I Need To Stop Using Social Media.

 “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” (John 10:5, KJV)

UPDATE:  I did later attempt to prove all things with a few of the Facebook Reels, and found that most of the content creators, among whom are:

Daniel D Williams

Unforsaken Apparel

Christre3deems

Ayo.quintin

have monetized their content.  Scripture says (I'm using the ESV for more clarity):

“For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 2:17, ESV)

I have since deleted the Facebook app again.  The pattern of selling religion is too obvious.

The algorithm is a thing.

On Facebook, I watch one video or interact with one post on Christianity, and all of a sudden, I get a deluge of religious content, at least many of which, at most all, by definition, come from false Christianity.  I did expose some falsehood (Ephesians 5:11), Living Waters, Free Grace Theology (I think it's a flavor of "once saved, always saved")

However, there was just too much to examine in detail.  I Thessalonians 5:21 says to prove all things.  Honestly, I don't even how how to examine it all.  Is it possible that a true church or organization has stuff on Facebook?  Sure.  Yet, there's just so many groups to sift through.  So, the only thing I knew to do was flee from it all, which is also biblical because there's also a deluge of false churches and believers on Facebook.  I don't know, maybe I'm fulfilling Thessalonians 5:21 by this blog post.  

Now, on the surface, many of these posts and videos give a similar truth:  True faith requires repentance (2 Peter 3:9 for example) and is shown by works (see James 2:18).  True love for Christ is shown in obedience (see I John 5:3 and the like).  These truths are biblical.  Yet, I don't quickly call them believers (I John 4:1).

I've been told by my parents not to look up so many religious sites, yet how do I balance honor and obedience (Ephesians 6:1-3) with Thessalonians 5:21?

There are many things I just don't know.

Ecclesiastes 7 Hits Deep

 “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 7:1-6, KJV)

Yeah, I know, this passage is quite a killjoy.  But perhaps that's a good thing.

Look, I'm not saying don't be happy that Christ rose again.  We need to be happy about that.  As it is written:

“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17, KJV)

You don't need "Easter" to celebrate Christ coming back from the dead.

This first passage in this post was mainly from my regular reading.  It hit deep because there are a lot of verses in that passage I have memorized.  The verse about death vs. birth in particular, in regards to Christmas.  Yes, it's OK to praise God for the birth of His Son, like the shepherds did:

“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.” (Luke 2:20, KJV)

But again, you don't need "Christmas" to celebrate Christ being born.  In fact, the fact that the world celebrates Christ's birth more than His resurrection, let alone His death, reveals how backwards the world is, especially the false "Christian" world.

So yeah, I think that's all I got for now.

Forgot To Mention My Website

 Also, I have a website that hosts my personal ministry.  You can find it at www.adapanosmonistries.info.

A Note About Older Posts

If it appears that I wrote several posts at once today, I didn't.  What I did was switch their visibility from "draft" to "published".  I deleted much of these posts because I thought that I was directing them at the wrong audience.  Now, it's been quite a while, and, upon thinking about it, decided to restore nearly all of the posts. 

My apologies if some of these posts aren't current.  I guess Blogger orders posts by the last time they were updated.  So if you want to see my latest stuff, you'll have to dig a little.

There Is Such Thing As Luck

Ecclesiastes 9:11 says:

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. 

Here's an experiment to try:  If you have a deck of playing cards including 2 jokers, take it out, shuffle them, and lay them on a desk, table, floor, etc.  Now, pick two cards.  If you picked the jokers, congratulations, you've just beaten 1 in 1,431 odds.  You had a 1 in 27 chance of picking the first joker.  You had a 1 in 53 chance of picking the second joker.

This is an example of chance.  While in life, effort is rewarded (just look at the Book of Proverbs), there is still such a thing as luck...all at the hand of God:

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Quick Exposure of Bryan Loves Jesus

 This is another quick exposure, because to be honest, right now, I'm too tired to do a deep dive into this guy.  But something caught my eye immediately when the Bryan Loves Jesus YouTube channel made a title card for his latest video giving the following quote:

"Each man goes to everlasting punishment or salvation according to the value of his actions.  Justin Martyr (c. 160), First Apology"

(BLJ bolded the "value of his actions").

Now, in one sense, it is correct to say that we are justified by our works.  James says:

Jas 2:21  Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 

Jas 2:24  Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 

In this context, works are part of the formula that gets you into Heaven.

It is true that mere faith without works will not get you into Heaven:

Jas 2:14  What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 

HOWEVER...

It is STILL true that the works themselves DO NOT SAVE:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

(Eph 2:8-9)

As for that "faith"?  The works show the saving faith:

Jas 2:18  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 

So, works themselves do not save, just as faith itself does not save.

(I once believed that a faith without works is a "false faith", this may be true, but to be consistent with Scripture, I should just call it a "dead faith".  Both "faiths" send you nowhere but Hell.)

Friends Of The World Are Enemies Of God (James 4:4)

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

(Jas 4:4-5, ESV)

I've thought about this verse, and many others, concerning "having a life".