secretopossumcabal

On 11/4/2017 at 1:03 PM, JTC said:

What's on my mind is very serious, so maybe I shouldn't say it.

For several months now I've been upset cause I don't know God keeps me here. Do I have a purpose? Yeah, to suffer. I don't like that answer.

I'm tired of everyone I knew dying. I'm tired of being sick.

I want God to give me a purpose. I want to know what He wants me to do.

Only 1 cousin keeps in touch with me. She's sweet. I thank God for her. But she's into spirituality. If I say "Thank God..." she responds with gods. She's been seeing her dead mother, brothers, and my parents. This is anti Christian but if I disagree we'll fight and I'll lose her too. I hate to tell you all this, but I think how a person treats others is more important than what they believe. She doesn't realize it but she's obeying Jesus. I'm upset she's seeing our dead family but I'm not going to throw her away. She's the only person who cares whether I'm alive or dead. 

This is what's on my mind.

It's rough but...remember Job...lost everything, kept faith in God until the very very end. It's not a comforting trial, but right now though we see through a glass dimly, then we shall see face to face. it will be worth it in the end, just have to keep fighting.  

For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first. – Aristotle

Here is a nice write-up from G.K. Chesterton which I think pertains to God's perspective here. 

Quote

Let us suppose we are confronted with a desperate thing – say Pimlico. If we think what is really best for Pimlico we shall find the thread of thought leads to the throne of the mystic and the arbitrary. It is not enough for a man to disapprove of Pimlico; in that case he will merely cut his throat or move to Chelsea. Nor, certainly, is it enough for a man to approve of Pimlico; for then it will remain Pimlico, which would be awful. The only way out of it seems to be for somebody to love Pimlico; to love it with a transcendental tie and without any earthly reason. If there arose a man who loved Pimlico, then Pimlico would rise into ivory towers and golden pinnacles… If men loved Pimlico as mothers love children, arbitrarily, because it is theirs, Pimlico in a year or two might be fairer than Florence. Some readers will say that this is mere fantasy. I answer that this is the actual history of mankind. This, as a fact, is how cities did grow great. Go back to the darkest roots of civilization and you will find them knotted round some sacred stone or encircling some sacred well. People first paid honour to a spot and afterwards gained glory for it. Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.

In short, God is coming to do some spring cleaning for this Garbage dump. Beneath all the filth there's not such a bad world, it was we who made it into such a dump, like children who really made a bad mess of our room and anticipating the parent's discipline which we lament, but if we give in to that discipline we're much better off for it, as we show how much we really don't want to hurt our parents. God will clean up our mess and sternly tell us, "Don't do that again".    

When humans act no different than animals that then lends itself to nihilism which informs us that existence in meaningless, that we're no better than animals and like the animals we're going to lose it all anyways, so why bother? 

People give up, because they stopped tuning in to the holy spirit, which tells us there is something more to life, but we have to want it, pursue it, and lay down our lives for it.  

On 11/6/2017 at 8:06 PM, Wayne222 said:

         We need a mighty man. Someone in  power in the USA. To cut off violent movies. 

I would like to add that the bible is very, very, VERY violent book. There is a massive amount of filth and violence in it, but it's there for good reason. I don't think banning violent movies is a good idea...violent movies like Lord of the Rings have Christian themes afterall. 

But porn should absolutely be outlawed and driven into underground markets. Nothing good has ever and will ever come from making porn easy and accessible. 

The fact that any kid can just flip open his phone right now and gain access to an entire world of filth in a mere 10 seconds is a horrible thought. 

There's a reason why commies, cultural marxists and the satanists that inspire them do not like monarchies. Its because they produce strongmen and facilitate hierarchy, heaven is a hierarchy after all and the creature does not like it one bit, it enjoys egalitarianism because Satan is the ultimate Egalitarian and strongmen produce hierarchy which allows the kingdom of earth to somewhat simulate what's in heaven.

There's a reason why western culture has become so obsessed with the cult of victimhood, because the Creature uses that to promote egalitarianism, everyone is a victim now. It wants absolutely equality which will end in "i am God's equal".   

Trump is a last ditch effort, and I truly believe that Trump is being guided by providence, but I'm starting to think that we don't deserve him and like the israelites who killed their own prophets, most of the west is going to meet a similar sad fate because what we're going to do after he is gone is going to be terrible. 

But like some others have said, don't despair, we're the lucky ones. This world is finished but will be made anew, the Creature will have his short-term victory but just wait for the look on its face when its time has run out.

I think fortunately I knew my calling very early, but it's a very bold and tricky one that requires an unusual kind of discipline. It requires a lot of horizontal knowledge rather than vertical knowledge, as it is not a specialization. I think God arranged my life in a manner (i don't have to worry about bills) so that I can freely pursue all the things that I need to pursue, with all my heart and without many distractions, as I do plan to infuse his spirit into it my work. 

But at 30, I still have a very, very long way to go. As the butter is spread very thin when you decide to pursue horizontal knowledge and guys my age would have already reached the point where they're garnering the fruits of their labor, which is usually very specialized, but I have to remain faithful that one day it will all come to life.     

8 hours ago, Annette said:

Hi Secret,

Thank you for taking the time to share. 

In reading your response, I am reminded of the harsh reality that not all of us experience change that we are proud of, or excited about.

What I am grateful for, is that we are all on a journey and that journey is not over. We do not have to face it on our own. There is hope because of Jesus.

I know that it has been in some of my most difficult seasons in life that I have had to depend on God to be there for me and see me through.

I will be keeping you in prayer Secret. Blessings

 

 

That is kind of you, thank you. 

I would have told myself that 30 minutes on a hobby each day would go a long way. I would also tell myself that certain hobbies are not conducive to fostering a healthy mind. I would also tell myself to appreciate the things I had back then; my dog, some friends, and an optimistic outlook. 

I had a cheerful disposition in my childhood which slowly eroded as the wisdom of Ecclesiastes was slowly revealed to me, "all is vanity". The reality of the world really bummed me out and snuffed out my cheerful disposition. To keep this cheerful disposition I would have told my younger self to prepare for a world that is cold and mean, and to not get bitter that the veil which we're brought up with during our childhoods is broken. I think anticipating it would have not altered my personality much.    

I think that it's important for two people to be able to defer gratification for one another, I think heading head-first into passion, as soon as it presents itself, is a poor precedent to set. Impulse control is a very very heavenly trait, and if your partner can do that, for both your sakes, then you know that they have a quality that comes from above and not below, which means that they are greatly suitable for marriage, as it will dovetail into a stable family life. 
 

A building is only as strong as its foundation.

That is why certain forces are currently doing what they can to turn men into women and women into men, whilst glorifying a slut culture that tells women to go out there and 'have fun'. It's a all-out assault on the family, and proof that this spiritual war has taken on a vicious form. Frankly I prefer it when we can see when the devil is obvious and right in front of us, horns and forked tongue and all, much less scary than the foe you can't see, for it's when he goes underneath the shadows that he is especially strong, and Christianity is only fading -- things will only get worse, as Christianity was the weapons and tools we needed to detect the Dragon. 

I do think rebellious children spring out of neglect, attention is like ambrosia to children and when they're fulfilled of it, they will earnestly love their parents and do whatever they can to please them, for the attention and positive praise is a very intoxicating feeling. A father isn't going to have much authority without a profound love for his creation, the love infuses meaning into the authority and reassures the child that there is something good waiting for him if he would just keep faith in that authority just as we must keep faith in God -- something good is waiting for us.   

"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death." -- Sun Tsu
  

Children, especially boys, need a father in order to grow up, the mothers love tends to spoil children as the mother needs to have strong unconditional love in order to bear with her child during its dependent years. This kind of love backfires spectacularly in the teenage years if it's not paired with fathers love, for boys need to learn that to become a man is a hard fought for process, but to the mother, her child is already perfect, which makes her unfit for this task.  Mother's love is very necessary but it needs to be complimented by the father's love which understands that men are MADE not born. 

The process of becoming a man is hard and it sucks, this is what the father needs to prepare boys for. Now we have perpetual manchildren whom do not impress women at all, which compounds the issue of broken families. "Where have all the good men Gone?" Neglected by the culture which intentionally deceived and broke them through the women that the culture turned into sluts -- original sin all over again. 

Things are bad -- very bad. I don't mean to spread any anxiety as we are the lucky ones, but without Christianity as a weapon, we are powerless to face the demon, he will have his way with this world for quite some time, he wins many battles and shall win more to come, but he'll still lose the war.   

10 hours ago, 1to3 said:

 

 

Good passages! The parable of the sower is what reminded me of that analogy. The Parable of the sower always frightens me a bit because when I'm feeling low I end up thinking that my seed landed in the "thorny places" or was "eaten up by animals". Or when I fail at a project I end up thinking 'rotten fruit'. it's a scary feeling.  

9 hours ago, Davida said:

I Like it! but I'd put it slightly different-

Faith--->  =Seed
Salvation->=Tree / Vine ( we are connected by the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
Works---> =Fruit (verifies the indwelling Holy Spirit)
 

 

Good stuff, I had difficulty fitting the 'fruit' with a description but yours is better. I will use it from now on. 

I've always thought this analogy was apt for Sola Fide:

Faith -- The Seed (we're saved here)
Works -- The Tree (verifies the faith)
Salvation -- The Fruit  (our reward for true faith)

I really don't know how one can separate genuine faith from works, God most certainly does not want us to "believe" than get complacent. Faith and works are friends.  

Like much of the advice already given use your despair to bond with Christ; use the devil's own momentum against him 

The afflictions of the righteous are many. One thing that makes the psalms so good is that it is very broken people writing them in their moment of need, Christ is our bandaid, he is our crutch. Read the psalms, remember them, use them, accompany them to uplifting music. 

My favorite psalm passage is "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit".

If you're shattered remember that it's at that moment that your connection to the creator can become extremely powerful, but you must remember to speak to him when you are down.