I haven't followed anyone closely so I don't know much about news or events that occur around Christians in the news.
I know Ravi Zacharias passed away a year ago and I know that he was serving in ministry for many decades. No one can
say anyone has perfect theology, but I thought Ravi Zacharias (and still do) was one of the best Christian educators/philosophers
of our time. I've always enjoyed his lectures, debates, and talks all around the world (on youtube).

I had no idea there was a follow up of some 'dirt' under the carpet and he's been investigated post-humously.
The problem I have with these kinds of stories is that it's easy to beat a man down when he's not around anymore to speak for himself.
I'm not saying he's completely innocent of any accusations, or misconduct/inappropriate behavior, but it sounds to me like he was
being severely smeared in his reputation based on his post-humous accusations. So it leaves believers like us in a strange spot.

Do we simply throw away and disregard the 40 or 50 years of ministry he's done in his life and truly did speak the Words of God or
have some of you decided he's completely a false teacher and threw away his books and all his teachings. I personally don't believe
he was a false teacher at all. 0% chance. Was he a sinner? Yes, we all are. It's just magnified even more since he was a man in a well-known
light and position. Even for your general pastors, if anything comes out about them, they certainly would lose their reputation and title
of being a pastor any longer (as the Bible says they should be "above reproach"). So maybe he stumbled, maybe he had his own struggles
with certain sins, but I don't believe that the words he spoke and the lessons he taught are not 100% truthful, biblical, and Holy Spirit inspired.

What are your guys thoughts?

Many preppers recommend that during the cold months if there's a SHTF event or a natural disaster or right now fuel shortages ways to keep warm.

One is to designate one room the family can gather in to save heat, only heating that room with either a kerosene heater, a gas propane heater like Mr. Buddy or a room where you have a fireplace or wood stove.

This room should be closed off from the rest of the house to retain the heat. You can use curtains to block off a hallway which has the doors closed and using a shower curtain rod spread across the beginning of the hallway and hang the curtains (the heavier the better) and allow access but keeping in the warm air in your main room.

Another thing suggested is setting up a camping tent where the family can gather which will make a 'mini-climate' where the body heat is contained better. You can put mattresses on the floor inside and sleep in it.

If you have a house that has more than one floor it might be better to set up your time on the top floor. Heat rises!

If you find yourself in that situation you may pick a bedroom, possibly the master and set up in there.

Something that will work without a lot of rearranging and can even be used even in normal times is the new Bed Tent.

Alvantor Bed Canopy

This can be used on any bed or the floor with your own mattress. It has many opening, screens and zip up doors. You lay it out on top of your bed frame and put your mattress inside. Or if using in another room you can use a blow up mattress.

Many buy this for kids to help settle them down. Pets love it too, kinda like a 'den' where they feel safe and cozy. It has also helped many children that are autistic. So all around good.

It will retain heat better and you can get it in twin, full or queen.

I would recommend covering it with a light weight blanket for another layer of warmth protection.

There are other brands that are like this so check it out on Amazon.

LEEDOR Bed Tent Dream Tents​

Skywin Bed Tent Twin ​

NTK SLEEPOD Bed Tent - Pop Up Privacy Tent for Single Size Bed​

Remember too if you have a four poster bed to throw a blanket over the top and add curtains. That's how people kept warm while sleeping in the 'olde dayes'.

Also get yourself a sleep cap, they aren't expensive but can hold off some chills and heat loss without over heating you inside.

As Christians we are called to imitate Christ in his sufferings and death even to the point of being reviled and murdered for his sake. However, we also are called protect ourselves and our children from abuse. How do these two things co-exist? Should a person remain in a relationship, embracing personal harm in union with the sufferings of Christ or is there a way to remain in union with the sufferings of Christ and still protect oneself?

Thank you.

I believe there's a distinct difference between believing in Jesus and actually following him.
Man-made religion was not his intention when he came to this earth, and the churches humans have built are not the true "Church". The real church is the body of believers that God is building. I placed this topic in the "controversial" forum, as it might cause offence to those Christians who disagree. Please take a moment to watch the attached video and the supporting scriptures. Do you think following Jesus is to follow his example from the bible? Or are we meant to be led by the Holy Spirit in every aspect of our lives? I believe it's the latter.

Feel free to share your thoughts.

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John 10:25-30

Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God

25Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. 26But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.d No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.”

1 Corinthians 3:16-23

God’s Temple and God’s Wisdom

16Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells inb you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”c 20And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”d

21Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephase or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, 23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Christ Our Foundation

10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Christ Our Cornerstone

19Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. 21In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

1 Peter 2:4-5

Living Stones for God’s House

4You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.

5And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests.a Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.

Revelation 21:18-20

The New Jerusalem

18The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. 19The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones:e the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

Another example of an apparent double standard.

Romans 12:19 NIV
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath,
for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How could God's "wrath" be revenge, if revenge is a sin?

In Daniel 8, the vision of the Greeks conquering Persia, the little horn, and the 2300 evenings and mornings, was to be sealed up because it was to occur in the distant future/many days:

Daniel 8:26 The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been spoken is true. Now you must seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.

In revelation 22, John is told the exact opposite of Daniel: do NOT seal up the vision of the book of revelation for the time is near

Revelation 22:10 10Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of prophecy in this book, because the time is near


What time was near to John? If the time was not literally near to John, why didn’t the angel just tell John what Daniel was told: seal up the vision for it for a distant time?

Times of Difficulty
2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV


I think as we look around us today that we can see plenty of evidence of the fulfillment of what this is talking about. But the sad reality of it all is that this describes many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ, including many pastors of what are called “churches,” most of which have become businesses of men being marketed to the people of the world. So there is not much of a distinction between the church and the world anymore. The majority of what is called “church” appears godly but denies its power.

So many people are liars. They lie in practice, by habit, and/or they are being taught to lie. Even some pastors are being trained in lying and conniving and manipulating and in trickery in order to get their people to do what they want them to do or in order to sell them on an idea that is of man and not of God. We have so many charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing serving as pastors of congregations who are leading the people astray, and who are leading them to follow after a gospel of men, not of God.

Many professing Christians are living in sin just like those who make no profession of faith in Christ, or worse, only they do profess faith in Christ, so that makes them hypocrites. Now I am not saying here that if we are followers of Jesus that we will never sin (see 1 John 2:1-2), but that true followers of Christ are to be those who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Sin is to no longer have mastery over our lives to where we obey sin instead of obeying our Lord. We are to no longer be sold as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness now that Jesus has delivered us from our slavery to sin. For being under God’s grace is NOT free license to continue in deliberate and habitual sin without conscience and without remorse. For God’s grace trains us to renounce ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord.

But even if you confront these liars and manipulators and hypocrites – who deny Jesus by their actions while they profess him with their lips – with their sins, and even if you point them to the Scriptures which teach what it means to be “in Christ,” and what it means if they are still living in open rebellion against the Lord by their sinful lifestyles, it appears that the majority remain where they are because they want to, and so they ignore or they fight against what they don’t want to hear, and what they don’t want to accept.

[Rom 6:1-23; Lu 9:23-26; Eph 4:17-24; Rom 8:1-14; Tit 2:11-14; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Who Oppose the Truth
2 Timothy 3:6-9 ESV


Now this doesn’t apply to just weak women. This includes men, too. And this isn’t just about creeping into people’s households, but this is about creeping into the gatherings of the household of God, his body, his church. We have many charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing who have crept in among the body of believers in Jesus Christ (or those giving lip service to God only) who are teaching the people a gospel which is giving the people permission to continue living in sin, telling them they do not have to obey our Lord.

And they are standing in opposition to the truth of the gospel, not just by their lifestyles, but by what they are teaching the people. For they are not only teaching them a false gospel of the flesh of man but they are strongly opposing and teaching against the true gospel of grace that Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught. For Satan is not content with just spreading his lies and his false gospel but he is on the all out attack against the true gospel because he does not want people repenting and obeying Jesus Christ.

And so these charlatans who serve Satan are attacking the true gospel of grace and they are calling it “works salvation” and “legalism” and “negative” and “judgmental” and “intolerant” and “unloving,” etc. And so they are convincing many people to reject the true gospel, as though it is the lie, and to embrace the false gospel, as though it is the truth. But the gospel they are teaching feeds the flesh and it denies the working of the Holy Spirit in people’s hearts and lives in conviction of sin and calls to obedience to God.

[Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:3-23]

You Will Be Persecuted
2 Timothy 3:12-14 ESV


Now many people who are the liars, and who are promoting and following after the lies, are not only on the attack against the truth of the gospel, but they are on the attack against those of us who are living and who are teaching the truth of the gospel. So if we are living godly lives, and if righteousness, holiness, and obedience to our Lord are what we practice, though not necessarily in sinless perfection, we are going to be persecuted, even by others who call themselves Christians and even by pastors.

And some of them are doing this because they are being trained in the cheap grace gospel, and so they are also being trained in how to oppose and how to fight off the truth of the gospel and its messengers. So there are some of them who do so naively because they have bought into the lies, while others do so knowingly and deliberately, fully being aware that what they are opposing is the truth and that what they are spreading are lies, and they do so in order to build their earthly kingdoms, i.e. because of greed.

But we are not to let their attacks against us shake us. We are not to fear their opposition and their lies against us, provided that we are indeed those who are following the Lord Jesus in truth and in righteousness. We are to stay the course, and keep on doing what is right, and keep on speaking the truth of the gospel, and we are to keep on exposing the lies, too, because many people are being led astray by the lies and so they are rejecting the truth. So put on that armor of God and keep doing what Jesus says to do.

[Matt 5:10-16; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Matt 28:18-20; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Acts 1:8; Acts 14:22; Acts 26:18; Rom 5:3-5; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; 2 Co 1:3-11; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Phil 3:7-11; Col 3:16; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; Heb 3:13; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 2:9; 1 Pet 4:12-17]

How Long Till the Morning

Scripture: I Thessalonians 4:17
By C. E. Couchman

Consider the mornings of this mortal land,
Each a new beginning from the Maker’s hand.
While the storms may gather ‘gainst the evening sky,
The day breaks cloudless in the morning.

Rise up to the battle, for the skies dawn clear.
Let us gather courage while the foe draws near.
Though the night falls weary, saints of God, march on!
And He’ll raise our banner in the morning.

When the trumpet sounds to signal Heaven’s day,
Resurrection Morning when the dead shall wake,
What a glorious gath’ring when the Lord descends
And we rise to meet him in the morning.

How long, my Lord? Till we see the morning?
How long, O, my Lord, till we see your face?
O my Lord, guide us through our troubles
Till we rise above them in the morning.

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Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures and is one of the few non-mammal species able to recognize itself in a mirror test.They are particularly well known for their songs and were once popular as cagebirds. - Magpie - Wikipedia

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The Taiwan Blue Magpie I believe is the most colorful...

When you get baptized, an indelible spiritual mark is put on your soul, and nothing can remove this.

In some places, the demand for debaptisms has been going up, which could be rather surprising.

“What’s a debaptism?” you might ask. “Is that even a thing? How can you un-pour water on someone?”

The short answer is that No, debaptism isn’t a thing, but that hasn’t stopped people from asking for it. And yes, “debaptism” is the language they use. The Pillar explains:

The Catholic Church in Belgium reported on Wednesday a sharp rise in the number of people asking for their names to be removed from baptismal registers.

Click to expand...

The Church’s latest annual report, published on Nov. 30, said there were 5,237 such requests in 2021, compared to 1,261 in 2020 and 1,800 in 2019. …

Click to expand...

Nevertheless, a rising movement in Europe promoting ‘debaptism’ has encouraged Catholics to write to Church authorities asking to be removed from parish baptismal records. The movement is a consortium of several political and philosophical factions among European secularists.

Click to expand...

A Movement With Some History

Continued below.

I recently thought of this argument for eternal or everlasting experience and wanted to get feedback. It’s not necessarily arguing that you will have everlasting experience, though that’s possible, it’s more so arguing that a being must exist that will have everlasting experience.

P1: Reality can’t logically come from literally nothing or become literally nothing.

P2: Therefore, reality has always existed and will never cease to exist

P3: Reality is capable of making experiencing beings

C: Therefore, since reality is eternal, it must have already made an experiencing being that’s capable of lasting forever, and is probably an experiencing being itself.

-

I think there’s a way to refine the conclusion even further to conclude that reality must be an eternal experiencing being.

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Which correlations concern you. Mine is everything connected to education.

"A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users. . ."

https://twitter.com/bariweiss?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1601011428579717121|twgr^c42acfc83899437cff3fd93139740434d6a8e18a|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-twitter-files-part-two-released-exposing-secret-blacklists
Bari Weiss
@bariweiss
·
Follow
3. Take, for example, Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) who argued that Covid lockdowns would harm children. Twitter secretly placed him on a “Trends Blacklist,” which prevented his tweets from trending.

Good evening all, I am badly in need of your prayers. Lately, I find myself feeling unworthy. I do not pray for myself because it makes me feel ungrateful.

Why pray to God for myself if he knows my thoughts? I found a Godly woman, who appears to be interested. Why would she like someone as low as myself? Why would God want to hear me moan?

Brothers and sisters, I am unable to pray for myself. Please pray to God on my behalf.

PSE substations among five attacked in Pacific Northwest in November

I wonder if its BLM attacking the infrastructure of it's far right nuts attacking the infrastructure?

Either way folks in the US. You have some nutjobs down there (which we've all been warned about for a long time) and they seem very content to take steps that will indirectly endanger people's lives.

This kind of actions SCREAMS boogalooboys. But really, that is fully conjecture. It ain't good people though.

Ever wish you had a do-over?
Wish you could hit the delete button, and it would change what happened next?
Would you change your choices or the things over which you had no control?

How far back would you have to go, to make that one change that would fix everything?
How old were you then?

________________________
(Like who you are now? Sorry, I'm not offering that choice in the poll, because that's not what this thread is about.)

That is neither the sign of a strong President, nor a good negotiator.

Hello my friends! I am new to this site, and excited to join and have faithful Christians to discuss spirituality, theology, and all kinds of things with.

A little bit about me: I'm 20 years old, and I spent two years living as a Buddhist monk after graduating high school (so if you have any questions or curiosities about that I might have some insight or experience). I was raised atheist, and my conversion has been a bit of a slow process, but full of passion, and with a lot ahead of me, I'm sure.

I love to read, especially theology, philosophy, and poetry, and I hope to be able to have discussions about those interests here

[this post is a new branch from here]

@Jonaitis,

To your point: "If I confused you, I apologize. Ryan Mullins, who is an open opponent of DS, came up with this conclusion in his denial of DS. However, if we must affirm DS as essential, then my suggestion is that we must face up to the music of what it ultimately implies: creation has its beginning in a beginningless decree. It sounds confusing, but it makes sense the more you think about it."

Well, Ephesians 3:11 seems to be the clearest comment regarding the Decree's eternality: "This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, ..." And to me this doesn't contradict Genesis: the plan is eternal, the execution of the plan is temporal. If this jives with Divine Simplicity then more the merrier I say

cc @Pipp@

Either great satire or true idiocy.

"A July survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology of found that only 4% of Ukrainians affiliated themselves with the Moscow-subordinated church."


Zelensky also banned opposition news outlets which oppose the war.

So much for democracy in Ukraine.

Hello all,
How many of you here on ChristianForums use Linux as your daily system? If so, which distribution do you use? I am using Mint 21.1 and it is solid and stable. It made me fall back in love with Linux all over again.

State Rep. Joseph Harding obtained more than $150,000 in SBA loans by lying on his loan applications, according to a news release from the Justice Department. Prosecutors allege Harding listed dormant business entities on his applications, fabricated the numbers of people he employed and submitted fake bank statements.

Harding, 35, is set to go to trial for charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements, DOJ said in the release. A wire fraud conviction carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while money laundering and making false statements carry a maximum of 10 and five years, respectively.

Harding was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2020.

What should those who can run do, for all those who concur with the following, , ?

"After the electoral violations of late in AZ in GA, if anyone thinks we are voting ourselves out of this, they are utterly delusional."

Herschel Walker just wrote Donald Trump's political obituary​

Fox News:
Herschel Walker, the Heisman Trophy winner who led the Georgia Bulldogs to a national championship in 1982, just wrote Donald Trump’s political obituary.
Walker lost his bid to replace Georgia’s incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock, handing Democrats in that chamber a critical majority. A majority which will enable Joe Biden to appoint more judges, enact more legislation and put in place more appointees willing and able to carry out his far-left agenda. Walker was endorsed by former President Trump.

Having suffered the rare humiliation of failing to win a second term in the Oval Office, and having cost his party a majority in the senate – three times – it is time for Donald Trump to step away from politics. It is the right thing to do for his party, for the country, and for himself. Mr. Trump will not win another election. His most glaring political strength today is his ability to energize Democrats, causing not only historic turnout but attracting gushers of campaign cash – for the opposition.

[H]is refusal to admit defeat in the 2020 election, and the tragic aftermath of that refusal, shut the door on his political career. After January 6, and having publicly nursed his grievances for two years, there is no comeback. It is a tragedy that will only be made worse by Trump’s continued presence on our national stage. He has announced he will run again for president, but he cannot and will not let go of his anger about the 2020 election. That is a losing platform.

The editorial neglects to mention the additional stolen classified documents that were discovered in Trump's possession this week, as well as the guilty verdict against his corporation for tax fraud, but perhaps there were was a word-count limit.