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Why I left the Church of Christ by Dusty Owens is one of the most important writings concerning the Church of Christ that I have ever run across. You may not need this today or tomorrow. But when you do, it is priceless. One of the biggest conspiracies in the Christian religion today is the Greek word Ekklesia. We get the word Church from the Greek word Ekklesia. The Greek word Ekklesia really means assembly, or congregation. So basically Jesus sets us free with the Gospel; then we throw shackles around believers to make religion fit our needs. Listen now as I break it down for you. God's Message - Why I left the Church of Christ

I am AlSayr, your unlikely guide into the worlds of religion, myth, and magic. Join us as we take a tough look at the Bible and cut through some tough issues. My first podcast, Free to be just a Christian breaks down the walls and will start you on your way to Freedom in Christ. I hope you will join us for these important topics. Is Hell really eternal torture? I do not believe so. I think everyone will be pleased with the biblical results from these studies. We will go through religious conspiracies and more. As soon as God introduced his personal relationship plan to the world, there were those at the ready to oppose it, they are the new Pharisees of this generation. These new Pharisees, men and women alike, trade freedom in Jesus Christ for a religious rule book. They do not have a personal relationship with God or Jesus, but they know somebody who does. Some have been deceived into believing we need to belong to a certain branch of Christianity to find God. Nothing could be further from the actual truth. God tells us himself that He does not live in buildings made by hands, however, he made room to live in our hearts.

Thanks for listening. I have been podcasting since 2007 and have had in excess of ¼ million podcast downloads. While I was in the process of learning and studying for my sometimes daily podcasts I would keep learning new things, which is the goal of a study I would assume. It wouldn’t take long to learn a couple of the biggest conspiracies in the Christian religion today. A few of those are: The myth of Eternal Punishment in Hell is one of the biggest conspiracies and preys on our fears to get us to make a decision to join the Church. How many of you out there can honestly raise their hand to say that the fear of eternal punishment in Hell didn’t have any factor in you becoming a Christian? And the Greek word Ekklesia which I will be talking about next week. We get the word Church from the Greek word Ekklesia. I will give you a little spoiler for next week. The Greek word Ekklesia really means assembly, or congregation. So basically Jesus sets us free with the Gospel; then we throw shackles around believers to make religion fit our needs. Funny isn’t it? OK, not really. God's Message - Thoughts on Punishment of the wicked Podcast lesson

Why was Heaven so Happy? Take two - An angel told Mary that she had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26-38), and an angel told Joseph not to be afraid to marry her (Matthew 1:18-25). Angels rejoiced and praised God when Jesus was born. Angels came and ministered to Jesus when his temptations in the wilderness concluded (Matthew 4:11). When Jesus prayed with such intensity in the Garden of Gethsemane that he sweated as though he were bleeding, an angel came and strengthened him (Luke 22:43). An angel rolled the stone away from Jesus' tomb when he was resurrected, and told the women who made their early morning visit to the tomb, that Jesus was not there, that he had arisen (Matthew 28:1-7). Immediately after Jesus ascended back into heaven, heavenly messengers promised Jesus' disciples that Jesus would return in the same manner that he left (Acts 1:10, 11). Why was Heaven so Happy? Take two Podcast lesson

And God Said It Never Happened Part 2 - Never, never, never think that you are right before God because you are good or that you are obedient. If you want to know the reality of your guilt, ask Satan. If you want to know the proper consequences for the evil in your life, ask Satan. You are not right before God because you have not sinned. You are right before God because God destroys your sin. He forgives you. He justifies you. If God has washed your sins away with baptism, stop worrying about guilt. Turn loose of it. Focus on serving God. And God Said It Never Happened Part 2 Podcast lesson

I am AlSayr, your unlikely guide into the worlds of religion, myth, and magic. Join us as we take a tough look at the Bible and cut through some tough issues. My first podcast, Free to be just a Christian breaks down the walls and will start you on your way to Freedom in Christ. I hope you will join us for these important topics. Is Hell really eternal torture? I do not believe so. I think everyone will be pleased with the biblical results from these studies. We will go through religious conspiracies and more. As soon as God introduced his personal relationship plan to the world, there were those at the ready to oppose it, they are the new Pharisees of this generation. These new Pharisees, men and women alike, trade freedom in Jesus Christ for a religious rule book. They do not have a personal relationship with God or Jesus, but they know somebody who does. Some have been deceived into believing we need to belong to a certain branch of Christianity to find God. Nothing could be further from the actual truth. God tells us himself that He does not live in buildings made by hands, however, he made room to live in our hearts.

And God Said It Never Happened Part 1 - Any person who trusts in himself and believes that he makes himself right will not be justified. Any person who sees and acknowledges his own wickedness and turns to God, trusting God and not himself, will be justified. How? God justifies a person by redeeming and forgiving. He frees the person from Satan and destroys the sin. Only because God redeems and forgives can the person be right. Our efforts to make ourselves right always fail. Faith in what God does for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus always succeeds. Bible Study at God's Message. And God Said It Never Happened Part 1 Podcast lesson

I am AlSayr, your unlikely guide into the worlds of religion, myth, and magic. Join us as we take a tough look at the Bible and cut through some tough issues. My first podcast, Free to be just a Christian breaks down the walls and will start you on your way to Freedom in Christ. I hope you will join us for these important topics. Is Hell really eternal torture? I do not believe so. I think everyone will be pleased with the biblical results from these studies. We will go through religious conspiracies and more. As soon as God introduced his personal relationship plan to the world, there were those at the ready to oppose it, they are the new Pharisees of this generation. These new Pharisees, men and women alike, trade freedom in Jesus Christ for a religious rule book. They do not have a personal relationship with God or Jesus, but they know somebody who does. Some have been deceived into believing we need to belong to a certain branch of Christianity to find God. Nothing could be further from the actual truth. God tells us himself that He does not live in buildings made by hands, however, he made room to live in our hearts.

Unity God Can Handle Our Differences - Our Christian conscience differences do not trouble God. God in Jesus Christ reveals such differences will not prevent Him from saving us. Those differences trouble us. God can handle our differences and make all of us stand. We are the ones who cannot handle differences. The matter that deeply concerns God among Christians is judging each other. Our conscience differences do not trouble God if we do not use conscience differences to judge each other. Bible Study at God's Message. Unity God Can Handle Our Differences Podcast lesson

Unity A Divine Or Human Accomplishment - Even though Jewish and gentile believers did not comprehend all that God did in Jesus Christ, God still did it. We conclude by reading two statements from Paul. To the Roman Christians, Paul wrote: For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:4-8) To the Corinthian Christians, Paul wrote: For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14) Bible Study at God's Message. Unity A Divine Or Human Accomplishment Podcast lesson

The Naked Church - Chapter 21 - Naked No Longer --snip-- Over the course of these pages we’ve examined the failure of contemporary Christianity to bring believers into a vital relationship with the Living God. Our wealth and influence only pretend to mask emptiness that leaves many brutalized by our systems, and still others disillusioned by God. I have no doubt that we are as naked as the Laodicean church in Revelation. I am not alone in saying that, for many voices in recent decades have pointed out the deficiencies of our systems and the pain they inflict on many. Though the terms I’ve used have been clearly distinguishable hues of black and white, I’ve done so only to make the grays more visible. The shades of compromise are the most deceptive. My purpose in exposing the church’s nakedness is not to breed cynics who jeer from the sidelines, but to show us how we have been willingly duped because of our own vested interest. We can all find ways to fit our own desires into religious forms, giving us the illusion of safety, but not its reality. For us to admit such nakedness risks all that we enjoy about it, and also the accusations of friends and family that we are critical or bitter. Certainly it would be easier to stay silent and make the best of the status quo. --snip-- The Naked Church - Chapter 21 - Naked No Longer

The Naked Church - Chapter 20 - A Real Jesus in an Unreal World --snip-- Not only can God make it here, but it’s the only place he does make it. He is not afraid to meet people in the real world, where every battle is not won, where people hurt and die, where all don’t repent and are saved. He’s not afraid of hospital rooms and screams of anger by people who misunderstand his love. He knows better than we that everything in this age will not end in temporal joy, and that rarely are the righteous rewarded in the world. He is not a God who can be real only in stained-glass hues on velvet pews. If that’s the only place we’re finding him, then we’re not finding the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What we’re finding may be an aesthetic feeling or a surge of compassion, but not the God of the universe filling our lives with the reality of his presence. God only stays in a church building if that’s where we leave him, and that’s where many people prefer to have him. He’s there when we need him, but he won’t meddle in my business, my family, or my recreational time. But this is written for those to whom God’s presence is good news—those who want to know him more fully, not less so. --snip-- The Naked Church - Chapter 20 - A Real Jesus in an Unreal World

The Naked Church - Chapter 19 - Stained Glass and White Linen --snip-- The larger question, however, is whether Jesus is relevant to anything in our lives. Os Guiness reiterates that indictment: “The damning comment has been made of Christianity that it is privately engaging but socially irrelevant.”1 Until the church can answer the difficult questions that emerge from the application of our theology into real human experience, the world will only sit back and laugh. To them our gospel is irrelevant, a placebo designed to set the ignorant at ease and not a real answer for desperate needs. --snip-- The Naked Church - Chapter 19 - Stained Glass and White Linen

The Naked Church - Chapter 18 - Clothed with Power --snip-- The voice on the phone was calm. “Reverend Jacobsen, this is the emergency room at Kaweah-Delta Hospital. There’s been an accident involving people from your congregation. Could you come down here right away?” Even beneath the nurse’s professionalism flowed an unmistakable current of urgency. I phoned my co-pastor and left immediately. As I drove I began to pray. Only then did I realize how little I knew about the situation into which I was headed. Who was it? What kind of accident? The Spirit of God knew better than I, so I let him do the praying for me as I opened my heart to God’s presence. I was almost there when the thought raced across my mind: “I want that child to live.” What child? Was that you, God? --snip-- The Naked Church - Chapter 18 - Clothed with Power

The Naked Church - Chapter 17 - Where Has All the Power Gone? --snip-- Whether or not people liked Jesus or agreed with him, the thing that most impressed them was his sense of authority. Even his enemies marveled at the power that flowed from his life. And that is an amazing statement about a man who had no wealth, political clout, or wide following. Jesus drew his authority from a far deeper well. People saw it in the synagogues where he taught simple lessons: “They were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority” (Matthew 7:28,29). They saw it when he cast out evil spirits with just a word. The people wondered, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him” (Mark 1:27). They saw it when he rebuked the violent storm on the Sea of Galilee and immediately it grew calm. “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Matthew 8:27). Jesus had authority where it counted. It didn’t reside in his mannerisms, volume, or charisma, but in this simple fact: What he said and what he did made a difference. --snip-- The Naked Church - Chapter 17 - Where Has All the Power Gone?