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Conviction and condemnation can feel similar for a Christian. Conviction is from God and is necessary for joy. It should be cultivated. Condemnation is from Satan. It is a lie and should be resisted and thrown off. How do we tell the difference in our own lives? How do we help students discern the distinction in their hearts as well? An Example The night Christ was arrested, Peter and Judas both committed big sins. (This example isn’t perfect because Judas wasn’t a true Christian, but he was a professing believer and a member of Christ’s discipleship group. There’s much we...

One of the most controversial cities and professions in our country is Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Christians across the country have, for decades, boycotted entertainment companies, shows, films, and people. They have talked against Hollywood and even stopped their young creative family members and friends from coming to Hollywood to start a career. Why would there be such animosity toward just another city and another industry and another group of people? Especially when God's first act was creation and there are examples of creative people, prophets, and leaders all throughout the Bible. Many Christians in Hollywood believe it's a...

I ask you to look up. Look past the ceiling. Past the clouds. Past the stars that twinkle in the silence of night. And ask this question — not with your eyes, but with your soul: What is this universe?...

Isn’t honoring Mary a Roman Catholic thing? This general ethos can cause Evangelicals to get particularly squeamish around the language of “theotokos” the Mother of God… In the garden of Eden, after Adam had disobeyed God and before he was forced out of the garden, God promised in Genesis 3:15 that a seed would come from the woman, who would crush the head of the Serpent, thereby turning back the curse and putting an end to the enmity between man and God. This Seed, therefore, would need to be a new Adam—a new head of a new human race, since...

Isaiah 53:10 "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand." John 12:27-28 "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. (28) Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." Luke 22:42-43 "Saying,...

Deuteronomy 13:17 " And there shall cleave not (Or, be no personal profit) of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;" 2 Corinthians 6:17 "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the LORD, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." 1 Peter 2:11 " Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;" Jude...

1 Corinthians 7:29 "But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as through they had none;" Job 14:1-2 "MAN that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. (2) He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not." 1 John 2:17 "And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." 1 Corinthians 15:22, Vs. 54 (22)"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ...

In the biblical stories of barren women, maternity is further complicated in order to heighten the drama of the arrival of the promised son, emphasizing the divine role in conception and birth. In the case of the patriarchal stories in Genesis, the matriarchs’ barrenness emphasizes that it is God who disrupts continuity, in the transition from one generation to the next, and then selects the true heir to the covenant… There are six barren women in the Bible: three of the four matriarchs (Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel) in Genesis; Hannah, mother of the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1-2); the anonymous...

Genesis 21:1 "And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken." Psalm 62:8 "Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah." 1 Samuel 30:6 "And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God." Genesis 50:24 "And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely...

Today, millions of believers in Christ Jesus here in the United States and billions in other countries around the world celebrated The Resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Now His Holy Spirit dwells within each and every believer, and Christ is seated at the right hand of His Father God, pleading the case of every believer before Him to refute the evil wiles of Satan to accuse and say, "Look! look what they've done this time--another slip up, another mistake! They're not worthy to be called one of your children, God--cast them out, blot them out of...

Authorities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa rescued a kidnapped American pastor during a deadly shootout on Tuesday at a house in KwaMagxaki, Gqeberha. The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (HAWKS) released a statement announcing that an operation led by the agency "resulted in the successful rescue" of an American pastor who was kidnapped. Though the news release did not name the pastor, 34-year-old Josh Sullivan, of Tennessee, was kidnapped by several armed, masked men last week at his church in the Eastern Cape. A "high-intensity shootout" took place and three unidentified suspects were killed. Sullivan was found...

Thrifty Big Apple shoppers were rushing to stock up on the basics Wednesday after President Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs briefly went into effect — before he then announced a 90-day pause. “Pray to God that we all survive,” said Angelia Gonzalez, a 48-year-old mother who was filling her cart at the East Harlem Costco. “I feel some kind of way. I mean, I have a family.” Gonzalez travelled across town from her longtime home in West Harlem to stock up at the wholesaler over fears that prices will soon skyrocket from Trump’s massive “reciprocal” tariffs, which went into effect at...

Dear beloved fellow FReepers, please keep my husband in your prayers. John had a massive heart attack at 3:30 AM on April 2, 2025, though his heart was likely emitting C-Reactive Protein two days before. He said that he seemed to have pulled a muscle in his left chest and around his neck. We know better now. He had been doing some work around the house. I called 911 and about roomful of FD EMTs and techs and others showed along with an ambulance not long after. The firehouse is right up the street from us. PRAISE THE LORD. John...

Do you consider yourself rich in this present age? Here in the U.S., there’s always someone wealthier than us, so it’s easy not to think of ourselves as rich. After all, you probably didn’t take a rocket to space - like Jeff Bezos. However, if you consider the U.S., it’s one of the wealthiest nations ever in the history of the earth. The truth is, most of us reading this blog post do qualify as rich in this present age... What are the rich to do besides just enjoy their wealth? Do good. Each one of us should be always...

A new survey has found that more than half of Americans do not believe God exists or that He “affects lives,” prompting one prominent researcher to highlight the need for “sweeping national repentance and spiritual renewal.” The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University released the second installment of its American Worldview Inventory 2025 on Wednesday. The research found that overall, 60% of Americans do not believe God exists or that He “affects lives.” Nearly half of self-identified Christians (47%) and a slightly smaller share of theologically identified born-again Christians (40%) said the same. George Barna, director of research at...

Titus 2:10 "Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." Philippians 1:27 "Only let your conversation (Or, conduct) be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel:" 1 Thessalonians 5:22 "Abstain from all appearance of evil." 1 Peter 4:14-15 "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit...

Numbers 6:25-26 "The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: (26) The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." John 1:18 "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Hebrews 1:3 "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;" 2...

Numbers 6:24-27 "The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: (25) The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: (26) The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. (27) And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them." Proverbs 10:22 "The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." Psalm 5:12 "For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield." Psalm 121:1-8 "I WILL lift up mine eyes unto the hills,...

Genesis 22:14 "And Abraham call the name of that place Jehovah-jireh (That is, The LORD will see): as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD (Mount Moriah according to 2 Chronicles 3:1) it shall be seen." Genesis 22:8 "And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." Isaiah 59:1-2 "BEHOLD, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: (2) But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins...

1 Timothy 6:17-19 "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches (Or, the uncertainty of riches), but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; (18) That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; (Or, sociable) (19) Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." Deuteronomy 8:11-14,18 "Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his...