Phil,
         The only thing that I disagree with in this post of yours is that
we aren't   a church.  Oh yes we are!!!  We are the best of what Christ
intended His bride to be.  I'm glad that we can support George somehow
anyway, with our prayers.   If only those buildings out there could see
what brokenness can become in Christ, but then, I guess that they are too
busy to notice.
Kathy


At 05:11 PM 4/10/2005, you wrote:
>Kathy and others,
>
>The First Corinthians 5:5 passage is not generally accepted today as part of
>New Testament church doctrine.  In fact, the first time I heard about it was
>the missionary to Canada I mentioned and he was a Baptist.  I never even
>heard any other Baptist preach on that passage before.  It appears from just
>the reading of the passage in context, that Paul was instructing the
>Corinthian Christians what to do about the immorality of one of the church
>members.  I don't see that he necessarily told the people to tell them what
>they were going to do but other passages, of course, tell us to do exactly
>that before anything else.  It makes little difference because few people
>are literally afraid of God today and what sin can do to a person.
>Deceitfulness is what hardness the person's heart, not sin, according to
>Hebrews 3:13, but read the verse just before it, too.
>
>12  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
>unbelief, in departing from the living God.
>13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you
>be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
>
>An evil heart of unbelief in a Christian?  That's what it says.  What are
>they not believing in?  It can't be God because it says they are Christians,
>or brethren, so it must be something else.  Jesus scolded His disciples more
>than once for not believing and they were his followers.  Jesus jumped on
>the disciples both before, and after, the resurrection for their unbelief.
>I still find such amazing.  When we believe in something, regardless of what
>that is, it, the thing we believe, even if it is wrong, becomes the truth to
>us.  We will act upon what we perceive to be the truth even if what we
>believe is a lie.  A person can literally die because they believe a lie is
>the truth.  some, who are not Born again, will even go to hell believing a
>lie.
>
>Again, to everyone reading this exchange, I am telling you because, quite
>frankly, we are the only church George and his family has right now.  Yeah,
>I know, we aren't really a church, if we were, I'd be taking up offerings
>every week, but we are the Body of Christ.  Truthfully, these people have no
>one and they are all alone and without fellow Christian to help them.
>
>You want to know the real truth?  Children can destroy a family.  The Enemy
>knows this so he picks on the children, sometimes from day one, knowing that
>by such means, he can infiltrate any family.  Frankly, I don't care where
>George stands on any passage of Scripture but I do care where Jennifer
>stands.  right now, wherever Jennifer stands isn't where she should be
>standing.  Whatever it is that is keeping Jennifer silent until death can't
>be anything but a lie.  I can think of only three possibilities that would
>cause someone to take death rather than life in the situation Jennifer is in
>right now.  We may never get to discover the truth about this one.
>
>A few moments ago, George called me.  We talked for five or so minutes.  He
>told me that his wife is telling everybody her version of what happened and
>now their own son has turned against his dad.  George has been telling me
>for weeks that if Jennifer dies, he will somehow be blamed for it so I guess
>he knows more about what is going on than anybody else.  How sad for
>everyone involved and especially for Jennifer.  As George was just talking,
>his wife came and got him, she won't talk to him otherwise, plus, Vivian
>hates my guts I have learned, I suppose because she thinks I have put George
>up to everything but she is wrong, of course, and told George to come right
>away because Jennifer nearly fainted.  Jennifer can't hardly talk any longer
>and she is, as I type, literally fighting to breathe.
>
>Phil.