God Never Stopped Speaking

Part 7B: What Does a “Relationship” with God Mean?

Ian Johnson September 22, 2023 2 Comments

A strange thing happened in the 1970’s–we learned for the first time that what we need is a “personal relationship” with Christ. But this terminology is not scriptural, and was left largely undefined, with curious results. That “relationship” became self-defined! What does it mean? What should it mean? What are a believer’s relationships with God? Jesus is our shepherd, older brother, King, teacher and friend, but the word “relationship” is not found. We are called God’s children, house, temple and sheep, but never said to be “in a relationship” with him.

A God who Speaks, Conversation with God, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, God's Voice, His Children, His Friends, Language and Speech, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Social control and statecraft, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, Through Jesus, To bear fruit

1960s, 1970s, Charismatic Renewal, delusional, delusions, friend, God is Dead, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Movement, king, Lord, Relationship, Relationship with Jesus, sheep, shepherd, Teacher, vine

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 7A: God Uses No Cookie Cutters

Ian Johnson September 9, 2023 0 Comments

God uses our uniqueness and gives unique gifts and roles. He does not make interchangeable, cookie-cutter believers for our administrative convenience. Examples: the first deacons, Stephen, Philip. Paul and the anomalous New Testament prophets.

A God who Speaks, Complex unity, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, His Children, His Friends, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Prophecy, To be in his image

Apostle Paul, cookie cutter, cookie cutter Christians, deacons, God, Holy Spirit, individuality, offices, Philip, Philip the evangelist, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophets, Spiritual Gifts, Stephen, Stephen the martyr

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 3: God Making Peace with the World Through the Most Notorious Sinners!

Ian Johnson July 13, 2023 0 Comments

Linked text to accompany the third in a series of videos about God’s gifts and callings for people, which he sometimes gives to notorious evildoers. Discusses Moses, King David and Saul of Tarsus, who literally got away with murder. Or did they?

A God who Speaks, Consequences, Discipline or Correction, forgiveness and mercy, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God was never our enemy, God's rationality, Merit, patience, Reconciliation, Repentance, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Sin, The Problem of Evil

Apostle Paul, consequences, criminals, God speaks, God's forgiveness, God's reputation, grace, King David, mercy, Moses, murderers, notorious, patience, Saul of Tarsus, sinners

Commands I Can’t Keep If God Doesn’t Speak to Me

Ian Johnson March 20, 2023 0 Comments

If God never speaks to me, it will be impossible for me to keep his commands to keep a soft heart toward his words, to hear and obey him “TODAY”, while I am still hearing him. Beginning the discussion of entering God’s rest today, while God is speaking to me–and the consequences of Israel’s rejection of his voice.

A God who Speaks, Conversation with God, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, idolatry, Language and Speech, Refusing to hear, self-serving worship, Through Jesus, Trusting sight over God's words, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?

enter my rest, God's rest, Hearing God, Hearing God's Voice, rejecting God, rejecting God's voice, rest, Today

God Speaks to Us

Ian Johnson January 22, 2023 2 Comments

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” God says he will speak to his sheep individually, call each by name, and lead us, and he does. Stephen and Saul of Tarsus are an example of this.

A God who Speaks, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, Through Jesus, Through others

Gd calls us by name, God leads us, God speaks, God's Voice, Hearing God, Hearing God's Voice, my sheep hear my voice, Paul, Paul's goads, Saul of Tarsus, Stephen, Stephen the martyr

The Heavens are All Around Us!

Ian Johnson January 2, 2023 2 Comments

In the very first chapter of the Bible, In telling us about God’s creation of all that is, other than himself, God tells us something very important about the “heavens”–namely, that they are all around us. They are in the air we breathe, from which we have life. He does not limit his activity to a distant “Heaven.”

A God who Speaks, Eternity, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, Immanence, Omnipresence, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, through his creation, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word

air we breathe, all around us, breath of life, God, heaven, heavens, Immanence, Kingdom of the heavens, Word of God

God’s Patience and Our Repentance, 2 Peter 3:9

Ian Johnson November 13, 2022 2 Comments

God is slow to bring the day of justice because he is patient, determined to give us all the time we need to repent and return to him. If we do not, it will be our choice, not his, to remain in the present world when he removes his care from it and it disintegrates under the weight of sin.

A God who Speaks, Consequences, Free will, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, judgment, patience, Regeneration, Rejecting God, Repentance, reprobation, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Sin, The Problem of Evil, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?

God, God's patience, Judgment, justice, longsuffering, new earth, new heavens, patience, patient, repentance, repentant, restoration, slow to anger

“Spiritually Traumatized” Areas Hypothesis

Ian Johnson August 28, 2022 1 Comment

States the hypothesis that one of the drivers of historical change is repeated spiritual trauma affecting conquered or subjugated cultural groups in some specific areas of the world where movements often start.

A God who Speaks, Authority Contests, Church purpose versus church growth, Divisions in the Church, Ethnic Division, God Never Stopped Speaking, Heresy, Merit, Peril of Seeking Power, Religious violence and persecution, Salvation, Social control and statecraft, Wars as consequences

conquest, cultural denigration, elite, folk belief, folk culture, folk religion, God speaks, hierarchy, oppression, persecution, priesthood, ruling elite, spiritual trauma, spiritually traumatized, spiritually traumatized area

A Few Comments on the Overall Process

Ian Johnson August 21, 2022 0 Comments

Most of the currents of modern Western history can ultimately be traced to the well-meaning decisions of Christian leaders in the early centuries to seek political sponsorship. This led to the inversion of the Gospel message, forced exile of “heretics,” the rise of Islam through the influence of exiled “heretics,” and most of the subsequent upheavals in the Western world.

A God who Speaks, Authority Contests, Changed treatment of each other, Compulsory Christianity, Desire to have our own way, Disrespecting poor believers, Divisions in the Church, Ethnic Division, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, Heresy, Islam and Christianity, Islam as a Consequence, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Religious violence and persecution, Repentance, Salvation, Social control and statecraft, Through the church, Truth and Falsehood, Wars as consequences, What is sin?

Christendom, Christian politics, Christianity, Christianity and Islam, Christianity and politics, Divisions in the Church, heresy, heretical movements, History of Christianity

A Simple Summary of Church and Western History–Introduction

Ian Johnson August 15, 2022 1 Comment

An introduction to the process by which, in seeking the approval and sponsorship of those in political power, and the delusion of holy conquest, Christianity, as defined by its victorious leaders, has consistently denied the possibility of a living, individual friendship with God. First in a series.

A God who Speaks, Compulsory Christianity, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Social control and statecraft, Uncategorized

Church History, Friendship with God, History, History of Christianity, personal relationship, Western History

Part 7B: What Does a “Relationship” with God Mean?

Like this:

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 3: God Making Peace with the World Through the Most Notorious Sinners!

Like this:

Commands I Can’t Keep If God Doesn’t Speak to Me

Like this:

God Speaks to Us

Like this:

The Heavens are All Around Us!

Like this:

God’s Patience and Our Repentance, 2 Peter 3:9

Like this:

“Spiritually Traumatized” Areas Hypothesis

Like this:

A Few Comments on the Overall Process

Like this:

A Simple Summary of Church and Western History–Introduction

Like this:

Post navigation

God Never Stopped Speaking

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: