I want to share this brief thought. It goes with what works actually is. As most of us found, the UPC and performance based churches often like to point to James, where he says that faith without works is dead, in order to support some of their teachings.

One day at my old workplace, I was looking through a book we had of graphics which we could use in advertisements. In the religious section, one caught my attention. It said, "Work is love made visible".

I think this is a good way to summarize exactly what James was teaching. Ephesians tells us that we are saved through faith and not works; yet James says faith without works is dead. Are these contrary the one to the other? No, they are not. (More could be said on this, but not in this posting.)

The example James uses to show works have to do with our actions toward others. Jesus stated that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. The works that we do come from the love in our hearts. These works will never save us, nor make us righteous, nor gain us any special standing with God. They are simply the evidence of what is in our hearts.

Work is love made visible. I like that!

Lois

I came across two videos on YouTube that show an atheist hypnotist in action, "converting" people to a belief in God based on what they feel and what happens to them at his gathering. It is in two parts. You need to watch them in order.

I am sharing these for consideration. Many have come to accept whatever happens in a church service as being from God. That is not so. We are told to try the spirits and to use discernment.

These videos are a good example of how people can be manipulated (in this instance through hypnosis or the power of suggestion) and then think something was from God, when in fact it was not. There's a lot that happens in some church gatherings that is far from being of God, yet is readily accepted as such.

The first is at:


The second is at:


If this man can do this, and it obviously isn't God touching these people, then we need to take care in not blindly accepting anything that happens in a church gathering.

Lois

Years back, then General Superintendent Nathaniel Urshan, along with Robert Sabin, appeared on the John Ankerberg Show. On the Trinitarian side appeared Walter Martin and Calvin Beisner.

Here is the show on Google Video.


is Part One.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...75095983771949
is Part Two.


is Part Three.

Lois

Someone in an unhealthy church may ask a question like this:

In responding, I could counter with, did God actually find you in a UPC church? God was drawing you to Himself well before you stepped foot in a UPC church. The type of church doesn't matter. Where you were when you let God into your life doesn't matter. They really have no bearing on you and God as our walk is a one on one relationship with Him. God could just have easily met with you in a vacant field or a hot desert. See what I mean?

When we first come to God, we are overjoyed. We want to do anything and everything. We are not looking for things wrong. We may not even have any knowledge of the Bible or very little to know how to discern between true and false teachings.

So, did your church change? Was it different in the beginning? My guess is no. But your perception of it has changed. You are no longer in the beginning happy stages where you may have been ready to do anything and everything leadership in the church may have said without question. You've now matured. You've gained knowledge.

When someone in the UPC starts to question teachings, no matter what they may be, it often does feel like their foundation is being shaken- and in reality, it is. But if your foundation is based upon man's things, then you need it to be shaken, even though it doesn't feel very good and can be quite scary.

I have found through my own experience, as well as listening to a great many people who have left the UPC or other apostolic churches, that God often uses some incident to cause the person to start to look objectively into a matter. What that something is varies greatly. It may or may not have anything directly to do with the teachings themselves.

For me, it started when I helped at the church run day care for the second time. Events that happened over several months helped cause me to feel that if things didn't change, I'd be leaving the church.

I ended up resigning my teaching position at the end of the summer program and went away for a few weeks and spent some time with UPC friends in the ministry who knew how things could be at my church. (It has often helped me to go away somewhere while thinking things over.)

When I returned, I heard all kinds of things about a tape recording that the pastor played in a Thursday evening service. It was a Christian radio broadcast on spiritual abuse. The two guests were former members of the church. They didn't mention the church name or anyone's name in the church. His reason for playing it was so members could see what was being said about the church.

I asked to borrow the tape and found...

Lois