We have unstable, unsafe countries that people are willing to risk their lives to leave and come to the U.S. with hopes and dreams. Most of them are not criminal but are desperate mothers and fathers with children. The Bibles tells us to welcome the stranger.

But wait a minute. They are coming by tens of thousands. This is far more than the policies and procedures are able to handle. It is overwhelming, not only at the boarder but also at the destinations across the country. It is also unsafe for those who make the journey.

What should we do?

Some popular answers

Build a wall

Close the boarder with more law enforcement.

Deport undocumented immigrants.

The National Immigration Justice center says:


What should the Biden administration be doing to address the humanitarian need at the border? There are other ways to address the situation at the border, leading with empathy and courage in compliance with the Refugee Act of 1980.

The administration can and should:
1) develop and support robust communication and planning between federal, state and local governments, and civil society, so that those arriving migrants in need of additional support can be matched with a destination with capacity to provide services;

2) fully fund and support civil society, including social and legal service providers;

3) create non-custodial, humanitarian reception centers at the border, instead of jailing migrants and asylum seekers; and

4) overhaul the federal immigration budget by moving funds away from detention and enforcement and toward asylum processing and humanitarian needs.

5) abide by its obligation to ensure asylum access to those arriving at the United States’ borders and ports.


Senate Republican Working Group Solutions for the Southern Border Crisis

GOP rep speaks out after attack by anti-Israel protester at RNC: We will not allow them to ‘intimidate us’​

Out-of-state officers shot and killed a man wielding two knives blocks away from the RNC, police say​

2 People Arrested During, After RNC Protest in Downtown Milwaukee Monday: Police​

https://news.wttw.com/2024/07/16/2-...-rnc-protest-downtown-milwaukee-monday-police

ETA: now extradited to the US (post #10)​

Alleged neo-Nazi ‘murder cult’ leader accused of plot to poison children​

The Georgian national was charged with scheming to have an associate dress up as Santa to hand out poisoned candy to Jewish and minority children in Brooklyn.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, a Georgian national in his early 20s who goes by the alias “Commander Butcher,” was indicted on four charges, the Justice Department said in a statement on Tuesday, including the transmission of threatening communications and conspiracy to solicit hate crimes and acts of mass violence.

He is alleged to be the leader of a group known as the Maniac Murder Cult, a violent international extremist outfit that prosecutors say “adheres to a neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems ‘undesirables.’”

According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, he was arrested in Moldova on July 6 under an Interpol order after trying to recruit an undercover law enforcement officer to join the group and commit acts of violence, including arson and bombings.

In electronic correspondence with the [undercover officer], who was not identified in court documents, Chkhikvishvili later suggested carrying out the plan at another time, on “some Jewish holiday” at “Jewish schools full of kids.”

[In his manifesto] he encourages others to commit acts meant to sow terror — specifically within the United States — and admits to committing such acts himself.

For the past thirteen-plus years, up until this past Monday, I have frequently, repeatedly doubted my salvation. That is why I am posting in "Struggles-By-Non-Christians." In case there are other borderline Christians/Non-Christians who are having some of the same problems as I have had.

Pastor JD Greear, in his book Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart: How to Know For Sure You Are Saved, has an Appendix 2 with the same title as this post. (He has written another book with a foreword by Tim Keller.) I so want to share this with others that I first tried to scan in the pages of the appendix and then use Optical Character Reader software to attempt to turn the image into text. That failed. So, I laboriously typed in the appendix, word for word, into a file, over a period of several hours over a period of two or three days. The text of the appendix follows the next paragraph.

I came to full assurance, finally, be rereading this appendix a number of times, and, especially, by reading, concentrating on, and praying about, numerous times, the very last sentence of the appendix.

Text:

In this appendix, I want to show you why believing salvation comes by faith alone is essential to gaining assurance.

In recent years, many Bible-believing Christians have downplayed the doctrine of eternal assurance because they say it creates Christians who believe they can “accept Jesus” and then live however they want. Some say that salvation, in fact, is not received as a gift by faith: it comes, rather, to those who believe and do a reasonable job of following Jesus’ teachings, to those who live appropriately under the order of His new kingdom and embrace His mission of restoration.

They cite verses such as:

“For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified.”

(Rom. 2:13)

“You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” (James 2:24)

“And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?’ So he answered and said, ‘”You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.”’ And He said to him, ‘You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.’” (Luke 10:25-28)

They deny that this equals “salvation by works,” because they insist that (a) our keeping of the law is fueled by God’s gracious work in our hearts and (b) because we all fall so far short of the standard we can only hope in Christ’s substitutionary work to meet God’s standard. Nonetheless, they insist we “obtain” Christ’s righteousness by keeping the law. To use the Levitical picture we looked at earlier, “good works” are the hand we lay upon the head of Jesus that makes his death our own.

A variation on this common teaching in some Christian circles is that Christ’s righteousness is not something that God “credits” to our account but something He “infuses” into us. God gives us the grace of wanting to act right, and then evaluates us on the basis of how righteously we act. Salvation is given according to our “good works,” though the works themselves are “of grace.”

If that is the case, however, I am still left wondering, How can I know that I’ve obeyed sufficiently to be counted righteous? Where exactly is the line of demarcation between those who will be damned and those who will be saved? Or, to ask it perhaps even more clearly: What level of disobedience disqualifies me from Christ’s righteousness?

Faith most certainly includes an attitude of repentance toward God that expresses itself in good works. These expressions of faith, however, cannot be confused with faith itself. Faith’s object is Christ and His substitutionary work alone. Saving faith looks outside of itself to what Christ has done, not back onto itself at what it has done.

That is the only kind of faith that brings assurance. When we confuse the object of faith with the results of faith, we will soon lose assurance. We will always be plagued by the question, ”Am I doing enough?” “Enough” is a question that will drive you to despair. No matter how much you do, the “accuser” will always be crying out for more. You’re never “good enough.” The good news is that Jesus has done enough. He said it was “finished.” So point the accuser there and tell him to shut up.

What, then do we make of those verses (cited earlier) that seem to imply that salvation is gained by the keeping of the law? Let’s take a closer look at them:

“For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” (Rom 2:13)

This verse appears in a section in Romans in which Paul is laying out a case explaining why everyone needs salvation, not explaining how people get saved.

Paul is making two points in this verse. The first is that the Jews’ mere possession of the law does not justify them before God, as many Jews seemed to have thought. Of course, if you kept the law perfectly you would be righteous, but merely possessing the law, Paul says, does not make you so. So what Paul says is true: if there is anyone who really does keep the law, they will be justified by it! But no one does. Paul says in the next chapter, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none who understands. (3:10-11) The conclusion of the law is for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (3:21-23) Paul’s words in 2:13 must therefore be read in light of his conclusion in 3:23: No one can be saved on the basis of obedience to the law. We all fall short.

In another sense, however, Paul is intonating that true faith does produce an internal righteousness that obeys the commands of the law, a conclusion he will flesh out later. The goal of salvation, Paul explains in Romans 12:1-2, is not just forgiveness, but a transformed heart that loves God’s laws. Those who have been justified by faith will begin to obey the law from their heart. Where there is no righteous behavior, Paul will say, there has been no heart change. And where there has been no heart change, there has been no salvation. Keeping the law is not the basis of justification but is the result of it. Faith is the means of salvation; good works are the fruit.

“You see that a person is not justified by works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24 ESV)

James isn’t contradicting the other writers of the New Testament here by saying that salvation is not by faith alone. Rather, he is saying that the faith that saves will never be alone (that is, alone without good works.)

Saving faith, because it is rooted in a new, born-again heart, has in its character the impulses that produce good works.

Think of faith like a living body. A body that is alive will breathe. Coercing a dead body to breathe by hooking it up to a respirator does not equal making it alive. In the same way, salvation, or life in the soul, happens through faith. But when we are truly alive, we will most certainly “breathe” out good works!

James is not contradicting Paul – in fact, he is assuming the readers already understand and agree with Paul! James is clarifying that the faith that saves is a faith that brings life to the soul, a faith that produces the ”breath” of good works. Where the “breath” of good works is absent, the “life” of faith is also.

And finally:

“And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?’ So he answered and said, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself,” And He said to him, ‘You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.’ “(Luke 10:25-28)

Was Jesus really saying that we inherit eternal life by loving our neighbor? At first lance it may seem so, but careful attention must be paid to the story that spawned Jesus’ answer. Jesus had been asked by a man who had spent his whole life trying to earn eternal life what else he must “do” to secure it.

This was not a seeker honestly seeking an answer to his question, but a religious man trying to boost his own ego. He did not believe he needed salvation, so Jesus was willing to play his game and beat him on his own terms. He says, ‘You ask what you must do to inherit eternal life? Easy. Be perfect.’ I would rephrase Jesus’ answer this way: ‘Seriously? You really believe you have loved God and others well enough to qualify for eternal life?’

Jesus story reveals the absurdity of the man’s boast by exposing the hypocritical heart behind the man’s supposedly righteous actions. If you read the entire chapter, you’ll see that this is the last guy who should be trying to be saved by keeping the law (he hated the Samaritan!). Those trying to be saved by keeping the law well will, with a little probing, reveal that their hearts are riddled with inconsistency and hypocrisy. That’s what Jesus was doing to this man. He was helping him reckon with the actual state of his heart.

Jesus’ words actually serve to reinforce that none of us can possibly hope to be saved through obedience to the law. None of us is loving enough, none of us is a good enough neighbor. Thus, if we are to be saved, it will take more than a renewed commitment to keep the law; more than a resolve to be better people; more than a greater activism on behalf of the poor. It will take the work of another – another who obeyed the law perfectly in our place and suffered the penalty for our failures. When we believe that He has done that on our behalf, and we rest in that, His righteousness becomes ours.

I feel there's a deeper level to all of this back and forth about evolution, but it's something very challenging.

It's about our basic relationship with truth itself, and it starts from an observation. That observation is this - our comprehension of truth will always stand ready to be overthrown by some deeper revelation.

And not because truth contradicts itself - it never does - but because truth is infinitely more profound than any comprehension we might ever have of it. God the Father is ultimate truth, He is the eternal font of revelation that never runs dry. And this means there will always be profundities underneath the most profound possible things we know, discoveries that will atomise all we understand by revealing a deeper coherence.

The laws of God do not end with the laws of human behaviour set out in the Bible. There are other laws, the deep laws of reality itself, and their depth and profundity is as eternal as the God who created them. In this way, truth is perfect - God is perfect. He is the font of eternal, glorious revelation that never runs dry, an unending source of revelations of forever compounding potence and majesty.

Secular science is not the pursuit of truth. It looks like it is, but cannot be. It is instead the pursuit of facts, and facts are not the same as truth.

Facts are flat pieces of contained information that fit inside your current frame of reference. Revelation is the thing that obliterates your frame of reference. The revelation of truth is the thing that obliterates your current frame of reference and opens a wild horizon of untouched possibility and power. Facts are the attempt to reduce the world to flat and controllable certainties. Truth is a much deeper and bigger kind of thing than any collection of facts. Truth is always new, truth is eternal, truth is alive. Truth became a man and died on a cross to buy back a world fallen into the worship of lies. Truth cares. Truth loves. Truth fights. Truth saves.

The book of Ruth is one of the simplest books in the Bible. It's really only about one thing - "Wherever you go, I will follow." And to serve God is to follow God, to follow truth, wherever it leads, however wrenching it may be. No matter how it jeopardises whatever comprehension we have constructed. To follow God is to lose control of your heart to your love of truth, to lose control of your life to your love for that neverending glory. To be reconciled to God is to have the honour of following that horizon, of living that life, that wild adventure. That is what it means to walk with God, and seek Him. And He loves to be sought by humanity. I think perhaps it is what He wants the most.

But can't atheists follow truth?

Can't atheists let their passion for truth overcome their ability to control the direction of their own lives?

Can't atheists love that hard? Live that hard? Believe in truth that much?

The answer is no.

Why not?

Because the central truth of human life is that all human goodness is a lie. Our moral pride, our vanity as we admire our own goodness - this is the heart of sin. The knowledge of good and evil which is passed down generation to generation since the fall - it lets us glory in our own fraudulent goodness, and show ourselves how 'good' we are by how much we find to condemn other people. It is a charade of goodness constructed from pieces of hate. It is the broken cistern that we drink from. And so hate and lies flow out of our rotten hearts, and we are all slaves to the serpent that slithers and corrupts. Through our worship of ourselves, the devil twists us inside, twists us into becoming horrific behind the pretty masks we concoct. And in this vanity we become so horrifying we cannot bear to see the real truth of ourselves.

An atheist must always hide from this. They cannot admit that their own moral glory is a lie, that as Jesus said - God alone is good. And so they have to control their pursuit of truth, limit their comprehension of truth, stop themselves from seeing truth too deeply, because they must keep this appalling secret from themselves so they can live their lives. And that's the secular world. A world of lost people - lost in its own moral arrogance.

And so no atheist can never love truth uncontrollably. They can never let go, and truly surrender to a life devoted to seeking it, no matter where it leads. Because it leads to something they cannot bear to see.

The fact that we Christians can bear to see it is not because we are better than atheists. It is because we have been pulled like burning sticks from the fire. God did something. Something happened to make the most terrible possible news - the truth of who we are - into the most amazing possible news - the truth of how much we have been forgiven. For as Jesus said: those who have been forgiven much love much. And all who are in the blood of Christ have been forgiven much indeed.

And so you have these two quite distinct relationships with truth.

One, a relationship of control. Where you only interact with set, contained, specific facts that fit inside your current understanding. Where you never look deeper in case you see something that upends your identity, your own idea of you. You keep it safe by building a fortress of cynicism around it, by being ungenerous and mean-spirited toward any idea that undermines it. You zero in on the faults and failings of anything that threatens it, and never appraise those things at their strongest and best.

This is, I would say, a pretty complete description of how atheists appraise Christianity.

But there is another relationship you can have with truth, relationship two. A relationship of uncontrollable love. This is where you allow your love of truth, of the power of truth, the glory of truth, the possibility and fire of truth, to overwhelm everything you are. You love so much you cannot help but follow it - like Ruth - wherever it leads.

And when this is your approach, the way you appraise the things set against you entirely inverted. You consider challenges to your position with deep generosity. You consider those things only at their strongest and best, judge them only by the standards they set, overlooking all their flaws and failings.

Because if there is something true in them that actually can blow apart your current understanding - that's amazing. Exhilarating. Intoxicating. What could it be? What might you see? What deeper truth is there to find?

If your heart is for your own self, your own identity, then you'd push away anything that might disrupt it. But if your heart is for truth, you would delight in that disruption. You would hunt for it, seek it, pray for it, beg for it - show me the truth that blows apart all I know from a depth I never knew existed. Let me see you that deeply, my Lord and God.

And if you appraise something with extreme generosity and total forgiveness, that's the only way you can be sure you won't miss any deep truth it might contain.

But if it's not true, then a lie is just as much a lie at its strongest point than it is at its weakest.

And if we give something the best possible hearing - and it still fails utterly at its strongest point - then our counterattacks no longer snap at its heels. We can do something different. We can drive a stake through its beating, black heart.

An ungenerous appraisal of an enemy means that if there is deeper truth in what they say, you will never see it. And if it is a lie, all you will ever do is whine about side-issues that miss the central point. Your cowardice and lack of faith severs you from truth, and renders you useless at combating falsehood.

And so I believe that the hallmark of someone who has truly given their heart to the pursuit of truth - the pursuit of God - is that they will always consider any enemy in the most generous possible light. Only those reconciled to God through Christ can do it. But all truly reconciled to God through Christ will leap to do it.

Because it is not becoming for followers of Christ to fight as the atheists fight - to be ungenerous or mean-spirited. Not because it's morally wrong. But because it is weak.

And weakness is not of enormous use to those who are called upon to fight a war, and win it.

I believe in evolution because I follow truth wherever it leads. And I follow truth because I can't do anything else. I literally could not be a creationist, because I let my heart fall in love with truth to such a degree that I gave up my own capacity to control my own life direction. I cannot hold myself at a set level of comprehension, hold my identity in a fixed and static position. I might try, but it doesn't work. I just get overwhelmed by the glory and wild potential of truth itself, of God Himself - and I consider the very best of ideas at their best. Not because I'm so good, but because this alone is the way to find truth and to find falsehood. It seems insane to me to do anything else.

This is not a boast, because I have done nothing to earn this love or deserve it. God won my heart through His grace and His sacrifice, because it was Christ's blood that cleared the way, allowing me to seek truth even when the truth of me is so appalling and wretched.

No atheist could think like this, could love like this, could live like this.

But when we hold tight to a flat, literal comprehension of Genesis, how can we say it is God we seek? How is it God we're protecting? It seems to me we're instead protecting ourselves. We are not following truth where it leads - somewhere unknown, and scary, with wide open possibility, the possibility to do and discover even deeper things that glorify God in even deeper ways. It seems that instead we are burying our talents. We are staying at the safe level of comprehension we control so our identities do not get disrupted. We are prizing our identities over the deep discoveries of truth. We prize ourselves over God. I cannot see anything else that it can be.

This is a very challenging thing to say, and I do not say it lightly. Nor do I claim to be a better Christian or have a deeper faith. We are all hemmed in by the limits of our courage. It is always scary to consider something extremely challenging in a super-generous way. This is only compounded by the shrieking arrogance of militant atheists who deluge the world with their facile comprehension of truth and biology. It is entirely understandable why a Christian would flinch away in fear, and throw up a wall of cynicism to protect our identity.

But it is not identity that saves. It is Christ.

When we are generous with an extreme challenge, we have to put that identity in danger. Generosity in appraisal is not just an act that jeopardises the comprehension we have of the world, it also endangers the 'me' that arises from that set, static comprehension.

And so we need faith. Faith that there is something there to find. Faith that God is real, and He won't go away if we move beyond the static understanding we have right now. Faith that there will be no contradiction in whatever truth we end up finding. We have to believe that there will be something to find, something amazing. And perhaps more than all of this, that God will have a place for us. That He will give us something new to be at that deeper level, something more wonderful than we could even imagine from a shallower depth.

New clothes, if you want to put it like that.

When I look at creationists and those who deny evolution, I cannot but be struck at how ungenerous they are with evolutionary theory. How much they zero in on faults and failings. How much they seek to criticise and subject it to standards other than its own. How they leap to speak of the gaps it doesn't explain, rather than face the power of the things it does. It is as if they need to belittle it and comprehend only a smaller, weaker version of it, because if they truly considered it with generosity, courage, and faith, and gave it the best possible hearing, they would lose who they are.

But because they focus on the weak points of it, their attacks against it are themselves laughably weak.

This is indistinguishable to me to the way atheists interact with Christianity, and their reasons. Atheists do not give Christianity a generous hearing, but instead focus like lasers on abuse, corruption, and any kind of gaps, failings or flaws they can find.

What does that say about an atheist's faith in atheism? That they only dare consider the weakest possible forms of Christianity? What does it say about how strong they believe their own ideas to be?

But then by that token, what does it say about how strong a creationist's faith in God is, if they do not dare consider the strongest and best of evolution?

How can this be understood except as a lack of faith? And that's my question. How can I comprehend creationism as anything other than a lack of faith?

Now while this might (might!) upset people to hear, I would just point this out.

That whatever you have to say in response to it, I've kind of backed myself into a corner. I cannot criticise you. I cannot snipe. I cannot zero in on the weak points of any creationist riposte, because I've just pinned my colours to the generosity mast.

So take heart. If I start looking for the worst and weakest in your answers, I destroy the credibility of my own position. And so you can be assured that if you do disagree, I will hear your disagreement in the most generous possible spirit I can muster, give it the benefit of every possible doubt, overlooking every flaw and failing, and considering only the strongest of it.

Not because I'm so good. But because if what you say is true, I want that truth more than anything, and if I consider your words in the strongest possible light, I will not miss any truth they may contain.

And if what you say is false, I have no interest - and no need - to snipe at weak points. A lie is just as much a lie at its strongest point as it is at its weakest. Generosity allows me to knock out the best of what you say, and not just the worst. So that's my approach.

But I also hope that the faith that unites us will allow us to have this crucial discussion in frankness and fullness, with nothing held back on either side - but in mutual love and respect. Passions run high here because we care about God. And that unites us as brothers and sisters in Christ. I am not above anyone, and my life of faith is as much limited by my own halting bravery as anyone else's is.

And so if we are to disagree over issues we all passionately hold, I hope we can do that a little better than the secular world around us.

What say you?

You may eat anything you like from all the trees in the garden except!

Except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

What is that tree about. What exactly is the meaning of this prohibition?

If you compare China 13.6 trillion in GDP versus Taiwan's GDP of 585 billion, are Trumps comments a concern? Does he really expect Taiwan to defend itself and pay for everything? China vs Taiwan Economies: 61 Stats Compared

His comments too on Taiwan taking over the U.S. chip manufacturing sector is worrisome too. Why? Because they are better competitors. They are more efficient. The secret sauce for Taiwan's chip superstardom

This efficiency is in part is driven by FREE MARKETS, which I hope Trump favors. as shown by the bullet points. Taiwan vs. US Chip Subsidies: Bolstering the Sacred Mountain.

• "Whereas policymakers in the US and South Korea direct government funds toward closing supply-chain weaknesses, Taiwanese policymakers allow companies to determine which technologies to lean into.
• Whereas lawmakers in the US and EU attach tight strings to the subsidies that administrative agencies dole out, Taiwanese lawmakers write vague laws that grant enormous discretion to government ministries.
• And whereas local governments in mainland China steer a significant share of the nation’s total semiconductor subsidies, Taiwan’s central government funds and manages the island’s most meaningful incentive programs."

So first, Trump's comments threaten the security of Taiwan and the entire region and secondly they threaten good competition. I know he is running against Biden, but he and many in the GOP need to shore up on foreign policy because this is worrisome. By saying Taiwan should pay the USA defense you have to admit that China loves to hear that. It shows a possible weakness in the USA commitment to defend Taiwan. It also implies that all of SE Asia at more risk and while he considers US defense of Taiwan an "insurance policy" the US friendly SE Asia nations help keep the USA safe as well. Does Trump for instance think the Philippines should pay for all of its defense? That is not in the treaty the USA signed, nor is it possible for such a poorer nation to defend itself. Sure the USA can be isolationist. The result though could be that most of S.E. Asia will be controlled by China, including the 3.4 trillion (out of 16 trillion) shipping that goes through the South China Sea. I know a lot of what Trump says will be tempered by some in the cabinet but I hope he answers more questions in interviews ahead.
I
Questions to be considered:
Is the USA competitive in chip manufacturing?
Does the USA have a commitment to defend Taiwan?

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.


Now does that really mean anything or a coincidence?

I just found it to be interesting is all.

Makes me wonder how much god played a part. I'm not saying trump was chosen by God, but God does tend to pick the imperfect to do his work because gods work is hard and it takes a hard man to do it.

The Pew Research Centre conducted a poll a few years ago asking people why they chose the church they did, after for example moving to a different area. The most common reasons were the quality of the sermon, the welcome they got, how much they liked the style of worship, and the location of the church. Well behind these was the specific teachings of the church.
So what I’d like to hear people’s views about is whether “doctrinal purity” is, or even ought to be, a consideration in people’s choice of a church. If it’s not, doesn’t that make the religious wars of past centuries quite pointless, and no church should claim to be “the one true church” or whatever?

Questions:


The apostle Paul was called of God, by the will of God, to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. And an apostle is a messenger, one sent on a mission, one commissioned by God to a particular area of ministry, under the authority of God, and according to his guidance and direction and specific choice for our individual lives. So, in a sense, we are all to be apostles, but only in the sense that all of us are to be the Lord’s servants and messengers and witnesses in taking the message of the gospel to the people of the world.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Eph 5:11-14; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 John 2:6]

And who was/is Jesus Christ? He is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And he is our creator God, and he is the only begotten Son of God who was born to a human mother but conceived of the Holy Spirit. So when he lived on the earth he was fully human and fully God (God incarnate). So, he suffered like we suffer, and he was tempted in like manner as we are also tempted, but without sin. And then one day they put him to death on a cross because they hated him for who he was.

But it was God’s will and purpose for Jesus that he should suffer and die for us on that cross, and that he should be raised from the dead, for he who knew no sin became sin for us on that cross in order to put our sins to death with him, and he rose from the dead in victory over sin, so that by faith in him we can now die to sin and live to righteousness. For faith in him involves us denying self, dying to sin (not just once, but daily), and us walking in obedience to his commands in holy living, by his grace, in his power.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 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; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

And the church is the whole universal body of believers in Jesus Christ. We are the ekklēsía, those who are called out from the world, and to following Jesus Christ with our lives. We are called out from our lives of living in sin and for self, and to walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands in holy living. We are those who are “belonging to the Lord” by genuine repentant God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ whereby we die with him to sin so that we can now live to him and to his righteousness, by his grace.

The church is not an institution of human origin which is incorporated under the state as a not-for-profit business (incorporation), which is a merger and a union with the world and with the people of the world. Yet so much of what is called “church” here in America are incorporations under the state which are being marketed to the people of the world. So they alter the character of God and of his gospel to make them more acceptable to the people of the world. We are called of God to come out of and to not partake in these.

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

And if we have been and are being sanctified in Christ Jesus, it means that we are being made holy, set apart from the world and the flesh because we are being conformed by God to the likeness of Jesus Christ in character. And to be called of God to be saints is a calling of God for us to be holy in all our conduct and for us to no longer live like we did before we believed in Jesus Christ. For we are to be different from who we were before and different from the world because we are being made to be like the Lord.

And the grace which comes from God, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce (say ‘No!’ to) ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works,” “which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:10).

And the peace that comes from our Lord is not absence of conflict other than it is absence of conflict with our Lord. For this peace has to do with us who believe in Jesus Christ joining together with God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – into a whole, but also into wholeness of mind, character, and heart because we have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness.

To Be Like Him

An Original Work / March 16, 2014
Based off Scripture

Crucified you are with Jesus.
To be like Him, oh, you’ll be,
Because He died at Calv’ry,
So from sin you’d be free.
Oh, what joy He brings into your life,
Giving life with Him endlessly.

Oh, what plans He has for your life.
Share the gospel faithfully.
Show the people He loves them.
Now His witness you’ll be.
Tell the world of sin about Jesus,
How He died for them on a tree.

Purifying hearts, He saves them,
Who believe on Christ, God’s Son.
Turning now from their idols,
New lives they have begun.
Jesus saves from sin; we’re forgiven.
Over sin, the vict’ry He won!

When He comes again to take us
To be with Him evermore,
There will be no more crying.
Gladness will be in store.
Heavens joys will now overtake us:
We’ll be with our Lord evermore.

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I took a day off work today so my wife and I, and one of our kids could attend the Liturgy at our local ROCOR skete here in Sydney, Australia, as we had a very special visitor.


She was also accompanied by Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America and New York, so we had our first hierarch serving Liturgy and a wonder working icon of the Mother of God, the Kursk Root icon.

What a blessed day!

On Eve of GOP Convention, Faith Leaders Warn Against White Christian Nationalism​

It was nearly two hours into a long afternoon rally Sunday when Rev. Dr. Kevin Shaw took the podium in a packed auditorium on Milwaukee’s Northeast Side.

It was not, he reminded the audience, a church service, but from his cadences, the message might have been from a pulpit.

“We must understand that democracy is in danger,” Shaw said, his voice rising. “That’s why we’re here tonight — to protect our democracy, to reject white Christian nationalism and to build the beloved community.”

He spoke of people targeted by racism, because of their sexual orientation, or because they are not Christian — all of whom “constantly have to prove that they belong here in America.”

There were murmurs of agreement from the crowd.

“But the God that I believe in, the Jesus in the text that I’m familiar with, took time for those who were outcasts, took time with those who were considered to not be worthy of God’s grace.”

Sunday’s rally came on the eve of the Republican National Convention set to nominate former President Donald Trump as, once again, the GOP candidate for that office.

In response, the cross-section of faith leaders who gathered on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus Sunday disavowed the strain of religion that, they charged, animates Trump’s candidacy. The policies he pursued in his previous term and the agenda he has embraced on the stump, speakers said, are anchored in white Christian nationalism.

Sunday’s rally was sponsored by the Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope — MICAH, an interfaith social activism organization founded 36 years ago. Shaw is MICAH’s president. He is also the pastor of St. Matthew C.M.E. Church in Milwaukee.

The group’s campaign against white Christian nationalism, launched in August 2023, is called “We All Belong.”

In an interview a few days before Sunday’s rally, Shaw said white Christian nationalism has been at the root of political trends ranging from making voting more difficult to pushing to remove books that report frankly about U.S. history and the treatment of Black enslaved people or the harm done to Native Americans.

“White Christian nationalism teaches exclusion and control,” Shaw said. “Regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or sexuality, we all belong. We are all part of democracy.”

White Christian nationalist thinking also underlies Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation document outlining an agenda for the next Republican president, Shaw said. The proposals include attacks on federal agencies and on the education system, he added.

“It gives one individual too much power,” Shaw said. “That’s not what makes America America, and it’s not Christian.”

Although Trump has claimed no connection with the project, its authors include a number of past and present Trump advisers.

Jim Wallis, a writer and longtime social justice activist driven by his Christian faith, came to Milwaukee for Sunday’s rally. Wallis has written a book, “The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy.”

During a press conference before the rally, Wallis noted that there will be people proclaiming their faith on the podium at the Republican convention.

“The use of religion to promote fear and hate and violence is blasphemy,” Wallis said. “It’s time to name it and say it, and time to debate it.”

Hey! My name is tanaya and i am new here. I am ready to engage with fellow Christians and followers of the LORD. Thank you for reading this and wishing you a great day.

Testing

"Microsoft laid off a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) team this year, with a team leader sending an email saying the initiatives were no longer needed.
The email, sent earlier this month and [COLOR=rgba(20, 20, 21, 0.91)]obtainedhttps://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-layoffs-dei-leader-email-2024-7 by Business Insider, is from an individual whose name has not been released. It is unclear how many team employees were laid off.[/COLOR]

“True systems-change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020,” said the email, which was sent to thousands of employees, according to BI.

It appears that the trend of killing off DEI in the workplace continues as Microsoft lays off an unspecified number of "DEI employees" (grifters seems a more appropriate description).

I've always seen this as just a matter of time and something that will be looked back at as an oddly racist period in history. One can hardly recall a moment when a Democratic Party official in front of microphone didn't make a token (pun intended) pledge to this racist ideology.

After all, your skin color, genitalia, and sexual orientation aren't reasons for you to get a job. Your qualifications and merit are. Hopefully, companies like United Airlines do the same before airplanes start dropping from the sky.


Thoughts?

​

Stochastic terrorism appears to be on the rise globally. Extremism experts explain how this form of violence has gone mainstream.​

Stochastic terrorism is targeted political violence that has been instigated by hostile public rhetoric directed at a group or individual. Unlike incitement to terrorism, this is accomplished by using indirect, vague, or coded language that allows the instigator to plausibly disclaim responsibility for the resulting violence.[1] A key element is the use of social media and other distributed forms of communications where the person who carries out the violence has no direct connection to the users of violent rhetoric. Stochastic terrorism - Wikipedia

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So should the last eight years of a multitude of social media influencers and major media figures explicitly portraying Donald Trump as the next Adolf Hitler be considered a form of stochastic terrorism?

It's important to note that the perpetrators were not comparing a general ideology or general culture to Nazism. They were specifically identifying the individual person Donald Trump and and imposing the figure of Adolf Hitler upon him. These were not nuanced or vague comparisons but explicit references and direct analogies. "Trump is the next Hitler."

It is also important to note that these were not the usual scattering of edgy political publications, but a message that was repeated 24/7 from all corners of the mass media landscape. (and still is!) The promoters of this Trump - Hitler narrative had full knowledge of the extent of saturation, because it is all very public by nature.

These comparisons and images saturated the media horizon. (I'm sure we could fill dozens of pages on this thread with examples from major media outlets, celebrities, and large social media influencers) Here is one example of countless:





The historical figure of Adolf Hitler is an extremely unique symbol that is essentially synonymous with justified violence... Hitler is basically the modern personification of Satan and there is a general consensus, even among Christians, that someone would have been justified in assassinating him before he came to power, for the greater good.

It should be common sense to anyone in our society that to combine the image of Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump, and repeat it endlessly throughout mass media channels... is going to indoctrinate a significant portion of a mass audience into the idea that one might be justified in assassinating one of them just as much as the other. (of course, most people would not act on this impulse, but inevitably some disturbed individual would, and did)

And then on July 13th, 2024, the assassination attempt happened. At a rally, someone perched on a rooftop tried to shoot Donald Trump in the head, but by God's grace, only struck his ear.

Logically speaking, a person who actually believed the widespread media campaign blending the person of Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler, would also, as a consequence, believe they are justified in eliminating another Hitler.



Could this assassination attempt be reasonably interpreted as the predictable and intended result of a long-term stochastic terrorism operation?



Should the collective promoters of this Trump - Hitler narrative be officially brought up on charges of stochastic terrorism?



Furthermore, should any individual who appeared to publicly celebrate or cheer the assassination attempt of Donald Trump, likewise be investigated?







God Save The King!

Acts 19:4 "Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." The Repentance John preached was to Believe on Jesus Christ. Not turn from all your sins to be saved. Repenting of sins is works Jonah 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

The repentance for salvation is you turn from whatever false gospel you were trusting in before, and Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sin is transgression of the law 1 John 3:4, so if you're stopping sinning then you're keeping the law. and thats works salvation that is a false gospel.
Salvation is Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. not stop sinning to be saved. nobody has stopped sinning we sin every day. every day we confess sins to God and turn from that, thats works! Salvation is a one time event, not a process. You Believe on Jesus Christ, you pass from death to life, you hath eternal life past tense no man can pluck you out of Jesus or the Fathers hand, never die never perish, Once Saved Always Saved.

John 10:28-29 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Acts 16:30-31 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

One of the most astounding and annoying positions held by many of the anti-Sabbatarians I've talked to is that Jesus broke the Sabbath. These people present their jesus with a straight face and insist that he could transgress the law that he was born under with impunity. Their jesus, because he is god, can do as he pleases and could break the law and still be supposedly "sinless." But consider for a moment how this position—if played out to it's logical confusion—would impact on anything and everything else the Bible plainly reveals about the real Savior of the Bible. If this other jesus can break the fourth commandment, why can't he break any of the other commandments, laws, ordinances or decrees he imposed on his people? What about murder? Adultery? Theft? Worshipping other gods? Coveting? Or sexual immorality? Do you really believe in a god who says "Do as I say, don't do as I do?"

The one that I think would be the most potentiality troubling would be the command against bearing false witness. Hebrews 6:18 says that "it is impossible for God to lie," but using the rationale for allowing jesus to break the Sabbath shouldn't we also find that it is just as likely that he should also be allowed to lie? Maybe he was lying about it being impossible for him to lie? How can you trust a god who cannot abide by the rules he demands of his own creatures?

When confronted by an angry mob which was ready to kill Him, Jesus asked the rhetorical question, "Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?" The Pharisees, Sadducees and teachers of the law were constantly following Jesus looking for any reason to condemn Him. Members of the Sanhedrin were with Jesus on several occasions where they challenged Him on the question of proper Sabbath observance. If they could find Him guilty of breaking the Sabbath then they would have the legal rationale for condemning Him to death. But at His trial what do we see? Because Jesus was truly righteous, truly sinless (and not just a said sinlessness which anti-Sabbatarians attribute to Him) the Sanhedrin had to resort to producing their own false evidence.


Why look for "false evidence" and produce "many false witnesses" when the Sanhedrin had it's own members as actual witnesses of what would constitute "real" evidence worthy of their desire to impose the death penalty? But if jesus really did break the law then God's ordained representatives on this planet were directed to impose capital punishment. The Pharisees would then be the good guys for carrying out God's directives for them as shepherds of His people. Really, wouldn't noncompliance with the law be a beacon revealing any false messiah? Next!

The Jesus of the Bible is both 100% God as well as 100% man. This is the mystery of the incarnation (i.e., how God became man). But while the Bible acknowledges Jesus as being both God and man, anti-Sabbatarians routinely focus primarily on their jesus's god-ness to the near exclusion of his man-ness. This exclusionary thinking creates serious theological problems for them as they attempt to articulate their jesus. For instance, the Bible says that God doesn't get tired or weary (Isaiah 40:28). Yet while the incarnate Jesus was fully God, His human side definitely got tired and weary (John 4:6). We're also told that God doesn't get hungry (Psalm 50:12), but we also know that Jesus did get both thirsty (John 19:28) and hungry (Matthew 4:2). The Jesus of the Bible is also acknowledged as saying His Father was greater than Himself (John 14:28). In His human form Jesus also stated that only His Father knew the time of His own return to earth (Matthew 24:36), but Jesus did not know this information.


Was it at all possible for the human side of Jesus to succumb to temptation? Satan certainly thought so. He went at Jesus when He was humanly at His weakest and tempted Him in areas he thought He might falter. Jesus's response to the tempter was not to simply ignore the temptations, or to send the devil off to oblivion. Jesus set an example for us in His confrontation by quoting Scripture in response to each temptation (this reminds me of putting on the full armor of God and utilizing the "sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God").


What do you think? Was Jesus tempted in all points as we are but because He didn't give in to those temptations He was really and truly "sinless"? Or, do you believe that the temptations could've all been embraced and the jesus you believe in, whom we're told "was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin," had only a said sinlessness? Is it "good news" that your jesus can and does break the laws he insists that his followers must obey? Is it "good news" that when your jesus finds out one of his creatures has broken one of his laws that he has been known to punish that individual to the full extent of the law (even though he himself cannot apparently abide by his own law)? What kind of jesus is this that you are attempting to foist on the unsuspecting? It's certainly not the One whom Paul preached.


Do you really want to be included with a group of people who are perverting who Jesus really is and His true gospel?

ALSO BY THIS AUTHOR

• Works Relation to Salvation​

• Ten Reasons I'm a Sabbatarian​

I pray this helps.

But for the grace of God go I,cyspark

Cheatle admitted the agency knew the building rooftop was a security vulnerability but still opted not to position agents there, leaving it wide open for Crooks to take up an ideal sniper perch with an unobstructed view of Trump on stage.
From the roof, Crooks had a clear line of sight to the GOP nominee with his AR-style semiautomatic rifle, about 130 yards away.

Fire her.

Prevalence of Gender-Affirming Surgical Procedures Among Minors and Adults in the US​

Gender-affirming health care aims to align an individual’s physical gender expression with their intrinsic gender identity. An example is breast reduction for cisgender males with gynecomastia. Recently, there have been increased legislative efforts restricting gender-affirming health care specifically for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people.1 Proponents of these efforts express concerns that TGD minors may be too commonly using gender-affirming surgical procedures. Given stringent clinical standards for gender-affirming care,2,3 use of gender-affirming surgical procedures by TGD minors is expected to be low. However, there are limited national data; while 1 study provided national estimates, it did not capture minors under the age of 12 years and did not exclude procedures with clinical justifications outside of gender affirmation.4 Therefore, using a national dataset, we evaluated the extent to which TGD minors and adults received gender-affirming surgical procedures in 2019.

[zero procedures were performed on minors under 12.]

Of gender-affirming surgical procedures identified among ... minors, ... (96.4%) were chest-related procedures.... Of the 151 breast reductions among cisgender male minors and TGD minors, 146 (97%) were performed on cisgender male minors

--
see also

Gynecomastia (also spelled gynaecomastia)[a] is the abnormal non-cancerous enlargement of one or both breasts in males due to the growth of breast tissue as a result of a hormone imbalance between estrogens and androgens. Gynecomastia can cause significant psychological distress or unease.

I’ve really tried to follow the advice I’ve been given but it’s been hard. I’m in a group with others who feel the same as me and nobody has made any progress. I’ve realized a lot about god though and I realize he really does have control, not that I didnt know but I didn’t want to accept it.


Anyway, I feel I exhibit all the signs of a true reprobate. I’ve been seeking pity and false hope to escape the fear and despair. The reality is that it’s a mix of pride, refusal to repent, and hardness of heart. I get temporary relief and assurance but then I get fearful again. Part of me wants to repent but what if I also don’t want to repent? I'm saying I want to repent but then my actions say otherwise.
I don’t want to die in my sins and I’m terrified of the wrath to come. I also know I am reaping what I’ve sown, choosing to unconsciously blame God and look to others for hope. If you knew my sin you wouldn’t blame God if he decided to punish me. It’s just that bad.

I’ve been in denial about it but if it’s true then being in denial won’t make it untrue. I’ve lost the Holy Spirit and I’ve been a terrible human being ever since.

I believe I’ve really crossed the line with God and I don’t think I care, at least not like I should. I try to pray to be genuine with God and get the right heart posture but I feel that my heart is too hard and it’s only getting harder. I only have worldly sorrow and even feel somewhat numb.

Trump's Rhetoric: A Timeline of Division and Violence

From the start of his political career, Donald Trump has used violent and inflammatory rhetoric, inciting anger, division, and sometimes physical aggression.
Beginning with his 2015 campaign announcement, where he labeled Mexican immigrants as “rapists,” to his presidency marked by attacks on political opponents, the media, and Black Lives Matter, Trump’s words have often been provocative and dangerous.

This timeline underscores key moments of escalating discord, culminating in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack and ultimately influencing an assassination attempt in 2024, highlighting the enduring and dangerous influence of his rhetoric on the political landscape.

2015-2016: Presidential Campaign Rhetoric

• June 2015: During his campaign announcement, Trump labeled Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and criminals.
• August 2015: Suggested in a rally that a protester might deserve to be “roughed up.”
• November 2015: At a rally in Birmingham, Alabama, Trump said about a protester, “Maybe he should have been roughed up.”
• February 2016: Told supporters at a Las Vegas rally to “knock the crap out of” anyone planning to throw tomatoes, promising to pay their legal fees.
• March 2016: Encouraged supporters at a rally to “knock the hell” out of protesters, again promising to pay their legal fees.
• March 2016: In Iowa, Trump said he would pay legal fees for supporters if they got in trouble for removing protesters, adding, “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you.”
• March 2016: A supporter punched a protester at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Trump remarked that he might pay the legal fees for the supporter.
• August 2016: Suggested “Second Amendment people” could stop Hillary Clinton from appointing Supreme Court judges.
• October 2016: In Miami, Trump told supporters to “beat the crap” out of anyone they saw about to throw a tomato.2017-2021: Presidency

(staff edit)

Let ALL politicians who engage in selling their power and influence
for bribes, be found guilty.

Selling influence, is NOT one of the responsibilities of an American politician.
And it should NEVER be considered to be part of a politician's "official acts"
that they do, to carry out their job.

Note that under the fair rule of law in America, Menendez was presumed innocent,
until he was proven guilty.

A Tennessee law that prevents trans-identified residents from changing the sex marker on their birth certificates to reflect their self-declared gender identity is not a violation of the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the state of Tennessee in a 2-1 decision, ruling against plaintiffs Kayla Gore, L.G., K.N. and Jaime Combs. The four plaintiffs are men who identify as women who sought to change the sex on their birth certificates.

Writing for the majority opinion, Judge Jeffrey Sutton stated that "there is no fundamental right to a birth certificate recording gender identity instead of biological sex." The judge wrote that the Tennessee law treats both sexes equally, and the state recording sex instead of gender identity on birth certificates "does not withhold a constitutionally prescribed benefit."

Continued below.