again

heheh, referring to previous post cos' of something i thought of...
mei sent me a rather thought provoking mail some time ago regarding wat i've just blogged...
it's a bit long but, yeah... i think worth reading thru...

Jonathan,
I loved this post but I must disagree with the Catholic part. Ireally dont like to get into talking about other denominations, it'ssuch an unstable subject with me. I just don't want to try to be the"best" or "favorite"member of believers. Lately, I have come to therealization that man is trying to worship a great God in whatever wayseems possible to him. Some call Him Great Spirit, some call HimBright Light in the Sky, some call HimAll Knowing or All Powerful. It all boils down to the same God. (Notspeaking about outright idol worship of the disobedient of course.)
When I was in bible school, someone taught us about the down points ofother religions. Trust me, I learned them all. I even have a hugenotebook with chapters of information from a ministry that hunts downthese religions and warns' others about them. Even though theinformation from the notebook and class was interesting, I just feltit in my heart not to take the class so seriously. Judge not lest yebe judged. I make too many mistakes to say that I belong to the onlytrue religion out there, (non-denominational). My take on it is, aslong as you believe in Jesus of Nazareth and accept Him as yourpersonal Saviour, you are fine. I need to make the reader aware alsothat the bible also states that some people worship another Jesus, Iunderstand that there may be some who do. With the discernment thatGod has given me, I can tell when that time has arisen around me so,therefore, I back out gracefully and pray for the practitioner.
Yesterday a couple of young men came knocking on my door, one black,one white. They were Mormons who live across the street from my home.They wanted to talk to me about the bible. I kindly stepped outsideto talk with them for a minute. I didn't want to shoo them off like apair of bandits because after all, it is all about Jesus and where twoor three are gathered in His name, there He will be in the midst ofthem. Not only that, they were obedient enough to go out two by twoas the Word of God commands uswhich is more than what I have ever done, especially in this badweather. I have seen them walk in freezing, rainy weather when peoplewere afraid to empty their garbage because of the cold.
In bible school we were taught about the Mormons and their practices. I have my library of VCR tapes about their alleged secret temples andhigh suicide rates, etc. Even their name means a type of monster inJapan which is supposedly why they took on the name "Latter DaySaints" because in Japan "mormon" is a type of monster...hence,"pokemon" the cartoon, which means pocket monster." I have heard itall. As they stood there, trying to do a good deed for the Lord God,my question was, "what can I do for them to help out the Kingdom?" Iexplained that I had just pastored a church in our town for threeyears and I do have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Theywere glad. They asked if I ever read their Mormon bible and I showedthem that I had one, (which I keep in my library for informational andteaching purposes but I didn't have to tell them all of that.) Theyasked why I never became a Mormon since I had read their bible. Ijust simply explained that I use the King James version and that Idisagreed with some of their teachings. They were kind about it.After I talked to them about my beliefs and what God's Word says in mybible, they soon began to ask about my neighbors. I teased the blackone about looking like the Rock from WWE wrestling and they bothlaughed. He looked exactly like him too, handsome. I told them, "hey,anyway, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus." They smiledand agreed and simply walked away. I didn't condemn them to hell andinvite them in to see my video tape on Mormonism that I had received afew years ago with the purposes to sway me from joining the Mormon wayof life. I wasn't afraid!!!
That is how we should all be with one another...not afraid. We shouldhave such a personal relationship with God that nothing can sway us asPaul said in the NewTestament in Romans 8:35-39..."Who shall separate us from the Love ofChrist?"
I will keep those brothers in prayer that Jesus will have His way withthem and their lives. Isn't that what we are supposed to do? Honestly. We have bad Lutherans, bad Methodists, bad Baptists, badNon-Denominational, as well as the good people in each of thedifferent catagories, denominations and churches. People get angrywith me and say that I am passive or whatever the word is. Actuallythey are angry at the Jesus in me. Didn't Jesus say, Love thyneighbor as thyself?" satan wants us to hate one another and blameone another. Old folks have a joke about the World War...how didHitler take Poland? He got Poland and Russia to argue with oneanother and it wasover. That's what's happening to Christianity today. I have heardmore Catholic bashing than one would want to admit. I agree thatthings that they are going through is terrible right now. But aren'tother denominations suffering also? What we should do is pray for oneanother that satan will not be able to have his way with us. Whatabout theBaptists that don't believe in speaking in tongues? Do they belong inhell? Or the Methodists who don't believe in beating tambourines?
We cannot take our eyes off of Jesus right now or ever. When you takeyour eyes off of Jesus and start focusing on others and theirdenominations, you are in all actuality turning your back on Jesus. You lose. You have to turn your back on Him to see what's behind youright?
I understand that Iraq's old name was Babylon and yada yada yada. Once we keep our focus on Jesus Christ-the Lord of the Battles, wedon't have to worry which country the Whore will spring out of. Let'sleave that to the Kings and Rulers. God has a hand on the rulersalso, we should continue to pray for them. I hate finger pointingwithin the body of Christ. The head hates the toe and the toe pointsto the arm. The arm hates the neck and the neck dogs out the head. We all need each other, amen?

Rev. Essie Scott