Callings

I feel like a big problem among Christians today is a misunderstanding about our calling.

Romans 14 explains this pretty well.

It seems to me that people have a tendency to take what they are individually called to do, and base the actions of all Christians on them. For example, and I really don't want to give an example, but for example, one person in the unblack metal scene recently left the scene because that person has come to believe that unblack metal (and all metal) is evil. They proceeded to tell other Christians to leave the scene as well, or they would go to Hell.

There is no Biblical evidence that any genre of music is inherently evil. I can understand how metal could become a snare to some people, but it's not a snare to everyone. For me, the unblack scene is one of the most godly things I could be participating in. Unblack metal actually brought me closer to God. I eventually actually left behind all of the pagan/occult/satanic music I used to like, and turned to music that worshiped God instead. When certain things happened in my life, unblack metal led me to question a lot of the occult things I was practicing. When I wanted to listen to dark music, unblack metal was always an option, and there was often some band whose music had a dark enough sound to satisfy me. That's the purpose of evangelism - to call out to people, just as the scene is doing. Unblack metal is a wonderful tool to spread the word to people. I, and many others in the scene, have been led into a right place with God through this.

And on the other hand, you do, indeed, have some people who were misled by the darkness of the overall black metal scene, the stuff I left behind, and were ensnared by it, instead of turning further to the God-glorifying music in the unblack scene.

So the issue isn't that this genre is inherently evil, the issue is that people aren't putting God first in issues like this. And I keep talking about metal, but it's not just about metal - it's about ALL things in life.

If you listen to unblack metal, and find it becoming a snare to you, pray to God about it, and don't be afraid to listen to what He has to say. If you feel unblack metal is becoming a snare to somebody else, don't be afraid to bring it up. Just don't assume that it's universally a sin when there's no Biblical evidence for it. This is how it is for everything in life. Whatever is going on, put God first. Avoid sin as the Bible clearly describes it. And for everything else, pray to God about it.

It's not just a problem with others, either. It can be a problem with you, yourself. We as individual people disagree on a lot of things, and interpret scripture in different ways. The problem comes in when those differing viewpoints aren't based on God's word, or on God's individual plans for us, but instead are based on our own desires, and what we want to believe, rather than what we are instructed to believe. It's important to have an unbiased, scriptural view of things, and not be guided by what you individually are being misled to want by the devil and his demons.

For example, I once believed in reincarnation. The Bible says that man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, which created a conflict with my beliefs at the time. In that case, you couldn't have just passed it off as me "having a different interpretation of scripture", because I was ignoring scripture. Nowadays, I've learned to reject reincarnation. It's no longer a snare to me, and I now understand the truth of that verse. Now, I also used to practice what you could call "sorcery", but Hebrews 9:27 says nothing about that. However, Deuteronomy 18:10 to 11 does, and so does Revelation 22:15. Of course, I've left behind "sorcery" as well. So it's important to be sure your beliefs are backed by scripture.

The best way to resolve that is to think of it this way:
Do you believe what you do because of the Bible, or in spite of it?

Can you back up your views with scripture, or does it contradict your claims?

God bless you all and guide you according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.

Homosexuality

http://adam4d.com/dont-hate/

Simple. This puts the whole situation into perspective perfectly.

Obligatory note, I haven't read every single thing this guy's ever posted, but I've read a lot of it and liked it!

Mormonism

http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/book-of-mormon-1.htm

Simple.

Also, as I always point out when I put links, I know nothing about the site above. I only posted it for that one specific page. I don't know if the overall website is reliable.

Something Personal

Still doubt the reality of what I talk about on here?

There's something about me that I've only ever told a couple family members. I just feel like sharing it here because I was reminded of it today.

Now, ever since I was young, probably like 12 years old or so, there's been an inverted pentagram embedded into my right hand. Now, I did not put it there. It just appeared there. 12 years old is around the time I had just barely started getting into dark stuff.

Throughout all my years of practicing occultism, this pentagram was there, as a natural part of my hand print. But see, it was never a full pentagram - those have five lines, but this one only had four. The horizontal line in the middle was missing.

It was very indicative of what was going on in my life at that point. I was listening to satanic music, practicing all kinds of stuff that the Bible outright forbid... Of course, I never thought any of that was wrong, so I never made the connection. I knew it was an evil symbol, but I never realized the significance of it appearing on my hand. I thought it was just an odd coincidence.

Then around late 2013 (when I was 19) is when I started getting away from that stuff. Not a lot, just a little bit. Over the course of the next year, as I've explained before, I completely dropped all occult stuff in my life. I had some tough decisions to make, but I decided to stick with God. He'd gotten me through so much by that point, and everything else in my life was just failing me more and more; the only logical decision was to follow Him, or at least lean on Him to guide me. So I had to face the reality that the Bible spoke against a lot of what I had come to believe up until that point. And those were points where God was telling me what the truth was, but I didn't want to accept it. But I trusted in God, and over time, in my reflections on life, in my research, etc etc God guided me to the truth, and helped me to accept it, and realize how my old beliefs were, indeed, lies. I left behind all of the evil I once embraced in my life, and finally replaced it entirely with God.

So at some point in early-mid 2015, I remembered the pentagram on my hand. I decided to look at it again, and something new was there.

There was a line cutting clean through the pentagram.

It wasn't the line that was missing from the pentagram. Rather, there's a thick, obvious line cutting across and through the very middle of it, like the lines in those red "no" signs.

Just thinking about that makes me stop for a second. It's not like it was a random symbol; it was a very accurate one given what was going on at that point. And when I asked God for help, when I decided to trust Him, when I finally understood what Jesus' sacrifice really meant and accepted that, He blotted it out. I have such a hard time forgiving myself for things. And I still struggle with my imperfections. (Which reminds me of [[this]]. I like this comic a lot.) But this line, actually crossing out the symbol on my hand, is just so powerful to me. Whenever I struggle with my past or mess up somehow, I think of this. It reminds me of where I used to be, and how bad things were then, and where God's gotten me now - to such a better place. A couple times, I've talked about my past with people, and it's just surreal. It feels like I'm talking about a different person completely. My life's not just suddenly "great" now, but the lack of evil forces intruding into my life and the addition of God's love is certainly a plus, to say the least!

This symbol is such a great visual reminder to me of God's greatness. Of all the wonderful things God's done in my life the past two years. It's so humbling. It's His way of saying to me, "It's okay now. That's gone from your life. It's not a part of you anymore."

Amen.

PS, funny how God can even take an inverted pentagram and make it work for His glory. And hey, since it's common knowledge now that the inverted cross is actually a Christian symbol, the devil's running a little short on symbols here!

PPS, did you know you probably have a cross on your hand print? Extend your hand so your middle finger is facing directly away from your face. On your palm, there is a straight line going up, toward your middle finger. Around the middle of your palm, there is a line going perpendicular to that one. Both lines form a cross.

Update 2020: Here are pictures.

Judaism / devil

Messianic Judaism - basically it's (intended to be?) what the church was around the time of Jesus. Judaism, but modified by Jesus and His instruction to us. Acknowledging Jesus as the prophesied messiah, but holding Old Testament custom a lot more closely than is taught by Christianity.

I'd still need to do more research on the topic overall before I felt right saying too much about it, but there is one problem I've noticed.

It appears there's some questionable discussion taking place regarding the devil, some taking the "normal" Jewish teaching that he doesn't work as Christianity teaches. That the devil supposedly isn't a fallen angel, but instead one that just does as God instructs him to do. However, it's crucially important to keep in mind that this is not true.

I say "crucially" important for a reason. First of all, Jesus, the prophesied messiah, specifically referred to the devil as falling from Heaven:

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Second, and most important, the book of Revelation talks about the devil as an enemy of God who will be punished:

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.


These are two sources that are crucially important to keep in mind. Remember what is written in Revelation:

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,

and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.





I'm not writing this just for one group, not by any stretch - it's just something I noticed in certain discussions. I'm writing this for everybody. The important thing to keep in mind above all else is to follow God, prayerfully learning and following His commands as closely as we can. And some will interpret certain things differently, but this is a case where I felt like it was important to speak up about it. There's a line where interpretations step outside of sound doctrine, and denying what Jesus said, and what the book of Revelation says, is crossing it. 

God bless and guide you all according to His perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.