Hello, my name is Ana-Maria and I’m an 18-year-old (my 19th birthday is in a few days: 29 June) housewife from Tulcea county, Romania. I have a 2 month old son. I’m an Eastern Orthodox Christian. I spend my time serving God, my husband, in-laws and taking care of my son. Some fun facts about me: I fast every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (besides the big fasts of the year such as Great Lent and Nativity Fast). I wear a headscarf most of the day and at all times in public (known here as “batic”). I never worn pants. I go to church as often as possible (always on Sunday). I abstain from voting. I only went to school up to 8th grade; I was taught at home / church & self-taught after that. My hobbies include baking, knitting, sewing, reading, cooking, gardening, listening to music and painting (especially icons, I’m not sure that’s the exact translation in English but here they’re called “icoane” and are Christian paintings basically). I also volunteer with the church whenever I have time. This area where I live in (Dobruja) is very special for Christianity, for example the Saint Andrew’s Cave (a cave where Andrew the Apostle supposedly preached) is here, the first Christian church in Romania. Saint Andrew is also the patron saint of Romania and the Romanian Orthodox Church. Nice to meet you, all!

I’m too tired to go into detail at this moment but it’s been an exhausting day. In the meantime, could you pray? She is definitely in a very dangerous place. I’ll explain more as we are traveling tomorrow to explain the situation further. In the meantime, prayers are deeply appreciated.

Former defense minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, were named in the warrants for multiple attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, in actions that the court alleged amounted to Russian state policy.
The court — to which Russia is not a signatory — last year issued indictments against President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, his commissioner for children’s rights, over the removal of Ukrainian children to Russia, a war crime.

Shoigu was defense minister until Putin removed him last month and appointed Andrei Belousov in his place. Shoigu, a Putin loyalist, was instead appointed as head of Russia’s Security Council.

According to the indictment, Shoigu and Gerasimov were responsible for the war crimes of directing attacks at civilian objects and “causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects … and the crime against humanity of inhumane acts.”

The ICC indictment also cites alleged crimes from at least Oct. 10, 2022, until at least March 9, 2023, when Russia carried out a large number of strikes against Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure.

In May, the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced he had applied to the court for arrest warrants to be issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza during and after the attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

See also:

US Formally Accuses Russian Armed Forces of War Crimes in Ukraine​

essentialsaltes said:

ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli government officials​

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Supreme Court will decide if states may prohibit hormones for transgender teens​

The justices have not ruled on whether discrimination based on gender identity is unconstitutional.

In the last three years, however, many Republican-led states have enacted laws that forbid medical treatments intended to help youths under 18 transition to what the measures describe as a “purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.”

The Biden administration, the ACLU and Lambda Legal urged the court to hear casesfrom Tennessee and Kentucky and to rule discrimination against transgender youth violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws.

The court said it would hear arguments in the fall in the Tennessee case.

Parents played a lead role in the legal challenges. Samantha Williams and her husband, Brian, had sued in Nashville on behalf of their transgender daughter, who was identified as L.W.

“Before coming out and starting to receive this medical care she struggled to make friends, keep her grades up, or even accept hugs from her family. Now, we have a confident, happy daughter who is free to be herself. I want the Justices to see and understand my daughter and recognize her rights under the Constitution like any other person, and to see that if parents like me don’t have the right to determine what’s best for our children, then no parent does,” she said.

U.S. Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar had urged the court to take up the issue. She said the state laws impose “a categorical ban on evidence-based treatments supported by the overwhelming consensus of the medical community.”

[24 states have similar laws; many are already temporarily blocked by judges. Should SCOTUS rules in TN's favor, the laws would likely take effect.]

The previous board was all volunteer.

Ancient / Contemporary WOF-SOS Compatibility of it’s Adherents. Context's potential upon precept.

Whether by layman or cleric, I’m a firm believer in the accuracy of the corporate church (1Cor14:29-precept). On aspects of the study of the “word of faith” (WOF) or the living “sword of the Spirit” (SOS), the same applies which brings me to my concern, for I feel there continues an embattlement for truth.

Is the healthiest use of exegesis insidious to 2Tim 2:15’s “rightly dividing”? Judge for yourself, for myself, I know an over-zealous critique of context can work to rob some precepts, i.e., “living word of God” vs era of the manuscript handed down, or the culture when it was written for example. The epistles of Corinthians are popular victims of this among several others.

If citations are your first thirsty need, I would like to refrain if you don’t mind. This post will be much better off as a tool of oversight to set a marker to guard against both the positive or negative excess. Thank you!

According to paleontologists, dinosaurs (except birds) went extinct about 65 million years ago (at the end of the Cretaceous Period) after living on Earth for about 165 million years. As a technical term, dinosaur is not written in the Bible. Nevertheless, God could have created the earth with embedded records of dinosaur fossils. These are not fake records but summary records of events in space-time history.

Did they walk on the earth during those million years?

I'd treat it like they did because those are the real scientific records. However, the Bible focuses on redemption, saving people for eternal life. Dinosaurs were amoral creatures. They were not targets of the redemption story.

Is Behemoth a dinosaur?

Job 40:

15 “Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox.

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Behemoth was not a dinosaur in the scientific sense. Even if it was, its existence should not affect the redemption story or our walk with God.

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Appendix: Scientific definition of dinosaur

The next section is from UC Museum of Palenenlogy:

Archosaurs are a group of specialized reptiles which ruled the Earth during the Age of Dinosaurs. The only archosaurs that survive today are crocodiles and birds. Birds are the only group of dinosaurs that survived the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago. Your holiday turkey is a saurischian dinosaur, like Apatosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, and Velociraptor.


The Dinosaur Family Tree

The next section is from Thought.Co:

While most people intuitively describe dinosaurs as "big, scaly, dangerous lizards that went extinct millions of years ago," experts take a much narrower view.

In evolutionary terms, dinosaurs were the land-dwelling descendants of the archosaurs, egg-laying reptiles that survived the Permian-Triassic extinction event 250 million years ago. Technically, dinosaurs can be distinguished from the other animals descended from archosaurs (pterosaurs and crocodiles) by a handful of anatomical quirks. Chief among these is posture: Dinosaurs had either an upright, bipedal gait (like that of modern birds), or if they were quadrupeds, they had a stiff, straight-legged style of walking on all fours (unlike modern lizards, turtles, and crocodiles, whose limbs splay beneath them when they walk).

You may have noticed that the definition of dinosaurs provided at the start of this article refers only to land-dwelling reptiles, which technically excludes marine reptiles like Kronosaurus and flying reptiles like Pterodactylus from the dinosaur umbrella (the first is technically a pliosaur, the second a pterosaur). Also occasionally mistaken for true dinosaurs are the large therapsids and pelycosaurs of the Permian period, such as Dimetrodon and Moschops. While some of these ancient reptiles would have given your average Deinonychus a run for its money, rest assured they weren't allowed to wear "dinosaur" name tags during the school dances of the Jurassic period.

On Sunday, the Navajo County GOP issued a letter accusing Slaton of providing an “altered DD-214 claiming combat veteran status and showing qualifications and awards which you have not earned.”

“That unfortunately has cast a shadow of dishonesty on your campaign, and by extension, on the Republican Party organizations in [Legislative District 7],” the group wrote. “For these reasons, we respectfully request, for the good of the Republican Party, the conservative movement in general, military service members, and veterans that you withdraw from the Republican Primary race for Representative of Legislative District 7.”



Slaton, the founder and owner of a Trump merchandise store in Show Low, Arizona, had previously claimed to be a combat veteran who had flown a helicopter during the Vietnam War. “I was a combat veteran in Vietnam for four months in support of the missions of the South Vietnamese and patrolled along the DMZ,” Slaton told an Arizona radio station KMOG in April. His campaign website claims he “served overseas in Vietnam and Korea with the 128th Aviation Company, 8th U.S. Army I Corps.” [Slaton provided a DD-214 with all that and more.]

However, an official copy of Slaton’s DD214 obtained by Guardians of the Green Beret (GOTGB) — an online group of “former and current Green Berets who find and investigate those who falsely claim to be a Green Beret” — paints a very different story. [helicopter repairman in Korea.]

“Congress never gave Biden the authority to saddle working Americans with half-a-trillion dollars in other people’s debt. A huge win for the Constitution.”
We need to fix a president defying Supreme Court decisions, for this president and future presidents.

From the mid-Atlantic to Maine, across the Great Lakes region, and throughout the West to California, public officials cautioned residents about the dangers of excessive heat and humidity. In Oklahoma, the heat index — what the temperature feels like to the human body — was expected to reach 107 degrees (41 degrees Celsius) on Sunday.

In the Midwest where South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota meet, floodwaters rose through the weekend. In northwest Iowa, 13 rivers flooded the area, said Eric Tigges of Clay County emergency management. Entire neighborhoods — and at least one entire town — were evacuated, and the town of Spencer imposed a curfew Sunday for the second night in a row after flooding that surpassed the record set in 1953.

“When the flood gauge is underwater, it’s really high,” Tigges said in a news conference organized by Spencer officials.

Gov. Kim Reynolds declared a disaster for 21 counties in northern Iowa, including Sioux County. In drone video posted by the local sheriff, no streets were visible, just roofs and treetops poking above the water.

In South Dakota, Gov. Kristi Noem declared an emergency after severe flooding in the southeastern part. Several highways were closed.

Areas south of Sioux Falls, the state’s largest city, had an estimated 10 to 15 inches (25 to 38 centimeters) of rain over three days, National Weather Service hydrologist Kevin Low said.

Rapidan Dam breached by flood waters in southern Minnesota; nearby residents warned to potentially evacuate​

Le Sueur County residents in low-lying areas of the Minnesota River Valley are advised to closely monitor the situation and potentially evacuate, according to the county's emergency management office. The agency initially said the dam had failed, but later updated that the dam had been breached.

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for areas downstream until 4:30 p.m.

The Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office says debris started accumulating on Sunday at the 114-year-old dam, located about 10 miles southwest of Mankato, placing it "in imminent failure condition."

If that news is true then this could get very interesting.
In the past I had heard that Julian Assange was a part of the white hat operation to help take down the deep state and help assist Donald Trump become President in 2016 , ya'll remember Clintons emails etc.

So if he is now free and at a time when another election is due , then I can't help but wonder what part he might play in this next election , time will tell I guess.
Anyway as we go along , if I hear any good info , what you probably would call conspiracy , I will place it here.

And if you have any , then please feel free to join me....

According to the Masoretic text that modern bibles are based on, we are told that many believe that Goliath was 9 feet, nine inches tall based on the cubit measurements given. Og King of Bashan's bed is noted as being 13.5 feet long.

This seems to fit with the controversial book of Enoch and the mention of the Nephilim in Genesis 6, Raphaim etc and the narrative of fallen angels who cross bred with human women.
Professor of Theology Micheal Heiser points out that several early church fathers believed that Enoch was true and inspired scripture but they apparently didn't want to take a stand on it. Either that or it was gradually forgotten and the later Church fathers (Augustine and Jerome) took a different view and were more focused on other heresies. Enoch is considered canonical by the Ethiopian church

One would have to live in a cave, within America, to deny that Christianity has been politicized.​

The politicization of many moral matters has now forced Christianity into a deep schism where scripture is far from central to either side's discussion.

Forget the obvious nature of the current polarizing effect of dropping either of 2024's presidential candidates names. The exalted two parties that dominate American politics have branded themselves so strongly that in final summation Democrat and Republican have as staunch a meaning as Catholic or Protestant.

There are over 39,000 Christian denominations that all claim to have the correct reading of scripture, which is just a way of life, now. However, the schism that having only two Political parties is causing within the lives, souls and mental well being of Americas seems to be far more indicative of how Americans now view one another. The most painful aspect to all of this is that Political Special Interest on both sides of the isle has taken on the effort to appeal to the "Moral" compass of target groups. What one party is guilty of, so there the other party is now guilty of. All of the political vying for power and majority rule has seeped into the fabric of individual Americans.

If Party x gains control of the Supreme Court.
If Party y gains control of the House.
If Party x gains control over the Senate.
If Party y gains control over the Presidency.
If Party x gains a Governors seat.
If Party y gains control over an entire state.

These matters seem to be genuine focuses of Americans, these days. I understand being involved in Civic matters and such forth, but we are no different that OT Israel on this point. Do we have faith in mankind or God? Some people believe that this is the established Kingdom of God on earth, but I'm not referring to those folks. I'm referring to those folks that believe that we are Heaven bound and this experience is temporal. Factions are defined as utterly bad by the Apostle Paul. The more that I involved myself in politics, the more that I felt a growing disdain for one party or the other, as politics are now defined. I wouldn't say that this is anything new, but it just seems like these matters have become far more viewed as the answer to everything in many peoples minds. In the OT, we can visibly see the impact of Governments rising to the level of proclaiming to be a god. Am I the only one in America with this dumb idea, or do Blue and Red alike seem to be rising to the status of passively declared gods of our present and future? Is this only in America or is it a growing thing that is global? Why is mankind placing more and more faith in mankind? Why is division growing so massive in relation to political matters that churches can't simply operate under gospel narrative but feel obligated to infuse themselves into political matters?

This is more of a ponderance dump.

We see the present US administration adopting 'inclusiveness' as a policy.

This position is exemplified by the promotion of Tyler Cherry to the Whitehouse.


Forward clip to 1.25 minutes...

Inclusiveness is not a Christian principle - it originated from Pagan thought and is associated with the concept of Amorality. It is particularly strong in Hinduism and Buddhism.

The UN promotes this principle and is intent of forcing it on societies world wide.

The UN is not the friend of Christianity and has no regard for the Biblical Truth and Morality.

We are increasingly like Lot who was in anguish day and night.

Come Lord Jesus...

Despite early pledges from Texas DPS Director Steve McCraw to publicly release evidence from the Uvalde massacre, his legal team has quietly worked for more than a year to keep it a state secret.

[In addition to the families] 18 local and national news outlets – from CNN to Sinclair – ... have sued to get the public records in the case.

In court, Texas DPS insists that the records cannot be made public because it remains an open investigation. But Texas law enforcement agencies use discretion every day to publicly release evidence in open cases.

Plus, in the Uvalde situation, the shooter is dead. DPS Director Steve McCraw even admitted the physical evidence is not changing.

Last fall, a Travis County judge ordered DPS to make the data public. DPS appealed, delaying again.

LINK

Julian Assange, the founder of the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks, has reached a tentative deal to plead guilty on Monday to one count of violating the Espionage Act for his role in obtaining and publishing classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010, according to a court filing Monday evening.

A criminal information filed Monday evening in federal court says Assange “knowingly and unlawfully conspired” to “receive and obtain documents ... connected with the national defense” and “communicate” that information to persons not entitled to receive them.” A criminal information like the one filed Monday often signals a defendant has agreed to plead guilty. Assange will appear in court in the Northern Mariana Islands, according to the filing.

It is so vulgar and profane I cannot link to it.

Search listen and ask for yourself are these the adults in the room?

I don’t live in NY, but I would be embarrassed

From the side that supposedly hates cancel culture:

Hey you might want to have a look at this- there is a little church near where I live called Manada Gap Full Gospel fellowship, I drove by there the other day and saw the church and wanted to come, I haven't gone yet but I may come for the Wed PM service sometime soon. I looked them up on Facebook and saw some videos from the church. I found this one from their summer camp meeting, a young man gives his life to Christ and immediately gets up and preaches! He became a fireball instantly! His message is spectacular! Video is here: Login to view embedded media

In a recent fundraising email:

“I want you to remember what they did to me. They tortured me in the Fulton County Jail, and TOOK MY MUGSHOT. So guess what? I put it on a mug for the WHOLE WORLD TO SEE!” the fundraising email said.

Upon arriving to the jail in a presidential-style motorcade, Trump was booked, fingerprinted and photographed for a mug shot. The process took about 20 minutes and made Trump the first U.S. president in history, past or present, known to have their mug shot taken.

PARASHAH: “B’ha’alotkha” (in your setting up) NUMBERS: 8:1-12:16

We see in this parashah study, various themes. The first is “Putting up the lamps” or one could say; “going up to light the lamps”. This speaks of the golden Menorah, which was inside the Mishkan. As we know it was made of pure gold, one single piece hammered out to light the inside of the Mishkan. How they did that, making it from one piece of gold is a miracle, but we serve a God of miracles.

The menorah had seven branches, “7” is the perfect number of YHVH. Gold symbolizes purity. So, we serve a pure and holy God who sent YESHUA who is the LIGHT of the world. The seven-branch menorah had seven lamps filled with pure olive oil. The priests would light the lamps in the evening until morning light. The light of the menorah was the only source of light in the Mishkan. Outside was darkness, yet YHVH was outside in the form of a column of fire, inside, the menorah burned so that light was always there.

Numbers 8 tells us that the lamps that were part of the Menorah were facing forward ( casting their light forward, in front of the Menorah) (8:2)
That would tell us that the lamps were facing toward the Table of Shewbread, facing towards the "interior" of the Mishkan. There is some symbolism here. The Table of Shewbread had 12 loaves of unleavened bread. Yeshua is the "Bread of Life" and also the "Light of the World." Since we have HIS light inside us, it makes sense that our "light" faces the "Bread of Life", always seeking HIM, for more of HIS reflected light.

Also, the Menorah was in the "interior" of the Tabernacle. It was the "interior" source of light. Perhaps this can remind us to have our "spiritual lamps" pointed towards the interior of our being. Light reveals hidden things. We need to search our souls with God's Light to seek out areas where we have fallen short. Perhaps hidden sin in our lives. HIS WORD is the Light, as King David said; "Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path".

Yeshua is our light, He is with us and gives us his light both day and night. We are like the branches of the Menorah; we need to stay connected to the oil to have light. Yeshua said: “Ye are the light of the world”, just like the moon has no light of its own but reflects the light of the sun. The moon up close is full of meteor craters, it is a pock-marked satellite in space, not very attractive up close, but when we look at it from Earth, we do not see the pock-marked surface, only the light that is reflected from the sun.

The same is true with all believers, we are all “pock-marked” with the stain of sin, but YHVH looks at us through the light of Yeshua and sees us as “kol kadosh” (All holy). The stain of sin is not only covered by the blood of Yeshua but also atoned for. Dealt with completely.

The Levites were offered up to YHVH for service. To honor this, there was the burnt offering and the sin offering on their behalf. There were two bulls and an offering of fine flour. The bulls speak of the strength of Adonai and the fine flour, one could say “Yeshua the Bread of Life”. Yeshua is our strength and our life, if we are going to be like the Levites, dedicated to serving HIM, then we need HIS strength.

In chapter nine, we read about the Passover, always to be celebrated by ALL believers, even if we can’t celebrate it always on the 14th day of the first month, such as the case of some who were unclean by touching a corpse. There is always provision, they could celebrate it on the 14th day of the second month. All believers celebrate the Passover (abbreviated) when we take communion, some churches do it twice a month, some celebrate it every Sunday, but no matter what the tradition is, we are reminded of HIS body and HIS blood.

When the cloud lifted, the Israelites would move, when it settled, the Israelites would stop and make camp. That is the way all believers should act, when we are led by Adonai. We should be sensitive to his calling, to his direction, sometimes we need to wait on him, wait for him to move, or move others, sometimes the waiting can be a few days, or years. We should try not to get ahead, that HE may not follow US, but US following HIM.

Chapter eleven tells us about the "complaining and murmuring" of God's people. Sounds like us at times; “grumble, grumble, grumble and groan!” “What? Manna again?” we’re tired of manna Waffles, manna bagels, fillet of Mannah, BaMannaBread, etc...

manna patties, manna tortillas, manna-shakes, etc.… Oh the stuff we had in Egypt, we miss it so much!” but…they forgot to mention that they were slaves, slaves to a tyrant. Adonai gets angry and “fires up” the people. “You want meat?” “OK, I’ll give you meat!”

Rex Humbard, a TV preacher once said; “God may give you what you want, but you may not want what you get!” We need to be satisfied with the little or the much that Adonai gives us, be it just beans and rice with tortillas, or a steak with potatoes. HE will ALWAYS supply our needs. Sometimes I think that people eat just too much. We need the physical food but we also need the spiritual food which comes from the Torah.

Chapter twelve speaks of Miriam and Aaron when they spoke against their brother Moshe.

It says, “because of the Cushite woman that Moshe married” What happened to Zipporah? Maybe she died. A Cushite is a Sudanese, a black woman. So what? In some places, there is still racial bigotry, some do not believe in “mixed racial marriages” God doesn’t have a problem with it, and there is no commandment against it. There IS a problem with mixed FAITH marriages, when one is a believer and the other isn’t! Then, there are problems with being “unequally yoked” Yet the problem addressed was that Miriam and Aaron were questioning Moshe’s authority as leader. “Hey, God speaks to us all, right? Well... back then, it was Moshe who conveyed Adonai’s words, yet Adonai placed his spirit upon 70 other tribal leaders too, this was to help Moshe “bear the burden”.

As co-workers in ministry, we must never try and do it by ourselves. The gifts of the Spirit are for all believers and are utilized to help each other out. Ministry is not a "Lone Ranger' thing. We all work together, we minister together, we worship together. Yes, there are some things we might do in private, like praying alone, and there are some "one-on-one" ministries, yet for the most part, we share the burden.

Miriam was stricken with “Tza-arat” (leprosy) she was afflicted with some kind of skin disorder for her words against her brother. Moshe prayed for her healing, the shortest prayer in the Bible; “El na r’pha na lah!” (Oh God heal her!) and seven days later, she was healed.

Let us be careful of our words that are directed towards servants of the LORD, lest we err and suffer the consequences, we may get more than just a skin rash. We should uphold our spiritual leaders and support them.

Shalom to all, Have a blessed week.