Wrote something on a forum I like to frequent this morning that I thought I would share with ya'll. A friend of mine posted a thread about how he wasn't sure if it was a 1 step -plan to salvation (believe on the Lord), or a 3-step plan to salvation (repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost)... here's what I wrote him back. Hope it blesses you!

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1 or 3 step plan?? Goodness, this is not Amway, it is the kingdom of God... it was never meant to be perfectly mapped out like that - that's our human intelect trying to fit into nice and neat terms what is simply not nice and neat in the scriptures...

On this topic, I am kind of in the middle. I see both sides, but there are also problems with both of these modernistic views of salvation...

I grew up in the UPC, so I was indocrinated with the best of them that a person is not saved till they have been born of the water and spirit... but I also see that to deny that a person is saved when they believe and repent of their sins is not true as well.

Now the precious brother who wrote what you posted here, first of all, is utilizing some very common modern phraseology for baptism which is nowhere found in scripture and is one of my personal pet peeves. Nowhere in the new testament writings do we get that baptism is a "public confession of an inward expression" or an "outward sign of what's been done already on the inside." This is unbiblical and is adding to scripture what is simply not there. This bugs me...

I also think that we too often try to "figure out" every little detail of God's plan and how he works, when I don't think it is as cut and dry as we think! The Bible is not a user manual to be figured out. It was not written as a user manual. It is NARRATIVE. It is a story, and because of that we should approach it as such. We try to make God and being part of his kingdom as easy as 1-2-3... but its not!  Those who say that faith alone saves leave out scriptures like "Ye must be born of water and spirit" or "arise and be baptized, washing away your sins" or "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, He is none of His."  Then again, anyone who denies that salvation at least begins at faith misses the countless verses about the fact that "He that believes that Jesus Christ is the son of God has already entered into life"...

So what's the answer? Im not 100 percent sure (hope I never am), but here is how I see it:

If the word is called the "seed" and the salvation is called the "new birth" (water and spirit), and our maturing process in the Lord is compared to growing from a baby to a young man to a full grown man, then we can safely picture salvation as mirroring our natural physical birth and growth.
-When a new baby is ready to be conceived the first thing that happens is the mothers body is preparing for new life. The head is christ, and the church is the body. The head (brain) tells the body when it is time to conceive...
-Next an egg is released and seed comes in to attempt to fertilize the egg. The seed is the word and I would say the egg is the heart of the new believer. If the word falls on "good ground" then the egg is fertilized and life begins! When a believer accepts the word of truth and believes and repents, new life begins. No one can deny that life begins at conception!
-Between conception and birth, though, is a very important gestational period of 9 months. Then, when the baby is ready to be out on its own, it is delivered out of the water, and then takes its first independant breaths of fresh air! Baptism and receiving the HG! This is important to me because too many times in the UPC a new believer is shook and spit on and nearly forced to receive the HG the moment they believe... but this is not natural. Many times a person needs some time before they are ready to receive the HG. Now I believe that scripture teaches that baptism should happen immediately, so this principle may not apply there, but it sure does for receiving the HG!
-Of course once a new being is in the world, that is only the beginning! They grow from baby to toddler to young man, to grown man -- from milk to the meat, etc etc. To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

At what point do we believe life begins? Well, at conception of course! At what point is someone "saved"? Well, it is hard to say! All of these important developmental steps are vital... The purpose of Christ is to get us to being a mature grownup in Him, so at any point in the process we could choose to go on, or choose to stop going on...

I say let God decide who is SAVED and who is NOT. Our job is to just give the same message that the apostles did: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! Repent and be baptized! Receive ye the Holy Ghost! As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word!  Having had a foundation laid of the basic principles of Christ (milk), let us go on unto perfection...

Salvation is a process, not a step by step plan! It is incremental, not a momentary decision or experience... And I believe that God could, at any step in this process, choose to take a person and call them saved and justified and whisk em away to heaven - ONLY HE KNOWS THE HEART, and only HE has the right to judge a person's salvation.

Hope this makes sense -- let's rise above the modern efforts of man to fit God into a simple box. Let's let God be God, let's help people to get to the next level of growth, whatever that may be, and let's not seperate over the details. Leave the details up to God!

Hope this helps.
_________________
Peace be with you,
Sean

THE AMAZING STORY OF SOPHIE MULLER

Felicity Dale

A few months ago I had the incredible privilege of visiting the Amazon jungle in Venezuela . Many of those living in the town of Puerto Ayacucho where we stayed were tribespeople recently out of the jungle. Those in the jungle still live very primitive lives. While there, I met a man named Ricardo who told me a remarkable story about an extraordinary woman missionary named Sophie Muller. Here is her story in (more or less) Ricardo's own words.

Ricardo with veteran missionary to Venezuela, Buck Smith

"In the early 1940's a young woman in her early twenties came to Columbia from North America. Her name was Sophie Muller. At that time this area consisted of virgin jungle. There were settlements of a few tribal houses scattered throughout the jungle, often many days' journey by canoe apart. The nearest town of any size (Puerto Ayacucho) was not built until 1947.

"Sophie, a reporter for the New York Times, had become a Christian following an outreach in a New York street . She had seen a group of people singing and preaching on the sidewalk and, out of curiosity, had responded to their invitation to join a Bible study. Over time she opened her heart to Christ. She became interested in working with unreached peoples and so went to the New Tribes Mission. She wanted to go somewhere no one had ever been before, and by looking at a map of the world, chose the Amazon jungle.

"In 1944 she went to Columbia and, via Bogota , to the jungle. She came to the Guainia region where the Curipaco tribe lived. At that time, witches and sorcerers were in charge of the jungle. There were many strange ceremonies that included drinking and drugs and wild partying. But there was a legend that had been passed down through the years. Someone had had a dream that a strange-looking person would come with a power greater than that of the witch doctors.

"With her white skin and blue eyes, Sophie certainly fit the bill of looking strange to the tribespeople. So the chief witch doctor prepared a spiritual rite in the jungle as a test. He made a chicken stew and added to it Caribbean stick poison - the strongest poison known in the jungle. It will normally kill a person within five minutes. He offered some to Sophie. As she ate the stew, all the villagers gathered around watching intently, waiting for her to die. She did not die, but felt a little odd and did throw up a little. Some of the village dogs lapped at her vomit and a chicken pecked at it, and they fell over and died immediately. But Sophie herself was unharmed.

"The witch doctor who had prepared the stew converted on the spot. The Indian people were afraid of her power. She became known as a "daughter of God" and was allowed to go wherever she wanted without fear.

"My grandfather was the head witchdoctor of the region. Around that time he saw in a vision that there was a more powerful spirit than the one over the jungle. The story of Sophie passing the poison test spread far and wide throughout the jungle. When my grandfather heard it he sent my father to find Sophie and investigate her. My father paddled his dugout canoe for one month to find her.

"When my father arrived, he made friends with Sophie. She was particularly interested in him because he came from a different (Puinave) tribe and spoke a different language. The two tribes have different languages but the majority of the Puinave can understand the language of the first tribe. Sophie evangelized my father in the Curipaco language. He soon received Christ and they started working together. They would paddle for months at a time to different communities in the jungle to evangelize.

"I was born in the jungle and I knew Sophie Muller. She was my neighbor. She lived just like us in a house with clay walls and a palm roof. She ate the same food as we did. She hated the comfortable life. In the last twenty to thirty years she ate very little?maybe an egg a day and some chocolate drink. She was a woman totally given over to walking with God. Sometimes we would get up at 3am and we could hear her singing to the Lord in the next house.

"My mother would go with Sophie on trips sometimes. She saw many supernatural things happen.

"When I was around ten years old one of the most important of these supernatural incidents occurred. It became known by all the tribespeople throughout the jungle. Incited by the Catholic Church, the Columbian army persecuted her. She was put in a jail with double doors and double locks. As she lay there, she could hear the soldiers fighting amongst themselves as to who would be the first to rape her. They decided to play a game, and the winner would be the one to go first. But while they were playing the game, Sophie fell into a very deep sleep. When she woke up, she was in the middle of the jungle.

"In the meantime, my father had gathered together a group of men armed with bows and arrows to go and rescue her. As they were paddling up river in their dugout canoes they saw a beach with a big turtle sitting on it. Of course, their immediate reaction was food?in fact, banquet! So they pulled up onto the beach to jump the turtle. As they did so they heard a whistle. My father recognized the whistle and went looking. It was Sophie, hiding behind a rock. She had had days of just eating roots and was too weak to even call out. She was covered with cuts and scratches with even some maggots living on her wounds. So they put her in the bottom of the boat wrapped in plastic and paddled up river past various army groups who were no doubt looking for her. When they came to Sophie's house there was a team there from the mission. They came out to greet her.

"Don't be sad or worried," she told them. "Nothing happened. I'm going north for a few days to recover."

"Fifteen days later she was back in the jungle.

"Having learned the Curipaco language, Sophie used others who knew both that language and another of the tribal languages to help her to learn the new language and to translate the Bible.

"Sophie Muller translated the New Testament into seven different tribal languages. During her first year with a new tribe she would clear some ground and write letters on the ground with a stick. She learned the language very fast - the Holy Spirit taught her. Then she taught the people to read and write. Amazingly, some people learned to read and write in just one day. She didn't stay anywhere for very long - usually only a few days. She would leave them with a Bible and move on, trusting the new church to the Holy Spirit. Over the years, leaders were trained. She taught the villagers to have daily meetings to sing Gospel songs, read the Scriptures, answer the questions and pray for one another.

Looking over the Orinoco River to Columbia

"Initially she traveled to the different communities by canoe. They might paddle for one month to reach a location. Often they would have to stop and carry the boat and any supplies long distances because of rapids. While they were traveling Sophie concentrated on her translation of the New Testament initially in Curipaco. She had a small table on the boat with a palm leaf roof covering for shade where she would sit and work on the translation while my father and the others paddled. Finally they got a 3HP motorboat and could stop paddling.

"Even though they could read, Sophie soon realized that many of the Indians were just speaking the words without any deep understanding of what they were reading. So she added an italicized question in parentheses after each verse to be asked by the leader of the group so that they would stop and meditate on what they had read. She also asterisked a verse or two in each chapter for them to memorize. [Editor's note: I was given one of these Bibles in the Puinave language, and even though I do not understand a word, these patterns are very clear.]

"After a while Sophie left the New Tribes Mission and continued the work on her own, being supported by just a few churches at home. Sophie was more of a sower than a reaper. She opened the door to the jungle. She was unique?utterly consecrated to God.

"After 20 years, there were around 200 churches that Sophie had started. She had 50 named leaders in charge of all these churches. She organized conferences every six months to try and keep in contact. These were know as "rendezvous," and attracted thousands of Indians.

"Sophie and my father worked together for fifty years. During that time, Sophie started maybe 500 churches. When Sophie finally left the jungle twelve years ago, she was an old woman. She had asked the Lord for fifty years of service to him. She died in her sister's arms of stomach cancer three months after her arrival back in the States.

"After the deaths of Sophie and my father, the work in the jungle was abandoned. The churches began dying and the people returning to their tribal customs. Even the rendezvous ceased to exist. Before his death, seven years ago, my father challenged me to go back to the jungle. At that time I was pastoring a church in the city. At first, it was a difficult battle but eventually I decided to try to revive the work in the jungle. So far I have trained 33 people to evangelize and plant churches in different jungle communities. Please pray for the work there."

We've been talking about this among our church family lately -- what makes a thought or an action or an attitude right or wrong, and why? What makes something a sin, and how can I tell if it is a sin?

Well, in my thinking it comes down to Jesus' statement about the greatest commandment:

Mark 12:29-31 -> Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: `Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' The second is equally important: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these."

In Matthew's account he adds this:

Mat. 22:40 -> "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

If the two greatest commandments are to love God with all you are, and love your neighbor as yourself, and on these two commandments summarize the law and prophets (the entire old testament), then these two commandments are God's ultimate purpose for us! So we could assume correctly that anything that hinders our ability to keep these two commandments would be sin.

Murder for example is not loving my neighbor, therefore it is sin. Adultery is not loving my wife, therefore it is sin. Stealing is not loving my neighbor, therefore it is sin. Idolatry (worshipping something other than God) is not loving my God, therefore it is sin. Now these are sins of commission (things that we do, or sins we commit), however, just as condemning are sins of omission (things we should do but fail to)... Things like:

Failing to come to my neighbors aid when in trouble or hurting. Failing to feed my brother when he is hungry. These are not loving my neighbor in the same way I love myself, therefore they are sin as well. In fact, when Jesus was challenged by the crowd about "who" was their neighbor, the Lord told them a story of a beat-up foreigner laying in the street, and the only man who came to his aid and took care of him - that he was the one who was truly loving his neighbor!

Failing to pray and failing to study the word of God are also not loving the Lord with all my heart soul mind and strength. Failing to do what the Lord expects of me in his word is not obeying, therefore it also is not loving the Lord my God.

Now the controversial part comes in here. There are a handful of things that many of us have been taught are sinful, but based on this simple measuring stick, truly are NOT sinful things. Smoking, for example, is a fine example of something commonly thought as sinful but in and of itself is not sin. Does having a smoke in the privacy of my own home hinder me from loving my neighbor or loving my God? Honestly, no. Scripture nowhere speaks against enjoying the fruit of our labor in this manner. How about if I have a smoke in the company of friends who approve of such behavior? No, because it in no way hinders my love for them or for God.

Smoking could become sinful, however, if I smoke in the presence of someone who openly disapproves of such behavior. In this case, I am not loving my neighbor because I have damaged their conscience, and Paul speaks against this numerous times, such as in Romans 14. How else could smoking become sinful? How about if my brother is in need and instead of buying him food I buy more tobacco? That is certainly not loving my neighbor. How about if I my enjoyment of tobacco gets in the way of my praying and Bible study? Then it is hindering my love for God, and has become sin.

In these ways anything could become a sin to me - my family, or car, or job. Anything that gets in the way of my love for my brother or my love for God can be sin!

How about enjoying an alcoholic beverage? The same thoughts apply. In and of itself, a beer is just a beer, a glass of wine is just a glass of wine. Now granted alcohol in specific has been the instigator of many sins, but by itself it is not sinful. In other words, it is the abuse of the substance that has led to sin, not the substance itself. Jesus himself drank with his disciples and even with the sinners he was trying to reach. He was called a drunk and a glutton by those who hated him because he openly partied with his friends. He even told his disciples during their last meal together that the next time they would drink wine with him again was in the New Kingdom. So according to Christ there will be wine in heaven, and we will be enjoying it together! I say these things to show that according to scripture - and therefore God - alcohol is not sinful in and of itself. It is the abuse and misuse of this gift from God that displeases him and in the end causes us to hate our neighbor. Now there is no doubt that alcohol is for mature audiences only, and should be avoided in certain contexts, but based on our lovingGod and loving neighbor measuring stick, having a drink responsibly is perfectly, and within the right context, acceptable in God's eyes.

Now, some might say when Paul said that "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and if any man destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy", that Paul was referring to such unhealthy habits such as smoking or drinking; and therefore, if abused, could end up destroying the temple of God (our body). I would say to those people that they need to read 1 Corinthians chapter 6 again, and pay special attention to the context of that passage. Paul is not in any way referring to eating too much McDonalds (just as unhealthy as smoking), or not getting enough exercise (also very unhealthy) -- rather he was referring specifically to sexual immorality. Nowhere in scripture do I find any connection between what is unhealthy to the body and what God considers sin. Just because something is unhealthy to the natural body doesn't make it sin. Sin is always (and solely) a matter of the heart.

One more note in closing: Paul clearly indicated that there are many things that are not sin, but can be hinderances to doing the whole will of God - and this is a completely seperate discussion. Just because things are permissable (not a sin) does not make them beneficial (good for our spiritual growth), and for this reason many things are left up to each individual conscience before God.

In scripture, sin is a matter of the heart, a matter of motive -- and is manifested in failing to love God, and failing to love ones neighbor.

Knowing these thing,. let us strive to love everyone the same, just as we love ourselves, and let us love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Further, let us no more be tied up with the constricting laws of men - rather let us be constricted only by the law of God - loving and loving alone.

Okay so no matter what you do or don't believe about the devil or demons, this little fable strikes very true and is extremely powerful!

SATAN'S MEETING

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.
In his opening address he said,
"We can't keep Christians from going to church."
"We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and Knowing the truth."
"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate
Relationship with their Savior."
"Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power
Over them is broken."

"So let them go to their churches; let them have their
Covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they
Don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.."
"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:
"Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and
Maintaining that vita l connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and
Invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."
"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and
The husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a
Day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."
"Keep them from spending time with their children"
"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will
Offer no escape from the pressures of work!"

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear
That still, small voice."
"Entice them to play the radio or iPod, whenever they drive."
To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home
and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays
Non-biblical music constantly."
"This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."
"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."
"Invade their driving moments with billboards."
"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order
Catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter
And promotional offering free products, services and
False hopes.."

"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so
their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important,
and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. "
"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night."
"Give them headaches too! "
"If they don't give their husbands the love they need,
They will begin to look elsewhere."
"That will fragment their families quickly!"

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching
Their children the real meaning of Christmas."
"Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about
His resurrection and power over sin and death."

"Even in their recreation, let them be e xcessive."
"Have them return from their recreation exhausted."
"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation.
Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead."

"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip
and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences."
"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have
No time to seek power from Jesus."

"Soon they will be working in their own s trength,
Sacrificing their health and family for the good of The cause."

"It will work!"
"It will work!"
It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere
to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.
Having little time for their God or their families.
Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus
To change lives.

I guess the question is,
has the devil been successful in his schemes?

You be the judge....

What is simple church?

Simple church actually draws its roots all the way back to the first century, because from the earliest records we find of the followers of Jesus and the first Christian churches, this is the type of church life they practiced!

Back then there were no special buildings to "have church" in. They met together from house to house and in public everywhere. The churches in Jerusalem met in their homes and in the temple courts (because that was the public center of their city) -- and the churches everywhere else in other cities (Rome, Galatia, Ephesus, etc etc) met in their homes and in public (public squares, market places, etc)... This would be the equivalent of modern Christians meeting together in their homes for worship, as well as meeting in coffee shops, at jobs, at the mall, and in other such public places. This is definately one of the reasons the first century church spread so rapidly - Jesus was not trapped within the four walls of church buildings - He was free to be at work where everyday life happened every day, among the sinners and crazies and normal people everywhere!

Back then they also did not have "Pastors" as we know them today. In most churches nowadays there is a head honcho who does the majority of the teaching and preaching and ministry, and all the "normal" people sit back and enjoy the show. However, back then all the saints participated in the dirty work! When they came together, every one of them had something to share - a song, a teaching, a doctrine, a prophesy, or anything else to build up the group of believers around them (1 Cor. 14:26). Because all were in tune with what the Spirit was saying to the church, Jesus was mightily at work among them with signs and wonders and healings, and all grew and prospered in the faith of Jesus Christ. It can still be that way today for all those who are hungry enough for Jesus to be willing to get involved and help shoulder the responsibility of ministry in the church!

The only leadership found among the early church were "elders" (also called bishops or deacons) who were mature individuals in each household who were willing to help oversee what went on in the church to make sure there were no major problems. Otherwise everyone was a priest and a King to God, everyone a minister, everyone a witness, everyone authorized to baptize new believers and lay hands on the sick and hear from God as the Spirit led.

Hungry to be a part of the church as it originally was in all of its messy and dysfunctional beauty and power? Come join us as we "do life" together and seek to plant simple churches everywhere!