For reference, I live in hot and humid tropical climate and my estimated daily water loss far exceeds my daily water intake(only 2 to 3 glasses of water from all sources). Yet I'm still able to exercise like an athlete without any difficulties and my heart rate and blood pressure is that of athletes. I still sweat but I don't feel hot during workouts. It doesn't make sense at all.

I only drink when thirsty and that is how my hydration went down to only 2-3 glasses over time.

FireDragon76 said:

What exactly is "nonsensical"? That's for Congress to decide, not a billionaire oligarch.

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Congress just dictates the amounts that each department and agency will have to work with.

They decide the "how much"

It's the bureaucracy within the agencies that determines the "who receives it"

So while it's not nonsensical for Congress to say "we allocate $10 billion to the EPA this year"

It is nonsensical for the federal bureaucracy to shovel that money out the door to organizations that have little to no expertise in the realm of climate or environment.

That's how a Social Justice NGO (whose primary focus is encouraging banks to adopt more inclusive lending practices in urban communities), ended up being the stewards of $2 billion of the EPA budget, to distribute over the next 3 years.

Since the federal bureaucracy & agencies are so heavily stacked with Democrats, them shoveling money out the door to NGOs to distribute over the subsequent years is a thinly veiled way of doing an "even if we lose, we win"

Three women have secured a $17.5 million settlement after contending that the Philadelphia hotels where their bodies were sold for sex as minors were aware they were hubs for human trafficking but failed to take measures to protect potential victims.

Attorneys with Kline & Specter, a Pennsylvania law firm, secured the settlement on behalf of the three women, as The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Wednesday. The settlement was reached on March 13, and the victims will receive the $17.5 million from the Motel 6, Days Inn and North American Motor Inn.

The plaintiffs, whose names were not mentioned in court documents to protect their identities, filed their respective lawsuits against the Philadelphia hotels between 2022 and 2024 in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia.

Continued below.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, explained one of the expressions of reverence Catholics make in church — genuflection — and why they make this sign.

In a video posted on X, the cardinal commented that this past St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, a woman who stopped to talk to him after Mass told him that, although she is not Catholic, she loves the Church and enjoys attending Mass but doesn’t understand the various postures people take. The cardinal then decided to explain them to his viewers, beginning with genuflection.

“Here’s the first posture that we Catholics always do. When we come into church, we look for the tabernacle, where the real presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is reposed, and we genuflect!” the archbishop of New York explained.

“We go down on one knee. We genuflect. Why? That’s the ancient sign of adoration, the ancient sign of esteem, the ancient sign of worship,” he continued.

Continued below.

Bob8102 said:

One time, decades ago, I was having a conversation with one of my friends who was at that time an atheist. I made some comment relating to the concept of ‘what it would be like to be God.’ He responded, “No challenges.” Since then I’ve thought about that and have concluded that God DOES have challenges. It is a challenge for Him to get people in this world to believe and obey, responding positively to the gospel. With the angels, there was a time to make an instant decision whether to keep worshiping God, or to rebel. This occurred at the beginning of creation and then the time for decision was quickly past. But God set up for Himself a challenge when it comes to dealing with us. We were to have a protracted time of temptation, and, before the fall of man, God’s challenge was to have the people of the world keep believing and obeying Him. Since the fall, the challenge to God is the same: to get people to believe and obey. Only now we have an in-built sin nature working against God and against our own souls. Somewhere in the Old Testament, it says something like, “The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.” It also says of the Messiah that ‘zeal for His Father’s house will consume Him.’ When one has zeal for something, that means they are striving against a counter-current that is against that thing that they are striving for. God has zeal for His purposes, and He strives against the counter-current of human sin and evil and unbelief. So, God does have challenges!

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I think God does it all strictly for entertainment purposes:

Revelation 4:11
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

I'm also pretty sure being executed on a cross wasn't a picnic, or His long suffering with all of us

Patience taps His Fingers on the table of judgments

It is strange that anti Semitism led Nazi Germany to be jointly strangled by the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union. Modern Germany had to please American Jews.

I wonder if some American is going to harbor him.

When we believe in Jesus Christ with God-gifted and God-persuaded faith, and so we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness, and so Satan has lost his control over our lives, then Satan (the devil) fights back, because he wants to get us back under his control, living out of control, in deliberate sin against God.

But it isn’t just that. If he can’t get us to sin against the Lord, then he will try other methods to try to bring us down. He will falsely accuse us of things we did not do to try to make us feel guilty for no reason, or he will accuse us with the purpose in mind to destroy our reputations and to get other people to believe his lies against us. He will do everything within his power, and only as God allows it, to get us to give up on God and to retreat.

But God allows Satan to exist and to scheme against the Lord’s servants for a reason. I believe it is because we live in flesh bodies, and we are human beings. And, without any opposition or struggles or hardships, we may lack in zeal for the Lord and in commitment to serve the Lord as we ought, and we may not sense the urgency to get the truth of the gospel to the people of the world. But through persecution we learn endurance, if we are willing.

We learn to fight for what is truth, and for moral purity and righteousness, and against all that is evil and immoral and wicked and of the devil. And we learn to persevere regardless of how much we are faced with rejection and persecution for our stands for truth and righteousness. We learn persistence and steadfastness of mind and heart, and to not give up hope just because, by all appearances, things may appear to be hopeless sometimes.

And we learn to stand up for what is right and to not let the opposition bully us into backing down and to compromising our faith and convictions. And we grow stronger in our faith walks. We hunger more after God and his word, and we want more of God. And we develop closer walks of fellowship with our Lord in intimacy with our Lord. And we become very determined to obey our Lord against all opposition and to keep speaking the truth of his word.

And putting on the whole armor of God is not going through some sort of religious ritual or just reciting the armor parts, but it is actually putting the word of God into practice in our daily lives. So we speak the truth of God’s word against the lies, and we share the truth of the gospel, and we refute the lies so that people will believe the truth and not the lies, and so they will die with Christ to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands, by faith.

And we walk by faith and not by sight. And this faith comes from God, and is not of our own doing, and so it results in us dying with Christ to sin and us walking in obedience to his commands. And we live as those who have been delivered from our slavery (addiction) to sin, no longer as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And so we live godly and morally pure lives, with self-control, under the control of God, in his power.

But, if we give in to Satan and to his schemes against us, and we pull back from God and from doing his will, and we end up rejecting what the Scriptures teach, in context, and if we adopt the lies, and so we continue living in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands, the Scriptures teach that we do not know God, we are not in fellowship with God, and we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

I AM

By L. Wayne Hilliard / Michael W. Smith

I am the root of David,
The bright and morning star,
I am the Lion of Judah,
I am, I am,
I am Alpha and Omega,
The beginning and the end,
The first and the last –
I am, I am.

I am faithful and true,
I am the Word of God,
I am the Lamb, I am, I am.
I am the Resurrection
And He that lives,
I am alive forever, Amen, Amen.
I am the King of kings and Lord of lords,
I am holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Which was, and is, and is to come,
I am, I am, I am that I am.
I am, I am, I am!

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Standing Against the Devil’s Schemes
An Original Work / March 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

I wrote another short story with the same protagonist as the previous story, but at another Walmart, which is the one I work at.

Disclaimer: This story contains some violence.



It was the year 2011. Adrienna and her younger sister, Casey, were in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, having just finished exploring the American Museum of Atomic Energy. They were now exiting the building.
"What now?" Adrienna asked.
"Whatever you want," Casey answered.
"You know you have a say in this, right?" said Adrienna.
"I know," said Casey, "I'm just open to anything right now."
"Shall we take a walk around?" Adrienna asked.
"Sure," said Casey.
Adrienna and Casey began walking away from the museum, temporarily leaving their 2002 Subaru Forester L in the museum's parking lot, where Adrienna had parked it. They crossed Tulane Avenue, and came to the abandoned mall, which they began walking around.

Adrienna was 25 years old. She was average female height. She was slim, but extremely athletic. She was very extensively trained in the martial art of Ninjutsu. Her hair was long, straight, and naturally golden. She and Casey were each 95% white and 5% native American. The native American aspect came from their mother's side of the family. Adrienna was dressed in a white t-shirt and blue denim overalls with a black leather belt buckled around the waist. On her feet, she wore white socks and white athletic shoes.

Casey was 15 years old. She was as tall as Adrienna. She was almost as slim as Adrienna, and moderately athletic. Casey had undergone some gymnastics training as a child, but had no martial arts skills whatsoever. Her hair was long, stright, and naturally a compromise between light brown and dark blonde. Casey was dressed in a white t-shirt and a dark teal long jumper dress. On her feet, she wore pale pink socks and white athletic shoes.

Not long after Adrienna had returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, which had left her riddled with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, her parents were murdered by a supporter of Islamic terrorists, who then met his end at Adrienna's hands. Since then, Adrienna had been Casey's legal guardian.

Adrienna and Casey finished their walk around the mall, and then walked to the neighboring Walmart superstore. As they were approaching the grocery entrance, they saw a teenage girl on a walker accompanied by her parents. They were getting out of their 1994 Honda Odyssey parked in a handicap spot.
"Aw! That poor girl's disabled," said Casey.
"Yeah," said Adrienna, "Let's make sure one of them scooters is available to her."
"Good idea," said Casey.
Adrienna and Casey entered the grocery door, and saw only one motorized shopping cart. Adrienna sat on the seat while Casey stood near the entrance to greet the girl and her parents. An obese woman waddled into the store, and approached Adrienna.
"Get up," the obese woman demanded, "I want to use it."
"No," said Adrienna, "I'm saving it for a crippled girl, who's on her way in here, and you need the exercise."
"I said get up!!" the obese woman yelled, yanking Adrienna off the seat by the top of her overall bib.
Adrienna quickly head-butted the obese woman hard in the mouth, breaking multiple teeth completely off. The obese woman staggered back, clutching her mouth, and screaming in pain.
"Hey!!" Casey yelled at the obese woman, "Leave my sister alone!!"
The obese woman walked out of the store, carrying her broken teeth in her palms. Adrienna sat back down on the seat.
Casey approached Adrienna. "Are you okay, Aydee?" she asked her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Adrienna, sitting back down on the seat. She saw the disabled girl and her parents entering the store. "Here they come," she said.
Casey hurried over to the disabled girl and her parents.
"Hello," said Casey, "Do you need a scooter?"
"Yes," said the girl's father.
Casey pointed them toward the motorized cart that Adrienna was occupying.
"My sister's saving that one for you," said Casey.
"Oh! Thank you girls so much!" said the girl's mother.
The girl smiled with gratitude while approaching Adrienna, who then got off the seat to let the girl on.
"Thank you," said the girl, as she sat on the seat. The way she talked indicated a speech impediment.
"You're very welcome," said Adrienna.
The girl's father folded her walker, and then placed it into the basket.
"How can I repay you?" the girl asked.
"Don't worry about that," said Adrienna, "Leave that part to God."
Adrienna and Casey exited the store, finished their walk around it, and then went back to the museum. They then got into the Subaru, and headed back to Knoxville.

Bible Portion: "VaYekel" ( and he assembled) and "Pikudei" (accountings of) EXODUS 35:1-40:38

The original commentary for this portion of study is very long. I sent it to our Messianic congregation members, but for the sake of those in the Forum groups, I will shorten it a bit, and concentrate on the basic meanings of this portion of God's inspired Word.

The main point of this study is the construction of the Tabernacle, or in Hebrew, "Mishkan," which comes from three Hebrew letters: "Sh+k+n," which form the verb " to dwell, to live with or among." It isn't that God needs a place to live, He lives everywhere, from the farthest and remote parts of the universe to the deepest part of the oceans. It is "Man" who needs to "meet" with God, so God will meet with mankind in this place called the Mishkan.

God gives Moses the building plans while on Mt. Sinai in Exodus Chapter 25. This was a "God to Moses" conversation and instructions. Now, ten chapters later, it is the "Moses to the People" conversation. "This is what God wants."

The first thing that is mentioned in Exodus 35 is the "Shabbat." Even before the building project starts, God is ordering a day of rest, do nothing, just rest in your tents Israelites, and meditate on the goodness you have received from me! in a manner of speaking. Even when the building starts, they are to rest and stop work every Sabbath, which is every "Saturday." It is the 7th day, and God gives the example back in Genesis. "He rested on the 7th day from all his work"

This works for us too. We can work 6 days a week then rest on the 7th day. Most of us have 5-day work weeks, then on Saturday and Sunday, we rest and either attend Synagogue services or Sunday services. Some believe that the Sabbath day was changed to Sunday. Yet nothing was changed really. In Acts, it mentions that the disciples and other believers got together the "First Day of the week to break bread" (Acts 20:7) this was when Paul met with them and preached until midnight. The "First day of the week, or Sunday" starts when the sun goes down on Saturday afternoon-evening. Bible study, food fellowship, and communion were at this time too. So, Sunday, the first day of the week is also a blessing to get together and study God's Word at congregations.

Now for every building project, there are supervisors and workers appointed by the "Big Boss Man." We might say that Moses was the "Boss Man" and God himself was the "Big Boss Man." In this project, there were two supervisors; B'Tzal'el and "Aholiav" Intereresting names. B'Tzal'El means
"In the Shadow of God" and "Aholi-Av" "In My Father's Tent" or "My tent of the Father" According to the Talmud, B'tzal'El was only 13 years old. So, these guys worked under the "shadow of God" to build "Father's Tent."

He was to build the furniture for the Tabernacle and AholiAv was to teach others how to do the work. They were supernaturally gifted with the understanding and wisdom to do this work. Imagine going to sleep one night and waking up knowing all about electrical engineering and the night before you were just a common day laborer. The Israelites in Egypt were just that, laborers for Pharoah.

God has gifted all believers with the "gifts of the Spirit" To some he has given the gift of teaching, and pastoring, and being a rabbi (a teacher)
Some he has given the gift of administration, finances, music, singing, prayer warriors, and intercessors, some can speak different languages (tongues) in the Greek (Glossa) all for the Body of Messiah.

God told Moses to "collect a free-will offering" from the people. This is important because it had to come from their "hearts." All the materials would come from the people. Where did the Israelites get all the material to build the Mishkan? From the Egyptians of course. Egypt went into bankruptcy. The Egyptians gave them all their gold, silver, copper, bronze, fabric, fine wood, etc...just to get them "out of there" (and take your God with you!)

The people started bringing all that was needed to build the Mishkan. Even "too much" as they were commanded to "stop giving". Can you imagine a pastor telling his congregation to "stop giving, hey, we have too much already" That will never happen. God wants us to be "cheerful givers" with a glad heart, not with a sour face as if you were sucking on a lemon. There are three ways to give, the three "T"s, Time, Talent, and Treasure" Some have a lot of "treasure" (money) but little available time, while others have not so much treasure (like me) yet a lot of time and talent to give. Especially retired folks such as myself. Not enough treasure to keep living in the USA, but enough to live South of the Border.

Now, the furnishings that were built by the construction crews were; The Tabernacle itself, with the boards and the tenting fabric, and then 6 main items, all of which point to and illustrate YESHUA! The Ark of the Covenant, The Incense Altar, the Table of Shewbread, the Menorah, the Bronze Basin, and the Brazen Altar. So, how do these items point to Yeshua or illustrate the person of Yeshua/Jesus?

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT: Made of gold and hardwood. The humanity of Yeshua (wood) and the purity of His sinless person (gold) Inside the Ark of the Covenant were: The Tablets of the Commandments (Yeshua, the Living Torah) Aaron's Rod that budded (The Authority and Leadership of Yeshua
The container of Manna (Yeshua, the Bread of Life) His provision for us all, both physically and spiritually, both physical food and food for the soul.
The two cherubim on top of the covering of the Ark invited the High Priest to minister and come close to YHVH in the Shekinah glory that was between them. Remember, there were two Cherubim at the entrance of the Garden of Eden to keep man from "returning" to the Garden, now, there is an invitation to "come back" into fellowship with God.

THE INCENSE ALTAR: Made of hardwood and gold. (The humanity of God in Yeshua, and his pure sinless self) The incense that went up towards heaven, our prayers, and the intercession of Yeshua on our behalf as our "High Priest" (Cohen HaGadol)

THE ALTAR OF SHEWBREAD: Made of hardwood and gold. (The humanity of God in Yeshua, and his pure sinless self) the 12 loaves of unleavened bread, "Yeshua, The Bread of Life" who sustains us with his Living Word, and our daily bread (rice, beans, etc) The priests would eat the bread on the Sabbath and place more for that week.

THE GOLDEN MENORAH: Made of pure gold, seven branches and on top of each branch, a lamp with oil and wicks. Yeshua is the "Light of the World" and so are we "lights of the world" to reflect the light of Yeshua. We are the wicks and need to be connected to the oil in order to "shine brightly"

THE BRONZE BASIN: Made of bronze (which is a mixture of iron and copper). Bronze symbolizes judgment. It held water which the priests used to wash their hands and feet after performing the animal sacrifices. Yeshua is the "Living Water" He explained this to the Samaritan woman at the well.
We also identify water with the believer's baptism, and continuing fellowship with Messiah Yeshua, as when Yeshua washed the disciple's feet after Passover supper. When we look at still water, we can see our reflection, so, we must "judge ourselves" where we come up short.

THE BRAZEN ALTAR: Made of Hardwood overlaid with bronze. (The Humanity of Yeshua who went through judgment by the Father, to pay the price of sin in our place. This is where all the animal sacrifices were performed, they pointed to "Yeshua, The Lamb of God" who was "roasted in the fires of judgment" on the Cross of Calvary. This was the first place at the entrance of the Tabernacle. We could say that the "Tabernacle" is the community of believers worldwide. The first step is accepting Yeshua's sacrifice for sin, once and forever.

Chapter 38:21 until the end of chapter 40 is all about "accountability" and the "finished product" (putting it all together). The Tabernacle is finished and erected on New Year's Day (Nisan 1) which would be March 30th this year. Like in any building project, the expenses are listed and recorded and the finished product is presented to the public. The tabernacle was put together and the Glory of God filled it.

One day, we will give an account of all that we have done for the glory of God, what we did with our Time Talent, and Treasure. All will be revealed at the Judgment Seat of Messiah (The Bema) and rewards or loss of rewards will be revealed. Are you ready for that time? We only have this one earthly life to live, we don't know when our "clocks will stop ticking." Our rewards for eternity depend on what we do in the HERE and NOW.

Please pray for traveling mercies, as we will be going back to Texas then to Florida for family time and ministry on the 28th of this month, so, I probably won't be back writing until mid May.

Shalom / Shabbat Shalom

Ben Avraham
Kehilah Salem
San Salvador, El Salvador

XianGoth1334 said:

My life is ruined because of Biden's economy (which, btw, is directly related to making sure they got as many dangerous illegals to invade America as possible).

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I'm older and probably poorer than you, and I could whine even more about how things have gone badly for me in my life. But at least I know a sleazy used car salesman when I see one. Trump is a grifter who couldn't even make money running a casino. He's a two-bit Mussolini who has contempt for ordinary people and only cares about national greatness if it enriches himself and inflates his already massive ego.

XianGoth1334 said:

The ultimate goal of a Harris presidency would have been to make everyone equally poor so that there was no choice but to have the government establish some sort of commie-socialist rule.

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Utter balderdash.

XianGoth1334 said:

We will make America Christian again.

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Now this is the most contestable thing you have written. There is nothing Christian about Trump's agenda. Declaring himself a veritable absolute monarch and surrounding himself with people (like Musk) that are against any kind of real Christian virtue has nothing to do with anything in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The love of God within us,
Who from our sins He freed us,
Leads us to follow Jesus.
His grace to us increases.

We walk with Him in His ways,
and follow Him all our days.
Our burdens at His feet lay,
And our requests to Him pray.

We love our Jesus Savior.
Our times with Him we savor.
He pardons us with favor,
And for Him we do labor.

We walk with Him now daily,
We do His will now gayly,
We worship Him now greatly,
And we be not now lazy.

We do now what Him pleases,
Our suff’rings He now eases,
We do not what displeases
The One from sin releases.

So sin is not our practice,
We do now what He asks us
To do, and not in slackness,
Not let the world distract us.

But that not makes us perfect.
Sometimes ourselves we must check,
God’s grace to us not neglect,
And our own hearts we inspect.

Then follow Jesus we must,
And our faith we must not bust,
But in our Lord we must trust,
Believe in Him who is just.

An Original Work / March 21, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

RileyG said:

They’re are predators everywhere. Disgusting, indeed.

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Predation, sexual or otherwise, is the kind of thing that I think Scripture was referring to when it used the term "wicked" or "wickedness", in place of "sin", really.

don't forget second hand smoke, car exhaust, bomb fires as causes

Greetings to all, and thank you already for clicking on this prayer request. A very close friend of mine is making amazing progress recovering from a 3-year porn addiction. I have enough of a Psychology/Counseling background to be give more than a little support--for which I'm immensely grateful to God--and she has found a great support group, called Magdala, for women in porn addiction.

Everything is moving on the right track...but great progress can always hit terrible relapse, and I want many prayers that she can pull out of this dark time & have a life more beautiful than she ever imagined.

Thank you all.

03-21-25, hello from Mpls, MN. Please include a prayer that my left foot to be set free from a silver cord collapsed soul. thank you.

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@Hazelelponi @mourningdove~ @friend of @Oompa Loompa @Joseph G

There’s got to be more
Than going back and forth
From doing right to doing wrong
‘Cause we were taught that’s who we are
Come on get in line right behind me
You along with everybody
Thinking there’s worth in what you do

Then Like a hero who takes the stage when
We’re on the edge of our seats saying it’s too late
Well let me introduce you to amazing grace

No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
No matter the hurt
Or how deep the wound is
No matter the pain
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless

Could it possibly be
That we simply can’t believe
That this unconditional
Kind of love would be enough
To take a filthy wretch like this
And wrap him up in righteousness
But that’s exactly what He did

No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
No matter the hurt
Or how deep the wound is
No matter the pain
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless

Take a breath smile and say
Right here right now I’m ok
Because the cross was enough

Then Like a hero who takes the stage when
We’re on the edge of our seats saying it’s too late
Well let me introduce you to grace grace
God’s grace

No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
No matter the hurt
Or how deep the wound is
No matter the pain
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless

No matter what they say
Or what you think you are
The day you called His name
He made you flawless
He made you flawless

No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless

Desk trauma said:

Self evident that you didn’t say it despite claiming later that you did.

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it was implied so self evident to most people...well...other than you it would seem...

RileyG said:

Are they still living?

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No

BNR32FAN said:

1.6M views · 17K reactions | Don’t you think Jesus has a sense of humor like this? | Siobohn Lynne

Don’t you think Jesus has a sense of humor like this?

www.facebook.com

Click to expand...

The “2025 Annuario Pontificio” and the “2023 Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae” have been released, providing a detailed analysis of the life of the Catholic Church globally. Both reports, prepared by the Vatican’s Central Office for Church Statistics, reveal a notable growth of the Catholic population worldwide during the two-year period 2022-2023.

Concretely, there has been a 1.15% increase in the global Catholic population, going from approximately 1.39 billion Catholics in 2022 to 1.406 billion in 2023.

Africa has registered the greatest growth, with the Catholic population on the continent increasing by 3.31%, from 272 million in 2022 to 281 million in 2023. This growth is particularly dynamic, with countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, which leads the region with nearly 55 million Catholics, and others such as Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya, which have also experienced significant increases in the number of faithful. Africa currently represents 20% of the world’s Catholic population.

Meanwhile, the Americas continue to be the region of the world with the highest proportion of Catholics, accounting for 47.8% of the global total. This increase is moderate, with a growth of 0.9% over the period.

Continued below.

Swiss bishop issues call on podcast for ordination of women​

Bishop Markus Büchel of the Swiss Diocese of St. Gallen spoke out in favor of women’s ordination during a podcast appearance for a German-language online news outlet, kath.ch, CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported Tuesday.

The bishop argued his position stating that the Church has a “consecration emergency” due to the fact that only celebate men may enter the priesthood.

German director of Münster academy defends award honoring Bishop Barron​

Continued below.

Aaron112 said:

How the person becomes? (or continues?)
Dead?
Blind?

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If the person becomes dead . . . that would keep the person from answering the question about how the person became in connection with a specific wrong activity.

Depending on the activity studied, there are various ways we can become in connection with a sin.

depressed

frustrated

confused

hurt but blaming somebody else

angry

bitter

unforgiving

emotionally degraded

And this is part of why God says not to do certain things. Why find out the hard way?

Prayer has been studied statistically, and claims have been made that ones getting prayer for a medical thing tended to do better than ones who did not get prayer.

And I am told that one study noted that wives had worsening depression in connection with increased arguing in their marriages.

Of course, God's word says not to argue > Philippians 2:13-16.

So, why find out the hard way?

Michie said:

The FBI has had prompt success capturing fugitives since President Trump took office, according to Director Kash Patel.

Patel announced on Tuesday that the FBI has apprehended three fugitives from the agency’s 10 Most Wanted list since Jan. 20.

"This is the FBI that I was proud to work for, and I'm really excited to see that they have already arrested several of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives," former FBI agent and Fox News contributor Nicole Parker told Fox News Digital. "When President Trump took over in 2017 in his first administration, I was a violent crime agent in Miami, and I specifically remember that he said that his top priority was to focus on violent criminals."

Parker believes that in his second term, Trump’s "focus" is what "Americans care about most: making America safe, focusing on violent crime and taking the most violent criminals off the street."

Continued below.

Three FBI Most Wanted fugitive arrests in two months signal return to 'premier' agency: former agent

Former FBI agent Nicole Parker says the FBI's new leadership will make it the "premier law enforcement agency again" following the arrests of three Most Wanted fugitives.

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The FBI has been working these arrests for years. This is not a different agency just because Patel and Trump are in office. These arrests belong to the FBI with Christopher Wray at its head. The long work done by the agency and cooperation from Mexican authorities.