ellymht

Jesus walking among the lampstands tells me that he is alive within the church, and is present when we worship and praise Him. I have been to many churches that are dead. They don't understand the relationship with Christ or have never been taught it in the first place. It is such a blessing to belong to Christ and be able to worship in a house of God that reverences God in His fullness to include Christ and the Holy Spirit. This tells me that a church that had Christ in it is alive, as is the spirit of Christ.

Jesus stands above us like a light. He is the beacon that we look to. When He came as man, he was brought low in order to save us. He was simple, unassuming. Isaiah talks about us "...esteeming Him not..." and that he would be nothing special to look at. What a drastic difference we read about in Daniel and so many other places that describes Christ in majestic language and images. I think this balance is so important to our understanding of what Christ actually did for us; He put aside Himself for us to be redeemed and now, He sits in glory once again. I am extremely awed and humbled that He would do that for me.

Persecution can take place everywhere and does. I just read an article about 2 Chinese women who were beaten to death for covertly sharing the Christian faith. Some women from our church went on a missions trip to France where it is illegal to talk to people about God and to try and convert people. In our own country under the guise of political correctness, one can say just about anything they want and people are accused to being a bigot if they disagree except when it comes to religious views. Then we need to beware that if we express views that hurt someone's feelings, then WE are the bigots!! Crazy. I work on a crisis pyschiatric unit as a mental health therapist and we are not allowed to talk about spirituality unless the patient brings it up first. This is a huge disservice, I feel, because I see a lack of spiritual health in many of these people who would otherwise benefit a great deal from allowing God in to help and heal.

Greetings! My name is Ellen. I have been married for 18 years to a wonderful Christian man. We have two children, Richard 18 and Cheyenne 12. I accepted Christ only a year and a half ago. I was driving home from the pet store and God lead me to Mt. Zion Christian Assembly!! I was totally led by the Holy Spirit, although I didn't know it at the time. I talked to the pastor, who, coincidentally was supposed to be off that day but felt like he needed to be at work that morning!! Praise God!!! So I confessed, repented and we began attending there. Now my daughter and I participate on the Worship Flag team, I sing back up with the band on Sunday nights, my daughter and husband belong to the new choir and the three of us joined the new drama team!!! We have been praying and I've been fasting for our son who is not saved. God is wonderful and gracious and I don't know what I'd ever do without Him in my life. I love God and Christ and the Holy Spirit and want to continue learning as much as I can. I want to be obedient to His Word and for what He would have me do. Much love in Christ, Ellen

This question is of particular importance to me as some refute the position of Christ as related to Father God. God refers of Himself as the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. One thing that has always struck me as particularly relevant is the conversation that God is having with Moses and God identifies Himself as "I AM". Interestingly, Jesus uses the exact same phrase when refering to Himself in John 8:58, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!" I felt that Jesus was clearly stating without a doubt who He was. My thought is that He would not have chosen the same wording, that would be blasphemy if He were not. The choice references in Revelation, only seem to support this that both Father God and Jesus would refer to themselves as the beginning and the end. Coincidence? I don't think so!! I think that it is easy to connect these references and clearly support this relationship.

I think that Jesus was the ultimate witness to mankind. He is decribed as the Word and therefore was literally the truth. He was also a radical in His time and threatened so many people with His teachings. To testify and be a witness is what we are called to do. This can be a very hard prospect in our secular society where we often long for acceptance. We are, however, called to be Christ-like and in that we need to also witness the truth.