In the press release, published in six languages, Cardinal Fernández provides one ‘concrete example’ of what the spontaneous ‘pastoral blessings’ might look like in practice, explaining that they should only last ‘about 10 or 15 seconds.’

The Vatican’s doctrine office issued a response on Thursday to “clarify the reception of Fiducia Supplicans” amid widespread international backlash to the Vatican’s recent declaration on same-sex blessings.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), published a five-page press release on Jan. 4 that refers to Fiducia Supplicans as “perennial doctrine” and underlines that pastoral blessings of couples in irregular situations should not be “an endorsement of the life led by those who request them.”

Cardinal Fernández said that the responses he has received from bishops’ conferences around the world to the declaration highlight “the need for a more extended period of pastoral reflection” and that what is expressed in these bishops’ statements “cannot be interpreted as doctrinal opposition because the document is clear and definitive about marriage and sexuality.”

“There is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally from this declaration or to consider it heretical, contrary to the Tradition of the Church, or blasphemous,” the cardinal said, pointing to a few paragraphs in the text of the original declaration that affirms the Church’s doctrine on marriage. Read the full text of the press release here.

Continued below.

During Donald Trump’s presidency, his businesses received at least $7.8 million in payments from the foreign governments and officials of 20 countries, including China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to a report released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

The report argues that the payments were in violation of the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause [but SCOTUS] in 2021 said the cases were moot because Trump no longer held office.

When Republicans took control of the House in 2023, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) ended the congressional investigation into Trump’s alleged violations of the emoluments clause. He also declined to enforce a court-ordered agreement that Mazars USA, Trump’s former accounting firm, produce evidence related to Trump’s financial dealings.

According to information available to committee investigators, China made the largest total payments — $5.5 million — to Trump’s private businesses. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), one of China’s biggest state-owned banks, was among Trump Tower’s largest office tenants during the Trump presidency. The report notes that during Trump’s first year in the White House, several Chinese banks — including ICBC — came under scrutiny for financial ties to North Korea, causing the administration to weigh sanctions against them. [Ultimately, the Trump Administration did not take any action against ICBC]

Among the actions the report urges Congress to consider are a requirement that senior executive officials disclose to Congress receipt of any foreign emoluments, and an “explicit procedure for presidents and senior officials to seek the requisite congressional authorization for the receipt and retention of emoluments.” The report also recommends Congress implement a process for disclosing payments to entities in which a sitting president has a financial interest by foreign officials and lobbyists acting on behalf of foreign governments.

Misinformation continues to thrive in America...​

​

A quarter of Americans believe in conspiracy theory that FBI operatives organized and encouraged the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol​

Q: Do you think it is true or false that FBI operatives organized and encouraged the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021?




Despite a detailed congressional investigation and more than 725 completed federal prosecutions of Jan. 6 participants that did not yield evidence of FBI involvement, a substantial minority of Americans still embrace conspiracy theories not unlike the ones that drove many rioters to storm the Capitol three years ago.

I am a continuationist according to the gifts of the Holy Spirit because there is nothing in the New Testament that the decline and cease of the spiritual gifts were the result of some decree of God. If God meant for the gifts to be temporary, He would have clearly said so.

The two basic theories are (1) that the gifts were only designed for Apostolic times and for the establishment of the Church, and (2) that once the canon of Scripture was established, the spiritual gifts were no longer required. There is nothing stated in the New Testament to support these two theories, therefore they consist of eisegesis (adding to Scripture) and not exegesis of existing Scripture. We can base something on exegesis of Scripture if there is no Scripture to base it on. Proverbs 30:6 says not to add to the words of Scripture lest God comes and rebukes the person and shows that he is a liar. This means that the two popular theories concerning the cessation of the gifts are based on lies and not the truth.

The truth is that what caused the decline and cessation of the gifts was that the church changed into something totally difference from the church that was born out of the Day of Pentecost. The decline of a true commitment to Christ, and standards of holiness, and the more formalised structure of the church in the face of the many heresies that arose during the First Century were the main factors. Instead of the rank and file members having different spiritual functions within the worship of the services, the bishops took over and soon after installed trained clergy to conduct the services. This caused a one man band performance at the front, while ordinary members became passive pew sitters.

So what was the point of individual church members seeking God for their spiritual gifting if they were blocked from being able to use the gifts in the formalised, ritualist church? In the face of this, ordinary church members stopped seeking the gifts and so the gifts declined and by the 4th Century, they were absent from the church services. Also, because the standards of holiness declined, tongues reduced in holiness and degenerated in purposeless babble which put people right off seeking that gift. Because the bishop took over the prophetic function, the "prophecies" regenerated into homilies based on the bishop's own wisdom and not the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is the way the Church itself caused the decline and cessation of the spiritual gifts and not God Himself.

When the Pentecostal revival took place, many believed the the spiritual gifts were being restored to the Church. But because there is no actual operating manual to ensure that the gifts were and are to be manifested according to the Holy Spirit, there was and is much variation among different groups about how these gifts were to be manifested. For example, the gift of tongues brought confusion because different groups had different purposes for its use, and often there was much public speaking without interpretation, contrary to how Paul taught it in 1 Corinthians 14. Others thought they could go to foreign countries hoping to have the people there understand them when they would preach the Gospel in tongues. Most, if not all failed, which brought the gift of tongues into disrepute for many people. Others stood up in church giving "thus says the Lord" prophetic messages, and much harm was caused through people not searching the Scriptures to check whether these prophecies actually came from God or not.

Then rose the "healing evangelist" who did a lot of speechmaking, but with very few actual results. Most of these have no been revealed as frauds. This is understandable given that there were no "healing evangelists" or healing conferences in the New Testament.

So, we come down to today. We have a new Charismatic movement that features hyped up worship feature kundalini manifestations, false teaching that has nothing to do with the Bible, and prophecy that consists in double talk which says nothing.

So in the face of all this confusion and falsehood, why am I a continuationist?

It is because I believe the true gifts of the Spirit are still in the church, albeit in most cases they lie dormant. Although I no longer give "words" of prophecy, which also is missing from the New Testament, I see Scriptural prophecy is preaching the Word, giving Biblical teaching, exhorting other believers to be faithful to Christ, and engaging in counselling to those who require it. It is prophetic when the Holy Spirit works through it to achieve results that we cannot in our own strength. I don't try to give words of knowledge, because I don't know how, and the Holy Spirit hasn't instructed me on it. I don't know how the working of miracles is done, because in my 56 years of Christian faith I have never seen it in action. I also don't know how to have a gift of healing, because the Holy Spirit hasn't given it to me, and all those who say they have gifts of healing, can't seem to be able to healing anyone.

My view is that the church has not yet gained the level of commitment to Christ and the standard of holiness that was a feature of the very early Church We do not yet have the calibre of ministry commensurate of the calibre of the Apostles. Most areas of the modern church are still steeped in formalism and ritual, and have strictly programmed orders of service that make no room for ordinary church members to use a gift of the Spirit even if they could. This is why we don't see a widespread use of the gifts, because most don't see the point of seeking a gift if they can't use it in their formalised, one man band church.

Even in those Pentecostal and Charismatic churches that advise the "full gospel" with the inclusion of the gifts, we hear the motivational talk and speech making, but very little else. There is a church that has a School of Supernatural Ministry, which teaches all the principles, but to date, none of the graduating students have been able to progress into actual supernatural ministry. There is a lot of speech making and teaching about what can happen if we fulfil certain conditions, but nothing happens - as yet anyway.

So, why am I a continuationist? Because God's Word says that the gifts of the Spirit were designed to continue until the end of the church age. Although I do not yet see it, and I may never see it seeing that I am now 76 years of age and don't have a lot of years left, I believe God's Word and feel that I am blessed that although I do not see, I continue to believe in God's faithfulness to stand by His word for those who meet His criterial for true Christian ministry.

Our God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit – is all powerful, all knowing, and ever present everywhere all at the same time. He is our creator God and he is fully sovereign and in control over all that he has created. And he reigns over all the earth. There is not anything which escapes his notice or that is beyond his power to act when he chooses to act. And righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.


So, what is righteousness? It is morality, justice, decency, uprightness, honesty, and blamelessness. It is the opposite of wickedness and evil. And it means divine approval, i.e. what meets God’s approval. It refers to what is deemed right by the Lord, what is approved in his eyes. So he is the only one who determines right from wrong and what is righteous and what is evil. And his word spells out for us what he approves and what he disapproves.

And idolatry is definitely one of the main things that God disapproves of all throughout the Scriptures. And images worshiped can be anything, including people, possessions, intellect, talent, entertainment, sports, music, movies, games, politicians, preachers, government heads, sports figures, entertainers, the news media, nations, people groups, products, and the like. It is anything we put above God in our lives, to which we are devoted.

But we are to give our worship (veneration, reverence, loyalty, devotion, honor, respect, and fidelity) to God above all others. He is to have first place in our hearts and minds. His word trumps the words of all human beings. He should have our time, our loyalties, and our affections above all else. And everyone and everything else in our lives should be tested against his word to see if they should even have part in our lives, and if so, how much.


Our God is a God of love, but he is also a God of justice who judges his people and the people of this earth and the nations. He makes just and righteous decisions about the deeds of mankind. And he separates the “sheep” from the “goats.” He knows who are his true sheep and who are not, for his true sheep pay attention to his words and they follow him in obedience to his commands in holy living (see John 10:27; Luke 9:23-26).

So, all of us who claim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, who claim to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, we are to be those who hate evil in all its various forms. And evil is anything that is opposed to God and to his moral laws and to his divine character and will for our lives. So we are to hate all immorality, dishonesty, trickery, faithlessness (to God, to spouse), and the worship of what is not God.

For his word teaches us that the grace of God, which is bringing us salvation, trains us to renounce (say “No” to) ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (see Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:10).

For if sin is what we practice, and not the righteousness of God, and not obedience to his word and to his commands (New Covenant), then we are not in fellowship with God, we don’t know God, we are not born of God, but we are of the devil. And we will not inherit eternal life with God if this is the course we continue on, and if we do not turn from our sins to follow our Lord in obedience in steadfastness of spirit and practice until the very end.

[Matt 7:21-23; 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; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

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Traditionally Christians have been buried because the scriptures speak of those lying in the grave rising on the last day which implies burial. And Israelites were buried rather than cremated. But in more recent times cremation has become the norm for various reasons. Is it consistent with the holy scriptures (full 73 book canon) to cremate a Christian instead of bury them?

So what happens to the person who believes a faith based salvation, but lives a Holy righteous life, and repented of every sin and died in a sinless state?

Can a sinless state be achieved?

Does the person who believed that works had nothing to do with going to heaven not make it, or is that only for the ones who lived in sin?

Maybe the off shore wind turbines ain't a good idea after all?

Please pray for me and my partner. We are having issues in our relationship that might break us apart. She is a believer. There are some toxic traits that I have that I need to work on. Please pray for me, but also the relationship to be healthy, blessed, and to remain firm. Please also pray that God remains the focus.

I wonder how left wing liberals in the media and the government will react to these endorsements?

I've had a rough few months. I found out that my niece is some kind of witch/Satanist and has been for years. My atheist sister hassled me over Christmas for talking to my grandson about the nativity. My boyfriend of 12 years just broke up with me (which might be a good thing by the way he treated me the last few years). But, it's stressful nevertheless.
Please pray that I have some peace in my life considering I'm on a rollercoaster right now.
Thanks.

Maersk cargo is rerouting and avoiding the red sea. Cargo is more valuable than oil in cost. Going to increase prices because of time and now insurance.
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I know this verse doesn’t mean we shouldn’t associate with unbelievers but does this verse mean we shouldn’t be friends with unbelievers or close friends with unbelievers or we shouldn’t have business with them ?

What does it mean to have faith in God? I remember a pastor once telling me you have to have faith. Does it mean when I pray, believing that God will answer it or does it mean accepting that there is no one else above God?

One of my struggles in the past has been caring about what other people think and making them more important than God. Is this a lack of faith?

Do you feel working 40 hours a week important to god? (I know bible says 6 days which most people in America have 5 day work week)Or if you are able working part time maybe four days out of the week enough or does god want more in your opinion, I do know paul talks about working in bible but just wanted people on here, thoughts on how much god wants us to work, thank you for input

There are some interesting pros and cons to what California is doing and implementing for over 700,000 undocumented immigrants between the ages of 26 and 49.
What are y'alls thoughts and opinions about this topic?

I'm starting this thread because there is so much grumbling by many people on the USA right where they think everything is against them.
They think

• media is against them
• Movie and tv industry is against them
• Social media is against them
• DOJ, FBI, CIA is against them
• Science is against them
• Pretty much all of the other western democratic countries are against them.

They believe in some Deep State conspiracy, even believe "establishment" Republicans are against them.

I'm not sure if this predates D Trump or not, but obviously it's D Trumps schtick. Woo is me, no one has ever had such a hard time as me, please donate to my "Mega Wealthy highly connected and influential old white man needs money to keep rich, connected and powerful" fund.

I don't know where to start & I don't know who or how to ask these things. I would like my preacher to do my funeral service. When, nobody knows but likely within 10 years. Do I ask him? Or just tell my wife to ask him after I die? Do I pay him? If so how much? Also, do I need to talk to funeral homes & cemeteries to reserve a place for me? FWIW I'm 67 & have health issues. There is a life insurance policy to pay for the costs. Also my wife wants to be buried where her parents are & that's 650 miles away. I don't know any preachers 650 miles away & I'm not sure my preacher wants to make a 1,300 miles trip. I don't want my wife to figure all this out when I'm gone. Assuming she outlives me.

I feel when I meet people I can point out what makes them unique. Me I just feel I'm looked over often, very invisible it's been that way all my life and I'm 32. Don't really have friends and I feel if I were special people would gravitate towards me.



I feel I'm just longing to be special and noticed but i feel like a Grey lump, no different than the average person. Nothing about me makes someone do a double take. To add im also pretty shy, ive gotten better. I just feel i have no special talent. I just feel i have nothing to offer. I try to pursue education to make me more useful ( i have certifcates and a degree-- that I cant use. I feel stuck at dead end jobs and it makes me feel like this is all i can do) This hits hard even more bc after dealing with a guy I was recently seeing he was so amazing. I truly wanted to be like him. He inspired me on every level.. I messed it up though.



And I feel ill never find someone special like that again or someone that amazing won't notice me. Idk I feel be was too good for me anyway ..



I'm working on how I see myself this year and I wrote down affirmations. I'm going to repeat them.



Any advice is also welcomed.

“It was a mass email sent to several (Secretaries of State) and state offices across the country,” said Michon Lindstrom, a spokesperson for the Kentucky of Secretary of State’s office.

A copy of an emailed threat obtained by CNN showed government offices in at least 23 states listed as recipients. The sender claimed to have placed explosives inside “your state Capitol,” although no specific state was mentioned in the email. It’s not clear if other email threats were sent.

The threat affected Capitol proceedings in Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia, Connecticut, Michigan and Minnesota.

[Secretaries of State are associated with elections.]

Of course, we didn't do it because If we did it would have been on critical infrastructure. I have a feeling Iranians did it to themselves to stir up hate against the US and Israel. But who knows.

The incommunicable attributes of God are:

Aseity (Independence)

Infinity

Immutability (unchangeability)

Simplicity


Does Jesus Christ possess these attributes? And in what sense is he true God from true God as per the Nicene Creed?

(Gift article of a very long article) The story had all the elements of a blockbuster crime saga: burner phones, semiautomatic weapons, silencers and bags of prepaid cash cards. “NOW WE HAVE PROOF!” blared the headline on the right-wing website Gateway Pundit. “Massive 2020 Voter Fraud Uncovered in Michigan.” (GP story from August 2023)

For the next 10 days, Gateway Pundit averaged a story a day on the topic, eventually publishing at least 40 pieces. During that period, an array of right-wing podcasters all discussed the story on their shows, including former Fox personality Dan Bongino, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and Jack Posobiec, a far-right blogger.

On Sept. 5, Trump posted about the story on Truth Social, without comment, and was reposted 3,300 times.

Twelve days after the initial story was published, the Michigan attorney general’s office issued a statement responding to the report, citing its “false claims of election law violations.”

The story referenced “thousands of fraudulent ballots” caught by Muskegon City Clerk Ann Meisch. Grateful readers deluged her office with hundreds of calls, hailing her as a hero.

But Meisch knew it wasn’t true.

According to police reports, the Michigan attorney general’s office and an interview with Meisch, an employee of a voter registration drive company had submitted to the Muskegon city clerk thousands of voter registration applications weeks before the 2020 election, some with faked signatures and faulty addresses.

Meisch’s staff spent hundreds of hours weeding out the bad applications.

“There were no fraudulent ballots,” Meisch said in an interview, “not a single one that anyone in my office was aware of.”

["The state attorney general’s office said that while it had not ruled out that a crime may have been committed," there's no evidence of any election fraud, since Meisch and her staff did their jobs. FBI was also alerted; they have no comment.]

The site’s founder, Jim Hoft, who started blogging as a hobby in 2004, is among “the best at creating a right-wing echo system,” right-wing podcast host and former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon said in an interview.

Once Gateway Pundit puts one of its signature all-caps headlines on a story,that provides what Bannon calls an “infrastructure” upon which his own podcast and other right-wing outlets and influencers can build.

“Check Gateway Pundit, Epoch Times and The Blaze right when you get in. … These are very helpful to find good OAN content,” read one Jan. 14, 2021, email to producers from the channel’s news director.

A former Trump administration official who denies that Joe Bidenrightfully won the 2020 election nevertheless told The Post in an interview that if you cite Gateway Pundit in an argument, “it means you’ve lost."

There has been a lot of stink in recent years about the electoral college being what decides who is president. What if all states did it like ME and NE that is to say that the votes may be split based on how each district voted. In this way each vote would count without the people in the cities having too much control.

A Republican member of the House of Representatives spoke in support of a Ugandan law that provides the death penalty for those convicted of "aggravated homosexuality."

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In his speech, Walberg, a former pastor, railed against "the World Health Organization, or the United Nations, or sadly some in our administration in America" that have been outspoken against a new Ugandan law from May criminalizing homosexuality.

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The law not only allows for 20-year sentences for "promoting homosexuality," but also stipulates death for "serial offenders."

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