Death lurks around every corner; the taint of sin stains our very souls. The universe crumbles under the weight of its own rebellion, and God—Giver of all life, our consummate joy— seems so very far away.
When we see the seat left empty at our Christmas meal, it is right for our hearts to ache. But for those who are in Christ, we do not grieve without hope, as with the rest of the world 1 Thessalonians On Christmas, however, we remember another seat that was emptied. Without casting off His divinity, Jesus Christ entered history to take the form of an infant, swaddled in rags and laid in a feeding trough.
Once He emerged from the backwoods of Galilee to begin His public ministry, the Maker of the universe gave priority to one place: the table of sinners. Jesus brought wine to the head table at a wedding in Cana to prove the Bridegroom had finally come to claim His beloved.
He multiplied bread at a Galilean picnic to declare Himself the true bread from Heaven: life-giving nourishment for world-weary souls. He washed the feet of traitors and. Every holiday gathering reminds us that our Lord calls us to another sacred meal. There at the banquet of grace, all eyes will be fixed upon our Host. You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
We used to walk with Him in the garden in the cool of the day Genesis Ours is a damned and dying world, hopelessly unable to restore itself to God. Too long! Christmas is all about giving, and this event is our gift to the community, a rallying point for our church family, and an outreach opportunity to those who might not have been to church for some time.
Surveys show that Christmas and Easter are the most likely times in the year for an unchurched person to pay a visit to a church. For some people, that visit becomes the first of many. At Christmas, we celebrate Jesus coming to earth for the first time. And from that experience, we pray that many will return to learn more about Jesus and why He came to earth. This festive week is designed for families to come together and to bring neighbors and friends. It will be enjoyed by people of all ages.
So please, take advantage of this opportunity to invite your friends, co-workers, and relatives. As we look forward to Celebrate Christmas Together, please join us in praying that people will be drawn closer to the Christ of Christmas.
Merry Christmas! December p. For the perfect Christmas photo opportunity, bring your friends and family over to the Star of Bethlehem, located at the fountain outside of The Block.
As you gaze upon this brilliant light display, picture the Magi crossing over the Judean wilderness to bring gifts to the King of kings. Or, you could go and see them for yourself!
On the north side of the main building, encounter scenes from the first Christmas, getting up close and personal with the Wise Men and their live camels and the shepherds with their flocks.
One of the townsfolk will hand you a gift bag, which includes a card with a checklist of activities available to you at the event, as well as a map to help you locate each fun activity. If you visit all the different attractions at Celebrate Christmas Together to fill out your card, you can bring your completed checklist to the Connection Center to receive another free gift.
Our two-story Winter Wonderland boasts an enormous variety of family-friendly festivities, from an indoor snowball frenzy to a candy cane forest, from scooter rides to Christmas bingo, from arts and crafts to fun photo opportunities, and so much more. For visitors ages 8 and below, the Christmas Park features a smaller skating rink, a trackless train ride, and additional fun photo opportunities for you and your kids.
Throughout the evening, you can visit one of the food courts to enjoy an inexpensive meal. And at select times each night, the Sanctuary will open to present a free Christmas program for all ages.
The show includes music, live actors and dancers, and an inspiring message to help us all hone in on what Christmas is all about: the birth of our King Jesus, who came to the earth to set us free from sin, reconcile us to God, and give us the gift of everlasting life in His all-satisfying presence. This is only a small snapshot of what you can expect to encounter each night at this exciting weeklong event.
Upstairs and down the hall is our Christmas Village, which will take you back in time to the streets of Victorian London. In fact, the practice of intentionally marking and remembering milestones is frequently alluded to in the Bible. God commanded His people to remember His mighty acts, to celebrate them with annual festivals, and to pass down the stories to their children.
But we also want to look forward with prayerful hearts to place our hopes and concerns about the future in His hands.
Pray for the staff and church family at both of these campuses, that they would build strong relationships in Christ and work together for His Kingdom with love, grace, and humility. Pray for those who encountered that Good News in a powerful way on Easter weekend—and for the hearts God is still working in even now.
During those two weeks this Summer, more than 1, middle school students and leaders from Southeast attended MIX, and 47 students were baptized or made decisions for Jesus.
A third week has already been added for MIX ! Countless people are being connected to Jesus and one another through these churches across the country and around the world! May we continue to lift high the name of Jesus together as a church in ! Not everyone looks outside themselves to find happiness. Follow along for 5 minutes a day to celebrate Christmas in a whole new way. When asked to define the source of their unhappiness and discontentment, most Americans point to external circumstances.
The six most common responses reveal that many of us blame our unhappiness on the fact that we sometimes have little control over government programs and decisions, health issues, and all the mysteries the future holds. Discouragement at work and a lack of time for enjoyable activities also threaten to rob us of joy, and finances are particularly straining.
But this, too, proves to be an empty pursuit. Americans who turn to selfimprovement services actually tend to be less happy than those who do not, even after they have successfully reached the end of said services.
According to another recent poll, many Americans look to other people—friends, family, and romantic relationships—to bring them fulfillment and satisfaction. Among polled adults, married individuals are only marginally more happy than singles. Where, then, can we turn to find happiness in this life? In this sea of bleak statistics, one bit of data gives us hope and points the way.
However, Americans who are actively religious and hold firmly to their convictions tend to be happier and more content than those who do not hold any religious convictions or only nominally practice their faith. Christians in. We were made for Jesus: to know Him, to love Him, to adore and worship Him. This book of readings for the month of December will help you slow down to focus on what matters most: adoring our Savior, Jesus. We were made to delight in Him; nothing and no one else can satisfy.
Though our human relationships and worldly circumstances are always changing, He remains the same. He loves us, He redeems us, and on Christmas we remember that He came to Earth to set us free from sin and death. As you enjoy this season with friends, family, and maybe a couple gifts, remember this: these blessings are not ultimate— Christ is. He came into our world to graciously dethrone all the things claiming to bring ultimate happiness to our souls. Unwrapping the Names of Jesus by Asheritah Ciuciu Author and speaker Asheritah Ciuciu leads us in daily Christmastime reflections on the names and titles of Jesus, offering suggestions for fun-filled family activities and service projects fit for the season.
Christmas is all about commemorating and celebrating the birth of Jesus. He is Immanuel— God with us. One of the techniques the Enemy uses to lure your heart away is by changing your mind about how you see the world and your place in it. This is easy to do, because all creation has been scarred by sin. When you start changing the way you view the world, you begin the process of distancing yourself from God.
Jesus gives the gift of forgiveness and absolution for the sin that marks the created world. The reason God so often feels far away is because we are detached from God in our sin. But Jesus offers a new way to connect with God. When Jesus came into our broken world, He experienced the fullness of what it is like to live as a human being. He knows your pain and your struggle, and He came to set you free. Connect with God in the presence of His forgiveness.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Patterson described Bridgeman as an intense businessman. Patterson also sees Bridgeman as humble. A short-term solution becomes a career. Bridgeman — and the banks, he jested — is the sole owner of Manna Inc. The four-times-a-year gatherings were the idea of his daughter, Eden, and it gives the family an opportunity to all see each other and talk business.
As it stands now, he said, it looks as though his children want to take the helm of the family business. All three currently work for various arms of Manna Inc. Justin, 34, is director of operations for Bridgeman Hospitality Group. Though they work for the family business, Bridgeman has made his children work hard to earn their place.
For example, he had them working shifts at the restaurants and cleaning the restrooms at the offices of Manna Inc. But it all started as a short-term financial strategy until he figured out his next step.
On the possibility of an NBA team coming to Louisville:. The cost of teams and everything else. On why he believes his company has prospered:. That has really been the motivation. Other people focus on what an individual has achieved but overlook the long journey it took to get there and any missteps he or she made in the past.
What follows are some outtakes of their comments. He is just such a fine young man. They are a close family that gives a wonderful example to all with whom they share their personal and business life.
He is genuinely concerned with the industry. Rothberg , co-owner of Eggheadz LLC. If he hits a bad shot while golfing , then he will know why he hits a bad shot. He is one of the most humble people. I enjoy working with the other commission members, as well as the dedicated employees of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. I believe we have a common goal of maintaining, improving, and sharing Kentucky's fish and wildlife resources with fellow Kentuckians as well as tourists who visit our great state.
Skip to main navigation Skip to main content. Page Image. District Commission Members. More District Commission Members.
Main Content. Robin Floyd 1st District Dr. Robin Floyd Murray Estates Dr. Brian Fisher Covington Street. Josh Lillard Hilliard Dr. Hebron, KY josh nkff. Richmond, KY bluefever gmail.
Doug Morgan U. But not all Black-skinned peoples are Ethiopian. Ethiopian peoples were just one ONE! Black is Adam. Black is Eve. Black is Cain, Abel and Seth. Black is Noah, Ham, Shem and Japheth. The same goes for Ham, if he was Black which he was, all historical sources attest to this then what was were his brothers, Shem and Japheth? What was Noah? Al-Tabari d. He especially blessed Shem and his sons, black but comely, and he gave them the inhabitable earth.
He blessed Ham and his sons, black like a raven, and he gave them as an inheritance the coast of the sea. He blessed Japheth and his sons, they entirely white, and he gave them for an inheritance the desert and its fields; these are the inheritances with which he endowed them.
Some indeed of its names are utterly vanished away; others of them being changed, and another sound given them, are hardly to be discovered; yet a few there are which have kept their denominations entire. The Copts natives of Egypt are also a black race.
Abraham wished to have a child by one of their race and thus Ishmael the ancestor of the Arabs was born. The Prophet Mohammet also had a child by Mary the Copt. White people came from Black Japheth Dravidians. The mixing of the white peoples leaving the steppes of Central Asia their real homeland, NOT Europe with the various Black tribes around them leave us with the various groups we see today. So you see, Black was always the Blueprint for mankind and it shall remain so.
Remember, Black people possess EVERY phenotype, from the epicanthic eye fold of the naturally light-skinned San, to the straight-haired, aquiline features of the Dravidian, to the pitch-Black tall Dinka, to the brown-skinned afro-haired pygmy of Congo and their distant Negrito cousins Aeta throughout the jungles of Asia.
This is a large reason for anti-Blackness we see throughout the world, this sentiment is not held only by white people: the mulatto Arabs, Hispanics, Indians, Asians, etc hold much contempt for the very people who are ancestral to them.
Satan had no choice but to use Black people at first to stop the coming of the Messiah by genetic contamination since that was all that was here in the antidulivian world Atlantis, Book of Enoch, Nephilim, etc, all BLACK.
This is the Synagogue of Satan Illuminati. Just as God has his chosen Hebrews and those who choose to be grafted in the covenant God made with them believers of other nations , the devil has his chosen Luciferians and their foot soldiers who do their bidding mostly white people, sorry. On a final note, the Hebrews were a Black people then look at the archeological evidence, of Black skin, flat noses, big lips, locked hair and afros and they remain so to this day.
The Messiah will settle this race issue anti-Blackness once and for all upon his return read the book of Joel. What is important is that He died and shed His blood for your sins and for the sins of the world. If, when Jesus returns, He turns out to be a black man with dark skin and an afro, I will indeed be quite surprised, because the Apostle John describes Him quite differently.
I believe that Jesus died and shed His blood for me on the cross at Calvary and have both accepted His sacrifice and made Jesus my Lord and my Savior. Have you? C must be false. What has he done for anyone today? According to II Kings the Israelites had been exiled from Israel and so why the need for a saviour for Israel and if he did exist he was not an Israelite as they had been exiled at that time only a remnant remained. Honestly, hearing these things said about me hurt and I seriously questioned God why does it seem like around the world black people are disliked and hated so much.
I hope your friend knows he or she is loved. Amen Ari! Thank you for your encouraging words…we are covered in His blood. I agree, the author of this essay seems to have made up this story as he wrote. In other words, when Moses was a teenager, he made the decision to identify himself as a Jew, rather than as an Egyptian.
And, in order for him to have made that decision, he would have to have known for some time that he was a Jew and to have pondered that decision for awhile. If you are not careful, God will deal with you and the rest of the Synagogue of Satan in accordance with Revelation and You can count on it.
I see it now and I am thankful. Susan, we thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, and we wish you all the best. God bless you and yours. Thank you for this article, for years I was asking myself why God created black people because of the obvious ostracism.
Thank you brother God bless you! Thank you Neli. God bless and keep you as you grow closer to Him and grow in the knowledge of Him.
And, please, keep me in your prayers. You are doing the same thing in order to justify hatred of whites. You have been so deceived that it would be fruitless for me to try to dissuade you from this hateful rhetoric. May I suggest, however, that you stop using the Bible to justify your hatred of whites or blacks. But be forewarned: hate only breeds more hate. And I guarantee you that ultimately, the only one who will be hurt will be you.
I might add! Stop it. Stop trying to convince, implore, beg, badger, cajole, or whatever it is You feel the need to reliable inform a member of a race that has steadily Parasited off of many cultures it has happened to StumbleUpon. Just sit back and enjoy the show and do what you need to ok. Im thankful I found this article. Thank you!! In addition to slavery, they believe the bible is full of hatred toward Blacks. I praise the truth no matter how hard it is and what I face. Praise God! He really is an amazing person!
He loves us no matter how flawed we are, and He will forgive us no matter what we do, if we truly want to please Him. When God looks at us, He looks for one thing: the blood of Jesus. This is a great truth that has always been there for us to see.
But, because we have been so influenced by our satanic education system, religious institutions, and the media, this truth has been hidden from us. The Book of Daniel teaches that in these last days, knowledge would be increased. This not only includes knowledge of God and of His Savior, Jesus Christ, but knowledge of true history.
This history includes knowledge of Blacks as a people. Blacks need to understand how much God loves us. Blacks need to understand that we have a very important role in Biblical history.
We were the first non-Jewish people to worship God! That is no small matter, and Satan knows it. Blacks need to understand that hatred towards the Negro race is satanic. Satan cannot change how God feels about us, but he can change how we feel about God. And he is accomplishing this by perpetuating the lie that God hates us and enslaved us out of malice. You can educate those in your circle of influence of the true ways of God, and you can show them from the Bible how much our God loves us and wants us to come to Him.
Please feel free to circulate this article or to take the information from it and spread it as far and wide as you can; for the day is far spent and the night cometh.
May I use your comment as part of my response to a similar discussion that I am having on my Facebook page? Yes, you may; but, in accordance with our copyright, please attribute the comment to me, The Still Man, and include a link to the article, if possible. When I discovered the truth, I stopped calling on these deities and attending their church baccus rituals.
We also know that the English language is a double tongued bastardized language. Be for real. I know where they originated from. I know their purpose. I know why they have issues with so-called melanin-rich people. I know more about them than they know themselves. I know all their secrets. They only have 33 degrees of knowledge.
They are some of us, who have degrees of inherent knowledge. I laughed at the title and the article; and your intended ignorant audience. Everything about you are inferior down to that recessive blood and junk hybrid DNA. The Caucasians have served their purpose. Therefore, they are in the process of taking the United States down.
This is the war they will use to eliminate the US; and transfer power back to the United Nations and Rome. You are incredibly mistaken about a great many things. Experience has told me that nothing I could say would ever change your mind, as the mind control has gone too deep. And that is a pity. You do an awful lot of laughing, Patricia. Only you will not be laughing for long, as the string-pullers will be delivering the coup-de-tat very shortly. This is to The Still Man…. I am confused, what is he or she talking about?
What on earth is this belief and where did this person get these ideas from? Hi Jackie. Unfortunately, this poor lady has been brainwashed by the Synagogue of Satan with a version of a very anti-Semitic doctrine known as Replacement Theology. Now, while this lie is being perpetrated, another lie is being spread in the black community: that blacks are the true Jews.
Theistic evolution, which is evolution applied to religion, is the belief that God used evolution to create the world over millions of years. Theistic evolution is a lie that Satan used to destroy the Black Christian Church in America, the last bastion of Protestant Christianity.
Blacks traditionally believed in the biblical story of creation found in Genesis 1 and rejected evolution, not only because it goes against the Bible, but because evolution was also used to justify slavery. The pseudo-science of Anthropology, which is evolution applied to science, was created to legitimize racism.
I have been asking myself my entire life this question? Why does everyone hate us? Why does God allow so much suffering for a people? I remember being in elementary school, in advanced classes, so I was the only black among whites, and even at a young age, only one white treated me nicely, the others wanted nothing to do with me. It brings me to tears knowing so much is unprovoked and undeserved. How does one get past the hurt and feeling of resentfulness after experiencing this for an entire lifetime??
I grew up in a segregated neighborhood in St. All my friends were black, and I went to a black school. For the most part, the only whites I saw were on television. Then, when I was 17, we moved to Brentwood, a well-to-do suburb of St. Louis, to a low-income, integrated apartment complex called Audubon Park. It was there that I first rubbed elbows with white people on a daily basis. There were Italians, Spanish, Black, and, of course White kids of different backgrounds.
You know what? That neighborhood was one of the closest-nit, friendliest neighborhoods I have ever lived in. In fact, years later, when I joined the military, I ran into one of my white classmates from Brentwood High in, of all places, the jungles of Panama. What year? There was a three second pause as we stared at each other. I retorted. We hugged each other and he was actually crying as he introduced me to his buddies. When I was in the military, one of the best officers I ever worked for was white.
As a matter of fact, it was because of that man that I got into computers. I believe it cost him his career, because they kept passing him over for promotion, until he finally got out. But I have never let it affect my opinion of all Whites, because I knew, intuitively, that all whites are not racist, no more than all blacks are cool people. It took decent, moral, and God-fearing whites to free us and to grant us the rights we now enjoy. And they risked--and lost--their lives to do it. I can imagine how it was for you as a kid, growing up in all that hostility.
Sure, there are some African children there, but no Black American children: no children with whom they share a common experience and a common language. They are used to it, for the most part, but they wished they went to school in America around other Blacks. My children are surrounded by Roman Catholics and Muslims.
I constantly remind my children that we are in a spiritual war. The same goes for blacks. Take a close look at many of these so-called rappers and drug dealers.
Most are black, and they hate blacks themselves. Remember, Satan is a spirit, and a spirit does not have a color. How do you get past a lifetime of hurt and injustice? By keeping your eyes on Jesus, and by understanding that He has allowed blacks to be persecuted for the same reason he has allowed the Jews to be persecuted. Also try to put yourself in the shoes of a non-racist white, who has to live and work around racist whites.
Whites, however, get many opportunities. They can speak up when someone makes a racist comment. They can take a stand against racism in the workplace. They can leave the room if someone makes a racist joke. But can you imagine what will happen to the average white when he does that? I can. He will be ostracized, or worse. Let me bring this home for you. I have: and I can tell you that each time I did it, I knew that I was taking a risk. Now multiply that times and you will have some idea of what the moral, peace-loving, non-racist white person has to go through in an immoral, war-loving, racist world.
It takes more guts to be white, than it does to be black. They need Jesus, to help them make that choice. I disagree with this post. Negroes are NOT hamites but are in fact shemites. The negroes all around the world are waking up and its by the hand of Yahuah and His Son Yahushua through the teaching of the spirit by the ruac. JEWS aint who they say they are. What makes you think that the slaves of the trans Atlantic are africans?
Black people are scared to believe they are anything more than niggas byword and thus dont want to wake up. What persecution are the JEWS suffering now? Holocaust was supposed to be this horrific but they have land and businesses and a military, they have might where The Most High said Israel would have NO might. Israel is a people and not a place. WHoever esau is today, God hates them.
If rome is edom esau then they are the end of the world and whoever Jacob israel is, the new kingdom. Anyway my point is that negroes are israel and we are hated the world over.
The Negroes may be waking up, but some, rather than waking up to the Truth, are waking up to a deception. What persecution are the Jews suffering now? They live under the constant threat of war and aggression from their Arab neighbors, who have sworn to exterminate them. Though you and many others do not recognize Israel as a place, the Bible says otherwise. Esau is Jordan, for your information. Well well well, to start off not only the blacks in America suffered cruelity in the hands of the whites, to me it seems like even the blacks in South Africa suffered dearly in the same manner.
Its not like we rubbed shoulders with the whites before they pulled the apartheid trigger on us, no not at all: there is hidden history. We were slaves, the sugar cane fields, the grape vine yards and the tree plantations did not plant themselves but slaves did, even the gold and diamond did not dig itself but blacks did.
In South Africa the truth seekers know very well that khoi bushmen people are the real natives of that land, now tell me where did the blacks come from? Thats a mystery. We are still slaves even though they deceive us with democracy, we still work for them the education they give us is nothing but means of serving them, we practically do not own any land as we are controlled in everything we do and touch.
Black man you are on your own but Deuteronomy 28 is a stroke of a genius as all the blessings are lived by the white men and all the curses by the black men.
Love you all truth seekers. But I must warn you never ever trust a whitemen arabs included. Hello, Mhlanga, and thank you for your comment. It is true: Blacks have suffered everywhere; not just in the U. However, it is incorrect to say that we are Israelites as, in Amos , God clearly distinguishes the Jews from the Blacks:. As one can see, God compares his people with the Ethiopians. They therefore cannot be the same people. Who were these Ethiopians? Nimrod was the son of Cush or Ethiops Genesis , who was a son of Ham.
God loves Israel Shem. Ham is the father of Cush Ethiopia. God also loves Ethiopia. God used this example to prove that He loves Israel and Ethiopia, as He has delivered both from captivity. God showed Himself to both the Blacks and the Jews. And both turned their backs on Him and played the whore with strange gods.
Both worshipped Nimrod and Semiramis. And you know full well how steeped in magic and witchcraft Africa is. Witchcraft is really idolatry, which is an abomination to God. You must understand that the Ethiopians were spiritual Jews. Therefore, the promises God made to Israel, with the exception of the land of inheritance, applied also to Ethiopia, just like the promises apply to Christians Galatians Unfortunately, the curses also apply.
That is why Blacks have been enslaved just like the Jews, and have been persecuted since time immemorial. It is a fulfillment of Genesis You are right: we are in trouble; but so is everyone else who denies Jesus. The difference is that Satan hates us more because, like the Jews, we are favored of God.
Persecution, therefore, is inevitable. Human civilization began with the black race. It has been scientifically proven to be so. Noah could not have had 3 sons of 3 different races. That is absurd. However, people with recessive genes are not capable of producing black offspring. It is impossible. The Bible proves time and time again that it is the history of the world that began with the black family.
Jews which is NOT a race but a tribe, amongst thousands of tribes within the black race did not land on the scene until Jacob. But Blacks already had a long relationship with Yahweh the Creator for thousands of years. White is NOT a race. THEY are tribes or branches of the tree of the black race that evolved over time due to climate, environment, and diet. There is only one race which is the black race. And Satan hates us all.
The only difference is that lighter tribes of the world remind him less of his defeat and he basically cant stand the sight of black people who remind him of the original man Adam. Just my two cents. Anyway, Moses was adopted by the Egyptian princess.
Furthermore, when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, He transformed his hand and it became white. If Moses was already white, how would that have been a miracle? Wouldnt a white couple with a baby stand out amongst the black population of Egypt? Too many examples to prove that Biblical Jews and Blacks are one and the same, hence the persecution and intense hatred. It is incorrect to say that it has been scientifically proven that civilization began with the black race. If this were true, science could never have been used to justify racism.
And we all know that this was the case. And why the term race? Well, when you consider that a race is a competition, then it is clear that the purveyors of this term consider human existence to be nothing less than a monolithic struggle for existence between whites and non-whites, primarily blacks. Consider Socialism, one characteristic of which is class struggle.
Socialism is merely Darwinism applied to the social sphere. Darwinism applied to science is called anthropology. Anthropology was used to justify racism in the United States, apartheid in South Africa, the Holocaust in Germany, the caste system in India, and the treatment of certain darker skinned Chinese by the general population.
I pray that you will one day come to a knowledge of the truth on this issue, because, if we are confused as to the identity of the natural olive tree, then we will undoubtedly be confused about the wild olive tree.
Thanks Still Man for setting the record straight. Look forward to reading more. May God Continue Blessing You.
YOu speak nothing but the truth. African Genetic Diversity is a universally accepted scientific fact. White skin is a relatively recent phenomenon. Awesome article!
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