Are blessings really supposed to be sold like this? Is this the correct price point? Incidentally, her husband co-wrote Don't Stop Believing, but maybe that's not especially relevant at this particular juncture.

A sister has the thought (or theory) that to be right with God, one must first be right with oneself.
In other words, if one is not right with oneself, one cannot be right with anything or enjoy anything...

What do you think about this? Could I be right, or is it rather an unbiblical position?
Thank you very much to all who participated.

I apologize if I posted this question in the wrong category.

This text was translated from Spanish using Google Translate. There may be inconsistencies.

Had to share my '40 Acts' Lent devotional today.

We are introduced to a Welsh brother in Christ Rob who lives in Bristol, he has long term health issues which prevent him from going out too often but despite this he still volunteers!

Rob helps with all of the simple administrative work in Bible translations, from doing this, his carer walked in on him working and saw a translation Rob was copying- it was a tribal language his carer spoke!

Rob got to hear his carer recite the Bible in an African tribal language, he had done administrative work for so long but now he got to finally hear how one of the languages sounds!

What an inspiration Rob is to serving! I'd also request prayers for Rob, it is unclear whether his health prevents him from going to church and if it does, I pray he has a Christian family that are there for him or for him to find one!

A federal worker accidentally includes a journalist on a detailed message in advance of a government operation.

It’s what happened to a longtime Department of Homeland Security employee who told colleagues she inadvertently sent unclassified details of an upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation to a journalist in late January, according to former ICE chief of staff Jason Houser, one former DHS official and one current DHS official. (The two officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they do not want to endanger their current or future career opportunities.)

But unlike Waltz and Hegseth, who both remain in their jobs, the career DHS employee was put on administrative leave and told late last week that the agency intends to revoke her security clearance, the officials said.

She was asked to take a polygraph test and surrender her personal cellphone, which she declined. She was then notified that the agency intends to revoke her security clearance, the officials said, which could keep her from working in the homeland security space again.

The ICE operation took place without incident, the officials said.

No harm, no foul! That's the Trump standard, isn't it?

Sara Carter became the latest Fox News star to join the Trump administration as she's been named the nation's 'drug czar.'

The Trump Cabinet has been well populated with fixtures from the conservative-leaning network placed across multiple departments.

Carter, who has been a contributor on Fox News Channel since 2017, will head up the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

She has one [sic] multiple journalism awards for reporting on the brutality of Mexican drug cartels.

She would also become the 22nd Fox News personality to join the Trump administration, according to The Wrap.

I have written quite a bit about the Epistemological model that Christians should have.
(Yes, the Bible DOES lay down a lot of constraints, on the epistemological beliefs
that Christian MAY HAVE, and MAY NOT HAVE.)

This is from the standpoint of how the Bible presents "reality". It is not particularly from
an academic viewpoint. My interest is more in how the Bible's presentation of "reality"
governs core Christian doctrines, and the Christian worldview.

To use copyrighted text, a Christian's view of "reality" is important because...

----- -----
"Key Question:
Why have Logic for Christians? Isn’t the valid process of reasoning the same, for everyone?

As it turns out, formal logic is not only concerned with the process of thinking about our shared reality. It has to be concerned with what our shared reality is. This is the topic of so many of the early Christian apologists (including the Apostle Paul).

(Note that the modern phrase, critical thinking, is seen as a larger subject than the modern concept of logic. Critical thinking is concerned with what modern logic would consider the Assumptions section of a proof, and is concerned with demonstrating the truth of what is in that Assumptions section. [Critical Thinking, 12]. What critical thinking tries to add back into the logical process, I am adding through the use of a Christian worldview.)

Our shared reality is important, because every proof in formal logic starts with a section of Assumptions, which includes axioms, basic definitions, and rules assumed to be true. These are the basic “inputs” to a logical proof. And these assumptions must match what we know about our shared reality. Else, the resulting proof will be a proof about some other reality, and not the reality that we all live in.

The biblical definition of lying, is misrepresenting our shared reality in some way. “You shall not bear false witness” is based on a fixed, and common shared reality." [Christian Logic, xiii]
----- -----

I am approaching this discussion of Conspiracy Theories,
from the standpoint of a Christian concept of "our shared reality",
and Epistemology.


SOURCES:

When I quote from [Christian Logic, ...] I am quoting from
Christian Logic, Stephen Wuest, 2024, Christian Faith Publishing.

A mosque behind a proposed Muslim community development in rural Texas is now under investigation by state authorities for allegedly operating a funeral home without a license.

The East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), located about 20 miles north of Dallas, is the mosque behind the ambitious EPIC City and EPIC Ranches project that aims to establish a self-sustaining neighborhood approximately 40 miles northeast of Dallas, featuring over 1,000 homes, a mosque, Islamic schools, clinics, stores, parks, and a nursing home on a 402-acre site spanning Collin and Hunt Counties.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that the Texas Funeral Service Commission (TFSC), which oversees all funeral operations in the state, sent a cease-and-desist letter ordering the EPIC compound to immediately stop all illegal funeral service operations. While details were scant, the letter addressed to EPICfrom TFSC Executive Director Scott Bingaman accused the Islamic center of "operating as a funeral home without an establishment license" in violation of state law.

Continued below.

Our earthly tent is not a physical tent like one would use for camping outdoors, but this is speaking of our human bodies. And the older that we get, as humans, the more that body fails to function as it did when we were much younger. And I am at that age when I am not as strong physically, nor am I as astute (quick minded) mentally as I was when I was much younger. I tire more easily, I can forget something as soon as it enters my mind, I have to proofread these writings multiple times, and I am slowing down.

There is an old saying (I think it is old) which says, “Getting old is not for the faint of heart” (or for sissies, the weak, wimps). But everyone is different. Some of us age in mind and body more quickly than others. So we do not all have the same experience with aging. Some of that may have to do with the level of physical activity that we are involved in, or with the kind of food that we eat or do not eat, or with our physical circumstances or environments. But for the aged among us, at some point our bodies will stop working.

For those of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, that is not the end of the story. Those of us who, by faith in Jesus Christ, have died with Christ to sin, by the Spirit, and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, we have a life beyond this earthly life which we are longing for. We have the promise of life with God in heaven for eternity, provided we continue in that faith to the end.

And that is what this passage of Scripture is talking about. And for us who are following the Lord Jesus with our lives, in obedience to his commands, and in obedience to his specific callings upon each of our lives, and who are in that age category of the elderly, I think we probably all do groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling and to escape these earthly bodies and this evil world in which we live. We long for the day when we will no longer suffer, when crying will be no more, and when hate will be gone.

Now there are a lot of people who take this passage of Scripture out of context, and they presume upon God that, just because they made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ at some point in their lives, that they can now claim this promise of God, for themselves, of life eternal with him in heaven, but regardless of how they live. But this pledge from God comes with stipulations (requirements) which we must fulfill, in the power of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, according to the will and purpose of God.

Jesus taught if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if we deny self, die to sin daily, by the Spirit, and walk (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in the power of God, then we have the hope of eternal life with God. But if we claim to be in Christ, but sin and disobedience to God are what we practice, we do not have this promise.

Genuine faith in Jesus Christ will result in us dying with Christ to sin and us walking in obedience to his commands, in practice, although not necessarily in absolute sinless perfection. For our old self was crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, but if obedience to God is what we obey, its end is eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; 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; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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We Have a Building from God
An Original Work / March 29, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

So employers will be allowed to force child employees to work unlimited hours during the school year for less than the minimum wage, as they will class them as interns.

Here is some video of the NPR chief's testimony and commentary by Jesse Watters:

It was amazing, as Jesse pointed out, how this woman denied her own comments on record.

From the dream:

Something huge did happened around March 20 just yesterday. Not on the exact date though.

But I did say the origin on of the event will come from a very far place, in fact, far beyond Earth in outer space. So there could be a delay from its occurrence in space and manifesting on Earth

And the event somewhat will concern me, either in the place of origin or manifestation or maybe both. The earthquake did occur in a global region where I live.

So here's the caveat, whatever has happened or emerged from the place of origin is already "here". "Here" some place in outer space that can affect Earth. It could be nearby or maybe still too far away to be detected. But the point is, it wasn't there before but now it's there. Near or far, it's at a location that can now threaten Earth.

I think some people in "very high places" already knows about this and probably taking major actions already. They're in panic mode and are preparing to mobilize and build. They're just not letting everyone know.

So keep watch folks. Things might get rosy and pleasant in the near term and then disaster. That might be what the 2nd date in my dream (from the link) is about. I haven't shared the 2nd date yet. I already know but I'll only share in the couple or few weeks before it takes place.

Everybody’s favorite gun-toting, vaping, public sex act aficionado, Lauren Boebert, committed a built of a self-own recently when trying to clap back from some ribbing from the left. After colleagues joked about the administration’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, Boebert threatened to keep it going and rename DC to the “District of America.” Apparently not covered in the Congresswoman’s GED coursework was the fact that “Columbia” in this usage is the nickname given to the embodiment of the spirit of America and not something more… foreign?

ETA: I’m not claiming that she meant this as anything other than a joke.

Hi, I am new here. I feel very lonely, I have no real Christian friends that live close to me. I live in a community where I haven't been able to make many friends or Christian friends and I am hoping I can find here the communion I can't find anywhere for the moment. Do any of you have any idea what forum should I start posting on so I can interact with other?

I am married and I am teacher. I've been a real Christian for a year or so, but I've attended church since ever (but not at the moment) and my parents are Christian.

"The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart appeared visibly exasperated during a recent discussion about the process states had to endure to get funding from the federal government during former President Biden’s term.

Stewart made multiple pained outbursts and uttered obscenities in response to New York Times columnist Ezra Klein reading aloud the 14 steps it took for organizations to apply for "Build Back Better" funding.

"I'm speechless," Stewart declared after Klein got through the list during a recent episode of his podcast, "The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart."


Klein appeared on the show this week to speak about his new book, "Abundance" — co-authored by Derek Thompson — which details how major progressive policy goals of recent years, like Build Back Better, failed to be implemented in lasting and meaningful ways.

Build Back Better was a nationwide economic investment plan proposed by Biden during the early years of his term, which sought to allocate nearly $2 trillion in U.S. infrastructure investment — with nearly a quarter of that going to climate change projects.

Though the plan was not passed by Congress, Biden was able to rework elements of Build Back Better into several other pieces of legislation during his term, including the American Rescue Plan.

During the podcast, Klein described to Stewart how cumbersome it was for states and other jurisdictions to get Build Back Better funding to set up broadband internet throughout the rural U.S. — so much so that only three of the 56 entities seeking these grants got through this "14-stage process" to get the money.

"By the end of 2024, three have gotten to the end of the process," Klein said. "Three of these 56?," Stewart asked. Klein affirmed.

"End of the process meaning they’ve actioned it? They’ve built it," Stewart stammered.

I listened to an interview this past week with author David Pakman (he was being interviewed about his new book called The Echo Machine)

-- it was the first I'd heard of him, I wasn't familiar with any of his prior works beforehand, so I was "going in cold"


He's definitely on the left (and I would say, more than just "center-left"), but I thought he had a very interesting analysis about echo chambers, and how they've impacted our recent election cycles.

In particular, he took his own political tribe to task a bit and pointed out some weaknesses they have in areas where his own opposition (the right) seems to be stronger.


He outlined where, via various echo chambers, the right has been better at building a more diverse "big tent" than the left has in the past decade. And, as the book title gives away, he evaluates that through the lens of evaluating echo chambers.


As a very basic breakdown, he described the right as having 4 different distinct flavors of (3 of which are inclusive) echo chambers, yet they're ones where "All roads lead to Trump" vs. the left having only 2 echo chambers, both being somewhat exclusionary, and only 1 leading to Harris.

Note: "inclusionary" and "exclusionary" isn't referring to race/sex/religion/etc... as it typically is when using those terms, it's referring to the standards of "ideological purity" and what will get you "uninvited"


He noted how when people are "ousted" from one of the 2 left wing echo chambers, there's at least 1 of the 4 echo chambers on the right that can, and will, roll out the welcome mat for them and bring them into the fold, while that pattern simply doesn't exist going in the other direction.

The specific example he cited made a reference to two of the echo chambers mentioned in the book (the evangelical echo chamber, and what he called the "Rogan Bro" echo chamber)

...and he used the example of a person who's perhaps pro drug legalization, is okay with gay marriage, is receptive to the idea of universal healthcare, but perhaps isn't on-board with all of the liberal orthodoxy surrounding abortion and trans issues.

While that person isn't going to be a great fit in the evangelical echo chamber, they'd certainly be a fit in the "Rogan Bro" echo chamber, and even if there's deviation on a few other extraneous issues, the "Rogan Bro" echo chamber will still welcome that person with open arms.

And the author's point was that since all of the right-leaning echo chambers "lead to Trump", there's no functional difference in the overall outcome that leads to. (IE: Trump getting elected)


Another comment/quote he made was that when the (paraphrasing a tad, but I think I'm getting it mostly right)
"Don't cuss, drink, smoke, or chew...or run with those who do" types,
and the
"Let's grab a drink, I got some great Kush, let's blaze up before we go to the Kill Tony comedy show and listen to some dirty jokes" types,

...end up voting for the same person, that's ultimately a failure of the left because, on paper, they should've easily had the latter on their team.

• Milton was convicted in October 2022 of crimes related to defrauding investors with misrepresentations about the success of the electric- and hydrogen-powered truck maker.
• The former CEO was sentenced to four years in prison, but has been free pending appeal of his conviction in New York federal court.
• Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February.

The pardon came two weeks after federal prosecutors urged District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos to order Milton to pay restitution of $680 million to Nikola shareholders, and another $15.2 million to Peter Hicks, a victim of his wire fraud.

Because of the pardon, Ramos could not order restitution of any kind.

“They say the thing that he did wrong was, he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president,” Trump said. “He supported Trump. He liked Trump. I didn’t know him, but he liked him.”

Following Milton’s 2023 sentencing, the former Nikola CEO made significant political donations to Trump and his allies. This included $920,000 to the Trump 47 Committee in October of 2024, and $750,000 in September to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA Alliance political action committee.

Federal campaign finance records indicate that 2024 was the first year Milton ever made six-figure political contributions.

Hi everyone, I would greatly appreciate your prayers- lately I have been hearing voices in my head saying things like "I am a witch" and "I have power" and 'I am a god". I also sense an evil presence walking around in my apartment sometimes, I get the feeling it is a person and not a spirit. I believe God is telling me there are witchcraft people in town that know about me and are targeting me with their witchcraft, apparently they are able to do all this. Please pray that this stops, conviction on the witches, and my deliverance from their witchcraft. Thank you!

Now this may or may not be a thing, and frankly even during covid I couldn't understand why the run on toilet paper? But I made a Costco trip today in the Seattle/Tacoma area and the TP was darn near cleaned out. I asked Asst Manager what's the deal? He said small businesses have been buying it up because of tariff concerns.

I hope this peters out or doesn't become a thing, because I don't want to employ the covid strategy to score toilet paper again.

Democratic Party insiders, advisors and consultants revealed serious anxieties about their party's future after MSNBC anchors hosted a DNC chair forum that devolved into chaos in February.

The forum, which was held at Georgetown University, featured questions from Democrats about identity politics and transgender rights in debates that some strategists argued were not keeping in touch with regular voters.

"The Democratic Party has to assess how the self-styled party of the working class became seen as a party of elites and institutions at a time when so many Americans are enraged at elites and institutions," David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Barack Obama, told Politico. "I mean, what is it that the Democratic Party offers other than being an alternative to Trump? I haven’t seen evidence of that discussion going on."

"Over the last decade, the Democratic Party has had a working-class voter problem. It started out as a White working-class voter problem," Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., said. "And it has, as I’ve long feared, spread. It is not just a White working-class issue. It has now spread to the Latino working class and African American working class."

Beyond local and state politics, powerful donors have also signaled significant worries about the future of the party.

Among the “mind-blowing” findings was a simple survey on Americans’ use of the U.S. National Parks, whose department receives approximately $3.3 billion in annual funding. According to Musk, a contractor was charging nearly a third of the department’s entire budget to perform a survey that could have been built and disseminated for far less on a service like Survey Monkey.


For those of you who are not going to watch the interview the example of this ten question survey should help you understand what is going on.

On the night of Jan. 4, four avowed white supremacists entered a secure multi-industry property just across the Tennessee River that includes a nuclear power plant.

Two of those men, Aiden Daniel Cuevas, 19, and Aidan Christian Stamper, 19, hail from Madison, Alabama. The other two men are identified as Brandon Dean Crews, 24, of Iuka, Mississippi, and Logan Gulbranson, 18, of Cole Harber, North Dakota.

[County sheriff] Stuart also obtained footage according to the report that shows some of the individuals entering a “turbine building” on the site and “moving around with flashlights” before leaving the building.

The Tishomingo County Sheriff’s Office has charged all four men with felony trespassing and burglary in connection to the incident.

Jeff Tischauser, a research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center‘s Intelligence Project, has monitored the online activity of all four men arrested in the incident.

He says they make up the core of a group calling themselves the “North Bama Brigade” in online white supremacist and neo-Nazi circles.

Tischauser said all four men could be connected back to Tennessee Active Club leader Sean Kauffmann, who posted online that he sees himself as a “Shredder” figure from the series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, building a “literal underground army” of rebellious youth.

“Accelerationist neo-Nazis see attacks against electrical grids and infrastructure as helping to accelerate the collapse of our social system,” Tischauser said. “They think that the race war is right around the corner.”

We will be better off as a nation with these foreign dissidents gone.

Suspect facing 4 felony charges after incident at UT Dallas

An Asian male who goes by the name “Alyssa” is facing multiple felony charges following a violent altercation involving members of a Turning Point USA chapter at the University of Texas at Dallas.

The suspect, identified as Liam Thanh Tam Nguyen, allegedly used a bike lock to assault students, resulting in four felony charges and three misdemeanors.

Video shared by Charlie Kirk, founder of the prominent conservative organization with chapters at college campuses across the U.S., showed the incident unfolded outside the UTD student union, where the TPUSA chapter was setting up a tent and table to engage with students and distribute materials.

Continued below.