Ellen Gonzalez (17 Dec 2007)
"Thank you Jim B"


The link you posted today was very good.
 
http://www.propheticministries.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=23
 
I think often times when someone, such as myself, posts a news item about a particular ministry or person, secular or Christian, being in the news, the messenger is perceived as being on a witch hunt, full of anger and bitterness, and all manner of things, when in reality the purpose was far different. If a messenger is told to deliver a message, they are  frequently chastised for being obedient to what they were told to do, when it is the message that the readers have a problem with.
 
If the message was to awaken other believers, to point out those such as Pastor Hagee who are in need of prayers for loving rebuke and correction, such as the article Jim linked to shows, then may I suggest that when a news item is given, take time to pray for discernment and ask the Lord what He wants you to learn from this particular message. Too many messengers are simply doing their job: delivering a message, yet they are treated as lepers. In  both the Old and New Testament these messengers were stoned to death with rocks, but today's messengers are attacked with verbal stones.
 
 How many messengers have been scared away from this board and others because they were vilified? How can anyone here pretend to know the heart of another that they do not even know? Nobody can pretend to have arrived at a state of spiritual perfection, as even the apostle Paul, speaking of himself, said in Phil.3:11-15:
 
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
 
We are all in different stages of spiritual growth, just like plants that need nurturing. Some are full grown, waiting to be harvested and used as herbs for food or medicine, for cloth, for perfumes, for adornment. Others are seeds, waiting to sprout, and others are barely growing, in need of water and sunshine. May I suggest that instead of stoning the messenger, we examine our hearts and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit who works through His earthly messengers in various ways, and speaks through them for different reasons.
 
There are a variety of messages posted here. Some are funny, some are uplifting, some are cries from the heart, some are prophetic, some are frightening warnings, some are eye-opening new items to inform. But each may have a particular purpose and was sent by a messenger who believed he was hearing from the Lord to be obedient and send it. Let us not throw stones at one another, but speak the truth in love. We are all still growing in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, Ephesians 6:4. Should the mighty oak tree scorn the acorn because he has not reached the full height of the mature tree?
 
PS. I wrote this before reading the entire link, actually after reading the first five paragraphs, and hit the send button. I went back to read the entire link and discovered that the author says many of the same things I wrote here, and I did not want anyone to think I was repeating him. It struck me how much of what he said, I had just written similar words. John can verify this by my sending this in a second time.