I'm just curious about something, I know the age demographics may not necessarily apply here in OBOB but I've been observing since I got to EWTN the kind of content we produce across the network and the audience we usually target. We tend to target the 50+ crowd because they make up the bulk of our donor base that keeps the lights on.

Not to be glib, but they won't be around forever. The network executives seem resistant to introducing new content and styles, however starting in March the news division will have a new president who may be open to suggestions for what's produced out of the DC bureau.

I'm curious what you guys think if EWTN added shows from popular Catholic podcasters like Timothy Flanders, Eric Sammons, Brian Holdsworth, etc. Their podcast shows tend to focus on developments coming out of the Vatican and to various extents both secular and ecclesiastic developments in the US and abroad. If any of these guys were given shows kind of like Tucker Carlson would do you think Catholics under 40-50 would watch?

I'll say this: they have good sized audiences on the web, I imagine they'd bring a lot of them to the new platform and probably add more given the higher profile nature of EWTN.

What do you think?

The Tennessee Department of Health says it will no longer accept federal grant money to prevent or treat HIV.

In an email reviewed by NBC News, the Department of Health told certain nonprofit organizations that provide these services that the state would turn down the federal funding as of June, relying only on state funds afterward. "It is in the best interest of Tennesseans for the State to assume direct financial and managerial response for these services," the email read.

When asked for comment by NBC News, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said that "the letter speaks for itself."

An estimated 20,000 people in Tennessee are living with HIV, though not all would be affected by the cuts. There was no further guidance on how the state planned to fund such programs on its own.

---

Why would anyone give up free money* to help save lives? Because they are pro-life of course.

According to a letter from Planned Parenthood, Tennessee’s Department of Health in November alerted the organization that it would no longer receive HIV prevention grants starting in 2023, as well as warn that the state was terminating its partnership with Planned Parenthood to provide HIV testing.

* (i.e. money appropriated by the federal government for this purpose)

Abortionchangesyou.com.

Forty-six men who included a high school football coach, a youth pastor and a director of operations at a hospital were recently arrested during a multi-agency operation targeting the demand for commercial sex in North Texas, a federal agency announced on Friday.

How important is it for you to know the cépages (grape varieties, Rebsorten) of the wine you are drinking?

Hi, it’s been a long time since I posted on here- life and family get in the way a bit!

Anyway, we’ve recently relocated to Northern Ireland and have been trying to find a new spiritual home. I’m trying not to let the perfect become the enemy of the good, but it’s getting me down that there isn’t somewhere obvious to slot into. Without going too much into specifics (don’t want to cause any inter-denominational strife in the comments!) we’re quite conservative and finding we’re drifting farther from mainstream culture the closer we get to God. We’d like somewhere we can have fellowship with like-minded Christians and receive good, solid teaching. We’d also like to not be the only family with young kids in the building but don’t want a big church where we get lost in the crowd. Big denominations worry me as I keep seeing stuff going on at the head which I find concerning (eg Church of England bishops and their recent moves on same sex relationships) but small non-denominational churches worry me too as the ones I’ve come across tend to be less… grounded. Not sure how to put that better but can clarify in the comments if it doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, I’m not expecting any specific suggestions (though if you’ve got an amazing church in North Antrim let me know and I’ll check it out) but I’d appreciate some advice on how to find a church- what should we look for/try to avoid?

Christian Schools Biggest Problem
I've been going to one for some time and this is what I've found.
SoldierofHIM

I haven’t been here long, but I have been here long enough to find out with little intellect I have to see this school's number one complication. And I can tell you it in one word: false. Now listen closely, one of the biggest problems this school faces is the school body itself. The students, which you get into a very complicated problem. Because you cannot control the amount of godliness that goes into your school. If a parent wants their child to be in a “Christian.” Environment, then let it be so, but when you have too many parents wanting their ungodly children to go to a certain school, then that school winds up to be a very lost place. Which is EXACTLY what has happened to this school. One of the ways I will share briefly what this school needs to implement is not full background checks but we need to see if the parents are raising their children to be godly, because you they aren’t. Then you wind up with ungodly children thinking they are saved because they prayed and were baptized. Now you can say that that’s exactly why this school exists is to train them up godly, but they have made one crucial mistake which only a student can tell, and that is this. “Students do not act how they act with their friends and in front of teachers.” Which is why every teacher assumes every child is saved, instead of assuming everyone is not Christian until they prove it. Which is what you should do because the Bible says many will call me lord and not enter the kingdom of heaven. This school's problem is false, as in false conversion. Because everyone believes they are going to heaven because they prayed a prayer and are waiting till marriage. Let me tell you can spend your whole life doing mission work and not be saved. Because you are not saved because you go to church, you are not saved because you prayed a prayer. You are saved because of the blood on the cross on calvary. And these people think they are saved because they all have the same experience of kneeling in their living room, surrounded by family, saying the prayer of asking Jesus into their heart, and are baptized weeks later. Then their parents and pastors affirm this idea because they miss interpret once saved always saved. And they spend the rest of their lives living in the world, let me tell you that’s not Christianity, they prayed that prayer to a different Jesus. Because the true Jesus said take up your cross, in other words give up everything for me. This school's problem is because they assume everyone is saved because they did that, they prayed a prayer. I’m only 15 years old and am losing hope in our elders because I know this from 15 years of life, and their 55 years tells them that going to hell is hard because all you gotta do is pray. To conclude this school will only grow darker because of this and unless someone stops it, carnal Christianity which is no Christianity will completely take over. And these schools will stand quilty in God’s eyes.
Which is the last thing I want to see. So pray, whoever is reading this pray that this organization’s students will turn back to God, or else. They will stand condemned, and pray that the few Christians that I can count on one of my hands stand true. G0d help us, but praise the Lord for saving us.

According to the Nicene Creed, Jesus descended into the world of the dead below. He had just overcome the powers of sickness and sin and much infirmity on the cross. It was finished. But now Jesus had to overcome the darkness. Did Jesus overcome by use of the power of being God, or as a man, an anointed, angel strengthened man?

Did the Father and Spirit wait before they applied their power with His? The power of the resurrection? In Peter we read of Jesus preaching even to the Nephilim in gloomy dungeons.

Was Jesus reliant on the Father and the Spirit, both His anointing and the persons? Reliant at all times, bearing in mind the cloudy darkness as Jesus died and His cry, My Father, why have you forsaken me? And Luke 4, Jesus would not use His power and did not turn the stones to bread. Satan tested His identity and after the crucifixion was again at testing Jesus.

In John 2, Jesus says He will raise Himself from the dead. Other scriptures refer to the Father's role such as in Hebrews 13 and elsewhere the Spirit of grace.

ok so i'm 16 right and my family isn't very religious (but very spiritual) expect for my grandmothers (God rest their souls), grandfather and granduncle who are (/were) very devout catholics. so clearly not a very religious upbringing except for when i had sometimes gone to church with my grandparents and granduncle (before he moved). even then i had to beg my mom to go. i didn't really know what i believed in because my mom always wanted to keep those conversations about God limited, she didn't want my grandparents talking about it with me. the most i had ever learned about God was in history class last school year when were learning about Jesus, and the information that i learned was the only thing that was keeping me from being an atheist just last summer after i was being mocked and told that God doesn't exist. so basically i was agnostic, and really sad because i thought that it was all a lie. i was kind of like "just because Jesus existed and was crucified and resurrected, that's evidence for Jesus, not God" (i had never read the Bible a day in my life) but more recently like last in november i started getting into christian apologetics and learning what christians believe and why and the arguments for God and i'm back to being catholic (no hate please) and i'm trying to be more devout but it's hard when my family is very against that, even to my grandfather who's very devout and never misses mass and does the 3PM prayer and says grace and prays in the morning, in the night, he fasts, reads his Bible, he's very devout (my granduncle too) and my aunt is very critical of him for it. but he's also teaching me more about our faith and why we believe and why it's good to live for God. though i already know, i'm fine with him telling me again. he's teaching me more about the divine mercy prayer and how to pray to the rosary and things like that. so to get to the point, i have a 10 year old brother. the same way i was raised, where the conversations about God were limited and not religiously, that's how my mom is raising him too. sometime last week he told my 15 year old brother some very, very, very bad things while they were arguing. it was so bad that i had suggested that he come with my grandfather and i to church to ask God for forgiveness. he agrees, then the day comes for us to go. he seems excited, he wants to go and ask for forgiveness. he's never been to a church, but he did say they're beautiful buildings so he wanted to see one. see, he's excited and willing to go! even though my grandfather was a bit hesitant because admittedly my brother has an issue with staying still, he also suggested that he come with us and ask for God's forgiveness for the bad things he said. so then comes 4PM, we're going to the 4:30PM mass. then comes my aunt and my mom, they come to my brother saying things like "do you really wanna go?", "it's an hour long, are you sure?", "you're gonna have to sit, stand, kneel, and pray, are you sure?", "you can't have your phone!", "it's gonna be really loud!", "it's kind of boring", and then ultimately, "you really shouldn't go!". and they try to tell him that as long as he says sorry to my brother and he forgives him, that's all that matters. me and my grandfather are like what? so then my aunt says that he didn't say those things to God so God then doesn't care and would rather be confused if he asked Him for forgiveness, but he needed to apologize to my brother and ask for his forgiveness. what? so then even though he said he really wanted to go, there they had convinced him to not go! i asked him why and he said what really made him not want to go was how long it was and the fact that he couldn't use his phone. so then i tell him that God literally died such a terrible, painful, slow death for so many days just to save us, and you can't give Him an hour of your time? then he's like wow, he never knew that. he asked me more about, like who did it and stuff. then he completely misunderstood what i said and tells his friend (whom he was on the phone with) that pontius pilate not only crucified Jesus, but God too, so they not only did it too His son, but 2023 years ago they did it to Him too. what?? that wasn't what i said at all, so i tried to explain more. i tried to explain to him about the Trinity, and he also doesn't know about this. he also doesn't know that Jesus is God, he thinks that Jesus was God's son who had been crucified and that was all. he knows nothing about the teachings of Jesus or the Bible or anything. which i'm not judging him, because at a time i didn't know either. but he wants to learn more about it and just as i'm trying to explain more, my mom comes in saying "that's enough, go with your grandfather," with a very nasty tone. so then i come back from church and my brother asks me how was it, that he really wanted to go. i tell him about it but i also feel really bad because i remember it was like that for me when i didn't know anything about God, but at least i was able to go to church! i've been thinking that i really wanna teach my brother more about God and christianity, like i really wanna show him the same christian apologetic videos that made me believe in God again and choose to live by Him. i know i should also ask my grandfather and granduncle about this, but what i fear is that my mother won't want him learning about it or that his attention span won't let him learn it. i'm treading on thin ice with my mother btw, she's barely tolerant and far from accepting of my devoutness. like the other members of my family believes in God but not in a Biblical way, like in a spiritual way and they like zodiac signs and palm readings and things like that. so she doesn't believe in the Bible or being devout or living by God. so while i wanna teach him about this stuff, i also fear it'll cause my brother to be on thin ice with my mother as well, or also make myself even more on thin ice with her. it really took a long time to even convince her to let me start going to church with my grandfather again, i don't want her to like think she has to say no again and make me stop being like devout or something. i don't know. i also feel like it isn't my place to teach him anything, like who am i? i'm no expert, and i'm also still learning. so should i teach my brother more about this stuff or do i just let him be? advice would be appreciated. God bless you all.

Christian Schools Biggest Problem
I've been going to one for some time and this is what I've found.
SoldierofHIM

I haven’t been here long, but I have been here long enough to find out with little intellect I have to see this school's number one complication. And I can tell you it in one word: false. Now listen closely, one of the biggest problems this school faces is the school body itself. The students, which you get into a very complicated problem. Because you cannot control the amount of godliness that goes into your school. If a parent wants their child to be in a “Christian.” Environment, then let it be so, but when you have too many parents wanting their ungodly children to go to a certain school, then that school winds up to be a very lost place. Which is EXACTLY what has happened to this school. One of the ways I will share briefly what this school needs to implement is not full background checks but we need to see if the parents are raising their children to be godly, because you they aren’t. Then you wind up with ungodly children thinking they are saved because they prayed and were baptized. Now you can say that that’s exactly why this school exists is to train them up godly, but they have made one crucial mistake which only a student can tell, and that is this. “Students do not act how they act with their friends and in front of teachers.” Which is why every teacher assumes every child is saved, instead of assuming everyone is not Christian until they prove it. Which is what you should do because the Bible says many will call me lord and not enter the kingdom of heaven. This school's problem is false, as in false conversion. Because everyone believes they are going to heaven because they prayed a prayer and are waiting till marriage. Let me tell you can spend your whole life doing mission work and not be saved. Because you are not saved because you go to church, you are not saved because you prayed a prayer. You are saved because of the blood on the cross on calvary. And these people think they are saved because they all have the same experience of kneeling in their living room, surrounded by family, saying the prayer of asking Jesus into their heart, and are baptized weeks later. Then their parents and pastors affirm this idea because they miss interpret once saved always saved. And they spend the rest of their lives living in the world, let me tell you that’s not Christianity, they prayed that prayer to a different Jesus. Because the true Jesus said take up your cross, in other words give up everything for me. This school's problem is because they assume everyone is saved because they did that, they prayed a prayer. I’m only 15 years old and am losing hope in our elders because I know this from 15 years of life, and their 55 years tells them that going to hell is hard because all you gotta do is pray. To conclude this school will only grow darker because of this and unless someone stops it, carnal Christianity which is no Christianity will completely take over. And these schools will stand quilty in God’s eyes.
Which is the last thing I want to see. So pray, whoever is reading this pray that this organization’s students will turn back to God, or else. They will stand condemned, and pray that the few Christians that I can count on one of my hands stand true. G0d help us, but praise the Lord for saving us.

I have a new view and siding regarding pre-destiny and grace.
All ancient and medieval views were wrong, because they thought one needed to believe and be baptized in order to go into the light of life as when leaving the Earth. 1 Timothy 4:10.

Babies sometimes die and are not baptized, and they never learned faith. But they go into the light whether aborted or they die from illness... They take to grace like a Dolphin to water. Later they are born again.

It is only as we grow up that we learn to harden our hearts to grace like Pharaoh who rejected Moses' words. If he had died or had a child NDE his fate would have been different. No babies go to Hell, or are judged by an anticipation of what kind of life they'd have led, in the dim light of this world. Grace saves any who will allow it to hold them.

A person can be taught or self teach a better response to grace a second time.

Tell them our borders cannot be open, but, for limited amounts of time, etc, we either build a wall, or gates, or fences, or whatever, etc, and then during or at certain times, there will be a lot of gates or booths, etc, where they can all line up and be interviewed/screened according only to some very simple and very basic criteria, etc, by a lot of personnel that will be there at or during those certain times, etc, but that will all be completely closed at other times, etc, and at or during those times when it is closed, etc, people trying to cross truly illegally will be "hauled back off/away to back where they came from", so to speak, etc, during or at those times when the border is essentially closed essentially, etc, but that will also be "kind of or mostly open" at other times also, etc...

We have illegal and legal immigrants, or illegal versus legal immigration right now, and maybe we will need a third category for these, I don't know? It's not necessarily an interview for full on citizenship necessarily, etc, but maybe we could direct them toward that maybe, etc, but and/or anyway, they might need to be classified or re-classified different maybe, etc...?

Temporary and conditional visas maybe, etc...?

This would allow us to let quite a few of them in, but would also give us a great deal of control over the whole situation also, etc...

The screening would have to be very, very simple and basic, so that it could all happen/be done very, very quickly, etc, just a very, very few conditions on their only very basic and temporary visas, etc, then close or shut down the border completely at other times, etc, and be willing to haul others off or back to where they came from during or at those times when it is not open also, etc...

Hopefully that last part won't be as much of a problem though with a border gate or wall or fence, etc, and with this policy also be instituted/implimented also, and them also fully knowing about it all also, etc...

We can restrict it to a certain amount of people or certain numbers at certain times, and it would give us a great deal of control over it, etc, and it would be a good balance (I think) between compassion, and what we know we must also adhere to also, etc...

God Bless!

I have already discussed this in the Sign Gifts forum, but I have decided to discuss it here so that a wider range of members can have the opportunity to give their opinions.

This is not a criticism of Charismatics, but because prophets and prophecy appear mainly within Charismatic environments I think that the belief that NT Prophets are itinerate ministries where people with the gift of prophecy go around giving general and personal prophetic words to people, and often these words include predictions of the future.

Now I am assuming that the gift of prophecy is still active in the church, and people promulgating their cessationist view would not be helpful to the discussion. However, by putting this discussion in an open Theology forum I guess I am not going to avoid some using this thread as a personal soapbox for their cessationist views.

But, is having the gift of prophecy as described in 1 Corinthians 14, make someone a NT Prophet? Up until now, I have accepted that view, but after prayerful consideration, I am having my doubts.

What came to me was that when Jesus spoke to the Seven Churches in Revelation, He was performing the function of a Prophet. What He was doing was to bring encouragement and correction to those churches. In some ways, Paul was functioning as a Prophet in his first letter to the Corinthian church, and also to the Thessalonians, with a prediction of the future as he described the events around the second coming of Christ. When I thought of Jesus calling those churches that had either lost their first love or thought they had everything they needed when in fact they were naked and blind to repent, I realised that an integral function of a Prophet was to ensure that the Church was going in the right direction and if they were straying away from being totally faithful to Christ, they should repent. It is interesting to me that John the Baptizer also called the Jewish nation to repent, and I asked myself, "What then is the difference between a Prophet calling the Jewish nation to repent, and a NT Prophet calling those parts of the Church straying into hypocrisy, apostacy, and heresy to repent. The message was and is the same, it is just the listeners who are different.

I then started to think about Martin Luther. He functioned as a Prophet when he challenged the established church to cease making money through indulgences and to accept that believers are justified by faith. I thought of the late David Wilkerson who preached against the worldliness and hypocrisy of the church; and Leonard Ravenhill who wrote, "Why Revival Tarries". After hearing Paul Washer preach, It appears to me that he is also functioning as a NT Prophet calling on the staying church to return to the Lord.

When I compared these with the OT Prophets, that was their message as well - for the people to forsake their idols and return to the Lord, otherwise accept the consequences. Their message was not popular and many of them were killed. It was described of Paul that he was "everywhere spoken against." David Wilkerson and Leonard Ravenhill encountered opposition and persecution. Luther often was in fear of his life. This made the NT Prophet ministry the most dangerous of the five fold ministries.

So, I wonder if the Charismatics have got it wrong in their definition of the NT Prophet and have left out the most important functions that make up a NT Prophet. This means that perhaps the ministry of NT Prophet has not ceased at all, but has continued to this present day, but not as the Charismatics know it.

In simple terms, how do you understand and defend the doctrine of purgatory?

1 Peter 4:12-16 ESV


We should not be taken back by the trials of life which come to test our faith. Now, this is not saying that we won’t feel pain. We will. That is why it is called “sufferings.” And it is not saying we should not take action where action is required, under the direction of the Holy Spirit who will give us wisdom to know what action is required. For we should never make quick, not prayed out decisions based on our emotions. Our feelings can lead us in the wrong direction if we are not careful.

And we are not to grumble and complain about our circumstances. Now this is not saying that we can’t cry out in pain or that we can’t inquire as to what can be done to alleviate some of our suffering, where possible. Like I Google things because it helps me to learn what is good for me and bad for me food-wise. And it is not saying that we can’t express concern over how some things were handled. But we should not be grumpy but we should rejoice that we are called to share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings.

And this is so that we may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. And this is because these times of testing are to test our faith to see if it is genuine faith and if it will stand the test or if we will give up and run away. The Apostle Paul said this:


So, what’s he saying there? Our salvation is progressive. We are saved (past), we are being saved (present active), and we will be saved (future) when Jesus Christ returns and he takes his bride to be with him for eternity, which is when our salvation will be complete, and provided that we stayed the course and we did not desert the faith, but we continued in walks of obedience to our Lord and in daily dying to sin and to self. For we don’t just “get saved” and now we are going to heaven when we die regardless of how we live. How we live matters for eternity.

[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]

So, whatever we are going through, whether it be insults or Satan attacking our bodies (like with Job) or natural disasters or flooding or fires or people persecuting and hating and rejecting us because of our walks of faith in Christ Jesus, we are blessed, because the Spirit of the glory and of God rests on us who have forsaken our lives of sin to follow Jesus in obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives.

But we should not be those who suffer for wrongdoing. For it is not suffering for Christ if our suffering is brought on by ourselves because of deliberate and habitual and unrepentant sin in our lives.

But if our suffering is because we are people of genuine faith in Jesus Christ, who are following the Lord Jesus in obedience to his ways, we should not be ashamed to suffer for the name of Jesus or because of our testimonies for him or because we are standing out as different from the world, which is what we are all supposed to be. But we are to glorify God, because the Lord is doing something in our lives through what he has allowed us to suffer.

1 Peter 4:17-19 ESV


Again, our Lord takes us through trials and tribulations to test our faith, and these are his disciplines on our lives so that we will share in his holiness, and so that we will bear fruit that lasts, and bear fruit that is in keeping with genuine repentance. And trials are painful. There is no other way around it. But lessons are to be learned through what we suffer, and we should get stronger in our faith and now walk even more closely with the Lord than we did before.

We need to understand here that that way to heaven is a narrow and a hard way, and there are few who enter. The masses are on the broad road which leads to destruction. And we need to understand that we must keep in step with Jesus, and we must fight the good fight of faith and finish the course and not desert part way because it got too hard. All these trials along the way are testing to see if our faith is genuine and if it will endure, so we have to be determined to endure despite our suffering.

Now Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. For we are all going to stand before Jesus one day and we are going to be judged by him by our deeds. And not everyone is going to pass the test. To many he will say, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they continued in making sin their practice and righteousness and obedience to the Lord were not their practice.

I AM WILLING, LORD

By Joni Eareckson Tada

Sometimes when I am down,
And I don't feel like You're around, Oh Lord
Feeling so sorry for me,
Not knowing that all the while You're working to see,
If when I'm put through the fire,
I'll come out shining like gold,
Oh, Lord, please don't ever stop working with me,
'til You see I can be all You want me to be.

Often when I ask why,
Teach me then on You to rely O Lord,
You surely know what is best
May I learn that in confidence and strength I can rest
Then, leaning fully on You, my questions fall one by one.
Oh, dear Lord, please don't ever stop working with me
'til You see I can be all You want me to be

I am willing Lord, I am willing Lord,
To be just exactly what You want me to be

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Please add her to your prayers.

Summary Matthew 22:1-10

Jesus told a parable about a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. The king sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come, and so he repeated this, but still they paid no attention and went off to do their own thing. And some of them seized the servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and so he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers.

Then the king told his servants that the wedding feast was ready, but those invited were not worthy, so they were now to go out on the main roads and invite as many people as they could find and invite them, so they did, and the wedding hall was now filled with guests.

I believe the point of the parable is that the king represents God the Father and the Son is Jesus Christ. [The wedding feast won’t actually take place, though, until Jesus returns for his bride, when our salvation will be complete and our marriage to Christ will be consummated (completed).] And the invited guests were the Jews, who were God’s chosen people at that time. They, as a people, as a nation, rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah.

So, the Lord invited the Gentiles (the non-Jews) to believe in Jesus, and thus the gospel of our salvation went out to all people, to both Jew and Gentile, and many people trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives. Thus, those who believed in Jesus were crucified with Christ in death to sin, and then they were raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Rom 6:1-23).

Matthew 22:11-14 ESV


Now, I believe this is speaking of something future when we will all stand before the judgment seat of God and we will have to give an account for what we did with Jesus, when we will all be judged by our works (See Matt 7:21-23; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 6:7-8; 2 Co 5:10; 1 Co 6:9-10; Gal 5:16-21).

So, now both Jew and non-Jew have been invited to trust Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives. And those who have believed in Jesus with genuine faith have now become the children of God. We have been turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that we can now receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 26:18). And now we no longer live in sin, for we died with Christ to sin, but now we walk in righteousness in obedience to Christ.

Now when we believe in Jesus Christ with God-given faith, and we die with him to sin, and we are raised to walk in newness of life in him, we become our Lord’s bride and he becomes our husband, but it is like a Jewish marriage covenant of the Scriptures. So, our groom has gone to prepare a place for us and one day he is going to come and get us to take us to be with him for eternity, and that is when our marriage to Christ will be consummated and we will have the wedding feast. So, now we wait.

But not everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ are God’s true covenant people. There are many without the wedding garments. They are not truly clothed in Christ and in his righteousness because they never really ever died with Christ to sin, and so they were never raised with him to walk in newness of life in him. They did not die with Christ to their sin because they didn’t want to give up their sin, and so they are still living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord, so they will not inherit eternal life with God.

And one day when we all stand before God and he judges us according to our works, many are going to assume God is going to receive them into his heaven because they made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. But many are going to hear Jesus say, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they would not obey the Lord, and they would not submit to him as Lord, and they would not leave their sins to follow Jesus. And so the eternity they thought was going to be in heaven will be in hell, instead. So, please take this to heart!

[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]

I’ll Live On

Lyrics and Music by Thomas Laney, 1914

’Tis a sweet and glorious tho’t that comes to me,
Jesus saved my soul from death, and now I’m free,
When my body’s slumb’ring in the cold, cold clay,
There to sleep in Jesus till the judgment day,

When the world’s on fire and darkness veils the sun,
Men will cry and to the rocks and mountains run,
In the glory-land, with Jesus on the throne,
Thru eternal ages singing, home, sweet home,

I’ll live on, yes, I’ll live on.
Thru eternity I’ll live on;
I’ll live on, yes, I’ll live on,
Thru eternity I’ll live on.

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The great falling away continues. It won't be long, now.

The young suspects fled the train at the 18th Street station after the assault, but three of them — two 15-year-olds and a 17-year-old — were soon nabbed by cops, sources said.
Police eventually cut the trio loose.
“Juvenile reports were prepared, and their parents were called to pick them up,” a rep for the NYPD said Sunday.
It’s unclear why the three nabbed suspects were released without facing charges, but an NYPD spokesman claimed Sunday that the department did not have that option because of their ages and the fact that the crime involved an apparent misdemeanor.

#1. I heard it a few times, from different sources, when I was a small child. An uncle told me it was in the Bible. As I got older and read the Bible for myself, I found out it wasn't. In fairness it does teach a Biblical principle, and it's a parable such as Jesus used, but it just so happens it isn't in there.

A boy was standing under a tree when his father called for him. "Son, come here." (My uncle stressed that the father didn't in any way get emotional or raise his voice, but said it calmly.) In some versions of the story, the boy obeys and goes to his father immediately. He is therefore safe when, seconds later, a snake drops out of the tree and lands directly where he would have been standing. In other versions, the boy stands there asking why, or otherwise wants to put up an argument. (A babysitter quoted him as saying, "I don't want to, and I don't have to!") The snake then falls on him and kills him. The obvious moral this is meant to teach is that children must do as they are told right this instant, no questions and no backtalk.

What is the actual source of that story?

#2. I read this one some time ago, but I can't remember where. It might have been a magazine article. I assumed it was a detailed description of the Biblical account, but it isn't quite.

During the moments of the Crucifixion, a priest in the Temple was preparing to sacrifice a lamb. Even had the knife in hand, and was just on the point of making the fatal move. Then Jesus died, the earth shook, and the curtain in the Temple was torn in two. While the priest was distracted by all of this commotion, the lamb escaped and ran away unharmed. This was symbolic because the lamb’s sacrifice was no longer needed. The true Lamb had made His sacrifice and died to set it free.

The Bible gives me every element of this story except the freed literal four-legged lamb. Closest I’ve heard since reading that story is the Ray Boltz song, “Watch the Lamb.” Has anybody else ever read it?

Is Hebrew the World's Oldest Alphabet​

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Though I'm not an MJ nor affiliated with any denomination, I thought your feedback on this would be most relevant as those who know the Hebrew language best. (If you don't feel it should be posted here, you can suggest where mods can move it to.) I sparsely know four languages and Hebrew is not one of them, but I'm fascinated by it and always try to understand root words, especially in the OT. Shalom.


alternate...

Was Hebrew the First Alphabet? - Doug Petrovich ​

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Well, is it? I would also ask, was it also the pre-Babel and antediluvian one-world language?

[Gen 11:1 NIV] Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

The power of Nancy compels you!

Former House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi summoned priests to rid her luxe San Francisco home of evil spirits after a man allegedly attacked her hubby there with a hammer.

“I think that weighed really heavy on her soul. I think she felt really guilty,” said Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra, the New York Times reported Saturday.

“I think that really broke her. Over Thanksgiving, she had priests coming, trying to have an exorcism of the house and having prayer services,” she added.

Fr. Arturo Albano, the pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church, Pelosi’s local parish, insisted his staff was not involved in such a rite.

“As far as I know, no exorcism or priest services were performed at her home,” Albano told The Post.

But Pelosi may have gone outside her local church hierarchy for holy help.

Continued below.

Despite the fact he was a thief, liar, deceitful, etc. Despite that, God loved Jacob. That gives some of us a lot of hope,. What do you think??

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, urged Pelosi to get “help” — from a psychiatrist.
“The woman is positively conflicted. She wears her Catholicism on her sleeve while basically sticking her middle finger at the Catholic Church every opportunity she has.”

I am staying with my parents but I feel lonely. My dad is self -centered My mom always treats me as a target of expressing her tension while she tolerates my dad very well though he accused her of having an affair. when in fact, he had an affair a long time ago. She tried her best to please him at my expense. I have no access to food that is good for me, but she cooks fresh food for my dad. He at different times. My mom even scolded me when I tried to order my food online, saying I occupy spaces in the fridge. When I join their talk at home, my mom would say why I join in. My dad is also a character behind the scene, making my life difficulty while managing health issues on my own and still looking for doctors who will not perform wild guesses but taken investigation to avoid unnecessary medication, treatment, and invasive check-up