| | If you aren't willing to take God seriously, you probably won't be happy among us.
In 1 Corinthian 7:21, we're told, "If you can get free, do so." Most everyone isn't free, and Christians, especially those who try to minister as they believe God's telling them, discover that there are chains on them. We're providing you the freedom to transform the world, and because you take God seriously, we know you'll grab that freedom with both hands.
If you have trouble with the fact that words mean one thing and not another, you may not be happy among us. There are many Christians who don't read, but there are no Sea Lions who don't read. For example, Jesus never once sinned; it says so. Believe it or not, there are people calling themselves Christians who claim that Jesus had to have sinned at some point in his life. People who take the Scripture seriously don't say that.
If you want to start your own ministry, you'll probably be ecstatic among us. Everyone is called to a ministry that's uniquely their own, and we help them establish and practice it.
If you want independence with backing, you should join us. You can go to some very nasty places and get busted for preaching the Gospel, confident that our Hot-Zone Extraction Fleet will be along sometime soon to get you out...if they can find you. You might wanna drop some bread crumbs.
If you want to minister in the Holy Spirit, wherever God's calling you to do that, you should join us.
If you want to be in leadership, this is the place for you. We make leaders no matter what we start with.
Wanna heal people? We'll develop that faith and let you do it. We don't hog center stage - you get to do the fun stuff with us.
Are you called to be a prophet? You'll be able to develop your gift among us; we can handle it.
What's your dream? Always wanted to start an orphanage? Wildlife refuge? Edit an encyclopedia or translation of the Bible?
Then you're in the right place. We do all that and more.
Why? Because we can.
Why are we opening it up to you?
Because doing it alone is not fun. For most of our missions, it's also not possible. Ergo, we need you. Is the calling on your life great enough that you need us? if so, Join Today!! It gets more difficult later.
Here's what we require:
We do not demand doctrinal orthodoxy except for things that are nailed down in the Scripture. For example, Mary was a virgin until Jesus was born; the Scripture allows no other claim. On the other hand, there may not be a Trinity; there actually may be many more than three "aspects" of YHWH, so "Trinity" might be the wrong word, and even the term "aspect" has problems. We'll probably never understand the actual relationship between Jesus and God, and in English, it contains paradoxes. According to some Scriptures, they're the same person, but then Jesus sits at God's right hand. If they're the same person, that's impossible. See the problem? We say, "Jesus was fully God, and fully Man, and God reconciled us to Himself with His own blood, which was also Jesus' blood..." we use the phrasing of the Scripture without trying to sum it up in a word like "Trinity" or eliminate the very obvious paradoxes.
We can live with the unexplained and the paradox, like the Jesus/God problem above; there are others. For example, on this planet is U-238 which shows that the world is about 4.5 billion years old. There is also U-235 which equally firmly proves that the world is not more than 730 million years old. Neither of these can be "late arrivals," such as an incoming meteorite: they had to be created at the same time, whether by a God or in the heart of a star going supernova. This situation cannot be, yet it is. We live with it; if we try to explain it, we do NOT attempt to ignore inconvenient facts.
When we Go Ashore, we know that we are visiting Satan's realm, and do not expect justice or peace from any source but Yahweh and His Messiah, Jesus, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach.
We know that "baptism" means "immerse," 'cuz we can read. There's a reason why that matters; it's not just an argument over which ritual is acceptable to God.
We know that in baptism, while we're under the water, we receive a new spirit (Col. 2). We know that, to such as placed their faith in him, to them he gave power to become Sons of God. That's a process, and we take people at whatever stage in that process they may be, and help them move forward, while insisting that they do move forward. We don't bother to argue immersion vs. sprinkling, because people who reject immersion always also reject some other key essential that will result in their withdrawal from the program in fairly short order. Those who carry on always end up asking to be immersed, at which point their development really gets moving, and we need not say, "I told you so."
We know that when Jesus said, "These signs shall accompany those who believe: they shall raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons in my name..." he wasn't joking, and he wasn't exaggerating. Every Sea Lion and every Cadet gets to do those things, though our Raising the Dead program is encountering some delays. Saying, "I'm putting on the character of Christ, but I don't want to cast demons out of anybody" is EXACTLY like saying, "I wanna be just like Chuck Norris, but I don't want to hit anybody." Sea Lions and Cadets step up into the ring and join battle.
Jesus not only said, "turn the other cheek," he said, "...let him that has no sword, let him sell his cloak and buy one." We know there's a time to yield and a time to fight, and refusing to defend the helpless is acquiescing to murder. We do not acquiesce.
The long and short of it is, our Bible is not a religious book, it's a book that tells us how to become re-born in real life, no longer Sons of Adam, but Sons of Yahweh, who do everything the Firstborn From Among The Dead did while he walked among us and more. While we're doing that, we'll face terrifying risks, see amazing miracles, and touch lives at their very core with the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you want these things, you belong among us.
If you've tried to do these things and been rebuffed by "leadership," you definitely belong among us.
But the ones who absolutely must join us, no matter what it takes, are those to whom the Holy Spirit speaks and tells to join us, even though it makes no sense whatsoever. You not only have a serious destiny among us, you're high enough on God's Weirdness List that you'll need a support group who knows what you're going to go through.
That would be us.
Join now. You need time to prepare for what's ahead.
www.sound-wisdom.com
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