news:
we have a winner!!! the winner for our first t-shirt drawing , the first church of the living dead t-shirt, is Brett Cully , congratulations! for the rest of you keep watch - we will have other drawings in the future...the gallery of the dead has arrived ...but we are still looking for more pictures and testimonies of those who choose to live dead to this world but are alive in Christ and want an opportunity to share it with others..... new poem.....Arise Warrior by TIAVI
MOVIES:
read between the lines... our review of The Lord of the Rings
SPIRIT CHILD : we are praying in a drummer and some dramatic gothic dancers all whom are sold out to Jesus if God is speaking to you in either of these areas please contact us .... spiritchild@thefirstchurchofthelivingdead.com also download clips of our music at http://www.thefirstchurchofthelivingdead.com/spirit_child
Come As You ARe 
Continuing on the subject of religion vs. relationship ..... I want to expose a great lie propagated by religion that you must clean yourself up before God will accept you - this breeds nothing but pride and leads them farther down the path of their father satan - as Jesus said " they neither enter in nor allow those that want to enter in." their rules and traditions have woven a thick vale to cover the eyes of the lost from the truth and to keep their social club running smooth. They have traded the desires of God for the pleasures of man, having a form of godliness but denying the power there of. They have a pretty shell to the eyes of man on the outside but crack it open and there is nothing on the inside . God looks at the heart not the outward appearance and He is looking for those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth...not in flesh and fakeness Holy shells covering their inward pride and selfishness.
Salvation is a free gift paid for by the precious blood of our Saviour - not to be used as a tool for gain by the greedy - but a free gift to be proclaimed by his servants at the feet of the hurting-
He sees your heart - He knows your pain - He is not willing that one should perish but all should come to salvation - He didn't come to condemn the world but to save it!!!!
Jesus told a parable of a religious man and a sinner Luke 18:9-14 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner .I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. ....yes the sinner went home justified (just as if I'd never sinned ) rendered righteous!!!!
this is the Jesus I serve who is not impressed with an outward show of piety and self righteousness - but is longing to heal the hurts of His people - to take His lost sheep in His arms and love them - He is drawn to the desperate !! He holds the humble - He sees the deepest hurts and darkest parts of every one - and He says come as you are - I will hold you , I will heal you - My blood will cleanse you and in Me you will be who I formed you to be before the foundations of this earth.
And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him (turning up the nose, to sneer at, to scoff at). And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. Luke 16:14-15
God doesn't see things as man sees - His eyes pass the puffed up pride of the pious and look for a heart of humility.
God helps those who can't help themselves!
It doesn't matter what man thinks of you it matters what God thinks....come as you are... this is the revolution of Christ to freely forgive the sins of the prostitute and condemn the religious traditions of man - the pride of outwardly pious and inwardly cold and dead...
there was only one who ministered to Jesus while on this earth as He walked the shores of Galilee and toured the temple of Jerusalem - was it a great master of the law? a religious rabbi learned in the ways of the Torah strict to the jot and tittle ? no .... it was a lowly prostitute woman , abominable to the religious but precious in the eyes of GOD ! who fell at His feet pouring out costly perfume on them and wiping them with her hair and many tears - I want the heart of the prostitute that says I am desperate for you - I'm not concerned with what man thinks - I will loose my dignity for an encounter with your deity -
the mask of religion does not heal ... only when we come to the feet of Jesus , naked before Him ,beating our breasts, crying out i am a sinner ! i am undone ! without you i am nothing ! have mercy ! save me !
an outward change will not heal you inwardly but when he changes you within who you truly are will begin to show outwardly.......
cry out.... and let the metamorphosis begin !
final notes
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THE STAFF