This is Easter, and it should definitely be an occasion for celebration and reflection. I find myself feeling a bit down today though, because of the state of the country. I know that my ultimate home is not here in this world, and that the world is evil. But it still bothers me to see the direction the country is going. And the hatred between the two parties, and the lies each one believes about the other. And the non Christian secular aspects of our culture, which are constantly being pushed. I am told I should not be concerned about such things, but it is difficult to see wrongs committed in the world, especially when many people claim such things are actually right. I must remember God chose us out of this world, and not to let it touch me.

If your still alive then you can probably thank Donald Trump for that.
2 min vid

Riccardo Bosi: Operation Warp Speed

A friend sent me a pic of Trump tower with plants or trees growing on the side of it , my question to Americans is , is that true..?
Because she said the plants or trees are 6 by 6 by 6 , so I jumped on line to see for myself and this is one of the pics that I found.
So can anybody confirm this ?


https://live.staticflickr.com/133/416659938_bd7540cdb9_b.jpg

Happy Easter, everyone.

Have a blessed day, however you’re spending it.

"Less than two months after Buckingham Palace confirmed King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer, sources exclusively reveal to In Touch that the king is battling pancreatic cancer and has been given two years to live."

So far just Yahoo and a few other minor media sites are reporting this. Due to the longevity of his parents, I figured Charles would be on the throne another 20 years.
But if this report is true, I think he'll probably abdicate within a year. Which will bring in King William V a lot sooner than expected.

I just read the news and it occurred to me that the following might be the case in light of the prophecy of Daniel about the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place and what follows it.

It's written that there will be about 3.5 years after the sacrifices are abolished that the abomination of desolation is set up. I am not an American, but I like Trump and he says that the previous elections were rigged and IF he's correct, then Biden was swearing on the Bible falsely, and so the Spirit of Truth is not in him. But the sacrifice pleasant to God is the Spirit of Truth:


And so it can be said that the sacrifice, which the world's greatest country's leader should be making, was "abolished" at that moment. And around 3.5 years later, instead of the "holy place", which was always reserved for Easter -- the greatest Christian holiday -- we see the TDOV. The "desolation" part can be tied to it in the sense that the cities Sodom and Gomorrah were into this kind of stuff, but they were made desolate.

Please note, I'm not into politics and I'm not posting this to spark a discussion on politics -- there is a separate section on this forum for this.

What does that look like to be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord? Well, to be ashamed is to be embarrassed and to not want to be associated with something or someone out of fear of what others might think of you. It is to be reluctant and unwilling and hesitant to be involved in something or to show support for someone or something, again out of fear of what others will think of you and/or out of fear of how you will be treated by them. And that is a legitimate concern, for if you are a true follower of Christ, you will be rejected and persecuted by someone, or by many people.

But as genuine followers of Jesus Christ we should not be those who are ashamed of the testimony of Christ, which is the message of the gospel of our salvation. We should not be embarrassed by those whose lives are committed to sharing the truth of the gospel, nor by the fact that they are suffering much persecution and rejection for the sake of the name of Jesus, and for the sake of the truth of the gospel, and for exposing the lies of the enemy for what they are in hopes that many will reject the lies and that they will pursue and follow after the truth of what Jesus taught, instead.

Instead, we are to be those who are “putting our necks out on the line” and who are willing to swallow our pride in order to share the truth of the gospel of our salvation and to expose the lies of the enemy so that many may come to genuine salvation from slavery to sin and to genuine walks of faith and obedience to our Lord in holy living. For we are not here on this earth to be liked by other people and for them to think that we are wonderful. We are here to share Jesus Christ and his gospel with the people of the earth so that they will love Jesus and so that they will want to serve him with their lives.

For Jesus didn’t die on that cross merely to forgive us our sins so that when we die we get to go to heaven. He died that we might be crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. For he called us to a holy calling, to be holy in all our conduct. And to be holy is to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being conformed by God to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ in holy living and in walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands.

Now we are not saved by our own works of our own flesh and of our own doing. We can do nothing in ourselves to earn or to deserve our own salvation. But God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them. For Jesus gave himself up for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for GOOD WORKS.

[1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:1-23; 1 Peter 1:13-16; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 4:17-32; Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23]

Therefore, a profession of faith in Jesus Christ is much more than just lip service to God. If our profession of faith is genuine God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, then our lives should now be surrendered to the Lord and to his service. We should not be those, therefore, who are ashamed of the gospel of Christ, but we should be those who passionately and obediently are committed to spreading the truth of the gospel regardless of how others react to us, and regardless of how we get treated in return. We must be the servants of the Lord and not servants to our own flesh.

He Gives Purpose

An Original Work / June 9, 2012

“Listen to Me when I’m calling to you.
Obey freely My word.
Follow Me in all of My ways.
Do all that I say.
Hear Me gently whisper to you
My will for your life and future.
Give all of your life and heart to
Follow Me always.”

Repent of your sins and worship Jesus.
He’s your Lord and Master.
He died for your sins so you could
Live with Him today.
He has a plan for your life and
He gives purpose and direction.
He gives meaning to your life,
So follow Him today.

“I love you so much I gave My life for
You to walk in My ways,
Living for Me each day as you
Bow to Me and pray.
Witness for Me of your love for Me and
Of My grace and mercy,
How I died to save you of your
Sins now and always.”

Login to view embedded media

Happy Easter!


Fulfilled and confirmed with "many infallible proofs."

He is risen!

I'm on my way to the ER again. This time for leg pain and shortness of breath that's pretty severe. Im terrified that it might be blood clots again. t could be a series of panic attacks but i want to be sure. I'll have my wife update everyone as we find out results. Right now my wife is napping to be more recharged. We should hopefully be there in 15 mins or so.

I really hope the ER isn't super packed on Easter Sunday.

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

It is about the same as sacrificing a pig on the altar in the Jewish temple.

When believe is first awarded to sinners at the cross in hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ and the good news of His accomplishment we can be assured that our old sin nature is crucified with Christ. Not only that but that He has given to us His righteousness as the sacrificial Lamb when we believe.

As young believers what we don't realize that which we have left to deal with is self. Dealing with self is a lifetime process. Yet there comes a time when we come to the end of self and Christ comes in to be our all in all.

That's not to say that we don't still have our shortcomings but that they are no longer our driving force.

We have made our home in Christ. I am the Beloved 's and the Beloved is mine.

This is what He did for and resurrected to share in us.

Happy resurrection day!

I used to be on this forum but not for a while. I was trying to get closer to God.

I was raised as Catholic but I was only a nominal Catholic. I left the Catholic Church and went Protestant in college. I became involved in Campus Crusade for Christ and went to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. After I graduated I became a pastor at a Baptist church for 3 years. But I had a bad experience and found intellectual problems with Protestantism. So I came back to the Catholic faith and has remained Catholic for the last 20 years.

"That a saving work must first be done in the heart is taken for granted here. The spiritual faculties of the unregenerate man lie asleep in his nature, unused and for every purpose dead; that is the stroke which has fallen upon us by sin. They may be quickened to active life again by the operation of the Holy Spirit in regeneration; that is one of the immeasurable benefits which come to us through Christ's atoning work on the cross.

But the very ransomed children of God themselves: why do they know so little of that habitual conscious communion with God which the Scriptures seem to offer? The answer is our chronic unbelief. Faith enables our spiritual sense to function. Where faith is defective the result will be inward insensibility and numbness toward spiritual things. This is the condition of vast numbers of Christians today. No proof is necessary to support that statement. We have but to converse with the first Christian we meet or enter the first church we find open to acquire all the proof we need.

A spiritual kingdom lies all about us, enclosing us, embracing us, altogether within reach of our inner selves, waiting for us to recognize it. God Himself is here waiting our response to His Presence. This eternal world will come alive to us the moment we begin to reckon upon its reality.

I have just now used two words which demand definition; or if definition is impossible, I must at least make clear what I mean when I use them. They are "reckon" and "reality."

What do I mean by reality? I mean that which has existence apart from any idea any mind may have of it, and which would exist if there were no mind anywhere to entertain a thought of it. That which is real has being in itself. It does not depend upon the observer for its validity.

I am aware that there are those who love to poke fun at the plain man's idea of reality. They are the idealists who spin endless proofs that nothing is real outside of the mind. They are the relativists who like to show that there are no fixed points in the universe from which we can measure anything. They smile down upon us from their lofty intellectual peaks and settle us to their own satisfaction by fastening upon us the reproachful term "absolutist." The Christian is not put out of countenance by this show of contempt. He can smile right back at them, for he knows that there is only One who is Absolute, that is God. But he knows also that the Absolute One has made this world for man's uses, and, while there is nothing fixed or real in the last meaning of the words (the meaning as applied to God) for every purpose of human life we are permitted to act as if there were. And every man does act thus except the mentally sick. These unfortunates also have trouble with reality, but they are consistent; they insist upon living in accordance with their ideas of things. They are honest, and it is their very honesty that constitutes them a social problem.

The idealists and relativists are not mentally sick. They prove their soundness by living their lives according to the very notions of reality which they in theory repudiate and by counting upon the very fixed points which they prove are not there. They could earn a lot more respect for their notions if they were willing to live by them; but this they are careful not to do. Their ideas are brain-deep, not life-deep. Wherever life touches them they repudiate their theories and live like other men.

The Christian is too sincere to play with ideas for their own sake. He takes no pleasure in the mere spinning of gossamer webs for display. All his beliefs are practical. They are geared into his life. By them he lives or dies, stands or falls for this world and for all time to come. From the insincere man he turns away.

The sincere plain man knows that the world is real. He finds it here when he wakes to consciousness, and he knows that he did not think it into being. It was here waiting for him when he came, and he knows that when he prepares to leave this earthly scene it will be here still to bid him good-bye as he departs. By the deep wisdom of life he is wiser than a thousand men who doubt. He stands upon the earth and feels the wind and rain in his face and he knows that they are real. He sees the sun by day and the stars by night. He sees the hot lightning play out of the dark thundercloud. He hears the sounds of nature and the cries of human joy and pain. These he knows are real. He lies down on the cool earth at night and has no fear that it will prove illusory or fail him while he sleeps. In the morning the firm ground will be under him, the blue sky above him and the rocks and trees around him as when he closed his eyes the night before. So he lives and rejoices in a world of reality.

With his five senses he engages this real world. All things necessary to his physical existence he apprehends by the faculties with which he has been equipped by the God who created him and placed him in such a world as this.

Now, by our definition also God is real. He is real in the absolute and final sense that nothing else is. All other reality is contingent upon His. The great Reality is God who is the Author of that lower and dependent reality which makes up the sum of created things, including ourselves. God has objective existence independent of and apart from any notions which we may have concerning Him. The worshipping heart does not create its Object. It finds Him here when it wakes from its moral slumber in the morning of its regeneration.

Another word that must be cleared up is the word reckon. This does not mean to visualize or imagine. Imagination is not faith. The two are not only different from, but stand in sharp opposition to, each other. Imagination projects unreal images out of the mind and seeks to attach reality to them. Faith creates nothing; it simply reckons upon that which is already there.

God and the spiritual world are real. We can reckon upon them with as much assurance as we reckon upon the familiar world around us. Spiritual things are there (or rather we should say here) inviting our attention and challenging our trust.

Our trouble is that we have established bad thought habits. We habitually think of the visible world as real and doubt the reality of any other. We do not deny the existence of the spiritual world but we doubt that it is real in the accepted meaning of the word.

The world of sense intrudes upon our attention day and night for the whole of our lifetime. It is clamorous, insistent and self-demonstrating. It does not appeal to our faith; it is here, assaulting our five senses, demanding to be accepted as real and final. But sin has so clouded the lenses of our hearts that we cannot see that other reality, the City of God, shining around us. The world of sense triumphs. The visible becomes the enemy of the invisible; the temporal, of the eternal. That is the curse inherited by every member of Adam's tragic race.

At the root of the Christian life lies belief in the invisible. The object of the Christian's faith is unseen reality.

Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the blindness of our natural hearts and the intrusive ubiquity of visible things, tends to draw a contrast between the spiritual and the real; but actually no such contrast exists. The antithesis lies elsewhere: between the real and the imaginary, between the spiritual and the matrial, between the temporal and the eternal; but between the spiritual and the real, never. The spiritual is real.

If we would rise into that region of light and power plainly beckoning us through the Scriptures of truth we must break the evil habit of ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen. For the great unseen Reality is God. "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." This is basic in the life of faith. From there we can rise to unlimited heights. "Ye believe in God," said our Lord Jesus Christ, "believe also in me." Without the first there can be no second.

If we truly want to follow God we must seek to be other-worldly. This I say knowing well that that word has been used with scorn by the sons of this world and applied to the Christian as a badge of reproach. So be it. Every man must choose his world. If we who follow Christ, with all the facts before us and knowing what we are about, deliberately choose the Kingdom of God as our sphere of interest I see no reason why anyone should object. If we lose by it, the loss is our own; if we gain, we rob no one by so doing. The "other world," which is the object of this world's disdain and the subject of the drunkard's mocking song, is our carefully chosen goal and the object of our holiest longing.

But we must avoid the common fault of pushing the "other world" into the future. It is not future, but present. It parallels our familiar physical world, and the doors between the two worlds are open. "Ye are come," says the writer to the Hebrews (and the tense is plainly present), "unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." All these things are contrasted with "the mount that might be touched" and "the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words" that might be heard. May we not safely conclude that, as the realities of Mount Sinai were apprehended by the senses, so the realities of Mount Zion are to be grasped by the soul? And this not by any trick of the imagination, but in downright actuality. The soul has eyes with which to see and ears with which to hear. Feeble they may be from long disuse, but by the life-giving touch of Christ alive now and capable of sharpest sight and most sensitive hearing.

As we begin to focus upon God the things of the spirit will take shape before our inner eyes. Obedience to the word of Christ will bring an inward revelation of the Godhead (John 14:21-23). It will give acute perception enabling us to see God even as is promised to the pure in heart. A new God consciousness will seize upon us and we shall begin to taste and hear and inwardly feel the God who is our life and our all. There will be seen the constant shining of the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. More and more, as our faculties grow sharper and more sure, God will become to us the great All, and His Presence the glory and wonder of our lives.

O God, quicken to life every power within me, that I may lay hold on eternal things. Open my eyes that I may see; give me acute spiritual perception; enable me to taste Thee and know that Thou art good. Make heaven more real to me than any earthly thing has ever been. Amen."

- The Pursuit of God, chapter IV, AW Tozer, 1948

[That "other world" he speaks of must be apprehended in the here and now. "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews" (John 18:36) He speaks of this in the now, in the present tense; that if in fact His kingdom were of the world His servants would fight. Likewise in Luke 17:21 Jesus said, "the kingdom of God is within you." The word "within" being "entos" in Greek meaning within, inside, and "is" is "estin" which is third person singular present active: again, here and now, the kingdom of God IS.

Here is a beautiful description of the heavens and the earth that will be: and this also is apprehended by faith, yea: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Heb. 11:1-3) "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain." (Isaiah 66:22) ]

"That it is probable the world shall not be annihilated, but refined. It Shall lose its present form and fashion, but not its foundation. Indeed, asGod raised it from nothing, so he can reduce it into nothing ; yet it doth not appear that God will annihilate it, and utterly destroy both the matter and form of it ; part shall be consumed, and part purified : 2 Peter iii. 12, 13,1 The heavens shall be on fire, and dissolved. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth.' They shall be melted down, as gold by the artificer, to be refined from its dross, and wrought into a more beautiful fashion, that they may serve the design of God for those that shall reside therein ; a new world, wherein righteousness shall dwell, the apostle opposing it thereby to the old world, wherein wickedness did reside. The heavens are to be purged, as the vessels that held the sin-offering were purified by the fire of the sanctuary." - Stephen Charnock, (1628-1680),The Immutability of God, The Complete Works of Stephen Charnock, Volume 1, pg 376

[Do we realize how incredibly awesome and holy our LORD Yahweh is? "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke." (Isaiah 6:1-4)
Read Ezekiel chapter 1 and chapter 10 KJV, and apprehend the spectacular wonder and majesty of Him with whom we have to do: He who chose us in before the foundation of the world to walk in His holiness before Him. This is no small matter! This is dreadfully serious. Know that apprehend has two meanings: to capture or seize someone or something, as in the criminal was apprehended; and then also, to understand, perceive, and comprehend something. Both apply to our relationship with God.
"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." (Matthew 11:12)

I like the way this is written here:
"Jesus’ statement that “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence” is a graphic picture of the enthusiasm and excitement generated by John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ teaching. People were hungry for the truth and would not be kept away. For centuries, God’s prophets had predicted the Messiah’s coming, and now that the Messiah was here, nothing could hold back the flood of people pressing into the kingdom. We see some of this fervor in Luke 5:18–19, when some men literally tore through a roof to get to Jesus, and in John 6:15, when a crowd “intended to come and make him king by force.”
We should take note of the response of the believing people in Jesus’ day and share their passion. The gift of eternal life is beyond compare. Knowing Christ has come should create earnestness in us and a striving to be closer to Him. There is no place for apathy or ambivalence in the follower of Jesus Christ."
What does it mean that the kingdom of God suffers violence? | GotQuestions.org ]

2 Samuel 3:

6 While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul.

Click to expand...

One way to do it was to have sex with a concubine of the previous king, King Saul.

7 Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father’s concubine?”

Click to expand...

Ish-bosheth made an accusation. Was the accusation true?

8 Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, “Am I a dog’s head of Judah? To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman.

Click to expand...

Abner did not admit or deny the accusation.

Did Abner had sex with Rizpah?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown wasn't sure:

It is not clear whether the accusation against Abner was well or ill founded.

Click to expand...

Benson's and Matthew Poole's commentaries were similar.

I think Abner had sex with Rizpah. At least Ish-bosheth thought so. Ish-bosheth needed Abner to command the army. If he weren't sure, he probably would not have accused him. Further, If Abner hadn't, he probably would have denied the accusation.

But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”

The truth is we can take the cup of wrath from others.

We must be willing to take the cup of wrath from others. If we truly have faith in Our Lord Jesus.

Only those who are willing should
Ask Our Lord, to take the suffering of others and give it to us, who are willing to suffer for others.

Yes we will suffer the wrath, because of all the cup we have collected, but do not be afraid of those who are able to destroy your flesh. Remember, we are not part of this world.

Say to Our Lord, you're willing and he will give it to you. Say to those you're saving "your sin is forgiven" and witness the miracle.

In the OT animals were the sacrifice for sin. In the NT willing men are the sacrifice for sin. Those who are willing belongs to Our Lord Jesus.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.

A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.

So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

The event is part of the White House’s Easter traditions, which also includes an Easter egg hunt and role. A flyer for the art event, which is open to select children of National Guard personnel, states that egg designs “must not include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes, or partisan political statements.”

How sad.

U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia is closing its Hong Kong operation out of concern for the safety of its staff and reporters, a move that comes after Hong Kong enacted a tough new national security law known locally as Article 23.

Radio Free Asia President Bay Fang said in a statement Friday that the outlet's programming and content will continue without disruption.

But, Fang said, actions by Hong Kong authorities, including referring to RFA as a "foreign force," raise serious questions about its ability to operate in safety following the enactment of Article 23.

The city's Beijing-backed legislature passed Article 23 legislation earlier this month and comes atop an already existing national security law that the central government imposed on Hong Kong in 2020. Article 23 refers to the part of Hong Kong's post-handover constitution, the Basic Law, that requires the territory to enact national security legislation.

Hong Kong's most prominent pro-Democracy paper, Apple Daily, shut down in June 2021 after its accounts were frozen and its publisher, Jimmy Lai, arrested. The last pro-Democracy paper, Stand News, closed in December 2021 after it was raided and its leadership arrested.

I`m homosexual

This occupant of the Whitehouse celebrates what God calls an abomination.

Hello everyone.

New member on the forum, but also new in accepting Jesus Christ 100% into my life.
- I am a 25 y/o scandinavian, who have been a "Christian" for my entire life. But I must confess.. I've never really known what it meant in that sense. Never read the bible, and I have sinned many times.. I have broken some of the commendments.. - This all came to me, after I began reading The New Testament, after being recommended by it by a man on youtube, but also read lots of references from the bible, which came from all sorts of videos on that platform.

I hope you all are having a nice day, and I can't wait to get to meet you!

Kind regards,
Kevin (with 1 v)

There are some who would propagate that it is not right to tithe (give) to the Christian church, because it is not stated in the New Testament.

Does a Christian have an obligation to tithe to his or her home church?

Should a Christian take complete ownership with where and how they give or is there a structure, commandment, direction in the New Testament on how to give?

The word tithe comes from the Hebrew word, "tenth," which means a 10% portion of your earnings/first fruits you made.