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Confessions of a Fallen Shepherd

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"Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) can accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God - it is dynamic and can have tremendous power]" . - James 5:16 (The Amplified Bible) When you are convinced God is capable of making a mistake, the entire structure your faith is based upon quickly falls apart. This is why our faith in God is so completely vital to our entire spiritual journey. God knows this. It's why he spends so much time and effort teaching us about faith and then exercising it. Satan knows this. It's why he spends so much time and effort trying to convince people God doesn't care, can't help, and/or doesn't exist. Every believer who has ever walked away from God only to return after spending some time in the 'hog pen' knows this. It's w...
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Ode To A Tree

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"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?..." (Psalm 22:1) Hi, my name is Chris Murphy and I am a recovering fundamental Independent Baptist. If you weren't raised in modern American denominational, evangelical, Christian church culture, those words probably don't mean much to you. But to someone who was eyeballs-deep into this culture from a very young age, these words are pregnant with meaning; some good, some bad, and some downright ugly. For example of what I'm talking about, here is a breakdown of what fundamental Baptists believe about the Bible: The Good: The Bible is the unedited, unchangeable, undefiled written Word of God, inspired by God himself and penned by spiritually mature, Holy Spirit-led men for the purpose of communicating God's will and ways to mankind for all races, cultures, and creeds throughout all generations until the end of time. The Bad: The only acceptable, God-ordained English translation of the Bible is the ...
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Meet Mr. Write

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"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think . Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." - Romans 12:1-2 (NLT) Pretty picture up there, huh? Don't I look festive? There's a story behind this picture that I feel I need to share with you in an effort to introduce myself to you. Please understand, I share this not to toot my horn or engage in a self-aggrandizing, narcissistic exercise. I share this because I know there are millions of people who are struggling every single day just to survive life. Here is what else I know: A growing percentage of those millions are professing Christians who regularl...
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In the beginning...

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Welcome to my humble little blog. I'm very glad you've stumbled in here and hope this will be a place you'll return to on a regular basis. My intentions are to provide uniquely entertaining and helpful content especially for people who are struggling with minor issues like surviving life, the universe, and everything without committing some version of 'cide' (sui, homo, geno, etc.). Okay, now that the preamble is out of the way, let's get to the big question that my blogger senses are telling me is currently on your mind: "Why am I here?" It's a great question and I'm glad we are already at this point in our relationship that you feel comfortable asking hard-hitting questions like this. The answer is going to take some time (and more than a few blog posts) to develop but I'll try to nutshell why yet another blog has been introduced into the over-crowded blog-o-sphere. The earth was blessed (or cursed, depending upon wh...
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