The Cross that Saves and Heals
Wilshire Boulevard runs like an artery through Los Angeles, stretching 16 miles from downtown to the Pacific Ocean.
It’s named after Henry Gaylord Wilshire, an influential real estate developer who once marketed a strange 1920s invention called the Ionaco, an electric healing belt.
According to Wilshire’s advertisements, the device was plugged into a household light socket and worn around the body, where it was said to improve the blood and increase oxygen in the body, restoring the user to health.
It was promoted as a cure for a wide range of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, and arthritis. Medical experts later dismissed it as quackery, but that didn’t stop people from buying it. Wilshire sold more than 50,000 belts.
It’s easy to laugh at something like the electric healing belt. But there’s a deeper reason people bought them: Wounded people long for healing.
Today, we still search for healing but may turn to cutting-edge medical treatments, wellness culture, self-help programs, therapy, spiritual practices, or online advice about how to optimize our bodies and minds. Some of these may genuinely help.
But beneath promises of optimization, there lies the same deep human desire to be healed and made whole. Good Friday speaks directly to that longing.
It tells the story of a God who entered a wounded world not only to forgive sin but also to bring healing.
While this essay focuses on healing, I want to make clear that the Cross is a multidimensional work of God’s grace:
In Christ’s death we find forgiveness of sins, victory over evil, justification before God, the removal of shame, and many more benefits within the broader story of the kingdom of God.
My hope here is that we would remember the essential yet often overlooked truth that Good Friday is the source of our healing.
We know something in us—and in the world—is not the way it’s supposed to be. Every ambulance siren, every crowded emergency room, every whispered prayer beside a hospital bed reminds us that something in this world is deeply wrong.
We live in a world marked by illness, injustice, grief, broken relationships, anxiety, and despair.
The longing for healing is one of the most universal human experiences. The Bible describes this condition with a striking metaphor: The world is sick.
According to the prophet Isaiah, “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint” (Isa. 1:5, ESV throughout).
The sickness is not confined to the soul but pervades our entire being and even the world we inhabit, yet its deepest root is our estrangement from the God who made us.
But the Good News of Good Friday is that God has not abandoned his creation to its sickness. He has entered it to bring healing.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus restores sight to the blind, strength to the lame, hearing to the deaf, and dignity to those society has pushed to the margins.
Yet these miracles are more than displays of compassion or supernatural power.
They are signs of a deeper mission: Jesus came as the divine physician for a sick world. In him, the Lord who “forgives all your iniquity” and “heals all your diseases” (Ps. 103:3) has entered history, beginning a restoration that will culminate in “the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2)….
Wisconsin Islamic community leader faces deportation after ICE arrest
The president of Wisconsin’s largest Islamic mosque remains in federal custody after he was detained this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and now faces deportation after being accused of funding foreign terrorist organizations.
Salah Sarsour, a 53-year-old legal permanent U.S. resident, is being characterized by the Department of Homeland Security as a Palestinian community leader and terrorist who also lied on immigration forms to gain entry to the United States.
Sarsour was arrested on March 30 during a targeted enforcement operation in Milwaukee.
Sarsour works as the volunteer president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.
He has lived in the Milwaukee area for more than 30 years, officials said this week, and has been a business owner and community leader.
Lauren Bis, the assistant DHS secretary for public affairs, said that Sarsour was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of Israeli military members. Bis accused Sarsour of lying on his green card application.
DHS said that Sarsour was initially denied an immigrant visa to the United States while in Israel due to his conviction and for illegal attempts to possess weapons and ammunition.
Local officials, including Milwaukee’s mayor, criticized the arrest, calling Sarsour’s detainment politically motivated for speaking out against Israel.
“There is no substantive evidence he has done anything wrong,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson wrote in a social media post. “This is another example of overreach and harm from the U.S. Immigration authorities.”
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley wrote in a social media post that Sarsour’s arrest “sends an unmistakable message directed at our Muslim and immigrant communities.”…
Illegal immigrant, accomplice get 5 years for murder in sweetheart deal with progressive Virginia DA
Two admitted murderers — including one who is an illegal immigrant — will serve just five years in prison each under a plea deal with a progressive Virginia prosecutor.
Maldin Anibal Guzman and Wis Alonso Sorto-Portillo pleaded guilty to the 2024 mob killing of Nicacio Hernandez Gonzalez, who was found dead with trauma to his body in Fairfax County, according to police.
Both men pleaded guilty to second-degree murder by mob and were sentenced to 25 years in prison, with 20 years suspended, leaving five years to serve, Fox News has learned. A judge accepted the plea agreements.
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano secured the guilty pleas, reducing potential decades-long sentences in a case his office said lacked key physical evidence.
Descano’s office defended the agreement, telling Fox News the deal was “the only way to ensure that the defendants were incarcerated.”
“There was no DNA or any physical evidence at the scene. All witnesses in this case were terrified to come forward or assist with prosecution,” the office said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that Guzman is an unlawfully present Honduran national who entered the U.S. illegally in 2018 and was ordered removed by an immigration judge in 2019.
ICE said it lodged multiple detainers against Guzman between 2022 and 2023, but the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center declined to honor them and released him from custody.
The agency also said Guzman has prior convictions, including burglary and assault, before his arrest in the 2024 killing…..
Evil beyond words: Mom and boyfriend left adorable special needs boy, 4, to die in a closet under the basement stairs
Angel Lovely, 37, of Beech Grove, and Nicholas Bergdoll, 37, of Indianapolis, were charged in connection with the death of four-year-old Malichi Allen Lovely.
The couple told police that Bergdoll had found the toddler, who suffered from cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus, unresponsive in the basement on March 23.
Lovely’s other children told investigators their brother spent most of his time in the basement closet under the stairs and that he was sometimes locked inside the room, WTHR 13 reported.
The child reported that their mother barely cared for Malichi and she would sometimes put on headphones to ignore his cries, the outlet reported.
One of the children told investigators they heard Malichi, who is fed through a tube, gagging inside the closet the day he died. The other said when they next saw the boy, he had blood in his mouth and his head was rolled back.
Bergdoll allegedly said he had seen the boy around 7am, but admitted he had neglected to check on the boy throughout the day.
The boyfriend also allegedly told investigators that he didn’t agree with putting Malichi in the closet, but that it was not his place to ‘f**king tell [Angel] how to raise her kid,’ WTHR 13 reported.
The mother told police that she had placed the boy in the closet around 7am to sleep, claiming the child had been awake for days. She claimed to have checked on him sometime in the morning before she was later woken up by one of her children, telling her something was wrong with Malichi.
Lovely also admitted she had not refilled Malichi’s seizure medication and acknowledged he was underweight. He weighed 22 pounds at the time of his death.
Malichi had previously been placed in foster care in 2024 due to medical neglect, court documents said.
Despite social workers strongly discouraging the court from allowing Malichi to return to Lovely, she was granted full custody in 2025, WTHR 13 reported. ….
Chaos as a US Black Hawk is ‘hit by Iran’ and ANOTHER jet goes down amid frantic search for pilot lost behind enemy lines
It marked the first time a US jet has been downed by enemy fire since the start of the war 35 days ago.
Meanwhile, Newsmax reported that a US Black Hawk was hit by enemy fire while conducting rescue operations for the pilots. The crew is reportedly accounted for and is safe.
An A-10 Warthog combat plane crashed in the Persian Gulf near the Strait on Hormuz on Friday but the pilot was rescued, according to the New York Times. It is unclear how the plane went down.
It comes as Iranian state media urged civilians to capture the pilots on the Strike Eagle, with a ‘reward’ offered by the Islamic regime.
Israel media reported that the missing airmen has likely sent out his emergency location signal out to the rescue team.
Footage has emerged of tribesman shooting at what appears to be an Air Force HC-130J Combat King II, a specialized search and rescue plane.
Separate videos purported to show a US KC-130 refueling tanker and two HH-60 Pave Hawk search and rescue helicopters.
Iranian media released images showing debris as well as ejector seats from the downed F-15E, which costs approximately $100 million.
An anchor on Iranian state media urged local residents in Southern Iran to hunt down and hand over the ‘enemy pilot’ to regime authorities.
The local TV channel is based in Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, an intensely rural and mountainous region, the Associated Press reported.
Viewers were also told to ‘shoot them if you see them,’ referring to US aircrafts flying low in the region in an apparent search for the crew members. …
The Last Place An Adult Should Be Is Walt Disney World.
Politicians should not be going to Walt Disney World or watching Real Housewives.
Florida thug accused of bashing woman’s head with hammer, killing her, in horrific attack outside convenience store
Several gas station employees told Gulf Coast News the victim was a clerk at the business.
Store surveillance video shows the suspect smashing a car windshield, Gulf Coast News said, adding that store employees said the vehicle belonged to the victim.
Video then shows the woman coming outside — and the suspect approaching her and hitting her in the head with the hammer, Gulf Coast News said.
The suspect then ran from the scene, after which three nearby schools were placed on brief lockdown, WINK said.
After a multi-hour search, police captured Joachin about a mile from the convenience store, the station said, adding that an arrest photo shows two officers detaining him in a neighborhood.
Arrest video also shows officers walking Joachin in handcuffs and placing him in the back of a police cruiser, WINK said. Joachin was taken to the Lee County Jail where he remained Friday morning. His jail record lists no bond and refers to Joachin as a transient.
The Gulf Coast News video report said the victim was the mother of two teenagers…..
Eric Swalwell torched for ‘barely working’ in California governor’s race attack ad
Rep. Eric Swalwell’s shoddy voting record — the worst of any active member of Congress last year — is the focus of a new, blistering attack ad by Tom Steyer, suggesting the California governor’s race is finally heating up.
Steyer, a progressive billionaire, has plowed more than $90 million into his campaign for governor, primarily through ads that focus on how he is the only candidate rich enough to challenge the wealthy elite while addressing rising utility costs and the affordability crisis.
In December, an analysis by The Post found that Swalwell had not only missed more votes than any other active member of Congress — he’d actually been absent more than former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who spent months recovering from hip replacement surgery, and Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died in March 2025.
“Eric Swalwell doesn’t work,” an ad voiceover says, adding that key votes Swalwell skipped included issues like war powers, healthcare, and ICE immigration detentions that involved children.
“He’s missed 68% of his votes,” the ad continues, documenting absences from late November through late March — the period in which Swalwell announced his campaign.
Politico was first to report the negative ad on Swalwell, suggesting it marks a “growing feud between Steyer and Swalwell,” who are in a crowded Democratic field that is topped by the two candidates and former congresswoman Katie Porter.
“Call me old school, but you typically have to do your job before you earn a promotion,” Kevin Liao, a spokesperson for Steyer’s campaign, told The Post.
Swalwell’s has been so habitually truant from the House floor that The Post was able to uncover he’s been missing votes in Congress while posting videos of himself at the Beverly Hills mansion of billionaire Stephen Cloobeck.
Two arrested in NC after police find 13-year-old kept in dog kennel, 5 other kids in ‘filthy’ home
Lacy Douglas Hocutt Jr., 34, and Rachelleigh Marie Galasso, 33, were taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with abuse, neglect and other serious crimes, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office said, according to WRAL.
The two suspects made their first court appearances on Thursday, when prosecutors said the alleged abuse was among the worst they had ever seen.
Multiple children will need to have teeth removed and are unable to eat without pain, prosecutors said.
One child, 13, was kept in a dog kennel, court documents show, according to WRAL.
The boy was considered to be “so grossly underweight that it was life-threatening,” according to the documents.
“He now rocks back and forth, and all he yells is, ‘You’re never getting out. You’re never getting out,’ which we can only assume is what was screamed at him while he was in there,” the assistant district attorney told a judge in court on Thursday, WRAL reported.
Another child’s scoliosis was left untreated to the point that she “will have to suffer from the condition for the remainder of her life,” according to documents.
Prosecutors also explained the extent of how filthy the home was.
NY prosecutor sidesteps sanctuary law and coordinates ICE arrest of Guatemalan child rape suspect
A suspected child rapist from Guatemala who could have been released without bail under New York law was instead sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in a move that skirted the state’s sanctuary policies while keeping him off the streets for months before prosecutors secured an indictment, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
“Two progressive reforms…had to be navigated deftly to hold the defendant responsible for his alleged horrific crimes,” District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement.
Due to the state’s controversial policies, prosecutors weren’t even allowed to ask the judge to set cash bail or bond on the initial charge of endangering the welfare of a child, according to the DA’s office.
And because of the state’s 2020 “Protect Our Courts Act,” ICE agents could be subject to prosecution if they arrested the suspect at the courthouse following his no-bail release.
“Incredibly, up in Albany right now there are new sanctuary laws currently under consideration that would have prevented us from even talking to federal immigration authorities,” Tierney said. “My message to our state legislators and governor is simple – stop protecting the rights of alleged child rapists at the expense of child victims.”
Carlos Aguilar Reynoso, 27, has now been indicted for the alleged rape of a 5-year-old girl he was supposed to be babysitting while her mother was at work on Feb. 1. Her injuries were severe enough to require surgery, according to prosecutors…
Doctors, nurses arrested in Southern California health care fraud investigation
One pilot rescued from downed F-15
Chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin confirms to the ‘Outnumbered’ panel that one of the pilots in the F-15E that was downed in Iran has been rescued as the search continues for the second pilot.
Trump briefed on DOWNED US fighter jet in Iran
Chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports on a downed F-15E fighter jet in Iran. Senior correspondent Benjamin Hall and Retired Lt. Col. Darin Gaub provide insight.
