Daily News Feeds of Christian Interest

This week's Crapshot is about feeling disconnected.

I have some more vanilla Neil Cicieregea to share this week. Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger has been crossed with Smash Mouth's Walkin' On The Sun for some interesting results. Here's Daft Mouth.

For you Simpsons fans out there, be sure to check out TheRealJims on Youtube. You can start with his Simpsons Histories on Kent Brockman.

When odd, bad thoughts come into our mind, we should just ignore them. If we ponder them, trying to understand where they came from, we give them power and they can then influence us, not only leading us to temptation, but to do things we would otherwise not want to do: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2022/03/we-should-not-let-bad-thoughts-take-hold-of-our-lives/

Hello.. I am from a Muslim family I decided to become a Christian on May 3, 2021 I started believing in Christ long before this date, but on this day I resolved to become a Christian.

My family found out and I am in a very bad and somewhat dangerous situation, my father threatened me with a gun and said he was ready to kill me

Churches here are afraid to accept me to avoid problems with Muslims I talked to a guy who became a Christian on Instagram but he didn't find a church yet and he said so .

If anyone knows a priest in Iraq who can help me please tell me please…

Previous post: http://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/t4ptg4/pray_for_my_uncle_please/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

My uncle had a successful surgery. He’s now resting and my uncle can’t thank you all enough for praying for him. God is truly powerful and we’re eternally grateful. Thank you so much💗🙏

Hello, I am a 21 year old woman who grew up in a pretty strict muslim family. I moved to Canada 2 years ago and since I have been questioning my faith more and more. I now took off my hijab and stopped subscribing to some of Islam’s ideas. I won’t be criticizing it and will just say I don’t think it was for me. Of course, my family and friends aren’t really aware of this and they will likely cut me off when they find out.

So today, I was hanging out at uni and heard our campus’ catholic group having their meeting. Everybody was sharing their stories about how they came to find Jesus and it was honestly touching. For the first time, Instead of fear and judgement I was presented with love and understanding. I approached the group later and I was offered my first bible and will attend my first mass this Sunday.

I am still nervous about all this but I have to say I haven’t felt this reassured in a while.

I have many questions but I am excited to start this journey :)

The more I learn about Christ and his teachings the less I want to be a Christian. I love Christ, I want to know him. I want to be with him for eternity. But Christianity is something of a mixed bag. Whether it's the atrocities of certain Catholic priests, the money grabbing tendencies of television evangelists, the millionaire mega churches etc, it just seems like Christianity is inherently flawed because it's human. And we're all flawed. I believe we all have decisions to make and we all know morally in our spirit what is wrong and right.

A few days ago my significant other and I welcomed our firstborn son into the world, all I ask is for prayers that he be safe, and healthy in the next coming years in his life, I also ask for prayers regarding the fact he is really gassy and causing him discomfort. Thank you all for any prayers you do send our way!

I was wondering if someone could explain to me the good parts of Christianity. I’m not looking to be converted, I’m agnostic and I always will be. My experience with Christianity is being forced to pledge to God under the pledge of allegiance every morning growing up, being forced to say “bless you” whenever someone sneezes, people hating me because I’m gay, people not believing in my chronic illness because I either deserved it if I was given it or because Christianity has narrowed their mind so much that they cannot believe anyone has different experiences than them. I just find myself getting unreasonably mad at the mention of Christianity and I feel like it’s adding to my hatred of people and my hatred of myself and I want to stop myself before it’s too late

Go into most churches in America today, and you are likely to see a congregation that is overwhelmingly elderly. Chances are, fewer than 10% of the people in the pews are "young."

The blame game can be passed around many times - it's Hollywood, it's Christian hypocrisy, it's bad parenting, it's the media, it's liberalism, it's Christian scandals, it's legalism, it's Pharisaicism, it's the melding of Trump and the GOP with the evangelical right.

Nevertheless, the problem is what it is. Within a decade or two, American Christianity is going to experience a massive dying-off. How do we get young people back to the church again, and what reforms are needed (without compromising on sound doctrine?)

How did the indigenous species of Australia get to Noah's ark and back again after the flood?

I’m 25 years old. I had a great life, everything I wanted. Good job, good school, the most wonderful woman, and most of all a happy relationship with God.

I threw it all away for heroin. It’s been years since then. I’m clean now, going on 1.5 years. But I can’t keep going. All my friends are dead. My father is dead, the love of my life is gone. Everything the Lord blessed me with, I threw away.

I am lost. I am a sinner. I am so tired of all the pain, the death, the failure. I can’t go on. Oh please God have mercy on me. Save me Lord I beg of you

Does God really speak to us directly and clear as day? I always hear people say, “he speaks to you through Bible verses that apply to your situation” or “he speaks to you through song lyrics or other people.” I feel like these examples aren’t actually biblical but I want to know different opinions on this. I can’t seem to hear from God ever, (no it’s not because I don’t have enough faith). Have any of you heard God or had any crazy experiences with him?

To anyone who despise poor or homeless and say they they're that way because they're lazy. Who are you to hate and judge when God don't even hate nor judge them. I've never seen a single verse where God berated and blamed poor/homeless people for being poor/homeless. Show me one verse where he did that. In fact all I see is him defending the poor

God said blessed are the poor for the kingdom of God is theirs. Matthew 5-3:12

Proverbs 19:17

whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.

In 1st Kings 17-8-24

God saved a poor widow woman who is about to die the next day.

In Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

In Luke 16:19-32

God told a story about a rich selfish man and a beggar named Lazarus who has to beg to eat his crumbs that fell in his the floor.

When they both died God took the beggar to heaven and the rich selfish man went to hell

And Abraham told the rich when he begged to take him out of the flames

Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain.

(Also I'm not judging rich people I'm not saying every rich people will automatically go to hell. I think the main reason that lead the rich man to go to hell in Jesus story was because the rich man was greedy, selfish and heartless . He didn't share his blessings to the beggar, he didn't even try to help the poor man whose sores get licked by the dog. So yeah I think there are rich people who are actually kind, caring and generous. I'm just talking about judgemental people here)

Also Jesus was literally homeless.

Jesus said in Matthew 8:20

“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of God has no place to lay his head.”

Did the Father told his son it's his fault he is homeless because he doesn't work and make money to build himself a house?

So please don't judge or despise homeless and poor people. They already don't have much in life, Don't make them feel bad even more. You don't know their life and you didn't grew up with them. You don't know their whole story and you don't know what it feels to have nothing. I am saying this because I've watched many videos about poor homeless people and I always see people in the comments blaming poor/homeless people for being poor/homeless . I even see some judgemental people saying you shouldn't give to the poor and homeless because you would be enabling them. Bruh who are you to stop people from having a heart. Who are you to tell people they shouldn't be kind and generous to those in need?

I have wondered this. I know he claimed to be the son of God, but did he ever actually say that he and God were one being? Sorry if this is a stupid question as I know it is widely accepted so it obviously must have been said somewhere, I'm just curious as to which verse! :)

Good day everyone, I wasn't sure whether to use an alternative account or not but I guess it's fine, for the longest time I've always found Christianity fascinating and the character and story of Jesus Christ to be the most convincing and truly spiritual religious figure between all I've read about and researched. I felt some kind of connection I cannot explain to this faith even though I was not born Christian nor do I have any relatives that are Christian as I live in a muslim environment. However I face the problem of being in a very sectarian environment and country and changing faiths isn't something that happens commonly or easily or without many many problems. I don't even know where to start but I know in my heart that this is the right way for me. Any help would be appreciated as the more I read about Jesus the more it comforts me in these dark times. Thank you for your time.

This is from the beginning. Satan wanted to be God, Adam and Eve wanted to be God, and we continue the same.

We can overcome sin when we truly acknowledge God's authority over the universe, and let him rule.

Letting go of the desire to rule and accepting our place can be difficult, but the moment we swallow our pride, we become strong and take on God's power.

Jesus modeled this, when he let go of his position as God and became a servant to the point of death.

A huge number of posts here go something like "I used to be a Christian, but now I see suffering and evil, so now can't believe in it"

... which makes me think we're all failing to communicate a very core fact about Christianity. Following Christ is not a thumbs-up to the world as it is. It is not a statement that you find the world to be just and right. It is not an endorsement of the way things are. We cry out "come, Lord Jesus", because we know that things aren't right.

It's very weird that this isn't getting across. We follow a Lord who was literally tortured to death by law enforcement as a criminal and a heretic. Our symbol, the cross, is an in-your-face reminder of the fact. How could anybody imagine that we're here to say that karma reigns supreme and all that happens is right?

When you take it to the metaphysical plane - "I think God should have created a universe without suffering, that's certainly what I would have done, and I don't understand why he didn't" - there's room for endless books' worth of discussion (and I'd love to hear about your favorites). But Christianity isn't really about the metaphysics of whether you're satisfied at a philosophical level. No matter how philosophically satisfied or unsatisfied you are, we still live in this universe, and we need to figure out how. And if God has come to live in this life alongside us and with us, in all the beauty and all the pain, we need that.

I haven't expressed this as well as I want to, and I'm hoping maybe some of you know how to say it better.

Hey all, I hope you're having a great day today.

I've seen a lot of posts lately of people going through different health conditions, some physically, some mentally, etc.

I wanted to let you know of a global healing program that starts today and runs until Sunday. It's called "Healing Streams", and it starts at 1pm Eastern.

You can find all the information of the program on this website: healingstreams.tv

I know some may be skeptical about this, but from my personal experience I can truly see that the healing power of Jesus Christ is still alive and very powerful today, and I've seen it clearly shown through this program.

Hope this is okay to post, mods please advise if I need to change anything. Please feel free to ask me any questions about the program as well. God bless 🙂

I live in the UK, here, less than 1% attend church, almost nobody reads the bible, many "christians" dont believe in God...

.

With religious affiliation and faith in decline, America could be where we are now in just a few generations

It means love; connection with Him; good relationships; His guidance; progress; power; decisiveness; authority; success; and many more people able to live a joyous life.

http://drive.google.com/file/d/1lhID52lqsvWsuODxfUQv86nr9Mv5rKba/view?usp=drivesdk

According to Isaiah 30:18, the Lord longs to be gracious to you in a way that will change your life for the better, but longing implies there is something He is still looking for to happen first, something preventing Him from moving forward.

When God is not in the wind, the fire, and the earthquake in 1 Kings 19, and yet God remains omnipresent, there is only one conclusion to come to which remains consistant with scripture: that these forces originate not from Him but in a decision made by a mind in rebellion from which He has withdrawn. Are we who God longs to bless then also not in compliance with one of His requests?

According to Isaiah 41:10 He intends to strengthen you and help you - read it, and you will see that this is in the future tense, something not being acted upon presently. According to Zephanaiah 3:17, God's rest is in His love.

Most do not concern themselves with what would bring relief to the Lord, but a few still turn and speak with Him in earnest. A few still wonder - still ask. I am relieved that some still ask.

What was Jesus' most denied request? What came through in His most highly emotional moments? What does it have to do with what you can still do?

When Jesus was turning over the tables of the money changers, what did He quote God's house should be?

When Jesus was mourning over Jerusalem, Jerusalem, what did He say He wanted, that it was His intention to do for them, which they were unwilling to do?

All this, all of His sadness, was about our loss... when we would not come to Him in prayer.

Why is it we no longer know what prayer is?

What is the simplest aspect of it?

It is a conversation.

What is intrinsic to most conversations we know?

There are two sides.

What is scripture?

Some would simply say, "God's Word."

They would be right.

Why would God send His Word; why would He knowing all things speak in the first place if He knew no one would respond?

The answer is inevitably that He knew that someone would.

Is it you? Are you the reason He has fought so hard, has come so far, and suffered through so much loss?

If scripture is a testimony of what God is doing in our lives, prayer is our response.

Our covenant with God is also a prayer containing our vows in union to Him. God always gives us what is more and better than what we ask for. The Lord's prayer is no exception.

He was asked how to pray. Many think of the Lord's prayer as a lesson in how to pray in a kind of seven section example elementally, but it is so much more. It is the plan of salvation in great simplicity.

We do not think of God's name as being "unholy," yet the phrase hallowed be Your name indicates it is yet to be done: a future tense made Holy, which is thought of often as a process only God can do. Yet, notice this theme of actions God wants to and yet waits to take... In Leviticus, holiness is something accessible. It is something within human reach that Israelites are expected and instructed how to do, so that they can enter God's presence in the temple and retain His presence and favor with them. To bear God's favor means to bear His name to others. We are the reason His name still is needing to be made holy, because we bear His name.

There were twelve loaves of shewbread at all times in the Holy Place, a number of completeness representing all, as in all of humanity. Twelve tribes were meant to be representative in number, just as twelve disciples and after one was replaced, apostles. Christ said the bread is His body; and also that we are His body. The daily sacrifice was there for any time repentance; and for every time someone knew they needed to turn from their sin and return to Him. By asking for our daily bread, we are asking for our Saviour's sacrifice on our behalf.

Forgiving those who trespass against us is how we accept His teachings in action - a fulfillment of our part in turning from our sin.

This is both our side of the covenant in vow form and His plan for our salvation. It is how we submit to Him. And it must be our agreement as we gather, for Jesus did not stop teaching how it is that we should pray that day.

In fact, He was still teaching His disciples this even through the moments leading up to His crucifixion. They only truly showed that they had learned this after He ascended: in the opening scences of the book of Acts. The most significant number in the gospels is not seven, but three...

There is a promise of God given by Jesus which is meant to be tied to another, and one commandment:

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

"...it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Matthew 4:10

These three verses are the key. God made us to keep company with Him - and this is how.

Two or more for the presence of the Lord in our midst is a promise to be redeemed for intimate agreement of those you whom you know well enough to most trust are seeking together with you with all their hearts with you, to the purpose of redeeming these promises and keeping this commandment.

This in example and in purpose is why Jesus takes three with Him a little further to pray fervently on the mount of transfiguration, in the first of three such momentous prayer vigils in Matthew 17:1-8.

This in example and in purpose is why Jesus brings all available disciples with Him and takes three a little further to pray fervently in the garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 14:36–56; Mark 14:32–50; Luke 22:39–53; John 17, and John 18:1–12.

This is why it is recorded in that prayer that they fell asleep three times and He awoke them three times, and it parallels that Peter denied Him three times; just like the sleeping virgins in His parable were short on the fuel of the Holy Spirit's fire, because they too as respresented in the first chapters of Revelation are sleeping instead of praying together; as the church did upon first receiving the Holy Spirit in the third momentous prayer vigil of the new testament in Acts chapters 1 and 2.

The Lord has called us to keep watch and gather to be called His houses of prayer: which is why it so wounds Him to see our services falsely called worship when all the praying that is done together is with eyes closed and all but one mouths shut.

God has been waiting. If we have been waiting, it is not on His actions first, but first our own. We must turn to Him, in truth and deed. To truly dk this, we must be willing to lay down and expose who we are before Him, even with others present as we pray.

We must be willing to open our hearts to God as to a very dear, even our dearest, friend.

We are fragile people. We are vulnerable to falling. The strength of our bodies is ever failing until the grave. Yet we are the ones born to this time.

This is the last age of fallen man. We are the ones chosen to endure through the most predicted season of suffering warned of in prophecy – these are the days when hearts grow cold; it is now that people are losing their natural affection: the road of all prophecy leads to now. The world as we know it in sin is meeting its imminent end.

People living now will be numbered in that army whose march is straight and does not falter; who will not be persuaded, distracted or nostalgic with longing for anything behind them - even the very gates of hell can not bar their path nor cause their turning to the left or to the right; we are both called and in position to be God’s army.

We are born to run and not grow weary, and to rise on wings as eagles. Do you believe God can do this even with our old, with our sick, with our disabled, decrepit and even crippled bodies? The LORD will do ALL His pleasure.

Do you think heads will turn as hard to see those who look as capable as a comic book hero do this or those who are meek? The Lord does not change – He considered it His glory to make Abraham wait for a son until none would have believed it. God will bring this glory again in His work through us – do not doubt He will use men and women who are frail to show His strength.

Remember the words of the Lord before the host of representatives of the realms in regards to whom it should be who should represent earth: “Hast thou considered my servant, Job?” This story is not a one-off situation, but a foreshadowing for what all of us who are faithful and worthy of trust will endure because living even now are the ones who will prove and I mean prove their love of the Lord. We should aspire to endure such together – to show both the ignorant and innocent onlooker alike what it is worth to us that He is our King.

God has called us to pray together in vigils in this time, to come to Him and have our rest but this rest is not a rest of relaxation. No! It is far far from relaxation, but the rest we can share with our Creator. The Lord rests in His love (Zephanaiah 3:17) – the rest of the Lord is neither sleep nor slumber, but JOY! JOY is the cure for our weariness and joy that lasts is our reward!

We need not only to pray with one another in our gathering to the Lord on the sabbath routinely but to submit our whole heart in such a way that is genuine and honest, opening with our words in that prayer every part of who we are withholding nothing: in the confidence that is shared which can only be had where two or more gather to Him when we are raised up to the Holy Place in spirit through prayer – that is the kind of worship the Messiah led His church of representatives numbering the same as the tribes of Israel in – and that is also the process through which the Holy Spirit was originally given to the church after His ascent in Acts 1.

There is one baptism, and that decision made there is very important – that great decision to confess Christ before others is a moment of communal importance. It is, however, like a wedding engagement announcement – just a little ceremony. What happens after that is the beginning of a marriage. The one baptism shows if you are a person of your word, because it is only given by the Holy Spirit to those who follow through on their vows.

The water was never magical, just as white dresses do not cleanse hearts - and a decision can only be good or bad when it is followed through on. What is wonderful about a marriage? Every day thereafter of joy in being together.

If we are to be married to the Lord, should we not still seek after Him further, wait on Him and His decisions, petition for a little more of His time every time we have the chance? We should be laying our hands on our youth after every baptizm and encouraging them to pray and then afterward praying with them; we should never accept the offer to pray in anyone's stead; we should be keeping separate any words of pledge to the particular beliefs of our more specific church denominations, lest we baptize instead into idolatry and the vanity of blasphemy by causing the meaning of the ceremony and pledge to be twisted from the name we are all meant to be in.

We are the name bearers: it is time we prayed together to be hallowed in Him.

This concept has been on my mind ALL the time and weirdly enough, ESPECIALLY whenever I volunteer for the wonderful exodus camp at my local town. I'll see kids my age having sex, partying, gaming, gambling,.and committing vandalism for fun all the time and I wonder to myself...what did Jesus do for fun when he was growing up? I mean Jesus was a teenager, adult and a child correct? He had emotions, thoughts and learned to grow up as a human did he not? I'm not saying that Jesus was a party animal, slutty, BLM supporter or of sort, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were times that he did in his youth where he did do mischievous things. I know it may not be very important,and in fact mag seems silly; but I still think it is an interesting topic enough to talk about at least once.