Archive for the ‘resurrection’ Category

Do Not Be Fooled!

Posted: April 1, 2022 in Ancient Faith, belief, Biblical, Body of Christ, burial, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Church History, Counsel, Cross, death, Evangelical, Evangelism, Faith, False Teaching, Father, God, Gospel, Heresy, history, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, Justification, Kingdom of God, life, Logos, Love, Lutheran, Martin Luther, message, Messiah, orthodoxy, Pastoral Care, Pentecostal, power, preach, Protestant, redemption, Reformed, regeneration, reign, renewal, Repentance, resurrection, sanctification, Scriptural, Son, Teaching, Word
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I am writing this on April Fool’s Day. No kidding! April Fool’s Day is an annual custom on April 1st consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting “April Fools!” at the one they’ve fooled. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The custom of setting aside a day for playing harmless pranks upon one’s neighbor has been relatively common in the world historically. However, can being fooled only be considered a harmless prank or a joke? Did you know that Satan is the great deceiver? Does Satan work harmless pranks or jokes upon humanity, including Christians?

“And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)

“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)

“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:9)

“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.” (Revelation 20:7-8)

There is a Slavonic word which is translated into English as “prelest” for lack of a precise equivalent, although it is often translated as spiritual delusion or spiritual deception, accepting a delusion for reality in contrast to spiritual sobriety.

Prelest carries a connotation of allurement in the sense that the serpent beguiled Eve by means of the forbidden fruit.  Here prelest is defined in greater depth and explained the two ways in which it is applied.

Spiritual deception is the wounding of human nature by falsehood. Spiritual deception is the state of all men without exception, and it has been made possible by the fall of our original parents. All of us are subject to spiritual deception. Awareness of this fact is the greatest protection against it. Likewise, the greatest spiritual deception of all is to consider oneself free from it. We are all deceived, all deluded; we all find ourselves in a condition of falsehood; we all need to be liberated by the Truth. The Truth is our Lord Jesus Christ (see John 8:32-14:6).

Let us assimilate that Truth by faith in it; Let us cry out in prayer to this Truth, and it will draw us out of the abyss of demonic deception and self-delusion. Bitter is our state! It is that prison from which we beseech that our souls be led out, that we may confess the name of the Lord (see Psalm 141:8). The enemy that hates and pursues us has cast our life into that gloomy land. It is that carnal-mindedness (Romans 8:6) and knowledge falsely so-called (see I Timothy 6:20) where the entire world is infected, refusing to acknowledge its illness, insisting, rather, that it is in the bloom of health.

It is that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God” (I Corinthains 15:50). It is that eternal death which is healed and destroyed by the Lord Jesus, Who is “the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25). Such is our state. In addition, the perception thereof is a new reason to weep. With tears, let us cry out to the Lord Jesus to bring us out of prison, to draw us forth from the depths of the earth, and to wrest us from the jaws of death! For this cause did our Lord Jesus Christ descend to us, because He wanted to rescue us from captivity and from most wicked spiritual deception.

The means whereby the fallen angel brought ruin upon the human race was falsehood (Genesis 3:13). For this reason did the Lord call the devil “a liar, and the father of lies…, a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). We see that the Lord closely associated the notion of falsehood with the notion of murder; for the latter is the inevitable consequence of the former. The words “from the beginning” indicate that from the very start the devil has used falsehood as a weapon in murdering men, for the ruination of men. The beginning of evil is in the false thought.

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…” 2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV)

The source of self-delusion and demonic deception is the false thought. By means of falsehood, the devil infected humanity at its very root, our first parents, with eternal death. For our first parents were deceived, i.e., they acknowledged falsehood as the truth, and having accepted falsehood in the guise of truth, they wounded themselves incurably with mortal sin, as is attested by our ancestor Eve, when she said: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (see Genesis 3:13). Thenceforth, voluntarily, or involuntarily, our nature, infected with the poison of evil, inclined toward evil that, to our perverted will, distorted reason, and debauched heart, presents itself as good.

As human beings, we do not have the freedom to choose good. Before God regenerates us, we can only choose evil. The freedom we have does not function as complete freedom, but rather under the unavoidable influence of the wound of sin. Thus is every human born and cannot be otherwise; and for this reason we all, without exception, find ourselves in a state of self-delusion and demonic deception.

From this view of man’s state with regard to good and evil, the state that is necessarily characteristic of each human being, we arrive at the following definition of spiritual deception, which explains it satisfactorily: spiritual deception is man’s assimilation of a falsehood that he accepts as truth.

From the time of man’s fall, the devil has had free access to humanity. The devil was entitled to this access, for; through disobedience to God, man has voluntarily submitted to Satan’s authority and rejected obedience to God. However, God has redeemed man. Jesus Christ defeated Satan and has bound him in chains. Now, Satan is not entitled to free access any longer. To the redeemed man He has given the freedom to submit to God, yet can still be deceived by the devil. The Christian’s freedom may manifest itself without any compulsion, and the devil must be permitted access to the Christian. It is quite natural that the devil makes every effort to keep man in his former subjection to him, or yet to enslave him even more thoroughly. To achieve this, he implements his primordial and customary weapon–falsehood. He strives to deceive and delude us, counting on our state of self-delusion. He stimulates our passions, our sick inclinations. He invests their pernicious demands with an attractive appearance and strives to entice us to indulge them.

However, he that is faithful to the Word of God, submitting to the power of the Holy Spirit, will not permit himself to do so; through faith he will restrain the passions and thus repulse the enemy’s assaults (see James 4:7); struggling against his own self-deception under the guidance of the Gospel, subduing his passions, and thus gradually destroying the influence of the fallen spirits on himself, he will through faith pass from the state of deception to the realm of truth and freedom (see John 8:32), the fullness of which will be given through the overshadowing of divine grace.

He that is not faithful to Christ’s teaching, who follows his own will and knowledge, by submitting to the deception of the enemy, passing from a state of self-deception into a state of demonic deception, may fall in grievous sin, and yet, by God’s gracious mercy, in the end he will not become totally enslaved to the devil.

“You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey Him.” (Ephesians 5:5-6)

“Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”  1 Corinthians 10:12 (NKJV)

Pray to be kept from Satanic deception. Don’t be fooled!

Connected to Jesus Christ

Posted: December 1, 2020 in Advent, Ancient Faith, belief, Biblical, Body of Christ, catholic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Evangelism, Faith, Father, glory, God, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, Justification, Kingdom of God, Liturgical, Love, Messiah, orthodoxy, redemption, regeneration, renewal, repent, Repentance, resurrection, sanctification, Scriptural, story, Word
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Connected to Christ in Advent

Advent is upon us! In this season, we look back on all Christ did when He came veiled in flesh. We also look forward to when He will come again in His resurrected body with nail-pierced hands. In this year of social-distancing and social unrest, we remember that regardless of circumstance we are connected because of Christ and the life He freely gave for us.

The work of Christ connects us to Him and also to all other Christians. What an encouragement that is. During these times when we feel disconnected and are physically distanced, the reminder that we are connected to Christ is especially sweet.

Connected in Christ through Jesse’s Family Tree

Isaiah speaks of a branch that will bear fruit. That branch is Christ. Isaiah 11:1 says: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”

The verse from Isaiah says that from the stump and roots of Jesse’s family tree a new branch will be born, will grow, and will bear much fruit. We are a part of this new growth. We may not share genetic familiarity with Jesse, Abraham, or King David. Because of Christ, we have been grafted into the new growth that finds its roots in the families of these people who came before. We are connected to Abraham, King David, and the people with whom we share church pews not because of genetic familiarity or social proximity but because of Christ.

The book of John talks about Christ being the vine and us the branches that grow directly from the branch. We are a part of this new growth. In Christ, we are grafted into this family. Christ is the vine that holds us all together. We abide in him and we are all connected to Christ and connected to one another. (John 15:4-5)
The Bible speaks in different ways about us being connected. What remains the same is the centrality of Christ. He is what binds us together. He binds us together in Baptism, regardless of the distance. We are connected as heirs in Christ and together we cry out to our heavenly Father. And while we are apart, He is growing us as individuals and as a body of believers.

Connected in Christ through Baptism.

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. . . .”
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12: 12-14; 18; 24-27)

We are all baptized into the same faith because of the work of Christ. We are all a part of the same body. God has put this body of believers together. Nothing, not even death, can permanently separate us from Christ and our fellow believers.

Connected in Christ regardless of distance.

“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.” (Colossians 2:1-5)

We are physically distanced yet not completely removed from one another because we are connected in Christ. This is not the first time Christians have felt the discomfort of distance. There is distance and it is painful yet we are still connected. We are knit together by the love of Christ and we look forward to when we can gather together again. Even though Paul has not seen these people face to face he is still encouraging them in their faith. Both Paul and we can do this because our assurance is not in our ability to connect with another but in the hold Christ has on us all.

Connected in Christ as family.

Our family bonds may be strained because we cannot travel, yet because of Christ, all of us as believers are family. We are forever connected and all at once we are crying out to the same Father. We can cry out to him “Abba! Father!” During this time of social distancing and separation, we can remember that we are children of God. We are all crying out at the same time for the same things even when we are apart. We can pray the Lord’s prayer and know others are praying the same words. We can recite the creeds and know that others are declaring those same words.

Connected in Christ and given gifts.

“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:4-7; 15-16)

We may be physically distant from one another, yet the Word of Christ is not taken from us. We can still speak the truth in love to one another. It may not be in the church narthex. It may be via letter instead. Rest assured that Christ is still at work in our lives making the body grow. He is still using each one of us. His gifts to us are still there. He is still using them. He is still building the body in love. He is growing us each as individuals and also as a Church body.

Connected through Christ

During this time when our usual ways of connecting may not be possible, we can know that we are connected because of Christ. The physical disconnection is there and it is painful. There may be a disconnection because of death, sickness, or general unrest. Thankfully our hope is not in our own life, health, or peace. Our hope is found in the life of Christ and the peace he gives.

This Advent, as with all of the Advent seasons that have come before, we look forward to when Christ will come back for us. He will raise His people from the dead, and our relationships with each other will be fully restored. We will, all together, look at the nail pierced hands of Christ in awe. I’m looking forward to that, as we all are.

~ taken from the CPH blog by Katie Koplin

America’s New Secular State-Run “Church”

Posted: July 23, 2020 in Ancient Faith, belief, Biblical, Body of Christ, catholic, Christian, Church, Church History, Cross, False Teaching, Father, glory, God, Gospel, history, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Liturgical, Orthodox, orthodoxy, Pastoral Care, redemption, regeneration, renewal, repent, Repentance, resurrection, sanctification, Scriptural, sign, Teaching, universal, Word
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statechurch

For what seems an eternity, one of the ongoing accusations leveled by secularists against Christians and the Church was that Christians kept their heads in the clouds. Believers have been told they have been too heavenly minded to be any earthly good, that they needed to be where the action really was, directing their energies to down-to-earth, pragmatic deeds.

So it is with some astonishment that the faithful see Governor John Carney of Delaware, along with other state governors such as California’s Gavin Newsom, order church leaders and congregants to keep their nonessential heads in the tech cloud. Carney’s recommendation? “Do your best to practice your faith virtually.“

No matter how virtuous or sentimental their motives, the almost complete capitulation of priests and pastors to banishment by government leaders like Carney has been astonishing. Few have meaningfully protested the exile of the Church into the cloud. In fact, nearly all churches voluntarily have closed their sanctuaries and ascended into cyberspace.

The nearly universal retreat into the cloud meant that the Church accepted social distancing more severe than the six feet enforced by grocery stores. It meant church leaders distanced themselves from their congregations altogether, consigning their flocks to a cyber-environment that is COVID-19 free but certainly not free from the virus of political correctness enforced the church of Big Tech minders.

Basically, the Church acceded to a definition of itself as non-essential, thus relegating itself to the status of any other business or institution. By beating a retreat into the cloud, the Church shrank itself into the tech matrix, subjecting itself to the arbitrary touch of a fingertip or click of a mouse, becoming just another one of the gods inhabiting the cloud above Mt. Tech Olympus.

But what is just as important as the ascension of the Church into the cloud is the fact that state governments, now fortified by SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the United States], will expect churches to continue to follow severe restrictions set up during and after the total shutdown. Churches will be expected to follow regulatory requirements for reopening that amount to the equivalent of a “fundamental transformation” of the churches.

Government leaders, now heartened by the swing decision of Chief Justice John Roberts, will continue to commandeer the way church is done by altering the liturgy, the habits, and the ways and means of worship as surely as if an altar devoted to Zeus were placed in the sanctuaries and congregants were forced to bow down and offer incense to the god.

Delaware is but one example of the establishment of the new state churches. As of May 18, Delaware’s governor issued his state church initiatives, including the new liturgical practices conforming to COVID correctness:

Attendance is limited to a maximum of 30% of occupancy.

Social distancing of 6 feet or more is required (except for members of the same household).

The length of the service can be no longer than one hour.

Individuals age 13 and up are required to wear a cloth face covering.

Services are limited to one day per week.

Gathering times must be staggered to permit cleaning before the next service.

Churches are asked to establish a system for staggering the arrival of worshippers.

Older citizens are advised not to attend at all.

When have we seen similar draconian restrictions on the Church? It may help to review the Bolsheviks’ responses to the Orthodox church that formed Russia’s spiritual life from 988 A.D. on.

Robert Conquest, the author of Harvest of Sorrow, relates that Lenin’s letter of November 1913 to Maxim Gorky stated the party position quite flatly:

Every religious idea, every idea of God, is unutterable vileness … of the most dangerous kind, contagion of the most abominable kind. Millions of sins, filthy deeds, acts of violence and physical contagions … are far less dangerous than the subtle, spiritual idea of God decked out in the smartest ideological costumes. Every defense or justification of God, even the most refined, the best intentioned, is a justification of reaction.

In other words, the Russian Orthodox Church itself was considered a pathogen within society. Churches were regarded as ideologically germ-ridden places to be sanitized by correct thinking.

Lenin went on to say it was best to start the eradication of the church by giving “an impression of toleration with control, humiliation of the churches rather than with overt suppression.”

In sum, church activity was to be reduced to the performance of services alone. Russians were to practice their faith by ritual only, much as Governor Carney advises when he suggests Christians should learn to practice their faith “virtually.”

The exile of the churches into virtual reality provides an opportunity for some self-examination.

Perhaps the COVID-19 crisis will encourage church leaders to think about how and what happens when sanctuaries are vacated, and seven devils loosed by the State enter as the shutdown is somewhat lifted.

They might wish to reflect about what to do when the State wishes to cleanse the church of “diseased” doctrines — to think about what to do when the Church’s beliefs are declared hate speech pathogens.

Just as importantly, leaders also might think about how the flock has been deprived of community and thus of corporate worship and corporate prayer. They may wish to meditate on the sacramental aspect of the community of the saints.

For many if not most churches, the celebration of Holy Communion is when the body and blood of Christ are offered as essential spiritual food pastors and priests are required to dispense. But the shepherds of the flock almost universally have quit offering spiritual wine and bread, leaving their sheep to fend for themselves.

In short, within a space of weeks, Americans have seen the entirety of American Christendom shut down and the overnight ascension of what is essentially a secularist state church. The initially nascent state church has now been more firmly established by SCOTUS’s decision to allow state control of churches for reasons of “health.”

When any government even temporarily takes over the churches for any reason, it has essentially shattered the autonomy of the Church, making it subservient to the State. The Church under orders from the State is then subject to forcible conformance to State dogma.

The state that dictates when and where and how and to whom the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is administered is the state that has taken over the church and substituted its own sacraments. The state that dictates the how, when, and where of the baptism of children is the state that has created its own church. The state that decides when, where, and how many of the faithful can listen to the preaching of the Word or how many can assemble to pray together is the state that also dictates what is to be preached and prayed. The state that insists that worshipers wear and sing through face masks is the state that determines the way virtues of the state churches are signified. The state that ranks the Church of God to be an institution equal to bars, restaurants, and public schools is the state that will disregard the unique status of the Church and its constitutional rights.

As the directives from the state begin to strangle the Church, the latter is faced with a choice it probably should have made at the beginning of the state takeover. Pastors and priests must make the decision to open their churches to worship services and to continue the churches’ ministries as they were before the coronavirus coup. They must remember what the Church is and obey God rather than the State.

For if they do not, it’s predictable that the almighty State will squeeze the churches harder, requiring total conformity to the State that certainly seems ready to hijack the Church’s mission, to vitiate its standing in constitutional law, to appropriate its wealth, and to take over its institutions by force if necessary.

It’s time for all believers, leaders, and congregants alike, to remember the words of St. Ambrose:  “Not only for every idle word must man give an account, but for every idle silence.”

By Fay Voshell

Fay Voshell holds a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, where she was awarded the Charles Hodge Prize for excellence in systematic theology. She is a frequent contributor to American Thinker and other online publications.

“Our Situation is Dire”

Posted: July 22, 2020 in Ancient Faith, belief, Biblical, Body of Christ, Calling, Christian, Church, Cross, death, Faith, Father, glory, God, Gospel, history, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, Kingdom of God, life, Logos, Love, message, Messiah, Ministry, Orthodox, orthodoxy, redemption, regeneration, renewal, repent, Repentance, resurrection, sanctification, Scriptural, sign, Son, Teaching, Testimony, transformation, Word
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ussa-flag

 

Our situation is dire. We stand at the precipice, just as the Christian Russians did before the Bolshevik [revolution] annihilation.

We must mentally, physically, and spiritually prepare ourselves to stand up. We need thousands, and then tens of thousands, to gather together in public to defend our right to live. We must be non-violent, but we have to be physically present. We must come out of the shadows to risk everything before we are so oppressed that we have nothing left to defend, including our dignity.

Some people will be doxed, but the idea of doxing 10,000 is laughable, and pointless, and if 10,000 are doxed, there are places of comfort and support. Furthermore, 10,000 can turn into 100,000 and more. All people, of every color, fighting for God-given unalienable human rights must prepare themselves for suffering – temporary suffering for the greater good and to avoid WAR.

It is time to move to areas where we can gather together in communities. It is time to move and congregate in small groups that are willing to lead and organize. It is time to accept that they are coming for your job, and your property, and your reputation, and ALL of your rights: speech, arms, assembly, faith, and life.

You have to stand up to people who would do this to you. Because, if they would do this, they will take your life as soon as they have the power to do so. They rule us by intimidation and financial oppression. These people do not have real power against the group. They can censor and imprison individuals, and they do this to control and oppress the greater population. They know they cannot overtake the majority or even a significant minority of the majority.

But how are we to stand up? How are we to overcome our fears of financial insecurity, losing things we have or not getting things we want, imprisonment, social rejection, what we will eat, what we will wear, and where will we live? We worry we will risk all and our people won’t back us up. We know we lack power; we are demoralized. How are we to fight when we can’t keep our own marriages and families together? When parents and children are addicted to drugs, nicotine, alcohol, sugar, pornography, Hollywood filth, professional sports, gaming, and casual sex?

We have no common morality, no cohesive group, and have become such rugged individualists that we can’t get along with anyone. So we retreat, and atomize and withdraw further. Emotions rule us, we are soft in every way that we should be hardened. We are weak and prone to despondency and confusion. We don’t know where we came from or where we are going.

We accepted views of the world that have no meaning. Each of us has our own religion and therefore we are all atheists. We have abandoned discipline and discomfort, reading for television, fasting for gluttony, purity for lust, sacrifice for carnal pleasure, and we constantly do the same things, like alcoholics drinking the poison we know is killing us.

We inherently know what is good, right, and pure. We know these things. We know we are called to stand up for right, we know gratuitous sex, violence, vulgarity, and materialism are evil. We know what they bring, we know what drugs bring, drinking too much, we all know these things. What we lack is power.

Like the alcoholic, we are powerless over the type of evil that rapes and murders children, literally traffics children for sexual deviancy and political power (e.g. Epstein). Evil that uses the manipulation and emotional appeal of Hollywood to turn lies into truth and evil into good.

Evil that promotes and defends the murder of innocents in dozens of countries for the propagation of a truly racist state. An evil that facilitates countless wars in the name of lies, every form of degeneracy – a people who rule the world by deceit. They hide the genocide of women and children in America, South Africa, and Palestine. They conceal the greatest atrocities ever perpetrated in the history of the world during the Bolshevik takeover of Russia.

We cannot fight fire with fire, we cannot learn their tactics and turn their methods against them. We cannot defeat this kind of evil. We cannot become these people; it wouldn’t be worth it. It would be better to die than to be like them.

The alcoholic that recovers literally dies to himself. As a matter of survival, he admits that it has utterly beat him and that his only hope is to surrender to this truth. He then becomes willing to believe in a power greater than himself that has all power, and from this, a new man rises out of the ashes of the old, like a phoenix. He develops a new paradigm completely. He replaces drunkenness with sobriety, hopelessness with faith, changes every aspect of his life, and his outlook, and his actions and becomes a man that has Power.

This is our only hope. From the early Greek philosophers who understood eternal truth, the ultimate goal of transcendence, beauty for the sake of beauty and absolute morality, not dependent on relativity. They were Christians before Christ and they led the way for our pagan ancestors to accept the coming of the Logos.

This in turn led the way to more than two millennia of Western Christian order and beauty. This world has never seen power like the power of Christendom. It was only when that common faith, morality, and unity turned its eyes and its hopes toward the one and only God of the universe, that we were able to create real and lasting beauty on earth.

This beauty was created by the kind of fearlessness only people of real faith can have. Societies were created that strove to protect the innocent, and the weak, and the family, and the citizen. We all know the battles of the Christians, we all know the stories of the Martyrs, the fearlessness of the faithful.

The enemies of the Logos have deceived you. They will tell you anything you want to hear, to turn you away from that Power. They will tell you Christ is your enemy all the while they plot to kill him again and again in the hearts of our people just as they did at the Cross. You cannot deny there is none they hate as they HATE the Christ.

And without our faith, The Family of the Trinity, The balance of the paradox of absolute right and wrong with total redemption, fierce power with compassion, death with Resurrection, there is no purpose to your love. You don’t matter if there is no God. Only the cold and the ruthless of this natural fallen world you worship will prevail, and only they should prevail in that reality. In that view, the world is dead and meaningless, and only the strong deserve to live because there is no reality, no good, no God, everything is relative.

In the real world where nature and laws of nature are fallen by our weakness and restored by Our God, everything transcendent matters and everything physical matters because of the Incarnate God. And good wins, and water is purified, and death is conquered, drug addicts cleaned up, families reconciled, people unified under a common banner.

When Power is recognized as belonging only to the one true Trinitarian God of our fathers, and worship is removed from every satanic and evil thing they mesmerize us with, that is when we rise fearlessly from the ashes. We will throw off our self-imposed chains of weakness, despair, and addiction. We will march into battle like our forebears with Holy things, and Holy banners, and they will tremble at the power. And then if you die, you are martyred, and you die with no bondage, having lived in good health, internal peace, with intact families and dignity.

“Anyone who is capable of speaking the truth but remains silent, will be heavily judged by God, especially in this case, where the faith and the very foundation of the entire church of the Orthodox is in danger. To remain silent under these circumstances is to betray these, and the appropriate witness belongs to those that reproach (stand up for the faith).”

— St. Basil the Great

How long have we watched dissidents get canceled? How many years will we tell ourselves, we don’t have anything to contribute? That it’s better to keep your job and donate to the braver ones, only to sit on your money and quietly hide, never finding the courage to do the right thing.

If you are working and making money and honestly contributing significant amounts to truth tellers, keep doing it. But if you are going to live your whole life with dreams of valor that will never be realized, prepare for sacrifice. Ready yourself mentally, physically, spiritually, to give up all that you are holding onto. None of it will save you or add a cubit to you. And if you lack power, find the faith in the God that even the kings of our fathers worshiped.

~ by Rebecca Dillingham (edited)

Truth warrior, Jesus follower, wife, boy mom, and lifelong learner. Apologetics practitioner for Orthodox Christianity, the Southern tradition, homeschooling, and freedom. Recovering feminist-socialist-atheist, graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and retired mainstream journalist turned domesticated belle and rabble-rousing rhetorician. In my day-to-day life, I’m “Rebecca Dillingham” to most folks, “Mom” to my boys, “Baby” to my husband, “Becky” to my parents, “Beck-Nut” to my nieces and nephews, and my patron saint name “Ilia” to my parish. But here, I’m a dissident mama who’s adept at triggering leftists, so I’m going to bang as loudly as I can.

The Story

Posted: July 13, 2020 in Ancient Faith, ascension, belief, Biblical, Calling, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Cross, death, Evangelical, Evangelism, Faith, Father, glory, God, Gospel, history, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, Justification, Kingdom of God, life, message, Messiah, Ministry, Orthodox, orthodoxy, Pastoral Care, Pentecostal, power, Preaching, redemption, regeneration, renewal, repent, Repentance, resurrection, sanctification, Scriptural, Son, story, storytelling, Teaching, The Story, Word
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Who Is My Neighbor?

Posted: July 7, 2020 in Ancient Faith, belief, Biblical, Body of Christ, catholic, Christian, Church, Counsel, Cross, death, Evangelical, Evangelism, Faith, Father, glory, God, Gospel, history, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, Kingdom of God, life, Love, message, Messiah, Ministry, orthodoxy, Pastoral Care, redemption, regeneration, reign, Renaissance, renewal, repent, Repentance, resurrection, sanctification, Scriptural, sermon, Son, story, storytelling, Teaching, transformation, universal, Word
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Neighbor

There are famous words from the Torah Portion Kedushim (Holy) that not only Jesus, but many Jewish sages before and after Him, considered to be the kernel of the all Jewish teaching, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. These words from Leviticus 19 are quoted in all the Synoptic Gospels. However, only in the Gospel of Luke 10:29-37, is the famous parable of the Good Samaritan where the question, “Who is my neighbor?” is addressed. What was so shocking in Jesus’ interpretation of one’s neighbor?

The Continuity

The episode opens with a “lawyer” asking Jesus how to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds with a question: “What is written in the law?” The lawyer quotes verses from the Torah known to all Jews of his time— Deut.6:5 and Lev.19:18. These verses had already been combined in Jewish thought and had indeed been considered to be the foundation of the whole Torah; so by this point we observe only continuity between the covenants.

The 3rd Man

The dialogue continues, however, and the famous parable follows; a man was attacked and left for dead and both a Priest and a Levite passed him by. There is a shocking aspect that may escape a non-Jewish reader – every Jew belongs to one of three groups; Priests, descended from Aaron; Levites, descended from Levi; and Israelites, descended from the other children of Jacob. Therefore, after the Priest and Levite, a first-century Jew would have expected mention of the third group—an Israelite.

The Challenge

However, the third person is not an Israelite but a Samaritan, the enemy of the Jews. Moreover, the fact that this Samaritan proves to be a neighbor, while the Priest and the Levite fail, directly challenges the contemporary Jewish interpretation of the word “neighbor”. Thus, not only continuity, but also the innovation of [our Lord in] the New Testament, is evident here.

by Julia Bloom – Israel Biblical Studies

 

p. s. We should think of these things concerning our world today.

It Is Well with My Soul

Posted: June 30, 2020 in Ancient Faith, belief, Biblical, Body of Christ, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Cross, death, Evangelical, Faith, Father, glory, God, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, Kingdom of God, life, Lutheran, Messiah, orthodoxy, Pentecostal, redemption, regeneration, reign, renewal, repent, Repentance, resurrection, sanctification, Scriptural, Son, story, Teaching, Testimony, transformation, Uncategorized, Word
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The first half of 2020 has often caught me off guard. As I watch events unfold I have felt anxiety, distress, confusion, loneliness, and even anger. The solid ground under my American way of life is shaking. Justice and truth seem like injured soldiers limping away into the darkness. And yet…it is well with my soul.

The beautiful and deeply loved hymn, It Is Well With My Soul (or Peace Like a River), was written by Horatio Spafford in 1873. He was a wealthy attorney, businessman, husband, and father of five children, but multiple tragedies struck; first in the loss of his young son and the loss of his business in the great Chicago fire of 1871, then in the sinking of the SS Ville du Havre in 1873 where he lost all four daughters to the sea. Spafford learned of this great loss by telegraph from his wife with the barren words,  “Saved alone.”

In the midst of great emotional pain, our Lord raised up faith and hope in this man of sorrows and enabled him to pen a song that comforts and encourages us today. God has not promised us a life free of fears, sorrow, or loss; but He has promised to bring us comfort in all circumstances, a deep deposit of comfort and compassion that we can lavish on others in times of trouble.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Receive God’s great love and comfort to sustain you in 2020, and don’t hesitate to give His comfort away. May it be well with your soul today!

by Sue DeSha

Come to Jesus!

Posted: June 16, 2020 in Ancient Faith, belief, Biblical, Christian, Cross, death, Evangelism, Faith, Father, glory, God, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, Justification, Kingdom of God, life, Love, Lutheran, Martin Luther, Messiah, Ministry, Orthodox, orthodoxy, power, Preaching, redemption, regeneration, renewal, repent, Repentance, resurrection, Scriptural, Son, story, Teaching, transformation, Word
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Come to Jesus
 
What does it mean to “Come to Jesus”? It means agreeing with what the Bible says about Jesus.
 
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
 
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
 
Acts 16:30-31 “what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
 
Romans 10:9-10 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
 
Coming to Jesus is Not:
 
⦁ It is not about repeating a sinner’s prayer
⦁ It is not about walking down an aisle
⦁ It is not about filling out a Decision Card
 
Coming to Jesus Is:
 
⦁ Confessing your sins, seeing your sinfulness, and realizing your desperate need for the Savior
⦁ Trusting in Jesus as your personal Savior
⦁ Believing with your heart and not just your head
⦁ Relying on, fully trusting in, leaning upon, and resting in — Jesus
⦁ Believing that He is your Savior first and allowing the Holy Spirit to help you make Him your Lord too
⦁ Believing that there is no other way to the Father in Heaven except by Jesus Christ alone
 
If you believe God’s Word, the Bible, you can believe this:
 
JESUS WAS WITH GOD BEFORE THE EARTH EXISTED, LEFT HIS GLORY WITH THE FATHER AND WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN, LIVED A PERFECT, SINLESS LIFE, DIED ON CALVARY FOR YOUR REDEMPTION, AND WAS RAISED AGAIN AFTER THREE DAYS. TODAY HE IS IN HEAVEN AND HIS SACRIFICE HAS PROVIDED A WAY FOR YOU TO COME TO A SAVING FAITH. BEING SAVED IS TOTALLY A WORK OF GOD. NO ONE IS SAVED BY WORKS. NO ONE IS SAVED BY THEIR OWN EFFORTS. IT IS BY GRACE ALONE, THROUGH FAITH ALONE, BY JESUS ALONE. IT IS A GIFT OF GOD (EPH 2:8-9).
 
WE PRAY THAT YOU WILL COME TO BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, AND BE SAVED TODAY.
 
We Would Love to Hear from You!
 
Contact Pastor Gary if you have further questions about salvation, or to tell us that you have become a believer in Jesus.
 
Come to Jesus and Live!

Hopeless without God

Posted: April 23, 2020 in Ancient Faith, belief, Biblical, Body of Christ, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Cross, Evangelical, Evangelism, Faith, Father, glory, God, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, Justification, Kingdom of God, life, Love, message, Messiah, Ministry, orthodoxy, Pentecostal, power, Preaching, redemption, regeneration, reign, renewal, repent, Repentance, resurrection, sanctification, Scriptural, sign, Son, Teaching, transformation, Word
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Jesus

Ezekiel 37:1-14 (CJB)

 “With the hand of the LORD upon me, The LORD carried me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones. He had me pass by all around them—there were so many bones lying in the valley, and they were so dry! He asked me, “Human being, can these bones live?” I answered, “LORD GOD! Only you know that!” Then He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones! Say to them, ‘Dry bones! Hear what the LORD has to say! To these bones the LORD GOD says, “I will make breath enter you, and you will live. I will attach ligaments to you, make flesh grow on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you. You will live, and you will know that I am the LORD.” “So I prophesied as ordered; and while I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound; it was the bones coming together, each bone in its proper place. As I watched, ligaments grew on them, flesh appeared, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Next He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath! Prophesy, human being! Say to the breath that the LORD GOD says, ‘Come from the four winds, breath; and breathe on these slain, so that they can live.’ ” So I prophesied as ordered, and the breath came into them, and they were alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army! Then He said to me, “Human being! These bones are the whole house of Israel; and they are saying, ‘Our bones have dried up, our hope is gone, and we are completely cut off.’ Therefore prophesy; say to them that the LORD GOD says, ‘My people! I will open your graves and make you get up out of your graves, and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD—when I have opened your graves and made you get up out of your graves, my people! I will put my Spirit in you; and you will be alive. Then I will place you in your own land; and you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and that I have done it,’ says the LORD.”

How can this story be true for us? Ezekiel was a prophet to God’s people, Israel, who had been taken into exile by Babylonians after the destruction of Jerusalem.

This is a story about Israel’s despair at their captivity. What is despair? Despair is a state in which all hope is lost or absent. Depression leads to despair. Have you ever felt that way? I have. I can truly say, we are all hopeless without God. What despair means, is that a person is willing to be absorbed with themselves and at the same time have a defiant attitude toward God. Sometimes, even resent God!

Sometimes, we get to the point where our own self-perception is one of total hopelessness. We do not look outside of ourselves to God. Sometimes, we cannot understand the consequences of our own behavior and wonder why we suffer from those consequences. We become despairing of our own weaknesses. That is how the people of Israel felt.

Three years ago a funeral director told me that within several months he dealt with a handful of funerals that were related to suicide. Suicide is the result of total despair. Is that any way to live? Sometimes we ask, “what is life, anyway?” It is not simply a physical life; but, it is a life that God gives us, it is an emotional and spiritual life, which includes love, joy, peace, hurt, pain, suffering, sickness, and even death.

It’s interesting that God would call a man to preach God’s Word, and then ask him to speak over lifeless dry bones. It seemed pointless. However, what the preacher discovers is the promise from God, that He will perform the impossible—and bring the dry bones back to life.

In Germany, I was trained as a lifeguard for our community pool at 5th General Hospital. I was certified as an American Red Cross lifesaver. I had the skills to resuscitate those who stop breathing. However, with the breath of God, resuscitation comes quickly and gives life powerfully.

Ezekiel’s vision alludes to God’s creative work in Genesis; how God creates, and how God re-creates. There is a very important and fundamental lesson to be taken from Ezekiel’s vision: when the Spirit is present, God’s people are enabled to live. This is the only basis for the hope given to a despairing person, community, church, or people like the nation of Israel.

How do you know the Holy Spirit is in your life? How do you know the Holy Spirit is present in our church? We get the answer from this passage in Ezekiel.

It is God’s promise to give the dry bones (His people) new hearts and a new spirit. It is the magnitude of a miracle; it is how God is mighty to save! When God saves us, it is indeed a miracle, a miracle of His mercy and grace.

The bones Ezekiel sees are “very dry,” emphasizing the fact that there is no life in them whatsoever. The chance that they will ever live again on their own is zero. Then, God asks the preacher, “will these bones live?” The preacher says to himself, “looking at their current state, um, no.” However, the preacher has learned never to presume on God’s power and intentions. So, he answers, “O Lord GOD, you know.”

God wanted the preacher and the people to know that it is His Word alone that brings life. God wants us to know, that in the most hopeless of situations—even in a valley full of death—God’s Word is powerful to bring resurrection life.

What is the resurrection? What is new life? It is the same as when God spoke the creation into existence, the same as Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb with only a word, the same as Ezekiel preaching to the dry bones, God’s Word always gives life. God promises to give us life! It is that our confidence is in God alone, in any situation, even in our darkest struggles.

The supreme Word from God, the Gospel message itself, tells us not what we must do to earn life, but what God has done, in Jesus Christ, to give us life. Jesus said, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, until it overflows]. John 10:10

There is always hope that God will bring restoration and renewal to our lives. Whether it is a long struggle with sin, or broken relationships, hard affliction, trials, temptations, or even illness, life’s circumstances can often blind us to God’s life-giving power.

The vision of the dry bones, however, is a promise to us and should remind us that our God will truly give life and purpose to everything that seems hopelessly dead. Remember John’s Gospel, where Jesus declares to Martha: “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”  John 11:25-26.

Beloved, do you believe this?

Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ! Amen.

 

Copyright © 2020 Gary DeSha

The Ark and Sheltering in Place

Posted: March 31, 2020 in Ancient Faith, belief, Biblical, burial, Christian, Church, Covenant, Cross, death, Faith, Father, glory, God, Gospel, history, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, Kingdom of God, life, Love, power, redemption, regeneration, renewal, repent, Repentance, resurrection, Scriptural, sermon, Teaching, Uncategorized, Word
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noahs-ark

Noah’s family and animals saved in the Ark.

In Genesis 6:14-22 it says, “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.

But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”

In Genesis 7:1-24, the story continues, “Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male, and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him.

Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.

Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.”

Exodus in Genesis

Did you know that the story of Abram and Sarai’s journey into Egypt (Gen. 12:10–13:2), is not only about Abram and Sarah: it foreshadowed the Exodus of Israel that would happen 400 years later. In both accounts, we find a descent into Egypt as a result of “heavy famine,” plagues upon the Egyptians, and fleeing Egypt because of the plagues; and the departure from Egypt with great riches.

Moses, Israel’s Redeemer in an Ark

Our Bibles say that Noah and his family were saved in the Ark, the word is tevah in Hebrew. Surprisingly, we find the same word, tevah, in the story of Moses: however, most modern English translations say that Moses was put into a basket. The truth is baby Moses was put into an ark. Why would the Torah use the word “ark” here, instead of the common Hebrew word for basket? The answer is clear: to make an intentional link between the two stories—Noah prefigures Moses’ role as Israel’s redeemer.

Baptism as an Ark

In 1 Peter 3:18-22 we read, “Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God, by being put to death in the flesh but by being made alive in the spirit. In it, He went and preached to the spirits in prison, after they were disobedient long ago when God patiently waited in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water. And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you – not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who went into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers subject to Him.”

Noah and his family came through the water, in other words, “by means of water” in the ark, and so were saved by the water in spite of the floodwaters around them. So, baptism is our own spiritual resurrection. Because our regeneration is made possible by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Listen to what Peter says earlier in 1 Peter 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in heaven for you, who by God’s power are protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

This leads me to what I want to encourage you with today. Just as Noah and his family were saved in the Ark, and Moses was saved in an Ark, and we are saved in the Ark of baptism, we are being saved in the “Ark” of sheltering in place. God is protecting us by our government advising us to remain in the safety of our own homes. Ensuring us to make every effort of cleanliness like washing our hands, covering our coughs and sneezes, and disinfecting things around us, we are under God’s protection.

The Psalmist tells us in Psalm 7:1, “I come to you for protection, O LORD my God. Save me from my persecutors—rescue me!” Psalm 27:1 says, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; I will fear no one. The LORD protects me from all danger; I will never be afraid.” Another example is from Psalm 31: 1-5, “I come to you, LORD, for protection; never let me be defeated. You are a righteous God; save me, I pray! Hear me! Save me now! Be my refuge to protect me; my defense to save me. You are my refuge and defense; guide me and lead me as you have promised. Keep me safe from the trap that has been set for me; shelter me from danger. I place myself in your care. You will save me, LORD; you are a faithful God.”

So, remember you are sheltering in place in the hands of God, held in His everlasting arms, underneath His mighty wings, guarded by His massive pinions, protecting you from this pestilence. You are being saved in the Ark of sheltering in place!

May God bless you all with His mercy and grace!  Amen!

Copyright © 2020 Gary DeSha

 

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