4 COMMON PROGRESSIVE MISTAKES IN INTERPRETING THE GREAT COMMISSION:
(1) They often treat it as a call to serve the needy rather than as a call to proselytize and convert others.
It is a call to "make disciples" of Jesus--disciples who embrace His mission and teaching.

(2) They often duck its implication that unbelievers need to be taught Jesus' atoning death and resurrection.
Jesus succinctly states His mission in Matthew 20:28: "The Son of Man has come not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many."
The same atonement teaching of Jesus is found in Mark 10:45 and throughout John's Gospel and the rest of the New Testament.
Jesus rebuffs Peter's opposition to His mission of atonement: "Get behind me, Satan; ... for you are not on God's side but on man's side (Matthew 16;22)."

(3) They often duck its clear implication that unbelievers should be taught to worship Jesus.
"When they saw Him, they worshiped Him." The implicit mandate to teach new disciples to worship Him is implicit in His promise, "Remember. I am with you aways, even till the end of the age (28:20)" and His prior statement, "Where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst (18:20)."

(4) They often duck its implication that converts need an intimate personal relationship with Jesus.
If Jesus is present to be worshiped in the gathered community, then the relationship established by this worship is an intimate personal one. Jesus makes this clear by repeating this saying 3 times in our Gospels: on the Day of Judgment, He will tell some believers who thought they were serving him to get lost:
"Depart from Me; I never knew you (Matthew 7:23; 25:11-12; Luke 13:27)."
The phrase "I never knew you" clearly means "I never had an intimate personal relationship with you."

This essential personal relationship requires that we love Him even more than our families:
"Whoever loves (their family) more than me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:37)" and cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26-27)."
Woke progressives for whom Jesus is little more than an organizing principle for ethical living and the pursuit of social justice can hardly be said to love Jesus more than their families. The kind of unrivaled love Jesus envisages is intimately personal and passionate.
Note that, for Jesus, failure to satisfy both teachings disqualifies one from the status as a true follower of Jesus.

The Risen Jesus poetically portrays this intimate personal relationship as feasting with Jesus, and Jesus feasting with us.
"Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. Whoever hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into them and feast with them and they with me (Revelation 3:20)."
Failure to establish such an intimate relationship makes believers "lukewarm" and warrants the risen Lord's rejection:
"Because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth (3:16)."

In John Jesus powerfully stresses the need for an intimate personal relationship with Him:
"I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father (John 10:14)."
"Those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them AND REVEAL MYSELF TO THEM (John 14:21.)"
Similarly, Paul longs to know Christ personally, not just to know ABOUT Him: "I want to know Christ (Philippians 3:10)."

My parish is celebrating our parish patron on the feast of Saint John the Baptist coming up on 6/25, the announcement says there will be a Mass and picnic at one of the local parks and it'll be the only Mass of the day—none at either of the parishes (or main parish or the mission parish nearby). I was just curious what exactly needs to happen, if anything, for a priest to celebrate Holy Mass outside?

There will inevitably be a lot of people since they're essentially combining five Masses by not offering any of the usual scheduled Masses.

One For Israel Messianic Jewish Movement in Israel

ONE FOR ISRAEL is an initiative of native-born Israelis on the forefront of high-tech media evangelism, proclaiming salvation to Israel, raising up spiritual leaders through ONE FOR ISRAEL’s Bible College and equipping them with the tools they need to transform our communities.

OUR MESSIAH JESUS HAS BEEN​

THE BEST KEPT SECRET AMONG THE JEWISH PEOPLE​

BUT TODAY, a group of native-born Israelis are bringing the Gospel Light back to Israel again. Using innovative methods and technologies, ONE FOR ISRAEL is sending God’s Word out again from Zion throughout the world proclaiming the Gospel of Messiah.

“As an Israeli Messianic Jew, I wake up in the morning with a passion to bring the Good News of Jesus to my Arab brothers…I know without a doubt that the Lord’s heart is for us to be united in Jesus as the one new man.”
20% of Israel’s nine million citizens are Arabs, most of whom are Muslim, and 20% within that number are nominally Christian.
Only a fraction of that number are born-again believers.

Hi,

I was raised and identify as a Christian, however I regretfully have not been the most committed to my faith. I am at a stage in my life where I feel ready to fully embrace Jesus Christ and His teaching.

Unfortunately, I have never read the Bible: I have read the four gospels but feel daunted by the scope of the book and do not know how or where to begin. Is it really as simple as starting with Genesis from the Old Testament and just reading straight through, or are there different approaches/orders that are recommended for novices like myself? Also, is there supplementary material I should study concurrently with my Bible reading, or is the Bible sufficient?

Thank you for your help. My questions may sound silly, but I am new to this and want to really maximize my learning and experience from Bible study.

You’ll have to look it up on Yahoo news. Some profanity in the interview.

Can people please pray for me? I'm manic again and have been spending money like crazy. I even spent what was supposed to be my rent money on something extremely stupid that I didn.'t need. I'm telling my wife tonight and my mom isn't going to be happy (it's her rent money i rent off of her. She luckily at least gets over $300 from the government or she would be even more unhappy)

I have barely been sleeping for months now which isn't helping the episode go away. I'm unhappy with my wife (we've been fighting nonstop since this episode began) and honestly I just want to give up. God can hopefully help because nobody else can at this moment.

I've started an ecommerce business where I sell products on Amazon.com and I really enjoy this business venture.
Amazons platform essentially makes my products available to anyone who has an amazon account in the USA & at the same time allows me to work normal hours to have time left over for family/other things. My old business was all consuming so this new career/ life style change as been great for my family and I.

The lingering question I have in the back of my mind is about Amazons views on Abortion and miscellaneous other things. Example: I've read they compensate employees for abortion travel and I'm sure there are other things I don't agree with that they support/practice.

The question I have is, is there any Biblical / Moral issue with Christians selling products on Amazon/Doing business with amazon (or any other business for that matter) when we are aware of practices they partake in that are against our beliefs?

I'm just looking for some other Christian's biblical perspective on this.

Thank you!

To Singles struggling:

Truths:
We know it's never too late.
If it doesn't happen then that's good, I was called to a different path.
There will always be singles available.
There's a lot to be thankful for & enjoy.
It is wrong to be upset, not because it makes us feel bad, but because it is sin & unfaithful to God.
We know God works miracles. Maybe it's just a little bit longer. Good things take time.
We know marriage doesn't satisfy.
We know God has called everyone to different paths according to his beautiful design we may not understand in the moment.
We know we should do everything without complaining, but with joy as a form of praise & thankfulness.
We know we were chosen by God & promised to him & that is sufficient.
We know God is always good.
We know there will still be a hole even if married, although maybe it'd be a smaller hole.
We know we don't know if I never date & get married, so there's no use pretending I know better than God.
We know God's immense love for us even tho we feel inadequate.
We know how he has given people to love us & us to love so we can experience love even tho we want marriage love.
We know he has given us other things to enjoy than love.
Everything works for God's glory, & because we are united to him in Christ, our glory.

How will we know when the great tribulation will start?

Hello all

I just wanted to put a few of my thoughts down here on the forums taught to me by God, I don't mind if others dont agree but i just want to share my point of view and what ive learned...

God is almighty. He loves us all no matter what sins we've done in the past.

I feel that love and understanding of others should be our top priority in life, we should never judge others because we haven't lived their life, we don't understand the complexity of their minds, their experiences, their feelings, their fears and why they do the things they do. Remember that we are not our thoughts we are higher than our thoughts. Just because we think something, does not make it so. We should respect one another and not pull others down we do not agree with, we're all human no one is better than anyone else. People do things we don't agree with, all we can do is live our life and trust God's plan for ourselves. We should never compare ourselves to others, we're all special. We all have something to give to others, we're all good at something. Some are smarter in some ways than others, but we all have a speciality we should use for good and God.

Don't assume things about others, always find out facts before jumping to conclusions as sometimes, (I don't know if this happens to anyone else by the way), but I feel God tests others I meet through me... im very quiet and sometimes people, I feel,mistake my quietness for ignorance or that I'm hiding something sinister. I'm quiet because im shy, respectful to others and I value others opinion, I like listening to others, im humble and sometimes silence speaks more than words.

Ive looked into narcisistic personality disorder and how it affects people with it. These poor souls have convinced themselves into thinking their's is the only opinion that matters and have an unreasonable sense of their own importance, they can be very selfish, they need Gods help very much so, its very hard to reverse and they dont listen to other's opinion as they're always looking for their version of perfection. Hopefully because God IS perfect they'd listen to him. I want to help others and the first step is understanding their problems. We all have unique battles to face both in the world and within ourselves, and God helps us along the way. I feel a good first step is to remember your thoughts arnt always facts, just because a lot of people hold the same opinion they feel it adds more weight to something, however sometimes everyone is wrong...only God is right.

Things happen in our lives that we don't like. Life is grossly unfair sometimes...we have the rich living their best life and we have a lot of poor people suffering in silence and in poverty. God can't control our actions or the actions of others and sometimes things happen without warning. I know God watches over all of us. We're not all robots under Gods command...we wouldnt be free. He gave us all free will, he guides us all if we love one another and him, he shows us things to test us sometimes and he tries to help us become more like his son Jesus. If everything was perfect in our lives and if we lived forever here on Earth we wouldn't need to go to heaven, we'd already be there.

Life is a test of our faith, those who push themselves to the top at the expense of others will be judged unfavourably, if you love others and put God first, its like a guarantee that your life has meaning and purpose. By sinning your whole life and not listening to what God trys to tell you, its a risk, a very big risk. Its a risk we shouldn't take, no one is sure about what happens when we die, wouldn't it be wiser to inherit a place in heaven through Jesus Christ then to cast it all away and not listen to God's message of love and peace. Jesus loves us all so much that he died for our sins in the most brutal and painful way possible, he was blameless and he made the ultimate sacrifice for us, not because of greed or selfishness but because he loves us all! And then he rose again! no man can do this only God can do this!

God forgives all sins you just have to realise this and stop sinning willingly, if you know full well what you are doing is wrong, why do it? No one is beyond redemption...no one. Everyone has the power to be strong in faith even if your body is weak. You can accomplish anything with God...if you are pure hearted and your motives are true to God. Let God strengthen you, no harm can come to your soul with God at your side, your body will wither away and die but your soul will live forever with God, you don't have to be afraid of anything. Suffering is temporary, you dont have to be scared once God is in your life, it may not seem like it, but the reward at the end is worth it, we have no idea how much love and warmth and belonging you have with God, all are welcome...he knows everything about each and every one of us, he created us all, after all, he knows our pasts, our futures, our feelings, what we choose and why... everything. He wants us all to be by his side, but he knows many will reject him but those that join him in the kingdom of heaven he will cherish forever, he knows the outcome of everything, God planned it all from the start of existence, God is perfect, God is love. Praise the almighty God and his Son Jesus Christ Hallelujah!

The devil influences people on Earth but with God nothing can harm you. Gods armour is impenetrable. Innocents suffer, why? how can God let this happen? it is not God it is the sin we let into the world. Why do we sin? to impress others? to fit in? selfishness? Its not worth it in the end, make a stand and be unlike what is in 'fashion' at the time and dont pay attention to what others are doing. These days a lot of people generally do whatever they want regardless of whether they should... life without God is chaos. People influence others. People can justify anything in their minds on issues regarding what's morally right and wrong. Remember, God is perfect, no man or woman can compare. God is always right. He should always come first in everything we do. He made us all and he's very real, not just in our minds, trust me! What is seen on Earth comes from the transient world we let sin into, what is unseen is eternal. We could never conclusively prove God exists or doesn't exist through science, God has thought of everything he is perfect.

Never harm others...physically, emotionally in anyway. Put yourself in others shoes not because God tells you to in scripture but because you could have been the other person in that position, how would you feel if roles were reversed? When you sin it affects not only youself but the other person on the recieving end...revenge, hate and anger may be on the minds of the victim this is the aftermath of sin. Learn to forgive and forget, understand when you're in that position on the recieving end of sin to turn the other cheek...God is forgiving and we should be too.

That thing you've been thriving for your whole life, that one thing that slips through your fingers everytime...you don't need it, all you need is God's love. In heaven, that thing you wanted here on Earth can't even compare. Life is hard, it would be nice with that thing you wanted, but do you really need it? try to think that if situations were different the thing might never have been there to recieve in the first place, so dont worry that you dont get what you want on Earth. Others have lived before you without it, what makes you more privileged than them...we are all children of God.

When you are feeble you are strong, when you have nothing and life has taken everything from you...God is at his closest to you. When you see no hope of a better future, God protects you...hes always there he won't let you take a burden alone. He loves us so much...we are his children, he'll NEVER leave us. Your relationship with God should be that he's the Father and we are the child, he knows better than us...he sees what we do not see, we know it is to protect us, he should be respected and feared to prevent us from sinning becuase he doesnt want us to fail and make mistakes.

I've made mistakes, anger at others has sometimes overwhelmed me, and im far too hard on myself, i havn't been well in the last few weeks but with God at the core of my life now I have great understanding and peace. My love for my wife and our daugther and all my family members shines through, I never want to stray from God and I know I dont have to worry about anything because God is watching over me and my family at all times.

God is perfect you can't deny him, with his help I'm becoming wiser everyday, God never changes and neither should we once we've found him in our lives. I feel the world overcomplicates things, i just want to put my opinion accross to share what ive been through and shown by God in my life. He has given me so much wisdom everything I've said here God has shown me in some way or another, hes shown me some amazing things, I'm just spreading his word....I dont want wealth or fame, i dont want anything in return, I just want to help God save his children in these dark times. I hope this helps someone and makes them realise there's more than what we see here on Earth.

I get these religious experiences from time to time usually when I'm tired, sort of like visions gifted to me. I don't know who I am or if I'm special to other Christians, I know im James and I know I love God and everyone he has made regardeless of their actions, afterall hate the sin not the sinner, I pray for all who are suffering in the world at the moment and I wish everyone the best.

God bless

Spreading love and happiness to all

James

How do you make sense of life when life doesn't make much sense? What do you do when the events of life just seem so stupid and nonsensical that they don't seem to have much of a point and you're just longing for your far better heavenly home? Sometimes it's so hard to understand what God is doing and what His will is, despite praying so much for His will to be done. How do you come to terms with what is His will and let go of the "what if this or that had happened?" and the self-blame that accompanies you when things seem to go not so well?

SACRAMENTO —
Gov. Gavin Newsom took his feud with Gov. Ron DeSantis to new heights on Monday, seemingly threatening him with kidnapping charges after California officials say South American migrants were sent to Sacramento by the state of Florida

Sixteen migrants from Venezuela and Colombia were transported from Texas to New Mexico and flown on a chartered jet to Sacramento, where they were dropped off Friday at a church, Newsom said.

On Monday, a plane carrying 20 migrants arrived in Sacramento. Both groups were flown by the same contractor and were carrying documents indicating that their transportation involved the state of Florida, according to officials with the California Department of Justice.


I think labelling it as "kidnapping" is a bit of a stretch.

If the US Federal government is allowed to do catch & release style programs and dump people off in red states in a van with no prospects and nowhere to go and that's not called kidnapping...it's even less so for people to flown via private charter jet and dropped off in a city that boasts being a "sanctuary city" and has gone on records as welcoming migrants.

Dirty move by the GOP?, yes.

But is it highlighting the hypocrisy of blue cities that are far removed from the problem?, also yes.

“They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.” (Jeremiah 19:5)

Question for the controversial theology forum: How did something that happened not enter God's mind in advance?

• Gas-Light - manipulate (someone) using psychological methods into questioning their own sanity or powers of reasoning.


I wanted to ask in this section how some of you personally deal with Sociopaths that use gaslighting and deceptive mind games to make you question your reality and harass you. Satanic / witchcraft people love to do this and also people who have really suppressed their conscience past the point of no return. They think that they are being slick and sneaky because they are doing it covertly.

(The worst is when someone in The Church does it to you. I had a young priest when I was Eastern Orthodox who did this to me. He would make fun of me in a low key mocking way and so would some of the parishioners. It Was Soul Crushing and disappointing.)

Do you call them out ?

How do you confront it and win in a Christian way etc ?


It even happens on this forum sometimes.
Any advice or personal experiences would be appreciated. Thanks.

I think we can all agree that God is sovereign. This thread is meant to try to explore the extent of His sovereignty. So to start, I pose these questions.

Does God know every action man might freely choose? If so, can He let man do that action if it suits His purpose? Also, can He intervene to prevent man from performing that action?

I've been saying this until I was blue in the face for years, and people would roll their eyes and think to themselves, "This guy is a right-wing conspiracy nut---totally off his rocker."

Well, here's an article written by a former Congressman, that tells the story much, much better than I ever could:

This one is Catholic.

Fortunately, the anticipated surge in illegal border crossings with the lifting of Title 42 didn't happened.

Since the CDC’s Title 42 public health Order lifted and the Biden-Harris Administration’s comprehensive plan to manage the border went into full effect on May 12, DHS has continued to experience a significant reduction in encounters at the Southwest Border.

As a result of planning and execution—which combined stiffer consequences for unlawful entry with a historic expansion of lawful pathways and processes—unlawful entries between ports of entry along the Southwest Border have decreased by more than 70 percent since May 11. DHS has overseen significant expansions in lawful pathways even as we have repatriated a significant number of migrants.

From May 12 to June 2, 2023, DHS repatriated over 38,400 noncitizens under Title 8 authorities, including single adults and families, to more than 80 countries.

...

Was thinking about it, yesterday, and a little today, took only a few seconds today for it to hit me, you can send out some invisble dust in front of the light-beam, a countinous spray of dust, non-harmful, and the light hits it, it was there in front of me all the time, was a little hard to find a solution for it, a way to sort of, stop the light-beam

The topic's passage is a little bit difficult to deal with. It says Nebuchadnezzar will level the fortress island of Tyre and that Tyre will never be rebuilt, but neither thing happened.

Ezekiel 26:1-14 On the first day of the...month of the eleventh year of our exile, the LORD spoke to me. 2 "Son of man," he said, "this is what the people in the city of Tyre are cheering about. They shout, 'Jerusalem is shattered! Her commercial power is gone! She won't be our rival any more!'

3 "Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: I am your enemy, city of Tyre. I will bring many nations to attack you, and they will come like the waves of the sea. 4 They will destroy your city walls and tear down your towers. Then I will sweep away all the dust and leave only a bare rock. 5 Fishermen will dry their nets on it, there where it stands in the sea. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. The nations will plunder Tyre, 6 and with their swords they will kill those who live in her towns on the mainland. Then Tyre will know that I am the LORD." 7 The Sovereign LORD says, "I am going to bring the greatest king of all—King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia—to attack Tyre. He will come from the north with a huge army, with horses and chariots and with cavalry. 8 Those who live in the towns on the mainland will be killed in the fighting. The enemy will dig trenches, build earthworks, and make a solid wall of shields against you. 9 They will pound in your walls with battering rams and tear down your towers with iron bars. 10 The clouds of dust raised by their horses will cover you. The noise of their horses pulling wagons and chariots will shake your walls as they pass through the gates of the ruined city. 11 Their cavalry will storm through your streets, killing your people with their swords. Your mighty pillars will be thrown to the ground. 12 Your enemies will help themselves to your wealth and merchandise. They will pull down your walls and shatter your luxurious houses. They will take the stones and wood and all the rubble, and dump them into the sea. 13 I will put an end to all your songs, and I will silence the music of your harps. 14 I will leave only a bare rock where fishermen can dry their nets. The city will never be rebuilt. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."

I have a question - not intending to be an argument, nor criticism. Just seeking information from Catholics.

Has there ever been a Pope who resigned from the Catholic faith, to no longer be a Catholic ?

Or left Christianity ? Or left and chose another religion?

Thanks for any information.

Thank you.

Jeremiah 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

God isn't making a covenant with the world, He is only making the covenant with the House of Israel/the Twelve Tribes. If the world does not change citizenship to become part of Israel, they will not be given the Holy Spirit. Also when Christ returns, he's not coming to save the world, He is returning to save Israel--and Israel only.

Jeremiah 16:14-15 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.'

Matthew 24:22; Ezekiel 37:16-24

The Exodus and End Times are book ends. The entire Bible is Israel-centric; it only ever has to do with Israel and nations that come in contact with Israel. But just like during the Exodus, a great mixed multitude came out with Israel.

How does this set with people who are against the Hebrew Roots movements, or those from the past who accused Christians of Judaizing and persecuted them for it? If you're not Israel, you won't be rescued. You don't have to be blood Israel anymore, but how does one know your citizenship, except by your culture and behavior? You can't continue in man-made traditions and the culture of the world if you're an Israelite by birth or adoption. If the world doesn't recognize you as an Israelite, a Spiritual Jew, or a "Judaizer", as some mock, then it's unlikely God does as well.