Kamala’s Venmo Tax Trap

by Katherine Hamilton, Breitbart: A strong majority of likely U.S. voters believe there will be another assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump before Election Day, a new Rasmussen Reports poll found. The first assassination attempt against Trump occurred on July 13 during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when Thomas Matthew Crooks shot him in his right ear as […]

A Prayer for Spiritual GrowthBy Laura Bailey Bible Reading"Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." Hebrews 5:13-14 Listen or Read Below: "What's wrong with the peach trees?" I inquired of my husband. As I looked out onto the pasture, I noticed that many of the tree's branches were dragging on the ground, looking like they were about to break. My husband shared that there were so many peaches that the branches couldn't support their weight, causing them to droop and sag. "Sounds like a good problem to me. I'll send the girls out to pick after breakfast this morning, " my voice dripping with anticipation at the thought of the season's fresh fruit. Let's take a walk,"  my husband took my hand, and we went to the orchard.  Taking a closer look, I noticed that while the trees were overflowing with fruit, the peaches weren't ripe. They were plentiful,  but small and hard, nowhere ready to be picked, even though it was "time." The cold, rainy spring followed by a drought and record-hot temperatures this summer made it difficult for the peaches to mature. Without the proper growing conditions, the peaches' growth stagnated. And, unless there was a change in conditions, the fruit would never reach maturity but eventually shrivel up and die.  Our key verse is Hebrews, where the writer addresses the dangers of spiritual stagnation. As followers of Christ, we should be moving to be more like Him every day, our faith maturing as we work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12).  It is natural for those who've recently accepted Christ to have an inexperienced and immature faith. And while we all must start somewhere in our faith, each day is an opportunity to strengthen our spiritual muscles.  Unfortunately, that excitement, the hunger for the Lord's Word and His people experienced after conversion, tends to wane or is non-existent as time ticks on. Instead of growing in spiritual zeal and enthusiasm, our faith is characterized as dull and lifeless. That's where we find the audience (and many of us today) as we read Hebrews 5:13-14, "Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." We should heed the warning to not become lazy or apathetic in our faith. Typically, the spiritual slide happens gradually: missing one or two Sundays here, skipping Bible reading for a few weeks, neglecting prayer time, or ignoring the call to spend time in the Christian community. We convince ourselves that it's just a temporary break. When life slows down or our seasons change, we will make more time for the things of the Lord. But, friend, that's a slippery slope that we want to avoid at all costs as true believers. Sometimes, we have a new baby, move to a new city, start a new job, or care for an aging parent, and our time is limited. Yet, even in these circumstances, it's vital to our spiritual health to find a margin to meet with the Lord and His people.  There's nothing better than biting into a ripe peach picked right off the tree. It's bursting with flavor, the vibrant color of the outside matching the deliciousness. But they need time to mature and the conditions to grow perfect peaches. Likewise, if we want to be people who experience the abundant life in Christ (John 10:10) and the blessings that come from a life surrendered to the Lord, we must put into the work. Our lives and our faith serve a purpose. We are not saved simply to avoid eternal damnation. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can share the gospel message, making and teaching disciples. Let's seek to grow fully and abundantly in Christ as we taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).  Let's Pray: Heavenly Father, help us move from spiritual infancy, embracing each stage of our faith journey. May we embrace every day as an opportunity to grow, learn more about You and Your word, and strengthen our relationship with You and others. When we start to slide spiritually, guide us back to you, keeping our faith of high importance. We love you, Lord.In Jesus' Name, Amen. Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Sarayut Laura Bailey is a Bible teacher who challenges and encourages women to dive deep in the Scriptures, shift from an earthly to an eternal mindset, and filter life through the lens of God's Word. She is the author of Beyond the Noise, and loves any opportunity to speak and teach women of all ages. She is a wife and momma to three young girls. Connect with her on her website,  www.LauraRBailey.com, Facebook and Instagram. Related Resource: Remember God’s Enduring Love for You in this Guided Meditation on Psalm 100! This guided Christian meditation from Psalm 100 will help you experience and praise God for his unending love for you. Become aware of God's presence with you, and praise God for his loyal and enduring love from the beginning of time and into the future. Listen to every episode of the So Much More Podcast on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode! Now that you’ve prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below! The post A Prayer for Spiritual Growth – Your Daily Prayer – September 28 appeared first on GodUpdates.

A Prayer for Spiritual GrowthBy Laura Bailey Bible Reading"Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." Hebrews 5:13-14 Listen or Read Below: "What's wrong with the peach trees?" I inquired of my husband. As I looked out onto the pasture, I noticed that many of the tree's branches were dragging on the ground, looking like they were about to break. My husband shared that there were so many peaches that the branches couldn't support their weight, causing them to droop and sag. "Sounds like a good problem to me. I'll send the girls out to pick after breakfast this morning, " my voice dripping with anticipation at the thought of the season's fresh fruit. Let's take a walk,"  my husband took my hand, and we went to the orchard.  Taking a closer look, I noticed that while the trees were overflowing with fruit, the peaches weren't ripe. They were plentiful,  but small and hard, nowhere ready to be picked, even though it was "time." The cold, rainy spring followed by a drought and record-hot temperatures this summer made it difficult for the peaches to mature. Without the proper growing conditions, the peaches' growth stagnated. And, unless there was a change in conditions, the fruit would never reach maturity but eventually shrivel up and die.  Our key verse is Hebrews, where the writer addresses the dangers of spiritual stagnation. As followers of Christ, we should be moving to be more like Him every day, our faith maturing as we work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12).  It is natural for those who've recently accepted Christ to have an inexperienced and immature faith. And while we all must start somewhere in our faith, each day is an opportunity to strengthen our spiritual muscles.  Unfortunately, that excitement, the hunger for the Lord's Word and His people experienced after conversion, tends to wane or is non-existent as time ticks on. Instead of growing in spiritual zeal and enthusiasm, our faith is characterized as dull and lifeless. That's where we find the audience (and many of us today) as we read Hebrews 5:13-14, "Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." We should heed the warning to not become lazy or apathetic in our faith. Typically, the spiritual slide happens gradually: missing one or two Sundays here, skipping Bible reading for a few weeks, neglecting prayer time, or ignoring the call to spend time in the Christian community. We convince ourselves that it's just a temporary break. When life slows down or our seasons change, we will make more time for the things of the Lord. But, friend, that's a slippery slope that we want to avoid at all costs as true believers. Sometimes, we have a new baby, move to a new city, start a new job, or care for an aging parent, and our time is limited. Yet, even in these circumstances, it's vital to our spiritual health to find a margin to meet with the Lord and His people.  There's nothing better than biting into a ripe peach picked right off the tree. It's bursting with flavor, the vibrant color of the outside matching the deliciousness. But they need time to mature and the conditions to grow perfect peaches. Likewise, if we want to be people who experience the abundant life in Christ (John 10:10) and the blessings that come from a life surrendered to the Lord, we must put into the work. Our lives and our faith serve a purpose. We are not saved simply to avoid eternal damnation. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can share the gospel message, making and teaching disciples. Let's seek to grow fully and abundantly in Christ as we taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).  Let's Pray: Heavenly Father, help us move from spiritual infancy, embracing each stage of our faith journey. May we embrace every day as an opportunity to grow, learn more about You and Your word, and strengthen our relationship with You and others. When we start to slide spiritually, guide us back to you, keeping our faith of high importance. We love you, Lord.In Jesus' Name, Amen. Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Sarayut Laura Bailey is a Bible teacher who challenges and encourages women to dive deep in the Scriptures, shift from an earthly to an eternal mindset, and filter life through the lens of God's Word. She is the author of Beyond the Noise, and loves any opportunity to speak and teach women of all ages. She is a wife and momma to three young girls. Connect with her on her website,  www.LauraRBailey.com, Facebook and Instagram. Related Resource: Remember God’s Enduring Love for You in this Guided Meditation on Psalm 100! This guided Christian meditation from Psalm 100 will help you experience and praise God for his unending love for you. Become aware of God's presence with you, and praise God for his loyal and enduring love from the beginning of time and into the future. Listen to every episode of the So Much More Podcast on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode! Now that you’ve prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below! The post A Prayer for Spiritual Growth – Your Daily Prayer – September 28 appeared first on GodUpdates.

The gospel is a universal declaration that Hell is not God’s desire for anyone. Those who want to reject God’s offer and live in their sin will have no one to blame but themselves on that final day.

A Viking burial ground with 50 well-preserved inhumation graves and five cremation graves has been unearthed in Åsum, an village just east of Odense, Denmark. It is one of the largest Viking-era burial grounds ever found on the island of Funen. Preliminary estimates based on the artifacts found in the burials date the graves to between 850 and 970 A.D. The burial ground was discovered during an archaeological survey before renovations to the electrical grid. A metal detector scan of the field had found numerous objects, but the discovery of a Viking burial ground was completely unexpected, let alone one so large and well-preserved. The skeletal remains are in unusually good condition, with complete articulated skeletons and surviving textile and wood fragments, because of the high groundwater level of the field. The low oxygen levels of the waterlogged environment slows down the decomposition process. It’s rare to find organic materials so well-preserved west of the Great Belt (the strait that separates the island of Zealand from Funen). The remains in the two other Viking burial sites on Funen that are of comparable size are in far worse shape. Several of the burials belonged to high-status individuals, most notably a woman buried in the cart part of the wagon as a coffin. This practice took place only in the middle of the 9th century, and was very rare The wood is gone, but it left an imprint behind on the soil and the rivets and nails that held the cart together are still in place. [Museum Odense archaeologist] Michael Borre Lundø says: “The woman was buried in the wagon she likely traveled in. We must imagine that she was buried with her finest clothes and belongings. She was given a beautiful glass bead necklace, an iron key, a knife with a silver-threaded handle, and, most notably, a small shard of glass that may have served as an amulet. At the foot of the wagon, there was a finely decorated wooden chest, the contents of which we still do not know.” One of the other high-status graves contains the remains of an adult woman wearing a very fine iron neck ring. This was not locally made. It is of a type that was manufactured in Gotland. She also had a large bronze buckle shaped like an animal head placed on her chest that was also from Gotland. More than a thousand of these types of brooches have been found there, but only 50 (51 now) of them have been discovered south of Gotland, and this is the only one ever found on Funen. Its rarity suggests she was an important person in the community, and because the buckle was part of the national costume, she most likely came from Gotland, or was related/married to someone who did. Another contained a trefoil brooch, a red glass bead on a cord around the deceased’s neck, an iron knife and a nugget of rock crystal. Michael Borre Lundø says: “Rock crystal does not occur naturally in Denmark and was likely imported from Norway. Several items from the many graves in Åsum indicate that the buried Vikings were connected to international trade networks that developed during the Viking Age.” The imported grave goods and the presence of several graves of high-status individuals are evidence that Åsum was an important trade hub when the future Odense was still the small settlement of Odins Vi a couple of miles to the west. The River Odense, Funen’s longest river, ran through Åsum. Nonnebakken, a massive ringfort built by King Harald Bluetooth to control access to the river, was constructed around 980, in the last years the burial ground was in use. The skeletal remains will be sent to the Panum Institute at the University of Copenhagen for osteological examination and further studies. The bones are in such a good state of preservation that scientists believe they will be able to successfully extract ancient DNA on the majority of the skeletons. If the DNA extraction goes as well as expected, this will be the first time DNA analysis can be performed on almost all of a single burial ground. Researchers will determine if any of the deceased were related to each other, if they originated from or have genetic links to other areas of Europe.