My fallen away Catholic cousin was an IVF for her best friend (my cousin is the biological mother though, so her friend's children are technically my first cousins once removed). It breaks my heart she abandoned Church teaching.

Praying for an end to this practice.

okay said:

Just looked him up. Apparently has a net worth the order of $100 Million. For a second-generation preacher that seems suspect unless their family has old money or his wife had money when he married her.

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He preaches the prosperity gospel. Him and Joyce Meyers are very wealthy compared to most.

Congress and President Joe Biden’s government have reportedly paid the Texas arm of Catholic Charities USA $769 million since 2021 to help deliver a huge population of poor migrants into U.S. communities, workplaces, and housing.

“Catholic Charities has a history of prioritizing the needs of migrants over those of Americans,” said Sheena Rodriguez, the president of Alliance for a Safe Texas, which champions border security and anti-trafficking programs. “I’ve spoken with numerous homeless Americans who claimed they were forced out of [a Catholic Charities] shelter in the dead of night to accommodate the influx of illegal migrants,” she told Breitbart News.

On August 16, she reported:

Obligated prime grant awards for Catholic Charities locations in Texas amount to $769,192,082.35 (often contractual amounts), of which $450,462,304.35 is reported as outlayed (actual funds paid out so far).

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The funding helped shelter and transport many migrants from the border region to U.S. communities and workplaces. The funding was only a small part of President Joe Biden’s catch-and-release welcome for roughly 10 million legal, illegal, and quasi-legal migrants from 2021 to 2024.

Catholic leaders are defending Catholic Charities’ participation in the government’s migration-based economic strategy which divides many foreign families, kills many migrants, cuts Americans’ wages, drives up housing costs, expands U.S. poverty, and reduces the incentive for U.S. trade with developing countries.

The catch-and-release network of shelters and buses also brings criminals into many U.S. communities.

Continued below.

Skiatook history teacher under investigation following controversial assignment​

Days later, Richter told his class that as a former marine, sometimes he gets violent, according to Gray.

In an interview, Loggins declined to say whether Richter is allowed to teach and coach football while under investigation. Loggins said the way his district handles personnel matters is confidential.

Richter is a non-certified adjunct teacher, which Loggins said has become more prevalent in Oklahoma because of a teacher shortage.

“He was one of very few applicants for the position because other districts can be a little more competitive in their compensation,” Loggins said about Richter.

--

Liberals probably want to throw money at the problem and hire properly-certified teachers.

Gen 7:

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark.

600/2/17 Noah's family entered the ark.

Gen 8:

2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

600/7/17 Flood reached the maximum level.

5 month = 150 days

Each month is 30 days long. The Jewish calendar today is lunisolar. On average, there are 29.5 days in a month. There are 30.4 days in a Gregorian calendar month. Noah's months were different from both.

The present location of the Persian Gulf was not explicitly named in the Bible.

Gen 11:

31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.

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Abram traveled from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan along the two rivers. Ur was some tens of km away from the Persian Gulf.


Esther 1:

1 This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, a the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush: 2 At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa.

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Susa wasn't far from the gulf.

Elam's southern border was the gulf. Jeremiah prophesied in 49:

38 I will set my throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials,” declares the Lord. 39 “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,”

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Joel might have pointed to the gulf in 2:

20 I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into the eastern sea, and his rear guard into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things.

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While the gulf was not named in the Bible, its near cities were.

Here’s a roundup of the latest developments in the U.S. regarding abortion and pro-life issues:

Lawsuit against Massachusetts ‘campaign of intimidation’​

A group of pro-life pregnancy centers in Massachusetts is suing the governor and other state officials for a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign against them, which they argue constitutes “impermissible viewpoint discrimination” based on their religious and political speech.

The lawsuit was filed on Aug. 19 by Your Options Medical Centers (YOM), a Christian-based network of pregnancy resource centers.

Under Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, Massachusetts launched a first-in-the-nation $1 million advertising campaign against pregnancy centers in June.

One example of the language used by the ads targeting Massachusetts residents on social media, billboards, and public transit, reads: “Avoid anti-abortion centers. They try to limit your options if you’re pregnant.”

Continued below.

RileyG said:

Disgusting! I'm ashamed he is from my state!

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Could be worse Brother you could be from my state California pfft. I hate Grewsome Newsom. He is Gay.

This is one of the most pertinent articles I have read on this site.

Note that this basic subject, of being true to “our shared reality” (as I would phrase it), is a bedrock foundation of Christian and Jewish belief, and Christian apologetics, and critical Bible study skills. This topic about being true to reality, cuts across all sorts of other topics, although the currently “intellectually-blind” American culture often does not realize that.

Teaching about our shared reality, is foundational for teaching the Christian faith (hence, for catechism). It is NOT, as many Protestant Fundamentalists claim, some sort of “empty philosophy” or “wrangling over words”, that is a common response by some Fundamentalists when the topic of the nature of reality is bought up.

Note that there are many related connections, to discussions of what our shared reality is.
Some of these are…
1 The Bible presents aspects or characteristics of our shared reality (so Christians and Jews CANNOT ignore this topic!)
2 The Bible presents a MORAL-ETHICAL OUGHT to accurately present our shared reality. This is in the form of “You shall not lie!” Lie about what? About our shared reality. The biblical form of this command is “You shall not bear false witness”, and that opens up the topic to include all sorts of reality that is not commonly discussed by Christians. Such as how we perceive the behavior, and statements, and opinions of other people. Also, how we perceive the written record of mankind (including the testimony of the written Scriptures). Note that the Bible includes examples of the nobility of researching whether or not the opinions or assertions of someone, are true.
3 The Bible presents the truth that we each, can choose to ignore our shared reality, or mis-hear or mis-see what is happening. Note Jesus warning “Be careful how you hear!” Human choice, is in the middle of our perceiving. And the classic virtues include virtues that affect how we perceive. These are patience, endurance, gaining knowledge, and gaining the ability to carefully reason. If we do not pursue and practice these virtues, we should not expect that we will gain critical thinking skills, or be able to have the self-discipline to pay attention (to what people say, to the reality around us, to arguments, or to a process of testing whether an assertion/opinion is correct).
4 Note that while the Bible does not provide detailed models of HOW we perceive and think about our shared reality, the truths that the Bible affirms, REQUIRE specific constraints on our worldview, regarding what our shared reality is, and how we can know about it. This is a point that it mostly ignored in Christian apologetics, because many apologists have not carefully thought about them.

For example…

Everyone SAYS that the want JUSTICE.
But to get justice, you must first have access to:
A shared reality
Accurate (enough) individual perceptions of that reality (we could call this evidence)
Accurate methods of reasoning about what relevant connections exist, in our shared reality (the ability to recognize RELEVANT evidence, and IRRELEVANT evidence, with regard to a certain topic.
An accurate (enough) method of communicating with other human beings
A fair rule of law, that encodes what is evil, and what is righteous, and has
A clear method of applying the law to valid evidence, to produce JUST
decisions.

Try confronting those who do not believe that we live in a shared reality, with this logical outcome — that there can never be any such thing as JUSTICE! As the historic philosophers clearly recognize, those models of reality the deny that there is truth, or that we can know it, are dark and hopeless models (with regard to interesting topics, such as JUSTICE).

Unless Christian teaching starts with…
—- what our shared reality is
—- how we perceive our shared reality
—-how we can test out personal perceptions, to see if they are correct (this requires sound logic)
Then we can never get to asserting the core of Christian doctrines, such as the 10 Commandments (specifically, “You shall not bear false witness”).
Rather than being “empty philosophy”, these basic assertions about our shared reality are a necessary foundation for presenting the truths that the Bible asserts.
————— —————
Note that the massive chaos in our current politics, is often due to the younger American generations NOT having an exposure to basic philosophical examinations of what our shared reality is. Or, how we are to accurately perceive it. Or, how we are to use sound logic to examine our perceptions and opinions, to see if they are correct.

The electronic screen generations, for example, often do not have the attention span required to listen carefully to the (above) argument about what we must know, for there to be “justice”.

The electronic screen generations often do not have the basic vocabulary, to understand discussions of Epistemology, Formal Logic, Moral Theory, or Critical Bible Study skills. (Or, increasingly, what the text of the Bible is asserting.)
————— —————
Christians are FORBIDDEN from gossiping, and lying. They are COMMANDED to test all things, and hold on to what is true.
Conspiracy theories are unproven speculations. They are “explanations”, but like hypotheses, they do not have the evidence to affirm them as truths. Conspiracy theories, ARE NOT accurate descriptions of our shared reality, or about causes and effects in our shared reality that have been fully demonstrated. Christians should NEVER embrace conspiracy theories, or spread them.

Conspiracy theories about a “Deep State” plot, start out with the assumption that …

1 There is an omnipotent entity that can hide all true evidence
2 What I am asserting (the conspiracy theory) is TRUE, however this omnipotent entity covered up all evidence for what I am saying
3 STILL, you must believe the explanation I am giving you, even though no one will ever get the evidence to confirm this explanation, because the omnipotent Deep State has the power to cover up any and all evidence for what I am asserting.
This is an argument that there is a category of explanations, that can NEVER be proven to be true, because some omnipotent institution has covered up all the evidence that could have been used to prove the theory. This is essentially the same thing as saying…
“My theory is UNFALSIFIABLE, but still you MUST BELIEVE IT, because I believe it.”

In formal logic, definitions, and propositions, that are UNFALSIFIABLE, are not logically coherent, and are discarded as nonsense.
The basic format of a conspiracy theory, is that it is UNFALSIFIABLE.
————— —————
Christians need to go further, and assert that a righteous person must not only ASSERT TRUTHS, but LIVE IN ACCORD WITH THOSE TRUTHS.
Those who assert the commands that we should protect the weak and helpless, should not be out there insulting people and threatening them and their families, or have a history of abusing women, and lying about our shared reality. Jesus’ parables about the FRUIT that a tree produces (defines what sort of tree it is), is a stark reality check.

Someone who responds to criticism with abuse and threats, is showing what sort of tree they are.
These are deeply Christian topics, although they are also topics that are very relevant to the politics of 2024.

Joseph G said:

Can They See God For Who He Really Is?
Steven Curtis Chapman

Too many hypocrites," I heard her say,
"I even saw it in the headlines today;
How can I follow God when His own people turn away."
She said, "Nobody's perfect but I just want to see
Somebody living what they say they believe;
If they've got all this world needs like they say,
I wonder why won't they give some away."

[Chorus:]
Can she see God for who He really is
In what she sees in you and me.
Can she see God for who He really is,
For who He really is is all she really needs to see.

He slips into church and he puts up his guard;
They look so happy but his life's been so hard.
He keeps his distance so they won't see the scars;
It's just a religion that's all dressed up in white,
And God is love as long as you're living right.
But does he know that Jesus also has scars,
And His love can reach Him no matter how far.

[Chorus]
Can he see God for who He really is
In what he sees in you and me.
Can he see God for who He really is,
For who He really is is all he really needs to see.

The skeptics are watching to see who will fall,
While those disillusioned search for the Truth in it all;
Maybe today we'll cross their paths unaware,
And they'll stop and look at us. What will be there?

[Chorus]
Can he see God for who He really is
In what he sees in you and me.
Can he see God for who He really is,
For who He really is is all he really needs to see.

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Dang, this song has deep meaning in 2024. I love Steven Curtis Chapman, and I will add this one to my favorite Christian music. We must show our good actions both in front of others, and in private, so we can spread the Gospel around. Steven Curtis Chapman was the Chris Tomlin of the 1990s. Good music, with Biblical lyrics.

Reminds me of a verse:
1 John 4:20 (ESV): "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen."

Before Jacob died, he blessed his sons in (ESV) Genesis 49:

26 The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

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Jacob singled Joseph out among his brothers by the word
נְזִ֥יר (nə·zîr)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5139: Nazirite -- one consecrated, devoted

The word had some nuances, Brown-Driver-Briggs:

1. of prince, ruler, as consecrated:
2. devotee (GFM), Nazirite

New International Version:

Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

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Centuries later, Moses blessed the Israelites before he died in (ESV) Deuteronomy 33:

16 with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness and the favor of him who dwells in the bush. May these rest on the head of Joseph, on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.

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This was the same Hebrew phrase used earlier by Jacob. Now ESV decided to translate it differently. That's a translation inconsistency that can be justified by the context here:

17A firstborn bull—he has majesty, and his horns are the horns of a wild ox; with them he shall gore the peoples, all of them, to the ends of the earth; they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

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Why was Nazir translated as “separated from his brothers” in Genesis but “Prince among his brothers” in Deuteronomy?

H5139 (nazir) could mean either. In the latter, ESV translators wanted to emphasize Joseph's majestic princely power.

Was the meaning of Nazir (to consecrate/set apart) etymologically related to Sar (Prince)?

Not really. It was related to H5144 (nazar), Strong's Concordance:

nazar: consecrate
Original Word: נָזַר
Part of Speech: Verb
Definition: to dedicate, consecrate

However, H5139 (nazir) itself does carry the nuance of "prince".

Children need to learn about consequences. When our kids (with Aspergers) needed to get a consequence, we would offer three swats on the back of the hand with a paint stirrer (low mass so not able to do damage) or five minutes time out sitting on a chair. They would always choose the swats presumably because it was over quicker.

Many things "diagnosed" as disorders might be more accurately seen as simple neurological variants. There is a free pdf booklet on Aspergers that might be of interest,

Red Gold said:

Hauptmann …. Oder Lindbergh selbst ….. oder jemand anders?

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sorry …. in German …..


whondid it?

Truth7t7 said:

Preterism in 70AD fulfillment of Matthew chapter 24 is a false teaching, Daniels AOD and the great tribulation are future events unfulfilled

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Look, I'm not here to argue. I asked you if you had credible eyewitness proof that refutes the testimony of Josephus. I heard crickets and then this:
Preterism in 70AD fulfillment of Matthew chapter 24 is a false teaching, Daniels AOD and the great tribulation are future events unfulfilled.
And then this:
Josephus was a traitor to his people the Jews, he was also an adulterer. Stick to Church Fathers and the Bible to get your point across

Where I come from you either rebut, refute, or wave the white flag. I don't need your advice. Which is it gonna be?

montanezrf said:

With brotherly love, ,"

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Glad to see you 'montanezrf' and welcome to the forums!

montanezrf said:

", , do you have scripture about JESUS kissing or hugging women?

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If the Spirit's voice cannot be extracted to support a thought or position, but self-defining with others, we must assume everything He said concerning "pure" (Matthew 5:8) is to be included, just as He himself walked in "fervent love" while on earth (1 Peter 1:22). Now you raised an interesting question specific to the thread. And since He always pleased the Father, as He walked in the Spirit, but also mingled with the disreputable of this world, could also with that "natural affection" (2 Timothy 3:3), have discerned whether to resist impurity, OR, as you said, accept (Luke 7:38) the affectionate touch of purity?

For an actual citation such as times to console bereavement for instance (James 1:27), you are right, but again, we would have to remain in question of ourselves before the Father that He never participated in these many pivotal instances such as seen in this sister's post.

Malleeboy said:

When I took my son to the Immigration Museum in Melbourne, we were told that all non-Aboriginal Australians were immigrants. However, I personally have never felt like an immigrant, I have no personal connection to any family members who migrated to the colonies, as they all were dead at least 50 years before I was born.

From my perspective:

Australia was founded on 1 Jan 1901.
All my ancestors had arrived before that, arriving to the various colonies by 1857. (167 years ago)
Therefore, none of ancestors immigrated to Australia.

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I think there is a difference between the technical term, which simply means that basically the whole planet was settled by migrating populations in the past and between your life experience. There is no reason why you should feel as an immigrant, if you were already born in the place you live in.

PS: He just got home. It was his last day. And he walked out of there playing "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" on his cell phone.

FaithT said:

I remember being so bummed out years ago when they first said that it was a fake and then how thrilled I was when it was discovered that the “fake” fabric was the part they repaired from the fire. Actually, I just learned there has been three fires, the last as recently as 1997, possibly arson.

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Yeah, I remember learning about that as well.

Now, these words are being addressed to those who were once slaves to sin, meaning that they are no longer living in slavery (addiction, bondage) to sin. Sin is no longer their practice, but now righteousness and obedience to the Lord and to his New Covenant commands are their practice. Now they are slaves of righteousness. And the standard of teaching to which they are committed is what Jesus taught and what his NT apostles taught, which is not what is predominantly being taught in America today.

Yet, we are still human beings living in flesh bodies in a fallen world with all sorts of evils and temptations everywhere you look, pretty much. And so many people today are teaching a diluted, altered, and corrupted gospel message, which also corrupts the grace of God. And so even those who have been walking faithfully to the Lord in obedience to him may be tempted to be drawn into false teachings which may make no (or little) demands for holy living and for walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands.

And so the truth of the gospel is being reinforced here. Just as once we presented our members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, we are now to present our members (bodies, minds, hearts, souls) as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For Jesus died on that cross so that we would be crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness.

For when we were slaves of sin, we were free in regard to righteousness. Do you understand what that is saying? We cannot be slaves to sin and to righteousness at the same time. It is one or the other. Either sin is our practice, and what we obey, in practice, or righteousness and obedience to our Lord are what we practice. So we are not righteous in the sight of God if we are still slaves to sin. The two don’t mix. And this doesn’t mean we are perfect and that we never fail, but that sin is no longer our practice.

And then really pay close attention to verses 21-23, for many people are teaching Romans 6:23 out of context, and they are making it say what it does not say, if taught properly in context. For the free gift of God is not given to those who are still walking in sin. For God’s gift of grace to us is not freedom to keep walking in sin, only now without having to feel guilty. For what does this say? If we are still living as slaves (addicted) to sin, the end of those things is death, not life eternal with God.

But now that we have, IF we have, been set free from our slavery to sin, and we have, IF we have, become slaves of God, the fruit that we get leads to sanctification (holiness), and its end is eternal life with God. So when this says that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, we have to read that verse in the context of the whole of Romans 6, and in particular in the context of verses 21-23 which makes it very clear what it all means. If sin is our practice, it will lead to death.

So, we don’t just pray a prayer or confess belief in Jesus Christ and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and so now we have heaven guaranteed us when we die, and it can’t be taken away from us, but regardless of how we live. For the free gift of God’s grace instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions (lust), and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For God’s grace frees us from our slavery to sin so we now become slaves of righteousness.

So the free gift of God, although we do nothing to earn or to deserve it in our own flesh, is not without cost. It is not without rules and regulations which we must follow. For the gift is deliverance from our slavery (addiction) to sin, and it is empowerment of God’s Spirit to now live in moral purity, honesty, integrity, faithfulness, and in obedience to our Lord’s commands (New Covenant). The gift is not freedom to keep living in sin while claiming Jesus as Lord and heaven as our eternal destiny. So please see this!

[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]

Just a Closer Walk with Thee

Hymn lyrics by Anonymous/Unknown
Music by American Melody

“For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you” (2 Co. 13:4 NASB).

I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

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“Pointless! Pointless!” the argument says
From those from Jesus their lives they’ve fled.
They see no hope in their battle ‘gainst sin,
Because Christ Jesus they’ve not let in.

They’ve not surrendered their all to him,
But they’re still controlling everything.
They want their vict’ry, but they won’t let go,
The flesh is still so much in control.

The life they say they want, they desire,
Surrender to God’s will is required:
Death to sin, then living to our God,
Walking with our Lord in righteousness.

But they’re not willing, their flesh is in vain.
In their sinful practices they remain.
Stubbornly holding on to all their pride,
They keep hiding all their sins inside.

An Original Work / August 13, 2021