The verse could be read as a comment by saint John reflecting his own interpretation of events or as a comment about how Jesus Jewish enemies interpreted events.

I know next to nothing about Portland in Oregon, but it's in the news here in Australia with its drug problem.


Amsterdam also has an open drug policy (as I understand it). A relative who visited Europe a few years ago described Amsterdam as the "city of low morals".

But they don't seem to have the same visible problem with drug addicts that Portland does.

This is Old Testament teaching, but it is New Testament teaching, too. If we want to be in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, and to have salvation from sin, and the hope of eternal life with God, we must be crucified with Christ 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. And now we must walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. For if sin is what we obey, it will lead to death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it leads to life eternal (Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14).

So, we need to be people who fear the Lord, who honor, value, respect, revere, and obey him in our walks of faith in the Lord Jesus. We must take him and his word seriously and do as he says we ought to do. For if we don’t, and if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of faithful obedience to our Lord, in holy living, then the Scriptures teach that we do not know God, we are not in fellowship with him, we are not born of God, but we are of the devil. And if we stand before him claiming otherwise, he will say, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.”

[1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Matthew 7:21-23]

For Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross, not just to forgive us our sins, and not just to give us the hope of heaven when we die, but he died that we might die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness. And he died that we might live for him and no longer for self. And he shed his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we might now honor God with our bodies in walks of obedience to him and to his commands. So we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires, for that will lead to death, not life.

[1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:1-23]

So, we can’t just “pray a prayer to receive Christ” and then go on living in sin, doing what we want to do, without regard for the life that our Lord Jesus requires that we live. And sin is disobedience to the Lord. So you can be a moral person, but if your life is all about you and what you want, and not about the Lord and what he wants from you, and so you live your life your way to please yourself, and not God’s way to please him in all that you do, then, according to the Scriptures, you will die in your sins and you will not have eternal life with God, for Jesus never was Lord (Master) of your life.

[Romans 8:1-14; Luke 9:23-26; Titus 2:11-14; John 15:1-11; Acts 26:18]

So, please understand that whether we are reading in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, our Lord’s instructions to us are that we must deny self, die to sin daily, and walk in obedience to his commands in holy living. For the righteous are those are doing the will of the Lord, who are doing what is deemed right in his eyes, who are being led by the Lord in the way that he would have us all to go and who are surrendered to doing his will for our lives. For we are all to give our lives to God as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, which is our acceptable worship of him.

[Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2]

My Heart’s Desire

An Original Work / June 29, 2013
Based off Romans 10:1-21; Luke 9:23-26; Ephesians 4:17-24

Loved Ones, Oh, my heart’s desire
Is that you might come to Jesus.
Many appear zealous for God,
But they do not trust in Him.
They have not submitted to the One
Who saved them from their sins;
Not forsaken their sins,
Nor have they obeyed their King.

The word of the Lord is near you:
The word of faith we’re proclaiming:
That you must confess your faith
In Jesus as your Lord and King:
Believe in Him as your Lord,
And follow Him where’er He leads.
Share the gospel; be a witness,
And meet others’ needs.

Beautiful are the feet of those
Who bring the good news of Jesus:
Anyone who would come to Him
Must deny himself today;
Die to sin and self, and
Let the Spirit transform you in heart;
Put on your new self in Jesus,
Yielding to the cross.

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Does your two-year-old need a winter coat for a skiing holiday that they will outgrow before the following winter? What if there’s a cosmic phenomenon that’s taking place you want to see but you have no interest in owning a telescope? Have you ever thought about taking up photography but felt a $1,000 camera investment was risky?

A new retail phenomenon is addressing concerned consumers who are looking to escape spending for waste creation by developing a concept called a “library of things” (LoT) where people can come and rent just about anything, from baby clothes to air fryers.

There are over 2,000 LoTs located in the English-speaking world and Central Europe, and some have been in operation since 1976. Half of them though only sprang up in the last five years.

Continued below.

Hi Friends,

Just interested in you take on the Eco Church which has a central focus on stewarding the environment - growing at pace with climate changing...

Is it a distraction when the great commission is our primary task.

Did God Himself not turn river waters into blood?

Will the earth as we know it not be totally destroyed and remade?

Is this a 'Christian Mother Earth Movement' ???

Hello folks. Who is an example of a Christian historical figure who was rejected or blackballed by the world to fulfill God’s mission instead of their own desires? Let this thread be a list of Christians who were rejected by society because of their faith in God. These figures can be Biblical, saints, Christians from the past few centuries or even more modern day Christian figures.

I will start: Martin Luther King Jr. (mid-20th century)

Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader and Baptist minister was a Christian historical figure who experienced rejection and fulfilled God's mission despite facing obstacles. Throughout his career, King advocated for racial equality and social justice through nonviolent means, inspiring millions of people around the world.

However, King also faced fierce opposition from those who opposed his message of unity and equality. He received numerous death threats, was arrested multiple times, and ultimately assassinated at the age of 39. Despite these challenges, King remained committed to his cause and believed that he was carrying out God's will. In his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, he declared, "With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."

King's unwavering commitment to justice and equality continues to inspire generations of activists and believers today, demonstrating how one person can make a profound impact on the world when they align themselves with God's purposes and remain steadfast in the face of adversity.

I don't think so, Matthew 5:

44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Click to expand...

Jesus told us to love our enemies and pray for them because they might repent. Satan cannot repent. There is no point in praying for Satan or loving the devil.

Luke 8:

12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

Click to expand...

Satan does not want people to be saved. I would not love someone like that.

Jehu the seer spoke to King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 19:

2b “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is on you."

Click to expand...

Should we love Satan with Christian love?

I don't think so.

Should you feel pity for Satan?

I don't. I don't think Jesus did either. Satan tempted Jesus and is tempting you and me every day. Jesus, our advocate, replaced Satan, our accuser, in the Divine Council. Most of the time, I have no feelings toward Satan. I don't think it is healthy to feel pity for Satan frequently.

Author and comedian Russell Brand quoted from the late theologian and pastor Tim Keller last week when he partook in his first communion. According to Church Leaders, Brand, who was baptized in the River Thames in April, posted a video on May 17 where he talked about rituals in a society based on rationalism.

rationalism.




“I took my first holy communion. That means I drank the blood of Christ and ate the body of Christ,” Brand said at the start of his video, which had almost 100,000 views by midday.

In the caption, he wrote, “(Oh yeah that stuff round my gob ain’t Our Lord’s blood. Just protein shake!!!).”

@russellbrand I did my FIRST HOLY COMMUNION AND… (Oh yeah that stuff round my gob ain’t Our Lord’s blood. Just protein shake!!!) #christianity ♬ original sound - Russell Brand

Click to expand...

“How do you make sense of participation in a ritual like that, when you are familiar only with rationalism and materialism and logic?”

Brand asked viewers. “How do you deal with the intersection of the supernatural and the material and the rational? How do you deal with the idea that there is a spiritual dimension that we can interact with and indeed commune with?”

He also said belief in an “ever-present” Christ nowadays seems “almost ludicrous and ridiculous, particularly when there are countermeasures continually in place to tell you that only the rational and material world makes sense.”

A society bedded on rationalism “precludes a belief in the supernatural and [favors] the political over the religious,” Brand said, noting that we end up excluding “so many things that are actually, I believe, impossible to live without.”

Continued below.

Biblical & Practical Guidance for Competing Narratives​

“Democrats along with other global elites and deep state operatives are running a child sex trafficking, Satan worshipping ring.”

“The 9/11 terrorist attack was an inside job planned by the United States and Israel to justify the invasion of Iraq.”

“COVID vaccinations contain tiny nanochips to track our movements.”

These are all entirely false claims that are believed by tens of millions of Americans including many evangelical Christians. If you are a follower of Jesus and claim to believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of God, then truth matters to you. Or at least, truth should matter to you! After all, the word for truth is used 224 times in the Bible.

Virtually every book in the New Testament warns followers of Jesus to be on guard against false teaching and lies. This is not a marginal concern to New Testament writers; rather combatting false teaching and holding on to the truth is central to our Christian faith. So why have so many of us been swept away by conspiracies and rumors that are unsupported by an objective assessment of the evidence?

Why Do Christians Believe in Conspiracy Theories? ​

First, belief in conspiracies tend to spike during times of crisis, such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, times of rapid societal change, or war. Psychologists tell us that conspiracy theories are driven by our desire for understanding. During times of rapid social change, it’s hard to make sense of seemingly random events. A conspiracy helps people “connect the dots.”

Second, conspiracy theories enable people to regain a sense of control. Social scientists tell us that people who feel powerless are more likely to believe in a conspiracy theory than those who feel a part of the power structure.

Third, conspiracy theories appeal to our pride. A believer in a conspiracy is now an “insider” and “a holder of privileged information.”

Fourth, as Michiko Kakutani, a Pulitzer Prize winning literary critic for The New York Times, pointed out: We are living in a period of “truth decay.” She wrote, “The term ‘truth decay’ has joined the post-truth lexicon that includes now familiar phrases such as ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts.’” Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once observed: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” That is not the world that we live in today. Today we not only wrestle over values and moral judgments, but also over “facts.” No matter what you assert, a person can immediately find 10 videos contending the opposite.

Fifth, institutions have suffered a crisis of credibility, and we have lost “gatekeepers of truth.” From the U.S. government to the Roman Catholic Church and evangelical megachurches, almost no institution is trusted by a majority of our
fellow citizens.

Sixth, social media has “democratized” the publication of information. We no longer listen to the news on one of the three major networks. One no longer needs to vet information or get past an editorial board in order to publish information on YouTube or elsewhere.

Seventh, we suffer from the disease of “both side-ism.” We have fallen prey to the idea that to be fair, one has to listen to both sides even if “both sides” do not have equivalent credentials, expertise or access to the facts.

How Can Christians Combat Truth Decay? ​

Continued below.

Michael Marshall, project director of the Good Thinking Society in the U.K., talks about flat earth belief and its relationship to conspiracy theories and other antiscience activities.

So I'm Michael Marshall and I'm the project director of the good thinking society, which is a charity based in the UK. Uh, the whole purpose of our charity is to promote science to challenge pseudoscience. So we'll do work, uh, to forward science education. And then another part of the, the work that we do, which is the bulk of my work, is to find ideas that aren't backed by evidence and find people who are promoting those ideas, find people who are buying into those ideas and to explore them and figure out if anything can be done to prevent people being confused by them, harmed by them misled by them in those kinds of things. So I spent a lot of my time looking at things like alternative cancer kills and the people who promote those and alternative medicine. I've spent a lot of my time going to see people who say they can talk the dead. Who say they can do faith healing.

And then another part of my, uh, my time is spent talking to people who believe in, uh, unusual ideas and who are kind of proponents of them. And that's how I came across the flat earth world, uh, is through my, uh, slightly odd, uh, hobby. Uh, at the time before I was working full time as a, as a skeptic, it was a hobby of mine to, um, be in rooms filled with people who disagree with me. To just understand what brings people to ideas that I would look at and say, well, this can't be true. These kinds of fringe and extreme and unusual beliefs. Um, what brings people to believe them and what kind of paths lead people there? What evidence supports, uh, supports their position in their minds and how do they engage with the world with that worldview and try and have conversations.

Continued below.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NASB20)
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What weakness is being extolled as that which is necessary for His power to dwell in one...?

It is the weakness of when one comes to the end of oneself, for it being the weakness that humbles one before God…. For it is this weakness of when one truly sees from the bottom of one’s heart one is undone, without strength, when one sees that of a truth nothing good dwells in one…. It is from this place, this place of total weakness that faith raises its head as that faith that saves, this faith that looks to Christ to be its All and All….. It is from this place where one’s sees the corruption that is oneself, than the humbling that comes from one knowing of one’s weaknesses, for it is this knowing that leads one’s eyes to look to Christ…. It is from this place that the power of God works in one according to the strength and depths of that one’s looking to Christ…..

For it is in the seeing from the truth that it is the fall into this life of this materiality that is our separation from God, it being the earth created out of the light and the darkness of the first day….. For this light and darkness being both the good and the evil this creation was created out of….

For our salvation is a real pulling of one, out of the darkness into the light in the time of this life, being, the humbleness caused by seeing one’s weaknesses meeting His strength in the realm of faith….


Unto Him be our all, a fellow follower, Not me

LEBANON, Tenn. (WKRC) - Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino said the chain, famous for its Old Country Store, is "just not as relevant as we once were," amid struggling sales.

According to The New York Post, the company's stock has been falling over the past week after Masino, who became the company's CEO nine months ago, claimed Cracker Barrel is "just not as relevant" as it used to be. Per The Post, Cracker Barrel has seen a decline in traffic over the last decade.

A portion of the chain's loyal senior clientele never returned after the end of the pandemic, with Truist analyst Jake Bartlett telling The Post that around 10% of seniors overall have not settled back into their pre-pandemic dining out habits. The publication added that Cracker Barrel has lost 16% of its customers over the past four years.

“We’re just not as relevant as we once were,” Masino said on a call with investors, per The Post. “Some of our recipes and processes haven’t evolved in decades.”


Bartlett told The Post that a major reason the company's stock was struggling was because there "wasn't much of a plan."

“They announced a plan for a plan but they didn’t give investors enough information to judge whether reinvesting in the stores was a credible plan to address the traffic losses,” Bartlett told the publication.

Nation's Restaurant News (NRN) reported that Masino detailed plans for a brand overhaul that involves these five pillars:

• A brand evolution
• Menu enhancement
• Store remodels
• Digital and off-premises investment
• Employee experience improvement

“Cracker Barrel is an iconic brand, but even iconic brands have to evolve,” Masino told investors, per NRN. “We know from our research that despite high levels of consumer affinity, we're just not as relevant as we once were. We need to address these dynamics by refreshing and refining the brand and reflecting this in all of the ways we interact with our guests. We will take what is known and be loved about our differentiated brand and build upon it so that it's more relevant to today's and tomorrow's guests.”

Two former Presidents tweet out messages to America about Memorial Day.

As an outsider I've always been intrigued by how other countries celebrate their fallen soldiers. I can say in Canada, Remembrance Day is a solemn day. It is meant to show humble respect, admiration and gratitude to the soldiers who have fought for us AND the soldiers who have perished. This has been the Canadian way since....I dunno, before I was born, for sure.

On Memorial Day in the US, two US Presidents tweeted about Memorial Day.

Who do you think did a better job at honouring the legacy of the fallen soldiers from your country? Which of these two presidents cares first and foremost for their country?

FDA Approved cloned meat and statement of offspring in the food supply - FDA approves use of cloned animals for food
A study on current risk assessments and guidelines on the use of food animal products derived from cloned animals - PubMed
Mrna vaccination of livestock legislature in Texas proposed and sanctioned 2023-2024 - https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB02632S.htm
Referentials for Genetically Modified Animals including ethic workshops references starting 2017 - Towards progressive regulatory approaches for agricultural applications of animal biotechnology

and additional articles on mrna tech implementation into produce development from agricultural websites.
Grow and eat your own vaccines?
Plants as mRNA Factories for Edible Vaccines

Andrew Klavan said that the firing was a result of the repeated use of 'Christ is King.'


(LifeSiteNews) — Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan admitted that Candace Owens’ firing from the company in March was the result of her repeated use of the phrase “Christ is King,” which he said was co-opted into an “antisemitic trope” by social media users.

Klavan, 69, is ethnically Jewish but converted to Anglicanism in his late 40s. He is a successful screenwriter and author. While claiming to be a conservative, he is an outspoken supporter of homosexual “marriage.”

Continued below.

Parasha: B'Har (On the Mountain) LEVITICUS 25:1-26:2



“Give it a rest! Will ya?” I am sure you have heard that expression before, or “Give it a rest already!”

People tend to say that when one continues in some theme or argues over a point that is "pointless", HOWEVER, God is saying this when He sees the earth, soil, and ground being worked over a 6- year period; “Give it a rest!” just as people need to rest and take their “Shabbat rest” so does the land which belongs to HIM, we are just using it.

"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; 2 for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters." (Psalm 24:1-2) The earth belongs to the Lord and the Lord alone and He created it.

This parashah deals with giving the land a rest after six years of planting and harvesting, on the seventh year the land shall rest. This was a commandment given to the children of Israel when they were at Mt. Sinai. The land which they would inherit was Canaan, (now Israel). They were to implement this when entering and settling down (40 years later). They would plow, plant, and harvest for 6 years, then let the land rest in the 7th year, and also in the 50th year.

Agriculturally, this is good and comes from the mouth of the creator of all the earth. The reason is quite simple to understand. Crops, such as corn, wheat, barley, vegetables, etc., when they grow in the soil, take in nutrients, quite like us, when we eat, we absorb nutrients from the food we eat. Imagine the land after 6 years of planting and harvesting, all those nutrients, minerals, and chemicals from the soil, are being absorbed by the crops sown, if the land does not have a chance to rest and renew itself, it will soon become useless, quite void of nutrients…so… a year’s rest will give the soil enough time to replenish itself.

In a way, one could apply this command (even though it was directed at the land in Israel) for those of us who have gardens in the back of our houses. We can enjoy six years of vegetables and then in the seventh year, just dump compost in the soil, food that goes bad, moldy bread, etc., don’t put it in the garbage, bury it in the garden, do that in that seventh year, and then the next year, plant and harvest again.

We can look at ourselves in a similar way. How do we count our lives? By a 365-day year? Or by sabbaticals? If we were to count our years by the day, we could say we have many days and years ahead of us! Really? Do we know tomorrow? (didn’t think so). However, if we were to count our years on earth by counting by sevens? How many “sabbaticals” have we lived? How many “might” be left? If I were to count my sabbaticals, I would have to count starting in 1954. 1954-1960 first seven years, 1961-67, the second sabbatical. I would have to ask myself, what have I done or accomplished in each of these periods of seven years? Anything of importance? Have I influenced other lives? If we count by sabbaticals, we will find that we really don’t have many sabbaticals to live. I have lived 10 Sabbaticals.

We may not be able to take off from work every 7th year to rest since it wouldn't go well with the boss, we can take some time out to minister the WORD, to counsel, to teach and preach, pass out gospel tracts. It was wonderful to have worked in a school district for 25 years and to have the summers off (with pay). A lot of time to do ministry work, and now that I am retired, more time.

We have our Sabbaths to rest, the land has its Sabbaths to rest. It is part of God's perfect plan, since he rested on the 7th day. the word "Shabbat" not only means to rest, but also, to cease, to stop, to halt, to detain oneself from activities.

The 7th year was also the year that slaves and servants went free in the land of Israel. They would work 6 years and be released on the 7th. If the servant or slave wished to remain with his or her master, they would be able to do that, yet on the year of "Yovel" (Jubilee) which was the 50th year, they would be released.

Even though this might not apply to us today, it teaches us to value those who work for us, or under us (if some of us are employers). To treat employees right and with respect, caring for their needs. They might say one day; "I wish I could work for you forever sir" (I felt that way in my school district. I still miss the Special Ed kids).

Returning to Psalm 24, we need to remind ourselves that the "Earth and all in it belong to Adonai". We are just caretakers for a season, the "all in it" includes spouses, pets, wild animals, the forests, the seas, etc. One day we will give an account as to how we cared for HIS things.

We can look at this in the spiritual realm as well. We are like the crops, which are planted, by Adonai, on this earth, to grow in HIM, and reach maturity. Yet, there comes a harvest time, when we will be harvested to go back home, to our eternal Sabbath’s rest, to enjoy our “Yovel” our time of “Jubilee” to reap what we have sown, souls that have come to YESHUA through our testimonies, believers who have grown to maturity through “teachers of the WORD.”

It is not enough to give out the WORD of God, there must be the ones who teach it, like seeds that are planted and watered. For this reason, spiritual gifts are given, and among those are the “teachers of the WORD” and counselors, who water the seeds so that they may grow, mature, and in the end, be harvested.

26:2 “YE SHALL KEEP MY SABBATHS! AND VENERATE MY SANCTUARY.

We read "Sabbaths" in the plural. All of God's holidays (Holy Days) are considered "Sabbaths." They are times to rest from our labors and just enjoy God, and his WORD, and fellowship with other believers. We must also respect God's House. It is a place of worship. We go to meet the KING of kings and LORD of Lords. It is not a place to run wild and cause havoc (kids out of control) It is a place to learn from God's Word and sing praises, and fellowship/dine with other believers. (food and fellowship) "Oneg" in Messianic circles.

So, rest in Yeshua/Jesus. Take care of HIS things. He's always watching!.


Shavua Tov (Have a good week)

Please PRAY for my kids and I. My wife and I have recently divorced and my kids are with my ex-wife still. Though some of the reasons for the divorce were on me, not all of it was my fault and God has saved me since then. I know my kids are hurting because they don't understand it all and they need there father but right now they are a bit bitter and are not communicating with me.

I love them and want to be there for them and they love me. Please pray that God will make a way for them to forgive me and for me to be able to be the father they need.

Hey, was over here for a while. Back for some posting. God bless.

Federal agents gathered evidence during the 2016 election that Hunter Biden had used access to his father on an official government trip to Beijing aboard Air Force Two to connect prospective Chinese business partners with then-Vice President Joe Biden, according to a massive cache of documents recently turned over to Congress and obtained by Just the News.

"They got to meet Dad. All very good. Talk later,” Hunter Biden wrote in a December 2013 email confirming how he connected his Chinese associates with his father in a Beijing hotel after the vice president had met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The younger Biden also bragged in his emails that his father was so enamored with China's communist leader that "I think they are in love with each other," the emails showed.

"They all most kissed on departure,” Hunter Biden wrote in one of the emails seized by federal agents.

The analogy
A blind man has lost his way.
You tried to steer him on the right path, but he stubbornly refused to hear you. He became deaf to your words.
Now, the man is in a desert, headed for what seems to be certain death.
Should you tell him what's ahead of him and try to point it out as clearly and directly as possible, or should you just let him be, because you do not want to "offend" him?

The actual situation
You realize that someone is misunderstanding and misapplying the scriptures.
You try to in the most loving way, share scriptures and reason on them, with the hope that they will consider these scriptures in light of what they believe, and adjust to what is scripturally clear.
They however, stubbornly stick to what they believe.
Should you show them scriptures that directly and clearly reveal the folly of their belief, or let them be?

I try to be balanced in how I apply Jesus' example, as well as his followers, when talking to religious people.
Is Jesus response at Matthew 15:3-20 to this situation a good one to follow, or should we never do similar, lest we offend persons?
The disciples perhaps thought that Jesus should have taken a different approach.
Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” Matthew 15:12
See Jesus response at Matthew 15:13, 14

What do you think, and what would you do in the situation?

Asking for prayers for my family again. Life has just been continuing to get worse for us. Constant struggle to keep afloat and even health wise. Having to move again, scrounge up spare money for the car and food and so much more. I’m tired of living with the feeling of being unable to breathe.

St. Paul famously describes the Old Testament patriarch Abraham as our father in faith (see Rom 4:16; Gal 3:7), yet this doesn’t seem to square well with Abraham’s treatment of his wife Sarah on not one but two separate occasions.

On the first occasion, in Genesis 12, we’ve only just been introduced to the figure of Abram and his wife Sarai when the biblical narrator announces to us that due to a famine afflicting his native country, “Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land” (Gen 12:10). Upon his arrival, however, Abram is worried that the Egyptians will kill him in order to take custody of his beautiful wife Sarai.

To avoid this, Abram declares that Sarai is merely his sister, even though he knows this means Pharaoh will want to take her and sleep with her. Not unpleased with the arrangement, Pharoah begins to shower gifts upon Abram, until suddenly God intervenes by casting a plague on the royal household. Realizing he has been deceived, Pharaoh angrily summons and rebukes Abram, and instructs him and Sarai to go on their way.

So far so bad. But the plot thickens further when Abram tries the same trick again, though this time it’s in Genesis 20, and it’s after his and Sarai’s re-naming. On this second occasion, the motivation for Abraham and Sarah leaving their native land isn’t explained, but they end up in the territory of Gerar. Once again, Abraham resorts to manipulation, telling the men of that country that Sarah is his sister. When the local king, Abimelech, takes Sarah to be his concubine, God once more intervenes by appearing in a dream to rebuke the unwitting ruler.

Continued below.

Elijah's miraculous deeds will be better understood if we remember that he had been an angel from the very first,
even before the end of his earthly career. When God was about to create man, Elijah said to Him: "Master of theworld! If it be pleasing in Thine eyes, I will descend to earth, and make myself serviceable to the sons of men."

Then God changed his angel name, and later, under Ahab, He permitted him to abide among men on earth, that he
might convert the world to the belief that "the Lord is God." His mission fulfilled, God took him again into heaven,
and said to him: "Be thou the guardian spirit of My children forever, and spread the belief in Me abroad in the
whole world."

His angel name is Sandalphon, one of the greatest and mightiest of the fiery angel host. As such it is his duty to
wreathe garlands for God out of the prayers sent aloft by Israel. Besides, he must offer up sacrifices in the invisible
sanctuary, for the Temple was destroyed only apparently; in reality, it went on existing, hidden from the sight of ordinary mortals.

Click to expand...

In the Bible we have two Prophets who translated to Heaven, they were Elijah & Enoch (Melchizedek) but were they angels ?

We have Elijah who According to later Kabbalistic literature was really an angel in human form, so that he had neither parents nor offspring.
Then we have Enoch ( (Melchizedek) who too had a strange birth.

Were these the two angels that the disciples saw Jesus talking to ?

Are these the two witnesses whom we shall encounter during the last days ? I reckon so.

To be continued ......................

The Unity of the Spirit ....is by the Holy Spirit and for us to keep by our right attitude one to another otherwise we disqualify ourselves.

`I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.` (Eph. 4: 1 - 3)

The Unity of the Faith ....is believing the truths of how the Lord is building His Body and His purposes.

`And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ, till we all come to the Unity of the Faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;.....` (Eph. 4: 11 - 13)

The truths of how the Lord is building His Body -

Salvation, believer`s baptism, infilling of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the 5-fold ministries of the Lord and His eternal Purposes for the Body of Christ, Israel and the nations.

So, what do you believe?

1. All.

2. Some. (please write which, thank you).