maybe we could ask the particpants how many children that were not born to them, they have raised? how many of said children are now in the ministry?
Maybe we could discuss how many shirts have each taken off their own back (really outta their closet) and given away for the cause of Christ?
How many of those involved, left the comforts of a first world country to travel to a backwards poverty ridden dangerous place, to teach people about a Jesus who loves them and wants to live in their hearts?
wait. on all these counts Sister Alvear is gonna scoreboard everybody. That might not be fare to the internet warriors who havent done jackdidly in the real world, but play like it on internet forums when they tell women to SHUT UP.
LOL.
Dear Sister Alvear, I love and respect you. Your service to the Kingdom is awe inspiring and more than a little intemidating (even if I cant spell it). I pray for you and your wonderful Apostle-esk husband on a regular basis.
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
Well. Brother that is your opinion...I know for certain HE called...so with that in mind I have no choice but to obey...My pastor is ok with it, my husband is ok with it...we see things far different than you do but I feel no ill will concerning you or anyone else. We all have to do what we feel He has called us to do...If I have offended you in any way I ask your forgiveness however I must do what I feel God called me to do. Judgment day will tell the rest of the story...so for my part we part paths but wish you well.
Some of the greatest women in Pentecost have walked beside me, Sister AO Holmes, Sister Mary Williams, Sister Rita Dawson and many more. I honor Sister Holmes and honor the memory of Sister Dawson and Sister Williams and many other handmaidens of the Lord.
There are many many women women who where and are dear saints who are happy being in church, witnessing, being used in prophesy or any of the gifts of the spirit, prayer, and who may never have their name printed for affirmation on a forum, yet the world is not worthy of their contribution to the church and their families.
In regards to the above posts about giving and new converts, it is ridiculous.
1 Yep, we have used the baptistry this year, prayed some through and I have personally 3 Bible studies (outside of regular church services, prayer meetings and outreach ) going at this present time, with some praying around our altars, and one of them is a 70 plus year old woman.
2 You obviously do not know me, while I have been charged with a lot of accusations over the years, I cannot ever remember someone who knows even a little about me question if I was generous or not. But since you do not know me, and obviously could care less, there is no need for me to prove what I have given, even in only two months this year, amounts that you probably would not believe.
Someone can passionately disagree with a position and still have the goods.
In regards to the above posts about giving and new converts, it is ridiculous.
1 Yep, we have used the baptistry this year, prayed some through and I have personally 3 Bible studies (outside of regular church services, prayer meetings and outreach ) going at this present time, with some praying around our altars, and one of them is a 70 plus year old woman.
2 You obviously do not know me, while I have been charged with a lot of accusations over the years, I cannot ever remember someone who knows even a little about me question if I was generous or not. But since you do not know me, and obviously could care less, there is no need for me to prove what I have given, even in only two months this year, amounts that you probably would not believe.
Someone can passionately disagree with a position and still have the goods.
LOL. i dont need to know you bro. im trusting you to tell us. You did. You tought some bible studies and the baptistry at your church has been used... that right there is fantastic!
im glad you have a generous spirit. God is too!
Now to the point. this forum here allows us to delve into the academic debate of things. Thats nice. I like it.
On the other side however, it doesnt really get too much into the "rubber meet road" aspect of real Christianity.
Thus my question. It wasnt an opertunity to attempt to deminish you. I am right in the same boat you are in as it relates to the questions I posed. If that deminishes you, then I have done the same to myself.... I like me (refer to Ferds theory that all forum users are at some level narcisists... LOL).
The point here is we can get all debate-eeee over what the bible says about quiet women, who can preach to whom and all that but after we conclude the debate, and we start talking about who has done what to advance the Kingdom.... who has given more to the cause of Christ... Who's actual actions have led to more people being pulled from hells inferno and deliverd to the Kingdom of God Himself..... well there is a little lady here on this forum... who has posted in this thread.... who happens to be a preacher.... that puts you and I to shame.
So we post thousands of posts but...That lady in violation of your understanding of what Paul was talking about, has left in her wake a nation exposed to the Gospel. A people saved, sanctified and on fire for God exist because she didnt SHUT UP....
I have said this before. it is worthy of repeating. My great grandmother (herself a second generation Apostolic) was an Apostolic PREACHER. based on the story of my family, If it werent for that Apostolic Lady Talker, I would not have the Holy Ghost today. I would not be saved. Nor would my son (if you are counting he is a 6th Generation Apostolic)... Nor would a whole host of my family be saved.... and God only knows how many others my Great Grandmother reached outside of her own family.
God is good. We are blessed. WE sit here in the comfortable USA and debate lady talkers from the comfort of our houses that arent locked up inside walled compounds that are needed to keep out bandits who raid and steal our stuff.... on a regular bases..... while the resident Lady Talker lives in a compound with walls to keep out bandits who still raid her home on a regular bases and still her stuff...
peace be unto you my friend.
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
Dear ones...I am nothing...our family is nothing...only a voice that cries out in a land darkened by devil worship and Roman rituals.
Yes, there are hundreds of churches thousands of people but it was HIS Spirit that drawed and saved...we only invited and many came.
For the first 4 years of my life on the mission field I worked as a single girl and let me tell you it was very hard. However as dumb as I was I had enough sense to stay faithful to my post.
The Bible says, The steps of a good man ( I believe it means a good woman too) are ordered by the Lord.
This is in no way to bring any glory or honor on myself just for the record...When Brother Alvear and I married I had several tiny little churches in the far backlands and several house meetings going. As I have said over and over I do NOT feel called to pastor and even though through the years have filled in a few time so there would be no gap that is NOT my calling.
Yes, I had won some precious people...men and women and we together went out in some area telling the story of Jesus...It is His story that changes lives. I stood under many trees in many villages with flannel graff telling Bible stories to both men and women. Many times the men were drunk and the women were just used to satisfiy the sex desire of their husbands. Most knew nothing about real happiness and the love of God. Slowly I saw God change drunks and village prostitues into His image. Some became my helpers and at no point was their ever a power struggle....They did not even know what a real church service was even like.
Brother Alvear could have chosen another path...I would have followed...however he chose to left he work that he had belonged to all his life and come work among these backland people.
Brother Alvear and I never discussed leadership...or anything like that....right after we got married I CALLED OUR PEOPLE together and told them how much I loved them but now I was a married lady and from that point on he would make all the decisions...He never asked me to do that...I just happen to know he is my leader...since that day long ago I have lieved up to my word...I have made no descision concerning the work...that is his job...yes we talk things over but I trust his leadership.
Would I tell a man how to be saved? Of course I would...Would I baptize him? Not if there is a capable man. It has been many many years since I have baptized anyone...I don't have to do that anymore...
I love to work in Soup Kitchen, love to work in the Bible school...I love to translate Bible studies and books for our people...and I love to teach...yes my friend I have taught our ladies how to make soap, make cheese, plant gardens, and many other things....Oh yes...something for you to laugh about I taught lots of our men how to drive....lol...you can laugh it doesn't hurt my feelings....ha....
__________________
Monies to help us may be sent to P.O. Box 797, Jonesville, La 71343.
If it is for one of our direct needs please mark it on the check.
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LOL. i dont need to know you bro. im trusting you to tell us. You did. You tought some bible studies and the baptistry at your church has been used... that right there is fantastic!
im glad you have a generous spirit. God is too!
Now to the point. this forum here allows us to delve into the academic debate of things. Thats nice. I like it.
On the other side however, it doesnt really get too much into the "rubber meet road" aspect of real Christianity.
Thus my question. It wasnt an opertunity to attempt to deminish you. I am right in the same boat you are in as it relates to the questions I posed. If that deminishes you, then I have done the same to myself.... I like me (refer to Ferds theory that all forum users are at some level narcisists... LOL).
The point here is we can get all debate-eeee over what the bible says about quiet women, who can preach to whom and all that but after we conclude the debate, and we start talking about who has done what to advance the Kingdom.... who has given more to the cause of Christ... Who's actual actions have led to more people being pulled from hells inferno and deliverd to the Kingdom of God Himself..... well there is a little lady here on this forum... who has posted in this thread.... who happens to be a preacher.... that puts you and I to shame.
So we post thousands of posts but...That lady in violation of your understanding of what Paul was talking about, has left in her wake a nation exposed to the Gospel. A people saved, sanctified and on fire for God exist because she didnt SHUT UP....
I have said this before. it is worthy of repeating. My great grandmother (herself a second generation Apostolic) was an Apostolic PREACHER. based on the story of my family, If it werent for that Apostolic Lady Talker, I would not have the Holy Ghost today. I would not be saved. Nor would my son (if you are counting he is a 6th Generation Apostolic)... Nor would a whole host of my family be saved.... and God only knows how many others my Great Grandmother reached outside of her own family.
God is good. We are blessed. WE sit here in the comfortable USA and debate lady talkers from the comfort of our houses that arent locked up inside walled compounds that are needed to keep out bandits who raid and steal our stuff.... on a regular bases..... while the resident Lady Talker lives in a compound with walls to keep out bandits who still raid her home on a regular bases and still her stuff...
peace be unto you my friend.
I would be interested if you have been to Brazil, or is your attempts of aggrandizement simply the means of advancing your position?
There are people on this forum that have been to Brazil and others plan to go in May...and you will find exactly what I have described...hundreds of churches scattered over that vast land...I have friends that have been there 19 times...lol...
__________________
Monies to help us may be sent to P.O. Box 797, Jonesville, La 71343.
If it is for one of our direct needs please mark it on the check.
Facebook Janice LaVaun Taylor Alvear
There are many many women women who where and are dear saints who are happy being in church, witnessing, being used in prophesy or any of the gifts of the spirit, prayer, and who may never have their name printed for affirmation on a forum, yet the world is not worthy of their contribution to the church and their families.
I agree...
__________________
Monies to help us may be sent to P.O. Box 797, Jonesville, La 71343.
If it is for one of our direct needs please mark it on the check.
Facebook Janice LaVaun Taylor Alvear
Many years ago when Brazil still had leper colonies I worked at one for a long time...I sure did not have anyone pushing me over trying to work there...
The beginning....(taken from an article I wrote maybe 25 or more years ago)
"Lepers"
It seems to me that I have always known there were lepers in Brazil. One of my first experiences was when I was yet a young girl was seeing a man healed of leprosy as a result of prayer in the powerful Name of Jesus.
Many years ago I had been through a leper colony but we were quite unprepared for the scene we saw that day. At the gate of the colony stood two guards. They looked so solemn and forlorn. As we stopped the car, the guard looked at us and said: "Who are you all visiting today?" I shuddered as I heard myself say, "Everyone." He stared at me for a moment, and then with a bewildered expression he slowly opened the gate and motioned us in. Where would we begin? What would we say? Suddenly my former boldness left me. Driving up and down the streets we found that we were lost within a world of the earth's outcasts.
Finally, we got the courage to stop in front of a row of buildings, and almost silently we slipped in the back door of what we would find out was one of the many wards for helpless victims of leprosy. The smell of blood and urine caused us to feel faint as we walked down the hall. We were quite unprepared for what happened next.
Walking into room after room we told them the story of Jesus, though we dared not get very close to them. What we didn't want to admit was that we were afraid. It was not the finger-less hands, missing limbs, bloody stubs, bandages that had long needed to be changed that caught my attention. After all, this was South America. I was used to gruesome sights. It was their eyes, with their look of hopelessness and despair. Never before had I seen so many eyes expressing what the tongue did not and could not say. We visited in room after room, until we felt nauseated and dizzy. We walked outside for some fresh air. Standing up against the building was a leper, so I walked over to him, to repeat the story Jesus we had told the others. "Will you ever be back, missionary?" He asked. "Yes, of course." Was my reply without daring to look at Sister Sonia and Sister Olga who were with me. "We here that often, but most people never return." He said, shaking his head as if knowing we would never be back.
We slowly walked to the car. Even though no one was struck down as Saul of old, and no visions had been seen, and no miracles had happened that day, but we were a changed group. We could never be the same. We had walked into their lives, and they had walked into our hearts.
There was not time to visit everyone, but I wanted to visit the cemetery. Something about cemeteries moves me. There were hundreds of graves where only lepers were buried. Born-Died, Born-Died. Each marker read. The cross, so typical of pagan worship, was surrounded by wax from candles that had been burned to try to help the dead find their way into the beyond. The crude little Catholic chapel was filled with "gods" and "saints". For a passing moment it made me angry. The grossness of idolatry and spiritism, rituals that take and never give. My heart burned within me. I walked over to a fresh dug grave. It seemed I could hear a voice screaming at me from eternity, "For me you came too late". I wept.
We drove past a large Catholic Church and the Spiritist center. Both seemed to speak their own silent language. "These people belong to us, leave them alone." After all, what did we have to offer these poor sick outcasts? The Catholics and Spiritist's boast of great hospitals, charities, etc. We had barely had enough to make the trip to the colony. As I meditated, yes, they could offer food, clothing, doctor, and even money, but we could bring them Christ, the atoner of sins.
Driving home that day little was said. Each one sat in our own world of thoughts. It seemed in no time we were home. "Well, what have you decide, will you all go with me each week?" (I dared not even mention the name of the place) "Missionary, if you will never ask us to eat anything in that place, we will go." I smiled, and we slowly got out of the car to go to our homes. I f we had known that in the months to come, we would be eating, drinking, and sometimes sleeping in their home, we would have been shocked past reality, but mercifully we were spared that knowledge for a time.
We hurried to take showers and wash our hair. Even fresh clothes, a shower and clean hair did not make us feel clean. Sleep and hunger did not come to us that night. "Surely you all will never go back there." The church people said to us, after they had listened in horror to the things we related to them the next night at church. "Oh, we promised to return," was our reply. Our invitation to others to go with us was only met with cold icy stares as heads shook in a definite no. There were no volunteers to go with us to the world of the "living dead."
Thursday found us there once again, visiting the wards. "They are back, " the lepers whispered among themselves. Yes, we were back and in our hearts burned a flame of love that would soon grow so big that nothing would keep us from visiting our new found friends. Soon their frightened stares turned into warm smiles and we discovered that these hungry-hearted, lonely human beings were responsive and grateful to us. Slowly all our fears vanished and love took control.
Societies "rejects" are accepted into the kingdom of God. God works in unexpected ways. It is not for us to decide who can be and who cannot be save. It is He who changes people's lives, and by it being His doings, He often catches us by surprise.
Shortly before our New Years service I had a dream. Such a strange dream we felt God was speaking to me through it. Let me share it with you. I dreamed that some of our people and myself were on our way to a small interior city where we have a little rented building. I was looking for a preacher. Arriving at the interior city, I got out of the car in front of a row of very poor, two story slum-like houses, to ask two ladies if they had seen the preacher pass by. It was such a poor dirty place. The side of the road was full of broken glass and trash, and I was barefoot. I kept looking at my feet wondering why I was barefoot. Even though I stepped on the glass to talk to those ladies I did not cut myself. They told me the man I was looking for had gone in a certain direction.
Following their instructions, I arrived at a hospital. All that was with me got out for the preacher. I was still barefoot. My feet were so white and clean and I could not understand why I was without shoes. As we entered the hospital, I felt faint, it was so dirty. Blood was all over the floor. It looked as if it had never been cleaned. Dried blood, fresh blood, dirt, stains and all kinds of filth. I looked in each room trying to find the preacher all the time trying not to get my feet dirty. There were hundreds of people almost all barefoot, but their feet were dirty, and they did not even watch where they stepped. I thought, these people are ignorant, and they do not know the dangers of walking on all this filth, but I am an American and I know the dangers, and I carefully tried to watch where I was stepping.
The patients were lepers, and desperately sick people. In each room there reigned a feeling of hopelessness. I thought, I must find the preacher, and he must tell these people about Jesus. I continued my search in such a repulsive place, yet, all the time worried about walking on that dirty floor. All of a sudden I saw a man with a suit on and I thought he was the preacher I was looking for. I would tell him to warn these people to put their shoes on, and then he can preach to others. While I was thinking a voice spoke to me in the dream and said: "He cannot help these people, he does not have the truth. He is Trinitarian."
It dawned on me that I must continue my search fro the preacher I was looking for. I searched and searched and finally decided he must not be there. As I walked outside the hospital I looked at my feet, they were still so white and clean. I couldn’t understand how I could have been in such a terrible place and still have such white, clean feet. All of a sudden a voice spoke from heaven and said: "The reason your feet are clean is that I have covered you with My Blood."
I awakened crying because I was so desperate to find the preacher, and I couldn't find him anywhere. All day the dream bothered me. The New Years watch service was so full of the presence of the Lord. As I was praying with my hands on the map of Brazil begging God for constant harvest and for the laborers of His vineyard, He spoke to me and said: "Janice, the reason you could not find the preacher in your dream is that he is still lost and you must continually work for me, and one soul you win will be the preacher in your dream, and he will win many souls for me."
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