The scene at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., in the wake of a shooting on Wednesday September 4, 2024. | YouTube/NBC News

Updated at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 4, 2024: The death toll rose to four, and nine others were injured in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday afternoon. The suspected shooter, who is in custody, is believed to be 14 years old. It's unknown whether he was a student at the high school.
Original:

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp urged residents of the state to join him in prayer Wednesday for the multiple casualties left in the wake of an active shooter incident at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, as investigators confirmed they have the suspect in custody.

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Valletta said:

NY’s Chinese consul general ousted after aide charged with acting as Beijing agent: Hochul

The departure of Consul General Huang Ping under murky circumstances came as sources told The Post that suspicions about Sun arose after she bestowed a state honor on the diplomat – an action she …

nypost.com

Walz too has ties with China. And many Chinese citizens of military age have illegally crossed our border.

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I'd like to correct the NY post (as quoted in the link): Ms. Sun was not charged with espionage (or spying) but rather as a foreign agent w/o registration (and associated crimes accumulated in those task). No theft or collection of sensitive materials was involved.

Ugh…..

mourningdove~ said:

Former President Donald Trump vowed, if elected come November, to rehire military service members who were let go for rejecting the COVID-19 vaccination and promised they would receive an apology with back pay.

"Kamala [Harris] and Crooked Joe purged 8,000 service members from our military for refusing their COVID vaccine mandate. They refused to do it," Trump said at an Asheboro, North Carolina, rally on Wednesday.

He added, "We didn't want a mandate. The mandate — you just can't do that."

"I will rehire every patriot that was fired with an apology and back pay. They will get their back pay and an apology from our government," he declared as the crowd loudly applauded.

The Republican presidential nominee said he hopes the former military service members now have "great jobs" while "making a lot of money" but hopes they want to come back.

"The mandate stuff should have never happened," he said to the rallygoers.

As of October 2023, only 43 of the fired 8,000 service members have rejoined the military following the repeal of the vaccine mandate.

Several groups, including First Liberty Institute and New Civil Liberties Alliance, have sued over the federal vaccine mandates and unconstitutional COVID-19 executive action.

While speaking during the rally, Trump also criticized the Biden-Harris administration's handling of the military and its morale.

MSN

www.msn.com

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My friends daughter refused the vaccine during military duty about 3 yrs ago and was fired, it's gonna be a big paycheck!

Xeno.of.athens said:

Our lifespan is finite, and neither wishing nor worrying can extend it. Medicine may prolong it somewhat, and good, healthy food may contribute as well. Ultimately, however, death is certain. The number of our days is known to God, not to us.

Christians anticipate a resurrection and eternal life, but the nature of that existence remains a mystery. What would it mean to outlast a mountain, a planet, or even a solar system? How would one spend their days, continually finding meaningful thoughts, words, and actions? Will technology, art, and science persist after the resurrection? It's a mystery.

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What give you the most joy during your Christ like life here on earth?
Would you say: Jesus seemed to take the greatest joy from helping others which also seemed to please God the most?
My thoughts on this are: There will be lots (to many really, which is my fault) people in heaven who never had the opportunity to fulfill their earthly objective, so they lack Godly type Love. Without that Love they will need to be protected and preserved for eternity. I would like to participate in protecting and preserving those I did not teach to the point of providing them the opportunity to fulfill their earthly objective. It is the least I could do and adds to my desire to allow the Spirit to work through me mentoring others.

A pastor should not require an additional job if the church can adequately meet their needs. However, numerous small churches are unable to fully sustain a full-time pastor, who must still ensure provision for their family.

I'm worried about your title. Pastors can't be available to their congregation 24/7. Usually, I notice pastor are overworked, dedicating 50-60 hours to the church and neglecting personal time with family.

I frequently notice that pastors dedicate most of their time to business meetings other church meeting and visiting congregants, leaving little time for personal prayer and Bible study.

joymercy said:

That is beautiful @RileyG . Do you see her wrapping you when you pray this? do you get an internal image of her maternal love for you?

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Yes.

Traze77 said:

What happens to believers who stop going to church? Do they go to hell or are there consequences?

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It's not a binary on-off switch situation.

What happens to a person if they stop eating? They become malnourished, it negatively affects their health. It can, of course, result in death, that's the worst thing that could happen.

When we stop going to church it's very similar, we are depriving ourselves of the spiritual nourishment we need, and it negatively affects our spiritual health. The worst case scenario is that we make shipwreck of our faith, and we abandon Jesus, throwing away His promises--in which case we may very well find ourselves in hell. But it's not because "I stopped going to church, now I'm going to hell", it's that I am starving myself of God's grace, I am starving myself of God's word, I am quenching the Holy Spirit, and I am walking away from the hope and eternal life I have in Christ. It's why the Scriptures constantly tell us to be at the receiving end of grace--to hear God's word, to come together, partake together of God's gifts, to share life together as the Body of Christ--because this is God's ordered means for how we have a healthy, growing relationship with Him where our faith is being strengthened. Because out in the world our faith is being assailed daily by temptation, by lies, but the spiritual wrongness that exists--both within ourselves and in a world broken by sin. The devil is a scavenger, a liar, and preys on us when we are outside the safety of the sheepfold.

It's not about "Do X or else". The Church is not a social club of saints, but a hospital for sinners. The Good Physician is here in our midst. We deprive ourselves of good medicine, of spiritual nourishment, when we cease to partake of the many good things which God has given and provided for us.

-CryptoLutheran

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN said:

From what I read. He had to carry. As far as I know. He's not trying to take guns away from people in the military or police people, that have desk duty.

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That is unconstitutional.

Lord have mercy! May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God, Rest In Peace.

May he rest in the peace of Christ.

My bishop is awesome!

Paul was being fatherly, apostolic, and authoritative in (NIV) Ephesians 5:

1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children.

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4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

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Focus on the Paraclete of peace dwelling in you. Check your conscience against these things.

Can married couples joke about sex, or does this fall under “coarse jesting” too?

That's up to the husband and the wife.

How about sexual humor in TV shows?

If it bothers your conscience, then don't watch it.

Is a Christian allowed to watch something like “South Park” and enjoy and laugh at the sexual humor found in it, or must we disapprove of it?

I did watch a few episodes of South Park. Later, I found it too much and stopped watching.

How about pedophilia jokes? Rape jokes? Bestiality jokes?

No. No. No. I would not listen to these.

Philippians 4:

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

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zeland2236 said:

I came across this picture. What is the symbolism or it's meaning?

View attachment 354155

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Without any context it doesn't mean anything. It appears to be three images assembled together. The upper third appears to be an image taken by a telescope of distant galaxies. The bottom two thirds comprise of an artistic interpretation of hell, and an artistic interpretation of a stereotypical devil figure in flames.

Without any context this assemblage of images means nothing. The only person that can give contextual meaning is whoever assembled the images together.

-CryptoLutheran

The Bible was written in a patriarchal society where men held most social, political, and religious power. Many passages reflected the norms and values of their time, which often marginalized women. There were distinctive gender roles. The writings reflected this attitude and inequality.

The central message, however, was not sexist. Galatians 3:

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

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If you think the Bible was/is sexist, then you are judging the Bible according to our modern sense of sexism. The term "sexism" emerged after the feminist movement.

COMMENTARY: As I worked to put my family’s existence into better harmony with nature, something even better happened — I started to feel myself closer to God.
Emily Zanotti poses with her infamous chicken, Kevin, and takes us along for her journey in living 'Laudato Si.' (photo: Courtesy photos / Emily Zanotti)

On a Tuesday in December, just before Christmas, I was given last rites.

That following Monday, my boss called me, wondering why I didn’t show up for work. She was scheduled to go on vacation, and shouldn’t I be fine by now?

I acquiesced, just as I’d acquiesced to cooking Christmas dinner the Saturday before. In my mind, I thought returning to work so quickly after an ectopic pregnancy that resulted in emergency surgery, imperiling the lives of two people and leaving one dead, would impress on my bosses and my family that I was resilient, quick to heal, and had my priorities in line. I had left Christmas Eve Mass in tears, unable to overcome the physical and emotional pain that had suddenly overtaken my life. I couldn’t focus my eyes on emails or text messages. But somehow, I was determined to prove my value. The world would not continue without me, even for a moment.

Six months later, drawn, burnt out, emotional, angry, and struggling to connect with reality, I took a buyout and retired, at the ripe old age of 40. I was useless, completely detached from my life, unable to find my purpose, and suffering from a post-traumatic stress disorder that robbed me of happiness and memory — in that short half-year, I bought and sold a house. I started and ended a company. I watched children grow and change.

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Elbridge Colby, who served as a strategic adviser during the Trump administration, says his ‘strategy-of-denial’ approach charts a realistic middle course between isolationism and neoconservative interventionism.

Elbridge “Bridge” Colby, a rising star in Republican Party foreign policy who has been profiled recently in both Politico and The New Statesman, considers himself a realist.

America’s role in the world, he argues in hisinfluential 2021 book Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict, should not be to “end tyranny,” as George W. Bush called on America to do in his second inaugural address. Neither, he believes, should America isolate itself from the affairs of other countries as a matter of principle.

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Although religious language has largely disappeared from both parties’ platforms since 2004, appeals to faith from presidential hopefuls are ubiquitous in American politics.

“It would be very difficult to be the president without believing,” President George W. Bush remarked in 2004.

In this regard, vice presidential candidates are no different. Both Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) and U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) credit faith as a significant influence in their personal and political outlooks. This is certainly nothing new for those pursuing the office, but both Walz and Vance represent novel models of Christian politics that will likely continue gaining traction.

Walz, originally from Butte, Nebraska, grew up Roman Catholic, like many other descendants of German immigrants in the prairie. Walz has credited his Catholic roots for informing his passion for social justice and reminisced to The Independentabout his parents’ infatuation with John F. Kennedy. Walz converted to Lutheranism, the largest faith community in Minnesota when he married his wife, Gwen.

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CV NEWS FEED // Dr. Ray Guarendi, a radio and television host, psychologist, and adoptive father of ten, explained “The Logic of Being Catholic” as part of a lecture series for Catholics.

Detroit Catholic reports that Guarendi gave his talk at St. John’s Resort in Plymouth, Michigan, as part of the “Anything is Possible” (AIP) speaker series of monthly lectures that are aimed at inspiring “Catholics to live as missionary disciples in today’s changing world.”

Guarendi discussed his eight-year departure from the faith and the inherent logic of Catholicism, which brought him back.

He talked about how Protestantism, especially the doctrine of sola scriptura, leads to division, with over 30,000 denominations resulting from various Scriptural interpretations. “When I brought this to my non-Catholic friends,” he said, “here is the answer they came back with: ‘There may be a lot of independent churches, but we agree on the basics.’”

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Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, 79, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, has written a new book entitled “Destinati alla vita,” which translates to “Destiny for Life.” The book is a reflection on old age and highlights how this time of life can serve as a time for inner growth.

In an excerpt published by L’Osservatore Romano, Paglia praises Pope Francis’ work to honor the elderly and their importance in our lives throughout his papacy, especially in the establishment of the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly.

“Pope Francis has taken up the spiritual challenge of old age … As a Pope he developed his teaching even more, to the point of establishing a special liturgical feast to celebrate his grandparents,” Paglia wrote. “But it is through the specific catechesis on the subject that he proposed a more articulated and comprehensive help to the elderly — in particular the believers, but not only — so that they face this last age of life as a time of grace, an appropriate time, a time of growth even if the body becomes fragile.”

He continued: “The years of old age lead to the fulfillment of every personal existence. We do not walk in the void and aimlessly at the mercy of fate,” he said.

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The Liturgist said:

But those circles have been debunked.

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Even without that debunking I would not be fooled with thinking aliens explain crop circles. If aliens actually came to this world from another world, unlikely as that really is, as humanity will not become capable of reaching that far and it would not be so subtle, as if another inhabited world would be found where any of us could go however far that would actually be managed, I am sure the aliens would be much more obvious.

cradleGO said:

Disagree with the 'leave the West' as the solution. The West is the key. The West invented the internet!
The 21st century will not be kind to Islam. The internet makes it easy to refute Islam.
If you have encountered Muslims on the internet, they will often repeat the same 3-5 +/- "flaws" or contradictions of Christianity. It is easy to pull up refutations of such attacks.

On the other end, the internet has many sources that pick apart Islam, including its pagan origin - likely Baal worship, the creepy and evil originator, and the hokey and vile beliefs and such, including Aisha's goat eating so many Quran verses - lost forever. And Momo not only being very white (he has a supposedly lineal descendant, who is very white), but being a slave trader as well, including black slaves. So much for Muhammed Ali, the American boxer, changing his name from that of a notable abolitionist.

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It seems to me like Muhammed was the victim of a demonic posession or oppression, of a demon impersonating the Archangel Gabriel, who he was aware of, as St. John of Damascus speculated, as the result of encountering heretics, such as some extreme Nestorians or Arians. I suspect it was Arians, as it would explain his extreme anti-Trinitarianism as well as well as his confusion on the nature of the Trinity (his belief that the trinity included the Blessed Virgin Mary indicates he was not in contact with Orthodox Christians by any means).

There is something extremely sinister about the entity “Jibreel” which Muhammed assumed was St. Gabriel, assuming he was telling the truth about his encounter with it, commanding him, and squeezing him in a painful manner in an attempt to get him to do its will, it is really very disturbing. And since Psalm 95 v. 5 teaches us that the gods of the gentiles are demons, there is a valid reason for believing that Islam is of demonic origin.

cradleGO said:

Properly speaking Orthodox should pray for those leaders of hostile governments. This may be the strongest spiritual weapon.

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indeed, this is correct, and this is why we do the right thing in praying for the leaders of whatever government we happen to live under.

BrotherJJ said:

8 For it is by GRACE [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God;

9 not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].
(MY NOTE: Vrs 8, By GRACE (undeserved/unmerited/earned favor) are you SAVED (from sins required wage/DEATH) thru FAITH (in Who Jesus is (God the Son) & what He accomplished on the cross. Vrs 9, No boastful personal works involved. Jesus (praise His Name) did ALL the work)

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I would like to note some context, and do a translation comparison.

For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves.
Eternal life is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one will be able to boast.
Because we are Gods creation created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10

In many Bibles we will see "it is" in italics, denoting that it's an added in phrase,
above I have replaced "it is" with "Eternal life", to fit with your translation.

So Paul is saying that we go to heaven regardless of our works, because God created us for good works?
How do you deal with verse 10 in your view?

In Hebrews 10:29 The Holy Spirit is called, "the Spirit of grace".
And in Acts 2:38 Peter says we receive "the gift of the Holy Ghost".
Given that context I feel safe using "Holy Spirit" for "it is" in Ephesians, let us see how that will work.

For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves.
The Holy Spirit is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one will be able to boast.
Because we are Gods creation created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10

The whole thing fits and makes perfect sense.
We get the Holy Spirit for free by grace, so that we can work.

"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,beseech you that you walk worthy of the calling wherewith you have been called"
Ephesians 4:1

Indeed the rest of the book starting from chapter 4 is generally a literal list of rules.
It simply can not be that Paul was saying that there are no rules to follow.



Not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to His mercy He saved us,
by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior;

Titus 3:4-5


Of how much worse punishment suppose ye
shall he be counted worthy,
who has trodden down the Son of God
and has counted the blood of the covenant
wherewith he was sanctified, and unholy thing,
and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Hebrews 10:29


You have been bought with a price,
therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods.
1 Corinthians 6:20

You are the temple of God, the Spirit of God is in you.
If anyone defiles the temple of God, him will God destroy,
because the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17