MANASSAS, Va. (AP) — A northern Virginia county is acknowledging that it underreported President Joe Biden’s margin of victory over Donald Trump there in the 2020 presidential election by about 4,000 votes, the first detailed accounting of errors that came to light in 2022 as part of a criminal case.

Is this a legitimate warning that should concern us and our governments?
Is so, what should be done about it?

DO YOU KNOW JESUS or Just KNOW ABOUT JESUS?
"That I may know him...." (Philippians 3:10)

Reading Horatius Bonar last night, and I was slammed with conviction, like the hammer of the Word that breaketh the rock to pieces. (Jer 23:29) It is dealing with selfishness, and when I read the following I realized I tend to get sidetracked into this problem: in fact I think a lot of us do. I will let it explain itself:

"The person and work of Christ
There are not a few who are so occupied with truth that they forget “the true one,” so occupied with faith that they lose sight of its personal object, so given to dwelling upon the work of Christ that they overlook His person. They seem to regard the latter subject as a matter, if not beyond them, at least one about which it will be time enough to concern themselves when they see Him face to face. What He is seems a question of small importance, provided they know that He has accomplished a work by which they may secure eternal life. “We are forgiven,” they say, “we have peace—all is well.” They take but little interest in the person of Him Who has purchased these blessings. The redemption is all, and the Redeemer is nothing or, at least, very little! The sufficiency of His work is all; the glory and excellence of His person, nothing! What is this but selfishness? We get all the benefit we can out of the work of Christ, and then leave Him alone!
And this selfishness introduces itself everywhere into the actions and thinking of this class. We can trace it in the mold of their doctrines. Their views of the atonement are selfish, being framed not upon the principle of how God is to get His purpose fulfilled and His glory displayed, but simply of how a sinner is to be saved. Their views of Jehovah’s sovereignty and electing grace are selfish, being just so many devices for taking the sinner out of God’s hands and placing him in his own. Their views of the Spirit’s work are selfish, being just an attempt to make His aid appear less absolutely indispensable and man’s own skill and strength of very considerable avail in the matter of salvation. But even where those selfish views of doctrine have not been adopted, there is a latent tendency toward selfishness among many, which can only be ascribed to their neglect of the person of Christ.
But what has chastisement to do with this? Much every way. Chiefly in this: that it throws us more entirely for consolation and strength upon the person of the Saviour. Never do we feel more brought into contact with a living personal Saviour than in our days of sorrow. It is Jesus—Jesus alone, Jesus Himself—Whom we feel to be absolutely necessary. The truth is precious; His work is precious; but it is with Him that we have chiefly to do. It is to Him that we pour out our sorrows.
Thus by creating a necessity for our leaning on the person of Jesus (blessed necessity!), affliction strikes at that which was the root of selfishness. By bringing before us another and far more glorious self, it absorbs our own miserable self, till in the person of Jesus we lose sight of our own selves altogether. There is nothing that so makes us acquainted with Christ Himself as sorrow; and hence, there is nothing so efficacious (effective) in eradicating self. It is God’s cure for selfishness. It is His way of making us seek, not our own, but the things that are Jesus Christ’s. It is His way of carrying us beyond truth even to “him that is true” (1Jo 5:20). Truth is precious, but in itself it is cold. But the glory of the gospel is this: that it carries us up beyond truth to its living Fountainhead. Nay, it brings us into the very bosom of Him Who came out of the Father’s bosom and has now returned to it, carrying with Him all those whom the Father hath given Him—there with Him to abide in happy fellowship, world without end."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I read that (and I had to stop halfway through just that portion to pray!), I immediately thought of how I got saved. Not when I said a sinners prayer but there was no change. I'd done that a few times between 1979 - 1984. Seed by the wayside, or on stony ground, and no repentance.
It was when I was at the end of the line and wanted to commit suicide. Right there when I prayed into the void, into the universe, into the Spirit (because I was seeking at this time, the supreme Creator God, and was 100% serious about it, though I really had no clue who or what that Creator God, or Force might be): It was then that the still small voice spoke clearly in my mind "I am Jesus, you can turn to me."

I did not know Jeremiah 29:13-14 but I learned it experientially or experimentally as the ancients say. "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord.." I was saved by knowing HIM, not knowing ABOUT Him!

Philippians 3:8-11, "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
Look at right in the middle there: That I may KNOW HIM. Then it says "the faith OF Christ," not faith IN. And it's "OF" in Greek. His faith - the faith He gives us, for we have the mind of Christ, and let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 2:16 & Phil. 2:5)

John 10:14, "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine"

John 14:16-18, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."

Several verses in John 17 stand out:
6 "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
9-10 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
19-20 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
25-26 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."

The disciples are given to Christ by the Father, and He prays not just for them but for all who believe on Him through their word - so that comes right down to us: we are reading their word! Which is His Word: Christ's Word, which is God's Word! HalleluYAH! Further, note there is an intimacy here: Jesus prays not for the world: he's not praying for the lost - He's specifically praying for all believers.
He's given us the Fathers Word, but we know that means He has given Himself, because John 1 is clear He IS the WORD! Amen. He also sanctifies Himself, that they: those who believe, might be sanctified through the truth; but we know He IS the Truth according to John 14:6. And Christ IS our sanctification. There's just so much here, it could go deeper and deeper, but the focus here must be Christ, KNOWING HIM - not just knowing the Bible, or knowledge about Jesus, but knowing Him directly. Now pray: speak to Him, get to know Him.

I could go on here about how the LORD spoke to Moses as a friend, Exodus 33:11, "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend," or Isaiah 41:8, "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend" - and Galatians 3:29, "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise," so this is a blessed things, for a friend KNOWS you. He is not a God afar off.
And of course John 15:14-15, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.'

Just one last word: please don't take this as an open door license to sin, or to consider God just a really cool dude, with a lot of power, that you're gonna run up to and shake his hand. According to Revelation you and I will probably more likely fall flat on our faces in awe and wonder, and a even a little terror, perhaps only for a moment, until He makes the move to welcome us into His kingdom.

The story pops up now and again on social media as a subject for the ten-minute-hate, and a justifiable one too. Someone stiffs a waiter or a bartender and tries to excuse themselves for doing it.

Someone signs the credit card receipt at the restaurant and puts a zero in the space for a tip, writing in “I give my money to charity” or “I save my money for Jesus” (those of you with Bibles, see Matthew 25:31-46). Or they give a supposedly principled reason, like “I don’t believe in tipping” or “Your boss should pay you better” or “Tipping lets businesses exploit their workers.”

Or worse, the very worst, the lowest of the low, they scrawl some sneer like “Get a better job.”

The deal you agree to​

Continued below.

House GOP fails to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas​

Three Republicans — Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher and California Rep. Tom McClintock — joined the Democrats in voting against the resolution to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

GOP Rep. Blake Moore joined the no side to allow House Republicans to bring up the vote again.

ETA: Try #2 has succeeded

I have prayed and prayed for clarity and peace, and none comes. So obviously God wants me to figure this out, but HOW?! How do I ignore the fact that most of the predictions end up coming to pass? Im so scared.

Contrary to Brendan Robertson’s view, which Martin called ‘superb,’ the Catholic Church teaches that sodomy is intrinsically evil and always sinful and that Scripture condemns it.


(LifeSiteNews) — Father James Martin’s pro-LGBT activist group “Outreach” has posted an interview with a Protestant pastor who wrongly claimed the Bible does not condemn homosexual acts.

In the interview, Martin, the editor of Outreach,asked Protestant pro-LGBT pastor Brandan Robertson what his response is “when an LGBT person [sic], or a family member, or anybody says, ‘doesn’t the Bible condemn homosexuality?’”

Ironically, Robertson said that the downside of the Protestant schism was that “it gave the Bible to a lot of folks that don’t have the complex training to understand the culture, the context, and language from which the Bible emerges.”

“The Bible is not just a book that anybody can pick up and readily understand; it’s a book that comes from a different world with different perspectives and different cultural norms,” he claimed.

Due to the possibility of people misinterpreting the Bible according to their own wishes and biases, the Catholic Church teaches that the Magisterium is the competent and infallible authority to interpret Sacred Scripture and resolve controversies regarding questions of faith and morals because it was instituted by Jesus Christ Himself.

Continued below.

‘We need to go find out where they live, where they go to church, who they hang around with, and birddog they a----,’ one activist declared to the crowd.​

(LifeSiteNews) — Angry radical leftists staged a loud protest outside the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the conservative Heritage Foundation against its “Project 2025,” an initiative that aims to help conservative politicians end the power of the “Deep State” if and when Republicans prevail in the 2024 races for the White House, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives.

“The permanent bureaucracy and its backers are having conniptions over Project 2025, an endeavor to ensure the next conservative president is ready to govern from day one,” the Heritage Foundation’s Mike Gonzalez wrotemonths before the protest took place.

“The denizens of the permanent state are not wrong to fret,” he added.

And fret they did at the top of their lungs and with megaphones, going so far as to try to encircle the Heritage Foundation’s building with yellow crime scene-like tape that read “Stop Project 2025.”

The “Stop the Coup 2025!” protesters clearly sought to intimidate conservative staffers and politicians on Capitol Hill and throughout the nation’s capital, where memories of protests outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court Justices remain fresh in everyone’s minds.

“We need to go find out where they live, where they go to church, who they hang around with, and birddog they (sic) a—-,” one activist declaredto the crowd.

“We have to embarrass them. That is a tactic,” they said. “Find out where they live. Find out where their office is!” said another speaker, urging the crowd to “disrupt business as usual” for conservatives.

Continued below.

Pray The Holy Spirit heals families & friends of Israeli hostages(especially hostages who died and also those presumed dead) who are brokenhearted & binds up their wounds:

Good day, I'm asking for prayer for Dwayne St George to have success in his work and studies please.

(dateline January 23)

Republican infighting hit a new level Tuesday as Senate leadership removed other GOP members from committee positions.

“The beginning of the 2024 Legislative Session in the Senate has been nothing short of an embarrassment,” [president pro tem Caleb] Rowden said. “A chamber designed to be occupied with civil, principal statesmen and women have been overtaken by a small group of swamp creatures who remind me all too often of my children than my colleagues.”

Rowden says members of the “Chaos Caucus,” a group of lawmakers more formally known as the “Freedom Caucus,” have “chosen to use the Missouri Senate as a place to try and salvage their languishing statewide campaigns and intentionally destroy the institution in an effort to claim the game is rigged against them.”

Hoskins, Brattin, Koenig and Eigel all have ties to the Freedom Caucus, which consists of a group of hard-right Republican members. The group has reportedly been linked to some tensions and fillibusters in recent weeks.

[Counterpoint from Bill Eigel:] “Jefferson City is ruled by a uniparty cartel of special interests, RINOs, and Democrats, who band together to crush the voice of the people. These are the same tactics The Swamp uses against President Trump. They can strip me of my chairmanship, they can kick me off committees, they can drag my name through the mud, but I am not backing down."

Besides being stripped of their committee hearings, the senators also had their parking spots removed from the Capitol’s basement garage.

--

Bill Eigel was last seen hereabouts using a flamethrower to demonstrate his future school library policy if he is elected governor.

Worth a read.



"Anumber of years ago, I kicked up a hornet’s nest by highlighting how empathy, as understood and practiced in the modern world, is dangerous, destructive, and sinful. Since then, every so often, another battle in the Empathy Wars breaks out (usually on social media), and we all learn something. In most of these dustups, there is an underlying dynamic that manifests again and again, and now seemed as good a time as any to identify it. Providentially, the recent controversy involving Fr. Calvin Robinson and the Mere Anglicanism conference provides the perfect opportunity to do so. The dynamic I have in mind is the intersection of feminism in the church, theological drift, and the sin of empathy.

My basic contention is that running beneath the ideological conflicts surrounding all things “woke” (race, sexuality, abuse, and LGBTQ+) is a common emotional dynamic involving untethered empathy–that is, a concern for the hurting and vulnerable that is unmoored from truth, goodness, and reality. In the modern context, empathy is frequently, as one author put it, “a disguise for anxiety” and “a power tool in the hands of the sensitive.” It is the means by which various aggrieved groups have been able to steer communities into catering to greater and greater folly and injustice. And a key ingredient in making this steering effective is feminism."


Yours in the Lord,

jm

Apparently, FOX "news" has been airing out this notion. Is there anything to it? As much as I recoil from young men bashing their brains out for our entertainment, I still kind of want my Niners to win, so really I hope not.

What do you think?

Taylor Swift At The Super Bowl: The Conspiracy Theory, Explained

Hello everyone, introductions aren't my strong suit. I'm a 34-year-old female. I was born into a really religious family in Poland (Krakow) and lived with my grandmother until I was 18. In my early 20s, I moved to America to work as an au pair until I decided to stay after my grandmother passed away in 2017. For a long time, I didn't consider myself religious since my Polish family turned me off from it. But in 2019, when I was diagnosed with type one diabetes and fell into a hyperglycemic coma, that's when I found my faith again. I've got four cats, and my dream is to build a cat shelter someday. I'm in Central Europe right now for my friend's wedding, enjoying the beautiful architecture, but the weather is not letting up enough for me to feel comfortable taking a stroll outside.

I have a question , and probably most of you will laugh at it, but I will try my best to explain it.

As far as my understanding goes - when we die we either go to Heaven or Hell for some time, and then we are reincarnated on " New Earth ".

My question is: what about " new planets " like - " New Mars " , " New Venus " ..... Etc.

Bible only talks about New Earth ,.... But what about New-Other-Planets.

The thing is: in 21.st century we are at the edge of making man-kind a multi-planetary-species ...

Will God allow us to be multi-planetary-species after " Armageddon " , or humanity will always be like - single planet species in after-Armageddon-timeline?

I hope this question makes sence.

Bottom line why I ask this is : I am kinda not interested in living on New Earth ... :/ Sorry God , not my cup of tea.

So my question is : will God allow the certain individuals to own private planets or New Earth will be only habitable one ? Thanks.

God made man in his own image, but did not make him immortal or of the same substance that he possesses. Our Creator is composed of spirit and is eternal. Humans were made, however, out of the ground or organic substance that constitutes the earth. Adam only became a living being (but not an immortal soul) when God breathed life into him

The first lie, in the Garden of Eden, the devil wanted Eve to believe revolves around the concept of an immortal soul. Eve stated she was instructed not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or else she would die.

Satan countered that God was lying and that she would not perish. We see that this lie has spread even into Christians today. God's justification for casting Adam and Eve out of the Garden was, "lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever".

If all humans automatically have a soul that is immortal then barring them from the Tree of Life would not make a difference since they would already possess something that would keep them alive into the future. If, however, Adam and Eve did not possess an immortal soul that allowed them to live forever, then God's concern about them acquiring this ability is justified.

Here is one of the best explanation I have come across and every believer should carefully go through it and understand how this deception came into the church from what can only be called pagan Greek thought. 'Secular history reveals that the concept of the immortality of the soul is an ancient belief embraced by many pagan religions. But it's not a biblical teaching and is not found in either the Old or New Testaments....

The concept of the soul's supposed immortality was first taught in ancient Egypt and Babylon. "The belief that the soul continues in existence after the dissolution of the body is...speculation...nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture...The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended" (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1941, Vol. 6, "Immortality of the Soul," pp. 564, 566).

Plato (428-348 B.C.), the Greek philosopher and student of Socrates, taught that the body and the "immortal soul" separate at death. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia comments on ancient Israel's view of the soul: "We are influenced always more or less by the Greek, Platonic idea that the body dies, yet the soul is immortal. Such an idea is utterly contrary to the Israelite consciousness and is nowhere found in the Old Testament" (1960, Vol. 2, "Death," p. 812).

Early Christianity was influenced and corrupted by Greek philosophies as it spread through the Greek and Roman world. By A.D. 200 the doctrine of the immortality of the soul became a controversy among Christian believers.

The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology notes that Origen, an early and influential Catholic theologian, was influenced by Greek thinkers: "Speculation about the soul in the subapostolic church was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy. This is seen in Origen's acceptance of Plato's doctrine of the preexistence of the soul as pure mind (nous) originally, which, by reason of its fall from God, cooled down to soul (psyche) when it lost its participation in the divine fire by looking earthward" (1992, "Soul," p. 1037).

If this keeps up, Biden is going to lose an awful lot of electoral votes, LOL!

California Secession Movement Wants National Divorce to Avoid 'Civil War'​

MSN

The AI craze is just getting crazier. It's constantly in the news, in our phones, ads, videos, content, non-stop.
While it's exciting on the one hand of the endless possibilities with AI, it's also scary because it is changing
the very definition and meaning of everything! Everything except God's Word and purposes.

If AI is going to be accepted everywhere, then what about church? Will you accept one day an AI preacher?
An AI Bible study teacher? AI music? AI worship team? Ultimately, we know that AI does not have the soul God
gave each of us. AI cannot worship or speak with heart intentions and faith as these concepts are still foreign to AI,
but if we keep going down this path, there will eventually be head on collision between AI and humans in relation
to Christian theology. Can there ever be such a thing as an AI Christian? Would an AI christian be recognized by God
as a soul or being that can enter heaven for doing His will and evangelizing, missionary work, even sacrificing itself for
God? Will AI lives matter? Will there be Ai creatures and beings in heaven? If Ai created human beings in labs, will
those humans be forfeit lives because they were made by Ai or will they be equal as humans that were conceived and born
from a mother's womb? Is Ai offering considered true genuine offering or is it a cop out because Ai made the money or products
for us and we're not really then giving offering out of our hands/hard work/sacrifices. What if Ai improves the Bible? Can it
re-write it to make minor adjustments or revisions to translate the text into more creative ways besides just text and verbatim?
Would these be considered heretical content or truly the gospel presented in creative and imaginative ways even if the words
are not exactly the same but the meaning remains the same? When we harness ai to it's fullest, what will happen to hearing
the word and meditating on it because we will instantly know everything like downloading into our brains databases and
no more reading will be required....is that against God's word? There would be no need to contemplate since we'd know everything
there is to know...all knowledge will be accessible to ai which means accessible to us simultaneously.

This is the story and my testimony of my wasted years, one thing, you will get from me, is my honesty. May this testimony inspire and challenge you. My name is Keith Hobkirk, I am a simple Christian servant of the Only true God, who redeemed from sin, death and hell. I hope my story touches you life.



MY STORY

I am going to be sixty-five soon, just before my sixteenth birthday, trusted Christ as Saviour, but he never had total control of my life. My wilderness years were between 1986 and 2001, from the ages of 27 to 42.
我快要六十五岁了，就在我的十六岁生日前，我信靠基督作为救主，但他从未完全掌控我的生活。我的旷野岁月是在1986年到2001年之间，从27岁到42岁的时候。

Life wasted, why because I did not obey God, I went my own way, did my own thing.

生命被浪费了，为什么呢？因为我没有顺服上帝，我走了自己的路，做了自己认为好的事情。

Life lived not being obedient to God for the Christian is wasted. You have him as saviour, but never as Lord.

对基督徒来说，生命若不顺服上帝就是被浪费。你有他作救主，但从未把他当作主。

Next year in 2025, it will be fifty years since I trusted Christ, most of it sadly fighting against him, rather than living for Him.

明年2025年，将是我信靠基督的五十年，其中大部分时间都在与他对抗，而不是为他而活。

Has he restored me?

他是否恢复了我？

Yes, and he is my everything, I owe God everything, without Him, I am nothing.

是的，他是我的一切，我欠上帝一切，没有他，我一无所有。

My story is a warning, to any of you, follow God with your whole heart, never take your eyes off Jesus.

我的故事是一个警告，对于你们中的任何人，全心全意地跟随上帝，永远不要移开目光，专心跟随耶稣。

The devil comes to kill steal and destroy, he has taken some of the best of my life, deceiving me that I could live witbout God.

魔鬼来要偷窃、杀害和毁灭，他夺走了我生命中最美好的一些时光，欺骗我以为我可以在没有上帝的情况下生活。

Don't let him fool you Christian, keep your eyes fixed on Christ.

不要让他愚弄你，基督徒，保持你的目光注视基督。

I cant change the past, but I can do two tbings.

我不能改变过去，但我可以做两件事。

I can warn others of the mistakes I made and then live like never before for my Saviour and Lord.

我可以警告别人不要犯我犯过的错误，然后像从未有过一样为我的救主和主而活。

I am redeemrd restored and complety forgiven, but the sadness still remains.

我已被救赎、恢复，并完全蒙赦免，但悲伤仍然存在。

William borden once said

威廉·博登曾说过

No reserves

无留余地

No regrets

无遗憾

May you live for HIm, without reserve and having no regrets

愿你为他而活，毫不保留，毫无遗憾。

In Christ

在基督里

Kk

"April 1970, Erlich in Mademoiselle: “Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.”

Erlich was not alone. In the early 1970s, a host of voices supported his beliefs.

Harvard biologist and Nobel Prize winner George Wald, speaking at the University of Rhode Island in November 1970: “Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.”

-- in July 2009, then-Prince Charles chimed in, asserting the planet had 96 months to avoid decimation: “…irretrievable climate and ecosystem collapse, and all that goes with it."


Knowing the religion of climate change is full of false prophets helps us to remember the actual future prophesied in the bible. Since the false prophets of climate change claim science for their false prophesies, that tells us something important as well.
Yes climate will be affected by the nuclear bombs and other machinations of wicked men and most of the population will die because of this same wickedness as well as the judgments of God. Meanwhile when they steal our jobs and wealth in the name of the climate we can know that it is a deception.

I think I speak for a lot of Catholics when I say that the whole circus surrounding Pope Francis has become wearisome.

We are approaching eleven years since Jorge Bergoglio was elected Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church. While most of us knew almost nothing about the man when he walked onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, now most Catholics wish they knew less than they do. From pedophile-enabling Cardinal Danneels joining Francis on that balcony to the pope’s recent endorsement of same-sex couple blessings, controversy has surrounded this pontificate from beginning to end; a week doesn’t seem to go by without the pope stirring the pot with some papal appointment, document, or off-hand comment.

I think I speak for a lot of Catholics when I say that the whole circus surrounding Francis has become wearisome. Probably nothing Francis could do or say at this point would surprise us, although he still desperately makes every effort to do so. We repeat a tiresome cycle:

Step 1: The pope says or does something controversial.
Step 2: Conservative and Traditional Catholics criticize his actions (traditionalists directly, conservatives more obliquely).
Step 3: Progressive Catholics rejoice and take the pope to mean exactly what he says.
Step 4: Non-progressive popesplainers storm social media to explain that the pope doesn’t actually mean exactly what he says.
Step 5: Return to Step 1.

Continued below.

I show some updates to my chart which I added the false messianic age of the Antichrist

And the world saying peace and safety (1Thessalonians5:3).

And the Jews fleeing to the mountains when the AoD is setup - Matthew 24:15-21.

Please pray God will help me get through the trials I face. I am needing Gods help so desperately to overcome some obstacles in my life. I am self-harming and struggling to get relief from the thoughts causing me to desire to do so. I have struggled for several months with suicidal thoughts. I’m tired of a roller coaster of emotions. One minute I’m making it and the next I’m overwhelmed and defeated.
Life has washed me up. I gave my full testimony at church yesterday and started up some STINK but at least I don’t feel like I’m hiding anything from them. I think the old ladies want to stone me with the hymnals lol!!
Anyway they can think what they want. I give up trying to protect my reputation… it is what it is. I Give!! I GIVE!!! I GIVE!!!!
It’s Just another problem out of MANY….

Please pray for my mom and dad. My dad just got put in jail recently. Please pray for his salvation. My mom is on her way to “home of grace”. Please pray for her salvation also.

Please also pray for my entire family. My close and distant family is all into some dark creepy stuff. They need salvation desperately!!

On the positive side of things my little sister fully gave her life to Christ yesterday!!
As I write this she is singing, playing the piano and praising God in the living room.

Hope this is the right forum for this! This is definitely deeper fellowship with the LORD:

I do a lot of reading. Don't worry, I spend a lot of time in the Bible too. But I love reading the old preachers: the ancient preachers, I call them; especially from the Great Awakenings back in the 1700s and 1800s. So I compiled a list of my top 10.
The reason I love these guys (and trust some day I will meet them all in the Kingdom of God), is because they preached an uncompromising Gospel. So much of the preaching today is watered down, or just plain false doctrine. These guys pretty much stick to the basic tenets of faith (I don't agree 100% with some of them also), and they go deep, which is something lacking in so many churches today.

This is roughly the order of my favorites (and yes, I realize they were MEN, and it's the Word of God they preached that is what draws me.)

1) Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758 was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, and was converted as a child, the only son with ten sisters of a Congregational Church pastor. He graduated from Yale College with highest honors, and studied divinity there. In 1726, Edwards accepted the call from the Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts, where his grandfather pastored. There he married the daughter of a minister and founder of Yale College. The Lord blessed his labors with revival in 1734-35 and 1740-42. These included many conversions and a change in the town. Through unusual events later, Edwards’ own congregation voted him out of the pastorate. He then became a missionary to the Native Americans. He became the president of Princeton College, but died only five weeks later. Through his writings, Edwards is recognized as the most capable Reformed theologian in American history.

2) Horatius Bonar 1808-1889
Scottish Presbyterian, brother of Andrew Bonar. After university, he pastored in village churches before serving many years at the main Presbyterian church in Edinburgh, which became known for its solid Bible teaching and revival. He was a great winner of souls, preacher, hymn writer, and writer, gifted in putting great truths into understandable language.“Unlike many writers of the Evangelical school, Dr. Bonar is not content with baling out milk for babes, but gives us real thought and teaching…We say to all our friends, read and be refreshed.”—Charles Spurgeon

Arthur W. Pink 1886-1952​

English independent Baptist. Pink studied briefly at Moody Bible Institute, pastored churches in the USA and Australia, and returned to England in 1934. His last 12 years were in Lewis, Scotland, writing the Studies in the Scriptures, his monthly expository digest, issued from 1922 to 1953. His focus was on the great themes of grace, justification, and sanctification. Arthur W. Pink was born in Nottingham, England, in 1886, and born again by God’s Spirit in 1908. He studied for only six weeks at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, U.S.A., before beginning pastoral work in Colorado. He later pastored churches in California, Kentucky, and South Carolina before moving on to preach and teach in Sydney, Australia. In 1934, he returned to his native England, moving to the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, in 1940, where he remained until his death in 1952.

3) George Whitefield 1714-1770
Born in Gloucester, England; the best-known evangelist of the 18th century and one of the greatest itinerant preachers in the history of the churches of Jesus Christ. Whitefield worked together with John and Charles Wesley in establishing the “Holy Club” during his studies at Oxford University. By God’s grace, Whitefield experienced a genuine conversion and came to see that his “holiness” was only filthy rags. He realized that he needed to rest by faith in the finished work of Christ and began to fervently preach the necessity of regeneration.Whitefield was an ordained minister of the Church of England. When opposition to his preaching closed church doors to him, he led the way in preaching outdoors and in traveling wherever he could to air the message of salvation. He shared this work with the Wesleys. He was mightily used of God in England and the American Colonies during the “Great Awakening,” and ceaselessly preached the sovereign grace of God, the necessity of the new birth through faith alone in the Person and work of Jesus Christ

John Charles Ryle (1816-1900) began his service to the Lord as a minister of the Gospel. He labored in parish churches within the Church of England for almost forty years. He then became Bishop of Liverpool in 1880 and came to international prominence as preacher, Bible expositor, and author. Today he is best known for his plain and lively writings on practical and spiritual themes. He deliberately used this style to reach ordinary people. The great aim of his ministry was to encourage strong and serious Christian living.

Charles H. Spurgeon 1834-1892​

English Baptist. Without formal education, Spurgeon was called to preach in London at 19. The church later became the Metropolitan Tabernacle, where he ministered to 6,000 people on Sundays and came to be much beloved. The 20-25 million printed words of his sermons stand as the most by a single author in Christian history.

4) Charles Henry Mackintosh 1820-1896, who preached extensively in the revival movement. The initials 'C.H.M.' became familiar in many pious evangelical households of the later Victorian and Edwardian years. No critical scholar, Mackintosh nevertheless had a marked gift for simple Biblical exposition, and his works on the Pentateuch had an enormous vogue as simple aids to devotional interpretation for the first five books of the Bible.

Dwight Lyman Moody 1837-1899, also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers

William Penn 1644-1718 was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonial era.

George Fox 1624-1691 was founder of the Quakers, so called because they trembled before God. In opposition to the obvious coldness and corruption of the church of his day, Fox chose to be guided by the inward light of Christ (fed by continual immersion in the Bible) and rejected the trappings of formal religion and undue respect to men, whatever their elevation. For this he suffered many imprisonments.

Finally, I can't leave out, Samuel Ward 1577-1640, Puritan Preacher. I especially love his sermon, "A Coal from the Altar to Kindle Holy Fire of Zeal, 1615,"
But a lot of his works are still in olde English, if you can read it. (I do)
This is from, "Balme from Gilead TO Recouer Conscience. In a Sermon Preached at Pauls-Crosse, Octob. 20. 1616."
The time is now come vpon vs, wherein men affect and desire good Names, Estates, Wiues, Houses, good Cloathes, good euery thing; but content themselues with meane and vile Consciences, which ought to be the chiefe and onely good: Wherein men loue to exercise and shew, in Preaching, in Hearing, in Trading, and all manner of conuersing, their Memorie, their skill and cunning, and al other their good parts, as they ]call them, neglecting this which is the WHOLE of a Man; and despising Pauls Exercise, and Pauls Policie,
To haue a good Conscience before God and Man: Wherein men loue preaching indeede and knowledge, but not wholsome doctrine; Preaching to the Conscience and knowledge of themselues, which makes this Pulpit and Church-yard full of Polemicall and Schoole-diuinitie; while the plaine, practicall, and asketicall part lyeth vntilled and vnregarded: which maketh Citie and Country full of Craft and Cunning, but voyd and destitute, not onely of the power but shew of Conscience. All which maketh me to chuse rather with the Apostle to speake fiue words to the Heart,
then tenne thousand to the Eare; yea, one to shew you a good Conscience, then ten thousand to shew all the Science in the
world. Sermon you heare vpon Sermon, till this Manna [...]comes out at your nostrils: but as o [...]e said of Lawes; one is yet wanting for the practising of all the rest. Now Conscience is the spring of Practise, and the Wheele that must set all the rest on going: Is it not high time to speake to Conscience, that wee be no longer hearers onely, but dooers also?

Job growth posted a surprisingly strong increase in January, demonstrating again that the U.S. labor market is solid and poised to support broader economic growth.

Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 353,000 for the month, much better than the Dow Jones estimate for 185,000, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate held at 3.7%, against the estimate for 3.8%.

The report also indicated that December’s job gains were much better than originally reported. The month posted a gain of 333,000, which was an upward revision of 117,000 from the initial estimate. November also was revised up, to 182,000, or 9,000 higher than the last estimate.

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The U.S. economy grew by a bustling 3.1 percent in 2023, shaking off recession fears and offering an upbeat picture of consumers and businesses ahead of a pivotal election year.

Gross domestic product grew even faster than many had anticipated in the last three months of the year — by an annual rate of 3.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis — offering fresh evidence that federal policymakers have managed to bring down inflation and secure a “soft landing” without major repercussions for workers or the economy.


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see also