So get this: An Arizona elementary school should not hire teachers with Christian values because it doesn't feel "safe"... so says the self-proclaimed "queer" schoolboard member wearing cat ears . ( See here .)
This is a really good testimony. When you first start listening, you don't think it's going to be that powerful. But it is! And such honesty! Tiffaney - My Testimony: How I Became a Christian (25 minutes)
I strongly believe that there are angels and demons. That prayer matters. That there is a spiritual battle going on around us all the time ... and that we need to get involved in it, actively and consciously. (Something I haven't been doing lately.) Regardless of if we want it or not, we are constantly facing spiritual battles. But if we don't acknowledge it - if we stick our heads in the sand, refuse to get involved, fail to put on our spiritual armor or to use the spiritual weapons available to us - we open ourselves up to deceptions, to defeat, to being very vulnerable to the strategies and attacks of the evil one. You can't win a battle you don't even know you're in. You can't defeat an enemy you pretend isn't there. What I have done here is compile a list of posts on spiritual warfare, on praying Scripture, and on creating a War Room (or War Journal). Have you ever seen War Room ? You should. It's a great movie. And it is...
This is Catharina's 19-minute testimony: "How I met Jesus: The Moment My Life Changed Forever." (It's hard to hear, so you have to put in headphones or get in a quiet spot. But it's worth it.) She's been through a lot - dealt with judgmental Christians, bullies, bad relationships with her parents, hated her life, faced the "Why Me's," dealt with repressed pain, etc. And she learned that sometimes God might take away the things we rely on in this life, but He does it to save our souls, to drive us to Him. And that's what she did, she let the pain drive her to the Lord, instead of away from Him. Her testimony is very real and very touching, and I think a lot of people can relate to it their own way. It's okay to not be okay .. because that's where Jesus meets you and takes over, if you let Him!
Read this article by The Activist Mommy. Go ahead; I'll wait. Wichita Library Board Debates Whether to Ban Sex Offender's from Children's Events So ... as taxpayers ... isn't it awesome to think that your local library would be unwilling to take the steps necessary to protect your children at public children's events from registered sex offenders, simply because it might offend some people in the LGBTQ-community!?! And look at what that Thomas Witt said, shaming people for taking steps to protect kids, accusing them of having "offensive" ulterior motives, as if parents shouldn't be allowed to take steps to protect their children. I don't care what someone's motive is or if they have some sort of secret ulterior motive ... We should all be taking steps to protect children. Period! But apparently the library board would rather allow registered sex offenders to mingle, up close and personal, with your children than risk hurting ...
A couple of good videos I just watched: What is the Rapture? - a sermon by Greg Laurie (47 minutes) The Unseen Realm - a documentary by Michael Heiser about the spiritual powers, about how God organized them and allows them to operate (1 Hour, 11 minutes)
Please say a prayer for my 30-year-old brother. His wife just unexpectedly died this morning of heart failure (after months of recovering from a near-death illness in March of this year). Apparently, she woke up this morning feeling bad, and she asked him to rub her back ... and then she died. She was only 30 years old, too. And s he left behind a 5-year-old, 3-year-old, and 7-month-old (I think those are the ages). My brother is not a believer, but please pray that God reaches out to him, comforts him, puts His saving truth in his path, protects him and their family from evil, and gives him wisdom in how to move forward. Such a heartbreaking time! I can't even imagine! He's just the nicest, sweetest guy there is. And their wedding anniversary is in two days. So sad! Last night when they were going to bed, she told him, "I wish I could marry you all over again!" He's so thankful that those are some of the ...
(I added some new notes to the end of this post, August 23, 2020.) Here's a video from Beyond the Fundamentals that's well-worth watching: Are Calvinists Saved? The most thought-provoking part (for me) was when he asks (paraphrased) "How do Calvinists know they're saved, that Jesus died for them?" You see, I would say that I trust in the truths of the Bible. I trust that when God says He loves all people and wants all people to be saved, He means He loves all people and wants all people to be saved. I trust that when He says Jesus died for all people and all sins, He means that Jesus died for all people and all sins. I trust that when He says that we will find Him if we seek Him with all our hearts, He means that we can seek Him and find Him. I trust that when He commands us to choose whom we will serve, He means that we have to choose whom we will serve. I trust that when He ...
There are some verses in the Bible that will always be confusing and cause disagreement. And the "many are called/invited, few are chosen" verse is one of them. Matthew 22:1-14: "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.... So his servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 'For many are invited, but few are chosen.'" Some people th...
How many of us Christians think that - if we were put in the position - we'd be willing to die for our faith in Jesus? Yet how many of us would really be willing to die for Him ... when we aren't even willing to really live for Him? When we're so willing to compromise God's Truth to please men? To please ourselves? Far too many Christians trade in Gospel Truth so that they don't offend anyone. Whole denominations are changing God's Word to make people happy. We cut out the parts of the Bible we don't like and say things like, "Oh, the Bible doesn't really address that or isn't really clear on it. So let's just let everyone think what they want, letting grace and love rule." When in reality the Bible is really clear on it. We just wish it wasn't. (If the foundation of grace and love isn't built on God's Truth then it's not a grace and love that's flowing from Him.) We fear men, instead...