EPHESIANS 1

15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

KNOWING CHRIST IN ALL HIS FULLNESS

I wonder what it was like to be one of the believers in Ephesus, as this letter was read to the whole church, it must of been so eye opening to hear these words read in their original written language of Greek.

Paul has said the longest sentence in the bible and now he is going to pray the first of his greet prayers for the church and the individual believers in Ephesus.

Paul has outlined all that we have in Christ and who we are in Christ, now he prays that we fully grasp and grow in this wonderful knowledge.

He doesn't want these things in vs 3-14, just to be head knowledge, he wants these things to deepen and develop in the life of the church and each individual believer.

In verse 17, Paul states that the believers be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation, they would have a passionate heavenly mindset to all the things mentioned in vs 3-14.

The believers would fully grasp all that Christ has given them, to do this, we need God's wisdom, because these things cannot be discerned by human wisdom, how can human wisdom understand redemption, adoption and election?

God through his holy spirit is continually revealing to us new things, Paul is saying, may God continually reveal new and exciting things about Christ to you.

Let me ask you as you read your bible, Is God revealing new things about Christ?

Are you grasping more of what you have in Christ and who you are in Christ?

SEE John 1:14-16, Colossians 3:11. Romans 13:14, John 15:5

He prays for three P's:

To know God's amazing plan verse 19

4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will

God had a plan, before time began, he choose you, he predestined you. Do I understand these things? No!

I do not wish to get into an argument over this subject, the bible teaches it and so I believe it. Some things are beyond our mind's scope, all we can do is to wonder at the glory of it...amen

We praise God although we see through a glass darkly, there are things, we don't understand, but we know and praise God that he had a plan for each and everyone for us.

These verses in Romans 8, are so wonderful:

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
To know God's amazing power vs 19-20

The ESV says:

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

We all know that hurricanes and earthquakes can be measured, but God's power cannot be measured, it is immeasurable, and it works in us, it is to us who believe, it is working in and through us, by his precious Holy spirit.

The same power that is working in us, is the same power that raised Christ from the dead, it we ever caught the full extent of this, we would not be afraid of anyone.

To know the person of Christ vs 20-23

Christ is above all things, so we can be assured that he is in control of everything and not only that he is in control of the church.

We can have the upmost confidence because Christ is above all and has all things under his feet, what does Christ have under his feet, sin and death are under his feet, he has defeated them.

That is the confidence the Christian has and Paul prays that the believers will know the glorious fullness of God's plan, power and the magnificent person of Christ.

Paul's whole focus is Christ and his whole focus, is that the church and the believers would know Christ, he wrote to the Philippian believers in this way in chapter 3 of that wonderful book:

8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Our whole focus should be Christ, our whole aim, should be to know Christ.

Is knowing Christ and knowing him better your whole focus?
Is he and he alone, your abiding passion?

God bless you

KK

Who am I?

I am an ordinary Christian just like you and me, I love to study the scriptures and share what God shows me. I am from the UK, and at present live in Nanjing China. I am an English teacher. I have been saved from my teenage years, am now eligible for Pension.
I believe the whole of the bible, especially love the five Solas of the reformation.

I am saved by GRACE alone by FAITH alone in CHRIST alone through the WORD OF GOD alone for the GLORY OF GOD alone.

it is obvious that the age of humans was cut short after the flood.

HARK! said:

Oh no, I get it. It's OK when the Left does it.

Click to expand...

I keep telling you to read the brief. Then you'll know why this will all kick start again the day he leaves office.

Thanksgiving Devotion
感恩节敬拜
Every Day Is Thanksgiving Every Day
每天都是充满感恩的一天
18 In every thing give thanks: for this Thanksgiving Devotion
感恩节敬拜
Every Day Is Thanksgiving Day
每天都是充满感恩的一天
18 In e is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
在每件事上献出感恩，因这是神在耶稣基督里关于你的意愿。
It’s Thanksgiving Day in the USA soon, a time for giving thanks for all of God’s blessings to us. Most of the rest of the world, does not celebrate this holiday, some do.
很快就是美国的感恩节了，这是关于所有神对我们的祝福，献出感恩的时间，在世界上的其他地方，除了有一些人会这么做，其他人并不会庆祝这个节日。
It’s not just a good idea to give thanks to God, it’s a command of God. In fact it’s his will for us to give thanks, it’s not an option for us.
对神表达感恩，并不仅仅是一个好的想法，他是神的命令。事实上对我们来说献出感恩是他的意愿，而不是给予我们的选择权。
God wants the church and us as individuals to give him thanks, we give thanks when we receive something from someone and we have received so much from the Lord, just look at the verses in Ephesians 1:3-14, to see what you have received from Him.
神希望我们和教会作为单独的个体，为他献出感恩。当我们从一些人那里接受一些东西的时候，我们就会表达感激，而我们已经从主那里接受了如此之多，只要看一看以弗所书一章3~14节的相关经文，就知道我们从他那里得到了什么。
Every good and perfect gift is from the father of lights:
各样美好的全备的赏赐都来自众光之父
James 1:17
雅各书，一章17节
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
各样美善的恩赐和各样全备的赏赐都是从上头来的，从众光之父那里降下来的，在他并没有改变，也没有转动的影儿
If the gifts, we receive from God are so good and perfect, how much more should we give thanks for them.
如果我们从父神那里接受的恩赐是美善的和全备的，我们就该把所有的感恩给他。
Not only should we give thanks for everything God has given us, but we should thank Him every day for all his good and perfect gifts.
我们不仅应当感恩神所赐予我们的一切，我们还应当每天感激他所有美好和全备的恩赐。
Thanking God is one of the best practices, that we can have, make every day Thanksgiving Day.
感恩神是最好的习练之一，我们每天都可以有，并且创造感恩的一天。
In America, they have a big table filled with many dishes, think of every dish on that table, as a gift from God, the table is filled with so many dishes, every day God fills our table with so many good things, let us thank Him everyday for everything and make every moment and every day:
在美国人们会在一张大桌子上摆满盘子。想想那张桌子上的每道菜，那是来自神的恩赐，桌子上布满了各种盘子。每天神都会用如此多美好的事情摆满我们的餐桌，让我们为每件事，为每天的每时每刻感恩他。
Thanksgiving Time
Think of all the blessings, God has given you, if you need to, write them down.
感恩的时刻
思考所有神给予你的祝福，如果有必要你可以把他们记下来
Are you thanking God, for everything He is giving you?
Let us finish with one of the greatest psalms:
你为神赐予你的每件事感恩神了吗？让我们以最伟大的诗篇之一作为结尾
Psalm 100
诗篇100章
100 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
普天下当向耶和华欢呼，你们当乐意侍奉耶和华，当来向他歌唱
3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name.
你当晓得耶和华是神，我们是他造的，也是属他的，我们是他的民，也是他草场的羊。当称谢进入他的门，当赞美进入他的院，当感谢他称颂他的名。
5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
因为耶和华本为善，他的慈爱存到永远，他的信实直到万代。
God bless you
愿神祝福你

What this teaches us here is not confined to just men or just to those who are official preachers and teachers and pastors. We are all commanded of God to speak the truth in love, one to the other, so that we are not led astray by false teachers in their cunning, craftiness, and deceitful scheming. And we are all to encourage one another in our walks of faith to maturity in Christ, and we are all to exhort one another so we are not led astray by the deceitfulness of sin.

And we are all to use our spiritual gifts to encourage the body of Christ and to serve in the areas of ministry where God has assigned to us. And we are all to address one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And we are all to let the word of Christ dwell in us, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. And we are all to provoke one another to love (the love of God) and good works (which God prepared for us to walk in). And we who are spiritual are all to help someone caught in sin to come out of sin.

And we are all to preach, for to preach is to proclaim the word of God, and we are all to be doing that. And we are all to be sharing the truth of the gospel with others as part of our everyday lives. For we are to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light, and we are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and we should all make disciples of Christ of the people of the earth, so they might turn from darkness to the light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they can receive forgiveness of sins and be included in the family of God.

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


Since we are all to proclaim the truth of the gospel, and we are all to speak the truth and to refute the lies, and we are all to help one another to grow to maturity in our walks of faith in our Lord Jesus, and we are all to exhort one another so we are not led astray by sin’s deceitfulness and by false teachers and false gospels, then we all need to be spiritually alert to the times in which we are living, which is what is being described for us here. And then we need to speak to these issues to lead people away from the lies.

Therefore, we must know that the Scriptures teach against us being followers of man and of man-made religion, and we are chided in the Scriptures against saying we follow this person or that person, which could be translated over to chiding us against being followers of church denominations, saying “I am a Baptist,” or “I am Methodist,” or “I am Church of God,” etc. For it is Jesus Christ and his Word which we are to follow, not men, many of whom now are teaching lies and not the truth.

Also know that Jesus spoke strongly against turning his house into a marketplace, yet that is what appears to be what is being done by the majority of gatherings of what are called “churches” here in America today. And we read in the Scriptures where we are not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, and yet that is what is happening within these market-driven “churches” (businesses) in America today. And we are being told that we are to come out from the midst of them so that we do not share in the harlot’s sins and in her punishment.

But then we must accept the fact that if we speak the truth and not the lies, and if we confront and expose the lies for what they are, we are going to be opposed, even by pastors, and by others who profess faith in Christ, and even by family members. And we will be hated and persecuted for righteousness’ sake. But we must endure suffering for the sake of the truth of the gospel and for the sake of Christ Jesus, our Lord, and for the sake of the salvation of human lives from sin and from hell.

[1 Corinthians 1:10-17; John 2:13-17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Revelation 18:1-5; Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Philippians 3:2; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:1-25]

They Turn From the Truth
Video Talk

May 17, 2023

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Hear my Voice

An Original Work / July 9, 2012
Based off Psalm 27

The Lord is my great salvation.
He’s the stronghold of my life.
When my enemies attack me,
My heart will not fear at all.
Though a war break out against me,
Confident in Christ I’ll be.
Of the Lord, I ask that I may
Live with Him eternally.

Hear my voice, Lord, when I call you.
Merciful to me You’ll be.
Though my relatives forsake me,
My Lord God will receive me.
Teach me Your way, O my Jesus.
Lead me in Your righteousness.
I will sacrifice to my Lord.
I will sing with joyfulness.

I am confident that I will
See the goodness of the Lord.
All the richness of His blessings,
My Lord has for me in store.
He asks me to be of courage;
To be strong and to take heart,
Patiently as I wait for Him,
And from Him to ne’er depart.

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Based off Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O my God.
According to Your gracious love.
Blot out my sins.
Cleanse me within.
Bring comfort to me from above.

I come before You with my sin.
Such evil against You I’ve done.
Sinful at birth;
Covered with filth.
Yet, faithfulness still You did want.

Of joy’s gladness, let me now hear.
From me, all my sadness, expend.
Pure heart, let be,
Now within me.
Renew a firm spirit within.

Then I will teach sinners Your ways,
Now turning their hearts back to You.
My tongue will sing
Of righteousness.
Lord, from my lips, now praise is due.

I sacrifice my life to You,
So holy and pleasing to God.
A contrite heart
You’ll not despise.
To my Savior, I give my heart.

An Original Work / March 27, 2018

1 Timothy 1:12-14 ESV


The last devotion the Lord had me write was from Psalms 139, and there it talks about how God formed us in the wombs of our mothers, and how all the days ordained for us were written in God’s book before one of them came into being. And this was on Mother’s Day, so I was talking about how not everyone had parents who they believed loved them and who treated them with kindness and who did not abuse them. For some of us were abused as children, and so Psalms 139 is a difficult reality for some.

But then the Lord had me talk about the sovereignty of God over our lives and how he is the one who put us in those households knowing full well that we were going to be persecuted, but then he also had me talk about Joseph and how his brothers sold him into slavery and how many years later he met up with them again, and once he revealed to them who he was they felt badly for what they had done to him. But he told them that Satan meant it for evil but God meant it for good for the salvation of human lives.

So, then my next passage was this one, and so I was thinking about how God took a man who was a persecutor and a murderer of Christians and how he turned his life around, and how he used him to spread the truth of the gospel and to write half of the New Testament books, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And I was thinking about how God has used this man in all of our lives in teaching us the truth of the gospel and what it means to be a Christian and how we ought to live and not live, etc.

So, then I was thinking about how God, in his sovereignty, not only uses evil done to us for good in our lives, but he can even use us who have done evil for his purposes and glory and for the salvation of human lives once he has turned us around and we are no longer doing the evil we had once done but now we are living for him and we are walking in obedience to his will and to his ways which he has for us to walk in. For all that we have gone through in our lives can be used of God to prepare us for the ministry he has for us.

And then I relayed how I had known the Lord since I was seven, and how I had served the Lord in ministry many years, but how I had been abused and mistreated and persecuted much over my lifetime, and how it got so bad at one point in my life that I cracked from the pressure of it all and I gave into the flesh and I sinned against my Lord on and off over a period of time. And then one day the Lord brought me back to my senses and he taught me to trust in the sovereignty of God, and then he called me to this ministry.

And the point of what I was sharing in the video is that no matter what we have gone through in our lives, and no matter where we have been, or what has been done to us, and no matter what we have done, God can use us for his purposes and for his glory and for the salvation of human lives when we turn to him or turn back to him in faith and obedience, and like Paul we are no longer who we were before, doing the things we did before, for the Lord transformed us and so we are now living our lives for the glory of God.

But I Received Mercy
Video Talk

May 14, 2023

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Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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Danger’s lurking, humans squirreling,
Minds are filled with garbage hurling,
Life’s disaster going faster,
Sin is now their Lord and Master.

Open letter to the hurting,
Sin is danger, don’t be flirting.
Don’t escape in what is magic
Or life can turn and be tragic.

Time on earth not without limits,
Time is ticking hours and minutes,
No one knows the final hour
When his life will have no power.

Life is not for sinful pleasure,
Life is gift of God in measure
Given us to live for Jesus,
Not to do just what will please us.

Turn from your sin, follow your Lord,
Forsake idols, do not them hoard.
Make the Lord your Lord and Master,
Life will not end in disaster.

Please take this to heart and do it,
Give your sins up, now be through it.
Surrender your life to Jesus,
For from our sins he does free us.

An Original Work / June 6, 2022

rambot said:

Gender has always been a thing; even if it wasn't given the word, or conceptualized by man.

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No it hasn't. Sex has been though.

rambot said:

All I can do is give you the knowledge. I can't ask you to accept it.

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What you've provided is ideology. Not facts. 2 spirit was invented in the 90s.

The poet wrote an Edda that suggested he wish he was born a girl. It's a poem and impossible to know what he was thinking and why. He could very well gave been concerned over a homosexual issue, or maybe he had ED. It doesn't prove anything.

Now that being said, mental illness has been around since the beginning of time. So I would be hard pressed to say it's impossible that there weren't transgendered people before the modern era. I'm sure there were just like there were probably schizophrenics, people who were bi-polar or what have you. There were probably dudes who thought they were women. So? They thought they were the opposite SEX. Since gender wasn't a thing until the 1900's. And it really wasn't a thing until a pedophile made it a thing. A failed scientist pedophile whose whole theory failed. And yet you still believe in it and want to pretend it's always existed. The answer is, it hasn't. It was always sex and only sex.
Sexual roles
Sexual norms
Sexual behaviors

Gender us sex and sex is gender. You were never able to define gender without using sex as the basis for it. Gender does not exist outside of sex. (Except in language that include masculine and feminine or neuter nouns)

Name a gendered something that humans do or how humans are that has nothing to do with a reference to biological sex but is gendered.

Fantine said:

Teams that snipe and undermine one another are losing teams with toxic atmospheres.
Without judging the ruling one way or another, all I can say is that if a team wants to be successful they have to set aside their differences and work together.

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I just don't think that applies here. Or at the very least, that can go both ways. Shouldn't the trans athlete recognize that, because they have a biological advantage, they are depriving all the biological females on the team of an opportunity that should, in my opinion, rightly be theirs? It's like saying they need to rally behind a teammate who cheats by taking HGH or a similar performance-enhancing drug, in my opinion.

I don't 100% agree with the way they handled it. (Personally, I would have forgone the t-shirts and just taken it to court. But I can understand why they would have wanted to protest.) I'm not a lawyer, but I think the claim that it is a violation of title IX is completely valid.

The link in the OP didn't work for me, but here's a snippet from another article:

According to the lawsuit, M.L. did not train for as many hours with the team, and did not show up to all required events. And yet, M.L., who posted faster times, was given a top spot, and T.S. was knocked out of the “Team Sweepstakes” portion of the Mt. SAC meet. T.S., the lawsuit said, thus “missed opportunities to compete at a high-profile meet, losing valuable chances for college recruitment and recognition.”

Riverside County school district latest to be roiled by fight over trans athletes

The suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, also claims that when the girls protested what they perceived as the unfairness of the situation by wearing T-shirts that said “Save Girls' Sports,” school officials compared it to wearing a swastika in front of a Jewish student.

www.latimes.com

Martinicus said:

By the way, this is a sub-forum for creative writing, but why nobody shares his/her stories here?
Could anyone tell me where can members share their stories? I would like to share some stories with others.

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Welcome to CF! I think you’re looking for the Poetry and Prose subforum. Stories, including short stories, are technically prose, so stories belong there.

It’s just that we have a very prolific poet in that area who is making a lot of topics (not me lol) and the entire forum is slow. The first reason why the forum is slow is that it’s a public forum open to the internet and once your work is on the Internet it’s technically considered “published” and it’s unsaleable, and writers like to get paid for their work. This means they are more likely to post their work on sites like critiquecircle.com to get feedback, which is a closed forum that doesn’t automatically “publish” your work since submissions are only visible to other members of the forum.

The second reason why that forum is slow is that christianforums.com does not specifically attract story writers, and usually the best way to do that is to have a story as part of the main page of the site. This forum is more of a factual information type place dedicated to evangelism, debate, and spiritual growth of its members. As an example of a Christian website for prose writers, theaetherlight.com was that (maybe you can find that on the way back machine?) where there was a Christian kids game story RPG that attracted a lot of kids to write stories. For a secular example, bzpower.com piggybacked off the prose Bionicle story to attract a huge variety of storytellers in long stories, short stories, comedies, and even comics.

———————————————

Which brings me back to the title question - The Aetherlight did the incorporation of Biblical themes by retelling the story of the Bible in a fantasy steampunk setting and making it into a video game. That’s one way to do it. The other way is really to do more of a “Christian life” type novel. Put some Christian characters on the page and get them to interact with non-Christians (and maybe even themselves). That’s more “realistic fiction”, but maybe you can do it in a fantasy setting with a few allegorical tweaks - in essence combining the two ideas. Think Pilgrims’ Progress.

I also think there is a huge place in Christianity for memoir. I used to write novels as a kid, but I gave up writing them when I realized that villains weren’t cool at all and being a novel protagonist was a truly awful position in real life. There’s no reason to glorify adversity - it’s just awful. But maybe one day I will put pen to paper to write my own story of overcoming as a witness to Christ’s power in my life. Telling your own spiritual victories or giving them to one of your characters in your novel is another way to incorporate Christian themes.

Anyway, that’s what I got for nerd hour. Go forth and write, and fight the publishers. You deserve to be paid for your stories, and paid well.

Alex Jones and Trump perfect the art of being bullies that then cry victim.
Alex loses $1.4 Billion - but Trump gets the White House.
Why?
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Michie said:

The de-politicization of the Department of Justice, not its reverse politicization, should be the order of the day.

No one understands the modern news cycle better than President-elect Donald Trump.

His lightning-quick pivot from the failed attorney general nomination of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, giving his critics scarcely any time to gloat, is the latest example of his media mastery.

That’s not to say his pick of Gaetz wasn’t a blunder — it was. (That is, unless it was all a clever scheme to extricate the rebel Gaetz from the House, as some have theorized.) Gaetz was never a plausible attorney general, possessing neither a distinguished legal mind nor the principled background any good AG needs to curb a president’s imprudent uses of the law.

More worrisome was that Gaetz had spoken openly about seeking vengeance against his political rivals, which is precisely what the Justice Department doesn’t need right now.

Continued below.

Next Attorney General Must Restore Trust, Not Seek Retribution

The de-politicization of the Department of Justice, not its reverse politicization, should be the order of the day.

www.ncregister.com

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Written by a true liberal protecting his own.

My initial thought, is someone (down below) doesn't like Fr Martin's ministry.

lifepsyop said:

we just went through 8 years of the most powerful law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the world, with unlimited investigative powers... agencies that would have used any dirt and done anything to punish or imprison Trump and his allies.

the idea that Trump has not been held accountable is laughable... He has been investigated and spied on, probably more than any U.S. politician in our lifetimes.... his enemies are just upset that he ended up being innocent.

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Yeah, because the FBI spying on Donald Trump is completely relevant to the current conversation. Thank you for beautifully illustrating my point.

Michie said:

A screenshot from bodycam video released by the Childersburg Police Department shows Pastor Michael Jennings watering his neighbors flowers in Childersburg, Ala., May 22, 2022, shortly before his arrest. | Screengrab/YouTube/WBRC 6 News


Michael Jennings, a black pastor who was arrested while watering his neighbor’s plants in Childersburg, Alabama, two years ago can now sue the officers involved in his arrest, along with the city of Childersburg, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously ruled Friday.

The ruling reverses a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Jennings, accusing Officers Christopher Smith and Justin Gable, as well as Sgt. Jeremy Brooks and the city of violating his constitutional rights which protect him from unlawful arrest and guarantees free speech, al.com reported.

A 20-minute body camera video of the May 2022 arrest of Jennings, who leads the Vision of Abundant Life Ministries in Sylacauga, shows him being confronted by the officers after he was reported by a white neighbor for watering the garden of a friend who was out of town at the time. Though Jennings identified himself as a pastor and told the officers he was caring for his neighbors' plants, and that he lived across the street, he was arrested without probable cause.

Continued below.

Pastor arrested while watering plants can now sue officers and city, judges rule

Michael Jennings, a black pastor who was arrested while watering his neighbor s plants two years ago, can now sue the officers involved in his arrest along with the city of Childersburg a three-judge

www.christianpost.com

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I hope the city gets hit for a chunk of $$$. There is no justification at all for the choices and behavior of those officers.

Xeno.of.athens said:

Most of the bibles with cross references that I have, do link Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58 but I wonder if any of the early church fathers made that link.

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I will look into this for you if I am able (I will know tomorrow - please pray for me).

rambot said:

The behaviour of some christians proves me right.
Masked group marches through Columbus Ohio neighborhood with swastika flags spewing racist and antisemitic phrases
The right wing response is almost exclusively conspiratorial. Not a single right winger in this thread seems to say "Those guys are racist. That's not good.".

Instead it's Palestinians, the government or the left wing.

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Never saw the post. Unfortunately it is protected speech so what exactly do you want people to say that hasn't been said before?....or is the poster just trying to provoke people into a response?.....in which case it is better to simply ignore the post or poke fun at it (because of its purpose). Do you think having people here rant and rave about how terrible it is will actually change anything or are you just trying to assuage your own conscience because you are 'brave enough' to call attention to it. Shouting words and waving flags really harms no one. Best to save your outrage for something more significant.

St. Padre Pio, Ora pro nobis

May he rest in the peace of Christ

Praying

May God bless the Italian people with his peace and presence

tonychanyt said:

Did John the Baptizer know Jesus beforehand?

John 1:


Apostle John assumed that the reader knew about Jesus' baptism and temptation in the wilderness probably a few months back.


Did John the Baptizer know Jesus beforehand?

Their mothers were relatives. They likely knew each other from childhood, given the close-knit nature of families in that cultural context.

What did John the Baptizer mean by "I myself did not know him"?

know
ᾔδειν (ēdein)
Verb - Pluperfect Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular

The Pluperfect tense indicates an action that was completed before another action in the past. It can be translated into English as "had + past participle."


John repeated himself.


When God first sent John to baptize, he had not know about a certain something.

What thing?


John and Jesus likely knew each other at childhood. As adults, they hadn't known each other that well. One day, God sent John to baptize people with water. Before they met at the baptism, John had not known that Jesus was the Lamb of God and Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Paraclete).

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Sorry for my so often off-hand remarks, but in the final analysis, he knew Christ, even when in his mother's womb. This inspires a long study of the use of 'to know' in Scripture.

Landon Caeli said:

Yeah, I hear ya! That Elon, not too sharp, that guy!

<sarcasm, for all the liberals>

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Not about stuff he doesn't know about.

You know. Like every other human being on the planet.