Laura-Lee Was Here

Laura-Lee Was Here

October 12, 2024

Are You a "False Convert"❓️

 



Christians spend a HUGE amount of time asking themselves if they are truly Saved. They see themselves commit sins every day and become chronically self-reflecting and constantly stressing over whether their faith in Jesus is authentic.


Enter the term, "False Convert".


I'd been a Christian for about forty years when I first heard this term. It came shooting out of the mouth of Ray Comfort (head of Living Waters Ministries) during a sermon series he had developed called, "The Way of the Master".


He explained that true belief in Jesus came to us when we became Born Again and, once we became filled with the Holy Spirit, He would create in us a desire to do good things instead of evil things and that this would be demonstrated in our behavior and cause a radical change in our lifestyle.


All of this I agree with.


 However, anyone (according to Ray) that didn't exhibit this radical change had never really ever been filled with the Holy Spirit and was a "False Convert". Therefore, they needed to recognize they were a "False Convert", repent of being one and be saved for real.


Uh. This is where Ray and I parted in our theology.

 I remember thinking, "And by who's standard is Ray judging another person's behavior and lifestyle?

ONLY God can see into a person's heart and mind, therefore only GOD is qualified to judge them.


We have entered into a very interesting time in human history. Back in Ray's day (and mine too, even though I'm several years younger than Ray), most people attended church and were familiar with what the Bible said, even if they weren't Born Again.


This is NOT the case these days. The VAST majority of people who become Born Again and make Jesus the Lord of their lives have NEVER even cracked open a Bible and have NEVER set one foot into a church. They may be quite advanced in years when they become a Christian and have lived some very unholy lives. Although they are immediately saved and forgiven of their sins, which is called "Justification",  their "Sanctification", being brought up into lives of holiness, may take a long time.


I knew a man who had used profanity profusely throughout his sixty years of life. Even years after being a Christian, whenever he got angry or frustrated, his old language would resurface.


Another case involved a man "living in the sin of Fornication with his girlfriend". A full year after he had become Born Again, the congregation was not pleased with him for not changing his lifestyle and were getting ready to "discipline him according to the Scriptures".

The problem with that was the woman he was living with wasn't a Christian, didn't think it was necessary for them to get married, they'd been together for more than a decade and had established a home together along with THEIR THREE CHILDREN❗️ I was of the opinion that we should cut the man some serious slack and allow him some time to work out the problems in his life.


I mean, really, if someone asked you to walk away from your  "wife" and children after celebrating your Tenth Anniversary how easy would that be for you?


This is the problem of calling our fellow Christians "False Converts". It involves a judgment call based on a (very) limited ability to see beyond our own noses and experiences. It can also create all kinds of  unnecessary anxiety in other people's lives. This drains them emotionally, mentally and physically and hinders them from being built up in the Spirit.


After I heard Ray Comfort use the term False Converts, I starting hearing it cropping up amongst his friends, many of whom are also in ministry. People like Kirk Cameron, Mark Spence, Todd Friel and Justin Peters, to name but a few.


But it is Ray Comfort's long term BFF, Ken Ham (Founder and CEO of Answers in Genesis), who has taken this term to the next level. You see Answers in Genesis is not merely a ministry that I don't agree with on a doctrinal basis but actually a cult


All cults use vague, broad terms to describe people who do not belong to their cult in order to create an Us vs Them mentality. It also creates fear and doubt in their own members, keeps them from ever criticizing the Cult leader and is used to keep them under control.


"False Convert" is used by Ken Ham not to describe someone who isn't a genuine Christian but anyone who doesn't wholeheartedly subscribe to his personal interpretation of the Bible, which is quite twisted, although very subtly so.

You must disassociate with people who use this term! It is one of the main identifying factors of anybody who belongs to the Answers in Genesis cult or anyone who is hooked into them in a big way, including Ray Comfort.


The huge irony and tragedy in all of this is that the people who are hurling this term at you are actually the ones who are unaware of what true Christianity is really about.

 This is also textbook cult manipulation. Everything is designed to make you doubt yourself in order to keep you under their control.


So, let's stop focusing on all the nasty people and let me offer you some practical advice.



🌿❤️🌿❤️🌿❤️🌿

There is a portion in the Bible that speaks about something called the "unforgivable sin".


"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 

 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."

(Matthew 12:30-32)


This particular section of the Bible has caused some serious flip-outs by many a Christian (myself included) when contemplating what this SIN is and whether or not we have accidentally done it and have gone beyond God's forgiveness.


I've been asked about the "unforgivable sin" many times over my forty-six years as a Follower of Jesus and Bible Teacher, so let me answer that and the "Are you a 'False Convert'?" question with basically the same answer.


If you are THAT upset about it, THAT concerned about the condition of your immortal soul, THAT concerned about where you will spend eternity, THAT concerned about not getting the Holy Spirit upset with you and ultimately THAT  concerned about what Jesus thinks about you ... 

... you have NOT commited the "unforgivable sin" and you are NOT a "False Convert."


You may be distressed that your behavior is not changing fast enough for what you would like but that's a wonderful sign too. Try not to get too stressed about your character and behavior because even that has now become Jesus's job to change because He is the "Author and Perfector of our Faith".

 (Hebrews 12)


It is up to you to go to the Lord in prayer.

 Share with Him everything about yourself.

 Share with Him your dreams, hopes, and feelings, whether they be big or small.

Share with Him the troubles you are facing and the things that worry and upset you.


I became a Christian when I was just eleven years old and I approached Jesus just like a child approaches a loving parent. At the end of every day I would read my Bible (because I knew this is the main way Jesus talked to me) and then I would crawl into bed and "mull over my day with Jesus".

I've done this my entire adult life. It has built up our relationship and increased our bonds of intimacy and Jesus has guided and comforted me throughout my life.

 And ultimately, this will gradually change your behavior and character, because you cannot spend time with Jesus and not start to reflect His holiness in your character, behavior and life.

"If it matters to you, it matters to Him" is one of my pithy little sayings that I love to repeat and here's another one,


"Christians don't fail when we FALL, we fail when we FALL and quit getting up again."


This was a rather lengthy post but it is a rather complex topic and I know many Christians who are struggling with this as an issue. I hope I helped to alleviate some of your stress.


We are saved by Jesus dying on the cross and accepting that He died in our place. 

Period!  ❗️

His blood is enough to obliterate EVERY sin we have ever committed or EVER will commit.


It is "God's kindness that is intended to lead you to repentance" ((Romans 2:4) 



The Truth with Love,

Always Laura-Lee


I have referred to Answers in Genesis as a cult so I'm going to provide you with a Link for more information about this and why I have come to this conclusion.

A cult is not defined by their beliefs or their size but by their structure and system of controlling their members whether they are religious in nature or not. I am particularly concerned about Answers in Genesis because it is subtle, insidious, hooked up everywhere, been pumping out resources nonstop for decades, global and continues to grow rapidly. I cannot overstate how dangerous they are.

LINK "What Motivated Me to Investigate Answers in Genesis?"




I am also providing a Link to a post I made regarding defining terms. These days we may all be speaking the same language but meaning VERY different things.

For instance, someone who says, "I believe in God" may have a very different version of God than the one in the Bible.

They may say they believe in Heaven, but you need to ask them what their version of Heaven looks like.


They may say they believe in Jesus but you need them to answer the question, "Who do you believe Jesus is?" which is the ultimate question which determines where someone spends Eternity.

LINK "Define Your Terms"



LINK "What Makes a Cult? (Simplified)"  



PLEASE NOTE:

My blogs have NO Ads and NO Store and I have never met any of the people I have mentioned in this blog post nor do I know any of their workers (present or past).




"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

(1 Peter 5:7)






October 11, 2024

Will You Follow Jesus❓️




The King of Kings, the Son of God, Jesus came to earth to live amongst His people.


He spoke only Truth. He healed the sick. He cast out demons. He forgave people their sins. He welcomed children into his arms. He raised the dead.


And for the life he lived, he was granted great honor and glory amongst his people. 😊



Actually, it didn't turn out that way. 😞


The Religious Leaders hated him and conspired to kill him and the people, who for a time followed him, in the end turned into a bloodthirsty mob screaming for his death, which is exactly what they got.


The “King of Glory” was beaten, stripped naked, nailed to a cross and slowly died hanging between two criminals.


🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

Now we live in a time when the whole world hates Jesus.

Jesus told us in the Bible,


 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

And

“‘They hated me without reason’”.

(John 15)



The question I asked in the title I am not asking of you, I am asking it of myself


Laura-Lee, will you follow Jesus 


when He asks you to sell all you have and give to the poor?


when the only bed you have is a bed of straw?


when the only task he gives you is to wash the feet of those who betray you?


when you are hated by those you love because you have told them the Truth?


when you are so filled with fear you're sweating blood?


when your own people are calling for your death?


when the only crown this world will offer you is a crown of thorns?


(sigh) 😞 I don't know. My heart is so prone to selfishness and I tend to bail out when the going gets tough, but I WANT to be that kind of follower of Jesus.



Lord, give me strength when I am weak.   Help me to follow you even if no one else in the whole world does.   Make me act bravely even when I am terrified.   Give me the eyes of faith to see beyond the darkness of life around me and focus on the Life yet to come and, when you return, Jesus,  let me still be found faithful to you.”

Amen.


Love Always,

 Laura-Lee 



Peter said to him, ‘We have left all we had to follow you!’

 ‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God  will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’ ”

(Luke 18:28-30)


And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised;

 who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 


Women received back their dead, raised to life again.


 There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 


 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 


 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 


 the world was not worthy of them. 


They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

  (Hebrews 11)


🌿❤️🌿❤️🌿❤️🌿❤️🌿

And wilt thou leave me thus,

That hath loved thee so long

In wealth and woe among?

And is thy heart so strong

As for to leave me thus?

Say nay, say nay!”

  (Poem by Thomas Wyatt)


October 10, 2024

Ken Ham is LAUGHING at You 😁

 



Mom used to say to me when I was a little girl, “Laura-Lee don't pout or your face may freeze that way.”


Behold the face of Ken Ham, Founder and CEO of Answers in Genesis, home of the Creation Museum and “world renowned” Ark Encounter in Kentucky, USA.

He has been manipulating and fleecing people for so long his face has rigored into a mask of “Duping Delight”. 


Plus, he treats and speaks to everyone, no matter how intelligent and learned they may be, as if they were a four year old child.

He expects everyone to pay homage to him to feed his ego and everyone to pay money to him to feed his bank account. 

He views everyone as a Useful Idiot to be duped and deployed as he sees fit.


And the “higher ups” who RUN Answers in Genesis, WRITE for Answers in Genesis, TEACH Children for Answers in Genesis, do PR for Answers in Genesis, are SPEAKERS for Answers in Genesis and have BUSINESS ties with Answers in Genesis are all a case of “Birds of a feather flocking together” They have compromised in order to make money from their association with Ken Ham.


All this is SO blatantly obvious! I mean, the man never opens his mouth without including a sales pitch!


You know, Answers in Genesis stopped being about Creation Science a looooong time ago. Why do you think Ken is constantly rehashing his Glory Days when he debated Bill Nye a full DECADE ago? Because no self-respecting Atheist would stoop to debate Ken these days. He is so ridiculous.


After debating Atheists for the past forty years the main question they now ask me is, “Why don't you Christians get together and stop Ken Ham because he's giving all of you a bad name?”


You know, for the FIRST time in my life, I'm on the side of the Atheists on this one. Why DON'T we stop him? He is making a MOCKERY of the Bible with the ridiculous things he says!


Things like,

There was a Moon Pool on the Ark.

The Tigris and Euphrates were not originally anywhere in the Middle East.

Adam didn't actually name individual animals in the Garden of Eden (only their Kinds)

It's bad to give a “Bathtub” Noah's Ark to little children.

There were several different types of Dinosaurs on the Ark and afterwards 

They were used for manual labor like farming.


Not to mention the fact he has turned the scene of a tragic place for Noah and his family clinging together while God wiped out the entire population of the earth 

into Christian Party HQ

(which more accurately resembles a scene from the movie "Animal House” than a holy place of God's presence).


Are all you Christians who visit the Creation Museum and “world renowned” Ark Encounter so enamored by the experience that you have failed to notice that none of these things are actually IN the BIBLE?! 


Well, Ken Ham is NOT going to laugh at me and certainly not at all the non-Christians who have his number and refer to him as “that greedy Ken Ham”.



Another thing Mom used to tell me, 

“ ‘A fool and their money are soon parted’, so don't be foolish Laura-Lee.”


Okay, Mom. 😌


The Truth with Love,

Always Laura-Lee


For further information regarding my research concerning Answers in Genesis (which in my opinion is a Textbook example of a Cult), Please follow the Link.

What Motivated Me to Investigate Answers in Genesis



NOTE

My blogs have NO Ads, NO Store, I have never met Ken Ham nor do I know any Worker at Answers in Genesis (present or past).



Ken Ham and Martyn Iles

(Co CEOs of Answers in Genesis)

BIRDS of a FEATHER








CHRISTIAN  PARTY  HQ









October 07, 2024

Prepping for Disaster " OLD SCHOOL"

 





I’m drawing on 50 years of experiences in EMERGENCY situations (and we have tons of those with our harsh Canadian weather 🇨🇦) to share with you. 

These are  my top Survival tips anybody can do and we will be "Kicking it Old School”.


Let's get into it!



🔴 WATER 

Fill jugs of water. You don't have to buy it. You can use tap water.


Clean out your bathtub. Rinse it thoroughly and fill it up again. This large amount of water can be very useful for washing, flushing toilets, etc. Add a little bit of bleach to it to keep it bacteria free.


🔴 GAS In Your Home

If a disaster is imminent TURN OFF the GAS in your home. If you sustain any damage to your home don't turn it back on again until the gas lines have been inspected by the authorities. This may take time and create hardships but is far superior to being poisoned by a gas leak or having your home blow up if somebody strikes a match.


🔴 LIGHT SOURCE

Vegetable Shortening (like Crisco) lasts MUCH longer than a regular candle.

Get out GLASS jars.

 Slowly melt the shortening on your stove and pour into jars. 

Place into the Fridge for a few minutes until it firms up a bit, then place a regular tapered candle into the center of it.

Make sure the oil is right up to where the wick begins but not over the wick.

(a birthday candle can be used for smaller jars)


🔴 FOOD

Concentrate on CANNED goods, jars of pickles and jams and things like DRY  CEREAL. (Remember, you need a MANUAL can opener.)

DON'T get things like Pasta, Rice or anything that needs to be boiled.  You may need to be rationing your water and/or you may not have the means to boil water and cook.


Packets of Baby Food is a good idea too. Full of nutrients for young and old.


Honey and Chocolate never expire and are good sources of quick energy.


To HEAT food during a power outage, turn a muffin pan upside down, place tea lights in between the cups and put pot on top. (Don't leave unattended and keep pets and small children away)



If you have access to an outdoor space, want to Cook but have a limited amount of fuel, put a Terracotta pot on a couple of bricks or cement blocks so that the hole in the bottom has access to oxygen.

Set a dorito or corn chip on fire (they are coated with oil) place in bottom, and put a few briquettes or broken branches on top of chip and cover with Barbecue grill or Cake cooling grill on top.

Put your pot on it or directly grill food on it.

It concentrates the heat.




🔴 PAPER PRODUCTS

If you don't have much time to prepare everybody else might head to the store and stockpile Toilet Tissue and Paper Towels so there might not be much available to you.

Get old bed sheets and towels and put them together in a big, plastic garbage bag to keep them clean and dry.

They can be invaluable when paper products run out. You can't flush them but a small piece of sheet dipped into water (from your full bathtub), then disposed of in a plastic garbage bag next to the toilet is a fabulous solution to the drip dry method.


Plus, they can be used as bandages too. 


🔴 TOILET

Have a large bucket handy in case your toilet doesn't work. Your toilet can be “Flushed” by pouring water DIRECTLY into the bowl.

 

If your sewage is backed up, fill the bottom of the Bucket with a small amount of Bleach and water and have some kind of LID (even just a piece of cardboard) to place over it in case you need to use it as the Toilet.


🔴 TOOLS

Gather any tools you have and keep them handy, but store safely in a sturdy container or box.

Pliers, Flat head screwdriver, Sharp knife (wrapped in a piece of sturdy paper to prevent being cut when reaching for things).

Reliable Scissors

Sewing needles (various sizes and poked into a piece of cardboard so you don't lose them)

Sturdy thread

Rope and string.

Extra plastic containers with lids

Ziploc bags

Garbage bags

Duct Tape or Box Tape



🔴 STRUCTURAL SECURITY

Put your mattress under the Kitchen Table and surround with the chairs to sleep. This will protect you from falling or flying debris.

Stay away from windows and store away any objects that may fly around the room and cause an injury. (I place knick knacks into my dresser drawers amongst my clothing.)


Doorways are sturdy places and, once the storm has passed, keep  doors shut to enhance your home's structure.


If you are in an apartment building, Inner  Stairwells are a good place for protection.


Inside a Fireplace is a good place too. (if there isn't a fire in it at the time) 😉


🔴 FIRST AID 

Put steady, even pressure on cuts.

Regular All Purpose Flour on a cut can help to stop the bleeding.


Immobilize sprains or any limb out of joint. The bed sheets can be good for this too.


Splint on a broken bone. Find two firm sticks, cut to appropriate length and tie them to either side of a limb to keep it stable.


🔴 IDENTIFICATION & SIGNALING 

Take a SHARPIE and write your FULL name and contact info somewhere on your TORSO (like across your chest). If you are wounded and unconscious this could save your life.


Have a whistle around your neck (Just like Rose in Titanic). It can alert people to your whereabouts.


Compact mirror. This can be used to signal for help if somebody is searching for you.


Hang a Sheet outside your window or from your balcony to alert authorities you require Emergency aid.




These are a few of the basics I’ve come up with off the top of my head that others (primarily young people who are so used to technology) might not have thought of.


I’ll add more as I think about it more.


I’m praying for your safety.


The Truth with Love,

Always Laura-Lee 


*** NOTE 

These things are for quick solutions if you have little time to prepare, but there is NOTHING like being KNOWLEDGEABLE to get you through an Emergency. So start learning NOW.