Checkyourhappiness.com Make the Lord your Guide, the Bible your itinerary    You are looking for Happiness? Praise the Lord: The Bible is your itinerary. Thank you for your visit to our web site. On this web site we want to share with you our testimony about the true and pure faith in the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. This website sometimes goes more in depth into some historical facts, combined with today's Christianity. We recommend to also visit the following website: www.truegospelassembly.com, which is a new website under development. Inspiring thoughts are shared there almost daily. We are Christians, reborn and baptized in the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. Some time ago we thought we were good Christians, visiting church as often as we could, praying and singing and weeping over our sins at the altar every Sunday (often twice) and Wednesday. And still, in time we got more and more confused. We got more and more confused because the more we studied and the better we understood the Bible, the more conflicts we encountered. Not with God or with our Faith, but with the institution that called itself church. We always thought that the minister, the infallible leader and master and chosen representative of God led the ‘church’. Until we heard that he always could be fired by the board, consisting of a group of people without any real biblical education and with the only merit that they paid the highest tithes. The rules and regulations in the membership guide of that church even seemed to override the Scripture. The more we studied the Bible and looked at other churches and listened to more and more preachers we saw more of the same and we knew something was going terribly wrong. Recently we came across issue 3125 dated February 1998 of the pastoral letter of The International Ministerial Fellowship (www.i-m-f.org) and read the article on the front page by its president at the time, Dr. M.G. McLuhan, titled: Disciplined By Grace. More on Dr. McLuhan at the bottom of this page. Disciplined by Grace. Not by the Law but by Grace! Exactly what we read as well in so many scriptures in the Bible and the main reason of our conflict with 90% or more of priests, preachers, ministers, pastors, bishops and other 'church' leaders. Or as Dr. McLuhan puts it: …the final issue of being disciplined by grace instead of some series of “do’s and don’ts” that have been set up by religious and sectarian leaders and which are purely legalistic, becoming the basis of judgment of each other… He also states …Every true Christian’s spiritual life is a growth in grace and in the knowledge of God and His will. In walking in the Spirit, we may fall short, and John tells us in I John 2:1-2: “My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”… …. It is a liberating experience … to … discover from the scripture in Ephesians 2:8-9, “That by grace we are saved through faith; and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God --- not of works, lest any man should boast.” Then in Romans 4:5 we read, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Over against these liberating scriptures, we read such passages as Philippians 2:12-13 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Are these powerful scriptures a contradiction about our works and our labors for the Lord? Second Corinthians 5:17 declares, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new [creation]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” But this scripture brings up the logical question, “By what rules or order am I as a Christian expected to live, work and behave?” “What motivation do I have to live a renewed or exchanged life?” The basic answer is found in Romans 8:1-4; and since the last part of verse 1 is not in the original Greek text, the passage should read, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus, for the Law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”… So far the article of Dr. McLuhan. Actually, some passages in the Scripture go even further, condemning those who continue to live under the law as is clearly and directly said in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Chapter 2, verse 21: I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Continuing in a faith based on carnal laws and obligatory customs from the books of Moses or to that effect adapted, reinforced, or invented by religious and sectarian leaders therefore means not accepting the death of the Lord Jesus Christ being the fulfillment of the prophecies and the definite cleansing of sin. Ask yourself the question: Can I really be a Christian and ignore the purpose of the death of Jesus? Satan uses this confusion to increase his influence on and control over the world, reason why so many people kill each other in the name of the Lord. Be aware that for this purpose Satan uses the people behind the pulpit as well. And they are so easy to recognize, the moment they call you sinners. The moment they start preaching about sin, carnal sin, and condemn you because you did not visit the church building last Sunday, or because you have cut your hair, because you don’t pay enough tithes, or because you did not obey the Sabbath. Remember Jesus’ comment in Matthew 15: 7-15: Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. The Pharisees of today, the defenders of the law of today, will be offended again. But as Jesus said, let the blind leaders lead the blind followers and they will all fall in the ditch. This is our strong believe. We now organize our own Bible studies with our own (unpaid) preachers. We are just a few, but we travel a lot. But only a few will go to Heaven so that does not worry us. On the next two pages (see the links at the bottom of this page) we want to share this strong believe, this True and Pure Faith in the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, based on different subjects and our own experiences. Pages will therefore change from time to time. Our views will not always be easy to understand or accept. We just try to spread the real Faith, to plant the seeds. Please return to this site again later. This web site is still under construction and more content is added almost every day, so we hope that you will visit us regularly to see our updates. At the bottom of each page you find an e-mail link through which you can contact us and please feel free to do so. We will also be glad to help you with any further studies or come and preach the word of the Lord in your community. We will do that free of charge as long as we can afford ourselves to do that. Perhaps we have to ask for some support in travel expenses, but we will see that when it arises. Praise the Lord and may God’s blessing support you and your families and friends in finding the right way and pure Faith. Then we will meet in Heaven. Note: Dr. M.G. McLuhan is (dated 1998) President of IMF. He has served as a pastor / evangelist for several years, as a missionary in South Africa for 11 years and as an Associate Pastor of Mt. Paran Church in Atlanta, GA (11,000 members) for 16 years. Dr. McLuhan has over 50 years of ministry experience as a pastor, evangelist, lecturer, missionary and President of the International Bible College in Minot, ND and as President of Berea Theological College in Pretoria, South Africa. The IMF article has been published on the Internet but neither Dr. McLuhan nor IMF have been involved in this web site, have any relation with checkyourhappiness.com nor ourselves and therefore do not necessarily agree with other passages than the referrals used from the article. We are thankful, however, that IMF has given permission to use this article. We had placed a link here to read the full article of Dr. McLuhan. The website of the IMF has changed in the mean time, and this link does not work anymore. Please contact the IMF for the full text. The address of the IMF is: International Ministerial Fellowship P.O.Box 32366 Minneapolis MN 55432 Phone 763. 571.5967 Fax 763.571.6835. e-mail: imf@i-m-f.org web site; www.i-m-f.org Last update 21 April 2006 As we mentioned above, and to make life somewhat easier, we remind you of our sister website of the True Gospel Church of Jesus Christ. Just click here and a new window brings you there automatically. Thanks for your visit. May the Lord bless you and guide you on your way.