Ultimate Fighter Championship (UFC) superstar Conor McGregor shared yesterday that God has “saved” him.

During a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) press conference in Italy on Thursday (Oct. 23), McGregor, who is a part owner of the promotion, was asked if there is a connection between his life’s journey and the spirit of BKFC.

A once simultaneous champion in both the Featherweight and Lightweight divisions of the UFC, McGregor hasn’t competed in the UFC octagon since 2021 when he broke his ankle during his rematch with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.

McGregor, 37, created a persona of being one of the loudest, foulest, most belligerent fighters in the UFC. So it presumably came to the surprise of many fans when the “Notorious,” as he’s known by some, expressed he now lives by “God’s Word.”

Continued below.

In C. S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength, the character Mark has a profound moral experience through which he becomes awakened to transcendence. In the wake of this, he looks at his entire life with fresh perspective: “[Mark] looked back on his life not with shame, but with a kind of disgust at its dreariness … He was aware, without even having to think of it, that it was he himself — nothing else in the whole universe — that had chosen the dust and broken bottles, the heap of old tin cans, the dry and choking places.”

In Lewis’s book, Mark and his wife personify modernity. His beliefs and attitudes represent many modern, secular people — in Lewis’s context as well as our own, a few generations later.

Mark’s experience of life as the “dry and choking places” provides us with an insightful window into modern people. Even if they aren’t consciously aware, people all around us are starving for transcendence and meaning. They live in the dry and choking places. Thus, many of our non-Christian friends and family members and coworkers experience spiritual need in terms of dreariness more than guilt (as Mark did). What does this mean for how we do evangelism and apologetics?

Disenchantment

Continued below.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that USA Powerlifting discriminated against a trans-identified athlete by not letting him compete in its women's division.

In a decision last week, the state high court concluded that USAPL violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act by barring JayCee Cooper from competing in the women's division.

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, who was appointed by former Democratic vice presidential hopeful Gov. Tim Walz, authored the majority opinion.

The opinion rejects Cooper's claim of discrimination in business, but affirmed the lower court's claim of discrimination based on sexual orientation for public accommodation.

"We agree with Cooper that USA Powerlifting's policy is discriminatory on its face; there is therefore no genuine dispute that USA Powerlifting discriminated against Cooper because of her transgender status," wrote Hudson.

Continued below.

A United Methodist church in Texas painted its front steps in rainbow colors, following Gov. Greg Abbott's directive to withhold funding from cities and counties that maintain LGBT rainbow crosswalks.

Oak Lawn United Methodist Church in Dallas, which calls itself an "inclusive" congregation, announced the decision in a statement. The steps were painted as a declaration of safety and dignity for LGBT individuals, not as a political protest, church leaders said.

“We are painting our front steps in the colors of the rainbow because silence is not love," the church wrote in a Facebook post. "We want every person who passes by to know: you are safe, you are seen, you are beloved by God."

Continued below.

Pray that Jesus Christ calms the Hurricane Melissa that is heading towards the Caribbean to the point where it becomes a mere gentle breeze:

The already complex reality of global Anglicanism is becoming even more intricate.​

Earlier this month, a body known as GAFCON — the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans — declared it was “now the Global Anglican Communion.”



The towers of Canterbury Cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is ‘a focus of unity’ of the Anglican Communion. Credit: © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.

In the Oct. 16 declaration, entitled “The future has arrived,” the alliance of conservative Anglican church leaders said it had resolved to “reorder” the Anglican Communion, the world’s third-largest Christian communion after the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy.

“Today, GAFCON is leading the Global Anglican Communion,” said the statement signed by Rwandan Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, chairman of GAFCON’s Primates’ Council.

“As has been the case from the very beginning, we have not left the Anglican Communion; we are the Anglican Communion,” he added.

What are the roots of the Anglican Communion? Where does GAFCON fit in? And what does its new declaration mean?


A cartoon about the original 1867 Lambeth Conference in the magazine Punch. Public Domain.

A communion’s roots​

Continued below.

Did you see that a lot of people don’t want Donald Trump to be the king of America?

On October 18th, there were a lot of “No Kings” rallies around the country, decrying what the protesters say are authoritarian actions by President Trump, whom they claim acts more like a king than a president. One protester in San Francisco held a sign saying, “Hey Trump nobody paid us to be here. We all hate you for free.”

Nice. You can read the Babylon Bee’s list of things accomplished by people like that in the No Kings demonstrations here.

The vast majority of protesters were democrats and leftists (I do believe there is a distinction between the two), and, of course, there were jabs from the right about the rallies, with some calling it “democrat sulk day.” Naturally, those supporting the “No Kings” rallies deny that and say they are simply against the despotic actions of any president who crosses the line of democracy.

Am I the only one calling baloney on that?

Continued below.

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines can trigger the immune system to recognize and kill cancer, research finds

I would expect to see some face melting over these results.

Peace in Christ.

We are to “awake” and arise out of the dead ones….out of the dead man-based churches… and Christ will give us light so that we may shine His glory to the people of the outside world who are sitting in deep darkness.

Without this arising from out of the dead man-based church gatherings, we remain in darkness and are not shining His light to the rest of the people of this earth.

Eph 5:14
(14) Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from (out of) the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Darkness is upon the faces (plural) of the deep as the people of the outside world have no form of Christ to see with their eyes and they are void….void of the knowledge of the glory of God. The man-based churches have no light to shine to them. They have all fallen short of the glory of the Lord.

Gen 1:1-4 KJV
(1) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
(2) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
(3) And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
(4) And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness

We are the “heavens” that have no light to shine to the people of the outside world who are in deep darkness. His people have no understanding. They have no knowledge to do good.

Jer 4:22-23 KJV
(22) For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
(23) I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

We must "ARISE" out of the dead man-based churches....departing from them. We must arise out of the dead man-based churches (where there is no shining light) so that Christ will give us His light. We can then show forth the glory of the LORD to the rest of the people of this earth who are in deep darkness.

Isa 60:1-3 KJV
(1) Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
(2) For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

Shining His glory light will attract the saved among the people of the outside world.

(3) And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

We must not be partakers with the man-based churches.

We are in darkness when we are “partakers with them”. " You were sometimes darkness" We are unclean when we sit together with them. Those who will continue to sit together with them (after hearing the Word of Truth) have no inheritance in the kingdom/reign of Christ and of God.

Eph 5:5-8 KJV
(5) For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
(6) Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
(7) Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
(8) For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

We who hear the Word of Truth and believe it are not to be unequally yoked together with the unbelievers of the man-based churches. They will also hear the Word of Truth but will not believe in it. They will not receive the love of the truth and be saved. What communion has light with darkness? It doesn’t. We can no longer sit together with them. This is not speaking about the people of the outside world but is speaking about people in their church gatherings.

2Co 6:14-18 KJV
(14) Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
(15) And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

What agreement does the temple of God (we are the temple of God) have with “idols”…that is, images?

Their church handwritings of ordinances/dogmas are the “images” that they are keeping and serving (such as “statements of faith” ) and they are firmly established in their gatherings. They do not move from their places. What agreement should we have with them? None.

(16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

We are unclean when we sit together with them.

It is the true “fornication” that we are supposed to flee from. We are to hear His Holy (to be separate for sanctification) Commandment and do it. His Holy Commandment is to come out from among them and be separate and not be attached to the unclean.

(17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
(18) And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

We must “clean escape” from the man-based churches as they are living in error.

2Pe 2:18-22 KJV
(18) For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

They will seek to bring those who have just escaped from them through “great swelling words of emptiness”. They will promise them liberty. They will promise the world to you to get you back.

(19) While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

We are to escape the pollutions of the “world” …the orderly arrangement of their church handwritings of ordinances/dogmas. Their whole “church” is built flimsily upon their handwritings of which they whitewash with “Lord, Lord” written all over them.

If we escape the pollutions…the defilement…of their gatherings which are centered around their written orderly arrangements through the “knowledge”…the full knowledge…of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are entangled again with them and overcome, the latter end is worse with us than the beginning.

(20) For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

The way of righteousness is to escape from them completely. This is the way that leads to life…His manifest life in our mortal bodies.

Let us hear the Holy Commandment that is delivered to us to keep and not turn away from it. Let us not return back to the man-based churches no matter what. We must make a clean escape from them and have nothing to do with them anymore.

(21) For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
(22) But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

This is the “way of truth” (departing from the man based churches ) that will be evil spoken of by the man-based churches who will continue to listen to their false teachers in them and speak evil…following their pernicious ways. MANY will follow after their false teachers and think that they will have "peace and safety" to behave in unrighteousness towards those who will depart from them.

2Pe 2:1-2 KJV
(1) But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
(2) And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.


continued in next post.

I am having terrible insomnia, please pray that God cures my insomnia and gives me good long restful sleep from now on, in Jesus Christs’s name, Amen. Thank you. ❤️

When Kaya Jones, the former Pussycat Dolls singer, revealed she had had three abortions and felt regret and sadness for them, the reaction from many pro-lifers on social media was swift and vile.

One person said, “Stupid idiot and a hypocrite to boot. She is a vile excuse there will be no forgiveness. She a murder. Not just once but several. She will burn in he'll [sic] .” Another quipped, “I just don’t have compassion for anyone that has murdered their own child! I knew as a child it wasn’t something normal and I knew it was wrong. her saying she didn’t know it was wrong is absolutely BS!”

I read the same comments from pro-lifers when I talk about my own two abortions. This isn’t how you speak to a woman who has had abortions and feels regret and sadness over them. Yet, it’s how many pro-lifers respond.

Besides the fact that these comments are coming from supposed Christians, women who are in similar positions, who may be seeking guidance and help, or who may be considering abortion, will run the other way. This is the equivalent of a woman walking into an abortion clinic and a pro-lifer screaming at her not to kill her baby, or just keep her legs closed.

Because women (and men) are going online to get abortion pills (chemical abortions make up well over 60% of all abortions done in this country), and the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics are declining, the online space is the new sidewalk. The physical space where pro-lifers have gathered in person for years to pray, to speak to women, and to offer solutions is vanishing along with those clinics and is being replaced by social media posts and Google searches. How are supposed pro-lifers reacting? Not well, according to comments online. They seem ill-equipped to handle even basic posts with compassion and love.

Continued below.

Did any of your parishes have Trunk or Treat Friday or Saturday night? We did but we didn’t go to it. We went to our granddaughter’s daycare Trunk or Treat on Friday and I thought two nights in a row doing the same thing would be too much. Besides, they prefer you decorate a trunk and I was planning on just taking the kids there by walking in, if we would’ve gone. That’s how we did it at daycare. We just brought chairs and a “cauldron” filled with candy, so we were free to leave early which is nearly impossible if you bring your car in and decorate a trunk….too many little kids running around.
What, if anything did you do that was Halloween-y this weekend?

(Sorry, Moved to Friendship Court due to lack of feedback)

I need urgent fervent prayer for my friends. They're undergoing through a spiritual battle. They need strength and strong faith in God. For Lola, Mary, several doctors. Severe satanic attacks. Urgent fervent prayer right now. Can you include them in your prayer list at church. We need prayers. Satanic attacks specifically in the mind. This is important. We need prayer warriors. We need all church members to pray for that.

Cardinal Raymond Burke celebrated a special Traditional Latin Mass for hundreds of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 25 — a return to a prior custom, suspended since 2022, of an annual pilgrimage of Catholics devoted to the ancient liturgy

Burke celebrated the Solemn Pontifical Mass, a high Latin Mass said by a bishop, at the Altar of the Chair on the second day of the Oct. 24–26 Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage. The cardinal also celebrated a Latin Mass at the Altar of the Chair for the pilgrimage in 2014.

The Mass was preceded by a half-mile procession from the Basilica of Sts. Celso and Giuliano to St. Peter’s Basilica.

Continued below.

What is this “rest” that God speaks of? It is most certainly our salvation (deliverance) from bondage (addiction) to sin and eternal life with God. And who are the “they” being spoken of here? They were the children of Israel who wandered in the wilderness for some 40 years but who died in the wilderness, and who did not get to enter into God’s eternal rest nor into the Promised Land, due to their disobedience, which God called “unbelief.”

For they were idolaters who craved evil things. And they were revelers and drunkards who acted immorally. And they were those who tested God and who grumbled against the Lord and Moses, God’s servant, thinking that God would not punish them for their rebellion and disobedience. And these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. And they were written down for our instruction as examples.

[See: 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16]

So, what is the message for us here? We need to be careful that we do not come up short of entering into God’s eternal rest. And how might that happen? The same way in which it happened to the Israelites who disobeyed God, who continued to walk in sin, in direct defiance of God’s commands, and for whom obedience to God and to his commands was not their practice. For they did not desire obedience to God, but they craved evil things.

And when this says here that the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard it, this is in the context of the Scriptures teaching that faith = obedience, and disobedience = unbelief. For faith in Jesus Christ is not lip service to God only, but it must be coupled with us denying self, dying to sin daily (in practice), and following our Lord in obedience to his commands, as a matter of what we practice.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

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).

So, today if you hear God’s voice speaking to you through his divine revelation in the Scriptures, taught in the correct biblical context, which tells you that faith in Christ, which is biblical faith, must result in us dying to sin and following our Lord in obedience to his commands, in the power of God, please do not harden your hearts and refuse his voice. By faith in Jesus, please surrender your lives to Jesus Christ, deny self, and die to sin, and walk in obedience to his commands, and you will enter into his eternal rest.

[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]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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Entering Into God’s Eternal Rest
An Original Work / October 27, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Paul was writing this to Timothy, a fellow servant and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, who had spent enough time with Paul to become intimately acquainted with Paul’s teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, and love, etc. But this was not just for the sake of knowledge, but that he might follow after Paul’s example of what it looks like to be a Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ. For Paul modeled for Timothy and for all who knew him and for all who have read his teachings what faith in Jesus Christ is truly all about.

And this was in the context of Paul speaking about what it will be like in the last days, which they were in, even then. And he described how people would be lovers of self, lovers of money, arrogant, disobedient, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, and without self-control, etc. They would be those who were always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth because they opposed the truth, because they were people of depraved minds who preferred their sins over God and over obedience to God.

We are to live the opposite of that by faith in Jesus Christ. For by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in the Lord we are persuaded of God as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to die with Christ to sin, by the grace of God, and to now follow him in obedience to his commands, in the power of God. Sin is to no longer have control over our lives, but now obedience to our Lord and to his commands is what we are now to live by, as led and empowered by the Spirit of God within us.

And when that is the faith in Jesus that we go by, which is biblical faith, we, too, will follow after the example of Paul’s witness and testimony for Jesus Christ. But please let me state here that many people today are taking some of Paul’s teachings out of context, and they are trying to prove that Paul was someone who had a sinful addiction, and he was someone who “struggled” with sin in much the same way as many addicts do today. But that is out of context and it is just not biblical. Paul was a righteous man who obeyed God.

And that is why he could say to Timothy and to others to follow his example of teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, and love, etc. For Paul not only stressed holy and righteous living in his teachings, but he lived what he taught. He lived for the Lord to do his will even if it cost him his life or his reputation. And he was persecuted severely for his testimony for the gospel of our salvation, even to the point of near death many times while teaching the truth, because so many people rejected Jesus Christ and his gospel.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

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).

So all of us who profess faith in Jesus Christ are to live by the standard taught to us in the passages of Scripture noted above (and below). And if truly this is how we are living, and our desire is to live godly in Christ Jesus, and if we are following after the example of Jesus, and the example of Paul, in the things that they did and said for the glory of God, we, too, will be hated, persecuted, mistreated, rejected, and cast aside as unnecessary and as unwanted, just like trash to be thrown away and forever forgotten.

[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]

His Tender Mercies

An Original Work / January 26, 2014
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Fear not! I’m with you.
Be not dismayed!
God watches o’er you.
Trust Him today.
He’ll lead and guide you;
Give you His aid.
He’ll love and keep you
With Him always.

Walk in His footsteps.
He’ll lead the way.
Trust in His love;
Believe that He cares.
He will not leave you.
Faithful He’ll be.
His tender mercies
Now you will see.

Fellowship with Him
Throughout the day.
Tell Him your heartaches.
He’ll heal always.
Rest in His comfort.
He is your friend.
Your faith He’ll strengthen,
True to the end.

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Living Godly in Christ Jesus
An Original Work / October 26, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Please consider this teaching about Paul’s life:

Which one is biblical? explain why.

"Initially, Butler, then 17, was charged as an adult and was slapped with 10 felony counts, including rape, attempted rape, sexual battery and assault.
The baseball player pleaded not guilty to all charges but later struck a deal with the district attorney’s office to change his status from adult to youthful offender. Butler, who is the son of a prominent local sports coach, switched his plea to no contest after a judge signed off on the deal.
Under local laws, the youth plea deal meant Butler was sentenced last week to just one year of rehabilitation and community service — despite facing roughly 78 years in the slammer."

What a horrible decision.

The national debt of the United States government is rapidly closing in on $37 trillion. Given that the nominal U.S. GDP is only $29.35 trillion, we owe significantly more than our economy produces. The interest payment alone on the debt is now the third-highest line-item expense, just after Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security and just ahead of Defense. It even surpasses our total federal tax revenue.

In addition to the federal government, state and local debt is another $3.2 trillion, and total credit card debt is currently over $1.28 trillion. In all, total indebtedness of the United States, public and private, sits at nearly $105 trillion. Though it is increasingly obvious our national debt will never be repaid, the deficit continues to grow at an alarming rate.

These numbers are simply too big to understand. To help put them in perspective, one trillion seconds is over 31,688 years. Our debt is now 100 times that number.

To put it mildly, this bodes ill for our future. Out-of-control debt has been a significant factor in the collapse of every major world power in history. For example, the French Revolution was triggered by a fiscal crisis, which sparked civil war and left between 300,000 and 500,000 dead, not including those killed abroad in foreign wars.

Continued below.

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the one who has a husband.”

English Standard Version Catholic Edition (n.p.: Augustine Institute, 2019), Ga 4:21–27.

May there not be very many other OT passages that can be interpreted allegorically?

Is Paul's method here not an exemplar to us of proper exegesis?

Paul assumes the existence of the mystical sense (cf. § 40) in Scripture, in which events and figures of the OT are types of the NT. Taking yet another illustration from the history of Abraham, he shows that those who rely on the Law instead of faith in the Promise áre to be excluded from the inheritance; cf. Prat, op. cit., I, 221. 22. Cf. Gen 16:15; 17:15–21; 21:2, 9. 23. ‘According to the flesh’: on the one side all happened according to nature; but on the other, according to a divine promise, miraculously realized. 24. ‘Which things are allegorically interpreted’ as follows. 25. ‘(For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia)’: a supplementary confirmation of his interpretation inserted in parenthesis; for Ismael is connected with Arabia through being the ancestor of the chief Arab tribe. Arabia then denoted all the land S. and E. of Palestine. ‘She corresponds to that Jerusalem.…’ 26. i.e. the Church. 27. Cf. Is 54:1, with which the Rabbis connected Is 51:2

Dom B. Orchard, “Galatians,” in A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, ed. Bernard Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe (Toronto; New York; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson, 1953), 1117.

24. Which things are said by allegory; literally, ἅτινα ὲστιν ἀλληγορούμενα, which things are allegorized, i.e., the things narrated in Genesis regarding the sons and marriages of Abraham, signifying at the same time other things altogether different from themselves. By an allegory, writers on rhetoric understand a lengthened or continued metaphor. Ecclesiastical writers generally understand it to denote a figure in things, by which one thing is employed to typify or signify another of quite a different nature. “For these,” αὗται γὰρ, i.e., the marriages, or, according to others, the two wives of Abraham. “Are,” i.e., signify “the two Testaments”—viz., the New and the Old. “The one indeed from Mount Sina.” The Old Testament took its rise from Mount Sina; because, there was promulgated the Law, the observance of which was among the primary conditions of the Old Covenant. “Which bringeth forth into bondage.” The Old Testament brought forth children into the bondage of the Mosaic Law, a law of servitude, both on account of the multitude of its precepts, which neither the Jews nor their fathers could bear, as also on account of the spirit of fear which it inspired. “Which is Agar;” and this covenant is represented by Agar.

John MacEvilly, An Exposition of the Epistles of St. Paul and of the Catholic Epistles, vol. 1 (Dublin; New York: M. H. Gill & Son; Benziger Brothers, 1898), 390–391.

Ancient Christian interpreters practised typological and allegorical readings to uncover the spiritual meaning of biblical texts in order to deepen their understanding of God. They did not consider such readings fanciful or arbitrary because they had a different view of reality from us moderns. Ancient interpreters assumed a connection between mind and a higher order of reality. For them, sacred texts were windows to divine realities. Theologians call this the ‘sacramental’ quality of language and texts, that is, their ability to mediate transcendent, divine truths. Already in the Greek philosophical use of Homer or in rabbinic interpretation of the Bible, the text was not read in a strictly literal or historical sense. In contrast to modern literalism, texts were treated as cryptic, containing hidden spiritual insights. Even historical events were means of conveying spiritual truths.

Zimmermann, Jens. Hermeneutics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (pp. 84-85). OUP Oxford. Kindle Edition.

This is entirely coherent and reasonable.

There’s an ugly new current running through parts of the political Right — a growing attempt to sanitize what should never be sanitized: overt fascism, national socialism, kinist racial theory, and anti-Jewish conspiracy. In corners of the internet and certain activist spaces, people are “ironically” quoting Hitler, praising the Third Reich’s “order,” and calling all Jews “globalist parasites.” Some of them even try to reframe Hitler as some misunderstood nationalist hero.

That alone is disturbing enough. But what’s worse is the emerging chorus of voices — including influential conservatives like Matt Walsh — saying we need unity, even with them, for the sake of “winning politically” (“no enemies to the right”).

To be clear: unity itself is good. Conservatives have lost far too much ground to pointless infighting. We’ve split over secondary issues and handed the Left the culture war on a silver platter. But unity is not a moral blank check. True unity can’t come at the expense of first principles — truth, human dignity, and liberty under God. Once we trade those for the illusion of strength, we don’t win. We rot from within.

There’s actually a perfect parallel for this in the church world. Years ago, the “Revoice” movement emerged in Evangelical circles — marketing itself as a “safe space” for LGBT inclusion within Christianity. It claimed to just “welcome” everyone, but beneath that language was a quiet redefinition of biblical truth. By normalizing sin under the banner of compassion, Revoice diluted the Gospel it claimed to uphold. It was seeker sensitivity for homosexuality — a slow moral surrender dressed up as kindness.

Continued below.

Formerly known as ChristIsSovereign, newly rededicated to Christ.

Well, where do I begin?

My father was akin to a dictator in some ways. Disagreeing with him was not an option and if I dared to make a counterargument, he would shut me down in an instant. He was, ironically, an Arminian through and through and that led to me spitting on Arminianism once I fully espoused Calvinism.

My theological pomposity became immediately known to most of the family except him. I'd shove the "doctrines of grace" down my mother's throat and more or less told her she had no role in her saving grace. My belief in the supernatural started to dry up exponentially and before long I was an absolutist cessationist as well, believing that not even God spoke to Christians, that God was distant and Christ's sacrifice was a transaction to apply salvation to the elect.

From underneath my vain embrace of Calvinism, my past propensity towards compulsive perverse sin started to rear its ugly head in many new and innovative ways. I started to become a chronic manipulator and playboy online, drawing Christian girls to their mental doom. I won't go into detail, but everything escalated to a level that haunts me to this day. The fact God's grace is upon me today is frankly mystifying.

Not long after my last post as ChristIsSovereign, after a disastrous failure of a deconstruction of Calvinism, I abandoned Christianity more or less. I found that my behavior was so out of line with Christian ideals and social mores that I resorted to being a deist who believed God had nothing to do with me and He left me to my own devices. I still, deep down, had the belief in the Christian God, but I was so far from the Holy Spirit that I either quenched the Spirit to the point of almost completely searing my conscience (Calvinist perspective) or I actually forfeited salvation and fell into rank apostasy (some Arminians' perspective) and rejected Christ as a result. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but God was nowhere in my mind, only emptiness and a reek of bitter nihilism. If God was there with me the entire time, He is one patient God. For the better part of a decade, I proceeded in this lascivious and soul-reaving path of utter self-destruction.

Almost out of nowhere, it seemed like God had enough of His child going astray and annihilating himself. He screwed my head back on and raised my awareness of both Christ my Savior and the dark reality of demonic forces out there. In turn, I briefly returned to a half-hearted Calvinism due to believing I was newly regenerated or something of the kind. It didn't last long though as I started to do research. I am currently deconstructing my former Calvinism, and by the grace of God, I can come out the other end healed and believing in a God of love, patience, and kindness, and not a God of capriciousness, narcissism, and elitism.

I would appreciate prayer in this regard.