New Posts

Michie · 2025-12-10T22:55:11-0600

Glad you both made it home!

Multifavs · 2025-12-10T21:58:37-0600

DreamyLaLa said:
I thought I'd blow the dust off this thread and post here again since it has been almost a year! To celebrate Christmas season, I thought I'd share a design of mine that was originally made for a calendar that I gave as a gift to my sister last Christmas. It features my two characters, Vanille and Lacage, wearing wintry outfits and holding a plum pudding cake. I drew the characters myself, but the background was designed using Canva, a graphic design program.
View attachment 374317

This is so nice and colorful with pretty designs!

I always love your art style! :3

hldude · 2025-12-10T21:31:55-0600

YouTube Channel Video Devo
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“He Did What?
Philippians 2:8 NLT
When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

We have all had many times in our lives when we are surprised, whether in a good way or bad way, at something someone else does that we would never expect. We’ve often said, “She really did that?”, or maybe, “ He really said that?” When someone does something that is totally unexpected, it really leaves us in complete shock and we don’t know what to say or how to react. The situation can often leave us dumbfounded and with no words.

We all have often put so much energy and emotion into how we react and respond to these times in our lives. We have easily turned these times into gossip with others. We can’t believe what we’ve heard or seen and we want to tell others. It can become the talk of the group or the town. This could be very good or very bad.

This past Sunday, our pastor had a sermon talking about this chapter of Philippians and how Jesus came to do what He did and how unbelievable and amazing it actually was. What struck me was how our pastor said that we often do routine things at Christmas as we talk about how Jesus came into the world. And, in general, it’s often easy for us to become desensitized to all the emotion we should have at what Jesus did for us. It becomes commonplace and we totally miss the real emotion and meaning it should still hold for us.

I pulled up the NLT version and the phrase, “died a criminal’s death” completely captured my attention. Jesus did not belong on that Cross, we did. He went up there and died to save us all. He willingly gave it all to give us a future with Him. Nothing about what He did makes any sense. We deserved what He got. I don’t think I’ll ever read this passage the same again. He became nothing and died a criminal’s death for us. He wasn’t a criminal, but He definitely went through all the torture a criminal would experience.

I sure hope that we all experience the real emotion of what Jesus did for us. It should daily grip us in our hearts and we should take time to remember and be truly thankful. We should be in awe and be dumbfounded and say, “He did what?” Yes, He did that for you and for me? It should leave us speechless every single day. We should be filled with great emotion and awe for what He did for us. The world needs to see that raw emotion and gratefulness in our lives each day.

What Jesus did should leave us in complete awe every single day and we should be deeply thankful for the life He gives us.

Servus · 2025-12-10T21:27:25-0600

I've spent a lot of time conversing with ChatGPT. It's very human-like in a lot of ways, but is pretty clear so far that it's just a machine. And it definitely makes mistakes. It's good at mimicking having a personality, but it's clear that it doesn't really. I'd say the biggest danger is to those who are unstable or naive, not having an objective view of what AI is and getting swept up in having a relationship with it.

BPPLEE · 2025-12-10T20:38:43-0600

peaceful-forest said:
One of my favorite bands growing up was No Doubt. I had watched one of their music videos earlier this week - Simple Kind of Life.

I wasn't sure if I was able to post the video or not since there's a scene where Gwen Stefani is topless but has hair covering up her breasts. So I'll post the audio version of the song to be on the safe side.

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I like I’m just a girl, even though I’m not a girl

BPPLEE · 2025-12-10T20:32:47-0600

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Isaac the Recluse · 2025-12-10T20:16:06-0600

Father Ricardo often zorbs niftily.

DRACI

CLEEB · 2025-12-10T19:52:19-0600

Paulwat said:
Not sure what board to post this in. Please feel free to move to another area of the board if it works better there.

So, I saw a post today that interested me and searched it up and found lots of similar results from other people. Apparantly hell isn't a real place and instead is a mistranslation. Apparantly awful people don't get eternal suffering and instead just cease to exist (similar to how life was for them before being born)

Here's the full post and explanation. It was reassuring to hear this as I worry about peolle I know going to hell and hate to imagine them being tortured. So it's nice to know such a place doesn't exist

perhaps you could start by realizing just how ridiculous the entire idea is and how it really isn't even supported by the scriptures.

This concept of “Hell” as a place of ‘eternal suffering in a lake of fire’ that Christians so often try to scare people with is all made up by humans and doesn't even exist in the 'old testament' and is not well supported by the 'new testament' either...

every single 'old testament' reference to "hell" is a mistranslations of the Jewish concept of "Sheol" which is distinctly different from what most people today refer to as "Hell".

1: Sheol is temporary - not 'eternal'. you are only there until 'judgment day'.

2: everyone goes to Sheol to await judgment day. (good or bad, believer or not).

3: everyone in Sheol atones for their misdeeds in life. everyone, regardless of whether they "have faith" or not. You don't escape punishment for your misdeeds in life just because you 'have faith'. THAT was an invention (apparently of Paul).

4: after judgment: the 'truly wicked' are annihilated: They 'cease to exist'. They are not "punished for the rest of eternity. (That view is not supported by anything in the bible outside of 'revelation' (and even that is pretty thin)

5: after judgment: everyone else goes to "Olam Ha'Bah" (aka "the world to come"; "gan eden" or "the Garden of Eden). - This did NOT require belief in or worship of "YHWH" it was based on whether you were a decent person in life; not "blind faith".

outside of 'revelation" The "New Testament" does not refer to this concept of 'eternal punishment' at all. not once, not anywhere. It is ONLY mentioned in the "Book of Revelation" (aka "The Apocalypse of John") and even those references are pretty flimsy evidence.

every "New Testament" reference to "Hell" in modern translations are mistranslating one of three words. “Hades” (which means “the grave” and does not imply torment); "Tartarus" (which appears only one time in 2 Peter 2:4) and "Gehenna".

Tartarus is a specific reference to the pagan concept of the 'lowest level of hades'; The word “Tartarus” is arguably the closest word used to this concept of eternal torment but this word is only used in one specific verse: 2 Peter 2:4 which is talking about a place where "fallen angels" are sent and is never mentioned as a destination for humans. - Also note that this same verse clearly limits the time spent in that place to "until judgment".

Gehenna is an actual physical place in Jerusalem, it was (in the first century CE) possibly a trash dump, garbage we know dead bodies were taken there and burned in a 'eternal fire' (a constantly burning fire that was always burning garbage). it was considered a "cursed place" due to legends about people sacrificing children there. It was mentioned in a lot of parables; often 'jesus' talking about wealthy people ending up in Gehenna (just like all the poor people). essentially saying that all their wealth doesn't save them from eventually dying and being thrown into the trash heap. - The parables did seem to imply that “Gehenna” was some undesirable place but it’s very dishonest to claim that the word literally translates to the common concept called “Hell”.

The words translated into “Eternal Punishment” in Matthew 25:46 (for instance) is also a mistranslation. The word they translate as “eternal” there is “αἰώνῐος” which is more correctly translated as “lasting for an age”. If you note the same exact word is mistranslated to ‘eternal’ in modern translations of Jude 1:7 where Sodom and Gomorrah are supposedly destroyed by “eternal fire” - Those fires are clearly not burning today as we’ve never found any such remnants anywhere on earth of this supposedly never ending fire. The other part of that phrase for “Punishment” is also a poor translation of “kolasis” which was an agricultural term basically meaning “cut off” or “prune” - possibly suggesting the concept where you “prune away part of a plant and the rest of the plant gets stronger”. It could possibly refer to “punitive correction” as opposed to some eternal torment or possibly it refers to being ‘cut off from paradise/eternal life’ which is effectively what happens when you cease to exist. - you aren’t suffering but you are denied eternal life and entry to paradise ‘for eternity’ since you no longer exist.

Outside of Revelation the most common

Outside of Revelation the most common thing people tend to bring up to support this 'eternal suffering in a lake of fire' nonsense is the story from Luke 16:19-31 of "lazarus and rich man". That parable however does not suggest "eternal suffering" at all.

1: Abraham, Lazarus and "Rich Man" are all in the same place. - That already sounds a lot more like "Sheol" than "Hell". the claim that all of them talking to each other is clearly not a reference to one being "in heaven" and the other "in hell" since these places are always depicted as separate.

2: "Rich Man" is suffering but... he's complaining about "being thirsty".... if he were burning in a lake of fire I think he'd have bigger problems than 'parched lips'.

3: Nothing about that story says anything to suggest that the suffering is eternal; it only implies that "Rich Man" is suffering currently, not what his fate would be down the road.

Then we have the claims from "Revelation":

1: the "Second Death" is mentioned 4 times in this book; and described as the "Death of the soul"

2: Revelation 20:6 states that only people named in the "book of life" (those "on the right") receive "eternal life" - this gift of eternal life is ONLY for the righteous people that pass into paradise.

3: Revelation 20:10 states that the 'beast', the 'false prophet' (aka the antichrist) and 'satan' are cast into the lake of fire where they will "suffer for ever and ever" - note that none of these entities are 'human'.

4: then in Revelation 20:15 - the people who's name did not appear in the 'book of life' (those "on the left") are also cast into the same lake of fire where they "suffer the second death". - Note the different language... it does not say "suffer for ever and ever" but instead states that they "suffer the second death" - this suggests that their soul dies.. which is "Annihilation" not "eternal suffering". How can there be "eternal suffering" for people that do not have "eternal life"? - (see note 2 above).

Nothing about "eternal suffering" is consistent with anything in the bible. "Eternal suffering" is sadistic cruelty without any purpose or benefit. - It makes no rational sense if they are also trying to claim that 'god' is benevolent, loving, merciful etc. - Totally logically inconsistent with this view.

In the early days of the christian church there were several competing views of the afterlife that are a lot more consistent with the rest of the bible:

Annihilation" is the belief that "after judgment" the "truly wicked" are annihilated; they 'cease to exist' and that's it... no further suffering; they are gone. end of story. This is exactly what the Jewish traditional view of Sheol mentioned above taught and is logically consistent with the 'old testament'.

"universal salvation" or "universalism" is the belief that eventually everyone is saved. - This view treats suffering/punishment in the afterlife as reformative/corrective/judicial - meant to correct the recipient and is finite in duration - once you have atoned for your sins you get to move on to paradise with all the other people that ever lived. These were both pretty popular views in the early christian sects prior to ~425 CE;

The early christian sects disagreed considerably about which of these three views was 'correct'. “Basil the Great” specifically commented in ~370CE that the dominant view (of the time) was a belief in a limited purgatory, and others (such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Didymus the blind, Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia wrote extensively about Universalism. There were some (mostly in Northern Africa around the coast of modern day Tunisia/Algeria) that were advocating the view of “Eternal Torment” but it wasn't until 425CE that the church unified on this 'eternal suffering' doctrine (largely through the writings of Augustine of Hippo – who came to Rome from a city near what is now Annaba Tunisia). This became the official version the church went with and the other views were deemed "heretical" and banned along with any early christian scriptures that supported those opposing views (such as the "Apocalypse of Peter").

Well, everlasting life is a gift from GOD , if we already have it how is it a gift ? GOD promises us everlasting life, why promise us something that we already have ? Is there anything about a human being that makes them immortal ? Paul said, this mortal must put on immortality in the resurrection When Jesus returns. Until the resurrection we are dead, the dead in Christ if we have died before his return. Receiving immortality is dependent upon our being successful in our Christian lives by submitting to GODS working in us with HIS love that changes our old sinful nature to be the divine nature. Then at the return of Christ be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye from mortal to immortal.

Dave... · 2025-12-10T19:41:29-0600

Dan Perez said:
And I see that you. are quoting some good verses but the TARES and WHEAT. is still speaking STILL. about ISRAL. and the

BODY of CHRIST begins with SAUL in Acts 9:5 and the BACK. up PROOF is. in. 1 TIM 1:16 as SAUL was the

FIRST ONE. //. P[ROTOS. that in ME. /. join. the Greek EMPHATIC , meaning. ONLY ME and no one ELSE. , PERIOD

Where many make mistakes are in ROM chapter 11. !!

dan p

Hey Dan.

The wheat and the chafe was just an expression that I borrowed from Scripture to make a distinction. People of the OT, believers, thought that they were saved because they were physical Israel. That's who Peter is speaking to in Acts. Physical Israel has wheat and chafe. Spiritual Israel only has wheat. In Acts 2:36, 41 Peter is calling physical Israel to Spiritual Israel by faith in Jesus. Jesus is the the Body of Christ. Only those placed into Him were part of that Spiritual church. That began at Pentecost when the Agent of that placing into was given, the Holy Spirit. Saul died having not received that Promise.

1 Tim 1:16? Did you quote the wrong verse?

Romans 9:6-13 Not all Israel is Israel.

Christsfreeservant · 2025-12-10T19:27:59-0600

Go, lay your life down.
It’s not yours to own.
It’s bought with a price,
With blood, shed, atoned.

Our Lord paid the price
So we could be free
From slavery to sin,
His servants to be.

We now die to sin,
And obey our Lord,
And walk in His love,
All in one accord.

Sin must not control
How we are to live,
For we now serve Christ,
Our lives to Him give.

We go where He says,
And speak His commands.
We follow His lead.
On Him we depend.

He now rules our lives,
Not flesh and not self,
For by his good grace
We put self on the shelf.

So living for Him
Is now what we do,
For our sinful lives
He came to undo.

All praises to Him.
From God comes His grace,
So we can now run
And win in the race.

An Original Work / December 10, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

d taylor · 2025-12-10T19:27:11-0600

Dan Perez said:
And GLAD to see you AND I LOVE when all would give a verse for your belief. and always GLAD to exchange

anyone. POSOITIONS. and as you know that I always GIVE. with the GREEK WORD and tying to explain what the TENSE
CASES so that everyone will see that I have NOT ADDED or . TALKEN AWAY. from. any verse and any one will. see that OLD

COVEMNANT has been TAKEN AWAY. and Heb 9:18. says that the blood of ANIMAL does not take AWAY TAKE. AWAY
SIN. and that ONLY the JESUS BLOOD. can take away sin. to be SAVED and remember EPH 1:3 CHOSEN

IN. him. BEFORE // PRO the OVER THROW. of the WORLD. !!

And. if. the NEW COVENANT for today , no one has yet explained how anyone is saved by the NEW COVENANT. !!

dan p

-

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

MarkSB · 2025-12-10T19:16:36-0600

probinson said:
Did you see the increase in number of VAERS repots during COVID? Even though there were clearly fake reports, exactly how many reports do you think constitutes a "significant trend"? There's no doubt there's "noise" in this data, but there's also some very real "trends"that warranted further investigation. That didn't stop the government and public health from telling everyone to get vaccinated multiple times per year. Their booster recommendations during the Biden administration resulted in the top two vaccine regulators at the FDA resigning in protest.

The bottom line is, what you're saying sounds great. If VAERS were used in the way you explain, it would be a wonderful system to identify risks and pivot accordingly. But that's not what happens in practice. In practice, people pretend like the fact that there were over 1,000,000 VAERS reports in a single year when the previous high was around 60K is all just "noise" worthy of being ignored.

View attachment 374261

I'm by no means an expert on VAERS, but health care professionals didn't ignore the VAERS reports on the COVID vaccine, as you are claiming they did. They go out and collect more data and determine if the reports are legitimate. The vast majority of those reports were no doubt determined to be not related to the vaccine. And this determination was made by health care professionals who go out and look at actual evidence.

Also - COVID was a highly politicized pandemic. It was also the most widespread pandemic to take place in the age of the internet - an age where false information spreads very rapidly. With those factors in mind, it is very much believable that we would see a spike in false/inaccurate reports in the VAERS system like had never been seem before. It was a global event unlike anything we have seen in recent history.

Akita Suggagaki · 2025-12-10T18:13:17-0600

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2842708?guestAccessKey=71b1e075-fe4c-4afa-8441-f0a7347f3c8b&utm_medium=email&utm_source=postup_jn&utm_campaign=article_alert-jama&utm_content=olf-tfl_&utm_term=121025

angelsaroundme · 2025-12-10T18:09:50-0600

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Yarddog · 2025-12-10T18:07:44-0600

Valletta said:
Trump says U.S. seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast

President Trump said the U.S. military seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast as his administration escalates action in the region.

www.washingtontimes.com

We can't let Venezuela ship oil to Russia or any other country with an international ban.

Glad to see them doing it without killing anyone.

DaisyDay · 2025-12-10T17:31:50-0600

essentialsaltes said:
Trump's 'Absolutely Crazed' Threat To Those Who Question His Health Sparks Outrage
Donald Trump flipped out in a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday as he issued an ominous warning to anyone who questions his health, suggesting “it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous” and libelous.

[The whole rant is worth skimming, but here's the heart.]

View attachment 374309

I think he's jumped the shark!

Gene2memE · 2025-12-10T17:30:38-0600

Two different ways of measuring two slightly different things, thus producing differing numbers. One uses single-nucleotide variants which produces a genetic difference measurement of 1-2% and one uses nucleotide gaps which produced a genetic difference measurement of 13-16%.

The nucleotide gaps method that produces the "85%" genomic similarity between chimpanzees and humans - which the paper actually calculates as a difference of between 13.3% and 14.9% - also produces the following:

A genetic diversity of 8.8% within chimpanzees (ie chimps are only 93% similar to each other)
A genetic diversity of 13.8% within gorillas (ie gorillas are only 86% similar to each other)
A better than 15% genetic diversity between chimpanzees and gorillas (ie chimpazees and gorillas are more genetically distant than chimpanzees and humans)

The low-end calculation of a 13.3% genetic difference between chimpanzees and humans means that the chimpanzee-human genetic variability is would be lower than the 13.8% intra-species variation within gorillas.

(Data from here: Human and Chimpanzee: 15% or 1% Genetic Difference? How Creationism Misleads the Public)

BTW, Luskin got publically dragged over the coals by evolutionary biologists and professional geneticists about his presentation, argumentation, conclusions and selective "simplification" of this data earlier in the year.

Gutsick Gibbon recap of the whole kerfuffle: Login to view embedded media If you don't have a spare 3 1/2 hours, Dr Dan Cardinale did a 9 minute summary: Login to view embedded media

Mark Quayle · 2025-12-10T17:18:14-0600

ARBITER01 said:
I'm going to disagree with this a bit....

My anchor is Jesus, not scripture. Without His shed blood, we have nothing, so yes, He is our anchor in all things pertaining to this new Spiritual life we now have inside.

I agree. But I refer to scripture as the anchor concerning doctrine, and the results of doctrine. He does not "reveal", anything new separate or not in accordance with Scripture. We can check what he "reveals" by Scripture. He does definitely comfort, lead and cause, quite apart from our reading.

ARBITER01 said:
My understanding of scripture comes from the daily inner revelation of The Holy Spirit inside of me.

I agree with that. Intellectual facts give us only feelings of condemnation (or a false sense of apathy) when not walking with God, which walking and understanding is a gift of God, not of the intellect. But he uses the intellect too, both to get in one's way and blind the presumptuous, and to learn truth.

ARBITER01 said:
I depend upon GOD that way because I want the direct source of the truth I read on those pages, I want His understanding being given to me, so that I'm not misunderstanding passages, and thereby being deceived, as I've mentioned about so many folks on here over the years.

Any of us can be deceived, and, I think, all of us are, to some degree, deceived by our mere human presumptuousness, our notions of reality, as opposed to what God will show us when we finally see him as he is. That is to say, what we think we understand still has a lot to be built upon what is true, and a lot to be removed and cleaned that results from our assumptions.

ARBITER01 said:
Scripture is a certainly a foundation in our Christian lives that we need, but we can't truly know GOD by just reading the pages about Him, hence why I advocate a day to day relationship with Him through prayer and worship.

Of course.

Richard T · 2025-12-10T17:13:06-0600

Most might know the Federal Reserve lowered their overnight lending rate to banks to be in the 3.5 to 3.75% range. But what surprised me was that the Federal Reserve did not stop there. "Notably, the Fed announced it start buying short-term bonds, expanding its balance sheet. Short-term Treasury yields moved lower as a result."
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/09/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

So where does the Federal Reserve get those billions that it uses to buy back debt of the U.S. Government? I creates the money. So now the USA is not just lowering interest rates, it is back to basically printing money through their good friend the Federal Reserve. Now if done at the rate of growth, it may go unnoticed, but if it is starting to be 40 billion a week, then these buybacks from the Federal Reserve are likely to cause inflation. (Some theorists say this is not true, others suggest a direct link with a bit of a time lag.)

Currently the Federal Reserve has 7.4 trillion dollars of government debt on its books. As recently as a couple of months ago, they were retiring their their holdings of U.S. debt with the additional debt being financed by others. Thus, the amount of debt is not being lowered as the USA is spending 1.30 for every dollar it collects. So to avoid pain and borrow at market rates, the USA is back to EASY MONEY. The U.S. Fed suggests they will do the bond buybacks for several months, but during covid it was for years, not months and it contributed to the 9 plus percent inflation in 2022. In 2019, the assets created from money printing stood at 3.8 trillion. In 2021 they peaked at 8.8 trillion. So by this money printing both Trump and Biden were on baord and both responsible for inflation. I say this because the serious money printed started under Trump and continued until 2022.

Since june of 2022, the Federal Reserve was tightening and retiring some bonds until a couple of months ago. So Biden should get credit too for reducing inflation because the policies that reduced it were started in the middle of his term. The Fed Reserve over this three year period, got their balance sheet back to 7.4 trillion this year. If they create 40 billion a week in dollars, that pace is two trillion a year SO HERE WE GO AGAIN!.

Such money printing not only paid for your covid rebates for Americans but cash infusions are highly correlated to stock market gains. "Academic studies confirm a long-term positive relationship between the Fed's balance sheet size and future market performance. One analysis suggests an R² (a measure of correlation) of 0.8832 since 2009, indicating a strong long-term association." Source google ai.

My point in all of this is to suggest that the renewal of essentially printing money during a time when inflation is already running around 2.9 percent could create more persistent and elevated inflation. So while you are being taxed on the tariffs you also are taxed by the higher prices due in part, to excessive money printing. I will say too that Trump is going to install his own Chairman and some new Governors that will be even more dovish at lowering interest rates and printing money. IF you notice too that while the Fed lowers rates to their banking members, the mortgage rates actually climbed. A solution that worked during covid was to have the Federal Reserve buy back mortgages. So I suppose they could do that again to artificially lower mortgage rates but the markets are not setting interest rates at all when this occurs and yes such intervention causes distortions that can be harmful.

You should realize too that when inflation is 3% and your only getting 2.5% interest on your money from loaning it to the government or member banks, you are losing money while at the same time paying tax on the 2.5% gain. The USA is not there yet but she may soon be back to negative interest rates on short-term government debt and on longer debt when inflation reignites.

If you study nations that expand the money supply even more significantly, the value in some cases has gone down to nothing. For the U.S. "By Consumer Goods (CPI): According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, what cost $1 in 1913 required approximately $96 to $100 to purchase in recent years. This reflects a loss in value of about 96% to 97.5%."

So is there anyone that even cares in the U.S. government? I mean giving it more than just lip service. Saying they want interest rates at 2% but failing to make that happen since 2001. That is deception, not true concern. So I asked google AI. This is where AI currently has issues with discerning intent and motivation. The Fed says they want 2% inflation, but they won't take the action to make even that occur. In questioning google ai I asked for names, and it gave me former congressman Ron Paul. I pressed him about Senator Rand Paul and it answered. "High Stringency on Fiscal and Monetary Policy: Senator Paul has a reputation as one of the toughest votes in the U.S. Senate on spending issues. He has voted against major budget deals and debt ceiling increases because, in his view, they do not cut enough spending or address the underlying fiscal imbalance. His consistent reintroduction of legislation like the Federal Reserve Transparency Act makes him a leading figure in the push for stricter monetary discipline." Google ai.

I am not trying to make this too political, yet it is a serious economic and political issue. Inflation is theft too, and the framers were quite aware of it.

"George Washington: He observed the consequences of paper money in Rhode Island, stating in a 1787 letter that paper money "has had the effect in your State that it ever will have, to ruin commerce – oppress the honest, and open a door to every species of fraud and injustice". Google ai.

On the banking system - "Thomas Jefferson & James Madison: They vehemently opposed Alexander Hamilton's plan for a national bank. Their primary concerns were that such an institution would centralize power in the federal government, favor wealthy commercial elites and financiers over common farmers, and undermine state banks. Jefferson feared a financial monopoly that could adopt policies contrary to the public good. He believed the bank was unconstitutional, as the power to create a corporation was not explicitly listed in the Constitution."

So there you have it. A new round of money printing that is going world wide. The system will hold only as long as investors see value in buying government debt. Even the USA Federal Reserve cannot buy all the debt to target interest rates for loans at all intervals from 1 month to 30 years.

As always we can be dismal for a nation, yet as individuals we can prosper if we hold dear to God's principles on giving the use of money and His grace. May each of us be stay free from the love of money and fix our eyes on Jesus as the wrold's economic system is thrashing in these times. Goid bless!

linux.poet · 2025-12-10T17:09:32-0600

MOD HAT ON

This thread has been moved from General Theology to Sabbath and the Law.

MOD HAT OFF

Dikaioumenoi · 2025-12-10T16:59:26-0600

Spiritual Jew said:
I'm not going to continue to engage you if you continue to act like you are the ultimate Greek expert while insisting on interpreting Acts 13:48 in a way that contradicts many other scriptures. Scripture is very clear that God loved the whole world enough to send His Son to die for their sins (1 John 2:1-2, John 3:16) and that He wants all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-6) and commands all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30) so that He makes His mercy available to all people (Romans 11:30-32) because of His gracious offer of salvation to all people (Titus 2:11). Your interpretation of Acts 13:48 and your Calvinist doctrine in general contradicts all of those verses I referenced and many more.

You think that God alone chooses who will have eternal life and that man has no responsibility in the matter. If that was the case, then why does scripture say that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and wants them to repent before they die (Ezekiel 18:32, Ezekiel 33:11)?

There was no "acting like the ultimate Greek expert" in what I wrote. There was simply the accurate identification of a subject and its predicate in a sentence. You refuse to acknowledge the same, which means, apparently, you do not believe what Luke wrote.

Anne69 · 2025-12-10T16:52:43-0600

God’s assurance of eternal life brings a quiet peace to our innermost being. It is a promise we can rest in, knowing that our future is held securely in His hands. This certainty steadies us in seasons of uncertainty, lifts our hearts when burdens grow heavy, and reminds us that our story does not end in this world. Because Christ has overcome, we can face each day with confidence, anchored in the unchanging truth that we belong to Him now and forever.

Scripture tells us that eternal life is God’s gift—found in His Son and already given to all who believe. Jesus declared that the one who believes “has everlasting life,” a present reality rather than a distant hope. When doubts arise, they often point us toward our own failures or inconsistencies, but true assurance turns our gaze back to Christ: His sacrifice, His promise, His faithfulness.

1 John 5:11–13 (NKJV): “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”

This passage shows us that our assurance rests on God’s testimony. Eternal life is hope for the future beyond life as we know it here on this Earth. John writes so that believers may walk in certainty rather than doubt, grounded in what God has declared. Eternal life is not something we earn, achieve, or maintain by our own strength, it is a gift given to us by God, our Father. Jesus Himself said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life” (John 3:36) - present tense, a settled reality.

Romans 8:31–39 (NKJV): “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long.

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This passage gathers every fear, accusation, and weakness we carry and answers them with the unshakeable truth of God’s love in Christ. Paul speaks from a life marked by hardship, yet his conclusion is unwavering: nothing can undo what God has done for us. God did not spare His own Son - that alone settles every question about His heart toward us. If He gave His very best, every other need will be supplied. No accusation can stand, because God justifies. No condemnation can hold, because Christ died and rose again. No circumstance can separate us from His love. The love of Christ is not fragile; it holds steady through tribulation, distress, persecution, and even death itself. Paul’s persuasion becomes our encouragement: nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Him, we are held. In Him, we are secure. In Him, we are more than conquerors - not because of our strength, but because of His love that never let’s go.

The Holy Spirit also plays a quiet, steady role in assurance. He bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children and heirs with Christ. His voice is not loud or dramatic but a deep, settled knowing - a peace that rises when we read the Word, pray, or simply sit before the Lord. Jesus promises that His sheep are held securely in His hand and in the Father’s hand, where no enemy, circumstance, or weakness can reach. Assurance rests on His promise, not our worthiness. Salvation is secured by God’s power, not human effort. Grace saves us, the Spirit seals us, and Christ keeps us.

Romans 8:16–17 (NKJV): “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

Holy Spirit reminds us again and again that we belong to the Father and that nothing can separate us from His love. God’s assurance shapes the way we live. When we know we are secure in Christ, fear loses its grip. We pray with confidence, face trials with hope, and walk in obedience not to earn salvation but because we already have it.

John 10:27–29 (NKJV): “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”

Nothing can separate believers from the love of God - not suffering, not spiritual forces, not death, not life. Eternal life is found in the Son, and whoever has the Son has life. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God - secure, protected, and awaiting full revelation when He appears. Eternal life is not something we cling to buy effort - it is something Christ holds for us. So, this week, let your heart rest. Let the assurance of your salvation quiet your thoughts, steady your steps, and fill your days with peace. You are His, and He keeps what is His.

To the Holy Spirit — thank You for guiding every word, guarding every step, and glorifying Jesus through it all. All glory, honour, praise and worship goes to God Almighty, for He alone is worthy to receive it all.

May these words echo grace, healing, and truth wherever they are read.

Acknowledgement: Testimony reference from Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ (Living Sacrifice Book Company, 1967).

Acknowledgement of Bible Scriptures: New King James Version (NKJV), Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982; Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV), Cambridge University Press, 1769: verses sourced using Bible Gateway.

essentialsaltes · 2025-12-10T16:52:02-0600

essentialsaltes said:
Just a note that there are still active National Guard in Los Angeles. And several other cities, obviously.

Still are, six months after this 'rebellion' began. The courts have been batting it back and forth, but here's the latest shot over the net.

Trump must end National Guard deployment in L.A., judge rules

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration must immediately end the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles, the latest legal blow to the president’s embattled efforts to police American streets with armed soldiers.

Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer said in his ruling that command of the remaining 300 federalized National Guard troops must return to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who sued the administration in June after it commandeered thousands of troops to quell protests over immigration enforcement in Los Angeles.

The order was set to take effect on Monday, though it was all but certain to be appealed to the 9th Circuit.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is weighing an almost identical challenge to the deployment in Illinois.

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