Who Really Owns Your House?

     "It may be the government," writes Andree Peterson in WORLD magazine. 

      "These days, young people can't buy houses, and retired people have difficulty holding on to them. For seniors, mortgages were paid off long ago. We own them free and clear...or do we? We can still lose them. An estimated 42 million homeowners are in danger of going bankrupt.

     "In all states, K-12 schools rely on revenue from property taxes. The appraising district sets the value of your house - often inflated - for taxing purposes. The legitimate worth of your house is thus fraudulently overvalued, which gives the taxing entities an extra few thousand dollars worth of value to play with. 

     "What makes your house worth more than it was five years ago? It may be nothing. It happened because school districts are borrowing money and using your house as collateral. Money also goes to many NGO's with names like Interfaith Action of Greater St. Paul, and American Indian Family Center. 

     "You have now entered the big boy world of federal markets, of $23 trillion in property overvaluation affecting every home in the country...and of compound interest that can never be paid off. On a fixed income, this is unaffordable. 

     "One of President Trump's proposed affordability measures is to repeal property taxes. Good for him. How about we get local schools out of the bond business and have them overate on a cash-only basis?"

Who really owns your house? "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." - Psalm 24:1

A Historic Decline

     "For the first time in half a century, more immigrants left the United States than entered. Researchers examined immigration and Customs Enforcement data, which show deportations within the interior of the U.S.- away from the border - jumped 46 during Trump's first nine years in office. 

     "ICE arrests quadrupled as a whole, including a sevenfold surge in arrests of immigrants with no criminal convictions. ICE conducted more than 675,000 deportations last year. That included almost 300,000 from within the interior of the country - a record for this century. As the Trump administration continues its crackdown, net migration will likely continue to decline."

Better Than Expected

     "Economists expect the global economy to expand by about 3% this year and next. Based on strength shown by the private sector and governments last year, despite economic shocks from trade disruptions and marketplace uncertainties. 

     "Experts revised their expectations upward after observing responses to tariff increases that began in April, investor optimism and surging tech investments. Worldwide, economic growth has averaged about 3% each year since 2021.

     "Trade and market analysts were surprised that global economics, led by the U.S. and China recovered well following the 2020 recession. 

     "The risks rosy projections remain numerous: rising government debt levels, higher than predicted inflation, reduced AI investments, and economic or military disruptions to supply chains." 

 

Drawn to Darkness

     Teens are succumbing to the lure of violent online extremism. Can their families save them before it's too late?

     An article in WORLD magazine: "Radicalization often happens behind closed doors, making it impossible to know the entire scope of the problem. But existing metrics suggest this is a significant and growing threat." 

     "Happy kids aren't stumbling on these sites and they are being radicalized. The are already struggling with difficult experiences and broken relationships and want to know 'does anybody else feel like I do?"

     And a reminder from Scripture. Ephesians 6, in this war-like world, we must put on the armor of truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and Spirit. 

Views has company this week. Our blogs continue, but short.

 

It Was the Lord's Will

Isaiah 53:9-12 

     He was assigned a grave with the wicked. and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 

     Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 

     After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life, and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 

     Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Your blogger is a transgressor,

but Jesus took my punishment. 

How about you? 

We Know Who He Was and Is 

Suffering and Glory     Isaiah 53:5-8

     But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

     He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgement, he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people, he was stricken. 

Isaiah 53:9-12 tomorrow

What the Lord Suffered for Our Escape from Hell 

700+ years before it happened    Isaiah 52:13-15   

     See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up (on the cross) and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness - so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand. 

Isaiah 53:1-4   v 

     Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 

Jesus was not handsome, as portrayed today.

     He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

Continued tomorrow