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(4/25/01 - Today) On This Page: 3/16/09 - Today "Is binn gach eun 'na dhoire fhein." ("Sweet sings each bird in his own grove.") |
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Email us at: monks@prayerfoundation.org (Also: take
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feedback!)
6/8/09______________________________
The Peace of the Lord Be with you all.
Dear Brothers,
I am a temporal profess Brother and saw your order on the Internet
and was interested in the life. I wish to be friendly brother to
your community... I am of age 25 years and I am a high school
Graduate in Cameroon.
Hoping to read from you and your
community.
Extend my greetings to your community.
Your Brother,
Mbinglo Louis A. (Cameroon)
6/6/09______________________________
I recently discovered your website and
have found it to be very encouraging and a wonderful resource.
So much of the content resounds with my spirit and I am very grateful.
I believe that your work and ministry
is God-honoring, joyful and full of grace.
Yours most sincerely in Christ Jesus
our Lord,
Pam B., staff
First Presbyterian
Church
(Reading, Pennsylvania)
6/3/09______________________________
Good
Afternoon,
I
am very interested in affiliating with a monastic order so that I
might deepen my relationship with Christ,
and live His will more fully. While I once belonged to the Roman
Rite, my family and I now worship at an Anglican
Parish that blends evangelical
worship with Anglo-Catholic
sacramental theology and liturgy. While I typically identify
more with the Anglo-Catholic side of the aisle, so to speak, I
wholeheartedly agreed with everything in your Statement
of Faith. Alas, most Anglican orders in the U.S.
are Episcopalian,
and are succumbing to the heresy that plagues that Church. I
suppose you could say I take a very "Dominican" view
of my faith - I am deeply interested and involved in theological and
philosophical speculation, but want to live those studies out
concretely by serving my community. Would someone such as myself
feel at home with the Knights
of Prayer?
God
Bless,
Shawn S.
Veritas
Lux Mea
Reply from The Prayer Foundation ™: Perhaps
only yourself can ultimately decide whether you would feel at home
in our Order---we certainly do not see any reason why you wouldn't.
You
should begin with prayer. Pray for guidance in this matter.
Our
Order excludes only those who do not agree with our Statement
of Faith (essentially the doctrines of The
Nicene Creed).
You could also begin with as much of our Daily
Prayer: Praying the Hours as you feel led to do, and
again also with our "Growing
In Christ" Monastic Training Course.
In
addition to this, we recommend just reading through our website.
If you read (for example) ten pages per day, it would take
you over three months to read through our entire website.
There is posted on it much more prayer instruction than any one
person would or even could practice, but this is because one
thing will be of benefit for one person, and another
will benefit another (and some may be of benefit at
different or particular times of the individual's life).
6/2/09______________________________
I am so sorry that a site
that is dedicated to Christ
has to twist history
and spend so much of their writings belittling the Catholic Faith
while using their own Church
Fathers against them. You are high jacking the Catholic
Church Fathers solely to justify your beliefs that can not stand in
real truth. May the Lord and the Holy spirit help you to see
what your doing. If your faith were truly God centered, you
would not have to feel the need to discredit a Faith (the true faith)
and would just preach the word of God. I could not believe your
lies about Thomas a
Kempis:
"The
Church Hierarchy of the time was not comfortable with the new movement
and gave them the option of becoming Augustinian Monks or being
declared heretics and being burned at the stake."
I would like you to prove this with
undisputable facts. I am sure you can't and I probably will not
get a reply from you
My our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on
you!
(Email Unsigned)
Reply from The Prayer
Foundation ™:
We
do not belittle the Roman Catholic Church on our website---we
are an Interdenominational Christian ministry; including Eastern
Orthodox, Roman
Catholic,
and Protestant
Christians among our volunteers. All hold to the same essential
basic Christian teachings as found in the Nicene
Creed (see
our webpage: What All
Christians Believe in Common: Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic,
& Protestant).
The Church Fathers are the common heritage of all Christians. It should come as no news to most Roman Catholics that there were problems in the lives of some of those in the Church hierarchy during the Middle Ages.
One can
also find posted on our website that some Lutherans
and other early Protestants persecuted Anabaptists.
That the Anglican
Church persecuted the Puritans. That the Puritans (called
Pilgrims
in America) persecuted Quakers
(Friends).
It is truly not a very pretty picture---but it is what actually happened
in history.
Even St. Francis
and the first few Franciscans were suspect at first.
In Franco Zefirelli's fine Film, Brother
Son, Sister Moon, the Bishop's assistant, when trying to get
Francis in to see Pope Innocent III, tells Francis
how close he is to being burned as a heretic.
When the Church later changed the Franciscan Order after St. Francis' death, the original followers of St. Francis ("The Spirituals") who wanted to remain living as they had done in the beginning, were also told to conform to the new changes or be burned as heretics. Read any Roman Catholic History of St. Francis; we have reviewed one such (the best one, in our opinion): St. Francis of Assisi: A Biography.
The Brethren
of the Common Life began under Gerard Groote as a
loosely structured, home lay "renewal" movement.
But as it grew to comprise hundreds of houses, it drew the negative
attention of the clegy, whose lives Groote was denouncing as being
decadent and evil. Groote's only intention was to purify the Catholic
faith, and its followers' morality.
The Church hierarchy at this time, however, was suspicious of any movement not authorised and under the auspices of the Church; that they felt could lead to, or fall into heresy. The penalty for heresy was being burned at the stake. The Church required as proof of the Brethren of the Common Life's orthodoxy, that they enter into the established structure of the Church (in this case, the Augustinian and Franciscan Orders---the men becoming Augustinian Monks in 1394---and the women becoming "Third Order" Franciscans).
Some
References:
Wikipedia:
"Brethren of the Common Life":
"A small
band of followers attached themselves to Groote and became his
fellow-workers, thus becoming the first "Brethren of the
Common Life" (Dutch: Broeders
des gemeenen levens). The
reformer was opposed by the clergy whose lives he denounced in his
preaching as decadent and evil,
but his zeal for purifying the Catholic faith and the morality of
its followers won many to his cause."
"The Word Made Flesh" by Margaret Ruth Miles (2005), P. 201: "...the sisters and brothers were forced to abandon the freeform communities intended by their founder. To escape the charges of heresy that threatened religious groups whose social and religious loyalties were unclear to outsiders, they affiliated with recognized religious orders." 5/27/09_____________________________ My heart is warm again and I am feeling happier. It has been 7 years since (my traumatic experience) and I truly feel life is returning, and that I am beginning to be in the world again and not in a pit. Thank you. I would love to visit your Foundation one day. Much love in Christ, Victoria 5/26/09_____________________________
Brothers:
I am interested in your community.
It is something I've been looking for, for many years.
I am an ordained Presbyterian
minister who was asked to leave because of my belief in the
present day ministry of the Holy Spirit, and my stand on Baptism.
That was many years ago. Since then I have volunteered
actively in the Nazarene
Church.
I...have lived alone now for about twenty
years.
I am retired and follow a regular
schedule of daily
prayer and Bible reading.
For quite some time God has been moving
on my heart to find a few Christian brothers and form a monastery.
To show you my ignorance, I did not know there were any in
existence, especially you right here in Oregon.
All I want is to spend time in prayer, study and possibly some
writing. I have just finished commentaries on John
and Mark. All I want is to humbly proclaim the Word
of God. I am so very much interested in your community.
Robert I. (Salem, Oregon)
5/25/09_______________________________ I am pretty sure that you have good intentions, but
your ideas are rather messed, up unless you want to pretend to be 300 AD
Christians. Comment from The Prayer Foundation ™: We do indeed feel that we are not worthy even to unloose the sandals of the Christians of 300 A.D. We are not pretending to be them, but we do desire to also hold to the basic essential doctrines of the historic Christian faith which they held (see our webpages: The Nicene Creed ;The Nicene Creed: Scripture Basis; Our Statement of Faith). 1. Our Green Monastic Habit was designed by us to be distinct of, and to uniquely represent our own Monastic Order. It is not similar to any of the Benedictine Habits. It is similar in cut to the Reformed Cistercian (Trappist: which is Black on White), as is also that of the Franciscan Friars of EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network: theirs is Brown on Brown---there is no one "universal" Franciscan style of Habit). The many different Franciscan Orders in the Roman Catholic Church each have their own distinctly styled Habits unique to their own Orders. And of course this is also true of the several Anglican Franciscan Orders. 2. "Nun" is a term meaning "female religious", or "female monastic". Someone we greatly admire, Fr. John Michael Talbot, founder of "The Little Portion" Franciscan Community (Roman Catholic), also has adopted and uses the term "Monks" for its female monastics. Since Pope Benedict XVI is fine with this, and since you seem to be of the Roman Catholic persuasion, your "difference of opinion" (which you are certainly entitled to) seems to be actually with Pope Benedict, rather than with us. 3. It does not seem to us that we are "playing a game" when one of us street-preaches in Mexico and a soldier puts a shotgun to our head, ordering us to leave; or when one of us tries to aid fellow Christians in China, and later learns that they were followed and arrested for speaking to us (again, you are certainly entitled to your own opinion on this).
Your comment that we
should join a "real" monastery (...by this you mean a
Roman Catholic monastery?) is unintentionally extremely
ironic. In the beginning days
of St. Francis' preaching
ministry (a uniquely new form of religious life at that time) the
townspeople of Assisi threw garbage and rocks at him, and asked
him why he didn't just go join a monastery and become a monk (and
quit bothering them with the witness of his words and his life).
Perhaps you are not aware that Roman Catholic monasteries do not allow those who are not Roman Catholics to take monastic vows as full-time Monks. Because we were Evangelical Protestants, and in 1999 there was no such thing as an Evangelical (born again) Christian monastery, we felt led in that year to found the very first one; this one. Clarification of terms: It is often confusing to Evangelical Protestants (and vice versa) that Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics have often used the term "born again" in reference to Baptism. When Evangelical Protestants use the term "born again", they are not referring to Baptism at all, but rather are meaning by it what Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics mean when they instead use the (universally accepted) term: "conversion experience". As we have heard the Roman Catholic Franciscan Friars on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) say many times on the air---"everyone needs to have a conversion experience." -"Life On the Rock". "Repentance is the essence of this whole venture; of what it means to be an Orthodox Christian. I'm talking about each and every person... We are all converts. Christianity only exists as a Church of converts. Being born into it can be very wonderful... But, you still have to accept it. You still have to make a conscious choice. You still have to enter into that process of inner conversion. Because the word repentance also means conversion." -His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah; Leader of the OCA (Orthodox Church in America); from his 2009 Speech in Miami Lakes, Florida, "Preparing for Great Lent". 5/21/09_______________________________
Dear Monk
Preston and Monk Linda,
I would like to subscribe to
your E-mail newsletter.
I think your website and all
that you stand for is fantastic. This is what I have been
looking for, for many years now, but being an evangelical
born again believer I could not find
anything to satisfy the longings of my heart.
I have desired for so long to
be so close to God that I would be aware of His presence every
moment of the day.
I can not thank you enough
for all that you have done for me in creating The
Prayer Foundation ™
website.
I drove out to the
countryside at 6am the other morning to do my daily
prayers, I felt so close to God as I looked out on
a beautiful sunrise, that I was reduced to tears of joy
and gratitude as I marvelled at the wonders of His creation.
I will be sending a cheque/money order for my certificate (Lay Monk).
Yours in Him,
Malcolm
S. (England)
5/14/09_______________________________ (The
Original Email:) I have been doing a lot of study in the
Bible, and have come to the conclusion that I must obey the gospel. Comment from The Prayer Foundation ™: Gospel just means "good news"---the good news about Christ: Christ came down from Heaven; Christ died for our sins; Christ rose from the dead---and you either have Him (as your personal Lord and Saviour) or you don't. You don't need any formula or particular prayer. Just sincere repentance and belief: "He that has the Son has life..." -I John 5:12 Our webpage: Plan of Salvation is composed of a collection of scripture texts relating to Salvation. Do you mean to say that Holy Scripture is "false teaching"? We believe it to be God's Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Your claim to have heard so many different "plans of salvation" we find to be disingenuous---in forty years of Christian study, we have never heard of any other "plan of salvation" than that taught by the Apostles in the Holy Scriptures: Repent; and believe in Jesus Christ. Perhaps you are referring to the various organizations who reject belief in basic Biblical teachings (summarized in the Nicene Creed: such as that of the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, The Virgin Birth, Eternal Judgement, Heaven and Hell, and and so on) like the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons---or to other religions, like Hinduism and Buddhism---but you do not actually seem to be referring to these groups. "Repent
therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted
out." -Acts 3:19 It is true that Christ commands all Christians to be baptised. However, baptism is not essential for salvation (consider the thief on the cross: "And Jesus said unto him, Truly I say unto you, today you shall be with me in paradise." -Luke 23:43). Baptism is not even a part of the Gospel according to the Apostle Paul (and the Holy Spirit!): "I thank God that I baptized none of you...For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel." -I Corinthians 1:14,17 For a more complete discussion of this subject, see our webpage: Open Letter On Baptism. (The Response to Our Comments:) It is obvious...you don't want to see the whole truth of the scriptures.
With your obvious perversion of concepts and the scriptures, which
are distorted in a horrible way, there is no reason for me to lovingly
correct the error your group is promoting.
You really need to consider what you are saying about the thief on
the cross... ...I pray that you will seek the truth from God's
word, instead of repeating error that has been going on since the time
of Jesus.
(Name Withheld by Us)
Response Comment from The Prayer
Foundation ™: We
cannot "consider what we are saying" about the
thief on the cross, because we did not say anything about the
thief on the cross---we merely quoted to you what our Lord said
about him in the Holy Spirit inspired Holy Scriptures.
Your disageement is not with us, but with what Christ said in
Luke 23:43,
and what the Apostle Paul (whom we also merely quoted)
taught regarding the relationship of the Gospel and Baptism in
I Corinthians 1:14,17.
Thank you for saying that we are teaching the Scriptures as they have been taught from the time of Jesus. This is indeed our hope and goal. As you may already know, it is called the "one holy universal (catholic) and apostolic faith" in the ancient historic Creeds. "We have learned the plan of our salvation from no one else other than from those through whom the gospel has come down to us. For they did at one time proclaim the gospel in public. And at a later period, by the will of God, they handed the gospel down to us in the Scriptures --- to be ' the ground and pillar of our faith.' " -Irenaeus of Lyon (written Ca. 175-185 A.D. in "Against Heresies") 5/12/09_______________________________ I am a Christian, and want to grow in prayer and intimacy with the Lord. I currently am serving in my local church Body as the leader of our prayer ministry. I am intrigued by your website, and have spent quite awhile reading your pages. I believe your disciplines could help me mature in Christ, and am considering applying to join the monastic order. Most of the content on your site really glorifies God, and is completely Biblical, and I was blessed to read it.
I think it is great that you leave the non-essentials out of
requirements for your membership...
Your website is literally one of the most uplifting, godly websites I
have ever read, even among the more heavily publicized and heavily
funded ones.
Grace and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ, Shelley (Indianapolis, Indiana) "Live one surrendered day at a time...eyes to the east, hands to the cross, feet to the path." -Beth Moore 4/21/09_______________________________ Dear Monk
Preston,
4/12/09_______________________________
May the Lord give you Peace!
Monk Preston
and Monk Linda,
Happy Resurrection day to you and yours. May the power and
the glory of Christ's resurrection be yours today and forever.
Blessings,
Rev. Br. Joe P., C.J.
4/11/09_______________________________ I
haven’t visited in awhile, and was just delighted today to find
updated material and more features. Thank
you! 3/22/09_______________________________
Dear Monks,
I appreciate your website and daily
readings.
Thank you,
Floyd S.
3/17/09_______________________________
I am so blessed to have found your website.
I am a home schooling mom to four children and have always been
interested in set
times of prayer. I feel that it would bless and anchor
my days to have other times of prayer and meeting with the Lord
besides just the morning.
Grace & Peace,
Betty
3/16/09_______________________________ Glory to Jesus Christ! GLORY
FOREVER! _________________________________________________________________ Next Previous Page of Letters (Page 85) Copyright © 2009 S.G.P. All rights reserved.
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"So we pray because we were made for prayer, and God draws us out by breathing Himself in." -P. T. Forsyth, "The Soul of Prayer" _______
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