Private Medicare insurers got about $4.2 billion in extra federal payments in 2023 for diagnoses from home visits the companies initiated, even though they led to no treatment, a new inspector general’s report says.

The extra payments were triggered by diagnoses documented based on the visits, including potentially inaccurate ones, for which patients received no other medical services, the report says. Insurers offering private plans under Medicare, known as Medicare Advantage, are paid more when patients have costly conditions.

Each visit was worth $1,869 on average to the insurers, according to the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services. The findings are similar to those of a Wall Street Journal investigation published in August. It showed that insurers between 2019 and 2021 pocketed an average of $1,818 for each visit based on diagnoses for which people received no other treatment.

The OIG recommended in Thursday’s report for the first time that Medicare restrict or even cut off payments for diagnoses from these visits. 

Read it all.

It is official now that the @HHSOIG has determined that #MedicareAdvantage health plans w/ @UHC leading the way received over $4B in diagnosis upcoding from home visits. Medicare Paid Insurers Billions for Questionable Home Diagnoses, Watchdog Finds https://t.co/OO1R4Alcwk

— Ed Gaines (@EdGainesIII) October 24, 2024

More than a quarter of Americans believe that civil war could break out after this year’s presidential election, according to polling for The Times.

Fears that an eruption of violence is very or somewhat likely are shared across the political divide by 27 per cent of American adults, including 30 per cent of women and 24 per cent of men, YouGov found in a survey of 1,266 registered voters on October 18-21.

Twelve per cent of respondents said they knew someone who might take up arms if they thought Donald Trump was cheated out of victory in under two weeks’ time. Five per cent said they knew someone who might do the same if they thought Kamala Harris was cheated.

The YouGov poll found 84 per cent of US voters said America was more divided than ten years ago, with only 5 per cent thinking it less divided.

Read it all (subscription).

Just over a quarter of Americans fear civil war will break out after this year's elections, a new poll for @thetimes by @YouGovAmerica shows https://t.co/v5qGmVwJth

— David Charter (@DavidCharter) October 23, 2024

“It’s very important that we discuss it here in the Senedd today because although the private member’s bill is going forwards in Westminster, if it were passed the implication would be very important in Wales because we have responsibility for health and social care.”

Ms Morgan said it is important to have safeguards to ensure people meet specific criteria, with medical people present when the decision is made….

Carys Moseley, a public policy researcher and analyst for Christian Concern based in Cardiff, said the group was “concerned” about the motion.

She said: “We’ve got a visual display of the actual cases that have been happening in different jurisdictions in the western world.

“These are tragic cases – diabetes being treated as a long-term illness in Oregon, assisted suicide the fifth leading cause of death in Canada – these are very grave issues.”

She said the public question the issue more when they hear about other countries.

“Once you introduce this choice – dying – there is a pressure then which eventually becomes a duty to die,” she said.

“There isn’t such a thing as (going on) ‘your own terms’, because it affects all the doctors that become responsible for killing patients or assisted killing rather than preserving life.

Read it all.

The Welsh Senedd, which has a progressive majority, has overwhelmingly voted down a motion to legalise assisted suicide. The more people learn about assisted suicide the less they like it. pic.twitter.com/fww05M1fLi

— Yuan Yi Zhu (@yuanyi_z) October 23, 2024

Grant us, O Lord, the faith that rests not on signs and wonders but on thy love and faithfulness; that obedient to thy word and trusting in thy promises, we may know thy peace and healing power, both in our hearts and in our homes; for the honour of thy holy name.

🍂Guten Morgen ☀️ pic.twitter.com/p67JNxFF0i

— 💫Stein_harmonie🍀🧚‍♀️ (@SteinHarmonie) October 24, 2024

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.

–Psalm 37:3-5

A gap in the cloud makes all the difference. Taken on Glastonbury Tor. pic.twitter.com/ZEfupWfp0u

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) October 24, 2024

Two Church of England pressure groups wrote to the House of Bishops before its meeting this week to express hopes and expectations about the next steps in the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process.

The groups—Together for the Church of England, which campaigns for wider provision for LGBTQ people in the Church, and the Alliance, which represents opponents of the proposed blessings of same-sex couples—wrote the letters at the invitation of the House of Bishops, before there meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

The letter from Together’s chairs, Canon Neil Patterson and Professor Helen King, highlights that the Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF) for same-sex couples are being used. It describes this as a “small step towards redeeming the decades of exclusion and hurt felt by LGBTQ+ people from the Church of England”, and welcomes a decision the General Synod’s decision in July to proceed with stand-alone services of blessing (News, 12 July).

Read it all.

Two Church of England pressure groups wrote to the House of Bishops before its meeting this week to express hopes and expectations about the next steps in the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) processhttps://t.co/FqMp48irSn

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 23, 2024

Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary will award Jakarta-based evangelist and pastor Stephen Tong the 2025 Kuyper Prize.

The award, named for Dutch theologian and politician Abraham Kuyper, is given to scholars or community leaders whose contribution reflects “the ideas and values characteristic of Kuyper’s Neo-Calvinist vision of religious engagement in matters of social, political, and cultural significance.”

Based in Indonesia, the 84-year-old Tong is well-known in the Chinese-speaking world for his large evangelistic crusades and for introducing many to Reformed theology. According to his website, he has preached to 37 million people around the world in his 66 years of ministry. He founded Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministries International (STEMI) in 1978, opening offices around the world to support his evangelism efforts. 

Read it all.

Indonesian Chinese evangelist Stephen Tong, who introduced the Chinese-speaking world to Reformed theology, will receive @Calvin_Uni’s 2025 Kuyper Prize. @angela818 reports:https://t.co/hVuZ0UOJRJ

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) October 22, 2024

”You may be familiar with the often-quoted line, that is wrongly attributed to Francis of Assisi: “Always preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words.”2 The sentiment here is partly good; the lifestyle of Christians should not undermine the Gospel, but adorn it. But the logic of the statement is tragic: You can no more preach the Gospel without words than you can feed your Copyright The Falls Church Anglican 5 children dinner without food. The Gospel is news, a message, and it can only be conveyed by speaking words’–Sam Ferguson, Falls Church Anglican, Va.

Warm congratulations to Sam Ferguson, announced this morning as the new rector of Falls Church (#Anglican) #parishministry #virginia @thefallschurch https://t.co/Yh2uDdQpXl pic.twitter.com/w6p1UtSXNy

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) July 15, 2018

Less than a mile from Singapore’s luxurious Changi Airport sits a rather less glamorous business park. Residents of the industrial estate include freight and logistics firms, as well as the back offices of several banks. One building is a little different, however. Behind a glossy onyx facade, layers of security and imposing steel doors, sits more than $1bn in gold, silver and other treasures. “The Reserve” hosts dozens of private vaults, thousands of safe deposit boxes and a cavernous storage room where precious metals sit on shelves rising three storeys above the ground.

After four years of retrofitting, the complex is almost complete. Its grand opening will come at an opportune moment: gold is in the midst of an extraordinary renaissance. Over the past year investors have piled into the metal, driving its price up by 38% to over $2,700 per troy ounce—a record high (see chart 1). The buzz has reached unusual places: gold bars have hit the shelves of Costco, an American retailer, and CU, a South Korean convenience-store chain, as the resurgence of inflation and fears of war drive consumer enthusiasm. Central bankers are also getting involved, as financial fragmentation increases appetite for an ancient asset. The world has entered a new golden age.

Read it all.

What the surging gold price says about a dangerous world https://t.co/2oLSBR8QCy

— YD (@Enhance___) October 23, 2024

Grant, we beseech thee, O God, that after the example of thy servant James the Just, brother of our Lord, thy Church may give itself continually to prayer and to the reconciliation of all who are at variance and enmity; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever.

OCT. 23 THE HOLY APOSTLE JAMES, THE BROTHER OF THE LORD IN THE FLESH

The holy apostle James, the brother of God, called the Just One, was the first to rule the Church in Jerusalem as bishop. Paul testifies that he was among the witnesses of the Resurrection (cf 1 Cor. 15:7).… pic.twitter.com/WAhaOZZRWS

— Fr. Charbel Abernethy ☦️ (@philokalia_min) October 23, 2024

O God, Whose blessed Son Jesus Christ became man that we might become the sons of God: grant, we beseech Thee, that being made partakers of the divine nature of Thy Son, we may be conformed to His likeness; Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever.     

Over de rode loper van de zon de week door midden varen. Fijne woensdag😀 #natuur #landschap #herfst #Rhenen #ElstUt #Elsterbuitenwaard #Nederrijn #binnenvaart #zonsondergang #mooieluchten pic.twitter.com/2Ri9rteTwy

— Tjark Dieterman (@DietermanTjark) October 23, 2024

The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

–Luke 10:17-24

"Cascade and Fall Color"#AlmostHeaven #WestVirginia #Highlands #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/CJAKq8xWLB

— Thomas R Fletcher (@ThomasRFletcher) October 23, 2024

The Archbishop of Canterbury discovered recently that one of his ancestors was a slave owner, he said on Tuesday.

In a statement, Archbishop Welby revealed that his biological father, Sir Anthony Montague Browne, had an “ancestral connection to the enslavement of people in Jamaica and Tobago”.

Sir Anthony was the great-great-grandson of Sir James Fergusson, the 4th Baronet of Kilkerran (1765–1838), who had owned slaves and received compensation when slavery was abolished.

Read it all.

The Archbishop of Canterbury @JustinWelby discovered recently that one of his ancestors was a slave owner, he said on Tuesday https://t.co/UZb561Pnir

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 22, 2024

Canada’s fertility rate hit its lowest rate in recorded history for a second consecutive year in 2023. The spinoff impacts of this are already being felt – with Canada’s aging workforce joining a swelling retirement-age population and increasing economic pressure to meet this groups’ needs and entitlements.

New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds insight into the reasons behind lagging birth rates. ARI asked 1,300 Canadian adults younger than 50 if they plan to have children, and if not, why? Among this group, one-in-five are definitely (21%) going to have at least one child, while one-in-three (32%) say they may still do so. Within these two groups of potential parents, fully half say that they have delayed having kids longer than they ideally would have wanted. This rises to three-quarters (74%) among 35- to 44-year-olds. The top reasons driving delays are both societal and personal. For many, the search for the right partner has just not borne fruit (40%). For others, however, uncertainty surrounding their finances and the job market (41%) the cost of childcare (33%) and the housing affordability crisis (31%) are all drivers of the decision to wait.

Even among those who are definitely not going to have children (37% of the 1,300 adults surveyed) these worries about childcare and cost are a factor. One-quarter among this group say they decided not to have kids because the spectre of childcare costs was too daunting (25%), while one-in-five (18%) said it was too hard to foresee having proper housing to start a family.

With immigration playing a larger role year over year in sustaining the population – and criticism of immigration policy evidently growing – the historically low birth rate trend divides Canadians. They’re equally likely to feel that the birth rate is (43%) and isn’t (42%) a crisis.

Read it all.

"Half of Canadians who want children have waited longer than they’d like, due largely to cost." –@angusreidorg #cdnpoli #generationalfairness https://t.co/XtH9zRh2nA pic.twitter.com/9BbZg6CFEM

— Generation Squeeze (@GenSqueeze) October 17, 2024

Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts Need Your Support
 

The Diocese continues to mobilize, providing relief to those affected by Hurricane Helene. We are working closely with ARDF to coordinate efforts. Are you willing to donate supplies or funds or volunteer in relief efforts?

Fill out the form on our website.

Read it all.

The Latest Edition of the #Anglican Diocese of #SouthCarolina Enewsletter https://t.co/N7YwW0YFAb #parishministry #religion #faith pic.twitter.com/zAvfRfVnXM

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) October 22, 2024

Before the service starts on Sunday morning at San Diego Reformed Church, the building fills with the sound of singing. Sean Kinnally, an associate pastor, leads a 45-minute Psalm-sing so the congregation can practice reading music together and using printed hymnals.

“We’re seeking to add more and more hymns—it’s a more robust form of worship,” Kinnally said. “There has been incalculable growth in the singing at our church.” 

San Diego Reformed is in the process of shifting its worship toward hymnal-aided congregational singing. The congregation is part of what appears to be a growing number of churches working to recover the practice—never entirely lost, but not as popular as it used to be—of singing from books.

Hymnals offer perceived permanence and stability in a musical landscape that changes quickly and often. The decision to reintroduce congregations to hymnals is often an ideological one, especially for churches that made the transition away from them in recent decades.

Read it all.

A number of churches are choosing the printed page over lyrics projected onto a screen.

“Hymnals offer perceived permanence and stability in a musical landscape that changes quickly and often,” said Dan Kreider, the composer of the “Sing! Hymnal.”https://t.co/MfajqRkS5w

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) October 20, 2024

 More than half of Americans (52%) say they and their family are worse off today than they were four years ago, while 39% say they are better off and 8% volunteer that they are about the same. The 2024 response is most similar to 1992 among presidential election years in which Gallup has asked the question.

The latest findings are from a Sept. 16-28 poll, which also finds differences among partisans’ perceptions on this measure — Democrats (72%) are much more likely than independents (35%) or Republicans (7%) to view themselves as “better off.”

The higher-than-usual percentage of U.S. adults who say they are worse off this year is largely owing to Republicans’ much greater likelihood to say this than opponents of the incumbent president’s party had been in prior election years. Likewise, the higher-than-usual percentage of “better off” responses in 2020, when Donald Trump was in office, was attributable to Republicans’ much greater likelihood to give that response than supporters of the incumbent president’s party did in prior election years.

Read it all.

More than half of Americans (52%) say they and their family are worse off today than they were four years ago.

New data: https://t.co/TAz6shizZE pic.twitter.com/2qpEG10tGC

— Gallup (@Gallup) October 19, 2024

Set us free, loving Father, from the bondage of our sins, and in your goodness and mercy give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Keeping it real. Who needs AI when you have places like Levens Deer Park pic.twitter.com/JCdiCL2xx4

— Johnny (@FlockofGhosts) October 22, 2024

After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.

–Luke 10:1-3

"Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons"#thicktrunktuesday pic.twitter.com/YXhHYBQITh

— Hiking Manchester 🐝 (@HikingManchest1) October 22, 2024

Without a rise in the number of ordinations, the number of stipendiary clergy in the Church of England will fall to 5400 in 2033 — more than 2000 fewer than the target set under Renewal and Reform, and a 40-per-cent reduction on 2000 numbers, projections by the Church’s national Ministry Development Team suggest.

The figure was reported by the Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Pete Wilcox, in a diocesan-synod address in July. The forecast was based on current levels of ordinations for stipendiary ministry (an average of 250 over the past two years) for the next ten years. Extrapolating from the trend since 2012 put the figure at 6100, while the most optimistic forecast of the Triennium Funding Working Group was 6600.

Numbers recommended for ordination have fallen from 591 in 2020 — the highest for 13 years — to 370 (News, 12 July). This is almost half of the goal set under Renewal and Reform in 2015: an increase in the number of candidates selected for ordained ministry from about 500 each year to 750. The goal was to create a “stable pool” of about 7600 full-time clergy by 2035. Meanwhile, numbers retiring have increased from 435 in 2020 to 531 last year.

Read it all.

“Sometimes, there doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason. What we may think is an attractive job doesn’t elicit much interest, and what we may think is going to be hard to fill brings in several applications" – @Guli_FDhttps://t.co/fMufDEor0K

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 21, 2024

Fears of violence have left some US election boards struggling to hire poll workers with less than three weeks to go before Americans vote in November’s presidential election.

Election administrators in battleground states Nevada, Arizona and Wisconsin are still recruiting temporary staff to set up polling equipment, sign in voters and report results, according to Power the Polls, a non-partisan poll worker recruitment group. Officials in Maryland, Ohio and Florida are also still hiring staff for election day.

“The challenge [comes from concerns about] the safety and security of poll workers,” said Isaac Cramer, executive director of the election board in Charleston County, South Carolina. “I know that was a top concern of people who have left.”

Read it all.

Ongelofelijk: US polling places struggle to find workers after surge in threats. Four in 10 election administrators have added further security measures such as bulletproof glass and panic buttons. https://t.co/M4FbpXFjZI

— Hella Hueck  (@hellahueck) October 21, 2024

By Williams’s estimation, our societal disregard for God’s image in mothers and children has a far-reaching impact. It means that we see pregnancy as a sickness to be prevented or solved by means of birth control or abortion. It means we reduce our children’s existence to an “assembly-line life,” obsessing over educational achievement and resisting the reality that “children, like all people, are unpredictable individuals and are not made for the convenience of their parents.” It means we force new moms back to work too early, pitting their careers against their children. 

Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic begins by describing contemporary problems. But disdain for mothers and children, Williams demonstrates, was also characteristic of antiquity. Drawing on myths, literature, and histories from Greek and Roman writers, she describes a past in which women were sexually exploited, infants were left “exposed” on “village dung heaps,” and anyone who couldn’t achieve military victory on the battlefield was a second-class citizen by default. 

It’s Christianity, she argues, that changed all of this—that gave us the human rights we take for granted, that blessed the meek and lowly instead of kowtowing to the powerful. “It is because of two millennia of Christian valuing of human life,” she states forcefully, that “we do not delight in the suffering of the weak.” Both the life of Christ and the writings of the church fathers demonstrate that “the church is responsible for caring for the bodies and souls of the neglected and the abandoned at all ages and life stages, because their lives are priceless.”

Read it all.

In western post-Christian society, humans are treated more like commodities than image bearers.

In ‘Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic,’ @NadyaWilliams81 uses ancient and modern sources to show how Christians can value life amidst an empire that seeks to dehumanize it. pic.twitter.com/ErT36b1P0n

— IVP Academic (@ivpacademic) October 15, 2024

The Economist has spoken to a range of people with first-hand knowledge of Iran’s oil system. To check and verify what they told us, and flesh out the detail, we then sought information from other sources, including former sanctions officials, Iranian insiders, intelligence professionals and WikiIran, a third-party website soliciting leaks. Our investigation shows that the country has built sprawling shadow financial channels, which run from its oil rigs to the virtual vaults of its central bank. China, Iran’s main buyer, is an architect of this system, and its chief beneficiary. Global banks and financial hubs, often unknowingly, are used as vital cogs. A source familiar with Iran’s books says that, as of July, it had $53bn, €17bn ($19bn) and smaller pots of other currencies lying abroad.

Although enforcement has weakened in recent years, Iran is subject to the broadest sanctions America has imposed on any country. Aimed at forcing Iran to curb its nuclear enrichment and funding of terrorism, they target swathes of its economy, as well as the government. No other country imposes such stringent sanctions, so, in theory, most can deal with Iran. In practice, few do so openly, as America bans its firms not just from trading with Iran, but also with foreigners that knowingly do so. It is especially tough for Iran to receive and move dollars, as every such transaction, almost anywhere in the world, must eventually be cleared by an American bank.

But our report shows that, with patchy enforcement, determination and help from a greedy partner, a country under a de facto global embargo can end up flouting it on a cosmic scale. Many of Iran’s tactics are reminiscent of those a drug cartel would use to market products and recycle proceeds into other dark enterprises, often via seemingly legitimate businesses. Iran’s subterranean oil system is governed by rules as much as by threats. The task is to construct an elaborate charade that will dupe sanctions-enforcers.

Read it all.

Iran's money laundering network (simplified by the Economist) https://t.co/oIUs0Pjo3A pic.twitter.com/qI1FZb8okf

— Dr. Paul J. Sullivan (@DrPJSullivan) October 17, 2024

“Imagine you have an invisible recorder around your neck that, for all your life, records every time you say to somebody else, “You ought.” It only turns on when you tell somebody else how to live. In other words, it only records your own moral standards as you seek to impose them on other people. It records nothing except what you believe is right or wrong.

And what if God, on judgment day, stands in front of people and says, “You never heard about Jesus Christ and you never read the Bible, but I’m a fair-minded God. Let me show you what I’m going to use to judge you.” Then he takes that invisible recorder from around your neck and says, “I’m going to judge you by your own moral standards.”

And God plays the recording. There’s not a person on the face of the earth who will be able to pass that test. I’ve used that illustration for years now and nobody ever wants to challenge it. Nobody ever says, “I live according to my standards!” This is the biggest problem of the human race. We don’t need more books telling people how to live; people need the power to do what they don’t have the power to do.”

–Timothy Keller, Coming Home: Essays on the New Heaven and New Earth (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2017, ed. D A Carson), p.22, quoted by yours truly in yesterday’s adult Sunday school class

Timothy J. Keller, who was the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, co-founder of Redeemer City to City, and the author of several books, died at the age of 72 on May 19, trusting in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. pic.twitter.com/Yoc1LpwZzf

— City to City (@RedeemerCTC) May 19, 2023

Grant, we beseech you, merciful Lord,
to your faithful people pardon and peace,
that they may be cleansed from all their sins
and serve you with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Reach. pic.twitter.com/bW85WhG49B

— Marc Robbins Photography (@MarcRobbinsPho1) October 21, 2024

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel…

–Revelation 7:1-4

Magnifique havre de paix, Montorge, Sion 💙💛🧡🍁🍂🇨🇭#suisse #switzerland @valaiswallis @MySwitzerland_e pic.twitter.com/wrfN7Ji2Yv

— Délèze Dominique (@DelezeD) October 21, 2024

Grant us, O Lord, so to enter on the service of our Christian warfare, that, putting on the whole armour of God, we may endure hardness and fight against the spiritual powers of darkness, and be more than conquerors through him that loved us, Jesus Christ our Lord.

This is #Arkengarthdale 🧡 It is a sparsely populated, winding valley with a wonderful wild feel.

The narrow road slowly climbs through the Dale, eventually reaching England's highest pub, @tanhillinn. Who's been here?

📸 Wendy McDonnell#PicOfTheDay #YorkshireDales #Sunday pic.twitter.com/kli08P5Kvd

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) October 20, 2024

I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural[a] food and all drank the same supernatural[b] drink. For they drank from the supernatural[c] Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance.” We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put the Lord[d] to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents; nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

–1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Morning! 😊

To those of you who are still on here (it's like a ghost town these days), I thought you might like to see this stunning stag having a wee stroll at sunrise. 🦌☀️

Have a great day whatever you are up to. 🤗 pic.twitter.com/9zLgruQQm4

— Scot Down South (@LesleyAM13) October 20, 2024

O God of the nations, who didst give to thy faithful servant Henry Martyn a brilliant mind, a loving heart, and a gift for languages, that he might translate the Scriptures and other holy writings for the peoples of India and Persia: Inspire in us, we beseech thee, a love like his, eager to commit both life and talents to thee who gavest them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Henry Martyn, 1781 – 1812. Priest and Missionary to India and Persia. One of the founders of the Christian church in India and Iran. While in India he translated the NT into Hindustani, Persian, and Arabic, the Psalms into Persian, and the BCP into Hindustani. pic.twitter.com/C69app75TG

— Saint Barnabas Anglican Church (@Barnabas_FW) October 19, 2024