[Pastor Ezekiel]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

Unsaved NOT Welcome is our motto. That's the way God wants it, friend.

[Dr. Ernest C. Ville, D.C.S.]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

Well, since childhood, I never thought much about Jesus.

Well, my friend, you have come to the right place, since we here at Landover think about Jesus 24x7

My parents raised me to believe, so it was just something that I went along with to make them happy.

Fantastic! You were raised by Godly parents, and at least satisfied one of the Ten Commandments. We're off to a great start!

I didn't start to really think about it until I was 15, however, my thoughts were pulling me in the wrong direction.

That sounds about the correct age when we start to lose our childlike faith in Jesus and start to get pulled into the dangerous thinking that can cause us to lose our Salvation. It happens to everyone, and only through a great deal of focus on Jesus can we drown out that dangerous voice that asks questions that cannot and should not be answered.

I started asking questions like, "If everyone who doesn't accept Jesus Christ goes to Hell, does that include people who have never even heard of Jesus, and therefore, never had a choice?"

Well this is actually one of the easiest questions to answer. It is written that:

20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

It is quite simple: everyone knows that God exists. Of course they may be ignorant on some simple things (I suspect that Jesus won't judge the backwards Africans who work on Sundays too harshly, but that is opinion and not Biblically factual), but overall every human is born knowing of Jesus. I mean look around: everyone knows that God created all of Nature. This basic fact cannot be denied.

"If everyone says,'We're right and they're wrong because our holy book says so,' how do I know who's really right and wrong?"

Well the difference here is that OUR Holy Book, the 1611 King James Bible, has never been proven wrong. The Quoran, the Talmud, etc are riddled with factual errors, but never has one of the Bible's prophecies ever been wrong. That is something that no other "holy" book can claim. It's as simple as reading a textbook: if one claims that the sun is square and one says that it is round, we can look at it to determine that the former is, quite simply, wrong.

I had thoroughly convinced myself that Christianity was wrong in nearly every way, that the Bible was a book of myths and legends, and that Jesus Christ had never even existed at all.

This is a sad, sad story, my friend, and yet all too frequent. I trust that something brought you back to the Lord!

I was doomed, until I had that series of encounters with the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. He said that the Bible had all the answers I would ever need, and that as long as I followed His Word, I would never have to worry about doubt or damnation again. He also clarified that since I had never really accepted him to begin with, I had never really fallen away from him, so I was not irredeemably lost (Hebrews 6:3), and so, I humbly gave my life over to Him. I burned all of my non-Christian books, cut off all ties with those two harlots that I had messed around with, and immediately began searching for a church.

Praise the Lord! He surely does work in mysterious ways! It sounds as though you were awakened for the Lord, and this is truly a great moment in anyone's life!

Green Acres was the best I could find in my area, which is another reason I want to move. I pray and read the Bible daily, and I work to improve this unholy community while I'm still here. I'm just having trouble fitting in here at the Landover forums. I can;t control my mouth sometimes, or in this case, my typing fingers, and I sincerely apologize for that.

My friend, we here at Landover are nothing if not ever-forgiving. We are extremely patient with our visitors, knowing that they likely have not spent as much time in the Word as we have, and therefore are less equipped to dealing with God's commandments.

Also, I'd like to ask an open question to anyone who wants to answer: Is saving people and winning new converts a high priority for Landover, or would you just as soon leave the unsaved to rot in Hell if conversion proves too fruitless?

My friend, only Jesus is capable of Saving someone. Our job here is to spread the Word of God and to provide examples of True Christian(tm) living. We cannot control whether or not someone chooses to follow Jesus or whether they will continually reject Him until He throws their sorry behinds to the burning pit of Hell. Naturally each of us is gifted in different ways. For instance, Pastor Ezekiel is a Master Converter and has converted countless souls for Jesus. On the other hand, I do not have the gentle touch that he possesses and therefore my ministry is simply my lifestyle.

[Mary Etheldreda]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

Also, I'd like to ask an open question to anyone who wants to answer: Is saving people and winning new converts a high priority for Landover, or would you just as soon leave the unsaved to rot in Hell if conversion proves too fruitless?

Our goal is to share the Good News with those who will hear. Because God made us with Free Will to choose to be obedient unto Him or suffer for eternity for rejecting Him, we honor that choice as well. We aren't like the catholics who would torture people into convertion during the many inquisitions they held, or who continue to guilt their children with stories of dead saints who would be ashamed of them. But neither do we throw "pearls before swine" (Matthew 7:6) when people refuse to accept the better of the two choices before them.

Which are you, son? Are you the kind who will take his free will and reject God or will you abdicate this will of yours and adopt God's will for your life instead and accept Jesus as your LORD and Master?

[Scavenger]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

It is quite simple: everyone knows that God exists. Of course they may be ignorant on some simple things (I suspect that Jesus won't judge the backwards Africans who work on Sundays too harshly, but that is opinion and not Biblically factual), but overall every human is born knowing of Jesus. I mean look around: everyone knows that God created all of Nature. This basic fact cannot be denied.

I don't want to sound like a dissenter or incite debate or anything, but Romans 1:20 only seems to indicate that everyone is born knowing that God exists. It doesn't seem to say anything about Christ. If everyone is born knowing of Jesus, then why do so many people seem to be truly ignorant of Him and in need of guidance? ...Maybe I should just stop there before I get another infraction. I'm off to pray and read a bit more to cleanse myself of these blasphemous questions.

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

I don't want to sound like a dissenter or incite debate or anything, but Romans 1:20 only seems to indicate that everyone is born knowing that God exists. It doesn't seem to say anything about Christ.

What does John 10:30 say?

[Scavenger]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

Good point, Pastor Ezekiel. By the way, sorry for the long absence. I've been moving and getting a few other things straightened out. Anyway, that still doesn't explain why so many people seem to genuinely be ignorant of Christ. A good friend of mine is from India. He was born into Hinduism and followed it all his life, however, he converted the instant that my pastor told him about Jesus. If everyone on Earth is born knowing about Jesus, then why did my friend need to hear it from my pastor before converting, and why was it so easy? I'm not trying to be a trouble-maker, I honestly want to know the answer.

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

Good point, Pastor Ezekiel. By the way, sorry for the long absence. I've been moving and getting a few other things straightened out. Anyway, that still doesn't explain why so many people seem to genuinely be ignorant of Christ. A good friend of mine is from India. He was born into Hinduism and followed it all his life, however, he converted the instant that my pastor told him about Jesus. If everyone on Earth is born knowing about Jesus, then why did my friend need to hear it from my pastor before converting, and why was it so easy? I'm not trying to be a trouble-maker, I honestly want to know the answer.

The answer is; God picks the fruit off the tree when He sees fit. Ours is not to question or try and understand His majestic ways. Ours is to say "Thank you Jesus!" and tithe robustly to His favorite church (Landover Baptist)!

Isaiah 55:8-9: For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

[Scavenger]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

The answer is; God picks the fruit off the tree when He sees fit.

So, knowledge of Christ is latent in some people?

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

So, knowledge of Christ is latent in some people?

Knowledge of Christ is controlled by Christ.

Just like AIDS.

[Scavenger]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

Fascinating! What else is controlled by Christ?

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

Fascinating! What else is controlled by Christ?

Everything.

You're kind of a one-trick pony, aren't you.

[Scavenger]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

Everything? Including free will?

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

Everything? Including free will?

God determines who goes to Heaven.

"And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." -- Acts 13:48

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate.... Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." -- Romans 8:29-30

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." -- 2 Timothy 1:9

"He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." -- Ephesians 1:4-5

"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation." -- 2 Thessalonians 2:13

And who is going to hell.

"God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned." -- 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation." -- Jude 4

Haven't you ever studied the Holy Bible?

[Scavenger]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 Good to know that the Holy Bible is most definitely not one of those delusions. I'm sure if The Almighty wanted to, He could make it so, and damn every single good Christian for eternity, but that would be ridiculous!

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Re: Introductions Are In Order

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 Good to know that the Holy Bible is most definitely not one of those delusions. I'm sure if The Almighty wanted to, He could make it so, and damn every single good Christian for eternity, but that would be ridiculous!

Exactly.

God loves us so much that He had His onlybegottenson temporarily tortured and killed to offer us all the chance at Salvation(c). He wouldn't befuddle all of us.

No way.