We are in the process of getting ready to spend some time in Bangladesh.
My wife brought it up last week.
I told her we needed to agree and that I needed a confirmation.
Last Sabbath I asked for prayer and within minutes I got a confirmation.
The Holy Spirit prompted me to remember a vision I had when I was about 4;
I was flying at night above mountains,
In the distance I saw a glow and when we were above it I could see that the glow was coming from inside a mountain,
Inside the mountain there was a chamber filled with gems.

When I turned 50 I was about to interpret for a foreign pastor during a missionary service.
Before it was time to participate, the Holy Spirit told me that he would tell me the meaning of the vision.
He gave me a verse; where your treasure is, there your heart shall be.
I then told the congregation that as long as they supported overseas missions, they would be blessed.

Last year we had a retreat at a state park. Inside the cabin we shared we saw a video testimony of a young man that was called to the mission field.
I felt impacted by the testimony and I identified with the message.
I was in tears as I told them that we wanted to serve.

Now, we have just sent in our passport renewal paperwork, we should get them in a few months.
The most important step is that of securing a visa to Bangladesh as these are very hard to get.
We have a family member that obtained a five-year visa, a friend of his tried but only got one for a few months.
We are set up financially to pay our way and be there as volunteers.
We hope to be there for six months and return, we know that God can open doors according to his purpose, we pray that will follow through.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to follow his example in being his witnesses. So we are to be the salt of the earth, and the light of the world, and the people of God who proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness (sin) into his marvelous light (the gospel, righteousness, truth, obedience to God). And under the authority of God we are to go and make disciples of Christ of people of all nations, baptizing (where possible), and teaching them to obey our Lord’s New Covenant commandments.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Eph 5:11-14; 1 Pet 2:21,29; 1 John 2:6]


For Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross to deliver us out of our slavery (addiction) to sin, so that we will now serve him with our lives in walks of obedience to his commands, in surrender to his will and purpose for our lives. And having been saved by his grace, and delivered from our bondage to sin, and having been given forgiveness and the hope of heaven when we die (provided we continue in these walks of faith in obedience to our Lord), we will want to share the truth of the gospel with other people.

For we care about other humans, we love them with the love of Christ, and so we share with them the truth. And we refute the lies of Satan so that many will come to genuine biblical God-provided faith in the Lord Jesus, and will leave their lives of sin behind them, and will follow our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands. Thus, they can now walk in victory over sin, and can live holy lives, pleasing to God, and so God can use them in other people’s lives to share with them the gospel, for their salvation from sin.

And this is why I am here on the internet sharing with the people of the world what the Lord is teaching me from his word each day. I am here out of obedience to my Lord and to his calling on my life in saying what he gives me to say, not only as testimony to what he is doing in my life, but for the salvation of human lives from their bondage to sin so that, by the grace of God, they can now walk in freedom from sin in surrender to God’s will and purpose for their lives.. and to encourage all in their walks of faith in Christ.

And as far as healing goes, God does gift certain people with gifts of healings, and not all these gifts are related to physical healing of physical diseases or to physical impairments. People need spiritual healing the most, and then there is emotional healing, and healing of the minds and the hearts of people which get damaged from birth to death by various means and circumstances. But we should use the Scriptures and not human philosophy in order to bring healing to people, for God is truly the one who heals.

Seek the Lord

Based off Isaiah 55
Musical Instrumentation by Mark Bradley
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”

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Proclaiming the Gospel of The Kingdom
An Original Work / July 12, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Whither the “Harmful Spirit?”

There are stories in the Bible whose main plot is given the most attention but missing are the details behind the plots. For example, a lot of people are familiar with the Biblical story of “David and Goliath,” but are they familiar with the events leading up to that famous encounter between the two, which has fostering ideas including the size of a person may not necessarily make him a victor in a fight with a much smaller person? And where does the “Harmful Spirit” fit in? Well, here’s the story behind the story.

It starts in 1 Samuel 15:1 in the OT. In those days, the Philistines were a massive headache to the people of Israel. Do things like this ever change with the people Israel? Anyway, as told in 1 Samuel 15, the Lord says to Samuel to go to Saul and tell him God has anointed Saul King over Israel. Samuel further says to Saul that God wants him to annihilate the Amalekites, who had tormented the Hebrews on their way to Israel in their 40-year journey from Egypt. Samuel says that God wants nothing left, not “man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey,” as it says in 1 Samuel 15:3.

So, Saul defeats the Amalekites, but contrary to God’s command, Saul spares its King and takes alive “the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good,” not destroying them, according to 1 Samuel 15:9.

In Verse 10, God tells Samuel He regrets having made Saul King since Saul, by sparing the animals mentioned above, has disobeyed him. In subsequent Verses Samuel conveys this message to Saul, and he also essentially tells Saul that God has fired him as King of Israel.

What follows in Chapter 16 is a tie-in that eventually leads to David’s fight with Goliath. In 1 Samuel 16:14–17, God sends a “harmful spirit” to torment Saul. Saul’s servants, seeing this, tells Saul that a man who is “skillful in playing the lyre” will make Saul well when he plays it. Saul tells his servants to provide such a man. The man happens to be David. Not only that, but before David appears to Saul, David in 1 Samuel 16:12 is anointed the new King of Israel by God, and Saul doesn’t know this; neither do most of Israel’s people.

So, when David appears before Saul and plays his lyre, Saul is made well and he keeps David by his side, not knowing that he’s keeping by his side his own replacement.

Shortly thereafter, in Chapter 17, Goliath issues his challenge to Saul to send one man alone against Goliath to fight him. David, knowing he has Saul’s ear, convinces Saul to let him fight Goliath. Saul, convinced, says ‘OK, go,’ and the rest is history.

Would David have known of the challenge if he wasn’t in Saul’s company? Who knows? But in Chapter 18, Saul becomes jealous of David who is glorified by the Israelis, to the point where he tries to kill David with a spear. But the Harmful Spirit appears again in 1 Samuel 18:10, causing Saul to rave within his house. With the presence of the Harmful Spirit, though, Saul misses and he realizes at that point that God is with David and He had departed from Saul.

Too make a long story short, after a number of interceding events including battles involving David, in 2 Samuel 5:1–3 David is anointed King by the people of Israel. All things considered, it seems the “Harmful Spirit” was harmful only to Saul.

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• President Donald Trump unveiled the new rates in letters to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum.
• Trump said that if the EU or Mexico retaliates with higher tariffs, “then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added on to the 30% that we charge.”
• “Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” Trump wrote to Sheinbaum.

Trump floats stripping Rosie O’Donnell of US citizenship: ‘She is a Threat to Humanity’

“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Surely, President Trump is just kidding around?

Public media is more at risk now than ever before. Despite overwhelming public opposition, the House passed a rescissions package that would eliminate $1.1 billion in already-approved funding for public media. If enacted, it would strip essential services from communities nationwide — and could force rural stations off the air entirely.

The Senate will vote on the rescissions package next week, and changes are still possible. Now is the time to urge them to remove the proposal targeting public media from the package.

Shalom

Praise the Lord because he is good!

I have been suffering from extreme back pain for a week and ask for your prayers in the name of Jesus Christ.

Thank you very much, and God bless you and your family in Jesus' name, Amen.

The situation for Christians worsened after the July 2023 coup. There were fears this would open the country to further attacks from Islamist extremists. The impact of this continued throughout 2024.
The jihadist group al-Sunnah wa Jama’ah (ASWJ) has made life increasingly difficult for Christians in Niger. In areas under militant control, church services and other events are carried out under the shadow of potential violence or physical attack. The presence of radical Islamist groups has led to frequent attacks and kidnappings, significantly limiting the freedom and safety of Christians. It’s also led to a rise in attacks on Christian property, such as churches, schools and health-care centres.
Those who leave Islam to follow Jesus face pressure from their families to renounce their new faith. Pressure also comes from the authorities. The legal process for registering a church is arduous and protracted, and legal roadblocks have been used to prevent Christians from gathering. Believers can also face discrimination in the public sector; they seldom secure jobs within local government services, and promotions are frequently denied.

Meet Elisabeth​

“We are facing persecution day and night. Oh God, deliver us from this bad situation.”
Elisabeth (name changed), who has been persecuted by her mother because of her faith.

What does Open Doors do to help?​

Open Doors works through partners in Niger to strengthen persecuted Christians through economic empowerment programmes, leadership and discipleship training, persecution survival training and pastoral care for new believers.

Please pray​

• Pray that God will bring order and prevent extremists from taking power or territory.
• Pray that God will protect Christians from Islamist attacks.
• Pray for converts from Islam – especially young people – who face rejection and oppression.

The beast with seven heads and ten horns in Revelation 17, 12, 13 is the Roman Empire.

Revelation 17 beast with the seven heads and ten horns is the fourth kingdom of Daniel 7 - the Roman Empire - it's status at the time of John, 1st century.

In Revelation 12, the fourth kingdom the Roman Empire (manifested in the end times as the EU) - its status with 7 years before Jesus returns. Revelation 12:6, the 1260 days, plus Revelation 12:14, the time/times/half time total the 7 years.

In Revelation 13, the fourth kingdom the Roman Empire (manifested in the end times as the EU) - its status with 42 months before Jesus returns. Revelation 13:5, the 42 months rule of the beast-king.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Revelation 17 (status first century)
7 heads - no crowns - the prophecy of the 7 kings incomplete. king 7 yet to come.
10 horns - no crowns - the prophecy of the 10 kings not started.

Revelation 12 (status with 7 years before Jesus's return)
7 heads - crowns - the prophecy of the 7 kings complete, king 7 the little horn person in power.
10 horns - no crowns - the prophecy of the 10 kings started, but no crowns since the little horn person has not become the beast-king yet.

Revelation 13 (status with 42 months before Jesus's return)
7 heads - no crowns - no crowns because the little horn person has been assassinated, ending the prophecy of the 7 kings.
10 horns -crowns - to rule with the beast-king (the little horn person brought back to life) for the 42 months.

Jesus encouraged his disciples to struggle against sins. We are also his disciples. We also struggle against sins.

Saints like Maximilian Kolbe taught that repeated falls can be occasions for deeper humility and dependence on grace—not despair.

The Church sees the struggle with sin as a path to holiness, not a sign of failure. As Augustine said, “God would not allow evil if He were not powerful enough to bring a greater good from it.”

The Church offers Confession and the Eucharist as means of grace to strengthen the soul against sin.

Prayer, fasting, and cultivating virtues like chastity, humility, and temperance are essential tools in this struggle.

I encourage every reader of this post, Catholic and non-Catholic to take courage from the holy scriptures and from the example of the saints and the teaching of the Church in their struggle against sins.

Yesterday the Lord led me to write a meme on the subject of “Internet Trolls.” And as I read this passage of Scripture this morning, that is what immediately came to mind. For these internet trolls work like messengers of Satan, working to try to trick us into some kind of response that would not be of God, that would not be God’s will and purpose for our lives. For they instigate (incite, goad, provoke) a particular negative response, hoping to trip us up, just like the Pharisees did to Jesus, which is how Satan works.

But we have to not take the bait. And with internet trolls, the best thing we can do is to ignore them, and to not take the bait, and to not get into useless and meaningless debates with them, which are meant to tear us down, to distract us, to get us upset, and to tempt us to sin against God. So we need to pray for spiritual discernment so that we don’t let Satan get us to the point of frustration or anger or fear. We need to discern if a response is legitimate or if it is intended to stir us up emotionally to commit sin.

So, if a responder comes at me, “all guns blaring,” attacking me personally, when this “person” does not know me, making up stuff about me that is not true, accusing me falsely of what I did not do or say, I need to stop and pray, and seek the counsel of God as to whether or not I should give any response at all, and if so, what that biblical response should be, spoken in love, and never in hate. For when Satan came at Jesus, to tempt him, Jesus always responded with “It is written..” (in the Scriptures).

But if we quote Scripture to some of these internet trolls, they may just attack us, or they may also quote Scriptures, but out of context, and twisted to their advantage, or which have nothing at all to do with the topic of the writing to which they are responding. For their objective is to confuse, to distract, to upset, to attack, to contend with, to disrupt, to anger, and to create chaos and discord, to disrupt meaningful conversations, and to try to incite emotional distress and fear or anger in their intended target.

If an internet site on which we post has moderators, and a way to report a responder who is obviously being vicious, and who is trying to incite fear or a response so that they can continue in their attacks, and/or because what the responder is doing clearly goes against the site’s rules of decency and respect for other humans, then it is good if we can report such individuals to the moderators, and if we have moderators who will take action, and if they will not permit such vicious and personal attacks, one person to another.

And this is not saying that we all have to agree with everyone on everything in order to “make peace.” But if we disagree, we should do so respectfully, calmly, trusting the Lord to give us the right words to say, which will be beneficial to others who are watching, reading, or listening in on the conversations. We, as Christians, should not allow ourselves to get into heated debates or arguments which produce nothing good, and we should not lower ourselves to name calling and to personally attacking others.

Now, Jesus did speak the truth in love, at times, to his opponents, so this is certainly not saying that we cannot speak truth in response to lies, but it should be the truth, and not a heated and emotional response just because someone disagreed with us on any given subject. But we also need to learn when to just walk away from a discussion, because it is going nowhere good. I see so many heated discussions among Christians that can go back and forth indefinitely, but that end up producing nothing of value to anyone.

Satan’s goal is to get us to fail. And he will attack us in our weaknesses, for sure, on days when we are more emotional or tired or already distressed over a particular situation. He will go at us at our weakest points in order to try to bring us down and to get us to fail. So we need the wisdom of God in these situations spoken of here, so that we don’t get caught in the devil’s traps and end up ruining our testimonies for Jesus Christ. And we need the wisdom of God as to when to just walk away and to not get engaged.

So we need to test the spirits: [Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; Romans 16:17-19; 2 Corinthians 11:3,13-15; Ephesians 4:11-16; Philippians 3:2; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:1-25]

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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The Devil’s Schemes
An Original Work / July 12, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Calvinism paints a picture of a God who preplanned the salvation of each individual, that the number that was to be saved was fixed before creation, and that the will or actions of man play no part in man's eternal destiny. As stated in The Westminster Confession of Faith:

The idea (above) of God fixing destinies was not believed for the first 400 years of recorded Christian history. Those who came directly after the Apostles believed our actions determine if we are saved. The Earliest Church Leaders believed in Free Will theology. The idea that we work in Synergy with God, that our actions, either good or evil, determine if we are saved. Making statements like:

So what am I posting today? Well, I was doing my daily Bible reading, and came across the following which supports the Free Will, argument.

Firstly, it shows that God's plan is not fixed, that when He decrees a thing, He does change His mind, based upon man's actions. If everything was predestined, then He would "know all things", and would never have made the statement.

Secondly, it shows there is an action of man's that brings God's honor, or displeasure.


and

Dear friends,

Did you know that Malechi 4 is fullfilled? He would send healing under His wings and restore the heart of the children (present day Christians) to the hearts of the fathers (Christians in the Book of Acts). We witnessed millions of healings through the ministry of Oral Roberts and William Branham.

I got healed myself too from psychosises. I read about the healings and prayed to the Lord Jesus and am healed. Even my wife and son who got kidnapped in Peru by the corrupt government and churches will reunite with me soon, by prayer and believing the Word of this hour!

Kind regards.

Dominique

So often the major media portrays these people as "protestors" or the clashes as "mostly peaceful protests." Judge for yourself.

A Catholic flight attendant who says United Airlines fired him after he endorsed Catholic teachings on marriage and gender identity while talking with a co-worker can proceed with his lawsuit against his union for not standing up for him, a federal judge has ruled.

The flight attendant, Ruben Sanchez, of Anchorage, Alaska, claims the airline investigated his extensive social media posts only after receiving what he describes as “baseless accusations” arising from a red-eye flight conversation in May of 2023 — and that when the company came up with nothing that violated its social media policy, it terminated him anyway.

Sanchez filed the lawsuit in January of 2025 against United Airlines and the union he belonged to while working for the airline, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

In court papers, he claims the airline violated his right to express his religious beliefs and discriminated against him because of his age, which was 52 at the time of the firing two years ago. He said had served as “a loyal United flight attendant” for almost 28 years.

Continued below.

While it is daytime, we must do the works of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
J 9:4-5

When Jesus left, He sent the Holy Spirit. And there is church and a lot of people are doing good works. What does it mean that "night is coming, when no one can work"?

O gracious and holy God,
Give us wisdom to know you, Intelligence to understand you, Diligence to seek you,
Patience to wait for you,
Eyes to behold you,
A heart to meditate upon you,
A life to proclaim you.
To the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

Amen.

“O glorious St. Benedict, sublime model of all virtues, pure vessel of God's grace! Behold me, humbly kneeling at thy feet. I implore thy loving heart to pray for me before the throne of God. To thee I have recourse in all the dangers which daily surround me. Shield me against my enemies, inspire me to imitate thee in all things. May thy blessing be with me always, so that I may shun whatever God forbids and avoid the occasions of sin.

Graciously obtain for me from God those favors and graces of which I stand so much in need, in the trials, miseries and afflictions of life. Thy heart was always so full of love, compassion, and mercy towards those who were afflicted or troubled in any way. Thou didst never dismiss without consolation and assistance anyone who had recourse to thee. I therefore invoke thy powerful intercession, in the confident hope that thou wilt hear my prayers and obtain for me the special grace and favor I so earnestly implore (mention it), if it be for the greater glory of God and the welfare of my soul.

Help me, O great St. Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child of God, to be ever submissive to His holy will, and to attain the eternal happiness of heaven.

Amen.”

Self-explanatory

Looking for new and exciting ways to pray!

Your comments are all welcome!

God bless you all abundantly!

*You are in the Catholic forum*

Permission to post in full

When Protestants say Peter can't be 'the rock,' they have it exactly backwards​

I grew up in the American South, and I was raised in a Protestant family. But when I was six or seven years old, my parents had some kind of disagreement with the elders of our church, and they stopped going. So after that, I was raised nominally Protestant, and we’d go to church only once or twice a year when we visited my grandparents.

When I was a teenager, I was involved in the New Age Movement, but I broke with that when I turned 18.

At age 20, I had a conversion to Christ, and I became a serious Christian—something I’ve been ever since. Following this conversion, I wanted to devote my life to teaching God’s word, and I planned to become a seminary professor and maybe a pastor.

But I still needed to figure out what church I should be part of.

In my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas, we have dozens of churches—all different kinds. But I realized that what church has services at a time I like is not a good test of whether that church’s doctrine is true. Neither is what church is in convenient driving distance. Or what church has a pastor I like, music I like, or a social group I like. So I shouldn’t let my decision of what church to join be influenced by any of those things, because figuring out what is true is the most important thing.

I thus worshiped in local Protestant churches—since that is how I’d grown up—but I made a point of studying the theology of all the different branches of Christianity.

I studied the different Protestant groups, like Anglicans, Lutherans, Calvinists, Methodists, Baptists, and Pentecostals. But I also studied the theologies of Eastern Orthodox Christians and even Catholics.

That was saying something, because the church I had my conversion in was very anti-Catholic, so I heard lots of anti-Catholic preaching and read lots of anti-Catholic material. But I still studied what they had to say—even if it was just so I could talk Catholics out of the Church better.

And then, one day, it happened.
I was reading a Catholic book—specifically, Evangelical Catholics by Deacon Keith Fournier. And it had a long quotation from Matthew 16 in it—you know, the “You are Peter” passage:

Continued below.

N.B.: the term "Christian" in this story actually means "Catholic,"--whether Roman or an Orthodox sister-church. That translation applies to almost all news reports from the Middle East.

Priests of the churches in Tabyeh, the last fully Christian town left in the West Bank, have implored help from “international actors” amid a destructive siege by Israeli settlers.
“Israeli settlers are torching holy sites, destroying farmland, and terrorizing families. The priests of Taybeh are crying out for help. The world must hear them — and act,” human rights activist Jason Jones urged on Tuesday....

Click to expand...

Netanyahu's war on Catholics is not a new thing for Israel; it is merely a continuation of a decades-old policy whereby long-settled Catholic communities are systematically eradicated by Jewish "settlers" who lay claim to land--and then find ways to 'remove' the original inhabitants. (Yes, it is a replication of the wars on Indians in the USA.)

Continued below.

Democrats clash with ICE over characterization of marijuana farm raid

I guess this is an admission he was born on Krypton and is not a natural born American. Too late to do anything now.