Jehovah's witnesses

For the last month or so, I've had visits from Jehovah's witnesses. Most people would be annoyed but I actually don't mind. I am in no danger of being recruited. As a born-again Christian, I am safe in my salvation but I am interested in learning more about their doctrine and even helping some of these people come to know the truth. Last week one of the women who came got quite worked up when we were talking, frustrated probably because no matter how many scriptures she showed me to try to convince me that Jesus is not God, I would not budge. One good thing that has come from it is that I have been doing research and really diving into God's Word to learn and be able to show them the REAL truth of it. I feel sad, because I have learned that the bible that they study is not an inspired translation, rather one that a few men got together and wrote. Now I know that there are some who are thinking, isn't that what all bibles are? Well, no. See, The Bible translations that are considered true are ones that are translated by scholars from the original Greek and Hebrew. Turns out that the JW version was not. Actually to clarify, here is a website with some great info. http://www.bible.ca/Jw-internet.htm#watchtower
In my heart, I feel that these people really do love God and want to be faithful believers but they are misguided and mislead. I love what my Mother-in-law says to them when they come to her door. "If you really are believers and have asked Jesus to come into your life as your saviour, you are going to heaven in spite of yourself." Someone told me not to take their printed materials because they get points, which apparently count toward them getting into heaven. What I want to know is, where does it say in the bible that God is keeping count? Just because you hand someone some information, doesn't mean that they are going to read it, or even understand, hence the return visits. I do look forward to them coming actually, I like the debates and sharing information. I really wish that I could talk to them about the truth about their translation, but I know that they will just get upset and walk away, and that is definitely not what I want. So, if anyone actually reads this blog and is a believer like me, please pray for me and for them. That God keeps them coming back, that they become thirsty for truth, and that God would use me to lead them to it.

AIG makes me want to be sick.

All this news lately about these companies that are begging the government for bailouts, gives me a sour taste in my mouth. I mean, in the U.S. AIG got some bailout money and they turned around and paid out bonuses to execs. WHAT?!?!? Oh, they were contractually obligated to pay those out. Insert sarcasm here. First off, I don't care who you are or what you do for a living, no one needs to make a million dollars a year or receive a bonus of that size or bigger. Secondly, as an exec, when your company is in big trouble and gets a bailout, do you hold out your hand and say, um... bonus please? How do these people live with themselves? Every person that has invested one red cent in AIG should pull all their money out... the bailout money that they got came from your pocket and they already wasted the money that you gave them! And now the big auto makers are making threats. Bail us out or else! This really ticks me off. If I was a small business owner and it fell apart, is the government going to bail me out? Not likely. The difference between the little guy and the big corporations is that the little guy doesn't employ hundreds or thousands of people. But does that mean the big guys are more important? If anything they should be held more accountable for the trouble that their company is in. They've got the professionals in place to make sure that this sort of thing doesn't happen. Now I recognize that with the downturn in the economy they haven't made quite as much money as they should but you'd think that they would have seen this coming. I mean, I am no economic mastermind but even I knew that we couldn't keep ticking on the way that we were. Bottomline, boycot AIG.

The Treat in ReTREAT

I spent this past weekend with approximately 35 women and 3 baby girls. Yes, I did say 35. After much urging from my husband and having a few people at the church ask me if I was going, I decided to go to the PVCC retreat. It started out with me in a bit of a frenzy. I had mismanaged my time on Friday and so for about an hour, I ran around like a headless chicken trying to make sure that I had everything that I needed. That time was spent, finishing packing, loading kids into cars, racing to Walmart, finding a sleeping bag and then rocketing over to pick up Connie. I managed to get to her place by around 6:40 ish which was good because we figured that the ideal check in time at the Circle Square Ranch would be around 7:30. I also had to stop to get something to eat, I wasn't kidding around when I said I mismanaged my time on Friday! Anyway, I did managed to get myself a little calmed down after we arrived and unloaded all our stuff from the car. I still can't get over how much stuff a baby needs for a weekend. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that I took Grace with me. This was a source of much stress for me, not because she is a hard baby to take care of but because I was concerned that she was going to be too distracting for everyone there. As it turns out, there were plenty of ladies there, willing to lend a hand and she and the other two babies were well taken care of and well loved.
Anyway, about the retreat. There is a reason why the word retreat has the word TREAT in it. What an amazing weekend. Yes, it was difficult too, but full of blessing. Our speaker this weekend was Kathy Butryn, a wonderful woman of God, lifecoach, mentor, and mom. She taught us so much and really showed us how faithful she is when, on Sunday morning, she obeyed God and threw out her notes. We were so incredibly blessed by what happened on Sunday, I am sure that our church will never be the same. This weekend, especially Sunday, has bonded us in so many ways. There were many women who opened up and shared their hurts and fears and were embraced and prayed for by everyone there. I was so afraid of getting to the retreat and feeling like I was on the outside looking in on all the cliques but this was not the case. There was no cattiness, no gossip, no man-bashing (that I heard other than during the movie we watched which was purely in fun) and most of all, there was not one group of women that you could not approach for fear of being ignored or brushed off. For a long time, I've been searching for a church where we really felt like we belonged and was ready to throw in the towel, but this weekend showed me that Pleasant Valley is a church that we can call home.

curiosity killed the cat....

So, I was at the library last week and I saw a book and thought that it would be interesting to read because it is on the topic of one of my favourite things. Jesus. Unfortunately it is written by someone who is seriously misleading people. Her name is Sylvia Browne and the book is "The Mystical Life of Jesus." I know, I know! What am I doing reading something by someone who claims to be a psychic but has rarely if ever been right, claims also to have a "spirit guide" and says that there is no such thing as hell, satan or demons. Some of the statements she makes in this book are just outrageous. For instance, she says, "Since I myself am psychic, perhaps I can recognize the outward appearances of psychic ability more than most. It is perfectly clear to me that Christ manifested psychic powers... But the fact remains that there is overwhelming evidence in the writings about Jesus that he had psychic ability." huh. I guess the fact that Jesus is God, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent would have something to do with that. However, Sylvia doesn't hold that viewpoint. She says that her spirit guide has told her that Jesus was clairaudient and was able to hear and speak with God and that he was first contacted by God when he was four. She claims that his abilities to heal were psychic abilities. But let's go back to the beginning. Not that it's really a big deal but she claims that Jesus was not born in a manger. She claims that Joseph and Mary were both from wealthy "royal" families and that they stayed in an inn. She goes on to say that they would not have been able to present the baby Jesus at the high temple if they were poor because they would not have had the money to gain entry. The most outrageous claim she makes is that Mary was impregnated by Joseph and that Jesus was called by God. This is a woman who claims that we choose our parents when we incarnate. She believes in reincarnation. Her information is so flawed, I mean, she says that Elizabeth, mother of John the baptist, is Mary's sister. The bible says that they are relatives. no mention of them being sisters. I could go on and on with all the lies this woman tells but then, I'd be writing a book so I will just leave it at this: Sylvia Browne is a fraud... you can search her out on youtube and see many of the predictions that she made over the years that have been WRONG. I feel sorry for people who believe that she is a psychic, and agree with her train of thought. I honestly believe that she is being used in the spiritual battle to lure people away from the truth. This is a woman who charges exorbitant fees for "readings" and seminars, claiming to be able to tell you the future or give you "messages from the other side". And example of her complete failure as a psychic is an appearance on the Montel Williams show where she tells Mr. and Mrs. Hornbeck that their missing son, Shaun, is dead and that he had been taken by a dark skinned (but not black) man with dread locks. Later on in that same year, their son was found alive and the man that had kidnapped him was a big fat white guy named Michael Devlin. But don't take my word for it... do some research of your own and see what I mean!