Gnosticism

Gnosticism is a heresy found in the church. I had heard of it before from the radio program Wretched Radio by Tod Friel. Then last night I was reading the introduction to Colossians and discovered that this was the main heresy in the church of Colossal. This is the main reason that Paul took time while he was in prision at Rome to write to the church and then to have the letter also passed on to Laodicea.

Here is the definition my study bible gives for Gnosticism in the introduction to Colossians.

Gnosticism: that God is good, but matter is evil; that Jesus Christ was merely one of a series of emanations descending from God and being less that God (a belief that led them to deny his true humanity) and that a secret higher knowledge above Scripture was necessary for enlightenment and salvation.

Gnosticism is still around today and we must not let ourselves be deceived.

For more information visit Issuesetc.org 

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What about Those Who Say They Are Christian But...

I have heard many excuses for not attending church from those who confess their belief in Jesus Christ. The following is one of the most frequently heard excuses.

Excerpt from Lutheranism 101 pg 80


What about Those Who Say They Are Christian But...


Perhaps you have heard the excuse, "I'll come to church when they get rid of all the hypocrites." Isn't the church weakened by those who say they believe but really do not? shouldn't we institute some sort of program to root out all the false believers? Actually, such a program can only fail because there is no way for us to know and judge what a person really believes-oly God can do that. All we have is the outward confession a person makes.

Though both true believers and hypocrites are mixed together in the outward fellowship of the church, we trust God to sort them out when Christ returns at the Last Day. In the meantime, we continue bringing God's Word to all people. For God's Word alone (spoken written, given in Baptism and the Lord's Supper) leads us to repent of our hypocrisy, brings us to faith, and keeps us in the faith.

The definition of Hypocrite according to Websters Dictionary is as follows:

hyp·o·crite

 noun \ˈhi-pə-ˌkrit\

Definition of HYPOCRITE

1

: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion

2

: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

— hypocrite adjective

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AALC National Youth Camp

This week Tim and I had the privilege of  chaperoning 7 awesome teens from our church to Estes Park for the national TAALC Youth Gathering.

In ND we are sheltered from great restaurants like IHOP. So Steffany and Morgan wanted their picture taken in front of the sign! 

Along the beautiful drive there was this random Indian head. It was beautifully carved. 

The scenery was breath taking.

There were about 200 teens in attendance this year. 

Here is Kayla and Hannah eagerly awaiting the session to start!

Here is Steffany and Morgan also awaiting the session to begin. 

All the teens participated in the "get to know your fellow campers" activities and also in the singing of fun songs.

Each student met with either Tim or I just before their personal quite bible study time. It was a great opportunity for us to get to know the teens and to pray with them one on one.  

We had some free time during our day and on this particular day they were just hanging out visiting. Some of the other activities were white water rafting (sorry no picutres), hiking, zip line and a trip to town.

 The band played some familiar hymns with a contemporary twist to them. The teens put their arms around each other and swayed to the music as they sang. 

Here are Ansir, Tristen and Phil ( a new friend from Minot).

We also saw lots of wild life like little bunnies,

And ground squirrels. The girls tried to pet and feed them. 

This is Swen and Dean who were some of the musical entertainment. They were in charge of the mixers and told funny stories that also had a message. 

You can see Ansir in this picture. He had a fabulous time. You will have to check out his blog to see what he thought of the camp.

In the evenings around 10:15 or so we met with just our youth group for evening devotions to review what we learned each day. The topics were passion, devotion, purity, compassion and conviction. Each topic centered on what Christ has done for us. Pastor Bill Yonker did an awesome job at getting the message of Christ Crucified across to the youth at this conference. 

When Rooming with 4 teenage girls the room can get quiet messy. 

Awe Morgan was embarrassed she closed her suitcase and hid her face!  

 I believe this was the last day as the girls were filling out their comment sheet.

And the boys did also. For some reason Ty was missing. HMM I will have to hunt down a picture! I think that some of the other teens may have a picture of him on their cameras. So check back if you want to see him.

We were able to get a lovely family picture.

And a beautiful group picture of the ORLC Teens. 

This is the entire group that we traveled with. It included the teens from Minot and Parshal. 

I am very grateful that we were able to attend this conference. While it was designed for the teens the adults present were able to learn some things also. There were break away sessions for both adults and teens covering topics such as defending your faith, questions you have about the Lutheran faith, dating, Are you called to ministry and many others. Tim will be going into more detail about what the conference covered over at his blog The Athanasian Truth. So be sure to check it out. 

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Fun summer time activity for kids.

Thank you to my sister Charity for this wonderful idea. Today we needed something fun to do out side so we made a bracelet of duct tape with the sticky side out. 

Then we walked around town looking for things made by GOD.

We found lots of leaves and flowers and even a rock but.

Then we cut the bracelet off and hung it on the mirror in the bedroom. I was even told that this was fun! 

Sing Praises to Your King!