A region in the state of Israel known as the biblical location where Jesus walked on water has yielded a rare ancient gemstone thought to be more than 1,500 years old.

A 12-year-old sixth-grade student unearthed the find during a recent educational dig led by Israel Nature and Parks Authority along with Ariel University, according to Times of Israel.

Believed to date as far back as the first century AD, the deep blue agate gemstone was likely worn as jewelry by a wealthy individual, according to the report.

Adam Horowitz, the boy who made the discovery, told the Times of Israel he spotted the gemstone while digging with a pickaxe after nearly three days of excavation at the site, telling the news outlet that he “suddenly saw something blue, round and special.”

Horowitz added, “I picked it up and showed it to the archaeologist. When I realized it was something rare, I felt really happy and proud.”

Continued below.

Before I had read the bible I had heard various speculations about the mark of the beast. One such speculation was that it was social security numbers. Others would speculate that it was some other secret or hidden tactic. After I had read Revelation I got the impression that this was not a hidden or secret mark but an "in your face" act by those who know exactly what they are doing.

Your confidence should be in your faith. Once you are a Christian, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit and placed into the body of Christ. We have already been placed into the heavenly kingdom.

Col_1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Comedian and political commentator Bill Maher said he's grateful he had the opportunity to interview Charlie Kirk before the conservative activist's death, lamenting that the Turning Point USA founder was often unfairly portrayed as a "monster" by his critics.

During a Monday episode of Maher’s eponymous podcast "Club Random," he revealed that he had agreed to participate in a documentary about Kirk's life.

“I said, yes, I'm giving them five minutes after my taping Friday night," Maher told comedian Jeff Dunham. "And I told them, don't expect me to be just saying, you know, hagiography about Charlie."

Dunham praised Maher's widely discussed interview with Kirk last year,which featured a lengthy conversation about faith, politics and culture despite the two men's significant ideological differences.

Reflecting on that interview, Maher said he came away with a more nuanced view of the conservative activist.

"I liked him as a person; I'm glad I talked to him," Maher said of Kirk. "I do not think he was a monster."

Continued below.

A teenager who fatally stabbed a standout football player at a Texas high school track meet last April was convicted of murder Tuesday.

Karmelo Anthony, now 19, faces up to life in prison following his conviction in the murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a school stadium in the Dallas suburb of Frisco in April 2025.

Jurors at the Collin County Courthouse delivered the verdict in just over three hours after closing arguments were delivered earlier Tuesday on the trial’s fifth day, according to The Associated Press.

Anthony — who did not testify in his own defense after a volatile day of testimony by witnesses for the defense — faces up to life in prison upon sentencing.

Continued below.

New kind of values voter.
democrats-politics-morality-values.html

Jesussaves '26 is a 16-city Gospel outreach
equipping believers to share the Gospel
as nations gather for biggest tournament
in the world.
---
jesussaves26.com

RDKirk said:

Good to pray against our enemies, but keep in mind who our enemies really are.

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Yes, against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness, no bit of chance of redemption.
But to our brother mankind, Jesus died for all, same chance with the most wicked, the saving faith to our loving Savior Jesus Christ.

Servus said:

When it comes to the war against coal, the President is coal's side. Past plans to bring it down are being crushed.

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The people of West Virginia will drink to that!

I laughed when I saw the date on this thread. I was still in high school, lol.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NKJV


Why do you suppose God did it this way? I believe it is because then it reveals that it is from God and not from human flesh. Like those who are not naturally gifted in being “books smart,” not having a ton of knowledge about lots of different subjects, will be more ready and willing to learn from God because they know that they don’t know, and that they need to be taught. So, it reveals that what is taking place is of God and not of human flesh, for God is now doing in certain people’s lives what they have never done before.

My Testimony

For example, I graduated high school with a 1.4 GPA (D average). And I began college reading on a 4th grade level. Although I once excelled in spelling and in grammar and in basic math, and some early levels of music education, when it came to reading comprehension I did horrible. So I hated to read. And my family was poor. And I was not popular in school like some other girls. I was shy and quiet most of the time, unless I was singing. And I was lacking greatly in self-confidence. And I was abused by some people.

I got rejected a lot throughout my life. Most of it was when I got serious about the Scriptures and reading them and following them, as well as teaching them to others, that I began to face the most opposition, much of which was from “church” people and pastors and elders, most of whom were taking their faith walks less seriously than I was, or who were diluting and altering the gospel message to make it less offensive to the world. And I got falsely accused of many things which I did not do, because I was different.

But in 2002 the Lord called me to go back to college and to take some business classes. I assumed I would flunk the entry exam, but I did not. And I struggled to believe that I could learn, but I had some encouragers, and the Lord kept giving me what I needed to persevere. And after four years of taking these classes, by the grace of God, and in the power of God, I got my certificate with a 4.0 GPA (A average). I guarantee you that was of God, and not of my flesh, but what it taught me is that I can learn, which I needed.

And half way through those four years, in 2004, the Lord called me to write down what he teaches me from my times with him in his word each day and then to put these writings on the internet where a herald could “run with it.” I had never done anything like that before, but I obeyed him, and he began to teach me all sorts of things I had no knowledge of ever before. And he had me reading internet articles about our national history and science and government and politics, and all subjects I would never have touched before.

Then in 2011 he began having me write songs – the music and the words – which I had never done before other than putting one of my old poems to a tune one day a long time ago. But he called me to do this, not when I was in my best sounding voice, but when my voice was beginning to fail me, but was still there. And I had to learn all kinds of things, not just about writing and recording songs, but about how to share them on the internet with other people. And that took time, and it took hard work, but I persevered.

In 2018 he then had me begin writing poetry. Now I had, in my early years of life, written a few poems. But these were not like the ones I wrote. Many of these (now over 400) were like nothing I had ever written before. And, as with the words to the songs, so was the poems. The Lord fed the words to me through his Spirit and I just wrote what he gave me to write, with some liberty to rearrange words to fit with the music better or to rhyme better. And he also had me write my life testimony in book form that year, too.

Each one of these things that the Lord kept adding on to my daily tasks were challenging, and they were like nothing I had ever done before. So all this was and still is being led by the Spirit of God in my life, and I get no credit for any of it in my own flesh, by God’s design and purpose. And then in 2020 he had me begin doing video talk devotions. And awhile after that he had me begin writing Christian memes (short devotions in one picture). And a few months ago he put me on “Substack,” an additional place to post these.

And God is the one who gets all the glory, and not me, because I know better than anyone else, other than God, that none of this was done in my flesh without the leading of the Holy Spirit and without being empowered of the Holy Spirit to be able to do what God has called me to do. And I am not saying that it was all absolutely perfect in every way, for I am still a human being, but that I was dependent on the Lord and his leading and his wisdom and his power through it all, or none of this would have ever happened.

Give God the Glory

Based off Psalm 19
An Original Work / March 10, 2014
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

All of creation now proclaims:
“Give God the glory; honor His name!”
Each day the stars in heav’n above
Show forth His wisdom; tell of His love.

They do not speak. They have no voice.
Yet, they declare we have a choice:
“Worship the God of heav’n above;
Believe in Jesus; trust in His love.”

God’s word is perfect, just and good,
Refreshing souls who trust in the Lord;
Makes wise the simple; radiant -
Lighting our lives with God’s righteousness.

Joy to the heart His words now speak;
Pure and enduring, now we seek.
They are more precious than our gold;
Sweeter than honey; never grow old.

Keeping the word brings great reward.
By the word Jesus speaks and He warns,
Convicting hearts of all their sin;
Forgiving all who call upon Him.

Praying You keep me, Lord, from sins.
May they not rule my life again.
Then will I walk in all Your ways,
Following Jesus all of my days.

Login to view embedded media
God Chose the Powerless
An Original Work / June 9, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Witnesses/Witnessing .. e.g. Isaiah 43:10-11, Acts 1:8 cf 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

I've added a level based on 2 Kings 2:23-24 (NIRV) where some youths tease Elisha for being bald and two bears come out of the woods and maul 42 of the youths. The KJV says the youths were "little children" and in the game a commentator says that that isn't accurate but you can choose to play the level with little children anyway.
In the passage it looks like no-one was killed and in the game Elisha tells you off if you kill anyone - so as the bears you are just meant to maul the youths.



There is also a level called "God the Grape Stomper" where you are God and you have to stomp on some grapes and it quotes Isaiah 63:1-6 (NIRV)



There is a level called "The End Times" where there is an earthquake and you can ride the four horses of the Apocalypse. The pale one is light green based on historical illustrations.



In the Old Testament levels it goes like this when you want the soliders to massacre everyone:

You: "As the Lord said, kill everything that breathes!"
Solider: "Let the cleansing of the unclean begin!"

But in the End Times level it goes like this:

You: "As the Lord said, kill everything that breathes!"
Soldier: "Did God speak to you?"
You: "Yeah yeah whatever. Now kill everything!"
Soldier: "Jesus will come and judge the world."
You: "But the place needs to be cleansed now!"
Soldier: "Oh, alright - let's cleanse this place!"

If you kill everyone and then brag to the soldiers this is what happens in the End Times level:

You: "Hey guys, I cleansed the place all by myself!"
Soldier: "Psalm 11:5 says God hates people who love violence."
You: "I just wanted to unlock a Steam achievement. There's nothing wrong with being a completionist."
Soldier: "Yeah, it's just a case of doing as you're told."

Thoughts?

essentialsaltes said:

Glad to hear that Bad Bunny's Superbowl Halftime show has helped raise awareness.

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lol
That dreadful performance did nothing to raise awareness of the facts that Puerto Rico is an American territory.

In the bigger picture, he did not enter the Promised Land to show God is faithful to his promises. His promises didn't die with Abraham, Joseph, or Moses. You can trust him even when you die.

I recently learned this too & it shocked me: Moses appears in the Promised Land at the Transfiguration

Now I'm curious. Does he ever spell it out Moses will enter, or is that something we assume.

Delvianna said:

I believe that some of the gifts, like tongues, healing and miracles are situational. It's not that someone has the gift of healing and they can just go around and heal anyone they want. Christ didn't even do that. So I believe that anyone can have the gift of healing for a certain situation or time. Essentially, God directly tells a person to heal someone and for that moment in time, they are given the gift of healing. But that doesn't mean they can then go out and heal other people without Gods direction.

The idea that someone can just heal anyone and everyone is a charismatic theology, and its been proven false by a lot of people being hurt by NOT getting healed by these people when they've laid hands on them and prayed.

But if you're terrified, you need to run to God, instead of looking for someone with the gift of healing. Seek the great healer.

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That is right. The Apostles did not host 'healing conferences.' It was all unplanned. We do not see them pitching a tent & saying 'come & be healed this Saturday'.

Also, is 'healing' even always something we would recognize as supernatural? Surely we don't recognize teaching as super-natrual. Doesn't follow 'healing' is automatically 'supernatural' & other gifts like 'teaching' aren't. It would follow a plain old medical doctor who is also a Christian is using their gift of healing.
In Bible times there wasn't a fine line between 'super-natural' & 'natural.' We live in a post-modern society.

Please pray that if it is God's will the bad storms miss us and God will allow us to keep power and allow us to keep the house cool over the next few days of storms. It's so hot and please ask God to heal me. Thank you and God bless you. Carmen. I ask in the name of Jesus.

DaisyDay said:

I was gonna quip that she seemed ripe for a pardon and a place in this administration, but I see she's the wrong sort. Tant pis.

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Yeah if only she was white like Kash Patel.

Nithavela said:

Yes, maybe even Trump himself.

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There's always that glimmer of hope

Pommer said:

Count down to being told that this case was incorrectly decided…

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By a corrupt Barack Hussein Obama judge.

Leo Sorokin - Stephen Miller: switched at birth?

Anyone can sue anyone so opposing lawsuits. The courts will decide. Medical malpractice is already rampant in the US.

essentialsaltes said:

It looks like their PragerU/Hillsdale propaganda roadshow won't visit the West Coast.

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And skipping spots in New England.

Freedom 250 truck in CT town this week; Backlash cancels nearby stop

GoldenBoy89 said:

Many don’t realize that SS officer trench coat of his is actually just a normal size leather jacket.

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I think his tailor and his web developer must be sharing the same ruler.

essentialsaltes said:

The military has responded by removing Christian from all of them. Note the rationale that it was redundant. They put Christian on the Christian ones and didn't put it on the non-Christian ones. So the 'mistake' was not misclassifying the LDS.

View attachment 380184

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reasonable solution

The Book of Job

Many of us have read the book of Job and have seen the trials God put him through,we can all agree Job was hard done buy and whilst we feel sorry for Job, we cant help but think about our ourselves and if ever we found ourselves being in that situation wondering how we would react,or what we will do, at the end of the day it is a scary thought to have your whole life ripped away from you without explanation and in Jobs case being a righteous man made it all the more confusing.

What once was one of my most feared books to read in the Bible was the book of Job,like myself and many others we have what we value most to us and that is in the form of family,our jobs,children,possesions and so on,to suddenly have these things taken away from us would cause all types of grief in our lives

Now what was once the Bible story that I feared most has now become the Story that gives me the most peace and assurace,that is because their is a greater message in the Book of Job one that offers peace and guidance on how we can build and maintain a relationship with God.

We as humans tend to look at and react to what we can relate to and whether or not a situation like Jobs can become our reality,we become hyperfixated on the what ifs of life and sometimes don't see the greater picture or message.but what God has revealed to me I plan to reveal to you.

Now one day the angels came to present themselves to God and Satan came along with them,Satan on face value seems like he's trying to manipulate God into striking down Job because He Thinks Job is righteous only because God has blessed him in many ways,but before that God says to Satan,have you ever considered my servant Job? Their is none like him on earth,God being all knowing and all powerful knew what tactics Satan was up to but beat him before he could get a word out, When God gave permission to Satan to destroy Jobs life Satan thought he got his way and would prove his point.

Now at this point Job had his family taken away all his land, his animals,his wealth, everything that belonged to him except his life,after more heckling from Satan God gave permission to Him to inflict wounds on Job and make him ill, that was the final straw for job, job at this point was at his wits end he finally snapped,he went through a barage of emotions he went from crying out to God screaming why me,wondering what he did wrong, pleading his case with his three friends explaining to them he had did nothing wrong to deserve this affliction that came upon him,he went as far as cursing his own life and cursing the day he had been born, he asked God to take his life because their was no point of living anymore,he even went as far to say if God was before him he could honestly say he has done nothing wrong enough to deserve this,his three friends rebuke job they go back and forth for days deliberating amongst themselves trying to work with job to find out what Job had did wrong, they were defending God to Job saying that Jobs reaction is over the top almost to dramatic and that he needs to look deeper in himself because a righteous God doesn't pay back evil with good, they kept coming up with reasons all whilst Job kept hitting back with Raw emotion and defence for his case.

After many days of deliberation God shows up in a whirlwind and rebukes Job he opens Jobs eyes to the reality that Gods wisdom and reasoning surpasses all human emotion and interlect,he asks Job a simple question, Where were you when I laid the Earth's foundation? God went through a series of Questioning to Job challenging him on who knows what,and on who knows best,He shows Job that Gods reasoning for what he does is beyond human comprehension at times,God doesn't even justify himself to Job and give him the reason why this all happened to him instead he overwhelms job with questions about creation, nature, the seas, the stars,and the animals itself,He shows Job that he does not have the knowlege required to accuse God of injustice,Jobs suffering is real but does not have God like understanding and that it is better to Trust the wisdom of God who sees what he cannot. After the lamenting and lessons taught God gave back to Job two times more than what he lost.

Now this part here is what myself and what I think everyone misses this part is what should give us believers peace and clarity that yes their is a great lesson here to trust in God's wisdom and that we should humble ourselves to God and trust his understanding and reasoning even when it doesn't make sense and even when it is so hard. But when God was done with Job he turned his attention to his friends specifically Eliphaz,God said I am angry with you and your two friends,because you have not spoken the truth about me,as my servant Job has.

Hang on a minute? Job was the one with his first clentched to the air accusing God for what he had done, he was the one cursing his life and everything in it, he was the one back chatting to his friends when they would defend the case of God to him, yet instead God turned around and rebuked Eliphaz and his friends for speaking wrongly about him? You would think it would of been the other way around.

But through this sequence God has shown us what is acceptable to him,he has shown us a way to pray, to draw near to him,he has taught us how to build and maintain a relationship, and that is through one word, HONESTY, right through the book of Job, Job maintained his position he would not stray away from the fact that he was hard done by and he let God know all about it through his raw emotion but ultimately he was honest. And although God still rebuked him and put him back in his place, God still had him ahead of Jobs friends who were their offering up shallow excuses as to Why God did what he did,mainting their own self rightousnes, leaning on their own wisdom and understading as to why God does what he does..God ultimately said you guys are worse, Job was in the wrong but at least he poured out his heart and was willing to wrestle with God to gain understanding but you guys sat their claiming that you know me and my ways when in fact you have no idea.

The greatest thing we can take out of this is that Yes Jobs story is sad and it is a scary position to think about let alone be in, but the hidden message in all this, the assurances of knowing that God has called us into a honest relationship with him gives us so much peace and hope,to know that when we are going through tough times we can lean on God and sit their and lament with our hearts, we can pour out our hearts and know that he is right their,this type of Honesty goes beyond just when life gets hard,it is a blueprint for how we ought to approach God and the relationship we seek to have with him, whether we have done wrong or wrong has been done to us,whether its small details in our lives,whether it unconfessed sin,or the daily fleshly battles we face everyday,a honest relationship with God is what matters most. The fact we can be so honest with a all knowing all powerful God is such a luxury and I truly believe, that gives freedom, knowing that we've poured out our hearts and given it to someone who is so much more capable than we are is what should give us rest,

So yes Jobs story is sad and so are many of our own, but knowing that Gods wisdom and understading goes beyond ours gives us hope, knowing that we are called into a honest relationship with God,that gives us Rest.