Yes. I will marshall the evidence.

In John 7:35, the crowd even speculates that Jesus might leave them and go and teach Greeks, which means they thought he could speak Greek. Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come. The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?

When Jesus called Simon son of John to follow him (John 1:42), Jesus specifically chose to call him Cephas which is Aramaic for Peter. Then in Matthew 16:18, Jesus reverts back to calling him Peter which is Greek. “And I tell you that you are Peter (Πέτρος), and on this rock (πέτρᾳ) I will build my church.” Jesus is using this play on words between Peter and a rock using the Greek language. The Aramaic does not allow this, as stated before “Cephas only means Peter” and can’t be used as a pun for a rock.

Jesus uses two purposed double entendres using the Greek with his conversation with Nicodemus. Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are ἄνωθεν.” Jesus floats the Greek word ἄνωθεν with a double meaning and let’s Nicodemus choose which way he will interpret it….either born from above or born again. He chooses to use ἄνωθεν as born again.

Also in the conversation with Nicodemus the double entendres is the double meaning of πνεῦμα as wind or the Spirit of God. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Certainly, Jesus did speak Aramaic…..

• Matthew 27:46 - About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?").
• Mark 5:41 - He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means "Little girl, I say to you, get up!").

Evidence suggests, Jesus didn’t exclusively speak, read and understand Aramaic, but the reason he mostly appeared to do so, was simply because that was the language most of the people he was interacting with used in their daily lives, and were most comfortable with.

As many as four languages were known and spoken in the region — Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin. The real question, of course, is how widespread each of them was and on what occasions they were used. A plurality of scholars believe the common language in everyday life was indeed Aramaic. However, for trans-regional and cross-communal communication, though, Greek was more useful. Jesus would have been extremely likely to speak Koine Greek; this was the language of trade in the Roman Empire.

By the accounts in the Gospels, Jesus seems to have had no problems communicating with non-Jews such as the Roman Centurion, the Cannanite woman, the Syrophoenician woman (whom Mark specifically states is a Greek (Mark 7:26), and Pilate.

Evidenced also, Jesus’s disciples spoke and wrote Greek. Certainly, James our Lord’s brother, Peter, John, and especially Matthew knew Greek, and mastered it fairly well. Matthew was a tax collector and employed by Rome….which meant he knew probably Latin also.

Jesus had two disciples with Greek names: Andrew and Philip.

In a curious passage of Scripture, certain Greeks sought out Andrew and Phillip specifically because of their Greek names. John 12:20ff Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. The text does not say if Jesus responded to them in Greek or Aramaic, but for certain the Greeks did speak to Phillip and Andrew, and they understood the request.

Critics of Christianity will point out, what we have in the NT is only a translation of what Jesus said in the Aramaic and the Greek translation may and can have mis-translations in them.

Jesus gives us some powerful promises mis-translations in the original autographs didn’t occur. John 14: 25-26 “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Here we have the promise of “total recall” the Holy Spirit will give the Apostles during the time they place Jesus’s statements in writing.

All the disciples of Jesus were eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses of Jesus’s preaching….and all writers were bi-lingual. The Holy Spirit allowed them recall Jesus preaching and translate it correctly for us. The gift of Scripture is a great gift the Holy Spirit has to his church.

We were not there to hear Jesus speak, but he himself promises: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33). In whatever human language Jesus made that promise, he is going to keep it.

This was Jesus speaking. When he was on the earth, and when he was teaching, he did not lighten God’s commandments, his moral laws, but he extended them or he brought true reality to them. And we would all do well to take his words seriously, for they are truth. And the truth is that adultery begins in the mind and in the heart before it ever gets acted out in the flesh. The moment that you choose to take that second look, to not look away, but to lust after another, you have committed adultery.

So, adultery extends far beyond just having sexual relations with someone to whom you are not married while you are married to someone else. Adultery takes place as soon as you lust after another who is not your spouse. So this can extend into so many different areas. So, if you are someone who is entertained by pornographic images or movies which are sensual in nature and which promote adultery and sex outside of marriage, and extra-marital affairs and flirtations with others, that is adultery.

Now, you may choose to disagree with me, but being entertained by these images engages your mind and heart in participating with them in some respect and in feeling with them what they are experiencing. And especially if nudity is involved, that stirs the lusts of the flesh. So we have to be people of God who guard our hearts and minds against such things and who use spiritual discernment with regard to what we choose to watch or to listen to, for even song lyrics can stir the mind and heart to lust after another.

So, if we want to keep our hearts and our minds morally pure and free from sensual lust, we must take serious steps to remove from our lives all that would lead us mentally, emotionally, and/or physically in the wrong direction. For the more of this world that we choose to take into our minds and our eyes on a daily basis, the more of the world that will remain inside of us and will be acted out by us in how we live. For flesh gives birth to flesh, and if flesh is what we desire, it will produce more flesh.

There was a time in my married life when I was much less discerning about the kinds of things that I watched and listened to, so I know of what I speak from personal experience. I had been much more strict, but over time I made little compromises for the sake of being entertained, and then more compromises until I was way beyond where I thought I would ever be. But the Lord convicted my heart of sin, and so I had to do a spiritual house cleaning and rid my life of all that might lead me in the wrong direction.

For we live in a world, even within the gatherings of the church (or of what is falsely being called “church”), where sensuality and sexual immorality and seductiveness are running rampant and where so many professing Christians are being caught up in all this sensuality as though it is just commonplace and not as something that should have no part in our lives. But what we choose to take into our ears and eyes and minds is then reproduced in our attitudes and words and behaviors. For it is garbage in and garbage out.

So, what is Jesus’ counsel to us? If our right eye causes us to sin, we are to tear it out and throw it away. And if our right hand causes us to sin, we are to cut it off and throw it away. Do you think he meant this literally? He may have. I don’t know. But he could have been speaking in figurative language, which he sometimes did. And so what’s the lesson? Whatever we are allowing in our lives which is leading us into sin, we are to get rid of. Many people keep going back to the same sins for they won’t cut off the source.

But… the Scriptures teach that it is out of the human heart that come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person (Matthew 15:17-20). So, even if we cut out an eye or a hand or any other kind of physical object out of our lives, if our hearts remain the same, our hearts are still going to lead us into sin because of what is stored up in our hearts. But again, what we choose to take into our minds, eyes, and ears, is what gets stored up in our hearts, too.

So, we must throw out of our lives all those things which are leading us into sin, and then we must refuse to allow those things back into our lives. But that will only take us so far. For without a change of heart and mind, those who take such steps are likely to go right back to where they were, time and time again. For the heart, if not changed, will continue to crave those sins and so will entertain those thoughts which will then lead right back to the same sinful behaviors. So a spiritual heart housecleaning will be in order.

But then pay close attention to Jesus’ deeper message here. He said, in reference to getting rid of whatever leads us to sin, that it is better that we lose an eye or a hand than for our whole body to be thrown into hell. So, what is he saying? If adultery is what we practice, and not obedience to our Lord, and not walks of holiness and righteousness, then we are in danger of hell as our final destiny if we do not repent and if we do not change course and if we do not take the steps necessary to get rid of the sin and to now follow our Lord in surrender to his will and in obedience to his commands.

And please know that our Lord’s apostles taught the same thing, that if sin is our practice, and if righteousness, godliness, and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips profess. For it is not a profession of faith in Jesus Christ that results in eternal life with God, but it is a walk of faith and obedience to our Lord in the forsaking of our sins and in holy living that results in us having salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Lead Me Gently Home, Father

By Will L. Thompson, 1879

Lead me gently home, Father,
Lead me gently home;
When life’s toils are ended,
And parting days have come,
Sin no more shall tempt me,
Ne’er from Thee I’ll roam,
If Thou’ll only lead me, Father,
Lead me gently home.

Lead me gently home, Father,
Lead me gently home, Father,
Lest I fall upon the wayside,
Lead me gently home.

Lead me gently home, Father,
Lead me gently home;
In life’s darkest hours, Father,
When life’s troubles come,
Keep my feet from wand’ring,
Lest from Thee I roam,
Lest I fall upon the wayside,
Lead me gently home.

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Speaker Johnson amid criticism: ‘Mess’ in House not ‘a reflection on the leader’

wow! Who would have thunk it. Another Republican leader who doesn't take responsibility for their charge.

Colour me unsurprised.

And then has the audacity to say "look. The nation is divided"....

So I guess it makes sense to vote down a bipartisan bill.

I really dislike it when deeply Christian politicians are manipulative.

Pray The Lord's Anointed ones are ensured that they complete the tasks that God has chosen them to to do( in this case,Donald Trump being US President):

Where are denominations in the Bible? Please share scripture.

A puppy’s jaw spontaneously regrew after Cornell veterinarians removed a majority of his lower left mandible due to cancer. Although this phenomenon has been documented in children, this is the first reported case of its kind for dogs of any age or breed.

Tyson, a 3-month-old French bulldog, was originally scheduled to see Cornell’s Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service for cleft palate surgery in the spring of 2023 when his primary veterinarian noted a cancerous tumor on his jaw.

“Tyson’s tumor was an oral papillary squamous cell carcinoma, which is a malignant cancer in dogs,” said dentistry and oral surgery resident Alexandra Wright, DVM ’18, who led Tyson’s care team. “Oral squamous cell carcinoma is the second-most common malignant oral tumor in dogs, and this papillary subtype has previously been reported in young dogs.”

Continued below.

Gallup says Democrats have lost more black and Hispanic voters than ever.

Not hard to figure out, those groups are hit hardest by this administration's poor policies.

Dems also now losing amongst men, college educated or otherwise, though I'm not certain what that means....since less men are in college these days.

Though the First Amendment says the government cannot establish A religion as was in England, here's an idea to reduce cultural friction between people of various faiths and those of anti faith in the public schools, which can happen in larger school districts with dozens of schools. Have separate schools for Christian, possibly for various denominations within, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, not believers of traditional marriage lifestyle, Atheists, etc. and not restricted to skin color, ethnicity, race, or nationality. Parents choose for their children which is cheaper than private school and less time constraining for parents than home schooling. Some interaction between different belief schools in the school districts with sports games and academic competitions. Also so if the Christian kids want to pray or study the Bible in their own Christian publc school, they could do so without offending others, likewise if Muslim, Jewish, or choose to participate in an alternative lifestyle.

Larger school districts have the real estate of many buildings to do this. I do see added school bus transportation costs with this, but reducing cultural friction and lawsuits is priceless. Maybe this idea is being done today in sections of other countries besides the United States, but I don't know. Some districts do have special schools for bad behavior students, gifted academically, or the disabled, so why not of various beliefs?

Thoughts, pro or con?

Assuming what's evident.

In our times there are many wars and many men of violence. Yet, one day, God promises that wars will cease.


It is one's duty to defend one's home and family, to fight for one's nation when it is threatened. It is one's glory to lay down arms and seek refuge in the Lord of hosts.

What to do in the garden in February–is this some kind of a joke? Here’s a thing I like to do in February: sit by the fire and look at the garden through a window.


However. If you (or I) can find the motivation to throw on a coat, a hat, gloves, a heavy woolen scarf, thick socks, boots, and lip balm–this is what I wear to brave the chilly weather in Northern California; if you live in New England or Colorado, you might want to add a layer of thermal underwear and a second coat–we will be well rewarded for our efforts in springtime.

If you live in a warmer climate, your to-do list for February garden chores will be different from what you can accomplish in colder regions. (For instance, in my USDA zone 10a garden, where the ground does not freeze, I can weed even in cold months. In winter, before weeds spread, is an ideal time to get rid of them.)

Here are a few things we all can do in the garden this month.

1. Prune trees.​

Continued below.

From Australia comes a story too cool to believe. Like a vegetable version of Jurassic Park or King Kong, a copse of pine trees from a species that evolved in the Cretaceous Era were found high in the mountains.

These living fossils, to use the classic phrase, survived both the comet impact and subsequent global firestorm that killed the dinosaurs, as well as two intervening ice ages to make it to our time, and Australian botanists are treating the specimens as a top-secret national treasure.

The Wollemi pine evolved 91 million years ago and went extinct according to the fossil record 2 million years ago, but in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, a stand of 90 specimens were found high in the more remote peaks in 1994.

For the past three decades, and in extreme secrecy, a team of specialists from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of Australia has been gradually planting small clumps of the Wollemi pine in other locations to help ensure it has every chance to see another 91 million years.

It helps the story that the Wollemi doesn’t look much like any pine tree you’ve seen in the woods by your house. Sporting Granny Smith apple-green foliage that grows in a pattern similar to a fern, it has a covering of bark reminiscent of Coco-puffs.


“Wollemi Pine seedlings and saplings grow less than one centimeter a year. They won’t mature until they can reach the rainforest canopy and access the sunlight above,” research scientist Berin Mackenzie told national news, adding that they grow extremely slowly.

Continued below.

I thank you and praise you Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray for the spiritual help of my whole family, including my estranged husband Rudi. Please pray that my whole family comes back to God. Please also pray I get the right medication to heal me of the satanic attacks and the voices I hear daily, that are vile and disgusting. Please also pray that I quit smoking and vaping and have more energy to do things. Please pray that God the Father forgives me for my many sins, through Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you and God bless

I believe the rapture of the church is so close that we can almost touch it. Having said that, I, as others, I'm sure, don't know how much more we are going to see. I certainly see the collapse of the dollar in full view for sure. I'm thinking only things that have intrinsic value will be worth anything at all such as property and such. This brings me to ask the question: If one is able to pay off debts such as montages even if it will bring hardships, do you think its a good Idea to do so ? Not sure if a disclaimer is needed here LOL, just looking for options from a Christian point of view as to how things might go down.
Thanks!!

One Missouri GOP candidate has incorporated book burning into her campaign. Valentina Gomez, who is running for secretary of state, posted a video of herself burning public library books with a flamethrower.

A library catalog label can be seen attached to at least one of the burning books.

Last year, you may recall that candidate for governor Bill Eigel used a flamethrower on empty boxes to demonstrate his position on woke books and the liberal agenda. Metaphorically speaking.

-

Hey I just ran across this on the internet, you might want to check this out- it is called Kali Nethunter. It is a version of Linux loaded with hundreds of hacking tools that can be installed on your cell phone! With this you can hack and do penetration testing using your cell! I want this, I will be downloading it right away! It is totally free and can be downloaded online! https://www.kali.org/docs/nethunter/

I actually agree with Republicans on this, but for different reasons. I would vote for this bill.

"Surprise discovery of 168-million-year-old pterosaur in rocks on Isle of Skye will help scientists narrow down major events in the evolution of these flying reptiles."

Jurassic 'mist wing' fossil discovered on Scottish island could be missing link in pterosaur evolution

Here's a link to the researchers published findings:

Whaaaaat??? No way!

Why are there Christians who are saying the Jubilee will 'actually' take place, with 'all' debt 'actually' being literally cancelled. And in addition: loads of gold being lifted from hidden reserves under the Earth (!) Some christians have said the Jewish year of Jubilee was supposed to be 2023 and some have it in 2025, whatever the date is not my primary focus - my primary question is: do people believe this?

I have some good friends who actually have been telling me this, and I cant figure out where they are getting this from (?)

'I' have understood that the Jubilee would be observed when all twelve tribes of the Jewish nation are living in Israel, as is derived from verses in Leviticus 25 like "And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live on it”
I know the Jewish people do not currently or officially declare or celebrate the Jubilee, primarily because they respect the popular rabbinical notion that all 12 tribes including the 10 'lost' exiled tribes need to again be living in the land of Israel again. Yet, where are 'christians' getting the notion of a literal Jubilee coming?

The Catholic Church has a christian version of the Jewish Jubilee, as noted in the following article below:

"The next Jubilee will be in 2025 and there is great expectation among the faithful from all over the world. Its importance is also recognized and respected by other faiths around the world. The last Jubilee was the extraordinary one of 2015 wanted by Pope Francis. The one that will take place in 2025 will be the second with Pope Francis. As many know, the Jubilee is a special year of grace, in which the Catholic Church offers the faithful the possibility of asking for a plenary indulgence, that is, the remission of sins for themselves or for deceased relatives"

BUT I am not asking about with this. I'm asking about christians who are anticipating that a literal forgiveness of all literal present debt will be forgiven (seemingly before the second coming of Jesus?) And in addition: loads of gold being lifted from hidden reserves under the Earth (!)?.

Where are they getting this from, and has it passed?

Who is the Lord? He is our God, the one and only true God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – three distinct persons and/or personalities in one God. He is also our creator God who made the earth and all that has life in it on the earth. He always existed and he will always exist, which is difficult for our human minds to comprehend. And he is fully supreme and sovereign and in control and in power and authority over all that he has made. And no one and nothing can thwart his purposes or overcome him.

And righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. And what is righteousness? It is all that God deems right, that he approves. And so it is honesty, integrity, moral purity, faithfulness, uprightness, kindness, love, repentance, compassion, and obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice. And what is justice? It is fairness, righteousness, honesty, integrity and judgment which separates good from evil, and right from wrong, and which makes just and righteous decisions regarding right and wrong.

In Romans 1:18-23 we read these words (ESV):


So, this parallels what we just read in Psalms 97 with regard to the sovereignty of God, and his righteousness, and his judgments, and with regard to the heavens proclaiming his righteousness so that all the people see his glory. So God is not hidden from the people of the world. We can all see him and his attributes via his created works. And this also parallels what Psalms 97 talks about on the subject of idols and idolatry, as well. For even though the knowledge of God is not hidden from humanity, many people go after the gods of this world to worship them instead of the only true GOD.

And the sad reality is that it is many who profess faith in Jesus Christ who are worshipers of idols and false gods in place of true worship of the God of the universe who made all created things. For an idol or a false god is not just a physical statue of someone given the name of a false god. But it is anything that we give our loyalties, devotion, time, affections, passion, and worship to above and/or in place of true worship of our creator God. And true worship of God is in surrendering our lives to him fully. And it is a refusal to be conformed to the ways of this sinful world (Romans 12:1-2).

Therefore, because our God is righteous, and he is just, and he judges all human beings according to his righteousness and justice, and because he made us and he is sovereign over all that he has made, and thus he sets down the rules that we are to follow, and because God has made himself known to us, so that we are all without excuse if we choose sin and idolatry over him, we are being called upon here to give our worship only to God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and to no other gods. And so we are also being called upon to live righteously and no longer in sin and in idolatry.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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There was a famine in Canaan in Gen 12. Abram took Sarai to Egypt to escape the famine. He instructed her:

13 "Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”

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Did Abram tell his wife to lie?

Sarai was Abram's half-sister. It was a half truth—or half lie. The statement was meant to deceive the Egyptians. It was a lie in heart.

Gill explained:

though it was not putting a direct lie into her mouth, she being his sister in some sense, as appears from Genesis 20:12 yet it was done to conceal truth, and to deceive the Egyptians, and tended to endanger his wife's chastity,

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Abram jeopardized his wife's honor.

as well as showed great timorousness in him, and distrust of the divine care and protection of him;

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It showed Abram's deficiency of faith in God.

and upon the whole it must be criminal in him, and shows that the best of men are liable to sin, and the strongest believer to fall, and that a saint may fail in the exercise of that grace for which he is most eminent, as Abram was for his faith, and yet fell into unbelief, and through that into other sins; this he said to his wife, and desired her to say on occasion, when she found it necessary: that it may be well with me for thy sake; his life spared, as follows:
and my soul shall live because of thee; his life be safe and secure for her sake, being reckoned her brother, whereas he feared it would be in the utmost danger should it be known she was his wife.

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Abram used/manipulated his wife to save his own skin. His scheme worked only because God interceded and worked with sinners like Abram and us.

What was the reason the story of Abram telling Sarai to tell people that she was his sister and not his wife included in the Bible?

It shows that the Bible writers told it like it was. They did not try to cover things up.

Abram would learn to grow in faith in God as he walked with God more and more.