The Power Of Words
September 20, 2008 @ 05:55 AM |
Permalink
by Van Robison
Words spoken shape our thinking.
The words Jesus Christ spoke so impacted the
world, that hundreds of millions of human beings
have believed in Christ. Countless lives have been
changed for the better because of the words of
Jesus Christ. Odd, that at the same time, many
take offense at Jesus Christ, even though
everything He taught was only right and good. The
real reason religious leaders of the time of
Christ took offense with Him is because His words
took away their false authority, false power,
their prestige, their self importance, their
pride, their vanity, their false teachings, their
fake status and their looting. Jesus stripped fake
religion to the bare bones, proving that what one
sees in religious leaders is not necessarily a
Godsend. Read more...
|
The "Divine Right" Of Pastors
September 01, 2008 @ 02:47 AM |
Permalink
by Van Robison
Pastors of churches are like
monarchs in European history who believed in the
"Divine Right of Kings." Religious rulers and
governments have a great deal in common, because
they all believe in "Divine Right" to rule your
life. One great, overwhelming lesson in life on
earth is that human beings are not now, and never
have been qualified to rule over their fellow man.
Many kings and queens in history are notorious as
tyrants, liars, thieves and murderers. The same is
true of many rulers of governments throughout
time, regardless of titles. The world we live in
is a world of mind boggling injustices, in the
name of "security", "national interests",
"freedom", "self defense", "self preservation",
"law", "religion", "God", "the Bible", "false
accusations", "health", "prevention", "education",
"science" and "the way that seems right."
Read
more...
Declaration Of Independence From Churchianity
August 23, 2008 @ 01:34 AM |
Permalink
by Van Robison
We the people hold these truths
to be self-evident, that all believers in Jesus
Christ have the God given right to follow Jesus
Christ as their Shepherd, and not to be bound in
chains to either paid hirelings or
overlords--variously called pastors, senior
pastors, bishops or other titles. We hold that
those who are born-again are entitled to look to
Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life,
apart from institutional churches, which are
man-made institutions. We hold that born-again
believers have the responsibility to prove all
things, try the spirits whether they be of God, to
be aware of false teachers who use the name of
Jesus Christ, and to define "truth" based upon
their own personal studies of the Bible and
discernment through the Holy Spirit. We hold that
followers of Jesus Christ hear His voice and
follow Him, and not to be clones in thinking of
pastors, church creeds or church doctrines, which
are all formulated by religious leaders.
Read
more...
Pavilions of Protection
August 13, 2008 @ 12:08 AM |
Permalink
Book review of Bill Gothard's
Pavilions of Protection
by Pastor Barry Black
In the last issue of the MCOI
Journal we reviewed Bill Gothard’s book,
The Exceeding Great Power of God’s
Grace. Due the limitations of space in a
publication such as this a book review cannot be
an exhaustive critique. Instead, we will highlight
some of the more blatant issues. There are seven
chapters in Pavilions of Protection. Even
the most casual student of Bill’s teachings
concerning the “principle of
authority” can see that what once was an
umbrella is now a pavilion…wow, it grew!
But of course, that is what leaven does (Galatians
5:9). But fear not, in chapter seven, Bill returns
to his umbrella analogy. Two main points are
recurring themes in Pavilions of
Protection. I will try to limit this review
to these two major themes. Read more...
| .doc
| .pdf
In the last issue of the MCOI
Journal we reviewed Bill Gothard’s book,
The Exceeding Great Power of God’s
Grace. Due the limitations of space in a
publication such as this a book review cannot be
an exhaustive critique. Instead, we will highlight
some of the more blatant issues. There are seven
chapters in Pavilions of Protection. Even
the most casual student of Bill’s teachings
concerning the “principle of
authority” can see that what once was an
umbrella is now a pavilion…wow, it grew!
But of course, that is what leaven does (Galatians
5:9). But fear not, in chapter seven, Bill returns
to his umbrella analogy. Two main points are
recurring themes in Pavilions of
Protection. I will try to limit this review
to these two major themes. Read more...
| .doc
| .pdf
Churchianity--Rest In Peace!
August 10, 2008 @ 01:30 AM |
Permalink
by Van Robison
The institutional church system
has engraved its own tombstone. Churchianity is
dying and sealing its own fate as countless
Christians rejoice to see the man-made customs and
traditions of "professional pastors" pass into the
nether world. After a very long encounter with
false doctrines, false apostles, false teachings,
false prophecies, false Y2K, false end times,
false last days, false tithing and false Christs,
the man-made church world is in upheaval. Like a
game of chess, the "professional clergy" system of
churchianity is in CHECKMATE. The Internet makes
this truth a glaring reality, as innumerable
websites attest to the death of the institutional
church world. Plain and simple is the fact that
Christians want real Truth, real Life and the real
Way--Jesus Christ, and not fake churchianity.
Read
more...
"Authority"--The Most Widely Abused Form Of Fear
July 27, 2008 @ 12:15 AM |
Permalink
by Van Robison
"Authority" is a major vehicle of
both human governments and religion. The church
world exploits millions of people through fear of
church leaders. Cult groups are notorious to
instill fear in their captives. Causing church
goers to fear the loss of salvation if they don't
conform to church leadership is a tool of
dictatorship. Using very select passages of the
Bible to validate authoritarianism is a common
practice in the world of churches. Using very
select passages of the Bible to validate
"prosperity" by financially partnering with
celebrity preachers and local pastors is also a
very common practice in this day and age.
Virtually anyone can quote scriptures, and "the
Bible" is quoted probably more than any other
reference on earth. The Bible is used as the
source book and foundation for false authority,
false prosperity, false man-made offices of power
over others, false tithing in the New Testament
era, false private church empires, and supposedly
to validate control of common church goers by
"professional" clergy. Innumerable good-hearted
church goers have been spiritually abused by
church leaders, using "the Bible" as their source
of power-mongering, and this practice dates back a
very long time in history. Read
more...
SPAM again
July 23, 2008 @ 08:26 PM |
Permalink
Apparently, someone has once again
tried to spam members of our discussion forums
using the form e-mail function of the forums. To
prevent this, do the following:
- Log onto the forum, and then click on "Profile" (near the top).
- Click on "Privacy" (on the left).
- Select "Hide your e-mail address and disallow form e-mail".
If you do choose to allow form e-mail (ie., you don't mind if other members of this board can contact you privately), then please do not reply to any spam e-mail messages. Rather, report them to us here (by posting a reply to the thread) so that we can deal with them as soon as possible.
Thanks.
Jesus Christ Is Not For Sale
July 17, 2008 @ 12:00 AM |
Permalink
by Van Robison
"Christianity" has been for a
very long time, a smörgåsbord of choices as to
what organization a church goer decides to
participate in. The varieties are endless, from
global church empires, to very small local
churches with few attenders. Probably no church
organization formed under the "laws" of man-made
governments and nations, exists without a "FOR
SALE" sign in the form of tithes, offerings or
both. That is to say that churches merchandise
Jesus Christ as a commodity FOR SALE, and expect
financial partners. You might say that pastors and
priests of churches offer salvation and eternal
life at a price, and generally speaking, all
church goers either adhere to the way of their
pastors or priests, or hit the highway as a
non-conformist. Read
more...
The Exceeding Great Power of God's Grace
July 11, 2008 @ 10:08 PM |
Permalink
Book review of Bill Gothard's
The Exceeding Great Power of God's
Grace by Pastor Barry D. Black
with contribution by L.L. (Don) Veinot, Jr.
During the 1980's and early
1990's, we attended no less than half a dozen of
Bill Gothard's "Basic Seminars," and no less than
two "Advanced Seminars." we distinctly remember
during that period, Gothard defined "grace" as
"the power and desire to do God's will joyfully."
That definition is far removed from the orthodox,
Biblical definition of grace which, again, is:
God's unmerited favor. The English word grace
comes from the Greek word charis meaning
gift, and it was in common usage among the pagans
in the culture in which the epistles were penned.
They certainly would not have understood it to
mean "the power and ability to do God's will
joyfully;" and if they had, the question then
would have been, "Which god or gods?" since the
word was in use prior to Christianity.
Read more...
During the 1980's and early
1990's, we attended no less than half a dozen of
Bill Gothard's "Basic Seminars," and no less than
two "Advanced Seminars." we distinctly remember
during that period, Gothard defined "grace" as
"the power and desire to do God's will joyfully."
That definition is far removed from the orthodox,
Biblical definition of grace which, again, is:
God's unmerited favor. The English word grace
comes from the Greek word charis meaning
gift, and it was in common usage among the pagans
in the culture in which the epistles were penned.
They certainly would not have understood it to
mean "the power and ability to do God's will
joyfully;" and if they had, the question then
would have been, "Which god or gods?" since the
word was in use prior to Christianity.
Read more...
Tenacious Resistance To Truth By Church Leaders
July 01, 2008 @ 12:53 AM |
Permalink
by Van Robison
An amazing reality about power,
control, prestige and endless free money, is that
those who nest in such places, tenaciously resist
TRUTH. They resist truth by twisting scriptures to
support their false authority over common church
goers. While many church pastors are very deceived
and deluded themselves, even if they are sincere,
other leaders are simply addicted to power and
money. Last year, the prestigious Wall Street
Journal published an article
entitled The Backlash
Against Tithing by Suzanne Sataline, on
November 23, 2007. What I find very intriguing is
that many websites have posted comments about this
article. Church goers have long been programmed to
accept tithing as a "Christian" duty and
responsibility, as well as the key to being
materially blessed. It is therefore not surprising
when many church goers post comments on various
websites favoring the tithing principle. It shows
the level of indoctrination many Christians have
from pastors who stand in the pulpits.
Read
more...
