Hi groh_frog,First thing, to limit the quote you need to look for the square bracket/EDIT forward EDIT end.slash/quote/end square brackt, and move it to the end of the quotation. You can start writing immediately after the last ']' and your new writing will still appear with a space after the quotation, on a new line, reading from the left hand margin.And believe me, I know myself to be powerless to change them. I depend on God alone for this. But we must also be prepared in season and out to give an answer.Let me clarify something for you from what I wrote. The main thing for you to take on board, is that my resources have been limited in terms of opportunity, so, I have been as practical and evangelical as I can with the opportunity available to me, particularly with the second person. In fact, both of these people have enough of their own problems, for me to have told them they can call me any time of day or night, if they need to talk - and one of them does. On one occasion, he had been awake all night because he was so excited about something the Lord had shown him and he wanted to find out if the Lord had ever shown me the same truth from the same verse of scripture. This man had never read the Bible two years ago and I see GOD's hand in the changes he's made to his life and the fact he can ask for prayer or pray for himself and is battling to understand God's ways. But, he still 'thinks' he is a Catholic, despite studying Luther's declarations and despite understanding that the first 'prostestants' were all ex-Catholics. Your mention of the Holy Spirit is entirely appropriate, because I believe it is He who is doing the work in this heart.The other person is much more soaked in Catholic teaching, but, if I listen to him, understanding that he is seeking GOD, then I can hear the little wooings of the Holy Spirit, which are drawing him closer to the Father, and, I can respect the substance of what God shows him, when it matches up with biblical truth, and not criticise, condemn or undermine what he knows simply on the basis of the things he doesn't yet know.BECAUSE I was confined to these longterm individual relationships, I had much more to lose by making my faith a taboo topic, than someone who may be more keen (as you sound) to flag up the dangers of dead Catholic ritual. Also, it depends (I think) on local Catholic practice (and there are many variations within the UK and Ireland, alone) what seems to be the most important thing to raise with them. You know, trust is a very important ingredient in any relationship, and I determined to develop an openness which would make me available to present God's solutions to life situations, rather than religious ones - that is, rather than any sort of religious solutions. All I want is for those guys to know enough about God, to be able to lay hold on Him for what they need, when they need it. After that, God will take them on into a deeper walk with Himself.I guess you find this very unsatisfactory but, what I lose by way of quantity, I make up for by way of time committed to being practical with the other needs (which I have not shared here). It has been my privilege to expound scripture many, many times, within this context, and to convey an understanding of God's heart to deliver, heal and save, rather than to attack the external security which any sort of Catholicism is believed by its adherents, to bestow. I ask myself - will God say He knows them? Will God say He knows me? Are any of us doing the Father's will? These are the points on which they and I will be judged.
