Refugees In Jesus

I was going to put this topic on the administration forum, but I was afraid nobody would see it there for a while.

I think most of us have visited boards where there has been very little activity for months. It's not a pretty thing when you discover the last time anybody posted was several weeks ago, or that none of the members has been there for the past six months.

Sometimes you find a board where there are two or three members who actively post, but nobody else ever shows up.

And so I am asking the question, is RIJ becoming one of those boards?

I remember when we used to get 35-40 new posts on this board every day. Indeed, after our big move away from ezboard/yuku we averaged about 50 posts a day for a few days. But of course we never expected to keep up those numbers.

We've had host problems and denial of service attacks, and when those things started to happen, it seems some folks drifted away. I know of one member who told me outright that our host sucks. That was two hosts ago, and she hasn't been back, even though the host we have now has been almost trouble-free.

I have got to say that I really do appreciate the loyalty of some of you. There are several members who stop in here every day, whether or not they post anything. I know because as administrator I get to see the automatically-generated charts that show me those stats. Don't think that you're stopping by and nobody knows, because I do, and I appreciate you!

We have had a couple staff members who have drifted away. Our founder, Richard, came back for a while when he got back on the internet, but he apparently has found a place he likes better, because he seems to be more into prophesy than we are here now. And one of our mods, Kathy (Kindgo), also hasn't been here at all since mid-summer, and I think she is probably where Richard is for the same reasons.

I miss them both. They are good friends.

Personally, I like the direction we took a few months ago, getting away from so much talk of the prophesies and the Rapture, and more into a practical Christian direction. I just think we may have had a little too much emphasis on prophesy, and not enough on regular Bible study and everyday Christian topics.

I know I'm not able to be here as much as I would like, and a lot of times I post an article for discussion, and then never discuss it. I'm in the position of no longer having a computer at home, so my time here is limited to whatever time I can find during the workday. And I don't miss having a computer at home as much as I thought I might, although there are times that I would like to look something up on the internet. It has been good for my family life. But I'm not sure it has been good for RIJ.

I've also found a similar experience in blogging. I spend a lot of time on the blogs now, writing on my own, and reading and commenting on other people's blogs. It's similar to discussion boards in that you get into discussions with like-minded people, but it's different because everybody has their own website/blog and the communication is all between bloggers. I do like the fact that you have your own site that you can set up the way you want. Come and take a look at mine at http://afriendofchrist.blogspot.com It's about as nice as I've ever been able to make it.

Is RIJ a dying board? Well, it certainly isn't as active as it used to be. But at this point we have no intention of taking it down. I hope it can remain on the internet indefinitely. I plan on continuing to come here and post articles and discussions whenever I can. I hope you all will do that too. RIJ has been a good place in the past. Let's make it that way again.

Gary

I hope that a large part of the reason people are not stopping by as often as they had in the past is that they have become involved in their local church or in an evangelical outreach program.

Some of us simply don't have the time available like we used to have - and I am definitely included in that category. My college classes take up a big chunk of time, and coupled with my part-time position as the interim Minister of Music at a church, I have very little left over free time. I try to spend as much as I can with my bride. I am so busy that I sometimes don't get my email read and answered each day - something that is almost unheard of for me.

I believe I have just four more classes left in this first go-round, but there is more to come to finish the race.

Dying...no. Just think that everybody is either on a break or a vacation from RIJ.

There hasn't been anything here lately to "sink our teeth into." Sometimes, even when there is, nobody is paying attention.

Oh Well!

I try to check in a couple of times a day, but I rarely have time to participate in any in-depth discussions during the school year. Even when I give the kids a day off, I'm digging out from a mountain of paper! Still, RIJ is a refuge for me...

That's nice to know, Dan. We'll try and keep it that way!

May God truly bless;

RIJ is nice like Grandma's parlor, sanitized and dust free. Small talk and chit-chat are the order of the day with political discourse, controversial topics, cutting-edge dialogue having been relegated to a file marked "verboten". Has it taken on the flavor of a dish of vanilla ice cream?

World events have placed us on an escalated connecting course with Biblical prophecy. The worldwide economic markets are imploding, with a recession on the order of the 1929 Crash and subsequent Economic Depression being just on the horizon. Iran backed Syria has a massive troop build-up on the Lebanese border, and Israel has never been more in danger of destruction. US troops are attacking into Syria and across the border into Pakistan.

The next president could be the most critical choice in our nation's history for his selection could be laying a foundation for the decimation of the US strength, with the gravitation towards 10 world regions of power and influence, and the laying of a foundation for the rise of the Anti-Christ.

Obama is a "messiah" to the apostate masses, with worldwide appeal to those foreign governments opposed to traditional American ideals/interests. He has almost supernaturally rocketed to national prominence and popularity, not on the content of his character or his record of governmental service and standards, but upon his charisma and hypnotic oratory. The seeds of rebellion and iniquity planted 40 years ago in the decade of the 60's are preparing to foist the most evil of harvests upon the world stage.

Yet it is verboten to broach the political.

Has the aversion to controversy, and those topics which one can "sink their teeth into", as Elena has noted, been a detriment to RIJ?

RIJ was founded as a refuge from spiritual battles and conflicts, and safe zone of Philio and inspired by God's Agape. It has stood as a tremendous source of nurture and encouragement for many years. Can one become so insulated that the armor becomes weakened and the sword becomes dulled?

Can one stand against the heretical and adversarial while still enabling the controversial?

Brother Gary and each of you is a very precious Brother and Sister in Christ Jesus our Lord. I stop in and view the new topics every day, and if something catches my interest or heart I post. This is a superb forum and I would encourage you to step back, take a deep breath, and prayerfully consider the road ahead.

Look at where you have been, where you are, and where you might want to go as you move forward.

I help moderate three forums. One is very cutting-edge and very active on a daily basis, but the bottom-line is the Word of God as the source of ultimate and unwavering truth. The other two are rock solid but fairly quiet. I invite you to peruse our forums and view our content and interaction. It might give you some ideas


http://www.worldofprophecy.com/

http://divintfor.proboards35.com/index.cgi

http://www.trustingjesus.com/intro/index.php



Romans 8:
35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36: As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39: Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thanks to Brother Drew for the sharing of wisdom.

Yes, RIJ is a refuge, and it is a comfort to be here. We still need to be watchmen on the wall. This is a duty that we cannot shirk or shy away from, even if it is just posting an outside article to let others know what is happening.

If we do not know about it, we cannot pray about it.

I don't know how I missed Drew's post! This is the first I noticed it.

And it's a good one!

This is something that has been bothering me for quite some time. I think we probably need to be able to discuss politics here, especially with the election of Obama and the possibilities of what could happen in the next four to eight years.

So I think we will open the board up to "political" discussion and give the moderators something to do! But we don't want this to become a free-for-all. We will discuss how we need to moderate these discussions, etc., on the admin forum.

Gary

And Gary has discussed it. Demittri isn't here any more, so hopefully, we will not have any more political threads going awry.

And in answer to Brother Drew's question:
Can one become so insulated that the armor becomes weakened and the sword becomes dulled?

YES! We need iron against iron, to stay sharp.

NOW i know one reason i quit posting ! its because i'd be typing away and alla sudden get some pop up that's completely KILL what i was TRYING to type !
that just happened, AGAIN.

i AINT left. i was just gone for a while. i wasnt doing much at PF either for about a month or so.

RIJ dying ? no, not if you allow ALL of the word of GOD to be discussed.

we are commanded to study prophecy and try to get an understanding of it.

to quote tim lehaye:

"those who are familiar with bible pprophecy are the only ones who can face what seems to be an uncertain future with peaceful confidence"

as to obama, whether he has ANYTHING at all to do with prophecy regarding the USA remains to be seem. what happens in Israel is what deserves to be taken notice to.

to not desire to discuss prophecy is , IMHO, is the equivilent of sticking ones head in the sand.

RIJ is STILL AND ALWAYS will be a refuge, but to allow discussion of current world events as relating to PSE's would cause more folks to gravite to RIJ.

to NOT allow it would most likey put RIJ (in due time) to be not much more than a fluff board.

to be PC will cause more to not want to come here.

some posts will ALWAYS offend some, but if its the TRUTH then they should be so offended.

Hi Richard, It is good to see you here, dear Brother.

If I want fluff, I'll watch the news, because that is what they give us...FLUFF!

There is a lot happening on the word scene with the EU. I did a search on a few topics tonight. They showed up on the EU's own websites, but I did not see any news articles on the events. Interesting.

Without paying attention to prophesy, how will we know where we are on GOD's timeline?

AMEN SIS, to all you said !

hugs to ya !

SOME news has to sorta be separated, mainly 'cause some aint really news but GARBAGE.

im not an obama fan, yet, but we do have to give him a chance.
after all GOD is able to work miracles in ALL men. i'd say he has his work cut out if we are to have a good leader.

as to obama being some kinda a/c , i think we all know IF he is, WE'LL never know it. if i read the bible right we'll be long gone before he is even though of as the a/c.

we have ALL seen some pretty lousy people walk this world that cudda been the a/c if the rapture had occured during our time and in the past few decades.

IMHO the rapture will be CLOSER (than it is now) when Israel beguns to be affected by decisions made by a "conglomerate of world politicians".

think about the small things done by the past presidents, and if you really think about it, even GWB is one that has done things that would seem to anger GOD. think about his work to convince Israel to give up land for peace, to create a nation for the very enemies of Israel.

if obama does this, would people call HIM the a/c ? possibly.

which past president used the phrase "new world order" ?

TBH i cant recall which president was in office when Israel was attacked (was it in 73 when they were in bad need of help ) GOD moved his hand and the USA sent what they needed to defeat their enemies. was it nixon ?

which president was it that said "i dont like the jews", but recognized their independence was an act of GOD and not to be ignored , supporting them ?

i saw when the ruler (president or whatever he calls himself) of iran congratulated obama on his election, and IMHO thats the LAST one i'd want congratulating me !

i KINDA think BUBBAs election could be a PSE, and time will tell.

meanwhile, Israel is one to watch, after all i DO believe Israel (or events in Israel) are a "rapture barometer".
we'll be able to tell when a storm is coming.

Hi bro! Man, we have missed you around here! We need your emphasis on prophesy!

Obama the antichrist? There has already been talk in some quarters that he could be, and what I have read makes me wonder. His arrogance, his rapid ascension seemingly out of nowhere, (much like Clinton in '92) and his transcendence (his advisers say when he's out of sight of the public he "ascends" to a different plane of consciousness; he enjoys watching tapes to see how people are watching him!) are reminiscent of Adolph Hitler. But like you said, we won't know for sure until after the Rapture.

Albert Mohler has an excellent article on his blog about praying for our new president. You can read it at http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2715

Gary

i know you aint studing the coming of the a.c, but ARE studying , watching and waiting patiently for the LORD JESUS to call us home.

that said , IMHO it dont make a DIDDLY SQUAT what obama does or becomes after we are raptured.

WHOEVER steps up to the a/c job will be one that is allowed to by GOD.

observe the times we're in for PSE's and know that GOD is TRUE and his word will come to pass.

maybe ive grown in the lord some, or maybe even matured somewhat in the lord, but despite of the uncertain times we face, i look forward to the rapture with "peaceful confidence".


TBH bro's and sis's i have grown tired of reading about every little thing somebody says obama said.

many times what is said that he said, tirns out to be a misquote, or a "takeback" when he is questioned regarding what he said.
thats nuttin new, after all he did that a LOT during the early days of the campaign. (it OUGHTA just be called CAMPAIN )

still though, if he rescinds many of bushs executive orders, its SHURE to be interesting for those that follow and believe in Jesus !

lets see what he DOES do, THEN we'll know if he's bad news or not.

after all, rescinding any exec orders regarding gay marrigees, abortions and whether or not aborted babies have a right to live , if they survive the abortion, and other things i dont know about but will probably find out about, THEN we'll know he's gonna be a bad one !

MY gut feeling ? AMERICANs may be in trouble with obama, especially those that see what he does or wants to do as evil.

those that like him , we'll they will HAVE him !