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Subjecting oneself……

Romans 10:3 (NASB20)
For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is this ‘subjecting oneself to the righteousness of God’…?

God has stated that ‘He has shut up all in disobedience that He might have mercy to all’ ….

So this subjecting oneself would have to be separate from all that had been shut up in the disobedience, it would have to be something totally new and separate unto itself… This new thing is the righteousness of faith, which is a simple taking God at His word and believing that He will form a new life in one if one so desires…. For this is a real new life growing in one which purpose is to overcome and overrule all that had been shut up in the disobedience…..

This new thing which is birthed from the desire towards it, this desire, is to grab unto something other than itself, something outside of itself, something that only faith can grab unto…. Something that is in God’s ability alone, something that He has promised to work in one if one is but willing…. But God asks one thing, because it is absolutely necessary, that one would keep one’s hands out of the cookie jar so to speak that He might work His work in the growing of this new life…. Because the workings of self, is one looking to one’s own natural life, one’s own natural abilities, it is this working that nullifies, stops, prevents the promised new life from growing in one and overcoming all that needs to be overcome….

For this desire of faith is submitting to God’s righteousness, because by the giving up of oneself to this desire, self is shut up in Christ’s death on the cross…. So as this faith continues its work, and by the longing desire towards it, one grabs unto the promised new life that only God Himself can bring to life in one… For this new life is totally new and separate from the life that has been known up to the point of giving oneself over to the faith that brings the righteous life that comes down from above to become the new life that has been promised to the believing one….

The faith that says; ‘I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me’ is subjecting oneself to the righteousness of God…. For this faith that brings this righteous new life that comes from God by faith, is that faith that is accounted for righteousness….

For God has shut up all in the prison of self, that those that would, would be made free by their simply looking to Him in faith…

Many blessings as the freedom that the righteous life produces in one is known, felt and grown…. Because of His great love for the world He has brought forth something totally new, brought to life by the faith of the believer believing……


A believing believer, Not me

Which jurisdictions have the most members of Carpatho-Rusyn, Lemko and Ruthenian Greek Catholic descent?

In the US, while ACROD consists almost entirely of Carpatho-Rusyns, as the name implies, I would not be surprised if the OCA had more members in total, and my understanding is that a great many Rusyns are also members of the ROCOR and even the MP parishes in Western Pennsylvania.

Likewise, in Europe, where would one most likely find members of this group? I have heard there are a great many in the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia and the Polish Orthodox Church, but my understanding is that both churches also have Czech, Slovak and Polish members, respectively. Also that one would find some in the Belarussian Orthodox Church and among the Orthodox Christians in the Ukraine.

I would be really interested in a demographic breakdown of this information.

I was recently very interested, on a related note, to learn about the histoircal representation of the Tosk and Gheg ethnic groups in Albanian Orthodoxy. The majority of the Orthodox are from the Tosk ethnic group, since most of the Bhegs were converted to Roman Catholicism, but before the nightmarish atheist regime of Enver Hoxha, a Tosk of Islamic descent, began, there were some substantial minority populations of Orthodox Christians among the Ghegs, for example, in the city of Durrës. And of course, thanks to the efforts of Archbishop Fan Noli, there is a substantial Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the OCA, which I would assume has members of both Tosk and Gheg ethnicity.

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Gaza

We should all pray for the Palestinians in Gaza.

Genocide in Numbers – This is What Israel Has Done to Gaza

128 days of the war. Publised 11 February 2024

2,438 massacres.
35,176 martyred and missing.
28,176 martyrs whose bodies have reached the hospitals.
12,300 child martyrs.
8,400 women martyrs.
340 medical worker martyrs.
46 civil defense martyrs.
124 journalist martyrs.
7,000 missing; 70% of them are children and women.
67,784 wounded.
11,000 wounded in need of travel for life-saving and critical treatment.
10,000 cancer patients at risk of death.
700,000 Gazans infected with infectious diseases as a result of displacement.
8,000 cases of viral hepatitis infection due to displacement.
60,000 pregnant women are at risk due to lack of access to health care.
350,000 chronic patients are at risk due to lack of administration of medications.
99 arrests of health workers.
10 arrests of journalists whose names are known.
2 million displaced in the Gaza Strip.
142 government headquarters destroyed by the occupation.
100 schools and universities completely destroyed by the occupation.
295 schools and universities partially destroyed by the occupation.
184 mosques completely destroyed by the occupation.
266 mosques partially destroyed by the occupation.
3 churches targeted and destroyed by the occupation.
70,000 residential units completely destroyed by the occupation.
290,000 residential units partially destroyed by the occupation.
66,000 tons of explosives dropped by the occupation on Gaza.
30 hospitals taken out of service by the occupation.
53 health centers taken out of service by the occupation.
150 health centers partially destroyed by the occupation.
123 ambulances completely destroyed by the occupation.
200 archaeological and heritage sites destroyed by the occupation.

How praying too much can lower testosterone

No one knows this, but people think it`s hormones and stuff how much testosterone you have, you know tobacco increases it, and weightlifting, and so on, but the truth is it`s mental. if you smoke a cigar and feel like a man, and lift weights, and tough people are around you, you have instantly much more of it. It`s mental, mostly. That`s why drugs lowers it, like weed, because you know it`s a drug and feel less of a man. Nothing can kill you also if you are normal, then you have normal immune and listen to your body. if you`re immoral, do something wrong everyday, then your body will be weaken. A man said also, if you do one good deed everyday for others, you`ll never need medicine. So, if you pray too much, it`ll actually lower your testosterone

Is it wise for a founding pastor to leave a young church?

There's a church in my area that I attended for a couple of years early in my faith. I left not over sin issues or arguments, but needing to make things right and needing accountability. I know several people who attend there still, and just recently, the founding pastor at the church, the lead pastor, came up and said that God was calling him to leave and go plant a church on the other side of the US. The church has always been intentional about church planting by bringing in prospective pastors and sending them out to plant. And it seems like common sense that you wouldn't have the lead founding pastor of the church be the one who is sent out. But that's exactly what happened. He made the announcement at their annual meeting. That God had given him a command to leave and plant elsewhere, and this would be happening very soon it seems.

Now I know there are several views on how God speaks to us. I'm more in the camp that it's solely through his word, but this church generally thinks he speaks to us through circumstances and other people as well. They made a video explaining why they were doing it, and he said "I have to choose between staying and obeying God."

For context, this church is just under 7 years old, and there's about 150 in attendance. I personally think that him leaving is unwise for a multiple reasons. First, the church is still young. Yes it's got great growth, but 7 years is not much time in the context of a church. Secondly, I would argue attendance to be unstable. And what I mean by that is, I was having a chat with one of their pastors recently. Just catching up, and he told me that the average length of time that people are there is about 3 to 6 months. If you ask me, that doesn't sound good. He thought it was a great thing because there's so many new believers to meet and all that. And thirdly, they're in a situation where they are trying to get a new building/space to meet. I'll spare you the details on that one.

It seems to me like this is a very unwise thing to do and could spell disaster for a church in the state that it's in. I'm told they'll be hiring a new guy from outside the church. In the video, he likened himself to Paul, and how he went from place to place planting churches, but I would argue that Paul was a missionary, not a pastor, and he would set up churches with the mindset of him leaving from the get go, not starting a church and then announcing his departure when he's all settled in.

I think this is unwise but I'm curious on people's thoughts on this.
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Democratic Party game out climate messaging at policy retreat


The administration has been playing up its crusade against the climate crisis to endear the president to activists who have complained about the White House’s support for some fossil fuel projects — adding to Democrats’ burdens in an election year marked by grumbling over the economy, fights over border policy and the president’s low approval ratings.

But that talking point alone isn’t going to be what drives people to the polls, said Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Democrats instead need to focus on what the climate gains in the Inflation Reduction Act would mean for people’s pocketbooks.
“It’s all about how you message it with voters. In Latino communities, if you talk about climate change, it’s kind of abstract for them,” she told POLITICO’s E&E News, echoing points she made at a press conference with Hispanic Caucus members earlier in the day.

“If you say, ‘Oh, we’re going to save billions of dollars on energy’ — when you tell somebody that, that doesn’t mean anything to them until you talk to them and how it is going to impact them,” Barragán continued. “[If you say], ‘you’re going to get a new refrigerator and save money by using less energy,’ that is sometimes how it happens.”
Ultimately, she added, “people are not feeling some of the benefits of what we’ve passed because they are not yet gone into effect.”

Americans have $1.13 trillion in credit card debt


Credit cards are an Achilles’ heel for many people.
Collectively, Americans now owe $1.13 trillion on their cards, and the average balance per consumer is up to $6,360, both historic highs.
Not only are more cardholders carrying debt from month to month but more are increasingly falling behind on payments, recent reports show.



  • Informative
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Republican Senator J.D. Vance warns of 'hidden impeachment clause' buried in $95 BILLION Ukraine and Israel aid package that he says could backfire on


The foreign aid package would provide $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
If passed, the bill would fund Ukraine until 2025, even though Trump has said he would end the conflict and its funding within 24 hours of taking office
Should Trump become president after this bill passes and end the funding, he could be at odds with the law and therefore impeached again

Hillary Clinton calls Joe Biden’s age a ‘legitimate issue’


Former First Lady Hillary Clinton said she believes President Biden’s age is a “legitimate” campaign issue even as the commander-in-chief is under fire over a damning special counsel’s report accusing him of being senile.
“I talked to people in the White House all the time, and you know, they know it’s an issue, but as I like to say, ‘look, it’s a legitimate issue,’” Clinton told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner earlier this week. “It’s a legitimate issue for [ex-President Donald] Trump who’s only three years younger, right? So it’s an issue.”
The former Democrat presidential nominee and secretary of state also said during Wednesday’s interview that it might be hard for Biden and Trump to connect with younger voters, the president should highlight his background as an “experienced” leader.
“I think Biden also should lean into the fact that he’s experienced and that experience is not just in the political arena,” she said. “It’s like, the stuff of, you know, human experience, character, wisdom.
“I think he should be willing to really pull that out … and I think he should kid more about it.”

A recent NBC News poll found that 76% of respondents said they’re concerned Biden, 81, is not mentally fit for a second term.

A blistering report from special counsel Robert Hur released Thursday assessed Biden as too senile to be prosecuted over his wrongful retention of classified documents.
It also said the commander-in-chief “did not remember when he was vice president” and “did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died” over two days of interviews in October.
Biden, however, lashed out at the description of his mental acuity at a rapidly arranged press conference later Thursday, insisting, “My memory is fine!” and “I know what the hell I’m doing!”
But he did mistakenly refer to the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as the president of Mexico while speaking to reporters during the gathering.

Afraid i wont be able to keep my job

So, I'm just going to start from the beginning. I live in a 1bed townhome it was just me and 2 small kids but my mom couldn't keep her place and got evicted and now my mom,dad,2 brothers and my moms dogs are here.

We only have one mode of transportation which is my car. That car has to get my kids off to daycare and therapy(son had autism),my brother to school and my mom to and from work. I asked my brother if he could help pick my mom up but he refuses. So it's all on me.

Now after a while I not only found one job but 2 but because of everyone's conflicting schedules I don't think I'll be able to take it bc of my mom brother and kids. I'm trying I just don't know what to do..

My orientation is tommorow, I'm trying to help my family out bc they need the help. I truly don't believe you get blessed turning your back on your family. Then I have a court date Friday for possible eviction. Im so worried and frustrated I feel I might lose my place and not have a job..

I just don't know what to do. I want to scream.

NATO cannot be dependent on whims of US President - EU

NATO "cannot be an alliance a la carte," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said after former US president Donald Trump downplayed his commitment to NATO's security umbrella in Europe if he becomes president again.

'Reckless': Trump's threat to NATO allies sparks fierce backlash in Europe​

Is lying a sin?

Exodus 20:

16 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
Leviticus 19:

11b You must not lie or deceive one another. 12You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 13a You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him.
Revelation 21:

8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
On the other hand, there were excusable occasions in the Bible.

Midwives lied to Pharaoh in Exodus 1:

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
Rahab lied in Joshua 2:

3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”
4But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from.
Samson lied to Delilah in Judges 16:

6So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.”
Is it always wrong to tell a lie or untruth?

No, it partly depends on your motivation and intent, but let the Paraclete guide you in your conscience. As a rule of thumb, we should tell the truth.
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I'm new

Hello I'm new to the forum hope you are all doing well I'm ordained online Methodist but theology wise I'm non-denom open minded if anyone wants motivation and hope I'm good to chat I like the setup on this site looking forward to meeting some of you I have a YouTube starting to produce sermons weekly if you like them please recommend topics of discussion for future sermon always open to ideas I try my best to keep active spiritual volunteering in community so my week is busy I read over messages here on the forum on weekends so replays could take a bit of time God bless all of you

Greatly Have They Afflicted Me

“’Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth’—
let Israel now say—
‘Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me.
The plowers plowed upon my back;
they made long their furrows.’
The Lord is righteous;
he has cut the cords of the wicked.
May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward!” (Psalms 129:1-5 ESV)

Zion is now a term used for Jesus Christ and for his church. Those who believe in Jesus Christ with genuine God-persuaded faith are God’s holy temple in whom he dwells by his Spirit. We are God’s holy people, his holy nation, and there is no other. Only through faith in Jesus Christ can we be God’s holy people, the sheep of his pasture. We are the Israel of God. But that faith must show itself genuine via self-denial, dying daily with Christ to sin, and walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands in holy living.

[Hebrews 12:18-24; Revelation 14:1-5; Isaiah 28:16; 1 Peter 2:4-10; Romans 9:22-33; Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 9:4-8; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:6; 1 John 2:22; John 8:18-19,38-47; Jude 1:5; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13; Romans 6:1-23; Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23]

And when we are following Jesus Christ with our lives, we are going to have enemies. We are going to have opposition. Satan may even be against us even before we believe in Jesus, even from birth or early childhood. I know that for me this was the case. For I had a father who was the epitome of Satan to me who was an abuser, a bully, who took out his anger and his hatred on anyone he could, and who used his children and his spouse for his own sinful pleasure. For he did not know love.

So, I know what it is like to be afflicted from my youth and to have others prevail against me, first my father, then pastors of churches, and then a sexually addicted spouse, and others within the purported family of God. And I can definitely feel this idea of plowers plowing upon my back and making long their furrows. And it seemed for a long time that they kept coming at me, one after another after another. And for a while I gave up and retreated. But praise be to God he brought me back and renewed my spirit.

I have cried so many tears over my lifetime that it is amazing that I have any left. But God had a plan for my life even before he created the world. And he is the one who put me in the womb of my mother and who placed me in that family where he knew I was going to be severely abused. And he is the one who has given me many life experiences over which I had no control, where he allowed others to abuse me and to mistreat me and to be mean and hateful towards me and to reject me and to cast me aside.

But the Lord allowed all of that to take place in my life to make me into the person that I am today so that he could use me in the way in which he has been using me these past 20 years, in particular. I had to go through all that persecution for the Lord to make me strong and determined to stand up against giants, if necessary, in order to speak the truth of the gospel and to call people to repentance and to genuine walks of faith in Jesus Christ, and to warn them against making sin their practice, and of the consequences.

But this isn’t all about me. The Lord had me share some of my testimony here as an illustration of what this passage of Scripture is teaching, because I am not alone in this. Many people throughout the world have been and are still being abused and misused and ill treated by people who hate and who murder and who take advantage of those who are weaker than them. And many faithful followers of Christ are being mistreated by professers of faith in Jesus Christ who are living worldly, not godly lives, according to the flesh.

But you know what? The New Testament teaches us that we are to love our enemies. We are to pray for them and do good to them and bless them, i.e. say to them or about them or do for them what is beneficial for them in the sight of God, i.e. what is for their good, as God deems good (Luke 6:27-36). So, when I read verse 5 here, “May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward,” what I saw was a prayer for the salvation of our enemies, that they will repent of their sins and now follow Jesus with their lives.

So, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, and you have enemies who are persecuting you for righteousness’ sake, and for the sake of the gospel, even within the gatherings of what is called “church,” do not be afraid. Do not be disheartened. And please do not give up hope! Trust God with your life. Believe in his sovereignty over your life. And surrender your all to him. Let him guide you and direct you in how you should respond to your enemies, and then follow the Lord in obedience to his will for your life.

For Jesus never promised us an easy life. He never promised us that if we follow him that life for us will go smoothly and that everyone will like us and that we will be happy-go-lucky (carefree, easy going, nonchalant) all the rest of our days. What he promised us is that we will be hated and mistreated and persecuted and beaten and put in prison and falsely accused of wrongdoing and of being of Satan and called crazy and put to death, like he was, because we follow him and we walk in obedience to his commands.

So, please understand that the life of a follower of Jesus Christ is supposed to be hard and loaded with opposition and persecution, and that even our family members and fellow professers of faith in Jesus Christ may be our worst enemies. But this is supposed to produce in us a seriousness of our walks of faith and a determination to follow our Lord in obedience and in holy living despite what others do to us or say about us. For all this is for the glory of God and for his purposes to make us who he wants us to be.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Hear My Cry

By G. M. Eldridge

When my soul is worn and weary
And my eyes are filled with grief,
When my hands in desperation
Reach to heaven for relief,

Would I find the words there waiting
If I had the strength to start?
Could a mortal tongue interpret
All the sorrow of a heart?

Spirit, search me in my weakness,
And discern this growing gray.
Intercede in understanding,
Hear the things I cannot say.

Hear my cry, heav’nly Father,
You have known my ev’ry pain.
You have seen all my sorrow,
Hear my cry once again.

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Why I refused the Covid-19 ‘vaccine’

As I watched nations rapidly falling in lockstep with an uncannily unified pandemic narrative, a particular scripture popped into my mind.

“Who is like the beast (antichrist), and who can fight against it?” (Rev 13:4)

I was a pro-vaxxer until 2020 but the coronapsychosis ultimately forced a fundamental rethink. In subsequent years, I have quizzed the unvaccinated on the reasons behind their vaccine hesitancy and the answers were invariably the same. “Something was not right about the whole saga” or “it just didn’t feel right”. Therefore, the red flags I present below are merely a concise articulation of what I “didn’t feel right” during the first six months (Dec 1 2019 to May 1 2020) of the pandemic.

The House of The Lord

“Praise the Lord!
Praise the name of the Lord,
give praise, O servants of the Lord,
who stand in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God!
Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
sing to his name, for it is pleasant!
For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as his own possession.” (Psalms 135:1-4 ESV)

What is the house of the Lord today? It is not a building. It is not a church denomination. It is not a business of human origin. It is not a corporation under the state. It is not a civic center. And it is not a social club. But this is what it is largely being turned into here in America. For so many people have altered the divine character of God/Christ and of his body, his church, and of his gospel message, and of his will, in order to attract the ungodly and the people of the world to the gatherings of what is called “church.”

But the house of the Lord is made up of people who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord (Owner-Master) and Savior of their lives, who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. We are the living stones in God’s building, his church, which is a spiritual building (house) and not a physical one. So the house of God is NOT a building called “church.” We who believe in Jesus are that house.

So, we cannot physically stand in the house of the Lord as though it is a physical structure. But we can take our stand for the Lord and for his gospel within the gatherings of his church, his body, his building, his house. And we can give true honor and praise and worship to our Lord as part of his house, his church, his body. But true worship of our Lord is not in lip service only, but in action, and in truth, and in walks of obedience to our Lord in surrender to his will and in submission to him as Lord (Owner-Master).

Here's the Church.jpg
Now, when I was a child I learned a little rhyme which had hand motions that went along with it, and it said this: “Here’s the church and here’s the steeple. Open the doors and see all the people.” So we clasped our hands in a position that had our fingers from one hand side-by-side with the fingers of the other hand, with our thumbs crisscrossed in the front (the doors). So as we said the rhyme we then formed a steeple with two fingers and then we separated our thumbs as though we were opening the doors, and then we spread our hands apart and made the fingers represent the people inside.

Now a lot of us here in America grew up with that concept of what church is, for that tradition has been passed down to us from generation to generation, and it is not an easy concept to dismiss for a lot of people, even if they know that the building is not the church. And so many of them are still teaching that the building or the church denomination is the church and so church is something we go to and enter into when we get there, but that we, the people, are not the church. We are just those who “go to church.”

But that is something that is man-created, and is based in human tradition, and not in the word of God. It is not the biblical picture of God’s church, which is a spiritual, not a physical building. And we don’t “go to church,” for we are the church. But the church goes to locations where they meet together with the body of Christ. And those gatherings are also called “the church,” but they are only “the church” if they are gatherings of true followers of Christ and the gatherings are being led of the Spirit of God.

And the purpose of these gatherings is not to draw in large crowds of people from the world via entertaining them and making “the church” a fun place to go that is non-threatening and a place where the ungodly can “feel at home.” The purpose of these gatherings is so that followers of Jesus can encourage (exhort, urge) each other in our walks of faith and obedience to the Lord and away from living in sin. And it is to train and equip us to be servants and ministers of the Lord to one another and so that we are also those who are taking the true message of the gospel out to the world.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]

You Loved Me

An Original Work / December 3, 2019
A song based off the poem by the same name


When I was lonely and afflicted,
You were there to pick me up.
You took me in Your arms,
And You held me tenderly.

Your love embraced me.
Your grace sustained me.

When my heart cried out to You
In my fear and my despair,
You never turned away,
But You let me know You loved me.

Your grace forgave me.
You did not shame me.

Then, when I answered the call,
“Here, Lord, send me.”
You sent me to where I must be.
Your mercy held me, did not fail me.
All this, You had planned, to use me.

And, when all trials and scorn
Came to test me.
You gave me all that I would need.
You strengthened me so I’d not fail You.
Your kindness blessed me, it touched me.

And, when I needed the church
To lift up me,
To hearten me so I’d not fail,
You blessed me with folks who would love me.
Their presence with me, Your praise hailed!

And, when I walked through the valley
Of the shadow of the death,
And tears flowed from my eyes,
Still Your kindness was there for me.

Your touch, it healed me.
For I believed You.

When now I think about the ways,
Of the many, many ways
That You in Your great love
Show me that You’ll always care for me,

My heart, it thanks You,
And gladness fills me, fills me.

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Interest on national debt to become second largest government expenditure in '24: Watchdog says


Interest payments on national debt will exceed defense and Medicare spending this year, according to a Committee for Responsible Federal Budget analysis of Congressional Budget Office data.

"Net interest has been exploding over the past few years, with payments rising from $223 billion in 2015 to $352 billion in 2021 before nearly doubling to $659 billion in 2023. In 2024, CBO projects net interest will total $870 billion, a near-record 3.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," the CRFB noted.

According to the CRFB, federal spending on interest had "already topped the Medicaid budget and all spending on children" in 2023.

"At a projected $870 billion, interest will surpass current spending on national defense ($822 billion) in 2024 and grow well beyond the defense budget over time," the organization said.

The good Lord made them all.

God made all the stars, a vast number. All the galaxies too, also a vast number. Did he fill them with creatures like us?

Why make such a vast universe, billions of light years across and with billions upon billions of galaxies and each galaxy filled with billions upon billions of stars, and as many planets or more, it seems. So much abundance, did he make it all to be empty, decorations for the night sky? It seems profligate.

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Please help me make sense out of this..

I'm not innocent I play equal parts of the toxic marriage BUT I truly did my best to change and make it work. I pray and pray for God to help fix the marriage but instead my ex was granted success that he used that to sin. God gave him power to use against me. He abandon me at my lowest for another girl so that way I won't be healthy to fight him in the divorce. I let it go. I accepted whatever. I thought God will fight this for me and I'll get beauty for my ashes. I did my part, went back to school, applied for jobs, tried to meet new people. But all failed! On the other hand, my ex was getting promoted, getting his master, and enjoying the life we built with his mistress. and even as petty as superbowl. His team is the 49ers so he must be in heaven knowing they are playing this year.

Everything is going right for him. He got everything he ever wanted after he abandon me and left me to die. Why is God rubbing this on my face? Why am I the only one getting punish? It seems like he prepared a table for my ex infront of me. I don't care if he is blessing my ex and giving him grace but why isn't he doing the same for me but instead all I'm getting are failures. I'm also doing my best but doesn't seem like God is on my side. Makes me think he favors my ex and that what my ex did was the right thing to abandon his sick wife and dog and to let them be homeless. He wanted us to die. I don't understand why God is giving my ex everything.

Asbury Awakening's Impact Ongoing, One Year Later: 'An Overwhelming Glimpse of God'


It's been one year since the biggest U.S. revival in more than 50 years broke out at Wilmore, Kentucky's Asbury University. Although it lasted only two weeks and two days, the impact was felt far and wide, not only on campus but around the world.

Asbury President Dr. Kevin Brown says there's still a feeling of expectancy in the air, even a year later.

"Our students continue to be hungry. They continue to lead. They've gone and they've shared, we've had over 50 groups go to different ministries and churches, both in the United States and overseas," Brown said.

For 16 days and nights, students and others worshipped and experienced the presence of God. What began as student-led prayer at a scheduled chapel service on February 8, 2023, led to something extraordinary.

Are Human Rights a fantasy?


In a TEDX talk years ago, Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari made the startling claim that human rights do not exist.

[H]uman rights are just like heaven and like God: It’s just a fictional story that we’ve invented and spread around. … It is not a biological reality, just as jellyfish and woodpeckers and ostriches have no rights, Homo sapiens have no rights. … Take a human, cut him open, look inside—you find their blood, and you find the heart and lungs and kidneys, but you don’t find there any rights. The only place you find rights is in the fictional stories that humans have invented and spread around.

Last week, Harari’s talk resurfaced on the site formerly known as Twitter and sparked a lively debate among Tom Holland, author of Dominion; Glen Scrivener, an Anglican priest and author of The Air We Breathe; and Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist who wrote 12 Rules for Life. Scrivener took issue with Harari’s materialism and called his remarks about human rights “nonsense.” Rights are indeed faith-based, he said, but that doesn’t make them any less real.

Tom Holland, who is not a Christian, responded that while he believes in human rights, they are not self-evident. Rather, they require an act of subjective belief. “Human rights have no more objective reality than, say, the Trinity,” wrote Holland. “Both derive from the workings of Christian theology; and both, if they are to be believed in, require people to make a leap of faith.”

Jordan Peterson disagreed, and responded in somewhat jumbled psychological lingo that rights are somehow “built into the structure of human being” and are therefore “[n]ot arbitrary at all.” Holland shot back that if rights really are somehow “built into” reality, it’s awfully strange that the concept of human rights only emerged around the twelfth century in a specifically Christian and Western political context.

The whole exchange was fascinating and instructive. For example, if the idea that human rights are not universal seems strange, that just shows how deeply Western you are. For most of history, as Holland described in his book Dominion, the idea that humans have “self-evident” rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” would have been baffling. “A Roman would have laughed at it.”
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witnessing to people in spiritualism with out of body experience

Hi,

So listened to a testimony, she experienced trauma in her youth, unstable home, domestic violence towards her mother, financial stress etc.
And she describes moments her soul got out of her body and she could see herself etc. That's why she believes in spiritualism, in energies, I think it is almost like New age religion. People who has suffered some trauma in childhood can develop out of body experiences, these people are inclined to believe in spiritualism.
We all know spiritualism is another false religion. Thing is christianity for some can be without clear signs and wonders sometimes and some considered this kinda boring, that's why the occult and spiritualism is more attractive to do. How to witness to people in spiritualism.

Br

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