Isaiah 40:27-31 ESV


Have you ever felt that way? There have been times in my life when I did feel that way, that God had forgotten about me. I know better now, but I didn’t know better then. But I wanted to have a better understanding of verse 27, so I looked it up, and I read this on the Benson Commentary:


Now the interesting thing about this is that it is true that the Lord does allow our enemies to abuse us at their pleasure. He does permit us to suffer. He does allow Satan and his cohorts to attack us, sometimes mercilessly, and to do all sorts of evil against us, and to get away with it, at least at present. Otherwise these things could not happen to us. For, remember how he gave Satan permission to afflict Job, a righteous man, but he set limits on Satan and on what he was allowed to do or not do.

And actually realizing this truth, and accepting it as truth, but then realizing that God is good, we can soon begin to understand that God allows these situations in our lives to make us strong in the Lord and in his strength, to mature us in our walks of faith, to humble us, and to make us more like Jesus. And if we are truly being called to suffer, it is going to hurt, and we probably are going to cry, and we will most likely cry out to God to rescue us. But when he does not immediately rescue us, we are not to assume that he has forgotten about us or that he is not listening to our cries for mercy.

But we need to then surrender our lives to the Lord and to his purposes for our lives, and submit to his sovereign will over our lives, and trust the Lord to work all of this out for good in our lives. But this is not saying that we cannot defend ourselves against false accusations against our character and against our walks of faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus defended himself against his accusers on a regular basis, as did Paul, as did Peter and John. Now we should not be mean and hateful, but we can stand up for ourselves if we know we are in the right, but not out of pride, but as led by the Spirit.

But the good thing to know here is that, if we are serving the Lord with our lives faithfully, and if our consciences are clear that we are not sinning against the Lord – not that we are claiming absolute perfection – then we can trust that the Lord is not only going to work it all out for our good, and perhaps for the good of others, too, but that he will give us the strength we need to endure and the wisdom to know what steps to take and what things to say. And if Satan tries to attack us in the process, we can trust the Lord that he will continue to lead us in what to do and in what to say and in how to respond to the enemies’ attacks against us.

And, honestly, we are still human beings, and we are not superman or superwoman. We have limited strength. And we do grow weak and tired. And we cry. And sometimes that is all we can do is just to cry it all out to God and to say, “HELP!” Even the young get weary and exhausted, so us old people definitely don’t have the physical or even emotional endurance we did when we were young, especially if we are taking beating after beating from the enemy. Even Job, a righteous man, struggled with his emotions when he was suffering physically and his friends were accusing him falsely.

So, sometimes we just need time and space where we can cry it all out to the Lord, and release those emotions, and then let God heal us and bring comfort to our minds and hearts. And then he will renew our strength. And oh, I have seen the Lord do this in my life over and over again. Once I am able to cry it out, then he comforts me, and then he guides me in the way in which he wants me to go, and he gives me the strength I need to endure and to keep going in his strength. And he will do the same for you if your trust is in him, and if you are resting in him, and if you are letting him lead.

Suffering, trials, persecutions: [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]

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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The Catholic Church began with **Jesus Christ** and his teachings; Catholic tradition teaches that the Catholic Church is a continuation of the early Christian community established by the Disciples of Jesus ¹. The Church teaches that its bishops are the successors of Jesus's apostles with the Bishop of Rome, as the successor of Saint Peter, who ministered in Rome in the first century AD after his appointment by Jesus as rock upon whom the Church is built.

Sources: (1) History of the Catholic Church - Wikipedia. History of the Catholic Church - Wikipedia Accessed 23/06/2023.
(2) Catholic Church - Wikipedia. Catholic Church - Wikipedia Accessed 23/06/2023.
(3) Person (Catholic canon law) - Wikipedia. Person (Catholic canon law) - Wikipedia Accessed 23/06/2023.
(4) What is the Church Age? - GotQuestions.org. What is the Church Age? Where does the Church Age fit in biblical history? | GotQuestions.org Accessed 23/06/2023.

I think what's happening in Belarus reminds Soviet Union and their religion politics.
They persecuted people who believed in God and were practicing Christianity.

North Carolina’s GOP-controlled state House voted on Thursday to approve a bill banning the participation of transgender women and girls in sports outside of their biological sex. The ban covers athletics from middle school through the collegiate level.

None of the top 10 most liveable cities for 2023 are in the US

For a country many people called the greatest in the world for decades, CNN's front page headline is depressing.

2023’s Global Liveability Index: The top 10​

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Melbourne, Australia
4. Sydney, Australia
5. Vancouver, Canada
6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Calgary, Canada
7. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Toronto, Canada
10. Osaka, Japan

The IRS whistleblowers said the recommendation called for Hunter Biden to be charged with tax evasion and filing a false tax return – both felonies – for 2014, 2018 and 2019. The IRS also recommended that prosecutors charge him with failing to pay taxes on time, a misdemeanor, for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to the transcripts, which were released Thursday by House Republicans

Immaculate Conception
Which is defined as - the Immaculate Conception of Mary by her mother-- Mary born sinless like Christ.

Assumption of Mary into heaven
Mary taken bodily to heaven without dying --or--- Mary resurrected at her death then bodily assumed into heaven.

I don't find any NT author commenting/admitting/stating the above.
I don't find any mention of this in Christian documents for more than 200 years after Christ.

Question:

Without any scripture support and without any early church documents in first or second century showing that Christians all believed in it - how did it come about?

On what basis could either of these teachings be considered mandatory, required or even true??

Today I lost my temper with my wife. We were arguing about groceries because she didn't get all the groceries that we needed after my mother was kind enough to take us grocery shopping this morning. I took it as personal because my mom has been the family chauffeur ever since my wife broke our car in early spring.

Anyway during my rage I screamed expletives at her and had completely lost my top because I felt like she could walk all over me all she wants but she can't walk all over my mother. Anyway while I'm screaming at her I threw her tablet on the floor shattering it into a million pieces. Needless to say the tablet doesn't work anymore. So, we have to share my tablet until I can afford to buy her a new used one.

I cannot be more sorry and I feel as though I'm completely at fault even though it was her taking advantage of my mother and her calling me a insensitive child that sent me unto my rage.

Normally I just ignore my problems when I get angry and let my wife walk all over me because I do have a big problem with anger. I'm a man and men have difficulty controlling their temper which is why I usually just ignore my problems. But that didn't happen today and I just got more and more angry the more she seemed indifferent to our problem and the more she was walking all over my mom.

I've prayed to God countless times for my anger but I always get angry. It's even getting to the point where ignoring my problems isn't working either. Can people pray for me and guide me in the right direction? I know I'm supposed to control my anger but, how?

Thread title should be self explanatory. What was the first creature(s) to have a soul and to have a spirit? Were soul and spirit imbued at the same time or different times? When and where did each take place? What evidence leads you to your answer? Interested in hearing what people think about this. I'm sure this isn't an exhaustive list, but here's a few maybe starting points off the top of my head.
1) The first living thing
2) Complex lifeforms with brains and such
3) Do dogs go to heaven? (e.g. sometime in the evolution of mammals)
4) Primates
5) Early humans (Homo erectus or thereabouts)
6) The first evidence of religion associated behaviors in humans (burying the dead, etc.)
7) Some other time?

Notice: This posting originally only asked about the soul, and was modified to include spirit when it was explained to me that they are not the same thing.

PECAN, and yes i have. Bet this has the most calories.

2024 Democratic presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—an environmental lawyer with anti-vaccine views and a strong family dynasty at his back—has higher favorability numbers than either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll by The Economist and YouGov, even as Biden maintains a lead in the 2024 primary.



I think this should be pretty concerning to people in both parties and should cause them to take a long hard look at the "horse they're putting their money on".

Rewind 2-3 years, being an anti-vaxxer was viewed as the worst thing someone could be. Even having a prominent platform and allowing them to speak was verboten and drew calls for people to get tossed off the air.

Fast-forward to now:
Kennedy Jr. was viewed favorably by 49% of respondents and unfavorably by just 30%, leaving him with a net rating of 19 points—higher than any other candidate in the poll, which surveyed 1,500 adult respondents from June 10 to 13.

Biden had a negative 9-point net favorability rating, with 52% of respondents viewing him somewhat or very unfavorably while 45% have very or somewhat favorable impressions, and Trump had a negative 10-point net rating, with 53% viewing him unfavorably and 43% favorably.

BIG NUMBER​

20%. A CNN poll last month showed that about one-fifth of Democratic voters supported Kennedy's run for president. Some 60% planned to support Biden, and 8% favored Williamson.


And to expound upon that:
A collection of tech moguls have gotten behind Kennedy Jr. in recent weeks, including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Social Capital founder Chamath Palihapitiya and venture capitalist David Sacks. Billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk hosted him for a Twitter Spaces discussion earlier this month


So both the Twitter head that many people on the left liked (Dorsey) and the one they hate (Musk) have both given him something of a platform.



If there's a silver lining in all this, it's that it would seem the climate is right for 3rd party candidates and "others" keeping the trajectory going of getting more and more support with each passing election cycle.

I think that there's a takeaway here...it's that "one-party rule" isn't good whether it's on the left or the right.

Left-wing areas need a "right-leaning" filter to run their ideas through, and vice versa.

It would be easy to cry about this. When news of it comes on TV i find myself struggling for air thinking about it. An authority on this said on DBL today , if he had to guess, that it blew when they lost contact with it. That would be the less suffering end. But wouldn't
something be floating? From what has come out about it, sounds like a shoestring and bubblegum mess/invention. They did say there had been 3 prior trips that were successful. There was supposed to be news of it at 3pm. I missed it.

For the last seven months, a high-profile former statewide candidate for office — from my own political party — has spread falsehoods about our elections and about me specifically.

A republican suing Lake for defamation. I hope he wins big.

Audio-Video recording cameras are in almost all publicly owned areas, courthouses, motor vehicles offices, libraries, police vehicles and officers, on public roadways?

Why not the publicly owned elementary school classroom?

We aren't talking live camera, just recorded footage for a record of what has taken place in the classroom?

Pro Publica's investigation:


Alito's preemptive response:



WSJ Op-Ed supporting Alito (surprise!):


Summary: Alito voted against Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) - Singer has a gay son so he must have been in favor of the decision that Alito opposed.

Is this true? A friend of mine said that.

Now the ethics committee will do its work.

Prayer for Critical US Supreme Court Case

The US supreme Court will be releasing several more decisions by the end of June and possibly early July. A critical case is 303 Creative v. Elenis. I am requesting prayer for a decision extraordinarily in favor of Lorie Smith, and by extension, the Church of God.

“Lorie Smith, the graphic artist and web designer who owns 303 Creative in Colorado, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold free speech.”


“Lorie is an artist who specializes in custom graphic and website design and loves to visually convey messages in every site she creates. She started 303 Creative to promote causes consistent with her beliefs and close to her heart through her art. Lorie wants to celebrate marriages between one man and one woman, but she soon learned that a Colorado law would force her to create messages that conflict with her beliefs. On December 5, 2022, Lorie asked the Supreme Court to protect her—and every American’s—right to say what she believes.

Lorie Smith runs a studio called 303 Creative in Colorado that designs and publishes websites for individuals, businesses, churches, charities, and numerous others. Lorie loves the work she does and puts her heart into every design.

Lorie’s free speech rights as an artist give her not only the right to speak but also the right not to speak. Free speech is for everyone, not just those who agree with the government.

It is long past due for creative professionals and artists such as Lorie to stop living under the threat of compelled speech and government coercion.”

The above commentary describes the content of the following videos.

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Hello brothers and sisters,

I need some prayer, I collected a discontinued miniature army from eBay, called Warhammer it's a bretonnian army. I left it with a local painter, the figures come unpainted, she has all my models, and she took my deposit, didn't do much work at all, and now she is refusing to give them back.

They are worth quite a bit of money, and they are rare and hard to come by, it took me a while to collect them.

Please pray she returns them all, and I find the right person to paint them.

*UPDATE*

I received them back, thanks for the prayers, I have found two new painters that can continue the project for me, pray I select the right person to finish the painting of the figures.



Many Thanks
Andy

While the term was used academically and publicly before 2016, the Oxford Dictionary defined it as "relating to and denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief."


Where do we go from here? I really don't know. It seems that all any of us can do is challenge ourselves to seek truth beyond what we want to hear and read. And we can each do better in realizing that our present world views color our interpretations. On matters of importance to us we must dig deeper with more objectivity. It takes work.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism starts with this question.

What is the chief end of man?

Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

I agree with this because there is nothing greater than His glory. It’s the culmination of all we know about Him. Some have argued that God is more interested in loving us than He is with His glory. If this is true, then the Westminster divines got this wrong. Our chief end should be to love one another.

I think they got it right. God is very concerned about His glory because there is nothing greater. We can’t put an attribute of God (love for instance) above His glory for two reasons. One, God is singular and we cannot divide his attributes like ingredients in a cake. So one can’t be singled out over another. Two, His glory is the culmination of His attributes. So to pull one out (if it was possible) and put it over the culmination of His attributes would make no sense.


You who fear the Lord, praise Him;
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.
— Psalm 22:23

That’s a good command. We should follow it.

Hi,

I am new to this forum and find myself here this evening with a very specific situation that I’d be grateful for some insight on.

I am a wedding musician and recently accepted a booking through a booking agent. However, I did not do my due diligence and was unaware it was a same sex union until after confirming availability.

I do not believe I can actively be a part of this wedding and I think that in my country of residence I could potentially be under threat from discrimination laws for citing my religion.

I could of course provide an unrelated excuse not to do the wedding but would that be essentially denying my faith and God?

Thank you

.

Don’t call it a comeback, blue whales have been here for years, rocking their peers and putting sailors in fear.

The largest animals on Earth are returning to the coastal Californian waters in larger and larger numbers, with sightings on whale-watching trips becoming increasingly common.

According to a 2014 study investigating the impact of ship strikes on the blue whale population, the western Pacific population of these cetaceans has reached 97% of its pre-whaling levels.

“It’s not just one entity that is contributing to the success of the populations rebounding; it’s really the efforts of everyone,” Jennie Dean, Vice President of Education and Conservation at the Aquarium of the Pacific in LA, told KTLA.

“When we’re able to take collective action and think about balance, such that people and the activities that we want to support like shipping, like recreational use, like commercial fishing, all of those things can coexist.”

Commercial fishing tackle can harm whales, and so the industry took measures to reduce this and it worked.

Too many blue whales were killed every year in ship strikes, and so Pacific shipping narrowed their lanes to avoid areas where whales congregate, and are now agreeing to reduce their speeds when entering and exiting harbor areas.

Continued below.