House Judiciary Committee

Bible Buyers Tracked by the Feds and Banks?

"According to this analysis, FinCEN warned financial institutions of 'extremism' indicators that include 'transportation charges, such as bus tickets, rental cars, or plane tickets, for travel to areas with no apparent purpose,' or 'the purchase of books (including religious texts) and subscriptions to other media containing extremist views.' In other words, FinCEN urged large financial institutions to comb through the private transactions of their customers for suspicious charges on the basis of protected political and religious expression."

Login to view embedded media
1 Peter 2:14
Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

I think this is great. The government’s main job is to punish (inflict negative consequences upon) evildoers. Leeching off this country is wrong, and they should go back to their own countries and work.

I'm new to this forum currently seeking advice on a problem. I'm currently a 4-year member of a church. We changed churches because we had to move. I poured myself into this new church for the first 2 years. I did this really to try and connect to other women in the church and to serve. I loved every minute of this time I had in the church. Because of some major life changes, I had to stop all of my volunteering at the church. I feel that I was naive in assuming that I had nurtured some great friendships with the women that I was volunteering with in the church, but I was sadly wrong. I am still able to attend the Wednesday Bible study, Sunday morning, and the twice monthly evening services that we have in homes. Still, I have no connections any more. I went to the pastor with my husband asking for advice on what I should do at this point. He told me to volunteer. I was stunned considering he knew my current situation as to why I simply could not volunteer in this season of life. It's been 2 years now despite my extra efforts in trying to maintain friendship. I've given up and I'm so sad. I don't even want to attend this church anymore, but I continue to go. I go for my children and my husband. This church is a wonderful place for my husband and children, but it's not for me. I feel selfish posting this thread, but I'm at my end. I've tried explaining to my husband but he doesn't see my struggle as an issue. I'm not blaming anyone for the problems that I am facing. I would just like advice on what to do next. I feel stuck.

Hello brothers and sisters in our Lord!

I have had a lot weighing on my mind over the past few days regarding the Catholic Doctrine of "The Fewness of the Saved". I am a devout Roman Catholic and I had never heard of this doctrine before. I am used to having always been taught mercy and forgiveness not the pretty much IMPOSSIBLE chance of reaching Heaven. In this doctrine, backed by many Saints, very, VERY few Christians who think they are saved go to Heaven and most go to Hell. In this doctrine, according to Saint Leonard Of Port Maurice, on the hour of his death only two people out of 33.000 went to heaven and 3 out of 33,000 went to Purgatory. That means that MANY Christians who really followed and loved The Lord are in Hell. Only a few that are "Chosen By God" make it to Purgatory or Heaven. That is severely frightening to me because that would mean Heaven is basically reserved for the chosen Saints and that is about it. I am losing hope since the thought of Heaven and a love for our beautiful Lord are what get me through my days. I am far from perfect, and I fear perfection is what it takes. What do you all think?

Here is some information about this doctrine: The Fewness Of The Saved

A Roman Catholic Priest's sermon this doctrine: Login to view embedded media

This is a quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson and I am not saying God is not real this is just to debate his quote

If you knew nothing about science and you read the Bible the Old testament which in Genesis is an account of nature, and I said to you give me your description of the natural world based only on this you would say the world was created in six days, and that stars are just little points of light much lesser than the Sun that the fact that they can fall out the sky because that's what happens during the revelation During the Revelation one of the signs that the second coming is that the Stars will fall out of the sky and land on Earth, what that means is you don't know what those things are you have no concept of what the actual universe is.

That quote is basically one of the reason many people are leaving the church, Christiasns are actually taking everything in the bible litterally. Its a book filled with wisdom but the writers were ignorant of just how complex the universe is, geology, astronomy, archeology, biology, those four
sciences debunk much of the bible. A star falling onto the earth...its rediculous. I do not believe in god because of the bible, I belive in God because the universe is so complex that there has to be a designer. I am not calling god ignorant, but the writers were
ignorant of the reality of the universe.

It slowly got worse, now I can't even sit for 1 minute and then have a stabbing pain. I don't know if its a nerve thing, or a prostate thing or what.
Please pray for healing. 2 years ago i had this pain very similarly, but it only stabbed me suddenly kind of out of no where, which it did last week, usually after sitting, but some times before bed. Now it seems to just give me a pain right away if i sit, or even lay in a certain position it will ache. Please pray for the pain to go away. But HIS stripes healed.

I was taught a Pretrib Rapture in the early 70s by friends and the church I began to attend. But I had been raised in church from birth where no such thing ever existed. Since this was new to me, and held by all my new Christian friends, I thought Pretribism was the way to go.

Hal Lindsey had written a book called "The Late Great Planet Earth," and was taking the "world by storm." Lindsey was out of Dallas Theological Seminary, I believe, where they all taught Dispensationalism, which contains Pretrib Doctrine.

So I watched the movies that depicted Christians suddenly disappearing, leaving their cars and planes unattended, and maybe even leaving their clothes behind. And the world "left behind" seemed caught unprepared and unaware of what just happened.

So the world came up with some idea to explain how so many people ended up disappearing--perhaps an alien invasion? And they then proceeded to become terribly ungodly and antichristian since the Christians of the world had gone away, leaving backsliders and pagans in charge.

Not long after becoming Pretrib my brother started harping on me about the need to memorize Scripture. He had participated in Bill Gothard's course on Bible memorization and wanted to pass that on to me. After preaching to me for a half hour or so I decided maybe I should try to memorize some Scripture.

To my surprise memorization came easy for me. Before I knew it I had memorized a few entire books of the NT. 1 John, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians were were I started. I probably memorized half of the book of Revelation before I got a stopped doing this.

In the process of memorizing 2 Thessalonians I realized that Paul was teaching *against Pretribism!* He said that the Rapture cannot take place until Antichrist is actually destroyed at the Coming of Jesus! And in his time Antichrist had not come yet.

From this point on I've been Postrib. I had a moment of doubt when I moved to S. CA in the mid-70s, after reading Chuck Smith's Commentary on the Revelation. But after some unusual circumstances I was led, I believe, back to full acceptance of Postrib Doctrine, and determined never again to doubt what my 2 eyes are telling me!

I say all this to explain this post. I still believe a Rapture will happen. But will it have the same strange phenomena happen as with the Pretrib scenarios, with people disappearing and the world left trying to explain where people went? This seems all so mythical to me, so fable-like! I'm a bit embarrassed to present the Gospel with things so unlikely, though the resurrectiton is equally a miracle but far more likely in my thinking.

I'm wondering if maybe the real Rapture will be unlike how the Pretrib movies portray it? Jesus said that when he comes will he find faith on the earth? This means that though Nominal Christianity is ubiquitous and common, genuine born again Christianity will not be so apparent, and may not exist as such except in dark corners of the earth.

If so, the Rapture may be more of an unseen event, as though happening when most of the world is hunkered down in bomb shelters during a nuclear war, rather than driving cars and piloting planes. If you look at the account of Elijah's "Rapture" he is even searched for, being that the event is far more subtle than a large-scale disappearance.

Perhaps the real Rapture will be confined to much smaller numbers in a time when religion is on the way out, and born again Christianity is so marginalized that it is no longer part of the mainstream? This may be a ways off, but the way things are going now I can see it happening. Large groups of Christians are being exposed as frauds, and antiChristianity is taking over the world, pushing true Christians out of the way. Your thoughts?

2 Kings 2.9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”
“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.
10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”
...16 “Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.” “No,” Elisha replied, “do not send them.”

In short well I am a 40 year old bachelor, somehow it worked out that way I love to cook, travel as there is time, I value peace and quiet in my own 4 walls. Owner of 3 cats, rather a homebody although he does not look like one, a man with firm and concrete principles or values in life.

Are all of these saved? Does it matter which denomination or sect you belong to...?

How much leeway is there when it comes to personal preference, or are there denominations that are wrong?

Are all the main ones that we find on this site basically ok?

The reason that Biden is doing this is to give his Big Labor supporters a boon. He has not been able to shepherd through his major pro-union legislation – the PRO Act – so he’s tackling smaller pieces of it through executive action.

Biden promised to be the “most pro-union president you’ve ever seen,” so he needs to reward all those campaign donations.

And Biden’s doing it regardless of the impact on the economy.

Independent contractors cannot be unionized, so the more companies lean on these workers, the less ability unions have to organize.

It’s really that simple.

More people suffer to enrich a few.

Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for Roman, added that a relationship between Willis and Wade resulted “in the special prosecutor, and, in turn, the district attorney, profiting significantly from this prosecution at the expense of the taxpayers.” She claimed that documents in the sealed divorce case would substantiate Roman’s claims and requested the judge order them to be unsealed.
Let's see what Ms. Willis has to say.

Inquiry letter from House Judiciary Committee asking for transcribed interview:

To me the government long ago crossed the line as to legitimate investigations for criminal activity. They are misusing government resources to go after those with different political and religious views.

In California, a joint effort will oversee a multi-stage, four-year plan to help Behren’s silverspot butterfly return in numbers to the coastline of Northern California.

Vitalized by a $1.5 million grant from the State of CA Wildlife Conservation Board, the Mendocino Land Trust (MLT) is planning to plant 35,000 early blue violets, the only plant which the caterpillars of these blazing orange butterflies can eat, along with a mixture of supporting native plants.

Invasive grasses have greatly decreased the footprint of these small purple flowering plants along Northern California’s Mendocino coastline—from Salt Point Park in Sonoma County to the Mendocino Headlands, Anna Bride—and the conversion of these plants back to native wildflowers will cover 53 acres.

Continued below.

Again, we have another passage of Scripture where what is being taught by Jesus is the opposite of what so many humans are teaching today as the truth. For the popular “gospel” being taught in America today indeed tells people that they can just say, “Lord, Lord,” and now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and that heaven is guaranteed them and it can’t be taken away from them, but regardless of how they live. And so many are teaching that we don’t have to repent of sin and obey God.

For they take Romans 10:9-10 out of context, and they give people the impression that they can just make a verbal confession of Christ as Lord, and they can just claim to believe in their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, and that now they will be saved, end of story. But we need to read this in context and we need to read it in the context of the whole book of Romans, for Paul did not teach that we can make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now we are saved, regardless of how we live.

For in Romans 2 we read that God is going to render to each one of us according to our works, and for those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury (see Romans 2:6-8).

And then if you skip over to Romans 6, we read that by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified and buried with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Thus, we are to no longer let sin reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its passions, for if sin is what we obey, and not obedience to our Lord and to his commands, it will lead to death, not to life eternal with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

And Paul taught the same thing in many other passages of Scripture where he taught us that if sin is what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what we have confessed with our lips, and regardless of what we say we believe in our hearts. For true belief is obedience to the Lord and it is divine persuasion to do the will of God. It is not a free license to continue living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord while we claim Jesus as Lord and heaven as our eternal destiny.

[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 1:18; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 15:1-11; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 2 Tim 1:8-9; 2 Tim 2:10-13; Tit 2:11-14]

So Paul taught the same thing that Jesus taught. He taught that we are not saved and all our sins forgiven based on lip service or an intellectual assent to who Jesus was and to what he did. He taught that we must die with Christ to sin and that we must now walk in obedience to his commands and no longer in sin if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And he did teach that works are required of us by God and that we need to live our lives to be pleasing to God if we want eternal life with God.

[Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 5:9; 2 Co 9:8; Gal 5:6; Gal 6:8; Eph 2:10; Eph 5:10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:9-14; 1 Thes 2:4; 1 Thes 4:1; 2 Thess 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:4,21; Tit 2:11-14; Tit 3:8; Heb 11:6; Heb 13:6]

So, please believe Jesus’ words, and please know all that Paul taught, and read what he wrote in context so that you don’t come away with the wrong idea about what he taught. For so many preachers today are teaching lies because they are taking Scriptures out of their context, some of them knowingly and willfully, and they are twisting the Scriptures to say what they do not say if they are read in their appropriate context. So many of them are teaching no works, no repentance, no obedience, and lip service only.

But what did Jesus say? He said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” is going to enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven. And he said that many will confess him as Lord and will claim the things they believed they did in his name, but his response to them is going to be, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” And this is because they had the idea that obedience to our Lord was not required and that a once in their lifetime confession of faith in Jesus Christ was all that was required of them.

So, please read the Scriptures in their full context, and stop believing other humans without even testing their words against the Scriptures to make certain that what they are teaching is actually the truth. For far too many people are accepting this idea that they can just make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now they are good to go to heaven regardless of how they live. And so many of them are continuing in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord, but according to the Scriptures, they will not inherit eternal life with God, but the wrath of God is what they will be facing instead.

Broken Cord

An Original Work / August 29, 2018

Your bond is broken with your Lord and Savior
And your testimony is separate from Him.
Your words not matching your actions today.
Repent of your sin and bow down and pray.
Live what you testify in truth always.

Purity’s lacking in your life and witness,
For you profess one thing, but other you do.
Not moral, spiritual. Still of the flesh.
Not living in truth to what you confess.
Lying about it puts you in a mess.

Living a lie is your practice, ‘tis true of you.
Masquerade righteousness – none of it true.
Your heart is not given to your Lord God.
Because of how you live, you are a fraud.
Turn from your sin and give your life to God.

Login to view embedded media

I think one of the main stated differences between Protestants and Catholics is the notion of faith and works. From a Catholic perspective, are you in disagreement with the statement below:

"But in Christianity, good deeds are the necessary concomitant or outflow of sincere faith, not meritorious deeds done for the sake of salvation. Good deeds are the evidence of genuine, living faith, and in the absence of such deeds so-called faith is dead (James 2.17).

A person who lives a life of immorality while confessing Christ is a hypocrite whose faith is dead and useless. Good deeds are a necessary condition of salvation in a logical sense, in that, necessarily, if someone has saving faith, then he will do good deeds"

I have been studying Church History of late, and the lecturer is a Reformed Presbyterian (I have nothing against Presbyterians). I am really enjoying the course, but find my mind stirred by the doctrine of predestination. I had a similar experience last time I studied theology (20 years ago), and so would really love to have an honest discussion with someone who follows reformed theology. I guess part of my problem is that I don't really know what I think with respect to predestination, and so I'm wanting someone to try to convince me that Augustine and Calvin were right ...

Original sin is the idea that every human being is born inheriting a state of sinfulness from Adam and Eve. The terms are not in the Scripture. When it comes to doctrines, I prefer to adhere to the wording of the Scripture. People who like to generalize tend to overgeneralize in a doctrine. I know the following:

Romans 3:

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus

Click to expand...

We are all guilty of sin, whether original or not, and we all need Christ's blood to redeem us.

Ro 5:

18 As one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Click to expand...

Paul didn't use the word inherited. Paul was careful with his wording.

19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Click to expand...

Paul didn't say "all".

Did Jesus inherit the original sin?

I don't think so. No human inherits the original sin, but we all sin except Jesus.

Regarding babies in the womb, Romans 8:

10b when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad

Click to expand...

Why do babies die?

We all die, 1 Corinthians 15:

22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Click to expand...

We all die because of the consequence of the first sin, not because we have inherited the original sin in our bodies. Even Jesus died. Adam and Eve fell and brought the first sin into the world. As a consequence, everyone is subject to death. Babies are born into a sinful world. They could physically die at birth, but they are not automatically condemned to eternal death because of Adam's or Eve's sin. They do not die for the first sin itself. They die because of the consequence of being existing in a sinful world.

Did Adam and Eve have a sinful nature?

Everyone has a sinful nature to more or less extent. After the fall, sin affected the environment. Sin increased and became prevalent. There were more opportunities to sin.

Because humans are created in God's image, our consciences contain a righteous nature to some extent.

Adam and Eve had a better chance not to sin in their pure environment than we are today in our sinful world. We inherited a sinful world.

So lets take a look at the Little Horn power we find in Daniel starting in chapter 7 and break Daniel into parts:
Daniel 7:2-4
7:2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
7:3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
7:4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

Most everyone agrees this is Babylon.
Daniel 7:5
7:5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

Same agreement that this is Medi-Persia
Daniel 7:6
7:6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.

Pretty much agreement this is Greece
Daniel 7:7
7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

Here we see Pagan Rome with the ten horns, which are the nations which came up with it. We also get a description in Daniel 2..
Daniel 2:33 &41-43
33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

We see how the nations of the empire progressed and become Western Civilization in Europe, and still have not been able to unite in the manner of the Roman Empire..
Daniel 7:20 &24
7:20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

So the ten toes mixed with iron and clay are of the fourth Beast who subdues three of the kings, and the Little Horn also comes out from the fourth Beast:
Daniel 7:8
7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

This is Papal Rome, we see much agreement in history..

"Out of the ruins of political Rome, arose the great moral Empire in the 'giant form' of the Roman Church." – A.C. Flick, "The Rise of the Medieval Church," 1900, p. 150.

We see the three of the first horns...

The three kingdoms were to be plucked up to give place for the Papacy. This prediction found the exact fulfillment in the destruction of the three Arian kingdoms: the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths.

"I might cite that three that were eradicated from before the Pope out of the last first given; viz., the Heruli under Odoacer (AKA Odovacar), the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths."- 'Hora Apocalyptica, Vol. III, p. 168, Note 1, London: 1862.

Now we see in verse 8 and 25 that the little horn had eye`s like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things and it "he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time." or 1260 prophetic years.
Daniel 7:8
I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Daniel 7:25
Dan 7:25. He shall speak words against the Most High and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

But at the end the Little Horn power or Papal Rome will be destroyed at the coming of Christ...
Daniel 7:26
Dan 7:26. But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end.

So we see several points of history which show who the Little Horn power is as it came to power from among the ten divisions of Europe which were the ten horns. It began as "a little horn" or a little power at its beginning then after the three uprooted horns, the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths were taken out of the way as history shows us. So is we look at the little horn, we see it has a man at its head and it is different than the others.
Daniel 7:8
I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

The little horn, not only had temporal or "state" powers, but we see it starts to blaspheme 'mouth speaking great things', so the little horn was a "church-state" combination, and we see more.
Daniel 7:25
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

The Little Horn would speak 'great words against the most High' or blasphemy. And we see the definition of blasphemy from the Bible is to claim to be God and/or to claim to be able to forgive sin. The Little Horn power would persecute or 'wear out the saints' and kill many of the faithful. And we see this in the Dark Ages, during the 'time and times and the dividing of time' or 1,260 years this Little Horn entity's persecutions brought the death of millions and the Little Horn power would think to change times and law. We have to study and discern what scripture tells on this Little Horn entity, and understand..

delete plz

a Google search on what herbs would be helpful with stress showed me this

"Herbal medicines such as Ashwagandha, Rhodiola, Passionflower and Lavender provide a safe, effective and easy-to-use method for mitigating the stress response with extensive research for their use."

I was wondering if any of you have tried these and found them helpful?

Exclusive Data: Thousands of Schools at Risk of Closing Due to Enrollment Loss


I see this as yet more proof of a developing subculture.

We live in a day and time here in America where the majority all appear to be teaching the wide gate and the easy way as the true path to salvation from sin and to eternal life with God. And so they are refuting the idea that we must enter by the narrow gate, and that we must walk in the way that is hard as the way that leads to life everlasting. And they are refuting the notion that the wide gate and the easy way will lead to destruction, decay, and death. And so they have flip flopped these to appease human flesh.

So, if you are one who is teaching the narrow way, which is hard, versus the easy way, that is wide (broad), you are likely to be taken to task and accused of teaching works salvation and legalism, and of being hateful, judgmental, intolerant, and negative. For the easy way is what is being pushed as the true path, and those who are promoting this have managed to convince the masses to believe them and to reject those who are teaching the truth that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught, which is hard.

For this has become all about what makes people feel good who are still habitually and deliberately sinning against the Lord, whether what is being taught is the truth or not. And this has become all about not offending the ungodly and not making them feel bad about themselves and about their sins. So they encourage the ungodly, but then they reject, cast out, slander, and mistreat those who are truly on the path of righteousness, which is the narrow way and the hard way which leads to life with Jesus Christ.

So, what does this mean exactly by these terms narrow and hard and wide and easy? I think we can probably guess the easy one, as it signifies that there is no effort on our part required, which is what is largely being pushed as the truth these days. But they take Scriptures out of context to try to prove their case, too. And the one they often use the most is Ephesians 2:8-9, but they leave out verse 10. And so they teach “no works required” when verse 10 clearly states that works are required (see Ephesians 2:8-10).

But this is where we need to differentiate between works operated in the flesh and works commanded of us by God which are of the Spirit and which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them, as those who are his workmanship. So we must know that Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works, the works he prepared in advance that we should walk in them (see also Titus 2:11-14).

So, what did Jesus teach about the way that is hard and narrow? He taught that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience to his commands, then we have eternal life in him. But if we deny him by how we live our lives on this earth, then when he returns for his bride one day, he will deny us, and we won’t have eternal life in him (see Luke 9:23-26).

We are also taught that the life of one who follows Jesus Christ is the way of righteousness and holiness and moral purity, and honesty, and faithfulness, and obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And it is also the way of suffering for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of righteousness and holiness. Especially if we are out there in the public sharing the narrow way as the right way, and if we are refuting the wide and easy way, which leaves people still in slavery to sin, then we are bound to be persecuted and rejected and falsely accused of wrongdoing.

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

But Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and that we might live for him and no longer for self. He shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we will now honor God with our bodies. And he was crucified on that cross and resurrected from the dead that we might be crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience, we will not have eternal life.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Hebrews 10:23-31; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

So, if you are teaching the narrow and the hard way, and not the easy and the broad way, don’t be surprised and don’t be afraid if you are rejected and accused falsely of teaching lies and not the truth. Just keep speaking truth.

Why Are You Afraid?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Login to view embedded media

he also went to theis church more than anyone

Till March 2024.
Rep Chip Roy sums up my feelings.
Login to view embedded media

How ambitious should a man Christ be in his career and when is his ambitious too much ?