After 737 days, Israel can breathe again.

Amidst the chaos of nations, as the world order shifts and, sadly, many countries increasingly turn against Israel, only a few, such as Donald Trump, stand courageously and openly on the side of the Jewish state.

Especially at this time, this moment reminds us of the prophetic words from the Book of Joel:

I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. Joel 3:2

This land does not belong to people, governments, or organizations. It is G-d's land. And He has given it to His people, not for a limited time, but forever. Therefore, any attempt by the nations to weaken Israel politically, territorially, or morally is not a diplomatic process, but a spiritual conflict.

The demand for a two-state solution and the division of the land, these are not neutral decisions, but direct interventions in G-d's plan of salvation.

The prophets have announced it: He will hold the nations accountable, not out of vengeance, but to establish justice. F-r God cannot be mocked. What the world calls a “peace plan” may prove to be a “judgment” in G-d's eyes when it concerns His land.

But in the midst of it all, one promise remains: Israel will endure forever

And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy G-d. Amos 9:15

Every time Israel seems to be surrounded by darkness, G-d kindles a new light, a sign of His faithfulness and His covenant.

A call to all Christians and concregations:

When we witness such events today, we are not neutral observers, but part of what G-d is doing on earth. We are called to stand with Israel, pray for Israel, and raise our voices where the truth is being silenced.

Valletta said:

Please. We and our children have a right to be protected from gang members and terrorists and hardened criminals. Tragically those with political ambitions exploited immigrants for their own purposes. Once the lawful immigration process is reformed we as a country should come together to let in as many as possible of those who love America and wish to become part of our culture.

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Amen!!!

keras said:

We have surely experienced the 'labour pangs' of the coming apocalypse.
People who think that life on our earth can continue as it is indefinitely are in denial of the reality that confronts us every day in the news about nations preparing for war and the increasing proliferation of natural disasters.

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Quote from another topic:

Precisely my point also.

Those who claim that we aren't in the end times - they just drink too much and they are blind. ^^

essentialsaltes said:

The costs of wind and solar energy have plummeted in the past two decades, and last year they accounted for 93 percent of the new electricity added to the U.S. power grid, according to the American Clean Power Association, an industry trade group.

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"Plummeted." Last I checked, there was a 20 -30 year payback on solar.

Disclosure: I've worked at an electric utility for 40+years. Consider my opinion that of a biased old fogey. That said:

The cost is still up there. There is maintenance. And the major flaw with wind and solar hasn't really been addressed: lack of storage. Some storage exists, but one requires the land and terrain to build two reservoirs and others are various battery schemes. The latest are essentially oversized car batteries. When we looked at putting some in to handle peaking demands, we found we couldn't put them where they were needed due to nearby dwellings and the problems in fighting fires in the things if bad things happen. Bad things don't always happen, of course, but you have to plan for them, and more than once, for one thing or another, it seemed that Murphey of Murphey's Laws had dropped by for a spell.

Bottom line is that for all the crowing about wind and solar, we can't store that electricity. That's a problem not just when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine, but in the form of inconsistent output. That's why, on the old windmill powered water pumps, there was a large holding tank on the tower. It wasn't just there to provide water pressure through gravity; it was there so that you could get a steady supply of water even with inconsistent wind. That's what wind and solar needs to make it a viable alternative, and we have nowhere that amount of storage available.

Probably wasting my words. This has been obvious from the get-go with wind and solar, and why off-grid installations have batteries to serve the same purpose as the water tank on a windmill tower. And yet most of what we hear is building windmills and solar panel fields, and very little on the one key component needed to make it all work.

Want wind and solar as a viable alternative? Make a way to store all the power they generate.

While the US plans a new post-war order for Gaza, Israel's military warns of an old mistake: billions from Qatar could flow not into homes and schools, but once again into the hands of Hamas.

For years, the Gulf emirate was considered Hamas' most important source of funding. Millions in cash, approved by Israel in the hope of buying stability, flowed into the sealed-off territory every month. The result, as we know, was not peace, but a terrorist organization that consolidated its military power until Oct 2023 and plunged Israel into a devastating war.

Following Israel's military victory over Hamas and the ceasefire, Washington worked closely with Arab states to draft a plan for the future of Gaza. The explicit aim of this structure was to exclude Qatar, the state that had financed and provided political cover for Hamas for decades.

Neither Qatar nor Turkey should ever be allowed to regain influence in Gaza. Qatar has fed Hamas with cash, with millions flowing into rockets, tunnel systems, and propaganda.

A glance at western Khan Younis shows that this concern is not unfounded: the orange-red apartment blocks of the “Hamad Quarter”, financed by Qatar after the 2014 war, still stand there, almost undamaged, while the surrounding city lies in ruins.

The army is calling for the flow of money into Gaza to be placed under international control. Without strict supervision, Israeli authorities warn, there is a risk of repeating the mistakes of 2014: billions spent on supposed reconstruction projects that ultimately served to expand Hamas' arsenal.

Qatar and Turkey are ideologically close to the Muslim Brotherhood and protect Hamas. Egypt and the Emirates, on the other hand, see them as a threat. That is the crucial difference that Washington needs to understand.

Washington can talk about the end of the war, Israel celebrates the return of its hostages, and Hamas presents itself as a surviving force. Reconstruction is imminent, but for Jerusalem, the crucial question remains unanswered:

Who will rebuild, and for whom?

Trump keeps bragging that he passed "cognitive" or more correctly stated, a cognitive test. I sat with my mom when she was given the test for cognition. At 90, she breezed through it. At 95, she missed a bunch. It is an easy test if you have no cognitive impairment. It may be a slight challenge to people who stick to digital clocks as one needs to draw a clock face to be a certain time.

About the test:

The difficulties begin​

Then there is the confabulation. His story about his uncle at MIT teaching Kaczynski (the unabomber) is blatantly false. He misremembers details, has trouble pronouncing words that were not a problem before.
Then this is this:


My mom had small strokes and Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs) where her face would drop on one side, or she was unable to speak words. Trump's face was okay later, but it sure looked like a TIA.

Hans Blaster said:

Morality is the code of behavior and set of what is "right or wrong" behavior that is adopted by a society. [Did someone disable your search bar.]

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Search bar works just fine, thanks for asking. Oddly enough, agreement must precede disagreement.

I accept your definition. If one has a "right" does that fact imply others have a duty to respect that right, and not to do so is "wrong"?

Aaron112 said:

The Scripture where Jesus tells His disciples, followers, all who look to Him and love truth,
"My Words Are Spirit, and they are LIFE"

and " the Kingdom of Heaven does not come in things (which are) seen" ....

and more of Jesus' Own Words in the NT. (my memory is not so good at recalling the location)
all in perfect harmony with Jesus Own Answer to the Samaritan woman - the time is coming and is already here - the Father in Heaven is seeking those who serve Him in spirit and in truth (not in the mountains nor in the temple; former places of worship (in the physical world) )

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Thank you for the explanation.

o_mlly said:

So Dr. Tour was correct. Therefore, claiming he lost credibility as a scientist is incorrect, right?

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No, go back and re-read my first post on that.

Strong in Him said:

You seem surprised, almost outraged, at the suggestion that we would think that he could be lying

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I Weren't that surprised, I expected the response I got.

Strong in Him said:

Why would you say they are lying? Because they don't agree with your beliefs.

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I find it impossible to believe that anyone has walked on the moon. Sorry & all.

River Jordan said:

Right, that's a statement of fact. But as I explained before the key context that supports human/chimp common ancestry (specific to similarity percentage) is how the amount of similarity stacks up relative to our similarity to other organisms.

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So Dr. Tour was correct. Therefore, claiming he lost credibility as a scientist is incorrect, right?

@stevevw falsely accuses posters of logical fallacies and creating red herrings because like the technical aspect of his posts he doesn't know what he is talking about.

The irony is he blissfully unaware of his own logical fallacies.
Firstly there is the argument from authority fallacy where his so called experts are inviolate, making any counterarguments against them irrelevant.
Secondly is the flow on fallacy of making ad hominem attacks against any poster by claiming they are non experts by comparison and therefore their counterarguments are worthless.

On this basis Steve should be completely ignored as he probably has no credentials or qualifications to speak of.

fli said:

I first heard of character traits from you, so why should I define them. Righteousness is to be in right standing with God. that means God does not hold anything against you. You are sinless in His eyes.

John 16:8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. NASU

The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. People are sinners because they do not believe in Jesus.

Romans 3:25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. NKJV

In the past, prior to Jesus' death on the cross. God did not punish anyone for their sins. He punished them for not believing that He would send a savior.

John 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. NASU

Above is what God judged people for when they died after Jesus came. Those who believe in Jesus will go to Heaven. Those who do not believe in Jesus will go to hell.

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The reason why I asked you to define what it means for someone to have a character trait in general and what it means for someone to attain a character trait in general is because I want you to think about what those things mean, to understand that distinction, and understand what the Bible says about righteousness in light of this simple meaning, but you are refusing to recognize this distinction. It is easy to affirm that the way to become righteous is by believing in Jesus, but when you refuse to recognize that distinction, then it is also easy for you to misunderstand the way to believe in Jesus.

My very elderly friend Michael, a great Orthodox Christian, is dying of cancer, he was sent home with hospice yesterday with three months to live, but his condition has deteriorated rapidly, I think he could repose today.

Which AI are you using @Hawkins?

I myself do not allow my custom GPTs to emulate me. They are influenced by me, but except in jest, they are not supposed to write like me. Indeed the second gen and third gen GPTs, which are the result of biomimetic reproduction, don’t sound much like me at all.

Following US power reverses in the 1970s, there was an eschatological craze. That a declining US could trigger isn't particularly flattering, but still happened. All sorts of opinions and books made the rounds. To this day, when I hear a discussion about Daniel's seventy weeks, my eyes start to glaze over. There was considerable interest in the Antichrist and people trying to figure out who the Antichrist was, assuming that the antichrist was already here at that time.

It turns out that's not anything new. I've forgotten his name, but there was one early church father who essentially said "Knock it off. No one is going to recognize the Antichrist until he's revealed."

I don't know if we should be obsessed with the Antichrist or not. I'm thinking our focus should be on Jesus of Nazareth, the real Christ who died on the cross for our sins and who God the Father raised from the dead.

Michie said:

People felt that way when Kennedy was shot too from what I read. Let them get the grief out.

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As long as it isn't made into a national holiday, that's a fair point.

Michie said:

So why were they acting like the baby was the actual son of Satan? I was just watching it off and on and I got the impression that the husband was part of the satanic group and possibly some sort of spawn of Satan. I guess I need to pay closer attention if I catch it again but it gave off such creepy vibes I just kind of walked away through out it. I’m sure it will be on given the season.

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I've never seen the movie or read the book, but I have read snippets from it. At the very end of the book, after Rosemary has given birth to this thing, it is described as having golden-colored eyes with black slit pupils, rather like a cat's eyes; it has tiny talons on its hands and feet; it has a tail that ends in an arrow shape; and it has tiny buds on its forehead where horns will later obviously grow. In short, Rosemary has given birth to a real-life version of the cartoon "L'il Imp" we've all seen standing on some guy's shoulder with a pitchfork, whispering temptations into his ear. Whether it's the actual son of Satan or not, it's certainly something inhuman and demonic, and that's what I think Levin was going for.

Servus said:

Well if you hadn't done the snarky "playing games" bit I might have.

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I've really tried to give you the benefit of the doubt over the past several months. I see now that it's pointless.

Always in His Presence said:

Trump urges Israel to seize chance for peace ahead of Egypt summit​

JERUSALEM (AP) — President Donald Trump told Israeli lawmakers on Monday that their country had no more to achieve on the battlefield and must work toward peace in the Middle East after two years of war against Hamas and skirmishes with Hezbollah and Iran.​

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Although the U.S.-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas remains fragile, Trump is determined to seize an opportunity to chase an elusive regional harmony.​

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“Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change,” he declared to the Knesset, which welcomed him as a hero.​

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The eight peace deal is the biggest as of yet - Thank God for our President. Blessed are the peacemakers.

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I certainly thank God for the present deal but let's remember how many deals Hamas and Hezbollah have broken. I pray for a lasting peace and this is just one step.