Russia rejected a European and G7 offer to buy Russian oil for $60/barrel. Russia decided they should not sell any oil for $60/barrel. Currently Russia is selling oil to China, India and Turkey who are not taking part in the oil price cap boycott. The cost of shipping oil by tankers has risen as oil shipping routes have lengthened during the Ukrainian conflict.
Russia rejects $60-a-barrel cap on its oil, warns of cutoffs

There is news of an Arctic air mass moving into Europe where they are already affected by high energy prices. Temperatures in Oslo, Norway are expected to remain in the twenties and teens (Fahrenheit) this week.
Europe Faces Stress Test As Arctic Blast Drives Surge In Power Demand | OilPrice.com

Rep. Andy Biggs, the hard-right Arizona Republican who lost a bid last month for his conference’s nomination to be the next speaker, says he will be a candidate for the speakership on January 3 – a move that will only make it harder for House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy to claim the speaker’s gavel on the first ballot.

If McCarthy can’t win 218 votes on the first ballot, it will go to multiple ballots until someone wins 218 votes – something that hasn’t happened in about a century.

I watched, for years now, many conservatives make worthless relgious arguments against same-sex marriage. I say worthless because non-Christians will never be persuaded eith religious arguments.

However, the left is slso wrong. They have the attituded that to be fair same-sex couples must be permitted to marry. The truth is that the benefits of marriage to heterosexual couples is incidental. The benefits are merely incentives designed to benefite society. In other words, there is a legitimate state interest in encouraging traditional marriage.

This state interest is that society needs children. It us beneficial to society that men take financial and emotional respnsibilty for mothers and their children.

Marriage also has positive effects on society in how it affects men also. In general, marriage makes men mor responsible people. It’s no accident that married men pay lower car insurance rates; they drive more respnsibly.


Now, what legitimate state interest is there in encouraging same-sex marriage? Same-sex couples cannot produce new members of society. Some do go against nature and find ways to have children.

However, it is a fact that children do best with a mother and a father. Not only that but think about what boy who is raised with two mothers learns about himself, as a male. He grows up learning that men are not necessary in the family.

The state has no business in promoting same-sex marriage because society does not benefit.

Why did Jesus in Luke 9:54 not want the disciples to call fire down from heaven to burn those who disrespected Jesus? Why did Jesus not stone the woman caught in adultry(John 8:5) when Lev 20:10 and Det 22:22 says that by law they are to be stoned? Why did Jesus in Luke 23:24 say “ Father forgive them for they know not what they do “ They were killing an innocent man , but Jesus wanted the Father to forgive them. This seems to be a lot closer to the UR camp who sees Yahweh as a loving Father. This does not seem to be a God who is so offended by sin that it’s punishment must be eternal punishment. Is Jesus just Yahwehs good side ?

The self-proclaimed prophet claimed it was “impressions of Heavenly Father’s will” that spurred him to force his followers, including children, to engage in sexual acts, according to new allegations from the FBI.

Samuel Rappylee Bateman, a leader of an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, allegedly counted his own daughter and other juvenile girls among his more than 20 “wives.” Many of them were younger than 15, an FBI agent wrote in a court document filed Friday.

Bateman, 46, is in federal custody in Arizona on obstruction of justice charges for allegedly asking followers to delete his Signal phone app, which he used to communicate with them and his wives. He has pleaded not guilty to that charge and to state-level child abuse charges.

Bateman has not been charged with sex crimes, although the FBI agent said there is probable cause to believe that he engaged in criminal sexual activity with minors in 2020 and 2021.

In September, the Arizona Department of Child Services took nine girls from Bateman’s compound into custody. Eight of them disappeared two months later from the state-run group homes where they were staying. Sheriff’s officers in Spokane, Wash., later found them leaving an Airbnb in a car driven by one of Bateman’s wives.

Good day,

I am a big fan of the historical creeds and confessions. This is fantastic!

Login to view embedded media ​

Ran into this while looking something up about the crucifixion.

Matthew 28:1

Ὀψὲ δὲ σαββάτων, τῇ ἐπιφωσκούσῃ εἰς μίαν σαββάτων, ἦλθεν Μαριὰμ
After then the Sabbaths it being dawn towards first (of the week) Came Mary

ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ καὶ ἡ ἄλλη Μαρία θεωρῆσαι τὸν τάφον.
Magdelene and the other Mary to see the tomb.

How is it that the same word is translated first as SabbathS (Sabbaton)
and the second time it's used in the same sentence it's translated as 'of the week'?

The whole point of “Political Correctness” is to avoid offending people. However, Jesus told us that we would be hated by the world if we follow him. He even said, “Remember when they hate you, they hated me first.”

Now a days I see so many Christians, of all types, that don’t want to defend the truth for fear of offending others. They don’t want to be hated even though be hated could be considered evidence of faithfulness to Jesus.

Kirsty Alley died yesterday of cancer. They found it too late. She was 71.
Bless her heart.
Rest in peace.

edit:

asking Jesus to forgive us for our sins is necessary, without putting in any effort to do so is considered lazy.

Here are some scripture to support confessing our sin:

3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.

Psalm 32



If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9



Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Proverbs 28:13

And last when Jesus is asked how we should pray He says

This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one

Matthew 6:9-10

I was thinking of this earlier when looking at the story of the fall....
the bible says that the lamb was slain before the beginning of the world, so God knew before creating Adam and Eve that they would choose to disobey his command to not eat from the tree of good and evil, and he had already planned that he would redeem the world through Jesus Christ.

I've often wondered, what was the purpose of creation if he already knew what would happen? I've heard it said that he didn't want his children to be "robots" and to freely love him in return.

Do you think this is true?
Considering all the stories in the bible concerning disobedience, sin and God's wrath, do you think it really comes down to human choice?

Isaiah 41:8-10 ESV


When Jesus Christ died on that cross, and he put our sins to death with him, he destroyed the barrier that stood between Jew and Gentile and he made us both one in Christ, for his purpose was to reconcile both of them to God through the cross. For Jesus Christ is the promised seed of Abraham. And so not all who are physically descended from Israel belong to Israel. So it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise. And if we belong to Christ, we are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise whether we are Jew or Gentile by physical birth.

Yes, there is a physical nation of people who call themselves Israel, but they are not biblical Israel unless they belong to Jesus Christ and they have died with him to sin and they have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And physical Israel is now of Hagar the slave woman because she is still in slavery with her children, but we who believe in Jesus are of Sarah, the free woman. And the Scriptures teach that whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ, such a person is the antichrist (all this comes from the Scriptures).

[Eph 2:14-18; Gal 3:16,26-29; Rom 9:4-8; Gal 4:22-31; 1 Jn 2:22; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Pet 2:24; Eph 4:17-24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10]

There is a movement today which is raising up the physical nation of Israel almost to God status, and many Christians are giving their honor and praise to this physical nation, which is not of God, but which is of Hagar, the slave woman. And many Christians are being convinced that if they are more like Jews that it will make them more godly. But this is just a repeat of the Judaizers of the New Testament who were trying to convince Christians to be more like Jews and to follow some of their customs and laws. And this is what Paul was addressing in the first four Scriptures noted above.

So, even though these words in Isaiah were written to the Israel of the Old Covenant, who were the Jews, true biblical Israel today are all who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior, but not in words only, but in action and in truth. And so the chosen of God are now all who are following Jesus Christ with their lives and who are living to please the Lord and who are no longer living to please the flesh, in practice. We are the Lord’s servants and so we are not to fear for God is with us and he is our God and he will strengthen us, and he will help us and uphold us.

And we need to hear those words of encouragement when the trials of life come our way to test our faith. We need that assurance that our Lord is with us and that he will provide for us all the strength that we need to endure those trials and tribulations. But we also need to be walking in obedience to our Lord and we must not be living in deliberate and habitual sin if we expect the Lord to help us and to give us his strength. For he is not going to uphold us if we are resisting him and if we are denying him by our sinful lifestyles. But if we repent in true humility he will help us.

[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; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Eph 4:17-24; Tit 2:11-14; Lu 9:23-26; Matt 7:21-23]

Isaiah 41:11-13 ESV


If we are true followers of Jesus Christ, and our lives are surrendered to him, and we are walking in his ways and not in the ways of the flesh, we have an enemy who is against us. His name is Satan. And we will also have people who will be against us, too, and many of them may be professers of faith in Jesus Christ, and many (or some) of them may be pastors of “churches,” too. For not all who profess faith in Jesus Christ are of Christ. And not all who say, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the ones DOING the will of God the Father in heaven (Matthew 7:21-23).

So, if we are following the truths of the Scriptures, and we take God’s words seriously, and we are walking in holiness and righteousness, and not in sin, we are going to be opposed by other humans. And again, many of them may also be those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. And especially if we are sharing the truth of the gospel in contrast to the lies of the enemy that are being spread by charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing, then we will have even pastors and elders and other Christians incensed against us. And especially if we are teaching the truth about who biblical Israel is.

At one point, when I was sharing on Facebook the verses I shared above about who biblical Israel is today, I had at least two people want to put me to death. One of them wanted to hang me on a post and burn me to death. He was vehemently opposed to what I was sharing, but I was sharing what Paul the apostle of Christ said. Now that is severe! That is being incensed. And why? Because I was sharing what Paul taught about who is true biblical Israel today and who is not. And both of them claimed to be Christians.

Now, I am not going to get into a debate with anyone on this subject, but the point raised here is that if we are following what the Scriptures teach (in context), and if we are teaching or sharing with others what the Scriptures teach (in context), we should be prepared that even others who claim to be Christians, and even some pastors may be incensed against us like the religious people of Jesus’ day were incensed against him to the point of hanging him on a cross to die as though he was a common criminal.

But one day, when Jesus returns, and he takes his true followers to be with him for eternity, all this will be over. And in the meanwhile, while we wait for his return, we can be comforted in knowing that, if we are following Jesus with our lives, the Lord is with us, and he is holding our hands, and he is there to strengthen us and to carry us through all difficulties and all persecutions and all threats against our lives, too. And so we need to persevere, in his strength, and we need to pray for our enemies, too.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:18-21; Jn 17:14; 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]

How Long Till the Morning

Scripture: I Thessalonians 4:17
By C. E. Couchman

Consider the mornings of this mortal land,
Each a new beginning from the Maker’s hand.
While the storms may gather ‘gainst the evening sky,
The day breaks cloudless in the morning.

Rise up to the battle, for the skies dawn clear.
Let us gather courage while the foe draws near.
Though the night falls weary, saints of God, march on!
And He’ll raise our banner in the morning.

When the trumpet sounds to signal Heaven’s day,
Resurrection Morning when the dead shall wake,
What a glorious gath’ring when the Lord descends
And we rise to meet him in the morning.

How long, my Lord? Till we see the morning?
How long, O, my Lord, till we see your face?
O my Lord, guide us through our troubles
Till we rise above them in the morning.

Login to view embedded media Caution: This link may contain ads

Today is St Nicholas of Myra

Blessed Feast to all

Topic is Sexual immortality

Question is:How does one refrain and conquer sexual immortality?
Hello everyone so I have been struggling with lust and sexual immortality,I have had sex with my girlfriend before marriage and I want to know if there is a solution and what do I need to do to not fall into lust and sin.Also I feel guilty and sad even though I know God forgives me .
Thank you for any answers!

First, as an intro, a quote from Utilitarianism - Wikipedia:

In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.[1][2]
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different characterizations, the basic idea behind all of them is, in some sense, to maximize utility, which is often defined in terms of well-being or related concepts. For instance, Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism, described utility as:

That property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness ... [or] to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness to the party whose interest is considered.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

So, I had the following thought. What if Christianity can be described as a specific kind of utilitarianism? If we think about it, in Christianity the whole point is to pursue the maximization of God and God's creation's utility function. Under a Christian worldview, God has created everything in such a way that certain states are preferable over other states. So there must be some sort of utility function that allows God to compare different states of affairs and decide that X is better than Y. Thus, we can frame all sorts of sinful habits (e.g. addictions, drugs, alcohol, food, sex, porn, gambling, greed, etc.) as "sins" because they lead to suboptimal utility (mathematically speaking). More formally, we could frame Christianity as an optimization problem, and say that sinful behaviors lead people to get stuck in local maxima of God's utility function, and that people who get stuck in these local maxima are unable to escape and are ignoring and missing out on a whole unexplored subspace of God's utility function that leads to the global maximum.

This formulation makes a lot of sense to me. However, a clear implication of this utilitarian reinterpretation of Christianity is the fact that, if true, this should be testable empirically. This utilitarian reinterpretation of Christianity presupposes that it is in fact possible to experience levels of utility way beyond any possible local maxima that can be attained through sinful habits. In fact, under a Christian worldview, sinful habits only operate at the level of the "flesh", you can only get so far by maximizing "fleshly utility" through them. However, if Christianity is true, then God exists and the spiritual realm exists, and so it's very likely that the global maximum of the utility function can only be attained and experienced by tapping into the spiritual realm somehow. That is, if you want to reach levels of utility beyond anything the flesh can offer, you need to get in touch with the supernatural dimension somehow, empirically, in real life. For example, I've heard testimonies of people claiming that they have experienced the supernatural presence of God, which is an experience so extraordinary that its "utility" makes all the pleasures of the flesh pale and look like trash in comparison (example).

Question: Is there a method/algorithm to attain and experience (empirically, in real life) levels of "supernatural utility" (global maximum) way beyond all the suboptimal "pleasures of the flesh" (local maxima), under an utilitarian interpretation of Christianity? Is there an algorithm to maximize the Christian utility function and empirically observe palpable results of this utility?

Looks like the denomination is going to shatter.....

...

The investigation centered on the events that began with the May 28, 2021, attack on a female student in a girls’ bathroom by a male assailant wearing a skirt at Stone Bridge High School, an incident that drew national attention after the girl’s father, Scott Smith, was dragged out of a raucous June 22, 2021, school board meeting.


A video of Mr. Smith being removed from the meeting went viral, with the footage mischaracterized to support unfounded claims that parents upset about COVID-19 lockdowns and mandates posed a threat to school board members across the country.

This is my open letter to President Joe Biden:

Dear Mr. President:

I have some serious concerns regarding the systemic racism in the United States.

Nothing shows more evidence of America’s long-standing adherence to “White Supremacy” than the fact its leader, our President, lives in a “White House”. The color white was obviously chosen because in western cultures, the color white symbolizes a sense of purity, cleanliness, and peacefulness, while the color black symbolizes death, evil, and aggression. I strongly advise that you change the name and color of your current residence.

First, I suggest you have the exterior of the building repainted with Black and Brown stripes. Then you should replace the American flag for one with rainbow-colored stripes to show support for the LGBT community. Finally, I think you should change the house’s name to the “Cordoba House” to show you also support the Muslim community.

Finally, you need to change the name of our capital city. Not only is it named after a know slave owner, George Washington, but the city is also in the District of Colombia, which is named after Christopher Colombus, the man which colonization is named for.

Hopefully everyone got a chuckle. If any lefties got offended, please excuse me but I grew up in the seventies and eighties, back when Saturday Night Live poked fun at both the left and the right.

This is real and not merely sore loser talk. As you might expect, the perp is denying everything, but it's a matter of public record.

DO AS I SAY: Georgia GOP candidate for state office accused of voter fraud​

Brian Pritchard — a Republican talk show host and candidate for Georgia House — broke a state law against voting by people convicted of a felony.
The North Georgia conservative was on probation for felony forgery and theft when he illegally voted at least nine times while still serving his sentence.

“I’ve not done anything wrong here,” Pritchard claimed – but state law says otherwise.

Click to expand...

Pritchard is nonetheless running in a special election to fill the seat left vacant by former Georgia House Speaker David Ralston who passed away in November, where he faces the deceased former representative’s widow, Sheree Ralston, for the open seat.
In 1996, the election-denying wannabe politician pleaded guilty to three counts of forgery and one count of theft by failure to make a required disposition of funds – all felonies – in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County.
Pritchard agreed to $33,000 in restitution and to serve probation as part of his sentence.
DO AS I SAY: Georgia GOP candidate for state office accused of voter fraud

The majority of problems in this world are for the most part due to those who do not see anything greater than themselves. Of course in today's world these elites are amalgamating into a new global Mt Olympus. Does God take kindly to those who put their will ahead of His?

I am convinced that Jesus was born on the 1st of Nisan in the year 5 BC.

Why the 1st of Nisan?
Because it is exactly the same day that God's presence filled the Tent of Meeting (Exodus 40:2, Exodus 40:34). This event was a shadow that foretold the incarnation of God (John 1:14). On the same day that God came to earth to be in a tent, on the same day God came to earth to be in a human body.

What also speaks of Jesus being born in the month of Nisan, and thus in a spring, is the fact that when Jesus was born, shepherds were in the fields with their flocks. This could not have been the case in a cold month like December.

Am I now saying that celebrating Christmas in December is wrong? No, you can celebrate the birth of Jesus whenever you want. There is nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas at all.

Why in the year 5 BC?
Scripture records:

-that Jesus was baptized at the age of 30
-that Jesus' ministry began when he was baptized
-that Jesus ministry lasted 3.5 years
-that Jesus was baptized on the 15th year of Tiberius
-that Jesus was born before Herod died

History records:
-that Tiberius 15th year of his reign was 26 AD
-that Herod died 4 BC

Conclusions:
If the 15th year of Tiberius is 26 AD, then Jesus was 30 years old at that time. If Jesus was 30 years old in 26 AD, then he was born 5 BC. So the crucifixion of Jesus was 30 AD, since Jesus ministry lasted 3.5 years. And since Jesus was crucified on the 14th of Nisan, he was crucified only 13 days after his birthday, which means he was 34 years and 13 days old when he died.

This is why it's more reasonable to believe that Jesus was actually resurrected from the dead than any other explanation. It fully debunks the "Near-Death" theory, the "Hallucination" theory, the theory that the disciples stole Jesus' body, the "Wrong Tomb" theory, and even the "Jesus had an identical twin nobody knew about" theory.

Login to view embedded media
Tell your non-Christian friends to watch this video!

Where is the button to press to ignore members?

Is it now hidden somewhere?
I cannot find it any more.