Russia continues to perpetuate “particularly severe” religious liberty violations against minority groups within its own country and the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, according to a new report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

The June 30 report, which detailed religious liberty violations throughout 2024 and the beginning of 2025, found continued “intense persecution” of Ukrainian Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christians.

Within Russia’s borders, the report also found numerous religious liberty violations against human rights activists, independent media, anti-war protesters, and others who belong to minority religious groups.

“Russian authorities abuse vague and problematic laws to target religious communities that do not conform to state authority,” USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler told CNA in a statement.

Continued below.

Good evening everyone.

Just wanting to introduce myself. My name is Jim and I live in the southeast.

Long-time Christian and participant of in-depth Bible study. Looking for a platform on which I can share the Revelations of the Holy Spirit which I have been blessed to receive, I believe. These "revelations" are not of the magnitude that we read of in John's Revelation, just what I feel the Spirit has spoken with me about with my own life - my failures, my successes, my need to depend on my Creator and Savior, and a healthy perspective of things going on regarding this spiritual battle that rages around us all. Perhaps my own experience may speak to another.

I am being led here because I feel that a forum/blog setting might allow more freedom to share. I find anymore that "fighting for air time" in a controlled setting is simply too tiring and takes away from why "two or three might be gathered in His Name". Just my thoughts.

I look forward to sharing with any who might be willing to set aside a few minutes and "listen".

May the God of all creation bless us all.

Please pray for Colton’s salvation and emotional healing

Habakkuk 2:1-20 I will stand on the ramparts and learn what the Lord is saying to us. The Lord says: Write this down and make it clear for all to see; The prophecies await the appointed time, they speak of the time of the end and will not prove false. Though they delay, wait for it, all will surely come before too long.

The reckless will lack an assured future, while the righteous will live by being faithful.

As for the person who is proud, arrogant and treacherous; they will not win in the end, because they are as greedy as the grave. The nations and peoples follow in this error, but surely they will face ridicule and those who have ill-gotten gains will be scorned. Their debtors will suddenly rise up and the creditors will become victims, instead.
Those who have shed blood and inflicted violence to cities and have plundered nations, now; the rest of the world will plunder you.

Woe betide those who seek unjust gain, their schemes will bring dishonour and put their lives at risk.

Woe betide those who build their lives on crime and lies. Those nations labour for a pittance and their peoples exhaust themselves for nothing.

Woe betide those who make others drink the outpouring of God’s wrath, they will be filled with shame when it is their turn to face judgement.

Woe to those who seek guidance from idols or divinators, they are useless and of no value.

The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth be silent in His presence.
Reference: REB, NIV. Some verses abridged.

Bible prophecy does tell us what will happen ‘at the appointed time’. James 5:7-11; We Christians must stand firm in our faith, but the proud and arrogant peoples will be brought low. Psalms 5:5-6 While the godless face insecurity, those who discern the end times and understand the prophetic Word, will maintain their faith and live in quiet trust for a blessed future. Isaiah 30:15, Proverbs 3:5

In Noah’s day, God’s wrath came as a flood, but now we are told: the earth is reserved for burning…2 Peter 3:5-7 and in Deuteronomy 32:22 & 34-35 I have sealed up in My storehouse, a fire, set ablaze by My anger, waiting the Day of punishment and vengeance. Psalms 50:3-6, Jeremiah 25:15-38

It will be poured out upon all the world, Isaiah 2:12-21, Revelation 6:12-17, but especially onto the Middle East region. Psalms 83:1-8, Ezekiel 30:1-5, as the great and terrible Day of the Lord’s vengeance and wrath, a C.M.E. sunstrike, that will be a world changing event. Huge numbers will be killed, Jeremiah 9:22, Isaiah 66:16 and as the survivors recover, they will form a One World government. Daniel 7:23-24, Revelation 17:12
Meanwhile, those who have kept their faith and trust in the Lord, Jeremiah 7:7-8, will be motivated to emigrate to the Holy Land, where they will settle and live peacefully. Isaiah 62:1-5, Psalm 107

Those who follow their own lusts and desires will ‘lack an assured future’, that is they may survive the forthcoming fire judgement, but must face the Great Tribulation. On the other hand, the righteous will live under the care and protection of the Lord. Amos 9:13-15, Isaiah 24:4, Jer. 33:12-13, Colossians 1:11-12

The attack by Gog and his horde, is an interlude before the GT, where the Lord demonstrates His power to His faithful people in the Holy Land. Joel 2:20

The Shekinah Glory will return to the new Temple, in Jerusalem. Ezekiel 43:2 Then, after all that is prophesied in Revelation, from 6:12 to 19:10; has taken place: Jesus will Return to reign for 1000 years.

Fate of Christians is unknown

NEW DELHI — Relatives of ethnic Rohingya Christian refugees cast into the sea by India’s Navy have yet to hear from them nearly two months after the cast-offs swam ashore to their native Myanmar (Burma).

“If someone could just tell us if they are alive or dead — this anxiety is killing us,” Sadeq Shalom told Morning Star News in Delhi.

Refugees from Myanmar themselves, the relatives of the cast-offs, have been hunted by Delhi police since Indian authorities deported 38 Rohingya, including 15 Christians, on May 6.

Continued below.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — Jenn Nizza still remembers the moment the door first opened.

She was 13 years old, growing up on Long Island in a culturally Catholic family, when her mother, a hairdresser, hosted a psychic party in their home.

“It was in a little beauty parlor setting. Everyone got a 15-minute tarot reading,” Nizza told The Christian Post.

Hers, like her sister’s, left an impression that would last for decades.

The cards told her things that were true, facts about her past that felt impossible for a stranger to know. “That’s the hook,” she said. “Demons can see the past. They can’t tell the future — only God can — but they make good guesses. And that’s all it takes to get you in.”

What followed was a descent that, in retrospect, she describes as both seductive and sinister. “It was daily. Multiple times a day,” she said of the tarot readings she and her sister performed on each other. From there, she pursued numerology, astrology and eventually psychic mediumship. At one point, a professional medium told her she, too, had “the gift.”

Continued below.

John Burke, a pastor and author who has studied and examined more than 1,000 accounts of near-death experiences, wasn’t always a believer in the supernatural.

Burke is the author of Imagine the God of Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Revelation, and the Love You’ve Always Wanted, but he was once an agnostic, skeptical of faith.

“I ended up studying engineering and working as an engineer,” he told Jen Lilley and Billy Hallowell on the “Into the Supernatural Podcast.” “So my mind has always worked like that. Like, skeptical — ‘How do you know? Is there any evidence? Why does that make sense?'”

Burke continued, “And nobody could really answer my question. So I just decided: ‘Jesus is probably a good man who turned legend and God, you just can’t know. There’s no evidence.'”

But when Burke’s dad was dying of cancer decades ago, he started learning about near-death experiences (NDEs) — scenarios in which people clinically die and have no heartbeat or brain activity yet report consciousness. He first encountered the issue when his father was reading a book about it.

Continued below.

Virginia's ban on sexual orientation change efforts talk therapy for LGBT-identified minors, referred to by critics as "gay conversion therapy," has been effectively struck down following a legal challenge by two Christian counselors.

John and Janet Raymond, along with the Virginia Department of Health Professions, agreed to a consent decreelast month in the Circuit Court of Henrico County, which was recently made public.

The measure, HB 386, bars licensed professionals from trying to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity and regards such counseling as unprofessional conduct and grounds for disciplinary action.

Continued below.

These two sentences are pretty easy to understand. The first sentence says that the law shuts every person's mouth and causes them to understand they are guilty of sin before God. For these reasons, the second sentence says that God will not declare anyone righteous on the basis of their obedience to the law, and everyone understands this because the law teaches people they are sinners.

Do these verses speak the truth? Does everyone who sees/hears/knows the law understand they are sinners and that God will not declare them righteous on the basis of their obedience to the law? Yes. It is not phyiscally possible for a person to gaze into the law and go away deceived into thinking he is right with God because of his obedience to the law.

Why then, do we see so many people speaking the opposite? The most obvious plausible answer is that they know it but are supressing the truth. There may be other answers, but I can't think of any.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 ESV

“The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
‘I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.’”

I sometimes hear other people and some pastors quote verse nine here and apply it to all people, including to Christians, and that always bothers me. Why? Because, as Christians we should have hearts which are now surrendered to God. Our hearts shouldn’t be deceitful and desperately sick (wicked). Now I would agree that our fleshly hearts are like this before we have changed hearts, and prior to the Spirit living within us, but shouldn’t we have changed hearts, renewed of the Spirit of God?

For, we read in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” And we read in Matthew 6:20-21 that we are to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven.. for where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. And in Matthew 12:34-35 we read, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”

And in Matthew 22:37 we read, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” But how can we do that if we all have deceitful and wicked hearts? And in Luke 8:15 we read, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” So, some people have honest and good hearts.

And in John 7:38 we read, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” And in Acts 2:46 we read about “glad and generous hearts.” And in Acts 4:32 we read, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul,” and that was a heart surrendered to God. And in Acts 13:22 we read, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.”

And in Acts 15:9 we read, “having cleansed their hearts by faith.” And in Romans 5:5 we read, “because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” So, we can, by faith in Jesus, have cleansed and pure hearts. And in Romans 6:17 we read, “have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.” So, we can have obedient hearts to God.

And in Romans 10:1 we read, “My heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.” And 2 Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In Galatians 4:6 we read, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”

And Ephesians 3:17 says, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love.” And Ephesians 6:6 says, “not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” And in Colossians 3:15, “compassionate hearts.” We read in 2 Thessalonians 3:5, “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”

And in 1 Timothy 1:5, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” And in 2 Timothy 2:22 we read, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” So, if we believe in Jesus Christ with God-given faith in him, we can have pure hearts, good and honest hearts, and we can love God with our whole heart.

We can have glad and generous hearts, and hearts which are surrendered to Jesus Christ, and we can be people after God’s own heart, and have cleansed hearts, and hearts filled with the love of God. And we can have obedient hearts and hearts which desire good for others. We can have hearts filled with the light of truth, and Spirit-filled hearts, hearts that are committed to doing the will of God, compassionate hearts, and hearts which are directed to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

So, yes, in our sin nature, we have deceitful and wicked hearts. But once we have been transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and our hearts have been cleansed and made new by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, and God is living within our hearts, by faith in him, our hearts shouldn’t be deceitful and desperately wicked. Now they should be pure, honest, good, moral, upright, godly, generous, and hearts filled with the love of God.

But this doesn’t mean that everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ has a pure, honest, upright, and godly heart committed to obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ. This comes through us daily dying to sin and to self and us daily surrendering our hearts to the Lord and walking in his ways and in his truth. But it is the Lord who tests our hearts, and he will give to each one of us according to our ways (see Romans 2:6-8; Galatians 6:7-8).

So, just know that not all of us have deceitful and desperately wicked hearts, not if our hearts have been cleansed and renewed of the Holy Spirit. But we still live in flesh bodies, and so we still have the ability to return to wicked and deceitful hearts if we cease to surrender our hearts to the Lord, and if we stop obeying the Lord, in practice, and if we go back to living in sin and for self. So, we need to guard our hearts so we keep having pure hearts.

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

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The Pure in Heart
An Original Work / July 2, 2023
Originally posted on July 2, 2023 / Reposted on July 2, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

When Reason & Theology became Reason & Dhimmitude​

"Jumping the shark" is an idiom that refers to a point where a creative work, especially a television show, has reached its peak and is starting to decline in quality or relevance. It's often used to describe a moment when a show introduces a ridiculous or unbelievable plot element in a desperate attempt to stay popular. The phrase originated from a 1977 episode of the TV show Happy Days where Fonzie water-skis over a shark.

It finally happened.​

​

After years of circling the tank, Michael Lofton has officially jumped the shark. In his June 30, 2025 video titled “Does Catholicism Teach Muslims Can Be Saved?”, Lofton attempts to defend religious pluralism Vatican II–style, assuring viewers that Muslims can indeed be saved, not despite their religion, but in some mysterious sense, through it.

The skis left the water when Lofton claimed that non-Christians can be saved “through the goodness” found in their own religions. Not in spite of their errors. Not because God rescues them out of those religions. But by the Holy Spirit working through the goodness withinthose religions, as long as the person is sincere, of course.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when your ecclesiology is shaped by non-Magisterial subterfuge.

Let’s walk through the wreckage.

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From “No Salvation Outside the Church” to “Saved Through the Mosque”​

Continued below.

A housing policy document on Mamdani's official website includes a pledge to "shift the tax burden from homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods."

Let’s Play Monopoly: Capitalist vs Socialist
By Jeb Smith

Socialism and capitalism are not at war with each other—they are in cahoots with each other. They have formed that unholy alliance, the servile state—big government propped up by big business, and big business propped up by big government

-Dale Ahlquist et al., The Hound of Distributism: A Solution for Our Social and Economic Crisis

The Right and Left are engaged in a game of Monopoly, where citizens, the economy, and the structure of society are the properties on the board that they compete to dominate. Both sides aim to control everything for their own advantage. One seeks conquest by a few tyrannical “free market” giants, while the other aims for a single monopoly of power centered in the government.

Before the rise of either socialism or capitalism, before the 14th century, people lived under a libertarian form of tribal kingship. Most governance was based on consent, and many individuals achieved self-governance. The law was unchangeable and set in stone, meaning that there were no regulatory authorities, elected officials, or powerful interest groups that could manipulate the customs or laws of the people.

Citizens adhered to their own laws, and lived in self-sufficient units as agriculturalist providers for themselves, owners of shops etc. Compared to today. government interference in people’s lives, the economy, and various aspects of society was minimal, often non-existent.

Given that they were not artificially manipulated by powerful entities, land, political power, military influence, and economic resources were distributed much more widely among guilds, knights, lords, kings, and the populace. As a result monopolies, if any existed, were few and weak, and did not negatively influence society at large.

Significant change began to take place during the 14th century. The revival of Roman law reintroduced representative government, parliamentary systems, and gave the tribal kings – now transformed into monarchs – the ability to create and adapt laws. Governance shifted from the people to parliaments and individuals meant to “represent” them. As this transformation occurred, powerful interest groups emerged, primarily wealthy merchants and early capitalists, who began to influence monarchs and parliaments for their own benefit.

As capitalism replaced the old order, the powerful could purchase land to own outright and free of obligation, and an increasingly smaller percentage of the population, often the rich merchant class or influential governmental individuals, owned more and more money, power and land. Individuals became powerful and communities diminished. As time elapsed, political and economic power gravitated to the center. These individuals gobbled up large tracts of land, and entire towns and villages succumbed to centralized power.

Over the centuries to come, these powerful capitalists, colluding with the political powers, utilized government power to control the market and help maintain and increase their monopolies.

Through property taxes, regulations, subsidies, bailouts and other means, the capitalists removed people from their land and as small shop owners. They squashed any up-and-coming competitors and drove people into the cities to work as hourly earners under a capitalist boss in factories. They forced them to enter the capitalistic economy they were building as wage slaves, swelling the ranks of workers and providing bountiful cheap labor for the elites, whose greed maintained a tyrannical grip on the economy, politics, workplaces and individual workers.

Small businesses were crippled by expenses the major corporations can handle, and thus dominate the market by running competition into the ground. The capitalist buys former owners’ land or shops, incorporates them into his own holdings and uses his power and influence to hire politicians through endorsements.

Once the free-market oligarchs hold a monopoly, they set their prices and profits; they begin to take a more significant portion of earnings for themselves, giving less to the employees and extracting more from the customers. They eradicate all competition, and the end game of “free market” capitalism is a dictatorship of the few wealthiest capitalists and their political allies. A larger and larger disparity between rich and poor results.

In this new and increasingly unequal world, where wealth and political power are centralized and monopolized by the few, and the masses are increasingly taxed, abused, manipulated and subjected to oppressive factory conditions, they sought relief from the only agent powerful enough to perhaps counter the soulless corporations abusing them: the government.

Not only did they empower the government to help accomplish their desires, but many even further empowered the government to resist the tyrannical capitalist. The tyranny of unbridled free market capitalism gave rise to the “left” who desired an all-powerful organization that had an absolute monopoly on all say in governance and economics: socialism.

While capitalists desire that the economy be controlled by a few monopolies rather than being dispersed and decentralized among the people, socialists want a single, all-powerful monopoly—the government—to control everything. Therefore, it seems that socialists may be more potent capitalists than capitalists themselves, because they desire one monopoly instead of a few. Thus, socialism can be viewed as capitalism’s logical conclusion—a single, powerful monopoly.

To a distributist, the difference between a few corporations using the government for their benefit and one government using those corporations in the same way is not significant. Both scenarios involve a monopoly: one with many corporations and one with just the government.

As was often the case during the “early” and “high” Middle Ages, Distributism takes away the ability of others to monopolize you; the board is removed, the game no longer played. It aims to provide the conditions for all men and all families, and localities to have freedom of choice, untroubled by distant powerful monopolies on the left or right, and to return normality to humanity.

When people have been free from distant, powerful, coercive forces, they have congregated into small, self-sufficient and like-minded tribes centered on family, faith, and leisure. That is the game we ought to be playing, rather than letting oligarchs play Monopoly.

SURABAYA, Indonesia — As police and soldiers looked on, about 200 Muslims on Friday stormed a Christian youth retreat at a home in Indonesia, driving out participants and damaging property, sources said.

Carrying banners and shouting, “Destroy that house, destroy that house,” the Muslim mob, after Friday mosque prayers, attacked the home in Tangkil village, Sukabumi in Cidahu District, West Java Province, at about 1:30 p.m. local time, damaging windows, toilets, a gazebo and garden, according to Sukabumisatu.com.

Claiming that a house should not be used as a place of worship, the mob also reportedly threw a motorbike into a nearby river and damaged the main gate.

Continued below.

'Musk, a top Republican megadonor, intensified his campaign in recent days with threats that he would form his own “America Party” and target lawmakers in upcoming elections who voted for the bill in 2026 primary elections.'

Is it a real threat? If it comes to pass, what will the effect be on the GOP?

Just one fruit of adherence to a godless theology:

Hopefully this us appropriate here. I got the blue screen of death. Windows cites critical process died and wont repair itself. I tried restore points to no avail. Asus troubleshooter says the hard drive is fine. Ive copied most my files using the cmd mode. Shops are not great near me. They always want a reinstall windiws solution. My question is if i just put in a new hard drive can i then plug the old one in and use apps like office or tax software from the old ssd drive? Thanks

I was--and am--very opposed to the big ugly bill. Throwing 15-20 million off Medicaid is immoral. Ending energy tax credits--and in the Senate, actually putting on a surcharge, will exacerbate climactic disasters, air pollution, and hurt farmers through droughts and temperature differences.
Billionaires don't know what to do with their money. The good ones give it to worthy causes--whether they are athletes, actors, or businessmen. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are giving away everything they have over 20 years, but they and their descendants will still enjoy a very comfortable lifestyle.Some, however, are unable to feel joy from their good fortune,and many become addicted to power and control.

And when it was passed, I was horrified to see that it was ingeniously engineered. Social Security beneficiaries (getting their return on investment) will get an extra $6,000 tax exemption. Currently, 36% of Social Security beneficiaries have to pay income taxes on part of their Social Security benefits. With this additional $6,000 tax exemption ($12K for couples), only 12% will still have to pay income taxes on part or all of their Social Security benefits.

My husband and I will be part of the 12%, but the $12K exemption will protect an additional $12K of our Social Security benefits from taxation. And guess what? More Social Security beneficiaries will get this windfall--the extra senior exemption--than people who will lose Medicaid.

For lower income people with Social Security benefits, of course, they won't win or lose anything--it's the higher income Social Security beneficiaries they are trying to impress.

Then of course there is the "no taxes on tips" provision--seen as a windfall for service workers. But TBT, most service workers don't pay very much in taxes to begin with. And when customers have the expectation that these employees are getting a tax windfall, many will adjust their tipping habits downward.

A study showed in 2021 54% of diners tipped 20% or more. Now only 36% do. And that's due to every Starbucks and fast food employees having "tip" listed on invoices. In Florida we stopped at a Steak and Shake. We had to order on a machine. We had to get our own drinks and put away our trash. The employees handed us a tray that we walked up to the counter to get. What kind of tippable service did they perform?

My rule of thumb is if employees are getting paid minimum wage or more I don't tip, maybe a buck. That covers fast food. Subminimum wage workers in restaurants always get 20%. My hairdresser and nail technician always get more than 20%, because we have a relationship and I want to give them something extra. But I know that if some people feel their server is getting tax-free money, they will tip less.

This is long-winded, and the neediest people are being terribly hurt by these provisions. But by the devious engineering of this bill, more people will benefit. In the case of Social Security, the "haves" will have more, and income inequality will increase.

I don't have high hopes for tipped workers, because I know human nature.

Pray that The Holy Spirit comforts & heals all those affected by the deaths & injuries caused by the explosion at a pharmaceuticals factory in India:

@Michie recently posted an article in OBOB in which the author recommends lowering the recommended Confirmation age to 9 or 10. This is exactly the opposite advice from what I've been thinking lately. I thought it might be interesting to explore this in the Traditional Theology forum, to see how other folks felt about it. What do we envision Confirmation as being, and what role is it playing in practice (as distinct from what we envision in our theology books) in the spiritual lives of young Christians?

Original OBOB thread: Strengthening the Seal: Yet Another Diocese Returns Confirmation to Younger Children, Where It Belongs...

Article referenced in that thread: Understanding the Reality of the Sacrament of Confirmation | Knowing Is Doing

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A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with a fellow-Episcopalian friend of mine. They're in their 20s, and I'm a generation older. Both of us had the experience of exploring and questioning faith in our late teens and early 20s, and then coming to a point in our 20s where we were ready to commit to continuing in the Christian faith despite all the doubts and questions. I suspect that's a common experience, and it feels like there should be a sacramental rite that marks that adult commitment. Both of us thought of Confirmation as the natural candidate for this, which made us lean toward an older recommended age for Confirmation, something like 25 or 30.

So when I encountered the above article this evening, it surprised me by recommending a much younger Confirmation age of 9 or 10.

I suppose that's similar to the age at which many young Baptists express a desire for believer's baptism, so perhaps the author's idea is for Confirmation to be linked to the child's first ability to understand and commit to the faith. I can see this as plausible. But it still leaves us without a rite to mark the passage into informed adult faith.

Some questions to invite thought:

1) What role does Confirmation play in your tradition? It's laying on of hands by the bishop, and it's a means of grace (I assume we all agree on those points), but what transition or commitment or stage of spiritual growth does it mark for the young people in your church?

2) I've overheard conversations in my town that went something like this: "Yeah, I went to church until I was Confirmed, and then that was all done, so I didn't have to go back any more." Is that just people in my town, or do you encounter this too? Is there something different we should be doing with Confirmation, if it's viewed like that?

3) Does your church have a rite that marks entrance into informed adult faith? A person goes to college and reads the philosophers and learns about world religions and the Enlightenment and higher criticism and whatever other intellectual challenges are out there, and like Jacob wrestles with it all until they extract a blessing -- and decides to continue being a Christian. Is there a rite for that? Should there be?

Please pray for this woman's son, thank you! God hears and answers!

There is a distinctive pause the moment a parent witnesses their child's Baptism. This momentary pause of pure awe and wonder is quite natural because it reveals the intimate love a parent has for their child. It expresses a desire for their child to receive everything necessary to strengthen the awe and wonder that are witnessed by both parents, the child, and the community. When the Priest proclaims the words of Jesus Christ and proceeds to initiate the child into the Kingdom of God in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the gift of grace, which is the free and undeserved help that God gives to respond to his call to become children of God (CCC 1996) is immediately thrust upon the child and witnessed by all present. The child is now officially claimed by God through Jesus Christ, the Son, and confirmed by the Holy Spirit.

It should surprise no one that what was just described is a real event, the literal administration of a sacrament specifically meant to initiate a human being made in the image and likeness of God to permanently become part of the family of God in the Catholic Church. Hence, the seal of baptism can never be undone; it is permanently unbroken. Now, the journey takes a different turn; the newly baptized will require constant spiritual nourishment in the Catholic faith. A holy urgency exists to strengthen the faith of the child and not to allow the awe and wonder witnessed at baptism to diminish or, worse, become unrecognizable altogether.

As a child matures both in age and wisdom, the urgency to view the world through a Catholic lens becomes more important. The grace received at baptism serves as the initial step to help the child grow and mature in his awareness of God as Father and Creator, himself as a child made in the image and likeness of God, and his place in this world under the guidance of his parents, but even more by the Holy Spirit. The urgency to continue the child’s awareness of his faith takes a significant turn upon preparation to receive the sacrament of Confirmation and eventually the Holy Eucharist. The sacrament of Confirmation, which is part of the sacraments of initiation along with the Holy Eucharist, specifically completes the graces the child received at baptism by an outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit through an anointing with chrism. Confirmation imparts a permanent seal and an indelible mark in union with Jesus Christ to go forth and actively live a life representative of the Apostles.

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Pray that the 60-day ceasefire is accepted by Israel & Hamas:

”Written down in this sacred scroll are the things the Great Spirit revealed to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. This great revealing was given to the ones who serve him, to show them what will soon happen. He sent his spirit-messenger to He Shows Goodwill (John), his sacred servant, to make this message known to him through signs, omens, and sacred visions.He Shows Goodwill (John) as a truth teller wrote down everything he saw and heard as a witness to this message from the Great Spirit and the things told to him by Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. Creator’s blessing rests on the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and on those who hear and take to heart what is written in it, for the time it speaks about is almost here.“
‭‭Book of the Great Revealing‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭FNVNT‬‬

Theologian N.T. Wright recently emphasized that while God transcends gender, using traditional male pronouns like “Father” remains theologically appropriate when understood in light of Scripture.

In a wide-ranging conversation on the "Ask N.T. Wright Anything" podcast, the theologian and former bishop of Durham addressed the question: Is it appropriate to refer to God using male pronouns?

The question came from a listener in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who noted the tension between the use of male language for God — such as “He” and “Father” — and the theological understanding that God transcends human categories, including gender. The listener acknowledged Jesus’ own references to God as Father and wondered whether using male pronouns for the Trinity remains valid today.

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