North Carolina became the latest state to ban male-born athletes from female sports and gender-transition procedures for minors as the Republican supermajority overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes.

In a daylong override spree, Republican legislators overturned vetoes Wednesday on a half-dozen bills, including measures related to transgender issues and parental rights.

They included House Bill 808, which prohibits cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers and surgeries for those under 18. The Senate voted 27-18 shortly after the House voted 73-46 to enact the bill over the governor’s objections.

Paul thought Jesus was more important, 1 Corinthians 3:

5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

Click to expand...

Paul called Jesus the Lord. Paul was a servant of Jesus.

Hello!

I am sure that the EO group has familiarity of this topic so I am wondering if someone can explain.

But my view can be seen in this video. The idea is that icon veneration (worshipping through the icon) is exactly what the pagans taught and as such was condemned unanimously by the early church.

Login to view embedded media
I look forward to a fruitful discussion!

Watchdogs Call for Key Biden Administration Official to Resign Over 'Litany of Abuses of Public Trust'​

This Article Is In The Public Domain And Doesn't Have Copyright, Please Review The Link Below To View The "Exhaustive" List Not Posted, Yes The Biden Admin Removed The "Exhaustive" List As (Dan O'Donnell) Predicted​

The Complete List of President Trump's Accomplishments​

ByDan O'Donnell
Jan 19, 2021

From WhiteHouse.gov (and reprinted here for archiving purposes because of the likelihood that the Biden Administration will remove it from the White House's site)

Unprecedented Economic Boom​

Before the China Virus invaded our shores, we built the world’s most prosperous economy.

• America gained 7 million new jobs – more than three times government experts’ projections.
• Middle-Class family income increased nearly $6,000 – more than five times the gains during the entire previous administration.
• The unemployment rate reached 3.5 percent, the lowest in a half-century.
• Achieved 40 months in a row with more job openings than job-hirings.
• More Americans reported being employed than ever before – nearly 160 million.
• Jobless claims hit a nearly 50-year low.
• The number of people claiming unemployment insurance as a share of the population hit its lowest on record.
• Incomes rose in every single metro area in the United States for the first time in nearly 3 decades.

Delivered a future of greater promise and opportunity for citizens of all backgrounds.

• Unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and those without a high school diploma all reached record lows.
• Unemployment for women hit its lowest rate in nearly 70 years.
• Lifted nearly 7 million people off of food stamps.
• Poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanic Americans reached record lows.
• Income inequality fell for two straight years, and by the largest amount in over a decade.
• The bottom 50 percent of American households saw a 40 percent increase in net worth.
• Wages rose fastest for low-income and blue collar workers – a 16 percent pay increase.
• African American homeownership increased from 41.7 percent to 46.4 percent.

Brought jobs, factories, and industries back to the USA.

• Created more than 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs.
• Put in place policies to bring back supply chains from overseas.
• Small business optimism broke a 35-year old record in 2018.

Hit record stock market numbers and record 401ks.

• The DOW closed above 20,000 for the first time in 2017 and topped 30,000 in 2020.
• The S&P 500 and NASDAQ have repeatedly notched record highs.

Rebuilding and investing in rural America.

• Signed an Executive Order on Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products, which is bringing innovative new technologies to market in American farming and agriculture.
• Strengthened America’s rural economy by investing over $1.3 billion through the Agriculture Department’s ReConnect Program to bring high-speed broadband infrastructure to rural America.

Achieved a record-setting economic comeback by rejecting blanket lockdowns.

• An October 2020 Gallup survey found 56 percent of Americans said they were better off during a pandemic than four years prior.
• During the third quarter of 2020, the economy grew at a rate of 33.1 percent – the most rapid GDP growth ever recorded.
• Since coronavirus lockdowns ended, the economy has added back over 12 million jobs, more than half the jobs lost.
• Jobs have been recovered 23 times faster than the previous administration’s recovery.
• Unemployment fell to 6.7 percent in December, from a pandemic peak of 14.7 percent in April – beating expectations of well over 10 percent unemployment through the end of 2020.
• Under the previous administration, it took 49 months for the unemployment rate to fall from 10 percent to under 7 percent compared to just 3 months for the Trump Administration.
• Since April, the Hispanic unemployment rate has fallen by 9.6 percent, Asian-American unemployment by 8.6 percent, and Black American unemployment by 6.8 percent.
• 80 percent of small businesses are now open, up from just 53 percent in April.
• Small business confidence hit a new high.
• Homebuilder confidence reached an all-time high, and home sales hit their highest reading since December 2006.
• Manufacturing optimism nearly doubled.
• Household net worth rose $7.4 trillion in Q2 2020 to $112 trillion, an all-time high.
• Home prices hit an all-time record high.
• The United States rejected crippling lockdowns that crush the economy and inflict countless public health harms and instead safely reopened its economy.
• Business confidence is higher in America than in any other G7 or European Union country.
• Stabilized America’s financial markets with the establishment of a number of Treasury Department supported facilities at the Federal Reserve.

Tax Relief for the Middle Class​

Passed $3.2 trillion in historic tax relief and reformed the tax code.

• Signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – the largest tax reform package in history.
• More than 6 million American workers received wage increases, bonuses, and increased benefits thanks to the tax cuts.
• A typical family of four earning $75,000 received an income tax cut of more than $2,000 – slashing their tax bill in half.
• Doubled the standard deduction – making the first $24,000 earned by a married couple completely tax-free.
• Doubled the child tax credit.
• Virtually eliminated the unfair Estate Tax, or Death Tax.
• Cut the business tax rate from 35 percent – the highest in the developed world – all the way down to 21 percent.
• Small businesses can now deduct 20 percent of their business income.
• Businesses can now deduct 100 percent of the cost of their capital investments in the year the investment is made.
• Since the passage of tax cuts, the share of total wealth held by the bottom half of households has increased, while the share held by the top 1 percent has decreased.
• Over 400 companies have announced bonuses, wage increases, new hires, or new investments in the United States.
• Over $1.5 trillion was repatriated into the United States from overseas.
• Lower investment cost and higher capital returns led to faster growth in the middle class, real wages, and international competitiveness.

Jobs and investments are pouring into Opportunity Zones.

• Created nearly 9,000 Opportunity Zones where capital gains on long-term investments are taxed at zero.
• Opportunity Zone designations have increased property values within them by 1.1 percent, creating an estimated $11 billion in wealth for the nearly half of Opportunity Zone residents who own their own home.
• Opportunity Zones have attracted $75 billion in funds and driven $52 billion of new investment in economically distressed communities, creating at least 500,000 new jobs.
• Approximately 1 million Americans will be lifted from poverty as a result of these new investments.
• Private equity investments into businesses in Opportunity Zones were nearly 30 percent higher than investments into businesses in similar areas that were not designated Opportunity Zones.

Massive Deregulation​

Ended the regulatory assault on American Businesses and Workers.

• Instead of 2-for-1, we eliminated 8 old regulations for every 1 new regulation adopted.
• Provided the average American household an extra $3,100 every year.
• Reduced the direct cost of regulatory compliance by $50 billion, and will reduce costs by an additional $50 billion in FY 2020 alone.
• Removed nearly 25,000 pages from the Federal Register – more than any other president. The previous administration added over 16,000 pages.
• Established the Governors’ Initiative on Regulatory Innovation to reduce outdated regulations at the state, local, and tribal levels.
• Signed an executive order to make it easier for businesses to offer retirement plans.
• Signed two executive orders to increase transparency in Federal agencies and protect Americans and their small businesses from administrative abuse.
• Modernized the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the first time in over 40 years.
• Reduced approval times for major infrastructure projects from 10 or more years down to 2 years or less.
• Helped community banks by signing legislation that rolled back costly provisions of Dodd-Frank.
• Established the White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing to bring down housing costs.
• Removed regulations that threatened the development of a strong and stable internet.
• Eased and simplified restrictions on rocket launches, helping to spur commercial investment in space projects.
• Published a whole-of-government strategy focused on ensuring American leadership in automated vehicle technology.
• Streamlined energy efficiency regulations for American families and businesses, including preserving affordable lightbulbs, enhancing the utility of showerheads, and enabling greater time savings with dishwashers.
• Removed unnecessary regulations that restrict the seafood industry and impede job creation.
• Modernized the Department of Agriculture’s biotechnology regulations to put America in the lead to develop new technologies.
• Took action to suspend regulations that would have slowed our response to COVID-19, including lifting restrictions on manufacturers to more quickly produce ventilators.

Successfully rolled back burdensome regulatory overreach.

• Rescinded the previous administration’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which would have abolished zoning for single-family housing to build low-income, federally subsidized apartments.
• Issued a final rule on the Fair Housing Act’s disparate impact standard.
• Eliminated the Waters of the United States Rule and replaced it with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, providing relief and certainty for farmers and property owners.
• Repealed the previous administration’s costly fuel economy regulations by finalizing the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule, which will make cars more affordable, and lower the price of new vehicles by an estimated $2,200.

Americans now have more money in their pockets.

• Deregulation had an especially beneficial impact on low-income Americans who pay a much higher share of their incomes for overregulation.
• Cut red tape in the healthcare industry, providing Americans with more affordable healthcare and saving Americans nearly 10 percent on prescription drugs.
• Deregulatory efforts yielded savings to the medical community an estimated $6.6 billion – with a reduction of 42 million hours of regulatory compliance work through 2021.
• Removed government barriers to personal freedom and consumer choice in healthcare.
• Once fully in effect, 20 major deregulatory actions undertaken by the Trump Administration are expected to save American consumers and businesses over $220 billion per year.
• Signed 16 pieces of deregulatory legislation that will result in a $40 billion increase in annual real incomes.

I found this article "instructive" -- in that I would never have guessed that these historic facts even existed - based on the popular news of today.

============================

NPR​

Capitol Police Suspends 6 Officers, Investigates Dozens More After Capitol Riots​

February 19, 2021
"The investigation into the January 6 attack remains under investigation. Our Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating the actions of 35 police officers from that day. We currently have suspended six of those officers with pay," the department said in a statement.
Capitol Police Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman further directed that any member whose behavior is not in keeping with the department's Rules of Conduct "will face appropriate discipline."

The department "has been actively reviewing video and other open source materials of some USCP officers and officials that appear to be in violation of Department regulations and policies," she said on Jan. 11.

Videos from the day of the attack appear to show some officers escorting rioters inside the building. In one video, USCP officers can be seen opening barricades allowing the mob to enter the Capitol complex without resistance.

=======================

1. The facts above appear to be so solid that they are "actionable" in the case of the officers opening the doors for the visitors.
2. The facts above would make it very very confusing for a number of visitors at the Capitol to somehow "guess" that they should not walk in to the doors opened for them.

To fully believe in God is so much more than just believing God is behind a few things...

God is the creator of all things John chapter 1 tells us -- and that means (as the words say) everything


1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Bible Gateway passage: John 1 - New International Version

The Word Became Flesh - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light...

www.biblegateway.com

So, God created everything of nature...

That means not only the things in nature, but also nature itself, the design of nature -- how nature works -- all aspects of nature!

Anything in it. So, photosynthesis, but more...

Electrical fields/currents... Gravity. Magnetism.

Chemistry.

Every aspect -- all of physics and chemistry.

Therefore all things that happen naturally through the design of nature -- everything that happens in and of physics, chemistry -- is simply Nature doing what God made it to do.

So that all of creation then unfolds and works, like a flower unfolding from a seed, by His design.

Many think (I'm not alone in this) that also at times God intervened during the special preparation of Earth in particular. (for example, He might have chosen to let certain asteroids and comets hit Earth, but not others, deflecting the ones He didn't want to be part of Earth...)

So, then you have both nature operating as God made it to do, and also additionally He intervened at times to make Earth a perfect home for us.

That all is 'creation' and it's also all natural events, including all natural events -- there's no difference! Geology, you name it -- it's all merely part of creation, just like chemistry or gravity, etc.

The entire debates about science vs creationism comes from a mistaken premise: the false premise that if nature works wonderfully for life -- when we see that nature can cause and support living things -- that somehow that is wrongly thought to mean that God didn't do that....

It's an irrational premise really.

Anyone should consider the opposite idea, which makes a lot more sense: God existing would certainly make nature work perfectly to support/give rise to life....

Like we read in Genesis 1:11

11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation..."


That means anyone trying to argue any natural thing (even any evidence of evolution) would somehow disprove God is not believing in God, or perhaps not fully assuming that God is God.... The Creator of all of Nature.

To argue that any evolution would disprove God is very much like trying to argue that the Earth being an oblate sphere proves God doesn't exist (since certain verses read in isolation can be suggested to be read to suggest the Earth is flat, if you come to the text with that idea ahead of time.... but if we read the bible through (instead of only isolated verses) -- full reading -- with more a listening attitude, then we don't miss the meaning in full context.)

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We read in the bible that God uses visions to communicate, more than any other way.

3 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. -- 1 Sam 3:1

Of course, as you know from reading it, the Bible has very many visions in it, not just given only to prophets like Isaiah or Ezekiel, but to very many.

6 he said, “Listen to my words:

“When there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
I speak to them in dreams."

Numbers 12 NIV


As we know, of course, the person who received the revelation from God written down in Genesis chapter 1 was not actually there in person -- the writer was not there in the beginning (Christ was, but not any mortal human!).

So, Genesis chapter 1 is of course revealed to us through a mortal human being who was given a revelation from God...

Genesis chapter 1 has both visually seen parts and also literally spoken words from God, both.

See it --

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

The person receiving this then would see some of it, (as in a vision) -- visually see some key things that happened -- and also hear some spoken words from God, which are in quotation marks for us.

Both.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 1 - New International Version​

So, as you see, we are reading the actual spoken Words from God here -- literally spoken words!!! (They are in quotation marks.)

Let's read some more visions to notice that happening.


Peter’s Vision
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. ...

Bible Gateway passage: Acts 10 - New International Version​

We also read in the Bible over and over someone receiving a vision, but not at first fully understanding it (or not in all ways) (or even sometimes not at all) for a time!


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8 During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.

9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel who was talking with me answered, “I will show you what they are.”

Bible Gateway passage: Zechariah 1 - New International Version​

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So, we can expect it's likely that person given the amazing creation vision in Genesis 1 would not naturally be able to understand every aspect of what he was seeing immediately, but would be given to understand the most important things (or soon): that God created all that is, and made Earth a "good" and a "very good" home for us!....

Let's think about how the person first seeing this vision would not entirely understand every aspect of creation, just like Peter didn't at first understand above....

How could anyone thousands of years ago understand seeing Earth as being entirely a water world for example!?

How could anyone understand seeing an ocean that it meant that all the Earth was for a time just oceans....

How would they be able to know that seeing an ocean vision was about the entire Earth?

They could know -- we can know -- only when God helps us to understand.

Thus in the vision, we are given spoken words to explain this...the passage of time is shown with 'days' with a morning and evening.

That's familiar: morning time and evening time: I can understand this vision now -- it's here on Earth, and this is a day!....

In this way, the person receiving this amazing vision that would have been beyond their comprehension could begin to understand it was Earth he was seeing, being made.

And time is passing. In fact, we read that the reason we live under a wonderful starry sky instead of for instance a blank grey dome overhead is to help us notice the passage of time (in our mortal bodies: that we haven't forever in these bodies, and we should realize time is fleeting here...):

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years..."

Time is passing, Earth is changing, then, the vision conveys to the wondering person seeing these amazing sights...

Of course, God can do all things, and doesn't have to work slowly, but could make Earth in 1 day, or 1 hour.....

But that would be less beneficial to us. It's better if we can notice that God is blessing us with work over time to make Earth a wonderful blessed home (initially) for us....

So, in this vision, creation is shown in a way we can understand.

It's understandable to us mortal humans. According to what people can understand.

For example, when Christ told the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, the words Christ chose for that audience listening at that moment in time (all descendents of Abraham) is that literally-rendered Lazarus goes to be in the "bosom of Abraham" (in the most word for word literal translation):

"And it came to pass, that the poor man died, and that he was carried away by the messengers into the bosom of Abraham—and the rich man also died, and was buried;"
Luke 16:22

Of course, heaven isn't mainly just to be at Abraham's side, nor is Abraham the central gathering person around which heaven will be... But Christ spoke in a way his listeners could understand at that moment in time.

So God also spoke words in Genesis 1 to make it clear to us that Earth was being formed/changed over time.

And the main thing we get repeated 7 times: that our home was made to be "good" for us. "Very good"....

The spoken words are enough to help make it clear -- God made our home Earth -- everything. And made it wonderful, a truly wonderful place to be.

----------

Here it's good to be sure to be clear -- visions aren't like a mere video recording or mere photograph. (it would be a disrespectful cartoon version of God to claim so!)

Of course God didn't need to set up a recorder/camera and record creation scenes so He would be able to later replay the recording for the person given this revelation in Genesis 1....

Instead, all visions are actually given from God -- He creates the vision for us.

The vision itself is created.

Made in a way so that we can (eventually) understand what we never could otherwise understand.

An actual video recording would have been even harder to comprehend we can guess....too distracting with too many details that aren't the main point.

A vision is always a kind of stylized representation of something important. A created scene.

As a parallel analogy, visions are more like (analogy) something drawn by hand or such -- in analogy, more like an drawing or animation drawing than like a video recording or photo from a camera, in the sense they are entirely created and won't have too many endless details that are beside the point being communicated.

They are stylized representations you could say. They are like something, instead of being a photo recording of something.

The Genesis 1 revelation is such a wonderful vision of course, and reading it can lift us up out of our base mind into a higher state of mind, ready to hear God's words to come in the scripture....

We should always take a time to sometimes read to just listen to the chapter, without thinking about any debate or doctrinal thing we heard, etc.

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That's the main best thing we must gain from Genesis 1 -- just pure listening to hear and be lifted up, ready to continue reading the word....

I hope if anyone ever listens to anything about Genesis 1, they will take from this that we should occasionally read even this chapter we've read 10 or 20 times already with just pure reading to just listen (to lay aside all previous and other stuff, even our own ideas or doctrines, and just purely listen to God's word). It's so wonderful!

Hello brothers and sisters,

I need prayers regarding an issue at work please.

I own a commercial cleaning business, and one of the jobs we clean for is a Golf Club, I have a particular worker who I let go today, named Rose.

She was getting very close with the managers and was making me look bad and our other cleaners who also work there look bad and putting us down, I believe she was doing this in an attempt to get hired by them or take the job for herself.

Please pray that nothing she says or does will effects us in anyway, and that we keep this job and that she can find another job and leave us all alone, she will be there tomorrow to get her belongings, but I have a feeling she will also try to talk to management and explain her side/maybe try to get hired by them.

Thank you

Biopsy today of lesion on neck to check if cancer. Prayer that this is not cancer. That technician is accurate in doing the test.

I have a sense there may be enough such stories that it may be efficient to collect them together. In the past there have already been threats to Alvin Bragg and the judge in that case. The Utah man who pulled a gun on FBI agents and was shot dead was first contacted over threats to Bragg. And probably several more in the past. But fresh today:

Texas woman arrested after threats to Trump judge Tanya Chutkan​

Abigail Jo Shry, 43, allegedly phoned the court in Washington DC on 5 August and used a racial slur in her message for US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
[ETA: the criminal complaint related to the OP says she started her message “Hey, you stupid slave [n-word]"]

In the call, Ms Shry allegedly told the judge, who is overseeing an election conspiracy case against Mr Trump: "You are in our sights, we want to kill you."
Prosecutors say Ms Shry added: "If Trump doesn't get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you."

She allegedly also threatened to kill congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a black Texas Democrat who is running for mayor of Houston.

[She also made more general threats against all Democratic lawmakers in DC and the LGBT community]
[Story also notes that Trump supporters have been revealing personal details of the Georgia grand jury members, and there have been social media threats against them and Fani Willis]

Good-News/Bad-News Approach to Evangelism

In Matthew 5, the sermon on the mount, Jesus pronounced 9 beatitudes and not a single curse to attract the listeners.

On probably another occasion described in Luke 6, Jesus pronounced 4 beatitudes and 4 woes. None of the woes mentioned death or hell.

Jesus sent out the twelve apostles in Luke 9:

6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

Click to expand...

No bad news there.

Jesus sent out 72 in Luke 10. This time some bad news was mentioned:

10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Click to expand...

Jesus explicitly mentioned hell or ge-henna in Luke 12:

4“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Click to expand...

Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 and mentioned punishment in Hades.

Jesus had to talk about hell because of gradual revelation. God used him to finally reveal to us the concept of hell.

Now, what about the apostles? After Jesus' ascension, did they threaten non-believers with hell in evangelism?

Never.

Should we threaten non-believers with hell in evangelism?

I don't think so.

Should we tell non-believers about hell in evangelism?

If you can do it lovingly, then yes, but only occasionally. When you judge others, remember that you are judging yourself by the same standard as well.

Genesis 1:

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Click to expand...

13And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

Click to expand...

16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Click to expand...

I understood from the above that God made planet earth on Day 3 and the sun on Day 4. Accordingly from the biblical witnessed-time's perspective, the earth showed up before the sun.

On the other hand, from the modern-day astronomy space-time perspective, the sun existed before the earth was formed.

I see them both as true, depending on the time perspective.

See How old is the earth?.

SCRIPTURE: One day some people said to Jesus, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?” Jesus responded, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”' - Luke 5:33-39.

LESSON: The Lord only states that it is impossible to run both the old and new orders concurrently. The Lord Jesus represents a new order that replaces the old order of works (the more you do, the more you feel righteous and acceptable before God). Even the Lord states that when the bridegroom is taken away, the sons of the bridal rooms will have to fast. Fasting is still necessary today. Fasting is still relevant today, however, it should be carried out as directed by the Holy Spirit, the Game Changer of the new order, rather than mechanically and based on man-made methods to please God. The outcome will be amazing if you let the Lord Holy Spirit guide you on WHEN to fast (time and frequency), HOW to fast (what to put away), HOW LONG, and WHAT to do during the fast.

PRAYER: Lord, teach us to fast efficiently!

YouTube Channel Video Devo
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“Letting Go & Letting God”
1 Peter 5:7
NIV- Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
NLT- Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

No matter how hard I try to submit and surrender myself to God each day, I find myself taking over shortly after and starting to worry about life all day long. Why do I find it so hard to let go and let God be in total control? So many days, I find myself worried and having concerns about so many things. I watch my wife and girls work through various things in their lives and I try to think about how I can be a better husband and father.

Aside from thinking about them, I often think of all the things I need to take care of and accomplish. While I’m only given one day at a time, I find myself worrying about things days ahead and even weeks or months.

When I get to the point where I can fully focus on God and all His provisions and remember that I need to just let go, I finally feel at peace. I come to a place where I realize I cannot control things and I cannot figure everything out. Why am I always trying to be in control of so much and figure things out?

Friends, do you find yourselves struggling with these things I struggle with daily? Are you finding yourselves filled with anxiety and stress and worry almost all day, every day? So many of us in various ways.

We must make it a point to go to God and submit and surrender to Him and allow Him lead us and take these burdens from us. It’s hard to let go and let God be in control because so often we feel we need to be in control. Cast all your anxiety on Him. Give all your worries to Him. I like both translations here and they are great at giving a different perspective on this passage.

Letting go and letting God is hard to do! It is not an easy task because we so often want to take care of things in our own way. We get overwhelmed and stressed and wonder why things aren’t better. God wants us to give these worries and concerns to Him as He promises to lead us and give us peace. He cares for us and wants the best for our lives.

We need to practice so much more of letting go and letting God!

From the very beginning, the start of the universe, there was a collection, of energy only, a kind of sun, but since energy weighs something, it collapsed under its own weight, that's why we have gravity too, because we have a kind of momentum from the collapse, you can't make something out of nothing, so we needed this collapse to have gravity at all, and energy went in orbits, so when this collection of energy, started to cool down a little bit, it became different types of petrified energy, what we call mass today, iron, stone, and so on, that is why if mass is not fed with a constant flow of energy from suns, that it becomes petrified only over time,

quite special really, suddenly there was a collection of energy just, in an infinite, empty space, it's gravity, too, that makes us have life, because it works a bit like a will, it pushes forward, so if you have a planet then, with warm water, and a stable environment, over time, this energy will push forward and sprout into plants, after plants comes more advanced life, such as animals, and humans, so everywhere in the universe where there is warm water and a stable environment, then life will sprout, plants have souls too, the roots themselves, same with trees too, but it is primarily this "will" that makes it sprout,

that brings me to then, why aren't we just brain dead, wandering around, not self-aware? Yeah, I think this energy is alive a little, it's not just flames, the whole foundation of everything that exists is that it's alive, was there a god who made this collection of energy to begin with? Well, a being like that would have to have created himself then, but maybe that's what makes a god special too, that he just creates himself out of nothing

Brian Houston, who founded Hillsong in 1983 in Sydney, has been found not guilty "... of concealing his father's sexual abuse of a child."


It seems he is still working as a pastor in Sydney, but he no longer has the profile he did when he was the leader of Hillsong. I don't know which church he is based at or whether he is only doing what might be called PA events.

Where is Brian Houston now? While he awaits trial, Brian Houston is still practicing as a pastor in Sydney, Australia. On Thursday, May 18, 2023, he announced via Instagram that he would be “talking through” some issues that had been brought up by FX’s four-part documentary series, The Secrets of Hillsong.

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The Fairfax County superintendent’s decision to defy Virginia’s newly released policy on transgender students isn’t sitting well with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

The governor’s office said the Fairfax County School Board is “expected to follow the law” after Superintendent Michelle Reid said the district would continue to address students by their preferred names and pronouns and allow them to use facilities “consistent with their gender identity.”

Greetings everyone!

I am delighted to join this wonderful online Christian community and introduce myself to all of you. In this journey of faith, I find myself as a relatively new believer in Christ. Despite growing up in a household deeply rooted in Christianity, attending Sunday services and even midweek services, and being educated with a Christian curriculum through homeschooling, it's only been recently that I've truly embraced my belief in God and Jesus Christ.

Navigating the sea of denominations within Christianity has left me with more questions than certainty about where I belong. Currently, I'm uncertain about my specific denomination. My quest for a physical church and a supportive community has been a struggle. While I do accompany my father to his local church, integrating into that community or finding complete joy in my experiences there has proven to be quite challenging.

With a heart full of hope and an eagerness to connect, I have sought solace in ChristianForums.com. My purpose here is twofold: to forge connections with like-minded individuals and to nurture my faith, ensuring that even if I cannot find a physical church that perfectly aligns with me, I can remain united with the true essence of the church, the Christian people.

I am genuinely excited about the prospect of getting acquainted with all of you, discovering more about the faith, and embarking on a journey of spiritual growth guided by our unbreakable bond with God. Thank you for welcoming me into this virtual congregation. Here's to the shared exploration of faith and the strength we can cultivate together through the grace of God.

I've noticed as of late that on Fox News they are now putting some doubt or challenges to proTrump claims made on their shows.
I presume it is to avoid getting sued like they did for Dominion Voting Systems.

In particular you now have Steve Doocy completely changing his persona from times before and now being the "devil's advocate".
I guess of the three hosts, he was choose to take this role and that it wasn't him personally waking up to the proTrump nonsense.

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This seems a good outcome to the DVS suing of FoxNews.
But I am amazed about how people are either praising Duucy or annoyed by him (depending on what side of the fence you sit). Because it is obvious to me this isn't Steve Duucy's doing. It is a new network policy. He is just playing the part he is told to play. Much like the good guys and bad guys in professional wrestling. They are playing a character, they are not being themselves.

House GOP trio introduces bill repealing DC Home Rule Act​

“The Constitution places the authority and responsibility of DC administration with the Congress — not with a DC Mayor or a DC City Council. Congress needs to reclaim its Constitutional authority and make our Nation’s capital safe again, which is why I’m introducing the Seat of Government Act to repeal the DC Home Rule Act,” [Rep Ogles] continued.

The bill, which is not likely to pass, was introduced by Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) and cosponsored by Reps. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).

From Article I - Section 8 Powers of Congress

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States

This quixotic bill at least lives up to the conservative tenet of going back to the ideas of the founders.

Okay, so the situation is kinda not a fun thing to think about but I'd like to get some feedback on it.

I've been leading a Bible study at my apartment complex since March. I've had problems since we started.

At one point, people were not showing up to Bible study because they were having conflicts with other people in the Bible study group (that were unrelated to the Bible study itself). I live in subsidized housing so it is a place where people have a lot of problems. I was trying to get at the root of the conflicts so people could make up so everyone could come to the Bible study. This went on for longer than a month just trying to get at the bottom of the conflicts. One person would tell me one thing and another person would tell me something completely different. They were not talking to each other. I asked my pastor for advice since it was getting a bit much. He asked me if there was a specific person who was causing most of the conflicts. And after thinking for a short time, I realized that there were several people who were not showing up to the Bible study because of one person. So I had to have a hard conversation I didn't want to have with that person. I told them they could come to Bible study but they had to apologize to those three people who weren't showing up to Bible study because of them. I never knew who was totally telling the truth and it is possible no one was telling the whole truth. But I figured that there were three different people who were not coming to Bible study because of her so she was likely at fault. Here's where it gets sad. She did not want to apologize to them. She sort of apologized to one person but it wasn't actually apologizing for doing something wrong. I don't think she really knew why she had to apologize to another person. I think I told both her and him to talk about why she had to apologize. She never apologized to him. And then she had a major conflict with another woman who I told to apologize to. Then days later she died. Apparently, she overdosed on something. I don't know what she overdosed on, but I know she was on some pretty heavy-duty painkillers as she had a lot of health problems. She was talking with another person who used to come to the Bible study but stopped when I told the woman she had to apologize to those other people some things she had to do if she died.

Now my question: Given I don't know what the woman who died was thinking, I don't know:
1) If she was living in unrepentant sin when she died.
2) If she died by suicide.
3) If telling her she had to apologize to those other people to be back in Bible study is what led to her dying by suicide because it may have originally been her idea to have the Bible study and she really liked it, but she didn't want to apologize.

In other words, is it my fault?

Hi.

I am just wondering what the Orthodox (and variants) think of traditional contemporary worship music that is sung in many Evangelical churches today? I understand that the Orthodox generally do chants (which are beautiful!) but what do Orthodox think of contemporary worship music?

Here is one that I like (especially the lyrics):

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An Australian woman is suspected of poisoning her in-laws by serving them beef wellington prepared with toxic death cap mushrooms. An Australian woman is under investigation after serving her former in-laws a lunch laced with poisonous mushrooms, killing three and putting another in critical condition.

Is there more to the story? I’m curious if those in Australia have a clearer picture on this event. How in the heck did those mushrooms get in the food. And why were her or her children not harmed? Any thoughts or info?

Why do democrats and the left at large WANT Iran to be a nuclear armed adversary? Why do they want that so badly?

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At the end of Oct. Or beginning of Nov 22,I repented and believed in Jesus death and resurrection for my sins. I was aware that my desires had changed towards my sins and I really felt that I had faith. It faded but I thought Jesus doesn’t change so he’ll be back/is still with me. A few months later, I felt that I believed stronger that Jesus died for me. The faith in the cross was stronger still than when I first believed. The love I felt lasted about 2 or 3 weeks and was wonderful!
The thing that is unsettling me now is, I don’t feel anything of any kind (Other than feeling unsettled). It’s not that I don’t believe in God . I just can’t seem to feel either way about anything, like when a loved one dies and you can’t understand why you’re not grieving and just feel emotionally numb. I feel that I should be feeling more love to Jesus. one of the first things I came across in the bible after I repented and believed, was 1 Corinthians : 1:9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The words God is faithful brought joy and comfort in an instant! I was thinking of that and of Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;
I am wondering if The Lord is telling me to diligently read the bible and not wait for comfort to come upon me before I do. I am a terrible procrastinator. I often joke that I was going to procrastinate today, but I’ll wait ‘till tomorrow or another day. I hate being like that.
I am wondering if I’m being told to pursue Christ however unsettled I feel and pray more, and that that is what’s meant by “waiting on The Lord”.