This is a sleepless night for me -- fortunately, I keep a computer bedside just in case. If the night leg pains get too intense, I can sit up and research until sleepiness might set in. That is what is happening with me now. I have been paying attention recently to the continued spread of the Moonie cults and former President Donald Trump and company's relationship to it. I have found something extremely disturbing -- Huang Jin Sean Moon founded "Sanctuary Church" a/k/a "Rod of Iron Ministries." I ordered his book, ROD OF IRON KINGDOM and perused it tonight.
This variation of Moon's "True Parents" calls for members to be armed with AR Automatic Assault rifles. The Church believes that January 6, 2021 will be remembered as a sacred and holy day in American history. It also believes it is preparing its people for war. As I showed in an earlier post, Donald Trump went to Korea last year and thanked Unification Church and the Moon founders for vastly improving the planet. The Pennsylvania based Rod of Iron Church has been visited and spoken to by Steve Bannon, Eric Trump, Doug Matriano and other members of the Trump establishment.
They believe they are preparing our country for civil war and they intend to be "God's instruments" fighting it. They take out of context a verse from Revelation (Revelation 2:27) that Jesus will rule us with a "Rod of Iron" -- and of course, since the Moon family think they are the ones completing "Jesus' unfinished work" they are standing in for Him!
They have bought a large compound near Waco, Texas and another in Grainger County, Tennessee.
For the record, Rev. Moon's "new gospel" was that Jesus failed in his mission which was to succeed and replace the race of Adam by marrying and having children. His crucifixion represented "a failure". Rev. Moon says he was called by God to fulfill that mission which he and his wife Jak Ha Moon (currently the head of the international church) did by having their 12 children. Huang Jin Sean Moon tries to sound like a Christian in his book ROD OF IRON KINGDOM. His theology is that his parents are the "True Parents" and their message the "true gospel." If you don't believe me, take a peek at their websites for "Rod of Iron Ministries" and "World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church".
The Moonies are an important component of the New Age Movement of which I have warned for the past 42 years. One of their important spokesman admitted to me that they were working with Benjamin Creme and Tara Center (January 1983 - Joe Tully). Tully is the same person who assaulted Josette Sheeran's father when he tried to extricate his daughter in 1979 from the Moon cult.
This cult hooked up with the MAGA Movement, with a goal of restoring Donald Trump to the Presidency, treating January 6, 2021's assault on the United States Capitol as sacred, is armed and dangerous. Most certainly, there is no room there for any TRUE Christian. Donald Trump and his close supporters have done nothing to discourage it -- but to encourage it. I submit, that if you are in MAGA and/or Qanon, it is 'time to come out of her, my people."
Another example of NAR Trump idolatry -- this one in my email box from Elijah list this morning! |
Stay tuned -- I will be writing more on this later.
CONSTANCE
1,808 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 801 – 1000 of 1808 Newer› Newest»1:00 PM,
Pope Francis seems to me to be more fully coming out of the closet with a "Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another, right now" brand of "Christianity."
God is love, but He is also righteousness, which includes perfect justice. If it were not so, Jesus would not have needed to die on the cross to pay our sin debt for us. Instead, He could have had so much more fun and led a counter cultural movement, complete with Woodstock-style musical festivals.
I agree with Russell Moore about this:
Gospel-centered witness already characterizes the strongest aspects of religious conservatism. Where, after all, is the strength of the pro-life movement but in the armada of pregnancy resource centers in communities and churches across the country? Evangelicals committed to this cause care for the whole-life needs of the woman in crisis—from emotional support to job training to childcare to adoption services, as well as with a Gospel that can free us from guilt and shame. In this ministry, the pro-life movement is not at war with the culture, but sees the culture as a mission field of the spiritually wounded. One cannot demonize a woman one seeks to persuade not to harm her child, or to persuade that Jesus loves her. This has political implications. Churches involved in this kind of hands-on ministry see firsthand the power and influence of the abortion industry, and the harm it does to women, children, and communities. This is one reason why the annual March for Life is filled with younger people—Catholic and Evangelical and otherwise—the very people some told us just a few years ago would turn away from the pro-life movement due to “fetus fatigue.” At the local level, pro-life leaders are connecting the mission of the Church and the centrality of the Gospel to advocacy for unborn children and their mothers. Here we see a social and political issue of immediate relevance to those for whom the kingdom is first.
and this:
Even now, some abortion providers tell us that the majority of their clients are not “pro-choice.” They are instead Roman Catholics or Evangelical Protestants who believe they are committing a grave sin but look for mercy afterward. That’s a theological problem as well as a social problem. A theological vision is necessary for Evangelicals to shape the intuitions we will need to face the challenges of the future—whether they are ethno-nationalism, artificial intelligence, or the blurring of what humanity itself is through cloning and hybridization. The issue is not merely a “worldview” deficit. It’s a lack of Gospel-informed affections and inclinations.
And I still disagree with Pope Francis because he, a Pope, managed to confuse the age old message of hating the sin while loving the sinner. He is definitely theologically capable of doing better than that. He's not a surfer dude who just met a Jesus Freak on a beach in 1960s California and thought it sounded cool.
Biden is totally sold out to Satan. I think he is possibly possessed by demonic spirits. You can rebuke him, excommunicate him, whatever. He is all in. When his lips are moving, he is lying. His aides have spoken with one another, and asked they wouldn't leave their fellows alone with this vulgar puke, because he verbally abuses them.
There is NO fear of God in that family!
Zelenskyy, Trudeau Honor Actual 3rd Reich Nazi With Standing Ovation
Yaroslav Hunka 98, fought in a Third Reich military formation accused of war crimes.
zerohedge.com/political/zelenskyy-trudeau-honor-actual-3rd-reich-nazi-standing-ovation
Democrat justice:
NY Man Arrested With 450,000 Doses in Fentanyl Fails to Show for Court After Being Granted Non-Cash Bail
https://thelibertydaily.com/ny-man-arrested-450000-doses-fentanyl-fails-show/
Biden is totally sold out to Satan.
There is NO fear of God in that family!
3:40 PM
But Pope Francis said the Biden is a "good Catholic." How do you explain that?
This is Catholic reasoning about the medical ethics of pregnancy complications, and it is used as guidance in Catholic hospitals. I have not been able to find any other pro-life sector in religion or politics that has dealt in any way with the intricacies involved in the medical ethics of ectopic pregnancies, let alone other pregnancy complications.
More or less, the guidance allows the whole fallopian tube to be removed, resulting in the unintentional death of the embryo, but the embryo may not be directly removed.
I wonder what is the Evangelical answer to this?
https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-care-ethics-usa/archives/issues/winter-2014/early-pregnancy-complications-and-the-erds
What do the ERDs say about ectopic pregnancies? Directive 48 speaks to this situation: "In case of extrauterine pregnancy, no intervention is morally licit which constitutes a direct abortion." In light of Directive 48, the question is whether any of the procedures mentioned above constitutes a direct abortion. While the first approach results in the death of the embryo, the embryo's demise is not intended, nor is there any direct attack on the embryo. A pathological tube is removed that results in two effects — prevention of harm to the mother (the intended effect) and the demise of the embryo (the unintended effect). There is clearly a proportionate reason — the mother's well-being is preserved and the embryo, though it dies, actually has no chance at survival. Virtually all theologians agree that salpingectomy constitutes an indirect abortion and so is morally licit. The demise of the embryo is foreseen, but not intended.
Two of my favorites: Our Lady of Walsingham & Our Lady of Ransom (Mercy), and on the same day, (a pleasant surprise, I didn't know!)
In 1061 Lady Richeldis de Faverches, lady of the manor near the village of Walsingham, Norfolk, England, was taken in spirit to Nazareth . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL5_ax08Z6UX-4HkLMf9z5bzGx1UCHQL_s&v=o59-3CS5xPw
Sequence for the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mercy
https://youtu.be/Vv7T89FFh-A?si=My05TjVHS4S-ZJKw
May God bless all of you and may all of you have a blessed day
Capitol Police Chief EXPOSES Pelosi for Jan 6th LIES
The Blaze
Made Sund the 'fall guy' for 'failed security' on J6.
----
Some people are happy most of the time
But they don't know they're in line
The Bats | North By North
Ukrainian Puppet Zelensky Asks Demonic Witch Marina Abramović To Be “An Ambassador To Ukraine” & Rebuild Schools
https://www.infowars.com/posts/ukrainian-puppet-zelensky-asks-demonic-witch-marina-abramovic-to-be-an-ambassador-to-ukraine-rebuild-schools/
Report: Zelensky Asks ‘Spirit Cooking’ Occult Artist Marina Abramović to Be an Ambassador (breitbart.com)
Joe Biden KNOWS that he is a Catholic in NAME only.
We don't consider him one of ours. Joe needs to confess his many sins to God (especially those that affect the ENTIRE world).
Nor, do we consider him our 'president'.
Anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear (and who can who COUNT 2 + 2 = 4) KNOWS that the 2020 election was STOLEN... period end of subject.
So, we have nothing to say about Joe Biden or to you. Now go find one of your many sinful PROTESTANTS (from one of those 'MAN-made religions') to write about. You are becoming a crashing bore.
To see a model of how possible it can be to “win” and “lose” a cultural debate at the same time, we need only look across the Atlantic to Ireland.
How to Lose the Abortion Debate While Winning It
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/may-web-only/russell-moore-abortion-debate-prolife-evangelical-christian.html
Christian cultural influence only lasts when it’s backed up by the moral credibility of the church.
Russell Moore|May 12, 2022
As leak after leak from the United States Supreme Court indicates, the Roe v. Wade decision that has legalized abortion for nearly 50 years likely will soon be gone.
The question of where a pro-life ethic goes from here won’t be decided by courts or even legislatures, but by the state of the church in America—and that’s a far more complex realm. In fact, for pro-life Christians like me, the warning should be that it is possible to “win” and “lose” a culture of life at the very same time.
Both sides of the abortion debate have voices warning their compatriots of overreach. Some pro-life governors seem unprepared to talk in interviews about exceptions for rape and incest or the legality of IUDs and other contraceptive devices.
And many are warning pro-choice activists that they are in danger of losing public opinion by protesting at the homes of justices or seeking to pass wildly expansive bills at the state level guaranteeing nine months of legal abortion for any reason.
For decades, some of us have argued that a “hearts and minds” strategy alone is not enough to deal with this issue. One cannot make the case that unborn children are our neighbors without seeking to protect their most basic rights by law. And those of us who are so-called “whole life” advocates have argued that a hearts-and-minds strategy toward women in crisis alone is not enough.
We must have real action, from advocating for a government safety net to supporting church congregations willing to care for the poor and their children. In so doing, we oppose the idea we see often with some on racial injustice questions—“Just get people saved, and racial issues will take care of themselves.”
But while we need more than just a hearts-and-minds strategy, we also need nothing less. If the American people don’t care about the humanity of their imperiled neighbor—whether the pregnant woman or the preborn child—no set of laws will hold for long.
Perhaps the greatest danger here is not what focus groups or polling data say about abortion, but something that has nothing to do with abortion at all—the moral credibility of the American church.
To see a model of how possible it can be to “win” and “lose” a cultural debate at the same time, we need only look across the Atlantic to Ireland.
A recent book by historian Fintan O’Toole examines the seemingly sudden collapse of Catholic cultural influence in the land of Saint Patrick, in ways that could be a premonition of what could happen to evangelical America.
O’Toole writes, for instance, about the unchallenged influence of the long-serving archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid. This influence was such that the archbishop could call a radio network to account for playing a song by Cole Porter—the lyrics of which (“I’m always true to you, darling, in my fashion”) the cleric found to represent a “circumscribed morality.”
One reviewer frames the matter bluntly, writing, “The only circumscribed morality McQuaid was prepared to tolerate was the abuse of young boys and girls by priests, and of women from many backgrounds by nuns in the infamous Magdalene Laundries.”
The church’s influence was unquestionable—Ireland stood apart from the rest of Western Europe on the moral matters of abortion, contraception, divorce, and so on.
And yet, as O’Toole argues, the church’s influence was far-reaching in other ways too. He writes that when numerous instances of molestation by clergy were discovered, the parents of the children harmed seemed inclined to apologize to the church for the “difficulties” these abusive priests faced.
“This was the church’s great achievement in Ireland,” O’Toole writes. “It had so successfully disabled a society’s capacity to think for itself about right and wrong that it was the parents of an abused child, not the bishop who enabled that abuse, who were ‘quite apologetic.’
“It had managed to create a flock who, in the face of an outrageous violation of trust, would be concerned as much about the abuser than those he had abused and might continue to abuse in the future,” he continues. “It had inserted its system of control and power so deeply into the minds of the faithful that they could scarcely even feel angry about the perpetration of disgusting crimes on their own children.”
Although some evangelical leaders would tell us that language of “gaslighting” and “spiritual abuse” are just vague therapeutic slogans for the deconstructing, these terms describe perfectly what O’Toole saw in the abusive church systems in Ireland—and they just as easily describe what many have experienced in American evangelical contexts.
The end result—perhaps for born-again America as for Catholic Ireland—is a church with an inordinately powerful force of cultural influence, if not moral authority, that finds itself suddenly without the credibility to enforce its orthodoxy at all.
The reason? People could not withstand what O’Toole calls the “most shocking realization of all,” which was “the recognition by most of the faithful that they were in fact much holier than their preachers, that they had a clearer sense of right and wrong, a more honest and intimate sense of love and compassion and decency.”
The church in Ireland is now a hollow presence culturally compared to what it once was. Abortion is now legal in Ireland, after a popular referendum in 2018 repealed the laws preventing it. Abortions are, in fact, free through the nation’s public health service. Divorce, as of 2019, is liberalized as well.
Did these massive and unpredictably sudden changes happen because of dramatically improved mobilization or messaging tactics by the (to use an American framing) “cultural left”? No.
Many researchers believe that the cultural shifts in Ireland were due, in large part, to a backlash against the church itself. Was this backlash because of cultural forces of secularization warring against the church? No. It was because people who once revered the church came to realize that the church did not itself believe what it taught.
O’Toole points to the previous cultural necessity of obtaining an annulment by a church board to end a marriage. He notes that one of the church’s board members was a priest credibly accused of sexual predation on minors—and under the authority of leaders who were credibly accused of covering up the abuse.
The corruption of any institution does not, of course, decide the morality or immorality of any action, nor the rightness or wrongness of any belief. Martin Luther believed the medieval Roman church was wrong about indulgences and purgatory but right about the efficacy of the sacraments and the existence of a heaven and a hell. And yet, as Jesus put it, “Woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes,” (Luke 17:1 NASB).
I wrote above that the cultural collapse of the Irish church was the “end result” of their very public hypocrisies and scandals, but that isn’t quite right. As a Christian, I do not believe the “end result” is Ireland’s turn away from the church, or any other sociological or historical shift.
Rather, the true end result is the judgment of God. And while that is far less quantifiable, it should be far more terrifying.
What the pro-life movement needs most from American evangelicalism is not more of our cultural or political influence. Indeed, much of what must be done to achieve that sort of influence is itself part of the crisis of our credibility.
Short-term cultural influence without moral authority can lead to some gains. But long-term, those gains cannot be sustained. More importantly, what can be lost by an influential but carnal church is far more than what can be gained—and that which is lost can be very difficult to recover.
What the world needs most from evangelical America is that we be a people who really believe what we say. Whether the world agrees or disagrees with us on abortion, or any other matter, they need to see us love vulnerable children—whether in the womb, in abusive homes, in foster care, or in our own pews.
They need us to stand for justice not only in the public arena but, more importantly, by holding ourselves to a high standard of integrity and accountability.
They need us to demonstrate what we say we believe—that all of life is lived before the face of God and nothing can be covered up before the judgment seat of Christ. They need to witness the testimony that the new birth we claim is more than just a brand.
Influence can be important, if it is used the right way. But credibility is more important still. And the next generation, born and unborn, is counting on us to recover it.
How Myocarditis Became the Silent Scandal of Covid Vaccination
https://www.infowars.com/posts/how-myocarditis-became-the-silent-scandal-of-covid-vaccination/
The Universal Peace Federation’s “World Peace Summit 2023” which included the 80th birthday celebration for Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, the widow of the Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, was held on May 8, 2023.
Paula White-Cain’s tribute on the occasion to Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon aka Mother Moon:
“I want to take just a moment before I share my heart with you and really honor Mother Moon, especially as her 80th birthday is here. And, we get to celebrate it being with her this time and congratulate her on launching the …the Holy Temple…which welcomes all faiths, all nations and peoples in the presence of God to unite for family and for peace.”
“She is such a unique individual that carries such a tremendous calling of God in this earth. I was blessed to tour the great sanctuary in December of 2021 and saw that Mother Moon is answering God’s call for her life to build a world of peace.”
“I want to honor and encourage you, Mother Moon. I say this over and over. She is a woman of great courage for her work as a spiritual leader who loves the Lord and seeks to bring comfort to God’s heart in all conflict areas of the world. Mother Moon, your faith and your courage is very moving and inspiring to so many of us. We know that faith, or that peace, can only fully be achieved by faith.”
“ALL OF US HERE HAVE WORKED IN SOME REALM OF THE POLITICAL, and I’ll talk about that in just a moment. You and your late husband, Reverend Moon, have led a life of unwavering faith and never vacillated in your commitment to achieving peace through Jesus’ fundamental teachings to love your enemies. This is, in my opinion, the greatest secret to achieving reconciliation and forgiveness.”
If Paula White-Cain believes Dr. Moon “loves the Lord” and “is answering God’s call for her life to build a world of peace” then White is “denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). And, she can’t believe in the One, True God if she is so bold to congratulate Dr. Moon’s launching of a Holy Temple “which welcomes ALL FAITHS, ALL NATIONS AND PEOPLES in the presence of God to unite for family and for peace.” (Emphasis mine)
According to the teachings of the Unification Church (Moonies), restoration of the world to the state originally intended by God is possible only through the person of a messiah, who with his wife will perform the roles in which Adam and Eve failed—that is, those of True Parents. In 1992 Moon publicly declared what his followers had long believed—that he was that messiah, he and his wife being the True Parents of all humanity.
Listen to Paula's tribute to Mother Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrr2tTGyqsc
World Assembly Peace Summit 2023 https://www.upf.org/conferences-2/429-peace-summit-2023/10709-peace-summit-2023-iaysp-world-assembly
Monday LIVE: World Awakens to Truth about Ukraine War After Canadian Parliament Honored Actual Nazi Waffen-SS Member
09/25/2023
https://www.infowars.com/posts/monday-live-world-awakens-to-truth-about-ukraine-war-after-canadian-parliament-honored-actual-nazi-waffen-ss-member/
10:41 PM @ Craig
Indeed.
And adding the actual footage of people led around - given tours - through the Capitol Building on Jan. 6th, it is easy to see the "threat" was quite minimal. Between all of these facts and FBI plants inside and outside to stir up trouble it doesn't take Einstein to figure out how this was purposefully set up using some very few "hotheads" for political points.
Trump was still speaking when the episode began he did not incite anything.
Pelosi's refusal for proper security made sure the event was staged. Those people, and the American people, via media and TPTB that actually run the show in DC, were played.
It’s kind of telling where the Russian propagandists are working in US alt right media with how they frame the mess up by the speaker of the Canadian parliament’s mess up.
The 98 year old former Ukrainian military member that was accidentally honored by all of parliament (conservatives and liberals) in Canada last week wasn’t properly vetted. He was invited by the speaker personally and introduced as a Ukrainian war veteran who fought in WW2 against communism and/or Russia. Unfortunately history got away from the speaker who shoulda realized Russia was our allie at the time.
The speaker has apologized and accepted full responsibility for messing up and offending anyone.
It’s kinda like when US presidents invite people they can refer to at the state of the union addrsss. No one had advance notice about this 98 year old so no one else could have vetted him or been aware of his history. Zelensky and the rest of Canadian parliament just went along with the speakers claim that he was a Ukrainian Veteran that fought in WW2 before long ago emigrating to Canada.
Russian propagandist are having a field day with this unintentional gaffe as they continue pretending they are fighting Nazis in Ukraine. As such and accordingly, Infowars is obviously carrying water for Putin as are the people sharing such information here as if Canada is sympathetic to Nazis.
Hundreds of thousands of former Nazi soldiers settled all over the world. Btw, a 98 year old former WW2 soldier would have been a 18-19 years old in 1944 when Ukraine was liberated from the Nazis. I’m guessing he was conscripted as a boy at age 16’ish. The Waffen SS was a military outfit. It was not involved in Nazi ethnic cleansing. It was largely Galicians and Slavich ethnics opposed to more Russian occupation and slaughter. It appears they may have mistakenly allied with Germany for what they saw as their survival and out of necessity (not denying they did swear allegiance to Hitler). Recall…in 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainians were killed in the Holodomor, a man-made famine engineered by the Soviet government of Joseph Stalin.
Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.
8:35 AM wrote:
"Abortion is now legal in Ireland, after a popular referendum in 2018 repealed the laws preventing it. Abortions are, in fact, free through the nation’s public health service."
When the referendum in 2018 was up for a vote, the Vatican, and in particular, the Pope, refused to take a public stand on the issue because, as they stated, they "didn't want to interfere in the POLITICS of another country!"
When are the Catholic people ever going to wake up and leave that abomination and Mother of Harlots?
To the Catholic at 12:05 AM
Give me the names of Catholics that are Democrats in the Congress, Senate and Administration that are PRO-LIFE.
Catholicism is a religion that is practiced. Christianity, regardless of denomination, is when God gives a person, by sovereign grace, a new heart, hence the new birth. Catholicism teaches the 'new birth' occurs when the infant is baptized into the church. That, my friend, is obedience to religion, not to God.
Roger Buck: Ep 16 - The Indoctrination of Ireland - YouTube
https://youtube.com/watch?v=jNzMK-8xrH4
Listening to Roger Buck brings to mind this JRR Tolkien Lord of the Rings quote:
"You must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.'
Therefore, if you got a couple hours to spare, (for Ireland), give Roger a listen.
12:05 PM
First of all, I don't answer to you or anyone else on this blog.
You Protestants (along with your ancestors) abandoned Jesus Christ and His ONE TRUE CHURCH nearly 500 years ago... when you made ordinary MEN, like Martin Luther & King Henry VIII your 'gods'. Both were deeply FLAWED human beings. Each behaved like 'a petulant child who rebelled when he didn't get his way'... yet, your ancestors all 'drank the Kool aid' and followed them anyway.
As a result, you have not EARNED the right to 'preach' to Catholics here on this blog.
Although your obsession against the Catholic Church might appear 'flattering'... the SIN of obsession is just further evidence that some of you Protestants are not true Christians.
A TRUE Christian would never spend his waking moments picking fights with Catholics on a blog... or going after the ONE TRUE CHURCH that Jesus Christ HIMSELF began in the year 33 AD before He was crucified and died for the sins of all mankind.
Now, go find yourself another OBSESSION (instead of being an arrogant nuisance to all of the Catholics on this blog).
That last post was meant for 12:25 PM
(From 2:58 PM)
2:58 pm
For the record, my 12:05 pm post was my first and only post today and it doesn't mention or "preach" to Roman Catholicism at all.
That said, you have no authority or power to stop me from sharing the true Gospel here or in my real life with lost roman Catholics and any confused ecumenical Protestants who, knowingly or unknowingly, find themselves drifting romeward everywhere, with love and compassion.
I do not aim to be offensive, time is of the essence and I will not just sit by and watch them all fall off the cliff.
May God bless you with the knowledge and discernment to finally set her aside. It all begins with fear of the Lord and the bending of your knees in submission to Him.
x
3:02 pm
That does make more sense now...
(even though 12:25 pm didn't say anything that isn't true)
x
X @ 3:14 PM
The 'true gospel' is not spoken from a BLACK HEART like yours, X.
"By their fruits ye shall know them."
(You seem to forget... that everyone KNOWS you on this blog... and no one likes you.)
You have a LOT of work to do on your OWN soul... before you start judging others.
To 'lost' X
In recent decades, all churches have been infiltrated with New Age ideology... NO EXCEPTIONS.
But if your sinful PRIDE Is so great, you have to keep convincing yourself that YOU are the exception... just continue to keep your head stuck so far up your a--- (where it's nice & dark) and you won't have to face the truth. You can just keep lying to yourself.
To 'lost' X
Narcissists think they are always right ~ never wrong. This personality disorder also leaves them with an inability to feel empathy toward others.
"And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." (Matthew 23:12)
Craig
Anonymous 11:55 AM
For your information:
Is the U.S. Capitol open for public tours?
The Capitol Visitor Center is open Monday-Saturday from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tours begin every 10 minutes until 3:20 p.m. All tours are led by our professional tour guides and visit the Crypt, the Rotunda and National Statuary Hall. There is no cost. Admission and the tour are free of charge.
Of course, people were touring the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. It wasn't a national holiday, but unfortunately, is now a day of infamy forever.
Anonymous 3:33 PM
Only a BLACK HEART would think he KNOWS the heart of everyone on this blog. I don't always agree with X, but I respect his opinions.
7 + 2 = 9, but so doesn't 6 + 3. The way you do things is not always the only way to do them. Respect other people's way of thinking and opinion.
Realize that both sides are being played against each other.
4:57 pm
I would guess they are more likely referring to the cherry-picked footage shown by Tucker Carlson of Capitol police calmly leading insurrectionists around and out of the building as if such footage was a tour and the police were showing the peaceful terrorists around the building.
The overwhelmed police were simply de-escalating and trying to get the new age freaks out and appear to have had difficulty finding their way around locked doors and entrance/exit ways.
I also the articles shared by Craig and others mischaracterized Sund's testimony. Leaving out the part where Trump's cabinet members and appointees were themselves hesitant to get the national guard in place or even on the move. All of them appears to have feared enabling Trump to somehow implement Marshall Law and thereby shut down the election certification. Sund implicated several Trump officials with holding back the National Guard (and even directions from Christopher Miller, I think, to keep the National Guard unarmed for the day). It's not that they WANTED an insurrection, according to Sund it was the opposite, Pelosi and Trump officials were together, perhaps, trying to handcuff Trump from executing an effective insurrection. I bet the members of even the Capitol Police who were inactive that day were individuals suspected of Maga sympathies.
Sund said there were National Guard members in sight of the Capitol Building ready to go and Miller and others simply refused to deploy them.
He also shared evidence that the Oath Keepers may have been awaiting or hoping for Trump to implement Mashall Law wherein they could have served as a civilian auxiliary to the National Guard troops. They even had weapons cached nearby for such purposes.
It's these kind of things that worry me more about a 2nd Trump term (which should never happen anyway). There won't be any checks and balances as the "handlers" have all exposed themselves by now and he won't care about getting re-elected again anyway so no need to pretend to be sympathetic to even the psuedo-Christian elements in his prior administration.
He'd surround himself with only whack-job dominionist loyalists.
He'd be a total despot. The end of our country.
x
Thanks 5:12pm
I'm really not concerned with Luciferians using multiple personas to attack me with basic refutations and juvenile insults like "nana-nana boo-hoo ... nobody likes you". He can participate as an adult or not. No skin off my back.
That said, it's very tough to correct or even debate anyone with written words and sound loving and concerned for their seemingly very dead soul at the same time. But it all begins with truth. As Russell Moore seemed to indicate... Christians should demanding better than Trump.
x
https://www.breitbart.com/news/anti-covid-drug-may-have-led-to-virus-mutations-study/
Anti-Covid drug may have led to virus mutations: study
I posted the Russell Moore article about the Irish Catholic church earlier, but I didn't post anything else after that until now.
My belief is that people don't get saved through correct knowledge of the Bible or through correct church attendance. Instead I believe the most important purpose of reading the Bible and attending church is to see Jesus Christ.
John wrote that nobody has ever seen God, but if you love each other, then you're reflecting an image of God. We are supposed to see the image of God in each other in church in this way. When we do so we're also experiencing the Holy Spirit indwelling us and our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are seeing the members of the body of Jesus Christ and in a sense seeing Jesus.
Going further I believe we should show some respect for the Holy Spirit, Who is God, and Whom we don't boss around, restrict, control, subjugate, manipulate, trick, etc.
John wrote that "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
I believe people in Catholic churches can become born again of the Spirit, in spite of, but not because of, their religious practices. If people are praying and if they are reading the Bible, they have the chance to become born again of the Spirit. They have the chance to receive the gifts of faith, discernment and love.
The true church is the spiritual body of believers. It's not a building. It's not an org chart. The Holy Spirit doesn't dwell in buildings or org charts. The Holy Spirit dwells in the bodies of born again Christians all over the world and belonging to many denominations, none of them perfect.
With this in mind, I wish we could agree it should be out of bounds to imply that we know we are saved and we know that another commenter is not saved. It doesn't only show disrespect to another commenter. When you think about it, it also shows disrespect to the Holy Spirit.
4:57 PM
Capitol Police gave the so-called insurrectionists tours -- go back and look at the actual footage -- on Jan 6th.
Come on..connect the dots.
Really, 5:37 PM? That coming from you? You voted for Biden. An international crime family. You voted for Benghazi Hitlery Clinton.
You love Obama policies and his Saul Alinsky tactics.
You are a flaming Marxist, not even remotely a Libertarian.
Question...are you even a believer yourself to dictate to other people whom to vote for?
There's not enough evidence to convict you of being a real believer in Jesus Christ.
P.S.
There are people I deeply disagree with politically but still respect them personally.
But I have zero respect for you and your politics.
Zero respect for you not because of your politics, but because you are a malignant liar and sower of discord. You're more un-Christian than Trump who is not a believer.
"Events Are Moving Quickly Now" - Kunstler Warns Of Imminent "Banquet Of Consequences For Biden Admin
zerohedge.com/political/events-are-moving-quickly-now-kunstler-warns-imminent-banquet-consequences-biden-admin
"The Holy Spirit dwells in the bodies of born again Christians all over the world and belonging to many denominations, none of them perfect."
Amen.
Is the SDG the Peace Treaty of Prophecy?
endtimesforecaster.blogspot.com/2023/09/is-sdg-peace-treaty-of-prophecy.html
LSWA at 6:24 pm
Pehaps that explains why Desantis and other opus dei republicans were pushing molnupiravir so hard, instead of life-saving covid vaccinations. They continued to do so even after the Biden administration pulled molnupiravir's emergency use authorization.
Not that the citizen researchers who crafted that study are all that reliable. These are basically kids. What does it really indicate? It may just show molnupiravir effectively weakened covid and they just found a possible signal of such. Time will tell.
x
Everyone here knows that X is the BLACK HEART who dominates this blog 24/7 and sits back in judgement of everyone else 24/7... while being the least qualified.
His black heart is reflected in his politics and the way he treats other people.
What's even funnier is when he gets tired of talking to himself... and starts replying to his own posts.
X, It is you who pushes death, not them.
Stem to stern you believe in our feral government and globalist efforts to kill and maim. Death with covid numbers are very much higher than deaths from covid, and you approve. You wanted lifesaving medicines kept from people while the numbers adding up the damage and deaths by vaccines are still being calculated.
And the policies surrounding it all have killed American small business and family homes while the mega coporations grew at their expense. And you are happy for it all. I am willing to bet you make money off of this debacle.
No stone unturned to create damage and disorder and you are all for it.
I'm glad 6:24 P.M. posted that.
One way we can tell that X is NOT a christian... he pushes vaccinations here on this blog all the time. A TRUE Christian does not believe in mass genocide. Only someone with a black heart would want to see people DEAD.
10:25
It’s ok to be confused. Perhaps this study will help you with that cognitive dissonance and finally explain to you why so many more uneducated gop’ers in red states and red counties were willing to forgo vaccination risking death and actually dying in such disproportionate numbers. It really is a sad thing.
“Smart people first in line for COVID-19 vaccines, study suggests”
News brief September 8, 2023
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/smart-people-first-line-covid-19-vaccines-study-suggests
Intelligent people get their COVID-19 vaccines much faster, suggests a study of more than 750,000 people in Sweden published in the Journal of Health Economics.
Uppsala University researchers assessed the relationship between cognitive ability and prompt COVID-19 vaccination among 750,000 men and 3,000 women who registered for military service in Sweden from 1979 to 1997. The team used intelligence-test data from the Swedish Military Archives.
In Uppsala, after priority groups received their COVID-19 vaccinations, the government made vaccination appointments for all residents aged 50 to 59 years.
"Most Western countries wanted their populations to be vaccinated as soon as possible," coauthor Oscar Erixon, PhD, said in an Uppsala University news release. "We wanted to investigate whether there was a link to cognitive ability or whether other factors caused the differences and led to people hesitating to get vaccinated."
140-day difference between groups
A total of 80% of the most intelligent people were vaccinated within 40 days of vaccine availability, while it took 180 days for those with the lowest cognitive ability to reach that level. The results, the researchers said, suggest that the complexity of the vaccination decision may make it difficult for people with lower cognitive abilities to understand the benefits of vaccination.
"If we are to have equal care for all, we need to take into account the different ways people absorb information," lead author Mikael Elinder, PhD, said in the release.
If we are to have equal care for all, we need to take into account the different ways people absorb information.
Mikael Elinder, PhD
Coauthor Mattias Ohman, PhD, said that making vaccination appointments for people accelerated uptake in both groups. "Logging on to a website, finding an appointment, booking it, going there and getting vaccinated may have been too many steps for some people," he said.
Erixon said some disparities in vaccination behavior can be addressed through better-designed vaccination campaigns. "As it is known that the group with lower cognitive ability was also hit harder by COVID-19, such a measure is likely to contribute to more equal health outcomes," he said. "Faster vaccination rates are also likely to help bring an end to the pandemic more effectively."
I’m pulling for you.
X
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
It's always nice to see fellow commenters accusing each other of murderous hearts because of disagreements about medical choices. But maybe somebody was just being mocking of X, who was the first to do it.
Digging into the medical statistics of the "redder" areas of the country can be an interesting past-time. Long before COVID-19, people in "red" areas of the US had a lower lifespan. I don't know enough to speculate about why that is, but I note it for the record.
It was a judgement call to get vaxxed or not. There were many unknowns. It was a risk to get vaxxed. It was a risk not to get vaxxed.
If the message is that "ha ha, this is what you get for not accepting that I really do know everything and believing everything I tell you immediately" then that's actually kind of crappy.
It's still a free country. We still have freedom in our medical decisions. Can we still respect differing choices? Or even if we can't respect different choices, can we at least accept them?
If somebody wants to research it, you can conduct a search using these or similar terms: rural and urban differences in life expectancy in the United States.
Some of this disparity is simply due to fewer hospitals existing in rural areas. That's one very obvious factor. I'm sure there are numerous other factors. It's a whole research area that can't be exhausted quickly.
This is one example of what you might find if you look. It's from 2018. If you read it you'll see that accidents, smoking, lung cancer, COPD, heart disease, and obesity rates are higher in rural areas. A quick scan of the list will obviously show numerous health conditions that increase vulnerability to COVID-19.
U.S. Life Expectancy: Growing Gap in Urban Versus Rural Lifespans
https://www.organicauthority.com/health/u-s-life-expectancy-growing-gap-in-urban-versus-rural-lifespans
OUTRAGEOUS! Brothers Who Killed Ethan Liming, Stomped on His Chest, Broke His Neck and Took His Car Acquitted of Involuntary Manslaughter Charges
(If the races were reversed, there would be riots, looting, arson and murder all over America)
The U.S. Marshals Service last year arrested three men accused of fatally beating 17-year-old high school student Ethan Liming to death outside the school founded by LeBron James in June.
The three men beat Liming to death and later bragged about it to friends.
According to reports, Ethan Liming, whose father is a pastor, tried to calm the situation in the parking lot when he got jumped and hit in the head from behind. The suspects broke his neck.
We learned from the police report that the suspects took Liming’s car and prevented his friends from driving him to the hospital.
Liming was later pronounced dead in the parking lot.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/09/outrageous-brothers-who-killed-ethan-liming-stomped-his/
I wonder what the mortality rates were between the early Christians and pagan Rome were? I heard 'em Romans were pretty smart ( - :
When I heard Obama was going to redo 'healthcare' (we used to call it 'going to the doctor') I thought, oh boy! he's going to start a JFK type program and train thousands of doctors and place them across the country so everyone, I need be, could walk to see a doctor. Nope, the turkey did just the opposite.
*if need be
Contact with an educated professional can make a world of difference to the under-educated rural poor but sadly there aren't to many willing to sign-up for that gig anymore.
8:54 am said A quick scan of the list will obviously show numerous health conditions that increase vulnerability to COVID-19.
Red and Blue America was dying at about the same rate until February-March of 2021 when a bigger percentage of Blue America got vaccinated and the more vulnerable rural red communities forwent vaccination in greater numbers. Rural red America may be unhealthier, more vulnerable and have shorter lifespans; but the disparity in covid hospitalizations and deaths was undeniable (vaccinated versus unvaccinated).
Also, perhaps now we should add "vulnerability to political & health misinformation" to that list of vulnerabilities causing shortened lifespans among rural US populations?
x
p.s.- It is estimated that an extra 350,000 Americans died unnecessarily due to "choosing" to remain unvaccinated. That's not rubbing being wrong in anyone's face -- that's the cold dead body in grave's truth. It's not a "freedom" issue entirely as Public Health Laws and Supreme Court precedent still support and uphold mandated vaccination, if necessary. We never quite got that far with this virus. It never proved quite deadly enough to fully mandate such thereby allowing for most of the public to freely choose vaccination or not (except for those in public health, government jobs and other essential jobs on, largely, a state by state basis). It's not the ideal public health system to have 50 separate health systems doing, allowing and communicating different things. But that could be a strength too? (this time it wasn't). I respected people making the choice to remain unvaccinated in 2021 if they also abstained from community interactions to the large degree and voluntarily masked. They should have been going out of their way to minimize the personal and PUBLIC risk they knew they were taking from affecting (or infecting) others to the greatest degree possible. Most/many didn't do that -- they instead LIED. They went maskless and threw caution to the wind denying the virus even existed or, if it did, it was just a cold and masks were somehow useless. They even travelled extensively. They sought out misinformation and cherry-picked any science, psuedoscience or psuedo-expert they could find to support what we now KNOW to have been and still remains the far riskier choice (choosing to remain unvaccinated). Unqualified as they were, they spread misinformation far and wide and even unpolitical persons like my 60-year-old cousin bought into the idea the covid vaccine was scary and more dangerous than the virus. Disinformation killed him, my cousin (being right doesn't salve that pain). So, today, if you made the riskier choice to remain unvaccinated, spread disinformation and SURVIVED you should feel somewhat convicted about that and take responsibility for your actions. Or, maybe just repent of the lying. Giving all we do now know, if the vaccines killed 1,000 or even 10,000 worldwide but saved 20 million lives worldwide, you can't yet pretend the covid vaccine was riskier. That is a lie.
Republicans’ War on Their Own Public Health: Tens of thousands of conservatives died because they believed anti-vaccine lies. Now the GOP is bringing back measles and polio.
https://prospect.org/health/2023-04-24-republicans-war-public-health-vaccines/
.... So far, ordinary child vaccination rates have fallen only modestly. But Republicans are enormously less likely to have gotten vaccinated against COVID: Their rate is 62 percent against the Democrats’ 86 percent. As soon as the shots became available, we saw a large and growing political discrepancy in COVID deaths. According to a Brown University study, about 320,000 American deaths could have been prevented with vaccines—heavily concentrated in red states like West Virginia, Tennessee, and Wyoming, which had about four to six times Massachusetts’s rate of preventable death. Another study found that as of September last year, roughly twice as many Republicans as Democrats have died of COVID. The death toll was likely enough to swing the Arizona attorney general race in 2022.
The GOP is so politically diseased that it can’t take elementary steps to protect its own members from actual disease.
Conservative resistance to vaccines comes from three interrelated factors. First is the sheer self-indulgent lunacy of the right-wing base. For years, this group has been marinating in a propaganda stew of inflammatory anti-immigrant racism, unhinged accusations about Democrats (they’re not citizens, they’re pedophiles, they’re in league with Satan), hysterical lies about crime in big cities, and sundry other conspiratorial nonsense that has given them leave to be mean to anyone they don’t like. Buttoned-down, sensible analysis about how vaccines work just doesn’t hit the rage buttons in the same way.
The second is that the economic engine of the same conservative media is scams. Every major right-wing media property is stuffed with ads for bottom-feeding swindlers hawking gold coins, brain pills, and dubious conservative-branded consumer products. Often those media outlets sell those products themselves. It follows that this media ecosystem basically can’t recommend treatment that works, because it can’t be characterized as a secret remedy liberal elites don’t want you to hear about. That’s why many conservatives first convinced themselves that hydroxychloroquine, and then ivermectin, were magic cures for COVID. Many conservatives are still giving the latter drug to their own kids despite a pro-ivermectin influencer recently dying of a common side effect of the drug.
The third is that the conservative base, its brains melted into a Velveeta-like consistency by the above-listed processes, has produced a leadership class that is in equal parts grotesquely irresponsible and plain crazy. Some are smart enough to get vaccinated themselves while still pandering to deadly anti-vaccine paranoia: Just about everyone at Fox News, for instance, has gotten their shots, but one still hears constant misinformation about the vaccine on the network. Other conservative leaders, like a half dozen different regional radio hosts, believed their own propaganda and paid for it with their lives....
... Years ago, when anti-vaccine lunacy was more of a bipartisan phenomenon, I thought that vaccine skepticism was a privilege of growing up in an era largely without endemic diseases. But watching Republicans eagerly embrace anti-vaccine lies during COVID has convinced me otherwise. If Mississippi and other conservative states keep dismantling the vaccine firewall in Republican communities, I don’t think they’ll be deterred even by large outbreaks of measles and polio. The new conservative private schools where students learn to read from gun catalogs and the Left Behind series will just have to be equipped with plenty of iron lungs.
10:25 PM
That is not the criteria. Sorry. We can all make choices out of ignorance and sometimes misinformation. That's human of us.
There is supposed to be free choice in issues such as this (though I agree it is idiocy to let Government force "choices" on people) so if people went along with it I don't base their faith, or lack of it, as case may be, upon that.
It is the amassed collection of things he states here repeatedly that are anti-Christian and anti-Bible that makes me think people like X are not really true Christians, though he loudly proclaims he is, but his words are mere words and don't cut the mustard. By his example, the kicker is his malicious spirit of division on top of his constant affirmations of Globalism and Socialism against the freedoms God has heretofore given and we have held dear (lots of isms are his idols) that is the most convincing that he is willful in his un-Chrisitan behavior and beliefs. He is most convincing that he is a troll and a tool of evil agendas.
So he can have a voice here or anywhere else, I don't care about that, but he has no credibility or respect coming to him as he does.
https://twitter.com/wideawake_media/status/1706254381916504221
Those that affirm these Globalist nutjobs are part of the destruction they are causing while they virtue signal and degrade people who not believe the hype and the tripe they're basically force feeding the world (for their own great gain in power and personal wealth).
The think tank swamp creatures believe and vehemently manipulate their "causes" as though they are doing God, and us, a favor.
They are more than nutjobs. They are really dangerous to our health and well being.
God will step in in His time and way to thoroughly address them. Meanwhile don't drink their koolaid.
11:07 am says he can have a voice here or anywhere
Thank Rayb/Jethro, I appreciate you allowing me to share my thoughts and opinions here. Your respect is not my concern. Truth is. It is not un-Christian, nor anti-Christian, nor anti-Bible to identify & debunk lies and unspin political & religious rhetoric and propaganda to the best of my ability, knowledge, and discernment.
I am also OK with being wrong. Please show me where I am wrong, unbiblical or anti-bible. I've been wrong many times in my life. I am human. I am sorry for being so direct and confrontational (especially when I have facts, evidence and scripture on my side); however, I can't help but feel that once you see it for yourself (the overarching unpatriotic unamerican unGodly evil of Maga Qanon) you'll be just as passionate against it too.
x
10:52 PM
You win
PS: I'm assume the local dope dealer and liquor store made boocoo bucks during the lockdown
"Giving all we do now know, if the vaccines killed 1,000 or even 10,000 worldwide but saved 20 million lives worldwide..."
That is pure utilitarian ethics, and it is the same reasoning that justified bombing Hiroshima.
Besides, the numbers are guesses.
The problem with you, and the problem with us all, is that we are not all good and all knowing.
Because of this human condition, we each need to be willing to teach others and to be teachable by others.
Citizens of any democracy will always be all over the place in their opinions as compared to trained experts. But in a democratic form of government we are still entitled to our own perspectives and our own stakes. Otherwise we are accepting a technocracy.
If you hold it against the masses that so many are unwashed, then I guess there should be no participation of the masses in the things that affect them, and maybe we shouldn't be living in a democratic form of government.
Technocracies are only as good as the characters of the people who populate the gatekeeper and the upper management roles within them.
The problem with all human systems is that they will always be run by human beings no matter what.
We must have checks and balances, not because one side is always right and one faction always wrong, but because no faction is always right.
Getting the last word in an argument can't change that basic, foundational reality of human shared existence as proved amply by all of recorded history.
Ted Cruz: "The Odds Are Very Significant" That Michelle Obama Will Replace Biden
"I think if that happens, that would be very, very dangerous."
zerohedge.com/political/ted-cruz-odds-are-very-significant-michelle-obama-will-replace-biden
X 12:06,
"Please show me where I am wrong, unbiblical or anti-bible."
I'm not the one you're replying to, and I wouldn't go so far as to call you anti-Bible or unbiblical. But the Bible gives us a lot to think about. After the flood, God stepped back from judging the entire world again until the second coming, and He gave us civil government to restrain evil. The other side of this story is the many overweening rulers in the pages of the Old Testament, from pharoah to Nebuchadnezzur. In contrast, Israel started out tribal, with no king, but only a system of judges who "ruled" in an ad hoc manner as problems bubbled up to them from the people. Leading up to the period when Israel had kings, we have this incredible parable, and it seems that from God's perspective in this parable, he likes us to be fruitful and productive while we mind our own business, not to seek to "wave over the trees." All Bible stories are for all Christians to meditate upon and to live out in their freedom of conscience the principles they gain thereby, ideally being shepherded by qualified pastors and discipled in healthy churches. This is not for us to argue about but for you to think about.
The Bible passage follows in the next comment.
Judges 9:1-21
New International Version
Abimelek
Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother’s brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother’s clan, 2 “Ask all the citizens of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal’s sons rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember, I am your flesh and blood.”
3 When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelek, for they said, “He is related to us.” 4 They gave him seventy shekels[a] of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelek used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers. 5 He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding. 6 Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelek king.
7 When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. 8 One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’
9 “But the olive tree answered, ‘Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?’
10 “Next, the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be our king.’
11 “But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?’
12 “Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be our king.’
13 “But the vine answered, ‘Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?’
14 “Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king.’
15 “The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’
16 “Have you acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves? 17 Remember that my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian. 18 But today you have revolted against my father’s family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you. 19 So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too! 20 But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelek and consume you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelek!”
21 Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and he lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelek.
Biden Orders Border Patrol To Cut Barbed Wire Fences Holding Back Masses Of Migrants
zerohedge.com/political/biden-orders-border-patrol-cut-barbed-wire-fences-holding-back-masses-migrants
This country won't last much longer. All the other nations of the world are watching us implode!
It is fair, and just.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!
In the parable about waving over the trees, only the thorn bushes wanted to wave over the trees. In Genesis the ground was cursed with thorns. Thorns are a symbol of sin. The thorn bushes are too short to wave over the cedars of Lebanon. The only way they can wave over the cedars of Lebanon is to burn them down. Historically thorn bushes grew on roadsides and sometimes caught on fire, burning down the cedars of Lebanon.
The implication is that wanting to be waved over is sinful as well, probably because it is a form of idolatry. There is a God shaped vacuum where God should be.
In post-Christian culture it is often the isms that are filling that God shaped vacuum. And often it is a technocracy filling the vacuum as if we seek to be told what to do by omniscient beings.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12545855/Devastating-transition-green-energy-metal-mining-23-million-people-toxic-waste-rivers-polluted-farmland.html
Devastating risks of transitioning to 'green' energy: Mining for electric-powering minerals has left 23 million people exposed to toxic waste, 500,000km of rivers polluted and 16 million acres of farmland ruined
Toxic byproducts of metals mining also pollute 10.7 million acres of flood plains
Researchers estimate the pollution also impacts 5.72 million livestock worldwide
Scientists hope their new global database and mapping tool helps stem the tide
x, the poster of the moster of ad hominems, strawmen, red herrings, the over the top manipulator of information to twist others words or plain old speak out of place to mischaracterize people he doesn't even remotely know.
This gaslighter till the cows come home is so WRONG, wrongs he has stuck to throughout his posting history as he buries this blog to it's eyebrows in his self-righteous virtue signaling and mocking pontifications and expects people to take it. It's him waving his big mouthed edicts over everyone in some high tone of questionable "education" or some other rot he assumes are his credentials, aimed at the people he disagrees with and calls stupid, and murderers, etc etc etc etc etc etc--you get the picture..
Not one shred of humility in this human.
His calls to be shown where he is wrong are a joke he is playing on himself.
And pretending he is a Libertarian or some such when no self-respecting Libertarian would settle for the continual governmental/globalism overreaches he has screeched at this blog to embrace. Just name the issue or topic and he will toe the globalist line, every damn time. Add unAmerican to the list of things his bad behaviors, his bad politics and implacable religion, proves him to be.
So I think it right go scorched earth over his diatribes, his waves, and screeches, and ad hominems directed at people he truly cannot stand.
Or whatever else he throws at this blog and hopes it sticks, because not only are his posts often wrong (and I can give credit where due so some only part wrong, but they're all wrong in spirit because he is a pretty nasty human as he haunts this blog).
Shouldn't you identify with Christ instead of make yourself out to be "the be all end all" as a person, anon known unfavorably as x since it is your Christianity you are so proud of? Um. Proud and Christian do not mix, dude.
America is toast. We have reached that place. And gee thanks to people like him who benefit greatly biting the very hand that has fed them.
God has weighed us and found us wanting. Going by the wayside as the drop in the bucket He says the nations are. Time is up in offending God. The last of the times the Bible is speaking so loudly about these days will play out now just as God has said.
Woe to those who only continue to offend add and add to the already long long list of things God has against the world (you better repent while there is still a tad of time left.
The isms and schisms have won the day for now.....but their Day is coming.
Let the righteous be righteous and the wicked stay wicked.
FEMA Nationwide Emergency Alert Test Wednesday, October 4, 2023 @ 2:22 PM Eastern (1:22 PM Central)
Messages Will be Sent to All TVs, Radios and Cell Phones
August 3, 2023
WASHINGTON -- FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) this fall.
The national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
The WEA portion of the test will be directed to all consumer cell phones. This will be the third nationwide test, but the second test to all cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.
The EAS portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions. This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test.
FEMA and the FCC are coordinating with EAS participants, wireless providers, emergency managers and other stakeholders in preparation for this national test to minimize confusion and to maximize the public safety value of the test.
The purpose of the Oct. 4 test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level. In case the Oct. 4 test is postponed due to widespread severe weather or other significant events, the back-up testing date is Oct. 11.
The WEA portion of the test will be initiated using FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a centralized internet-based system administered by FEMA that enables authorities to send authenticated emergency messages to the public through multiple communications networks. The WEA test will be administered via a code sent to cell phones.
This year the EAS message will be disseminated as a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) message via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System-Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN).
All wireless phones should receive the message only once. The following can be expected from the nationwide WEA test:
Beginning at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET, cell towers will broadcast the test for approximately 30 minutes. During this time, WEA-compatible wireless phones that are switched on, within range of an active cell tower, and whose wireless provider participates in WEA, should be capable of receiving the test message.
For consumers, the message that appears on their phones will read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
Phones with the main menu set to Spanish will display: “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”
WEA alerts are created and sent by authorized federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government agencies through IPAWS to participating wireless providers, which deliver the alerts to compatible handsets in geo-targeted areas. To help ensure that these alerts are accessible to the entire public, including people with disabilities, the alerts are accompanied by a unique tone and vibration.
Important information about the EAS test:
The EAS portion of the test is scheduled to last approximately one minute and will be conducted with the participation of radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers and wireline video providers.
The test message will be similar to the regular monthly EAS test messages with which the public is familiar. It will state: “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.
https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230803/fema-and-fcc-plan-nationwide-emergency-alert-test-oct-4-2023
Re: 3:57 PM post
How many think that it might be a good idea to turn off / unplug all 'smart' devices (cell phones, smart TVs, radios) on Wednesday, October 4th (at least for a couple of hours)?
3:30 PM,
But don't you think we're supposed to oppose demons, not demonize our opponents?
The majority of doctors and nurses have the same opinions that X has about COVID-19. Are they all wicked?
1:57
Kinda obscure. How are you applying that to me as an anti-Trump registered Republican kinda more independent now with libertarian leanings. Maybe you mean like DominionISM, TrumpISM, white nationalISM?
I, too, see a lot of Maga types who want to be “waved over” by Trump or some other Trump-like or Trump sanctioned authoritarian someday as they respond to propaganda stoking fearISM via great replacement theory and other 4th generational war communISM threats (as though such are real).
Is Abimelech Trump? Isn’t he actually a part of the criminal elite pretending to be “one of us”. He’s certainly nothing like any Christian I’ve known and he’d step over or throw even his own family members under the bus before accepting responsibility for anything. Trump even surrounds himself to hired worthless and reckless people. These are lawless troublemakers who follow him and worship him. What shade does a bramble like Trump provide? Nothing. This worthless bramble thinks it has something to offer others. It speaks arrogantly as if it can shoot fire and destroy the massive trees of Lebanon when he is nothing more than a common criminal & reprobate.
You also failed to continue on with Judges 9 after verse 22 wherein Abimelech rules as king for three years. But God is going to do something about this and remove him. God allows people to deal with the consequences for their actions. God does not do something about Abimelech immediately. He allows three years to go by before his hand moves in the affairs that are taking place. Similarly, we have seen the Lord allow us to experience the consequences of our decision to elect Trump, like, perhaps including being oppressed by Covid for a couple years before his hand moves and brings help. God allows us to go on our path and deal with the consequences of our decisions. We may ask, “Where is God?” but God shows that he is there but is not removing our consequences simply because we cry out to him.
Odd world before the New Covenant. Wasn’t the failures of Kings and Judges pointing to Christ being our only needed and possible King versus an application regarding how our governments operate today?
X
5:49 PM
YES, they are
"Maybe you mean like DominionISM, TrumpISM, white nationalISM?"
Not into all that as you suppose and want to be true.
You isms have isms though.
Your idols are many and killing you opportunity to really know Jesus and rightly represent him.
If you did you would not be the hostile jerk you are..about most everything. You are a scorner head to toe.
You need a humble heart. Start with thankfulness. Let God show you the many things you can't lord over, though you think you should and must. Wrong again.
You can't lord over others, with hearts and convictions that reflect, at least in part the heart of God, because nobody does that perfectly, but you don't recognize that or them.
5:49 PM
You missed the point.
My doctor doesn't gaslight me.
x represents what many of them don't.
His attitude to force his view of good and good for us upon others is anti everything God's grace affords. His isms are all about that.
One of whom x bows in allegiance to.
https://twitter.com/DinoHoer/status/1706700930165379093
Constance's blog no longer belongs to her.
This is just X's world... and we're all just living in it.
To be a good Christian... humility is required.
Oops, who is going to tell X that he is not a good Christian?
X,
You wrote: … Truth is [my concern]. It is not un-Christian, nor anti-Christian, nor anti-Bible to identify & debunk lies and unspin political & religious rhetoric and propaganda to the best of my ability, knowledge, and discernment.
I am also OK with being wrong. Please show me where I am wrong, unbiblical or anti-bible.
I’ve shown your selective cessationism to be lacking Biblical support. (In fairness, you are far from the only one adhering to this manmade reactionary doctrine.) In fact, I’d say it’s “religious rhetoric” and both unbiblical and anti-bible. More pointedly, I’d say it’s eisegesis as an attempt at apologetics—even though other Scriptures, in proper context, could instead be used to counter the excesses we see in false charismaticism.
In our exchange on this issue, with each response you made I was able to—using one of your favorite words—debunk it.
What say you?
1:19 PM
Re: Rumor from Ted Cruz that Michelle Obama may replace Joe Biden in 2024?
zerohedge.com/political/ted-cruz-odds-are-very-significant-michelle-obama-will-replace-biden
So, does that mean that we still won't have our first female President?
Here at WXT it is all about him.
He's an attention whore.
Somebody said Christine would stand and fight with wallpaper.
X has exceeded her by miles.
His multiplied and manifested wrongs are pointed out to him and of course he's too 'godlike' to be wrong, as he fake says he would admit if wrong. He's made of plastic.
I don't even care about his "he says/he or she says" talk. It is the arrogance that wants to demean and denigrate others (many times on his finer points of nothing) are why his posts reek. Why he makes a fine marxist/globalist.
His terrible politics aside, this is hands down why I believe this accuser of the brethren is no brother in the Lord.
How is it that he alone is right and he alone is good every time he posts?
Craig at 7:14 pm
I humbly disagree that you’ve refuted BB Warfield but that’s ok.
I’m glad you made me read several old books and listen to a few more sermons on the issue. I have personally come to the conclusion that continuationism is indefensible biblically.
Actually, since continuationists hold to spiritual gifts that do not fit the biblical descriptions, they are not really continuationists at all. Rather they are more like reinventors.
I still feel you are my neighbor and brother in Christ. I could absolutely be wrong on this issue. I don’t think thinking or believing either position is a sin or tier one error UNLESS and UNTIL some “reinventor” runs around pretending to have such ceased abilities. I don’t believe you’ve claimed to possess any such gifts yourself.
You’ve even called out abusive and extreme continuationists yourself…publicly. Even hiding your name eventually for fear or experience of abuse or doxxing. I’m just slightly more conservative than you on this issue really and I’m just sharing my opinion. I’m not teaching or preaching.
Maybe you really need to watch that Cessationist movie.
X
7:39 pm
If you want to see me be wrong and humble about it then engage in honest debate versus basic character assassinations and generalities.
I’m not new age. I don’t “manifest” wrongs or anything. If my wrongs are many it should be easy to specifically point them out. Being somewhat confident of one’s opinions (political & religious) is not a crime. Craig also speaks carefully and confidently yet he rarely gets taken to task for such I assume because of his political leanings.
Alas, I hear your frustration. Time has shown me to have been correct about many issues here over the years… especially with regards to covid and the covid vaccines. mRNA vaccine technology was somewhat new and therefore slightly risky. I coulda turned out to be wrong and would have had to acknowledge such. I pray I would have been humble about such (assuming I survived- lol).
Anyway. May peace be with you. I’m certainly not nearly as awful as you think or make me out to be. I’m sorry I seem to concern you so much. I kinda think I’ll go back to ignoring the tired confusing space wasting diatribes. Responding gets us no where.
Godspeed, X
I don't know much about this guy except he doesn't have a very pretty wikipedia page (called Fauci a Nazi)
Quote...It is very hard to accept evidence that something you have done for patients, something that you truly believed was beneficial, is not useful. The evidence is even harder to accept when you have been well compensated for your work. Because of this, acceptance of medical reversals is never easy and opposition to them is usually passionate.
https://www.aier.org/article/a-noted-physician-advocates-covid-civil-disobedience/
Doctors take an oath: "FIRST, DO NO HARM."
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1706428363705835678?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1706428363705835678%7Ctwgr%5E2f139bfcae6a1295382cdb24ab367958f75b7c63%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fpolitics%2F2023%2F09%2F26%2Ftucker-carlson-abortion-not-political-debate-spiritual-battle%2F
Abortion has gone from being tolerated to celebrated. What kind of sick people would tell you that killing your baby is a pathway to joy?
How can anyone have a serious adult conversation with some old conspiracist who seems to honestly believe 99.99% of all doctors and nurses are "wicked", that Dr. Vinay Prasad is anything other than a disinformation grifter now, that the Koch-controlled American Institute of Economic Research opus dei think tank is a legitimate source for medical information and that the covid vaccines weren't "useful".
It's just got to be kids posting from Russia or Lithuania trolling to continue trying to alter election results and undermine confidence in our country and it's democratic largely Protestant institutions.
x
1:10 AM
Re: How can anyone have a serious adult conversation with some old conspiracist who seems to honestly believe 99.99% of all doctors and nurses are "wicked".
__________________________________________________________________________________________
No, not 99.99%... just enough useful idiots stupid enough to drink the Kool-aid... who would be more than willing to help the Globalists achieve their DEPOPULATION agenda.
1:10 AM
I'm glad you're feeling better, x ( - :
An observation about heifers
We have two heifers. One with horns, one without. We also have two calves. So anyway before I bore you stiff the girl with the horns is the greediest thing alive. She will spend more time chasing the other away so she can have it all (apples, corn husks, etc) then eating (it seems). Now the hornless heifer used to be nice. She looks just like a big doe but lately she has adopted the other's nastiness except she's not just trying to hog all the apples she's doing it for fun. It's got to the point the calves (and the horse) prefer to stay in the corral away from the two mean girls. Here's the thing; The horned heifer I could understand and could work around her greediness by spreading the food out but the once nice heifer who turned ornery...well there's just no sense to it and it's a shame. We'll see things change in November after the horned one goes to freezer camp
PS: I must be getting senile, I forgot the point; did Adam's fall affect God's creatures?
X 6:01 PM,
I said I wasn't going to argue with you about the parable about waving over the trees but that it was only for you to meditate on. You immediately argued, but that was your choice. Although I feel misunderstood, I'll stick to what I said about refraining from arguing about it.
6:28 AM,
The Bible is not completely silent about your question, but I hesitate to make inferences and form philosophies on the basis of poetry that points to literal spiritual truths in a mysterious way. The way I read the Bible, it's a book with one main theme, Jesus Christ and His redemptive work. It's not a book about knowing everything. It's a book about knowing what we need to know to see Jesus Christ and to become redeemed by Him.
There is some poetry in the Bible about creation, and it has great beauty and suggestiveness. The promise of a New Heavens and a New Earth suggests that the whole world will be redeemed from the fall that happened in the garden of Eden. Here are just a couple of examples of all of creation worshiping God and all of creation groaning for redemption.
Romans 8:22
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Revelation 5:13
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”
7:39 PM,
It just seems like an awful lot of power to see in just one blog commenter. It's almost as if you need to fight just one individual person who symbolizes the abstract things, like globalism, that you are justifiably concerned about and alert to. Are you sure you don't need to fight an individual who symbolizes globalism, because you can't fight globalism?
At times I've seen X disappear only to be called back by those who apparently love to fight with him.
X,
I’m not sure if you are being obtuse or intentionally conflating issues, for you wrote:
Actually, since continuationists hold to spiritual gifts that do not fit the biblical descriptions, they are not really continuationists at all. Rather they are more like reinventors.
Isn’t that essentially the point I’ve made more than once? The mere fact that I claim continuationism as the true biblical position over cessationism yet have written extensively about false charismaticism is evidence of a distinction between continuationism and false charismaticism. A distinction with a BIG difference. But, false charismaticism—what I call hyper-charismaticism—does not negate the possibility of the true, either in the past, present or sometime in the future.
And we can refute these false continuationists by the Scriptures, without resorting to declaring a selective cessationism (the unbiblical doctrine of ‘the “Apostolic sign gifts” have ceased with the Apostolic era’).
You began your response to me with:
I humbly disagree that you’ve refuted BB Warfield but that’s ok…I have personally come to the conclusion that continuationism is indefensible biblically.
I countered your responses point by point, the last one @ 7:22 AM in the immediately preceding block of comments. (If you missed it, just do a search using “diakonia”.) You’ve yet to biblically support your selective cessationist position. So, to ‘humbly disagree’ is not a real answer here. And where is your evidence “that continuationism is indefensible biblically”? And I’m not talking about false charismaticism/false continuationism, so, please, no straw man response to this.
The rest of your response is pretty much made up of straw men, red herrings, and whataboutisms.
Maybe you should read the Scriptures more closely.
Given your Baptist association, I’m assuming your eschatology is futuristic. Assuming so, I’m curious: How would you interpret Revelation 11:3–14 through your cessationistic lens?
I see the scab of the blog thinks he's playing nice @ 8:40 PM.
The gloss coat he tries to put on his self-aggrandizing smugness is hilarious.
His elitist mentality leaves him wide open for the ridicule he richly deserves for his antics.
His exchange with Craig, for instance. He tries to play cat and mouse with topics but x's content is what's in the cat's litter box by comparison.
Not that he's all wrong all the time, mind you, because there's some room for discussion here, but because x thinks he is all right all the time. Thanks for the laugh Jethro!
Don't miss this short video:
Oncologist: "I've Never Seen Cancers Behaving Like This"
Cancer is showing up in children that have been 'vaccinated' at alarming rates . One 12 year old boy was took the Moderna 'vaccine,' four months later developed stage 4 brain cancer.
https://rumble.com/v3l887z-oncologist-ive-never-seen-cancers-behaving-like-this.html
Craig, Do you speak in tongues?
Anon 10:32 AM,
Nope.
Obnoxious X and his forever blah-blah-blah and clang-clang-clang!
Same old, different day.
10:23 AM,
We're kind of dependent on experts we can't trust, and I resent that, too.
Government, science and medicine are human enterprises that are only as good as the characters of the people who fill the boss roles and the gatekeeper roles. Human beings are clever enough to learn their systems and then to game their systems.
Since we're not scientists who have multi-million dollar budgets at our disposal, nor do we own TV news channels or newspapers, we're limited in our responses.
We try to turn to alternative sources, but then those sources often manipulate and use us, too. Then X correctly points out, not all the time, but some of the time, the problems with the sources and their claims.
But as he does so, he pretends complete trustworthiness for the government and the experts. Complete trustworthiness for "our betters."
I get the frustration. We are in a miserable circumstance. I've been living with this miserable circumstance for a long time, when it comes to medical choices, and I can honestly tell you that it is very hard to learn to navigate through all the choices and voices that exist in the world of alternative medicine. Cult-like followings abound. Bandwagons abound. These things get people hurt, too.
What I see here most of the time is that people are just as dogmatic about their favorite populist-type or alternative-type sources as they are about their religious beliefs. I think it is born out of a very strong need for certainty.
What's the answer? There is no Bible for anti-government, populist or alternative choices and voices. I don't think the answer is to relentlessly attack all of them all of the time, but I also don't think the answer is to relentlessly attack all the attackers of them all of the time.
"The Vaccine is 100% Safe and Effective"
https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1706178028018008199
https://oversight.house.gov/release/wenstrup-reveals-new-allegations-that-dr-fauci-potentially-influenced-cia-covid-19-origins-investigation/
Wenstrup Reveals New Allegations that Dr. Fauci Potentially Influenced CIA COVID-19 Origins Investigation
8:28 AM
A better question would be after The Fall nature fell (became thorny) then men became thorny (say, Cain), so if The Fall affected the beasts (say, greed), could this be where Man learned greed?
The philosopher said there are two types of men; those that live to eat and those that eat to live. I would add that this is also what separates us from beasts; while beasts live to eat, man must fast.
No, long and short of it, it's born out of dealing with a tone deaf scorner know it all like AnonX who is definitely part of the problem, not part of any solution.
Because he does not allow for civility, doesn't respect it when he has gotten it, now he gets none.
His cram it attitude, on any differing person or information other than his own, deserves backlash. I expect the government and media etc, to be what they are, untrustworthy and corrupt. But a guy that claims he is a Christian yet so obnoxious to other brethren is a literal plague. His politics are quite terrible, but worse, his persona is despicable, so he gets called what he is. We can go toe to toe with his politics, that's what discussion and dialogue is for, but nobody here needs to put up with his smug elitism and arrogance.
There's no one here more graceless than that dude.
And whore for attention he is, I oblige.
More on Jan 6th rioters sentenced
https://share.newsbreak.com/50y1qk2t
10:31
Canadian Physician and the doctor in the article you linked claiming children are suffering for exploding rates of cancer due to the covid vaccine , Dr William Makis, has a history of deceptive & alarmist covid misinformation.
In 2022 he also made the claim 80 Canadian physicians under age 50 died from the covid booster shots. I assume his most recent children & cancer claims will be just as easily debunked.
His Canadian doctor death claims were easily fact checked and debunked by the AP (see article for links)
Fact Check-No evidence that 80 Canadian doctors died from COVID vaccinations
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vaccines-80-doctors/fact-check-no-evidence-that-80-canadian-doctors-died-from-covid-vaccinations-idUSL1N33K1EM
… Reuters examined obituaries, news reports, and information from the InMemoriam service about all 80 of the doctors in Makis’ list, and found no evidence that proves any of the doctors’ deaths resulted from taking COVID vaccines.
At least 11 of the doctors died from cancer. Four died from accidents, including two car accidents, a drowning, and a death while descending the world’s second highest mountain (bit.ly/3PSiAsB), (here), (here), (here).
Another doctor’s body was found after going missing for several days (here). Yet another died from a congenital heart defect (here). Thirty-seven of the 80 doctors were over the age of 55 when they passed away.
In a previous Reuters fact check, the hospital where three doctors listed in the Makis letter worked confirmed that their deaths were not related to the COVID-19 vaccine (here).
Although the Instagram user claims that over 80 doctors died after taking their third and fourth booster shots, the earliest death listed in Makis’ letter was in Dec. 21, 2020. The first COVID vaccines did not roll out in Canada and other countries until Dec. 2020.
Mark Johnson, a spokesperson for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada told Reuters via email that the first vaccinations in Canada began on Dec. 14, 2020.
Johnson said the claim that the 80 doctors’ deaths were related to COVID vaccination “misrepresents vaccine safety” and is “unsubstantiated”.
In response to a Reuters request for comment, Makis did not address all the deaths from accidents and chronic illnesses such as cancer. In his response, Makis cited one doctor whose cause of death was listed as lung cancer and said that personal communication with colleagues of that doctor had revealed he died as a result of pulmonary embolisms – blood clots in the lung – and Makis noted that clotting has been linked with the COVID vaccines.
However, pulmonary embolism is also a well-known effect of advanced lung cancer and thought to occur in up to 63% of patients, according to a review of medical evidence (here)
I’ll take a peak for articles debunking this most recent outlandish seeming claim.
X
It appears we've gone from died suddenly to turbo cancer.
It only stands reason sterility is next.
This is how the overpopulation crisis is merciful handled.
Lord have mercy
https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1706265236150374574
Dr. Paul Offit on Why He Is Not Getting This Year's COVID Booster, Says Myocarditis Could Last Longer Than Previously Thought
"I think I'm protected. I didn't get last year's bivalent vaccine. I'm not getting this year's vaccine because I think I have high frequencies of T-cells...We're going to find out about this vaccine over time. It is a novel strategy. We certainly were surprised by myocarditis and pericarditis and we'll see whether or not over time when we're 5 years into this, 10 years into this, 15 years into this, whether there's any evidence of residual myocardial disease because the reason you have myocarditis is you're making immune response to your own heart muscle...We'll find out about that over time."
I didn't let those screaming at me to get vaccinated brow beat me into their ill-planned, unwise "solution" to Covid. They'll be back in the next plandemic, but I won't listen then either.
Well, Obamacare mandates failed and so did Biden's. But, watch out for the revenge.
I viewed the following, and it really angered me that these men would so misrepresent Scripture in their quest to 'prove' the sign gifts ceased with the Apostolic era.
X, this should anger you, as well:
How would you persuade someone that the sign gifts have ceased?
Ligonier Ministries
I was listening to Steve Lawson’s argument, but then he quickly lost me at about 20 seconds in with “…until such time as the canon of Scripture was completed.” This appears to be a reference to “the perfect” in 1Cor 13:10. Again, we must either accept or reject the entirety of Paul’s list of nine in 1Cor 12:8–10; and so, if we reject the seven “sign gifts”, we must also reject faith and distinguishing between spirits. That argument fails.
Then Steve Nichols cites Hebrews 2:3, implicitly making the claim that since the signs and wonders of the first century were God’s attestations of the Gospel (actually salvation, sōtēria; but perhaps I quibble) through the Apostles, then—what—this was ONLY for the first century? That’s a non sequitur. Why does he think this passage ‘proves’ the sign gifts were only for the first century? Where in this passage is this even implied? So, why couldn’t the gospel/salvation message be attested by signs and wonders in later centuries?
Comment by @birdjoy5974: I humbly agree to disagree, as someone who has gone into the remote parts of Mexico to preach the gospel I can tell you that God still is in the business of miraculous signs and wonders through His people. Note that this commenter says “through His people”. He isn’t talking about “healers” or what-have-you; he’s talking about God working through yielded vessels who are proclaiming the Gospel.
Then Burk Parsons gives a straw man for why the sign gifts might not be evident post-Apostolic era. Again, the sign gifts were coincident with the salvific message in order to attest to it, NOT to attest to the sufficiency of Scripture.
Then Lawson comes back and straw man’s 1Cor 13:11 en route to implicitly claiming that “the perfect” is Scripture. But Paul’s point—which escapes Lawson—is found in the next chapter (14).
And worst of all, Parsons comes back and completely misrepresents Jesus’ words to Thomas (John 20:27–28: “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (NASB). Parsons makes the claim that Jesus was referring to signs and wonders, instead of His’ resurrected body! And the crowd eats it up.
Then Nichols appallingly misrepresents Peter’s argument in 2Peter 1:16–21.
It’s all eisegesis to support their manmade doctrine.
And what are they scared of?
These misrepresentations of Scripture anger me.
However, some of these points could be used against hyper-charismaticism. And maybe, just maybe, that’s what they should be doing instead of eisegeting Scripture to ‘support’ the claim ‘the “Apostolic sign ‘gifts” ceased with the Apostolic era’.
A ministry called Vision Beyond Borders says what you said was witnessed in Mexico. In Iran, and other places in the Middle East. I have heard the man speak about signs and miracles and it wasn't
the hyper-Charismatic stuff. He is a Bible smuggler and the things he and his team have witnessed in countries that are hostile to Christianity are amazing.
Anon 9:35 PM,
I believe it.
The Spirit has never worked through me to effect any signs, but that may well be because I don't preach the Gospel enough. I say that to my shame. Well, at least not as a missionary outside of the US.
I know the enemy is working within hyper-charismaticism. And I do think the enemy is working on the hyper-dogmatic side of things, as well. Working both sides against the middle.
"Working both sides against the middle."
True in a lot things...
Many Calvinists (the more points the worse it gets) are often hyper-dogmatic in my experience and can twist the Gospel to make their version "fit".
And I know some hyper-charismatics too, and they can go out of bounds and leave the Gospel behind to show-off their "gifts".
Either way the Gospel can suffer to accommodate their doctrine.
I'm rethinking Calivinism myself. I learned to turn up my nose at Arminianism as opposed to Calvinism. But I may need to rethink that. I found this book review interesting. I'll quote from the book review below to demonstrate why I'm no longer assuming that the label of "Arminianism" necessarily points to a heresy beyond the pale.
John Wesley didn't disagree with Calvin about justification by faith. His sticking points were the doctrines of double predestination and the imputation of Christ's righteousness. I had to look up "double predestination." It refers to the doctrine that God created some people predestined for hell. Wesley saw the Calvinist imputation of Christ's righteousness as a cloak for antinomianism (the early heresy that the New Covenant state of being under grace, not under the law, can be used as an excuse for lawlessness).
I still need to read the book and think about it.
SUFFICIENT SAVING GRACE: JOHN WESLEY’S EVANGELICAL ARMINIANISM
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/review/sufficient-saving-grace-john-wesleys-evangelical-arminianism/
This is a major work of Wesley scholarship which no serious student of Wesley’s theology can do without. Coming to judicious conclusions on the basis of extensive scholarship, it is likely to stand as the definitive work on this aspect of Wesley’s theology. It is also a timely reminder that Wesley was an Evangelical Arminian. The label of Arminianism has been used by those who have departed from both Arminius and Wesley and defend some kind of Pelagianism, semi-Pelagianism, Socinianism, Rationalism or Liberalism. Wesley was quite clear that, despite the real differences over predestination, the Calvinists and he were at one in their affirmation of Evangelical Reformation doctrine, and particularly close on justification by faith and the atonement.
X 6:01 PM,
I'm going to address just a couple of misunderstandings but leave alone the main point that I had said I would not argue about.
Kinda obscure. How are you applying that to me as an anti-Trump registered Republican kinda more independent now with libertarian leanings. Maybe you mean like DominionISM, TrumpISM, white nationalISM?"
Your jab was not as much of a poke at me as you may suppose. I have come to see the doctrine of common grace as a historically corrupting doctrine for the church. It corrupted the mainline Protestant churches before it corrupted the Evangelical churches. Its roots are in the Social Gospel of yesteryear. Common grace teachings have influenced Reconstructionism (which is not widely popular) and neo-Calvinism (which is widely popular).
"Trumpism" is actually halfway down a slippery slope to post-Christian culture. It's just on the right side of the slope. But it is not an ideology. Calling it an "ism" could be a misnomer. Some intellectuals try to give the MAGA movement an intellectual underpinning, but the movement itself mostly knows nothing and cares nothing about these intellectuals and their ideologies they dream of going down in history for...at least, so far. Eventually some of the ideologies could trickle down. That remains to be seen.
I, too, see a lot of Maga types who want to be “waved over” by Trump or some other Trump-like or Trump sanctioned authoritarian someday as they respond to propaganda stoking fearISM via great replacement theory and other 4th generational war communISM threats (as though such are real).
In America we live in a democratic republican form of government with freedom of speech, and no candidate gets elected without a coalition. No coalition agrees about everything with every member of the coalition. The MAGA coalition has noxious elements in it, it's true. I don't know what you mean by "4th generational war communism."
I don't think everything wrong with the world came from Marxism. I think Marxism and cultural Marxism did have influences. I find it laughable that cultural Marxism is supposed to be very powerful. I think mostly it gets students to waste their own time and money, and most of them don't like it and quickly forget it after their assignments, tests and papers.
I think much of "Leftism" came from post-Christian culture with a transition period of Social Gospel and common grace doctrine. Cancel culture looks a lot like church discipline without church. Progressivism looks a lot like postmillennialism without a second coming.
FearISM? Ludicrous word! And fear is hardly monopolized by just one political party. Fear is regularly used all over the media and all over politics. Fear of Donald Trump is profitable for the media and is effective for getting out the vote.
Fear of Trump seems increasingly like it is turning into a spooky ghost story. Trump is increasingly coming across as senile when he talks, and he keeps on losing, losing, losing ever since 2020. He lost all the court cases about election fraud, he lost to E. Jean Carroll, and he just lost to the New York judge regarding his fraud case, even though he plans to appeal. I anticipate he will only continue to lose, yet the media continues to hype him as if he alone of all the people in the world can wave an evil magic wand to become re-elected president, to get off the hook for 91 felony charges, and whatever else he wants to do.
Odd world before the New Covenant. Wasn’t the failures of Kings and Judges pointing to Christ being our only needed and possible King versus an application regarding how our governments operate today?
Of course. But "he wants to wave over the trees" is used as an expression among some Christians.
9:49 am
You are the lady that battled often with RayB regarding Herbert Armstrong, No?
I think, perhaps, the Adventists and other cults use that Old Testament "he wants to wave over the trees" parable/idiom a lot too. Keeps people focused on their particular prophet and his/her (Ellen G White, Armstrong or even Brigham Young) revelation. Interesting that we seem to agree that Trump is Abimelech who was the worthless feckless destructive bramble bush.
Still don't know where I was presumed to fall into that story? I don't seek a fascist murderous king to wave over me nor do I fancy myself a king waving over others, however, the individual libertarian could surely benefit from a representative democratic state protecting it from the inhuman corporate pseudo-libertarian elite and their ecumenical roman benefactors who control the republican party.
I'd rather not vote at all. Concern myself with only the true King, Jesus Christ. Wouldn't that be nice?
Were you really "rethinking calvinism" or just ripping on calvinism?
x
I always thought that the Reformers were intent upon refuting the Roman Catholic claim to continuing extra-biblical revelation that could be held as equal in authority to the Bible. Did they intend to say that no gifts of the spirit are bestowed on Christians any more; or did they want to throw off the Popes and the Magisterium because they saw these institutions as Phariseeical traditions of men, making the word of God of no effect?
The gifts of the spirit don't have to equate to signs and wonders, because clearly love and discernment and faith aren't what most people mean by signs and wonders. Love, faith and discernment have nothing to do with receiving direct, new revelation that would add to the canon. The Reformers can't possibly have been arguing for the cessation of these gifts, because otherwise they would be arguing for the cessation of grace. They maximized, not minimized, the workings of grace.
Are we talking about gifts of the spirit per se, or are we talking about signs and wonders that signify the authority to add direct, new revelation to the canon? What are we arguing about? It doesn't seem very well defined.
X 12:06 PM,
You are the lady that battled often with RayB regarding Herbert Armstrong, No?
No.
I think, perhaps, the Adventists and other cults use that Old Testament "he wants to wave over the trees" parable/idiom a lot too. Keeps people focused on their particular prophet and his/her (Ellen G White, Armstrong or even Brigham Young) revelation.
No, I've heard it said in the context of church elders who were going out of their way to assassinate the character of a church member, who got caught doing it, and who helped each other avoid accountability for it. (A Presbyterian congregation.)
Interesting that we seem to agree that Trump is Abimelech who was the worthless feckless destructive bramble bush.
I wouldn't take it that far. I recall pointing out that nobody gets elected without a coalition, and coalitions aren't comprised of voters who all agree with each other about everything. I criticized Trump without interpreting him as Abimelech.
Still don't know where I was presumed to fall into that story? I don't seek a fascist murderous king to wave over me nor do I fancy myself a king waving over others, however, the individual libertarian could surely benefit from a representative democratic state protecting it from the inhuman corporate pseudo-libertarian elite and their ecumenical roman benefactors who control the republican party.
There are other ways of lording it over people. I said I wasn't going to argue with you about it. It was for you to meditate about.
I'd rather not vote at all. Concern myself with only the true King, Jesus Christ. Wouldn't that be nice?
Gospel first, but love of country is an extension of love of neighbor.
Were you really "rethinking calvinism" or just ripping on calvinism?
Rethinking Calvinism.
It took a coalition of patriotic Americans (including many Christians) that all don't agree with each other about everything to vote Trump out of office too.
After just over 3.5 years of his rule too.
However, the consequences of lifting up that false idol continue.
At least after Abimelech's death his followers and fellow combatants walked away in shame for all they'd done to Israel and Gideon's sons.
x
X 1:09 PM,
Most of the time that Donald Trump was the president, he didn't seek to burn down all the grape vines, fig trees and olive trees in the country. He seemed as if he would be content if everybody were to prosper and in so doing make him the president of a successful economy.
Many grape vines, fig trees, and olive trees were burned down during the COVID-19 pandemic and lock downs, whereupon many thorn bushes became able to wave over them.
I will concede that at the present time, Donald Trump seems to be quite willing to burn down the cedars of Lebanon of the Republican party, if they do not continue to allow him to wave over them.
I felt I should respond to this part separately.
"At least after Abimelech's death his followers and fellow combatants walked away in shame for all they'd done to Israel and Gideon's sons."
Again I need to make the point that winning coalitions are comprised of a variety of people who don't all control each other and who can't all answer for each other. Diverse coalitions that contain fringe elements are a fact of life in American politics.
Several decades ago, one establishment Democrat bemoaned that the entire Democratic party had just been taken over by the cast of Hair. In hindsight, the Baby Boomers became more conservative as they aged. Panic turned into Boomer jokes over time.
At the present time, many establishment Republicans are bemoaning the takeover of the Republican party by the MAGA base. Eventually the takeover will mature. Marjorie Taylor Greene already shows signs of wanting to try to become an adult in the room, although it got her flak from her colleagues in the house. Some day we will look back and make MAGA jokes, and the panic will have subsided.
Participants in the January 6th violence have been and are being held accountable, while it remains true that majority of participants didn't commit violence and weren't even positioned to see it at the time it happened.
You were part of a winning coalition to vote Biden in. Do you answer for the trans model who went topless at a white house party?
People believe what they believe, they experience what they experience, they think what they think, they value what they value, they vote accordingly, and they can't always help who their fellow travelers are in their coalition.
To me Trump has been more a Samson if somebody thinks he should be characterized from a Bible example, though I don't care about that either.
His ship has sailed. And America is sunk.
Thanks hypocrites and pretend christians who voted Biden into office like he was some kind of Cyrus King.
Nope. He is just an evil puppet and you folks who help him destroy are guilty in that association and will be held accountable before God for paving the way for evil.
"Again I need to make the point that winning coalitions are comprised of a variety of people who don't all control each other and who can't all answer for each other. Diverse coalitions that contain fringe elements are a fact of life in American politics."
Coalitions have many elements that make them up, so do candidates and as is the case of Trump then and now.
I tend to go by what a person actually accomplishes and does (and has done) more than what they say. And things evolve in election cycles and in the tenure of elected officials, sometimes toward good, sometimes not good.
That's just life all across the board because things are more fluid in today's world. You have to pick your battles, and they often come to you uninvited. Truth is often a casualty in this type of scenario.
But the blame game of broad brushing people to permanently affix them to every wrong, either perceived or real, serves no one well. Rushes to judgment never pan out to better anything.
This blog is a case in point, it has many differing shades of both sides of the aisle, some right, some wrong, a mix of both so answering an individual timestamp at face value makes much more sense than the wide swaths of ASSumptions taking big jabs into the dark hoping to strike some meat. Makes for better discussion too.
But some here are not here for that. A troll gotta troll as they say..
This used to be a good blogspot. Not so much these days. Even the blog owner has had a hand in it's decline.
Samson was a sinful, disobedient man who made a lot of mistakes and blunders. But after being publicly humiliated in his blindness and weakness in the temple of the Philistines, he called to the Lord and said, "Oh Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God.”
Samson is colorful but tragic. He was shown to be spiritually weak, and this eventually led to him becoming physically weak. He was shown to be spiritually blind, and this eventually led to him becoming physically blind. He was shown to be spiritually enslaved, and this eventually led to him becoming enslaved to his lusts of the flesh. He gave his strength and his eyes to people, not to God.
But in his humiliation, blindness, weakness and defeat, when he called upon the Lord, the Lord answered him. Then he killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life. When he attained a self-sacrificial victory of sorts at the end of his story, it was because he trusted in God's strength, not in his own strength.
5:39 PM, are you a different commenter than 4:51 PM?
Donald Trump and the New Old Testament Mindset of Christians
https://redstate.com/sweetie15/2016/10/23/donald-trump-new-old-testament-mindset-christians-n62904
It is, unfortunately, time to do this again, where I call out the scripturally misguided, who have twisted the gospel to defend their support of Donald Trump.
While I occasionally hear the life of Paul distorted to make him the prototype Trump, more often than not, the high priests of the Trump temple find some Old Testament king, like Cyrus, or in the latest bit of lunacy that I’ve seen going around, like Samson.
You see, God has a plan. And His plan is perfect. We have a very narrow view of the world in which we live, and we are often confused why things transpire around us the way that they do. We see something that looks dangerous, and we run. We see someone who looks flawed attempting to ascend to the highest office in the land, and we ridicule them.
We say, “He can’t be president – he’s nothing like Christ!” Or, “He can’t be my child’s role model – he has said nasty things about women! On TV, no less!”
Who said a ruler had to be like Christ? No man is devoid of sin like Jesus was. While others are living better lives, and perhaps obeying the Word of God more faithfully than others, that doesn’t give us the moral high ground, as Christians, to discount a leader’s ability to rule over us. A person’s ability to govern a country is not predicated on his religion.
This is the desperate lunge of some who want to make Trump into a flawed hero.
There is so much to say about this, but I’ll start with this: This writer has totally misrepresented the stance of those who oppose Trump’s candidacy.
It’s not that he’s imperfect. We all are.
It’s not that he’s not Christ-like. He’s an unrepentant sinner. We don’t expect him to be Christ-like. There are many public servants who are not Christians, but who maintain their composure and act as decent human beings.
Presidents also do not “rule over” us. They were meant to represent us. If one who seeks that position does not represent our values, or prove themselves worthy of our vote, we are not beholden to endorse them with our vote.
No, for all that is wrong with Trump, those who stand against him now would likely feel no need to stand against him, if not for the fact that he’s unfit to lead this nation.
In spite of his sins, Samson was given a spot in the “Heroes of Faith” chapter in Hebrews. In this chapter, Samson is listed alongside Abraham, Moses and David. Sadly, you wouldn’t know that Samson had great faith in God by just looking at the life that he lived. Samson was misguided about many things, which is evident by the many mistakes and shortcomings he committed. But no one can take away Samson’s spot in Hebrews 11. The inspired author of Hebrews lists him with the other great heroes of faith for a reason.
Yes, Trump has eaten “honey” – but who’s to say he won’t also pull down “pillars?”
I’ll say it.
He won’t pull down pillars.
Those who are so eager to use the Old Testament heroes to excuse Donald Trump’s cheating, adulteries, and abuse of others are lulling others into a false sense of comfort.
They want to believe they’re voting for a Samson, a David, or at least a King Cyrus, who could be used by God to do good for this nation.
The facts are, no matter who gets in that office, God already knew ahead of time, and He can do great works through them. That isn’t a perk reserved solely for Donald Trump. Let’s not blur the lines of what was going on during the period of the Old Testament kings and the New Testament truths.
The books of the Bible were written over a period of 1500 to 1600 years. Centuries passed before Jesus was born into the world.
The entire Old Testament is a series of people getting things wrong and God intervening. They had the Law, given to Moses by God and delivered to the people, but they had no example.
God saw that the people needed an example, so He came as His son, Jesus Christ, to bleed, hunger, thirst, and be fully man, but also fully God. He led by example, obeying every law and precept of Father God.
He walked blameless, and when he left, he sent the Holy Spirit to comfort, prompt, convict, and guide.
For those who want to go back to the Old Testament to make excuses for Trump, they have thrown us back to a time when man had no example of how to walk upright and responsibly. There is no excuse for Christians to long for a King Cyrus or a Samson in a time of the Holy Spirit.
We are in that time now. The Holy Spirit is still active. I’m afraid that many Christians ignored Him, however, to vote for unrepentant flesh.
They are the hoping for a man like Donald Trump to appoint conservative judges and protect religious freedoms, based not on the leading of the Spirit, but on what they hope he will do. They’re taking the word of a man who lied and cheated in his business life, as well as his personal life.
They had several choices that were living New Testament faith, who would have, based on the available background we have on them, done everything they said they would, or would have at least tried.
They rejected them for Old Testament flesh, one they admit could be like a wicked king, but they hope, based on what they want to be true, that somehow, God will turn his heart and cause him to keep all his lofty promises.
This is backwards thinking. It is not faith in God. It is faith in flesh.
Because of this misplaced, misguided hope in a man, the Christians who have pushed this fallacy will now get exactly what they want: trials and tribulations on an Old Testament scale. This time, however, God will not be stepping down to send another savior to show us the way. He’s already done that and we have failed Him, far too many times.
When we see Him again, it will be because He’s taking the faithful home.
Do I think we’re in for hard days ahead? We are.
The church mask is about to be shaken off and the time for true repentance and a revival mindset is coming, and it has nothing to do with Donald Trump.
https://danwiniarski.wordpress.com/2016/10/12/samson-vs-jezebel/
This blogger in 2016 compared Trump to Samson and Hillary to Jezebel, saying that he wasn't voting for Trump, but he understood why somebody would choose to vote for Samson over Jezebel. Some of the Jezebel characteristics he listed were:
There’s another person I remember from Sunday School. A very, VERY bad person. Jezebel. Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab of Israel. She wasn’t just nominally bad (like Samson). She was calculatingly evil…and proud of it. She lied in order to gain power and wealth. She encouraged the people of her country to reject God. She was corrupt and abusive of her power. She threw other people under the bus (or under the chariot, if you will), in order to save her own skin and stay in power. She rode the coat-tails of her husband to achieve the pinnacle of power. She even condoned MURDER of innocent people in order to benefit herself politically (of course, she got other people to commit the murder for her…she wouldn’t stoop to do it herself).
Some of these listed characteristics of Jezebel are also characteristics of Trump. He has:
Lied to gain power and wealth.
Been corrupt and abusive of his power.
Thrown other people under the bus to save his own skin and stay in power.
Condoned murder of innocent people to benefit himself politically.
Jezebel encouraged idolatry, while Trump certainly hasn't done anything to discourage QAnon, and a golden Trump statue even appeared at CPAC one year, with people posing next to it for pictures.
I wonder if this blogger still has the same opinions in 2023.
Random thoughts. . .
Was there something in that jab that made people hate Trump? I keep getting anti-trump search results which makes absolutely no sense to my inquiries. 2020 was the first billion dollar election and I'm thinking artificial intelligence may be reducing the outlay.
Moloch ant the Golden Calf
https://youtu.be/GMAxCggi3lE?si=4oDhE12btikPc_9e
Smart guy, but he doesn't get the supernatural.
Aaron wasn't lying, that calf was the devil work. The devil knew what was going on on the mountain and he knew a flock without its shepherd is easily scattered, and before you know it; the first command is broken.
Ironically, the Israelites were tricked into breaking it as God was writing it.
You might say Artificial Intelligence is as smart as the devil ) - :
Anon 12:17 PM,
I cannot speak to what the Reformers were attempting to do, but I can speak to the conversation between AnonX and me.
AnonX, knowing I’m on record as a Continuationist, suggested I (and others) might be interested in a new movie titled Cessationist. I viewed the trailer and read the accompanying description, which reads, in part: Are the Apostolic sign gifts in operation today?. I reject the premise in the question (“Apostolic sign gifts”) on the basis that it’s patently unbiblical, and so I wrote a blog post in response, supplying a link to it in earlier comments here: Cessationism or Continuationism? You’ll want to read that to get a background on the exchange here. And if you want to read our back and forth, just begin with the 401–600 block of comments, using “cessation” as a keyword.
In essence, my argument is that such selective cessationism—and it IS selective in its picking and choosing among the charismata—not only defies Scripture (and grammar/syntax), it cannot even be substantiated historically. It’s a tall order indeed to prove a negative.
My most recent comment on this illustrated how individuals from Ligonier Ministries distorted Scripture to 'support' their manmade doctrine. Not only is it appalling, it borders on blasphemy in the way the Scriptures are distorted, most especially the twisting of Jesus' words to Thomas, implying that the content was about 'signs and wonders', rather than Jesus' Resurrection.
X,
You've yet to respond to my 9:35 AM. You are on record here numerous times stating you'll admit when you are wrong here. I've been waiting for your admission of wrongness or attempt at rebuttal.
Craig 9:21 AM,
I read your blog article and then read through the Ligonier Ministries transcript.
My mind isn't made up.
But hasn't continuationism vs. cessationism been a theological and denominational controversy for centuries?
I think it's important to consider the whole counsel of the Word. The entire Bible needs to be treated in a consistent way as systematic theology.
Because of this I'm more likely to see normal reading processes rather than outrageous eisegesis, even if the exegesis can be flawed. We inevitably have a need for consistency with whatever systematic theology we already believe in while we are reading.
You've got me thinking, though, because it wouldn't have occurred to me to focus in on the implied claim that "the perfect" is the same thing as the completion of the canon. I would have personally remained more focused on the general idea that we should not be looking for additional direct revelations that add to the canon (as, seen with Mormons and SDAs, for example).
One thing you didn't mention in your blog article, and it's something you may already know but I only recently realized, is that prophesy can simply mean saying words that are edifying, encouraging and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3). I've experienced this from people I'm acquainted with. It happened to me when I was converting and it sometimes still happens in times of crisis.
I'm not hostile to your entire thesis, because I received a sign when I prayed to ask for a sign, and after receiving it, I tested it and it proved to be true. I didn't know at the time that I wasn't supposed to be asking for signs. I haven't done this since. But I still recall it happening.
I just don't see this whole thing as being simple to resolve in its entirety.
Anon 11:15 AM,
You wrote: One thing you didn't mention in your blog article, and it's something you may already know but I only recently realized, is that prophesy can simply mean saying words that are edifying, encouraging and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3).
YES! I've been waiting for someone, especially X, to make this connection. And it does not have to include any sort of futuristic component to it. In fact, I'd be very suspicious of any 'prophecy' making claims about the future.
Basically, any of the errors found in what I call hyper-charismaticism can be refuted, or at least challenged, in the Scriptures. There is no need to create a new doctrine at all.
You wrote: We inevitably have a need for consistency with whatever systematic theology we already believe in while we are reading. I think you have it backwards. We must adhere to a consistent hermeneutic, while holding "whatever systematic theology we already believe in" up to constant scrutiny. Otherwise, we could be eisegeting.
We must keep the entire book--whether it be a Pauline epistle, a Gospel, etc.--in its own context first.
My overarching criticism on the way this 'cessationism' is presented is that is a picking and choosing. One must follow Paul's argument in 1 Cor 12-14. Whether one wishes to interpret "the perfect" this way or that way, one must be consistent in its application. Paul lists nine gifts in 12:8-10, and one must include all nine to be hermeneutically consistent, grammatically/syntactically consistent. This means both faith and distinguishing between spirits must be included along with the "sign gifts".
I need to add this regarding prophecy. Reading 1 Cor 14:24-25, makes it clear this also includes, in essence, preaching. I make a distinction between forthtelling (proper) and foretelling (questionable).
And I think this forthtelling is what is meant in Revelation 11:3–14, given its context.
Readers (not all) may be unaware of Montanism, which arose in the 2nd century. It was deemed heretical because of its ‘new revelation’ component, though details are sketchy. In any case, to reiterate, any errors arising from the Spiritual gifts—meaning these are from men or malevolent spirits—can be tested by the Scriptures.
Because of my late conversion, I’m sort of a theological mutt. I’ve never adhered to one doctrinal camp (e.g. Reformed, Baptist, Methodist) over against another. This comes with some advantages, but also disadvantages, I suppose. As a 40+ year old, I recall being completely taken aback with Trinitarianism. I was ready to completely walk away at first; but, I held it loosely as I sought the Scriptures and commentaries, etc. to sort it out. Now, of course, I hold to Trinitarianism, for that’s what the Scriptures teach.
My point is that I’m more apt to test all things, since I have no concern about adhering to this or that particular theological tradition.
Craig,
If Steve Lawson, John MacArthur, BB Warfield, etc. aren't able to change your mind as you, in my eyes, devalue the word of God and challenge the sufficiency of scripture (by chasing experience and/or seeking new revelation), then who am I to accomplish such?
I remain unconvinced by your rebuttals.
A "cautious non-cessationist" is just a matter of degrees (you are almost right) :)
As BB Warfield asserts ("Counterfeit Miracles" pages 147-148)
... The question at issue is, whether such miraculous works may still be performed, now that the period of revelation has gone by. The appeal to the enumeration of gifts in the twelfth chapter of I Corinthians is equally irrelevant, since the question at issue is precisely whether they are ordinary gifts continued in the church, or extraordinary gifts connected (according to the eighth chapter of Acts) directly with the Apostles. John 14:12 is worthy of more attention. The Faith-Healers do not even profess, however, to do the great works which Christ did —His miracles on nature, His raising of the dead—and much less can they point to their healings as greater works than these.29 No miracles, in the strict sense of the word, greater than those which Christ did, have been done by any of His followers. But in and through His followers He has, in fulfilment of this promise, manifested the power of the Holy Spirit, foreshadowed and begun at Pentecost, beyond anything witnessed in His lifetime; and He is thus conquering the world to Himself through the "greater works" of His disciples. That He refers here to these spiritual works is generally agreed.
Supposed miracles, signs & wonders you reported as having been seen by missionaries were reported to have occurred through men, not by men, are not evidence of true miraculous apostolic gifts as there is no historical evidence of any man having continuing apostolic-like gifts since the apostolic era (and we would know because that was the point of such gifts, the one-time foundation of the church - and we know revelation is complete).
Jesus's words to Thomas were not prescriptive. He still loved Thomas. Believing without seeing the resurrected body and/or signs and wonders are both believing without seeing.
I still look forward to watching the movie one of these days for further understanding and pray the Holy Spirit continues to illumine Scripture for both of us. I admire your passion for scripture, however, you are not my teacher and I am not yours. I don't see us agreeing on this issue and continued quarrying over our personal understanding and knowledge of this second-tier issue is, in my opinion, not edifying to the Gospel.
x
Lively debate that needs no comment:
‘I know what I’m doing’: Sen. Feinstein argues with kids on climate bill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIebWywFfNw
X,
If you are “not my teacher”, then why you did specifically suggest I watch Cessationist and then continue to argue against my Continuationism in favor of your Cessationism?
And, why do you keep misrepresenting the truth in your straw manning of my position on Continuationism (your words claiming I’m, “chasing experience and/or seeking new revelation”)? This is despite my clear writings here (and on my blog) against what I term hyper-charismaticism. At this point you are flat out being dishonest. You’ve exposed yourself as a liar.
I might agree with you that this a second-tier issue, but when third-rate “exegesis”, i.e., eisegesis, is used to support the Cessationist side, then such distortions of Scripture elevate it to a first-tier issue. Handling God’s Word is paramount to properly instructing on the Christian life. To abuse Scripture to support a doctrine is reprehensible.
Both Lawson and MacArthur have used 1 Cor 13:10’s “the perfect” to claim the “sign gifts” have ceased with the closing of the Canon/the Apostolic era. This despite the fact that Paul enumerated nine gifts in syntactic parallel (12:8–10), two of which are excluded in their brand of selective cessationism. That’s not to mention MacArthur’s poor handling of the Scriptures in his teaching on the pre-trib rapture, in which, among other things, he orphans all tribulation saints (see Tribulation Saints and “The Church” section of Rapture Ready?).
You wrote: I remain unconvinced by your rebuttals. This is yet another non-answer. Why not actually engage with my rebuttals, point by point, to illustrate why you “remain unconvinced”.
Let’s take just the first part of the Warfield quote: The appeal to the enumeration of gifts in the twelfth chapter of I Corinthians is equally irrelevant, since the question at issue is precisely whether they are ordinary gifts continued in the church…. Are faith and distinguishing between spirits “ordinary gifts”?
[cont]
[cont]
You wrote: Supposed miracles, signs & wonders you reported as having been seen by missionaries were reported to have occurred through men, not by men, are not evidence of true miraculous apostolic gifts as there is no historical evidence of any man having continuing apostolic-like gifts since the apostolic era (and we would know because that was the point of such gifts, the one-time foundation of the church - and we know revelation is complete).
Your argument is circular in one aspect. And in another it cannot be proven, for one cannot prove a negative.
You wrote: Jesus's words to Thomas were not prescriptive. He still loved Thomas. Believing without seeing the resurrected body and/or signs and wonders are both believing without seeing.
Thomas would not believe the Disciples saw Jesus: “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:24-25). Jesus show him, and he believes (20:27-28). Then Jesus states: “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (20:29). It’s all about the Resurrection and nothing about “signs and wonders”. Parsons adds to the Scriptures, and you provide cover for him in your bid to confirm your bias. Shameful.
Wait, what?! I had to read this again, and now provide further comment:
You wrote: Supposed miracles, signs & wonders you reported as having been seen by missionaries were reported to have occurred through men, not by men, are not evidence of true miraculous apostolic gifts...
Are you saying the Apostles worked their own miracles ("by men"), as opposed to by the Spirit ("through men")?!
Must see Tucker Carlson interview...
With Retired decorated Col. Douglas MacGregor on what is really happening in Ukraine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baa-8JRG0fc
This is a lengthy read, but worth it for those seeking truth in this Cessationism vs. Continuationism debate. John Piper makes a case for the latter:
Signs and Wonders: Then and Now
...In fact, I want to argue in this section that the New Testament teaches that spiritual gifts (including the more obviously supernatural or revelatory ones like prophecy and tongues) will continue until Jesus comes. The use of such gifts (miracles, faith, healings, prophecy, etc) give rise to what may sometimes be called "signs and wonders." Therefore signs and wonders are part of the blessing we should pray for today.
There is no text in the New Testament that teaches the cessation of these gifts. But more important than this silence is the text that explicitly teaches their continuance until Jesus comes, namely, 1 Corinthians 13:8-12.
The main point of this passage is that love is superior to spiritual gifts like "prophecies" and "tongues" and "knowledge". The basic argument for the superiority of love is that it lasts forever while these gifts do not. They cease "when the perfect comes," but love goes on forever. The reason given for why these gifts cease is that they are "imperfect". But when the "perfect" comes the imperfect will pass away. So the key question is: When does the "perfect" come which marks the end of the imperfect gifts like prophecy?
The answer is plain in the text if we follow Paul's line of reasoning. Verse 8 says, "Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away" (RSV). Why are these gifts temporary? The answer is given in verse 9: "For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect." So the reason these spiritual gifts are temporary is their incompleteness or imperfection.
How long then are they to last? Verse 10 gives the answer: "When the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away." But when is that? When does the perfect come? The answer is given in verse 12: "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood." The "now" of incompleteness and imperfection is contrasted with the "then" of seeing face to face and understanding even as we are understood...
Actually, the burden of proof is less on the cessationist and more on the continuist to demonstrate that the sign-gifts as the apostles had them are still ongoing.
Yesterday you said: Comment by @birdjoy5974: I humbly agree to disagree, as someone who has gone into the remote parts of Mexico to preach the gospel I can tell you that God still is in the business of miraculous signs and wonders through His people. Note that this commenter says “through His people”. He isn’t talking about “healers” or what-have-you; he’s talking about God working through yielded vessels who are proclaiming the Gospel.
I took that as you adding to the commenter and acknowledging the limitations wherein God is sovereign and can use people to execute His will versus the individuals and Holy Spirit within them possibly having some kind of apostolic era power (miraculous gifts given to the Apostles to separate them)
God still does amazing miracles, signs, and wonders and sometimes performs those miracles through a Christian. However, these things are not the same miraculous gifts of the Spirit now that God’s revelation is complete in the Bible.
For example... here's a likely example of God exercising the gift of tongues like we see in Acts.
Miracle Story: True Tongues (with John Barros)
https://youtu.be/60zRMPUoUtY?si=DTpX7qd7K82eFZ6B
John Barros didn't even know it had happened. Was it the Holy Spirit working through John, through the listeners who heard their language or God, in between both? I don't know, however, it is evident this is nothing like the miraculous gifts given to the Apostles of the apostolic era. Beside the Apostles and their close associates, the New Testament nowhere specifically describes individuals exercising the miraculous gifts of the Spirit (whereas, I think, it certainly does with regards to faith and discerning Spirits ...ongoing, as "ordinary gifts".
I'm also not lying about your position. You mentioned sharing the Gospel more and/or going on mission work so, it can be presumed, maybe you'd get to experience (or would have experienced had you only done more) such gifts. Being cautious is still being open (seeking) them. If I'm misrepresenting your feelings and you don't want or think you might be given or exercise such gifts at all, I apologize. In my opinion, the charismatic Bible you speak of is an open canon, subject to human thoughts, feelings, and emotions. You can believe that Scripture is sufficient, or you can believe in gibberish or in new and private revelation, but you cannot believe both.
x
p.s. - I shared the movie knowing you are interested in the subject. You keep asking me or insisting I argue with you or else I'm wrong whereas I'm fine with you have another position, I'm glad you are cautious and I've enjoyed reading your many criticisms of hypercharismania. While there are diversities of gifts in equipping the body of Christ, those diversities are meant for the edification and building of that body as a whole. And the success of that body is dependent upon all parts of the body faithfully fulfilling their tasks as God has enabled them. No spiritual gift should be used to domineer others or claim for oneself a special anointing from God. Rather, the love of God is to guide our use of the spiritual gifts to edify each other in the Lord.
Craig 11:40 AM,
Your comments are very well thought out, and they are very thought provoking. I think I'll pass on this debate for now and accept it remaining mysterious to me. It makes me feel uneasy, as if I risk arbitrarily presuming to know the limits of the Holy Spirit. Or equally risky to me would be arbitrarily presuming to know new revelations or miracles of the Holy Spirit.
You've made me realize the problems with selective cessationism, and those problems are interesting. I'm not in a hurry to force a resolution to those problems. I'm content to study further and not to reach a conclusion yet.
X,
With respect, I think you're experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance due to your confirmation bias.
The Canon is closed. There is no 'new revelation'. The Bible is sufficient. I don't "believe in gibberish or in new and private revelation". I've spoken against that sort of stuff many different times. Is that clear enough for you?
And I'm not at all seeking any of the sign gifts. If any sign gifts are to come to anyone, it will be to attend the Gospel message. Signs are for unbelievers, not believers (1 Cor 14:24-25, e.g.).
Someone relayed to me a similar experience to Barros'. Long story short, unbeknownst to him, he was speaking Mandarin Chinese when over in China (years ago). His only language is English.
You wrote: the burden of proof is less on the cessationist and more on the continuist to demonstrate that the sign-gifts as the apostles had them are still ongoing.
This is part of your confirmation bias. I disagree with your premise.
You were probably posting about the same as I posted the John Piper article. I suggest you read it in order to get a better understanding of the Continuationist position, the nuances within it--not the hyper-charismatic position (or a straw-man).
Anon 5:12 PM,
Thank you. I think the John Piper piece will really help you in your searching endeavors.
Craig 5:26 PM,
I've barely had time to glance at the John Piper piece, but I'll have to take a more thorough look at it later.
May I ask why you told X that you believe the Canon is closed and that there is no new revelation? I actually kind of defaulted to the conclusion that you would not have said categorically that revelations have ceased. I would have had the impression you reserve the possibility that a new revelation could pass a scriptural test in the future, even if you don't think any of them have so far passed scriptural tests.
Anon 5:45 PM,
What I mean is no new 'revelation' that is on the level of Scripture. Through prayer and others praying we are given guidance in the here and now. That's 'new revelation' but nothing that needs to appended to our Bibles.
Does that help?
Craig 5:48 PM,
Thanks, that clarifies your position. Which scriptures do you use to support that position?
On the sufficiency of Scripture, the following is from my statement of faith (on my blog):
The Holy Bible, sacred Scripture, consists of 66 books – 39 in the OT and 27 in the NT – not including what is known as the Apocrypha (or deuterocanonical books, “second canon,” according to the RCC). The Apocrypha, though useful in its own right, is not inspired Scripture. In its original form, the Bible is the Holy Spirit-inspired, God-breathed [2 Tim 3:16], inerrant, and infallible Word of God [Prov 30:5; 2 Peter 1:20-21], complete unto itself. The Bible will never be superseded or supplemented by any other teaching [Prov 30:6], and nothing should be subtracted from it [Deut 4:2; Matt 5:17; Rev 22:18-19]. Its full counsel provides the way to live a complete Christian life [2 Tim 3:16-17].
I should probably add 2Peter 3:14-16.
Sen. Diane Feinstein has passed away this afternoon
IMO, I have no reason to believe John Piper isn't a Christian, however, John Piper has spent the past decade consistently holding platforms and fellowshipping with false teachers who teach baptismal regeneration, new age worship, LGBT affirmation, and ecumenicism with the Pope. Therefore, I cannot in good conscience honestly consider the doctrinal positions he is speaking, especially broad continuationist interpretations (the quote you gave seems even broader than your feelings on the issue) we both find problematic.
Doctrine Matters.
As a fundamentalist who worries about all the false teachings leaking into neo-evangelical worship (through music, politics and any form of signs, wonders, experience "chasing"), I've tended toward secondary separation from Piper.
Romans 16:17-18
Steve Lawson and Ligonier are better. I liked their video you shared.
x
You've done a good job stating your belief and reasons for it concerning Continuationism, Craig.
I hold the same view.
"Doctrine Matters."
Then why are you a fervent and constant defender of Globalists and their New Age plans and operations in the world, here and abroad?
Your worldview is basically the same as theirs concerning Covid and Climate Change and the freedoms the world has lost in favor of their directives, and why they have a huge stake in undermining our American freedoms to have Obama/Biden etc., and other godless entities and people in place to accomplish it. They are purposefully undoing the Judeo/Christian Ethical worldview, right and left, with your blessing.
The God of the Bible operates by His Truth, Grace, and Justice toward the world but Globalism/Liberalism/Socialisism operate by what is false promoted by fear and force.
You are an apologist for the New World Order and it's New Age methods.
Incredible 48 Hours Mystery entitled "Sins of the Father," in which the Catholic Church conspired with local officials to see to it that a Catholic Priest literally got away with Murder.
This illustrates very well how the Church operates, and paints a clear picture as to how they were able to cover up for pedophile priests for so long, and, continue to do so.
See it here for yourself:
Sins of the Father
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBVH5obMP10&list=PLcFHkKbd_jTJiRmfUfLX2Ay_hnf5j3cxH&index=18
X,
You wrote: Steve Lawson and Ligonier are better [than John Piper].
Generally, I agree. I think Piper goes a bit too far in a number of things. But his exegesis of 1Cor 13:10’s “the perfect” makes far better sense than Lawson and MacArthur. How can it be that with the closing of the Canon and/or the Apostolic era “I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood” (1Cor 13:12)? Who or what do we see ‘face to face’ (1Cor 13:12)? The Bible?
Doctrine matters. Yes, it does. No one—not one person—has perfect theology. Some passages are tough to interpret. There are varying views on eschatology. But, 1 Cor 13:10–12 is not tough at all, when one doesn’t try to read into the passage.
I agree that selective cessationism is arbitrary, but I felt disoriented by John Piper's whole article. He more or less writes that obedience requires us to earnestly desire being given miraculous gifts.
Something about it bothered me a lot. I went and did some reading about him, and I found that he did the same thing with his teaching about Christian hedonism. He says he has to be a Christian hedonist if he's to be obedient.
I thought Craig's own very precise method of exegesis of the one particular passage could have stood better on its own without John Piper's article.
I still think that one passage needs to be unified with all other doctrines systematically. The Bible needs to be read as a whole, consistent book.
I didn't find what I was looking for in the scriptural supports given in Craig's statement of faith. I went looking some more and felt like I found in Jude 3 something more like what I was looking for. "...contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."
The "once for all" part was the part that I thought needed to be found in order to say that the canon is closed. But I think direct interpretation of narrow passages is limited and more systematic theology is also required, such as what Ligonier Ministries demonstrated, even if their interpretation of "the perfect" was eisegesis. They mentioned so many other scriptures and not just that one.
X would you mind saying more about being a "fundamentalist" as you styled yourself. I'm curious since you have a PhD do you believe in creationism science? Do you read Genesis in a completely literal way?
I suspect, X, that you're calling yourself a fundamentalist and a libertarian and many other labels as a way to take up a position to troll us from. Opposed to a declaration of your own sincerely held positions and beliefs. I hope I'm wrong.
X, I'm not a libertarian, and I'm not a fundamentalist. Don't imagine you can troll me expecting complete consistency out of me for beliefs I don't have.
This goes back to the nature of coalitions. Just because you read things about Dominionists doesn't mean this blog is thick with Dominionists. Just because you read things about the libertarian influence on Republicans doesn't mean this blog is thick with libertarians.
Try to get to know people. Ask them questions. Find out what they really think and what they really believe.
You're a smart guy, and I learn things from you, but real conversations with you are impossible. Why don't you try engaging as a real person?
Do you really attend a Baptist church? It's hard to believe anything you say, because at times you really jump the shark with phoniness.
It's almost meaningless in itself to attend a Baptist church. Baptists hold the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Your individual Baptist church, if you really attend one, could be almost anything. It could be fundamentalist or it could be liberal or it could be Christian Nationalist or it could be an abusive, authoritarian cult or it could fly a rainbow flag on the outside of the church during Pride month.
X 11:20,
Sorry, I wrote my 11:21 comment before I read your 11:20 comment.
It's funny, because I've been looking for a church to attend, and I've decided to try a local Methodist church. When I look into what the church is all about, I see nothing but the gospel, some liturgy, some charity and some social connections. This is exactly what I want, so I hope it will be what it seems.
To me, less is more. I want to attend a church without distractions or divisions that detract from the basic gospel. I want a liturgy, not a rave. I don't want any politics or culture wars from the left or from the right.
I've thought for a long time that the UMC is liberal, but it depends on the individual church and pastor. I think this is the case even for local Catholic parishes, even for local Baptist churches. Apostasies of many stripes are so widespread that there it's necessary just to find the right local church even if you don't like everything that goes on under the umbrella of the overall denominational church organization.
I no longer have much interest in reading the book of Genesis literally, since I've come to see it as pointing to Jesus Christ, and I've come to see the Bible as having just one main theme, Jesus Christ. I no longer expect to find in the Bible a book that teaches me how to know everything about science or any other subject.
I reject the literalism of fundamentalism and biblicist interpretation. These things are overly reactive, and they set up a false standard for defeat and a false standard for victory. It's as if to teach people that if we don't defend creationism science and flat, literal, biblical inerrancy then we will be overrun by the liberal, humanist barbarians at the gates. Whereas I think God can take it. He can take our puny brains and everything they dish out.
Furthermore, I bemoan ruining the Bible's poetry, its song, its characters, its plots, its mysteries, and its wonders. These things were given to us as in God's word as gifts to us for God's glory and for our awe. The Bible needs to be read in a correct way, not a literal way. It needs to be read correctly according to is varying genres.
To me, it doesn't matter if Genesis really happened or if it's a parable. What matters most is that Jesus Christ was born, performed miracles that only God could have performed, was crucified and was resurrected and that these events really happened literally and historically.
That's the hill I'll die on. I don't need to die on a creationist science hill. Creationist science can be interesting, and evolution, as it's been said, can't be observed unlike other sciences. But I don't need to hash it all out. It's not necessary. It may be a bonus to learn a lot about it, but it isn't necessary, to me.
Nobody is ever argued into their faith, anyway. Faith is a gift.
Biden is so radical, that even his fellow radical Democrats voted against he latest plan to chisel away at the 2nd. Amendment:
424-1! Dems Join GOP to Kill Biden’s Anti-2nd Amendment Scheme
Congress has snubbed Joe Biden’s anti-Second Amendment scheme for America’s schools on a resounding 424-1 vote.
The vote killed Biden’s plan to crack down on hunting and archery classes.
According to a report from Fox News, the Biden administration, as it has done so often, redefined words to pursue its agenda.
In this case, it redefined a 2022 gun-control bill in Biden’s attempt to strip funding from schools that have hunting and archery programs.
The House vote was to endorse legislation that struck down Biden’s attempt to use that law to withhold funding for schools with those shooting sports courses.
More here: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/09/424-1-dems-join-gop-kill-bidens-anti/
You're a smart guy, and I learn things from you, but real conversations with you are impossible. Why don't you try engaging as a real person?
Sorry. I'm trying.
Sometimes I get like a family court judge who sees a parade of deadbeat dads all week long that they naturally develop a bias against men in general.
I see many anonymous posts directed at me, no matter how innocuous or innocent sounding, as probably another person trying a new angle to doxx me, aggravate me, distract me, expose me, anger me, sideline me, etc.
I sometimes test the sincerity of such posts.
I hope that's understandable but I can do better.
Signing your posts with any kind of identifying qualifier would help. Maybe you are difficult to converse with, in writing, too :) Except maybe Rayb and Jethro, we'd all likely get along in person.
x
This is what Ligonier Ministries says about the Canon of the Bible.
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/the-canon-of-the-bible
"While the church has had some disputes over exactly which books belonged in the Canon, it always agreed that the Canon was closed with the death of the last apostle."
I would have to surmise you must agree with this, Craig, since you clearly identify the NAR as heretical.
Do you agree with the following sentence, too?
"While no Christian today seeks to add to the Canon, there are those within the visible church who claim to have new, direct, binding words from God. Beware of this dangerous heresy in the modern church."
This question is for all commenters: do you think the Holy Spirit gives gifts of the spirit to see the truth behind conspiracies of a political or cultural nature?
12:28 PM
You should try MUCH harder at being real x because your fake and pride always seeps through. I would avoid you if we were ever to meet because you are off putting.
You are pompous and have no right to judge. It is because you think you do that you make yourself out to be quite obnoxious. Of course, that draws fire, and rightfully so.
So consider your ways and make some deep corrections because you are totally unlikable even we happen upon occasion to agree.
Disagreeing is one thing, but being disagreeable is another level.
You do disagreeable to a "t".
BINGO!
https://twitter.com/VDHanson/status/1707885692918112577
Victor Davis Hanson nailed it.
The woke spoke and only sounded out his own very deep hypocrisy!
Democrat under investigation for pulling FIRE ALARM to try and delay vote to avoid a shutdown - as Republicans finally pass bill to keep the government funded for 45 days in 11th hour scramble - and Kevin McCarthy tells his critics 'bring it'
New York rep Jamal Bowman allegedly pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon building
The alleged stunt came amid fervent debate over a potential shutdown
Republicans already failed to pass their own shutdown bill on Friday
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12578633/house-voting-avert-government-shutdown-45-days.html
Doing some reading in history will reveal that many of the same manifestations that accompany present day charismatic movements were also seen in the revivals of John Wesley in England and Jonathan Edwards in the United States. John Wesley was a continuationist. https://theremnantradio.com/john-wesley-the-continuationist/
Jonathon Edwards' historical American revivals were accompanied by all of the same manifestations as those seen in charismatic movements and in the revivals of John Wesley. Edwards thought that ever since Pentecost, revivals had always been comprised of both wheat and chaff. He put together a list of five lines of evidence that accompany a genuine outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
https://founders.org/articles/jonathan-edwards-and-why-i-am-a-cessationist/
1. A deep and abiding love for the person and work of Christ.
2. A desire to kill sin and break the bonds of worldliness.
3. A deep love for and desire to feast on God’s Word.
4. An unshakable conviction of sound doctrine.
5. An increased love for God and man.
This is a timely discussion, because America is seeing college revivals, like in Asbury for just one example. Worldwide there are signs of outpourings of the spirit in places as diverse as Africa, China and Iran.
A historical review of previous revivals may help to put it into pespective so that we don't have to embrace it as "it's all good" or fear it as "it's all the work of the devil." If it's like previous historical revivals, some of it is strong human emotion, some of it is of the Holy Spirit, and some of it is of the devil.
We need to test the spirits, and we need to avoid heresy, but we can have peace in the assurance that God has "been there and done that" before.
Anon 9:07 AM,
Yes, Jude 3 can bolster the Scriptures I used in my statement of faith. Additionally Eph 2:20 could be added.
You wrote: I still think that one passage needs to be unified with all other doctrines systematically. The Bible needs to be read as a whole, consistent book… But I think direct interpretation of narrow passages is limited and more systematic theology is also required, such as what Ligonier Ministries demonstrated, even if their interpretation of "the perfect" was eisegesis. They mentioned so many other scriptures and not just that one.
Assuming you are speaking of the video I shared, they pull the other Scriptures from their respective contexts, as well—as I noted above.
Before going further, would you be a bit more comfortable after reading the chapter after 13 in 1Corinthians? (NASB:
14:1 Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people, but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for edification, exhortation, and consolation…
… 23 Therefore if the whole church gathers together and all the people speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are insane? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.
Let’s take a peak at Reformed scholar Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology [Eerdmans, 1941/1991] on this issue of prophecy:
Evidently the gift of speaking for the edification of the Church was highly developed in these [NT] prophets, and they were occasionally instrumental in revealing mysteries and predicting future events. The first part of this gift [ED: apparently edifying the Church] is permanent in the Christian Church, and was distinctly recognized by the Reformed Churches (prophesyings), but the last part of it was of a charismatic and temporary character. They differed from ordinary ministers in that they spoke under special inspiration (p 585).
Berkhof doesn’t specify by what Scripture he arrives at this, but I have a feeling it’s Eph 2:20 (which is one among many listed prefacing this section).
[cont]
[cont]
Now let’s look at Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. Grudem has a section on the gifts of the Spirit, which is over 60 pages! Within this section the author fully engages both sides of the argument regarding 1Cor 13:8–13, concluding that “the perfect” is Christ’s return.
Also within this section is a subsection “Have Some Gifts Ceased? The Cessationist Debate”. [Note that, from what I’ve seen in the Reformed position’s literature, there’s no ‘debate’—it’s a ‘settled issue’ on the side of (selective) cessationism.]
An important footnote reads: Many who say yes [the gifts continue], such as the present author [Grudem], would add the qualification that “apostle” is an office, not a gift, and that the office of apostle does not continue today (see chapter 47, pp 905-12, for this argument) [p 1031; emphasis added]
The cited page numbers in this footnote refer to a section “Apostle”.
Later in this section the writer laments about others straw-manning the Continuationist position (X, this is for you especially, particularly in regards to our exchange):
…Perhaps it would be good for those arguing against continuing prophecy today to give a more sympathetic hearing to the most responsible charismatic writers, simply for the purpose of being able to respond to something that charismatics actually believe (even if not always expressed in theologically precise form), instead of responding to something that cessationists say that charismatics believe or say that charismatics should believe [p 1038, emphasis in original].
As an aside, I will point out that BOTH authors have sections debunking the pre-trib rapture.
X @ 12:53,
Yes and yes.
But please read my two 9:25 PM posts above.
I should have added that among the Scriptures Berkhof cites regarding prophecy, the author does not include 1Cor 13:10. He cites only those specific Corinthian verses that include prophecy generally: 1Cor 12:10; 13:2; 14:3.
Berkhof is MUCH MORE CAREFUL (and honest) than Ligonier.
Elon Musk says internal combustion engines are going the way of steam engines. Bitcoin et al use a ton of energy. And now AI. . .
Quote. . .So the $200B question is: What are you going to use all this infrastructure to do? How is it going to change people’s lives? "
https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/follow-the-gpus-perspective/
I'm not sure if all this is going to turn out the way they think
Rothschild oil and eradication of Christian Armenians, again
https://youtu.be/PpSgcMHn1cA?si=ix4nNUvgtaGiW6fM
God bless you AJ
Climate Hoax Exposed By Scientist
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/climate-hoax-exposed-by-scientist/ar-AA1hvB3i?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=b5d75920dc5842aba2efba86046bcba5&ei=5
'National Disgrace': Peter Schweizer breaks down the Biden family business
youtube.com/watch?/v=mBugmQAVHXE&t=14s
Insurrectionist Alert! Attention Constance Cumbey:
Dem Lawmaker Who Pulled Fire Alarm Thinks We're All Idiots; Republicans Investigate Following Evacuation
"Rep (Jamaal) Bowman pulled a fire alarm in Cannon this morning," said House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-WI), who added that "An investigation into why it was pulled is underway."
The fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building, often called the "Old House Office Building," was triggered around noon, leading to an evacuation of the entire building while the House was in session. The building was reopened an hour later, after Capitol Police determined the situation was not a threat.
Capitol Police said in a statement late Saturday that an “investigation into what happened and why continues.”
The fire alarms in the Old House Office Building are pull down triggers encased in bright red boxes that read "FIRE."
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dem-lawmaker-who-pulled-fire-alarm-thinks-were-all-idiots-republicans-investigate
Thanks Craig 9:25 PM. This morning I thought about the parable of the wheat and the tares, and I felt at peace about the charismatic manifestations in revivals. I think some manifestations are of the wheat while other manifestations are of the tares. I now see it as unnecessary to rip out all the tares to the point of harming the wheat by dogmatically insisting upon complete cessationism.
Tangentially, I have learned to view both Wayne Grudem and John Piper as unreliable guides, but I don't think they are wrong in this specific instance.
John Piper emphasizes what he calls "Christian hedonism." He writes a lot about desire. He is a Christian mystic.
I have found him misleading before, because he wrote about a root of bitterness, making it seem emotional, like the colloquial meaning of bitterness. Instead, in context, a root of bitterness is a heresy in the church.
Wayne Grudem has been a chief promoter of a doctrine called the eternal subordination of the son, which differs substantially from the historical confessional creeds about the Trinity. It implies the father and the son have two separate wills. And it diminishes the extent to which Jesus Christ humbled himself and sacrificed himself when he temporarily took on human form to submit perfectly the law for our sakes.
You have persuaded me about the continuation of some spiritual gifts as a separate issue from the closing of the canon and the apostolic era. I think most of my confusion was in regards to tightly packaging together all three issues.
UN Declares War on 'Dangerous' Conspiracy Theorists Who Are 'Threatening Agenda 2030'
https://rumble.com/v3lui8v-un-declares-war-on-dangerous-conspiracy-theorists-who-are-threatening-agend.html
I was wondering why Brother Natanael Kapner was scrubbed yesterday
What a righteous sense of humor he had
COVID-19 Vaccines Resulted in 17M Deaths, Scientific Report Said
'It is highly disturbing that these authors have found a consistent trend among seventeen countries showing a significant increase in all-cause mortality coinciding with extensive COVID vaccine rollout...'
https://headlineusa.com/covid-19-vaccines-resulted-in-17m-deaths-scientific-report-said/
‘A ripple effect from Asbury’: Secular universities now seeing revival gatherings on their campuses
https://www.christianpost.com/news/secular-universities-now-seeing-revival-gatherings-on-campus.html
Campus Revival: How 1740s Yale Gives Hope for Today
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/campus-revival-yale-today/
Oliver Anthony shares the Gospel with Joe Rogan, says God saved him from suicide: 'Make Him the focus'
https://www.christianpost.com/news/oliver-anthony-shares-the-gospel-with-joe-rogan.html
Joe Rogan’s Example for Believers
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/joe-rogans-example/
Rogan’s example challenges the current echo-chamber paradigm of discourse—a paradigm that’s also shaping Christian media. Hosting voices outside the echo chamber is uncomfortable and can be seen as an endorsement of opposing or even heretical views. But Rogan shows Christians it’s possible to hospitably engage on weighty issues of faith, morality, and culture. We really can interact with “gentleness and respect” (1 Pet. 3:15)—even with those who differ from us in lifestyle and belief. Rogan’s success shows that audiences are eager to hear respectful, friendly, deep conversations—tinged with a humanizing humor that defuses heavy topics and intense disagreement.
The Bible continuously exhorts fearful believers to take courage (Deut. 31:6; Josh. 1:6; Acts 23:11), even in the face of opposition. Anti-Christian sentiments are on the rise, and the speed with which you might get “cancelled” for saying something biblical is alarming. But our tenuous partisan climate is no reason to shrink back from lively debate. On the contrary, the biblical exhortation has always been to be hospitable toward others, to stand firm in the faith, and to shine in a world sunken in moral darkness (Heb. 13:2; Eph. 6:10–11; Matt. 5:16).
After all, the road to truth is best traveled with humility that produces curiosity, compassion that welcomes the stranger, and courage that proclaims hope.
NEW: Tucker Carlson calls the battle between Trump & the Washington elite a “spiritual battle” and calls Washington the most anti-human group of people he has ever seen.
https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1707932271406461168
They are not attempting to destroy
judeo-Christianity; they are attempting to destroy Anglo-Saxton Christianity
Joe Rogan is a Christian? No kidding?
Why does Joe Rogan use so much vulgarity, including the F word?
Who in their right mind would want to be a teacher today in an inner city public school? (watch the video)
Michigan Teen Who Clocked Teacher In Head With Metal Chair Arrested On Felony Assault Charges
As the NY Post notes, former Detroit Police Chief James Craig said "This video perfectly captures the sad state of Education in Michigan – no sense of order or direction, no respect for teachers, and worst of all, NO LEARNING," adding "Failure to educate young Michiganders is a recipe for increased CRIME, upticks in UNEMPLOYMENT, and SOCIETAL DISORDER. Michiganders deserve better."
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/michigan-teen-who-clocked-teacher-head-metal-chair-arrested-felony-assault-charges
Over 277,000 'Vaccinated' COVID-19 Cases Hidden By CDC In 2021: Newly Obtained Files Show
More than 277,000 COVID-19 cases among people who received COVID-19 vaccines were reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2021 but not disclosed to the public, newly obtained files show.
Some 144,349 cases among partially vaccinated people were reported by 32 jurisdictions to the CDC across three months in 2021, according to some of the files, which were acquired by The Epoch Times through the Freedom of Information Act.
Partially vaccinated has been defined by the CDC as a person who received at least one dose of a vaccine. People were described as fully vaccinated if at least 14 days had elapsed since they completed a primary series.
The Moderna and Pfizer primary series consisted of two doses while Johnson & Johnson's consisted of one dose.
The cases were recorded in California, Maryland, New York, Texas, and 28 other jurisdictions in April, May, and June 2021 and reported to the CDC.
More here: https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/over-277000-vaccinated-covid-19-cases-hidden-cdc-2021-newly-obtained-files-show
5:59 PM,
Yes, I'm sure Tucker Carlson is right. It is a spiritual battle. Guess what, though. It's always a spiritual battle. It always has been, ever since the fall. The good news is that Jesus already won the battle. Now it's just a mopping up operation.
What do you mean by "Anglo-Saxon Christianity?"
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant; blue-bloods, the guys who excluded Jews from the country club
https://reflections.yale.edu/article/reformation-writing-next-chapter/finding-dignified-end-white-protestantism-robert-p-jones
Carlson is a WASP
Yeah and what is judeo-christianity? The two do not coincide. Anything less than 100 percent gospel of Jesus Christ is a false religion. Let it be destroyed.
Judeo-Christian refers to the teachings of both the Old and the New Testaments.
The Bible Canon. Jesus Christ is "seen" in the teachings in the Old, and manifested in the New.
The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
Jesus Christ is throughout Scripture from "In the beginning"--to the end--"Surely I am coming soon. Come Lord Jesus"..
Gee, I thought everyone knew that.
Hittites and Assyrians don't walk around in New York City. Jews do. I respect that. It means something.
And, as the intro to this video says,
"Mottel was forbidden to read the New Testament—but when his curiosity got the better of him, he went to the library and secretly took a copy off the shelf. When he read the genealogy of Jesus, Mottel was surprised to discover that Jesus was actually Jewish—just like him!" (As he says in his video, the only Christians he knew growing up were Italian Catholics, so he imagined Jesus was Italian.)
Following Yeshua is the most Jewish thing I can do! | Mottel Baleston
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oQIgKPbyds
8:32 PM
Judeo-Christian I read, came about in the 1930s as a stand against rising antisemitic hatred then stuck around after the second world war as a stand against communism
'The Four Chaplains': The Judeo-Christian Norm in America - Professor Alec Ryrie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWlM2zJauZg
Every day's a school day ( - :
My dad's army pal in WWII was a Jewish fellow. Dad said he was always getting mad and when he was real mad he'd say - I'm so mad I could eat ham.
After Paris was liberated them two guys went to see a Paris opera ( - :
Rahab is one of the Gentile women Matthew named in the genealogy of Jesus.
Rahab was a Canaanite harlot in Jericho who discerned that the Israelite God was the
one true God and who helped the Israelites, who spared her life and her family's lives.
Looking at the women in Matthew’s genealogy is an interesting study.
While we are used to seeing the women in our own ancestral family trees,
as I mentioned earlier most genealogies in that time were patrilineal.
And yet along with the fathers, Matthew included Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.
Matthew gave us a snapshot of another Gentile woman in his gospel. In Matthew 15:22
we have a Canaanite woman who seemingly persuaded Jesus to change his mind.
“...a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, saying,
‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.’”
This could be read as an Old Testament parallel, with a new Rahab encountering Jesus Christ as the
new Joshua.
Her title for Jesus, “Son of David,” was equivalent to Rahab’s confession of the true God
that was inseparable from her recognition that this God has given the land to His people
Israel (Josh. 2:9). Like Rahab she took initiative and asked boldly for the kindness she
so desperately needed (Josh. 2:12–13). Like Rahab she received the mercy for which she had asked (Josh 6:22–25). Most importantly, like Rahab, because of her faith, she was a first exception to the rule about Canaanites.
Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him,
“Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”
He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”
He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their
masters’ table.”
Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as
you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed. (Matt. 15:23–28)
Jesus has been sometimes interpreted as throwing the Canaanite woman a softball
rather than being cruel Matthew has likewise been interpreted as throwing a softball
to readers. He opened his gospel with some “dogs” named in the ancestry of Jesus.
One implication was that Jesus couldn't reject this woman for her ethnicity without
repudiating two of His ancestors in His genealogy.
Matthew ended his gospel with Jesus the Messiah authoritatively proclaiming this
“precedent constituted by the Canaanite woman” at “a universal scale”[12] with his
great commission: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go,
therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything
I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age”
(Matt. 28:18–20).
I love stories of Jewish conversions to Christianity. They are unique in their childlike awe, delight and wonder. It is fresh and new to them. The New Testament had been kept from them, so the gospel had not become stale or trite to them.
I'm sure it must be this way for people who are converted by missionaries in cultures that have not been historically Christian.
But for Jews it's still unique, because of their shocked recognition that Jesus has been one of them all along!
There's something special about their conversion stories, and I feel a unique joy every time I watch a video about a Jewish person telling his or her personal conversion story.
There is no such thing as Judeo-Christian, just as ridiculous as a Muslim-Christian tradition.
Judaism rejects Jesus Christ as Messiah. In fact, their Babylonian Talmud, which is the basis of their 'religion,' and, their pagan Cabalism, blasphemes Christ in the most outrageous manner. It also refers to Mary in a similar fashion.
If Judaism truly followed the OT, as you claim, there would be animal sacrifices for sin. The OT proclaims that "without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin."
If you really believe the Bible, read the 8th. chapter of the gospel of John. Then report back on how much we have in common with those that reject the word of God and Jesus Christ.
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