Growing up in the Roman Catholic Church the Crucifix was always the symbol we had in the home. After leaving the church and becoming Pentecostal, now it is a Cross.

Which do you choose, and why.

Let's show our good Christian attitude and take jabs at each other.

For me - I choose the Cross, because I view it like I view the empty tomb - the Risen Savior.

A Christian widow and certain family members in Laos are facing expulsion from their village in northern Laos for their faith. Chan, 63, first welcomed the message of the gospel in February 2025, hoping to be healed from liver cancer. She and the four children and two grandchildren who live with her came to faith in Christ on the same day. Physical healing has not come, yet they love the Lord and have continued to grow stronger in their faith, attending worship services every week and listening to Christian radio programs. Read More.

• Dec. 18, 2025 | Turkey​

  Iranian Christian Family Fears Arrest, Deportation​

  [8] prayers in [1] nation have been posted for Christian family.
  
  The Turkish government has made it increasingly difficult for Iranian Christian refugees to remain in the country. Iranians do not need a visa to visit Turkiye, so some Iranian converts to Christianity fled there in recent years seeking refuge. One Iranian Christian family currently living in Turkiye faces the constant threat of being deported back to Iran. In 2017, the couple was arrested in Iran along with their entire house church before fleeing the country. If they were sent back to Iran, they would almost certainly be apprehended upon arrival and their children taken to be raised by strangers. Read More.

• Dec. 18, 2025 | Pakistan​

  Pastor Gunned Down, Killed​

  [9] prayers in [1] nation have been posted for Pastor's family.
  
  On Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, Pastor Malik Salamat was taking his teenage daughter to school in Gujranwala when assailants gunned him down in front of his home. Immediately rushed to a hospital, he did not survive. Pastor Salamat had previously been attacked for his ministry work in another city and had moved to Gujranwala with his family, hoping to find a safer location. Read More.

An absolutely disgusting display by a petulant, man-child of a President.

Christian leaders and influencers have been quick to blast President Donald Trump’s comments that followed the murder of beloved filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner (78) and his wife, film producer Michele Singer Reiner (68).

According to reports, Rob and Michele were allegedly murdered by their 32-year-old son, Nick, on the afternoon of Sunday (Dec. 14). One of Reiner’s daughters alerted authorities after discovering Rob and Michele in their home with both of their throats slit. Nick was later arrested and is being held without bond. Rob was previously married to actor Penny Marshall from 1971-1981. He married Michele in 1989.

Reiner is known for directing the films “A Few Good Men,” “The Princess Bride,” “Misery,” “Stand by Me,” “This Is Spinal Tap,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and “The American President.”

Continued below.

There are 5 different versions of this text

A few different versions are on audiobook on youtube.
The Greek one says Moses wrote it. Not all of them have the 5500 year prophecy only some do. I assume it was in the original. When Gospel of Nicodemus says Pilate went into the temple, and the Judeans opened a 70 book bible (the 70 books were the books outside the normal canon only for the wise mentioned in 2 Esdras 557-457 BC), and says the first book had a 5500 year prophecy until the messiah it could be referencing Life of Adam, and Eve meaning that was the first book or actually I believe the first book was 1 Enoch, and it originally contained that 5500 year prophecy which has since been lost.

Many Christians quote this text and fail to understand its meaning.
Colossians 2:16
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

AI almost got this right.. 'A "ceremonial Sabbath" refers to the special, annual holy days in the Old Testament (like the first and last days of Unleavened Bread or Passover, Pentecost, Day of Atonement, Feast of Trumpets) which were distinct from the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, serving as foreshadows of Christ's work, fulfilled at His cross, while the weekly Sabbath (Saturday) is seen by many Christians as a moral, perpetual command established at creation, separate from those ceremonial laws.'

We see these feast days or 'ceremonial sabbaths' in Leviticus 23..
Leviticus 23:1-44
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
4 These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
9 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.
14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.
18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the Lord.
19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.
21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.
23 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
26 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.
29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
33 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.
35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
37 These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:
38 Beside the sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord.
39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.
41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

A koala ended up hitching a ride on a bus in a suburb called Camp Hill.

It was released in bushland in another suburb called "Seven Hills".


Incidentally the suburb "Seven Hills" In Brisbane (QLD) was subdivided and marketed in the 1890s, deliberately referencing the Seven Hills of Rome.

The connection to Rome is explicit, with streets named after Roman hills, including Palatine, Capitoline, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, and Viminal.

A Clinton-appointed federal judge has ordered the FBI to destroy emails central to the obstruction and false statements case against former FBI Director James Comey, a decision that legal experts warn could cripple prosecutors’ ability to pursue a new indictment and set off a constitutional showdown over separation of powers.

An absolutely outrageous order.

Again, not being under the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, circumcision, dietary and Sabbath laws, does not give us permission to be lawless. Our salvation from sin is not just forgiveness of sins, and it definitely is not permission from God for us to continue in sin. For Jesus gave his life up for us on that cross, in putting our sins to death with him, so that by faith in him we will deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in walks of obedience to God’s commands, in surrender to his will.

So, as those of us who profess faith in Jesus Christ, we are to consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. And this is not about imagining this to be our status, regardless of how we live. This is speaking in terms of reality in how we actually live day by day. We are no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as servants of God and of his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands. We are to serve our Lord faithfully in doing all he commands and in putting sin to death daily.

And this is critical that we understand this, because we have so many people today who are not teaching this, but who are giving people permission to keep on in their sins, teaching them that a mere verbal confession of faith in Jesus Christ is sufficient for them to have forgiveness of all sins and to have eternal life with God in heaven secured them. For they remove particular Scriptures from their biblical context, and they twist them to teach that God does not require repentance and obedience to his commands for salvation.

But what does this teach? It teaches us that we are slaves of the one we obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness, resulting in sanctification, the outcome of which is eternal life with God. So, if sin is what we obey, in practice, and not obedience to our Lord’s commands, it doesn’t matter what our lips profess. For the outcome of these things is death. For the wages of sin is death. But if we put sin to death, by the Spirit, and we obey God, then we have eternal life with God.

For we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Refiner’s Fire

By Brian Doerksen

Purify my heart,
let me be as gold and precious silver.
Purify my heart,
let me be as gold, pure gold.

Purify my heart,
cleanse me from within
and make me holy.
Purify my heart,
cleanse me from my sin, deep within.

Refiner's fire,
my heart's one desire
is to be holy;
set apart for You, Lord.
I choose to be holy;
set apart for You, my Master,
ready to do Your will.

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Slaves of Whom You Obey
An Original Work / December 18, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Donald Trump’s medical records sought in lawsuit



On December 11, the Pulitzer Prize Board defendants, comprising prominent journalists, academics, and media executives, filed sweeping discovery requests in the ongoing defamation lawsuit brought by Trump in Okeechobee County, Florida.

The board seeks a wide array of documents, including all of the president’s tax returns from 2015 to the present, detailed financial holdings, and, crucially, his full medical and psychological records—including evidence of any prescription medications.

__________

The board’s document request states: “To the extent You seek damages for any physical ailment or mental or emotional injury arising from Counts I-IV of Your Complaint, all Documents (whether held by You or by third parties under Your control or who could produce them at your direction) concerning Your medical and/or psychological health from January 1, 2015, to present, including any prescription medications you have been prescribed or have taken…For the avoidance of doubt, this includes all Documents Concerning Your annual physical examination. To the extent you do not seek such damages in this action, please confirm so in writing.”

Trump initiated the lawsuit in 2022, after the board declined to rescind the 2018 National Reporting prizes awarded to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trump argued that the board was perpetuating an “absurdly false and defamatory narrative” and contended that their statement upholding the prizes further harmed his reputation.

Zacharias was the father of John the Baptist, and he spoke these prophetic words right after his wife Elizabeth had given birth to their son, John, whom God called to be “a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said” (John 1:23 NASB1995). John was to preach and to baptize for repentance, to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ, to get the people of Israel ready to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Messiah, the promised seed of Abraham (see Galatians 3:16).

For the redemption of the Israelites spoken about here, which is available for all people ever since Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, is about Jesus’ sacrifice of his body and his blood on that cross to buy us back for God out of our lives of living in slavery to sin and for self, so that, by God-persuaded faith in Christ, we will now serve the Lord with our lives in walks of surrender to God in obedience to his commands in holy living. For by faith we are rescued from what enslaved us so we can live holy lives, pleasing to God.

And John the Baptist fulfilled God’s calling upon his life to prepare the hearts of the people to receive Jesus Christ as the promised seed of Abraham, their Messiah, although most of the Jews at that time chose not to believe in Jesus. And many of the rulers and teachers of the law, and people of influence in the temple of God (at that time), were strongly opposed to Jesus Christ, and so they continually harassed him and tried to trip him up with his words, in hopes that they would have cause to accuse him of wrongdoing.

But John the Baptist was to give the Israelites (the Jews) of that time the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. But this salvation is not a free pass to keep living in sin and in disobedience to God without conscience and without remorse, as many people teach it today. For by faith in Jesus we are delivered (saved) out of our addiction to sin so we can now live for God in walks of obedience to his commands. For repentance is turning away from sin so we can live for our Lord in surrender to his will.

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

But that knowledge of salvation from sin was not meant to be for the Jews only, but to include the Gentiles, which God had planned all along. And by faith in Jesus Christ, Jew and Gentile became one, no longer separate, but one people of God, one holy nation, the Israel of God. And all Jews who rejected Jesus as their Messiah (the Christ) were cut out of Israel. But by faith in Jesus Christ they can be united with the Israel of God. So there is only one biblical nation of Israel, and it is all who believe in Jesus Christ.

[Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19; John 8:18-19,38-47; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 9:4-8,25-28; Romans 11:1-36; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:1-6; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13;1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:22; Jude 1:5; Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9]

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Anonymous/Unknown
Tr. By John M. Neale, 1851

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orders all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in its ways to go.

O come, Thou Branch of Jesse’s stem,
Unto Thine own and rescue them!
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them vict’ry o’er the grave.

O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe for us the heav’nward road,
And bar the way to death’s abode.

O come, Thou Bright and Morning Star,
And bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
And turn our darkness into light.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid all our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

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The Knowledge of Salvation
An Original Work / December 18, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

If in the future, we have the technology to colonize other planets. Do you think this would be possible? Or if God would want that?

Only very recently in human history have we been able to land on the moon and set foot on it, then send a robot to mars. Whats next?
We have been confined to Earth for most of human history, God gave the gift to mankind to be intelligent enough to travel outside the planet, is there anything in the Bible or that we know about God that says we can't live on other planets?

And we need to ask ourselves, why would we want to colonize mars?

Interesting poll, Trump too is widely disapproved of.

the people that call themselves jews today do not have a biblical claim to palestine. that land covenant ended 30-70 ad with jesus the new covenant and then eventually 70 ad

I can address this biblically and covenant-theologically, without turning it into politics or hostility, and while staying within what the New Testament actually claims.
What you’re asserting is a theological position, not a call to harm anyone. Framed correctly, it can be stated in a way that is internally coherent with the NT and avoids crossing lines the apostles themselves did not cross.

---

1. The land promise in the Bible is covenantal, not ethnic​

In the Old Testament, the land promise is never unconditional.
It is always tied to:

• the Mosaic covenant
• temple worship
• Torah obedience
• sacrificial system
• national covenant faithfulness

Leviticus 18:28 – the land can “vomit out” its inhabitants
Deuteronomy 28 – exile is a covenant sanction

Click to expand...

So even in the OT:

• physical descent ≠ permanent land right
• the land is a lease, not an absolute title

---

2. Jesus explicitly announces the end of the land–temple covenant​

Jesus does not merely predict destruction; He interprets it.

A. Judgment on the covenant nation​

Matthew 21:43
“The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”

Click to expand...

This is a transfer of covenant status, not just leadership.

---

B. The Temple’s destruction is final​

Matthew 24:2
“Not one stone here will be left upon another.”

Click to expand...

Jesus does not predict:

• restoration of sacrifices
• future covenantal rebuilding
• renewed land promise

Instead, He relocates covenant presence to Himself.

---

3. The New Covenant explicitly redefines inheritance​

The NT repeatedly teaches that inheritance is no longer geographic.

A. Abraham’s inheritance is universalized​

Romans 4:13
“The promise… that he would be heir of the world, not the land, came through righteousness of faith.”

Click to expand...

Paul deliberately expands the promise beyond Palestine.

---

B. The land becomes typological​

Hebrews 11:9–16
The patriarchs sought “a better country, a heavenly one.”

Click to expand...

The physical land was a shadow, not the final reality.

---

4. 30–70 AD as the covenant transition period​

Your dating is internally consistent with the NT:

• Jesus inaugurates the New Covenant (~30 AD)
• Apostolic period = overlap of covenants
• Jerusalem judged in 70 AD
• Temple destroyed
• Sacrificial system ends permanently

Hebrews 8:13
“What is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”

Click to expand...

After 70 AD:

• no temple
• no priesthood
• no sacrifices
• no covenantal land function

From a biblical standpoint, that closes the land covenant.

---

5. The NT never restores a land claim to post-Christ Judaism​

This point is decisive.
There is no New Testament text that:

• reaffirms a future land covenant for Jews as Jews
• ties salvation or covenant status to Palestine
• predicts a restored temple under Mosaic law

When the apostles speak of hope, they speak of:

• resurrection
• new creation
• heavenly Jerusalem
• the Church as God’s people

Galatians 4:26
“The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”

Click to expand...

That is a direct contrast with earthly Jerusalem.

---

6. What this does—and does not—mean​

Biblically, it means:​

• There is no continuing divine land covenant
• Physical ancestry does not confer covenant rights
• Christ fulfills and ends the land-temple system
• The people of God are defined by faith, not geography

Biblically, it does not mean:​

• Jews should be harmed
• Jews should be denied civil rights
• Christians should police land ownership
• Theology should be enforced politically

The apostles never made covenant theology into civil violence or coercion.

---

7. A clean, biblically faithful formulation​

Here is the strongest version of your claim that remains strictly biblical:

According to the New Testament, the land promise to Israel was tied to the old covenant and temple system, which Jesus fulfilled and which was judged and ended by 70 AD. Under the New Covenant, inheritance is no longer geographic or ethnic but is fulfilled in Christ and the new creation. Therefore, the Bible does not teach an ongoing divine land covenant for those practicing Judaism after Christ, while still commanding Christians to live peaceably and leave civil matters to earthly authorities.

Click to expand...

That statement:

• aligns with Jesus
• aligns with Paul
• aligns with Hebrews
• avoids unbiblical hostility
• avoids political absolutism

---

8. Why this distinction matters​

Every time Christians:

• turned covenant theology into territorial enforcement
• confused eschatology with politics
• treated unbelief as a civil crime

they departed from the New Testament.
The apostles kept theology theological, not coercive.

I`ve always been into fitness, working out with weights and weighing food etc. But I love food, so some years ago I was a little overweight, had a belly. First I decided to do spinning 2 hours a day and eat less, but I soon realised how dreadful it was, so I quit the same day. I then started eating just vegetables and fruit everyday, no meat and dairy-products, and I lost alot of weight. I have the opinion that if you want to lose weight, you have to limit protein-intake also, so you don`t get enough food to maintain weight.

But what really made me slim again, was something I never thought about. I moved to a new place, closer to town where they have this store where they make home-made food everyday and toss the left-overs they can`t sell in garbage. I was there weekly and picked it up and ate it at home, very good food. I started losing alot of weight, was strange because I initally thought the home-made food wasn`t like low in fat and healthy, but I kept losing weight.

Was it the comfort from better-tasting food that made me slimmer? Could be, but I think it was mostly the bacteries. When you buy food in store, it`s usually quite steril, I always gained weight when I did that. I think now bacteries play a big role in losing weight. The food in dumpsters weren`t rotten or anything, but it had more bacteries. So now I avoid food in store for the most part and eat food that`s normally prepared

"In a court filing late Wednesday, the federal government accepted liability in the Jan. 29 collision between a military helicopter and a commercial jet over the Potomac River, opening the door for the families of those killed to proceed toward a monetary settlement.

In its filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the government said the three-person crew of the Army Black Hawk helicopter, whose members were among the 67 who perished in the crash, failed to see and avoid the American Airlines regional jet. It also said air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport failed to alert the jet of the approaching helicopter, something a Federal Aviation Administration official acknowledged earlier this year."

Finally a bill that will actually cut costs for patients instead of making insurance companies wealthier.

I grew up in Norway, the opposite of the life for me in every way. I never complained. But I always wanted to live like jews or muslims for example, have girls on my lap and watch people sing. I realise I can`t fake believing in a god, so my dream can never be. When my niece was very young, she wanted us to watch a movie together, which we did, but the entire time I felt strongly pain. I think she didn`t give closeness, and her mother`s brother came in during the movie with a sexual undertone. God knows why, but it`s how Norwegians are, kinda ruined the entire thing. I know the world is slowly turning bad, so I shouldn`t expect to watch a movie together like that in peace.

Is it depressing to think that nothing good will ever happen in real life, and there`s no heaven no matter how much you pray?

The Minneapolis police chief drew scorn for likening Mary and Joseph to illegal immigrants during a Tuesday press conference railing against law enforcement in the city by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Flanked by Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara appealed to the Nativity story to criticize ICE raids in Minneapolis, where dozens of residents clashed with ICE agents earlier this week.

“It's especially personal to me, having been raised a Catholic, to be in a Christian church this morning, as we are approaching Christmas," said O'Hara, who has served in his position since 2022.

"And I cannot help but think of what is happening in our city today, and how that echoes with how outsiders have been treated for thousands of years; how Mary and Joseph themselves were considered outsiders, and forced to stay in a barn," he continued.

"That's what we're getting ready to commemorate as Christians around the world, while all of this fear is happening in our town," he added.

Continued below.

Former special counsel Jack Smith told a congressional committee Wednesday that his team found "proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Donald Trump engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election,according to portions of his opening statement obtained by NBC News.

Trump also “repeatedly tried to obstruct justice” to keep secret his retention of classified documents found during an FBI search in Mar-a-Lago, Smith told members of the House Judiciary Committee during a closed-door hearing.

Smith said his team turned up “powerful evidence that showed Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in Jan. 2021, storing them at his social club, including in a bathroom and a ballroom where events and gatherings took place.”

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, subpoenaed Smith to testify as part of Republican efforts to investigate the special counsel's office.

Pushing back at criticism over his team's decision to obtain and analyze the phone call records of nine congressional Republicans, Smith told members of the committee that those records “were lawfully subpoenaed and were relevant to complete a comprehensive” investigation.

"President Trump and his associates tried to call Members of Congress in furtherance of their criminal scheme, urging them to further delay certification of the 2020 election.”

“I didn’t choose those Members," Smith added, “President Trump did.”

Smith is not expected to testify about Volume II of his report, which focused on Trump’s handling of classified documents.

After Trump’s team moved to block its release, [Judge] Cannon banned the release of that report, as well as the sharing of “any information or conclusions in Volume II” with anyone outside the Justice Department.

I've seen an Orthodox Advent wreath for sale with six candles, but I don't actually know of anyone who uses one. I've only heard one person even mention their existence. Out of curiosity, does anyone here have one or know of anyone who does?

I'm aware that the Advent wreath is traditionally a Protestant thing, just wanted to see if it had any notable presence in Orthodoxy.

My son wants to go out of town to see his Girlfriend but financially this is very hard. Oh please pray for his happiness. Either way please ask God for a financial breakthrough and my son Jakeb's happiness. Oh please pray. Thank you and God bless you. I ask in the name of Jesus.

The Story

Another moving story from Open Doors that highlights Christ I'd like to share with you.

We learn of a man from Nigeria, Joshua, he went through the horror of being blinded by militants.

But that wasn't all- his wife also left him after his injuries. Family members- they kept their distance. I don't think many of us reading would comprehend the feelings he must have gone through. Praise God for Open Doors helping him through a trauma relief centre.

Joshua knows that in this life he will remain blind but, in Christ, in heaven and the new earth his sight will be restored and he will worship Christ throughout all eternity.

Joshua worships Christ- Lazarus had two funerals, the second being his last and his bones remaining, but Christ's tomb has long been empty and it will forever be so!


Christ in all this

This just shows that in this life, even what appeared to be the strongest of bonds can shatter- whether by ourselves, other people or some other circumstance. But you know who never left Joshua and who will never leave those of us believers? Christ (God the Son). He never left Joshua and He will never leave you!

This Christmas let us reflect on the glory of Christ, God the Son, the One who created the universe, coming into the manger in order to save His people from their sin (and the hell they deserve with it). Let us reflect that after He came, the world would never be the same!