Fine! Everything is just peachy. 🙂
Or not! I mean, I do live smack dab in the middle of the 9th curcuit of hell. My biggest problem is that I would very much like to tell you precisely how I am doing, but you either wouldn’t believe me or you really don’t want to know.
My favorites are, “So how’s the hubby? How are the kids?” Oh, they are just finer than frogs hair! And if they weren’t you’d be the last person I’d ever confide in you viperous, cannibalistic, backstabbing, self righteous, ignoramous…….but I digress. My bad, I just got side tracked for a moment.
I’ve had a couple of conversations I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever have, like where you have to say ever so gently, “So, satan is the bad guy. It is not okay to practice witchcraft and call down curses against your political enemies.” This is kind of like Christianity 101, people. We tend to frown on the dark arts. Long story, there’s a whole Book about it, but just trust me here. Stay away from the darkness.
And no, it doesn’t matter if half your local government and a third of your neighbors try to say different, I’m still the one who is right about this.
I left this enlightening conversation for church Sunday because that’s how I roll, only to pass these religious protesters. Love those freshly washed faces, all selling fire insurance at the top of their lungs first thing in the morning. Consider who they were protesting against, too. Those satanists? Meth house? The people in favor of pedophilia? The city council? Mormons? Laughing here, leave the Mormons in peace, I’m just saying, if you have a complaint in this neck of the woods, the field is ripe and heavy laden with low hanging fruit.
Nope. They are the brethren who protest the brethren. The accusers of the brethren, which in case anyone wondered, is not actually a spiritual gift. Sorry.
Those words were still fresh in my ears, “we tend to frown on the dark arts,” when I suddenly realized, I can’t tell the difference! Seriously, talk about having a discernment crisis. Who is worst, the actively practicing Satanist or the religionists screaming on the street corner about how all their brothers and sisters are deceived and going to hell?
I don’t know. Sometimes I honestly don’t know. They both seem to be working for the same guy.
That’s the easy part of my life, the part I am still able to laugh about. The rest is just soul rot, just bearing witness to a lot of sadness, a lot of addiction, a lot of heartbreak.
Photo by Mike on Pexels.com
See, there's this thing called biology... 
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Not only is it the ninth circuit of hell— it sounds to be somewhat of a Dali painting— something beyond and if not nightmarish— hang in there my lone Christian soldier —
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A Dali painting, yes! Good word, Julie. I am definitely living in a bit of surrealism at the moment. Thank you for the encouragement.
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Just remember— God never leaves you alone in the wilderness
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Amen, Julie! I know that to be true or I’d just be toast by now. 🙂
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Yeah, we’re starting to have a bad case of it our Church. Pope Francis has about many haters out to get him as Trump and Putin have. I’m going have to do a post about this latest round because it’s spread even into the Church itself.
BTW, speaking of schismatics, did you see this?
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/11/establishing-order.html
I’m not totally sure what it means—any thoughts?
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Wow. No, I did not see that.
Quite a coincidence, since part of this very post is my venting about a bunch of people using 11:11 which is allegedly some kind of satanic portal in witchcraft, to try to shut down a conservative site in a local dispute over gun rights and a shooting range. Our local deputy mayor was on FB publicly supporting this effort of people calling down all sorts of dark satanic forces to try to shut down a local conservative FB page. The effort failed, but not until I first got to see just how many local people approve of using witchcraft and satanism against their political opponents.
Weird, because I’ve never heard of 11:11 being used in witchcraft and I’ve never heard of Saint Possenti until a few days ago.
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Sometimes I look out and think how messed up people are. I triumphantly proclaim how much better I am and I would never do the things others do. Then when I reflect it dawns on me that I am doing exactly what they are. I’m just glad I have Jesus!
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Yes, me too! Sometimes that is quite true. It really is good to have Jesus.
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You got people protesting your church, supposedly Christian people? I don’t think I have ever seen the like of that before.
I tend to like Mormons. They have doctrinal issues, but on the hold they seem willing to practice the Golden Rule. So I have higher priorities for my worries about the sins of other people.
One thing I think too many Christians don’t seem seem to understand is that faith is caught. We spread it by example. When we turn to Jesus and follow His example, others see the example of Christ through us. We cannot protest the sins of others an make them turn to Christ. We can only follow Christ with fervent determination so that others learn to love Him because of what they see of Him in us. We can only be ready to explain the hope that is within us because of Him.
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“Faith is caught,” yes exactly! We do spread it by example and we encourage one another to do the same, or we should be.
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Citizen Tom, I love what you say about living in a way that allows others to see Jesus. Yes, that’s sorta why we’re here, why God doesn’t just take us home the minute we accept Christ.
I did want to comment about “the doctrinal issues” Mormons have. I guess I tend to think of the deity of Christ as more than a “doctrinal issue.” Who Christ is, is pretty much at the core of Christianity, so I think it behooves us to be abundantly clear on the fact that Jesus is a member of the triune God-head. He was not Satan’s brother, He did not develop into a god to show us how we can become gods too. As Hebrews 1 says of Jesus, it was through Him God made the world, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” (1:3)
Becky
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@Becky
Don’t have much knowledge of Mormonism. So I appreciate your comment.
Since the Bible is doctrine, we should take doctrine seriously. That said, Mormons are not apostates. I suppose the people founded the Mormon Church were apostates, but people who were raised as Mormons just believe something that is not true, as does most of the world.
The church I belong to believes in street preaching. Members will go to the mall, pass out tracks, and try to engage people, and they have gone out their way to target Mormons. I guess I am just more concerned about meebots, Pagans, and Atheists, but I don’t know if God agrees with my priorities.
Since there is a Mormon Church (or is it a Tabernacle) just a few blocks down the street from my house, I suppose I ought to investigate what they believe.
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Here is a good place to learn about Mormonism.
http://carm.org/mormonism
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Citizen Tom, I do think Christians should know what Mormons believe because it’s so easy to assume they are in the family of God. Generally speaking, they are nice, moral people, and they use a lot of the language of the Bible. They call Jesus God’s son, for instance, but what they mean is different from what a Christian means. They talk about salvation and on and on. Not sure if they bring up grace a lot. They are quite works oriented. To the point that in the beginning, one of the “good deeds” was for a man to have multiple wives. (Women were saved through, or on the basis of, their husbands merit—and that might still be part of their belief system). It was considered their christian duty to marry more than one woman. Of course that’s been pushed aside, though a few hard line Mormon groups still cling to it. But there are many, many other things that separate Christians and Mormons. It’s not the same as the difference between Baptists and Presbyterians. In those denominations, there will be people who believe the Bible and although they have differences with one another, they both understand what the Bible says about Jesus. In other words, He is the unifying Person of our faith. Mormons? They deny that Jesus and the Father are co-equal and co-eternal. And much, more. But that central point is something believers should know about them.
I have a friend who has been witnessing to a Mormon for years. They’ve even had Bible studies, and the Mormon simply will not accept the truth about who God is.
So if you do decide to reach out to the Mormons in your area, just understand, this is not an easy task. I’m doubtful that waving signs at them will do anything to change their hearts, but friendship might. Don’t know. As you say, they are in need of the Truth as much as are others without Christ, and God may have certain people who can talk to one group but not another. It’s by His leading that we have to determine our priorities. But knowing about their false teachings is a good thing, regardless, I think.
Becky
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@Becky
One of my brothers considered becoming a Mormon. We were raised Catholics, but it did not seem to take root in us. Still, that God-sized hole is in each of us. Therefore, we wonder what to fill it with.
My brother rejected Mormonism. Oddly, I think that rejection had more to do with his political beliefs than his religious beliefs. I think the Mormons have dropped that part of their belief system, but they use to have some racist notions.
Convincing someone to accept Jesus Christ is never easy for us. We don’t closed the deal. We cannot. When someone is born again, that is the work of the Holy Spirit, and God works when He wills.
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“We don’t close the deal,” Amen, Tom! You have some good nuggets of wisdom.
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You are a beacon in a dark world. Don’t ever falter. We need more like you to stand for truth.
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Than you for your kindness, Kathy! Much appreciated. 🙂
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“The accusers of the brethren …” Hmm…doesn’t that describe someone else?
As I commented on another blog just now, the Army of God is postponing victory by wasting their time polishing their own armor and swinging their swords at one another. God help us.
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Oh amen! Well said. “Polishing our armor and swinging our swords at one another,” indeed. We need to knock it off and get in board with what the Father is doing.
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Well said IB. I have seen, and I know people who go down to the main part of cities, hollering at people that they better get saved, get right with God right then, or they are going to hell. Some even are in a group that almost surrounds or boxes in, the poor guy walking down the street.
It is a scary situation. I never read of Jesus carrying on that way, alone or with His disciples.
Keep on, Keepin’ on IB.
Always am blessed by you, when I read your posts.
God Bless.
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No, the Shepherd LEADS his sheep. I heard about a tour guide that told his group that in Israel the shepherds lead and the sheep follow. Later they saw a man DRIVING some sheep, and one of the tourists said, “I thought you said shepherds LEAD their sheep here?”
The tour guide looked out the window and said, “That’s not a shepherd, that’s the butcher.”
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Oh, good one! That’s it exactly.
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You said that sometimes both sides seem to be working for the same guy. Perhaps they are. You have probably heard of a police interrogation technique called “Good cop/bad cop.” One cop interrogates the suspect harshly while the other expresses sympathy and even agrees that what the other cop is doing are wrong. Often he will succeed in getting the suspect to tell them what they want to know. From the suspects point of view they are both really bad cops because they are trying to get information.
Sometimes Satan uses this method. He sets up two competing ideologies that argue with each other. A person who realizes the error of one can sometimes be tricked into following the other. God warns us to avoid departing from the truth either to the right or to the left.
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Thank you, Clyde. That’s a great, “good cop/bad cop” analogy and a good reminder that we don’t have to choose one ditch or the other.
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WOW… Great analogy! There is only one Truth, and any number of lies. It isn’t one or the other.
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