Biden to Netanyahu: Israel Needs to Address ‘Civilian Harm’ in Gaza

• Seven food aid workers killed in Israeli airstrikes
• World Central Kitchen’s founder says strikes were deliberate
• Israel denies this, called attack 'grave mistake'

U.S. President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that U.S. policy regarding Israel will be determined by whether it implements concrete steps to address “civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers” in Gaza.

Thursday marked the two’s first phone call following Israeli airstrikes that killed seven food aid workers in Gaza, which Biden called “unacceptable.”

For the U.S., steps Israel should take are a dramatic increase in getting additional aid crossings opened up and a reduction in violence on civilians and aid workers, National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said in a press briefing.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, reiterated his thanks to the United States while talking to Biden.

While calling Netanyahu, Biden said an “immediate cease-fire” is needed, and urged him to empower negotiators to come up with a deal that would allow one in exchange for Hamas’ release of the hostages it took during its Oct. 7 assault on Israel.

Blinken told reporters some details of the call at a press conference in Brussels, where he said, “This week’s horrific attack on the World Central Kitchen was not the first such incident.”
“It must be the last,” he said.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart on Wednesday night.

During Monday’s strike, NewsNation partner The Hill reports, three vehicles were targeted in three separate strikes — even after the group coordinated its movements with Israel’s military, according to a WCK press release.

Those who died included three British citizens, Polish and Australian nationals, a Canadian-American dual national and a Palestinian.

Around 200 humanitarian aid workers have already been killed during this conflict — but these seven deaths are causing international outrage.

Biden released a statement following the strike criticizing Israel’s government for not doing enough to protect those trying to deliver aid to civilians.

José Andrés, the chef who founded World Central Kitchen, said the strikes were deliberate. He is now calling for an independent investigation outside of the one Israel has said it will conduct.

The IDF, meanwhile, claims the attack was a “grave mistake,” with Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi saying, “It shouldn’t have happened.”

However, Andrés says: “This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops we dropped the bomb in the wrong place.'”

Food aid workers in Gaza were targeted “systematically, car by car,” he told Reuters in an interview Wednesday.

So far, the White House says they still plan to support Israel with weapons, despite growing calls for that to come to an end, as well as for a broader cease-fire.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed as Israel has conducted its ground offensive and bombardment of Gaza, with more than 75,600 wounded, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Among those, women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. Much of the population in northern Gaza is on the brink of starvation, the United Nations says. A top UN court concluded in January there’s a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza, which Israel denies.

One of Biden’s closest allies in the Senate, Delaware’s Chris Coons, urged Thursday for the U.S. to put conditions on military aid to Israel if it decides to go into the city of Rafah, where many are sheltering in Gaza after being displaced, without plans to protect civilians or provide aid.

After the call, though, some Republican lawmakers criticized Biden. Rep. Brian Mast, of Michigan, said the president is trying to “boost his poll numbers.”

However, a couple of Democrats took to X to say that they wanted to see more humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, such as Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.


“Far too many innocent civilians have lost their lives in this conflict,” Clyburn wrote.


I agree with the UN rights experts, Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians, and should be held accountable for war crimes.

Senate Republicans are poised to sink a $78 billion tax-cut package, gambling that they’ll win the majority in November and can push then for bigger breaks for business.

They also don’t want to hand President Joe Biden an election-year victory on the legislation, which includes both child and business tax breaks, lawmakers and aides have said.

The package, the top business lobbying objective this year, easily passed the Republican-controlled House in January on a bipartisan 357 to 70 vote. It also has support of the White House.

The measure would restore expired tax breaks allowing businesses to more quickly recoup costs of domestic research and development, interest on business loans, and investment in new equipment. Working parents would receive more generous child tax credits, and be eligible for the first time to claim multiple children. Read more from Erik Wasson and Samantha Handler.

Asking for prayers for my family and I. We are really struggling right now. Financially is the main thing. I’m currently laying in bed, trying to figure out how I can make some extra income for food and gas besides other bills and expenses right now. I’m just so tired of stress.

Pray that No earthquakes ever occur in the North East of USA ever gain:

I started feeling strangely the day before yesterday. It’s gotten worse so I went to the walk in med clinic to get tested. So far, the tests were negative but I was warned that with me going in so early the results could change. I was put on some antibiotics for now. Turn a couple of meds down because of side effects. I’m concerned about my mother and husband getting this. Please pray the tests remain negative and my mother who is elderly does not catch whatever this is. My fear was Covid as it felt similar to when I had it before.

Thank you!

We hear a lot about Christian marriages being different, but what is it that makes a marriage "Christian"?

A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.Michel de Montaigne1

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Marriage has gotten quite a bad reputation over the years. The butt of a seemingly infinite number of jokes, matrimony is a source of endless social commentary, gender politics, and governmental debate.

Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage.Ambrose Bierce2

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In the United States, marriage has fallen upon particularly hard times. Fewer and fewer people are choosing to marry.4 In fact, less than half of current US households are made up of married couples.5 The percentage of Americans who have never married is growing6 while the number of couples living together without marrying is increasing exponentially.7Meanwhile, more and more children are born to single mothers.8

One should always be in love. That’s the reason one should never marry.Oscar Wilde3

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To top it all off, America still has the highest divorce rate among Western nations and the highest incidence of single-parent families of any industrialized nation.9 There’s no denying that the landscape of the American family has changed radically over the past fifty years.

MARRIAGE AND CULTURE​

These statistics raise questions about the value and meaning of marriage in contemporary American culture. Given changes in reproductive technology, shifts in cultural attitudes about sexual morality, and the apparent failure of marriage as an ideal relationship, has marriage become irrelevant?

Though it might seem so, sociologists Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Ueker recently reported that the American youth are as interested in marriage as at any time—more than 95 percent intend to marry someday.10
But from romance novels to reality TV to movies, unrealistic expectations and false understandings about love, marriage, and romance are easily perpetuated. As a result, both those seeking out a marriage partner and those trying to stay in a marriage relationship struggle with misunderstandings of the definition of that relationship itself.
Can the Christian faith make a difference in this understanding and the quest for a meaningful marriage?

MARRIAGE AND FAITH​

Continued below.

I accidentally rear ended a vehicle but no damage but the person will decide whether to report it or not. Kindly pray Lorissa doesn't report it Amen

Hello everyone. I'm new here and pretty new to the Faith, (Slowly working through the Bible) so I am looking forward to having some interesting conversations. I am an American living in Germany (non military) and have been non religious until about a year and a half ago. I was going through some tough emotional times and I just decided to pray out of desperation. For some reason it gave me comfort and I continued. As time went by, I started to feel this overwhelming light start to fill me, like something I have never experienced. Somehow a huge hole in my heart was being filled with a new kind of light and love. I still struggle with a lot of things but this is a new kind of experience, that I cant explain. I am sure many of you can relate?

The reason for my username and userpic is a story you might find interesting.

Last year, I was visiting my parents in Las Vegas. I was out jogging and not really praying or talking with God, it was more planning, in a way, about what I was going to pray about that evening. I have an autistic brother, so I think helping him was the topic I was considering for that evening

Anyway, this particular neighborhood where they live tends to have sidewalks that are pretty clean because obviously, nobody goes outside there. Too hot... This particular sidewalk was spotless and well taken care of, no garbage, weeds, etc. So, I was jogging and my thought process was along the lines of almost a selfish sort of wishing, planning, (not really sure) about how I wished that God would just give me a sign so I knew I was on the right path with my faith. I've always been non religious, so I still question a lot of things.

That day I was running back and forth down about a long 5 block length so, I had definitely run that path about 10 minutes previously. Right after my thought about wanting a sign, I took about 10 more steps and I kid you not, there was this small wooden cross right in the middle of the sidewalk. The same one in my userpic. I am positive that nobody walked on that particular path the whole time I was jogging back and forth and I am positive I would have seen it before because I covered that space about 4 times already that morning.

So, I guess I got my sign.

Any similar experiences? Looking forward to talking with you all.

I have a 12 year-old cat who has been very healthy with one exception. Some years ago she was having the symptoms of urinary tract infection, which is the number one cause of death in cats. I prayed to know what to do. The previous cat that I took to the vet came back with an infection, which I’m sure came from there so I was not keen on going to a vet.

I was told to give her some iron, inaudibly, and when I reality checked online, I saw that urinary tract infection in cats was associated with low iron. So she has been fine for years after getting more iron.

But she has different symptoms now, like diarrhea. And when I have prayed, so far, I have not gotten an answer as to what to do. She does not seem to be suffering. But she is not eating very well.

Please help me to pray to know what to do, to take her to the vet or whatever. I am giving her antibiotics and probiotics and echinacea and goldenseal currently.

When I was in my late teens/early 20's my mother was diagnosed with a possible allergy to wasps/bees. Some time later a wasp nest cropped up under a windowsill in the yard and I was surprised at how well it was hidden. Our dogs were nosing at it and were being ignored. So, I decided to show my mum, I took her into the yard and pointed it out. I did remember her allergy, but didn't really think there was a risk due to the dogs being safe.
She was surprised and in hindsight maybe scared, reminding me of her allergy. I just shrugged it off back then as she wasn't stung and I hadn't felt that there was much danger, they weren't aggressive and the allergy wasn't certain.
I'm not good with people and it's only years after that I really started thinking on just how badly it could have gone. She never really brought it up afterwards.

Similarly, I worked for my parents, and was tasked with disposing of some liquid nitrogen. My dad used to chuck the last little bit on the floor in front of us as a joke sometimes, and I once thought I'd emulate him and aimed in front of my mum's feet. My dad immediately scolded me, my mum was thankfully protected by her long pants though her hems got a little iced. I could have burned her and I feel so horrible years later.

It's been so long that I can't even remember if I apologised properly. I just feel like a terrible human being. I'm sorry that this is a bit of a vent. I honestly plan to call her tomorrow to talk about this. I sometimes get OCD (anxiety?) symptoms which are probably why this hit me so strongly. I feel like I should be in jail, even though nothing happened. Though that's probably the OCD talking.

Please pray for me. I feel like my mind is jumping from one thing to another to be guilty about and I'm struggling to keep up.

Sheriff’s officials claimed following the shooting that it was unclear whether Savannah was shot by deputies or her father, and they said deputies didn’t realize it was her when she got out of the car. For nearly two years, they refused to release footage of the shooting.

But on Friday, the department disclosed nearly a dozen video files to the independent journalist Joey Scott, who filed records requests 18 months prior. The clips – which were shared with the Guardian and include helicopter footage – show deputies shooting at Savannah as she followed their instructions to move toward them. The videos also suggest deputies shot her after two officers remarked that it was the girl who exited. The footage, and the sheriff’s narration of the video, further make clear she was killed by deputies, not her father.

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I am 74 years of age, and I feel every bit of it, too. The longer that I live, the harder things become to do, even small tasks. I wear out much faster than I used to, and my mind is not nearly as sharp as it once was. I am definitely at that point to where I don’t want to have to learn anything new in the area of technology, but I will if I am required. Yet I am still working full-time for the Lord in the ministry to which he called me twenty years ago, and I will continue to do so, by the grace of God, and in his strength, until he tells me that my work on earth is finished.

But I can tell you that I am definitely in line with Paul here. I, too, groan in this earthly body of mine, and I, too, long to put on my heavenly dwelling. For I do long for the day when all my trials and troubles will be over and I will be with my Lord for eternity. All my tears will then be wiped away, and sorrow will be no more. I will be in a place where evil cannot exist, and the thought of that is glorious! But the best part of it all is that I will be with Jesus, and I will see him face to face.

Now, how am I assured of all of this? Well, first of all the Scriptures teach us that if any of us want to come after Christ, we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self), and follow (obey) our Lord Jesus. For if we hold on to our old lives of living for self and in sin, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, in practice (not necessarily in absolute perfection), then we have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God promised to us, as long as we continue in that faith until the end.

[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]

So, for us to claim heaven as our eternal destiny we must have been 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 now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And now we must be walking (in conduct, in practice) in righteousness and holiness, and in obedience to our Lord and to his New Covenant commands and no longer in sin. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death. But if we obey obedience, its end is eternal life with God.

Nonetheless, if all you have done is just profess faith in Jesus Christ but then you have continued to go your own way, and to live life however you want, and if sin is still your practice, i.e. if you keep going back to the same sins over again without genuine repentance, then, according to the Scriptures, you do not have Jesus as your Savior and Lord, and heaven is not your eternal destiny. And many will hear Jesus say to them, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they did not obey the Lord but they chose their own path, instead.

So, walking by faith is not just going through the motions of religious practice. For “faith” is divine persuasion, and it comes from God, and not from ourselves, and it is evidenced by our walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living and in going where he sends us, and in saying what he gives us to say, and in doing what he commands us to do. For why did so many of the Israelites not get to go into the Promised Land? It was because of their unbelief (disobedience), for genuine faith = obedience to the Lord.

[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Hebrews 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Romans 6:1-23]

And I love this part! “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.” Amen! This is what we should aim for. For we are not saved just so that when we die we get to go to heaven. We are saved from our sins so that we will no longer live in sin and so that we will now live to please God in all that we are and do and say. For.. and please pay close attention to these words..


We are all going to stand before our Lord one day and he is going to judge us according to what we have done, according to our works. And if we have walked in obedience to his commands in holy living, and no longer in sin, then we will receive salvation from sin and eternal life with God. But if we continued in deliberate and habitual and premeditated sin against our Lord, and against other humans, and we did not walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, then we will die. We will not inherit eternal life with God.

[1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Near the Cross

Hymn lyrics by Fanny J. Crosby, 1869
Music by William H. Doane, 1869

Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary's mountain.

Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Sheds its beams around me.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o'er me.

Near the cross I'll watch and wait,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river.

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

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Years after his going home, fruit is coming. I have believed this for years. Many parts of this word really resonated in my spirit.
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The Chicago Public Health Department (CPHD) announced last week the detection of 52 cases of measles, with the majority stemming from a shelter for migrants. Children less than five years old received 31 of the diagnoses. CDPH determined low vaccination rates from the immigrants’ home countries contributed to the increase in cases.

So the Biden administration was in such a hurry to bring people in for future votes that they did not vaccinate the children. Now these children, less than five years old, suffer. And what about the kids who are trafficked? What has Joe done to find out what happened to the 85,000 children his administration lost track of? This needs to stop.

"The underlying lawsuit aims to stop the Biden Administration’s “parole” scheme that allows 30,000 aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) to enter the country each month and remain–indefinitely. The program allows these aliens–after more or less flying to the destination of their choice–to obtain work permits and ultimately claim public benefits, such as food stamps and welfare. The program floods our country with legions of illegal aliens who should not be here, only further worsening the worst immigration crisis in our nation’s history."

We all should be concerned. The article says that after parole "these illegal aliens are released into the United States without restrictions as to where they may go and without monitoring or other safeguards to track their whereabouts." Recall the 85,000 children the Biden administration lost track of, if you think that was accidental that is your opinion, although I think the lack of serious effort to find out what happened to them is telling. This is clearly deliberate.

I’m not completely confident in the question that I’m wanting to ask. I’ve read the Bible numerous times and I always feel like I don’t get the same understanding that other Christians seem to get. So if this is a dumb question then I apologize.

In revelation it says in short - things will happen and many will be deceived (presumably by evil)

My question is about the Christians. If they are deceived does biblical truth and faith in Jesus mean forgiveness for those deceived?

An obvious thought that I had is that Jesus would not be happy about such things. But my thoughts are that it would be one of those deals where He would forgive but those who had done it might have to make their own peace with their faults and mistakes.

One of President Biden’s first actions in office was to recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement on global warming. This Backgrounder details the harmful economic implications of doing so by modeling a theoretically efficient carbon tax designed to achieve the Administration’s emissions reduction targets. While the Paris Agreement’s climate impact will be minimal at best, it will impose significant costs on American families and businesses. Instead of implementing an agenda that will decrease Americans’ access to energy and cost trillions, President Biden and Congress should pursue a policy agenda that advances economic freedom, rejects symbolic but ineffective climate policies, and reduces barriers to innovation and economic opportunity.

The Biden Administration’s climate goals are so unrealistic that the Heritage Energy Model—a clone of the EIA’s model—crashes before they can be achieved. Attempting to meet these goals through a carbon tax would reduce U.S. GDP by $7.7 trillion over 18 years and U.S. employment by 1.2 million jobs. Eliminating all U.S. emissions would reduce global temperatures by less than 0.2 degrees Celsius by 2100—wrecking the economy for a negligible climate benefit.

Acts 6:

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

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15 And all who were sitting in the Council stared at him, and they saw his face, which was like the face of an angel.

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What did they see?

Acts 7:

1 Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2 And Stephen said, “Listen to me, brothers and fathers!

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Stephen was graceful and calm. His listeners stared at him. They were not awestruck; they weren't frightened by his appearance. It wasn't the kind that appeared in Matthew 28:

1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

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It wasn't the kind that appeared in Genesis 3:

24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

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It wasn't the kind that appeared in Isaiah 6:

1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew.

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What kind of angelic face did they see?

The verse does not specify the exact type of angel; it is more generic and idiomatic. Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit and grace. His face brightened with a radiance that reflected God's glory. At this point, I'd put more emphasis on the grace aspect and less on the awestruck aspect.

What are your thoughts on Trump: 2016 versus today?

Hot off the press today. 42:04

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Within the last month there was a four hour round table discussion between Justin Peters, Jim Osman, Michael Brown and Sam Storms entitled “Discerning false teachers and false prophets” and can be found on YouTube.

Rosebrough uses the common hermeneutical rule “The clear passages of Scripture interpret the obscure (or less clear) passages of Scripture” on how to evaluate false prophecy in the NT era.

Rosebrough uses these clear passages of Scripture in rank order of importance (not chronological).

• Matthew 7:15-20
• I John 4:1
• Deut. 18:20-23
• II Peter 1:21

Obscure NT passages of Scripture evaluating false prophets

• I Cor. 14:29
• I Thess. 5:20-21

Rosebrough's thesis: Sam Storms, Michael Brown and the Remnant Radio guys use the obscure passages of Scripture to interpret the clear passages of Scripture. A masterful presentation.

2000 4Runner
Confirmed: coolant leak from the freeze plug, rusted radiator
Possible: blown head gasket
Quote from mechanic: $1500 -$2000 to fix freeze plug leak, $500 for new radiator.

It may be possible to clean the rust out of the radiator without replacing it. It may also be possible to get a cheaper price for freeze plug coolant leak fix, but minimum price for that fix is $1000. They have to drop the transmission and exhaust to get to it, it’s labor intensive.

Right now, pray for wisdom for decision making for my boyfriend, me, and my brother (who likes dealing with car problems but can’t drop an entire transmission!). If the head gasket is blown, the car is totaled. Also pray for provision, protection for us, and people to come alongside us to help.

Finally, please pray for wisdom for me, as I am driving my boyfriend around where he needs to go. The car broke down when he was trying to help me pick up a bike to help me with a detail of my new job, so my brother and me got involved in this mess. But I am going back to school next week and training for my new job, and so I badly need someone else locally to help him until the car gets fixed or we decide to replace it. There’s some spiritual factors going into the repair/replace decision, so pray that God would guide our minds and hearts.

Thanks.

Now this is something that have bothered me alot ever since I became a christian, I've consumed a fair bit of christian content on youtube and been exposed to some extremes but also some channels with a fair bit of followers with constroversial messages that goes against the consensus lets say.

And there's a particular channel that I have in mind when I write this as I've noticed both mine and other critical, but respectful voices has been removed (hidden) by this ministry. I did notice this when I was following my own comments and others on other devices as I were generally interested in the feedback, that this channel were in fact removing critical voices from there. And most that remained was nodding heads and comments that were easily tackled.

Now the thing is I don't know how I should handle this stuff and I would like to give the comparison of a wicked preacher in church. You might say that you can always leave that church but I'm that person that would atleast challenge the preacher on the spot infront of everyone, not for my own sake but the brothers and sisters that feeds into that teaching before leaving.

How do you advice me to deal with these people? How should the body of christ deal with them?

Sounds like something out of a movie...

The burglary occurred Sunday night at a facility in Sylmar where cash from businesses across the region is handled and stored, according to L.A. Police Department Cmdr. Elaine Morales.

The thieves were able to breach the building as well as the safe where the money was stored, Morales said. Law enforcement sources said the burglary was among the largest in city history when it comes to cash, and the total also surpassed any armored-car heist in the city.

Sources familiar with the investigation told The Times a burglary crew broke through the roof of the Gardaworld building on Roxford Street to gain access to the vault. But it is unclear how they avoided the alarm system.

Further adding to the intrigue is that very few individuals would have known of the huge sums of cash being kept in that safe, according to law enforcement sources.

The break-in was described as elaborate and suggested an experienced crew who knew how to gain entry to a secure facility and go unnoticed.