THE CHALLENGE...!!!!

CHALLENGE... THE GREATEST CHALLENGE ON EARTH... Luke ch 9 verse 23....IF ANY MAN WOULD COME AFTER ME LET HIM DENY HIMSELF AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS EVERY SINGLE DAY WITHOUT HOLIDAYS... AND FOLLOW ME... I am human and I get very discouraged because my children have pretty much rejected the message.. We have not been just preaching this message but actually living it for at least 40 years...My kids know exactly what is involved in being a real DISCIPLE....they were forced by circumstances relating to their birth into my family to live in the unusually rough and tough conditions of discipleship... Normal Christian kids born into a more just believer environment are not challenged beyond just going to a cozy fellowship once a week in a comfortable place with nice music and yummy food. Maybe they read the Bible without really putting it into practise as JESUS told them to but just get a job settle down have children and teach them this same way of life....ROMAN CATHOLICS who can trace their origin right back to the early forsake all and go into all the world church, realise that there is a great distinction between discipleship..like being a NUN or a BROTHER where they take the vow of poverty chastity and obedience... And just being a Lay member. A believer in other words.. Priests are not allowed to marry because they are meant to be married to their flock and not side tracked by the inevitable responsibilities of being a husband and a father or mother....Pope Francis just gave a sermon about how a falling tree makes much more noise than all the trees just quietly growing in the forest. These majority of trees never catch the news... Only the fallen ones... I like that analogy very much.. It is brilliant... Priests can earn a salary where as those in orders like Franciscans and Dominicans do not get more than maybe a little pocket money to but essential socks and undergarments..To try and make it more attractive, priests were offered a salary but it has not always been the case...PROTESTANTS HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT THIS....BILLY GRAHAM IS CONSIDERED TO BE A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST...HE LIVES IN A MANSION WITH GUARDS AND GUNS AND IS VERY RICH....DOES THAT REALLY SOUND LIKE JESUS??YOU CAN SAY THAT THE POPE LIVES IN LUXURY...VATICAN....IT IS MORE LIKE A PRISON AND THIS PRESENT POPE IS ALL FOR LIVING SIMPLY JUST LIKE JESUS... Of course none of us is perfect, but now because a good friend has been challenging me and trying to make me feel bad and stupid, I am taking up the challenge and it is making me think very deeply about this whole subject...WHEN MY LITTLE GROUP BECAME THE RED LETTER KIDS WE BECAME SO UNPOPULAR WITH THE PROTESTANTS...THE GREAT DAVE WILKERSON WITH HIS GOSPEL ENTERTAINMENT CHURCH IN NEW YORK WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH US AND THE ONLY HELP AND RECOGNITION WE RECEIVED WAS FROM A CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN RETREAT CENTRE CALLED MY FATHERS HOUSE IN NEW YORK STATE. I HOPE YOU CAN NOW BETTER SEE THE DIFFERENCE.. IT IS EASY TO SHOOT DOWN THE CATS ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE TRYING SO HARD TO JUSTIFY YOUR POSITION... THERE IS PLENTY OF DIRTY LAUNDRY TO BE FOUND BUT JUST CHECK OUT THE EARLY CHURCHES IN REVELATION CHAPTER 2&3 AND YOU WILL FIND THAT SATAN WAS ALREADY AT WORK. I really like the story of the man out duck hunting..... He was shooting ducks right and left and bringing them down... He told his servant to bag the live ones and leave the dead ones lay... Those live ones could fly away because they had only been a little bit wounded.... The dead ones could be picked up at leisure.... Have you got It? Are you a live one or are you a dead one??THE ANSWER IS UP TO YOU.....