Gregory Thompson said:

Yeah, replacing the Tao with the Holy Spirit would mean completely destroying the energy construct it uses.

... and then it would no longer be reiki.

Click to expand...

I wonder, can the Holy Spirit work through Reiki?

ViaCrucis said:

My experience is somewhat opposite.

The majority of my youth was spent while my family was part of the local Foursquare Church. As such Pentecostalism was a defining feature of my Christian experience. When I was twelve years old, I wasn't being Confirmed, instead a traveling evangelist came and laid hands on me, prayed that I'd receive the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, I fell down and had sounds begin to come out of my mouth. In the years following "speaking in tongues" became a routine part of my personal prayer and devotional life. And that didn't stop just because I stopped going to our Foursquare church, or when I stopped identifying myself a Pentecostal.

It was such a deep part of myself that, even today, like riding a bike, I could just flip that switch on and it'd be just as it was over 20 years ago.

-CryptoLutheran

Click to expand...

Yes, I've visited the local 4 Square church here in my area. Mixed experience.

I said I experienced supernatural phenomena. This was one such occasion. A visiting "prophet" was there who I recognized--Dick Mills, known for selecting individuals to give brief prophecies to.

We in the audience had our eyes closed, and Mills asked an older gentleman in the back to come forward. I instantly knew it was my pastor, who also was visiting. I opened my eyes to see him walk by.

Immediately after this Mills called on me to stand up, and I refused for a moment, but then complied.
He said I had been cheated and gave me 3 verses from Scriptures, which I treasure to this day. They all seem to be true.

But I'm not on board with a number of Pentecostal beliefs and practices. My Lutheran upbringing was more Scriptural but spiritually dry, as I noted. And they over time seemed to wander, conforming more with modern morality.

But what is more important--to have a deeper experience with God or to be more right with doctrine, dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s? It's an individual thing, and I can't pre-judge. Thanks for your input!

trophy33 said:

Regarding the words of Jesus, for example:
"There are some of those standing here, who in no wise shall taste of death, until they have seen the Son of man coming in his kingdom."
Mt 16:27

or:
"Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. "
Lk 21:31

I am not sure how this can be just about the judgement over Jerusalem. It was supposed to be really wider - the kingdom of God coming on Earth.

Click to expand...

The kingdom of God seem to be a nebulous, flexible concept. It can be something that is close to a particular individual as in Mark 12:34 “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” as well as something that is like a new era. It is hard to imagine such a Kingdom in earthly political terms.

A New Dawn said:

And I’m sure you watch CNN and MSNBC for your news.

Click to expand...

Why? Do you believe your own propaganda? This is nothing other than a vapid swipe at the generic left which indicates your beliefs but none of my own.

A New Dawn said:

Kamala Harris raised money to bail them out so they could go back to rioting when they were picked up and released.

Click to expand...

That is not actually true but if you believe it, then it is not your lie. She tweeted out support for the Minnesota bail fund back in 2020, but did nothing further.

A New Dawn said:

I am not mentioning BLM, I specifically said Antifa who was masked, who caused $20M in damages, and who killed 48 people over the course of the summer. Nothing was done. Nobody was prosecuted. Looting was legalized because somehow stealing large screen TVs is the appropriate way to address the problem.

Click to expand...

Check your facts before posting, maybe? Antifa caused damage, but so did the counter-protesters such as the Proud Boys. Biden disclaimed Antifa while Trump told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" but not "stand down".

It is untrue that no one was prosecuted or that nothing was done. Tens of thousands of protesters were arrested and prosecuted.

Records rebut claims of unequal treatment of Jan. 6 rioters

A New Dawn said:

My opinion is that everyone who breaks the law should pay for their crime.

Click to expand...

Do you include the current president and administration in this?

A New Dawn said:

But the only ones who paid for their crimes were people on the right side of the aisle.

Click to expand...

That is either ignorant or a lie as that is contrary to actual, documented fact.

A New Dawn said:

And since you are alluding to Jan 6, ...

Click to expand...

I wasn't. Nowhere in my post did I allude to the insurrection of 2021. Why did you say that?

But, since you bring it up, all the insurrectionists convicted for J6, including the cop beaters, were pardoned without regard to the seriousness of their crimes.

A New Dawn said:

And since you are alluding to Jan 6, not one person on the left was held accountable for their roles in the fiasco from Nancy Pelosi who refused to utilize the National Guard when offered by Trump because of optics to the FBI embedded in with the proud boys who actually started the formulation of the plan to storm the Capitol to the Capitol cop who killed an unarmed woman who was not a danger to him to the DC cop outside the Capitol who shot into the crowd CAUSING the stampede of people running for cover which has been incorrectly labeled a riot. But yes, if the proud boys did something illegal, they should be held accountable.

Click to expand...

Nancy Pelosi had nothing to do with whether the National Guard were deployed or not - that was Trump's call. There is no proof that any FBI agents were embedded with the Proud Boys although there were informants. Babbitt was a traitor bent on overthrowing the legal election; as the person at the head of the mob who was actively climbing through a broken window to get to the Senators on the other side, she was taken out as the threat she was. Many Proud Boys (and Three Percenters) were arrested and convicted, but they all got pardoned by the very instigator.

Belk said:

Have you?

According to whom?

Such a ringing endorsement.

No, it is not. It is a containment facility. It is not meant to punish nor to rehab.

Are they a place you would want to stay for any length of time?

Oh look, that old excuse for overreaction. Sorry, you don't get to blame your support for inhuman treatment on Biden.

Click to expand...

It was toured on tv, sorry you missed it. Brand new air-conditioned facility. Call it what you wish, prison, containment facility or what ever. It is humane. Your stand against the deportation of criminals is very disturbing. But you are free to argue a flawed position all you wish.

2PhiloVoid said:

No, I think in Saul's case, an evil spirit was "sent" upon him. He wasn't merely being moody. But our modern political sensibilities won't "allow" us to read it that way. Personally, I don't like the idea that God may do this, but I try to put myself into the place of the Ancient Near Eastern mindset and grapple with it the best I can.

I recognize that sometimes, God shows Himself to be "STRONG," even if my recognition of this aspect of His Being leaves me befuddled and shaking my head.

Click to expand...

There are many things that I don’t understand about the God of the Old Testament

YeshuaFan said:

Even though it wrote about it symbolically showing what has already happened to us when saved?

Click to expand...

It will be nice if you had a verse. , please ?

And I do see that the bible has Many figures of speech and that includes numbers

dan p

public hermit said:

Does God intend all the evil that occurs in the world? By "intend" I mean our usual meaning of the word, i.e., the desire or want behind an action.

Click to expand...

The best I can say is that evil serves God's purposes (Ro 9:22-23).

Desk trauma said:

Even the contradictory things?

Click to expand...

No contradictions, just facts!

Pommer said:

I’m sure that other monotheists of other religions feel exactly the same.

Click to expand...

I am sure they do but they are deceived.

essentialsaltes said:

Noem didn’t authorize FEMA’s deployment of Urban Search and Rescue teams until Monday, more than 72 hours after the flooding began, multiple sources told CNN.

Click to expand...

But it was a holiday weekend!
We can’t expect that the Director of DHS be “on-call” 24/7.

public hermit said:

That makes sense. As a partial Preterist, couldn't some passages refer to both the destruction of Jerusalem at 70 AD and the "end of days," perhaps even different parts of the same passage referring to different events?

Click to expand...

There are a wide variety of views that fall under the "partial preterist" category, with the only common thread being the belief that some of the eschatological language was fulfilling in part within that first generation.

Questions about specific fulfillment, and issues of double fulfillment are second and there are a lot of splits. I personally believe that every prophetic utterance has multiple fulfillments, one local to confirm the prophet and one referring to the true realization of the eschaton. Some partial preterists hold that those fulfilled in the past were single fulfillments, and the rest will be fulfilled in the future. So it's not easy fo make a neat box of what partial Preterists believe.

johansen said:

Read it.

Click to expand...

Written July 2025. Trump's people now say there's nothing. Pretty much as predicted.

Was Bondi lying? Why has the story suddenly changed?

chevyontheriver said:

And at least as far as it had been done for centuries it was far far better than any sort of emptying prayer. Emptying prayer is ... vacuous.

Click to expand...

Like most things the word "emptiness" can have many aspects. We do not seek the emptiness of unconsciousness or mental stupor. We do seek a state of undistracted attentiveness. Attentiveness to what? It seems like nothing. But on the contrary, God is always present. Even in what seems to us as empty silence, God is present and perhaps speaking to us. If we could only relinquish our own thoughts and desires.

FAITH-IN-HIM said:

It is indeed a sad day that After 250 years of democracy, some Americans believe it is acceptable for the government to deploy the military door to door to apprehend individuals.

Click to expand...

Thank goodness for the 3rd Amendment!

I don't believe we can nail it down, as it seems our primary recourse is speculation. However, I would be interested in a word study on the word translated as "evil" because my suspicion is that it isn't necessarily speaking of moral character but instead speaking of its having a negative impact. So my suspicion is that the evil in question was to torture Saul's conscience and plague him with a sense of guilt and shame, a sort of Godly torment.

FAITH-IN-HIM said:

The left repeatedly refuses to compromise on immigration. Democrats often campaign on this issue, but do not address it once in office.

The same applies to the GOP. Last year, a bipartisan immigration bill written by James Lankford stalled in the Senate because candidate Trump wanted to keep it as a campaign issue.

Both parties bear responsibility for the situation.

Furthermore, our strong partisanship often prevents voters from acknowledging that our own group shares equal accountability with the opposing side.

Click to expand...

Bipartisan in that respect really just means what I can’t say here (those who side with the democrats more than they side with their own.). Nobody really on the right wanted to pass that bill last year precisely because the bill had a quota on how many illegals the left wanted to allow in on a daily basis, and that number precisely mirrored the number they were currently allowing in without the bill. It was a win-win for the Democrats and a lose-lose for the Republicans. That is why.

But to a certain extent, I agree. It’s never been a high priority for the right, but it appears now that the issue has been thrust onto a front burner that the citizens of the country want them, as many as possible, to be deported. They are tired of having to give places like NY and California extra seats in government since at present they base representation on total number of residents instead of the number of citizens. They are tired of having to compete with non-residents for jobs, especially when the illegals will do a job for way less than minimum wage, which is hilarious since the left is the proponent for higher minimum wage. You can’t speak out of both sides of your mouth. If you are pushing higher minimum wage, then you need to knock off supporting illegals working for pennies in the dollar. Choose which side of the issue you want to be on.

Yeshua HaDerekh said:

If that makes you feel better about it then knock yourself out lol!

Click to expand...

Don't be naïve.

Postvieww said:

Those who worship false gods don’t know that! There is one God the father and His Son Jesus Christ . The one true God is not the same god false religions worship.

Click to expand...

I’m sure that other monotheists of other religions feel exactly the same.

Gregory Thompson said:

In general, if one is to use what Reiki and Yoga represent in a "Vatican 2" way, then what would the Christian form look like? It would at least follow the will of God. Would it not?

Click to expand...

Reiki and yoga are different. I don't think Vatican 2 can accommodate Reiki. It can accommodate touch and prayer but Reiki involves more than just touch and prayer.

Yoga has many aspects. Touching your toes is very different than praying to Shiva.

Spirit in the Sky
https://genius.com/Norman-greenbaum-spirit-in-the-sky-lyrics

[Verse 1]
When I die and they lay me to rest
Gonna go to the place that's the best
When I lay me down to die
Goin' up to the spirit in the sky

[Chorus]
Goin' up to the spirit in the sky (Spirit in the sky)
That's where I'm gonna go when I die (When I die)
When I die and they lay me to rest
I'm gonna go to the place that's the best

[Verse 2]
Prepare yourself, you know it's a must
Gotta have a friend in Jesus
So you know that when you die
He's gonna recommend you to the spirit in the sky (Spirit in the sky)

[Chorus]
Woah, he'll recommend you to the spirit in the sky
That's where you're gonna go when you die (When you die)
When you die and they lay you to rest
You're gonna go to the place that's the best

[Verse 3]
Never been a sinner, I never sinned
I got a friend in Jesus
So you know that when I die
He's gonna set me up with the spirit in the sky

[Chorus]
Woah, set me up with the spirit in the sky (Spirit in the sky)
That's where I'm gonna go when I die (When I die)
When I die and they lay me to rest
I'm gonna go to the place that's the best
Go to the place that's the best