Ronald, you are correct:

As Christians, we know Who holds our eternal destiny, but this nation is in great peril.

God knew that giving man free will, would result in man having evil thoughts, leading man to commit evil deeds, - but God created him anyway, in love, with a preconceived plan of freely offered reconciliation, a plan of redemption, which man could accept or reject, in keeping with his own free will.

I agree with you that earth's religions are man made, because of man's desire to be autonomous and to function as his own little "g" god, unwilling to concede that man, within himself is unable to work his own way to heaven, by his own rules or by what may appear right in his own eyes.

Those who have created such religions seek power over other men, through the deception of claiming to represent God or act as God's representative, imposing rules and regulations that God never spoke of or intended. They make merchandise of men by extorting payment for services that have no merit in God's eyes.

They are unable to submit their own self-perceived sovereignty to that of their Creator; to repent of their sins, and kneel at the feet of Calvary's cross, in humble gratitude, thanksgiving, and acceptance, that their sin debt of death, owed to God, has been willingly paid in full by their Redeemer, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Homosexuality in ancient history, as far back as it can be traced, after the universal post-Flood rejection of the One true God, and before God called Abraham intrinsically links the appearance of homosexuality with medicine men, witch-doctors, shamans, these men, it was recorded, had an ability or sensitivity to engage, conjure up, and communicate with occult spirits - those we would identify as demons, emissaries of Satan.

The 1st chapter of Romans, more than any other portion of the Bible clarifies this. When a society rejects God, He gives them over in three steps:

1. promiscuity, lasciviousness

2. homosexuality, lesbianism

3. a reprobate mind, unprincipled, depravity, lawless, evil

The United States is in Stage 3.

Emily, Multiple User names on one site is a phenomenon I had never before knowingly encountered, until occasionally observing it during the ten years I've frequented OPP.

Because I'm always preoccupied with conveying documented historical/spiritual academic information, it's been a matter of supreme indifference if people so engage. To be "immoral" some sort of fraud would have to be involved.

Had I not spent a few decades as webmaster and contributor to an online Christian Bible-based Cult-awareness-Center, encountering the enmity of occultists and other malcontents who are prone to violence, I would cheerfully use my own name, rather than any user name, but it is uniquely one of a kind, and easily identifiable.

God is well able to protect me, but He does expect us to use common sense.

My initial thought was that as many of us on OPP are elderly, and though not in the least lacking in life's experiences, now unable physically to engage in former more demanding pursuits, perhaps some find it a form of self entertainment still within their grasp.

On the other hand, God has said:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 16:12

I think in one instance, - with one individual it was to taunt and provoke others by whom they felt mistreated.

In yet another, that person was so enamored with what they perceived to be their own vastly superior intellect, it was a self-satisfying endeavor, for they believed nobody recognized them in each of their new personas.

Not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with using multiple user names, for those so self inclined, and if not in some manner to hurtfully deceive others or misrepresent themselves.

Since all those who participate on an internet forum are commonly encouraged NOT to use their own name because of privacy concerns, it could be conceived as only a step to using another and yet another... - if they have nothing more important with which to concern themselves.

So their reasoning might be, Why not? - or they may have no reasoning at all.

Jesus' prayer is in no way rejected by those you stereotype as "Reformation" churches. They have held fast to the Scriptures handed down once for all to the living saints (all living believers in Jesus,' His body/ ekklēsía) since its' 1st century inception.

How many differences in basic t***hs of the Christian faith have you observed in ordinary neighborhood Protestant churches throughout this nation? - They are not the source of the unfounded doctrines made from whole cloth, that are unknown to the word of God.

I'm not speaking of the megachurches, with apostate ministers like Joel Osteen, who is worth $40 million, and lives in a 17,000 sq. ft. mansion, or the other prosperity teaching Television Evangelicals who are a profit motivated power unto themselves.

Plain, unadorned Churches with forty or fifty faithful worshipers, one hundred faithful worshipers, even two or three hundred faithful worshipers are those who worship their Creator/Redeemer in spirit and in t***h.

"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).

Nowhere in the New Testament is there a command to build a temple or cathedral church building, nor was one built.

Great carpeted cathedrals with ivory altars and marble statues are no indication of God's favor, but of the avarice of ungodly wielders of power, worldly ornaments wrested from the offerings of the humble, the meek, & the laborers.

The American Sunday School Union began with the establishment of the Sunday and Adult School Union in 1817. A group of Philadelphia businessmen, as members of several denominational Sunday schools, met on May 13, 1817.

The nondenominational organization which resulted had two main objectives: to promote the establishment of Sunday schools and to provide free libraries and supplies for their use.

The Sunday and Adult School Union pursued these goals under the direction of a board of managers and several officers. Within a year after its founding, the Union's activities and influence extended far beyond the boundaries of Philadelphia.

To facilitate its work, the Sunday and Adult School Union hired William Blair as its first trained missionary in 1821. Blair was expected to visit and establish Sunday schools, organize Sunday school societies, and generally minister to those receptive to his overtures. In his first year, Blair traveled 2500 miles between Pennsylvania and North Carolina. He founded sixty-one schools, visited thirty-five others, revived twenty, and established six tract societies and four adult Sunday schools.

Early records indicate the attendance of African American and Native students. In 1823, William Blair wrote from Monroe in the Chickasaw Nation: "We have [Sunday school] for b****s on Sabbath mornings and for the Indian children in the afternoon--between 50 and 60 b****s and 50 [Indian] children." The national character of the Sunday and Adult School Union became more pronounced each year. By 1823, over seven hundred societies and individual schools were enrolled in it, while approximately seven thousand teachers and fifty thousand students were affiliated with it.

In 1824 a name change which would more accurately indicate the scope of union activity was effected. The Sunday and Adult School Union became the American Sunday School Union.

The goals of the Union were reiterated in the constitution of the newly named society. As stated in that document, the objects were to "concentrate the efforts of Sabbath school societies in the different sections of our country; to strengthen the hands of the friends of pious- instruction on the Lord's day; to disseminate useful information, circulate moral and religious publications in every part of the land; and to endeavour to plant a Sunday school wherever there is a population."

Represented in the society's membership were Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Moravians, Dutch Reformed, Congregationalists, Lutherans, German Reformed and Friends. Instructions to workers reminded them that the object of the Union was not to promote any party, sect, or denomination. Wherever Sunday schools were established, they were to be left to "their own free choice either to connect themselves with the Sunday School Union or any other."

Missionary work was carried on almost exclusively by clergymen. In June of 1826 the Board of Officers and Managers created a standing Committee on Missions to "seek out persons well-qualified for Sunday-School missionaries.

Active missionaries of the Union worked in New York, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana , and Mississippi, North Carolina, Vermont and Ohio, including the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations.

In one Illinois village, a Sunday school brought together three Catholic families, two Scottish Presbyterian homes, three or four Anglican households, several Baptists and some people who did not believe in Christ at all. In those days there were few public schools.

Sunday schools taught people to read and showed them how they could become v**ers. That made Sunday schools popular, making it possible for families to keep contact with distant members through letter writing. Education drew them into the life of the nation. And for families living alone in the woods or on the prairie, it was wonderful to look up and see the unfamiliar face of a missionary with news from the rest of the nation. Later, the Sunday School Union published Christian fiction that made reading a lot more fun for children.

The year 1830 marked the official beginning of the western missionary effort known as the Mississippi Valley enterprise. The original resolution, made by the Reverend Thomas McAuley at the annual meeting in Philadelphia on May 25, 1 830 stated: "The American Sunday School Union, in reliance upon divine aid, will, within two years, establish a Sunday school in every destitute place where it is practicable, throughout the Valley of the Mississippi." The "Valley of the Mississippi" was defined as all the country west of the Alleghenies to the Rocky Mountains, and from Michigan to Louisiana--an estimated 1,300,000 square miles. The resolution was adopted with the wholehearted support of the two thousand people attending the meeting.

The Valley area was divided into districts and fields, and missionaries and agents were placed in the several sections, including Indiana and Illinois, where the greatest number of new settlements were being formed. Forty-nine missionaries and agents were employed in the Valley of the Mississippi alone in the years 1830 and 1831.

It was during the 1850s that the subject of s***ery began to be more openly discussed by missionaries. the onset of the Civil War, caused the suspension of missionary activity in the South and crippled resources in the North. Many missionaries were called into military service, some communicated with the Union while serving. Missionaries helped the war effort in other capacities as well. W.S. Sedwick organized a Children's Aid Society in Louisville, Kentucky, to find homes for refugee Southern children. Although a few missionaries labored voluntarily in the Southern states, communication with them was difficult and shipping supplies to the area nearly impossible, due to the seizure of trains by military troops. Thomas Campbell describes guerilla raids and other war activity in Missouri.

In the 1870s a marked gain in evangelistic campaigns began. Greater effort was given to searching out families in remote districts, and providing them with religious literature. From 1877 to 1897, the number of visits to families increased from 16,000 annually to 95,000. During that same period, the number of missionaries employed by the Union doubled.

Other events of significance during the last years of the century included the creation of a new lesson structure for use in Sunday schools regardless ofPadre denomination, and the initiation of a training program for Sunday school missionaries and teachers.

Evangelism and Sunday school enrollment steadily increased in the early 20th century. At that time, the total number of schools organized since 1817 was estimated at 131,814; the total enrollment for the one hundred years was nearly 700,000 teachers and over five million students.

The task was so big and the country was growing so fast that the job didn't get done in two years or in three. In fact, the American Sunday School Union was still hard at work under greatly different conditions in 1974 when it changed its name to American Missionary Fellowship. https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/american-sunday-school-unions-huge-challenge-11630409.html

Padre, my father became a missionary with that organization in 1952, after attending Indiana University and Franklin Bible Seminary, being ordained and pastoring a local church. During the years of our childhood, each Sunday, my siblings and I attended Sunday services in different rural settings, different congregations, different buildings, different procedures, some had pianos, others none, some more emotional~ neo-pentecostal, others properly staid... Different congregations had different personalities.

There was a constant. They all devoutly worshiped the same God. They read the same holy Bible, and they knew the holy Bible. They sang together beautifully, without a music director, "only" the holy Spirit guiding them. They were the hard working backbone of this country. Without them, there would have been no United States of America.

At an early age, the age of eight, I knew of God, and I knew God, and I knew His people were not confined to one congregation, one denomination, one building or one socioeconomic background.

1 Peter 5:1-4: "As a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings, and a partaker of the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you:
Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;
not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
And when the Chief Shepherd [Jesus] appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away."

Marty, This is gleaned from Nexstar Media Inc. 4/3/23.

Some value discerning minorities are switching to the Republican Party

"The RNC is building relationships with Asian Americans by opening Asian Pacific American community centers in California, Georgia, Texas and a brand new one in Nevada, with more to come. These grassroots, local offices are part of building relationships with Asian Americans and taking the message of law and order, educational opportunity, and economic growth to new v**ers.

Asian Americans aren’t the only community where the RNC is making inroads. While Democrats push socialism, radical a******n policies and refer to them as “Latinx,” Hispanic Americans are concerned about preserving freedoms, raising strong families and putting food on the table. A recent Quinnipiac poll found that Biden’s approval rating with Hispanic v**ers was lower than any other racial or ethnic group: just 12 percent say they “approve strongly” of his time in office.

Polls consistently show Hispanics are moving away from the Democratic Party. A Wall Street Journal poll from December found that Hispanic v**ers were equally divided over who they would v**e for in the next e******n. The momentum certainly seems to be with the GOP: It’s an early sign that our efforts to take our message to new v**ers and investment in Hispanic community centers in states like Texas, Wisconsin and Florida are making an impact.

Black v**ers have been particularly hard hit by Democrats’ destructive agenda. Democratic support for the defund-the-police movement has led to a surge in violent crime that’s disproportionately impacting B***k A******ns. Inflation is hitting B***k A******ns — especially women — hardest, with 44 percent saying rising prices pose a serious financial hardship. That’s why Black support for Democrats is quickly eroding: Backing for Democratic Congressional candidates fell from 56 percent in November to only 35 percent in March.

It’s no better for Biden, whose approval with B***k A******ns has plummeted 30 points since he took office. Black GOP Congressional candidates like Texas’ Wesley Hunt and Michigan’s John James are proof that skin color doesn’t dictate values or political affiliation. Our strategic engagement with Black Republican candidates, elected officials, and community leaders through our RNC B***k A******n community centers are helping Republicans establish a presence in districts previously dominated by Democrats all over the country.

For generations, Democrats have thought they had a monopoly on minority v**ers. But Democrats’ failed promises, polarizing agenda and rising prices are catching up with them. We’re winning over new v**ers by taking our message of freedom and opportunity to their doorstep. And we’re identifying and equipping young Republican leaders from minority communities through our RNC Rising Star program.

Democrats are simply doubling down on their failed policies and overplaying their d******e rhetoric — without offering solutions or plans to keep families safe, empower entrepreneurs or create opportunities for the advancement of America's citizen. Republicans are committed to enacting policies that will lift all Americans from every background."