Month: October 2016

No Such Thing As Cannibal Sheep

stephenmcalpine's avatarStephen McAlpine

My twin brother and I used to work every Saturday on a relative’s farm in Northern Ireland when we were in our early teens.  The best bit of the job was opening up the stone walled pig houses, descending into the abyss and “mucking out” the stalls; sweeping the, er, stuff, down into a corner drain.

The smell of pigs is not the smell of bacon.  It is a peculiar odour that permeates your clothes, your hair, your welly boots, your everything.  My dad used to hate picking us up each Saturday evening.  Our farm clothes stayed in the shed outside.  After they were washed.

A farm’s an interesting place for a young lad.  For example, did you know that pigs eat other pigs?  It’s true.  If it’s a hot day and they get agitated they can go on the rampage – or the pigpage if you like.  Pigs can…

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I Hunger and Thirst for Revival — Tara Beth Leach

Originally Posted at Missio Alliance in May 2017 When I read about the explosive narrative on Pentecost and the early church – the Holy Spirit coming to live within human beings in a very signs-and-wonders kind of way – I tremble. Call me a dreamer, but there are times that I do daydream of…

via I Hunger and Thirst for Revival — Tara Beth Leach

Tradition, Means, and The End

Gov. Pappy's avatarThe Flour Hour

Saw something interesting the other day. Folks, meet Mr Nicholas Barbon. Or, as the Mr and Mrs Barebone called him, Nicholas If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebone.

nickbarbon

Appropriately, he was one of the pioneers for the fire insurance business. Nothing like selling fire insurance along with hell-fire insurance, eh?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Barbon

Now giving names of this sort wasn’t too out of the ordinary back in puritan days, so, although it’s mildly hilarious, it’s not news – just something I’d forgotten was a thing. My first (completely serious) reaction though, upon seeing the message his parents were trying to send to their child and others, was “Hmph. If you really wanted to be a witness you’d have made that his first name. What are ya, ashamed of Jesus? Don’t go hiding your light under a bushel, now! Lord wants all of us, not just a little piece tucked away!”

Now that whole reaction is absurd, yes…

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Faith PCA Watkinsville, continued

jessicafore's avatarjessicafore

A follow up post to “I might get excommunicated for this.”

It’s been one month since I went public about my indictment from Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Watkinsville, Georgia for contempt toward the church and its leaders for speaking out in various ways about my experience of abuse in the church.  The last several weeks have been overwhelming on multiple fronts.  I’ve been thankful for the love and support I’ve been shown by family and friends outside of Faith, folks who in many cases have known me well since childhood and college, speaking up about what they know of my character and reaching out to me with words of encouragement.  The post has been viewed thousands of times and reblogged by some of the organizations I’ve found most helpful and insightful over the last several years for expanding my own understanding of abusive dynamics, including A Cry for Justice and The Wartburg Watch…

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A Common Accusation by Abusers to Victims: “You Cannot Keep Friends” — A Cry For Justice

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as […]

via A Common Accusation by Abusers to Victims: “You Cannot Keep Friends” — A Cry For Justice

Is Perry Noble an Alcoholic? A Continuing Discussion of Alcoholism and the Church — The Wartburg Watch

Why I am concerned that Perry Noble does not seem understand that he is a likely alcoholic.

via Is Perry Noble an Alcoholic? A Continuing Discussion of Alcoholism and the Church —

Note: From blog administrator of GBFSV Church Abuse website. This is an important article and one that is unaddressed in so many churches, especially NeoCalvinist/9 Marks/John MacArthur-ite churches like my former church Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley.  The pastors/elders at GBFSV have NO education, training, or licensing in the big topics, including alcoholism and use what is beyond dumb and very dangerous — Nouthetic Counseling. It’s Bible Counseling which consists of throwing Scripture verses at things.

The pastors/elders (senior pastor and chairman of the elder board) required that I undergo eight months of meetings about an older woman church member to have “unity” with her. They discussed gossip, quoted Scripture, and wrote about gossip on a chalkboard. They never addressed the real issue: She’s a substance abuser, she’s an alcoholic, and this is what they do. She should have been under the care of a physician who should have supervised her care and treatment for alcoholism. The GBFSV pastors/elders failed her, her adult children, and church members.

The GBFSV pastors/elders even demanded that some people apologize to her for the problems she caused. That’s called codependency and enabling and it’s not supposed to be done with substance abusers. 10/19/16

 

Getting Kicked Out Of Church Is Not An Option – Tim Fall’s blog

Tim's avatarTim's Blog - Just One Train Wreck After Another

staying-in-church

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.I and the Father are one. (John 10:28-30.)

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