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Posts Tagged ‘Christ’

Colossians 2

For I would that ye knew what great conflict [Or, fear, or, care] I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;

That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.

For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.

And as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him:

Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments [Or, elements] of the world, and not after Christ.

For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power:

In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross;

And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it [Or, in Himself].

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect [Or, in part] of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days:

Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Let no man beguile you [Or, judge against you] of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

(Touch not; taste not; handle not;

Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting [Or, punishing, or, not sparing] of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh (Colossians 2: 1-23).

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Bullying as a Form of Censorship

08/25/23

People love a winner; they admire those who get their way. And increasingly in our society anything you have to do to win is not only permitted but encouraged, particularly when your worldview is in sync with the ideology of the power elite. Increasingly, when the more passive-aggressive means of censorship fail, people are resorting to bullying as a winning strategy to push their ideology onto the world. Perhaps it’s this newfound obsession with 100% compliance — the idea that you can change reality if everyone buys in — that’s driving it. For whatever reason, just making your case to the world as to why your belief system is worth considering — letting your argument stand on its own merits — is apparently not enough anymore. Certain people think that they not only have the right to their own opinion but the right and even the duty to prevent other people from expressing or even having a differing opinion. You have to drive those with competing worldviews out of the town square through intimidation and harassment. You have to bully them into silence and self-censorship. Then, you win by default; only your worldview is left standing. As a bonus, other people will see what you’ve done to your rivals, and they, too, will most likely be browbeaten into submission to your will.

Shadowbanning also can contribute to bullying when it’s clear that people with some sort of power are singling out a group for different, negative treatment. It’s the non-woke, non-globalist worldview that’s being shadowbanned. The attitude among the censorship set seems to be: what do you expect? Of course you’re being demoted! Your views, unlike the other side (scoff) are offensive. Just be glad you haven’t had your account cancelled. It’s what you deserve for fighting the current. In reality, they don’t want you gaining traction to reverse the course. But the official line is that it’s normal and a given you should be treated worse than the ones with their ideology. You are basically not treated with respect, and they are signaling to all the bullies that you have lower status in the social pecking order. This in turn emboldens bullies to abuse people for having what they hope will become an unpopular ideology.

At the end of the day, it’s one thing to state your case to the world, and if you can, even comment on another’s opinion if they’re open to comments. But this tendency of seeking out people with differing views and lying in wait for them to say something you don’t like — which shouldn’t take too long to accomplish — just so you can jump all over them should not be encouraged or admired. It should be seen for what it is — bullying as a means of censorship.

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THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS

Colossians 1

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,

To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,

For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;

Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son:

In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:

And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.

And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [Or, among all] things He might have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell;

And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works [Or, by your mind in wicked works], yet now hath He reconciled,

In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight:

If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church:

Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, and now is made manifest to His saints:

To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you [Or, among you], the hope of glory:

Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

Whereunto I also labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily (Colossians 1: 1-29).

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Writing Update # 6

I finally got the pre-order for Contagion Phase 1: Biosphere up. It is set for release on April 29th, 2024. Right now it is available at the Smashwords Store for pre-order. It comes in the following formats at the Smashwords Store: epub mobi pdf lrf pdb txt. The price will be $2.99 for the eBook. Here is the summary:

Contagion Phase 1: Biosphere

In order to please her father, sixteen-year-old Kenya Winters agrees to go to a summer internship at the biosphere. She thought her being claustrophobic made the situation enough of an ordeal, but the reality is far worse. For outside the biosphere horrible things are happening — an experiment has gone terribly wrong and the consequences from it may just destroy them all.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1545993

I’ve also submitted the book to Draft2Digital for the print version. The price for the print version is $12.99. It is also set to be released on April 29th, 2024. I will be providing links to other stores as they become available! Thanks for reading this!

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The Imperfect Pot

I am an imperfect pot. God can compensate for my shortcomings. As Jesus said in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul the Apostle goes on to write, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (Corinthians 12: 9-10)

There are people who think that human beings should be autonomous from God — who try to eliminate humanity’s bond with God. They don’t think we should have a sensitive side which can bond with God — which relies on Him in order to stay emotionally alive. They don’t think we should have physical weaknesses that can be mitigated by God’s intervention. To them, in the mindset of eugenics, imperfect pots should be destroyed. Those who rely on God should be destroyed.

I am an imperfect pot. I need God to compensate for my weaknesses. I need God because I love God.

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Jonah 4

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray Thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil.

Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

Then said the LORD, “Doest thou well to be angry?”

So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

And the LORD God prepared a gourd [Or, palmerist], and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement [Or, silent] east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

And God said to Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?” And he said, I do well to be angry [Or, I am greatly angry], even unto death.

Then said the LORD, “Thou hast had pity on [Or, spared] the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

“And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4: 1-11)

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The War on Moderation

3/18/24

Just like the Weimar Republic allowed itself to be browbeaten into submission by the radical left and eventually annihilated by the radical right in the 1930s, our US government’s moderates are at risk of going the way of the dinosaurs. Moderates on both the right and the left are caving to the will of bullying extremists on both sides of the aisle, despite the fact that the moderates are in fact a majority in the legislature as well as the majority in the general population.

In our current time, these radical fringe groups, both left and right, are in agreement on one thing. They want to weaken and then destroy the existing moderate representational government and replace it with an authoritarian one, which will exercise total control over the population. Once the existing representational government is destroyed, then they will battle it out for which, left or right, will be the flavor of the day for authoritarianism. David Winner states in the subtitle of his article, “How the left enabled fascism” that “Ernst Thälmann, leader of Germany’s radical left in the last years of the Weimar Republic, thought the centre left was a greater danger than the right. We should remember his miscalculation.” (Winner, 2021) Just like the left in the Weimar Republic, radicals on both sides would rather see an authoritarian government of some kind than a moderate representational government that represents the people. “For strategic reasons, however, he was willing to help them achieve a key part of their dream, which he shared. The dream was to break the loathsome old liberal order. Such a break, reasoned the leader, would create conditions under which the left would sweep to power and transform the country for the better.” (Winner, 2021) Yet, both sides in the US seem to take for granted that they will come out on top of any power struggle. “Thälmann and the KPD regarded fascists and Nazis as products and tools of capitalism. Since social democrats were also capitalists, it followed that social democracy, fascism and Nazism were simply different facets of the same oppression. To further the dream of a Soviet Germany, the party was willing to help the Nazis destroy democracy, thinking it could beat the Nazis easily in the aftermath.” (Winner, 2021)

Clearly both sides are invested in seeing that the general population doesn’t have a voice or a say in their own lives. Our will is to be replaced by their will. We will be forced to listen to and obey a third party if they have their way.

What the people behind the woke movement have been pushing isn’t democracy as it was understood in the US — which is a representational government based on principle — but rather mob rule. The thought is that you eke your way into power and then you can overthrow any representational government and replace it with an authoritarian one that caters to the woke ideology.

The woke are responsible for starting this latest push toward authoritarianism. Part of their ideology is the belief that they are justified in forcing their social ideology on every living person. Only they believed that they would be able to seal the deal and consolidate their power by now. But for whatever reason, it hasn’t happened. Now it finally occurs to them that power could be given back to those who they trespassed against, and they are panic-stricken as a result. Meanwhile, those they have been open to persecuting the last three years are considering going authoritarian themselves and rule over their enemies the way the woke have tried to do these past three years to them. Some members of both groups have become convinced that their survival is at stake, and the only way to save themselves is to “win.” That is what the propaganda is pushing. As in the Weimar Republic, “In the 1930s, fear of Bolshevism persuaded many middle-class Germans to support Hitler (and led the Catholic Church to throw in its lot with fascism in Italy, Spain and elsewhere).” (Winner, 2021)

If the government does go authoritarian, I’m not sure which faction will come out on top. But I know those who will win are the globalists, and those who will lose are the rest of us. For the globalists will have torn down the strongest representational government in the world and replaced it with an authoritarian tyranny that they will be in a unique position to control.

The problem is we can’t see beyond the false dichotomy that you have to choose between left or right authoritarianism or become a victim of the other side. But there’s always a third way. And that way is God. He’s the One who can empower people to stand up to this mess and restore our ability to exercise our own free will again. And the only way to reconcile with God is through repentance, following His will and His standards, and through accepting the sacrifice of His Messiah Jesus Christ.

Winner, D. (2021, September 9). “How the left enabled fascism.” THE NEW STATESMAN. https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2018/10/how-left-enabled-fascism

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Jonah 3

And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

“Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.”

So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.

And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

And it caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not (Jonah 3: 1-10).

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Jonah 2

Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly.

And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice.

For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed my about: all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me.

Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple.

The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast Thou brought up my life from corruption [Or, the pit], O LORD my God.

When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine holy temple.

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

But I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land (Jonah 2: 1-10).

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God Comes First

Originally written on 11/2/23

God comes first. Everything else, including other people, including yourself, is subordinated to God. There is an active push to put human beings and their feelings above God. There’s a push to worship certain human beings as gods. This is idolatry. This is not Judeo-Christianity.

As Jesus said,

“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

“For I am come to SET A MAN AT VARIANCE AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND THE DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND THE DAUGHTER IN LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER IN LAW.

“And A MAN’S FOES SHALL BE THEY OF HIS OWN HOUSEHOLD.

“He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

“And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10: 34-38)

The globalists are also pushing a potpourri religious paradigm on the world: universalism, which adds elements of disparate religions together and requires the world’s population to dabble in other religions and to worship other gods. This is expressly prohibited in Judeo-Christianity and once again is a form of idolatry.

And God spake all these words, saying,

“I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me”; (Exodus 20: 1-5)

But at the center of both efforts is the desire for the elites to be worshipped as gods themselves. And they have to destroy the foundational belief that God comes first in order to replace God in the hierarchy of importance with themselves. They start off this movement by claiming all people should be placed above God. It has become, therefore, offensive to people who buy into the human-first mentality when anyone puts God ahead of a human being. But the end goal is for the elites alone to have worth — not God and not the rest of us. To contradict that this human-first paradigm is compatible with true Judeo-Christianity, I offer the following Bible quotes.

In Matthew 15, Jesus talks about how you can’t replace God’s commandments with those of men:

But He answered and said unto them, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

“For God commanded, saying, ‘HONOUR THY FATHER AND MOTHER’: and, ‘HE THAT CURSETH FATHER OR MOTHER, LET HIM DIE THE DEATH.’

“But ye say, ‘Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, “It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me”;

“‘And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free.’ Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

“Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

“‘THIS PEOPLE DRAWETH NIGH UNTO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOURETH ME WITH THEIR LIPS; BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME.

“‘BUT IN VAIN THEY DO WORSHIP ME, TEACHING FOR DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.’ ” (Matthew 15: 3-9)

People are sold on the idea that they will be held to no standard, have limitless approval, and unrestricted exercise of their own will if people will prioritize human beings over God. The idea they are sold is that if people are allowed to do whatever they want they will no longer be bitter or vengeful. Only the people behind the push to drive God from the worldview of society know better. People’s wills conflict with each other. Some people, including the elites, are also driven to try to subordinate the will of others to their own.

When people put human beings ahead of God, people don’t rise in status equally. For the new system to work, a small number become the false gods while the majority become masochistic slaves. And it isn’t the masochism popularized in fiction. You aren’t beloved of the sadist, and there is no pathway to become their equal. You can see this reality playing out now. Before it was made clear that if you didn’t comply with these people you would be punished — you deserved to be punished. Now you are told you deserve to be punished by just existing, and your persecutor is filled with self-righteous indignation if you attempt to avoid that punishment, even if that punishment is death. There is no discussion allowed for whether the punishment is deserved or the severity of the punishment is justified. In the end, putting human beings ahead of God has been sold as the ultimate in humanitarianism and kindness. Instead, it is a pathway for world system elites to exercise power over others. The real God has been labeled as mean and unkind. In reality, His way is the way that allows people to have a life free from enslavement — enslavement from sin and enslavement from sadism.

Be forewarned. If you give up God in order to appease those who are clinging to the unrealistic dream of universal acceptance and approval, you will be subjected to the view of humanity of the elite — that they are the only ones who matter. For it is God who holds that all human life has intrinsic value:

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, ‘THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR, and hate thine enemy.’

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5: 43-45)

So, if you, therefore, reject God then only the elite will be seen as having any worth or right to life.

In Matthew 22 it states:

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying,

Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?

Jesus said unto him, “‘THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART, AND WITH ALL THY SOUL, AND WITH ALL THY MIND.’
“This is the first and great commandment.

“And the second is like unto it, ‘THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF.’

“On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22: 35-40)

Notice it is love thy neighbor as thyself, not above God. God has predominance over both neighbor and self. As Jesus said in Matthew 7, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7: 12)

But God still comes first. Treating others as you would have them treat you is kindness. When you put God first, everything else falls into place.

As it says in the Bible, God is no respecter of persons. As Moses states:

For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: (Deuteronomy 10: 17)

The Bible talks of Jesus in this way:

Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle Him in His talk.

And they sent out unto Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest Thou for any man: for Thou regardest not the person of men. (Matthew 22: 15-16)

In the epistle of James it reads,

Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the [Or, that] kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?

But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF,” ye do well:

But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the Law as transgressors.

For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

(James 2: 5-10).

God doesn’t value elites above people with less power.

As Jesus said, “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12)

In conclusion, nothing good comes from allowing elites to try to drive God from our society, so they can rule over us instead.

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