Something in our local paper reminded me

[determined]

This isn't against the Catholic Church so please don't be offended. The article was about the Main Church going to close one of the smaller ones here in our area because basically it is to poor. It is bringing in enough to cover the bills, but the Diosees?sp is telling them that they need to bring in something like $2000 more per month to be viable. The parish is mostly elderly and unemployed.

To me this is a case of the Church being ran like a business (it isn't only the Catholic Church that works this way), and I can hear my Grandpa saying "GOD WILL PROVIDE" Our little church wasn't rich in money. It was undenominational and was built as a Community House of Worship because the people were so varied in their faiths and couldn't always make it into town to their "home" church but still wanted a place to worship. On any given Sunday in bad weather we would have people who belonged to 4 different faiths.

Anyhow we came out of Church one Sunday morning and there was a car with a young family sitting in the driveway, as I said I was raised in the country and these people would not have just "seen the church" and decided to stop. The father told Grandpa that they were traveling for him to take a new job, and had had car trouble that took all their funds to fix, they had slept in their car the night before and had prayed about thier situation. When they came to the turn-off for the Ridge, he said GOD told him to turn off, he being human didn't really want to because this was a backroad and they were almost out of gas and he was worried that they would be "stuck in the boonies" But his wife told him that "if they asked GOD for help they needed to accept it". Grandpa handed him everything that had been in the offering plate plus some out of his own pocket and sent them on the way with a prayer. One of the older women told him "you just gave them the electric bill money and it is due Friday" Grandpa just looked at her and said "GOD WILL PROVIDE" Wens when he arrived at church there was an envelope on the alter with the exact amount (plus postage) that was needed with a note saying "GOD said you needed this". Would be strong enough proof to me but it wasn't the end of the story a couple years later the church needed a new roof, as the old one was damaged in a storm. Grandpa again firmly said "GOD WILL PROVIDE", the next day a letter was delivered with the exact amount for the new roof, the note explained that the church had helped them while they were traveling for a new job, the new job was working out great and they now felt it was time to payback with interest what was given them.


So I guess that my thought is that if we "humans" would just do GODS work that he has given us to do, and let him take care of the Business part of it we wouldn't have this type of thing.

[Deborah]

Michael and I both fought God with a vengence, for many years. Separately and together, we went against everything that we knew inwardly was true. He brought us back to him, mostly by Christians showing loving concern when we desperatley needed it. Many times, it was sacrificial love, as they needed it also!

The church we attended when we lived in the Albuquerque area started in an apartment house living room, but is now HUGE. Often times, it grew because folks saw a need, and God helped them fulfill it.

Your grandfather must have been a Godly man, as the church's needs were certainly seen to. That's a wonderful way to grow up.

About the Catholic church (I was originally going there, believe it or not) it's said in the Christian circles we frequent, that if a ministry isn't flourishing, it's because it's being done in man's name, not God's. Not knowing anything about that parish, I can't say one way or another, but the churches we know about that teach the Word, and the Word only, are increasing in attendance each and every week. Simply amazing how many folks are feeling the pull to learn more about God.

[determined]

Deb, Grandpa was what now they call a "Full Gospel" preacher. He never became ordained, he sent for the paperwork from alot of "churchs" but there always seemed to be something in them that he felt was "man's interpitation" and not Gods and he would not put his name on something he didn't believe or agree with. Funny no matter what church he visited he was always asked to get up and say a few words. What is really funny is that I was in a church several towns away from Grandpa's "stomping grounds" at a Bible study and they were discussing how to tell a "true Christian" several of the people started describbing this "older gentleman" that they had come in contact with, to my suprise when they came up with the name it was Grandpa. One had a family member who was in the hospital Grandpa did daily visits at and one had been visiting in a church that Grandpa was also at. Have always wanted to sit down and write a book of short stories called "At Grandpa's Knee"

Unfortunatally sometimes I see a Church florishing, but have gotten the feeling that it isn't GOD, that is behind it. Any time I hear a preacher say "I" to many times I get nervous. There is a church up here that just built a huge new building, they also have schools and run several business, Everytime you hear the minister talk about anything they are doing it is always "Look what WE have already accomplished" never any mention of GOD in the picture. One of the things that Grandpa stressed to us was that the Devil knows the Bible, and he can do miracales(sp) so we have to be watchful that he doesn't sneak in on us. I think the Bible verse is "be ever vigal lest you be fooled" and comes when Jesus is telling the diciples about the last days.

[Deborah]

I'm always amazed at how often the Bible is appropriate, even if the subject is not spoken of directly.

Paul commended the Bereans that they compared everything they heard against the Scriptures (the Tanakh, Hebrew Old Testament.) Not only do I apply this to the what I hear from the different churches,but also to politics. The two are very closely entwined people being people, and before I form an opinion, it's good to study both sides.

I've heard proponents of abortion say that it's not mentioned in the Bible, it is, so is homosexuality. In God's eyes, any sin is sin, they're not rated higher or lower than another, but when I hear someone say something isn't mentioned, it's easy to see that they haven't done due diligence to be informed enough to give an opinion.

You really should write down what your Grandpa said, it would be interesting.

[determined]

Deb was a country farmer and so were most of the people he ministered to, so he would put things into what he called "farm terms" to make it easier to understand. One thing he did, that used to drive me nuts when I was younger, that I now know was the greatest thing he could do for my faith, was if you asked him what was meant by certian scripture, he wouldn't just give you an answer. He would ask what you thought it meant, then would say, okay now look up _____________ another scripture, then maybe another one (he always said that there are at least 3 scriptures to support any truth), sometimes they would just support what you already believed. The reason he did this was as he said "it isn't just important to know what you believe, but why you believe it, that way someone with a slick tongue can't sway your faith" . We did learn to quote Bible verses, but he said that wasn't important, The Devil can quote the Bible beginging to end, he said that when faced with something, pray for wisdom and GOD will lead you to the right verse at the right time.

As I've said before he never raised his voice, he also never moved from the pulpit when he was preaching. When someone asked him why and told him "you have to get their attention, was a younger preacher in fact younger than some of the grandkids, Grandpa asked him to explain about what Jesus meant when he told Peter "feed my sheep" he then went on to explain that when he went out to feed his animals that if he were yelling and stomping around the animals attention was divided on the food, and on him. He wanted their attention all on the food, So the same was true when he was feeding "Jesus's sheep", he wanted their entire attention on the "food that GOD had given him to feed them"