#Progressive Sanctification

[pastorkevinc]

Can You Really Change?

Can You Really Change? About this time in a new year, everyone wants to know, Can you really change? One by one, possibly your new year’s resolutions are falling off. You’ve been there or are there… Sugar looks great again. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak! Sleep robs you of your “set aside” time to read your Bible and pray. You slip up and say what you were sure you weren’t going to…

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

by Jeffery Smith | In spite of the fact that a Christian may backslide for a time and that remaining corruption may prevail, yet every true Christian will, ultimately, over the course his life, make progress in sanctification by means of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in His heart. Holiness will continue to be perfected in a...

[laviechristcentered]

God is at peace with us...

Hey Friends, I hope this message finds you well.

Today, I want to write about the security of salvation because if there’s one thing I’ve always been kind of insecure about in my christian life, it was my salvation.

It is only recently that I began to feel secure and at peace with the certainty of it. Why? Because for some reason I couldn’t reconcile the idea of me being saved with the fact that I’m still a sinner stuck in an habitual sin.

If you are in that situation, then you probably understand me and this post is for you. If not, I’m happy for you that you never felt doubt about your salvation.

The truth is, I forgot about God’s grace. I forgot that my salvation doesn’t depend on me, but on Him only. I forgot that my salvation is a unilateral action of God and that I take no part in it. Even the fact that I believe in His one and only son Jesus Christ, is a gift from Him because of His grace for me.

We know that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ : we are reconciled with God through Faith in Jesus. Our Faith in Jesus makes us redeemed children of God, and not His enemies anymore. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is perfect and has the power to free us from any and every sin.

Also, Jesus’ ministry didn’t stop after His resurrection : he sits at the right hand of God, and intercedes for us ⇒ He is the Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Finally let’s not forget the work of the Holy Spirit who convicts and encourages us to walk in obedience to God. He is our guide in our journey through sanctification.

Knowing all of that and still doubting our salvation, is doubting the Power of the cross. It is a sin.

Yes, we are not perfect, and we’ll never be perfect; I would say we are God’s work in progress. Stand firm in faith for the Lord is working on you and me for the glory of His kingdom.

God Bless you and have a great day.

[greenqueenhightower]

not the show’s own producers saying about Larys that “he’s the only one who listens to [Alicent] properly” or “the only one who sees her truly” and the one “WHO SEES WHAT SHE’S GOING TO BE” like excuse you?! how is that an objective personification and description of the characters? Why are they framing Alicent’s character progression as a monster-in-the-making?

I literally hate watching “Inside the Episode” because of the glorification and sanctification of Rhaenyra, the producers’ exonerating views towards team black, their comments about Alicent, and the fact that Olivia Cooke doesn’t get to talk about her character. Thank goodness Emma D’Arcy was there and we heard some truths.

[os-eclipses-tamen-son-yuri]

I like how in Disco Elysium the unofficial motto of the Moralintern is : "For a moment, there was hope"

Not, there can be hope, or there will be hope: was, as in a past that has already ended and cannot be brought back.

It's somewhat sad, it's defeatist, romantic, it's final.

The Moralintern has no real intention of bringing any hope back, the lyricism and poetry of its symbols and hymns nothing more than the sanctification of values that are as good as sand castles in the middle of a windy day.

"Why should you have hope? We are here, we are promising change, progress, you won't see it in your lifetime, its small but believe in us. Leave it to us, we are worried too, we care about these things. Dont you worry your little heads. Change will come, we will bring it, there is no need to hope for it, you don't need to bring it".

That's the Moralintern.

This is not a bug, this is its intended feature.

Hoping for change can be dangerous, hope can be powerful.

You can't change anything on hope alone, but you can change nothing without it.

Without hope, it is them who have control of change.

You can't stop the course of a river, it will always find a way to change direction.

But you can dry out its spring.

[camilledusk1800s]

At what point in their lives did people think that Laenor and Rhaenyra were platonic soulmates? 🤨They can't even be considered "friends" even though many people want to sell it as such, they put up with each other because they had no choice and it's not like they will spend much time together, I don't know where this ideal of Laenor as a good husband comes from, being a present and good father of course also adored by the fans of mister "I have no personality" for serving as a cover and not exposing the Strong boys, something he didn't do for Rhaenyra not even for those children, but because it was convenient for him.The Velaryon were not happy with the situation, when they sell Corlys as the ideal "grandfather" it makes me laugh, because as soon as he had the opportunity he ruled out Joffrey as heir of Driftmark, as soon as he felt in a position of power and in command, it is obvious that was one of his demands after Rhaenys' death to maintain support for Rhaenyra's cause, it is not something that came from the hearts of Jacaerys and Rhaenyra, but clearly a demand, since I remember that Rhaenyra was left as a cuckold and her son supposedly legitimate (🥹) overlooked by one birthed by a woman from Hull. You don't have to be very intelligent to see that there were demands here. I'm a little sick of the sanctification of Corlys and Laenor. I constantly see misogynistic attitudes criticized in other characters such as Jaehaerys I, but I never see it in Corlys, who at the great council was not supporting his wife as queen, but rather his son, a Velaryon, a man for whom his granddaughters didn't count, he looked at the progress of his house, something quite normal for the men of his time, but let's not sell him as something that he was not and is not intuited in the text 🤷🏼‍♀️

[hiswordsarekisses]

Some people seem to think that we first must repent and then we will encounter the Lord, but it’s actually the other way around: we first encounter the Savior and then we learn the meaning of repentance. Thus Paul’s eyes were opened after he was first blinded by the light (Acts 9:3-6). Likewise, it is only after we have met the Lord that we begin to understand our own blindness of heart, but as learn to see more clearly, we encounter more and more of his love (Rom. 5:20). As Yeshua said, “My yoke is pleasant (χρηστὸς) and my burden is light (Matt. 11:30). Teshuvah, then, is a progressive and ongoing process of awakening, as we learn to love God and to accept ourselves, despite our struggle with sin. As St. Anselm once prayed: “O Lord, grant us grace to desire thee with all our hearts, that so desiring, we may seek and find thee, and so finding thee, may love thee, and loving thee may hate those things from which you have redeemed us.” Amen.

We encounter the Lord “just as we are,” by means of his gracious intervention in our lives, and so we continue to live by faith in God’s grace (indeed, what we call “sanctification” is often just “catching up” with the miracle of his revelation to us). And we always come to God “just as we are,” since we are never more than what we are in the truth: χάριτι δὲ θεοῦ εἰμι ὅ εἰμι- “by the grace of God I am what I am,” as Paul said. “For all things come from You, and from your hand we give back to you” (1 Chron. 29:14). Therefore the Spirit says, “Come unto me just as you are, or you may never come at all....” [Hebrew for Christians]

[3rdeyeblaque]

Today we venerate Ancestor Bishop C.H. Mason on his 157th birthday 🎉

Bishop C.H. Mason founded the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), THE largest Black American pentecostal church in the U.S. In doing so, he preserved and cultivated the religious culturesof our Afrikan ancestors while fighting for ourreligious freedom of expression and integration in the church house.

Brother Mason born to former slaves in Shelby County, TN. Due to his family's impoverished status, young Mason worked as a sharecropper and did not receive a formal education. Yet he still learned how to read and write. As a child, Mason was greatly influenced by the religion of his parents and other former slaves. He admired their prayer rituals, spontaneous singing, & shouting. At age 12, he embraced the Afro-Baptist faith and was later baptized in his older brother’s church.

In 1895, Brother Mason met Charles Price Jones, a popular Baptist preacher from Mississippi. Mason and Jones started preaching the doctrine of holiness and sanctification together in local Baptist churches, which led to their expulsion from the Baptist & Methodist churches. They, and others, established the Church of God and Church of Christ. Their movement consisted of both Black and White folk were grossly dissatisfied with mainstream denominations. From COGIC’s inception, Brother Mason ordained and allowed whites to join his denomination. He dreamed of an integrated church and believed that all races were entitled to equal rights and authority therein. Their principal belief was that being sanctified was an internal experience that resulted in external changes within individuals & their communities. They taught their followers to seek higher spiritual development and encouraged them to rekindle the dynamism of "slave religion".

In 1897, Brother Mason established St. Paul COGIC in an old cotton gin located in Lexington, Mississippi. He then started using the name “Church of God in Christ”, because, "God told him that if he used that name it would cause people to follow him". By 1904, Brother Mason established pastoring 4 churches: St. Paul in Lexington, Saints Home and Dyson Street in Memphis, and a COGIC church in Conway, AR.

In 1907, he attended an interracial service in Los Angeles, CA. After which, he declared that he'd experienced a spiritual metamorphosis and that he now believed in speaking in tongues. This is what spurred Jones and others to excommunicate him from their Holiness association. This ultimately led to Brother Mason and Jones’s 12yr partnership ending over theological differences, rights to church properties, ecclesiastical power, and the COGIC name itself. After 3 years of legal battles, in 1911, Mason’s legal victories catapulted him into historical prominence and placed COGIC in the Mid-South’s religious pantheon.

Brother Mason was also an outspoken conscientious objector. He was arrested in 1918 and probed by the FBI for teaching pacifism and encouraging Brothas to refuse being drafted into WW I and II.

By the early 20th century, the Black Christian middle class frowned upon any & everything associated with Mother Africa. They believed shouting, dancing, & especially speaking in tongues, were shameful & hindered Black progress. Defiantly, Brother bMason encouraged his followers to embrace their Afrikan heritage and gave them space to express themselves in church. He allowed the working classes to dance shout, testify, speak in tongues, string musical instruments, & sing gospel. His preservation of the Afrikan heritage, freedom of religious expression, & leadership spearheaded COGIC’s astronomical growth.

In the 1920s, COGIC had 30K members &, as a result of the Great Migration, 68.7% percent worshiped in urban cities. By the 1930s, COGIC was an urban phenomenon. During the Great Depression, Brother Mason’s churches fed and clothed poor Whites and Black Peoples across Memphis

Today, it has an estimated 6.5 million members and 12,000 congregations. COGIC is the largest African American denomination in the United States, with eight million members worldwide.

We pour libations & give him💐 today as we celebrate him for his passion & commitment to the preservation & cultivation of our Central/West Afrikan cosmologies, cultures, & belief systems via our religious of expression.

‼️Note: offering suggestions are just that & strictly for veneration purposes only. Never attempt to conjure up any spirit or entity without proper divination/Mediumship counsel.‼️

Offering suggestions: COGIC bible/prayer offerings, water libations, gospel songs of praise/dance

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#hoodooheritage #ATR #ATRs #hoodootradition #TheHoodooCalendar #ancestors #veneration #theblackchurch #ancestorveneration #bishopchmason #cogic #cogicchurch #og #deepsouth

[hollers-and-holmes]

And our next candidate for Psalms You Should Memorize Yesterday…

Psalm 51!!

Also known as: The Psalm We Will All Need Repeatedly As We Progress In Sanctification Via Mucking Things Up in Horrible Ways.

“When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…”

Psalm 51 is the template for how God would like us to do this confessing.

[wisdomfish]

ON GOOD STANDING

As fallen creatures, even though redeemed in Christ, people simply cannot perfectly and consistently emulate the moral example of Jesus Christ (though God motivates and encourages a person’s attempt).

Believers are called and commanded to grow in godliness and maturity, but behavioral injunctions should take into account that Christians still struggle with a sin nature even after receiving salvation.

At times Christians confuse and overestimate their “righteous” abilities. They then misrepresent Christianity as a religion of “self-help” (clean up your act through rigid discipline), rather than as a religion of true “divine rescue” (Jesus Christ has rescued believers from the penalty of their sins through his life, death, and resurrection).

Christianity is a strongly ethical faith. This does not, however, mean that Christianity is about a set of rules, in which Christians mechanically conform to a set of instructions [you can find that, if you so desire, in the cults such as Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses; the other monotheistic religions Judaism or Islam, and most starkly in the practices of Eastern religions]. Rather, Christianity is about a set of values which arises from being redeemed. [Alister E. McGrath]

Christians don’t achieve redemption or good standing with God by “being moral.”

Rather, because they have been redeemed (forgiven and reconciled to God) by God’s grace through faith in Christ, they desire and strive to conform their [new, 2 Cor. 5:17] lives to divinely revealed moral values (Eph. 2:8-10; Titus 3:5-7).

Grace, the unmerited favor of God, is the source and cause of believers’ salvation and of their progress in sanctification.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:11-14

~ Kenneth Samples

[pastorkevinc]

What Every Christian Should Remember about Jeffrey Epstein and His Story

What Every Christian Should Remember about Jeffrey Epstein and His Story Hundreds of pages of documents begin to be released related to Jeffrey Epstein and those who were named in the court filings from a defamation lawsuit brought against Ghislaine Maxwell by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre in 2015, after she branded her a liar over her claims that she was sexually abused as a minor. Over the…

[fourovcups]

I am planning on doing some more posts critically analyzing and discussing ecofascism, since a lot of people seem interested and it's something I want to better understand myself.

I want to start out talking about fascist desire and microfascisms, however, as a baseline for understanding what fascism is. For such a well-known subject, there is no definitive, universal consensus in political science regarding how we can define fascism at all, and in my opinion that is because the psychological and libidinal aspects of fascism are critical to understanding it. It would be wrong to say fascism can be described as a personality disorder, as Adorno claimed (measure how fascist you are on this very scientific "F-scale" test here; I got an average of 17% fascist). Even so, many fascist themselves explicitly reject reason and affirm concepts like will, struggle, or instinct as fundamental elements of fascist "consciousness". This sanctification of irrationality not only suggests an explanation of why fascism is so inconsistent across groups, but also begs the question of why and how such irrationalism comes to be in the first place. After that, I want to investigate the early roots of ecofascism, especially in France and Germany in the late 19th century. My goal is to go from the earliest reactionary fetishizations of nature and authentic ties with the "soil" of the father land, and progress up to the present day ecofascist movements influenced by the climate crisis and concepts like deep ecology. I would like to answer the following questions, among others: - Why has ecofascism become more popular in recent years? - How is the ecofascist understanding of ecology and human-environment relations different from other ecological movements? - What have been the most significant reactions to ecofascism in ecological and political discourses, and has the movement significantly changed these discourses in any way?

To put my cards on the table, I know more about the psychoanalytical aspects of studying fascism and less about ecofascist movements. I will be figuring out a lot of what I write about as I write it, and I'd invite anyone who disagrees to comment and let me know what you think. I studied English in college, and though I had some classes in political science and critical theory-related subjects on the side, this is mostly just a topic I'm interested in and read up on for fun. This also won't be a comprehensive survey of ecofascist history and texts; I don't have time to read every giant tractatus out there at the moment, so I'll be doing my best with the theory and history I already have under my belt and the literature I have time to read. I will also try to keep these posts relatively short for what they are (maybe like 1,000 words each if I can) because I do not have a lot of free time these days, and I don't want to bore you guys to sleep.

If you're also interested in this increasingly common and very unlikely fringe movement, I hope you'll get something out of it too. More to come soon, thanks for reading :)

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

"Progressive sanctification is subjective or experiential and is the work of the Holy Spirit within us imparting to us the life and power of Christ, enabling us to respond in obedience to Him." – Jerry Bridges

[youarenotthewalrus]

Was reading the Wikipedia article for a now-obscure 19th century children's author who had shown up in the Project Gutenberg "latest ebooks" and found that the "Style and themes" section consisted of this:

Her characters were well drawn, and strikingly true to life. Her style was simple, chaste, often elegant; her plan was natural and progressive. Many of her scenes were picturesque and impressive, and charged with the power and pathos that belonged to the great masters of fiction. Moreover, her writings were all of moral tone, without mawkish sentimentality, but displaying a keen insight into the spiritual nature of man and woman, and a proper sense of their relations as moral and accountable beings.[8] Baker's books were written in good English, and were remarkably free from catch phrases and barbarisms, from eccentricities and extravagance, from bad grammar and rhetorical faults, which might have depressed the standard of literature and corrupted public taste. Her style was simple, chaste, often elegant; her plan natural and progressive. Reviewers compared her books, for literary execution, moral aim, and influence, with those of Hannah More, Mary Martha Sherwood, and Charlotte Elizabeth. They inculcated high moral and religious sentiments, but were free from the dialectics of the schools, and from all sectarianism; and therefore they were found in the libraries of all Christian denominations.[10] Many of her books were republished in England and other countries. Few if any of them were more popular and useful than Tim the Scissors-Grinder, later published in what was called the Tim Series. This volume first appeared as a serial in the Boston Recorder. Long before its completion in that paper, numerous applications were received from different houses for the right to publish it in a book. From all parts of the country, positive testimonials were received of its excellence and usefulness in the conversion and sanctification of very many.[10]

And I was like "sorry was this Wikipedia article also written in the 19th century?" so I checked the sources and the answer turned out to be basically yes:

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Derby, George; White, James Terry (1910). The National Cyclopædia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. J. T. White. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Hart, John Seely (1873). A Manual of American Literature: A Text-Book for Schools and Colleges (Public domain ed.). Eldredge. p. 513.

[awideplace]

What is a carnal Christian?

Can a true Christian be carnal? In answering this question, let’s first define the term “carnal.” The word “carnal” is translated from the Greek word sarkikos, which literally means “fleshly.” This descriptive word is seen in the context of Christians in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. In this passage, the apostle Paul is addressing the readers as “brethren,” a term he uses almost exclusively to refer to other Christians; he then goes on to describe them as “carnal.” Therefore, we can conclude that Christians can be carnal. The Bible is absolutely clear that no one is sinless (1 John 1:8). Every time we sin, we are acting carnally.

The key thing to understand is that while a Christian can be, for a time, carnal, a true Christian will not remain carnal for a lifetime. Some have abused the idea of a “carnal Christian” by saying that it is possible for people to come to faith in Christ and then proceed to live the rest of their lives in a completely carnal manner, with no evidence of being born again or a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Such a concept is completely unbiblical. James 2 makes it abundantly clear that genuine faith will always result in good works. Ephesians 2:8-10 declares that while we are saved by grace alone through faith alone, that salvation will result in works. Can a Christian, in a time of failure and/or rebellion, appear to be carnal? Yes. Will a true Christian remain carnal? No.

Since eternal security is a fact of Scripture, even the carnal Christian is still saved. Salvation cannot be lost, because salvation is a gift of God that He will not take away (see John 10:28; Romans 8:37-39; 1 John 5:13). Even in 1 Corinthians 3:15, the carnal Christian is assured of salvation: “If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” The question is not whether a person who claims to be a Christian but lives carnally has lost his salvation, but whether that person was truly saved in the first place (1 John 2:19).

Christians who become carnal in their behavior can expect God to lovingly discipline them (Hebrews 12:5-11) so they can be restored to close fellowship with Him and be trained to obey Him. God’s desire in saving us is that we would progressively grow closer to the image of Christ (Romans 12:1-2), becoming increasingly spiritual and decreasingly carnal, a process known as sanctification. Until we are delivered from our sinful flesh, there will be outbreaks of carnality. For a genuine believer in Christ, though, these outbreaks of carnality will be the exception, not the rule. Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/carnal-Christian.html

[papirouge]

Hi geniune question here from a Christian woman, I think I've nailed down why I get a certain habitual sin of mine, but unsure how to implement how to stop it. I have a habitual sin of masturbating, and while I don't watch porn or read erotica now I used to as a teen. Nowadays I like to read dark stories, listen to country or steampunk music or instrumental songs, watch informational documentaries or macabre videos online, then find myself drawn to certain fictional characters from the shows and books and fall into committing the habitual sin thinking about the characters. I also did used to be wiccan/pagan but have turned to God during the pandemic, trying to ammend my ways to fit His ways. I think the way to fix this alongside prayer is to cut these media sources out, but I'm not sure how, because it seems the media I gravitate toward usually isn't steeped in sexuality, it's usually dark fantasy or folklore. Any tips or recommendations that are Godly for those of us ladies who like macabre and gothic subjects but follow Christ?

That's a very interesting ask, thank you anon.

I think your solution is in your own word ; you admit consuming "dark stories" "macabre music" "dark music" and I know for a fact how much it can influence your spiritual health. I myself used to enjoy a channel about ghost stories (the channel owner was Muslim, and she definitively wasn't glorifying witchcraft or demons ("djinns") but still, regularly watching her videos made me feel like something was "wrong", so I eventually unsubbed.

I also think that "safe" media can also be very damaging, and they are the most dangerous ones because they seem so harmless that we tend to let our guard down around them. For example, if a say that love songs or romance novels are spiritually harmful, most people will think I'm crazy. But consider this : by focusing so much on love and romance, it breeds a spirit of lust within us. You might say "oh but it's just romance" but be honest, unless you're asexual, you'll eventually grow lustful sentiments towards someone you're really attracted to romantically (that's precisely what Paul was talking about when he said it was better to be married than sin if you feel like sexually incontinent). And yes, even for fictionnal characters. Why do you see fanfic are so much popular, and championed by women? They are a way to express female repressed sexuality by writing content about fictional characters they find romantically endearing.

For many people, lust isn't that much far from romance, and entertaining (even fictional) characters is a very slippery slope.... It's a form of idolatry, and it might as well develop strong demonic bonds with incubus who channel this lustful energy. : many cases of possession involve waking up having orgasms for example (this shit is serious : demons can have a physical impact on your body) (energy NEVER disappear, that's why we have to be very cautious to where we direct it)

Sanctification is a whole process anon, and you'll learn to get away of things you can't imagine living without, trust me lol All this gothic, macabre stuff isn't from God. Jesus is the God of Life, not dead. You might try to educate yourself on things from the "dark", but constantly surrounding yourself with it is ultimately hurtful. If you -truly- want to get rid of this dark energy following, get rid of this dark content, and if you want to get rid of your inclination to be drawn towards this stuff, you have to simply ask God to remove every idol from your heart. I'm not saying everything will go away overnight, but it will definitely be a progressive purge. I am myself in that process.