Praying for all those affected and for world peace!

Pakistan’s Senate has passed legislation removing the death penalty for two specific crimes in what officials openly acknowledge is a calculated move to preserve billions in European trade benefits — while leaving untouched the blasphemy laws that have sent dozens of Christians to death row.

The Criminal Laws Amendment Bill, which awaits National Assembly approval and presidential sign-off, eliminates capital punishment for publicly stripping women and harboring hijackers. Pakistani officials did not attempt to disguise their motivation: the changes were explicitly designed to satisfy European Union requirements under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+) trade scheme, which demands that death sentences be “limited to the most serious crimes only.”

“This bill is aimed at aligning Pakistan’s laws with its international obligations under the GSP+ trade agreement with the European Union,” Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told senators, according to Pakistani media reports.

Trade benefits trump human rights​

Continued below.

Just a few meters from Immaculate Conception Cathedral in the Argentine city of La Plata stands the world’s largest mural dedicated to Pope Francis, painted by renowned artist Martín Ron. This work represented a great technical challenge and aims to be a message of peace, of union “between earth and heaven,” and — why not? — a place of prayer and pilgrimage.

Ron’s career spans both time and space, with more than two decades of painting and works that beautify cities around the world. In his native Argentina, a soccer-loving land par excellence, two of his most talked-about murals are those depicting star players Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, just a sample of the hundreds that bear his signature.

On July 26, in the presence of city officials and the archbishop of La Plata, Gustavo Carrara, a 50-meter-high (164-foot) mural depicting Pope Francis, another of the “popular idols” Ron was tasked with painting, was inaugurated and blessed.

“As muralists, beyond painting our own works, we are constantly identifying those figures that have a strong popular following,” because muralism “is still pop art,” the artist told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

Continued below.

The Barbarian said:

Two sexual abuse victims of Jeffrey Epstein and the family of late Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre on Friday blasted President Donald Trump after learning that Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell had been transferred to a less restrictive prison in Texas from Florida.

“This move smacks of a cover up,” Epstein victims Annie Farmer and Maria Farmer, as well as Giuffre’s relatives said in a statement.

“President Trump has sent a clear message today: Pedophiles deserve preferential treatment and their victims do not matter,” the statement said, noting that the two women and Giuffre’s family had not been notified of Maxwell’s transfer before media reports of it.

Maxwell’s transfer to minimum security camp in Bryan, Texas, came after two days of meetings she and her lawyer had last week in Tallahassee, Florida, with a top Justice Department official.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/01/jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwell-prison-florida-texas.html

If he's innocent, he's doing everything to make it look as though he's guilty.

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The whole purpose of these meetings was to buy her silence and to then sign the usual NDA for a room upgrade.

02 August 2025 – Pakistan​

Pray for Nabeela and Angelica, the wife and daughter of Ishfaq Masih, who has been imprisoned for blasphemy since 2017. He was sentenced to death in 2022. Please pray that the appeal against this sentence would succeed.

01 August 2025 – Pakistan​

Pray for Nawab Bibi, the wife of Zafar Bhatti, who is imprisoned for his faith (see Voice, July-Sept 2024). Nawab’s health is poor and she needs substantial care and support.

31 July 2025 – Uganda​

Pray for the untold number of Christians who have received death threats and suffered violence for leading Muslims to Christ. Pray that God would give believers wisdom and protection as they share the gospel.

30 July 2025 – Uganda​

Pray for the children and friends of Nasiimu Mirembe, who was stabbed to death by her husband two days after becoming a Christian in March. Nasiimu’s six children range in age from 3 to 18. She was 41 years old.

29 July 2025 – Uganda​

Pray for an end to the increasing violence perpetrated by hardline Muslims in eastern Uganda. Earlier this year an evangelist, Robert Kasozi, also known as Mulokole, was beaten and stabbed after he and his team led a widow to Christ during an open-air gospel meeting. Pray for the three co-workers who were also beaten.

28 July 2025 – Egypt​

Praise God for those in Egypt who seek to share the love of Christ often in hostile environments. Pray that He will be their shield.

27 July 2025 – Egypt​

Give thanks to God that two Christian converts who were locked in an Egyptian prison and held for three years without trial have been released. Pray for continued protection for Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo and Nour Girgis.

Although the majority of Mexico’s population is Christian, many believers live in danger of persecution, particularly from criminal gangs, drug cartels and indigenous groups. In many parts of the country, the presence of criminal groups is growing. Christians who bravely speak out against their activities, or who are involved in community work or evangelism (especially with youth, drug addicts and migrants) are deemed a threat. That makes them a target. In some cases, Christian children or the children of church leaders are singled out.
In some Indigenous communities, those who decide to leave ancestral and traditional beliefs to follow Jesus face ostracism, fines, incarceration and forced displacement. Given that indigenous leaders are those who administer justice in such areas, believers have no one to turn to investigate wrongdoing and protect their religious freedom. These families can also face harassment from the community, such as property damage, restriction of access to schools for their children, and threats.
Mexico is a strictly secular state, and hostility toward the Christian faith and values has increased in general, while public expressions of Christianity face increasingly strong legal scrutiny.

Meet Mauricio​

“My suffering started when I accepted Lord Jesus. The authorities in my community first tried to take away my land title. They took away my certificate so that I couldn’t work my land, they imprisoned me and my wife for 24 hours, and finally, they took away our drinking water and public services.”
Mauricio, a Mexican believer.

What does Open Doors do to help?​

Open Doors strengthens persecuted believers in Mexico with biblical training, legal support, trauma care and socio-economic aid.

Please pray​

• Pray that God will protect His people living in areas with drug cartels and criminal gangs.
• Pray that God will continue to draw believers from indigenous communities to Himself and care for them.
• Pray for God to strengthen Open Doors local partners, so they can help build His kingdom in the country.

Are we seeing the rumblings of the Four Winds preparing to be let loose?

Revelation:7:1-4
1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

These four winds from what the Scriptures state shows that the four winds will be let loose at the time the servants of God are sealed.

Spirit of Prophecy tells us:

"We are standing upon the threshold of great and solemn events. Prophecies are fulfilling. Strange, eventful history is being recorded in the books of heaven. Everything in our world is in agitation. There are wars, and rumors of wars. The nations are angry, and the time of the dead has come, that they should be judged. Events are changing to bring about the day of God which hasteth greatly. Only a moment of time, as it were, yet remains. But while already nation is rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, there is not now a general engagement. As yet the four winds are held until the servants of God shall be sealed in their foreheads. Then the powers of earth will marshal their forces for the last great battle."-- Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 14.

And more..

"The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land, follow each other in quick succession. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. Men cannot discern the sentinel angels restraining the four winds that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed; but when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there shall be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture."--Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 408.

We are seeing the events coming at us in quick succession and we hear the lie of climate change and a 'deep state' behind it or a tyrant and yet Gods Word tells us what is behing it all...

The reason for me doubting morality is rooted in the way Christianity is portrayed through mainstream media. It's very counter intuitive to Christianity. I feel like it tries to over emphasize it without explaining the Word of God and including the Holy Spirit into teachings leaving everyone with less than nothing.

Satan runs the world (for now and insofar as he is allowed by God). One might expect that the world (including mainstream media) would not be interested in painting an accurate picture of Christianity. We also have the problem of Christianity as it was supposed to be versus how it is actually practiced.

In addition, Christianity should not be measured by morality. Israel was supposed to show the world morality by keeping the law. The law and morality help us to learn to limit the harm we do to others. Christianity was supposed to be about transcending the law by actively doing good for others. Morality was supposed to be incidental to Christianity.

Christianity was supposed to be about us becoming like Jesus and showing his selfless love to others. Sadly, we still mostly walk in the flesh. Some even try to make Christianity law like.

If you can dig past the baloney, you can find that in Christianity that is real, true, and of value.

All churches have problems because they are run by people. There are three main problem categories, doctrine, personalities, and structure. As a possible solution, you may want to find a small bible church. These are generally independent and are often similar to the Baptist model. They key thing to look for is where you can get instruction in Bible tools to help you learn on your own. This will let you sift through the tons of baloney people will throw at you.

The purpose of the church can be found in Ephesians;

Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Using this metric, it is difficult to see any church that is not a failure because none of us has made much progress in Christ-likeness. If your church is not helping you become more like Christ, you need to find one that will or learn to use bible tools that will help you learn more on your own.

There are a lot of web sites that are not very helpful, but one I found that has an extensive blog archive, and free videos, and books that might help;

If we read the Scriptures in their correct biblical context, we cannot miss the fact that what they teach as the life of a follower of Christ is someone who not only is a hearer of the Word, but is one who obeys the Word of God, in practice. The Scriptures do not teach what so many people are teaching as the gospel today, in that they do not teach that we can just give lip service to God and that nothing is required of us by God in the way of us dying to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands.

What the Scriptures do teach regarding salvation from sin and eternal life with God is that, by faith in Jesus Christ, if it is biblical faith, we die with Christ to sin, we are reborn of the Spirit of God, and we now walk, in conduct, in obedience to our Lord and to his commandments, by the grace of God, in the power of God. Sin is no longer what we practice, but obedience to our Lord is what we do by habit. We are not just hearers of the word, but we are those who are putting the word into daily exercise.

Yet, there are many people today who are teaching a gospel message absent of all obedience to our Lord and to his commandments, and absent of all death to sin, for they are teaching a “feel good” message which convinces the sinner if they just “pray the prayer to receive Christ” that now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, future), and heaven is secured for them when they die, but regardless of how they live. And although they know the evil they are committing is wrong, they walk away and just forget about it.

Some of them just do the “claim who you are in Christ” thing in order to alleviate any guilty conscience, but they are not really “in Christ” until they have died with Christ to sin and they are now walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands as a matter of life custom, although not necessarily in absolute perfection. For if their faith does not change how they live for the good and for the glory of God, in obedience to his commands, then it is not biblical faith which saves from sin and which promises eternal life with God.

So, we are to be those who look intently into the Scriptures and into what they teach, in truth, if taught in their correct biblical context. We are not to believe whatever someone else tells us is the truth, but we are to be seekers of truth who search the Scriptures ourselves for truth by reading them in their right context. And there we will learn that faith which saves results in us dying to sin and living to God in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands or it is not genuine faith that results in eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

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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An Effectual Doer
An Original Work / August 2, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

The speaker, if translated to today, is a follower of Jesus Christ. This is someone who has died with Christ to sin and who is walking in obedience to the Lord, in practice, who loves the Lord, and whose desire it is to serve him with their life. This is someone whose life is committed to following the Lord wherever he leads in doing whatever it is that he commands, even if it means being hated, rejected, lied about, and mistreated, in return.

And this servant of the Lord is being lied about, and gossiped about, and slandered for their walk of faith in obedience to the Lord Jesus. Why? Because this is a person of integrity, who believes what the Scriptures teach in their correct context, and whose life is committed to obeying the Lord and to speaking his truth, even if it means being mistreated and lied about. For they know that the truth is what leads people to genuine salvation from sin.

But what this person is up against are those who fake their Christianity, who put on a show of righteousness, but who are arrogant, morally corrupt, malicious, those who speak lies, and those who deceive and manipulate and twist the Scriptures to their advantage so that they can keep on living in sin without feeling guilty for their sin. They are the self-indulgent who profess faith in Christ, while morally they are failing, sinking, and deteriorating.

And so the picture I am getting here is that God is presently rebuking the arrogant, the cursed, who wander from the commandments of God in order to chase after the desires of the sinful flesh, but while they confess faith in Jesus Christ with their lips, and while they show contempt and disdain to the truly righteous who are following the Lord in truth and in walks of obedience to the Lord. For they despise the righteous who call out sin for what it is.

But in the Lord’s rebuke, which could come in all sorts of manners to get the attention of the liars who disdain the commands of God while they verbally claim to know God and to be hearing from God, he is, in essence, saying to the arrogant that they need to stop lying, and tell the truth, and to stop being morally corrupt, and to live holy and righteously in obedience to the Lord’s commands, for this is what God commands of his followers.

This really is a loving appeal by God to the self-indulgent professers of faith in Jesus, who lie and who live immoral lives, to come to genuine repentance, to die with Christ to sin (not just once, but daily), and to live life according to the commands of God written down for us in the New Testament Scriptures. And this means now being truth tellers who love God and others, and who live godly and moral lives to the glory and praise of God.

And if those who are actively reproaching and showing contempt for the servants of the Lord Jesus who are living righteously, if they would now repent, and turn from their wicked ways, confess their sins, and now obey God and show love to those they once hated, that would, at least to some extent, take away some that reproach and contempt presently being aimed at those who are true servants of the Lord, who are doing as he commands.

But what we all need to understand here is that faith in Jesus Christ is not lip service only, and it is not a one-time event which takes place in our lives which now guarantees us forgiveness of all sins, and heaven as our eternal destiny, but while we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands. Faith which saves dies to sin and obeys God as a matter of life practice, and it continues until the end.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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God Rebuking the Arrogant
An Original Work / August 2, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Joy Allen said:

I'm afraid it's a cult. I just wonder if that is why he uses KJV because it is so easy to tell someone what it means to you. That's just some discernment. I just can't get into their studies. I think that is why my aunt likes it because it's a study, not preaching. One of my friends who is a pastor said that his wife was working at a Christian bookstore and a woman wanted a Bible saying that she wanted KJV because that is how Jesus talked LOL.

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Oof on that one, lol

Yeah unfortunately some people will go with the KJV because they believe it "sounds like the bible" and that's just because it's the most familiar version.
It's fine to adopt that version because it's so widely adopted and agreed upon that it's a good translation, but it should never be treated as the ONLY good translation.

I can get that a bible study would be more appealing than preaching or in my case it's way more appealing than singing. Being a bit autistic, I can struggle with large crowds especially with a bunch of voices in cacophony (because let's face it congregational singing isn't a smoothed out choir sound) because it becomes too many sound sources at once, it can be sensory overload. Then I myself don't like to sing because I hate the sound of my voice and the way it vibrates my chest if I try singing.
So I'm much more apt to want to go to bible study (because I love scripture and it's smaller groups) than worship services. I don't mind preaching as long as it's expository, focusing on scripture rather than the Pastor's own agenda.

Does your church have a day of bible study? That might be a way to get her in.

Valletta said:

We finally have a leader who doesn't just talk about cutting prices, but takes action.

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Real action:

In 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, which included a provision that requires all Part D plans to charge no more than $35 per month for all covered insulin products, and also limits cost sharing for insulin covered under Part B to $35 per month. Deductibles no longer apply to insulins under Part D or Part B. These provisions took effect in 2023 (January 1 for Part D; July 1 for Part B).

Louisiana caught her. She deserves to pay Medicaid back. And be punished.

Unqualified said:

Is this a trick question. Through Adam’s sin we all were condemned. Through Jesus righteous act we were justified..
throgh Adam’s sin we all became sinners, through obedience to Christ we have been made righteous. Obedience to repent and come out of our worldly sin and seek a little righteousness of our own by obeying the Ten Commandments..

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enoob57 said:

One man Adam chose, for his children, to be altered by being born dead spiritually…so through the one man, Jesus, all men are able to individually choose to be alive spiritually through his righteousness…

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Clare73 said:

Through faith in Christ our sin is remitted (salvation) and we are declared "not guilty" (justification), and
we are accounted righteous with the imputed righteousness of Christ (Ro 5:18-19, 1:17, 3:21, 4:5, Php 3:9), not made inherently righteous, followed by personal sanctification (inherent righteosness) through obedience in the Holy Spirit (Ro 6:16, 19).

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just because folks don’t always know, but this is the Orthodox subforum, and the OP was asking the Orthodox POV. St Basil’s is only for the Orthodox to answer.

Chrystal-J said:

Reminds me of how Fr. Corapi would try to be "cool" and "relatable". He ended up in a huge mess and walked away from the priesthood for a while.

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When I was in grade school we had a really popular priest. He wasn’t good looking but he was vey nice and everybody loved him. Father Grass.

A part of me hopes that religious families will challenge this on the basis that it is incongruent with their religious beliefs to teach the Bible apart from a religious context.

-CryptoLutheran

RileyG said:

May they rest in peace and rise to glory!

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Thanks again!

SD election office publishes voter list labeling thousands as public assistance applicants​

Information is included in newly required free version of statewide registration spreadsheet​

The legislation passed in March. It requires the Secretary of State’s Office — which oversees elections — to make the state’s entire voter registration list freely available online, after the list was previously available only for a $2,500 fee.

Activists who favor the hand-counting of ballots, oppose the use of vote-counting machines and deny the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election were among those who promoted the legislation as an “election integrity” measure.

South Dakota Searchlight downloaded the list and found it included information such as each voter’s name, political party and address. It additionally included phone numbers and email addresses, if voters provided those two pieces of optional information

There was also a column identifying where and how voters registered, such as at a driver’s exam station, a disability services office, a military recruitment center, or while applying for assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or the Women, Infants and Children program. [This has been removed, albeit with some shoddy implementation.]

A spokesperson for the office told South Dakota Searchlight in an emailed statement that the free spreadsheet contains the same information that was “traditionally” available by paying the $2,500 fee. [D and R politicians have stated the where/how data was not available in previous versions of the file.]

When asking public assistance applicants if they’d like to register to vote, the state Department of Social Services economic assistance application says “information regarding the office to which the voter registration form was submitted will remain confidential and be used only for voter registration purposes.”

Ora pro nobis!

This could get interesting.....

“Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Friday.

...
Earlier this week, Trump said he was “disappointed” in Russian President Vladimir Putin for his continued strikes on Ukraine and announced he was shortening the deadline to reach a peace deal from 50 days down to “10 to 12” days.

Medvedev responded to the new deadline in a rare social media post, alleging Trump was “playing the ultimatum game” with Russia."He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran," Medvedev wrote. “2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!”

Pommer said:

Ooo, lookie at that, a “lefty” news source, nicely done!

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Trump says they eat pets. Isn't that enough?

Children rights are more important than the selfish feelings of so called same sex couples. Period.

When he was with the WWE there were some that would not ride with him due to how he drove. Judging by the article it seems like his driving style hasn't changed.