Frustrated, what to do?

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Bro,

This easy belief you talk about just about drives me up a wall!
It is the lazy-boy religion.  They prop their feet up, sip a tall
ice tea and expect God to serve them!  No, they won't come out
and say it that way.  God forbid they would consider their belief
to be that!  They will call it truth, because to them, it is the truth
they have been taught.  

These people generally know no better.  They have no clue about 
Apostolic or true Biblical worship.  Their seminary educated, man
made wisdom, pastor does well in hiding scripture that they do not
want their saints to see.  I am certain that many "christians" have
probably never even seen Acts 2:38, let alone verses like 1 Timothy 3:16.
What they see things such as loving your neighbor, being
nice, just accept Jesus as your personal savior.

Another problem with these type of churches is that because they have
not seen what real salvation is, or what worship really is, their pastor
can
make them believe whatever he wants.  He can tell them that people who
dance
in the aisles of the churches are devil-possessed, and they will believe
it.  He will
tell them that the Godhead is some mystical thing that we as humans will
never
understand and so we must accept the trinity as truth.

What happens when we try to witness to these type of people?
You have seen it.  From your letter, you have experienced it.  They
look at you like some weirdo, and some even are quick to lash out
at your belief even though they do not know the first thing about it.

I really do not blame that person.  How can we blame them?  They 
are only believing what their pastor says.  

Who could also refuse the great offer that is made to them?
All you have to do is claim Jesus as your personal savior, 
be nice and love your neighbor.  After that, you are a born-again
Christian, saved from the pit of Hell.  

With the Apostolic belief, they have to believe, repent, be baptized,
and then they will receive the Holy Ghost.  But hey, that's not all, then
they have to live Holy.  You know, that Holiness that is shown on the
outside by lifting up a Christian standard.  "You mean, I have to give up
some things?  I have to restrict my lifestyle?  You gotta be kidding
me!!!
This church over here says all I have to do is claim Him.  I am going to
go there, besides their pastor is a Doctor!"

We as Apostolics are to blame for some of this behavior.  Ask a person
in an Apostolic church about standards and see what they say.  There are
some
which say ,"I am not allowed to..."  "I can't..."   They put Holiness on
a negative
level.  No wonder those we witness to head back to their lazy-boys!
If any one is restricted in this world, it is not an Apostolic!!!!
We are free to do whatever we want to do!!!  The only thing is, with God
in our lives we have no desire to do certain things.  So we are not
restricted,
only set free from the devils bond!  

You said you were frustrated, and did not know what to do.  That is 
hard thing to answer, but I will try.  

We as Apostolics need to witness now more than ever before.  Not only do
we need to spread the Gospel by speaking to people, but we also need to
show
God in our lives by our actions, looks, attitude.  We also need to not be
surprised
when the person we witness to gets mad at us or looks at us like a crazy.
 Think about
what we are saying.  We are basically telling them that their mother,
father, grandmother,
great-grandfather, etc etc have been living a lie!  When you say their
belief is wrong,
you just put down many generations of their family!  

Also, don't be surprised that they go directly to their pastor and say
what happened.
He will be quick to defuse the message.  Many times just calling us
heretics.  He will
warn them about associating with our "type"  He will go as far as using a
sermon to
brainwash people to think Apostolics are dangerous.(believe me, this is
true, the CoC
right here in my county is on the radio before Harvestime.  Every Sunday
they preach
something else against Apostolics.)

Well, yes we are dangerous!!!  We are very dangerous to a dried up,
tickle the ear, 
feel good church!!!  The pastors know what will happen if their saints
knew what
Apostolics were really like.  They would lose their congregation as
quickly as the Holy
Ghost fire could burn up that dead, dry church!  Without a congregation,
they could no
longer afford their Lincoln, or their summer home.  What better way to
scare the saints
than to say that the dancing, running, shouting, speaking in tongues, is
of the devil?

We need to witness, we need to stand bold, and we need to realize that
church is not
just a building with a roof and four walls!  Keep saying "praise the
Lord" to everyone
you meet, don't be afraid to pray for someone in need EVEN if it is done
in public,
don't be afraid to dig out the Bible and show scripture denying their
belief, keep the 
person in your prayers and tell them you are praying for them, offer
those Bible 
studies, invite them to a worship service, and most of all praise God
that we
 have yet another day to spread light among the darkness of this earth! 
:)

"The world has been lying well, and we have been telling the truth
badly."

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              Chris Sterrett        sterrett@juno.com                    
      Apostolic web-services  http://www.oneness.org             
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