The General Conversation Section – If You Don’t Know Where to Say it, Say it Here!

Vincent Holloway says:

Do you have any information on “soaking” ?
While I was at Bible Study, this lady was telling me about going to China to minister to missionaries.
Supposedly they would sit in a room with soft music and “soak”, nothing I have ever read in the Bible has mentioned this term.

Deborah (Discerning the World) says:

Hi Vincent

Let me help you get started. Arminianism is actually Methodism. Go study what Methodists believe and then you will get an idea.

Calvinists don’t have a clue as to what Arminianism actually really is, they think everyone that is not a Calvinist is an Arminian. Pfff, like really? Everyone that is not a Calvnist is a Methodist? I just shake my head, and sometimes band my head on the desk lol.

Eben Debbes says:

Tom (Discerning the World) wrote:

Dear Vincent Holloway,

I aim to write an article on “soaking” and the dangers involved in it. There are many articles on soaking on the Internet but, unfortunately, most of them tell you it is wrong without verifying their research from Scripture. Please be patient, it will probably appear on our site within July sometime.

Yes please, that would be very helpful.

COHAN GAOLDUL says:

Perhaps that’s the reason, people are taking the Word and attempting to validate it with pagan idols . Khudaa is from the word khudaayee meaning universe? khudah = God in Persian. khudaa = God/ Master (of the universe). Khuda an Urdu word, it means “God” in English, while in Hindi it’s called as “allah/अल्लाह्, ishvar/इश्वर, bhagwaan/भगवान्,.”

Sue says:

izzy wrote:

I’ve been reading through a lot of comments looking for guidance on what denomination you approve of, but couldn’t find anything. Could you please help me? My husband and I have been looking for a church, but we haven’t found anything that we are comfortable with. I will add that we are Pentecostal. Your guidance will be appreciated.

Hi Izzy. your name caught my eye cause my Dad use to call me isyjo/he just passed so I think of him alot. Anyway, please just stay biblical no matter where you go and don’t be deceived-always check with the word before calling anything fact and pray for understanding as you read. Every single word in the Bible is important and there for a reason. (ie: swaddling cloth was used by the Angels describing to the shepherds how to identify Jesus…well it’s no coincidence the newborn sheep were bound with swaddling cloths to keep them unblemished for sacrifice)….the Bible is the only true teacher and if read carefully it will interpret itself. I hate to say it but I’ve learned more staying home to worship (all day/all weekend) and letting God teach me than I’ve learned in over 50 years of going to church.
ok that said, I’d like to share some thoughts and honestly couldn’t find a starting point until I found Izzy and wanted to comment…
I’ve had a few revelations over the past 10 years…basically logical answers to questions that were not even troubling me at the time but once I would conclude these answers, somehow I knew they were true. So I am either very arrogant, possibly crazy or I’ve had a revelation from The Holy Spirit. What I haven’t determined yet though is WHY? certainly not to simply satisfy my own curiosity because, as I said, I wasn’t even wondering at the time but I have (I think) finally discovered the age old questions; What are we doing here and why and what happens after. I’d very much like to share my thoughts with you all and welcome any correction or clarification. It seems like everyone is getting so far removed from the simple message of Love your neighbor as yourself and Love God that religion is messing up the whole thing and prolonging our stay here…so, please think about this…
If you could put yourself in Heaven back when Satan turned on his/our creator. Imagine the decision God had to make at that moment. He had the choice to either just wipe Lucifer from existence (easy) which ultimately would cause fear and anxiety among the angels who loved Him. They would suddenly feel obligated to love God and be afraid of Him. God didn’t or doesn’t ever wish to be loved for any reason other than by free choice. His work alone would inspire awe but only love should inspire love. He probably can’t even conceive of the notion of not loving as He is Love. He also loved Lucifer and all of the angels he took with him in his rebellion against God. So in His infinite wisdom and brilliance, God came up with a plan;
After casting Satan and his angels to earth, God created mankind, in his image, as any other couldn’t possess the capacity for love or the reason and logic it would take to have freedom of choice and the survival skills (or instinct to survive) while striving unknowingly to go home, and that home is good and justice is necessary to maintain order and fairness…All qualities that God certainly possesses and Lucifer had and qualities we needed to prove his point which, I believe, all of His creation knew. Characters with the same free will as the angels to serve as examples to prove his point. As harsh as it seems to us now, think about eternity. Our lifespan and that of our planet is pretty short-lived in comparison. So, in order to show his family in Heaven, a loving lesson about sin ( that which Lucifer created and chose to author). hoping they would realize and choose, using their free will, that it would be a mistake for them to follow Satan and his deceptive lies that (I’m sure) he was using to form an army of followers to overtake his own God. That was Satan’s plan from the beginning. He likely didn’t even think about earth or what was to follow his initial rebellion. Only God was able to know the future that He was planning.
So, again, rather than God exercising his power to just wipe out the whole thing from the start, He wanted to make sure it never would happen again (remember all of His angels are free to love Him or not to). I think He needed to make them understand , as well, the necessary justice that Lucifer deserved for his actions, while being the merciful Creator of all…He opted to SHOW the outcome and repercussions from those choices and the kind of pain and suffering it would cause a soul. So he created us. Giving us the gift of his laws written on our hearts and his strength and the intelligence to make it work either way, for a while at least.
So, I believe he assigned each of us an angel or two so they’d all get a chance to see first hand the kind of loss and hardship inherited from our first father and mother. Maybe gave them the freedom to help us now and then and if we were written in his “Lambs book of life” or “family tree”(*) then we had a special playbook and they were to guide us through trials towards the path back to Him. Over the planned period of time of our existence, all angels will have had a chance to help out and learn from our mistakes. I think in Job there is a passage about us being a “theater to the universe” and there were “watchers” stationed around with the assigned duty of watching us (who knows, maybe that was their punishment for almost rebelling). Unfortunately they too chose to go against Gods wishes and the evil really started when they fell (in Enoch, before the flood). They defiled themselves by mixing with already fallen and cursed humanity. (*)Their own children were monsters and began to devour mankind. They mixed Gods seed (human women) with non-human DNA (fallen angels/theWatchers). I think that began Satan’s attempt to wipe Gods seed out completely. There were still 8 people who God could start over with and, he had to finish the lesson. He had a ways to go still considering he knew already the number of hairs on our own heads hundreds/thousands of years before any of this because he wrote the script. He is infinitely wiser than Satan and no human could begin to imagine how easy the whole “lesson” was to plan (for Him) but it had to include every possible scenario in the tapestry as he must be complete and clear to all. So that is why we must be patient in our anticipation of his return. He won’t force anyone to choose Him but He does know who, in this world, is pure in heart and of His seed and has the potential to choose Him and His love. In His undying mercy, He is waiting for all of His people to discover the Holy Spirit He has placed in all our hearts. We are only asked to believe in His son , love Him and each other and have faith in the Holy Spirit to guide us…& stay connected. For one reason or another, I think there are still many out there who haven’t but will find Jesus but need us to lead them so he’s left us with love and knowledge or gifts of exhortation or hospitality or just a drive or whatever is necessary to find those souls and bring this lesson home and finally to a close. Right here I’d love to post a link for everyone to hear this GREAT song by Jonny Lang “that Great Day”. please listen to it – not the live version tho….
And yes, as a reward for helping him with the painful lesson we are special to Him and He has promised us things that, from our perspective, we don’t deserve. We are just sinners. But, we will endure to the end loving our Father faithfully and loving each other as Jesus commanded of us and Jesus is witness to how hard that is in this world. Only Jesus can truly explain to God our frailties and weaknesses as God didn’t make us that way nor can he come anywhere near sin to check it out for Himself.
God cannot exist in a sinful climate. That’s why the tabernacle had to be built just right and certain things had to be adhered to in order for his presence to be with man. Likewise, man couldn’t be in Gods presence and survive unless undefiled and f ully cleansed of any transgression. I heard the priests would tie a rope to the leg of the priest who entered the room where God was and where the sacrifice for the people would be given on the mercy seat. If that priest had any sin he had not fully repented of or was defiled in any way, he would die in Gods presence and they’d have to pull his body out by the rope. (to even touch a dead body was to defile yourself and a priest had to go through a ritual cleansing before going anywhere near the temple). This was ALL because God couldn’t survive in a sinful environment as a spiritual being. This is also why, in order to save us, he had to be born as a carnal being as Jesus Christ who went to the cross to be Gods sacrifice for all of our sins- even while we were still sinners…(I’m sure, by then he was sick of watching the traditional slaughter of innocent animals only to justify sins that were regularly committed without remorse) so, all He asked and the very least He deserves is for us to acknowledge what He sacrificed for our salvation and accept His son as our Savior. Once that happens the Holy Spirit will cleanse our souls and prepare us for Heaven. He’s patiently awaiting the last of His seed to do that, then we all get to go to the afterlife to begin the life he always wanted to give us and to be his family.
God knows it is bad down here which is probably why he mercifully shortened our lives from 7,8,900 years. It’s hard for us to be patient because our concept of time is so tangible but I’m sure once we go to our spiritual world awaiting us, the magnificence of it will cause this life to quickly become just a faded memory….Thank you for taking the time to listen. I hope I didn’t sound crazy. God knows, I’ve been wrong before. I just have trouble believing no one has thought about our reason for being here and concluded the same…it seems so very obvious to me.
God bless you ALL

Linda says:

If you don’t mind, could you please list a few Christians online that preach and teach sound gospel teaching? Are there some well known ones also on television? Thank you!

Tom (Discerning the World) says:

Hi paradisefound,

Preaching self-esteem and promoting Contemplative Prayer (Mysticism) is a far greater evil than “calling a well- respected man of God to be evil . . . very serious offense.” Perhaps you should rather follow Jesus Christ and his Truth than a “well-respected man of God” who is misleading his flock into all kinds of heretical teaching. Satan also likes to masquerade as a “well-respected man of God.”

As the truth of Christ is in me, my boast [of independence] will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia (southern Greece). Why? Because I do not love you [or wish you well, or have regard for your welfare]? God knows [that I do]! But what I am doing I will keep doing, [for I am determined to keep this independence] in order to cut off the claim of those who want an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things they brag about. For such men are counterfeit apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, since Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:10-15)