I am in need of prayer for financial favor for my shop. These past months everything has been slow and at a stand still. We are in need of prayer for financial favor and to try to keep our shop afloat in these hard times. Also need favor in trying to sell my vehicles. Thanks and GOD BLESS!

The Guardian 13 Dec 2022
New Zealand passes world-first tobacco law to ban smoking for next generation


New Zealand has introduced a steadily rising smoking age to stop those aged 14 and under from ever being able to legally buy cigarettes in world-first legislation to outlaw smoking for the next generation.

New Zealand is believed to be the first country in the world to implement the annually rising smoking age, ensuring tobacco cannot be sold to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.

It will be accompanied by a slew of other measures to make smoking less affordable and accessible, including dramatically reducing the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products and forcing them to be sold only through specialty tobacco stores, rather than corner stores and supermarkets.

The number of stores legally allowed to sell cigarettes will be reduced to a tenth of their existing levels – from 6,000 to just 600 nationwide. The laws passed their final reading on Tuesday evening, and will come into force in 2023, as New Zealand attempts to reach its goal of making the country “smoke-free” by 2025.



More:

New Zealand passes world-first tobacco law to ban smoking for next generation | New Zealand | The Guardian

New Zealand Bans Cigarette Sales to Everyone Born After 2008 - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

According to modern Catholicism, Jews go to heaven even if they do not believe in the Gospel. Not only the Jews but also the Muslims are saved according to the Catechism; they even believe in the same God: "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."

Once the Pope said that even an atheist can go to heaven and allegedly the Pope also said that there is no hell.

In view of these facts, I ask myself the legitimate question whether modern Catholicism is universalist?

Hello, everybody.
I chose that ttile because I've been writing on Christian matters, usually exegesis, for the last dozen years on the theology sub-forum of another site. Specifically the "conspiracy" site abovetopsecret, where people know me as DISRAELI.
In fact I published two books this year under the name Stephen Disraeli, but I don't suppose etiquette will allow me to talk about those.
My previous background is that I was brought up an Anglican, slipped out into atheism, and was brought back to the faith (June 1972) by a fellow student. I'm a life-long student of History, but I've also got a Divinity qualification

NOTE TO THE READER: Authorization is given to translate this blog into German, Spanish, and any other language needed. The author requests human translations, rather than computer translations, and a link back to the original English source.

This may seem like a no-brainer to a lot of faithful Catholics, but I think it’s worth mentioning. Women cannot be Catholic priests. This was explained by Pope Saint John Paul II in his 1994 Apostolic Letter entitled Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, wherein he stated in no uncertain terms…

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, 4

Click to expand...

That’s it. The case is closed. The Church has no authority, whatsoever, to ordain women to the priesthood. Jesus did not grant this authority to his apostles, and they could not transfer to the bishops an authority that they themselves did not receive. The bottom line is this. If there was ever a woman worthy of apostolic ordination in the Church, it would have been the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. Yet, Jesus did not ordain her. He didn’t make her an apostle. He didn’t make her a bishop. Nor did he make her a priest. He didn’t even make her a deacon. He left her as part of the laity, non-ordained to any office in the Church. It is absurd to suggest that some other woman would be worthy to be ordained, when not even the Blessed Virgin Mary was ordained. There were plenty of women in the early Church who could be ordained if that’s what Christ wanted. The Blessed Virgin Mary would be the first among them. Yet Christ chose not to call a single woman to his inner circle of apostolic authority. He simply never ordained a woman at all, and he never gave his apostles the authority to do it either. Bishops do not, and cannot, have an authority that the apostles never had.

Any attempted “ordination” of a woman is merely a simulation of Live Action Role Playing(LARPing) that, if to be taken seriously, insinuates the one doing the “ordination” has MORE authority than what Jesus Christ granted to his apostles. In other words, the one doing the “ordination” is claiming to have an authority greater than any bishop or the pope himself. Those women being “ordained” are publicly professing that the one doing their “ordination” has more authority than the pope. Those in attendance of said “ordination” are contributing (whether knowingly or unknowingly) to this profession of superior authority. On the face of it, it’s a schismatic act, which is why it incurs an automatic excommunication under canon law.

Pope Francis, echoing the Saintly letter of John Paul II, is clearly against the ordination of women. In the past, bishops would have to make a solemn decree of excommunication whenever one of these female “ordination” simulations took place. Now, such formalities are no longer necessary under canon law. The excommunication is instantaneous and automatic. I suspect this change in canon law is in anticipation of something very big in the near future. This change to canon law was approved by Pope Francis, quite recently, in response to efforts by the German bishops to push for the ordination of women in their Synod.

Continued below.

After I decided to leave atheism and return to Christianity, I decided I had to choose what church to join. I was certain I did not want to return to the Catholic Church. But I kept running into the same problem with Protestant churches. Why did so many Protestants lie about the Catholic Church? I kept hearing accusations like Catholics worship Mary, and Catholics believe they earn salvation by doing good works.

Now, there are many legitimate differences between Catholics and Protestants. I even had my own issues with the Catholic Church. So I didn’t understand why the lies?

I would always explain that Catholics don’t do those things. I would always get the same response which was something like, “Yes Catholics believe those things, they just don’t know it. And I would always respond, “I think I would know if, as a former Catholic, I was worshiping Mary, and earning my salvation.”

How different is this from when Jews and Muslims say, “Christians are polytheistic whether they know it or not”? Or when leftists say, “White people are all racist whether they know it or not.”

I’m just saying, there are legitimate differences like infant baptism, and the real presence in the Eucharist. I see no reason to add lies to the mix. Especially since Jesus said the Devil is the father of all lies.

This is one thing that made it impossible for me to be a Protestant.

If anyone has ever played Starcraft video games by Blizzard would probably realize the game is really all about the life story of Sarah Kerrigan, a supernaturally gifted human female who had a hand in the destruction of worlds in an obscure sector of our galaxy and in the end, becoming its savior. Both humans and aliens tried to enhance and harness her supernatural gifts (tele-kinesis, telepathy, etc) and use them to their own twisted ends.

And what's fascinating here is I'm living some of the episodes of her life when I'm dreaming in my sleep.

And what's truly bothersome here is I've had these dreams LONG BEFORE Starcraft game was even revealed to the public.

Most of these dreams were about the "ghost-training" program where Kerrigan is held in a room with scientists observing outside and coerced and trained her to use her supernatural gifts (mainly for the purposed of assassination)

These dreams of the ghost-training program were incredibly vivid. I even know exactly how it feels to manipulate objects or even alter the chemical composition of objects with my mind.

Each time I wake up in my sleep I had recurring trauma that I might kill my mom with tele-kinesis since we sleep in the same room (I am also her nurse) so I keep a habit of facing away from her whenever I'm sleeping. Kerrigan did accidentally killed her mom with her telekinetic ability when young resulting to major head injuries to both her parents.

A recurring dream when I was only around 3 to 5 years old was being surrounded by an innumerable swarm. I felt incredible power. I was floating above a planet that looked like Earth and have caused its destruction with telekinesis, causing its moon to crash into it. This scene wasn't in the video game nor anywhere in the story-line but we can assume that Kerrigan did so many acts of destruction while leading the Zerg, too many to show in the game.

Another recurring dream is the transfiguration of Kerrigan from human to zerg. Submerged in a vast sea of cloudy and glowing green fluid. The game calls this the "spawning pool" or "primal pool" but the ones in my dreams are vastly larger. There were large spider-like creatures in the fluid tending to me in a vegetative state or harnessing my energy? The scene kind of reminded me of The Matrix movie as well where humans are also immersed in fluid in a vegetative state and tended to by large spider-looking robots, farming humans for energy / electricity.

For the life of me don't know why I'm having these dreams even long before the game came out.

Would it be possible these events actually happened in some part of our galaxy completely unknown to us or in an alternate reality or even from a distant past? With the character in question being extremely gifted in telepathy somehow managed to have artistic inspiration in the developers of the game and somehow was telepathically linked to me because I have facial resemblance to Kerrigan, especially in my 20's?

Many of these dreams weren't fun at all. The transfiguration was utterly scary with all those huge spiders all round you. Whenever I'm practicing telekinesis in the dreams or using these supernatural gifts, I feel a psychological trauma associated with it. The trauma of the 'gift' leading to the death of a loved one and becoming a traitor to the human race.

It's leading me to doubt the authenticity of this thing we call "life". What if none of this is even real? What if all this is just a dream?

Proverbs 22:3-5 ESV


A person who is prudent is one who demonstrates care and thought for the future. This is a person who is wise, cautious, sensible, levelheaded, reasonable, and practical. But a person who is simple is naïve or is one who is foolish, unwise, childish, irresponsible, and self-indulgent. So, those who are wise are discerning of evil and so they do not pursue what is evil. But the self-indulgent, who are unwise and foolish, they go headstrong right into what they know is evil, regardless of the consequences.

Now, we cannot take away from this that if we are humble and we walk in the fear of the Lord that we are going to be rich in the things of this world or that we are going to be honored among other humans. For in the New Testament, and in the Old Testament, too, we see that those whose lives are committed to serving the Lord and following him in his ways go through many hardships and they are not usually honored in this life, but many of them are being persecuted for righteousness’ sake.

But we are honored of God who walk in his ways and who serve him with our lives, and we are rich in truth and in righteousness and in the things of God and in our salvation from sin and in our relationship with God/with Jesus, so we are rich in faith. And we have the peace of Christ and the joy of the Lord directing our paths, and the Spirit of God to give us encouragement and counsel and the strength to live godly and holy lives, pleasing to God. And we have the hope of eternal life with God at the end of our lives.

Now sadly, even many people who are professing faith in Jesus Christ are walking in the ways of the flesh and not in the ways of the Spirit of God. And so thorns and snares are in their way because they are choosing to ignore God’s commands and to go their own selfish way, instead. And they will make all kinds of excuses for why they are still habitually sinning in various ways, but this is the way they have chosen for themselves, and so they are without excuse (Romans 1:18-32). They can’t say they didn’t know.

Proverbs 22:11-14 ESV


Purity of heart is evidenced by purity of thinking, speaking, and behaving. For what is in our hearts comes out through our lips, our attitudes, our thinking, and our actions. So if we have pure hearts we will live in purity of devotion to our Lord and in moral purity, too. We will be people of integrity and not be people of dishonor. We will be truth tellers and not liars. We will grieve over sin, not lust over it. We will be trustworthy and not those who cannot be trusted. And we will be those who love others and do not hate.

Those who are not pure in heart, but whose hearts are filled with all sorts of wickedness, they are going to follow after their wicked hearts and they will practice what their evil hearts desire. And if they profess faith in Christ while they continue in sin, because they want their sin more than they want God or anything else, they are sluggards who live for the sinful pleasures of their flesh without regard for God or for their spouses or children or for anyone they might hurt because they choose their sin over everything else.

And so they are traitorous to the faith that they profess and to their spouses and children when they selfishly continue in deliberate and habitual sin which they know is going to harm their spouses and their children. And they are traitors every time they confess they are living one way while they know that is not the truth of the matter, or when they knowingly tell one story to one person and tell the opposite story to another, or when they turn against those who love them and accuse them falsely of what they did not do.

Many people, even many who profess faith in Jesus Christ, are living in addiction to sexual sin. Now this addiction is not a sickness that they have no control over. This is slavery (bondage) to sin which Jesus died to free us from, and so if we continue in that sin, and we reject God’s gift of freedom from our slavery to sin, then we are without excuse. And even if you are self-deceived, you did that. You chose to lie to yourself and to accept your own lies. But it doesn’t mean you have forgotten the truth. You know!

Proverbs 22:17-19 ESV


So, there is no excuse for the addicted to continue in his or her addiction. Jesus gave his life up for us on that cross to deliver us from our slavery to sin. We just have to humble ourselves and repent of our sins (turn away from them, die with Christ to sin) and then walk in obedience to the Lord in the power of God’s Spirit now living within those of us of genuine faith in Christ Jesus. Those professing faith in Christ who are still living in addiction to sexual sin or in addiction to any sin have absolutely no excuse! None!

For so many people professing faith in Jesus Christ are just turning a deaf ear to what they don’t want to hear so that they can continue in their sins. If they hear the truth, it just goes in one ear and out the other, because if they accept the truth then that makes them responsible for that truth. And so they conveniently keep “forgetting” what they heard, and then they claim ignorance as though they did not know what they did/do know when they did know. Claiming ignorance is just so they can continue in sin guilt free.

So, we are to be people of God, the sheep of his pasture, who are listening to the Lord and who are heeding his words and who are not ignoring his commands. And we are to be following him in obedience and not be those who are still living for the flesh while claiming ignorance and while making excuses for why they are still where they are and for why they have not yet gotten victory over that sin so that they can now walk in holiness and in righteousness in the power of God.

And we need to be those who are applying the knowledge of God, and of his word that we have been given, to our everyday lives. For we cannot just give a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ and think that secures us heaven when we die. Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING (obeying) the will of God the Father. And he said if anyone would come after him, he must deny self and take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow him in obedience (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26).

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

My Sheep

An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

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Talk Video

Luke 1:26-38 ESV



I love this story, not just because it is about the conception of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, but because it is a story of enormous faith being acted out in the life of a woman of God who loved the Lord. Mary loved the Lord and that is why God chose her to bear the only begotten Son of God. But this was God’s design for her life even before the creation of the world, and even before she was conceived in the womb of her mother. This was God’s design and purpose for her life, and she willingly accepted that.

Now Mary was human just like us, so when the angel first visited her she didn’t comprehend what was happening, and so she tried to discern what was going on. And when the angel told her what God’s plan was for her life, she asked a question about how this would take place, not because she doubted God, for she did not, but because this was definitely a very unusual calling and she just needed to understand how that was going to work so that she was prepared for what was coming.

For, if you consider her circumstances, she was a young girl who had not been with a man, although she was engaged to be married, so it was a logical question to ask as to how she would be pregnant and have a son if she was still a virgin. And in accepting that call, it was not just accepting what the angel told her was going to take place, but certainly what she knew might happen to her when people learned she was pregnant. They would assume that she sinned and that is why she was pregnant, and that could have cost her her life back then. So, she was accepting that, as well.

But I love how she responded with, “Behold I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And you know, this is the kind of response all of us should be giving to the Lord when he calls us to do his will and when he calls us to specific areas of ministry, especially if they are ministries considered “outside the box” by other humans, although they are not outside God’s box. For so many Christians think inside a box created by other humans and so they are not willing to walk by faith and not by sight in following the Lord Jesus wherever he leads them.

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Jesus, Lead Me

An Original Work / July 22, 2011

Jesus, lead me all the way.
Be my hope and be my stay.
Gently lead me where I should go,
So Your Spirit, I want to know.
Open up my heart to You.
Fill me with Your love and truth.
Make my heart want to obey.
Be my Lord today. Gently lead always.

Jesus, lover of my soul,
Cleanse my heart, and make me whole;
Be transformed in my heart today,
As I turn from my sin and pray.
Make Your will known to my heart.
May I not from You depart.
How I long to hear You now,
As I humbly bow. Jesus, hear me now.

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Hi guys, i need some advice.
My sister asked me if i wanted to watch the new avatar movie with her, i was hesitant but agreed because she really wanted too. The reason i was hesitant because avatar is owned by a disney company and i dont want to support disney because I've seen and heard they've done blasphemous things in their movies
I don't know anything about the directors of this movie though and I'm not sure if the people who wrote these blasphemous things also worked on the avatar movie.
I've said this before but i dont want to consume media or support media by people who blaspheme The Holy Trinity.
I know it's not always avoidable because you won't know if the people who made the movie have done that but I fear I will commit a sin if I know that they've done that and I still comsume that media.
I really didn't know if I should watch this movie because I didn't want to support disney but I also i didn't want to let my sister down because she really wanted to watch it. So I asked God to give me a sign if i shouldn't watch this movie.
We were going to meet up in between our cities and both take the train, but my sisters train got stuck which made her a hour later so we didnt make it time for the movie but we arranged with the movie theater that we can use our tickets for the movie later this afternoon. But now i am thinking that this might the sign. We have like 2 hours until we can watch the movie and I don't know what to do. I wouldn't even know what to tell my sister because we traveled all the way here to watch it. I'm scared that It's a sin if i go watch this movie. Im concidering closing my eyes the whole movie

Read the scriptures below and watch the video before responding. (Discussion only).


Genesis 1
The Account of Creation

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.[a] 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 1:26

26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings[a] in our image, to be like us.

John 1
Prologue: Christ, the Eternal Word

1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,[a]
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.


Hebrews 1:3
Amplified Bible

3 The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s [a]Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal]. When He [Himself and no other] had [by offering Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin] accomplished purification from sins and established our freedom from guilt, He sat down [revealing His completed work] at the right hand of the Majesty on high [revealing His Divine authority],


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(Mat 7:21) Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

What is the will of the Father in heaven?

(John 6:29) Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.

Question: If doing the will of the Father is to believe on Jesus, then why is Jesus telling people, who call Him Lord, to depart? Wouldn't this indicate that they believed in Jesus if they're calling Him Lord? What is the will of the Father in heaven if not faith in the gospel? Is it evangelism? Thoughts?

We were discussing this in another thread and it really was going off track, so I rec'd a request to start a new thread where it could be discussed in depth.

Many believe that there are some discrepancies between the two genealogies in the Gospels of Jesus. One found in Matthew and the other found in Luke.

Here they are side by side.


As you can see the only thing they have in common is King David and his genealogy leading back to Abraham in Matthews version and to God (with Adam) in Luke's version.

Matthew starts at Abraham and goes down to Joseph
Luke orders his backwards from Jesus to Joseph and then to Heli

However why, when Joseph is only the adoptive father would he have two lineages put down for posterity?

Doesn't make sense, does it?
Did Matthew make a mistake?
Did Luke?
Why don't they match up?

If you'll take a closer look you will see that in Matthew there is only one Joseph in the line, and we know that following back from Abraham there will be no other either.

But when you look at Luke's version you will see this (I've taken out this part but it is from the chart above. )



Notice there are three other Joseph's in this genealogy?

It is said that when the LORD records something three times we are supposed to take close notice.

What if? This genealogy in Matthew is not the husband of Miriam?

But instead this Joseph is the father of Miriam, Jesus Mother?

They would have to trace back through the fathers line but perhaps it should look like this:



We'll get to the Manuscript next post.

I saw this in the "SOP" for "

Denomination-Specific Theology Statement of Purpose"​

• NT writers' teachings do not contradict each other or the teachings of Christ. (2 Peter 3:15,16)

My question is this. Is it permitted, anywhere in Christian Forums, to refer to scripture in the New Testament to refute or otherwise "get around" a commandment given by Christ?

2 Peter 3:15-16

New International Version

​

15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

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If the messiah is almost here then the Messianic age is about to begin …

Hi there,

Comments on the Passion 'Translation' welcome...

It is the work of one man claiming prophetic insight.

Generally embraced by the Mega Church movement and under scrutiny by bible scholars.

Thanks.

new here

I'm curious if any Lutherans here know much about Luther's book and how his views fit with the teachings of Christ. Thanks in advance.

Anyone paying any attention at all knows that Donald J Trump never disclosed his tax filings. Even though the Ways and Means has oversight, the Donald deferring judges delayed the release until this year. The horses have already left the Trump barn, but should be have legislation requiring disclosures from future presidents-elect?

Biden haters might particularly like having the relatives/children have to disclose the intrafamilial loans.

To me, political discussion involves topics pertaining to economic systems (socialism versus capitalism) or government systems. The closest Jesus ever came to political discussion was when he said “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”.

We must remember that the Jews of the time of Jesus were ruled by not one totalitarian regime, but possibly THREE. The Romans, King Herod, and the Jewish religious leaders. All of them were, of course, corrupt. Still, Jesus never advocated for changing government. In fact, he didn’t discuss it at all.

It’s good that devoted followers of Christ serve in government. We need more of them. However, a Christian church LEADER, who wants to follow the example set by Christ, should (in my humble opinion) stick to the example set by Christ and teach what Christ taught and stay out of political advocacy. When a Christian church LEADER decides to engage in political activism they are no longer spreading Christ’s message but, their own.

Christian church leaders should, in my humble opinion, teach the word of Christ and, if they do that effectively, those with “ears to hear” (Matthew 11:15) will hear and, hopefully, obey and act and vote accordingly. As Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments” (Matthew 14:15).

When Christian Church LEADERS engage in politics, I ask myself, what do they know that Jesus didn’t? And why isn’t Jesus’ message sufficient for them to share?

I will conclude by saying that I believe it is GOOD that faithful Christians serve in government, but Christian church LEADERS should stick to sharing the word of God, which is so much more important than their own opinions.

The concept of prelest, a key one in Orthodox ascetical teaching, is completely absent in the Protestant-Catholic world which produced the “charismatic” movement; and this fact explains why such an obvious deception can gain such a hold over nominally “Christian” circles, and also why a “prophet” like Nicholas Berdyaev who comes from an Orthodox background should regard it as absolutely essential that in the “new age of the Holy Spirit”

“There will be no more of the ascetic world-view.”

The reason is obvious: the Orthodox ascetic world-view gives the only means by which men, having received the Holy Spirit at their Baptism and Chrismation, may truly continue to acquire the Holy Spirit in their lives; and it teaches how to distinguish and guard oneself against spiritual deception. The “new spirituality” of which Berdyaev dreamed and which the “charismatic revival” actually practices, has an entirely different foundation and is seen to be a fraud in the light of the Orthodox ascetical teaching. Therefore, there is not room for both conceptions in the same spiritual universe: to accept the “new spirituality” of the “charismatic revival” one must reject Orthodox Christianity; and conversely, to remain an Orthodox Christian, one must reject the “charismatic revival,” which is a counterfeit of Orthodoxy.

To make this quite clear, in what follows we shall give the teaching of the Orthodox Church on spiritual deception chiefly as found in the 19th-century summation of this teaching made by Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, himself an Orthodox Father of modern times, in volume one of his collected works.

I have had a pretty tough last three years, for reasons I wont disclose here. Lets be real, we all have.

I liked to use heaven as a way to keep me going, knowing I have that sweet reward at the end of it all kept me strong. Until I actually started doing some research...

Throughout revelation we are mentioned as being positioned before the throne of God, in a temple, forever in worship. For all eternity. I love God so much, more then anything, and I cant wait to worship him properly, it will be glorious. However, I also love being creative and exploring and learning and creating things myself. I was made in God's image, as God is a creator, so am I. And to think that thats going to be stripped away...saddens me. I hate to admit it but what I see envisioned for heaven seems kind of...boring...

I love the diversity in life, I love being able to make my own choices, and being able to create things for God. Being able to really pour my heart into something (for me, I make music) and then showing it to God and being able to say "I made this for you with what you gave me". I mean imagine that, but in person? And yet we are just before the throne...forever...no culture? No different towns? No diversity? No autonomy? Just executing one activity forever? I just cant look forward to that...

Am I interpreting this wrong? I MUST be. This cant be what the God who made EVERYTHING is redeeming us for? Right?!

An NBC News report in July raised questions about why they hadn’t been charged in the alleged scam, which prosecutors outlined in court papers in late 2020.

A Florida pastor and his son were arrested Wednesday on charges of fraudulently obtaining more than $8 million in federal Covid relief funds and attempting to use some of the money to buy a luxury home near Walt Disney World.