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"Under Title X of the US Code, the President has plenary authority..."

People don't like the president, and people are exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble in the form of protest. Those two things constitute an emergency. Which is why anyone who exercises their Constitutional rights is a terrorist.

It all depends on what Trump says. He does have plenary authority after all.

-CryptoLutheran


It might - at least - stop them talking about the Epstein files....

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"Under Title X of the US Code, the President has plenary authority..."

NG deployments have been due to Antifa and rioters endangering public servants.
Trump and MAGA need to realise that in a democracy, people have a right to disagree.
The 'enemy within' as Trump calls them are citizens distressed at the way ICE are turning up and grabbing people off the street - sometimes grabbing mothers and leaving their teenage daughters behind! (As happened in New York - just google it - it is quite distressing viewing.)

That is appalling behaviour. Many of the arrests are appalling and violent.

And it has the stink of demagoguery - of what sociologists call "Othering" - of Trump pretending to the people that there is a massive crisis - and he's the "strong-man" that's going to solve the crisis!

In reality, immigrants are good for America, commit less crime than American born citizens, and are a net benefit for the economy.
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Exclusive: The White House is looking to replace Pete Hegseth as defense secretary

I know that Pete Hegseth is a great Secretary of Defense and now a great Secretary of War.
Huh?
"A great Secretary of War".

By what measure?

High school gym talks?

Half the stuff he talked about was illegal under conventions of international warfare America has signed up for!
Then Trump started flapping his orange painted gums, and it just got worse!
  • Agree
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Exclusive: The White House is looking to replace Pete Hegseth as defense secretary


Maybe putting a TV host in charge of the military wasn't such a bright idea. Kind of like electing one with 34 felony convictions to be president. Just a smidge over 100 days. Long way to go... hold on to your butts!

That speech felt like a junior high gym teacher.

I loved the big line at the end - the 'drop the mic' moment when he thought he was going to get a big response - and there was just stone-faced silence.

Then the old man got up and started rambling and even slurring his speech a little.

I don't even know what the orange man is saying half the time. The word salads are getting worse - like Biden on debate night when he was suffering jet lag and an illness.
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Is 'once saved always saved' a biblical teaching?

-

What is really sad is, there is not one single example of a born again child of God (a believer) in The Bible. Becoming unborn again and crossing back over from life to death.

But yet this human concocted idea, that a born again person can become un-born again and cross back over from life to death remains to be a very popular belief in churches. Maybe because these churches are teaching a works based way to life and not the way God has planed by belief in Jesus.
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The Schumer Shutdown

Its such a shame that Schumer is putting politics above the American people.
75 million people voted democrat - what outcomes have represented their choices this year?

He's causing pain instead of keeping the government open.
The BBB wants to reward billionaires and kick another 16 million Americans off healthcare.
Who's causing pain again?


All because he thinks he's going to score political points. It's going to backfire.
(Coughs) - careful what you write mate - I was having a brew then and it nearly came out my nose!

What horrendous new low must MAGA's great leader stoop to now to illustrate who the ULTIMATE GRAND MASTER of scoring cheap political points is?

And what are the points Schumer wants? Oh yeah. To make sure the bottom 16 Million Americans are a BIT less bankrupted by American healthcare. Just a bit.

Where if America were a truly developed, they would just NATIONALISE over half the hospitals to bring the costs down to OECD average and give ALL CITIZENS healthcare at HALF THE PRICE!

But no - the democrats are only asking for Obama care a little longer.

How utterly mean and stingy and messed up are MAGA anyway?

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Trump sends troops to the 'warzone' of Portland...

You know the info in here is a big nothing burger...support and talk.

1 block in a 135sq mile city.


Why do you keep listening to this admin?
Why are you listening to fake news? It's more than a block.

Its also not the the whole city. I know the facts on the ground. Im not fooled about whats going on there. I've been watching the live feeds. I know what it is and isn't.
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Trump sends troops to the 'warzone' of Portland...

So you’re saying if the ICE facility was not there that there would be less violence?
I think the facility has been there a while and there was no violence. There wasn’t the violence until the radical leftists created it. If they left it would go back to peaceful.
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Family Advice

I think this is one of those instances that you just need to give her to God and let her own decisions come to fruition. We see this in 1 Corinthians.

"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world." - 1 Corinthians 5:9-10

The beginning of the chapter is about Paul telling the church to give a man over to Satan (expel him from the church) because he was having sex with his step-mother and the reason was, "hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord."

I know that's hard to do but it sounds like this is a good time in doing so. After this, work with God on learning to truly forgive your sister and her girlfriend for what they have said and done, so you can heal from it. God will absolutely give you ideas on how you can forgive. I'm sorry you're going through this and I completely understand what you're going through as my brother is also not Christian, is very much pro-trans among other things and constantly instigates arguments because ... i dunno, he has nothing else better to do? lol So just pray to God to help you deal with it, ask for advice on how to let go and also, if you have anyone close you reach out to (family, friends, church members), maybe God can use someone else to give you a word that you need to hear. It's always good to have someone to find comfort in. Also, if you ever want to reach out to me if you don't have anyone, you can private message me at any time.

I pray that the Lord leads you to forgiveness, heals your heart from the pain and guides you to peace, love and understanding. And maybe, at some point in the future, you and your sister can reconcile. :praying:
Thank you very much for this advice. I pray for her, and will continue to do so. I will spend more time asking God for guidance and the help for forgiveness. This is a very encouraging piece of advice, thank you. It's helpful to get advice from someone who also has a similar person in their family.

Thank you, and God bless you.
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Trump sends troops to the 'warzone' of Portland...

They only do that when they want to put on a show raid, like recently in Chicago or that pot farm on Ventura.
The raids actually grabbed criminals. So, its not a show. I was right, you just don't want them going after illegals if you are calling raids that actually got illegals and some really bad illegals a show.
For many years nearly about half the illegals in the country have been visa overstays. This was ICE's main responsibility and they did almost nothing about it.
True, and tHey should have. But then we had presidents who didn't want them too. Congressmen too. It's been a bi-partisan failure.
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ICE agents making phony 911 calls

because there was no evidence that anything had been damaged, and thus no justification for the fake 911 call from ICE.
There doesn't have to be. Do you think somebody has to actually have damaged something before someone calls 911? And you still have zero evidence that it was fake.
Perpetrator of what?
Whatever they are doing. Acting suspicious, looking like they are, or might be about to commit a crime.
I want some evidence that something was actually perpetrated before I believe the 911 call was real.
Its a good thing you arent a 911 dispatcher then.
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The Schumer Shutdown

Its such a shame that Schumer is putting politics above the American people. He's causing pain instead of keeping the government open. All because he thinks he's going to score political points. It's going to backfire.
"Politics" in this case meaning: health care subsidies for people who need them. Curious how often GOP apologists forget that bit.

-- A2SG, okay, I'm kidding....it isn't curious at all.....
  • Agree
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How do we set aside the grace of God?

Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." NKJV

What does Paul mean by “set aside the grace of God?” It definitely has something to do with the law. Paul stated “If righteousness came through the law Christ died in vain.”
Grace is a gift and gifts can't be earned, so trying to earn our righteousness as the result of our works would set aside the grace of God. God's law was never given as a way of earning our righteousness even, so that has always been a fundamental misunderstanding of the reason why we should obey it.

1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. NKJV


As Paul states in the above everything is legal for those who are in Christ. Romans 7 God considers everyone in Jesus to have died with Him. Being dead means that we are not under the law as dead people cannot sin. Therefore, God will not impute sin to those in Jesus. We have liberty to sin.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul is enforcing the Acts 15 decree and is quoting things that were being reported to him as being said by the Corinthians in order to correct them, not in order to endorse them. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul was not saying that those things are all lawful, but that they will prevent someone from inheriting the Kingdom of God. Christ set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to God's law and those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way that he walked (1 John 2:6).

We need to die to the law of sin in order to be free to obey the Law of God, not the other way around. In Titus 2:14, it does not say that Jesus gave himself to free us from God's law but in order to free us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, so the freedom that we have in Christ is not the freedom to sin but the freedom from sin.

Galatians 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall , love your neighbor as yourself." NKJV


Paul warns us about using our liberty as an opportunity to please our flesh. Then he cites that all the law is fulfilled by the OT law of “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Does this mean that we have to “Love our neighbor as our self” to be saved by Jesus? No!
Jesus gracious teaching us to love our neighbor as ourselves is intrinsically the way that he is giving us his gift of saving us from not loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. NKJV

Our righteousness is apart from the law. That means that our righteousness has nothing to do with our doing any OT law.
Character traits are not earned as the result of our works but rather they are embodied through our works, so God's law was never given instructions for how to earn our righteousness but as instructions for how to embody God's righteousness. The only way to attain a character trait is through faith apart from being required to have first done enough works in order to earn it as the result, but what it means to have a character trait is to be a doer of works that embody that trait, so it would be contradictory for someone to become righteous apart from becoming a doer of righteous works. This is why the faith by which we are declared righteous apart from works does not abolish our need to be a doer of righteous works in obedience to God's law, but rather our faith upholds it (Romans 3:28-31).

Romans 4:5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: NKJV


God imputes righteousness apart from doing any works. The above scripture is a 2-edged sword. For those who do not work their faith is accounted for righteousness. It also means that if one is doing a work to be righteous, they do not believe in Jesus. If anyone believes in Jesus, then that belief in Jesus is their righteousness. How could they believe Jesus makes them righteous, if they are working to be righteous?
Everyone who has faith will be declared righteous and everyone who has faith is a doer of God's law, which is how Paul can deny in Romans 4:1-5 that we can earn our righteousness as the result of our works while also affirming in Roman 2:13 that only the doers of the law will be declared righteous. In 1 John 3:4-10, everyone who is a doer of righteous works in obedience to God's law is righteous even as they are righteous and those who are not doers of righteous works in obedience to God's law are not children of God. Jesus embodied the righteousness of God through his works by setting a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to God's law, so that is what we also have the gift of getting to obey the we receive the gift of the righteousness of God.

Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. NKJV


Again, the above scripture is a two-edged sword. If anyone believes in Jesus, He is the end of the law for righteousness. That means if you believe in Jesus you do not get any righteousness by doing works of the law.
In Romans 3:21-22, the only way to become righteous that is testified about in the Law and the Prophets is through faith in Christ for all who believe, so the reason for why we should obey God's law never in order to become righteous, and God's law can't be ended for a purpose that it never had.

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. NKJV

Some Galatians had been convinced they had to trust in circumcision. Circumcision has noting to do with righteousness.(It was a requirement for those in the first covenant) If they got circumcised, believing they needed to for salvation, they would set aside the grace of God. If anyone sets grace aside the only way left to be righteous is by doing the law. We know no one will be made righteous by the law because no one except Jesus could do the law without committing sin.
It is important to recognize that Paul can speak against doing something for an incorrect reason without speaking against doing it for a correct reason. If Paul had been speaking against circumcision for any reason, then according to Galatians 5:2, Paul caused Christ to be of no value to Timothy when he had him circumcised and Christ is of no value to roughly 80% of the men in the US. The reason for why God commanded circumcision was never in order to become saved. Even if someone managed to have perfect obedience to God's law, then they still wouldn't earn their righteousness as the result, so the reason why we can't earn our righteousness by obeying God's law is not that we fall short of perfect obedience but because it was never given as a way of earning our righteousness in the first place.

Then why did Paul tell us to “love our neighbor as our self” to be righteous?

Paul has just gone through several chapters explaining how faith in Jesus is so much better than being under the law, he is not going to now tell the Galatians to do the law, the law is one entire unit not separate parts. He is telling them not to use the liberty in Jesus to satisfy their lusts. We do not lose salvation if we die under discipline, which if we use our liberty to satisfy our lusts we will die under discipline.
It is contradictory to think that we should have faith in God's Word made flesh instead of in God's Word.

Galatians 2:20(a) I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; (b) and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." NKJV


The answer to why Paul told us, to love our neighbor as ourselves, is in the above scriptures. Verse 20 b the life that Paul lived in the flesh he lived by faith in Jesus. That is the way all the sons of God live.
Christ lived in obedience to God's law, so that is also the way that we live when he is living in us.

Romans 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors — not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. NKJV

By accepting discipline, we prove that we are sons of God. Verse 12 we should not live to satisfy the flesh. If we live to the flesh we will die physically. Any of the elect (remember David and Bathsheba) could fall into temptation and quit walking in the Spirit. If this happens Jesus will start discipline, ending in our physical death , if we do not repent. This is what Paul meant by the life he now lives he lives by faith in Jesus. Paul had faith that if he continued to obey Jesus' commands that he would accomplish everything God had planned for him to do. Romans 13:8 We are under the law of love. If we fulfill the law of love we will continue to live physically. If we stop fulfilling the law of love we will die and go to heaven under discipline. 1Corinthians 11:32 God disciplines us so we will not be judged by the world.
In Romans 8:4-14, Paul contrasted those who are born of the Spirit with those who have minds set on the flesh who are enemies of God who refuse to submit to His law. Everything in God's law is either in regard to how to love God or our neighbor, which is why Jesus said in Matthew 22:36-40 that those are the greatest two commandments and that all of the other commandments hang on the, so it is the law of love and the position that we should obey the greatest two commandments is also the position that we should obey the commandments that hang on them.
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Where is James Comey's mugshot?

The outcome of both reports is questionable statements by McCabe.
So I'm trying to figure out why that means a out and out statement of "Comey is lying" by you and another here?
Comey said to the Senate that he didn't authorize any leaks. McCabe testified that Comey did. Therefore, who do you believe?
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Where is James Comey's mugshot?

I do. Comey lied to Congress.
Gee, that almost sounds like you're assuming Comey is guilty of something. Surely you remember that everyone here is innocent until proven guilty, right?

-- A2SG, except for Trump, who MAGA seems to believe is innocent even after being proven guilty.....
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The law, the commandments, and Christians.

Sorry, obeying moses will not help you attain eternal life. The new covenant from Jesus has been in effect for some time now and paradise was already depopulated when Jesus rose from the grave.

Obeying moses is not obeying Jesus.
Moses didn’t write the Ten Commandments; God did. And Paul affirms that the problem with obeying them does not lie in a problem with them, since they are right, and holy, spiritual, and good as he tells us in Rom 7, but the problem is with man. Man must be united with God, obeying by the power of the now indwelling Holy Spirit, with a righteousness that comes from Him on the basis of faith and not on the basis of the law (Phil 3:9), in order to have the obedience that he was created to have. As Augustine put it, “God wrote on tablets of stone that which man failed to read in his heart.”

But revealing that law, as we know, actually had one main, particular purpose: to convict us of sin, to teach us of our inability to be righteous and holy…apart from God. Because “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). But with Him we can produce much good fruit. Merely obeying by the letter, as the Pharisees did and as Paul excelled at as a Pharisee, himself, even if it was somehow done perfectly, is meaningless. It makes no one holy; it cannot and does not justify anyone because that would only be a pretense of holiness to begin with. The real thing comes as we become grafted into the Vine, now reconciled with and in union with God as man was meant to be from the beginning. We become ‘His people’, and then He ‘puts His law in our minds and writes it on our hearts’ (Jer 31:33). And we become His people, entering into that vital, life-giving and just union with Him, by faith. And Jesus came to reveal and reconcile us with that God, a God truly worth knowing and believing in.

The law He writes on our hearts is love, which opposes sin and does God’s will, fulfilling the law (Rom 13:10), by its nature. Without that, we aren’t even His (1 John 3, etc).
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The Feast of Tabernacles or "Sukkot" It's HERE

The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot. What is it all about?

Bible References to read: Leviticus 23:34-36; Numbers 29:35; Deuteronomy 16:13; John 7:37-38


In the Bible, God spoke about keeping several celebrations, called "Moedim" or "appointed times," where His people could meet with Him and celebrate fellowship with Him. Many might say, "Well, this was under the Law, we are not under the law anymore." so, why should we celebrate these? Well, each and every festival is a "shadow that points to Messiah Yeshua/Jesus but from a Hebraic perspective. Whether or not a person chooses to celebrate is a personal decision, but I would like to tell you what this festival is about, even if it is for the sake of knowing.

We are in the months of the High Holy Days. The Hebrew month of "Elul" goes from August to September. It is considered a "Time of Repentance and soul-searching. A time to "Turn back to God" (Teshuvah) and realize where we have gone astray, where we have wandered off the straight and narrow path, and get back on the "right path."

The first of the High Holy Days (Fall Feasts) is "Yom Teruah" or "Rosh HaShannah." It is the time for Shofar blowing, announcing a new calendar year from the time of creation up to the present. The next sacred day, 10 days later, is "Yom Kippur." A day of fasting and soul searching. According to tradition, it is the day that God's books of judgment are closed, and our fates are sealed. We know, however, that God's grace and mercy extend 24 -7, 365 days a year. The last of the High Holy Days is now. The Feast of Tabernacles, or "Sukkot. This year, it started on Oct 7th, and continues for 8 days and ends on Oct 14. The "8th" day is special, as Yeshua was there on the 8th day and said,

"If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" John 7:38

This is a time for joy and happiness; we are commanded to rejoice during these 8 days. We have reason to rejoice since you are alive and well, you have food on the table, and you have Spiritual food, which is the Word of God. Above all, we have salvation. Eternal life with God.

The festival time is also known as "Zeman HaSimchateinu" (Time of rejoicing) and also "Hag HaSif" (Harvest Festival) when the last crops are harvested, like the grapes, pomegranates, olives, dates, etc. It is believed that the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving, thinking of Sukkot. It lasted 3 days, and they celebrated a bountiful harvest with the help of the Wampanoag Native American Tribe.

It is also customary to wave the "LuLav," which consists of an "Etrog" (similar to a lemon), a "Palm frond" (branch of the palm tree)
"Hadas" or "Myrtle branches with leaves, and "Aravah," which are "willow branches with leaves."

These are symbolic as they represent the "heart" (the etrog or lemon), the "eyes" (myrtle leaves, since they are shaped like eyes) "the mouth" (Aravah, or willow leaves, since they are shaped like a mouth), and "our backbone" (the palm frond, or the young shoot) since it is straight.

The message here is that our faith must be strong and straight like our backbone, and that our eyes and insight, vision, always are concentrated on God and his Word, and that from our mouths will only proceed wholesome and positive words and blessings.

There is the libation service, when the priests brought forth water from the Pool of Siloam and poured it out on the altar at the Temple, while blood from an animal sacrifice was also poured out on the altar. The blood and the water would come together and mix.

This reminds us of the death of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus when the Roman soldier pierced the side of Yeshua with the spear and out came "blood and water," proving that he was indeed dead. Yet we all know that he rose from the dead on the third day. This is celebrated today by pouring out grape juice with water from two separate containers, and they mix.

Remember that we ourselves are "living tabernacles," our bodies encase our spirit and soul. Our "tabernacles" are wearing down and someday will return to the ground, yet will be resurrected someday in the near future, as incorruptible bodies. We await that blessed day.

Sukkot also celebrates the coming of Yeshua to dwell among mankind for 30-some years. God as man on Earth. God came to "Tabernacle" among men. The first time He came in fire and smoke on Mt. Sinai, then He came to dwell in the Mishkan (The Tabernacle in the desert) and was with the Children of Israel for 40 years. Then He moved to the Temple. Then He came to Earth as a baby in Bethlehem, "Beit-Lechem" (The House of Bread). It is only fitting that the "Bread of Life" be born in the "House of Bread." Then He came back to Earth after the resurrection as the Holy Spirit on Shavuot or Pentecost. And He is STILL HERE WITH US.

If you want to find out more about Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles, you can go to the "Hebrew 4 Christians.com" website and look for "Holidays" and then scroll down to "Fall Holidays" and find "Sukkot" or "Feast of Tabernacles"

This is also the time when we start reading the Bible from the beginning again, from Genesis 1:1. The Bible is a never-ending study of God's wisdom for all of us.

Please keep me in prayer as it is time to return to the USA (to Miami, FL) for 3 weeks to spend time with family. I will write again in the first week of November.

Shalom

Ben Avraham

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