The Peasantry

Both Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox claim to be the "one true Church" with apostolic succession on their side. Both ask: "Would the Holy Spirit allow the Church to fall into error for 1500 years?" My answer: Yeah, I think He would - Just the same as Israel was allowed to fall into error time and time again. The fact that the 2 split in 1054 and both claim exclusive fidelity to the apostles means, logically, at least one of them has been wrong for nearly 1,000 years. They can't both be right. This should motivate Protestants to dig into Scripture and church history. One (or both) of these institutions has error on important points. Scripture, being God's Word, is our anchor for everything. This is not the strawman of "every Christian for 1500 years went to hell before Martin Luther came along." Christ has always saved His people by grace through faith - even when the visible institutions went off the rails.

The announcement by President Trump about the potential peace deal is very good news. To make the deal effective we have to be realistic about Israel. We must recognize that a peace deal of any kind with the Iranian regime will be viewed by Israelis as an existential threat to their objectives, therefore they will seek to thwart the deal. To stop the Israelis from thwarting a potential peace deal, we will have to take away the military support that we provide that allows them to go on the offensive against Iran, and make it clear more will be taken from them if they attack Lebanon.

Oh for fucks sake. You have GOT to be kidding me right now.

Some say 2 Peter 1:20-21 prevents personal interpretation of the Bible. It doesn't. Read it carefully. It's talking about the ORIGIN of Scripture, not the reading of it. "Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:20-21)