That's pretty awesome!

May they rest in peace!

God bless you all

Cantonese (close to Hong Kong language) retains more of the ancient Chinese sounds. Mandarin is the product of the fusion of Chinese and Manchu. Sun Yat-sen proposed making Cantonese the national language. Cantonese also has some pronunciations close to Vietnamese. Many Guangdong people are of Baiyue descent, but they are culturally Chinese.
I can speak a strange tongue close to Cantonese.

粵語（接近香港话）保留了更多的古代漢語發音。普通話是漢語和滿語融合的產物。孙中山曾提出把廣東話作爲國語。
廣東話也有一些接近越南語的發音。很多廣東人有百越血統，但文化上漢化。
我可以說一種接近廣東話的方言。

An Original Work / December 5, 2013
Based off Various Scriptures

Do not be afraid.
Your Lord is always by your side.
Serve the Lord in righteousness
Before Him all your days.

Those who hate the light
Will not come to the Lord.
They fear their deeds
Might be noticed.
So, they hate the light,
And they embrace the night.

Do not be afraid,
Although your enemy attacks.
Dare to share your testimony
Of God’s saving grace.

Do not fear their threats,
But honor Christ, your Lord.
Be prepared to give an answer
For the hope you have,
With gentleness; respect.

Why are you afraid?
For all that’s hidden will be shown.
What I tell you, speak in daylight.
Let the truth be known.

Do not be afraid
Of those who’ll take your life.
Fear the Lord with understanding.
Trust Him with your life,
And give not up to strife.

Do not be afraid.
Take courage, it is I, your Lord.
Bow before Me; now adore Me.
Oh, why do you doubt?

Listen to the Lord.
Get up and bear His name!
Run and tell the world He loves them.
Jesus came to save.
Give Him your all today.

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Psalms 66:8-14 ESV


If we are genuine followers of Jesus Christ, we are going to be tested and tried so that we can see whether or not our faith is genuine, or so that we can grow in our walks of faith and become more like Jesus and have greater commitments to Christ and to his word and to walks of obedience and holiness. And we will also be persecuted for our walks of faith, too, especially if we are sharing the truth of the gospel and if we are exposing the lies of the enemy which are opposed to the gospel.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; 2 Co 1:3-11; Php 3:7-11; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Heb 12:3-12; Jas 1:2-4; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 1 John 3:13]

But the Lord will help us so that our feet do not slip and so that we don’t fall back into sin, or so that we don’t become discouraged or disheartened and withdraw from being his servants and witnesses. But we must cooperate with him in his working in our hearts and lives. We have to do what he says to do. We have to obey him. For he is not going to just zap us and do it all for us. We have to do the works that he prepared in advance that we should walk in them. And we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and we must resist Satan and flee temptation, etc.

[Matt 5:27-30; Matt 7:21-23; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; Gal 5:16-24; Eph 2:10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-11; 1 Thes 4:1-8; 1 Tim 4:7; Titus 2:11-14; Heb 12:1-17; 1 Pet 1:14; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Yet even though the Lord allows us to suffer, and to be persecuted, and to go through trials and tribulations which test our faith, if we cooperate with him in what he is doing in our lives through these difficult times, then he will bring us through them on the other end to a place of spiritual blessings. For he disciplines us for our good so we will share in his holiness, so we will become like him in his death, and so that when we have been trained by these disciplines, some or many of which are painful, the disciplines will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness in our lives.

And we will fulfill our vows to our Lord, our commitments we made to him when we believed in him by God-given faith, and when we entered into a marriage covenant with Jesus Christ to be wholly his and to die with him to sin and to live to him and to his righteousness. And it isn’t that we weren’t already doing this, but these trials and tribulations, which test our faith, and these persecutions and rejections have a way of rearranging our priorities and of drawing us closer to our Lord in walks of surrender to him. And that really is the point of them all.

Have You Been Tested
Video Talk

February 24, 2023

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All The Way My Savior Leads Me

Lyrics by Frances J Crosby, pub. 1875
Music by Robert Lowry, pub. 1875

All the way my Savior leads me,
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me,
Oh, the fullness of His love!
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father’s house above.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way.

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What’s pulling on your heartstrings tonight?

Is it concern over a loved one who’s dying?
Or o’er someone who’s sad, who is crying?

Is it money that seems not to come
When you direly need to have some?

Is it fire destroying all that’s around?
Or, is it water that’s not to be found?

Is it that you are treated unfairly?
And kindness received seems all but rarely?

Do you often feel misunderstood?
And, that hate is returned for your good?

Is it that those you trust now betray you?
That their faithfulness is fully untrue?

Are you burdened for those who are lost
In their sins, who’ve not come to the cross?

Do you care they are caught in a snare?
And, clean garments they have not to wear?

Are you burdened so many addicted
To what on the screen is depicted?

Does it pain you that marriages are broken?
And lies are what often are spoken?

And that families are being torn apart?
Because light not preferred, but the dark?

Do you pray for those for whom you’re burdened?
That from their sins they’d be delivered?

Do you trust the Lord now with your life?
And give your heart not up to strife?

An Original Work / October 9, 2019

trophy33 said:

In the representative democracy, at least the possibility of the immediate appealability of politicians should be implemented.

Click to expand...

There are theoretically ways to revoke most politicians right to govern, though not always through the electorate.

trophy33 said:

Because it happens all the time that politicians lie before the elections, but people must suffer them for 4-5 years.

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Yeah, though even in places where recalls are available they're often prohibitive and for somewhat good reason.

LayHong_Loves_Christ said:

The AI Chatbot exhibits a distinctly atheistic perspective.

Click to expand...

Yes and AL Chatbot exhibits a distinctly Christian perspective and a distinctly Muslim perspective.

An algorithm is a set of defined steps or rules to solve a problem or perform a task. Even though they are programed to make you think you are having a conversation with someone.

AI aims to provide information and perspectives that are balanced, accurate, and respectful of diverse viewpoints. This includes perspectives from various religious beliefs, as well as secular or atheist viewpoints. When discussing topics, I try to present different sides based on available information and context, without promoting any particular stance.

SERMON CENTRE

JOHN KNOX INSTITUTE

FAMILY WORSHIP

John Knox Institute of Higher Education

John Knox Institute of Higher Education


He Is Altogether Lovely

Michael Spangler

Christ Church Yeadon


sermonaudio.com/sermon/22524201276117


Glorious Things are Spoken of Thee

Gavin Beers

Cornerstone Presbyterian

sermonaudio.com/sermon/6723133231164

GENESIS 2

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[ of it you shall surely die.”





chapter 3:2-5

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

3:2-5



LUKE 10:18

18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven."




ISAIAH 14:12-15

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.



THE FALL GUY


Why did the serpent or devil hate God so much? Why did he influence them to disobey God?

Satan could have left Adam and Eve to their own devices. What did they ever do to hurt him? To understand Satan’s role in the fall of man, we must go back to pre-creation. God the Trinity was existed before anything was created. He is before all things. He is above all things.




Before creation there was war in heaven. Lucifer, one of the chief angels, rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven; Satan was so influential that a third of the angels of heaven followed him to his new home…hell. Satan hates God, but he can't hurt God, so who does he go after? Man, the pinnacle of God's creation.


Jesus said that the devil is the father of lies; he told lies to the angels he led into the rebellion in heaven. He fell because of his lust for power. And now he uses the desire for power to entice Eve. After Eve told Satan that she was forbidden from eating the fruit from the Tree of Life, Satan responds with the words, "Has God said?" Satan knew exactly what God had said. Remember, he doesn't change his tactics, he seeks to contradict God and his word and tell us that what God has said is not true.



Satan is the fall guy. And through deception he played a role in the fall of man. Another example of Satan being the fall guy, is in the book of Job. God says to Satan, "Where have you been?” How ironic. God knew who Satan was and where he had been. Satan was wandering around the world. The Bible says he roams around like a roaring lion; he is like a bear with a very sore head. After the first two chapters of Job, he is not mentioned. He is defeated through the testimony and faithfulness of Job. Again, he is the fall guy.



At the cross, he suffered a terminal defeat. The power of Satan was completely destroyed, his weapons of death and sin were smashed. Finally, at the end of time, Satan will be the ultimate fall guy, when he is sentenced to eternal punishment, him and his rebellious angels, who will have their own sentence of death.
Satan chose to rebel; he made the wrong choice; he sought power; he was proud. And he will pay…big time!



Remember that we have the weapons to defeat Satan: 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, Romans 16:19-20 and Ephesians 6:10-18. We cannot be like the sons of Sceva, who sought to fight him in their own strength. As a young Christian, I sought to answer the devil in my own power, but he defeated me, I was often left in tears and my faith in tatters.

。

How did Jesus defeat him? By speaking and using the word of God (see Matthew 4:1-11). Remember, the tactics of Satan are the same, the truth sadly is that they often are successful. But when he comes to tempt us, we have the Armor of God.



When Satan tempts Jesus, he misuses the Word of God; he misquotes Scripture; he takes verses out of context; How do we answer him? We don’t. We ignore him. Satan can only do what God allows him too. He is on a very short lease. We have the victory over him, by the power of the Holy Spirit and also when we praise God. Worship is a powerful weapon.



JAMES 4:6-8

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.



How do we submit to God? We humble ourselves; we denounce our pride; we cannot fight the devil on our own; we have to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If we are submitted to God, we can resist the devil, and he has no option but to flee. Why? Because when he tries to tempt us, he meets not us, but Jesus who lives in us, by the Holy Spirit.



Don’t be the fall guy…trust God and let Him fight your battles.



RESOURCE CENTRE.. If you are in China, you may need a Vpn to access some of these links

THE BOTTOM LINE


TBL China – The Bottom Line, Ministries

PLEASE SIGN UP FOR THIS MINISTRY AND PRAY FOR CHINA

Prayer - China Partnership

Soundslikereign.. beautiful music, you can download this music for free

Sounds Like Reign

Persecuted church

News of the persecuted church

The Voice of the Martyrs

I guess no need to be quick to judge or even partisan. Could be coincidence, hackers, tampering etc. I just hope they have the ballots and insure their not tampered with.

Kylie said:

Are you a chemist? Do you have an education in chemistry?

Click to expand...

Chemists and English majors know that “sodium” and “chlorine” are not proper nouns.

Fantine said:

In his heart of hearts he knows that the overwhelming majority of Trump supporters are not "garbage," and that even the extremists should be described more politically correctly.

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You are approaching dangerously close to the "there were good people on both sides" conundrum.

The lawsuit came after the MEC announced over the weekend that some precincts may be limited to only one Republican and one Democratic poll watcher on Election Day.

Keep an eye out for wrongdoing in Milwaukee and Detroit.

RileyG said:

Yikes!

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Yikes... what? That pornography exists? I guess that does merit a "yikes" in some capacity but it's well known enough that it's not exactly new information.

I'm wondering if perhaps you are misunderstanding what I was saying. The poster I responded to asked if it was true that hentai came from anime, or whether it was the other way around, and I pointed out it was the other way around; that is, that hentai came from anime.

To clarify the definitions of these terms: In English, the term "anime"--taken from Japanese--means Japanese animation. So if it's a cartoon and it's from Japan, it's an anime, though sometimes the term is also used to refer to animation from outside of Japan that is influenced by Japanese animation. Hentai is another English word taken from Japanese that, in English, is primarily used to refer to pornographic anime, though it can also be used to refer to explicit comics or video games of Japanese origin. The terms anime and hentai have somewhat different connotations originally in the Japanese language, but that's what they mean in English.

With that in mind, it's obvious that hentai came from anime, because it's impossible to have pornography in any medium before the medium itself. For example, magazines didn't come from Playboy, rather Playboy came from magazines; first you had magazines, then someone decided to use the medium for explicit material like Playboy. That's the same way it is with anime.

Bradskii said:

If I were voting I'd be doing it based on policies. But if the policy positions were reversed then it's not that I wouldn't vote for Trump. I actually couldn't. Because it would mean that I'd have to ignore the type of man he is and what he has said and done. And that I cannot do. Pick any other Republican and if the policies were reversed, I've vote for them.

But I will not say that the type of man he is can be overlooked. And for a lot of people, excused.

Click to expand...

Which is why I went with "couch/pizza"... (figuratively speaking, I did show up to the polls and vote for some state and local stuff, but I left the president one blank)

I don't like Trump's character with regards to how he conducts himself (and only agree with him on about 50% of policy issues), while Kamala's personality flaws (on individual level) are fewer, I don't like Kamala's inability to stand up to more radical element of her base. (and same deal with her, I only agree with her on about 50% of policy issues)

Neither team made a compelling enough case for me in 2024.

If you want me to overlook the flaws, the policy-alignment percentage has to be closer to ~80%...not 50%.

Michie said:

Mark Halperin predicts 'greatest mental health crisis' in US history if Trump defeats Harris​

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​

Legos, Cocoa, and Coloring Books for Georgetown Students​

On Wednesday, the day after the election, most of us are going to roll out of bed, have our breakfast, and get on with our day—no matter which presidential candidate wins. But students at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy—where diplomats and policymakers are molded—have another option: They can play with Legos. Seriously.

In an email to McCourt students, Jaclyn Clevenger, the school’s director of student engagement, introduced the school’s post-election “Self-Care Suite.”

“In recognition of these stressful times,” she wrote, “all McCourt community members are welcome to gather. . . in the 3rd floor Commons to take a much needed break, joining us for mindfulness activities and snacks throughout the day.”

Here’s the agenda (and no, you can’t make this up):

10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.: Tea, Cocoa, and Self-Care
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: Legos Station
12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.: Healthy Treats and Healthy Habits
1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m.: Coloring and Mindfulness Exercises
2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.: Milk and Cookies
4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.: Legos and Coloring
5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.: Snacks and Self-Guided Meditation

Click to expand...

I wanted to ask Clevenger why college and graduate students needed milk and cookies to recover from their stress—and how being coddled in college might someday affect American diplomacy—but she didn’t respond to my calls or emails.

Of course, Georgetown is hardly the only school fearful that their students will be traumatized after the election. At Missouri State University, the counseling center has set up a post-election “self-care no phone zone space” with calm jars, coloring pages, and sensory fidgets.

And just last week, The New York Times reported that Fieldston, the elite New York City private school, was making attendance the day after Election Day optional for “students who feel too emotionally distressed.” Fieldston has also eliminated all homework requirements that day, and is even providing psychologists for “Election Day Support.”

Michie said:

I think Lila Rose took the (less) abortion stance since stopping abortion seems to be her calling.

Click to expand...

Me too. I voted for Trump today.

Matthew 13:

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Click to expand...

The merchant paid for the pearl. Did he pay to get into the kingdom of heaven?

If we have to literally sell everything that we have to get into the kingdom of heaven, who will do it?

Not many.

But there is good news. Paul said salvation was a free gift in Ephesians 2:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Click to expand...

We cannot earn our salvation. Only Christ could pay the price.

1 Peter 1:

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.

Click to expand...

For us, salvation is free.

Isaiah 55:

1Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Click to expand...

Revelation 22:

17 The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

Click to expand...

Did the merchant purchase a ticket to get into the kingdom of heaven?

No. The parable was not about purchasing a ticket. It is about the worth of the kingdom of heaven. Even if you have to sell everything to get it, the kingdom of heaven is worth that.

Moreover, there is a cost to being a disciple. Lk 14:

33 Therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Click to expand...

Jesus demands everything from a disciple. Jesus is our Lord.

See also

• JUSTIFICATION by works, grace, or faith?

Amen

Michie said:

Allen Jackson reveals how 'inadequate understanding of Scripture' drives non-voting

Allen Jackson is on a prayer-filled mission to help Christians navigate the complexities of an ever-contentious election cycle, offering advice on how to respond if one's chosen candidate loses.

Jackson, pastor of World Outreach Church in Nashville, Tennessee, saw his church organize a 48-hour prayer event over the weekend, encouraging believers to lift America up to God.

"We've been praying for our nation for weeks and weeks now but, as we approach the election, we wanted to make a bit of a more focused effort," he recently told "Higher Ground With Billy Hallowell." "So, we took out a 48-hour block of time."

Continued below.

What should people do if their candidate loses? Pastor explains

Allen Jackson is on a prayer-filled mission to help Christians navigate the complexities of an ever-contentious election cycle, offering advice on how to respond if one s chosen candidate loses

www.christianpost.com

Click to expand...

I think it's good ... healthy ... to start talking about these things.

After the last rally last nite, knowing it would be the last, it felt very sad.

We have now entered into the next 'phase', and soon one neighbor will be happy with the end results, and another will not.

Because myself and many many others have prayed much, and voted (or not), we now leave the rest to God and accept whatever comes. We trust God. That is the journey of the Christian here on earth; this world is not our home. And God will be with us, whether we are happy or sad during this next phase ...

Vambram said:

He got targeted by a liberal leftist "justice system" and the leftist liberal judge is showing his extreme bias. This is more evidence and proof of the weaponization of justice and the lawfare waged against Donald Trump and his friends and allies.

Click to expand...

Actually, no. The issue you have here is that Giuliani admitted that he did what he was accused of, though he tried to use legal trickery to claim that he didn't defame the women.

If you want to argue that it wasn't the verdict but the size of the damages, then that also largely falls on Giuliani as he has consistently tried to hide what assets he owns and, worse, appears to have taken steps to hide his true net worth. To be fair, he wasn't initially hiding assets from this particular court but from his wife in divorce court, and because he was hiding his assets there he had to keep hiding them here. As such, the court and jurors had to rely on estimates of what Giuliani's net worth was and, since Giuliani refused to say what they are, the courts are typically going to assume the net worth is on the high side of the estimates (why would someone continue to hide their assets if they were lower than what the court is assuming?).

While it may not appear to be "fair," the facts do not support any sort of "law fair," rather just Giuliani bringing it all on himself.