Disclaimer: This post is intended for those who follow the True God of the bible and not the lesser form of God commonly associated with Christianity (sarcasm intended).

There is this popular belief that mankind messed up. We were given a test. Should we choose correctly, we would remain in a relationship with God, completely dependent on Him. But if we choose wrong, we would end up cast out from a relationship with Him and left to eventually die, unless God were to intervene. This test was made known through the two trees in the midst of the Garden; the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of course, as we've all been made to understand, mankind messed up and made the wrong choice. This is absolutely ridiculous!

Let's start with the fact that God is the creator of the very reality in which we exist. All existence comes from God. The very idea that God would create a life form, from the infinite possibilities of what He could create, that would be capable of messing up, if He did not want them to mess up, is absolute fantasy. If God did not want man to sin, man never would've sinned. When the serpent told Eve she would become like God, the serpent was speaking in reference to knowledge, not some form of godly power capable of messing up God's plan.

Also, the idea that God was testing man to see if he would remain loyal is just as ridiculous. In everything that God created, He said that it 'was all very good.' There was nothing God created that could possibly tempt man away from God. By introducing the tree of knowledge, with the commandment not to eat from it, creates the very condition where disloyalty becomes possible. Meaning, God creates the very thing to cause disloyalty. This is illogical. If He did not want man to be tempted, He would not have created the potential for it.

So why the tree of knowledge then?

A relationship requires the freedom to either accept or to refuse. For such a choice to be realized requires what we understand as freewill. Freewill, at it's very essence, is the freedom to deny God, to deny our very creator. It is what enables our moral agency, the capacity to discern between good and evil, right and wrong, and to act accordingly. So naturally, in order to have freewill, one must posses the knowledge of good and evil. This is knowledge that neither Adam or Eve had prior to the fall, Gen 3:5, Gen 3:22.

For God to establish the possibility of a relationship means allowing man freewill. To allow man freewill means allowing man the knowledge of good and evil. However, this comes at a cost. God is Just by nature and cannot act contrary to His nature. This means any evil that is committed must be punished. The punishment for evil is spiritual death, separation from God. This, of course, creates a dilemma. How does God allow man freewill while upholding His Divine justice?

Christ Jesus!

God resolves this dilemma through Jesus. God takes upon Himself the punishment for sin in the person of Jesus. Through His sacrifice, mankind is forgiven making it possible to enter into a relationship with God.

It should also be understood that you cannot know the character/nature of God without evil. God Is good, but how are you to know good if you don't know it's opposite? You need it's opposite from which to distinguish what is good. How were Adam and Eve to know God wasn't evil, or that the serpent wasn't good? Surely, had Eve known the serpent wasn't good, she wouldn't have listened to him. Adan and Eve had no way of recognizing the goodness of God until they experienced the absence of God, until they experienced evil.

Sin was no accident. It was necessary so that the goodness of God could be known. Likewise, the crucifixion was also a part of God's divine plan. It was necessary in order to deal with the penalty for the sin that God had to allow. It was all predestined, as captured beautifully by Paul in Eph 1:4-10.

Now, don't misunderstand... God does not will sin! Nor does He take pleasure in it. But in His infinite wisdom, He knew that allowing sin would create the context in which humanity could experience His goodness, grace, and love. The fall wasn't a breakdown in God's plan, it was the very road in which that plan would be fulfilled.

All that power and wealth that comes with being a member of Congress seems like it was not enough.

So I was thinking about this verse, because it contradicts what is written elsewhere in the Bible, that there is water above and below the earth.

It turns out that the word translated as “nothing” - Blimah or Belimah or however you prefer it - is the opposite of Hokmah or Chokmah - which means wisdom. Furthermore, it is related to Balaam, a fool so foolish he was rebuked by a donkey.

Source:


So I think the correct interpretation of this is that while the earth is above the waters in the physical sense, it is above foolishness in the spiritual sense.

In reply to journalists’ questions last night as he left Castel Gandolfo, which he now regularly visits, Pope Leo XIV described what his typical Tuesday day off is like.

The pontiff shared that he does “a little reading, a little work. Every day there is correspondence, phone calls; there are some matters that are perhaps more important, more recent. A little tennis, a little swimming.”

A passionate tennis fan since childhood, the Holy Father in May received at the Vatican Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, currently ranked second in the world (behind Carlos Alcaraz) and at that time was ranked first.

When asked why he needs these moments of rest, Leo XIV emphasized on Nov. 19 that “to take good care of yourself, human beings… everyone, should do some activity for the body, the soul, all together.”

Continued below.

“The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience,” a $5 million, 10,000-square-foot museum on the chancery campus of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California, opened to visitors Wednesday.

The museum is presented by Papaian Studios in partnership with the Diocese of Orange and Othonia Inc., an international team of specialists dedicated to exploring and sharing the mystery of the Shroud of Turin.

The 90-minute experience introduces visitors to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, with a special focus on the Shroud of Turin, which many believe to be the burial cloth of Christ.

Inspired by the advanced technology incorporated in “Van Gogh Exhibition: The Immersive Experience” and the “Immersive King Tut,” the museum features 360-degree projection-room theaters as well as shroud replicas, interactive kiosks, a life-sized corpus, and a variety of artwork.

Continued below.

What does this look like in our world today? And what does it look like in the USA where I live? I don’t have enough knowledge to answer the first question as well as I would like, but I do know that Christians are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ and for their testimonies for him in nations all over the globe. But the persecution of Christians can take on many different forms depending on where people are located throughout the earth. For not all persecution is physical. Much of it is intimidation.

In the USA where I live, physical persecution is not common, although I cannot say that it does not exist. The persecution here is primarily via intimidation, i.e. via shaming, mocking, rejecting, opposing, and casting aside as unnecessary and as unwanted all who stand on the truth of the gospel message, who will not compromise with the world, and who expose the fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are. For we don’t fit in with the modern notion of what it looks like to be a believer in Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the nations in an uproar, and the peoples devising a vain thing here in the USA can include many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ and those who promote Jesus as Lord and Savior, and who push the need to believe in Jesus and to become a Christian. And there seems to be a huge push in today’s culture to believe in Jesus and to become a Christian. But there is a catch to it all. From what I have seen, most of them are not teaching the gospel of Christ but a gospel of man made to look good.

For the devil is very clever. So he created a Jesus and a gospel and a Christianity made to appear genuine, but altered to be more acceptable to human flesh and to the ungodly of the world. Therefore, he led many people who are professing faith in Jesus Christ to take many Scriptures out of context and to twist them and to make them say what they do not say if taught in the correct context, to make the lies he is spreading appear to be biblical truth, but they are not truth, but a mixture of lies and truth.

So, outwardly, we have the impression that this country, and other countries, too, are on fire for Jesus Christ, and that people by the thousands, and perhaps millions, are now believing in Jesus Christ for salvation from sin and for eternal life with God, and who are being publicly baptized with water in profession of their faith. And we are being given the impression that a great revival is breaking out because thousands upon thousands of people are gathering and they are singing songs of worship of our Lord.

Could some of this be genuine? Yes! But from all outward appearance, and from what gospel is being popularly taught these days, especially in these large gatherings, I would speculate that a lot of what is being made to look like biblical Christianity and genuine salvations and genuine worship of God is far from what the Scriptures teach if taught in their correct biblical context. For faith in Jesus must come from God, and it must be persuaded of God as to his holiness and of our sinfulness and of our need to die with Christ to sin and to now walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands.

We cannot just make a verbal confession of Christ as Savior and now we are saved and on our way to heaven. For if our faith in Jesus Christ is of God, and not of human flesh, it will result in us dying to sin and now walking (in conduct) in obedience to our Lord’s commands, in practice. And worship of God is not just singing songs of worship, but it is giving our lives to God as living sacrifices to God, holy and pleasing to him, in death to sin and walks of obedience, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as servants of the Lord.

But by the devil convincing the masses that all they have to do is to make a profession of faith in Jesus, in who he was/is, and in what he did in dying for our sin and rising from the dead, and that now all their sins are forgiven, and they are on their way to heaven, this is how the people are devising a vain thing, and many are taking their stand against the Lord by teaching lies as truth and truth as lies, and by turning many people to a false hope of salvation and eternal life with God, while hell and not heaven awaits them.

But 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).

[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]

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907
Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!

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The Peoples Devising a Vain Thing
An Original Work / November 19, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations has called on the international body to remove Reem Alsalem from her position as U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls after she denied evidence that Hamas weaponized sexual violence against Israelis during its terrorist attacks two years ago.

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., declared in a Saturday statement on social media that “[a]ny U.N. representative who denies Hamas rape must be removed from their post. Period.”

“This is a moral disgrace, an insult to the victims and their families, and a violation of every basic international standard. Israel will not allow Hamas' horrific crimes to be whitewashed,” Danon continued.

Following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre that resulted in the slaughter of at least 1,200 people — including Americans — and the abduction of over 240 others, survivors of the attack and former hostages have shared stories about the sexual assaults and rapes the terror group committed against women.

Continued below.

I’m a NZ-born believer living in a tiny Tokyo apartment; the sunrise just crept over the neighbourhood roofs and made me homesick for big skies and real-coffee chat. So, worldwide friends, hit reply with one sentence: what can you see outside your window right now—and does it make you smile, sigh, or pray? Photos welcome (but no pressure). Let’s swap snapshots and small talk that might grow into bigger friendship. Grace, bob121 – Tokyo

Pope Leo XIV is defending the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ message opposing what he characterized as the “extremely disrespectful” treatment of illegal immigrants being deported by the Trump administration. His comments come as border czar Tom Homan continues to defend the federal government’s actions and reiterate earlier allegations of hypocrisy by the Catholic Church.

In response to reporters seeking his comment on the USCCB’s “Special Message” on immigration Tuesday, the pontiff said, “We have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have.”

“If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts; there’s a system of justice. I think there are a lot of problems in the system. No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter,” he stressed.

Continued below.

Co-Sufferers (Imitatio Christi): Christians are called to participate in the suffering of Christ. Personal suffering is utilized as a means of purification (removing self-will and sin) and spiritual growth. By uniting one's own pain to the Passion, it ceases to be meaningless and becomes a source of grace for oneself and others.

Is this a Biblical understanding?

Over the weekend, Skillet’s rendition of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” trended on X, rocketing into the No.1 spot on iTunes’ rock and Christmas charts. The track also broke into iTunes’ Top 5 in the all genre category.

“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is the Christian rock band’s first ever Christmas song and has been viewed over 702,000 times on X. But not everyone is excited about song. In fact, some are even calling it “demonic” and something “the devil” would sound like if he “sang hymns.”

The award-winning band starts its rendition of the classic hymn like most would probably expect, with piano, melodic vocals, soft drum beats, and accompanying guitars. Then at the three-minute mark of the song, Skillet reminds their fans who is singing.

Continued below.

China has announced a major breakthrough in advanced nuclear energy. It has successfully achieved the first-ever conversion of thorium into uranium fuel within a Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR).

The Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) confirmed that it has secured valid experimental data after loading the reactor with thorium, as reported by Global Times.

The experimental TMSR built by SINAP, in cooperation with other Chinese institutions, is a unique facility. It currently stands as the only operational molten-salt reactor in the world that is actively loaded with and testing thorium fuel.

Experts have long viewed thorium reactors as the next leap in energy innovation. Some scientists estimate that a single thorium-rich mine in Inner Mongolia could theoretically supply China’s energy needs for tens of thousands of years with far less radioactive waste than current uranium-based reactors.

In an interview on “100 Huntley Street,” apologist Wes Huff discussed what he believes has contributed to the recent wave of faith deconstruction stories.

“100 Huntley Street” is a Canadian television show that “tells the amazing stories of people who have had life-changing encounters with God,” according to its website.

Wes Huff is the vice president of Apologetics Canada. He is currently working on a Ph.D. in New Testament at the University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College, and he regularly posts YouTube videos discussing theology and apologetics.

Faith deconstruction has been a subject of conversation among evangelicals for several years, as a number of high-profile Christian influencers have shared about changes in their faith. Some, including YouTubers Rhett and Link and pastor and author Josh Harris, have left the Christian faith entirely.

Continued below.

After the largest crackdown on Christians in 40 years, 18 church leaders of Zion Church—one of China’s largest underground church networks—have been formally arrested in China. While the number of arrests is far fewer than the 30 detained last month, the aggressive action is raising global concern.

The action is a “brutal violation of freedom of religion, which is written into the Chinese constitution,” according to Sean Long, one of Zion Church’s pastors.

Underground Church Leaders Formally Arrested as China Cracks Down on Christians​

Jin Mingri (also known as Ezra Jin) graduated from Peking University and witnessed the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. That experience led Jin to convert to Christianity. He later earned his doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary in California.

Continued below.

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (1207–1231) was a princess renowned for her deep piety, charity, and love for the poor. Married young to Ludwig IV of Thuringia, she lived a life of prayer and generous service, using her royal resources to found hospitals, feed the hungry, and care personally for the sick. After Ludwig’s death during a crusade, Elizabeth embraced even greater austerity, placing herself under spiritual direction and devoting her widowhood entirely to works of mercy. Though she faced misunderstanding and hardship, her unwavering compassion and humility won widespread admiration. She died at just twenty-four, and her sanctity was quickly recognized, making her one of the Church’s most beloved models of Christian charity.

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Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen told Fox News Digital that two accused murderers are now roaming through the community.
"It was bad enough that an accused murderer with a violent past was let out of custody, now there are two. The odds of re-offense or fleeing from justice just doubled. People’s lives ride on those odds," Rosen said.

It's a lack of compassion or a lack of common sense or both.

This shows the clear difference between conservatives and their opponents. Conservatives typically want debate and discussion, President Trump spends hours answering questions from the press. Opponents often call names and often wish to control or shut down those with different ideologies.

A Christian worship organization has filed a lawsuit against Quebec City, alleging that the Canadian municipality wrongfully canceled an event featuring American worship leader and activist Sean Feucht at the last minute last summer.

Burn 24/7 Canada Worship Ministries alleges in a suit filed Nov. 14 in Quebec Superior Court that Quebec City violated "constitutional and quasi-constitutional guarantees" by terminating their event featuring Feucht at ExpoCité, a city-owned venue, according to the CBC.

Quebec City, which was among eight Canadian cities that canceled stops along Feucht's "Revive in 25" tour, terminated the organization's ExpoCité contract on July 23, the day before Feucht was slated to perform, citing reputational concerns given his political opinions.

Continued below.

Nearly 8,000 people attended the Harvest Crusade event at the Utah university where conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk was killed in September, with around 2,100 making professions of faith.

Pastor Greg Laurie headlined the Evangelical gathering at Utah Valley University on Sunday, known as "Hope for America." The event was held at the campus basketball arena and livestreamed at 67 participating churches.


In addition to Laurie sharing a Gospel message, the event also featured worship music by notable contemporary Christian musicians Phil Wickham and Chris Tomlin.

More than 7,800 people were in attendance at the arena, according to Harvest, and more than 210,000 watched on the livestream.

The event began with a video honoring Kirk, the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder who was killed on Sept. 10. while speaking on campus.

Continued below.

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Ryan James Wedding (Wedding), alongside nine individuals and nine entities closely associated with him. Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder for Team Canada, is one of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. He is an extremely violent criminal believed to be responsible for the murder of numerous people abroad, including U.S. citizens. Wedding remains a fugitive from justice, currently hiding in Mexico, where he continues to direct drug trafficking, murder, and other serious criminal activities.

Anyone who interferes in U.S. government operations to apprehend them or their employees should be charged.

I may forget the names of my children.

I may even forget my wife’s name.

But I’ll never forget the events of the evening of February 3rd, 2008.

It was Super Bowl Sunday, the final minute ticking away. After years of praying and losing and praying… and losing, it looked like my beloved Giants were about to submit again—to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

But there was hope.

This year my friends insisted I root for the Patriots. And there was good reason: since forever, every team I’ve ever supported has gone down in flames. Yet another reason I’m such a “huge” football fan.

But I’m a good sport.

So I swallowed my pride and threw myself fully into my new identity as a die-hard Bostonian. I cheered for the Patriots with theatrical passion, in everyone’s face with every Brady success, rubbing noses in every Giants failure. I’d shout “GO PATRIOTS!!” anytime the room went quiet, which wasn’t often, because this was a full-blown Super Bowl party packed with rabid fans.

Like me.

Continued below.

In a previous article, I looked at the mysterious text that introduces the Flood narrative in Genesis 6. It involves the “sons of God” marrying the “daughters of men,” and it mentions a group known as the Nephilim. It also involves several other matters, and I identified seven mysteries to solve:

1) Who are the “sons of God” in this passage?

2) Who are the “daughters of men”?

3) Why does God say that man’s “days shall be 120 years”?

4) Who were the Nephilim?

5) What is the relationship joining the sons of God, the daughters of men, and the Nephilim?

6) Why does the text say the Nephilim were on the earth “in those days, and also afterward”?

7) Do these events have anything to do with the Great Flood, which this passage introduces?

In the previous post, we were able to solve one of these mysteries (number 4): based on the way the Nephilim and their descendants are described in the biblical text, they appear to have been people who were unusually tall, or “giants.”

But now let’s see if we can answer more of these questions. The one I’d like to focus on first is Question 3, or why God said that man’s “days shall be 120 years.”

Some have taken this to be a declaration that man’s lifespan would decrease from the centuries-long lifespans of the pre-Flood patriarchs (Gen. 5). This is possible, but there are problems with the proposal.

Continued below.

Recently, I was reading some of the hymns from the Midnight Office of the Byzantine Rite, and the following one from the third tone of the Sunday octoechos particularly caught my attention:

In days of old, Elijah ordered that water be poured three times over the wood and the sacrifice; thus, he manifested a symbol of the Three Hypostases of the one and divine Lordship.

This is a commentary on a passage from 1 Kings 18, in which the prophet Elijah challenges 450 prophets of the pagan God Baal to a contest on Mount Carmel. Each side prepares a bull on an altar without lighting a fire:

Then Elias bade the people come near; and when they were standing close to him, he began repairing the altar of the Lord, which was broken down. Twelve stones he took, one for each tribe that sprang from the sons of Jacob, to whom the divine voice gave the surname of Israel; and with these stones he built up the altar again, calling on the Lord's name as he did it. Then he made a trench around the altar of some two furrows breadth; piled the wood high, cut the bull into joints, and laid these on the wood. Now, he said, fill four buckets with water, and pour it over victim and wood alike. And again he bade them do it, and when they had finished a third time. The water was running all around the altar, and the trench he had dug for it was full. (1 Kings 18, 30-35)

He then calls on their god to send flames from heaven to consume the sacrifice. Elijah, needless to say, prevails, calling upon God who consumes altar, bull and water with fire.

Here are examples of artistic depictions of this scene that I found. There weren’t many to choose from, so this is pretty much all of them!

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There is an important narrative that many Catholic educators neglect to present to their students when introducing, teaching, and discussing the Catholic faith. The narrative in question is typically associated with the following question: Why did Jesus come? The nature of this Incarnational question is fundamental because it connects all human beings to the Father by way of the Son, who is both human and divine, and the Word made flesh. If we were to develop a direct and simple response to the proposed question, it would be something as follows:

“Jesus came because God loves us and has a desire to know us more intimately by way of His Son, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. He wants us to know Him and trust him and was willing to reveal Himself to us through his son, even though he did not have to. He first loved us before we loved him, and in loving us, provided us with a path to know and love Him and our neighbor more intimately.”

The nature of any instructional setting should resemble a community of disciples and not a classroom of students. The development of the Christian message involves the Christian proposal to seek the love of God in all things and reciprocate that love to God and your neighbor. A fundamental point in the aim of Christian instruction is the instruction in Christian living. The premise of a Catholic school or parish school of religion is to introduce, affirm, and provide the opportunity to live an authentic Christian life first, through a process of how to communicate with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Hence, the moment a student enters the community (classroom), he is inundated with an atmosphere of joyful welcoming where the Catholic educator in the Catholic school or parish school of religion emanates a genuine love for Jesus Christ that is both intriguing and infectious to the student.

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A group of Democrat lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds released a video Tuesday urging service members to "refuse illegal orders," a message conservatives blasted as a call to defy President Donald Trump and his Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

The one-minute video, posted by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and viewed more than 1.6 million times, features six lawmakers invoking their prior service while telling members of the military and intelligence community that "the threats to our Constitution are coming from right here at home."

Slotkin and her colleagues have spent recent weeks introducing legislation to limit President Trump’s ability to deploy National Guard members domestically or launch military action against narcoterrorists without congressional approval.

None of that context appears in the video, titled "Don’t Give Up the Ship," which instead frames the appeal as a warning to military members to "stand up for our laws" and "refuse unlawful orders."

Continued below.