St. Mary's, my wonderful parish, has a nice size library filled with great books to read! Upon entering the church last Sunday, I went through the library and stopped long enough to look over the titles. The one that caught my eye was THINKING ORTHODOX, by Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou. Knowing that I have so much to learn, I brought it home to read.

What a book!

I think that every convert should be made to read this book while in catechetical classes, or at least after chrismation! Dr. Constantinou carefully and thoroughly outlines the pitfalls facing us Western converts and the differences between Eastern and Western thought as she seeks to have her readers understand what it is to develop the Orthodox phronema.

After reading it, I saw so much of myself and my errors in what she wrote that I went to Fr. David before Vespers and asked for Confession. I have been for most of my Christian life an "armchair theologian," (not to mention a just plain old arrogant fool theologically) and have done all the wrong things in presenting heresies as truth and error as the Christian faith. I realized in my reading just how Protestant my thinking still is in certain areas, especially that of Bible-thumping and putting Scripture over and above Holy Tradition, which, as I understand it, defines Scripture.

I am determined now to SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, AND LEARN!

Especially when cruising the Internet and seeing theological discussions.

An Orange County man who worked as a children's ministry director and a music teacher has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl and allegedly secretly recording her while she was nude, the Orange County District Attorney's Office announced Monday.

Investigators are seeking the public's help in identifying other potential victims.

When you were a child, who brought the Christmas presents for you, according to your parents?

You may perhaps say: Uncle X - or Aunt Y - but they are not among the options here.

I keep seeing the number of the beast on a weekly basis usually on the internet or other media possibly applied by God to rich and/or powerful people I tried to speak about it at church but they didn't believe me.

OK, you sat through diversity training. There you were told that, in your workplace, you will be expected to treat everybody with respect, regardless of race, creed, gender or national origin.

OK, yes, you can put on a cheesy smile and put on a show of respect. But do you also feel a sincere respect for say, a Muslim, sitting next to you?

In particular, if you think that the person in the next cubicle deserves to go to hell, can you at the same time feel respect for that person?

And if you do not feel respect, how do you sincerely show respect? Or do you elect to show respect that is not sincere?

As a freethinker, I find it my goal to both feel respect and to treat others with respect.

Apparently, Saudis and now the government of Oman think the Trump brand still has value?

When former President Donald J. Trump returned briefly last week to his office at Trump Tower in New York, he was joined by his son Eric Trump and the top executive of a Saudi Arabian real estate company to sign a deal that creates new conflict-of-interest questions for his just-launched presidential campaign.

The deal is with a Saudi real estate company, which intends to build a Trump-branded hotel, villas and a golf course as part of a $4 billion real estate project in Oman. The agreement continues a practice that had been popular for the Trump family business until Mr. Trump was elected president — selling branding rights to an overseas project in exchange for a generous licensing fee.

But what makes this project unusual — and is sure to intensify the questions over this newest transaction — is that by teaming up with the Saudi company, Mr. Trump is also becoming part of a project backed by the government of Oman itself.
............
The deal Mr. Trump signed was with Dar Al Arkan, the Saudi-based real estate company that is leading the project in collaboration with the government of Oman, which owns the land. It is the second deal signed recently between Mr. Trump and his family that has direct financial ties to a Middle East government.

Colossians 3:12-13 ESV

“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

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We who are followers of Jesus Christ are still human beings. We still live in flesh bodies. And so we still have a propensity to sin, and we are still tempted to sin. And if we are not armored up spiritually, and so we let our guards down, we may respond to certain situations in the flesh and not in the Spirit, and we may say or do things that hurt other people, even fellow believers in Christ. Or we may be the ones who have gotten hurt by other people’s words or actions which we believed were against us.

So, when these things take place, what should our response be? If at all possible we should try to reconcile with those we have hurt and/or who have hurt us. First we must forgive the other person, even if we believe the other person was in the wrong. And if we were in the wrong we should extend our sincere apologies and seek forgiveness from the other person. And then we need to forgive which means that we hold no animosity in our hearts toward the other person and we do not seek revenge but reconciliation.

And instead of animosity and aloofness and distancing ourselves from our fellow Christians we show them love and compassion and kindness. And we are willing to humble ourselves and to have others think badly of us if they are not willing to forgive us for whatever wrong we may have done or that they may have perceived that we have done. For it isn’t always black and white and good and evil. Sometimes these situations are because of misunderstandings and people not willing to talk them through reasonably.

So, if we are the ones who did the wrong, then we need to do what is right to try to make it right. And if we are the ones who have been wronged, or we believe we have, then we need to forgive those who have hurt us and do what we know to do to try to reconcile. And then we need to put on love and kindness. And we need to demonstrate that love and kindness to those who we felt did us wrong. For if we hold on to unforgiveness it will eat away at us and it will destroy us from within.

Basically, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, in truth, we should be those who love even our enemies and who do good to people and not evil. So we should definitely not be at war with our fellow believers in Christ. We are not all going to always agree on everything. And we aren’t all going to always see things from the same perspective. Now I am not saying that we should tolerate or pacify sin. This is not about coddling people in their sin. But we can still love other people regardless of what they have done.

Colossians 3:14-15 ESV

“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”

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Now God is love and love comes from God so love is truth and righteousness and holiness and godliness. It is kindness and forgiveness and humility and compassion. And it is moral purity and faithfulness and goodness and self-control. So love is action not just feelings. We can love others for whom we don’t have warm and emotional feelings. For love is based in who God is and not in who we are. So we can love even when we are hated and mistreated in return. For God loved us even while we were dead in our sins.

So, God is our model for how we are to love others. Now God is God so he has the authority and the power and the right to show vengeance against his enemies. And he doesn’t have to forgive everyone. For he will only forgive the truly penitent who obey him. But we are not God and so we have no right to exercise vengeance against others. And we have no right to not forgive others because of all that God has forgiven us when we were so undeserving of his grace and mercy.

But God loved us even while we were still living in sin, and he loved us enough to send Jesus Christ (the Son of God and God the Son) to die on that cross for our sins so that we could be delivered from our slavery to sin and live holy lives pleasing to God. And this is how we need to love others. We must be willing to humble ourselves and accept people thinking evil of us, if that is the case, and if there is no way to change their thinking, in order to show them the love that comes from God who is love.

For remember that Jesus Christ was sinless, and so he did no wrong even though he was accused of much wrong. And he had enemies who were hounding him constantly trying to trip him up with his words so that they could find cause to accuse him of wrongdoing. Yet he willingly gave up his life for us on the cross because he loved us and so he wanted to free us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so that we could live in freedom from the control of sin and in righteousness and holiness.

So sometimes loving other people means sticking our necks out on the line for people to chop it off (not literally, but figuratively). It means we love even our enemies and even though we know they are plotting evil against us and even though we know they intend to do us evil and not good. Now we need to make certain this is true and that this is not just in our minds, but if we have real evidence that people are against us to do us harm, we are still supposed to love them and forgive them and do good to them.

There is a Redeemer

Melody Green / Keith Green

There is a redeemer, Jesus, God's own son,
Precious lamb of God, Messiah, Holy one,

Jesus my redeemer, Name above all names,
Precious lamb of God, Messiah, Oh, for sinners slain.

When I stand in glory, I will see his face,
And there I'll serve my king forever, In that holy place.

Thank you oh my father, For giving us your son,
And leaving your spirit, 'til the work on earth is done.

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Well what a surprise. When you spend more time virtue signaling and getting into political fights, your business suffers. Instead of making entertainment for entertainment sake, Disney decided to inject a truckload woke ideology into their products. Then when it fails to make them a profit, they let loose their media & activist war hounds to gaslight their consumers. The product failed because of racism, misogyny, white men, homophobia, colonialism or whatever nonsense comes. However they sing a different tune when facing the shareholders. Then the business jargons come "The market is this and that", "Consumer apatite has shifted" or "New economic challenges" whatever makes the excuse sounds professional.

If only they have the backbone to be ideologically consistent in more "conservative and "authoritarian world market", I would at least begrudgingly salute them.

The new old Bob is not going to do better either. Because a lot of the rot was started by Iger not Chapek. Chapek only expeditated the inevitable. The trajectory was predestined when they made a drastic shift to embrace ESG and wokeness. Disney still have loads of money to burn. It's decline will be very slow. However decline it will stay. Death by a thousand slices.

I'm stealing a joke I saw on a YouTube comment section. Walt Disney is turning in his grave so hard that you can use him as a perpetual source of renewable energy.

The Yahweh Name Part 1 Initial Declaration and Fulfilment
The following is a consideration of the Yahweh Name that was revealed in Exodus 3:14. It is hoped that the following comments will help to explain some of the language of both the OT and NT and the true role of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The Name of God was revealed to Moses in the following terms:
Exodus 3:14-15 (KJV): 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

Most translations and commentators accept the present tense “I am that I am”, but notice in the margin of the RV (or ASV) and RSV, an alternative is given “I will be that I will be” or “I will be what I will be”, showing that some modern scholars suggest this alternative reading. Although not popular it appears that this future tense is the correct translation. Not only modern scholars, Tyndale also translated this in the future tense.
Exodus 3:12-14 (Tyndale): 12 And he sayde: I wilbe with the. And this shalbe a token vnto the that I haue sent the: after that thou hast broughte the people out of Egipte, ye shall serue God vppon this mountayne. 13 Than sayde Moses vnto God: when I come vnto the childern of Israell and saye vnto them, the God of youre fathers hath sent me vnto you, ad they saye vnto me, what ys his name, what answere shall I geuethem? 14 Then sayde God vnto Moses: I wilbe what I wilbe: ad he sayde, this shalt thou saye vnto the children of Israel: I wilbe dyd send me to you.

I also like his spelling, especially where he gives “wilbe”.

The word translated “I AM” in the KJV of Exodus 3:14 is the Hebrew “ehyeh” and this is the same as in the earlier statement in v12, and here the translators give the future tense:
Exodus 3:12 (KJV): And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
Not only does this fix the tense, it also introduces the concept that the Name of God is also associated with some future activity.

This future tense was to be the future activity by God acting to deliver Israel out of Egypt, so that Israel would become a people for His Name. They would be a living witness to the purpose of God, and a witness to the existence of God. The following passage emphasises this future work by God in delivering Israel and there is given a strong connection with the God’s Name which had been revealed:
Exodus 6:1-8 (KJV): 1 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. 2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: 3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH (or Yahweh) was I not known to them. 4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. 5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: 7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.

When Israel was delivered out of Egypt the Name of God remains the same, but the particular activity has been accomplished:
Exodus 15:1-3 (KJV): 1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.
The future tense of God’s Name “He will be or become” had been accomplished, and Yahweh had become Israel’s salvation.

Kind regards
Trevor

Does any one have any insight on this?

Is Jesus' Hebrew name (Yeshua) pronounced:
ye-shew-a or ya-hoo-a?
(I know what the latter looks like, bare with me).

What does the second pronunciation mean, if it's not the most used?

If any one can give me something besides a copy-and-paste answer, maybe personal revelation? that would be nice..

Forbes may not like it, but the movie is out.

New ‘Died Suddenly’ Film Pushes Unfounded Depopulation Claims About Covid-19 Vaccine

The Movie

World Premiere: Died Suddenly

(Morticians reporting on a strange phenomenon)

The main forum page use to show all new threads being posted. It was easy and convenient to get to new threads especially prayer requests. Can it be implemented back? It gets tiring having to like click on thread tab all the time.

Klaus Schwab addresses leaders at the Business 20 (B20) Summit. The official dialogue forum for the worldwide G20 business community. Which aims to deliver “concrete actionable policy recommendation on priorities by each rotating presidency to spur economic growth and development.”

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Key Points

“What we have to confront is a deep systemic and structural restructuring of our world, and the world will look differently after we have gone through this transition process.”

How do we deal with this transition which will last several years? “If you restructure a company, you write off costs & shareholders suffer, but if you restructure an economy, the result is a reduction of disposable income which will lead to extensive social
tensions.”

“The fourth industrial revolution, we are at the inflection point, technology will change completely what we are doing, and it will change who we are.”

“In the fourth industrial revolution the winners will take it all, so if you are a WEF first mover, you are the winners.”

"Finally Governments and businesses must cooperate (stakeholder capitalism) to become a fast fish, its not about the big fish who eats the small fish, but it is the fast fish who eats the slow fish.”

Welcome to the future.

1 KINGS 1:1-31

This tells the sad story of a father who failed to discipline his sons, and old king David reaped the whirlwind, Adonijah (which means YHVH is my master) if it were so, He would have been in subjection to his father David, had the nerve to proclaim himself king, even before David dies. Yet David corrects the situation and names Solomon as the future king.

This part of the Parashah teaches us to be under authority, willingly, the bridegroom has his bride under His authority and subjection, BUT NOT in a tyrannical way, not like a “dictatorship” but under a “love “relationship. A wife can be under subjection to the husband, and feel used, like an object, or feel loved and protected, all depends on the husband, if He is under the subjection to the LORD, he will treat his wife with love and respect.


MATT 8:1-9:18

We see here that Yeshua shows love through action, in healing the leper, it is an act of “giving” He gave back health to an unclean man, yet Yeshua also respected and honored the Torah, in telling the man to go to the priest and offer the proper sacrifice for his healing, Yeshua, who is our Messiah, Savior and LORD had ALL RESPECT for the Torah and its commandments.

Another thing we must note is that there are two types of “Tza-arat” (Leprosy) physical and spiritual. One thing is being healed physically, on the outside, and another is being healed on the inside. We can be healthy outside, but corrupt on the inside, or, unhealthy physically, yet Holiness resides inwardly. We need that balance, of being “tahor” (clean) both inwardly and outwardly.

We must also remember though, the situation with Lot from last Parashah, how is was, and is considered as “Righteous Lot” yet was affected by living in Sodom, he had to be almost, “dragged out” by the two angels. His inner being was being affected by living around the wicked. His wife was “sold out” to Sodom and became “well salted” in the end, and his daughters committed indecency with him which led to the origins of Moab and Ammon. Take care lest we be “Tza-arat” inwardly.

The rest of these two chapters have to do with Yeshua healing the paralytic, a Roman officer tells Yeshua about his sick servant. He heals many, and all who come to Him. As Yeshua healed those with physical ailments, we should also be concerned with our spiritual ailments. Through the power of the Ruach HaKodesh, we all have access to be healed by the power of G-d. If we want it and are willing to receive it, we will get it. Our physical bodies will wear away, grow old and finally, cease to function, yet our Spirit being is what lives on forever. But WHERE? That is the choice that every person will have to make.

Salvation or perdition, The choice is within our grasp. If “Yeshuah” (salvation) is our choice, our “corruptible” will be transformed into “incorruptible” when we are transformed to live with Adonai forever, the same with perdition, all who choose to reject Yeshua, will remain in their corruptible essence forever, enduring the fires of the wrath of G-d’s divine judgment. So, make the right choice, choose Yeshua, chose “Yeshuah” (salvation) from 1 Cor 15:50-57

Ben Avraham

I pray in the am before reading my Bible, before meals, when I need help & before bedtime. Yet, I don't think it's sufficient. What say you?

It seems the "great commission" was fulfilled. I don't believe there is anywhere on Earth where the name of Jesus Christ as the Messiah has not been preached and a Christian church is operating (above or below ground). On top of that, with the invention of social media...just about anyone and everyone can investigate the validity of any religion.
As Christians...how do we witness to a world that "already knows the answers"? How do you approach the topic when Christianity is already universally stigmatized? Simply ask them to church? Quote scripture to them? Only witness when and if the situation presents itself after you have formed a relationship with someone?
Anyway...what do you guys think?

Is it because he has not creativity to plot his own course in his contest with God? Or does he admire everything God does and wants to replicate it? Or does he need to stay in lock-step with God's actions or else he'll be wiped out?

Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates has confirmed that he moved to an undisclosed location for his safety after security concerns connected to the 2022 midterm elections.

Deputies from the sheriff's office are also providing a security detail, officials said.

Gates, a Republican and one of the leaders of the Maricopa County Elections Department, has been a fierce defender of the county's election system and an outspoken critic of false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Not Just Bikes has put out an intresting little video on "Third Places". A third place is the place you go out side your home (First Place) and work (Second Place) to relax and socialize cheaply. For me, after college it was the local game store, but those are going away and becoming more expensive. There is no good local space in my suberbia, and I think many of us who live in suberbia don't have one.

We need to look at losening our zoning laws to allow new third places, small shops and business that people can hang out at. I think all of us staying at home on the internet is driving us crazy.

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Liz Harris, who was recently elected to represent District 13 in the East Valley, says that she will not vote in the state legislature unless the election is redone.

Despite winning her own election, Harris alleges that there were "clear signs of foul play" which necessitated her demands. There has been no evidence of this.

It's not the first time that Harris has been involved in trying to overturn the results of an election.

After losing to incumbents Jennifer Pawlik (D) and Jeff Weninger (R) in the 2020 general election, Harris began a "Grassroots Canvass Report" to investigate baseless allegations of voting errors in order to decertify the results of both the state legislature and presidential elections.

I noticed a new "comment" feature on posts. I said in the subject line that it is "broken," since as the poster, i cannot reply with additional comments on my own post.

Kindly remove the comment feature, or add the ability to reply to comments.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made some startling admissions last week about his immigration views: “We have a population that is not reproducing on its own with the same level that it used to. The only way we’re going to have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants, the Dreamers and all of them, because our ultimate goal is to help the Dreamers but to get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here.”

The honesty was breathtaking. For so long, Schumer (D-NY) and his party have danced around the truth: They want to legalize anyone coming over our border for any reason.
Nancy says are nation needs them to pick the crops. Jill Biden compares Hispanics to San Antonio tacos. So this admissions should not come as a surprise, I think even a lot of Democrats realized that the Biden administration was lying when they said the border was safe and secure. But what of the cost of the Democrat policy? The deaths, the rapes of women and children, the fentanyl, and the damage to our national security?

Hello, I'm new here. My name is Paul, I'm 25.
I'm from a religious family, and religion has been always a huge part of my life.
I'm happy to be here!

Ive been taught that all these “signs” have always been with us and that nobody knows when it’ll be the end of the world, not even Jesus.Thoughts?