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

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.

Sandy Schaetz still mourns the baby she never met.

“It was terrifying and traumatic,” she said of her miscarriage. “I was consoled after by the prayers of a deacon, but never named the baby or knew if it was a boy or girl.”

“It was not something I understood at the time and I only wish I had known more of what was happening,” she told CNA.

Now, Schaetz volunteers with Compassionate Burials for Indigent Babies (CBIB), an organization that buries babies who died, whether stillborn, miscarried, or aborted.

The group organizes everything for the funerals, which are held at a crypt at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in New Orleans.

A shoebox-sized casket lined with donated white fabric, usually from wedding dresses, is processed through the cemetery, with Knights of Columbus present as the honor guard. A volunteer musician plays at every funeral; a Catholic deacon presides at almost every burial.

Continued below.

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.

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.

Very unfortunate for Abbott and Texas Republicans. And I guess the GOP overall.

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Long time lurker, finally signed up to participate! Thanks @tampasteve for fixing my registration!

The professor decided to take over the first meeting of a legally formed campus group. She used her power as a professor to try and bully the students, and not knowing who they were, called them racists. What she could have and should have done is sit down and join in civil discussion. Confrontation and violent rhetoric will not solve anything nor have a good outcome.

Not a good look for an already controversial organization.

Bill and Hillary Clinton delay depositions in House Oversight panel’s Jeffrey Epstein probe​

The Clintons have pushed back their deposition dates for the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

​

Back ground info from AI

In August 2025, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), issued deposition subpoenas to Bill and Hillary Clinton as part of a broader investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and connections.
• The subpoenas also targeted former U.S. Attorneys General, FBI Directors, and Department of Justice records related to Epstein.

Response and Compliance
• As of mid-November 2025, neither Clinton has complied with the subpoenas. Comer stated that his committee had not heard back from them and warned that continued silence could lead to criminal referrals, similar to the treatment of Steve Bannon for defying a congressional subpoena.

Why the stone walling? What are they afraid of?

Today, we thank God for His humble maidservant St. Elizabeth of Hungry.

Our Great Heritage: Elizabeth of Hungary​

A voice cries in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight the way in the desert
For a highway for our God.

“The glory of the Lord our God,
Revealed, it now shall become,
And all people will now see it,
For the Lord has spoken it.”

A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said,
“What shall I cry?,” I know not.
“All people, they are just like grass,
Their faithfulness like flowers.

“The grass, it withers, flowers fall,
Because God’s breath blows on them.
Surely the people are like grass,
But the word of God endures.”

You who bring good news to Zion,
Go up on a high mountain.
Now lift up your voice with a shout,
Lift it up, don’t be afraid.

Say to the people everywhere,
“Here is your God!” Do you see?
The Sovereign Lord comes with power,
He rules with a mighty arm.

See, His reward now is with Him,
His reward now goes with Him.
He tends His flock like a shepherd,
For our Shepherd, that is Him!

He gathers us now in His arms,
Close to His heart, we all are;
He gently leads us where to go.
We who love Him follow Him.

Based off Isaiah 40:3-11
An Original Work / November 19, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

"The spike in arson attacks is particularly prominent: A total of 94 arson incidents targeted churches and other Christian sites — one-third of which occurred in Germany.

France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Austria recorded the highest number of anti-Christian incidents overall. While most attacks were directed at places of worship, OIDAC Europe recorded 274 personal attacks against Christians in 2024, including assaults and threats."

"Among the report’s findings are several severe cases, including the killing of a 76-year-old monk in Spain in November 2024 and the near-destruction of a historic church in Saint-Omer, France, by fire in September 2024."

New report shows anti-Christian hate crimes in Europe reached 2,211 in 2024

Hello all,

Can I ask that you please direct me to some scripture or lead me in prayer re: a debilitating fear I have had my whole life - carcinophobia.

It is a distracting phobia that robs me of my joy in life and distracts me from Christ due to anxiety, worry, fear, rumination etc.

Thank you all for your help, as always, God bless.

Calling it one of the largest child-recovery operations in U.S. history, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that 122 children were rescued from child predators and abusers in a U.S. Marshals-led statewide operation billed “Operation Home for the Holidays.”

“We're excited to announce this rescue effort [of] 122 kids that were reported missing. They're now back in our custody,” Uthmeier said during a press conference Monday. “Many have been through the unthinkable. They've been trafficked. They've been exploited. They've been abused. They need our help now more than ever.”

Authorities said the rescued children range in age from 2 to 17. Six adults have also been arrested in connection with the operation so far and more are expected. The adults are facing charges ranging from lewd and lascivious behavior to multiple sexual batteries.

Fifty-seven children were rescued in Tampa, 29 in Fort Myers, 22 in Jacksonville, 14 in Orlando, and 13 others were recovered outside the state of Florida. Two of the 13 children were rescued from Mexico and Guatemala.

Florida officials said Operation Home for the Holidays surpassed the scale and success of Operation Dragon Eye, conducted earlier this year.

Continued below.

This is very good news!