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I visited an old friend over the weekend. We had not talked for far too long a time. He gave me some sound advice–it was about me. We were discussing someone who was a mutual friend, and who’d wronged me. Even though I knew it was wrong to carry resentment towards my former friend for what he had done, nevertheless, I have been unable to completely shake that resentment. In a nutshell, my friend told me something I thought I already knew–that even if my former friend was 100% wrong–I AM WRONG FOR CONTINUING TO RESENT HIM FOR IT! That...

Recently I realized that I think way too much about what I’m going to say to people who cause me, to be honest, just a mild inconvenience! It’s a clue to an issue that isn’t fully worked out yet. I remember being at a park one day when I was a boy. My brother was there, too, and another boy. I was smiling, and I believe it was the other boy who asked me, “Why are you smiling?” I was just happy to be alive. Apparently that boy had already had his happiness snatched away. Mine would get snatched soon...

Welcome to the weekend your host with his formerly stained fingers at the keyboard with another post looking in all kinds of directions. Lets go to conventional politics the kind backed by and controlled by Big Business. Mike Pence lining up his loyalists and among them Kellyanne Conway... Now the story of the "Alberta Wall" the three layers of fencing erected around Grace Life Church just outside the city limits of Edmonton in Canada. Its the coronavirus crackdown enforced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a private security company.... At one time the "Conservative Christian" Premier of Alberta William...

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…”In order to be able to sincerely ask forgiveness of our sins, we must be willing to undergo prayerful self examination. The LORD’s prayer teaches us to ask God to show us our secret faults, our trespasses, and any obstacles between our soul and God which we might be unaware of. We serve and worship a God who is able to search our hearts. He can see what we cannot see about ourselves. We can learn to pray sincerely with David, for the light of God in our self...

“…and Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”We are dependent creatures, we need our daily bread and are taught to look to God for it in the Lord’s prayer. We certainly cannot live by bread, but neither can we live without it. In the same way, we cannot live without the mercy of God’s forgiveness. We need it, daily. I cannot live without God, without communion and the sense of God in my life. But I am a sinner. I have to have forgiveness. God gives us so much more than we even realize. His giving is constant,...

Cancel culture just proved itself more powerful than the devil in Prada herself, Anna Wintour. Years-old tweets you made as a foolish, ignorant teen, and later profusely apologized for, mean you can’t be trusted as editor of . . . Teen Vogue. Alexi McCammond, deemed in 2019 the emerging journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists and supported by Wintour and the rest of top Condé Nast management for the Teen Vogue job, won’t be starting next week as editor-in-chief of the fashion and lifestyle magazine after a staff rebellion over offensive remarks posted in 2011....

For those concerned with becoming a victim of today’s raging “Cancel Culture,” there is a rather simple solution: be born perfect. Actually, be born perfect, live a perfect life, and never run afoul of the unwritten, constantly changing, and haphazardly enforced rules determined by an anonymous committee of self-appointed social media scolds. Or, maybe it is not so simple. It is easy to make light of the obviously impossible standards liberals have set for acceptable thoughts, speech, and actions; to the point where liberals now are cancelling one another. Nevertheless, beyond this absurdity lies a less obvious and quiescent trait...

Err On The Side Of LOVE. By JAG March 14, 2021 Sunday It's impossible for we humans to always "get it right" with regard to the precise balance between LOVE and Justified Harshness. But err on the side of LOVE. Strongly emphasize such things as: ■ God wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ■ There is Hope for all men. ■ Second chances for all people. Give'em second chances. ■ Forgiveness. Be forgiving in heart. Forgive people. ■ Never curse the darkness, instead light at least one candle. ■ Do at...

There is a story related in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov about an old woman who was quite wicked. She dies and goes to hell to the great distress of her guardian angel. The angel searches for any possible good deed to plead on her behalf and finds a rotten onion – something the old woman had given to a beggar. The angel takes the onion and, with it, begins to pull the old woman out of hell. The end of the story is less than successful, but its power lies in the importance and significance given to even the smallest...

If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. (Psalm 130:3-4)The Psalmist is crying out to God, from “out of the depths”. Those “depths” can be manifold; fear, depression, persecution, pain, and a whole host of other possible sorrows and pains that are so abundant in this fallen world. But underneath all of them, and what makes the endurance of any of them so very insufferable, is guilt. If you marked Iniquity…who could stand? All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God,...

Jeremiah Chapter 7 They were dealing with each other unjustly Jeremiah 7:5 They were oppressing foreigners Jeremiah 7:6 They were oppressing the fatherless {orphans} and widows {the defenseless} Jeremiah 7:6 They were killing innocent people Jeremiah 7: 6 They were stealing, murdering, committing adultery and committing perjury in the courts. Jeremiah 7:9 God spoke to them again and again and told them to stop doing all these sins, but they refused to listen to Him and they kept on murdering innocent people. Jeremiah 7:13 They were stiff-necked and would not listen and obey the Lord -- they refused to respond...

Who Loves Most? ( or least?) Posted on March 3, 2021 by billrandles There is a vignette in the Gospel which illustrates a very critical point about Loving God. It answers the question why some come to love God and others do not seem to have capacity to love him. And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an...

Many will not want to hear this, but it’s a message that needs to be said.As we watch the way the Democrats attack every good thing, while upholding and rewarding all evil, it is natural to desire the day they fall. Yet when that day comes, and it surely will, remember not to celebrate nor rejoice. Instead consider what Solomon wrote in Proverb 24:17-18; Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Lest the LORD see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from himProverbs 24:17-18...

A parable... Not long after they got married, two newlyweds got into an argument. In the heat of the moment the husband slapped the wife. Horrified over what he had done, he dropped to his knees and begged forgiveness. His wife accepted his apology, they kissed and made up. He never raised a hand against her again. Over the years they had a happy, if not perfect marriage. They raised children, went on trips, bought a home. The husband worked hard to provide for his wife and family. Occasionally the wife would request something and, if the husband hesitated, she...

Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people,...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

Millions of borrowers in the federal student loan program are defaulting on their loans. The Education Department now estimates the cost of student loan losses at more than $400 billion. That exceeds the losses of banks during the sub-prime mortgage crisis. As such, progressives are now pressuring Joe Biden to forgive student debt entirely. The losses in the student loan crisis increase the federal deficit, imposing heavier tax burdens on current as well as future generations. Citizens need to understand why the federal student loan program failed, and what impact this failure has on our society. The federal student loan...

Lately there have been times when I become angry at the things I see going on in the world. I find myself wondering if the things I care about are worth my time. I see many people walking around in a daze, caring only for what the world has to offer them, not what the Lord does.It seems like my friends and relatives dismiss the things I share with them as just another rant from someone who is way too wrapped up in things they could care less about. My frustration can become so overwhelming that I wonder why...

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. I I...

America, as successful as it has been in creating a country where people risk their fortunes and their lives trying to enter, has remained a work in progress. Its past leaders, often imperfect by today’s standards, stretched the fabric of our rich mosaic in every age to help live up to the values we first just dreamed of embracing. We aren’t what we will be, but we can be proud of how far we have come in our journey. Can we ever get beyond the racial sins of our past and present? I take heart in the Biblical story in...