We must no longer blithely pretend that everything is alright, for such is a false peace. We must feel the full weight and horror of the evil engulfing us—and realize that such wickedness lives not just in others, but in our own hearts. At any time, God can bring true restoration and healing to his Church.
He has shown that time and again through the ages. But it is also a fact of history that God rarely acts without the sincere contrition of his people. Many of us are justifiably angered by the systemic evil in the Church. And yet if we examine our own hearts, we will find them filled with unforgiveness, bitterness, lust, envy, judgement, greed, hatred, materialism, ambition—and at the very least a great deal of worldliness and love of comfort. He will judge and punish every wicked and complicit prelate, every false shepherd that does not sincerely repent.
And in that day, it would have been better for them to have never been born. As for us, let us strive to root out the evil in our hearts. Let us cry out to God with tears of sorrow for our sins, the sins of the world, and the sins of his Church.
Let us pray and sacrifice for the salvation of all. Joseph digital poster. Good and powerful reflection, Sam. We, the people of God must be the lights that show our priests and bishops the way. We can hardly expect from them what prayer, penance and sacrifice we will not make ourselves. I know for too long I have ignored what is going on in the Church apart from my participation at my local Mass.
I have not been a support or encouragement to the priests and bishops who are trying to live faithful to the Gospel and to their callings. I am humbling asking God how I can change me to be more supportive of and attentive to those who serve us.
I believe that support will entail both praise and encouragement and the calling out of sin and evil when it is present. Keep up the good work. I love the website. It has been a great encouragement to me since I discovered it several months ago. We must pray we must repent, but we must act especially with acts of public sacrifice and reparation.
Furthermore , we must hold the episcopacy accountable for the rot and wickedness foisted upon us. Not one penny more until the putridness is cleaned out. Your email address will not be published. Skip to main content Wickedness in High Places August 8, In Acts , Luke tells us that people were being added to that church. That church is the church of Christ. It is not. The church of Christ is the church that belongs to Christ, that was established by Christ, that was built by Christ, and that was bought by Christ.
We are not voted into the church by men, and we do not join a church the way some might join a country club. Instead, God adds us to His church when we obey His gospel. Are those in the church of Christ the only people who are going to be saved? Of course they are! God adds people to His church when they are saved.
To be saved outside of the church of Christ is to be saved outside of the body of Christ — and that can never happen.
Jesus is not just a way to the Father; he is the way to the Father. Thus, the real question is not what is the church of Christ, but is rather how do you become a part of the church of Christ? That question was asked in the first century as it is asked today, and the answer remains the same.
Like the Apostle Paul, we are saved when our sins are washed away at our baptism. There is one church of Christ. If you are a member of something else or something more or something less, then you are not serving God according to His plan or according to His will. He wants you to be a Christian and only a Christian, wearing only the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the head and the savior of the church, His body.
Want to know more? Here are 10 things everyone should understand about the church , here are some common misconceptions about the church, and here is how God views the church. What must I do? That same question was asked in Acts at the end of the very first gospel sermon ever preached. Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings, which means he is your Lord and your King whether or not you obey him or believe him. In fact, Paul prayed after he saw Jesus on the road to Damascus Acts , and yet Paul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later Acts Cornelius prayed to God always Acts , and yet there remained something he still had to do after calling for Peter Acts If your preacher is telling you something different, then you need a new preacher!
Here is God's Plan of Salvation. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And now why tarriest thou?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Please read this lesson on baptism from our series of lessons on Thought Provoking Questions. We have many audio gospel sermons available in MP3 format. We also have a selection of articles on how to preach , and we have over sermons by Cecil Hutson. On this web site, you will find 's of pages of detailed class notes and 's of hours of audio lessons on a variety of Bible books and Bible subjects. Recent classes include 13 lessons on how to teach the Bible and 4 lessons on Matthew all with video.
Our class on Revelation provides a detailed verse-by-verse treatment of that beautiful book in 25 lessons with audio. Is Revelation all about Heaven and the end of the world as so many believe?
Revelation promises a blessing to those who read and heed what it says, which means that the book is meant to be understood and that it can be understood. But to understand Revelation we must read it through first century eyes, and we must study it in light of the Old Testament.
We have 38 lessons on the prophecies of Daniel with audio. How is Daniel related to Revelation? What are the 70 weeks? What is the abomination of desolation? We have 28 lessons on the books of Ezra and Esther.
What are the themes of those two books? Why is Esther such a strange book? What was the history of that time? We have 25 lessons on the book of Isaiah with video. What can we learn about the Lord's church from the book of Isaiah? These lessons are also available in video format.
We also have 24 lessons on First Corinthians. In this epistle, Paul deals with many current issues facing the church both then and now: immorality, divorce and remarriage, the role of women, spiritual gifts, the importance of love, and the resurrection of the body. We have 25 lessons on Second Corinthians. In this epistle, Paul continues to deal with problems facing the church in Corinth, which now include an influx of false apostles who are belittling Paul and demeaning his apostolic authority.
Were those books written by Peter? Was Peter the first pope? Why were those books written? Are false teachers still a problem today?
0コメント