Dream: "I have descended deep into a concrete shaft, reaching a level that feels like the underworld. Everything is raw grey concrete and eerily empty. The walls tower forbiddingly high. A metal staircase spirals downward into absolute darkness. The atmosphere is terrifying. Far above, I can still see a square of light from the entrance, like a distant memory of the world above. While I know I can turn back, those who ventured here before had no such choice. They were compelled to continue their descent into the consuming darkness. An otherworldly blackness seems to seep from the descending staircase—a darkness deeper than any I've known. An overwhelming sense of doom creeps over me."

Comment: The dream evokes Plato's Allegory of the Cave, though Plato speaks only of ascension, not descent. I remain unafraid, knowing I can return. This plateau in the underworld represents our earthly realm—an unsettling place where Hades' darkness perpetually seeps into our reality. I cannot embrace the optimistic worldview common among modern Christians. Despite its beauty and allure, the material world exerts a corrupting influence on our souls. That square opening far above represents the portal through which the soul transitions at the moment of death—a window to transcendence that echoes the Platonic journey from shadow to light. The key difference is that while Plato's prisoners move from darkness to illumination, this vision suggests we exist in an intermediate realm, constantly touched by the depths below while glimpsing the light above.

Don't Be Partners with The Ungodly

All throughout the New Testament writings we are warned against unholy unions with the ungodly of this world. But let me state here that the ungodly are not just all who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ. The ungodly are all who are living ungodly and immoral and rebellious lives against God, for whom sin is still their practice, and for whom righteousness, godliness, moral purity, honesty, and obedience to God are not what they practice. So they can be people who profess Jesus as Lord but who live the opposite.

So, what is an example of one of these unholy unions? The primary example which comes to my mind every time are these institutional market-driven “churches” incorporated under (combined, united, merged with) the state. Although some or most of them may still teach some of the Scriptures, many of them out of context, they are largely being led by the marketing schemes of human-based institutions who have altered the character of God/Christ, his church, and his gospel, in order to draw in large crowds from the world.

Therefore, much of their decision making for “the church” is based in marketing schemes and business models for how to “grow their churches” and for how to “draw in large crowds of people from the world” into their gatherings. And so the message of the gospel is largely being altered to pacify people in their sin and to not offend the ungodly who they want in their ”churches.” And many of them no longer teach God’s requirements for biblical repentance (death to sin) and walks of obedience to our God.

And many of them have turned their gatherings into stage productions put on by a small group of people while the rest of the people sit in their pews or in their chairs and sing the songs and listen to the sermons and then go home and resume normal life until the next week when they come back and do it again. But that is not the biblical role model of “church” which is the body of believers in Jesus Christ who are walking by faith and who are ministering to one another via the gifts of the Spirit given them by God.

Cleansing of The Temple

Do you remember the story of Jesus cleansing the temple? I think there are two separate biblical accounts of him doing this, so many people believe he did this more than once, but the point is that he did this and why he did it. It was because the people had turned the temple of God into a marketplace, which is exactly what these market-driven institutional incorporated “churches” are now doing, too. So Jesus told them to STOP making his Father’s house a place of business, and he is still saying the same today.

And then we have today’s passage of Scripture which warns us against being in fellowship and union and partnership with the ungodly, which is exactly what these institutional market-driven “churches” of today have done in direct opposition to God’s commands. They have united with the world and with the ungodly and so they have turned the temple of God (the gatherings of the body of Christ, his church) into marketplaces in order to attract the ungodly to their gatherings, which is the opposite of what God commands.

And then have you read in the book of Revelation about the fall of Babylon? And who or what is “Babylon”? It can be a physical place on this earth, yes, but it is a symbol of spiritual corruption and rebellion against God and of idolatry and sexual immorality and of worldliness and moral decay. And that is a picture of these institutional market-driven “churches” partnered with the state (the ungodly) who are compromising the truth of the gospel and morality and God’s commands in order to attract the world to their meetings.

And what are we then instructed to do about this? We are to come out from among her lest we participate with her in her sins, lest we also then share with her in her punishment, “for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” And today’s passage instructs us to “come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord, “and do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me.” We need to take this seriously!

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

The Message of the Gospel

Now, do some of these institutional market-driven “churches” (businesses) get some things right? Surely some of them do. Do some of them still teach the truth of the gospel? Some of them still teach some of the truth, but few teach the full gospel message, from what I have been able to observe. Many teach a very diluted and altered gospel which only requires a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and then the “believer” is guaranteed forgiveness of all sins and heaven as their eternal destiny, regardless of how they live.

And those who do teach God’s requirements of repentance and obedience to his commands often will teach them more as suggestions, or as things that we should be doing, but not as part of faith which saves and without which we are not saved and heaven will not be our eternal destiny. But Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught that faith which is genuine will result in death to sin and walks of obedience to his commands. But if sin is our practice, and not obedience to God, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

And the most critical thing that we need to teach the people is that if sin is our practice, and if walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands are not what we practice, then we don’t know God, we are not born of God, we are not in relationship with Jesus Christ, we are not in fellowship with him, we are not saved from our sins, and we do not have eternal life with God in heaven. And it doesn’t matter what our lips profess. What matters is that we are not walking in sin but we are obeying our Lord, in practice.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Listen to Our Hearts

Songwriters: Geoff Moore / Steven Chapman

How do you explain, how do you describe
A love that goes from east to west
And runs as deep as it is wide?
You know all our hopes,
Lord, you know all our fears.
And words cannot express the love we feel,
But we long for You to hear.

So listen to our hearts.
Hear our spirit sing
A song of praise that flows
From those you have redeemed.
We will use the words we know
To tell you what an awesome God You are.
But words are not enough
To tell you of our love,
So listen to our hearts.

If words could fall like rain
From these lips of mine,
And if I had a thousand years
I would still run out of time.
If you listen to my heart,
Every beat will say,
Thank You for the life,
Thank You for the truth,
Thank You for the way.

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The Temple of God
An Original Work / April 5, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

What heights could we possibly aspire to in our walk that are higher than this? The pure sacrificial love of Jesus received and shared, and the courageous conviction of God's goodness in spite of pain and the spectre of death looming. Refusing the temptation of the enemy to bitterness - just as our Savior did.

As all expressed by this sweet little boy. I would lay all the wisdom in the world at Jesus' feet in exchange for a faith as holy and pristine as this, and a heart as tender before Him...

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Ozempic is danish, so it's neccessary to embargo it until Greenland finally becomes the USA's newest colony.

RickardoHolmes said:

Greetings Brethren. As many of you know, I have never been into the Lent season, and this year, I had planned to skip it all together. Due to personal reasons, I have been (occasionally) attending a congregation that does not follow the liturgical year but somehow I had this AH-HA moment

Why not replace Lent, my least favorite season, with Advent my Favorite season?

Why not call it ADVENT II ? Why not get out all the Advent books, (I have dozens) and reread them daily, preparing for the coming of Christ?

And on Easter, instead of fighting traffic and trying to find a parking place, spend a quite day at home exchange a few gifts with family from the Easter Bunny, watch HALLMARK Christmas shows, and eat ham and pie

Instead of Lent, we have ADVENT 2 for the weeks leading up to Easter !
Sometimes, I amaze myself ! I should publish a book for anyone else who wants to follow my inspiration.

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A very interesting answer to a question I don't think anybody asked.

The bible of course says nothing about Catholics, since they and most denominations today are post New Testament. Our Constitution and bill of rights forbid restricting Catholics or any people of any other religion from participating in our government. This does not change the fact that the papacy instructs its people to implement their social doctrines and teachings by law wherever possible. Every Catholic therefore, must choose between the authority of our Constitution and bill of rights, or the papal authorities position of a combined church and state. A great deal of what we see being carried out by our government, is directly tied to the instructions which the papacy writes for their faithful and or anyone who agrees with their views, in papal Encyclicals and Doctrinal Notes.

The papacy itself represents a foreign nation and government which has and does disagree with many of the founding principles this nations was built upon. Often throughout history aligning themselves with our enemies. Including Hitler, Mussolini, the Chinese, the UN, and other globalist, socialistic or communistic leaning entities today. Not to mention the woke of many a nation.

Always in His Presence said:

List of Countries Considering Lifting Tariffs on the US

Canada​

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was adamant on Wednesday that he and other world leaders would respond in kind to U.S. tariffs. The relationship between Canada and the U.S. has become more volatile since Trump took office in January.​

​

"We are going to fight these tariffs with countermeasures. We are going to protect our workers and we are going to build the strongest economy in the G7," Carney said in a video posted on X.​

​

oh my!

On Monday, Canadian officials told the Globe & Mail that they will not impose retaliatory tariffs on most U.S. food and other essentials to avoid job loss in key sectors of the economy.​

So much for that.

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Last I checked, Monday comes before Wednesday. Just because an article places one statement after another does not mean that those statements are in chronological order.

Always in His Presence said:

Israel​

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other national leaders announced they would be lifting tariffs on U.S. products in order to maintain the countries' long and reliable alliance.​

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That was Tuesday - before the tariffs. We'll see if it holds.

Always in His Presence said:

India​

Reuters reported last week that India was open to cutting tariffs on U.S. imports worth $23 billion to mitigate the impact on its exports

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That was last week. Much has changed.

Always in His Presence said:

Vietnam​

Vietnam last week promised it would cut its tariffs on several U.S. products including LNG and cars, according to Reuters, and also moved to approve Starlink services.​

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Again, last week.

Always in His Presence said:

Mexico​

On Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Mexico won't go tit-for-tat on tariffs but also has not ruled out reciprocal tariffs

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Nothing in that about dropping tariffs. "We won't go tit-for-tat" just means they don't plan to match US tariffs exactly.

Pick one of your topics to discuss. This web site is dedicated to sharing, discussion etc not debating a video or a web page - but actual dialogue.

You could go to the forum on the Law and discuss your views on Sabbath for example.

I pray for peace and rest for Jacob today -- in the name of Jesus who can do exceedingly abundantly all we ask or think according to the power that WORKS in us - to Him be glory and honor. Eph 3:2021

Praise God for the infinite Holy Spirit, third Person of the Godhead - given to us as a gift by our Father in Heaven.

I believe the rise in asset prices due to money printing will do insurance prices in. The cost of everything is up.

Threatening countries, with tariffs, is no way to increase trade.

Testing 19

Vambram said:

Despite what the liberals might think about MAGA, this is what the people have voted for and what we want.

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I don't remember anyone voting for this, but it's what we have.

Vambram said:

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48435#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Constitution%20gives%20Congress,impose%20tariffs%20under%20certain%20conditions.

President Trump has not violated the Constitution with the tariffs. The same was also true by any of the tariffs done by Presidents Bush, Clinton, and Obama.

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At the moment I think it is fair to say that it is unknown whether Trump and his tariffs are constitutional. The Wall Street Journal today had an article that this business that already filed a lawsuit over the tariffs has a strong case. Florida stationery firm sues Trump over China tariffs - UPI.com

Here is more information on Congress and the Presidents power. The President does have powers because Congress gave it to them but as it is the duty of Congress, they could rescind that power anytime. Also, Trump may have exceeded his lawful power as the court case above implies. How Congress delegates its tariff powers to the president | Constitution Center

Heavenly Father, Holy is Your Name, we pray You will heal and comfort Jakeb, in the Name of Jesus, as only You can do. Amen and Amen.

I just skimmed the article but if its Saying what I think it is, all I have to say is why?

Rescued One said:

I need God to solve my problems.

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Thank you, lismore and anyone else who responds. I'm getting offline now.

Sabertooth said:

(That he has a formal diagnosis indicates he has already established such contact...)

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Did he? I just think comparing notes on the internet is not really recommended or healthy.

Christsfreeservant said:

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” (Romans 6:1-7 NASB’95)​

Many preachers and pastors today are teaching the opposite of what this teaches. They are teaching that all you have to do is to make some kind of confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and of belief in his death and resurrection, and of what he did in dying on the cross to take away our sins, and now all your sins are forgiven (past, present, and future) and heaven is guaranteed you when you die. But few teach that faith in Jesus Christ, which is of God, results in us dying to sin and in us walking in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as servants of God and of his righteousness.

Thus, we have many people making professions of faith in Jesus Christ who have not been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and who have not been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness in obedience to his commands. And so they are continuing in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord, in willful rebellion against the Lord and his commandments (New Covenant), convinced that all their sins are forgiven, and that heaven is what awaits them when they die, but regardless of how they live.

And that is a lie straight from hell! So, does that mean that we must be absolutely perfect in every way and never sin again, not even once, or we will go straight to hell? No, it doesn’t (see 1 John 2:1-2). But this is also not carte blanche to continue living in sin and not in walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands. We are not to continue in sin. Sin should now be put to death in our lives. For if by faith in Jesus Christ we have died to sin, how can we still live in it? May it never be! We are now to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but as followers of Jesus Christ.

For, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus, our old self is crucified with him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we will no longer be slaves to sin, but so that we will live to please God with our lives in walks of surrender to his will and in obedience to his commands. For Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our sins, and if obedience to our Lord is not our practice, then we are not saved from our sins and we don’t have life eternal with God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Jesus, Hold My Hand

By Albert E. Brumley

As I travel through this pilgrim land
There is a friend who walks with me
Leads me safely through the sinking sand
It is the Christ at Calvary
This would be my prayer, dear Lord, each day
You help me do the best I can
For I need Thy light to guide me day and night
Blessed Jesus, hold my hand

When I wander thru the valley dim
toward the setting of the sun,
Lead me safely to a land of rest
if I a crown of life have won;
I have put my faith in Thee, dear Lord,
that I may reach the golden strand,
There's no other Friend on whom I can depend,
Blessed Jesus, hold my hand.

Jesus, hold my hand
'Cause I need Thee every hour
Through this pilgrim land
Protect me by Thy power
Hear my feeble plea
And O Lord look down on me
When I kneel in prayer
I hope to meet You there
Blessed Jesus, hold my hand

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Are We to Continue in Sin?
An Original Work / March 24, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

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Very good. I agree and the song is a good one, as well. I began a similar thread recently on the concept of "Eternal Security". In John 14:21 Christ says "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

This is reason 1A as why the idea of getting rid of Social Security by investor privatization is a bad idea.
All it takes is one moron in power who thinks he knows more than anyone else, and your savings are in peril.

zippy2006 said:

Maybe try citing an example of what you are talking about. Is this the idea that non-citizens have free speech rights in the U.S.? Because the First Amendment does not give civil free speech rights to non-citizens.

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The Constitution does not "give" any rights to anyone. It enumerates our rights and places limits on the government's ability to violate them.

You have asked the right person about Russia. You are right in that Russia (along with North Korea, Cuba and Belarus) are getting special treatment. Those four countries have extremely high tariffs imposed upon them by the United States and are being treated separately. It is likely Trump will impose even more severe tariffs on Russia because they have not come to a reasonable negotiating position to end the war. There have been over a million casualties in that war, a war that would not have been started had Joe Biden not been president, and it should not be a surprise that important mineral rights are part of the negotiations. Please don't listen to the left-wing press about what Trump "seems ready to do." Remember the major press was complicit in the Russia Russia Russia hoax.

Larniavc said:

Yes. In a box under my bed.

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Define 'box' and 'bed' ... then define 'define' ...

Romans 11:1-23 circles around a metaphor of an Olive Tree consisting of those who believe in God. It goes on to discuss that those who lose their belief in God are pruned off like branches from an olive tree. Furthermore, the Gentiles who weren’t part of the olive tree beforehand, are branches that are added to that tree.

Verses 19 and 20 infer that when the branches are cut off, the branches of Gentles who believe in God through Jesus are branches that REPLACE the ones that are cut off. That seems to imply that Gentiles have to wait for an opening created by cutting the branches off before they can be branches in that olive tree. Does that make sense, considering that in Matthew 28:18-19 the Holy Ghost of Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 28:18 “...’All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...’”? Seems that would mean a lot of people waiting for an opening on the olive tree!

In the context of the Bible, the implied keyword is that of “INCLUSION.” In that context, everyone who believes in God through Jesus would be ADDED to the olive tree, not waiting to REPLACE those on the olive tree who faltered in their belief in God.

And who are the people on the olive tree, and added to it, who would remain on the olive tree? Those who believe in God. That would include Jews who only go by the Old Testament in addition to Gentiles who believe in God. Nowhere in Romans 11:1-23 does it say only those who believe in God through Jesus will remain on the olive tree. Why might one think that is? Perhaps it’s a given that those who believe in God through the Old Testament are, in all intents and purposes believing in God through Jesus whether they realize it or not. In the Bible’s own words, Jesus in Matthew 5:17 says “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Furthermore, Jesus says in the following Verse, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” Get it? Jesus’ teachings revolve around the same Law that the Jews abide by! Ergo, is there any justification to cutting off those branches of the olive tree, if the Jews of those branches steadfastly believe in God?

In terms of the Law, there is no difference between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Law that is available for the Jews to abide by. I tell you that the Jews who do abide by it are part of the olive tree. Why, then, is there a New Testament of teachings? I tell you it’s because those teachings put the idea of there being one God who loves us and wants us to love Him and eachother, into a format that the Gentiles, who do not have a heritage of thousands of years starting with the Ten Commandments and producing a Torah and a Talmud to interpret those Ten Commandments, that have been communicated from generation to generation among the Jews. In this regard, in terms of the teachings, the New Testament summarizes the Old Testament in a manner that Gentiles can understand, given their lack of such literature the Jews have had through the ages.

The Gentiles who believe in God need not stand around waiting for branches to be cut off in the context of Romans 11 before being grafted on.

AV1611VET said:

Good point.



Depends on what it is.

But gimme a break, Warden.

I'll be 71 in May!

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In that case, I wish you 71 more years to become the best man you can be, physically and intellectually.