https://pastorcalvinhall.substack.com/

A person is not spiritually mature just because they know Scripture! (SO DOES THE ENEMY!) Knowing Scripture without obedience changes NOTHING! REAL maturity show up in how you live when no one is watching! God isn't looking for the one who is just an "informed believer," He is looking for the "TRANSFORMED" believer!

Whether you are a child, teen or an adult, there is a very serious possibility that at some point in time; someone may attempt to follow you with intent of doing harm! I'm not trying to scare you, I'm trying to EDUCATE you on how you and /or your loved ones can remain safe! DADS! IT IS VERY MUCH YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE YOUR WIVES AND CHILDREN KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ARE NOT THERE TO PROTECT THEM! TEACH THIS RELIGIOUSLY! First off, this isn’t hypothetical for me. I am a retired NYPD Motorcycle Patrol Sergeant and I learned early on that while I was out there trying to protect you and your family, I couldn't always be there to protect my family either. The reality of that hit home for me hard! Several years ago, my wife was out shopping with our kids and noticed a man following them. My wife’s first instinct? RUN! This would have been a very bad choice because while she may have been able to evade the person following them, the kids WOULD NOT! Instead, she walked into the nearest store and asked the staff to call store security very loudly. He was gone in seconds. That experience sent me down a rabbit hole. I started going through everything I could find from personal safety and criminology specialists and what I learned completely changed what I taught my family. Because running? That’s the one thing most experts agree you should NOT do. The second you take off, you show fear. And fear is exactly what pushes someone with bad intent to move faster, not back off. Here’s what I taught mine instead: 👉 Confirm it first. Shift direction slightly and keep your normal pace. An innocent person won’t follow. Someone with intent will. Three turns in a row tells you everything. 👉 Walk toward people and cameras. Step into any store. Get close to the register. Being visible in a monitored space is often enough to make someone disappear. 👉DO NOT GO HOME! If you lead them to where you live, you’ve given them something they didn’t have before. Go public instead. 👉 Say your location out loud. Take out your phone and say clearly where you are even with no one on the line. People who follow others tend to back off the moment someone’s whereabouts are spoken.

"When the Lord said of the Holy Spirit, 'He shall convict the world of sin,' he meant unbelief. For this is what he meant when he said, 'Of sin because they believed not on me.' And he means the same when he says, 'If I had not come and spoken to them, they should not have sin.' (John 15:22). He was not talking about [a time] before they had no sin. Rather, he wanted to indicate that very lack of faith by which they did not believe him even when he was present to them and speaking to them. These were the people who belonged to 'the prince of the power of the air, who now works in the children of unbelief' (Ephesians 2:2). Therefore those in whom there is no faith are the children of the devil because they have nothing in their inner being that would cause them to be forgiven for whatever is committed either by human infirmity, ignorance or any evil will whatever. But the children of God are those who certainly, if they should 'say that they have no sin, deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them,' but immediately (as it continues) 'when they confess their sins' (which the children of the devil do not do, or do not do according to the faith which is peculiar to the children of God), 'he is faithful and just to forgive them their sins and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness'" (1 John 1:9).

"He is called the Comforter because he comforts and encourages us and helps our infirmities. We do not know what we should pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26), that is, he makes intercession to God. Very often, someone has been outraged and dishonored unjustly for the sake of Christ. Martyrdom is at hand; tortures on every side, and fire, and sword, and savage beasts and the pit. But the Holy Spirit softly whispers to him, 'Wait on the Lord' (Psalm 27:14). What is now happening to you is a small matter; the reward will be great. Suffer a little while, and you will be with angels forever. 'The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that shall be revealed in us' (Romans 8:18). He portrays to the person the kingdom of heaven. He gives him a glimpse of the paradise of delight."