Can someone help me understand exactly what words it is he is talking about when he says this:

Good day, I'm asking for prayer for the Lord's blessing and favor to be upon Dwayne St George and Cindy's marriage, family and children. Thank you for all your prayer.

Genesis 12:

3 I will bless [H1288] those who bless [H1288] you, and him who dishonors you I will curse [H779], and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed [H1288].”

The verb H1288 appears 330 times. It is used positively all the time except on seven occasions: 1 Kings 21:10, 13; Job 1:5,11; Job 2:5,9; Psalm 10:3.

Psalm 10:

3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses[H1288] and renounces the LORD.

On all these 7 occasions, the object of cursing is God. The usual H799-curse is never used to curse God. In the OT, when someone curses God, he literally H1288-blesses God. Only the context reveals the negative connotation.

Good day, I'm asking for prayer that the Lord will destroy satans operation against Dwayne St George's life total and completely. Thank you for all your prayer.

Good day, I'm asking for prayer for salvation of Shamanic Journeying Circle, Los Angeles Area Pagans & Witches Network, Shamanic Healing and Herbal Medicine, Las Vegas Pagans, Ayahuasca and Microdosing Training for Success and Growth, Raven House Healing-Shamanic Studies, Medicine Wheel, OC Pagans, Witches, & Heathens Meetup, Calgary: ViewU Events & Training, Embodying New Earth, Spiritual Travels and Pilgrimages in all directions, Mn Hands on Healing and Shamanic Healing Group, The Pittsburgh Witches Ball, Joshua Tree Healing and Meditation, Miami Pagan Meetup, Temple of Avalon Seekers Circle, The Edmonton Pagan & Witches Meetup Group, Twin Cities Soul Tribe, Ancestral Spirit Traditions RGV, DMV area Sound Healing Breathwork Shamanism and Curanderismo, San Diego Pagans & Witches, Chris Krow Summers, Bayreuth New Work Meetup Group, Shamanic Tarot, Austin Asatru Inclusive Meetup Group, Skylands Asatru Fellowship Meetup & families. Thank you for all of your prayer.

The verdict is in. We now witnessing history. The first man to be elected President a felon

Please........

Make your excuses. Spout your conspiracy theories. Tell us how this makes him an even better candidate. Also comment on what sentencing will look like. Between his outbursts, his contempt of court flirtations, his addressing the jury when that's a no-no. What I want to hear about most is how corrupt the judge was when he was found guilty by a jury of his peers......

After you justify all of his felonies and inform us of the corruption of his judge and the court system in general. Let us know about the same courts' fairness as it relates to race because every known statistic shows the disparity. When you do that, please explain why this is a corrupt court and the courts that have created a disparity between blacks and whites when it comes to pulling citizens over, convicting at a higher rate, charging higher bail, and not approving bail as often as whites, and longer sentences for black who are in the same legal situation as whites and are convicted of the same or similar crimes.

Can't wait to hear from you.

2 Corinthians 5:

8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

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Hebrews 9:

27 Just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.

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People are born in space-time reality. Live there, then he dies. On the last day, he will be resurrected, not reincarnated, to life. He will be decided for eternal life or eternal damnation. Man does not get reincarnated and reincarnated.

​

Krewsade71 | Instagram | Net Vecor | Shutterstock


The sweet moment a senior with Alzheimer's is asked a question about Jesus reminds us of the power of faith.

Having loved ones with a neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s can be agonizing for family members. Just watching people you love fade away and no longer being able to recognize you is both heartbreaking and frightening for all involved.


However, one loving son recently shared a video of his mom with Alzheimer’s that showed just how important it is never to give up on these vulnerable loved ones, as well as the extreme power of faith.

The son, Dave, captioned the video with:

She doesn’t know who her husband is, or me, her son, but she knows who Jesus is!!”

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Continued below.

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Must watch: Woman with Alzheimer's reaction to knowing Jesus

The sweet moment a senior with Alzheimer's is asked a question about Jesus reminds us of the power of faith. The sweet moment a senior with Alzheimer's is asked a question about Jesus reminds us of the power of faith.

aleteia.org

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From a commentary found here: Does Luke 14;26 teach literal hate?

Would appreciate your responses and insight...

Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

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The subject here is the word for hate, which is the Greek miseo. One Skeptic is typical of critics when he writes:

Most Christians feel obligated to soften the face meaning of the word 'hate' to something like 'love less than me,' even though the Greek word miseo means 'hate.'

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In line with this comment, Skeptics will stress the meaning of the word "hate" and insist that the word must be read literally, and that Jesus is truly preaching hate. But in fact, the "softening" is correct to do -- and is perfectly in line with the context of the ancient world, and the Jewish culture in particular.

For a background on the use of extreme and hyperbolic language in the Bible, I direct the reader first to my foundational essay (link below) on this subject. Abraham Rihbany (The Syrian Christ, 98f) points to the use of "hate" in the Bible as an example of linguistic extreme in an Eastern culture. There is no word, he notes, for "like" in the Arabic tongue. "...[T]o us Orientals the only word which can express any cordial inclination of approval is 'love'." The word is used even of casual acquaintances. Extreme language is used to express even moderate relationships.

Luke 14:26 falls into a category of "extreme language," the language of absoluteness used to express a preference, and may refer to disattachment, indifference, or nonattachment without any feelings of revulsion involved. To seal this matter completely, let's look at some parallel materials which prove our point. The closest example comes from Genesis 29:30-1:

And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.

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Here, "hated" is clearly used synonymously with one who is loved less. Let it be added that if Jacob hated Leah in a literal way, it is hardly believable that he would consent to take her as his wife at all. (See also Judges 14:16 and Deut. 21:15-17.)

Now here is another example from Jesus, Luke 16:13:

No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.

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Such extremes of feeling would be atypical, but the extremes are not meant to be taken literally; the point is that one master will get more dedicated labor than the other.

Now let's move into some secular works with the same sort of hyperbolic language. Fitzmeyer's Lukan commentary offers this example from Poimandes 4:6:

If you do not hate your body first, O child, you will not be able to love yourself.

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Would critics suppose that this teaches literal hatred of the physical body? It does not -- it emphasizes the need to give preference to the whole self before the body alone. Literal hate of the body would have us cutting it with razors or hitting it with blunt objects -- an extreme practiced in some Eastern faiths, but not among the Greeks.

Here is another example from a war song in the Poetae Lyrici Graeci (see James Denney, "The Word 'Hate' in Lk. 14:26," Expository Times 21, 41-42): it is said that in battle, men "must count his own life his enemy for the honor of Sparta" -- is this a literal hatred of one's own life being taught? No! It is emphasizing the need to make one's life secondary for Sparta's sake. Here's a final example from Epictetus 3.3.5: "The good is preferable to every intimate relation." This is just a more abstract version of Luke 14:26!

Those who think that Jesus is preaching literal and misogynist hate in this verse are anachronizing.

Objections

"The word used in Greek is quite explicit, it means hate!"

The first error of this point is that Jesus spoke Aramaic, not Greek. So whatever word he spoke in Aramaic that was translated "hate" but be judged in terms of the linguistic tendencies of those who spoke Aramaic. As Rihbany shows us, that means hyperbolic excess.

"All those other references from the Old Testament and Greece could be read as literal hate!"

No, they cannot, and I explained why not in each case.

"Yes they can be! Kierkegaard explained how. He said that hatred was an ethical expression."

It would be enough in response to simply note the absurdity of appealing to the views of a 19th century European when judging the intentions of members of a collectivist, agonistic society. But we may further explain that any idea of "hatred as an ethical expression" is simply foreign to such a cultural setting. Kierkeegard, in Fear and Trembling, "Problem Two," explained Luke 14:26 as reflecting "absolute duty towards God" and rejects an explanation like ours on the rather strained grounds that the parable that follows, about the building of the tower, indicated a more fundamentalist reading. It does not. The parable is told as an illustration of forsaking all one has (14:34). The obvious parallel is to those who really did so, the Apostles, who obviously did not "hate" their families in the literalist sense, as they continued to be with them (e.g., as Peter was still married). Kierkegaard is incorrect to say that the word must be "taken in as terrible a sense as possible." It also could not possibly be reconciled with the order to love others if read so literally. (Rather tellingly, Kierkegaard evades explaining how, in practice, we are to "hate" these others while still loving them, and settles for deeming it a paradox.)

"We can argue a literal interpretation from all those people who gave up their wealth to follow Jesus!"

No, we cannot, because the number who were told to do so was only a tiny fraction of believers. Men like Nicoedemus were not told to give away their wealth. Nor was Zaccheus. Nor were Ananias and Sapphira told to give away all they had. The obvious point is that having money does not always mean one is serving money.

"Hatred here means the truth is betrayed by your actions!"

That is nothing more than a contrivance to accommodate a literalist reading. The far simpler explanation is that this statement, made in a social world within which dramatic language was the norm, is intended hyperbolically.

Well, the Most Respected daughter is only 11 !
Children must play? How horrible! How terrible! Is this how to start WW3? Perhaps the South Koreans can use the manure for fertilizer, then send the rice grown in it back to N. Korea ?

North Korea sends balloons full of manure and trash over the border to South Korea​

This is not the first time. North Korea did the same back in 2016.

SEOUL AND LONDON -- Around 260 air balloons carrying bags of manure and trash have been spotted across South Korea on Wednesday after they were sent over the border from North Korea, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The incident reportedly stems from an incident on Sunday when North Korea criticized civic groups in Seoul for sending propaganda leaflets across the border first and subsequently threatened to send filth balloons back to South Korea as a countermeasure, ABC News has learned from the North Korean vice defense minister on the regime's official news outlet.

The regime in North Korea has long complained about this type of action as civic groups have been known to send rice, essential medicine and leaflets accusing the North Korean regime of dictatorship.
The group has been using air balloons for years and reportedly mainly consist of North Korean defectors living in Seoul who are trying to inform the people of North Korea.


The North Korean leader's sister put out a statement Wednesday night referring to the air balloon as "freedom of speech" from the North Korean side and warned of more to come.

"Kim Yo Jong explaining that the filth balloons were sent by the people, and then warning that it will happen again proves that it is the regime that is behind the action," South Korea's Unification Ministry said Thursday, reprimanding North Korea for limiting people's right to express.

This is not the first time North Korea has sent filth balloons to their southern neighbors -- the regime did the same back in 2016 in response to action taken by civic groups performing the same kinds of stunts.

A nationwide warning message in South Korea was issued shortly after the retaliation from the north on Tuesday night and informed citizens to stay away from unidentified balloon remains if or when they come across any.

North Korea sends balloons full of manure and trash over the border to South Korea

Around 260 air balloons carrying bags of manure and trash have been spotted across South Korea on Wednesday after they were sent over the border from North Korea.

abcnews.go.com

Wait, maybe they are trying to fertilize the S. Korean fields! Who says the Kims don't have a sense of humor?

Khalil Sayegh, a Christian from Gaza whose family has been hard hit by the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, talks about the tragedy facing his people and the reasons that have led Christians to flee the region in recent decades.

In recent months, Khalil Sayegh has become one of the main faces and voices of the 1,000 or so remaining Christians in Gaza, dozens of whom have lost their lives since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.


His family has been particularly affected by the brutality of the events that have swept through Gaza since that date. Last December, his father, Jeries, died of a heart attack in Gaza’s Latin Catholic Holy Family Church, where he had taken refuge after the destruction of the family home, deprived of access to basic health care.

Last month, it was his younger sister Lara, 18, who died of exhaustion and dehydration as she tried to flee to Egypt with her mother.


From Washington, D.C., where he has been living and studying since 2021, Sayegh has helplessly received the tragic news of his family’s descent into a hellish situation.

Continued below.

Trump Found Guilty on All 34 Counts In Hush-Money Trial

Jury deliberated for less than 12 hours before reaching verdict​

Donald Trump has been found guilty of using a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

The verdict came after a jury deliberated for less than twelve hours in the unprecedented first criminal trial against a US president.

Trump was convicted by a jury of 12 New Yorkers of felony falsification of business records, which makes it a crime for a person to make or cause false entries in records with the intent to commit a second crime.

In Trump’s case, the Manhattan district attorney’s office alleged Trump falsely recorded the reimbursements he made to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who paid the adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 for her silence about her affair with Trump, as “legal expenses”. The prosecution alleged the falsifications were made to conceal Trump’s violation of New York state election law, which makes it a crime to promote the election of any person to office through unlawful means.

Prosecutors argued in part that those unlawful means were the $130,000 payment to Daniels, which was in effect an illegal campaign contribution, because it was done solely for the benefit of his 2016 campaign and exceeded the $2,700 individual contribution cap.

It marks a perilous political moment for Trump, the presumptive nominee for the Republican nomination, whose poll numbers have remained unchanged throughout the trial but could tank at any moment.

A New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts, related to a $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

A Pennsylvania diocese has asked police to investigate after parish staff — overseen by a beloved pastor — possibly concealed a now-former employee’s criminal record, which includes a recent arrest for rape and incest of a minor, as well as charges dating back to 2001-2002 for lewdness, indecent exposure and drug possession.

Bishop Larry J. Kulick of Greensburg has sought the Westmoreland County (Pa.) Detective Bureau’s help in determining whether employees at two affiliated parishes — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in North Huntingdon and Immaculate Conception in Irwin — conspired to hide glaring disqualifications for safe environment clearance for Shon M. Harrity of North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.

The move was announced in a statement issued by the diocese May 28, which also noted that Father John A. Moineau has resigned effective immediately as pastor of both St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Immaculate Conception “for the good of the parishes,” the statement said, and he also will begin medical leave June 17. In the summer of 2021, the popular priest announced he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer that had spread to his liver and caused a blood clot in his abdomen.


Three unspecified employees from both parishes will be placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the county detectives’ investigation, said the diocese. In addition, Bishop Kulick has opened a required preliminary investigation under canon law to assess whether the case demonstrated culpable negligence for actions or omissions resulting in harm or scandal.

Harrity charged with rape, sexual assault​

Continued below.

Cleared: CNN and Donald Trump dodge alleged election law violations​

The bipartisan Federal Election Commission unanimously dismissed a complaint that put Donald Trump and CNN in the unusual position of being on the same side — standing accused of an election law violation involving the much-derided Trump “town hall” CNN televised in May 2023.

Paul L. Gumina, a lawyer from Alhambra, Calif., contended that the event was a pro-Trump rally, not legitimate news gathering, and thus amounted to a prohibited corporate campaign contribution from CNN to Trump’s presidential campaign.

The Trump campaign’s response to the complaint noted that CNN had previously staged single-candidate town halls and the event was a “legitimate press function.”

[The FEC agreed that the "press exemption" applied.]

This is meant to encourage ones who struggle with a sense of guilt of condemnation for any sense of sin or wrong doing. Of course we're to seek to live a holy life and not to miss the mark and sin.....unfortunately I don't know any of us that have walked in total perfection although we are that in Christ. We don't have to walk in sin, it's not when we sin but IF we sin.....but the truth of the matter is we probably will. God does want us however to have more faith in our capacity to have victory in Christ manifested .....rather then to consider we're more prone to fail. We CAN do all things through Christ which strengthens us, Praise God!

OK but what if we have sinned. We may have blown it and failed! Can God and is he willing to restore to us the joy of our salvation like we read in Ps 51? More assuredly YES. Of course we need to know the basis by which we come however and how do we do that? Through the precious blood of Jesus! Jesus said if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness! 1 Jn 1:9

By faith we overcome the devil and his condemnation not by our promising to be better and do better although that is good to do......promising to pray more and read your Bible more does bring one closer to God.....but guilt and condemnation is only taken away by having faith in the blood of Jesus which puts us into the sense were we feel we're just as if we'd never sinned. We have once again a clean slate Embracing that truth we now have the sense where we can come boldly to the throne of grace to find grace and mercy to help in time of need. Heb 4:16 This makes our hearts rejoice!

Some however still struggle with God's promise to forgive them. This should not be. Here's a couple of helpful tips. The story is told of a woman who struggled to feel forgiven. They put in a prayer request that they would feel the sense of being forgiven.

One minister said to her, "I understand your husband isn't a Christian. Have you ever had to ask forgiveness from him?"

She responded by saying, "Oh yes of course! And I forgive him at times and he forgives me too!"

He asked her then, "Do you ever believe that he hasn't?"

"No, no, no she said. While he's not a Christian he's still very good at forgiving!"

The minister then asked her, "Do you know what you're telling me then sister?"

She responded by saying, "No what?"

He replied, " You telling me you have more faith in your unsaved husband then you do in God! He said if you confess your sins he's faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness! 1 Jn 1:9 He said "I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions and will not remember your sins" Is 43:25 He said, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. Is 1:18 If you believe your unsaved husband is good for that how about God? He doesn't love you to the same degree and even more and be willing to do the same?"

The dear lady saw it and her heart became filled with joy and had a new understanding to not be moved by her feelings.....but be moved by what God has said his character is like when he said he'd forgive us!

I thought we were doing a good thing taking in my sister-in-law. She moved in with us in March, had her baby in May and things continued deteriorating with her baby's father the whole time (this stretches back to at least December although the guy has a track record of bad behavior long before that). He was abusive to her IN THE HOSPITAL, which we believe was documented. Then shortly after she was discharged he served her papers to establish paternity. She had decided to move home to NY with her baby and had booked a flight out with my mother-in-law and everything. I was glad of this cause it meant I'd have my house back after months of overcrowding.

Well the papers she was served said she can't leave the state so that blew up those plans, and her court date isn't until November. So then it was looking like she would be staying longer, and we were talking her finding a job and a small apartment for her and the baby.

Then out of nowhere I find out yesterday that she's been talking a bunch to the baby's father again and is now considering moving back to LA to be with him.

I'm really fed up with her, as long as I've been in the picture she's been just a long line of bad decisions. One after the other. And with this latest one I want to wash my hands of her. I said something to my wife along the lines of, if she (my SIL) is going back to that guy then she should leave sooner rather than later.

To me, going back to this abusive jerk is spitting all over the care and hospitality my wife has given her over the past three months. The only reason I agreed to any of this is because I love my wife and I knew it's important to her. But frankly I dislike my SIL, and she gives me the same discomfort that this mentally unstable former coworker gave me before she got fired. To the point that I don't even want to be in the same room as her, much less talk to her.

I'm just profoundly compassion fatigued at this point. I'm tired of people acting entitled to compassion and generosity. She's been warned about the baby's father, she knows exactly what kinda guy he is and what's likely to happen if she goes back to him. Now that she's been warned I shake the dust from my boots and want nothing to do with her anymore.

I'm at my wits end, I'm sick of having twice as many people living here as there should be. My MIL is a sweetheart but I'm looking forward to her and my stepson leaving on Monday. I want my house back. I want the only people who are using our stuff and rooting through our fridge to be us, the people who live here. I want the long showers and overuse of my washer and dryer to slow down driving up my utility bills to stop, after all I'm the only one under this roof paying for these bills.

How unCatholic am I being right now?

Ok so pretty much ever since i was a kid until about seven years ago i had a big, big problem with sexual immorality. Big problem. But, God changed me and i havent engaged in sexual immorality in about seven-eight years now.

That's the good news. Now? I'm stuck with another really, really bad and big sin. I'm a pathological liar and oftentimes I'll lie without even thinking about it or caring about the consequences. I lie a lot of times to cover up my other lies to cover up those lies to cover up... well you get the idea. It doesn't matter how hard I try I can't kick this habit and the Bible says there's always a way of escape but I just don't see it. All I see are lies to cover up my other lies.



I've talked to my pastor about it and he told me that since I've been making zero progress in my pathological lying that I need to repent and accept Jesus. Great advice, no really I'm not being sarcastic. But I can repent and accept Jesus until the cows come home and my lying doesn't get any better. In fact, many times I lie without even thinking about the consequences or caring that God hates it and that God will judge all who love to lie. Only I hate to lie, I just do it pathologically without thinking. But it's like my pastor said, no sin is outside of God's control and God's ability to forgive and to change even the pathological ones. But, when I kicked my sexual immorality habbit it wasn't due to any effort of my own I just one day stopped sinning and stopped engaging in sexual immorality. I thought it was a sin that I would never break yet, God broke it for me. But, I can't rely on God to break my every sin. The Bible says that part of our victory over sin is obtainable on our own with God's help. But, I do really like that I didn't lie today. And that I'm not lying now at least sometimes I'm capable of the truth...

Heb 4.6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

I would just point out something very interesting, very exciting, in this that touched brother Watchman Nee many years ago, which then touched me, as well. The division of soul and spirit lit up for Brother Nee, who saw that in our soul, ie in our mind, will, and emotions, we can do things that are purely "works," as opposed to putting on a new nature, which derives from Christ. We can do all kinds of good things, in apparent obedience to God's word, but if this does not translate into a new nature, modelled after our Creator, then it is empty and nothing more than perfunctory performance art.

Our soul, then, can remain religious and yet without the full knowledge of Christ. We can be emotional over our concern for someone, we can be emotional in spiritual worship, we can fight for a good cause, and we can even understand right and wrong. But if we don't know who God is in the sense of who He wants us to be like, then our soul indulges in a form of vanity.

In that case, the soul misses that which truly saves us--a new nature given to us by Christ. The spirit should know what Christ's nature is, and what new nature it is that we should put on. The word of God detects this essential difference between soul and spirit. The soul needs to be under the supervision of the spirit when it perceives our need to put on the nature of Christ--not just the works of Christ.

Some say Salvation simply results from believing in NT redemption, as opposed to the Law, which was ritualistic and void of changing Israel. This is hostile towards Israel and a form of antinomianism. Yes, Israel as a whole failed over time, but that doesn't mean the word of God under the Law failed!

In reality, the Law was God's word, as much as the New Covenant is God's word. And the Law was designed not just to get Israel to perform externally, but also to worship God internally through conformity to God's nature. The Law was designed, as in everything else, to make Israel put on a new nature patterned after God Himself.

Heb 3.7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested and tried me,
though for forty years they saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

Please note: God used the wilderness sufferings and deprivation to allow Israel's external circumstances and evident signs of God's help to bring them into a fuller knowledge of who God is, or what HIs nature is. It was *testing,* pure and simple. It was to expose the difference between soul and spirit, between external obedience and inward spiritual change. And that was called "today" in that day, ie in the time of the Law. They could *know God* in their own day! That's why Jesus told Nicodemus, while they were still under the Law, that he should've known, as Israel's teacher, what being "Born Again" meant. It was Israel's need to put on a new spiritual nature.

So God has always used His word to bring change to people, to encourage them to do right, but also to come to a full knowledge of His nature so that they may convert completely from their old independent nature to a new nature operating in partnership with God.

God's word is operating in our lives all the time. We just need to become aware of it. It's the job of Christians to make people aware of this, since they should already have that experience. They should be sharing with the ignorant should they be even remotely interested. If they are not interested, their guilt is on themselves. But we need to always make ourselves available to God's word, since we have put on God's nature and actually have chosen to live by His word.

Eight views on the RAPTURE and the Tribulation:

1. Pre-tribulation view
The rapture occurs before the 7 year tribulation period begins.

2. Partial-tribulation view
Not all believers will be raptured, only those who have some degree of spiritual attainment. Unworthy Christians will be left behind during the tribulation.

3. Mid-tribulation view
The rapture occurs at the midpoint of the 7 year tribulation period.

4. Post-tribulation view
The rapture occurs at the end of the 7 year tribulation period.

5. Amillennial view
Amillennialists hold very different views. Most believe there is no Rapture.
They negate the supernatural aspects of the book of Revelation because they see most of it as allegorical teaching.

6. Indignant-tribber view
These people think that debating eschatology is always wrong and divisive.
They wag their fingers at the rest of us. “Shame, shame, shame!”

7. Independent thinkers
Disagree with all the viewpoints listed above. They only, interpret the scriptures correctly. Could they really be the smartest people on the planet?

8. Undecided
These people come to forums like this hoping to gain insight and understanding.

So many flavours, so much confusion, so here is my suggestion:
For transparency we could declare our bias within our “signatures”.
(“Staunch Pre-Trib, Dispensationalist”, “Proudly Independent”, etc.)

This would make it so much easier to identify friends/foes and expedite the formation of “tag teams” (similar to pro-wrestling).

SUNDAY RAPTURE THEORY

Throughout the church age Sunday has been sanctified to Christ and his bride (the church): the first day of the week, the day of His resurrection- designated the “Lord’s Day” by his beloved disciples. How appropriate would it be for Christ to claim His bride on this special day of the week.
In support of my SUNDAY RAPTURE THEORY I present the following:

Rev 1:10 I (John) was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."
Rev 4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.

The voice inviting John to heaven is the voice of Christ. Many bible students believe that John's entrance into heaven is a PICTURE of the church's being taken home to be with the Lord before the tribulation begins. While every detail of a picture is not necessarily reflected in the real event - I think it’s extremely significant that John’s vision took place on the Lord’s Day.

Mathew 13:10-17 reveals that the Lord taught with PARABLES to impart truth to His followers while concealing truth from those who reject Him. This same reasoning would also apply to the use of pictures.

I believe the Lord gave us this picture to reveal the truth of a Sunday rapture prior to the start of the Tribulation.
Please stay with me on this a little while longer…

The book of Revelation is divided into three main parts.

Rev 1:19 Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.

1. the things which you have seen, (Chapter 1)
The vision of Christ as Judge of the churches.
(Note: These were 7 functioning churches of John’s day - specifically chosen by the Lord
to accurately represent the historical progression of the church age).

2. the things which are, (Chapters 2 and 3)
An outline of the Church Age from beginning to end.

3. the things which will take place after this (Chapters 4 → 22)
Future events from the Rapture to the Eternal State.

There is a definite break at Chapter 4:1 when John enters heaven itself.
This event pictures the Rapture of the church. From this point on, the church is never mentioned as being on earth.

After the church has been translated to heaven, the Lord will once again resume His dealings with the nation of Israel.
The Tribulation, is a seven-year period in which the Lord deals with the Jewish people concerning their rejection of the Messiah.
Jeremiah called it “The time of Jacob’s trouble”.

Jer 30:7 Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.

Those who turn to Christ during the Tribulation period (tribulation saints) will be saved to enter the glorious Millennial kingdom on earth, whereas those who refuse Him will face eternal judgment.

Getting back to the pre-tribulation Rapture of the universal church…

At the split second when Sunday turns to Monday (at the international date line), it is the Lord’s Day in every time zone around the globe.
How wonderfully fitting if the Lord should return for His bride on a Sunday, (the day of His resurrection) to resurrect His sleeping saints -
and clothe them (together with us who are still alive) with immortality.

I believe that the church is wed to (united with) Christ at the Rapture.
Christ and His bride will become one in the twinkling of an eye.

Its Josh Gibson, now that Negro League stats have been merged into MLB stats generally. At .372 he edges out Ty Cobb's .367

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/29/sport/josh-gibson-mlb-records-negro-league/index.html

I know, I know... its lefty CNN. But this really has happened.

A Catholic Relief Services (CRS) official told CNA this week that the organization has been unable to get humanitarian supplies through the southern Gaza Strip since early May and that it no longer has supplies in the warehouses in the area.

“Most of the aid crosses through Rafah, and the Rafah crossing has been closed since early May because of the military operations there,” spokeswoman Megan Gilbert told CNA in an email.

“We’ve not had any CRS goods enter the south half of Gaza since May 6,” she explained. “Not into Rafah or Kerem Shalom.”

“We are getting trucks (over 50 so far) into the north half of Gaza since Erez West opened,” she said. “Those trucks contained ready-to-eat food, hygiene kits, bedding kits, and emergency shelter items.”

Continued below.