Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Our God is faithful
To His every word!

He completes you,
Fulfills your needs,
When you trust in Him –
On His Word do feed.

Believe He cares.
Do not despair!
Those who trust in Him
Are under His care.

How will you know
He loves you so?
He loves us so much,
To the cross did go.

He died for you,
Gave up His life
To free you from sin
and make you His wife.

He freed from sin,
Made pure within
All who trust in Him,
Who turn from their sin.

He strengthens you,
Helps you to stay
Faithful in service
Throughout every day.

He feels your pain,
Sees all your tears.
He will deliver you
From all your fears.

Trust Him right now.
Do not Him doubt.
Believe His promises.
‘Bout them do shout!

Tell of His love.
Tell of His care.
Tell of His grace to us,
How Christ we wear.

We believe Him.
Now truth within.
Follow Him everywhere,
Turning from sin.

Do what He says.
Obey His Word.
Fellowship with Him,
For His truth we’ve heard.

We love our Lord,
Follow His lead,
We share His gospel
And other hearts feed.

Do not Him doubt.
Fearless we’ll be,
Believing in Him,
as we bow the knee.

Yield to His will.
Make Him our Lord.
Receive salvation
That we can’t afford.

Freely He gives.
Freely He cares.
He died to free us,
His righteousness wear.

Wait for Him now.
Coming again
To receive us to Him –
Hearty Amen!

An Original Work / November 10, 2019

Matthew 22:

36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

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Jesus considers love as the greatest as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 13:

13 now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

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Romans 13:

10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.

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Before Jesus' arrest, he tells his disciples in John 13:

34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

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The word "love" is mentioned 3 times in just one verse. All these occurrences of the word "love" refer to the Greek agape love.

Both Jesus and Paul use agape-love as an ideal for the practical Christian life. However, the Greek word has general meanings. BDAG ἀγάπη:

① the quality of warm regard for and interest in another, esteem, affection, regard, love (without limitation to very intimate relationships, and very seldom in general Greek of sexual attraction).
ⓐ of human love
ⓑ of the love of God and Christ

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② a common meal eaten by early Christians in connection with their worship, for the purpose of fostering and expressing mutual affection and concern, fellowship meal, a love-feast

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See also

• Amnon agape-loved Tamar before he raped her
• Frequency of agape-love in the NT

Jesus asks us, who are his followers, to remain in him, to remain in his love, for his words to remain in us, and for us to be his disciples, bearing much fruit for him. He desires to have sweet fellowship with us all the time, every day of the week. He has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives.

He has called us, gifted us, and equipped us for his service. And he has assigned each one of us specific roles which we are to fill within the body of Christ. And he commands that we obey him and his teachings. He is not only our Savior, but he is our Lord (Owner-Master), and we are his bond-servants (slaves), but more than just servants – we are his friends if we do what he says.


Remain in Him

An Original Work / September 23, 2011
Based off of John 15:1-17

Walk in fellowship with Jesus, Savior and friend.
He’s invited you to be His servant again.
Obey all His commands and do all that He says.
Sit at His feet each day. Worship Him for always.
Call Him master and King. Obey Him in all things.
Turn from all of your sins. Live in vict’ry again.
He’ll restore you today if you call Him and pray;
Forsake all of your ways; take up your cross today;
Follow Him for always.

Follow Jesus your friend where He leads you today.
Abide always in Him. Let His words dwell within.
If you remain in Him, bearing fruit from within,
God will answer your prayers, because for you He cares.
Be His followers now. Remain in Jesus’ love.
You will know peace within; comes from heaven above.
Love your neighbors and friends, and your enemies, too.
God will call you His friend. He will ne’er forsake you.
He has appointed you.

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I don't think so. Let's check the original phraseology. Exodus 21:

29 But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. 30 If a ransom [H3724] is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him.

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The owner paid the victim's relative ransom money to redeem his life.

Strong's Hebrew: 3724. כֹּ֫פֶר (kopher) — 17 Occurrences

The word has two meanings, Brown-Driver-Briggs:

1. the price of a life, ransom
2. pitch

God commanded Noah in Genesis 6:

14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover [H3722] it inside and out with pitch [H3724 ransom money].

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Strong's Hebrew: 3722. כָּפַר (kaphar) — 104 Occurrences

The noun H3724-kopher comes from the verb H3722-kaphar.

Brown-Driver-Briggs:

1. cover over, pacify, propitiate; ... Genesis 32:21 let me cover his face by the present (so that he does not see the offence, i.e. pacify, him

kopher could mean the material that makes a covering. This was the meaning applied to Jesus' sacrifice.

Mark 10:

45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom [covering] for many.

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The only other time G3883 appears is in 1 Timothy 2:

5 For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6 who gave himself a ransom [covering] for all.

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Was Jesus' sacrifice a ransom money paid to Satan?

I don't think so. I do not interpret H3724 or G3883 that way. Jesus was a ransom cover for us. The ransom blood continues to cover us. I do not see the ransom as a material transfer to Satan.

See also Jesus gave himself as a G3083-ransom for many people and G487-ransom for all people.

house-democrats-project-2025-task-force-trump_n_66672287e4b0889986ac57cf

Trump's 2025 Plan is to simply replace the federal government, with people
who will support all his political agenda. It would make much of the federal
government into an arm of his political party.

Whether or not you support some of the positions that Trump is taking --
and there are some positions that Christians could find appealing --
Trump wishes to dismantle the federal government.

Without an impartial federal government, America would be ruled by a single
political party, and this would be DISASTROUS.

A political party is a group of people who want the same (sort of) agenda
carried out by the president. But, the current system of 2 main political
parties was NEVER contemplated by the founding fathers of America, and
they NEVER meant federal employees (such as the military, the Department
of Justice, the Treasury, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security,
etc.) to be a tool for one political party to enforce its wishes on all American
citizens. The federal government was to serve ALL CITIZENS.

We have already seen that Trump despises judges who rule against him in law suits
(Trump wants to be free of the rule of law in America, for himself), and threatens the
families of these judges, and threatens all politicians who disagree with him. In this
behavior, it is clear that Trump CANNOT live with the American democratic ideals,
of representation of ALL opinions of citizens.

Trump is seeking the end of American democracy, and wishes to bring that about
by taking over the federal government.

His goal is to avoid prosecution. He doesn't want the fair rule of law in America,
to apply to him.

We saw clearly in the January 6th hearings, that traditional Republicans testified
against Trump's lawless behavior. Observing Trump acting outside the rule of law in
America, is not a political party thing. Trump has started political behavior that is
DIRECTLY AGAINST historical Republican values, in that Trump is attacking the
fair rule of law in America.

Trump's 2025 agenda, if he is voted in as President, is to upend the fair rule of
law in America, and make it into a system of political kangaroo courts, that will
do whatever he wants.

This is not American. It is not democracy. It is not justice.
It is not compatible with historic Christian values.

In the previous writing, “Encouraging One Another,” I spoke on the subject of how we need to be encouragers, but how there are two types of encouragement. One is the kind of stuff that makes us feel good and that encourages us in the work that we are doing for the Lord. The other kind is a holy urging or an exhortation and it can sometimes be a rebuke, but it is usually an encouragement away from a particular behavior toward walking in obedience to the Lord in holy living and no longer in sin.

And this second half of 3rd John does both. But in this case, John was letting the believers in Christ know of his intentions to correct a situation going on within the church which was out of order and which needed to be dealt with. And that should have served both as a warning to those who were doing evil and as an encouragement to those who were being unsettled by what was going on. For by letting the latter know his intentions, they could perhaps have courage to do what was necessary to correct the situation themselves.

But when we, as followers of Christ, see so much evil and so many lies and liars and deceptions within the gatherings of the church and in the teachings being taught there, and when we witness that no one is doing anything about all the evil that is going on in the name of Christianity, it can be very disheartening. So having a word of encouragement, letting us know that someone who has the power fully intends to resolve that situation, should serve to encourage us that not all is lost, but that there is hope for change.

Sadly, though, I don’t see many “John’s” in our day who are passionate about righting the wrongs and doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord. I am not saying that they don’t exist, but that I personally am not seeing them in those I have observed in many different church gatherings, many of which I attended personally, and some of which I observed online or read about in books or heard about from other followers of Christ. It appears that so much of today’s “churches” (mostly businesses) are on sinking sand.

So, the one who is going to come to the rescue is Jesus Christ himself, but sadly that rescue is going to involve severe discipline of the church at large who has fallen prey to the enemy and who has diluted and altered the character of God/Christ, and of his church, and of his gospel message, and who has turned the church gatherings into a marketplace, which God forbids. For so much of what are called “churches” today are just businesses being marketed to the world just like any other businesses.

[Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 18:1-25]

So, in our world today, it isn’t just about one man or a few rotten men who are leading God’s people in the wrong direction. But we have multitudes of men and women who are teaching lies and who are leading people to follow after false christs and a false gospel and a false hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And many of them are directing the paths of their church congregations toward blending in with the world in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world into their gatherings.

And so God is presently speaking similar words about these situations as John did in his remarks about just this one man. And the Lord is warning his people against these charlatans and “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” and those who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness but who work for the devil, instead. And he is telling his people that we need to come out from among these who portend faith in Jesus Christ but who are really ferocious wolves inside. And we need to follow after our Lord, instead.

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

For the Lord’s instructions to us are to tell us that we are not to imitate what is evil (not of God) but we are to imitate, i.e. we are to pattern our lives after what is good (what is of God and is holy and righteous and obedient to God). So, when this says that whoever does (is doing) good is from God, this is not speaking of “good” in the eyes of human beings, but what God calls good, which is all that is righteous, just, holy, upright, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his commands.

And then he let us know that whoever does (is doing) evil has not even seen God, and he is speaking of the practice of evil. And so this can include many who profess faith in Jesus Christ but for whom sin is still their practice. So they are also those who are not walking in obedience to the Lord and to his commands, in practice, and they are not honoring Jesus as Lord of their lives, and they have not forsaken their sinful practices, and they are not living holy lives which are pleasing to God, for they still live to please self.

So this is yet another support for the teaching that lets us know that we are not to be partners with nor to be in fellowship with the ungodly. And the ungodly are all who are living in sin and not in walks of obedience to the Lord. Therefore they are not all who profess to be Christians and to be believers in Jesus Christ. For many give lip service to the Lord but their hearts and their behaviors are far from the Lord. And the Scriptures teach that they are not of God, but they are of the devil (1 John 3:4-10).

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; 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 Peter 1:15; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

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

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

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

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

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A 60-year-old Catholic woman who has been treated for mental illness was jailed on blasphemy charges in Lahore, Pakistan, her son said.

Jameela Khatoon was arrested on 4 June from her house in Lahore's Cantonment area on a complaint of Muslim shopkeeper Asif Ali, said her son, 41-year-old Sunny Gill.

Ali registered a First Information Report (FIR) with the North Cantt Police Station under Section 295-C of the blasphemy law against blaspheming Muhammad, which carries a mandatory death penalty.

Area shopkeepers are so familiar with Khatoon's mental illness that they allow her to take items without paying, knowing her relatives will pay them later, and Ali also was aware of her condition when she came into his shop and allegedly began saying derogatory things about Muhammad after noticing a Muslim prayer mounted on a wall, Gill said.

"Ali also knows about her illness, and we are surprised as to why he filed a case against her," Gill told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

His mother had noticed the Arabic Durood Shareef Islamic prayer on the wall behind the counter when she allegedly began uttering derogatory remarks about Muhammad, said Christ was greater than the prophet of Islam and began screaming and shouting, he said.

Continued below.

I decided to use the image of Sebastian Castellio as my avatar, a figure that most Protestants probably know nothing about.

Castellio was a Reformed Protestant and one-time friend of Calvin that stayed in Geneva during the worst of the plagues, tending the sick as other elders fled the city out of fear. But he came to disagree with Calvin's authoritarian style, and he denounced Calvin after the execution of Miguel Servetus for heresy, which Calvin approved. He wrote, "If you kill a man for doctrine, you do not prove the doctrine. You merely murder a man". Prophetically, he foresaw the ruin of Europe unless Christians learned to live together in love "until we attain to the unity of faith". His writings would go on to directly influence John Lock's ideas of religious toleration, though Locke hid his contact with Castellio's writings, because it was seen as potentially defending a heretic, which could have brought the death penalty.

There's a new historical novel about his clash with Calvin, Fire and Faith:

A former BBC journalist and deselected Liberal Democrat candidate, David Campanale, has filed a lawsuit against his party, alleging discrimination due to his Christian faith, sparking significant controversy within the political sphere in the United Kingdom.

Campanale claims he was prevented from contesting as a member of parliament in Sutton and Cheam, a significant electoral battleground, because of deep-seated hostility from party members toward his religious views. The legal battle and public outcry have raised questions about religious freedom and discrimination within political parties in the U.K.

Campanale’s civil claim includes serious allegations against the current Liberal Democrat candidate, Luke Taylor, accusing him of leading a campaign that marginalized Campanale for his Christian beliefs, The Telegraph reported.

Continued below.

In America, no citizen is above the law.

Donald Trump seems to like picking advisors, who think that they are above the law.

Giuliani Says It’s ‘Hard To Believe’ He Had To Report As A Defendant—As His Mug Shot Is Released In Arizona Fake Electors Case

The United States Department of Justice has indicted a surgeon who blew the whistle on a Texas hospital secretly performing trans surgeries and gender medicalization of minors.

Dr. Eithan Haim, a surgeon at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, who leaked evidence of the body-mutilating procedures to journalist Christopher Rufo, was indicted earlier this week on four felony counts of allegedly violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Haim is scheduled to appear in court on June 17, the National Review reported Thursday, with his legal team reportedly being unaware of the full nature of the charges.

Continued below.

I love reading the 119th Psalm. It is so rich in biblical truth, not that the bible itself is not, obviously, but what I love about the 119th Psalm is the Psalmist’s love for the Lord, and his love for the word of the Lord and his desire to obey it. He doesn’t see the commandments of the Lord as a drudgery or as a burden, but as a delight. And even under the New Covenant we still have commandments of the Lord that we must obey.

There is no sense here that he had his time of devotions with the Lord quick in and quick out, so that he could check it off his list for the day, and so that he could now go about his daily routines. What I get from reading the 119th Psalm is that the word of the Lord was what he breathed in and out each day, and what he lived by, from morning till night. Instead of longing for the pleasures of this world, he longed for the commandments of God. Wow!

He wanted the Lord to guide his steps and to make them steady. He wanted the Lord to help him so that no iniquity would get dominion over his life. But, as we know from reading the Scriptures, as a whole, we have a part in this we must play. We must resist the devil and flee temptation and keep our lives and our eyes and minds centered on Christ and on his word. We must take that way of escape provided for us. And we must cooperate with God.

And he wanted the Lord to redeem him from man’s oppression. And oppression can be acted out in many different ways. It can be in the form of persecution of those who are walking in faithful obedience to the Lord Jesus and who are sharing the truth of the gospel with others. And it can be in the form of others attempting to tempt us to do wrong and to compromise our faith and convictions and to lower our moral standards in order to be accepted. And it can be in acts of cruelty, spite, and malice against us.

But, there again, we must then do as the Lord leads, and as he commands. We must follow the leading of the Lord in how to respond to such situations, and in what to say, or not say. We must not let other humans intimidate us into doing wrong or into compromising our faith and convictions. We must not let the fear of man (humans) overtake us so that we back down and so we retreat and so that we don’t end up doing the will of God for our lives.

And we should be so in love with God, with Jesus Christ, and with his word, with such a strong desire to follow him and to do his will, and with such a strong conviction regarding what the Scriptures teach about what will happen to those who refuse to obey the Lord, that literally our eyes shed streams of tears because other people, especially those professing the name of Jesus, do not obey the Lord and his New Covenant commandments.

It should grieve us. It should break our hearts to see the condition of so much of what is called “church” today where so many are deserting the truth of the gospel to follow after the lies of charlatans. We should be those who weep over the knowledge that so many professing Christians are still walking in sin, ignoring the commands of our Lord, many because they love their sins more, and they are being told that their sins no longer matter to God.

But no matter what we go through in this life, and no matter how many tears we shed, and no matter how much persecution we face, or hardships we experience, if we are following the Lord Jesus with our lives, he is there with us giving us the strength we need to endure. And he will give us all the counsel and help and guidance we need to make it through every trail until the day he comes to take us to be with him for eternity. Praise His Name!

When I Go Home

By G. M. Eldridge

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” Revelation 21:4

In the moment He appears
And the light from heaven shines,
I’ll forget ev’ry fear,
Ev’ry pain I’ll leave behind.
Then I’ll see Him as He is
And I’ll know Him as I’m known.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

Ever present is the tho’t
That a moment waits for me
When unworthy as I am,
His glory I will see.
I will empty all my praise
Before my Father’s throne.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

If the trial I endure,
And your presence I can’t find,
Be near me, Lord, I pray,
Bring back unto my mind
That your promises are firm
And I’m never on my own.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

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Former president and presumptive Republican 2024 presidential nominee Donald Trump says he believes his relationship with God is “good” as he professed his love for Evangelicals who have been faithfully praying for him and assuring him that he’s going to be OK.

Trump, who was convicted on May 30 of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened his 2016 presidential campaign, was asked during a “Fox & Friends” interview last weekend to describe his relationship with God and talk about how he prays.

While he did not say how he prays or if he currently prays, Trump revealed that many devout Evangelicals have assured him they are praying for him.

Continued below.

Samuel Alito’s Wife, Martha-Ann, Goes Full MAGA in Secret Recording​

The audio was posted hours after similarly shocking comments by the Supreme Court justice were published.

Martha-Ann Alito, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, complained about the Pride flag, ranted about “feminazis,” and explained a flag design that she has been creating in her head in anticipation of when her husband is “free of this nonsense,” according to undercover audio released by a journalist and documentary filmmaker Monday on X.

“I want a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag, because I have to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month,” Alito griped at one point.

Alito’s comments were recorded undercover June 3 at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner by Lauren Windsor, who was playing the role of a conservative activist.

Just hours earlier on Monday, Windsor posted another secretly recorded conversation she had had at the dinner with Alito’s husband. That audio was obtained and published by Rolling Stone. In his comments, the embattled jurist described “fundamental” differences between the left and right-wing that “can’t be compromised,” and expressed a desire to “return our country to a place of godliness.”

Shortly after the tape of Samuel Alito was posted, Windsor promised, “We aren’t done breaking news just yet…” That vow was fulfilled Monday night, with Windsor posting audio of Martha-Ann “unfurled.” According to the tape, Alito addressed the controversy over Jan. 6-linked flags spotted at her and her husband’s homes in Virginia and New Jersey, for which Samuel Alito said his wife was responsible.

“The feminazis believe that he should control me,” Alito said. “So they’ll go to hell. He never controls me.”

Toward the end of the six-minute recording, Alito circled back to the subject.

After stating her need for a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag, Alito described her husband’s reaction.

“He’s like, ‘Oh please don’t put up a flag.’ I said, ‘I won’t do it because I’m deferring to you. But when you are free of this nonsense, I’m putting it up and I’m going to send them a message every day. Maybe every week, I’ll be changing the flags.”

Alito then divulged to Windsor that she’s actually been spending her time creating flag designs in her head.

“They’ll be all kinds. I made a flag in my head. This is how I satisfy myself,” she continued. “It’s white and it has yellow and orange flames around it, and in the middle in the word ‘Vergogna.’”

That Italian word, she explained, means shame.

After Windsor, who said in character that she was upset by the attention that “the media” has devoted to the significance of the flags and whether Samuel Alito ought to recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases, Alito gave her some advice.

“Don’t get angry,” she said. “Get even.”

A bit later, when Windsor lamented how “they’re persecuting you, and you’re like a convenient stand-in for anybody who is religious,” Alito reiterated her aforementioned mantra.

“Look at me. I’m German, from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m going to give it back to you. And there will be a way—it doesn’t have to be now—but there will be a way they will know.
Don’t worry about it,” she said, before quoting the Bible.

“Psalm 27 is my psalm,” she told Windsor. “‘The Lord is my God and my rock. Of whom shall I be afraid?’ Nobody.”

Alito, when Windsor recalled the conversation she had just had with her husband, emphatically agreed with the statement that there is “no negotiating with the radical left.”

“They feel,” she said. “They don’t think.”

A newly approved law will enable Oklahoma public school students to receive off-campus religious instruction during the school day if they choose to.

Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed House Bill 1425 into law Wednesday. The bill was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature last month, with the Senate voting 38-7 and the House of Representatives voting 51-40.

The law authorizes school districts’ boards of education to “adopt a policy that excuses a student from school to attend a released time course for no more than three class periods per week or a maximum of one hundred twenty-five class periods per year.”

Continued below.

As Southern Baptist Convention messengers prepare to vote on an amendment in their constitution, known as the Law Amendment, that would permanently ban women from serving as pastors “as qualified by Scripture,” the denomination’s former president J.D. Greear has called it “unwise” and “unnecessary” and said it could lead to a hemorrhaging of minority churches.

“I remain convictionally opposed to this amendment, not because of its content but because of its attempt to undermine our historic principles of cooperation,” Greear, who served as the SBC’s president from 2018 to 2021, wrote on his websiteThursday.

“It overturns a system that works. I don’t oppose the Law Amendment because I’m a closet moderate or soft on theological issues. I am concerned that the missional, cooperative balance that has characterized our Convention since the Conservative Resurgence is about to be overturned.”

Continued below.

An ancient manuscript containing the oldest complete versions of two significant Biblical texts — the book of Jonah and 1 Peter — is being auctioned at Christie’s in London, with an expected price of up to $3.8 million.

Known as the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, this rare artifact dates back to the third and fourth centuries and originates from Egypt, according to Christie’s.

It’s part of a larger auction by Christie’s that features a variety of important manuscripts spanning 1,300 years of cultural history. Among the other notable items are the Codex Sinaiticus Rescriptus and the Geraardsbergen Bible, which together trace significant periods of religious and cultural transformation.

Continued below.

The leader of the 11,000-member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship church in Dallas, Texas, Pastor Tony Evans, is stepping away from his pastoral duties for a season of restoration "due to sin," the church announced.

"On Sunday, June 9, at both services, Dr. Tony Evans announced that he will step away from his senior pastoral duties at OCBF. This difficult decision was made after tremendous prayer and multiple meetings with Dr. Evans and the church elders," the church's elder board said in a statementposted on the church website.

The board stated that it is "obligated to govern the church in accordance with the scriptures."

Continued below.

Revelation 22:21 | The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

2 Corinthians 1:18-22 | As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God. But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Continued below.

I wander why you define your self as Non-denominational Christians. Pleas share your thoughts

If you ever get defeated in a debate, it is probably not the best idea to then broadcast it online.

Yet that is exactly what one radical Protestant did this past week, broadcasting their interaction with an unassuming Catholic named Dave.

Despite just popping in to pick a few groceries, Dave was more than ready for the would be Inquisitor and ended up articulately defending the Catholic faith.

Watch:

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A new study examining some of the most contentious issues being considered by the electorate ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump has found that voters remain highly divided on hot-button issues such as abortion, gender, the role of the family in society, and immigration.

Here are the topics covered in the June 6 Pew study, which polled some 8,000 registered voters, including top lines of what the researchers found as well as Catholic angles as they relate to several of the applicable topics.

Family​

A relatively large minority of voters overall, 39%, think society is better off if people make marriage and having children a priority, while 59% say society is just as well off if people have other priorities.

Trump supporters were roughly three times as likely as Biden supporters to say society is better if people prioritize marriage and family. Nearly half of Trump supporters overall — 56% of men and 37% of women — say it is bad for society that people are having fewer children.

Abortion​

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On June 4, the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem hosted a press conference to present a report analyzing the disturbing rise in hostilities toward Christians in Israel and East Jerusalem in 2023. The data was collected as part of an initiative launched by the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue to document harassment suffered by Christians.

The Rossing Center is an interreligious and peace-building organization based in Jerusalem.

The monitoring and tracking of attacks against Christians (data collection, evidence gathering, etc.) was made possible through collaboration with Christian churches and other civil society partners or associations, in particular the Religious Freedom Data Center founded by Yisca Harani, an Israeli lecturer, adviser, and researcher of Christian history and interfaith issues.

Despite the context having completely changed, inside and outside Israel, with the outbreak of the war, “we believe that it is crucial — and perhaps even more crucial — to bring this issue to the attention of the wide world at this point,” Federica Sasso, editor of the report, pointed out at the press conference.

According to the report, there were 90 known attacks in 2023. The data showed a notable increase in cases of spitting (30 complaints), physical and verbal harassment (11), as well as attacks on Christian properties (32).

Recently, the attack suffered by Father Nikodemus Schnabel, the abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition, which was filmed live on the air, elicited a strong response, as CNA reported Feb. 8.

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The Ecclesiastical Court of the Archbishopric of Burgos in Spain has formally accused the Poor Clare nuns of the Monastery of Belorado with schism, launching proceedings that could soon result in the excommunication of the renegade nuns.

The accused nuns themselves posted on social media the letter received from the court to this effect. The letter, addressed to Sister María Sión de la Trinidad, cites the referenced mother superior to appear before the court to testify about the schismatic positions the nuns made public last month. The letter warns the Catholic religious that, if they maintain these positions, they are subject to being convicted of the crime of schism, punishable by excommunication in accordance with the Code of Canon Law.

The court’s letter specifies that both the nuns’ so-called Catholic Manifesto and alleged letter of schism, signed by Sister Isabel de la Trinidad, as well as their letters requesting guardianship and acceptance by the excommunicated false bishop Pablo de Rojas “constitute the crime of schism, typified in the Code of Canon Law in accordance with Canon 751, the penalty for which is provided for in Canon 1364 § 1 and which entails expulsion from consecrated life.”

Canon 751 defines schism as “the rejection of subjection to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”

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