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Fmr Vatican Amb Calls Pope Francis A ‘SERVANT OF SATAN'
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Pastor, Zionsville, Indiana
You were made for friendship with God. God does not just want us to know about him; he wants us to know him — and to experience his friendship. Jonathan Edwards urges us to “Let it be [our] first love to enter into an everlasting friendship with Christ that never shall be broken” (WJE Online Vol. 44). The gospel calls us to trust Jesus as our Savior, submit to him as our King, and value him as our Treasure. It also calls us to enjoy him as our friend.
But do you view him this way? What does it mean for him to be our truest friend, and how do we experience his friendship?
He Gladly Calls Us Friends
Jesus gathered his disciples one last time, on the night before his death, to prepare them for the next day and beyond. In the midst of this sacred evening he said, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). To be called Jesus’s servant is an immeasurable privilege. Yet Jesus confers a greater honor. He brings us even closer. He calls us friends.
“You were made for friendship with God.”
Two pieces of evidence show his sincerity. First, he opened his heart with transparency. While a master doesn’t tell his servant what he’s doing, Jesus revealed his Father’s will to us. And he would send his Spirit to ensure that all future disciples would hear these words (John 14:26; 16:12–15).
Second, the cross proves his friendship. He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). He wanted his disciples to see the cross and think: I understand now: He substituted himself for me under God’s wrath, and he did it because he views me as his treasured friend. He wants us to view the cross as an affection-filled sacrifice for friends.
Friendship is in the deepest heart of Christ and it’s at the very center of the gospel.
He Is Not Our King or Our Friend
Yet for some, friendship with Jesus seems to diminish his glory. I’ve often heard the sentiment, “Jesus is not our friend; he’s our King.” But we don’t have to choose, because both are true — Jesus is our exalted king and he is our truest friend. This doesn’t minimize his glory; it magnifies it — because it displays the immeasurable riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:6–7). Only grace explains the sovereign King welcoming sinners as his friends.
But does relating to Jesus as a friend diminish his authority in our lives? Not at all, because when he calls us friends, he still remains our King. He said, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). Jesus tells us to obey him; we never tell him to obey us. And our obedience doesn’t earn, but rather, proves, our friendship with him.
“Christ wants us to view the cross as an affection-filled sacrifice for friends.”
Jonathan’s friendship with David in 1 Samuel gives us a clear parallel. We rightly think of them as exemplifying friendship. But their story specifically pictures how we can be friends with the Christ, the messianic King. Jonathan was the friend of David, yet David was Israel’s anointed king. And when David called on Jonathan to demonstrate faithfulness, he responded, “Whatever you say, I will do for you” (1 Samuel 20:4). As David points forward to Jesus as the King, Jonathan points forward to all who follow Christ as friends.
We need to avoid two errors: One error is flippantly calling Jesus a “chum,” “buddy,” or “pal”— as though friendship is trivial. On the other hand, we could so emphasize Jesus’s kingship that we neglect his companionship. We could so emphasize his authority that we don’t enjoy his affection. But Jesus offers himself to us as both our cosmic ruler and our closest friend.
Cultivating Friendship with Christ
How do we cultivate this relationship?
First, let’s expand our vision of him. Consider how he is the greatest friend to great sinners. He draws near in our suffering, and he remains committed even in our stumbling. He lets us all the way in, and loves us to the very end. He doesn’t just justify us and then nudge us aside; he welcomes us into his deepest heart.
He knows us better than we know ourselves, and he loves us more deeply than anyone else ever could. We are closer to his heart than anyone has ever been to ours. As Jonathan Edwards wrote, “Whatsoever there is, or can be, that is desirable to be in a friend, is in Christ, and that to the highest degree that can be desired” (Works, 19:588).
“He knows us better than we know ourselves, and he loves us more deeply than anyone else ever could.”
Second, cultivate friendship through communion. Relationships thrive with conversation. As we read, receive, and remember God’s word, we hear him address us as friends. And then we pray — we thank him, we confess our sins to him, and we share our burdens with him. We do this throughout the day, not reporting as servants, but relating as friends.
Finally, let’s prove our friendship through obedience. How much would change if we knew that the one who loves us so deeply is with us so constantly? Is not his companionship itself one of the greatest deterrents to sin? If our great friend died for our sins, how can we treat them so lightly? When Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you,” let’s respond, like Jonathan, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
Jesus chose us as friends, he died for us as friends, he caused us to trust him as our friend, and he will remain our friend for the endless ages to come. What a friend we have — moment by moment, now and forever — in Jesus.
Dennis Edwards: Here's my own talk on the topic.Japan Bans Covid Shot Over Excess Death Rate!
Like many other countries around the world, Japan has been battling a crisis of skyrocketing sudden and unexpected deaths since 2021.
The issue has become so dire in Japan that the country is now facing population collapse as more citizens are dying than are being born.
New studies in Japan have now linked the soaring deaths to Covid injections.
However, the latest study has sent shock waves through the global scientific community as it shows that dangerous contaminations in shots are not only affecting those who have received injections.
Scientists have found that Covid mRNA vaccines have now contaminated Japan’s blood transfusion stock due to vaccinated people giving blood.
The risks associated with Covid shots are now being transferred to other unvaccinated people through blood transfusions.
Receiving blood transfusion from COVID-19-vaccinated individuals poses a severe medical risk to unvaccinated recipients since numerous adverse events are being reported among vaccinated people worldwide, the Japanese study found.
Source: https://evol.news
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Arizona Republican Party Declares Covid-19 Injections Biological and Technological Weapons
Mind Matters and Everything Else
BREAKING: Arizona Republican Party Declares Covid-19 Injections Biological and Technological Weapons, Passed Ban the Jab Resolution!
Passed with 95.62% of the vote!
The Arizona Republican Party is now the second state Republican Party to pass the ‘Ban the Jab’ resolution and declare COVID-19 injections biological and technological weapons.
Shout out to Patriot Dan Schultz! When I reached out to Dan and asked him to submit the resolution, he did not hesitate. Dan submitted the ‘Ban the Jab’ resolution to the Republican Party of Arizona. The Arizona GOP voted today and passed the resolution with 95.62% of the vote! The resolution declares the COVID-19 injections biological and technological weapons and calls on the Governor to prohibit their distribution, the Attorney General to confiscate the vials, and conduct a forensic analysis of their contents.
In addition to being an attorney, Dan is a former West Point graduate and former U.S. Army counterintelligence and human intelligence officer. Dan Schultz advocates the Precinct Strategy, which seeks to wrestle control of the Republican Party back to the people. Previously, Dan Schultz submitted the ‘Ban the Jab’ resolution to the Maricopa County GOP. On Saturday January 13th, the Maricopa County GOP passed the resolution with 87.4% of the vote! A total 1494 votes were cast, 1306 in favor, 188 against. Maricopa County is the largest Republican County in the nation.
The first ‘Ban the Jab’ resolution that I authored was passed in February of 2023. The Gateway Pundit recently reported on my lawsuit that seeks to Ban the Jab in Florida. The case was dismissed and is on its way to the appellate court.
To date, approximately 10 Florida Republican County Parties have passed ‘Ban the Jab’ resolutions declaring Covid 19 injections biological and technological weapons, also calling on the Governor to prohibit their distribution and the Attorney General to confiscate the vials and conduct a forensic analysis. The Florida Republican Assembly, The National Federation of Republican Assemblies, the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida have passed Ban the Jab resolutions. Recently, the Florida Department of Health has joined the call to Ban the Jab. Clackamas County GOP in Oregon and the Idaho Republican Party has passed the Ban the jab resolution.
Previously, the Arizona GOP was scheduled to vote on the resolution on January 27th, however, other business and debates caused delays to prevent getting to the vote. Dan was persistent and resubmitted the resolution.
Arizona is considered an important state in politics and passage of this resolution will help build support for prohibiting biological warfare against Americans and civilian populations at large.
I am also currently in litigation seeking to force Governor DeSantis to ban the jab in Florida.
The text of the resolution submitted by Dan Schultz follows:
Arizona ‘Ban the Jab’ Resolution:
Whereas:
Strong and credible evidence shows Covid 19 and Covid 19 injections are biological and technological weapons, and
Pfizer’s clinical data revealed 1,223 deaths, 42,000 adverse cases, 158,000 adverse incidents, and approximately 1,000 side effects, and
an enormous number of people have died and or have been permanently disabled after having been injected by the Covid 19 injections, and
strong and credible evidence from Sweden exists that Covid mRNA shots alter human DNA, and
government agencies, media, and tech companies, and other corporations have committed enormous fraud by claiming Covid injections are safe and effective, and
The Florida Department of Health has called for a halt to the mRNA injections, and continued experimentation on humans and denial of informed consent are violations of the Nuremberg Code and therefore constitute crimes against humanity,
Resolved:
On behalf of the preservation of the human race, the 2024 Arizona Republican Party Presidential Nominating Convention Delegates call upon Governor Hobbs and the state legislature to prohibit the sale and distribution of Covid injections and all mRNA injections in Arizona, and for the Arizona Attorney General to immediately seize all Covid injections and mRNA injections in Arizona and perform a forensic analysis on these so-called “vaccines.”
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