Maria Billingsley said:

AI GENERATED

The claim that the Trump Administration rescued 60,000 children from human smugglers is highly misleading and based on a misunderstanding of government metrics. This figure represents the total number of unaccompanied migrant children who were successfully located and accounted for during a multi-agency welfare initiative. This initiative tracked down children who had been released to sponsors during a period of lax vetting and were vulnerable to exploitation. This is not comparable to the annual numbers of confirmed victims rescued from traditional trafficking rings by law enforcement, which are significantly smaller, closer to 2000 per year.

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Thank you that’s exactly what I got to. And that 2000 victims was all victims found by all law enforcement agencies which is well over 600,000 officers while ICE has about 7000.

joymercy said:

Anyone knit some of the old ones together?!

View attachment 373504

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I think those are crocheted. I love them, but have never learned to crochet or knit.

Dave... said:

Dan

Here's some links for you to read. the quote is from the second one.

BIBLE STUDY MANUALS: EPHESIANS 4:7-9 HE LED THE CAPTIVES FREE

Hell, Sheol, Hades, Paradise, and the Grave

There seems to be some confusion about the meaning of Hell and who goes there because of the way the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek word Hades have been translated in our English Bibles. Since this confusion has led some into an erroneous understanding of what the Bible actually teaches about the i

bereanbiblesociety.org

"While Paradise is not now a part of Sheol/Hades it will be mentioned here because it was located in Sheol/Hades at one time. Before the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ everybody who died went to Sheol/Hades, which was at that time divided into at least two compartments. One was a place of torment while the other was a place of blessing, which was referred to as Abraham's Bosom (Lk. 16:22-25). As we mentioned before, Tartarus may be a specific place in Sheol/Hades.

We know that Jesus Christ went "into the lower parts of the earth" (Eph. 4:9), that is to Sheol/Hades, "in the heart of the earth," for three days and nights while his body was in the grave (Mat. 12:40). The Lord Jesus told the repentant thief that he would join Him in Paradise that same day (Lk. 23:42,43). This tells us that Paradise was located in Sheol/Hades at that time. We believe that this was the same place referred to as Abraham's Bosom in Luke 16. However, after Jesus Christ rose from the dead He ascended to the Father, taking the saints who were in Abraham's Bosom to heaven with Him. Thus, He took "captivity captive" (see Eph. 4:8-10).

That Paradise was moved to heaven is confirmed to us by the Apostle Paul who speaks of a man who was "caught up into Paradise" where he "heard unspeakable words" (II Cor. 12:3,4). With Jesus Christ's work complete, the believers who had been confined to Sheol/Hades were now taken to Heaven to wait in God's presence until the time of their resurrection to enter His Kingdom on Earth. Since that time, at death all believers go to Paradise in Heaven to await the time of their resurrection. This is true whether they belong to the Kingdom Church of the future or the Body of Christ Church of the present Dispensation of Grace."

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And in Luke 23:43 the thief on. the cross with Jesus , today those shall be with me in. PARADIS , called ABRAHAM BOSOM. and that. means that there are 2 PARADISES. !!

dan p

Being on holiday can really mess with your sense of liturgical time. I spent last Palm Sunday travelling back from Hawaii, and it made my Holy Week really weird.

The Liturgist said:

Roman Emperors did not historically wear blue - they wore a purple Toga or the Toga Pretexta, but by the time of the Hagia Sophia that would have been out of fashion for some time.

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There are plenty of icons with either red, purple, or both, with clear imperial embroiderment. Just do a Google search.

In this particular case, it looks somewhere between blue and purple. It can be the picture quality, the shape and style of the mosaic itself. But in any case, you can see underneath he has finely embroidered Byzantine vesture, and overall it is not working class attire.

keras said:

Correct:
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation....claimed by God as His own......
Revelation 5:9-10 ,,,,by the blood of Jesus, bought for God, peoples from every tribe, race, nation and language.......and they shall reign on earth.

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Tick.

keras said:

Ethnic Israel has had the Kingdom taken from them;
Matthew 21:43 ....I will give the Kingdom to the peoples who bear the proper fruit.
Matthew 8:11-12 Many people will come from the East and the West, to sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.....but those who were born to the Kingdom will be thrown out into the dark. ......

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Tick.

keras said:

We Christian peoples are those who will occupy all of the Holy Land.

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Cross. (Bzzzzzzt!)

We Christian peoples are those who already occupy the Holy Lands - because the gospel has gone out into the whole earth.

GRACE
Jesus so over-fulfils the OT law and sacrificial system so that we no longer need a high priest or temple - because Jesus replaces them. In the same way, the promises to Abraham that his children would be God’s people living God’s way in God’s land - and that this would bless the whole world, is fulfilled in Jesus living as the perfect Israelite, dying in our place, forgiving our sins, rising to new life to show that it worked, giving us hope of a new creation (as his body ran by the rules of the new reality as a guarantee of what was to come.)

KINGDOM
Jesus said his kingdom was not of this world. Jesus rebukes the disciples when they ask about an ethno-religious state in Israel and gets them to focus on the gospel going out to ALL people - even enemies - even the ends of the earth! Acts 1:8.

SUPER-TEMPLE
He told the woman at the well that because he is the living water, where we worship would soon be irrelevant - as long as it was in Spirit and truth. John 4. Jesus IS the perfect temple where God and mankind meet in perfect incarnation. He is Ezekiel’s “super-temple” - with the living water rushing out to make a new creation! Ezekiel’s super-temple cannot be literal - in the vision he stands on a mountain higher than Jerusalem to see the whole thing and this mountain does not exist. Amillennial Interpretation of Ezekiel 40-48 | Monergism
Zechariah 14 also visualises a terrible earthquake coming from the Mount of Olives - and then living water spreading out to renew the world. But as we have seen, this is all fulfilled in Jesus. He said if they had faith, they could say to this mountain fall into the sea! It’s a reference to the fact that Jesus is the one who splits the mountains - who makes the temple irrelevant.

PRIESTHOOD
1 Peter 2 shows we are all the priesthood and holy nation. That fulfils the end of Zechariah 14 where everyday cooking items are like the most precious items in the temple - the sacred and secular are now both sanctified in Christian life. WE are now the temple of God. 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19. We are the ‘one humanity’ made from both Jews and Gentiles. Ephesians 2

LAND
Hebrews 11 shows even Abraham himself and other patriarchs were not really aiming for ‘the land’ - but for heaven! “16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
Just as Zechariah reminds Israel that Jeremiah’s prophecies of a Messiah at the end of 70 years of exile can only be fulfilled if they remain obedient and keep the covenant, which reinterprets Jeremiah’s prophecies in the unfolding plan of God for Israel - so the gospel does for the Old Covenant but in much more dramatic and universal ways.

Hebrews 12 puts the final nail in the coffin of the idea of a special land. Just as Jesus told the woman at the well, we no longer worship from special places, but special hearts. Wherever we are, when we pray we are united as if we were all standing in Jerusalem itself! But the billion plus Christians alive today physically would not fit! (Forget any crowd crushes in the Muslim Haj - this would be apocalyptic!) But of course - this is the advantage of the New Testament reality of the ‘spiritualised’ gospel fulfilment of Old Testament concerns and promises. Everything is so much bigger!

Hebrews 12:22 “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

Chesterton said:

Symbolically there could be something Satanic to that.

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There probably is, considering that Muhammed was obviously, at least to begin with, under the influence of a fallen angel impersonating St. Gabriel the Archangel. And alas since his only contact with Christianity had been with an Arian heretic, he was not equipped to realize how he was being misled. I suspect this was also the basis for the later “Satanic Verses” controversy - clearly, as demons tend to do according to the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, and the Orthodox lives of the saints, he was abandoned, and not knowing what to say, uttered a Sura which confused his followers, only to retract it.

And regarding Muhammad’s personal life, well “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

CLEEB said:

Even Jesus did not know the day and hour of the second advent. He said that only the FATHER knows. Theories are OK as long as we do not make them doctrine. Christ returns early to stop the tribulation else no one would be left alive. The two witnesses, after being killed, are resurrected 3 1/2 days later and rise up into the air to meet the returning Jesus. I would think that at that time , when they are killed, we, if alive, will know that in 3 1/2 days Jesus returns. When the antichrist signs a covenant with 10 nations this begins the countdown of the final “week” and at the midpoint of that week 1260 days into it, antichrist defiles the temple, as Paul said, declaring himself GOD. This event is the beginning of the great tribulation that is cut short for the sake of the elect, who are the church, and this indicates the church is still on Earth at the time of the great tribulation but is protected from this hour of trial that comes upon the whole earth. Revelation 3:10 Jesus was only involved with the earth twice, during his fleshy existence and second when he returns in glory. Hebrews 9:28 verifies this. Also in his prayer to the FATHER in John 17:5 Jesus specifically asked his FATHER to not take the church out of the world. The rapture theory began in 1830 by a Scottish woman , Margaret Macdonald, it was then popularized by a preacher, John Nelson Darby. If Christ re in secret before the tribulation this would be his third interaction with the earth when Hebrews 9:28 limits his appearances to only two times, his life on earth and the second advent. The confusion seems to come from making how we meet Jesus in the air with the second advent, making two separate occurrences rather than just one. The church rises up to meet the Christ at his return, not at some time beforehand. Certain scriptures are misused and misinterpreted to develop this rapture theory. This Macdonald woman and false preacher Darby literally invented the rapture from their own carnal minds.

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The Great Tribulation in Matthew 24:15-22 was in the first century AD.

“So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; 17 let him who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house; 18 and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle. 19 And alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! 20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

According to Jesus, the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place will be the Roman armies that will soon be encamped around Jerusalem within this generation. These armies were comprised of soldiers from the many nations of the Roman Empire.

Luke 21:20-24 But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; 22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfil all that is written. 23 Alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! For great distress shall be upon the earth and wrath upon this people; 24 they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The two witnesses that the disobedient Jews rejected were the law and the prophets, which were symbolized by Moses and Elijah. Luke 9:28-37
The Old Testament foretold Jesus the Messiah's birth, death, and resurrection. Luke 24:44

David Hunter said:

What did you think?!!

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I thought it was great!

I watched the entire program!
There was so much talent on that stage ... I really wasn't expecting such a professional performance.
They did a real swell job of celebrating the holiday with song, while keeping it all very 'groovy'!

The fact that all the performers are volunteers ...
and doing it for such a worthwhile cause ...
made it all even more *special*.

I have a 25 yo niece with Down Syndrome. So this year's concert beneficiary (Invited In Disability Ministry) speaks to my heart! My sister has always worked hard to keep my niece active and involved with others, so I know how important this type of ministry is. I hope they were able to raise alot of money for this very good cause.

It made for a fun nite, watching the concert livestream. Thanks again, for sharing the info.
It was nice of Grace Church to host the event this year.
(They shared that Grace is their favorite venue!)


P.S.
For anyone interested in listening to a very upbeat Christmas performance:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

In 1/2 Maccabees in 100s BC they did not think there was any prophets among them

1 Maccabees 9:27​

Common English Bible​

27 So there was great distress in Israel, the worst since the time when prophets ceased to appear among them.​

​

1 Maccabees 4:46​

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition​

46 And they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, till there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them.​

​

​

2 Maccabees 2 quotes a prophecy from Jeremiah which is from 4 Baruch in the 500s BC but it is not an original prophecy in Maccabees just quoting something else that was written centuries before. ​

​

Psalms of Solomon Psalms of Solomon - Wikipedia This is not psalms in the normal bible. ​

​

Some of these are describing Pompey invading Jerusalem 63 BC then dying in Egypt 48 BC. One is describing the Babylon exile 587 BC or the Assyrian exile 722 BC. One claims to be a conversation Solomon had back in the 900s BC. It is possible that one goes back to Solomon. I do not know why a scribe titled this manuscript psalms of Solomon when none claim to have authorship by Solomon, and several are clearly recalling events after his time. Psalm 17 contains multiple prophecies about Jesus so at least this psalm is claiming be written before 1 AD, and claiming to be inspired scripture. The same psalm contains a part about either Pompey or Antiochus 4 in Maccabees also. Assuming it is about the same person in the other psalms that besieged Jerusalem it was Pompey. The internal date of authorship is between 48 BC, and 1 AD. I believe it is inspired scripture.​

​

So although most prophecy seemed to stop after Malachi was written around 400 BC there is some prophecy 48 BC-1 AD. I believe 1/2/3 Maccabees are inspired like Esther, and those books are history with no prophecies where as most other OT books have both.

Ask chat GPT to show how Zechariah 13 happened in 1/2 Maccabees too. It gives some good verses. The latest that prophecy could of happened was 70 AD. Some parts are a double prophecy about Jesus also as the NT quotes it. ​

The context here is the story of Jesus’ friend Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, who was sick and died. Jesus did not get to him before he died, so when Jesus did arrive, Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.


But when Jesus arrived at the tomb of Lazarus, and the stone had been removed from the tomb, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” And Lazarus came forth, no longer dead, but alive (John 11:38-44).

But now I am going to focus my attention here on verses 25-27 and look at what that means for us today. For to believe in Jesus Christ means to be “born again” of the Spirit of God. By God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in the Lord Jesus, our old lives of living in sin and for self are put to death with Christ at the cross, because of what Jesus did in putting our sins to death with him when he died on that cross. Then we are resurrected with him to walk in newness of life in him, as those who obey him and his commands.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

Therefore, what it means to believe in Jesus is not words only. We cannot merely mouth words of confession of Christ as Lord and Savior and expect that all our sins are now forgiven, and that heaven is our eternal destiny, if we do not, by God-provided faith in him, deny self, die to sin daily (in practice), and walk (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. For belief in Christ is the persuasion of God as to his holiness and righteousness, and of our sinfulness, and of God’s requirement that we deny self, die to sin daily, and follow him in obedience to his commands.

So, what this means is that, even if we die in our bodies, and we no longer have the physical breath of life within us, because we have now departed from this sinful world for forever, if we believe in Jesus (as described above), then we will live for eternity with God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. And all of us who walk by faith in Jesus Christ in holy living, pleasing to God, in obedience to our Lord’s commands, and no longer as slaves to sin, we will never die spiritually, but we will live with our Lord for eternity.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; 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 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

A Believer’s Prayer

An Original Work / July 31, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

With my whole heart, Lord, I pray
To be Yours, and Yours always.
Lead me in Your truth today.
May I love You, and obey.
Lead me in Your righteousness.
When I sin, may I confess;
Bow before You when I pray;
Live for You and You always.

Love You, Jesus, You’re my friend.
Life with You will never end.
You are with me through each day,
Giving love and peace always.
You will ne’er abandon me.
From my sin You set me free.
You died on that cruel tree,
So I’d live eternally.

Soon You’re coming back for me;
From this world to set me free;
Live with You eternally.
Oh, what joy that brings to me.
I will walk with You in white;
A pure bride, I’ve been made right
By the blood of Jesus Christ;
Pardoned by His sacrifice.

Login to view embedded media
The Resurrection and The Life
An Original Work / December 7, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Should be stickied for reference.

Michie said:

A majority of pastors are now using artificial intelligence to prepare their sermons, with ChatGPT and Grammarly reported as the top two AI tools, new survey data shows.

"ChatGPT is the most visible generative AI tool that can engage in human-like conversations and assist with a wide range of tasks, from answering questions to generating content," researchers wrote in "The 2025 State of AI in the Church Survey Report" prepared by AiForChurchLeaders.comand Exponential AI NEXT.

“As the most popular AI tool among church leaders (26%), ChatGPT is being used for applications such as sermon preparation, research, and crafting church communications. Its versatility and ease of use make it a powerful asset for streamlining ministry work and sparking creative ideas."

The data, based on responses from 594 pastors and church staff members, shows that church leaders are now more concerned about "the weighty ethical and practical considerations involved" in the use of AI as they continue their rapid embrace of the technology.

Continued below.

Majority of pastors now using AI to prepare sermons amid rapid embrace of technology: study

A majority of pastors are now using artificial intelligence to prepare their sermons, with ChatGPT and Grammarly reported as the top two AI tools, new survey data shows

www.christianpost.com

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This is bad. What I have seen of AI so far is often blathering idiocy and often enough downright error.

I just finished reading an AI explanation of the difference between Vitamin C and ascorbic acid. It's pretty simple, actually in that they have the same exact chemical formula but Vitamin C is the left handed chiral form of ascorbic acid. The synthetic stuff comes in a mixture of right and left chiral forms. AI was lost in the fog trying to explain that.

I worry that AI will further confuse already confused pastors and spread that confusion to their people. That happened before AI but this takes even less effort with AI dishing out garbage.

Pretty good article, I thought.
We all can seek “Existential Well-being

1. Engagement in life
2. Connection with others
3 Vitality
4. Spiritual congruence

"A lot of money has been transferred from the individuals who committed this fraud," Bessent said, alleging that individuals charged had donated to Gov. Tim Walz, Omar and the state's attorney general, Keith Ellison. He said that money "has gone overseas, and we are tracking that both to the Middle East and to Somalia to see what the uses of that have been."
Omar said she doesn't know what Bessent is referring to.

I don't believe that law enforcement should be blamed for crime.

DaisyDay said:

24 hours after birth. The problem as explained to me is that people can be silent carriers of the virus which can be passed through breaks in the skin such as scrapes, scratches and minor cuts. Infants who get infected are at high risk for liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver and chronic liver problems. Unless everyone who is going to handle the baby is tested, then it is unknown what the actual risk is. The risk of the vaccine versus infection is heavily weighted towards the infection.

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No, you aren't a 'silent carrier', you're infected or your not. And again, all major European countries wait until 2 months or more (some even wait until adolescence)

CoreyD said:

That scripture didn't elude me. I did say God fights righteous war, but that doesn't make him a God of war.
He is called a God of peace Philippians 4:9. He engages in war in order to bring peace. Armageddon is the war to bring peace on earth, and there is a final war after the 1,000 year reign of Christ.

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He judges and makes war

d taylor said:

-

​

I wonder if that area was something she did not know how to resolve pictorially.

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I don't think she knew much about science other than their capabilities already exceeding their wisdom.

fhansen said:

The real problem is people in general. Even the holiest of us will be imperfect relative to God. So some degree of corruption or compromise will always prevail here on this earth. But does that mean we should just give up and isolate ourselves?

Humans are both individual and social beings. Our relationship with God is individual but also corporate as the Body, with a unity, also yet imperfect in this life, that we were created to have.

So do we ignore injustice in this world, or, alternatively, simply depend on the goodwill of believers to somehow prevent or rectify injustices? Or, instead, does a just socieity unite together under some model of government and legislate against immoral behavior such as, say murder? Or against the excesses that capitalists might go to maximize profits, including the exploitation of labor, creation of monopolies, etc? Anyway, as long as people are involved there can be no perfect political or governmental system; they're all compromises that we must nonetheless use in order to promote the common good, hopefully guided by Christian principles to the best we can.

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Well again, since Christ did say to give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, then that’s how I expect Christians to solve politics. Of course there is some confusion as to who is actually Caesar, but that’s just coming from ignorance.

Just saw this...sure, I'll be glad to pray for you both. Just remember when it comes to adversity: God may not have brought you to it, but He is faithful to get you through it!

Mercenaries ride high on the hog for a time, but soon the bounty runs out.

But man is obsessed with making everything in our own image, mini gods that we are.

Ah well God has raised many a fine mighty warriors in the Bible.

keras said:

Right, but the AoD will take place 1260 days before the glorious Return, not 1335 days.
The extra 30 and 75 days of Daniel 12, are for the Feast of Atonement and Hanukkah - AFTER Jesus Returns.

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No, the abomination of desolation statue image is not going to be allowed to continue to stand on the temple mount for 30 or 75 days after Jesus Returns.

On the 1335th day, the statue image will be destroyed.

They were let in after the floods in 2010. Sixteen years is more than enough Temporary Protected Status. The question to be asked is why so long?