Tongues on Fire

The Thread of Threads An aggregation showing the focus & scope of the ministry entrusted to me by the Spirit of Jesus Christ who has called & qualified me for service in the office of a philological trainer (the spiritual version of a PE teacher)

Harm vs Injury Harm is neutral with respect to justice. There can be just harm. Example: Taking away an unjust benefit is harm, but it is harm that accords with justice. When stolen property is taken from the thief and returned to the rightful owner, the thief thereby suffers harm; but, that is harm which accords with justice, or "just harm". Injury is always unjust. The thief injures his victim when he steals property. Returning that property harms the thief, but does not injure him. "Shallow empathy" does not make this distinction.

Beware the empathy exploit. Empathy is good and right when thought through (deep), but can be deadly to civilization when simply stimulus-response (shallow). For example, releasing a repeat violent offender may feel good at first (shallow empathy for the criminal), but it is wrong to do so when that person will go on to hurt or murder innocent victims, as there should be deep empathy for future victims.

Wealth, Poverty, and Blessedness +Efficacy of Prayer quote vs “Blessed are the poor of spirit” +Etymology of “Blessed” +Wealth as that which makes life easier, confers an advantage +Physical vs Spiritual life & respective forms of wealth =God extends His benefits especially to those who lack spiritual advantages Consider the following quote from CS Lewis’ essay, “The Efficacy of Prayer”, in connection with the opening line of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor of spirit…” “...I dare not leave out the hard saying which I once heard from an experienced Christian: ‘I have seen many striking answers to prayer and more than one that I thought miraculous. But they usually come at the beginning: before conversion, or soon after it. As the Christian life proceeds, they tend to be rarer. The refusals, too, are not only more frequent; they become more unmistakable, more emphatic.’” Consider also the Greek word “makários”, which is translated as “blessed”, for which HELPS Word Studies gives us the following etymological note: 3107 makários (from mak-, "become long, large") – properly, when God extends His benefits (the advantages He confers); blessed. So, he is “blessed” to whom God extends His benefits. Now, consider that wealth is a category which includes things that make life easier, and which confer an advantage to those who have them, compared to those who don’t. The terms “easy” and “advantage” predicate goals. To “make life easier” is to make the goals of life easier to accomplish; and to “have an advantage in life” is to be situated for the expedient accomplishment of the goals of life. Physical life and spiritual life have different goals. Accordingly, the categories “physical wealth” and “spiritual wealth” include different things. Physical life has its wealth (money, physical strength and beauty, social integration, traditional wisdom); things that make it easier to accomplish the goals of physical life (to survive long enough to grow to maturity, to reproduce, and then to die well, leaving an inheritance to the next generation). But spiritual wealth and poverty will be defined by a different set of goals: -To love God and neighbor without hypocrisy (having given due diligence to the question of what is good for our beloved); and subordinately, to foster a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (cf. 1 Timothy 1:5). -To know God and make Him known, bringing praise and glory to His name; and subordinately, to believe the one He sent (cf. John 6:29). -To participate in the Great Commission of the Church (cf. Matthew 28:19-20); and subordinately, to foster the virtues of 2 Peter 1:5-8 (faith, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, love), which will “keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Accordingly, spiritual wealth is a category which includes: -Passive experience (i.e. having been loved) & good examples -Early conversion (old habits die hard) and active experience (i.e. years of service) -Good preaching, shepherding, and community -Literacy, access to the written Canon, and time to study (i.e. being unburdened by physical necessities) Read Luke 15. We serve a God who will leave the ninety-nine to rescue the one. His angels rejoice over the repentance of one sinner, more than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. Jesus must be about His Father’s business; and we are supposed to deny ourselves, and follow Him. Luke 15 ends with the parable of the Prodigal Son, which ends with a warning against jealousy. When God extends special benefits to the poor of spirit, those who are spiritually rich must guard their hearts. We also see “Blessed are the poor” in action in the story of Rachel and Leah. In commanding the love and attention of their husband, Rachel had the advantage of physical beauty. How did God respond? Genesis 29:31 ESV When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Consider also that, in the end, Rachel was buried on the way to Bethlehem; but Leah was buried in the cave that Abraham bought for a burying place, laid together with Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and eventually her husband Jacob would be laid beside her. This story exemplifies the sense of “blessed” in which God extends Himself with special benefits to those who are disadvantaged. My hope is that these considerations will give you a deeper understanding of what “Blessed are the poor of spirit” means. If you have grasped these concepts, then the current situation with miracles should make a little more sense to you. He doesn’t need to extend every benefit to those having the greatest advantages. That’s a worldly way of thinking: Give resources to those best positioned to give a return on investment. "Blessed are the poor" is a teaching that turns our world upside down. Applications Use your advantages well: Be about our Father’s business. Follow Jesus. Consider carefully how you can turn your advantages into benefits for the poor (meaning both the poor of this world, and the poor of spirit). Caution about comparison: Remember that our definition of wealth included a note of comparison: We said, “Wealth is a category which includes all such things as make life easier, and which confer an advantage to those who have them, COMPARED to those who don’t.” 2 Corinthians 10:12 ESV Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. If you compare yourself to other people, you might be able to convince yourself that you are spiritually rich. I advise extreme caution about that way of thinking. In general, the only safe comparison is to Jesus: He is the standard. John 9:41 ESV Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains. Matthew 12:36-37 ESV I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, [37] for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." If you say, “I am spiritually rich;” then Matthew 12:36-37 and John 9:41 tell me that God will treat you as such, just as He treated the Pharisees according to what they said about themselves. Jesus called them “blind guides”, and yet He dealt with them, not according to His own evaluation, but according to their own self-evaluation. So: Use your advantages well (benefiting the poor); but, comparing yourself to Jesus only, count yourself among the poor (so as not to disqualify yourself from the benefits that God might extend to you).

@AttorneyF_ Well said I wrote this poem in response to @elonmusk saying he was OK with going to help, since that is the destination of the majority of humans x.com/i/status/17990…

People joke that hell will be ‘lit’ because all the famous people will be there. It is one of the most theologically illiterate things a human being can say, and almost nobody stops to explain why. The joke assumes enjoyment exists independently of God. That pleasure is something humans discovered and God merely watches from a distance. That we are having fun he is not privy to. But that is completely backwards. God did not observe sex and decide to permit it. He invented it. He did not stumble upon music. He is the source from which music flows. No human musician in their current state walks into heaven’s choir without being exposed. The least of them will put our greatest to shame. Every good thing we have ever experienced is derivative. A trickle from a reservoir we have never seen. This is why the incarnation is such a devastating argument. God puts on flesh. He enters the world with full access to everything we spend our lives chasing. Wealth. Fame. Sex. Power. And he is conspicuously unimpressed. Not because he came to perform suffering, he went to weddings, he ate, he wept, he loved people fiercely. But none of it could compete with what he already knew was real. A man who has eaten the actual meal is not tormented by the photograph of it. Then he meets a rich man, a man who had maximized human enjoyment by every available metric, and he says: sell everything and come. Nobody says that unless they know exactly what is on the other side. That is not the language of sacrifice. That is the language of an outrageously favorable trade. As for hell, the joke gets it completely wrong. Hell is not a party for rebels. Hell is what happens when a being built to find its fullness in God is permanently severed from the source of every good thing they ever enjoyed. The music does not continue without him. The laughter does not continue without him. The connection does not continue without him. Because all of those were on loan from the one they are now cut off from. It is not pleasure without God. It is the final and total collapse of everything that ever made pleasure possible. You are not enjoying something God is missing out on. You are enjoying God already, dimly, through everything he made. Heaven is not a different category of experience. It is the same thing with the glass finally removed.

Change your thinking about your worth. From benefit-based worth (“What do I bring God?”) to vengeance-based worth (“What happens to those who touch what is His?”). Truth: We bring God zero benefit. Any claim otherwise is self-deception. But we are His temple, bought for a price. Touch us, and the King’s vengeance follows. This is unshakable. This is promised. Repent of self-appraisal. Anchor in His faithfulness. The terror of God is now your safety. #Metanoia #TempleWorth

@TCNetwork Matthew 25:40 And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Luke 10:16 "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

The people in charge don't want you to know this, but Muslims love Jesus. Islam reveres Him as a major prophet and messenger of the Lord, believes He performed miracles, and states that He will return to Earth to defeat the Antichrist. That's why Donald Trump's painting depicting himself as the Son of God offended the president of Iran. It was an attack on his religion as well as Christianity. Today's Morning Note newsletter covers Masoud Pezeshkian's condemnation of Trump's “desecration of Jesus,” the Iran War's gutting effects on America's housing market, Colombia's plan to murder Pablo Escobar's hippopotami, and more. Read below. watchtcn.co/4stA1RL

You seem to regard interruption as an essential and distinguishing mark of an authentic search for truth. But, it is obvious that interruption is also a feature of gaslighting, narcissism, and even stupidity. Your willingness to believe, on this occasion, that interruption distinguishes the authentic search for truth, marks you as some combination of gaslighting, narcissistic, and/or stupid. The truth is, interruption accompanies the authentic search for truth only on the occasion that all participants trust one another's motives (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:30). In modern American politics, this is rarely, if ever, the case. Decorum serves the ugly reality that the political left and right have incompatible epistemological commitments, and neither can fully believe that the other is authentically seeking the best possible answer. Both must suspect the other of using bad-faith arguments and tactics to secure their own political victories.

Whenever I've been part of a group that was trying to find the objectively best answer to a question (often in science & math), we'd interrupt each other all the time, in pursuit of getting the best answer. If people are focusing on interruptions and "decorum" generally, that comes at the expense of focusing on trying to get the best answer.

In looking at the transcript of the Birthright Citizenship case oral argument, I noted something that I think is indicative of why Justice Jackson seems to be "wearing out her welcome" with other Justices. The CJ has brought a bit of structure to oral arguments -- at least to the beginning. The Attorney takes 60-120 seconds to give a "30,000 foot" overview of his client's position. The CJ then starts the questioning with Justice Thomas, and then goes in order of tenure on the Court. Twice in the Birthright Citizenship case Justice Jackson jumped in ahead of her turn, and stepped on the answers to questions that were posed by Justices on the Court longer than she has been. She first did it at page 23 of the transcript, while Gorsuch was in the middle of asking a question. He ignored her and kept asking his question. She then did it to Justice Barrett -- trying to jump in after Justice Gorsuch finished, when Justice Barrett was next. Justice Kavanaugh opted to not ask any questions in the first round. In fact, she did it twice to Barrett -- coming back and trying to interject a question again when Barrett was still asking questions during the first round. When she did it a 3rd time, Barrett just let her go. Her inability to control herself, and her seeming indifference to the protocol the others all respect are the kinds of little things that end up with you occupying the William O. Douglas seat on the Court.

Mt5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. When Jesus is asked for mercy in Lk18:39-42, He responds by saying, "What do you want me to do for you?" So, as a practical rephrase of Mt5:7, Blessed are those who say, "What do you want me to do for you?" For to them God will say, "What do you want me to do for you?"

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Insofar as we do not, in fact, currently "see... face to face" or "know fully, even as I have been fully known", I do not accept that the "perfect" Paul is referring to here has indeed come. It seems entirely reasonable that the "perfect" that Paul is referring to is the "culmination of the age", when Christ will come again. What say you to this? I never get an answer. Do you "see... face to face"? Do you "know fully"? Of course, I also stand with you in rejecting babble as the Biblical gift. As far as I can tell, the "gift of tongues" is a Holy Spirit led development of linguistic competence, a la 1Cor2:13, 1 Corinthians 2:13 ESV And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. Gift = Endowment of Competency Tongues = Language Gift of tongues = Endowed Competency with Language One whose tongue is spiritually gifted is able to express the message of the Gospel in the vocabulary of those around him. As Jesus compared the Kingdom to things that His audience was familiar with, a "tongue speaker" would be able to choose fitting subjects of comparison that fall within his audience's experience. Matthew 13:52 ESV And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." Same old ideas, new expressions. All pointing back to the Canon, of course - never going beyond what is written, just putting what is written into new forms of expression that are expressing the same truths in a way that is especially receivable by some particular audience. Would you say that this ability is a "gift"? Would you be thankful for it if you had it? Do you see how these sorts of things are so helpful for our carrying out the Great Commission, which involves teaching and preaching? And, of course, this sort of endowed competency has not at all faded.

Modern "speaking in tongues" isn't the biblical gift. Scripture shows real tongues were known human languages (Acts 2:6–11), for edifying the church with interpretation (1 Cor 14:27–28), and as a sign—especially to unbelieving Israel (1 Cor 14:21–22; cf. Isa 28:11). They were temporary sign gifts tied to the apostles & confirming the early message (Heb 2:3–4; 2 Cor 12:12). Paul says tongues "will cease" (1 Cor 13:8), and history shows they faded after the apostolic age & canon closed—when the "perfect" (complete revelation) came (v. 10). Today's unintelligible, ecstatic "prayer languages" edify self (1 Cor 14:4), cause confusion without interpretation, and mimic pagan practices more than Pentecost. Paul prioritized clear teaching: "I would rather speak five intelligible words... than ten thousand words in a tongue" (1 Cor 14:19). Don't quench the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19), but test everything (v. 21). The true gift served the church's foundation—not endless private babble. We have the full Word now. Let's speak truth plainly.

@GovStitt, you recently said that you do not believe that Democrats are incentivizing and facilitating illegal immigration in order to import voters. Can you at least acknowledge that this fact pattern is strongly suggestive that they are? And, please explain how you interpret this pattern of facts.

Democrats PASSED Driver’s Licenses for All. Democrats BLOCKED a “Not for voting” indicator on those licenses. Democrats PASSED automatic voter registration tied to driver’s licenses. Democrats ADMITTED those licenses could be used for voting. Not a fluke. It’s by design.

Your church preaches the Word. Your church prays for miracles. But are you putting them together? Where there is a genuine need for a miracle, there is an opportunity for God to confirm His message with a sign - one that says, in a language only He can speak, "This people may know that I am the LORD" (cf. 1 Kings 18:37; Exodus 7:5). Scripture is full of such moments: Elijah's fire on the altar "that this people may know"; the paralytic's healing "that you may know that the Son of Man has authority" (Mark 2:10); Lazarus raised "that they may believe that you sent me" (John 11:42); Jesus' signs written "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ" (John 20:31). When someone in the church is sick, we pray for healing. But why? So they can turn around and die tomorrow, or next year, or in fifty years? Jesus Himself warned against working for the food that perishes: "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life" (John 6:26-27). Physical health perishes. Financial provision perishes. Any earthly relief we chase eventually fades. But the Word of the Lord endures forever. Let the miracle carry the message - let it become a sign that points to unchanging truth - and we stop laboring for things that spoil. We stop running after things that run out. The miracle then serves as divine punctuation: a bold statement affirming the preached Word, building faith that lasts. You're already preaching. You're already praying. Now, intentionally attach the requests to the teaching and the testimony. Catalog the needs in your church and deploy your requests strategically and rhetorically. Pray corporately for God to move in confirmation. Watch what happens when the miracle arrives not as spectacle, but as signature. See what God will do.

The language about the spiritual body, as distinct from the natural body, is in the SAME CHAPTER as the first fruits discussion (1 Corinthians 15). That is in the Bible. You seem determined to misunderstand what I am saying. I am simply affirming, (1) There there is a spiritual body, which is distinct from the natural body. This is explicitly stated in 1 Corinthians 15. (2) That the spiritual body is capable of communicating without language, and without representative figures of any kind. Note: This does not mean that the spiritual body is incapable of communicating with language. If a spiritual body were to communicate with a natural body, the spiritual body would likely still use language or some form of representation. This would fall under the category of, "Nothing shall be impossible with God," and "God is perfect in all of His ways"; understanding that representation is an objectively imperfect way of communication. Clarifying note on the first point: You seem determined to understand this as a "second body", which is not something that I specifically affirm. I'm not sure if you read it in my last message, but there is a SENSE of the word "body" which includes the head, and another SENSE which excludes the head. That doesn't mean you "have 2 bodies", but rather that you "have a body" in these 2 distinct SENSES. The spiritual body could simply be a "body" in another sense. We could talk about avatar analogies here. I have one body in the real world, and another, distinct body in a digital world, which we call an "avatar". There might be some analogical likeness between this situation and the situation of our physical and spiritual bodies. But, I suspect that the spiritual and physical bodies might be more intimately connected to one another than the player and his avatar. The physical body has many parts, but some parts participate in the life of the body more than others. The physical body might simply be a low-level participant in a larger ontological framework, comparable to the participation of the hair and nails in the physical body (or maybe even the dust of the feet). In its most basic sense, a "body" is just something that has parts and a unifying principle which makes it the case that those parts are parts of a distinct whole, rather than an indistinct heap. There are, as Paul says, biological "bodies" as well as celestial "bodies". We could also point out that there are geographical bodies (ie bodies of water) and political/social bodies. The Church is a "body". The word body has multiple senses, and I think there is a sense of "body" which applies to the spirit, and which you are missing. The fact that you are missing that sense of the word "body" which applies to spirit has me concerned that you are not understanding Jesus in John 6, when he says that His flesh is true food. You know He's not talking about cannibalizing his physical body, right? He has a body in a different sense, a spiritual body, whose flesh really is true food. Flesh is defined in relation to body as that which makes up the body; Christ is Truth, and His words are spirit. He has a "body of doctrine" which is a true, spiritual body (God's Word is living and active). To eat His flesh is to believe His message; and, everything is what it eats. The more you learn from Christ, the more your spiritual body acquires such mass and form as enables you to be incorporated in the Church body, and even to stand in the Heaven of heavens.

@OnTongues Study the first fruits. Then it will be clear. Jesus has a glorified body. When Jesus comes back, we will also have glorified bodies. It's not complicated. That's what the Bible says. There is no "second resurrected body" of Christ. That's nowhere in the Bible.

Question for all Christians... What language will we speak in heaven?

Earlier you said, "Our bodies will be like Christ's resurrected body." Now you say, "John is talking about the final resurrection. Not Christ's resurrection." It seems like you should be able to see my logic. John says that what we will be - in the final resurrection - has not yet appeared. But you say that our bodies - in the final resurrection, right? - will be like Christ's resurrected body. That means what we will be - in the final resurrection - has already appeared, contra John. We've seen it. John and about 500 other witnesses saw it. They testified to it. We've seen it through their testimony. And yet Paul finds it necessary to answer the question, 1 Corinthians 15:35 ESV But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" There might be more to the resurrection body than can be seen by un-resurrected eyes. I think there is. I didn't think that would be controversial. What is over and above the merely physical body might constitute a body - not necessarily an OTHER body, but maybe just a body in a different sense - which is able to communicate without language through the direct transmission of truth in substance. What do I mean by a "body in a different sense"? Whether or not there is such a thing as a truly "disembodied spirit", we know what is meant by a "disembodied head". There is a sense of body which includes the head, and a sense which doesn't. That doesn't mean you "have two bodies". It just means you have a body in those two senses. At any rate, I didn't come to argue. Seemed like a fun question. I've tried my best to base all my thinking on this and every subject on the Word of God. I don't see how the "first fruits" concept unravels my argument. But I'll let it go.

John is talking about the final resurrection. Not Christ's resurrection. Your whole argument falls apart when Paul says Christ is the "first fruits" of what is to come. Learn what the first fruits are, and it will be clear because you are missing context through words and not the concept.

I don't follow your objection. You say, "We" not "him"; but John says "we shall be like Him." And, He appeared. If we will be like Him, and He has appeared; then what we will be has appeared. But, John says what we will be has not yet appeared. Therefore, it seems like there must be more to the spiritual body than what appeared to the Disciples after the Resurrection.

@OnTongues You are not following the verse correctly. It is not at all talking about Christ's body. It is talking about what our bodies will be like, not His. "We" not "him." "We shall see Him as He IS." Not "As he will be."

1 John 3:2 ESV Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. Follow this logic: "What we will be has not yet appeared." Jesus appeared in a physical body after his Resurrection (His "Resurrection body"). If Jesus appeared as we will be, then what we will be has appeared, and 1 John 3:2 is wrong. I cannot get on board with your thinking here. The spiritual body, as it seems to me, has not yet appeared. The "Resurrection body" of Jesus was a physical body that was under the control of a fully activated spiritual person (as opposed to the "emptied out" state described in Php2:7).

@OnTongues Christ does not have two bodies. He has one resurrected body.

The Disciples saw Christ, after His resurrection, walking, talking, eating with them with a physical body. They testified as they saw and heard. But if there is a spiritual body that is distinct from the physical body, the Disciples would not have seen that. They could not have testified to the spiritual body of Christ. To affirm the spiritual body, is not to deny the physical body. The two are distinct - this is how Paul describes them, first there is one and then there is the other, not one body that is both physical and spiritual. The way I see it, a physical body can be under the control of a spiritual being who either is or is not fully conscious of their spiritual body. We are now less than fully conscious of our spiritual body. There will come a time when we are fully conscious of our spiritual body and circumstances. Incarnation is an act. A spiritual person who is fully conscious of his spiritual body may or may not "express" himself in the physical realm with a physical body. The Scriptures do not go so far as to describe the way that the two bodies are related. It may be that the physical body participates in the whole, spiritual being in something like the way your hair and nails participates in your physical body. In other words, the physical body might be something like a "part" of the spiritual body, yet a part that can be removed. In still other words, the spiritual body might persist even when the physical body has died. So, tell me what you think: After the Crucifixion, before the Resurrection, the physical body of Christ is dead. Was the spirit of Christ "disembodied" at that point? Or, is it possible that He was then, as He always is, embodied spiritually with a spiritual body? "Possible" is the key word. What is possible, given the texts we have to work with? Let's take care that we don't go beyond what is written. For my part, I find NOTHING in the Scriptures which indicates that a "disembodied spirit" is a real thing. I'm not even sure it makes sense. The whole concept could be nonsense. I'm not ready to build any doctrine on that. You say that the risen body of Christ was both physical and spiritual. What gives you the sense that the body the Disciples saw was a "spiritual" body? He did some remarkable things in that body, no doubt. But He was already doing some very remarkable things even before His Resurrection. Remember the Transfiguration. Was His physical body also a spiritual body the whole time?

@OnTongues Our bodies will be like Christ's resurrected body. It's a body that is both physical and spiritual, like an angel that can transcend the physical, but still take on physical characteristics. Christ spoke to his Apostles after resurrected, so we will speak as well.

The cessation of tongues is not equal to the cessation of communication. The perfection of communication, as I understand communication, means moving away from representations of reality and towards direct, substantial conveyance. I agree that we will not be "disembodied" in Heaven; however 1Cor15:44 indicates that there is a "spiritual body" which is distinct from the natural or physical body. I don't think there is any such thing as a "disembodied spirit". 1 Corinthians 15:44 ESV It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. I expect the spiritual body to be more perfect than the physical body. "Tongues" involve representations, because the physical body is incapable of the more perfect form of communication (transmission of truth in substance, without representations). The spiritual body is that which is able to communicate without representations, making "tongues" obsolete.

@OnTongues I don't think the message of the Bible is that language will not exist in heaven. I think heaven will be like life on earth, except better in every way. We will not be disembodied spirits in heaven. We will actually live a life, and it's hard to do that without communicating.

Father in heaven, We come before You with empty hands and humbled hearts. We confess that if You had not first loved us, we would never have sought You. If You had not opened our eyes, we would still be walking in darkness. Every breath we take, every step of faith we stand on, every moment of repentance we know is mercy given, not something earned. Lord, we acknowledge the truth of Your word that we were once dead in our sins, slaves to what we loved, unable to free ourselves. Yet You did not leave us there. You spoke life where there was death. You shone light where there was blindness. You did not wait for us to climb toward You, but You came down to rescue us through Your Son. Thank You for the cross where our guilt was carried, our shame was answered, and our condemnation was silenced. Thank You that salvation is not built on our strength, our choices, or our consistency, but on Christ alone who finished the work perfectly. Teach us to rest in that grace. Guard us from pride when obedience grows, and from despair when weakness remains. Keep us from trusting in self and from drifting back into fear. Let our repentance be sincere, our faith simple, and our hope anchored fully in what Christ has done. For those walking through suffering, remind them that affliction is not punishment but refinement. For those nearing the end of this life, fill their hearts with peace, reminding them that Jesus is not a stranger waiting on the other side, but the One who has walked with them all along. Father, keep our hearts soft. Keep our eyes on Christ. Keep our lives shaped by truth and not by the spirit of this age. May we never grow tired of the gospel, never grow casual with grace, and never speak of You lightly. All glory belongs to You alone. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

@AttorneyF_ It is worth noting that, for Christ, the First and Great Commandment is instructive towards the Second which is like it. How then does Christ love His neighbor? If we are to do all things in the Character of Christ, how then should we?

When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He replied: “Love the Lord your God… and love your neighbor as yourself.” A question that’s been sitting with me is does “loving yourself” here function as an assumption or an instruction? And if it’s assumed, what does that mean for people who genuinely don’t love themselves; the traumatized, the depressed, the self-loathing? At first glance, it looks assumed. Jesus doesn’t issue a third command: “love yourself”. He presumes some form of self-reference already exists. But that raises a problem, cos many people do not experience self-love at all. Trauma distorts self-perception. Depression collapses value. Some people survive without believing their life is worth much. So what’s going on? Jesus isn’t assuming you love yourself. He’s assuming something darker and more universal: that you’re obsessed with yourself; your pain, your worth, your survival. Even self-hatred is a kind of self-preoccupation. The depressed person knows their suffering intimately. The self-loathing person catalogs their failures in exhaustive detail. We are all deeply attuned to our own wounds, needs, and longings. Jesus takes this self-orientation as a given. Then He does something unexpected. Instead of commanding wounded people to fix their self-image, He gives them a sequence: Love God. Love your neighbor. As yourself. Why this order? The modern solution runs the opposite direction: go inward, do the work, heal yourself, then love others from that healed place. But for the truly broken, this is a trap. The depressed person staring into themselves finds only more darkness. Self-love as a prerequisite becomes another standard they’re failing to meet. Christianity reverses the equation. Loving God means your worth is no longer negotiated internally or earned through performance, it’s received from outside yourself. Loving your neighbor means love becomes a practice before it’s a feeling, something embodied before it’s analyzed. And only then does love return inward; not as a demand, but as a discovery. You don’t heal by commanding yourself to feel differently. You heal by re-ordering love itself. Somewhere in the hundredth small act of care for another, in the accumulated weight of being loved by God, you notice the voice that says you’re worthless has gone quiet. Not because you defeated it in argument, but cos you stopped organizing your life around it. Self-love isn’t commanded because it isn’t the foundation. It’s the consequence. You don’t start with “love yourself.” You start with God. You move outward to others. And somewhere along the way, the hatred loses its authority.

"In biblical terms, a 'sojourner' refers to a person who resides temporarily in a land that is not their own." biblehub.com/topical/s/sojo…

@OnTongues @StephenM Show me that from a Biblical dictionary, not a secular one, and I will listen.

Every day, for the prior 4 years under the Biden Administration, our country was mass invaded and forcibly occupied by illegal aliens. Innocent American children were raped, mutilated and murdered. Entire towns (Springfield, Columbus, Eu Claire) were resettled. Entire neighborhoods were turned into refugee camps. Entire communities were transformed. Schools and medical systems ravaged. The treasury raided. Walkable communities made unlivable. Family parks made into crime scenes. Communities scarred, besieged. These are incomparable crimes against nation and citizen. Yet, not one day in that long and brutal nightmare did the corrupt press show one tiny microscopic fraction of the outrage they now hurl at the brave HEROES courageously reversing this invasion in the face of unceasing far-left assault. That is because the corrupt press is a key instrument in the Left’s quest for national dissolution.