Today, the idea of counting patriotism as a virtue makes a lot of people antsy and uncomfortable. But that wasn’t always the case. Aspiring to the love of God and country was the norm for most of human history. And until rather recently, every culture celebrated its great patriots in art, literature, music and film. The classic movies produced during World War II — and then about it — are enduring examples of how we expressed our patriotism before patriotism itself got a bad rap.

But something changed in the United States when the children of the “Greatest Generation” reached adolescence. With body-bag counts from Vietnam reported daily on the 6 o’clock news and the Watergate hearings overriding regular daytime programming on television, almost everyone under 30 struggled to find any reason to be proud. For kids in elementary school like me, the ambivalence permeated everything.

Our fathers and grandfathers fought evil in Europe and the Far East and defeated it at great personal cost. But the society at large was intent on proving that we didn’t owe them anything. The fourth commandment — “honor your father and your mother” — no longer applied. Consequently, I didn’t witness much patriotism until Ronald Reagan was elected president. And when I finally did, it frightened me.

In those years, we were told (in both direct and oh-so-subtle ways) that America’s best days could only be found in history books, but that what was written in those books was misleading.

Our nation was troubled from the start, rife with broken promises at home and prone to arrogant bullying abroad. Strong countercultural forces peddled the narrative that America had little to be proud of and a lot to be ashamed of.

Loving one’s neighbor​

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They are arresting farm workers, the gardeners, the day laborers, the people who go to their citizenship appointments but just haven't finished that long process, while seeking entrance in elementary schools and little league practices. Which leads to this:

Trump Loves ICE. Its Workforce Has Never Been So Miserable.​

A “mission impossible” deportation campaign has left many employees burned out and morally conflicted.

James 5:11
As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

Does suffering ever end, like what God brought about for Job, in the land of the living, emotionally as well as in life, or do we just suffer all our lives until we get to heaven? Does anyone have experience?

I honestly have no idea how long its been since she's been to the bathroom, but it's been a long time and I know she took laxatives yesterday and nothing happened. We're getting suppositories today, so hopefully that might help, but this is really serious because it has been a long time. Please pray for her to get better and pass this before she ends up in the hospital.

FIFA President tries to get Trump to leave the stage with him but Trump, after being heavily booed when he entered the stadium, just stays. Eventually the FIFA president gets him behind the players who were the focus of the moment.

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“Anyone who’s saying that Medicaid cuts is why they’re closing is a liar,” April Roberts said, as she oversaw lunch at the Curtis Area Senior Center.

The retirees trickling in for fried chicken and soft-serve ice cream will be hit hardest when the clinic closes this fall, Roberts fears. Seniors who sometimes go in multiple times a month to have blood drawn will have to drive 40 miles to the next nearest health center

Arriving for lunch, retired Navy veteran Jim Christensen said he’d read an op-ed that “tried to blame everything on Trump.”

“Horse feathers,” he said, dismissing the idea.
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“They’re huge [fans of Trump] … and so it doesn’t matter what he does - there’s an excuse for it,” [registered Republican but non-Trump voter] Jorgensen said. The retired corn and cattle farmer was used to being the odd one out in Frontier County, where 86 percent of the vote went to Trump last fall.

Many people in Curtis have directed their frustration at their hospital system instead of their representatives in Washington.

Community Hospital, the nonprofit that runs the clinic known as the Curtis Medical Center and a couple of other facilities in the region, plunged into the center of that national story when it announced on July 2 - one day before the bill’s passage - that a confluence of factors had made its Curtis outpost unsustainable. It cited years-long financial challenges, inflation and “anticipated federal budget cuts to Medicaid,” the public health insurance program for lower-income and disabled Americans.

Rural health care facilities run on thin margins to serve small communities in far-flung locations. And they tend to have more patients on Medicaid, many of them self-employed farmers, small business owners and seasonal workers more likely to need public insurance. Hospital groups and executives have warned that some rural hospitals that long operated at a loss won’t be able to stay open much longer, now that the Medicaid cuts have been voted in.

Community Hospital officials said they had tried to find another group to take over the clinic, without luck.

When I was ordained a priest in 1985, my first pastor was about to turn 50 years old; he was a member of the Ordination Class of 1962. He saw himself and others saw him too as a “Vatican II” priest. There were meetings galore, a lot of “co-ministry” with women Religious, and, in discussions, frequent references to the marginalized and minorities of various kinds. But I don’t recall that we had a single Holy Hour in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament in my five-year assignment there, nor do I remember hearing a word against co-habitation in the parish Pre-Cana program. Moreover, I have no memory of any notices in the weekly bulletin announcing seminars on the topic of natural family planning.

There are always going to be different pastoral emphases, even in what might be regarded as not particularly ideological parishes. What developed, however, in many post-conciliar parishes are what we now call “safe spaces,” meaning places you could go and not be reminded of words and ideas you don’t like. When the “safe space” is breached after decades in some cases, you can well imagine the displeasure in certain quarters. But it was bound to happen at some point.

Over the last few years, men ordained priests in the 1970s have been marking their fiftieth anniversaries and are retiring from the active ministry. They are being replaced by men who weren’t even alive in the 1970s! Indeed, the men in the cohort of younger priests now were only ordained in the last two decades. These younger priests are doctrinally more conservative than the priests they are replacing. This is not just anecdotal; the survey research bears this out too.

Continued below.

I know the whole King Charles/Camilla affair happened when I was really young too young to really fully grasp what was going on but it left me as a child well... angry. The whole affair STILL makes me angry inside. Why? Well now because I fully understand what the affair entailed. That King Charles was with Camilla repeatedly and cheated on Princess Diana not just once like my mother lead me to believe for so many years but repeatedly and deliberately. And he was carrying the title prince of Wales back then! He was my future king! He is now my king! And the worst part is? He's STILL living with his mistress! He's still supposed to be a man of God bearing God's holy image and hes unrepentant of his original adultery and his betrayal of his wife Princese Diana! It just makes me so angry!

And yet... I want to forgive him. I have to forgive him but its like... I can't let this go. Its like I completely understand what Prince Harry and Prince William to a degree are going through. Their mom was tragically killed and their father cheated on her repeatedly forcing her to file for divorce when she really didnt want to and now shes just... gone.

But the thing is? Like Prince Harry I dont know how to forgive him and he isnt my father hes just my king. A king that is supposed to be righteous and holy (a job that Prince William will be much more qualified for and Queen Elizabeth did so well for so many years) and yet, hes got a deep dark secret that he will never repent for and he will never leave Camilla. But... he doesnt have to do that to earn my forgiveness he just has to... idk take his job as king before God seriously I guess and repent? But that'll never happen so how do I move on from this and get on with my life... help?

I was wondering if somebody could help me forgive him because God commands us to forgive but also if they could give me some biblical advice on forgiveness.

14 July, 1789 was the day the Bastille--a fortress/prison in Paris-- was stormed by a mob of angry French citizens, expressing their disgust at the imprisonment of persons who dared to challenge the actions of the French government. As it turned out, only 7 detainees were freed. But it was the start of the French Revolution, and the beginning of the end of the French monarchy. (Not to mention that 4 years later was the Reign of Terror. When madam Guillotine was very busy.) But if nothing else, La Marseillaise, is the best of all national anthems. How many other countries' national songs mention watering fields with the blood of their enemies?

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This is Jesus Christ speaking to his 11 disciples, for by this time Judas Iscariot had already departed to betray Jesus to the authorities. And Jesus was speaking during the time period when the Jews were still under the Old Covenant, for Jesus had not yet died and had not been resurrected and had not yet returned to the Father. And Jesus, who was also a Jew, but who was God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – spoke of himself as the true vine with God the Father being the vinedresser.

Okay, so I am going to introduce a thought here that I had not thought of before in reading this passage of Scripture, and this is something that I will have to look into more thoroughly, but this is what struck me this time in reading about Jesus being the vine and the Father being the vinedresser. The first Scripture that came to mind is 1 Corinthians 10:4 where it says that the Israelites, in the wilderness in the time of Moses, drank from the spiritual Rock that followed (or accompanied) them, and the Rock was Christ.

Now, if you consider that the Scriptures teach that Jesus always existed with God and that he is God (as noted above), and that he is our creator God (see John 1:1-36), then Jesus, the Christ, was with the Israelites always, and he was the spiritual rock that they drank from, even back then. And this is not meaning physical water that they drank, but that they drew their livelihood, their existence, and their spiritual life and sustenance from him who is our rock, our fortress, our tower of strength.

And then I thought of Romans 11 where it also speaks of branches which were broken off from the root, which were the Jews who rejected Jesus Christ (the root), and how we Gentiles by physical birth were grafted into the root by faith in Jesus Christ. For it is Jesus Christ that we come into by faith and we become part of him. He is our root. He is our vine. He alone is our spiritual rock from which we drink (partake). He alone is the one in whom we abide and no other so only he can be that root we were grafted into.

So, the point here is that Jesus Christ was always the root. He was always the rock of our salvation from whom the Israelites who trusted in God had their life and their salvation. He was always the vine. And all who believe in him with God-persuaded faith are his branches. But once he died and was resurrected from the dead, which is when God’s people entered into a new covenant with God/Christ, then for all those who did not believe in him, they were cut off from the vine, like this talks about in John, chapter 15.

If you ever worked a puzzle before, or if you ever tried to solve a mystery, you may have gone through a process of logic and reason and deduction such as, if A=B and if C=B then there must be a connection between A and C. And I may not be explaining this well, but it has to do with associations and with connecting the dots. Like if by faith in Jesus Christ we are now joined with Christ, and he is our root/vine, then the root we were grafted into, which some Jews got cut out of, is Christ. For we are in Christ.

And this fits with this passage in John 15 where it speaks of branches being cut off from the vine due to unbelief (disobedience), which was evident by the fact that they did not bear spiritual fruit for the kingdom of God. There was no spiritual outgrowth or results in their lives that gave evidence to them being true branches. But they were once the Lord’s branches. They were once part of that root/vine, but Jesus had to cut them out because they did not believe in him, which is evidenced by the lack of fruit of obedience.

So, if we want to be “in Christ,” and to be his true branches, we must walk in the faith that we profess. We must, as his branches, leave our lives of sin behind us and now walk in obedience to his commands (New Covenant) in holy living, living separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ. And we must continue in these walks of faith steadfast until the very end if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

For, just like Jesus Christ/God cut out of him the natural branches who did not believe in Jesus Christ (once Jesus had given his life for us on that cross to save us from our sins) he will cut us out, too, if we don’t remain in him, and if we do not bear the kind of spiritual fruit that he requires of us, and if we do not continue in his grace. And his grace instructs us to renounce (say “NO!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives (see Romans 11:19-24; Titus 2:11-14).

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

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Unless We Abide in Christ
Originally written and posted on December 7, 2023
Reposted on December 9, 2024 and July 14, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Yes, musical patterns have been discovered within the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Specifically, researchers have found that the stars and flowers depicted on the Virgin's mantle, when analyzed using mathematical principles and overlaid with a musical staff, can be interpreted as musical notes, resulting in a harmonious melody. This discovery has been attributed to Fernando Ojeda, a Mexican accountant, who analyzed the image using mathematical techniques according to the Catholic News Agency.

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SO WHAT DOES ULTRA- DISPENSATION MEAN ?

And at one time we had two ULTRA in our Assembly , many years ago , and never pushed. their. theology position towards me. !

And what I do know is that they begin the Body of Christ at Acts 28

And do. make a separation between Israel and the Body of Christ !

And maybe reject Water Baptism !

And reject the Lords Supper !

And do not know how they stand on salvation !

What say you. ?

dan p

Was he a disciple ?

People talk about the "morally gray" characters in Star Wars Andor. However, I don't think a person who has to do an evil thing morally gray if he understands that what he did was evil without rationalizing it as good.

For instance, the character Luthen says, "I'm damned for what I do." That indicates a person of conventional morality, not different from the average soldier of the Allies during WWII. On a personal note, and why this is an issue of importance to me, all of my elder relatives were ground combat veterans. Toward the ends of their lives--good lives, well-lived lives--they were all still tortured by things they'd done in combat. None of them felt his actions had been justified even though their actions had been forced upon them by circumstances they did not create.

Luthen's acknowledgment--"I'm condemned to use the methods of my enemy to defeat him....I'm damned for what I do"--is not morally gray in the classical sense. It reflects a man with a strong moral compass who knowingly violates it for a cause he believes just. That’s very different from someone who redefines wrong as right, which is often what the term “morally gray” suggests.

Luthen does morally reprehensible things: manipulating people, sacrificing allies, orchestrating civilian deaths, but he never excuses them as good. He doesn’t relativize morality; he believes in it. He just accepts damnation as the cost of victory.

That places him closer to the moral framework of Allied soldiers in WWII: “I’m doing something I believe is necessary, but I still know it’s morally wrong.”

IMO, a "morally gray" character is one who doesn’t operate on a fixed moral code or shifts between ethical systems situationally. A morally gray character denies the evil they do is actually evil, or they deny that good and evil actually exist.

Luthen believes in absolute morality, but he chooses to sin against it consciously and accepts a tragic ending that he considers a just ending for what he has done.

ICE and CBP arrested violent and dangerous criminal illegal aliens during the operation who were working at the marijuana site, including:
Roman Izquierdo—an illegal alien from Mexico—who has been convicted of kidnapping, attempted rape and attempted child molestation. ICE previously deported him in 2006.
Juan Duarte-Velasquez—an illegal alien from Mexico—who has been convicted of rape and a DUI.

Now we can see who the progressive protestors defend. And we hope the children are on there way to being united with their families.

There are ads on this website with a woman talking about God and the Bible, I am trying to find more of the videos and found them to be very helpful does anyone know where it can be found.

Please pray that my son Jake can be happy tonight and talk and laugh with his friends and for good health and healing. I ask in the name of Jesus and if it is God's will. Thank you and God bless you. Carmen

In case any have not yet heard, it appears that we will soon be losing Pastor John MacArthur.

Prayers for Pastor John and his family.
I've personally been blessed by so many of his teachings, and for decades now.
I'll miss his presence in this world.

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Pastor John MacArthur Contracts Pneumonia, Nearing End of Earthly Life at 86

It was announced on Sunday, July 13, that John MacArthur, 86, pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church (GCC) in Sun Valley, California, has contracted pneumonia and is expected to be in the presence of Jesus soon.

Two women were killed at a Baptist church in Lexington, Kentucky, when a suspect fled to the house of worship after shooting a state trooper on Sunday, authorities said.

The shooting spree ended when the suspect was killed at Richmond Road Baptist Church in southwest Lexington, Kentucky State Police said on social media.

The two women who were shot and killed were aged 72 and 32. It's not yet known if they were related. Two others at the church were wounded and transported to a nearby hospital. Authorities said several members of the church are believed to be related.

Continued below.

BRICS is an acronym coined in 2001 to describe rapidly developing countries that could impact the global economy. Those originally included: Brazil, Russia, India China, and South Africa.

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But BRICS countries are also united by a simple view: that the global balance of power skews too much toward the US and its European allies to the exclusion of emerging economies – and that the system should be reformed. To that end, the body set up its own development bank in 2015, and backs Brazil and India’s aspirations to play a greater role in the UN Security Council.

Members of the group have denied this makes BRICS “anti-Western.” But as Russia and China in the past decade have faced more friction with the West amid China’s growing assertiveness on the global stage and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, observers say both have pushed to shape the group into a more pointed tool to counter US power. During their summit in Rio, the leaders released a joint declaration voicing “serious concerns” about the “rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures” – an apparent jibe at the Trump administration’s trade policy.

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They also expressed serious concerns about Israel's and the US' bombing of Iran.

It is 100% understandable why the BRICS countries, and the NATO countries being bullied by their most bombastic member, want to fight back. And quite frankly, the Democrats in the U.S. aren't, unfortunately, powerful enough to put him in his place and stop him in his tracks.

Two women were shot and killed at a Kentucky church by a suspect who fled there after allegedly shooting a state trooper elsewhere, according to officials.

A suspect allegedly shot a Kentucky State Police trooper near the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, KY, and then fled to a church [16 miles away!], where the suspect shot four people before police shot and killed the suspect, officials said at a Lexington Police Department press conference late Sunday afternoon.

Officials said they believe that the suspect had a connection to individuals at the church. The motive behind the shooting remains unclear.

Coroner Gary Ginn said the majority of the people at the church were related biologically or "have been friends for many years."

"It's a tight-knit group of people," Ginn said during the press conference.

Perp has been identified, but name not released pending informing family.

It’s no news flash that younger Americans today generally tend to be less patriotic than previous generations. But the “patriotism gap” is growing rapidly, and perhaps most concerning is the fact that the gap is most drastic among younger Americans.

Writing for HotAir.com, Ed Morrissey notes: “Pride in America has sunk to its lowest standing ever, mainly led by a collapse among Democrats.”

Indeed, Gallup polls write: “A record-low 58% of U.S. adults say they are ‘extremely’ (41%) or ‘very’ (17%) proud to be an American, down nine percentage points from last year and five points below the prior low from 2020.” Gallup notes that most of the decline is in the “very proud” category.

Ben Shapiro asks if we’re seeing “the end of patriotism?” He opens his recent column with this observation: “America has a major problem: nearly half of Americans — 42% — don't believe in America.”

Continued below.

Today, my wife, suspicious of AI, asked "what if the Founders had AI?" Which immediately intrigued me. So I asked Chatgpt to design a government/society reflecting the writings of the enlightenment philosophers. Here's what it said:

Declaration of Reason and the Rights of Man​

Issued in the Age of Enlightenment, In the Name of Liberty, Virtue, and Reason​

When, in the course of human development, it becomes necessary for a people to liberate themselves from ignorance, superstition, and tyranny, and to assume the station of free and equal beings—guided not by blind tradition but by reason and justice—it is proper and essential to declare the principles which give legitimacy to their society and government.

---

I. Of the Rights of Man and Citizen​

We hold these truths to be not self-evident by tradition, but proven by reason:

• That all men are born free and remain equal in rights.
• That the natural rights of man are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. (Locke, Rousseau)
• That liberty consists in the power to do anything which does not harm another; hence the law may only prohibit that which injures society. (Voltaire, Rousseau)
• That the free exercise of reason, in speech, in religion, in the press, and in public discourse, is sacred and inviolable. (Voltaire, Kant)
• That no man shall be judged by his birth, class, or creed, but only by his conduct, his virtue, and his contribution to the common good. (Rousseau, Kant)

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II. Of the Origin and Purpose of Government​

• Government is not ordained by providence or tradition, but by the consent of the governed, formed through a social contract among rational individuals. (Locke, Rousseau)
• The sole purpose of government is to secure the rights of its citizens and to express the general will—the rational and moral interest of all. (Rousseau)
• Any government that becomes the instrument of private interest or arbitrary power is illegitimate and may be reformed or abolished. (Locke)
• Sovereignty resides in the people; no monarch, priest, or faction may claim power above them. (Rousseau, Voltaire)

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III. Of Law and Justice​

• Laws must be just, public, and rational, framed by representatives of the people. (Montesquieu, Beccaria)
• The law is an expression of the general will and must apply equally to all. No one is above the law. (Rousseau, Montesquieu)
• Punishment shall be proportionate to the crime, intended not to avenge but to deter. Torture and cruelty offend both reason and humanity. (Beccaria)
• Every accused shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Secret trials and arbitrary detentions are hereby condemned. (Beccaria, Montesquieu)

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IV. Of Knowledge and Enlightenment​

• Man's dignity consists in his capacity for reason. Ignorance is the tool of tyranny. (Kant)
• Education shall be universal, secular, and devoted to the cultivation of virtue, autonomy, and critical thinking. (Rousseau, Kant)
• Let every citizen have the freedom to speak, write, teach, and publish their thoughts without fear, for the free use of reason in public is the engine of enlightenment. (Voltaire, Kant)
• Dogma shall not rule where reason can inquire. Conscience shall not be coerced where truth can be persuaded.

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V. Of Society and Economy​

• Commerce and labor, freely pursued, shall contribute to the common prosperity. (Adam Smith)
• The state shall protect property, ensure fair competition, and provide for the needs of those unable to provide for themselves. (Smith, Rousseau)
• Excessive inequality corrupts liberty and undermines fraternity; laws shall restrain monopolies and privilege. (Rousseau, Smith)

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VI. Final Resolution​

We, the representatives of a free and enlightened people, do proclaim this declaration as a beacon for all nations and future generations:

Let ignorance give way to knowledge,
Let superstition yield to inquiry,
Let despotism bow before liberty,
And let mankind walk upright, governed not by fear but by reason and conscience.

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So shall we build a society worthy of man’s nature—free, rational, and just.