Transgender Hillsborough County teacher can use preferred pronouns at work, federal judge rules​

Chief United States District Judge Mark E. Walker, an Obama appointee, wrote that Wood is “substantially likely” to succeed on her First Amendment claims, and issued a preliminary injunction blocking the state from enforcing the law against her, pending her lawsuit. The injunction applies only to Wood, and not statewide.

"So, the question before this Court is whether the First Amendment permits the State to dictate, without limitation, how public-school teachers refer to themselves when communicating to students. The answer is a thunderous ‘no.'”

Walker’s ruling cites a 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of a public school football coach, Joe Kennedy, who lost his job for praying on the football field.

O.J. Simpson — who became one of the most infamous figures in the US during his murder trial in the ’90s — has died after a cancer battle.

The former NFL star died Wednesday in Las Vegas, his family confirmed. He was 76.


“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” the family wrote on X on Thursday.

“He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace,” the brief statement added.

Continued below.

Perhaps laws could be changed in the West to correspond

When you see or experience an artistic work, what is it that occurs within you that draws your attention? is it visual complexity, or perhaps a hidden meaning or thought, that seems new?

This is a philosophical question, for people who aspire to, or appreciate further learning. Within the Catholic faith, which is what I'm personally familiar with, we tend to accept all facets of life as being within Gods creation, and thus, within Gods 'plan' for humanity. With that in mind, we tend to pursue greater understanding in various, and oftentimes, non-biblical areas.

The Persistence Of Memory by Salvador Dalí 1931

Enjoying him something to eat anyway...

If you work for an employer, you are, essentially, a servant of that employer. And as a believer in Christ, it is your responsibility to do your very best to do what your employer asks of you and to show proper respect to your employer, even if you disagree with what your employer is asking you to do. The only exceptions here are the same ones that we have examples of in the Scriptures, and that is if your employer asks you to do something sinful, illegal, and/or immoral, and/or if he asks you to deny your faith in Christ.

Now if you live in a country, like the USA, where presently you have a choice of where you can work, then if you don’t like the place where you are working, you are free to choose a different job and a different employer. Not everyone everywhere in the world has those same freedoms. So if you live somewhere where your job and your employer are chosen for you, and you have no choice in the matter, then you must be subject to the boss over you even if you are mistreated, but with the biblical exceptions named here.

And let me add here that the same applies with regard to what church fellowship that you attend. If you are attending a church fellowship that is not operating according to the Scriptures, and not under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and so it is very flesh and worldly and market driven, you do not have to stay there. You do not have to submit to worldly authority which is operating according to marketing schemes. But if you choose to remain, then it is your obligation to submit to that authority, but with the exceptions.

The bottom line in all of this is that we are to represent Jesus Christ in all that we are and do and say. We won’t all do it perfectly all the time, but we must do our best to serve our Lord and to serve our earthly masters (bosses) to the best of our understanding and to the best of our abilities (we can’t all do all the same things at all the same levels), but within the biblical guidelines set down for us by God as to what we should and should not do as followers of Christ, which is why we have biblical exceptions to submission to human authorities, which we are to follow as Jesus did.

For Jesus Christ and his NT apostles did not submit to the authorities if those authorities required of them that they disobey God. And they also did not have any problem standing up to human authority if those authorities were in the wrong in how they were treating them, either. So this is definitely not teaching that we shut up and that we compromise our faith and that we submit in everything and to everyone who is in position of authority over us. Jesus had regular words with the Pharisees of his day, as did his apostles.

But if we must confront wrongdoing, we should handle it respectfully, but not to the point of diluting or compromising the truth. For we are to be people of God who speak the truth in love to one another. And we are to be people of biblical and moral conviction and integrity and moral purity and honesty and commitment to Christ and to his word and to following Jesus Christ wherever he leads us, above all else. So, again, in all that we are and do and say we must be those who represent Christ well, as best as we know how.

So, if that is what we are doing, in practice, we are going to be hated, rejected, mistreated, and persecuted for righteousness’ sake. So we are to bear our cross gracefully for the sake of Christ and of his gospel, and not be people who get even with others who mistreat us. For we are instructed in the Scriptures to be those who love our enemies, who do good to those who hate us, who wish well to those who curse us, and who pray for those who abuse us (Luke 6:27-28).

We must be willing to suffer unjustly for the sake of the name of Jesus, and for the sake of the truth of the gospel, and for the sake of righteousness, just as Jesus suffered for us and died on a cross for us so that we might be delivered from our slavery to sin and so that we might now walk humbly before our God in walks of holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord and to his commands under the New Covenant. For when we stand on the truth of God’s word, we risk being hated and forsaken by others.

And the truth that we are to be spreading to others is the truth that Jesus Christ died on that cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. He died that we might be crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God. For if sin is what we obey, and not obedience to God, we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what we profess with our lips. So, please take this to heart.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; 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 Pet 2:24]

Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken

Hymn lyrics by Henry F. Lyte, 1833
Music attr. to Mozart, 1831/ Arr. Hubert P. Main, 1872

Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shall be.
Perish every fond ambition, all I’ve sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition! God and heav’n are still mine own.

Let the world despise and leave me, they have left my Savior, too;
Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love and might,
Foes may hate and friends disown me, show Thy face and all is bright.

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure! Come, disaster, scorn and pain!
In Thy service pain is pleasure; with Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee, “Abba, Father”; I have set my heart on Thee:
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather, all must work for good to me.

Man may trouble and distress me, ’twill but drive me to Thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me; heav’n will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me, while Thy love is left to me;
Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me, were that joy unmixed with Thee.

Haste then on from grace to glory, armed by faith, and winged by prayer,
Heav’n’s eternal day’s before thee, God’s own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission, swift shall pass thy pilgrim days;
Hope soon change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

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How many here read their Bibles on a regular basis? Among those who do, how do you read it? All the way through? Various books? How many here don’t like to read much of the OT, except for Psalms and Proverbs. I much prefer those two and the NT.

Not a cloud of guilt, nor any evil power of control remains for the believer in the Lord Jesus! The "old man," at rebirth, has lost both its "condemnation" (Ro 8:1) and "dominion" (Ro 6:14) on the believer. The guilt is gone because Christ has taken its curse; and its power to cause the believer to desire sin is annulled because "God works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phl 2:13), instead of our evil pleasure.

Though the Christian possess the old man, which continues to tempt, the power of the Lord Jesus takes the place of the power to desire sin and do evil. This is where God is most glorified--in that from now on the believer is ever controlled by the indwelling Spirit of God, "against which there is no law (opposition - Gal 5:23); and knowing this is a permanent state gives the greatest encouragement and "exhortation" (Heb 10:25).

God causes believers to "reckon" on His Word so that there will be surety of guidance concerning living according to His "pleasure;" and He will not fail here in those who are His!



Albert Barnes (1798-1870) "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust - That is, the fountain or source of all temptation is in man himself. It is true that external inducements to sin may be placed before him, but they would have no force if there was not something in himself to which they corresponded, and over which they might have power. There must be some “lust;” some desire; some inclination; something which is unsatisfied now, which is made the foundation of the temptation, and which gives it all its power. If there were no capacity for receiving food, or desire for it, objects placed before us appealing to the appetite could never be made a source of temptation; if there were nothing in the soul which could be regarded as the love of acquisition or possession, gold would furnish no temptation; if there were no sensual propensities, we should be in that quarter above the power of temptation.

I’ll be conducting an 8 week art workshop for retirees starting this Saturday at a local library. I’m anxious about it but have a great curriculum provided I can facilitate effectively. Please pray I don’t make a fool of myself and that the 10 students benefit.The program is supposed to help them make social contacts and art is supposed to help prevent cognitive decline and decrease cortisol. Thanks in advance!

Sociologists observe what happens with people in all sorts of circumstances; one observation that sociologists make is that communities that suffer from war and the stress associated with it or suffer from natural disasters and the terror associated with them, experience increases in attendance at religious rituals including Christian church services. Sociologists also observe that costly sacrifices associated with adherence to a religion tend to make it more likely that people will stay in the religion. Thus fasting, sacrificial giving, frequent services, and religious activities that demand time and effort play a significant role in keeping attendance high and make adherence long term.

All of the above is interesting, its applicability to Christianity and Christians may be questioned, and, of course, the faithful will want to argue that the truth of their religion and its teachings is the principal cause for its longevity, persuasiveness, and power to convert. The holy scriptures also back up the argument from truth being that cause for a religion's longevity and the personal sacrifices that the faithful make for the sake of their religion.

So, I am wondering if the argument in Hebrews chapter eleven is an example of the observations made by sociologists about religion.

I'm not a big dreamer, I guess we all dream but as far as remembering them I usally don't.

However quite recently I've had more dreams as I wake up from them and they are quite vivid. And I guess you could say I just had my first ever christian dream and it was quite absurd really, won't go into all the details but I was avoiding a situation and as I got to the door to exit which had a few stairs up there was a few guys outside who got interested in what was inside.

I was literally standing in doorway and actually tried to block the vision for them to what I was avoiding and one of them who was about as tall as I peeked over my shoulder and he saw and he was drawn. I stepped aside and in they went but in came also an old lady dressed in quite old clothing and she stopped right infront of me with a big smile on her face. And she had something in her hands around her waist and she lifted it up and I knew it was the bible. She just smiled and looked at me.

When I got out I saw this giant of a man looking in my direction, very intense fellow and I had this strong sense that he had something to do with it. And he broke his attention to me and went into a building infront of me so I chased after. As I got inside he had his body turned in another direction so I walked up to him and grabbed a hold of his right arm and asked him what he was doing towards me. He grabbed a hold of both my arms firm but gently and as I was looking at his face I could just partially see his eyes as they were flaring with white light. He said: "I'm only doing my duty to the heavens".

I actually woke up right after he says heavens, and I had been laying in a way that I had pressed my ear in some weird angle that I could hear my pulse. But as I woke up from him saying heavens, I heard my pulse as heavens.... heavens.... heavens... in tact with my pulse.

I don't know about this dreaming stuff, it's abit weird to me. Are we suppose to take stuff like this seriously?

A pedestrian was hit and killed on the highway in front of my workplace today. Would appreciate prayers for everyone involved, and their families, thank you.

Putin is purging Evangelical and Ukranian Orthodox Churches in occupied Ukraine.

"Since the occupation, evangelical congregations, Protestant churches, all the non-Russian Orthodox Christian faiths have been deemed undesirable and tens of thousands of believers have been forced to flee. Those who remain gather in secret in private homes for fear of angering the new regime.

The head of that new regime makes himself out to be the defender of the faith, his faith. With the client patriarch of the national church at his side, Vladimir Putin and his supporters make little secret of their plans to put Russian Orthodox Christianity above all other forms of Christianity."

"At least 206 evangelical churches have been expropriated or destroyed, according to the Institute for Religious Freedom, a Ukrainian watchdog group.

• Theistic evolution acknowledges that God’s creative process may involve gradual development over vast periods.
• Rather than seeing evolution as random or purposeless, theistic evolutionists perceive it as part of God’s ongoing work.

There is nothing better than to worship, praise, honor and glorify God. When we see what God has done all the more we want to honor Him.

DailyWire​

CIA Officer Admits To Undercover Journalist That FBI Agents Attended January 6 Protest At Capitol​

Apr 9, 2024

When asked if the public will ever find out, the officer responded, "Nope. And they probably never will."

Screenshot from Sound Investigation

An official with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) told an undercover journalist that members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were in attendance at the protests at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and also highlighted methods that intelligence agencies use to disempower political opponents.

FBI Director Christopher Wray previously stated in a Congressional hearing concerning January 6th that he was “not sure there were undercover agents on scene,” doubling down in an answer to Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and saying. “I do not believe that there were undercover agents on scene.”

Hi everyone, I would greatly appreciate your prayers. Lately I have been hearing voices in my head saying things like "Hey Davey" and "I am a witch" and "I have power" and "I am a God", I think this is a witchcraft person talking to me, apparently they are able to do this. God has shown me there are witchcraft people in town and they are targeting me, God has shown me ways of dealing with them, I have been doing spiritual warfare over them, breaking the power of their witchcraft in the name of Jesus, rebuking witchcraft, commanding the witchcraft to stop in the name of Jesus, and commanding all witchcraft to be returned to sender in the name of Jesus. This has helped alot but I still need deliverance from their witchcraft. Please pray that all of this stops! Thank you!

Like many unfortunate things, the rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump. As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair. (Just to note, I eagerly voted against Trump twice but felt we were obliged to cover him fairly.) But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.
The coverage of Trump is certainly out of control.

The U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich shared his thoughts on this verdict:

Pastor Smith’s prison sentence, while significant, does not come close to the lifetime of trauma his victims will have to endure. But I hope knowing that Smith will likely spend the rest of his life in federal prison gives them some peace of mind that he won’t be able to abuse others. Far too often, and unacceptably so, we are unable to obtain justice for children sexually abused in Indian Country. But justice was achieved here, and it would not have occurred without the bravery of our victims or the tenacity of our federal partners and prosecutors, for which I am grateful.

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Smith was the pastor of a local church in Lame Deer, Montana, on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. During his time on the reservation, he and his wife hosted other children from the community. In around 2021 and 2022, four girls, identified as Jane Does 1, 2, 3, and 4, disclosed being sexually abused by Smith between 2017 and 2020 when they were staying or living at Smith's home.

[The victims were under 12.]

Sens. Tom Brandt and Merv Riepe, who initially cosponsored the bill and had been expected to support it, abstained.



See also (Aug 2023):

Nebraska governor signs order narrowly defining sex as that assigned at birth​

The recently published declaration, Dignitas Infinita, says this about the death penalty:

In addressing some of the many grave violations of human dignity today, we can draw upon the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, which emphasized that “all offenses against life itself, such as murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, and willful suicide” must be recognized as contrary to human dignity. Furthermore, the Council affirmed that “all violations of the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture, undue psychological pressures,” also infringe upon our dignity. Finally, it denounced “all offenses against human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, degrading working conditions where individuals are treated as mere tools for profit rather than free and responsible persons.” Here, one should also mention the death penalty, for this also violates the inalienable dignity of every person, regardless of the circumstances. In this regard, we must recognize that “the firm rejection of the death penalty shows to what extent it is possible to recognize the inalienable dignity of every human being and to accept that he or she has a place in this universe. If I do not deny that dignity to the worst of criminals, I will not deny it to anyone. I will give everyone the possibility of sharing this planet with me, despite all our differences.”

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This statement that the death penalty violates human dignity "regardless of circumstances" seems to be saying that the death penalty is intrinsically immoral. The only way I can see this not being the case is if it's not necessarily sinful to violate human dignity, which seems to run counter to the intention of the document and Pope Francis's own beliefs given his statement a few months ago that the death penalty is "a sin." It would also undercut the strength of the document's condemnation of gender theory, surrogacy, abortion, etc., which are all based on how these things violate human dignity.

The wording of the document also removes the foundation for some of the earlier harmonizations of the change to the Catechism with prior doctrine, in that one of the defenses of the change (see for example Understanding the Catechism Revision on the Death Penalty) was that the death penalty might be rejected on the basis of current circumstances rather than being intrinsically immoral. But if it is a violation of human dignity "regardless of circumstances," then it can't also be a violation because of current circumstances.

How can this new statement on the death penalty be consistent with existing doctrine?