3 hostages released by Hamas reunite with families * Almog Levy, 3, in first words to his dad: 'Abba, it took you a long time to come back' * 18 terrorists serving life terms going free​

Health Ministry says released hostages suffering severe malnutrition, lost significant weight in Hamas captivity​

The Health Ministry says that the three hostages who were freed from Gaza this morning are suffering from severe malnutrition and lost significant body weight during their 491 days in captivity, after initial medical checks in the hours following their release.

“These are difficult scenes,” Health Ministry representative Dr. Hagar Mizrahi says in a press conference from Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where two of the released hostages are beginning their recovery.

The three hostages freed by Hamas this morning — Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 — looked gaunt and unsteady on their feet as they were released by the terror group, 16 months after they were kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri and the Nova music festival.

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The U.S. bishops’ conference laid off 50 people on Friday, roughly one-third of staff members in its migration and refugee services office, after a halt to federal reimbursements for contracted refugee and migrant resettlement programs.

The move comes amid Trump administration criticism of the refugee resettlement and migration aid work organized through the USCCB, and as the U.S. bishops’ global relief organization faces layoffs related to slashed federal funding as well.

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“The Executive Orders recently issued by the U.S president are causing confusion both within various agencies and with those who interact with them. This is true for the USCCB regarding cooperative agreements for both Refugee Resettlement Programs and our Children Services, which help care for unaccompanied children,” USCCB general secretary Fr. Michael Fuller wrote in a Feb. 7 memo to bishops, which was obtained by The Pillar Friday afternoon.

“In addition, to the best of my knowledge, since the new administration assumed office, no resettlement agency or other non-government agencies, including CRS, have received reimbursements for outstanding invoices related to the programs we administer. The last reimbursement payment the USCCB received from the Federal Government was on January 15th, which was reimbursement for services completed in November.”

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Barbecue, cheesesteak and cash for charity is on the line.

On Super Bowl Sunday, players for the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles are vying for a championship, a ring, money ($178,000 for winners versus $103,000 for losers), and a lifetime achievement.

The Catholic bishops of their respective dioceses have more modest things at stake: food, a $500 donation and bragging rights.

Even so, the bishops talked some clerical smack earlier this week over their purportedly friendly wager.

It’s a rematch for Kansas City Bishop James Johnston and Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Pérez, whose city’s teams played each other in the Big Game two years ago. (Kansas City won, 38-35, the first of two Super Bowl victories in a row. Philadelphia won the title in 2017, its only championship in the Super Bowl era.)

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Pray that despite the political election victory by India's Hindu nationalist party in Delhi, India, that Christians are seen in favorable light:

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I would have voted this guy man of the year:

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soldier of light said:

What sins did he admit to?

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It’s in the text and you can read all about it. But you have already declined to do that. Oh well.

08 February 2025 – India​

Pray for the state of Manipur, which has suffered almost two years of continual violence. Many Manipuri Christians are living in relief camps with little medical care, and still suffer drone attacks and intimidation.
YES - I will Pray

07 February 2025 – Sri Lanka​

Praise God for the peacemakers who regularly seek to bring together local community groups. They often meet with Islamic scholars, local Hindus, Christians and officers from the religious institutes. Pray for continued unity, so easily broken by tensions and militants’ actions.
YES - I will Pray

06 February 2025 – Sri Lanka​

Ask God to grant wisdom and discernment to local church leaders, particularly around the issues of conflict and contested places of religious worship. A recent report shed light on the underlying causes and implications.
YES - I will Pray

05 February 2025 – Sri Lanka​

Praise God for the provision of a motorcycle for Pastor Robert Peter. He has struggled to visit the 150 members of his church but is now able to serve them more effectively.
YES - I will Pray

04 February 2025 – Sri Lanka​

Pray for the many training camps run by Release International’s partners which seek to educate church planters, youth pastors, church leaders and medical workers.
YES - I will Pray

03 February 2025 – Sri Lanka​

Praise God for the more than 100 young people who attended our partners’ recent ‘Kids Camp’, where they received healing, restoration and teaching. Pray that at next year’s event God would touch all the young people whose lives have been affected by persecution.
YES - I will Pray

02 February 2025 – Sri Lanka​

Pray for God’s provision for the many young believers who often do not have enough money to buy books or clothes.
YES - I will Pray

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Eritrea’s persecution landscape is complex. On the church front, the government recognizes only the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), Catholic and Lutheran churches, and Islam. Converts from Islam or Orthodoxy to Protestantism risk severe mistreatment from their families and communities. Non-traditional churches face the harshest violations from both the government and the EOC. For many years, government security forces have conducted house-to-house raids, arresting hundreds of Christians.
In Eritrea, daily life is heavily monitored, with phone calls and internet usage under constant scrutiny. Eritrea is often called the “North Korea of Africa” due to extreme state control.
Christians, especially those not recognised by the state, suffer the most. Extreme pressure, state-sanctioned violence and conscription are forcing some Christians to flee the country. Conscription presses young Christians into indefinite military service without the right to conscientious objection.

Meet Paulos​

“We live in fear of who will be arrested next. Will it be another brother in Christ? Will it be me? But we must continue to walk with God.”
Paulos (not his real name), a believer in Eritrea.

What does Open Doors do to help?​

Open Doors works through local church partners in Eritrea to provide economic empowerment projects, discipleship and persecution survival training.

Please pray​

• Pray for the release of imprisoned believers and others like them and provision for their families.
• Pray for protection and guidance for those believers who are forced into military.
• Pray that imprisoned believers will not lose hope in one of the world’s most notorious prison networks.

Bradskii said:

Sorry, I can't parse that. Each of my children had two opinions in regard to religion (specifically Catholicism). One from their school and one from me.

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Catholic school would be wonderful if they would teach the catechism and get people to follow that teaching. But some people believe they fail to accomplish that. Popes have emphasized the importance of following the Catechism of the Catholic Church. For instance, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI both underscored the significance of adhering to the Catechism as a comprehensive guide to Catholic faith and morals.

Praise & Thank The Heavenly Father for freeing the 7-Oct-2023 Israeli hostages Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy:

Hamas frees three Israeli hostages as Palestinian prisoners released

BPPLEE said:

Unlike the Confederacy, Mexico still exists and if they like it so much that they carry the flag then they should go there

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Many of them are descendants of families (of Spanish and Native American blood) who have lived in Arizona since before a scruffy handful of religious extremists landed at Plymouth Rock.

Always in His Presence said:

You presume incorrectly - Rev. Billy Graham - who owned a mountain in the Carolina's - had a net worth of 25,000,000.

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Well that’s unsurprising.

I have a home, food, a dog I love and a simple hobby. I have peace, joy and love as well. Thank you Lord.

The love which we are to have for all people, including for our enemies, is the love which comes from God and which prefers what God prefers. For the Christian, it means to prefer to live through Christ, doing his will, in his power and strength, and for his purposes. It means to prefer all that is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to the Lord, and to love like God loves us. And Jesus Christ loved us enough to give his life up for us so that we can be free from slavery to sin and obey God.

This love is not human love, which is based in our emotions, in how we feel, or in how we feel about a particular person. This love is based in God and in who he is, for he is love, and in all that he stands for and how he models his love for us so that we know how we are to love others. So this is not a kind of worldly or fleshly love. This kind of love is willing to sacrifice our own lives and reputations to show others the kind of love Jesus showed us. And he spoke the truth in love we needed to hear for our salvation from sin.

So, this isn’t just about being “good deed doers,” and showing kindness and generosity and thoughtfulness to those we know hate us, and who treat us as though we are the enemy. This isn’t just about forgiving those who do us wrong, although it is that, too, or just praying for them. It isn’t just about turning the other cheek, with the potential of them harming us more, in order to show them love and forgiveness. For we can do all those things, but we need to be sharing with them the truth of the gospel of our salvation.

For Jesus sets the example for us in how we are to love our enemies. Not only did he feed the people and heal their diseases and raise the dead and cast out demons, but he told them the truth about their sins, and he told them that he was their answer for what ailed them. He told them that he was the Christ (the Messiah) who was to come, and who had come, and he told them that only through him could they be delivered from their sins and have eternal life with God, but they had to yield their lives to him.

So, just saying here that if we are going to love all people, including our enemies, with the love which comes from God, and which prefers what God prefers, then this needs to include us sharing Jesus with them, but not the “made for TV” kind of Jesus, but biblical Jesus. We need to pray for “divine appointments” and open doors to share the love of Jesus with them, but biblical love which not only does kind things for people but which is also willing to tell them the truth of the gospel for the salvation of their souls.

And this may involve speaking to people who, in the past, have treated us spitefully and with hate and with rejection and persecution, and as though we are just trash for them to discard and to throw away. If the Lord says to “go back in there,” we have to do that. If he says to share the gospel with someone who fought against us and mocked us and criticized us in the past, then we have to do that. For God sets up divine appointments for us, and we have to be willing to receive them, not knowing how we will be received.

And that is part of what it means to love our enemies. And our enemies are not necessarily people who we are against, but who are opposed to us and to who we are and to what we do. But some of them could be very “hard to love” kind of people because of how they treat us. But then look at Jesus’ example. In that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. He did not die on that cross because of our goodness but because he is good, and he is love. So we love whether or not we are loved in return. That’s how it works.

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

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

George Matheson / Albert L. Peace

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

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Love Your Enemies
An Original Work / February 8, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

I'm having biscuits. I love biscuits. Thank you Lord. ❤️

No. I don't believe that cities are protecting felons. For years NYC has said it will not bother immigrants who came here to work hard and contribute to our society. NYC is a city of immigrants--just drive through Queens and see all of the ethnicities and cultures reflected there.

They can't arrest everybody, so they arrest the criminals, and the stats I've seen show that violent crime has decreased in most cities.

I don't believe anything I am unfortunate enough to be exposed to on Fox News (it's in my nail salon, ugh). Their stock in trade is sensationalizing things to drive fear, prejudice and racism into the hearts of their viewers. Doesn't work on me, I'm not their viewer.

Unhinged? After seeing the Trump administration in action, it seems the bar for unhinged has been set really low.
Unhinged is the new normal I see every day, to my disgust.

Stephen3141 said:

I think that there is a general agreement among American citizens, that we are
throwing money at K12 education, and IT IS NOT WORKING.

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My son was taking classes at four different colleges when he was in High School. He was given up to $30,000 a year. He had friends that were getting $90,000 scholarships to the best universities. He wanted to take a class on 3D printers. I talked to the High School and they added the class. Of course they spent their time setting up the printer and did not get much done on it, but at least he learned something about it.

soldier of light said:

As I'm reading political posts in the other forum It looked like gossip and drama.

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Basically what it is really.

Much of USAID's funds are distributed through charities.Catholic Relief Services lost half its revenue. That means Africa has water, food, and malaria crises and people, especially infants, will die.
St. Michael the Archangel, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

PloverWing said:

I generally distinguish between public policy and private life. "Senator Smith voted for thus-and-so policy" is something I should know about, because it may influence how I vote the next time Senator Smith comes up for re-election. "Senator Smith is cheating on his wife" or "Senator Smith dyes his hair" is gossip, and probably isn't my business.

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I think I would agree. But I dont follow politics at all.