From here: Trump administration suing Gavin Newsom over California’s voter-approved redistricting plan – live

Attorney general Pam Bondi called the governor’s effort a “power grab”.

“Abbott should be concerned about keeping Texans safe and shutting down Antifa violence, not rigging his state for political gain,” she added.'

Oops. My bad. She was actually talking about California. I don't know how that happened...but hey, it's still applicable so I won't change it.

Belk said:

I do not find your strawmen and red herrings of interest.

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Well then just take the money and quit complaining and pearl clutching.

essentialsaltes said:

So far the government has alleged only two gang members were among those arrested. This is what required helicopters and zip-tying citizens.

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Reporting Highlights​

• Chicago Raid: Agents rappelled from a helicopter to raid an apartment complex “filled” with Tren de Aragua gangsters. ProPublica found little to support the government’s claims.
• Immigrants Speak Out: Federal officials declined to release the names of 37 immigrants detained in raid. ProPublica has identified 21 of them and spoken with a dozen.
• A Bust? Immigration officials said they arrested just two members of Tren de Aragua. ProPublica talked with one and found no criminal records in his past.

Shortly after midnight on Sept. 30, some 300 agents from Border Patrol, the FBI and other agencies stormed the 130-unit apartment complex. SWAT teams rappelled from a helicopter, knocked down doors and hurled flash-bang grenades. They arrested 37 immigrants, most of them Venezuelans, who authorities say were in the country illegally. Agents also zip-tied and, for several hours, detained many U.S. citizens.

Federal prosecutors have not filed criminal charges against anyone who was arrested. Nor have they revealed any evidence showing that two immigrants arrested in the building belonged to the Tren de Aragua gang, or even provided their names.

That “raises a legitimate question as to whether any of the people in that building were really considered susceptible to prosecution,” said Mark Rotert, a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney in Chicago.

[Propublica identified one of the 'gang members'.] Our review of criminal records indicates that Chicago police arrested Parra for drug possession and driving without a license after a traffic stop last year, but the charges were dropped. We found no other arrest records.

Because of the lack of information provided by DHS, it is difficult to assess the accusations that Parra and another Venezuelan, who has not been named, belong to Tren de Aragua. A DHS spokesperson said one of the two men “was a positive match” on a watch list for terrorists. We checked several lists of alleged gang members that are kept by Venezuelan law enforcement officials and the international law enforcement agency Interpol; Parra’s name was not on those lists.

Nathan Howard, a U.S. citizen, was asleep in a fifth-floor apartment when the raid began. He saw the helicopter and the agents storming into the building from a stairwell on the roof. He was temporarily blinded by bright white lights as agents threw a flash-bang inside the apartment.

“It’s 20,000 of them running through my house like we got Saddam Hussein in the closet,” he said.

Cohen, a 40-year law enforcement veteran and former SWAT team member, questioned the decision to have agents descend from helicopters on ropes. Helicopters are routinely used for observation and support during raids. But in cities, the tactics known as rappelling, in which agents are attached to the ropes, and fast-roping, in which they are not attached, are typically reserved for extreme scenarios such as hostage rescues because of the risks of injury to agents and of a helicopter mishap to the public, experts said.

Cohen said he has done hundreds of searches, including in gang-controlled buildings, but “I have never rappelled out of helicopters in those operations.”

rjs330 said:

There aren't any anti-immigrant MAGA folks.

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Nothing says authentic MAGA better than a pardoned Jan 6 Capitol tourist.

He stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Now he's running for Nancy Mace’s seat in Congress.​

As evidenced on his campaign website, Dykes’ platform is built around an anti-immigration stance, blaming immigration for disrupting the housing and job markets and driving down wages.

“We’ve lost control of who enters our community, our state, and our nation. This is a deliberate policy to displace us,” Dykes writes on his website.

Following an investigation by the FBI’s Columbia and Washington field offices, Dykes was arrested in Virginia on July 17, 2023. He pleaded guilty in April 2024 to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and agreed that his use of a police riot shield constituted a dangerous weapon.

BNR32FAN said:

Why didn’t you quote any of the passages that do actually support eternal punishment?

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Some of the scriptures say the Wicked will vanish, disappear, not get life, be destroyed. Wouldn't any of these be considered as eternal punishment?

eleos1954 said:

The kingdom is not a physical place, building, or a mere organization, but a condition of being where God's authority is acknowledged and obeyed. It is characterized by righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

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The Kingdom is not really the subject of this thread though, but the unbiblical “kin-dom”, an idea potentially heretical since God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, three uncreated coequal and coeternal persons sharing the uncreated essence of the Father, ever one God, has no equals; there is no one like God, and His ways are inscrutable.

That said God does have a human mother and human relatives thanks to the the Incarnation, for God the person of the Only begotten Son and Word did take on our human nature by being born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, and thus became consubstantial with us, as reflected in His name Emanuel.

Thus in rejecting the idea of the kin-dom we are rejecting the rejection of the Kingdom and of equality with God and not the idea of biological and consubstantial kinship with God, and also of tampering with the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father.

Hentenza said:

So the body of Christ is the subset of humans that believe in Christ. So now that I have made my utilitarian observations some of the Christians here will argue doctrinal purity according to their denomination to exclude some believers in Christ from the body of Christ. So be it.

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See, this one of the issues I talked about. I didn't necessarily spell it out as such, but can be under the umbrella of number 3 with "quarreling". If the only reason someone wants to debate scripture is because of a denominational practice/belief (which is already divided) then that resides under quarreling. We should be debating theology purely to help each other figure out what "truth" is or correcting someone because there is only one truth and that is God's which isn't subjective. Some doctrine DOES exclude people from the body of Christ because it is false. Believing in false doctrine doesn't somehow make you in the body. The Mormons believe you can be EQUAL to God and that is how Jesus gained his status, does that pure blasphemy make them in the body of Christ? Do you consider them brothers and sisters because CF doesn't. What about Jehovah's Witnesses who believe that Jesus is "a" god as a created Michael the Archangel which isn't who Jesus is at all, so if you claim to follow that created person, are you still in the body of Christ because again, CF says no. There has to come to a point where people ARE excluded because "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven," (Matthew 7:21) but the better attitude should be to debate scripture to correct, or even find out what the truth is. If it's the truth, it would hold up to scrutiny and shouldn't be based on the confines of denominations.

Yup! They need to defend Church teaching and stop allowing this sinful nonsense! Ugh!

St. Peter Damian, pray for us!

Douggg said:

Revelation 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

No way is that mighty angel - Satan.

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2 Cor 11:14

And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.


Rev 12:9

9And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Delvianna said:

I would ask if the Vatican would step in, but aren't they pro-gay and trans now too? I remember something about them deciding to allow gay Priests and such.

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No. Not at all.

Michie said:

In some progressive circles of Christianity in the United States, the term "Kin-dom" has become increasingly used in recent decades as another name for "Kingdom," as in "God's Kin-dom" or "the Kin-dom of Jesus."

At the United Methodist Church General Conference held last year, for example, openly lesbian Bishop Karen Oliveto preached a sermon to delegates that referenced the phrase.

In an article published last month, Presbyterian News Service, the news outlet of the Presbyterian Church (USA), quoted a pastor who spoke of "standing on the kin-dom side of history."

But where does the term come from, and why was it created?

The first confirmed use of the term came from Catholic modernist theologian Ada Maria Isasi Diaz, a theological liberal who spoke of the concept in a 1996 book titled Mujerista Theology: A Theology for the Twenty-first Century.

The phrase has gained popularity among those who seek what they believe is a less patriarchal or imperial description of the Kingdom of God.

Continued below.

What is God’s ‘Kin-dom’?

A look into the origins of the term Kin-dom and the dispute over its validity

www.christianpost.com

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Ugh that’s dreadful and vile. No other word for it seems to come in mind. My only criticism of the contemporary RCC is its failure to, in all instances, censure or repudiate modernists after the fashion of Pope St. Pius X, although back in the day Pope Benedict XVI, memory eternal, and his successor at the CDF, sadly sidelined these days, Gerhard Cardinal Muller, did intervene skillfully on several occasions.

Douggg said:

@tranquil

On your chart, what day of the 7 years does the 1335 days end on ?



View attachment 373049

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The graph indicates that the Daniel 9:27 covenant is made 30 days after the abomination in Jerusalem -

30 days after the start of the 1290 days. The covenant is 'cutting the great tribulation short'.

The 1260 days of the 2 witnesses are the exact 1st half of the covenant. It is occurring after the abomination in Jerusalem but before the abomination in Mystery Babylon ('Shinar' in Zech 5).

The end of the 1290 days is the mid-point of the 7 year covenant (1260 days into it). The end of the 1290 days is the 7th Trumpet.

Day 1335 is the 45th day into the '2nd half' of the 7 year covenant. The 2nd half (1260 days) is cut short to 45 days.

Jipsah said:

I have yet to figure out the obsession that so many Christians have with Spacemen and Flying Saucers. And the apparent compulsion so many seem to have to include those Spacemen and Flying Saucers in the Christian Faith

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And he will open his mouth in blaspheme against God, to blaspheme God's name, and His tabernacle (God's tabernacle is outside of the sky) and them that dwell in heaven (outside of the sky)
Revelation 13:6. Is telling us that the beast will speak blaspheme about what is outside of the sky.

He cast down some of the host of the stars and trampled on them....
He cast down the truth to the ground.
Daniel 8:10,12

Prophetically we therefore see truth related to the stars being cast down.

Say it aint so said:

This is a case of being hung by one's own petard.

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Hoist. It’s hoist.

Donald Trump Stimulus Check Update: White House ‘Committed’ on $2K Payments​

He also spoke about it at the Oval Office on Monday and said it would apply to "middle-income people and lower-income people," though he did not specify what that income threshold would be.

Redistribution of wealth!

An analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) estimated the cost of such rebate checks at $600 billion annually, which is double the total annual revenue projected from new tariffs in 2025. The CRFB warned that this could add $6 trillion to the national deficit over a decade if continued annually.

“Like so many Trump statements, the promise of $2,000 tariff rebate checks was so broadly phrased as to be hard to assess," Calvin Jillson, a politics professor at Southern Methodist University, told Newsweek. "He certainly could not have meant a $2,000 check to every American, even every American adult or every taxpayer, as these would cost several times what the tariffs have brought in. Expect a much scaled-down version of the initial broad promise.”

seeking.IAM said:

Editorial comments:

1. I most commonly hear this in reciting the Lord's Prayer. I find it the height of arrogance to think one has standing to edit the Lord's prayer or improve upon it.
2. "Kin-dom" use is also often accompanied by avoidance of the use "He" in reference to God. Sometimes replaced with "She." I have heard "Kin-dom" explained as implying domination and the avoidance of male pronouns as being in deference to those who have been hurt by men.
3. When I have worshipped in those circles, I find the term "kin-dom" cringe-worthy.

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You sir just demonstrated why I still have hope for and continue to love Episcopalianism, despite our current disagreements which need not be rehashed.

Many Episcopalians and members of the Anglican Communion seem deeply uncomfortable with this sort of departure from core doctrinal definitions. Combine this with the High Church and Anglo Catholic sense of liturgical taste and interest in both ancient Eastern and Western liturgical reforms and we still have enough for a beautiful friendship.

Beautiful video! Successful first stage recovery on a barge! Touchdown confirmed! The first time for Blue Origin. The most complicated part of the launch successfully achieved! Well done! On their way to best SpaceX! Go Blue Origin! Go New Glenn!

Dan1988 said:

Where did you get the idea that God is obliged to save every devil

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He is not obliged to take them to heaven, but to give them opportunity to repent and be worthy of heaven, because He said His way is fair Ezekiel 18, and that He will be judging in righteousness, that is not my opinion, that is what He through Paul said, Acts 17:30-31

"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and earth, and some to honor and others dishonor. If a man purge himself from dishonor, he shall be a vessel of honor, sanctified and meet for the masters use and prepared until every good work." 2 Timothy 2:20-21

"How can a man cleanse his way? By taking heed unto the word of God." Psalm 119:9-10

Commanding someone to do what they can not possibly do is called evil in the Bible; Exodus 5:23 KJV one must also read the whole chapter for context.

God is not evil . Therefore, according to solid scripture, not my opinion, it is possible for anyone to find repentance via faith in Christ.

"Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.'" Romans 10:17

You are saying that faith comes some other way, and the scripture does not say such.
And as someone else pointed out to you
John 6:45
"...He therefore that has heard and has learned from the Father comes to me."

The way anyone hears from the Father is through His word. We are to be in the business of sharing His word and the good news about Him with each and every creature, as He commanded.

"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature...". Mark 16:15-16

RamiC said:

What is the defiinition of "the Body of Christ"? On CF it is belief in the Nicene Creed, but across denominations, never mind sometimes within them, there can be very big differences of thinking about that. I find it hard to apply the verses quoted in the OP without a clear definition of the church.

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2. Now, what is the body of Christ?
It's a metaphor used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 to describe the Church as a whole. All believers in Jesus, united under one head of leadership. We can get more nuanced with this but let's just leave it as, anyone who follows Christ in faith. So regardless of denomination, race, or background.

The body of Christ = The Church.

GloryToHisName said:

Wonder if the hebrew in Deut 8.18 is the same as Dan.9 27

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They aren't the same word, but the root word for 'confirm' in Dan 9:27 is 'gabar' which translates as 'to make strong'/ 'make mighty' - hence the 'Mighty' Angel.

mark46 said:

google it and you will find articles as well as youtube videos
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In the end, it is less expensive to hire robots for lots and lots of jobs, and to use computers to do lots of others.
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There is very low unemployment now, especially since so many youth choose staying home over jobs they don't like.

In future, we will need to come to terms with high unemployment and need to find solutions.

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ah - I misread / misunderstood your post.

I took at as Amazon was looking to hire all those human workers, when in reality they are looking to buy / build that robots for the job.

JohnB445 said:

For example, a young man just starting college is murdered. He didn't get to live a long life, while someone else becomes a believer in their 40's.

The person in their 40's had more time to accept Jesus, yet the young man didn't. It seems unfair, but what does the Bible say?

Was the young man probably never would have been a believer anyway? Are we sometimes saved not only because we accepted Jesus, but by chance we survived long enough to accept Jesus as our God? Or does this not make any sense?

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I believe this falls into what Paul tells us in Romans 2:1-29 especially verses 6 through 16 on the individual level. We cannot say who in particular God will save or condemn by their works. Obviously God will save people based on the light given them and any good a person does is from God ( James 1:17).

In Romans 1 & 3, Paul explains the dangers fallen humanity as a whole faces in condemnation and the only certainty of salvation is in the Lord ( Romans 3:21-25).

Isaiah 64 is often referenced as to the hopelessness of human works but Ezekiel prophesied later. In Ezekiel 18:1-32 the prophet tells us that we can do what is right but we can also undo it by doing what is wrong.