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Tag: Lord

Church: Religion? Philosophic Discourse? or Cultural Calling?
The instant you say, ‘church,’ you dip your toe into waters of reactions which you know not how hot or cold, how shallow or deep, how stagnant or storm-tossed the hearer of your faith.

Do you dare even ask?
- Are YOU a CHRISTIAN?
- Where did you worship last Sunday?
- Do you belong to OUR church?
- What are you currently studying from the Bible?
- Would you talk of JESUS with me?
- May I SHARE the Good News of my Biblical Christian faith?
Just imagine the wide range of reactions of any other soul to ANY of these questions of the faithful evangelical Christian daring to share the Gospel of their Biblical Christian church.

An even more troubling question:

Does a Christian dare engage OTHER ‘christians‘ in a conversation about Christ (the Namesake of our Christian faith) addressing ALL of these questions and more about our Biblical Christian faith?

Have YOU, in fact, tested these troublesome waters?

IF SO, perhaps you too have received a baptism of hot opposition or a cold withdrawal of the flesh from the waters of faith.

That would be evangelism = a RED FLAG of RELIGION to which a world (inclusively with some calling themselves a ‘church,’) will often react with ears that do not hear, as well as the rhetoric of rebellion against the Lord God and anarchy against salvation of the sinful soul.
- Perhaps evangelism nets too few caught in the rising waters of a cultural flood of this world reacting to the ‘church,’ by denying Christ Jesus.
- Maybe a pure Biblical Christian faith offends some tiptoeing into the mire of murky waters of philosophic denial.
The [*] wicked fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They act corruptly, they commit abominable deeds;
There is no one who does good.
Psalm 14 :: Legacy Standard Bible (LSB) * wicked – one who rejects wisdom in rebellion against God
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(Although some these wicked fools have crept into pulpits of places which call themselves, 'church.')
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ANY constant questioning of authoritative adherence to the Word of God, the Holy Bible of our Christian faith, should sound an alarm to the faithful:

Beware of the tempter in sheep’s clothing.

Who else would deconstruct the Biblical Christian foundation of the Church, only to reconstruct our faith by compromises of the only Truth, replacing authoritative Scripture with several shifting pebbles of heretical half-truths ‘reasoned’ by the wicked at war with Christ?

So I ask you .. I ask us:

Who are these 21st century Christians?
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What are YOUR answers to my earlier questions I dare to ask my fellow evangelical Christian believers and worshipers of Jesus Christ? (ADD your Comment on Scripture to this Saturday Post of TalkofJESUS.com) 
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Our church in Christ Jesus has no place for the unrepentant wicked fool; for our Gospel is for those who believe.
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I began this Saturday Post series as a deeper discussion of DOCTRINE (or teaching) of the Church. The alarm of the watchman on the wall rang in my ears while hearing about a subtle teaching, an undercurrent of doctrine seeping into the evangelical christian church.

Evangelical RECONSTRUCTION was something I naively had never heard of; YET now I will raise the trumpet of warning to sound the alarm:
Something’s wrong with our church!

(Who wouldn't agree?) YES it is.

So why not RECALL it?

(Send it ‘back to the manufacturer? Can’t do that. So how can WE evolve the church into a 21st c. style faith?)
Tear it down to the ground demolishing doctrine by doctrine.

Then WE can RECONSTRUCT that which WE have deconstructed to fix the church how WE want.

But WE had better do it subtly (so as not to offend anybody) and stealthily (without account of a foundational Biblical Christian teaching).
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A 21st c. RECALL of the CHURCH is just what WE need for OUR Evangelical Reconstruction of the Church into a socially acceptable gathering which will attract any follower from religions of every culture of our world.
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NOT!

To borrow from the Apostle Paul refuting premises of clear untruths:

By no means!

Perfect Teaching (for God’s imperfect ‘church’)

https://talkofjesus.com/talk-jesus-com/what-is-doctrine/
διδασκαλία – didaskalia – doctrine (19x), teaching (1x), learning (1x). – source: BlueLetterBible.org

Doctrine, whether by preaching or teaching or proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is foundational to faith and therefore never to be torn down by any mortal sinner. Scripture affirms God’s truth and the trustworthy teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ for those who believe.

.. so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, ..
Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Church in Ephesus 4:14 Legacy Standard Bible

This same Apostle (to the Gentiles) confesses in his first letter to the pastor, Timothy 1:15

.. that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

And the Apostle Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying,

“Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
the Good News of Luke 5:8 Legacy Standard Bible

Some call Peter and Paul, Saints (and they are); yet all of God’s faithful are saints to the Lord.

Psalm 34:9 (WLC 34:10) יְראוּ אֶת־יְהוָה קְדֹשָׁיו כִּי־ אֵין מַחְסוֹר לִירֵאָֽיו׃
Yodh
Oh, fear Yahweh, you His saints;
For there is no want to those who fear Him.
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Do YOU FEAR THE LORD GOD, oh you sinner?

The MARQEE denominational name of your 'church' matters NOT, my fellow sinner. 
Seek the salvation of the Lord, my dear fellow saint, His redemption of your soul to eternal life witnessed in the Gospel of the Christ JESUS.
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Perfect Preaching (Teaching)

Is based on & does not manipulate Scripture.

THE LORD GOD IS! (God IS God and mankind is not.)

God spoke to and through men whom the Lord God chose and commanded to write HIS words.

“God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not establish it?
Numbers 23:19 LSB

ONLY Scripture – Sola Scriptura

All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,
2 Timothy 3:16 LSB

NOT ‘some,’ NOT ‘select scripture’ ..

AND separate from the truth that some church pastors will never reprove or correct those wayward weak sheep of their own flock,

ALL of the WRITTEN WORD OF SCRIPTURE IS GOD INSPIRED!

Mortal SINNERS DO NOT get to reconstruct what GOD has said.

(But false teachers of every era subtly seek to lead Christ’s lost sheep into the abyss of disbelief.)

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

The Apostle John’s Good News for you is:

.. that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.

Evangelical RE-construction of the Church
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Source material for the following is transcribed (written as accurately as possible) from the A.D. 2022 podcast 'Just Thinking,' previously recommended and linked on TalkofJESUS.com and used with permission of its author. - RH
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In deconstruction everything is a SOCIAL construction, including the church.
Darrell Harrison
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By the way, this Saturday Post series, Church – Who are these 21st c. Christians? - is directed toward faithful evangelical Christians who fear God and believe Scripture as a warning and caution for infidelity to Christ we increasingly hear from the pulpits of our RE-engineered 21st c. 'churches.' - RH

I will add brief comment to Harrison's outline below for your consideration and intentional thinking about the teaching of your church. Why not add your own thoughts in the Comments at the bottom of this post. 

God-willing, we will continue the course of identifying the faithful of our 21st century 'Church' next Saturday.
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Evangelical Deconstructionism

Most of the points quoted may be found in the Just Thinking Podcast near 1:32.

FIVE-POINT PROGRESSION of Evangelical Deconstructionism
1. EMBRACE and posit [plant or assume] the idea [philosophy] that the CHURCH is a SOCIALLY constructed system, NOT a divinely ordained idea [institution] that originated in the mind of God.
2. ASSUME that this socially constructed system is designed to be exclusive of certain intersectional identities, traditions and behaviors.
3. IDENTIFY subjective [reasoned in the mind] points or cracks in that socially constructed system that have failed [as reasoned by the philosopher] AND need to be fixed [or reconstructed].
4. APPLY a hermeneutic [interpretive explanation] of SUSPICION to that SOCIALIALLY-CONSTRUCTED system so that ANYONE [who even remotely] connected to that system is deemed UNTRUSTWORTHY.. deemed an enemy.
5. RECONSTRUCT this SOCIAL SYSTEM [church, etc.] into the IMAGE and likeness of the CULTURE with socially acceptable.. [everythingology].
Have you heard the alarm?

“Therefore watch out, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you:
Acts of the Apostles 13:40 LSB [in context 13:23-41]

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Gospel of Matthew 7:15 LSB – a warning of Jesus

“Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

Gospel of Luke 6:46 LSB – CHALLANGE of the Lord Jesus Christ to followers

What must we do?

Does YOUR local church have a new cultural calling to evangelism?

Please comment below on what you observe of Evangelical Deconstructionism?

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
August 27, 2022
Ezekiel An Unbelievable Scene
Ezekiel 1:

the word of Jehovah came expressly unto Ezekiel
Ezekiel 1:3a Darby translation
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Context: TIME ~570 years Before Christ; PLACE - Tel-Abib in Babylonia, [later Persia, then Seleucid Empire (Greek) in 21st c. Iraq; PROPHET - yᵊḥezqē'l, captive priest and prophet of Israel taken to Babylon while in his 30's along with his wife and family, the prophets Daniel and Jeremiah (who are in their 50's) and some 10,000 jews.
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Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 1 :: Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)

וַיְהִי בִּשְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה בָּרְבִיעִי בַּחֲמִשָּׁה לַחֹדֶשׁ וַאֲנִי בְתֹוךְ־הַגֹּולָה עַל־נְהַר־כְּבָר נִפְתְּחוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וָאֶרְאֶה מַרְאֹות אֱלֹהִים׃

Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 1 :: Septuagint (LXX)

καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ τριακοστῷ ἔτει ἐν τῷ τετάρτῳ μηνὶ πέμπτῃ τοῦ μηνὸς καὶ ἐγὼ ἤμην ἐν μέσῳ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἐπὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῦ Χοβαρ καὶ ἠνοίχθησαν οἱ οὐρανοί καὶ εἶδον ὁράσεις θεοῦ

Do you believe this?

Take a look at this scene Ezekiel describes:

CLICK to read NASB20 Translation of Ezekiel 1: OR LISTEN to Ezekiel 1 ESV [4’19”]
- a high wind .. a great cloud with fire flashing intermittently and a bright light around it,
- in the midst of the fire something like gleaming metal
- And within it there were figures resembling four living beings.
  - they had human form.
  - Each .. had four faces
    their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward.
    each had a human face;
    the four of them had
    the face of a lion on the right
    the face of a bull on the left,
    and.. the face of an eagle.
  - and four wings.
    their wings touched one another
    were spread out above; each had two touching another being,
    and two covering their bodies.
  - Under their wings on their four sides were human hands.
  - Their legs were straight
  - and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they sparkled like polished bronze.
And each went straight forward; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went.
Ezekiel 1:12 NASB20

In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire.
Ezekiel 1:13 NASB

This is Ezekiel’s description of just the glorious creatures!

Do you believe it?

IF you are a Christian or a Jew — perhaps.

But IF you are like most other twenty-first century human beings, you probably DO NOT believe such fantastic scenes from the Bible.

And their actions are even more fantastic!

14 [ESV] And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning.

15 Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl.

And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. 18 And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.

19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose.

20 Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads. And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body.

24 And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings.

But wait, there’s more; you sceptical (believer?) of the Bible!
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(MORE Scripture to read in the LINK below.)
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Ezekiel’s Vision of Divine Glory

And a voice came from above the expanse that was over their heads; whenever they stood still, they let down their wings.
Ezekiel 1:25 NASB20

.. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.
And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.
Ezekiel 1:28b NASB

Tell the truth (in your comment to this post)
- Suppose you gave this fantastic detailed description of events to just ten (10) of your closest friends or family?
- OR imagine that you read the scroll of Ezekiel 1 to a gathering of one hundred (100) citizens of your town?
- HOW MANY WOULD BELIEVE YOU?
One, perhaps?

Even if some cannot believe this Scripture a few may believe you because of your own integrity.

THAT is the burden of the Prophet — his Word from God will be difficult to receive.

a caution to Pastors & Prophets

IF you speak any word NOT from God, claiming that God spoke it, no one with ears to hear should believe what you preach.

Do you swerve from Scripture to substitute your own visionary words? Good luck convincing your viewers that Ezekiel spoke the very word of the LORD.

Are you quite selective in how much of the HOLY BIBLE you preach? By all means, let us know how your church responds when you preach that this experience of Ezekiel really happened.

And IF you are a Pastor unwilling to confirm that all Scripture is ‘God-breathed,’ your gathering will never have ears to hear Ezekiel or even Christ, who revealed a similar vision to the Apostle John.

The Prediction and Predicament of the Prophet

“SO WHAT?” say the rulers of this world.

What IF I do not preach the WORD OF THE LORD as GOD has said it?

Place Ezekiel into the year of our Lord 2022, or the Lord Christ Jesus into our contemporary ‘evangelical christian‘ church and you will encounter the same predicament.

God has chosen a faithful remnant to receive his testimony with eyes to see and ears to hear. The others of the multitudes have heard the Word of the LORD through you AND rejected it.

Ezekiel 2:

Then He said to me,

“Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have revolted against Me to this very day. So I am sending you to those who are impudent and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the LORD [YHWH] GOD says:

As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse—for they are a rebellious house—yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.
Ezekiel 2:5 NKJV

7 “But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

Ezekiel 3:

NLT 3:10b

“Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says!’ Do this whether they listen to you or not.”

3:12

Then the Spirit lifted me up, and as the glory of the LORD rose from its place, I heard a loud rumbling sound behind me.

It was the sound of the wings of the living beings as they brushed against each other and the rumbling of their wheels beneath them.
Ezekiel 3:13 New Living Translation

But will Your Hearers have ‘ears to hear?’

— Ears to hear Scripture spoken by the LORD — ears to hear the Word of the Lord Christ Jesus — eyes to see the same glory of Heaven revealed by Jesus Christ to the Apostle John — ears to hear the scene of heaven as the LORD showed and spoke to the prophet Ezekiel?
July 7, 2022
Gardener, Shepherd and Hunter: 7 Scenes Unseen by Man

ACT 2 – Scene 1 – in an unseen place

Where am I?

I have brought you to a place unseen by man.

You showed me a scene I had never seen of the death of Abel.. and Eve mourning the loss of her son murdered by her other son… and about sin in Eden. Was this story of Moses true?

I have shown you scenes revealed to Moses from near the beginning of time. His story was true, though Moses was not there.

Tell me, why did Moses leave Egypt?

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter..
[Click here to read NASB in context]
Hebrews 11:24

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he persevered, as though seeing Him who is unseen.
Hebrews 11:27 NASB

Moses was sort of a shepherd then, wasn’t he?

Yes, in a sense.. But a later shepherd led his followers to the right answer from Scripture to your question. Do you recall what David said?

מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד יְהוָה רֹעִי לֹא אֶחְסָֽר׃

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Moses followed the unseen Shepherd as he led the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.

So is this place like when you showed me what happened east of Eden?

These scenes take place in the unseen places above the heavens — or beneath the earth — places connected to the timeline of man yet separate from the mortal life of any one man or woman.

I don’t think I understand, I thought as my Guide explained unseen places where He has evidently led me.

Allow me to show you one such unseen scene from around the time of Moses. The actions here impact a righteous man who lived in a different land. But this scene does not take place there.

Unseen in Uz

One day the angels [sons of God] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan [the adversary] also came with them.

The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Job 1:6-7 NIV

Do you know this story?

Yes. It’s about Job, who suffers all kinds of evil without knowing why.

Is Job part of this conversation with the LORD in the unseen place? So who is the main character in this story of Job?

I knew the obvious answer. Job was clueless about God allowing him to suffer severely for some time.

Satan.. And didn’t you also say that Moses called him the Serpent?

You yourself recognized the Serpent as the hunter. And what prey does he hunt?

Souls! The soul of Cain.. the soul of Eve.. the soul of Adam..

So too is Satan hissing at God when he calls for evil to tempt Job’s soul toward the pit of darkness.

So the Serpent’s name is really Satan.

שָׂטָן

śāṭān – noun

superhuman adversary, הַשּׂ׳ :
a. of Job, one of בְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים Job 1:6, 7 (twice in verse); Job 1:8, 9, 12 (twice in verse); Job 2:1, 2(twice in verse); Job 2:3, 4 (twice in verse); Job 2:6, 7.
b. of high priest of Israel before י׳, Zechariah 3:1, 2(twice in verse); Greek Version of the LXX. ὁ διάβολος.
c. as proper name שׂ׳ Satan 1 Chronicles 21:1 (interpret 2 Samuel 24:1), Greek Version of the LXX διάβολος (Greek Version of the LXX σατάν 1 Kings 11:14, 23; Σατανᾶς Matthew 4:10; Mark 1:13; Luke 10:18 + 33 times NT).

Source- [Lexicon :: Strong’s H7854 – śāṭān

And as Moses said, this Tempter is cunning; and as a spirit shepherding evil in the unseen places he has many names, sometimes even appearing as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

שָׂטַן

śāṭan – verb

Outline of Biblical Usage
(Qal) to be or act as an adversary, resist, oppose

Strong’s Definitions
שָׂטַן sâṭan, saw-tan’; a primitive root; to attack, (figuratively) accuse:—(be an) adversary, resist.

Strong’s Number H7853 matches the Hebrew שָׂטַן (śāṭan), which occurs 6 times in 6 verses in the WLC Hebrew.

Job seemed helpless; not able to do anything about the evil.

Satan requested permission from God to contend with him on earth.

My thoughts and countenance were really quite dejected by now..

Remember what David said about the valley of the shadow of death? .. It is the place of evil.

I recalled briefly the Lord’s words to Cain before he murdered Abel.. The LORD cautioned Able BEFORE he turned against his brother and against the LORD who was with him and leading him along the valley of the shadow…

So how can any man resist evil from these unseen places and remain faithful to the LORD?

Do you know how David petitioned the LORD when God was angry at him for his sin?

Just like Moses, I thought, David had murdered a man. He had blood on his hands.. NO LESS THAN CAIN!

A psalm of David. A petition. NIV

LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.
Psalm 38:1 NIV

Some prayers are praises to God who we cannot see, while others are petitions from our place near the valley of the shadow to the unseen place — a place above time and circumstance where the Lord sits on the Throne of justice and the Mercy Seat of redemption.

Psalm 38 NASB, KJ21, OJB, WLC

Yᵊhōvâ

Hashem, rebuke me not in Thy wrath; neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure.

2 (3) For Thine khitzim (arrows) pierce me, Thy hand presseth me sorely.

3 There is no soundness in my flesh, because of Thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin.

4 For mine iniquities have gone over mine head; as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

5 My wounds are foul and corrupt because of my foolishness.

6 (7) I am bent down; I am brought low

I go in mourning all day long.
7 For my sides are filled with burning,
And there is no healthy part in my flesh.

8 I am feeble and sorely broken; I have groaned because of the disquiet of my heart.

David pleads for mercy, confessing his guilty deeds by which he deserves the WRATH OF GOD.. He then bows down to God acknowledging:

Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.

I know now after seeing these unseen places that I have NO right to expect anything from God…

David is quiet before the LORD, then pleaing:

Yes, I am like a person who does not hear,
And in whose mouth are no arguments.
¹⁵For I wait for You, Lord;
You will answer, Lord my God.

AND listen to David’s plea to the Judge of all men. Read it:

(WLC 38:21) וּמְשַׁלְּמֵי רָעָה תַּחַת טוֹבָה יִשְׂטְנוּנִי תַּחַת רדופי־ טֽוֹב׃

They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.
Psalm 38:20 KJV

Eve encountered an adversary opposed to God! As did the first adam and the sons of adam.. Job.. and David.. And yes, so have you. And WHY? David tells us.

Because those who follow God and do what is good suffer evil by the hand of the adversary of the LORD God lurking in the unseen places. For Satan is an enemy of all Light which overcomes the darkness.

21 Do not abandon me, Lord;
My God, do not be far from me!
22 Hurry to help me,
Lord, my salvation!

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Gospel of John 1:5 NIV

To be continued…

May 14, 2022