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I actually think Satan would rather *not* see The Shack story be made into a movie. Anything that grabs a person's attention, points them to the subject of God and His character, and creates a medium for conversation and exploration about Him goes against Satan's agenda. Really, he's *more* than happy when folks retreat into their comfort zones — it means that the message of God will be delayed that much longer. This is not to say that everyone should see the movie. If someone feels strongly that s/he should not view it, then by all means, do not view it. But most all religious movies have created an opening for discussion with people who are searching...

They devil is always concerned when we worship God in any manner. Why? Because the mere fact that we are worshiping God indicates the potential for us to grow in truth and that concerns the devil. Furthermore, as humans, none of us can believe that we worship God perfectly. It is only in the after-life that we will have a perfect worship. God considers our intent, accepts it for what is intended, and the Holy Spirit leads us in further truth.

yes, i believe Mary when she sat at the feet of Jesus was being given leadership instruction. and her sister resented this that Mary was placing herself above Martha who was doing the physical labor. after all Mary was the one who shamed the family and who was the troubled one. why should Mary presume to seek and hold a higher place. and Jesus said "It shall not be taken from her." to those women who would sit at the feet of Jesus and then go and serve as qualified servants, "it shall not be taken from them". It His will for them.

In reading the book Selected Messages Book 1 by Ellen White, I find the chapter 24 "The Alpha and the Omega" and Chapter 25 "The Foundation of our Faith" very interesting. In 1903 J H Kellogg had written a book called The Living Temple which had pantheistic teachings in it about God. Ellen White warned him and others about the false theories in his book and said: "I have been instructed to warn our people; for many are in danger of receiving theories and sophistries that undermine the foundation pillars of the faith." {1SM 196.4} The Alpha Now Seen "Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature." {1SM 197.4} Alpha Presented in "Living Temple" "I am instructed to speak plainly. "Meet it," is the word spoken to me. "Meet it firmly, and without delay." But it is not to be met by our taking our working forces from the field to investigate doctrines and points of difference. We have no such investigation to make. In the book Living Temple there is presented the alpha of deadly heresies. The omega will follow, and will be received by those who are not willing to heed the warning God has given." {1SM 200.1} "The Omega WILL FOLLOW, and WILL BE RECEIVED" by those not wanting to listen to God's warnings. Mrs White goes on to talk about the foundation of our faith in chapter 25. "As a people, we are to stand firm on the platform of eternal truth that has withstood test and trial. We are to hold to the sure pillars of our faith. The principles of truth that God has revealed to us are our only true foundation. They have made us what we are. The lapse of time has not lessened their value. It is the constant effort of the enemy to remove these truths from their setting, and to put in their place spurious theories. He will bring in everything that he possibly can to carry out his deceptive designs. But the Lord will raise up men of keen perception, who will give these truths their proper place in the plan of God." {1SM 201.2} "I have been instructed by the heavenly messenger that some of the reasoning in the book Living Temple is unsound, and that this reasoning would lead astray the minds of those who are not thoroughly established on the foundation principles of present truth. It introduces that which is nought but speculation in regard to the personality of God and where His presence is." {1 SM 201,202} So the J Kellogg's belief on "the personality of God and where His presence is" is the Alpha or beginning of deadly heresy. "Living Temple contains the alpha of these theories. I knew that the omega would follow in a little while; and I trembled for our people. I knew that I must warn our brethren and sisters not to enter into controversy over the presence and personality of God. { 1SM 203} She goes on to say: "The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure. " {1SM 204-205} If the Alpha is a false understanding on the personality of God and where His presence is: Question 1:What is the Omega? Question 2: What does everyone think about the last quoted statement from 1SM 204-205 ?

I agree with Aubrey. When the Do Not Call list came out I immediately registered our number. It didn't stop a single scammer. Crooks, by the fact that they are by nature, crooks, do not follow the law. Also, the fact that that calls I have recieved have never come from the same number or area code twice makes them impossible to block by blocking numbers. The calls I have been recieving imply a quite sophisticated operation. They have had to hack multiple telephone company databases to insert the reported caller id identification because I doubt very much that any phone company is going to allow you to register yourself as "Local Area Call". That amount of technical sophistication alone says this makes quite a bit of money or the scammers would not take these kinds of risks. The risk vs reward has to be weighted in favor of the reward or the risk would not be taken. The only real defense is to be wary of any and all callers. That is sometimes very hard for a lonely, isolated, elderly person who has lost their self-confidence and mental agility due to the ravages of time and the aging process. I don't worry about the scammers myself. I have to laugh at most of their attempts. They remind me of Ephraim from Nigeria who wants me to send him a thousand dollars so he can afford to send me a million dollars. A buddy of mine one time sucked in the scammer until the scammer belatedly realized that HE was the one being scammed. That ended not only that phone call but all further attempts to scam him. Very few elderly people could do that, and by doing so get off the scammer's call lists that they circulate among themselves.

No one need be living a life of fear of being harassed by these scammers, whether they are actually trying to rip you off or just trying to sell you something you do not really need. Read the following article: I'm a Telemarketer. Here's How to Get Rid of Me This webpage said to be written by a telemarketer will tell you how they work and how to get them to stop. The reader comments also have lots of tips on dealing with these people. http://lifehacker.com/im-a-telemarketer-heres-how-to-get-rid-of-me-1540911401 In case you missed the link to the national "do not call" page: https://www.donotcall.gov More information on telemarketing and even junk mail. You DO NOT have to be a "victim" of these people. https://www.usa.gov/telemarketing Don't forget to get call blocking of blocked numbers or caller ID. If someone you want to hear from with a blocked number calls you, they can still get thru by unblocking their number. You can also opt out of junk mail. My wife gets tons of junk email. I get relatively none, because I opted out. those pre-approved credit card offers only mean you were pre-approved to get junk email. My brother, who was a couple of tacos short of a full plate, got them and started writing bad checks, because he was going to pay them back when he got funded by those credit cards. Of course, he didn't get approved and went to jail. He also never gave thought to how he would pay off those credit cards unless it was with another credit card! Lastly, junk email. Do not even open it. Even if not loaded with malware, it will be loaded with stuff that will report back to them whether you even read it. And always keep a throwaway mail box for those websites you cannot resist entering your email address into.

That's fine. For me, only those in Christ can do SOMETHING, and that includes "believing" which is simply "exercising faith". If a person NOT in Christ can do SOMETHING like "believing", then Christ would have said "apart from Me you can do SOMETHING", but He did not. Instead He said, "Apart from me you can do NOTHING". I believe Christ 100%.

How do we get to know God in a personal way, through others, hearsay, etc, etc? No, not if a person really wants to know what God is all about, it takes a personal relationship. Perhaps that is also the path in learning what others, such as the leaders of TOP, are really all about. From a distance or up close and personal? How do we best get to know another person?

Green: I can respect your need for privacy. I do not wish to have you outed. However, I will say that as you have a need for privacy as to who you are, I believe that you should moderate some of what you say as I believe that there are some things that should be said by people who do not hide under a cloak of privacy and thereby escape accountability. The one post of yours that I cited is an example of this. A second example of this is in your post above. A person may be wrong and not be a liar. A liar is a person who is more than simply wrong. A liar is a person who has intentionally attempted to deceive another. Now you have posted above that Japhet lied. You have done that absent any accountability due to your hiding under a cloak of privacy. In my thinking, that is just wrong. If you are not, regardless of the reason, willing to take responsibility for that accusation, then you should not have posted it. When you make such statements, do not hide your identity, regardless of the reason. No, Green, I do not intend to recommend that you be banned from posting here. Even when I disagree with you, much (not all, as you are not perfect) of the time you show careful scholarship and present well your thinking. From that perspective, I do believe that you contribute to Club Adventist. You also know that I have not demanded that you reveal who your actually are. As to you seemingly thinking that I have the power in the forum to get people banned, if you think that, I have to wonder if you have recently partaken of some item that has not been recommended by Ellen White.

There are really powerful moments in a lot of things, but what is the general effect if the movie mixes error and truth? That happens to be one of the devil's favorite ways to lead people astray. The truth part makes it sound good, but the error part is poison spiritually. He is an expert at doing this and can make it extremely emotionally appealing. It is what he did with Eve. He included just enough truth to make his lie palatable to her. If he had come right out and just attacked God directly she would have realized who he was and just walked away. He is extremely sly.

I have not read the book,hadn't heard of it before and won't be seeing the movie. Did a very quick search. If the objections are accurate how can that in any way be compared to the parable of the Rich Man and Lazareth by Jesus? CPOPINION 'The Shack' Book Was Totally Whack. Will the Movie Be Like That? BY DAVID RUZICKA , CP OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Mar 2, 2017 | 7:33 AM image: http://d.christianpost.com/full/101774/590-244/the-shack.png (PHOTO: SCREENCAPTURE/LIONSGATE/SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT)A still shot from "The Shack," a movie based on William Paul Young's New York Times best-selling novel. I hate to be a frumpy, grumpy old man, but if the new movie, The Shack, is true to the book of the same name, it is really whacked. If you're not familiar with it – the runaway bestseller was released in 2007 and was simultaneously praised AND criticized across the theological spectrum. Interesting that the star of The Shack is the same guy from Avatar. I like him! And both movies have a religious aspect, neither of which is Christian. Obviously, Avatar has an otherworldly, science fiction religion that the author "made up" for the story.Unfortunately, that's not the case. In the book The Shack, the author also, "made up" the religion for the story. How can you say that David?!? It's a Christian book! It's been endorsed by some famous Christians! The author says it's Christian! The MARKETING CAMPAIGN SAYS IT'S CHRISTIAN. NOBODY WOULD LIE IN A MARKETING CAMPAIGN. Really? I get so weary of folks accepting that everything called Christian just must be. Jesus Himself said people would come in His name – not to save you but to deceive you! Jesus the Son of God said don't just accept something because someone stamps His name on it! You can read it yourself here: Matthew 24:5. Here's the bottom line on The Shack: If anyone truly believes God's Word to be, well ... God speaking, then "anyone" should realize that the author of The Shack doesn't believe what God Himself has already said and he (the author) has made up his own version of a god. I lost count after about six heresies (beliefs contrary to Christian doctrine) in the book, so I'll bullet point four major ones. Here's a little bit of what I mean: 1. In the book, God the Father presents Himself as Goddess the Mother. Apparently, the god of the Shack was suffering from the same gender confusion our culture is experiencing! Think I'm overstating? God the father/mother speaking, "For me to appear to you as a woman and suggest that you call me Papa is simply to mix metaphors, to help you keep from falling so easily back into your religious conditioning." Woman? Papa? Which is it??? The author made God transgendered way back in 2007! Way before Target let men in the women's bathroom! This in spite of the fact that God has chosen to verbally and specifically call Himself, "God the Father" from the time of Adam and Eve all the way through His Word to Revelation. For at least 5,000 years God has deliberately chosen to represent Himself as God the Father. That alone should be enough to trash the book. According to the Shack – Jesus blew it when He prayed "Our Father in heaven." Jesus should've prayed, "Our Mother in the Shack." When we start making God in whatever form WE choose, we might as well make Him into anything – a piece of wood, Chewbacca, Kanye "Yeezus" West, whatever. It doesn't matter – because we're making it up as we go along and that's ALL idol worship. And personally? I don't ever want to stand before God and explain why I decided His description of Himself was SOOOO inadequate that I, in my finite ignorance, chose to change it. That's the definition of arrogance and foolishness. Note: Later in the book the god the mother turns into a ponytailed old man hippy. I'm really not sure which is more annoying ... 2. The Jesus of the Shack is a counterfeit Jesus (kind of a karmic/universalist Jesus). Referring to Buddhists, Mormons, and Muslims, Jesus of the Shack declares "I have no desire to make them Christian," (wait, wut?) and paints Christians as religious fanatics and part of a sinful world system. That may be a lot of things, but that's not the Jesus of history OR the Bible. Jesus also tells Mack that he is "the best way any human can relate to Papa (god the father/mother) or Sarayu (The Shack holy spirit)." Best way? Best way of what? Many ways? Lots of ways? "Best" implies there are options for relating to God. No way. Jesus said He is the only way: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." John 14:6 One way. Not "best" way. Only way. 3. The goddess of The Shack doesn't punish sin. "She," says, "I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It's not my purpose to punish it; it's my joy to cure it." The author is making it up as he goes along .... The real God does take joy in saving people. That's what John 3:16 is all about. But: God NEEDS to punish sin because He is a just and good God. Crooked evil judges let the guilty go free. Crooked judges must themselves be brought to justice. God is NOT a crooked judge. He's a good judge. He's love and justice. So He must punish sin. She (the goddess of the Shack) says, "In Jesus, I have forgiven all humans for their sins against me, but only some choose relationship." If all humans are forgiven, then all go to heaven, even Hitler. Lest you think I'm making too much of this, the author of The Shack has refused to affirm that only the sins of those who repent are forgiven (read more by clicking here-last paragraph). God has not forgiven all sins. In Acts 3:19 Peter says, "Repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away." God's punishment: "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life." Matthew 25:46 (NLT) God really punishes sin. Every. Single. Bit. But Jesus willingly took my place, so that if I repent of my sin, and follow Him, His sacrifice will wipe all my sins away. 4. It's irreverent. I'm not quite sure how to communicate this in a way that sounds "right" when I write it, but the Jesus of the Shack is just a little bit of a ridiculous goof. He's dropping stuff on the floor and chasing fish that He can't catch and talks like a child at times (according to the author). 66 books in the Bible, lots and lots of words – so wordy! But God never presents Jesus like that. Ever. So those are my top four reasons The Shack is wrong, whacked, wretched and the worst. Now you might say: a. "But David, it's fiction!" So if it's fiction, anything goes? Like I could write a book about how Jesus didn't die, didn't rise from the grave but married and had little Jesuses, and the church covered it up for 2,000 years? That would be ok? Then how come Christians got all worked up about the DaVinci Code? It was just fiction. b. "But David come on! It has caused some people to hunger for God!" Ok! All aboard the money train! I'm publishing a picture book that presents Jesus as Ariana Grande! I'm sure lots of the 12 to 30 male crowd will have an increased hunger for my Jesus, and I'll get rich! Is that what we've come to? As long as the "Jesus" you present makes people hungry, it's good? I'm hungry for the bacon god! Here's the issue that's critical for our souls: Run from anyone that tries to sell you a different God than THE One revealed in His Word. Worship God the Father, creator of heaven and earth. God the Son, who died for our sins and rose to give us eternal life, and God the Holy Spirit, our counselor, and comforter. At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10-11 (NLT) Amen and amen. Originally posted at I Like My Coffee Black. David Ruzicka is senior pastor at Fort Bend Fellowship. Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/the-shack-book-was-totally-whack-will-the-movie-be-like-that-175857/print.html#cwu6Isa35uVusWp4.99

I have a little something from one who is arguably the "greatest" satirist of all time. Jonathon Swift's satire was mostly written to mock human nature. So, in the context of that, what I quoted above says those who so eagerly devour satire do not realize that the faces they are seeing in the mirror which they think are the faces of others is actually the reflection of their own. I know that is what I discovered. My satirist "humor" was actually the reflection of who I was at the time. It showed me my own cruelty and meanness. My own anger. My own angst and dislike of other people of whom I had no valid reason whatsoever to dislike.

Let all that you do be done in Love.