Part of my testimony

I am not even going to add my comments here (but as you can see how long this is...I did) because where many words are present sin is not absent. Here is an article from fox news about an Episcopal Bishop Ousted for Leading Breakaway Faction over gay clergy.

I will say that the Bride of Christ must be making herself ready and that we are to be purifying ourselves. I am a sinner and sin daily. I am so thankful for the blood of Christ that washes me. But it really bothers me that you could have an ordained priest or priestess that is a homosexual. That is in complete contradiction to the word of God. We are to be set apart and holy to the Lord. It is the pure in heart who will see God. So how can the blind lead the blind? I do say this with some resentment. Why? Because I grew up in an episcopal church with this same thing going on. Not only that, I never knew that Jesus died for me and that it was not by my works that I was going to heaven. Being raised in the church I grew up in I was on the fast track to the broad path of destruction...hell. BUT GOD. I was never discipled, my church was unhealthy, and I was never told the gospel. NEVER. I went almost every Sunday. I was taught works and a whole host of superstitions. Even with Catholicism because that is part of the Episcopal church, you are taught that you can pray to Mary. While Mary is the mother of Jesus, she can not hear and answer our prayers. Praying the rosary is rote. I am really going off from where I started but have you ever seen the channel where all of the nuns are praying? They look so bored to death. I feel sorry for them because our relationship with Christ is not about saying the same Hail Mary full of grace prayers. We can't pray to Saints and in fact if we are in Christ we are all saints. There is no favoritism in God's site. They look so bored and stoic and it makes me sad seriously because God is not boring and He does not want us to confine ourselves to rooms and chant prayers made up of the same words over and over and over. We are called to be the salt and light of this world for goodness sake. What good is it to sell all of our possessions to the Vatican and hide behind walls thinking we are free when we are really enslaved.
I can remember growing up and using the Book of Common Prayer. There was no such thing as bringing your bible to church. That has lit a fire in me that I pray will never die. There is NO FREEDOM or UNDERSTANDING or true CHANGE apart from the Word of God and the Holy Spirit within us. As we apply ourselves to the truth of God's Word it changes us and sets us free. If you go to a church that you don't crack your bible in...count it as Ichabod 1 Samuel 4:21. The Glory of the Lord will not rest on a church where His word is not even present. Now I am not talking about places that don't have translations or whatever before anyone brings that up.
We can not just depend on a church for our growth, we must be in the word for ourselves to test and approve what is true. That is where the whole prosperity gospel has come in. People want to hear what their itching ears want to hear...so they surround themselves with teachers who will tickle their ears. I was in the Auburn store the other day at the mall and this lady mentioned to me this very popular preacher that we all know that makes (and I quote) "you feel so good." I cringed and knew that if I said anything about the guy it wasn't going to be in love so I kept my mouth shut. I am to quick to pull a Peter and put my foot in my mouth.

I go to a baptist church and I am not saying baptist is the way the truth and the life. I just want to be in a church that proclaims God's word in purity and power and exalts Christ. I want a church that is sound in doctrine. For example, I never knew that according to the word of God that when you meet for the Lord's supper that you are to examine yourself or you are drinking judgment upon your own life when you take it in a manner unworthy. Would I be accountable for what I did not know? I am not sure but I can't tell you how many Sundays I took "communion" in ritual, or said a confessional prayer that was coming from my lips but my heart was far from God. The religion I was involved in was just that...pure RELIGION and LEGALISM. I resent it, but I am thankful for the bad taste it has left in my mouth about legalism. Hear me...I am not bashing any denomination. I am just saying that we must Let God Be True and every man a liar. No priest or bishop or POPE is the final word. Jesus Christ is our foundation and the Church was built on the foundation of Christ not Peter. Jesus is the ROCK. No Pope is to be worshiped. No person is to be worshiped, nor are they worthy of our worship. No one is worthy of worship but Christ and Christ Alone.
I am sure no one is reading this anymore but I do have a quick story of people leading people astray. We have a cousin that was pregnant the same time that I was with Shelby. When Shelby died, she had also had a partial birth abortion of her child. She was a member of the Methodist church and her pastor told her that it was ok according to the book of discipline to partially abort that child. CLICK HERE to read where the doctrine of that book says that if the quality of life is not okay for life that it may be terminated. EXCUSE ME? God creates life and if you have had an abortion and you had no knowledge of God's word, I am not condemning you. But when you say you are a Christ follower and someone tells you it is O.K. to abort your child...you need to run like crazy from that place. She called me to tell me that she knew what I was going through when I lost Shelby. I found out that there was a chance her child may have spina bifida so she aborted a life. Why? Because it was inconvenient for her. So, she justified her own conscience by letting her pastor tell her it was O.K. I am sorry. I explained to her that she had no idea what I was going through. That I held my child and had to watch her die and there was nothing that I could do about it...NOTHING. She made a choice to terminate her child's life. At that time, I did not have much grace to sit there when she professed to be a believer and just act like that was all cool and we were going through the same thing. When the word is not present, people are led astray, and false gods are exalted. It is a VERY dangerous place to be. So is the blood for that child's life on both of their hands? The apostle Paul says so strongly is Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!

In other words stick to the gospel and what is in God's word. Let no one deceive you. No pastor is holier than a lay person and etc. We all fall short of the glory of God. We all need a Savior.

My family and I usually can't even talk about these things because we believe so differently. I will never forget the time Rod broke his back and I was in a panic trying to get to the hospital. At that time I did not wear contacts and I could not find my glasses. I was so frenzied trying to find my glasses and get to the hospital. The family member that I was on the phone with broke out into prayer to Saint Luke that he would help me find my glasses. That was another time where I had to explain in a crisis moment of not knowing if my man was going to be paralyzed, that I did not have time for prayers to Saint Luke...he was not going to help me find my glasses!!!

Well, I said I was going to say nothing and I am sure no one will even comment on this post...but I did anyway. No church is perfect that is for sure but I think we would all do well individually and corporately to take heed to the letters in Revelation to the churches. There is blessing in it. We do not want the Lord to remove His lamp stand from our churches. You do not have to agree with me or any of my examples but agree with God and be a student of His word so that you are not led astray.

Salvation is in Christ Alone and He is the Alpha and Omega...not the pope...not a priest...or any saint...or nun.

Sometimes we too will be ousted for breaking away from what is false to follow the truth.