This is interesting.

A Danish friend asked who wrote this:
My best guess was Calvin, but I thought Luther maybe, if the quote was a little imprecise, and Saint Augustine if it was a biased translation.

An AI said this:

I drew up this very brief and not very nuanced comparison.

Comparison with Calvin

"Effective immediately" you can leave your shoes on at airport security.

Oh happy day!

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/08/travel/tsa-shoes-security-checkpoints

A number of progressive cities and areas seem to be helping the criminals.

I've been mulling this over for the past few days...

The Gaza issue is still "hot & heavy" in public discourse.

I've long maintained that it's a strategic error to have the "reign in the influence of Israel" movement defined and dominated by a political faction that seems to think that glorifying/celebrating Islamic Fundamentalism is the proper anecdote to it. (the people out in the streets wearing keffiyehs and waiving Palestinian and Iranian flags around, while burning the American flag)

I noted in a previous thread that it's a mistake to cheerlead for either side in a conflict for which both are acting unethically (especially when the "who to cheer for" decision is being made for rather superficial reasons)


Should some on the left welcome the recent statements of Tucker Carlson on this issue? -- as he's reaching people that nobody from their own side could ever reach on this particular issue?

Just on that one interview he did with Ted Cruz, it seems to have had a measurable impact on the Republican base...

In an Economist/YouGov poll conducted not long after the interview, only 23% of Republicans think the U.S. should get involved in the conflict between Iran and Israel. (Down from 39% a few months prior to that interview)

I'd have to think that Tucker's grilling of Cruz played at least some part in that.

Are some progressives willing to accept the potential "help" on that issue, even if it comes from a source that may have contrasting viewpoints with them on other issues?

Four Quebecers, including two active members of the Canadian Armed Forces, who were allegedly involved in activities of “ideologically motivated violent extremism” with the intention of “forcibly take possession of land in the Quebec City area” have been arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Three of the accused — Marc-Aurèle Chabot, 24, of Quebec City, Simon Angers-Audet, 24, of Neuville and Raphaël Lagacé, 25, of Quebec City — allegedly “took concrete actions to facilitate terrorist activity,” the RCMP states.

“The three accused were planning to create [an] anti-government militia,” the force notes.

Numerous weapons and military equipment related charges as well as the terror charge.

Taking a step back from that way of thinking and am looking for different ways of looking at it.

"Despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs.
Talk about biased news. My concern is that the radical lower-court judges are going to continue to try and sabotage the presidency unless and until they are sanctioned.

I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit​

In a court filing, the tax agency said a decades-old ban on campaigning by tax-exempt groups should not apply to houses of worship speaking to their own members.

The I.R.S. said on Monday that churches and other houses of worship can endorse political candidates to their congregations, carving out an exemption in a decades-old ban on political activity by tax-exempt nonprofits.

The agency made that statement in a court filing intended to settle a lawsuit filed by two Texas churches and an association of Christian broadcasters.

The agency said that if a house of worship endorsed a candidate to its congregants, the I.R.S. would view that not as campaigning but as a private matter, like “a family discussion concerning candidates.”

“Thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted,” the agency said, in a motion filed jointly with the plaintiffs.

The ban on campaigning by nonprofits is named after former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who introduced it as a senator in 1954. President Trump has repeatedly called for its repeal.

Per Wiki: The amendment was to a bill in the 83rd Congress, H.R. 8300, which was enacted into law as the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

I gather this means churches can't run ads in the NYTimes with endorsements, but who knows, when decades old laws can be set aside.

A pastor who led a small Hispanic church in Florida was deported to Guatemala after more than two decades of living in the United States, leaving his wife and five children feeling that the world as they knew it had come to an end.

Maurilio Ambrocio, a 42-year-old pastor who led the 50-member Iglesia de Santidad Vida Nueva in Wimauma, told the Tampa Bay Times he was among 100 Guatemalan immigrants deported from New Orleans through a charter flight. He was allowed to contact his family once he arrived and was provided with information to help with reintegration into Guatemalan society.

Ambrocio was arrested in mid-April during a check-in at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Tampa. He lived in Florida for more than 20 years after entering the U.S. illegally. He left his home in Guatemala when he was 15 years old.

Continued below.

Public school teachers can no longer demand that staff and students refer to them as the opposite sex, an appeals court has ruled.

A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled 2-1 that Katie Wood, a high school math teacher who is a man but identifies as a woman, could not require the use of feminine pronouns or the honorific “Ms.”

At issue was a state law passed in 2023, known as Florida Statute § 1000.071, which reads that “[a]n employee or contractor of a public K-12 educational institution may not provide to a student his or her preferred personal title or pronouns if such preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to his or her sex.”

Continued below.

Is it a sin to buy and wear these? Made in Kathmandu, Nepal. They were described as sort of Hindu-y once but I don’t see it now. They’re beautiful and on sale.

While most U.S. Protestant churches have policies in place to address significant misbehavior by members, formalized church discipline is rarely practiced, according to newly released data from Lifeway Research.

The survey, conducted among over 1,000 Protestant pastors between August and September 2024, found that one in six pastors reported their church had disciplined a member in the past year.

“The infrequency of church discipline is not because church members aren’t sinning,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “Church discipline typically occurs when a member is not repentant for a sin or is no longer qualified for a role because of sin.”

Continued below.

Was not sure where to put this so I thought I’d try it here.
***********************

There’s a famous story of how The Times of London once put out a query: “What’s wrong with the world today?” G.K. Chesterton wrote back simply, “Dear Sir, I am.”

It’s always worth reflecting on his answer and his very scriptural awareness that human sin is at the root of the world’s problems. It’s especially worthwhile at a time when so much of what’s wrong with the world is being blamed on non-human, “Artificial Intelligence.”

Alongside those who think AI will save the world and revolutionize everything are a growing number who think it will destroy it, or at least come close. In a recent episode of Ross Douthat’s “Interesting Times” podcast, former Open AI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo warned that Artificial Intelligence will become an existential threat to humanity within two years.

While we await his apocalypse, the damage AI is doing to education by making cheating normal has become the stuff of regular headlines. “AI is Destroying a Generation of Students,” declared the tech news website Futurism. And thanks to AI, “Everyone is Cheating Their Way Through College,” warned New York Magazine.

Continued below.

Me encanta predicar y adorar el nombre de Dios

LINK

The security breach involved voicemails, sent via the Signal messaging app, and text messages to “at least five non-Department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a U.S. member of Congress,” a diplomatic cable, obtained by The Washington Post, stated.

The impostor, whose identity is unknown to U.S. authorities, was able to mimic Rubio’s voice and writing style using AI-powered software, an unnamed senior official told the newspaper.

In mid-June, the impostor created a Signal account under the display name: “Marco.Rubio@state.gov,” which is not a real email address.

The Rubio security breach took place in the wake of the Signalgate scandal, where a journalist was inadvertently added to a group chat with military leaders and members of the Trump administration. In that group chat, which included Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared minute-by-minute plans of sensitive military operations in Yemen.

[For that Waltz was ultimately removed from his national security role, which was then given to Rubio (who is also SecState)]

Security experts have warned against using Signal to discuss government business

I believe I converted two years ago, after going through a very deep depression. I'm 25 years old and have always had a tendency toward depression throughout my life. But everything got worse when I began to doubt the existence of God.
I immersed myself in atheist websites and began to blindly or fanatically believe in their arguments, which led me to atheism. I don't think I was ever 100% atheist, but I was largely one.
This inclination toward atheism brought a deep and profound spiritual depression into my life. I even sank into a very dark, dead-end pit and began to sin excessively. I stopped sleeping at night and slept during the day. I felt demonic presences when I slept and in my dreams. I had nightmares. I was in this situation for a little over two months.
Until one night, I surrendered to God in prayer. I was tired of the nightmares and the whole traumatic situation. I asked God for forgiveness and told Him to do whatever He wanted with me.
That same night I didn't have any nightmares while I slept, and when I woke up, I woke up completely credulous, convinced that God had healed and saved me.
From that moment on, completely transformative changes began in my life. I overcame the social phobia I'd suffered from my entire life; the depressive symptoms diminished until they disappeared completely. I began to have a normal relationship with my biological father (we always didn't get along, and because of his personality, I was afraid of him). However, we began to develop a father-son relationship we'd never had before, perhaps nothing unusual, but something completely unknown to me.
I stopped using obscene language in my home.
I fell completely in love with God. I wanted to please Him in everything, and it pained me greatly to fail Him.
I started attending church and didn't want to miss a single day of the meetings.
Neighbors and friends were amazed by my dramatic change.
I began practicing some hobbies, which I had in my past life but didn't enjoy passionately because of my depression.
All of this went smoothly for about 5 months (September 2023), when I felt God almost audibly tell me that I had to give up one of my hobbies, internet radio.
It's true that I did it for most of the day, so it's likely (or very likely) that I had made an idol of that hobby, and that I was distancing myself from God.
Then I quit, and little by little I began to experience a growing emptiness in my heart. Not only that, but little by little I began to doubt the existence of God again. My joy began to wane; it was no longer constant, but rather ups and downs. My shyness gradually returned, my mood began to depend on the circumstances, and there were times when I lost control, meaning the symptoms of my old life seemed to reappear. However, I continued to attend church without any problems, but there were many ups and downs.
And so it remained until approximately November 2024.
My father began to act harshly and somewhat abusively again (I don't know if it was because he noticed my bad mood and I seemed more easily manipulated, like in my old life, or because he was feeling ill again).
We have been working together since March 2024.
The problem is that the abuse became so harassing and unbearable that I couldn't take it anymore. I was becoming psychologically ill, withdrawing socially once again. Until one day I came home and decided I no longer wanted to work with him (December 2024).
Shortly after this happened, I once again challenged the little faith I had by conducting an atheistic Google search on whether God existed.
And that caused a break in my faith, so that for approximately six months now, I have been doubting that what saved me two years ago was the power of God, of Jesus, of the God of the Bible. And this brings me to what the title indicates. The fact that I am currently doubting the Scriptures, the existence of that God, indicates whether I was truly converted two years ago or if I am simply like the dogs and pigs of 2 Peter 2:21-22.
Furthermore, in recent months, due to questions I have asked members of my congregation about this state of unbelief and doubt, I have become angry and held grudges regarding things I have disagreed with them on, and I have responded inappropriately, obeying carnal desires. And I don't know (I really don't know) if a true convert can make those mistakes and have those ugly feelings. To this day, with one of the brothers, I still have them.
And the truth is, I'm very sad. I feel lost because I don't know where I stand. When I was in better times and I sinned, I realized I was close to God because I immediately repented and felt His forgiveness. But now I don't know when I'm obeying the Spirit, and when I act by the flesh, it's like I can't discern it; I'm much further away...
I also don't know if what's happening to me is my fault (maybe in part) or if it's a process prepared by God to help me grow spiritually and mature... I really don't know.
I find it hard to repent of my sins. There's a certain resentment toward God that I struggle to uncover. Genuine repentance doesn't spring from me, as if I have nothing to hold on to.
I don't know... What do you think?
Thank you.
God bless you all greatly.

Six public university systems have formed a new academic accreditation agency, with the intention of serving as an alternative to what some consider a "woke" establishment.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, announced the formation of a new accrediting organization, known as the Commission for Public Higher Education, a consortium of the public university systems from six states: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

The commission will place a greater focus on student outcomes and academic quality and eschew ideological biases that allegedly underpin other accreditation agencies.

Continued below.

The Spanish Evangelical Alliance has publicly denounced a bill that would imprison pastors and others helping those seeking to leave a practicing homosexual lifestyle or reconcile their gender identity with their gender.

With cross-party support, the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Cortes Generales at the Spanish Parliament in Madrid, approved on June 24 a preliminary bill amending 10/1995 of the Penal Code.

The amendment would “penalize conversion therapies aimed at eliminating or denying sexual orientation, sexual identity or gender expression,” according to a Congress press release titled, “Congress Considers Bill to Criminalize Conversion Therapies Aimed at Eliminating or Denying Sexual Orientation, Sexual Identity, or Gender Expression.”

Continued below.

We, as followers of Christ, have so many things to be thankful for to God. For one, I am thankful that he gave me the breath of life, and that, at the age of 75, he is still giving me the breath of life. I am thankful to God that Jesus Christ (the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) came to the earth, was born as a baby to a human mother, grew to manhood, and in his death on that cross put my sins to death with him so that, by the grace of God, I might die to sin and walk with him in his ways.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

I am thankful that, at the age of 7, he called me to be one of his followers, though at that young age I was still pretty immature. What I knew, though, was that I did not want to live a wicked life, but I wanted to live for my Lord, to please him. I had seen hypocrisy displayed before my eyes on a regular basis, and I knew that I did not want to be a hypocrite. I did not want to be someone who faked my Christianity, or who just did religious stuff. So I was a seeker of truth who wanted the real Christian life, not the fake one.

I had a lot to learn, though, and a lot of growing up to do, and I faced many difficult and challenging experiences throughout my life, some of which I caved to, and I tried to escape from, but the Lord brought me through them. And because of all of the difficult and trying circumstances I have faced throughout my life, the Lord has made me stronger and more determined to stay the course no matter how many times I get verbally struck, pushed down, cast aside, rejected, and misunderstood. I am thankful for God’s love.

And I am very thankful that my Lord did not give up on me when I failed, at times, to be the person he created me to be. And please do not misunderstand me here, for I am not saying that it is okay for any of us to live in sin and not in obedience to the Lord and that the Lord is going to hang in there with us and that we will still have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. The Bible teaches the opposite of that. So if we keep on sinning, or we return to sin, and we do not repent, we are not saved.

So, please do not take God’s grace for granted. For he is a person of his word, and he will do what he said he would do, both in his promises and in his warnings, which are also promises of what he will do if we do such and such. So, I am so thankful that, when I failed, he did not give up on me, but he pursued me, and he brought me back, and he had a plan and a purpose for my life to use me in the way he has been using me these past 21 years, and he has sustained me, and he is directing my path to walk in his ways.

Now I grew up as a very timid and fearful child. I was not the aggressive type. I was content with a few friends and with peace and quiet, and I had no desire to be at the forefront. I got walked over a lot, and misunderstood, too. And I was very trusting, though not of everyone, but I believed people, and I believed some lies, but truth was very important to me. Doing what was right was important to me, and not doing what was wrong. But the Lord took me through a lot to make me bold with strength in my soul.

So, I am very thankful for the Lord’s lovingkindness to me, for his truth, for his word, for his forgiveness and grace, and for loving me enough to choose me to be one of his disciples and ministers of the gospel of our salvation. For I was not worthy of his grace. And I know fully well that I am only able to do what he has called me to do because of his love and grace to me, because of his tender mercies, and only in his strength, power, and wisdom, as led by God, and not by the flesh. So I give God all the glory always. Praise Him!

Songs in the Night

An Original Work / December 18, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.

I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.

I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!

Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.

Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!

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With All My Heart I Give You Thanks
An Original Work / July 8, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Sry, my eyes are watery , so kinda can't see properly. So sorry for gramar mistakes.

But we were forced to put our doog to sleep cause of bone-cancer , last few days she just couldn't walk. We took her to treatment few times, it was fine for couple of weeks, but today wass that day.

We were 2nd " owner " of her, she had a hard time with previous owner.

But I assume Jesus likes dogs and he will take care of her.

Her name was Tessa , ....

Pleace just pray for her to enter Pet-Heaven.

Thanks. <3

“This arrest highlights the Border Patrol’s unwavering commitment to protecting our communities and upholding the rule of law." said Chief Patrol Agent John R. Morris. "Through strong partnerships with local and federal law enforcement, we are able to identify and remove dangerous individuals—like this homicide suspect—before they can pose a threat to public safety.”

I sure hope we can deport this guy without a dozen hearings.

How many of you have the Hallow app? I just downloaded it tonight.

I see where it will get me

How might we apply the underlying message of God here, spoken then to the rulers and to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah? And who do they represent? They represent the sexually immoral, including in the area of homosexuality, and those who commit detestable perverted sinful acts against others. They also represent the prideful, apathetic, complacent, idolatrous, self-indulgent, selfish, and the idle, who are evildoers.

But they are also the outwardly religious who go through the motions of some religious practices, perhaps to give off the appearance of faith in Jesus Christ and of being Christians who are following the Lord with their lives. Thus they may tithe to the church, and take communion, and they may have been baptized with water, and they may serve as elders or deacons or as bible teachers or group activity coordinators, performing their good deeds.

But God is not impressed with our “good deeds” if we are living in sin, making sin our practice, deliberately and habitually sinning against the Lord and against other humans. He takes no pleasure in our religious practices if we are ignoring his commands and if we are choosing sin, instead. For he considers such hypocritical offerings to him as worthless, for he cannot endure them, and they are a burden to him which wearies him.

I know this is Old Testament, but the New Testament gives us a very similar picture of how God views sin, especially deliberate and habitual sin going on in the lives of those professing faith in Jesus Christ. There he speaks against idolatry, sexual immorality, lying, idleness, and self-indulgence. And he warns the church that if any of them continue living in sin, and not in walks of obedience to his commands, they will not see heaven and God.

And so his call to the adulterous and idolatrous church today is the same in nature as was his call to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He is calling all to genuine biblical repentance whereby they now die with Christ to sin so that they can live with God in walks of obedience to his commands, in holy living. He is calling them to cease with doing evil and to learn to do good, the good that God has for us to do as disciples of Jesus Christ.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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A Call to Repentance
An Original Work / July 7, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Delete

Former Pink Floyd songwriter Roger Waters could face prosecution after declaring his support for Palestine Action, a terrorist organization that has been banned by Parliament in the U.K.

Waters posted a video to X on Saturday, in which the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame inductee praised Palestine Action as a "great organization," while also giving kudos to Bob Vylan, who led the Glastonbury Festival crowd in a chant, shouting, "Death, death to the IDF."

Waters said in his video that he was in his studio and was working on a piece of brown cardboard with a Sharpie.

He then switched the camera from his face to the cardboard.