Hello, my name is Ivanova. I've been a christian for 8 years.
I went through a rough patch in my life where I faced some issues for several years (unenployment, health problems, family problems, betrayals, heartbreak, some attempts of abuse by men against me in the church).
My faith has been in the dumps because of that for years, I experienced a lot of anger, frustration, loneliness and sometimes I thought God had forgotten me. My so called "christian friends" start telling me my life was cursed, that I had surely sinned secretly and more nonsense that sincerely made me decide to not be their friends anymore and eventually I changed church.

In spite of all this, today I'm engaged to a good man who wants to go with me to church and start a family, my health has improved, I had friends grant me medical treatment for free, my needs have been met, I'm unenployed again but I'm about to start a new career in hopes that my work environment is better in this new field.

I know that my tears were not in vain and I feel in my heart God has comforted me. I now want to reconnect with my faith and start over. I feel deeply like I failed God, my faith failed me through it all since I walked away from God in anger because of the lack of answer to my prayers years ago.

I'm definetly struggling to come close to God again, I would appreciate any adivce and words of encouragement from anyone willing to help and share with me.
Thanks for reading.

They go from believing to unbelieving. Is this possible.

And can they go back to believing, or once they go back to unbelieving its permanent? I am curious to what each major denomination thinks on this topic, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant

In all my years of being a Christian, something has become glaringly clear.
There are two kinds of Christianity. The first is the religious version—the one most people have come to know. The second is the Christianity revealed in the Bible itself, which, sadly, few ever come to recognize.

We’ve all been taught that our behavior—our sin—is what separates us from God. That sin directly caused death, and that getting our sins forgiven equals salvation. But that’s not what Scripture actually teaches.

Yes, if you only read the Bible at surface level, that’s exactly what it seems to say. But Scripture can’t just be read at surface level. It wasn’t written recently, nor was it written to us. It was written to a people who lived in a completely different culture and time. Their understanding of words, life, and God was shaped by their world. Ours is shaped by ours. To read Scripture as though its meaning automatically transfers across time and culture is not only naive—it’s a mistake.
Let’s start with the belief that sin caused death. This is a perfect example of why surface-level reading will only lead to confusion.

Sin didn’t directly cause death. In fact, sin has no power at all to cause any kind of death. Physical death has always been a natural part of being human. If it were caused by sin, then what God says in Genesis 3 wouldn’t make sense. There, God says the tree of life can give everlasting life even to sinful people. That would be impossible if sin eventually leads to death. The only way that statement makes sense is if physical death was already a natural part of human life.

Sin doesn’t cause soul death either—that would be no different than physical death. The soul is what gives life to the body. So that leaves spiritual death.

But, if spiritual death were automatically caused by sin—if sin had built-in power to destroy spiritual life—then salvation would be impossible. No amount of grace or forgiveness could stop such an automatic effect. The moment someone received new spiritual life, their very next sin would simply kill that life again.

So while spiritual death entered the world through sin, it wasn’t automatically caused by sin. There’s more going on than that.


We are all born spiritually dead. That’s our condition. We inherited it—passed down from generation to generation—all the way back to Adam and Eve, who received it from God as a consequence of disobedience. When they ate from the tree, God separated Himself from them. That separation was spiritual death.

From that point on, humanity bore a new image. Genesis 5:3 says Adam had a son “in his own likeness, after his image.” Humanity was created in God’s image, but now we are born in Adam’s. Spiritually dead plus spiritually dead will always equal spiritually dead. That’s why Romans 5:12 says we all share in Adam’s condition.

Our behavior—our sin—is simply the natural result of being separated from God. It’s the symptom of our spiritual condition.

Even though we’re born spiritually dead, we aren’t guilty of sin until we choose to sin. A newborn infant, for example, hasn’t wilfully sinned. If that child dies, it has the grace of God upon which it will be saved. But given enough time, however, that child will eventually sin.
Forgiveness was accomplished more than 2,000 years ago and applied to all humanity. Every person born since the cross has entered the world already forgiven. There isn’t a soul alive today who isn’t already forgiven.

Imagine you’ve committed a crime deserving life in prison. A friend—completely innocent—offers to take your punishment in your place. The judge agrees. The moment your friend takes your penalty, you’re considered innocent and free to go. Do you need to ask for a pardon? Of course not. The price was paid, and justice was satisfied.

That’s exactly what happened at the cross. The moment Christ paid the penalty, the world was forgiven. And it’s because we’re forgiven that salvation is even possible.

This is why God tore the temple curtain—to show that anyone can now enter His presence for salvation. If forgiveness only happened at the moment of salvation, then no one could approach God to receive it, because they’d still be guilty. But since forgiveness was already given, salvation became possible for all.
In modern Christianity, the focus is too often on behavior. But every major religion in the world is about behavior—about doing better, trying harder, sinning less. It’s easy to judge others when we measure faith by conduct.

It’s like judging someone with Alzheimer’s for forgetting things—then scolding them to “try harder” to remember. The problem isn’t their behavior. It’s their condition.

We’re all born in the same condition: spiritually dead. Do you have the right to judge another based on that? Of course not. You were no different. The true question is, can you love someone regardless of their symptoms?

That’s what true Christianity is about.

There are two main evidences to this. The Bible and history or nature. We’ll start with what is the easy way to learn it. The Bible. After the time of martial law during Moses and Joshua. They established Ancient Israel as a free republic. Although it may seem a little odd, this due to God’s purpose in separating the nation from others to bring the world his word and the Messiah though it. The Mosaic law was Ancient Israel’s constitution. There was no provision in it for imposed central government. It had 12 states, and each was to be self-governing. Their constitution said to choose or elect wise leaders to lead each state in keeping the law. Then there was the Levitical tribe of priests who had parcels in each state who were the pastors of their day. Tithes which were in essence voluntary taxes were to be given to them for their support since they were not given enough land to support themselves. But the taxes were not collected. They were voluntarily given, and the priesthood had no physical authority. They could only influence the public. Their military was 100% militia each state controlled its own militia. To show how loose or free to choose their own way this confederation of tribes was in relation to the nation. The tribe of Benjamin went total Sodom and Gomorrah at one point. This was hardly a theocracy as some would mistakenly compare it to theocratic monarchies.

Within this structure God would supernaturally ordain judges to influence or lead the tribes in time of war or oppression by foreign armies and bring them back to God when they went astray. The republic lasted 400 years. Then they decided they no longer wanted the personal responsibility necessary to maintain a free republic and voted God out and a king in. They said they wanted a king to fight their battles for them. God warned them sternly that their kings would enslave them, but they refused to listen. Take heed to this you Christian nationalists who desire a “Christian prince” to fight your spiritual and physical battles for your nation. This is the pattern upon which the United States was founded but adjusted to fit its circumstances. 13 independent states with their own constitutions, that like the mosaic law laid out the people’s religious responsibilities necessary for remaining free republics. You can see these religious responsibilities highlighted in each state constitution on this web page- The Original State Constitutions. Like Ancient Israel these responsibilities relied on personal religious devotion and also like ancient Israel’ s Levitical priesthood, pastors were to help this along. In fact some states required towns to hire a pastor of their denominational choice and build a meeting house for religious instruction. Public education was religious in nature, including university level and required by the states but run by churches. Almost every state had a favored Christian denomination, but all allowed complete religious freedom for all Christians. This freedom extended to super minorities of other religions but generally they were not allowed to hold law making offices.

Finally, just like Ancient Israel's republic had supernaturally ordained judges to bring revival, awaking or divine truth that had grown dim to light. The USA operated on the same level. America’s judges were the George Whitfield’s, the Wesley’s, the Jonathon Edwards and Charles Finney’s. Just to name a few. This is so important in understanding the difference between biblically ordained republics versus progressive government. Our government in the states or federally were never given the power to determine truth. In fact, the founders argued prolifically against government ever being able to have that power. Self-evident truth as stated in the Declaration of Independence was already determined in the Bible. It was to be ascertained by the people themselves, and government was ordained to do nothing more than to protect the process though which people could ascertain the truth themselves. This is precisely what Jesus meant when he stated his kingdom was not of this world. Truth cannot be imposed from the top down the way the world kingdoms operated. This was due to human beings being so easily corrupted by the love of money and Government is the easiest way for people to get their hands on other folks money. If government is given that kind of power it will not be truth they are imposing upon the population anyway. It will be lies that empower rulers and give them access to the fruits of the labor of the people. Progressive government turns a biblically based republic on its head. Government determines truth and imposes it. Its tendency is towards corruption exists simply because government now has the power to do so.
After this, these 13 states formed central government for two specific purposes. National defense and keeping peace between the states regarding trade, currency and other interstate relations. Before the states signed on to this a Bill of Rights was added to the federal constitution that greatly restricted its power over the states. First and foremost was the 1st amendment that deals with the most important part of what would be a successful republic. It’s religion, the religion of and about Jesus Christ and its relation to human government which really needs contextualized into the time 1st amendment was written rather than within the context of today’s popular thought. In the world the colonies just fought a war against. The state controlled religion through state run churches. It was not a matter of “the church” running the state which is how it is portrayed in modern education as propaganda. These state-run churches were created to control Christianity. A witness to this fact is that up until Northern Europe won the right in war for the general population to posses and own Bibles. The personal possession of the Bible without the specific permission of the authorities in supposedly Christian theocratic monarchies was illegal. It led to unauthorized preaching that if caught often led to the death penalty. It did not matter what the hierarchies in these state-run churches wanted because some of those hierarchies wanted the people to own Bibles. The state did not. The rulers had read it. They, just like every communist dictatorship that arose in the modern world understood the Bible in the hands of the general public was a threat to their rule. They were correct about this and history sure bears witness to it. Due to the commercial printing press that arose right when the Roman Empire finally fell in 1453 AD. Bibles began to be illegally mass produced making it far to difficult for the authorities to keep up with it. A Bible reading public led to the Dutch Republic where Bible ownership and reading along with the personal possession of a firearm was required for political participation. Yet right across the border you could still get burned at the stake for getting caught with an unauthorized Bible. The thinking that developed due to a Bible reading public led to the development and establishment of a free world and while that thinking was still developing, it migrated north America.

In North America the Bible was the basis of all public education. It was the main course of study and everything else surrounded it. It remained like this until progressivism began to get a foothold in the early 20th century. At that point the progressive movement started to chip away at public educations use of the Bible in non-sectarian public education. Their crowning achievement came in the 1960’s when in defiance of the 1st amendment a bastardized reading of the 14th amendment was used by a progressive supreme court declared itself, actually declare the state ruler, over the religious views of the people and their states. Republican led states should have immediately defied this ruling, and still should today. However, my assumption is since the courts had after one hundred years of effort by the Republican party to pass civil rights laws finally started to rule in favor of those efforts. Republicans did not want to upset the apple cart of actually being able to enforce the 14th and 15th amendments on states who were violating them. So, in my opinion, settled for allowing judicial supremacy over the religious\political views of the people. But as we can now all see, this came with a horrendous cost. You see, the progressive ideology, no matter how it is presented, as democracy or whatever. makes the state supreme. State supremacy is simply not possible when a population is intimately aware of the contents of the Bible. Hence the reason for all dictatorships, kings, emperors to keep it from the public. Progressive government which is by its very nature is corrupt due to its violation of the laws of nature and natures God has and will continue to try to keep the public an ignorant as possible about an accurate understanding of the Bibles teachings. And by the way will quote it extensively in a nation where it has influence for purely political advantageous reasons. They all have. So now we'll look at the 1st amendment within the context it was written rather than the context a progressive supreme court gave it that has now been popularized by progressive dominated public education systems.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.


Continued in the next comment or go to link.

​

I have read thread titles on online Christian threads that begin like this… “How to beat the boredom in heaven…” Started apparently by a young person who have deduced that since his church is boring, heaven must be boring.

In my younger days as a Christian nothing about the Pentecostal Holiness church I belonged to was “boring.” Our pastor started out as an evangelist and then accepted the pastorate at our church. We went to church Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday night, and Saturday night prayer service. We also had an active young persons ministry who would take us places. We also had many revivals during the year. When the evangelist came to preach they all had remarkable testimonies. It was also exciting to hear the testimonies of those in attendance on what was happening in their own life.

Fearing that this type of revival was coming to an end. And fearing likewise we were going to follow the same paths as the Methodist 100 years before us, I created a web site called youtube.com/rockytopva as a forward pass to the next generation. In hopes they would enjoy the type revivals I was used to growing up. At the time of this posting this website is at 4,001,315 views. I do not promote any kind of denomination, only the kind of exciting services I was use to coming up. The closest thing to this type revival was the Asbury Revival a couple of years back.

I had dreams the whole time I was sleeping about being in those type revivals. I had in my hand revivals identified in their Latin names. And feeling the second revival was the one I had experienced. The evangelists impressed me with their earnestness and there were many amens to it in the audience. I do not remember their text, but those were typical revival sermons, full of unction and power. While preaching an evangelist snatched the paperwork out of my hand and began to preach over it. And began to identify the churches I had written down in Latin. I was going to speak up and say something but the choir kicked in and with it appropriate praise and worship music. The feeling was that these people really had it together worship wise.

I then woke up feeling… Wow! What a wonderful dream! And that… Even though I was not going to get any credit for it…. The material I posted on the youtube.com/rockytopva site was going to be used well by others.

I wish CF were more well-trafficked, so I decided to do my tiny part by posting more and making more threads. Of course an increase in the quantity of threads will mean a decrease in the quality, as you can tell from the title.

It seems counter-intuitive given that the back of the shirt presses against the backs of chairs when I sit, and against a wall if I lean against one, but the front rarely touches anything. Yet over the years holes have appeared in the front, rarely ever in the back. Of course I asked AI about this, and got an answer which seems possibly insightful yet possibly bogus. But I've been told I need human interaction in my life, so, any thoughts on this? Are anyone's experiences similar? Or different?

FBI Ousts Leader as Patel Fumes Over Attention to Agency Jet Use​

The FBI forced out a senior official overseeing aviation shortly after Director Kash Patel grew outraged about revelations of his publicly-available jet logs indicating he’d flown to see his musician girlfriend perform, said three people familiar with the situation.

Steven Palmer, a 27-year veteran of the FBI, became the third head of the critical incident response group—which includes FBI pilots—to be fired or removed in Patel’s short regime, adding to a year filled with retributive terminations.

Palmer’s position included supervising the FBI’s aviation units, but Patel’s flight schedule was readily traceable through online tracking services and he reposted photos of himself with Wilkins at the event on his personal X account.

The people familiar with the matter said they were baffled as to why Patel might’ve blamed Palmer for the travel details.

FBI directors are required to use government aircraft for personal or business travel in order to maintain secure communications. But public attention of Patel’s weekend outing—fueled by an X post from a former FBI agent turned outspoken Patel critic—comes after Patel had criticized predecessors for personal travel on taxpayer-funded jets.

Patel shared on X an Oct. 30 post from his spokesman, which said articles and opposition to the director’s travel were “disingenuous and dumb” and “bad faith whining.”

[Just a note that, for commercial/philanthropic purposes, Patel styles himself thus as K$H]

I have been praying the Rosary for awhile now but once in awhile I have prayed the St. Michael Chaplet. I did this a few days ago because I wanted a change. I can't decide if it feels more laborious than the Rosary - a part of me feels like it does, but that's a matter of opinion. However, I like how I feel when I pray this - I feel calmer praying this prayer than even the Rosary (I hope that's not because I'm "too used" to the Rosary). There's something I like about this but I feel "guilty" taking a break from the Rosary to pray this Chaplet, but I'm liking it "better" than the Rosary lately. Maybe the novelty will wear off after awhile but I don't know.

I am surprised that this Chaplet is not promoted more - after all, we're invoking St. Michael, what could possibly be insignificant about this? I love this Chaplet. I wish it didn't take as much time to pray (25 minutes to a half hour) but it's underrated IMHO and I don't think it gets the representation and recognition that it deserves.

(It is the Chaplet with 9 sections of an Our Father/3 Hail Marys and then you pray 4 OFs for each of the Angels (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Guardian Angel).

A furloughed federal tax attorney is turning his childhood dream into a reality with more time on his hands during the nearly monthlong government shutdown.

Furloughed IRS tax attorney Isaac Stein, 31, is selling hot dogs from his “Shysters Dogs” stand, whose motto is “the only honest rip off in D.C.”

For Stein, running a food stand is a childhood dream, and he’s using the government shutdown as an opportunity to live it out.

“There you are, ma’am,” Stein said to a customer Wednesday. “Don’t forget your soft drink. Thank you so much.”

Continued below.

Belief that a ‘corrupt elite is secretly running the world’ is one of the longest-running and most widespread conspiracy theories of our time

It has become a “byword for a corrupt elite” ruling the world, said indy100, and supposedly boasts Beyoncé, Madonna, Jay-Z and Donald Trump among its members. The name “Illuminati” is “so powerful that it has begun to rule TikTok”, becoming last year’s “most talked-about counter-mainstream idea”.

The story is “pretty compelling” – but “that’s all it is, a story”. And it is one that the “stars themselves have shrugged off or even mischievously fuelled”. While most of the rumours surrounding the Illuminati and its members are fiction, the group was at one time real – though its influence was not nearly as vast and enduring as modern conspiracists claim.

How did the Illuminati start?​

The idea of an “illuminati”, meaning “enlightened” or “illuminated”, has been around since the 15th century, wrote author and academic Chris Fleming. Early groups included the Spanish Alumbrados (the “illuminated”), who believed people could “attain direct communion with God” and thereby gain spiritual enlightenment without traditional worship or the sacrament. Alleged sympathisers include St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, who was questioned by the Inquisition in 1527 over possible links.

Continued below.

A federal judge in Tampa has ordered the arrest of a former Green Beret accused of plotting to invade Venezuela in 2020 after he failed to show up to court for a hearing on whether he should be taken back into custody for violating the conditions of his pre-trial release.

Jordan Goudreau, 49, was arrested last year on weapons smuggling charges tied to the failed coup attempt undertaken during the first Trump administration.

He was released after a few weeks in jail when filmmaker Jen Gatien pledged her $2 million Manhattan apartment where the combat veteran was living as collateral for a bond. In testimony this week, Gatien detailed how the three-time Bronze Star recipient turned abusive, alleging he threatened to harm her and others and sent text messages saying he wouldn't go back to jail.

"I believe he intends one day to leave this country," Gatien said, noting that Goudreau previously lived on a sailboat in Mexico.

Gatien's new documentary, "Men of War," is a largely sympathetic look at Goudreau's slapdash plan to train a mercenary force of Venezuelan army deserters in neighboring Colombia to carry out a cross-border raid that aimed to spark a popular rebellion and remove President Nicolas Maduro.


see also:

Good work, it makes it safer for us all.

So, do you think the Bible is completely without error in everything it touches on?

I do believe the Bible is infallible, but idk if I would go to say that it is entirely without error on matters of history, details, etc. The point is to point people to Christ. It's not meant to be a collection of raw information to mine through.

I do think Scripture is God breathed, but unsure whether I lean towards verbal plenary inspiration or dynamic inspiration.

What about you?

(RNS) — Visiting historically Black college campuses during homecoming observances over the last month, Blexit, a conservative Black group run by the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, has received pushback from some university officials and commentators.

Hampton University in Virginia and Howard University in Washington were among 10 institutions announced as locations of the tour by the group that was founded by conservative activistCandace Owens. The group, which describes its mission as focused on “Faith, Family, and Freedom,” merged with Turning Point USA in 2023.

According to its website, the “Elevate to Liberate” tour started on Sept. 25 at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, and will conclude Friday (Oct. 31) at Bowie State University in Maryland and Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

Continued below.

The head of the Syriac Catholic Church in central Syria has warned that Christianity is disappearing from the country. Speaking in Rome, the archbishop said the church is “dying” and called for urgent international intervention to stop the collapse.

Archbishop Jacques Mourad of Homs, Hama and Nabek said the Christian exodus was a result of the country’s “disastrous political and economic situation,” which has driven tens of thousands to flee Syria in search of safety and stability, the charity Aid to the Church
in Need reported.

At the launch of ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World 2025 report last month, the charity reported estimates that Christians in Syria have plummeted from about 2.1 million in 2011 to around 540,000 in 2024.

Mourad warned that without political reform and security guarantees, the Church has no way to stop the ongoing wave of migration.

Continued below.

Democratic lawmakers, across the country, are hellbent on making the violence of abortion three things: unlimited, unrestricted and unregulated. New York, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Michigan, Colorado, Vermont, and New Jersey have all enshrined destroying our posterity as a state “constitutional” right. They have struck down the most minimal common-sense protections like parental consent/notification, 24-hour waiting periods, and abortion facility medical regulations.

Pro-abortion leftists in Pennsylvania want to do the same thing. They will contort and distort anything to make it possible, even if it means manipulating tragedy to bolster their trickery. In a recent hearing in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, pro-abortion lawmakers pushed for an amendment (HB 1957) to the state’s constitution to make unlimited, unrestricted and unregulated abortion legal in the commonwealth. (See the extreme nature of some current Democratic legislation in the Keystone state.)

Representative Chris Pielli (D), did what Democrats always do to promote abortion: Exploit rape. “I’m asking all the men if this right [to abortion] should be protected by law ... I keep hearing this from the other side, ‘Why do we need this?’ Without exceptions even for rape, incest and pedophiles. We’re not just talking about grown women; we’re talking about children. I’m asking all the men, fathers, think about this — husbands — think about what that means. Your wife will have to carry a rapist’s child. That’s more Taliban than American.”

Continued below.

I don't know how to feel about this. It is good that finally a leader has the guts to stand up to these evil radicals. It is good that other cases of inhumane treatment is being highlighted. It seems strange that it has taken so long for someone to highlight this in the worlds eyes. With all the attention on Gaza and Isreal we forget there are other much worse situations.

Why was there no protests in the streets or on campuses for the almost genocidal levels of Christian persecution throughout the world.

Trump opens the door for sanctions on Nigeria over persecution of Christians

Lord Jesus, I pray for your will to be done in my life, no matter what that may entail. I surrender my all to you. I submit to your Lordship over my life. I give all my trials and tribulations and concerns over to you, and I trust that you will work them all out for my good, and for the good of others whose lives I touch. I pray we might all follow you in obedience to your commands, and that we might all submit to your will and purpose for our lives, even if it means more pain, more suffering, and more hardships yet to come. For we know you are good, and whatever you allow in our lives, you allow for our good, to conform us to your likeness, and to make us your holy people.

So, what is the hope of God’s calling upon our lives? What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? And what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe in Jesus Christ?

It is that Jesus Christ (the Son of God, and God the Son), our Lord and Savior, left his throne in heaven, humbled himself, and took on human form so that one day he would become our sacrificial lamb on a cross to take away our sins, but not just to forgive us our sins, but to free us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so that we will now serve him with our lives in walks of surrender to him in obedience to his commands.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

But it isn’t just that. Our faith in Jesus Christ should go beyond just denying self and dying to sin and walks of obedience to his commands. We need him to give us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him in every aspect of our lives, and in all the choices and decisions that we make about our lives. For he is now to be our life, and our lives are now to be surrendered to him to do his will in all areas of our lives, and not just on a spiritual level, but in our everyday ordinary lives and things we go through.

For we are not to separate our spiritual lives from our secular lives. Our lives are to be surrendered to the will of God in all areas of our lives and in all of our daily routines. For God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – is not to be worshipped just one day a week or in one specific location, but we are to worship him in spirit and in truth all the time, and in every location, and under all circumstances. And we worship him in truth by surrendering our all to him in submission to his will and purpose for our lives.

And his will for our lives isn’t just all the feel good stuff. It isn’t just to forgive us our sins so one day we get to be with him for eternity. But it is the hard stuff, too. It is the trials and the tribulations which we experience which come into our lives to test our faith to see what we are made of. And the testing of our faith is to grow us to maturity in Christ, to make us more like Jesus in character, in thought, in word, and deed. It is to humble us, to bring us into subjection to our Lord in all things, and to make us God’s holy ones.

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 7:13-14; Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 17:14; Romans 5:3-5; Philippians 3:7-11; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:12-17; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5; James 1:2-4; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Hebrews 12:3-12; 1 John 3:13; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]

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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Needing a Spirit of Wisdom
An Original Work / November 2, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Seems like there is not a lot of biographical info about Calvin, compared to say other notable christian theologians like Edwards, Wesley, Luther etc.

How much is known historically about him. Has anyone ever attempted a biography?

What is a Confession of Faith and what purpose do they serve?

Hi, it's been awhile since posting at CF regularly. Taking into consideration I'm a visitor to this forum and not wanting to "Stir the pot" as it were. I'd sincerely appreciate input on the current climate of Christian nationalism within Catholicism in the U.S. Frankly I'm sicken by the far right in the Evangelical churches and I'm too conservative for the progressive churches so I'm at a loss at where I might find a home church. Friendly input would be highly appreciated.

A church I attended many years ago, had on its members role several thousand families. It was an average sized church building, hard to say what it would hold numerically - perhaps a thousand people at most. But I don't recall it having a lot more than maybe a few hundred out at the services I attended. I was kind of stunned to learn how many families were connected to that congregation. But my quetion is doesn't this make each service potentially very changable fellowship wise in terms of whose attending each week. Clearly not everyone on the members role came to church every Sunday, how often some attended I don't know, but they were still connected to that congregation I suppose even if they hadn't been there in months or years.

Also some I suspect might have been going to a house / home group and not attending the weekly services regularly.

By contrast my early childhood was going to a mission hall, where perhaps there was 50 - 100 at most at a service (the hall would not have held more than 100 people) So it was mostly regulars, with occasional new faces.

What I am getting at is - in churches that have that many families connected, can one end up feeling at times, is this same church I attended last week, because there is a sudden change in who is there.