Just wanted to give a shout-out to all those who are going to be working on Christmas. Some of you genuinely need to work on Christmas, such as doctors/nurses. Illnesses and injury don't take holidays! Some of you probably don't need to work on Christmas, but your boss is a ....... an individual, whose soul we should pray for, so they're sending you into work anyway. Meanwhile some of you simply don't have anything to do on Christmas, for whatever reason that may be. I want to give a "THANKS" to all of you. Your work will probably seem thankless tomorrow, but it isn't. You're playing a very important part in things, whether it's something as "small" as filling a tank of gas for someone who's going to visit relatives, or something as big as saving someone's life, your work is very much appreciated.
So, Merry Christmas to: 1) everyone who happens upon this post, and 2) everyone who still reads this blog, lolololololololol sorry I haven't been posting much on it lately. Remember it DOES NOT MATTER if Jesus was or wasn't born on "December 25th", Jesus was BORN, and DIED and ROSE for us. May God bless you all and guide you according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
Oh, and don't get drunk on Christmas.
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
"Multiverse" Stuff
1) If a multiverse consists of infinite possibilities, then shouldn't there be a universe wherein people found a way to break through the boundaries of their one single universe, and then irreparably destroy the multiverse? If so, how are we still here?
The only explanation I have there would be, maybe people somewhere else found a way to retroactively prevent it from happening, but first, that would create a cycle of "but then these people found a way to stop THAT, and then THESE people found a way to stop THIS"... and second, eventually that cycle would have to stop. Either the multiverse would be damaged to the point it couldn't be reverted back to what it was, or it would never reach that point in the first place. And if there are infinite possibilities...?
2) If the Mandela Effect is real, why does it only happen with small things we'd otherwise never notice? And yes, I'm aware of the argument that "universes near us are similar to us, the universes that are radically different are too far away to collide with us". But think about it. Take the Berenstain Bears for example. It's practically standard for names like that to end with "-stein" because that's how German surnames work. Plus it was written in cursive, so it'd be easy for people to make a mistake like that naturally. Why don't we have these minor changes in less psychologically explainable ways? Like why doesn't the word "like" suddenly change to "leke"? Why doesn't "Google" suddenly change to "Goqgle"? The lowercase "o" and "q" look similar enough that something like that should definitely be taking place.
Please note, none of the above is based on Scripture at all, it's just thoughts I've had recently and needed to get out there.
The only explanation I have there would be, maybe people somewhere else found a way to retroactively prevent it from happening, but first, that would create a cycle of "but then these people found a way to stop THAT, and then THESE people found a way to stop THIS"... and second, eventually that cycle would have to stop. Either the multiverse would be damaged to the point it couldn't be reverted back to what it was, or it would never reach that point in the first place. And if there are infinite possibilities...?
2) If the Mandela Effect is real, why does it only happen with small things we'd otherwise never notice? And yes, I'm aware of the argument that "universes near us are similar to us, the universes that are radically different are too far away to collide with us". But think about it. Take the Berenstain Bears for example. It's practically standard for names like that to end with "-stein" because that's how German surnames work. Plus it was written in cursive, so it'd be easy for people to make a mistake like that naturally. Why don't we have these minor changes in less psychologically explainable ways? Like why doesn't the word "like" suddenly change to "leke"? Why doesn't "Google" suddenly change to "Goqgle"? The lowercase "o" and "q" look similar enough that something like that should definitely be taking place.
Please note, none of the above is based on Scripture at all, it's just thoughts I've had recently and needed to get out there.
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Halloween 2017, Notes from a Theological Point of View
I wanted, and felt led to, create a post outlining some advice about Halloween that you may not read other places.
1. HALLOWEEN IS NOT INHERENTLY "EVIL" AND IT IS TOTALLY 100% OKAY FOR CHRISTIANS TO CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN. I have no idea how this idea got started, but it's complete legalistic lies. While Halloween may have started out much darker than its modern counterpart, that version of Halloween is NOT what we talk about when we say "Halloween". The "Halloween" we celebrate today is about decorations, candy, costumes, and so on. There is an emphasis on fear, but it's fear generated from ultimately "safe" things. That is, it's all smoke and mirrors, props, tricks purposely set up for entertainment purposes, etc. If you want to get technical, you could say Halloween is a little on the materialistic side, but eh. If you feel convicted by that, feel free to adjust your celebrations accordingly. If you feel convicted by Halloween in general, don't celebrate it. In fact, the only thing I would advise all Christians against is costumes that are purposely meant to be sexual. We are to avoid the sin of lust, and to avoid provoking others to it. Keep Halloween safe for all ages.
2. Do not EVER mess with the supernatural. While Halloween is primarily about "ghosts" made of cardboard, or bed sheets, what have you, there are those who do take the supernatural element seriously. And contrary to popular dismissal of such things, the supernatural is 100% real, AND can interact with us directly. HOWEVER, the supernatural is not inherently good. When you communicate with a foreign spirit, you do not know what spirit you are talking to. You don't know its intentions, its true identity, its true personality, etc. Remember that spiritual beings are not limited by the physical -- they may very well be able to obtain information that can impress you, or give off the impression of being a certain person, etc. DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. I can speak from personal experience, they CAN and WILL lie to you in some way. Do not use ouija boards. (And don't just scoff at this and say ouija boards are "just toys", spirits can still communicate with us through them regardless of the intent of the companies that produce them.) Do not try to cast spells. Don't use witchcraft, candles, recitations, or any other conceivable "occult" thing to try to engage the supernatural. One thing I've learned for sure over the past several years is this: there are spirits that are for God, and spirits that are against God. And the ones that are against God (which you will 100% always attract with occult practices) will lie to you, infiltrate your life, mess with your head, give you just enough knowledge and supernatural events to keep you interested, and lead you down a path of confusion and bitterness. Also, never trust anything the aforementioned spirits say to you. Their word is not final. Just as you can lie, just as anybody else can lie, these spirits can lie as well. And if you're the type of person to use incense candles and medieval spells on Halloween to try to ""summon"" the occult, well.......... let's just say, you're probably pretty naive when it comes to this stuff, and they know that, and will use it to the fullest extent of their ability.
3. Do not sacrifice black cats or... whatever. See the above paragraph for reasons why you shouldn't interact with the kind of spirits that encourage you to sacrifice cats. Also, this is worth noting too, spirits are not bound by your actions. If you make a pact with a spirit, or "command" that a certain spirit do something, that spirit is under no obligation to follow through with it. Sacrificing a cat will do nothing, unless the spirit wants it to. Perhaps something will happen, but even if it does, it will ultimately be turned around to hurt you in some way, too, and you will be made to pay for it, and you will be led down the same path as I mentioned in the previous paragraph. These spirits would do what they planned to do anyway, no matter if you sacrificed a cat, or solved a Rubik's Cube in a graveyard while whispering "M-... Mr. Spirit? C-Could you do a thing for me please?", or ate some McDonald's by a bus station while uttering incantations with your mouth full of french fries, and so on, and so on. It's about the INTENT of your actions, not the actions themselves. And given the consequences you WILL face when messing with these kinds of spirits, your best bet is cliched, but true, regardless -- turn away from them altogether, and turn to God, through Jesus Christ. Your debt has already been paid. Your only objective now is to accept it, and prayerfully walk the path of truth.
3.5 Black cats are not "bad luck". Neither is breaking mirrors (even though you shouldn't do that anyway for obvious reasons), neither is stepping on cracks, and so on. "Luck" is not a thing. "Luck" is not how God has created our universe to operate. Black cats are simply like any other cats, with different genes so as to have black fur instead of white, gray, orange, brown, neon green, and so on. While again, yes, there are spiritual and supernatural elements to our world, "luck" is not one of them. So step on cracks as long as they're safe, pet black cats as long as they don't have rabies or something, etc.
4. Be safe and have fun. Watch out for shady people. Keep track of your kids. Don't get drunk and act irresponsibly. And so on.
God bless you all and guide you according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
1. HALLOWEEN IS NOT INHERENTLY "EVIL" AND IT IS TOTALLY 100% OKAY FOR CHRISTIANS TO CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN. I have no idea how this idea got started, but it's complete legalistic lies. While Halloween may have started out much darker than its modern counterpart, that version of Halloween is NOT what we talk about when we say "Halloween". The "Halloween" we celebrate today is about decorations, candy, costumes, and so on. There is an emphasis on fear, but it's fear generated from ultimately "safe" things. That is, it's all smoke and mirrors, props, tricks purposely set up for entertainment purposes, etc. If you want to get technical, you could say Halloween is a little on the materialistic side, but eh. If you feel convicted by that, feel free to adjust your celebrations accordingly. If you feel convicted by Halloween in general, don't celebrate it. In fact, the only thing I would advise all Christians against is costumes that are purposely meant to be sexual. We are to avoid the sin of lust, and to avoid provoking others to it. Keep Halloween safe for all ages.
2. Do not EVER mess with the supernatural. While Halloween is primarily about "ghosts" made of cardboard, or bed sheets, what have you, there are those who do take the supernatural element seriously. And contrary to popular dismissal of such things, the supernatural is 100% real, AND can interact with us directly. HOWEVER, the supernatural is not inherently good. When you communicate with a foreign spirit, you do not know what spirit you are talking to. You don't know its intentions, its true identity, its true personality, etc. Remember that spiritual beings are not limited by the physical -- they may very well be able to obtain information that can impress you, or give off the impression of being a certain person, etc. DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. I can speak from personal experience, they CAN and WILL lie to you in some way. Do not use ouija boards. (And don't just scoff at this and say ouija boards are "just toys", spirits can still communicate with us through them regardless of the intent of the companies that produce them.) Do not try to cast spells. Don't use witchcraft, candles, recitations, or any other conceivable "occult" thing to try to engage the supernatural. One thing I've learned for sure over the past several years is this: there are spirits that are for God, and spirits that are against God. And the ones that are against God (which you will 100% always attract with occult practices) will lie to you, infiltrate your life, mess with your head, give you just enough knowledge and supernatural events to keep you interested, and lead you down a path of confusion and bitterness. Also, never trust anything the aforementioned spirits say to you. Their word is not final. Just as you can lie, just as anybody else can lie, these spirits can lie as well. And if you're the type of person to use incense candles and medieval spells on Halloween to try to ""summon"" the occult, well.......... let's just say, you're probably pretty naive when it comes to this stuff, and they know that, and will use it to the fullest extent of their ability.
3. Do not sacrifice black cats or... whatever. See the above paragraph for reasons why you shouldn't interact with the kind of spirits that encourage you to sacrifice cats. Also, this is worth noting too, spirits are not bound by your actions. If you make a pact with a spirit, or "command" that a certain spirit do something, that spirit is under no obligation to follow through with it. Sacrificing a cat will do nothing, unless the spirit wants it to. Perhaps something will happen, but even if it does, it will ultimately be turned around to hurt you in some way, too, and you will be made to pay for it, and you will be led down the same path as I mentioned in the previous paragraph. These spirits would do what they planned to do anyway, no matter if you sacrificed a cat, or solved a Rubik's Cube in a graveyard while whispering "M-... Mr. Spirit? C-Could you do a thing for me please?", or ate some McDonald's by a bus station while uttering incantations with your mouth full of french fries, and so on, and so on. It's about the INTENT of your actions, not the actions themselves. And given the consequences you WILL face when messing with these kinds of spirits, your best bet is cliched, but true, regardless -- turn away from them altogether, and turn to God, through Jesus Christ. Your debt has already been paid. Your only objective now is to accept it, and prayerfully walk the path of truth.
3.5 Black cats are not "bad luck". Neither is breaking mirrors (even though you shouldn't do that anyway for obvious reasons), neither is stepping on cracks, and so on. "Luck" is not a thing. "Luck" is not how God has created our universe to operate. Black cats are simply like any other cats, with different genes so as to have black fur instead of white, gray, orange, brown, neon green, and so on. While again, yes, there are spiritual and supernatural elements to our world, "luck" is not one of them. So step on cracks as long as they're safe, pet black cats as long as they don't have rabies or something, etc.
4. Be safe and have fun. Watch out for shady people. Keep track of your kids. Don't get drunk and act irresponsibly. And so on.
God bless you all and guide you according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
"But ... But the NWO Promotes Peace!"
Peace as a concept is good. Jesus even says, "Blessed are the peacemakers". But just because the consequence of something else is peace, doesn't mean that thing is automatically good as well. For example, if the only reason you're in a state of peace is because (for example) you're being sedated against your will, is that still "good" just because it yields "peace"? No, and likewise, the NWO's "peace" isn't good, either.
The NWO's frequent talk of "peace" comes from words and vague concepts that sound good on paper, but are then mixed in with other ideas that are ultimately more dangerous than they appear. "A little leaven..." The idea of various races and cultures working together, for example, is a fraction of the NWO's agenda. And despite what some far-right and alt-right ""Christian"" nationalists/racists would claim, there is nothing wrong with this. This idea, in and of itself, is entirely harmless. Race (from what I understand) comes from where one lives in relation to the equator. Darker-skinned people tend to live closer to the equator, and lighter-skinned people tend to live further away from it. That's it. There is nothing that should inherently cause conflicts between other races -- ESPECIALLY according to the teachings of God. Likewise, just because different cultures do things slightly differently doesn't mean one is more wrong or right than another. The Bible, inspired by God (a culturally impartial deity), should be our measuring stick for righteousness, not our own personal upbringings. The Greeks were not Israelites, and yet managed to join the church along with the Hebrew apostles. I'm no expert in the cultural aspects of ancient Greek or Israeli culture, but I feel pretty confident assuming both were quite radically different things. I do know, of course, that Greek culture emphasized philosophy far more than the Israelites did.
The problem is when these harmless ideologies are tied into harmful ones. The idea of a "one world religion" probably sounds good to those who aren't very dedicated to any one side, especially those who are just soooooo tired of "all the wars they heard were caused by religions". The problem is, there is a spiritual side to the concept of "religion". Religion is not the same as philosophy, though the two can certainly work hand-in-hand. Philosophy is a worldview. Worldviews are not objective, impersonal phenomena. Worldviews can change with time. Religion is one's spiritual interactions and studies in the physical world. Religion cannot simply be deconstructed and pieced back together in the same way that philosophy can, because religion is based on objectively existing phenomena, that still exist even when you stop thinking about them. Either there is a Hell where unbelievers go, or there is not. Either our souls are reincarnated, or they are not. Either we can project ourselves into other dimensions, or we cannot. Our beliefs on these things can differ, but at the end of the day, religion is more of a science than a philosophy. A science of the spiritual. Our hypotheses can differ, but ultimately, one is right, and the others are wrong. To imply that these hypotheses should be melted together (rather than studied and either proven or disproven to the very best of our ability) not only demeans the concept of "religion" on a moral level, but objectively misrepresents its core concepts.
Mohammed, who denied Jesus' equality with God, cannot sit side-by-side with Jesus Himself, who taught that He was divine (but simply did not regard it as something to be exploited for His own benefit). Buddha, who was either agnostic or atheist, cannot sit side-by-side with Mohammed or Jesus, who both insisted on the existence of a deity. This isn't because Buddha and Jesus were hateful bigots who sought to bring down others through force, using their "beliefs" as a shield for their boiling hatred of others, but rather, because there is an ultimate truth to all this -- an ultimate truth that exists regardless of who talks about it or makes hypotheses about it (this needs to be stressed). And "religion" is not merely opinions. Religion is the study of an ultimate truth. The NWO attempts to paint religion as a matter of opinions, but it's not. People may have opinions about religions, but this is no different from secular science, where hypotheses are always being proposed and tested, and theories are being challenged. Science still seeks an ultimate truth in the physical world regardless of the opinions of scientists, and likewise, religion still seeks an ultimate truth in the spiritual regardless of the opinions of religious people. Can "religious people" technically work together to discover that ultimate truth? I suppose, to be completely objective, there is a theoretical possibility that this could occur, but it'd be a waste of time. The truth has [already] [been] [revealed] [in] [full].
Note my previous statement is not meant to be taken as one of intolerance or dismissal. If it weren't for the existence of demons, Hell, and so on (which exist regardless of whether I choose to "believe in them" or not), I really would not care if somebody were a Buddhist or Hindu or Zoroastrian or what have you. But for reasons that I fully admit are beyond my current understanding, God has chosen to create Hell, and people will be sent there. This is not my "worldview", this is the truth. If you want my personal worldview, we could go into the semantics that Romans 14 tells us are not very important, like my belief that it's okay to eat meat. My belief that Christians should NEVER speak in "tongues". My belief that literally any theological work outside of the Protestant Bible (including Catholic apocrypha etc) should be taken with a grain of salt. My belief that the "sacred traditions" of Catholicism and Orthodoxy are vain, pointless nonsense. These are all a mix of philosophy and study of "religion".
But the NWO would have us believe that the very core basis of these things is, in and of itself, a fluid concept, and ultimate truth should be compromised for the sake of "peace". But in promoting this "peace", two main criticisms immediately come to mind:
1) It's as I said at the beginning of this post -- just because something yields peace, doesn't automatically mean it's good. In forsaking truth and the objective consequences of our spiritual interactions, in favor of avoiding conflicts with others, we cancel out one danger only to replace it with another. Not doing one's homework on the spiritual can yield very dangerous consequences in both this life, and in the next life. The spiritual cannot be ignored because discussion of it causes disagreements -- I can attest to this myself. (Note that post is NOT a complete account of everything I went through.) We NEED to have these discussions and we NEED to learn about the truth, otherwise a much more dangerous force than mere conflict will be able to take hold of our lives and our souls.
(Note also, it is not my intent, nor is it most other people's intent to cause disagreements through our insistence on the pursuit of objective truth, but there are those who cannot accept disagreement and will turn it into a matter of serious contention -- even to the point of war -- rather than one of civil discussion. These are the ones who ultimately cause the problems, not those of us who merely bring the points up. (If we're speaking in a human sense. If we can speak in supernatural terms, it's the demons who tempt humans to wrath. Nevertheless we should still not give into their temptations, and are guilty of our trespasses unless we seek forgiveness through Jesus' sacrifice.))
2) It's quite hypocritical of the NWO to be talking about "peace" in the first place, given their influence over governments. Think about all the wars waged in the name of human greed, of human power, of natural resources, and so on. "Peace" can then be thought of as more of "complacency" than actual "peace" when it comes to the NWO's agenda. ............. And this (already very significant point) is only what I feel comfortable accusing them of publicly, to say nothing of the other, even more serious allegations that have been raised against the NWO by conspiracy theorists. I won't say what those allegations are, though I'm sure most people reading a post like this are already aware of the sort of things I'm referring to, but even if those are somehow not true, the NWO has no place to be talking about peace, regardless.
May God bless you all and guide you, according to His perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.
PS. Why would they promote "peace" at St John the Divine, when they have a statue of Christopher Columbus? Somebody who MANY (myself included) do NOT want honored because of how horrible of a person he truly was.
PPS. Unlike many conspiracy types, I hold as little ill-will toward the NWO as possible. I pray for those involved in the Illuminati and so on, that they would see the error of their ways and learn of the true joy and peace and knowledge found in the righteousness of God.
The NWO's frequent talk of "peace" comes from words and vague concepts that sound good on paper, but are then mixed in with other ideas that are ultimately more dangerous than they appear. "A little leaven..." The idea of various races and cultures working together, for example, is a fraction of the NWO's agenda. And despite what some far-right and alt-right ""Christian"" nationalists/racists would claim, there is nothing wrong with this. This idea, in and of itself, is entirely harmless. Race (from what I understand) comes from where one lives in relation to the equator. Darker-skinned people tend to live closer to the equator, and lighter-skinned people tend to live further away from it. That's it. There is nothing that should inherently cause conflicts between other races -- ESPECIALLY according to the teachings of God. Likewise, just because different cultures do things slightly differently doesn't mean one is more wrong or right than another. The Bible, inspired by God (a culturally impartial deity), should be our measuring stick for righteousness, not our own personal upbringings. The Greeks were not Israelites, and yet managed to join the church along with the Hebrew apostles. I'm no expert in the cultural aspects of ancient Greek or Israeli culture, but I feel pretty confident assuming both were quite radically different things. I do know, of course, that Greek culture emphasized philosophy far more than the Israelites did.
The problem is when these harmless ideologies are tied into harmful ones. The idea of a "one world religion" probably sounds good to those who aren't very dedicated to any one side, especially those who are just soooooo tired of "all the wars they heard were caused by religions". The problem is, there is a spiritual side to the concept of "religion". Religion is not the same as philosophy, though the two can certainly work hand-in-hand. Philosophy is a worldview. Worldviews are not objective, impersonal phenomena. Worldviews can change with time. Religion is one's spiritual interactions and studies in the physical world. Religion cannot simply be deconstructed and pieced back together in the same way that philosophy can, because religion is based on objectively existing phenomena, that still exist even when you stop thinking about them. Either there is a Hell where unbelievers go, or there is not. Either our souls are reincarnated, or they are not. Either we can project ourselves into other dimensions, or we cannot. Our beliefs on these things can differ, but at the end of the day, religion is more of a science than a philosophy. A science of the spiritual. Our hypotheses can differ, but ultimately, one is right, and the others are wrong. To imply that these hypotheses should be melted together (rather than studied and either proven or disproven to the very best of our ability) not only demeans the concept of "religion" on a moral level, but objectively misrepresents its core concepts.
Mohammed, who denied Jesus' equality with God, cannot sit side-by-side with Jesus Himself, who taught that He was divine (but simply did not regard it as something to be exploited for His own benefit). Buddha, who was either agnostic or atheist, cannot sit side-by-side with Mohammed or Jesus, who both insisted on the existence of a deity. This isn't because Buddha and Jesus were hateful bigots who sought to bring down others through force, using their "beliefs" as a shield for their boiling hatred of others, but rather, because there is an ultimate truth to all this -- an ultimate truth that exists regardless of who talks about it or makes hypotheses about it (this needs to be stressed). And "religion" is not merely opinions. Religion is the study of an ultimate truth. The NWO attempts to paint religion as a matter of opinions, but it's not. People may have opinions about religions, but this is no different from secular science, where hypotheses are always being proposed and tested, and theories are being challenged. Science still seeks an ultimate truth in the physical world regardless of the opinions of scientists, and likewise, religion still seeks an ultimate truth in the spiritual regardless of the opinions of religious people. Can "religious people" technically work together to discover that ultimate truth? I suppose, to be completely objective, there is a theoretical possibility that this could occur, but it'd be a waste of time. The truth has [already] [been] [revealed] [in] [full].
Note my previous statement is not meant to be taken as one of intolerance or dismissal. If it weren't for the existence of demons, Hell, and so on (which exist regardless of whether I choose to "believe in them" or not), I really would not care if somebody were a Buddhist or Hindu or Zoroastrian or what have you. But for reasons that I fully admit are beyond my current understanding, God has chosen to create Hell, and people will be sent there. This is not my "worldview", this is the truth. If you want my personal worldview, we could go into the semantics that Romans 14 tells us are not very important, like my belief that it's okay to eat meat. My belief that Christians should NEVER speak in "tongues". My belief that literally any theological work outside of the Protestant Bible (including Catholic apocrypha etc) should be taken with a grain of salt. My belief that the "sacred traditions" of Catholicism and Orthodoxy are vain, pointless nonsense. These are all a mix of philosophy and study of "religion".
But the NWO would have us believe that the very core basis of these things is, in and of itself, a fluid concept, and ultimate truth should be compromised for the sake of "peace". But in promoting this "peace", two main criticisms immediately come to mind:
1) It's as I said at the beginning of this post -- just because something yields peace, doesn't automatically mean it's good. In forsaking truth and the objective consequences of our spiritual interactions, in favor of avoiding conflicts with others, we cancel out one danger only to replace it with another. Not doing one's homework on the spiritual can yield very dangerous consequences in both this life, and in the next life. The spiritual cannot be ignored because discussion of it causes disagreements -- I can attest to this myself. (Note that post is NOT a complete account of everything I went through.) We NEED to have these discussions and we NEED to learn about the truth, otherwise a much more dangerous force than mere conflict will be able to take hold of our lives and our souls.
(Note also, it is not my intent, nor is it most other people's intent to cause disagreements through our insistence on the pursuit of objective truth, but there are those who cannot accept disagreement and will turn it into a matter of serious contention -- even to the point of war -- rather than one of civil discussion. These are the ones who ultimately cause the problems, not those of us who merely bring the points up. (If we're speaking in a human sense. If we can speak in supernatural terms, it's the demons who tempt humans to wrath. Nevertheless we should still not give into their temptations, and are guilty of our trespasses unless we seek forgiveness through Jesus' sacrifice.))
2) It's quite hypocritical of the NWO to be talking about "peace" in the first place, given their influence over governments. Think about all the wars waged in the name of human greed, of human power, of natural resources, and so on. "Peace" can then be thought of as more of "complacency" than actual "peace" when it comes to the NWO's agenda. ............. And this (already very significant point) is only what I feel comfortable accusing them of publicly, to say nothing of the other, even more serious allegations that have been raised against the NWO by conspiracy theorists. I won't say what those allegations are, though I'm sure most people reading a post like this are already aware of the sort of things I'm referring to, but even if those are somehow not true, the NWO has no place to be talking about peace, regardless.
May God bless you all and guide you, according to His perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.
PS. Why would they promote "peace" at St John the Divine, when they have a statue of Christopher Columbus? Somebody who MANY (myself included) do NOT want honored because of how horrible of a person he truly was.
PPS. Unlike many conspiracy types, I hold as little ill-will toward the NWO as possible. I pray for those involved in the Illuminati and so on, that they would see the error of their ways and learn of the true joy and peace and knowledge found in the righteousness of God.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Wisdom from 1 Timothy
I was reading from 1 Timothy today, and found some things I felt important to share*, especially in today's society.
First, for those who still think Christianity is all about pedophilia and greed, please see what the Bible itself says about those "leaders" who practice such things:
Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of fullrespect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) . . .
In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. . . . A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
God is against these things just as much as you are -- if not MORE -- and those "priests" etc who practice these things will pay dearly if they do not seek TRUE heartfelt, contrite repentance from their sins.
Second, I wanted to share this from 1 Timothy 4:7
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
I was raised in a place with a lot of superstition and "old wives' tales". I'm pretty sure these things are present in cultures all over the world, but even though they're often tied in with the umbrella term "supernatural stuff", they are NOT truly "godly", and like all ungodly supernatural things, we should not accept them in our hearts. Breaking a mirror will not bring "bad luck"; a certain type of cat will not bring you "bad luck"; luck is not how God operates, but even if it was, it would not be brought about by these simple objects/events/etc. In the gospel of Christ, be FREE from the oppression and fear of superstitions! They have NO power over you unless you allow them to.
I just wanted to share these two things. May God bless you all and guide you according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
* I used the NIV translation for these, just because it's easiest to understand, and the meaning of the passages I'm referencing is preserved. Please don't complain to me about which translations I use in my posts, I am NOT A "KJV-ONLYIST" and I will not become one to appease the few people I know who insist upon it.
First, for those who still think Christianity is all about pedophilia and greed, please see what the Bible itself says about those "leaders" who practice such things:
Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of fullrespect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) . . .
In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. . . . A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
God is against these things just as much as you are -- if not MORE -- and those "priests" etc who practice these things will pay dearly if they do not seek TRUE heartfelt, contrite repentance from their sins.
Second, I wanted to share this from 1 Timothy 4:7
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
I was raised in a place with a lot of superstition and "old wives' tales". I'm pretty sure these things are present in cultures all over the world, but even though they're often tied in with the umbrella term "supernatural stuff", they are NOT truly "godly", and like all ungodly supernatural things, we should not accept them in our hearts. Breaking a mirror will not bring "bad luck"; a certain type of cat will not bring you "bad luck"; luck is not how God operates, but even if it was, it would not be brought about by these simple objects/events/etc. In the gospel of Christ, be FREE from the oppression and fear of superstitions! They have NO power over you unless you allow them to.
I just wanted to share these two things. May God bless you all and guide you according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
* I used the NIV translation for these, just because it's easiest to understand, and the meaning of the passages I'm referencing is preserved. Please don't complain to me about which translations I use in my posts, I am NOT A "KJV-ONLYIST" and I will not become one to appease the few people I know who insist upon it.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
"10 Prophecies Fulfilled in 1948"
I wanted to share something I found. For skeptics, here's some more historical Biblical stuff to think about:
http://www.watchmanbiblestudy.com/Articles/1948PropheciesFulfilled.html
A bunch of prophecies about Israel which have been fulfilled.
Also, here's an archive.org link in case something happens to the above link.
God bless!
http://www.watchmanbiblestudy.com/Articles/1948PropheciesFulfilled.html
A bunch of prophecies about Israel which have been fulfilled.
Also, here's an archive.org link in case something happens to the above link.
God bless!
Friday, September 1, 2017
Going to Mars
More lyrics I hope to use in a song one day. But I want to make sure this gets out there. Don't give into the idea of going to Mars. You can't come back -- they've said so themselves. It's NOT worth it.
Here away from all of them
On a path of scientific discovery
Red planet clouds and dust and rocks surrounding me
I miss the grass and clear blue skies
I miss the air and all my friends
There's no way back, I'm nowhere until I die
All the wasted years
What else could I have done?
I have the rest of my life to think about it
I hate this planet, I hate the stars, I hate the rocks
I hate technology, I hate myself
I hate myself
I hope science enjoys the discoveries
All I've discovered is irreversible sadness
What else could I have done?
It all seemed so fun on Earth
Earth, all the brightness and color
I wonder what they're doing without me
We're here until we die
Our bodies will rot until the end
On a far-off planet's surface
I would give everything I have
To go back for just one day
To say what I never said, to do what I never did
Here away from all of them
On a path of scientific discovery
Lonely with the dust and my regrets...
Neither of which console me anymore
Lord, God, what have I done?
Until I reach Heaven itself, I am still just
Lonely with the dust and my regrets...
Neither of which console me anymore
Here away from all of them
On a path of scientific discovery
Red planet clouds and dust and rocks surrounding me
I miss the grass and clear blue skies
I miss the air and all my friends
There's no way back, I'm nowhere until I die
All the wasted years
What else could I have done?
I have the rest of my life to think about it
I hate this planet, I hate the stars, I hate the rocks
I hate technology, I hate myself
I hate myself
I hope science enjoys the discoveries
All I've discovered is irreversible sadness
What else could I have done?
It all seemed so fun on Earth
Earth, all the brightness and color
I wonder what they're doing without me
We're here until we die
Our bodies will rot until the end
On a far-off planet's surface
I would give everything I have
To go back for just one day
To say what I never said, to do what I never did
Here away from all of them
On a path of scientific discovery
Lonely with the dust and my regrets...
Neither of which console me anymore
Lord, God, what have I done?
Until I reach Heaven itself, I am still just
Lonely with the dust and my regrets...
Neither of which console me anymore
Monday, July 10, 2017
CS Lewis - Sexual Morality
I'm aware CS Lewis' theology is often called into question. And I'm not saying I agree with every word the man's ever said, but I do want to share the following excerpts from a text of his. A friend posted these, and I think these words are very important in today's world.
Chastity is the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. There is no getting away from it: the Christian rule is, ‘Either marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner or else total abstinence.’ Now this is so difficult and so contrary to our instincts, that obviously either Christianity is wrong or our sexual instinct, as it now is, has gone wrong. One or the other. Of course, being a Christian, I think it is the instinct which has gone wrong.
[. . .]
You can get a large audience together for a striptease act – that is, to watch a girl undress on the stage. Now suppose you come to a country where you could fill a theatre by simply bringing a covered plate on to the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let every one see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop or a bit of bacon, would you not think that in that country something had gone wrong with the appetite for food? And would not anyone who had grown up in a different world think there was something equally queer about the state of the sex instinct among us?
[. . .]
[Y]ou and I, for the last twenty years, have been fed all day long on good solid lies about sex. We have been told, till one is sick of hearing it, that sexual desire is in the same state as any of our other natural desires and that if only we abandon the silly old Victorian idea of hushing it up, everything in the garden will be lovely. It is not true. The moment you look at the facts, and away from the propaganda, you see that it is not.
They tell you sex has become a mess because it was hushed up. But for the last twenty years it has not been. It has been chattered about all day long. Yet it is still in a mess. If hushing up had been the cause of the trouble, ventilation would have set it right. But it has not. I think it is the other way round. I think the human race originally hushed it up because it had become such a mess. Modern people are always saying, ‘Sex is nothing to be ashamed of.’ They may mean two things. They may mean `There is nothing to be ashamed of in the fact that the human race reproduces itself in a certain way, nor in the fact that it gives pleasure.’ If they mean that, they are right. Christianity says the same. It is not the thing, nor the pleasure, that is the trouble. The old Christian teachers said that if man had never fallen, sexual pleasure, instead of being less than it is now, would actually have been greater. I know some muddle-headed Christians have talked as if Christianity thought that sex, or the body, or pleasure, were bad in themselves. But they were wrong. Christianity is almost the only one of the great religions which thoroughly approves of the body - which believes that matter is good, that God Himself once took on a human body, that some kind of body is going to be given to us even in Heaven and is going to be an essential part of our happiness, our beauty, and our energy. Christianity has glorified marriage more than any other religion: and nearly all the greatest love poetry in the world has been produced by Christians. If anyone says that sex, in itself, is bad, Christianity contradicts him at once. But, of course, when people say, ‘Sex is nothing to be ashamed of,’ they may mean ‘the state into which the sexual instinct has now got is nothing to be ashamed of’.
If they mean that, I think they are wrong. I think it is everything to be ashamed of. There is nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying your food: there would be everything to be ashamed of if half the world made food the main interest of their lives and spent their time looking at pictures of food and dribbling and smacking their lips. I do not say you and I are individually responsible for the present situation. Our ancestors have handed over to us organisms which are warped in this respect: and we grow up surrounded by propaganda in favour of unchastity. There are people who want to keep our sex instinct inflamed in order to make money out of us. Because, of course, a man with an obsession is a man who has very little sales-resistance. God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them.
Friday, July 7, 2017
Just Ranting / Calling Out the False Arguments of Sin
[This post gets more calm/rational as it goes. I know it starts out rough. Just bear with me.]
Sin often seems to come with this smug little sense of superiority, like someone's a special little world-changing revolutionary just because they like things their parents call "wrong". Guess what, that doesn't make you special or different or revolutionary! It just means you experience what almost literally every single human being throughout ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY has experienced! I can't name one person who has the same opinions as their parents (EVEN IF they share the same basic beliefs), or doesn't argue with their parents from time to time, etc. "Oh, but I can!" Good for you! Still doesn't make you a special case!
Did you know that sinners like to sin? GOLLY GEE WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED HAHA! I mean, me personally, I've always HATED to sin, I have no idea why I used to so it, and that's why one day I just randomly stopped doing it altogether and push my opinions onto other people all the time for fun hahahahaha! :))))))))))))) Oh wait, that's not the case at all! It seems like some people genuinely haven't considered that Christians also sin AND sometimes revel in it even though they/we shouldn't. Guess what, they/we do! Oh but wait, doesn't that make us hypocrites because we speak out against sin but still do it? NO! Because WE are not the ones who declare sin wrong, GOD IS THE ONE WHO DECIDES THAT. All we have done is acknowledge that sin is wrong and the negative effects it has in the world, etc and encourage others to seek the same truth. And although we sin and do not always immediately regret it, we are given Godly sorrow (2 Corinthains 7:10 and 11) thus God convicts us and teaches us right from wrong along the way.
I love when people say "Don't push your way of life onto me!" This statement proves the emotionally impulsive, and logic-deprived nature of sin. By telling me not to push "my way of life" (or whatever) onto you, guess what you're doing? Pushing YOUR way of life onto ME. If you really believed people should be able to do whatever they want as long as [insert vague individual rules here] then you should readily accept that I push "my way of life" onto people, because it's what I want to do. Even though "my way of life" is a misnomer since it's not my way of life it's God's way of life, but anyway. You should accept that this is what I want to do. Thus proving the logically bankrupt nature of this secularist way of thinking. It makes no sense. It's something that can only be applied based on personal subjective rules that come with so many conditions, they can't be applied in a universal context.
Oh, and "as long as it doesn't hurt anyone". Don't make me puke. Sin DOES hurt people. If nothing else, it hurts the person doing it. Do I even need to explain the medical implications of wrath? It puts stress on your body and mind / raises your blood pressure / etc. Same with jealousy. What about sloth or gluttony? Well, what about obesity? Not to talk about appearances - it doesn't matter what you look like, no, and to some obesity is even very physically attractive, but that doesn't change that obesity is still unhealthy regardless. With sloth, you don't exercise your muscles at all, and with gluttony, you run an increased risk of diabetes, and with both, an increased risk of heart problems. What about lust? Time and time again, just ask ANY person who has struggled with porn addiction (I HAVE MET MORE THAN ONE) and they will tell you about the depression, the tiredness, the feeling of just being weak and having extremely low self-esteem, the lack of motivation to do anything, the list goes on and on.
Overall the extreme and unmatched lack of self-awareness when it comes to sin is DISTURBING to me. We're not talking about some complex philosophy, we're not debating the finer points of soteriology or something like that, we're talking about facts that are in plain sight and can be observed and processed by almost any human being, yet this borderline frightening lack of self-awareness leads people to have these flawed, nonsensical, hypocritical, self-righteous, self-defeating, and frankly, SILLY thought processes that just anger and sadden me. PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN THIS! Why won't you see it?? ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT'S WRONG AND TURN TO JESUS. NOT EVEN "REPENT", BECAUSE GOD WILL HELP YOU REPENT. ALL YOU NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW IS ASK. Is your reluctance to look at something besides sin, your reluctance to look at [historical] [facts] really worth all this???
Sin often seems to come with this smug little sense of superiority, like someone's a special little world-changing revolutionary just because they like things their parents call "wrong". Guess what, that doesn't make you special or different or revolutionary! It just means you experience what almost literally every single human being throughout ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY has experienced! I can't name one person who has the same opinions as their parents (EVEN IF they share the same basic beliefs), or doesn't argue with their parents from time to time, etc. "Oh, but I can!" Good for you! Still doesn't make you a special case!
Did you know that sinners like to sin? GOLLY GEE WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED HAHA! I mean, me personally, I've always HATED to sin, I have no idea why I used to so it, and that's why one day I just randomly stopped doing it altogether and push my opinions onto other people all the time for fun hahahahaha! :))))))))))))) Oh wait, that's not the case at all! It seems like some people genuinely haven't considered that Christians also sin AND sometimes revel in it even though they/we shouldn't. Guess what, they/we do! Oh but wait, doesn't that make us hypocrites because we speak out against sin but still do it? NO! Because WE are not the ones who declare sin wrong, GOD IS THE ONE WHO DECIDES THAT. All we have done is acknowledge that sin is wrong and the negative effects it has in the world, etc and encourage others to seek the same truth. And although we sin and do not always immediately regret it, we are given Godly sorrow (2 Corinthains 7:10 and 11) thus God convicts us and teaches us right from wrong along the way.
I love when people say "Don't push your way of life onto me!" This statement proves the emotionally impulsive, and logic-deprived nature of sin. By telling me not to push "my way of life" (or whatever) onto you, guess what you're doing? Pushing YOUR way of life onto ME. If you really believed people should be able to do whatever they want as long as [insert vague individual rules here] then you should readily accept that I push "my way of life" onto people, because it's what I want to do. Even though "my way of life" is a misnomer since it's not my way of life it's God's way of life, but anyway. You should accept that this is what I want to do. Thus proving the logically bankrupt nature of this secularist way of thinking. It makes no sense. It's something that can only be applied based on personal subjective rules that come with so many conditions, they can't be applied in a universal context.
Oh, and "as long as it doesn't hurt anyone". Don't make me puke. Sin DOES hurt people. If nothing else, it hurts the person doing it. Do I even need to explain the medical implications of wrath? It puts stress on your body and mind / raises your blood pressure / etc. Same with jealousy. What about sloth or gluttony? Well, what about obesity? Not to talk about appearances - it doesn't matter what you look like, no, and to some obesity is even very physically attractive, but that doesn't change that obesity is still unhealthy regardless. With sloth, you don't exercise your muscles at all, and with gluttony, you run an increased risk of diabetes, and with both, an increased risk of heart problems. What about lust? Time and time again, just ask ANY person who has struggled with porn addiction (I HAVE MET MORE THAN ONE) and they will tell you about the depression, the tiredness, the feeling of just being weak and having extremely low self-esteem, the lack of motivation to do anything, the list goes on and on.
Overall the extreme and unmatched lack of self-awareness when it comes to sin is DISTURBING to me. We're not talking about some complex philosophy, we're not debating the finer points of soteriology or something like that, we're talking about facts that are in plain sight and can be observed and processed by almost any human being, yet this borderline frightening lack of self-awareness leads people to have these flawed, nonsensical, hypocritical, self-righteous, self-defeating, and frankly, SILLY thought processes that just anger and sadden me. PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN THIS! Why won't you see it?? ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT'S WRONG AND TURN TO JESUS. NOT EVEN "REPENT", BECAUSE GOD WILL HELP YOU REPENT. ALL YOU NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW IS ASK. Is your reluctance to look at something besides sin, your reluctance to look at [historical] [facts] really worth all this???
Monday, July 3, 2017
Joseph
"And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly." Matthew 1:19
I thought of this verse last night. And I thought of how Joseph was a "righteous man" who planned to dismiss Mary quietly.*
If I had been in Joseph's position ... I don't think I would have dismissed her quietly. I think I would have made a public spectacle out of her because she had wronged me so greatly. I think a lot of us would respond that way. A lot of people do respond that way. And that's not right. As Jesus would later say, we should pray for our enemies, showing love to those who do us wrong instead of seeking to condemn them. Now, sure, I'm getting very very slightly better with my impatience / anger as I grow in God's ways, but I still have a LONG way to go with that. I don't actively seek condemnation like I used to, but then again, I've never been cheated on, and I think it's reasonable to assume that being cheated on hurts, badly. And I would most likely want to get back at the person who had done it. But we can learn something very valuable from the example set by Joseph here. For two reasons, now that I think about it. One reason is that Joseph had assumed she cheated, when she hadn't. We probably shouldn't just assume the worst about people. But the second, and most important reason, is that even when we're proven right about somebody's malicious intentions, and they have genuinely hurt us, even to our very core, we should still try to do the right thing. Not "right" by our own subjective, emotionally-driven impulses, but objectively right. Praying, remaining civil, showing love. The kind of peace required to decide to dismiss one's own (supposed) adulterer in a private and respectful way, actively not wanting to shame them in the public eye, is just admirable to me, and especially considering I just got done writing an admittedly very impatient comment to somebody online, provides something I really, truly think we should try to keep in mind in our lives -- especially given how tense the overall climate of society is right now. There are a bunch of extremely obnoxious people out there whose opinions differ from yours, and they will vocalize these disagreements in the noisiest, most irrational, mind-numbing ways possible. There are people out there who just don't care how you feel, and will mistreat you if they can benefit from it in some way. And I know, I know that of all people, I have no place to be talking about this given that I'm still not a very patient person, but it's a lesson I'm learning alongside all of you. God is patient with us, and God loved us when we lived in our old ways, and God still loves us today as we're learning to be righteous, and continue to mess up all the time and ask for forgiveness. Thus, this is also how we should try to be with others. Let's continue looking to God, and try to reach a point in our own lives where we could be deeply in love with someone, to the point we actually want to marry them and spend the rest of our lives with them, only to have that person go behind our backs and get pregnant with someone else ........... and then to stare directly into the eyes of that person, amid all the heartbreak they have caused us, and still have love for them, and use the situation as an opportunity to set a God-like example in the world.
May God bless all of us, and guide us according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
*For those who don't know the story of Jesus' birth, here's some quick context for this verse: Mary was the mother of Jesus. The prophets had said (hundreds of years earlier!) that Jesus, the Messiah, was supposed to be born from a virgin. So, God caused Mary to be pregnant without losing her virginity -- this was a miracle, and a sign that the Messiah was on the way. However Joseph had not been told that the baby was the Messiah yet, so when he saw Mary was pregnant, he just figured Mary had cheated on him. But instead of getting revenge on her for cheating, Joseph wanted to be as respectful as possible, and just planned to send her out quietly, without causing a public uproar. (Of course he was later told about the pregnancy being miraculous in nature, so he ended up staying with Mary.)
I thought of this verse last night. And I thought of how Joseph was a "righteous man" who planned to dismiss Mary quietly.*
If I had been in Joseph's position ... I don't think I would have dismissed her quietly. I think I would have made a public spectacle out of her because she had wronged me so greatly. I think a lot of us would respond that way. A lot of people do respond that way. And that's not right. As Jesus would later say, we should pray for our enemies, showing love to those who do us wrong instead of seeking to condemn them. Now, sure, I'm getting very very slightly better with my impatience / anger as I grow in God's ways, but I still have a LONG way to go with that. I don't actively seek condemnation like I used to, but then again, I've never been cheated on, and I think it's reasonable to assume that being cheated on hurts, badly. And I would most likely want to get back at the person who had done it. But we can learn something very valuable from the example set by Joseph here. For two reasons, now that I think about it. One reason is that Joseph had assumed she cheated, when she hadn't. We probably shouldn't just assume the worst about people. But the second, and most important reason, is that even when we're proven right about somebody's malicious intentions, and they have genuinely hurt us, even to our very core, we should still try to do the right thing. Not "right" by our own subjective, emotionally-driven impulses, but objectively right. Praying, remaining civil, showing love. The kind of peace required to decide to dismiss one's own (supposed) adulterer in a private and respectful way, actively not wanting to shame them in the public eye, is just admirable to me, and especially considering I just got done writing an admittedly very impatient comment to somebody online, provides something I really, truly think we should try to keep in mind in our lives -- especially given how tense the overall climate of society is right now. There are a bunch of extremely obnoxious people out there whose opinions differ from yours, and they will vocalize these disagreements in the noisiest, most irrational, mind-numbing ways possible. There are people out there who just don't care how you feel, and will mistreat you if they can benefit from it in some way. And I know, I know that of all people, I have no place to be talking about this given that I'm still not a very patient person, but it's a lesson I'm learning alongside all of you. God is patient with us, and God loved us when we lived in our old ways, and God still loves us today as we're learning to be righteous, and continue to mess up all the time and ask for forgiveness. Thus, this is also how we should try to be with others. Let's continue looking to God, and try to reach a point in our own lives where we could be deeply in love with someone, to the point we actually want to marry them and spend the rest of our lives with them, only to have that person go behind our backs and get pregnant with someone else ........... and then to stare directly into the eyes of that person, amid all the heartbreak they have caused us, and still have love for them, and use the situation as an opportunity to set a God-like example in the world.
May God bless all of us, and guide us according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
*For those who don't know the story of Jesus' birth, here's some quick context for this verse: Mary was the mother of Jesus. The prophets had said (hundreds of years earlier!) that Jesus, the Messiah, was supposed to be born from a virgin. So, God caused Mary to be pregnant without losing her virginity -- this was a miracle, and a sign that the Messiah was on the way. However Joseph had not been told that the baby was the Messiah yet, so when he saw Mary was pregnant, he just figured Mary had cheated on him. But instead of getting revenge on her for cheating, Joseph wanted to be as respectful as possible, and just planned to send her out quietly, without causing a public uproar. (Of course he was later told about the pregnancy being miraculous in nature, so he ended up staying with Mary.)
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Details
ALWAYS be cautious of teachings that change small details in your beliefs. If you can be convinced to accept one teaching that goes against scripture, the devil WILL use this to "kick his foot in the door", and try to feed you more false teachings. It WILL spiral out of control. I'm saying this as someone who has experienced it in the past. It never seems like a big deal at the time, but it is. If the devil can convince that say, it's "bad luck" to walk under a ladder, the devil will convince you that other things are "good/bad luck" as well, and "luck" isn't even an actual thing in the first place. God does not work in the world based on "luck". This is just one example, but you get the point. Always be on guard. Read God's word and always be cautious of things that seem to contradict it. Do some serious research on those things before you even consider them, and pray for guidance and discernment.
I just wanted to make a brief post about this.
I just wanted to make a brief post about this.
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Human Morals and an Omnipotent Deity
There are many who claim to be morally superior to God. Many of these people speak in a way that acknowledges God's existence, but they don't revere / respect Him.
God is omnipotent, right? If God, an all-powerful deity, had flaws that He didn't want you to notice, don't you think He would hide them from you instead of letting you argue them? If the Old Testament laws, that confuse many in our society, were truly immoral / wicked / what have you, don't you think God would hide that information from us so that we wouldn't see how "evil" He really was? Why then, would He allow it to be left in the Bible, a book that's central to understanding Him, that He encourages us to read, that's passed down through millennia? If He didn't want us to know how "evil" He was, why would He allow you to perceive a moral code that's superior to His? If He were some tyrannical, self-righteous (etc) maniac like many try to paint Him as, why would He, being all-powerful, allow you to reach an understanding that was supposedly greater than His own? Wouldn't He continually lead you away and distract you?
The fact is, God allows us to perceive both sides, but our perception is not perfect. We are like children with a parent - God is our creator, our understanding is not superior to His. I've used the example of a child wielding a knife. A child doesn't understand how dangerous knives are, and will be upset if a parent (who does understand) takes the knife away. Likewise, we think God is wrong for the things He does and says that we don't like; but the fact is, God knows what is best for us. Parents let their kids fall off of bikes so they learn how to ride bikes. God's teachings work in a similar way. He is omnipotent. Your conclusions may seem superior to you, but those conclusions are reached through a flawed perception. Again, like a child who wants a dangerous knife. But God has told you how dangerous the knife is. Over and over. If not directly from Him, then through the Bible, and if you haven't read that, then if nothing else, you have certainly heard it from apologists / evangelists spreading the Word. If you choose a path that goes against His word, that's not His fault at that point, that's your fault for choosing that path. And if you think that makes God a tyrant: again, if God were really a tyrant, He would not let you perceive what a tyrant He was. God is omnipotent. If God wanted us to be proper "slaves", as it were, He would not let you remain in your sin. That is, He would literally warp your mind to be exactly what He wanted it to be and not give you the ability to think outside that box, ever. He would not discourage sin, or institute rules forbidding it, but rather, He would literally take away your ability to perceive sin. But that's not how it works. You (as well as I) have the mental capacity to question and challenge God, and that is further proof that He is not a tyrant.
Your morals are not superior to God's.
Our morals are not superior to God's.
May God bless you all and guide you according to His perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.
God is omnipotent, right? If God, an all-powerful deity, had flaws that He didn't want you to notice, don't you think He would hide them from you instead of letting you argue them? If the Old Testament laws, that confuse many in our society, were truly immoral / wicked / what have you, don't you think God would hide that information from us so that we wouldn't see how "evil" He really was? Why then, would He allow it to be left in the Bible, a book that's central to understanding Him, that He encourages us to read, that's passed down through millennia? If He didn't want us to know how "evil" He was, why would He allow you to perceive a moral code that's superior to His? If He were some tyrannical, self-righteous (etc) maniac like many try to paint Him as, why would He, being all-powerful, allow you to reach an understanding that was supposedly greater than His own? Wouldn't He continually lead you away and distract you?
The fact is, God allows us to perceive both sides, but our perception is not perfect. We are like children with a parent - God is our creator, our understanding is not superior to His. I've used the example of a child wielding a knife. A child doesn't understand how dangerous knives are, and will be upset if a parent (who does understand) takes the knife away. Likewise, we think God is wrong for the things He does and says that we don't like; but the fact is, God knows what is best for us. Parents let their kids fall off of bikes so they learn how to ride bikes. God's teachings work in a similar way. He is omnipotent. Your conclusions may seem superior to you, but those conclusions are reached through a flawed perception. Again, like a child who wants a dangerous knife. But God has told you how dangerous the knife is. Over and over. If not directly from Him, then through the Bible, and if you haven't read that, then if nothing else, you have certainly heard it from apologists / evangelists spreading the Word. If you choose a path that goes against His word, that's not His fault at that point, that's your fault for choosing that path. And if you think that makes God a tyrant: again, if God were really a tyrant, He would not let you perceive what a tyrant He was. God is omnipotent. If God wanted us to be proper "slaves", as it were, He would not let you remain in your sin. That is, He would literally warp your mind to be exactly what He wanted it to be and not give you the ability to think outside that box, ever. He would not discourage sin, or institute rules forbidding it, but rather, He would literally take away your ability to perceive sin. But that's not how it works. You (as well as I) have the mental capacity to question and challenge God, and that is further proof that He is not a tyrant.
Your morals are not superior to God's.
Our morals are not superior to God's.
May God bless you all and guide you according to His perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
A Few Things (Miscellaneous)
I have a few thoughts / rants / etc that I wrote, but don't really have anything to do with them, so I figured I'll post them here.
_______
10 Nov 2016
I suppose one of my main aspirations in all this is to at least reach a point where I am not overwhelmed by the concept of perfection. For Moses said to the Israelites, "This is not too much for you to handle", and it may not have been for them, though they sinned willingly anyway, yet every time my mind even begins to understand a perfect following of our calling, my mind is disoriented by the magnitude of what I realize. A perfect willingness to stand in complete and unwavering defiance of the world while simultaneously showing it due love. To reject all heresy and not permit it to influence our thoughts. To put away fear that any earthly force causes us. To analyze every slight thing we do to ensure it is in line with a divine calling. But from the beginning, God's will has been mercy. From the beginning, repentance took precedence over perfection. From the beginning, God wanted to guide us back to truth, and knew our shortcomings, and spoke to us on our level. Perfect is our calling, not our requirement. Truly we have a merciful God.
_______
15 Nov 2016
I think a difference between Christians and demons, is that demons may lose, but they don't give up. We Christians don't lose (see Revelation), but we often give up. Are we stronger than demons?
_______
26 Dec 2016
(Written during a rough/confusing point in my life, thought it might help those who are depressed)
And so I'm here again. Walking through solitude, seeking solutions. It's rare that I feel my life has any worth. Disease cuts through my heart and breaks me physically and mentally and spiritually. Let me stand here. In this isolation. I want to go back. But I also want to just stay here. And ride out the storm. Yet I wonder, even here, if it will pass. I'm listening, God, and for once I almost feel alright. But how long? How long will it last this time? I can't do this again. I don't have it in me. I'm nearly broken already. Don't let me. Don't make me. Please heal me. And guide me. Just don't let me give into myself. You didn't die for this. Surely You bothered with me and rescued me for some kind of purpose?
_______
27 Dec 2016
It's been nearly three years since I walked here, and I still remember the sentiment that led me to it. Of all the influences that negatively impacted me, I think the one that did the most damage was paganism. Some borderline nihilistic view of the natural cycle mixed with a skewed idealization of it. An exaggeration of the mundane and a refusal to connect it to the power of the HIGHEST DIVINITY, mixed with an imagined element of fantasy, some form of "magick" that becomes self-destructive to those attempting to wield it. And how can it not, in the context of praising a perception of ferocity that is seen as utterly indifferent to the human condition? What other way could this so-called "magick" interact with its user? In reality, what they call magick is nothing more than demonic influence cloaked by a disguise of brightly-colored wonder and escapism. Twisting the concept of seeking the primordial, by not only moving the goalposts, but painting them entirely different colors. Thus, a skewed and damaging view of the world. We often assume that the beginning was the origin of truth and uprightness - a bold assumption for those who don't know the very truths they seek, but a correct assumption nonetheless. However, with an already fatally flawed interpretation of nature, the damage becomes two-fold: first, making nature the measuring stick for truth instead of true divinity, and second, misrepresenting the already incorrect measuring stick that it does provide. Frustration. Confusion. Spiritual illiteracy falsely justified by the fatal "logic" of the sin nature inside of us.
_______
10 Nov 2016
I suppose one of my main aspirations in all this is to at least reach a point where I am not overwhelmed by the concept of perfection. For Moses said to the Israelites, "This is not too much for you to handle", and it may not have been for them, though they sinned willingly anyway, yet every time my mind even begins to understand a perfect following of our calling, my mind is disoriented by the magnitude of what I realize. A perfect willingness to stand in complete and unwavering defiance of the world while simultaneously showing it due love. To reject all heresy and not permit it to influence our thoughts. To put away fear that any earthly force causes us. To analyze every slight thing we do to ensure it is in line with a divine calling. But from the beginning, God's will has been mercy. From the beginning, repentance took precedence over perfection. From the beginning, God wanted to guide us back to truth, and knew our shortcomings, and spoke to us on our level. Perfect is our calling, not our requirement. Truly we have a merciful God.
_______
15 Nov 2016
I think a difference between Christians and demons, is that demons may lose, but they don't give up. We Christians don't lose (see Revelation), but we often give up. Are we stronger than demons?
_______
26 Dec 2016
(Written during a rough/confusing point in my life, thought it might help those who are depressed)
And so I'm here again. Walking through solitude, seeking solutions. It's rare that I feel my life has any worth. Disease cuts through my heart and breaks me physically and mentally and spiritually. Let me stand here. In this isolation. I want to go back. But I also want to just stay here. And ride out the storm. Yet I wonder, even here, if it will pass. I'm listening, God, and for once I almost feel alright. But how long? How long will it last this time? I can't do this again. I don't have it in me. I'm nearly broken already. Don't let me. Don't make me. Please heal me. And guide me. Just don't let me give into myself. You didn't die for this. Surely You bothered with me and rescued me for some kind of purpose?
_______
27 Dec 2016
It's been nearly three years since I walked here, and I still remember the sentiment that led me to it. Of all the influences that negatively impacted me, I think the one that did the most damage was paganism. Some borderline nihilistic view of the natural cycle mixed with a skewed idealization of it. An exaggeration of the mundane and a refusal to connect it to the power of the HIGHEST DIVINITY, mixed with an imagined element of fantasy, some form of "magick" that becomes self-destructive to those attempting to wield it. And how can it not, in the context of praising a perception of ferocity that is seen as utterly indifferent to the human condition? What other way could this so-called "magick" interact with its user? In reality, what they call magick is nothing more than demonic influence cloaked by a disguise of brightly-colored wonder and escapism. Twisting the concept of seeking the primordial, by not only moving the goalposts, but painting them entirely different colors. Thus, a skewed and damaging view of the world. We often assume that the beginning was the origin of truth and uprightness - a bold assumption for those who don't know the very truths they seek, but a correct assumption nonetheless. However, with an already fatally flawed interpretation of nature, the damage becomes two-fold: first, making nature the measuring stick for truth instead of true divinity, and second, misrepresenting the already incorrect measuring stick that it does provide. Frustration. Confusion. Spiritual illiteracy falsely justified by the fatal "logic" of the sin nature inside of us.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Do We Need to Follow Mosaic Law to Obtain Salvation?
No, as the Bible clearly explains in Acts 15. Click [HERE] to read the full chapter.
Important excerpt:
. . . For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.
Important excerpt:
. . . For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.
Was Paul a False Apostle?
No, the Bible clearly demonstrates that he wasn't.
Acts 16:16-18
As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
Matthew 12:22-28
Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to [Jesus], and He healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, [Jesus] said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Acts 16:16-18
As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
Matthew 12:22-28
Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to [Jesus], and He healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, [Jesus] said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Friday, April 7, 2017
Fearfully and Wonderfully
Just remember this - you are not an object. You don't have to portray yourself as one, or allow other people to portray you as one. You're capable of so much more. God made you "fearfully and wonderfully". Your soul is unique to you. There are a lot of people in the world who only see you as something that can be used for their own benefit, but they're wrong. That's not what, or who, you are.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
(Untitled)
One of my biggest concerns when I talk about sin, is the idea that someone will get the wrong idea about me in the process. When I call out sin, I don't do it from a position of "judgment". I do it... from an educational standpoint?
Just because I denounce sinfulness doesn't mean that I'm perfect, or that I myself have fully and undoubtedly 100% repented from what I'm denouncing. On one hand, it feels hypocritical (Matthew 7:3-5) to call out behaviors for which I myself am responsible, but on the other hand, it feels even more wrong to keep silent about things that I know are wrong, when somebody could potentially benefit from my warning. For instance, a smoker could still warn a non-smoker about cigarettes, even if the smoker him/herself hasn't quit yet, because s/he still understands the dangers of cigarettes. And so it is with me. I'm in NO position to teach people "with authority", that is, the way Jesus taught, but I still understand that sin is wrong, and so I still try to warn people against it. I just never want to give off the impression that I'm perfect. I'm not. I'm not being "holier-than-thou". I'm still learning, just like everybody who has ever taken advice from me.
Just because I denounce sinfulness doesn't mean that I'm perfect, or that I myself have fully and undoubtedly 100% repented from what I'm denouncing. On one hand, it feels hypocritical (Matthew 7:3-5) to call out behaviors for which I myself am responsible, but on the other hand, it feels even more wrong to keep silent about things that I know are wrong, when somebody could potentially benefit from my warning. For instance, a smoker could still warn a non-smoker about cigarettes, even if the smoker him/herself hasn't quit yet, because s/he still understands the dangers of cigarettes. And so it is with me. I'm in NO position to teach people "with authority", that is, the way Jesus taught, but I still understand that sin is wrong, and so I still try to warn people against it. I just never want to give off the impression that I'm perfect. I'm not. I'm not being "holier-than-thou". I'm still learning, just like everybody who has ever taken advice from me.
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Moral Relativism
Remember guys, the world is supposed to get better as time goes! :) Morality itself
changes, too! Human sacrifice? Nah, that was totally cool for the
Aztecs - I mean they were just ignorant, isolated jungle people, they
didn't have access to... uh, whatever we have now? haha! SOMETHING must
have eventually come along and made us realize that human sacrifice was
wrong. What was it? What made us change our view on human sacrifice? I
don't know lol! I'm really curious about that though, and I sure wish we
could find an answer! It must have been something pretty significant,
though! Boy, I guess we'll just never know!
Also, the Aztecs were extremely ignorant, barbaric, backwards people, they even believed in like, religion and stuff - oh wait, they were like genius mathematicians and architects too lol woops
But
anyway, that's all different now. NOW human sacrifice is wrong. Because
humanity just PROGRESSES as time goes on! I can't wait until 2020, when
we've become even MORE morally sound! I wonder what other things will
arbitrarily become "right" because we're at a different point on the
Gregorian calendar, and what other things will arbitrarily become
"wrong" for the same reason! It sure gets confusing figuring out what
happens to be "right" and "wrong" when I wake up each day, when humanity
is just progressing and becoming better so often! Haha, boy, it's too
bad there isn't some kind of "moral code" that's just encoded into the human heart,
instituted by some kind of wise leader, that we could follow instead!
Oh well. Until then, I guess we'll just have to keep taking our personal
opinions or whatever our favorite celebrities / role models tell us,
and just assuming that's right!
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