"Microsoft laid off a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) team this year, with a team leader sending an email saying the initiatives were no longer needed.
The email, sent earlier this month and [COLOR=rgba(20, 20, 21, 0.91)]obtainedhttps://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-layoffs-dei-leader-email-2024-7 by Business Insider, is from an individual whose name has not been released. It is unclear how many team employees were laid off.[/COLOR]

“True systems-change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020,” said the email, which was sent to thousands of employees, according to BI.

It appears that the trend of killing off DEI in the workplace continues as Microsoft lays off an unspecified number of "DEI employees" (grifters seems a more appropriate description).

I've always seen this as just a matter of time and something that will be looked back at as an oddly racist period in history. One can hardly recall a moment when a Democratic Party official in front of microphone didn't make a token (pun intended) pledge to this racist ideology.

After all, your skin color, genitalia, and sexual orientation aren't reasons for you to get a job. Your qualifications and merit are. Hopefully, companies like United Airlines do the same before airplanes start dropping from the sky.


Thoughts?

​

Stochastic terrorism appears to be on the rise globally. Extremism experts explain how this form of violence has gone mainstream.​

Stochastic terrorism is targeted political violence that has been instigated by hostile public rhetoric directed at a group or individual. Unlike incitement to terrorism, this is accomplished by using indirect, vague, or coded language that allows the instigator to plausibly disclaim responsibility for the resulting violence.[1] A key element is the use of social media and other distributed forms of communications where the person who carries out the violence has no direct connection to the users of violent rhetoric. Stochastic terrorism - Wikipedia

---

So should the last eight years of a multitude of social media influencers and major media figures explicitly portraying Donald Trump as the next Adolf Hitler be considered a form of stochastic terrorism?

It's important to note that the perpetrators were not comparing a general ideology or general culture to Nazism. They were specifically identifying the individual person Donald Trump and and imposing the figure of Adolf Hitler upon him. These were not nuanced or vague comparisons but explicit references and direct analogies. "Trump is the next Hitler."

It is also important to note that these were not the usual scattering of edgy political publications, but a message that was repeated 24/7 from all corners of the mass media landscape. (and still is!) The promoters of this Trump - Hitler narrative had full knowledge of the extent of saturation, because it is all very public by nature.

These comparisons and images saturated the media horizon. (I'm sure we could fill dozens of pages on this thread with examples from major media outlets, celebrities, and large social media influencers) Here is one example of countless:





The historical figure of Adolf Hitler is an extremely unique symbol that is essentially synonymous with justified violence... Hitler is basically the modern personification of Satan and there is a general consensus, even among Christians, that someone would have been justified in assassinating him before he came to power, for the greater good.

It should be common sense to anyone in our society that to combine the image of Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump, and repeat it endlessly throughout mass media channels... is going to indoctrinate a significant portion of a mass audience into the idea that one might be justified in assassinating one of them just as much as the other. (of course, most people would not act on this impulse, but inevitably some disturbed individual would, and did)

And then on July 13th, 2024, the assassination attempt happened. At a rally, someone perched on a rooftop tried to shoot Donald Trump in the head, but by God's grace, only struck his ear.

Logically speaking, a person who actually believed the widespread media campaign blending the person of Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler, would also, as a consequence, believe they are justified in eliminating another Hitler.



Could this assassination attempt be reasonably interpreted as the predictable and intended result of a long-term stochastic terrorism operation?



Should the collective promoters of this Trump - Hitler narrative be officially brought up on charges of stochastic terrorism?



Furthermore, should any individual who appeared to publicly celebrate or cheer the assassination attempt of Donald Trump, likewise be investigated?







God Save The King!

Acts 19:4 "Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." The Repentance John preached was to Believe on Jesus Christ. Not turn from all your sins to be saved. Repenting of sins is works Jonah 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

The repentance for salvation is you turn from whatever false gospel you were trusting in before, and Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sin is transgression of the law 1 John 3:4, so if you're stopping sinning then you're keeping the law. and thats works salvation that is a false gospel.
Salvation is Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. not stop sinning to be saved. nobody has stopped sinning we sin every day. every day we confess sins to God and turn from that, thats works! Salvation is a one time event, not a process. You Believe on Jesus Christ, you pass from death to life, you hath eternal life past tense no man can pluck you out of Jesus or the Fathers hand, never die never perish, Once Saved Always Saved.

John 10:28-29 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Acts 16:30-31 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

One of the most astounding and annoying positions held by many of the anti-Sabbatarians I've talked to is that Jesus broke the Sabbath. These people present their jesus with a straight face and insist that he could transgress the law that he was born under with impunity. Their jesus, because he is god, can do as he pleases and could break the law and still be supposedly "sinless." But consider for a moment how this position—if played out to it's logical confusion—would impact on anything and everything else the Bible plainly reveals about the real Savior of the Bible. If this other jesus can break the fourth commandment, why can't he break any of the other commandments, laws, ordinances or decrees he imposed on his people? What about murder? Adultery? Theft? Worshipping other gods? Coveting? Or sexual immorality? Do you really believe in a god who says "Do as I say, don't do as I do?"

The one that I think would be the most potentiality troubling would be the command against bearing false witness. Hebrews 6:18 says that "it is impossible for God to lie," but using the rationale for allowing jesus to break the Sabbath shouldn't we also find that it is just as likely that he should also be allowed to lie? Maybe he was lying about it being impossible for him to lie? How can you trust a god who cannot abide by the rules he demands of his own creatures?

When confronted by an angry mob which was ready to kill Him, Jesus asked the rhetorical question, "Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?" The Pharisees, Sadducees and teachers of the law were constantly following Jesus looking for any reason to condemn Him. Members of the Sanhedrin were with Jesus on several occasions where they challenged Him on the question of proper Sabbath observance. If they could find Him guilty of breaking the Sabbath then they would have the legal rationale for condemning Him to death. But at His trial what do we see? Because Jesus was truly righteous, truly sinless (and not just a said sinlessness which anti-Sabbatarians attribute to Him) the Sanhedrin had to resort to producing their own false evidence.


Why look for "false evidence" and produce "many false witnesses" when the Sanhedrin had it's own members as actual witnesses of what would constitute "real" evidence worthy of their desire to impose the death penalty? But if jesus really did break the law then God's ordained representatives on this planet were directed to impose capital punishment. The Pharisees would then be the good guys for carrying out God's directives for them as shepherds of His people. Really, wouldn't noncompliance with the law be a beacon revealing any false messiah? Next!

The Jesus of the Bible is both 100% God as well as 100% man. This is the mystery of the incarnation (i.e., how God became man). But while the Bible acknowledges Jesus as being both God and man, anti-Sabbatarians routinely focus primarily on their jesus's god-ness to the near exclusion of his man-ness. This exclusionary thinking creates serious theological problems for them as they attempt to articulate their jesus. For instance, the Bible says that God doesn't get tired or weary (Isaiah 40:28). Yet while the incarnate Jesus was fully God, His human side definitely got tired and weary (John 4:6). We're also told that God doesn't get hungry (Psalm 50:12), but we also know that Jesus did get both thirsty (John 19:28) and hungry (Matthew 4:2). The Jesus of the Bible is also acknowledged as saying His Father was greater than Himself (John 14:28). In His human form Jesus also stated that only His Father knew the time of His own return to earth (Matthew 24:36), but Jesus did not know this information.


Was it at all possible for the human side of Jesus to succumb to temptation? Satan certainly thought so. He went at Jesus when He was humanly at His weakest and tempted Him in areas he thought He might falter. Jesus's response to the tempter was not to simply ignore the temptations, or to send the devil off to oblivion. Jesus set an example for us in His confrontation by quoting Scripture in response to each temptation (this reminds me of putting on the full armor of God and utilizing the "sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God").


What do you think? Was Jesus tempted in all points as we are but because He didn't give in to those temptations He was really and truly "sinless"? Or, do you believe that the temptations could've all been embraced and the jesus you believe in, whom we're told "was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin," had only a said sinlessness? Is it "good news" that your jesus can and does break the laws he insists that his followers must obey? Is it "good news" that when your jesus finds out one of his creatures has broken one of his laws that he has been known to punish that individual to the full extent of the law (even though he himself cannot apparently abide by his own law)? What kind of jesus is this that you are attempting to foist on the unsuspecting? It's certainly not the One whom Paul preached.


Do you really want to be included with a group of people who are perverting who Jesus really is and His true gospel?

ALSO BY THIS AUTHOR

• Works Relation to Salvation​

• Ten Reasons I'm a Sabbatarian​

I pray this helps.

But for the grace of God go I,cyspark

Cheatle admitted the agency knew the building rooftop was a security vulnerability but still opted not to position agents there, leaving it wide open for Crooks to take up an ideal sniper perch with an unobstructed view of Trump on stage.
From the roof, Crooks had a clear line of sight to the GOP nominee with his AR-style semiautomatic rifle, about 130 yards away.

Fire her.

Prevalence of Gender-Affirming Surgical Procedures Among Minors and Adults in the US​

Gender-affirming health care aims to align an individual’s physical gender expression with their intrinsic gender identity. An example is breast reduction for cisgender males with gynecomastia. Recently, there have been increased legislative efforts restricting gender-affirming health care specifically for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people.1 Proponents of these efforts express concerns that TGD minors may be too commonly using gender-affirming surgical procedures. Given stringent clinical standards for gender-affirming care,2,3 use of gender-affirming surgical procedures by TGD minors is expected to be low. However, there are limited national data; while 1 study provided national estimates, it did not capture minors under the age of 12 years and did not exclude procedures with clinical justifications outside of gender affirmation.4 Therefore, using a national dataset, we evaluated the extent to which TGD minors and adults received gender-affirming surgical procedures in 2019.

[zero procedures were performed on minors under 12.]

Of gender-affirming surgical procedures identified among ... minors, ... (96.4%) were chest-related procedures.... Of the 151 breast reductions among cisgender male minors and TGD minors, 146 (97%) were performed on cisgender male minors

--
see also

Gynecomastia (also spelled gynaecomastia)[a] is the abnormal non-cancerous enlargement of one or both breasts in males due to the growth of breast tissue as a result of a hormone imbalance between estrogens and androgens. Gynecomastia can cause significant psychological distress or unease.

I’ve really tried to follow the advice I’ve been given but it’s been hard. I’m in a group with others who feel the same as me and nobody has made any progress. I’ve realized a lot about god though and I realize he really does have control, not that I didnt know but I didn’t want to accept it.


Anyway, I feel I exhibit all the signs of a true reprobate. I’ve been seeking pity and false hope to escape the fear and despair. The reality is that it’s a mix of pride, refusal to repent, and hardness of heart. I get temporary relief and assurance but then I get fearful again. Part of me wants to repent but what if I also don’t want to repent? I'm saying I want to repent but then my actions say otherwise.
I don’t want to die in my sins and I’m terrified of the wrath to come. I also know I am reaping what I’ve sown, choosing to unconsciously blame God and look to others for hope. If you knew my sin you wouldn’t blame God if he decided to punish me. It’s just that bad.

I’ve been in denial about it but if it’s true then being in denial won’t make it untrue. I’ve lost the Holy Spirit and I’ve been a terrible human being ever since.

I believe I’ve really crossed the line with God and I don’t think I care, at least not like I should. I try to pray to be genuine with God and get the right heart posture but I feel that my heart is too hard and it’s only getting harder. I only have worldly sorrow and even feel somewhat numb.

Trump's Rhetoric: A Timeline of Division and Violence

From the start of his political career, Donald Trump has used violent and inflammatory rhetoric, inciting anger, division, and sometimes physical aggression.
Beginning with his 2015 campaign announcement, where he labeled Mexican immigrants as “rapists,” to his presidency marked by attacks on political opponents, the media, and Black Lives Matter, Trump’s words have often been provocative and dangerous.

This timeline underscores key moments of escalating discord, culminating in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack and ultimately influencing an assassination attempt in 2024, highlighting the enduring and dangerous influence of his rhetoric on the political landscape.

2015-2016: Presidential Campaign Rhetoric

• June 2015: During his campaign announcement, Trump labeled Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and criminals.
• August 2015: Suggested in a rally that a protester might deserve to be “roughed up.”
• November 2015: At a rally in Birmingham, Alabama, Trump said about a protester, “Maybe he should have been roughed up.”
• February 2016: Told supporters at a Las Vegas rally to “knock the crap out of” anyone planning to throw tomatoes, promising to pay their legal fees.
• March 2016: Encouraged supporters at a rally to “knock the hell” out of protesters, again promising to pay their legal fees.
• March 2016: In Iowa, Trump said he would pay legal fees for supporters if they got in trouble for removing protesters, adding, “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you.”
• March 2016: A supporter punched a protester at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Trump remarked that he might pay the legal fees for the supporter.
• August 2016: Suggested “Second Amendment people” could stop Hillary Clinton from appointing Supreme Court judges.
• October 2016: In Miami, Trump told supporters to “beat the crap” out of anyone they saw about to throw a tomato.2017-2021: Presidency

(staff edit)

Let ALL politicians who engage in selling their power and influence
for bribes, be found guilty.

Selling influence, is NOT one of the responsibilities of an American politician.
And it should NEVER be considered to be part of a politician's "official acts"
that they do, to carry out their job.

Note that under the fair rule of law in America, Menendez was presumed innocent,
until he was proven guilty.

A Tennessee law that prevents trans-identified residents from changing the sex marker on their birth certificates to reflect their self-declared gender identity is not a violation of the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the state of Tennessee in a 2-1 decision, ruling against plaintiffs Kayla Gore, L.G., K.N. and Jaime Combs. The four plaintiffs are men who identify as women who sought to change the sex on their birth certificates.

Writing for the majority opinion, Judge Jeffrey Sutton stated that "there is no fundamental right to a birth certificate recording gender identity instead of biological sex." The judge wrote that the Tennessee law treats both sexes equally, and the state recording sex instead of gender identity on birth certificates "does not withhold a constitutionally prescribed benefit."

Continued below.

From the "You gotta be kidding" file:



They took picture of him - they saw him multiple times around the building - they saw him with a rangefinder (sniper tool for measuring distance to target) and no one - not one person approached him or questioned him.

How can even the elect inoculate themselves from The Great Deception?

Mark 13:5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.

Matthew 24:24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.



I think it will get harder and harder as we all lose our humility. Rather than being able to be self critical we are more likely dig our heels in and double down.

Scripter tells us that we can recognize the Spirit by fruits:

Galatians 5:22-23
​

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Perhaps they can also then serve as indicators. or their opposites, hate, sadness, impatience, cruelty, evil, faithlessness, harshness and self-indulgence

Hi just thinking how well our Lord predicted these

Matthew 24:4-8 ESV
[4] And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. [5] For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. [6] And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. [8] All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.


Average good description of the times we live in shoul the news make us glad knowing that our Lords return is close at hand.

Love and Peace
Dave

At the Republican National Convention on Monday, Rose gave a nod to her past criticism of Trump. She said once she believed Trump was a racist. . .
"People have to do their research. I watched all the rallies. And I started meeting so many of you, his red-hat-wearing supporters," she said laughing to cheers.
"And that's when it hit me: These are my people. This is where I belong," she added.
"I put the red hat on too."
The most impressive speech of the evening. That's what I tell people--do the research for yourself.

Do you ever hear God speak to you in your mind with words that you can hear in your mind (not audibly)? I do sometimes. But I will add a word of caution right here at the beginning and say that Satan will plant words in our minds sometimes, too. So when we hear a voice in our head speaking to us, we must test that voice to make certain that we are hearing from God, or not, before we just presume it is God’s voice speaking to us, when it might not be. So I did that when I heard this phrase in my mind yesterday:

“Dear Sue, I just initiated a conversation with you to be read to the whole..."

I had been writing devotions throughout John 15:1-25, as led by the Holy Spirit, and I didn’t think that I would be writing on verses 26-27. So, as I prayed about this voice in my head, and what it said to me, I was led to go back to John 15 and to read verses 26-27, and there I realized that the voice in my head was talking with me about what was being said in these verses to the Lord’s disciples, of whom I am one of them in this present time.

Now these words were spoken to the Lord’s disciples prior to Jesus going to the cross to die for our sins. So the Holy Spirit had not yet come into the hearts of our Lord’s followers. But since the time that Jesus died on that cross, and he rose from the dead, and he ascended back to the Father in heaven, and he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his followers, all those who have believed in Jesus have been given the Holy Spirit (the Helper) to live within them and to teach them all things about Jesus, and to guide, counsel, and empower us in our walks of faith.

And the Holy Spirit is indeed our helper who guides and directs us into all truth and who warns us of the lies of the enemy. And he speaks to us within our minds and hearts, which is not usually an audible voice, but an inner voice which helps us to discern right from wrong and truth from lies if we will listen to his voice, and if we will not shut him out. He also helps us as we are reading the Scriptures to discern what they are teaching us and to hear from the Lord what specifically he wants to say to us through his word.

So, as I thought about that role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, I went back to this phrase that I heard in my head:

“Dear Sue, I just initiated a conversation with you to be read to the whole..."

So, I looked up the individual words. To “initiate” something is “to cause (a process or action) to begin”. And a “conversation” is a talk between two or more people where information is exchanged. But in the Scriptures (KJV) the word “conversation” can be used to mean “one’s course of life, manners, and behavior, especially in respect to morals” (see Philippians 1:27; 1 Peter 1:15 KJV). And to “read” can mean to “look at and comprehend the meaning of or to discover information.” And “to” is “in the direction of” or “reaching.”

So, putting it all together, in relation to John 15:26-27, this is about Jesus sending us the Holy Spirit to bear witness to us about Jesus Christ – about his life and death and resurrection, and why he died on that cross, and about his gospel of salvation and how that is related to us regarding how we ought to live our lives. So we are not to leave the Holy Spirit out of this equation. We are to be listening for that voice within us teaching us the way in which we are to go and counseling us in making the right decisions, etc.

And then we are to be sharing with the world and with the body of Christ, i.e. with all who believe in Jesus, what we are learning from our times spent listening to the Holy Spirit teaching us from God’s word in regard to what this Christian life is to be all about and how it is to impact our daily lives, and what our relationships with God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – should look like in daily practice, too. And “to the whole” is to everyone. And we are all to be doing this if we are the Lord’s true disciples by genuine faith in him.

For the Holy Spirit is the one who interprets the Scriptures for us and who gives us understanding of what they are saying, but as to be applied to our daily walks of faith, too. So don’t shut him out as so many are doing these days. And please seek his counsel and wisdom with regard to all that is going on in the world around us. For so many “Christians” are following after men and are making men their gods, and not God, and who are looking to men to be their Saviors. But those men could be of the devil, in reality.

[Mk 13:11; Lu 2:26; Lu 4:18-19; Lu 10:21; Lu 12:11-12; Jn 14:26; Jn 15:26; Jn 16:13; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:17-18; Acts 11:12; Acts 13:2; Acts 20:23; Rom 8:9,14; 1 Co 2:14-16; 1 Co 6:19-20; 1 Co 12:1-31; Rom 12:1-8; Eph 4:1-16, etc.]

Teach Them

An Original Work / May 24, 2012
Based off various scriptures

Open up the blinded eyes of
Those who walk in sin’s darkness.
Turn them to the light of Christ
And to His righteousness.
Turn them from the pow’r of Satan.
Turn them to the peace of Christ,
So they may receive forgiveness
And eternal life.

Teach them to put off their old selves
And their former way of life,
And to put on their new self,
Reborn to be like Christ;
To not copy worldly customs;
Be transformed in life and mind;
Obey freely His word in them,
Pleasing unto God.

Teach them how to love their neighbors
Truly as they love themselves;
Be a witness; share the gospel;
Satan’s lies dispel;
Comfort all who mourn in sadness;
Share Christ’s love and joy today.
Do this through your life and witness
For your Lord always.

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I was watching a video on YouTube and noticed the Muslim end time isn't very different than the Christian end time in some respects. I know there are more differences than agreements between Christianity and Islam, but I was surprised to find what I did. For one, to start this thread, they believe in an anti-Christ figure called the Al-Masih ad-Dajjal - Wikipedia. I also saw a video that they believe Isa (Jesus) will return and defeat the Dajjal and set up His kingdom, though as a high prophet for Allah, not as the Son of God. But its far closer to the Christian belief than the Jewish events to come. I did not expect that. Has anyone else compared the Muslim prophecies to our Christian views?

Now I want to take a few minutes here to define what is meant by “the world.” Obviously it means the people of the world. And the word “hate” means to detest, denounce, renounce, or love less than, and only humans are capable of such hate. But in a sense, the world itself, by the values and thinking and culture that it has, is opposed to God/Christ and to his righteousness and holiness and moral purity and uprightness. But these values are put in place by human beings, not by nature itself.

But then when you think about who Jesus’ enemies were, who opposed him and fought against him, and who falsely accused him of wrongdoing, and who plotted his death, these were people of his own race, some from his own family, and they were the religious rulers in the temple of God. So they were those who professed faith in the one true God, and that they were worshipers of God, but while they denied the only begotten Son of God as their Lord and Messiah who had come to save them from their sins.

So, what is my point here? It is that “the world” is not just those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ, which is faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jabob. But they are all who are opposed to the Jesus of the Scriptures and to the gospel of salvation that he taught, and to the surrender of their lives to him, and to holy living, and to the forsaking of their sins, and to walks of obedience to the Lord and to his commands. For they oppose him by the choices they make in order to live for self and not for God.

So, “the world” includes all who reject genuine faith in Jesus Christ which results in us dying with Christ to sin and living to him and to his righteousness. So they can be professing Christians. And they can be pastors of “church” congregations. For they are all who oppose the gospel message that Jesus taught in favor of a more “friendly” gospel of the flesh of man which does not require that we die to sin daily and that we walk in obedience to our Lord for salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

And so they will hate us and oppose us and ignore us and mock us and reject us because they hate, oppose, mock, ignore, and reject the truth of the gospel of our salvation and the idea that they must leave their lives of sin behind them and that they must follow Jesus in surrender to his will and in walks of obedience to his commands in order to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For they prefer either to not believe in Jesus at all or to believe in a diluted gospel which makes no demands of them.

Now when it says here that if we were of the world that the world would love us as its own, but Jesus chose us out of the world, this is speaking to those and about those who are his true disciples, who have come out of the world and who are no longer conformed to the ways of this sinful world. So if we are not hated and persecuted and opposed for our faith in the Lord Jesus, and for our testimonies for him, then something is wrong. It could be that we really haven’t come out of the world and so the world does accept us.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

To Be Like Him

An Original Work / March 16, 2014
Based off Scripture

Crucified you are with Jesus.
To be like Him, oh, you’ll be,
Because He died at Calv’ry,
So from sin you’d be free.
Oh, what joy He brings into your life,
Giving life with Him endlessly.

Oh, what plans He has for your life.
Share the gospel faithfully.
Show the people He loves them.
Now His witness you’ll be.
Tell the world of sin about Jesus,
How He died for them on a tree.

Purifying hearts, He saves them,
Who believe on Christ, God’s Son.
Turning now from their idols,
New lives they have begun.
Jesus saves from sin; we’re forgiven.
Over sin, the vict’ry He won!

When He comes again to take us
To be with Him evermore,
There will be no more crying.
Gladness will be in store.
Heavens joys will now overtake us:
We’ll be with our Lord evermore.

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Continued from (2- Looking in a mirror) By beholding we become changed (What is called Antinomianism is not Lawlessness) <- Active Link


There are 4 major spiritual concepts being discussed within this Pauline sentence.

1- Having an unveiled face
2- Looking in a mirror at Jesus Christ (Jesus is the very Glory of God / Effulgence or Visible Light)
3- Transformation (Conversion)
4a- The inner working of the Holy Spirit
4b- The inner working of the Holy Spirit

Does the response herein below not seem out of place on a surface text level?

Luke 13:14-22 ASV
14 And the ruler of the synagogue, being moved with indignation because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, answered and said to the multitude, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the day of the sabbath.
15 But the Lord answered him, and said, Ye hypocrites, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo, these eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the sabbath?
17 And as he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame: and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
18 He said therefore, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I liken it?
19 It is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his own garden; and it grew, and became a tree; and the birds of the heaven lodged in the branches thereof.
20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
21 It is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.
22 And he went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and journeying on unto Jerusalem.

The understanding is fully expounded in Matthew 13. The grain of the mustard seed (faith) is planted in the third day. The three measures of meal are three days, (re: Gen 40:12, Gen 40:18, (typological axiom-exemplars, cf. Mrk 4:13)).

It seems this guy was a loner in high school and suffered a lot of bullying. Do you think he believed this would make him famous? Did he believe he would make some kind of friends from it? Gain some kind of respect?

It would take a lot for Trump to lose the election to Biden.

Recently, Trump has shown signs that show that he might understand how little he needs to do to win. For example, he has muddled the Republican view on abortion, making it a state by state issue. He decided to be gentle to Biden at the debate and in the week thereafter. Sure, he will continue to call the administration left wing criminals, but that is for his base, and to balance similar attacks from the Democrats. He will just get boring talking about inflation, gas prices, education and the border. He will continue to rave against the rich left-wing elite. And he will suggest that his administration was better without the US being strongly involved in two wars.

Sure, Biden's team could argue against all of this in the next few months. And just for a final issue, he will point out that a vote for Biden is a vote for Harris, since Biden is unlikely to serve out his term. And he will continue to challenge Biden to take medical tests. He doesn't need PROOF that he looks stronger and healthier to the average voters. He just needs to continue to put Biden snippets in ads.
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CONCLUSION
Once Biden accepted Trump's dare to debate, the race was in deep trouble.

Joe did the right thing by Kennedy. I am somewhat surprised. Now he needs to increase the number of Secret Service agents guarding Trump.

Thomas Matthew Crooks -- the assassin that killed one man, wounded two other people at the venue and also shot former President Trump - has been the subject of some inquiry.

Snopes did some research to find that the shooter in fact did make a contribution to a democratic political action group -


Snopes said that Crooks "donated money to a political action committee aligned with the Democratic Party"

Snopes research concludes this way --

"Considering that address match, and the fact that the location on the in-question FEC filing does not exist in Pittsburgh, evidence favors the conclusion that the shooter (Crooks) made the donation — not someone else with the same name."

So then Penn has closed primaries so you have to be registered as dem or rep to vote in the primary. If someone was a Democrat and felt that their nominee was going to be selected no-matter-what so their vote is not needed - and if they wanted to derail the Republican primary a bit - they might consider "registering as a Republican" to vote for a non-Trump candidate and hope to have some impact on the Primary outcome using that strategy.

But their "contribution" to the democratic political action pac would still be "noticed" ( so also their attempt to assassinate the former President - as it turns out)

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There is a criminal investigation as well as an independent investigation (or as part of) being sponsored by Mayorkus (DHS Secretary) . The question is "what went wrong" with secret service, FBI and local law enforcement that such a direct-line-of-sight threat so obvious at the venue -- had no coverage.

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A number of people were cited as saying that high levels of violent language regarding Trump being a "threat to democracy" and we all know of cases where they were calling Trump an "Existential threat" and key democratic sound bites saying they are "Terrified of a Trump presidency" - all fueling the fires for such a violent event.

Interesting that there is now general agreement that that sort of rhetoric is totally irresponsible. We need to do better as a nation.

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MSN: flashback-dems-pushed-bill-to-take-away-trump-s-secret-service-detail


How "odd" that the same congressman promoting that "remove security from Trump" bill - now has a staffer calling for the next shooter "not to miss -- next time".

MSN: bennie-thompson-staffer-no-longer-employed-after-trump-shooting-post

So yeah -- they fire that staffer.

But is it merely "a coincidence" that the same office that promotes a bill to revoke security for Trump - also has a staffer telling would be assassins "not to miss next time"??? Maybe there was a "culture of violent rhetoric and thinking" going on .. is that possible?

I see that as an example of the kind of thinking, the kind of actions - that everyone needs to avoid., It is horribly irresponsible.