Family prays as they drive through wildfire from CNN

Terrifying video shows family drive through fire ( Click this link for the video)

Family prays as they drive through wildfire

"Heavenly Father, please help us. Please help us to be safe. I am thankful for Jeremy and his willingness to be brave," Brynn Parrott Chatfield said in a video while evacuating her hometown of Paradise, California, on Thursday.

Source: CNN

Consumed By Fire - Walk Through The Fire (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO)

Consumed By Fire - Walk Through The Fire (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO) - YouTube

MercyMe - Even If (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube

(This reminds me of Daniel's 3 friends in Daniel 3)

The Fiery Furnace
…22The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the fiery flames killed the men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23And these three men, Shadrach,Meshach, and Abednego, firmly bound, fell intothe burning fiery furnace. 24Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and asked his advisers, “Did we not throw three men, firmly bound, into the fire?” “Certainly, O king,” they replied.26Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the burning fiery furnace and called out,“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servantsof the Most High God, come out!” So Shadrach,Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire,27and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers had gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men: Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.…

They say sometimes you win some
Sometimes you lose some
And right now, right now I'm losing bad
I've stood on this stage night after night
Reminding the broken it'll be alright
But right now, oh right now I just can't

It's easy to sing
When there's nothing to bring me down
But what will I say
When I'm held to the flame
Like I am right now

I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone

They say it only takes a little faith
To move a mountain
Well, good thing
A little faith is all I have, right now
But God, when You choose
To leave mountains unmovable
Oh give me the strength to be able to sing
"It is well with my soul"

I know You're able and I know You can

Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone

I know the sorrow, and I know the hurt
Would all go away if You'd just say the word
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone

You've been faithful, You've been good
All of my days
Jesus, I will cling to You

Come what may

‘Cause I know You're able

I know You can

I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone

I know the sorrow, I know the hurt
Would all go away if You'd just say the word
But even if You don't

My hope is You alone

It is well with my soul
It is well, it is well with my soul

It is well, it is well with my soul

Songwriters: Bart Millard / Ben Glover / Crystal Lewis / David Garcia / Tim Timmons

Even If lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Music Services, Inc
...Can we say with these three godly men “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace … but even if not… we will not serve your gods…” (Daniel 3:17-18).  They knew God could save them, but God said no.  Jesus pleaded his Father to make a way around the cross, but God said no (Matthew 26:39, 42).  Paul pleaded the Lord to save him from his torment, but the Lord said no (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).  David trusted his Shepherd to lead him “through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4) – will you?  Will you serve God when the He says no and you must walk through the fire?

can we say with these three godly men “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace … buteven if not… we will not serve your gods…” (Daniel 3:17-18).  They knew God could save them, but God said no.  Jesus pleaded his Father to make a way around the cross, but God said no (Matthew 26:39, 42).  Paul pleaded the Lord to save him from his torment, but the Lord said no (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).  David trusted his Shepherd to lead him “through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4) – will you?  Will you serve God when the he says no and you must walk through the fire?

From a pastor's notes

...Can we say with these three godly men “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace … but even if not… we will not serve your gods…” (Daniel 3:17-18).  They knew God could save them, but God said no.  Jesus pleaded his Father to make a way around the cross, but God said no (Matthew 26:39, 42).  Paul pleaded the Lord to save him from his torment, but the Lord said no (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).  David trusted his Shepherd to lead him “through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4) – will you?  Will you serve God when the He says no and you must walk through the fire?
Will you trust God to follow Him into the fire?

Holiness Demonstrated above Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

How Can Jewish Drs, Nurses Treated the Injured Gunman Who Wants to Kill All Jews'?

• Holiness:' Jewish Doctors, Nurses Treated Robert Bowers, Who Shouted 'I Want to Kill All Jews'
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'Holiness:' Jewish Doctors, Nurses Treated Robert Bowers, Who Shouted 'I Want to Kill All Jews'

The Jewish doctors and nurses who treated Robert Bowers, the suspect who killed 11 people people in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, have been hailed for the "holiness" they displayed.

Bowers, who killed 11 people on Saturday at the Tree of Life synagogue, and was injured himself in the gunfight with police, was rushed to the local Allegheny General Hospital. 

The suspect was apparently shouting "I want to kill all the Jews" in the emergency room, where he was treated by a number of doctors and nurses — at least three of whom are Jewish themselves.

What is more, hospital president President Jeffrey K. Cohen is a member of Tree of Life.Orthodox Christian author and political commentator Rod Dreher admitted on his The American Conservative website that it is unlikely he could have shown such mercy to the suspected shooter.

"We're here to take care of sick people," Cohen told ABC affiliate WTAE. "We're not here to judge you. We're not here to ask 'Do you have insurance?' or 'Do you not have insurance?' We're here to take care of people that need our help."

...

"What Dr. Cohen — who is a member of Tree of Life synagogue — and his Jewish staff showed is moral courage, but more than that, it is holiness. I am a weak and vengeful man; I know I couldn't have done that for that scum of the earth," Dreher wrote.

"I couldn't have done it any more than I could have shown the holiness of the Amish of rural Pennsylvania, who surrounded the grieving and ashamed parents of the man who murdered their (the Amish) schoolchildren, and adopted them as their own. I could no more have done it than, like the family members of the black churchgoers massacred by white supremacist Dylann Roof, I could have forgiven my family's murderer," he continued, referring to other major U.S. shootings.

God Will Make a Way( song & new book by Don Moen)

Legendary Songwriter Don Moen Reveals Heartbreaking Story Behind 'God Will Make a Way'

"God Will Make a Way" is one of the most well-known worship songs of all time, inspiring millions around the world with its hopeful lyrics.

But according to legendary Christian singer-songwriter and worship leader Don Moen, the song was born out of extreme tragedy.

"I got a call from my mother-in-law late one night, and she told me that my wife's sister and her husband, Craig and Susan Phelps, had been involved in a tragic car accident while taking their kids on a ski trip," he recounted to The Christian Post. "All four of their children were thrown out of the vehicle, and the oldest, a 9-year-old boy, was killed instantly. The other three were seriously injured."

"It was life-altering; I didn't know what to say to them," he continued. "Craig was a Bible teacher at his church, and they were both full of faith. As I sat on the plane, wondering what I should say to them, I began to read in the book of Isaiah, and chapter 43, verse 19 stood out to me: 'I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.' Instantly, the Lord gave me a song to sing to them."

Privately, Moen performed the song for his grieving in-laws, which includes the poignant lyrics, "Oh, God will make a way/Where there seems to be no way/He works in ways we cannot see/He will make a way for me."

"It was a song written in desperation, but it brought a word of hope to them," he told CP. "When everything around you seems lost, God is working in ways you cannot see."

"God Will Make a Way" would become the award-winning hallmark song of Moen's career, sung by millions around the world. He shares the inspiration behind the song in his debut book, God Will Make A Way: Discovering His Hope in Your Story, releasing on Oct. 16 on Emanate Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.

"I've never written a book before and I thought, 'If I'm going to write one, I'm going to write about something that was a life-changing experience,'" he said.

In his book, Moen uses personal stories and Scripture to remind readers that God does not forget His children and remains faithful — even when all hope seems lost.

"So often, people look at their lives and everything is going fine," he said. "Then you lose your job, go through a divorce, lose a family, or receive a devastating health diagnosis. These things can rock your world and you think, 'How am I going to find hope in my story?' All they can see is hopelessness."

"I want people to know that God is with them in spite of loss and hopelessness. If you look close enough, you can see the hand of God in your life."...

Does Jesus Believe that the OT Bible Was Divinely Inspired?

How did Jesus view the Old Testament? - bethinking.org
We could cite many reasons for the Old Testament being God’s Word, but the strongest argument comes from the Lord Jesus Himself. As God in human flesh, Jesus speaks with final authority. And His testimony regarding the Old Testament is loud and clear.

Jesus believed that the Old Testament was divinely inspired, the veritable Word of God. He said, ‘The Scripture cannot be broken’ (John 10:35). He referred to Scripture as ‘the commandment of God’ (Matthew 15:3) and as the ‘Word of God’ (Mark 7:13). He also indicated that it was indestructible: ‘Until Heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law, until all is accomplished’ (Matthew 5:18).

When dealing with the people of his day, whether it was with the disciples or religious rulers, Jesus constantly referred to the Old Testament: ‘Have you not read that which was spoken to you by God?’ (Matthew 22:31); ‘Yea; and have you never read, “Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes thou has prepared praise for thyself”?’ (Matthew 21:16, citing Psalm 8:2); and ‘Have you not read what David did?’ (Matthew 12:3). Examples could be multiplied to demonstrate that Jesus was conversant with the Old Testament and its content. He quoted from it often and he trusted it totally.

Throughout the Gospels, we find Jesus confirming many of the accounts in the Old Testament, such as the destruction of Sodom and the death of Lot’s wife (Luke 17:29, 32) the murder of Abel by his brother Cain (Luke 11:51), the calling of Moses (Mark 12:26), and the manna given in the wilderness (John 6:31–51).

The list of examples goes on, and the evidence is clear: Jesus saw the Old Testament as being God’s Word, and his attitude toward it was nothing less than total trust. Many people want to accept Jesus, yet they reject a large portion of the Old Testament. Either Jesus knew what he was talking about, or he didn’t. If a person believes in Jesus Christ, he should be consistent and believe that the Old Testament and its accounts are correct.

Taken from Reasons Skeptics Should Consider Christianity Tyndale House printing. Copyright 1981 by Campus Crusade for Christ. All rights reserved.
All Scripture references are taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.

When Did the Idea of Mary Being a “Virgin Forever” Begin?

When Did the Idea of Mary Being a “Virgin Forever” Begin?

...The Protoevangelium of James contains the first known mention of Mary’s continual virginity. Likely, this book influenced subsequent people to write of the perpetual virginity of Mary. But the book was not the work of the Apostle James, the brother of Christ. The work’s demotion by the early church, especially its non-inclusion with other books of the canon due to its numerous errors, is further verification it was not authentic.

Keep in mind that no passage of Scripture states Mary perpetually remained a virgin and many state the opposite. So to make a case for the perpetual virginity of Mary, one must use ideas that come from outside the Bible and then reinterpret Scripture with some wild hermeneutical gymnastics. This would be appealing to fallible, sinful ideas that originate in the minds of mankind—not God. Why not trust God when He speaks? After all, it would not be a sin for Mary to have sexual relations with her husband Joseph, but it would have been sinful for her to withhold herself from him throughout their marriage (1 Corinthians 7:3–5). There is no biblical or logical reason why Mary would have needed to remain a virgin following the birth of Christ.

The issue is quite simple: should we trust the imperfect sources and traditions that come from outside of Scripture and contradict it or should we trust God’s Word?

Before Time Began, Jesus Was | Desiring God

Before Time Began, Jesus Was | Desiring God

Message Excerpt by 

John Piper

Topic: The Deity of Christ ( click the link)

John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word.” Those words “in the beginning” in Greek are identical to the first two words of the Bible: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). I don’t think that’s an accident.

What John is saying is that before there was any matter, before anything had been made, Jesus was. “In the beginning was the Word.” So, there at the beginning, when those things were brought into being, he was there already. That’s the point of “in the beginning.” And another confirmation that John is thinking that way is that the very next thing he tells us about Jesus’s action is everything was made through him. So, creation is in his mind as he writes the words, “in the beginning.” Jesus was there as the Son of God in the beginning.

“Jesus was there not only before matter; he was there before time. He did not come into being; he just was.”

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Let me say it in an Einsteinian way, and then I will give you the biblical phrase for Einstein’s theory of relativity. Jesus was there not only before matter; he was there before time. Because the twentieth century brought the discovery that matter and time are coextensive. No matter, no time. Kind of a controversial thing biblically sometimes. But listen to the great doxology. Now, I don’t think the biblical writers knew the theory of relativity. They just knew truth. Jude 25:

To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

He’s lifting up his doxological praise of Jesus Christ and he says, “Before all time, and now in these times of the ages, and forever, glory be to him.” Or take 2 Timothy 1:9:

[God] gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages.

So, when John says, “In the beginning was the Word,” echoing Genesis 1 — the wider references to being before time is meant to communicate that beforeanything else was, he was. So, get the time right. He did not come into being — he just was.

(*For further thinking, click the link below*)

• Some Insight about Trinity God

How McCain's faith sustained him( from CNN)

How McCain's faith sustained him and allowed him to forgive himself

Phoenix (CNN)He rarely showed it in his public life, but John McCain spent a lot of time thinking about this moment -- when he would face his final judgment before God.

As his closest friends have often noted this week, he was a man of great contradictions: a playboy fighter pilot turned hero, a romantic and cynic, and as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said, a man who came to accept that his honor and his imperfections would always be in conflict.

Through all of his internal struggles with his mistakes or regrets, it was his quiet faith that sustained him. Few knew that the Episcopalian, who refused to flaunt his faith on the campaign trail, could quote Scripture at length and served as the "room chaplain" to his fellow prisoners of war in North Vietnam.

His own religious awakening began in that prison and the path ended here in Phoenix at his wife's Baptist church, where McCain developed a deep belief in forgiveness and God's grace.

Those touchstones that provided solace to McCain throughout his life are threaded through the religious services that begin today at North Phoenix Baptist Church, and continue at the Washington National Cathedral Saturday, culminating with a private ceremony at the US Naval Academy where he will be buried Sunday in a plot overlooking the Severn River.

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The readings McCain chose encapsulate the lessons he strove to impart: duty, sacrifice, honor, bi-partisanship, service to one's country and a commitment to a cause greater than one's self.

But they also include the prayers that carried him through his torment as a prisoner of war, and helped him through his life journey as he sought to reconcile his mistakes with his heroic public image.

John McCain remembered in Vietnam as a friend, not an enemy

I did a long interview with then-presidential-candidate McCain about his faith on his campaign plane in April of 2008. Though I'd traveled with him for many months, starting in snowy New Hampshire when he was at the bottom of the pack and had endless hours to talk to reporters, his religion was still a curiosity to me.

Unlike other politicians I had covered, he shied away from using his faith to his political advantage, even as he struggled to win over evangelical voters.

I knew he was voracious reader, but was startled as we talked by how effortlessly he quoted Scripture. He explained that prayer and church had been an ingrained part of his life in high school, where he attended chapel each morning and Sunday evenings.

It wasn't until his plane was shot down over Hanoi that he began to rely on his faith. In solitary confinement, he has written that he prayed "more often and more fervently than I ever had as a free man."

His longtime friend Charlie Black, a pallbearer today at North Phoenix Baptist Church, recalled talking to McCain about how he somewhat reluctantly became the "room chaplain" for his fellow prisoners.

"When he was out of solitary (his captors) wouldn't give him a Bible, so he would come up with verses from memory that they could study together," Black recalled in an interview Wednesday.

McCain told me that he was "very slow in maturing." He said he knew right from wrong, the Bible, the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed, and the tenets of his faith, but neglected them until that five-and-a-half year period in Hanoi.

"The time came that I could fall back on them as a net, as a way of salvation," McCain said in the 2008 interview. It was the same period, as former Sen. Jon Kyl noted at the Arizona State Capitol service Wednesday, that McCain "fell in love with his country when he was a prisoner in another." Faith and his ideal of "Country First" became intertwined.

In captivity, McCain urged his fellow prisoners not to pray for their release or their own personal success.

That stayed with him. "I pray to do the right thing so I won't look back in regret or embarrassment or even shame that I betrayed my principles and my faith," he told me in 2008.

The nation honors Sen. John McCain

He found a home at Cindy McCain's church in Phoenix, where he came to love his pastor's message about grace: "that we're all sinners, but we can benefit from God's grace if we recognize those sins and move forward," he said.

That idea is woven through some of the Bible verses he chose for today's service and those this weekend, particularly in 2 Timothy 4:6-8 that will be read by his son Andrew McCain:

"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

The inclusion of those verses, Graham said, gave him the most comfort that his friend was satisfied with the life that he led and had apologized for his mistakes.

"The public John McCain felt the need to reconcile his imperfections," Graham said, citing McCain's position change on the Confederate flag as an example. "The private John McCain was reassured that you can be forgiven."

In their totality, the readings and prayers in all the services represent "a Christian message," Black said. "Always trying, never quitting and trying follow the golden rules."

In Saturday's service at the National Cathedral, the messages of humility, selflessness, taking a stand against oppression -- a theme in former New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte's reading from Wisdom 3:1 "The Destiny of the Righteous" --- and putting country before one's self, are also an implicit contrast to the values of the current President, said former McCain strategist Steve Schmidt.

Before his death, McCain pointedly made it known that President Donald Trump was not invited to the services commemorating his life.

"Even in death he's provoked one last fight, forced once last conversation, a choice in oppositional virtues," said Schmidt, who infuriated McCain by speaking in derogatory terms about his running mate Sarah Palin after the 2008 presidential campaign.

"Trump is his analogue," Schmidt said, "Valor to cowardice, sacrifice to self-interest, service to greed." He noted the vast international interest in McCain's life that has been evident in recent days: "People see in McCain what they like about America: the traditions of our country, the values of our country."

In the last months of his life, McCain's friends took comfort in the various iterations of the refrain he came back to again and again in their private conversations: "I wasn't cheated."

10 John McCain quotes about defeat and determination you need to read

From the program of the services, they also see the friend who felt the pressure of living up to the example of his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, and the man who wrote in one of his memoirs that he tried to live a life of balance "between pride and regret, between liberty and honor."

On Saturday at the National Cathedral, McCain's son Jimmy -- who followed the family's military tradition by enlisting in the US Marine Corps -- will read the poem McCain loved, Requiem by Robert Louis Stevenson.

McCain's longtime co-author and close friend Mark Salter noted that the Arizona senator read it at his own father's funeral: "It was sort of a code for him."

With Jimmy's reading, McCain's family's military tradition will come full circle. And it is classic McCain, his friends said, a "poet warrior" and romantic to the end.

Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from sea, And the hunter home from the hill.