Compromise-2

We don't belive there was any conscious intent on your part to honor Satan, but the fact that a festival was held simply because it was halloween, initiated solely by that fact, honored him non-the-less.

You know there was people there that did not know the Lord, that got very interested in God that day. We were not using that day to celebrate Satan my friend, we were there as a witness to the comunity--to glorify God. You don't think you could have reached out to them in another--less compromising--way and interested them in the Lord?

When Christianity became the official religion of Rome, Constantine allowed the people to incorporate elements of the demonic worship they had previously engaged in, into their Christian worship--in order to reach more people--in order to make Christianity more attractive to the community--was that right?

HALLOWEEN IS GOING TO CONTINUE ACROSS THE NATION--nothin we can do about. And your point is....? We know Satan will stay busy until Jesus comes (in fact he is busier now than ever, because he knows his time is short). The above statement is absolutely irrelevant.

No, halloween is not going away, because Satan is not going away--but the attitude of, "If you can't beat em--join em," can definitely not be found in any scriptural example--in fact, just the opposite is true.

We can either sit at home with our doors shut or we can go out to be a witness to our community and let people see Jesus in us. And what would be wrong with letting them see Jesus in us by standing against an absolutely Satanic Holy Day by staying at home with our doors shut? That would be an excellent witness to the community.

They might even grow curious enough to want to know why. But if you want to do something about it, why not step up witnessing efforts, and attempt to win even more souls in ways that do not honor the occasion.

At any rate, we should be making every effort at reaching out to individuals (-Vs- the community) continuously--not just on certain occasions.

No matter how you look at there is no Satan in my heart or in my friend's hearts. It was done in compassion for our community. True compassion for the community would have been to have the courage to take a stand as a Godly example for the community--not embracing Satan's big day.

And we disagree that all of these so called "Fall Festivals" that are held by churches just prior to, or actually on, the day of halloween are motivated by compassion for the community--we believe they are motivated because God's people are so enamoured with the world, they are unwilling to give up the things of the world, including this utterly Satanic Holy Day.

Thanksgiving is the Christian fall festival--why aren't we seeing "Fall Festivals" then? I've never seen even one at a church on that legitamate Christian holiday--but hardly a church in the country misses out on the chance to have a halloween party.

In John 3:17 Jesus said for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but through him that the world might be saved ,,,its not for us as examples of Christ, to judge or condemn people but to show love... Are you trying to say that it is not loving to warn a beloved brother when we see him heading in the wrong direction?

It is the consistent cry of the ecumenical crowd that those who speak the truth are unloving and judgmental and full of condemnation.

The apostle Paul said, "speak the truth in love." Truth doesn't always sound pleasant to the ears--but it always brings life and blessing... if we will not reject it.

God said, "my people are destroyed by lack of knowledge--because they rejected knowledge."

The prophets were all considered unloving, judgmental and full of condemnation, because they spoke the hard plain truth--and they spoke it in love.

Paul also asked some people he had admonished, "am I become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"

Telling people what they should read, or what they should do--that's not our job that's the job of the Holy Spirit... not that man teach but be taught by the holy spirit. You have just taken that scripture completely out of context (you should recognize that is a spirit of rebellion working through you--Rebellion always says, "don't tell me what to do").

If what you are reading and what you are doing is bringing harm to you--and we know about it--then we are commanded by God to bring it to your attention.

If we won't listen to the Word of God, whether out of rebellion or just plain ignorance (for the Spirit always speaks through the Word--whether we are reading it at the moment or not), then God will send one (or more) of his people to bring the matter to our attention (that's scripture).

If we won't listen to either the Word, Spirit or the people God sends, then he will begin to correct us through his chastisement.

If the chastisement is disregarded, we ultimately bring judgment upon ourselves. God always gives us the easiest option of obedience first.

Now I love you and Jocelyn. You are very special people to me we are family, just like the rest of the Christians of this world. We are called to unity with Christ not divided. That word "unity", is an overused and devastatingly mis-used word in the Body of Christ these days. It's a convenient cop-out used to justify disregarding the admonitions God brings into our lives through each other.

We love you too, and it would be all too easy to just say nothing, but the risk is too great. We recognize that can God use you greatly...if you will stop compromising and get rid of that spirit of pride and rebellion.

If we were doing anything wrong, I apologize, but I do think God would have said something without another person saying anything at all. There's that spirit of rebellion again (don't tell me what to do!).

I live each day to try to follow God through the Holy Spirit... it's not for us to judge no one. Thats GODS job on the day of judgment. Jesus himself said he didn't come to bring peace but a sword (division). His Word divides (sharper than a two edged sword, dividing...).

Learn the difference between contention and contending

They are not synonymous.

We told you once that we believed God had brought you into our lives because you needed discipling. You did not receive that at the time, and since we have no desire to control or attract disciples to ourselves--we let it go, and said no more about it.

We encouraged you to be bold about your calling (that is not to say we did not recognize your youth and need for leadership).

We also tried to encourage you to prepare properly for that calling, but my friend, you had the bit in your teeth and were running with it--and you still are.

You still need discipleship, and we still believe you are not getting what you need in order to become an uncompromising man of God.

I wanna hear him say well done when I stand before him. Then our first counsel to you would be to put down that butter knife you're reading, and pick up the sword you carried when we first met you (you know what we are speaking of--the Word of God)--then begin ruthlessly inventorying your life and removing all things from it that are coming between you and God--and begin listening to wise counsel--instead of holding only to that which makes you feel good.

You know the teachers of the law was so quick to call Jesus blasphimy he would go an hang with the sinners,,,Actually they called Jesus Satan, because of the miracles he did. Jesus said they blasphemed. Jesus didn't hang out with sinners in the sense that he participated in their sinful activities--he reached out to them with the truth.

Jesus would never have attended anything having to do with a Devilish Holy Day--no matter how it was dressed up.

How can we lead people to Christ if we dont follow what JESUS did? What did Jesus Do? He always told the uncompromising truth. One day he lost thousands of followers in one fell swoop--because he was unwilling to make himself more appealing to them by catering to their lusts (John 6).

The fact is, he put the truth to them in the most unpalatable way he could come up with just to see who was pure hearted in following him and who was following him just for what they could get out of it.

It was more than a teaching--he was seting a example for us. Go into the world he said. How can you confuse fitting in with the world, with going out into the world?

Jesus said the world would hate us. He never even hinted that we should try to win them by attempting to appeal to them. He said just the opposite. He said his way was narrow and steep--and few would find it.

I do love yalll,,,please dont misunderstand by what you see look on towards the hearts as God does. You just took another one completely out of context little brother. The verse you are referring to is dealing with judging people by how they look (physical attractiveness, fashionability, grammer, mannerisms, high class or low class). That verse is actually dealing with personal prejudice--not judging lifestyles by the word of God.

We are commanded to, not only to be accountable to one another, but also to judge lifestyle choices of other Christians by the Word of God. We are told to reprove, rebuke, exhort one another with all patience, longsuffering, meekness and by the Word of God.

You can remedy that. It takes time and consistency. It takes determined diligent effort. It takes disipline committment and submission.