Ray12614

Ok then . . . while you are being detached from immediate common sense solutions following the 'leading of the holy spirit' we have an administration who is actively opening our borders to real threats to our nation. Like it or not, we have millions of illegals here now. Of those millions there are real terrorists in that mix, and soon our nation will pay the price for our leaders failure to secure our borders. one such known terrorist coming across part of our unguarded border was on camera saying that nobody knows him now but soon everybody will know him . . . if that is not a threat I don't know what is, and NOBODY knows where he is at now . . . I agree with most of what you have said, but, unless we put actions to our prayers (border walls as an tool, patrolled by our military) to preserve our nation for as long as possible, God is not impressed by those prayers, and frankly does not believe us. Finally, I can hold the current president accountable for his blatant disregard of his duties under the Constitution to secure and protect our country against all threats, foreign and domestic. I will do exactly that this November by casting my vote accordingly, and doing my little part in our republic form of government.

Okay, I see your opinions regarding borders and walls built to slow down Illegal immigration . . . but . . . I need to ask you if you lock your doors to your house, and if so, why would you do that? IF breaking the law is only a spiritual problem, why not just only pray for a spiritual solution, and leave your house unlocked, and further, allow anybody come into your house to do whatever they might want to do? Most people have Walls and doors and don't allow entry unless they are invited in. Why should our borders to our nation be any different? Just because illegal entry is not new, and drug smuggling is not new does not mean it is okay to permit that. It simply means that our leadership has not solved it, and in fact, has promoted that. Very disgusting . . . There seems to be a disconnect somewhere in that point of view that says we protect our personal space, yet, we should not protect our country from those coming in who seek to destroy it. Just asking . . . Ray . . .

I have found over the years that when I don't receive answers to questions I have, that sometimes I am building in my personal wants and beliefs about what I am asking for. For example, growing up Lutheran, my church believed in trans substantiation whereby the communion bread actually becomes the body of Christ, and the juice becomes the actual blood of Jesus. This is because they misunderstood the symbolic teaching of Jesus at the last supper, and then they made a doctrine out of it. I think this goes back into church history a long way back. Never the less, it is wrong and until I read and understood the scripture teaching myself I swallowed it as truth, when in fact it was not true. It did not really hurt anything concerning salvation, but, was an mis-application of scripture based on the mis-understanding of Jesus' words, and IF I used that teaching as an basis for attending various churches, I would still be Lutheran today. If you can hear it . . . may I suggest that you re-visit the NT scriptures regarding your belief that Saturday is the only day for the church to gather together for corporate assembly? It would open up your choices as far as finding the church family that God has called you to gather with . . . just saying . . . Ray . . . I

Very glad that you came back to Jesus my brother! I need to ask you why you might feel anxious about gathering together in church though . . . if we are justified by Jesus and want to be part of Him, then we should not shun the assembly of believers (church attendance). I also realize that there can be multiple reasons why people cannot attend, but feeling anxious could just be the enemy not wanting you to be built up and edified or helping your brothers and sisters in Christ. A local church gathering is where scripture says the Eph 4 gifts can be found, and the corporate manifestations of God's Holy Spirit should occur (in whatever form He chooses to use). IF there is an local church that lifts up Jesus, flows in the Holy Spirit, and proclaims the truth of God's Word, I highly recommend that you attend it in addition to your small group setting. Just saying what I have personal experience with. Grace and Peace to you and yours . . . Ray . . .

well we should limit our conjecture to the confines of scripture, right? Since the Bible does not say specifically, we really don't know for sure. Having said that . . . I see where you are coming from . . . We know that the demons wanted to inhabit the pigs, so it really does make sense that those same pigs would move into the pigs, and then kill the pigs IF they wanted to inhabit them . . . Hummm . . . . We do know that Jesus valued the man more than the pigs, which should be a lesson to us about the value of people compared to animals and all creation. Ray . . .

Truth!

I think you are indirectly speaking about the USA's southern border? IF so, there are a lot of satellite issues connected to the Border, illegal immigration, and the political issues of the day. The main stream media would have us to believe that the majority of those illegally entering the US are disadvantaged families seeking a 'better life', and how can we be so cold hearted to close our borders . . . etc. However, much of the illegals coming in across the border are single, military age young men from China, Russia, middle eastern countries, who we do not know what their reasons might be to come here. I suspect that we will find out in the years ahead IF there are terrorist attacks in the US home land. Another issue is the drug trafficking (fentanyl) , sex trade, Cartels specializing in various illegal crimes. The thing to do immediately is to close the southern borders, then and only then re-vamp our immigration policies to make it easier for people to come here who really want to better themselves and contribute to our nation, and to make it harder for those seeking to destroy our nation and our people to get in. To those who say this should not be done . . . I would ask them if they lock their doors to their homes and allow anyone to come in, to hurt them, their families, raid their homes and take what they want . . . I suspect that they don't do that . . . so why should it be different with our nation as a whole???

I agree with most of what you have said about this, BUT, we do live in an fallen world, with the devil and evil enemies. SO . . . considering this fact . . . not everything that happens to us is 'ordained by God' as God's will for our lives. And yes, sometimes there are those of us who will die as martyry's for the faith of Jesus our Lord and many times it is God's will for them. BUT not every death of His saints is sanctioned by God as His will. Sometimes it is the result of us living in a fallen world that has things in motion that are devilish and not of God. Natural disasters, premature deaths caused by diseases etc. are an result of living in this fallen world, and not necessarily caused by our God. Romans 8:28 is a true verse, but, IF we read it in context to the preceding 2 verses some of the things that Paul is talking about is the operation of the Holy Spirit 'groanings' making intercession for us. Aren't you Glad!! Certainly all things are under the ultimate control of God, however . . . there are things that we are to resist in the Spirit with groanings and intercessions and prayers. We are not just on an pre-ordained roller coaster ride where we have no input into our lives and the lives of others. We do have a part to play, and to just sit back and relax and say that 'all things' (no matter what they are) are God's will for our lives is frankly silly. Otherwise why would He have written in His word that we are to submit to God and RESIST the devil ? ? ? Anyway that is my opinion about this . . . . Ray . . .

Dennis: Keep your tin foil hat on . . . . I'm joking . . . One thing we know for sure is that the times are coming around full circle with an heightened frequency of events, and nations shifting into place as seemingly a alignment that only God could do . . . I do have an opinion about judgement though . . . judgement is not only to judgement against evil, but, judgment of what is good and what is ready. For instance, last summer I planted a garden, and my sweet corn was very abundant in producing ears of sweet and wonderful corn for eating corn-on-the-cob. When the time was close to harvest, I would walk though the corn patch 'squeezing' the ears of corn to determine how ripe the corn was. When the best time to harvest came (judgement was good) I picked the corn. Some of the corn was fully mature, some moderately mature. However, some of the ears were not ready at all, and I had to leave them in the patch so they could grow more and become more mature. So . . . in the mean time, lets grow in the Lord, and allow the Master to 'squeeze' us and check our fruits. May we be counted (judged) worthy to 'escape' (Jesus' words not mine) all the events that seem so much closer now . . .

Well said . . . . wise and foolish virgins . . . ALL were virgins . . . . All were supposed to be watching and waiting . . . ALL slept as the bridegroom delayed his coming . . . BUT only 5 kept extra oil and kept their lamps burning . . . and only 5 were ready to meet him when he and his wedding party with him came back. In my opinion (only my opinion) the wise virgins had to 'attend' their lamps during their time of 'slumbering' to make sure that they did not go out, and were 're-oiling' their lamps to make sure they did not stop burning. WE NEED to keep oil in our lamps, daily getting the supply of Holy Spirit oil through reading our Bibles, prayer, fellowship with brothers and sisters in our local churches, and more . . . Me personally? I want to be ready to meet Him in the air at His Great Appearing in the sky . . . and NOT to hear Him say 'I don't know you . . . depart . . . . Good post!

I am 71. My Christian life has not diminished but grown deeper, more fulfilling, and rewarding as I fellowship with the Lord in the Holy Spirit. The things He enlightens me about are amazing (for the good things) and at the same time awesome (for when He reveals what is happening around me). Boring is an word that does NOT describe my experience being a Christian, so, I can't relate to that. I have found that the more I am involved in various ministries at my local church, or reaching out to people around me in ministry or witnessing to God's love for me . . . that it 'sweetens' my attitude, and gives me a spring-in-my-step so to speak. I love working with the Holy Spirit on things He allows me to be involved in . . . be it projects at church, or prayer and intersession, or helping others I encounter during the day. It differs day by day. Some days more relaxed, and others more active and surprising. So . . . my advice is get down fellowshipping with Him in prayer seeing what assignments He has for you, then get up . . . and do your assignments (however small or large), and get into the 'fight of faith'. Grace and Peace . . . Ray . . .

Well, I have thought about this a lot lately. Some of our friends have been cremated (which my wife and I will do), BUT, they did not have an memorial service. That made it hard for their family and friends to have 'closure', and to remember the deceased family member/friend for their life, and how they blessed and helped people around them, and of course 'how they served Jesus' during their earthly lives'. I think that it is un-fair to friends and family to deny them the chance to remember their loved ones and have closure of their relationships . . . . Admittedly, some peoples lives really don't have much to celebrate, but still, this is a Christian forum and we all should have some kind of life style that could be celebrated, and really turn people's hearts toward the Lord. Which brings up another thing I just thought of . . . what happens to others on this forum when one of the Worthy members die? I suspect that they just are gone and nobody knows why? Hummmm . . . . . Ray . . .

Blue Letter Bible. I use it on my Ip hone and Windows PC. It has downloadable versions of various flavors with the KJV as the default that comes with the initial download of the software. It has some rich features of interlinear concordance, commentaries, strongs, and more. I use the PC version for copy paste into documents. I suppose it just comes down to how you use the Bible and what makes sense to you as far as ease of use. My default translation is the KJV which is available on most if not all Electric bible media platforms, so for me, electronic bibles are a great way to study because they have so many tools. However . . . I have noticed that in church my Bible 'dexterity' has been reduced which is sometimes awkward (let the reader understand). Another issue to be considered is that electronic bible programs could become unavailable in the future, as they are susceptible to EMT and other threats as our phones and PCs are. So my advice is to have an printed copy of your favorite bible version(s) always available on hand in case electronics somehow are not working one day. Grace and Peace . . . Ray . .

Very interesting subject Dennis . . . my thoughts are as follows . . . Alignments of nations have been forming for the last 30+ years, slowly at times, fast at times, but overall the nations will become what God has prophesied in scripture. This gradual alignment and various wars and police actions etc. have somewhat blinded God's people as being normal, and they no longer see God's work being done internationally. This brings an overall ignorance of scriptures, and a lazy-minded non praying element in the body of Christ, with people saying 'Where is the promise of His coming, for all things continue as normal'. I remember the parable of the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins . . . ALL were waiting, ALL slept when the coming of the Bridegroom was delayed, BUT only 5 were prepared with extra OIL to meet him when he finally came . . . We as the Body of Christ have a responsibility to Pray as directed by the Holy Spirit, and work with the Holy Spirit to be found faithful stewards of what He has given us. Sure there are things that are solely in the Hands of the Master, but, also there are Prayers and Intersessions that we have been given the privilege of working with God to accomplish His various purposes in our lives, our nation, Israel, and the nations of the world. So the real questions from my point of view is: Do we believe in God? (yes we do), Do we believe that when we pray in accordance to His purposes and plans (Word of God) that He hears us? (we should), Do we believe that when we pray He will hear us and answer our prayers even for national issues? (Sadly many do not). My point is that we all have a part to play in this end-time period of time we are in . . . working with our Master making prayers, intersessions, decrees and more based on His Word, and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Lets do our part . . . and trust God to do His part . . .

Frankly, my wife loves me and respects me as the head of my home. She also teaches in our church regularly, as do I. She is NOT usurping any authority, and is submissive to myself, and the church leadership. The church leadership and I both recognize her gift to the body of Christ as an teacher. Since I am her husband, I see her dedication to researching and pulling together scriptures, and praying about what she should say when she ministers. This process takes her weeks to prepare and many hours spent in researching and fellowshipping with Jesus. She always talks it over with me, and asks me if I see anything wrong with her teachings. She is gentle, kind, and very anointed in her thoughtful delivery of the Word of God, and a blessing to myself and our local church. Many people can speak on a biblical subject, but, NOT everybody can hook up with the Spirit empowered ministry of the Holy Spirit, or pay the price in time spent with Him. She is one of the Eph 4 Gifts (teacher) to the body of Christ. Just because she is an woman does NOT disqualify her from serving in that capacity. Remember the Bereans who searched the scriptures (PLURAL) to validate the things being taught were true or not. The Bible is a 'book' not a 'verse'. Others above have quoted scriptures that indicate that women can indeed teach, so, it does not need re-hashing, but frankly, the issue really is Authority over men and being in submission to their own husbands. My 2 cents on this topic.

I'm with you Mr. M . . . he needs to explain . . . IF that is the case, then I dismiss the entirety of this OP.

I used C++ in my first development job 25 years ago. Its a pretty good language capable of many things on an detail level (creating functions etc.) I liked it, but, then a job opened up in my area for an developer using Progress 4GL, and so I spent 20+ years in that environment. I honed my skillset using Progress, interfacing to an manufacturing DB platform, and ended up supporting 30 databases world wide in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Now after retiring, I have been looking for PT employment and have found that my Progress skills are considered not in demand. C++ is good, but, I am seeing that Python and other web based languages are the future. I am considering learning it, but, at my age it might not be worth the effort to learn it. I believe that Sequel or Python or other web based platforms I have not heard of are probably your future. I wish you the best in your career quest.

As an retired systems analyst developer I can definately agree. I found the same thing as being true in my career. If I could not find an solution, or, details of complex systems bogged me down, I would 'step away' from trying to solve it, and ask God for wisdom, and get a good nights sleep, and many times the solution was revealed to me in the night seasons, or, the next morning. God is good!!! I am curious . . . what language do you use when coding? Ray . . .

Certainly we are Not under Jewish law, I fully agree on that point. No need to go to an temple and offer sacrifices, keep legalistic commands, and think that just because we have been in an house of worship that we have worshiped. It is true that we must worship God in spirit and in truth (there is a lot to say about that too), It is true that assemblies of Christians do not have to happen on Sunday, yet, it appears that was the custom in the NT. BUT I am talking about the 'assembly' with other believers (which appears to be the big elephant in the corner of the room) that many don't want to talk about. The assembly of believers is not limited to church buildings, nor, is it excluded from assemblies inside church buildings. We see this assembly was assumed and practiced by the early church in the NT epistles and recorded in Acts. This really isn't rocket science . . . How can you encourage others and be encouraged and exhorted if you remove yourself from the assembly of the believers corporately? Are some of us reading this the 'some' who have 'forsaken the assembly' talked about in Hebrews 10:25? Speaking of which . . . I must get ready for church where I assemble regularly with my church family . . . Merry Christmas! Grace and Peace . . . . Ray . . .

I agree with all the postings (previous to this point) quoting the scriptures regarding observing of various 'holy days'. I do NOT agree with the conclusions about them to stay home and forsake the assembling together as the body of Christ in corporate worship and prayer that we now call 'going to church'. Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. You all do what you want to (like I could convince you otherwise . . . ) but I will take the clear direction of scripture given via the Holy Spirit speaking though the apostle and I will assemble together corporately with my brothers and sisters in Christ. There are many reasons 'why' we need to do that. Frankly, God is much smarter then any of us, so I will defer to Him and not bum advice from those who hate the church.

Actually, that is probably my fault . . . . Regarding the elections, we really are not voting for an man/woman for president, we are voting for an administration, and everything that comes with them (SCOTUS, bureaucrats, laws, social issues, military actions and support of Israel, education, and more). We MUST get our eyes off of personalities, and vote our core Christian values and push back against the devilish policies that are taking this nation down. IF we do anything less, than we are part of the problem and not slowing down the 'social rot' in this country. Win, lose, or draw . . . at least I can stand before Jesus with a clear conscience regarding this issue at His Bema seat . . . Sorry OP for taking this more off topic, but, I needed to voice my opinion. I will not reply to any more of this OP. Regards . . . Ray . . .

I wish it were not true, but, I know that it is. BTW: Did you see that Colorado has banned Trump from running for president this year? They are using the Jan 6th insurrection (falsely called an insurrection) and Trumps' call for peaceful protest as the basis to keep him from running. I want him to be able to run, yet, at the same time this is an states rights issue, much like abortion is now. I think that we will see it appealed to the SCOTUS, but, they probably might reject it. IF I lived in CO, I would peacefully protest at their capitol for sure. Ray . . .

Great illustration! Informative too . . . . .

Great topic Dennis! My position on all of these matters discussed is this; The Bible world view should not be validated as true based on physical evidence (although there is much physical evidence that confirms this), but, the correct interpretation of the physical evidence around us should be validated by the Bible. Since true science is tainted by secular world views, their conclusions many times are false. Frankly, Jesus knows much more than all the PHDs (post hole diggers) in every university put together in one room . . . . so I will go with Him and what He says.

Years ago when I was first saved, I had a dream and saw a man on a throne who sat on it side-ways with his feet over the arm of the throne/chair he was sitting on, and had an 'beanie hat' on which was sliding down one side of his head, and he had a sneering smile on his face, and a robe of red and purple with some white parts. My point is that I knew nothing of the Catholic church, what the priests wear, had not studied 'end times', or read popular authors about end times, and knew nothing about much of anything and was just beginning to read the Bible, and had not read Revelations . . . I was very puzzled about who this man could have been, and many years later now . . . . I still don't know. I only know that IF I see him, I will know him and avoid him if at all possible. It made that much of an impression on me, I will never forget that face . . . . I believe God showed me a 'glimpse' of what would happen in the future, and it has been 30+ years since I have shared it BUT this OP reminded me of my dream . . . I do now lean towards it being a futuristic picture the Catholic pope, but, the pictures I have seen of him in news articles is not the man I saw in my dream.