this is the first time in at least a couple of months I've even �A;checked in on this site.�A;Interestingly enough it seems you did as well, Tim.�A;My heart breaks for everyone I love who has held on from within the PCUSA�A;believing she might survive or with enough prayer we can 'revive us again'�A;as the old hymn writers say it best..�A;from here?�A;I'm watching my mom losing a hard fought battle with cancer she seems�A;to be losing here on earth.�A;at the same time I do know.�A;This world's loss?�A;heaven's gain.�A;In the end, as I am reflecting on stories like "the chronicles of narnia" �A;I realize how important it is we get hold of the Truth behind the "illusion" �A;JESUS IS COMING SOON.�A;HE IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY and FOREVER.�A;we believe or we don't.�A;from our hearts we believe what Jesus has taught us is TRUTH�A;or we deep down inside are denying his words and think him to be a liar.�A;I guess it's up to us what it is we believe.�A;�A;&#A0;�A;�A;�A;�A;________________________________�A;From: QuickTopic daily digest <qtopic-11-TyEe4GYwYqjMJ@quicktopic.com>�A;To: karenkolbin@yahoo.com�A;Sent: Mon, November 2, 2009 11:50:38 PM�A;Subject: Confessing Church Movement�A;�A;--QT-------------------------------------------------------------�A;&#A0; &#A0; &#A0; Messages for the topic "Confessing Church Movement" for 11-02-2009.�A;&#A0; &#A0; &#A0; Reply by email or visit�A;&#A0; &#A0; &#A0; http://www.quicktopic.com/11/H/TyEe4GYwYqjMJ�A;&#A0; &#A0; &#A0; �A;--------------------------------------------------------------- -�A;�A;From: Tim&#A0; Time: 06:15 PM�A;is this still going on?�A;------------------------------------------------------------�A;_________________________________________________________________�A;To unsubscribe: http://www.quicktopic.com/11/X/TyEe4GYwYqjMJ�A;Start your own topic in 20 seconds: http://www.quicktopic.com |QT�A;

is this still going on?

is this maybe baggage?
One of my very dearest friends in the whole world was a man named Al Eakes. He sat in a wheel chair for most of his life.
Up until the age of 19, Al was a totally "normal" human in the sense of having eyes that could see, ears that could hear, legs that could walk.
then he collapsed one day and his life changed forever.
He could still hear, see, think as clearly as you and me but there started a breakdown in his whole body that left him, literally, speechless by the time he died.
I don't think I can go on here..but I want to say to you all my friend, Al, said many things to me as he was dying.
He was viewed as a "handicapped person" who was not worthy of even being alive let alone "listened to"
Gene E..might I suggest, quite humbly, you read the works of Henri Nouwan.
Please take time also to read "In His Steps" if you haven't yet..it's not for me some kind of legalistic bondage here ..
anyway, I'm sorry.
Lectures are futile.
I hate lectures. God forbid I'd ever be reduced to using them as a means of proving at all the kind of love and passion I feel for Jesus and His Church..
God help us everyone.

what does baggage mean?
that a Catholic priest attempted to sexually molest me when I went to him believing that confessing my sin of fornication should be forgiven?
that a "Lutheran minister" read to me a poem to mock Mary as the Virgin Mother and mock the birth of Jesus Christ as being a child of fornication?
maybe you are right, Gene E..to identify this as "baggage"
I was very confused and from my heart with all my heart only searching for truth and reality in a world that quite obviously is anything but..
sometimes I feel like I need to return to square one and start all over again..
My mother, who I had gone back to help because my father had threatened to take away all of my siblings if I didn't returned to the Catholic Church.
She told me while I was sitting beside her in church "you are not allowed to receive communion until you return to the Catholic Church"
Not that I was even going to..but you know what?
that was unbelievable to me.
I told my mother, "If I'm not welcome, then this is NOT MY FATHER's TABLE"
yes, you have hit a raw nerve here, Gene E. for me and I do hope and pray I might do the same for you.
Jesus is coming soon for HIS OWN.
there's nothing in this world worth holding onto other than HIM.
when I say "I love you" I mean it from my heart.
and maybe baggage in your own life could keep you from believing it.
I do understand.

And I do appreciate that coming from you, Gene E.
Let me assure you that at no time have I ever been "homophobic" and to be truthful I have found my kid's homosexual friends (as well as my own)
to be among the kindest and nicest of people so obviously you realize that "baggage" has for me the same meaning it might for you.
Otherwise, there is one thing I do know and that is that no child of mine would ever be turned away from my table unless he became so obnoxious and blatently offensive that we could no longer tolerate him.
My heart is really broken over this maybe more than ever my heart has been in this world.
I don't think I've fully communicated here the "cost" for me personally when I dared to stand my ground in the face of a man who was raging and accusing John Michael Talbot and calling me a "witch" for refusing to back down when I dared to defend him.
You are right, Gene E. that the confusion in the church is hurting so, so many people. Our brother, Harlan Popov, is so right.
God knows how to save HIS OWN..
it's not in my hands.
I will do my best simply to "choose mercy" in every situation.
To "do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with my God"
I am very disappointed in what a man who has been to me someone I have for so long trusted as a true brother would so betray any of his friends.
I'd expect him to stand his ground here, and I pray he will in the end.

Edited by author 06-04-2009 11:19 AM
Karen...I don't know how you will receive this. At best I'll even grant it is a compliment with stings. You have a LOT of baggage and issues. I don't even particularily like you. You know that, and I mention it only as a preface to the next sentence, for dishonest or sugarcoated compliments mean very little; you are a Christian and a woman who loves God, and for all my complaints about you, I cannot conceive that you would approach something as solumn and holy as Communion with anything less than preparation and sincere love of God.

They say a compliment from someone who does not like you means more than one from a friend. Whatever your opinions on that, I will say here for all to read that the group of believers who will be taking communion at this place and time, persons who love you enough to invite you (and ask you to work no less, yet..well...you have a right to be offended, I will leave it at that) but then say you cannot join them in communion, will only have offended God by keeping one his daughters from doing what she is called to do 'in rememberance of me'. God has not lost anything in it,for God is omnipotent and knows you love Him. And you, aside from being justifiably insulted and hurt, will be no farther from God for not being allowed to partake, but they who have denied you this communion will in contrast have treated you unjustly...and they will also be the poorer for not have you joining with them. Truly, I mean that.

Dont take it the wrong way...I feel about you the way I do, and I am not saying otherwise, but once again, let it be known to any and all who read here that I know you love and serve God, and as for anyone who says that you cannot join them in communion? It is their loss in not having you, who love God deeply, join them in the experience. NOT yours.

I will only say, in their defense, if one can call it that, that they are following the (mistaken) teachings of their denomination. Sad excuse it is...but, such is the case. That you honestly did not realize that before, is...unfourtionate.

Take it in the spirit it is written in Karen, for I mean it well, and as a compliment.

this was not the case, by the way, for what happened with our friend JMT.
We received a letter from him asking that we send money to help build back a monastary that burnt down..
so ok, I will go on...this is why I got so "bent out of shape" over it..
we are also invited to join them at their monastary and even given a priviledged place of being invited to prayer and worship with them..
but at the very end of it all we are told, "while we recognize our Prostant brethren as Christians and believe we are to worship in "unity" for now none but confirmed Roman Catholics are invited to celebrate the eucharist with us"
this is for me not only a shock but an insult.
I should go there to "serve" by working my butt off however they need me to "help" to rebuild the physical buildings where they are worshipping and inviting others to the Lord's TABLE but at the same time be refused a place because I do not believe their doctrine is sound?
I'm honestly torn because in a way it's safer for them to know that at least whoever is receiving communion takes the act seriously as sacred..
on the other hand?
there is balance for sure. Unrepentant sinners are going to receive communion week after week (some even administering it as we realize the number of priests who've been involved in blatently sexually abusing children entrusted to their care)
whatever the case..I feel very grieved that John Michael would go along with this, especially when it is because I refused to bow down to Keith Green calling him a heretic that brought down on my head such wrath from a "Reformer"