It’s a great line, but also one of the more dangerous among G.K. Chesterton‘s famous sayings. “If a thing’s worth doing,” he said, “it’s worth doing badly.” It gives some people an excuse and misdirects others.

Though as I say, it’s a great line. It rejects a pernicious modern idea of success, the idea that makes people say “I can’t do that very well, so I shouldn’t even try.” It rebukes the voice (internal or external) that says of something you want to do or feel called to do, “You’ll make a mess of it. Don’t even try. Leave it to the professionals.”

We hear people talk like that all the time. Gifted people won’t exercise their gifts because they feel they’ll never be good enough, judged by unrealistic and impractical standards.

I thought the line really dumb when I first read it, because I thought the key words are “doing badly,” and why should you encourage people to do anything badly? People produce enough bad work without encouragement.

I didn’t see that “worth” is the key word. Chesterton begins with reality, not what we do with it. That is, with affirmation, not judgment. One day I finally saw that he only meant that a thing worth doing is … worth doing.

The clever part was his contradicting, with that unexpected last word, a very common mistake that denies the worth of worthy things unless you do them up to someone’s standards. He helps us see how broad a range of performance “worth” could cover.

Ripe for misuse​

Continued below.

My grandfather once wrote me: “Work smarter not harder. Always keep your priorities in mind. Apply Ockham’s razor often to life, shave away the unnecessaries. Better to do a few things well than many things poorly.”

Now and again, I examine my life in light of the call to simplicity. A simplicity audit of sorts. Here, simplicity means not just an absence of many things, but a unity of focus; a focus prudently determined by one’s priorities. Which means one must have one’s priorities defined, in mind, and being applied at all times.

I developed a custom over the years. A week or so before Advent, I step back and restate to myself my key priorities, which I articulate in a “rule of life.” With this in mind, I then reflect on the previous six or so months and evaluate my various choices and commitments; especially my use of time and the associated expenditure of my very limited energies. I ask myself: were these a help or hinderance to realizing my priorities? I get very specific about the good and bad fruits left behind in the wake of how I lived my life.

I also make it a point to ask my living Priorities — the people impacted by my way of living — to see how they think I’m doing. Like my wife, children, boss, spiritual director, a friend. Oh my! That’s enlightening. Living mirrors. This practice, I believe, is so important because it is very often the case that, when my life is poorly ordered, others suffer for it far more than I do. And that’s a big deal.

After I do all this audit work, I seek God’s guidance in prayer as I reevaluate and make new decisions about what to change, what to eliminate and what to (re)start.

Just to be more specific, my list of priorities (and so rule of life) includes concrete things like my commitment to daily prayer, to core relationships, my life rhythms (like eating, sleeping, exercise, reading, penances, Confession, spiritual direction), leisure activities, practice of the works of mercy, my mental health hygiene, and my career. Placing career last is very intentional for me.

Simplicity does not imply that one must not have an active, challenging or even exhausting life. As if it is a luxury for people with simple lives. Some of the most simple people I know work far harder and face more challenges than anyone I know. But they go to bed with a “good exhaustion” as their inner life is rightly ordered. Their outer days may be chaotic, with unexpected things coming at them from all directions, but their hearts have a rudder of direction found in their well-ordered priorities. They are going somewhere, and with their rudder they can determine whether or not they are going off course.

Rightly ordered love of God and others is their center,

Continued below.

New figures indicating that more than 400,000 Catholics disaffiliated in Germany in 2023 show that the Church is in a “comprehensive crisis,” Bishop Georg Bätzing said Thursday.

In a statement following the publicationof new Church statistics June 27, the German bishops’ conference chairman insisted that the changes proposed by the country’s controversial “synodal way” were urgently needed.

“Reforms alone will not solve the Church crisis, but the crisis will worsen without reforms. And that is why change is necessary,” he said.

Continued below.

A serious new warning doing the rounds in Asia has alerted Apple users to the risk of rogue VPNs and device profiles on their iPhones—“users may have been tricked to install suspicious apps via bogus websites, SMS messages and links to the malicious malware.” While the risks for most users are low, checking your device takes less than 30-seconds—and so it’s well worth the time.

This latest story broke after users were tricked into installing malware that accessed their bank accounts. While those targeted initially suspected a malicious power cable might have been the issue, in reality it was a dangerous profile they had been tricked into installing. “The scammers often waited for the user to go to sleep before they would trigger the malware to take control of the phone and open mobile banking apps to steal from their victims’ accounts.”

As ESET’s Jake Moore warns, “when playing around with device management, you must be extremely careful and confident with what you are installing. This is the closest users can get to editing device configurations, but if it’s malicious then dangers can follow.”


For those unlucky enough to fall foul, a dangerous profile would theoretically enable remote access to your device—it would certainly create a potential vulnerability. And while Apple locks down its own devices much more tightly than Android equivalents. The EU-inspired DMA changes to app installs from outside Apple’s own ecosystem will make these kinds of risks more likely.

Continued below.

Probably not; he did not die from pure asphyxiation. Luke 23:

46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Click to expand...

He had enough energy to cry out with a loud voice just before he died. A suffocating victim could not do that. Pilate was surprised to find out that Jesus died so soon (Mark 15:44). The process of asphyxiation usually took longer. Dr McGovern et al (2023) do not think that Jesus died of suffocation.

What was the physical cause of death from a medical point of view?

Jesus lost some blood during scourging. There were physical and penetrating traumas. On the way to Golgotha, Jesus had trouble carrying the cross. This could be a beginning sign of hypovolemic shock. The soldiers forced Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross.

At the crucifixion site, the nailing to the hands and feet caused further blood loss, exacerbating the shock.

The cause of death was probably hemorrhagic shock due to blood loss.

COMMENTARY: The social changes in the past 30 years have not actually improved the mental health of the people who were supposed to be helped.

The social acceptance of homosexual behavior has greatly increased over the past 30 years. In that time, the United States has changed the definition of marriage, the structures of the military, the curriculum of our public schools and the objectives of our foreign policy.

Many people supported these changes because they thought this greater social acceptance would make self-identified gays and lesbians feel better. I propose that we stop and ask: Have these changes actually improved the mental health of the people who were supposed to be helped?

No serious researcher in this arena denies that the rates of psychological distress are higher for self-described gay men and lesbian women than for everyone else. The measures that have been studied include substance abuse disorders, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, self-harm, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies. Researchers across the board agree on these basic facts. The only question is why.

One common explanation for the poorer mental health of non-heterosexuals is called the “minority stress theory.” Unjust discrimination explains the differences between the mental health of people who are exclusively heterosexual and everyone else.

Continued below.

When was the last time you encountered the term “gaslighting”? Chances are, it was recently.

“Gaslighting” has become a prevalent concept utilized by many, ranging from one’s acquaintances to media personalities and political figures.

Sometimes the word is used to describe legitimate experiences of catastrophic emotional abuse, while other times it is a label employed by those confronted with a perspective different from their own.

Considering the frequency of its use, one may wonder if gaslighting is more common in, and even characteristic of, the present age. Or, it could be argued, there is now language with which to discuss certain behaviors and a greater awareness concerning them. Conversely, the term might be overused and mistakenly applied to situations, further depreciating those who have endured this form of manipulation.

Navigating this terminology and differentiating legitimate abuse from perceived injury can thus be complicated, particularly as contemporary language and the modern-day collective consciousness are saturated with this term’s use and misuse.

As professionals in the fields of social work and therapy, respectively, Sherry Flemming and Andrew Parker guide Catholics to aid them in traversing this landscape.

Defining ‘gaslighting’​

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “gaslighting” as the “psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time.” It notes that this manipulation “causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories.”

This definition states that the typical result is “confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.”

Continued below.

With just a few weeks remaining in the once-in-a-lifetime cross-country Eucharistic pilgrimage, participants in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage remain enthusiastic as new and different experiences unfold.

The four cohorts will converge in Indianapolis on July 16 for the National Eucharistic Congress from July 17–21. The processions have attracted thousands of participants in many areas, joining a core group of 30 young men and women committed to processing with the Eucharistic Jesus the entire way.

Jimmy Velasco, a seminarian for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said that with the temperature nearing 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the Serra Route group finally arrived at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, on June 25, where a crowd of 1,000 or so people joined for a Eucharistic procession. The group also prayed vespers with the Benedictine monks.

Continued below.

The U.S. bishops strongly condemned the Supreme Court’s Friday ruling in a pivotal homelessness case, calling the court’s decision “a direct contradiction of our call to shelter those experiencing homelessness and care for those in need.”

In the 6-3 decision, issued in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Gloria Johnson, the court ruled that cities can arrest or fine homeless individuals for camping in public spaces.

Writing on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Borys Gudziak, head of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said that “ticketing and arresting people for it [being homeless] is a counterproductive approach to the problem of homelessness” and that “criminalizing homeless is not the response to caring for those in need.”

Did the Supreme Court criminalize being homeless?​

Continued below.

FACT FOCUS: Here’s a look at some of the false claims made during Biden and Trump’s first debate

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump traded barbs and a variety of false and misleading information as they faced off in their first debate of the 2024 election.

Trump falsely represented the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol as a relatively small number of people who were ushered in by police and misstated the strength of the economy during his administration.

Biden, who tends to lean more on exaggerations and embellishments rather than outright lies, misrepresented the cost of insulin and overstated what Trump said about using disinfectant to address COVID. Here’s a look at the false and misleading claims on Thursday night by the two candidates.

JAN. 6

TRUMP: “They talk about a relatively small number of people that went to the Capitol and in many cases were ushered in by the police.”

THE FACTS: That’s false.

The attack on the U.S. Capitol was the deadliest assault on the seat of American power in over 200 years

TRUMP, on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s actions on Jan. 6: “Because I offered her 10,000 soldiers or National Guard and she turned them down.”

THE FACTS: false. Pelosi did not direct the National Guard. Further, as the Capitol came under attack, she and then-Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell called for military assistance, including from the National Guard.

TAXES AND REGULATIONS
TRUMP, on Biden: “He wants to raise your taxes by four times.”

THE FACTS: That’s not accurate.
Trump has used that line at rallies, but it has no basis in fact. Biden actually wants to prevent tax increases on anyone making less than $400,000, which is the vast majority of taxpayers.

TRUMP, referring to Jan. 6, 2021, the day a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of Biden’s victory: “On January 6th we had the lowest taxes ever. We had the lowest regulations ever on January 6th.”
THE FACTS: The current federal income tax was only instituted in 1913, and tax rates have fluctuated significantly in the decades since.
Government regulations have also ebbed and flowed in the country’s history, but there’s been an overall increase in regulations as the country modernized and its population grew.

INSULIN

BIDEN: “It’s $15 for an insulin shot, as opposed to $400.”
THE FACTS: No, that’s not exactly right. Out-of-pocket insulin costs for older Americans on Medicare were capped at $35 in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed into law. The cap took effect last year, when many drugmakers announced they would lower the price of the drug to $35 for most users on private insurance.

CLIMATE CHANGE

TRUMP, touting his environmental record, said that “during my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever” and that he supports “immaculate” air and water.
THE FACTS: That’s far from the whole story. During his presidency, Trump rolled back some provisions of the Clean Water Act, eased regulations on coal, oil and gas companies and pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord.

ABORTION

TRUMP: “The problem they have is they’re radical because they will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth, after birth.”

THE FACTS: Trump inaccurately referred to abortions after birth. Infanticide is criminalized in every state, and no state has passed a law that allows killing a baby after birth.

RUSSIA

TRUMP on Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in Russia: “He should have had him out a long time ago, but Putin’s probably asking for billions and billions of dollars because this guy pays it every time.”

THE FACTS: Trump is wrong to say that Biden pays any sort of fee “every time” to secure the release of hostages and wrongfully detained Americans. There’s also zero evidence that Putin is asking for any money in order to free Gershkovich.

COVID-19

BIDEN: Trump told Americans to “inject bleach” into their arms to treat COVID-19.

THE FACTS: That’s overstating it. Rather, Trump asked whether it would be possible to inject disinfectant into the lungs.

SUPER PREDATORS

TRUMP: “What he’s done to the Black population is horrible, including the fact that for 10 years he called them ‘super predators.’ … We can’t forget that - super predators … And they’ve taken great offense at it.”

THE FACTS: False. This oft-repeated claim by Trump dating back to the 2020 campaign is untrue.

MIGRANTS

TRUMP, referring to Biden: “He’s the one that killed people with a bad border and flooding hundreds of thousands of people dying and also killing our citizens when they come in.”

THE FACTS: False. A mass influx of migrants coming into the U.S. illegally across the southern border has led to a number of false and misleading claims by Trump. For example, he regularly claims other countries are emptying their prisons and mental institutions to send to the U.S. There is no evidence to support that.
Trump has also argued the influx of immigrants is causing a crime surge in the U.S., False, statistics actually show violent crime is on the way down.

CHARLOTTESVILLE

BIDEN, referring to Trump after the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017: “The one who said I think they’re fine people on both sides.”

THE FACTS: True. Trump did use those words to describe attendees of the deadly rally, which was planned by white nationalists. But as Trump supporters have pointed out, he also said that day that he wasn’t talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists in attendance.

ECONOMY

TRUMP: We had the greatest economy in history.”
TRUMP: “I gave you the largest tax cut in history.”
TRUMP: “The only jobs (Biden) created are for illegal immigrants and bounce back jobs, bounce back from the COVID.”

THE FACTS: That’s not accurate. First of all, the pandemic triggered a massive recession during his presidency. The government borrowed $3.1 trillion in 2020 to stabilize the economy. Trump had the ignominy of leaving the White House with fewer jobs than when he entered. (Tax Cuts) When it was passed in 2017, Trump’s tax cut was, in inflation-adjusted dollars, the fourth-largest since 1940.
(Jobs)
Since Biden took office in early 2021, the number of foreign-born Americans who are employed has risen by about 5.6 million. But over the same time period, the number of native-born Americans employed has increased by almost 7.4 million

MILITARY DEATHS

BIDEN: “The truth is, I’m the only president this century that doesn’t have any — this decade — any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did.”

THE FACTS: False. At least 16 service members have been killed in hostile action since Biden took office in January 2021. On Aug. 26, 2021, 13 died during a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, as U.S. troops withdrew from the country.

PRESIDENTIAL RECORD

BIDEN: “159, or 58, don’t know an exact number, presidential historians, they’ve had meetings and they voted, who is the worst president in American history … They said he was the worst in all American history. That’s a fact. That’s not conjecture.”

THE FACTS: That’s almost right, but not quite. The survey in question, a project from professors at the University of Houston and Coastal Carolina University, included 154 usable responses, from 525 respondents invited to participate.

GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS

TRUMP, on Minneapolis protests after the killing of George Floyd: “If I didn’t bring in the National Guard, that city would have been destroyed.”

THE FACTS: False. Trump didn’t call the National Guard into Minneapolis during the unrest following the death of George Floyd. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz deployed the National Guard to the city

IMMIGRATION

TRUMP: Biden “allowed millions of people to come in here from prisons, jails and mental institutions.”

THE FACTS: False. Immigration officials arrested about 103,700 noncitizens with criminal convictions (whether in the U.S. or abroad) from fiscal years 2021 to 2024, federal data shows. That accounts for people stopped at and between ports of entry.

BIDEN: “I’ve changed (the law) in the way that now you’re in a situation where there are 40 percent fewer people coming across the border illegally.”

THE FACTS: True. The Department of Homeland Security announced that illegal immigration encounters dropped by 40 percent, to fewer than 2,400 each day, in the weeks after Biden announced a policy largely barring asylum access for people entering the U.S. at the southern border.

Trump: “The only jobs (Biden) created are for illegal immigrants and bounceback jobs, bounce back from the COVID.”

​

There are many that believe that we are the BRIDE of CHRIST .

Your thoughts on John 3:29 ??

Reads , # ! He that hath the BRIDE is the BRIDEGROOM , so who are they ??

# 2 But who then is the FRIEND , of the BRIDEGROOM ??

# 3 Which standeth and heareth Him ??

# 4 In verse 30 , He must INCREASE , but I must DECREASE ??

# 4 And many should know who it IS ??

# 5 Is it speaking to those in the OLD COVENANT ??

# 6 Or speaking to those of the NEW COVENANT ??

#7 Or is t speaking to the BODY OF CHRIST ??

# 8 What is the PREMISE , DESCRIPTION and the CONCLUSDION ??

What say you ??

dan p

Two Canadians are delighting animal lovers on Instagram with videos of their pet rats driving around in little cars.

While they were contemplating a dog, Kendal Crawford and Shaun Stephens-Whale ended up adopting two rats from the local animal shelter in their home in British Colombia. They recall being impressed upon by the ragged rescued rats’ curiosity with them, even from within their cage at the shelter.

Having at first decided to sleep on it, the couple didn’t even make it down the block before turning around and adopting ‘Kronk and Kuzko,’ and it took them less than a day to realize they made the correct choice—when after their baths the rats seemed to snuggle right up to the humans in their bed that night.

Continued below.

Basically, if an official gets paid before performing an act benefiting the payer, then that's bribery and prosecutable but if the payment is subsequent to the act, it is all good. So folks, keep your politicians and judges on retainer but save the bonuses for end of the year!

Luke 21:
34 But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation,
drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.
35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape
all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

Most translations use dwell in verse 35, although some go further adrift and
use "live on the face of the earth". Here is the true word:
dwell-[G2521] =kathemai, which means sitting, or seated.
for example:
Luke 20:42 Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand,
43 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

In fact, other than this once, kathemai is never translated 'dwell'.
What were they thinking? Being a 'noble Berean' today requires
the student of Truth to look into the original language lexicons
and check up on the translators. Here is an on line Strongs.

G2521 - kathēmai - Strong's Greek Lexicon (kjv)

Now we can restore the metaphor.
"This will come up on all those seated on the face of the earth",
contrasting with:
"to stand before the Son of Man".

We all have seen this metaphor played out in our day to day lives
thousands of times. Someone comes in to another's presence and
are offered a seat, "make yourself comfortable".
The offer is immediately declined with "I can't stay but a minute",
and they remain standing.
So what does it mean to be seated on the earth?
It was right there in the previous verse!
34 But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation,
drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.

To remain standing should immediately call to mind Ephesians 6:
Ephesians 6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able
to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

If the Psalms are a regular part of your devotions, as they are mine,
you may have recalled:

Psalm 1:5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Having brought this to my attention, I immediately asked the Lord for
another teaching on remaining standing. Here is one that is widely
overlooked, on account of the marital bond.

1 Corinthians 7:
29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those
who have wives should be as though they had none,
30 those who weep as though they did not weep,
those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice,
those who buy as though they did not possess,
31 and those who use this world as not misusing it.
For the form of this world is passing away.
32 But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried
cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord.
33 But he who is married cares about the things of the world—
how he may please his wife.

Remembering the words of the Lord:
Luke 9:
61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You,
but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow,
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

There appears to be a notion that all believers will be whisked
away before the Day of the Lord. Jesus said that to escape that Day,
don't get comfortable with your life in this world. Remain standing.

Luke 12:
35 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;
36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master,
when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes
and knocks they may open to him immediately.
37 Blessed are those servants whom the master,
when he comes, will find watching....

How did the Pharisees incriminate themselves?

ESV, Matthew 23:

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

Click to expand...

Jesus accused them of being hypocrites. They said one thing and did another.

For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers [F1], we would not have taken part with them [F1] in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

Click to expand...

F1 killed the prophets.

They said they would not have joined F1, the bad people, to persecute the good prophets. In reality, they were persecuting Jesus, the good prophet. They were hypocrites.

They failed to distinguish between the people who lived in the old days and the bad people who killed the prophets. They called F1 their "fathers". If they thought F1 were bad, why would they acknowledge them as their fathers?

31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Click to expand...

Their own words (Freudian slip?) testified against them. They incriminated themselves by calling F1 their fathers.

32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers [F1].

Click to expand...

Sure, like father like son, continue and finish the job of your murderous fathers.

According to Jesus' logic, how did the Pharisees incriminate themselves in Mt 23:30?

The Pharisees incriminated themselves by their hypocrisy and Freudian slip.

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Revelation 1:7

This is not a future event. This happened already in the 1st century AD. The people who killed Jesus were still alive to see it, as it is written.

There is much to expand on this subject, (which I hope to do shortly), but the highlights are as follows:


1. Jesus Christ's thousand-year Millennial Reign began after his resurrection (described in Revelation ch. 20) , when Satan was cast into the abyss and bound. This thousand-year reign actually occurred in history, starting in the first century AD, and explains why so many of the 'middle-age' kingdoms of the world bowed down to Jesus Christ and ruled in His name. (From our deceived perspective, this time in history appears as a "Dark Age".. See point #4 below. The forces of secular enlightenment have colluded to erase this period from history and nullify the amazing fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy.) We know this time in history as CHRISTENDOM.

Christendom was literally Christendom. It was Christ and the Saints conquering and reigning on earth. And we the monumental evidence of this in art and architecture all over the world.

2. The 70 AD destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem was the prophecied Day of the Lord, when Jesus returned in fiery vengeance upon His enemies in Jerusalem and began to rule the nations with a rod of iron. (Revelation 1:7, 2:27)

3. This Christian Millenium ended at some point in the last several centuries and we entered the "Little Season" referenced in Revelation 20:1-3, 20:7-8 where Satan is released from his prison and allowed to deceive the nations once more. (I think this is a pretty good explanation for the rapid paradigm shifts giving way to the secular order of the modern age)

4. We are currently living at some point in the little season of Satan's deception, between Revelation 20:7 and 20:9, before the mysterious final battle of Gog and Magog.



It's amazing how much of Jesus and the Apostles' words harmonized once I accepted this. They explicitly referred to these events happening imminently, within their lifetime. In the beginning of Revelation, when Jesus communicated with the seven churches and told them he was coming quickly to judge them, he was actually telling the truth. It's funny how obvious this is once you see it. When he told everyone that they would see Him returning on the clouds in their own lifetime, He was simply telling the truth. In my state of deceit, I told myself that Jesus must not have meant what he said.

Just one small example is the bodily resurrection of the saints found at the end of Matthew and the book of Revelation (Matthew 27:52 - Revelation 20:4)
That verse in Matthew never made sense to me until now, likewise with so many words from Jesus about his return in their lifetime.

My prior commitment to Premillennialism, and my naive acceptance of false secular history from antiquity to present day, prevented me from seeing the truth that was right under my nose, shouted from scripture in a myriad of different ways. As much as I hate to admit it, even after all this time I remain a product of the ideology of Enlightenment rationalism, and I never considered how wrong our rationalized naturalized version of history could be.

I have a new joy and confidence in the holy scriptures now, in how true they all are. How true Jesus was in how plainly He spoke. How true the Apostles were. There is no more weird 2,000+ year historical period of silence that I always blindly accepted, and that always made so much of scripture so awkward. That stumblingblock has been cast away and the reality of God's Word has opened up more fully for me. Praise Him!


This video goes into great detail on how all of scripture in the NT is harmonized once you accept this:

(328) Did the disciples believe they were living in the Millennium? (Episode 4) - YouTube

This is a great resource on this subject, and walks you through all of it:

(This belief is also sometimes known as "Partial Preterism" though I am not a fan of that term.)

I am interested to hear any others' thoughts on this subject.

The Bible is a history book by and for Israel!

The descendants of the so-called "lost 10 tribes" of the northern house of Israel can be found in the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic and related peoples of today. The people of Israel? Not Jewish, but Anglo-Saxon!

The identification of one of the twelve tribes of Israel with a country or a population is not new: for generations there have been Britons who have drawn a parallel between Ephraim and England. This has been said about Manasseh and the United States. It is also said between Dan and Denmark, Judah and the Jews.

Zebulun is the youngest son from the marriage of the patriarch Jacob and the matriarch Leah. He is their sixth son. His older brothers are Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah and Issachar

And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of G-d blessed the children of Israel before his death... And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents. They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand. Deu 33:1 .18-19

A long time ago, Helene Koppejan from Zeeland wrote the booklet: "Strange parallel: Zebulun - the Netherlands, a tribe of Israel",


which puts forward the theory that the Dutch are one of the "Ten Lost Tribes" and as such an important part of Joseph-Israel's family,


which merged with this empire after the conquest by the Assyrians in the 7th century BCE


The book explains that the 10 lost tribes, which were annexed by the Assyrians, arrived in Europe through migrations. More precisely: north-west Europe. Because the prophecy from the Bible is still in force and because G-d keeps his promises, these nations still fall under the Mosaic covenant. And not just the tribe of Judah. Mentioned in connection with the Assyrians are the Khumri, sons of Omri, which in turn is the tribal name of the Kimbrians, the people who settled in Jutland as Kelto-Germanic and Scythians. The book explains that the 10 lost tribes of Israel (who were not "Jews" at the time, because that is what the Judeans were) were migrating Celts who arrived in north-west Europe around 600 BCE thanks to migration from the Black Sea region. At the time of the Cimbrian Flood described by the Romans (2nd century BCE), these Cimbrians migrated southwards from southern Scandinavia to the Rhineland.

A film entitled 'Wondere Parallel' (1971) was also made, in which the similarities between the Seelanders (derived from Zebulon) on the Dutch west coast and the promises of Jacob to this son in particular are examined. The Dutch and thus their ancestors, the Frisians, would then be descended from the tribe of Zebulun, named after the son of Jacob (= Israel, who wrestled with G-d).

In all of history, no nation can be found that has fulfilled the Zebulunian promises more clearly in its national behaviour than the Netherlands on the North Sea. The harbour-rich area with its seafaring and circumnavigation, the draining of lakes from which the "hidden treasures of the sand" are harvested today as rich agricultural products, all this and much more points in only one direction: Holland-Sebulon.

Kimswerd is a village in the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân in the Dutch province of Friesland. Kimswerd could be a reference to the Cimbri, a Germanic tribe from northern Jutland, which would then refer to Omri's sons Khumri. Together with the Teutons and Ambrons, they moved southwards from their settlement area in the north of Central Europe around 120 BCE. The Assyrians called the Israelites Ghimri or Khumri after the name of their king Omri. The Babylonians called them "Gimmirai". Deriving from this name, the Greek historian Herodotus called them Cimmerians, others Cimbri or Cymbrians.

Kennemerland, a region in the Dutch province of North Holland, could at least be a reference to Khumri.

The symbol of Holland was a ship in popular tradition and a ship was the symbol of the former Dutch Republic. According to the Midrash, the Jewish interpretation literature, a ship was also the symbol of Zebulun. In Jewish synagogues, the various symbols of the Israelite tribes can often be found on the walls or on the curtain or door. Zebulun is always represented by a ship. Israeli stamps with the tribal symbols show a ship as the symbol of Zebulun


In Jewish literature, Zebulun is portrayed as a merchant seafarer, which is true of the Dutch. The Dutch were among the world's leading seafarers from the 16th century to the present day. The Dutch empire was spread all over the world. At one stage it included territories in North America. New York was founded by the Dutch. Peter Stuyvesant was a Dutch governor of New Amsterdam. Dutch rule over Ceylon, harbours in India, places in South America and Indonesia, etc. The Dutch harbours were also very important. Rotterdam was for a long time the largest and busiest harbour in the world. Rotterdam is still the most important harbour for the whole of Europe.

Jacob prophesied:

Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon. Gen 49:13

Only the Dutch live "on the coast of the sea", as the Dutch are descended from Zebulun!

Friesland and Holland can be identified with Zebulun. According to the geography of Ptolemy (ca. 100 CE, but based on material from several centuries earlier), the area of southern Scandinavia and northern Friesland was occupied by the Sabalingoi. The name Sabalingoi (Sebulon-goi) means "people of Zebulun".

Pytheas (ca. 325 BCE) is reported to have described the Dutch region as being inhabited by Scuthai (i.e. Scythians).

Each tribe of Israel had its own stone on the breastplate of the high priest. Zebulun's stone was a diamond. Today, South Africa produces most of the world's diamonds, most of which are processed and traded in Antwerp, Belgium, in the Flanders region, whose inhabitants are at least partly of Dutch descent. Before Antwerp, Amsterdam in Holland was the most important centre for diamonds. South Africa, where the diamonds come from, is dominated by the Boers, who are partly descended from Dutch settlers and whose language is based on an old Dutch dialect.

Holland's theory of descent is consistent with the earlier apocryphal Frisian historiography collected, for example, by Waling Dijkstra, a Dutch writer


Since the Frisians, Angles and Saxons jointly conquered the British continent from the Celtic Britons and then gave it their name and language, this view need not conflict with the Zebulun theory


Ultimately, the DNA of the men from East Anglia and Northumbria hardly differs from that of the Frisians. Old Frisian was also almost identical to the old Anglo-Saxon language.

The name Saxon comes from the name Isaaks-sons (= sons of Isaac, the son of Abraham with Sarah; Isaac = Hebrew Yischaq). If we omit the I, we get: Saaksons, or Saxons, or Saxony, who were known in antiquity as the Celtic-Scythian tribe of saka or sacae. Saxons sit on the English royal throne. They are descended from the "Saxe-Coburg-Gotha" family, and as anything German was not very popular outside Germany during the two world wars, they renamed themselves "Windsor". Today, all European high noble families are practically related to each other, which also emphasises the family ties between the European peoples.

The Scottish Declaration of Independence of Arbroath from 1320 refers to the origin of the Scots from the 10 tribes of Israel. The national anthem of the Netherlands also refers to the ancient roots, stating:

Als David moeste vluchten... When David had to flee
Voor Saul den Tyran:... From Saul the Tyrant:
Soo heb ick moeten suchten... so I had to give way
Met menich Edelman:... with some noblemen:
Maer G-dt heeft hem verheven... But G-d raised him up
Verlost uit alder noot,... delivered from all distress,
Een Coninckrijk ghegheven... given him a kingdom
In Israel seer groot... in Israel, very great.

Click to expand...

It is obvious with the Danes, who still bear their origins as the tribe of Dan in their name today: Danmark. Túatha Dé Danann, as they called themselves before settling in Ireland around 800 BCE, means "tribe of Dan". The clues are everywhere. Words have a meaning!

Britain, on the other hand, means berith = covenant; ayin = without, so "without covenant".

Some scholars now say, "There we have it! The British can't belong to Israel because Britain in Hebrew means "without covenant"!". They forget that Israel committed the sin of Jeroboam, which was to abandon the covenant with G-d and instead worship the "sun-G-d" Baal - thereby becoming a people who have broken the covenant with G-d, and are therefore now "without covenant".

To prevent the Israelites of the northern kingdom from rejoining Rehoboam, as they had to go to Jerusalem at least three times a year to attend the religious festivals, Jeroboam founded a new religious system, the two centres of which were Bethel in the southern northern kingdom and Dan in the north of the kingdom. There, the Ten Tribes worshipped golden calves.

And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy g-ds, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. 1 Kings 12:26-30

This system was a typical example of syncretism as practised by most churches to this day. It contained elements of true G-d worship mixed with pagan idolatry and pagan rituals. Above all, the basis of this system was fundamentally wrong. G-d had promised Jeroboam kingship over the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel

And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces: And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord, the G-d of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: 1 Kings 11:30-31

The king did not need to use human wilfulness to protect what G-d had promised. An unknown prophet warned Jeroboam of his idolatry, but he would not listen. The judgement of G-d struck Jeroboam and his family because of the idolatry he had seduced Israel into. Jeroboam's son Abijah fell ill and later died

At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick... Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam... For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger. And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. 1 Kings 14:1 .14a .15-16

Since the days of Jeroboam, the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom worshipped Baal - and they did so not only until the empire was conquered by the Assyrians and the surviving people were led into captivity in Assyria in 722 BCE. Even after their flight from Assyria in 612 BCE, they held on to it - indeed, today they are no longer aware of their identity and unknowingly continue to worship Baal to this day!

The division of the Celts into tribal groups was not the only thing they had in common with the 10 tribes of Israel, but also Baal worship, as archaeological finds confirm. Vertically erected memorial stones, so-called mono- and megaliths, some with inscriptions, can be found today not only in the areas of the former southern and northern kingdoms, but also around 40,000 of them scattered throughout western and northern Europe. The stones were erected in honour of the "SunG-d" Baal and bear witness to the idolatry of the "Celtic" Hebrews: the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Stonehenge is probably the best known of these numerous places in Europe where the worship of Baal was celebrated by the immigrant Israelites. If we want to search for the 10 tribes of Israel, then the Baal altars will show us the way unerringly - all the way to the Babylonian idolatry of the great churches of modernity. Israel still worships Baal to this day - quite consciously then, without realising it today!

The idea that the "State of Israel" is synonymous with the biblical people of Israel prevents us from understanding biblical end-time prophecy. Before 1948, this landscape was called Judea, and that is where the truth lies. Today's State of Israel is inhabited in part by members of the former Southern Kingdom of Judah - but the House of Israel, which never returned from the Assyrian captivity to the land of the fathers, are today's descendants of the Judeo-Christian Gentile peoples of Western and Northern Europe.

Login to view embedded media
More good news for Trump.

Supreme Court Sides With Jan. 6 Rioter in Obstruction Case​

The case could have implications for former President Donald Trump, who is on trial for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Not a vast right wing conspiracy:

Please NOTE this thread is about Joe Biden and what his political party and other supporters are saying.

‘The Movement to Convince Biden to Not Run Is Real’​

Hill Democrats don’t want Biden to debate again​

This can’t continue’: Biden-sympathizing columnists urge him to step aside​

Biden’s debate performance sets off alarm bells for Democrats​

I myself, personally, did not. But from what I've been reading on various news sites this morning, the Democrats and the MSM are both in a full-blown, meltdown panic.....Joe did not acquit himself too well as being the guy you want in charge of the nuclear codes.

“The greatest conservation opportunity on the planet,” isn’t in the Amazon, the Andes, Australia, or anywhere else you’d likely imagine. It’s in South Sudan.

In a story that truly demonstrates how much there is left to explore in the world, the world’s largest migration of land mammals is now understood to take place in South Sudan, and the government, with the help of African Parks, is rushing to protect it.

Ecologists have long known the migration through South Sudan’s “No Man’s Land” exists, but didn’t really understand how it worked, or the scope of it. Unlike the caribou migrations across Canada, or the wildebeest migrations in Kenya’s Mara grasslands, No Man’s Land is filled with all manner of migrating species, including Mongalla gazelle, bohor reedbuck, white-eared kob, and tiang—all of which are antelope species.

Continued below.

At a famous Buddhist temple in Japan, pots of lotus flowers augment the already breathtaking scenery of the temple—but they’re more than what they seem.

The lotus is a foundational part of Buddhist iconography, but the plants sitting in front of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Byōdō-in Temple in Uji were grown from seeds found buried in a layer of dirt from a pond dug by monks there over 200 years ago.

The seeds were recovered when the pond was excavated 25 years ago, and are now bearing a special kind of lotus flower variety—Byōdō-in Temple Lotus. Milky white and diaphanous, the monks say they are pleasing to look at during a moment of stillness.

Continued below.

My daughter was a promise for the future. I named her Maeve, after an Irish warrior queen, because I believed she was going to change the world.

I’d wanted her desperately. When I found out I was pregnant, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. That first night, my now-husband and I sat together on our back porch in the dark, just taking it all in and thinking about how dramatically our lives would change.

[her water breaks, far too early]

My doctor told me to go straight to the emergency room where they confirmed the worst: There was no chance my daughter would survive, and I was in danger myself. Without emergency intervention to end my pregnancy, I was at risk for infection that could lead to sepsis, infertility or even death.

But the hospital said they couldn’t provide the care I needed to save my life and health.

Ignoring my doctors’ medical advice, the hospital refused to treat me, claiming its hands were tied because of Missouri’s abortion ban. They said there was nothing they could do unless my condition got even worse.

We drove nearly three hours to Kansas, where a doctor initially gave us the option to induce labor to lower my risk of infection and give us a few final minutes with Maeve, so we could hold her and say goodbye.

Then, the doctor came back with a different story. These doctors’ hands, too, were tied because the situation was too politically heated.

[Four days later], we found a clinic in Illinois that was willing to treat me. I’ll always be grateful for the kindness and compassion of the doctors who helped save my life.

Today, the Supreme Court could have provided clarity that EMTALA protects pregnant patients in emergency situations, regardless of state law.

Previous coverage of her story.

Archaeologists examining finds dug up in a Spanish cave network in 1989 found skull fragments of a 6-year-old Neanderthal, which would have been exciting on its own, but the skull carried two major surprises.

The first is that an analysis of the inner ear canal showed signs of Down Syndrome, the earliest-known evidence of the genetic condition.

The second is that the child survived until 6, indicating compassion and willingness to bear extra work on behalf of individuals in a group who couldn’t take care of themselves. It gives a new perspective on the instincts for kindness and caring among our earlier ancestors.

Continued below.