The Episcopal Church will terminate its partnership to resettle refugees with the U.S. government over a request to resettle a group of white Afrikaners after the administration had effectively halted the U.S. refugee program.

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe released a letter on Monday regarding Episcopal Migration Ministries, which oversees the denomination's refugee resettlement programs.

Rowe said the Trump administration had informed them a couple of weeks ago that, per the terms of their federal grant, they were expected to help resettle some white Afrikaners from South Africa who had been labeled as refugees under a February executive order that accused South African government of seizing white landowners agricultural properties without compensation. Afrikaners are a people group that descended mostly from Dutch settlers who arrived in South Africa in the 1600s.

Continued below.

I hope to learn from others here and, if I can, pass on what I've been told to others.

Thank you to management for accepting me.

Luke 17:31-37 KJV
31In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. 32Remember Lot's wife. 33Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. 34I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. 35Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 36Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 37And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

Matthew 24:36-47 KJV
36But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

These cannot be about the rapture? It is bad to be taken, right?

Here's another take on AI and consciousness.

"But what if Spaceship Earth is itself developing (and indeed has already developed much of the infrastructure to support) a single emergent consciousness?"

"Could a planet really develop a brain? A mind? Would such an outcome be desirable, and could we thwart that development if not? I don't claim to predict what will happen, but rather what could happen. My contention is that Earth may, if we are lucky and diligent and clever enough, grow an emergent superconsciousness.

Could a planet really develop a brain?

Lawyers who represent the recently executed Mikal Mahdi are alleging that the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) “botched” their client’s firing squad execution, which caused him to scream out in pain and remain conscious for nearly one minute until he eventually died.

Mahdi, who was convicted of murdering a police officer and a convenience store worker, died on April 11 at age 42 in South Carolina’s second firing squad execution in the state’s history, both of which occurred this year just five weeks apart.

Although firing squad executions in the United States are extremely rare, the state legalized this method of execution, along with executions by the electric chair, in 2021 amid shortages of the drugs needed for lethal injections. Death row inmates can now choose whether to die by firing squad, lethal injection, or the electric chair, according to current state law.

According to a status report filed by Mahdi’s lawyers, the autopsy and eyewitness accounts of his death raise several questions about the execution. They note there are only two entrance wounds, despite three shots reportedly being fired, and allege that the shots “largely missed his heart,” which resulted in an unnecessarily prolonged death.

Continued below.

How can we know that Christianity can't be considered a plagiarism? Why should it be the religion of the true God?

I spoke to a close relative about the gospel and he asked me if I could understand that some people are put off it because of Christians having different views on various matters. What would you say to explain why we differ sometimes?

My thoughts are that not everyone, or every church, claiming to be Christian is one. I would use the Nicene Creed as the basic requirement for Christian belief which means that certain sects such as Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and Unitarian Churches are not truly Christian.

Second point would be that within those who hold to the Nicene Creed there are those of us who are born-again. Jesus stated the necessity of this in John Chapter 3. However within the Body of Christ (i.e. born again believers) there is great unity and a broad consensus of belief. It is just the peripheral issues on which we may disagree and that is okay.

I also said that we are in a spiritual war and Satan will try and disrupt things.

Do any of you have further ideas to help me answer this question please? Many thanks.

Planned Parenthood employees at over 30 facilities were willing to provide cross-sex hormones to an undercover operative posing as a 16-year-old, and some even offered to prescribe the drugs at the first appointment, according to an investigative report released by a pro-life activist group.

Live Action released the results of its latest undercover investigation in a video posted on its YouTube channel last Wednesday. This investigation comes five years after The Christian Post's undercover investigations into the prevalence of Planned Parenthood clinics dispensing cross-sex hormones to clients.

Lila Rose, the founder and president of Live Action, shared the video in a post on X, writing, “Defund Planned Parenthood now!”

Continued below.

The ignorant person sees every offense from others as an opportunity to attack. He believes he gains an advantage by attacking every offense from others. However, the wise person knows that his advantage lies in forgiving every offense from others.

The "Art of the Deal" President strikes again:

The Trump administration announced a sweeping 90-day de-escalation of the trade war, with both sides agreeing to lower tariffs and another round of negotiations. The announcement was full of vague promises of resumed trade — and no clear wins for U.S. structural demands.

Before the trade talks in Geneva over the weekend, Trump had floated slashing tariffs on China to 80% — down from the eyebrow-raising 145% he’d imposed just weeks prior. But he also said on social media that he would leave the details to “Scott B,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Turns out Bessent had other ideas. The deal hashed out in Geneva landed at a 30% levy on Chinese imports — a number padded by a 20% fentanyl-related tariff already on the books.

The Administration announces a de-escalation to a trade crisis that Trump created.

Is this the Art of the Deal?

Create market chaos.
Declare our tariff policy will not change.
China doesn't budge......
Negotiate.
Announce deescalation.
Claim some vague agreements (without any evidence, of course).

....And then announce we won.

Grace is given rather than earned and all who receive it ought to be grateful for it.

In Catholic theology, grace is understood as God's free and undeserved gift to humanity, enabling individuals—and by extension, nations—to share in divine life and grow closer to God. While grace is often discussed in relation to individuals, Catholic teaching also acknowledges its role in shaping nations, guiding them toward justice, peace, and moral integrity.

St. Paul, for example, speaks of grace in connection with nations, emphasising obedience to faith and righteousness. The Church teaches that God's grace can influence societies, inspiring leaders and communities to act in accordance with divine will. This grace is not something earned but is given freely by God to help nations uphold truth and goodness.

Imagine that it's 2021 and you've run across a social media account loudly proclaiming that: 1. certain demographic groups are oppressed because of their race, gender, and sexuality 2. society is suffused by subtle "hegemonic narratives" that justify the power of dominant demographic groups, 3. most people are blind to these forces, and 4. the only solution is not reform but radical social transformation. You'd likely assume that you were talking to a progressive who was parroting the work of activist-scholars like Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi.

In 2021, you would likely have been correct — a person making such claims would have almost been certainly a progressive. But anyone who has spent time on X (formerly known as Twitter) in the last few months knows that things have changed. Today, a small but vocal group of people on the right, including some Christians, are making these same claims with all the roles reversed: 1. straight white men are oppressed, 2. society is ruled by women and is suffused by hegemonic narratives like "the longhouse" and "the postwar consensus" 3. "normies" are blind to this reality and 4. the only solution is a Protestant Franco or a Christian prince.

Does this sound unbelievable? See for yourself here, here, and here. Some Christians on the right really are embracing a bizarro-world, photo-negative analog of wokeness, but with all the demographic roles reversed. For this reason, many ardent critics of wokeness, including atheist activist James Lindsay, cultural commentator Konstantin Kisin, comedian Andrew Doyle (aka Titania McGrath), and psychologist Jordan Peterson have begun to warn about the "woke right." To this list, we could add Evangelicals like Kevin DeYoung, Doug Wilson, and Seth Dillon, who have raised related concerns about what will happen to the Church if it rejects left-wing wokeness only to embrace the right-wing version.

Continued below.

One of the most significant takeaways from the 2024 election was not tied to a single candidate or ballot measure — it was the overwhelming rejection of radical gender ideology.

Since taking office, President Trump has followed through on his commitments to remove this pervasive and damaging ideology from federal policies by signing a host of executive orders undoing the extremist gender policies implemented under the Biden administration.

By contrast, on his first day in office in 2021, former President Biden signed an executive order conflating the definition of “sex” in federal law with “sexual orientation and gender identity.” This order spawned a flurry of agency rules that undermined biblical truth and biological reality. These rules amended Title IX discrimination protections for women, attempted to permit biological men to compete in women’s sports, and mandated taxpayer-funded healthcare coverage of “gender-affirming care.”

On his first day of office earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order rescinding the Biden order that had launched this assault on people of faith, women, children, and biological reality. After enduring four years of the Biden administration’s progressive agenda pushing for abortion on demand and radical gender ideology, a change in the executive branch's policies are a welcome reprieve from the madness.

Continued below.

It seems like lately I've noticed that I feel as though I should be devoting more time towards God. Like a lot more. Now at first glance thats sounds like a good thing but the amount is what im curious about. Like I've gotten more i guess thoughts/feelings of not eating because I may be idolizing it because it tastes good and I wanted it. Then just now I wanted to play some minecraft but it's just this feeling of I should instead spend more time with God or that I shouldn't be playing minecraft and instead devote my time towards God or the bible. I do have a thing I try to do which is putting God first in my life and have tried to tell myself putting God first doesn't just mean reading the bible it can mean talking to God as well. This issue has just been more noticeable as of late and I don't know why. I have tried to improve my mental health and am wondering if this is a side effect. Hopefully I explained this correctly and sorry if I didn't I just wanted to talk about it and ask for some advice. I can also try to answer any of your questions so you can get a better idea of what I might be dealing with.

Hello

Good morning and thank you for this wonderful reception! They say when they clap at the beginning it does not matter much, if you are still awake at the end and you still want to applaud…thank you very much!

Brothers and sisters,

I welcome you, representatives of the media from around the world. Thank you for the work you have done and continue to do in these days, which is truly a time of grace for the Church.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaimed: “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Mt 5:9). This is a Beatitude that challenges all of us, but it is particularly relevant to you, calling each one of you to strive for a different kind of communication, one that does not seek consensus at all costs, does not use aggressive words, does not follow the culture of competition and never separates the search for truth from the love with which we must humbly seek it. Peace begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others. In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance: we must say “no” to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war.

Continued below.

Frankly the question I want to ask if "How do you deal with there NOT being any evidence for any of that" or "How do you make sense of archaeological evidence directly contradicting the Old Testament (the size of Israel/Jerasulem under David & Solomon for one).".

I cannot stop thinking about this question! Every time I watch any content and they talk about Moses, Solomon, or David all I can think of is that they never existed the way the OT says. If they did why is there zero evidence to support those claims? We have records to support the claims made by the OT after the alleged reign of David but it would seem that everything written in the OT prior to the 8thish century is just cultural & national narrative. I try to understand this on a spiritual level and not on a literal but I can't stop thinking about it.

Has anyone else struggled with this? Is there evidence I am missing? Is there a way to think about this that doesn't make much of the Pentateuch essentially historical fiction?

*Quote from Pope Leo XIV.*

I like him already:

" Brothers, sisters…
I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left.

To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home.

I, too, was angry with God.
I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine.
And yes… there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.

But then I discovered something:
God doesn't shout. God whispers.
And sometimes He whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything.

I don't come to offer you perfect faith.
I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.

I'm not asking you to believe in everything.
I'm asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.

I'm just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son... and yet she cooked for others.

That changed me.

So if you're broken, if you don't believe, if you're tired of the lies...
come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack.
No one here will ask you for a VIP card.

Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary.

God doesn't need soldiers.
He needs brothers.

And you, yes, you...
are one of them."

Robert Prevost (Leo XIV)

I'm not sure?? I've asked myself this question for a long time, and don't have 100% assurance I'm right.

My current thought is that only those in covenant relationship with God have their names written in the book of life. For example, under the Law of Moses, all Israel was in covenant with God under that system, and as such, obedience to God under that system brought about the blessings of life in God. They were all initially written up as belonging in covenant with God, and written in the "book of life."

This is not to be confused with "Salvation," however, since being in covenant with God is not a secure position until one actually receives eternal life. When that point is achieved is a matter known by God.

Even those under the Christian covenant are not secure unless they've really and truly received eternal life. Can one be a "Christian" and not yet be saved? Of course.

Paul regularly encouraged "Christians" to ensure they really and truly belong to the "Saved." There is such a thing as "Nominal Christianity." We should treat all those who subscribe to Christianity as genuine Christians, whether or not they are truly "Saved" yet or not.

2 Cor 13.5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

Just my view of it...

I was on here years ago and got kicked off for sharing the gospel. I really angered some atheists and got kicked off. Really didn’t understand that. I thought it was a Christian forum. Anyway I’m back and thought I would see if this place was still over run with atheists leading people away from Christ or if it is actually a place of fellowship now. Second post and I’m still here. That’s a good sign.

I'm trying to get into using an nasb 95 bible concordance and I'm just curious how exactly do you use it? Like do I literally just go through every single time the word is used in the entire bible to compare it? How is it beneficial and what does it reveal? Also how do I distinguish between moral laws and ceremonial laws in the OT? Thanks.

So expect drug prices across the world to increase to match USA drug prices, not the other way around.

Shalom

This weekend, evangelistic meetings are taking place here in Salzburg.

In addition, the brothers and sisters here regularly hold book tables and distribute evangelistic literature.

We ask for your support in prayer:

+ that the Lord opens people's hearts as He did Lydia's (Acts 16:4)

+ that the Holy Spirit opens people's eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and lead them to repentance (Acts 26:16-18)

+ that the Lord Jesus will be glorified there!

May God also continue to draw the people we have already reached to Himself in Jesus' name, Amen (John 6:44).

Thank you for your prayers!

May the Lord bless you abundantly (Luke 6:38; Job 42:10), and may He bless Israel in Jesus' name, Amen!

Soli Deo Gloria

PS And I pray that the Lord will send out harvesters into his harvest (Matthew 9:38).

Speaking after talks with Chinese officials in Geneva, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters the two sides had agreed on a 90 day pause on measures and that tariffs would come down by over 100 percentage points to 10%.
Trump knew that China was in bad shape and had to come to the table.