Seems that pulse-like headache is the result of lack of sleep. One nap could cure the condition, no matter how awake one feels.[@more@]
The truth shall set you free. For we were once enslaved to sin.
So, when we're christians, if one has doubt of what he/she's doing is right before God even to the slightest degree, he/she could ask him/herself that if this practice is taken out of his/her life:
FIRSTLY, can he/she do it? Not just verbally, but in action.
Secondly, is removing such habit diminishing glorifying God? (Or to put it plainly, is removing such habit a bad thing before God)
If the answer to the first condition is yes, and no to the second, then why not abolish such habit.
If the answer to the first condition is no, and no to the second, then one is still enslaved by sin. He/She merely understood what it means to repent, to be saved by Christ, but not truly experiencing it by faith.
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In the old days, efforts and talents were not rewarded by men, hardship was inevitable, greatness was passed on to the future.
Later, greatness was realized, hardship was inspired, efforts were rewarded by men.
Then, greatness is copied, reward is legalized, efforts are means to survive jealousy.
In Truth, in the humble example of Christ Jesus, transforming us into the living sacrifice, would we be able to find the eternal favor in God's eyes.
It is therefore not by man's glory, nor is it for man's glory. But of God's.
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1Corinthians 6:1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
The following is taken in part from a 1984 copy of the SCP
Newsletter. Please note that the source of this material has a
decided (negative) bias against the Local Church.
| Date | Controversy With | Controversy Over | What The Local Church Did | Outcome |
| 1966 | Members of the Little Flock Church at Shuman Reservoir, Taiwan. |
Church property. In this rural church, the elders welcomed as Bible teachers persons previously excommunicated by Witness Lee in Taipei. A church split followed, and control of church property became an issue. |
Followers of Witness Lee from out of town staged a sit-in in the church building and threatened to "take the next step" if the keys to the building were not given to them. |
Approximately 90 church members reluctantly gave up the church property to approximately 10 of Lee's followers. [Note: Two out of the three persons listed on the title as owners of the building were sympathetic to Witness Lee]. |
| 1971 | Believers in Church Assembly Hall, Hong Kong | Ownership of church property on Observatory Road in Hong Kong. The church was split over this. |
Church members sympathetic to Witness Lee filed a lawsuit against other members. |
Out of court settlement. Property went to followers of Witness Lee. |
| 1973 | Christian Literature Crusade. Fort Washington, PA. | Alleged inaccuracies in The Ecclesiology of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee by James Mo-oi Cheung. |
Threatened to sue Christian Literature Crusade. | CLC recalled books, apologized to Witness Lee, agreed not to publish revised edition. |
| 1977 | Dr. Walter Martin, Founder and Director, Christian Research Institute. San Juan Capistrano, CA. |
Criticism of Witness Lee and The Local Church in public lectures. |
Lawsuit threatened by The Local Church. | Threat ignored. No legal action taken. |
| 1977 | Maranatha Village. Santa Ana, CA. | Sale of The Mind Benders, a book critical of The Local Church. |
Requests made by men identifying themselves as Local Church members that Maranatha Village refrain from selling the book. Persons placed Local Church tracts in the books racks. |
Store continued to sell the book. Employees removed Local Church tracts from book racks. |
| 1978 | Believers in The Church in Denver. Denver, Colorado. | Ownership of church property in Denver. The church was split over this. |
Church members sympathetic to Witness Lee filed a lawsuit against other members. |
Out of court settlement. Property went to Witness Lee's followers. |
| 1978 | Lighthouse Christian Store. Long Beach, CA | Sale of The Mind Benders in the store. | Local Church members requested that the book be removed from the bookshelves. |
Bookstore refused to remove the book from bookshelves. |
| 1979 | Christian Herald Books, publisher. Dr. Ronald Enroth, author. |
Mention of The Local Church in The Lure of the Cults by Dr. Ronald Enroth. |
Lawsuit threatened by The Local Church. | Without consulting the author, the publisher removed all references to The Local Church in a revised edition. |
| 1979 | Nelson Publishers. Nashville, TN; Dr. Jack Sparks, author. |
The Mind Benders, a book examining cults which included a chapter on The Local Church. |
Filed four separate lawsuits simultaneously in Anaheim, Dallas, Atlanta and Cleveland for $37 million. |
Settled out of court with the publisher issuing a retraction and ceasing distribution of the book - the author making no apology or retraction. Media reports that The Local Church received $150,000 in settlement. Estimates are that over one million dollars was expended in litigation costs before settlement. |
| 1979 | Daniel Smith, former missionary with China Inland Mission; pastor; Bible teacher. Vancouver, B.C., Canada |
Comments critical of The Local Church in Pilgrim of the Heavenly Way, Smith's self-published autobiography. |
The Local Church sent one of their leaders to Canada asking that the book be retracted - "half threatening me," according to Smith. |
Author rewrote 1 1/2 pages of the book, pasting pages of new text over the old. He was not contacted again. |
| 1979 | Schwengeler-Verlag, publishers. Switzerland. Neil T. Duddy and Spiritual Counterfeits Project, authors. Berkeley, CA |
Die Sonder Lehre Des Witness Lee Und Seiner Ortsgemeinde, a book examining The Local Church, published in the German language, written by SCP researchers. |
Filed lawsuit in a Swiss court to stop distribution of the book. |
Dismissed by Swiss court because improper plaintiff brought suit. Appealed by The Local Church but dismissal was upheld by higher court. |
| 1979 | Dr. James Bjornstad, author. Counterfeits at Your Door. Regal Books, publisher. Glendale, CA. |
Mention of The Local Church in Counterfeits at Your Door. |
Dr. Bjornstad was threatened with a lawsuit by Local Church elders who wanted the book taken off the market. |
Threat ignored. No legal action taken. |
| 1980 | Moody Press. Moody Bible Institute. George Sweeting, president and editor-in-chief. Chicago, IL |
The July/August 1979 issue of Moody Monthly magazine which briefly critiqued The Local Church in a feature article, "A Catalogue of cults: Where they stand on the Deity of Christ." Prior to this, Local Church members had come onto the Moody Bible Institute campus shouting "Babylon is falling, Moody is crumbling, Moody's going to burn!" |
Filed a $4.8 million lawsuit in Orange County, California against Moody Press, Moody Bible Institute, and George Sweeting. |
Settled out of court. Moody Monthly made no retraction, but did agree to delete mention of The Local Church in the reprint of the popular article. |
| 1980 | Mr. Salem Kirban, author. Salem Kirban, Inc., publisher. Huntingdon Valley, PA |
A chapter on The Local Church in Satan's Angels Exposed by Salem Kirban. |
Representatives of The Local Church visited Salem Kirban, asking him to omit the chapter in subsequent editions, reminding him that they were suing Thomas Nelson over The Mind Benders. |
Chapter on The Local Church was omitted from subsequent editions. Nothing further was heard from The Local Church. |
| 1980 | Eternity magazine. Philadelphia, PA; Dr. Ronald Enroth, author. |
Mention of Witness Lee in an article entitled "The Power Abusers" by Dr. Enroth, Eternity, October, 1979. |
Four Local Church elders visited Eternity officials and raised the possibility of legal action if certain demands were not met. |
As a result of this coercive action, The Local Church was allowed to place a statement in the October 1980 issue of Eternity explaining their faith and practices. |
| 1980 | Media Spotlight Ministries, Santa Ana, CA | Critique of The Local Church in Media Spotlight magazine, Vol. 3, No. 2 (April - July, 1980) |
Lawsuit threatened by The Local Church. | Threat ignored. Editor and publisher Al Dager continued to comment on the group in a later issue. No legal action taken. |
| 1980 | Neil T. Duddy and the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, authors. Berkeley, CA; Schwengeler-Verlag, publishers. Switzerland |
Die Sonder Lehre Des Witness Lee Und Seiner Ortsgemeinde, a book examining The Local Church, published in the German language, written by SCP researchers. |
Lawsuit filed by The Local Church in Oakland, California. (Note: a similar lawsuit against SCP was filed earlier in Switzerland). |
SCP forced into bankruptcy. Resulted in a default ruling against SCP. |
| 1981 | A Christian book distribution firm. New Zealand. | Distribution of The Mind Benders, a book criticizing The Local church. |
Lawsuit threatened by The Local Church. | Reported in New Zealand Truth newspaper, 23 June 1981, page 10. Outcome unknown. |
| October, 1983 | InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) chapter at San Francisco State University. San Francisco, CA |
Criticism of the local church on campus. A student leader in the IVCF chapter at SF State conducted a seminar on cults for students. In the one session examining the local churches, the student leader referred to the group as a cult. Approximately five students attended the session - and approximately six local church members sat in to observe. |
Christian Students, a local church campus organization, charged IVCF with spreading false accusations and rumors about them based on The God-Men, which is published by InterVarsity Press. Notices were placed by The Christian Students in two campus newspapers announcing four public meetings in which they would detail their grievances. |
Unknown. |
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Sometimes, I don't really see what non-profit organizations mean.[@more@]
不论学问多大，知识多高，若未蒙召，应逃避传道的工作，如同逃避地狱的火一样。
─ 马丁路德.[@more@]
Well, I finally found the source of this quote of which I first heard from Dr. Stephen Tong's mouth.
TABLE TALKS: OF JUSTIFICATION, by Dr. Martin Luther:
CCCXIX, 319
I never Work better than when I am inspired by anger; when I am angry, I
can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is
quickened, my Understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and
temptations depart.
God uses our anger, but this does not mean that we can use this statement anytime we like, especially when we're angry.
Psalms 76:10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise You; With the remainder of wrath You shall gird Yourself.
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It appears to me that there are quite a few who claim to be christians "converted" to Christianity not truly because of their sins, but mainly because of their suffering prior to being a christian, and when they heard the Gospel, they find it comforting to their suffering, and church people are nicer to them than whom they've encountered before, and so they converted, admitting they are sinners verbally in order to be baptized and be accepted. Nonetheless, they do not know truly what repent means, they just change to be nicer, more loving, kind and so on, as if a robber who is converted to Buddhism.
One can tell this by seeing how they still value their past as a pride thing.
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The more I see the errors of mankind, the more it is necessary for us to hold on to "soli Deo gloria" to God only be the glory.
So much have been happening around the world, things we do we think it's good, charity which made us proud, what value is it? If it be not Soli Deo Gloria. Whatever excuse we give, it's no use. Nor can we pretend to say "Soli Deo Gloria".
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During a fellowship at Faith Bible Church in Flushing, I once heard a pastor's wife said: Heaven needs no geniuses.
Really? I wonder from which Bible passage she's gotten this revelation.
Had it been "Heaven needs no proud people", it may have been more acceptable.
Heaven needs no geniuses? Well then, her heaven is a heaven without God I supposed.
God created geniuses. Being a genius is not a sin. It's an opportunity to glorify God.
Unfortunately, there are also many christians who think they are geniuses for being "creative" (especially in California), while actually they got the dummest idea.
My conclusion would be, if you had gotten something without any pride not even subconscious one whatsoever but only glorification to God, then it's a miracle. Miracles happen everytime. One needs not to wait for certain sign to call it a miracle. If you had gotten something with pride while still able "pretend" to glorify God, be aware, be very very careful. Something is not quite right there.
As I have said before, some christians think they know love better than God, than Christ, and they would never admit that their love is better than God's.
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