Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was murdered and son partially paralyzed by Long Island Railroad gunman Colin Ferguson in 1993, passed away last week.

She was a personal hero to me. Although we had moved to St. Louis before the LIRR massacre, we had lived a few blocks away from the McCarthys. They had attended the same church. From 1973-76, my husband had ridden the same train, the 6:06 out of Penn Station, that was attacked. My sister was trying to catch that train out of NYC that day, but fortunately she missed it. My good friend's husband was on the train and was so traumatized afterwards that he sought a transfer with his company and moved the family to Florida's Atlantic coast.

But McCarthy's husband and son, who had worked in the financial district, were hit. Her husband died. Her son was paralyzed on one side of his body, and McCarthy, a nurse, was by his side during his long recovery.

And when she saw her Republican Congressman, Norman Lent, vote "yes" on a vote to allow plastic gun manufacture, she ran for Congress and served in her district until retiring in 2013.

McCarthy said she was embraced and throughout her 18-year career helped pass 15 pieces of major legislation through three presidents. She was also devoted to making changes in education and health care, with some voters telling her she had inspired them to become nurses.

"I get chills when I think about how many lives I was able to change because God put me on this path," McCarthy. "I just wanted to make a difference."

In January, President Biden honored McCarthy with the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest civilian honor in the United States.

"Our nation and our Island have lost a fierce champion"​

"I was proud to serve with Carolyn McCarthy in Congress. After losing her husband and nearly losing her son in the 1993 LIRR massacre, Carolyn turned tragedy into a lifelong fight to end gun violence. Carolyn was kind, principled, and strong. She will be deeply missed," Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote on social media. Carolyn McCarthy, former N.Y. congresswoman and staunch gun control advocate, dies at 81

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She became my role model, showing me that one ordinary citizen can make a difference, as I traveled around the country following my husband's career, trying to use my talents to make the world a better place. Thank you, Rep. McCarthy, for turning your personal tragedy into triumph.

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Ai dimensional
Whats going on
He proves it

We Pentecostals love to constantly remind Christians to be attentive to The Baptism of the Holy Spirit. And are on guard to defend the HSB against the notion that the Baptism into the Body of Christ and Baptism of the Holy Spirit are one and the same which they are not. All for another thread. For the baptisms of Christ are all one, all Christ's; baptized into His body, baptized into water and baptized in the Holy Spirit. These three are continually confused by attempting to combine to this day, which the scriptures do not, (be careful of the slight of hand) again, another thread. But the commission does not select any, but calls on them all,


But the wonderful mystery of water baptism (WB) has been revealed so vividly to the child of God, they receive it sub-consciously, yet, remains a mystery to the world's most prudent, even if it was told to them. For to all He said,


The problem for the carnal is when trying to rationalize the combination of these two verses. They are left holding it raw, is WB of the flesh, or Spirit? Again, thanks be to God who has revealed it to the child of God who received it from the beginning.

Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Hi all, I am burdened by debt, a result of my own stupidity, and while i have decent income it is snowballing. Please pray for me to be wiser, so that I can overcome these issues

A lot of what passes as religion in America today only helps perpetuate false narratives people create for themselves about who they think they are, says noted theologian Fr. Richard Rohr.

If they really want to find their true selves, Rohr, who founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, suggests that they can only see their most stable self in God.

"By the middle of life, we all become aware that there is this unwholeness within every one of us. And I say that after 55 years as a priest," Rohr, 82, told journalist Ray Suarez earlier this month in the first episode of a new PBS series "Wisdom Keepers: Healing a Divided People."

Continued below.

Hello, I just prayed a lot and you know what I asked God for a sign, then I went on social media and the first video that appeared was of God saying that I don't have to pray anymore to be afraid that there are many people who believe in him and that I would finally say it out loud that he is always with me, and this is so Beautiful, so I found this site to write it LOUD

And I see 3 resurrections in 1 Thess 4:13-16 3 resurrections !

How many do you see ?


dan p

I have lost a turtle pendant that I wore around my neck because it was used for aromatherapy. It is not highly valuable, but I would really like to find it. It it has sentimental value. I think maybe I accidentally tossed it with some things in the trash though.

Again, this is a very small request, but I appreciate any small prayer.

As a Catholic reflecting on how wealth should be handled in society, I’ve looked to the Old Testament for guidance. God gave Israel a set of laws that weren’t capitalist or socialist, but deeply concerned with justice, mercy, and the well-being of the whole community. These laws still speak to us today.

The Year of Jubilee – Leviticus 25​

Every fiftieth year, God commanded a Jubilee:

In this year:

• Land was returned to its original owners (Leviticus 25:13).
• Debts were forgiven.
• Slaves were freed (Leviticus 25:39–41).

This law reminded Israel that:

The Sabbatical Year – Deuteronomy 15​

Every seventh year, debts were to be cancelled:

God warned against stinginess:

Instead:

Gleaning Laws – Leviticus 19 & Deuteronomy 24​

Farmers were told not to harvest everything:

This ensured the vulnerable had access to food with dignity.

---

What the Church Teaches​

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

The Church recognises that while the ceremonial laws are fulfilled in Christ, the moral and social principles remain valid.

In Economic Justice for All, the U.S. bishops wrote:

---

These laws and teachings challenge me to think about wealth not as a private entitlement, but as something entrusted to us for the good of all. They call for justice, mercy, and a deep concern for the poor. What do they say to you about yourself, your community, state, nation?

"CNN reported on a publicly available app, which is generating attention across the United States, and reached out to ICE for comment prior to publication. After CNN published its reporting, ICE posted a response, which is now included in the story," the spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The response reported by CNN came from ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, who said ICEBlock "basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs" and that "officers and agents are already facing a 500% increase in assaults."

She makes a good point.

I know there is a litany, are there any other devotions anyone wants to share?

July is devoted to the Precious Blood of Jesus.

God bless

Pope Leo XIV recently addressed a large group of seminarians in Rome for a special Jubilee week, thanking them for their willingness to devote their lives to the Church. If the number of major seminarians worldwide has fallen 12% over the past twelve years, one reason is due to the increase in the number of homosexual bishops, priests, and seminarians in the Americas and Europe which has had a negative impact on the retention and recruitment of heterosexual priests and seminarians.

After graduating as the valedictorian of his high school class, Anthony Gorgia from Staten Island, New York, was offered a full scholarship with a stipend to a prestigious university. Having felt called by Christ to be a priest since he was six-years old, Gorgia turned down the scholarship to pursue his vocation to the priesthood. After graduating summa cum laude from St. John’s University with a master’s degree in philosophy, Georgia was sent by New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan to study theology in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Even though he maintained a 4.0 grade point average and received outstanding evaluations, Cardinal Dolan informed Gorgia, half-way through his second year of theology, that he was being discontinued based on the advice of the North American College (NAC) rector, Father Peter Harman. Dolan refused five requests to meet with Gorgia and his parents because he knew Gorgia’s dismissal was unjust.

Continued below.

People could donate land and apartments to the Catholic Church.

On one condition.

The Catholic Church starts making women priests, bishops, and cardinals.

Before Trump took office, a 2023 Supreme Court ruling struck down the use of racial preferences in university admissions. Lawsuits have challenged the use of race in scholarships as well as a federal program designed to funnel tens of millions of dollars to colleges and universities with large percentages of Hispanic students.
The battle against DEI is now advancing to target the use of proxies for race—which might include geography or class—in order to boost diversity, said Scott Schneider, a higher-education attorney in Texas.
“This is the next wave,” Schneider said. Opponents of DEI are “saying if the intent is to circumvent the direct use of race, proxies are just as bad, that’s the novel issue that courts are wrestling with.”

It will be a constant battle, they keep trying to find ways to push Marxism and racism.

Please pray that my son Jakeb is happy and healthy today and when he goes to the dr he won't be scared, have good blood pressure and hasn't lost too much weight. Please pray for his health and happiness and that nothing is seriously wrong and if it is God's will he will protect us and our home from the storms and keep power so we can stay cool. Also please pray that God will allow me to have a day without pain and be comfortable. I ask in the name of Jesus. Please pray. God bless you.

I know I need to love my God more
Because I feel that
I don't love God enough
I know that in the mornings
I have the blues that I hate
I know that I should be grateful
That I have health
I know that I Iove the sun
I know that I will be happy
When Spring will be here
I know that I need to go to sleep
Early every night
So, I can get a proper night's sleep
I know that I should look
After my health
I know that I should look after
My hygiene better
I know that I need to pray more
I know that I should love myself more
I know that I should speak up for myself

New York Times columnist and author David French drew scorn on social media over the weekend when he affirmed the transgender identity of a male staff writer at The Dispatch who identifies as a woman.

French congratulated Jessica Riedl, who was born Brian and has a wife and children, for joining as a contributing writer at The Dispatch, where French formerly served as a senior editor. The online magazine was founded by Jonah Goldberg, Stephen F. Hayes and Toby Stock in 2019 after The Weekly Standard went defunct.

"This is great news for The Dispatch. Nobody is better on fiscal policy than Jessica. Jessica and I recently had a great conversation about the grim realities of the federal budget on The Opinions podcast," French tweeted Friday. He also affirmed Reidl's feminine pronouns during an interview published in The New York Times in March.

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Idaho man lights wildfire, shoots at firefighters responding, kills two, apparently kills self.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/idaho-coeur-dalene-firefighters-shooting

Seems like one disturbed or upset person has the power to cause a lot of chaos and suffering.

....to the 600k+ Medicaid recipients in North Carolina

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Luke 9:26 / Mark 8:38

If you are ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his glory and in the glory of his Father and the holy angels.

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If a person is a proper Christian does that mean they're so happy and grateful that they're saved that they want to tell the world about it and save souls, etc? I used to be a young earth creationist (YEC) until I started university (and went straight to atheism like in this Old-Earth Creationism "tract") but I just wanted to spread the word about YEC and not about Jesus. I went to a Lutheran high school but the year level I was in mostly didn't sing in chapel at all (I can't remember if I did). I think the two other smartest kids in the year level were atheists.
Note my youngest sister's favourite TV show in high school was Sex and the City (where the 4 women have sex with lots of men) but she eventually became a hard core Christian and wrote 5 Christian books
(can be downloaded here - except for Heart of the Father 2)
So what kind of attitude about talking to others about Jesus should a Christian have in order to be saved?
Also my sisters' pastor (or "prophet") says that most so-called Christians are going to hell, including his Christian grandmother:
Login to view embedded media Maybe that's why my sisters would think they're very fortunate to be saved (compared to if large numbers of people were saved)
Matthew 7:13-14

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

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Shalom

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

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

We ask for your support in prayer in Jesus' name.

And may God continue to draw the people we have already reached to Himself in Jesus' name, Amen (John 6:44; 1 Corinthians 3:6).

Thank you for your prayers!

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

Soli Deo Gloria

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

There is a very good reason why the Scriptures, Old Testament and New Testament, warn us to not put our trust in human beings, particularly in people of prominence, wealth, and importance in the world, some of whom are leaders of nations, newscasters, or well-liked preachers and evangelists, etc. And that is because we are all human. And not all humans can be trusted, because not all humans tell the truth about who they are, and what they are doing, and of their motivations for why they do what they do.

Liars, deceivers, manipulators, tricksters, clowns, entertainers, and actors abound, playing their tricks on the human race, lying to them, deceiving them, and convincing people to trust them unequivocally. And some of this is ingrained in us from childhood on up, such as I was brought up to put my hand over heart and to pledge (vow) my allegiance (fidelity) to my government, and to sing patriotic songs of worship of my government, and to treat our military as though they are our “saviors” who keep us safe.

And I also grew up on television, beginning in the early 1950’s, and so my mind was programmed with all sorts of stuff that I believed because I had no reason to think that any of them were lying to me. I was very naïve and trusting, even when I had very good reasons not to trust other human beings. I didn’t believe everything they told me, but a lot of it, I did. And it did partially shape my thinking about things early on in my life, and into adulthood. And so the Lord had to reprogram my mind to see the truth.

As Christians, our trust needs to be in the Lord, and in his Word (taught in context), and not in human flesh. And just because someone claims to be a Christian, it doesn’t necessitate that they are Christians, biblically defined. For there are a lot of “wolves in sheep’s clothing” who are among us, passing themselves off as followers of Jesus Christ who are just using that to deceive Christians into trusting them and believing them and putting their faith in them, believing that they are the “good guys” who are on our side.

But remember that the Scriptures warn us against those who pretend to be Christians, who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, but who are of the devil, and whose intent it is to destroy us and our faith in Jesus Christ so that we will believe the liars and the manipulators who charm the people into thinking that they are of God, and therefore that they are to be trusted. And the Scriptures instruct us to be on the lookout for those who pretend to be of God but who are workers of iniquity, instead. Test them!

And don’t raise any human up to God-like status. Too many people are putting politicians and newscasters and preachers on pedestals that they are bound to fall off of. And they are believing whatever these people tell them, and then they are regurgitating whatever those people tell them, as though it is absolute truth, when they don’t even know if it is truth, or not. We who believe in Jesus need to be seekers of truth who do not put our trust in human beings, but in God, and in his word taught in the proper context.

Learn to be those who question everything but God, who ask questions, and who seek answers, and who are students of the Scriptures who study them in the correct context, under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, and then who obey the teachings intended for the church, Christ’s body. And know what the Scriptures teach when they are taught in the right context. For many lies stem from Scriptures being taught deliberately out of context to make them say what they do not say if taught in the right context. For..

By God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are 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 as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Seek the Lord

Based off Isaiah 55
Musical Instrumentation by Mark Bradley
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”

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Put Your Hope in God
An Original Work / June 30, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

This post has been reuploaded from a thread on a completely Christian forum by me. The original post was also by me, so if you happen to have seen this on another forum, this is a reupload.

For context, I'm 19 years old and male. A lot of my peers (including me) play video games, but where our similarities end is in the nature of what exactly we play. At one point in my younger teenage years (maybe 13-15?) I played a video game called Grand Theft Auto but stopped abruptly after. Never once have thoughts of homosexuality or sexual conduct in general really notably crossed my mind. I'm a teenager, of course I know about and understand sex, but the idea of actually partaking in it has never truly been something I've been too invested in, and I'm proud of that milestone against lust considering I've been abstaining since three years ago. And I would consider myself strictly heterosexual/straight. Until these recurring dreams started.

These dreams are usually almost entirely the same. One of the main protagonists from the game I mentioned earlier and I usually have some form of intercourse. I won't go into too many details for the sake of both my self respect and your mental wellbeing, but they're far from standard and don't seem very 'loving' at all, usually revolving around some form of disrespect being passed to me during the act. I doubt this could be a sign that I need to find a partner or work on my life - this feels more lustful than anything else. Don't exactly know why this particular character considering last time I touched the game chances are I couldn't even drive, but dreams are very strange sometimes so I'll excuse that particular bit. I looked up his name (I believe it's Trevor) and didn't find any direct ties to Satan or even the Bible as a whole.

This dream is certainly lustful, and I can't find any way to make it stop before I get tempted and potentially do something rash or before it successfully pushes its agenda onto me. If anyone could interpret what exactly (most likely) Satan or some other being is trying to tell me and what this spells for my future, because I'm beginning to grow accustomed to and even comforted by these dreams which is not good at all lol. I don't trust my judgement enough to go with my interpretation (something from my past/childhood is trying to turn me away from God).

TL;DR: Having a questionable/lustful dream that I believe Satan has some part in???

Anyone who spends an inordinate amount of time attacking a particular denomination, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, is harming themselves and others.

With regards to themselves, they are distracting themselves from what the Greek fathers called “nepsis”, that is to say, watchfulness, over their own sins, by focusing on the alleged or historical sins of others which are in many cases literally ancient history. The time spent attacking Rome endlessly is better spent in repentence.

With regards to others, much of what they say has the effect of also causing great offense to other traditional liturgical Protestants, such as the Lutherans and High Church Anglicans, who are among the oldest Protestant denominations, and Moravians, who are the oldest Protestant denomination to preserve their own distinctive theological and liturgical identity (the Waldensians are older, but converted to Calvinism, and later embraced a hybrid Methodist doctrine in becoming the main Protestant denomination in Italy; their original beliefs were eccentric, not quite in line with later Protestantism, and from what we know about them, were quite possibly erroneous after the fashion of the Donatists). These liturgical Protestants share many beliefs with the Roman Catholic Church and many worship practices; many of them call their main Eucharistic service “the Mass” for example.

Furthermore, harm is caused to Eastern Christians - the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and the Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient Church of the East. These churches were at one time in communion with Rome, but were historically independent, and later were separated in schisms, many of which are close to healing (for example, Roman Catholics and members of the Assyrian Church of the East can receive the Eucharist in all of each others parishes, and this is also true for some Oriental Orthodox parishes, and would be the case for the Eastern Orthodox, except most bishops are not prepared to allow it, but some probably do in certain parts of the world; indeed some of the EO churches with the most formidable reputations for being conservative are actually among the most liturgically relaxed.

The problem is that a great many anti-Catholic polemics were written by people unaware of the Eastern churches, or the history of the early church; for example, they were unaware that most of those present at the Council of Nicaea were Greek, with a Roman Emperor and two Roman legates among the 318 bishops who signed the Nicene Creed. There were also probably some Syriac Fathers, who did attend at some ecumenical synods, and perhaps even an Armenian, Ethiopian or Georgian (Ethiopia and Georgia were either the fourth or fifth countries to convert entirely to Christianity, or the fifth and sixth to embrace it officially, counting Rome; I forget the order in which they converted, but the basic order was the City State of Edessa in 301 AD, followed by the Kingdom of Armenia in 306 AD, the Roman Empire in 314 AD with the conversion of St. Constantine, the Edict of Milan and the defeat of the pagan co-emperor Licinius, who was a known persecutor of Christians (interestingly, St. Constantine’s mother St. Helena had been Christian for some time); followed by Georgia and Ethiopia.

Some people falsely claim that Constantine imposed all of these doctrine on the churches, which is hugely offensive to Eastern Christians who were persecuted by Arian Emperors like Constantius, and who had been involved in the Council of Nicaea and the later Ecumenical Synods, all of which were held in the East, in Constantinople or elsewhere in Asia Minor.

Lastly, the attacks against the Roman Church are scurrilous in many cases, ignoring the extremely important humanitarian work performed by the RCC, which is the largest charitable organization on Earth, with operations that as an Orthodox I greatly admire; due to communism nearly all Orthodox hospitals and universities in Eastern Europe were seized, leaving only some facilities in the Middle East (in particular, orphanages in Egypt, which are necessary because the Muslims cruelly oppose their religion’s objection to adoption on all orphaned children in Egypt, not just Muslims but the Christians who comprise over 10% of the population, including Coptic Catholics as well as Coptic Orthodox and Alexandrian Greek Orthodox.

The Roman Catholic Church was also indispensible in procuring the repeal of Roe v. Wade in the United States and has stood with other traditional Christian churches in opposing abortion, euthanasia and other contemporary evils.

Thus perhaps we should consider the beam in our own eye before complaining about the splinter in the eye of Roman Catholics, and cease constant and unwarranted criticism of their denomination.