New Posts

GodDoesListen55 · 2025-11-09T23:00:10-0600

Need A Favor.

A2SG · 2025-11-09T22:56:39-0600

Bradskii said:
And I was having a good morning up until reading this that.

After recent events I thought I'd get the book. Been meaning to read it for some time (haven't seen the film even though it was shot in Sydney and I watched them building a couple of the sets). But hey, has this guy never heard of spoiler alerts?!

What's the statute of limitations on spoilers? The book is literally been around for a hundred years, for cryin' out loud!

-- A2SG, it is a good read, though, you really should pick it up....and I agree, the Redford movie was better...

rjs330 · 2025-11-09T22:55:22-0600

Let's take a look. The poverty level for a family of 3 with one parent and two kids is 26000 a year. That comes out to be around $12.50 an hour.

Waiters and Waitresses earn an average of 16.00 an hour without tips.

In food service and hospitality, average hourly wages are now the highest they’ve ever been. For example, non-supervisory hotel workers earned around $23.84/hour in early 2024.

So it appears that jobs that get you over the poverty line are quite available.

Going on job search sites you can.find tons of jobs that pay more than the poverty level.

The facts just don't support the idea that all these terrible businesses are just soaking their employees and paying them peanuts keeping them in poverty.

Even the full time worker at Wal-Mart earns typically $18 an hour. Which is $6 an hour over the poverty rate.

No you are not going to get rich on that, but you also aren't in poverty. And most people won't stay at that level either. I'm not claiming Wal-Mart treats their employees well. I think they've gone down hill since Sam died and his kids took over.

Most people dont make a career out of Wal-Mart unless rhey are in management. They work for a while and find something better. I know, because Ive had three.members of my family that worked there, and they had friends who worked there etc. But even at that they paid more than poverty wages for their full time employees.

People who arw working part time shouldn't be expecting full time salaries.

Fervent · 2025-11-09T22:54:55-0600

Something I'd suggest you study is the history of YEC...and by that I don't mean a general understanding of Genesis being literal but the rigid literalism(as well as the verbal plenary theory of inspiration in general) of fundmentalist evangelicals. If you do, what you will find is that it rose as a reactionary movement to a rise in acceptance of evolution in the 19th century rather than being something that was widely held in the church previously.

FaithT · 2025-11-09T22:53:20-0600

Wolseley said:
First off, this missive deals with some touchy subjects, and while I have gone way out of my way to try to tone it all down, and make it as acceptable as possible, some folks here may take offense to it. It is not my desire or purpose to offend anybody, nor is it my purpose to break the forum rules. So, Moderators, if you feel this steps over any lines, please don't ban me, just delete this post with my blessings, okay? For the rest of you, if this remains open for viewing, it will give you sort of an idea of how my warped mind works.

I was doing some research on ancient Irish archaeological sites. There is a lake in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, called Lough Erne. In the lake is an island, called White Island, on which are the ruins of a late 12th-century church, which was itself built upon the ruins of a much earlier monastery. The monastery was raided, sacked, and razed by the Vikings in 837 A.D.; what was left of the buildings were gradually covered over by dirt and grass and forgotten.

About 400 years later, a small Romanesque church was built on the site, and as construction was going on, eight stone carvings were discovered, buried in the ground---most likely, remnants of the old Viking raid. The figures were deemed to be of sacred nature, and therefore, the builders of the church decided to incorporate them into the structure of the new building. They were built into the inside south wall of the church, where they remain to this day:

View attachment 326132

Since no explanation has ever been found as to who or what these figures represent, there has been speculation for centuries about them. The church itself was abandoned and fell into ruin towards the tail end of the 12th century, so any records there might have been are long gone. Some of the figures are presumed to be St. Patrick, a monastic abbot, Christ, the biblical King David, and maybe an ancient Irish sub-king. But nobody knows exactly, for sure.

Here's where things start to get weird.

While researching all this, I discovered that many authorities believe the first carved figure (below) to be what's called a sheela-na-gig.

View attachment 326133

"What's a sheela-na-gig?" I hear you ask. My question precisely! So I did some research, and found out that a sheela-na-gig is an "architectural grotesque" that adorns the doorways and cornices of many ancient churches in Ireland and Europe, some as far away as Spain. It depicts a nude woman, usually sitting in a childbirth position, with her legs bent or upraised, and her hands pulling open her....um.....reproductive regions for display. The closest translation of the name is something along the lines of "old hag of the breasts". There are various explanations for this specific type of carving; the usual one is that they represent an old legend about a woman driving away the devil by exposing herself to him and scaring him away (I said it was an old legend). Another story is that they are a carry-over from pre-Christian times and represent female power and fertility and all that sort of thing. In any event, they were seen as guardians or protectors of a sort, and they were incorporated into many, many churches, and were thought, by the more superstitiously-inclined, to bring safety and good luck. Nobody got upset about them until the über-prudish Victorian age, when hundreds of them were destroyed. Even at that, hundreds of these things remain, all across Ireland.

Okay; it gets weirder. So then, in the midst of this, I find out that the sheela-na-gig is similar to some figures found on Hindu temples in India and across south Asia, called yonis. Apparently, a yoni is a representation of the Hindu goddess Shakti, which deals, again, with birth and reproduction and female power and feminine prowess and so on. Evidently, the word yoni eventually became a common term for the human vulva/vagina. (I told you this was weird.) There are carvings on Indian temples of, again, females in childbirth positions, legs spread and the groin area exposed, somewhat similar to the sheela-na-gigs. Here are two examples, which I have toned down by blanking out the naughty bits:

View attachment 326135

Still with me? Onward we go, weirder and weirder yet. While investigating all of this, I came across something called a "yoni egg". This is literally a chunk of semi-precious stone (jade; amethyst; quartz; opal; jasper, etc.) that has been shaped into the form of a bird's egg, smoothed and polished to the consistency of a stone from a rock polisher. In some circles, apparently these objects are used by women for health or holistic purposes; they are inserted into the vaginal canal (yes, really) and are carried around while the woman performs what we would call Kegel exercises all day long to keep it in place. This, in turn, is supposed to tighten the muscles and walls of the cervix, etc., and result in better coitus, and, if you believe in all of the New-Agey "powers of the crystal"-type nonsense, some sort of spiritual benefits as well.

Here's where it gets embarrassing. Upwards of some thirty years ago, I was in a curio shop, and I came across an ornament that I thought was pretty neat; it was my favorite color (blue; I think it's made from lapis lazuli), so I picked it up for a couple of bucks, and I've had it ever since.

Guess what? Yep, you guessed it. The "ornament" that I picked up all those years ago is actually one of these yoni eggs:

View attachment 326136

Ooopsie. How was I supposed to know? I just thought it was a pretty stone egg. I had no idea what the thing was actually supposed to be used for. When I told my wife about this, she nearly died laughing. She said, "Well, dear, I guess we can safely say it was not meant for you!" Thanks, honey.

The moral of the story: when you start researching something, be real careful, because it may lead you in directions that you wouldn't have gone anywhere near if you'd had any idea where you'd wind up when you started!

Ewww.

BPPLEE · 2025-11-09T22:53:06-0600

Tropical Wilds said:
Did you read my comment?

Yes you made a comment about Trump, not @Yarddog

FaithT · 2025-11-09T22:46:49-0600

Thie thread about amethyst crystals got me thinking about healing. New Agers believe crystals and other stones can have health benefits but when I googled it AI Overview said that there’s no evidence that healing stones work.
That made me think about something I posted long ago. Christianity and intercessory prayer studies, and the one considered the gold standard of studies called STEP. i did more googling about whether prayer has a positive impact on health and it doesn’t sound like it does. That goes against what the Church teaches. What are we to make of this?

Wolseley · 2025-11-09T22:45:06-0600

This all reminds me of an old thread of mine, dealing with semi-precious gemstones......sort of. :sorry:

A long story with a somewhat embarrassing ending....

First off, this missive deals with some touchy subjects, and while I have gone way out of my way to try to tone it all down, and make it as acceptable as possible, some folks here may take offense to it. It is not my desire or purpose to offend anybody, nor is it my purpose to break the forum...

www.christianforums.com

FireDragon76 · 2025-11-09T22:44:45-0600

zippy2006 said:
What would you have preferred them to do? How do you see the charge to evangelize?

Aversion to proselytism seems to be a secular and rather anti-religious dogma. The reason someone within a secular culture would be averse is because they would be taught by secularism that proselytism involves insincerity and an objectification of persons. But anyone who is a Christian believes in evangelization and arguably proselytism, and there is no reason to believe that evangelization must be insincere or involve objectification. Many would take it as a compliment that someone cares enough about them to broach a subject they deem serious. That someone cares enough about you and the faith to take it all seriously.

(I am presuming that this person does not know that you are a Protestant Christian, and maybe that's part of the difficulty here.)

Evangelization and proselytism are two separate things.

Your own church has made a good definition of proselytism, and why it's problematic.

Most of these churches that push their members to engage in proselytism are heavily shaped by voluntarist and consumerist assumptions about the nature of faith and religion.

Fervent · 2025-11-09T22:40:57-0600

So is gerrymandering only disenfranchising voters when the other guy does it? Newsom may have won his measure, but he showed decidedly that he lacks integrity or principles.

BPPLEE · 2025-11-09T22:40:27-0600

Bradskii said:
You're not right. You gave your figures in today's terms: 'That's an equivalent of $400 million in TODAY'S dollars.' Your emphasis. So you compare it to what he has today. Even if it was $100m when he started then he's increased by 70x. I still beat him. And I haven't had any companies go bust and I paid all my taxes and haven't been charged and convicted for cheating on my income.

Okay he’s never done anything, all his buildings were built by someone else, he’s a terrible businessman but he’s worth $7 billion.
He’s also a terrible politician but he’s been elected president twice and beat the best the Democrats had to offer. He seems to be pretty successful for someone who is such a failure
Must feel pretty bad losing to such a bad candidate who is often equated with a German leader the rules forbid me from mentioning

Guojing · 2025-11-09T22:33:17-0600

RisenInJesus said:
Exactly. God has made irrevocable promises to Israel, which make no sense when people try applying them to the church or ignore altogether. I think it’s very important for Christians to rightly divide the scriptures and understand that there are three groups of people; Jews (Israel), Gentiles (non-Jews), and the church (born again believers-Jews and Gentiles).

“After the Cross a new entity came into existence—the church that Jesus Christ promised He would build (Mt 16:18). As a result, there are now three divisions of mankind: Jews, Gentiles and the church. Paul tells us that we are to “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Cor 10:32). It is absolutely essential to understand that these three groups exist side by side in today’s world, to distinguish between them, and to recognize that God deals with each differently.”

If you are indeed rightly dividing as you claim, then you should be aware that the "church" that Jesus promised in Matthew is not the same as the Body of Christ that Paul was speaking about.

That "church" is the little flock or the remanent of Israel who believed in Jesus as their Messiah

Guojing · 2025-11-09T22:27:29-0600

RandyPNW said:
Oh my goodness, brother--READ IT! Mind you, I've quoted it innumerable periods of times. I will do it again and underline the point....

Luke 21.5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”...
20 “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled."...
32 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

There are 3 perfectly clear things said here, though anybody can argue anything until they're blue in the face.
1) Jesus said the Temple would be destroyed.
2) Jesus said the Temple would be destroyed in his generation.
3) Jesus said Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies, preceding its destruction.

We *know* that the Roman Army surrounded Jerusalem in Jesus' generation and proceeded to destroy it and the Temple. So yes, Luke is explicitly indicating that the armies of their own generation would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. That positively describes the Roman Army.

If you're just arguing that Luke doesn't use the word "Roman" I think you're being "difficult." Luke wouldn't want to write "Roman" in the presence of Roman overseers who would jail him for insubordination or even sedition.

Who was Israel's "enemies?" Obviously, it was Rome.

I see, so you interpret 'armies" as the Roman army.

It is only obvious to you.

BCP1928 · 2025-11-09T22:24:19-0600

stevevw said:
I am not just talking about the building of the Ark. But the purpose and its use and everything like that. So what about Noahs knowledge from God about the flood and all that. Was that not knowledge that material sciences could not give him.

It wouldn't give him the craft skills necessary to build an ark.

DialecticSkeptic · 2025-11-09T22:22:51-0600

"The ability to describe a point of view is no indication on its own that it is actually what the biblical authors intended to communicate. The latter is what must concern us." I am keeping that quote forever.

A2SG · 2025-11-09T22:20:23-0600

Servus said:
The Democrats are willing to keep the shutdown going regardless of SNAP being paid out or not.

Because the shutdown needn't affect SNAP benefits. It only does because the Republicans want it that way.

Servus said:
As of November 8, 2025, the Trump administration is actively seeking to withhold a portion of the funding needed to fully pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for November amid a government shutdown. The administration argues it lacks the legal authority and sufficient funds to provide the full amount. - Google

Only the Democrats signing the CR will result in an immediate resolution to SNAP and 1.5 civil servants finally getting paid.

Trump can say that he "lacks the legal authority" to provide funds, but he's lying.

-- A2SG, shocker, I know....

A New Dawn · 2025-11-09T22:17:46-0600

Ain't Zwinglian said:
Non responsive.

You obviously have no interest in a real discussion if you can’t provide references for your own bullet points.

A New Dawn · 2025-11-09T22:14:26-0600

But Fifty Shades of Gray probably got a pass.

Christsfreeservant · 2025-11-09T22:07:50-0600

“How the faithful city has become a harlot,

She who was full of justice!

Righteousness once lodged in her,

But now murderers.

Your silver has become dross,

Your drink diluted with water.

Your rulers are rebels

And companions of thieves;

Everyone loves a bribe

And chases after rewards.

They do not defend the orphan,

Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.

“Therefore the Lord God of hosts,

The Mighty One of Israel, declares,

‘Ah, I will be relieved of My adversaries

And avenge Myself on My foes.

I will also turn My hand against you,

And will smelt away your dross as with lye

And will remove all your alloy.’” (Isaiah 1:21-25 NASB1995)

Let’s compare that with Revelation, chapters 2-3. There the Lord sent letters to the seven churches, which were not just for them, but they are for the church gatherings in today’s world, too. In four out of the seven he had good and bad to say about them. In only one did he have nothing good to say, and that was the Church in Laodicea, which many believe represents the church of the last days. And only in two out of the seven did he have nothing against them. So the majority of the church then, and I believe yet today, needed correction. They needed to repent, or judgment would be coming.

So, what was the wrong that was being done in these churches (gatherings of the body of believers in Jesus Christ)? Some had forsaken the love they had at first for Christ, or they had deserted Christ who was their first love. It appears that they had fallen back into some of their sinful ways and so they were being called upon to repent and to do the deeds they did at first. And some were holding to and were tolerating the teachings of false prophets who were encouraging idolatry and immoral behaviors. And others were spiritually void and asleep. And they needed to repent or face judgment.

And I do believe that the church in the USA (the majority) is under the judgment of God already, for they have partnered with the ungodly, and they have turned their gatherings into places of business to be marketed to the world, and thus they have altered the character of Christ’s church (his body) to attract the world, and they have altered the message of the gospel to make it less offensive and more agreeable to the flesh and to the world. And all of this God forbids. And he teaches us that we are to come out from among such gatherings as these so we don’t share in their punishment.

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

So, just know that the church is not a building. It is not a place you go to once or twice a week and then you leave until you go there again. And the building is not the house of God, for God does not dwell in buildings built by human hands. The church is the body of Christ, of all who believe in Jesus with genuine biblical faith. We, the people of God, are the church, and we can gather anywhere on any day of the week at any time of day or night where we can minister God’s love and grace to one another, and where we can help one another to grow in our walks of faith in obedience to God.

And 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).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

[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]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Recording Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

Login to view embedded media
The Church At Large
An Original Work / November 9, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

rebornfree · 2025-11-09T21:50:43-0600

JosephZ said:
For more than five years I lived less than 500 feet from a mosque. There was a second one located within a half a mile. Once you become used to it, you rarely notice the call to prayer.

Yeah, I guess it’s like living near to railway lines, and after a while the noise of the trains doesn't bother you.

Fervent · 2025-11-09T21:46:31-0600

partinobodycular said:
But both you and Hume have missed the very point that @Hans Blaster, @Bradskii, and I have been trying to explain to you. That's that our sense of morality isn't simply reasoned to from nothing. It's born out of that innate sense of justice and mercy to which Micah alludes in the OT, and Paul describes in 2 Corinthians as not being written with ink, or chiseled in stone, but rather written on the hearts of men.

I didn't miss the point, I just don't find it compelling nor very interesting. You don't seem to understand what is truly at issue, because you think that being able to explain the social-emotional elements gives you an explanation of morality. But it doesn't, because there is nothing to ground morals in when disagreements come up.

partinobodycular said:
However @Hans Blaster is correct that while our implementation of morality begins there, it unfortunately doesn't end there. For it's then up to people to apply that innate sense of right and wrong to the everyday world, and that's where that still small voice can lose out to the misguided reasoning to which we as humans are all too easily swayed.

It doesn't even begin there, you've just got a gloss that explains mechanics and no real means of evaluating what it is that makes something moral.

partinobodycular said:
Yes, morals can change from culture to culture, and time to time, but so long as they keep to the goal of doing justly and loving mercy then they're in keeping with the will of whomever it is to which Micah was alluding when he said to walk humbly with thy God.

Sure, but even "justice" requires some way to reason from is to ought. Otherwise we're just slinging mud where my emotions are in combat with yours.

partinobodycular said:
The important thing to remember however, is that people don't reason to morality from nothing, they just sometimes reason away from it.

All this is doing is taking the "beg the question" option as a legitimate route to morality by assuming that our moral feelings are moral truth, and invoking the naturalistic fallacy that because they came about naturally(through evolution) they must be correct

It's not me not understanding, it's you 3 not grasping the problem. you're likely caught in the dogmatism paradox elaborated by Kripke, so caught up in your own behinds that you can't understand the counter arguments.

redraven · 2025-11-09T21:45:59-0600

stevevw said:
I think the framing of Kirk in terms of the political and the Christian is a false analogy. Selecting out specific comments as a representation of the whole person is wrong. A person can be a Christian and hold a misinformed opinion.

This is utter nonsense which excuses Kirk from the things he said. He said extremely offensive things time and time again.
Kirk is 100% responsibile for the comments he made and they are a reflection of his lack of character.

I personally believe he may have been mentally ill and should have seen a psychiatrist. He was suggesting public executions and other outrageous things. These cannot be ignored. Go look up on Youtube where he's talking about that and see for yourself.

He is someone who used Christianity as a cover for his bigoted opinions. In reality he did not behave like a Christian.

I wrote a few opinion pieces on Kirk after his passing. I was hoping they'd be published in a newspaper for broader readership.

I published them online nonetheless. Here is one which is more refined:

American Trump mouthpiece Charlie Kirk
was assassinated in an act of violence
that should be condemned. Having said this,
Mr. Kirk made many comments that were
deeply offensive and objectively untrue.
One such comment was his claim that Ukraine
was 'not a democracy', a view that misrepresents
reality. Charlie Kirk was in over his head on international
affairs. He was a Trump yes man. He naively
inspired a lot of animosity. Mr. Kirk
should not have been killed, but his views
were far too dogmatic and distorted by Trump
and Putin talking points. Mr. Kirk believed the Bible
was the ultimate truth. The Bible indicates that lying is sinful
and this is how Mr. Kirk spoke about Ukraine.
He had a large platform and used it irresponsibly.
Some people talk too much and study too little.

And here is one which is more blunt and to the point:

Charlie Kirk's rhetoric about Ukraine was more Satanic than in line with someone who followed Jesus. Charlie Kirk suggested that Putin had shown "extraordinary restraint".

Putin is a pedophile who has abducted 20 thousand Ukrainian children, murdered tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainians - many who have been tortured and burned alive. Putin's army is responsible for raping numerous women, castrating male soldiers and gouging their eyes out.
Yet according to Charlie Kirk, Putin showed extraordinary restraint.
Charlie Kirk was full of sh*t claiming to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

keras · 2025-11-09T21:45:22-0600

If Iran and its proxies are quiet, it is strategic, not surrender.

In recent days, Israeli defense officials have warned that Iraq may be emerging as the next front line, as Iranian-controlled Iraqi militias regain strength after largely sitting out the conflicts of the past two years. This should remind US policymakers to keep Iraq central in their strategic thinking and not view the current war solely through the prism of Gaza.

As Iran rebuilds after severe losses to Israel and renewed American pressure, Tehran is repositioning its “Ring of Fire,” with Iraq and the West Bank taking on expanded roles alongside Lebanon and Gaza.

US and Israeli strikes on critical Iranian infrastructure in June, combined with sustained Israeli blows to Hezbollah and Hamas, have restored a measure of deterrence and signaled that American diplomacy is backed by credible force.

The region remains volatile. Ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria are tenuous. Hamas is rebuilding and further entrenching itself in the West Bank. Although a deconfliction arrangement with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa appears imminent, it is unclear whether he will again rely on jihadist partners once he consolidates power.

Turkey continues its expansionist ambitions, seeking to turn Syria into a satellite and potentially renewing operations against the Kurds. Meanwhile, Iran is restoring its nuclear and missile capabilities and reconstructing its proxies in Lebanon and Gaza. These ceasefires should be regarded as temporary pauses, not peace agreements.

Before October 7, 2023, the West Bank and Iraq were secondary fronts in Iran’s Ring of Fire strategy. After US-brokered ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, both have become central as Tehran seeks to reassert regional influence, challenge the United States, and threaten Israel. Iraq is critical to this strategy, especially now that Hezbollah and Hamas have suffered substantial setbacks. While Tehran intends to rebuild these groups, it faces new constraints, as its land corridor that used to deliver advanced weapons to Lebanon has been partially severed.

The world remains focused on Gaza, while the Iranian-backed Hamas presence in the West Bank is dangerously underestimated

For Israel, the strategic landscape is shifting as Iran attempts to resurrect its Ring of Fire, setting the stage for a renewed “war between the wars.” If ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon hold, Israel and Iran will return to low-intensity, covert confrontation while Tehran rebuilds its networks.

If Iran and its proxies are quiet, it is strategic, not surrender. The most significant shift since October 7 is Israel’s new doctrine: The era of reactive containment is over. Israel now responds preemptively and decisively, even to smaller provocations. Restraint invites escalation; decisive action prevents it.

The regional landscape has shifted in ways that could benefit both the US and Israel, yet major threats remain. Lebanon’s military still refuses or is unable to disarm Hezbollah, forcing Israel to carry out regular strikes to delay rearmament. In Gaza, no international force will disarm Hamas. Even with a technocratic administration in place, Hamas remains dominant, rebuilding tunnels and preparing for future kidnappings to increase leverage.

Israel’s next war between the wars has already begun. Iran will attempt to rebuild its ballistic and nuclear programs while replenishing its proxies. This shadow conflict will feature periodic flare-ups followed by uneasy lulls.

The reconstitution of Iran’s Ring of Fire threatens to reverse recent American and Israeli gains. Tehran will continue working to destabilize the Gulf states, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. Washington must recognize that short of regime change, degrading Iran’s regional power is a core American interest. Only sustained engagement, credible deterrence, and steadfast US-Israel cooperation can prevent Tehran from reigniting its Ring of Fire, and with it, another regional inferno. Jerusalem Post/Opinion

The 'inferno' that will settle this problem once and for all, will be the Lords Day of fiery wrath. Zephaniah 3:8, 2 Peter 3:7, Rev 6:12-17

fhansen · 2025-11-09T21:38:53-0600

Dikaioumenoi said:
Can a perfectly holy and righteous being delight in that which is less than perfectly holy and righteous (man), more than that which is (Himself)?

That perfect being can love-He is love- and can delight as that imperfect being falls in love with love and becomes perfected in love by the power of His grace. Love, necessarily, is both a gift, and a choice, of ours-and one that grows as we express or "invest" that gift. That perfect being revels as man blossoms into fulfiling his purpose, to become increasingly like Himself. That's the nature of love, to want the very best, the highest good, for the other.

rebornfree · 2025-11-09T21:31:48-0600

Well done to Presidrnt Trump on this and I hope other world leaders follow suit. I also live in a country where I can worship freely. It's a great blessing.

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