I was looking through some of my online bookmarks recently and realized they badly need organizing! However, I also realized that there are many that might be of interest to other Bible students. I will share some of them here and might have to do future posts to share others.
I have not yet used the Biblical Training site but I have perused it. I find it promising that one can get a free Bible education so easily.
You will notice that I have several Jewish information resources. Never forget that our Messiah Jesus was Jewish born. I think some of us often lose sight of that.
These are some of the YouTube channels I subscribe to:
I will be doing updates to this post. I didn't realize when I started just how many pages I want to share. As of late, I am having problems with my hands and cannot type for long periods, but I will be adding more sites and pages! Stay tuned.
A lot of people make jokes about dreading another birthday. I've made those jokes but, in reality, I know how blessed I was to wake up this morning on the 62nd anniversary of my entry into this world.
It's kind of funny that sixty-two doesn't sound as old to me now as it did when I was in my 20s and 30s.
While my physical self is glad to be here and breathing, my soul longs for Heaven. I have often quipped that I don't fear being "dead" as much as I fear getting dead. Death means freedom from the chains of the world. Death means going into the promises God has made to us.
The other day, a long-time family friend of ours died. She was 95 and she died as a Jehovah's Witness. She died after rejecting the God of creation. She died in her unforgiven sins. She had 95 years to look to Jesus. It's been my hope that, maybe, in her last moments, she did look to him.
On this birthday, I think about the people who never made it to see their 62nd year. My beautiful goddaughter and niece died before she turned 37. I know of people who died that young or just a few years older during the COVID pandemic. I can read the news and see obituaries of people who died before they became teenagers or young adults.
I am blessed and I know it. My health is poor and my pocketbook is poor but I am blessed. I suffer from depression but I am blessed. I miss my mother and my father and my siblings who have died but I am blessed.
The thing about salvation is that those who have accepted it are blessed in every circumstance. We are blessed not because of any material abundance or physical attributes. We are blessed because this world is not our home.
I thank Jesus for my salvation. I thank him for taking on the punishment for my sins of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I thank him for his suffering in my place. I thank God in heaven for letting me wake up this morning and see this day.
This birthday is just another day of blessing. I'm happy to have made it this far.
The first time I heard someone use the term Bizarro World, I had to ask what that meant. Looking around me over the past few years, I think we are living deeply in that very place.
The Bible warned us.
When I read those verses from 2 Timothy, I think of all the churches with leaders who, if they teach the Bible at all, teach it wrongly. There are so many prosperity preachers ("name it and claim it blab it and grab it"), health-and-wellness preachers, and lifestyle coaching preachers that they almost drown out the preachers of the gospel.
I have seen entire "sermons" by some celebrity pastors without ever hearing anything about Jesus. Seriously. (At the end of this post, I will list some YouTube channels that expose these non-teachers of the true gospel.)
Of course, I look at the faults in the church before I look at the faults in the world. However, the lines between the church and the world are becoming blurry. The church (the Church) should be a light to the world. And the world needs a lot of light...
I am no longer into politics the way I was around 10 or 12 years ago. Politics, politicians, and party supporters... it all stressed me out. I stopped being able to focus on any of it and was just hearing a lot of white noise. Recently, though, I read this article on The Christian Post and delved a bit further, and found this video.
Trump is not the only politician with a character problem but he's the only one I've ever heard say anything like this:
"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters." (Candidate Donald Trump during his presidential campaign in 2016 at a rally in Iowa) source
He didn't shoot anyone but he went on to behave like a rude and insolent spoiled brat and... he was right about not losing any voters. (Don't forget that he once stood at a podium in front of cameras and mocked a disabled person.) Many people continue to idolize this man and support him in his prideful foolishness - including many Christians or other people of faith. Some people literally idolize him. Sadly, he continues to behave badly.
Trump is not the only one who was (is) hero-worshipped. I saw the same thing up close with Obama in 2008 and Hillary Clinton in 2016. I had friends of all races, faiths, and socioeconomic statuses acting as if Obama was the real Neo. During Clinton's run against Trump, I knew people who needed medication when she lost to him. (To my shame, I was a bit on board the first time Obama ran.)
That hurt but after I read the attached mention of "(The) Church's Facebook page: "For the gift of Drag Queens, O God, we give you thanks!” I didn't have the emotional energy to read the article.
While it's painful to watch the world accept "alternate facts" and tout having "their own truth" it's worse to watch it happen among people who call themselves Christian.
I was watching a popular crime series a couple of weeks ago The show follows real police as they try to solve crimes. In one episode featuring a truly senseless murder of some young people, one of the detectives explained why "senseless" murder has become so common among young people. His theory (I paraphrase) is that people don't mind dying if they don't feel tomorrow is worth living for.
Bizarro world.
Whenever I bring up in conversation how horrible the world is becoming, I'm usually told that the world isn't worse, the news is just better spread. That may be true but it's also true that the bad news is more accepted.
When is the last time you were shocked at hearing a news story about a school shooting or a high-speed police chase or a child killing their parents? I'm no longer shocked when someone tells me that they have had multiple sex partners or have gotten an abortion or have had an STD. I'm not shocked and they are not embarrassed.
We need to stop letting jargon dictate our behavior. People who are saving their virginity for marriage are called "prudes" or "repressed". The same thing goes for singles who are no longer married and are abstaining. Young people who don't practice all the YOLO behavior of their peers are looked at as being weird or somehow stunted.
Trying to live a Christian life is seen as odd. I'm fine with that - as a mature woman. It's the young people I worry about. They face more pressure today than ever and have less stable role models to guide them. They need to remember what Jesus told his apostles about being hated for his name's sake.
We need ministers and teachers in the faith who are Bible-led. We need a world that is not Bizarro.
Of course, none of the bells can be unrung. Those of us who are redeemed have to stand strong. We have to share our testimonies. We have to encourage one another. We have to stay cloaked in prayer. Hopefully, it won't be long before the war is done.
Finally, I truly believe that one of the reasons we Christians get caught in the traps of Bizzaro World ministers and teachers is that we don't follow the command to be discerning. God's Word instructs us, again and again, to test and verify what men tell us:
Acts 17:11: "Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." This passage highlights the Berean Jews' practice of carefully studying the Scriptures to verify the teachings they received.
1 Thessalonians 5:21: "Test everything; hold fast what is good." This verse encourages believers to examine and evaluate all things, including teachings and prophecies, and to hold onto what is true and beneficial.
1 John 4:1: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." Here, believers are urged to test and evaluate spiritual teachings and messages to discern whether they align with the truth of God.
Matthew 7:15-16: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits." This verse emphasizes the importance of examining the character and actions of those who claim to speak for God.
By the way, throughout the Learn the Buble in 24 Hours series, Chuck Missler frequently reminds students of Acts 17:11, saying "Don't take my word for it!" Try to remember that as you sit in a pulpit or under the teaching of anyone.
Peace
--Free
P.S. I took the screenshots from ESV.org where you can read the Bible online. And here are some of the YouTube channels that I have found helpful:
