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State Dept: Russia used chloropicrin against Ukrainian forces -- ETA: Lt Gen Kirillov (head of Russian nuc/bio/chem weapons) killed by bomb in Moscow

Imposing New Measures on Russia for its Full-Scale War and Use of Chemical Weapons Against Ukraine

The Department of State has made a determination under the CBW Act that Russia has used the chemical weapon chloropicrin against Ukrainian forces in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

In coordination with the Department of the Treasury, the Department of State is designating three Russian Federation government entities associated with Russia’s chemical and biological weapons programs and four Russian companies providing support to such entities. The Department of the Treasury is separately designating three entities and two individuals involved in procuring items for military institutes involved in Russia’s chemical and biological weapons programs, pursuant to a separate WMD non-proliferation authority.

UCLA professor who said LAPD must protect campus protesters backed defunding police

“A police-free world, as abolitionist scholars and organizations remind us, is about imagining and creating ‘life-affirming institutions,'” Roy and the two other activists wrote in the article. “There is no blueprint for this new world. If there were, it would not be worth building.”
Of course she backed defunding the police. The problem is that the utopian forms of government proposed by hard left elitists don't work for the vast majority of the people. Instead the majority suffers under hard left rule. Wouldn't it be great if there were no police "abusing people's rights?" But wait, now I'm the victim of a crime, where are the police?

An attorney speaks on the un- Constitutional gag orders imposed on Trump


This was interesting. I never liked the idea of gag orders but particularly when given to a person running for president. Everything that happens in this country is the business of a president, obviously. I'd think that him being under some bogus indictment would fall into that category (bogus or not).

Then again, I have also wondered if SOME gag orders (not in Trump's case but certain others) are just part of the judicial system. I guess someone saying "the wrong thing" could affect the outcome of the trial, but hey... that's life.

I don't know. I've never examined the issue thoroughly. But again, when a person is likely to become president, I think it is ridiculous and un-Constitutional, AND that it is likely same all the time, no matter the circumstances, a violation of the First Amendment.
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  • Poll
What do you think the reasons are for Jesus saying (Mt 7, Lk 13) that few make it to Heaven? poll

What are the reasons for Jesus saying (Mt 7, Lk 13) that few make it to Heaven?

  • 1 People get comfortable in the world

    Votes: 1 50.0%
  • 2 People don't fight their sexual desires well or at all

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3 They believe it is easy to get into Heaven despite Christ's Words

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4 Lack of charity

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5 Shunning the needy, refusing to help them (Mt 25:31)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6 Not going to Church

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 7 Not praying often enough

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 8 Taking serious sin lightly

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 9 Satan is more powerful than us humans, "can't win"

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 10 It is all of the above, somewhat equally

    Votes: 1 50.0%

What do you think the reasons are for Jesus saying (Mt 7, Lk 13) that few make it to Heaven?

This saying of Jesus about how few make it is often overlooked, it seems.

Actually, many scriptures seem to be overlooked because I don't recall pastors or priests discussing some of these kinds of "scary" psgs. There is the one where people are attempting to enter Heaven but cannot because they are "not strong enough." But as per many psgs, there is no explanation given or elaboration.

There's the passage about how not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter. Then there is the one where Jesus says "Depart from me, all you evildoers, I never knew you." I believe that is Lk 13:24?

"You evildoers"!

What is scariest of all is that we are all evildoers aka sinners.

"What can wash away my sin [and its residue]? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus"

He Disciplines for Our Good

Are you struggling against sin?
Does a battle rage within?
Have you forgotten ‘bout God?
He helps us with His discipline.

Be not weary when reproved.
Discipline of God is love.
We have need, need to endure.
God is treating us as His.

If not disciplined, we’re not His.
God does for us what is good –
We may share His holiness,
Bear the fruit of Righteousness.

Therefore, lift your drooping hands,
Strengthen then, too, your weak knees,
Make straight paths now for your feet,
So that what is lame now’s healed.

Based off of Hebrews 12:3-13
An Original Work / May 2, 2024
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Where was the golden altar of incense located?

Exodus 40:

20 He [Moses] took the testimony and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark and set the mercy seat above on the ark. 21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Behind the veil was the area of the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could enter, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement.

22 He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil,
i.e., the Holy Place. Only the priests could enter.

23 and arranged the bread on it before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 24 He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, 25 and set up the lamps before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 26 He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil, 27and burned fragrant incense on it, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
The golden altar of incense was located right in front of the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Only the priest could see this altar, the lampstand, and the table of showbread inside the Holy Place.

Satanists claim they are a religion and can become chaplains. OK and FL say NO


This is creepy.

And why wouldn't Satanists be disingenuous or totally LYING when they claim they are not into evil?

They want to be allowed into our children's schools as chaplains.

After all we've seen lately on the news RE how un-Christian people and anti-Christian want to influence our children, we aren't shocked. We're anxious but not surprised.

And of course, they are indeed welcome in Hell by Satan. They need to repent, obviously.

All we can is pray

Former Johnson City NY Middle School Principal pleads guilty to sex crimes against student

Former Johnson City Middle School Principal, Daniel Erickson, has plead guilty to attempting to have sex with a student in July of 2023, according to District Attorney Paul Battisti.

Erickson is pleading guilty to Luring a Child, a Class E felony, as part of a negotiated disposition, or a plea bargain. In doing so, Erickson is set to serve six months in jail followed by five years of post-release probation as well as having to register as a sex offender and pay for the victims counseling, Battisti told NewsChannel 34.

Infamously, Erickson was said to have shown up to the meeting [where he was arrested, but expected something else] with a box of condoms, chicken McNuggets and a McDonald’s Grimace shake.

<just one week left in #notadragqueen>

He Has Given Us Understanding

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
“We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:13-15,18,20-21)

For us to correctly understand what the Scriptures are teaching us, it is best if we can read them in context. So it is best if we can read this passage of Scripture in the context of the whole of the book of 1 John.

For example, in 1 John 1:5-10 we read that if we say we have fellowship with God but while we walk (in conduct, in practice) in darkness (sin), we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light (righteousness, truth), as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with God (understood) and with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

And in 1 John 2:3-6 we read that by this we have come to know God/Christ, if we keep (obey, adhere to) his commandments (New Covenant). For whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep (obey) his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps (obeys) his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.

And then we read in 1 John 3:4-10 that no one who abides in Christ keeps on sinning (makes sinning his practice, habit, go to); no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. So let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as God is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is not born of God but is of the devil.

Now this is not teaching that we will never sin. For in 1 John 2:1-2 it says that if any believer in Christ does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He gave his life up for us on that cross to put our sins to death with him that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness in the power and mercy of God (see 1 Peter 2:24).

And this teaching is not just in the book of 1 John. Jesus taught it, and Paul and Peter taught it, too. For Jesus Christ died on that cross that we might be crucified with him in death to sin and be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, but if we obey obedience to God, then we have eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

So, with that understanding, when this says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,” he is not talking to those who give lip service only to the Lord but who are still walking in sin and in disobedience to the Lord, in practice. He is talking to those who have died and are dying daily with Christ to sin and who are now following him in walks of obedience to his New Covenant commands. We are those who practice righteousness.

Now, can a true follower of Christ ever have a time in his life when he falls away from his pure devotion to the Lord and needs to be brought back to the Lord in humble submission to the Lord in true biblical repentance and renewed faith and obedience to God? Yes! We have examples of that in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. But a true believer in Christ will not make a profession of Christ and then keep right on sinning. His life will change. And he will grow in his walk of faith and obedience, and not remain stagnant.

Then, if we are true followers of Christ, and not just those giving lip service to the Lord while we continue to walk in sin, we can be assured that we have eternal life with God, provided that we continue on that course until the end, the Scriptures teach. And then we will begin to know and to understand the will of God so that when we pray, we pray according to his will, even if it is just to pray, “but Thy will be done,” when we are not certain of his will in any particular matter pertaining to our lives or other people’s lives.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 2 Tim 1:8-9; 1 Pet 1:5; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 9:28; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

I Sing of His Mercy

An Original Work / April 10, 2014
Based off Psalm 32


Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven
By the blood of Jesus Christ.
Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does
Not count against them; freedom found.
When, in silence, I did not confess
My sin to You; had no strength.
Then I owned up to my sin and
You forgave and cleansed me within.

Therefore let the godly pray to You;
Draw near to You; grace they’ll find.
They will not be o’ertaken by afflictions,
But in Christ peace abounds.
Lord, You are my hiding place.
I find my refuge in You secure.
You protect me from all evil.
You give songs of vict’ry in You.

Lord, You teach me to walk in Your ways;
Counsel me in love, I know.
Help me to not be stubborn and
Unwilling to follow in Your truth.
Thank You for Your love and mercy.
I put my trust in You always.
I rejoice in my Lord and
I sing of Him throughout all my days.

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I'm Catholic... and yet some non-Catholics inspire me

I just got through reading this book that I almost didn't bother with. It was written by Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame. I always liked him but I figured I knew enough about him already... "just another Protestant," part of me said.

Well, this book called Happy Happy Happy (which title got on my nerves because I am not always a happy person or even believe I can be happy... long story) was incredibly interesting and inspiring. Robertson has led many people to Christ. True, you can't just lead people to Him, you kind of have to support their faith after they come to Him, but he seems to have done some of that also.

One interesting story was how he had read in the Word that you are to do good to your enemies. Well, one time some guys were down by a river near his home (I htink it was on Phil's property) and they were trying to steal fish out of his net. His first instinct was to get them, but he remembered that psg about doing good to enemies. Then... LOL, he grabbed his shotgun "just in case." Well, the guys didn't want to admit they were trying to steal his fish but Phil overlooked that as best he could and began GIVING them all the fish, not just some of them but all of them. It's a funny story as he tells it. I had some hearty laughs...

That was quite impressive to me because I've seen a lot of people who call themselves Christian and .. .well, in certain situations, they don't exactly act like it. At first Phil didn't want to accept those words in Scripture. We can all relate. But it was very intersting what he did

And the thieves never bothered him again...
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Priest shot dead in South Africa; Catholic bishops there decry ‘pandemic’ of murder

Father Paul Tatu Mothobi, a member the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata(CSS/Stigmatines) and former media and communications officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference(SACBC), was reportedly murdered last weekend in South Africa.

According to a notice from the congregation’s South Africa-based provincial secretary, Father Jeremia Thami Mkhwanazi, Tatu died on Saturday, April 27, “after sustaining a gunshot.”

Tatu, a native of Lesotho’s Archdiocese of Maseru, was ministering in South Africa’sArchdiocese of Pretoria. According to reports, his lifeless body was found with gunshot wounds in his car on a national road in South Africa, which runs from Cape Town through Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Polokwane to Beit Bridge, a border town with Zimbabwe.

In a Monday, April 29, statement, SACBC members expressed condolences, describing his killing as “not an isolated incident,” recalling the March 13 murder of Father William Banda, the Zambian-born member of St. Patrick’s Missionary Society(Kiltegan Fathers), who was shot in the sacristy of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of South Africa’s Tzaneen Diocese.

Continued below.

Pastor's children left stateless. Radical Muslim infiltrates secret Church. Letting go of vengeance.

  • May. 02, 2024 | Bhutan​

    Pastor's Children Left Stateless

    [8] prayers in [1] nation have been posted for Pastor Abhaya and family.
    Bhutanese Christians meet in secret because of government persecution.
    Christians in Bhutan often risk losing their citizenship or other rights because of their faith in Christ. Pastor Abhaya and his wife have been denied a marriage certificate by the government, which jeopardizes their whole family, especially their children, who have been denied citizenship. The family may have to relocate to another country for the sake of their children. Read More.
  • May. 02, 2024 | Arabian Peninsula​

    Radical Muslim Infiltrates Secret House Church

    [5] prayers in [1] nation have been posted for pastor and underground church.
    Converts to Christianity in some nations in the Arab Peninsula face potential death sentences.
    The pastor of a small underground church for Christian converts on the Arabian Peninsula suspected that one member of the group wasn't a genuine follower of Christ. Though the man had attended meetings for several months, the pastor felt unsettled toward him. When the pastor confronted the man, he admitted to being part of a group working to stop Muslims from placing their trust in Christ. Surprisingly, the infiltrator still wanted to participate in the meetings even after he admitted to spying on the group. Read More.
  • May. 02, 2024 | Chad​

    Learning to Let Go of Vengeance

    [5] prayers in [1] nation have been posted for Akua Kwame.
    Christians in southern Chad are regularly attacked by marauding Fulani militants.
    Church deacon Akua Kwame was attending a morning prayer meeting in May 2023 when radical Fulani tribesmen attacked his village. When the militants shot bullets and arrows through church windows and tried to break into the building, the pastor yelled for everyone to get out. As they fled, the pastor and the church administrator were shot and killed. Akua said several arrows pierced his clothes, but none hit him. Later that day, he was tasked with the painful job of identifying the bodies of 12 people killed in the attack, including a two-year-old child. Read More.

The Gift of Christ's Righteousness

Isaiah 46:12-13,
"Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry:"

"Thou shalt fear Yahweh thy God, and serve him... Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee.
And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before Yahweh our God, as he hath commanded us."

1 John 5:3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

Revelation 22:4, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

Oh, please do not say"we don't have to keep the 10 commandments" and that they are nailed to the cross. That's the wretched antinomian teaching: a false doctrine, and twisted scripture. Peter wrote referring to Paul's letters, that there "are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:16)

Sin is nailed to the cross, the handwriting of ordinances is nailed to the cross: that is, the penalty or indictment of sin (Colossians 1:14), and the ceremonial and sacrificial part of the law was done away with in Christ; Him being the final and perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 9:26-28, 10:9-14), but the moral law contained in the 10 commandments was never abolished. Otherwise Jesus would have never said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15)

No! Jesus magnified the law just as prophesied: "The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable"
He spoke it more perfectly, and indeed He did magnify it and made it honorable, so that even breaking the 10 commandments in your heart and in your thoughts is sin, not just the physical commission of it.

Matthew 5:27-28,
"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
Here Jesus magnified the law. In fact let's look at more from the sermon on the mount,

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:17-28)

1 John 3:13-15 confirms and clarifies some of this even further: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."

You see, some have argued that Jesus preached the sermon on the mount before His crucifixion, so He hadn't yet fulfilled the law, and He was speaking to Jews at the time; and all other manner of excuses to avoid the law, and take a detour around it. That's why 1 John is important, because John wrote that long after the crucifixion. Yet he still reiterates what Jesus spoke in Matthew 5 regarding having something against your brother.

And Paul is very clear when he is writing about faith, and is careful to clarify lest his readers think he means an abolition of the law: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." (Romans 3:31)

Rather, we keep the law now by faith, not by works, and by His righteousness: "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." (Romans 3:25-26)

That is the righteousness of God without the law, being witnessed BY THE LAW and the prophets (Romans 3:21): The gift of righteousness - "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17)

Paul goes on to say, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:" (Romans 6:6-8)

This is very clear: we should not serve sin. The 10 commandments point out sin, so if we keep them we are not serving sin, and if we are dead and not serving sin, we are keeping the commandments.

You might say, "well love is the commandment today." And, I will agree with that, but only from Jesus commandment on it, not the utter nonsense and blasphemy that's taught today saying you can "love" anyone you want in any way you want and it's ok because after all, it's just love.

Jesus summed up the 10 commandments in two:
"Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:36-40)

If you are loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, then you will be keeping the first 4 commandments, and if you love your neighbor as yourself, you will honor your parents, you will not kill, or even hate; you will not commit adultery, or even look to lust in your heart, you won't steal, you won't covet, or lie. And right there covers all 10 commandments, which is the moral law that we are called to keep by faith, through His righteousness: for He lives through us and in us.

Anyone teaching the 10 commandments are abolished doesn't know the scriptures, and is deceived themselves, and if they are teaching others their twisted doctrine, causing others to feel comfortable sinning, they shall be held accountable for leading the brethren astray, or maybe keeping people from being saved by promoting a counterfeit salvation based on heresy and lies.

The gist of righteousness is ours to live in, as imparted unto us, imputed also unto us - Christs righteousness becomes our righteousness, not as a cloak for sin, not as a get out of hell free card, but as a daily righteousness we are to live in. Amen

Springtime

Winter is over
the sun does begin
to warm the heart.
New revelations to men,
new insights to see
the old passed away
the coldness does flee
to life a new day

Drawn out by His love
into the dawning new day
from the deep sleep of childhood
to the expectation of play
of leaping and bounding
over mountains and hills
His love it does beckon
my love does obey.

No walls to restrain
no reluctance to follow
only love unrestrained
Come out of the hollow.

Songs 2:8-15
The call to escape from self

Desolation Row

Perhaps my observation is not original. Perhaps it's well known. Perhaps it's just my foolishness. And perhaps I've brought this up before. I can't recall. It just jumped out at me one day several years ago while listening to it for about the millionth time.
Does anyone else see Bob Dylan giving an account of Nazi Germany's , unfortunately, successful propaganda move that inspired the book and later movie "Voyage of the Damned" in his song "Desolation Row", within the verse beginning with "Praise be to...?
If not, read the first verse, Read up on that event. Then consider my thoughts again.

The Gender Gap in Religion

There are many problems, of course, with letting the opinion of modern irreligious women override centuries of Christian theology. But what is more interesting here is how neatly this picture maps onto another interesting development in our modern era, that of feminized higher education. In 2021, the Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report titled “A Generation of American Men Give Up on College.” The report detailed the ever-widening education gap between men and women: Both in acceptance rates and graduation rates, men are falling far behind women. Even those schools putting a gentle thumb on the scales have not been able to close this gap.

What might it mean for young women to outnumber young men at elite universities, while young men outnumber young women at church? Certainly, these two pieces—women leaving church and men leaving college—say something about the relative status of men and women today, and perhaps also about the two sexes’ penchant for prestige. To be a Christian in America today is undeniably low-status, and all the more so if one ascribes to any form of orthodox theology. High status jobs, meanwhile, are cordoned off by advanced degrees, and therefore inaccessible to men who do not graduate college. (It is worth noting the difference between high-status jobs and high paying jobs: Real estate, trucking, and trades jobs are highly lucrative, but do not infer the social status of titles like “professor,” “lawyer,” and “doctor.”) Young women leaving church might be doing so due to a staunch commitment to egalitarianism, but more likely they are leaving because of a more general sense that church is not cool.

Most young women, and indeed most young adults today, are more readily shaped by peers and power than by deeply held moral convictions. This squares with the education trends, too: The atmosphere on most college campuses is not merely irreligious, but often anti-religious. Students have great negative incentives to leave the faith while pursuing an advanced degree. This might begin at the peer level, but it is also often advanced by faculty and staff, since the general milieu is one which views religion, especially Christianity, as a belief system opposed to intelligence. The men who have left higher education might be influenced by the same phenomenon, but in the opposite direction: Once they have rejected the prestige of the Ivory Tower, what is there to lose, in terms of social status, by becoming or staying Christian? As it turns out, not much. Indeed, young men today are developing parallel status economies quite comfortably, and quite without regard to what young women think of them.

Continued below.

St. Athanasius Was Catholic — He Knew Sola Scriptura Was False

The Church Fathers, almost to a person, reject Sola Scriptura, and hold that Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single deposit of the Word of God

St. Athanasius (c. 297-373) was a great Church Father and heroic opposer of the heresy of Arianism. He is probably the most-cited Church Father after St. Augustine in the writings of Protestant apologists who wish to show that the fathers were closer in substance to various teachings to Protestantism than to Catholicism.

He is cited as a supposed proponent of Sola Scriptura — the Protestant rule of faith and notion that the Bible is the only infallible source and standard for theology. It follows logically from this definition that the Church (including ecumenical councils) or sacred tradition (including apostolic succession) cannot be infallible sources or standards for theology.

Therefore, if someone asserts that one or both are infallible sources, then by definition and logic that person cannot possibly adhere to Sola Scriptura. It's rather easy to demonstrate that St. Athanasius did indeed believe in infallible sources of authority alongside, and in harmony with Sacred Scripture.

I cite his words from the 38-volume edition of the Church fathers edited by Philip Schaff (available online in its entirety at the New Advent website):

  • “But the word of the Lord which came through the ecumenical Synod at Nicaea, abides forever.” (Ad Afros Epistola Synodica2)
  • “But let the Faith confessed by the Fathers at Nicæa alone hold good among you, at which all the fathers, including those of the men who now are fighting against it, were present, as we said above, and signed: in order that of us too the Apostle may say, ‘Now I praise you that you remember me in all things, and as I handed the traditions to you, so hold them fast (1 Corinthians 11:2).’” (Ad Afros Epistola Synodica 10)
  • “For had they believed aright, they would have been satisfied with the confession put forth at Nicæa by the whole Ecumenical Council; ... Observe how entirely they disregard the truth, and how everything they say and do is for the sake of the Arian heresy. For in that they dare to question those sound definitions of the faith, and take upon themselves to produce others contrary to them, what else do they but accuse the Fathers, and stand up in defense of that heresy which they opposed and protested against?” (Ad Episcopus Aegypti et Libyae, 5)
  • “Who, then, that has any real regard for truth, will be willing to suffer these men any longer? Who will not justly reject their writing? Who will not denounce their audacity, that being but few in number, they would have their decisions to prevail over everything, and as desiring the supremacy of their own meetings, held in corners and suspicious in their circumstances, would forcibly cancel the decrees of an uncorrupt, pure and Ecumenical Council?” (Ad Episcopus Aegypti et Libyae, 7)
  • “It is enough merely to answer such things as follows: we are content with the fact that this is not the teaching of the Catholic Church, nor did the fathers hold this.” (Letter No. 59 to Epictetus, 3)
  • “What defect of teaching was there for religious truth in the Catholic Church …?” (De Synodis, I, 3)
  • “… the sectaries, who have fallen away from the teaching of the Church, and made shipwreck concerning the Faith.” (Against the Heathen 1, 6, 3)
  • “... the soul is made immortal is a further point in the Church’s teaching which you must know ...” (Against the Heathen 2, 33, 1)
Continued below.

Marriage: The Most Essential Christian Institution

Sometime in the mid-eighth century BC, shortly after killing his twin and successfully founding his new city, Romulus and his merry band of warriors found themselves in a quandary. It was, one could say, a very Jane Austen kind of quandary—namely, “it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

We could quibble whether these earliest Romans were really in possession of a good fortune quite then, in a marshy new village where mosquitoes far outnumbered humans, but there is full agreement, at least, on the second point: Roman tradition holds that these single guys were desperately in want of wives. But where to get them? In a very Roman way, they solved the problem with war. In an episode that became known in later history as “the rape of the Sabine women,” the Romans went to a festival in a nearby town, and kidnapped the women, forcibly marrying them. A minor war resulted, when the women’s original relatives marched to get them back, but by then, it seems that the wives got used to their new lot and helped broker a peace. So, it all worked out just fine from the Roman perspective.

This tale, mythological as it is, offers a glimpse of the pre-Christian pagan view of marriage. It was, first and foremost, transactional. It was, also, predicated on an imbalance of power in a world where men had all the power and women had none. Only one side’s desires and wants mattered. Much of our ideal of good and happy marriages, by contrast, comes from a Christian perspective on this institution. And now, in his new book, Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization, sociologist (and director of the National Marriage Project at UVA) Brad Wilcox shows clearly that marriage is the quintessential Christian realist institution.

To be clear, Wilcox shies away from phrasing it in quite such strong terms. Based on extensive survey data, he argues there are four groups whose marriages are thriving in America today: the Strivers, the Faithful, Asian Americans, and Conservatives. Wilcox’s Strivers are the highly educated elites—those who chose to pursue higher education, at least at the college level, but often beyond. The Faithful are a catch-all category Wilcox uses for all who are religious—not only Christians, but also Jews, Muslims, etc. The Asian Americans he considers include those of Indian descent, whose family-first ethic comes through in their attitude to marriage. Finally, the Conservatives are those with right-of-center views on the world.

Continued below.

Marriage in the New Testament

“Love is patient; love is kind” (1Cor 13:4). We often hear these words of the Apostle Paul read at weddings. But do they really reflect his and other New Testament writers’ views of marriage and relationships? It’s complicated.

What does Paul say about marriage?

Paul has the most to say about marriage in 1Cor 6:1-7:39, and he focuses not so much on the love between a husband and wife but on the function of marriage to keep individuals away from illicit sexual relationships. He suggests that husbands and wives have equivalent authority over one another: the husband is not hierarchically situated above the wife (1Cor 7:4). He proposes that even within marriage, self-control is paramount. He writes, “it is better to marry than to burn,” a statement that connotes both sexual desire and the apocalyptic end of the world that Paul envisions in the Corinthians’ imminent future (1Cor 7:9).

Paul goes on to give specific advice on whether to become or remain married, depending on the individual’s current situation. The general principle for each person is “Let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned” (1Cor 7:17). In other words, stay as you are, in large part because an “impending crisis” (1Cor 7:26), the end of the world, is near. This is not a positive view of marriage. Love, care, children, or economic partnerships are not in sight—only sex and “burning.”

Indeed, Paul’s words about love with which I began, “love is patient; love is kind” (1Cor 13:4), come in the context not of marriage but of communal worship. Paul locates love within the community, the church, the body of Christ, not within marriage.

What does Jesus say about marriage?

Continued below.

Satanists not welcome in Oklahoma schools, but are 'welcome to go to hell' says state superintendent

Good for Oklahoma, sez I. :oldthumbsup:

article said:
Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters stated last Wednesday, "In Oklahoma, we have conservative values. President Joe Biden and the National Education Association want Christianity out of the classroom and are advocating for our kids to have zero morality and faith. Let me be crystal clear: Satanists are not welcome in Oklahoma schools, but they are welcome to go to hell."

Real Life Ministries processes suicide of Pastor Gene Jacobs, founder says he’s in Heaven

Days after one of his campus pastors was found dead by authorities from an apparent “self-inflicted gunshot wound” in Idaho, Jim Putman, founder and senior pastor of the multi-campus Real Life Ministries, comforted his grieving parishioners Sunday with a promise that though the campus pastor’s suicide is a sin, he believes he is in Heaven.

After failing to show up for an early morning meeting at his church on April 23, Pastor Gene Jacobs of Real Life Ministries Silver Valley, which is part of the multi-campus Real Life Ministries megachurch, was found dead by authorities hours later with a “self-inflicted gunshot wound” in a mountainous area south of Pinehurst, authorities said.

A recording of Putnam’s message at Real Life Ministries Silver Valley shared on YouTube shows the church’s senior leader working through the shock of Jacobs’ death in a service that was so packed, some attendees could only find standing room.

Continued below.

Pastor John MacArthur says there is no such thing as mental illness, calls PTSD ‘grief’

In what at least one critic has dismissed as the Dunning Krueger Effect in action, Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, claims there is no such thing as mental illness.

More than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over one in five youth (ages 13-18) either currently or at some point during their life have had a seriously debilitating mental illness. About one in 25 U.S. adults also lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression.

Days before the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Month, however, MacArthur, who is also the president of The Master's College and Seminary, called mental illnesses “noble lies” while speaking during a panel discussion at Grace Church of the Valley last Thursday.

Continued below.
  • Informative
Reactions: Vambram

Global Methodist Church reacts to UMC votes to allow LGBT clergy, same-sex weddings

The Global Methodist Church has issued an official response to the United Methodist Church's General Conference votes to drop the denomination's decades-old ban on ordaining noncelibate homosexuals and allow the blessing of same-sex weddings.

UMC General Conference delegates voted this week via consent calendar to remove assorted rules from the denomination's Book of Discipline, shifting its stance on multiple LGBT issues.

Launched in 2022 as a conservative alternative to the UMC at a time when many churches were planning to leave the mainline Protestant denomination, the GMC issued a statement Wednesday stating that it "do[es] not have any affiliation with their decisions, nor do we wish to comment or provide commentary on the actions of other religious organizations."

Continued below.

Man jailed for burning historic church says he was only trying to scare bugs

A man who was jailed for setting fire to the historic Colonial Manor United Methodist Church in West Deptford, New Jersey, says he was only trying to scare bugs, but local prosecutors say he has been a longtime danger to his community.

The fire, which was reported around 6:20 a.m. on April 20, caused severe burns to the hand of a firefighter while working to put out the blaze that authorities say was caused by Brian P. Cannon, 44, of National Park, NJ.com reported.

Cannon has been charged with third-degree counts of arson along with aggravated assault for the firefighter’s injuries.

Continued below.

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