Christians can participate in wars and even in revolutions but I do not think that rises to the level of "holy war." If there was a severe persecution of Christians, then I do think it is just to defend yourself. There are varying ideas about this following scripture as well.

Luke 22:35-38 (ESV)
35 And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” 36 He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.
37 For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.”
38 And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”

I believe God gave me discernment. His word and spirit does that

Elon Musk’s SpaceX made history on Tuesday after launching a rocket into space from Florida and landing its Falcon 9 rocket booster in the Bahamas.

SpaceX’s rocket launch mission marked the first time a Falcon 9 landed on a drone ship off the coast of the Bahamas, according to a report by Fox 35 Orlando.

“Falcon 9 lands off the coast of The Bahamas for the first time! Welcome to space @VisitTheBahamas!” Musk’s company declared in a Tuesday X post, sharing video footage of the booster landing.
The Falcon 9’s first stage booster reportedly landed on the “Just Read the Instructions” droneship off the coast of Bahamas, in the Atlantic Ocean, nearly eight minutes after it blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

SpaceX reportedly said its Falcon 9 was able to maximize its performance by landing in the Bahamas after launching into a southeast trajectory from Florida.

The company further explained that launching toward the southeast allowed it to send additional satellites into orbit, as well as make it so that the rockets can launch human spaceflight missions to explore Earth, Fox 35 Orlando reported.

That’s pretty cool!

Please don't tell someone that their pain or struggle doesn't matter. Don't compare yourself to them or anyone. We share our burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. If one member suffers everyone suffers with them. Don't tell them that your struggle is worse than theirs, just share love in the spirit with them from a humble and empathetic heart.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

Galatians 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

1 Corinthians 9:22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

From the papal update thread.

Disgusting! I was hoping Missouri would do the right thing, but I’m not surprised.

A federal judge has denied a request from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to block a federal funding freeze that the bishops say will greatly harm refugee aid efforts in the United States.

The USCCB sued the Trump administration earlier this week over what the bishops said was an unlawful suspension of funding for refugee resettlement and aid programs. The suspension came via one of several executive orders President Donald Trump issued shortly after taking office.

The results of the suspension have been “devastating,” the bishops said, with the prelates reporting “millions of dollars in pending, unpaid reimbursements for services already rendered to refugees” along with “millions more each week.”

In their suit the bishops had asked for a temporary restraining order against the White House. In a decision on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden denied that request.

Continued below.

Christsfreeservant said:

Yes, we must be drawn to faith in Jesus Christ for any of us to believe in Jesus, but not all receive him, not all believe in him, and many reject this drawing and they turn their heads and hearts in the opposite direction. And this makes me think of that Scripture that says that many are called but few are chosen, for it is few who allow themselves to be drawn to Christ and who believe in him and who die with him to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands, by his grace. And I do think that the reference to "all people" is a definite statement that now the Gentiles would be included and not just the Jews, for previously it was only the Jews who had such a relationship with God.

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So God should have said - I will draw all Jews not all people?

Michie said:

Musk says one person is in Social Security database with age set between 360 and 369​

Elon Musk indicated in a post on X that millions of people listed in a Social Security database are recorded as centenarians "with the death field set to FALSE!"

“According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security," Musk posted, adding a couple of rolling on the floor laughing emojis.

Continued below.

Elon Musk says millions in Social Security database are between ages of 100 and 159

Elon Musk indicated that a Social Security database lists millions of centenarians "with the death field set to FALSE."

www.foxnews.com

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This has to be an error- obviously

Michie said:

The anger and bitterness is unnerving. We got who we got. Got to deal with it in a much healthier fasfashion

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Jesus is our king. What do we have to worry about?

Isaiah prophecied against the Philistines in (KJV) 14:

29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice [H6848], and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

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The term cockatrice refers to a mythical creature often depicted as a serpent or dragon with the head of a rooster. In medieval folklore, it was believed to have the power to kill with a glance or breath. The word itself comes from the Latin calcatrix, meaning "tracker" or "pursuer," and it was often associated with danger and death.

New King James Version:

Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper [H6848], And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.

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Barnes explained:

Shall come forth a cockatrice. A basilisk, or adder, a serpent of most venomous nature. That is, though Uzziah is dead, yet there shall spring up from him one far more destructive to you than he was; one who shall carry the desolations of war much further, and who shall more effectually subdue you. Most commentators have concurred in supposing that Hezekiah is here referred to.

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The cockatrice symbolized a new and dangerous threat arising from the remnants of a defeated enemy.

Isaiah 14:29 was fulfilled in 2 Kings 18:

And the LORD was with him [Hezekiah]; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. 8 He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

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Elsewhere in KJB, Jer 8:

17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.

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New King James Version:

For behold, I will send serpents among you, Vipers which cannot be charmed, And they shall bite you,” says the LORD.

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Even the NKJ translated H6848 to 'vipers', not 'cockatrice'.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Thank God.

Michie said:

Denial. They’d start spouting about all they do for women’s health. Which is basically nothing.

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They harm and exploit women. The company should be shut down permanently.

ozso said:

Many goat sculptures have been made for project G.O.A.T. which stands for Global Offensive Against Trafficking. Which is an art-based awareness and support campaign in the fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children.

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Thanks for the info.

Michie said:

To Catholic Subversives Who Support The Priestesshood

Recently, during the installation of a new archbishop in Brazil, a scandal occurred. This scandal purports that a female Anglican minister participated or

www.patheos.com

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St. John Paul II, the late Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis made it abundantly clear women will never be ordained as priests (or deacons).

It's time to move on.

I’ve been praying for Israel and the hostages for some time. I also have been praying that they turn to their Torah (Old Testament) and see that the Messiah, their Messiah, is right there (especially in Isaiah 53) if they look in the right places. And that they will
receive his salvation..

Where is our heart?

Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[c] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

James 1:

10 the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower.

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How do you think I could interpret this paradox?

Let's see the parallelism in James 1:9-10a

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position.
but the rich should take pride in their humiliation

This is a contrast between the humble and the rich. James reminds the humble people of their high position in Christ and the rich people of their humiliation in God's eyes.

James emphasizes the heavenly/vertical perspective. Horizontally speaking, riches are transient, as he further explains:

9b since they [the rich with their material wealth] will pass away like a wild flower. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

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Near the end of his letter, he again emphasizes the transient nature of physical things in James 4:14

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

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Rich people should not take pride in their riches. Instead, they should take pride in their humility in Christ who has graciously saved them. Their riches cannot save them.

Broad bi-partisan opposition to recent cuts in staffing in agencies that manage our public lands in the West:

"Why it matters: The bipartisan Conservation in the West survey, released Wednesday, is the first to measure the region's reaction to the Trump administration's move days earlier to cut thousands of national park, forest service and Bureau of Land Management workers.

The big picture: The overwhelming support for public lands and the agencies that manage them is reflected throughout the Mountain West.

• In the eight states polled, a large majority — including among self-identified MAGA Republicans — oppose funding cuts to federal public land agencies, and prioritize conservation over oil and gas drilling by the widest margin in the poll's 15-year history.
• 87% want career professionals to make decisions about public lands, water and natural resources rather than Trump administration appointees."

(A lot of this discussion, is about points that are irrelevant to the massive
nature of the neighborhood fires.

As I mentioned, from articles, the recent neighborhood fires in L.A.
had unique problems...

1 Old, winding roads, into some of the "scenic" neighborhoods, could not
evan allow fire trucks to drive into the neighborhoods.

2 Although wild fires brought the fire to inhabitted neighborhoods, the
fire codes in L.A. allowed very closely spaced houses, made of burnable
materials. It was not brush, that made these fires spread, but the burning
houses themselves, that spread the fires.

3. The high winds of 70-100 mph, meant that air tankers could not fly.
And without these, it was impossible for fire trucks to stop the fires.

4 The "density" of fire equipment in the burning neighborhoods, was
meant for individual house fires, not for entire rows of houses burning.
These latest fires are something quite new.

5 Even if you could have filled the neighborhood street solid with fire trucks,
they could not have stopped the fires, because of the high winds.

6 The water pipes were meant to service individual house fires. They were
not designed to handle the situation of entire neighborhoods going up in
fire.

Explanations that appeal to not enough fire trucks, or not enough water,
or too much wild brush, do not deal with the real causes of the huge
neighborhood fires. A lot of these posts, are irrelevant, to the L.A. fires.)

I

Pommer said:

You & me both, brother.

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Getting old sucks.