Mike
Member
Well said, WT! I second your sentiments! :yes
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Desire to be a vessel of honor unto the Lord Jesus Christ?
Join For His Glory for a discussion on how
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Taking the time to pray? Christ is the answer in times of need
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Depending upon the Holy Spirit for all you do?
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How are famous preachers sometimes effected by sin?
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Well said, WT! I second your sentiments! :yes
l'Chante
Member
Thank you so much, Westtexas. I'm actually trying to get full custody of my little one now so I can take her with to an out reach our church has every year. We will be going to Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe to try and bring a little relieve there too. Most of the orphanages we will be visiting are filled with Aids orphans.
I was laying in bed looking at my little angle sleeping last night thinking how hard it must be for a child not to have a mommy to kiss her owies and to hold her during thunderstorms. It just breaks one's heart, doesn't it?
Gideon, as you most probably gather now; I am from Africa and I do see miracles. Almost everyday. Maybe not in the way that you are discribing, but they happen in everybody's lives. You raise valid points and granted, I have never healed anybody, but I'm not blaming Santa for that however. Nor do I blame my parents. My faith is strong and I love Jesus. I walk with the Lord and I love Him with all my heart.
I was laying in bed looking at my little angle sleeping last night thinking how hard it must be for a child not to have a mommy to kiss her owies and to hold her during thunderstorms. It just breaks one's heart, doesn't it?
Gideon, as you most probably gather now; I am from Africa and I do see miracles. Almost everyday. Maybe not in the way that you are discribing, but they happen in everybody's lives. You raise valid points and granted, I have never healed anybody, but I'm not blaming Santa for that however. Nor do I blame my parents. My faith is strong and I love Jesus. I walk with the Lord and I love Him with all my heart.
G
gideon3213
Guest
You have toally missed my point altogether! There is a serious lack of a display in Gods power in the churches today. There are several reasons for that; but one very powerful reason is the santa myth. And I have personally met many people who have told me that they beleive that God and Jesus are nothing more than childhood myths like Santa, and the tooth fairy. And if you are decieving your children into beliving these myths; God will not say to you on the judment day 'well done.' For God says that all liars will be put in the lake of fire!
Rev 21:8
8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." NKJV
Therefore this issue about Santa is a very serious issue!
have a great day
G
gideon3213
Guest
It is a pleasure to meet you sir!
May I make a suggestion? try this out and see how it works for you. Teach your little kids that Jesus will heal anyone if they will believe that He will, and do your best to make them truly believe that. Then after you have convinced them, start bringing sick people to them and have them pray for them. And tell me what happens! I know of one female over in india who has a tremedous healing ministry. She routinly gives sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf through the power of Jesus Christ. And one of the things she does is to teach the young children the truth of God's power to heal people if they only believe that He will, and these young children are performing all kinds of miriacles in the name of Jesus! So let me know how that works for you!
May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ supply all of your needs, and may He give you wisdom, knowledge, and streangth to perform you tasks in such a maner as to glorify God in all that you do.
have a great day
l'Chante
Member
You know Gideon, I have been called 'sir' so many times in my life that I almost missed that one. My real name is Max so you can imagine people's surprise if they call and ask to speak to Max and they are put through to a lady. ;)My daughter has a 'disorder' that means she has a very limited verbal ability. I have asked many people to pray for her, including people with the gift of healing and at age 6 years and 4 months, she has the verbal ability of a 2 year, 8 month old. Fortunately her receptive language is above average.
We pray together all the time and I tell her Bible stories, including stories of how Jesus healed people and raised the dead. The point that I'm getting at is that I won't expect of her to heal people if God feels that she isn't ready to be healed herself. The Lord often uses illness, disorders and disabilities to 'shape' His children. And my daughter's shape is coming along nicely.
Let's think about Joseph. He was almost murdered, sold as a slave, sexually harassed, thrown in jail etc. God used these horrible things to shape him to be a King.
Now I know that life and health is precious to God otherwise he wouldn't have healed so many people whilst he was on this planet, but I believe my daughter isn't quite ready to be healed. In the interim I will keep on telling her how wonderful our God is and how precious she is to Him. I will keep praying with her and I will help build her faith and to raise her to be a princess for his kingdom.
Please don't think that I'm shunning your suggestion. It's just not time for my little one yet.
G
gideon3213
Guest
My daughter has a 'disorder' that means she has a very limited verbal ability. I have asked many people to pray for her, including people with the gift of healing and at age 6 years and 4 months, she has the verbal ability of a 2 year, 8 month old. Fortunately her receptive language is above average.
We pray together all the time and I tell her Bible stories, including stories of how Jesus healed people and raised the dead. The point that I'm getting at is that I won't expect of her to heal people if God feels that she isn't ready to be healed herself. The Lord often uses illness, disorders and disabilities to 'shape' His children. And my daughter's shape is coming along nicely.
Let's think about Joseph. He was almost murdered, sold as a slave, sexually harassed, thrown in jail etc. God used these horrible things to shape him to be a King.
Now I know that life and health is precious to God otherwise he wouldn't have healed so many people whilst he was on this planet, but I believe my daughter isn't quite ready to be healed. In the interim I will keep on telling her how wonderful our God is and how precious she is to Him. I will keep praying with her and I will help build her faith and to raise her to be a princess for his kingdom.
Please don't think that I'm shunning your suggestion. It's just not time for my little one yet.
I am so sorry that your little one is having so much trouble!
There are three ways that God answers prayer: 1. yes 2. no 3. wait. When my daughter was 3 years old, she had 2 seizures. the first happened while I was at work. the second happened shortly after I had gotten home from work. I was an EMT at the time; (my liscence has long since expired.) I picked her up and started checking vital signs as my wife went into psycogenic shock. My daugher was as stiff as a bord and not breathing. I started praying for her and just as soon as I started to pray for her; she came out of the seizure. I then prayed and asked God to heal her of any physical things that could have caused the seizure. and then I said if this is the result of an evil spirt, I now rebuke that spirit in the name of Jesus and I command it to leave her and this room; it may never again afflict her. and then I prayed and asked God to put up a sheild around her to protect her from future attacks. As I did all of this, I could feel Gods intense love in my heart and in the room: aka the glory of God! And I knew beyound all doupt that my daughter was healed and would never again have a seizure! My wife on the other hand, wanted to take her to the hospital. I told her that there was no reason to take her as she is now healed. But just to prove it to you that she is healed I will take her to the hospital and have her checked out. we waited at the hospital for about 4 hours while the doctor ran some tests. Finally he came into the waiting room and said that he could not find any evidence that our daughter had had a seizure. And that she was not an epileptic. Praise the Lord! I told my wife that this was indeed evidence that He had completely healed her! Then when she was 4 years old, she sliped on some ice and feel down a flight of stairs. She broke her left arm into two peaces. Now I was in the army at the time and I called home one day to find out how things were going, and thats when I found out that she had broken her arm. I talked to my daughter for a minute and asked her if she believed that Jesus would heal her if we prayed and asked Him too. she said "yeh daddy, I believe He will." I said ok, lets pray. And as I prayed and asked Jesus to heal her arm, I once again felt God's glory around me and in me. My daughter felt the same thing as she started giggling on the other end of the phone. I knew beyond all doupt that my daughters arm was now healed! two weeks later, I phoned back home and asked how she was doing. my wife said that she had taken her to the doctor a week earlier and the docotor exrayed her arm so that he could see if it was still set right and if it was healing ok. After he looked at the exray, He came out and started taking the cast off. and as he did so he told my wife that he had never seen a bone heal this quickly or this theroughly in his life! Its just as if the bone had never been broken! Praise the Lord! so God was teaching me that I was the high preist of our home. and that as long as I continued to walk in obediance too Him that I had authority over sickness and desease in my home.
Healing is called the childrens bread in the bible. and we are the children of God and thus we have the right to eat the bread of healing when we need it. So if healing does not occure, then we can be sure that God is trying to teach us something. But this is another subject for another tread.
I hope that God will heal your daughter sometime soon. I will be praying for you and your daughter.
have a great day.
l'Chante
Member
Yes, my daughter have 'troubles' and it affects everybody close to her. But in the same breath I have to say that she is a blessing in so many ways that I can't even begin to describe it. The way that the Lord used her to perform miracles in my own life is amazing.
Gideon, I want to ask you something and please take it in the light that I mean it? I'm honestly not trying to be facetious. Did you believe in Santa Clause when you were a child? If so, aren't you a living example that believing in make-believe characters as a child have no effect on your faith when you are a grown up? God used you to perform miracles in your children's lives.
I believed in Santa and I the Lord has used me to make tremendous changes in other people's lives. Not miracles, but I did bring hope where there was none. God made every one of us unique and with our own special gifts. Mine is not to heal. Mine is a 'touch'- thing. People react to it when I touch them. I believe it is God who uses my body to bring comfort to those who need it.
Gideon, I want to ask you something and please take it in the light that I mean it? I'm honestly not trying to be facetious. Did you believe in Santa Clause when you were a child? If so, aren't you a living example that believing in make-believe characters as a child have no effect on your faith when you are a grown up? God used you to perform miracles in your children's lives.
I believed in Santa and I the Lord has used me to make tremendous changes in other people's lives. Not miracles, but I did bring hope where there was none. God made every one of us unique and with our own special gifts. Mine is not to heal. Mine is a 'touch'- thing. People react to it when I touch them. I believe it is God who uses my body to bring comfort to those who need it.
G
gideon3213
Guest
Actually I did believe in santa, And I do remember what I went through when I found out that santa was not real. It was not a good experience! And it did damage my faith! It took many years to reconstruct my childlike faith that is necessary for miracles to happen. And I still do not believe that I have been able to get it all back as yet. I would have been much further along in my faith if I had not had to work so hard to try to get back something so precious as faith! It is part of the reason that I am so certain that deceiving kids into believing that santa is real is so very harmful!
The following scriptures make it plain that miraculous power is available to every christian, and it is expected that every christian who truly believes in the manor that the bible speaks of will have miraculous power working through them:
John 14:12-14
12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. NKJV
Mark 16:17-18
17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; (not be tormented by them) they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." NKJV
Luke 10:17-20
17 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." 18 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." NKJV
Mark 9:17-29
17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever he seizes him, he throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast him out, but they could not." 19 He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21 So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." 23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead." 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast him out?" 29 So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." NKJV
James 5:13-18
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. NKJV
1 Cor 2:1-5
2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. NKJV
1 Cor 4:18-21
18 Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. 20 For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. NKJV
have a great day
C
Chris
Guest
Santa is every parents favorite scapegoat to blame crappy presents on.
Short of cash this Christmas? Santa takes the heat.
Short of cash this Christmas? Santa takes the heat.
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jasoncran
Member
one cant blame all of this on just santa. if want to say then what of those that mistakingly have theological errs. do we christian know the entire bible and see it perfectly?
l'Chante
Member
Yet again Gideon, you raise very good points because you speak from personal experience. My own experience though, was that other things affected my faith when I was a child. It was bullying, my father's dictatorship, my mother's poisonous tongue, friends disappointing me, and mostly; the unfairness of life itself... Santa had nothing to do with my faith. Neither did fairies or the Easter bunny.
Granted, I still have a long way to go with my faith, but to me faith in God wasn't something that hit me like a shockwave. Its more like a journey that I take with the Lord. I walk with Him everyday and He guides me and shows me my weak points and strengthens me to overcome them. I listen carefully and I try my very best to obey. It was very hard in the beginning but now it's much easier. I guess my shape is coming along nicely as well. I guess soon enough my faith will be strong enough to heal the sick.
Granted, I still have a long way to go with my faith, but to me faith in God wasn't something that hit me like a shockwave. Its more like a journey that I take with the Lord. I walk with Him everyday and He guides me and shows me my weak points and strengthens me to overcome them. I listen carefully and I try my very best to obey. It was very hard in the beginning but now it's much easier. I guess my shape is coming along nicely as well. I guess soon enough my faith will be strong enough to heal the sick.
l'Chante
Member
G
gideon3213
Guest
Hello, I fail to see how thological errors, or not knowing the entire bible has anything to do with what this tread is about. this thread is about how that when parents dilibrately decieve their children into believing that santa, easter bunny, and the tooth fairy, are real persons and do real things, destroys faith within the children when the children find out that these stories are not true! I quoted the scriptues above in order to show that the scripturs say we can have tremendous power if we will only believe. But we are not capable of this type of faith because our parents deceived us with these fables when we were kids.
I mean have you ever read these scripures in the past and then tryed to exorcise what little faith you do have and believe that when you prayed for someone to be healed that they would be healed, only to discover that when you got done praying for them they were not healed? I know that I have! Most people in america just write it off as evidence that the scripture is not true. I say that the scripture is true, and that there is nothing wrong with God or His power: the reason that the scripture did not work for you is because your faith has been severely damaged! (at least this is one reason: there are other reasons why god does not heal people when we pray for them, God has not healed everyone that I have prayed for, but he has healed some of the people that I have prayed for. but that is for another post.)
Jesus said that unless we are converted and become like a little child we shall by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. What He means is that we are to have a child like faith in God and His promises. But Satan has used Santa, the tooth fairy, and the easter bunny to destroy childlike faith in people. And it is very effective!
And all I am trying to do with this post is make people aware of this great evil that exists in our society.
Have a great day
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jasoncran
Member
really? i guess that lie wasnt told to me then as I WAS raised in far more deception .
i was in the cult called the jehovah's witness. they deny santa and other holidays as well.
in fact i will list thing i couldnt celebrate as kid or no jw could
halloween(still dont)
easter
communion(only 144,000 partook in that)
and bdays
valentines day
thanksgiving
christmas
and yet somehow my God after my departure from that into far worse things saved me and i wound up being healed of somethings
my faith needs to grow, but to say that the toothfiary etc destroy child like faith, really?
a bit much.honeslty if christmas was banned i wouldnt care.
trust that cult does far worse to kids then santa ever could.
and you forget that the occulting things that we often watch on tv.
such as:
ghosthunters
supernatural the tv show
and such like
but that is up to the parents and indivual to decide if they are bothered by it.
i dont watch them as i dont seem them edify me.
do you listen to secular music? i dont
watch tv?
nope for me.
G
gideon3213
Guest
You know its interesting how that we could both have similar experiences, yet have different outcomes. I had a father who was dictatorial, and a mother with a poisonous tongue. I also suffered at the hands of bully's throughout most of my childhood. But these things just caused me to draw closer to God! Because He was the only friend I had! But I still had to struggle with my faith because of the santa issue. (I did not become a christian until I was 11 years old. The damage of Santa had already been done by that time.)
I am glad that you are walking with God. The good news is that it is possible to have faith grow in you, and if you just start meditating on the scripures that I have given in this post on a daily basis, your faith will grow. and once you become convinced in your heart that these scriptures are absolutely true, I mean not that you are trying to believe that they are true: but that you know they are true, then you will start seeing miriacles.
have a great day
G
gideon3213
Guest
You sir, have not had your child like faith destroyed. Yes there are many other things that destroy faith in our culture. Santa is just one of them. I have not watched t.v. since I was 20 years old; I have not had one since then and I will never have one. It is the tool of Satan to destroy peoples faith as well. I have not listened to secular music since I was 20 either! (I am now 49 years old.) as that is another tool that Satan uses to destroy faith.
But the type of faith destruction that I am talking about is what happens when a person sincerely beleives that someting is true, and he belives it with all of his heart for many years, and then finds out that what he sincerely believes to be true is not true! That is destructive to your ability to truly believe in other things. and when your a child that does not know how to handle such things properly, and your parents, whom a small child trusts with all their hearts, tells them that santa, the easter bunny, and tooth fairy are all just as real as they are, and they go out of there way to decieve them by putting gifts from santa to them under the tree, money under their pillow for a tooth, etc. the child believes these things as though they were absolute truth! then when he becomes 8 or 9 years old, he discovers that these things that he believed to be absolutly true, are not true! it is at this point that the faith that he had used to believe in those things dies! Thus his faith is severely damaged! i.e. his abilty to strongly beleive in things is severely damaged! And this is what this post is about!
Have a great day
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jasoncran
Member
really? i was told that jesus isnt the son of God, nor was i told the truth the about heaven. as only the 144,000 go there ,and the rest die and await reserection.
they dont believe in miracles and healing like we do.
jw arent christians at all, never were.
they deny christ! and it stoped me from coming to christ for yrs.
i was in that cult at age 4!
G
gideon3213
Guest
There is a difference between what you are saying and what I am saying. You are talking about things that people believe in; like only the 144,000 are saved, etc. I am talking about someones abilty to strongly believe in anything at all! I am not talking about having a belief in a certain doctrine; I am talking about the abilty to believe strongly about any doctrine! Its one thing to have an intellectual acceptance of something, and believe that it is true. It is quit another to have a strong conviction that something is true. Both things are called 'faith'. but one is just a general, none emotional acceptance of something that is true. the other is a stong emotional conviction that something is true. It is this ability to have strong emotional convictions of things being true that is being destoyed by deceiving children into believing in Santa, easter bunny, etc. And it is one reason (not the only one!) for the wane of the Holy Spirits power in the churches, and in peoples lives.
The other problems that you bring up are faith destroying as well, but that is a different issue all together.
have a great day.
jasoncran
Member
i still dont see the connection here on pagan holidays and faith.
by your thinking we shouldnt even celebrate bdays as those have pagan origins.
wheres dora when you need her? the church is simply in apostasy because we have become lazy here in america distracted and cuddled by our wealth and like isreal we in the west have forgotten God.
i know my chruch, we do have christmas decorations up and yet we also have a child's ministry and i have seen the kids sing thier hearts out when they do the end of the school yr presentations on what they learned.
and some of the teens were raised in that ministry and are still strong(this is a pentacostal church).
G
gideon3213
Guest
To celibrate a bithday is to say to the person that I am glad that you were born and is totally hamless regarding faith. What I am talking about is the destruction of faith through teaching lies to kids.
Decorations for christmass are just one way of celbrating the birth of Christ. and that is what christmass is supposed to be all about! Santa Clause is Satans evil counterfit meaning.
have a great day.