"...Then NO, I am not a Christian..."

Good day people, i just had to post this newspaper article from one of the local papers here. A very good article!

But before you get to that, let me tell you this, Here is some truth=
If being a Christian means i am full of self-imposed self-righteousness, that i am speaking hate and sowing dead works, that i go around spreading judgment and legalism-that i am not boldly going to God and i hesistate when He directs to obey Him--THEN NO, I'M NOT A CHRISTIAN- I WOULD PREFER; TO BE CALLED JUST PLAIN AND SIMPLE, A BELIEVER IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

So good to see others that are not trapped by these 'religious rule keepers' who have nothing but self-imposed self-righteousness, who do not feel good about themselves or their lives. Living, talking all about God - about Jesus - offering bad works-dead works unto God that are filled with the wrong motives. You cannot earn God's favor! Trying to Use God to control others is wrong!

They speak on the blessings of God but none of it is evident in their lives, none of His blessings are working in their lives, because they will not rec' them when God gives them.

Look for the fruit-you will know who you are dealing with.
Yes we make mistakes-but not being able to admit your mistakes and always thinking others are wrong but not you is not God's way--and NO, cursing people out (that you say you love and are your family in Christ), after they have obeyed God and blessed your life- trusting you, allowing you into their space their life- is not right- these people are filled with the wrong motives. But they will always tell you that God told them to do this and God told them to do that. And to this God's wisdom has taught me, you may be right- God truly may have told you to move away from me and He tells me that He did that to protect me! Amen.

And I am humbly grateful daily to God for keeping me and my family away from people like this and when we are confronted by people like this- i turn and go- i pray for them and keep it moving- I am not on their level of spiritual maturity i am further along and higher up! I do not have time for games and sillyness. And i also have the gift of goodbye! If God shows me someone is not right-then that is the end of it! I hold nothing personal against people like this-and take nothing that they have said or done toward me personally - The mouth will speak what the heart loves! and God knows who the double-minded people are. They are not pleasing to Him.
Wait on God for He will reveal the truth about a person to you! Their true colors will come shining through! It will be a Kodak Moment!

I call it LT - Lost Time!
and all Praise to God for letting me learn from these people and for letting me pray for them and for protecting us from them as they come to try and destroy all that God is doing in my life for His Kingdom.

They are Always giving pieces of messages and teasing others with dreams they say they rec'd from God and a word they say is from God while the whole time they are not allowing God's changes to fully manifest in their lives- to transform them, is wrong! While the whole time they are secretly jealous of you and secretly watching everything God is doing for you and in you-they see the power that God has blessed you with, they see the Gifts of the Spirit growing from you, they fully see You seeking God and without hesitation obeying God and Him answering you because your heart is correct= and they are saying; "well she/he is wrong God i'm not like that (whatever they deem you to be wrong in)--i'm doing this for you-why have You not blessed me! I'm deserving of what You gave them - where is mine God? - I've been saved for this many years God, i've done this for You God and that for You God,,,on and on and on with why they feel they should have already rec'd what they want from God"

( I know you know some like this-go ahead and shake the dust of their negativity off your back and be thankful that God opened your eyes and will use it to teach you to be a better you!)

Let me say this, being saved for years on end and not allowing God to grow you - means nothing, holds no power-not nothing. It means that you have been saved for years and have not produced good fruit consistantly- you are not being fully obedient to God because you live and eat off fear and a slave mentality of lack.

Instead of being a good stewart and helping, encouraging those sent to them--they allow fleshy ego filled mess to come out mixed with the Word intending to distract you. Self-importance is not in God's plan. And i pray for these people, and i stay away from them. I give them to God and i keep it moving in the forward direction that He is leading me in. Yea Amen.

The work that they do is unacceptable to God and they operate in sacrificing dead legalistic works to cover their shallowness and to sound good to all those that they want to look up to them. To look up to them as if they were the way to God- like they are the way to understanding God-but they do not deliver the messages in the correct wording to those that are in need if it. They always want to be accepted in social groups to look important because of their self-imposed brand of self- righteousness-and anyone that is not in the box with them-they condem and curse, pampering their egos and their motives. So many people want the blessings from the Promised Land, and when God blesss them, they want to take them back into the wilderness to use. New wine will not work in old skins.

These people love to be seen as a person of God-that is what they speak on often. 'I'm busy with my Fathers work'-not true- they took part of what God told them and are using it the way they want to do things-not being fully obedient will not keep you in God's presence.

You cannot say you love me and my family, but yet join groups that hate who we are. You can keep your love, your prayers, and all your legalism, I don't need anything from you. Thank You Father God for Jesus!

The Kingdom of God is not meat and sacrifices of dead works, but is about Love, Peace, Joy, and the fruit of the Spirit. Not judging and legalism, hate and control to enhance how you feel about yourself instead of allowing God to fill you-accepting what He IS in you and accepting who He made you to be-accepting who He made others to be. It's Beauty for Ashes!

(Heb. 10:5-6,10,12-14/Rom. 12:1)

Ok, heres the article. ;)
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The News & Observer - Raleigh, NC
Gay, Christian and a parent
Faith & Ethics: Carrboro author aims to help those who, like him, are all those things.
Updated: Nov. 30, 2007 1:40 AM

Faith & Ethics:
by Yonat Shimron- staff writer

Published: Nov 30, 2007 12:00 AM
Modified: Nov 30, 2007 01:40 AM

Gay, Christian and a parent

Carrboro author aims to help those who, like him, are all those things
By Yonat Shimron, Staff WriterAfter coming out as a gay man eight years ago, Brett Webb-Mitchell left his wife, his Carrboro home, and his job to start a new and uncharted course at the age of 44.

But as he fashioned his new identity, there were two things he was unable and unwilling to part with: His two children and his faith.
Now he has written a book about both titled "On Being a Gay Parent: Making a Future Together." A former Duke Divinity School professor and an ordained Presbyterian minister, Webb-Mitchell said he found a dearth of books about being a gay parent and a Christian, so he decided to pen his own. He hopes it might give those walking the same path practical advice, comfort and support.

Part memoir and part advice manual, the book, published by Episcopal publishing house Seabury Books, broaches such issues as how to come out to children, what to call mommy or daddy's partner and how to handle teacher conferences. It also offers contextual explanations of Scripture passages condemning gay sex, as well as background on what family and marriage meant in the ancient Middle East.
The book, he said, was intended to "move forward the argument, 'We're parents out there, moms and dads, struggling to be good at this improvisational art called parenting.' "

Webb-Mitchell's own story is a familiar one. Born into a white, middle-class family, he was brought up to cherish family and faith. Though he had some inkling that he was gay, he was repulsed by the stereotypical gay role models and internalized the religious messages that being gay was sinful.
Like many traditional Christians, he and his wife, Pam, did not live together before marriage. They embraced their roles as husband and wife according to their conservative upbringing and inclinations.
"I understood marriage based on my own family of origin: it was a mom-and-dad operation, with dad as the breadwinner, and mom being the stay-at-home wife," he wrote.

In his early 40s, as a professor of Christian nurture at Duke, he could no longer deny his attraction to other men. That attraction was not always sexual, he said. It was an emotional, spiritual and intellectual pull that seemed to take over his life, commanding time, energy and attention away from his wife. Finally, he said, he had to come out to himself -- the first step in a process that is often followed by a revelation to one's partner, spouse and friends.

"I had be honest about who I was," he said.
Staying in children's lives
Though his wife accepted the news, his mother begged him to stay in the marriage and postpone telling his daughter, then 7, and son, then 4, until they graduated from high school. Although inclined to spare his children, Webb-Mitchell rejected his mother's plea.
He couldn't demand honesty from his children, he reasoned, if he himself was untruthful.

So he told his kids, moved out of the house, got a divorce and made a home with his partner, Dean Blackburn, a dean of students at UNC-Chapel Hill.
The Webb-Mitchells have joint custody of the children. Their daughter, 19, is now a sophomore in college. Their son, 15, spends at least three nights a week with his dad and his partner.
"I wanted to be as much a part of his life growing up," said Webb-Mitchell referring to his son. "I want to watch his soccer games and see him go to the prom."

In his book, Webb-Mitchell addresses some of the singular experiences gays and lesbians face with their children -- what to call the gay or lesbian partner, for one. Webb-Mitchell's children vacillated, calling Blackburn their gay nanny, Dad's partner and stepdad.

Then there's the rite of passage in which a child announces to his gay or lesbian parent his or her sexual orientation. Both Webb-Mitchell's children "came out" and told their dad they were straight.
Embracing the church
But an equally significant part of the book involves the role of faith. Webb-Mitchell, who left Duke in 2003 after being denied tenure, now runs the School of the Pilgrim, in which he leads Christians of all denominations on spiritual pilgrimages to holy sites across the world.

Faith continues to be a significant part of his life. Webb-Mitchell and his children say grace before meals and the Lord's Prayer each night before bed. The children attend church with their mother.

Now 52, Webb-Mitchell attends the Church of Reconciliation, a Presbyterian church in Chapel Hill, though he also feels at home at the United Church of Chapel Hill, a United Church of Christ congregation. As an ordained minister, he is occasionally called upon to preach and perform ministerial rites, including marriage -- although it's something he can't hope for himself.

He would like the opportunity to marry too, but neither his Presbyterian denomination nor the state of North Carolina allows same-sex marriage. Unlike many of his gay and lesbian friends who sleep in Sunday mornings, Webb-Mitchell is convinced he is beloved by the church -- if not the institution, then the collective body of Christ.

"I'm embracing the church because it embraces me," he said. In his favorite Scripture verse, Psalm 139:14, the worshipper tells God, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

That verse, he said, tells him God made him the way he is.
"If God made me this way," he asks, "who am I hiding from?"