Started a new book last week, Knowing the Doctrines...

I am nearly finished with John Bevere's "Driven By Eternity" book, but in the meantime I started a book written by Myer Pearlman called "Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible."

It is a way expanded version of the little fundamentals of truth, those one sentence statements of faith, that churches and ministries publish in their brochures and web pages. I guess that by knowing these statement of faiths, we are supposed to know if their beliefs are aligned with ours, or at least Christian anyway. But that isn't what I was going to write about.

The last few days, I have been reading his section on what the Bible tells us about man. Yes, you, me, and the person sitting next to you.

This author contends that we are triune in nature rather than two-part. Which based on all the reading I have done in the Bible, is my view. He does make the distinction that we are two-part in that we are composed of a material substance and an immaterial substance (body and soul). However, he goes on to say that the Bible then introduces a second immaterial substance (in the New Testament) being the spirit part of man.

However he goes on to say that both views are actually correct since soul and spirit are inseparable. He describes this as "They permeate and interpenetrate each other." Evidently even though the words "soul" and "spirit" are used interchangeably in the Bible translations because they are so connected, there are certain places where they distinctly say something very different. It is when we look at those instances that we discern that that man is comprised of three parts: body, soul, spirit.

What are the words of eternal life?

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

John 6: 68-69, ESV

Christian.TV Launches Facebook competitor aimed at the Christian Marketplace.
Tulsa, Ok (Feb 9, 2009) - FaithOut.com, a brand new Faith Based Social Network intended to be a Christian Facebook Alternative launches this week with much excitement. Soft launch began at the beginning of October 2008 and already more than 5000 have flocked to the new website. FaithOut is a faith based social utility that connects people around their church, ministry, region, school or workplace. Users can upload all their favorite photos, tag their friends and family, share videos and music and find others around similar spiritual interests.

"There is enormous potential for FaithOut to bridge the gap not only between people’s online ‘social’ activities (blogging, photo sharing, messaging), but between individuals, churches, groups and ministries that all connect in one way or another offline." says Robbie Davidson, FaithOut Technology Architect.

In the final stages of development is FaithOut Ministry Suite. This one of a kind social tool will provide a white-label solution for churches, ministries and various organizations to build their own social networks to integrate into their websites or as a stand-alone feature. Many churches are petitioning to be part of the beta program for this all-in-one social solution for their congregations online.

"Social networking is where the church must go. Those organizations who embrace technology and go beyond simple internet marketing will build true community. Social Community (not Social Networking) is the missing link in a comprehensive internet strategy for the ministry of the modern era.” says Kally Hristov, President of Christian.TV

RE: Eternity & where will You spend it

K-Fish, I agree that a person who just repeats the sinner's prayer and then goes back to the same life style with no change of heart or living is in danger of being rejected by God in that He will say " I never knew ye". When we pray the prayer for forgiveness, there has to be a change in our hearts and a change in our everyday life and style of living, also, a change in the way we treat our fellow man. Without these
changes and without the act of witnessing to our fellow men, what are we accomplishing? It is our christian duty to confess Christ openly and be a witness in
the way we live each day.
Just food for thought.

A King's Son

Where will you spend Eternity and how will YOU get there?

Interestingly enough to me, tonight in the book I am currently reading by John Bevere, "Driven By Eternity", in the chapter 'Judgement of Deceived', John states the following:

"The gospel we've preached has been lopsided with emphasis on accepting Jesus by praying a sinner's prayer. We confess Him as "Lord," and once done we are saved eternally. Yet this is not what Jesus teaches. He says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 7:21, NIV)"

He goes on to say that converts gained in this manner...

"...go back to their seats "just as they were." Except now they are deceived. Nothing has been said concerning repentance from disobedient lifestyles, denying their own desires... ...losing their lives for the cause of Christ. They've confessed Jesus as their "Lord," but there's been no heart change."

Hmmmm...... interesting... I want to say I agree with him a 100%.

"Driven By Eternity" and John Bevere

I started a new book. Not writing one, but reading one. Ha!

The book is titled "Driven By Eternity - Making Your Life Count Today and Forever". I am on page 52 of 260. Interestingly enough, John has used the parable method of telling a story so far.

It's a two-fer. A two-for-one deal. Let me explain.

The book starts out talking about eternity and what our concept, or lack of concept, regarding eternity is. Then suddenly, the discussion is abandoned and he switches to telling a fictional story to illustrate how life choices thrust us into very different eternal results. I haven't gotten past the fictional part of the book which is illustrating Bible truths so well, so I assume I haven't seen any of the meat of the book yet, but so far, I have looked forward to picking it up each evening to digest a bit more...

Speaking of which I probably should go read some more of it!