United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced Thursday that Transportation Security Administration employees who worked during the government shutdown will receive $10,000 bonuses as the longest shutdown in U.S. history has come to an end.

During a Thursday press conference at Bush Airport in Houston, Texas, Noem announced that the agency was distributing bonus checks to TSA employees across the country who continued to work without pay during the government shutdown.

While Noem handed out bonus checks to several TSA workers standing beside her at the press conference who went “above and beyond” during the shutdown, she stressed that the DHS will “continue to evaluate every single employee that helped during the shutdown and stepped up and went above and beyond.”

Continued below.

Nothing about homosexual civil rights that I can recall ever required everyone else to deny scientific facts and accept a universally applicable change in basic decency standards. When same-gender activity involved children, we called it abuse already.

essentialsaltes said:

FIFA will use Kennedy Center free of charge for World Cup event, contract says​

The Kennedy Center booked the World Cup draw at President Donald Trump’s urging. It will occupy much of the campus and displace planned performances.

Who would ever suspect FIFA of taking bribes?

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What's that, you can bribe influential Americans at the Kennedy Center?

Saudis to host investment summit in DC’s Kennedy Center during crown prince’s visit, sources say​

essentialsaltes said:

So far the government has alleged only two gang members were among those arrested. This is what required helicopters and zip-tying citizens.

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Reporting Highlights​

• Chicago Raid: Agents rappelled from a helicopter to raid an apartment complex “filled” with Tren de Aragua gangsters. ProPublica found little to support the government’s claims.
• Immigrants Speak Out: Federal officials declined to release the names of 37 immigrants detained in raid. ProPublica has identified 21 of them and spoken with a dozen.
• A Bust? Immigration officials said they arrested just two members of Tren de Aragua. ProPublica talked with one and found no criminal records in his past.

Shortly after midnight on Sept. 30, some 300 agents from Border Patrol, the FBI and other agencies stormed the 130-unit apartment complex. SWAT teams rappelled from a helicopter, knocked down doors and hurled flash-bang grenades. They arrested 37 immigrants, most of them Venezuelans, who authorities say were in the country illegally. Agents also zip-tied and, for several hours, detained many U.S. citizens.

Federal prosecutors have not filed criminal charges against anyone who was arrested. Nor have they revealed any evidence showing that two immigrants arrested in the building belonged to the Tren de Aragua gang, or even provided their names.

That “raises a legitimate question as to whether any of the people in that building were really considered susceptible to prosecution,” said Mark Rotert, a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney in Chicago.

[Propublica identified one of the 'gang members'.] Our review of criminal records indicates that Chicago police arrested Parra for drug possession and driving without a license after a traffic stop last year, but the charges were dropped. We found no other arrest records.

Because of the lack of information provided by DHS, it is difficult to assess the accusations that Parra and another Venezuelan, who has not been named, belong to Tren de Aragua. A DHS spokesperson said one of the two men “was a positive match” on a watch list for terrorists. We checked several lists of alleged gang members that are kept by Venezuelan law enforcement officials and the international law enforcement agency Interpol; Parra’s name was not on those lists.

Nathan Howard, a U.S. citizen, was asleep in a fifth-floor apartment when the raid began. He saw the helicopter and the agents storming into the building from a stairwell on the roof. He was temporarily blinded by bright white lights as agents threw a flash-bang inside the apartment.

“It’s 20,000 of them running through my house like we got Saddam Hussein in the closet,” he said.

Cohen, a 40-year law enforcement veteran and former SWAT team member, questioned the decision to have agents descend from helicopters on ropes. Helicopters are routinely used for observation and support during raids. But in cities, the tactics known as rappelling, in which agents are attached to the ropes, and fast-roping, in which they are not attached, are typically reserved for extreme scenarios such as hostage rescues because of the risks of injury to agents and of a helicopter mishap to the public, experts said.

Cohen said he has done hundreds of searches, including in gang-controlled buildings, but “I have never rappelled out of helicopters in those operations.”

A Canadian nonprofit organization has succeeded in persuading the city staff of Toronto to fly the Palestinian flag at city hall next week in recognition of the “State of Palestine’s Independence Day” on Saturday.

Yup! They need to defend Church teaching and stop allowing this sinful nonsense! Ugh!

St. Peter Damian, pray for us!

Pope Leo XIV during an address at the Vatican on Thursday called for the “prudent” evaluation of supernatural phenomena to avoid falling into superstition.

“To avoid falling into superstitious illusion, it is necessary to evaluate such events prudently, through humble discernment and in accordance with the teachings of the Church,” the Holy Father said to participants in a Nov. 13 meeting organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints that reflected on the relationship between mystical phenomena and holiness of life.

The conference focused on the theme “Mysticism, Mystical Phenomena, and Holiness.” Upon receiving the participants at the Vatican, the pope noted that, through constant commitment, the magisterium, theology, and spiritual writers have provided “criteria for distinguishing authentic spiritual phenomena, which can occur in an atmosphere of prayer and a sincere search for God, from manifestations that may be deceptive.”

For the pope, mysticism and spiritual phenomena are “one of the most beautiful dimensions of the experience of faith,” and he expressed his gratitude for the participants’ collaboration in shedding light on certain aspects that require discernment.

Continued below.

A pro-life organization has committed to spending nearly $100 million on the 2026 midterm elections as control of both chambers of Congress hangs in the balance.

The pro-life advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America announced in a statement published Wednesday that it plans to spend $80 million on pro-life candidates seeking federal office in the 2026 midterm elections.

In next year’s elections, voters in 35 states will elect a U.S. senator while all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be on the ballot.

The investment will target 10.5 million pro-life voters across the country through “canvassing, digital advertising, voter contact mail and a robust early vote campaign as races progress.”

States that the pro-life advocacy group has identified as key battlegrounds for U.S. House and Senate races include Iowa, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina.

Continued below.

Authorities are attempting to identify an unknown individual who vandalized three New York City churches while carrying an LGBT pride flag.

The New York Police Department Crime Stoppers posted a request for tips on its social media platforms on Wednesday regarding an individual who vandalized three churches in Far Rockaway, a neighborhood of Queens, on Oct. 5.

According to Crime Stoppers, from around 1:40 a.m. to 2 a.m., the masked individual vandalized The Refuge Church of Christ, The City of Oasis Church of Deliverance, and St. Mary's Star of the Sea Church.

The suspect painted “anti-Christian statements” on the façades of the three churches, and painted “the faces of two religious statues on the church property” at St. Mary’s.

Video footage shows an individual carrying an LGBT pride flag on a pole, while also donning a rainbow-colored facemask, black clothes and sunglasses.

Continued below.

May she rest in peace and rise to glory!

PloverWing said:

Asking just for my information: What is the Catholic policy in cases like this, where a married gay person joins the church? Are they required to get a civil divorce? Do they continue to be (civilly) married but now live celibately together? Some third option?

(I understand that the Catholic church will not recognize the marriage as valid, but I'm not sure what their policy is toward the existing civil union.)

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The author of Wicked, Gregory Maguire, is also legally married to a man, has adopted children, and a practicing Catholic who faithfully attends Mass. Just an interesting fact.

Do you remember the story in Luke 7:36-50 of the sinful woman who entered the Pharisee’s house who, standing behind Jesus, at his feet, weeping, began to wet his feet with her tears and with her hair, kissing his feet and anointing them with perfume? And do you recall the Pharisee’s response? He said to himself, “If this man” (meaning Jesus) “were a prophet he would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” And do you recall Jesus’ response to him?


Now once upon a time there was a girl named Sue. She believed in Jesus as her Lord and Savior at age 7, and she committed herself to following the Lord the rest of her life. She was not perfect, and she made mistakes along the way, sometimes, but she loved Jesus, and her desire was to live for him and to obey him. But she kept coming up against Pharisees who did not and who would not see her through the eyes of the Lord. They did not value her as Jesus did, but they treated her much like this Pharisee treated this woman in this story. So she kept being rejected over and over again.

The hits just kept coming, one after another after another. Sometimes she felt like she was a basketball being slam dunked into a basket over again, and sometimes she felt like she was in the water with people continually pushing her head under the water trying to drown her. And as soon as she came up for air there was someone there trying to drown her again. And one day she finally crashed and she became the person that they treated her as though she was, and she was not the person she once was. But then God brought her back, and he forgave her, and later on he called her to ministry.

For he had a plan for her life from even before she was formed in the womb of her mother. He had a calling and a mission for her. And he allowed her to go through a life of persecution, abuse, mistreatment, and rejection, all to prepare her for the time when he intended to use her for his glory to reach the people of the world with the truth of the gospel of our salvation. And he planned to use her in ways, perhaps, that normally would be what God would call men to do, but who did not and who would not answer his call as she did. So he had her ready to go to fill that void that needed to be filled.

So, he called her to write down what he was teaching her each day from her times spent with him in the Word of God, and she was to place these writings on the internet so that “a herald could run with it.” 21 years ago she began that ministry to which God called her. And she has been faithful to that call ever since then, no matter how many persecutions or rejections or mistreatments she faced, and even through sicknesses and oppositions of many kinds, because God was her strength, and she depended on him, because she loved him, and she wanted to obey him, and she loved people.

And, by the grace of God, and in the power of God, and under the direction of the Holy Spirit, thousands of people (perhaps millions) have been reached with the truth of God’s Word, and with the truth of the gospel of our salvation, in over 100 different countries throughout the world over the course of the past 21 years because a despised and rejected woman who was nothing of value to the Pharisees of this world (including within the church) had the courage to step out in faith, and against all odds obey God’s voice and let herself be used of God to reach the world for Jesus Christ.

So, don’t let the opinions or the mistreatments of other people or their devaluing of you and their criticisms of you stop you from obeying the Lord in being who he has called you to be. For if God can use a donkey to get his message across to someone, he can certainly use us women, even if men or other women devalue us and disregard our worth in the eyes of the Lord. For in our present age, sadly there are many men who are spiritually AWOL and who are not willing to answer the call of God, and so God is calling women to fill their shoes and to do for him what the men did not and would not do.

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 7:13-14; Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 17:14; Romans 5:3-5; Philippians 3:7-11; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:12-17; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5; James 1:2-4; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Hebrews 12:3-12; 1 John 3:13; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]

A Believer’s Prayer

An Original Work / July 31, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

With my whole heart, Lord, I pray
To be Yours, and Yours always.
Lead me in Your truth today.
May I love You, and obey.
Lead me in Your righteousness.
When I sin, may I confess;
Bow before You when I pray;
Live for You and You always.

Love You, Jesus, You’re my friend.
Life with You will never end.
You are with me through each day,
Giving love and peace always.
You will ne’er abandon me.
From my sin You set me free.
You died on that cruel tree,
So I’d live eternally.

Soon You’re coming back for me;
From this world to set me free;
Live with You eternally.
Oh, what joy that brings to me.
I will walk with You in white;
A pure bride, I’ve been made right
By the blood of Jesus Christ;
Pardoned by His sacrifice.

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Called of God to Ministry
An Original Work / November 13, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Pray by saying, "O Heavenly Father, In Jesus Christ's Name & By The Power & Grace of The Holy Spirit, we declare that there will No war in region of Tigray, Ethiopia. Amen!!":

Studyman said:

You are promoting a popular religious teaching of this world, that the Pharisees, including the "zealous ones like Saul", were "blameless" promoting "God's Laws" to the Jews, Gentile converts and Galatians.

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Frankly what you claim as my position is complete nonsense.

I have never ever thought or taught that - complete nonsense.

To be blunt you seem to be on a campaign to assassinate my character with false accusations.

Please desist or I will have no choice but to report you to the mods.

# 1 WHERE UPON // HOTHEN. is an ADVERB

# 2 NEITHER //. OUDE is an. ADVERB

# 3. THE. // HO. is a DRFINITE ARTICLE. is a. NOMINATIVE. CASE. in. the SIGNULAR

# 4. FIRST. //. PROTOS is a NOMINATIVE CASE in. the SIGNULAR

# 5. ( TESTAMENT ). WAS DEDICATED. //. EGKAINIZO in the PERFECT TENSE invite INDICATIVE MOOD. in. the SINGULAR

# 6. WITH OUT // CHORIS is an ADVERB

#. 7. BLOOD. //. HAIMA in. the GENITIVE CASE in. the GENITIVE CASE in. the SINGULAR in. the NEUTER

# A. AND the first sacrifice was done with a Priest of Israel on and ALTER. where the BLOOD. was sprinkled

# B. This then means SINS could not be TAKEN AWAY , until Christ was NAILED TO A CROSS

# C. AND sins could not taken away until. anyone . performe John. 6:54

What say YOU. ??

dan p

Michie said:

Rich Tidwell, a Missouri pastor, is arguing that the Bible allows for polygamy after announcing his marriage to a second wife, who is expecting his eighth child.

Tidwell, the pastor of Ormond Church in Canton, argues extensively in a sermon titled “David’s Two Wife” and a long-form article titled “On Plural Marriage” that the Scriptures nowhere prohibit men from marrying multiple wives. In fact, he argues, polygamous marriages are “divinely ordained.”

Ormond Church describes itself as a place “to hear God’s Word, to grow strong in faith, and to serve Jesus together in love…as we draw closer to the Resurrection!”

Continued below.

Missouri Pastor Defends Polygamy After Taking Second Wife

Rich Tidwell, a Missouri pastor, is making his case that the Bible allows for polygamy after announcing his marriage to a second wife.

churchleaders.com

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Find another church.

quietbloke said:

The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is thriving all around the world. How was it born?

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Personally I believe the church was born by Christ during His ministry. If the church is the body of Christ aka Christians or followers of Christ then that body predates Pentecost. Although I would say that an argument could be made for all who followed God all the way back to creation.

Kathleen30 said:

. Whether Jews were a large part of the Tyrian community at the time of Alexander’s the Greats invasion of Tyre

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This is where confusion starts. Calling one of the 10 Northern tribes. - Jews.
The 10 tribes of Irael separated from the 2 tribes of Judah in King Rehoboam's time. They remain separated today.
We know who are Jewish; about half now occupying a small part of the Holy Land and the rest still in diaspora.

And although it is God's secret, we can identify most of the descendants of House of Israel, now scattered around the world, by the fact of their Christianity.
THEY are the people Jesus came to save; Matthew 15:234, He succeeded very well.
All will be revealed soon, but for sure - Only those faithful Christian peoples; Jew, Gentile and from every tribe, race, nation ad language, Revelation 7:9, will go to live in the Promised Land. Ezekiel 34:11-16, Romans 9:24-26

30 days

Aristarkos said:

Which was always a pointer to the real sacrifice of Christ our Lord, wasn't it?


So we can dump the O.T. then? The whole of Scripture is FOR us, not necessarily ABOUT us.


Mixing up things again, how then was Enoch saved? Or Abraham? In Pauls first 7 letters it is not about the body of Christ, this was a mystery until Paul received its revelation in Ephesians. So how can Paul talk about something he knew nothing about at that time in Thessalonians?

Aristarkos

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Sorry you did MISS Rom 16:25 and 26 about. the MYSTERY and PLEASE remember. that there is ONLYONE MYSTERY

AND not many MYSTERYS with out and S and that PAUL writes as ONE MYSTERY ONLY. !!

Just GOOGLE , Enoch. and Abraham. and find out. !!

dan p

The Church Under Fire

Chapter Five

Now Faithful to the Calling

May 27, 2023

I am still reading in the book of Acts. Recap: Paul was giving his defense to King Agrippa, and so he relayed to him how he had been on the road to Damascus to persecute and perhaps put to death even more Christians (followers of Jesus Christ) when Jesus met him in a vision while he was on his way. Jesus spoke to him audibly, though not visibly, and there Paul (Saul at that time) received his life calling from the Lord to open spiritually blinded eyes, so they may turn from darkness (sin) to light (Christ) and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ. Then he said this:


Do you know what your life calling of God is? Are you being steadfast and faithful to that calling? Now we are all called to holy living and to leave our lives of sin behind us to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands under the New Covenant. But the Lord has assigned us specific callings and ministries, and he has gifted us accordingly so that we can serve him faithfully in those callings and in those areas of ministry. For these are our “body parts” within the whole of the body of Christ, his church.

Now most of you probably know this but let me say here that if we answer the call of Jesus Christ, not only to be his possession and to follow him wherever he leads us, but to fulfill the very specific purpose the Lord Jesus has for our lives individually, this may not go well for us in many respects. And Paul’s life is a great example of what I mean here, and so is the life of Jesus. For Jesus told us that if we follow him with our lives that we are going to be hated and persecuted as he was hated and persecuted.

Especially if you are telling people that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance, you are not going to be well liked and well received even in the Christian culture in America. For so many professing Christians are believing lies which are telling them outright, or which are giving them the impression that they do not have to repent of their sins, that they don’t have to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ, that they don’t have to obey the Lord, and that no works (deeds) are required of them by God whatsoever.

But let me get back to the subject of our specific callings of God to special areas of ministry that God prepared in advance for us to do them. Paul was not disobedient to the vision and neither should we be disobedient, either to the calling that God has on all of our lives collectively, or to the particular callings he has on each of our lives individually. But then we should be prepared that we are going to be persecuted, even by others who profess faith in Jesus Christ, and even by pastors and elders of church fellowships.

And in being faithful to the calling of God on my life, he has been leading me to share some of my own “Paul” experiences. Only those who are opposing me are not Jews, but many of them are those who claim faith in Jesus, and some are even pastors and elders of church congregations. Now, like Paul said, if what I was doing was wrong, if it was evil, and if it was sinful and disobedient and rebellious, then I would accept their discipline. But if they are disciplining me for obeying the Lord, according to the Scriptures, and if they are judging me by their own standards, then that is wrong.

My “Paul” Experiences

The year was 2004. My husband and I were training to be church planters under the Christian & Missionary Alliance (same denomination as A.W. Tozer). I was training for my consecration as an official worker of the C&MA and my husband was training for his ordination to be a pastor of our small group which was meeting in our home. It was now September and we were invited to their annual official workers prayer conference. But my husband hurt his back and could not go, so he encouraged me to go without him.

And the Lord started speaking to my heart the moment I walked into that first meeting, for I was a few minutes late due to car trouble. And the messages I heard at that conference via the speakers and via my quiet times with the Lord just spoke directly to my heart in a very powerful way.

The messages spoke to me and to my heart like they were right from the mouth of God to me specifically. The messages said, “Preach the Word of God, not the teachings of man.” “Listen to God, hear what he is saying, and then obey him.” “You were appointed by God as a herald and a teacher of true faith.” “Give your ministry over to God – it is not yours. It is his.” “God may have something else for you to do that you have not even thought of.”

“Write down what God shows you and then wait on him to bring it about.” “What you are going through is much bigger than you can imagine.” “NOW is your time! For such a time as this you were placed upon the earth.” “The church is in crisis – the crisis of Supremacy. It is indistinguishable between the lives of evangelical Christians and the world. We need to get back to the basics – we need to put our focus on Jesus and the cross of Christ instead of on the teachings of man.” Amen!

Since I was the only one there representing our small church plant, I was also invited to speak before a room full of pastors and other official workers of the C&MA, and before their district heads. And I just let the Holy Spirit lead me in what to say, for I was not prepared in advance that I was going to be asked to speak. And based upon what others were teaching at this conference, and what the Holy Spirit was speaking to my heart, I shared with them what the Lord was saying to me, from the Spirit within me.

When I went back to my chair, though, the wife of the district head over church plants said, “Well, that was the shortest-lived church plant.” Wow! But after the gathering was dismissed, and we went to lunch (or supper), I had maybe a fourth of the pastors there encourage me that what I said needed to be said. But they also recognized that it was the death of me, even though it was the right thing to say, and it was what needed to be said. But I was being led of the Holy Spirit, and there was nothing anti-biblical in what I shared, but it was fully supported by the Scriptures.

So, I got called to see the heads of the district, and they told me that I was not hearing from God, even though they had confessed that they were not actually listening to me speak, from what I recall. And so at that moment I had to make the decision to remain with the C&MA and to ignore God’s calling on my life, or to depart from the C&MA and to follow the Lord Jesus in obedience. I did the latter, and here I am today nearly 20 years later still answering that appointment by God to be one of his heralds in these last days before the return of Jesus Christ. And I have no regrets!

I Surrender All

Hymn lyrics by Judson W. Van De Venter, 1896
Music by Winfield S. Weeden, 1896

… Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee. (Mark 10:28)

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

Link to whole book:


Now Faithful to The Calling
An Original Work / May 27, 2023
Reposted on November 13, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Video recording of this post:

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Delvianna said:

I'm so sorry to hear about your struggles and I pray the mass is non-cancerous and road to recovery is short. But I want to play devils advocate for a second because I think it's important. As followers of Christ, our lives are his, correct? That means that no matter what happens, we are in his hands. The Lord never promised us healing in this life, he promised us life in the next. The Lord never promised us complete protection, he warned us that some will be tested even until death, but no matter what we go through, we are to praise Him. So if the answer from the doctors is the worst possible scenario, have faith in Gods goodness, no matter what the outcome is because we know our faith will be rewarded. Again though, I do pray for your healing and recovery, if the Lord wills it.

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Amen! Agreed! And thank you for sharing this, and thank you for the encouragement, and thank you for the prayers, too. Much appreciated! God bless you. Sue

Jeffrey Bowden said:

This world will be at peace immediately before the start of the Trib (the 7-year Tribulation). The state of the world immediately before the Trib is revealed in 1 Th 5:1-3.

The AC starts the Trib that officially begins in Rev 6:1-2. The AC is set in motion for the timeframe from the start of the Trib through Rev 19:20, when the AC is killed.

Rev 19:21 precedes Matt 24:29, the official end of the Trib.

The seal judgments through seal 6 take up all of Rev 6. The 7th seal begins in Rev 8:1.

Rev 7 is an interlude within Rev. We know from Rev 7:16 (famine and scorching heat) that Rev 7 spans from the 4th seal (famine) in Rev 6:8 to the scorching heat in the 4th bowl in Rev 16:8-9.

Rev 7 truly spans most of the Trib from the 4th seal to the 4th bowl (great tribulation). To further validate this, “great tribulation” is cited in Rev 7:14, which is two verses before Rev 7:16 and its scorching heat that is only found in the 4th bowl.

I’m pointing these facts about Rev 7 to simply prove its time range stems from the seals through to the bowls. That is the width and breath of Rev 7. That is why it’s called an interlude because its timeframe does not fit between Rev 6 and Rev 8.

In summation: The AC is put in motion, starting the 7-year Trib, in Rev 6:1-2. The AC is active until he’s killed in Armageddon in Rev 19:20.

The Trib ends in Rev at Rev 19:21. Then, Matt 24:29, the official end to the Trib. Then, the 2A (2nd Advent) In Matt 24:30.

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Why will all the world follow the prophesied beast? Why?? Make an explanation believable even to me. I see one answer to that. What have you got that can be more credible to me? I don't think you see the warning in Revelation 11:18 that I see.

I understand anyway there is time of tribulation from that time the one prophesied as a beast is followed by all (except the few so faithful to God then). No arguments needed for that.