The Danish government is proposing a ban on several social media apps for children under 15 years old. Danish PM Mette F Frederiksen told Denmarks parliament that the move was to protect children from the [...] The post Denmark To Ban Social Media For Under-15s appeared first on The People's Voice.

The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is currently facing two no-confidence votes amid mounting challenges to her leadership While urging MEPs not to support attempts to oust her, the EU chief claims that [...] The post EU Chief Von der Leyen Accuses Her Critics Of Serving Russia appeared first on The People's Voice.

There are no rules when it comes to decorating your home. Sure, rentals have certain rules like “no painting.” But that doesn’t mean you have to entirely forgo your own personal style. On the contrary, the place we live should be our escape from the rest of the world. What that looks like will be different for everyone. For example, Amanda is taking the time to redecorate her office with a Harry Potter theme. There are many directions that Amanda could have taken with this theme. That said, the route she’s taking is more on the dark academia side. In other words, the room she’s making looks as though it came straight out of the Harry Potter films. Her latest addition, a textured “brick” wall, has added a lot of depth to the room. Watch the video below to see Amanda’s process — and the results. @amandamakingmagic I used joint compound and craft paint to transform this wall #harrypotter #diy #harrypotteroffice #harrypottertok #officetransformation ♬ som original – Nico News Someone in the comments pointed out how dedicated Amanda is to transforming her office, and they couldn’t be more correct. According to this same post, it took Amanda three whole days to complete this project alone. That’s not to mention all the time, money, and effort spent on the rest of the room. Speaking of which, want to see the rest of the office? Watch the video below… Creative Woman Completely Transforms Her Office Into a Harry Potter Themed Room @amandamakingmagic Heaven forbid a girl is inspired #harrypotteroffice ♬ elle woods シ – errewayy When you’re a kid, you have all sorts of fantastical ideas about what it’s like to become an adult. While many of these dreams can’t come true, ones like this can. Life truly is too short to worry about what potential future buyers will think of your home. Besides, they may love it, too. Just look at this gorgeously painted house that was for sale! You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post DIY Stone Wall Turns Harry Potter-Themed Office Into Magical Escape appeared first on InspireMore.

A younger pastor recently asked me what resources have most formed my thinking on pastoral ministry. He was somewhat familiar with most of the books I mentioned, but then I brought up the works on ministry written by Eugene Peterson. To my surprise and dismay, he was unaware of Peterson’s pastoral writings. All he knew of Peterson was The Message. While The Message is undoubtedly what Peterson is best known for, and the work he’ll probably be remembered by, he spent most of his life as a pastor, and it was as a pastor that Peterson wished to be remembered. Peterson was the founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland (a suburb of Baltimore), a church he served faithfully for 29 years until his retirement. During that lengthy pastorate, he “worked out” what he eventually “worked into” his several books on pastoral ministry: Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work, Working the Angles, Under the Unpredictable Plant, and The Contemplative Pastor. In those books, Peterson provides a vision for pastoral ministry that’s still sorely needed, one that can immensely benefit pastors. If you’re a pastor or an aspiring pastor, and you’re largely unfamiliar with Peterson, I want to make you aware of one of the most significant pastoral voices of the last 50 years. If you’re familiar with Peterson but are on the fence about reading his books, I hope to help you see why doing so will serve you well. Why You May Be Reluctant While many younger pastors haven’t read Peterson because they’re unaware of his pastoral writings, others haven’t read these works because they’re unsure (perhaps even suspicious) of Peterson. For some, their uncertainty is based on faulty assumptions about The Message: Its popularity must mean Peterson is superficial. Or Peterson isn’t worth listening to since he wanted to “dumb down” the Scriptures. Peterson provides a vision for pastoral ministry that’s still sorely needed, one that can immensely benefit pastors. Those notions aren’t remotely accurate. The Message grew out of Peterson’s pastoral desire to see his congregation engage with Scripture’s heights and depths. Moreover, he was a skilled linguist adept in both Hebrew and Greek, so he had no desire to craft a Bible paraphrase that’s unfaithful to biblical truth. Others’ uncertainty about Peterson is more theological and convictional. Admittedly, I hold different convictions than Peterson did on certain issues. There’s also been some confusion over Peterson’s views on marriage and sexuality, so caution is understandable. However, it’s unwise—not to mention uncharitable—to conclude that Peterson has nothing worthwhile to say. Why You Should Take Up and Read Here are five good reasons you should take up Peterson’s pastoral works. 1. Peterson’s pastoral writings are rooted in Scripture, and they consistently argue that the Bible is the basis for pastoral ministry. Peterson’s books on ministry intentionally provide a biblical orientation to pastoral work. Five Smooth Stones derives pastoral principles from five Old Testament books: Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. Working the Angles focuses on the importance of the Psalms for prayer, and it uses Acts 8’s story of Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch as an illustration of the pastor’s hermeneutical work. In Under the Unpredictable Plant, the book of Jonah provides the narrative structure for Peterson’s considerations of the pastoral vocation. And The Contemplative Pastor is filled with biblical allusions and reflections—from the Gospels to the Beatitudes to Revelation. To read Peterson on pastoral ministry is to read page after page of thought saturated in the Scriptures. His description of a Christian in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction is a fitting description of himself: He had “David in his bones, Jeremiah in his bloodstream, Paul in his fingertips, and Christ in his heart.” 2. Peterson was ‘a voice . . . crying in the wilderness’ (John 1:23), and as pastors ought to know, such voices should be heard. Peterson says truths that few pastors and church leaders were saying at the time—and that still too few say now. When gimmicks and quick fixes continue to be peddled, and when immediacy is highly prized and exceedingly tempting, Peterson’s books remind us that pastoral work is often slow. Today, building ministry platforms and gaining celebrity status is put forward as a healthy pastoral ambition, but Peterson reminds us that ministry is modest and often obscure. Some names and references he uses will feel out of date for most readers, but even that underscores the truth that real ministry isn’t based on the latest trends. Yes, Peterson’s pastoral vision is as relevant and needed as ever. 3. Peterson draws his readers’ attention to pastoral work’s first, basic, and most essential elements. So much of what’s marketed to pastors today focuses on extraneous aspects of ministry, or even unhelpful and unnecessary practices. Peterson, by contrast, keeps our attention on what matters—prayer, meditating on Scripture, caring for souls, and giving spiritual direction. He refers to these practices as “trained attentiveness to God.” In a time when other priorities constantly vie for our attention, we need this pastor to remind us of what’s essential in ministry. 4. Peterson makes you feel grateful and honored to be called. Peterson fully realizes the cultural assumptions pastors face, how people tend to see us and our work. But his writings were designed to rescue men from those cultural misunderstandings and to restore dignity to pastoral work. Whether it’s drawing biblical parallels to pastors, the historical legacy he situates us in, or the work’s privileges he highlights, they all serve to make you proud (in the best sense of that word) to be a pastor. Sadly, that’s a rare feeling for most of us. But Peterson writes about our work in a way that shows its honor—both biblically and historically. What a gift. 5. Peterson is enjoyable to read. From the imagery and language he uses to the stories he tells, Peterson’s writing is never dull. It’s obvious he cared about using words well. It’s not just what he says; it’s how he says it. His prose is poetic. And when you combine his excellent writing with this subject he knew so intimately, it’s no surprise his books for pastors have been enjoyed so widely. Once again, pastor, if you’ve never read Peterson on pastoral ministry, I hope this article introduces you to a new friend who will become a trusted companion in your work. If you’ve been hesitant about reading Peterson, I hope you’ll give him a chance. And if you already have Peterson’s books but you’ve never opened them, I pray you’ll finally take them up and read. You’ll be glad you did.

As a young man, I took a copy of Jan Karon’s debut novel with me on a surprise deployment. Two decades later, my copy of At Home in Mitford, a discarded paperback from the Gales Ferry library, still smells like a submarine. When I pick it up, it reminds me of reading in brief snatches in my bed when I was too exhausted to fall asleep. It was a comfort book, but also something more. My Beloved, the 15th book in the Mitford series, takes Karon’s faithful readers back through the decades as they recall stories of Father Tim, Cynthia, Esther Cunningham, Dooley, and the rest. Nearly three decades after the first book in the series was published, it’s clear Karon isn’t just writing escapist fiction. She’s presenting a vision of a better world. The plot of My Beloved is simple: In a fit of inspiration, Father Tim writes his wife, Cynthia, an unsigned love letter for Christmas. A comedy of errors follows. That love letter gets lost, then passed around town before it’s finally returned just in time for Christmas morning. As the narrative progresses, readers observe the deep human desire for community. We see the joy of being beloved. It makes us long for a deeper experience of love in this life. Pause That Refreshes Karon’s books aren’t likely to wind up in the canon of great American literature. The prose is serviceable but rarely artistic. Her stories typically inspire curiosity to see how predictable events unfold, rather than creating anticipation about a mysterious plot or drawing readers in with penetrating character development. We know when Hope Murphy worries about her bookstore’s “thirty-year-old boiler from which they’d wrung every iota of utility” that Happy Endings is getting a new furnace by the end of the book (27). Yet despite any literary peccadillos, there’s endearing goodness in the stories. It’s refreshing to see a clergyman consistently portrayed positively. Father Tim is forgetful and sometimes emotionally distant, but he’s decent and good. The tiny community of Mitford, North Carolina, provides the perfect fictional backdrop for the Anglican priest who loves the gospel and wants to serve his neighbors. Through the decades that unfold in Karon’s storyline, we see his struggles to love the unlovely, his joy at the surprising redemption of hardened sinners, and his difficulty in finding his identity outside his vocation. Though the lovable priest retired from his parish in the fifth book in the series, A New Song, we’re continually reminded that ministry is a lifestyle, not just a paycheck. It’s refreshing to see a clergyman consistently portrayed positively. Unlike in Karon’s previous novels, the narrative of My Beloved isn’t told primarily through Father Tim’s perspective; each chapter highlights the thoughts (and vernacular) of many of our favorite Mitfordians. Thus, for example, we hear the realization of Esther Cunningham that her husband of seven decades “was the best man God ever put on this green earth, not a jack-leg bone in his body” (295). Ray’s sterling qualities have been evident to readers for quite a while, but it’s good to hear the town’s longtime sausage-biscuit-loving mayor admit it. Mitford Takes Care of Its Own In the acknowledgments of Karon’s 2005 book, Light from Heaven, attentive fans of Mitford encounter a clue that she’s doing something more than spinning a yarn. The first name on that list is James Davison Hunter, the University of Virginia sociologist who popularized the term “culture war” in 1991, and whose 2010 book, To Change the World, argues that faithful Christian presence within cultural institutions is the primary means to enact cultural transformation. In light of that connection, Father Tim’s efforts in consulting with Mayor Cunningham and his friendship with the police chief throughout the series become evidence of something more than small-town charm. This portrait of a meaningful community begins in her first book, but it deepens over time. The shift is evident as references to Father Tim’s reading change from primarily William Wordsworth and C. S. Lewis to frequent allusions to Wendell Berry. Thus, when the retired priest steps in to help run the Happy Endings bookstore during Hope’s difficult pregnancy, and manages the local grocery store while proprietor Avis Packard is fighting for his life, we see Berry’s “membership” illustrated. In My Beloved, when Dooley decides to renovate the tumbledown cottage on Meadowgate Farm to give the aging Harley and Willie a permanent home, the echoes of Jayber Crow are unmistakable. There’s more to Father Tim’s saga than a utopian depiction of the perfect community. Mitford isn’t Mayberry, though they’re set in the same state. In My Beloved, efforts to bring the Dooley’s family back together remind us of the long-term effects of sin. Though the gospel has transformed her life, Dooley’s mother, Pauline, still struggles with self-centeredness. She can’t understand why some of her children haven’t forgiven her for abandoning them. The lights turn on when Cynthia pointedly, but compassionately, tells her, “You’re not the one who was hurt most deeply, you’re but one of six who were hurt most deeply” (287). Sin leaves scars. Yet we also see the dawning of hope that can only be found in Christ. Redemption is possible, but repairing earthly relationships is hard. Forgiveness comes through Christ, but pain often lingers. Meaningful community is messy. Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good In a 1997 interview, after her fourth book was released, Karon said, I have a mission to console readers through laughter and by reminding them of God’s love. I don’t want to give them any more stress, violence, murder or rape. I want to give them a town to call their own, a place they can go and live for a week or two. She never abandoned the wholesome kernel, but her vision seems to have blossomed over the years. Returning readers will be delighted with Karon’s latest effort. But My Beloved isn’t the ideal introduction to Father Tim and Mitford. So many plotlines and characters from previous novels come together that a first-time visitor is likely to be confused by the fan service. Hopefully, newcomers will be inspired to start at the beginning to see the narrative unfold so they too can call Mitford home. Redemption is possible, but repairing earthly relationships is hard. C. S. Lewis was correct when he wrote, “Reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” Like Allen Levi’s Theo of Golden, the whole Mitford saga illustrates the way meaning can be found in Christ and in community with ordinary people living ordinary lives. My Beloved reminds readers of fiction’s power to shape our desires for a world that increasingly reflects God’s redemptive work.

One would think a federal judge trying to block the president from deploying the National Guard to protect federal agents would mark the breaking point for judicial supremacism. Yet the Trump administration still behaves as if the Supreme Court can rescue it from judicial overreach. It cannot. You can’t comply your way out of judicial tyranny, appoint your way past it, or count on the high court to stop it. The judiciary must be delegitimized completely.Congress passed by overwhelming margins a law banning Chinese-owned TikTok in the United States. President Trump ignored it. He ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to keep the app online, and no one in Washington blinked. The president defied a duly enacted law, extended TikTok’s life beyond the 90-day limit, and still allows just under 20% Chinese ownership. Yet the same Washington class insists that any judge can command the president on immigration, national security, or even his use of the National Guard — and that such rulings are the word of God.The proper response is not to plead for Supreme Court review — it’s to ignore such rulings outright.Late Saturday night, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, ruled that the president lacked authority to deploy the Oregon National Guard to Portland to protect ICE facilities. The same judiciary that called a few hours of chaos on Jan. 6, 2021, an “insurrection” now dismisses eight months of rioting, doxxing, and targeted attacks on ICE agents as “lawful protest.”On Sunday, Immergut extended her injunction to every state’s National Guard units, even those like Texas, whose governors had granted Trump permission to federalize.The merits of her decision aren’t the core issue. The problem is structural: Federal courts claim abstract standing to decide national-security questions that belong to elected branches. Judicial power was never meant to work this way.If a citizen suffers injury, he can seek damages in court. But no judge has constitutional authority to referee political disputes as if she were deciding some sort of civil case between Microsoft and Amazon. The proper response is not to plead for Supreme Court review — it’s to ignore such rulings outright.If the judiciary holds the final say in every political or constitutional conflict, checks and balances collapse. When judges alone define their own powers and the limits of the other branches, we cease to be a republic and become an unelected oligarchy. Abraham Lincoln, citing Thomas Jefferson, warned that once a free people submits absolutely to any department of government, liberty is lost.When one branch violates the Constitution, the others — and the people — must push back. The founders never vested final authority in any single branch, least of all the one insulated from elections. Presidents come and go; judges remain for decades, accountable to no voter.I don’t like that Trump sets tariff rates and hands out exemptions by executive order. He even granted Qatar de facto NATO protection without Senate approval. Those moves deserve political resistance — but not judicial vetoes. Questions of national policy belong to voters and legislators, not to courts hunting for imaginary plaintiffs.Immergut granted standing to Oregon and Portland to challenge Trump’s finding of a “violent domestic insurrection,” claiming there were only four clashes with federal officers in the prior month. Even if that number were correct, no judge has the power to second-guess an executive’s determination of an uprising. Governments cannot sue one another over political facts. We are either a constitutional republic or a dictatorship of robes.The founders understood this. James Madison originally proposed that the Supreme Court share a “council of revision” with the president to veto legislation. Once the Constitution created an independent executive with its own veto, no serious thinker imagined adding a judicial one. In 1789, Madison made clear that while courts interpret law in specific cases, no branch “draws from the Constitution greater powers than another in marking out the limits of the several departments.”RELATED: Americans didn’t elect a Boston judge president Cemile Bingol via iStock/Getty ImagesWhen branches clash, each uses its own powers to persuade the public. Madison wrote that differences between the legislative and executive “may be an inconvenience not entirely to be avoided.” That friction, he said, reflects the “concurrent right to expound the Constitution.” In other words, conflict is not a crisis — it’s republican government at work.Today’s judicial supremacy replaces that rough balance with North Korean-style obedience to unelected authority. What’s next? Will judges write the 2026 federal budget while the president and Senate argue?Waiting for the Supreme Court to reverse rogue lower-court rulings is a fool’s errand. As Justice Samuel Alito warned in Trump v. CASA, class-action suits and nationwide injunctions make such limits meaningless. Even if the high court eventually reverses Immergut, the administration will have wasted precious time and capital — while worse precedents, like birthright citizenship rulings, remain untouched.How far must this usurpation go before the executive reasserts its authority? Until the presidency and Congress together reject the judiciary’s false supremacy, the United States will remain trapped in a system unworthy of a free people.

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