I will continue to pray for you. I pity the empty shells your lives must be.
But now I must also thank you.
You have given me newfound strength. If ever I waver or flag in my belief, what I’ve seen here today will buoy me up and remind me why I started missionamerica.com
Thank you.
I pray the same thing, DrChuckie. Meatros says you have an agenda. So do homosexuals, in my view. I know that’s the reason you were pitted, your views on homosexuality. The only “agenda” I’m sure you have is to share the truth of God’s word and pray someone will take heed. You have my support.
What agenda is that–not to get beaten up? Do you have a problem with that? Come on H4E, please explain the gay agenda.
You know, of all the weird things the bible has prohibitions against, why is homosexuality always #1 on the most naughty list?
I’d also like to know how Witchcraft/Paganism is destroying “our” society.
And His WONDERS why she gets so much grief around here.
Who wants to see these two mud wrestle?
Well, not really, but whatever keeps them from spewing their blind ignorance here makes me happy.
Oh, didn’t you know, gobear? Homosexuals want to rape your children and your animals and your small appliances and make everyone want to rape children and animals and small appliances. Sheesh, try to keep up, won’t you?
Broad brush stroking an entire group of people there His4Ever? You do realize homosexuals are comprised of individuals who don’t all think the same way don’t you?
Both him and you are sharing an opinion about “God’s” word. So unless either of you have personally talked with, and received an answer from God (that can be proven) I don’t think you have a leg to stand on.
Guin, I think you can see why I have a problem with Christians.
LunaSea: Since you asked:
1 Samuel 15:23 (KJV) “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft…”
Those Nasty Witches
With all the warnings in Scriptures about witchcraft, you would think it was a major problem in life. But “witchcraft”, as we generally think about it, is hardly appealing to most people, so why the emphasis? Is God “out of touch” with what we are really tempted with? Or are we deceived about what witchcraft really is? Do our ideas come from Hollywood or Scripture?
Isaiah 1:2 (NIV) Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.”
Has Satan repackaged witchcraft to fit our modern Christian tastes, but left the essence the same? Are we practicing witchcraft? Are we the witches Scripture is addressing? Is it not the witch instinct in us that must die?
Exodus 22:18 (KJV) “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”
What Is Witchcraft?
1 Samuel 15:23 (NAS) “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry…”
Witchcraft: Wanting to be a spiritual “mover and shaker” without submitting to God. Witchcraft is rebellion coupled with a desire to “stay in the game”, to be a spiritual player.
How Witchcraft Works
John 8:44-45 (NIV) “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire… When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!”
All supernatural power comes, ultimately, from either God or Satan. God gives power to those who believe the truth. To approach God, truth is the cost of entry.
But it is the opposite with Satan, whose nature is deception. Satan gives power to those who believe a lie. Believing the lie is the cost of entry to access Satan’s power. Witchcraft bolsters up the lie with: mystery, pseudo-science, ancient knowledge, new knowledge, etc… The more absurd the lie, the better. The lie acts as a distracter.
If we mix certain ingredients in a drink… If we eat a special herb… If we arrange candles in a certain configuration… If we stare into a crystal ball… If we turn over Tarot cards… If we “read” the stars… If we speak a certain phrase, or mantra… If we have secret knowledge… If we draw certain symbols… then spiritual forces will come into play.
James 3:15 (NIV) Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.
Witchcraft starts with a heart of rebellion and works by focusing on a distracter, a lie, which is some technique purported to release power. It is important to have “faith”, to trust in the technique and not God. Believing in lies is an “acceptable sacrifice” to Satan, the father of lies, who honors his children with real power. The irony is, that due to the inherent deceptive basis of witchcraft, the practitioners of it often think they are serving God, while accessing a power from below (earth)–not from above.
For the purpose of this study, we are defining witchcraft as a desire to be a spiritual free agent without submission to God or regard for His word.
1 Samuel 15:23 (NIV) “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you…”
Psalms 107:11 (NIV) For they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.
Nehemiah 9:26 (NIV) “But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they put your law behind their backs. They killed your prophets, who had admonished them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies.”
Does Witchcraft Work?
Even though Satan is usually the furthest thing from the mind, the “father of lies” honors the self-delusion inherent in witchcraft by occasionally releasing power, even doing supernatural miracles for those who have rebelled against God and yet still want to be spiritually effective. By this means, real power can be exerted to achieve health, beauty, enchantment, supernatural sensitivity, “insight” through drugs and experiences, oracles and visions, and the like. In this sense, witchcraft works.
Exodus 7:22 (NIV) But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
Exodus 8:7 (NIV) But the magicians [Jannes and Jambres] did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
Witchcraft is characterized by belief in “knowledge from below”, and rejection of “knowledge from above”. In it’s more advanced and powerful stages, delusion and belief in what is clearly not of God is key. Satan’s tacit “deal” is: if you sacrifice truth on his altar, he will give you power for what you want now. But lies are flimsy things to put your trust in…
Exodus 8:18 (NIV) But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals.
Isaiah 47:12 (NIV) “Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.”
Witchcraft In The Church…
Continued at www.acts17:11.com/witchcraft.html
No, no! Not contemptuous; rather, a bit disbelieving.
Besides, you’re not really a nice guy if you consider yourself a doctor of EVIL!.
Also, how many times is "Dr"Chuckie going to mention missionamerica.com
No agenda?
Maybe I’d take the last two posts seriously if certain Cardinals weren’t leading by example.
LunaSea: Now for Paganism, again in response to your question:
Is paganism and matriarchal goddess worship the key to utopia? Are the ancient pagan ways simpler, kinder and gentler, more liberating? Let’s look at what we know from Scripture and other sources about the practices of ancient pagan religions.
The fertility rites of ancient peoples are the stuff of legends, but they were very important in pagan belief systems. A modern parallel exists in pagan feminists’ preoccupation with the menstrual cycle, and may signal a revival of interest in fertility, at first as a dimension of sexuality. But original pagan rites involved sexual aberration of all sorts-- not just adultery and homosexuality but ritualized orgies at holy sites such as temples or sacred groves. Bestiality and possibly incest were also frequently involved. There is much evidence that goddess worship has its own unique violence and depravity.
Blood had to be spilled in order for the fertility cycle to be complete. So the oft-joked about but very real practice of human sacrifice was a staple among pagan religions in all cultures. From the ancient near East to pagoda-topped Asian shrines to the Aztecs, pagan worship has more frequently than not included ritual assault and murder.
Remnants of human sacrifice have been found at sites throughout the Middle East at places of pagan worship. The Phoenicians and Canaanites are known to have practiced child sacrifice. “Hundreds of infant burials have been recovered from sacrificial burying grounds, especially at Carthage,” the authors of The Goddess Revival tell us. These children were murdered to appease the god Baal Hinnom and his consort, Tanit. 1
This is precisely the warning given to the Israelites in Leviticus 18. God warned His people against incest, homosexuality, adultery, child sacrifice and bestiality, saying, “The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled.” (Lev.18:26-27 NIV)
It wasn’t just the Old Testament pagan peoples who were prone to such violence. Human sacrifice was still being practiced at the temple of the goddess Artemis in Ephesus in the days of the early Christian church.2 This is the same temple described in Acts 19 whose worshippers broke out in a riot against Paul and the teachings of Christ. The riot was started by an artesan worried that the growing interest in Christianity threatened his thriving business of selling idols and trinkets at the goddess’ temple. (Acts 19:24-27)
Such mob reaction is common in pagan worship. The cult of Artemis (the Roman Diana) involved brutality at both its legendary base and in practice. In the myth of Artemis, she required the sacrifice of a maiden, Iphigenia, to appease her jealousy.3 In addition to the human sacrifice already mentioned, male worshippers of Artemis would symbolically castrate themselves during rituals. For worshippers of the goddess Rhea (also called Cybele) in Syria in the second century A.D., the act was more than symbolic. Males would castrate themselves as part of the ceremony, then march through the streets waving their severed genitals. They would then don women’s clothes as part of their devotion.4 Groups of worshippers of Artemis often marched through the streets with clubs said to be in the shape of a phallus, and would attack passersby simply as part of their ritual frenzy.5
Priestesses at the temple of the goddess Demeter emasculated King Battos I of Cyrene in a ritual ceremony.6 Men were often just as inflamed with violence during pagan worship. A group of male worshippers of Dionysus dressed as women attacked a Roman general in the second century A.D. They dismembered and ate him.7
Not to be outdone by Near Eastern deities, the Hindu goddess Kali according to legend chewed up her own child and swallowed it. Human sacrifice was once offered to her in ancient times.8
But we would never tolerate ritual that would harm anyone in today’s civilized era-- would we? It is verifiably true that under the dominance of Western Christian values, castration, human sacrifice, and cannibalism have been eliminated in most cultures. But now we are seeing the legalization of new violations of human rights --institutionalized violence, such as abortion on demand, available through the ninth month of pregnancy , and soon, euthanasia. But these aren’t religious rituals, one might protest. No, not yet-- simply badges of “honor” in the upside-down ethics of liberalism. The “right” to an abortion remains the defining cause for feminism. Who knows where it might go?
Did we ever think we’d get to a place where a sitting president defended the “right” of anyone to dismember a six-month old child as it enters the world? We have, however,without blinking an eye, as Clinton vetoed legislation to ban partial birth abortions last spring.
As for fertility rites, the real population crisis may soon be recognized as too few people, not too many. Responsible demographers like Steven Mosher of Population Research Institute are reporting that birth rates are plummeting in Western nations,and will soon level off or decline elsewhere.9 With an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases like chlamydia, which can cause infertility, and a worldwide declining sperm count, the very real possibility exists that abortion may one day be obsolete. So who’s to say that pagan fertility rites might not be ushered in with all the other craziness?
Other pagan ritual is flourishing all around us-- new musical styles that resemble tribal rhythms, an obsession with self-mutilation like tattoos, piercing, even scarification, radical environmentalism and earth worship, and interest in occult practices of all kinds.More than fashion, these new experiences only serve to further promote a pagan worldview.The strong connection of homosexuality to paganism is the subject of a future article— there’s too much to tell–but suffice it to say the rebellion that leads to religious apostasy is often accompanied by sexual aberration. One is often used to justify the other, or one may precede the other, as in Romans 1: “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened…Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.” (v v. 21, 24 NIV)
So when one takes a hard look at the ancient pagan ways, Christianity begins to look better and better.
Sources:
“A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine…But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King.”
(Jeremiah 10:8,10 NKJV)
“You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.”
(Deuteronomy 12:31 NKJV)
I’m waiting for Polycarp to come in and show this twit was a real Christian is.
Oh, and since I’m Wiccan, I guess I won’t be getting into your heaven.
Thank the Lord and Lady for that!
His4Ever I hate to say it because I think you have so much promise, but you and DrChuckie are pushing people away from Christianity at a speed close to light.
How does that make you feel?
Oops, a lot of posts in the time I posted. My bad about the last two posts, adn I can’t edit my message. I was referring to posts by DrChuckie and His4Ever.
Now, now, gobear. I encourage you to read Meatros’ post.
I realize that you (and probably many people you know) have suffered a great deal of persecution at the hands of people like this, but that’s no reason to generalize to all Christians.
As for the wonder twins, though; show no fucking mercy, my man.
Oh, don’t pity me—when you lift me to your ear you can hear the ocean roar!
Did DrChuckie escape from a Chick comic?
Hey, Chuckie, [symbol]Anaspaeis emon balonon