Lord, please protect the faithful!

Michie said:

Just because they accept Jesus as Messiah, it does not erase their ethnicity.

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That’s true, it just reminds me much of Paul’s letters in the NT.

Artwork created through the use of artificial intelligence.

God bless you

Lord have mercy!

I enjoyed this beautiful song of praise and worship.

Wyoming became the latest state to pass a state version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on Thursday.

Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed House Bill 207 into law following its passage in a 57-3 vote in the Republican-controlled Wyoming House of Representatives and a 28-3 vote in the Republican-controlled Wyoming Senate.

The votes in favor of the measure came mostly from Republicans and opposition to it came mostly from Democrats. However, one House Republican joined Democrats in opposing it, while three Senate Democrats joined Republicans in supporting it.

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My tinnitus started in summer 2018. Only few days prior I almost completely lost hearing in my right ear.
My tinnitus almost destroyed my life, could not sleep, and once I did fall asleep, I woke up after 20 minutes. The doctor always said I had water in my ear canal, and it will be gone in 3 months. Well all that happened in 3 months was my health declined, and I lost balance gradually to the point I would collapse and smash my head. Still my doctors did not diagnose me right, and I remember thinking they thought I was overplaying it. I'm very grateful for the doctors, and maybe this was their experience usually, maybe it was my fear, but I thought they did not take me seriously.

Until the ENT doctor finally did. But at this point my health declined so much I could barely function. I thought all sorts of bad things would happen to me. And then in my desperate cry I cried for help and this is when God saved me. Then I was diagnosed with a massive brain tumor, but God allowed me to have a successful surgery.

I still have tinnitus, it changes all the time, at the moment it feels like someone is constantly loudly whistling in my ear. Only God keeps me afloat and I can live normally. Half my face is paralyzed, and I had few more surgeries to fix this a little, only God's love is keeping me going. Because when you know Christ, who cares about the face, tinnitus and being deaf in my ear.

Today I managed to complete my 500th km running, 6 years after the surgery, which I know isn't much, but it is to me.

But I started to have memory issues lately, some memory lapses and comprehension issues. I will contact my surgeon if this continues, hopefully it's nothing serious.

According to February Gallup polling, 42 percent of Americans are giving a thumbs-up to Trump’s economic stewardship while 54 percent are giving him a thumbs-down.

Approval of Trump’s handling of the economy also fell to 39 percent from 43 percent in polling released last week by Reuters/Ipsos.

This is notably a lower mark compared to the start of Trump’s first term in 2017, when his economic approval rating stood at 53 percent. While this could reflect less enthusiasm about the economy more generally, it is also a notable thing to watch for the president’s team.

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People, especially young people, are taking note of the disastrous economy. Their approval of the economy is down 12%, according to Gallup, and down to 39% (from 43%) from Reuters.

The MSNBC guest said he thinks that right now people are willing to give him a little time to see if he can reverse the trend (although everything he is doing is designed to exacerbate the trend.)

I'm humming a happy tune: "I saw the light, I saw the light, no more darkness..." A gospel song heralding in the gospel of awareness.

I am still plugging away. Katerina Ivanovna Mermeladov hurled a pretty wicked insult , "You trashy Prussian hen's leg in crinoline!"

Wow! It was pretty intense at her husbands funeral banquet.

​

There is plenty of speculation over whether former Vice President Harris will run for California governor in 2026 or seek the White House again in 2028​

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is setting a timetable to make a major decision about her political future.

Harris, who lost last November's White House election to now-President Donald Trump, is seriously considering a 2026 bid to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

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'To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late'​

President Donald Trump threatened to impose "large scale" sanctions against Russia after the country carried out a massive attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was "strongly considering" sanctions and tariffs "until a ceasefire and final settlement agreement on peace is reached."

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told reporters that Trump is ready to use "carrots or sticks" to bring both Russia and Ukraine to the table. When asked by Fox News Channel Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich for more details on what could be sanctioned, Hassett simply said there are "a heck of a lot of things."

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Lk 4:

16 [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.

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Jesus read a passage from Isaiah.

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

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Jesus applied this verse to himself. Jesus sensed that the response from the audience was mixed.

23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.”

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What was Jesus trying to convey here to the audience of his hometown?

They were sarcastic in unbelief. They might have witnessed Jesus being sick when he was a boy. They were thinking: Since Isaiah proclaimed him the anointed healer, then heal yourself first, Physician!. They challenged him to prove his abilities by addressing his own needs first and then to the needs of his people in his hometown:

What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”

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They were thinking: Go ahead. Prove yourself. You are the great Physician!

Jesus didn't perform miracles at their demand due to their unbelief. At the end, they tried to kill him:

29 they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.

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Why did Jesus use the proverb "Physician, heal thyself"?

Jesus used the proverb because that was what they were thinking. They didn't believe in Jesus and responded with this proverb sarcastically in their minds.

What was Jesus trying to convey?

Jesus warned against familiarity breeding contempt:

24 He said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

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Don't be like those homegrown unbelieving Jews in the time of Elijah. The people of Nazareth thought they knew him, but they were blind to his true identity and mission. Spiritually, they didn't know Jesus.

But, I thought the liberals in America were telling us just how wonderful and great USAID with everything it is doing????

Looks like to me that the liberals in Colorado might finally be waking up to acknowledge reality.

7 years later update

Riot conviction closes case on white supremacist group’s brawls at California rallies​

After a five-day trial, Robert Boman, 31, was convicted on Tuesday of conspiracy to violate the anti-riot act and violating the anti-riot act, charges tied to his role in the Rise Above Movement, or RAM, a group accused of inciting brawls at political rallies throughout the state.

Rundo pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to riot. He was sentenced to two years but released based on time served. Another defendant, Tyler Laube, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for repeatedly punching a journalist and was sentenced to time served.

tonychanyt said:

In any case, Ecclesiastes is open to philosophical interpretations and speculations

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Agreed. I think that there is a lot of stuff in Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, etc, that are simply honest expressions of human emotion about aspects of the human condition. So I would say that many isolated snippets may not even be intended to convey some kind of ‘truth’ beyond that. This might be one of them.

Just to be clear, I am not stating that such books only contain that kind of content.

Happy Friday!

Two tiered justice? The other Rep Greene wasn't censured for her outbursts.

Now, in the New Testament, we are taught not to hate. We are taught to love even our enemies and those who do evil against us, and that we are to do good to them and to pray for them and to bless them (say to them what is beneficial for them in the eyes of the Lord). But we are to hate evil. And we are to stand up against all evil. And we are to have compassion on the hurting. And we can certainly pray to be delivered from evil people.

For loving our enemies in no way is approving of their wicked behaviors. For we are to speak against all evil, we are to call it out for what it is, and we are to warn all people against doing evil and of approving of evil in its various forms. And evil includes lying, cheating, stealing, committing adultery, sexual immorality, gossip, hate, mistreatment of others, double-dealing, deliberate deception, habitual sin and disobedience, and the like.

So, hate the sin, but not the sinner. But in love, rebuke all evil, call it what it is, and call all people to repent of (turn from) their evil ways and to die with Christ to sin and to now walk (in practice, in conduct) in obedience to his commands. And do not entertain any forms of evil. Do not get enjoyment out of seeing evil people do evil deeds to anyone. Do not be entertained by evil of any kind, but use discretion about what you set your eyes on.

And this goes to how many people here in America, who call themselves Christians, speak to one another with hate when they disagree with one another’s political opinions. It is absolutely possible to hear other people out and to not get nasty in return. We don’t have to lower ourselves to name calling and to childish behavior in order to express a difference of thought or opinion about what we believe is happening in our government.

And we certainly can and should speak out about what we believe is pure evil, especially if we believe that many people are being led down “rabbit holes” that go nowhere good, or that they are following “pied pipers” to their deaths. And a “pied piper” is “someone who entices others to follow them, often through promises that are not genuine, and who leads others astray or manipulates them for their own gain” (source: Google). But warn with love.

We do not need to use hateful, bitter, and childish speech in order to get our message across. We do not have to lower ourselves to name calling just to make a point. It is entirely possible to speak the truth, but to speak it in love, and with adult maturity on a level to others to where they might actually listen to us and they might want to hear us out, and they might consider what we are saying, that it might have an element of truth to it.

And, if we are those who are not making sin our practice, who are not deliberately and habitually sinning against God and against other humans, then we should be praying for all who do evil, in practice, that they might repent of their evil ways, and that they might believe in Jesus and begin following him in walks of surrender to his will and in obedience to his commands. But we also need to set the right example before them.

And the right example is not about just being a “good deed doer” and only speaking what we know people want to hear. For love, which is of God, and which is genuine, speaks the truth in love to others for their good, even if it is not the truth that they want to hear, but what they need to hear. But we can speak the truth without getting nasty and resorting to name calling and to insulting one another who differ with us in thought or belief or opinion.

[Matthew 5:43-46; Luke 6:27-28; Luke 10:27; John 13:34-35; John 15:12]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

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Hate the Evil, Not the People
An Original Work / March 7, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Paleouss said:

Just speculating now.

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You think you were just speculating. I think you have got the answer

One of the government watchdogs fired by Trump not only declined to sue him but filed an amicus brief supporting the administration's ability to terminate his role​

A government watchdog fired by President Donald Trump in January has filed a legal brief arguing that Trump is well within his executive powers to fire him and the 16 other U.S. inspectors general ousted just four days into his second term.


Eric Soskin, the former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, was appointed by Trump during his first presidential term. He was then fired just four days after Trump returned to the Oval Office, Jeff Beelaert, an attorney for Givens Pursley and a former Department of Justice official, told Fox News in an interview.

"Eric was one of the fired inspectors general, and disagreed with his former IG colleagues. He wanted to make that clear in filing a brief," Beelaert said.

Trump moved shortly after his inauguration to purge the government watchdogs from across 17 government agencies, prompting intense backlash, criticism and questions over the legality of the personnel decisions.

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