Always in His Presence said:

NATO Leader Lauds Trump as ‘Man of Strength’, ‘Man of Peace’​

“I just want to recognize your decisive action on Iran,” Rutte said at the 2025 NATO Summit. “You are a man of strength, but you are also a man of peace. And the fact that you are now also successful in getting this ceasefire done between Israel and Iran — I really want to commend you for that. I think this is important for the whole world.”

Rutte also sent messages to Trump, thanking him for doing “something no one else dared to do.” Trump then shared the message on social media.

NATO rally's around Trump

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Let me know when he’s stopped the Ukraine war in 24 hours like he said.

Landon Caeli said:

Indeed, indeed.... We sophisticated people have much better things to do with our time, like being reserved, pessimistic and dry in our handling of "things".

...Tis' the right way, after all.

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If you guys want to be easily manipulated, that's your business.

BCP1928 said:

Perhaps the only real answer is to create a separate school system for Christian kids. There are getting to be too many issues that Christian parents are going to want their kids protected from. Not just regarding human sexuality, but in other science well as history and economics. Let them have their charter schools. People complain about public funds going to religious education, but I think it's worth it. They and their parents will be a lot less trouble to the rest of us.

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We tried “separate but equal” before and it didn’t work.

Dan Perez said:

And just where did the New Covenant begin and and where is there salvation under the New Covenant , with a verse

and what about Rom 10:9 not for today ?

dan p

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New Covenant began at time of death of Christ, when the Father torn the diving curtain in Temple

Dan Perez said:

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

How mant doe you see ?

dan p

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That would be three mentions of the same resurrection at the end of time.

Aristarkos said:

It keeps amazing me people actually do not read, what says Jeremiah in chapter 31..?

31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Gentiles are not the covenant people, Israel is says the Lord.

Aristarkos

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That passage refers to spiritual Israel the Church now, and national israel at second coming event

ThatRobGuy said:

...but then wouldn't that be true of any other plain clothes officer working a time sensitive (somewhat covert) operation?

For instance, if the DEA was looking to make a bust in certain situations, do you think they're rolling up in a regular squad car wearing regular cop uniforms?

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Are you really comparing an ICE arresting an illegal immigrant with DEA engaging with a dangerous drug runner? [yes, I guess you are]

ThatRobGuy said:

The very fact that this app exists that we're discussing is the reason why they have to be a little more covert.

If they rolled around in full uniform in a car marked "ICE Federal Enforcement", there would be people all too eager to tip people off so they could evade arrest.

And as I noted in another recent thread about this, ICE agents didn't used to conceal their identities as much, It wasn't until the wikileaks incident of 2018 that they started routinely making concealment efforts.

California Bill Would Prohibit ICE Officers From Wearing Masks in the State

uh, because I believe my eyes when she presents video evidence to back it up. You did not even look at the link did you? I did. It’s a week old. Try to keep up. That’s why you seem to think there’s still looting, rioting and vandalism going on. We also got the wildfires put out, in case...

www.christianforums.com

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Sure, there is the risk of flight. I submit, the greater risk is to the rights of illegal immigrants and all citizens of this country if we allow masked, unidentified federal agents to arrest non-violent offenders.

@Jack Terrence

There is no such thing as spiritually dead. Calvinists made it up. When Paul said that were "dead in our trespasses and sins" he meant that we are condemned because of our sins.

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The same thing, Spiritually dead because of sin. And the elect are never condemned because of sin, they are born spiritually dead, but not condemned, Christ blood covers their condemnation.

God set an advent (inside Adam) as in their name was called) in motion when he said "thou shalt not eat" ... whether the tree was literal or not ... we are Adam and our soul our wife who gives us to eat ...

ozso said:

My summery of this thread thus far.

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Lets see.

ozso said:

Law breakers are victims.

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They can be. Do you dispute this?

ozso said:

Law enforcement officers are kidnappers because they arrest law breakers and put them into police cars.

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They aren’t using police cars. You’re clearly uninformed to what’s actually happening here. They are kidnappers because they are actually abducting people. These are not standard police techniques. This is what secret police do.

ozso said:

News agencies should feature apps/devices that both help law breakers evade law enforcement, and potentially put law enforcement officers at risk.

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The app exists. The news can’t report on it without being labeled terrorists and said to be inciting violence?

ozso said:

And wearing a face mask is now a bad thing.

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These aren’t face masks either. More like balaclavas.

Pretty uninformed summary of the thread and situation in LA all around.

ozso said:

Law enforcement officers have always detained law breakers and put them in law enforcement vehicles.

As for masks, those who went on and on about how vital it is to wear a mask, are now outraged over mask wearing.

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Nonsense. Masked and unidentified law enforcement officers have not always detained law breakers.

jas3 said:

Is there a standard set of days with fasting exceptions on the calendar? I noticed a difference between my church calendar (physical, sold in our parish bookstore) and the calendar app I use. If the schedule isn't standard across jurisdictions, at what level is it standardized (by calendar, by jurisdiction, by diocese)?

Also, on days with fasting exceptions, is it generally better not to make use of them if you don't need to, or should they be viewed more in the sense that the Church (at whatever level these exceptions are set) knows better than we do when we need a break?

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By the way @jas3 my friend forgive the question, but you’ve been asking about this, and about canonical penalties, and multiple name days - I went through a phase after my conversion where I became kind of legalistic, and this was a confusion (and as a result of it I came dangerously close to joining a schismatic Old Believer church).

I just want to make sure you’re not worried that you aren’t doing Orthodoxy correctly. It’s a bad idea to be disturbed by books and things like fasting differences between jurisdictions; the rubrics vary between churches and in Orthodoxy the church meets the needs of its members, rather than vice versa, because the church after all is the mystical Body of Christ, and Christ loves us so much that he did literally die in order to procure our salvation and glorification, so that we could become by grace what He is by nature.

So I just wanted to check to make sure you’re not experiencing any of what I experienced, which is fairly common among neophytes.

I would recommend, instead of reading a manual of confession or worrying about fasting rules, that you focus on prayer, and if you want to read, read the liturgy, which is now completely available online, including the complete propers for all holy days, in multiple editions. I believe I sent you some material on that.

One thing you might consider doing, if your confessor gives his blessing, would be that you read the Vespers and Matins for each upcoming Sunday, and other liturgies that your parish is celebrating, or perhaps, alternately, for any interesting feasts your parish would celebrate but is unable to for lack of resources, for example, the feast of St. Panteleimon or St. Elias, which are popular but not universally celebrated. Then perhaps post an essay with your thoughts on the hymns for that liturgy here in The Ancient Way. I would do this myself but am not well enough physically. I have lately been recovering, but after the spider incident last week I’ve been feeling much less well.

An article worth reading.

FredVB said:

But I have told you. There is salvation just through Christ, and this with repentant faith to be restored to God. There are rules here to not even accuse others of not believing that, other than them saying that of themselves, then they do not belong here. And, no one is losing their salvation by anything they do, or do not do. But, when one cares about doing just the minimum thing for salvation and not doing anything else, I suspect that such is not really saved. That would not be from repentant faith to be restored to God, which they can be in Christ, and be secure with that. See, nothing about observing Sabbath is mentioned in that. So stop, already. There isn't anything you or any other can fail to do, and not be obedient to God in, that would lose your or their salvation. If you are indeed saved.

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I didn't ask "Is salvation just through Christ?" Any simpleton can see you're all over the place just to avoid answering the question because it will expose your false doctrine regarding Sabbath observance. I will "stop, already".

Job 33:6 said:

You're right that Paul uses the structure “just as… so also” to highlight the relationship between Adam’s trespass and Christ’s act of righteousness. But I’d like to offer a perspective that maintains the full weight of that theological truth, even if one doesn’t insist on a historical Adam in the modern sense.
The central idea in Romans 5 is not about shared biology, but about shared condition. All people sin. All people die. Adam serves as a theological archetype of humanity, he represents the human condition apart from God. Christ, in contrast, is the representative of what God offers humanity through grace and obedience. The pattern still holds: just as sin leads to death, so also grace leads to life.
This doesn’t reduce the imputation of righteousness to fiction. It affirms that Christ’s redemptive work addresses the real, universal human condition, something observable in every person’s life, whether we trace it back to a single historical figure or not.
Romans 5 can be faithfully interpreted as a deeply theological text using archetypal language. Paul’s point is about the certainty and scope of grace, not the genealogical transmission of guilt.

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Paul's point is the reality of the origin of sin in humanity and the reality of its remedy.

Job 33:6 said:

The truth of the gospel does not rest on a particular scientific or historical view of Adam, it rests on the trustworthiness of God’s action in Christ, and our shared need for that redemption.

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Still not understanding the need to understand Genesis any differently.

Job 33:6 said:

Well, Genesis could be written in a modern scientific context for starters. Not an ancient isrealite context.
Genesis describes ancient Israelite cosmology, not modern science. The Catholic Church messed this up centuries ago with Galileo and people still haven't figured this one out.

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Which modern science has no proof of the origin of man which contradicts either the Genesis account or the gospel of Luke (Lk 3:23-37).

RandyPNW said:

I agree that there is a difference between knowing by senses, and thus preparing, and knowing intellectually. But they can also be the same thing. This would be a distinction without a difference.

That is, I can intellectually assent to Jesus' Coming and at the same time recognize with my eyes physical evidence that his Coming is near, though that is not yet possible--we see nothing that suggests he is coming in the immediate moment.

What we must recognize is the difference between the need to physically prepare for and physically see things that are happening now, and things that are distant and in the future. The things that are happening now are our priority, and not the distant things.

I suggest that in the Olivet Discourse Jesus was comparing the relatively imminent judgment against the Jews in 70 AD and the 2nd Coming Jesus' Disciples were asking him about. The one event was already up on the calendar and had to be physically prepared for. The other event was distant and not important to try to physically prepare for or anticipate. Distant things are subject to "times and seasons" that are under the Father's care, and not our present concern (Acts 1.7).

We prepare for that distant event, ie Christ's Coming strictly by remaining ready spiritually, as always, continuing to walk in our converted lifestyle, remaining true to Christ. If we remain true to him today we are ready today, even if the event remains a long ways off.

We cannot prepare for that event physically but it is not yet of curremt concern. It belongs to the "times and seasons" category that we are not to try to anticipate and physically see or prepare for.

The lesson is, I think, to be engaged in things that are happening now, or about to happen imminently, just as Jesus' Disciples had to prepare for the relatively imminent event of 70 AD. The things that are far off we don't need to speculate on because our higher priority is in doing things now that must precede Christ's Coming.

We must preach the Gospel of conversion and we must warn the world of God's judgment against their Sin. This is our priority and must precede the actual time of Christ's Return.

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Looking strictly at English translations of the Bible, we find that the word "know" is used distinctively WITH and WITHOUT difference. E.g., if someone were to say, "I know the 45th POTUS". Without additional info, we don't know if they have personally met Mr. Trump, or if this is simply based on historical narratives. But if someone were to say, "I know the 16th POTUS", we know that this can only be based on historical knowledge, and not on a personal encounter with Lincoln. But we must be careful not to give this a generalized application to the Greek text, when it is translated to English. It is two different words and not just one...ginosko and eido.

The clearest distinction that I can give of their distinctive differences (but translated into the same English word) is found in Hebrews 8.

Heb 8:8-11 KJV 8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, KNOW/ginosko the Lord: for all shall KNOW/eido me, from the least to the greatest.

Under the old covenant, the children of Israel were to teach their children (through intellectual assent) to KNOW the Lord. But under the new covenant, KNOWLEDGE of the Lord is based on a personal relationship, a salvation experience where his laws are written on people's hearts.

So, a distinguished indifference can occur if we don't pay attention to the different words that are translated into our English word "know". I would thus disagree with the view that makes them distinctively indifferent. And it thus makes a difference in our interpretive understandings.

Be Blessed
The PuP

1Tonne said:

I did answer your question. In short, irreducible complexity. So basic that if one part is missing or undeveloped, the system doesn’t function, leaving natural selection with nothing to preserve or act upon.

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That's an oldie. Most creationists have abandoned the irreducible complexity argument. Show us some feature in an animal that could not evolve. You seem to have mistakenly assumed that irreducible complexity cannot evolve. There are quite a few ways that it does. Would you like to learn about some of them?

1Tonne said:

I can see by your posts that you are related to a banana. LOL

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All eukaryotes (plants and animals included) have a common ancestor. Would you like to see how we know?

House often under snow??

WISD

ArmyMatt said:

I knew a priest who was ordered to have breakfast on Sunday because he was serving well into his 90s

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Awesome.

I can’t understand why the Roman Catholics and Episcopalians have mandatory retirement ages; many of our best clergy in the Orthodox Church are just getting started at the age of 75. For example Catholicos Ilia of Georgia.

YeshuaFan said:

Saved by the Cross and resurrection of Christ, and saved under and into New Covenant

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And just where did the New Covenant begin and and where is there salvation under the New Covenant , with a verse

and what about Rom 10:9 not for today ?

dan p

NxNW said:

Not to mention the crocoduck.

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Ah, yes... While crocs and ducks are both archosaurs, ducks are dinosaurs and only distantly related to crocodiles. However....

What really makes Spinosaurus special are its unique adaptations that may have allowed the dinosaur to hunt underwater. Like crocodiles, Spinosaurus had a long narrow snout with nostrils mid-skull, perfect for submerging. It also had a second pair of openings, likely neurovascular slits that are also found in crocodiles. Spinosaurus had a long neck, like a heron or a stork… Its big feet had flat claws, a structure that may have been useful for paddling. Loosely connected tail bones could have allowed the animal to propel itself forward in water just like a fish, and its densely packed bones resemble those of a penguin.
“It was a chimera: half duck, half crocodile. We don’t have anything alive that looks like this today,” says study co-author Paul Sereno, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Chicago.

Sereno, of course, doesn’t mean that Spinosaurus was, literally, a duck-crocodile hybrid. He’s speaking descriptively—referring, for instance, to the flat-bottomed foot claws that it used for moving in the water, and an anatomy adapted for buoyancy.

Kirk Cameron's "Crocoduck" Came Back To Bite Him In The Ass

A few years ago, ex-teen heartthrob Kirk Cameron went on Fox News as a pitchman for young-Earth creationism. Claiming there were no transitional fossils,

gizmodo.com

This would be confusing for people who don't know the difference between analogous and homologous features. But it's fun to see how the real crocoduck took a bite out of Cameron.

Edit: The irony is, Thomas Huxley, over a hundred and fifty years ago, predicted that birds were evolved from dinosaurs, based on the anatomical features of crocodiles and birds.
The Affinity between the Dinosaurian Reptiles and Birds (1870)