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Biden release 14 second challenge to debate Trump - takes 5 times to get it right



President Biden was mocked by critics Wednesday over the number of jump cuts in his 14-second debate challenge to Donald Trump — with one wag on Twitter likening the brief video to “a Claymation film.”​
The video of Biden, 81, was released at 8 a.m. and featured the incumbent taunting the former president to “make my day” by agreeing to a on-one-on debate.​
“In a super short 14 second video, the Biden campaign needed to do 5 jump cuts because (word deleted) Joe couldn’t deliver a clean reading. Total disaster,” Trump campaign official Steven Cheung posted on X.​
Question - if it took him fives time to get a 14 second comment out - how on earth will he handle a debate with no teleprompter?

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Fico in life-threatening condition after being shot multiple times (ETA: released from hospital)

The shooting took place after an off-site government meeting in Handlova. Fico was first transported to a local hospital and then taken by helicopter to a major trauma center in Banska Bystrica, about 30 kilometers away.

“There was an assassination attempt on R. Fico. He was shot multiple times and is currently in a life-threatening condition. The next few hours will be decisive,” said a statement on Fico’s official Facebook page.

The suspected gunman was detained at the scene by law enforcement officers, according to Slovakia’s state news agency TASR.

Fund churches that restore ex-LGBT

Ok, so the title is slightly misleading.

In my specific case, I was falsely accused of being homosexual. After several attempts to correct this, I've realized that I should have given up on this long ago.

So I'm thinking that maybe my best option is to move to a church somewhere on the east coast that has an LGBT recovery ministry, just like there are similar programs for believers suffering from substance abuse, etc.

Any suggestions?

Mom Designs Stunning Dress Made of 210 Fresh Flowers Combining Her Love of Art and Gardening

dahlia-flower-dress-by-Anita-Lee-Archer-SWNS-1024x551.jpg
Dress made of 200 dahlia flowers – by Anita Lee-Archer / SWNS

A mom created a fairytale dress made of more than 200 fresh flowers she grew herself, as part of her university studies in art and design.

Anita Lee-Archer created the dress on her daughter, Bella, spending around two hours arranging multi-colored dahlias, hand-picked from her garden in Australia.

The mother-of-five is pursuing a fine arts degree at the University of Tasmania at age 48. She decided to go back to college four years ago to pursue her dreams of a career in art.


Continued below.

Payer for friends for me

So I have an incredibly hard time making friends because brain issues and i would like If you could pray that I would find friends that are understanding of my condition.

And it would mean alot if you could start a prayer chain who would be willing to pray for me as I Minister to people who have 10× more brain capability and also healing of my brain. I pray God blesses each one of you!
Thanks for your prayers
-Jay-

My step mum is getting baptised into the Mormon church. As a Christian should I attend?

So my step mum raised me since I was about 10 years old. My real mum moved away and has remained in my life but we don’t speak often. I became a born again Christian a few years ago and while I don’t support the Mormon church (I am aware that their baptism isn’t a true Christian baptism), I feel bad to not be there for my step mum since she wants me there. I am also worried it will make her hesitant to attend my own events if my faith is involved. I don’t want to cause division between us so I am confused about what to do… any biblical advice appreciated Sorry if this is the wrong thread/forum for this question.

We Don't Have Forever - Francis Schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer I believe prophesied here in 1980, because a lot of what he talks about here has now happened to a far greater degree than what he mentions. Having read some of the old school Presbyterians like Horatius Bonar, Thomas Boston, John Flavel, Timothy Cruso, and Ebenezer Erskine, and Francis Schaeffer I did read some back in the 1980s, I get the feel for how the Church is supposed to be, and seen where many have gone, so I think there are more splits now than when Schaeffer preached this....

Francis A. Schaeffer, founder of the L'Abri Fellowship, author of 21 books, and principal in the "How Should We Then Live?" and "Whatever Happened to the Human Race?" film-seminar series, was the featured speaker at the 1980 "Consultation on Presbyterian Alternatives" sponsored by the Presbyterian Church in America. His counsel, excerpted here from the full transcript of his Pittsburgh messages, was heard by participants from several Presbyterian communions.
Two biblical principles must be practiced simultaneously, at each step of the way, if we are to be really Bible-believing Christians. One is the principle of the practice of the purity of the visible church. The other is the principle of an observable love among all true Christians.

Those of us who left the old Presbyterian Church USA (the "Northern" Church) 44 years ago made mistakes which marked the movement for years to come. The second principle often was not practiced. In particular we often failed to manifest an observable love for the fellow believers who stayed in that denomination when others of us left.

Things were said which are very difficult to forget even more than 40 years later. The periodicals of those who left tended to spend more time attacking the real Christians who stayed in the old denomination than in dealing with the liberals. Those who came out at times refused to pray with those who had not come out. Many who left totally broke off all forms of fellowship with true brothers in Christ who did not come out.

What was destroyed was Christ's command to love each other. And what was left was often a turning inward, a self-righteousness, a hardness, and, too often, a feeling that withdrawal had made those who came out so right that anything they did could be excused.

Further, having learned these bad habits, they later treated each other badly when the new groups had minor differences among themselves.

We cannot stress both of the principles simultaneously in the flesh. Sometimes we stress purity without love. Or we can stress love without purity. In order to stress both simultaneously we must look moment to moment to the work of Christ and to the work of the Holy Spirit. Without this, a stress on purity becomes hard, proud, and legalistic. Without this, a stress on love becomes compromise. Spirituality begins to have real meaning in our lives as we begin to exhibit (and the emphasis here is on exhibit, not just talk) simultaneously the holiness of God and the love of God. Without our exhibition of both, our marvelous God and Lord is not set forth. Rather, a caricature is set forth and He is dishonored.

We paid a terrible price for what happened in those early days. As some of you now come out of your denominations, please do learn from our mistakes. Each pastor, each congregation must be led by the Holy Spirit. If some disappoint you, do not turn bitter.

One of the joys of my life occurred at the Lausanne Congress (the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland). Some men from the newly formed Presbyterian Church in America asked me to attend a meeting they and others had called there. When I arrived I found that it was made up of Southern men who had just left the Presbyterian Church US to form the PCA and some Christians who were still in the PCUS. Someone from each side spoke. Both said to me that the meeting was possible because of my voice and especially my little book, The Church Before the Watching World (published by InterVarsity Press). I must say I could have wept, and perhaps I did. It is possible for us to do better than we would naturally do. It is not possible if we ignore the fleshly dangers and fail to look to our living Lord for his strength and grace.

Those of us who left our old denomination in the Thirties had another great problem, as I see it. It was confusion over where to place the basic chasm which marks off who we are. Does that chasm mark us as those who are building Bible-believing churches and that on this side of the chasm we hold the distinctives of being Presbyterian and Reformed? Or is the primary chasm that we are Presbyterian and Reformed and that we are divided from all who are not? The answer makes a great deal of difference.

When we go to a town to start a church, are we going there with the primary motivation to build a church which is loyal to Presbyterians and the Reformed faith, or are we going there to build a church which will preach the Gospel which historic, Bible-believing Christianity holds, and then on this side of that chasm teach that which we believe is true to the Bible in regard to church government and doctrine? The difference makes a difference to our mentality, to our motivation, and to the breadth of our outreach. I must say, to me one view is catholic, biblical and gives good promise of success; the other is introverted and self-limiting, yes, and sectarian. I spoke of a good promise of success. I mean on two levels: First in church growth and a healthy outlook among those we reach; second, in providing leadership in the whole church of Christ.

We alone do not face this problem of putting the chasm at the wrong place, of course. A too zealous mentality on the Lutheran view of the sacraments is the same. A too sectarian mentality in regard to the mode of baptism is another. The zeal of the Plymouth Brethren for an unpaid ministry is often the same. No, it is not just our problem. But it is our problem. To put the chasm in the wrong place is to fail to fulfill our calling, and I am convinced that when we do so we displease our Lord.

Those who remain in the old-line churches have their own set of problems. In contrast to the problem of hardness to which those who withdraw are prone, those who remain are likely to develop a general latitudinarianism. One who accepts ecclesiastical latitudinarianism easily steps into a cooperative latitudinarianism which can become a doctrinal latitudinarianism and especially a letdown on a clear view of Scripture.

This is what happened in certain segments of what I would call the evangelical establishment. Out of the evangelical latitudinarianism of the Thirties and Forties grew the letdown in regard to the Scripture in certain areas of the evangelical structure in the Seventies. Large sections of evangelicalism today put all they can into acting as though it makes no real difference as to whether we hold the historic view of Scripture or the existential view. The existential methodology says that the Bible is authoritative when it teaches "religious'' things but not when it touches that which is historic, scientific, or such things as the male/female relationship.

Not all who have stayed in the liberal denominations have done this, by any means, but it is hard to escape. I don't see how those who have chosen to stay in (no matter what occurs) can escape a latitudinarian mentality which will struggle to paper over the differences on Scripture in order to keep an external veneer of unity. That veneer in fact obscures a real lack of unity on the crucial point of Scripture. And when the doctrinal latitudinarianism sets in we can be sure from all of church history and from observation in our own period of church history that in just a generation or two the line between evangelical and liberal will be lost.

This is already observable in that the liberals largely have shifted to the existential methodology and have expressed great approval that the "moderate evangelicals" have done so. The trend will surely continue. Unless we see the new liberalism with its existential methodology as a whole, and reject it as a whole, we will, to the extent to which we tolerate it, be confused in our thinking. Failure to reject it will also involve us in the general relativism of our day and compromising in our actions.

The second major problem of those who stay in the liberally controlled denominations is the natural tendency to constantly move back the line at which the final stand will be taken. For example, can you imagine Clarence Macartney, Donald Grey Barnhouse or T. Roland Phillips being in a denomination in which the battle line was the ordination of women? Can you imagine these great evangelical preachers of the Twenties and Thirties (who stayed in the Presbyterian Church USA) now being in a denomination which refuses to ordain a young man whose only fault was that while he said he would not preach against the ordination of women yet he would not say he had changed his mind that it was unbiblical? Can you imagine that these leaders of the conservative cause in an earlier era would have considered it a victory to have stalled the ordination of practicing homosexuals and practicing lesbians? What do you think Macartney, Barnhouse, and Phillips would have said about these recent developments? Such a situation in their denomination would never have been in their minds as in the realm of conceivable.

The line does move back. In what presbytery of the Northern Presbyterian Church can you bring an ordained man under biblical discipline for holding false views of doctrine and expect him to be disciplined?

Beware of false victories. Even if a conservative man is elected moderator of the general assembly (as Macartney was in 1924), it would amount to absolutely nothing. Despite the jubilation among conservatives at Macartney's election, the bureaucracy simply rolled on, and not too many years later conservative leader J. Gresham Machen could be unfrocked. Nelson Bell was elected moderator of the Southern Church later (in 1972), and nothing changed. The power centers of the bureaucracy and the liberally-controlled seminaries were unmoved.

There are always those who say, "don't break up our ranks ... wait a while longer ... wait for this ... wait for that." It is always wait. Never act. But 40 years is a long time to wait when things are always and consistently getting worse. And (with my present health problem) I tell you soberly, we do not have forever to take that courageous and costly stand for Christ that we sometimes talk about. We do not have forever for that. We hear many coaxing words, but watch for the power structure to strike out when it is threatened. If the liberals' power is really in danger or if they fear the loss of property, watch out!

What of the future? We live in a day that is fast-moving. The United States is moving at great speed toward totally humanistic orientation in society and state. Do you think this will leave our own little projects, our own church, and our own lives untouched? Don't be silly. The warnings are on every side. When a San Francisco Orthodox Presbyterian congregation can be dragged into court for breaking the law of discrimination because it dismissed an avowed, practicing homosexual as an organist, can we be so blind as to not hear all the warning bells go off? When by a ruling of a federal court the will of Congress can be overturned concerning the limitation on the willful killing of unborn children, should not the warning bells go off as to the kind of pressures ahead of us?

Who supports these things? The liberal denominations do, publicly, formally, and financially. And it puts into a vise those of us who stand for biblical morality, let alone doctrine. Beyond the denominations, it is their councils of churches that support not only these things but also terrorist groups. They give moral support and money. Should we support this by our denominational affiliation? We may seem isolated from the results for a time but that is only because we are too blind to see.

I don't think we have a lot of time. The hour is very late, but I don't think it is too late in this country. This is not a day of retreat and despair. In America it is still possible to turn things around. But we don't have forever.


I feel like an imposter as a Christian

I grew up in the church, got baptised, had my confirmation (calvinist). However, I've never really felt a passion for Christ. I pray, but I rarely read my bible. I go to church and donate, but I don't really evangelise or spread the gospel. Every time I try, it's like the seed on the rock, quickly growing and quickly dying.
Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to overcome this?
Please pray for me.

The Best Use of The Time

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:15-21 ESV)

We live in very evil times, and it is getting worse by the day. There are so many liars and deceptions and deceiving spirits that it is hard to know if anyone still exists who tells the truth consistently and who does not practice telling lies, even what are called “white lies,” which are still lies. For liars exist within human governments, politicians, the media, the newscasters, preachers, evangelists, missionaries, people who profess faith in Jesus Christ, actors, husbands, wives, children, teachers, and the list goes on.

So we must not be people who just believe whatever we are told by whomever just because “so and so” said it. For “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and charlatans are among us, probably in droves, if truth be told, and they are disguising themselves as Christians and as preachers and evangelists and missionaries, and as authors of Christian literature and songs, and as “Christian” politicians, and as servants of righteousness when it is the devil and the flesh that they serve, instead. So be wise and be discerning.

And these people use all sorts of means and trickery and deception in order to get us to listen to them and to believe them and their lies. And some of us baby boomers (post WWII) were taught all sorts of lies which we believed as children, which some of us, since we have become adults, have been able to see for what they are, by the grace of God, so that we have been able to reject the lies and to see the truth (perhaps not all of it, though). For we have been given discernment by God to sift through the lies, to see truth.

The biggest area of concern, though, is with the message of the gospel of our salvation which so many people today are diluting and altering in order to make God/Jesus and his gospel message more acceptable and less offensive to the people of the world. So many have shortened the gospel message to just say that if we “believe” (rarely biblically defined) in Jesus that now all our sins are forgiven, heaven is guaranteed us when we die, and that it can’t be taken away from us, but regardless of how we live.

But that is not the gospel that Jesus taught, and it is not the gospel that the NT apostles taught, either, if read and understood in context, and if not defined by Scriptures taken out of context and made to say what they do not say if taught in context. For so many people are quoting Ephesians 2:8-9 absent of verse 10 (which is critical to the message). And they are quoting John 10:28-30 absent of verse 27 which tells us to whom verses 28-30 apply. And so they are applying them broadly where they don’t apply.

So, we need to be people of discernment who walk in the wisdom of God and under his direction, who have died with him to sin, and who have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him in freedom from slavery to sin and in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord. And then we need to look carefully at how we walk, that our habits and our character and how we conduct our lives line up with the teachings of the Scriptures with regard to how we are to live to please God.

For Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we will now follow the Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands in holy living, and thus be those who are honoring God with our bodies. But if obedience to our Lord and holy living are not what we practice, and if sin is still what we practice, then the Scriptures teach that we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what professions of faith we make with our lips.

So the encouragement here is to be aware of the evil times in which we live, to seek the Lord for wisdom and discernment to separate truth from lies, and then walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. For making the best use of our time has to do with our lives fully surrendered to Jesus Christ to do his will, for this is not about what our flesh desires, but what God desires for us according to his will and purpose. So our lives are now to be under the control of God, and not out-of-control.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

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Reactions: CoreyD

Symbolic sins.

Often sin seems to have two meanings. We see this in spiritual adultery, witches, murderers, wolves, and drunkards. Even wealth has two meanings. It's money and spirit. A rich and well fed man is glad but a poor man is sad.

We see this in illness and nature as well. Blindness for example is either physical or spiritual. Sin is spiritual sickness as well.

Water, food, shelter, warfare, sowing and reaping, animals, and the weather all have spiritual meaning.


in Christ however we're free.
  • Like
Reactions: martymonster

DAE have frequent deja vu due to anxiety

Last may (Exactly one year ago) I started to experience frequent deja vu. First it was once every few weeks, then once a week and now its several times a day. I can't shake it and im terrified that its seizures. I have seen two neuros and both have said im most likely in the clear but im still scared as hell. Has anyone else had this?
  • Prayers
Reactions: AlexB23

Singular Film Titles

As per Trump's recent comment about the film Silence of The Lamb (sic), there have been a few suggestions for other singular films he might enjoy. Such as Jaw. Or Star War. Or Dance with a Wolf. One Dalmatian. One, A Space Odyssey.

Feel free to add a few more. I'm not sure if titles such as A Bridge Just Close Enough would apply. But who cares...

Dating apps have filter flaws

After reading more internet articles and forums regarding christian singles and the reasoning behind so many wanting marriage but cannot find partners, I know of one culprit for certain.

Dating apps, even the likes of eHarmony, are flawed when it comes to filtering out one's desires and preferences.

I explicitly put over and over that I do not want someone who drinks alcohol in any capacity nor do I want children. Every match I get are women who want one or both and it just gets old. I have walked away from apps and websites and the church is no better, when I even go.

It just seems to be a hopeless road that ends with me driving off a cliff into oblivion.

Has anyone else been less than satisfied with the results of matches or filtering systems with these?

Should I just accept my fate with my non-negotiables?

People heap up politicians and teachers to tickle their ears

In these last days, people hear what they want to hear. They heap up teachers to tell them what they want to hear. They heap up politicians as well for the same reason. We should reject teachers and politicians. We should follow Jesus and the apostles in scripture. 1 John 2:27 and 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

Muslim explains why they vote Democrat in America. To make America Muslim.


A Muslim explains why they all vote Democrat in America.

It's because they see democrats as not smart, and that they can't brainwash conservatives. They envision America's future is Muslim and they use democrats to get it because while democrats go out and follow dumb ideas like transgender, gay rights, and identity politics muslims slowly gain more and more control in America that they couldn't under a Republican based nation.
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Family Fun At The Biden's

It's been confirmed that Ashley Biden's diary entries are for real including when she claimed President Biden showered with her when she was 11 years old. Maybe it's not as bad as it sounds. Maybe the reason he's always smelling female hair is that he's just overly obsessed with other people's cleanliness.


  • Informative
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Healing for brain

I would appreciate PRAYERS for healing. I have a brain disorder that causes me to have very few thoughts and a very poor memory and I want to help others and be there for them but it is very difficult when I dont hardly have enough thoughts to even know were to start.

I know God may not heal me but I have not given up yet because I have so much desire to serve him, help others and learn so much more about him.

Many people say that I compare myself to others to much by saying you can't compare the amount of thoughts you have with how many someone else has. Not realizing they are comparing me to others by say things like “why do you do the odd things you do” or “if such and such can figure out all this out you can too”. Or “don't you ever listen to what people tell you!?”.....

I have no Idea what it is like to even have 1/2 the amount of thoughts that most people have in an hour mabe alot less than that idk. All I can go by is how even most little kids can figure out things that I couldn't even almost figure out and the amount of things they say…I dont have near that many thoughts, never have and probably never will

One of the hardest things is that MOST people treat me like I have the brain like the advarage man has. But I don't. I am living with my parents that love me very much but they think they can help me live on my own but I know and God knows that is IMPOSSIBLE the way I am. Life is scary for me, not having having many thoughts means not being able to figure out were to stand, how much to eat, how to avoid somone on a grocery ile, not having any Idea if I am doing to much( like work and such) and not being able to figure out how to have a conversation ect...

I would ask that you would not be quick to judge me for being scared. if you had a brain like mine you would understand the nightmare I have to fight through to survive to serve God( the best that I can) and help others.
Love you all-- Jay

Do Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians worship the same God?

The one true God is the creator of all things, visible and invisible (Colossians 1:16).

Do not make an image representing the true God to bow down to it (Exodus 20:4-5).

2 Chronicles 35:

20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple,
Josiah was a good king of Judah. He repaired the temple.

Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him.
Neco was a gentile. By God, he tried to dissuade Josiah from fighting him.

21 But he sent envoys to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me,
i.e., elohim

lest he destroy you.” 22 Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of Megiddo.
A good king of Judah fought against a gentile king. God was with the gentile king. Josiah died as a result.

I am not even sure that Neco knew the name YWHW. Yet, it seems that the true God was with him.

Later, in Isaiah 45:

1 “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him
The Lord (the true God) called Cyrus his anointed.

4 For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me.
Even though Cyrus did not acknowledge the true God.

In the NT, Acts 17:

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
but they did not know the LORD personally

23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
god is a multifaceted concept.

26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God,
the one true God

and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
The Lord God accepted worship from Athenians who didn't know Him exactly. But then, who knows Him exactly?

Acts 17:

30 Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
God is gracious to everyone who repents, even if they don't know Him exactly. See What about people of other cultures?.

Do Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians worship the same God? Do Christians worship the same God?

Most Christians seem to worship the same God, the creator God with no idols/images. Buddhists and Christians worship different gods because of their heavy use of idols. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam worship more or less the same God: creator God and no idols. I spent four years working in Saudi Arabia. The longer I stayed there, the more I felt that they were worshiping the God of Abraham. I had joined their worship in their mosques. Notably, only Christians can be born of the Paraclete.

  • Poll
Did the elite democrats over-play their hand with these questionable Trump indictments? poll

Did the elite democrats over-play their hand with these questionable Trump indictments?

  • 1 Y

    Votes: 3 25.0%
  • 2 N

    Votes: 3 25.0%
  • 3 It's beginning to look like it

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4 We have to wait and see

    Votes: 2 16.7%
  • 5 I am not following these court cases. Reason?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6 I trust the justice system so whatever they decide is OK

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 7 Yes, they over-played and the justice system is not just

    Votes: 4 33.3%

Did the elite democrats over-play their hand with these questionable Trump indictments?

Artificial Intelligence's Far Reach

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
“Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalms 139:17-24 ESV)

In America, which is where I live, we live in a culture where we can be strongly influenced, not only by other humans, but by artificial intelligence (AI), too. If we are not careful, we can get so dependent on other humans or on TV or on the internet or on AI to tell us what to think and what to believe, and to give us the answers to all of our questions, that we cease to think for ourselves and to test what we hear against the Scriptures to see if what we are hearing or reading lines up with what the Scriptures teach, or not.

For artificial intelligence (robots, basically) are answering our phone calls, and they are responding to our requests for information, and they are the ones feeding us with information, and now they are becoming very invasive and pushy, and in some cases we may be forced to use them when we have no other options available. For they are extending their reach, and AI is being pushed on us whether we like it or not, if we choose to use the internet or smartphones or even television. It is the world we now live in.

If you do any amount of writing or texting, they are always suggesting words or phrases for you to use as though they want to do your thinking for you, which I believe is the object. And they want to help us with our writing and with our thinking so that they take over in place of God, and in place of the Scriptures, in reality. They want to be “God” to us so that we go to them for our help and for the answers to all our questions, so that we no longer seek God for guidance and for direction. And that is a scary thought!

And I am not against us getting information and answers to some of our questions from the internet. I use Google much even to look up Bible verses when I can’t recall the address to the verses. And I utilize dictionaries and encyclopedias and on-line Bible helps. But they are never my primary source nor do they ever replace God and his word and his leading and direction in my life and in what to write and in what to say. Social media memes can also become short-cuts to reading the Scriptures for ourselves, and that can be dangerous if we are not testing what we hear/read against God’s word.

So, we all need to be discerning about these things and to be spiritually awake and alert to the dangers of AI and of any other means of influencing us in a particular direction via the internet or TV or movies or cartoons or song lyrics, etc. And the thoughts of the Lord, written down for us in the Scriptures, are to be what we go to, and what are precious to us. So we must guard our hearts and minds against all influences that might be outside the realm of God’s influences in our lives or that might replace his words.

And we must open our eyes to see all the evil, often subtle, influences there are out there on the internet, perhaps even on what are considered “Christian sites.” And we must not believe everything that we hear coming from a particular church denomination or theology or person of prominence or of importance. And we must not be persuaded by particular political parties nor by certain preachers nor by our government heads nor by the media, including the news media and social media, apart from God.

But for us to hate evil as God hates evil, and for us to reject all that is of malicious intent, even though disguised as though “for our good,” we must be people of God who are feeding on the Scriptures (IN CONTEXT), who are listening to the Lord, and who are following him in obedience to his commands. For if we are not, and if we are feeding on social media and the news media and on the words of people of prominence and influence, instead, then we will be ripe to be overtaken by AI and to be led astray.

So, since we live in this computerized world of communication, we as followers of Christ should spend some time with the Lord in prayer, asking him to search our minds and our hearts and to show us what influences are in our lives that are not of God, and that are contrary to the Lord and to the teachings of the Scriptures (in context), so that we don’t end up following after the lies and not after the truth. Ask him to show you the lies that you are believing and then to show you the truth of what is really going on.

And if you do this honestly and sincerely, truly seeking the Lord to show you the lies you are believing, you might be surprised to find that you are believing a lot of lies you had no idea were there because you had become so conditioned to believing certain people and whatever they told you. And please be cautious with regard to AI of any kind, and test what information you are receiving against the Scriptures, in their full context, so that you are not being led astray. But don’t let AI be your brain for you.

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

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