ImHis
July 30th, 2007, 04:27 PM
My friend is in this church.
1. very legalistic
2. thinks you can lose your salvation
3. worships without music - don't have a problem with this but they believe music violates the word that says, "don't add to or take away from God's word", so they question those who do
4. public confession - when I was a babe in Christ, I used to visit her church, when you go up to the front to accept Christ (which I never did, I was already saved), the person had to publically confess that darkness they'd just emerged from. :ohno I DISDAINED this part of the service. I'm sitting there, SO EMBARRASSED as this stranger, this person is airing their personal dirty laundry to a group of strangers, all of whom may not be saved. Talking about terrible things, drug abuse, sexual abuse, etc. The congregation is hanging on their every word and I'm sitting there just cringing inside, wishing for the service to end.
I have been praying for the veil to be lifted from her and her family's eyes, that God reveals the truth to them, b/c as a teacher recently pointed out, if you are not totally saved (saved all the way) then are you really saved? It would break my heart if she and her family weren't saved :( If I tell her the truth, I'm pretty sure our 15+ year friendship would end or be severely strained. So I've been praying that if God does want to use me to tell them the truth, that He guides my words.
When I first met her, I was saved but grew up in the church and wandered away. She grew up in COC and never left. She was so much more Biblically knowledgable than I.
Now that I've grown in the Lord, I know so much more about the Bible than she does. She's always stating she doesn't understand NT passages. That worries me, b/c the indwelling HS makes scripture understandable to the saved and I keep thinking, if she thinks she can loose her salvation, she's not saved. She knows I believe in *once saved always saved* that's what their church calls it. Its based on the misinterpretation of one scripture which sound like you can lose your salvation, but it's an often misinterpreted scripture. One afternoon I did a study and filled up several notebook pages of scripture to give her when the topic comes up.
I can see it now, she's going to say her one (misinterpreted) scripture and I'm going to pull out mine with promise after promise from God that salvation can't be lost.
Her knowledge (as it did then before I knew better) consists of a handful of scripture that their church espouses over and over and guess what else, the time of the law, the OT!
If you had to bring up this subject to someone close, how would you do it?
**************************
I forgot:
6. They don't believe in the rapture, very clearly stated in scripture, yet they bypass it in their study. They believe that the Lord comes and the world ends. PERIOD.
One day I was at her house and I mentioned the rapture. She didn't know what I was talking about, so I showed her a website talking about Isaiah and the 70 weeks, the rapture and the tribulation. I told her to go get (her own) Bible (a NKJV), and showed her the passages. She listened very quietly, acted mildly suprised, said that she would read the info later. She never mentioned it again.
1. very legalistic
2. thinks you can lose your salvation
3. worships without music - don't have a problem with this but they believe music violates the word that says, "don't add to or take away from God's word", so they question those who do
4. public confession - when I was a babe in Christ, I used to visit her church, when you go up to the front to accept Christ (which I never did, I was already saved), the person had to publically confess that darkness they'd just emerged from. :ohno I DISDAINED this part of the service. I'm sitting there, SO EMBARRASSED as this stranger, this person is airing their personal dirty laundry to a group of strangers, all of whom may not be saved. Talking about terrible things, drug abuse, sexual abuse, etc. The congregation is hanging on their every word and I'm sitting there just cringing inside, wishing for the service to end.
I have been praying for the veil to be lifted from her and her family's eyes, that God reveals the truth to them, b/c as a teacher recently pointed out, if you are not totally saved (saved all the way) then are you really saved? It would break my heart if she and her family weren't saved :( If I tell her the truth, I'm pretty sure our 15+ year friendship would end or be severely strained. So I've been praying that if God does want to use me to tell them the truth, that He guides my words.
When I first met her, I was saved but grew up in the church and wandered away. She grew up in COC and never left. She was so much more Biblically knowledgable than I.
Now that I've grown in the Lord, I know so much more about the Bible than she does. She's always stating she doesn't understand NT passages. That worries me, b/c the indwelling HS makes scripture understandable to the saved and I keep thinking, if she thinks she can loose her salvation, she's not saved. She knows I believe in *once saved always saved* that's what their church calls it. Its based on the misinterpretation of one scripture which sound like you can lose your salvation, but it's an often misinterpreted scripture. One afternoon I did a study and filled up several notebook pages of scripture to give her when the topic comes up.
I can see it now, she's going to say her one (misinterpreted) scripture and I'm going to pull out mine with promise after promise from God that salvation can't be lost.
Her knowledge (as it did then before I knew better) consists of a handful of scripture that their church espouses over and over and guess what else, the time of the law, the OT!
If you had to bring up this subject to someone close, how would you do it?
**************************
I forgot:
6. They don't believe in the rapture, very clearly stated in scripture, yet they bypass it in their study. They believe that the Lord comes and the world ends. PERIOD.
One day I was at her house and I mentioned the rapture. She didn't know what I was talking about, so I showed her a website talking about Isaiah and the 70 weeks, the rapture and the tribulation. I told her to go get (her own) Bible (a NKJV), and showed her the passages. She listened very quietly, acted mildly suprised, said that she would read the info later. She never mentioned it again.