I am well aware of 1 John 1:8-10. That if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. But I realized one day that I have become uncomfortable with Christians calling themselves sinners: for example in the Hail Mary "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

I read Real Magic by Dean Radin which goes into the power of words and affirmations. And it got to me that it seems like calling oneself a sinner is only continuing a sinful life. We should confess our sins, yes, but to make a broad statement of sins or being a sinner doesn't get to the root of your problems. We need to identify each sin and confess it. And so while, yes, we sin should we really be calling ourselves sinners or should we refer to ourselves as overcomers. To overcome does not deny that one has sins; it is not a form of deception, but it amplifies that we are working towards righteousness. 1 John 3:7 Claiming to be a sinner implies there is no goal to overcome; that one has become complacent in a hopeless sinful state. There is no effort to overcome whatever sin there is in them. 1 John 3:8

I don't want to be a sinner. Therefore I'd rather identify as an overcomer and that I am overcoming. I sin, but I am not going to remain in that state.

Scientists are rethinking what cattle are capable of after an Austrian cow named Veronika was found to use tools with impressive skill.
The discovery, reported by researchers in Vienna, suggests cows may have far greater cognitive abilities than previously assumed.
Veronika, a cow living in a mountain village in the Austrian countryside, has spent years perfecting the art of scratching herself using sticks, rakes, and brooms.
Word of her behaviour eventually reached animal intelligence specialists in Vienna, who found Veronika used both ends of the same object for different tasks.

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Trump Says He Will Not Use Force to Acquire Greenland​

Even after exploding ICE's budget Trump's penchant for not paying his bills rears its ugly head.

Who could have known this would happen??

'Trump says, “I'll invoke the Insurrection Act.'”

Bro, do it. Do something. Just stop chickening out. I'm just tired of the idle threats. Please pull the trigger. Please kill them, Mr. President. Please just kill them. Take some responsibility, take the reins, send in the military... If this Jewish communist running the city won't arrest these people, if this gay [censored] governor, Tim Walz, doesn't do it, send in the military. That's why you were elected.'

I sure am glad to see the right advocating for peace.

Former CNN host Don Lemon likened his recent participation in the disruption of a Minnesota church service to Jesus Christ overturning the tables in the temple and implied during a podcast earlier this week that the outraged congregants were white supremacists.

"Jesus turned the tables over in the temple, right? He flipped the tables because He was tired of them not doing what they're supposed to do in His Father's house, and not living up to the tenets of Christianity," Lemon said during a glitchy interview on the liberal "I've Had It" podcast Monday.

Lemon accompanied a group of anti-ICE agitators as they interrupted the Sunday church service at Cities Church, a Baptist congregation in St. Paul, to protest that one of its pastors also serves as the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office.

Minnesota's capital region has been roiled in recent weeks by protests against federal officials after two ICE-involved shootings, including the death of 37-year-old Renee Good, whose name protesters chanted in the face of churchgoers.

Continued below.

What is the message here for us? It is the same message that Jesus taught and that his New Testament apostles taught as the gospel of our salvation. For we don’t “get saved,” and now heaven is secured for us for eternity, but regardless of how we live. How we live our lives on this earth matters for eternity, and this has nothing to do with “works salvation.” This is the command of God that we, as followers of Christ, must make obedience to our Lord, and dying to sin, how we live, in practice, in the power of God.

So, even though we may make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, if sin is still our practice, and not obedience to God and to his commands, what we reap is not eternal life with God, but corruption (death). But if obedience to our Lord and putting sin to death daily, by the Spirit, is what we practice, then we have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And all this is of God and not of human flesh. Only by the grace of God, in the power of God, can any of us have salvation and eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18]

Sowing and Reaping
An Original Work / January 21, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

This could be perfect for encouraging friends and loved ones to accept the Gospel


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Artificial intelligence-generated videos depicting child sexual abuse surged by more than 26,000% in 2025, amid growing concern over Grok, an AI chatbot now under investigation for producing similar content. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has announced an official inquiry into Grok and its parent company, xAI.

The U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation, or IWF, reported identifying 3,440 such AI-generated videos in 2025, up from just 13 the previous year, with more than half of the videos falling under “category A,” the classification for the most severe forms of abuse, CBS News reported.

The chatbot Grok, developed by Elon Musk’s xAI and integrated with the X platform, became a focal point of controversy in December after Copyleaks, a content detection firm, found it was generating one nonconsensual sexualized image per minute, according to its estimates.

In response, xAI stated it had implemented changes to block users from generating images of people in minimal clothing through Grok, following scrutiny from regulators in the European Union and consumer protection agencies in the United States.

Continued below.

Hello,

2 Peter 2 is a description of false and dangerous teachers, and there are some passages in it where I would be interested to know, how the Calvinists put them in harmony with their Limited Atonement doctrine.

V.22 seems to imply that these false teachers were never born again, but kept their old impure nature. So far it is a good beginning. However, in verse 1 we learnt that these false teachers where “bought” by the Lord and in verse 20 that “they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. I think that we could make these 2 verses relate to another as follow: The Lord bought them from the slavery of sin, and the effect of that, is that they have escaped the pollutions of the world. But they were afterward “again entangled therein”.

The fact that they were bought by the Lord didn't necessarily mean that they were born again, as we could understand from v.22. However, I don't see how it could happen that the Lord bought them, except by virtue of His sacrifice on the Cross. Moreover, I don't see how someone could escape “the pollutions of the world”, except it also be by virtue of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, because his own endeavors could never have achieved that: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3-4).

According to the Limited Atonement doctrine, Jesus only died for the elects, then I understand, that there would be no virtue left in the atonement of Jesus for the non-elects. But that would contradict the development I made above. So how does Calvinism resolve such a question?

It looks as if "Allah" is going to allow Iran to return to the desert from which it came....

The dark truth about Iran's water: Why the nation's aquifers are collapsing​

MSN

And it looks like Afghanistan isn't faring much better:

The world has entered a new era of 'water bankruptcy' with irreversible consequences​

MSN

(shrug) But then, I guess if both of them end up in a perpetual severe drought, it'll lead to a reduction in the amount of mischief they inflict upon the world, since they'll have to spend their time finding liquid to drink instead of indulging in state-sponsored Islamic terrorism. [facetiousness] What a pity! [/facetiousness]

John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. NKJV

Jesus, Himself, warned that we must abide in Him. If we did not abide in Him, we would be cast out as a branch. Verse 1-2 the father is the one who is the vine dresser.

1 John 3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. NKJV

John wrote that the person who keeps His commandments abides in Jesus. Jesus first commandment is that we keep believing in Him. How could we quit believing in Jesus?

Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, NKJV

How does a Christian fall away from Christianity?

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? NKJV


The writer of Hebrews urges believers to hold fast their confession of their hope. The confession of their hope was Jesus. A few scriptures later he stated if “they sin willfully.” By 2Corinthians 5: 15 the only sin God imputes is not living for Jesus. The only way to sin is to stop living for Jesus. Since they were warned a few scriptures earlier to hold fast to their hope in Jesus, hope must have something to do with our living for Jesus, apostatizing or sinning willfully.


Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight — 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. NKJV


Paul warned the Colossians to not be moved away from their hope of the gospel. That hope is the same hope the Hebrews had in Jesus. What does hope in Jesus have to do with not abiding in Jesus or apostatizing from Jesus?

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. NKJV

Without hope in Jesus we have no saving faith, we are saved through faith. If we lose faith we lose salvation.

Romans 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NKJV

We are more than conquerors through the Father who loved us. John 15: 1-2 the Father is the vinedresser, if we lose faith in Jesus, it is because we love the world more than Jesus. We have trampled on the blood that sanctified us and we sin willfully. The Father casts us out as a branch.

Tuesday’s transfer included figures from the Sinaloa Cartel, the Beltrán-Leyva cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Northeast Cartel, a remnant of the infamous Zetas based in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, across from Texas. Mexican authorities said that all had pending U.S. cases.
Americans should be pleased with the cooperation. What a difference in U.S. administrations!

I'm a regular white guy but I really enjoy the 'black' mode of song worship, swaying and getting into it. But the question is, am I doing it just to feel good or is it happening by being by moved by the Holy Spirit, as King David was when he danced? Our natural tendency is to do something to feel good, and that in itself does not cut it with God. Cain offered his sacrifice doing the best he could and it was rejected by God but God accepted Abel's sacrifice because it was by revelation, revelation being something that comes from God. William Branham, who I believe was a man of God said 'why do you want to be healed, just to feel better?'. He goes on to say that that is not quite right our desire to be healed ought to stem from a desire to continue our service for God.

Please don't follow Finke's advice, this is yet another political leader trying to get his base angry and fired up. Storming a church as was done in St. Paul may see you arrested on federal charges. Call for discussion and debate instead.

In the Diocese of Charlotte, Bishop Michael Martin’s pastoral letter of December 17, 2025 ordered that altar rails, kneelers and prie-dieux be removed from public Masses by Friday, January 16.

As the first Sunday Masses without altar rails unfolded this weekend, reports from across the diocese indicated anything but uniform compliance. While some parishes removed temporary kneelers and adjusted Communion lines, others made no immediate changes, awaiting Vatican clarification on a dubia submitted by more than 30 priests. The result has been a patchwork of responses indicating deep frustration with the bishop’s vision of liturgical conformity.

As parishioners awaited this day, The Catholic Herald spoke with laity from multiple parishes and a diocesan staffer prior to Saturday the 17th. Many voiced deep frustration and concern, viewing the removal of altar rails as a liturgical time bomb they foresaw would not go well for the first Sunday Mass.

The Catholic Herald first spoke with Jason Murphy, longtime coordinator of the Catholic Men’s Conference of the Carolinas, its co-founder in 2010 and leader since 2019. He offered a perspective from his parish, the Cathedral of St Patrick in Charlotte. Murphy recalled how the cathedral’s renovation in the late 1980s or early 1990s stripped away its original marble altar rails in favour of a modern look. “They were sliced up, they were used as wall decoration, they were used as altar server benches, things like that.”

Continued below.

U.S. equities suffered big losses Tuesday after President Donald Trump intensified his rhetoric on Greenland, threatening to impose new tariffs on countries opposing the sale of the Danish territory to the United States.

U.S. Treasury yields spiked and the U.S. dollar declined as Trump’s threat caused a flight from U.S. assets. Danish pension operator AkademikerPension said Tuesday that it is exiting U.S. Treasurys because of finance concerns over U.S. debt.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 870.74 points, or 1.76%, to end the session at 48,488.59. The S&P 500 dipped 2.06% to settle at 6,796.86. The Nasdaq Composite slid 2.39%, closing at 22,954.32. It was the worst session since October for all three major averages.

The day’s losses put the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq into negative territory for 2026: The broad market index is now off 0.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 1.2% in the period. The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) — Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — spiked to a high of 20.99.

Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Saturday that eight NATO members’ U.S. imports will face escalating tariffs “until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.” The tariffs will start at 10% on Feb. 1 and rise to 25% on June 1, Trump said.

Trump is ready to ruin the economy trying to annex Greenland. It's extreme, but it's the first diversion that seems to have been successful in driving the Epstein pedophilia scandal out of the news.

Supreme Court skeptical of Hawaii's 'vampire rule' for gun owners​

A majority of Supreme Court justices on Tuesday indicated that a Hawaii gun law that limits people carrying firearms onto private property infringes on the constitutionally protected right to bear arms.

The measure has been dubbed the “vampire rule” because, as with the fictional creatures in folk tales and the novel “Dracula,” it requires people with concealed carry permits to seek permission before entering private property open to the public.


Members of the court's 6-3 conservative majority, who regularly back gun rights, suggested during oral argument that the requirement violates the Constitution’s Second Amendment right to bear arms.

“Two @PortlandPolice officers were shot in NE Portland as leftist and Antifa rioters occupied the ICE facility in south Portland. The officers’ conditions are not confirmed,” journalist Andy Ngo posted on X.
Both officers were taken to a local hospital and were listed in stable condition, Det. Jon Richardson said, according to ABC News.

Whether they are Antifa or not, the federal government needs to move against those who threaten or use violence against law enforcement.

I have been writing poetry for a long time and at one point was published on the internet frequently. Many of the platforms no longer exist and the ones that do, are not very active. I also write Bible studies and run a website where I offer classes for free.

Also I am a very gifted Christian because I have Autism and Savant syndrome. I have to admit honestly that I tend to write about my struggles with autism and savant more than I do about the Lord. My poetry frequently reflects my struggles. It also reflects my faith in the Lord and how he influences my struggles.

I am a well rounded Christian who has some artistic talent that also reflects my autism and my faith.

Many of my poems have a theme such as “ Jesus Speaking “ to Christians.

I am an accomplished motivational speaker in the field of weight loss. Over the years I’ve spoken to youth groups, singles groups and in many secular venues. I have done all of these things because I love the Lord and have devoted myself to reaching people with his hope of deliverance. I have experienced it myself.

I hope that somehow, my writing here will reflect my struggles and my faith in the Lord while speaking to others who may be facing struggles of their own.

Please pray and ask God if He could please heal me and protect us from illness. Please ask Jesus to make me feel better if it is God's will and it's not anything serious. I ask in the name of Jesus and I thank you. God bless you. Carmen.

The ultimate pay to play. That doesn't include pardons. Cha-ching.