Silicon Palms

Tag: God

  • Sinner’s Prayer

    Sinner’s Prayer

    Sinner’s prayer, also known as the Salvation prayer is said to have converted people just in it’s recital, even though they were not previously believers in Christ. Some folks had no intention of learning if Jesus was the Son of God. Many had never considered if he were raised from the dead, as Christians believe but this prayer changed them forever.

    The Sinner’s prayer takes various forms, all of which have the same general thrust. Since it is considered a matter of one’s personal will, it can be prayed silently, aloud, read from a suggested model, or repeated after someone modelling the prayer role. There is no formula of specific words considered essential, although it usually contains an admission of sin and a petition asking that Jesus enter into the person’s heart (that is to say, the center of their life).

    Sinner’s prayer is sometimes uttered by Christians seeking redemption or reaffirming their faith in Christ during a crisis or disaster, when death may be imminent.

    Sinner’s prayer

    An early version of what some would consider the Sinner’s prayer is found in Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, published in 1678, Ninth Stage, Chapter 18:

    Hopeful: He bid me go to him and see. Then I said it was presumption. He said, No; for I was invited to come.Mt 11:28 Then he gave me a book of Jesus’ inditing, to encourage me the more freely to come; and he said concerning that book, that every jot and tittle thereof stood firmer than heaven and earth. Mt 24:35 Then I asked him what I must do when I came; and he told me I must entreat upon my knees, Ps 95:6 Dan 6:10 with all my heart and soul, Jer 29:12,13 the Father to reveal him to me. Then I asked him further, how I must make my supplications to him; and he said, Go, and thou shalt find him upon a mercy-seat, where he sits all the year long to give pardon and forgiveness to them that come. I told him, that I knew not what to say when I came; and he bid say to this effect: God be merciful to me a sinner, and make me to know and believe in Jesus Christ; for I see, that if his righteousness had not been, or I have not faith in that righteousness, I am utterly cast away. Lord, I have heard that thou art a merciful God, and hast ordained that thy Son Jesus Christ should be the Savior of the world; and moreover, that thou art willing to bestow him upon such a poor sinner as I am—and I am a sinner indeed. Lord, take therefore this opportunity, and magnify thy grace in the salvation of my soul, through thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

    Various other versions of the prayer include:

    Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name. Amen.

    — Billy Graham

    Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

    — Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ)

    Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe You died for my sins. Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and life. I confess You as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me. Amen.

    — Greg Laurie Salvation Prayer

    God our Father, I believe that out of Your infinite love You have created me. In a thousand ways I have shunned Your love. I repent of each and every one of my sins. Please forgive me. Thank You for sending Your Son to die for me, to save me from eternal death. I choose this day to enter into (renew my) covenant with You and to place Jesus at the center of my heart. I surrender to Him as Lord over my whole life. I ask You now to flood my soul with the gift of the Holy Spirit so that my life may be transformed. Give me the grace and courage to live as a disciple in Your Church for the rest of my days. In Jesus name I pray Amen.

    — St. Paul Street Evangelization

    Image by Barbara Jackson from Pixabay

  • God Has Already Won

    God Has Already Won

    Silence, your love for God flows through your words. I feel your love for Christ and you are the real deal. I believe your knowledge comes from living amongst the belly of the beast for a large part of your career and your ministry is to share what you learned to those who will listen to this wisdom.

    Most who are in this digital war stand alone in their life and in their fight right now. As lonely and as hard as this experience over the last few years have been, the blessings far outweigh the pain. I now know that I am not the only one on this planet with a righteous heart whom lives and breaths for truth.

    I am not the only one that sees through the lies of the Devil and is willing to fight back, I am not the only one in this world who sees how deeply we have fallen as humans and I am not the only one who will fight until my last breath to save the children.

    I will stand until the end of this time of darkness until the praise of Jesus sings from all the mouths of His children.

    God has already won.

    By Debra Lite

  • The Archangel Michael

    The Archangel Michael

    The Archangel Michael

    Michael in Islam is tasked with providing nourishment for bodies and souls and is also responsible for universal or environmental events, and is often depicted as the archangel of mercy. He is said to be friendly, asking God for mercy toward humans and is, according to Muslim legends, one of the first to obey God’s orders to bow before Adam. He is also responsible for the rewards doled out to good persons in this life. From the tears of Michael, angels are created as his helpers.

    Saint Michael the Archangel prayer

    War in Heaven

    Blessed Michael, archangel,
    defend us in the hour of conflict.
    Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil
    (may God restrain him, we humbly pray):
    and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
    by the power of God thrust Satan down to hell
    and with him those other wicked spirits
    who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
    And so it is…

    Michael (archangel)

    Michael is an archangel in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in 3rd- and 2nd-century BCE Jewish works, often but not always apocalyptic, where he is the chief of the angels and archangels and responsible for the care of Israel. Christianity adopted nearly all the Jewish traditions concerning him, and he is mentioned explicitly in Revelation 12:7–12, where he does battle with Satan, and in the Epistle of Jude, where the author denounces heretics by contrasting them with Michael. He is also mentioned in surah 2:98 of the Quran, where the Jews of Medina challenge Muhammed to tell them the name of the angel from whom he received revelation, and when told that it was Gabriel they reply that revelations came from Michael.

  • Every great man in the Bible was flawed

    Every great man in the Bible was flawed

    David beat the giant Goliath (and his giant brothers) with a rock and a sling.

    Gideon took 300 men and defeated well over 120,000.

    What does this tell us?

    God does not care about your past if you are a man of God.

    God does not care about your size and strength or the weapons at your disposal.

    God does not care about the number of boots on the ground.

    With God, the underdog always prevails. When the victory is achieved, ALL the praise and glory will go to God. With God on your side you cannot lose.

    So we never quit even when the odds seem insurmountable. That is the time when God works His best. God is ALL powerful. He created everything and He controls everything.

    Only God knows the future. He knew the End when He created the Beginning. He is the Alpha and the Omega.

    Nicodemus meeting Jesus secretly at night.

    It is time for our nation to turn its face back to Jesus Christ, our LORD and our Savior. That requires individuals to turn their faces back to God and to repent. Then we will receive the blessing of restoration of our individual souls and the soul of our nation.

    Find your faith.
    Strengthen your faith.
    Trust God.

    We are on the victory side.

    Rest well. Talk tomorrow. God bless each of you.

    Lin 🙏❤️🇺🇸
    www.FightBack.law

  • The Power of Intention and the Purpose of Prayer

    The Power of Intention and the Purpose of Prayer

    Love God

    The power of intention is the purpose of prayer. Many people misunderstand the practice of prayer, as it has a religious stigma associated with it, however many people pray without knowing they are. My own belief is that we can manifest our wishes by intending them to happen and prayer is the key for setting that point of intention.

    To learn the purpose of existence is the second most important question that anyone should/could ask themselves, the first most important question would (or should be) “does God exist?”

    Asking yourself if God exists is natural and normal. Even the most devout scholars of all time have suffered moments of doubt, especially people that have suffered a wicked tragedy, or witnessed something heinous and diabolical where innocent human life has been lost, stolen, or sacrificed, by evil individuals that have zero empathy. Questioning the presence of God occurs most often in heavily stressful and emotionally challenging emergencies, when a person wonders; how could a benevolent God allow such bad things to happen?

    Nature provides clues about the endlessness of the cycle of life and death, also the seemingly random events that take place, where one event, say… the falling of an old tree in the forest, which crushes a birds nest and all the eggs in it. Why did that happen? and how does it compare to say… the merciless bombing of a hospital in a foreign war zone. Where is God while all these things happen? Does God really care?

    God is often referred to, in generic terms, as the Universal Energy that permeates everything. This is an easier understanding, more related to consciousness, more science-based and usually discussed as a resonance or frequency. In this perspective each living being would be a living re-broadcaster of the signal, or frequency, that is omitting from the very source of all Universal energy.

    The power if intention is the purpose of prayer, even if you don’t believe in the theosophical concept of God as the head creator and that mankind (us) was created in his image. Regardless of your beliefs, the daily practice of dedicating your mind to visualizing how you would like to live in this life, and what dreams you wish to make manifest will help. Also, the continual reaffirmation of gratitude for being alive, the appreciation for as many things we could acknowledge as being a blessing (good things) in our lives. This is what makes us achieve better lives.

    Be careful what you wish for, if all you can do is consume negative information and have no plan. There’s a war happening, for your mind. Negative knowledge can cause anxiety and the possibility of bringing negative situations into your realm. We must know our enemy and avoid overly focusing on the tactics of parasites that want to hold space in our thoughts. Yes, knowledge is power and we must be aware of evil but must not allow it to consume us.

    Every day we have another chance to use the power of intention to make great things manifest and it is by using your mind most effectively, that sets the stage by the very strength of the power of suggestion. Use your imagination to dream about the life you want to live, then set your point of intention and make it happen.

    As we move forward and more craziness is discovered and shared, far and wide over the Internet, take the advice of a hero Navy Seal named Michael Jaco and remain “Frosty”.

  • Divine Retribution for Sodom and Gomorrah

    Divine Retribution for Sodom and Gomorrah

    The End of the World, commonly known as The Great Day of His Wrath, an 1851–1853 oil painting on canvas by the English painter John Martin.

    The Bible refers to divine retribution as, in most cases, being delayed or “treasured up” to a future time. Sight of God’s supernatural works and retribution would militate against faith in God’s Word. William Lane Craig says, in Paul’s view, God’s properties, his eternal power and deity, are clearly revealed in creation, so that people who fail to believe in an eternal, powerful creator of the world are without excuse. Indeed, Paul says that they actually do know that God exists, but they suppress this truth because of their unrighteousness.

    Some religions or philosophical positions have no concept of divine retribution, nor posit a God being capable of or willing to express such human sentiments as jealousy, vengeance, or wrath. For example, in Deism and Pandeism, the creator does not intervene in our Universe at all, either for good or for ill, and therefore exhibits no such behavior. In Pantheism (as reflected in Pandeism as well), God is the Universe and encompasses everything within it, and so has no need for retribution, as all things against which retribution might be taken are simply within God. This view is reflected in some pantheistic or pandeistic forms of Hinduism, as well.

    According to Frances Carey, the painting by John Martin shows the “destruction of Babylon and the material world by natural cataclysm”. This painting, Frances Carey holds, is a response to the emerging industrial scene of London as a metropolis in the early nineteenth century, and the original growth of the Babylon civilisation and its final destruction.

    Some other scholars such as William Feaver see John Marin’s painting as “the collapse of Edinburgh in Scotland”. Charles F. Stuckey is sceptical of the link with Edinburgh. According to the Tate, the painting depicts a portion of Revelation 16, a chapter from the New Testament.

    Sodom and Gomorrah afire

    Sodom and Gomorrah afire by Jacob de Wet II, 1680

    Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and in the deuterocanonical books, as well as in the Quran and the Hadith.

    According to the Torah, the kingdoms of Sodom and Gomorrah were allied with the cities of Admah, Zeboim, and Bela. These five cities, also known as the “cities of the plain” (from Genesis in the King James Version), were situated on the Jordan River plain in the southern region of the land of Canaan. The plain was compared to the garden of Eden[Gen.13:10] as being well-watered and green, suitable for grazing livestock. Divine judgment was passed upon them and four of them were consumed by fire and brimstone. Neighboring Zoar (Bela) was the only city to be spared. In Abrahamic religions, Sodom and Gomorrah have become synonymous with impenitent sin, and their fall with a proverbial manifestation of divine retribution.[5][6][Jude 1:7] The Bible mentions that the cities were destroyed for their sins, haughtiness, egoism, and attempted rape.

    Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed in the background of Lucas van Leyden‘s 1520 painting Lot and his Daughters

    Sodom and Gomorrah have been used historically and in modern discourse as metaphors for homosexuality, and are the origin of the English words sodomite, a pejorative term for male homosexuals, and sodomy, which is used in a legal context under the label “crimes against nature” to describe anal or oral sex (particularly homosexual) and bestiality. This is based upon exegesis of the Biblical text interpreting divine judgement upon Sodom and Gomorrah as punishment for the sin of homosexual sex, though some contemporary scholars dispute this interpretation. Some Islamic societies incorporate punishments associated with Sodom and Gomorrah into sharia.

    NOTE: This post was about the art, not about morality and the views above were accompanying the artwork and added for context.

    Source: Divine Retribution in Wikipedia

  • In God We Trust, Temptation and All

    In God We Trust, Temptation and All

    In God We Trust
    In God We Trust

    Trust is the key to bliss, as we forgive our trespassers. Temptation is the path towards darkness, without which we’d never know the way to the light.

    Here’s an excerpt from USA TODAY on June 6, 2019;

    Pope Francis reportedly approved changes to the wording of the Lord’s Prayer, also known as the Our Father.

    Instead of saying, “Lead us not into temptation,” Catholics will say, “Do not let us fall into temptation,” The Guardian and Fox News reported.

    The pope said he thought the English translation of the prayer was not correct.

    “It is not a good translation because it speaks of a God who induces temptation,” he told Italy’s TV2000 channel in 2017, per The Guardian. “I am the one who falls. It’s not him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen.

    Ryan W. Miller, USA TODAY

    Overcoming temptation is what the point was. Temptation will always be there, it’s not something we fall into. The way to the Kingdom is by right choices, so we pray every day for the resolve (by the hand of the almighty).

    Obviously we must know temptation too! It’s not always what we might think it is but each one of us is faced with. As such, ascension must then be the mental capacity to rise above all thoughts that diminish bliss. Hell is the consequence of repetitive sin, whatever that might be to you.

    Amazing to think that we can think our way through to a higher consciousness. It is possible to achieve a higher level of bliss, of that I’m certain but temptation will always remain a constant enemy until we leave this flesh. Due to memory, as well as input of new stimulation and ideas.

    My life long key reasoning remains in tact, that we must have hopes and dreams, then strive with passion and sincerity, to improving as much as you can, to become the best version of yourself that you can make. Learn from everything, like a sponge and constantly challenge your own thinking. Try to study into the areas where you recognize as your own weaknesses.

    Never stop expanding the definition of temptation and always ask yourself; “what could I do to make the world a better place?” Do You honour God by what you do and how you act? Do you treat other people as a brother?

    Believe it or not I am un-Churched, just annoyed that the Pope would feel that just because he stopped wearing Red Shoes, that he can change the Lord’s Prayer. Also, he’s now a Climate propagandist for the Paris Accord. Enough already! Please Pope just solve your own problems

    Pope backs carbon pricing to stem global warming and appeals to deniers – June 14

    Needless to say, there are other Global leaders with opposing views and yet others with really just want war, at any and all costs and that’s what Pope’s used to be involved in talking about. What happened to peace? Why is the Pope so tempted to use his power fort he wrong things, what happened to him? The only good thing about Francis is that he’s not got a Nuke button like other global leaders, all of whom are compromised.

    Now United Kingdom has been found to be spying against USA, so the leaders of the world are all at odds with one another except the 3 Kings but we all know that 2 is company and 3 is a crowd, so in the end we conclude that the single most important word in any language is Trust.

    In God we Trust, there’s nothing else to have faith in.

    Photo credit: kevin dooley on VisualHunt.com / CC BY