Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

I follow Jesus and the apostles. I follow the Psalms. I sit under my own vine and tree as Micah chapter 4 teaches. Politics and division is wrong to me. That's why i sit alone. I escaped religion and politics and i found Jesus in simplicity.

It's pure religion in my view. I submit Micah 4, John 14, Matthew chapters 5-7, Jerimiah 31, 1 John 2:27, 1 Timothy 3:16-17, Isaiah 55 and 66 and Matthew 11:28 as my foundation. That and everything else that Jesus snd his apostles teach us.

During his time in office and amid his inaugural 2020 run for Texas' 22nd District congressional seat, Republican Rep. Troy Nehls has repeatedly claimed to be the recipient of two Bronze Star medals and a Combat Infantryman Badge from his time in the U.S. Army serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There is no question that Nehls served overseas, engaged in combat, and was awarded a Bronze Star for his duties there. But military documents obtained by CBS News after a months-long investigation and a review of his service record by the U.S. Army at the Pentagon show Nehls received one – not two – Bronze Star medals. And his Combat Infantryman Badge from Afghanistan was revoked from his service record in 2023 because Nehls served as a civil affairs officer, not as an infantryman or Special Forces soldier.

On his official House of Representatives website, Nehls also lists in his biography as having two Bronze Star medals while his photograph shows him wearing the Combat Infantryman Badge lapel pin.

The investigation by CBS News found Nehls' single Bronze Star medal was awarded to him in September 2004 by now-retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste for his service in Iraq. The award citation obtained by CBS News reads in part: "Captain Nehls trained and mentored nine Iraqi staff members and four coalition soldiers assigned to the Kirkuk Business Center, which became known as the best business center in all of Iraq."

The Pentagon said Nehls does not have a Combat Infantryman Badge but instead a Combat Action Badge. U.S. Army regulations distinguish between how the two badges are awarded.

Hello. I'm follower of Jesus and i suffer mental illness and spiritual battles. I try to avoid debate and contention or division against the word of God. These things are wrong in my eye's. I avoid politics as well. I seek the kingdom and God's righteousness and I love simplicity in Christ and in life. I think I'll post things here in this thread. My little corner of the world where I can express my faith, love and hope in Jesus Christ our lord and savior.

How do you forum posters explain that evil exists despite God being, all powerful, all knowing and all love?

Why does God permit or create evil? Or did God not want it for anything? Is evil and illusion?

Why did Jesus create the situation of the crucifixion and go through that? Why does the victory of death and Satan, take so long to fully establish?

Will the fallen angels and souls ever repent?

The Shroud of Turin has its own liturgical celebration, though it is typically only celebrated in a few places in the world.

Over the centuries the Church instituted a few different feasts surrounding elements of Jesus’ Passion.


For example, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14 is often connected to the finding of the true cross by St. Helena. This event also once had a separate feast on May 3 called the “Invention of the Holy Cross,” now celebrated only in a few local areas and by communities using the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Missal,

While some still debate whether the Shroud of Turin is a real artifact from Jesus’ tomb, the Church has instituted a few different feasts surrounding the “Holy Winding Sheet of Christ.”


The Catholic Encyclopedia explains the history of these various feasts with the different relics associated with Jesus’ Passion:

Continued below.

In the very early Church, Christians would pray the Our Father as the Angelus is prayed currently by many Catholics.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the primary prayers of the early Church was the Our Father.


It was the prayer that Jesus taught them and so they held it in high regard and didn’t want to forget it.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, early Christians prayed the Our Father three times a day:

This indivisible gift of the Lord’s words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life to them in the hearts of believers has been received and lived by the Church from the beginning. The first communities prayed the Lord’s Prayer three times a day, in place of the “Eighteen Benedictions” customary in Jewish piety.
CCC 2767

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In this paragraph the Catechism cites the Didache, which is an ancient text that many scholars date to the 1st century. It is one of the earliest texts the Church has outside of the four Gospels:

Continued below.

In a pair of busts that will end up costing criminals millions, Thai police raided a suspected wildlife smuggling site and saved hundreds of animals.

48 lemurs, 30 primates of various species, several crocodiles, and over 1,000 rare tortoises were seized when a convoy of four smuggling trucks was raided in Chumphon, Thailand, as well as a farming front connected with the subjects.

Valued at over $2 million on the black market, this seizure spells good news for endangered species. Radiated tortoises and all the lemur species are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix I, meaning that trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances.

Both species are native to Madagascar and are highly sought-after commodities in the global illegal pet trade market.

Coordinated by a suite of Thai law enforcement and wildlife organizations with aid from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the investigation is focused on dismantling a transnational organized wildlife trafficking network operating in Thailand, with linkages stretching across Africa, Asia, and South America.

Continued below.

A Utah housecat was reunited with its parents recently after a nap in her favorite hiding place turned into a 6-day nightmare.

Galena the calico was accidentally shipped—in the box she had snuck into—all the way to a fulfillment center in Jurupa Valley, California.

Oh yes, epitomizing the internet adage of ‘if it fits, I sits‘ Galena had cozied up inside an Amazon box, unaware that the shoes she was sharing it with were due to be returned.

Owners Carrier and Matt Clark love their cat, as much as she loves sitting in boxes. But her quiet, demure demeanor got the best of her this time, and she needed all 9 lives to survive in the box for 6 days without food or water.

Continued below.

I was talking with a wonderful guest we had here for a retreat last week. We talked about many things and one of the subjects she brought up was the Blessed Mother. She told me that she loved the Blessed Mother, but did not understand the relationship that Catholics and other Christians from the older Churches had with her.

As we talked, I brought up the differences in how Catholics and many non-Catholics look upon the Body Of Christ. I believe that Catholics have an understanding of the Mystical-Body that is deeper and broader, in the sense of our understanding about the continuing role those with the Lord play in the church, as well as in individual lives. Those who die, and love God, do not go anywhere since they are already part of the Body Of Christ. You could say that they go higher up and deeper in, that C.S. Lewis liked to state in his Narnia books.

Those deeper in and higher up, have also put on the “Mind Of Christ” fully. They no longer struggle to love God and others and to do the will of God, which is to Love God, Love Others, and Love self. They are free and in union with the Infinite. So they to, will seek to do what Christ Jesus is doing, to tend to the needs of their brothers and sisters, to bring them to the fullness of life in Christ Jesus.

So to ‘pray’ to a saint, is not worship, since only God can be worshipped, Just as we on earth, tend to the needs of the church, so do those who have passed on. They love more deeply, and in that, they still share in the suffering of Christ. Yet their suffering differs for the most part in how we experience suffering on earth. They suffer because they love, as Christ Jesus loves. The closer they are to Christ, the deeper that suffering, yet it does not take away joy, nor does it cause bitterness. They love with the love of Christ Jesus, because, again, they have put on the Mind Of Christ. They pray with us, and for us, being part of that cloud of witnesses as stated in the book of Hebrews.

On the Cross, Jesus looked at Mary and told her to take John as her child saying “Behold your son”. Then Jesus looked at John and said: “Behold your mother”. Because these are among Jesus’s last words, the church takes them seriously and continues to reflect on this mystery, something that we can dive deeper into for an eternity and never reach the bottom.

Because of her deep love of God, and her deep humility, and understanding more than any other creature of her ‘nothingness’, she is deeper in and higher up, more than anyone else. Her self-knowledge is so profound that she sees herself as less than others, because of the graces given to her.

Her greatness, being above all saints, comes from her deep humility, and her understanding of the truth of God’s mercy, compassion, and love, shown to her without any merit on her part.

She by the grace of God is gifted to mankind as ‘Mother’. She prays with us and for us. All are her children. We are called, like her, to be pregnant with God, to bring Christ Jesus into the world, by allowing Christ to incarnate through our humanity, bringing us deeper into the mystery of sacrificial love.

Those who are devoted to Mary will never apostatize, since they know that she is the ‘Mother Of God’, she brings us to her son.

I love the Rosary, for me it is not a boring prayer, nor a mere repetition of words, but a way to become still before God, allowing the life of Christ Jesus to grow in me, and to flow through me. It can be said slowly, or fast, just as long as it is the right way to pray for the one saying the Rosary. It leads to deep meditation on the Gospels, as well, as calming the mind, relaxing the body, and allowing the one praying, to enter deeply into the embrace of God.

Did I convince the beautiful, loving, soul, who asked me about Catholics, and Mary? Well, she told me that she understood a little better, but no, I did not convince her really. Which is OK, she listened and respected what I had to say. We are both brothers and sisters in Christ after all.

So let us not fear to draw close to the Blessed Mother, her only desire is to bring us to her Son.—Br.MD

An update as tmatt digs deeper into "The Anxious Generation" by Jonathan Haidt​

I continue to work my way through the much-discussed book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness” by Jonathan Haidt.

It’s slow work, in part because I am taking lots of notes. I don’t know about you folks, but I am a slow, careful reader when dealing with subjects that I believe are unusually important.

A night or two ago, I hit a passage that — in my page annotations for the interview I hope to do with Haidt — I have nominated as a crucial chunk of summary material linked to the book’s Big Idea. Here it is:

Once we had a new generation hooked on smartphones (and other screens) BEFORE the start of puberty, there was little space left in the stream of information entering their eyes and ears for guidance from mentors in their real-world communities DURING puberty. There was just an infinite river of digital experience, customized for each child to maximize clicks and ad revenue, to be consumed alone in his or her room.

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Note that one of the most important effects of a smartphone childhood is that it can unplug a child — during one of life’s most stressful transitions — from guidance by parents, mentors, pastors, teachers, etc.

In that context, consider the book’s case study about “Alexis” of greater New York City, who was given her first iPad at the age of 10.

She opened an Instagram account herself by stating that she was 13, even though she was 11. She would download the app, use it for a while, and then delete it so her parents wouldn’t see it. She learned, from other underage Instagram users, how to hide the app on her home screen under a calculator app, so she no longer had to delete it. When her parents eventually learned that she had an account and began to monitor it and set restrictions, Alexis made secondary accounts where she could post without their knowledge. …
Within six months of opening her account, the content Instagram’s algorithms chose for Alexis had morphed from her initial interest in fitness to a stream of photos of models to dieting advice and then to pro-anorexia content. In eighth grade, she was hospitalized for anorexia and depression.

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“Alexis” is not alone, of course.

Continued below.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (OSV News) — Jockey Keith Asmussen calls on his Catholic faith daily as he competes in the high-stakes world of horse racing, and the sport’s stage gets no bigger than the one he will be on May 4, when he rides in his first Kentucky Derby.

Asmussen has the mount on Just Steel in the $5 million race May 4 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The 25-year-old earned the opportunity by guiding the promising colt to a second-place finish in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby March 30.

The Arkansas Derby is the richest race at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, where Asmussen has spent the past five months competing. He ranks as the meet’s second-leading jockey, with 54 victories through April 24. Those wins include the Grade 3, $400,000 Honeybee with Lemon Muffin.

Continued below.

Cuellar is the second sitting Democrat to face charges. In September, federal authorities charged U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) with using his power on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to steer business toward political allies. A raid of his home revealed gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash socked away in hiding places, prompting Menendez to claim that he always carried getaway assets as a result of his upbringing in communist Cuba.

He deserved a fair trial and should be presumed innocent until a jury decides.

The report comes after the Biden administration vowed to cut down on civilian casualties, and promised to improve transparency in the cases that civilian casualties occurred.
It is a step in the right direction that this time the truth was admitted.

Last month I learned a friend I met through CF passed away. Last I heard they were still determining the cause of death but they think it was related to his Marfan's Syndrome, which claimed his mother before him. I believe he died in his sleep. I haven't posted before now because I've been trying to remember his username on here but haven't been successful, while we originally connected on here we mainly communicated through Facebook over the past 10 years or so.

Anyway, James was a kind and interesting fellow. He was evangelical of some kind, I believe, but he had a deep knowledge of traditional and liturgical Christianity and I think he wanted to join one of our churches but for one reason or another never did. Perhaps he couldn't, perhaps, he was still working out some theology and doctrine. I don't know. But I could see he was still filled with the grace of God in his pursuits.

I'm sorry I can't recall his username on here, I have no doubt at least some of you interacted with him at one point or another because I believe he was a longtime member here. Hopefully the connection made somehow, somewhere, through someone but if you can nevertheless join in prayer for his soul I know he'd appreciate it.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine.
Et lux perpetua luceat ei:
Requiescat in pace.
Amen.

NIV, James 4:

5 Do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

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The Holy Spirit (Paraclete) dwells within us in our human spirit.

Which Scripture was that?

James combined several verses.

Moses spoke to Joshua in Numbers 11:

29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”

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Psalm 51:

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

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Ezekiel 36:

26 I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

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Joel 2:

28 And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions

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These OT verses were fulfilled. After the last supper, Jesus told his disciples in (Berean Standard Bible) John 14:

16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate [Paraclete] to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.

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Now, the Paraclete dwells in us permanently.

This is a crazy one Im afraid. I am in my 60s I grew up Baptist never heard anything about election in church. About 15 years ago my friend who is a Calvanist told me about it. I was outraged. I searched the Bible to prove him wrong. Over and over. I then came to the belief it must be true. I was actually relieved when I did, because I thought I found the security I had always been searching for. Id prayed before this hundreds of times for God to save me. Had talked to many preachers. I kinda dropped out of church as a teenager, and went back in my 40s . I was a person believing in Calvanism and that I was elect. But a couple years ago ,after a unwanted divorce, I saw myself closely . I had so much time to think and I feel like God showed me how sinful I was. Although I was engaging in sinful stuff that I did know . I have come to believe Im not elect. I want to be saved, I ask God to save me, to do whatever to me as long as I can be his child. I want to be saved so badly. Everyday its constantly on my mind. I dont want to go to church because I feel God is against me. I feel like Im one of those who was born to show Gods wrath. But then why why do I wake each morning and thru the day asking God begging God to save me ,to let me be one of HIs children. Ive not met anyone in my situation. They either believe the are elect and are good. Or they are more freewill and believe they are good . Can anyone help me? This is eating me alive. I cant read Bible it just seems to bring more conviction. I can remember exactly when I got to thinking I wasnt saved. I even feel like God put a curse of a nervous tic on me. Ive had since that time. I want God I want to be saved I want my mind to think the thought He wants , but Im not . I even have bad blasphemous thoughts. Im so confused, Ive seen counselors , they didnt help, Im only asking on a internet forum out of desperation.

Please pray for Anna who died yesterday.

"5. It is, however, especially necessary that all parties concerned should adopt for themselves a proper moral outlook on the use of these media, especially with respect to certain questions that have been vigorously aired in our day."

8. Since public opinion exercises the greatest power and authority today in every sphere of life, both private and public, every member of society must fulfill the demands of justice and charity in this area. As a result, all must strive, through these media as well, to form and spread sound public opinion.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 175,000 on the month, below the 240,000 estimate from the Dow Jones consensus, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 3.9% against expectations it would hold steady at 3.8%.

Matthew 15:

1 Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2“Why do your disciples break the tradition [παράδοσις] of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,”a 6he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

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Jesus distinguished the commandments of God and the commandments of men. The latter belongs to untrustworthy human tradition. Yet Paul wrote in

2 Thessalonians 2:15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions [παράδοσις] that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

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Neither Jesus nor Paul were against traditions in general. They were only against bad traditions, particularly when a man's tradition overruled God's command.

Reelect Biden as his ignorance does more to help the destruction of the United States

After the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam became king. 1 Kings 14:

25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.

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Did Shishak take away the ark of the covenant?

No. Three centuries later in 2 Chronicles 35:

1 Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple. 3He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord: “Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.

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According to non-canonical 2 Maccabees 2:

1 "We know from the records that Jeremiah the prophet instructed the people who were being taken into exile to hide some of the fire from the altar, as we have just mentioned. 2 We also know that he taught them God's Law and warned them not to be deceived by the ornamented gold and silver idols which they would see in the land of their exile. 3 And then he urged them never to abandon the Law.
4"These same records also tell us that Jeremiah, acting under divine guidance, commanded the Tent of the Lord's Presence and the Covenant Box to follow him to the mountain where Moses had looked down on the land which God had promised our people. 5When Jeremiah got to the mountain, he found a huge cave and there he hid the Tent of the Lord's Presence, the Covenant Box, and the altar of incense. Then he sealed up the entrance.

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Jeremiah hid them in some cave. The Babylonians did not have it.

6 "Some of Jeremiah's friends tried to follow him and mark the way, but they could not find the cave. 7 When Jeremiah learned what they had done, he reprimanded them, saying, 'No one must know about this place until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy. 8 At that time he will reveal where these things are hidden, and the dazzling light of his presence will be seen in the cloud, as it was in the time of Moses and on the occasion when Solomon prayed that the Temple might be dedicated in holy splendor.'

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Now, in the canonical Jer 3:

15“‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.

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The last mention of the Ark of the Covenant is in Revelation 11:

19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

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Where is the Ark now?

I don't know. Now that I have the Paraclete dwelling in my spirit, God's presence is in me. I am not spending more time trying to figure out where the Ark is.