Makes the Old Covenant Obsolete. The New supersedes the Old.

Luke 22:20
In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.

2 Corinthians 3:6
And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!

Hebrews 7:22
Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

Hebrews 8:6
Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.

Hebrews 8:8
But God found fault with the people and said: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Hebrews 8:13
By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear

Hebrews 9:16,28
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator

Hebrews 9:15-23
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance…

Hebrews 12:24
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Romans 7:4
Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God

Romans 6:14
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

hope this helps !!!

Conservative thought leader Jesse Kelly says the U.S. needs a dictatorship. That's disturbing.

Joe Walsh comments that that is exactly what the conservative base wants. That's frightening.
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Please pray for Michael. He’s a brother in the Lord and a really nice guy. He’s having problems right now with bullying and rejection from some of his friends.

The Crucifixion shows us most clearly what true love looks like.

One of the many accusations made against the Catholic Church is that we should not have crucifixes hanging all over the place. Jesus rose from the dead. The work is done. The Cross is empty. Why is Jesus still on the cross in every Catholic Church? Wouldn’t a bare cross more gloriously proclaim the power of God in the Resurrection? As St. John Paul II said, “We are the Easter people.” But if we are the Easter people, why have crucifixes?

First of all, let’s be clear: Jesus rose from the dead. Nevertheless, it is still more than appropriate for us to create, venerate and meditate on images of Jesus on the Cross. I don’t claim to be giving the specific reasons people first began to paint and sculpt crucifixes, but I want to give a list of reasons I have come to believe that it is right to have a crucifix front and center in every Church.

The Crucifixion is a tacit pledge of the resurrection.

The Crucifixion reveals the all-consuming heat of the infinite fire of divine love, the same love that creates and sustains the cosmos.

The Crucifixion is Christ’s marriage bed where he was wedded to the Church (St. Augustine).

The Crucifixion shows us most clearly how God loves us, not just how much, but the manner in which He loves us. Love is not just about quantity, but about quality. He is willing to suffer.

Continued below.

My husband passed away last June and I am still kept very busy with his affairs, doing stuff that he would have been responsible for, working on things needing done around the house, helping my 3 special needs children with their many issues plus all the responsibilities I had and continue to have. When I tell people I am tired and busy, they say oh it's good to be busy, but it's not the kind of busy I enjoy.

There are a lot of maintenance jobs needing done around the house and someone suggested I just put it up for sale and my sister has taken on the role of encouraging me to do that, but it's not as easy as it sounds as I am not ready for that change.

One thing I took a while to get used to was the fact of widowhood - I knew my husband had passed away and that made me a widow, but it was difficult to get my head around or believe the fact that I was a widow. I had to keep saying it to myself - 'You are a widow'.

Through the two years of his illness and his passing I have known the peace of God and the assurance that He is in control and doesn't make mistakes.

Gillian

Will you please pray for me?
I have pulmonary embolism (blood clots in my lungs) and a blood clot in my heart. It makes me at risk of stroke or other horrible things to the brain. I am getting an MRI of the brain tomorrow as I am having bad headaches, dizziness etc and they want to check if I have clots in the veins of my brain (in addition to the ones in my heart and lungs).
Can you please pray they do the test well, report on it thoroughly, find what is going on a s treat ne urgently and safely.
And that nothing bad happens to me. I am so extremely scared.
In addition, my mum is in hospital and I don't want her to die

Please will you pray God heals us and ends this nightmare

Thank you very much

NUMBERS 1:1-4:20 "B'Midbar" (in the wilderness, desert)


We start the new Torah Sefer called “Numbers” in English because it talks about “numbering” the tribes of Israel. In the Greek Septuagint we get the Greek word "Arithmoi" from whence we get "arithmetic." wonder why the reason for “numbering the people?” for this reason, we need to go back to the beginning to see.

In Egypt, Israel was a hodge-podge of undisciplined slaves working for Pharaoh, In Adonai’s timing, He sent Moshe, a “Messiah Type” to lead the people out of slavery to freedom. Once out of Egypt, came the task of taking Egypt out of the Israelites. They came to Har Sinai, ready to become a nation united under YHVH. The Ten Commandments served as the document in stone, a “Ketubah” to solidify the covenant. Now, the United Tribes of Israel under YHVH is established. But this is only the first part. Each Shavuot, we remember the giving of the “Torah in Stone” in the midst of thunder and fire.

Now that the nation is established, YHVH takes a count, why the count? As a nation, as every nation in the world has, the Nation of Israel needs an army! So, the count is taken to form the very first IDF (Israel Defense Force). I am sure that many of you that are reading this have served in one of the branches of the Armed Forces of the USA, or of other countries. I myself served in the US Army from 1972-1984. I met many people and learned many things. It was a great experience and a special time in my life. Quite a few of my family members also served in the Armed Forces, the first being an ancestor of mine, Richard Ellis, who served in the Massachusetts Militia in 1640. I also served for 6 weeks with the IDF in Israel, and for 3 years, as a volunteer chaplain in the Armed Forces here in El Salvador.

One interesting aspect with the Word "B'Midbar" is that there is also the word "d'bar" or "D'ber" (to speak) So, we can see that even there in the wilderness, God is speaking and will continue to speak to His chosen people. He will speak and guide them for 40 years in that wilderness of Midian. There is also the word "Adat" which is "congregation" in verse two. The heads of the congregation (the 12 tribes) were chosen to lead them. In the word "Adat" (Ayin, Dalet, Hey) there are the letters (Ayin, Dalet) which is "Ad" this word is "testimony" These heads of the Tribes will serve as "testimonies" to their followers and to those who come after them, as to the faithfulness of God throughout their "journeys".

YHVH takes up the count and “enlists” every man who is 20 years old and older. They will serve in the armies of Israel. All those who are …”20 years old and upward who are able to go to war.” After the numbering, part of daily life would have been practicing and learning how to use different combat weapons, back then would have been swords, spears, bows and arrows, and slingshots.

Every soldier has a job to do. Today we call these jobs MOS, (Military Occupation Specialties) One of mine was that of chaplain assistant. I was to assist a catholic chaplain who everyone called; “Father McCarthy” who had a bulldog named “Gus” who also went to chapel with him. 11 of the 12 tribes were called to be fighting men yet the tribe of Levi, was called to be the “chaplain tribe” They were exempt from combat duty, they would attend the Tabernacle and services. There were the cohanim (the priests) who would be the “chaplains” and the “Levites” who would serve as the “chaplain assistants” sort of speaking.

So, you are thinking, what does this numbering have to do with us as born-again believers in Messiah Yeshua? We are all soldiers in God’s army of believers. He’s got us all numbered. Yes, he has your number! We need to again, go back and look at our lives before and after Messiah Yeshua.

Before, we were just a bunch of “hodge-podge lost sinners in the camp of HaSatan, until Yeshua took us out of that camp by shedding his blood on the cross of Calvary, when we accepted his sacrifice, we were officially “out” of the camp. Yet, there would still be a lot of “HaSatan and worldly influence” still in us, so, like the Israelites, “Egypt” was still in us.

When we accepted Messiah Yeshua as our Mashiach and Goel (Redeemer) we were added to the Family of God. Israel was the first Community, the “Adat” which began at Sinai 3500 years ago. We are the “olive branches” that have been “grafted into” the Olive Tree, which is Israel.

Now that we are members and citizens of “HIS People” we also are considered “soldiers” in the LORD’s Army. However, we fight a different type of war. In this world, armies fight with RPGs, M-16s, Kalashnikovs, Berettas, M-60s, etc. We fight against, “spirits and principalities of darkness” it is a spiritual war against HaSatan and his demons. Only through the Ruach HaKodesh (The Holy Spirit) and the power of His WORD can we overcome the onslaughts of the enemy. He realizes he has lost the war, yet still continues to fight a losing battle, which was won at the cross 2000 years ago.

As the Cohenim ministered and had jobs to do, and also the soldiers had their jobs to do, we believers also have jobs within our “Kehilot” and “Adat” (congregations). That is why the Holy Spirit has given gifts of the Spirit so that we might all serve in different capacities in the body of Messiah. In this way, the body grows and prospers. Some of us are rabbis, and pastors, who also serve as teachers, also we have ministers in music and praise, finances, maintenance, prayer intercessors, counselors, and the list can go on.

The twelve tribes of Israel encircled the Tabernacle, with the tribe of Levi next to it. The “Mishkan” was at the center of the People. So also, YHVH should be the “Center” of our life. The whole purpose of our life is to serve our God and Creator, while loving and supporting our brothers and sisters in the faith, reaching out to others who are lost, and teaching Torah to those who have ears to hear and learn. We are “numbered” in the eyes of Elohim, HE knows who we are, He has numbered the hairs on our head, and there is no such thing as “retirement” in the work of YHVH, well, there is…. It is called d-e-a-t-h.

Another detail which I would like to add to this midrash. About the leaders who were chosen as "heads" of their tribes. Their names have special meanings, and these are meanings; These tell a lot about the character and nature of God;

“Elizur’ = My God is the rock;” Shelumiel” = At peace with God. (I know, it sounds like “Schlemiel” but it isn’t. “Zurishaddai” = My Rock is Shaddai; “Nahshon” = Serpent, “Amminadab” = The (Divine) kinsman is generous; “Nethaniel” = God hath given; “Eliab” = God is Father; “Elishama” = God hath heard, or God hears; “Ammihud” = The (Divine) kinsman is glorious; “Gammaliel” = God is my reward. In later times, it was the name of many famous rabbis, like the rabbi of Apostle Paul; “Pedahzur” = The Rock hath redeemed; “Abidan” = The Father hath judged; “Ahiezer” = The (divine) Brother is a help; “Ammishaddai” = The People of Shaddai; “Pagiel” = The lot (or fate) is given by God; “Eliasaph” = God has added; “Deuel” or “Reuel” = God is a friend; “Ahira” the (divine) brother is a friend.

Hello everyone

Please can people pray for me. I'm going through a terrible period at the moment. I've suffered with anxiety for many years and it has become very bad again. My marriage is going through a very difficult period and I'm unsure if we can save it, I'm struggling to focus at work and worried my job is at risk as I only started 2 weeks ago, and the anxiety is taking its toll me on me physically. I can't really eat much and my belly is very uncomfortable when I walk.

Please pray for me. I need God's strength to get me through this and guide me. At the moment I can only take one day at a time and pray.

How long do we fast for in preparation for a general Sunday's Holy Communion?

Hundreds of pilgrims have descended on a Benedictine monastery for religious sisters in rural Missouri in recent days after news began to spread on social media last week that the recently exhumed remains of the contemplative order’s African American foundress appear to be incorrupt, four years after her death and burial in a simple wooden coffin.

Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, OSB, founded the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles — best known for their chart-topping Gregorian chant and classic Catholic hymn albums — in 1995 at the age of 70, leaving the Oblate Sisters of Providence, her community of over 50 years, to do so.

Known for her devotion to the Traditional Latin Mass and her faithfulness to Benedictine contemplation and the Liturgy of the Hours, she died at age 95 on May 29, 2019, on the solemnity of the Ascension.

Roughly four years later, on the solemnity of the Ascension in the Latin rite, the abbess and sisters decided to move her body to a final resting place inside their monastery chapel, a long-standing custom for founders and foundresses.

Continued below.

So why is the party most responsible for the problem now threatening to shut down the government rather than taking responsibility for the debts primarily incurred under the administrations of their presidents?

Olsen expressed his concern that only after digging into the circumstances, did Lake’s team discover that the county had additional signature reviewers that were not working on camera with observers watching them; employees were conducting signature review in their private offices and remotely from home. He referenced Level 1 signature reviewer Andy Meyers, who testified on the first day of the trial that the Level 2 workers told him they were overwhelmed, not realizing there were others doing things secretly. “Why, why was this all done behind closed doors? That is the secret army that Maricopa employed that goes to the heart of the observation of Andrew Meyers, who testified that the math never added up.”
Olsen concluded by citing the standard Lake’s team was required to prove. “Maricopa’s own timestamp log data proves by clear and convincing evidence that Maricopa is not conducting signature verification. … 70,000 ballots approximately were reportedly compared and verified. Within less than two seconds.
Only now do we find out that signatures were being examined for verification in secret with no observers present.

I want to know and understand why Christians emphasize the end of days or chaos and disaster scenarios. Hearing discussion about it sets me off and it existentially scares me.

I now believe we could very well be in the end times because words of the Bible happen to correspond a lot with today's news in the recent past. But I am scared to experience things like all-powerful evil leaders with no accountability, not being able to make a living, being persecuted and killed in horrific ways. And that it is prophesied and pre-determined to happen and I can't do anything to stop or avoid it from happening to me.

The other part is that I would rather see the world change and have a better positive future than seeing its existence canceled. I honestly long more for a world where banks, entertainment, media, sports, corporations, etc. still exist but this time they are in line with more traditional or Christian values. I am also relatively young and thinking about not getting to do certain things I want to do. Ideally I don't want my existence to end until at least my 60s and I want to die in a relatively peaceful world, but I might not get to have that.

I guess I just don't want to worry about things happening. If an asteroid or nuclear war broke out and was going to hit me, I'd rather be in blissful ignorance in my last moments than be spend it living in anxiety over warning. So guess I'm asking why Christians want to warn others about a future imminent time, but it scares some people or makes them anxious even if it isn't intended like that.

My dear CF family,
Hello. I am writing this with tears streaming down my face because it feels as if life has put such a weight on my chest that I feel like we (my husband and I) cannot escape from anymore. In the last year, my husband and I have lived in roughly four hotels, my parents home (which was just myself) and currently at the moment with a “friend “.

The reason for the tears is because come June 9th, we will be homeless. Our friend hasn’t paid her rent since getting this trailer and is getting evicted. I’m really upset about it because we do as much as we can to keep the house afloat aside from rent yet all she does is complain about how nothing is done yet all she wants to do is be lazy all day and expect us to drive her everywhere and not pay us gas or anything.

The only option we have is for me to go home to my parents again but he cannot go with me due to his felony background. Don’t get me wrong, my parents love him as their own and were his biggest supporters other than myself when he was incarcerated for five years of our fourteen year relationship thus far as his own family either basically disowned him, want nothing to do with him or have passed (his own parents- dad was the worst influence and his mom left him when he was just six years old). There are stipulations hindering why my dad won’t allow him to stay.

My husband’s health has also been a factor lately too as he has bad ulcers, suffered third degree burns recently and everything else. I’m our sole provider and I cannot simply do it myself anymore.

So I’m asking for prayers for a miracle or blessing before then. If anyone wants to ask questions or pray personally for us via PM, I’m open to the messages. I prefer them actually.

Thank you all for the continued love and support and prayers.
Love,
somebodysangel

I have been talking to someone recently, been out on dates, and I don't feel much if anything romantic with him. He's younger than me and isn't a Christian so I feel like that's my deal breaker. What is the best way to I guess reject him without destroying his confidence. There's nothing really wrong with him just that I don't feel like he's right for me. I've been single my entire life and I don't want to fall into the trap of settling because I'm so lonely. I feel like being with someone I'm not in love with also is unfair to him. Any advice??

Three years ago the Lord Jesus led me to write my own funeral sermon, and today, May 22, 2023, he led me to record it. So, the dated information here is three years old, but the message has not changed.

January 24, 2020

We are all going to die one day. It is inevitable, unless the Lord returns first to take us home to be with him. My youngest sister died 5 years ago this month at the age of 61. My next to oldest brother died this past November at the age of 71.

Although, as far as I know, I am in good health, I am 70, and so I have lived a lifetime. And so I am thinking about death and what I would want to have at my funeral, should there be one for me, and especially what I would want the sermon to say. For the message is very important to me. I believe that is the critical point of all funerals.

So, this evening I felt the Lord had something for me to write. He put the song in my head, “My Jesus, I Love Thee,” which talks about death and heaven. But my brain was in a fog. I was reading scriptures, but nothing was working with my brain.

So, I closed up my computer, and I lay down on the sofa. In the dark I closed my eyes, and in the quiet I prayed. And, then these words here began to come to me. So, I am now going to write whatever the Lord Jesus gives me to write this evening, which I believe is to be my funeral sermon, although anyone can use it who wants to, if it fits.

The Message

If you are hearing this read to you right now, then that means that I have gone home to be with the Lord for eternity. I am no longer suffering. I no longer am in a spiritual battle against the enemy of my soul who would want to destroy my life. My tears are gone. I am rejoicing that I now get to be with my Savior forever. I am at rest. The war is over. The battle is won!

It has been a long hard road that I have been traveling. Life has not been easy for me. It was hard from the very beginning. But, God had a plan and a purpose for it all. He was preparing me for something special that he had designed for my life from even before I was formed in the womb of my mother. For, he was preparing me to be one of his messengers who would take his gospel message to the ends of the earth in these last days before our Lord’s return. And that is why Satan has fought against me so hard.

But I am at peace now. The battle is over. The victory is won! And, I am with my Lord forever, and I am rejoicing in Him. And, yes, I am repeating myself, because sometimes we need to hear things more than just once.

Most Critical

So, what message should I leave with you? What is the most important thing you need to hear right now? If I could tell you anything, what would it be?

What I need to tell you is the same thing many of you have heard me say over and over again, because it is what God’s Word teaches over and over again, and because you understanding and believing this message, and you applying it to your life is critical to determining where you will spend eternity.

If you want to be saved from your sins and have eternal life with God, you must die with Christ to sin and live with Christ to his righteousness – all in the power and working of his Spirit. And His Spirit is living within those who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and who have been raised with Christ to newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Read Rom. 6:1-23 and Eph. 4:17-24).


Thus, we are not saved from our sins and bound for heaven on a mere confession of Christ, or on a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ. We aren’t “saved,” then we live however we want, and then one day, when we die, we get to go to heaven. That is not what God’s Word teaches.

Faith in Jesus Christ is something we must exercise every day. And, that faith is realized in what we do, not in what we profess. And the doing has to be in obedience to our Lord and to his commandments (New Testament). And, we have to be walking (living, in practice) according to (in agreement with) the Holy Spirit of God. And, we have to NOT be walking (conducting our lives) according to the flesh, if we want to have eternal life with God (Read Rom. 8:1-17 and 1 John 1:5-9).


For, Jesus Christ, God the Son, did not give his life up for us on that cross just so we could be forgiven our sins and so we could go to heaven when we die. He died that we might die with him to sin and live with him to righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us. And he gave his life blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God that we might now be God’s possession, and that we might now honor God with our lives (Read 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Co. 6:20; 2 Co. 5:15, 21; Tit. 2:14).

In fact, his grace to us is not just a “get-out-of-jail-free-card.” His grace to us is that he died to deliver us out of our slavery to sin. So, contrary to popular opinion, God’s grace is not free license to now continue in willful, blatant sinful rebellion against God as a matter of life course, and then claim that all your sins are covered under God’s grace. What a slap in the face to God. What a mockery that is of God’s grace to us.


So, please know that if you are claiming Jesus as your Savior, but you are still living for the flesh, doing what you want to do, and your life is not committed to Jesus Christ, to following him in obedience to his ways, and if you are not surrendered to your Lord to do his will for your life, the scriptures teach that you do not know God, he doesn’t know you, and you don’t have eternal life with God, but you will die in your sins, because you would not die to your sins and live to Christ and to his righteousness (Read Gal. 5:16-21; Eph. 5:3-6; Rom. 2:6-8; Gal. 6:7-8 and Rom. 8:1-17).


So, take this to heart, for not one of us knows if we have tomorrow. In fact, if you are hearing this read at my funeral, and I am gone, please know that I did not know when I would breathe my last breath, either. So, don’t play with fire. Surrender your life to Jesus Christ today while you still have today.

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My Jesus, I Love Thee

Hymn lyrics by William R. Featherstone, 1864
Music by Adoniram J. Gordon, 1876

My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine;
For thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou;
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I love thee because thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;
I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow;
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say, when the death-dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight;
I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright;
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

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I painted my first two Icons . And the big painting of Spyridon is the idea from an icon from the russian Icon painter Anna Baibakova . Hope you like it. Does my jesus have an too evil look????

I have found an experimental treatment for schizophrenia called sarcosine! It is about 2 years out from being available from a pharmacy via prescription but it is available for order on the internet right now! Sarcosine is nearly miraculous, works GREAT, no side effects, nothing, not a thing! It has a strong effect on negative symptoms and some on positives. Taking it I can now smile and laugh for the first time since I was a kid, I don't know what to do with myself! Alot of people don't know about sarcosine, even alot of doctors don't know about it. My psychiatrist is a professor in the psychiatry department at the local hospital med school (Penn State Hershey), a top-flight med school, I told her about sarcosine and she said she had never heard of it! She then checked into it and said it looked very promising! I am willing to bet she will now share word of this with her students and other psychiatrists, this will probably help alot of people.

My psychiatrist probably has connections with other doctors working in inpatient psych hospitals, if she tells them about this they may start giving sarcosine to their patients and it may help them enough that they can be discharged and lead normal lives on the outside!

Like I said most people do not know about sarcosine right now but when this breaks it will make the news and it will probably help millions of people, it is a breakthrough treatment for sure!

The [new majority of ultra-conservative elected commissioners] also has been involved in an escalating feud with the county’s election commission in ways that have prompted concerns about whether preparations for the 2024 presidential electin will be affected.

--

(Reminiscent of the problems in Shasta County, California, including an apparent push for hand counted ballots, and not much detail on how this will happen and who will pay for it.)

What's odd is nobody talks about how God directs and feeds the animals or DNA or Molecules or Angels or anything else. But all of a sudden when humans are involved we have to come up with this notion of free will and God's sovereignty comes into question. Which is it? Either God is sovereign above everything or he is not a sovereign God at all. The God of the Bible IS sovereign (Proverbs 16:33)

God predetermined our days on the Earth (Psalm 139:16). God doesn't just know the day you will die. He predetermined it. God declares the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). God doesn't just know all of the sins you will commit. If you're among the elect he died for them. After all it was Jesus who said he will give his life for his sheep and for us to rejoice in the fact that our name is written in the book of life (John 10:15, Luke 10:20). They're paid for and not one person who God meant to save will be lost (John 6:37-40).

This does NOT make us robots because we still sin and we still gladly come to our shepherd when he calls us into his flock. We are no less robots than the Angels. If you're offended by what I say you shouldn't be. Those who don't repent something much much worse and more offensive than no free will will happen to you.

After Jesus Christ died on that cross to save us from our sins, God the Father raised him from the dead. Jesus then appeared to many people in his resurrected body over a period of forty days before he ascended back to heaven to be with God the Father. But before he returned to the Father, Jesus ordered his apostles not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promised Holy Spirit. And he told them that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and that they would be his witnesses.

Then, on the day of Pentecost, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues (languages) as the Spirit gave them utterance. And the people who were gathered there, from many different places, heard them speaking in their own native languages. They heard them telling them the mighty works of God.


But Peter came to the defense of all who were filled with the Spirit, and he explained that they were not drunk, as some supposed, but what was happening was a fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophet Joel:


God Pouring Out His Spirit

Now, let me state here that the way in which the followers of Christ received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost is not the norm. The reason that is how they received the Spirit was because the Spirit had not yet been given. But once all the former believers had received the Spirit, any who received the Lord Jesus as Lord and Savior since then are automatically filled with the Spirit of God. But I believe this being filled with the Spirit is a continual process involved in daily dying to sin and yielding control of our lives over to the Lord and being empowered of the Spirit in our daily walks of faith.

Let me also state here that it is clear that the apostles and the other followers of Christ who were filled with the Spirit that day were indeed speaking real languages that were of the people present so that the people heard them telling them the mighty works of God in their own native languages. So, in this case, the gifting of the tongues was for the purpose of spreading the message of the gospel to the people who were present in the languages that they spoke and could understand. For the apostles, et al., were to be the Lord’s witnesses when the Holy Spirit came upon them.

And to prophesy is not just future telling, but it is speaking forth the word of God. It is preaching. It is proclaiming the Word of the Lord to the people. And who were those prophesying? They were both men and women. And they were young and old. For this wasn’t just the apostles. Those who were waiting for the Holy Spirit to be given were the apostles, but also some women and Mary the mother of Jesus and Jesus’ brothers. So the preaching of the Word is not limited to just men. Women can preach, too.

Now I will add here that women are not to be in positions of spiritual authority over men nor are they to instruct men in such positions of authority over them. So women should not be pastors and elders unless there is a shortage of biblically qualified men to be pastors, like on the mission field, or like there is right now in America where so many Christian men do not meet the spiritual qualifications of an overseer because many of them are still walking in sin and/or they are teaching lies.

But women can prophesy (preach, proclaim) the works of the Lord, and the gospel of our salvation. And we should. And we should be given opportunity within the body of Christ to prophesy (preach, proclaim) the Word of the Lord. And I know that there are Scriptures which seem to indicate that women are to remain totally silent within the gatherings of the church, but I don’t find that understanding consistent throughout the Scriptures. And Jesus sent women to tell his male disciples of his resurrection, and he sent a woman at a well to tell the males of her town of what Jesus told her.

Then there are all those passages of Scripture which are intended for the whole body of Christ, not just for men, which encourage males and females to exhort and encourage and urge and stir up one another to walks of faith and obedience in the Lord, and to not be led astray by false doctrines and the deceitfulness of sin. And we are encouraged to teach and to admonish the body of Christ and to speak the truth in love, one to the other, as every body part does its work. And we are to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into his light. So women are not to be silenced.

And, honestly, with so many men (and women) today preaching lies to the people, we need more godly women to be speaking forth the truth of the word of the Lord so that the people of this planet can hear the truth spoken. For the lies are gaining much ground, and the multitudes of those professing faith in Jesus Christ appear to be following after the lies and they are rejecting the truth. But when we speak forth the truth of God’s Word we can expect to be persecuted and rejected, even by others claiming faith in Jesus Christ who are not following the truth of the gospel.

And the truth of the gospel can be summed up in the words of Jesus when he said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily, and follow him. And since Jesus taking up his cross meant death to sin, our taking up our cross daily means daily dying to sin and to self. And to follow Jesus is to obey him and his commands (New Covenant). For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die to sin and live to his righteousness, then we have eternal life (see Luke 9:23-26; 1 Peter 2:24).

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Blessed Be Your Name

by Matt Redman

In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness

When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be the name of the Lord

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

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Before there was Seventh Day Adventism, there were claims of prophetic revelation received by the former Millerites after the Great Disappointment when Christ did not return as expected in 1844. So this thread is going to look at that going into the Shut Door prophecy. Myles Christian a former 3rd generation Adventist has a long video that I will be eventually covering that goes deep on the context and nature of that prophecy.
But before any of that happened there is the story of Hiram Edson that happened the day after the Great Disappointment.

"One hundred and sixty-nine years ago Millerites were counting down the hours. In just two more days they expected Jesus to come. Then the sanctuary would finally be cleansed.

Jesus, however, did not come on October 22, 1844." (quote from 2013 article, now 179 years from that date).

Read more at: The Day After . . . | Adventist Review



"When October 23, 1844, dawned and the little group of Millerites huddled in Edson’s farm had managed to check the first outpouring of grief, Edson led the way to his barn. Here they gathered and spent the morning in prayer. After this season of prayer, Edson, accompanied by his friend Owen Crosier, decided to make a trip across his cornfield. They wanted to visit some of their Millerite neighbors and encourage them. As they were making their way across the field Edson stopped short and seemed to stare straight ahead. Puzzled, Crosier pulled to an abrupt stop behind him calling out “Brother Edson, what are you stopping for?”

To which Edson replied, “God is answering our morning prayer, giving light regarding our disappointment”. Edson later explained that as he was walking he felt as if a hand was laid on his shoulder and he seemed to have a vision of the heavenly sanctuary where he saw that Jesus had that very day entered into the Most Holy Place of the Heavenly Sanctuary to begin the work of judgment."

Police to search Portuguese reservoir
Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are to carry out searches at a reservoir in Portugal.

A search of the Arade dam will begin on Tuesday, 50km from where the toddler went missing in Praia da Luz in 2007.

Christian Brueckner, 45, was made a formal suspect, or an "arguido", by Portuguese prosecutors in 2022.

The search was requested by German police as the area was visited by Brueckner when Madeleine, then three years old, disappeared.

Click to expand...

Madeleine McCann: Police to search Portuguese reservoir - local reports


Do you remember the case?

SCRIPTURES & ART: ‘And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.’ (Matthew 28:20)

This Sunday is one of those confusing days liturgically, thanks to the “pastoral” initiatives of the Catholic bishops of the United States. If you live in 10 states (mostly in the northeast except for Nebraska), the Solemnity of the Ascension is celebrated on its historical date, i.e., 40 days after Easter, Thursday, May 18. (Sunday, May 21, will be the “Seventh Sunday of Easter.”) If you live in the other 40 states, the bishops have transferred the solemnity to Sunday, May 21. The thrust of my essay is the Ascension.

Both the First Reading and Gospel focus on the Ascension. The Acts of the Apostles is the second of his two-part work on the early Church, probably written for an important Roman convert to Christianity, Theophilus, mentioned by name at the start of both works. The Gospel takes us from Jesus’ birth to his post-Resurrection appearances. Acts takes us from the Ascension through Pentecost and the expansion of the early Church, primarily through the eyes of Sts. Peter and Paul, until both are in Rome.

Continued below.