%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  This contains entries to Take up Your Cross, Space Blog, Blog City PF and BC of Friends |
 Thank you, Sum1  Courtesy of Blogging Circle of Friends ![Merit Badge in BCOF
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-BCOF-1901868_10.gif) ThirteenTime Blogger of the Week on Blogging Circle of Friends Last was December 6-December 12, 2020 ![Merit Badge in Space Blog Merit Badge
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on your new merit badge! Thank you for supporting the Writing.Com community with your inspirations, participation and activities. We sincerely appreciate it! -SMs](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Space_Blog_Merit_Badge-2223888_14.gif){kind=icon}   Best Group, Best Blog |
"December 19, 2018"      Prompt: "What does John 1: 9 mean to you?"John 1: 9 is a passage of scripture written to Christians to let them know that there is a remedy for their sin. Even Christians sin. Being saved does not make us perfect. It declares us innocent but it does not make us perfect. We still fall short of God's glory. John 1: 9 tells us that when we fall short we can confess our shortcomings and God will forgive us. Many think that John 1: 9 applies to everybody and thus means sinners must confess every sin to God in order to be saved. This is not the case. John 1 is an epistle or letter of the Apostle John that was written to Christians and it applies to Christians. There is no possible way sinners can remember everything they have ever done! The belief that they must confess every sin is a false doctrine. Paul tells us in Romans 10: 9-10 that sinners must confess their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Aside from that no other confession is necessary. Prompt: "Looking at two’ s in the day, I wondered what two things make you smile and what two things make you sad."I'm not sure what twos you are referring to since today is December 19. I think today is Day 2222 though so I think I understand. What makes me happy is knowing that God loves me enough that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for my sin. He not only sent Jesus to die for my sin but orchestrated all of history in such a way as to bring about the events that led to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Knowing God loves me that much makes me very happy. I am also happy with the presence of Holy Spirit within me. Holy Spirit dwells within me and my body is His temple. So that makes me very happy. I am sad when I fall short of God's glory, which happens all the time. I'm saved but my walk is not sinless. I still stumble along at times. I must depend on Jesus if I am to avoid sin and I admit that there are lots of times when I fail to do so. Something else that makes me sad is the condition of the world. My country, the United States of America, is the ringleader of the debauchery. God has placed a hook in the jaw of the USA and is leading us to our destruction. People are proud, arrogant, and overconfident. God will not be mocked. We commit millions of murders in abortion clinics with abortion on demand. We permit homosexual unions, which God calls an abomination. We commit idolatry with every type of religion known to man. Israel did these same things and was carried into exile. How will we survive? This makes me sad. "Prompt: "It is the sweet, simple things of life which are real after all." Laura Ingalls Wilder Do you agree with this?"What is real in life is Jesus Christ. Everything else is secondary and temporal. Everything else will be destroyed in the coming plague. The only thing that counts is Jesus.    |
| "December 18, 2018" What does Romans 3: 23 mean to you? Romans 3: 23 tells me that all human beings are sinners who stand guilty before God. There is nothing we can do on our own to overcome sin as it is passed down from father to father as it has been since Adam. If we have an earthly father then we have an overwhelming propensity to sin and we do so. "Prompt: “Enlightenment arrives like a thief in the middle of the dark night of the soul.” ― Stefan EmundsLet this quote inspire your blog entry. Write about either enlightenment or the dark night of the soul. If you want, you can write about both." Enlightenment to me comes from the word of God. I have read the Bible cover to cover at least 25 times and always learn something new from it. I have never found any of it to contradict or conflict and science is slowly proving everything in it to be accurate. Of course it is accurate because it is the inerrant word of the living God. Some parts of it may be hard to understand and accept but it is accurate. I have people ask me all the time how a loving God can condemn anybody to a burning hell. My answer is that God will not condemn anybody to hell. He has made provision for everybody to dwell with him eternally. However many people will condemn themselves to a burning hell because they reject God's provision and love sin more. This will cause God's righteous anger and bring on the curse of hell. God is God. By His very nature He is sovereign. Who are we to question Him? He does not permit us to question Him. He only permits our obedience and faith. "Prompt: In figuring out--beforehand--what other people will do, how often do you get it right? Does your sixth sense or gut feeling help or does it confuse you?"I try not to depend on luck, gut feelings, and my sixth sense as all these things are pagan. I try to stay in prayer and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit who speaks to me through God's word and my conscience. Luck, gut feelings, and sixth sense have too many trappings of the pagan practices of magic to me. I admit that I once briefly studied psychic phenomena thinking that perhaps it was an untapped natural resource. However God steered me away from it because there are too many pagan roots involved in it. Witchcraft is condemned in God's word because it involves idolatry. I leave it alone. |
| "December 17, 2018" "Prompt: Write about a birthday. It can be anyone's birthday. Just tell us why that particular birthday is special." The only birthday that is really special to me is the birthday of our Messiah. I can guarantee you though that His birthday was not on December 25, like it is usually celebrated. His birthday was more than likely June 17, 4BC since that was the first time the star of Bethlehem appeared in the sky. The Bible predicted this star and today's astronomers can chart the positions of the stars so closely that they can tell us exactly when the Star of Bethlehem appeared. They date its first appearance to June 17, 4 BC and say it occurred again in August of 2BC, which coincides with the travel time and visit of the magi from Persia. So December 25 is not the day of Jesus birth. We celebrate Jesus' birth in December for the same reason we celebrate Halloween and Easter. Halloween is the fall solstice, Christmas is the winter solstice, and Easter coincides with the celebration of the spring solstice. I know that we have given Christian meanings to the celebrations but that does not eliminate their pagan roots. Yes we are to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus but not just on Easter. We are to celebrate it every first day of the week at regular worship service. There will be some who say that Easter has its roots in the Jewish Passover because we normally celebrate it around the same time. Maybe so but Jesus was crucified during the Passover celebration so His resurrection coincides with Passover. Today's celebration of Easter has more to do with the spring solstice as the church was losing Gentile Christians who had converted from paganism. The Christians wanted to maintain their solstice feasts and who doesn't like to eat and celebrate? To keep from losing these members the church adopted Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. In fact most of our religious holidays are adaptations of some pagan celebration made as compromises with Christian pagan converts. The question we must ask ourselves is if we honestly think God is pleased with these holidays or for that matter if we believe the "saints" some of them are named for would be pleased to know we adopted a pagan celebration and named it after them? "Prompt: The meaning of life for some people can be the privilege of existence or to feel one’s worth or to own a dog or a myriad of other things. What is the meaning of life for you or, if you don't want to talk about yourself, someone you know or a character you’ve created?"The meaning of life for me is that Jesus Christ lives and reigns supreme. Many do not believe in Christ to their own shame. For their sake I pray they are right and I'm wrong. If they are right then I really have nothing to lose. Being a Christian gives me a hope that few have. It gives me a role model (Jesus) who is like no other. I have peace of mind today and joy that I never had before. I tell people all the time that Jesus will willingly refund their misery if they ever grow tired of being Christians. I know I will never grow tired of it. Yes there are days when my faith is severely tested. There are times I question why I want to be a Christian or why I continue along the Way. However when I do I consider that Jesus loves me. He loves me enough that He willingly left the glory of heaven to become a human being and die in my place. Being a Christian can be difficult at times. I have been called "Bible thumper", cast aside by friends and ignored by family due to my faith. Some of my Christian brothers and sisters are tortured and killed for their faith. So yes, there are times when being a Christian can be extremely hard. However I would not trade my worst day as a Christian for my best day in the world. In the world is nothing but darkness. There is no hope. As a Christian I have the hope of eternal life. The world offers only death. Yes someday I will die a physical death if Jesus does not return first. However death will not hold me captive. I will rise again and then I will be with Jesus forever. Sinners will also rise from the dead but they will face eternal separation from Jesus. I want to be with Him. He gives my life meaning! This is a new blog forum that I am trying. It will be advertised in the newsfeed, here, and in Shameless Plugs. Anybody can post here and you do not need to join anything. The only rule is that it is a Christian blog so keep it tame.Prompt: "What does John 3: 16 mean to you?" I thought I would start this new forum using scripture prompts and the most appropriate prompt seemed to be John 3: 16 since it is the most well known Bible verse on Earth. The verse is a wonderful declaration of God's love for mankind. In it he sets the bar for love the highest it can possibly be set. He tells us that He not only loves the world but that He is putting His love into action. Love is useless if there is nothing to prove that love. One can say "I love you" until their breath is gone but if they do nothing to show your love then your words are empty. God showed His love for mankind by sending Jesus Christ, who was God incarnate, to suffer and die for us. In doing so He epitomized love. |
| {entry "Prompt: Write about a birthday. It can be anyone's birthday. Just tell us why that particular birthday is special." The only birthday that is really special to me is the birthday of our Messiah. I can guarantee you though that His birthday was not on December 25, like it is usually celebrated. His birthday was more than likely June 17, 4BC since that was the first time the star of Bethlehem appeared in the sky. The Bible predicted this star and today's astronomers can chart the positions of the stars so closely that they can tell us exactly when the Star of Bethlehem appeared. They date its first appearance to June 17, 4 BC and say it occurred again in August of 2BC, which coincides with the travel time and visit of the magi from Persia. So December 25 is not the day of Jesus birth. We celebrate Jesus' birth in December for the same reason we celebrate Halloween and Easter. Halloween is the fall solstice, Christmas is the winter solstice, and Easter coincides with the celebration of the spring solstice. I know that we have given Christian meanings to the celebrations but that does not eliminate their pagan roots. Yes we are to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus but not just on Easter. We are to celebrate it every first day of the week at regular worship service. There will be some who say that Easter has its roots in the Jewish Passover because we normally celebrate it around the same time. Maybe so but Jesus was crucified during the Passover celebration so His resurrection coincides with Passover. Today's celebration of Easter has more to do with the spring solstice as the church was losing Gentile Christians who had converted from paganism. The Christians wanted to maintain their solstice feasts and who doesn't like to eat and celebrate? To keep from losing these members the church adopted Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. In fact most of our religious holidays are adaptations of some pagan celebration made as compromises with Christian pagan converts. The question we must ask ourselves is if we honestly think God is pleased with these holidays or for that matter if we believe the "saints" some of them are named for would be pleased to know we adopted a pagan celebration and named it after them? |
| "December 15, 2018" Prompt: "Use these words in your entry today: mistletoe, snowman, angel, cactus, demolish and pickles." Mistletoe is a symbol many use for Christmas. The old Celtic belief was that if you kissed a woman under the mistletoe that was the woman you would marry. Of course the Celts put a lot of stock in mistletoe because they were primarily Druid and the oak tree is sacred to Druids. Even the Bible mentions people worshiping under the "spreading oak." I never have quite figured out how the snowman is suppose to figure into the Christmas story. Of course it could just be that the snowman is a symbol of winter. If one follows astronomy and the Bible we can ascertain that Jesus was actually born in June, not December so our whole celebration is off. Since we worship the winter solstice though the snowman is understandable. The angel is from the scene in Luke in which the angel announced the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah, the birth of Jesus to his mother, and of course the announcement to the shepherds. Speaking of shepherds, does anybody truly believe the shepherds would have had the flocks in the field on a winter night in Israel? It can be bitter cold that time of year so it is unheard of to keep sheep out overnight. How to use cactus is beyond me. I'm surprised somebody doesn't decorate a cactus for Christmas though! It is time to demolish these old hypocrisies and pagan worship customs. Bah humbug! Instead of ham some people will be lucky if they have pickles for Christmas. Of course we want to make sure everybody eats good for Christmas even if they starve the rest of the year! "Prompt: Does the winter weather put you in a Bah Hum Bug mood this time of year? If so, how do you change your mood?"There is a medical condition known a SAD (seasonal affective disorder), which can be devastating. It is thought to be caused by lack of exposure to sunlight and can be treated with various remedies. If you live in a place where there is 24 hours of darkness you can make or order a light box and stand in it for extended periods of time each day. They say 20 minutes is plenty so some people set the light box up in front of a treadmill or stationary bike. If you live where there is some daylight a 20 minute walk will do the trick. Of course there is always anti-depressants as well. As for me, I am always bah humbug this time of year. My bah humbug is due to the hypocrisy that goes on and the commercialism. It sickens me! |
| "December 14, 2018" Prompt: "Let's have some fun with the alphabet in your blog entry, try to use all 26 letters in your entry. Like this Apple butter creased deeply enough for group happiness.... etc. You can use more than one sentence but the letters must fall in sequence regardless of how many sentences." All boys Christmases depend entirely for good has incurred just knowing little men need only produce quite rightly so they unite very well xcited year zero. Any body could drown entire fun going here in just knowing little more nor one piece quite reasonably sounds true unless various words xcluded your zoom. (That was fun.) Prompt: "Magic becomes art when it has nothing to hide."~ Ben Okri"Magic lies in challenging what seems impossible".~ Carol Moseley Braun Discuss these quotes in your entry today." I actually studied magic once. I studied it not as an art form but as a science. I believe there is truth to psychic abilities and believe that harnessing the power of true "magic" lies in harnessing the mind. The average person uses 8-12% of their brain. What if somebody could figure out how to increase that? I tried but the only resources I could find were pagan witchcraft rituals and I am a Christian so I dropped the matter. However I would agree with Braun. Magic lies in challenging the impossible. I guess perhaps I agree with Okri too. Magic had something to hide for me so I dropped it. True art has nothing to hide. |
| {entry Prompt: "Do you prefer people to call ahead and schedule visits or do you like the spontaneity of someone just coming? Does the time of day influence your preference?" There are advantages and disadvantages to both so I really have no preference. Where I live most everything is planned so I usually know if somebody is coming. However that leaves me planning for them and anticipating their arrival. If they happen not to show up I may be disappointed. However a surprise visit eliminates the planning. If I've got other plans though a surprise visit may not be good. So their are pros and cons either way. "Prompt: "Do or Do Not, There is no try." Yoda-Star Wars Write your views on this.""I can see Yoda's point but I still disagree. I've tried a lot of things and failed to accomplish them but it doesn't mean I didn't try. On the other hand I concede that you either do something or you don't do it. So maybe Yoda is right. |
| "December 12, 2018" Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: What things are you sensitive about?" I'm sensitive about people saying there is no God. Believe me when I say I set out to prove that there is no God and all I did was convince myself even more that God exists! Everything the Bible says has proven reliable. I questioned everything and have found that various disciplines of science either support it or allude to its authenticity. I tried to prove that locations mentioned in the Bible were false but found that historians and archaeologists have found many of the sites. More is discovered every day. I also questioned the authenticity of Jesus being raised from the dead but found that even some Roman records mention the resurrection. The Apostles believed the resurrection enough to die martyrs deaths instead of recanting their stories. People simply don't die for a lie! No, I am a firm believer in God and His Son Jesus Christ. I pity the doom the world faces because I know God is about to unleash His fury against the nations. The USA is the ringleader of the sin that runs rampant and will not be around much longer. My personal opinion does not matter. God says homosexuality, which we have endorsed is a sin. God says that abortion, which we endorse is a sin. God says that sexual immorality is a sin and we promote it. Capitalism which we promote is questionable. How can we survive if we flippantly ignore God? Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "My favorite holiday scents are cedar, ginger, molasses, and cinnamon. What are yours? Do they bring back childhood memories, if so what are they?" I like cinnamon, wintergreen, and spearmint. I remember well how the house smelled when somebody was making hard rock candy and used those flavors. The scent could be smelled all through the house and was always welcome. I also like the scent of a good mug of cocoa and of course the smell of freshly ground coffee. I also like the smell of freshly cut hay. I know those aren't necessarily holiday scents but then no scent is limited to just the holidays. I can smell holiday scents the other 364 days if I choose to. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- |
| "December 11, 2018" Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt “Execution is something, but timing is everything.” Todd Stocker What does “timing” mean to you? What happens when your timing is off? { /c}" When my timing is off I throw everything out of balance and end up embarrassing myself. It's like blowing the punch line of a joke. You know you blew it but then it is too late to do anything about it. I hope my timing is spot on over the next few days. I have a final exam at 12: 45PM today and another at 12: 45PM Thursday. Then I begin a boring three week Christmas break. Bah Humbug! Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Faith, hope, joy, and love, write something about each of these in you blog entry today." My faith is in Christ Jesus. There is nobody or nothing more worthy of my faith. Believe me when I say I looked for alternatives. I once said in my heart that there was no God and I set out to prove it. All I accomplished was proving to myself that the fool had said in his heart that there was no God. I explored other faiths and found them lacking. The Bible has proven itself flawless and for a book written by over 40 authors over a 2,000 year period that is pretty remarkable! God was the author of the Bible! Man only wrote as God inspired him. Every prediction made in God's word came to pass even though they were made hundreds, even thousands of years before they were fulfilled. Only God knows the future! I stand convinced that the Bible is true therefore my faith is in God and His Son Christ Jesus. My hope rests secure on the love of God. This brings joy to my heart. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- |
| "December 10, 2018" Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "December 10 is Human Rights Day. The United Nations General Assembly created this day on December 10, 1948 to promot Human Rights around the world. Use this day to inspire your blog entry." I agree that human rights are important. However a day is coming when one human will kill another and do so legally. All types of atrocities face the world as man continues to become more and more degenerate. America is leading the way in this debauchery much to its shame and demise. We murder millions of unborn babies each year. In fact more humans have been aborted than died in all the wars America fought combined! We permit homosexual couplings and not only turn a blind eye to it but make it the law of the land! I personally don't care what homosexuals do but God clearly states that it is sinful and therefore it is sin. We have blurred things so badly that some people don't even know their own gender! We loan money and charge extortionists rates for repayment. We sell products that fall apart before they are taken home! Neighbor uses neighbor for a stepping stone to "success" and pride and greed have become our hallmarks. God hates these things. It really doesn't matter to us what God hates though because we have convinced ourselves that there is no God. We have thrown Him out of our schools, our buildings, and public life. Most of all we have divorced him from our hearts. Divorce is common for us though. We should change our wedding vows to state "until death or divorce do you part!" God will not be mocked! He is preparing a day when He will avenge Himself. He sent us His prophets and we ignored some, beat others, and killed most. He raised His Son from the dead after we murdered Him and we reject His Son for Allah and other foreign gods who are not gods. How will we survive? Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: “For the twenty million Americans who are hungry tonight, for the homeless freezing tonight, literature is as useless as a knowledge of astronomy” Andre Dubus, Broken Vessels: Essays What do you think? Is literature as useless as Andre Dubus says?" Literature cannot fill a hungry belly or keep a body warm! Has nobody read what the New Testament writer James said? He asks what good it does if we tell somebody to go in peace and be warm and filled but do not supply the clothing they need to stay warm or food for them to eat. James 2: 15-16. Our well wishes become empty words. Right now is the time of year for our worst hypocrisy! It's that time of year when we wish people a "Merry Christmas" or "Seasons Greetings" and hope the best for them but do not lift a finger to help them out. How many times I have been angered to go to a lender at Christmas trying to borrow money to provide my family a decent Christmas only to have the lender turn me away. While they are turning me away they are shaking my hand and wishing me a merry Christmas! God says we are to loan without expecting to be repaid! Now there's a section of scripture the big banks want to avoid! Hypocrites and sinners! How do you expect the homeless to find homes when they can't afford the rent? We make a big deal out of pain and suffering such as homelessness for Christmas but ignore them the rest of the year! Is there only one day in the year on which we should do good? Should we not care that it is just as cold for the homeless in February as it is in December? Hypocrites! Don't stand in a soup line volunteering on Christmas Day. Help throughout the year! Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2147967 over display limit. -?- |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
