As I start to write this message of hope, Nat King Cole’s rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen has started to play in the background. Just another one of God’s signs in my life. The above picture was taken this morning before another series of snow showers began.
I wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Remember who has true authority in heaven and on earth.:
Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Also remember the request by Jesus to his disciples concerning our duty to make disciples of all nations. I do not know what the coming year will bring but faith in the Lord is the true foundation for those people who follow the Way.
David DeGerolamo
Merry Christmas and God Bless ya Brother Patriot!
God and reflection
By Mark Swinney
From the January 2019 issue of The Christian Science Journal
So often, The Bible beautifully brings forward the spiritual sense of familiar concepts. For instance, in Second Corinthians, reflection is revealed as more than merely a physical phenomenon: “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (3:18).
The glory of the Lord could be defined as the wonderful, pure essence of God, who is ever-present Love, Spirit, Truth, and Mind. God’s nature is purely good and utterly glorious—and is reflected in each of us.
A common definition of reflect is to think carefully, to contemplate, to ponder. Therefore, spiritually considered, reflection is a facet of divine Mind’s intelligence and action. It’s God’s knowing. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, explains that God reflects Himself (see Retrospection and Introspection, p. 56); this is God’s self-expression, and the result is you and me—spiritual, perfect, and whole.
“As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God,” writes Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 516). In beholding His treasured, flawless reflection, God doesn’t see a human person, perfect or otherwise; divine Spirit’s reflection is not in matter. God sees individual reflections of His own nature. We’re unique expressions of the one divine Spirit.
The reflection of God is certainly original, but it never originates. It is original because Mind’s reflection in you and me is unique and individual, but this Mind is the originator of all. This means that the reality of God’s reflection is what God, good, causes.
We all have an inherent spiritual sense, which allows us to discern this spiritual reality. And it is a joy to see how understanding true creation as God’s own reflection exposes physical limitations as unreal. For instance, when a friend of mine became ill, his prayers brought this very clear realization: that disease could not affect him, the reflection of the all-powerful God.
He told me that he knew that it was important to be conscious of himself as God’s reflection. As he strived in his prayers to do this, within a day he was clear of the illness, and he has remained completely free of it. “All is well,” he said.
The reality of God’s reflection is what God, good, causes.
Acceptance of the substance and entirety of one’s identity as God’s reflection is great wisdom. In heartfelt, deep prayer, looking through the lens that is the Science of Christianity, we behold more clearly God’s absolute goodness. Science and Health reveals that “immortal men and women are models of spiritual sense, drawn by perfect Mind and reflecting those higher conceptions of loveliness which transcend all material sense” (p. 247). Are you and I, right now in this minute, reflecting divine Mind’s “higher conceptions of loveliness”? Yes, and glimpsing this is a taste of heaven.
In reflection is provision. Once we realize that we reflect God’s infinite goodness, we see that everything we require is already present. God’s, divine Love’s, infinity provides all. For instance, the prosperity of inspiration is ultimately found not in the human brain, but in the reflected infinity that is divine Truth. The ideas of Truth are beyond what can be known materially. It is so comforting to consider how Truth is constantly anointing us with affection, purity, and intelligence. In our daily lives, we experience the infinitude of Truth’s intelligent abundance by allowing our motives and actions to be molded by God.
The mirror example, being an analogy, breaks down if we take it to mean that there is distance between the reflector and the reflected. Spiritual reflection is actually both timeless and spaceless. Science and Health says of God: “He is all-inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real and eternal and by nothing else. He fills all space, and it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and individuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind. Hence all is Spirit and spiritual” (p. 331).
Since Mind is ever present, it follows that Mind is not in one location and its reflection in another. In the hereness, allness, and nowness of God, we are maintained as wholly spiritual—and therefore eternally matterless, timeless, pure, and perfect—ideas. This truth is what underlay Christ Jesus’ remarkable healing ministry. He didn’t see people as mere mortals; Jesus knew the true nature of each individual as God’s spiritual likeness individualized. In our deep and heartfelt prayers, we have the privilege today of following his example.
A quiet lake effortlessly reflects the trees that surround it. Reflecting God is gently effortless, too: We are each designed as God’s reflection. In this calm reflection is identity, health, ability, love. Our task, through prayer, is to let this spiritual action of reflection inform how we think about ourselves and each other.
Merry Christmas, David, and Wes, and to your family.
Merry Christmas to you and your family. Hope you have a good one.
Enjoy the day and spend time with your family on this joyous holiday.
Amen. Our only hope is in Jesus Christ. Continue to pray for his eternal light to shine in dark places.
Thanks again David, for all your hard work and inspiration! Have a happy new year to you and yours!
Onward Christian soldiers!
Wishing for a Merry Trump Christmas. Enjoy this short holiday video: https://www.brighteon.com/7f525ecb-284a-4385-a864-9398b4635d95
In the Face of Tyranny, WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?
When Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees with the question about which was the greatest commandment of the Law, Jesus had a ready answer. Let’s find out where Jesus’ answer came from, who the “other gods” are, and how we prove that we love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul:
Mat 22:34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he [Jesus] had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him [Jesus] a question, tempting him, and saying, 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 22:38 This is the first [first -- Strong’s 4413 foremost in importance] and great commandment.
The First and Greatest Commandment of the Law is found at Deuteronomy 6:4-5, and how God proves us to see if we are obeying the First and Greatest Commandment, and that we really love Him with all our heart and with all our soul is found at Deuteronomy 13:1-18:
Deu 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God [is] one LORD: 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Deu 13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign [sign -- Strong’s 226 a signal as evidence: admissible as testimony in a court of law] or a wonder [wonder -- Strong’s 4159 a miracle (held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God)], 13:2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after [go after -- Strong’s 3212 & 310 walk after: accept the guidance, command, or leadership of] other gods [gods -- Strong’s 352 political chiefs; Brown-Driver-Briggs H430 rulers, judges]; *[highest governmental authorities], which thou hast not known, and let us serve [serve -- Strong’s reference number: 5647 work in any sense for] them; 13:3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 13:4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments [commandments -- Strong’s 4687 His Law], and obey His voice, and ye shall serve [serve -- Strong’s 5647 work for] Him, and cleave unto Him.
Therefore, a supernatural sign or wonder, even if the sign or wonder comes to pass, and even if it is of such superior evidence that it would be admissible in a court of law, or even if it could be deemed to be a miracle of God, it is not a good enough reason to follow the leadership of a political chief other than God alone.
Deu 13:5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way [way -- Strong’s 1870 course of life or mode of action] which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.