Greetings in the Lord! This is Bob, one of TheNET Moderators. Welcome! We're glad you are here!

I have included some links to help you navigate around the site. You may want to check out the Footprints group, the Links for Growth forum for great tips on how to grow in Christ, and Miracle Grow to help you get closer to God every day.

Once again, thanks for joining TheNET. I hope you make lots of good friends here and keep growing in the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord.

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. I look forward to getting to know you.

In the love of Jesus.
Bob

Welcome
Glad you joined our wonderful internet family, sharing the love of Christ, learning and growing in your spiritual life.And as a bonus making wonderful friends.

May you experience a wonderful fellowship and growth with all the others by joining in the groups and forums and share the love of Christ.
Blessings Nienie

What a great time to be alive. Even as many decry the sad state of the economy, God's marvelous and loving hand is evident in the world. We may just as likely be entering a wonderfully and spiritually dynamic time in history. There is already evidence that shrinking monetary and material wealth is guiding some people to valuing that which fears no corruption or thief. Each day I see more people voicing an appreciation of family, friends, relationships, and even some turning back to the spiritual--back to Father God. We may return to darning socks, valuing leftovers, making gifts, saving pennies, entertaining at home, living modestly, and even more faithfully thanking God for all that we have. This may be the start of something that returns our society to our faithful roots in God's Word and remind us that our major responsibilities are to give honor and glory to God and to share the Good news of salvation by faith in Christ Jesus with the world. What often looks dire and disappointing can often be an opportunity. God disciplines those he loves and tests us to strengthen us. What a joy it would be if this society began to turn from materialism and consumerism and towards faith and faithfulness.

History repeats itself, over and over. Two thousand years ago, a teenaged mother, young father, and new baby were on the road and had nowhere to sleep. Prospects weren't much better where they were heading. They would live in a land where poverty had its fingers around much of the population that was living under harsh occupying military forces. Their first-born would eventually run afoul not so much with the occupiers as with his own people who would eventually demand his death.

As our economy today is taking tens of thousands of new victims to the brink of collapse every month, there are even more families not unlike that family that brought our Savior into our world who have no place to sleep and miserable prospects for the future.

Christ told us that we are to take care of the "least of these" and that we would be doing it as if to Him. He also told us that what we did not do for those in want, we likewise did not do it for Him.

God has blessed His children in manifold ways. He has given us life that is more precious than any material good. He has, through His Son, given us eternal life in His presence. Most of us have been blessed beyond belief with material wealth such as much of the world has never seen, and likely will never see. More of us are concerned with trimming our bellies rather than filling them. And we have a warm bed each night, a home, family, and hope for the future.

16Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

Selam Don I'm a born again Christian who wants to live for His Glory. I'm from Ethiopia now i'm in Lebano. I read what you wrote for Asayehenge that u where in Ethiopia in fact i never been butagira i'm from addis if u like to keep in toch I love to be in toch with you.
Rmain blessed.
yours sis in His Love.

Selam wondem Don ene betam dehina negne Getta yemesigen it seems u understand ameharic it is a pleasure to know u and ur wife thank you for the comment my prayer to u and ur wife may the Lord to guide ur stepes to that country and prosper ur way accourding to HIS will amen!!! keep in toch bro.
Remain blessed.

To you all my Family in Christ,

I’m here to say to you all have a safe and Christ filled holidays.
Lot of Christian Love.
God bless.
Lucas Barrows HPA- Hoxton Park Anglican.

May I say you are Cool, you look like my first Pastor back 20 years ago he was a great teacher.
God bless.

I practice "guerilla evangelism." This includes distributing tracts both to individuals and by leaving them where they will be found--in stores, self-service gas pumps, etc. This is one I put together last year. The picture is on the front while the back contains only text. Some online printers will print these for "free"--just pay the shipping. I get 100 from VistaPrint for S&H of $7.45. There are many other printers from which to choose. Feel free to use this if it works for you. I get good feedback from them.

Don



You have a choice...
The choice is completely yours. God freely offers you a way to eternal life with Him in Heaven. You can accept His wonderful offer or you can turn Him down. If you turn Him down, you face carrying the full burden of your sins--the very burden for which Christ offers forgiveness. True justice demands a penalty for breaking the law. The penalty for our sins is death and eternity in Hell. This law is more immutable than the law of gravity. As much as you may try to deny gravity, your disbelief will not keep you from plunging to your death if you jump from a great height to the ground below.

Open your heart to Jesus, start reading the Holy Bible, (the Gospel of John in the New Testament is a great place to start), and find a church that preaches the Good News of Salvation by Grace through Jesus Christ. He's knocking...

"...You will find Him (God) if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul." Deuteronomy 4:29

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in..." Rev 3:20

Being overly concerned with how other worshipers are dressed--better or worse--is an avoidable spiritual distraction. Likewise, so is being overly concerned with worshipers who are overly concerned with how other worshipers are dressed.

In the Christian churches, it is the individual's personal relationship with the Savior Jesus Christ and their faith in Him that is of the highest importance. We come together as the body of Christian believers to offer our worship and praise and to give glory and honor to God. There will always be people sitting near you that dress differently, sing too loudly, move too much, kneel when they should stand and stand when they should kneel, or wear too much cologne.

In C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters", Senior Tempter Screwtape counsels his nephew the novice demon Wormwood about people in the next pew, "Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient (target) will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous." Screwtape then goes on to advise Wormwood that this is a large part of why being in church is often the easiest time to successfully attack the patient with doubts and heresies while their guard is more relaxed.

Churches are filled with the weak, deficient, and imperfect. Some who deride faith and religion (two different things) tout the fact that most churches are filled with hypocrites. Most are. If hypocrisy is acting differently than you believe, then yes, many if not most believers are hypocrites. I know that I am.

Each day, if not each hour, or even each minute, I am aware that my thoughts, words, and deeds do not live up to how I ought to be. I even now catch myself almost falling victim to some Wormwood or other when I note with some amount of derision someone in another pew or even next to me who is singing off key, being fussy, or just being different. None of that matters at all.

What matters is coming together in a body of imperfect believers to hear the Word of God and to offer God our worship and praise. I must keep in mind that the person who rocks back and forth (too much) when they sing or who may speak too loudly may very well be a stronger believer than I.

It takes a lot of faith to believe in science. That's not to say most of what science promotes is not true--it just takes a bit, sometimes a lot of faith to believe.

I have personally never seen an electron, a Higgs Boson, or a carbon molecule with all of the electrons spinning about the nucleus in neatly ordered "shells." I have not seen a primeval pool of chemicals become amino acids and then make the leap to biological matter and nucleic acids.

While I haven't seen much of what science holds true, I believe it because it passes various empirical tests. Therefore, while I will never see light in enough detail to determine if it is a wave or a particle, I believe various scientific explanations for how and why light behaves as it does. I have faith in science. Because of my faith, I don't necessarily have to "see" everything for myself. I take what I have accepted by faith and employ it in my life and it works. The "facts" I have accepted by faith have predictable and repeatable results and therefore prove to be reliable.

My faith in God works in a similar fashion. I have not seen the face of God, but I have seen his hand in all creation, including the wonders of science. The stars in the universe as revealed by various space telescopes shows the might hand of the Creator. I have not seen Jesus Christ. Just as I have faith in the work of scientists who posit the existence of graviton waves and cosmic superstrings, I have faith in the inspired prophets, Apostles, and others who wrote down their experiences and observations in the Holy Bible.

It takes a lot of faith to believe many things, but I have faith and rely on it every day. I have faith in science because it “works.” I have faith in my Creator and my Savior because it also works. Denying the truth because it requires faith does not unmake the science nor does it unmake the Creator behind that science.

hello don.

hello don, prayer too is one of my passions. have a nice day today and all the days to come.