Happy 2023!

[Starise]

What are your thoughts on this upcoming year ? 

 

[Wayne222]

Depends but definitely it's going to me hard. I expect more wars rumors of wars out breaks of disease. Just what the bible says. 

[JohnD]

8 hours ago, Starise said:

What are your thoughts on this upcoming year ? 

 

You asked...

Thought Number One

I was going to start a thread simply titled 2023, so not to derail another's thread.

2023 is from the get go a misnomer, a dating method based on false data that Jesus was born in the year 0.

(image from time machine Back to the Future)

Never mind the December 25th debate...

This was a Roman Catholic reckoning (back dating from approximately the 10th Century C.E.).

It is evidence of just how tainted the world and Protestantism is by the Roman Catholic hijacking of the faith in how we supinely

accept these false traditions (and in the name of our Lord, Truth Personified).

Even for expediency we mindlessly bow the knee to Roman Catholicism affirming the erroneous dates and years so we can go about our

business (well, the argument inevitably goes, we need to agree on what year it is...). Fine. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's... 

2023 is based on the Anno Domini (Latin: "In the year of (Our) Lord"), abbreviated as AD, defines an epoch based on the traditionally-reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

Most Bible scholars place that year between 3 - 7 years prior to the year "0000." Which there is no such thing as the year ZERO any way. 1 B.C. would have been followed by 1 A.D. / C.E. (sounds like an Australian Rock Group). 

C.E. by the way is a device used by skeptics, atheists, and Jewish people who do not believe in Jesus and substitute the definition Current Era for Anno Domini (A.D.). Consequently B.C.E. (Before Current Era) is used in place of B.C. which colloquially is simply Before Christ... no Latin or other phrase is used). 

I personally use C.E. (Church Era / Christian Era) and B.C.E. (Before Christian Era / Before Church Era).

Semantics.

Most bow the knee to the 2023 ruling of "Caesar" anyway.

On the Hebrew calendar it is the year 5783 (for those who are interested).

[JohnD]

Thought Number Two

More in keeping with the intent of the OP question, what do we think / believe / hope will happen in 2023?

Hope.

Hope on local scales as is historically evident with the LORD and his people in bad and increasingly severe circumstances in the world around.

The Jews during the first Passover.

Noah and his family in the Ark.

Etc.

There are and will be trying times (even in the best of times from the world's perspective). The years of prosperity still had local scale tragedies

where loved ones were lost, jobs were lost, health failed, scrub women raining their children alone are practically stepped on as they work by the 

"prosperous folk" stomping through life like King Herod or Caesar Nero.

All the while, the people in those worldly processions are oblivious to the trap that prosperity and greatness can be. And almost always are. 

I am not into a Gandhi-esque denial of the fruits of our labor. The Apostle Paul said he learned the secret to being abased and to abound... contentment

not self inflicted poverty and misery.  

Philippians 4:11–13 (KJV)
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

We win (even when we lose by the world's standards). Never forget that.

[JohnD]

Thought Number Three

Part of the reason I have subdivided my thoughts is to make it easier to discuss /defend if there are any who want to pick apart what I have contributed.

Given the current state of affairs in the world, 2023...

Speaking as a U.S. Navy veteran, willing at that time to lay down my life for my country because freedom isn't free (without cost)... it saddens me to say this one-time

nation under God has turned it's back on God deliberately, methodically over a great many years.  It's not just that I disagree with the philosophy of other people who live here.

The unity of diversity used to be THE American way. So long as we were united in the patriotic defense of the nation itself and the common beliefs for its perpetuation. 

Rule of law for example. The right to speak freely. Justice for all (or as close to justice as human beings can manage in this fallen sinful world).

Fair and unfettered elections (designed to be able to regularly change power without bloodshed).

...that the people who toiled and suffered and sacrificed, and who lost life or limb in the name of liberty and the American way... shall not have died or done without in vain– that this nation, under God, remains a government of the people, by the people, for the people, and shall not perish from the earth... (based on Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address).

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
― Alexander Fraser Tytler

Some debate whether Alexis de Tocqueville actually said "America is great because America is good, if America ceases to be good America will cease to be great." The point, however remains. I would only add that America was good because America was Godly. When America ceased to be Godly...

[Starise]

I don't tend to be naturally optimistic. I liked your thoughts @JohnD on God being with us. I mean, I liked everything you posted, but especially the optimistic parts 

I am reminded of the saying-

If God brings you to it He will bring you through it.

God tends to let rebellious sinners have their way, which results in their utter blinded destruction. My hope is many will wake up and see where this is all headed.

For me 2023 will be a year of prayer for those souls and for the strength and endurance of the saints.

[grumix8]

Happy 2023 ;D Starise and many more.

[Neighbor]

On 12/31/2022 at 7:02 PM, Starise said:

What are your thoughts on this upcoming year ? 

 

Ha, I guess I don't really think that far ahea...

[Neighbor]

But... If asked to do so I'll have to say I expect more of the same only in larger doses, both the good and the bad. Seems there is a great amplifier, a boom box so to speak, shaking the earth. All the while there is a seat of great comfort provided the hope that is certain, the gospel of Jesus. 

The song of David is  a song for these times too:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
"He leads me beside still waters.
     He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.

 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever."

Maranatha and amen!

[Starise]

5 hours ago, grumix8 said:

Happy 2023 ;D Starise and many more.

Thank you @grumix8 I hope you have a good 2023 as well.

27 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

Ha, I guess I don't really think that far ahea...

Lately the years are just flying. While I was thinking about it a week went by in January.

28 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

But... If asked to do so I'll have to say I expect more of the same only in larger doses, both the good and the bad. Seems there is a great amplifier, a boom box so to speak, shaking the earth. All the while there is a seat of great comfort provided the hope that is certain, the gospel of Jesus. 

The song of David is  a song for these times too:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
"He leads me beside still waters.
     He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.

 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever."

Maranatha and amen!

Amen.

Yahweh is in full control of 2023.