Where is your trust?

Oct 15, 2023

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We are saved by faith, and faith is trust that commits … but where are we really putting our trust? Some Sunday thoughts.

Timestamps, Links, & Resources

0:00- Intro

spirit of the rainforest review
Spirit of the Rainforest Review
The Spirit of the Rainforest by Mark Andrew Ritchie is one of those books I am constantly either referring to or recommending.  I have bought several copies but at this very moment it is missing from my bookshelf after giving away my last one.  Not only is this an engaging and completely true story, but it is one that every Christian should read. As can be seen on this site, I have spent quite a bit of time reading about spiritual warfare and developing discerning of spirits.  The book went on my wish list after coming across some random mention on […]

 

job and his redeemer
Job and His Redeemer
In chapter 19, Job gives his second response to Bildad. It’s interesting these exchanges between Job and Bildad are prophetic, even though neither of the two knew what the outcomes would be.

 

7:52- Zoroastrianism, Persian culture, Jesus & the Bible

Parthia: The Forgotten Empire That Rivaled Rome
https://www.thecollector.com/parthia-empire-forgotten/

Luke 2

 

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0104.htm

Chapter 19. Three celebrated mysteries
Now the virginity of Mary was hidden from the prince of this world, as was also her offspring, and the death of the Lord; three mysteries of renown, which were wrought in silence by God. How, then, was He manifested to the world? A star shone forth in heaven above all the other stars, the light of which was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men with astonishment. And all the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon, formed a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above them all. And there was agitation felt as to whence this new spectacle came, so unlike to everything else [in the heavens]. Hence every kind of magic was destroyed, and every bond of wickedness disappeared; ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom abolished, God Himself being manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life. And now that took a beginning which had been prepared by God. Henceforth all things were in a state of tumult, because He meditated the abolition of death.

16:46- Reading the Bible from the right persepctive

20:05- Yahweh and the Zend Avesta

 

@RaisedtoWalk From the Zoroastrian Zend Avesta. When Moses asked the burning bush to whom he was speaking (bc many gods were worshipped), the answer was “I AM.” All, eternal, complete & sufficient … vs the pantheons worshipped in that culture & those following

V. ÂBÂN YAST.
https://sacred-texts.com/zor/sbe23/sbe2310.htm

@RaisedtoWalk The Jews were in the middle of pagan cultures who had entire pantheons, a god for every occasion, season, & need.

Yahweh’s answer to them was “Hear O Israel (listen & DO), the LORD your God is echad.” One, a unity. No warring or competing factions, as well as supreme over all

@RaisedtoWalk n Zoroastrianism, Ardvi Sûra Anâhita was believed to be the source of all water, and thus life. Jesus said, “I AM.”

@RaisedtoWalk Yima Khshaêta, known as the good shepherd was an earthly king who was said to reign for a thousand years & would bring immortality

Jesus said, “I AM.”

The I AM statements of Jesus: Bible study

Jesus said, ‘I AM the living water”

 

Jesus said, “I AM the Good Shepherd.”

24:31- What are our gods today?

Matthew 6:19-21 NIV

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Psalm 51:10-13

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.

James 2:26 NIV

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

James 2:26 NIV

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Matthew 25:31-46 NIV

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Matthew 20:26-28

26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

33:59- Afghanistan Earthquake

@siv_p2 Hundred of Afghans died and injured in a earthquake disaster in Herat Afghanistan so all Afghans requesting help from Humanitarian Organizations

@skotrds The scenes from Herat are heartbreaking and distressing, the people of Afghanistan need some respite from tragedies.
=== Official death toll of the earthquake that struck western Afghanistan jumps to horrific high: more than 2,000 people killed.

Herat province is worst hit, with entire villages flattened.

@AfgFactChecks2 – At least 2445 people are reportedly dead. Many more wounded.
– At least 1350 houses are completely destroyed.

@AzadiJaan From #Herat:

“We went to the #earthquake area of ​​Ghorian district last night – there is really nothing left of them. All the residents of about 15 villages are buried under the rubble. No one even left to give us a toll.
The numbers r way higher than what the media says(11k).”

@Larkabroad Another strong earthquake hit Herat, 💔 estimated between a 6.3-6.5.

@submarine_lemon Another earthquake today. Supplies needed, IV fluids and meds.
== Regional Hospital Herat need Emergency medicines friends organisations are requested to please help on urgent

@RaisedtoWalk The AP news articles on the Afghanistan earthquakes are -really- bad. They refer to -a- quake on the 7th.

Earthquakes in Herat since the 7th

@RaisedtoWalk You can see on the map that earthquakes are most prevalent in eastern Afghanistan. The only one recorded in Herat in the past 70 years was a 4.6 in 2004

Earthquakes in Afghanistan
https://www.worlddata.info/asia/afghanistan/earthquakes.php

@RaisedtoWalk I also haven’t seen any real analysis of the series of earthquakes. Articles are a mess. For ex, this AP article says some have never seen an earthquake & then at the end that earthquakes are common in 🇦🇫

@DTazeh “Hundreds of people stuck beneath this debris, but no one is seen helping.
This is the closest village to the center of Herat city…. People need urgent help.”

Underscores Afghanistan’s need for a government

@Jeannie_Hartley Unfortunately, I have received reports that the Taliban have beaten women after the earthquake because they were out on the streets without Muharram.
Since yesterday, a group of women have been trying to get permission to go to the affected areas and give clothes and first aid to the women who were brought out from under the rubble, but the Taliban did not allow them until today.
Also, a number of white hairs are trying to get permission to allow two or three public baths to be opened for women so that the women who are taken out from under the rubble and dirt, if they are not injured, can bathe and clean from this. to use the bathrooms, and the Taliban have not allowed it until today.

@HabibKhanT The number of women who died in the Herat earthquake is more than men. Most of the victims were women killed in aftershocks as they were not allowed to leave their homes due to the Taliban’s misogynist restrictions, says former Afghan NSA Dr. Spanta who is originally from Herat.

@submarine_lemon Entire villages have been flattened. There were people, mostly women and children, in these houses at the time. There is no government to help, just a bunch of militants hindering attempts to aid.
== Breaking: #Afghanistan was hit by another 6.3 magnitude earthquake this morning, shaking parts of the Western region where the earlier #HeratEarthquake killed over 2000 people.

@Punk319 When you forbid women from leaving the home, the children, who are most bound to the mother, will not leave the home. The Taliban’s policies in telling women that “the best hijab is to stay inside” and to “have a male relative with you when you do leave the home” has caused this.
=== #UNICEF said that until now more than 90% of the victims of the #earthquake in #Herat province in the west of the country are #women and #children. This organization asked for 20 million dollars of immediate #aid.

@HabibKhanT UN reports that 90% of Afghanistan’s earthquake victims are women and children, a grim testament to the gender apartheid enforced by the Taliban, which confines women to their homes.

39:20- Issues in Pakistan

@Moni_Kakar Afghanistan’s earthquake has claimed thousands of lives. Instead of helping Afghanistan in this hour of need, our government is arresting & abusing #AfghanRefugees, including women & children,in Karachi. It’s crucial that the Pakistani government stops these arrests & harassment.

@RaisedtoWalk If they have refugee cards, they must have been in Pakistan for awhile. Everyone in my group has been told @Refugees isn’t issuing certificates anymore. And another racket, one family getting asylum is now told they have to have police clearances for exit visas #MoreMoney
=== Afghan refugees who are legal in Pakistan if they didn’t pay money to Pak Police, the police is cutting their Refugee Card @UNHCRPakistan @GovtofPakistan @ICT_Police

@siv_p2 Pakistan Government is just against #Afghan_refugees if you see they will not extend the duration of visa in ordinary way as designed, @refugees must pay some things for dealers,
Exit permit 800$
Each year visa expiry is 400$
So refugees need support not penalty

@elia_elena1 Sir, we have our U.S. visas available in our Passports
The problem is that our Pakistani visas expire.
Still no news from IOM to arrange our travel
We can’t go out, we fear that if police come inside our house surely they will put us in jail or deport us to Afghanistan.

@ti8heart We entered Pakistan with a medical visa. The visa was not extended at first and we were fined. There are 9 members of our family. We have to pay a fine of 900 dollars each. Where do we get it from?

@AazadAaron If CARE team evacuate us from Afghanistan, then there wouldn’t be need to transfer our case and go to Pak. It’s been one year that I am waiting for relocation from Afg.
My case is SIV (interview ready stage).

@Larkabroad Police officials have given illegal Afghan refugees in the capital city forty-eight hours to move to a temporary camp it has established in the midst of a large Afghan population in Islamabad. The camp encompasses two sectors of Islamabad (H-12 and I-12).

@eternalblissAR They’re recruiting young people to join ISIS there.

52:10- Taliban and Hamas

@StephanAJensen Exactly.
And for those minded to say the Abbey Gate bomber was from ISIS (who the Taliban supposedly will help the US fight):
Let’s not forget he was *in prison* just two weeks before the bombing – until the Taliban *released him* along with thousands of other ISIS terrorists.
==The Taliban broke the Doha “agreement” (also known as Khalizad’s loser surrender) was broken before the Aug 21 withdrawal. @StephanAJensen has documented the Taliban attacks NEVER decreased after Doha. And what do you call the explosion at Abby Gate? It was a direct attack on u

@Voicefp He is member of the Taliban and from ghor province and killed in Israel.
https://twitter.com/Voicefp/status/1711383732199014709

@AfghanAnalyst2 Multiple pro-Taliban X accounts have covered an ongoing demonstration in Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, protesting against Israel.

@skotrds Please understand. Hamas and the Jihadists that committed these atrocities exactly knew how Israel would respond. They are going to sacrifice lives in Gaza for a political goal – one they have achieved already with crushing normalization.

This Day in History, May 14, 1948: State of Israel Proclaimed
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/state-of-israel-proclaimed

Pre-State Israel: Jewish Claim To The Land Of Israel
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-claim-to-the-land-of-israel

This is an explanation video from the UN which leaves out much pertinent information. It mentions that 77 percent of the land originally allocated for a Jewish homeland was allocated to Arabs … but not that that 77 percent was the newly created nation of Transjordan (now Jordan). It mentions conflict in 1948, but not that it was started by the invasion of Israel by the neighboring Arab states the day after the State of Israel was created.

The Question of Palestine
https://www.un.org/unispal/history/

Opinion | The Balfour Declaration Promised Lebanon and Jordan to the Jews, Too
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2017-10-25/ty-article/.premium/balfour-promised-lebanon-and-jordan-to-the-jews-too/0000017f-db97-d856-a37f-ffd7ef0e0000

The Arab-Israeli War of 1948
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/arab-israeli-war

The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 broke out when five Arab nations invaded territory in the former Palestinian mandate immediately following the announcement of the independence of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948. In 1947, and again on May 14, 1948, the United States had offered de facto recognition of the Israeli Provisional Government, but during the war, the United States maintained an arms embargo against all belligerents.

Historical Timeline: 1900-Present
History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
https://israelipalestinian.procon.org/historical-timeline-1900-present/

“From the River to the Sea”
https://www.ajc.org/translatehate/From-the-River-to-the-Sea

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” is a common call-to-arms for pro-Palestinian activists. It calls for the establishment of a State of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, erasing the State of Israel and its people. It is also a rallying cry for terrorist groups and their sympathizers, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to Hamas, which called for Israel’s destruction in its original governing charter in 1988 and was responsible for the October 7, 2023 terror attack on Israeli civilians, murdering over 1,000 people in the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

October 11, 2023: ‘From the river to the sea’ prompts Vienna to ban pro-Palestinian protest
https://www.reuters.com/world/from-river-sea-prompts-vienna-ban-pro-palestinian-protest-2023-10-11/

October 15, 2023: What You Need to Know About the Iran-backed Terror Group Hamas and its Attack on Israel
https://www.ajc.org/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-iran-backed-terror-group-hamas-and-its-attack-on-israel

October 10, 2023: How Hamas duped Israel as it planned devastating attack
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-israel-was-duped-hamas-planned-devastating-assault-2023-10-08/

Hamas’ use of human shields in Gaza
https://stratcomcoe.org/cuploads/pfiles/hamas_human_shields.pdf

December 5, 2021: Made in Gaza: Hamas Rockets the Product of Foreign Aid and Smuggled Material

Made in Gaza: Hamas Rockets the Product of Foreign Aid and Smuggled Material

@TreyYingst NEW: Hamas is preventing civilians from leaving their homes after Israel warns of an impending strike, I’m told by a diplomatic source. This was confirmed by an additional source in Gaza City. A senior Hamas official denied this is happening when I asked via text message, calling it “technically impossible.”

Zechariah 12:10

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[a] of grace and supplication. They will look on[b] me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

What is the significance of the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem?
https://www.gotquestions.org/eastern-gate-Jerusalem.html

Eastern Gate
https://www.holylandsite.com/eastern-gate-jerusalem

The Story Behind Jerusalem’s Sealed Golden Gate
https://theculturetrip.com/middle-east/israel/articles/the-story-behind-jerusalems-sealed-golden-gate

1:00:00- Kabul Hope Update

@RaisedtoWalk What happens under a privatized education system like Pakistan’s, such as @GregAbbott_TX wants to here? Starved public schools w/substandard Ed & so parents pay everything they can to send their children to private schools … But guess who gets the short end of the stick?

=== When parents only have a limited amount of money & they have more than one child, choices have to be made about who to spend those resources on, & girls consistently lose out. Three of our Afghan kids started private school in 🇵🇰 last week. The classes are about 20-24 students

=== In those classes of 20+, in grade 4, there are 4 girls; grade 7 there are six. In 10th grade, there are only two girls.

Don’t think this won’t happen in Texas. Because it will, especially with the big push for the toxic, return-to-the-1800’s trad housewife push.

October 12, 2023: Gov. Greg Abbott says he’ll add teacher pay to the special session — but only if lawmakers pass school voucher bill
Though lawmakers have drafted a bill to increase public school funding and teacher salaries, it cannot pass during the special session unless Abbott adds those issues to his agenda. Teachers were the only state employees to not receive a raise in the regular session.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/12/greg-abbott-school-vouchers-teacher-raises/

Charter Fraud And Waste Worse Than We Thought
https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2019/12/10/new-report-charter-fraud-and-waste-worse-than-we-thought/?sh=2a23fd107a22

The Great Charter School Scam
Three charters abruptly closed in North Carolina this year due to fraud, disrupting the lives of hundreds of families and highlighting a national crisis.
https://progressive.org/magazine/the-great-charter-school-scam-burris/

Why Charter Schools are Fraud Factories
https://weaponsofmassdeception.org/3-charter-school-kid-prisons/3-3-why-charter-schools-are-fraud-factories

Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
https://www.populardemocracy.org/news-and-publications/charter-school-vulnerabilities-waste-fraud-and-abuse

October 12, 2023: Arizona faces $400M deficit as tax cuts kick in, voucher demand grows
https://tucson.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/arizona-state-budget-school-vouchers-tax-cuts-economic-forecasts-hobbs-legislature/article_f8f9f574-6854-11ee-9673-c3c3d60cd280.html

October 11, 2023: AZ school voucher enrollment exceeds budget estimate
Voucher critics say the program is on track to blow up the state budget, but Republicans say there is nothing wrong

AZ school voucher enrollment exceeds budget estimate

 

 

 

 

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<a href="https://raisedtowalk.org/author/carla/" target="_self">Carla M. Sallee Alvarez</a>

Carla M. Sallee Alvarez

Carla Alvarez is the founder of Raised to Walk and a founding board member of An Unexpected Journal, a Communications Director at Legacy Marketing Services where she uses her BS in Marketing to create communication strategies for business, and an unlikely case manager and Bible Study teacher for the Afghan Christians of Kabul Hope Latest Series: Hacked: the Saga How an oily politician and a band of intellectual property and identity thieves conspired to erase a third-grade Sunday school teacher, Read more of her work on Google Scholar and Substack or contact her to write for you.

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