Gracious Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus,
Please be with this elderly relative to comfort them, and to hold their memory and their mind together. Help them to be free of Alzheimer’s and dementia, and to walk with mental clarity until it is Your Will for them to go home to be with You.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen

Pine Knot

I hope Graham's sermon included the important part that you have to be on His side with a "just" cause. In many wars both sides invoke God's name as on their side. Could be too He is not involved in the conflict at all; just the devil stirring up trouble.
If I may say too that the war on drugs is not won fighting various nations. It is an individual's war, where freedom from addiction comes from God. I am not saying stopping traffickers will not help, but no nation can fully win the war on drugs.

Mockingbird0 said:

Once again you fail to recognize that my proposal would allow individual jurisdictions (especially in North and South America) to adopt the Gregorian paschalion voluntarily. Jerusalem and Mount Athos could still use the Julian Paschalion if they wanted to.

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Right, the problem with that proposal is we currently have it already, and insofar as we have it, it has not brought about ecumenical bliss with the Roman Catholics but has driven many into schism, and created a situation where there are now three different liturgical calendars in use in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which has also destroyed its relationship for other reasons with all but one of the largest Orthodox jurisdictions (they are still on somewhat good terms with the Romanians, but have alienated the Russians, Serbians, Georgians and Bulgarians) and also the fastest growing jurisdictions (the OCA, Antioch, ROCOR); GOArch, which represents the largest part of the EP in North America, is shrinking, aside from the monasteries founded by Elder Ephraim, memory eternal, which are growing, and are bitterly resented by the more liberal parish clergy that dominate much of GoArch as a result, but which are probably responsible for many people not joining the Genuine Orthodox Church or another Old Calendarist jurisdiction (that the leading Old Calendarist churches are Greek or Romanian demonstrates the nature of the problem aptly - Orthodox laity resent liturgical modernism; that there are no Georgian or Serbian Old Calendarists (why would there be?) and the Russian Old Calendarists are small in number and driven mainly by the lingering effects of the Cold War and suspicions of the motives of the MP, is important to consider.

*see the Church of Finland, the Church of Estonia, etc); and it has been a disaster; indeed the mere fact of the Church of Finland being allowed to use the Gregorian Paschalion has caused many EO to join the the Old Calendarist schismatics.

Among the Oriental Orthodox, most Armenians as well as the Indian Orthodox use the Gregorian Calendar, whereas the Syriac Orthodox use the Revised Julian Calendar, except in India, but the Copts and Ethiopians are fiercely committed to the Coptic Calendar and the Ethiopian variant from it; the Coptic Calendar predates the Julian Calendar (which was based upon it) and has useful features; the last day of every month falls on the same day as the feasts of the Nativity and Annunciation and also the estimated date of Pascha in 33 AD, and so the last day of each Coptic month is a special feast of the Incarnation of God in the person of Christ, something the Copts with their strident anti-Nestorianism (they refuse to allow the Assyrian Church of the East or the Ancient Church of the East to be admitted to the Middle Eastern Council of Churches as long as they continue to venerate Nestorius as a “confessor”* even though the Assyrians have not been literally Nestorian in Christology since Mar Babai the Great, a decision which I respect, even if I would personally be inclined to be more accomodating).

The problem with your proposal - your ecumenical instincts are appreciated, but what you’re proposing we already have, it hasn’t worked, it has contributed to problems, also the only reason really it exists is because the Finnish Orthodox are under heavy influence with the Finnish government, which most people are unaware was an authoritarian one party state during the Cold War (see: Finlandization) and which desired the Orthodox minority and the Lutheran majority celebrate Easter on the same day for reasons of administrative efficiency), and if expanded, it would cause more schisms.

Indeed in suggesting an expansion of it, you’re basically proposing increasing internal disunity within the Orthodox, around important issues such as when we celebrate the Pascha, in order to facilitate increased unity with the Roman Catholics, when really, we should be increasing our distance from the Roman Catholics due to the recent move by the liberal German bishops and the failure of the Papacy to adequately reject, to embrace modes of sexuality that the Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to as “intrinsically disordered.” Until the RCC fixes its liturgy and unequivocally condemns homosexuality and reiterates its pro-life stance from the Vatican, undoing the damage caused in the previous decade after the surprising, unexpected and unusual resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, we Orthodox should have very little to do with the Roman Catholic Church, officially.

Also, if a common Pascha is really desired, the Roman Catholics certainly could switch to the Julian Paschalion without causing a schism, whereas we can’t switch calendars, without causing a schism, so consider that.

Gracious Heavenly Father,
I prayer for Your financial provision and/or Your wisdom for Jakob about this trip and this relationship. Help him to understand what to do.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen

Say it aint so said:

Then why provide an apologetic of some unknown white house official arguing his wrongful conviction?

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Um.. because that is what they believe -

Say it aint so said:

Trump pardoned yet another con man, seeing he can relate to con men.

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He did NOT pardon him - he commuted his sentence - reduced it to time served - the man is still a convicted felon - his record has not been expunged (like what happens with a pardon). Hate the President all you want - but let's be intellectually honest - please.

Also it is shown they have NO connection to each other. So please - let's stay in reality.

Gracious Heavenly Father,
I pray along with this one’s concern for Your Body. Help us not to rely on technology for wisdom, but to look to Your Word for guidance in the power of Your Holy Spirit.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen

Yes it can be reconciled. I believe the internal date of Didascalia, and that it is inspired.
It is so funny you are blinded to your own biases.

Romans 1:22-32​

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King James Version​

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22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Also what books of the protestant canon do you believe are pseudepigrapha? I believe the internal date of all. This is just to let readers know you likely do not even believe internal dates in the protestant canon. Lets see if you are honest enough to answer. More specifically do you believe the torah is pseudepigrapha? Therefore when Jesus quotes it, and says Moses says, you think Jesus is wrong correct? Also I notice you dodged the question about gospel of Nic.​

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It won't let me copy paste from chatGPT for some reason. Just tell it to reconcile the internal timeline of Diascalia with the NT, and assume the Diascalia is historical, and not pseudepigrapha, and it will. Tell it to reconcile the Peter rooster event too.

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Gracious Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus,
Please hold Michie’s sister’s broken mind together, so that her body may not have to suffer from going to the hospital yet again. Help her to obey Your command not to worry, and to remember Your wisdom as to why that is unproductive.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen

Strong in Him said:

That doesn't alter the fact that when Jesus spoke of his return in Matthew 24 he used the analogy of a thief in the night.

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Please write out where Jesus mentions His Return in Matthew 24:36-44
We know His 'coming' in fiery wrath, He will not be seen. Hab 3:4, Psalms 18:11 and He remains in His Holy Temple in heaven, Psalms 11:4-6

It is obvious that the event that comes unexpectedly, is not the Glorious Return. Those Christians taken to the place of safety on earth, Rev 12:14, only need to mark off 1260 days to know when Jesus will Return.

FYI - this site has been barely usable for the last week and a half lol.

CF staff, do you need my assistance? My consulting rate for side gigs is $90/hour.

Gracious Heavenly Father,
I pray for healing for Inokuma’s mother and relief from worry for Inokuma. I thank You for the concern for her mother that is her heart, that You have given her love for her and the ability to care for her. Guide them both with Your wisdom.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen

essentialsaltes said:

With any luck, Trump can stand trial after his term is over.

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Too late. Trump will have destroyed America by then.

DaisyDay said:

Yeah right - does this have plausible deniability?

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Yeah, I would agree it's stupid to attempt to pretend it's not clearly linked to one party.

Turning Point is overtly a conservative movement aligned with the GOP.


If I were Abbott, I would've just owned that fact and presented it as a counterbalance to the NEA and state Teachers' Unions (organizations that are overtly aligned with the Democratic party, and already have members and influence in just about every public school)

Gracious Heavenly Father,
I pray for relief from forum slowdowns and 502 errors. You know what we are doing here, hoping to glorify You. Help our legacy to stand and efforts to survive. May all needed minds be present and may You guide the admins with Your wisdom through the frustrating maze of technology in which we live.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen

Strong in Him said:

Yes.
But if you told the average non Christian that Jesus wasn't returning for 15-20 years, they would think they could put off making a decision. Especially if they were young and had no thought of dying; that's what I'm saying.

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Not very smart. Death can come to anyone at any time.

Strong in Him said:

How could someone make a covenant with another person/party if that person/party was nowhere near ready to make a covenant?
Sounds to me like you think it's conditional; that we have to do something to earn it.

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The condition is; that we gather and live in the Holy Land. THEN Jesus will appear to His faithful Christian peoples and make the new Covenant.
2 Thess 1:10, Revelation 14:1
That the NC is not yet made, is proved by Hebrews 8:10-12 being unfulfilled. The Blessings to follow it, which you fail to address.
Also stated in Jeremiah 31:31-34, in the context of the Lords faithful people being gathered into the Holy Land. Jeremiah 31:8

Strong in Him said:

He said "this is my blood OF the new covenant," not "in anticipation of the new covenant".

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A Covenant was not made with the 12 Disciples. We have Communion in our Church services as a remembrance of Jesus Sacrifice.
The Disciples are all gone; the NC must be made between Jesus and living people. Ezekiel 34:25 says it, in the context of His people in the Holy Land, a Covenant for their peace and prosperity.

Strong in Him said:

Millions who were/have been affected by 2 world wars, Tsunamis, the pandemic etc, would disagree.

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Those things are just the birth pangs of the new age to come. That they are getting closer together, is a sign of the immanence of the end.
They are not worldwide, as the Flood was [maybe just the area of human habitation at that time] but the Day of the Lords wrath will cover all the earth. Zephaniah 3:8, Revelation 6:12-17

Strong in Him said:

THE event will be the return of Jesus.

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How can anyone say that? It means you dismiss all the Prophecy from now until the Return and force into a one day event.
Simply crazy and a total abrogation of most of the Bible.

Strong in Him said:

"that's ok, no one believed the prophets either."

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Another truth, proved correct by Daniel 12:10b and Matthew 11:25-26

Continued prayers for healing and that the Lord will keep you together through all of these medical treatments.

Originally the FBI was saying there wasn't a link between the Brown shooting and this one...

But from this Guardian article from 2 hours ago, evidently they're now investigating potential connections between the two events

Here is the list of verse (15 totl) in the bible that have the end times time-frames in them.

Revelation 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Revelation 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Revelation 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.


Daniel 12:7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.


Daniel 12:12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.


Daniel 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.


Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.


Ezekiel 39:9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:

Ezekiel 39:12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.

Revelation 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Revelation 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Revelation 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

Daniel 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

Revelation 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

The payment situation is being resolved, praise God for that! I should be getting a money order for some of the hours tomorrow, it will take some time to fully resolve, but at least I will be getting my money. Continued prayers!

I’ll let you know when I have some time to go after that computer problem, eh.

Gracious Heavenly Father,
I pray for courage for Jane, that she may be able to address this with her mentor and get to a resolution. Help her to see her mentor as You see her mentor, that she may not be reading cold and distance into places where it is not. Clear them both from hidden faults.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen

Ultimately it comes down to how people prioritize the risk/reward trade-offs.

I've presented this example before.

I'll use the closest "major city" as an example. (Cleveland Ohio)

Based on the statistics, if a person goes to a major city in Ohio
The chances of being the victim of attempted robbery are 1 in 90.
The chances of being the victim of simple assault are 1 in 100.
The chances of being the victim of sexual assault (for women) are 1 in 250.

A person's chance of being murdered by a person with a gun in Ohio is approximately 1 in 22,000

If Ohio adopted England's gun laws (and we pretend it would have the exact same effect), the chances go down to approximately 1 in 102,000. (However, that would be unlikely due to the already high proliferation of firearms)

For many, that's not worth the trade-off to make the already unlikely thing a little more unlikely, at the expense of leaving oneself underprepared for scenarios that are far more likely.


Speaking personally, I'd rather keep my chances at 1 in 22,000, and have something readily available for the 1 in 90 chance someone tries to rob me, as opposed to lowering the odds of that, but having no choice but to comply the criminal in the 1 in 90 chance of a robbery attempt.


Often times estimates on DGU (defensive gun uses) will vary wildly (I've seen estimates as low as 50k, and others as high as 2M), but JAMA just did a report last year.



Approximately 92% of participants with firearm access said they had never used a gun defensively. Approximately 0.7% of participants had told someone that they had a firearm or shown their firearm to a perceived threat within the past year. Approximately 0.3% of participants had fired in the vicinity of a threat, whereas about 0.2% of participants had fired at a perceived threat in the past year. There are approximately 260 million adults in the US, and our results suggest approximately 38% have access to a firearm in the home, cohering with other estimates.19 Taken together, this means approximately 97.8 million US adults have household firearm access, which equates to approximately 195 600 instances of DGU per year in which someone fired at a perceived threat. When including the additional 0.3% of respondents who said they fired in the vicinity of but not at a threat, the annual estimate of DGU in which a gun is fired totals approximately 489 000 events per year.


So even based on this more conservative estimate, DGUs still outnumber gun deaths in the US.

Per the CDC, there were 47,000 gun-related deaths in the US.

Brightfame52 said:

Water Baptism has nothing to do with Jesus giving repentance.

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peace in Jesus name