by Jonathan Cook, The Unz Review: Israelis dance in the streets, the White House hails a ‘daring’ operation, Rishi Sunak expresses relief. How carnage in Gaza has become the new normal Israel hasn’t just crossed the Biden administration’s pretend “red lines” in Gaza. With its massacre at Nuseirat refugee camp at the weekend, Israel drove a bulldozer […]

A Prayer to Get Rid of All BitternessBy Kristine Brown "Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior." (Ephesians 4:31 NLT) Bitterness. It can creep into our minds undetected. It may start with one small thought but left unchecked, bitterness can maneuver its way into our hearts and make itself at home. Many things can trigger bitterness. Like coming face to face with someone who wronged us in the past. Recalling the hurtfulness for which they never apologized or even acknowledged. We sometimes bury bitter feelings so deep that we think we've rid ourselves of them. But then, that person or memory pops up, and the bitterness we once felt comes back with a vengeance. Over time, the small seeds of bitterness can develop roots and begin to grow. God directs us in his Word to get rid of bitterness. Our Heavenly Father understands how destructive it can be to our lives. Bitterness also affects those around us, spilling out on our families, friends, and coworkers. But God's direction is clear; he wants us to live free from the entanglement of bitterness. The apostle Paul instructed the church at Ephesus to "Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior" (Ephesians 4:31). Paul's encouragement to live as children of Light inspired Jesus' followers through building his church, and that instruction still holds true for us today. We cannot shine the Light of Jesus Christ to a dark world if we're holding on to bitterness. In my personal experience, bitterness has often sprouted because of a perceived wrong. When I felt like I'd been treated unjustly, that lingering resentment fed the root of bitterness and helped it grow. I've even become bitter over unanswered prayers. Times when something horrible happened in my circumstances, and I questioned why God didn't do something to stop it. The Expositor's Bible Commentary says bitterness is "the spite that harbors resentment and keeps a score of wrongs." So if bitterness keeps score, then according to the truth of 1 Corinthians 13, we could say that the opposite of bitterness is love. "It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged" (1 Corinthians 13:5). Wouldn't I rather harbor love than bitterness? The answer is yes, yet I know getting rid of bitterness takes an intentional commitment to seek God's ways and the leading of the Holy Spirit in my everyday life. I cannot get rid of bitterness if I've given it a place to thrive. To break free from bitterness, I must pull it out from the roots and replace it with the good things of God. Romans 5:5 reminds us of this truth: "For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." Once we get rid of all bitterness, along with the other traits described in Ephesians 4:31, we will be prepared to display those good qualities Paul described in the very next verse. "Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32) As we pray today's prayer to get rid of all bitterness, let's open our hearts to God and ask for a fresh filling of his love.  Let's pray:Dear God,Lately, I've felt bitterness invading my mind and heart. I've entertained bitter thoughts and let them affect every area of my life. Forgive me for allowing bitterness to take root. Help me get rid of all bitterness so that I can display kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness toward others. Thank you for helping me recognize bitterness so I can bring it to you and ask you to cleanse my heart. Thank you for teaching me through your holy Word how destructive bitterness can be to my life and those around me. Today, I get rid of all bitterness and release my hurt over perceived wrongs against me. Pour out your unending love into my life, Lord. I choose to live free from bitterness.In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen. Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Tinnakorn Jorruang For more spiritual growth resources, check out the 5-day email devotional, How to Be Free from Bitterness, by today's devotion writer, Kristine Brown. Learn more about women in the Bible and find encouragement to help you "become more than yourself through God's Word" at Kristine's website, morethanyourself.com. Teach Us to Pray is a FREE prayer podcast hosted by iBelieve writer Christina Patterson. Each week, she gives you practical, real-life tips on how to grow your faith and relationship with God through the power of prayer. To listen to her episode on What to Pray in the Morning for a Worry-Free Day, click below! Now that you’ve prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below! Visit iBelieve.com for more inspiring prayer content. The post A Prayer to Get Rid of All Bitterness – Your Daily Prayer – May 17 appeared first on GodUpdates.

Where do you seek your approval? June 17 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest."We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than human beings!" – Acts 5:27-29 One morning at his normal 8:30 AM staff meeting, President Harry Truman was brought a lavender envelope with a regal wax seal and flowing purple ribbons. Opening it, the President found a letter from the King of Saudi Arabia. The salutation began, "Your Magnificence..." Truman had a good laugh, and joked with his staff that that's how he wanted to be addressed from then on. Not long after, however, Truman supported the United Nations' admission of 100,000 Jews into Palestine. He soon afterward received another letter from the King. This one was on regular letterhead and began, "Dear Mr. President..." It's amazing how quickly the people who revere and respect you can quickly change their attitudes when they discover they disagree with you. But it's in that moment we can make the decision to stand for what we believe is right, or seek the approval of man. You can't follow Christ and please everyone. In fact, the Bible guarantees that when we put Christ at the center of our lives, we're going to lose the support of some. Make the right decision. Follow Christ first and foremost and seek your approval from Him! Prayer Challenge Ask God to give you the strength to follow Him first and foremost and seek your approval from Him alone! Questions for Thought Have you ever been rejected by someone for taking a stand you know was right? In times when you're rejected for your faith, what does God's Word say to you about who you are in His eyes? Visit the Senior Living Ministries website The post Where Do You Seek Your Approval? – Senior Living – June 17 appeared first on GodUpdates.

A Prayer to Get Rid of All BitternessBy Kristine Brown "Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior." (Ephesians 4:31 NLT) Bitterness. It can creep into our minds undetected. It may start with one small thought but left unchecked, bitterness can maneuver its way into our hearts and make itself at home. Many things can trigger bitterness. Like coming face to face with someone who wronged us in the past. Recalling the hurtfulness for which they never apologized or even acknowledged. We sometimes bury bitter feelings so deep that we think we've rid ourselves of them. But then, that person or memory pops up, and the bitterness we once felt comes back with a vengeance. Over time, the small seeds of bitterness can develop roots and begin to grow. God directs us in his Word to get rid of bitterness. Our Heavenly Father understands how destructive it can be to our lives. Bitterness also affects those around us, spilling out on our families, friends, and coworkers. But God's direction is clear; he wants us to live free from the entanglement of bitterness. The apostle Paul instructed the church at Ephesus to "Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior" (Ephesians 4:31). Paul's encouragement to live as children of Light inspired Jesus' followers through building his church, and that instruction still holds true for us today. We cannot shine the Light of Jesus Christ to a dark world if we're holding on to bitterness. In my personal experience, bitterness has often sprouted because of a perceived wrong. When I felt like I'd been treated unjustly, that lingering resentment fed the root of bitterness and helped it grow. I've even become bitter over unanswered prayers. Times when something horrible happened in my circumstances, and I questioned why God didn't do something to stop it. The Expositor's Bible Commentary says bitterness is "the spite that harbors resentment and keeps a score of wrongs." So if bitterness keeps score, then according to the truth of 1 Corinthians 13, we could say that the opposite of bitterness is love. "It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged" (1 Corinthians 13:5). Wouldn't I rather harbor love than bitterness? The answer is yes, yet I know getting rid of bitterness takes an intentional commitment to seek God's ways and the leading of the Holy Spirit in my everyday life. I cannot get rid of bitterness if I've given it a place to thrive. To break free from bitterness, I must pull it out from the roots and replace it with the good things of God. Romans 5:5 reminds us of this truth: "For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." Once we get rid of all bitterness, along with the other traits described in Ephesians 4:31, we will be prepared to display those good qualities Paul described in the very next verse. "Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32) As we pray today's prayer to get rid of all bitterness, let's open our hearts to God and ask for a fresh filling of his love.  Let's pray:Dear God,Lately, I've felt bitterness invading my mind and heart. I've entertained bitter thoughts and let them affect every area of my life. Forgive me for allowing bitterness to take root. Help me get rid of all bitterness so that I can display kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness toward others. Thank you for helping me recognize bitterness so I can bring it to you and ask you to cleanse my heart. Thank you for teaching me through your holy Word how destructive bitterness can be to my life and those around me. Today, I get rid of all bitterness and release my hurt over perceived wrongs against me. Pour out your unending love into my life, Lord. I choose to live free from bitterness.In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen. Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Tinnakorn Jorruang For more spiritual growth resources, check out the 5-day email devotional, How to Be Free from Bitterness, by today's devotion writer, Kristine Brown. Learn more about women in the Bible and find encouragement to help you "become more than yourself through God's Word" at Kristine's website, morethanyourself.com. Teach Us to Pray is a FREE prayer podcast hosted by iBelieve writer Christina Patterson. Each week, she gives you practical, real-life tips on how to grow your faith and relationship with God through the power of prayer. To listen to her episode on What to Pray in the Morning for a Worry-Free Day, click below! Now that you’ve prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below! Visit iBelieve.com for more inspiring prayer content. The post A Prayer to Get Rid of All Bitterness – Your Daily Prayer – May 17 appeared first on GodUpdates.

At the end of a fundraiser on Saturday night studded with Hollywood celebrities, former President Barack Obama took President Biden’s hand and guided him off the stage. As the band played and Obama waved to the audience, Biden faced the audience with his hands clenched, only turning to leave when Obama took his hand to lead him off. So embarrassing. The Democrats can’t let this go on, surely? pic.twitter.com/ptCtWBbFfh — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 16, 2024 Last week, at the G-7 summit, Biden was standing with other leaders who were facing forward when he started wandering off to the side, forcing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to cross in front of the other leaders and go retrieve him. WHAT IS BIDEN DOING? pic.twitter.com/iY33K2srII — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 13, 2024 Also at the G-7 summit, Biden awkwardly pressed his forehead into the forehead of Pope Francis, leaving the Pope befuddled. Milei’s reaction to Biden getting in too close to the Pope is incredible. pic.twitter.com/ktdywb5Kq2 — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 15, 2024 Hours before the Hollywood fundraiser, First Lady Jill Biden addressed a group of roughly 250 seniors in Phoenix, Arizona, and attempted to allay any fears about her husband’s age, saying, “Joe and the other guy are essentially the same age so let’s not be fooled. … Biden is a healthy, wise, 81-year-old ready to work every day to make our future better.” In Special Counsel Robert Hur criminal investigation of Biden, the report stated, “Mr. Biden’s memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017 [with whom he shared classified materials], and in his interview with our office in 2023 … We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Recordings from when Biden was interviewed by the ghostwriter in 2017 showed that even then, he was “struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries,” the special counsel said, adding that even back then he was showing signs of “diminished faculties and faulty memory.” Ryan Saavedra contributed to this report. Related: Special Counsel: Biden Has ‘Significantly Limited’ Memory, Didn’t Remember When He Was VP Or When Son Died

On Sunday, former President Trump targeted Illinois Democratic governor J.B. Pritzker, who has been considered a rising star in the Democratic Party but who has presided over the state while natives flee. Pritzker was inaugurated as governor of the state in January 2019; between July 2021 and July 2022, over 142,000 people left Illinois. The only state that had a faster rate of population decline during that same time period was New York. “Sloppy J.B. Pritzker, the Rotund Governor from the once great State of Illinois, who makes Chris Christie look like a male model, and whose family wanted him out of the business because he was so pathetic at helping them run it, has presided over the destruction and disintegration of Illinois at levels never seen before in any State. Crime is rampant and people are, sadly, fleeing Illinois. Unless a change is made at the Governor’s level, Illinois can never be Great Again,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Pritzker has a massive $52.7 billion 2025 spending plan that will require enormous tax increases of an estimated $898 million. Illinois currently has the second-highest corporate income tax rate in the country. He wants to extend extension of Illinois’ cap on net operating losses, which would raise taxes on companies losing money, as Bryce Hill, Director of Fiscal and Economic Research with the Illinois Policy Institute, pointed out in a comprehensive piece about Pritzker’s 2025 budget. Pritzker would “effectively raise taxes by $186 million on retailers,” Hill noted, adding, “Retailers now retain 1.75% of the sales taxes for collecting and sending them to the government, so long as they properly file and pay their applicable sales taxes by their due dates. Under Pritzker’s proposal, the value of this tax credit would be capped at $1,000 per month.” Hill asserts that Pritzker’s 2025 budget proposal includes “a hidden $93 million income tax hike on individuals. He will get that money by shortchanging the inflation adjustment to the state’s standard income tax exemption. … the state’s current standard exemption for tax year 2024 is set a $2,775 per income taxpayer and dependent. Pritzker wants to reduce this exemption to $2,550 per income taxpayer and dependent – a change that would only account for one years’ worth of inflation adjustments instead of the two taxpayers are due.”

Chuck Schumer Posts Picture of a Barbeque Fail and Is Ratioed so Hard He DELETES It (But We've Got It!)

Archaeologists excavating a planned construction site in the historic center of Wiedenbrück unearthed a large amount of wood arranged in a purposeful fashion, likely intended to reclaim land adjacent to a waterway. The wet soil near a waterway had preserved the small logs and branches, and also preserved pottery, animal bones and leather shoe soles. The pottery dates it to the 13th century. The wooden stakes were laid in two or three rows know as fascines, used to reinforce sloping terrain like a kind of retaining wall. Worked stakes and plain branches run east-west with willow rods woven in between them. South of the rows, thin birch twigs were laid flat on the ground to help secure the subsoil. Archaeologists believe its positioning indicates the network was used to prevent water penetration. A small town in northwestern Germany’s Westphalia region, Wiedenbrück grew around a church built there in the late 8th century. The earliest archaeological remains in Wiedenbrück are from a basilica built after 900 and within 50 years of that, Wiedenbrück was part of the territory of the Bishopric of Osnabrück, with market and mint rights granted to the bishop by the king of East Francia and future Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. The oldest surviving coins on the archaeological record, however, date to 1230, almost 300 years after the mint rights were granted, around the same time as the wood structure was built. For the history of the town of Wiedenbrück, the excavation findings open a window into the exciting period of growth around 800 years ago: “The elaborate wooden construction was probably built during the construction of the new town shortly before the middle of the 13th century in order to make use of a peaty depression east of an old arm of the Ems that had always been unsuitable for settlement,” explains Sven Spiong, head of the Bielefeld branch. “Such medieval land reclamation or densification measures in towns can be observed again and again, recently in Minden or Rietberg, for example. When the town grew, previously unused areas were prepared as building land.” The continued use of the land along the waterway was demonstrated by the embankments that covered the entire structure in the 14th or 15th century, thereby raising the land and making it drier. Finally, the final settlement of the site is evidenced by posts up to two meters long that were driven through the older embankment and the wooden structure underneath. One of these posts turned out to be a reused, slightly charred half-timbered beam. Scientific research is now intended to clarify whether these posts could be part of the first written record of development on the site from around 1500.

A Celtic bronze fertility figurine discovered in Little Chishill, Cambridgeshire, in 2018 is going under the hammer. Metal detectorist Bob Jemmett found it during a rally in a freshly plowed field and reported it to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Experts identified it as a Celtic fertility figure from the 1st century A.D. The cast copper-alloy figure is 38 mm (1.5 inches) high and 12.53mm (.5 inches) and is a stylized depiction of a standing male figure with a prominent phallus, nubs for arms, an elongated torso and short legs. His head is large and skull-like with pits as eyes, a button nose and a wide groove as a mouth with vertical lines for teeth. The shape of the head is mushroomed-shaped with an extended rounded back and jutting chin. On the back is a circular loop that was used to suspend it or mount. The loop is almost worn through on one side, indicating it may have hung from something for a significant length of time, but it is too low on the back to have been a pendant from a necklace. The only known comparable figurine was found in 2014 in Sussex, but there are marked differences. The Sussex example has no facial features at all, the arms are waist-length and the phallus is small and flaccid. There is no exact parallel known, and neither this figurine nor the Sussex one were excavated in archaeological conditions. Interestingly, it does have several notable features in common with the Cerne Abbas Giant, the hillside chalk figure in Dorset, namely the erect phallus and the shape of the eyes, nose and mouth. The Little Chishill figurine was immediately popular. The rally organizers used him as a logo in promotional material and that spread the word of the find among metal detectorists far and wide. Jemmett named him Nobby and kept him in his pocket at all times (a choice the Romans would certainly have approved of). He has decided to sell him now spurred by a recent house burglary. Nobby goes under the hammer at Noonans on June 20th. The pre-sale estimate is £1,000–£1,500 ($1,270-$1,900).