[size=medium]Dear Brother Pete, I am a man who speaks my mind. I use scripture as my plumb line and the Holy Spirit as my quide for understanding. The Lord promised us a "Comforter" in John 16:7, and He indeed did send Him. You said you "were in need of some money", looks like you were blessed with some although a bit difficult to let go of some of your finds. Seems to me your detector helped in a time of need and just may help again! Don't let the hobby become your God and you will be okay. Rather let it be your friend, a time to talk with the Lord, and a time to talk to others ABOUT the Lord! We all need to be in the Word as much as we can. Reason being is that we all need to put on the whole armour of God, (Ephesians 6:11). Satan's greatest tool is deception, he will appear as an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14), other wise he wouldn't be able to trick us. Another tool is for Satan to keep us occupied so we aren't serving the Lord. Think about Peter for a moment, the Lord called him to be a disciple. He was a common man, not rich or pompous, but apparently just a poor fisherman! But oh how the Lord loved him! Even after Peter denied the Lord three times when Judas betrayed the Lord in the garden. The Lord knew Peter would deny Him before hand and told Peter so, well we know that Peter did as it is written. Then our Lord was crucified and what did He do when He rose again three days later? One thing He did was went right back to that poor fisherman who wasn't arrayed in silk robes or fancy hats (actually he was naked!), but he found Peter fishing again! It seems Peter liked to fish, after all, he made it an all nighter, (John 21:3-4), but it was also a way to make ends meet. Look at what the Lord says to them! , "And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes." (John 21:6). Jesus didn't rebuke him for going back to fishing. The Lord used fishing as an example, Matthew 4:19 and Mark 1:17, "...fishers of men." We have a good clean hobby here that we enjoy, share, and at times use to provide some of our needs (or the needs of others), and we encourage children to get involved which is a HUGE blessing if we can get those younger ones away from all the trash on TV and video games. A lot of us pick up trash and broken glass out of public areas where children or even others could get hurt. Many a detectorist has returned a wedding ring or other lost item to a grateful owner who was blessed by our hobby! In fact, I cannot think of a better hobby that offers so many benefits to both the hobbiest and others! Fresh air, exercise, cleaned parks, yards, and beaches, rewards, quiet time with God and His creation, and much more! Use this hobby for the Lord and enjoy it, but be balanced, be in the Word as much as you can so that when you cross the path of others you are well equipped to share the Joy of the Lord! Below I would like to share on just a few more things. <p>Not to long ago I too acquired a Class ring (not from detecting), a very heavy college ring with initials and date. I tried hard to find the the owner to no avail. I even joined Classmates.com, still could not find the owner. I was also in need and sold that ring. It was a blessing and I thanked the Lord for it! <p>Okay, now if I may I would like to share about some of the "religous" finds. Many a Christian has referred to images as "Jesus", even myself when I was younger in the Lord. A few things to consider and I will start with the most serious. For those of you who are older or maybe a bit more learned you may remember a minister from the 1950's named Martin Dehaan. He was well learned in the scriptures and I believe said it best, "God has created us in His image, let us not create Him in ours!". I believe it is not only dangerous to call or refer to manmade objects as Jesus, but it is also blasphemy. Two points, Jesus did not have long hair as is evident in scripture, and it was considered a disgrace for ANY man to have long hair. Paul would never have instructed the Corinthian church that it is a shame (vile, disgrace,dishonor), for a man to have long hair if Jesus did as he taught in 1 Corinthians 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? Keep in mind that some of the Corinthians probably saw Christ in person and Paul wrote approx. 2/3 of the New Testament! There are no paintings of Christ from His time, we simply do not know what He looked like and I believe that was and is His will. Paintings of a "Jesus" didn't appear until hundreds of years later, and certainly not by any artist who saw Him! An interesting note though is that in around 300 AD there was found a small carved Ivory box of the disciples, some had beards, but no long hair! God has forbidden images as read in the, "Ten Commandments". One thing we can all count on, God doesn't change, thank goodness! We should never refer to a manmade object of any kind as God as God cannot be made, He is the potter we are the clay! I pray that He molds each of us that want to detect into a vessel for His glory so that many more will come to know Him and praise His holy name! Amen??? Please, take not my word for it, search the scriptures and see if these things are not so!, for I am just a man as you are! May God bless each of you.
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