Apology

By now, as a younger senior citizen, yours truly can rather fluently read both German and Latin, plus some Greek and Swedish and Norwegian, but very little Spanish.

My favorite language of quasi-expertise is English, as you can perhaps agree.

Although English linguistics are not the easiest in the world to learn and begin to master, it is both disturbing and lamentable that the wayward, all too ready to go off on rapid-fire diversionary tangents, have misused English wording for despicably-accursed motivations, intentions, shenanigans, and malicious anti-social deception.

Misapplying such words as "equality" to the inferior gender, "rights" to wrongs, "inflammable" to flammable, "gay" to effeminate [homosexuals], "art" to porn, "sodomy" to normal and acceptable heterosexual cunnilingus and fellatio foreplay (between partners of any age), "masturbation" to normal and acceptable heterosexual-stimulation foreplay of opposite-gender genitals by hand or whatever, "women's health" to committing (not "performing") abortion-homicide, "reproductive choice" to murdering womb babies, "birth"-"control" to pregnancy preventers, "science" to heretical evolutionary mythology, "the peace process" to anti-Jew land relinquishment, "criminal" law to legal law which is anything but criminal, and "apologetics" to theology which should not be apologized for . . . is both deplorable and non-acceptable.

The last one mentioned above is one which contentious pseudo-theologians will take issue with, claiming that "apologetics" means defending one's religious beliefs. And yet the word "apology" is commonly understood to mean anything but a "defense" of one's errant or accidental words or physical actions, but instead is made with an implied petition for pardon because of a mistake or offense committed (not "performed"). Keep in mind that committed is an anathema and forbidden negative word in the mis-estimation of those destined for damnation, who instead mis-regard performed as a needed and necessary positive.

Which brings me to the topic at hand.

I remember, when I was a student at the University and in University Chorus, singing an oratorio by Ralph Vaughn Williams in which the following poetry selection was contained "as" part of the lyrics:

Yet soul be sure,
The first intent remains,
And shall be carried out.

I also remember, years ago, a serial TV program which I think was entitled: To Tell The Truth in which a contestant had to select, from three seated persons, who the real celebrity was, and finally the one who indeed was the actual celebrity stood on their feet.

You've heard the expression: "It separates the men from the boys, or "The Marines are looking for a few good men?"

Kenyan-not-Hawaiian-born liar-and-traitor-in-chief Barack Hussein Obama has claimed to be a "christian" - yet his track record of decisions so far have (as philosophical negroid moralist Alan Keyes might concur) been anything but bonafide Christian.
In stark contrast, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, in a television commercial, stated that he is "not ashamed to be a Christian" - and proved it by also declaring that he was against "gays" in the military, besides him bemoaning that children are not allowed to read the Bible in public schools.

It not simply intrigues, but fascinates me, that there are a few persons here and there who are not on the proverbial "broad and easy road to destruction," as has been the case of previous individuals now deceased, who - in spite of sinning now and then like everyone else - have not only apologized to their Creator for stumbling, but also to fellow humans for temporarily and even perhaps somewhat frequently being problematic.

Think about it. When is the last time (if at all) you heard anyone who you consider evil or wicked genuinely and regretfully apologize to anyone, especially to God - in a non-superficial, or not-merely-convenient-at-the-moment, sincere and considerate way?

Innate motivations are absolutely crucial for proper judgment in determining who is actually on either Christ or Satan's side.

The inherently-righteous sometimes do sin, but reluctantly and regretfully, under non-solicited duress because of non-asked-for temptation.
The inherently-wicked gleefully and arrogantly sin when incited by temptation, although sometimes are restrained from caving into temptation because of exterior prohibitionists....as they complain, balk, and object to it.

It is initially difficult, if not virtually impossible, to immediately discern who basically is against God and the totality of all His Biblical doctrines....in perceivable opposition to who basically is for God and the totality of all His Biblical doctrines, as noted by Solomon who observed:

Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous person on Earth who does good and never sins.

and St John who added:

First John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

We all are always breaking some law, even though we do not necessarily know about it nor are aware of what it is.

Jesus Himself reminded us that:

Luke 16:16 "The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and every one presses into it forcefully [kicking and screaming]." Or is pressed violently into it, by whoever and however [but willingly, of course?].

But there are some who at least eventually do enter it -- after thinking about it and humbly [with even a meek conciliatory apology] come to their senses....unless their cowardly and idolatrous fear of wickedly-opining friends is their fearful lame excuse to permanently and inflexibly maintain their adamant heresy and accompanying rejection against truth which they misconsider so obnoxious.

The Psalmist put it this way:

Psalm 73:22 I was stupid and ignorant, I was like a beast toward you.

Nasty and rude, maybe even kind of vicious. They did pin Christ to a cruel cross in their hot indignation and anger, you remember.

One simple test for telling who the evil gals are in contrast to the good gals is merely by observing their vastly-different hairstyles [realizing that Eskimos might have five different words for "snow" whereas foreigners might only have two, yet Eskimos might have only one word for "car" but Americans differentiate between various makes and models of cars].

All female-human hairstyles are obviously not identical in type nor quality to the astutely-observant and honest, nor should they be regarded amorally nor equally - despite the denying "it-doesn't-bother-me" cowardly-but-belligerent contradictions against such by contentious patsies of both genders who are rife and reeking with licentious heretically-disinformative and apostate-misrepresentational doctrines of demons.

In view of particulars such as RSV's/NASV's/ESV's Numbers 5:18 in context, Deuteronomy 32:42, Song of Solomon 7:5 in context, and KJV's/NKJV's First Corinthians 11:14-16 in context, those girls and women with their long hair consistently having been tied and yet tied into an up-do [bun or chignon] or tied into a back-of-head single ponytail when in general mixed-gender public view, are the blessed "salt of the earth" preserving society in general thankfully integrated within cultures all over the world...whereas those who have it hang long and loose (such as below mouth-level) stick out like sore thumbs and are vile vermin quasi-erotically defiling everyone of both genders, especially sexually-harassed-by-such male humans who neither want "love awakened before its time" by such disruptive foxes, nor have any intention whatsoever of belonging to such in marriage nor conspiring with such for brief or longer sexual immorality, who have not solicited such immodest deviates for terroristic spam-like visual attack.

As oil and water do not mix, and as piss and pop should not be mixed, nor should poop with pudding, so mopheads should not be legally allowed to roam freely in neighborhoods, communities, be shown in billboard photos, nor on TV who are either "ignorantly" nor deliberately besieging the decent. Is it any wonder that burka and hijab fundamentalist islamic are rightfully overcoming and conquering so-called "christian" exhibitionist porno mopheads and missionaries shoving into everyone's face warm-weather-irrationalized naked arms with sleeveslessness [study RSV's/NASV's/ESV's Second Samuel 13:18], nude legs with slackslessness [study Isaiah 47:1-4], and parts of bared feet with non-slippered-nor-booted soxlessness in sandals [study Song 7:1 and Jeremiah 2:25 in context]?

No one likes to have their pet and dogmatic heresies of whatever types exposed as they are inextricably trapped theologically into a corner they cannot rationally get out of, when applicable and pertinent Scripture verses are surgically applied in precise detail with embarrassing and humiliating examination and confutation....only to predictably and invariably react defensively, frequently retorting with a "Don't talk to me anymore about that" virulent hostility.

Isaiah 30:9 For they are a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who will not hear the instruction of the LORD;
30:10 who say to the seers, "See not"; and to the prophets, "Prophesy not to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,
30:11 leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more of the Holy One of Israel."

Micah 2:6 "Do not preach" -- thus they [hypocritically] preach --"one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us."

Acts 4:17 "But so that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to any one in this name."
Acts 5:28 "....We strictly charged you to not teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this Man's blood upon us."
Acts 5:40 So they took [Gamaliel's] advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

Acts 13:46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying: "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first. Being that you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, hey, we turn to the Gentiles.

And what should be the righteous response to antagonists from bravely-dissertating saints having had dangerous face-to-face confrontation with samples of apostate naysayers?

Matthew 7:16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?
Matthew 7:20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 12:37 ....for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

Second Timothy 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress.
3:5 [heretics] holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people.
3:7 ...who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
3:8 As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these persons also oppose the truth, men (and women!) of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith;
3:9 but they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two guys.

Titus 3:10 As for a person who is factious, after admonishing him [or her] once or twice, have nothing more to do with them,
Titus 3:11 knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful; he/she is self-condemned.

Such non-coexistant disassociation is not a take-it-or-leave-it option, but rather a direct command of the Lord to obey (and not simply for our life-sustaining safety and survival).

At least the inheritance-wasted prodigal son returned to his patiently-waiting and welcoming father, whereas the self-righteous elder son, apportioned the remainder of his dad's estate, heartlessly engaged in exclusionary judgmental diatribe with harsh self-centered spitefulness.

Obvious is the clear difference comparing tolerantly-loving doctrinal-truth-accepting penitents destined for salvation....with intolerantly-rejective Bible-doctrines-disdaining hypocrites destined for damnation, those heresies-embracing covert wolves disguised in pseudo-respectable sheep's clothing, the latter of who will have their goody-goody/brownie-point-checklist litany disregarded and overridden by The Judge sternly declaring to them: "Get outa here, you evildoers. I never knew you."

Ultimately, the disbelieving errant themselves [who would never be happy in eternally-perfect-doctrines Heaven] demand dissentive alienation, discriminatory separation, sequestration, quarantine, and censorship against believers, putting the obvious into publicly-observable scrutiny:

First John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us.
3:10 By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the Devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother.
3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the congregants. He who does not love resides in death.
4:6 We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and he/she who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
4:8 He/She who does not love does not know God; for God is love.
4:20 If any one says, "I love God," and hates his/her brother/sister, he/she is a liar; for he/she who does not love his/her brother/sister whom he/she has seen, cannot love God whom he/she has not seen.
5:10 He/She who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself/herself. He/She who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he/she has not believed in the testimony that God has borne about His Son.

Admittedly, neither the Tempter nor The Forbidden Tree in the Garden of Eden aggressively advanced toward the nude-and-innocent Eve -- she instead went to them. The Tree was, in one sense, benign - which is concordant with the fact that the Creator is not required to post large-lettered flashing No Trespassing signs every 10 feet along every dangerous cliff in the world from which the accidentally stupid or deliberately careless could, insanely deciding with their own free wills, fatally jump off one of them to their deaths.

The wicked Tempter, representative of evil demons and similarly-accursed humans, was at fault and to blame for starting the whole problem in the first place, because when Eve went to him, he lied to and deceived her....which indicates another difference between the wicked and the righteous: when venturers go to the righteous, the righteous do not lie to nor deceive them.

And there is no need to apologize to anyone about that.

I have heard Rick Perry pray a public prayer asking God for forgiveness because of sins, as I have heard numerous preachers and pastors also do so. Request for forgiveness is engrained in the liturgy of most even mainline denominational churches. It clearly is contained within the Bible.

How can and why do a blessed and noteworthy minority of persons, who have deliberately chosen to sin, and willfully sinned, then choose to retract and apologize because of their sins, then seek forgiveness and reconciliation with the obvious and credible intent to not sin again -- with the anticipation that they will be graciously reconciled with fervent hope that they are never again put under the spam-like non-solicited duress and temptation to so re-sin?

Actually, it is amazing that such persons, sparse in number but admirable in intention, not only can but do really "change their minds" [which, incidentally, they never intrinsically altered in the first place underneath it all] -- with the non-gullible and surprising expectation that those who they apologize to will choose to accept the apology in full faith, then regain at least part of the trust they had in such confessors before the penitent stumbled into non-asked-for temptation and sin.

Not only that, but it is remarkable that God the Creator has a continual attitude of being willing to accept the supplications of the penitent human creatures beset and besieged with temptations they had not initially asked for nor wanted whatsoever. It is equally fascinating that God continues to be just and fair, in view of the fact that He Himself imposed the Stumbling Blocks of the Tempting Serpent and Forbidden Tree in the Garden of Eden, both of such were diabolically lethal to our ancient primal-parent ancestors.

The strange and bizarre, yet wonderful, turn-around words and actions of many in Scripture seeking restoration after screwing up (but only some of whom persisted in such repentance) are nobly legion, and the implication is not one of being proud of having disregarded the Lord and His Law but instead sorrow and grief for having momentarily disobeyed, displeased, and even angered Him:

Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying: "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD." [help of her Lord?]

Genesis 50:17 Say to Joseph: "Forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.' And now, we implore you, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

Exodus 9:27 Then Pharaoh sent, and called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: "I have sinned this time; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.
10:16 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron in a hurry, and said: "I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.
10:17 Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and entreat the LORD your God to remove this death from me."

Numbers 12:11 And Aaron said to Moses: "Oh my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned.
21:7 And the people came to Moses, and said: "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
22:34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD: "I have sinned, for I did not know that you did stand in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will go back again."
30:12 But if her husband makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning her pledge of herself, shall not stand: her husband has made them void, and the LORD will forgive her.

Deuteronomy 1:41 Then you answered me: "We have sinned against the LORD; we will go up and fight, just as the LORD our God commanded us." And every man of you put on his weapons of war [not necessarily "going commando"], and thought it easy to go up into the hill country.

Joshua 7:20 And Achan answered Joshua: "Of a truth I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel..."

Judges 10:10 And the people of Israel cried to the LORD, saying: "We have sinned against you, because we have rejected our God and have served the Baals."
Judges 10:15 And the people of Israel said to the LORD: "We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, we pray you, this day."

Judges 16:28 Then Samson called to the LORD and said: "Lord GOD, remember me, I pray you, and strengthen me, I pray you, only this once, God, that I may be avenged upon the Philistines for one of my two eyes."
Judges 16:29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars upon which the house rested, and he leaned his weight upon them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other.
Judges 16:30 And Samson said: "Let me die with the Philistines." Then he bowed with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were in it. So the dead whom he slew at his death were more than those whom he had slain during his life.

First Samuel 12:10 And they cried to the LORD, and said: "We have sinned, because we have rejected the LORD, and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you."

Second Samuel 12:13 David said to Nathan: "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David: "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
Second Samuel 12:14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have completely scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die."
Second Samuel 12:15 Then Nathan went to his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick.

First Chronicles 21:8 And David said to God: "I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now, I pray you, take away the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly." [So much for arrogant self-sufficiency presuming that "I have done nothing wrong, am no worse than anyone else, being that we're all only human"]

Nehemiah 1:6 ...let your ear be attentive, and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant which I now pray to you this day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, by which we have sinned against you. Yes, I and my father's house have sinned.

Psalm 25:18 Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. [I did not mean to do it. Pretty Bathesheba deliberately seduced me and not her Canaanite-Hittite-foreigner husband with her selfishly-ambitious nude strip show, so against you and you only have I sinned and done that which is evil in your sight]
Psalm 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said: "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; then you did forgive the guilt of my sin.
Psalm 79:9 Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name's sake!

Isaiah 42:24 Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?

Jeremiah 36:3 "It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin."
3:25 "Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."
14:7 "Though our iniquities testify against us, act, LORD, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against you."
14:20 We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you.

Lamentations 5:16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! [So much for proud self-esteem]

Ezekiel 16:35 Wherefore, [mopheaded and/or soxless?] harlot, hear the word of the LORD:
16:36 Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because your shame was laid bare and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotries [and your sexy long hair was loosened, let down, and hanging down below mouth-level violating RSV's/NASV's spouse-only-scenario of Song of Solomon 7:5 in context along with KJV's First Corinthians 11:14-16 churches-of-God disallowance of misregarding mopheadedness as adequate for a prayer covering or veil, and/or exposing parts of your soxless bare feet in sandals?] with your lovers, and because of all your [glamor-magazine] idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them
16:37 therefore, hey, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you loathed; I will gather them against you from every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.
16:38 And I will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed [abortion-homicide?] blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy.
16:39 And I will give you into the hand of your lovers, and they shall throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places; they shall strip you of your clothes and take your fair jewels, and leave you naked and bare.
16:40 They shall bring up a host against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
16:41 And they shall burn your houses and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women; I will make you stop playing the harlot, and you shall also give hire no more.
16:42 So will I satisfy my fury on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you; I will be calm, and will no more be angry."
16:48 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.
16:50 They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them, when I saw it.
16:51 Samaria has not committed half your sins; you have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations which you have committed.
16:52 Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have made judgment favorable to your sisters; because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
16:53 I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in the midst of them,
16:54 that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them.
16:55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; and you and your daughters shall return to your former estate.
16:60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.
16:61 Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you.
16:62 I will establish my covenant with you [in your consistent in-public up-do or long hair having been tied into a single back-of-head ponytail before getting into and when in mixed-gender public view, plus socks-with-shoes obedience to KJV's/RSV's Jeremiah 2:25?], and you shall know that I am the LORD,
16:63 that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done," says the Lord GOD.

Daniel 9:8 To us, Lord, belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
Daniel 9:19 LORD, hear; LORD, forgive; LORD, respond and act; delay not, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.

Micah 7:9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall experience His deliverance.

Matthew 27:3 When Judas, his betrayer, saw that He was condemned, he in remorse brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders,
Matthew 27:4 saying, "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood." They said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself."
Matthew 27:5 And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself.

Luke 15:18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and you..."
Luke 15:21 And the son said to him: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son."

Luke 17:3 Watch out for yourselves: if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him;
Luke 17:4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him. [although you can advise him to stop doing what it takes to weary both of you concerning that]

Colossians 3:13 ...[conditionally, of course] forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, [conditionally, of course] forgiving each other; as the Lord has [conditionally] forgiven you, so you also must forgive. [Never forgive any impenitent who thus does not deserve to be forgiven. Impenitents will not be allowed entrance into Heaven]

First John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will [conditionally, as stated in the comment above] forgive our sins and clean us concerning all non-righteousness.

As can plainly be seen by the citations and references above, not all those who acknowledged their sinning and sinfulness believed that God would forgive them, and it is not "because they could not forgive themselves" - as some wayward religious nutjobs have uttered.

True and authentic Christians are easily distinguished from fakes and charlatans in and by their belief in and obedience to God's command to repent and change for the better, thus obtaining both temporal and eternal benefits from Him for so doing:

Deuteronomy 4:29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him, if you search for Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

First Samuel 7:3 Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel: "If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your heart to the LORD, and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."
First Samuel 12:20 And Samuel said to the people, "Fear not; you have done all this evil, yet do not turn away from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart..."
First Samuel 12:24 Only fear the LORD, and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart...

Ezekiel 20:40 "For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel," says the Lord GOD, "there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me in the land; there I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your sacred offerings.

Joel 2:12 "Yet even now," says the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
2:13 and rip your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD, your God, because He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and overwhelming in continuous love, and relents of retaliation.
2:14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him....?

Insincere, half-hearted, conditional, purposely-temporary, or devious-intentioned requests for forgiveness and reconciliation are not only rejected by the Lord, but despised by Him:

First Samuel 15:12 And Samuel rose early [5 or 6 a.m.?] to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told Samuel, "Saul came to Carmel, and hey, he set up a monument for himself and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal."
15:13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed be you to the LORD; I have performed the commandment of the LORD."
15:14 And Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"
15:15 Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the remainder we have completely destroyed."
15:16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night." And he said to him, "Say on."
15:17 And Samuel said, "Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.
15:18 And the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go, completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are [totally] consumed.'
15:19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"
15:20 And Saul said to Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
15:21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal."
15:22 And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Hey, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to obediently respond than the fat of rams.
15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."
15:24 And Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
15:30 Then he said, "I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God."

First Kings 11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
Second Kings 23:13 And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
Zephaniah 1:5 ...those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens; those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom.

Jeremiah 14:12 "Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence."

Ezekiel 8:18 "Therefore I will deal in wrath; my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them."
Ezekiel 20:31 When you offer your gifts and sacrifice your sons by fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, house of Israel? As I live," says the Lord GOD, "I will not be inquired of by you."

Amos 5:4 For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: "Seek me and live;
5:5 but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing."
5:6 Seek the LORD and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,
5:8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the surface of the earth, the LORD is His name,
5:9 who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
5:10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth.
5:11 Therefore because you trample upon the poor and take from him exactions of wheat, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not reside in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
5:12 For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins. . . you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate.
5:13 Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time.
5:14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said.
5:15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
5:21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
5:23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps [organs, pianos, guitars] I will not listen.
5:24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
5:25 Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?
5:26 You shall take up Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan your star-god, your images, which you made for yourselves;
5:27 therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

If you ever feel rejected by God your Creator, do not know if you still belong to Him, whether He continues to want you to ask Him for help and obey His Law He requires you personally to do in compliant and accommodating favor with Him, consider the following:

Romans 4:17 "...I have made you the father of many nations" in the presence of the God in whom [Abraham] believed, [which God of Abraham] gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Romans 4:18 In hope [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should [and could] become the father of many nations; as he had been told: "So shall your descendants be."

Isaiah 43:1 But now thus says the LORD, He who created you, Jacob, He who formed you, Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine."

Ezekiel 18:21 But if a wicked man turns away from all his sins which he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
18:22 None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness which he has done he shall live.
18:27 Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is lawful and right, he shall save his life.
18:28 Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Malachi 3:6 "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed."

Colossians 1:17 And He [Jesus, the Son of God] is before all things, and by Him all things consist [are held together].

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation, nor shadow of turning.

Hebrews 1:3 [Jesus, the Son of God] is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power. When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high . . .

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

In view of that, consider your current environmental surroundings, and the phenomenal pleasantness of such:

You are now breathing His correctly-proportioned-gases air at survivable temperature. You are standing on His (and your) floor He is holding together for you, and His (plus your) ceiling overhead which He is preventing from collapsing on you. You are presently being protected against deadly cosmic and penetrating gamma radiations from outer space by His (and your) Van Allen anti-Radiation belts surrounding Earth, and His (plus your) thick atmosphere disallowing meteors from space to suddenly impact your head which would immediately crush your skull and incinerate you. His Sun is yet shining on and for you, illuminating your sight and warming what would otherwise be inhospitable frigid everything. His gravity is still working for you to keep you from helplessly flying off into airless and suffocating space. His (and your) eyes are reading these words, on which webpage His (and your) fingers typed into your computer, which words thereon His (and your) brain is understanding and contemplating at this moment, and His (and your) hand is holding the computer mouse to deftly navigate this webpage site.

So as you continue to live, you and He are enjoyably experiencing an intimate and cooperative relationship, which is only the beginning of what He both hopes and expects you to continue with into eternity, when you will finally have the equivalent of limitless time plus infinite opportunity to finally read all the library books you wanted, travel to and explore all places you always wanted, when you are purified and indestructible in the New Heaven and New Earth containing whatevers far more imaginative and extensive than the limited ones you are already in.

No need to get depressed with that in mind.

Bonus:

Born in Canada, Ted Cruz is not eligible to become U.S. President.

Barack Hussein Obama was not born in Hawaii, but instead in Coast Province General Hospital in Mombasa Kenya, and both he and a lot of other liars are assuredly destined for Hell as long as they deliberately insist that Obama was born in Hawaii.

As it states in Psalm 63: "the mouths of all liars will be stopped."

Explore Obama's Kenyan birth certificate at . . .

confrontation.faithweb.com

and

layleftlayrite.tripod.com