sat in church this past week listening to the pastor talk about clarity and contemplation, I wondered if the congregation really grasped the significances of what he was sharing. He spoke of prayer and spending time with God, but did it register or was it just another Christian ideal that sounded good but had no real practicality. Knowing what I have learned about contemplation, meditation, and prayer, it takes discipline to carve out time everyday to spend time with God in stillness and reverent solitude. As I continued to listen, I wondered if mere words were enough to demonstrate the magnitude of such a practice. Was a sermon about contemplation and meditation enough or must further steps be taken? Do pastors not only need to talk about reverent silence, contemplation, and Christian meditation, but practice it as a body as well? And if so, how? (more…)

Christian Fellowship – Beware of the relationship bugs

By Pastor Reinhard Westphal

Do you have a deep longing for genuine relationships and Christian fellowship with other believers? Do you feel that it is very hard to build those relationships? In this article you will learn how to overcome the pitfalls of Christian fellowship.

It is not an accident that the Bible speaks of the Body of Believers. You can only have a healthy physical body, if all the parts of your body are working together in harmony. If only one part of your body is outside of this created harmony, the whole body is suffering. (more…)

Methodists look towards Communion in England, Lutherans in America with Methodists and Episcopalians

by Peter Menkin

In an historic move, the Methodist Church in Great Britain “is on its way to rejoining the Church of England” The “Telegraph” newspaper report from the United Kingdom by Martin Beckford goes on to say, “The head of the non-conformist denomination said it was ready to come back to the national church after 200 years apart, if it would help spread the word of God.” (more…)

Being a dwelling place for God

By beatrice ofwona

In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His spirit. Ephesians 2:21-22

God consistently wants us to lead a holy life so that He can boast about us to the devil. The book of Ephesians is primarily about the kind of people God wants us to be so that He can make a dwelling in us. It was appropriately written for people who were originally dead to matters concerning Christianity. The book of Romans 6 tells us how a mind that is controlled by carnality is a dead one. It is one that refuses to submit to God and can neither corporate nor work with Him. (more…)

Authentically Experienceing God

Authentically Experienceing God
By Peter Craft

Your spirit soars with the music and you hear your voice, rich with commitment, join the rest in Godly song. You just know that His Spirit has bought life into His church. The communion with God is palpable. He has touched you and everyone else. Yet, just a few rows back is another Christian who thinks that you really don’t know God, haven’t been touched by Him, because you are too reserved and don’t seem spirit filled enough! So have you had an authentic experience of God or not? (more…)

Noted Lutheran minister, poet, lyricist Herb Brokering passed away, an Obituary

By Peter Menkin

The Reverend Doctor Herbert F. Brokering, pastor, author, lyricist, speaker and hymn writer of the grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Nov. 7 of congestive heart failure at his apartment in Bloomington, Minn., according to his son, Mark.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America news service says in its report, “Brokering, 83, was a member of St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Bloomington. “Herb Brokering’s legacy includes carefully crafted words on the lips of believers gathered around the means of grace. He has helped us bring our faith to rich expression,” said the Rev. Michael L. Burk, bishop, ELCA Southeastern Iowa Synod, Iowa City. (more…)

Is My Pastor An Oxymoron?

By Michael Shoesmith

I’ve been friends with an old-school evangelist for almost thirty years now. Recently he decided he shouldn’t hang out with me because I have a, dare I say it, woman pastor. Some people might call the term “woman pastor” an oxymoron. I know my friend would. It is becoming increasingly obvious that he hasn’t been much of a friend, really. He has, as I reflect on the influence he’s had on my life, been quite a stumbling block in my marriage and personal walk with the Lord. So, I rejoice in my freedom and hope that the evangelist friend of mine finds like understanding. I have surpassed him in the area of Biblical comprehension (by the grace of God) and so the Lord has vindicated me with respect to the position I hold and am about to share with the rest of you. Here goes (more…)

Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual Warfare
By Nellie Shani

I still remember the look of guilt on the face of a young girl who had come to my office for counseling when she asked me ?What is Satanism? Who is Satan? I mean?who created him?? I looked at her for a while, trying to figure out what she really wanted to know. I needed to know whether this was an ?I?m trying to trap you to see whether you know what I know? question of a fifteen year old, or whether she seriously wanted to know about Satanism. I prayed, asking God to give me wisdom. I was the school counselor and had given some talks on ?spiritual warfare? at the Wednesday night youth group meetings. (more…)