I know the Lord gave me the words and music for this song, so I first wanted to look at the phrase “will be called” in the Bible to see what it rendered. I learned that “will be called” meant that this is what “you will be.” The prerequisite for being a witness for Jesus Christ is first to be filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit of God, then we will be his witnesses. That is what we will be called, not in name only, but in practice and in character.


We, as God’s people, are a city, i.e. we are the City of God, a City on a Hill (Matthew 5:14), the New Jerusalem. So the walls that need repaired are the spiritual fortifications, borders, hedges of protection, boundaries, etc., which are provided for us by God for when we are in a true and right relationship with him.

These spiritual “walls” get broken down and get holes in them when we give way to sin in our lives and when we allow the world and its influences into our hearts and lives to live and to reign, rather than allowing the Holy Spirit of God to rule over our lives. So, we, as God’s Holy City, need to repair and to restore spiritually the broken lives of those within those walls, i.e. those lives of true believers in Jesus Christ, who have wandered from their pure faith, back to a right relationship with God. I believe this is what it means to be a witness in Jerusalem. For our witness to be unto God, I believe, means we do this repairing and restoring as a service to others as unto Jesus Christ (See Matthew 25:31-46).

My Witnesses

An Original Work / April 26, 2011

You shall be called My witnesses
Unto Me in Jerusalem.
Harken to Me, won’t you believe
Jesus is calling you home?
Trust in Your Lord and God to save
Everyone who trusts His name.

Let everyone who says he’s saved
Honor and magnify My name.
Won’t you believe in Me today?
I have provided the Way.
I lay My life down for your soul.
Won’t you trust Me to make you whole?

Oh, how I love and care for you.
Would you abide with Me in truth?
Listen to Me, now hear My plea,
Won’t you trust Me with your all?
I gave My life, so you go free.
Won’t you bow down on bended knee?

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When the Scriptures were originally written, they were not written with chapters and verses. Those were added much later to make it easier for us to find specific passages of Scripture, I believe. And the book of Romans was not written as a book, but it was all one continuous letter. So if we want to understand what the Scriptures are teaching us, it is best if we read them in their full context. For example, this passage of Scripture in chapter 15 is a continuation on the subject of what was written in chapter 14.

And chapter 14 addressed the subject of those who were “weak in faith.” And by that was meant those Jewish believers in Christ who were not able to let go of some of the Old Covenant practices. For when Jesus Christ died on that cross to deliver us out of slavery to sin, and to give us new lives in Jesus, he did away with the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions that the Jews had to follow under the Old Covenant. But he did not remove God’s moral laws!

But some of the Jewish believers in Christ still held to the dietary laws and restrictions, and they still considered one day sacred above the rest. And so Paul was telling those believers who were free from these laws not to pass judgment on their brothers and sisters in Christ whose faith was weak and who were not able yet to get to that point. And he was telling those who still held on to some of those laws to not judge those who were free from them. For they were to show love, one to the other, even if they had differences.

So, when this says here in chapter 15 that we who are strong in faith have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves, this was not speaking of bearing with the sinful practices of professing Christians who still have not let go of their sinful habits, but who are still deliberately and habitually engaging in what they know is sin against the Lord Jesus and against other humans. And it is not saying that we are not to judge them and that we are not to confront them with their sins.

And pleasing our neighbors does not ever engage tolerating and accepting of deliberate and habitual sin in the life of one who calls himself a follower of Jesus Christ. For that is not love! Love tells people the truth about their sin in the hopes that they will die to their sins and now walk in obedience to their Lord in holy living. For we are to put no stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother or a sister in Christ, either related to the matter of differences of opinion or related to the area of sinful practices.

In other words, we are not to do anything within our power that would cause a fellow Christian to do what is biblically regarded as sin or to do what is against their own consciences with regard to days in the week and with regard to food that they eat. But we are to judge sin. And we are to call out sin. And we are to call for repentance and for walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And we are to warn of the consequences of continuing in deliberate sin and of not walking in obedience to the Lord.

So, when this is speaking of us all living in harmony with one another, this is not teaching that we are to tolerate sin in one another, and that we are to remain silent with regard to deliberate and habitual sin in the lives of those who call themselves Christians. This is speaking totally of us living in harmony with other Christians even if we have disputable differences over subjects that do not matter for eternity. For too many “Christians” end up fighting with one another over non-essentials, and that should not be!

So, when it comes to matters that are not matters of sin but of differences of religious practices only, or that are any other differences of opinion over anything else, we should follow the teachings of Romans 14:1-23 and Romans 15:1-7. And we should agree to disagree but to not allow our differences to divide us. And we should harmonize together in the areas where we can agree, as long as we are talking here about differences of opinion and not about deliberate and habitual sin within the church.

For, we cannot with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ if some of us are living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and not in holy living in walks of obedience to the Lord. For the Scriptures are really clear on this subject. If we claim to be in fellowship with God, but while we walk in sin, we are liars. And if we claim to know God, but while we don’t walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands, then we are liars. And if sin and disobedience are our practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

We should always be kind to everyone, and we should forgive everyone who sins against us, but we are not to be tolerant of sinful practices and of those “believers” who refuse to repent and who refuse to follow Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands. And a refusal to repent doesn’t have to be verbal at all. For the true refusal is shown by one’s actions. For someone can claim to have repented, but if they continue in deliberate and habitual sin, that is not genuine repentance that forsakes sin and walks with God.

So, please understand the difference here between “failings” which are just a matter of diet and days in the week, and “failings” which are the result of deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and against other humans. And don’t treat them as equal, because they are not equal. One requires tolerance and understanding and acceptance of those whose opinions differ from our ours, whereas the other requires that we speak the truth in love and that we help others to come out of their sinful lifestyles to follow Jesus.

[Php 2:1-8; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:15-21; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-31; Gal 6:1; Jas 5:19-20; Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13]

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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Like most of you, I'm shocked, disappointed and unsurprised that the Supreme Court made an ethics policy and promptly threw it in the trash.
Presiding over this is a Chief Justice who is always said to be concerned about his legacy.
The outright unchecked corruption and borderline treason of Thomas and Alito will justifiably be condemned by current and future historians. So what's up?
A political Chief Justice is, I believe waiting to ax them until there is a Republican president and Senate--even if in the meantime their graft piles up.
Should Trump win (heaven forbid) they'll be out the door, to be replaced by younger compromised replacements like Aileen Cannon.
Not that adding manipulation to shielding corruption would move him up from the reserved position of worst Chief Justice ever.
Jeffrey Toobin was very prophetic in writing about Roberts in "The Nine."

Ubisoft just release a trailer for their new Assassin's Creed franchise set in Japan. Guess who the protagonist is? Yasuke the black "samurai". For those who don't know Yasuke he is a black servant of a Jesuit priest, Alessandro Valignano gifted to lord Oda Nobunaga during the 15th century. Yasuke is the name given to him by Nobunaga. He was a bodyguard and weapon's barer to Nobunaga. Yasuke didn't play a big role in Nobunaga's ambitions. In fact there are very little written about Yasuke's exploits. And the historical records do not mention Nobunaga ever conferring any title of samurai to him. The closest Nobunaga ever said anything is making Yasuke a "dono" (lord) in jest. The most pivotal moment of his life is after his master's death in Kyoto. Long story short Nobunaga was betrayed by one of his retainers Mitsuhide Akechi and Yasuke being his bodyguard was spared after Nobunaga's death. Mitsuhide didn't even counted Yasuke as a samurai letting him go as compared to other guards of Nobunaga.

Yasuke is not pivotal to Japan's history. He was more of an oddity due to his skin color and height of that time period in Japan. While he is remembered as part of Nobunaga's entourage, he is but only a mere footnote. The fact that the west try to place more importance to Yasuke than the Japanese themselves show a level of historical revisionism. And the progressives are making sure they can change history to suit their narrative. After the release of the trailer on Youtube which is downvoted to near oblivion, scores of people rushed to Wikipedia to try and change the entry of Yasuke. To make him into a true samurai by literally rewriting history. No history is sacred to the "DEI" messaging such as black Hannibal & black Cleopatra. Yasuke the first "black samurai" is no different.

Everyone knows that Yasuke was chosen by the developers due to his ethnicity. In short DEI messaging. In doing so have done a great dis-service to the historical source they took from. Gaming sites rushed to defend Ubisoft. And the usual gaslighting of gamers as bigoted and racist start. I even caught one gaming site (IGN) having 2 different takes for a similar issue. IGN complained that Capcom can't remake Resident Evil 5 due to racism having a white protagonist gun down black zombies. While not placing the same standard of a black protagonist slaughtering Japanese civilians of rival clans. They even have a line in the article "We Mustn’t Be Afraid to Dream a Little Bigger". Yes until it doesn't match the DEI messaging.

Do I have a problem of a black samurai protagonist? Yes, only because the western gaming world is inconsistent with their morals and messaging. Double standards are the only standard apparently. DEI is where games go to D-I-E.

After reading through the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, I have come to the conclusion that RSF as an organization can no longer the trusted to be objective. It's ranking of countries are totally unbelievable. Take for example South Africa rank 38 which is far higher than respectable countries like Australia, Italy, Poland, South Korea & Japan. Really? You mean to tell me that I'm better off being a journalist in SA than say Japan. It's safer and easier to get information in SA than say Italy.

They dare say that press freedom is under attack when they come up with such a listing. What a farce.

As a USA Today piece recently observed, on its own at least, AI clearly is still working out some kinks. But, of course, AI is not on its own, so at least for now, the real threat remains fallen humans using AI to spread falsehood, gain power, hurt others, and try to become superhuman.

Examples of this also abound. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Jack Brewster recently described “How I Built an AI-Powered, Self-Running Propaganda Machine for $105.” It took him just two days to launch his so-called “pink slime” news site capable of generating and publishing thousands of false stories every day using AI, which could self-fund with ads.

The whole process required, as he put it, “no expertise whatsoever,” and could be tailored to suit whatever political bias or candidate he chose. Readers would have no clear way of distinguishing the auto-generated fake news from real journalism, or of knowing that Buckeye State Press, the name Brewster assigned his phony website, was only a computer making things up according to his political specifications. Even worse, the one human that Brewster spoke with in the process of setting up the site was a web designer in Pakistan who claimed to have already built over 500 similar sites (and likely not for reporters interested in exposing this problem). The news and information rating service NewsGuard has identified over a thousand such “pink slime” news sites so far and claims that many are “secretly funded and run by political operatives.”

Questions like, “What is the truth?” and “Who is actually telling it?” will become more important than ever as AI technology takes off and is used by unscrupulous people to flood the internet, newsfeeds, and airwaves with misinformation. Christians will need a great deal more discernment than we currently cultivate, and a hesitancy to believe everything we see, especially when it reinforces our biases and assumptions.

More importantly, we’ll need to carefully weigh out which tasks and activities are irrevocably human and shouldn’t be outsourced to machine learning. This question is already urgent. The Associated Press reported last year on an AI avatar that “preached” a “sermon” to a gathering of German liberal protestants. Recently, a major Catholic apologetics website announced an “interactive AI” chatbot named “Father Justin,” who supposedly provides “a new and appealing way for searchers to begin or continue their journey of faith.” It didn’t take long for “Father Justin” to be “demoted.” If it needs to be said, following spiritual advice from AI is a terrible idea.

In his book 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity, Dr. John Lennox argued that it’s not alarmist to note how some of the main AI pioneers openly espouse transhumanism. At the heart of this worldview is a very old lie, first whispered by a snake in a Garden, that humans “shall be like God.” We can acknowledge that without denying the legitimate, helpful, and humane uses of AI.

Greetings,

I have been trying to slowly develop a habit of praying every day (my hope is one day to live up to the ideal of the Didache 3x a day). I struggle to be consistent and it is often a source of guilt and frustration. Anyone have any suggestions on ways to cultivate discipline around prayer.

My, you have to work mighty hard to get such info out of all the best search venues today concerning America's godly heritage.

Hi there,

I was just wondering if anyone who identifies as Anglican or Anglo Catholic attend the sacrament of penance (confession) regularly. What has your experience been like and if you have some background, how do Anglicans and Episcopalians make sense of the practice as distinct from Roman Catholics?

Good day, I'm asking for prayer for the salvation of the members of The DC Alternative Health Meetup Group, SCHAMANISMUS * NATURMYSTIK * KLANG * YOGA * MEDITATION, Calgary: ViewU Events & Training, Alternativas-de-futuro - AULAS, PALESTRAS E WORKSHOPS, Embodying New Earth, The Pittsburgh Witches Ball, Vancouver WA Mystery Shamanism UA USA Meetup group, Omaha Shaman Drum Circle, Miami Pagan Meetup, The Edmonton Pagan & Witches Meetup Group, Guided Meditation with Sound Healing, Ancestral Spirit Traditions RGV, Twin Cities Soul Tribe, Drum, Journey and Sound Healing Circles - North Carolina, Du Corps à l'Esprit le Cœur à l'ouvrage, Qi Gong, méditation and families. Thank you for all your prayer.

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said Sunday they had arrested several foreigners who were allegedly involved in a thwarted coup attempt after a shootout in the capital left three people dead.

Congolese army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge told state television in a brief statement that the coup attempt had been swiftly stopped by Congolese security forces.

The U.S. ambassador tweeted that she had received reports that U.S. citizens were involved, and local media published footage of two men under arrest, their hands clasped pleadingly, with pictures of a passport that indicated one was a 36-year-old U.S. citizen born in Maryland. Media reports indicated that three other Americans were also arrested. The reports could not be independently confirmed.

The coup attempt appears to have been led by Christian Malanga, a 41-year-old man who set up a political organization among the Congolese diaspora in the United States and proclaimed himself president of Congo in exile. Congolese intelligence suspected him of previously trying to assassinate President Joseph Kabila, said Dino Mahtani, who has held senior positions for the United Nations in Congo; Kabila was president from 2001 to 2019.

Mahtani said Congolese intelligence had previously told him that Malanga was a former U.S. military officer of Congolese origin; Malanga himself posted online that he had been an Air Force junior ROTC cadet and had led a Congolese military unit.

I know the bible prohibits marriage between blood or step siblings, but how about adopted siblings?

on CBS. Enjoy.

The Israelites made a golden calf to replace the LORD in Ex 32:

30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”

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Moses interceded for the Israelites. Did he mean that literally?

Perhaps not, I think it was a figure of speech. It demonstrated his compassion for the people before God in a manner of pleading. He knew the LORD would not accept that:

33 But the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”

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No deal.

35 Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

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This kind of pleading was not uncommon in ancient Chinese culture, when an innocent person pleaded for his guilty relative before an authority, hoping for mercy. It was a Confucian honorable act.

Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s chief financial officer, is threatening to investigate insurance companies that leave the state. Patronis blames “wokeness” for the moves, not rampant lawsuits or climate change.

"It's all those woke hurricanes!"

Bless your heart, Jimmy.

This one does not even need an AI summary. A priest by the name of Fr. Thomas McHale (American residing in UK) preached on Good Friday, that Jesus had His plantain enlargen during the crucifixion (keeping it clean here). Gross. Sadly, this creepy priest was not removed from the church. We should pray that this man repents for his disgusting perversion of the Easter journey.




We must rebuke this worldly and sinful teachings, especially teachings about stuff that is sexually immoral or lewd: Rebuke The Worldly Churches (1 Timothy 5:20)

I have what seems to me to be a reasonable set of plans for what to do in my life in the future. But Proverbs 3:5-6 say, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart...lean not unto your own understanding..." I have been mystified by the gray area between God's will and my will. Because of my wavering faith, I may at some points wholeheartedly commit to something like what it says in the passage referred to, but at other times waver away from that and be concentrating on my agenda, all the while fully aware that God can do what he wants with us and our plans. I am living on a shrinking amount of savings and I have some specific plans as to career and as to reversing the outflow of money from me. We all naturally want God to rubber stamp/bless our own plans and projects, but Christians typically warn against such an approach. I am not sure if I will know if God is saying "Go ahead with your plans" or else "Do something else." As to career paths, it seems some Christians just go ahead with their own best thinking/planning while others claim to be clearly called by God to certain paths. Of course, many of those in ministry say they were called by God into the ministry. But, for example, I know of one woman who was a high-powered lawyer who said God clearly directed her to become a counselor in a rehab center in another state for half her income as a lawyer. So, I am cautiously going ahead with my plans while being aware that God could direct me to change them. My question is, how might I know it if God directs my paths?

2 Kings 17:24 explained the origin of the Samaritans:

The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.

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They believed in the roles of prophets and usurped the religion of YHWH and disagreed with the Jews, John 4:

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

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They thought they had the true religion but Jesus disagreed:

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

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They were also looking for the Messiah:

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

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Jesus showed himself to be the one they were looking for:

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

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Why did the Jews refuse to have dealings with the Samaritans?

It was due to centuries of disagreements and misunderstanding between the two peoples on who had the true religion of YHWH.

Another great portion of E.M. Bounds work, of which the more I read, the more I am drawn in with the Lord in prayer.

Unction comes to the preacher, not in the study, but in the closet. It is heaven's distillation in answer to prayer. It is the sweetest exhalation of the Holy Spirit. It impregnates softens, cuts and soothes. It carries the Word like dynamite, like salt, like sugar; makes the hearer a culprit or a saint, makes him weep like a child and live like a giant; opens his heart and his purse as gently, yet as strongly as the spring opens the leaves.

This unction is not the gift of genius. It is not found in the halls of learning. No eloquence can woo it. No industry can win it. No clergies hands can impart it. It is the gift of God -the signet set to His own messengers. It is Heaven's knighthood given to the chosen true and brave ones who have sought this anointed honor through many an hour of tearful, wrestling prayer.

Earnestness is good and impressive. Genius is gifted and great. Thought kindles and inspires, but it takes a diviner endowment, a more powerful energy then earnestness or genius or thought - to BREAK the chains of sin, to WIN estranged and depraved hearts to God to repair the breaches, and restore the Church to her old ways of purity and POWER! Nothing but this holy unction can do this. Unction is the anointing of the Holy Ghost, separating unto God's work and qualifying for it. Without this unction there are no true spiritual results accomplished.

Unction may be simulated. There are many things that look like it, there are many results that resemble its effects; but they are foreign to its results and to its nature. The fervor or softness excited by a pathetic or emotional sermon may look like the movements of the divine unction, but they have no pungent, penetrating, heartbreaking force. No heart-healing balm is there in these surface, sympathetic, emotional movements. They are not radical, neither sin-searching nor sin-curing.

This divine unction is the one distinguishing feature that separates true gospel preaching from all other methods of presenting truth. It backs and interpenetrates the revealed truth with all the force of God. It illumines the Word, and broadens and enriches the intellect, and empowers it to grasp and apprehend the Word. It qualifies the preacher's heart, and brings it to that condition of tenderness, of purity, of force and light that are necessary to secure the highest results. This unction gives to the preacher liberty and enlargement of thought and soul - freedom, fullness, and directness of utterance that can be secured by no other process.

Without unction on the preacher the gospel has no more power to propagate itself than any other system of truth. This is the seal of its divinity. Unction in the preacher puts God in the gospel. Without the unction, God is absent, and the gospel is left to the low forces that the ingenuity, interest, or talents of men can devise to enforce and project its doctrines.

It is in this element the pulpit often fails than in any other element. Unction is the consecration force, and its presence the continuous test of consecration. It is this divine anointing on the preacher that secures his consecration. It is this divine anointing on the preacher that secures his consecration to God and his work. Other forces and motives may call him to the work, but this only is consecration. A separation to God's work by the power of the Holy Spirit is the only consecration recognized by God as legitimate.

The divine unction, this heavenly anointing is what the pulpit needs and must have. This divine and heavenly oil put on it by the imposition of God's hand must soften and lubricate the whole man - heart, head, spirit - until it separates him with a mighty separation from all earthly, secular, worldly, selfish motives and aims, separating him to everything that is pure and Godlike. It is the presence of this unction on the preacher that creates the stir and friction in many a congregation. The same truths have been told in the strictness of the letter, but no ruffle has been seen, no pain or pulsation felt. All is quiet as a graveyard.
Another preacher comes, and this mysterious influence is on him; the letter of the Word has been fired by the Spirit, the throes of a mighty movement are felt. It is this unction that pervades and stirs the conscience and breaks the heart. Unctionless preaching makes everything hard, dry, and, dead. This unction is not a memory or an era of the past only; it is a present, realized, conscious fact. It belongs to the experience of the man as well as to his preaching. It is that which transforms him into the image of his divine Master, as well as that by which he declares the truth of Christ with power. It is so much the power in the ministry as to make all else seem feeble and vain without it, - and by its presence to atone for the absence of all other feebler forces.

This unction is not an inalienable gift. It is a conditional gift, and its presence is perpetuated and increased by the same process by which it was at first secured; by unceasing prayer to God, by impassioned desires after God, by estimating it, by seeking it with tireless ardor, by deeming all else loss and failure without it.

EXCERPTED FROM, POWER THROUGH PRAYER

Is it wrong to be a homemaker as a Christian Dad and stay home and watch the kids and have the wife work.

Take your wounds from the past to Jesus, friends. HE STILL HEALS!

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Every harsh word spoken
Every promise ever broken to me
Total recall of data in the memory
Every tear that has washed my face
Every moment of disgrace that I have known
Every time I've ever felt alone

Lord of the here and now
Lord of the come what may
I want to believe somehow
That you can heal these wounds of yesterday
(You can redeem these things so far away)
So now I'm asking you
To do what you want to do
Be the Lord of the Past
(Be the Lord of my Past)
Oh how I want you to
Be the Lord of the Past

All the chances I let slip by
All the dreams that I let die in vain
Afraid of failure and afraid of pain
Every tear that has washed my face
Every moment of disgrace that I have known
Every time I've ever felt alone

Well I picked up all these pieces
And I built a strong deception
And I locked myself inside of it
For my own protection
And I sit alone inside myself
And curse my company
For this thing that has kept me alive for so long
Is now killing me.
And as sure as the sin rose this morning,
The man in the moon hides his face tonight.
And I lay myself down on my bed
And I pray this prayer inside my head

Lord of the here and now
Lord of the come what may
I want to believe somehow
That you can heal these wounds of yesterday
So now I'm asking you
To do what you want to do
Be the Lord of my Past
You can do anything
Be the Lord of the Past
I know that you can find a way
To heal every yesterday of my life
Be the Lord of the Past

The relator-general of the global synod on synodality, Cardinal Jean Claude Hollerich, backed this week the incremental and “tactful” progress towards the ordination of women to the priesthood.

The cardinal, who is also Archbishop of Luxembourg, was appointed by Pope Francis to oversee the collection and synthesis of discussion and responses during the multi-year synodal process, due to reconvene in Rome in October.

Continued below.

This would be a shock to the countercultural Catholic matriarchs who birthed this influential network​

Is having children “liberal” or “conservative”? Obviously, that question is way too simplistic for the complicated age in which we live, so let’s be more specific.

OK, is it “conservative” for a husband and wife to have, oh, four or more children? If you have followed birth-rate trends in American culture in recent decades, you would have to say this choice is “conservative” and almost certainly “faith-based.”

This brings us to this week’s “Crossroads” podcast. Is it “liberal” or “conservative” for a mother to breastfeed a newborn? Actually, that choice is totally mainstream. Ah, but is it “liberal” or “conservative” for a biological male who to one degree or another has transitioned to “female” identity to, with medical assistance, “chestfeed” a newborn obtained via surrogacy or adoption? Is that choice “normal” or “natural”?

Apparently, some leaders with the La Lache League have decided that this influential national and global network — which promoted the return of breastfeeding for millions of mothers in the 1950s — have decided that it’s time to edit the word “motherhood” out of that equation. He is a chunk of the relevant feature by Bethany Mandel at The Free Press: “La Leche League Erases Mothers.”

Founded in Chicago in 1956, now with 1,020 expert volunteers hosting monthly meetings across the U.S., La Leche League takes the lead in teaching mothers how to breastfeed in America. When it began its work, just 20 percent of mothers in the U.S. breastfed; now that figure is 75 percent. …
La Leche League’s meetings are now also open to biological men. All attendees have to do is say they’re transgender or nonbinary, and they can come and watch women baring their breasts while obtaining breastfeeding support.

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The La Leche League website is both clear, and not so clear, about what is going on. Mandel noted:

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Hey there is a healing evangelist out there named Freddy Clark, he travels the country doing tent healing revivals, he stays down south in the winter and then comes up north during the summer, if he is ever within driving distance you should take a road trip and get a hotel room and come. Everyone who he prays for gets instantly healed, 100%! You don't have to tell him what is wrong with you, he already knows. He was up here in Pennsylvania last summer and I went, he told me my IQ was going up and now I am smarter, my mind is sharper! My vision was also blurry and he told me God was healing me and now my vision is back in focus! Someone also got healed of cancer! Some amazing things always happen!

IF you want to see a video of one of his meetings link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHzUP3qwwpk&t=1775s

In his homily for the Solemnity of Pentecost, Pope Francis reflects on how the Holy Spirit, operating in the Church with power and gentleness, never leaves us alone, and, if we let Him, gives us His presence and gifts to accomplish that for which us, alone, would have otherwise been impossible.

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