Faith and Hope

 Faith and Hope!

 

“Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 NKJV

“Trusting is being confident of what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 CJB

 

“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” Romans 8:24-25 NKJV

“It is in this hope that we were saved. But if we see what we hope for, it isn’t hope – after all, who hopes for what he already sees? But if we continue hoping for something we don’t see, then we wait eagerly for it, with perseverance.” Romans 8:24-25 CJB

 

 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love GOD, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 NKJV

“Furthermore, we know that GOD causes everything to work together for the good of those who love GOD and are called in accordance with His purpose;” Romans 8:28 CJB

 

The substance of things hoped for – salvation is hoped for by all humanity – no one wants to go to hell! And we see it worked out in some people’s lives; the change in behavior, perspective, language, desires, and goals – that is the evidence of things not seen! They cannot see their salvation but they can experience it now, we cannot see their salvation but we can see the evidence of it now.

 

The saved person as described above no longer hopes for salvation, they know they are saved by grace through JESUS CHRIST, so they persevere in the purpose of GOD for their life until its culmination upon their physical death and their appearance in His presence before His Heavenly Throne to receive their crown of life.

 

So what about the things that we do not see; like when someone is sick? We should still hope for them in expectation with perseverance! But sometimes healing is long in manifesting and sometimes it never manifests in our lifetime.

 

This is the sticky part in our walk with GOD, many Christians have been taught to believe and receive now, if not, then very soon. But that is not what the Bible teaches; study all of Romans 8 and Hebrews 11.

 

Oswald Chambers said in MY Utmost For His Highest, “If you are going to be used by GOD, He will take you through a multitude of experiences that are not for you at all, they are meant to make you usable in His hands.” He made this statement in reference to 2 Corinthians 1:4, “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of GOD.” KJV

“who encourages us in all our trials, so that we can encourage others in whatever trials they may be undergoing with the encouragement we ourselves have received from GOD.” CJB

 

So, when we experience something that we pray to GOD for healing or deliverance of and we do not receive it right away we need to remember that JESUS taught us to pray with perseverance, study Matthew 6:25-34, 7:7-12; Luke 18:1-8; also 2 Corinthians 11:22-28, 12:7-10; Hebrews 11 & 12.

 

As Paul heard from The Father, “My Grace is sufficient for you.” We know that sometimes the answer to our prayers is delayed while GOD is working His purpose in our life; and sometimes the answer is “His Grace” for us in that situation.

Naming The Traitors Among Us! by John Horvat II

 

Naming the Traitors Among Us: the Public Officials who Coddle Radical Insurrectionists

By John Horvat II

 

A drama is unfolding in Portland, Oregon, that bodes ill for the nation. Order and the rule of law are at stake. The Portland plot is not an isolated event. It could well be a trial run for similar shows in cities across the nation.

The media narrative about what is happening in Portland is all wrong. It is written using an old class-struggle script in which angry protesters are victimized by brutal police authority. These rioters, curiously costumed in black garb, are supposedly concerned social warriors fighting for a just cause. The police represent an evil and racist regime.

The real story needs to be told. The false characters should be unmasked. This is a tragedy that must be stopped before it ruins the nation. It is time to act, calling a spade a spade and not dawdle while the nation burns.

Who Are the Individuals on the Streets of Portland?

What are the real components of this show?

The first thing that must be established is that the protests are not protests. They have gone well beyond the point of expressing an opposing opinion. They are not riots since these are not rowdy disturbances gone awry. These demonstrators have deliberately planned events subverting order night after night. There is nothing spontaneous about them.

Thus, the violence is not just violence. It must be called sedition because it is an “incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority.” These acts of sedition are meant to injure police, damage state property and disturb the peace.

The individuals involved in these acts of seditions are not protesters, rioters or demonstrators. They are insurrectionists. They do not desire to fix the system or improve the present society. They want the overthrow of a legitimate order and the installation of a contrary and illegitimate state of things.

The Agents of Order

The city and state police and Homeland Security officers are the second players on the set in Portland. They endure the abuse from the insurrectionists. They are not the instruments of violence but agents of order and the rule of law. Whatever their defects may be, they are the thin blue line standing between order and chaos. They can be called heroes because they go beyond the call of duty in dealing with the revolutionaries in their acts of sedition.

Their service to the community usually does not include lasers flashed to harm their eyes. Commercial grade fireworks seek to injure their bodies. They should not be exposed to the obscenities and insults that call harm upon them. They face acts of arson that attempt to burn down federal and other buildings with them inside. These heroes bear with this abuse peacefully and calmly night after night.

This is the cast of characters found upon the streets of Portland. It reflects a dangerous and explosive situation. However, another situation is far worse.

 A Strange Twist of the Plot

The scene in the drama changes from the violent streets of Portland at night and shifts to the government offices of city and state officials viewing the tragic scenes during the day. These characters should favor the heroes of order and oppose the seditious insurrectionists who hate lawful authority and its symbols.

However, this is far from the case.

In a strange twist of the plot, the local government officials do everything possible to facilitate the nightly disorders. They complain about the actions of federal officials who take measures against the revolutionaries.

It is as if the characters in this government set have lost their minds and joined the other side. The plot loses coherence, and everything goes haywire.

Inexplicable Actions

However, there is no other way to explain the inexplicable actions of liberal officials in the face of violence and chaos. Most of these figures are supporting the insurrectionists.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, for example, has denounced not the revolutionaries but the federal agents. She accuses them of escalating the violence, even though the violence continued after the federal agents have left the scene. Her Department of Justice is taking legal action against the federal government for intervening in the nightly battles to protect federal buildings.

Another scandalous example is that of Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt. He announced that his office would not prosecute most of the over 500 insurrectionists that have been arrested by police throughout the acts of sedition.  Those charged will be limited to acts of deliberate property damage, theft, or threat of violence. However, only 50 have been charged for now. The release of so many lawbreakers assures the insurrectionists on the street that their criminally seditious acts will have no legal consequences. They are free to continue their macabre march to chaos, free of the restrictions of the law.

 

Indeed, insurrectionists continue to throw mortars, rocks, bottles and cans of paint at the police. They chant, “Kill a cop, save a life!” They set off fireworks aimed at police who are not expected to react lest they be accused of “brutality.”

 State Police Leave the Stage

These acts of surrender to insurrectionists prompted the Oregon State Police to abandon Portland after protecting the federal courthouse, arresting offenders and sustaining injuries. Capt. Timothy Fox said that the troopers are moving “back to counties where prosecution of criminal conduct is still a priority.”

 

The strain of the acts of sedition is preventing Portland city police from responding to increased criminal activities in other parts of the city. Many calling 911 are put on hold. The police department reports increased calls requesting help against “theft, vandalism, suspicious activity, hazards, hit and run, burglary, violation of restraining order, alarms, stolen cars, harassment and many others.”

The whole community suffers from the dereliction of duty by a few local government officials. A leftist agenda holds the city hostage.

The Final Act

The drama is not yet over since the final act has yet to be written. A cast of characters has yet to appear on stage.

The final scene takes place on Portland’s empty streets during the day that are surreal reflections of the violence of the night. Everywhere this is evidence of the nightly conflicts in the form of trash or broken glass. The buildings bear the battle scars of flashbangs and mortar-style fireworks. The federal court and other buildings are boarded up and full of graffiti.

The characters are Portland citizens who have allowed their city to be used as a stage for this macabre drama. They are largely silent as their downtown is destroyed. The nation asks if they will speak up and protest against these barbarous acts that threaten their city and personal security. Not even the destruction of their community seems enough to overcome the liberal haze that lingers over the scene and clouds their vision.

Betrayal of the Public Trust

At this point, it remains to name the culprits bearing the most responsibility: the criminally negligent public officials. Their coddling of the insurrectionists represents an immense betrayal of the public trust. The city’s safety and the common good are put at risk because these officials put their leftist pet causes above the fundamental, natural and constitutional rights of their citizens.

These officials can no longer be called public servants. They are traitors who betray the trust of the public they are sworn to serve. And, instead, they favor the avowed enemies of order, the rule of law, and the common good.

Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that justice in law comes from its service to the common good (Summa, Ia IIae, q 90. 2.2).  Indeed, law that does not serve the common good is not law at all. Likewise, public authority is instituted for the common good of all citizens. When public officials fail to uphold order and the rule of law, they subvert the common good. They should be denounced, protested, publicly shamed, and legally removed.

 

It remains to be seen if Portland’s and Oregon’s citizens will have the courage to take this necessary step.

However, the concern for order extends farther than Portlanders and Oregonians. All American citizens who grieve for the nation must be alarmed by this tragic drama that can spread like cancer over the entire country.

As seen on LifeSiteNews.

 

Why The Great Depression of 2020 Will be Different! by Julio Loredo

 

Why the Great Depression of 2020 Will Be Different

By Julio Loredo

They are already calling the current pandemic-induced economic crisis, “The Great Depression of 2020.” The paradigm is, of course, the Great Depression of 1929 that substantially changed the world’s model of development, signaling the onset of State intervention in the economy (the welfare state).

Analysts are also calling it “The Great Jump Backwards,” because it will push the world back in time by canceling three decades of economic development. International agencies estimate the contraction in GNP worldwide at -5.2%. The Eurozone with be the hardest hit with -9.1%. “It is the worst economic recession since 1870, a devastating blow for the world economy,” declared David Malpass, president of World Bank Group.

 

While the world’s situation seems bleak enough, I live in Italy, where the plight is even worse. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OCSE) recently published a study estimating the fall in its GNP at around -13%. This pushes Italy back to the economic level of 1993. According to OCSE pundits, the Italian situation should improve a little in 2021, bringing the country back to the situation of 1997. This improvement is hardly a consolation… Thirty years of economic development will go down the drain and, with them, so many dreams of a better future.

The fall in per capita income will be the worst since World War II. “It is the worst crisis since the Second World War, capable of bringing devastation to the health, the well-being and the work of people, creating unprecedented uncertainty,” said OCSE analyst Robert Boone.

Italy’s public debt will swell to 170% of its GNP. In turn, this will weigh enormously on the national budget, deviating resources that could otherwise be used to fuel the economy. A chain reaction of deleterious effects will be unleashed in which the final consequences are difficult to predict. Only one thing is certain: we will have to adapt to a substantially lower standard of living. We have no idea of the social unrest that this may spur.

The crisis is already hitting Italian families very hard. The number of citizens below the poverty level has more than doubled. Soup kitchens and Caritas food-distribution centers have seen swelling numbers lined up to receive help. We see the same lines at pawn shops, where thousands of people are selling their family jewels to survive. Shops, restaurants and industries are closing down permanently, while unemployment and idleness consequently soar. Even historical places that had survived two world wars and several depressions are going belly up.

This bleak panorama prompted the rating agencies to downgrade Italy’s debt to the BBB- level, one step short of junk bonds, further worsening the country’s outlook.

These are some of the short-term consequences of the crisis. Analysts are already looking to the future. Before speaking of economics, however, we must talk about the state of the people. The economy is nothing more than people interacting in the public market. The economy depends on the psychological condition, moral standards and mood of the people. Sound-minded people, with dynamic expectations and high moral standards, make for a healthy economy. The COVID pandemic seems to be striking at this fundamental level.

I recently spoke at length with a friend of mine, who is a well-known psychologist. She briefed me on the psychological consequences of the pandemic. Echoing the general opinion of Italian psychologists, she said that the pandemic is causing mental trauma. It is shaking people’s certainties, even at the unconscious level, forcing them into situations for which they are not prepared. People are particularly shocked to see their life expectations drastically reduced. The mirage of an ever-improving, ever richer, ever freer and more gratifying world—on which many people based their existence—has been dealt a deadly blow. People are presently still dazed; they still haven’t come to grips with the new situation. Their minds are still reacting to the shock and trying to absorb it. As time passes and the shock eases away, psychologists fear that many people will suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), with potentially devastating consequences. Data reveals that prescription drug use and psychological assistance seeking has skyrocketed these past months.

 

Widespread PTSD can easily throw society into depression, jeopardizing the possibilities for an economic bounce-back. “The COVID-19 pandemic can bring in another epidemic, whose first symptoms we can already glimpse,” says La Mente è Meravigliosa, a journal of clinical psychology. “We have to begin talking about depressive disorders. Several factors are overlapping in that deep level of the mind where emotions, uncertainty, fatigue, lack of control and even a sense of emptiness can seriously affect our mental balance. It is, therefore, important to prevent Covid-19 depression.”

A similar study recently published by Washington University’s Center for Science and Social Connection warns that as the COVID contagion diminishes, psychological depression is increasing.

Analysts and historians compare the current economic crisis to those of 1870, 1929, 1945 and others. The implication is that, just as we managed to overcome those crises, we will surely prevail over this one. I fear that this is not quite the case.

I fear that Italy, as most European countries, is worse equipped today to cope with such a devastating situation than it was in the past. Two factors must be considered. Each one would merit extensive analysis, for which, of course, I have neither time nor space. I shall, therefore, limit myself to putting forth the terms of the problem.

First, we have to consider that we are dealing with a generation that is psychologically different from the preceding ones.

There is an aversion for intellectual effort, notably to abstraction, theorization, and doctrinal thought. The result is a hypertrophy of the senses and the imagination, leading to the “civilization of the image,” denounced by Pope Paul VI in 1969. As noted by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira in his work, Revolution and Counter-Revolution, this generation has “a frame of mind characterized by the spontaneity of the primary reactions, without the control of the intelligence or the effective participation of the will, and by the predominance of fantasy and feelings over the methodical analysis of reality. All this is fruit, in large measure, of a pedagogy that virtually eliminates the role of logic and the true formation of the will.”

 

Will this generation be as adequately equipped with the psychological soundness and stamina to cope with the crisis as its forbearers? Only time will tell.

Secondly, we must take into account that our society has become multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-moral, multi-everything. In the previous depressions, Italians were conscious that they had a glorious past to defend and a national heritage to hand over to the next generations. Thus, they rolled up their sleeves and worked hard to get back on their feet. Today’s society has so many different sectors and interests, most of the time colliding with each other, it is difficult to find a unifying idea. What sense does it make, for example, for recently-arrived African immigrants, most of whom don’t even speak Italian, to invoke the national interest?

 

Will this fragmented society find the strength and cohesion to cope with the crisis as in the past? Again, only time will tell.

Love Looks Like Something by Chris Leeper

 

GOD Note   Love Looks like Something “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16) Love looks like something! It looks like GOD hanging on a tree. It looks like an ocean of acceptance and peace, inviting people to jump in. It looks like sacrifice for others; compassion for the needy; mercy for those who deserve judgment; fathering for the orphan; dying for a friend; kindness for the destitute and broken; the strong carrying the burdens of the weak; preferring others over yourself; doing unto others as you would want done to you; it lifts up others and covers their mistakes, and it finds life in purity and calls others into it. Love is free to all who want it because love pays the price so it can be free to the receiver. Love looks like GOD doing what HE does every day. And, if GOD abides in you, then you will look like love too. Love spends time with people; clears its calendar, listens and sees value in everyone because GOD values them (it is GOD that imparts value, not man’s condition or behavior); love is based on the heart of GOD, not man, thus making it unconditional love towards man; it gives and keeps on giving even when it is rejected, abused, and criticized; love shares salvation because it wants all people to be saved, and warns of the coming judgment because it doesn’t want anyone to face it; love sincerely cares, is humble, prefers others over itself, yields it opinion, and allows others to receive benefits above itself.   Will you practice letting GOD love people through you? It is not our love that the world needs, but GOD’s love, and as we yield to our CREATOR, LORD, and FATHER, HE will gladly use our lives to love the world. This is what HE is after, yielded vessels HE can show HIS strong love through. Let’s be that vessel. “FATHER, help us set aside our desires, to prefer others above ourselves. Prepare our hearts to allow YOUR love to flow through us, and please make an impact in our lives, families, and region so all will know YOUR love and glorify YOUR great Name.”

Chris Leeper Director of 40 Days of HOPE CA

True Social Justice!

 

True Social Justice!

 

JESUS and John The Baptist taught true social justice!

 

“The crowds asked John, ‘So then, what should we do?’ He answered, ‘Whoever has two coats should share with somebody who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.’ Tax collectors also came to be baptized; and they asked him, ‘Rabbi, what should we do?’ ‘Collect no more than the government assesses,’ he told them. Some soldiers asked him, ‘What about us? What should we do?’ To them he said, ‘Don’t intimidate anyone, don’t accuse people falsely, and be satisfied with your pay.’” Luke 3:10-14

 

Matthew 5-7 JESUS teaches how we should live before GOD and with each other. He teaches about personal and family relationships, employment and business relationships, but most importantly our relationship with GOD!

 

If we follow these simple guidelines social justice will be the norm in our society!

 

JESUS told us to give when we had it to give, to go the extra mile i.e. help someone with something that is not our responsibility, that hate is equal to murder, that lust is the same as the act of immorality, that greed leads to loss, not to do our good deeds to be recognized by others and that if we trust GOD we do not have to worry about what we need.

 

Saint Thomas on Immigration by John Horvat II

 

What Does Saint Thomas Say About Immigration?

By John Horvat II

 

In looking at the debate over immigration, it is almost automatically assumed that the Church’s position is one of unconditional charity toward those who enter the nation, legally or illegally.

However, is this the case? What does the Bible say about immigration? What do Church doctors and theologians say? Above all, what does the greatest of doctors, Saint Thomas Aquinas, say about immigration? Does his opinion offer some insights to the burning issues now shaking the nation and blurring the national borders?

Immigration is a modern problem and so some might think that the medieval Saint Thomas would have no opinion about the problem. And yet, he does. One has only to look in his masterpiece, the Summa Theologica, in the first part of the second part, question 105, article 3 (I-II, Q. 105, Art. 3). There one finds his analysis based on biblical insights that can add to the national debate. They are entirely applicable to the present.

 

Saint Thomas: “Man’s relations with foreigners are twofold: peaceful, and hostile: and in directing both kinds of relation the Law contained suitable precepts.”

Commentary: In making this affirmation, Saint Thomas affirms that not all immigrants are equal. Every nation has the right to decide which immigrants are beneficial, that is, “peaceful,” to the common good. As a matter of self-defense, the State can reject those criminal elements, traitors, enemies and others who it deems harmful or “hostile” to its citizens.

The second thing he affirms is that the manner of dealing with immigration is determined by law in the cases of both beneficial and “hostile” immigration. The State has the right and duty to apply its law.

Saint Thomas: “For the Jews were offered three opportunities of peaceful relations with foreigners. First, when foreigners passed through their land as travelers. Secondly, when they came to dwell in their land as newcomers. And in both these respects the Law made kind provision in its precepts: for it is written (Exodus 22:21): ’Thou shalt not molest a stranger [advenam]’; and again (Exodus 22:9): ’Thou shalt not molest a stranger [peregrino].’”

Commentary: Here Saint Thomas acknowledges the fact that others will want to come to visit or even stay in the land for some time. Such foreigners deserved to be treated with charity, respect and courtesy, which is due to any human of good will. In these cases, the law can and should protect foreigners from being badly treated or molested.

 

Saint Thomas: “Thirdly, when any foreigners wished to be admitted entirely to their fellowship and mode of worship. With regard to these a certain order was observed. For they were not at once admitted to citizenship: just as it was law with some nations that no one was deemed a citizen except after two or three generations, as the Philosopher says (Polit. iii, 1).”

Commentary: Saint Thomas recognizes that there will be those who will want to stay and become citizens of the lands they visit. However, he sets as the first condition for acceptance a desire to integrate fully into what would today be considered the culture and life of the nation.

A second condition is that the granting of citizenship would not be immediate. The integration process takes time. People need to adapt themselves to the nation. He quotes the philosopher Aristotle as saying this process was once deemed to take two or three generations. Saint Thomas himself does not give a time frame for this integration, but he does admit that it can take a long time.

Saint Thomas: “The reason for this was that if foreigners were allowed to meddle with the affairs of a nation as soon as they settled down in its midst, many dangers might occur, since the foreigners not yet having the common good firmly at heart might attempt something hurtful to the people.”

Commentary: The common sense of Saint Thomas is certainly not politically correct but it is logical. The theologian notes that living in a nation is a complex thing. It takes time to know the issues affecting the nation. Those familiar with the long history of their nation are in the best position to make the long-term decisions about its future. It is harmful and unjust to put the future of a place in the hands of those recently arrived, who, although through no fault of their own, have little idea of what is happening or has happened in the nation. Such a policy could lead to the destruction of the nation.

As an illustration of this point, Saint Thomas later notes that the Jewish people did not treat all nations equally since those nations closer to them were more quickly integrated into the population than those who were not as close. Some hostile peoples were not to be admitted at all into full fellowship due to their enmity toward the Jewish people.

Saint Thomas: “Nevertheless it was possible by dispensation for a man to be admitted to citizenship on account of some act of virtue: thus it is related (Judith 14:6) that Achior, the captain of the children of Ammon, ‘was joined to the people of Israel, with all the succession of his kindred.’”

Commentary: That is to say, the rules were not rigid. There were exceptions that were granted based on the circumstances. However, such exceptions were not arbitrary but always had in mind the common good. The example of Achior describes the citizenship bestowed upon the captain and his children for the good services rendered to the nation.

* * *

These are some of the thoughts of Saint Thomas Aquinas on the matter of immigration based on biblical principles. It is clear that immigration must have two things in mind: the first is the nation’s unity; and the second is the common good.

Immigration should have as its goal integration, not disintegration or segregation. The immigrant should not only desire to assume the benefits but the responsibilities of joining into the full fellowship of the nation. By becoming a citizen, a person becomes part of a broad family over the long term and not a shareholder in a joint stock company seeking only short-term self-interest.

Secondly, Saint Thomas teaches that immigration must have in mind the common good; it cannot destroy or overwhelm a nation.

This explains why so many Americans experience uneasiness caused by massive and disproportional immigration. Such policy artificially introduces a situation that destroys common points of unity and overwhelms the ability of a society to absorb new elements organically into a unified culture. The common good is no longer considered.

A proportional immigration has always been a healthy development in a society since in injects new life qualities into a social body. But when it loses that proportion and undermines the purpose of the State, it threatens the well-being of the nation.

When this happens, the nation would do well to follow the advice of Saint Thomas Aquinas and biblical principles. The nation must practice justice and charity towards all, including foreigners, but it must above all safeguard the common good and its unity, without which no country can long endure.

(This posting is a development of a paragraph and footnote from the book, Return to Order. Those who want to post or publish this article can do so as long as the credit is given to the Return to Order website and a link is made.)

1 Peter 2:1-3 by George Runyan

 

Put Aside the Corruptness of Your Human Nature and Long for GOD's Pure Word

1 Peter 2:1-3 – Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. 

This Scripture reveals that the human nature, with its corruptness, does not just disappear when we are saved. Peter says to “put aside” these evil behaviors. The five areas that Peter named are summed up in the word “wickedness.” Put aside all wickedness and become like newly born infants. What does a newborn want? Pure milk! As we begin our walk in Christ, the Holy Spirit begins to create an appetite for the pure milk of God’s Word. We must nurture that desire. This is our first step of cooperation with the Holy Spirit. We begin to think, “I need to read the Scriptures.” We choose to put aside other things and make room for the reading of His Word so we may begin to learn God’s will for our lives. 

Peter relates this desire for God’s pure word to growing in our salvation. True salvation ought to be accompanied by desires for God’s presence; the learning of His Word and a life lived out in righteousness. This new desire for the Word of God is in contrast to the old desires of our flesh. I remember how I could hardly wait to get time to study God’s Word. I had a hunger to know what it said and to be able to share with others what I had learned. I had a deep desire for others to experience what I had experienced through the Holy Spirit and God’s pure Word. I had been saved from my old life and ways. I recognized my growth in respect to my salvation. 

I began to recognize the kindness of God in saving me. I also sensed a growth in my knowledge of what it meant to be “a son of God.” I began to experience the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and I knew that I was entering into His grace. Peter calls it “tasting the kindness of our Lord” (1 Peter 2:3). When we recognize this kindness, we cannot help choosing to put aside our human corruptness and longing for His pure Word.

Ask the Holy Spirit to renew your hunger for His Word. Begin by reading of His goodness in all that He has done in Christ Jesus for us. Lavish yourself in the love of God and begin to experience a renewed desire to know His Word. If you are living in the knowledge of His kindness already, worship Him for all He has done for you.

George Runyan
SD City Church Ministries

Nightly Prayer for GOD's Rest and Peace

Nightly Prayer for GOD’s Rest and Peace

 

Dear Father GOD,

As we lay down to sleep, relax the tension in our bodies; calm any restlessness in our minds and still our thoughts which worry or perplex us. Help us LORD to rest ourselves and all our problems in Your Strong and Loving arms. HOLY SPIRIT speak to our minds and our hearts while we sleep, so we will wake in the morning having received Light for our way, Strength for our tasks, Peace for our worries and Forgiveness for our sins. Thank you for restful restorative sleep tonight and tomorrow Your Power and Love to live well.

In JESUS Name we pray.

True Stats on Covid -19 August, 27, 2020

 

True Stats on Covid-19

 

Tired of the miss reported facts on network news stations, they never state the total tested and don’t give the percentages, so I Googled the stats and here is what I found.

 

As of 2020 according to World O Meters the US has a population of 331,002,651 people.

 

Per CDC as of August 27, 2020:

80,664,943 total tests which is 24.4%^* of the total US population

  6,935,053 positive cases which is 8.6% of total tested and 2.1% of total US population

     178,998 total deaths which is 2.6% of positive cases and 0.05% of the US population

*Math done by math.com