Author: peytongurley
Leave Your Shoes Behind
This was a picture taken yesterday. The spirit of the Lord hit her so hard she shouted right out of her shoes. It used to be Bobby pin’s everywhere on the floor after a Holy Ghost blowout, but most are too dignified for that.
I have to make up in my mind that I might have to leave my shoes behind. Those shoes that I walk in this dirty world with. The shoes I walk in at work and at the grocery store. The shoes I wear when I can’t make it through a day at work, or even just in public. Those shoes that carries every load that we have, kick them off and worship God through it. It isn’t guaranteed that one shout will fix everything, but going though life, and shouting the walls down will never lead you in the wrong direction. Lose those shoes!
Days Gone By
Young Peyton
From Ken Raggio
Believe anything you want, but I’m telling you that when holiness leaves the Church, so does true doctrine. Unholy people embrace heresies. Anybody who thinks they can be more effective by filtering or minimalizing the Gospel is dead wrong.
SECULAR excellence (performance-corporate-professional) can be fool’s gold – a phony substitute – for SPIRITUAL excellence based on Bible, true doctrine, holiness. Lots of people expend themselves strenuously to attain secular excellence, but mock and scoff at saints who apply the same strenuous desire to attain to spiritual excellence. Our priority should be on pleasing and impressing God, not men. Holiness is a manifestation of spiritual excellence in all areas of life.
“STRIVE to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able,” Luke 13:24.
“Be ye therefore PERFECT (complete, fully mature), even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” Matthew 5:48.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and PERFECT, will of God,” Romans 12:2.
“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be PERFECT, be thus minded,” Philippians 3:12-15.
Let us strive to be perfect in our performance of the will of God.
Ken Raggio
I went through this. A church that decided to abandon holiness and when we left because of it, they told everyone we left because we didn’t want to go to church with people who didn’t look like us. That’s incredibly laughable. We didn’t want to go to church where false doctrine was taught.
Resources
Check out our new Resources page! I will be adding things to it as I go! But check out the podcasts in the meantime.
The Sickness
When Covid started, we didn’t really know how to get our 3 year old to understand what Covid was so we just ended up calling it “the sickness.” Leah and both have it. Church was cancelled because every single family at church is sick, and 2 of my sisters have it. Not a peep from the media. I feel like more people I know have it now than at the worst time it was here.
Family
I didn’t come from the typical family. I usually don’t write too much about it because some of the people that birthed me could see my social media, but I don’t think they can see this, and I got rid of facebook, so I don’t have to worry about that.
I was born in 1986. I’m an 80’s baby. I don’t remember much of the ‘80’s except we had a lot of things carried over from the 1970’s. I remember the green carpet and our fridge was avocado green. We had some dark red shag carpet in the second story of our home.
I don’t remember much of my dad and mom, especially together, at all. I do remember the day my dad said he was leaving. I was 18 months old and remember the entire conversation as if it happened yesterday.
I don’t remember when we moved from that house to the projects, but I do remember a lot of thinges that happened in the projects. We had those old rusty slides that would burn off your entire body, and the crooked rusty metal merry-go-round that was just as hot.
I remember being on the news because our projects had lead paint all in them. I remember we had to get shots, something about a helicopter landing, and my grandma had recorded me on the news. It was of me getting a shot and crying. Thanks local news station. But I was 3, so that’s ok.
I remember my mom getting with a man (Doug) after my dad left who was the bees knees to me. Before the projects, but not too long before, he must have came around. I don’t know if we moved to the housing to get away from him or what, but when we went, he didn’t. But he did come drunk a few times and break windows and hurt my mother.
I remember, I must have been woken up by sounds or something, but our rooms were all on the second floor. The memory is purely this: I was on the stairs, looked down to the bottom floor and Doug had my mom under the rocking chair with a supporting piece of wood on the chair choking her. That is literally the only thing I remember. There was a lot of abuse by him, but my mom eventually got pregnant by him and had my youngest sister. I was 4 when she was born.
There were scary nights with Doug. My moms friend had to make plans with us in case he came in and we would have to jump from the second story balcony to her. He put his hand through the window so he could open the door and all the glass had cut up his arm and the police and paramedics had to come. He says mom asked for it about once a month, if she didn’t get a beating once a month, she wasn’t happy. I do remember her throwing dishes across the room at him and screaming, so who knows.
My dad was kind non-existent for a few years at first. He was 32 or 33 when I was living in the projects. I would call him and ask him if he would come get me and he would always tell me he had a pool tournament. I always thought for the longest time that he was swimming.
After kindergarten started for me, we moved to another town further south in Illinois. We lived with my uncle. He was my moms brother by her dad, my grandpa. Things were weird. My dad would get me more often it seemed then. He had married a woman, so I guess he decided he had time for me and wanted me. It was an ongoing issue with him for a couple years. He had called family services on my mom. My mom took it out on me and made me feel terrible. I hated living with my mom. I remembered one particular time, I was probably 6. It was a Sunday and dad had dropped me off at home, which was a house on the top of this ridiculous hill. It felt so isolated. I remember I went in the house, only to find mom passed out on the couch and no one else around. I don’t know where anyone was. I remember walking around the house and clenching my fist and slamming it on my leg and crying because I just hated being in that place. At that moment, at 6 years old, I was left alone with a passed out addict on the couch, and no one was the wiser.
I get some grief from my sisters because I am so detached. I don’t have room for excuses and justifications in the situation with my maternal parent. Not that it was much better with my dad, but because of the lack of responsibility and ultimately love, I was molested and so was my sister. I think, in all reality, only one sister wasn’t molested, but was pregnant at 14.
So to say I had a normal family is far from the truth. I don’t really struggle too much with it anymore, it is just what it is. But it has made me make sure that my daughters life isn’t anything like mine was.
Vipers, Voices and Victory – FPCNLR
The End Is Near
It doesn’t take much to see that the world is changing on a daily basis. And not for the good. I don;t know if its because of Joy Starrick, or just because the world is really as evil as her, but people constantly have to bring up my religion. But, that is also promised for us in the last times. We will be delivered up to be killed for His Name sake.
I do forgive Joy but I do not like her. She has put us in so much danger with the Outlaws and they are constantly driving by. Thank God that His vengeance is more merciful than mine. But witchcraft will send you to an eternal hell. God HATES witchcraft.
“…men’s hearts failing them for fear.” It is sad to see the exodus of people from the Truth. Everyday people are leaving the Truth to live their best life now. That’s all it will be. That best life now will condemn you to an eternal punishment. God grip our hearts.
Our business is still carrying on. I just worry about this inflation and the already impending recession. People are about to get real desperate and that is when we will have revival. Just some thoughts today.
Starbucks
Today I finally got to sit in a Starbucks and study and blog. We got a Starbucks locally about 2 years ago and I have been wanting to do this since. When I lived in Seattle, I would go to coffee shops a lot to read and study and get away. I wish I was meeting someone here with a Bible study but it’s just me.
Just by sitting in the Starbucks here you can see how much things have changed. When I used to go to the Starbucks in Seattle, I had a favorite few, but they also had real locally owned coffee shops that I loved to sit in. But looking back to that, and being in a giant city with some of the most liberal people ever, this little Starbucks looks so different than I ever thought I’d see any mainstream company.
As I sit here I can see the coffee decor, the people patiently waiting for their coffee that takes way too long to make (lol) and nice industrial looking furnishings. But then you can’t help but notice the pop of color of all the everything but straight pride flags. I don’t even know what they stand for anymore. The whole flag is different, with all these new additions to it.
Last year, during this same time, a man was in the drive through and they had flags at the drive through menu, and at the pickup window. This man ordered his drink and paid for it at the window, then he stopped his car blocking the entire Starbucks and brought in his coffee and said he would never buy coffee here again because of all the flags. I thought, “good for him” but why did he pay for it and give it back haha.
If I felt as strong about my relationship with God as these homosexuals do about advertising what their bedroom habits are, (in which I definitely feel stronger about my God than my flesh) and I celebrated (Who)se I am, I would be lambasted on every front. I don’t even have anything in my shop that signifies I am a Christian except for one Bible verse and you can’t even see that until you leave. I don’t have anything saying what kind of Christians we are, or if we ever are. But wait until our giant LED sign is done.
I had two people in my shop just the week before last that I kicked them out of my shop. I had one who has for 8 years told my wife and I how much bondage we are in and that we are Pharisee’s because we believe that God cares how His children are presented to the devours around us. She used to be Apostolic and allegedly suffered spiritual abuse. I believe her. But I wasn’t the one who did it to her. I know people who have left her church for the same excuse but since they don’t have any standards, then it’s acceptable to bash someone for 8 years.
I found a post that her and another “friend” decided to bash and poke fun of how Apostolic’s would treat a “sinner.” It was ugly. And it was on my wall, an Apostolic. It was the final straw. I have had this woman for 8 years, degrading us, and that was the end of it for me. I wasn’t ugly. I sent her the post and I told her that it is really disheartening that she felt the need to join in on that and it was hurtful. I told her she can come pick up her belongings from my shop (she had put bows for dogs hair in my shop for people to buy) and that I would not be grooming her dogs anymore.
My sister goes to this same church. It is a giant church that an Apostolic man started that didn’t want standards anymore. Then when he passed away they elected a new pastor from this group that is completely made up of backslid Pentecostal preachers. I groom his dogs too, and he and his wife both have made it clear how they feel about Apostolic’s. It wasn’t until last year, when one of their parishioners informed us that we were legalistic, at least that is what her pastor preaches. Without hesitation I blurted out “Well I love this legalism.” I was just as surprised as everyone else.
I told my wife that it is so weird that people just come out with it and we won’t even be on the subject of any type of church or religion, and they just come out and say it or, they will ask my wife if she is Pentecostal, and she says yes then the bashing comes. But because I am a Christian I am supposed to just accept it and keep grooming their dogs. I am not one that can take being put down on a regular basis. I am not going to groom anyone’s dog or do business with anyone that constantly tells me how bad I am, religiously or not.
I have witches that come into my shop that treat me better than these Christian’s and they never say anything about religion.
Matthew 24:9 says – Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
A lot of people would think that “of all nations” is talking geographically. The word in Greek is ἔθνος, ethnos. You could see how we would get ethnicity from that word. But the word means a nation, a tribe, people group, Gentiles, human groups, a multitude. So it doesn’t necessarily mean that all of Iraq has to be against Christians. No, it’s any people group. Look at how many people groups hate God or anything to do with God.
What it really comes down to is that these people can’t deal with conviction and the rotten spirit in them resists when it enters a room of someone who is filled with the Holy Ghost. That is why they bring it up for no reason. I am there to groom a dog, not be made to feel like a dog because of Who I am dedicated to.
Matthew 24:12 says – And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
People don’t care about anyone but themselves.
Romans 1:23 – Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
2 Timothy 3:2-4 – For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;
This is all part of the plan. I don’t fear. But it doesn’t get overwhelming. But God said if you endure to the end, meaning it will be hard, you will be saved.
Coffee Shop Theology 