Quote of the Week:

 

 This is disturbing 

...."clerics [in Iran] always knew what Washington seems to have taken four months to accept: the [ Iranian  Theopotic & Tryannicratic ] regime was never lodged in one man[Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ] but rather in a clergy,[ Iranian Senior leadership ] a security apparatus [ IRGC] and a doctrine,[Radical Islam ] and all three came through the bombs intact."

From Gatestone Institute essay by Pierre Rehov.

Context: Extended deals or MOU between Iran and USA. With the backdrop of the deaths of upper -most leadership,loss of missile and other war- waging infrastructure, damaged Nuclear installations, iranian navy, bloodbath January Uprising of ordinary but brave citizens and the attacks on other Gulf nations with drone attacks of commercial shipping and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz.

By Digital Anvil.

Make My Life Count: (Re-work)

On 7th July 2005, terrorists targeted the London Underground Tube system, carrying out coordinated bomb attacks that killed 52 people and injured over 700 others. One of those severely injured was Australian Gillian Hicks.

She was travelling between King's Cross and Russell Square Station when a bomb exploded in her carriage. She lost the lower half of both her legs.

As Hicks waited for paramedics that July morning in the tube wreckage, she made what she describes as a "contract" with herself: if she survived, she would make her life count.

Years after the attack, in a documentary, Hicks reflected on the ways she has done this.

You don’t have to survive a terrorist attack on the London Tube to make that commitment. Let’s decide today to live with purpose; it’s why God created us.

 

Share this daily- reading.

 

Karl Faase,thanks.

 

( from Digital Anvil )

 

 Personal Note:

Once and then again, I encountered Christianity  I began losing  the drive for performative living. Living a consumer lifestyle fashioned around work/weekend driven by too many marketed  but profitable fake needs styled by Hi-Tech, Corps and fashionable lies chasing fruitless outcomes.

While renewing my hard-wiring of false meta- narratives occasioned by some fake societal demands in a post modern worldview, I re-discovered purpose and meaning and belonging with a newer " contract " with greater society. Looking no further than Christianity.✅️

J.K. Rowling: Billionaire Philanthropist.

When people say they hate billionaires, I always wonder...

Which ones?

Because here's one using her wealth to fight for people who don't have the same power.

Media headlines rarely call her one of the world's most successful businesswomen.

They rarely call her a billionaire philanthropist.

They rarely call her a woman who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charity. Instead it's almost always...

"Harry Potter author J K Rowling..."

As though reducing one of the most successful women in modern history to the books she wrote somehow makes her easier to dismiss.

Insert eye roll.

Here's what that "Harry Potter author" has actually done.

She has donated hundreds of millions to charities supporting children, families, multiple sclerosis research, poverty relief and humanitarian causes.

She founded Lumos, a charity working to end the institutionalisation of children around the world.

She has financially supported women escaping domestic violence and sexual abuse.

She has established the JK Rowling Women's Fund to support legal action where women and girls' sex based rights are being challenged.

And now she has publicly offered to fund legal action after reports emerged that a 13 year old girl was housed in a secure unit with older male teenagers despite raising concerns for her own safety.

Whether you agree with every opinion she holds is your choice.

Whether you agree that vulnerable girls deserve protection should not be controversial.

People often complain that billionaires don't use their money to make a difference.

Well...

Here's one who is.

She's putting her own reputation, her own wealth and her own resources behind causes she believes protect women and children.

You don't have to agree with everything someone says to recognise courage when you see it. Personally, I'd rather see powerful people use their influence than sit quietly to protect their public image.

That's TRUE leadership.

And that's worthy of respect.

Has the media reduced J K Rowling to "the Harry Potter author" because it's accurate... or because calling her one of the world's most influential and generous women makes her much harder to dismiss?

Unknown Contributor.

( from Digital Anvil )

 Why are Young People so Unhappy and Nobody Knows Why?

 

Wisdom, veracity and determination presenting>>> 

 

It's difficult to fully comprehend the social movements that dominate some, if not all, Western Civilisation's Nations normally associated with the long-term echo of the so -called sexual, social and political and the  cultural revolution of the 50s ,60s and 70s.

Dominating this revolution was the rise of the female activity known as Feminism. Heroines such as Germaine Greer and many vocal others promoted and evolved the ideology that women and girls need to unshackle themselves from auspices of  domineering men who by their very masculine nature were "toxic oppressors" of the female sex.

 Although this correction was substantially needed by many accounts, the  transforming pendulum needs to swing back to equilibrium.

It is with that statement that i ask you (and me) to pay attention or mindfully consider this ARC panel of four by watching  to its conclusion.

 tap or click the linked video below. 

ARC Panel on Boys and Men 

 

I thank the inclusion of Freya India for calm wisdom with the other younger panelists. Approximate running time 12 mins

 

by Digital Anvil. 

 

Final Comment:

In my own believed opinion, the transforming pendulum should be at rest  ( middle-position ) or equilibrium. As simply as far as possible, neither one way or the other. Equal in mutual power, position and love as complete as possible as imperfect persons of either sex. Equal Respect and Love accorded to Both. 

I believe that is only possible in the Judeo-Christian tradition of the earlier centuries forging of another view of femaleness and maleness misinterpreted by forces inimical to the free rule of respect  & love for either sex and in the pursuit of the uplift of all humanity. 

 

The Bible Full of Ordinary People:

Bible Full Of Ordinary People

One of the most instructive aspects of reading the Bible is discovering that its characters are ordinary people, most of whom we can relate to.

The Bible is not full of people whose lives are morally upright and perfect in every way. The characters who feature throughout its pages live messy lives. They often make mistakes, poor choices and have bad attitudes. They let others down and fail to live up to expectations.

Yet many are still heroic and faithful: they live out God's values in the midst of their failures.

They remind us that following Jesus is not about getting it right all the time, but about living in the knowledge that we are forgiven.

 

 God offers us a fresh start every day.

Share this daily- reading.

My earnest thanks,Karl Faase.

( from Digital Anvil )

Prayed About It ?

Have you prayed about it?

“You do not have because you do not ask.” James 4:2 NIV

From the beginning of the Bible to its conclusion, we see absolute evidence that God answers prayer. Things that we think are impossible, God does when people pray! When we pray, we align ourselves with the purposes of God and tap into the power of the Almighty. Because we pray, God works through us in ways He wouldn’t otherwise.

God has made certain things dependent upon prayer, things that will never be done unless we pray. Could God do whatever He chooses without our prayer? Of course. 

But God has determined that He will use the prayers of His people to accomplish His purposes. When we do not pray, we limit what God will do in our lives. 

Some may not like the sound of this, but if it were not true, what could James mean when he writes: “You do not have because you do not ask?” Why would Paul ask some friends to, “Pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honoured…that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people” (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 NIV), if he did not believe their prayers had the power to change his circumstances? Both James and Paul believed that God might well withhold His hand of blessing from them if they neglected to pray.

 Since they wanted all the blessing available to them, they not only prayed themselves, they recruited others to pray for them. They never wanted to limit what God might be pleased to do in and through them by failing to pray. And if you want all the blessing God has available, you too must pray.

SoulFood: 2 Sam 3:22–7:17 Matt 24:36–51 Ps 110 Pro 17:15–17

My Thanka to  the  Website: Vision.org.au for this daily reading.

( from Digital Anvil )

The Decline of Attention Spans Dr. Gloria Mark has been studying the declining attention span of adults for 20 years.  In the study, they measured how long an adult would stay on a particular task, in 2004 the average time was about 150 seconds. By 2012, the focused attention time was cut in half to 75 seconds. By 2020, the time was down to an average of 47 seconds. James Emery White, a pastor, author, and cultural commentator who studies trends affecting faith and the church, writes, “Whatever it is we are attempting to convey, much less explain, will need to be communicated more frequently in shorter bursts of ‘snackable content’ because members of Generation Z are the ‘ultimate consumers of snack media.’” We may enjoy the bite-sized information that social media gives us. However, the most important parts of our lives and especially our personal faith will take concentrated times of focus.  Don’t snack-feed your faith.   Share this daily - reading. Thanks Karl Faase. ( from Digital Faith )