Praying God fills Jake with the love and joy the world cannot give! In his holy name I pray, Amen!

Lord have mercy!

Pastor Jay Randolph said:

I am not sure it is as wide as you may think. I have been to more than a few of the churches in every state except for Alaska. I have seen some very shocking things in many, but been lifted up in many. I am not a fan of denominations, and feel that is one of the biggest problems with society. The other being the lack of unity. I have been to churches that do not talk about the cross, Blood, or dying to ourselves and taking up the cross daily. Most of the people I witness to are happy to point out that those who say they are Christians attend church for Worship and Bible study, and the rest of the week, act worse than the world. And sadly, many do. My goal is to do my bst, and point the world to Jesus.

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Thank you. I appreciate your comment and your insights, as well as you taking the time to read this and to respond to it.

This seems to depend upon what you count. Here's a nifty site that lets you choose which set of crimes to track: Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Mid-Year 2025 Update - Council on Criminal Justice. It's weird how much they differ. Of course almos all mayors of the largest cities are Democrats. Party affiliation of the mayors of the 100 largest cities

joymercy said:

People do respond well, when they are given love

I think that we especially need to listen and to listen well with all humility

Attending services is not enough if you do not let people know that you love and care about them

Reflection on ourselves and our lives as faithful Christians can help to show us how and where we need to step up

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This post is not directed at you Joymercy, it is just a post to make people reflect.

The question could be asked: How do we show true love?
Is love simply doing good deeds and being a friend? Certainly, kindness and friendship can reflect love. But when it comes to eternity, there is an even greater way to love: by addressing sin directly, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Jesus Himself is our example. To the Samaritan woman, He said, “Go, call your husband”, knowing she had many and was living in adultery. To the rich young ruler, who declared his willingness to follow, He replied, “Sell everything you have”, exposing his love of money. To the self-righteous Pharisees, who claimed Abraham as their father, Jesus declared, “You are of your father the devil”, revealing their slavery to sin.
Jesus consistently confronted sin. Why? Because He loved people and did not want them to perish.
Yet, He also warned that such love would not always be well received. He said the world hated Him because He testified that its deeds were evil. If we follow His example, the world will hate us too.
But still, we are called to love our neighbour. And true love sometimes means “pushing the hot button”: showing people their sin, even at our own expense.

Unqualified said:

The devil is an imposter.

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And a fraud.

From here: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/27/us/alligator-alcatraz-closing

'In a message sent to South Florida Rabbi Mario Rojzman on Aug. 22 related to providing chaplaincy services at the facility, Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said “we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days,” implying there would soon be no need for the services.'

Now that we have established that homosexuality is considered a sin, let’s take a look at the Lord’s wrath being poured out because of this abomination. Let us direct our attention to Genesis 18:17.

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; (Genesis 18:17)

Why did the Lord stop to talk to Abraham? Make a special notation of the next few scriptures.

Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. (Genesis 18:18-19)

The statement offered above gives us the explanation of why the Lord stopped to talk to Abraham. The reason is this, “that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” Brothers and sisters if we do justice and judge righteously the Lord will also reveal His secrets to us. If we keep the commandments then we will be able to do justice.

Let’s continue:

And the LORD said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.” (Genesis 18:20-21)

Sisters and brothers, note what the verse says, “their sin is very grievous.” What is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law (I John 3:4). This indicates to us that the law was around long before the Prophet Moses came into the picture.

Let’s continue:

And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. (Genesis 18:22-33)

Abraham was pretty bold don’t you think? Let’s go right into the 19th chapter and see this grievous sin that was being committed.

And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: (Genesis 19:1-4)

Abraham could have asked the Lord if there was one righteous. Notice the verse states, “people from every quarter.” We see that there were none considered righteous and all were worthy of death.

And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. (Genesis 19:5-8)

Lot offered his virgin daughters to these sodomites? That’s deep! Let’s see what happen next.

And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. Genesis 19:10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. (Genesis 19:9-11)

Note what the verse says, “they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.” They still made an attempt to break the door down to sodomize Lot and the two angels, after they were blinded. This is an example of James 1:14, where it states, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” By the way brothers and sisters, if an individual commits any sin continually, after they have been informed or have the knowledge that it is sin; the Lord may kill an individual with the first death, which Adam past onto us all. And after that He may wake up the same individual in the second resurrection and will have an angel throw them into the lake of fire. So, we see that the men of Sodom were involved in homosexual activity. Let’s see this death that was brought about by the Lord because of sin. Let’s skip down to the 24th verse.

Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. (Genesis 19:24-25)

The Lord destroyed all the inhabitants of the city and all the plain, nothing escaped but Lot and his two daughters. Why? Because of sin, which brings about death?

joymercy said:

Yes

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I think there will be more people in hell than heaven, based on what our Blessed Lord said.

An apostolate rooted in an ancient Church tradition is training Catholic men today to protect parishes and parishioners.

Do Catholic churches need to provide more security?

That question is on many minds in the aftermath of a mass shooting of schoolchildren during a Mass at a parish church in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

One group in Arizona has been training Catholic men to provide security for their parishes for about five years.

“Unfortunately, today is an example of why it’s needed,” said Brian Eaton, the founder of Porters of St. Joseph, an apostolate of volunteer men who, according to its website, seek “to imitate St. Joseph as the Protector of the Holy Church, Pillar of Families, and Terror of Demons.”

“We don’t live in the world that I grew up in. That world has gone away. The Church is always changing and adapting to the challenges, spiritually and physically, in any moment in time,” Eaton told the Register in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Eaton, 45, a police officer in Arizona, said he was surprised when he entered the Catholic Church in June 2020 how little security he saw.

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Viki_rrr said:

Hello, my name is Victoria. I grew up in a country with secular views, but the most widespread religion here is Islam. My family are not very devout Christians; since childhood I went to church, was baptized in Orthodoxy, but I could not call myself truly faithful. Until I came of age, I lived, in some sense, a rather reckless lifestyle: I got acquainted with alcohol and cigarettes early on. At the age of eighteen, I began to take an interest in Christianity, and to be honest, that was the worst year of my life. I started thinking more about religion, and this gradually helped me come out of a crisis. Of course, I read the Bible, prayed, but honestly, I am sure that my knowledge is not well-structured, and I would like to hear your advice: where is the best place for me to start?

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Nice to meet you Victoria.
Welcome to the forums.

The best place to start, is where you did - reading the Bible, and prayer.
I remember a song they sung at Sunday School... "Read your Bible, Pray every day... Pray every day... Pray every day. Read your Bible, Pray every day... and you;'' grow grow grow..." Or was it, "And the good Lord will bless you"? I forgot.

Of course, as little ones, we did not have a clue what exactly that meant, as we just enjoyed singing, but now that I am grown, I realize how true those words are, and what they really mean.

Keep reading the Bible, and praying every day for the Lord to help you come to really know him, and he will provide you the means to do so.
Have a good time.

Aldebaran said:

Post #60
That's where you said you have "repeatedly" referred to the the assault as a crime.
Therefore, my "accusation" that you admitted that it actually was a crime is not a false one. You posted to that fact yourself. I'm not sure what the problem is here.

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It's the framing of it. By saying "admit" you are implying a previous "denial" which is disingenuous, at best.

One might assume that the soul would be a more controversial topic than the body in Catholic teaching, given that it is invisible and hard to imagine.

Nevertheless, when St. Paul was preaching to the Athenians, their main objection came after he revealed the doctrine that we would all rise again — with our bodies!

Now, what causes us daily griefs? Physical ailments, being tired, needing to hydrate, needing to go to the bathroom when we are busy, weight gain — do we want this mortal coil forever? Yet it is an article of our faith that we were made bodily and, after a brief separation, our souls will be reunited with our beloved bodies forever.

A love-hate relationship​

As with many things in a culture that has been formed by Christianity but has lost the fuller, integrated sense of it, we are constantly bouncing back and forth between an inordinate love of our bodies and the other extreme of hating them. The former causes the latter.

You can’t hate something you don’t first love, and our image-saturated culture loves to show us bodies. Many of our readers can surely sympathize; my body doesn’t look Instagram-ready all the time.

For the body-obsessed, countless hours are spent on hair and makeup and in the gym. Nevertheless, ol’ Grim Reaper will come for the chiseled as well as the flabby, and gravity will take its toll. The massive growth of the Botox and plastic surgery industry fights back, but to no avail.

Continued below.

It is strange that you wrote this...

Because I have a family member that is dating a very bad woman right now, and multiple people have thought that she has placed a curse on him. Many bad things happen to him.

I do not know if he has been cursed, but I think God could be allowing it in his life to repent and turn to Jesus for salvation.

com7fy8 said:

Well well . . . I just viewed a few translations of this verse, and yes it seems some make it about what God desires, while others bring out prayer that He will do the good things we hope for.

For starters . . . it can mean the same thing, either way. After all, if God has good He desires for us, yes it is good for Paul to pray this for us. And . . . "of course" . . . if we desire what God desires . . . praying for what we want is the same as praying for what God wants . . . if we want what God wants! So . . . either way of translating can mean the same thing.

So . . . now let me look at an interlinear >

It seems Paul prays that God will fulfill every good pleasure. Every pleasure that is good,

***pleasing to God Himself***

. . . is what Paul means, here, I would say . . .

This would mean whatsoever God Himself in His so great goodness can desire and do; and this good is so more and better than we now can hope and think and desire. But as God shares with us His own good, and we grow in this sharing with God, then we become more and more able to discover all so better than we could have hoped while less mature. However, He changes our character so we become more and more able to share with Him in His own love where all His good is.

And this includes how God changes us to become all-loving and sharing and caring as His family, the way His love is > this is included in the good pleasure which so pleases God Himself.

But is this what has our attention, all through the day and in our praying???? May be, "not quite" > so, in case ones translate this verse to mean what we ourselves are now capable of desiring . . . this can be limiting, away from all which God is capable of pleasing and doing.

So, I would favor, most of all, how this scripture can mean all that is possible with God. And we have Jesus Christ "who also makes intercession for us" > in Romans 8:34 > praying for us according to His own faith, not limited to how we might be able to wish and want and pray. Plus, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us > Romans 8:29.

So, I see how Paul is praying for God to take us beyond how we can now think and want and pray.

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Well thought out, com!

People are fed up and taking action. Co-existing is not a thing that can ever happen.

A rising senior at a high school in Grand Island, New York, Sabrina Steffans, is now allowed to decorate her school parking space with Christian messages after her high school reversed course after initially rejecting her faith-based artwork.

Grand Island High School allows seniors to paint their parking spots “to encourage students to express themselves through positive artwork, to beautify the campus, to build school spirit, and to create a new and exciting radiation to support senior class activities and events.”

When Steffans, a Christian who leads a Bible club at her school, proposed three drawings for her parking space, the school rejected the first two, which had Christian themes.

Steffans said the school approved the third design, “which had no Bible verses, no crosses, or anything.”

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wing2000 said:

Consequences for friends, but not Putin.

Weak.

Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to purchase Russian exports....

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4-D chess!

Fundraiser set up for attack victim in critical condition​

August 28, 2025 at 02:25 pm ET

An online fundraiser has been set up for one of the students shot in Wednesday’s attack, 12-year-old Sophia Forchas, who had just started seventh grade at Annunciation Catholic School. She is currently in critical condition and in the ICU at a local hospital.

According to the GoFundMe page:
“She has already undergone emergency surgery, and her medical team is doing everything they can to stabilize her. Her road ahead will be long, uncertain, and incredibly difficult — but she is strong, and she is not alone.

“Adding to the heartbreak, her younger brother was also inside the school during the shooting. Though he was physically unharmed, the trauma of witnessing such a terrifying event — and knowing his sister was critically injured — is something no child should ever experience.

“Furthermore, her mother, a pediatric critical care nurse, arrived at work to help during the tragedy, before knowing it was her children’s school that was attacked and that her daughter was critically injured.”

Franciscan University claps back at Jen Psaki’s anti-prayer rhetoric​

August 28, 2025 at 11:00 am ET

On Wednesday, Aug. 27, a shooter opened fire at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis during the opening Mass for the first week of school.

Several public figures commented on the tragedy, saying that “thoughts and prayers” are not enough when addressing this situation.

One of these public figures included former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

In a viral X post, Psaki attacked those assuring the Minnesota Catholic school of their prayers for the shooting victims and all those involved.

Thousands of users responded, blasting Paski for her anti-prayer rhetoric.
The Franciscan University of Steubenville provided a powerful response, explaining that prayer is the “very place we meet Christ, who himself was unjustly slain.”

ChurchPop has the full story here.

Annunciation Catholic School releases statement​

August 28, 2025 at 10:22 am ET

The leaders of the Minneapolis school where two children were shot and killed during a mass shooting incident on Wednesday say the school will remain closed for the time being as the community continues to deal with the “unfathomable” deadly incident.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday evening, Annunciation Catholic School Principal Matthew DeBoer and parish pastor Father Dennis Zehren described the crisis as an “impossible situation.”

“No words can capture what we have gone through, what we are going through, and what we will go through in the coming days and weeks,” they wrote. “But we will navigate this — together.”

Lewandowski’s veto power over DHS contracts frustrates admin officials: ‘Corey is part of the problem’​

Corey Lewandowski, the former Trump campaign manager-turned-[misdemeanor batterer turned]-Department of Homeland Security senior adviser, is involved in green-lighting six-figure contracts at the agency, according to an administration official and two FEMA officials.

His involvement has contributed to a bottleneck at the agency that has rankled members of the administration, frustrated at both the delays and Lewandowski’s role as a so-called special governmental employee [wink-wink] the three officials said.

“Corey is part of the problem,” said the administration official. “It doesn’t matter how quickly we get it there, it doesn’t just go straight to her desk.”

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin responded to POLITICO’s request for comment with a statement saying “FALSE. ”

He is regularly seen alongside Noem at events and on travel, and is referred to by former and current Trump administration officials as Noem’s de facto chief of staff.

Dan1988 said:

Is salvation, by grace or by works or by a combination of both.

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It all begins with grace. without which salvation is impossible. But grace can be resissted, or not; it can be cooperated with, or not. Salvation is about union with the Vine, as we're grafted into Him by faith. Whether we remain in Him or not involves the willingnes to do so. If we do, and continue to, we will live the life of grace, God's life in us, by the Spirit. producing much good fruit. If we aren't producing good fruit, fruit born of the love the Holy Spirit pores into believers (Rom 5;5), then we're not even His, or we've left the fold. So, as James says, faith and works must go hand in hand. This is because faith without love would be dead.

"The only thing that counts is faith working through love." Gal 5:6

So we're justifed-made just-by turning to and relying not on ourselves anymore but on God=faith. The result is real righteousness given:
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord." Jer 31:33-34

From that point we must continue to walk with Him in that justice/righteousness, that love that fulfills the law, picking up our cross daily and growing in those virtues which come only from Him as a result of drawing near to and uniting with Him. It's all about who one hangs out with. The following directive has never changed one bit under the new covant. Instead, were simply given the means to finally achieve it, by virtue of union with the Vine, now reconciled with God by the death of His Son who came to make God known-so that we may believe and become "my people", knowing God as a child of His should.

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

Does anybody have any Quotes, or mottos they life by? Mine has always been "The right way, may not always be the easy way, but it is always the right way"

Praying our youth turn more and more towards Christ!