Servus said:

1 John should be required reading.

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I agree. Every believer sins. But every believer does not walk in sin. Scripture teaches us that we all commit sins and it teaches us that we should not walk in sin, or continue in sin. Christians should walk in continual repentance. Which does not mean walking around in sackloth and ashes. It means always recognizing when we fail asking for forgiveness and then changing our life with the power of the Holy Spirit and not make excuses to continue in the practice.

Even good things can be idolized, taking attention away from God.

In WWII my grandfather served in the Royal Navy when his ship was sunk in the English channel. There he bobbed around for a day more or less. I dont know if the Germans were in a position to come back around to kill the shipwrecked. But at least for my sake its a good thing they didnt.

I look at this current incident and get the sense theres a line thats been crossed, and we're now on the side of barbarism if we go on this way. And I get that heat-of-battle and fog-of-war can confound morality such that we should generally be slow to judge. But neither of those really seem to apply here.

06 December 2025 – Iran​

Pray for God’s blessing on two Christian converts who fled Iran after each being sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges related to the possession of multiple copies of the Bible. Mehdi Rahimi, aged 49, and Kia Nourinia, 55, were sentenced in April after raids by intelligence officers on their homes in Tabriz.

05 December 2025 – Iran​

Children in Iran are indoctrinated by state propaganda and hatred in school from a young age. Pray for those growing up in Christian homes who hear such contrasting views from their parents and teachers, and for whom saying the wrong word in class could lead to their parents’ arrest.

04 December 2025 – Iran​

Our partner asks for prayer for its team in Turkey and for those Iranian Christians there who face threats of deportation, regular harassment from local authorities and discrimination in their schools and workplaces. May God soften the hearts of those who are mistreating them.

03 December 2025 – Iran​

Pray for the training events run by our partners in neighbouring countries to equip and encourage the leaders of Iran’s house church movement. Without the infrastructure of established churches, these networks and their leaders need regular training and opportunities to meet safely.

02 December 2025 – Iran​

Give thanks for the impact of multiple media ministries that transmit the gospel into people’s homes, bypassing government attempts to repress Christianity. Pray for those working to translate the Jesus film, The Chosen and other evangelistic material into Iran’s many indigenous languages.

01 December 2025 – Iran​

Pray for Christian Mehran Shamloui, aged 37, who was arrested on his arrival in Iran after being deported from Turkey in July. Mehran had been sentenced to a total of ten years in prison following his arrest in Tehran in November 2024. In connected raids on homes, two other Christians, Abbas Soori (48) and expectant […]

30 November 2025 – Philippines​

Praise God for the church denominations that are supporting workers in dangerous locations and are prepared to adopt new methods of evangelism and church planting that are sensitive to the local culture.


For email prayer alerts: info@releaseinternational.org

I have had good experiences with refurbished electronics over the years. I can't think of a bad experience. Refurbished items do have a manufacturer's warranty, so there is no real risk involved if it comes with a decent warranty period. Most of the items I've purchased as refurbished I even forget that they were refurbished, and find out years later when I find an old receipt. Every one of the refurbished products I have owned have outlived their warranty and had a long life, or are still going to this day. I wouldn't be afraid to buy refurbished.

Obsolescence is a concern when buying old hardware. I myself have three tablets (one Apple and two Samsung), and none of them are being updated anymore.

My Samsung Tab A tablet is still great for e-book reading and playing music through Bluetooth in my vehicle. I don't use it for much else.

My Samsung View barely plays YouTube videos these days (sluggish frame rate, laggy interface). The YouTube app is no longer being updated/doesn't open anymore, so I have to use a browser. Browser cache gets too large and chokes performance. I have to clear cache on a regular basis.

I have a second generation iPad that runs great, and still has all of the apps I purchased, but isn't good for much these days. It can still be used as a versatile musical instrument if I plug it into my PC and use my music apps in conjunction with my DAW software (Digital Audio Workstation). Otherwise, it collects dust on a shelf.

It depends on what you want to do with your iPad. If it is just going to be an e-book reader, I would suggest a much cheaper Samsung or even an Amazon tablet made for that purpose. If you're going to use it for various things, then it depends on what those things are, and whether updates are going to benefit you. If you know you're going to need support and compatibility updates, then I would buy new. If not, then refurbished. Might as well save some money. Apple is expensive.

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN said:

Democrats are concerned that RFK has no idea what he's doing. He have no medical knowledge to be making huge dangerous decisions on babies and people heath. He needs to be fired as soon as possible. The same with Trump. Sadly, that won't happen.

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Fired for what? He and the committee literally changed the recommendations and schedule to directly match the entirety of the civilized and developed world. The new recommendations are identical to almost every European country (some of them go even later to 5 months before it being given), and the countries of New zealand, Japan, etc.

So what, precisely, is the 'dangerous decision' you want to claim he is making?

rambot said:

Still more likely to be your uncle or cousins.

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This newspaper article says that in the city of Glasgow 1200 females have been treated for Female Genital Mutilation. There may be an issue there.

prodromos said:

What about his "absolutely right"? What does an "absolutely right" describe anyway and how does one obtain such a thing?

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I don’t know the social landscape of Finland but this sounds like if a Christian has a traditional understanding of sin to be repented of ( Matthew 4:17), all of a sudden it might be heresy. I’ll try to post again as soon as possible.

Please pray for her peace and strength of mind. She is getting where she is not sleeping and is in the midst of trying to adjust to some new meds. She keeps thinking in loops and is obsessively worried about everything. Usually when she gets like this she ends up in the hospital. Please pray for her peace and strength of mind where she can get through this without the hospital stay.

Thank you!

Hmmm...
"Often the resistance against bank robbery is oftentimes because the robbers are from a different country, a different race, a different religion."

Or it could just be against bank robbery.

Australian influencer Sam Weidenhofer tracked down Ed Bambas at Michigan supermarket​

More than $1.7 million has been raised to help an Army veteran retire after his story went viral online and a GoFundMe drew thousands of donations from strangers.

Australian social media influencer Sam Weidenhofer first learned about Edmund Bambas, 88, from a comment on one of his videos. Weidenhofer then worked with influencer Mike McKinstry to track the veteran down at the Meijer supermarket in Brighton, Michigan, where he works, WXYZ Detroit reported.

"May I ask how old you are?" Weidenhofer asks in the video.

"I'm 88 years old," Bambas responded.

“Why do you have to keep working?" Weidenhofer asks.

Bambas, who served in the U.S. Army in 1966, explained that he retired from General Motors in 1999, but everything changed when the automaker filed for bankruptcy years later.

“ I retired from General Motors in [1999]," Bambas says. "In 2012, they went bankrupt, and they took my pension away from me."

The veteran said his financial situation worsened when his wife became seriously ill.

"The thing that hurt me the most was my wife was real sick, and when they took the pension, they also took the health care coverage and all but $10,000 of my life insurance," Bambas said, "So, I sold the house, sold the property I had and we made it through."

Continued below.

d taylor said:

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How is the creature brought to life in the book.

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No big deal. He somehow does it in his apartment when he is still a student. Doesn’t make much sense. Nothing like any movie.

Servus said:

Not the way it was worded, no.

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Very well, how would you word it?

Aryeh Jay said:

650 word essay for college? Man, I went to the wrong school.

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Hyphens don't count.

That makes 9

I had put making games on the backburner, although I had not given up on it.
One reason is, I wasn't finding the right tools that met my desires, and also, I wanted to make life easier for myself, by making a program that builds a model in a matter of second, or just a few minutes, because to me, making assets is the most time consuming part of game making.

Recently though, someone helped me make up my mind on a game engine that could work for me, and I made up my mind to get back to game making.

I still have the assets I made for a couple games I had planned, so I will retrieve those, but now, with AI, I found a tool online that does what I want... generate a model withing a few seconds, to a minute, and optionally can rig it as well. It can retopologize the model, also.
The models I have generated so far, looks great, and all I had to do was tell the AI what I wanted.

Is there anyone here, who might have held back from making games, because of not having the skills to make artwork, or models?
Would you be interested in game making, if you could get all your models made for you, for free?

timewerx said:

I do laps around the two metro parks near me on rollerblades. Doesn't feel the same as the one on the mountains.

The cost is not what's stopping me but time. There are mountain forests within 40 miles of my place and I reach them by bicycle but the round trip takes 5 to 6 hours without stopping and I can't be away from home more than 2 hrs. I used to do this every weekend when my sister lived with us as she can watch over my mom.

I don't bring money on these long trips by bicycle. If anything went wrong that my tools can't fix, I can't just call Uber and I have no one I can call to pick me up. I don't even bring food or snacks, just one half liter bottle of homemade electrolyte drink for the 60 to 80 mile trip.

It was nice while it lasted but I get the same fulfillment with rollerblading now. I figure, it's just a different "forest". In fact rollerblading has become my primary mode of transport around the city. It used to be bicycle. I don't do it because its easy but because it's hard!

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See if you can get a group to do it together. Maybe a church group. Sometimes public busses have a rack on the front to place a bike. Something to maybe look into.

GoldenBoy89 said:

Well, if there’s an official looking plaque on a wall then it must be official.

Wait… what’s that? It’s not officially called the Department of War?


Glad we could clear that up!

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Secretary Hegseth is just using his preferred pronouns.

BobRyan said:

Grace began in Gen 3, the moment Adam sinned , since God has stated that to was to die, and Adam lived over 900 years after he sinned.

The Law of God is written on the heart under the New Covenant according to Jer 31 and according to Heb 8 and Heb 10.

"Sin is transgression of the Law" 1 John 3:4, still even in the NT age.

So then , it is "still a sin to take God's name in vain" just as it always was.

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AND since you quoted 1 John 3;4 justing. asking what. you. say what 1. JOHN 5:18. means , that whosoever

is BORN OF GOD. , DOES NOT. SIN and the word NOT // OU. is a DISJUNCATIVE PARTICLE NEGATIVE

that. NEGATIVE MEANS YOU. CAN EVER. SIN EVER AGAIN , do you believe that verse. !!

And I believe that verse BUT is it for today. ??

dan p

The Barbarian said:

The Constitution forbids government support of religion entirely, not just support for a particular religion. On the other hand, students can express such beliefs if they do it without school support. For example, they can make a poster showing a religious belief if the assignment is to make a poster for a particular subject. When I was teaching science, some students elected to do that. I touched bases with my administrator, who said he'd back me up.

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Teaching myth as myth is not supporting religion. It contextualizes it.

Looking pretty good! - $2.29 a gallon in our area.

bling said:

Do you believe John the Baptist was baptizing people with water? John 1:26
Do you believe Jesus was baptized with water?
Jesus' disciples were baptizing lots of people before Pentecost, but Jesus did not baptize anyone.
John 4:1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.
Acts 8:36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

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Hey bling

I'm not sure what your point of contention is here. Elaborate on it if you have one. Right now I'm only guessing. Yes, all those verses say water baptism. Do you agree that Jesus did and still does baptize with the Holy Spirit in response to a genuine faith, which "places us" in Him, a spiritual "immersion" that makes us one with Him, the Body, the true Church? You'll notice that anything that I wrote that is between "quotation marks" are used in place of the word baptism, because they mean the same thing. Example....

1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

My translation: For by one Spirit we were all "placed into" into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

another....

Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

My interpretation: I indeed "immerse" you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will "immerse" you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

bling said:

I specifically in my post: Water baptism is not a “requirement” for salvation, since God does the saving, but is something Christians get to do to help them and others.

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Sorry, it sounded to me like you're playing both sides of the fence. So many today are wrongly taught that water baptism is what initiates the Spiritual baptism. If you're being water baptized, you already have faith, and are already spiritually baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit before you hit that water. Agree?

bling said:

1 Peter 3:...In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
The water (and Peter is talking about real water here) is not to cleanse (wash the body), but the water (coming up out of the water) represents Christ resurrection.

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Sorry bling, I disagree. I believe that the water represents God's judgment. That's what the flood was. "In Christ", our Arc, we are protected from that Judgment just like Noah and family were. It's a perfect picture of our Spirit baptism. Not the removal of filth from the flesh is just like saying not water baptism. Just so there was no misunderstanding.

bling said:

Circumcision was not done away with (replaced) on Pentecost water baptism. Paul never said Jews should not be circumcised and/or baptism replace circumcision. I think we can agree John's water baptism stopped, so did Christian water baptism replace John's baptism?
Again water baptism does not save you, but does it help you?

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Hey bling, the circumcision's comment was just a point of possible interest that I threw in there.

OT water baptism was simply identifying with a persons teachings publicly. That's all it is. A public testimony. That idea carried over to the NT. It pictured outwardly what had already happened inwardly as a result of faith. It identified us with Christ Jesus publicly. Some were baptized only into the name of Jesus because the Holy Spirit and the Father were already understood to be a part of them. The point of contention with the public testimony of these OT believers would have been the name Jesus. Others, found it better to publicly identify with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, since they were never believers in the OT.

OT believers were baptized into the name of the teacher they were under. Remember Paul confronting the Corinthians for arguing about being baptized by Paul or Apollos? It all came from that. The one true baptism is the one BY Jesus with the Holy Spirit. It's a spiritual baptism initiated by faith. Water baptism comes after that fact as a public testimony. Paul even finished by saying that "Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel". That would be a very, very odd thing to say if water baptism had anything to do with anything beyond a public testimony.

1 Corinthians 1:12-17 Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

bling, I've seen this with Catholicism before, they are not really doing what they are doing, and not really saying what they are saying. You're language just sounded very familiar to the kind of language that they so often use, hence the "playing both sides of the fence" comment. Sorry if I misunderstood.

Dave

Hank77 said:

So we have a billionaire who refuses to pay $32,000 for a product that he ordered and received. In my opinion, a person who does this is a crook, a greedy, conniving crook.

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It seems he never passes up a chance to cheat someone, whenever he thinks he can get away with it.

essentialsaltes said:

Teddy Roosevelt's birthday is not.

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True. However, if anyone at all should be recognized by the NPS for their significance to the national parks, it's Teddy Roosevelt, wouldn't you agree?