MomBearTo4

Absolutely not. My understanding is that to join the Masons (my unsaved father-in-law was one), you have to swear an oath stating that you are in darkness seeking light, and any Bible-believing Christian is not in darkness but has the light of Christ and the Holy Spirit to guide them.

I was raised in a mainstream denomination (and left when they grew too liberal for my tastes). The baby baptisms were practically identical to baby dedications in the churches I have gone to since I left that denomination except for the use of water and the phrase "I baptize you..." In the infant baptisms of my childhood, the parents are asked to promise that they will raise the child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord until they accept the gift of salvation, and there is also a congregational response making a commitment to "order our lives after the example of Christ" to be living testimonies and examples to the infant to lead them to faith. I don't have a problem with dedicating babies to the Lord as long as it's not a ritual like nursery graduation or something. Each of my children were dedicated to the Lord from the time I knew I was carrying them. I struggled for a while with the issue of believer's baptism, and for myself I believe it was what God wanted me to do and I see the Scriptural support for it. With that said, I have friends who are convicted that baby baptism is a "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" type of thing and not anything that imparts saving merit -- 1Pe 3:21 which figure now also saves us, baptism; not a putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; -- but with the same intentions as the baby baptisms of my childhood. But I don't fault people who don't see that and want to do a baby-dedication type of "baptismal" service but I do believe that children who were brought to Jesus as an infant still need to come to Him on their own to be saved, but even after they were baptized as an infant (as I was), they still need to come to a personal surrender to Jesus in faith and need to be baptized afterward as a testimony of what Christ did for them (as I also did).

Today I celebrate not the secular idea of romance, but the man who obeyed God rather than man at the cost of his own life, and re-commit myself to follow that example.

Dear one, When I have had to look for a church and the type of church I want is not common, I have made a relatively short list of maybe 8 to 10, as it happened, questions that are important to determine the "flavor"not of the church but not time consuming to answer, such as " what seminary did you graduate from," " what Bible version do you preach out of," " what Bible college would you recommend that a high school graduate attend for college," and the like. Then call the church office of the church I'm thinking about and ask for a 20 minute appointment to ask those questions. It's very important to ask completely neutral questions : " what is your stand on xxx issue," "rather than " do you agree with you position on xxx issue" to find out exactly how the pastor feels. I always felt that my questions gave me a good feel for where the pastor was coming from and his doctrinal persuasion, so I didn't waste my time trying out churches that I was almost immediately sorry I had visited.

I recently decided to start reading through the entire set of Harvard Classics, thankfully available by download these days, and got to this statement by William Penn today, which seems like it could have been written yesterday. ’T is very observable, if our Civil Rights are invaded or incroach’d upon, we are mightily touch’d, and fill every Place with our Resentment and Complaint; while we suffer our selves, our Better and Nobler Selves, to be the Property and Vassals of Sin, the worst of Invaders. -- William Penn (1644–1718), in Some Fruits of Solitude

Psalms 37:1-11 (MKJV) A Psalm of David. Do not fret yourself with evil doers; and do not be envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon wither like the grass; and fade as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; you shall dwell in the land, and you shall be fed on truth. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Roll your way on the LORD; trust also in Him, and He will work. And He shall bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of him who practices wickedness. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret yourself to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. [It is] but a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, you shall search his place, and he shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the overflowing of peace.

Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Exodus 33:17-20 And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

No. I Peter 3:18-21 , MKV: For Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, indeed being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit; 19 in which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 to disobeying ones, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared (in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water); 21 which figure now also saves us, baptism; not a putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; The baptism that is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh is the baptism of the Holy Spirit: Mark 1:6-8 6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a leather girdle about his loin. And he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he proclaimed, saying, There is One coming after me who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down to loosen. 8 I indeed have baptized you in water, but He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

I get it. I'm hoping to be able to wait until it gets full approval, not emergency/investigational/experimental approval. But that's mainly because I did medical transcription for 20 years and that has shaped a lot of strong beliefs of what type of medical care I do and do not want. Unfortunately, I do administrative work in a health department with a very left-wing director, which could be problematic, but I will try to hold out as long as I can. It's not like I'm around anybody except at work, and I always wear my mask when in enclosed public areas (but not when walking the dogs when there's nobody around, which is permitted according to my county's public health order)

Boy, is that the truth! When I have gone through my worst times, I plug my name and life circumstances into Job chapters 1 and 2 and put my stubborn nature to work trying to be a person of whom God could equally boast, "Have you considered my servant Melinda..."

I am at peace, while remaining vigilant. A pastor I sat under for a number of years a few decades ago used to tell us that we should never fear persecution as Christians, because the fire of persecution burns off the dross (false believers), leaves the true believers, and gives the Church more power. I'm trying to prepare myself to not be comfortable if this happens. I work at the county health department and there are a lot of hard-core radical liberals who were despondent over the results of the last election and exhilarated at the results of this election, and I'm praying that whatever ends up coming down the pike doesn't cost me my job. The Lord has taken me through a number of incredibly difficult situations in my life. I really would rather avoid having to go through more at my age (60s), but I know whatever happens, the Lord will carry me through the same as He has before. Like I posted in another post, the Lord has led me to focus on Psalm 46 this week, and that's helping.

Probably because it's gotten so much more adverse media attention.

With the current political chaos and all the other upheaval in the US right now, the Lord put it on my heart this morning to mediate on Psalm 46 for this week. (I'm also going to wear black to work on Wednesday as my own "peaceful protest.") I'd like to share it with you in case it might encourage someone else as well. Psalm 46 (Green's Literal Translation) God is our refuge and strength, very much found to be a help in distresses. On account of this we will not fear when the earth changes and when mountains are slipping into the heart of the seas. Let its waters foam; let the mountains shake in its swelling. There is a river, its channels gladden the city of God, the holy tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be shaken; God will help her at the turning of the morning. The nations roared; kingdoms were shaken; He gave forth His voice and the earth melted. Jehovah of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is a refuge for us. Come, behold the works of Jehovah, who sets ruins on the earth, causing to cease wars to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts apart spears; He burns the chariots in the fire. 10 Be still and know that I am God! I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth. Jehovah of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is a refuge for us. I hope this is a balm to your souls as much as it is mine.

I thought I had severe postpartum depression after the birth of my youngest child and I could have said the same thing that this lady did. I mean, it even took much energy to talk. After a year of ineffective mental health treatment that left me feeling even worse, someone suggested I go to my primary doctor. It turned out that my thyroid had quit working. I'm perfectly fine now when on my thyroid treatment, but when they were trying to change my dose and I was severely undermedicated, I felt like I had a combination of chronic fatigue syndrome, mid-stage Alzheimer's and moderate to severe clinical depression. I always suggest to people who all of a sudden have symptoms that feel like depression for an inexplicable reason that they get a full thyroid panel and make sure it's okay. Several people I suggested this to have discovered that their thyroids had quit working also.