[Cardfan1]

You just cannot be wrong can you? No, He would not.

Israel was a theocracy. That means leaders of the Church were also leaders of government, which was basically one in the same. The idea was that the people of Israel were to look to God for guidance both in in their daily lives and the affairs of state. He had proven to them over and over again in the past that He takes an active part in protecting them and providing for them, and they were to look to Him.

But though the Jew of that day all believed they were God's chosen people and therefore sort of bullet proof, the Orthodoxy did not base their leadership on any kind of a right relationship with God. Instead, and since God had not reached out to the Jew through any prophet since Malachi, (400 years) the leaders had fallen back on the performance of baser rituals, instead of any real commitment to God.  In other words the people of Israel had hundreds of observances to which they had to adhere. And all of them were regulated and overseen by the priesthood. That gave the priests tremendous power and prestige, (which they really liked) but did not do one thing to guide the people into looking forward to the imminent coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And though performing all that excessive ritual made them feel good, made them feel as if they were managing their walk to eternity adequately, the apostle Matthew later warned against such vain repetition' in our prayer life and service to Him because it's meaningless. Only the finished work of Jesus on the cross will save a man.

All that to explain why the Lord IMHO, called the Priests vipers. The priests did not want, nor were they about relinquish the power and prestige they had over the people. And they were not about to kowtow to the wishes of Jesus, Who condemned them for misleading the people;  Matt 23:15 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."  In other words the priests thought and had the people errantly believing that going to the temple and practicing the Passover, and obediently practicing all the ritual observances of the Sabbath etc. etc., would get them to heaven. Which as Christ not willing to equivocate about decried as a lie from the pit.

Thus the Lord when He came, had to pry the people loose so to speak, from the power the Orthodoxy held over them. From that day above forward men needed to understand that God had come to live among men in order to deliver them. And look God in daily worship and guidance personally again as outlined above. Only now the Savior had come, there would be no more looking forward to the day, it was here. Later the Apostles role of leadership was to establish the birth of the true Church. Which was to look solely to Christ for their marching orders and their "daily bread." All worldly goods in other words.

Now to your poor and destitute sacred cow. Christ did say "the poor you will always have." But the US does feed them to admirable levels.  And then those being fed do things like; leaving their children at home waiting, go buy 5 cases of Pepsi and sell them far cheaper than the store, so they can then take the money and buy drugs to get high. There's nothing particularly noble about being poor or destitute. In many cases that happens to be their case by choice. It's sad and unfortunate and heart wrenching to see them walking the streets talking to themselves. But it has nothing to do with Republicans being greedy, and nothing to do with being the innocent victims of circumstance in the vast majority. Oh and Cardfan. You could take the entirety of whatever God has given you, and go out and feed the poor every day. Not only would they take you for granted, but apart from you bowing before God in true repentance for YOUR sin, the act would do exactly nothing for you at the judgment.

Why? because   "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit," Titus 3:5

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

If you keep measuring yourself against me or DJT, or whoever, rather than the perfect example of the Lord Jesus, you are going to face God on your own merit Cardfan. And as I keep telling you, the Scriptures plainly teach that no man has a smidge of merit to present.

You don't support a theocracy?  Come on, TRT, I can't count how many times you have railed about this nation following a secular path.  


I missed the part in the Bible when Jesus said only help the poor that doesn't participate in food stamp fraud and only American citizens.  You continue to double down on why this nation shouldn't be kind. 

It's where conservatives are these days: apathetic, willfully ignorant, and spiritually decaying.  (Your words not mine)  Sorry I pointed it out.

What a bozo. I just got through extolling the virtues of looking to God for one's guidance; and you post another one of your deliberate misdirections. A lie in other words. And the Lord Himself even had to punish Israel for her whoredoms, as He put it. No I think I'm on board with consulting the Lord on such matters.

You missed a lot more than that part in the Bible. pal. But please do let the clinical grade projection roll on. Dishonesty is all you ever got.

What would God tell you about the humanitarian crisis at the border, racial inequity in this country, and the poverty and drugs afflicting our country? 

Would he tell you to turn those folks away?  Find new ways to hamper their rights?  Sneer and scoff and condemn folks as they attempt to survive?  

Not misdirections.  You just want to preach, but you don't want to admit the cruel and hateful actions of conservatives that are in direct contradiction of biblical teachings.

The poverty and drugs come from those people. This government is importing it all at taxpayer expense. Therefore the humanitarian crisis which Joe and Kamala deny BTW, was brought about by your side, it is being further exacerbated by your side, and it will go on because of your side. Trump had things calmed down. But when uncle Joe comes out and says all aboard, that gets around.

And write this down somewhere for future reference, only Americans have rights in this country. So how does God view illegal immigration? He sent Nehemiah back from captivity in Babylon to rebuild THE WALL around Jerusalem, that's another part you missed I guess. In order to keep the other races in the area OUT. Jews were forbidden of God to marry outside their race, for what that's worth. And feel free to google this, but the Lord never that I know of advised Apostles to feed the poor of the lands to which they were sent. They were to take the Gospel, and eke out a meager existence on whatever was offered or available due to the generosity of the people of whom they visited, which they did, and it cost them their lives.

Not to mention the fact that the Lord sent Israel out of Egypt and told her to 'possess the land.' Outright military conquest. You no doubt missed that too.

Again, you are clueless as to Biblical teachings. The Church has always reached out to the poor, they've fed them and clothed them. The US is very likely THE all time most generous and giving people in history. Living on the good graces of US taxpayers for those on welfare here, is like life at a country club as compared to most countries. But we cannot take on the entirety of Central America. At any rate, you know the whole thing is a billion dollar racket, US dollars that is, and you don't care about truth. All you care about is the transformation. The contempt you've shown Christendom is a matter of record on this very forum, who do you really think you're kidding?

Keep preaching that Old Testament and you will see how that flock and base grows. 

Transformation?  Of What?  

My contempt is of people who claim to be Christians yet maintain their feelings of apathy, practice willful ignorance, and have slipped into spiritual decay to follow the Trump GOP.