A Christmas Story For You

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Nearly 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ was born to bring us salvation, so that anyone can believe in Him and be saved.  He was born in a barn and placed in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inn.  Jesus - God the Son - came to earth as a poor, helpless baby ...
But that's the ONLY time He's going to do that.

 The next time He comes back, it won't be as a poor, helpless baby.

 It will be as a powerful King and righteous Judge - gathering His faithful people to Him and dishing out swift justice on those who have taken their stands against Him.

 Amen!  Come, Lord Jesus!

And have a merry Christmas!

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Spiritual Warfare: Satan's Schemes #9 (bitterness, unforgiveness)

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This is the next-to-last of the "Satan's Schemes" posts in the Spiritual Warfare series (and it's a repost from something I wrote elsewhere)... and then I'll  move on. John 10:10 :  "Jesus said, ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy...'" To steal our peace, joy, and contentment.  To kill our hopes, passion, and Christian witness.  And to destroy our friendships, family, faith, and futures.  Among many other things.   And I think one of Satan's biggest tools for this is the snare of unforgiveness and bitterness.  If he can get us to focus on - and constantly ruminate on -  all our hurts, all the ways we’ve been cheated in life, the ways people let us down or treated us poorly, the ways God let us down, the ways we let ourselves down, all the things that've gone wrong, etc., then we'll grow more and more  bitter, discouraged, defeated, and closed-off... and farther and farther from God, His truth, other people, and any hope f...
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White horses and a cup of tea (part 1)

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I generally don't make New Year's Resolutions.  I mean I do sometimes, but I don't really see the point because they never last.  It's often more fun making the resolution than keeping the resolution, isn't it?  And so what started out as a grand idea on January 1st becomes a grand flop by January 31st.  We can waste more time planning and daydreaming about our resolutions than actually doing them, am I right?😁   (Besides, if it's important enough, we'll do whatever it is when we're motivated enough to do it, regardless of the time of year.)   And so instead of any grand resolutions these past several years, I've been trying to think of more light-hearted things to "resolve" to do throughout the year, relaxing things.   Who says resolutions have to be lofty or serious anyway? Such as these resolutions from the past several years: 1.  In 2024, my resolution was to wa tch lots of  sourdough videos , s tart growing my own sourdou...
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#1 Wrestling With God, 2015 (repost)

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[ I wrote this post in August of 2015.  But I am reposting it because I need to read it again.  I guess I need to read it again because life sometimes feels like one big "wrestling with God" match.  Wrestling with faith.  With life.   As I look back on these past several years, I am kinda amazed at how things turn out.  Or ... how they don't, I should say.  How real and raw and messy life can be sometimes.  These next numbered posts are taken from over these last few years, showing the progression of life, of the unexpected, of the "wrestling with God, faith, and life" moments.  This one goes up to August 2015, how beaten up I've felt over the years up till then.  And then comes the post about the hope I had that 2016 would be better.  And then comes 2016 - the worst summer of my life.  A life-changer for me.  And then, well, I'm not sure yet what I am putting after that.  But I'm reposting these because it's fasci...
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Prayer, Faith, and God's Will

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(repost, summary of “Understanding God’s Will,” Question 9, Q9a -Q9i)             “‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered.   ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.   Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’” ( Mark 11:22-24 )                    I have to be honest.   I struggle with this verse more than any other.   I really do.   I mean, it sounds pretty straightforward to me: believe that you’ll get what you ask for and you’ll get it.   Name it and claim it!   Sounds great!               But there’s a problem.            ...
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Quoting from the POP Translation of the Bible, I Presume?

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It sounds like someone's been reading the POP translation of the Bible - the "Pile Of Poopies" version: A Gay Writer Who Forgot Almost Everything Jesus Said . This would be laughable if it wasn't so pathetically sad and desperate! And it's very interesting how his Bible included the "love one another" commandment, but forgot to include the actual greatest commandment ( Matthew 22:36-39 ): "'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment." And then comes the second commandment: "And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Avoid the Pile Of Poopies Translation!  Unfortunately, people love it because it comes with a permanent marker to black out anything you don't like, a highlighter to highlight only the things yo...
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An Angel and a Wink

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I try not to think too much about the death of my 30-year-old sister-in-law last week (she left behind 3 kids under age 6 for my brother to raise alone now).  I'm afraid if I think about it too much, I'll start crying.  And if I start crying, I might not stop.   In fact, I couldn't even go into the room where her body was during the funeral because there were so many pictures around of her and my brother and their happy, smiling children.  My goodness, to see the happy family in the pictures - the children who have no mother now - absolutely breaks my heart.  So I watched the children in the kitchen while the funeral happened. Thankfully, the children seem too young to really understand.  When I first got there, my 5-year-old nephew told me, "Come on and see my mom.  Come see my mom."  And he dragged me up to the casket.  And as he said, "There's my mom," his voice cracked ever-so-slightly with sadness.  But then he skipped out ...
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Calvinism: False Gospel or True (but warped) Gospel?

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Here are some new comments  which were recently added to the Soteriology 101 post  Calvinism Obscures the Simple Gospel .  It's kinda a  friendly "debate" among non-Calvinists about if Calvinism is merely a warped version of the true gospel or if it's a false gospel.   (These are lightly edited for clarity.) Kay made this comment: In my opinion, Calvinism is a  different  gospel, not [merely] obscuring the gospel.   How can [Calvinists] believe what they do and still be considered the true gospel?      Brian   (non-Calvinist) replied: Welcome Kay!  Thank you for the question.  Here is my take for what it is worth.  Calvinism, imo, has a deformed view of the true gospel, but still the true gospel. Calvinism’s Gospel – God has provided salvation sufficiently for all and planned for it to be “freely” and irresistibly accepted by some. NT Gospel – God has provided salvation sufficiently for all and pla...
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To The Prodigal Believer I Love

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This is a letter I did not want to write.  It's one that breaks my heart to write.  But I had to write it.   This is a "tough love" letter that I wrote to a Christian prodigal whom I love who is (in my opinion) trapped in and by their sins and lies, who made a mess of their life, and who - instead of coming clean when they had the chance - is choosing to dig in their heels, to pretend they did nothing wrong, making everything messier and dragging other people down with them.  (I have altered some of this letter for privacy's sake.)   Those who love a prodigal, who are praying for them, and whose hearts are repeatedly broken by them will, sadly enough, understand this letter.  But remember that even when we can't reach the prodigals in our lives, God still can.   And take heart in knowing that God Himself is the Father of the prodigal you love.  God knows what it's like to be in your shoes, to love someone who's making a mess of their lives, ...
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Are We Forced To Be Obedient or Disobedient?

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(Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) Does God cause us to be obedient or disobedient?   If you believe in predestination – that God has predetermined that some people will go to heaven but that most people will go to hell and there is nothing they can do to get to heaven – then you have to say that God ultimately causes us to either be obedient or disobedient.       But I strongly believe that we have the responsibility to decide if we will obey or disobey.   And I think the whole Bible attests to this, from the Fall . . . to the fact that God lays out “the blessings path” and “the curses path” for the Israelites to choose between . . . to the many calls to “obey” and “choose whom we will serve.”  
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