The American Library Association (ALA) today released new data documenting* 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. The unparalleled number of reported book challenges in 2022 nearly doubles the 729 challenges reported in 2021.

A record 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship, a 38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted for censorship in 2021. Of those titles, the vast majority were written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color.

The prevalent use of lists of books compiled by organized censorship groups contributed significantly to the skyrocketing number of challenges and the frequency with which each title was challenged. Of the overall number of books challenged, 90% were part of attempts to censor multiple titles. Of the books challenged, 40% were in cases involving 100 or more books

Polling conducted by bipartisan research firms in 2022 showed that voters across the political spectrum oppose efforts to remove books from libraries and have confidence in libraries to make good decisions about their collections.

ALA will unveil its highly anticipated list of the top 10 most challenged books in the U.S. on Monday, April 24 during National Library Week, along with its full State of America's Libraries Report.

Hi everyone, I would greatly appreciate your prayers. I need a miracle! I am on a prescription medication that causes you to lose the enamel on your teeth, I am now having severe dental problems, I already have 4 fillings and the dentist said there are many more spots in my mouth that may become cavities soon. I need a miracle healing or I will have to have my whole mouth drilled out and the cavities will keep coming. Many years ago I was on the same med and I was praying when God spoke to me and told me then enamel on my teeth was thin and He was correcting it, I felt a sensation in my mouth and I was healed, no cavities. I need for God to do this again, after many years on the med the problem has come back! Thank you for your prayers!

The Post-KFF poll is the largest nongovernmental survey of U.S. transgender adults to rely on random sampling methods. More than 500 people who identify as trans answered questions about their childhoods, their feelings and their lives post-transition.

The Post-KFF survey finds that trans adults hold widely different ideas about what it means to transition. While most trans people have socially transitioned, meaning they’ve changed their clothing, names or pronouns, far fewer have medically transitioned. Less than a third have used hormone treatments or puberty blockers, and about 1 in 6 have undergone gender-affirming surgery or other surgical treatment to change their physical appearance.

Most trans adults say they knew when they were young that their gender identity was different from the sex they were assigned at birth. About a third (32 percent) say they began to understand their own gender identity when they were 10 or younger

One in 4 trans adults say they attended religious services as a child or teenager that tried to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, and about 1 in 10 say they attended conversion or reparative therapy.

29 percent of trans adults say they experienced homelessness or got kicked out of their home while they were growing up, rising to 38 percent among trans people of color.

One in 4 trans adults say they have been physically attacked because of their gender identity, gender expression or sexual identity, and more than 6 in 10 (64 percent) say they have been verbally attacked.

The poll reveals that most adults who identify as trans or transgender prefer the terms “nonbinary” (40 percent) or “gender non-conforming” (22 percent), while 22 percent identify as a “trans woman” and 12 percent identify as a “trans man.”

Among those who present themselves differently from their gender assigned at birth, the Post-KFF poll finds 78 percent say that living as a different gender has made them more satisfied with their lives. More than 4 in 10 say they are “a lot” more satisfied.

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What is the difference between a Christian, and an unbeliever?
There are a few.

You, if you are born again, and not just water baptized (sprinkled) and religious) are going to heaven, and they are not.
You are born again, and they are not.
They have their sin, and Christ has all of yours.

2 Corinthians 5:21

Hebrews 10:14


Listen,

When you are working out your salvation, you are learning how to exist within it.
This is how you "work out". You work out, what you already possess. = "The Gift of Salvation".
Only The BORN Again have received this Gift, that is the "Gift of Righteousness".

Jesus said : ""You MUST be born.........again">........and water can't do that for you.


If you are born agian, then you HAVE Salvation.....You are not tryng to keep it, you are trying to learn how to exist within its particular rules....
= "work out your salvation".""...

Law Keeping and Commandment keeping are not involved., as this is the NEW Covenant.

The 1st rule, and most important, is to learn how to see yourself only as God sees you after you are born again.
This is a must do. As if you don't, you will never understand the New Testament, and you will never walk in the Spirit.
So, you have to get that "renewed mind" as Paul teaches.

Now, before you were born again, you had a "body that is dead because of sin".. and you still do..... and you were what Paul defines as the "old man". and your mind is Carnal. ("in the Flesh").
The carnal nature that is "flesh", is actually the nature of the devil. The devil's nature is "sin", and you were a sinner, before you were "saved" from this situation., as To be a sinner, is to have the devil's nature., and that is why Jesus said.."You are of YOUR Father, the devil, and the lusts of YOUR Father, you will do".
See that?? That is the SIN NATURE. That is the "fallen Adamic nature".
And THAT, is the "old man", or the carnal "Mind of the flesh.""

When you are born again, this carnal flesh old man dies with Christ. It , this flesh nature, the "old man" is "crucified with Christ" and is dead.
Paul tells you to understand that and to never again see yourself as that which is "dead". You are to "reckon it Dead".
And.....When you believe this, and you exist in the mind of this understanding, you faith is correct, and you are working out your salvation according to this Truth regarding who you have become as a born again, "New Creation" "In Christ".
You are learning to SEE YOURSELF as only God sees you, and THAT is how you learn to walk in the Spirit.
If you are just water baptized (sprinkled) and religious, then you are not working anything out. You are in fact, ... Lost.

Now where are you sins, if you are born again?
They are all gone.
You have no sin. None. ... See, If you had any, you would be the same as an unbeliever, and Christ would not have them, and you would still be damned.
However, because you are born again, this has happened.

2nd Corinthians 5:21
"For God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, and we have become the righteousness of God in Him.""

Notice who has your sin.
Christ has your sin. He actually became and bore all your sin. He has them all, and you have ZERO.
When Jesus came out of the Grave, your sin stayed there., dead.
You are "the righteousness of God", because Jesus became your sin.
See that? That is SALVATION.

And because you have no sin , you are become these verses....

Romans 6:6....""For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the carnal nature (the old man) that was previously ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- and......

6:7 .."For he who has died has been freed from sin."""

So, Saint.. that is you now., if you are born again, and not just water baptized (sprinkled) and religious.
Christ has all you sin, died for them all, and you are made free from them, because they are on HIM.
He's already been JUDGED for them all, 2000 yrs ago.
And your carnal nature, that was your previous SELF, is now DEAD, and you have become a "new Creation". = Born again... And this New Creation is sinless. Your born again SPIRIT has no sin in you or on you, and your previous carnal nature is DEAD, DEAD, DEAD.

You are FREED.
You are freed from sin, because your old "sinning self is DEAD" and all your sin is taken by Christ, and you are no longer "under the Law" that previously defined you as a sinner.
You now remain, RIGHTEOUS, SINLESS, and born again.,, as a "new Creation" "In Christ"...."made righteous", as "the righteousness of GOD, in Christ".

That's the REAL You, if you are born again., and there is no other that GOD sees or knows.
He's only sees you as that SON/Daughter of God, at all times....."made righteous", "in Christ"...>"seated in Heavenly places"...>"ONE with God".

So, when you read verses that talk about having sin, and sinning, and confessing... then recognize that these verses are not directed at the born again.
The born again are :

1 John 3:9

The Born again are "complete in Him",... The BORN AGAIN are become the Righteousness of God, with no sin in us, and no sin on us.
We are "made righteous", "blood bought", and remain as pure as the Blood of Jesus for as long as God lives, as we live IN HIM....."One with God, and Christ".

That is our :

= ETERNAL LIFE

I am seeking examples in Scripture where God the Father or God the Son makes a REQUEST of any created being.

I have found none yet.

I have often heard preachers’ exhortations to do what God/Jesus asks of us. But, thus far, I have only found, in Scripture, what God REQUIRES of us.

The days we feel empty, and all around everything seems meaningless, and it’s difficult to find something to care about, realize this is just the “old man.” You can’t get use to this reoccurrence, and all that can be done is to just wait it out until it passes; yes it will pass regardless of how long it takes.

But know this; this trial is also “for good to those who love Him” (Ro 8:28), as all things are. The fact that the old man (sin nature) is allowed to indwell saints and act upon its own to distract is a testament to the power of God to sanctify (separate) the believer from the sin and its source—the old man (we “are not in the flesh” or sin nature – Ro 8:9)!

Every time a believer endures with patience (Rom 12:12; 2Th 3:5) there is something being taught and learned. It is that we can always entrust all to God (1Pe 5:7) until our “care” comes back; then keep trusting God. Thankfully, most of the time we are not tested is this way, but you can be assured, it will always return for testing.

At this time the devil likes getting in his licks, to make us feel guilty; but there is nothing to feel guilty about, for there’s nothing we intentionally chose to do wrong, and we realize it’s just a distraction!

The test is difficult but the resolution is simple—we just know that it’s God’s way of causing us to continue to trust the Lord Jesus’ for the expiation of our sins and its source (old man). You see, as we feel the emptiness of this type of trial, is causes us to exercise our faith in the atonement of Christ!

Mar. 22—In light of yet another shooting at East High School, the topic of school resource officers from Denver police in schools again moved front and center.

In June 2020, the Denver School Board unanimously voted to cut ties with Denver Police, following the murder of George Floyd.

But Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero told the Denver Gazette's news partners Chalkbeat Colorado Wednesday he will have an armed officer at each of the district's comprehensive high schools — a step that he acknowledges likely violates school board policy.

Click to expand...

This is very interesting and it proves two points.

1) The anti-police rhetoric embraced by the Democratic party after the murder of George Floyd was and continues to be absurd.
2) To solve the issue of school shootings, gun control, safe spaces, gun-free zones, etc, does NOTHING to prevent them.

Crime continues to skyrocket and it's 100% a result of Democratic policies. They are making it so the police are the bad guys while taking a soft stance on the actual criminals doing the crime. It appears it's backfiring and schools consider the police a vital tool to keep their kids safe.

FERVENT PRAYER FOR CHINA

MANDARIN CHINESE

Han Chinese, Mandarin in China

A CHE

A Che in China

A'OU

A'ou in China

A-HMAO

https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/18388/CH

"Absolution is a sacrament, “If we call Sacraments ‘rites that have the command of God [1], and to which the promise of grace has been added [3],’ it is easy to decide what are true Sacraments… Therefore, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Absolution (which is the Sacrament of Repentance) are truly Sacraments” (Ap XIII, 3-4)"

This is my new pup Charlie. He's been running me around, but I love the little guy!

On sunday, our church in nanjing china, will meet together for communion in a restaurant.please pray for our safety between the hours of 8-11am chinese time.. thanks

keith

What does it mean to be born again..


1.) Your sins are on Christ because "God made JESUS to be sin for us, who knew no sin"..... And God's Righteousness has become yours, as you have become "the Righteousness of God in Christ"....."made Righteous".

This is : "Salvation". This is "Redemption". This is the eternal effect of the "Blood Atonement".

2.) Your SPIRIT, born again by God's Holy Spirit, now exists for eternity as "one with God, IN Christ". = "made righteous".

Ezekiel 36 says.... "a new HEART i will give you and a new SPIRIT will I put within you.""

----------------------------------------------------------------------

2.) ALL the born again, have been "translated from darkness TO LIGHT.""""

This means the born again spirit now exist in the Kingdom of Light, where God exists......."God is A Spirit"..
This is to become "In Christ" = one with Jesus.... who is "The LIGHT of the World", and you are now a "child of the LIGHT", if you are born again, and not just water baptized (sprinkled) and religious.

See that?
That is your born again spirit, existing now as : "seated in Heavenly places, in Christ".

To understand this, is to BELIEVE IT, and once you begin to believe this truth regarding what it means to exist SPIRITUALLY "in Christ" "in God", in Heaven, you are now entering God's actual and literal perspective of you as His born again Son/Daughter of God.
Thats what He has caused you to become, and to exist in this mind as your real faith is to have the "renewed mind" that Paul told you that you must develop.
See, your body is dead because of sin.
Your mind is not born again, and you have to "renew it".

Now, what does the renewed mind, which is to have God's perspective of who you have become as a "new Creation"..... free you from? ?????

It frees you from THE LAW, as you, as a born again SPIRIT, who now exists as "one with God"- "in Christ'.... are now no longer under the Law.
You are "under GRACE".
Why?
Because "Jesus has redeemed you from the CURSE of the LAW".
And what is that curse?
Its to be under the dominion of the Law, instead of being "under Grace".
See.....The LAW >demands< righteousness from you that you can't produce.......while God's GRACE >provides< you with the Grace, from God, = as "the Gift of Righteousness".
See that?

Welcome to : SALVATION.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

3.) God's "GRACE" is not just God's eternal forgiveness and Salvation... freely given through the Cross of Christ....its also where the born again EXIST., being : "translated FROM..... darkness".

Darkness, is :

1.) Being separated from God, because of unforgiven Sin (not born again).
2.) "Having your understanding DARKENED"...

So, being born again, is Literally to be rescued from the dominion of the Law, and from Spiritual Darkness and from mind blindness as Satan blinds the mind from Truth and LIGHT.

"in whom the god of this world has blinded their mind, lest the LIGHT of the Glorious Gospel of Christ should shine into them".

This power of Darkness (being mind blinded) is Satan's power, its His kingdom., and to be born again, is to be freed from His DECEPTION, by God.
It is to enter God's dominion, the KOG... which is Grace, = which is the Kingdom of Light.
You enter it.... Luke 17:21 by being BORN AGAIN = INTO IT....having become "one with God",..."In Christ".
Your Born again Spirit, now exists where they are.....and that is your Eternal life and your Redemption.
That is : Salvation and Resurrection..
That is "BORN again".

Jesus said...."you must be..born.......again"., and water can't do that for you, and do not believe deceivers who tell you that it can.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are born again, and not just water baptized (sprinkled) and religious....then you have been "made alive unto God".... and all your sin is on Jesus on the Cross, and God's eternal life is now your eternal Life.

Romans 6:11.

4.) Reader.....Do you SEE the renewed mind i have shown you, regarding what it means to have become a "new Creation IN Christ"?

This is not a "saved sinner".
This is a born again Saint, who is JOINED TO GOD, Spiritually.
Now.....i have shown you the right mind you are to exist in, always, daily,.... constantly., as this is the renewed mind.

And that other mind.....the carnal mind....that tries to make you pretend to strive to try to be good......is not the right mind.
Faking trying to be like some theatrical idea you have of Jesus, is not Christianity.
That is the mind of carnality, as that is performing an act of works, and Salvation is "Grace through Faith without works" or Law.
The right mind , the mind of Christ, is to understand who you have BECOME as born again, and to walk in THAT understanding, that revelation... as that is REAL FAITH,..
= is how you "work out your Salvation".
See that? That is REAL Spirituality.
And when you begin to daily discipline your mind to only see yourself in that LIGHT< that "renewed mind".... you are now "walking in the Spirit" and your real faith and your real discipleship has begun, and that is how you "work out your salvation".

#1

Matthew 6:34
Take therefore no thought for the morrow:
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

1. In this commandment,
what is Jesus commanding, the children of God, to obey in their everyday life?
How do you understand these words of the Word of Life?

2. How do you disobey this commandment in your everyday life?

3. How do you obey this commandment, in your everyday life?

4. What happens to you when you disobey this commandment, in your everyday life?

5. What happens to you when you obey this commandment, in your everyday life?

6. What is the purpose or the objective of this commandment, in your everyday life,
given to the children of God to always obey, by Jesus the Christ?

I'm rather troubled by the treatment of Uighers in China; it's not too different than the Holocaust era. In addition I'm pretty repulsed by the treatment of prisoners & other undesirables by the Chinese in this organ harvesting scheme. This is genocide & yet we are still doing business in China. Why has not Xi been brought up on crimes against humanity? This is such horror beyond the pale & yet it goes on. I can't get past the idea that our Creator is allowing this to happen.

I’m 29M. I have on average another 56 years to live. I’ve struggled with depression for about a decade already. How am I supposed to be thankful for waking up every morning?

Only 2 mins. Riccardo gives us the truth of what is really going on.

RICCARDO BOSI - MAKING SENCE OF THE TRUMP ARREST

It's official... I open-air street preached for the first time ever!!

I was at the NCAA March Madness Men's Basketball tournament in Columbus, Ohio on Sunday, March 19th, 2023 just outside the Nationwide Arena with a great group of God-honoring men and woman! I'll introduce the video, then show you the 5-6 minutes of me open-air street preaching and then I'll share some thoughts and tips that I learned to encourage you to get out there and open-air street preach and pass out Gospel tracts. Just remember, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. All to the glory of God for the advancement of His kingdom!

Who would want men to NOT keep God's Laws?

Think about it.

Go back to the Beginning.

I'm 23 but have sever anxiety scared about the future am I too young to worry about myself in old age

Jimmy Carter part two continues....

So this happened...

Login to view embedded media
This lady supported defunding the police....and like most other places, San Francisco saw a spike in crime. What a surprise.

Now when she calls the police, and the police tell her there's no one to send/deal with it....she's a little upset and wants the police back.

She hasn't even gotten to the bad part yet, you can't undo the damage done to the police with dollars. No one wants to be a cop now that not only is it a tough job...but one that's been placed under a microscope and demands perfection.

Nope....no easy fix for this. Is it possible to just sort of push San Francisco off into the sea?


My favorite is this lady....robbed while covering the spike in crime. Her private security stopped the theives from running off with everything. Average San Francisco citizen has a 1 in 16 chance of being a victim of violent or property crime.

Another beautiful US city utterly destroyed by the left.

Thoughts?

Uganda's parliament passed a law on Tuesday making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ, handing authorities broad powers to target gay Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence.

More than 30 African countries, including Uganda, already ban same-sex relations. The new law appears to be the first to outlaw merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ), according to rights group Human Rights Watch.

The legislation will be sent to President Yoweri Museveni to be signed into law.

[If this sounds familiar, Museveni signed a notable anti-gay law in 2014 that originally called for the death penalty (later modified to life in prison). It was later ruled invalid by their Supreme Court. Museveni vetoed a similar bill in 2021.]

ETA: [A modified version has been signed by the president.] Uganda’s parliament originally passed the bill in March [i.e. the OP] but it was returned to legislators by a presidential veto. The final bill, approved by Museveni, remains largely the same but no longer includes a requirement for people to report homosexual activity or criminalizes the mere identifying as LGBTQ+.

Inside the rural Texas resistance to the GOP’s private school choice plan​

Backed by a surge of campaign spending from far-right Christian megadonors, Republicans in Texas and nationwide are pushing legislation that would siphon money from public education under the banner of “parents’ rights.” These plans, commonly known as vouchers, would give parents the money the state would have spent educating their children in public schools — between $8,000 and $10,000 per child per year in Texas — and allow them to put it toward homeschooling expenses, private school tuition or college savings accounts.

Officials in communities like Robert Lee, which has a population of about 1,000, warn these policies will chip away at already razor-thin public school budgets. With only 250 students — about 18 children per grade — even a slight drop in enrollment and funding can force rural schools like Robert Lee to make hard decisions, Hood said.

“We don’t have the same economy of scale as larger districts,” [Superintendent Hood] said, which is one reason he obtained a commercial driver’s license to serve as a substitute bus driver. “If we lose five or 10 students, that’s a teacher salary. But we can’t afford to have one less teacher, so now we’re cutting academic programs, we’re cutting sports, we’re cutting the things that this community relies on.”

“Nobody opposes school choice, but that’s not really what we’re talking about,” Hood said. “It’s all in how you ask the question. If you ask people in this community if they support sending their tax dollars to private schools with no accountability and no standards, they’re going to tell you they’re against that.”

[The closest private school is 30 miles away.]

For many years, an unlikely coalition of rural Republican lawmakers and urban Democrats formed a wall against private school vouchers in the Texas Legislature. But political spending by conservative Christian megadonors has helped chip away at opposition within the Texas GOP — including in the state Senate district that represents Robert Lee.

[The new state senator] Sparks also sits on the board of trustees at Midland Classical Academy, a private Christian school founded by [oil billionaire donor] Dunn, whose family donated $200,000 to Sparks’ campaign.

The freshman senator’s district includes 91 public school systems stretching from the Texas panhandle to the oil-rich Permian Basin; all but six of them are small rural districts with no local private school options, an NBC News analysis found.

On his private Christian school road tour, [Governor] Abbott has pitched school choice as a way of empowering parents to protect their children from a “woke agenda” he says is being pushed by some public school educators.

Such allegations sound fanciful to many in Robert Lee, where both the town and the school district are unapologetically named in honor of the famous Confederate general’s military service in Texas prior to the Civil War.

Hello all, i wanted to get your experience of praying.

I know that we are told to pray constantly, however, being a man, i do not do this. I wondered how often you all speak with the Lord.

I.e. when walking down the street are you speaking with the Lord and saying thank you for my ability to walk and for the ability to create a plan and follow it etc.

( I hope that this makes sense.)

Thanks and God bless,

James.

P.S. this seemed like the most appropriate forum that i could find for the thread, though it is not a request for advice, but a request for people to share their personal experience.

Should debate be an Olympic sport?