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[jakfr0s]

Hello all! I have not posted anywhere for a long time so forgive me if I mess up. Ive been reading alot of the material on BT for a while now and I have to say Im blown away! I have also never struggled so much internally in my life. I keep asking myself and God why He has shown me this. I still sin and I dont know that I can stop unless God wills it. Sometimes I get so mad about how my life has been, so unfair sometimes. It hurts and God was the cause of it all. I find myself blaming Him alot and I wonder why he kept me alive as long as He has. Im 36 by the way and I honestly thought I would never see 35. Ive lived hard and suffered greatly for it. God has been harsh on me and the people around me. Please pray for me! I think about death alot and now that I know there is no eternal lake of fire to torture me, death from this life dont seem so bad. What bums me out is if I die now I'll have to go through it all over again in the second resurrection. I also see the God awesome glory in store for us all, truly good news.  Maybe Im wrong I dont know. But there is no doubt that L Ray Smith is truly blessed and speaks the Truth according to God's Word.  God has shown me much in the last year and it scares me, so much anger in me,  it also makes me happy, and it also makes me feel so ashamed. Ive been thinking alot about what to say on this forum and believe me all this wasnt what I wanted to write. There is so much more I want to say right now but maybe tomorrow. Thank you all for reading this and I hope maybe God will guide you into dragging me to Jesus even if I dont want to. Does that make sense?     

[Stevernator]

Hi jakfr0s,
Welcome to the forum. It is a very helpful place to learn more and dig deeper in the scriptures. Here are some emails about sin and about how we are made in God's image that I think might be helpful. The first two I found after Kat posted them in The Beast in Me thread.

http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4098.0.html ----------

It is GOOD that we should feel embarrassed over our sins. My past sins are an embarrassment to me when I from time to time think about them. If they were NOT an embarrassment to me, I might still be committing these same stupid and lustful acts.  Embarrassment and guilt are good for us. These feelings first make us realize that these things are lustful, and wrong, and stupid.  But we will not have victory over them unless and until God reveals to us their real purpose and need to get rid of them.

Where did the mechanism by which Eve:  "saw that the tree was GOOD FOR FOOD, and that it was PLEASANT TO THE EYES, and a tree to be desired to MAKE ONE WISE..." come from in the first place?  Did SHE create these desires in her heart and mind and soul?  Get real--SHE HAD NOT A CLUE!  God created humanity in the spiritually weakened state in which we find ourselves, but there is a great and grand reason and purpose for it.

There is a "SPIRITUAL GREATNESS" that is achieved by the conquering of illegal pulls [spiritually 'illegal'] of the flesh and the stupid sensual lust for self-gratification.  These things are not good, in and by themselves, as modern psychologists might try to convince us, but they do serve a good purpose when they embarrass us and make us feel guilty. Embarrassment and guilt are the precursors to REPENTANCE.

We must come to the place in our lives where we not only desire to obey the laws of the land, the powers ordained by God to somewhat limit the evils of society, but to also obey the Laws of GOD.  We want and desire to do what God says, not because we have figured out all the logical logistics of His commandments, but because we desire to OBEY HIM REGARDLESS of how well we understand all the reasons why God tells us to do and not do certain things.

Christians will argue;  "Well I don't see the harm in teaching my little ones about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny."  Of course they don't. To their carnal minds the commandment of God to "Learn NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN" has little or no effect on their attempt to worship God as they please.

When you see the "SIN in sin" and start to hate sin as God hates sin, then and only then will you make progress in eliminating these things in your life. Of course, you know, when I say such things it means that God is bringing this about in your thinking and God is enabling you to have to the power to actually conquer these pulls of the flesh.  All we who have had a measure of success in victory over sin to the point that sin "no longer has DOMINION over us" (Rom. 6:8-19), desired to be free from sin LONG BEFORE IT EVER ACTUALLY CAME ABOUT! I believe that most of my readers will say "A-men" to that!

Be patient and do not stop crying out to God for deliverance, for in time God will grant you the fruit of righteousness.

God be with you,
Ray

http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2465.0.html --------

Yours is a common frustration. Many write me with similar struggles
with the flesh after coming into a knowledge of the Truth. I did the
same. I left my First Love and went back into the world, all the while
knowing that I couldn't conquor my flesh. I was so happy for what I
'preceived to be "greasy grace."  Thank God for grace, because I knew
I wasn't going to be saved without it.
I still believe that that part of it is true (about saved by grace only), but
I also know that it is possible when God gets ready, to conquor your
major sins so that sin no longer "reigns over you."  You will not be totally
perfect and mature, but you will not be giving into every pull of the flesh,
for sexual gratification, lust for money, power, good looks, eternal youth,
perfect health, interesting job, travel and excitement, etc., etc., etc.  You
will learn to enjoy the simple pleasure of life like, breathing, sleeping,
walking, talking to your wife, eating a pizza, and going to bed early on a
Saturday night.
God will make you really WANT to stop sinning, long before you will
ACTUALLY stop sinning. It's part of the struggle; part of the good
fight of faith; part of overcoming the flesh.  Don't become discouraged, as
God WILL SEE YOUR THROUGH!
 
God be with you,
Ray

http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,7490.0.html

Hello Ray
   I have just discovered your site and believe me I have been doing a lot of reading, thinking and praying these last few days, My wife has just  started to reading your site also. We have been members of the southern baptist church for a great part of our lives. I am in my seventy's so you can see where I am coming from. Already I have found answers to several questions on scripture that have bothered me all my life. I feel that I might have discovered the treasure in the field. Thank you for this web site.
One question for you for now. Hope that I can understand your answer. In your email that I pasted below, are you saying that God is not capable of creating CHARACTER AND LOVE instantly or that he chooses not to??? This is very important to my understanding of a lot of your writings, please reply.  Thank you
 
Roger
 
 
[Ray Replies to another questioner]
 
Dear Charles:
 
Of course your question makes sense--it is an excellent question. Too bad that the Christian Church does not answer it.
 
God is SPIRIT. God is interested ONLY in spiritual things. All this physical creation is not something that God takes great pleasure in--it is but a means to an end. Well, what does He want then? He wants CHILDREN! SPIRITUAL Sons and Daughters in HIS VERY IMAGE!
 
But, how does He get them? Create them? Yes, CREATE them. But how does He create them. Instantly? No. To be in the IMAGE of God means that we will have the very same CHARACTER AND LOVE of God. Character and Love cannot be created instantly; it can only be developed over a period of time under severe pressure and duress.  And so God creates severe pressure and duress, which produces GODLY CHARACTER.  Imagine creating "patience," INSTANTLY?  Why the very thought is self-contradicting. Patience by its very nature means that something must be WAITED FOR even though it is desired NOW.
 
God knows what He is doing. Now then, there is a second part to all this. We ourselves would never ever really appreciate the qualities of character, virtue, and love, that we will possess if we did not have to "sweat blood" to get them. There is no virtue that you can name that is not the result of overcoming some form of evil.  And so this physical, human, temporal existence is as beneficial for US, and it is to GOD.
 
Hope this helps your understanding a little better.
 
God be with you,
 
Ray


You are in my prayers and feel free to write more. I would be interested in what you have to say.

Best wishes,
Steve

[Roy Monis]

Dear Brother jakfr0s

I read your post very carefully and was not surprised to hear that you still sin, brother, you're not on your own believe me, we all still sin so be encouraged you're in like company. Only One Person never sinned and that was the Lord Himself. You say "It hurts and God was the cause of it all." You're absolutely right, God does indeed cause it all, but why? I see that you have already considered the possibility of it being God dragging you to Him. If that is the case then He is not going to give up, His Will will be done, " I am God, and there is none like me; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure; calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country; yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it."   (Isa.46:10,11).

In short, you can't win only hurt more till you come to your senses and humble yourself and accept. My advice is don't be stubborn and hold back you'll only hurt more, Paul tried it without success: “And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’"   (Acts 26:14). And if Paul couldn't get away with it I'll bet my life on it you won't.

You are definitely not wrong about Ray, for sure he is blessed and through him we are all blessed of the Lord including you, brother, not many are fortunate enough to be dragged by God, that is an honour, be grateful and thank Him on your knees for His tender mercy. There is no need to be scared, trust God and ask the Lord for strength, spiritual strength, and He will supply it in abundance and drive your anger out.

All you have said makes perfect sense, we are all in the same boat together crying out to our merciful God for His mercy. You'll get all the help and support you'll need here on this forum and it will be quite different from that which you received from Babylon, who is probably the cause of your present frustration and anger with all the lies and man made doctrines and utter rubbish they forced down our throats which are now idols of the heart and so very difficult to get rid of, I could use stronger words but I'm not allowed.

Read and absorb Ray's article titled " Twelve God-Given Truths To Understanding His Word," first and when that has sunk in then start on the rest. Believe me your eyes and ears will be opened and the Lord will start working on you in earnest.

God bless you brother in our joint walk in Christ. 

Love in Christ Jesus.

Roy UK     

[Kat]

Hi jakfrOs,

I am gald you have joined us here 
It is a great help to have these like minded people to discuss these truths with.  When you put your mind to learning these truths, it will help you take your mind off of your own problems.  Dwelling on your pass mistakes and how much you need to change can be overwheming.  I would encourage you to put your efforts into study and pray, this is a constructive way you can move forward.  Here is an excerpt from the transcript 'How Hard is Getting Saved?' from the Bible Truths Conference in Nashville TN 2005.

http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3849.0.html -------

I’m going to show you today that “getting saved” is the hardest most difficult thing that any human being in the history of the universe will ever do. There is nothing harder than “getting saved”. Are you hearing me? It is the hardest thing any human being will ever do in all of eternity. It’s the ultimate hard task.
But, when you read the scriptures, it doesn’t sound that way.
v
v
John 12:24-25 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”

That’s a “verily, verily” too by the way, He didn’t just say that, He said “truly, truly, except a grain of wheat die” We’re the grain of wheat. We have to die. Who wants to die? Where are you going to get a congregation of 25,000 skillion Christians if you tell them you’re going to teach them how to die? I don’t want to die, who wants to die! If you’re going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you have to die. That’s not pleasant. It’s not fun and games, it’s just not all that much fun. It’s rewarding; there’s a joy to it, but it’s not fun.
------------------------------------------

I hope this is ecouraging, because so few have their eyes opened and you have so much to hope for and look ahead to.

1Co 2:9  But as it is written:
       "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
       Nor have entered into the heart of man
       The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[Beloved]

Welcome Jakfros

Boy we have all gone through that internal struggle and wondered why God s showing me this stuff....
Rather than struggle now I ask God to show me more and more and I am so thankful that he will work his work in me.

Our failures of hitting the mark, make us rely on him more and more. Our carnal nature makes us sin...

Welcome to this group of sinners and I will certainly enjoy hearing from you

I see you are from Alaska I lived in Juneau for 8 yrs....here there is a big energy crunch there right now. What part of Alaska do you live in?

beloved

[jakfr0s]

 Hi Beloved, Im from way above the arctic circle in a town called Barrow, at least I was born and raised there, but iam currently living in a small village about 100 miles south of Barrow called Wainwright. I know some people in Juneau from like 20 years ago, but Ive never been there myself.

 Yes I hope to get to a place where I too can ask for more from God, but I think what He has shown me so far is alot to take in, ya know? I have so much to learn and every time I come here God shows me a little more and I cant help but to be in total awe of Him and how he does His work. Thanks your for interest, and I look forward to hearing from you also.  javascript:void(0);