Winning with the Word

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/The_Truth_about_the_Great_Reset.mp3 ___________________________________________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, June 27, 2022, and this is Episode #26 of Series 2022. This episode is titled The Truth about 'The Great Reset.' _________________________________________ If you have not yet heard of "The Great Reset." you will soon. In today's post, we will explore this topic and expose the lies at its foundation. So, what is The Great Reset and why do you need to know about it? The Great Reset is the name given to the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, in 2020. Convened by Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and the World Economic Forum (or WEF), this meeting brought together top business and political leaders from around the world for the purpose of taking advantage of the then current COVID crisis and to use that crisis as the launching pad for creating the New World Order.   The stated goal of the 2020 World Economic Forum meeting, as published on the official WEF website, was “to overcome income inequality, societal division and the climate crisis.” This remains the WEF's goal, and they are pursuing it with relentless passion. While, at first glance, the WEF's goal may sound noble, it is rooted in deception. In truth, the nice-sounding terminology masks anti-Biblical lies whose ultimate purpose is to enslave humanity and to usher in the New World Order under the brutal dictatorship of the Anti-Christ. A frequent expression used by the Great Resetters is "Never let a crisis go to waste." Interestingly, one of the chief topics discussed at the 2020 Conference was how best to use the COVID-19 pandemic and the theory of climate change to reset global structures. Klaus Schwab, current CEO of the World Economic Forum, said this in a statement posted on the official World Economic Forum website: “The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world.”   Reflect. Reimagine. Reset. What the Great Resetters mean by these words is not what most people mean by these words. The Great Resetters want to turn our world into a global kingdom where we own nothing and are happy. A kingdom where they call all the shots and we call none. A kingdom where we do what they say or we die.  The social structures included in their nefarious reset goals are education, health care, finance, and energy production, among others. The aim of the World Economic Forum is to restructure our world according to a model that makes the liberal, wealthy élite rulers over the rest of us. Those who promote the Great Reset are brazenly open about the fact that they want to control every human being in every aspect of his life. For the past two years, we have already witnessed and experienced that control infiltrate our daily lives in the form of lockdowns and mask mandates. Now that same control is expanding to the imminent use of a Social Score Card that will ration food, gasoline, and other life-sustaining products according to the degree of one's compl...

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. AN INVITATION TO YOU: To follow this blog, click here.  If this blog has blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! ______________________________________ Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today's blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/WWW_02_01_21_band-How_to_Think_like_a_Winner.mp3   ______________________________________   Have you ever wondered why some people are more successful in life than others? Is it a question of so-called "luck"? Or is there something more to this thing called success? The answer, as always, is found in the Bible. In this best-selling book of all time, God has clearly outlined the principles of success. The problem is that, sad-to-say, most people don't read the Bible. Or they read it after the fact. After the problem has arisen and nearly devastated their lives. Yet, the Bible contains the answer to every single situation you will ever face in life. In fact, the Bible is God's Manual for Life. It is the book He gave us to navigate our time on this earth successfully. Isn't it a tragedy that most of the world neglects it? The Bible is all about winning. Not only winning in this life, but, far more importantly, about winning in the life after this one. The life that will last forever.  In the Bible, God has set in place certain principles, or laws, that govern success. If we live according to these principles, we will experience a wonderful, blessed life. But if we don't, we won't. It's as simple as that. So, what are these principles of success? And how can we apply them to our lives? One of the fundamental principles is found in Proverbs 23: 7: This verse reads as follows: "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." Let's unpack this verse to discover what it means and how it can affect the entire course of our lives.  First of all, this verse clearly connects the way we think in our hearts with the way we are: "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." Note the phrase in his heart. The verse does not simply say as a man thinks, but as he thinks in his heart. Well, what is meant by the heart?  The word heart as used here does not refer to the physical heart, the organ that pumps blood throughout our bodies. No, the word heart as used in this verse implies that intangible entity within us that we all recognize but cannot adequately define. Yet, the Bible gives us a picture of what this intangible entity called the heart really is. The heart is that part of us that connects our soul with our spirit. We are made in the image of God, and we have a spirit, a soul, and a body.  Each of these three parts is also made up of three parts. The spirit is made up of the conscience, the intuition, and the imagination. The soul is comprised of the mind, the will, and the emotions. The body is made up of bone, fluid, and soft tissue.  The heart is the bridge between the spirit and the soul. In other words, the heart is connected simultaneously to the spirit and to the soul. On the one hand, the heart is connected to the conscience part of the spirit. On the other hand, the heart is connected to the emotions, the will, and the mind parts of the soul. The Bible makes many references to the heart. Each of these references gives us a partial definition of the heart. For example, in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 9, verse 4, we read this: “And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, 'Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?'” The act of thinking occurs in the mind. But in this verse, Jesus connected thinking with the heart as well. "Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/Fear_The_Thief_of_Freedom.mp3 ________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, May 29, 2023, and this is Episode #22 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "Fear: The Thief of Freedom."   The past few years have exposed an alarming truth: Fear will motivate people to give up their freedom. Now, before you balk at my statement, let me ask you a few questions: During the pandemic . . .  Did you wear a mask? Did you stay locked down in your home? Did you give fist bumps instead of handshakes? If you're like most people, you did all three. But have you ever asked yourself why? Most likely, the reason you did all three is that you were afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid of getting sick. Why? Because you were afraid of dying. 1. You wore a mask because you were afraid of getting sick and dying. 2. You stayed in lockdown for the same reason. You were afraid of possibly exposing yourself to sick people, getting sick yourself, and dying. 3. You gave fist bumps instead of handshakes because you were afraid of getting sick and dying. In each case, you gave up some of your freedom in exchange for safety and protection from dying.  Studies have shown that the root of all fear is the fear of physical death. A person will give up anything, even his freedom, in order to be relieved of the fear of death. In order to be safe and protected from death. During the pandemic, did you ever ask yourself if the mask was really protecting you? If the lockdown was really keeping you safe? If the fist bump really warded off sickness and death? Most likely, you did not. Most likely, your fear was so great that you didn't stop to think. Or challenge. Most likely, you just went along with the crowd. You just believed everything the government told you. You did exactly what the government said to do. You never questioned the government's advice nor its motives. You just followed along in lockstep with the rest of the world. All because you were afraid. Today, nearly a full four years later, we are paying the price for our fear. We are facing an increasingly controlling government--both national and global--who has used and continues to use fear to implement its ulterior motive of subjugating us. And, frankly, they've done a good job. The pandemic did not happen by chance. It was planned. And fear was the catalyst to getting the results we are witnessing today: the rise of a one-world government that will control every aspect of your life and rob you of your freedom.  All of this was prophesied in the Bible, especially in the Books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation. A world that has rejected Truth will live in fear. And fear is the thief of freedom. Yet, God has given us the antidote to fear. His Name is Jesus Christ. But the world refuses to believe in Him. It amazes me that people will sooner believe the government than believe God. Yet, that is what we have done. We have trusted a government that does not have the best interests of the people at heart. We have trusted a government that has its own agenda called the Ne...

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/The_Lie_of_A_I_.mp3 ________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, May 22, 2023, and this is Episode #21 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "The Lie of A.I." The topic of Artificial Intelligence, aka AI, has headlined the news lately and has raised a lot of serious questions. What is AI and how is it fulfilling Bible prophecy? Yes, in case you have any doubts, it is fulfilling Bible prophecy.  According to Britannica.com, AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is "the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience." Generally speaking, psychology characterizes human intelligence as the combination of many abilities, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and the ability to speak and use language. AI seeks to imitate these abilities and even to surpass them. In fact, trans-humanists are using AI to create—or to attempt to create—a species of superhuman whom they call Homo Sapiens, Version 2.0. AI is permeating every aspect of our lives and is closely linked to Bible prophecy.  How so? Well-known Bible teacher and prophecy expert, Pastor Billy Crone, describes AI as follows: "AI is in the process of taking over every aspect of society. Self-driving cars, robotic surgery, lightning-fast communication, … it all sounds so good. But the Bible tells us how these seemingly helpful benefits to society will be used to usher in the dark agenda of the Antichrist in the future." AI has already made extensive inroads into such areas as health, education, transportation, the economy, and the military. For example, doctors are doing surgery using robots run by Artificial Intelligence. The military is using AI in its operations both at home and abroad. Consider Project Maven, the Pentagon's flagship Artificial Intelligence effort that has been used to conduct military operations in all branches of the service. Through the use of unmanned drones, military robots, and equipment such as exploding dragonflies, the way the military conducts warfare has drastically changed. AI is being called "the new electricity". Just as the invention of electricity transformed society and the way we lived at that time, so is AI transforming society and the way we live now. AI has already infiltrated homes, businesses, cities, shopping, education, even law enforcement through the concept of "predictive policing".  So, what's the problem, you may ask? AI is doing a lot of good things. For one thing, it's making our lives easier. And who doesn't want that? It's doing things for us so that we don't have to do them for ourselves.  While all this sounds good, there is great danger inherent in AI. The danger in AI is that it is catering to a selfish, pleasure-loving society that wants convenience at all costs. A society that loves pleasure more than God.

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/Have_You_Lost_All_Hope_.mp3 ________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, May 15, 2023, and this is Episode #20 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "Have You Lost All Hope?"   Many people are answering that question in the affirmative today. They look around them and see things getting worse: rising inflation, increasing job lay-offs, collapsing economy, expanding violence, frightening loss of freedom, clueless leaders, etc., etc., etc. It's enough to make one wonder where is it all going to end? Yet, despite all these depressing scenarios, we can have hope in the midst of the storm.  Why? Because we Christ-followers know where it's going to end, and the end for us is glorious! But meanwhile, how do we contend with the world in which we still live?  Here are a few proven tips taken straight from the Bible: 1. Think on pleasant things.  Philippians 4: 4-8 says this:  "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." What we choose to think about will affect the way we feel. Feelings are the results of thoughts. And if we continually think bad thoughts, we will end up with bad feelings. Our actions follow our feelings. So if we live with continual negative feelings, we will express those negative feelings in negative actions, like murmuring, complaining, criticizing, impatience, and so on. So make it a habit to think good thoughts, thoughts that align with hope, joy, and peace. Thoughts that align with the Holy Word of God. You will be a lot happier. You will also be able to encourage others when they need encouragement. 2. Keep your eyes on heavenly things, not earthly things. Colossians 3: 2  says this: "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." There are so many demands on our daily lives that it is difficult to keep our eyes on things other than  this life. Yet, doing so is the key to having hope. This world is not our permanent home. We are simply passing through. Should we not, therefore, be focusing on preparing for our permanent home instead of living as though we will be here forever? But, how do we keep our eyes on heavenly things? It is a matter of putting God first. Jesus said this in Matthew 6: 33 NLT:  "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Jesus is telling us that if we focus on God first, God will take care of everything we need. It's that simple.  How do we focus on God first? Here are a few tips: 1. Start your day with God. Read and study a Bible passage. Pray. Listen to His instructions for you for that day. 2. Talk with God throughout the day. Ask His advice. Tell Him your concerns.  3. Thank Him for His many blessings. Develop a grateful heart.  Now we move on to the third way to contend with our current world, and that is to . . .  3. Trust in the Lord. Proverbs 3: 5 says this: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not...

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/America_Land_of_Compliant_Cowards_.mp3 ________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, May 8, 2023, and this is Episode #19 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "America: The Land of Compliant Cowards?" Eighteenth-century Anglo-Irish statesman, economist, and philosopher, Edmund Burke, is purportedly to have said that "the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Whether Burke actually said this or not, the truth of the statement remains. Evil flourishes when good men do nothing to stop it. Such is the condition of our country today. And of most countries in the world. We have a global situation in which very few of the good people remaining are doing anything to stop the evil. Why is this? I believe there are several reasons, among which are the following: 1) An erroneous belief that we are so far gone that no protest will matter because we can't stop the decline. 2) A weariness at trying over and over to push back the tide of evil, but without seeing any results. 3) A despair that one person can still make a difference. But one person can still make a difference! Even if there is no turning back of evil, there is still the turning back of one individual person at a time from evil to good. There are still people out there who are truly searching for truth. But they don't know where to find it.  That is where you and I who are Christ-Followers come in. We must go out into the harvest fields and reap the harvest. The Bible says in Luke 10: 2 that "the harvest is great but the laborers are few." Will you be one of those laborers? You might ask how have we come to this? Well, I have an opinion, and it has to do with the men of America. I believe that we have a shortage of men in America. I'm not talking about numbers; I'm talking about character. A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post titled "Are You Suffering from a Father Wound?". A father wound represents the hurt inflicted on a child by the man who sired him or her. The response to that post was stunning. It told me that the number of people suffering from a father wound is astronomical.  So, what does this mean? It has long been my contention, based on my observations and experience as a Certified Life Coach and a Certified Biblical Counselor, that America has millions of males but very few men.  You might be asking, "What's the difference?" Here, in my humble opinion, is the difference between men and males. And it is huge. 1__A male is out for his own gratification, usually in the areas of sexual lust, greed, and power. A male thinks only of meeting his own needs and doesn't care for the effect of his actions on others. A male will bail out on his responsibilities to the women he has used, or the wife he has married, and the children he has sired. And he will bail out without compunction and without looking back. A male will not stand up for what is right but will pursue the path of least resistance. The path that aligns with his own selfish motives.  2__A man, on the other hand,

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/Are_You_Guilty_of_Normalcy_Bias_.mp3 ________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, May 1, 2023, and this is Episode #18 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "Are You Guilty of Normalcy Bias?" If you haven't yet heard the term "normalcy bias", you are hearing it now.  So, what is normalcy bias? Normalcy bias is the human tendency to underestimate the seriousness of a situation. It is the tendency to minimize danger and crisis and to pretend that they cannot happen. Normalcy bias is a dangerous form of denial that could lead to suffering and even death. How? Well, when we refuse to take heed to warnings, and when we insist that nothing bad is going to happen despite warnings to the contrary, we place ourselves in serious risk of getting hurt. Let me give you an example. Suppose a tornado warning is issued in your area, and you are urged to take cover. If you are in normalcy bias, you'll say, "Oh, it's just another storm," and you won't take cover. You'll falsely believe that you are in no danger. And you may be deadly wrong. Literally! Another serious form of normalcy bias is the common belief today that our country is going to return to normal. I hate to tell you, my friend, but our country will never return to normal. It will never return to the way it was before the pandemic. In fact, things will only get worse. You might be thinking, "How do you know, Dr. MaryAnn? What are you, some kind of a doomsday prophet?" No, my friend. I am not a doomsday prophet. I am a serious, long-time student of the Bible, and I am simply telling you what the Bible predicted about the times in which we live. You see, when I tell you that things will get worse instead of better, I am getting my information from the most reliable source possible: God Himself. God Himself recorded this information in the Bible so that we could read it and know what lies ahead. But, the sad thing is that few people today read the Bible. Few people care enough to know the truth about what is really going on. Most people want to deny the truth and pretend that everything will be okay again.  But, it won't! Why not? Because God Himself said it won't. Not, at least, until He returns at the end of the seven-year Tribulation, in the event known as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, to judge the world and to set up His millennial Kingdom on earth.  Meanwhile, the world is now entering into the period described in the Bible as the Tribulation--a seven-year period of horrific suffering under the rule of the most vicious dictator in all of human history called the AntiChrist. The AntiChrist will be possessed by Satan and will be his embodiment in the earth. Under the dictatorship of the AntiChrist, you will own nothing and be happy. You will be surveilled wherever you go. In fact, you will be told where you can go and where you can't go. Where you can live and where you can't live. What you can eat and what you can't eat. What you can buy and what you cannot buy. Every facet of your life will be under the control of the AntiChrist and his one-world governmen...

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast.   https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/Are_You_Wielding_Your_Two-Edged_Sword_.mp3 _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, April 24, 2023, and this is Episode #17 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "Are You Wielding Your Two-Edged Sword?" Throughout the Bible, there are numerous references to a weapon called a two-edged sword. This is a spiritual weapon that God has provided for every Christ-follower, and it is used to fight off Satan and his demons as we engage in spiritual warfare against them. But few of us know how to use this weapon. So, today, we are going to explore what the two-edged sword is and how we can wield it effectively. First of all, what is a two-edged sword? The term two-edged comes from two Greek words: di, which means two, and stomos, which means mouth. In Greek, the two words put together make the word distomos, which means two mouths. Thus, when these two words are merged into one (distomos), they describe something that is two-mouthed, or has two mouths. Would you agree, however, that this meaning seems a little strange? So, why would the Bible refer to the Word of God repeatedly as a “two-edged sword” or, literally, a “two-mouthed sword”, a sword having two mouths? What do two mouths have to do with the two edges of a sword?  Let's look more closely.  One verse in the Bible, Hebrews 4: 12, uses the expression two-edged sword to describe the Word of God. The verse says this: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.…" Hebrews 4: 12 Very interesting, no? if we apply our definition of two-edged as having two mouths, we come up with a sword with two mouths. Well, what could that mean?  In the Book of Revelation 1: 16, the Word of God says this in describing Jesus: “And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword...."  Notice: the two-edged sword was not in Jesus' hand but in His mouth. Why? The message being conveyed in this image is that the two-edged sword represents the Word of God. Ephesians 6:17 calls God's Word the "sword of the Spirit." It is the sword of truth that we are to use to drive the lies of Satan out of our lives. Indeed, Jesus Himself is the Word of God. And out of His mouth comes forth a two-edged sword, which represents His Word. It is this Word coming out of God's mouth that has power to destroy the lies of Satan with its sharp and powerful truth. God's Word that came forth from God's mouth and that is now recorded for us in the Bible is one side or one edge of the two-edged sword. Now here comes the good part for us as Christ-followers. In giving us His Word, Jesus gave us His sword, for they are one and the same thing. And we can use that same sword to drive out the lies of the enemy from our lives!  When we do, we are implementing the second side or the second edge of the sword.  And it gets even better. When we use the same sword that Jesus used--the Word of God--we are setting ourselves in agreement with Jesus. We are setting in motion the power of agreement described in Matthew 18: 19 w...

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/The_Mark_of_the_Beast.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, April 17, 2023, and this is Episode #16 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "The Mark of the Beast: What You Should Know and Why". Quite likely, you have heard of the mark of the beast. If not, you will hear about it in this message. So pay close attention. What is the mark of the beast, what should you know about it, and why? The mark of the beast is a sign of the last days, as predicted in the Bible. Specifically, it is a mark that will be placed on and in the hands or the foreheads of those who will give allegiance to the AntiChrist and worship him during the seven-year period of unspeakable terror known as the Tribulation.   One of the signs that the implementation of the mark of the beast is getting closer and closer is the growing move by the globalists toward trans-humanism. The American Heritage Dictionary defines trans-humanism as the "belief that humans should strive to transcend the physical limitations of the mind and body by technological means."  An article by Christian Evidence titled "The Rise of Transhumanism" and published on February 20, 2023, describes trans-humanism as follows:  "Transhumanism is a philosophical, scientific, and essentially religious movement that seeks to merge humans with emerging technology, such as brain chips and genetic engineering. By doing so, transhumanists believe that we can enhance our intellectual and physical capacities; transcend our biological limitations, including death; and create a more evolved species they call the 'posthuman.'" * Influential globalists, like Jewish historian and social scientist Yuval Noah Harari, and Karl Schwab, founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), are teaching that mankind is moving toward a new level of perfection—a level of immortality, even— where, by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other modern computer technology, man will no longer die but live forever on a Utopian earth, an earth the globalists are trying to transform through deliberate climate change, the destruction of our food supply, and the promotion of a vaccine that has killed more people than it has helped.  So, what does the mark of the beast have to do with all of this?  It is possible that the mark of the beast will be the means by which a human will be turned into a trans-human. In taking the mark of the beast, a person will receive some kind of substance—whether biological or technological, probably a combination of both—that could possibly alter his DNA from the way God created it to an unnatural DNA that no longer makes him human. This new hybrid creature will be called a "trans-human" and will be the modern-day version of the Nephilim mentioned in the Bible in Genesis, chapter 6. Scripture tells us in Matthew 24: 37 that "as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." Just as there were Nephilim in Noah's day—hybrid creatures who were part human and part demonic as a result of the sexual intercourse that occurred between fallen angels and human women—so will there be hybrid cre...

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/Are_You_Suffering_from_a_Father_Wound.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, April 10, 2023, and this is Episode #15 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "Are You Suffering from a Father Wound?" What is a father wound?  According to Focus on the Family's Alfred C.W. Davis, the father wound is "the absence of love from one's birth father." * Father wounds stem from many causes, but bottomline, a father wound results from one's earthly father's not meeting one's physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual needs. This failure to meet a child's needs can result from abuse, absence, domination, or death. It can also result from the withholding of love for whatever reason. Regardless of the cause, the pain of the wound is the same—deep and lingering. The most common effect of a father wound is lack of self-worth, usually resulting in performance syndrome. The child comes to believe that he has to perform in order to be loved. And so begins the vicious cycle of doing, instead of being, the vicious cycle that ends up destroying the child and his future relationships, even into adulthood. Some symptoms of the father wound are the following: __Feelings of unworthiness. "I'm not good enough." __Feelings of being stupid. "I'll never get this." __Feelings of inadequacy and incompetence. "I'm a loser." __Feelings of being unloved or unlovable. "Who would want to love me?" Those suffering from father wounds usually experience constant, underlying inner pain and are often unaware of the cause. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that our souls can be healed and restored. You see, when we are born again, it is our spirits that are made perfect. This is called justification. We are instantaneously justified before God by the Blood of Christ. Our souls, however --our mind, will, and emotions--are still wounded and scarred and need to be healed. This healing process, which can take a lifetime, is what the Bible calls sanctification--that is, becoming holy. So, once we have been born again--that is, once we have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord—He can begin healing the father wound. The healing of the father wound comes under the heading of sanctification. This means that, little by little, the Holy Spirit restores our wounded souls. He reveals lies we have believed about our fathers. He gives us understanding of the reasons our fathers acted the way they did. He does not condone our fathers' actions. Rather, He helps us to understand them so that we can more readily forgive our fathers. Father wounds often involve lies from the devil. For example, a father wound can cause us to believe we are worthless and good for nothing. But, when we read the Word of God, we discover the truth about ourselves. We discover who we truly are in Christ—that we are enough because God says we are. We are not stupid, because we have the mind of Christ. We are not losers, but we are more than conquerors through Christ Who loves us. We are worthy of love because God loves us and died to save us.

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/The_Dangers_of_Digital_Currency.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, April 3, 2023, and this is Episode #14 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "The Dangers of Digital Currency". If you have not yet heard about the imminent adoption of a digital currency system here in the United States and throughout the world, you will soon. Sometime this year, the United States will very likely make the huge transition from cash and credit cards to digital currency. What exactly is digital currency, and why should we be concerned about it?  According to journalist Leo Hohmann, digital currency is a "cashless electronic payment system that feeds on your personal biometric data." So what does that mean? It means that we will no longer be able to pay for purchases with cash or credit cards. Instead, we will pay with a scan of the hand or the face, a practice called facial recognition.  Why the concern? It seems as though digital currency will make our lives easier, no? We won't have to carry around credit cards. We can pay with a simple scan of our hand. No more worries about not having enough cash on us or forgetting our credit card. So, what's the problem? The problem is that the digital currency system is a cover-up for the implementation of the Mark of the Beast as prophesied in the Book of Revelation, chapter 13: 16: "He [the AntiChrist] required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name."  That number, as we learn in the following verse, is 666, the number associated with the AntiChrist. Amazon has already rolled out its "pay by palm" platform to pay for purchases in its brick-and-mortar stores. Based on the Amazon model, the Panera Bread chain has announced that it is planning to roll out a digital system for purchases in its restaurants. J.P. Morgan Bank has also announced such a roll-out and plans to make it available to the banks and businesses within its purview.  Other credit card companies have already introduced payment systems based on hand or face scans. For example, VISA calls its biometric system "contactless payment".  If you visit Visa's website, you can find a list of retailers already participating in its contactless payment system. These include McDonalds, CVS Pharmacy, 7-Eleven, Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, OfficeMax, Whole Foods, Aldi, and Costco, among others. Mastercard has introduced a similar biometric payment system that it calls "Smile to Pay". Well, we won't be smiling any time soon when we learn what is really going on.  The truth of the matter is that the world is being set up and programmed to accept the Mark of the Beast, the mark that will be required during the Tribulation in order to buy or sell anything. You might ask, "What's wrong with that?" If it makes my life easier by making shopping more convenient, what's the harm? The harm is this. The mark of the beast is not simply a financial transaction tool. The mark of the beast is an indication that one has chosen to worship Sa...

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/Are_You_an_Amateur_Providence_.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, March 27, 2023, and this is Episode #13 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "Are You an 'Amateur Providence'?" Sometimes we stand in the way of God by trying to help people instead of simply praying for them. In his classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest," Oswald Chambers refers to this as being an "amateur providence".   There is a fine line between helping and controlling, and we must continually be on guard not to cross that line. If we do, it is a sign that we have very likely allowed a Jezebel spirit to enter our lives. What is a Jezebel spirit? Jezebel was the very domineering wife of the weak-spirited King Ahab, one of the kings of Israel. Her attitude was "My way or the highway."  She wreaked horrific destruction in Israel by promoting the worship of false gods. She killed God's prophets, and she was the cause of the murder of an innocent man. Jezebel was in the grips of a demonic, controlling spirit that has become known as the Jezebel spirit.  The Jezebel spirit has been the destruction of many marriages, families, and churches.  Jesus refers to the Jezebel spirit in Revelation 2: 20 when He addresses the church of Thyatira: “But I have a few things against you: You permit that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols”. Jesus is reprimanding the church of Thyatira for permitting the Jezebel spirit to continue to operate in its midst.  How can we recognize a Jezebel spirit? Here are some characteristics: 1. The ultimate goal of the Jezebel spirit is control. This spirit wants its own agenda to prevail, and will do anything and everything to accomplish it. People in the grips of the Jezebel spirit are usually very insecure and see themselves in a negative light. They have usually been emotionally wounded in some way and seek significance in ruling over others.  2. The Jezebel spirit rebels against authority, especially male authority. Usually this rebellion against male authority stems from a poor relationship with one's father.  One of the worst displays of the Jezebel spirit occurs in a church where the pastor is weak and allows himself to be controlled by this spirit.  3. The Jezebel spirit is manipulative.  It tries to undermine divinely appointed leadership by pretending to step up to the plate in order to help, while all the while it is taking authority that does not belong to it.  4. The Jezebel spirit operates clandestinely, often under the guise of sacrificial servanthood. If a leader is not discerning, he or she will be overcome by the Jezebel spirit. 5. The family of one who has yielded to the Jezebel spirit is often chaotic and out of order.  The Jezebel spirit always requires the presence of the Ahab spirit in order to accomplish its goals. The Ahab spirit is the spirit that allows Jezebel to take control. The Ahab spirit is weak, complacent, and does not step into its role of divinely ordained lead...

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/A_Warning_from_the_Watchman.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, March 20, 2023, and this is Episode #12 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "A Warning from the Watchman".  Did you know that God has called certain people to be watchmen? What is a watchman? A watchman is a person who stands guard and keeps watch for those he loves in order to protect them from oncoming danger and harm. There are all kinds of watchmen. We have security guards who protect businesses at night. We have watchmen who protect students at schools, and watchmen who protect neighborhoods.  And there are also watchmen for entire countries. A father is a watchman for his family. He keeps guard against any spiritual, physical, and financial harm toward his wife and children. A pastor is a watchman for his congregation. He keeps guard against any spiritual deception and harm toward his congregants.  There are also watchmen called by God to alert the world of the impending doom predicted in Bible prophecy. These are end-time watchmen, and I am one of them. End-time watchmen are often misunderstood, ridiculed, and mocked. But that comes with the job. :) We choose to overlook those obstacles because of our love for the people for whom we watch. We see a bigger picture that, perhaps, they do not yet see, and we seek to show them that picture for their ultimate safety. Today, I want to share with you some warnings that I see as a watchman for the United States. These warnings are not of my own creation. They are all predicted in the Bible. I can, therefore, share them with the authority of God's Word backing me. So, please take heed and search the Scriptures for yourself. You will discover that what I am saying is true and should be heeded. 1) The United States of America is being taken over by totalitarianism. (If you missed it, see my last post titled "The Totalitarian Tiptoe" at the link provided. The Bible predicted that shortly before the Rapture (that world-shattering even when Jesus removes His Church from the earth), there would arise a "new world order"--a global system whose purpose would be to subjugate humanity under the dictatorship of a man called the AntiChrist.  2) The rise of digital currency. We are already seeing this happening as the world economy gives up cash and moves toward a digital currency platform. Many, including myself, consider this move a great threat to our personal freedom. Digital currency will allow the federal government to monitor our every transaction and to challenge each one based on our religious belief system and our political ideology. If we think the way the government thinks, we will have special purchasing privileges. If we do not, we won’t. 3) The invasion of America by foreign troops. It is no secret that countries like China and Russia are enemies of the United States. Already, there are reports of Chinese and Russian submarines and ships secretly sailing off our coasts. And, recently, China brazenly sent spy balloons across our country while we stood by and simply watched.

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/Wired_for_Worship.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, March 6, 2023, and this is Episode #10 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "Wired for Worship".  It has been said that man cannot live without someone or something to worship. If man does not worship the one, true, living God, man will worship another man or he will worship himself, or he will worship some thing. Why is this so? Because God designed us this way. It has always been God's will that we worship Him. Worshipping the one true God is the only way for us to experience life, freedom, joy, and peace. But, when we choose to worship a false god—such as another man or thing, or oneself—we will experience destruction and death. Today men have turned away from the one true God and are worshipping false gods. Some of these false gods include the following: __Politicians __Movie Stars __Music Idols __Entertainment (such as video games) __Planet Earth __Health and Fitness (Yes, health and fitness) __Money and __Sex  In the Book of Revelation, chapter 4, the Apostle John is taken up into heaven where he sees God's throne. The throne is the focal point of Heaven, and on that throne sits the one true God. In this chapter of Revelation, John describes everything he sees in relation to the throne.  Today we have denied the throne of God. We have replaced it with atheism, which says there is no throne, and with humanism which says there is a throne but man sits on it. Both of these worldviews deny the throne of God. Only Christianity acknowledges that God sits on the throne. Let me ask you, my friend, who sits on the throne of your life? Is it a job, a career, money? Drugs? Sex? Alcohol? Is it a political leader, a rock star, or even a spouse? You see, even a loved one can become a god in one's life. When the disciples told Jesus that his mother and brothers were standing outside the house in which he was preaching and they were asking to speak with Him, what did Jesus say? He said, “'Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?' Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!'”  (Matthew 12: 48-50 NLT). Here the Lord was showing us that no thing, no person, must come between us and the will of God. Anything that does is called idolatry.  So, I ask you again. Who or what sits on the throne of your life? Whom or what are you worshipping? Is it someone or something other than the one true God? If so, it's time to repent and turn to the only true and living God. No one can love you more. No one can better provide for you. No one can give you peace the way God can. No one can bring healing to your body as only He can. No one can heal your broken, shattered heart as only God can. You see, God is the One Who created you. He knows everything about you. Every single detail. He put you together in the first place, so when you are broken, He can fix you because He alone perfectly knows you. And He created you because He wanted a relationship w...

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/The_Paganization_of_America.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, February 27, 2023, and this is Episode #9 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "The Paganization of America".  When I studied the history of Western Civilization in college back in the mid-sixties, the cultural consensus was that the West had overcome the primitive beliefs of earlier peoples who worshipped gods and goddesses, mythology, and other forms of paganism. We in America--and in the West-- had now become a rational civilization, a civilization that eschewed ancient myths, ancient forms of worship, and ancient philosophies. We now had science, and science poked holes in such silliness. If only my history professor back in those days could see what is happening in our country now! We have embraced the very culture we once termed as foolish and primitive. We have returned to those destructive lies. We are once again worshipping pagan gods in America. In a pivotal book titled The Return of the Gods (affiliate link), Rabbi Jonathan Cahn posits that America's return to paganism began in the sixties when prayer was removed from our public schools. This heinous act, Cahn points out, was the first step in separating our children from God and God from our children. Since then, it has been a downhill battle in our land to save our children from wickedness and destruction. We have only to look at the staggering suicide rate among children between the ages of nine and fifteen. We must ask ourselves why. The answer is clear. Without God, there is no hope. Sadly, we have come a very long way from the America in which I grew up.  Just to give you an example: From 1950 until 1954, I attended Kindergarten to fourth grade at the public school in my town. My first grade teacher, Miss Ritter, had a Bible on her desk. Every morning, our class had to rise for the reading of the Word. After reading a passage from the Bible, my teacher prayed aloud. After her prayer, we saluted the flag. (Click here to read my heartwarming story about Miss Ritter, titled "Miss Ritter's Bible".) If a public school teacher today did what my first-grade teacher did back in 1951, today's teacher would be fired and, possibly, charged with breaking the law. And we wonder why our youth have gone astray? If you've ever watched old television programs like Leave It to Beaver, you get a glimpse of what America was like back in the 50s. I can vouch for those TV shows. I grew up in the fifties and sixties. America back then was a wholesome place, a country where the consensus was a moral one, even among those who were not Christian. It was considered shameful to have sex before marriage. Today, we blatantly promote sex before marriage. In fact, we even encourage young people to live together without getting married. Of course, there has always been sin, even back in the 50s and 60s. But sin was not glorified and magnified as it is today. Worse yet, we have entered an era when Satan—the father of sin—is being worshipped and glorified. Case in point: the recent Emmy Awards.

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/Great_Awakening_or_Rude_Awakening.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, February 20, 2023, and this is Episode #8 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "The Great Awakening or the Rude Awakening?" If you've been listening to the news lately, you know that there is a Great Awakening going on in the heartland of our country. It began at Asbury University in Kentucky, and it is now spreading to other Christian universities in the Midwest. People are coming from all over the United States to experience this great move of God.  A similar move of God occurred at Asbury University—then Asbury College—back in 1970, the year in which I was born again. That move of God also spread across the United States, reaching as far west as an Anglican church in the state of Washington and as far east as Pennsylvania and New Jersey where I lived. So, what is going on? What we are witnessing is, I believe, a final outpouring of God's mercy before the return of His Son Jesus Christ. You see, my friend, God does not want anyone to go to hell. In 2 Peter 3: 9, His Word says this: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." So, what we are witnessing through this Third Great Awakening is God's response to hearts hungry for Him. Many in our land—especially our youth—have experienced hopelessness and despair at the direction in which our country has gone. Many have cried out to God for help. And God has graciously responded. But, lest we become proud or complacent, let us be forewarned that this Great Awakening precedes the Rude Awakening when the Age of God's Grace will cease and the Age of God's Wrath will begin.  You see, God's mercy endures for a season, but at one point it will no longer be available. At one point, it will be too late to receive it.  Are you willing to take such a risk?  There is a verse in the Bible that most people are not aware of, but it is a verse that should put the fear of God in our hearts. The verse is found in the book of Galatians, chapter 6, verse 7: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."  This verse makes clear that when it comes to God, we will not get away with anything. Whatever we plant is what we will harvest. In other words, what goes around comes around. So, do not take this Great Awakening for granted. Do not make light of it because a similar awakening may never come again. Perhaps not in your lifetime, at least. Instead, ask yourself this question: What am I going to do with this great outpouring of God's mercy? How am I going to respond to this Great Awakening? Will I participate in it by accepting God's invitation to be saved? Or will I walk away and remain in my sin and rebellion? The choice is yours, my friend. But know this: the choice you make will have eternal ramifications. If you choose to participate in the Great Awakening by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord,

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/Are_You_Connecting_the_Dots_.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, February 13, 2023, and this is Episode #7 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "Are You Connecting the Dots"? Have you figured it out yet that God is judging the earth? How else do you explain the apocalyptic events that are occurring all around us—and all at the same time? Earthquakes of immense proportions. Weather patterns that are unprecedented. Lawlessness that has run rampant. Insane thinking that defies description and credibility.  Where is all of this craziness leading? To exactly where the Bible predicts it will lead: to the rise of the one-world religion, one-world economic system, and one-world government led by the worst dictator in human history known as the AntiChrist. In case you don't know it, this dictator is already in the wings, waiting patiently to make his appearance on center stage after the Rapture and during the Tribulation. He will be the man who brings a supposed peace in the Middle East, the man who seemingly reconciles the world with Israel and Israel with the world, the man who gets the chaos under control after millions of Christians suddenly disappear in the Rapture. He will be brilliant, charismatic, and powerful.  And, he will be a Deceiver! In fact, he will be the human personification of the chief deceiver of all time, Satan himself. So, you may be asking, how do you know all this, Dr. MaryAnn? Simple. It has all been predicted in the Bible. Of course, if you don't read the Bible, you very likely will have no clue about what is really going on. All you see are the events, but you don't know what is going on behind the events and who is instigating them. My friend, I urge you to read the Bible. God gave it to us as our manual for life. Just as you get a manual for your car, you get a manual for your life. That manual is called the Bible. But very few people read it. The Bible contains prophecies about the future. Most of these prophecies have already come to pass. Many of them are being fulfilled before our very eyes. And some of them have yet to be fulfilled. Everything the Bible prophesies happens according to God's plan. But most people are not connecting the dots. Why not? Because they do not know the Bible. It's all explained in that Book above all books. The Book that is the best-selling book of all time, but the book that most people relegate to a shelf to collect dust. But they do so at their own peril. You see, my friends, God is warning us and has been warning us all along of what the future holds. There are signs in the heavens that foretell the events of the last days. In the last few years, we've witnessed several blood moons, comets, asteroids, unusual planetary alignments, solar flares, and a host of other signs through which God is speaking to us. Well, you may say, these things have been happening for centuries. Yes, but not all at the same time!  It's called Convergence, all the signs of the end happening at the same time. But, sadly, few are paying attention. Most,

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/How_Close_Are_We_to_the_Rapture.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, February 6, 2023, and this is Episode #6 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "How Close Are We to the Rapture?" This past week, a new version of the movie Left Behind was released, under the directorship of Kevin Sorbo. This movie recounts the events that will soon transpire on earth as we move closer and closer to the Great Tribulation. Unlike the two earlier versions of the Left Behind movie, Sorbo's version is like watching the morning news. The movie takes place against a backdrop of events that are currently happening in the world around us. What he portrays on the screen is what we are currently reading in the morning headlines or watching on the evening news. Usually, apocalyptic-type movies present a scenario of a future yet to be unfolded. But Left Behind presents a scenario that is currently happening before our very eyes and that predicts the future yet to be unfolded.  So, what does this mean for us? It means several things: 1) The Bible is absolutely true. All of the events happening in our world today—from the Covid crisis to the rise of trans-humanism, digital currency, the mark of the beast, and the AntiChrist—are all predicted in the Bible. Everything in the world is happening just as God said it would. All of these events are either taking place now or are being set up for the near future. 2) Current events mean that the Rapture of the Church is just around the corner. Bible prophecy will be fulfilled, whether we believe it will or not. We have no say in the matter because God alone is God. We are not. You see, my friend, God will have the final say, whether you believe it or not. So, doesn't it make sense to get ourselves on God's side?  One of the greatest signs of the coming Tribulation is that man will declare himself as god. This is what the World Economic Forum is doing, especially through its spokesman Yuval Noah Harari, right-hand man to Klaus Schwab. If you haven't heard of Harari or his dangerous false teachings, check him out.  3. You do not want to be left behind when the Rapture occurs. If you think the world is crazy now, it will be unrecognizable after the Rapture. When Christ-followers are taken home to Heaven, chaos will reign supreme. Imagine airplanes in flight suddenly without their pilots. Imagine cars suddenly without their drivers. Imagine mothers suddenly without their infants and children. All this is what will happen at the time of the Rapture when Christ-followers are removed from this earth. So, how close are we to the Rapture? Very, very close. World events indicate that the Rapture could occur any day now. As my husband often says, the world is not falling apart. It is falling into place. World events are falling into place for the Rapture and the Tribulation to occur just as the Bible predicted they would.  If you want to get a good picture of what the world will look like after all Christ-Followers are removed from the earth, watch one of the Left Behind movies.

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/You_Are_Loved_.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, January 30, 2023, and this is Episode #5 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "You Are Loved!" In my 77 years on this earth and my 50-plus years of ministering to people both as a Life Coach, a Licensed Minister, and a friend, I have discovered that an underlying root of all sin and suffering is the belief that one is not loved. Because all of us were created to love and to be loved, this false belief leads us to look for love in the wrong places, and when we do, we always end up in trouble. The need for love is a universal need. We find it in every person of every age and nationality. We find the need for love throughout human history, as expressed in our literature and our historical documents. We find the need for love in every child as he trustingly reaches out to those who care for him. The need for love is a need we cannot deny or escape. Yet so many of us try to do just that. The need for love is a need placed in our hearts by God Who created us so that we would look to Him to meet our need for love.  The sad thing, however, is that while the need for love never goes away, the wrong ways we try to fill that need backfire on us and, instead of love, we experience suffering and sorrow. Broken relationships and broken hearts. When babies do not receive the love they need, their souls become warped. They learn that they have to perform to be loved, or that they are not worthy of love, or that they are unloveable. These soul wounds continue to fester as the child grows up, making his adult relationships fraught with problems. Moreover, when one does not receive the love he needs as a child, he begins looking for love in the wrong places. For instance, in drugs, alcohol, food, illicit sex, pornography, or crime. Perhaps you yourself find yourself in such a situation. Perhaps you have looked to the wrong sources to get the love you need. If so, let me offer you hope. No matter what you've done or where you are in life, there is One Who loves you and will always love you, no matter what. That One is God. He made you because He loves you, and He continues to love you despite the way you may have messed up your life. He wants to heal you and restore you. He wants to show you how much He loves you. You see, my friend, all healing begins with the knowledge and belief that God loves you! Until you truly know and believe in the depths of your heart that God loves you, you will remain stuck in your bondage. Until you truly know and believe that God loves you, you will live a life of continual regret.  So, you may be asking, what am I supposed to do? How can I know and believe that God loves me? Well, the first thing is to ask yourself if you truly want to receive God's love. Some people don't, you know, and that is tragic. For only God's love can save you. But if you truly want to receive God's love, it is there for the taking. God never stops loving you. While you are on this earth, He never stops offering you His love.

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/How_to_Fight_Fear.mp3  _________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, January 23, 2023, and this is Episode #4 of Series 2023. This episode is titled "How to Fight Fear". Wherever I turn, I meet people who are fighting fear. Fear is the buzzword of the day as people face job losses, pay cuts, inflationary food prices, health challenges, and relationship issues. If this describes you in any way, let me share the antidote to fear so that you can rid your life of it once and for all. Fear expresses itself as a powerful emotion, perhaps the most powerful of all emotions. We all know that sick feeling in the pit of our stomach when fear strikes. That overwhelming pressure on our chests. That painful lump in our throats. That relentless, irrational attack on our minds that causes us to picture the worst. These physiological changes when fear strikes are real and, I might add, harmful. I grew up in an atmosphere of fear, with the result that fear became a stronghold in my life. For years, I thought I had no control over fear, so whenever it struck, I would allow it to take me wherever it wanted to take me. But after I came to Christ and was born again, I learned something about fear that blew me away. Something that gave me an insight into fear that totally changed my perspective on it and the means by which I fought it. Now, I want to share what I learned with you. I had always thought that fear was an emotion. But the Bible says something completely different. Here it is in 2 Timothy 1: 7: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Did you get that? I'll read it again. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear." Fear is a spirit! It is not a feeling. Yes, we experience negative feelings when we fear, but behind those negative feelings is a demonic spirit. This revelation was a game-changer for me. It meant that I finally understood what I was dealing with when I felt fear. And because I understood what I was dealing with, I knew how to handle it. You see, when we are born again, we receive the authority and power of Christ over the enemy. In Luke 10: 19, we read this: "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."   Did you get that? "I give you authority over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Jesus has given the born-again believer authority over ALL the power of Satan. And that includes authority over the spirit of fear. When we feel fear, we are hearing the devil talking. He is whispering—or shouting—lies to us to divert our focus from God to himself. At the first signal of fear, then, we must recognize that we are dealing with an evil spirit, and we must use the authority that Jesus gave us to resist that evil spirit of fear so that it will flee from us. The battle can be vicious. I remember one incident in particular when my daughters were teenagers. They had gone to a school event that took place in the evening.