Faith without works is dead according to scripture so what are these works? Are they the clothing you put on (or don't put on) ? Are they the jewelry you do or do not wear ? Are they your hair style ?
OR
Are they loving as Christ loved ?
Are they praying without ceasing ?
Are they sharing the Gospel of Christ redemption ?
Are they having a spirit of forgiveness ?
Are they believing in God's love and plan for your life ?
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen and without faith it is impossible to please Him.
The first list can certainly be performed without the need for faith in anything more substantial than our own human desires.
The second list requires faith in God, that He is and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him.

Nancy

I let this lapse for a few weeks because things were just nuts. Sorry about that, everyone.

Good websites and related blogs can easily go hand-in-hand. Most of my blogging experience is with Wordpress and Blogger. These are good options because they're free and have a large following of members.

In my experience, Blogger is better for business use, due to their Terms of Service. For Wordpress to be effective for a business, you'd have to host a copy of it on your own server. The server-side version doesn't really have good spam controls, IMO.

A blog can serve helpful purposes. One is to provide a way to interact with your visitors. Blog discussions can be quite lively at times, as I've learned from experience.

Blogs can also be good substitutes for newsletters and other mailing lists. Social media is more of a big deal today than email. Most blogging platforms offer good social media integration for sharing and updating.

AJtheIrishLass

Some won't like that I said cult but I could have said asylum ok, my apologies to the more serious among us.

Anyway, I am finding life to be very peaceful, rewarding, joyful , and surprisingly kind to me. No lightening strikes, fear, intimidation, etc. God is still good, kind, awesome, a source of strength and rest. His Word is still true and still hidden in my heart and slowly untwisting from years of cult manipulation. I find it easier to pray and sense a caring God listening with love instead of the harsh, threatening, far away God from the legalistic church.

I find it increasingly easier to trust God and to trust others, having faith in His love allows me to believe others truly love me and infuses me with love for others, friend and foe.
The spirit of judging, both myself and others, comparing, ranking spiritually on a ridiculous legalistic scale is a thing of the past.

An old children's song says it all " Have faith, hope, and charity, that's the way to live successfully, how do I know the Bible tells me so"

So 60 is good. Out of the cult is good. God is good. My heart is full and I am in love with God, family, friends , life in general and even see the possibility of loving those that despite fully used me, God bless us one and all

Nancy

I had someone recently inform me that someone in my new church had manipulated me. They didn't ask whether I'd made a decision and followed through or if the other person had pressured me. They didn't know the other person. They didn't ask any of the particulars. They made a statement and I said that wasn't always the case and gave that particular situation as example. Their immediate response was not a healthy "maybe things are different in different places" or "how did you feel about this statement", but simply "they were manipulating you."

The situation I had used as an example is one I'm particularly happy about. It was a good choice for me. I've not had one regret about the situation, and have actually become more pleased with it over time. But their statement still troubled me deeply. I was manipulated in my former church. I don't want to be manipulated again. But more than that, what they said was manipulative, in that they didn't take time to find out "the rest of the story" but simply shot that back at me out of the blue.

What is manipulation? Is it open discussion and dialogue, leading to a well informed opinion, or statements that are sly or twisted with an intent to deceive or meet their own end? It's most definitely the latter.

There've been a whole lot of times in Pentecost that I've seen things twisted that way to silence, to wound, to block another way of thinking, to stop someone from doing a thing. I guess what took my breath away this time was that I wasn't talking to a Pentecostal... and I've been in a healthy situation (the one the person attacked) long enough to realize just how unhealthy the person's statement was.

Now, if I could just go ahead and get over "furious" and get to "forgiveness" maybe things could get back to normal for me.

mary