JavaJane

When that happens we run for the panic room.

Proving once again that believing does not always equal receiving... When you find those transcript, would you let us know where? I was looking for something like this a while back just to confirm some old suspicions I have and couldn't find specifics.

Fine, fine... you found me out. I admit it. I AM COCO!!

I'd like to add something, Mr. B... If they did act on their own without leadership then they were claiming to be spiritually mature and not needing the help of the leadership, which would be prideful, which could cause you to be MA. Not a good place to be.

My God, you are FUNNY!!!

Please do not take anything I am about to say personally - it is not meant to be insulting. It's just that this phrase "Believe Romans 10:9, 10" has always bugged me because I think it implies something that is not meant when we say it. Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Q: What gives action gives you salvation according to these verses? A: Confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Q: Do you have to believe this is the way to salvation (which would be believing Romans 10:9, 10) in order to be saved? A: No. You must DO as the verses say... you must believe and confess. It has nothing to do with belief that Romans 10:9 and 10 are true - it only has to do with the action taken by the individual. How many people do not believe that this is the way to salvation, and yet are saved because of the actions of believing and confessing? Probably a lot more than believe the actual verses of Romans 10:9, 10 are true. You do not have to believe in the process, you just have to do the actions. Just a little thing - not a big deal. Everyone here understands exactly what you mean when you say "believe Romans 10:9, 10" - it's kinda like twi shorthand for the process. It can be a bit confusing for people who don't have the background. I prefer to say that in order to be born again you must make Jesus Lord in your life, and believe that God raised Him from the dead. (If I am going to say that - I'm not really sure what I believe about a lot of things right now.) I have been trying to re-arrange my speaking habits that go back to my days in twi, so I can be more readily understood by the rest of the world. Anyway - sorry for the interruption, please carry on with your discussions - they are tickling my brain and I enjoy them immensely.

They probably didn't run out because at that point they were being taught that you had to have revelation from God in order to cast out spirits... Now this story may sound a little bit strange for you, but it is TRUE... Here's an example: I was living and working in a resort area at one point in my life... went to sleep in my room, woke up to noises coming from the kitchen/bar area of the resort (bar closes at 2:00, this was 3:00am.) I sat up in bed, just as my dresser flew across my room and fell over onto my bed - it missed me, thank God. The noises from downstairs stopped, and I sat awake in my bed for the rest of the night scared out of my mind praying and SITing. Called the leadership the next day, and they told me to move. I did as they asked (I was pretty new at the time, only a foundational class grad) and wondered to myself, "if they are so spiritual and powerful like the class says and like people treat them, then why don't they come over here and get RID of the thing - this is my room, and I want to keep it!) Instead, I moved into a nasty cabin with no plumbing so I could continue to work there. I couln't stand it, so I quit the job and moved completely. People became afraid of the debil spitits, because they never knew for sure that they were in fellowship or not, and therefore weren't sure if He would back them up in any situation. These leaders NEVER EVEN CAME UP TO THE PLACE TO COMFORT ME! Ridiculous.

Good morning, sir. I hope you get a day off on Sunday and Monday and do something nice with your family! I'm serious about this - you people work way too hard - you deserve a day off!

Isn't this year's theme "What Would Jesus Do?" Oh, whoops... Got confused... It's "Walking in the Steps of Jesus Christ." Known to the rest of the world as "What Would Jesus Do?"

And there was something in there that the word "husband" was the word "ish" meaning mighty man which could be a husband or a father... Something like that, anyway. Good grief, it's amazing what your brain keeps hanging around!

So... been thinking about this for a while - should probably stop the whole thinking bit - it tends to get me in trouble... When is the Decade of Prevailing over with? It seems like it's been going on for an eternity, and I'm sick of the words Prevail, Abundance, and Power. Anybody else got an idea for the theme?

especially when you represent one percent of the 5% minority. yikes. *edited to correct math because 4 is less than 5 if you take out the 1... nevermind, it's late.

Somewhere in the bowels of the Midwest... In a small town... On the banks of a big river that starts with Miss and ends in "i"... Where they still fly Rebel flags and hate people who speak proper English (many think it should be called "Amercan" - not A-mer-i-can, they shorten the syllables up around here.) A place where 95% of the population is white, 2% Hispanic, and 2% black and 1% are a mix... Where inbreeding is so common, that people around here have to get their geneology checked before they get married (seriously. I'm not joking about this.) In this town there are only about 7 last names, ours included... It's a scary place. I've lived in smaller towns that were more metropolitan than this one. *edited to correct math and paranoia

I was amazed at the huge variations in the mullet I have seen during my stint in the Styx. I saw even more last time I was in Ohio - this is the place to mullet-gaze... any Wal-Mart around the New Knoxville area will give you a good cross section. Here is a website you can check for all mullets. http://www.mulletsgalore.com/

Hi, Cinder!! As for good friends - I have a few from twi - REAL friends... and as was mentioned previously, we were the ones in the shadows, the ones who did question things and THINK. And thinking led to independence... So when the poop came down the chute and one of us got smeared, we were able to tell it was not true - we had the deep relationship of really KNOWING each other. Any accusations leveled at us were not taken seriously by the others. At one point (and a couple of people here know exactly what I am talking about) some of us were told to not be around the other individual because we "fed on each others' negativity." Funny, since two of the people involved were members of each other's immediate family! Nope, they were not to be allowed to be alone together. At another point, I was separated from all my friends in a "mini-spiritual probation." Didn't work. They kept showing up at my house anyway. I couldn't have stopped them if I tried. They pretty much said that they thought the whole thing was stupid and asked me if I wanted a beer. They are still part of twi. And my oldest friend will never leave me. We've known each other for the majority of our lives. I got her involved with twi. She and I reason together often. We were in each other's weddings, and I was at the birth of her child. We rely on each other, we confide in each other, and I would willingly place my life in her hands. Why? Because we share the deep things of life with each other - the good and the bad. That's what friends do. twi did a lot to divide people, to keep them apart. It has happened with all of the real friends I have had in twi - but the friendships stood up to the problems. I know I could call any of them today if I needed them and they would be there for me. Divisions among people in twi are encouraged in a lot of ways - "don't confess negatives," "what is the profit of this conversation?" to name a couple... and here's a few other ways it happened - moving people constantly, fostering a paranoid attitude towards others (sometimes needed to survive), over-spiritualizing problems, and basically keeping people involved in a lot of time-wasting OCD tasks so they couldn't interact with others unless it was in a fellowship setting where it could be monitored. Sick people. But yes, I have good friends from twi. True friends. People are people no matter where you go - you end up with some gems, some rocks, and some crap... you just have to look really hard for the keepers, and then make the effort to keep them.

Thanks, Groucho!

Of course - how appropriate for a wedding... How could I be so stupid? ROTF, LOL!!!

Is it just me, or do these dogs have mullets? Because that would be a manly haircut, now wouldn't it?

Glad you're smarter than that, Smarter. Nice to see you here.

I did some sleepwalking in my pre-teen years... embarassed the hell out of my parents when I walked down the stair butt-a$$ naked into the kicthen where they had some male friends hanging out. Woke up when my Dad took me upstairs. I was embarassed as hell about that one. and I had a babysitter tell me that I walked downstairs one night and told her that I really wished we could have world peace. I then went back to bed. Not as exciting as Johnny's... Is sleepwalking common in pre-teens?

Read it to my husband and he laughed and laughed and eloquently put it "that's frucked up!"

That's f***ed up!

Maybe you're a flying squirell, but you don't really know it - kinda like that scene in Dumbo where they get drunk and start flying and end up in a tree... But I suppose you usually wake up in a tree, right, Mr. Ham? Yes. Archetypes are incredibly interesting. Seems like there are only a few stories to be told, but a infinate variety in the telling. I read a very interesting book several years ago (that got thrown out as being "devilish" ) on the various similarities tying together fairy tales across many different cultures... Hansel and Gretal is a great example - there are tons of stories of children abandoned by their parents and picked up by witches or monsters... Even in cultures (like some Native American tribes) where child abandonment is unheard of. The wicked stepmother is another recurring character, as is the dead mother who protects her children after death in some other form... I love that stuff. It's incredible what has been hard wired into us as human beings. As for dreams... I have a recurring one about a house - it's different on the outside but the same on the inside every time I see it. It could be anywhere, and look like anything, but once I go inside, it's always the same. I used to run away from the house because when I would get to one specific room it would turn into a horror movie... It doesn't do that too much anymore. It's mainly just surreal now - like something out of a Lewis Carroll book... Any takes on this one? I have my own theories, but I want to hear what you guys think. The first time I dreamt this dream I literally thought it was a house I used to live in as a kid, because the memories were so REAL, like I had been there before, but when I looked back on it and examined all the houses I have ever lived in, none of them were like this one. Inside it is opulent and plush, but a little run down... and it's OLD. I'm trying to learn how to whistle in and out, but have not yet mastered it.

Yeah... I know the feeling. "Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!"

Love it!! (And yet hate it at the same time!) My books were gone through as well - and a lot of good ones got the torch - ones I wish I had now. What a waste! You could have used that book on witches so you could see the witch-hunt they were on a little bit clearer! INSANITY!!