civilwarbuff said:

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The biggest chunk of that was the HR system, about which this article has a little more detail:

It doesn’t sound to me like canceling this now would save $280 million- it sounds to me like it’s already been spent. Also, $36 million and one year sounds like a very, very small budget to develop an HR system that can handle the entire DOD and then migrate all of the data over, and maintain the system. Prices I see for ADP with similar capabilities are around $40/employee/month, which is at least 10x what Hegseth’s DHCRMS contract cost. I’d be interested to know what the contracts actually covered.

It may very well be that this platform is doomed to failure and ought to be scrapped, but it also may be that it’s close to ready (which their newsletters suggest) and that it’s actually cheaper to finish than to start over. There’s no guarantee at all this move will save any money.

We should never make other human beings our gods. We should never trust fully in any other human being without question, and with absolute loyalty and devotion, just because someone else said that this person can be trusted and that he will do what he said he would do. And we shouldn’t trust them just because they are famous or popular or well-liked, or just because they claim to believe in Jesus, or because of a particular political party.

For if we do that, we end up blocking out God’s voice to us. Why? Because then our focus is on a human being who we believe without question and so our minds are not capable of hearing from the Lord if the Lord wants to show us where this person is wrong, or if this person is a hypocrite or a false teacher or the antichrist, or whatever. And then our trust and reliance is in human flesh and not in God who is to be the only one we believe and follow.

Too many people these days are putting their trust in other humans – in teachers, preachers, famous people, politicians, lawyers, newscasters, and the like. And they are believing whatever they tell them just because of who they are, or due to what political or religious affiliation they might have, or because of their credentials and their diplomas. But liars and deceivers are everywhere – in the media, in the government, and in “the church.”

And just because someone says, “I believe in Jesus,” or “I worship Christ,” it does not mean that he believes in Jesus at all or that he is a worshiper of Christ. For “the proof is in the pudding,” as the saying goes, i.e. “the true value or quality of something can only be determined by experience or results, rather than by initial appearances or promises” (source: AI). Words only can be cheap. Our actions are what tell the truth of what we believe.

So, when we turn to other humans to be who only God is to be in our lives, then we are turning away from the Lord, and then we cannot really hear him when he speaks. For we are so blinded to who these people really are that our ears are not open to hearing anything that might be contrary to what we want to believe. And this is definitely where many professing Christians are today who are sold on the lies and who refuse to listen to the truth.

And the result of this blindness and this worship of human beings will backfire. For one day the truth will come out, and by that time it will be too late to take it back, i.e. the damage that will be done will be irreparable and the judgments of God will be upon us in great force. And there will be nowhere to turn other than to God, or away from God entirely. I believe that is where the bulk of “the church” in America is headed right now, sadly.

So, the encouragement here is that our trust needs to be in God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – alone, for he is the only one who can be trusted 100% to be who he says he is and to do what he said that he would do. But remember that all of God’s promises have conditions we must meet to receive those promises, and all the warnings he has issued he will fulfill if we do not surrender our lives to him in walks of obedience to his commands.

You who are on the internet, who are on social media, who claim faith in Jesus Christ, you should be promoting Christ and the truth of the gospel in your posts instead of promoting human beings who are bound to fail you and who may be the opposite of who you think they are. We, as followers of Christ, need to be sharing the truth of the gospel of our salvation with our friends, followers, neighbors, family members, and other “Christians.”

And we need to be telling them that Jesus died on that cross in order to put our sins to death with him so that, by God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we might die to sin and now live for God and for his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands in holy living. For Jesus shed his blood to buy us back for God out of our slavery to sin so we will now serve the Lord in following him in his ways.

And we need to be warning them that if sin remains their practice (habit, addiction), and not obedience to the Lord and his commands, that regardless of what faith they may profess with their lips, they will not be saved from their sins, and they will not have eternal life with God. Jesus taught it. Paul taught it. And the other New Testament apostles taught it. Faith = obedience. Disobedience = unbelief. Lip service only will not save us.

[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]

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

The Afghanistan tourist industry is seriously overlooked these days. I'm looking to book a 700 day all expenses paid at a sweet all inclusive property with a view of the Hindu Kush mountains later this year.

RileyG said:

God bless you

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For Advent and Lent our priest invites other priests who are good confessors to come to our Church for a day and hear confessions. During Advent I think I went around 8 P.M. and there were still four priests hearing confessions. It keeps the lines short.

When we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, and we deny self, die with him to sin, and now follow him in walks of obedience to his commands, in practice, by his grace, in his power, we will now be outcasts among those whose lives are not surrendered to Jesus Christ to obey him and to do his will. And we may be regarded as “odd,” or as “old fashioned,” or as “legalistic,” even by others professing Jesus as Lord.

But we are not to let others’ opinions of us impact what we do and how we behave, and our relationships with Jesus Christ. We are not to surrender to the flesh once again just so that other people will not judge us, or criticize us, or reject us, or cast us aside as unwanted and as unnecessary. But we are to remain steadfast in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord and not yield to fleshly and worldly lusts which wage war against our souls.

But this isn’t just about yielding to fleshly lusts, but this also includes ignoring God’s specific callings upon our lives (our body parts) and his giftings (spiritual gifts) because some preacher has convinced us that we cannot hear God speak to our hearts individually via the Holy Spirit living within us who was given to us to teach us all things about Jesus, and to counsel, instruct, guide, direct, correct, rebuke and encourage us.

For if we get this idea that only the written word of God can give us such teachings and instructions and guidance, then we miss out on God’s specific callings he has for each one of us in the areas of ministry to which he has called us. For if the Lord did not speak to me through his Spirit and call me to this ministry, then I would not be here doing what I am doing today in obedience to my Lord writing and posting what he teaches me in his word.


So, what is this saying? We are not to quench the Spirit, and we are not to despise prophetic utterances. But we quench the Spirit when we ignore his voice within us speaking to us specifically about things he wants us to let go of, or things he wants us to do or to say or to write or to sing. Or he may be directing us to move to a different location where he wants to use us in other people’s lives where we have not gone before. And we are not going to find those specific directions for our lives in the written word.

But.. we must examine every voice we hear speaking to us because God is not the only one speaking to us. Satan is trying to interject his thoughts in our minds, too. And then there are the voices of the world we have to contend with, too. So we must examine what we believe we are hearing from the Spirit against the Scriptures to make certain that what we are hearing does not contradict what the Scriptures teach.

Now, Gentiles were non-Jews, but “Gentiles” was also used as a word to describe the ungodly, especially under the Old Covenant when the Gentiles were all the unbelieving. Other terms used are “the pagans,” “your unbelieving neighbors,” “unbelievers,” “the heathen,” and “the nations.” And this is how it is being used in this context, to refer to all who are not true people of faith in Jesus Christ, dying to sin and obeying his commands.

So, the unbelieving are not just all who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ. The unbelieving are all who do not surrender their lives to Jesus Christ in submission to his Lordship over their lives and who continue in their sins and in disobedience to the Lord and to his will and purpose for their lives. And we are only going to know God’s specific callings upon our individual lives if we are open to hearing the Spirit’s voice speaking to us.

And let me say this. If I had not listened to the Spirit’s voice when he called me to this ministry, and if I had listened to what some preachers said to me, and if I had yielded to their opinions, and the opinions of other humans, I would never have written out and posted my daily times with the Lord on the internet for others to read and to share with others. But God is using me, and he is blessing this ministry, because I listened to his voice.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Lu 6:27-28; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Ac 1:8; Ac 2:14-18; Ac 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Gal 6:1; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-27; Eph 6:10-20; Php 2:1-8; Col 1:9; Col 3:12-16; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; Jas 5:19-20; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6; Jude 1:22-23]

The Lord’s Anointed

An Original Work / December 16, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Based off Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;
Anointed to preach the Good News;
Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;
Proclaim freedom for the captives.
He sent me to preach release for pris’ners
Who are walking in sin’s darkness;
Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;
And tell them about God’s judgments;
Comfort all who mourn;
Give crowns of beauty;
Oil of gladness and thanksgiving.

They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,
A planting of our Savior, God,
For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and
They will rebuild God’s holy church.
God will renew them, and will restore them,
And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.
You will be ministers of our God, and
You will rejoice in salvation.
The Lord loves justice;
He is faithful to
Reward those who are seeking Him.

I delight greatly in the Lord;
My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.
He has clothed me with His salvation,
And in a robe of His righteousness.
He has given me priestly garments to wear,
As the bride of Jesus Christ.
As the garden of our Lord and Savior,
He causes us to grow in Him.
He makes righteousness,
Praise, and thanksgiving
Spring up before all the nations.

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Keep Your Behavior Excellent
An Original Work / March 20, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Love365 said:

If two pregnant women got married,
would that break the fig tree rule ?

Because they are giving fruit,
they are having babies.

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That is not what the fig tree teaching is about. It is about spiritual fruit, not literal babies.

I would like to suggest that you check out blueletterbible.org, and click on this

To the left, you will see "TOOLS", and click on that, and then commentaries.
The Matthew Henry commentary is good, and so is Jamieson, Fausset & Brown.

Obianuju Ekeocha, founder and president of Culture of Life Africa, says aid model urgently needs revision, based on principles of faith and family.

LONDON — The Trump administration’s defunding of USAID, a U.S. government agency set up in the 1960s to administer humanitarian aid programs, has provoked a strong reaction from some Catholic institutions, especially those heavily dependent on its aid.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio disclosed earlier this month that 83% of USAID programs had been terminated following a six-week review. The reasons given included misalignment with American interests, a need to cut government spending, evidence of waste and fraud, and USAID’s promotion of a "woke" agenda.

Catholic charities that are dependent on federal funding have vehemently opposed the policy and will have to make large expenditure and employment cuts as a result (in the case of Catholic Relief Services, a 50% reduction in its budget). The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is suing the administration for abruptly ending a USAID-funded refugee-settlement program, while the Vatican called it “reckless” and said it could endanger the lives of millions of people.

But could the policy offer an opportunity to look carefully at problems associated with foreign state aid and for developing countries to wean themselves off such dependence, which is often tied to secularist values that have led to ideological colonization?

Continued below.

The new batch of illegals will mark the only 20 migrants at Guantanamo after the administration transferred roughly 40 off the island to Louisiana last week ahead of a federal court hearing on the legality of detaining immigrants at an offshore military station.
There is plenty of room there, our country needs to use it.

Dan Perez said:

IF WE ?/ is a CONJUNCTION

WE ENDUE // HYPOMENO // HYPOMENO , G5278 is in the PRESENT TENSE , ACTIVE VOICE , in the INDICATIVE MOOD ,

in the Plural !!

ENDURE can be translated , take patiently 2 x , tarry behind 1 x , patient 1 x , suffer 1 x
is what is what 2 Tim 2:13
WE SHAL // SYMBASILEUO , a verb in the FUTURE TENSE ,ACTIVE TENSE , in the PLURAL !!

Your thoughts on 2 Tim 2:13 and 14 ??

dan p

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This is what 2 Tim 2:13 really means !!

# 1 IF // EI , is a conjucation

# 2 WE BELIEVE NOT // APISTEO is in the Greek PRESENT TENSE , ACTIVE VOICE , in the INDICATIVE MOOD , in the Plural

# 3 YET was Added

# 4 HE // EKEINOS , DEMOSTRATIVE PRONOUN , in the NOMINATIVE CASE , in the SINGULAR

#5 ABITHTH // MENO , in the PRESENT TENSE , ACTIVE VOICE , and in the INDICATIVE MOOD , in b the SIGNULAR

# 6 FAITHFUL PISTOS , in the NOMINATIVE CASE , in the SIGNULAR

# 7 HE CANNOT // DYNAMAI , in the PRESENT TENSE , in tje MIDDLE or PASSIVE VOICE , in the SINGULAR

# 8 DENY // ARNOMAI , in tje AOTIST TENSE , in the MIDDLE VOICE .

# 9 HIMSELF // HEAOTOU is a REFEXIVE PRONOUN , ACTIVE VOICE , ACCUSATIVE CASE , in the SIGNULAR

This is what happens to a DISBELIEVER , and 1 Cor 3:12-15 says it all , that your Works with go through the FIRE // means

JUDGMENT and you will saved , but will LOSE ALL REWADS , and read verses to # 23

And what did tey not BELIEVE ??

Did not follow Paul , 1 Cor 11:1

Did not each teach the MYSTERY of Rom 16:25 and 26

dan p

Good! Leave the faithful alone!

[sort of off topic: Praying for a revival of the Church in Canada and many more Canadian priests and religious!]

May God have mercy on his soul! And may Molly Elliot rest in peace!

Fantine said:

He's old enough to retire. Some new faces would be better.

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Like Biden - just force him out when he is no longer of use - so very kind and loving.

What do you love to do?

Emmett

Artwork partially created using artificial intelligence.

I pray that God would reassure you about your question of blessings. In Jesus' name, amen.

William J said:

I pray that God would meet all of your financial needs and make sure you have enough work. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Thank you

Good. Protect our citizens at all cost.

​

The throne and the Lamb are paired together in 7 places in Revelation.
Revelation 5:

6 between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

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Revelation 5:

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

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Revelation 6:

16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,

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Revelation 7:

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God

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In the above, John clarified that God is sitting on the throne, and the Lamb is paired to Him as the same God being worshiped.
Revelation 14:

3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.

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Revelation 22:

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

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Revelation 22:

3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

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The pairing of "the throne" and "the Lamb" in Revelation demonstrates their unity in divine nature, authority, and worship, providing strong biblical support for the belief that God and the Lamb are one and the same in the context of Revelation.

Thank you, RileyG!

Sounds like she follows the world’s way instead of Christ! How very sad!

Glory to God!

Vambram said:

That is exactly how I remember feeling and knowing all throughout the Biden administration.

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But you had no evidentiary backup.

Over a snack? interesting! Isn't science fascinating?