The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

tricked me. :)



They were Apostolic, but they don't advertise themselves as Apostolic. It isn't in their name. Their website lacks the key markers and code words I usually recognize as "Apostolic-speak".

However, they were very cordial. I was greeted by many people. I was not dressed up, but not bummy either. Jeans, short-sleeved button down shirt, skechers. However, at offering time, one of the ushers came up behind me as I stood reaching into my pockets to find my cash. He slipped $5.00 into my hand and told me to put it in the offering. I appreciated his very kind gesture.


If you know me, you know one of my biggest criticisms of the Apostolic Movement is their doctrine that essentially teaches unless you speak in tongues, you're not saved.

So the Pastor's Sermon title was, "Tongues of Fire". I am not making this up.

I sat there and listened. I really listened hard and carefully. The Lord knows the source of my soreness with the Apostolics so for me to walk into that church, that morning, hearing that Pastor preach that message on that subject was..... something.

He made the allusion to a baby's birth in how that we know the baby is alive because we hear the baby's tongue. I understand what he was saying.

But is a baby not a baby until the baby breaks from the womb? Does LIFE begin at conception, birth, somewhere in between?

A literal "Saved By Grace Through Faith" message fits perfectly with the Bible, Christian history and the thought of human life beginning at conception... nvm.

Praise, Prayer, and Prophecy are the purposes of Tongues. The Pastor elaborated on those points yesterday.

He gave an altar call.

It was a very powerful experience.

It had been a long time since I had been in a church service like the one I was in yesterday. The Holy Ghost fell in the sanctuary and people were crying out to the Lord all over the sanctuary. There was dancing in the Spirit. There was people speaking in Tongues. It did not seem driven by music or hyped up.

At least three visitors were filled with the Holy Ghost for the first time, yesterday in that service! They came down front and the Pastor and just a few other people were down at the front praying with the altar call responders.

No one was filled at the altar-- they were led to a prayer and tarrying room and the Holy Ghost fell on three of the people back there. I am not sure how many people were led to the back room-- maybe ten or eleven, maybe more.

I know three were filled because they made the announcement over the pulpit, 15 minutes after the service was ended. 20 minutes after the service was over, people were still praising the Lord!

It was a great place to be!

Predominantly black, with some white folks, an Asian police officer, more women than men, but there were men there, no Hispanics, and this church is in the city, not far from my house.

I want to meet with the Pastor (but probably not possible). I want to make sure I know what they believe before I commit to an environment that I know ultimately will cause more hurt and confusion.

I refuse to bring a person to a church that will lead them to believe that if they don't speak in Tongues, they are not saved and are going to hell.

Still, I don't doubt that the Lord was with those precious and kind people yesterday and I am glad and grateful that I was there to witness and participate in their service.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

So the church believes a "false doctrine" and yet God blessed that message and you haven't been in a meeting like that in a long time...?

That would probably make me take another look at my opinion of their doctrine, at least...

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

Why is it probably not possible for you to meet with the pastor?

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

Sometimes, in some black congregations, the Pastor is so unapproachable, not necessarily because he isn't friendly, but because there are several layers of people you have to go through to get to him and they feel it is their job to keep the petty stuff (people with questions) away from the Pastor.

To their defense, there are a lot of nutjobs and other time wasters that visit a church and the FIRST thing they want to do is talk to the Pastor. They feel it is their right to take up his time, sap him of all his energy, and IF they join, they're around for a few months only to leave the church OFFENDED because the Pastor didn't have ENOUGH time for them or so-and-so offended them or they didn't agree with this or that or whatever it is that Brother or Sister Nutjob can come up with in the moment.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

It was a gut-wrenching and heart-breaking ordeal for me personally to leave the last Apostolic church where I was a member. It would be stupid to put myself and others throught that again-- and a big waste of time.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

You think the Spirit of God has never moved in a trinitarian church? You think it's never moved in a baptist church? You and I both know it has.

Does that mean you should take another look at your views of the trinity and baptist doctrines?

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

While it's natural and normative for a baby to cry out once it's free from the womb, I don't think it's a very good metaphor for being born of the Spirit. There are other ways to determine if the baby is alive, and all of those ways are detectable and discernible before the birth (e.g. heart beat, movement, and etc.).

In the womb, all the essential parts of the baby's anatomy that allows it to cry when it's first born are intact and functioning before it's born (lungs, brain, larnyx, mouth, and etc.).

The only difference is that the baby didn't have the ability to use those essential parts of its anatomy to cry out until it was outside of the womb.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

:happydance

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

Jermyn Davidson,

Regardless of what happens in the future, it sounds like you had a good service.

I praise and thank God for that blessing!

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

:lol

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

I do too.

The Lord is so merciful and kind to me and I'll never know why.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

Things that make you go hmmmm.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

I was baptized in a Black Church. The Pastor was very approachable to me. Even after I left the Church 3 times. We were friends for 32 years until he died.

Point? At least give him a try.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

Oh, ok. I didn't realize it was a large church. We have the same issue. We now run 1700-1900 people per weekend so it is impossible for the Sr. Pastor to know and meet with each and every one of them. We do have a wonderful team of pastors, staff, and volunteers to do that though. I used to go to lunch with my pastor but now that the church is so big and I know he is pulled a lot of different directions I don't any more. We do talk every weekend privately before service for a few minutes and maintain our relationship that way.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

Michael,
I gave the Pastor of this church a call and left a voice mail message for him. Let's see what happens.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

Keep us posted, JD. Praying the Lord will lead you to a place where you can worship, and draw closer to Him.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

I am thinking that German is a rolling stone so that place may not exist! I think he has lived more places in five years than I have in a lifetime! LOL

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

LOL!

Actually, that's not the case. I lived at my last address for the last 5 or 6 years and was a participating member of 2 churches for my entire time at that address.

However, I have just recently moved to an entirely different part of the country. Job promotion and relocation.

:highfive

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

JD - just wait for wintertime!!! You will be wishing for some Florida sunshine!!

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

I already am missing Florida sorely.

If I were to move back to Florida, I am thinking I'd go to St. Pete or somewhere else further south and west. I didn't visit that part of the state enough.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

Cleveland wouldn't be so bad if they would just take care of the streets.

Another thing is that the blue-collar job sector here seems dismal. Cleveland is affected, but other parts of the state that I have read about, talked with people about, and researched-- cities like Akron, and other places in the interior of Ohio have been utterly devastated by the disappearance of living-wage paying, blue-collar jobs.

Change came and millions of Americans were just not ready.

Their old jobs are never returning.

Never.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

growing your own food is like printing your own money! :D

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

And yet we keep bringing in more unskilled workers...

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

every time you use a dollar you support that system, and are complicit.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

Right, and every time you use the internet you support DARPA and the MI complex, and are complicit.

Re: The Church I Went To Yesterday...
 

that is pretty dismissive of the untold amount of suffering attributable to the dollar. People live lives of slavery, and suffer and die so you can have cheap stuff.