Most people have the idea that "freedom" or "liberty" means you can do whatever you want, or more limited - whatever is legal. But is that correct?
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In Galatians 5:1, the Apostle Paul writes - "Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." There are two extremes of freedom or liberty. The first extreme is its limitation: in verses 2-6, St Paul the extreme limitation of legalism -
"Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. For we, through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love."
By mentioning "circumcision" St. Paul is referring to being initiated into Judaism and swearing to keep all the detailed ordinances of the Law of Moses as spelled out in the Talmud, hundreds and hundreds of items you can and cannot do. St. Paul, on the other hand, was preaching the Gospel of God's grace to all mankind, the Good News that the promise of blessings given to Abraham before the Law was given to Moses are now available to everyone through Christ. But Judaizers came around after Paul preached this Good News: they insisted that in order to be a Christian, you first must become a Jew and follow the Law of Moses.
The other extreme of freedom or liberty St. Paul mentions is in verses 13 and 14 - "For you, brothers, were called to freedom. Only don't use your freedom as an excuse to gratify the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" This tells us that freedom doesn't mean we can do whatever we want, whatever our passions and desires urge us to do. Rather, it means we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to be considerate of others, to love for them just as much as we love for ourselves. Paul write in verses 16-18 -
"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
So we can summarize the meaning of freedom this way: Freedom is the Holy Spirit-given ability and responsibility to follow just the two great commands: love God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.
The Apostle Paul continues in Galatians 5:19-21 to explain the consequences of thinking that freedom means we can do whatever our desires urge us to do -
"Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, gluttony, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God."
When most people hear the word "sin," they think it only refers to adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, and lustfulness. Or they laugh it off as old-fashioned thinking, saying "Love is love, it doesn't matter who you love!" But St. Paul includes "uncleanness" - homosexuality and lesbianism - as sins, adding lustful thoughts to the list too, just as Christ taught.
Next comes idolatry and sorcery, to which most people say - "Well, that was then, this is now: we know those things don't really exist anymore!" But what do those words really mean? The Greek word "eidolatria" means the worship of false gods, not only gold, silver, bronze, or stone statues, but also anything other than the true God that becomes the center focus of our lives. And the word "sorcery" or "witchcraft" in some translations is the Greek word "farmakoia" taking chemical subsances that induce altered states of consciousness, which can open the door to evil spirits. This illustrates the interconnection of body, soul and spirit.
Then comes a whole laundry list of vices: "hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, gluttony, and things like these." Some of these - jealousy, anger, rivalry, envy - might seem not so bad, but they can lead to hatred, gluttony, and murder. If we open the door of our hearts to the former little demons, it's like letting the camel's nose into the tent: the bigger, fiercer demons can follow in after.
So here we have a whole laundry list of vices, 18 of them, that make our lives harder, baser, and uglier. But the antidote comes next, in verses 22-24 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts." Just nine virtues, making our lives beautiful and glorious. These nine angelic spiritual forces can overcome the 18 demonic forces... if only Christ has taken control and we have"crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts."
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
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CHRISTIANITY, THE CONSTITUTION, COURTS AND CONTROL
by Madeline Crabb: Renew America
(23 Sep.) How is it that the death of one woman, one of at least two million government employees, can cause such a maelstrom in this country, with the potential of causing a civil war?
For anyone awake and aware, it is not news that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last week. Her demise is not a surprise to anyone who knew she has been battling cancer for two decades. But for those on the radical left, or the socialists/communists who are trying to overthrow our constitutional government, this is an early "October Surprise" they were not expecting.
Ironically, it is usually the party of the leftists who unleash some awful kind of dirt upon the Republican Party from which recovery is not possible. It is a strategy that allows no time to properly refute accusations. Then considering nearly all media sources constitute the public relations arm of the Democrat Party, all accusations are taken as fact, never investigated by said media. However, this time it was not a political party unleashing havoc upon the electoral process, but God. Why do I say this? It is not because He is necessarily trying to influence an election. No, it is simple fact that God alone has final say in matters of life and death. It was her time. Period.
Some of what I am going to say will upset many people who worship at the altar of liberalism and despise/ridicule Christianity. While I understand Ginsburg was a learned person who feverishly worked in promoting her causes, and that it was quite an achievement to reach the bench of the highest court in our nation, I disagreed with her political ideology which, in my opinion, did affect her work in the Court, caused great harm to our constitution, and even contributed to further dividing our country. We will discuss this more in a bit. Despite my personal feelings about this woman, I have prayed for her throughout her illness, and for the comfort of her family who mourn her death.
Additionally, I prayed for her salvation, because most of her life and legal career she was devoted to causes that are contrary to God's Word, for which she was not ignorant. Jews may reject the New Testament but respect the Old Testament. Both give a basic understanding that God is holy and has standards for how we are to live and treat others. One particular scripture comes to mind that applies to all of us, maybe more so for judges: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic. 6:8 KJV) I submit that while Justice Ginsburg seemed like a quiet, humble person, her actions in the political realm provide contrary evidence.
She is partially responsible for advocating the overturning of God’s Law regarding marriage; for promoting a multiple-choice gender list that undermines the fact God created only two sexes, male and female; and for endorsing instead of condemning the violation of at least the sixth of the Ten Commandments that tells us "You shall not murder." Therefore, referring to the above scripture, I submit she showed no mercy, except to those desiring to thwart God's will and mock His Word, that she did not act justly, and that instead of walking humbly with God, she instead joined with those mocking Him and presuming to be a god unto herself. How so? Let us examine those who are most upset with her passing.... [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: This article goes on to give the details of how Judge Ginsburg consistently supported and now is mourned by Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, National Abortion Federation, the entire LGBT community, and the ACLU ("Anti-Christian Leftists Union"). We ought, as the author does, to be praying for God's mercy on her soul, while at the same time we should be working to undo the massive damage she has done to our society. We must not only cast our one vote, but support efforts of traditional Christian-oriented organizations to get out the vote!
KAZAKHSTAN: COURTS FAIL TO HALT SEIZURE OF CHURCHES' PROPERTY
by Felix Corley: Forum 18 News Service
(25 Sep.) Almaty's New Life Church was not represented when the City Court upheld an earlier court decision to seize two buildings the Church bought in 1993 and uses as a spiritual centre. Almaty Justice Department officials responsible for carrying out the seizure refused to answer questions. A Nur-Sultan court rejected Grace Presbyterian Church's suit to have annulled an order seizing their church, and the half-built place of worship of Agape Pentecostal Church.
On 17 September, the City Court in the commercial capital Almaty again upheld an earlier court decision to seize two buildings owned by New Life Protestant Church, which it uses as a spiritual centre. The Church uses the centre for prayer meetings and other activities, including offering support for those suffering from drug and alcohol dependency. The Church bought the properties in 1993 and the purchase document – seen by Forum 18 – has the official stamp of the Church confirming its status as the purchaser.
Officials of the Territorial Department for the Transfer of Property in Favour of the State of the Justice Department in Almaty, who have responsibility for carrying out the seizure of the Church's two buildings, have refused to answer Forum 18's questions as to why they are intending to seize Church-owned property and when they plan to do so. The Church itself has not been represented at the hearings and will try to challenge the seizure of its property, its lawyer and its Pastor told Forum 18. Forum 18 was unable to reach the Judge to find out why the Church was not allowed to be represented.
The Church is planning a complaint to Almaty's Prosecutor's Office, both against the planned seizure of its property and the denial of the possibility to take part in the court hearings about its own property. The Church's lawyer said the verdict in the criminal case against the Church's three former Pastors, which ordered the seizure of the two Church-owned properties, can still be challenged to the Supreme Court in Nur-Sultan. A successful appeal could allow the property seizure order to be changed, she added. "Some of the 15 people being helped live in the houses," the Church's Pastor Ivan Kryukov told Forum 18 from Almaty. "If the authorities seize the houses, they'd be put on the street."[read more~~]
(23 Sep.) The occupation administrations of the Russian Federation in the temporarily Occupied Regions of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts (ORDLO) systematically implement and finance measures to strengthen the militarization of children, as well as pursue policies aimed at eradicating any form of religion other than the Orthodox Church that is subject to the Moscow Patriarchate.
This was stated by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for human rights Lyudmila Denisova during an online presentation by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine of a new report on the human rights situation in Ukraine for the period from February 16 to July 31, 2020, reports Ukrinform.
"The occupation administrations of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions systematically implement and finance measures to strengthen the militarization of children. The so-called paratrooper patriotic club 'Panther' provides military education for children and youth aged 5 to 20 years in the temporarily occupied territory of the Luhansk region. In June-July, the first and second shifts of the military-patriotic 'St.George's fees' were held," Denisova said.
The Commissioner clarified that this issue was raised by him during a meeting with Deputy Prosecutor General Gunduz Mammadov, which resulted in an agreement to exchange information on human rights violations. Also, representatives of the Russian occupation administrations in ORLO banned schoolchildren from wearing religious clothing and religious attributes.
"Thus, measures are being taken to eradicate other forms of religion, except for the Moscow Patriarchate's Orthodoxy, of course, which is a violation of the right to freedom of religion. In places of deprivation of liberty in the territories of the temporarily occupied Luhansk region, it is prohibited to practice other religions and denominations, in particular Islam and Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea," Denisova said. [read more~~]
GOVERNMENT AGENCY RECOMMENDS ENDING SUBMINIMUM WAGE
from: Disability Scoop
(18 Sep.) A federal civil rights commission is calling for an end to a policy that allows people with disabilities to be paid less than minimum wage describing the program as "rife with abuse." In a report out Thursday, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said the time has come to phase out subminimum wage.
Employers are currently able to obtain certificates from the Department of Labor allowing them to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The provision in Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act dates back to 1938.
The practice has come under fire in recent years for being discriminatory and exploitative, with advocates putting an increasing emphasis on the opportunities available through competitive integrated employment even as some families have fought to maintain access to sheltered workshops.
Cities and states from Alaska to New Hampshire have imposed restrictions on paying people with disabilities less than minimum wage. And, at the national level, both Republican and Democratic Party platforms have supported legislation doing away with subminimum wage. In 2019, the House of Representatives voted for the first time to outlaw subminimum wage, though the bill known as the Raise the Wage Act has not been considered in the Senate.
Now the civil rights commission an independent, bipartisan agency established by Congress - is the latest to urge an end to the practice. The recommendation comes after the commission received thousands of comments both for and against subminimum wage and collected data and testimony from lawmakers, federal agencies, self-advocates, family members, service providers and experts in the field. Site visits were also conducted to observe people with disabilities working for both subminimum and competitive wages.
In its report, the commission said that regulators have "repeatedly found providers operating pursuant to Section 14(c) limiting people with disabilities participating in the program from realizing their full potential while allowing providers and associated businesses to profit from their labor."[read more~~]
COMMENTARY: We know that many people with intellectual disabilities can perform many basic tasks and become barely self-supporting if paid a minimum wage. But paying them just half that much is treating them like slave laborers, keeping them in bondage to their masters - a new, hidden form of slavery.
RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES STORM SIBERIAN COMMUNE, ARREST MESSIANIC CULT LEADER
from: The Moscow Times
(22 Sep.) A Siberian messianic cult leader and his deputies have been detained at one of their communes on accusations of using followers’ money and psychological violence to inflict harm, Russia's Investigative Committee said Tuesday.
Armed agents were filmed storming the Church of the Last Testament's compound in a southern district of the Krasnoyarsk region. The agents can be seen placing its leader Vissarion Christ the Teacher, whose followers believe that he is the reincarnation of Jesus of Nazareth, inside one of several helicopters deployed in the raid.
"Fifty police vans, 50 buses, an ambulance and medical workers are driving over here," the Tayga.info news website quoted local resident Alexander Staroverov, who witnessed the early-morning raid, as saying on social media. Investigative Committee and Federal Security Service (FSB) agents detained Vissarion, a former policeman whose secular name is Sergei Torop, as well as two of his deputies.
The Investigative Committee said that the cult's leaders "used its members' money and psychological violence" against them, causing "serious harm" to some members' health. Investigators intend to charge them with creating a religious association that uses violence, the Investigative Committee's statement said.
The Church of the Last Testament reported raids and interrogations in February in connection with a fraud investigation into a school attended by its members' children, according to Interfax. [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: While we by no means support heretical teachers and charismatic cult leaders, it is not proper for the state to enforce just one set of religious beliefs.
CASE OPENED AGAINST 2 BALTIC FLEET SERVICEMEN WHO WASHED THEIR SHOES IN HOLY SPRING IN ORTHODOX CHAPEL
from: Interfax-Religion
(18 Sep.) A criminal case has been opened against two servicemen of Russia's Baltic Fleet after a scandalous video showing them washing their shoes with water from a holy spring at an Orthodox chapel in Kaliningrad was published on the Internet, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax.
"The military-investigative department of the Kaliningrad military garrison has opened a criminal case based on this fact under Part 1 of Article 148 of the Russian Criminal Code (insulting religious sentiments) against two servicemen from one of the military units of the Baltic Fleet," the source said.
They are both natives of Dagestan: one of them is a conscript, and the other one is a contract serviceman, the source said. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office told Interfax earlier that the people involved in this incident were identified during an inquiry into the publication of the scandalous video on the Internet.
The video earlier posted on social media shows a group of five young men who spoke with a Caucasus accent commenting on washing their shoes in a holy spring at an Orthodox chapel. It was later reported that the people in the video were Chechen natives, but Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, has denied that information. In the meantime, the press service for the Ministry on Nationalities Policy and Religious Affairs of Dagestan said the Baltic Fleet servicemen who washed their shoes in a holy spring in Kaliningrad would publicly apologize.
"We've contacted Dagestani officials in the Kaliningrad Region, and they confirmed to us that the guys who washed their shoes in the spring are natives of our republic, and they are serving as conscripts in the Kaliningrad Region. We've contacted them. They've apologized, but they're ready to apologize again publicly," an official with the republic's Ministry on Nationalities Policy and Religious Affairs said. [read more~~]
(Maybe you've read this before and you're wondering, "Why am I seeing this again?" But millions of other Christians haven't seen it! So please help us by clicking on the title above, then use the "share" buttons to share it with your social media friends. Thanks!!)
Private charity by individuals, churches, synagogues and other non-profit organizations should replace government welfare programs. Why? Because private charity is by nature more efficient! Such organizations (like ours) often operate on a totally or mostly volunteer basis, emphasize personal relationships with unemployed people, and have limited funds to dole out.
In contrast, government welfare agencies are staffed by well-paid bureaucrats who often consider it just a paycheck, are understaffed and have a case load so large that they can't develop caring relationships with their clients: they just check the boxes, sign the forms getting people into government handouts, authorizing the welfare checks from seemingly "unlimited" taxpayer funds. But that "unlimited" river of money is running dry now that there are more on the receiving side than on the taxpaying side. Also, government can't point its clients to moral or spiritual authority, but we Christians can: see "Work is Part of God's Plan."
The 50-year-long "War on Poverty" has failed. Poverty won. We've spent over $17 TRILLION and lost two generations of people who are de-motivated to work because big government has inculcated a mindset of dependency. Subsidizing a thing gets more of it, so the result of subsidizing unemployment is more of it! But nearly everone - including disabled and elderly people - if they really want to, can find some form of work that contributes to society. So we must first help the unemployed change their mindset, overcome entropy, then show them how to and help them to Get a Job!
Their Own Anti-Christian Dogma Lives Loudly Within the Leftists: Only minutes after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death last week, long before a nominee for the late Justice’s vacant Supreme Court seat was announced, leftist politicians and members of the left-press launched a full-scale assault on Federal Appeals Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett - a leading contender for the vacancy - over her faith and religious beliefs.
The left-press then began repeating and repeating the infamous line of questioning a few years ago by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who serves as the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, “The dogma lives loudly within you, and that's of concern.” But testing a nominee's fitness for public office based on their personal faith is barred by Article VI of the Constitution: “No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
A Reuters headline from Sep. 22 reading "As U.S. Supreme Court nomination looms, a religious community draws fresh interest" pointed to Barrett's association with People of Praise, a Christian parachurch organization, and suggested the group was somehow "authoritarian" and discussed whether it should be considered a cult - even comparing it to the dystopian "Handmaid’s Tale."
When asked whether Barrett's faith was off-limits in any upcoming hearing, Judiciary Committee member Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, responded: "No." So neither should the anti-Christian ideology of the Leftists be off-limits. And the novel notion that new "civil rights" can be discovered in an imaginary "penumbra" of our Constitution, Bill of Rights and other Amendments would be utterly foreign not only to our Founders who wrote them, but also to nearly all U.S. legislators and Supreme Court Justices for the first 200 years.
Please remember to pray for Christians in Secularized Countries, and for~~
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of its blessings; the inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. - Churchill
Most people have the idea that "freedom" or "liberty" means you can do whatever you want, or more limited - whatever is legal. But is that correct?
(23 Sep.) How is it that the death of one woman, one of at least two million government employees, can cause such a maelstrom in this country, with the potential of causing a civil war?
(25 Sep.) Almaty's New Life Church was not represented when the City Court upheld an earlier court decision to seize two buildings the Church bought in 1993 and uses as a spiritual centre. Almaty Justice Department officials responsible for carrying out the seizure refused to answer questions. A Nur-Sultan court rejected Grace Presbyterian Church's suit to have annulled an order seizing their church, and the half-built place of worship of Agape Pentecostal Church.
(23 Sep.) The occupation administrations of the Russian Federation in the temporarily Occupied Regions of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts (ORDLO) systematically implement and finance measures to strengthen the militarization of children, as well as pursue policies aimed at eradicating any form of religion other than the Orthodox Church that is subject to the Moscow Patriarchate.
(18 Sep.) A federal civil rights commission is calling for an end to a policy that allows people with disabilities to be paid less than minimum wage describing the program as "rife with abuse." In a report out Thursday, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said the time has come to phase out subminimum wage.
(22 Sep.) A Siberian messianic cult leader and his deputies have been detained at one of their communes on accusations of using followers’ money and psychological violence to inflict harm, Russia's Investigative Committee said Tuesday.
(18 Sep.) A criminal case has been opened against two servicemen of Russia's Baltic Fleet after a scandalous video showing them washing their shoes with water from a holy spring at an Orthodox chapel in Kaliningrad was published on the Internet, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax.
Their Own Anti-Christian Dogma Lives Loudly Within the Leftists