Just curious on some thoughts my husband was kicked out of his men's group. He consistently went and would even fill in for the pastor from time to time. But my husband also coaches softball. In the spring and summer, so he would not usually be part of that group during them two seasons. The pastor who was also one of his best friends, pulled him aside. And said that he would be making an example out of him For the young men who were there. He wanted the young man to be disciplined in coming every week. And since my husband could not come due to coaching,( Which he has been doing for fourteen years) he was not allowed to come back to the group anymore. What are your thoughts biblically on this?
More recently, a false accusation was said about my daughter and the same. Pastor told her she could not come to youth group Until there was a meeting. My daughter is a good girl, does not get into any trouble and loves the lord. As does my husband. Biblical thoughts on kicking people out of small groups?

A former Bradford County youth pastor wanted on multiple sexual assault-related charges — dating back more than 20 years — was detained while attempting to travel from Australia to the Philippines. [He was denied entry due to an Interpol hit and put on a plane to Los Angeles.]

Investigators alleged that Fenton repeatedly sexually abused a victim between 1996 and 1998, starting when the victim was around 14 years old and Fenton was 26.

The youth pastor had declared that God wanted the victim to be his spouse. The victim came forward [circa 2021] after she left the unidentified religious community and sought help to recover from the abuse.

Investigators noted that the victim’s statements were corroborated by former church officials

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — It was the music that changed first. Or maybe that’s just when many people at the pale brick Catholic church in the quiet Wisconsin neighborhood finally began to realize what was happening.

Continued below.

Explorer posts, overseen by the Boy Scouts, are supposed to foster an interest in policing. They have faced nearly 200 allegations of misconduct.​

The last known person to see Sandra Birchmore alive was a police officer.

He stopped by her apartment days before the elementary school teacher’s aide, 23 years old and newly pregnant, was found dead in February 2021. The medical examiner later ruled her death a suicide.

The officer worked for the Stoughton Police Department, near Boston, where he first met Birchmore about a decade earlier through the agency’s Explorer post — part of a youth mentorship program run by local departments across the country.

He acknowledged having sex with her when she was 15, according to a court ruling citing the officer’s text messages. That document indicates that his twin brother — also an officer and Explorer mentor — and a third Stoughton officer, a veteran who ran the program, eventually had sex with her, too.

Birchmore’s case is among at least 194 allegations that law enforcement personnel, mostly policemen, have groomed, sexually abused or engaged in inappropriate behavior with Explorers since 1974, an ongoing investigation by The Marshall Project has found. The vast majority of those affected were teenage girls — some as young as 13.

Jose Manuel Lozano is awaiting trial at the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto, where he is being held in lieu of $5-million bail. Investigators described his alleged victims as girls ages 16 and 10.

The 54-year-old Hesperia resident led bilingual services for a predominately Latino and Spanish-speaking congregation at Zion Assembly Church of God Hesperia, an affiliate of Zion Assembly Church of God International, headquartered in Tennessee.

“Sexual abuse is a problem in every institutional setting,” Feinstein said.

The most terrifying thing about God is that He is just absolutely just. Why is that terrifying? Because God is holy and we are sinners and deserve justice for our lifetime of sin, of hurting others. Because God is just He must punish us.

So what is His solution to this dilemma? He gave His only son to pay our penalty. But can He leave us in the condition of being sinners to continue to violate His justice? No. He must also do something about our sinning and He has. Scripture has the evidence of this.

Ezekiel 36: 25 ¶ Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Proverbs 21: 6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

Jeremiah 31: 31 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

John 17: 1 THESE words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Jesus prayed this prayer on His way to Gethsemane. He is asking His Father to glorify Him on His way to the cross. How is the cross glory? It is the most ignominius death ever devised. Yet Jesus saw this as glorifying Him.

John 3: 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

We cannot see the HS but Jesus tells us that we can see the effects in the lives of those within which He dwells. This brings us right back to Ezekiel 36: 25-27 with which I opened this post. It also explains how we come know God which is eternal life.

Liberal theology can make Christianity just another, fuzzier form of atheism.​

In a 2009 speech given at an atheistic conference, Daniel Dennett coined the term deepity to refer to statements that seem profound at first glance but upon closer examination turn out to be trivially true at best (“Love is just a word”) or just nonsense (“Have faith in faith”). Some atheists say theology is just a bunch of “deepities,” but this is like saying meaningless “junk philosophy” shows that all of philosophy is worthless.

Indeed, you can find “junk theology” that disparages good theology in a 2019 New York Times interview with Serene Jones, a Protestant minister and president of Union Theological Seminary. Here are a few of her “deepities”:

• “[The] empty tomb symbolizes that the ultimate love in our lives cannot be crucified and killed.”
• “Living a life of love is driven by the simple fact that love is true.”
• “The message of Easter is that love is stronger than life or death.”

When I hear this kind of talk, I think of the episode of The Simpsons where Rev. Lovejoy is selling ice cream flavors such as “Blessed Virgin Berry” and “Command-mint.” He then offers Lisa “Unitarian ice cream” and hands her an empty bowl. Lisa remarks, “There’s nothing here,” to which Lovejoy responds, “Exactly.” Unitarians who have “no shared creed” are just one example of theologies that sound lofty and good but are without any support beyond mere sentimentalism.

A good way to expose the emptiness of these “deepities” is to ask some simple questions: How is love stronger than death? What makes love “true”? In doing this, you can show that the person is just dressing up secular, hopeful thinking with religious language.

I also notice that adherents of liberal theology often defend their position by casting traditional concepts of God and faith as being for simpletons. However, their hasty dismissals often reveal their own simplistic grasp of theology. For example, Jones says, “Crucifixion is not something that God is orchestrating from upstairs. The pervasive idea of an abusive God-father who sends his own kid to the cross so God could forgive people is nuts.”

Continued below.

In Archaeologism Part I, I demonstrated that Popes from 1786 to 1947 condemned the heretics projecting Protestant notions of liturgy onto the early Church under pretext of “archeology” or “Church history.” This modernist fad is also called “antiquarianism.” Realize first that Pope Pius XII basically warned the faithful not to believe the Holy Spirit was less active in guiding the Church of the Middle Ages than the Church of the Primitive Ages. Secondly, he wanted us to realize the Holy Spirit does not change His directives in liturgy or doctrine.

But on top of this, I personally believe the modernists executing “archaeologism” (saying the early Church had no complex rites, no complex rituals and no complex liturgies) really finds little to no support in Church history. Truly, those obsessed with “archaeologism” are not doing real archaeology. This article will help prove that.

First, an article at Voice of the Familyreveals that “the Tridentine Mass” was not really Tridentine in its genesis at all. In other words, it is much older than the 16th century. The “Tridentine Mass” was truly the Mass of the early Church in Rome. Of course, there were tiny additions every century from the first century until 1954. But there was never a generalized overhauling to the Roman Mass before the 1960s. In that article, you will see that the Novus Ordo is not like the early Roman Mass, but rather the Pistoiacization (see previous article of mine) of the Roman Rite. Keep in mind that it is the official history of Vatican II that the Novus Ordo was written by Bugnini (a freemason) who employed Protestants to help write it. (The Protestant influence on the new Mass is part of the public history of the Council.)

Continued below.

The recent debate between Jimmy Akin and James White revealed much about the nature and content of Catholic-Protestant discussions.

On April 24th and 25th, Catholics Answers’ Jimmy Akin and the Reformed Baptist Dr. James White squared off in a two-night debate at First Baptist Church of Livingston, Louisiana. The first evening addressed the question of sola scripturaand the second “How Does One Find Peace With God,” or the doctrine of justification. The debate featured two of the most prominent apologists from the Catholic and Protestant sides—and was not their first rodeo against one another. This article will only address the first night’s debate, which was framed on the question of whether or not Scripture is the infallible rule of faith for the church.

White went first, arguing that sola scriptura is the “default biblical position” and offering several biblical pieces of evidence in favor of this position. This, White claimed, does not mean that there are no other Christian authorities but that they only possess authority inasmuch as they are faithful to the Bible. He then pivoted to attack the Catholic position, critiquing Catholic ecclesiology (bishops generally, but also the preeminence of the bishop of Rome), as well as the Catholic concepts of Holy Tradition and the magisterium. He also noted that there is no official Catholic magisterial infallible interpretation of the Bible and that the magisterium did not define the canon of Scripture until 1546.

In his opening comments, Akin went in an unexpected direction. He observed that White, in remarks made in 1999, had acknowledged that sola scriptura is not in effect during times of revelation. Why does that matter? Because if that’s the case, then it would mean that in the post-resurrection apostolic era, during which times the books we now recognize as the New Testament were written, the meaning of White’s proof texts must have meant something to their original audience otherthan an articulation of sola scriptura. Thus, assessed Akin, White’s position is based on a “post-biblical premise.”

Continued below.

Esther 2:

2 Then the king’s attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king, 3 and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments. 4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.”

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Hegai was in charge of the chosen virgins in the harem.

12 In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months. 13 When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 She would go there in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem

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After spending a night with Xerxes, her status changed. She returned to a different spot of the harem.

under the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines.

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She was then a concubine of Xerxes. Shaashgaz was in charge of the concubines in the second harem.

She would not return to the king unless he delighted in her and summoned her by name.

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That's her first meeting with the king. If she impressed him, he would call her again.

17 And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all of the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

Click to expand...

1. Beautiful young women were chosen from different provinces in Xerxes' kingdom to live in the harem in Susa.
2. A year later, each virgin was to spend a night with the king. She became a concubine and lived in the second harem.
3. When a concubine repeatedly pleased Xerxes, he chose her to be queen and moved her to the royal palace.

I recently met a new Christian friend who became a Christian 2 years ago and without asking he told me about the donations he makes to poor people and when he evangelizes to people. Even though I like what he is doing and congratulated him on doing those things I’m concerned he might be trying to impress me and be overtly concerned with their external view and good reputation or am I overthinking this ?

I made a mistake last night.
I said I didn't wanna be a Christian anymore, and that I give up because God wasn't doing anything for my boyfriend, even though I pray for him, I never get any answer, God doesn't wanna talk to me, I said this all to my boyfriend. he said he felt like it was his fault because maybe he was having a bad influence on me because he isn't a Christian. now I feel so wrong, I feel terrible, I said that God does so many things for others and nothing for me or my boyfriend, so many people feel touched by God and I don't, people always talk about feeling God with them and I don't. now I feel bad, I prayed for forgiveness and apologized, but I still feel bad. I wanna read the bible but it feels wrong after last night, like I messed up and that I'm not supposed to touch it, that it's not for me because I cursed at God and didn't have faith.

I have a theory, hear me out. I'm not exactly a Christian but I am a believer well and truly since 2020 and looking to connect with other believers and Christians.
I've read both versions of the Bible and the book of Enoch plus the book of Macabees, Tobias, Judith etc.
So my theory is that the (giants) Nephilim were taken out of the Bible to stop people putting 2 and 2 together.
I've watched a few documentaries now about giants and giant remains being discovered and then swooped up by the Smithsonian never to be seen again,
I think the reasoning for this is more than likely as they don't want people to know the ancient scriptures were real just like how they lie and say that humans evolved from apes. I also believe that these beings made the pyramids and Stonehenge etc. not aliens.
I'm new to the forum so apologies if this subject has been covered before.

i found this channel, I hope it is help people and is allowed to be posted
Thank you

Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (See: 1 Pet. 2:24). He died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us (See: 2 Co. 5:15). And, he died that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For, if we walk according to the flesh, we will die in our sins, but if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, we will live (See: Ro. 8:1-14; cf. Ro. 6:1-23; Lu. 9:23-26).

God’s grace is not a free license to continue in sin without guilt and remorse. His grace, which brings salvation, teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return (See: Tit. 2:11-14).

God takes sin very seriously. He hates sin because of what sin does to his children, and how it has the potential for ruining lives, homes, marriages, friendships, and/or church congregations, etc. So much sin in today’s church goes unchecked. So many messages in today’s church leave out the word “sin.” They do not call the sinner to repentance, and they do not demand obedience to Jesus Christ. They often placate sin so as not to offend the sinner, and they water down the gospel message so the sinner does not feel guilty about his sin, but he feels that God’s grace gives him a free license to continue in his sin and yet still attain heaven. May it never be!

Christ Jesus came to set us free from sin, and not just free from the ultimate penalty of sin, which is eternal damnation. He set us free so sin no longer has to have dominion over our lives, but so we can be free to not allow sin to control us. Instead, we can now be slaves to righteousness, as obedient servants of Christ. And, we can walk in the Spirit and no longer conduct our lives according to the sinful flesh.

Listen! Listen!

An Original Work / December 20, 2011

Weep and wail o’er your sins, children.
God is calling out to you:
Be ye honest; tell the truth,
And it will set you free.
Harken to Him calling you to
Bow on bended knee today.
Don’t delay to let Him in,
And He’ll cleanse your hearts;
Pure within.

Sinners, won’t you listen to Him
Calling out to you today?
He died so that you would be free
Of your sins always.
Turn from your sin. Turn to Jesus.
Obey Him in ev’ry way.
He wants to set you free of
All your guilt,
For which He did pay.

Listen! Listen!
Don’t close your hearts
To His voice speaking to you.
He will give you all of His peace,
If your hearts be true.
He longs for you to come to Him
Humbly now and repentant.
Obey all of His commandments.
Live with Him eternally.

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Love does not engage in nor does it rejoice in what is evil, but it abhors what is evil. So it is not loving God or anyone else if we participate in or approve of or are entertained by what is evil. And we can, sometimes, approve of what is evil by our silence, by not speaking out against what is evil. And if we know that a fellow professing Christian is living in sin, are we not approving of their sin by our silence if we have the opportunity to say something but we say nothing? (women with women, and men with men)

For to (agape) love one another is to prefer what God prefers, which is all that is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his commands. And it is to prefer to live through Christ and to choose his choices and to obey his commands in his power. And so it is to treat others with the love of God, which does no harm to a neighbor, but only what is good in the eyes of the Lord and that is beneficial for them as God determines what is beneficial for them, not as man chooses.

And we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are not to be slothful in zeal for our Lord and for the work of the ministry to which he has called us. But we are to be fervent in spirit in service to our Lord in accord with his word and with his calling upon our lives, both collectively and individually. For God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – should be the one guiding and directing our lives, and the one to whom our lives should be surrendered to do his will. For this is why we exist, to serve God with our lives.

But serving the Lord is not always easy. For when we serve him in the ways in which he has called us to serve him, and so we speak the truth in love to others, and so we are sharing the truth of the gospel, and we are refuting the lies of the enemy, we are not going to be well liked, even by others who call themselves Christians. And so we will be hated and rejected and cast aside as unwanted, and we will be persecuted and have evil done against us, and even by those who profess to love us, in some cases.

But through it all, we are to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation and affliction, and be constant in prayer and in service to our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands. And instead of taking revenge when others do evil to us or tell lies about us to turn others away from us, or when they sin against us in other ways (lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, betrayal, etc.), we are to love them in return, and do good to them, and pray for them. For we are to love even our enemies and those who do evil against us.

And when this says here, “if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all,” this is never promoting compromise of truth and righteousness and moral purity nor the truth of the gospel of our salvation. We don’t back down from the truth of God’s word just so people will like us and so that they will not hate us. And we don’t join them in their evil just so they will think we are okay, and so that they won’t think that we are religious fanatics. But we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit always.

And when our enemies, who could be anyone, do evil against us, we are to do good back to them. But we need to be very wise and discerning in this so that we don’t get caught in any of their traps, too. So be loving, be kind, be forgiving, but be wise and discerning, for our enemies will try to trip us up, and they may betray us, and stab us in the back while pretending to be our friends, too. So while we are loving our enemies we must be careful to not be overcome by evil, but to continue to overcome evil with good.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Love Must Be Genuine

An Original Work / October 22, 2013
Based off Romans 12:9-21

Love must be genuine.
Hate what’s evil; cling to good.
Love each other with affection.
Show respect for ev’ryone.
Never lack in your zeal.
Serve the Lord with diligence.

Rejoice in steadfast hope.
In affliction, patient be.
Keep on praying; share with others.
Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute.
Feel with others sympathy.

Be not filled with conceit.
Daily sit at Jesus’ feet.
Live in harmony with others.
Live at peace with ev’ryone.
Repay not to someone
With the evil he begot.

Do not take your revenge;
Leave it to the wrath of God.
If your enemy is thirsty,
Give to him something to drink.
Do what’s right for mankind.
Evil: overcome with good.

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Just finding this documentary - causes of obesity including the food industry's part

ABC NEWS
3 May 2024

Sumatran orangutan becomes first wild animal seen using medicinal plant to treat wound

• In short: Researchers saw Rakus the orangutan chewing on leaves, then applying the resulting juice and paste to cover a facial wound.
• Five days later the wound was closed, and a month later fully healed.
• It is the first documented case of a wild animal using a medicinal plant topically for healing a wound.

OB

I mean, they`re only gonna exploit resourches on other planets in the future for no purpose, and they think the eyes only pretend to be showing a soul, even though you have a feeling of "self". Kinda pointless existance, other societes are influenced badly from them also, they walk around sexualised in for example Greece. The only positive thing for them according to themselves, is the porn perhaps, but it`s violent also. The former president Trump, isn`t even himself anymore, looks distant in eyes, like he`s not there, constant impulses from testosterone, in lack of a better explaination. I mean, they`re only gonna fly around in space in the future, and exploit resources on other planets, for no other purpose, but to fill some emptiness inside, but it won`t work. Online you only swear and say sexualised words, and make fun of people thinking we have a soul, not caring if you hurt people`s feelings

Understanding the Trinity

As an atheist one of the many things I find confusing about Christianity is the concept of the Trinity;


Part of the problem is understanding the concept of having three ‘God’ entities while at the same time describing them as a single entity.

As an outsider it also seems to me that each of the components of the Trinity would have a specific function or purpose. Is this the case? If not, why have three components?

The most confusing component of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. Although it’s part of the Trinity it appears to be the least mentioned and the vaguest (to me) part of the Trinity. Although I can more or less understand the God-the-Father/God-the-Son concepts, I have trouble understanding the idea of the Holy Spirit, what it is and where it fits in.



A Request

After more than a decade on CF I’ve found that Christians have a habit of using impenetrable Christian jargon when trying to explain Christian concepts. As a non-Christian much of this jargon can be difficult to follow.

How you respond is up to you however sticking to plain English would help.



OB

The apostle John wrote this letter, either to a very specific lady, with regard to her and to her household, or with regard to her and the church that met at her house, or to a specific church fellowship that met in someone’s home, it would appear. He expressed to her that he rejoiced to find that some of her physical children or that some of her spiritual children were walking in the truth. But then he asked that they love one another (see 2 John 1:1-5).

But this is not human love, which is based in how we feel, and which is often based in the one we are loving. This is agape love which centers in moral preference and which prefers what God prefers, which is all that is holy, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to God and to his commandments (New Covenant). So, as believers in Christ we prefer to live through Christ, and to choose his choices, and to obey them in his power.

For this is (agape) love, that we walk (in conduct, in practice, in lifestyle) according to our Lord’s commandments. For if God we do not obey, in practice, but we continue living in sin and for self, we do not know God, we are not born of God, we are not in fellowship with Christ, we are not saved from our sins, and we don’t have eternal life with God. And it doesn’t matter what our lips profess, for lip service only doesn’t get us into heaven.

Yet there are many deceivers who have gone out into the world, and who have entered into the fellowships of believers in Christ, or into these businesses which are creations of humankind which are called “churches,” and they are lying to the people. And in our day and time many of these deceivers do indeed confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, with their lips, but they use this as a ploy to gain acceptance so they can deceive.

For since the object is to deceive, they first disguise themselves as servants of righteousness and as the Lord’s true sheep so that they gain the acceptance and approval of “the flock” who they are hoping to deceive with their half-truth lies. But they are, in reality, “wolves in sheep’s clothing” out to destroy the sheep with their lies. And they are being quite successful, sadly so, at deceiving the majority, it would appear, here in America.

For they are teaching that we can just acknowledge who Jesus is and what he did for us on that cross, or that we can make a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ, or that we can “pray a prayer” to receive Christ into our lives, and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed us when we die, and that it cannot be taken away from us, but regardless of how we live. But that’s not biblical faith.

So we need to watch ourselves so that we do not lose what we worked for, but may win a full reward. For everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide (live in, walk in, continue in) the teaching of Christ, does not have God. And Jesus taught 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 lives of sin, we will lose them for eternity (Luke 9:23-26).

And Jesus also said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father. For many will stand before him on the day of judgment, calling him “Lord,” and claiming all that they did in his name, and he will say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they would not obey the Lord’s commands (Matthew 7:21-23).

So, if you have people telling you that you can say some words and now you have heaven guaranteed you for life, despite how you live, they are lying to you. For the Scriptures teach that we must forsake our lives of sin and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And we must continue in these walks of faith steadfast to the end for God to let us into his heaven.

So if anyone comes into your gathering of the body of Christ, and if he brings a teaching that does not teach the necessity of death to sin and walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands for us to have genuine salvation from sin and eternal life with God, do not receive him and his teaching. For the Scriptures teach that if we continue in sinful practices, and if we do not walk in obedience to God, we do not have eternal life with God.

And we need to be those who are not only humbling ourselves before the Lord in genuine repentance and in genuine walks of faithful obedience to our Lord, but who are praying for all to believe in Jesus Christ with the kind of faith that puts sin to death in our lives and that gives us the strength and the power of God to now walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands in holy living, so that we may all have salvation and eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; 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 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Hear My Cry

By G. M. Eldridge

When my soul is worn and weary
And my eyes are filled with grief,
When my hands in desperation
Reach to heaven for relief,

Would I find the words there waiting
If I had the strength to start?
Could a mortal tongue interpret
All the sorrow of a heart?

Spirit, search me in my weakness,
And discern this growing gray.
Intercede in understanding,
Hear the things I cannot say.

Hear my cry, heav’nly Father,
You have known my ev’ry pain.
You have seen all my sorrow,
Hear my cry once again.

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So now our country will have two candidates in court during campaign season! Surely we can do better than this.

While I believe that President Biden could do more to put pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu to engage in a cease fire to prevent the widespread civilian death, starvation, and homelessness in Gaza, nothing could ever convince me to vote for Stein and risk making Biden's principal opponent president--someone who is plotting mass deportations and prison camps using Netanyahu's playing card.

MSN

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Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein says she was charged with assaulting a police officer after she attended a pro-Palestinian protest on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, on Saturday. According to a statement by Washington University, 100 individuals—including 23 students and four university employees—were arrested on Saturday when they “refused to leave after being asked multiple times.”

“All face charges of trespassing and some may also be charged with resisting arrest and assault, including for injuries to three police officers who sustained injuries including a severe concussion, a broken finger and a groin injury,” the statement added.

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Joe and his Justice Department continue to let the hate crimes escalate.