Couple Ordered To Stop Bible Study In Their Own Home

I read something just now in a Fox News article that disturbs me GREATLY! David and Mary Jones had been holding a Bible Study with friends in their own home in San Diego, California and have been told to STOP or pay a huge fee for doing so. Now, again, this is San Diego, CA, not China or India!!! This is AMERICA!!!

I have copied the article below, full credit for the article going to Fox News.

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a Bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County.

"On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the Bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county." David Jones told FOX News.

"We told them this is not really a religious assembly — this is just a Bible study with friends. We have a meal, we pray, that was all," Jones said.

A few days later, the couple received a written warning that cited "unlawful use of land," ordering them to either "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit," the couple's attorney Dean Broyles told San Diego news station 10News.

But the major use permit could cost the Jones' thousands of dollars just to have a few friends over.

For David and Mary Jones, it's about more than a question of money.

"The government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion," Broyles told FOX News. "I believe that our Founding Fathers would roll over in their grave if they saw that here in the year 2009, a pastor and his wife are being told that they cannot hold a simple Bible study in their own home."

"The implications are great because it’s not only us that’s involved," Mary Jones said. "There are thousands and thousands of Bible studies that are held all across the country. What we’re interested in is setting a precedent here — before it goes any further — and that we have it settled for the future."

The couple is planning to dispute the county's order this week.

If San Diego County refuses to allow the pastor and his wife to continue gathering without acquiring a permit, they will consider a lawsuit in federal court.

May God bless David and Mary Jones and let this issue be resolved in their favor.

In Jesus' Holy Name I Pray....

The Holy Trinity Explained, God, Jesus & The Holy Spirit

The Holy Trinity is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are all God. See the image to the left.

God, the Father; Jesus, the Son; and the Holy Spirit.
Scripture tells us that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 4:35; Isaiah 45:5; 46:9).

The Bible also refers to three distinct persons as "God":
God the Father (Galatians 1:1),Jesus Christ His Son (John 1:1; 20:28)and the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3,4).The Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are Three distinct Persons in One God. This is the truth which God was conveying through Scripture, a truth which Christians later labled "The Trinity" (literally "tri-unity" meaning three in unity as one).

Though each Person is distinct from the other two, they do not act separately. What the Father does, the Son and Holy Spirit do as well. The Godhead acts as one. Christians are called to have a personal relationship with God. It is important for each one of us to know the One Whom we worship and love.

The truth that God is "Three-in-One" also shows us that there is a "Community of Love" within the Godhead. God is a "Family", so to speak; a Father and a Son bound together by an Eternal Love which is a Third Person, the Holy Spirit.

The doctrine of the Trinity helps us to understand how God gives us a share in His own Divine Life. The Father sent the Son, Who became flesh, Jesus took on our human nature. Jesus loved His Father so much that He wanted God the Father to be loved by us, and He wanted us to be loved by His Father. So Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified a horrible death so that His pure sinless blood would be shed on a cross so that we can become His brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters of God.

Once we confess that Jesus Christ is our Savior, the Holy Spirit, becomes present in our souls. The Spirit causes us to proclaim that Jesus is Lord (I Corinthians 12:3)
"... God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba Father". Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. . . . (Galatians 4:4b-7).