Happy Easter Yuri. At the beginning of the madness in 2020. I started searching for answers. I came across John Macarthur at Grace to you. He did a sermon titled, "When Government rewards evil and punishes the good". His church eventually went to battle with California public Health and won. From that came a film titled, "The Essential Church". If you want, check out some of his sermons from 2020-2023. Actually, he's been the Preacher of Grace Community Church for over 50 years. I have learned so much and now understand so much more. I wondered how the whole world could be deceived by the evil one. I no longer wonder what that looks like. Thank you for sharing your experience. May peace be with you.
I have been so gratified to see so many ppl on Substack and on X who are professing their faith or asking for prayers especially among young adults. I see God's Hand in all of this. 🙏🏻
“The moment we turn to this [2 + 2 = 4] and make it a guiding principle of our life and existence, we die.”
Yes. The intension of this idea is that a civilization, if it wishes to prosper, needs a universal ideal — a supreme value from which all others are derived. The enemies of civilization instinctively recognize this and subvert it with “false gods”: “BLM”, “Slava Ukraini”, “no one is safe until were all safe” and “trans” recent among them. The spiritually deficient quickly pick up on these because they require little other than hollow social signaling: “pronouns” in the “bio”, signs in the front yard, conspicuous public sloganeering and other vapid practices, whereas a worthy supreme value necessarily requires more, much more: self-restraint, patience, intellectual honesty, tolerance and genuine forbearance born of true insight and loving understanding.
Christianity, as it is currently practiced, is far from perfect but is head and shoulders above anything else in terms of its social benefits and history is irrefutable proof of that: The USA was explicitly founded on Christian principles and became wildly successful; its recent social and economic decline (and impending collapse) are direct consequence of spiritual emptiness and moral poverty. The responsibility for this must be laid at the feet of the Christian Church, which failed to live up to its trust.
The message of Jesus has been lost in intellectual mediocrity and in the contamination of worship with political and social entanglement. This is now being revealed as a grave mistake, the consequences if which will take generations to repair.
But don’t despair; the gospel *of* Jesus (in contrast to the gospel *about* Jesus) lies dormant in the wreckage of the Christian Church and will soon rise from the dead as did Jesus, and there is already evidence of a resurgence of a more moral and spiritual orientation among the “early adopters”.
Happy Easter. I'll post this here too for what it's worth:
I was raised Protestant but, though I still have my faith, I do not attend a church. I have issues with suspending the historic Jesus from the divine Christ. For me, I need it to be real. I cannot wonder if Jesus was more of a cult leader with narcissistic traits or a truly divine and loving spirit. The historicity does matter to me. I can’t believe in a fabrication, so I struggle. However, the narrative lessons of Christ stand firm, irrespective of this question, and the idea to “turn the other cheek” to those who wound you, I believe applies ONLY to those whom you otherwise love and not to your enemies whom you do not. But to nurture your enemies to love without wounding yourself.
“I cannot wonder if Jesus was more of a cult leader with narcissistic traits or a truly divine and loving spirit. The historicity does matter to me. I can’t believe in a fabrication, so I struggle.”
As I saw what I could only understand as a cloud of evil descend on the earth over the last five years, it dawned on me that evil is a real, tangible, and powerful thing, not just a description for people making dumb mistakes. Having realized that evil is real, the only way forward to make sense of the world was to decide to believe in a countervailing force of good.
I struggle with faith as well. But since none of us own a time machine, the gulf between doubt and belief has to be resolved some other way. For me the resolution has to come as a personal choice between that doubt and belief. Sometimes the only way forward when the intellect doesn’t provide an answer is through the heart, or intuition, or a calling, or whatever way of discernment works for you. I will say that making a choice for faith has made almost everything in my life better. All the best to everyone this Easter and may you find your way into peace.
The reason we’re all alive, why the race didn’t end in Eden, is that Christ agreed to be our Redeemer. Since “He is faithful who has promised” that promise was enough to secure both our current existence and our future existence.
That promise secured a lag between cause and effect, between sin and death (what Paul called the Law of sin and death, which is incredibly simple; you sin, you die.)
So the decline of our civilization lagged the decline of our adherence to Christianity. In the same way that our first cigarette doesn’t kill us, our first sin doesn’t kill us. But if we persist with them to the point they become habitual, they WILL kill us. The analogy isn’t perfect but you get the point.
Solomon prophesied on this question long ago:
“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
It’s a warning to parents, and an explanation for our circumstances, AND it goes direct to the heart of Easter: when Christ fulfilled His promise and broke forever the power of our enemy.
My brother, I only dare to leave this comment because you are no swine. Therefore, my pearls will not be trampled in the mud. Billy wouldn't have wanted you replacing church with his sermons. He encouraged people to find a body of believers that they could grow with. Christ's command to His followers before He ascended was that they go make disciples. Disciples are more than converts. Not all the churches are demoralized. When Elijah thought himself to be the only one left who served the Lord, the Lord gently chastised him saying, "I have reserved to myself 7,000 in Israel who have not bowed the knee to baal." In John 13, Christ's new command to us at the last supper was that we love one another. How can you love fellow believers through a tv screen. The church house is just filled with broken sinners drawing near to Christ through the Grace afforded to them by His body and blood. They aren't perfect. They aren't always easy to love, but they are His bride. Imagine if someone told you that they loved you and welcomed you but wanted nothing to do with your wife. Would you fellowship with them? The church is the Bride of Christ. She is clothed with His righteousness. The church is the Body of Christ....bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. I would gently beg you. Do not rob your brothers and sisters the pleasure of your company. God keep you and yours. May your children have the greatest testimony of all...that they have walked with Christ from their youth, and He has kept them from sin. May you and yours walk in the strength and power of Christ's resurrection now and always. May God's peace be upon your home and may His Spirit always be at peace in your home. -Strength and Courage
Thank You, Yuri! Now I found my Church - I listened Billy Graham here all by myself - and I found what I really needed. Wonderful present from God! Exactly what I needed. Thank You again!
What struck me hardest - first during the early Covid madness, then in 2021 after the 'vaccine' release - was how so many of our friends, neighbors and coworkers jumped on the public-health cartel's bandwagon.
The politicians were just enacting a supercharged variant of what politicians always do - exploiting a fake crisis to seize more power. But the ordinary people - like your hiking-trail Karen - who exulted in acting as their willing spies and enforcers?
'Mass formation psychosis' is one way to explain it. A better way is to think of it as the Enemy at work, doing what he does best.
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
If you have not yet read Mr. Lewis' Surprised by Joy, you might want to give it a go. Mere Christianity next.
Sooner, rather than later, you'll need to find fellow Christians to worship with. You can't live life as a disembodied brain in a jar. God bless, and may the Word always be a lamp for the path of your little one.
Happy Easter Yuri. At the beginning of the madness in 2020. I started searching for answers. I came across John Macarthur at Grace to you. He did a sermon titled, "When Government rewards evil and punishes the good". His church eventually went to battle with California public Health and won. From that came a film titled, "The Essential Church". If you want, check out some of his sermons from 2020-2023. Actually, he's been the Preacher of Grace Community Church for over 50 years. I have learned so much and now understand so much more. I wondered how the whole world could be deceived by the evil one. I no longer wonder what that looks like. Thank you for sharing your experience. May peace be with you.
I have been so gratified to see so many ppl on Substack and on X who are professing their faith or asking for prayers especially among young adults. I see God's Hand in all of this. 🙏🏻
Happy Easter, Yuri and Comrades!
“The moment we turn to this [2 + 2 = 4] and make it a guiding principle of our life and existence, we die.”
Yes. The intension of this idea is that a civilization, if it wishes to prosper, needs a universal ideal — a supreme value from which all others are derived. The enemies of civilization instinctively recognize this and subvert it with “false gods”: “BLM”, “Slava Ukraini”, “no one is safe until were all safe” and “trans” recent among them. The spiritually deficient quickly pick up on these because they require little other than hollow social signaling: “pronouns” in the “bio”, signs in the front yard, conspicuous public sloganeering and other vapid practices, whereas a worthy supreme value necessarily requires more, much more: self-restraint, patience, intellectual honesty, tolerance and genuine forbearance born of true insight and loving understanding.
Christianity, as it is currently practiced, is far from perfect but is head and shoulders above anything else in terms of its social benefits and history is irrefutable proof of that: The USA was explicitly founded on Christian principles and became wildly successful; its recent social and economic decline (and impending collapse) are direct consequence of spiritual emptiness and moral poverty. The responsibility for this must be laid at the feet of the Christian Church, which failed to live up to its trust.
The message of Jesus has been lost in intellectual mediocrity and in the contamination of worship with political and social entanglement. This is now being revealed as a grave mistake, the consequences if which will take generations to repair.
But don’t despair; the gospel *of* Jesus (in contrast to the gospel *about* Jesus) lies dormant in the wreckage of the Christian Church and will soon rise from the dead as did Jesus, and there is already evidence of a resurgence of a more moral and spiritual orientation among the “early adopters”.
Lon, 🎯
Thanks for sharing your story of conversion! I was raised atheist and converted in late middle age. It’s never too late. God bless you and
Happy Easter.
Happy Easter! He is risen!
He is risen, indeed!
Happy Easter. I'll post this here too for what it's worth:
I was raised Protestant but, though I still have my faith, I do not attend a church. I have issues with suspending the historic Jesus from the divine Christ. For me, I need it to be real. I cannot wonder if Jesus was more of a cult leader with narcissistic traits or a truly divine and loving spirit. The historicity does matter to me. I can’t believe in a fabrication, so I struggle. However, the narrative lessons of Christ stand firm, irrespective of this question, and the idea to “turn the other cheek” to those who wound you, I believe applies ONLY to those whom you otherwise love and not to your enemies whom you do not. But to nurture your enemies to love without wounding yourself.
“I cannot wonder if Jesus was more of a cult leader with narcissistic traits or a truly divine and loving spirit. The historicity does matter to me. I can’t believe in a fabrication, so I struggle.”
As I saw what I could only understand as a cloud of evil descend on the earth over the last five years, it dawned on me that evil is a real, tangible, and powerful thing, not just a description for people making dumb mistakes. Having realized that evil is real, the only way forward to make sense of the world was to decide to believe in a countervailing force of good.
I struggle with faith as well. But since none of us own a time machine, the gulf between doubt and belief has to be resolved some other way. For me the resolution has to come as a personal choice between that doubt and belief. Sometimes the only way forward when the intellect doesn’t provide an answer is through the heart, or intuition, or a calling, or whatever way of discernment works for you. I will say that making a choice for faith has made almost everything in my life better. All the best to everyone this Easter and may you find your way into peace.
The reason we’re all alive, why the race didn’t end in Eden, is that Christ agreed to be our Redeemer. Since “He is faithful who has promised” that promise was enough to secure both our current existence and our future existence.
That promise secured a lag between cause and effect, between sin and death (what Paul called the Law of sin and death, which is incredibly simple; you sin, you die.)
So the decline of our civilization lagged the decline of our adherence to Christianity. In the same way that our first cigarette doesn’t kill us, our first sin doesn’t kill us. But if we persist with them to the point they become habitual, they WILL kill us. The analogy isn’t perfect but you get the point.
Solomon prophesied on this question long ago:
“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
It’s a warning to parents, and an explanation for our circumstances, AND it goes direct to the heart of Easter: when Christ fulfilled His promise and broke forever the power of our enemy.
Happy Easter brother!
🕯️Grace and peace to you.....
....Christ is RISEN! ☦️ 🪨🔥🪽🌐
My brother, I only dare to leave this comment because you are no swine. Therefore, my pearls will not be trampled in the mud. Billy wouldn't have wanted you replacing church with his sermons. He encouraged people to find a body of believers that they could grow with. Christ's command to His followers before He ascended was that they go make disciples. Disciples are more than converts. Not all the churches are demoralized. When Elijah thought himself to be the only one left who served the Lord, the Lord gently chastised him saying, "I have reserved to myself 7,000 in Israel who have not bowed the knee to baal." In John 13, Christ's new command to us at the last supper was that we love one another. How can you love fellow believers through a tv screen. The church house is just filled with broken sinners drawing near to Christ through the Grace afforded to them by His body and blood. They aren't perfect. They aren't always easy to love, but they are His bride. Imagine if someone told you that they loved you and welcomed you but wanted nothing to do with your wife. Would you fellowship with them? The church is the Bride of Christ. She is clothed with His righteousness. The church is the Body of Christ....bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. I would gently beg you. Do not rob your brothers and sisters the pleasure of your company. God keep you and yours. May your children have the greatest testimony of all...that they have walked with Christ from their youth, and He has kept them from sin. May you and yours walk in the strength and power of Christ's resurrection now and always. May God's peace be upon your home and may His Spirit always be at peace in your home. -Strength and Courage
Thank You, Yuri! Now I found my Church - I listened Billy Graham here all by myself - and I found what I really needed. Wonderful present from God! Exactly what I needed. Thank You again!
Happy Easter, Yuri.
What struck me hardest - first during the early Covid madness, then in 2021 after the 'vaccine' release - was how so many of our friends, neighbors and coworkers jumped on the public-health cartel's bandwagon.
The politicians were just enacting a supercharged variant of what politicians always do - exploiting a fake crisis to seize more power. But the ordinary people - like your hiking-trail Karen - who exulted in acting as their willing spies and enforcers?
'Mass formation psychosis' is one way to explain it. A better way is to think of it as the Enemy at work, doing what he does best.
All for naught, let's hope and pray. He is risen!
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Blessed Easter to all. ✝️ 🙏❤️
He is Risen Indeed!
If you have not yet read Mr. Lewis' Surprised by Joy, you might want to give it a go. Mere Christianity next.
Sooner, rather than later, you'll need to find fellow Christians to worship with. You can't live life as a disembodied brain in a jar. God bless, and may the Word always be a lamp for the path of your little one.
Have you a found a good church? If you are willing to check out a trad Anglican church I might be able to help.