Amen and Amen! Praise Christ Jesus!

RileyG said:

Mr. Trump,

Do better

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He's getting much worse by the day.

Michie said:

"And I cannot help but think of what is happening in our city today, and how that echoes with how outsiders have been treated for thousands of years; how Mary and Joseph themselves were considered outsiders, and forced to stay in a barn," he continued.

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Obviously, he doesn't know the story, so he made up his own.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I humbly ask for your prayers regarding a relationship at my workplace.

There is a mentor whom I deeply respect and love, someone who has been like a mother figure to me. Recently, our relationship has become distant, and this has been genuinely painful for me because of how deeply I care.

I have also struggled when I see her sharing lighthearted conversations—about food and enjoyable moments—with others, while our own connection feels quiet and removed. I recognise that this stirs hurt and comparison in my heart, and I do not want these feelings to take root in an unhealthy way.

Not long ago, I had a simple dream of happily sharing a meal together at a sushi restaurant. It made me realise how much my heart still longs for closeness and fellowship, even though I know such moments may not be possible in reality.

Please pray that God would heal my heart, guard me from unhealthy attachment, and teach me to love with humility, wisdom, and grace. Pray that I would honour her well, respect boundaries, and trust God fully with this relationship—whether He brings restoration or leads me into peaceful acceptance.

Thank you for standing with me in prayer.
God bless.

MarcusGregor said:

Starting the disinformation campaign early I see.

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He's not the only one.

Fox News contributor blames DEI for shooting deaths at Brown University​

Nicole Parker: “I believe that Brown University's prioritization was not on the safety and security of their students. They were more focused on things like DEI efforts, and that has been catastrophic and led to the death of two students.”

Deegie said:

Interesting given that Prayer C doesn't have a preface at all! Prayer D is my favorite due to its beauty and catholic nature. But it sure is looooong.

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If you think that’s long, try the original EgBAS on which it is based some time… And that’s the shortest of the Alexandrian prayers (or rather, semi-Alexandrian, only the one known as St. Mark or St. Cyril is purely Alexandrian).

Alas the Euchologian of St. Sarapion or the Apostolic Tradition can be misleading, suggesting short services - the default Ethiopian anaphora is actually the old Antiochene anaphora, found in St. Hippolytus, but what some people don’t realize is that in Hippolytus or Serapion, you are only seeing the parts meant for a bishop or possibly a presbyter, not the parts for deacons or cantors - it wasn’t until the 9th or 10th century that Missales containing the entire service started to appear (some have linked this with the historic Roman practice of the priest silently repeating everything said during a mass, which may or may not be the case; I myself think having everything in one book with the common in the middle and the propers before and after, to reduce wear on the binding, is very practical, especially with the Western liturgies where the Mass can be extremely variable, depending on the rite (the use of Sarum was a bit more variable than the Tridentine use if I recall, but much less variable than the Mozarabic Rite, for instance).

By the way, I have a copy of a Mexican Anglican prayer book with an English and Spanish translation of a simplified form of the Mozarabic liturgy. I believe its online as well.

Carl Emerson said:

Clarifying then - is Rev 12:11 referring to all believers or only those martyred?

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It looks to me as if it means those who are martyred. I say that because of the word used - their "testimony" in Greek is marturias, from which we get our word "martyr" - and because the text specifically speaks of their not clinging to life, but accepting death. And because it makes sense, given what we know of the context for which Revelation was written.

A quick glance at some commentaries, and the consensus seems to be that the text speaks primarily of martyrs, although all believers can find encouragement in what is said here.

essentialsaltes said:

Trump built a winning coalition. White nationalists will destroy it.​

Fuentes – who is the at the heart of the ideological civil war currently consuming the influential conservative Heritage Foundation think tank — is a known Holocaust denier who regularly demeans racial minorities and has called for the "death penalty" against Jewish people and practitioners of all non-Christian faiths.

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Two More Heritage Foundation Board Members Resign Amid Tucker-Fuentes Fallout​

Shane McCullar and Abby Spencer Moffat, resigned on Tuesday, citing concerns over Heritage’s direction and approach to combating anti-Semitism.

[McCullar]: No institution that hesitates to condemn antisemitism and hatred—or that gives a platform to those who spread them—can credibly claim to uphold the vision that once made the Heritage Foundation the world’s most respected conservative think tank. And, I cannot, in good conscience, remain on a board that is unwilling to confront the lapses in judgment that have harmed its credibility, its culture, and the conservative movement it once helped shape.

[Moffat]: Heritage’s handling of recent challenges reveals a drift from the principles that once defined its leadership. When an institution hesitates to confront harmful ideas and allows lapses in judgment to stand, it forfeits the moral authority on which its influence depends.

Dan Perez said:

And I believe it was FULFILLED. , but do you have a verse , just asking. and I have a verse but you go FIRST

since you said out was FULFIIED. you must have a verse ??

dan p

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sure - It is right there in the post you quoted - kind of hard to miss....

keras said:

Two Days of the Lord:

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In your opinion.

keras said:

It will NOT be unexpected; heralded by God and the angels and NOT a surprise, as He will Return exactly 1260 days, [42 months] after Satan desecrates the Temple. Daniel 9:27b, Revelation 13:5

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Oh well; I've got loads of time then.
No need to be ready, prepared or alert as Jesus taught. The Temple hasn't even been built yet - assuming it is at all - never mind been desecrated by Satan. And we should expect him to come 1260 days after that? Bags of time. Maybe I'll take a break from serving the Lord for a bit - after all, I can repent as soon as I hear that the first brick of the Temple has been laid.
Obviously I don't need to take any notice of his parables about bridegrooms and kings whose return is delayed, and the unprepared bridesmaids and lazy servants who suffered the consequences. How silly of them not to have known, in fact, that they could have worked out when their masters would return and been ready.
[Sarcasm.]

keras said:

Do you really think Amos 5:18-20 will be like the glorious Return?

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The Day of the Lord - as mentioned by Amos and other prophets - was an OT concept.
The Israelites believed that the Day of the Lord was when the Lord would come in power, reward the faithful Israelites; God's chosen, sons of Abraham, and defeat and punish all their enemies. The attitude that, as God's chosen, they would be alright/could not be punished/were in line for receiving some great rewards prevailed throughout the OT. They seemed to believe that they had the right to act as they liked. The prophets said, over and over again, that God could, and would, punish his people for disobeying his laws.
Amos was effectively saying, "why do you long for the Day of the Lord? It won't be sweetness and light for you because you have disobeyed the Lord's commands and broken the covenant." He wanted to wake them out of their smugness and spiritual apathy. Amos wasn't speaking about the return of Jesus. How could he have been; he didn't know him? I doubt he had any concept that God would be born in human form. If he had, he would never have considered that this God/man would be crucified and raised from the dead - never mind that he would return again one day.
Most Jews don't accept that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. They are still waiting for their Messiah, who will probably, for them, return just as God is punishing all other Gentile nations - i.e us.

The Day of the Lord is a Jewish concept. I am not a Jew, I live under the New Covenant and am waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus.

Now, a new Trump administration program is sidestepping the regulatory system that's overseen the nuclear industry for half a century. The program will fast-track construction of new and untested reactor designs built by private firms, with an explicit goal of having at least three nuclear test reactors up and running by the United States' 250th birthday, July 4, 2026.

If that goal is met, it will be without the direct oversight of America's primary nuclear regulator. Since the 1970s, safety for commercial reactors has been the purview of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But the NRC is only consulting on the new Reactor Pilot Program, which is being run by the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy.

The existing staff of that office recently asked outsiders for help. In an email seen by NPR, the Office of Nuclear Energy requested volunteers from universities to assist in speeding up safety reviews. "DOE is currently evaluating creative ideas to help manage anticipated resource constraints," read the Nov. 17 email, which was addressed to members of the National Organization of Test, Research and Training Reactors.

The new pilot program may be an unproven regulatory path run by an agency with limited experience in the commercial sector, but supporters say it's energizing an industry that's been moribund for decades.

As those companies prepare to test their designs, their path is now being helped by the executive order Trump signed on the day he met with the nation's nuclear executives. The order explicitly placed oversight of commercial test reactors with the Energy Department, and it required Energy Secretary Chris Wright to "approve at least three reactors pursuant to this pilot program with the goal of achieving criticality in each of the three reactors by July 4, 2026." [emphasis added]

--

[The NRC] was set up in 1975 by Congress as an independent safety watchdog, said Allison Macfarlane, the former NRC chair. Part of the reason the NRC was formed was because the predecessor to the DOE, known as the Atomic Energy Commission, oversaw both safety and promotion of nuclear power at the same time.

"This was a very strong conflict of interest," Macfarlane said.

In 2022, the NRC rejected a combined license application for Oklo, a new nuclear startup. Oklo had submitted an application to build and operate its small reactor, called the Aurora powerhouse. But the NRC denied the application because it contained "significant information gaps in its description of Aurora's potential accidents as well as its classification of safety systems and components."

Then at the May signing of the executive order [taking things out of NRC's hands], Oklo's CEO Jacob DeWitte appeared behind President Trump applauding the new reactor program at DOE.

Oklo had another connection to the Energy Department — the secretary of energy, Chris Wright, was a member of Oklo's board of directors until he took the helm at the DOE. Wright stepped down following his confirmation in February.

Trump's economic approval hits a new low at 36%, poll finds​

During President Trump's first term, the economy was a relative strength of his. During the 2024 presidential campaign, his promises to lower prices in a country grappling with post-COVID inflation propelled him back into office.

But toward the end of his first year in office this term, just 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. It's his worst mark in the six years that Marist has been asking the question.

Democrats are slightly more trusted to handle the economy than Republicans — 37% to 33%. That's not a wide margin, but it's a sharp turnaround from the 16-point advantage Republicans had on the question in 2022.

In addition to Trump's low approval for his handling of the economy, his overall job approval rating stands at a meager 38%. That's the lowest of his second term and the lowest number he's seen in Marist's surveys since April 2018.

Yep, Advent Wreaths are western and totally ok with an Orthodox Church.

eleos1954 said:

As far as free will goes ... satan and all the angels had that (they made their choice) as far as humanity goes they/we had/have our choice. The choices come about when we are tempted ... satan is the one who instigates temptation not God. It will be impossible for us to sin because we won't be tempted (for eternity)


He desired God's place and was envious of God's plan to create man in His image, leading to jealousy and rebellion against God's authority.
He wasn't tempted by an external force but by his own internal desires to exalt himself above God,
Sin didn't come from outside; it began with Lucifer's internal desire for worship and power belonging only to God, rooted in his own perfection and freedom of choice.

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I edited your quote down to the points you made that I wanted to address.
You say Satan made his choice as we also do. But he was able to make that choice and it resulted in him being banished from Heaven. That's what makes me wonder if we'll be able to do the same.
And the jealousy that he experienced for God's position--couldn't we end up feeling that, or something similar? Perhaps a jealousy that someone you really, really disliked here on Earth ended up in Heaven with far more rewards than you? Or maybe you'll be really upset with God that a loved one here on Earth was someone you were certain was saved, but in Heaven you discovered they were lost and are gone forever?
You said that Satan wasn't tempted by an external force but rather his own internal desires. Wouldn't we have internal desires when we're in Heaven?

essentialsaltes said:

Oklahoma court stops social studies standards with 2020 election misinformation from taking effect​

“Christianity, American exceptionalism, and conservative values are under attack and the Oklahoma Supreme Court is leading the assault,” Walters said of the nine-member court, six of whom were appointed by Republican governors.

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Oklahoma Supreme Court overturns new social studies standards, reinstates 2019 standards

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that former Superintendent Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSBE) violated the Open Meeting Act by approving new K-12 social studies standards promoting Christianity to public school students.

The court found that Walters made last-minute changes to standards without notifying the public or providing notice to the other OSBE members, and the standards submitted were substantially different from the version released publicly.

The decision came after 33 Oklahoma parents, children, public school teachers, and faith leaders filed a lawsuit, Rev. Dr. Mitch Randal v. Lindel Fields, in July.

Nithavela said:

Is there a minimum amount of readers a book should have before people are allowed to read it?

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No.

RDKirk said:

I'm not sure the US government can effectively enforce that without having the power of revoking citizenship of a naturally born citizen. I don't think that's a road we want to step out on.

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Especially Jew's and their status being "religious" in nature. All Jew's are ONE PEOPLE, whether in the land, out of the land. Living as citizens of various nations, they are one people. This is a slippery slope.

Oompa Loompa said:

Agreed. That is exactly what conservatives have been trying to beat though liberal skulls. Guns are not inherently good or evil. It depends entirely on those who use them. You put a gun in the hands of a good guy, good things happen. But you put the gun in the hands of a bad guy, bad things happen. But more often than not, guns are in the hands of a good guy and lives are saved. But, as another poster stated, those incidents are no more meaningful than a someone's life being spared because of a car's safety features. Thus, not news worthy. Just remember this the next time there is a shooting and liberals are begging for more gun control. Because in reality, liberals do not care about anything that suggest guns actually save lives, like the story mentioned in the OP.

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I think his only point there was: lets put a stake in the heart of the idiotic "guns dont kill people" talking point.

Its personal and public safety where the discussion should be centered. You seem to concur.

A licensed clinical psychologist who often works with men seeking help for unwanted same-sex attraction says clients should be free to pursue their own therapeutic goals — an approach he hopes will increasingly be considered in mainstream psychological circles.

"Clients deserve the right to pick their own therapy goals," Dr. Joseph Nicolosi Jr. told The Christian Post. "Our clients are people whose goal is to live a life consistent with their values, including as it relates to their sexuality. We want to support them to live in accordance with their deeply held values."

'Disordered urge'

Nicolosi, who practices in California and serves as president of the nonprofit Reintegrative Therapy Association, drew widespread attention earlier this month when political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos mentioned his therapeutic approach during an hours-long conversation with Tucker Carlson.

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My son wants to go out of town to see his Girlfriend but financially this is very hard. Oh please pray for his happiness. Either way please ask God for a financial breakthrough and my son Jakeb's happiness. Oh please pray. Thank you and God bless you. I ask in the name of Jesus.

The website of California's second-largest school district includes a section that walks students through altering their name and gender identity, in addition to promoting materials that claim there are nine genders and 28 sexual orientations.

The parental rights advocacy group, Defending Education, released a reportlast Thursday detailing the San Diego Unified School District’s “Equity & Belonging” website. Framing its mission around “dismantling systems of oppression,” the website uses materials from the Zinn Education Project, Black Lives Matter and GLSEN.

There is also a lesson packet intended for students in third through sixth grades that includes topics such as “Trans kids in the Boy Scouts” and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“The San Diego Unified School District is committed to creating equitable and inclusive schools that ensure that students have what they need to be successful in school and life,” the web hub’s introductory statement reads.

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University of Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza thanked God for allowing him to chase a "pipe dream" after he won college football's most decorated individual award on Saturday.

Mendoza, 22, was announced as the winner of the Heisman Trophy at a ceremony Saturday night. As a devout Catholic, he expressed gratitude to God during his acceptance speech.

“First, I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to chase a dream that once felt a world away," Mendoza began. He insisted that “standing here tonight holding this … bad boy representing Indiana University” still “doesn’t feel real."

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As abortion continues to wane as a top issue of concern for American voters, some pro-life groups are resorting to “peaceful civil disobedience” by organizing abortion clinic blockades and using their arrests to bring greater awareness to the fight to save babies in the womb.

Earlier this month, over a dozen pro-lifers were arrested and jailed for one to three days after blocking the entrance to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Memphis, Tennessee.

Rescue Resurrection is the "umbrella name" that Randall Terry, founder of the pro-life organization Operation Rescue, told The Christian Post is being used for pro-life groups willing to participate in "large-scale peaceful civil disobedience.”

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Dave... said:

A public testimony. An outward expression physically that symbolizes a spiritual reality inwardly that has already taken place the moment we first believe. That inward reality was not available for believers until after the cross. Some were due that Promise, some were predestined to believe the Gospel as True OT believers, and only then receive the promise. Thus we see that play out in Acts.

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I do not think we only Christian water baptize to be just a "a public testimony", but it can be a good witness and a visual sermon. Witnessing someone turning control of themselves over to another person (the person doing the baptism), reminds us of what we did with God, the going down under the water reminds us of our being cleansed from sin and burying our old self, being lifted up letting the water wash down over them should remind us our sins flowing away and finally falling into the arms of other believers restores our feelings of being in a new and greater family. God has provided a way for us to physically experience what is Spiritually happening to us.