When I started with this website, I wanted to share common thoughts or give similar minds an extra open door to reach others, as well as to present a selection of websites, blogs and writings I thought (and think) worthwhile reading or looking at.
For years on all my websites I also presented a “Related” articles list, to give my readers other opportunities to find more writings on the subject. After the many complaints having linked to their article, and having to search for placed links I was asked to remove, from this year onward, I stop to invest time looking for related articles, investing time to read them for after approval, placing links after the posted articles. Now much more time shall come available to publish more articles which are in unison with my thoughts and not bringing readers away from my own sites. (From the statistics more readers from this site went looking at the mentioned site, than receiving readers from the linked site.) At the same time on my websites I shall not any more bringing people to websites which are against me or my beliefs.
After giving all my energy to the world of dance my body could not fit any more the physical world of exuberance and graceful unlimited mobility. Having reached a certain age where they consider a human being not able enough to give enough to the world, I was made redundant, considered to be part of the ‘third age’ group.
First having been very disappointed by the way I was treated, the first two years I did not want to do much with ballet or theatrical dance. Not having to work full time for our living, receiving retirement fund, I could spend more time to my church work. My religious activities started even taking so much time I had less time to write at my own personal blog. (Because pensions not enough to survive I still have a few days a month I work for my living.)
I feel blessed that I am allowed to work at three Bible translations, even when it might consume also a lot of time and lots of thinking-work, being it a seriously very faithful responsibility, not to add or change anything in the saying or purpose of the original words supplied by God. Therefore, those translations in Judaic Dutch (Yiddish Dutch or Flemish), with the eye of two (or three) different groups (namely a Jeshuaist, a Jewish and an Orthodox Jewish public) is and shall be a time-consuming job with lots of thought and consideration).
This does not take away that I would have lost my interest in humanity and how man treats other people, animals and plants. I even became more active, spending also time in meetings concerning our way of life, necessary political actions a.o..
I must admit at meetings and conferences I seem to belong to a minority who strive to get unity in Europe, with some liveable world for everyone. Convinced we have to do something against this capitalist greedy world which does not show respect to the gross of people, animals and plants, I keep going strong and letting my voice being heard.
From the moment I got retired I did not stop to seek a connection of like minds, to share common positive beliefs, and to be able to learn from each other about how to live life to the fullest.
Jonathan Hilton seems also on such a track. He writes:
Even when things don’t go as we plan, we all know no matter how hard we plan, life will throw us curve balls designed to engender growth. Our lives are defined by the lessons we learn at this moment and the way we handle ourselves. {Mind Connections}
Raising his level of consciousness has become Jonathan Hilton’s passion in life.
and understanding that when I follow and focus on certain core principles in my life and live in alignment with them, things go well. {Mind Connections}
He writes on the opening of his blog Mind Connections, admitting:
When I fall off, and my focus isn’t so sharp, then things are not so pleasant. Conscious thought about where my attention goes allows all of my energies to flow in that direction. {Mind Connections}
With the knowledge that each viewpoint may bring a different set of emotions, a different thought process, and a different reality to the perceiver it only can be enriching to share thoughts and to get to know more people from all over the world and getting to know how they manage to make the best of their life.
We have little control over the perceptions of others, but we may not forget that when we utter our ideas, share our thoughts, we might bring others to other ideas too.
How often do we not wonder if what we are doing is or would be right? How often do we not wonder if we should openly write what we think or if we should write in ways and words others would love to hear? I always have been a bad one at that. By creating my ballets I did not mind criticising the way our society was moving. I never tried to be popular by my creative works. [Choreographing fashion shows was a totally different matter, there I tried to bring the customers to find a connection in a future world to form. (We always had to be seasons ahead, manipulating the fashion trends – and yes, there stimulating human desires of consumption.) There it was also part the business to know beforehand what others would love to wear and see. ] In such way I also kept busy to try to find out what others would like to see and read.
On the surface, it is a simple choice, but in reality, it is a constant battle, {Life is a Mirror}
Hilton notes.
According to him
There is only a short time allotted to each of us to write the story of your life and with that time, we are tasked with a lot of things to accomplish. You have really only one life to get things right and sing the song that you want to sing. {The Story of Your Life}
We can try to make our dreams so compelling, that we will that we can’t wait to work on them, because waiting to experience them, in reality, is too painful. Often it is that enthusiasm which gets us to be restless and gets us up in the middle of the night to scribble something down or even to write certain texts.
A difficulty might be to:
Tune your enthusiasm to the size of your goals and attack it like your story depends on it because it does. That is how you write the story of your life. {The Story of Your Life}
At this blog I want to give, as many people as possible, the opportunity to share their thoughts which they and I find interesting enough to think about. I keep chasing my dreams that we can find enough people all over the world willing to bring others to see how we have to be careful which way of life we want to choose. As a Christian I also would love to see more people sharing the faith in One God and in His Gift and Good News of the coming Kingdom.
Once more, I dare to invite people to join us to share positive thoughts, but also to bring warnings how to tackle ecological and other problems.
Please do not hesitate to contact me, for becoming a part of joining hands across this globe.
Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Announcement, Being and Feeling, Cultural affairs, Ecological affairs, Educational affairs, Fashion - Trends, Health affairs, Introduction, Knowledge & Wisdom, Lifestyle, Political affairs, Positive thoughts, Religious affairs, Social affairs, Spiritual affairs, Welfare matters, World affairs
If you want to build a community,
gather those who dream and yearn
for like-minded ideals. Make
friends with those who share your
values. Being too open minded
can be a trap, too.
Always keep your feet on the ground and do a reality check when encountering messages on the internet. Plus keep everything in perspective.
*
To remember
Social media = the link that links us all in an ever expanding virtual community = much wider, bigger + beyond anyone’s control.
looking at selective best moments of friends, seemingly living better lives => feel low and depressed
Social media has some serious issues and it’s negative effects can’t be ignored. But we can’t avoid it’s use completely.
dependent on it for sharing information + reaching out to wider communities.
can’t avoid using it but definitely can avoid some of it’s negative effects.
ten simple rules to avoid negative effects of social media –
Rule #1
Don’t take anything personallyRule #3
Do not indulge in unnecessary comparisonsRule #4
There is no such thing as the perfect lifeRule #5
Curb your enthusiasm to share personal information at all costRule #6
Never ever share anything when you’re feeling emotionally charged upRule #7
Keep a limit on the time you spend on social mediaRule #8
Use every setting available to minimize distractionsRule #9
Acknowledge your feelings, even of jealousy and envyRule #10
Last but not the least, love your real life more than the virtual
“Distracted from distraction by distraction.”
~ T. S. Eliot
Social media has become the link, the link that links us all in an ever expanding virtual community. A community much wider, bigger and beyond anyone’s control.
It will make you feel popular one moment and deserted the next. It can leave you feeling quite lost if you don’t bring along your only defense-a sense of humour.
“Yet the best determining factor of how comfortable we are with ourselves, is our ability to laugh at ourselves.”
~Wes Adamson
A lot of people are of the opinion that social media tends to make people feel low and depressed. That makes sense; looking at the selective best moments of friends, seemingly living better lives will do that to anyone.
Social media has some serious issues and it’s negative effects can’t be ignored. But we can’t avoid it’s use completely.
We’re…
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We are not the owners of this world, but as renters and permitted users we have to take care of what is given to us to live in and to share our love.
Dutch version / Nederlandse versie: Hoge herkenningen. . . We moeten de aarde verrijken met liefde en vriendelijkheid.
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Preceding
Looking forward to a year full of Kindness
The smallest act of kindness…..
Constant kindness can accomplish much.
. . . he who plants kindness gathers love.
The world needs a bit more Kindness and Compassion
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Related reading
- The earth
- It’s A Small World After All
- Despondency Act 3: Earth Disheveled
- Who’s Space is it anyway?
- When Polluters Cannot Hide
- You are an outcome of the places you have traveled to…
- Powered by Nature
- Elements: Earth (Part 3)
- 1 Million
- big blue
- Researchers can’t tell if any newfound worlds could sustain life – Axios
- Recover health, hope and happiness with the help of trees — guest post
- Evolution
“We must enrich the Earth with love and kindness.
We must hold our hands over plants and animals and protect them,
for we are servants, guardians, protectors,
and consequently masters on Earth!”
– Roselis von Sass(The Truth About the Incas)
Text & image source: Garden of Illumination https://web.facebook.com/Garden-of-Illumination-1433140463620723/
Daily we are surrounded by bad news-stories via the media (television and social media). All those terrible stories can weaken us and manage to bring fear to many (for no obvious reason, because they live far away from the trouble).
Often it is better to detach because it is not possible to live day to day if you spiral into all in the grief in the world. We have to be conscious about it, but may not close our eyes and ears for the beauties that are around us. And for sure there can be found a lot of beauty, even in the smallest thing.
Each of us can help to give others a feeling of safety and comfort in their own surroundings, accepting the wide variety of cultures that can go together anyway.
A person can not love the others without loving himself first and without wanting to share with others.Today we can see that the fear for the unknown brings many to choose for extreme right wing political groups, which make use of the fear for other people and cultures, and bring the immigration in a wrong exaggerated light. Immigration, by the way, has been there for ages. It is nothing new. Every generation has come to know about some migration.
When we are willing to learn more about the world we and others live in we shall understand the different positions better and come to accept certain things much easier.
When each person is willing to come closer to the other, and is willing to open his mind to come to understand the other better, by willingness of openness of mind and heart the little environment we live in can change, but like a domino falling can bring something bigger changing too.
Let us always remember that a spiritual shaking is always safer than a real earth shaking.
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To remember
All through life when times get tough, when things start to run away with us or when things start to get too much we often hear the advice
“stay grounded.”
- to balance us, to remind of something solid, something steady
how exactly do we stay grounded when we can’t even trust the ground we walk on?
- on a little Greek island = best + worst moments of humanity play out on a daily basis => difficult to stay grounded
Facebook safety check icon > pictures of Parliament + London Bridge > horrors + pictures of frantic families trying to trace their missing children
- a family connected by love
- memories of places we love
- distract ourselves from terrorism on our doorsteps with the escalating rhetoric of nuclear war between North Korea and the US?
- watch white supremacists march the streets
- ongoing refugee crisis on shores of Italy + Greece
- hundreds of lives still lost in the Mediterranean
- hundreds of lives trapped in camps + detention facilities > endless wait for asylum in Europe.
=> pretty hard to stay grounded
=> have become so desensitized
= not go to denial but keep our heads?
- most important thing = not buy into all the hate.
- majority of people = kind + loving
- fear + when we are really scared => ignorance can lead to some pretty extreme standpoints on issues we never really felt too strongly about before.
== to stay grounded we need to start learning more about the world we live in + we need to discover how we can make change.
Stand together, show love where you find hate and don’t let fear win.
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Preceding
Going on holiday is… silence in your head
Summer holiday time to knock and ask, and time to share
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Additional reading
- Uncertainty, shame and no time for vacillation
- What is life?
- Immigration consternation
- Would you run
- Mountains of information, disinformation and breaking away
- Fearmongering succeeded and got the bugaboo a victory
- Fear of failure, and fear of the unknown
- I Am Not Alone – By: Kari Jobe
- Emotional pain and emotional deadness
- The soul has no rainbow if the eyes have no tears
- Not fear or dread or blind compulsion
- Can We Pay The Price To Free Humanity?
- The chosen ones to fear or not to fear
- Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies) by Chris Tomlin
- Prayer has comforted us in sorrow
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Further reading
- What Makes Me Bern about Fear
- Fear
- “… Fears…”
- Worry and Fear
- Fear, Surprise, Relief, What’s Next?
- Courage is not an absence of fear…
- What Fear Can Do To You.
- The Power Fear Holds Over Us
- Overwhelmed
- Anxious And Worried? Pray!
- Celebrate Victories Daily
- Change
- Face Your Fears | Choose Joys
- Italy: Migrants from Riace are to be resettled
- Criminalization of aid puts migrant lives at further risk
- Migration: 416,000 more people moved to Germany than emigrated
- After the Crisis? Reflections on Migration Governance
- Turkey slams developed nations over migration issue
- The migration which is changing the demography of India : The illegal migrants of Bangladesh
- The Year of Immigration theme seeks to create a renewed sense of community in College Park
- Szijjarto rejects the UN Migration compact
- Thousands flee due to crisis, Brazil deploys army to Venezuela border
- Parliament condemns the Sargentini Report
- Crosses Erected For Thousands Of Dead Immigrants Who Never Reached American Dream – Desert Graves
All through life when times get tough, when things start to run away with us or when things start to get too much we often hear the advice “stay grounded.” We are told to “keep our feet on the ground” to balance us, to remind of something solid, something steady that can help bring us down from those dizzying heights that challenging times can take us to. But what happens when that safety net fails, when you can no longer trust the earth to keep you steady?
Recently I experienced a rather nasty earthquake which has left this question playing on my mind. When we live in a world of such uncertainty, how exactly do we stay grounded when we can’t even trust the ground we walk on?
But this idea of losing trust in your surroundings goes further than a shift in tectonic plates, for me personally anyway. Over…
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The future will kiss
Our shadows as if it knew
The things that we had chosen
And all the things that we had forgotten,
It will stare back as if
We were a part of all to come
The things that we had seen
And everything that we had prophesied,
But we are the lost
The souls who burned on Hell’s cold fields
And left the lessons buried there,
The future will still close
It’s cold unempathetic eye
It’s vengeful ghost still chained against
The cliffs we fought so hard to tame,
The laughter rings like rain
Upon the boxes we built as defence
Which wall out the moments frozen
To stop them scratching out our eyes,
The future will still blow
It’s kisses downwind to hide its fear
And all the things that we had chosen
For we are the forgotten.
© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2018
Filed under Lifestyle, Poetry - Poems, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs
In the previous article we mentioned the dangers of reacting to quickly and in a wrong way. Around us we always may have people who would love to see us to jaded, become angry or to be helpless. Some people will try to get us so on our nerves we act in an non-Christian way.
The words spoken too fast or too hard then can at their turn also evoke anger or sadness. The same we may have to hear our or others their words taken out of context. Those words also may be otherwise referred to, may even have a devastating effect.
Problem is that once said, once used certain words you can not alter them any more. The impact of speech and language is greater than we dare accept as true. Perhaps not meant to be hurtful or poisonous the can have a terrible effect like the bite of a scorpion.
In this world we do have learned to speak, but forgot to listen.
As old as politics, the question is asked:
“Please listen to the citizens!”.
Participants in the hall listening to a speaker behind the conference table at the 26th Decentralistiecongres (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The conflict model used by politicians, makes it difficult to really be open to another. They discuss a lot, while of true listening is often not the case. Therefore, there is constant, abundant and widely needed rhetoric to convince the other.
Poor listening is a disease of our time. In the political world there is an increasing noticeably cramped of the fellowship. It results in a kind of lack of oxygen that “listening to each other ‘prevents’ ‘Listening’ starts where talking stops.
When we listen with half an ear we do not hear. It’s about making time, to empathize and give space to the other. It means to hear what the other person says or even more: to hear what the other will not say. You will share his or her experience.
Listening happens for 30% with our ears and 70% with our hearts. The right words can do wonders at the right time, because they can comfort, heal and help liberate. Who has mastered the art of listening, is able to find the right words.
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Preceding articles:
Soft values? Needed heart- and- soul!
For a Dutch version / Voor een Nederlandse versie: Wie luistert, ontwikkelt de gave van het spreken
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Additional reading
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Filed under Being and Feeling, Crimes & Atrocities, Lifestyle
In certain developed countries they are still far of the idea of helping each other to create a new society.
Great to hear from Chicago in the U.S.A.that institutes are willing to offer an intriguing and loving way to re-design custom things for other people, and that there they are on the verge of inventing free heat, electricity, wifi, and distribution systems for a new way to run cities off of.
Trying to use the energy which is for free around us, Sun, wind, we can avoid nuclear energy and safe on dioxin exits also by trying to selectively manage our waste.
To come to such different lifestyle people have to change their selfish attitude and have to take on a more loving attitude respecting each other and willing to share with those around them.
Would it not be lovely to find a communal place where we can find books, vinyl records, compact disks, magneto-phone tapes, video tapes, clothes we can use for some time and then place them back for others to use as well?
The movement has to grow and perhaps it goes very very slowly, but in Europe we see a lots of experiments and some interesting groups succeeding with the idea in their community.
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Preceding article: A charter for a truly free world and why we need it
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Additional reading:
- Inequality, Injustice, Sustainability and the Free World Charter
- Not everything has to be reciprocated with money
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Related articles
At this time, it’s time to leverage a more loving humanity and really start bending and subverting rules to do things for the other people. This means a more loving humanity in which money is not a factor.
You may have heard by now about “the inventions,” as I’m designing them in real time in Chicago. Chicago is providing me with a bit more capacity to finish the parts together that will apply for a lot of houses. We are on the verge of inventing free heat, electricity, wifi, and distribution systems for a new way to run cities off of. This will ideally give a way to live a lifestyle which is not scarcity or different much from what you know.
The institutes supply the storefronts. If it’s something that is important to folks in the area, it will be staffed and made and done for the others. If…
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Are you one of those people who can find enough time and joy to visit parks or different countries?
Spring Beauties (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today there are many who can travel several times of the year and can go to lots of places in one year. Do they ever think of people who are less fortunate than they? Do they ever think of sharing that what they have come to see and enjoy?
We still look for authors who want to share their experiences of their travels and/or their visits of national parks or some beautiful resorts.
In case they have their own blog we do not mind them sharing what they have admired and directing our readers also to links to their articles, so that our readers also can come to enjoy those experiences.
If you feel called to talk about the beauties of this creation, please do not hesitate to contact us or to present yourself as a author on this blog.
The writer we are looking for should love nature and be willing to share this love with our readers.
In case he or she is a Christian, this may be an advantage. Then we expect from him or her, that he or she has respect for all religions and all sorts of thoughts, even when we would not agree with such a way of thinking. Then we expect the author to put everything in the light of the creation and our duty to take care of mother earth. Because that is the reason we do have to make others conscious about the beauty of creation and our duty to take care of it so that others after us can still enjoy all the wonders of it.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For us it is important that a Christian life should be a.o. exemplary, loving, selfless, generating, challenging, transforming, stimulating intellectually, busy, and bring a sense of emotional stability, meaning and peace. We want to show others that does not have to mean our life has to be boring. Just the opposite.
The Elohim having created us in His image expect us to use our minds the right way. The Adonai knows that our minds need intellectual stimulation, and provides many stimulative effects in nature. He has provided a beautiful world, full of all the things we need to live and to admire a spectacular attraction. We should experience the happiness that gives us not only the joy of being one with it but the blessing of being a person in God’s creation. In it we should place ourselves and become one with it. Showing our respect for nature is showing our respect for God. Showing others the wonderworks of nature is showing others the works of God.
Each creature should be a powerful source of inspiration that allows us to appreciate the beauty of our universe and associate the beautiful and romantic nature of beauty and feelings.
If there is some one out there who feels he can understand our thought and understands the need to show others the beauty of nature, please let him or her not hesitate and react positively on our call to become a member of those who want to show others the Master Hand of the Divine Creator.
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Preceding article about “Sharing Writings and linking“:
A charter for a truly free world and why we need it
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Filed under Announcement, Ecological affairs, Fashion - Trends, Nature
Witness well Net knows that we are not human beings who like to come in the open easily. It says
we have a tendency to remain hidden and not share the gospel. {How pre-judging others has a serious effect on evangelism}
Some of us want to be so much like God and cast judgement on a person’s receptivity toward the message of salvation that they forget the love message.
Placing a gag over our mouth that keeps us from proclaiming His name rather than allow His Words to overflow from our hearts can be a result of pre-judging the condition of a person’s soil. {How pre-judging others has a serious effect on evangelism}
Talking about a saving relationship with Christ, Dave Malnes from the website Witness well tells us that we should trust his promises that our righteousness is secure because of his faithfulness – not our own; his obedience and not our own; his trustworthiness and not our own. {How evangelism rests on trust and what you possess}
He writes that
Evangelism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
World religions attempt to search within to find true meaning and purpose. The object of their faith is themselves. Biblical Christians trust squarely on Jesus promises as the object of their faith. Peace and joy is not something that is self-generated, but Spirit-filled. {How evangelism rests on trust and what you possess}
Jesus-army-bus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Though we do find still too many Christians counting too much on worldly arrangements and governments. Also a lot of Christians do not know their Bible. Some of them know perhaps several phrases from the New Testament, but do not see the whole picture.
The same about one of the tasks Jesus has given and as such has to be one of the many works of faith we do have to do. We do have to become one in Christ, like Christ is one with his heavenly Father. In case we would think like trinitarians, that would mean they have to become like God and some of them consider themselves to be like Christ, to be God.
The Elohim, who has sent His only begotten son to this world, commissions believers in Christ to sow the seeds of the gospel and to become humble like Jesus humbled himself. By embracing this role, Christians find joy and peace in encouraging and equipping others with the faith in Christ and in Only One true God (the heavenly Father of Jesus).
When we call ourselves Christian we should show others that we are willing to become like Christ and like him have faithfully responded God’s call to sow the seeds of the gospel and trusting God His promise that the harvest may be plentiful.
4 days of Evangelism Training in Southern California provided by LivingWaters Ministry. Obeying the great commission of Jesus Christ. “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone” Mark 16:15 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Full enjoyment and trust we should bear the Good News in our mind and be of full courage to share the message of encouragement and uplifted spirit of rejoicing being presented to us by the acts of the apostles. Their work must have been an amazing experience, but is not finished yet. We do have to continue the work of the apostles and those first Christians.
Followers of Christ should be giving themselves totally to Jesus, willing to become in Christ Jesus, a part of a bigger picture as partakers of the Body of Christ, being those who have been set apart as God’s children through God’s grace.
It is by grace, God’s undeserved love that makes us Christians. No wonder we can rejoice through any circumstance that comes our way when we can be assured of our status before God, not by what we have done or what we are doing, but what God has already done for us. {An appropriate benediction}
We should be so tankful for Jesus proving to us that man is able to put his own will aside for doing God’s Will, and giving himself for atonement, paying the ransom prize for the sins we did.
For this liberation we can have joy which comes from trusting God’s promises that we will receive liberation from the curse of the Fall and that Jesus restored the relationship between God and man and has received authority to be the mediator between God and man and the judge at the end times, where it is him who shall decide who shall be able to enter the Kingdom of God.
An evangelist fully trusts God’s promises associated with being His messenger. Sharing the message of the gospel is not about us, but proclaiming the power of the message. In Christ, we conquer fear, worry, and guilt. By remaining in Christ, we bear fruits of the Spirit that reflects the light of Christ and introduces His presence to the world. {How evangelism rests on trust and what you possess}
The Bible teaches that God “gave” to certain people the gift of evangelism to build up the church (Eph. 4:11). We marvel and rejoice at these gifts as one who has the gift of music. Most believers like myself do not have the gift of evangelism, but we are not excused from the work of evangelism (2 Tim. 4:5). God commissions all believers to go, teach, and baptize (Matthew 28:19-20). {Twelve Things Successful Evangelists Do}
Dave Malnes believes these are twelve things that successful evangelists do:
Love Successful evangelists speak the truth that is prompted by love and concern for the soul.
Joy Evangelists reflect the gospel light in their own lives that attracts unbelievers.
Peace Evangelists find their identity in Christ that washes away guilt.
Patience Evangelists understands the fruit of patience ripens into persistence by keeping God’s timetable and not our own.
Kindness Evangelists sacrifice acts of kindness and generosity with no strings attached.
Self-control Evangelists resist the need to win the argument and focus on winning the soul.
Goodness Evangelists consistently extend grace to those who are least deserving.
Gentleness Evangelists express humility and give all credit and glory to God.
Pray continually Evangelists give thanks in all circumstances and reflects this pattern in an ongoing prayer life.
Perseverance Evangelists never, never, never give up.
Faithfulness Evangelists rely on God’s faithfulness to renew their own faithfulness by regularly reading, studying, and praying over God’s Word. {Twelve Things Successful Evangelists Do}
We have to set our mind on Christ Jesus and nurture our and others their need for a goal, a focus, instructions, and a hero. When we are afraid to tell others about our faith we do need to conquer our fear with our faith. We also should remember that “Everything God has made is an assignment”. In the knowledge that our future is the seed for the one we chose to honour we should be pleased, showing our joy in the Messiah. Our gratitude should be a seed for more. and we should not be afraid to sow seed wrapped with expectation and faith in the harvest.
When having become a Christian we have come into a covenant with Jesus that gives purpose and then we should follow his rules and given tasks, sowing our seed for a desired harvest.
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Preceding
Is being a humanitarian enough to convey the full love of Christ?
Preaching Christ Is Not Enough
A Christian has to have eyes and ears and a tongue to use in good ways
Beautiful feet of those who announce the good news
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Filed under Uncategorized
We always have to speak the truth and shame the devil in a kind manner loving God’s Word more than the words of human beings.
The task given to his followers, by Jesus, is one which should have our hearts burning with a kind lovely fire, attracting those who want to hear the call of the Lord.
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To remember
- God gives us a three ingredient recipe to be successful evangelists. [Taking Ownership of Grace]
to receive full benefits of Christ’s completed work on the cross => declared righteous, acceptable, freely + fully forgiven
reality of Christ made known through God’s Word + revealed through transcendent grace = moment where invisible became visible through change of a hardened man into a tender + active soul
grace means undeserving love
- concept of universal justification = God’s way of saying “You have won the lottery! Now, come and receive the prize!”
- Faith = only winning ticket that is considered redeemable <= Faith alone receives that gift
- by faith, we receive the free + full forgiveness of sins.
- Come + claim prize = Believe in Lord Jesus Christ + you will receive gift far greater than anything that the earth can produce.
- Share gospel to listening ears = speak truth prompted by love + concern for the soul
- Demonstrations of love =one of those ingredients that God mixes together with truth + speak => one of these ingredients forgotten or not used = ruins whole recipe.
- Not enough for a Christian to be a humanitarian, nor is it the role of an evangelist to meet people’s needs. To fully love our neighbour means to share message of salvation + rescue them from the eternal consequences of sin.
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Preceding
Preaching Christ Is Not Enough
Beautiful feet of those who announce the good news
A Christian has to have eyes and ears and a tongue to use in good ways
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Related articles
Jesus’ greatest command is for Christians to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
We see images of destruction caused by natural disasters and are dismayed by the loss. Homes are destroyed. Families are left with nothing. Prompted by love, we extend a hand by offering financial support or materials goods to help those in need. Some are even willing to travel long distances to help pick up the pieces.
Are these demonstrations the type of love Christ is looking for, or is He calling on Christians to do something more?
In this growing impersonal and materialistic world being enveloped by today’s technology, perhaps Christians have lost touch on what Christ means to love our neighbor.
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Yesterday we saw how Jesus spoke about God His second commandment and how Jesus ordered us to keep to a Royal Law.
In the readings of this week we can find an other work than the brotherly love we have to do. Though that work should be part of brotherly love. Out of love to others we should go out into the world and proclaim the Good News. Witnessing to others is a way of showing our love to them, because we want them also to be saved.
God’s abundance is for the furthering of His will here on earth. God wants all people to know Him and to worship Him. We, when we are thankful for what God provided for us, will love to serve our God and shall do our best to be workers in the name of Jesus, following his orders to preach.
The Lord Jesus stripped himself of everything save love, that he might more readily meet each human soul on its own level. Jesus emptied himself, humbled himself, only wanted to do the will of God, his heavenly Father and asked us also to put our own selfish will aside. That will demand some work. Like Jesus became obedient unto death, even the death at the stake, for our sakes, we should offer our selves, working hard to bring others also into the knowledge of God.
Jesus was set on proclaiming the Gospel so that even the dying thief might enter Paradise, and that not one prodigal in all the human family should think that he had sunk too low or gone so far as to be excluded from the hope of salvation.
One of the duties of friendship is just to lend an ear to others and our second duty is to try to give them right answers. Those answers are given by God in His Book of books, the Bible, which we should carry in our heart. To keep it only for ourself is selfish. We should share it with others around us.
The first followers of Christ Jesus were very well aware of their responsibility. They also knew it was God Who had given Jesus authority and also given them responsibility of serving His church by proclaiming the word of God in its fullness. Paul wrote.
Colossians 1:21-29 The Scriptures 1998+ (21) And you, who once were estranged and enemies in the mind by wicked works, but now He has completely restored to favour (22) in the body of His flesh through death, to present you set-apart, and blameless, and unreprovable before Him, (23) if indeed you continue in the belief, founded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the expectation of the Good News which you heard, which was proclaimed to every creature under the heaven, of which I, Sha’ul, became a servant, (24) who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in Messiah’s afflictions, for the sake of His Body, which is the assembly, (25) of which I became a servant according to the administration of Elohim which was given to me for you, to fill the word of Elohim, (26) the secret which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His set-apart ones, (27) to whom Elohim desired to make known what are the riches of the esteem of this secret among the gentiles: which is Messiah in you,1 the expectancy of esteem, Footnote: 1See Messiah in you in the Explanatory Notes. (28) whom we announce, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, in order to present every man perfect in Messiah יהושע {Jehsua}, (29) for which I also labour, striving according to the working of Him who works in me in power.
Even when the mystery may have been hid from ages and from generations, now for us it should be clear, having been made manifest to the Elohim His saints. When having received the blessings of the offering of Jeshua we, out of thankfulness should be pleased that we got to know what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the non believers. Having Christ in us we do have the hope of glory and should be so overtaken by joy that we shout it out and call others to become partakers of the same joy.
It is that Messiah, given to us, without us having to do something for it, that now our turn has come to do something in return. The Grace is given for free, but now we have to act when we have come into the faith and want to make the faith alive. It is the Messiah whom we should preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto the apostles also laboured, striving according to his working, which works in believers of Christ mightily.
The message kept secret for centuries and generations past has been revealed to God’s people. And the secret “Christ in you is the hope of glory!’” should be sounding all over the earth.
Our task is to get this hope of glory with Christ in us. Having his presence and power in our life, because it is the only way we will ever become all that God has created us to be. That is the great secret that is now made known to all! And this is why we we have to do the work of faith proclaiming Jesus, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully grown, mature and complete in Christ. It is to this end we like the apostle Paul have to labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in the followers of Christ.
Like it was the great Life Lesson Philemon learned from Paul, and how it has made all the difference for him in everything he did, we too should be inspired by Jesus’ teachings and by the power of God’s Spirit should inspire others as well.
We were made for a purpose; one that will never be realized apart from our Lord Jesus Christ. Once Christ puts his presence and power into our lives – then we can do whatever Christ can do through us if we are opening ourselves to him! Paul’s timeless words should become our very own, so that we too can say
‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!’
This is our hope of glory!
In Christ – the defeated become victorious; the weak become strong; the poor become rich! In Christ – the lame are made to leap and dance; the blind are made to see; the enslaved are set free and rejoice!
In Christ – the lowly are raised up; the brokenhearted are healed; sinners are forgiven, and backsliders are restored! In Christ –dreamers are envisioned; builders are empowered; and all are strengthened with might in their inner man!
To become in Christ we should give ourselves to him, which demands works.
To bring others to Christ also demands works. Though we do have to show others others that Christ is the Way.
We do have to open our ears so that others can open their hearts. We then should try to show them the answers God provides. Like David did not brood on his problems in solitary bitterness we with those around us should bring them before God.
We ourselves must not be ‘puffed up’ because of the way our careful reading of God’s word has led us to increasingly comprehend the ‘big picture’ of the meaning of life and the spirit of genuine love for God that must be part of this.
Let us be like the scribe who knew that there is only one God; and there is none other but He and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength. To love God demands action or work. But when we do love we first of all have to love His creations as well because when we do not love our neighbour as ourself, we do not show appreciation for the creation of God, because each person is a created being, allowed to live here on earth by God.
Mark 12:26-33 The Scriptures 1998+ (26) “And concerning the dead, that they rise – have you not read in the book of Mosheh, at the bush, how Elohim spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the Elohim of Aḇraham, and the Elohim of Yitsḥaq, and the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ’? (27) “He is not the Elohim of the dead, but Elohim of the living. You, then, go greatly astray.” (28) And one of the scribes coming near, hearing them reasoning together, knowing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first command of all?” (29) And יהושע {Jeshua} answered him, “The first of all the commands is, ‘Hear, O Yisra’ĕl, יהוה {Jehovah} our Elohim, יהוה {Jehovah} is one. (30) ‘And you shall love יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first command. (31) “And the second, like it, is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other command greater than these.” (32) And the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one Elohim, and there is no other besides Him. (33) “And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the being, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is more than all the burnt offerings and offerings.”
We should clearly understand what is being said here. There is only One True God the Elohim Hashem יהוה {Jehovah} and this we should believe and practice with all our heart, offering our love for God to others.
Do we feel as thankful as we should for the wondrous blessing of being spiritual children of God – in this godless world? Let us make sure that we do – and then – how soon will we see and experience – for ever – “the salvation of God”.
Paul challenges us when he looks at the call of Christ to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. He expresses this responsibility in the bluntest terms,
1 Corinthians 9:16 The Scriptures 1998+ (16) For if I bring the Good News, it is no boasting for me, for necessity is laid on me, and it is woe to me if I do not bring the Good News!
Youngsters listening to a preacher
Let us not overlook that it is for necessity is laid on us as well. ‘A necessity’, etc.: i.e. having no choice. The compelling force was twofold, love of god and love of Christ plus fear of being held responsible for the loss of souls. Woe: calamity, in this case, eternal death. So explicit and solemn was Christ’s commission that Paul could not retain his favour if he refused to obey it. 1 Corinthians 9:17 shows how this impending woe, and the necessity it laid on Paul, make the mere fact of his preaching no ground of exultation. For if we do this of our own will, we shall have a reward. But if not of our own will, we will have a stewardship entrusted to us.
1 Corinthians 9:17 The Scriptures 1998+ (17) For if I do this voluntarily I have a reward, but if not voluntarily, I am entrusted with a management.
Stewardship “stresses obligation, responsibility, and faithfulness of the servant to his master in carrying out the entrusted task” (Rienecker and Rogers, p. 415). In other places such as Luke 16:2-4 this same term is used to describe the management of property.
We have to do the preaching or witnessing as a matter of duty, because God has entrusted us with this task. And this is something too many Christians forget or do not want to see.
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Preceding
Your position about materialistic desires having conquered the world
When believing in God’s existence and His son, possessing a divine legislation
Looking for a shepherd for the sheep and goats
A Royal Rule given to followers of Christ
First man’s task still counting today
He who knows himself, is kind to others
January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works
Letter to the Romans, chapter 3
Letter to the Romans, chapter 4
Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
Additional comments to the Letter to the Romans 4
Comments to James remarks, about Faith and works
Which is worse–works without faith, or faith without works?
Crisis man needed in this world
Preaching Christ Is Not Enough
Beautiful feet of those who announce the good news
A Christian has to have eyes and ears and a tongue to use in good ways
Daring to speak in multicultural environment
Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
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Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Lifestyle, Religious affairs
In our series of faith and works we also want to remind the readers to Jesus sermon on the mount and on the many accounts he gave how we should behave against others.
This painting is on display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) in Vienna, Austria (site). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This week we will read in Mark 12 and must note Jesus’ comment about the second commandment
– “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (verse 31).
In this present society it happens in places that people even do not know their neighbours. Hopefully you do talk to your neighbours. In case you believe in god, do you dare to talk about your faith?
Today many people feel ashamed of what they believe or do have the excuse to think that others would not be interested in their faith. From the gospels we get to know that rabbi Jeshua was not at all afraid to talk about his faith in the Only One True God of Israel. He asked his disciples to overcome their shyness and even to put their daily work aside to follow him and to go out into the world to preach the Kingdom Gospel.
From Jesus teachings we also get to know an other important work we have to do. Witnessing is an important task, but it has to be done properly with full seal. Each follower of Christ should, like Christ did, not putting his own will on the first place, but the Will of God. Real Christians should set their mind on the things of God.
Let us try harder to set our minds on the things of God. In doing so, we will recall that even in the Law God gave through Moses; there is the command
“’You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18 NAS)
We call it a Golden Rule or Royal Law
This has been a command for all ages. What a different world this would be if that command was carried out! And who can doubt but that it will be – by those who live in God’s kingdom.
Let us be in training for God’s kingdom now! What better way to show your love for your neighbour than by encouraging them to believe in the words of Jesus! We must try to speak to them in the spirit of love, a desire to share something precious; the pearl of great price!
This will be reflected in our attitude as well as in the words that we use, for we ‘communicate’ as much by what we do – as by what we say. The world has a word for it, “body language”. We must seek wisdom from above as we set ourselves to do this. Remember what James wrote,
“the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (3:17).
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Preceding
Letter to a Non-Christian Nation
The Mountain: Radical Obedience
Comments to James remarks, about Faith and works
He who knows himself, is kind to others
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Filed under Being and Feeling, Lifestyle, Religious affairs
In the past there have been many discussion about the possibility man being good. When we look at the world today it seems not much has changed. Along all sides we can see people who do not want to share the luck they have with others. This has come to a high point with the refugee crisis. It is understandable that people want to protect their own goods and culture, but often they are too much afraid that their way of living would be in danger by others from far away coming to live in their regions.
Several people are convinced that people who are fleeing from war-zones can not be good and trustworthy people. According to several Christians it is even impossible for a human being to be good from himself and as such no one can be reliable.
A17th century Calvinist print depicting Pelagius. The caption says “Accurst Pelagius, with what false pretence Durst thou excuse man’s foul concupiscence, Or cry down Sin Originall, or that The love of God did man predestinate.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The controversial British monk Pelagius in the fifth century had taught that man’s nature was essentially good. This was not to the liking of the Catholic Church leaders who found that because of Adam’s sin all men were born with a strong tendency to sin. It is even for that reason that lots of Christians do say it is impossible for Jesus to be a man. Because he was without sin he should be God, according to them. This naturally is not at all true and makes of God a horrible Creator, having created human beings who can not decide for themselves to do good or bad. Worse it would also mean that God gave man commandments He knew they would never be able to follow.
Pelagius rightly said that an individual had the power to do right by choosing to do right and by beating the body into submission through ascetic practices. Traditional Christianity said that men could defeat their tendencies to sin only by the working of God’s grace in their heart. According to the churchleaders Pelagius‘s ideas meant that Christ‘s death on the cross served more as a moral example than as an atonement able to transform the soul from within by divine force, which meant against going their doctrine of sola fide.
Those who think that Old and New Testaments alike teach us that we cannot change ourselves have not very well read the Holy Book of books. In the many books which form the bible we do have many examples of people who have gone from bad to good but also from good to bad and sometimes returning to good.
Saint Augustine from a 19th-century engraving
The Christian philosopher and theologian St. Augustine or Augustine of Hippo (354-430), best known for “The Confessions” and “The City of God” was responsible for the excommunication of Pelagius.
While in Rome, Pelagius first heard of Augustine through his reading of a prayer from Augustine’s Confessions: “Give what Thou commandest and command that Thou wilt.” To Pelagius, the philosophy expressed in this prayer sounded like the total abandonment of human responsibility and a denial of the ethical dimensions of the Christian faith. If all moral action, thought Pelagius, depends solely on God — both the commanding as well as the ability to obey — God is either an arbitrary tyrant or else man is a creature deprived of free will. Pelagius conducted his teaching along these lines while he was in Rome, and it was to this teaching that an able lawyer, Caelestius, responded, leaving his profession of advocacy and becoming Pelagius’s disciple, companion, and the popularizer of his views.
Caelestius’s Pelagian views continued to spread, and soon Augustine was preaching and writing with intense fervour against this what he called a new heresy, arguing that the whole lump of humanity is infected with sin and that only the grace administered in baptism can wash away the guilty stain.
In spite of these admonitions from the Doctor of Grace, the controversy continued, and it was not long before the articulate bishop of Eclanum, Julian, stepped in to argue the Pelagian cause, forcing Augustine, by the clarity of his logic, into positions regarding the doctrines of grace and predestination that have been burdensome to Western Christendom ever since. {Encyclopedia of World Biography | 2004}
Today we still find many who do not want to see that man has a lot in his own hands. Today there are still lots of Christians who think it is impossible for man to live according to God’s Wishes and that he does not have to do any good works to enter the Kingdom of God because it is just impossible for him to do such good works.
According to Augustine it is not possible to lead a sinless life, with (for whatever reason, probably she had to carry the god son according to the Catholic Church) the exception of the Virgin Mary. For Augustine divine grace must precede every virtuous act and today many Christians are also still convinced we are all saved whatever what we have done and whatever we do in our life.
For such Christians who try to put sand in the eyes of searching people, the saying that we need works to enter the Kingdom of God is heresy. For them it is not only possible for man not to sin, they are not able to bring any change in the salvation of themselves.
The caricature of Pelagianism found in many orthodox textbooks and devotional manuals is hardly one that Pelagius would recognize. He never, for instance, denied the need for grace or for infant baptism; he never accepted the position that man can, by his own moral efforts, achieve his salvation. On basic doctrinal issues, Pelagius was certainly orthodox; and on matters of Christian morality his chief concern was to foster among Christian people a right regard for the ethical responsibilities he saw as inherent in the Gospel message. {Encyclopedia of World Biography | 2004}
The Christian attitude is a very important issue which was been tackled by rabbi Jeshua (master teacher Jesus Christ) with a lot of delicacy. The Nazarene Jew, who was not afraid to bring others to see they had no right to judge others, told his listeners many parables in which he tried to get them to understand that we must be very careful not to loose the right to enter the Kingdom of God.
Lots of Christians are mistaken to think they do not have to do any good works to enter Gods Kingdom. It is true that they are saved and have nothing to do to get under the Grace of salvation. But what they forget is that, though they received salvation for nothing, they can loose it when they do not work at themselves. The leaders of the Protestant Reformation, 1,500 years after the last books of the Bible were written wanted their flock to believe that Jesus paid the full prize or penalty for our sins, so that nothing had to be done or paid any more. They added their human doctrine, which is nowhere written in the Bible, saying that
Jesus paid the punishment for our sins, he having fully atoned for our sins and by saying “it is finished” he did what no human could do, make up for their sins and made an end to everything what had to be done.
But it was not finished by having to come to God (a work) or to follow God’s commandments (again demanding works).
It is totally wrong to think once new born and/or being baptised, we are cleared and have a free way to enter into God’s Kingdom, or what some are thinking to go to heaven. In case a person has fund Christ and has come to God several works are needed. First of all before finding Christ work has to be done to come to know him and his God. Once a person believes in Jesus Christ, the son of God, that person has to convert to Christianity which again is a work to be done. But once baptised it is not finished. Than the person has to work at his or her character and try to stay on the right track, following God’s commandments, which shall require again some, not to say ‘lots’ of works.
Every Christian must work to control themselves. Once having become a Christian that person should try not to lie, to steal, to betray, to fornicate, to murder and many other things he or she should avoid doing (which demands work). If none of these works are needed for salvation the person could have sex with as many persons or animals as he or she wanted no matter the gender. If no works have to be done a person could also continue to do fraudulent actions, without having to worry.
It is for the reason having so many Christian preachers trying to convince others they do not need to do any works, and because of the reaction by Grow Pastor, Minister to Men, Ken Miller to us, at his article That’s the Spirit!, that we think it opportune to warn people of the lack of understanding of the given grace.
Christ Jesus died for all people, sinners or not. By the works of faith he has done, we received the Grace of Salvation, but when we ignore his calling or his heavenly Father’s calling than we shall not be allowed to enter the Kingdom of god when we did bad things and did not repent about them. It is not by works of justice that we had done, but, in accord with the mercy of God, Him willing to accept the ransom offering of His son. Through Jesus Christ our Saviour we are been justified by his grace and are we allowed to become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7)
When Saul had become a follower of the Messiah he looked at the work of the master teacher and at the sacraments which were given to those who followed Jesus. The apostle wrote
Romans 3:27-31 The Scriptures 1998+ (27) Where, then, is the boasting? It is shut out. By what Torah? Of works? No, but by the Torah of belief. (28) For we reckon that a man is declared right by belief without works of Torah. (29) Or is He the Elohim of the Yehuḏim only, and not also of the gentiles? Yea, of the gentiles also, (30) since it is one Elohim who shall declare right the circumcised by belief and the uncircumcised through belief. (31) Do we then nullify the Torah through the belief? Let it not be! On the contrary, we establish the Torah.1 Footnote: 1See 7:12.
and gave the Romans to know that they thought or hold that a man is brought into right standing with God by faith and that observance of the law has no connection with it.
Saying that he did not confirm that
“by faith apart from deeds of the law” as meaning, “by faith alone”
but him affirming that we then not through faith make null and void the law; instead, we confirm it. It is by our faith that we shall do certain works according to the faith. Pelagius considered that sacraments are elements believers should keep taking throughout their life. For him it was like it is for us, that faith should be expressed and perfected in works. Submitting to Jehovah His works in the proper disposition, which is that of faith, is an action or a work to be done.
Too many Christians forget the importance of the feeling we should have about what we have done. If we do not feel bad by the wrong things we have done and do not repent for them, for sure the Bible shows us, we shall not receive an entrance in God’s Kingdom. Repentance and teshuvah demands a work. Staying a good person also demands work. All those that say we do not have to do any work of faith, are either forgetting what the Bible tells about it and are insinuating we can do whatever we want and shall still be saved.
On the other hand it is very strange that it are just such preachers who talk so ferociously about salvation and no works needed for salvation, who also preach about damnation in a hell, a place of eternal fire.
Luckily the Bible speaks about the end of our life by death, and that we once we die shall not be able to feel anything any more. No frustrations, no pain, no sorrow any more when we die. Then it shall all be finished, but then it shall also be too late if we did not choose for God and did not work at our own self.
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Filed under Being and Feeling, Lifestyle, Religious affairs
On 2014 April 26 we started offering a readers digest to you. We wanted to have different writers presenting their selection of most interesting articles found on the net. We regret we did not find enough people interested in co-operating to create a free lifestyle magazine where people could find uplifting stories.
We started talking about the dreams we all have or have to have, because he who beams never walks in the dark, and looked at our position in this world and how positivism should enter this world more. Our invitation to you reader to share those read articles you liked is still counting. We would love to present more interesting articles people can find on the net. For this reason we started the Reblog section in 2014, when we looked if we or you have something to say or not.
At the opening of 2016 we would like to remind you that you too are invited to share with us. You too may be sharing your words with us and many more readers. You don’t have to stay in the shadow.
At this site we want to speak about feelings and started to look at the worst feeling, the one which pulls us down. Depression is when we can’t walk in the light of life any more. Our intention is to show that each of us matter in this world and that we can get fate in our change to positiveness. You and us we all can contribute and help to create a positive attitude. You have to get the right attitude of an unstoppable success, and once more we do bring a call to help to create a positive attitude.
You may consider your own journey in life but we dared to ask which kind of attitude you want to take. In 2014, when we started we asked our readers to begin their day by living their positive attitude and in started also to point out to look at the way to come to the truth. We went in defence of it. For that, we also started looking at Who should be your closest friend.
Though we may be lonely in the crowd we wanted to build up a place where many could find each other and could overcome hurt feelings. we do not ask people to be some one else, but would love to see you smiling and with a positive attitude or positive disposition.
Perhaps what we hope for is what you hope for. In September 2014 we repeated our call to come to write for us and to share what you think interesting. A year after our question what our readers are seeking we did not receive many answers. We expressed our love to find more contributors who could show ways of fulfilling our dreams. We do hope you could find inspiration here and follow your dreams.
On the first of January we, like many others looked back at the previous year and presented our first review: 2014 in review.
Our first year we got visitors from 71 countries in all. 13 countries were added in 2015 bringing the total to 84 countries in all, with most visitors again coming from The United States (2467). Netherlands (351) & United Kingdom (341) were not far behind. Based in Belgium we only could get the attention of 181 viewers in Belgium in 2015, which is not much, but which can be caused by not many writings being in Dutch, French or German. We are pleased we also got 141 viewers from Down Under.
Knowing that we need light on our path in life, near the end of 2015 we also started placing some reflections or meditations texts, which we shall continue to do. Because we did so often got questions why we referred to some ones website article, or got requests to take some listed article out of the list of “Further reading” we shall enter less references or note lesser further readings. Normally you would think people would be pleased when there is placed a link to their site, but at several of our websites we got an other impression, hearing people not being pleased they being mentioned on one of our sites. Not being appreciated we bringing others to their writings or commenting on their writings, plus they not understanding we are helping them to get more readers and to get higher on the Google ranking, whilst we take them away from our own website, we will not any more invest so much time in looking for appropriate articles worth mentioning. Therefore in the future you will find lesser links and we shall be pleased keeping you more to our own websites.
2015 was again a year were many civil rights were tread under foot. The Syrian war continued for its fourth year and brought many war refugees into Europe, a region where many do not seem to know themselves very well because kindness to others seemed to be far off. Though we are born to shine, not to fear, lots of people got over-manned by fear. At a time where there is not much knowledge of the truth, but lots of doubt and/or blindness, we tried to convince that less is still enough.
While viral moments and trends or fads, that took up lots of people their time and their Twitter feeds included viral phenomenon The Dress, pizza rat, dad bods and adult coloring books we looked at the major refugee crisis in Europe as well as numerous instances of terrorism and mass shootings. Whilst July, Caitlyn Jenner made her big debut via a sexy and scantily clad Vanity Fair cover shot…and her new reality was officially underway we also look at how we human beings manage with birth, our being and our behaviour and acceptance or not of certain situations. Bringing articles around abortion and life we were pleased to have as our 5 most active commenter Blackhorn33 who is Comanche – Irish and a half-breed that’s Full Blooded American, who with “Our Circle of Friends” met on Google and was willing to contribute about Child Abuse -The Facts, and show the world the importance of the unborn life.
“Stockholmsfyrens” ungefärliga utseende vid Ropsten med vy från hotell Forestas entréplan på Lidingö. Det runda 187 m höga tornet innehållande både bostäder och kontorslokaler är föreslaget att uppföras omkring 2014-2015. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
With less for more we looked at one of the major discussed issues of the year, bringing global warming and climate change at the second place and the refugees at the first place as major topics for 2015. Pointing out that it is important that we do know that we have to find the meaning of life and reach a state of peace, of old and new ideas to sustain power and to feel good by loving to be connected and worship something, we brought to the attention that we have our duties in this world and have to take our responsibility,making the right engagement in an actual two way conversation with your deities or more important to build up a good relationship with the Only One True God, the Divine Creator.
Throughout the year on this and our other sites we wanted to bring to understanding that we do have to come in a good relationship with others and with the Most High, even when we sometimes have to deal with the silence of God.
We asked not to forget that falsehood darkens the pure knowledge of God and that we should always turn to the Book of books, the Bible, to find the truth and Guidance. But to come to know the Creator and His creatures and creation, we do have to look with our eyes and to see with our heart. Some may think “God plays hide’n seek“, but He is always around us and sees everything we do.
The Almighty God above all other gods greater than all gods has given us His infallible Word, the Bible, helmet of salvation, God’s Words put in the mouth of prophets for perfecting, to reprove and correct. Searching or overlooking God’s presence more people do have to find His Word and take up that book that is Written by inspiration of God for our admonition, to whom it shall be imputed if they believe.
2015 once more showed to the world that human beings need a lot of correction. It was good to see that in France many nations also came to conclusion we have urgently to take care of mother earth. In this world were many have to learn that stuff is just stuff, it became time that man takes his position about materialistic desires.
The terrors which came over Europe should make those who call themselves Christian to think and have them remind and hear God’s voice, bringing them into the habit of dealing with God about everything.
In 2015, there were 295 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 525 posts. On the 12th of January in total 534 articles have been published on this site.
The busiest day of the year was October 19th with 175 views. The most popular post that day was Whoopi Goldberg commandments and abortion. But the most commented on post in 2015 was Bible, helmet of salvation, God’s Words put in the mouth of prophets for perfecting, to reprove and correct.
We are thankful that you came along on this site and do hope to find you more than once at this and some other of our sites. We wish you all the best for 2016 and do hope you may be like a tree planted by streams of water.
Have faith in your faith…doubt your doubts and don’t throw a curtain across tomorrow… the star of its performance just may be you !
There still has to be done a lot before we shall have sustainable, green habits as a second nature, but at this site we do hope to bring incentives to work at it.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,300 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.
Click here to see the complete report.
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Preceding: 2014 in review
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the sexy santa assistants were there to take a photo of you in front of the xmas tree or you could just ask them to take a photo with you and pretend that your girlfriend is a sexy santa assistant See where this picture was taken. [?] (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sarah, a dog-faced atheist currently living in North Carolina, writes
Once when talking to a family member who is aware of my atheism and verbal about it, she asked: “Does it bother you when you get Jesus stuff for the holidays?” The truth, yes and no. {Holiday Shopping For Your Token Atheist Friend}
She, like many other atheists and lots of Christians, does not seem to know that all this Christmas event has nothing to do with Christianity or the real Jesus born in Bethlehem. Christmas is a pagan feast of which real Christians should abstain. But many Christians love to think about the true real Greatest Gift on earth mankind received. That was indeed the saviour or the Kristos, Jesus Christ, who was really born in 4BCE, October 17. So, we could wonder why they like to celebrate his so called birthday on the birthday of the goddess of light and on the pagan holy day for that goddess.
Therefore it is strange that as self-proclaimed resident holiday gift adviser, this Sarah gives her guiding rules on how to shop for heathens as follows:
Don’t give your atheist friend anything religious.
Avoid gifts that use “Christmas” or “Xmas.”
Coffee is good. Atheists like coffee. {Holiday Shopping For Your Token Atheist Friend}
When we look in the shop windows we also do not see much that reminds people of the Messiah and what he has given to mankind and why we can look at him as the best gift the world ever got.
Many may say that
“The Word became flesh.”
but do not really know what this means.
A certain Chandy who is also knowing that she is been given a gift, likes to share it, but considers it impossible. she also seems to see the reason.
No one’s bothered, which is fine. People have their own choices and finally, Jesus does love them. Others possibly communicate their theology but I can’t. And in some senses I wish I hadn’t learnt it. {Despairing Resonance}
This December she writes
Blood, bodily fluids, wordless crying are at the heart of Christmas story. It is icky, joyful and fills the senses. {Christmas fragment 1}
When we carefully look around everything turns around getting presents and just making lots of fun. Naturally nothing is wrong with making lots of fun and giving each other presents. Lovely. But to have stress about it?! And to say it is all for Jesus?!
Chandy at WordPress continues
It is icky, joyful and fills the senses.
This is why with so many objects criss crossing the planet it fulfils part of the spirit of Christmas. The handling of the card, the wrapping of the gift, the prising of the plastic, the eating of food, the drinking of wine affirms our bodily humanity; for God affirms bodily humanity in its messy state by taking on a breathing, weeing, gurgling body. {Christmas fragment 1}
Looking at mankind they all seem to look for their luck in stuff.
Everyone seeking love, joy, hope, peace, contentment and seeking to find it in stuff. Anyone who has an eternal perspective sees how silly this is – chasing after wealth and popularity and power. Still the pull of this world is strong. Smell that cheddar? Don’t worry about that spring loaded wire it’s sitting on. “People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.” Wealth isn’t the issue. Idolatry – love of money is. (But sometimes wealth breeds the other.) {Contented Consumer?}
Even those Christians who say this is the season of peace are arguing that all those refugees better stayed in their country and would leave our developed society on its own, they not coming to take away some food and quality of life. They forget they themselves never brought anything themselves into this life at start, but got everything given to them, life, education, edible plants, sunshine, rain, the earth. Man is so selfish he thinks he has done it all by himself and that everything belongs to himself. To share it with others is difficult. For that reason such a gift season may not be so bad, because than people have to provide something for somebody else, and they have to spend something from their own money for it, which is not so easy for them. but many have fallen in the trap of the ” tyranny of expectations surrounding this so called Holy Day”.
Those who belong to the wealthy better should think about those who have less. This time of gifts should bring them to think about what gifts we all get in our life. Scripture is not against products that make life better for those who produce them. It is also not against consuming products. but it warns us how we use our money and warns us about the attitude we can take or have to take with the things we can enjoy.
Scriptures does not say at all that luxury would not be allowed, but it gives us an indication that we should be willing to share with others. The Bible tells us the “Love of money” is wrong and corrupting.
Studies show that those with a lot of it are more narcissistic and less generous. Our tendency is to think – that’s people who are richer than we are – They are self-absorbed and greedy. {Woes and Watch-out Warnings}
In the West we have become a “Consumer driven society”
Buy, buy, buy. Get, get, get. We’re all buyers; consumers of stuff. There are things we need and things we want. Separating our wants from our needs has become more difficult with the growing ideology of consumerism. The encouragement of acquiring more and more stuff at an increasing pace continues to change our society. The “one who dies with the most toys” philosophy has propelled the age of consumerism as our appetite to acquire things has skyrocketed. I wonder though if this is healthy for our society? {Top Risks for a Consumer-Driven Society}
The Spirit of Christmas (short film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The way people want to consume is changing and shopping becomes for some less a social activity, but a lonesome internet action, not really interested were it comes form at what cost, as long as he can get it the cheapest.
Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Distinguished Programs Joseph DeRosa warns
So as we enter the Holiday season – whatever Holiday you celebrate – think about your own gift giving habits. If it’s cheaper online, I get it. That’s simply being fiscally responsible. But if it’s not, I’d challenge you to go to the store, walk the aisles, smile at others and say hello. Let’s not slip so far into our rabbit holes that we forget that the difference between living and being alive is the amount of interaction and experience we have with one another. Would any of us really want to be walking around this planet alone? Would that be alive? Not me. Make the choice to live alive. Connect with someone. Today.
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Preceding
Family happiness and little things we do
Halloween is Satanist Christmas
He who beams never walks in the dark
The Evolution Of Passover–Past To Present
Next: One can buy a lot in the supermarket, but not hope
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Seventh day of Christmas +++
Filed under Economical affairs, Food, Lifestyle, Religious affairs, Social affairs, Welfare matters
It is a tragedy, as we will read tomorrow, that
“the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel …” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
We have no other choice than to live in this world where so many are blinded. We also do have to do with the many pains we may have to endure. Though we should know many pains and discomforts could be helped to be lessened or being softened by others.
Each of us is here in this world to help the other. Though not many are interested in doing that.
2014 – 2015 school year opening ceremony at Hanoi – Amsterdam High School
Once again a new academic year has started and we are off again on the roads, having the children back to school, having the parents back to work after their Summer holiday.
How many of them can see which wondrous blessings we have that
“God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’,
has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? (verse 6).
2 Corinthians 4:5-10 UKJV (5) For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. (6) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (7) But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (8) We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; (9) Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; (10) Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Our world was created out of the void when there was only darkness, but God called for light. That ‘light’ shone physically as creation began so long ago, but the wondrous fact for us is, as we will read in chapter 5,
“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (verse 17).
The apostle Paul in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians makes so many points which also requires our attention in this 21st century. He shows the interaction of events and the great value of prayers in all the difficulties they and he are experiencing.
All the kids who went back, or for the first time to a ‘new’ school’ shall have to learn to face different situations which are not always pleasant. Even for those who became a Christian there is no escape, they too shall have to share abundantly in Christ’s suffering. But we can give our kids some hope because we also do know that through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort too.
2 Corinthians 1:2-5 UKJV (2) Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (3) Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; (4) Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. (5) For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ.
It is, writes Paul,
“the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction …” (verses 3,4).
This is a comfort we have a responsibility to pass on to others.
This passing on to others is too much and too often forgotten. Many do want to have the blessings, but do not want to do anything in return. They want the grace but do not ask them to tell others about it.
To find people who are willing to preach is very difficult. To find people who are willing to share their knowledge about certain things of this world, like geography, history, ways of constructing a house, or how to keep a healthy family seems to be very difficult. For some time we have been looking for some extra writers on this website, though nobody seems to be interested to join us and to share his or her knowledge for free.
Let us meditate and reflect on the interaction of events we have personally experienced. It seems when we start talking about God and about his son and show others our love for them, we seem to get a negative response and to be kept aside. Suddenly co-operation or interest seems to stop at all sides.
The more we have been active in the service of Christ, the more clearly we will perceive this.
In Paul, the Corinthians saw the most outstanding example of service.
“The afflictions we experienced”,
writes Paul, was such that they were so utterly burdened beyond their strength that they despaired of life itself. We in our regions do not have to be worried so much about that, but several people in several countries, like Syria, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and many African countries are facing prosecution. We may not be unaware of the affliction many experienced in Asia and Africa.
2 Corinthians 1:6-8 UKJV (6) And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. (7) And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as all of you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall all of you be also of the consolation. (8) For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
We, in our safer regions also have to undergo problems, shunning and are not always facing a nice life. But we have set our hope that Jesus will return and that he and his God, Who is also our God (the God of Abraham), will deliver us again. Though we have to remember that like at the time of the apostles, they had to be helped by prayer, so that many will give thanks on their behalf for the blessing granted them through the prayers of many, we too need such help.
2 Corinthians 1:9-10 UKJV (9) But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead: (10) Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
We cannot just rely on people. We like Paul have to realize that we must rely not on ourselves but on God (verse 9).
2 Corinthians 1:9-11 UKJV (9) But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead: (10) Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; (11) All of you also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
Having set our hope that he will deliver us again, (verse 10), does not mean that we do not need each other, and that we should not help each other. We still have to be loving for each other and helping each other.
Paul makes an appeal that we should specially take notice of. He tells the Corinthians,
2 Corinthians 1:11-12 UKJV (11) All of you also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf. (12) For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
Other apostles came with similar requests to their flock.
Romans 15:30-32 UKJV Now I plead to you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love (o. agape) of the Spirit, (o. pneuma) that all of you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; (31) That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; (32) That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.
As in the early centuries of this common era there was a need of preaching, the apostles going around in the region to tell the Good News, we too today need some people full of hope who are willing to go into the ‘fields’ and to let others know about that Good News. We do want to tell others the Gospel of the Good News, but we too need help from others. We can use some backing.
Not only could we use some additional authors willing to share writings with people from all over the world. We, like the apostles need also your help with prayer.
As the apostles asked for help we also dare to say like the apostle Paul did:
“You also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us by the prayers of many” (verse 11).
Many are aware today through the almost instant communication the internet provides of the desperate situations some Iranian believers have experienced. There are also Pakistani believers who are experiencing persecution, and a few truth seekers who have felt it wise to return to Afghanistan. Let us help them by prayer.
Also, may we, as Paul writes in chapter 2, spread
“the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved …” (verses 14,15).
We may be unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish, but should we also not show that we are willing to step in the footsteps of that masterful rabbi?
As of God, in the sight of God we should not hesitate to speak in Christ and to show others the Way to God.
It is not because we can see so much tragedy, having so many people living in a way God would turn His eyes away, that we can not live according to His ordinances and want to show others there is a different way than the way this world has chosen.
On this platform we do want to show others this different way. To do it just on our own is not so easy. We could do with some extra hands.
Everybody has some field in which he or she is good. So everybody should be able to find something to write about which could be enlightening and educating for the others.
Having a new academic year, would this not be a good start to provide your input?
From your professionalism is there nothing you can contribute to our community and to bring some more knowledge to others, believers and non-believers in God?
Is the time not ripe to take up the pen and to join those who believe we should share more with others? It is out of love that we should share more with others. And believe it, there is lots to share about, and it has not all to do with religion.
In case you are not good at writing, you too can help, by praying for us and by letting others know our site. Promotion is always something that can help as well and motivate to continue our work. (Be sure it does not harm to motivate others now and a while.)
We do hope we can go into a fruitful new academic year in which we shall find some interested souls to join us and to share with us the love for this globe where we may reside in peace.
Please do pray for all those in need and also pray for our work, that we also may reach people in need and help them.
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You may find about prayer:
Praying and thinking positively
Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything
God, my father, my closest friend
Laboring in the Vineyard or Sitting on the Hillside with Jonah?
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Rom 10:13-15 MKJV For everyone, “whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (14) How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without preaching? (15) And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things!”
For they who do not believe should come to hear and should receive an opportunity to get to know the grace given to all people. People can only call on the Name of God when they do believe. Only then when we call onto God’s Name, Jehovah, shall we be saved. This is a condition to become saved which too many do forget. Also they who do not believe the Gospel as the record which God has given of his Son are missing a lot, and those who do believe are responsible for that, when they do not make the effort of preaching. But those who go out into the world to tell the Good News are recognised as people doing beautiful work, because how can others hear without preaching? Naturally there can only be preached rightly by those who believe and by those who are sent, showing others their faith and gladly willing to share the Good News they themselves heard and got convinced of.
The apostle turns from the responsibility of the seeker after salvation to emphasize the role that believers are intended to have in God’s plan for preaching the gospel. Calling on the Lord is meaningless apart from some assurance that He is worthy of confidence and trust, that He has something to offer that guilty sinners need. Calling on Him and trust in Him are two sides of the same coin. The verse suggests that calling on the Lord continues to be a mark of the believer, not simply the first step in the direction of establishing relationship to him.
1Co 1:2 MKJV to the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called out with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.
One must hear the gospel before a person can be expected either to receive it or reject it. Without people preaching there can be no hearing. Without witnessing there can be no thought or consideration about what could be true or not, or people would not get to know. Certain King James Versions have “without a preacher” – which may be misleading, in that it implies (or it may be inferred there-from) that there is a special office of preacher. This is of course not the case at all: all God’s children are (or should be) preachers!
People do need to hear about Jesus, the son of God. They should come to know what that Nazarene man has done and who his heavenly Father is and for what that eternal Spirit is so important for mankind. Those who do believe should know the importance of their knowledge and out of love for the others they should want others to know that truth as well. When a person believes unto righteousness with the heart he shall be glad to be able to confess with with the mouth unto salvation not being put to shame knowing that when he calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Saint Peter preaching the Gospel in the Catacombs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The apostle Paul rightly observes that it all goes back to the preaching of the gospel, and preachers, those who profess the Word of God, must be sent – both by God and the Christian community at large. It does not have to be special university people, but men and women willing to share the Gospel in Jesus’ name. God’s “normal” way of bringing people to Jesus Christ is through the preaching of the gospel, which has to happen through faithful people who follow the example of Christ Jesus and do what he had demanded his disciples.
God’s cursing or blessing is upon us, also according to our faithfulness in preaching the Word. God has committed unto us, in our ministry, the word of His reconciliation.
2Co 5:17-21 KJV Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (18) And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (19) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (20) Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. (21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
When we choose to become baptised in the name of Jesus we wanted to become in Messiah reborn, becoming a new creation. From then onwards our shyness in the world should be gone having the old things having passed away. Shyness refers to passivity, emotional arousal, and excessive self-focus in the presence of other people ( Jones, Cheek, and Briggs 1986). It also frequently involves negative self-evaluations, social avoidance, and withdrawal. (International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family, 2003). Being reborn we have received a new soul (being) not focusing as such on the self, but on the totality of union in Christ. Arousal and heightened self-consciousness in response to social threat can be put aside when one is confirmed about the truth and its value. The experiences of shyness are often sufficiently unpleasant to lead to withdrawal from or avoidance of many social situations, but they also compound the distress of shyness by distracting from skilled and self-confident social interactions. When a person his faith sits deep in him it will give him enough assurance to conquer that shyness to witness for Christ Jesus and for his heavenly Father, the only One God.
Facing all those new things which are from God we want to share with others that in Jesus Christ the Messiah Jehovah God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them; and He has entrusted the message of reconciliation to us. We are by the baptism in spirit taken away from the doubt and fear from man and therefore should want to be ambassadors for Messiah, as though God were making His appeal through us.
The apostles and members of the first communities begged the community members on behalf of Messiah, to be reconciled to God and to share the Good News with others. Though it was not easy, because many had seen what had happened to Christ Jesus, and knew that there were fierce opponents of the teachings of this master teacher. It was the Most High Almighty Elohim Who made the Sent One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. By his offering we are bought and are now facing freedom, if we want. It is not by deeds of righteousness which we had done ourselves, but because of God His mercy. It is by the blessing of Jesus his offering that we can become saved through the mikveh of rebirth and renewing of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, whom Jehovah abundantly poured out on us through Messiah Jeshua our Saviour, so that being set right by his grace, we might become heirs with the confident hope of eternal life!
Tit 3:5-7 MKJV not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, (6) whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, (7) that being justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The Messiah or Christ was a man who did not want to do his own will but preferred to do only the will of his heavenly Father. He love God’s ecclesia and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. (Ephesians 5:25-26). Like Jesus took care that the dirt of the earth was washed away by the Word of God we also should where we come try to wash away the dirt of this contemporary world.
At baptism the believer becomes a part of Christ’s new “creation” (Ephesians 2:10; 4:23-24; Collosians 3:10). That new creation is so incredible and presents such a magic future we do not want to keep it for ourselves alone. Real believers in Christ do want to become like Christ sharers of the Good News. Being washed… sanctified, we are prepared to do the work for God. It is the will to get to know the Word of God better which should bring us to read it more and to share it with others. It is not be going to a special college reading lots of human writings and philosophies that we shall get more knowledge to bring people to God. God has given everything we need in His Word. All is there in that Book of books, the Bible, God His infallible Word which says all.
Without the faith in Jesus we shall not be able to succeed. We need to have faith in Jesus so that we can call on Jesus. And we need to call on Jesus because calling on Jesus, searching for Jesus, crying out for Jesus is what brings us salvation. Through calling on Jesus, we are saved.
So why do we preach?
So that we may be saved.
We need to be saved from our own captivity. We all need to be set free from something that may keep us away from our loving heavenly Father, the Divine Creator.
The world has to know what God provided. they should come to know that there is a possibility of real peace. But they also should get to know that it will be God Who rules.
Isa 52:7-10 MKJV How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, making peace heard; who brings good news, making salvation heard; who says to Zion, Your God reigns! (8) The voice of Your watchmen shall lift up! They lift up the voice together; they sing aloud. For they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah shall bring again Zion. (9) Break out, sing together, waste places of Jerusalem; for Jehovah has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem. (10) Jehovah has bared His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
As in the time before Christ Jesus it was nice to see the messengers of God bringing good tidings. Now it is our time to bring such good tidings. We have hear them and we should be convinced of the importance of them.
4 days of Evangelism Training in Southern California provided by LivingWaters Ministry. Obeying the great commission of Jesus Christ. “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone” Mark 16:15 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Good Tidings publishes peace and brings confirmation about the sent one from God, who is the Messiah and fulfilled his duties here on earth. God reigns and has given Jeshua the authority to prepare His Kingdom and to reign on earth. We are looking for that Kingdom of God and belief that it is a reality which can be there for much more people than it is at the moment. Therefore we should be willing to show the way to Jerusalem, the physical but even more the spiritual Jerusalem. More and more we can see how the Plan of God gets shape and how we come closer to the execution of that Plan.
The freedom that awaits us has to be spoken off. But first we need to liberate us from our own weaknesses, bad things we are burdened with. We must see that we can make ourselves free from the bad things of this world first. There may be things which are holding us captive. There may be many things holding onto us.
Andy Burns, who believes the goal of life is to get so close to that light that we are breathing in the light and exhaling it out into the world, writes:
Maybe you’re dealing with a very real kind of captivity like addiction. Maybe you have an addiction to a physical substance-alcohol, drugs, those kinds of things-or maybe you’re addicted to something more abstract-your work, money, maybe you’re addicted to other people’s approval of you. And this addiction controls when you wake up, when you go to sleep, when you eat, where you work, where you go after work, how hard you work. You’re not free.
Or maybe you deal with an intensely personal problem like low self-esteem or self-doubt or depression. And maybe this controls you in ways that surprise you-you want a certain job but you don’t believe you can do it. You want to speak up but you don’t believe in yourself in enough to find the words. You want to get to know someone, but you don’t believe they could ever like you. You’re not free.
Or maybe you deal with some pain in your past. Maybe you’ve been seriously hurt-either physically or emotionally by their words or both. Maybe it was a parent, a friend, a spouse, a child. And maybe this old would is holding you captive, keeping you from enjoying life, making you avoid certain situations and people. You’re not free.
See, I think all need to be freed from something. We all need freedom and transformation in our lives. And according to Paul in our passage, this is the message that preachers are entrusted with. This is the reason we preach here. Preachers preach so that people can hear about Jesus. People need to hear about Jesus so that we may have faith in Jesus. People need to have faith in Jesus so that they can call on Jesus. And people need to call on Jesus so that we may be set free by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the message that we proclaim every week. This is what we all need to hear and what we all need to be reminded of, week in and week out. You can be free in Jesus Christ. {Stuff My Church Does I: Preaching}
People do have to hear about Jesus and each believer in Christ should take care of that. We do have to go out into the world and tell about the marvellous gift we received. We do have to invite others to share with us the grace which has been given to us.
What would it look like if we invited others here to hear the freedom of God proclaimed in the Word of God? What would it look like if we all brought this Word out into our community and saw it as our job to proclaim this freedom that everyone needs to those around us? Just think of the transformation that would happen. I think it would look pretty amazing. {Stuff My Church Does I: Preaching}
Let us all joining and be workers for the Lord, going into all the world and preaching the Gospel to everyone. (Mark 16:15 )
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Preceding articles:
A Christian has to have eyes and ears and a tongue to use in good ways
Your position about materialistic desires having conquered the world
Looking for a shepherd for the sheep and goats
When believing in God’s existence and His son, possessing a divine legislation
Not making yourselves abominable
Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
Daring to speak in multicultural environment
How To Get Started In Sharing Your Faith As a Christian
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Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Religious affairs, Spiritual affairs
Too many Christians do forget that they are commanded to
“make disciples of people of all the nations.”
How they have to do that is never explicitly said. We should realize that there are different ways to make disciples or to bring people to come to know God.
For sure a bad way to get converts is to use pressure or force. Jesus’ commission was to
“tell good news to the meek ones,”
to
“bind up the brokenhearted,”
to
“comfort all the mourning ones.” (Matthew 28:19; Isaiah 61:1, 2; Luke 4:18, 19)
We may not forget the task Jesus has given his disciples
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations,+ baptizing them+ in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.+ And look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”*+ (Matthew 28:19-20)
Real Christians should have their heart, their ears and eyes open for Jehovah’s Word and be willing to share that Word with as many people as possible. They should go looking for different ways to declare the good news from the Bible. We all should be obeying Christ by going out into the world and letting others know about the Divine Creator and His wonderworks.
Like the prophet Ezekiel of old, today real students of the Bible and followers of Christ should try to find those who
“are sighing and groaning over all the detestable things that are being done.”—Ezekiel 9:4.
We should make a positive effort to reach the public, just as Jesus did when
“he went journeying from city to city and from village to village, preaching and declaring the good news of the kingdom of God.”
His early disciples did likewise. (Luke 8:1; 9:1-6; 10:1-9)
As such we can go out on the streets, going from one place to an other, telling those we pass, about the good news which had reached us. We can share that what made us so happy and full of hope and are sure of will be bringing blessings also to them as it does to us.
We can invite people to come to our meetings and there we can share our faith with many.
23 Let us hold firmly the public declaration of our hope without wavering,+ for the one who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider* one another so as to incite* to love and fine works,+ 25 not forsaking our meeting together,+ as some have the custom, but encouraging one another,+ and all the more so as you see the day drawing near.+ (Hebrews 10:23-24-25)
Jesus giving the Farewell discourse to his eleven remaining disciples, from the Maesta by Duccio, 1308-1311. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Yes as lovers of Christ we should also consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. The the assembling or gathering is one way of showing to the outside world our unity or our family as members of the Body of Christ. There, at the meeting places, we should exhort and encourage or stimulate one another.
Sincerity, fullness of faith, the sprinkling and washing that come from repentance and baptism give the conscience freedom of access.
‘Let us approach . . . let us hold fast . . . let us consider each other ‘
are the three exhortatives which urge the practice of the three divine virtues. Hope particularly is founded on the fidelity of God to his promises, and charity must be social. Our faith is not something which has to stay in our own closed closet.
Today too much we see people who are afraid to show their faith to others. Discouragement has made them avoid community at the very time they needed it most. Forsaking fellowship is a sure way to give place to discouragement. This discouragement festers where God’s people are not exhorting one another.
We may have the gathering together of the redeemed of the Lord at the day of judgement, but it is now we have to take care that as many can be saved. Our love should be full of the love of Christ who gave his life for all mankind. We do not have to give our life, but much of our life should be concerned about the others, those who not have found Christ.
We should make an effort to bring more people to Christ Jesus. It is up to us to let him be known by much more people.
Our life should be for Christ and like Christ being an example for others. When we tell others about our faith they should see it that we live according that faith.
A Christian’s being an example of right living says more than hours of sermonizing. This was pointed out to Christian wives who had unbelieving husbands:
“They may be won without a word through the conduct of their wives, because of having been eyewitnesses of your chaste conduct.” (1 Peter 3:1, 2.)
Therefore, let us try to recommend the good news to others in this way also:
by being exemplary in the Christian conduct that they recommend to others.
Let us remember that we should try to do unto others as we would have others do unto us.
12 “All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must do to them.+ This, in fact, is what the Law and the Prophets mean.+ (Matthew 7:12)
We do know we can not know everything, nor can we be perfect. Being imperfect, we do not always succeed 100 percent. But it is the desire of our hearts to do good unto all people not only in telling them the good news of the Kingdom but also in extending a helping hand whenever possible.
14 Of what benefit is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he does not have works?+ That faith cannot save him, can it?+ 15 If a brother or a sister is lacking clothing* and enough food for the day, 16 yet one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but you do not give them what they need for their body, of what benefit is it?+ 17 So, too, faith by itself, without works, is dead.+ (James 2:14-17.)
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Preceding articles:
A Christian has to have eyes and ears and a tongue to use in good ways
Daring to speak in multicultural environment
How To Get Started In Sharing Your Faith As a Christian
Your position about materialistic desires having conquered the world
Looking for a shepherd for the sheep and goats
When believing in God’s existence and His son, possessing a divine legislation
Not making yourselves abominable
Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
++
+++
Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Lifestyle, Religious affairs
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I first started to write about “Why certain people don’t understand some things” but this night wrote first more about the lack of empathy we encounter in this world. Being 4 am, I got lost in writing, forgetting the initial title. So today I changed the title of my first writing on the question What’s […]
What’s something most people don’t understand? Throughout history, one can find some people who have acted weird, according to the majority of people. It was men and women who preferred to be themselves and not go with the mainstream. At their time they have strange things and did not mind following their dreams or thoughts. […]
The further attack by publishers of novellas and literary masterpieces by simply deleting words and descriptions to be supposedly acceptable in our contemporary culture.
What do you wish you could do more every day? The present days seem to have exchanged their hours for minutes or seconds. At times, it is impossible to stop those hands of the clock or call the days to silence. Even if I leave the days of the tear-off calendar untouched, they are gone […]
De Belgische regering is in haar eigen bedje ziek maar lijkt de betonrot in eigen gelederen niet op te merken.
While I may be uncertain about my own abilities, I am very confident about the things that have become prophesied in the Bible, which makes me joyful on that front of confidence every day.
What makes you most anxious? There may be lots of things that may get me worried, but also lots of things I am anxious to do. I might be anxious that something should happen, me very much wanting to do it, or very much wanting it to happen. Not meeting requirements or expectations worries me […]
Originally posted on Levant's Agora:
The National Editorial. Sunday’s news that Lebanon’s residents woke up in two different time zones led to jokes about “Muslim time” and “Christian time” but it also exemplified some of the problems facing the state. The government announced that the usual start of Daylight Saving Time would be delayed…
Originally posted on Levant's Agora:
By Ghassan Charbel. The world is living on Kremlin time. The decisions of its master leave their mark on the security of the planet and the prices of energy and grain. Experts agree that another year of the Russian war on Ukraine will be catastrophic to the world. Vladimir…
Putin suggested a nuclear announcement was on the way earlier in the week, saying Russia would respond to Britain’s decision to supply armour-piercing shells to Ukraine made of depleted uranium.
Long Covid Two-thirds of affected UK workers face unfair treatment, says report TUC and charity call for better support and legal right to reasonable adjustments at work for sufferers UK ministers should act to ensure long Covid sufferers receive the support they need from employers, with as many as two-thirds claiming they have been unfairly […]
The weather has finally started to brighten up in the UK. If you’ve been neglecting your gardens, or the little patch of green you have been nurturing, what better time is there to turn back to it than spring? Matt Collins has set out an easy-to-follow guide of affordable gardening tips that you can implement […]
Christians in politics have been accommodated through a policy of don’t-ask, don’t-tell, but some argue endlessly about which bathrooms trans people should be allowed to use. Cisgender psychologists and sexologists pathologise the transgender experience according to their own biases, cisgender insurance executives arbitrarily what is and isn’t “necessary care” for transgender policyholders, and so on.
Het kan niet genoeg herhaald worden: antizionisme is geen antisemitisme.
Originally posted on Quo Vadis:
Zionisme is het (blijven) streven naar en behoud van een Joodse staat. Anti-zionisme is dus het verzet tegen de enige joodse staat. Behalve de genoemde landen met een islamitische meerderheid, zijn praktische alle andere landen, incl Israel, seculier, geen enkele religie is dominant en er is godsdienstvrijheid. Godsdienstvrijheid is één…
Een kijk (door Willem Frederik Veltman) op wat de beste remedie is tegen nationalisme.
Introducing a news website that may well deserve your attention as it also debunks fake news and brings out the true facts.
Voorstelling van een nieuwswebsite die gerust uw aandacht mag verdienen omdat deze ook fake news ontkracht en de ware feiten nar boven brengt.
Event Turkey has broken Nato unity on Finland and Sweden’s push to join the alliance, blocking an initial vote on accession after President Erdogan demanded that the two countries hand over dozens of Turkish exiles he accused of “terrorism”. The veto came hours after Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary-general, hailed a historic moment for western […]
The Times, May 2, 2022 Event Ukraine, one of the most fertile and productive countries in the world, has been known historically as the “bread basket of Europe”. Now it is facing a complex and unprecedented agricultural crisis, in which landmines are only one of numerous interlinked problems. The United Nations estimates this year’s harvest […]
BBC, April 22 + Audit of antisemitic incidents Event The number of anti-Semitic incidents around the world dramatically increased last year, a study by Tel Aviv University has found. The report identifies the US, Canada, the UK, Germany and Australia as among countries where there was a sharp rise. This was fueled by radical left- […]
The Times, April 16 Russia’s setbacks could prompt President Putin to use tactical nuclear weapons, William Burns, the CIA director, has said. Moscow has a stockpile of about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, also known as low-yield or battlefield munitions, that can be deployed by air, sea or artillery. These are generally less potent than the […]
We continue reading and meditating on Solomon’s Proverbs; if all the people in Israel had put his precepts into practice surely his kingdom would have continued to be a great and righteous kingdom for “a great while” (2 Samuel 18:9) after his death. Sadly the history of the generations that followed shows that was not […]
“Die Tage unserer Jahre, ihrer sind siebzig Jahre, und, wenn in Kraft, achtzig Jahre, und ihr Stolz ist Mühsal und Nichtigkeit, denn schnell eilt es vorüber, und wir fliegen dahin.” (Ps 90:10 ELB)“Stimme eines Sprechenden: Rufe! Und er spricht: Was soll ich rufen? “Alles Fleisch ist Gras, und alle seine Anmut wie die Blume des […]
“Les jours de nos années s’élèvent à soixante-dix ans, Et, pour les plus robustes, à quatre-vingts ans ; Et l’orgueil qu’ils en tirent n’est que peine et misère, Car il passe vite, et nous nous envolons.” (Ps 90:10 LSG)“Une voix dit : Crie ! — Et il répond : Que crierai-je ? Toute chair est comme l’herbe, Et tout son éclat […]
Dans nos vies, il y a un temps pour tout. Lorsque nous venons au monde, nous ne sommes conscients de rien et vivons simplement des choses alors que ce sont nos parents qui sont autorisés à vivre leur temps joyeusement lorsqu’ils ont un enfant. Cet enfant doit être élevé par eux là où il y […]
“The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.” (Ps 90:10 NHEB)“The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory […]
De uit de wereld gekozenen hebben geen angst om tot de Onzichtbare God te bidden, in Wie zij alle vertrouwen hebben en geloven dat zij Hem als schild kunnen gebruiken.
Wij moeten beseffen dat er in de hemel een Geest is Die naar ons wil luisteren als wij bereid zijn om naar Hem toe te komen.
Het koninkrijk der wereld is het koninkrijk van onze Allerhoogste Heer en van zijn Christus geworden, die autoriteit, heerschappij en macht heeft gekregen en als koning zal regeren tot in alle eeuwigheid.
Meerderen van ons worden getroffen door het leed dat aangedaan wordt door oorlogsgeweld, aards geweld (zoals aardebevingen en modderstromen) maar wij willen niet gebukt gaan onder een slachtoffersrol. Wij beseffen dat al dat lijden mar een tijdelijk gebeuren is.
Wij bidden regelmatig, in alle nederigheid, dat Gods Naam geheiligd zal worden en Zijn Rijk zal komen.
Er moeten geen voorgeschreven woorden volgens bepaalde regels opgezegd worden. Met onze eigen woorden kunnen wij aan God kenbaar maken dat wij Hem liefhebben en nog beter willen leren kennen.
In je dagelijkse communicatie met God is het niet onbelangrijk Hem te laten weten dat jij Hem lief hebt en dat jij graag zou willen leven volgens Zijn Wil.
Er zijn heel wat dingen die er ons zouden toe moeten brengen om ons tot onze hemelse Vader te richten.
Ook al wil de wereld de mensen het anders doen geloven, is er volop reden om tot de Onzichtbare God te bidden.
Het modelgebed “Onze Vader” wordt meestal afgesloten met onze erkenning dat het Koninkrijk toebehoort aan Jehovah God , Die de Allermachtigste is en alle Kracht en Heerlijkheid bevat.
Originally posted on Living Life in a Fish Bowl!:
How’s your prayer life? What is prayer? Communicating with God – the One who rules the universe and all the galaxies beyond, who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere Asking Him to intervene on a particular situation or person Asking for His peace, joy, love, hope…
Remembering Jesus’s two purposes for teaching in parables will help us to overcome four common mistakes.
Jesus once gave a series of seven Kingdom illustrations in close connection with one another. We should remember that the most important reason for his telling such short stories is to persuade people to enter the kingdom of which he speaks.
Klinken onze gebeden als het gebed van Jezus Christus? Hierboven wordt niet gevraagd of u het modelgebed dat Jezus de wereld gaf, bidt. Vermoedelijk bidden heel wat christenen regelmatig het “Onze Vader“. Hierbij kan de vraag gesteld worden of zij wel degelijk de inhoud er van beseffen. Velen denken namelijk dat zij na hun dood […]
Als afsluiting van het modelgebed Het Onze Vader kunnen wij nog eens benadrukken hoe wij Gods Naam, Heerlijkheid of Glorie, Macht en Kracht hoogschatten.
Menahem Schmelzer, a Hungarian refugee who for more than two decades was the doting custodian of one of the world’s greatest collections of ancient Hebrew and other Jewish manuscripts and books as the librarian of the Jewish Theological Seminary, died on Dec. 10 at his home in Manhattan. He was 88. During Professor Schmelzer’s tenure […]
A fun medley about a small but nice get-together
Right now, we are in a time of seeking, and there is good reason to yearn for the Qadosh Barukh Hu, El ʿElyon, thirsting for Jehovah the living God, to find our way through the darkness. Those who have tasted the Bore and got that personal relationship with Him, have found that nothing else can satisfy their souls but Him.
In the north of Europe shelling brings a lot of darkness, but these days our brethren and sisters from Ukraine, with us are all united in the commemoration of another war won by the grace of the El’ Elyon.
As we gain new experiences and learn every day so does the confrontation of reading the Torah every year again from beginning to end, which makes us discover each time some new things, making us grow in our Bible knowledge.
Originally posted on Jewish Young Professional:
I put “Assimilated Jew” in the title of this series because “Authentic Self and the Assimilated Jew” had a nice aesthetically-pleasing alliteration to it. But honestly, I don’t self-identify as a secular Jew or as an assimilated Jew. Secular? I don’t consider myself secular because in spite of my…
Adolfo Kaminsky (or Adolphe; 1 October 1925 – 9 January 2023) was an Argentine-born member of the French Resistance, specializing in the forgery of identity documents, and photographer.
The Pesach teaches that God will ‘skip over’.
We always should remember that Shabbat is not just about not doing certain things, or the other way round, just doing special things, or having special food or bringing sacrifices.
Before planning to live together in union, one should carefully consider the cultural and religious differences and how one will deal with them after the marriage commitment.
Bij de Parasja Nitsawiem 5782 kijken wij uit naar een sjana tova oemetoeka voor ons allen.
Dit jaar zijn er nog 2 sjabbatot tot Soekot en is er voor elke sjabbat een parasja en de sjabbat voorafgaande aan Rosj Hasjana lezen wij nu de de parasja Nitsawiem.
Verwonderlijk kreeg ik vandaag het bericht van WordPress dat ik tegen een jubileum mag aankijken. Gefeliciteerd met je jubileum bij WordPress.com! Je hebt je 5 jaar geleden geregistreerd op WordPress.com.Bedankt voor het gebruiken van onze service! Ga zo door met bloggen. Wat zijn die vijf jaren voorbij gevlogen. Voordat mijn pen al mijn gedachten kon […]
Kijkend naar de geschiedenis van het Joodse Volk in Oekraïne staan zij nu weer op het punt dat er vele doden onder hen kunnen vallen.
Met Rosj Hasjana denken wij aan de wondere scheppingsdaad van de Allerhoogste. Spijtig genoeg moeten wij toegeven dat de mensheid van die schepping een janboel heeft gemaakt.
From guestwriters 