Chaos, chaos in our culture
While our leaders sit as vultures
Looking whom to prey upon,
Running in their marathon.

Evil, evil in their intent,
While they cook up lies they invent,
Masquerading righteousness,
They put people in duress.

Working, working toward a goal,
They see who that they can fool,
Trap them in their careful tricks,
Let’s see who will “pick up sticks”.

An Original Work / September 4, 2021

Psalms 37:12-15 ESV


So, today (3/23/2023) I was on Facebook, which is a social media internet site, and on Facebook there are lots of advertisements you might have to scroll through just to find posts by your friends (or acquaintances, i.e. people you know). So today I kept getting ads for a play starring Richard Thomas (John boy from the Waltons TV show). And the name of the play is, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Now I saw a movie by that title many years ago, dated 1962, starring Gregory Peck, I believe. But I don’t recall it very well.

But also today I was getting advertisements for another movie I had seen many years ago (I stopped watching movies in 2008, but I did watch this one again today). And this one is called “Twelve Angry Men” (1957). This one is about a teenage boy accused of murdering his father, and it is about a twelve man jury deciding guilt or innocence. Only one man thought there was reasonable doubt to convict the boy, so the whole movie was about him eventually convincing the other 11 jurors to vote not guilty.

But during the jurors’ deliberations, what came out was a lot of prejudice against people of different color and nationality and language and culture, etc. And some people were voting strictly because of that prejudice, and some just voted out of pure selfishness and/or intellectual snobbery, and some were making decisions based on their own emotions and hurts, etc. So there were a lot of emotions flying high. But what this did was really show the reality of how bad prejudice is, for it could have meant this boy’s death.

Now I read the plot summary of “To Kill a Mockingbird” because I did not remember that movie very well, but that is another movie about prejudice and about making false judgments of people based on the color of their skin or whatever, and all the hate that goes along with that. Well, the lawyer was able to prove that the people accusing a man of a crime had lied about what had happened, yet the court charged the man guilty anyway, probably because of his color, and that eventually resulted in that man’s death.

So, in one case, it resulted in the probable innocent going free, because the prosecution had not proved its case sufficiently, and because the supposed evidence was full of holes. But in the other case it resulted in the probable innocent being charged with the crime anyway, even though it had been proven that his accusers had lied. And it still resulted in his imprisonment and ultimate death. But both movies definitely showed how bad prejudice is regardless of who it is aimed at, and the hatred that is behind it all.

Well the same happens to those who are following Jesus Christ with their lives, who are walking in the ways of the Lord, although not necessarily in absolute perfection. But still they are not guilty of sinning against the Lord or against anyone else, not intentionally or habitually. And yet there will be those who hate the righteous just because they are living holy lives separate (unlike, different) from the world and because they are speaking the truth of the gospel and because they are calling out and are refuting Satan’s lies.

And they will hate the righteous because their own deeds are evil and the righteous’ deeds are good, in practice. And so they may plot evil against them in order to cause them harm or to have them falsely accused of crimes they did not commit, and to falsely imprison them, and even to kill them, like Cain killed his brother. And they may or may not get away with it in this life, and the innocent may be acquitted of the false accusations, or not, and the innocent may be put in jail or even killed for not doing what is wrong.

But the wicked will have their day in God’s court, and they will be accused by God, and he will charge them as guilty, and they will pay by spending eternity in hell, and not in heaven, unless they truly repent and turn to follow Jesus in obedience. But even if they do repent, God may still allow them to suffer in this life for the evil they did to his servants and messengers. But that is up to God, not up to us, regarding what happens to the guilty (the wicked), and even what happens to the innocent, but we should follow God's lead in how we should respond.

Anyway, prejudice in all its forms is a horrible thing. We should never hate anyone, and we should not hate other people just because they are not like us. Yet, this is not teaching that we are to be tolerant of sinful practices and lifestyles, but we can still love people and not love their sin. And the loving thing really is to speak the truth in love to others to let them know that if we hate others, and if we plot and carry out evil against others, but while we profess faith in Jesus Christ, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

[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]

Evil Plots Against the Righteous
Video Talk

March 23, 2023

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Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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*This was written on October 31, 2024. The Lord has been having me write these devotions weeks ahead now.

As followers of Jesus Christ we are to be humble servants of the Lord who give God all the glory and praise for any good that he does in us and through us for his glory. We should never take credit for what we know was done in the power of the Holy Spirit and not in our own flesh. And we should not be people who exalt ourselves, but who are exalting the Lord Jesus and the good that he has done for us and is doing for us and through us. But we can give testimony to what God is doing in us and through us for his praise.

But humility goes beyond just giving God praise and glory. It also has to do with us submitting our lives to God’s will and purpose for our lives and us bowing before the Lord in surrender of our lives to him in walks of obedience to his commands, daily denying self and dying to sin, by his grace, in his power at work within us. No longer are we living to please self and the flesh, but now we are living to please our Lord. That does not make us perfect people, but lack of perfection is never to be used to excuse deliberate sin.

Now we live in troubled times on this earth. War is just about everywhere you look. Rebellion, lies, liars, manipulators of truth, deceivers, adulterers, and mischief makers abound. False teachers and preachers, false governments, false news media, the false church, and false gospels are prevalent all over the place. Fakery is everywhere. And anything can be faked and altered and photoshopped to make it look like one thing while it is another thing entirely. So we cannot even trust what we see with our eyes.

Honestly, in the USA, left and right politically are a mirage. And the mirage (the play) is put on by skilled actors who are out there to deceive as many people as they can, and to provide distractions so we don’t see what is happening “behind the curtain,” and in order to get the people of my nation fighting one against the other, even “Christians” against “Christians.” For the de facto government of the USA is a small group of the Elite of this world who are the ones truly running what is going on in the world presently.

And all of this is leading up to the rule of “The Beast” (of Revelation 13). All of this is heading us, the people of this world, into a one world order under a tyrannical one world government and religion (of the Beast). So please understand that Satan works through politicians, government heads, the news media, doctors, lawyers, preachers, pastors, and teachers of the Word of God, etc. And he disguises himself as an angel of light, and his servants masquerade themselves as servants of righteousness. So don’t be fooled!

Satan is not going to come after you looking like a red demon with a pitchfork in hand. He is going to come to you looking like one of the “good guys” (a hero) who is there to help you and to do good for you, and to rescue you from the “bad guys”. But just know that all this can be faked. That is why the Scriptures warn us against “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” i.e. those who play duplicitous roles in order to deceive the naïve and the gullible, and even some very smart (intelligent) people. Don’t be fooled!

I see a lot of people on social media (on the internet) just regurgitating one or the other particular political platform’s beliefs, practices, and sentiments. If it comes from that particular side (either side), they just repeat it as though it is fact. And a lot of what is repeated is meant to incite the other side and to get people at odds with one another. But as Christians we need to be testing these spirits in prayer and in the study of God’s word and in doing diligent research to make certain what we are believing is the truth.

Now I am going to say something here that is not going to gain me any popularity. But let me first state this. I believe very firmly that abortion of unborn babies is murder, which I wrote about 4 days ago. But I also believe that porn addiction is adultery, and so on and so forth. But only God can change people’s hearts on this subject. And voting in favor of abortion or against abortion is not necessarily going to change people’s hearts or their actions. So we need to be sharing the truth of the gospel which can change human hearts. People need the Lord, and then hearts will change.

We need to be teaching the people that Jesus Christ died on that cross to take our sins upon him in order to put our sins to death with him, and in order that, by God-persuaded faith in Christ, we might now die with Christ to sin and walk in obedience to his commands. For Jesus said that to come after him we must deny self, die daily to sin, and walk in obedience to his commands (in essence). For if we hold on to our sinful practices, and if we do not obey our Lord, we do not have eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

And we need to be telling them the truth about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. For it isn’t just that we must die daily to sin and walk in obedience to his commands, but that when we do, we are going to suffer for the sake of the gospel and for our faith in Jesus Christ. Satan and his hordes will be “hot on our trail” trying to bring us down, trying to get us to fail and to fall, and trying to dishearten and discourage us to the point to where we will give up the fight and back down and retreat from our Lord.

We need to be prepared for this so that we are not taken back by it when things get much worse, which they certainly will. And we need to be armored up (Ephesians 6:10-18) with the amor of God – the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted ready to share the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication, keeping alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]

Only Hope

By Jonathan Foreman

There's a song that's inside
Of my soul..
Sing to me of the plans
That you have for me over again

I give you my destiny
I'm giving you all of me
I want your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs
I'm giving it my all

So, I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours I pray
To be only yours
I know now you're my only hope

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Valletta said:

It seems to me they could determine the identity of the bomber unless a burner phone or a dummy phone was used.

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Possibly no phone was present. I don't believe there is any evidence of a phone being used.

Valletta said:

But why say that cell phone data was corrupted?

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I assume that's his recollection of what he saw at that time.
I have no direct evidence of any one saying anything different, Loudermilk's statement to justthenews notwithstanding.

I think fair and honest news is almost non existent, is like everyone aligns and favors sometimes with dishonesty their party or ideology.
I don't say they mostly lie, but hide what they don't like/harms their side, show what benefits, and makes commentary biased in favor of their side.
I guess you have to look at multiple sources, investigate a bit then draw conclusions maybe you find someplace you like more than others.

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EPHESIANS 1

4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

GOD'S CHOSEN ONE

As, I start to write about these wonderful truths, I am like the psalmist, these things are too wonderful for me, they may me too wonderful for me, but if you are truly born again, they are a reality for you as they are for me

When I was at school, and we played football, we had to pick teams, this was something I dreaded, because I knew that I would be left to last, ever felt, like that?

Well, it's not the case with God.. amen.

He chooses us.. yes, he choose me and he choose you.

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Paul says GOD chooses the foolish things, the things that the world thinks are useless and unworthy, how amazing。 We might not be anything in the world's eyes, but we are everything in God's eyes.

I can't fully comprehend all this, truly it is beyond my understanding.

God the Father made a conscious choice to choose me and you, if you are truly born again. it shows surely that we have no part in our salvation it is God who takes the initiative, it is God who draws us to himself, it is God who loves us. 1 John 4:19

Why did he choose us?

So, we could be holy and blameless before him, we were tainted by sin, but now because of the cross, we can be blameless.
What motivated or constrained him? Love, pure and beautiful love. He had no need of us, he knew that we would reject him, but still he chooses us, still he loved us and now praise God, he has you and me, for his very own.. amen.

Matthew Henry writes on this verse:

We have here the date of this act of love: it was before the foundation of the world; not only before God's people had a being, but before the world had a beginning; for they were chosen in the counsel of God from all eternity. It magnifies these blessings to a high degree that they are the products of eternal counsel. The alms which you give to beggars at your doors proceed from a sudden resolve; but the provision which a parent makes for his children is the result of many thoughts, and is put into his last will and testament with a great deal of solemnity.

GOD BLESS YOU

KK


Chapter 1 verse 5


5 he predestined us[b] for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

ADOPTED AS ONE OF HIS OWN

We can get tied up with the doctrines of election and predestination and yes I completely believe in them, but we need to focus on this fact, that we are adopted into God's family as sons of the most high God.

Why did he do this?

Remember that God didn't have to do this, he didn't and in my case, I have no idea, why he did it.

Adoption is one of the great doctrines of the bible, we don't have to understand it it fully, we just have to embrace the fact that we are adopted. So many believers are insecure in their faith, they wonder if God truly loves them. If they got a grip of the magnificent doctrine of adoption and the fact that God is their father and they are his son, and that he/she has done nothing to deserve that, then they would feel completely reassured and live in confident faith.

God adopted us to himself, we are his child, he is our Father. He adopts us in a personal way, to himself, once adopted, we are linked to Him, he is our father, we are his child.

He did it through Jesus Christ, all that the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has we have, we have access to the Father, free and unlimited access, we are clothed with Christ's righteousness.

Again, adoption is a sovereign gift, all the things, we will talk about, are love gift from the Father, through the Son and applied by the Spirit.

Being a child of God, you are chosen, you are predestined to be sons of the Lord of the universe.

There is no higher privilege than that.. amen

Matthew Henry says this:

Predestination has respect to the blessings they are designed for; particularly the adoption of children, it being the purpose of God that in due time we should become his adopted children, and so have a right to all the privileges and to the inheritance of children

God bless you

Keith

Who am I?

I am an ordinary Christian just like you and me, I love to study the scriptures and share what God shows me. I am from the UK, and at present live in Nanjing China. I am an English teacher. I have been saved from my teenage years, am now eligible for Pension.
I believe the whole of the bible, especially love the five Solas of the reformation.

I am saved by GRACE alone by FAITH alone in CHRIST alone through the WORD OF GOD alone for the GLORY OF GOD alone.

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Lady Bug said:

I kind of like it the way it is. However, I am OK with others voluntarily abstaining from it; many probably do already.

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I agree, I do wish I attended the Latin Mass more, though

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“Waiting”
Genesis 21:1-3 NIV
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.

As I was waiting at a stop light recently, I was thinking about how much we often wait for things in life. Through our years of life, we do so much waiting. Sometimes we wait for a long time, other times we don’t. Who likes waiting for anything?? None of us! Waiting usually involves getting ancy and worrying and a number of other various emotions.

We wait on so many things.

We wait for test scores, whether school or medical.
We wait for someone to get out of surgery.
We wait at a stop light.
We wait at a roundabout.
We wait in a grocery store line.
We wait in a regular retail checkout line.
We want for a company to review our resume.
We wait for an interview.
We wait to hear back from an interview.
We wait for our child to be born.
We wait a slow person in front of us.
We wait for a webpage to load.
We wait for our food in a restaurant.
We wait for medicine to take effect.
We wait for our tax return.

The list could literally go on and on and on. We. Wait. For. So. Many. Things.
No wonder so many of us become impatient so often. This is something I have struggled with all my life. I’m a little better, but I’ve got a long way to go! Sometimes, I feel like I’m getting more patient, while other times I’m failing miserably.

Life experiences for all of us include much, much waiting in various ways. Sometimes, it really good for us to wait. It’s really good for us when we learn to wait for something. Often times, we discover the wait is well worth it when we do wait for something. Recently, I waited 5.5 months to run a 5K that I had trained for. The waiting was hard, but the race came and went and it was amazing! I was so glad I had the time to wait and train my body. Now I look to train for future race somewhere!

Waiting can really build character and perseverance. Like the old saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait”. Even though it’s hard, God rewards us so often when we are patient and wait for great things to come!

mikeforjesus said:

for Him to open doors to be independent.

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If you become what you mean by independent . . . would you be depending on yourself????

And might you be isolating yourself, instead of developing in how to share and care with others??

God is our Father, and Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit . . . God is the family Being of love.

So, yes it can be good to share with your family, in order to develop your life.

Jesus sits right by His Father in heaven.

Hazelelponi said:

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This is just in my heart and might go with the song:

" At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever."

Daniel 12:1-3 (ESV above)

God bless you all greatly, hopefully everyone enjoys the song!

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Thank you my sister for sharing this great song. I was headbanging so fast that I made myself get a little bit dizzy. hehehe

On a more serious note, the lyrics are AWESOME and hit this here Christian soldier right in the heart & soul with powerful encouragement and promises from the Lord God.

Lord have mercy!

Hypocritical to the extreme.

SMH

@FreeinChrist I think this thread has run it’s course. You can close it now, please.

Not all Chicago residents support the mayor on this, and I think Chicago, with the horrible crime and economic conditions, is nearing the breaking point where they will seriously consider electing Republicans to leadership positions.

Vambram said:

Apparently, there are major sources of rare earth minerals & elements in the USA.

Estimated 2.34 billion Metric Tons of Rare Earth Minerals Discovered in US

An estimated 2.34 billion metric tons of rare earth minerals (REMs) were recently discovered near Wheatland, a town in southeastern Wyoming.

www.theearthandi.org

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Yep, but too many environmental regulations.

Solum Aeternum said:

Even if you vehemently disagree with them, think their minds were full of lies wither by their own doing or lies fed to them by outside sources, whether you think they wouldn't do the same back to you if Trump ha loss, lets all be kind. God called us to be different, not to partake in the same nonsense came calling war. Lets be an example.
And when I say be kind, I don't mean try to meet anyone's beliefs half way or even sympathize. But don't be boastful or arrogant, this isn't your favorite sports team. Don't go on social medias and go "haha you losers, suffer". People may say I am naïve or ignorant but I'm of the belief that it would be better if people will be nice to each other, and it starts with us. Stuff like this can divide us but we can still be friends regardless right?
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" - Matthew 5:34-35

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I agree. But I hope you do not mind if I duck and weave as I love them. I can take a punch if I have to. But I would rather not.

I preferred Rick Scott rather than the other 2 choices. However, I sincerely hope that John Thune could be the Senate majority leader who is best able to get all of the current GOP Senators in DC to vote in the MAGA conservative agenda.

Pope Francis met with a group of Israelis and their family members who were freed after being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian militants.

The private meeting with 16 people, including two children, took place at the Vatican Nov. 14. A few members held posters with the faces and names of men still held in captivity.

Continued below.

More senior clergy in the Church of England might need to resign following the Archbishop of Canterbury's decision to step down over personal failings in how decades of "abhorrent" child abuse by the late John Smyth was responded to.

Julie Conalty, the bishop of Birkenhead and deputy lead bishop for safeguarding in the Church of England, said Archbishop Justin Welby had "done the right thing" by resigning but that his departure alone might not be enough as far-reaching change within the Church of England is needed.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's "Today" program, Conalty said: "Just the Archbishop of Canterbury resigning is not going to solve the problem. This is about institutional changes, our culture and a systemic failure, so there must be more that we need to do. Very possibly some of the people should go."

Continued below.