Nothing is secular when done to the glory of God.

A dualistic approach leads to many once a week Christians, where for six days we manage our lives on our own terms, and then on the seventh day, God gets His due. It leads to compartmentalizing our faith, separating it from our everyday lives and decisions.

For Anton Krecic, his morning cup of coffee is more than a fragrant beverage and a jolt of caffeine. It also represents an extension of his belief, as a Christian, in the sanctity of all human lives — especially those in the womb.

Krecic, 28, is the founder of Seven Weeks Coffee, a brand that offers gourmet blends that are ethically sourced from farmers all over the world. More importantly, though, the company donates 10% of every sale to support a network of pro-life pregnancy centers, helping them to provide vital services such as ultrasounds for women considering abortion. (The name of the coffee company, by the way, refers to the size of an unborn child at seven weeks’ gestation — roughly the size of a coffee bean.)

“As Christians, we are called to take care of the most vulnerable. These centers are the ones that are truly the hands and feet of the pro-life community,” Krecic told the Register.

“We’re just here to steward the call that [God has] put on us, which is to provide great coffee and support life.”

Continued below.

SHAME!
Pashinian should go!

And people will say things like "well CO2 was a lot higher in the past, and trees did just fine".

Well excuse me, trees didn't have giant cities full of billions of people to take care of. It's like saying, hey, trees survived that hurricane, so it's ok if our cities experience a hurricane too.

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN said:

A lot of Christians are racist , they go to church. Texas has a lot of racism. I just think it depends where someone comes from . I live in California. And I had no idea, that there was so much racist people. I don't see it, where I live. But I seen it from a family member. That watch a lot of the Fox news channel.

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A quick review of articles availabe by web search makes me think that Mr. Patrick should look in the mirror. Fix his own first.

Glory to God!

May they intercede for us before the throne of God!

Always in His Presence said:

No - because your mind reading ability is, IMHO, demonstrably flawed and innacurate

No I said they used it as a fund raiser - never said who the money went to; you even said it was a product sold - seems your comprehension might be somewhat close to your mind reading.


There ya go - they were sold as fundraising - someone got a profit -

Yes you are - because you grasped onto the Biden comment like grim death. No one is attacking your hero - there is nothing to defend. I stated and and you continue to try to discredit my words by changing their meaning all the while

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Are you really unable to grasp the difference between the Biden campaign and some random clothing company? Or are you just lying and trying to walk back your earlier comments?

In post #35, you said:

Always in His Presence said:

Biden used it to raise money -

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You didn't say "someone got a profit". You said "Biden," specifically, used it to fundraise, yet it's pretty clear that he and his campaign had nothing to do with it.

And yes, you were attacking him with that claim. In case you've forgotten what you wrote:

FYI - it is a show of respect to wear a Yarmulke in a synagogue or Jewish Holy Place

Biden used it to raise money

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What you're implying by phrasing it this way is that Biden took this religious symbol that can be worn in respectful ways and cheapened it for his own profit (regardless of whether that profit went into his pocket or his campaign coffers).

Always in His Presence said:

purposley editing out the last sentence of my original post

Which - get ready - you still ready

Agrees with you.

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I know you agreed with that part. That's why I didn't bring it up again. If we agree on something, what's to comment on?

essentialsaltes said:

Because that is the form of the sign that has been passed down by our sainted ancestors, whom we venerate.

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Huh?

As the Trump administration ramps up deportations nationwide, a new Arkansas law requires law enforcement agencies across the state to aid federal immigration authorities. The law, which went into effect Tuesday, requires sheriffs to apply to a program with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that trains and certifies officers to serve immigration warrants on undocumented people already being held in county jails for other reasons.

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But some are signing up for a different type of partnership with ICE that allows cops to stop people on the street, question them about their immigration status and potentially arrest them for deportation proceedings.

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Non-criminal ICE arrests in Arkansas have risen by 176% this year (for "offenses" like "driving while looking like an immigrant.") Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Florida have recently signed task force agreements.

And some local police departments in Arkansas are joining in with the state troopers.

This action will exacerbate the racial profiling "reign of terror" that will make people afraid to leave their homes. This isn't what I want my community to become.

Ora pro nobis

May he rest in peace and rise to glory!

HIM said:

Chapter 3 in first John is speaking so much more than guilt.

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Which does not exclude its teaching regarding guilt.

Personally, I think He knew He was dying for all mankind, could see, feel their events, lives, burdens etc.

I think that is why when we come to know Him, we feel the scale of His love for us

With wearable AI gaining traction, Catholics face a growing call to engage technology with wisdom and care.

Eyeglasses have been around since the 13th century.

Early precursors to so-called smart glasses came on the scene in the 1960s — but the technology evolved in the early 2000s and gained mainstream traction about a dozen years ago.

These developments illustrate the march of technological advancement. What was once the dream of sci-fi shows like The Jetsons is now very much a reality in 2025.

In the first half of 2025, sales of Meta’s AI-powered Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses have tripled, according to AInvest. This is the result of a collaboration between Meta and the luxury eyewear company EssilorLuxottica, whose CEO, Francesco Milleri, has touted the glasses as the “next computing platform,” providing fertile ground for the convergence of artificial intelligence, sensory technology and health-care infrastructure.

This report comes as Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, in a letter posted to the company blog, made his pitch for “personal superintelligence.” He writes: “I think in the future, if you don’t have glasses that have AI — or some way to interact with AI — I think you’re … probably [going to] be at a pretty significant cognitive disadvantage compared to other people.”

Perspective of the Church​

Continued below.

Smart Glasses Offer a Glimpse of the Future — But the Church Sees More Clearly

ANALYSIS: With wearable AI gaining traction, Catholics face a growing call to engage technology with wisdom and care.

www.ncregister.com

Today is August 9, the Optional Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
We read at today’s Mass, “Moses said to the people: ‘Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest” (Dt 6:4-5).

Today’s reading brings us the Shema, the great prayer of Israel. It’s a powerful declaration of love and fidelity — so central to the Jewish tradition that it’s prayed daily and etched into the very heart of Jewish faith. In the Church, we echo it every week in Night Prayer. Why? Because it reminds us of our deepest calling: to love God with everything we are.

This makes today’s memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, especially meaningful.

Born into a devout Jewish family, Edith Stein was a brilliant philosopher and a seeker of truth. Her journey led her to the Catholic Church where she was baptized, eventually joining the Carmelite order and taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Her conversion did not mean forgetting her Jewish roots. Rather, her life came to fulfill them in a profound and deeply Christ-centered way.

Continued below.

09 August 2025 – Sri Lanka​

Buddhist nationalists consider those who embrace Christianity as treasonous. Pray for those who have faced hostility for embracing Christ and pray that those being drawn to Him will not be deterred.

08 August 2025 – Sri Lanka​

Praise the Lord for training sessions provided by our partners for persecuted pastors. One attendee said: ‘They were very useful and valuable, especially in our personal lives, helping us to evaluate ourselves, rebuild ourselves, and correct our weaknesses.’

07 August 2025 – Pakistan​

Pray for ‘Rose’, who has experienced severe persecution in the past because of her faith in Christ. She and her family have been forced to move house and yet are still being threatened.

06 August 2025 – Pakistan​

: Praise God that ‘Shezhad’ and ‘Noor’ are able to live in a safe house provided by one of our partners. The couple, who featured in Voice (April-June 2024), are growing in their faith.

05 August 2025 – Pakistan​

Pray for ‘Amara’, who has experienced severe rejection since becoming a follower of Jesus (see Voice magazine). With our partners, she has now found a place of love and acceptance.

04 August 2025 – Pakistan​

Pray for ‘Hania’ and ‘Habib’, a young couple who are secret believers from a Muslim background (see Voice magazine). Following her baptism Hania was overheard singing a Christian worship song and was beaten by a family member.

03 August 2025 – Pakistan​

Pray for ‘Avidan’, who featured in a Release International appeal last year, and his family, who have been repeatedly attacked and threatened. Pray for them as they settle in another country where it is safer to be a Christian.

All factors involved in salvation and the order they happen in is called the ordo salutis, and it varies from theological position to theological position. The moment of salvation events (including drawing/dragging, heart changing, faith given, belief) happen in the blink of an eye (or less) to us, and it is impossible for us to know which order they happen in. But, as in the ordo salutis, it varies from theological position to theological position.

From my personal perspective, there are a lot of behind-the-scenes things going on that we can’t see till they are in the past to us and we can’t see the full work of the hand of God in the event. We can’t see the election or the calling, but we know they are there. We can see in hindsight that God places us where we need to be at each step of the way so that we are in the right place and time to hear the truths we need to hear to be saved, then the rest is up to Him. His work to perform. We can argue the “this comes before that” and so on, but the important thing is that it happens.

While most Omanis practice a moderately conservative form of Islam, there is almost no tolerance for family members who convert to Christianity due to a strong clan mentality. Omani citizens who convert are put under pressure from family and society to recant their faith. They can be expelled from the family home, lose their jobs and face problems over child custody and inheritance, so many keep their faith hidden.
Immigrant Christian communities are tolerated, providing they avoid sharing their faith with Muslims, but their facilities are restricted. Christian meetings are monitored to record any political statements and determine if Omani nationals are attending.
All religious organizations must be registered with the authorities. Immigrant Muslims converting to Christianity experience pressure similar to their home countries, as they often live within their own national or ethnic communities.

Meet Yacoub​

“My wife threw me out of our house as she didn’t want me to talk about Jesus.”
Yacoub (name changed), a man from the Arabian Peninsula who met Jesus through a series of dreams.

What does Open Doors do to help?​

Open Doors supports the Body of Christ on the Arabian Peninsula by organising prayer, distributing Scripture resources, and training believers and pastors.

Please pray​

• Pray for church communities, that God will protect them.
• Ask God for wisdom and boldness for immigrant believers to live out their faith.
• Pray for Open Doors partners on the Arabian Peninsula to shine the light of Christ.

If you knew you were showing up for your court date after following all the rules and paying all the fees to get your green card and ICE would cart you off to meet their quota you'd be scared too.
ICE agents have replaced used car salesmen as the most untrustworthy people in America (well, next to the members of thiscafministration, of course.)

Before Jesus Christ left this earth, and he went back to be with the Father in heaven, he promised his followers that he would not leave them comfortless, but that he would send them the Holy Spirit to live in them. And he said that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will teach us all things, and he will bear witness about Jesus, and he will guide us into all truth. And he will empower us to be Christ’s witnesses. And he will speak to us and lead us in the way that we ought to go, and he will warn us of danger, and gift us with spiritual gifts.

And the Holy Spirit gives us the words to speak when we are witnessing for Jesus Christ, and when we are accused falsely of what we did not do, and when we are brought before the authorities on account of we are speaking the truth of God’s word. He will teach us what we ought to say in all kinds of circumstances so that we are not speaking from our own flesh, but so we are being guided by the Holy Spirit in what to say for the glory of God. For we are to be being led by the Spirit of God if we are the children of God.

And the Holy Spirit will not only grant to us certain spiritual gifts, but these gifts will then be empowered by and led by the Holy Spirit and not by our own flesh. And when God pours out his Spirit on us, some of us will prophesy, which is not all future telling, but merely means to speak the words of God, which all of us are called to do, to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. And some of us will see visions and dream dreams, too (Acts 2:17-18; 1 Peter 2:9).

So many people are limiting the power of the Holy Spirit to the point to where they are not being led by the Spirit because they don’t believe they can hear the Spirit’s voice speaking to them in their spirits showing them the way that God would have them to go, and giving them the words to speak to others, and showing them what gifts they have been given and how they are to use them, and when and where, and with whom. Thus, so many preacher’s sermons are not being directed by the Holy Spirit, either.

But if we can’t hear the Spirit speak to us in our spirits then we can’t hear the voice of God speaking to us, leading us specifically in what he wants us to do each day, and where he wants us to go, and to whom we are to speak, and what we are to say. And how will we know God’s callings on our individual lives? Yes, the Scriptures themselves guide us in what we should do and not do, but they don’t give us our individual callings of God, for none of us existed when the Scriptures were written. So we need the Holy Spirit.

For the Christian life is not just about following the teachings of the Scriptures, but it is about being led by the Spirit day by day in what God has for us for that day. I could not do what I do each day without the Holy Spirit guiding me in what passage to read and in what to write about each passage. And I would not be doing this at all if the Holy Spirit did not speak to me and let me know that God wanted me to write down what he is teaching me each day and to then put these writings on the internet.

And I know I just recently wrote on this subject, but the Lord is having me write on it again, for someone needs to hear this. But what we believe the Spirit is speaking to us must not contradict the Scriptures. They cannot be anti-biblical. And a lot of people reject the working of the Spirit because so many people are claiming the Spirit is speaking to them but in ways which do contradict the teachings of the Scriptures.

For example, the Scriptures teach the fruit of the Spirit as self-control. But many are claiming the Spirit is making them do things out of their control. Demonic spirits make us do things out of our control, not the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit may lead us to do some unconventional things, just like God led his servants to do all throughout biblical history. But unconventional is not to translate to out of control or directly in contradiction to the teachings of the Scriptures. And it is important we make that distinction.

And this goes to the subject of false teachers, too, who speak as though they are from God but who are speaking what is contrary to the Scriptures, particularly in the area of the gospel of our salvation. We need to be in tune to the Spirit’s voice so that when we hear someone speak what they say is the gospel we can be discerning as to whether or not what they are saying is the truth or if it is a twisted half-truth, which is a lie. For by faith in Jesus we must die to sin and walk in obedience to his commands, or it is not faith.

[Mark 13:11; Luke 2:26; Luke 4:18-19; Luke 10:21; Luke 12:11-12; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:13; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:17-18; Acts 11:12; Acts 13:2; Acts 20:23; Romans 8:9,14; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Romans 12:1-8; Ephesians 4:1-16; Romans 6:1-23; Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23; Galatians 5:16-24; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 3:4-10]

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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Do Not Worry
An Original Work / August 9, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (C) and the Palestinian mayor of the village of Taybeh, Suleiman Khourieh (L), tour the fifth century Church of St. George in the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh, northeast of Ramallah in the West Bank, on July 19, 2025. In the villages and communities around Taybeh, Palestinian authorities have reported that settlers had killed three people and damaged or destroyed multiple water sources in the past two weeks. The July 7 arson attack on the remains of the Church of Saint George, which date back to the fifth century, was the last straw for many villagers, who blame Israeli settlers for a spate of recent attacks. | JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will expand its operations from the four distribution sites it currently operates to 16 sites, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Wednesday.

“The immediate plan is to scale up the number of sites up to 16, and begin to operate them as much as 24 hours a day, to get more food to more people more efficiently,” Ambassador Huckabee said during an appearance on Fox News.

Huckabee’s comments came as he was asked about a recent Axios report stating that the U.S. planned to take over the distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip.

“Well, I think the president of the United States always has a very important role in something like this if he chooses to do it,” Huckabee stated.

Huckabee reaffirmed that U.S. President Trump is adamant about getting more aid into Gaza, but wants to avoid any Hamas seizure of the aid.

“The president has been telling us he wants foods into the hands of hungry people, but he wants it in a way that it doesn’t get into the hands of Hamas,” Huckabee said. “That’s exactly what we did when we stood up GHF.”

Continued below.

I believe the Bible is for what it says it is.

II Timothy 3:16 (NKJV)​

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

The Bible itself never claims to be the only word from God, and in fact, the very last verse of John explicitly states that it is an incomplete record.