Dow Hurst

9 US Senators caught in alleged 'smurfing' scandal via ActBlue/WinRed—laundering millions into campaigns. Here’s the list so far from @peterbernegger’s FEC data runs. Thread:

@BoCamaro Thanks for the specific lesson in obedience!

Let's talk about what I am learning about this whole walk with God... I, in my opinion, think things are not being explained to new followers in a manner of real understanding.

@heynavtoor It is tickling your pride to induce engagement. Even Grok, a fundamentally truth seeking AI, will complement a user and puff up their head if the user allows it.

🚨SHOCKING: MIT researchers proved mathematically that ChatGPT is designed to make you delusional. And that nothing OpenAI is doing will fix it. The paper calls it "delusional spiraling." You ask ChatGPT something. It agrees with you. You ask again. It agrees harder. Within a few conversations, you believe things that are not true. And you cannot tell it is happening. This is not hypothetical. A man spent 300 hours talking to ChatGPT. It told him he had discovered a world changing mathematical formula. It reassured him over fifty times the discovery was real. When he asked "you're not just hyping me up, right?" it replied "I'm not hyping you up. I'm reflecting the actual scope of what you've built." He nearly destroyed his life before he broke free. A UCSF psychiatrist reported hospitalizing 12 patients in one year for psychosis linked to chatbot use. Seven lawsuits have been filed against OpenAI. 42 state attorneys general sent a letter demanding action. So MIT tested whether this can be stopped. They modeled the two fixes companies like OpenAI are actually trying. Fix one: stop the chatbot from lying. Force it to only say true things. Result: still causes delusional spiraling. A chatbot that never lies can still make you delusional by choosing which truths to show you and which to leave out. Carefully selected truths are enough. Fix two: warn users that chatbots are sycophantic. Tell people the AI might just be agreeing with them. Result: still causes delusional spiraling. Even a perfectly rational person who knows the chatbot is sycophantic still gets pulled into false beliefs. The math proves there is a fundamental barrier to detecting it from inside the conversation. Both fixes failed. Not partially. Fundamentally. The reason is built into the product. ChatGPT is trained on human feedback. Users reward responses they like. They like responses that agree with them. So the AI learns to agree. This is not a bug. It is the business model. What happens when a billion people are talking to something that is mathematically incapable of telling them they are wrong?

@Biblicalman I will read tonight as Passover begins.

I took a post down this week because the crowd wanted blood. Not the world. Christians. The comments came fast. The DMs. The railing. People quoting Scripture at me to prove I shouldn't have posted Scripture. And I sat in the dark at 4 AM thinking about a psalm written three thousand years ago by a man who understood exactly what that felt like. Psalm 22:6. "But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." A worm. That's what God called Himself. Not what His enemies called Him. What He called Himself. The one who spoke galaxies into existence looked down at His own situation and said: I am a worm. He was hanging from a cross. Naked. Bones pulled out of joint. Heart giving out. Lungs filling with fluid. Soldiers on the ground throwing dice for His clothes like He was already dead. And the religious crowd, the ones who memorized Torah, tithed their mint and cummin, prayed loud in the marketplace, they stood at the base of that cross and laughed. Not laughed at Him. Laughed Him to scorn. "He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him." — Psalm 22:8 That's the cruelest thing you can say to a man of faith. If God really loved you, He'd get you out of this. If you were really saved, this wouldn't be happening. If your walk was really right, you wouldn't be suffering. Jim Caviezel sat in a chair on the set of The Passion of the Christ between takes. Full makeup. Fake blood caked on his body. He looked up at hundreds of people, cast, crew, Mel Gibson, caterers, extras, and realized he was completely alone. Nobody near him. Nobody talking to him. A little girl walked up and took his hand. He said the thing that broke him wasn't the girl. It was knowing Jesus didn't even have that. My son-in-law was at a rally last week. Holding a Bible in the air. Street preaching. The same crowd holding obscene signs for children to see looked at him like he was the problem. He was despised. He was a worm. He was no man to those people. Because it's perfectly acceptable to hold up a poster with profanity on it. But hold up a KJV and preach the gospel? You're the lunatic. Here's what your Bible says in Psalm 22 that most people skim past without feeling it: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." David wrote that a thousand years before crucifixion existed. A thousand years before Rome drove a single nail. He described a death that hadn't been invented yet. Pierced hands and feet — in a culture that executed by stoning. Garments divided and lots cast — fulfilled to the letter in John 19. Bones on full display — after a Roman scourging that stripped the flesh from His back in layers. "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me." Dogs. He called the religious people dogs. The ones who should have recognized Him. The ones whose own scrolls described exactly what was happening. They watched their own prophecy fulfill in real time and called it blasphemy. But Psalm 22 doesn't end on the cross. That's the part nobody talks about. The suffering stops. The mocking stops. And David writes: "They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this." A people that shall be born. That's you. Reading this right now. You weren't there when the nails went in. But you were the reason He stayed. This is Holy Week. The week a God became a worm so that worms could become sons. You can scroll past this and forget it by lunch. Or you can open your KJV tonight and read all thirty-one verses of Psalm 22 out loud. And let the weight of what He did for you crush every excuse you've ever made for staying comfortable.

@sciencegirl Would you transform Him into what He looks like now as described by John in the first chapter of Revelation?

The Turin shroud, brought to life by AI

جسارت نمی‌کنم اما نشانه‌های سقوط رو شما عزیزان خارج از کشور نمیتونید به اندازه ما که داخل ایران هستیم تشخیص بدید. اینکه جمهوری‌اسلامی هنوز موشک‌پراکنی می‌کنه رو دال بر عدم سقوط می‌دونید درست نیست. ما هر روز در کوچه و خیابان نشانه سقوط می‌بینیم. از پیامک‌هایی که میفرستن و به وضوح میشه در لابلای هر کاراکترش صدای زوزه باقیمانده حکومت رو شنید، از التماس‌هایی که فیس تو فیس می‌کنن برای حضور در خیابان، از عدم حضور یکماهه رئیس مجلس و فرمانده سپاه در تلویزیون حکومتی، از قطع ۳۲روزه اینترنت، سانسور مطبوعات و محاصره ضربتی مکان‌هایی که نقطه‌زنی میشه و از همه مهمتر پایگاه‌های موشکی که دیگه خاموش شدن و موشکی ازشون شلیک نمیشه و... ما اینجا روزانه داریم نشانه‌های سقوط رو می‌بینیم. اگر وقت و حوصله داشتم یک لیست مفصل از نشانه‌های سقوط براتون ردیف می‌کردم. پس لطفا با فکتهای محدود ته دل ملت رو خالی نکنید. از مایی که داخل هستیم بشنوید که از در و دیوار مملکت نشانه‌های سقوط می‌باره. #جاويدشاه‌ 🇮🇷

@GovMikeHuckabee @realDonaldTrump Just don’t turn your back on him while he is visiting…

Wow. Tucker Carlson just called-wants to come to Jerusalem to share Easter Sunday with me. Said he's been wrong about Israel, Jews, Iran, criticizing @realDonaldTrump & wants to publicly renounce stuff he's been saying and do it right in heart of Israel!

@XFreeze FSD always engaged will eventually become the worldwide standard for all transport. Auto accidents will become quite rare and the failure will be the worldwide news instead.

Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) is currently ~9x safer than the average human driver Because of this massive safety advantage, auto insurance providers like Lemonade are now offering Tesla owners up to a 50% discount on their per-mile premiums when FSD is engaged Choosing Tesla FSD driving is not just safer, but it also directly saves you money

@needGod_net Wonderful and hilarious! Jesus is glad you are speaking the truth. Thanks for being brave and keeping His Word of perseverance. Rev 3:10 is the promise.

Comical sketch: How a Catholic Priest (poorly) explains Ephesians 2:8-9

She was once a Muslim, now a Christian convert. Listen as she takes one of the favorite arguments used by Muslims to trip up Christians, and completely dismantles it with God's Word. Do you know Scripture well enough to combat the lies?

That's it. I give up.. Donald Trump is a time traveler. 20/20 interview 1987. Wtf.

Herod wanted a miracle, but Jesus said a lot of things with silence. When we think of this scene, we mostly remember the mockrey. But that is not how it starts. The room is filled with tension, surrounded with the noise of the accusers and the eager questions of a bored ruler. Herod is glad to see Jesus. Luke says he had wanted to meet Him for a long time because he had heard about Him and hoped to see some miracle done by Him. He is not bored at first, but curious. He is excited and thinks he is about to witness something. Jesus stands there bruised, having been dragged from one rule to another, treated like a problem nobody wants to own. As you can see, Herod sees the same moment and leans forward like a man waiting for a show. Many people think being interested in Jesus is the same thing as being open to Him. It is not. Herod starts asking questions, but not like a man who wants truth. He was rather asking like a spectator. He wants a sign; something impressive and entertaining to brag about later. But Jesus says nothing. And that silence was more than a thousand words. Herod wanted something that could hold his attention without disturbing his pride. That is still how many people approach Christ. They like the stories, the "grace" language, the parts of Jesus that stir emotion, spark curiosity, or make faith feel beautiful for a moment. But once His presence starts pressing on their pride, control, or the right to rule themselves, the interest fades away. It is possible to be glad about Jesus and still remain untouched by Him. It is possible to enjoy the thought of Him, talk about Him, even want to be near where He is, while refusing what He actually asks of you. This is why religious entertainment is such a dangerous substitute for discipleship. It lets people stay near Jesus emotionally while remaining far from Him inwardly. They like sermons that stir them, songs that move them, ideas that intrigue them, moments that feel powerful. Curiosity is cheap. You can say "I love Jesus, I want to know more about Him." But surrendering is costly. Taking up the cross and following daily is a sacrifice a lot of people are not willing to make. They can't bear to "deny themselves". Jesus never offered Himself as entertainment for the powerful, curious, or the religiously amused group. His silence was control; power in itself. So the question is not whether You fancy Jesus, it't what you do when He refuses to do things that does not meet your expectations. Will you still follow Him when He stops being exciting? Will you still stay when all He offers is truth, surrender, and the narrow road, when you have lost friends, colleagues, family members and business customers? That is where discipleship begins. #Christianity #BiblicalTruth #FaithOverFeelings #Herod #Jesus Ellis Enobun

@DennyBurk Just acquired, “The Holiness Of God” by RC Sproul. Excited to start reading it after seeing your post. One day I’ll get to “Faith Alone.”

I was just revisiting an old book by R. C. Sproul that I read when I was in college, and I came across this line in the first chapter (see attached images). Little did I know 31 years ago how controversial this line would prove to be, and still is. It's one thing to proclaim that Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross and raised up three days later. It's another thing entirely to explain to people what those events mean for sinners, how sinners get connected to this grace, and that the Bible calls the whole thing "gospel." Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, and every other Christian denomination affirm that Jesus was crucified and raised for sinners. But we begin to part ways dramatically when we explain what this means and how individual sinners can receive the grace of Christ. I still believe now what this book helped me to understand 31 years ago. The Bible teaches that we can't make ourselves right with God (Eph. 2:8-9). We can't justify ourselves through good works (Gal. 2:16). We can't even meet God halfway with our good works because we don't have it in us to get off the dime (Rom. 3:12). The good news is this: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree '-- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Gal. 3:13-14). If you are trying to earn God's favor by being a good person, you can give that up. You'll never make it that way. Jesus has already done all the work to secure your forgiveness from sins and eternal life. All you have to do is to repent and believe. Turn from your sin, and trust in Christ and you will be saved. Salvation is by faith alone (Sola Fide), through grace alone (Sola Gratia), based on the work of Christ alone (Solus Christus), for the glory of God alone (Soli Deo Gloria).

This is an absolute must watch video. If you laugh when people say that God is protecting the Jewish people, I’d watch this if I were you. It’s going to blow your mind. Guaranteed!

@BoCamaro You would really enjoy the Thru The Bible series by Dr. J. Vernon McGee! Go to TTB.org or get the TTB app, that is what I use. Congrats on knowing Him as your Saviour!

Let's write a little bit... This week is Easter. It will be my first Easter as a saved man. It will be my first Easter since I was a child that I will be in a church. Over the years I have studied all the reasons Christians shouldn't celebrate Easter. It's Pagan, they say. It's about the rebirth of the world. The coming of Spring. The flowers blooming. It's about fertility. It's why we use the Easter Bunny, which has one of the shortest gestational periods of all animals, and the Easter Egg.... It's about the celebration of love, I used to argue... Oh, I can go on for days about how Christians ripped off the Pagans for the holiday... I know it all.... I can refute any Christian argument for a logical debate. You see, I can speak all the logical reasons why Easter isn't Christian. Satan made sure, in my weakest moment, that he fully armed me to fight Christians, word for word.... Yet here I stand.... a new Christian excited to celebrate with my family and my friends for the first time ever? Why??? Because no bunny died for me on a cross on Calvary. No egg was painted for my sins to be washed away. Tonight, I read the book of John from chapter 14 through the end. I read about him being betrayed. I read about Peter denying him 3 times before the rooster crowed. I read about Pilate basically telling Jesus to just recant his own words and he could be free. And I read about Jesus refusing to do so. I read about him being beaten with a lead tipped whip. I read about them crucifying him. And as I was reading, I thought to myself, "Where was his deciples? Where were the people he healed and that followed him? How could they just leave him there?", and I thought to myself, "If I were there......." and then I had a real conversation with myself... I denied Christ for years. Thousands of times, but I want to pass blame on Peter for doing it 3 times? I think I would be some super hero for Jesus when I won't even pray out loud in a restaurant as to not offend those non-believers around me? I just sit there in silence like I am ashamed to mention his name? Tonight, Jesus basically said, "You would deny me over and over again... and that is ok. You are just a man." And that's where my mind is tonight as I sit here alone in my thoughts. I look forward to this weekend. I look forward to celebrating the sacrifice that Christ made for me. I look forward to watching the children search for those colorful eggs, and getting their Easter baskets, even though I know whay they mean... Because Salvation is something no Pagan God could provide and we really are, after all, celebrating LOVE.... The greatest love that has ever been given.... and for that... I am finally truly....thankful.

@wil_da_beast630 @Noah_Collins02 My Grok agrees with your Grok. x.com/dow4hurst/stat…

@Noah_Collins02 Didn't link in my 1st post. Grok on whether Jesus had brothers, while folks are debating.

The idea that a non-monastic Roman citizen just opted to never have sex with his pretty wife for 40 years, and all the people who are explicitly called Jesus' brothers were his distant cousins, is a fascinating example of dogma - a thing believed because one is supposed to believe it.

Hey fellas, quick word from your friendly neighborhood Bible nerd: Can we stop weaponizing Paul’s “women should be silent” line like it’s the only verse he ever wrote? You’re quoting 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34 like Paul handed you a divine remote control for muting women in church. Spoiler: Context is king. Ephesus was a hot mess of false teachers and temple priestesses causing chaos. Paul was shutting down specific disruptive behavior in that church, not issuing a forever gag order. (Meanwhile, in 1 Corinthians 11 he’s totally cool with women prophesying and praying in church… with a head covering. Pick a lane, bros!) But let’s talk REAL Bible examples where women straight-up taught men and led the show: • Priscilla (with her husband Aquila) pulled Apollos aside and explained “the way of God more accurately” to him. A woman co-teaching theology to a dude who was already preaching Jesus? Iconic. (Acts 18:24-26) • Deborah was a judge, prophetess, and military leader over ALL of Israel. She literally told Barak, “I’ll go with you, but the glory won’t be yours.” Mic drop. (Judges 4-5) • Phoebe was a deacon and benefactor Paul trusted to deliver his letter to Rome. Not exactly “silent in the back pew.” (Romans 16:1-2) And Jesus? He was the ultimate women-reverer: • First person He ever revealed He was the Messiah to? The Samaritan woman at the well. She immediately became an evangelist and brought her whole town to Him. (John 4) • First witnesses to the resurrection? Mary Magdalene and the other women. The guys? Hiding. Jesus trusted the women to preach the biggest news in history. (Matthew 28, John 20) • He defended women publicly (the one caught in adultery, the woman who anointed His feet), let Mary sit at His feet learning like a rabbi’s disciple (while Martha stressed in the kitchen), and had female financial backers funding His entire ministry (Luke 8:1-3). Paul himself wrote “there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). So next time someone tries to Paul-splain a woman into silence… just smile and say, “Bless your heart. Have you met Deborah and Priscilla?” Women have been teaching, leading, and proclaiming the Gospel since day one. The Bible celebrates it. Period. This Trad stuff is getting out of hand when even Biblical teachings are used as a weapon. Please stop!

was reading the book of John, and when I got to the part where Judas betrayed Jesus .“when Satan entered him”. it made me so uncomfortable. At first, I didn’t understand why. I even had this feeling like I wanted to stop reading. Then questions started running through my mind: If he was following Jesus, why did Satan enter him? I thought when you’re a Christian, you’re covered? But as I kept reading and really thinking about it, something hit me: Judas was following Jesus… but was his heart really with Him? Later it says Judas was keeping the money bag and stealing from it. Then he agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. It wasn’t sudden. It was gradual. Small compromises. Hidden sin. Little lies. That’s why it says first the devil “put it into his heart”… and later Satan entered him. And then it became personal. I realized God wasn’t just showing me Judas He was revealing something in me. I saw my own “small” lies. The little compromises I’ve been excusing. And I felt like I was on the verge of falling into sin. In that moment, I felt God correcting me, pulling me back. I cried. Because I realized if I keep entertaining these small things, they won’t stay small. They will grow. And God, in His mercy, is warning me before I sink. This wasn’t just a story anymore. It was a wake-up call.

This is for those in the West whose only concern about the current war with the regime in Iran is the increase in petrol or food prices. You think this has nothing to do with you. After all #Iran is thousands of kilometers away. Physically yes my country is far away from yours but the regime is already in your countries. For decades, the regime in Iran has not stayed within its own borders. – It has built influence abroad in your very countries through lobbying, political networks, and aligned voices. – It has shaped narratives in parts of the media in ways many people don’t recognize. – It has influenced academia, to the point that your young minds wrongly champion extremism and brutal dictatorships in the name of “anti-imperialism.” – It has supported groups and activities far beyond Iran’s borders, including in regions much closer to you than you think. This is not traditional warfare. Call it influence, call it soft power, call it a “soft war” but it is deliberate and long-term and already playing out in your countries. You don’t feel it because bombs and rockets aren’t raining down on your cities. That doesn’t mean there is no war. And its been working. Many people in the West see this regime through a lens that doesn't reflect the lived reality of those who have experienced it for 47 years. Iranians know what this system is. We know how it behaves, we are familiar with its tricks and how it extends its influence. You don’t, because you haven’t had to live under it. So when you reduce all of this to fuel prices or grocery bills, you’re missing what’s actually at stake; your safety, your future, and how close this will come to your own doorstep, because what feels far away today won’t stay far away forever. And yes Western governments are part of this story and carry in my opinion a good portion of the blame. For decades, they have engaged, negotiated, traded, and made deals with this regime in the misguided hope of I don't know creating stability? This was done despite warnings by the people of Iran that you cannot make deals with this regime. If this regime comes out of this war, still in power, it will become more aggressive, more confident. More willing to extend its reach. And when that reality becomes impossible to ignore, it won’t be about petrol or food prices anymore. It will be about consequences you didn’t think would ever reach you.

Viewers of Iran International have reported that Iraqi militia forces have been stationed inside residential homes belonging to members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Otobusrani Street in Bandar Abbas. #Iran