It was a Bloke Coke.

Re: What are you reading currently?
 

Revised version of Pagan Christianity.

Re: What are you reading currently?
 

I just finished reading (again) Prison to Praise by Merlin Carothers, copyright 1970. I have read that book several times.

Merlin Carothers is in his eighties and still preaching, teaching and serving the Lord. His father died when he was about 12 years old. He had to work hard to help support his mother and he became bitter and got into trouble with the law. At age 19 he went into the Army and was discharged in 43. He then joined the Air Force and was discharged in 1946. He returned home and reluctantly went to Church with his grandparents where God dealt with him and he went to the altar and became a Christian. He felt that God had called him to minister so he went to Marion College and Asbury Seminary and became a Methodist Minister. After ministering for a while he became a military chaplain in 1953. In the early 1960's he received the Holy Ghost Baptism which dramatically changed his life and ministry. In 1966 he went to Viet Nam and was sent to Fort Benning, GA in 1968.

While in Fort Benning, God dealt with him over certain Scriptures. One of these was 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 where we are exhorted to "rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all things. Another was Luke 6:22-23 where Jesus told His disciples that when they were hated and insulted and excluded by others they should rejoice a even leap for joy. He was reminded of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:1-10 where a messenger of satan was allowed to buffet him and even after praying 3 times for deliverance and receiving "no" for an answer he went on and rejoiced. Other Scriptures that became real to him were Romans 8:28 where it speaks of God taking whatever He allows to happen to us and working it for our good. Also, Hebrews 13:15 says that we are to offer the "sacrifice of praise" and some times it is a real sacrifice to praise God. He developed a way of prayer and praise in that he thanked and praised God in everything and for everything that came his way and by having this attitude of praise and faith he was able to defeat satan.

On page 92 of the book he says:
"The very act of praise releases the power of God into a set of circumstances and enables God to change them if this is His design. Very often it is our attitudes that hinder the solution of a problem. God is sovereign and could certainly cut across our wrong thought patterns and attitudes. But His perfect plan is to bring each of us into fellowship and communion with Him, and so He allows circumstances and incidents which will bring our wrong attitudes to our attention.

"I have come to believe that the prayer of praise is the highest form of communication with God, and one that always releases a great deal of power into our lives. praising Him is not something we do because we feel good; rather it is an act of obedience. Often the prayer of praise is is done in sheer teeth-gritting willpower; yet when we persist in i, somehow the power of God is released into us and into the situation, first in a trickle perhaps, but later in a growing stream that finally floods us and washes away the old hurts and scars."

He wrote the book "Prison to Praise" while stationed in Fort Benning. Since he retired from position of military chaplain he has been promoting the idea of praising God in all of our circumstances.

Re: What are you reading currently?
 

This is from chapter 4, pages 31-38 of “Prison To Praise” copyright 1970. The book was written by Chaplain (LTC) Merlin R. Carothers and tells of his conversion after leaving the U.S. Army, his college training and entrance back into the Service as a Chaplain, and then his ministry for several years. Chapter 4 tells about how he heard of and received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

For some time I’d been going to a small weekly prayer group near Fort Bragg. One evening, Ruth, a member of the group was visibly moved during a prayer session. I’d watched her during several meetings and often thought I’d like to ask her how she had come to experience such obvious joy in her life. Unlike some of the rest of us, she seemed to be filled continuously with a joy I certainly had felt only on rare occasions in my life.

This particular evening Ruth confided in me, “I was so blessed I almost prayed out loud in tongues.”

“You almost what?” I was horrified.

“Prayed in tongues, “Ruth said brightly.

I lowered my voice and looked around to see if we were being watched. “Ruth, you could have ruined our group! What has come over you?”

Ruth laughed heartily. ”I’ve been praying in tongues ever since I received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

“What is that?” I’d never herd the term before.

Ruth patiently explained that it was the same experience that the disciples had at Pentecost. “I experienced my own Pentecost, she smiled with unmistakable radiance.

“I thought you were Baptist,” I felt shaken.

“I am, but God is moving in all denominations.”...

I put my hand on her arm. “Be careful, Ruth,” I said earnestly, “You’re playing with dangerous stuff. I’ll be praying for you, and if you need help, call me.”

Ruth smiled and patted my hand, “Thank you, Merlin, I appreciate your concern.”

Some time later she called me.

Ruth later called Merlin and invited him to come to a retreat. Other calls followed reminding him to bring his golf golf clubs and letting him know that all his expenses would be paid for him and another minister if he wanted to bring a friend. He and a Presbyterian minister named Dick went.

The story continues,

The services were unlike anything we’d ever attended before. People sang with uninhibited joy, clapped their hands and actually raised their arms while they were singing.

Both Dick and I felt very much out of place, but agreed there was a joy here that we could learn something from.

One ...lady kept coming up to us and saying, “Has anything happened yet?”

“No, ma’am, what do you mean?” we’d answer.

“You’ll see, you’ll see,” she always said.

Ruth and some of the others who had invited us urged me to have a private talk with a certain lady who they said had unusual power.

They took us to meet her, and I instantly disliked her She quoted scripture in a way that made me feel as if she was trying to convert me. I didn’t like to have scripture quoted to me, and especially by a woman.

Still, our friends insisted that we have a talk with her, and since they’d paid our way there, I felt ie we ought to oblige.

We sat patiently as she told us what God had done in her life and in the lives of others that she knew. She made numerous references to the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” and went through the Scriptures to show that the experience had been a common one for Christians in the first century.

“The Holy Spirit is still doing the same thing in many people’s lives today,” she said. “Jesus Christ still baptizes those who believe in Him, just as He did at Pentecost.”

I felt a twinge of excitement. Could it be that I could experience my own Pentecost? Could I see tongues of fire, hear the rush of wind, and speak in an unknown tongue?

She had finished talking and sat looking at us.


I’d like to pray for you,’” she said softly. “That you might receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

Without hesitating I said, “Yes.”

She placed her hands on my head and began to pray softly. I waited for “it” to hit me. Nothing happened. I didn’t feel a thing.

She went on and placed her hands on Dick’s head. When she had finished praying I looked at him and he looked at me. I could tell he hadn’t felt anything either. This whole thing was a fake.

The lady looked at us both with a hint of a smile.

“You haven’t felt anything yet, have you?”

We shook our heads. “No, ma’am.”

“I’m going to pray for you in a language you will not understand. As I pray you will receive a new language of your own.”

Again she placed her hands on my head. I felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing. When she was through praying she asked if I could hear or sense any words within me that I didn’t understand. I thought for a moment and realized that there were in my mind words that didn’t mean anything to me. I felt certain that these words were a product of my own imagination, and I told her so.

“If you said them out loud, would you feel as if you were being made a fool of?” she asked.

“I certainly would.”

“Would you be willing t be a fool for Christ’s sake?” This put the whole situation in a different. perspective. Of course I’d do anything for Christ, but speaking out loud such utter nonsense could mean disaster for my future. I could imagine all those people going around telling everyone that a Methodist chaplain had been praying in an unknown tongue. I might even have to leave the Army! Still, what if this was what Christ wanted me to do? Suddenly even my army career seemed less important. Haltingly I began to speak out loud the words that were forming in my mouth.

Still I felt nothing different. I did believe that Jesus Christ had given me a new tongue as a sign that He had baptized me in the Holy Spirit, yet the disciples at Pentecost had acted like drunk men. Obviously they had been overwhelmed by some feeling.

I watched Dick; his experience seemed to be the same as mine. He spoke words of an unknown tongue and believed in the validity of it, yet displayed no emotional reaction.


”Your experience is based on faith in a fact, not on feeling,” said the lady, apparently reading our minds.

I sat in deep thought --I didn’t feel any different, but was I different? I looked up; an amazing realization had just hit me.

“I know that Jesus Christ is alive!” I said. ”I don’t just believe, I KNOW!”

Why of course! The Holy Spirit brings witness of Jesus Christ says the Bible. Now I knew that to be a fact. That was the source of the new authority the disciples after Pentecost. They didn’t remember a man who had lived and died and risen again. They knew Him in the present tense because He had filled them with His Holy Spirit whose primary purpose is to witness to Jesus Christ!

In a flash I understood the horror of what I’d been guilty of for the last several years. Not only I, scores of so-called Christians in pulpits and in pews who dilute the message of the Cross and the central position of Christ.

Even as I saw the magnitude of my sin, I also saw Jesus Christ in all His splendor as my redeemer. I saw Him for what I’d always known deep in my heart that He was. All my recent nagging doubts were swept away by a wave of joyous certainty....

“Thank you, Jesus!” I stood up, and as I reached my full height, something hit me! I was suddenly filled and overflowing with a feeling of warmth nd love for everybody in the room.

It must have hit Dick at the same time. I saw the tears well up in his eyes, and without a word we reached out and gave each other a bear hug, laughing and crying at the same time.

I looked at the dear lady I had resented so fiercely just a short while ago, and realized that I loved her. She was my sister in Christ!

We went downstairs for lunch and I felt an overwhelming love for everyone I saw. I had never known anything like it before.

That evening Dick and I began to pray in one of the the rooms. People came to join us and soon the room was full. As we prayed others were filled with the Holy Spirit. The hotel rang with shouts of joy as people experienced the fullness of Christ’s presence.

At 2:00 a.m. Dick and I tried to go to sleep. It was no use, we were too excited.

I said, “Dick, let’s get up and pray some more.” We prayed for another two hours for everyone we knew and then praised God for His goodness to us.

Re: What are you reading currently?
 

"I Dared To Call Him Father" Bilquis Sheikh

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"The Darkness and the Dawn" - Charles Swindoll

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New Pharisiasm: How Spiritual Bullies Attack the Church

Sobering.

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too many posts...:heeheehee

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Jesus and the Undoing of Adam: by C. Baxter Kruger

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Heaven is for real

The virus and the vaccine

Drop dead healthy

the truth about statins

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Haha!!!! :heeheehee

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The Road to Grace by Richard Paul Evans

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What, it's educational, right? :heeheehee

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Wouldn't know. Never read it... :smack

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I work in the library and the 50 shades series has been very popular. I have not read it either, however. ;)

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I think every female in my office read it. Even at their desks, between phone calls...sheesh. I figured it was too late for ME, anyhow. Divorced for a year. LOL :happydance

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Excellent and must read for EVERY American. :thumbsup :thumbsup

Conscious Capitalism, John Mackey and Raj Sisodia

"We believe that business is good because it creates value, it is ethical because it is based on voluntary exchange, it is noble because it can elevate our existence, and it is heroic because it lifts people out of poverty and creates prosperity. Free-enterprise capitalism is the most powerful system for social cooperation and human progress ever conceived. It is one of the most compelling ideas we humans have ever had. But we can aspire to something even greater."

In this book, Whole Foods Market cofounder John Mackey and professor Conscious Capitalism, Inc., cofounder Raj Sisodia argue for the inherit good of both business and capitalism. Featuring some of today's best-known companies, they illustrate how these two forces can - and do - work most powerfully to create value for all stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers, investors, society, and the environment.

:thumbsup :thumbsup

This is real capitalism - NOT - Crony capitalism.

Re: What are you reading currently?
 

Just finished "An Invisible Thread!" A great book. Not that long but inspiring. About a business lady, "Laura" who met a young boy, "Maurice" on the street begging for food to eat. Their story! Loved the "brown paper bag" part.

Been Thinkin

Re: What are you reading currently?
 

FROM THE PULPIT TO PERDITION a very short but very thought provoking story.

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"Jesus the Messiah" - Robert H. Stein

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I was just reading the review about that book in the Costco magazine, and I thought it sounded like a very interesting book.

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I'm reading "Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer... a very deep, thrilling book with a great insight into the depths of God.

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That one is on the short list of books that I am looking forward to digging into.

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"The Holy Spirit a Pentecostal Perspective" - Anthony D. Palma

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I am currently working on my Masters in Nursing (MSN) so I am reading/studying
• R699 Master's Thesis in Nursing
I am very proud of my 15 years being a Registered Nurse in the
Trauma Unit Level's 3 & 4~ Graduated RN school in 1998 with a 4.0 GPA :-)
When I am not in my school books, I am reading in the book of Proverbs for my strength~Psalms for the beautiful prayers~and on my knees for the renewing I feel each time I meet God there :-)

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" Acts - a Logion Press Commentary" - Stanely M. Horton

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Tortured For Christ-Richard Wurmbrand.

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Cindy!!!!! That book rocked my world! It opened my eyes to the underground and persecuted church.

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I can only read a little at a time. Make me ashamed.

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I understand! It broke me deeply and made me question my own convictions. It maybe time for a fresh read. I pray that God continues to bless you through the reading of the book. Funny thing he is a Lutheran that made me stand up and take notice.

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At the present time, I'm curently reading a thread on Apostolic Friends Forum about what is being read currently.

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The Bridehood Saints by George D. Watson

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"How to read the Bible for all its worth" - Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.

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You too? Wow... we got the same reading list or something...

:highfive

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Reading my latest issue of The Rifleman (NRA Publication) when I get home.

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Judging from that avatar you ought to be reading How to Find A Good Barber.

:icecream

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I'm reading stuff on AFF and Facebook....

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The Duck Dynasty story. (quack)

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Possibilities of grace by Asbury Lowery