Jay Walking!!!

Have you ever been jay walking? I'm NOT gonna lie...SOMETIMES I jay walk!!! Yeah, I know its ILLEGAL buuuuuuuut sometimes it seems like its JUST EASIER to run as fast as you can across the street instead of WALKIN to the crosswalk!!! LOL Buuuuuuuuuuut WHENEVER I do happen to jay walk...I RUN!!!

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The other day I was driving and this lady is just taking a stroll through the middle of the intersection! NOT EVEN RUNNING!!! Just taking a leisurely stroll through all the cars and was ACTUALLY like glaring at some of the cars like THEY were in the wrong for driving to closely to her during her walk!!! Her casualness about it really astounded me!!! She was of course on the phone the whole time and at one point she even through her head back in laughter over the converasation. I was like ummmm... HELLOOOOOOOO!!! I mean yeah i'm NOT perfect, I jay walk sometimes buuuut...run SISTA...RUN!!!!

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It got to thinking about how sometimes in life, we SPIRITUALLY JAY WALK!!! We live our lives on the edge, knowing that we're not really on track, buuuuut HOPING that we'll make it  without getting hurt. There has been a few times in my life that I have been spiritually jay walking. I struggled for a while with watching television and other things...I wasn't backslidden...JUST STRUGGLING to overcome stuff.

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Buuuuuuut i've noticed a lot recently that there are people that are spiritually jay walking...buuuuut they're SOOOOOOOOOOO CASUAL about it!!! Its like their just strolling through life, living on the edge, living sooooo close to the world and saying, WHAT are you gonna do about it??? I DARE YOU TO SAY I'M WRONG!!! People that I grew up with, doing things that we were TAUGHT WERE WRONG!!! And people say, weeeeellll the church I go to NOW allows it!!! So your WHOLE LIFE, you NEVER really got it in your heart??? DO YOU NOT HAVE ANY PERSONAL CONVICTIONS??? If the WHOLE church jumps off a cliff...you gonna jump???

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People watching TV shows and NOT EVEN CARING that anyone knows!!! The Gilmore girls... a "good girl" talking about watching THAT show...right after talking about praise singing at church that night! I'm like, I DON'T GET IT!!!! I know THAT SHOW!!! ITS NOT A GOOD SHOW!!! Your saying, OH MARY, soooo YOU WATCHED IT??? YES I DID!!! Buuuuut you know what??? I felt guilt about it!!! I was ASHAMED!!! I couldn't quite lift my hands the way I wanted to in church...my heart was heavy...I knew that what I was doing was WRONG and I didn't try and condone it and say it was OK!!! EVEN IN MY WRONG...I STILL HAD A CONVICTION!!! I HAD SOME FEAR IN MY HEART!!!

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HOW IN THE WORLD, CAN AN APOSTOLIC, PENTECOSTAL, HOLY GHOST FILLED saint of God, feel like it is OK to watch VAMPIRE DIARIES??? To write about ZOMBIES??? To idolize MARYLYN MONROE??? The Bible says to HATE EVIL!!!

"You that love the LORD, hate evil..."(Psalm 97:10) 

"...Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good."(Romans 12:9) 

"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate." (Proverbs 8:1)

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We NEED to have the FEAR of THE LORD IN US!!! Ya know, when I jay walk, I feel a little nervous, I gotta run...I don't want NO CARS TO HIT ME!!! You know, if your jay walking, you may make it to the other side without getting hurt, BUUUUT there is a CHANCE that your gonna get hit...buuuuut IF your CASUALLY strolling across the street when you jay walk, there is a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY GOOD CHANCE THAT YOU WILL GET HIT!!!  When we see ourselves slipping, we need to have some FEAR IN US!!! Don't push away that conviction. Don't be casual about your wrong-doing!!! The Bible says, "...the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance..." (Romans 2:4)

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You also need to get a fear in your heart for YOUR CHILDREN!!! Its one thing when you see adults strolling across the intersection, buuuuuut when they start taking they're kids with them its like COME ON!!! Your gonna risk your child's life too??? Buuuuut how many people are risking their child's life as well as they casually, spiritually jay walk through life?!

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Let God CONVICT YOUR HEART!!! Don't become immuned to conviction!!! When your doing wrong, don't casually, PET YOUR SIN and say awwww its OK!!! Its NOT OK!!! We're NOT gonna get to heaven taking a leasurley stroll through carnality!!! Have some FEAR IN YOUR HEART!!!

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge...

 but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

 (Proverbs 1:7)

♥Mary Frances :)

Christmas Trees!!!

(Repost from Dec 2012)

Sooooooo i've been wanting to write a post about Christmas trees for seveRal years now, but NEVER end up having the guts thus faR to write it! Mainly cuz I don't want to be offensive or rude or sound condeming OR holieR tHAN THOU about it...buuuut I was telling a few of my friends a lil testimony God gave me about Christmas trees and they  said I SHOULD share it...soooooo....
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FIRST OF ALL: I want to start off by saying THAT... this post is NOT to condemn anyone that has a Christmas tree!!! I do NOT think having a Christmas tree is a heaven or hell issue! This post is to help give understanding to those that have a pastor that teaches against having a Christmas tree! Its about having respect to others in the convictions they may have and its about preserving the things that we have been taught! Okaaaaaaaaay now, here we go!!! :)))

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Sooooo growing up, my pastor, Bro. ABbotT, now Bishop, has ALWAYS taught us AGAINST having Christmas trees. Now we came from a church in NYC that did allow Christmas trees, so NOT having a Christmas tree was a HUGE deal fOR my parents!!! But, my mom was obedient and we NEVER had a Christmas tree.

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 Weeeeeellll...as the years passed by and my grandpa, my mom's dad, was getting older and he needed more and more help around the holidays so that he could get all his decorating and baking done. So this also meant helping him decorate his Christmas tree! Now the first couple of years it was NO big deal! We just decorated it for him and had fun doing so! I LOVED lookin at all of his ornaments...he had some all the way back from when him and my grandma got married, stuff from the NYC police force, stuff from my mom and uncles when they were kids and so much more!!!

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After decorating my grandpa's tree for several years I really started thinkin, MAN this is FUN! I was thinkin Hmmmm...I sure wouldn't mind having MY OWN tree one day...Maybe...THEN one day I saw it!!! A HOT PINK CHRISTMAS TREE, with feathers, glitter and shiny stuff all over it!!! Is that like soooooo a Mary tree or WHAT?!?!!

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I was like OH thats it, ONE DAY, i'm gonna marry a guy that goes to a church that allows CHRISTMAS TREES!!! Its NOT a big deal!!! Now RIGHT AFTER thinkin this one day, I was in the news room at my college. I was a writer for the college paper and me and this other reporter would always get into these deep theological discussions.

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My friend was a very intelligent guy who was agnostic. He said that UNLESS God himself came down from heaven and told him he was God, he would NOT believe it! Soooo of course this caused me to try and prove to him that God was indeed real and we were ALWAYS debating back and forth about it! I LOVE debate and am pretty good at it...LOL! Buuuuut....

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He was sooooo STUBBORn that honestly, it really didn't matter what I said, he was NOT going to believe me!!! So one day, I was sitting in the news room, working on an article and he turns to me and says, You know whats ONE thing that I just DO NOT understand about Christians?! I'm just kinda like, what? cuz I was TRYIN to write and SOOOOO NOT in the mood to have a debate with him at the moment, since thus far he was adamantly refusing all reason!!!

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He was like, One thing, that I just do NOT understand about you Christians is that you all do soooo many things that go AGAINST absolutely EVERYTHING, you as Christians believe in!!! I was like, Ok, like WHAT?!?!?!

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He goes FOR EXAMPLE, take CHRISTMAS TREES!!! In my mind I was like WHAT??? God, are you settin this guy up or WHAT?!?! He goes on, Christians have CHRISTMAS trees!!! Do you EVEN know the history of Christmas trees?! He says, Christmas trees are PAGAN!!! People would worship them and they are like a god! Doesn't your Bible say something about them? (Jeremiah 10) He's just going on and on about WHAT a Christmas tree represents...NONE of which I had EVER bothered to study about...He was like, I thought Christians don't believe in all that?! He goes, A CHRISTMAS TREE goes AGAINST EVERYTHING a Christian believes! He says, now don't get me wrong, I HAVE A CHRISTMAS TREE...BUUUUUT I'm NOT a Christian!!!

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Soooo i was just kinda silent for a moment, really NOT even sure what to say, then I confidently say, yeah, I guess thats why me and MY FAMILY do NOT have a Christmas tree!!!(It WAS A total  AHa mOMENT FoR Me...like Oooo sO THATs WHY hE PREACHES THAT!) He just stopped and stared at me, really surprised and then he says, FOR REALS?! I was like, yeah!!! He didn't say NOTHING, then he just says, WOW!!! YOU are the FIRST CHRISTIAN I have EVER MET, that doesn't have a Christmas tree!!! I could tell, he was just really astounded by it...he wasn't being fake...he REALLY truely was surprised! He said it again, your the ONLY Christian I have ever met...

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Now I had been talking to this guy forEVERRR about the things of God! I would tell him  about church, the Holy Ghost, EVERYTHING, he was NEVERRRR impressed, NEVER blinked an eye about my previous witness, buuuut he found out that I didn't have a Christmas Tree and FINALLY, something stood out to him!!! I WaS tHE only ChRiSTian hE knEW...that didn't have a Christmas tree!!!

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I havn't seen that guy in YEARS, buuuuut I hope that he never forgets my witness...that HE NEVER forgets THE ONLY CHRISTIAN he has ever met, that does NOT have a Christmas tree!!! I told God that day, Okay GOD, I got it!!! I vowed to him that as long as I had control of it, I would NEVERRRR have a Christmas tree in my house!!!

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I know that may seem ridic...buuuuut you can NOT tell me that God didn't use that agnostic guy that day, to give me a CONVICTION!!! It happened RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of my questioning...RIGHT when I was thinking, ya know...Maybe I'll get one...God showed me up!!! 

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I know that sometimes we THINK we know better!!! We THINK its NOT a big deal!!! But really, I had NEVER even bothered to take the time to fine out WHY my pastor was taking a stand for something!!! I didn't realize that he was tryin to PRESERVE something!!! I know i've heard people talk about it before, Oh well you know, we just do it out of respect for our pastor and he is just doing it out of respect for what he was taught...buuuuut...I don't think its a big deal...I think thats how standards get LOST...because it STOPS becoming a CONVICTION for people and instead it just becomes a TRADITION!!! Traditions pass...buuuuut CONVICTIONS LAST!!!

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Someone told me once, well i don't want a Christmas tree to be pagan, I just want one because they are just SOOOO pretty!!! I was like, weeeeellll yeah, buuuut SO IS JEWELERY!!!ya know, "Jus sayin!" 
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I mean, sometimes we look at other Apostolic people that won't do certain things and we think OH they're NO FUN! They're soooo holier than thou! We used to be like, OH we're NEVER gonna marry one of those guys that goes to a church that doesn't believe in Christmas at all!!! AHAHAHA!!! But we don't stop to think or find out WHY someone may refuse to do something!!! Maybe God talked to them about it...I remember hearing someone preach against Nativity Scenes at WCC one year...it was like waaaaaay BACK IN THE DAY...when it was still PSR...we were like...wow...buuuuut idk...sometimes I think about it in my mind...what does GOD really think about it??? What does THE BIBLE say??? I mean, i'm NOT sayin that you should just go and do EVERY single thing that OTHER pastor's preach against...buuuuut if God shows you...
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I have two other close friends and we decided, when it comes to marriage, if the guy is okay with Christmas trees, we're just gonna say, "Look, its ME or THE TREE!" Hee, hee!!! Yes!!! I feel just that strongly about it...cuz GOD showed me...not just outta respect to my elder pastor in my life...BUUUUUUUT.... because GOD HIMSELF opened my eyes and gave me revelation...CONVICTION!!! I mean really, WHAT guy, that is totally smitten and in love with a girl is gonna choose the TREE??? (weirdo!!!)HAHAHA!!!

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 Okaaaaaaay now people that do have Christmas trees, don't be all like worried that your gonna offend ME by posting pics or that you have to take the tree down if I come over to YOUR house...LOL...I could CARE LESS...if YOU have one!!! Its NOT about offending ME...Im NOT offended about your tree...its about GOD!!! I don't want to offend MY GOD!!! Ask HIM if he is offended!!! Cuz he SURE DID let ME KNOW!!! 

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Weeeeeellll Merry Early Christmas everyone...i'm gonna go hang some ornaments from some garland or something...hee, hee!!! ;)

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Hmmmm...I wonder WHAT the history of GARLAND is??? LOL! I'm scared to even look!!!
♥Mary Frances :)

Skeletons!

I looked at the big garbage bag full of totally cute, babelicious and waaaaaaaay adorable stuff. Was I REALLY doing this??? Was I really going to get rid of all these beloved items??? YES... I WAS!!! And it had ALL started with a dream...

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I had this dream one night several months ago, that our whole house was decorated in Halloween stuff! Ghosts, witches, ghouls, monsters, skeletons...EWWWW… it was so creepy!!! In the dream I remember I was in my room with Kim and I was just like, I CAN NOT believe that my sister decorated the house in all this junk!!! She HATES THIS STUFF!!! I remember feeling so appalled. This is HORRIBLE!!! I said to Kim. I do NOT want this stuff decorating my room.

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When I woke up in the morning, I thought oh man that was a weird dream...I am really glad to know that my sis and I would never decorate the house in all that stuff. Later on in the day I was thinking about it, and although it wasn't like an audible voice or anything, I RELLY felt like God impressed something on my heart.

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I felt like he told me that there was some skeletons in our house, but we couldn't see them. I felt like he told me there were things that look sweet and innocent, but they are really representing evil. Although we wouldn't ACTUALLY decorate our homes with Halloween stuff, in a way, we still were by allowing these things into our home. I was like OH WOW!!!

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I was like BUT WHAT??? I mean we don't have TV or Movies or video games or NOTHING of the sort...but still, I felt like God was specifically telling me that there was INDEED stuff that we needed to get rid of in our home. So in my morning prayer, I began asking God to open my eyes to stuff and to give our household convictions about stuff that he didn't like.

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WEEEELLLL God moved in on that prayer VERY quickly!!! The first thing he showed me that he didn't like was...MAGIC!!!! Anything, that was magical was not pleasing to him...I'm like WHAT??? I mean, I’m like the BIGGEST fan ever of ALL the Disney princesses, how could magic possibly be unpleasing to God?!?! However, as I thought about it, it began to make sense.  Anything that mysteriously happens, if its not YOUR IMAGINATION and its NOT A MIRACLE OF God it is Magic. Now if it’s not from our own human minds and its NOT from God, that only leaves one other option…Satan.

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I know it sounds creepy, and fanatical, but I really believe that when it comes right down to it, magic is of the devil. Magic is the PRETTY, SWEET version of something else we all know as WITCHCRAFT!!! Ooooo I know it sounds extreme, but it’s true... I mean bibbidi bobbidi boo... it seems soooo innocent but what does it mean??? I would hate to find out that I’m spouting out some sort of devilish chant.

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I remember as a child, troll dolls were very popular. Everyone at school had them and a lot of the kids at our church even. My mom would NEVER let us have troll dolls. I used to wine and complain about not having a troll doll like all the other kids. I remember thinking, WHY DOES MY MOM have to be so strict? What could possibly be wrong with a troll doll when EVEN the pastor’s daughter had one? (with clothes on)

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Well, my mom told me WHY she didn’t like trolls and WHY she would NEVER allow one into our home. She said that trolls were nothing new. They had troll dolls when she was a child. She said that what most Apostolic people probably didn’t know about trolls, but she did because she was not raised in the truth, was that each troll represented a different spirit. She said that her and her friends would line all their troll dolls up next the Ouija board and play. Now if you don’t know what a Ouija board is, it is a board game that plays with spirits. As soon as I found out her reason for me not having one, I NEVER again asked my mom for a troll doll. It made sense to me. Why would I want something that represented evil?

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So often we think that the people are fanatical because they won’t celebrate a certain Holiday or participate in certain traditions. But if we get the whole scoop and find out the meaning behind these things, we would be able to understand WHY they have a conviction. You say, Oh I don’t want to know the history or the meaning behind something, it takes the fun out of EVERYTHING. Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil…and the evil way.” If we are God’s people, why would we even want those things?

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There are so many things that we try and hold on to or get away with, but why? We wouldn’t let a witch doctor come into our home and cast a spell on our kids, but we’ll read about it to them in a book? “Neither give place to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:27) The devil disguises evil as fun and cute, JUST so he can get a foot into our homes. The devil knows how us Apostolics are. We’re not gothics, ready to hang up straight evil on our walls, so he has to disguise it.

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We’re in a battle in a spiritual battle. What I write about is not to put people on a guilt trip, but to encourage us as Christians to search our homes for skeletons and to pick up the sword and start fighting against evil coming into our homes. As David says in 1 Samuel 17: "Is there not a cause?" How important are our families and children to us? Are they not a cause WORTH fighting for?

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 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

To be continued…

♥Mary Frances :)