To Blog or Not to Blog?

Many people have lots of desires to belong to a community and to share ideas, whilst they are feeling part of a group where they are accepted, and their thoughts are appreciated.

On the net we can find a girl with the name Lola, who looks at what a blog is and questions to blog or not to blog.

She considers the word “blog” to be the short form for the word weblog, referring to an informal website or an informal discussion on discrete topics and written in a conversational way. But the latter is certainly not true of most blogs, which over the years have evolved to present a wider range of topics with extensive descriptions or detailed discussions.

She requests:

Let’s compare a blog to a diary. The blog site is the book and the entries in the diary are the posts. In the diary we write our personal encounters – family, social activities and travel experiences. We also write our thoughts and opinions on certain situations and events in this book. {What is a Blog?}

One may love to write, but that does not one want to write on the net. The old-fashioned diary was always for private writing and reading, but now the internet has offered a place for many to write their own thoughts, readable by millions of people.

Some like the writer of the reblogged article look at a blog being it like a diary.

But while a diary is kept private, a blog is shared either with a small group of readers or published in the World Wide Web. {What is a Blog?}

She also thinks Blogs are displayed in reverse chronological order, but that should not always be so. The owner of the blog may decide to place the oldest blog on top or have them ordered by category.  But we agree that the majority chooses for the most practical and easiest way for being updated with the writings, meaning the most recent entry showing on the top of the blog page in one or more columns vertically downwards or with pictures horizontally per three or more. Furthermore

Aside from pictures, a blog’s content may also contains videos and scanned copies of offline documents. {What is a Blog?}

Some may find immense gratification in writing down something, which they know shall be read by several people. They do not mind if they do not know all those readers, though they do hope several of their friends will be some of their readers. It is for those friends, and acquaintances that many go behind the keyboard to let words roll over the screen.

For some, at first, there is that obstacle that wants to limit them and keep them on the “unknown” side of town. Some keep their blog private, while others (the majority) publish them on the World Wide Web, where we are overloaded with millions of texts luring for our attention.

Zillions of reiterations of topics could make people not want to blog at all. At first, there were the many message and fora platforms that caught the pen of many, but where not so many ‘full articles’ could be found. With the greater accessibility and dissemination of internet possibilities, more people could also find their way to that internet and felt stimulated to interpret their say there too.

In the last few years, we also can find more journalistic webblogs where journalists, historians and several blog writers have joined hands to bring truthful journalism or bringing the news of events of the day from a particular angle. Our blog Some View on the World wants to bring such an up-date of what happened in our world, providing the newsfacts as well as extra commentaries.

With the vast abundance of material to borrow on the internet, it is so what that one can no longer see the forest for the trees, and that one drowns in the swirling water mass of copious text material seeking our attention on all sides.

There are loads of articles out there, which may bring up that question:

 Why should I blog about it? Why would readers want to read mine?

Because is it not that when we write something on the net, we also want someone to read what we have written?

In any case, to start blogging, it is best to plan in advance which direction you want to go. Will it be a personal blog, or will it rather be a blog where you want to sell something or put forward a clear opinion?

It is nice that everyone can find a type of blog to his or her liking. There are political, religious, travel, historical, archaeological, cultural and so many other blogs, allowing us to tap from an infinitely full wine barrel.

To remember further

• blogging industry = millions of bloggers
• wanting to share ideas, opinions + experiences with other people
• wanting to maintain communication with others => we blog.
• writing blogs requires a lot of communication skills = to be good in grammar & punctuations, word usage & spelling, formats + a lot of creativity.
• Receiving comments from readers = rewarding experience.
• to blog or not to blog > depends on your desire + determination to learn + excel in this endeavour

 

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Preceding

Blogging into the New Year

“Our World” Moving from Blogspot to WordPress

Asking for a Re-Blog

When you think you have nothing to say or to show

Readers, likes and comments

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Additional reading

1. Wagner the NAR and new wineskins
2. Traditional News Turns into The Journalism We Know Now
3. Presenting views from different sources
4. What do we know about the future of journalism?
5. Hello world!
6. A convinced voice to debunk false allegations
7. A busy 2017 #3 Fake, gossip and real news
8. WordPress appears to have fallen off its best horse
9. A Classic Editor versus Block Editor
10. From old times and sites to new linkings
11. Five years on WordPress
12. From MSN Groups and MSN Spaces via Multiply to Blogspot now transferring to WordPress
13. In case Blogger goes further with her new interface
14. Blogger seems too slow to be practical
15. Our World on Blogger coming to its end
16. “Our World” Moving from Blogspot to WordPress
17. Notification and news feed for Facebook users
18. Walking alone? (Our World) = Walking alone? (Some View on the World)
19. What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?
20. Companionship
21. Presenting views from different sources
22. Newspapers: Dying or Changing
23. Pleased to find Christadelphian World on the net
24. 2010 – 2014 in review
25. First blog post
26. My World…
27. Blogging in the world for Jesus and his Father
28. Immanuel’s first two years of blogging on WordPress
29. If no one died because of War – how different would worlds appear to be
30. 💬 Misquotation Pandemic and Disinformation Polemic: 🧠 Mind Pollution by Viral Falsity 🦠

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Related

1. WordPress on Linux Servers
2. Why I will be writing a blog, and why you should too.
3. To blog or not to blog? (Asha Seth)
4. To blog or not to blog (Miss A.J. My thoughts exactly)
5. 5 fun facts to celebrate 100 years of broadcasting
6. Glasgow community newsroom shows how local news can return to the UK high street
7. Journalism and Mass Communication Syllabus
8. Journalism On The Front Lines In Ukraine
9. Causality Journalism: Can Academics Help?
10. Beyond The Labels
11. For Whom Do You Write?
12. Overwrought Reflection about Blogging “Anonymously” & a PSA
13. If You Don’t Post a Bloated Reflection on Writing, Are You Even a Blogger?
14. A Goal on the Horizon
15. My 2022 Year in Books
16. What kind of blog reader are you?
17. This Little Light o’ Mine
18. Devising a social media strategy – a step by step guide
19. The Potpourri of Blogging Comments
20. Draft Queen
21. No Way Home
22. 4 things that helped me make affirmations work for me
23. Carol Anne asks
24. An Ode to Courage
25. 2022 Wrap Up | 2022 Favourites and 2023 Goals
26. A Fresh Start
27. The Mystery of January
28. The Column: Read all about it!
29. A Brave New Year
30. Happy New Years
31. My New Year’s Resolutions 2023
32. How strong are your resolutions as we face a Brave New Year?
33. Daily Blog #412: It’s been weeks (Part Two) Weird Dreams, Manifestations/Goals, New Years Blog
34. As Horrific As Lord Of The Flies
35. guest posting is super OK
36. December wrap-up!
37. The Morning After
38. 3 Reminders for the New Year
39. About Those New Year’s Resolutions …
40. A random memory
41. Happy New Year!
42. Share Your World 2nd January: my response
43. Share Your Blog 2023
44. Author Journey (January 2, 2023)
45. Confusion Rant- Not my best Post, a break from PVX
46. My first collaborative project !

The Lola Talks

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

To blog or not to blog? That is the question.

Every now and then we find ourselves wanting to share ideas, opinions and experiences with other people. Furthermore, we also want to maintain communication with our clients and customers online. For this reason, we blog.

Receiving comments from readers on our blogs is a rewarding experience. More so when the number of readers and loyal site visitors increase. It’s like being compensated for the hard work we have put into writing our posts.

But writing blogs requires a lot of communication skills. We need to be good in grammar and punctuations, word usage and spelling, formats and a lot of creativity.

We have to remember that in the blogging industry, there are not only a few but millions of bloggers. Thus, we really need to write our materials exceptionally well to stand…

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Blogging into the New Year

Blogging into the New Year, in a certain way as bloggers we might feel connected with other bloggers from all over the world. Its the magic of the internet that catches us.

How many bloggers are not on the internet willing to shine a light, not wanting to hide, hoping to bring some nice reading and some positive vibes to others, somewhere in the world. Some target a specific public, others do not mind sharing their diary with the world. Whatever reason they blog, is that what they write would be read by ‘some one’.

Janie Leeds writes

I happen to think that there’s a teensy bit of fear in all of us from time to time that squelches our ability to shine our heartlights and I’m choosing to figure out how to allow my heartlight to shine without fear! {This Little Light o’ Mine}

Many therefore just let the words roll over the screen, without fear. Perhaps they too think like J. Leeds that

we have to build our confidence and find someone trustworthy to shine with when we feel that desire to shine and to brilliantly explode our special brand of light into the universe. {This Little Light o’ Mine}

Though many might feel

It’s scary when we choose to be our authentic selves without fear. It’s being vulnerable which sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable. {This Little Light o’ Mine}

We always can wonder why or for whom those bloggers write. For themself? For their community/friends? For the world at large?

Judgy Young Pessimist or Jewish Young(-ish) Professional has the same question as us on her lips:

Maybe we write for different people at different times or maybe we write for all of them. {For Whom Do You Write?}

New Year’s Day finds one reflecting on some of their past resolutions and their outcomes. Bloggers might then perhaps think about what they wrote in the past year or how many blogposts they managed to create.

Lots of bloggers shall express and live by the hope that this fresh year will bring us something better than we had for the last years. So many want to forget Covid (though it is still not finished) and want to see an end to ‘that war‘ going on in Ukraine. Many bloggers leave that war in the fridge, only writing about other and hopefully also better things. Good tidings.

Let’s hope for the best and do our level best to make this year a memorable one for the people around us. Let’s resolve to spread happiness, empathy and goodness in the world. Let’s be humane and humble. {Happy New Year 2023}

writes a freelance writer who finds he is doing fine and has a lot to be thankful for, because “Allah, the Almighty” has been so kind to him. He is also aware we do not know much about the future. He thinks we can not predict the days ahead.

Can we not rid ourselves of unfounded fears? Can we not enjoy this precious MOMENT (present), instead of living in the past or worrying about the future? {Why Do We Worry About The Future? Why Don’t We Enjoy The Present Moment?}

Those who believe in God can find enough advice in the Book of books, the Bible, where the ‘bloggers’ of ancient times wrote down what we should know. In those books is enough said about times still to come, and as such do we know what to expect. Concerning those end times there are several bloggers on the net talking about how we can prepare for those times.

Many other subjects gain much more attention. Many blogging platforms are being used, but also many disappeared and bloggers had to change platforms again last year. The greatest change last year was the leaving Blogger and Blogspot by many bloggers, because those blog systems had become too slow and unworkable. This could be an asset to WordPress, but it was also discussed last year, due to its introduction of the less practical Gutenberg Block editor system.

Several bloggers let themselves be guided by prompts or requested tasks by other bloggers.

sometimes, prompts provide that inspiration for a piece that may have been ruminating,

writes JYP. We also admit some blogposts find their origin in something we notice on the net or some event that reached the news. In any case, the main reason to write such a post is for many to share something they find interesting or has something to do with their community or faith. As such, JYP for example wanted to share about Jewish community prompted by one of Fandango‘s Provocative Questions

– and it’s since become the basis for the whole pond/community/housing search tortured analogy saga. Prompts can provide both the inspiration for something I never expected to write and the necessary nudge to write something that were already ruminating. {For Whom Do You Write?}

Some bloggers like to tell the world about their very private things, whilst others prefer to stay in the anonymity or would not dare to talk about something personal. For some personal self-expression is the primary motivator for writing their blog and wanting to get an audience.

These are the posts that arguably could have been written in a private diary. These are the posts that might have less “polish” because sharing a message with an external audience isn’t the primary goal. These are the blog posts that feel less like public speaking, and more like casual conversation, or even just venting. {Blogging About Judaism: Promotional vs. Personal}

These posts are the casual conversation, maybe even the therapy sessions, of blogging – intimacy, sweats, and all. Photo by Ekaterina Bolovtsova: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-women-talking-to-each-other-4051134/

The problem with some of those blogs is that we feel more like in a café, catching up on some conversations. Others have a message they want to promote like we too have some good new to tell.

According to JYP promotional blog posts are those that:

• Have a message that the author wants to share externally. (eg. This is not a post that the author could have written in their private diary)
• Because the author wants to share this message, the post tends to have some “polish”. {Blogging About Judaism: Promotional vs. Personal}

she rightly compares this to public speaking

– the most heartfelt, sincere, genuine speaker is going to make a point of revising and editing, practicing, and putting on more professional attire/ hygiene/ grooming/ makeup etc. (vs. brain dump whilst looking disheveled) to look more presentable to an external audience so the message comes across better. {Blogging About Judaism: Promotional vs. Personal}

For her

the promotional vs. personal classification applies to all kinds of blogging {Blogging About Judaism: Promotional vs. Personal}

What we notice, looking at the Blogosphere and social media, is that lots of people want to be part of a community.

JYP thinks

the sense of community is probably the greatest strength of a well-run prompt. {For Whom Do You Write?}

In our globalising industrialist capitalist world, where there are so many people walking around, most people are just lost in the mass. Several people hope to escape their loneliness, but on the internet, they also find such an empty space. By blogging they do hope to have some reactions by which they would not feel so on their own. By writing a blog they want to break the silence and their loneliness.

Look, the internet is a big, lonely place. Blogging helps build community. Prompts can create a sense of community rituals and norms. It’s been fascinating to see the way bloggers will show up for each other, even within the simple forum of a prompt response. And it’s incredible to see how a prompt “ritual” goes beyond that, like when fellow bloggers share sad news with other prompt participants who respond with tributes and memories. {For Whom Do You Write?}

It is by such reactions the blogger may feel his or her work is appreciated and worthwhile doing. Responses on blogs also may trigger curiosity to go and look at that blogger his pages. If answers are given to a blog post, those comments may prompt the blogger to check his or her blog with that responding person. In this way, an exchange of ideas can arise among certain people who eventually become part of a small or larger group of regularly exchanging people.

To be clear, I think blogging without prompts can build community as well. But if you imagine the blog world as a religious community (bear with me), while you absolutely can and should socialize with fellow congregants outside of regularly scheduled services, some members will really appreciate the regular weekly meeting times to connect with their fellow congregants. {For Whom Do You Write?}

writes JYP. As such we can find bloggers who make it a custom to publish every week on a certain day an article. They even go to apologize when they did not. Or certain bloggers want to see for every day another sort of blog, be it a poetry day, haiku day, tanka day, garden day, short story day, thriller day, relaxation or meditation day  …. Some even want to have days for an amount of words.

We may not forget

Not all of our followers will care about everything we say. And even in blogging where we create more community through prompts, not all of our fellow prompt participants are going to be interested in our other writings. {For Whom Do You Write?}

Another aspect we may not forget or overlook

The reality is that almost none of us will become famous or make any real money from blogging, so you might as well write for yourself in addition to whomever else you’re writing for.

If, in the course of blogging and responding to prompts, you don’t feel like you’re writing for yourself, it might be a sign to take a step back and figure out how to incorporate prompts in a way that feels more authentic to you. {For Whom Do You Write?}

In our busy world, we have limited time to do certain things for ourselves, like reading. On the net there is so much to read, it is impossible to read everything or to follow every blog full-time. Even when we are following a blog or others are following our blog, we can not expect that they read every blog, and certainly not that they notice or look at every blog on the day it is written.

we’re not necessarily interested in every post that another blogger writes. {For Whom Do You Write?}

It is logical that everyone has their own preferences for certain subjects and will look for interesting literature in this area. In that respect, it is not bad that the internet offers such a variety of subjects so that everyone can find something to their own liking.

We from our site are happy you came to read this post, and honestly do hope you’ll have also got a taste for reading here a bit more than just this article.

Welcome to From Guestwriters in 2023, and hope to see you more.

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Preceding

Asking for a Re-Blog

When you think you have nothing to say or to show

Readers, likes and comments

++

Additional reading

1. WordPress appears to have fallen off its best horse
2. A Classic Editor versus Block Editor
3. From old times and sites to new linkings
4. Five years on WordPress
5. From MSN Groups and MSN Spaces via Multiply to Blogspot now transferring to WordPress
6. In case Blogger goes further with her new interface
7. Blogger seems too slow to be practical
8. Our World on Blogger coming to its end
9. “Our World” Moving from Blogspot to WordPress
10. Walking alone? (Our World) = Walking alone? (Some View on the World)
11. What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?
12. Companionship
13. Presenting views from different sources
14. Newspapers: Dying or Changing
15. Pleased to find Christadelphian World on the net
16. 2010 – 2014 in review
17. First blog post
18. My World…
19. Blogging in the world for Jesus and his Father
20. Immanuel’s first two years of blogging on WordPress
21. If no one died because of War – how different would worlds appear to be

+++

Related

1. WordPress on Linux Servers
2. Why I will be writing a blog, and why you should too.
3. To blog or not to blog? (Asha Seth)
4. To Blog or Not to Blog? (The Lolatalks)
5. To blog or not to blog (Miss A.J. My thoughts exactly)
6. My 2022 Year in Books
7. What kind of blog reader are you?
8. This Little Light o’ Mine
9. The Potpourri of Blogging Comments
10. Draft Queen
11. No Way Home
12. 4 things that helped me make affirmations work for me
13. Carol Anne asks
14. An Ode to Courage
15. 2022 Wrap Up | 2022 Favourites and 2023 Goals
16. A Fresh Start
17. A Brave New Year
18. Happy New Years
19. My New Year’s Resolutions 2023
20. Daily Blog #412: It’s been weeks (Part Two) Weird Dreams, Manifestations/Goals, New Years Blog
21. As Horrific As Lord Of The Flies
22. guest posting is super OK
23. December wrap-up!
24. The Morning After
25. 3 Reminders for the New Year
26. About Those New Year’s Resolutions …
27. A random memory
28. Happy New Year!
29. Share Your World 2nd January: my response
30. Share Your Blog 2023
31. Author Journey (January 2, 2023)
32. Confusion Rant- Not my best Post, a break from PVX
33. My first collaborative project !

Available information for the youngsters and readers of my websites

John Humphrys does feel a sense of guilt that his parents scrimped to pay a weekly shilling to the Encyclopaedia Britannica door-to-door salesman so that they as kids would always have the world’s knowledge at our fingertips. He says:

What a noble intent. What a waste of money it seems today.

Though I also twice got the full encyclopedia version and for a long tim bought the additional yearbooks. Now I still do pay my yearly subscription, so did and still do support the Encyclopeadia Britannica, so that I can search for truthful information. Once the kids were on their own legs they did not seem interested to search in the books, or on the internet version, because they found other sources on the internet in which most of the youngsters put their faith. For some of them, they do forget that it is people, like me, who are offering our knowledge for free on that internet, but are also not all masters in different subjects.

The volumes of the Encyclopædia Britannica. The Macropædia is the set of volumes 13 to 29, with single colour spines.

What bothers me most about those searches on the internet is that not all search machines bring the ‘searchers’ to the right answers. The Britannica is there also at fault, Not bringing people to their full articles on a certain subject. I must say, often my searches in the Micropaedia and Macropaedia deliver much better answers than the ones on the net.

The 17-volume Macropædia is the third part of the Encyclopædia Britannica; the other two parts are the 12-volume Micropædia and the 1-volume Propædia, intended as a compendium and topical organisation which is an interesting guide to self-study.

The last edition of the print Britannica was published in 2010, and today it provides only the electronic version. I am happy that I have still the printed versions next to the two main electronic versions I can do my research with. I find it important that people should be able to find out more about certain subjects, and for that reason, I still try to include further links in the articles presented on my various websites. I do hope people would use them to find out more about certain subjects. I am happy to see that until now certain links are clicked.

From the old box: Free Speech, but Not for All?

Free Speech, but Not for All?

By Ted Gup

Just over a century ago, the president of a distinguished college barred the suffragette and human-rights activist Jane Addams from speaking on campus, and suspended a student named Inez Milholland for organizing others in support of women’s rights. Milholland would go on to become influential in the women’s movement, and the college president, James Monroe Taylor, would become yet another example of an overly protective and historically myopic educator. He believed that women should be “not leaders, but good wives and mothers” — the prevailing view of the day.

Ulrich Baer cites the philosopher Jean-François Lyotard, who “shifted attention away from the content of free speech to the way certain topics restrict speech as a public good.

Some topics, such as claims that some human beings are by definition inferior to others, or illegal or unworthy of legal standing, are not open to debate because such people cannot debate them on the same terms.”

…

Baer suggests that denying controversial speakers a forum still leaves them with the internet, disregarding that the internet also provides a powerful forum for groups whose voices were long suppressed. The internet and social media have removed many of the barriers to entry and provided accessibility to even the most splintered and historically marginalized of groups. To ignore this or to suggest otherwise is to infantilize such groups or imply that their messages are not competitive or compelling in the marketplace of ideas. To shield minorities from such speech is to disrespect them and assign them a fragility that many would not welcome.

“To protest free speech in the name of protecting women is dangerous and wrong,”

said Betty Friedan.

..
Abolitionists, gay and lesbian people, civil-rights activists, feminists, and others on the cutting edge of social change were all, in their day, barred from one university podium or another. Educators argued that their remarks might cause a disturbance, might undermine moral teachings, discomfort students, and offend the wider community.

…

Baer suggests that the free-speech argument is overly simplistic and static

“The parameters of public speech must be continually redrawn to accommodate those who previously had no standing,”

he says. Yet the idea of an organic and flexible standard of free speech, appealing as it may be, would strip it of the consistency that is the bulwark that stands between all controversial speakers and the despots who would silence them. It is not difficult in some far-left and far-right schemes to imagine the likes of Professor Baer himself being silenced. And his advocacy of a dynamic line between protected and unprotected speech grants a license to those in power to smother dissent of all sorts, particularly that of minorities and outliers.

The absolutist approach to free speech, to be sure, has its flaws. But for all its offenses, for all the broken china, for all the divisiveness and trauma it has caused, it remains the best and only instrument for insuring a free intellect and a more just society. It is not a matter of equality versus liberty, but as Owen Fiss, the Yale scholar of the First Amendment and outspoken champion of free speech, has argued, equality through liberty. Fiss observes that when speech has been curtailed, it has historically been the unheard, the underrepresented, and the deprived who have paid the steepest price. The lesson then is not to turn the quest for equality into a cudgel to be wielded against those whose values or positions one does not share.

…

Free speech is the greatest single ally of social justice and, even at its most noxious and repulsive, is often a catalyst for reflection and remediation. It is easy to mistake it for a tool of repression when, in fact, it is the antidote. Racism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism do not respond to verbal anodynes. They must be addressed at their roots. Argument, reason, confrontation, and direct exposure to the psyche of bigotry remain the best hope.

Messages from a distance not belonging to the past

Slowly we can see that the world is returning back to “normal”, though some Corona restrictions are still going, but gradually we can come together again with more people. Last Memorial Service it was still limited to baptised members only, but in the coming weeks our ecclesiae shall open their doors again to non-baptised and people from other denominations as well.

Having people again meeting us in our prayer and Biblestudy places, does not have to mean we shall reduce our writings on the net. We are convinced the internet is a very important medium to reach people.

It is important to us that we attract and retain exceptional teaching, support and operational staff and are keen to employ team members who hold the same faith and values we hold.

We always welcome writers for several of our website, in particular “From Guestwriters” and “Some View on the World“, but also for the Ecclesia site and the Brethren site “Broeders in Christus – Brethren in Christ“.

We always welcome applications from enthusiastic, innovative, expert Christadelphians who are committed to the values and ethos of our community and who understand the importance of making the Name of God to be known as well as the importance of telling the people about the Good News of the Coming Kingdom of God.

Passover 7 days of meditation opening a way to conversion

Immanuel Verbondskind looks back at the lockdown period and the impact on the small Jeshuaist community and some Jewish communities. For Jews it has even been more difficult to undergo the lockdown, because many do have no television or internet and have been in a real-time strict isolation, not being able to have worship moments with brethren and sisters.

Those times of seclusion and restriction could be called a ‘reflection time‘ or retreat, where one had enough time to think about faith and religion. On the 15th of April this year (2022) it was 14 Nisan, the evening to remember the liberation of God’s People from the enslavement in Egypt, but also to remember the gathering of Jeshua and his disciples, where at the last supper Jesus talked about the blood being shed for the liberation of all people.

In Wintertime, many Christians celebrate Christmas and have some holiday, where they also can think about the light that came in the darkness. For true Christians and for Jews, 14-22 Nisan is the most sacred period of the religious year, where is remembered how the Elohim brought to light in the dark night by passing over the houses where there was the blood of the lamb, giving the opportunity for the Jews to flee their world of slavery in Egypt.

True Christians with Jeshuaists remember also the Passover lamb Jeshua (Jesus Christ) and show their gratitude for the salvation by the Grace of God, Him accepting that ransom Jesus was willing to pay for all people.

 

Since Friday night Jeshuaists and Christadelphians, like other true Christians, since some long time of isolation because of lockdown, could at some places get together (in restricted form) and make connections with other brothers and sisters, either in place or via the internet streaming. Many, the previous time in isolation got lots of opportunities to think about the value of such a connection or ‘fraternity‘. They had enough time in the lockdown period to think about their religious affiliation, and some also about their need to go over into a conversion. Because the last few months, more signs could be seen that we are entering a new period in the Time of Ages or in God’s Plan.

Because of those “Signs of the Times” there has come a certain pressure to know what to do and which direction to go. Now many more ask themselves who shall be part of the things going to be there after the big battle or great tribullation.

Several people have wondered in those Covid times if it would not be better to become part of a community. There also have been Jews by race or non-believing and non-practising Jews, who started to change ideas about the world and its Creator. The Jews from Middle European origin also started wondering by which denomination of Jews they would best join. Those people living here in Belgium, France, Holland and Germany wonder if they would convert to Judaism, if they then would be accepted as a Jew.

Anti-Zionists often claim that Ashkenazi Jews are white imposters, fake Jews who are entirely descended from European converts to Judaism. This is completely rebutted by genetic studies which have proven a Middle Eastern patrilineal origin for Ashkenazi Jewry. However, when the Anti-Zionists make the Apartheid accusation are Jews suddenly a single racial group. The notion that Jews generally constitute a racial group is Nazi in origin and is at the core of the Anti-Jewish Apartheid libel. {Why Many Ashkenazi Jews “Look” European}

There is a long history of the racialization of Jews. There have also been religious and non-religious Jews in several countries.

Racialization of Jews have a long pedigree in the history of Anti-Semitism. Racialization of Jews was practiced in Spain against the Anusim (“Marranos”), Jews who were involuntarily converted to Christianity during the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Racialization of Jews in Germany became prominent already in the second half of the 19th century when religious Anti-Semitism (Anti-Judaism) was increasingly supplanted by racializing Anti-Semitism. The third phase is the current racialization of Jews by the extreme left.

Racialization of Jews is intended to paint Jews as “genetic aliens” in a certain country (e.g. Spain, Germany or Israel). Of course painting any other people as “genetic aliens” is not socially acceptable beyond Nazi circles. But Anti-Semitic opponents of Israel systematically engage in discourse to stigmatize the Jews in the land of Israel as genetic aliens despite Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Mizrahim patrilineally being very very genetically similar to Palestinians due to common historical origin, with the genetic divergence accounted for by historical conversions to Judaism and by immigration to the land of Israel from other parts of the Middle East during the Islamic era.

Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Mizrahim are more similar to each other than to any other populations and are predominantly of Middle Eastern origin in genetically confirming the historical narrative of ancient Israelite origin. The Anti-Semitic accusation according to which Ashkenazi Jews are exclusively descended from European converts to Judaism despite that part of Ashkenazi ancestry accounting only for only 30% of the Ashkenazi gene pool with the remaining 70% being Middle Eastern in origin is used by Anti-Semites such as Palestinian-American professor of Columbia University Joseph Massad to libelously paint Israeli Jews as “European colonizers” and against the scientific consensus denying that most modern Israeli Jews are Levantine returnees to Israel. The false claim that Ashkenazi Jews are “European colonizers” is in fact one of the main claims involved in the Anti-Semitic racialization of Ashkenazi Jewry. {Jews are a Nation of Color}

After the covid pandemic several feel a greater need to come to connect with one or another Jewish or Jeshuaist denomination. Having been on their own, in their own living room, with nobody else to share the faith, was too lonely. Some, who were previously connected with a shul, lost contact but also interest to go to a prayer and study house. Though others have now, even more than ever before, felt the need to be connected to other fellow believers.

This Passover is for several an essential time to consider the way how God handled His People and how, also today, He is still willing to guide them through the desert of this (non-religious) world.

Some people take time to think about separation and isolation, and look at the lessons we get from the Scrolls that teach that the priests were deliberately separated from everyone else. They even couldn’t go to family funerals, like many could not in the Corona crisis. Their job was to remain separate from the people they served, which may sound strange. But their goal was to maintain their close connection with the Most High in purity or holiness.

To remain separate at all times isn’t healthy for anyone. All over the world many learned that all too well the last two years. this year many felt a great joy they were able again to come together with some friends to do like the apostles did, following up the permanent ordinance… a celebration for all of God’s people throughout all time, remembering Passover.

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Find to read:

Times of seclusion, restriction, liberation, connection, religious affiliation and conversion

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Preceding

Measure of loneliness whilst time drags

Adar 6, Matan Torah remembering the giving of Torah

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Additional reading

1. Jewish diaspora
2. December a joyful time for many
3. Lenten Season and our minds and hearts the spiritual temple in which God seeks to live
4. Remember the day
5. Ransom for all
6. A perfect life, obedient death, and glorious resurrection
7. Redemption #4 The Passover Lamb
8. Redemption #7 Christ alive in the faithful
9. Atonement And Fellowship 8/8
10. A strange thing might happen when you come under Christ
11. Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God
12. Falling figures for identifying Christians
13. What is happening in America to religion and to the language of faith
14. Who is a Jew?
15. Counting sands and stars
16. We Count. We Just Weren’t Counted.
17. Judaism and Jeshuaism a religion of the future
18. Great tribulation and Armageddon
19. Armageddon or the Great Tribulation
20. Ashkenazi Jews are extremely inbred

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Related

1. Passover Blessings – April 15th through 22nd, 2014
2. Proselytism
3. Jesus Became Our Passover Lamb
4. How Jews look to non-Jews – Part 1
5. Going back to shul
6. Fighting ignorance

The biggest ground offensive in Europe since World War II

Russia started its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday February 24, 2022, with airstrikes on cities and military bases. Russian troops and tanks then entered the country on three sides and reached the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, on Friday, in the biggest ground offensive in Europe since World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned other countries not to come to Ukraine’s aid, reminding the world of Russia’s nuclear weapons stockpile and threatening “consequences you have never seen.” Ukrainian leaders said their military was fighting back, and that dozens of their soldiers and hundreds of Russian troops had been killed. They said Russian forces had seized control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant in an attack that could “cause another ecological disaster” at the site of the world’s worst nuclear meltdown. [The Associated Press, The Washington Post]

Thousands of people across Russia took to the streets but were silenced. Opposition activist Tatyana Usmanova called the invasion “a disgrace” and she asked for “forgiveness” from Ukrainians.

“We didn’t vote for those who unleashed the war,”

she said.

Despite hundreds of arrests daily, and nearly 3,000 total since the invasion began, demonstrators held signs and marched through the centres of cities from Moscow to Siberia, chanting “No to war!” in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Russia’s smaller neighbour.

It is good to hear how International businesses operating in Russia and Ukraine one after the other started closing offices and factories after Russia invaded Ukraine, all facing dark days for all of us.

Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruchtold shareholders at their annual meeting.

“The attack on Ukraine represents a turning point in Europe; a war was simply unthinkable for many people, especially the younger generations.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had agreed to send a Ukrainian delegation to negotiate with Russia near Ukraine’s border with Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to use Belarus as a staging ground for his invasion, arranged the meeting. But we could see yesterday that Russia did not keep to the agreement to have a corridor for the civilians to flee the terrorised cities. As soon they drove out of those cities they were shot at by the Russians, and as such were driven back to where they came from.

The European Union has shut down its airspace to commercial and private Russian airplanes and committed, along with several member countries (including non-NATO Sweden and Finland), to arming Ukraine. And perhaps most astonishing of all, Europe and the United States (joined even by perennially neutral Switzerland) have put together a package of economic sanctions far more severe than anything anticipated prior to the outbreak of hostilities. There’s now a very real possibility Russia could be plunged into a catastrophic economic tailspin.

Last Sunday Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was putting Russian nuclear deterrence forces on high alert due to what he called “aggressive statements” Western nations were making against Russia.  Yesterday he went a step further, calling all those who wanted to interfere with his peace mission, dangerous attackers of his state, to which he will not shrink from counterattacking. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen her call for promptly opening EU membership talks, Putin considers as a war declaration.

Elon Musk came to help Ukraine maintain internet access as it fights a Russian invasion. Musk’s private rocket company SpaceX has deployed thousands of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, establishing a network over the last three years to beam high-speed internet service to users from more than 100 miles up. The service can work in parts of the world with limited conventional internet infrastructure. Since Russia invaded, Ukraine has experienced internet disruptions, so Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, asked Musk to send Starlink terminals.

Russia’s central bank on Monday hiked a key interest rate from 9.5 percent to 20 percent to fight inflation and depreciation of the ruble, after the Russian currency fell by 30 percent to a record low against the dollar as Europe and the U.S. imposed harsh sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The move came after the United States, European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom over the weekend announced plans to cut off some Russian banks from the SWIFT financial support network, a global payment system connecting international banks. The allies also said they would take steps to thwart the Russian central bank’s attempt to boost Russia’s economy with its more than $600 billion in reserves, part of an escalating push by the West for Moscow to negotiate peace.

Ukrainians are fleeing en masse to clogged borders of European neighbours, with the biggest share heading to Poland while smaller numbers try to reach Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania. More than 500,000 Ukrainians have left for Europe since Russian forces invaded on Thursday and Europe expects this going to grow to 1,5 million. Over previous weekend, one crossing into Poland had a line nearly nine miles long. The exodus has been the biggest Europe has seen in years, with some authorities bracing for a humanitarian crisis like the one that occurred in 2015 when more than a million refugees arrived from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries. Many European nations were hostile to the refugees who arrived in 2015, but so far they have said they would welcome Ukrainians.

Big question for Europe is now how long it can stand at the sideline.

Switzerland has edged away from its long-standing tradition of neutrality. Finland is not comfortable with Putin’s aggressive expansionism, which may also have its eyes on several of Russia’s neighbouring countries. It is on the cusp of asking for admission into the NATO alliance after decades of standing to the side. Germany, after a nearly 80-year break from militarism, is suddenly beefing up its defence budget and sending arms to Ukraine.  Previously, neutrality for countries like Finland and Switzerland had benefits to those countries — and to the world at large, but in which way is a neutrality tenable?

 

“Our World” Moving from Blogspot to WordPress

On April the 2nd 2005, Marcus Ampe, after having commented on several MSN Groups created his own chat group on MSN which would grow into the website “Christadelphian world” on Multiply. Like so many Microsoft users at that time, he too, had his Space on MSN. When Microsoft discontinued the MSN Groups, Mr. Ampe followed their suggestion to switch to Multiply, presenting its Multiply Groups and Multiply Spaces. Several groups did not do this, quit or switched to other systems such as Yuku, of Ezboard, Inc.‘s internet forums (Yuku Message Boards), or the content management system (CMS) WordPress. Both were also considered by us, but unfortunately not chosen at that time. But a few years later Multiply stopped with providing room for bloggers. This made that all the material had to be exported when one wanted to keep the material.

The hierarchy of labels in a fully qualified domain name

For that reason, Marcus Ampe wanted to save his writings and placed them temporarily on the other American online content management system (CMS) Blogspot, enabling multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. Though that, what seemed just for a “waiting time” to find a new place, came to run its own life on Blogger. From that time onwards online journals or Blogs could also be accessed from a user-owned custom domain, an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet, (such as http://www.example.com) by using DNS facilities to direct a domain to Google’s servers.

Christadelphian World

The Blogspot “Christadelphian World” received some further new messages and having received a new birth in 2014, having its name changed in “Our World“ it grew out, becoming an ‘adult’ presenting more than 4 000 messages in 2020. Google, that year, made several changes in its sites as well as in Blogger. From then onwards connections with the older blogs on Blogspot did not seem to work so well. The system became very slow to load down. In earlier computer days that would not have been such an abnormality, nor problem, but in present times the consumer does not like some time-consuming websites and leave them alone.

The World Wide Web had become a place where lots of lots home pages, functioning as a table of contents or index, with links to other sections of the site, called for the attention of the reader. Many companies also wanted to play host to present websites to the worldwide public. The public became also more interested in blogs that operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links. “Our World” its intention was also to do that and to show the public the connection of this world with the Highest Divine Source of this all.

Other blogs concentrate on presenting original material and wanted to go deeper into certain topics. Marcus Ampe for that reason brought his MSN Space over to a Multiply Space, and when Multiply stopped its service, transferred it to WordPress, with as title Marcus Ampe’s Space to present his own personal views and offer a look in his personal diary.

In addition, many blogs provided a forum to allow visitors to leave comments and interact with the publisher. Such interaction became the most important target and this provide a new ground for several platforms bringing social media as a new driver of the convergent media sector, into their core business.

The growth of the blogosphere has been nothing short of remarkable. By October 2005 there were 19.6 million blogs, a number that has been doubling roughly every five months, according to Technorati, Inc., a Web site and organisation dedicated to mapping and searching the blogosphere.  You can imagine how by this growth of approximately 70,000 new blogs being created each day — or, more vividly, nearly one every second, how difficult it has become to find the most interesting or complete one. Due to the abundance of material on the internet and the fact that people often cannot see the wood for the trees anymore, Marcus Ampe created in 2014 (03/26) “From Guestwriters” on WordPress as a platform where a selection of interesting websites could be presented. He also wanted to offer a platform for writers themselves to present their own website articles and to introduce people to more in-depth articles. But until now he does not seem to succeed getting enough writers willing to offer their services to talk about such subjects as history, nature, a.o..

From blogging is (in a way) expected that it might also be a conversational activity seeking to create a community or reflect an existing community. With “From Guestwriters” Marcus Ampe hoped to do so, but also with “Our World“, he wanted to open a view on the world, tough from a Christian viewpoint. He is still convinced such a viewpoint should have a place in our world, though he does not expect a lot of followers or interested people, because he is fully aware that there is not such an interest in Jehovah God.

As a Christian Marcus Ampe is convinced that it is part of the tasks given by God and by His son Jesus Christ, to go out into the world to preach the coming Kingdom of God. In many of his websites Mr. Ampe wants to bring some positive notes and want to show people that when things don’t work well, or are not working at all, although there’s plenty of sun, and when it’s starting to get annoying, there are ways to get out of that black or dark mood and to find sunshine in heaven. “From Guestwriters” want to contribute in such a way, and now you also may find “Some view on the world” bringing such a positive view on the world.

Please come to find this renewed website by Marcus Ampe:

Some view on the world (WordPress site by Marcus Ampe)

Where you shall be able to find some news updates, thoughts and reflections by different people (inclusive reblogs) and articles about man, history, faith, religions (in particular Christian religion), God, His world and His Word, the Bible and quotations from it.

Blog of Some view on the world

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Find also to read:

1. Do you have a writer or presenter in you?
2. Change of the Microsoft Network Spaces
3. Messages leading to an earthly utopia
4. From MSN Groups and MSN Spaces via Multiply to Blogspot now transferring to WordPress
5. Invitation to renew connection
6. Going to the end of our 5th year of presenting interesting views from different authors
7. A Classic Editor versus Block Editor
8. Notification and news feed for Facebook users

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Additional

1. Necessary to be known all over the earth
2. Need to inspire others
3. How To Get Started In Sharing Your Faith As a Christian
4. To find ways of Godly understanding
5. From house to house #2: Continuing to bring the good news right to the world
6. The untiring response of some Christadelphians
7. Taking as many opportunities as possible to proclaim the Good News
8. Reason to preach #5 Trained to do it God’s way
9. Beautiful feet of those who announce the good news
10. Witnesses of Christ and of his gospel
11. Preaching to an unbelieving world
12. A magazine with Each month a true story

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Related

1. What is an Internet Forum? Everything you need to know
2. Yahoo Answers is shutting down. Why are companies ditching discussion features?
3. Social media outage highlights how vital Facebook has become worldwide
4. ❣️The Message Boards Turn 21 Today! ❣️
5. Types of Content Management System
6. Facebook, Google Attribution, Chatbots
7. Your Singaporean Twitter History – Get to Know Your Country’s Social Media Trends
8. What’s Google Up To?
9. WordPress Training
10. Thinking Through: WordPress Border Controls
11. Launching & Managing your websites with CMS
12. W04 Reflection: Site Builder & Hosting
13. Best VPN for WeChat – Bypass Censorship & Chat Anonymously!
14. 5 Tips for Blog Post Ideas
15. Things That Make Me Wish I Wasn’t A Blogger
16. Joseph Pulitzer’s Retirement Speech & The Traits of Journalism
17. Reader Is Dead, But What About Writers?
18. When Bloggers Get Angry
19. Filter only coffee
20. Bloggers Who Write About Food!🍔
21. Translation and Social Media Language- A New Chapter
22. No Internet
23. Are we being controlled by unseen entities?
24. The Empathy Library
25. The bittersweet taste of traditional publishing

Zijn Liefde kent geen grenzen

Velen geven blijk van opgesloten te zitten, maar grijpen deze kans niet om zich even ernstig te bezinnen. Al maanden hebben wij nu allemaal tijd gekregen om na te denken over zin en onzin van dit aardse bestaan en over de waarde van onze relatie met de medemens, maar ook met de natuur. Vraag is hoe veel mensen tijd genomen hebben om na te denken over onze relatie met de Goddelijke Schepper en Toelater van al die dingen die wij mogen hebben en waarmee wij ons mogen omringen?

Vandaag kijken wij even naar een reactie van een familie op zending in Costa Rica, waar bijna het hele schooljaar de kinderen online les volgden.

Ze hebben het alle drie gehaald en goed hun best gedaan ook al was het niet wat ze zelf zouden kiezen. Graag willen ze weer terug naar het ‘oude’, naar het gewone klaslokaal. Maar goed, dat gaat hopelijk volgend jaar veranderen.

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Te onthouden:

Het Evangelie kent geen grenzen. De liefde van God, de waarheid van God zit niet aan gebouw vast, maar ook niet vast aan een plaats, maar woont in Zijn volk.

• Velen vergeten dat dit juist een tijd is waarbij het zo belangrijk is om elkaar via het internet verder te bemoedigen en de Blijde Boodschap verder uit te dragen zodat meerderen het licht aan het einde van de tunnel zullen kunnen zien.

De Coghis in Costa Rica

De regels worden steeds strikter. De vijand lijkt steeds dichtbij te komen. Dit virus ken geen grenzen en gaat waar het heen wil. We worden er sterk op gewezen om afstand te houden en als we dat niet zelf doen dan wordt het ons opgelegd. Maar…

De liefde van God kent geen grenzen

Niemand kan met geld de grens nog oversteken, ze zitten dicht. Vandaag is hier in Costa Rica aangekondigd dat als je een verblijfsvergunning hebt als buitenlander en je nu het land verlaat dan kan het zomaar ineens zijn dat je die verblijfsvergunning verliest. Ik weet niet precies waarom dit is aangekondigd en waarom deze strikte regel, maar we leven in rare tijden.

De meeste beslissingen, moeten we geloven, zijn om de mensen te beschermen, maar er zullen ook beslissingen tussen zitten waar we niks van snappen. En toch temidden van al deze beslissingen, temidden van een realiteit…

View original post 496 more words

Opgelet voor uw online aankopen

Nu iedereen in zijn ‘kot’ moest blijven en men best onnodige verplaatsingen meed, is internet verkoop enorm toegenomen. Zulk een zoeken op het net om aankopen te verrichten heeft echter ook ‘slechte zielen’ uit hun hol doen kruipen.

In de eerste weken van de lockdown kwamen er ruim 117.000 nieuwe online kopers bij, waardoor het totale aantal online aankopen steeg tot 28 miljoen. Die stijging trok ook cybercriminelen aan. Het Centrum voor Cybersecurity België (CCB) meldde dat ze alleen al in het eerste kwartaal meer dan 4.500 verdachte URL’s naar valse webshops moesten blokkeren. Fraudeurs probeerden massaal hun slag te slaan met mooie aanbiedingen en stevige kortingen.

Wat kunt u als consument doen om niet in dergelijke valkuilen te vallen?

Tips om veilig online te kopen

Online shoppen houdt bepaalde risico’s in. Zo bestaat de kans dat de webshop waar u koopt frauduleus blijkt. U bent uw geld kwijt, maar krijgt er helemaal niets voor terug. Het is vaak niet eenvoudig om te achterhalen of een webshop te goeder trouw is. Neem daarom deze 8 tips zeker ter harte als u online aankopen wilt doen:

1. Reviews of recensies van klanten van de webshop wekken vertrouwen, maar zijn ook eenvoudig te vervalsen. Laat u dus niet blind leiden door de online getuigenissen van andere klanten.
2. Google de naam van de webshop in combinatie met trefwoorden als ‘oplichting’, ‘bedrog’, ‘vals’ … Doe dit ook in het Engels als het om een buitenlandse webshop gaat. Zo kunt u informatie terugvinden over frauduleuze aanbieders en klanten waar het verkeerd liep.
3. Als een aanbod te mooi is om waar te zijn, dan is het doorgaans ook niet waar. Lees steeds de voorwaarden van een aanbieding in detail (de kleine lettertjes).
4. Installeer virus- en malwarebescherming op uw computers.
5. Shop nooit via een site waarvan het internetadres met http:// begint. Dit dient steeds https:// te zijn. Alleen dan bent u er immers zeker van dat uw gegevens op een veilige manier verstuurd worden.
6. Print altijd uw betalingsbevestiging af of neem een screenshot en bewaar dit.
7. Binnen de EU hebt u het recht om online aangekochte spullen binnen 14 dagen terug te zenden en uw geld terug te krijgen. Vergeet dit niet! Ga daarom steeds na of u uw verkregen goederen ook makkelijk kan terugsturen.
8. Als u lid bent van Test-Aankoop, dan kunt u via dit platform nagaan welke webshops veilig zijn.

Rustmoment inbouwen bij online shoppen

Eén van de troeven van online shoppen is dat het erg snel en gemakkelijk verloopt. U kiest het product, vult uw contact- en betalingsgegevens in, klikt op bevestigen en klaar is kees. De verleiding kan dan ook erg groot zijn.

Maar daar ligt natuurlijk net één van de grootste gevaren van online kopen: u hebt veel minder het gevoel dat u echt geld uitgeeft dan wanneer u fysiek dingen koopt. De zogenaamde betaalpijn (pain of paying) is quasi volledig weg. Dit brengt mee dat u niet alleen vaker online koopt, maar dikwijls ook gewoon meer geld uitgeeft dan u van plan was.

Webshops spelen hier handig op in door u de kans te geven om uw betalingsgegevens op te slaan in het systeem van de webshop. Zo moet u die niet elke keer opnieuw invullen … We raden u dan ook aan om dit nooit te doen. Bewaar uw betalingsgegevens niet in een webshop. Dit maakt weliswaar dat u, telkens u online wilt shoppen bij dezelfde webshop, de gegevens van uw bankkaart opnieuw zult dienen in te voeren. Maar dat is net goed. Want zo bouwt u voor uzelf een rustmoment in, waardoor u nog eens goed kunt nadenken of uw aankoop wel de moeite waard is.

Oplossingen gezocht voor Joodse dienstvoorziening

Niet Joodse gelovigen hebben niet bepaald een probleem met het volgen van diensten op het internet. Voor vele Joodse gelovigen vormen diensten op het internet volgen wel een probleem. Daarom deze oproep

Hebt u een oplossing voor onze Joodse leden?

Hebt u misschien een antwoord op deze vraag?

Hoe kunnen Joodse gelovigen toch samen dienst beleven?

Zodra de duisternis valt op vrijdagavond lijkt in vele huishoudens van de Jeshuaistische en Joodse gelovigen ook een zekere vorm van duisternis te vallen. Zich aan de voorschriften houden zoals voorgebracht in de Sjemot/Exodus 35:3 en algemene traditionele regels, wordt er afgezien van enig werk en worden er ook geen lichtknoppen of elektrische toestellen bediend.
Dat maakt dat de Sabbatsviering volgen op het internet onmogelijk is daar het enkele taken verreist die door sommigen als “werk” worden aanzien. Meer nog opvallend is het ook dat er toch nog vele gezinnen zijn waar er geen televisietoestellen of computers in gebruik zijn. Voor anderen mag dat helemaal buiten de wereld zijn, maar dit is wel een realiteit waar wij rekening mee moeten houden.

Vraag is of wij nu ook niet weer in een tijd zijn waar wij uitzonderlijke maatregelen moeten inroepen, zoals onze voorouders deze gekend hebben in bepaalde tijden, toen zij ook niet naar hun tempel of synagoge konden gaan.

In enkele artikelen proberen wij daar aandacht aan te schenken nu wij naar 9 Av gaan en het verlies van 2 tempels gaan herdenken.

Wij zijn er van bewust dat elkeen van ons wel op zijn of haar eigen plekje kan bidden en een ingetogen gesprek kan aangaan met de Allerhoogste. Maar het samen komen of samen gemeenschap vormen is er met de coronacrisis niet bij en eist speciale voorwaarden of veiligheidsmaatregelen.

Wie weet kan er van uit een andere hoek een kijk worden gegeven die voor onze gemeenschap oplossingen kan aanbieden, zodat wij toch dat eenheidsgevoelen kunnen bewaren en ons niet schuldig moeten voelen van geen sjabbes te vieren in gemeenschap.

Door de corona-maatregelen van de overheid zijn we gedwongen geworden om niet enkel na te denken over onze omgang in het openbaar, maar ook om na te denken over wat wezenlijk is voor verwezenlijken van onze geloofsplicht.

Nu dat wij niet meer mogen samen komen in de tempel of synagoge, moeten wij andere mogelijkheden zoeken om toch als gemeenschap onze verbondenheid te voelen en iedereen de kans te geven om dat gevoel van verbondenheid te ondergaan in en met waardig gebed.

Vandaag lijkt het wel dat wij ons ernstig moeten gaan bezinnen over iets wat voor decennia oh zo gewoon leek, maar uiteindelijk toch niet zo evident lijkt te zijn. Wij zien namelijk dat bepaalde gemeenschappen zodanig zijn vastgeroest in bepaalde tradities dat de lockdown hen bij wijze helemaal omver heeft geblazen. Alles wat zo normaal leek, drie maal per dag naar de synagoge gaan o.m. is nu helemaal uit den boze, enz.

Het lijkt wel of onze gemeenschap plotseling wordt wakker geschud.  De meesten van ons leven in een gesloten gemeenschap ver weg van de buiten wereld. Wij zijn gewoon in onze eigen cocon te verblijven. Geen wonder, bij het regelmatig gevaar dat ons lijkt te omringen. De meesten van ons zijn trouwens heel bang om zich in het openbaar kenbaar te maken. Terwijl anderen zich juist nu nog meer naar buiten durfden profileren en niet bang waren om op hun terras of balkon hun liederen over de stad durfden laten klinken. (Wat dan weer de politie er deed op afkomen.)

Velen in onze gemeenschap hebben zulk een vaste gewoonten dat zij nu met het breken er van wat in de war zijn gestuurd. Ontheemd voelen zij zich wat verloren en zoeken oplossingen om toch het gevoel te hebben dat zij God toch nog waardig kunnen dienen. Ook heerst er een angst dat het coronavirus heel wat mensen weg zal brengen van de godsdienstbeleving, daar ze nu lekker alleen thuis kunnen blijven zonder verder veel taken te moeten opnemen. Anderen vinden dan weer dat er nu weer een middel is om de mens slaaf te maken van de wereldse gebondenheid.

Voor ons is het samenkomen van de gemeente onderdeel van ons leven waarbij wij onze verbondenheid met onze broeders en zusters bezegelen en onze dankbaarheid betuigen voor de Elohim  die Zijn heil schenkt en ons wil ontvangen in geloof en eerbaarheid. Dat samenzijn verrijkt ons telkens opnieuw en inspireert ons telkens weer de uitdagingen van deze wereld aan te gaan. Nu dat wij al voor meer dan vier maanden niet meer samen kunnen komen drukt dat wel op velen hun gemoed, omdat ze het gevoelen hebben dat ze de Adonai tekort schieten.

Misschien kunnen gelovigen van andere geloofsgroepen hierbij raad geven en oplossingen aanvoeren.

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Aanverwante lectuur

1. Zuiverheid en verantwoordelijkheid van leden en leiders in een gemeenschap
2. Voor het eerst in jaren weer een Pesach in isolatie
3. Geestelijke affaires in CoViD-19 afzonderingstijden
4. 9 Av 2020 en Dagen van droefheid
5. Een huis bouwen voor God
6. Ontnomen van een gebedshuis #1 Doodveroorzakers
7. Verzamelen, bijeenkomen, samenkomen, vergaderen
8. Verzamelen of Bijeenkomen
9. Een samenkomst of meeting
10. Vergadering – Meeting
11. Laat ons samen komen
12. De voordelen van een kleine gemeenschap of een huiskerk
13. De ecclesia als lichaam van Christus

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25. Unlock jezelf!

Spirituality

For many of the older generation, it looks so weird. We regretting not having had such social media as there is today. We, thinking we still would have had contacts with so many whom we liked very much in the past.

At the same time we notice how so many of the new generation are glued to their smartphone and boast about their many friends on Facebook, but in a way are even more lonely than we, who saw already so many of our peers being carried to the grave.

Also, so many of those youngsters seem to have the spirit of life, because the spiritual does not exist in them.

The 50 year old poet

I was born in the Sixties

grew up in the Seventies

fell in love in the Eighties

got married in the Nineties

had a family in the Noughties,

then things got strange,

made friends I never met

over a thing called the Internet,

lost touch with reality

and became another fatality

in a world void of spirituality.

Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Pexels.com

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So many being afraid – reason enough to step in the boat with Christ

For weeks already in Italy, Spain, France and Belgium the inhabitants are feeling limited with their country in lockdown. All over the world people are confronted with an unseen enemy, and that frightens many of them.

Normally the lovers of God who are worshipping Him alone and not other gods, are accustomed to living in a certain way somewhat isolated. The majority of Christendom worshipping a Trinity does not like those Unitarians and avoid contact with them as if they are affected with a terrible disease. Worship services for those isolated Christians are often followed by the internet, because of the distance between many too far. Those able to share the Breaking of Bread in real life, under normal circumstances only find themselves with a few. The 14th of Nisan is for many the big exception for the year. That day is often the ‘high-mass’ bringing many lovers of God together to commemorate the liberation of mankind. That special commemoration day in several prayer halls or kingdom halls often brings more than a hundred people together, showing how even when they are not with many, they also are not with such a few that they should feel alone. This year it was a totally different experience for many, not having the Memorial Gathering in public. It was nice to have several groups providing for internet sharing, but it is not the same and can not be a surrogate or placebo for the real thing.

Remarkable to notice is how so many expressed their calmness and accepted totally those restrictions the governments gave them. Opposite to many unbelievers most members were convinced the time of quarantine should take as long as necessary to keep everybody safe, no matter of the economic impact. We also can notice the members of those Unitarian denominations respect the social distancing and trust God that everything shall turn out back to normal in a certain time.

On the other hand all over the world, we find certain Christian groups calling to gather for Easter and to ignore such social distancing. They forget they perhaps do not only bring their own life in danger, but worse bring other people, they could encounter also on other days, in great danger. We can only say they have a very selfish attitude.

Around us, we can find unbelievers and believers who express their fear. Normal when one does not know the unseen enemy thoroughly and does not know how it all shall evolve in the near future. People also love to have everything under control and when they feel they loose control they start panicking.

For those with fear, we would like to remind them of a little event which took place some two thousand years ago.

Like on many great lakes and seas the wind can come up forcibly and bring dangerously high waves.

The disciples and Jesus were on passage on a boat and when the master teacher went to sleep, and a violent storm came.  The wind was howling, the boat was taking on water, these men felt that their lives were in danger from forces they could not control.  Take note, these were not inexperienced Saturday afternoon boaters.  Most of these men were professional fishermen.  These men were of strong hand and backs, they had been in a storm or two in their years of fishing.

If you have ever met a sailor, they often pride themselves on the storms they have endured on the seas.  However; this was not the same kind of storm that these men had endured before.  This storm frightened them to the point of fearing death.  It was pretty easy for them to see that the boat would likely be crushed in the waves, the wind and water was overtaking the boat.  They had no control over their circumstances.  All of their lives were passing before their eyes.  Wives lips that would never be kissed again, children that would never be played with again.  The sunrises they would miss.  Songs that they would never sing again.  As they looked over their possessions, their homes, their clothes, money, land, and more they began to realize how little value those things actually had.  They could see that they had focused their whole lives on things that really didn’t matter.  Their children, their spouses, their families, and their God are the things that mattered. As devout Jews they knew they could trust their God, the God of Abraham. Though it looked like as if they feared That God would not be with them.

On land they would know who to turn to when they had doubts of certain matters or fear for certain things. But far from any temple, no synagogue at hand, to whom had they to turn? Where could they find a rabbi or rebbe who could help them?

In want of having a Rabbi there now they turned their eyes toward their friend Jeshua (Jesus) who was lying quietly sleeping.  In all of this storming wind, spraying of water, beating of the waves, screaming of the men, he seemed steadfast asleep.  It looked like he was in a place of safety and comfort.  Peacefully like a baby he was there sleeping, probably laying in a puddle of water, soaked from head to toe, but asleep none the less.

A few decades ago Lenny LeBlanc released a song with the name “Asleep in the Boat”.  It talks about a promise God made, and that He is always there, just as Jesus was here with his disciples.  Just like when we are in the storm, He is here for us.

In these times of trouble we better look at how Jesus cope with difficulties and uncertainties. We do know many Christians take him as their god. God does know everything, but Jesus, not being God, did not know everything and like us just had to trust his heavenly Father.
Jesus has encountered several very difficult moments, and we should know that also he, even doubted God and asked Him why He had abandoned him. From the stake, Jesus cried out loud to His heavenly Father, the Only One True God.

46 And about the ninth hour Yahushua cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My Elohim, my Elohim, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt 27:46, NRKJV)

But God never had abandoned or had forsaken His only beloved son. Nobody can do anything to God and God is the only Being that can not die. But Jesus could be hurt by men and he knew very well that those people could kill him. His death was a certainty, but what would happen after his death was not so sure. For that he had to trust his heavenly Father to Whom he cried that he would not be forsaken. Only by having enough faith in his heavenly Father Jesus could face those difficult moments. The Nazarene Jew had enough faith in his heavenly Father, the God of Israel, Who had already for centuries guided His People.

Jesus so much trusted his God, that he was willing to put his own will aside to do the Will of his heavenly Father, Whom Jesus considered to be the Only One True God, the God above all gods and above all kings. Like his ancestor King David, Jesus trusted his God.

We too, should have the same trust in God like the son of God had in his heavenly Father, Who is also our heavenly Father. In the Elohim Hashem Jehovah, we should find security and peace at heart, not having to have fear for what might come.

When we are children of God let us behave like it, and show others what a good Father we have. Let us take this period of more free time, to let Jehovah’s Name resound in many more places. That we who believe in Him show others how the Elohim has given the world the opportunity to be free of all worldly matters and that this time on this earth is only a temporary period. Let us take the opportunity to witness over the beauties of the Highest and how He has given the world a solution to be free of all worries.

We should step in the boat of Christ and be aware that even when he would be asleep, we still shall be safe, because he is with us and his God is with us.
When we feel abandoned by the world, them not liking we do not adhere to their god or gods, do not worry. One is better to worship the True God of the Bible instead of the many gods human beings love to worship. The God of Jesus, Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Solomon, David, Nehemiah, Abraham, Moses and Adam is the Best God we can have and Who can make sure we shall be able to receive the best life, “is it not today than tomorrow” ….

When we feel the pains of this world, and lost dear friends or family members, let us always remember that once they died their pain would be gone, and all worries would be over for them. Let us also put everything in the right perspective, comparing our luxury life with the millions of people in worse circumstances. And let us not forget how there was once a man who had not done any fault in his life, but was tortured and nailed at a wooden stake, giving his life for so many people he did not even know, so that they could live unto righteousness.

30 The Elohim of our fathers raised up Yahushua, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. (Acts 5:30, NRKJV)

24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1Pet 2:24, NRKJV)

Let us remember that event when the apostles were afraid and think about the storm in which we landed today.

23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, My master, save us: we perish. 26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! (Matt 8:23-27, NRKJV)

It would be wrong to think Jesus had no fear. He, like his brothers and sisters, also had many fears. Though Jesus feared more God than people and therefore was not afraid to speak out. Jesus very well knew his humble position and that he could do nothing without his heavenly Father, His God. Only by listening to his God, and doing what God wanted from him, Jesus could do exceptional things.

19 Then answered Yahushua and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. (John 5:19, NRKJV)

From those around him, Jesus asked them to come to him and to his God, so that what God had given to His son also could come unto us. Jesus knew that his God was the Only One to trust and knew that those who have complete trust in God will be kept in perfect peace by keeping their minds focused on Gods promises.

3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. (Isa 26:3, NRKJV)

Like so many before Christ let us also the same as Jesus did, trust the Divine Creator and give ourselves in His Hands. Even if we fear others or such disease as CoViD-19, we should have more fear for the God of Christ, the God of Abraham and should pray to Him and trust HIm, in the same way as Jesus and Isaiah trusted their heavenly Father.

9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of יהוה. 11 יהוה, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. 12 יהוה, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. 13 O יהוה our Elohim, masters instead of thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. (Isa 26:9-13, NRKJV)

While we may not know what tomorrow holds for us, we have chosen to follow Jesus and to have the same trust in his heavenly Father and as such should not have to worry about the future. In Christ Jesus lies our hope for the future, because he gave his life for us and God accepted his sacrificial offering as a ransom for once and for all.
When we believe who Jesus is and what he really has done and how God has now taken him out of the dead as an example for what might happen to us, we should not be afraid because in such resurrection is our hope and future.
It is in our belief in the promises of God and in the certainty of salvation that we have a present peace.

We just have to be patient and trust the Most High God. By following This God His only begotten beloved son, we have the assurance that one day there shall come a Kingdom which surpasses all other kingdoms and where there shall be peace for all without any pain or sorrow. Let us look forward to such days in the coming Kingdom of God.

 

**

Let us thank God for everything that we got for good things in our life
and let us trust Him as our Guide and Helper in difficult days
as well for Him being a Stormstiller

From Sticky Note to God ~03.31.20~

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Preceding

Why are you afraid?

Fear in your own heart or outside of it

Our life depending on faith

The Struggle Ends When Gratitude Begins

Many opportunities given by God

If you keep your faith and trust in God

++

Additional reading

1. Matthew 8:23-27 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Jesus Calms a Stormy Sea
2. Matthew 9:32-34 – How others look at the blind, speechless and demoniac being healed
3. The unseen enemy
4. Fear of failure, and fear of the unknown
5. 8 fears caused by the fear of Man
6. Fearmongering succeeded and got the bugaboo a victory
7. A Living Faith #9 Our Manner of Life
8. Thanksgiving wisdom: Why gratitude is good for your health
9. Problems on a dark road and A look at our ego-centric world
10. Not fear or dread or blind compulsion
11. The chosen ones to fear or not to fear
12. What is life?
13. Greatest single cause of atheism
14. Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies) by Chris Tomlin
15. Control and change
16. We find by losing. We hold fast by letting go.
17. A treasure which can give me everything I need
18. I Am Not Alone – By: Kari Jobe
19. Necessity of a revelation of creation 3 Getting understanding by Word of God 1
20. Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be
21. Today’s thought “Faith in Troubled Times” (January 14)
22. Today’s thought “Crying to God” (August 04)
23. The Wrath of God
24. Today’s thought “Plea for Vindication or for Protection against Oppressors” (January 07)
25. Today’s thought “My times are in your hand” (January 14)
26. Today’s Thought “You will keep … in perfect peace” (May 03)
27. Kingdom of God what will it be like

+++

Related

1. Housebound
2. Right Attitude in Trouble… Joshua of Ghana
3. Isaiah 26: Content in God alone.
4. The Sea of Galilee
5. Sonnets For My Savior 24
6. “In The Midst Of The Storm”
7. Jesus Feared God, Not Circumstances
8. Pandemic: Be Calm During the Storm
9. Why Not to Be Afraid – Br. Curtis Almquist
10. Covid-19 and Isaiah 26
11. Pandemic, Quarantine, and Isaiah 26
12. Praying the Bible with Gratitude
13. The Wind and Sea Obey Him
14. Today’s Theme Song: Above All
15. Hide Yourself
16. Isaiah Chapter 26
17. Daily Devotion: Isaiah 26:3-4
18. 100 Blessings for Pandemic
19. Podcast #299: “Thank You, Lord” by Dennis Jernigan
20. The rock on which we stand

Hosting a Virtual Seder During a Pandemic

Dear readers,

Hopefully, you are all in good health.

On April 02 there are 5,552 people registered in Belgium that are infected with the novel coronavirus who are receiving treatment in Belgian hospitals.
That there are only 1,143 deaths of the CoViD-19 virus at the moment is thanks to the exceptional precautions that the government has taken and which a large part of the population adheres to.

The coming week brings us, what in normal circumstances would be the busiest time for gatherings, in our effort to remember how God has liberated us, and to make sure that the younger generation would come aware how we always should remember how God Helps and Guides His People.

14 Nisan is normally the Day of The Memorial Meal.
This year that shall be different from all other years.

In Lockdown times, best not to meet too many people and to keep social distance, nowhere in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal shall there be an open public Memorial Meal or Pesach Seder.

While you might not be able to physically gather around the seder table this Passover, do not forget that you can come together online.

Check out our 10 tips for creating a meaningful and fun seder experience for your family and friends, near and far.

1. Use the same Haggadah. 

   You could make and can use a Haggadah you could send out by e-mail beforehand and/or screen-share it with your guests, or encourage everyone to print their own copy.

2. Designate an e-Moses.

   It can be very helpful to pick someone to lead the virtual seder. Make sure this person has experience successfully using Zoom, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Skype, etc..

   He can play Moshe and let us remember how Moshe ditched his desert aesthetic and returned to the Egyptian palace to deliver God’s message, with the help of his brother and hype man, Aaron.

   Telling the exodus story he may not forget to bring forth how Moshe spoke about God commands and how God clapped back at the Egyptians. Children perhaps can have drawings made of the pathway formed between the walls of water and the Israelites who made it to the other side without harm.

3. Make a “seating and speaking chart.”

   This year there can best not swapped places. Best is to have everybody all night using the same place at the table, and if possible having enough distance between each household member.

   But this year we should also account for the virtual seated next speaker. Figure out ahead of time who is going to read what. Throughout the seder, text the person you’d be sitting next to.  Be careful when all speakers are on there shall be too much echo and everything could become too chaotic. Therefore, let everybody stay muted and follow an order of speaking plus having put up an arm or (funny) sign requesting to speak.

4. Maintain that there are no excuses for why people can’t attend.A danger of such critical times as these, is that people come a bit lazy or like to avoid their religious obligations.
   Unless, you know, they don’t have internet and/or a device to connect to it. Anyone can be part of your Passover experience.
5. Have a practice run.The organiser best has several contacts beforehand with those who would take care of the surprises.Also, send instructions for accessing your virtual platform of choice ahead of time so nobody holds up the seder by not knowing their Wi-Fi or other password.For those who do not have their computer enough secured and therefore had best their camera taped, they have to be encouraged to take the stickers or tape off their cameras.
   
6. Eat and drink with measure spread over the long time of gatheringAs usual at a seder have the different courses interrupted by animated talks, readings from Scripture and prayers.
7. Work with what you have.
   
   With all the panic shopping, it can be intimidating to venture out to get everything you need. That’s OK. Get what you can and improvise the rest.
   Our people have survived greater quandaries with a little ingenuity and determination.If you can’t get matzah, cut some cardboard into squares or large circles (you can even put dots on them with a marker for texture, but do not consume—this is purely decorative). Swap out sriracha for horseradish. Use literally anything green. Squish trail mix into a charoset-like paste.Use a regular plate as a stand-in for a seder plate. It’s the thought that counts.
8. Bring a little Purim to Passover.
   
   Never forget to make the long evening pleasant enough or entertaining enough to the children. Remember this night should be a night of remembering and giving it further to the next generation.Nobody would be against making some good fun and nobody would object to have people being dressed up as Moses, Aaron, Miriam, etc.Got kids? Great, they can be the frogs. Or the lice. It depends how stressed they’re making you.
   Got teens? Do the whole seder using Snapchat filters, then do a TikTok dance break in the middle of the seder for added social media cred. But only if, like, you know the choreo.
9. A night different from all other nightsAlso do not forget that 14 Nisan is ‘super special’.Laugh a little hysterically and cry only a tad when you get to the Four Questions and someone has to ask, “Why is this night different from all other nights?”
10. A Liberation to celebrate
    
    Do your best, have fun and remember that though we are in isolation to protect ourselves, friends, families and fellow human beings everywhere, we are still free to be Jewish or Jeshuaist and celebrate our heritage and salvation by the Highest and Strongest!

Let us not forget to show our love to God by remembering what He has done and still does, and let us show our love to others by taking enough precautions to keep everybody safe and in good health. Even when we might be very isolated in our own cosy home, let us feel the union with brothers and sisters all over the world, and let our prayers be with them all.

Please pray:

I will seek to make this world a better place, for all people, today and tomorrow. To this, in their memory, I pledge myself. Ani ma’amin. Am Yisrael chai.

A Jewish community eating the symbolic Passover food during the Seder evening, the evening before the Passover festival (picture-alliance / dpa / Robert Fishman)

As you come to the end of the seder, remember that this uncertainty, while it already feels like 40 years of wandering in the desert, is temporary. The Israelites made it eventually. So will we.

Next year, in person!

For 2020:

Keep safe and well, having a lovely Passover seder.

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Preceding

CoViD-19 warnings

Anxiety Management During Pandemic Days~

Hope on the Horizon: Pandemic Anxiety Management II~

Pandemic Anxiety Busters~

Mel Brooks saying “go home” to Max Brooks

Christian Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic

7 Ways To Boost Your Immune System in Lockdown

Love in the Time of Corona

Recrafting our World

++

Reminders

1. The unseen enemy
2. Under-reporting the total number of coronavirus cases
3. Coronavirus on March 11 declared a global pandemic on March 31 affecting more than 177 countries
4. No idea yet for 14 Nisan or April the 8th in 2020 Corona crisis time
5. Only a few days left before 14 Nisan
6. First time since Nazi time no public gathering
7. Voor het eerst in jaren weer een Pesach in isolatie
8. Even in Corona time You are called on to have the seder
9. A meal as a mitzvah so that every generation would remember
10. A night different from all other nights and days to remember
11. Let’s Think About Redemption Differently
12. At the Shabbat HaChodesh: readings about blood, liberation and purification
13. Zeman Chereisenu – the time of our freedom
14. Ki Tisa – Torah Portion
15. Egypt, Moshe and Those who never felt they belonged there
16. In Every Generation: The Return of Anti-Semitism – Pesah Day 1, 5779
17. The Most special weekend of the year 2018
18. Call to help others
19. How should we worship God? #7 The Breaking of Bread
20. How should we worship God? #8 Love one another

Eenzaamheid in een wereld van Communicatie

Wij hebben het hier al gehad over de vele mogelijkheden van de sociale media en hoe mensen daar wel heel wat sociale contacten mogen hebben of zogenaamde “vrienden”, maar waar men toch in eenzaamheid achter blijft.

Jac vertelt

Technologie biedt kansen voor snelle communicatie, maar vervreemding en eenzaamheid loeren om de hoek.
Het scherm houdt ons weg van direct contact met elkaar en met de natuur. Het internet versterkt eerder onze eigen opvattingen, dan dat het ons echte wijsheid zal brengen. Daarvoor moeten we offline gaan. Stilte zoeken. Ons hoofd leegmaken. In het nu komen. Want duurzame relaties vragen tijd, zorg, beschikbaarheid en aandacht.

Jaco’s kleinzoon zegt

Smartphones zijn vandaag een middel om de gekste apps uit te testen of via sociale media met elkaar in contact te blijven. Maar eigenlijk zorgen ze ervoor dat we letterlijk afgeschermd worden van de ander. Ze leiden ons vooral ook heel erg af van de essentie. Voor mij is dat de vorming van mijn persoonlijkheid en het ook bewuster zijn van de omgeving en de natuur rondom mij. Ik betrap mezelf ook op overbodig gebruik van mijn smartphone, maar probeer ermee om te gaan zonder constante afleiding.

Jaco’s vader Steven zegt dan verder

Bij ons dus geen schermen rond de tafel. In alle rust en zonder afleiding luisteren naar elkaar, naar elkaars verhalen met oog voor de kleine nuances.
Daar laten we geen scherm tussenkomen, al is de verleiding in tijden van deadlines soms wel groot. Een keertje vaker bellen in plaats van mailen, kan ook wonderen doen.
Scherm uit. Oorcontact aan!

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Voorgaande

Welkom:: Waarom sterren zoeken?

Eenzaamheid is van iedereen

Leeg en alleen

Vergeten predikers van het Goede Nieuws

God gebruikt vissers, taxichauffeurs en koelkastmonteurs om Zijn koninkrijk te bouwen.
Vaak zijn dit mensen die vanuit menselijk oogpunt onbeduidend zijn,
omdat ze geen grote theologische werken achter hun naam hebben staan.
Met vallen en opstaan brengen zij Jezus’ boodschap de wereld over.

Velen weten het niet, maar over de gehele wereld kan men predikers van het Goede Nieuws vinden. Zij zijn bereid naast hun dagelijkse job om in hun levensonderhoud te voorzien, te werken voor de Allerhoogste, zonder dat zij daar extra geld voor krijgen. Integendeel moeten zij daar dikwijls nog eigen geld insteken om dat werk te kunnen verwezenlijken.

De diepste drijfveer voor die vele vrijwilligers is de verkondiging van het koninkrijk van God. Dat gebeurt op heel veel plekken in deze wereld, en wij mogen blij zijn dat wij hierbij  ook het wereldwijde internet als hulpmiddel kunnen gebruiken. Hierbij kan dan ook elke internet gebruiker mee zijn of haar steentje bijdragen door onze boodschappen van het Goede Nieuws mee helpen uit te dragen.

Verscheidene ondernemingen van Broeders in Christus of Christadelphians trachten daar waar hulp op educatief en vormingsgebied nodig is dit aan te bieden. Daar waar nood is betreft de levensomstandigheden, door politiek of natuurgeweld, zijn er Christadelphian organisaties die op de bres springen om hulp te bieden. Zo zijn meerdere vrijwilligers in Afrika en Zuid Amerika werkzaam als lesgever en/of hulpverlener. Hiertoe zijn steeds hulpmiddelen welkom en worden op regelmatige tijdstippen ook kleding- en andere inzamelacties gehouden om dat nodige werk te ondersteunen.

In onze ogen is opvoeding een van de belangrijkste aspecten om tot een zelfstandig leven te komen. Daarom wordt daar dan ook zeer veel energie in gestoken. Op meerdere plaatsen richten wij daarom dan ook schooltjes op waar kinderen de basis van onderwijs kunnen krijgen om later dan ook verder te kunnen studeren. Daarnaast zorgen wij ook dat voor hun ontspanning voldoende middelen aanwezig zijn. Zo worden sportfaciliteiten mogelijk gemaakt en wordt er aan speelpleinwerking gedaan.

*

Laten wij die vele vrijwilligers niet vergeten. Vergeten wij ook niet dat voor al dat werk elke steun, geestelijk zo wel als financieel steeds welkom is.

We should all be writing

In this present world lots of short notices or messages are posted on social media, but to find serious writing on the net has become limited.

There is a serious need for analysing what happens in the world. We could do with some more bloggers recording for history what is going on and how we feel about it. Analyses of people giving an idea how a culture experiences the events.

It is for any person impossible to know what future shall bring, but by the knowledge of what happened in the past people can have an idea how things can evolve.

For sure all people should try to work for a better future and if they do not fix the disinformation problem, the divide will only widen.

You have very good reasons to point to Nazi Germany, because many factors are pointing that direction, and people could be surprised it can be as bad as then sooner than people think.

*

To remember

Journals. Blogs. Letters to the editor. Letters to others. Letters to representatives. Emails. Facebook posts.

> recording for history

history written by those who have most to gain by revising history.

‘recording’ history =/= ‘rewriting’ history.

current problem = large number of people been brainwashed by lies + who think they are informed.

=>

Be the scribe. Record your experiences. Tell history the facts.

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Preceding

Mountains of information, disinformation and breaking away

Fake News Goes Back to the Garden of Eden says Pope Francis I

Parallels between what is happening in our world today and the atmosphere in pre-Nazi Germany

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Additional reading

1. Happy is the person who knows what to remember of the past
2. Finish each day and be done with it
3. A Living Faith #5 Perseverance
4. No curtain placed over tomorrow
5. So it will be on the day when …
6. Not to speak is to speak
7. Faith, hope and love abide
8. A concrete picture of what is to come in the future
9. Trust the future to God
10. You God hold the future

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Related

1. Historical facts in myths and legends
2. Don’t Compromise Monuments and Parks
3. America’s Cult of Ignorance
4. I Know You Hold the Future
5. Would You Send Your Children to University?
6. Worst Military Leaders in History
7. They All Fall Down
8. Educated Goal Setting
9. The Expansion of Time and the Mind
10. The Future of Emails: I
11. Writing Prompt Response
12. Scribes
13. Focus on Scribes
14. Future thinking
15. You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
16. This Little Britain
17. It Is Not A Democracy
18. Now You See It, Now You Don’t
19. Let’s Go To The Papers
20. What is a historical fart?

Evolutionary Politics for Evolving Citizens

We should all be writing.

Journals. Blogs. Letters to the editor. Letters to others. Letters to representatives. Emails. Facebook posts.

We need to be recording for history what is going on and how we feel about it.

They say that history is written by the winners. I don’t agree. I believe history is written by those who have the most to gain by revising history.

There is a difference between ‘recording’ history and ‘rewriting’ history. We are seeing this happening in 2017. There are those in public life who don’t seem to understand that technology makes it easy to find the videos from the past that document a statement. You can try to deny that you said something but someone will find that video and publish it to prove you are lying.

The current problem is not just the lying about the past, even the recent past. What is most…

View original post 104 more words

Confrontation by people telling lies to force others to avoid the targetted groups

Many times in our life we have to make choices and do we have to be confronted by people willing to force us to make certain choices or to go certain directions. Those who want to re-direct people often are not afraid to use very offensive or intimidating language.

On the internet we do find lots of people who do not mind their way of speech. Some are convinced that their offensive manner of speech can attract more followers (what it seems to do) and shall get people so much afraid that they would not dare to give a negative reaction or would not dare to contradict the web-owner.

Dave Norris picturing Son. H. Spirit. Father. Christadelphians. Unitarians. Created Being. Mere Force. GOD. Jehovah Witnesses.

One such person is Dave Norris who seems to find pleasure in attacking Roman Catholics, Christadelphians and also seems to have a thing (or fling) with Mormons, because all people who dare to give an other reaction than what he expect he calls Morons and Mormons. Because this (seemingly very frustrated) author bombards the net with anti-Christadelphian material and provides several Christadelphian members with hateful or inappropriate language mails, the Belgian Biblestudents, after a lot of patience, did find it time to react on the net and to provide a special website to show people the many lies such people as Mr. Norris are presenting on the net as so called proof that Christadelphians, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other non-Trinitarian Christians are following false prophets, adhering false teachings and are people sent by Satan.

Too many people do forget that this matter about Trinity or not is a very old issue that came into existence after the death of Christ and became a terrible matter long after the death of the apostles, bringing clergy agreeing to a three-headed god for political and power reasons.

The clergy also found an interesting tool to keep people in their power and to please them with offering them all heathen pleasures, being able to have graven images to pray for, to use incense and do all sorts of rites taken from the pagan people and traditions. People also found more  pleasing answers in possibilities to have an other life after this life on earth, than the teachings of the Bible could offer them. The mixture of the philosophical writings, of the Greek and Roman cultures could find a nice amalgamation with the many pagan teachings and were blended in the Roman Catholic Church its teachings.

The Belgian Christadelphian Biblestudents (not to confuse with some other Belgian Christadelphian groups) are aware that lots of people do not have enough bible knowledge and therefore they would love to give an incentive to come to read the Bible, so that it can be examined who keeps most to the teachings of the bible, the trinitarians or the non-trinitarians.

Please come to know this website which want to come to the defence of all non-Trinitarians and in the near future also wants to present the different denominations which believe in only One God Who is One and not three.

Unmasking anti Jehovah sites and people

Showing the only One True God and the Way to That God

 

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Have a look at one way of Dave Norris reacting: Reaction to Vragensteller on Christadelphian Hogwash

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Find also

1. Anti Jehovah sites
2. For those who do everything to stop the work of Christadelphians
3. The Trinity matter
4. The Trinity – the Truth
5. Altered to fit a Trinity
6. Trinity – behind a false doctrine
7. Trinity – History

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Related

1. Unitarism [745] – Please take into account that the Belgian Christadelphians have no ties with the JW and that the Belgian Christadelphian Biblestudents may have connections with and have ex-JW members in the Biblestudent movement [those who returned after they first went with the schism group of the JW which was founded by Rutherford and not by Charles Taze Russell, the student of John Thomas (the founder of the Christadelphians)] Mr. Crossroman seems to have a limited view on the Christadelphians in general, but perhaps also thinks all Lutherans are as followers of the woman unfriendly Martin Luther women-haters, though he misses the point that the Christadelphians are not called Thomasians or Thomasists, like we can find Calvinists and Lutherans.
2. Trinity, Logic, and the Transcendence of Transcendence
3. What Constitutes a Cult?
4. Moongazers and Sunflowers
5. In which I cement my place in hell via Newton
6. 18 May: Alison Patrick of the Unitarian Church in Shrewsbury: Unitarian? What’s that?
7. Worship
8. Please don’t call me a Christian
9. I am an agnostic at heart
10. Is religious faith madness?
11. The Conflict that lives on.
12. A Theology of Doubt
13. Letter of the Day: Government must probe trial process
14. When Windows Become Mirrors
15. All One InTent
16. Open Minds, Welcome Hearts
17. The Broken Pastorate
18. Labyrinth #17: Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Rock Tavern, NY
19. A Rescued Life from Cult to Freedom: A Rebuttal of JW’s Beliefs
20. Top Of The Morning: What Do You Know About Jehovah Witnesses
21. Why Jehovah Witnesss confuse people 
22. Jehovah’s Witnesses
23. Denomination’s 5..Jehovah’s Witnesses.
24. August Dickmann-executed without a trial.
25. 10 Things You Should Know about Jehovah’s Witnesses (at that site once again we read the false statement that Charles Taze Russell would have been the first JW.)
26. Leaked Documents Reveal Jehovah’s Witnesses A Pedophile Cult David Zublick Channel Leaked internal documents from the Jehovah’s Witnesses church reveal a cover-up of a huge pedophile ring operating within the …
27. How Should We Act In The Face Of A False Teacher?
28. Was Jesus the Archangel Michael?
29. Do You Have to Believe in the Trinity to be Saved?
30. Ep. 4 – Jehovah’s Witnesses
31. More advice on dealing with Jehovah Witnesses
32. Why I hate fundamentalist people so much
33. Is the Watchtower Using (or Creating) Apocryphal Material?
34. Enduring as a Transgender Christian
35. OSC’s Watchtower street teach pt 1
36. YouTube: Who’s Lying Now Stephen Lett?
37. YouTube: Bigotry & Emotional Manipulation
38. My Interview with Mick Pillar-A Survivor of the JW Cult
39. Congratulations to Naomi!
40. ‘Extremist’ Faith: Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses Report Wave Of Police Raids, Detentions
41. UnBiblical Interpretation Can Cause Havoc To Your Faith
    Unitarian group supports BDS nomination for Nobel Peace Prize
42. Welcome! on a website to promote Unitarian Christianity as the best path to a personal relationship with God.
43. Dare Not Linger
44. Weighing Our Choices
45. The Peace of Wild Things
46. The End of the World

Fake News Goes Back to the Garden of Eden says Pope Francis I

On this day of “News and communication” we can’t escape to ponder on the last two years where we got bombarded with continuous streams of fake news and attacks on people and organisations.

All people who write on the internet should be aware of their social function and be conscious of their responsibility and impact on others. The last few months social media also showed its bad and dangerous side in being a weapon of opponents and misleader of the people. When you look at the fake news that could be spread  in one week it should really alarm us.

Today the Roman Catholic Church Father Francis I looked at what is going on in this world and said

Made in the image and likeness of our Creator, we are able to express and share all that is true, good, and beautiful. We are able to describe our own experiences and the world around us, and thus to create historical memory and the understanding of events.

He is also aware and tells about what happened very early in the history of man, what too many have forgotten. We should remember that there was the inner thought of the mannin or first woman who doubted the sincerity and honesty of her Creator. Pope Francis has denounced fake news as evil, comparing it to the snake in the Garden of Eden, and urged journalists to make it their mission to search for the truth.

In his annual social communications message, Francis said fake news played on stereotypes and prejudices, and praised efforts to make social media users aware of false reports. Question hereby can bye how we ourselves want to see the world around us and how we want to be honest to others. Lots of our way of reaction against others has to do with our background, attitude of life and our pride.

The pope opened his sermon today with a warning.

But when we yield to our own pride and selfishness, we can also distort the way we use our ability to communicate. This can be seen from the earliest times, in the biblical stories of Cain and Abel and the Tower of Babel (cf. Gen 4:4-16; 11:1-9). The capacity to twist the truth is symptomatic of our condition, both as individuals and communities. On the other hand, when we are faithful to God’s plan, communication becomes an effective expression of our responsible search for truth and our pursuit of goodness.

In 1972 Pope Paul VI already for the World Communications Day had its theme: “Social Communications at the Service of Truth”. The present pope want also to contribute to our shared commitment to stemming the spread of fake news and to rediscovering the dignity of journalism and the personal responsibility of journalists to communicate the truth. for this pope it is not the first time he has scolded those who spread false news reports. He called it a “very serious sin” that not only hurts those who have been slandered but also hurts journalism itself.

We have come into a time when it looks like a sport or competition to bring the most deceiving and manipulating messages to the reader. Clearly the spreading of fake news can serve to advance specific goals, influence political decisions, and serve economic interests, and is as such used.

The effectiveness of fake news is primarily due to its ability to mimic real news, to seem plausible. Secondly, this false but believable news is “captious”, inasmuch as it grasps people’s attention by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices, and exploiting instantaneous emotions like anxiety, contempt, anger and frustration. The ability to spread such fake news often relies on a manipulative use of the social networks and the way they function. Untrue stories can spread so quickly that even authoritative denials fail to contain the damage.

In Christendom we can see that lots of people are so caught by the arrangement between the clergy and the Roman emperor Constantine. Their agreement to equal the Roman gods with the Christian figures (or better the other way around) made that the Trinity was born and fostered.

The difficulty of unmasking and eliminating fake news is due also to the fact that many people interact in homogeneous digital environments impervious to differing perspectives and opinions. Disinformation thus thrives on the absence of healthy confrontation with other sources of information that could effectively challenge prejudices and generate constructive dialogue; instead, it risks turning people into unwilling accomplices in spreading biased and baseless ideas. The tragedy of disinformation is that it discredits others, presenting them as enemies, to the point of demonizing them and fomenting conflict. Fake news is a sign of intolerant and hypersensitive attitudes, and leads only to the spread of arrogance and hatred. That is the end result of untruth.

In Facebook Groups lots of people go very hard against people who have an other opinion than they or than mainstream groups. Many want others to believe as them and when they do not do that they come to abuse them and call them names.

It is not an easy task to get people to see what really happened and to get rid of the false information Awful is it when such false news is to blacken people or organisations. Since disinformation is often based on deliberately evasive and subtly misleading rhetoric and at times the use of sophisticated psychological mechanisms, plus when it gets multiplied or shared via social media it starts running its own life and often turns up a few years later when people have forgotten about the matter and do not recollect that it was classified as fake news.

The Pope finds it good that

praiseworthy efforts are being made to create educational programmes aimed at helping people to interpret and assess information provided by the media, and teaching them to take an active part in unmasking falsehoods, rather than unwittingly contributing to the spread of disinformation. Praiseworthy too are those institutional and legal initiatives aimed at developing regulations for curbing the phenomenon, to say nothing of the work being done by tech and media companies in coming up with new criteria for verifying the personal identities concealed behind millions of digital profiles.

Yet preventing and identifying the way disinformation works also calls for a profound and careful process of discernment. We need to unmask what could be called the “snake-tactics” used by those who disguise themselves in order to strike at any time and place. This was the strategy employed by the “crafty serpent” in the Book of Genesis, who, at the dawn of humanity, created the first fake news (cf. Gen 3:1-15), which began the tragic history of human sin, beginning with the first fratricide (cf. Gen 4) and issuing in the countless other evils committed against God, neighbour, society and creation. The strategy of this skilled “Father of Lies” (Jn 8:44) is precisely mimicry, that sly and dangerous form of seduction that worms its way into the heart with false and alluring arguments.

The world is taken by its greed. So many people do want it all for themselves. Politicians do whatever they can to degrade their opponents and to let themselves look the better one.

What is at stake is our greed. Fake news often goes viral, spreading so fast that it is hard to stop, not because of the sense of sharing that inspires the social media, but because it appeals to the insatiable greed so easily aroused in human beings. The economic and manipulative aims that feed disinformation are rooted in a thirst for power, a desire to possess and enjoy, which ultimately makes us victims of something much more tragic: the deceptive power of evil that moves from one lie to another in order to rob us of our interior freedom. That is why education for truth means teaching people how to discern, evaluate and understand our deepest desires and inclinations, lest we lose sight of what is good and yield to every temptation.

At Facebook Groups we often find people, claiming to be Christian, using words unworthy for a lover of God and for a follower of Christ, calling those who are not in line with their thinking all sorts of names. By bringing all sorts of false ‘news’ they also try to bring others in discredit. In many of those groups we can see a constant contamination by deceptive language which can end up darkening our interior life.

Dostoevsky’s observation is illuminating:

“People who lie to themselves and listen to their own lie come to such a pass that they cannot distinguish the truth within them, or around them, and so lose all respect for themselves and for others. And having no respect, they cease to love, and in order to occupy and distract themselves without love they give way to passions and to coarse pleasures, and sink to bestiality in their vices, all from continual lying to others and to themselves.” (The Brothers Karamazov, II, 2).

Many people are thrown form one side to the other and become so confused, not able to see what is true , half-true and what is false. Lots of false messages look so engrossing that one can not resit the excitement and love to share it on social media which makes the ball rolling.

So how do we defend ourselves?

The most radical antidote to the virus of falsehood is purification by the truth.

In Christianity, truth is not just a conceptual reality that regards how we judge things, defining them as true or false. The truth is not just bringing to light things that are concealed, “revealing reality”, as the ancient Greek term aletheia (from a-lethès, “not hidden”) might lead us to believe. Truth involves our whole life. In the Bible, it carries with it the sense of support, solidity, and trust, as implied by the root ‘aman, the source of our liturgical expression Amen.

Those who call themselves Christian should have the aim in them to purify their body and spirit and to share the love of Christ with others, not wanting to hurt them by false sayings or awful words. they should work on their character, trying to become like Christ. By their daily meditations and reading of the Word of God they should discover and rediscover the truth when they experience it within themselves in the loyalty and trustworthiness of the One who loves them.

every person should know that the truth will set them free (Jn 8:32).

Freedom from falsehood and the search for relationship: these two ingredients cannot be lacking if our words and gestures are to be true, authentic, and trustworthy. To discern the truth, we need to discern everything that encourages communion and promotes goodness from whatever instead tends to isolate, divide, and oppose. Truth, therefore, is not really grasped when it is imposed from without as something impersonal, but only when it flows from free relationships between persons, from listening to one another. Nor can we ever stop seeking the truth, because falsehood can always creep in, even when we state things that are true. An impeccable argument can indeed rest on undeniable facts, but if it is used to hurt another and to discredit that person in the eyes of others, however correct it may appear, it is not truthful. We can recognize the truth of statements from their fruits: whether they provoke quarrels, foment division, encourage resignation; or, on the other hand, they promote informed and mature reflection leading to constructive dialogue and fruitful results.

When looking at news channels, social media (tweets and Facebook messages) we always should use our common sense and examine the truth as well as the value of the message.

The best antidotes to falsehoods are not strategies, but people: people who are not greedy but ready to listen, people who make the effort to engage in sincere dialogue so that the truth can emerge; people who are attracted by goodness and take responsibility for how they use language. If responsibility is the answer to the spread of fake news, then a weighty responsibility rests on the shoulders of those whose job is to provide information, namely, journalists, the protectorsof news. In today’s world, theirs is, in every sense, not just a job; it is a mission. Amid feeding frenzies and the mad rush for a scoop, they must remember that the heart of information is not the speed with which it is reported or its audience impact, but persons. Informing others means forming others; it means being in touch with people’s lives. That is why ensuring the accuracy of sources and protecting communication are real means of promoting goodness, generating trust, and opening the way to communion and peace.

The pontiff wants to invite everyone to promote a journalism of peace. He said

By that, I do not mean the saccharine kind of journalism that refuses to acknowledge the existence of serious problems or smacks of sentimentalism. On the contrary, I mean a journalism that is truthful and opposed to falsehoods, rhetorical slogans, and sensational headlines. A journalism created by people for people, one that is at the service of all, especially those – and they are the majority in our world – who have no voice. A journalism less concentrated on breaking news than on exploring the underlying causes of conflicts, in order to promote deeper understanding and contribute to their resolution by setting in place virtuous processes. A journalism committed to pointing out alternatives to the escalation of shouting matches and verbal violence.

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Preceding articles

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #1 Abrahamic religions

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #2 War on God’s Plan, Name and title

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #3 Cyberwars and prophesy

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Additional reading

1. An openingschapter explaining why things are like they are and why we may have hope for better things
2. The figure of Eve
3. Bereshith 3 Fall of man
4. Messianic prophesies 1 Adversary – Root of the first prophecy
5. Messianic prophesies 2 Adversary – Root of the first prophecy
6. Delph Radio – Spreading God’s Word to All Nations

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Related

1. Opinion Journalism
2. Why Journalism?
3. So What Happened to the Journalism?
4. Dumb journalism makes for a dumb nation
5. The problem with modern “journalism” summed up in one story
6. Crossed Lines
7. Sturgeon sets media and Tories straight after latest round of fake news
8. JT Blog: Examiner analysis
9. Content analysis of the Huddersfield Examiner
10. What a ______ time it is to be a journalist
11. Can you trust social media?
12. Fake News and the Good News
13. Politicians Intermix Cyberwar, Information Warfare, And Fake News
14. Pope condemns ‘evil’ of fake news and its use for political gain
15. Pope: ‘Fake news’ is evil, journalists must search for truth
16. Be more responsible journalists, Pope Francis says…
17. Pope Francis weighs in on fake-news – a sign of intolerant and hypersensitive attitudes pope decries unthinkable barbaric treatment of Yezidis audience cate
18. Pope Francis Denounces Fake News
19. Pope Warns Against ‘Fake News,’ Likens It To ‘Crafty Serpent’ In Genesis
20. Pope Blames Eve for Listening to “Fake News” Serpent
21. Pope condemns ‘evil’ of fake news and its use for political gain
22. Be more responsible journalists, Pope Francis says…
23. Edelman Trust Barometer 2018 – Redefines Media & Gives Journalism Hope
24. BuzzFeed: This Is Facebook’s News Survey

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #3 Cyberwars and prophesy

There are people who think people are and/or should be free to call onto Allah or to say  “Allahu akbar”, but more and more we see all over the capitalist world antagonism. The hostility we can find mostly in Alt right and Neo nazist groups but also by the very conservative  (not to say “fundamentalist Christians”). Those fundamentalist Christians have the pretension to tell others what words they may or should use even in languages which are not their own. Others, like atheists, look at them and laugh with them, certainly when there are shootings in a church and everybody calls unto their god and is not helped by him. those who look at such shooting might question then

Does god exist, and if so, is jesus christ/christianity, the correct and factual representation of god? Now, anyone sane knows god does not exist, but put that aside for the purpose of this essay, and let’s consider the question to be legitimate. {Seven Days Later: The Fundamentalist Christian Dictatorship of amerikkka}

The “Seer of Forbidden Truth“, creator of “The Manifesto of Forbidden Truth”, as a believer in other things than God, naturally finds it a joke  what happens in this world, because he does not know or does not understand what God gave to the first human beings and what the Plan is of God. She (or he) is not the only ” anarchist, atheist, Immortalist, virgin for life, lover of Self, hater of humanity” {About Me} and is a good example of several youngsters of this capitalist world, where there is no place for God, who think they have all knowledge with

thousands of different uniquely brilliant insights into humanity and the human condition of existence, recognized and articulated by Me within The Manifesto of Forbidden Truth. {About Forbidden Truth}

Maliciously misinformed websites spread quickly, and on social media lots of people wanted to help spread false messages and took every opportunity to say bad things about lovers of God. Certain religious groups, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses seemed to work as a red cloth on a bull. They were left holding the baby. Not that they would have been so eager to be a sitting target, but for many who call themselves Christian they are the scapegoat. Often we could see that Roman Catholics tried to get the attention away from their paedophile priests by using the Jehovah’s Witnesses as the fall guys, as if they are an organisation letting children molested by their elders. In several countries former Jehovah’s Witnesses got together to go against that organisation, but in some cases also against the believes of that group. Several ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses having turned their back to God and often also against other non-trinitarians. A problem with many ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they often quit faith and start using a terrible language which undermines their sayings as well, because it takes away a lot of credibility and gives the impression they got so cross and frustrated because they did not get what they wanted. All the hate language we can see by those ex-JW is not helping the advancement of the preaching of the Kingdom of God. The Jehovah’s Witnesses Organisation also denying they made several prophesies which did not come to a reality, undermines also the value of that organisation and of the people who follow in the footsteps of that church.  A big problem also seems to be that lots of people in that organisation are not taken serious and

more half-truths and obfuscations*are spouted by these so-called ‘Men of God’, in defense of the indefensable, and it’s about time they were called out on it. {This is the main reason that I left the Jehovah’s Witnesses . . .}

Some of those ex-JW became very strong opponents of the true faith in Jehovah. Many joined the trinitarians who found some strong fighters against the Biblical truth and people who could help in the message of hate. It is even incredible to hear what those so called christians use against the ones who belief in only one God and not want to make their Jesus in their god.

Trinitarian or non-trinitarian Christian, every reader of the bible should know that those preachers who tell that Jesus has come already should be aware that they should be cautious for false teachings because:

“23 Then if any man shall say unto you, ‘Lo, here is Christ,’ or ‘there,’ believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Therefore, if they shall say unto you, ‘Behold, He is in the desert!’ go not forth; or ‘Behold, He is in the secret chambers!’ believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the vultures be gathered together.” (Mt 24:23-28 KJ21)

Even Jesus could not tell when he would be coming back. In case he is God, he naturally would have known and than he would have told a lie, though you should know that God does not tell lies and that Jesus did not sin and as such also did not tell lies. Human beings and human organisations can tell many lies and can spread fake news, but God is a God of truth, God of reliability and a God of order and not a God of confusion. His language is clear and not confusing. When He says something you should take it as what it says.

We all hear from time to time that the world is about to end.  The most famous case in recent years might be 2012, when the Mayan calendar ended and thus many thought the world would end in that year also.  (Yet we’re all still here.) {Matthew 24:35-36: “But Of That Day And Hour No One Knows…”}

writes Jon Mitchell in his Weekend Bible Reflections. He also remembers hearing that this was it, back in 2008 when the economic crisis was happening.

‘Follow the shepherd‘ who takes himself a false god but also recognises that

Ever since the beginning of the Church, there have been people who have risen up claiming to be the Messiah or the only way to Heaven. But we know from God’s Word that there is one way, one truth, one life, and that is Jesus. Scripture is very clear and very serious about the exclusivity of Christ and the Gospel. {Stay Woke [A Look at Matthew Chapter 24]}

and continues

Head’s up: false teachers are coming. They’ve been around for ages, actually; people who go around looking to deceive the Church. They’re wolves in sheep’s clothing and false messengers of an unbiblical and false gospel. This is a tool Satan has used for centuries that will culminate with the rise of the Anti-Christ in the last days. Don’t be misled! Look around; stay woke. Let your foundation be built on the truth of Jesus and that He is the only way to salvation. {Stay Woke [A Look at Matthew Chapter 24]}

Some people do not like it when some one comes at their door to talk about their faith. Stevie Turner is such a full time writer, who was a member of a church choir, and came to question why so many children are made to follow their parents’ religious views, and writes

I’ve had Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Buddhists and Baptists at my door trying to convert me to their way of thinking. Why? Why can’t I be left in peace to follow my own beliefs? I don’t go knocking on people’s doors telling them which religion to follow. My philosophy is – if you want to believe in God, then believe in Him. If you don’t believe, then that’s fine too. {A Little Bit of Controversy Now & Again…}

Did she ever think it could have been of interest in her and her future, and out of love for her that people came to her door to talk about their faith?

For sure we are told that by the time we come closer to the end times there shall be more preaching in the world. But we are also warned that the world shall be in a terrible godless state.

“36 But of that day and hour, knoweth no man, no, not the angels of Heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark 39 and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken and the other left. 42 “Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.” (Mt 24:36-44 KJ21)

That world which does not want to know about God loves to use the internet platform to wage a cyberwar to divide society and to bring more hate between people and their religious groups. With that “cyberwarfare” we not only think of the use of digital attacks by one country or nation to disrupt the computer systems of another with the aim of creating significant damage, death or destruction. {(Ranger S., 2017 August 29)} Though we must be aware that it is not aimed uniquely at military or conflicting purposes. In a time when a cyberwar is a ‘bigger threat than terrorism’ people should know that the internet is by several people used to undermine the system and the stability in communities, countries and states.

When most people think of warfare they conjure images of combat on the front lines that are often depicted in historical war films. However, cyberwar is becoming an increasingly terrifying weapon. {Cyberwar}

Everywhere we can find groups who find themself superior to the other and who like to disparage the others.

Jesus who described his coming as similar to when the flood came, should have to make us wondering if we are prepared, or if we are just like when the flood suddenly came upon the people in Moses time (Matthew 24:37-41).

The world got the promise of God that there would never again be such a flood that the whole world would be under water. He warned that tsunami‘s and earthquakes would come more frequently and become stronger. The more frequently recurring natural disasters would get us closer to the time of Christ’s return and the to the rapture. And the time close to the return of Christ shall be a time of a lot of disorder, stress, nation fighting against nations and religions fighting against religions. when people would come to see such signs they should be prepared and not be like the foolish virgins or  the bridesmaids in the parables of Jesus. Even Jesus did not know the hour when it would come. In case he is God naturally he would have known but also would have lied when his disciples asked him when it would come. Therefore please make sure you are on guard and are ready for when the day would come. Take heed to yourself, so that your heart not become burdened by excessiveness and drunkenness and anxieties of life, and that Day comes on you unexpectedly. We must know God gave us His word to come to recognise the signs, but many shall be taken by it. For as a snare it will come on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. when we are willing to recognise that Jesus is the way to God and the way to salvation, the way to life, and worship the Only One True God we may count on the liberation by Christ and on his work as mediator between God and man. Therefore let us not become weak and be taken by false teachings and fake news but be on the watch-out, every day praying that we may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man. (see Matthew 24:36-44; Marc 13:32-37; Luke 21:34-38; Matthew 25:1-13).

 

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Preceding

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #1 Abrahamic religions

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #2 War on God’s Plan, Name and title

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Additional reading

1. Creator and Blogger God 9 A Blog of a Book 3 Blog about Prophecy
2. God’s Plan, Purpose and teachings
3. The flood, floods and mythic flood stories 1 Flooding and Water-waves
4. Profitable disasters
5. Facing disaster fatigue
6. At the closing hours of 2016 #2 Low but also highlights
7. Are Christianity and Capitalism Compatible?
8. Social media a destabilisation tool in the Middle East and Syrian conflict
9. A busy 2017 #3 Fake, gossip and real news
10. I have not hidden …
11. Today’s thought “Sun, moon and stars” (January 22)
12. Date Setting
13. Signs of the Last Days
14. Signs of the the last days when difficult times will come

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