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Gibbons Decline & Fall & Christianity

Interesting quotes concerning “Christianity” from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon
All emphasis in following quotes is mine.

My comments in blue.

Chapter 3

Of the Constitution of the Roman Empire, in the Age of the Antonines.

Part I

The obvious definition of a monarchy seems to be that of a state, in which a single person, by whatsoever name he may be distinguished, is intrusted with the execution of the laws, the management of the revenue, and the command of the army. But, unless public liberty is protected by intrepid and vigilant guardians, the authority of so formidable a magistrate will soon degenerate into despotism. The influence of the clergy, in an age of superstition, might be usefully employed to assert the rights of mankind; but so intimate is the connection between the throne and the altar, that the banner of the church has very seldom been seen on the side of the people. A martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional assemblies, form the only balance capable of preserving a free constitution against enterprises of an aspiring prince.
(The History of the decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 1, Chap. 3, pg. 68 of the Everyman’s Library edition)

Thus the eventual formation of Constitutional governments for and by the people, with a healthy separation of church and state. Formed by predominantly Protestant, liberty seeking, justice loving people. It took us long enough, and now it is slipping away.

How the Covid vaccine works & doesn't work and why your often getting sick.

Quote - This football analogy from Del Bigtrees interview of Geert Vanden Bossche made me understand the HOW and WHY humanity is in such grave danger from the global mass vaccination campaign. This explains the very basics of how non-specific and specific antibodies are completely different and should be at the very centre of any and all covid vaccine discussions.

https://rumble.com/v44ns69-football...interview-of-geert-vanden-bossche-the-hi.html
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Scott and Jeremiah Hahn: Like Father, Like … Father

Called by his heavenly Father and inspired and encouraged by his earthly one, Father Jeremiah Hahn expresses sincere appreciation for his calling.

Like many Catholic boys, Jeremiah Hahn considered becoming a priest. At an early age, the devoted altar server “first sensed an inkling” toward priesthood, even attending a meeting to learn more and affirm his future vocation.

This inclination was at least in part influenced by his father, well-known Catholic theologian and scholar Scott Hahn, a former Presbyterian minister who converted to Catholicism and entered the Church at the Easter vigil in 1986.

Scott, 68, holds the Father Michael Scanlan, T.O.R., Chair of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, where he has taught since 1990.

A well-known program host on EWTN, he also is the founder and president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. Scott speaks often nationally and internationally — both in person and on radio and television — on various topics regarding Scripture and the Catholic faith.

Continued below.

Officers injured as Portland rioters breach ICE building with explosives and rocks


Prison time is necessary.

Popular Mechanics

I don’t have this magazine but this is an article in this months‘ Popular Mechanics. Science tells us what we already knew.​

<<<<<Scientists Found a Link Between Spirituality and Your Brain—Are You Hardwired to Believe in God?​

Scientists are mapping specific brain regions to understand how the brain conceives of the divine.>>>>>

How do we discern the voice of the Holy Spirit?

Christians often talk about the leading of the Holy Spirit and we read about the promise of the Holy Spirit - that it will guide into all the truth

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

But I don't think this means the Holy Spirit replaces our personality and thoughts - like in some SF stories. We still have our own thoughts. So how do we discern the leading of the Holy Spirit - not contradicting Scripture only goes so far.

e,g, someone might say the Spirit led them to apply for courses in accountancy rather than the legal profession. How would you discern this as the leading of the Holy Spirit? You may be equally qualified for both and other Christians could recommend both. And is that the Spirit's leading - asking other people? What about your own inner witness - is that your thoughts or God's thoughts?
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Camp Meeting Sermons - Please don't repeat the news

It is getting camp meeting time here in these Virginia mountains. It is nice to get out as some of the settings are gorgeous. The only thing is that last year it seemed like the ministers would sit around and watch the news all day, and then repeat the issues of the times behind the pulpit. I would ask them... Please don't repeat the news! I get enough of it in my daily life. Even with electronic devices, empty windows seem attempts to fill them with daily news. And like a bunch of alley dogs and alley cats we have a bunch of reporters gathering all the garbage of the times for online display. I am hoping for a little more encouragement this year.

Dealing with perfectionism in an imperfect world?

I have this problem in my life that I've always had since becoming a christian years ago now. It's perfectionism/legalism. Just recently though I have been dealing with an issue at work thats led me to make this post because i just more than anything want some advice and input from people on how to fix this issue. I keep committing what I perceive to be willful sin not even because I want to but because it seems as though it's the only way to get through my job. It all has to do with training thats required for the job. I try to actually do the training properly but this issue is in order to do it properly it places what I perceive to be a huge burden on me. It's actually over something probably most people would perceive to be silly but my mind grapples onto it and it gives me anxiety and guilt from feeling like I'm committing sin. It all has to do with acknowledgements for terms and conditions and stuff. Again i know it's silly but it's just gets to me. I've asked God for help on it but it's just tough for me to deal with because my mind makes me feel like I have to read though and understand one of those things along with find mental loopholes just to get through it. I cant really talk about this issue to people around me cause they'll probably just think I'm crazy. It shines light though on the bigger issue as a whole that there is no escaping sin in this world no matter how hard a person tries to. Jesus himself states that stumbling blocks are inevitable in Matthew 18:7, and Luke 17:1. So if thats the case then how do i deal with this issue. I know our works don't save us and the only way to heaven is through faith in what Jesus Christ did on the cross but I also don't want to sin. I don't want to willfully sin either and I don't want to abuse grace. I can't run away from the issue either because like Jesus said it is inevitable and this is an imperfect world. I try to find ways around issues like this like using the verse talking about food sacrificed to idols and not questioning it for the sake of conscience and doing something similar with this issue which has helped me but is it ok to use idk 100%. To wrap it up how do i live with this issue of not being able to escape future stumbling blocks and battling perfectionism while at the same time not abusing grace? Thanks.

Missouri Governor Declares "Preemptive Emergency" Mobilizing National Guard

There's no actual civil unrest, but there might be soon.


Missouri Executive Order 25-25 declares a State of Emergency and allows the Adjutant General to order service members to aid state officials.

The order comes after the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri National Guard and Missouri Department of Public Safety established a Unified Command to monitor situations across the state and prepare local law enforcement.

Additionally, the order also declares that the Adjutant General may employ necessary equipment to support authorities and provide assistance.

While nationwide protests continue to flare up in response to the Trump administration’s immigration policies, Kehoe said his order is purely precautionary.
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Former Dem VP pick Tim Walz claims China may have world’s ‘moral authority’ after Israel attacks Iran


Does Walz care that there are over a million Muslims in Chinese reeducation camps? I don't understand how the American left brushes aside the evil of Communist regimes.
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Democratic state politician and husband shot dead in targeted attack, Minnesota officials say


Democratic state politician Melissa Hortman and her husband have been killed in what appears to be a ""politically motivated assassination," Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says

Democratic state lawmaker John Hoffman and his wife were also shot, and Walz says he is "cautiously optimistic" of their recovery

In response, the planned protests against Trump have been cancelled as the governor asked for it due to th circumstances.

Jesus Will Be Here, One Taken, and One Left

Jesus will be here soon. It says so in the Bible. Jesus himself says so in Revelation 22:7. But as it says in Matthew 24:36, “But concerning that day and hour [that Jesus will be here,] no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” The best thing to do is to be at your best when he shows up. He may show up tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, next decade, century or millennium, nobody knows.

There’s no taking for granted he will appear when a particular person is alive. That person may be settled in his grave or in God’s Kingdom before Jesus appears. But as it says in Matthew 24:40-41, “...two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left” when Jesus appears. The one who is taken is one who would have passed away before Jesus arrives, and the other one is someone who is around when Jesus appears. Two men who worked in the field, and two women grinding at the mill before one of each is taken.

That suggests that the ones who are left would be going about their business when, Surprise! Jesus appears. But the reality is there are billions of such people, some will have been “taken” and some who will be “left.” Not all may be in the same place as where he arrives, but word would get around in any event. But to simplify things, keeping it to two of each, what type of man in the field, so to speak, will Jesus come across? Will he come across a man who’s been living a moral life, and who asks for forgiveness when he invariably sins, or will he come across a man who just the other day spent his time off attending a hate rally against a hated group of his choice on a wholesale basis? And what of the woman who is grinding in the mill? Will she likewise be living a moral life and asking for forgiveness when she sins, or will he come across a woman who just the other day, as an elected official, would be more than happy to refer to all migrants to her country as “monsters?” Makes no difference to her, if she can get their vote. She may refer to herself as a Christian, but recall in Matthew 2:14-15 that when Jesus was under threat of being slain by King Herod, Joseph took him and Mary to Egypt and stayed there until many years later when it was safe to return to their country upon Herod’s death. Did anyone in Egypt refer to that family as ‘monsters’?

Or go further back to when Joseph found himself in Egypt and was brought to the attention of the Pharoah in Egypt at the time, did the Pharoah say ‘Get this “monster” out of here’? Alright, so the Pharoah after him wasn’t so kind to the Hebrews, and perhaps if he had his way, a big, beautiful wall would have been built around Egypt, preventing outsiders from coming in. But given that the Bible was written based of faith, it is difficult to read into the happenings in the Bible as one would any historical event that is found in secular history books. So let’s go closer to the present…the U.S. could have said ‘keep those monsters out,’ referring to the waves of immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries who were being processed at Ellis Island. But it didn’t, did it? Perhaps at the time, there were enough people who were level-headed enough to know that not everyone, IF anyone, who landed on America’s shores, were ‘monsters’.

So what if Jesus appears and he sees a ‘monster’-hater working in the field, or grinding in a mill? Would he take them up? Seems unlikely if they fail Jesus’ test set forth in Matthew 25:31-46. What would they say if Jesus says, ‘Take these to the Lake of Fire’? would they say ‘Had we known you were coming, we would have changed for your benefit’? Seems unlikely they would get a second chance, particularly when you consider the Parable of the Rich Fool, when God says to the Rich Fool who was planning his future, ‘Fool, your time has come NOW for judgement!’

As it implies in Matthew 24:44, you must be ready come day or night, for you won’t know when Jesus will appear. How many people now, who when faced with hordes of needy people and who are hell-bent to turning them away, will end up being turned away themselves by Jesus if he should hear what they say about the needy, and see how they treat the needy? Who is the real ‘monster’ here?

What is truth?

Joh 18:38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

Pilate's rather blasé inquiry showed a sort f world weary disregard for philosophical musings. What he failed to perceive was that the rhetorical question was asked of he who is truth.

The bible calls four things truth, God the Father,God the Son,, God the Holy Spirit, and the word of God. One might see truth as that which is absolute, unchangeable and defines reality. There can be a difference between something that is true and truth.itself.

I once made a comment is a social setting that all psychology was wrong. When challenged to support my assertion, I said that no psychological theory of human behavior included the concept of sin. Thus not remedy drawn from such an inadequate understanding of human behavior could be anything but random in its efficacy. While my statement could see as true, to consider truth, one has to go to the bible.

. Rom_3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

More than one denomination falls short of truth. However, beyond doctrinal inaccuracies, perhaps are greater failings;

1. Failing to help each member become more like Jesus.
2. Administered as an organizational system whose mechanical nature impedes relationships.
3. Failing to show how to disentangle from the world and the flesh.
4. Presenting Christianity as a Sunday morning activity.

Someone recently intimated a dissatisfaction with the error of a particular denomination. Since we all contribute our own errors, we might have some compassion for a weaker brother, particularly if we are the weaker brother.
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Newsome considers breaking federal law

Newsom floats withholding federal taxes as Trump threatens California


SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday suggested California consider withholding tens of billions in annual federal tax dollars amid reports Donald Trump is preparing funding cuts targeting the state.

Do you know what the difference is?

The President has the authority to stop Federal School grants. And this petulant child does not have the authority to tell the Federal government no

Looks like a product of parents who never told him no

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