Train tracks run in more than one direction: and destructive words from a pulpit can harm the faithful.

11 Command and teach these things. 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 13 Until I come,devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture.


The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods,which God created.

 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters,[a] you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith

     Years ago when I came upon a Small Christan group I believed in what they taught, simply because I could finally see that yes there was a day in the past when Pentecost and the pouring out of the Spirit of God actually happened and it still did.  However in my newness I came to believe everything out of the mouth of the Pastor was truth.  It was sadly not.  Yes there was great preaching but unfortunately the train tracks the fellowship was on was one-way only.  
   The vision was unshakeable and anything that was contrary to it was stampeded immediately and squashed.
     There were doctrines of error mixed with the Gospel of truth.  Dangerous as Paul pointed out to Timothy mentioned above.  Words from the pulpit to Christains require some "thought processes to be in place" when digesting it and our brains need not be checked at the door.  I was forbid to marry the one I was with when I found Christianity, for 5 years.  This need not happen and clearly Paul fought this very same mentality in the first century church. Why then do we?  Now I realize Paul was directing his preaching to those who abandoned the faith and had taken up teachings that were destructive but like anything, these had crept into the Church.  Timothy was a young man, tutored by Paul and gifted and  he was encouraged not to forsake the gifting received by the Prophecies spoken over him. Likewise when I was young I had experienced the Spirit of God for the first time and I had some Prophetic experiences not unlike those mentioned in the Gospels.  It was a normal experience for this to happen to those who believe.  However it ran "smack in the face" to the Pastor who said something to the effect, " that's pretty good for someone two-weeks-in -the-Lord!"  Sarcastic to say the least.  Another time I was helping and Elderly man and his wife in care and errands meeting their needs. This man had started 50 churches in his day and was well known and an Evangelistic "Giant" to use the term and a very humble man still interested in spreading the Gospel at 86 years of age.  In his day tracts were used and so I helped him print some of his "old time" tracts so he could distribute then when he wanted to.  Thing was...I offered to do it because he could no longer do it himself.  This also ran counter to the Pastor's wishes and it was terminated and the Pastor had to counsel the OLD MAN.!"  I was in the counsel session and it was to say the least, handled in an inappropriate way, chastising the older man.  And I was told not to help in any longer.  Why?  Again train, on the tracks on a one-way mission.  Anything that de-railed that train was opposed.  The man counseled, if one wishes to find out about his character was Stanley Hanby, who started preaching at 16, Near the original outpouring of the Spirit in Azuza, Ca. 1916!  This man was no neo-phyte.  One of his best messages I remember was on forgiveness.  

    Long story short.....it is with caution  and with wisdom in this day we live in that we receive a Gospel that is infused with the power of God still able to work in a very personal and mighty way, but we must be able to actively be involved and question authority when necessary and not to have a fear when doing so.  If ever a ministry is fearful of that, from it's congregation, then you can be sure that something needs to be looked at seriously.  Remember, Jesus said, that which is done in the darkness, will be revealed on the housetops, or in the light.
     With so many demoninations of Churches and so many messages being preached it is so easy to "Pick a Pastor" or find a seeker church that tickles the ears. Or in other words find a message we personally like.  Is it God? We have to know.  
stanley r hanby

TIME

   

 There is a time for everything,
 and a season for every activity under the heavens:

Another year has ended and with it we put behind us the things we have done, the things we have seen both the good and the bad.  2015 is here a space age number!  I remember the sixties song "in the year 2525 if man is still alive".......some 210 years to go for this to come to be and will we make it?   We will if we  can tame the aggressions of nations who choose to live outside the norms of the world's more civilized societies.  If not, wars and rumors of wars will be the prophetic words come to life.   They are a Biblical progression of events foretold and nothing God says is void or empty........ they will come.

     But we can rejoice that there is a heavenly plan even if some would deny it's possibilities by overlooking it as some old and ancient nonsense.  God is very much alive and active in our world.  Faith is the substance of things not seen.......the evidence of things hoped for.   We as Christians hold on to faith because of this very reason.  We can fail, we are mortal are weak, and we still need God to at times bolster our strength.  If we humble ourselves then God will do his best to redeem the times that are here.  The madness of nations, people, climactic events,  aren't they enough to make one consider..................our times?  

2  

A despicable evil;

     I am not nationalistic by nature, however today I take a stand against the evil (ISIS) that is putting a stranglehold on the countries of Iraq and Syria fomenting a perverse Islam and murdering innocents.  For all those who may have read the Wall Street Journal two perhaps three days ago it was an article in that edition tha stopped me in my tracks.  Basically it was this:  Isis was capturing young kids and teens and indoctrinating them in ways to behead the enemies of ISIS.  These are young children at the mercy of evil incarnate and some do not know the difference and so they obey.  It made me sick and I had to take breaks inbetween reading.  This has to be stopped somehow someway.  And so I thank our God for our nation in times like these where freedom prevails and we have a decency to live by and we can still point the way to a certain right way of life....let there be a continous thousand points of light in this country that will always shine bright and let all those nations that oppress and repress it's citizens take notice of us.  We are not a perfect nation but there is much to be said for our freedoms and our way of life.
     With the President having dissolved the embargo to Cuba many were vehement against this. Because the leaders there  The Castros, oppressed their people and killed them and imprisoned those who spoke out just like China and N Korea too.  And they still rule. I see both sides of the issue. Time will tell.  Marxism and Communism are a dead poitical movement.  I pray we can stop Isis soon, if we cannot, A just God will judge them.                                      .
 

Whoever is pregnant with evil
    conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
15 Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
    falls into the pit they have made.
16 The trouble they cause recoils on them;
    their violence comes down on their own heads.

 

Forgive: The very heart of God

     “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

    

     This is a time of year to reflect on things past.  Is there anyone in your family a "black sheep"?  Some one who may have a colorful reputation they carry around?  Is there any one carrying a burden, created by another that casts a shadow and weight of guilt? (unmerited).   I'm sure every family like mine has each one of these things we often worry about and are consumed by guilt and a weight not unlike a millstone that wants to emotionally sink us.  

     Jesus forgives, totally, and so must we.  There is a spiritual weight that everyone carries around with them from the day they are born until the day they leave this Earth.  It is a spiritual law.  Even though most will deny it or are obvlious to it.  All of it can be contained in one word-----Sin----and most of us relate to that particular word as being bad, evil, or totally reprobate.   It is not necessarily the case, and it is a misunderstood word.  In Hebrew (hatta, the ' awon, pesha, ra')) it means to "miss the mark".  In other words we have missed our God, and are away from him cut off by a Sin within our members.  It just is, that is until we are forgiven and avail ourselves to the one who forgives, Jesus Christ,  Messiah.

    

 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

    

      Our very nature requires that we forgive as did our Lord, otherwise we can and will live a life that can easily callus over and harden our heart.  Fathers and sons?  Mothers's in Law and Daugher's in law?  Is there always friction?   Forgive and it will be forgiven you and the weight of sorrow will be lifted and the eyes will brighten.  Try it this year....Happy new Year....It is the mercy of forgiveness that will always endure, look for it in anyone anywhere and anyplace,who has it to offer, it is life giving.  

     

     

For You Who Believe:

      And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, 



    This blog is for all those who believe in the LOrd  and Savior Jesus Christ.  This time of year we are at present thinking of course of our loved  ones and how to please them with a material gift and sharing our homes with loved ones who may be returning to share with us the Holiday season.  For us as believers, this time of year is no less a sacred day in which we remember our Lord's birth and the Joy brought to us by all that he did for us ( and the world and those who may not yet come to believe).  And so the words of Paul to his fledgling new believers as above remind us that there is indeed a word of God not of human origen that makes us sanctified by our belief in Christ.  This is no small thing.  In order for the Thessalonians to believe, they had to over come their belief in "idols" and in their case actual man made statues or Gods they worshipped.  They had to come out of a frame of mind of belief inorder to re-orient their thinking and recieve the Holy Spirit of God himself to change their life forever more.  They had to be sanctified, and live pure lives not as pagans do that surrounded them.   
     So must we. We are no different than they even though we consider ourselves "moderns".  There are still with us thought processes as ancient as the ones the Thessalonians believed and just as dangerous to come out from.  Worship of angelic beings?  Stars? (astrology) gold (wall street) material things (Gods of the harvest and the list is still extensive.  
     So the word of God is still active and "sharper than a double-edged sword able  to pierce the thoughts and intents of the heart to the marrow of the bone.
 And it is still saving....2000 + years later...Thanks be to God.........Happy Holidays.

Walking:

Started out being born pre-mature 3 months too soon...1955 a miracle to be here... 1lb 1 oz.!

Experienced my first serious illness at age 6, almost died had tracheostomy, lived 2 weeks in oxygen tent.

Read the bible for the first time on my Grandmothers's nite stand... seemed like a good story age nine.

Read a novel about Pueblo Bonito and it's Indian inhabitants..saw picture of bones of a young boy! Thought about death for the first time. Age nine

Went to summer camp and had fun, rode horses, learned bow and arrows and read Good news for modern man, a Bible in modern english..made some sense.  Age 13

Had my first job in supermarket, was approached by many people of various religions, The Moons, Hare Krishna, Eastern medidators etc. and even Amway people.  Didn't like any  Age 16

Left Church at 16 didn't feel anything,  Pastor did all the talking

Age 21 had first girlfriend, lost girlfriend, depressed and started thinking.....Are you there?  God?

Age 24 found new girlfriend, got engaged we both found ....God!  And away we went!

Walking along found faith, picked it up and continued along .

Got married, age 27 found more faith, light kept going  had kids, found Church 17 years of friends and labor and some hard times and some questions?  Age 41 lost Church ....and friends found out they were Cultish and insulated, NOT the Gospel I came to believe. Moved. experience many Churches along the way.

Age 50 kids growing, immensly proud, they are great kids.  Found my Rock of Salvation...Christ is the Rock.

Found more light along the way, more understanding, more tolerance, and more faith,   age 59, had spectacular dream, Missionary oriented, considering it, God is faithful, praying and waiting,  One year has gone by since dream, time to obey............more faith is required.   Obedience is better than sacrifice....what awaits?  .........................

Making Visible That Which Was Invisible:

I am the Alpha and the Omega: I declare the end from the very beginning:

I Am The First born From the Dead:

There Is None Other Besides:

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.

       Paul presents his argument to the Colossians in that they should be aware that there those who will decieve them and persuade them that the gospel of good news (Of Christ the Messiah) is a false notion. Pentecost has occurred and the Spirit of Christ (The Holy Spirit has been given to those who believe).  Paul himself a recipient of this grace preached mightly on this topic to the new believers.  Spiritual counterfeits (tares) will always grow alongside of the truth. So Paul mightly worked at disarming these untruths, necessary for the establishment of the early Church and it's doctines to make pure the bride of Christ.  

      The Church like it or not is a working of the Spirit of God and not man made  (or should not be).  It is a continuing work  to bring a "fullness of time" to the present world and a working of counterculture. It replaces what we were as born in our sins to what we should have been.  It is grace unbounded.  It is the revelation that God's kingdom has broken into our world with it's supernatural POWER to free all of us from our bondages caused by sin.  Disease, depression, poverty, and oppression either from rulers or society's ills forced upon us has been broken by Christ the Annointed one of God.  

    Today 2000 years later the message may be watered down, programed to death and re-worked in prosperity doctrines by men who  themselves have lost their way, however the message is still preached and is made visible from the invisible.  The words of Christ and the law every "jot and tittle" will not pass away until the final end.  So then there is hope for the continuing preaching that saves.    

2 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.