Lots of looking, no posting

[Charlotte S]

Hi All,

I see that this salvation of all forum is just like all the rest, everybody reads or looks but no one has anything to say.

When I go on the other types of forums, there are always a lot of posters on them. At least they have a lot of questions. I guess everyone on the UR forums feels they know all there is to know. Or else feels whats the use, I don't know. I do wonder why no one posts on these forums? I have a lot of questions but if no one ever answers them then whats the use. Maybe that is what everyone else thinks?

I would help me to understand, if everyone that reads this post would tell their reason for not posting.

Thanks, Charlotte

[TD1]

Hey Charlotte, I am posting here in answer to your post.
I will discuss anything you desire, though there is a chance I may not be able to give as good information as you usually do
Just name the subject.
Tom
TEXT

[Charlotte S]

Hi Tom,

I had been checking the forum off and on for a while to see what was being discussed and I never saw any posting by anyone. Everybody was just looking I guess. So, I decided to ask why no one was posting? But you are the only one who has responded to my post. I went over to a Christian forum, one that believes in eternal torment and so forth. There is much activity on that one, all of the time. Inquiring minds want to know I guess. It seems we who believe in the salvation of all, either don't want to know ,or don't care, or feel they have nothing of importance to discuss, or don't want to communicate, or some other reason. This is why I ask "why isn't anyone posting"? Maybe they feel they have no need to say anything. I don't know, but I would like to know "why any of those that look, do not post"? I was just courious as to the "why".

Tom, I am not that good at giving information but thanks anyway. I do like to correspond with those of like mind.

Charlotte

[JoeServant]

Hi Charlotte,

My top 4 reasons for lurking rather than posting:

1) I'm not married, meaning I have to do all those
things good wives do for their husbands.
2) I'm a 'hunt and peck' typist.
3) I'm a member of too many forums already and
my posting time is spread pretty thin.
4) I'm more of a student, rather than a teacher.

I could probably come up with 6 more to make it
an official 'Top 10', but I do need to get up off my
seat and clean this messy house and cook some
breakfast. Or, cook, then clean

Take Care, Beware, and Be Good!

John 13:35
Joe

[gr8gen100]

Well Joe, I think you've got the better deal. I'm married and I do all the stuff you mentioned, and for 4 others beside myself.

[Charlotte S]

Hi All,

Joe,

you said you were the "hunt and peck type" well, join the club, so am I. It takes me forever to type a post, especially if I say anything. I am a member of about 7 Forums. I don't post a lot but I like to jump in every now and then. I am not a teacher either. I guess you could call me one of the "foolish". I certaintly am not wise, just like to discuss the Bible and read what others have to say about topics. I guess I have always been the curious type and like to ask questions.

gr8gen100,

Me too, only I just have two besides myself.

Charlotte

[mark]

Hello Charlotte I am nre to this forum, but not new to Dr. Matin's teaching. I have found many of the things he teaches mirror most of what I have learned on my own afet elementry school in WCG.

[Charlotte S]

Hi mark,

Welcome to the forum, wish we had more participation from others.

How long were you in the WWCG? I was a member for 3 1/2 years, not very long, but long enough to have a profound effect on my life. I remember when I became a member how I heard everyone's story about how they came to understand the truth and became a member of the WWCG. Now we all say how we were deceived and what a relief to be free from all the bondage that the WWCG put on us. What Church did you attend?

I have been a reader of Dr. Martin's literature since the 70's when he first came out of the WWCG.

Charlotte

[Jon]

I have to say that I'm getting a little bored with this forum. Even though I MUCH prefer the style and features of this forum over the ASK Community Forum, it just doesn't even compare as far as content is concerned. I've started five topics to which no one--not ONE SINGLE PERSON--has responded. And that INCLUDES the moderator!

This post is not related to whether or not I think anyone OWES me responses, because of course they don't. What I'm complaining about is the fact that I had high expectations about this forum, and in fact there's so little interaction I feel like I'm in an empty room talking to myself.

Ken, are my posts that boring and/or uninteresting that you won't even respond once to them? It seems lately like the threads you concentrate on more are the ones you started. The last time you responded to one of my threads was two months ago. Perhaps the format you're looking for is more like a blog, where the whole point of the website is that you express your opinions and people reply to them. Having a forum-type environment gives the impression that you will respond to ANY thread no matter who starts it.

Now perhaps I'm overreacting, and I certainly apologize if that's the case. But if my posts continue to be ignored, I think I'll respond in kind and ignore this forum. I'm sure everyone would agree that I'm just wasting my time making posts if no one responds, correct?

- Jon Gaskill

[Ken Nagele]

Dear Jon,

I understand your frustration! I recently made a number of posts on the Tentmaker Forum on the topic of 9/11, brought up by someone else. All my posts, which contained hyperlinks to the appropriate pages on my site, were completely ignored. All of the other respondents continued to make asinine comments to themselves that the ASSOCIATES ONLINE website could have easily explained. So I have given up on that forum. It is simply a waste of time. While those people share a common belief in Universal Reconciliation, they share little else in common and seem to be more interested in espousing their (unresearched) views than seeking the truth.

I wish I had answers to your questions and frustrations. Jon, all of your posts are certainly intelligent and thought provoking questions of a biblical nature and are certainly not boring. I personally haven't responded because I don't consider myself an expert in these particular areas and it would require a lot of time to research them in order to say anything worthwhile. And I just don't have that kind of time. I'm not retired like many of the people who do answer you. I have a very full and busy life.

One of the points that I have previously tried to make (and is more directed to those who have been around for a while) in previous posts is the issue of what should we, as Christians having the knowledge that we have, be doing with our time? While pursuing the Bible is certainly a commendable activity, there needs to be some balance - and the Bible makes that perfectly clear.

We have an obligation to share our unique information with the rest of the world - and I don't see anyone in particular doing that on a personal basis. And we have an obligation to fulfill Matthew 25:31-40, and I don't see anyone doing that either. Perhaps if we were, we might not have the time or the need to make daily posts? Except maybe to exhort and encourage one another in the pursuit of those endeavors. I have tried to verbalize what we believe in and what we should be doing with our lives on the first page: ernestlmartin.com/index.htm#beliefs.

My job here on the Forum is to simply be the host and make sure there is some semblance of order. It is not my job to answer every last post and put my two cents worth in. Nor is the Forum to be a place for just my own personal views. It is for the benefit of all who choose to grow in grace and knowledge.

Presumably, that encompasses the 150 verifiable people per day that check into the ASSOCIATES ONLINE, to learn what is NEW. I recommend a minimum of 15 minutes per day just to stay current (and even more to get up to speed with the past articles, both on my site and the ASK site). I am not saying this to brag, but the information that I spend an hour a day researching and posting far surpasses any college level educational curriculum you have ever taken (or ever will take) - if you could even find a college with the guts to teach this information. The same applies to the ASK site.

Most of the links on the ASSOCIATES ONLINE contain information that directly affects your life right now. Yet amazingly, no one ever comments on them. It is apparently more comfortable to live in a fantasy world of "biblical research" that insulates us from the realities of the world we live in.

Jon, I admire your enthusiasm for the scriptures. And I wish I had some better answers for you. Thanks for your comments. Take care.

Ken

[Jon]

Ken,

Thank you for your response, I honestly appreciated it. I wasn't sure if you were going to thrash on me or take the high road, and it looks like you took the high road.

It's funny you should mention the Tentmaker forum, because I haven't had much luck there either. Granted, it's probably for two main reasons: 1) I haven't tried very hard since I've only made a handful of postings, and 2) the people on the forum seem to believe much differently than I do, especially about the interpretation of Revelation. The people that responded to my question seemed to spiritualize much of Revelation, and I just don't understand that methodology. To me there's just too much evidence that the symbols are pointing to REAL events that will PHYSICALLY happen. But I digress.

I guess if I had to say one thing and say it with capital letters, it would be this: PLEASE DON'T HOLD BACK YOUR OPINIONS JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T RESEARCHED THE SUBJECT MATTER!! The whole reason I get involved with a forum is because I want interaction with other people. If you don't have an answer to my question, that's totally fine. But I'd love to hear from you anyway. At the bare minimum, you could always post just to say you're not sure. I can respect that.

It could be that our respective approaches are different. My personality type (INTJ, in case you know about the sixteen personality types) loves to brainstorm and hash out all kinds of possibilities. If I have a theory I want to explore, I want to hear all kinds of input about it, and I don't care if the other person has done any research or not. Emotional responses are just as interesting as factual-based responses as far as I'm concerned. So you may not have any facts to share, so what! How do you FEEL about the subject? I don't know much about that recent Britain situation you posted about, but I responded with the little that I DID know. I tried to come up with something from my own knowledge base that at least SEEMED to tie in to what you were saying.

Please don't think I'm yelling at you here, I'm more trying to encourage you to converse with me. I find you to be a very intelligent person, and I value your opinion. If I didn't, I wouldn't even bother with this rant--I'd simply leave. My last post was to try to coax a response out of you and it worked. Now that I've got you talking, I want to encourage you to do more. You have many good things to share, and for people like myself with not enough time to scan your website for articles, the forum is the place where they get informed. It may not be the way everyone goes about getting information (some prefer to simply read articles and never interact), but not everyone's the same. For me, I covet these interactions very much. If you ever read a description of the INTJ personality type, you'll see that even though we're very methodical and detail-oriented, we still miss a lot. We save ourselves from wasted time by interacting with others and having our incorrect thoughts pointed out to us before we start investing lots of time.

Okay, enough of that. Before I go, I feel I should respond to the issue of Matthew 25. I never really responded to that thread, even though I could tell you were very passionate about it. I suppose you could call me a hypocrite here since I didn't respond to your thread when I'm asking you to respond to mine. Fair enough. But let me explain why I didn't respond. Our good works are meant to be done in secret. Jesus instructed us to not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. Therefore, I hardly feel inclined to be sharing my good works to anyone--not even a group of strangers in an online setting who I will probably never meet face-to-face. It's just not something I feel good about. Also, it's impossible to know whether or not anyone on this forum is doing things OTHER than the forum unless they tell you, so I don't see how anyone can make that judgment. Basically, it seemed like you were asking people to fess up about what they do outside of the forum so that it could become obvious that the forum wasn't their only Christian-based activity. Personally, I don't think that's what this forum--or any forum, for that matter--should be about. A forum is for exchanges of ideas, so that people can be better equipped when they DO leave the forum and go out into the real world to do whatever it is they do.

Now for me, I desire to be a teacher. But I'm very aware that I'm not ready yet. Being a teacher is a huge responsibility, and I want to be assured that I'm teaching as much truth as possible. Based on my interactions with other people, I can see how there are many large gaps in my understanding of God's purposes in the world. Without having a clear understanding of these purposes, I am no better than a blind person leading the blind. I need to learn before I can teach. That is what the forum is for me--a place that can help instruct me. Yes, there are many good articles to read, and I went that route for years. But even in reading good articles, the understanding can be darkened. Interacting with others helps brings out the areas in which I lack understanding.

Anyway, I've ranted and raved too much already and my wrists are sore from typing. I'll leave it at that and wait for your reply. You WILL reply, won't you?

[Ken Nagele]

Hello again Jon,

Thank you again for your very open and honest discussion. We could use a lot more of that around here.

I'll respond in bold below in your post.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Ken,

Thank you for your response, I honestly appreciated it. I wasn't sure if you were going to thrash on me or take the high road, and it looks like you took the high road.

It's funny you should mention the Tentmaker forum, because I haven't had much luck there either. Granted, it's probably for two main reasons: 1) I haven't tried very hard since I've only made a handful of postings, and 2) the people on the forum seem to believe much differently than I do, especially about the interpretation of Revelation. The people that responded to my question seemed to spiritualize much of Revelation, and I just don't understand that methodology. To me there's just too much evidence that the symbols are pointing to REAL events that will PHYSICALLY happen. But I digress.

Yes, the symbols are real events. This inability to understand basic biblical concepts is the reason there is no cohesion of thought there. It's a varied mix of people with a varied mix of ideas. There is agreement on very little. At least Dr. Martin gave us a "foundation of knowledge" on which to build.

I guess if I had to say one thing and say it with capital letters, it would be this: PLEASE DON'T HOLD BACK YOUR OPINIONS JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T RESEARCHED THE SUBJECT MATTER!! The whole reason I get involved with a forum is because I want interaction with other people. If you don't have an answer to my question, that's totally fine. But I'd love to hear from you anyway. At the bare minimum, you could always post just to say you're not sure. I can respect that.

I agree with you that we should at least be courteous and acknowledge someone's thoughts that they took the time to post, even if we don't have anything to say about them. But, my personal policy on this matter is to NOT respond to something just for the sake of responding and giving an off-the-wall opinion. This is in fact exactly what is happening on the Tentmaker Forum - people respond with their thoughts on an idea, with few if any doing anything that resembles serious research first. It's the blind leading the blind - and wasting everyone's time.

I can understand wanting to have interaction with others and I think that is great. That is in fact what forums are for, especially since we can't get together physically. There was a time when the original forum was conceived that it was in fact quite active, with as many as 100 people making posts per day. But it soon turned into a kindergarten sandbox battleground, with the then-moderator unable or unwilling to control the situation. Most of those people have since (mysteriously) disappeared. It was at that point that I started this forum.

It could be that our respective approaches are different. My personality type (INTJ, in case you know about the sixteen personality types) loves to brainstorm and hash out all kinds of possibilities. If I have a theory I want to explore, I want to hear all kinds of input about it, and I don't care if the other person has done any research or not. Emotional responses are just as interesting as factual-based responses as far as I'm concerned. So you may not have any facts to share, so what! How do you FEEL about the subject? I don't know much about that recent Britain situation you posted about, but I responded with the little that I DID know. I tried to come up with something from my own knowledge base that at least SEEMED to tie in to what you were saying.

I appreciate your willingness to contribute and I can respect your approach to your exploration. It certainly is OK as everyone has a different approach to learning.

Mine would be:

a. Read everything listed on the ASK Index that might pertain to the subject.

b. Do a search of all pertinent words and/or phrases on the ASK site to see if it is mentioned in another unrelated article (which happens quite frequently).

c. Do a Google or MSN (which actually works better than Google) search of the entire Internet.

d. Read any pertinent books on the subject, ASK or otherwise.

e. THEN, I would make a post asking the question that I had now thoroughly researched.

By doing this, you then gain the respect of other people that might just think that you are being frivolous in your quest for knowledge. Often people will read a post and then think to themselves, "This question is easily answered in the ... publication. Just go do a search for it".

Please don't think I'm yelling at you here, I'm more trying to encourage you to converse with me. I find you to be a very intelligent person, and I value your opinion. If I didn't, I wouldn't even bother with this rant--I'd simply leave. My last post was to try to coax a response out of you and it worked. Now that I've got you talking, I want to encourage you to do more. You have many good things to share, and for people like myself with not enough time to scan your website for articles, the forum is the place where they get informed. It may not be the way everyone goes about getting information (some prefer to simply read articles and never interact), but not everyone's the same. For me, I covet these interactions very much. If you ever read a description of the INTJ personality type, you'll see that even though we're very methodical and detail-oriented, we still miss a lot. We save ourselves from wasted time by interacting with others and having our incorrect thoughts pointed out to us before we start investing lots of time.

Thank you for the compliments. Yes, you can get informed on the forum(s). But, what you are describing could also again be considered "the blind leading the blind". You can get a LOT MORE informed by going to my links - and by reading the articles on the ASK site.

The difference is about a hundred to one by doing it that way. It is much quicker and much more informative. I say this having been a researcher of the unknown for the last 40 years of my 57 year life. And I've read more books, pamphlets, magazines, listened to more audio tapes, watched more videos and attended more lectures and conventions than you will probably ever do in your lifetime.

A case in point. I have a very good friend who is always asking me about the Illuminati. "What are they going to do next? When will the next 9/11 be? Etc. Etc." I tell him that all of that information is on my website, conveniently indexed and linked for easy access. But he won't take the time to go there. It's simply easier to ask me. But the problem is that these are complex issues and there are no simple answers. And if I try to give a simple answer, it's automatically dismissed because my friend doesn't comprehend the history and realities of the subject. And I can't educate him on the spot because it is way too time consuming. So he gets frustrated with me and I with him.

To put things in a little different perspective, information in this day and age is not only FREE, but it is literally a keystroke away. No one charges you to visit their website and learn. Never before in history has information flowed so freely and inexpensively.

This is a recent phenomena. A mere decade ago, we had to subscribe to magazines, newsletters and audio tapes to learn what is so easy to learn now on the Internet. These publications were not easy to find. You literally had to know someone who could tell you about them in order to even subscribe to them. It was like an alternative subculture.

But today, everything is just a keystroke away - and we are still too lazy to even push a button!

If I can spend an hour a day researching material to make sure it is worthy of review (And that is all I claim. I don't claim it is all the gospel truth.), surely others can spend at least 15 minutes reading it. I have a large variety of subjects listed. I certainly don't expect everyone to take an interest in all of them. But you would have to be brain dead to not find something of interest on my site.

Okay, enough of that. Before I go, I feel I should respond to the issue of Matthew 25. I never really responded to that thread, even though I could tell you were very passionate about it. I suppose you could call me a hypocrite here since I didn't respond to your thread when I'm asking you to respond to mine. Fair enough. But let me explain why I didn't respond. Our good works are meant to be done in secret. Jesus instructed us to not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. Therefore, I hardly feel inclined to be sharing my good works to anyone--not even a group of strangers in an online setting who I will probably never meet face-to-face. It's just not something I feel good about. Also, it's impossible to know whether or not anyone on this forum is doing things OTHER than the forum unless they tell you, so I don't see how anyone can make that judgment. Basically, it seemed like you were asking people to fess up about what they do outside of the forum so that it could become obvious that the forum wasn't their only Christian-based activity. Personally, I don't think that's what this forum--or any forum, for that matter--should be about. A forum is for exchanges of ideas, so that people can be better equipped when they DO leave the forum and go out into the real world to do whatever it is they do.

My passion for Matthew 25 and growing in grace and knowledge is a result of my gut feeling (over the last decade or so) that no one in this ekklesia practices it. I think the fact that not one person could cite even one act of charity or one example of growing in grace and knowledge confirms my suspicion beyond a shadow of a doubt. Why should we be living in fear about talking about what Christ Himself said we should be doing? Why should that not be a subject of interest and importance on any forum. Actually, someone on the Tentmaker Forum did comment on a charity they were involved with in Romania. I don't believe anyone even commented on it.

We somehow have removed ourselves from the basics of Christianity. It's not a matter of how much correct theological knowledge that we have that is going to make a difference on the Judgment Day. It's what we did with whatever talents we have - and how we treated others while we had the opportunity. Dr. Martin has written extensively on this and I have the pertinent excerpts listed at ernestlmartin.com/index.htm#beliefs. While it certainly would not be right to go around bragging about what we may do (just as it is not right to pray in public), there is a time and a place for everything - including encouraging one another - and sharing ideas on how to help one another. We do NONE of that. And a forum is EXACTLY the place where it could be done, in addition to discussing other varied topics.

Now for me, I desire to be a teacher. But I'm very aware that I'm not ready yet. Being a teacher is a huge responsibility, and I want to be assured that I'm teaching as much truth as possible. Based on my interactions with other people, I can see how there are many large gaps in my understanding of God's purposes in the world. Without having a clear understanding of these purposes, I am no better than a blind person leading the blind. I need to learn before I can teach. That is what the forum is for me--a place that can help instruct me. Yes, there are many good articles to read, and I went that route for years. But even in reading good articles, the understanding can be darkened. Interacting with others helps brings out the areas in which I lack understanding.

There is a scripture somewhere about how interacting with one another does sharpen our skills. It certainly can be beneficial. But you have to learn the basics first. If you had been in one of Dr. Martin's classes at Ambassador College (where his Ph.D was in education), I can assure you that this type of activity would not be the norm. What would have happened is this:

a. He would have told you what he was going to teach you that day.

b. Then he would actually teach you the subject for that day.

c. Then he would tell you what he just taught you.

D. THEN, he would entertain questions.

This is the a proper procedure for learning - and is in fact the way his ASK papers are written.

I might add that for learning NEW scriptural secrets or understandings, God reveals these to us "as we have a need to know". Trying to figure out all of the ins and outs of end-time prophecy, as intriguing as it might be, is simply not something God has decided to reveal to us at this point in time - because, we simply don't NEED to know. So why do we spend so much time speculating on these things and on other obscure passages in the Bible? They will NEVER affect us or our children. All the while we are ignoring the very basics of Christianity!

Anyway, I've ranted and raved too much already and my wrists are sore from typing. I'll leave it at that and wait for your reply. You WILL reply, won't you?

Of course I'll reply. But I still can't promise to come up with a researched response to all of your Bible questions (as much as I would like to). Now, if you have a question on things that I have extensively researched for decades and can easily answer off of the top of my head, please don't hesitate to ask. But please tell me you checked them out first on my listed links. Then my answer will make a lot more sense.

Thanks again for your comments. It's nice to know at least one person is thinking!

Ken

[Jon]

Ken,

I think we understand each other. Most of all, I feel better having gotten that stuff off my chest. Every forum is different, and you have to learn what the residents are like and what their preferences are. After this conversation, I feel like I have a better handle on what I can expect from this forum as well as how best to participate in it.

In closing, I'd like to say that in general I agree with your assessment of Matthew 25. I know that in my own life it seems there is a shortage of good works. It's confusing when talking about the subject of works, because the Bible says that the good works that we are to do are predestined, and that the Father does them through us. Not sure how that works, but it sounds pretty cool.

[Ken Nagele]

Jon,

Well, I feel better knowing that you feel better!

And yes, the subject of works can be confusing. There are works done through us, sometimes by just being an example to others. Then there are works we can initiate on our own, as Matthew 25 suggests.

Thanks again for your input.

Ken

[swordfish]

I live in Perth, Western Australia. I have attended church for approximately forty years. I started off in Sunday school at the local baptist church. I think that I mostly was doing this because the man around the corner from home would pick my brothers and me up and drop us off at the church. This was very helpful for my dad since he was a muso that didn't get home till late in the morning, so to help him sleep in we kids were taken to the church.
As i grew up I learned what to do to be accepted by the church people. I also learned what to do to try and gain attention from as many people as I could. Mind you, I have only just found out how much I used to do was just attention seeking dramas to try and make a big impact on everyone I met. To realise the incredible creation we are, "the sons and daughters of the Most High" is such a mind blowing concept that I am only just beginning to see the significance of some of the experiences I have been through.
All of my life I have lived to please myself. Yes I have tried to do good things here and there, but I have found out that i was doing these seemingly good things to try and GET noticed by others. Any time that there was nothing in it for me I would come up with all sorts of excuses, even illnesses. I'm too tired; I don't feel well; I've got something else to do. etc,... To me some of these things actually were as I said. I was even able to tell some straight out lies about where I had been or what I had been doing to the point that i could even fool myself. This got to such an incerdible depth that I could feel no compassion for anyone else on the face of this earth at this time or any other time.
Then came an incident when I was driving a motor car. I suffered a seizure of epilepsy while I was driving a motor car. This resulted in a crash into a brick wall while I had my foot flat to the floor on the accelerator. The car crashed into a brick wall and was classed as a write off. I know I am only alive now because of the mercy of the one true Father.
At the time of this accident I was going to church, I was on the music team as a leader, but I was so empty inside that I was seeking the desires of the flesh or anything spiritual that could fill the void. I would go to spiritual warfare books and see all the methods to cast out demons and heal people. I spent many hours in the church, alone, trying to break out a revival or cast out strongholds or ANYTHING that would bring some meaning to why we are even here. I was desperate, yet found no man made solution to the problem.
The most amazing fact that I am a son of God, no matter what dumb thing I have done or will ever do in this present body, because of what Jesus has done was not taught to me at my local church. Every time that I try to take any credit for what happens I am reminded that I am saved by GRACE NOT BY WORKS. This has taken so much pressure off me that I am willing to help other people out without even counting the cost. I never used to even think that way so I KNOW that it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me for I have been crucified with Christ. All these other issues that the flesh uses to make excuses have been exposed. The fact that we are now being trained about the consequences of decision making on such a big scale that we would have when we are raised to our life with the Father is awesome. this life we lead is indeed our school to teach us HIS way. WOW!
So I hope that this is encouraging for any one who reads this. We are equal in His sight. We are are all joint heirs with Jesus. If we abide in His Word, then we are truly disciples of His. .and we shall KNOW the truth and the truth will set us FREE!

[Ken Nagele]

Hello Sworfish,

That was an inspiring story! Thank you so much for sharing. These are the types of posts that we need to have occasionally to inspire others.

Welcome to the ASSOCIATES ONLINE. May God bless you for your efforts.

Ken
PS Check out this link for articles on EFT and epilepsy: www.google.com/search?ie=iso-8859-1&oe=iso-8859-1&q=epilepsy&domains=emofree.com&sitesearch=emofree.com My wife has had tremendous success with EFT for all types of problems.

[Robert]

Dear Mr. Administrator and members,

There are basically two forums that I visit and make posts on, this one and the ASK Forum and I have been to a couple of others but I can't handle what they are saying because it seems so all wishy-washy! I don't post much, reason being that I am not well versed on any one subject matter. However, after receiving my college education so to speak from Ernest Martin and his books, articles, and such, I feel more comfortable in discussing something I have read about. Actually I feel confident in knowing some truthes that I have been lied to about all my religious life. I have been in what I call two major religious organizations and one minor one and have never learned as much as I have with the Dr. Martin and the ASK website. I have posted on this sight before, several times. I know who Jon, Charlotte, Tom , and Swordfish are. I have been absent for awhile because of a move I made and because my sister past away about the same time. Guess you could say I have been in mourning. Friend Charlotte asked me if I had read the post on the Associates Online Forum and I said no. Today I have caught up on past posts and noticed Charlottes provoking question. I like what I have read so far. Jon Gaskill's post is one of the most open hearted responses/posts that I have heard in all the times I have spent on websites and forums. I am glad he opened up like he did because I like getting to know my brothers and sisters on the forums and being as I can't come visit you this is the closest means I have of coming in contact with you all. Jon's post has given me another view of his character I have not known before. Thanks for letting us know that your goal is to become a teacher. I respect you for that. What made me respect you even more is this statement that I am going to quote that you made:


"I guess if I had to say one thing and say it with capital letters, it would be this: PLEASE DON'T HOLD BACK YOUR OPINIONS JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T RESEARCHED THE SUBJECT MATTER!! The whole reason I get involved with a forum is because I want interaction with other people. If you don't have an answer to my question, that's totally fine. But I'd love to hear from you anyway. At the bare minimum, you could always post just to say you're not sure. I can respect that."[/color]

I guess I have been guilty of doing exactly what you are saying there Jon. I hold back because I feel I don't know anything, or very little, or need to research the subject matter because I really don't have an opinion and I need to form one after reading someone elses opinion. I do know this Jon, I seek the truth and I know I shall always find it because God has shown me so in His scripture. But it's people like you who really care. One way or the other if people are knowledgeable or not you would just like to hear from them, I really appreciate that. Opening up your heart to another, that really makes a forum comfortable to be on. I know that I feel that way with a few other people too and just wanted you to know that. I enjoyed swordfishes testamonial too and it made me feel good inside to hear someone elses life story or part of it. Ken Nagele has made me feel comfortable on this sight and one really enjoys coming to his sight because I never leave without being ecucated. I pray that you don't loose heart just because people don't answer, but if you continue to say what you've said in your 9/29/06 post especially about that which I have quoted you on, you will never have to worry about people responding to you or your questions!!! So there you have it folks, my two cents worth. Thanks for lending me your ears. I hope I haven't bent them to severely,

Love and peace to you all,

Robert

[swordfish]

I forgot to mention yesterday that I have had surgery that was able to remove the electrical short circuit in my brain that was there from a disease that attacked the brain when I was 2 years old. That operation did not come about until 6 years ago. This means that I am no longer on medication that I was on for a long time. The interesting part of this, for me anyway, is that the possibility of surgery did not even arise until I was ready to hand the whole situation over to The Father for His mercy and provision. I had not been allowed to drive a vehicle for 13 years. This meant that I had to allow other people to help me. My ego was not happy with always having to ask someone for a ride somewhere, especially my wife or kids.
Then I found out that these things actually are sent to try us, and that our Father disciplines us because He loves us and wants us to learn from experience, which is by far the best way to learn. I had been to prayer times and the laying on of hands etc in trying to ask God for healing. The time of healing did not come about associated with the church in any way.
To me the healing only seems to have happened because I was desperately calling out to God for some help and was willing to do whatever I was shown . He tells us to forgive other people, no matter what, since we are all equal and every one of us makes mistakes, even doctors and parents. So I forgave everyone that was involved with that trauma and my parents for what I had thought must have been their fault. The act of forgiving others meant not to judge others because we are told by Jesus that ' let him who is without sin cast the first stone'.. This made me see that forgiving is more than just saying I forgive. This in no way affects our salvation, but is part of the training to teach us His ways which are above our ways. He keeps no records of our wrongs so why do we keep records of all the wrongs that others have done to us.
I can make no claim over what I have done to earn this. All I can do is say thanks to My Father for His mercy that endures forever.

[Robert]

Swordfish,
You most certainly had a humbling experience with your lengthy problem. I don't think my problems are anything compared to what yours were. By your story it seems that God has helped you to make an attitude adjustment too. I appreciate you explaining about some of your life trials. This helps us to get to know one another a tad. If I may be so bold as to ask, what do you do for a living? Has your awakening to God's Word given you a change in all areas of your life? I pray for your speedy recovery from your surgery. Best regards to you and yours,

Robert

[swordfish]

Robert,
I work as a gardener on a golf course. I love the open air and the beauty of the plants that we have. The biggest problem, of course, is that the weeds also love the fresh air and always seem to multiply quite freely. But the best part of the job is that we are trying to establish a totally native garden so that we use as little fertilliser and chemical as possible. Whatever we do has to fit into the short and long term plan. This so reminds me of our life. We are the branch of the vine, just as Jesus said. Having to prune off all the dead wood and rubbish to produce fruit is just so much like having to forgive others and see that every word we say is encouraging so that the flowers will blossom and bring forth fruit. Every one of us is a different plant but every one of us needs water. Jesus is the water of life.
I underwent the surgery in2000. I was off work for 8 weeks. Then I was able to return to light duties. I had been on medication for 20 years. The doctor said that since I was recovered from the operation they would then wean me off the medication. That took 2 years to happen. Now I am totally recovered and am on no medication whatsoever. I never knew just how much of a burden that had all been for my body functions until I was set free. This speaks such volumes to me of how much of a burden we are under to the flesh but when our Father cuts out the rubbish we are so free that we don't even see why we used to do such things. I cannot stress enough the magnitude of the big plan that God has for YOU and that no matter what any man/woman says ,He loves YOU so much that He calls YOU His son because of what Jesus has done for YOU. Looking at the big picture helps us to see things from a different perspective and is so uplifting that what used to bug the heck out of me does not do that anymore. I know that some will suffer and some will not, but this teaches us to see the consequences of what we choose to do and helps us to learn from experience the right way to do things. The suffering pales into insignificance when we are set free just as the pains of birth are forgotten when the new born child is in the arms of the mother. The literall born again seems to mean that no part of the past will be there to nag us .
I know I never used to see these things before so I know that this information is there to glorify our Father. For I know that I can take no credit for what Christ has done that makes us acceptable in His sight and Joint heirs with Jesus.
So yes, the awakenig has changed every area of my life. Some of these changes have taken longer to happen, but that is so much like when we learn to walk or learn a new job; we have to start at the very beginning. Know who you are and why you are here.
Again I hope that this is encouraging for you brother.

[Jon]

Robert,

Thank you for your kind words. Despite my ranting, I am grateful to Ken for supplying this website and forum. It seems that there is a bit more activity recently, and hopefully it will continue to build from there. I guess one of the main reasons I get so passionate about people becoming involved on the forum is that I've learned so much from other people when they speak up. Case in point: Boki. That guy from the other forum knows a lot of facts, and he really challenges me sometimes. Lots of times he aggravates me, because sometimes I'm just in the mood for other people to agree with me. But he seems to have a knack for having a different opinion than me quite often. And you want to know the really annoying part? He's right a lot of the time! I hate that! But when I calm down and look into what he's saying, I will almost always come away with fresh insights. So I'm very grateful for Boki, but I have to be open for change. Boki, if you're listening, I love you bro.

[Robert]

Jon,
I agree with your feelings about out brother Boki. He seems to be well informed on his biblical verses and it is my opinion that he is approved of by God for he has proved many a point by his diligence. There are things that I disagree on with him but then again it is my right to do so as well as any other individuals. But without people like you and Boki how else would we conform to the following scriptures:

KJV 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.,
KJV 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

One needs to be provoked or challenged on the issues that are brought up. Even though the subject matter brought up may have been on the forum at a date in the past, repetition is good because it keeps us sharp, on our toes. There are times that I have had to go back and refresh my memory on certain subject matter by rereading certain articles and scripture. Even if we don't realize it, God has moved us to bring up subjects on the forum. Even if some people just read and don't post that's ok because those who do post are educating those that don't. My thanks to all those who do post for you are my reward in making effort to read and study,

God's blessings on you all,

Robert

[boki83]

I signed on this forum a year ago, but since there wasn't much activity here, I didn't post here until now, neither did I read posts last few months. Yesterday, I saw that some people from the ASK Community forum posted here, so I just wanted to say hello to them, and to thank Jon and Robert for kind words. God bless you all,

Boki

[Robert]

Boki my bro,

Welcome back! I try to check here every day to see if there are any postings. I am glad you are here on this sight too!

Robert